A Collection of Daily Wisdom by Dennis Sylvester Hurd since September 2003.

Yesterday, much of Canada was in a deep freeze. Meanwhile, the temperature here in Vancouver was a balmy 8 degrees Celsius (45 F). Still, it was a real treat to visit Vancouver's Bloedel Conservatory at Queen Elizabeth Park. Built in 1969, it is the second largest domed conservatory in the world.


Yesterday was the annual plant sale with free admission. This year's
usual entrance price is just $Cdn 4.10. That's quite a bargain! Being able
to sit under the canopy of a tropical rain forest on a January day is worth
considerably more! (Jay seemed to know all the types of plants.)

Labels: flora and fauna, Vancouver

----- Original Message -----
From: Bret Wirta
To: Dennis Hurd
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2004 5:37 AM
Subject: Computer Question

Dennis, How are you this morning? Under my Broadband connection properties should I have Internet Connection Firewall checked?

Bret

---

Good Morning.

Bret, the firewall is a free feature that's been added to WinXP through updates. It will help to prevent unauthorized access to your computer and is especially critical for broadband connections. So, by all means, turn it on!

Background: A PC connected to the Internet has thousands of 'ports', or little roadways, into and out of your computer. By convention some 'ports' are used by programs for specific tasks. For example, port 80 is most always used for an incoming connection to a web server. If one simply turns on the firewall, but has a web server on the computer, they'd have to make sure to 'unblock' that port. Each Internet-enabled program will try to use a particular port. For example, MS Messenger uses a specific one to send and receive files.

If you decide to use the firewall, all normal ports will be closed to hackers. However, you may have trouble with specific programs as it may 'shut off' those ports too. Luckily, each port can be set and editted individually.

So, in short, go ahead and turn on the firewall. Yet be aware if you have trouble using a few programs (that use the Internet), some 'tweaking' may be required. I can help you with each instance as it occurs. === Dennis

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Labels: Bret, Hardware

Let's fast-forward six years from yesterday's photo when I'd just arrived in Bahrain. In the interim, I had spent a year and a half at grad school, two years teaching in Taif, Saudi Arabia, six months in the US, and a year working for the Royal Saudi Naval Forces in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

Soon after landing on the island, we rented an apartment in the building in Adliya, Bahrain.


In Bahrain, I had to pay rent on my own. We stayed approximately six
months at this address before moving to an enclosed housing compound
farther away from the capital of Manama. All in all, we stayed in three
different places when working for the Bahrain Defence Force. I taught
Bahraini Air Force cadets from January 1989 to August 1991.

Labels: Bahrain, scanned

There can be a sort of reverse continuity to a blog. I often find myself falling into topics or elaborating on previous entries. Yesterday, I included a photo of the first building I moved to in Canada. This has led me to consider the various buildings in which I've lived.

I spent the first 18 years of my life in the same house. After that, I went on to college and had rooms in two different dormatory buildings at Keene State College in New Hampshire. I think, over the next several weeks, I'll try to hunt up other places I've lived. The following picture is the building where I had my first real apartment. It was in Fintas near Al-Ahmadi, Kuwait.


This is the reverse side of a building that was provided when
teaching in Kuwait. There were three V-shaped buildings designed
so that each room in the complex had a view of the Persian Gulf. I
lived here from 1981 to 1983 when working for the Al-Bayan Bilingual
School. I taught elementary students there.

Labels: Kuwait, scanned

Time really does fly.

This summer will mark the eighth anniversary of being in Canada! From 1996 to 1998, we rented an apartment. From the ninth-floor, living room window, it was easy to see Douglas College. From the small balcony there, it was also possible to see the New Westminster SkyTrain station and a bit of the Fraser River. (See a Real Player Time-Lapse Video Clip.)



After Agnes Street, we purchased and moved into the present building about four blocks east. When leaving Dubai, we had never heard of New Westminster. Life is interesting. Life is good!

Labels: Fraser River, Immigrating to Canada, New Westminster (Page 1), transit

I'm beginning to understand a bit more about how the blogsphere works. I nearly fell into it.

A huge amount of blogging traffic involves news junkies commenting on the story du jour. The remainder of the process includes thousands of bloggers linking to it and to each other. Frankly, that's not my cup of tea. I primarily want to talk about myself as I'm the most interesting topic I can think of.

1) Last Wednesday, I made a fleeting reference to Belinda Stronach and her site www.Belinda.ca. She's a newbie to Canadian politics.

2) A Google spider happened by and caught my comments.

3) Yesterday, I had lots of new traffic coming in from search engines.

It was gratifying to have all sorts of visitors stopping by. Yet, still and all, I do not think this blog is going to become a mirror and repository for current, world events. I will always find myself much more intriguing!

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(Yet, on the very day I make a vow of blogging self-aggrandizement, this new Belinda Stronach article occurs. I couldn't well pass up on a chance to link to it, could I?)

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Labels: blogging, Google, Internet, opinions, sharing

I'm still contemplating the eventual purchase of a rear-projection television. Here is a 68-page, 1.8-megabyte PDF manual [link removed] for a Philips 46" HDTV. There were some reviews on the Internet, but I still want to find out more. Have you personally had any experience with Philips products? If you have a comment, please send me an email.




I don't think Nina Simone was singing
about a new wide-screen TV ... but
'The More I See You' certainly fits the bill.
Click the graphic above to listen.

Labels: Mediaplayer, television