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

This weekend I got a message from Bret. He's the premiere reason that another buddy, Joel, and I were able to run a summer arcade business in my hometown of Sunapee, New Hampshire. Those were the years right after we'd graduated from high school. Bret was recently asked to write up a story for a locally-published magazine. Of course, in 2008, the request was to record the significance of those activities in a historical perspective. By a strange twist of circumstance we have separately all ended up as residents a few hundred miles of each other but near the other ocean. Bret's email was to ask whether Joel or I had any quotes to offer.

I have, on occasion, difficulty remembering what I had for dinner on the previous evening, so I am skeptical about how much I might be able to add to events of thirty years ago. I did a few searches on the Internet to see if I could locate any photos which would help to remind me of Sunapee Harbor in that bygone era. The only pictures, I could dig up were those which I'd contributed to the Internet myself. I modified this picture which Bret had once taken. It was originally in Kodacolor but all but the yellow dye had faded; therefore, I converted it to black and white.



It shows the most important part of what I can recall. The picture does show a young Joel and me. A significant aspect is that another classmate, Sherry Simms seems to be hard at work with maintenance too. She would not have been a paid employee but was among the others who simply wanted to hang out. During those summers of operation we offered such a place for many of the kids in town too. In those days the school system or town offered fewer programs to occupy youths' time. We were left to our own devices. Luckily, Bret saw the need as a business opportunity. I don't think it was as much about the money as a way provide a fun atmosphere for not only the three of us. We gave many Sunapee residents, who were under twenty, a reason to come up to the harbor.

Labels: Bret, Joel, Sunapee, The Harbor Gameroom

I'll admit I can remember Pong on a home TV. Yet, as mentioned in my eJournal and images before, most of my game playing experience occurred when friends and I ran an arcade during the summers of my college days. That was the late 1970's and early 1980's. I remember shooting at tanks from inside a virtual world of vector graphics in Atari's Battlezone. This would've been the original, stand-up cabinet where the player looked through a periscope. I knew that even thin green lines in 3-D sure seemed to beat out the coloured, but flat, images on the Pacman machines.



For years and years after that I didn't play games.

I did toy with an original xbox which is still in a closet here somewhere. We used it to play DVDs for a while and I spent a few hours impressed with Voodoo Vince.

Today, I spent most of the morning looking at trailers for the Sony PS3. This time things seem right for a fit to the Onkyo home theatre sound and the 42" Toshiba LCD. Although I'm thinking about buying one primarily for playing Blu-ray movies, if it's all connected, I will probably end up exploring a few game titles too. The Playstation 3 isn't known for having many good games at present: however, I expect the number will increase through 2008.



Yikes, we've gone beyond basic, wire frame graphics in the last 28 years, haven't we?

Labels: Bret, games, Joel, PS3, Sunapee, The Harbor Gameroom

What a blustery day! I'm happy there's no class today due to it being a 3-day weekend for many businesses in Canada. The rain and wind started in the middle of the night. The noise woke me up. Even our gas fireplace blows out from the force and angle of the wind. Although it's mid-morning it hasn't let up. So, it is a suitable day just to hang around and watch DVD's, review email, and blog.

Last week, when I discussed games, I talked about old-school arcade machines. I even located an Internet photo of Xenon, the pinball machine for that entry. And wouldn't you know that Bret was able to scrounge up an actual photo from Sunapee, NH! Here's a scanned image from the Harbor Gameroom circa 1980.

Labels: Bret, games, New Hampshire, Sunapee, The Harbor Gameroom

Lots of entries in the blog are about the very act of blogging. If this is a modern equivalent of gazing at one's own navel, so be it.

Very soon after adding a few entries, I realized I was creating a repository of personal data. I tried explaining this early on to a high school friend who is a bit of an archivist himself. Bret suggested I print out what I was doing so as to allow keeping a bound paper version. Wait! This happened at the end of 2003 but even though it was never pressed on parchment, you can read the original entry. I knew I was fighting an uphill battle for hearts and minds.

Even though I think of the information here as electronic, I still imagine physical pages of data. That's why I've always linked to weekly archives each with seven days of data.

Just last week, I decided to go ahead and begin using what blogger calls labels. (The rest of the world considers them tags.) I will probably never get around to adding them to the nearly four years of prior entries, but I can surely initiate their use from here on in. When displaying by labels, it really brings home the point that this simply contains data. The pages exist in order to display the information. For example, the following list will show customized pages created on the fly.

Creative Zen

Kuwait

movies

Sri Lanka 2004

Oh, I should add that newly-created pages are still organized in reverse-chronological order.

Labels: blogging, Bret, file archives, labels

The e-doors are closing on a bit of history.



My decision to stop working on the high school email directory was a bit slow in coming. Sometimes we, as people, continue things merely because we are used to doing them. My volunteer work on the Virtual Sunapee Reunion website lasted over eight years. That is quite a chunk of time. The site was started the year the Monica Lewinsky scandal hit the newspapers. A current senior at the SMHS was in fourth grade. More frighteningly, should I live to be 80 years old, these eight years will represent 10% of my life.

I appreciate all those who've participated over the years. I'm most pleased with those of you who used to update regularly. Lastly, a special word of thanks must go to the free hosting offered by the folks at www.nhvt.net.

---

I'd also like to take a moment to add the members who were current as of the final day of operation. They are:

2000-2006 Julie Bradford, Sasha Chait, Ashley T Esclavon, Dan Gonyea, Julie Heath, Kat Hudkins, Jolene Menard, Katrina Taylor

1990-1999 Joseph Abraham, Michael Abraham, Mindy Atwood, Christopher Barrett, Christine Frederick, Jaime W Godin, Matthew Hanson, Craig Heino, Lisa Kelley, Dustin Laro, Michael Murgatroy, Carrie Joaquin-Ocampo, Jennifer Oles, Steven Oles, Jennifer W Peck, Diana Perry, Matthew Simmons, Dan Smith, Pete Stevenson, Kate Sullivan, Megan J Williams

1985-1989 Beth Alstrom, Matt Andrus, Catherine I Ayer, Michele Couitt, Heidi C Currier, Kristi Curtis, Karen C Gates, Rebecca M Goetz, Wendy Lippincott, Dean Miller, Wendy S Sommers, Brette Twardosky, Sandy S Warren, Shelley P Wells

1982-1984 Lynda Lee D Addonizio, Maureen M Brandon, Theresa C Brush, Brenda E Cabral, Kim Cousens, Donnie Duling, Gary Gagnon, Angel G McAllister, Billie L Medoff, Carrie "Bali" Smith, Ellen K Wirta, Michele N Wood

1980- 1981 Michael Ansart, Jim Britton, Wendy Britton, Scott Dickinson, Liz I Hoar, Joseph Internicola, Lee Ann B Maroni, Dale Morrow, Annie C Potash, Kathy B Ross, Andrew Trombley, Mark Wirta

1978-1979 Randy Buswell, Janet G Butler,Cindy M Chaves, Kent Dickinson, Tim Fortier, Carl Gissler, Renee G Lecaroz, Aaron Simpson, Lynne B Thomas, Allison D Touchette, Daniel Trombley, Bob Wagner

1977 Paul Appleby, Marla Binzel, Christopher Ellis, Candy W Fuller, Dennis Hurd, Richard Kelly, Mitch Latva, Joanne N Menard, Marion C Quintas, Sherry Simms, Susan N Stocklan, Joel Thomas, Donna A Timme, Bret Wirta, Cindy B Yeager

1970-1976 William Boyce, Steven Butler, Charlotte S Clay, Robert C Ferguson, April W Freeman, David Fuller, Will Odell, Leslie Powers, Gail H Raymond, Susan Sargent,
Joanne A Stevens,

1940-1969 Bob Buswell, Chester Cheney, Charlie Colcord, Jim Cooke, Jerry Hackett, Patricia P Kosowicz, Linda C Nutting, Arthur Partridge, David Rich, Ellsworth Ruggles, David Tompkins

FACULTY Laura Davis, Anna Duke, Bill Gauthier, Karen Gosselin, Ken Greenbaum, Frank Hammond, Daniel Hudkins, Richard C Leone, Wendy Nolin, Alan Peterson, Patricia Rude.

Thank you all!

Labels: Bret, Joel, New Hampshire, Sunapee

We had a nice trip going to Sequim yesterday and returning late this afternoon. It was about 250 kilometers (150 miles) each way excluding the half hour ferry between Keystone and Port Townsend, Washington.

This picture to the right comprises my two high school buddies, their wives, and Jay. I took the picture overlooking Dungeness Spit, a five mile strip that runs along the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

We want to thank Bret for organizing the event and for the wonderful suites in their hotel.

Labels: Bret, Joel, places

I went to high school on the far side of this continent with Joel and Bret. In the grand scheme of things it has turned out rather strange that we've all ended up living so far away but still within 200 miles of each other. We don't really get a chance to meet up very often, but it has been known to happen. The photo above was taken during the summer of 1997. How could that possibly be nine years ago? At last, we will be meeting up again in Sequim, WA over the weekend.

Labels: Bret, Joel

In yesterday's entry I mentioned Bret. He's on the right in this well-worn photo of the famous trio that ran the Harbor Gameroom during summers from college. (See a previous blog entry.) This photo has been hanging around before. In fact, one very small and very old copy sits on my regular eResume Site's youth page. I recently scanned it again so that I could upload a copy to Flickr. It deserves to be re-digitized as the image will be 25 years old next spring.

By the way, this entry's title is a foggy reference to a beer-marketing campaign. It was probably aimed just at college males. There were hundreds of free posters with a buxom babe with several large, full mugs. I can't remember the company but I recall the posters being on many dormroom walls.

Labels: Bret, Joel, The Harbor Gameroom

I got a Christmas card from Bret yesterday. It did remind me to get one out to him. Bret is an old friend. In fact, we lived a bicycle ride away in my hometown of Sunapee, NH. We attended all grades in a class with around 30 others. So, it is rather strange that we're still nearly neighbours. Bret and family live in Seattle. It'd be a long bike ride, but it doesn't take much time to get there driving down I-5.

Bret reads this blog sometimes. He synchs up daily with AvantGo. In his card, he mentioned something about me teaching English to the world via this venue. I must admit that task is my chosen career but it's entirely accidental if it occurs in this forum.

Exactly why have I been writing so religiously here for so long? I write my eJournal and images for personal reasons. I like being able to add a few ideas to this catalogue of Dennis. It's really not for others although I'd not be tempted to keep it up without the theoretically possibility of sharing with others. I am absolutely sure I'm so fantastic that even the most mundane aspects of my life are worthy of world-wide attention.

Labels: Bret, Christmas, Seattle

Yesterday evening I was finally able to sit on the balcony and enjoy the summer weather. For some reason, it seems as though it's taken a long time in coming this year. It becomes very hard to sympathize with the news of sweltering heat in other locations, when one still has a quilt on the bed. Here are a few thoughts that I wrote after a hard day of teaching and a glass of Canadian Club.

"I'm watching barges and pleasure craft running up and down the Fraser River. The top of Mr. Baker, in Washington State, looms over the horizon. People who are barbecuing dinner on various balconies are providing a wonderful aroma of burning sauces. There are quite a limited number of people at the New Westminster Quay considering how fine the weather is. Perhaps I'm just comparing the present numbers to those who were here for this weekend's Fraserfest firework shows.

After a wait, I must've felt the same technological contentment that my friend, Bret must've felt well over a year ago when we installed a wireless network in his house. At that time, he was able to do computer work while sitting near the fountain at the small oasis at the back of the house. Here it my balcony that matters.

I just returned an email to my sister whom I hear from on occasion. I am so pleased to have got to know her more in the last several years than the previous two decades. It's also nice knowing that Lynne and Joel will be up for a short visit from tomorrow. Although their visits are rare, it only takes a second before it feels like we've never been out of contact.

I'm also happy that Jay will return from work shortly."

Labels: balcony, Bret, Joel, New Westminster, Quay

Last week, I had a message from Bret commenting on Star Wars Episode III. He recalled watching the original with a gang at the Claremont Drive-In Theater during the summer of 1977. We were newly minted high school graduates and were amazed by the authentic looking star ships. Additionally, I remember it as the first movie (and illegal copy) I ever saw on color, video tape back at Indian Cave Lodge in Sunapee, NH. --- Long live Betamax!

Jay and I must've been the only ones in the known universe who'd not been sucked into all the hype for the final installment. My advice, to those who camped out in order be among the first to get a ticket, would be they should've chilled out. It was a rainy Wednesday, and there were only nine other people in Cinema 13 of 16 in Coquitlam. Famous Players is not even breaking even for electricity in the state-of-the-art, stadium seating venue with such a meager crowd. Maybe if they reduced prices, more people would arrive and they'd actually make more money. Okay, that's fodder for another blog entry someday.

I was quite impressed with the movie. Critics had painted it as dark but I had no complaints. It was especially gratifying seeing it end with a scene nearly the same as one which had started it all back in 1977. The circle of six is complete and I thought things wrapped up well. Nothing in the movie prevented me from believing it couldn't have happened before the first, although movie technology has improved and 28 years have passed.

The only problem occurs when you jump back out to reality. The actress, Natalie Portman, who played Luke Skywalker's mother was born four years AFTER the first film was released. Time travel, a traditional theme of sci-fi, did not even feature in this series, did it?

Labels: Bret, movies, Sunapee

It started the summer after high school graduation. The Soo-Nipi Shoppe at Sunapee Harbor, NH was created for tourists. We provided space in, what is again called, The Anchorage. To fill a small room, we collected handicrafts from locals and sold on a commission basis. During that first year, we oversaw a few pinball machines and a jukebox in an adjoining room. In subsequent years, the whole business morphed into The Harbor Gameroom.

Labels: Bret, Joel, New Hampshire, Sunapee, The Harbor Gameroom

Q) What's something that we all do but seldom publicly admit?

A) Type in our own names and do Internet searches.

I still remember when Yahoo first started pointing to web pages with my name around ten years ago. A whole decade later, I'm still listed and there's much more of me (literally too.)

That's neither here nor there though. What is important is that if I continue to add people from my past to this blog, then eventually they'll show up as visitors. (This has happened to a number of you and you know who you are!)


WHO'S IN THIS HIGH SCHOOL ERA SHOT?

Back row, left to right: Richard Kelly, Christopher Ellis, Joel Thomas, and Candy Winn Fuller.
Center: Gifford Swanson.
Bottom row: Catherine Harold, and yours truly (Is mouth always open?)
Half Hidden: Marla Binzel (Sorry, this was Bret Wirta's camera work.)

Labels: Bret, camera, Joel

Yesterday's entry prompted me to return to my photo suitcase. This is the only way I'll ever be able to write an autobiography; apparently, one disorganized blog entry at a time!

The photo to the right was from the actual Thanksgiving weekend mentioned in the letter below. The father, Joel, is older and undoubtedly wiser; while the daughter is now attending university in Washington, DC.

I was able to find images that matched yesterday's entry. I guess I'm more organized than I thought. Imagine how many places these pictures have been in the intervening years! Moreover, imagine what a horrible pack rat I'd be if I had settled into an actual house with copious closet and storage space!

The picture below was also taken in 1987 at my apartment near the SeaTac airport.

Since the scanner was set up, I just had to capture one other image from earlier that fall. It is a larger photograph showing the car in which my dad and I travelled from New Hampshire. It was in a parking lot when we visited Mt. Rainier National Park.



If I keep adding images at such a harried pace, I'll have to upgrade my server space before the summer!

Labels: Bret, Joel

Nowadays, my sister and I don't email often enough. I did, however, find this letter on my backup CD. It is proof that I used to write, back when the postal service was the only option. I'll include it here as it was at an interesting time of change in my life and in my sister's too.

I had quit working in Taif, Saudi Arabia about 6 months prior to this letter. I had immediately flown to Sri Lanka via Athens. After finding that a student visa wasn't going to work out for Jay, I reluctantly landed in Boston. My dad in New Hampshire had readied a Plymouth station wagon and we drove out west.

The destination was my friends, the Thomases who were living in Kent, Washington at the time. My father flew home. I stayed in Kent and searched for an apartment and lived for about three months practically on a runway at SeaTac. In this letter I was making arrangements to return to the other coast of Saudi Arabia and teach young Saudis in the Navy there.

---

Carriage House Apt# C1
3606 South 180th Street
Seattle, WA 98188
Telephone: (206) 241-7274

December 1, 1987


Dear Laurie,

I've never written a letter to Iowa before although I know that sounds rather ‘corny’. Aren't I just so funny?

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. And I'm sure you had a safe trip driving out there. How is everything?

For Thanksgiving I went with the gang down to Ocean Shores, WA. Did I tell you about it before? Joel, Lynne, their baby, Bret and his girlfriend spent the four-day weekend in a rented beach house. It was great. The weather was traditional Pacific Northwest. That means it was rather gray and it rained once. We all enjoyed ourselves. I think I ate and drank a little too much though.

I sent in my passport and other materials for the job in Saudi Arabia. I have been wondering if I'm making the right choice. But I'm not getting any younger and I'll have to get this traveling out of my system soon. This job sounds interesting because it is in a different part of the country. The city of Dammam is on the east coast, and not too far from Kuwait. Don't you think it might be fun watching all the boats going up and down the Persian Gulf? (Everyone I've told thinks I'm nuts.) But why not? I have had almost four months out here as vacation.

It will be a week's time before I hear anything about the job. It takes at least that long before the paperwork can be processed at the Saudi Embassy in Washington, DC. I'll be sure to keep you informed as soon as anything becomes definite. (And I have your phone number to call before I leave.)

You have got to sit down and write a letter to me and explain everything that is happening. (Neither of us can afford the telephone at this time!)

Dad sent a letter and told me how happy he was that you are getting this chance to go to Iowa. Isn't it funny, you never know how people are going to act. Even his life sounds as crazy as the rest of us. I think it will be good if he gets a chance to visit someplace far away. He has always had the right answers for everything. Maybe this will make him more open to new ideas.

I just wanted to send my greetings and remind you that I can write to you.

Your bro,

Labels: Bret, file archives, Joel, Laurie

There are all sorts of tricks that can help to drive guests to a blog. Some I avoid. Yet, I find that Google and MSN Search keep pretty accurate tabs on my site. This accounts for many strangers who visit.

And I discovered, quite by accident, another way to increase traffic. Last week, I blogged a list of ex-colleagues and . . . voila . . . a fair number showed up because they had googled themselves!

So, here is another list. These are people who graduated with me from high school in Sunapee, New Hampshire. It's true; there aren't many names because my town was very small. This little list is the whole kit and kaboodle. I copied all names from a reunion planning document mentioned in last Saturday's eJournal entry.

Ann Spear Pillsbury, Bernice Ross, Bret Wirta, Candy Winn Fuller, Carol Abbott, Catherine Harold, Christopher Ellis, Cindy Beal, Cindy Nichols Walker, Crystal Gareau, Dennis Hurd, Donna Ashford Timme, Fred Gallup, Gifford Swanson, Joanne Nutting Menard, Joel Thomas, Kathy Touchette Balch, Kim Seale Chartier, Kris Englestad Kayser, Laura Carroll, Lori Collins Preston, Marion Collins Quintas, Marla Binzel, Marty Wiggins, Mitchell Latva, Paul Appleby, Richard Kelly, Ricky Morse, Sandy Hale Bailey, Sharlene Doxter, Sherry Simms, Stephen Buswell, Susan Nielsen Stocklan.

Labels: Bret, Google, Joel, lists, New Hampshire, Sunapee

My friend, Bret, started an email-a-thon regarding video editting. I mentioned how much better Pinnacle Studio 9 is when compared with Windows MovieMaker. Here, quite literally, is my first attempt with Studio 9. Last spring, I simply walked out of my front door, down to the Quay, and then back via Columbia SkyTrain station. Initially, there are some fireworks shot from my balcony during FraserFest.



I rendered the original on DVD and just tried to output to Windows Media today. Please let me know your success at being able to 'stream' the result which is approximately eight minutes. Were you able to view it? I'd like to request that any reader feel free to email me. (IN THE AFTERNOON, I REDUCED THE FILE SIZE TO 1/4 OF THE ORIGINAL.)

Labels: Bret, fireworks, Quay, transit

I've been using Gmail for three months now. It is only after this amount of time, with over 250 saved messages, that the usefulness of search becomes obvious. I have to constantly remind myself to keep everything as it will prove easy to locate an exact message when needed.

I enjoy the Gmail ads as they are often helpful and unobtrusive. They are usually right on target too. For example, in a return message to Bret I wrote the following:

"Did you use Windows Movie Maker to compress 'your dog going postal' for Internet email? I cannot remember if I had you download the encoder ... or Movie Maker. You will find the latter on your hard drive already. You can choose output and probably even burn to a CD after splicing 'em together."

The ads to the right were a pretty good match for our discussion. I'm often interested enough in the bots' suggestions to research the links provided. They're especially good at recommending commercial links but I've seen accurate, current-event links to newspapers. I've seen occasional 'public-service' type links as well.

---

Yesterday, however, I couldn't quite figure out why Gmail assumed I needed the specific links in this section. I had written to my boss about printing up a course outline in advance. Here's our exchange:

"I'm really impressed by your forward planning!! Do you need the outline signed before August 28? let me know so I can take it in - I'm not going to the campus regularly otherwise."

"No, no. Please don't go in. I would not be photocopying it until I get back. It's just things, such as signing this, are better done at leisure ... than waiting until the very last minute."

Oh, and just so you'll know, the email subject line read:

CRN 67046 Outline (2 months early)

---

Labels: Bret, software

Click here ---->

Labels: Bret, Joel

It is a bit late for today's entry, but earlier today I had a most wonderful, authentic, greasy breakfast!

It was amazingly fun tearing open lots and lots of boxes. Bret spent more on home networking and new equipment than an annual PC budget for a medium-sized firm. The new office PC is humming. The router's lights are flashing. Soon, the newest notebook will be unleashed. There are computers for the kids still in boxes. Standard systems are very advanced nowadays!

I want wireless access too but I guess I need a notebook first. At the moment, I am typing away on one in Wirta's garden. The space is called 'Poet's Corner' and stone tiles, potted plants, and shade trees surround me. There is a small waterfall babbling a few metres away.

I will have to hit the road soon. Although New Westminster is only 130 miles, it always seems to take over three hours. I must stop for breaks too often.

Thanks all for now.

Labels: Bret

I will be travelling to Seattle today. It is time to catch up with friends. Bret and Joel were high school friends from the other side of the continent. The three of us ran, The Harbor Gameroom (March 16, 2004), an arcade at Sunapee Harbor, New Hampshire in the early 1980's. The last time we were together was at our 25th High School Reunion in 2002.

I am sure that I'll be able to blog from there. Bret is in the midst of adding computers for the kids, a wide-sreen notebook book for his lovely wife, and enough wireless networking to tie it all together.

Labels: Bret, Joel, New Hampshire, Seattle, The Harbor Gameroom

I'm proud of friend, Bret Wirta, for downloading new software and creating an email attachment from his video clip. Here's the tiny video of the family dog going absolutely postal after a mail delivery.

Labels: Bret, pets

A person could read any blog from the beginning. However, if there happens to be any logical development in the topic, then it occurs in reverse chronological order. For example, here's a recap of the last few days:

Last Friday, I mentioned that I had brought my camera to BCIT.

So, on Saturday, I showed a picture taken in the computer lab.

On Sunday, that led me to consider the music at the beginning of the PC era.

Yesterday, I spent some time discussing the movie, TRON, from that time period.

Now here's the current connection: The movie, TRON, contained arcade games as an important aspect of the plot. This has led me look around for a picture of the gang who brought Pacman to the Harbor at Sunapee, New Hampshire. Look at the friends in the picture who began The Harbor Gameroom. Thanks to Bret Wirta's endless business acumen, Joel Thomas's engineering aptitude, and the good fortune of the arcade boom, we created a summer business during my college years.

Although the building no longer exists, our business is kept alive in memory. Our large roof sign now sits in the Sunapee Historical Society.


"Come Play With Me .... at the Harbor Gameroom". That's what
the t-shirts used to say and it was accurate for the hundreds of local
and visiting patrons. I'm in the back. In the first row, Joel Thomas
is on the left. Bret Wirta appears in the middle and his brother, Mark
Wirta is on the right.

Labels: Bret, camera, games, Joel, New Hampshire, Sunapee, The Harbor Gameroom

----- 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

---

Labels: Bret, Hardware

----- Original Message -----
From: b.wirta
To: Dennis Hurd
Sent: Friday, December 12, 2003 6:48 AM
Subject: Re: Gimme a New Blog Topic

Dennis, I read your blog this morning all the way back to the final exam photo. All your work on your blog seems so transient. You need to print and save. Some future historian will love you.

Bret

----- Response -----
From: Dennis Hurd
To: b.wirta
Sent: Friday, December 12, 2003 6:55 AM
Subject: Re: Gimme a New Blog Topic

Print out and save? Pfff. Lame. What 20th century thinking that is! ... or maybe 18th?

If you look under my picture, you will see access to the archive vault. No information is lost .. but only the last seven days are on the main screen. Search works too .. so if I want to go back and see about when you visited .. I type in BRET. (One cannot do an easy search on paper.)

Bret, I'm betting that electrons will last longer than a leather binding.

==Dennis

Labels: Bret

HAPPY
HALLOWEEN!


... and here's a scary picture sent that was sent to me ...



An evil dwarf, an intellectual, Johnny Depp -- the actor, and an activist.

Labels: Bret

Bret, you should go with a G router / access point. The 802.11g protocol is new and about five times faster; whereas, 802.11b will eventually be replaced. Thankfully, G is backwards compatible too. Next, choose a notebook card and you'll be able to connect to the Net at Starbucks, select McDonald's, and other public access locations. (Who wants to use a keyboard after eating greasy fries? ... Oops couldn't happen, I forgot they're evil carbs.) After you get a card in your regular PC, you would have a wireless LAN to share files between computers. You could access your ADSL from anywhere in the house. The range is about 160 feet, so you could set it up to share Internet with neighbours too.

Click this link: circuitcity.com - Wireless Networking

Labels: Bret, Hardware

Yup, Bret came out to New Westminster. He was able to stop sales shmoozing with doctors before noon today. His wife had been up as it was their 13th wedding anniversary! I appreciated the beer Bret bought me on the casino boat even if he consumes the non-alcoholic variety nowadays. He looks great 'cause he's off all carbs.

Labels: Bret

Seattle-area resident, Bret Wirta phoned last night and left a message. He's in Vancouver for a medical equipment exhibition. I will give him a call this morning and, hopefully, we'll meet up.

Labels: Bret, Seattle

Maybe it is time to purchase an XBOX. The MS game console really does seem the most advanced on the market now. Can someone over 40 buy one for themselves? An Xbox would plug right into my 5.1 HTS and they've certainly attained a certain 'coolness' on TV sitcoms. (Yet, TiVo has been displayed in a few of the shows I saw this week and most of my friends don't know what that is. What synergy --- TV promoting a way to watch more TV!)

I guess you might say that I've had an interest in computer games since the classics. Most of the games with which I'm familiar would be from a bygone era. Thankfully this apartment is very small or I'd own a $US 800.00 Asteroids cabinet. (They do ship to the USA though, Bret!)

Labels: Bret, games

I got a message from Michael Ansart the other day about the death of singer/songwriter Warren Zevon. You see during my college days, a group of three ran an arcade in our small town in New Hampshire. The Harbor Gameroom was a hangout for not only summer visitors but also for the local youth in our tourist town of Sunapee. In that arcade there was a jukebox that burned the favorite tunes of those times into our brains. During the summer of 1978 one of those songs was Zevon’s Werewolves of London.

Here’s a recent email exchange:

Michael Ansart: For some reason as soon as I heard the news, I felt the pain from old bruises sustained in a cardboard "pizza disk” fight at the gameroom.

Dennis Hurd: Thanks for the news. Okay, Bret ... what was the number on the jukebox?

Bret Wirta: All this ol' brain remembers is N4. Was that Main Street? Love is Like Oxygen?

Mark Wirta: Why couldn't it have been the Heart sisters instead. Would have given me some measure of satisfaction for having to listen to Barracuda every time that Bungay kid had an extra quarter.

Dennis Hurd: You mean the jukebox used quarters? I remember just opening a little door, reaching inside, and hitting ...

Michael Ansart: Years ago I saw Warren Zevon in a small club, I went in just liking his music, but came away with a bit of admiration for the man. He was three songs into his first set, when this loud group of approx. 8 entered the club and made a big deal with the club staff. Essentially demanding that they set a table up for them near the front of the stage. The club staff, trying to avoid a scene complied. Between songs, the loud and most obnoxious of the 8 repeatedly tried to talk with Zevon. Right in the middle of one song, Zevon simply stopped playing and turned to the audience and said, “Did you ever notice how the f#$*ing a*^holes who are up front at a show, are the ones who care least about the music?” Then he announced to a semi-stunned crowd, “I’m not going to continue until this table is empty” Then to wild applause the club staff escorted the table of 8 to the door. Ever since that night, I always enjoyed listening to Zevon a little more.

Labels: Bret, games, music, New Hampshire, Sunapee, The Harbor Gameroom

Bret and Joel, I know you're keen on old railroad biking. The fires here in BC are now destroying historic trestle bridges in the Okanagan.

Labels: Bret, Joel, Okanagan, road trip

I do all my prints at a branch of a store that's like Fred Myer. I upload the digital files from my house and then pick 'em up from the local store. The prints are brilliant. They also do mugs and mouse pads.

www.ldphotostation.com/


I'm going to try to add stuff to my blog every day. If we ever get on the vacation, I can give a day-by-day account from any Internet cafe. (But it'll be too hard to do pictures unless I'm on my own computer.)

--Dennis


----- Original Message -----
From: b.wirta
To: DennisSylvesterHurd
Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2003 4:04 PM
Subject: Sent Via the Blog


Cool site. How did you do the tee-shirt?

Labels: Bret