The lovely thing about writing on the computer is that no one will notice the drool on my computer monitor.
This car is sexy. But that isn't the only great thing about it, it's green too. That's right Ferrari has made a hybrid. Imagine a V12 electric motor. Still in the development phase this car could change drastically, but I hope not.

This car is amazing.
Read the article here.

The question is not can they, but will they

I read an interesting article yesterday on Wired. The concern was over Apple's censorship of it's apps store. "From a legal perspective, Apple can do whatever it wants with the content in its App Store. Apple is not government, and thus it is not governed by the First Amendment. In light of the recent ban, many have correctly compared Apple’s App Store to Wal-Mart, which also doesn’t allow porn." While the author doesn't seem to have an issue with Apple removing sexual content, he is concerned whether or not this could extend to news apps in the future.
Now admittedly, I am an Apple girl, but this doesn't mean I wear blinders. Apple does have a scary amount of power, but it is their store and if they choose not to have an 18+ section who am I to say that's wrong. But what if somewhere down the road they do start getting complaints about say a New York Times article, will they be able to pull that too? The news shouldn't be censored, it's there to inform the world about actual events.
I don't believe that they would stoop to censoring the news even if it was obtained through one of their apps. People who get news apps know that not all of it is going to be to their liking. People don't complain to the newspaper vendors when something offends them in the paper, so why should they expect electronic newspapers to behave differently.
Yes, Apple probably can censor the news, but I don't think they will.

Read the article here

The state of global cyber security...who knew?

I just read a thought provoking article, thanks to Wired. Apparently our international internet borders are not being protected thoroughly. As far as I can see most of the internet isn't terribly secure, but that's the price you pay to be globally connected. There's always a risk online, my dad still won't use his credit card, even for well established sites like Amazon.
This article seemed to be encouraging a cooperative system that what's already in place for law enforcement. "A priority for regulators is to find ways of tracking down criminals across borders and ensuring they are punished, a tough task when criminals can use proxy servers to remain anonymous." Pavan Duggal, Indian cyber law expert and former Homeland Security Secretary, Michael Chertoff both hinted of a large scale online catastophy: granted they were only saying that to imply that nations need to start talking now, before it's too late.
However, their visions of a cyber 9/11 got me thinking, what if it did happen, can it happen. How much do we really know about what's going on out there. I'm sure a few of you are reading this and thinking, well I know and it's not hard to find out I say good for you be informed, but the rest of us are just merrily surfing away in our own little bubbles. I don't have a credit card so I'm not too concerned about that, but I've entered my name and address a few times. I tend to worry more than necessary, but what I always come back to is this: I'm a student so I'm broke, and don't know anything terribly sensitive or important. I always figure they've got bigger fish to fry. But what if the internet were down for a long period of time, or even just down?
I think I would be okay. I would miss the unlimited knowledge at my fingertips and the instant access to design from around the world, but I would be okay. I'd probably whine along with the rest of the world, but in the end I'd get over it. I would probably do a lot more art, which I always say I want to anyway. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if the internet went away for awhile. That's given me an idea.
For either two days a week or a week a month I will go internet free. With the exception of email because I get important information from my instructors. We'll see how I fare.

Read the article here

I finally understand Busy as a Bee

Wow, summer leads to business. I know it's busier in general on the island, but I don't usually get that much busier, just more work. This year though, I'm out all the time: movies, fashion shows, dinner, potlucks. I think I've been out every night for just over two weeks straight. I love it, but at the same time I'm not used to it. I'm not a terribly social creature, Hornby works for me in the winter...well, mostly.

Last Tuesday I went to Helen and Steve's wedding. It was a lot of fun, to start the ceremony they did a spoof/skit of Romeo and Juliet. Steveno and Helenet. He was a Republican and she was a Democrat. He found her by using Google Earth and MapQuest. Quite entertaining, but nowhere near as good as the reception. I danced from about 8pm to 12am. I haven't had that much fun in a long, long time.

Hello Again

Wow, it's been a long, looooong time. Life has been rather crazy, but boring at the same time.

I went to the preschool fashion show on Sunday. My charming date was Savannah. This is the first one I've been to since the one I was in when I gradded...I think. There were some very nice clothes. Lots and lots of super cute sun dresses. The models did well. Unfortunately there were no men. :o( Matt and Anthea did a salsa number somewhere in there. There were doing awesome, until the music just stopped on them. Good job guys!

The biggest thing that's happened though is my "auntie" Joanne's death. She died on May 27th. There were three families that have spent every New Years together for as long as I can remember. The parents were friends before they were parents. We were eachother's adoptive families. I'd like to honour my honourary aunt here. We loved you Auntie Joanne. We'll miss you.

Her celebration of life was really tough. My "cousin" spoke about her family being out East and us becoming her family. That was really hard. The barbecue the night before was fun. Played some wii and hung out with my cousins and some of their friends.


I love you guys!

Inspiration strikes again.

Last Sunday I spent a the last few hours needed to get my dad's logo dialed. He is so happy with it. It's his third iteration of his logo, he didn't even use the last one because he didn't like it. I think he's going to stick with this one for a long time.


I'm not sure about the water, you lose part of the logo when it's small because of the shadows in the waves. I like how it looks like stained glass and it looks awesome without the water. All in all I'm quite pleased with it.



On top of designing my dad's logo I got into the Art Program at North Island College for September. I was pretty sure I was going to get it, but I got my letter a few days ago. I'm really excited to be going back to school. Go figure, eh. I never thought I'd be glad to get back to school, but this time it's something I'm really interested in. I just hope that the good looking Art History is being run this year and not next year. There's one I really, really don't want to take and the other one looks super interesting. The courses were supposed to be posted on the 11th, but still nothing. Bah.

We got to go out!

Saturday Jer and I were just hangin' in the shop when Jeff Bishop came in. Jer asked what the Breeze was up to and Jeff mentioned an optional wine-pairing dinner. We were both so desperate to go out we added out names to the list.

We got there at 6:30 dinner was supposed to be 7, but our first course was served at 6:45. It was a mescalin salad with local watercress, candied pecans, smoked cheddar, and hearts of palm. It was great, the flavours played off each other so well.

Our next course was scallops in a chili lime buerre blanc sauce. I've never knowingly had scallops before, I tend to not like shellfish. I loved these, I definitely could have done with seconds, like some people... :o) I was starting to get rather full by this point, but we still had two more courses to go, one of which was dessert.

For the main course Jer and both chose the "melt-in-your-mouth" black cod with sage potatoes and grilled veggies. The veggies and potatoes weren't terribly exciting, but the cod really did melt in your mouth. Again, I'm not fond of white fish, but this blew me away. Jer wants to get a smoker now because the smoked items of dinner were so good. I'm all for that.

Lastly, was orange-apricot layer cake with dark chocolate ganache. Dessert was disappointing. The slice of cake was way to big. Apparently it wouldn't stand up if it was thinner. The taste was good, but way too much after the light tastes of the meal. Plus I was full.

All in all, Ben was in fine form. I don't find their buffet dinners all that exciting, totally not worth the rep and the price, but the sit-down dinners are always incredible. I'm going to try to get to more of them.

A long time coming

It's hard to fit everything in when it's been so long, but I'll do my best. It's seems the longer it's been the less detail I have the patience to write about.

First there was no writing because Hans, Mary, and Kelly came up. They got here on Sunday and left Wednesday afternoon. We had fun, enough though Mary wasn't feeling well. She kept it together pretty well, after much sleeping. Monday night Al, Rob, and Amanda came over for a St. Paddy's day dinner. Apparently they all knew eachother from Bike Fest days. It was a wonderful evening, sort of like a mini Supper Club. Hans and Jer made a wonderful Irish stew, with many tips from Mary. Al sort of cheated, he brought a green salad instead of Irish food, but it was very good and the only healthy thing on the table, so he's forgiven. Amanda made yummy mashed potatoes that have a special name, but I don't remember what they were called. Being sick killed my brain.

Wednesday Jer and I went to help out at the Fire Department Cadet Camp. Neither of us, plus many others, were feeling that well, but everyone kept it together nicely. Jer taught fire behavior. While I didn't have any knowledge to impart I took a group around between the stations, made sure they behaved themselves and all that. I'm glad I did: it meant I got to participate in the stations too.
First we were at was Giff's. We learned about basket stretchers and how they rescued people who fell off the mountain. I got to be raised in the basket stretcher. It was kinda scary, but really fun too.
Next upstairs to see Jer and fire behavior.
After fire behavior we went to see Duncan. He lead us through 4 Bay on our hands and knees following a hose and under a truck to save Rescue Randy. When I say we I mean, the kids did this, I followed on foot and then walked around the truck.
Out last station was with Rob and Doug doing motor vehicle rescues. They showed us the cutters and the spreaders/crushers. The cutters were the best. First the kids cut little bits off the car door then Rob let me try. He held them while I was cutting, bah. I was at a awkward angle though. We were their last group so they decided to finish removing the front door. They used the spreaders, but when it was down to the last hinge and some metal they had to switch to the cutters. Rob let me cut the rest of the door apart. All by myself. It was sweet. The kids got the use the crushers on some toasters and an old radio. We missed out on the alarm clocks.

After lunch it was hose time in the school parking lot. We hooked up to the school tank and pumped into the lake and pressurized some hoses. We got to run the hoses, water and foam. Doug let me hold a water hose at 125lb by myself, but I couldn't knock over the stupid cone. It was fun pointing the hose straight up: it got everyone so wet. Hee hee hee. The foam one was neat too, but water was more fun. The foam looked really neat when you shook the hose. The patterns were awesome.

After Cadet camp we went to my parents house, I wanted a bath. It always makes my colds feel better. We were just going to stay for a bit and hang out with them, but we felt so sick we fell asleep in my room and were asleep all night.

My aunt and uncle got here Saturday afternoon and I spent the day with them. Then Jer and I went to see Juno. It was so funny! I highly recommend it. I spent some time with my aunt and uncle before they left later.

Last night we had dinner with John, Marilyn, and Caroline. It was a nice evening, even with the power out. They had a very good trip.

I think that's it. Lots of time being sick and some time visiting.

Happy Pi Day

Best pie ever
Bad pic though.

The saga of the library book.

Okay it's confession time. I don't have a very good track record at the library: please don't hold it against me. I just seem to have a hard time getting back, I tend to go maybe three time a year. So, I was in town and I got one book out. I figured I could get that back on time. I conveniently have a friend working at the Hornby library right now so I asked him to return it. It was all well and good I thought, until he told me he had forgotten to return it. I decide I'll just wait for him to go into work next week, but I get this email saying that the book is due Thursday and he doesn't work until Saturday.

I called to get him to bring it to Supper Club, but he didn't come. So, I call again the next day to see if I can pick it up on my way to Art's Afternoons at the school, no answer. I leave early to stop at his house to pick up the book anyway and the stupid dog starts barking it's head off at me. The dog wakes up Greg, who I need to talk to anyway, but he had night shift the night before and I felt bad. But he's up anyway so he comes out to his truck with me and gives me the book. I drop it off at the library and I am still on time for Art's Afternoons. And yes, I did get it back on time. *takes bow*

You might be wondering what Art's Afternoons is. Every Thursday, it used to be Wednesday, for a month the kids at the school get to spend the afternoon with a local artist learning their craft. I offered to help out if I was needed so I ended up with Norma doing pottery. I loved Art's Afternoons when I went to school here and I wanted to get to go again, volunteering is a good way to do this. This week was the final week so our group was glazing, well not everyone. Because so many people are sick AND one of the art teacher couldn't come in our group grew from last week and we had some kids just starting to sculpt and some glazing. Norma said the kids that started late can glaze after spring break. In between helping the kids and Norma I got to glaze my turtle I made last week. He is so cool now. I'll post pictures in a couple of weeks when I get him back. Norma said she'd put him in the kids' art show.

Nalysnyky and Pysanky

Wednesday afternoon I left quilting at 2:30. I thought this was a bit of overkill, but I had to shop before cooking and I know cooking always takes longer than I think it will.

I started cooking around 3 and didn't stop until about 6:45. Nothing was terribly hard, but the crepes are a little time consuming because I can only cook one at a time. Everything went according to plan except, for one small thing; I started running out of the cottage cheese filling. I had an easy fix though, I got Jer to make me up some more.

Everything at dinner was delish as usual. So much variety, too much good food. One of the nice things about being a little late is that people are almost ready to eat by the time you get there. Usually we have to spend at least half an hour inhaling wonderful smells without being able to try them.

The food was great, but the highlight of the evening was pysanky, Ukrainian Easter eggs. Rob and Amanda graciously supplied eggs, dye, and tools for us all. The decorating was so much fun, it's very hard to stop. In fact Jer and I stayed a little too long because I was on egg number three.

I was ready to go, but then Savannah starting make Humpty Dumpty and I thought he needed a girlfriend, Humpy Dee-dee. Jer said he didn't mind saying so I started once again. It took longer than I thought it would: I looked up and the only other guests left were Savannah and Bethany. The four of us did help clean up though.

The top left egg is my favourite, egg number 2. The symbols showing are the symbol for swallow, as in the bird. Amanda had a book with traditional symbols in it. The egg also has the symbols for: sun, star, tree, bee, and flower on it.

Thanks for a fun evening guys.

Fun and Excitment Galore! mmm pizza opens next week

Wow, lots of stuff happened today.

I decided today was a good day to start a new knitting project. I went through my options and thought I'd attempt a toque: it looked like a fairly easy one. I might have been finished right now if I hadn't missed the small line that said "knit 75 rows..." I cast on my 85 stitches and then proceeded to follow the instructions for the crown. I followed the instructions perfectly, after I interpreted them, just at the wrong time. I finally figured this out what I had done sometime around 2:00ish. I am now doing it correctly and I've got about an inch and a half done. It is a beautiful bright spring green. I'm not sure who I'm going to give it too. I am not a toque person.

After starting my toque it was off to the depot. Not very exciting, but definitely necessary. Or so one would think. I have nothing to read so I wandered into the Free Store to look at books, I only found one novel, BUT I found a Japanese/English Snoopy book. I have been looking for a Japanese/English book, comic, manga, whatever for ages. The good old Free Store pulls through. And if that wasn't enough I found something almost as cool right after. Jer called me into the back to look at this sewing machine he'd found; it was a decent machine, it worked and all, but... I looked down and there was an old case and when I opened it inside was like the coolest sewing machine I've ever seen. It's a really old looking Aristocrat. I can't find any information on it online. It's missing it's foot, but who cares, it's great.

After the depot Jethro and I helped Jer clean out his trailer. Toglia's getting a small family of woofers and it's the only place to put them. After that back to the house for not much action. Until later...

Jer's beening planning on make this awesome dessert called Dulce de Plantanos: so, he decided tonight was the night. We decided that it was too much for just us and gave Doug and Rachelle a call. A quick run to the Cove and we were set. Jer cooked with a bit of chopping/peeling assistance from Rachelle and I; and some stirring/pouring assistance from Doug. Lots of laughs and conversation: much of it around food. The dessert turned out awesome! We could have done with at least two more people to help eat it though.

More photos soon, Google isn't happy right now

Turtles and mysteries

I was supposed to go to town/Demxx yesterday, but I got a call from Tina asking for help with Arts Afternoons. I had offered help earlier so I only felt right saying yes. It was so much fun!

I was helping Norma with a pottery class for the primary grades. There were four of them: Spencer, Heron, Cassidy, and Sachel. Four kids to two teachers was a good ratio, although they didn't need much help today. It was the third week so they were pretty independent. By the end they were working on sculptures instead of the platters and house candle holders they were working on before. I made a turtle candle holder: haven't played with clay forever.

Norma's daughter, I think, is the woman who makes the crooked, jazzy looking house candle holders. I've wanted one for so long. It was neat to see the kids making them. We're glazing them nextweek. I'm glad Tina called, it was a blast. They even helped clean up.

Afterwards I went home and hung out for awhile. My mum and I got sucked into a computer game. We started it at 10:30, but I didn't think it would take that long to finish. I didn't leave the house until 1:05AM. Bah, stupid mystery games. Interesting story line though: wife wins lottery, husband's having an affair with her best friend, they fight, wife trips and falls down the stairs, goes into coma. The game takes place in a coma induced nightmare.

"Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium"

We just watched the best movie! Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium sounds like it would be a children's movie, but it is reality a touching story. Magorium's Emporium uses a fun situation to teach you about life, friendship, death, and Magic. His store is incredible. It's the first original movie I've seen in like a year. Everything is a sequel or a remake. Bah.

Feet firmly planted on the ground

Last Friday I was all set to take the kids climbing at Rob's, but poor Rob cut his hand. I'm very sorry that Rob hurt himself, but I am relieved that it didn't happen. Energy levels run a little high, so I was worried about them not having much space to run. If we go down in April they can play outside.

It seems Thursday was a tough day for more than just Rob: Jer broke his toe that night. I believe the story currently is he was ripping it down The Way and a little puppy ran in front of him. He swerved to avoid hurting it, crashed, and the only damage he did was to his baby toe.*

*Facts may not be 100% accurate. Check out Jer's blog for his version of the story.

Jamaica...and a bit more.

Ay, yi, yi. It's been a long time. I must say, I can't remember specifics about Tapas night, but it was fun. I ended up in the living room with a couple people. I don't know why people seen a little resistant to the moving to the living room here.

It was hard to move the Social Climbers to the living room too. That was a fun night. I'm glad it was here, I'm not sure I would've been there if it hadn't. I haven't been riding in way too long. It was really nice to see Liz again. Word on the street is, they're coming up on spring break.

Speaking of spring break, Jer called Hans the other night and they might actually get up here this year. Jer mentioned the Cadet Camp, hopefully Kelly will be taking part in that. I'm looking forward to it this year. I've ended up volunteering to help corral the kids. It should be a good couple of days of learning and fun.

Finally, on to last night. Dinner Club #4 for the year was a blast. I got the last puzzle piece! And it was the only piece I did, puzzles are much more satisfying this way. I'll have to remember that for next time the power goes out. I did way too many puzzles last year. As always, the food was phenomenal and far too much of it was consumed. That last piece of dessert always has to be tried. :o) Elaine, Bethany, Amanda, and I had a blast talkin' in the kitchen. The conversation definitely meandered to interesting places. Although the best line came from one of the Hornby Island Quilters. In reference to American politics, "we've got to get those a**wholes out of the outhouse."

Keep your fingers crossed for me, I've got Teen Night down at Rob and Amanda's tomorrow for the climbing wall.

Surprise

I went for a ride today. I've ridden three times since like March and it didn't go so well. The first one I fell, bad. The second one I was terrified and it wasn't a good ride. The third one I felt sick and actually had to ride out.

It went well today though. At first I wasn't happy and I was scared and unhappy, but it got a bit better. By the end, I actually liked it. The new part of Watertower is still really bumpy and soft, not good when you're scared.

I'm very proud of myself for riding through the water. I don't like water! Well, not when I'm riding anyway, but I did it! I sat there looking at it for quite a long time before I just stopped thinking and let go.

It's still going to take time for me to let go enough to feel like I'm enjoying riding again, but I have hope that it'll come now.

Social Climbers go Wild

The majority of the Social Climbers just left. We had them over for dinner, even Liz was up. I was worried that there would be a bunch of pressure to get riding again. There was a little pressure, but mostly a lot of understanding. The understanding works way, way, way better if you're trying to get me to do something.

I have to say I wasn't looking forward to tonight as much as I usually would because I've had a bit of a long, tiring week. Early town mornings and dealing with a "new" car. I had one mechanic tell me it wasn't worth it for me to fix my car and wouldn't do the work. I took it to another garage and they, not only fixed it, they told me that some things were fine that I was told needed to be fixed before.

Anyway, back to the party. We had Liz, Elaine, Sara, Jules, Elisa, Gayel, and Amanda. There was wine, brandy, and Apple/Pear juice. We had so much fun! I miss hangin' out with them, I definitly need to get out riding with them again. I will when I'm not working Thursday mornings anymore.

Morocco

Dinner club started for Jer and I last night. We had previous plans for the first one. Last night was Morocco. The food was incredible. Everyone did a great job; although there were far too many delicious, sweet desserts.

I think we had 14 people last night, the house worked great for that many and we could have accommodated a few more. I invited Savannah and her family before Jer told me there were already going to be 14 people. I'm glad I invited them, they were a lot of fun and brought lots of yummy dishes.

Talking with Amanda later: she said she was going to invite them, but that Jer had asked her to stop at 14 because of the size of the house. She was also going to invite Toglia and her family; other people I wanted to invite too. They will definitely be asked to the next one. Tapas!

Dangerous and Deadly

And just what was I doing that was so deadly you may ask: I was working. Teen Night is dangerous. To start the evening off: I turned around to get a ball and tripped over Jethro. He complained about his shoulder and then forgot about it: my knees didn't fare so well. I went down hard on bunched up jeans. My knees are a pretty colour now, though :o)

Later, we decided to play glow in the dark basketball. Anthea's head met my glass which bent and met my eye. That one was painful! My eye watered for about five - ten minutes and I couldn't keep it open for more than two seconds. It was all red around it and it was about half it's size for a little while. It's mostly fine now, but my poor glasses aren't. They're usable, but not great. The plastic has been bent, at least I made them not crooked anymore.