I'm still not a big fan of Wind8ws

Doesn't Metro look "nice" on a stretched desktop?

Months after it's been out there I'm still not a big fan. Especially not in a stretched desktop, as illustrated. It wouldn't be so bad if you could turn this look off but you cannot. All other versions of windows you could choose to go to a classic or previous look, but not Wind8ws. Microsoft thought they would re-educate us on Windows. Just because someone had a vision doesn't mean we're all going to adopt it like sheep. I never used Windows Me or Vista on a home system. I suspect Wind8ws will also be such OS.

Marché Kim Hoa

It's not particularly spicy but it has a touch of bite.

Yesterday I went to Marché Kim Hoa  for the first time. I found two Miso Soups that had no MSG and no sugar that I could eat at work. This is one of them, the other is the red Miso soup. They are yummy. They are different then the ones I usually buy. 

I've been eating this Miso Soup for easily 10 years now. Love it.

My favourite Miso-Cup is the savoury soup with seaweed. Everyone always says when I make it that it makes the lab smell like French Fries!

I find Miso soup is delicious healthy soup I can have in a cup for lunch daily. It's warm, gluten free and veggie and tasty!

Pizza Veggie Stix

They are incredibly YUMMY!!!

Hardware Woes

I've been far less verbose in 2013. It doesn't help it's been at least a week or two since my laptop's hard disk has been giving me issues. It figures that the drive that came with my Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 15 was a SEAGATE. I tend to find them really flaky.  Usually when I have dead drives they are almost always SEAGATES at work. 

I've got a Samsung 1TB drive on order from Canada Computers. I found the price was right and it had a 3yr warranty

Then my desktop decided to act up. Suddenly it started just shutting down after 15 minutes. Sunday morning, not only did I wake up to the storm from hell but also to no electricity. So we went for breakfast then to Canada Computers. I bought a 750W Antec Power-supply and a cooling fan for the CPU. I knew one of the two was the cause of the problem. The power-supply was close to 4 years old and seem to be on it's last legs. The CPU fan had seized in the past couple of weeks. Before it had spent the past year making obnoxious noises that even WD-40 and other methods did not quiet.

So I changed both parts and I'm still having the same problem. It was because I was too delicate in screwing in the heatsync onto the bracket, hence the paste was not making contact with CPU and it was still overheating. After a bit of tightening screws now system is stable and very quiet. I should never underestimate my skills as a PC technician. I can generally figure out most issues.  It did take me most of the day Sunday but I figured it out!

Then I noticed that the fan on the Case cover is also dead. They don't have it in stock for pick up at the store but they have one 80x80x25mm with blue leds like my old one on the Canada Computer's website. I just have to order it.

Not just a Native thing, Idle no More!

Winter intern Saga finally finished?

I was desperate to find to find 2 more interns back in November, and through the help of a previous intern, I found 2 more candidates. Well come January 7th, the first day for my interns, one of them  showed up at 10am, because the cab he took got lost!?!?!! [still means he left home too late].

One of them didn't have a work permit or a Social Insurance Number. This is something that that cannot be by-passed. When the student was hired in early December he was clearly told he needed both.  He called HR in early January to ask if it was needed. So his contract was voided.

Late in December I got a call from a stage coordinator asking if I still had opened positions. At that point I didn't. However I called her back January 7th, to ask if she still had candidates, she had one. Then I realized his GPA was lower then what I was allowed to hire, so I asked if I could get an exception. That took several days to get approval. Then I was told, that I had to make sure I liked the guy and not just hire him because I was desperate.  In the end we interviewed the candidate on Thursday and it turns out he has skills that the HQA guy can use since we're supposed to share an intern.

The intern who showed up late, also seems to require an inordinate amount of hand holding, and has less skills then we thought he did. So his position as an intern is changing and the guy we just hired Friday to start on Monday will be shared between HQA and my team.

Hopefully things will settle down. The HR girl is complaining this is the rudest most self-entitled bunch we've had so far. I don't know, so far the other 4 we hired are doing ok. They seem nice enough and focused enough.

Happy New Year or is it?

I started the new year sick as a dog. I was bedridden from the 1st to the 5th, and then wasn't so hot until I had to go to work on the 7th. Gotta love how I often spend half of my Christmas vacations sick.

I really hope that having started 2013 sick isn't a sign of what's to come.  I've been pretty upset with the rape in India and the stupid comments to come out of it. The lawyer representing some of the 5 men who gang raped and killed a woman, says she was responsible for her rape.

It amazes me that in 2013, women are still considered like furniture with no rights. I mean it seems in India they treat cows better then they treat female humans. And what woman asks to be raped to the point where her intestines get ripped to shreds with a metal bar? I mean seriously? Rape her with a metal object and that's ok because she's sub human  It blows the mind!!!!  I'd like someone to shove a metal bar up the ass of all those men, and then ask them how it felt?

I support Idle no More!

Me and my girls

Snow filled trees

Ice covered trees

The calm after the storm.

Winter Storm of December 27th, 2012

Pointe-Claire Village

Marche de l"Ouest

Petro-Canada on the corner of des Sources and Anselme Lavigne

View up des Sources from Petro-Canada

Driveway snow removal on Fredmir blvd.

I'm going to kill her as soon as she takes this off...

It's been a long time...

So for no particular reason, I'm posting this photo of Caruso, with tacky sunglasses, and you have to imagine The Who signing it:

Moose Sex Project

I kid you not:  "Our hope for this narrow section of land ... is we keep it open for large animals so the moose in New Brunswick can go over and make friends with the moose in Nova Scotia"

Seasons Greetings.

I also feel like saying "Bah Humbug". I don't like Christmas, haven't' since being a small child. I still have memories of stalking the Christmas tree at age 3 and telling my mom the next morning there was no Santa, and no Christmas miracles. It was her, that I'd seen her. 

My mom would put the presents under the tree in the wee hours of the morning while I slept and she'd also add the baby Jesus in the crib.  She'd say the angels brought him in the middle of the night. Well not after I was 3. Then he was added Christmas day in the Manger scene!

Today won't be much different then any other day, but I won't leave the house. 

I can't remember when I started hating this time of the year, was it as a teen or was it when my kids were little and the whole pressure to go to in-laws and have gifts ready for a certain time. But I certainly hate it. 

I like the idea of celebrating yule this way I don't look like I don't like to party :)  I don't like to party much but.... well I do like it from time to time. 

My best gifts this year are that those people close to me are well. Those who have had surgery are still here and healing. :) 

My wish for the new year, may all the little Syrian children get to see a life without Civil War. Let Assad leave already before he kills half the country. The longer he stays the worst off the Syrian people will be.

Me and mah kitteh!

I'm both cat lady and actual cat.

View from my porch at dawn.