The network configuration change we began a long time ago is now complete! Special thanks to Martin for helping us get the excellent firewall/router. We are now secure, fast, and redundant!

I am sure I missed a couple configuration files somewhere, so if you notice something isn’t working correctly on one of our websites, please let me know. Otherwise, everything should be speedy now, with no refresh required!

If you want to host a website, you should talk to me or Dickson. If you’re nice, we might even give you a deal!

Now that three provinces and one territory allow gays and lesbians to wed, I think its only a matter of time until the rest of them do as well. Yet you would think if they were going to allow same-sex marriages, they would have thought about allowing same-sex divorces too!

Apparently two women in Toronto are seeking a divorce, but the Divorce Act still defines “spouse” as “of a man or woman who are married to each other”. So after a five day marriage (kinda kills the whole “same-sex marriage is going to work because they have been waiting forever to get hitched” argument) the two women, who had been in a relationship for 10 years before tying the knot, are stuck together.

Is it just me, or did the governments make a big mistake here? And why are the women only referred to as “M.M.” and “J.H.”? Do lesbians not have names? And why do these women want to separate anyways? Did it take five days of marriage for them to realize they cannot have children together?

Anyway, its a good time to be a divorce lawyer – the floodgates will open soon enough!

So that’s why I have a poor memory! Really interesting article at FuturePundit that explains the results of a recent study found in the APA’s Behavioural Neroscience journal. Basically, caffeine will help you recall information that is related to the current train of thought, but hinders when the information is unrelated.

Think of caffeine as a drug that reduces distractability. Get on one chain of thought. Then encounter a distraction that requires you to shift to another chain of thought. Caffeine will inhibit your brain’s ability to make that transition.

Obviously, this is a trade-off. The ability to resist distractions is a plus in some environments. But that is not always the case. Other environments require frequent attention shifting.

All we have to do is figure out how to harness the power of caffeine! I just KNEW all that Coke and Starbucks was good for me 🙂

Read: FuturePundit

…the sick bastards do something unbelievable. As if the Olympic Committee in Athens hadn’t make enough dumb decisions already (starting the games on Friday the 13th, sweeping aside any terrorist concern, construction way behind schedule, etc) they have gone and made another one! Apparently, officials in Athens plan to poison up to 15,000 stray dogs in the city for “aesthetic reasons”.

Is it just me, or is there something very wrong about this? That’s like gassing downtown Edmonton because the street bums make the city look bad. I usually despise the animal and environmental rights groups because they complain about the dumbest things, but this is not one of those things. Its pathetic. Disgusting.

If you know me fairly well, you’ll know that one of my biggest needs is having Internet. I am really, truly addicted. Ever since wireless was introduced, I have said that we need to have wireless everywhere! I can’t wait for the day when wireless Internet is more prevalent than the cellular networks. I thought about it yesterday however, and realized that I don’t really need wireless everywhere…just almost everywhere.

So, here is a list of the places that I need wireless in order to simulate being connected everywhere, as well as the status of the wireless connection at that location:

• Home – completely wireless!
• University campus – mostly wireless!
• Starbucks in Chapters on Calgary Trail – no wireless
• Any Starbucks downtown – no wireless
• Second Cup on Wye – maybe wireless soon?
• Second Cup on 101st ave – no wireless
• LRT & Buses – no wireless
• All Boston Pizza’s – no wireless

If all of those places had wireless, I could be connected *most* of the time. Of course, I think all airports and hotels should also have wireless. And really, I think we might as well make all of downtown wireless. The Downtown Business Association could install access points on all of the buildings creating a blanket over the downtown. I know they are doing this in Spokane, why not here?

Oh yes, the malls (especially WEM) should be wireless too!

I must say I never expected the shirt I bought at Old Navy in Seattle back in April would be such a hit. Every time I have worn it, guys have been like “dude that’s awesome” and gals have either laughed or pretended to be disgusted while laughing.

Today I recieved an email from a guy who was scouring the Internet for a “Have a sister?” shirt. He came upon my blog entry from back in June where I talked about it. Well, good luck! I hope you find one and that it brings you much happiness! Check out the shirt here.

Tonight was Switchfoot live at Reds! Megan, Lisa, Matt, Matt, Dave and I went to their awesome show, good times! They have a really good live sound, and good stage presence too. We were right to the front left of the stage, so really close.

I was surprised at the number of new songs they played, but I think they had pretty good variety too. The last song they played was, of course, “Meant to Live”. The encore was “Dare You to Move”. The only thing I didn’t like about the show was the “encore wait”. I understand that an encore is important, gives the audience a definite idea of when the show is over, lets the band feel good. The wait this time was like 25 seconds – compare that with RHCP which was like 10 minutes! Why even leave the stage for 25 seconds?

Anyway, very good show! Jon Foreman (lead vocalist) is really good at communicating with the crowd, kept things interesting! If you get the chance, I’d recommend a Switchfoot show!

So I expect everyone heard about the CRTC’s decision yesterday to allow Al Jazeera’s content to be digitally distributed in Canada. That means that you can, eventually, watch Al Jazeera (also know as the CNN of the Arab world) in Canada legally (you can get it right now with illegal set-top boxes).

I don’t know about you, but I like the general decision. I think it’s good to allow the network to be distributed in Canada, as I am sure there are tons of people who want to watch it. What I do not like however, are the caveats that go along with broadcasting Al Jazeera. Basically, Canadian broadcasters have to keep an audio-visual recording of all Al Jazeera programming, and must also prohibit abusive comment from appearing on Canadian televisions – even if that means the broadcasters have to edit Al Jazeera programming.

Smells a lot like the American censorship we have come to know under Bush. What’s the point of having Al Jazeera in Canada if they are going to have to censor the beheadings? Okay I know that sounds crude, but you get my drift. If I know that broadcasters are editing Al Jazeera, how do I know they aren’t editing anything else? Where does it end? And even if it only is for Al Jazeera, isn’t that discriminatory? Doesn’t that infringe on free speech?

When it comes right down to it, the decision won’t change anything. People who get the top package on their satellite or digital cable will now magically have a censored Al Jazeera. And those people who really want to watch the channel will still get it illegally.

I wish the CRTC would spend their time doing something useful – like making it legal and easy for me to start my own radio station.

Okay there I said it. Congratulations on the glory to those with guts.

In other news, Megan and I went to Starbucks tonite (third coffee of the day for me). I asked for Caramel Machiatto and the guy tried to say they were out. Yeah, like I am gonna fall for that! It was very good 🙂

Went to dinner at East Side Mario’s in Sherwood Park with Megan tonight. Among other things, we chatted about the camping trip and wrote down some more details – so hopefully we can get that off the ground! Inge and Dickson…you should have come!

While we were there we saw Ryan from the trip last weekend, and chatted with him for a bit. Turned out Dave was having his birthday gathering there, so we waited around to see Matt and Lisa as well. It was like a camping trip reunion!

Anyway, I remain weak. Need more beer!