resistance to persistence

it’s such a turnaround from my previous posting.
things seemed to be going so great.
3 days later, jan 25 2006, the worst day of my life.
i don’t want to reveal details, those who know me know what has happened.
but feel i need to write this for therapy.
my heart is broken. i can’t talk to my hero and inspiration.

live every day to the fullest.
don’t be afraid to tell people you love them.
hug your friends and family every chance you get.
time is so valuable, make every minute count. there are no retakes.

i turned 32 today.
the numbers keep getting up there.
every one sounds that much older.
i’m very happy where i am in life.
work is good.
very happily married.
live in a great city.
vacations are planned.
i actually feel guilty for good this year has been for me.
j calls it the ‘year of blaine’.
i’d agree.
i feel guilt over everything lately.
guilt when she got me a birthday gift.
after we just bought a tv at xmas.
and i’m going to europe for a week.
j spoils me too much.
i owe her bigtime at her birthday.
today she gave me another great gift.
a burton travel gear bag i’ve had on my list for 2 years.
and she searched all of toronto to find it.
i was definitely shocked.
all so i could have it to tote my spoiled butt to austria in style.
i definitely need to bring her back some good gifts.
we had some friends over last night.
lots of drinks, lots of chatting, lots of games.
got to show people the house finally.
won at trivial pursuit.
so in all, a great birthday, a great year.
just 2 wishes for this year.
j knows what they are. and it will remain a secret.
i hope you all have great birthdays too.

BentUser - Windows XP and Vista b5270 Side-by-Side

BentUser does a comparison of Windows XP and Windows Vista to show the new improvements. But really, I think this is a comparison with Windows XP and how much Vista is trying to become like MacOS X. Microsoft is simply playing catchup to Apple and they’re very late to the game.

Start Menu Search/Search = Spotlight
Window Switcher = Expose
Breadcrumb bar = Apple’s 3 pane navigation
Library = Smartfolders
Media Center = Front Row (gotta give it to Microsoft here…they beat Apple to this one)

Where’s the Dashboards ripoff? Will there be a Microsoft Display Panel in the future? Maybe Microsoft is relying on Yahoo’s Widget Engine (aka Konfabulator) to handle that for them (which Apple copied, IMHO).
Calendar, Mail,etc … I can’t be picky about that. It’s very obvious to have apps like that on both systems.

I just don’t see anything new. With all the smart brains at Microsoft, we should all be expecting something revolutionary, not just simply following Apple’s lead. Where’s the new and improved ways of doing things. Don’t just follow…make Apple play catchup. Even though I love the Mac and use it daily, I say this because I’m still forced to use a PC in my dayjob and I won’t be getting away from it anytime soon. And friends and relatives will still be using PCs so I’d like it to be easier for them (which makes things easier for me).

I can’t believe it! At the start of the year, I proposed we head to Alaska to try out some new areas. After seeing too many snowboard videos where people sat in Alaska hotels waiting for the rain to stop, we reconsidered and decided on heading to the British Columbia interior (Kicking Horse, Fernie, etc). As of last week, another idea made it on the table. Austria! Skican has a great package price for a week of riding. One of our friends booked his trip there after having to cancel out of the same trip this year. I checked with J (you can see who wears the pants in this relationship) and she said I should go for it. The rest of the crew was in for it too. So at the end of February, I’ll be heading to Innsbruck, site of 2 Winter Olympics and surrounded by a whole lot of mountains. I can’t wait. It’s gonna be crazy. This also goes towards accomplishing one of my life goals - snowboarding on 3 continents. I think South America will be next. Chile or Argentina in September would be great.

If anyone’s been riding in Innsbruck, leave me some comments…let me know where to go and which mountains to ride. Now I’ve gotta hit the gym and get fully ready to ride.

image borrowed from vintagearte.com, where you can order the image as a poster.

Where are my parachute pants when I need them?

I had a childish chuckle when I saw this jumbled signboard. Bedwetting isn’t the solution you should be looking for.