All posts by Maurice

Free wifi at SeaTac

December 4, 2009 Maurice 3 Comments

Yep, Google is good for something. They are sponsoring free wifi in the SeaTac airport!

So we made it – we’re waiting for our flight in the Africa Lounge… we’re having a smallish beer – Tim is having the Pale Ale and I’m having the Amber Ale. Both very good.

Nice drive down from Vancouver, but the traffic was bad going through Seattle – no surprise there – Friday night rush hour. But wow – this airport is EMPTY. There is no one traveling. Wow. Never seen anything like it at all. This airport was more crowded after 9/11!

Hopefully that means we’ll get great deals everywhere!

We’re flying Jetblue – first time we’ve flown with them, so we’ll see how it goes. Was not too impressed with the check-in staff. She seemed a little confused. And we are not seated together on the flight into St. Martin (we’re flying into New York first…) which is most annoying since we booked the flight AND our seats over a year ago!

They are calling the flight for first boarding – it’s 9:30 PM – right on time. we’ll talk to you from New York.

Commentary, Holidays

Merry Christmas or Season's Greetings?

November 17, 2009 Maurice 1 Comment

There is always a large, and very vociferous, debate about how to greet someone over the Christmas Holiday season. Many feel that Merry Christmas is too Christian, and offends the Jewish, Buddhists, and Islamic communities. They feel that Western culture does not take their feelings into account.

This may be true. But do Islamic countries allow Christians to celebrate their faith, openly, and without persecution in primarily Islamic countries? The answer, of course, is a resounding no. So should we be sensitive to their needs, in primarily Christian communities? The answer, of course, is a resounding yes.

Why the discrepancy? Simple. Because we can. We are freedom loving people. We don’t want to offend people; we want to welcome them to our communities and to our lives. If they choose to NOT celebrate our customs and traditions, that’s fine. I don’t celebrate the Islamic Diwalli Festival of Light either. I don’t greet people with Happy Diwalli. In fact, despite living in a community with a significant Islamic community, I have yet to be greeted by those of the Islamic faith with such a greeting.

Christmas is celebrated on an ancient pagan holiday. It is not a faithful representation of the day of the birth of Christ. It is merely when we celebrate it, much like we celebrate the Queen’s birthday on some weekend in May. So why do we feel the need to express ourselves in such a way? Frankly, I do not object to people greeting me with Merry Christmas. But I also do not object to people greeting me with Happy Holidays or Season’s Greetings either. The latter two are more inclusive, embracing Jewish Hannukah, Islamic Diwalli, and even pagan celebrations of the New Year.

Surely, the whole point of this holiday is one of inclusion, celebration of family and friends, and thoughtful reflection on the year just finishing. Most of the dissenters are not people of other faiths, but agnostics who wish to remove all religion from any kind of meaningful context in our lives.

Let me be clear – I do not practice any faith, but to suggest I do not have Christian values is silly. Many of the things that make this country great, are because our forefathers were of Christian faith, and preached tolerance and love. To deny this, is to deny our heritage, our history, our life.

So my wish to you is this – Happy Everything! Happy Holidays! Season’s Greetings! And Merry Christmas too! I use all three sayings, and have no hangups about using any of them. I hope you will do the same.

Commentary

Olympic protests

November 16, 2009 Maurice 2 Comments

DOWN with it! Our home province, British Columbia, last week introduced legislation to empower authorities in Vancouver, Richmond and Whistler to enter homes and remove or cover up “unauthorized” signs during the Olympic Games. The Miscellaneous Statutes and Amendment Act states such actions can be taken “without the consent of the owner or occupier.” The proposed law would let authorities remove any sign on a person’s residence or property that doesn’t celebrate the Olympics.

This is an outrage! I had been a quiet supporter of the Olympics in Vancouver, even though I frankly couldn’t care less about any of the Olympic sports, including hockey. But I realize that the Games will showcase our great city to the world, and that’s a good thing. Or is it?

I didn’t watch one minute of the recent games in China. Frankly, I think it was wrong to attend the China games. The reason? They do not believe in giving their people the freedom to express themselves, let alone other basic freedoms we take for granted.

And here we have BC following the Chinese example? DISGUSTING!! This is not the way a democracy works. If the politicians in this province pass this legislation, my yard will become an anti-Olympic sign factory. I will fight this fascism til my last breath.

If the police intend to enter my home to remove these signs, I will resist. I will instruct my dog to attack anyone looking to abrogate my right to free speech. I will use force against any invaders of my property.

If this law passes, there will be violence. People will not sit back and let politicians take away rights for which we have fought and died. We fought the fascists in Europe. We will not be cowed by the fascists in suits in our own legislatures!

Commentary

Windows 7 vs Vista

November 15, 2009 Maurice Leave a comment

As many of you know, the new version of Windows has come along to replace Vista, the much-maligned OS from Microsoft. Windows 7 is supposed to be this huge improvement on Vista. Now I don’t want to get into the many arguments one way or the other. Frankly, it doesn’t matter. New laptops will come with the new OS and have increased functionality as a result. At some point, upgrading will not be optional. It’s just the way it goes…

My complaint is this: I paid for Vista – it came with my Acer laptop. I also have TWO Vista install CDs, also paid for. One came with a new computer, and the other was purchased, retail. Every few days I get a notification that Vista needs to be verified. It is ridiculous that this continues to happen. But the annoying thing is, I have twice had to call Microsoft to have my software “approved.” When it happened the third time, I went and found a crack for it on youtube, and I’ve not had a nag note from Microsoft since.

Now I ask you – how is it that I’ve spent close to a thousand dollars for legitimate software, that MS acknowledges as legitimate, and yet, in order to use the software, I have to hack it? Does this make sense to anyone? Is it not an infringement on my rights that Microsoft continues to ASSUME I am guilty, without any evidence? A police officer could not check me out on the off chance I might be doing something illegal, unless he had some “reasonable cause.” How is Microsoft able to circumvent this principle cornerstone of our society?

Now I hear that Windows 7 has the same problem! People are complaining that they are being nagged to death about their legitimate software. CNET has posted a link to a youtube video on how to crack Windows 7.

Ironically, a Microsoft exec claimed that Windows 7 was based on Apple’s OS X. Of course, they are back tracking on that now, but clearly, any idiot with a quarter of a brain can see that 7 has similarities to X… Personally, I don’t care. BUT, it is astonishing to me how Microsoft works so hard to keep legitimate users from using their purchases, while picking and choosing cool tools from other people without paying or acknowledging their work.

Microsoft claims that they are only doing it to insure they are paid. Well I’ve paid. It’s time they did too. I should be paid each time they call me a thief and they are wrong. Clearly, they are defaming me and my reputation. This kind of needless and repeated intrusion into my privacy is unconscionable. Microsoft must stop.

Commentary, Something About Us

Returning a damaged camera

November 13, 2009 Maurice Leave a comment

We have had three different Olympus Underwater cameras. You’ve seen all the photos of fish on this site, 98% of which have been taken with one of those three cameras. When we were in Aruba the second camera sprung a leak, and we were “forced” to buy another on the island.

The camera has a one year warranty, and Pam realized that I would procrastinate until it was too late to get any kind of repair or replacement from them. So she took it upon herself to get it packed up and sent back to Olympus. In less time than it takes Anna to process an order, Olympus had the camera back to us! Yes, that’s right, in less that two weeks we had the camera BACK!

Now that’s service! It is nice to see a company concerned with what their customers think, providing prompt, professional service. It’s so refreshing! I can’t say enough about this kind of warranty repair service. It is definitely the best service we’ve ever experienced for this kind of problem (returning a defective product).

Just thought I’d give a company that cares a plug!

Something About Us

Remembrance Day

November 10, 2009 Maurice 1 Comment

I can’t believe it is Remembrance Day already! This month has gone by so fast. I’ve been in and out of sorts, getting the flu and a cold and still just generally feeling crappy. Pam has avoided getting sick, I’m not sure how!

With this down time, I’ve been puttering around getting the Christmas decorations repaired and ready to go. Lots of blown lights, broken reindeer, damaged snowmen lol! If the rain every breaks, I’ll start putting some lights out.

This year, I’ve done something for Remembrance Day that I don’t usually do. In fact, this is the first time. The cross on the right has the first two lines of In Flanders Fields.

I wanted the deer to have a scarf made from the cloth of the Black Watch, which was the regiment my grandfather volunteered into during the Second World War. But I couldn’t find one. Anyway, it’s the thought that counts this time of year, right?

So let’s take a moment to give our thanks to our veterans, past and current who have put their lives on the line so we can be free. Wear your poppy proudly. Thanks Dad. Thanks Grandpa.

Holidays

Halloween frights

October 31, 2009 Maurice 1 Comment

Well Halloween has come and gone. It was pretty special this year. We were worried about the weather, since it was very windy and rained all week, and the forecast was for more of the same. But the day started sunny and warm and kept that way all day. The evening came and it was clear and no wind. So that was very cool. It’s great when the kids can come out in their costumes without having to worry about rain gear.

Mike and Fiona came out and helped with the festivities this year, too. Fiona got all done up in a witch’s outfit, and with Pam as a Ghoul, the kids had a double dose of fright! I tell you, Fiona had a great cackle, and the karaoke machine projected her voice – it was great!

One lady told us that her daughter had been calling our house “the creepy house” all week and couldn’t wait to come and get some candy from us. But when she got to the house, and saw all the strobes flashing, the creepy red eyes gleaming, the smoke and the screaming, she couldn’t even look at Pam or Fiona! Her mother had to carry her down the driveway, but no way was she going to look! Pretty cute.

It was really nice to hear so many people thank us and compliment us. We have always done something around the place, but we really did do something different for this year. The graveyard theme was a big hit, and people loved walking through the headstones and reading all the goofy inscriptions. Next year I promise to do a better job of lighting the way!

We’ve also had some talk with the next door neighbours about doing a Haunted House or something like that. It’s an intriguing idea. We’ll have to take some time to consider how to do that. We watched a show called Extreme Halloween and one guy had a haunted house in his driveway. It was cool, but he figured he spends over $5000 a year on it! We ain’t going there!

I hope you enjoy the movies! It’s a little dark, but you get a sense of the place. You can hear them cackling and the scary music going!

Here is a shorter version of the mystery of the Great Pumpkin Head. Kids got to take a sucker from the Great Pumpkin Head, but if they took the wrong one, they got eaten! Apparently the younger ones are quite crunchy. If they picked the right one, Pam and Fiona begrudgingly gave them a bag of chips or nachos for it.