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

Where do YOU live? I reside at:

N 49° 12.282 W 122° 54.399 (WGS84)

My new Garmin eTrex Legend is on its first trip even before it's out of the package. To save a bit of cash, yesterday afternoon, I ordered my unit from Calgary, Alberta. Quicker than FedEx or Purolator, it's travelling by Greyhound Courier. I should be able to pick it up later this morning. To see more screenshots, click the one to the right:

Labels: Alberta, Canada

How'd people with a propensity toward odd hobbies meet up before the Internet? My research on GPS over the past few days has led to my discovery of the geocaching.

Click here ----> Geocaching FAQs

People can invent nearly unlimited diversions if provided with enough free time. Put global positioning systems in the hands of enough people and they'll create a new hobbyist game!

There are literally hundreds of geocaches running in BC and from what I gather all over the world. The traditional cache is kept in a secret yet interesting location which may make for a nice outing. The location's coordinates are listed on the web site by the cache's creator. Visitors can begin the new quest. Upon discovering the cache, a finder writes his name in a logbook. A small and inconsequential item can be taken as long as another is left behind for a future discoverer.

Example here ----> Rivers Trail One

Labels: GPS

I drove in the rain to the Queensborough Wal-mart to look at one. I am such a careful shopper that I knew what the price could be. They were selling it $22 over what I reckoned was a good value. Consequently, I'm blogging this entry rather than experimenting with a new toy. Damn.

Labels: GPS, money, Walmart

From: Sally Edwards
To: me

The genie has soooooo much power! I signed up to get a gmail account a
while back, but am delighted to get in first and have my chosen name
(same as my hotmail).

Thanks, Dennis. Glad I checked your blog today!

Sal xx

Labels: Dubai

I love Google mail because I've learned to see email as 'conversations', I can apply labels to messages rather than fighting with folders, and I actually enjoy the useful advertising.

Click here ---->

Labels: Google

I had heard about the Global Positioning System (GPS) in a vague sort of way. There were a few stay neurons which seemed to connect it with the idea of military aircraft. There was also a flicker of Daragh's posh BMW which manages to yell, "Turn right at the next light." Yet, it was yesterday's blog entry which piqued my curiosity. Along side those pictures of exotic places and faces, there were cute, handheld GPS units.

I truly do not need another device. I mean, I just had to buy those two little FRS walkie-talkies and never ever could think of a time to use 'em. Or there's my iPAQ which sits unused for frighteningly long periods of time. I'm sure that in my daily, urban existence, there's little need to precisely know my longitude and latitude.

Still, there is something extremely techie ... and consequently very intriguing about this technology. Imagine, 24 satellites circling the earth so I can literally know where I stand! I might try to say that it's just an extension of my early interest in map skills but really I think it has more to do with the fact the little devices run on batteries. I am very grateful for lithium. (Of course, I mean the electrical storage medium; not the medication.)

Alas, there are so many models and even different brands. I'd probably not be satisfied without the ability to download maps, would I? I guess GPS really means 'Gotta Purchase Soon'.

Labels: GPS

If you'd like me to send you an invitation for a Google mail account, please contact me. Just like a genie, I can grant three wishes.

Labels: Google

I was overseas during most of the 80's. Despite the fact people may have questioned Reagan's policies, I guess no one is disputing that he made Americans feel good about themselves. Maybe looking back twenty years always improves a reflection.

Yet, if you were having a barbeque on the back patio, wouldn't you have enjoyed having the Gipper stop by? I certainly couldn't say the same for the present holder of the Oval Office. In the end, that says a great deal.

I was working to convert an old camcorder tape to a digital computer file. I was editting, adding titles, and getting rid of poorly-shot scenes. The final production is about 45 minutes in length.

I saved the video as a 2 gigabyte MPEG file.

Imagine, standard floppy disks hold just 1.4 megabytes of data. How much would 1400 floppy disks cost?

In 2000, we flew into Ft. Lauderdale but drove down to Key West and up to Orlando. (Here's a captured image when we were in the Kennedy Space Center.)

Labels: places