I am a leaf on the wind

The guy who gave us the 'butterfly effect' has died

2008-04-18T13:53:46Z

I first heard to about Edward Lorenz when I read all about his developments in weather modeling in Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick the most interesting book I ever spied in coles on the main street in Orillia, way back in 1987.
His writings and efforts toward explaining complicated systems inspired me on so many levels.

looking for a technical support analyst

2008-04-02T14:07:55Z

ISP / Telco Support & Setup Representative

Small facilities based telecommunications & Internet service provider based in downtown Toronto is seeking a young, energetic person to work in our support & setup department. We're looking for somebody not necessarily with a huge resume of experience, but somebody with good common sense that can learn quickly and grow with the company.

This applicant must be technically savvy, mechanically minded and have a good understanding of Internet technologies, protocols & architectures. All of our back-end systems are of one unix flavour or another, so this person must be comfortable in a shell / terminal environment. Starting Salary of $34K, with good review, raise in 6 months.

Lemme know if you want this or know someone who might be a fit.

new position available !

2008-03-04T18:28:26Z

Anyone know any coders looking for work ? I need someone who has been exposed to ant, java, patterns, ajax, php, perl, relational databases, and who is available immediately.

have them send an email to my lj address w/ resume if they or you are interested.

mcbloom @ 2007-08-16T09:10:00

2007-08-16T13:11:52Z

Is it getting better
Or do you feel the same
Will it make it easier on you now
If youve got someone to blame

You said one love
One life
When its oone need
In the night
One love we get to share it
It leaves you baby if you dont care for it

Did i disappoint you
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without

Well its too late
Tonight
To drag the past out
Into the light
We're one but we're not the same
We get to carry each other
Carry each other
One

Have you come here for forgivness
Have you come to raise the dead
Have you come here to play jesus
To the lepors in your head

Did i ask too much
More than a lot
You gave me nothing now
Its all i got
We're one but we're not the same
Well we hurt each other and we're doin it again

You said love is a temple
Love the higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law

You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
I cant be holdin on
To what youve got
When all youve got is hurt

One love
One blood
One life
Youve got to do what you should
One life with each other
Sister
Brothers
One life but we're not the same
We get to carry each other
Carry each other
One

mcbloom @ 2007-08-14T10:02:00

2007-08-14T14:03:53Z

I'll remember it
And Dublin in a rainstorm
And sitting in the long grass in summer
Keeping warm
I'll remember it
Every restless night
We were so young then
We thought that everything
We could possibly do was right
Then we moved
Stolen from our very eyes
And I wondered where you went to
Tell me when did the light die
You will rise
You'll return
The phoenix from the flame
You will learn
You will rise
You'll return
Being what you are
There is no other Troy
For you to burn
And I never meant to hurt you
I swear I didn't mean
Those things I said
I never meant to do that to you
Next time I'll keep my hands to myself instead
Oh, does she love you
What do you want to do?
Does she need you like I do?
Do you love her?
Is she good for you?
Does she hold you like I do?
Do you want me?
Should I leave?
I know you're always telling me
That you love me
Just sometimes I wonder
If I should believe
Oh, I love you
God, I love you
I'd kill a dragon for you
I'll die
But I will rise
And I will return
The Phoenix from the flame
I have learned
I will rise
And you'll see me return
Being what I am
There is no other Troy
For me to burn
And you should've left the light on
You should've left the light on
Then I wouldn't have tried
And you'd never have known
And I wouldn't have pulled you tighter
No I wouldn't have pulled you close
I wouldn't have screamed
No I can't let you go
And the door wasn't closed
No I wouldn't have pulled you to me
No I wouldn't have kissed your face
You wouldn't have begged me to hold you
If we hadn't been there in the first place
Ah but I know you wanted me to be there oh oh
Every look that you threw told me so
But you should've left the light on
You should've left the light on
And the flames burned away
But you're still spitting fire
Make no difference what you say
You're still a liar
You're still a liar
You're still a lawyer

This is frikin' awesome.

2007-07-20T13:10:13Z

US college republicans at a convention who support the war asked why they aren't fighting themselves. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFGit_tZDqs)

life sized tetris in Japan.

2007-07-10T13:38:25Z

http://www.glumbert.com/media/japtetris2

the sketchy nature of curbside bike repair

2007-05-25T13:18:43Z

xposted from a facebook note.

I'm a commuter cyclist. I use my bike to get from point a to point b instead of going through the daily hassle of parking, putting gas in a car and I save heaps of dough every week by doing this way.

I've been like this since I got to the city, it easy, it gives me a bit of chance to escape and its a tiny workout too.

Yesterday, I got a flat. I pushed my bike over to Curbside and politely asked if they had time to fix a flat, greeted with an encouraging "of course".

As the fellow pushed my bicycle to work area, he told me I could go get a coffee, to which I replied, "no thanks, I'm coffeed out, I'll just hang here I've got nowhere I desperately need to be".
He then twisted the handlebars and announced "your headset is too tight, its ruining your frame !".
I just kind of stared at him. Headset is too tight ?! It feels like velvet and has since I got it two years ago, plus, my man Chris at broadway looks at it every three or four weeks. I reply "No problem dude, its been like that since it came from marin two years ago, its always been firm."
Drama ensues, warnings of frames dying etc ... he pushed the bike to the pit area and tells the mechanic to adjust the headset and I look the mechanic directly in the eye, and say as friendly and firmly as I can, "no need for that, just change the tire and I'll be on my way".

Both dudes look at each other like I had just whipped it out and pissed all over their floor.

They put it up on the rack and mechanic dude says, "oh your wheel is totally wonky man, and you have a broken spoke ..."

Both dudes look at me, and I reply, "ok, sure, I'll pay for a truing and spoke no problem, do you have time ? "

"No we only do truing overnight, you have to leave it with us"

"Ok, no problem, just put a tube on it, and I'll head over to my bike shop tommorow, smiling hopefully"

"No sorry, we don't put tubes on wheels that have broken spokes, you'll have to leave it with us overnight"

"Well I have somewhere I need to be later tonight, can you put a tube on it with no guarantee ?"

"No we don't do that."

I am now pissed. What I thought was going to be just a tube change out has turned into what feels like a shakedown job.

Even if these guys are being sincere, and I'm just making this whole thing up in my mind, I am pretty sure that the karma of this situation is more than I can take 25 minutes before I'm supposed to meet Wes before I get tattooed.

I thank them, push the bike outside, lock up the bike and bags, walk back in and buy a $5.86 35mm x 700c tube and change it in front of their store.

I can't wait to tell the guys at broadway tonight on my way home. My wheel is wonky, it is out about 3 mills and it has started rubbing on the brake pad, but I suspect they can probably true it inside of 20 minutes.

The tingle in your ear .....

2007-05-13T05:30:17Z

Don't be afraid
Open your mouth and say
Say what your soul sings to you

Your mind can never change
Unless you ask it to
Lovingly re-arrange
The thoughts that make you blue
The things that bring you down
Only do harm to you
And so make your choice joy
The joy belongs to you

And when you do
You'll find the one you love is you
You'll find you
Love you

Don't be ashamed no
To open your heart and pray
Say what your soul sings to you

So no longer pretend
That you can't feel it near
That tickle on your hand
That tingle in your ear
Oh ask it anything
Because it loves you dear
It's your most precious king
If only you could hear

And when you do
You'll find the one you need is you
You'll find you
Love you

I'm not sure if this is amazing or just really cool.

2007-05-02T13:23:59Z

a map of the online world

so this is goodbye

2007-04-24T18:10:40Z

A friend sent me this song on a cassette a million years ago around this time of year.

So this is goodbye
So this is how you say it
These are the words It's the voice you're using
It's the picture you've seen
So this is goodbye
So this is how you say it
This is the time it takes you
It didn't take you a lot now did it?
It didn't hurt you a lot now did it?
So this is goodbye
So this is how you spell it
Where you place it in your mouth
What happens if I didn't hear you?
What happens if it wasn't serious?
Well I was around
Maybe it was you I came to see
Maybe it was you who invited me
I remember your eyes were on me
I remember your eyes were on me
Goodbye

mcbloom @ 2007-03-31T11:55:00

2007-03-31T15:55:11Z

You Are 78% Evil

You are very evil. And you're too evil to care.
Those who love you probably also fear you. A lot.

How Evil Are You?

mcbloom @ 2007-03-01T13:01:00

2007-03-01T18:02:23Z

Create your own Friend Test here

thunderkiss '65 - the first sounds of Toronto I can remember.

2007-02-21T17:40:59Z

I was recalling my early memories of Toronto the other day over IM with a Ryerson chum now back in Sweden, and this song kept coming back and smacking me between the eyes.

Its hard to believe ass tattoos, lumberjackets and grunge ever went the way of retro in the midst of this little ditty. Its like a time capsule of something ... not sure quite what.

Well sweet little sistas high in hell cheatn on a halo
Grind in a odyssey holocaust heart kick on tomorrow
Breakdown
Agony said ecstasy in overdrive she come a riding on the world
Thunder kissn 1965
Yeah, wow! five, yeah, wow!!
Demon-warp is coming alive in 1965
Five, five, yeah!
Livin fast and dying young like a endless poetry
My motor-psycho nightmare freak out inside of me
My soul salvation liberation on the drive
The power of the blaster move me faster 1965
Yeah, wow! five, yeah, wow!!
Demon-warp is coming alive in 1965
Five, five, yeah!
Gimme that, gimme that now, now, now, yeah!
Rolln like a supersonic another fool that gets down on it
Pig sweat a million miles, I got a heart atomic style
I make it look easy, thats what I said
Blast of silence explodes in my head
Yeah, yeah, yeah, gimme that, gimme that now
Step to the moonshine frenzy hail: the resurrection
Whats new pussycat, can you dig the satisfaction
Well, you cant take it with you, but you can! in overdrive
Yeah! some like it hot and twistn, 1965
Yeah, wow! five, yeah, wow!!
Demon-warp is coming alive in 1965
Five, five

Sugarcrappies 4 all.

2007-02-06T22:41:18Z

I am eating nestle quik cereal quickly before iz wakes up. I don't want to corrupt her.

Things have been pretty busy at work, things have been cool at home, but I'm starting to see the craziness slow down finally. I had such an aweful week last week with such a series of spectacular hardware failures that I decided to bite the bullet and finally pick up hardware to replace aging stuff.
Top of the pile was a new case and motherboard for my mythtv. It now fits nicely in our entertainment unit, winking away with its hard disk activity light.

I'm off this afternoon with Iz as Di had some appointments. Princess woke up screaming and is now demanding pizza as she was promised earlier in the morning.
I hope she never learns bacon is a topping on pizza, although I am ordering Hawaiian, which is pretty much the same thing.

In the time I have written this I have given 23 hugs and am currently watching Iz attempt to jump rope with my headphones.

ongoing war of cereal box science will be fought in the blogsphere.

2007-01-30T19:19:56Z

Original blog rant about breakfast cereal propoganda

Cereal box:

Alternative Layout by Author

To my anonymous journal crawlers:

2007-01-30T18:23:32Z

Touch base, I'll setup you up an lj account and you too can be as big a loser as I am :)

Ripping itself apart from the inside

2007-01-24T14:01:46Z

US attorney General Alberto Gonzales actually had the audacity to argue before a Congressional committee that the US Constitution doesn't explicitly bestow habeas corpus rights on US citizens

Its like setup for the plot of a John Carpenter Film that doesn't involve vampires.

bruce lee's screen test from 1964

2007-01-17T17:55:17Z

He seems so tentative until he's asked to stand and show kung fu, then he's good old bruce.

Thanks asimplelife

mcbloom @ 2007-01-17T10:26:00

2007-01-17T15:32:33Z

I had sushi on monday with a storage rep from a local company and one of my customers.
They both thought for some reason I was born and raised in Toronto.
This struck me as odd, I feel like as much of a hick as I ever have.

Strangely enough, the next day I was watching Jim Nabors on the the muppet show, (Di downloaded the whole first season a few weeks ago) and he did some goddaweful version of a song called "Thank god I'm a country boy" and it got me thinking about the songs I don't play anymore and songs hit me in a "I come from here" kind of place.

It gets so sticky down here
Better butter your cue-finger up
It's the start of another new year
Better carve a newspaper up
2.50 for a hi-ball,
And buck and a half for a beer
Happy hour, happy hour
Happy hour is here

The long days of Shockley are gone
So is football Kennedy style
Famous last words taken all wrong
Wind up on the very same pile
2.50 for a decade
And a buck and a half for a year
Happy hour, happy hour
Happy hour is here

I can cry, beg and whine
T'every Rebel I find
Just to give me a line
I could use to describe

They'd say, "Baby eat this chicken slow
It's full of all them little bones."

So regal and decadent here
Coffin cheaters dance on their graves
Music, all it's delicate fear
Is the only thing that don't change
2.50 for and eyeball
And a buck and a half for an ear
Happy hour, happy hour
Happy hour is here

Nothing's dead down here, just a little tired
They'd say, "Baby eat this chicken slow
It's full of all them little bones."

bottled water drinking contests: not so silent killer

2007-01-15T15:45:30Z

hyponatremia.

zonked

2007-01-03T01:38:41Z

Sorry I haven't been posty lately, one of the few things I'll strive to improve over the next year.

I'm frantically trying to get our public photos online as soon as possible in gallery2, here's a sneak peek.

happy bday to iz

2006-11-24T15:55:16Z

Iz is two today. She's made me more aware of how alive I am with every passing day, and more appreciative for the little things that I've been blessed with.

Happy bday Iz.

new game show, say it fast or get whacked.

2006-10-18T13:12:31Z

I'd love to see a celebrity version of this

I knew there was some nerdy and some white in me.

2006-09-28T00:07:02Z

How White and Nerdy Are You?