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

I've been writing a blog entry every day for so many years that they demonstrate a sort of ebb and flow. My recent entries seem very diary-type while I sometimes get into different routines. At times I can be very technical, quite observant, or somewhat fanciful.

Whatever the output, I'm likely to be more verbose when I'm less busy with work or outside interests. This seems rather strange because when there are lots of things going on, less ends up archived. For example, I've had a dentist appointment, bank business, a nice class, and loads of errands today. My entry here, however, will require a photo to be substantial ...


There were far fewer people in the mall this morning
when I went for my 8:30 appointment for a dental filling.

Labels: blogging, dentist, errands, Royal City Mall

How powerful blogging can be! I complained yesterday about the weather; therefore today we were gifted with a gorgeous one. This is a week between my regular, intensive courses and I had no obligations.

Well, I wasn't completely free. I mentioned in this blog that nearly a year ago I got annoyed at the service provided at my dentist's office. We hadn't been for a mouth check since then, so it was high time for the initial checkup with a new dentist today. Jay took a personal day. Between the two of us, we were in Belmont Dental in the Royal City Centre Mall between 8:30 and 11:45 this morning.



As the weather is beautiful, you'd think I'd have a great photo from this day to include here. Actually, the shot above is a previously unpublished picture from 2002. At the end of January that year, I bought my first digital camera. The reason I had access to it today is because I backed up my photo collection to a duel-layer DVD. Almost everything including some scans fit into 8.5 GB.

I threw away all my old discs that contained bits and pieces of the archived copies. My actions must be the equivalent of spring cleaning now that we have just about run out of it.

I am anxious to fill up another DVD. Look out Flickr!

Labels: camera, dentist

Okay, I will admit it; I carry around a bit of cultural baggage. Although I've lived in places with differing expectations about time, I returned to North America with those from my youth intact. There is honestly very little that bothers me more than missing an appointment. I organize my entire existence so I'm not late for anything. An appointment is an agreement between parties. I fulfill my end of the bargain by arriving a few minutes early and I expect to find someone else who's ready. I can be a bit anal about all this.

Although, I pride myself on my easy-going attitude, I don't have much patience when it comes to having to wait. In fact, I will be looking for a new dentist now. Let me tell you why.

Yesterday, I rushed home from work. I found myself with very little time but managed to jump into the shower, throw on a clean shirt and make it to my dental appointment with about two minutes to spare. I was just going in for basic hygiene. I was welcomed immediately but then ushered to an empty room. I sat in the chair staring at the ceiling TV for much too long. Still nobody came.

As soon as my cell phone showed that I'd been there 30 minutes, I got up and went to receptionist. "It's rude to keep me waiting after I rushed to make sure to be here on time and this isn't the first time it has happened." I continued by saying, "I understand how a schedule can slip but this proves to me you have a scheduling problem. I do not wish to re-schedule this appointment and will not be doing so in the future." I left.

I get dental coverage from work and this means we are worth a great deal to the practice. Still, to me, customer happiness is paramount and there is no monopoly on dental services. Consequently, I'll be moving elsewhere.

Labels: complaints, dentist

It's not been a good computer day.

First, my web site was down for about twenty hours. Next, I had trouble getting the new Office 2003 upgrade to install from Windows Update. It seems as though I only needed to insert the original CD in the drive from which Office was installed. Thirdly, Flickr is acting up with a delay before I can edit the title and description. Lastly, I'm struggling to put Pinnacle Studio 9 on my notebook. It seems to frequently crash on my regular PC. I can't wait until Windows Vista is released as I'm going to buy a 250 meg hard disk and start completely fresh!

In the afternoon, I have a dental appointment in which to look forward. That's not too exciting but our local drugstore did close its former premises and moved to a grander new space uptown. I can visit there after the dentist. Wait, even that's not really good news. I used to be able to walk to London Drugs in the former location. Now it'd be quite a hike up the hill. I'll have to rely on $1.16/liter gasoline instead.

Labels: dentist, Flickr, Hardware

The majority of New Westminster photos that I've placed in this blog have been from the downtown area. The apartment is here, so it is most common for me to take a walk around here.

Yet, for over twenty-five years most business development has taken place uptown. This term must be taken quite literally as it's a fairly steep incline to the top of the hill. That could be one reason why my 'walks' are along the river rather than uptown! Yet, when I want to go to the library, hit the mall, visit my dentist, or sneak in to the closest McDonalds, I drive about a mile up 6th Street.


The area near the intersection of Sixth Street and Sixth Avenue is the
city's main shopping area.

Labels: dentist, New Westminster, Royal City Mall