Can't shake this attitude.

In a way, I applaud the government and their stand on extending the RRSP cut off age to 71 years of age, this means I can make tax-deferred retirement savings for the next 21 years and reap the benefits in my twilight years.

Why do I applaud, loudly?

Well, it helps those guys who are still working past 65 years of age, helps them plan for their retirement when they hit 72

hello?

Arthur, my dad, died at 73, my mum, the lovely Dorothy, died at 72.

True, they smoked like chinineys and ate battered deep fried loveliness all their lives with bread, butter and a post-war disregard for anything that tasted like cardboard.

Nevertheless, Hear me please, ignore those politicians.

Retire early.

Relax.

Drink.

Throw small stones at passers by.

The price of fish.

I don't need to remind myself that my wife's parents are arriving at the end of May for a twelve week stay in June.

She blinded me with Science!

I make a PC for Allan, my father in law, every year.

This year, I know he'll want to play World of Warcraft, so I can't get by without building a half decent box. I build him a box because I know he feels comfortable in the fact that he can infect, destroy and mutilate whatever I build him without my eyebrows becoming enormous.

If its not mine that's broked I can fix it.

So, back to the price of fish. In 1991 I bought a 386, 33mhz, with 16mb ram, floppy, 200mb of hard drive and a modem for the grand total of $4800 including a 24 pin Star NX2400 dot matrix printer and a 14 inch monitor.

Today, through the ex-lease guru nearby I bought a Pentium 4, 2.4ghz, with 1gb ram, 40gb of hard drive, 10/100 NIC, CDrom, Floppy and all those bells and whistles that did not exist 16 years ago. $225

The extra 100mb of hard drive, my upgrade from 100 to 200mb, back in 1991 cost me $225, Ram was $90 a megabyte and banana's were still less than 40 cents a pound.

Enter four yorkshiremen.....

Waking up Saturday when it's Thursday.

Oh, I just hate that. Woke up at five this morning and thought it was Saturday.

It's Thursday.

And just because survivor was on last night (Wednesday) instead of tonight (Thursday) would not have made it Saturday anyway.

But Friday would have been better than Thursday.

And Tomorrow still isn't Saturday.

Drat.

World of No Craft

I've been cheating a bit with the Warcraft thing, been running a gnome mage on a free 10 day pass and enjoying the ding.

It's all about the ding.

The Burning Crusade has come down 10 bucks and it won't be long before the summer ends and I'll need the full time Warlock fix again.

In the interim, free pass play and Xbox live with the new Ghost Recon.

Oh, and painting and packing and planning. Squeeze the real life into the equation.

A reality ding.

Troublemaker

I'm keeping the blog up for my Korean friends, although one of them spends most of his time in a bubble bath drinking herbal tea and the other is fighting for survival at the other landing gear company in the west.

So, they probably don't notice.

It's been an odd week, the new group based IPT system at work is starting to not work and the displaced director/classic boss types are flexing their weak muscles in an attempt to show they still mean something. The design guy has been sending lots of emails with BOLD characters to make people AWARE that, although he is not what he was, he still is a major PLAYER in the COMPANY.

He might be right, might be wrong, but why does he even care if his responsibilities have been stripped and lay on the desert floor next to his epaulettes?

Then the other one, the evil, shifty, lying creep. He's not really changed. He strips the dry skin from his lips and vibrates his knee as though he's running a sowing machine and we all do our best to not get caught when he patrols the office cubicles 40 times a day, but, we still do.

I try to make trouble and drive him crazy, other resident peeps just drive him crazy because they breathe. The unspoken ones who left are still spoked about and blamed for their bad, bad work.

Bad monkeys.

My Korean buddies are safe, they've gone and found the better places, they both know I'm going to join them soon. well, not in the bath, not in the industry.

And not in this province.

Spam Jihad

Whats going on?, seems to me that there's an avalanche of spam, here, there and absolutely everywhere.

I'm flattered of course, it's nice that important people in foreign countries need my help to process incredible amounts of money, but its a bit puzzling that Paypal, Visa, The Halifax Building Society and the Homosexual Mail order association want me to verify my login information when I'm not a customer or client of any of them, well, maybe just one.

Just say no.

My ISP provides a spam filter, but it's just not working. I have more than ever. Its the same at work and I'm sure their firewall is far better than anything I could muster.

Therefore, we must mobilise and collectively fight spam at every level, it's critical that as many people as possible know this, so I ask you to please send this important message to everyone you know.

Thanks, and by the way, when I receive my $480,734.31 from Mr Ugam Ubarbie, I will throw a huge party and buy all my friends beer and munchies.

You know who you are.

Technology

It's amazing what kids have nowadays, VCRs, TVs, Stereos and MP3 players, Computers and even cellphones. Well, that's nothing new as I had it all when I was a kid, just slightly different but fully functional.

The VCR.
Well, slightly different, but I had my Chad Valley Give a Show projector and a device called Flashy Flickers that I could show slides and movies (sort of) on the ceiling, as long as my batteries lasted. I even had a little 8mm projector with such fantastic movies as The Munsters, The Lone Ranger and Rocky and Bullwinkle, well, maybe not the Bullwinkle, and certainly not Rocky, but the loan arranger was in there, oh no, that's not true, he only arrived when I was seventeen.

The TV.
Well, it wasn't mine, but, it was a spare black and white TV that was in the front room, the front room for those who are not familiar with the term, was the best room, with furniture that wasn't used and yes, spare tellies to impress the neighbours. The TV I spent a lot of time watching, and illegally adjusting to prevent oblong heads when it was warm, was my one link to the Munsters (again), the Adams Family and of course My favourite Martian.

The Stereo.
Mono, Fidelity boxed record player, Victor Borge and Tommy Steele with his Little White Bull. There was also the lovely Chad Valley Close and Play 45 rpm record player. As time went by, Little White Bull was turned into a frisby with this marvellous device.

MP3 player
I had a little tape machine, reel to reel, a miniature version of my mums Grundig TK20. The most fantastic thing I ever recorded was the theme song from Gerry Andersons UFO. That was played a thousand times. Duh-du-duh-duh, duh-dudu-dudu-duh-duh-da-dur.

The Computer.
Easy this one, it was called an Etch-a-Sketch. And my brother Robert was the king of all sketchers.


Cellphone.
Not one of the devices today had the features of my Dan Dare radio transmitter. Notepad, Morse Code, rotating Flashlight, Electronic radio with a range as long as the connector wires and a buzzer. A classic. I still have it, well, I have someone elses actually.

It was a fantastic time and without the technology, I would never have made it. The only difference really between me back then and the kids nowadays is that my mother would play the tyrant and simply decide what I was eating at every meal and make me eat what was on my plate, even those horrible brussels sprouts.

And no technology on Earth could save me from that.