I am trying to make amends by attempting to update this more frequently. So here are some updates.

Most of you probably know I work for GO Transit now. (aka Metrolinx)

Most of you probably know I am still on the ski patrol

Most of you don’t know I just built a new computer to help in these updates.

I loved watching the Canadian Olympic Team beat the pants off the US – Who didn’t? (Right – the US)

Union Station is going under severe renovations and I am helping design the new network infrastructure to support the new Union Station in Toronto!

I am going camping in March – well not so much camping – yurting at Killarney Provincial Park with Danielle and friend Rob P.

I will go into more details on each one of these as the week progresses. Hopefully I will have the time.

Update: (Yes, another update!)

I have changed the look, and spent some more time on the site. I won’t lie though, I can’t sleep and it’s about 23:00 on St. Patricks Day, and no I’m not out drinkin’ it up on a glorious day, just sitting in the basement trying to tire myself into sleep. Next Update – Photos! I need to work on photos. Many of you wonder what I do with all those images you see me snapping with the new camera – well until now they sit either on the card, or on a drive somewhere…

Because of the fight people are now all up in arms about hockey and fighting as a whole. I have heard comments from ‘Fighting should not be allowed in Hockey’ to ‘That player should be charged with murder’.  The fact of the matter is this: The player struck his head on the ice and his helmet was removed. This was the major cause of his injuries leading to his coma and unfortunate death. Had Sanderson lost his helmet on a break away and fell into the net hitting his head on the goal post – could the result be the same?

Although the fight caused the loss of the helmet it isn’t the root cause. Fighting is not allowed in hockey as people believe it is. Players are penalized in many ways depending on the severity of the fight. From 2 – 5 minute penalties on the ice to long term unpaid suspensions. In the game of hockey it isn’t even allowed to trip a player, or touch a players face with your stick weather intended or not.

The consequences of fighting on the ice are known to every player and it takes two people to get in a tangle. If I go to a bar and someone picks me out of a crowed and starts beating on me – he should be charged. If I step onto the ice during a hockey game and decide to take a shot at one of the players and knock him out, I should be given a suspension or penalties as the rule makers and officials are expected to do. If two players willingly involve them selves in fight – both players are penalized as per the rules of the game. I don’t believe that outside involvement should be necessary in determining if a player should be charged.

Instead of pointing fingers in this case, lets learn from it. Regardless of the fight – the helmet could have saved young Sanderson’s life. This is the case in most sports, from skiing, hockey, riding a bike, or motorcycle or ski-doo. Head injuries are no joke and need to be taken more seriously. And as this tragic accident proves – it needs to be done up and fit right to work.

It is tragic that Don Sanderson was penalized with death as a result of his injuries during the fight. I feel for his family and wish them my condolences. This truly is a tragedy.

Click here to find out more information and download firmware 1.0.3

The roof was replaced, thanks to my Brother-in-Law, my Dad, Danielle’s Dad, my Uncle Gregg, and my cousin’s husband Ron. We got it all done in two days, and the roof looks great. Danielle, my Mom, and my sister helped out huge too running around for us, and feeding us great food.

During the winter monthes, we decided to upgrade the furnace as well. This was mostly planned as we wanted to empty the oil tank before pulling out the furnace. That said we managed to heat the house on the gas fireplaces until we could get the furnace completed. Thanks again to Glenn and my Dad for the help on the install.

The yard-work is probably the biggest change. Danielle has got some great gardens in and the colour is definately adding to the character of the house. Trees are coming out in trailer loads. We have cut a few dead ones out and even just trimmed some others up. We have also been removing the shrubs and stuff that were so overgrown in the front and back yards. Cutting the grass is tough on this new landscape though. I have been using my gas weed trimmer to cut the hillside in the back as it is impossible to use a lawn mower. We really need to start working on replacing that grass with something else.

Well, I’ll leave it at that for now. Maybe ill find some more time this week to keep the updates coming.

Lately with the advent of satellite radio and other services like Spac from Telus, more people are listening to radio and music on their travels. This is in most cases done with the headphones supplied with their new $500 phone or satelite reciever they purchased. I guess though in some cases maybe didn’t come headphones. It has now become common place to play your music at whatever is a ‘Reasonable Volume’ for all passengers on the bus to hear. This is great, considering I enjoy most music, except when three people are competing for the same airtime on-board the bus. Did these people forget to budget headphones I wonder? Did the headphones fail? Do people just not give a crap that there are 35 other passengers on-board that probably dont want to listen to three songs at the same time?

My first question I guess should be – Why did the manufacturers of these portable music devices put a speaker on the device? And my second question is, why do people use them in public places? This gets worst than me just having to hear other’s music played over a crappy cell phone ring speaker, or portable sattelite mini output – When I was in Future Shop looking for my own personal music play from which to connect a pair of ‘personal listening device’ aka headphones, I saw a back-pack loaded with 6” speakers hanging out of the sid eof the pack, and you too for only $145 can own your own personal portable, wearable speaker / radio backpack from which to hang your favorite personal file sharing device and let everyone in your neighborhood know what music you enjoy. I guess hearing one of these backpacks may be better only in that the sound coming from the pack may actuallly sound better than that .025” sub woofer in your cell phone.

So this leads me to my last question – What causes a person to believe that playing THEIR music to eveyone else is going to improve our current noise polution? Is it only to ‘Improve’ the noise that we hear every day? Is this just because people must let everyone know they were stupid to buy such a device without headphones? Is this because we love our music so much that sharing it with everyone brings us so much joy and cheer? I can’t answer this – if you can, please post your comments!