February 2015 – unsung.net

Live Long and Prosper #LLAP

February 27, 2015astronomy, In Memoriam, moviesNo Comments

World says goodbye to a great actor. LLAP.

It is strangely curious that I ended up watching Interstellar the day I hear of the passing of Leonard Nimoy. I’m not a Class A Trekkie, but certainly a Class B one. The Spock character one of the most memorable characters in Science Fiction. The man who made that character famous was Nimoy.
Spock: Do not grieve, Admiral. It is logical. The needs of the many, outweigh…
Kirk: The needs of the few.
Spock: Or the one.
Great actor. Incredible role. RIP.

Interstellar was quite a head trip. Mind bending theories of time, relativity, black holes, worm holes, multiple dimensions…. space. It was all that. But it was also a story about humanity and what it means to be human. Our need for love. For companionship. For each other. While some of the film was hard to digest, it ultimately a deeply impactful and moving film. It seems it will resonate for some time in my mind.

Ugh. Another brutal trip to the Dentist this week.

The Sabres better stop winning and fsck up the tank. They are so close to McEichel. Only Buffalo could screw up trying to fail. Sigh.

I’ve been doing a lot of tinkering with the Raspberry Pi 2. It is quite configured now and for the little money, it is showing some real value. Going to try a few other OS and maybe looking into udoo Quad somewhere down the road.

Full House

February 23, 2015caledon, friendsNo Comments

Yes. Finally retiring the 'paper bottle table runner'. Thanks to all the artists who decorated the many bottles! — Yes. Finally retiring the ‘paper bottle table runner’. Thanks to all the artists who decorated the many bottles!

The house was full from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. Bonnie and Buck (and ALL of their family) visited for the weekend. Their family is now two dogs of dramatically different sizes. They recently adopted a old Irish Setter named Scarlet. She is a big, docile dog with huge paws. This contrasts with their little zippy Jack Russell Terrier named Pepper. The visit was initiated because their daughter had a interview to get into an Arts program at Sheridan. Apparently the program is very difficult to get into with hundreds of applications for each position. While Bonnie, Buck and their daughter were in Oakville, we entertained their other two kids. We watched a movie, the surprisingly enjoyable The Croods. It was quick moving, full of enjoyable characters – all done with colourful, beautifully rendered animation. After the movie we ate then took the kids to the Palgrave pond to skate. Southern Ontario has been under cold warnings for over a week. Temperatures have been dropping to -30 or lower with the windchill. It is fracking cold. Saturday had a brief reprieve from the cold. Even still the group still got cold pretty quickly. It was surprisingly not very busy on the pond. Hmm.
The interview troop returned shortly after we got home. The interview went well but she won’t know if she got in for a while. The evening was pretty quiet. Bdot made her delicious Enchilada Casserole… it was a little too hot for the kids however because she could only find hot green chilis at the grocery store. It was spicy but it is still one of my favourite dishes. The guests left early afternoon on Sunday. It was a fun visit.

Sunday afternoon was also pretty warm (relatively speaking) so we took the dog to Palgrave to go skiing. Our skiing ability must be improving because ‘the loop‘ we usually do seemed to go by pretty quickly. It is still about 45-50m of skiing at a decent pace. I certainly didn’t feel I needed to ski any farther despite the tempting beautiful surroundings. We have been on a roast chicken kick for a week or so… That was last night’s yummy dinner. We watched the last Netflixable episode of Mad Men (S06E12) and a bit of the Oscars. We now have a massive queue of movies to watch.
The Sabres, the worst team in the league gave the Predators (the best team) quite a game last night. Sure they were out shot badly (what else is new?) but they got them to a shootout – then lost. Pretty decent result IMHO.

First slice of Pi

February 20, 2015computersNo Comments

update
1. I may have found a fix for the youtube browsing issue. Using Epiphany goto http://www.youtube.com/html5 then enable html5. Enjoy youtube. I have not tested this at length.
2. I’m thinking the flickering screen issue *may* have been because I altered settings for the monitor that were based on faulty tech notes from the manufacturer. I’ve recently re-installed and so far the issue has not occurred. I’m using the adafruit 10.1″ monitor with my pi. (The display is gorgeous BTW!)

3. Found a fix for the synaptic issue:
>sudo nano /usr/share/applications/synaptic.deskop
scroll to near the bottom and update:
Exec = sudo synaptic-pkexec
4. Tried Gnome on Raspberry Pi 2. It wouldn’t boot at all. 🙁
5. Tried pidora as well it wouldn’t boot at all either. 🙁
6. Was able to tweak a few things here and there. It is not a great OS, but Linux’s power to tweak things allows a lot of minor issues to be fixed. Pretty happy with it now. Would still like full Chrome.
7. No Skype for Raspbian. *frown*
/update

My first Raspberry Pi arrived yesterday. Yes the $35 computer… The hardware is surprising good: HDMI, 1G of RAM, Quad-Core CPU, MicroSD, 4 USB Ports (only USB 2 however) and runs off a micro usb cable. Not bad at all. I mean it’s 35 bucks…!
Where it shows some weakness however is with the software. I installed Raspian dual booting with OpenElec with Kodi. Raspian is a pretty stripped down version of Debian Linux. It installed really easily… One or two clicks and it was installed. The GUI it runs is LXDE. Which hasn’t really impressed me. There is often random screen flickering and when trying to run Synaptic the UI became unclickable so I had to reboot. Sigh. Oh, the one hardware issue is the lack of a power/reboot switch. You have to disconnect the power to “reboot”. That is pretty lame and gets really old fast. I’m used to using certain software so when it isn’t available it is pretty apparent to me. Most importantly I miss Chrome. And NO Chromium is NOT Chrome. No Firefox either. And NO Iceweasel is NOT Firefox. The browser that is included isn’t bad but it doesn’t have flash. There is also no way to run Netflix either which is disappointing. So the OS is limited to basic web browsing. Youtube doesn’t work in Chromium and it’s really flakey in Epiphany. *shrug*

Raspberry Pi 2 - Loonie in foreground for size comparison — Raspberry Pi 2 – Loonie in foreground for size comparison

I guess if you want to consume media on your Pi use Kodi. The Kodi install runs really well. It’s smooth and fast. I have no complaints so far. I’ve installed Yatse on my Android phone which functions as a remote control. It ends up being a responsive and decent little media center. One I get Netflix sorted out it will replace my OUYA.
I also tried the Ubuntu install – I didn’t RTFM and assumed it was a typical Ubuntu install. It ISN’T. It is apparently a developer install with no GUI. Be warned. I couldn’t even login into it. So that was a complete waste of time. The much talked about Windows 10 install is also a developer install. It is NOT the desktop Windows 10 install.
So, the Pi is a mixed bag of joys and disappointments…. it is super cheap so it is really hard to complain however. And really it isn’t intended to be a *home PC*… it is targeted for education and experimentation.

Killaloe Weekend Away

February 18, 2015bdot, friendsNo Comments

By the 'Fire Tree' in Trish's backyard — By the ‘Fire Tree’ in Trish’s backyard

Last Friday we made the 5+ hour drive up to Killaloe where bdot’s parents live. To break up the long drive we made a few stops. The first was in Peterborough where we stopped for a coffee at the Chapters/Starbucks. I found a Chapters gift card tucked away in my wallet (Merry Christmas?!) so I looked for a book to read – and found two! I’m now reading Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. I’m about half way through and really enjoying it. More on this book later. After grabbing coffees we were on our way. Not for long however… we stopped at Port Perry’s impressive LCBO and Never Enough Wool, a yarn store for bdot. It was pretty late by the time we arrived in Killaloe. It was freezing too, somewhere around -30 with the windchill. Brrr. So we grabbed blankets and decompressed.
Saturday morning we ventured over to Trish’s place which is just outside of Wilno. She lives back in the bush on an isolated property with only one road in. Every time we visit her we are accosted by her neighbour’s ridiculous dogs. The three ill trained morons come running at the car barking and angry… they don’t move – even after excessive honking… in fact, they move directly in front of the car… *sigh* For the most part I love animals and clearly the owner here shouldn’t own dogs… but wow…. so annoying. We eventually got past the beasts without casualties. Since my last visit to Trish’s place (years ago) they have updated their home with a major addition. The space is really cozy and comfortable. I think they did a wonderful job, and they are planning more updates in the future. The afternoon quickly involved booze as the host shared a bottle of St-Rémy Brandy. Damn – it is strong stuff. I don’t drink a lot of Brandy so I sipped it… Soon everyone was suitably warmed up and four of us went skiing as Fin watched the kids.
Trish’s home is on a massive rolling, well forested property – which is perfect for skiing. It was clear, cold (but not too bad) and there was newly fallen snow, the conditions couldn’t be better. Jessica brought some more libation to help keep us warm. Yes the evil Fireball whiskey disappeared quickly. After an hour we stopped briefly for some photos and Trish (who by this time was very unfiltered) had a rant or two. I guess she felt the need to direct some honesty toward me. I guess you rarely know what people really think of you. It is usually best that you don’t know. She said she thought I was a “loner” and a “curmudgeon”. I’d certainly agree I’m introverted but “curmudgeon” seems rather harsh IMHO. Sigh. Anyway… the ski back was up a long tiring hill – so we all felt pretty well exercised by the time we were done. Dinner was a yummy pork roast which disappeared quickly. After dinner there were more drinks and conversation. Jessica was dealing with some unbelievable requests from her tenants. She is desperately trying to sell her property. Hopefully soon! It was a fun night.
We started off Sunday by meeting Jessica at the Wilno Tavern for lunch.

I thought the food was amazing. Reminding me of past family Christmas dinners. I didn’t leave a scrap on my plate. It continued to be really cold but we decided to go snowshoeing anyway. We are Canadian right?

We walked on the beautiful Opeongo Heritage Trail. We walked up… up… and more up… Ugh. Did the sign say something about inhospitable terrain? It was a tiring climb and we eventually decided to turn around after about 40m. The way down was much easier.

We said our goodbyes then returned to Bdot’s parents. Her mom made a yummy chicken casserole and Mound’s inspired chocolate cake. It was amazing. We planned on returning home on Monday so I spent some of the evening gathering stuff.
Monday came and it was clear that something wasn’t right with bdot. Somehow she contracted a nasty stomach flu. She was weak, pale as a ghost and couldn’t keep anything down. The thought of a five hour drive was impossible. So we decided to stay another night. The cat sitter was okay with this and we hoped an extra day of sleep would clear bdot’s horrible condition.

We were luckily(?) entertained by a Cold Water Cowboy’s marathon. I found it curious how thick the Newfoundlanders accent was. A lot of their conversations had to be subtitled. It looks like a hard life fishing on the east coast. Despite the numerous adversities, the guys always had a positive attitude. There was a profound brotherhood among the fishermen. If anyone called for help the community always responded. It was an interesting, at times captivating look at a unique lifestyle.
The day of rest helped bdot enough that we were able to drive home yesterday. She is still not 100% but certainly better than she was on Monday. It is good to be home.

Sabres get Kaned

February 11, 2015caledon, sabresNo Comments

Bdot came home early yesterday and we finally got out skating on the pond in Palgrave. It was a good skate. We had a little chat with the ice caretaker who said there is close to 20 inches of ice. He seems like a nice guy who is trying to find someone else to take on the ice responsibilities.

Wow… a little numb after hearing this one. This is the first time I’ve been disappointed in Murray. This seems like a ridiculous overpay for a basketcase and a marginal defenseman. The biggest burn is giving up Lemieux AND A FIRST. Kane better not pull his shit in Buffalo… Goodbye to Myers and Stafford… Two long time Sabres vets. Hope I can look back on this in a few years positively but right now it looks like Murray got caned. I’m absolutely flummoxed by this…

Perfect Palgrave

February 9, 2015art, caledonNo Comments

Beautiful Winter wonderland in Palgrave Forest

Saturday afternoon we returned to Collingwood. The plan was to return one piece of art and pay for the art we kept, grab lunch then go skiing at Scenic Caves. The first stop was to return the art. It was a big piece and took up the entire back of car with the seat push forward. So it made sense to drop it off first. We had a nice chat with Andrea and resisted looking at more art and were off to lunch.

There were many options for lunch but we decided to return to The Tremont Cafe. If you’ve never been to the Cafe, I’d certainly recommend it. It had a really cool vibe and the art and ambiance is really unique. Lunch was delicious and the cafe was pretty busy. By the time we were done lunch and calculated the time to drive to ski and get ready… it was no longer worth it. Instead we wandered around Collingwood for a bit. We started by going upstairs to check out the art in the Tremont House. The last time we were in Collingwood all the artists’ rooms upstairs were closed. Saturday they were nearly all open! So many cool pieces – we got out without any further financial ramifications. Other stops included: Yarn shop for bdot, coffee, Play it Again, Becker Shoes and a few home decor stores. We don’t get up to Collingwood often so exploring a few of their shops was a lot of fun. We both really like the town. The drive home was pretty slow as we got stuck behind a snow removal truck on the hilly roads of Highway 42 (Airport Road). The evening was chill out time… Despite not skiing we were both pretty tired.
We still wanted to ski. With freshly fallen snow yesterday, the conditions were perfect. So we ventured over to Palgrave forest. It was incredible there. There is something pure about snow covered trees in a quiet forest. It was the best day of skiing we’ve had there. The only people we saw was another couple skiing and one couple ignorantly snowshoeing over the ski tracks. Sigh. I guess some people can’t read the signs that ask visitors to STAY OFF THE SKI TRAILS.

Bdot made a yummy Shrimp risotto dinner while I ran out for groceries. In the evening I watched Walking Dead which is back for its fifth season! I’m not sure about Better Call Saul…
We are headed to Killaloe this weekend to take advantage of Family Day. Hopefully my legs are recovered by then so we can ski again!

Remi Vet visit

February 5, 2015remiNo Comments

Remi cat wondering when she is going home... — Remi cat wondering when she is going home…

I took remi cat to the Vet yesterday. We thought she was looking thin so we wanted to get her thyroid tested. Remi cat HATES being put in a cat carrier. So it was a big drama. Anyway… our Vet did an examination and thought she was in good shape for her age. We are waiting to get the test results.

This was a yummy beer. Surprisingly easy drinking and slightly sweet. Would drink it again.

Tasty Raspberry Pi 2?

February 3, 2015computers, sabresNo Comments

Raspberry Pi 2. Delicious? TBD... — Raspberry Pi 2. Delicious? TBD…

Huh. I’ve been reading A LOT about this little compact computer called the Raspberry Pi. It is about the size of a cellphone. Yes a cellphone! The Pi devs just released a new version of this computer (V2) and it should actually have pretty respectable performance. Oh, did I mention it’s only $35? So I’m getting one to serve as a multimedia center or possibly a data server or just to play with. The Pi organization is primarily geared toward education… but a lot of people are finding an assortment of uses for this little wunderkind. Check out the specs. More on this later… It’s in the mail. Should be a fun, cheap diversion. Interested? The Pihut seems to be the go to place for all things Raspberry Pi.

WHOA! The Sabres won! In Montreal. So the massive gorilla is finally off the team’s back. They were flirting with setting a new consecutive loss record. But at least that has been averted…

No more snow today… Still pretty cold however.

Blowing snow and blowing Superbowls.

February 2, 2015bdot, caledon, weather, WinterNo Comments

Finally. The first firing of the snowblower.... — Finally. The first firing of the snowblower….

From what I read we were suppose to get around 5cm of snow. A mere dusting. Well… it is closer to triple that and the snow is still falling. We bought a snowblower a few week back and there hasn’t been enough snow to try it. Well today there sure is. Bdot cleared half the driveway when *something* has caused the blades to stop turning. Hmmpt. It worked well until it stopped… More on this later I’m sure. There are tons of closures and bdot is working from home today… so it is certainly a significant snowfall.
Update!

The belt that drives the blades came off. The neighbour helped put it back on. It clears really well… except for the snow that the wind blows back in your face.
/Update!

Superbowl was last night. I was cheering for the Seahawks. I’m a small b Bills fan, there is no way I can cheer for Brady or the cheating goons from the Boston market. It was a great game. It when down to the last play. And wow… possibly the worst playcall in Superbowl history… The Seahawks get the ball on the 1… they have two downs… they have :30 and timeouts…they have Beastmode…. AND THEY PASS THE BALL! Which gets intercepted and they LOSE. *shakeshead* I don’t know the Seahawks or the coach well… but that is such a bad call it made me think the coach bet his house to lose… Sigh.

I’ve been playing with Windows 10 on an OLD laptop. It is pretty stable and easy to use so far. Cortana, which looks like fun, doesn’t want to work and the settings seems to be lagging the PC pretty badly now… Ho-hum.

I’ve been playing Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. It is an older game (2006) I got cheap off of steam. Wow. What a hidden gem! The combat is so much fun. You can kick and use the environment, use magic, ranged magic… it is VERY linear… but lots of fun so far. I’m on chapter 5.

These Dreams

February 1, 2015caledon, Family, hikingNo Comments

Had a nice walk with bdot and the dog in Palgrave Forest yesterday. We were the last car in the lot. *smirk*

We fed our Mad Men addiction in the evening. We are onto season four. The character and writing continue to be exceptional.

Not sure why… maybe Mad Men overload…. but had a very odd dream (nightmare?) I rarely remember them, and even more rarely awake from them. Both happened last night.
The Dream:I was on a bus alone in St.Catharines coming home from Brock. The streets were empty. I was assuming the bus would take me home to the North end… but it stops in front of GM and the driver tells me to get off. I’m let off in front of a set of large double doors. I go inside. Inside there are people walking around but no one is talking. I follow along a few long corridors for several minutes… Eventually I figure I’m not going where I want to be so I try and get out. I follow down more corridors until I enter a larger room with people sitting. No one acknowledges my presence. In the far corner of this room is an exit door. I walk over and exit. The door exits to a small shore area surrounded by water. There is no way out from here. I spend hours wandering the corridors until I get back to the original set of double doors. There is a bus waiting. I ask where the bus is going but the driver doesn’t reply. I board it anyway. The bus leaves. After I few minutes I realize it is returning to Brock… I don’t end up getting home.

Yep.