Very fun weekend out at Lisa’s cabin! The weather fortunately held off until today as well, which was good. On the drive home Megan and I stopped two or three times because the storm was just too bad to drive in. Alas, we made it home safely only to find out that West Edmonton Mall was evacuated due to flooding, the Quesnell (sp?) Bridge and Fox Drive were closed due to flooding and instability, people were canoing down 116th street and 75th avenue, and that a tornado had touched down just outside Morinville. Craziness!

I came home with about 30 mosquito bites, 1 burn from the campfire, and a lot less alcohol than when I left. Fortunately I also came home having met some great people 🙂

Can’t wait til next weekend now!

So tomorrow I am off to Lisa’s cabin with Megan and a large group of other people to celebrate Lisa’s birthday! It should be fun, hopefully I can remember some of it. Anyways, no posts until we get back on Sunday evening 🙂

Have a great weekend everyone!

Okay so I have this thing about purchasing electronics. I used to think it boiled down to me hating crap. However, after a little bit of thinking, I realized it is a little more complex than that. Usually, the more you spend, the better the product you are going to get (there are exceptions as you will see). More importantly, I think, is the reputation of the manufacturer you are buying your electronics from. And I don’t mean reputation in general, but for that specific type of device. So, getting on with it, I present some simple rules to follow when buying electronics:

1. The higher the price, the higher the quality!
   Ever wonder why a Linksys network card is $35 and a Cicero network card is only $15? The answer is really simple – the Cicero card is absolute crap and that’s why it costs less. Less effort was spent on the design, manufacturing, and testing of the product, and hence it costs less. In the general case, I believe this rule is true. Exceptions come in specific situations, like notebook computers for example. You might think that because Apple notebooks cost so much, the quality will be higher, when in fact, Apple is quite notorious for having to replace notebooks due to problems with their screens and keyboards.
   Generally, the higher the price, the higher the quality.
2. “Consumer” editions of products by respected parent companies are good
   When purchasing your electronics, it is often useful to know who owns the company that makes the product you are interested in. For example, Linksys is owned by Cisco, arguably the most well-respected network device manufacturer in the world. Cisco really does power the Internet. As a result, a Linksys card is more likely to be a better purchase than a card made by a manufacturer that doesn’t have the backing of a parent company like Cisco. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule too. I would definitely steer clear of Aiwa devices, even though they are owned by Sony. Aiwa devices are not designed, manufactured, or tested in places even remotely resembling the places Sony branded devices are, thus their quality is generally quite a bit lower.
   Generally, products with respected parent companies are a safe buy.
3. Ignore salespeople
   If you are browsing for electronics at your local store, ignore the salespeople. Chances are, they know as much about the device you are interested in as you do. They will usually recommend something that will help their commission or which costs more before they will actually put some thought into what will work best for you. Of course, this rule is a really large blanket, but I think it generally applies.
   Generally, salespeople cannot be trusted.
4. Do your homework!
   Okay okay, I realize this rule sounds funny coming from me, but it’s very important! Before you run out and buy an electronic device, do some research about the products available that match your need. Learn about the differences between each one, and about the reputation of each product. This is also an important rule to follow if you choose to ignore the above rule – asking a pointed question about two products features will make it clear if the salesperson is a dumbass or if he or she knows what you’re talking about.
   Always do your homework first.
5. Get to know the companies!
   If you pay attention to the news, trade magazines, and other sources of information, you will learn quite a bit about the different electronics manufacturers. One of the most important rules to follow is to know the reputation of the different companies in general. If there is nothing else to distinguish your decision, you can always determine which company is best at a particular product, service or offering.
   Know company reputations in addition to the reputations of their products.
6. Always go with the “defining” product or company
   Even though there are many companies that make the same products, there is usually a distinguished leader for a specific product. Thinking of a UPS? Then get an APC branded one. Thinking of a sound card? Then go with a Creative branded one. Of course, there are some cases where two are probably equally as good, like video cards where you could go with ATI or Nvidia. Another is printers, where you could take your pick from HP, Epson, Canon, or Lexmark. The rule is still important however, as it rules out “Grandma Lee’s Printers”. Perhaps an important exception is found when looking at a product market more specifically. Thinking of an MP3 player? You might be tempted to say go with an iPod, and I’d say good choice. However, there are at least three other players with comparable or better features but which all have tremendously better battery life than the iPod.
   Generally, the defining brand is the best bet. After all, they do define the market!

In today’s high-tech world (bet you never heard that before) we buy electronics all the time. I hope you will find this simple guide useful in your future purchases. If you buy crap, you’ll get crap. If you spend a little more upfront and get a well-respected product by a well-known and trusted company, you’ll be better off in the long run.

Do you have another rule you follow? Any other companies you would avoid or recommend?

I made some changes to my site today! As you might have noticed, the dynamic menu at the top is now gone and in its place are just normal links. Also, the bar that was always at the bottom of the screen is now gone (good idea at the time).

More importantly, my site now loads correctly in Firefox, which I have been using more and more lately. If you have a comment on the changes, let me know. No let me rephrase that. If you have a constructive comment, let me know 😉

Oh, I also launched my postink! site yesterday, so check it out!

I dunno about you, but I feel that my vote mattered in the election we had last month. I don’t mean that just because I voted Liberal, but because I voted period. I know I have had discussions with some of you about which party you voted for, but we’ve always been able to agree that no matter who you chose, your vote mattered. Considering that the turnout for this election was one of the worst in years, I think everyone’s vote mattered even more this time.

Having said that, take a moment to read Martin’s post on this topic. It seems the local newspaper in Inuvik feels that his Green Party vote was a waste. Maybe the reason voter turnout was so low is that people have forgotten how important democracy is. Anyway, read his letter and let him know what you think!

At long last I have secured mastermaq@gmail.com! All it took was $3.75 on eBay. I was waiting around for Jeanie to get her invites, but I am skeptical that Google is offering new invites to users anymore. Thanks Jeanie for offering anyways!

At first glance, the pages are uncluttered and load very fast. I will write my own review a la Jeanie later.

Wow, long time no blog! Been very busy moving everything to the new servers, so sorry for any temporary glitches you may have encountered. Everything should be peachy soon!

Tonight I went for Starbucks with Violet, who I hadn’t seen in a long time. Good to keep in touch with these people 🙂 After that, I met Dickson at Tim Horton’s and we did some work on one of our software designs. Everything was going good, then around 11:30 or so, these crazy girls started fighting. Like hardcore pushing, shoving, punching, and kicking, throwing around the tables and chairs in the Timmy’s! We were stunned! Eventually they were broken up, and the cops came.

Maybe we shouldn’t have gone downtown!

First off, Happy Canada Day (well belated I suppose). If you’d like to show your Canadian pride for another day, get the Canada Day MSN Picture! To celebrate, Dickson, Andrew, Megan and I went to see Spider-Man 2.

Without a doubt, it is the second best sequel of the summer. The only reason I say second best is because Shrek 2 was clearly better than the first IMO. SM2 has everything you would expect, and a few things you wouldn’t, but that is not what makes it great. Like a lot of the reviews have already said, Spider-Man 2 is great because its the only comic book movie where you can take away the superhero, the bad guy, and the action, and you are still left with a decent story. In this case, it would be a romantic drama between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. Like I said to Megan, if you took all that out of The Punisher, you’d have a movie where one guy is depressed and ignores the desperate girl who talks to him constantly. Nothing more.

My only complaint about the movie, and I suppose it really isn’t a complaint so much as me being greedy is this; at certain points I craved action, and they just gave me a lot of love. Then when I wanted the love, there was a lot of love, let me tell you! The stunts and action sequences in this movie were pretty awesome too, much better than the first.

Compared with Spider-Man, the sequel is a little more artsy, and definitely more character focused. Put together wonderfully, you really get into the movie and feel for the characters. Throw in a little action, some cool costumes, and Spider-Man 2 is the summer movie of 2004 – you will not be disappointed!

Tonight, while the rest of North America was watching Spider-Man 2 (going tomorrow), Sharon and I went to see Fahrenheit 9/11. It was definitely an interesting and thought provoking movie, but what can you expect from Moore? Anyway, here is my take on the movie and the issues it presents:

Criticism #1
Total screen time for Tony Blair: about 5 seconds. Total time for the British Government? Zip. How the hell can you have a movie focusing on the Bush administration’s addiction to war and not mention Blair and his government? I mean hello! The only reason the rest of the world didn’t attack the US was because of Blair. I recognize that the movie is intended for the voting American public, but I think that ignoring Blair is a horrible omission. No wonder there are rebuttal films in the works.

Commendation #1
I think Moore did a good job capturing a number of different audiences. He didn’t simply focus on the money aspect of things, nor did he focus solely on the human side of things. Instead, I think the film was well balanced between the lives lost (and taken) in Iraq and the financial reasons behind the war.

Criticism #2
Towards the end of the movie, Moore talks of a conference to which government officals were invited. The hosts? Well all the footage shows Halliburton employees. Yet when he introduced it, Moore said “DHL, Microsoft, and others”. If you have issues with these companies Moore, save it for the proper documentary. The last time I checked, oil was not shipped through the mail, and machine guns do not run on Windows. Furthermore, if these companies were really responsible for the conference, why was there absolutely no footage of them?

Commendation #2
Another thing Moore did well was to point out the facts that might have been missed by other documentaries focused on the Bush agenda. He took the time to find out and tell us that only one Congressman has a child serving in Iraq. Only one. You also see some other interesting things, like how Bush authorized a flight to take members of the Bin Laden family out of the United States AFTER the FAA had grounded all flights.

Criticism #3
When he starts talking about the war in Iraq, Moore states that Bush attacked a country that had not harmed America, had not threatened America, and had not killed any Americans. When it was said, it was quite powerful, and I overlooked it until after the movie. Then I thought, what about the Gulf War of 1991? No Americans killed? No violence against America? I mean that is hardly justification, but just goes to show that if you watch this movie, keep in mind that Moore is a sensationalist (albeit a damn good one).

Yes I have more criticisms than I do commendations. Another would be that Moore only showed footage in Iraq that served his purpose – no toppling the statue and cheering that Saddam is gone in this movie. For me at least, the movie just confirmed a lot of the things I already knew or believed I knew: that the best thing that could have happened to Bush was 9/11 to unite the country, that the war in Iraq was for oil (though nice to be rid of Saddam) and the money that goes along with it, and that Bush doesn’t really know what the hell he is doing.

Proof enough for me that the war in Iraq was about oil is North Korea. Here we have a country that has made threats against the United States, that does have a nuclear weapons program and flaunts it, and which does perform crimes against humanity, and yet there are no plans to “liberate” the North Koreans or protect us from the threatened nuclear attacks.

Bush has done a great job of making the world hate America, driving the American economy into the ground, and making money for himself. I have always said that Kerry is nothing spectacular either, but really, can he be as bad as Bush? The one thing I have always liked about Bush is that he is not afraid to take action. Unfortunately, he should have struck Saudi Arabia instead of Iraq. There is something to be said for thinking first.

After watching the movie I can’t help but be grateful that I live in Canada. Adscam really pales in comparison to the Bush scandal presented in the movie. Yet we cannot forget that we are greatly impacted by the United States. As a Canadian, I would really like to see Kerry get into office in the upcoming election. And even then, I don’t think things will be all that great. Until Bill is allowed to take office once again, or Hilary decides to run, or the next excellent Democrat comes along, I guess we just hope for the best.

All in all, an interesting movie, but not as ground breaking as it was made out to be.

Well that was an interesting election don’t you think? Especially since the Liberals and NDP did not win enough seats to form a majority, and so must seek the support of the Bloc (Duceppe has pledged support). All in all, I think we’ll be back at the polls sooner than the party leaders are willing to admit.

And while Martin pointed out that there has been successful minority governments in the past, such as the government led by Pearson that adopted our Maple Leaf flag, the average lifespan of such governments is about a year and a half. Especially taking into consideration the party leaders we have today, I give the new minority at best a year and a half of existence. During that time period, I am willing to bet nothing (relatively speaking of course) will get done.

In fact, I think the only thing that might get accomplished is another referendum in Quebec. I say bring it on, and I hope the separatists win. If you don’t want to be in Canada, get out you ungrateful bastards!

Now the real question is this: will the drama of this election finally be more interesting than the corresponding American election? Not likely!