rant!

even though no one looks at blogs anymore since facebook has taken over like a virus I thought I would make a rant here.

The cost of going green by the conservatives.

so apparently it will cost us more for fridges, cars, and I am sure light bulbs. Okay, sure this global warming things we have to do something.

so its going to cost 8Billion a year in loss for Canada. okay, so for our 33million people that is what so that is $242 per person per year..... hmmmm okay that is not that bad right? so according to the government we will all pay more for everything.... I am very sure this will be more than $242 per person.

So my thought is there are a lot of ways for the government to make up this $242 per person like lets give the extra credits for energy saving items and put that extra cost on items that are not energy conserving. The conservatives did do that a bit, if you buy a fuel efficient car now you will get tax credits and if you buy an SUV then you will pay more. I like that but lets do more. Say you have to buy a fridge. you can spend more for an energy efficient one or less for a non energy efficient. So lets give rebates for the energy efficient stuff and tax the hell out of non energy efficient items.


and yes light bulbs.... why not make those nice energy star bulbs cheaper than the regular bulbs.

See it works right? This also forces industry to design and come up with more energy efficient items because it will make money for them.

MikeG out.

Time waster

Not like I have a lot of time to waste, but those little web based games seem pretty popular. I thought I would include one of my own (or a link to a whole bunch of them).


Jay is games a neat little web site that has tons of different games. I have tried a few of the recommended games on the left, some are fun little time waster's.

Oddly enough, how I stumbled across this is that it popped up when I try to access an internal doc hosting site that uses the internal link http:\\jay\...

I just have to repair my IP address and my internal link works, but every so often I get the jay is games site popping up.

Have fun; let me know if you find a favorite. Here is an interesting motorcycle game, not sure how to finish it yet.

Motorcycle game

MikeG.

Ever hear of this iPH0NE thing?

Ever hear of this iPH0NE thing?

Guess what, I got an interview with App1e. This is basically the third step of the process.

The first step was contact directly from a technical recruiter at App1e, this was via an email which originated from my technical profile on a website I am a member of called Linked-1n. This resulted in a few emails back and forth discussing my qualifications.

The second step was a very brief phone conversation with recruiter. At the end of this call was the request for my resume.

This third step is a one on one with a technical manager.

For now, I am not sure how ready I would be to accept a position with App1e, after all I just moved back to Ottawa and this position is located in sunny California….. hmmmm sunny California eh… well…..

MikeG.

Question: Who else uses Linked-1n?

Prince of Barrhaven

Melissa and I had a great night last night. We took my Mom out for a drive. We decided to go out for a drive on the worst night of the year (day after the first snow storm) to stretch the legs of my Mom’s car as she has not been driving much.

The drive was nice; we did a nice run on the highway and just chatted with each other. Then I decided to swing out to Barrhaven to take a little trip down memory lane. You see I have always known that my Mom grew up on a farm out in the Barrhaven area but I did not know much more than that. So last night I asked her to show us.

We started the drive up Greenbank, left on Followfield, and then right on Woodroffe. As we were talking about the farm, my Mom tells us that there is a park named after us (well her maiden name)….. A park! Hey, that I never knew. So I blurt out, where is it… now remember there is tons of fresh snow, and she had not been there in years (so we start randomly driving down side streets and low and behold we see a wooded area and drive up to the sign and we se it “STINS0N PARK” (again my Mom’s maiden name).

This was wild, so after driving around the area (some nice houses) I decide to pull over and check this park out. The park is nice, several play structures, a soccer field, and a covered picnic area where I assume the house once stood. One day in the spring I will check it out rather than in a foot of snow.

I found out that it was quite a farm, it was off Woodroffe from went from north of Strandherd (or known then as Wills side road because Will something lived on it) all the way to Greenbank.

So to let you all know how much land once was in my family I am attaching a map (thank you google maps) of Barrhaven with the area once owned by my Grandfather (yup Grandfather, not that long ago really). Unfortunately for me and my family, it was sold at not much of a profit, so no family fortune waiting in the mist (sorry mel).

MikeG.

Time to talk about work

As most people who visit my blog know it has not been that long since I moved back from Toronto. I am very glad to be back, Toronto was not a lot of fun.

Well what took so long to move back in the first place was my need to have a job back here in my field. Also as many of you know I am one of those computer geeks as I like to explain it. The more technical description of what I do is I work in the semiconductor industry in test and manufacturing area's of a company. I get hired to make sure there is a quality product that can be tested and shipped.

When I moved back I joined this startup company that specializes in hardware (chips) for high quality wireless audio at low power. Well we just came out of what is called stealth mode, so now I can talk a little more about the company.

The name of the place is pronounced clear, but spelled with a k and is eer instead of ear (done this way so I do not get searched by my boss).

So what does this company do? Well here is a picture.

What we have here is a standard iPond nano with an extra little adaptor on the bottom of it. Then we have these little earbuds/earphones, notice one thing. No wires. These things work great, good sound, no noise, and they fit well in your ear.

What we actually make is just the chips and the software to control them, but these were made up to show potential customers how it all works.

Well the product has a huge potential, our customers seem to be really buzzing over it. I know it will do well and I can not wait for these things to be on the shelf in a store near you.

MikeG out!

Home... home on the range... where the dear and the...

Oh the joys of home ownership.

If only the finished product can be as good as the image in my head and be done just as quick. Well as most people who know Mel and I we have undertook the major task of home renovation. We are keeping our wits about it and only tackling one major project at a time.

The major project of the day is our living room dining room. This weekend was a good one for us, we did manage to finish the first coat of paint, and only a few hick-ups on the way. The next major task is to install the subfloor that Alex was kind enough to help me pick up recently (thanks again Alex).

Soon I hope to pick up our hardwood for the floor very soon. The type and details of the hardwood is a closely guarded secret, but it is sharp and suits our personalities well.

The question of the day is: Do I lay the hardwood myself (well calling on a few of my fellow man to help me out) or do I do the lazy way and hire someone to do it for me.

Let me break it down, and it makes the choice even more difficult. (please note, I am biased to doing the work myself)

To do the floor myself, obviously I need the tools (as this is real hardwood, not no click and lay laminate). Cost of this, I figure is around 200 loonies for the weekend thanks to home depot.
Next is the time, well as mentioned above a weekend, one that hopefully a few friends are also free. Then there is the beer (for after the hardwood is laid) and the pizza.

The benefit of doing it myself, the joys of knowing a job well done, and not paying someone to lay down my own floor.

The risks of doing it myself, the possibility of having an uneven crooked floor that I would probably never hear the end of....

So the other option, hire someone to do it.

Lets see this is obvious I hope. A professional would likely do a better job that myself and some friends (especially if beer is involved). Downside, cost, I hate having to pay 2-3 loonies per sqr foot (hey its a big room) to someone for work that I should be able to do myself.

Risks, the guy to do the floor may not be available at a convenient time.

benefit, well when you think of it the cost is not crazy if you factor in the cost of renting or buying the proper tools for the job, the floor would be straight and level, and the job would likely be done much quicker than I could do it

Sooooo any thoughts on my dilemma, as I said above I am partial to doing the floor myself, but the more I think of it the more it makes sense to pay the extra change (would likely work out to about 250 loonies more than what it would cost to do it myself) and would probably be worth it for the stress that dealing with the floor would probably cause.

Well over and out for now,

MikeG.

Mike's world

Well I guess I have been neglecting this site. Well I started blogging to help keep in touch with all my friends and family while I was living in T.O. When I moved back I figured I would have tons of time to to keep in touch.

Well now that I am back in Ottawa, started the new job, taking care of the house, not really going out with friends as much as I wuld like(no one seems to call us anymore, not sure why....) but keeping extreemly busy just the same.

As for me not updating the blog is mainly due to really crappy internet at home (avoide bell, more about this after), and not doing any blogging at the new job.

Well I may as well give an update.
Job: Its been going well, I have a variety of responsibilities and some interesting work, some I could do without. But all in all it pays the bills and its great to be back in Ottawa.
House: Well I always new that home ownership would be alot of work, and
with the new car it is nice to be able to drive around and not worry about mechanical problems of the car.

Well I hope to get back to blogging and keeping everyone up to date.

Cheers to all!

MikeG.