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

As there's a wide variety of information, it's important that search engines can point potential visitors to relevant pages of my eJournal and images. Here are common search engines followed by the number of currently-indexed pages for this blog. You may click any of the links to implement that search in a new browser window.

• Google Search (41)
• MSN Search (146)
• Yahoo! Search (158)
• AltaVista Search (159)
  

Even with all of Google's resources and hype, their search returns only 26% to 28% of the pages found by others. The situation has been this way for months and months. I'd hate to buck the widespread myth of their pre-eminence, but just perhaps ... Google sucks!

(Oh by the way, today's actual blog-page count is 201.)

Labels: blogging, Google

It is nice to have something which missed us when we were away. The hamster spent his time in the relative freedom of the bathtub. There was enough food and water for far more than eight days.

Still, this pet demands lots of attention. He's a real people-hamster and enjoys being petted like, shall we say ... ahem ... a cat.



See three previously-blogged photos of Lit'l Buddy (H4):
(11/18/04), (12/12/04), (02/19/05).

Labels: pets

Vacation photos are generally funny creatures. They usually consist of 'one -of -me -in -front -of -this -famous -object' or 'us -standing -with -a -vista -behind -us'. After vacationers return to a familar old rut, I guess the pictures act as the definite proof of actually having been away.

Occasionally, even on a vacation, a scene can catch my eye though. I call the resulting attempts my 'artsy' photos. We were in NYC a short enough time so that I never neglected to look up when outside. Here are two examples of the reason why:


Image #1 Image #2

Click on either picture to view a larger version in a new browser window.

Labels: New York City

Vacations are good for you. First, they are great because they throw a person out of any ordinary routine. One is forced to regress to the most basic needs of food and shelter. In addition, most day-to-day thoughts are relegated to the back burner while new experiences overwhelm one's senses. Lastly, getting away gives one the chance to step back from life and, in a way to which one never generally admits, realize there are many different patterns for human existence. One becomes a little less central in one's own view of the world.

Experiencing these feelings can be exciting and is nearly always beneficial.


Have you read the trip entries which I've been belatedly adding about
our trip to NYC?

Labels: New York City

The little jet pulled into YVR (Vancouver International Airport) at a bit after three AM. We decided not to wait for public transit to start and took a taxi to New Westminster. Everything was fine and a couple of hours of sleep was really needed. It's raining and we didn't see any of that in New York City during the past eight days.

Later in the day, after the chores get completed, I'll fill in a few of the missing days of my eJournal and images with text and lots of photographs of Manhattan.

Labels: New York City

We will be heading home this evening. As our flight doesn't leave Newark until the evening, we won't bother to head over until 4:00 pm. Our 7-day transit cards ran out at midnight last night; therefore, we will just be taking it easy. Central Park is just across the street from the YMCA.

I promised myself not to wax too philosophical about it. Yet how forward-thinking to have created the whole middle of the island as common space! It's part of what makes Manhattan so ... New York. There seem to be places where you can forget you're surrounded by eight million people. In a city that's often raw with individualism, it's wonderful that in the mid-1800's an original 700 acres was set aside for public enjoyment.

We'll laze around after a noon checkout time and eventually take a shuttle van to EWR.

Labels: New York City

Even though we got to the ticket booths quite early, we still weren't able to get admission into the statue's base. They just put up the 'full' sign as we were approaching the agent. It seems as though most people pre-register online for the few precious places. The day had started off grey, but as it was quickly clearing we knew that it'd be a fine day to venture out into the harbor anyway. Lady Liberty and nearby Ellis Island are both National Park lands. It was definitely worth it and hordes of other tourists appeared to think so too.

In the afternoon I had to find a couple of I-heart-NY t-shirts. We also dropped in to say goodbye to Piyatissa.

Labels: New York City

One can't very well say they've done the Big Apple without taking in a show. At first I was worried that my only pants were the jeans I'd been wearing all week. It was a Sunday matinee show, though. I guess people seldom dress up for shows anymore with the exception of a few on Saturday night.

We went for the revival of La Cage aux Folles. Just how old is Robert Goulet?

Prior to the afternoon show, we spent the morning in Central Park. Today was the 20th Annual NYC Aids Walk. The news reported that nearly 45,000 people participated. Imagine, that's nearly the size of New Westminster, BC! It was a nice morning to watch the people and the event raised more than 5.8 million dollars.

Labels: musical theatre, New York City