WTL

Two shakes, a blink and a walk to the kitchen later, and almost a month flies by!

This blog entry is courtesy of AdPro, which is currently doing a batch processing run on some images I scanned in earlier. I can’t wait to see the new AmigaOne!

I have to say, its been a busy month. I’m trying to find some time to do taxes – and I think I can before the end of the month, but its going to be close.

Music of the moment: Tammy RayBould (fantastic voice).

While on the topic of music, a few of my wife’s clients heard me listening to Little Earthquakes (Tori Amos) and promptly asked if I had the new album (Scarlet’s Walk). When I said that I didn’t they convinced me that it was great and much like Tori’s earlier stuff. So, I went out and bought it at Record Runner, came home, dropped it into the cd player, and have been happily impressed with it.

The weather has been cRaZy of late. One day, its 20+C outside, the NEXT DAY there is 5cm of snow on the ground. Ah, I love Ottawa! ;-)

I don’t mind the cold, but what really gets to me is the hot, humid days. As some knowledgable person once said to me “You can always put on another sweater and pair of socks if you are cold, but you can’t take off your skin when its too hot.”

Before you all start camping out on my doorstep, the hot weather doesn’t mean that I’ll be parading around in the Emperors new clothes. ;-)

I’m looking forward to going for a bike ride. Today has been a loooong work day – I was up at 7:40am, at the computer by 8:00, coding by 8:45am, stopped for a twenty minute lunch at 11:50am, the straight through to 5:30pm, played Ace Combat 4 for about an hour. Worked for an hour, then watched Heat, and back to work at 10:30pm, and I’ve been going strong since then.

I walked over to the bed room doorway a second ago (needed to re-load on h20) and paused to observe my wife sleeping. There is something so beautiful about that.

Music of the moment has changed to Jamiroquai.

Oh look. AdPro is done, thus ending my rambling.

I’ve been meaning to say something about this war for a while now, just couldn’t get around to coming up with what to say.

Obviously, Canada isn’t taking part in the war in any official capacity that I am aware of. Yes, sure there are a few soldiers on exchange, but thats fine by me.

The issue is not about Saddam Hussein – the man is obviously evil – from our point of view. A vorlon once told me that there are three sides to every story – your side, my side and the truth. Lets remember that the US supported him in the 80’s.

Canada is not involved in the war for one reason; the United Nations did not say we should. With the US and the UK going at it alone sets a dangerous precedent. France may be just trying to be a pain in the ass, but as a permanent member of the security council, they have the right to be.

I am quite sure that if the UN agreed to send troops into Iraq, then Canada would be there.

I agree with the US statement that something has to be done about Saddam, but I also firmly believe that it must be done within the confines of international law and the United Nations.

I’m not a US-hater – I have many friends and clients in the states and they are all excellent people. The problem seems to be the government. George Bush and his friends have a bit too much to gain from this war, and I have to admit that it makes me uncomfortable.

I could go on, but I have a birthday party to get ready for. [Mine] ;-)

Yesterday, when I saw reading /., I read an article about how scholars are trying to get as much information as possible on half of the 6500 languages that reside on this planet, half of which are due to vanish completely when the last speakers die off.

The concept of 6500 languages stuck somewhere deep in my head. Thats an amazing number of languages. I am no linguist, but I would imagine that alot of those are dialects, but tht does not diminish it for me.

Still, it fills me with a sense of wonder that there can be so many different ways to communicate with one another.

Some time ago, on the radio I heard voice of a (young?) Japanese woman singing something so incredibly sad and haunting I sometimes hear it in my mind late, late at night. I wonder what she was saying. Today, while I was watching tv, I came across an recording of an Iman performing a service at a mosque, and it sounded so beautiful.

I love the sounds of language, and I feel bad that I can only speak two, when I know people who can speak five or more.