Random Musings and Nicknacks

‘Twas the night after Christmas, when all through the house
Only one creature was stirring, quiet as a mouse

The dishes were piled by the stovetop with care,
Waiting to be cleaned, and put away all bare;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of nerf-guns danced in their heads.

Mom and dad had gone upstairs, with groggy heads
And had just collapsed to sleep like the dead.

When from downstairs there arose such a clatter
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter
Across the room I flew with a dash,
Tore open the door and saw in a flash

The gate was open and nowhere to be found
Was our puppy dog, the cunning little hound.

I ran down the stairs, I was fearing the worst
Not lessened one bit by this little black burst
A dog running upstairs avoiding my gaze,

Fear clearing my mind of the earlier haze…
I rounded the corner, trembling in fear,
When what to my wondering eyes should appear?

But a turkey roaster no longer up top,
Instead on the floor, fat surrounding its spot.

I will kill you I yelled! You did this last year
You ate smoked salmon, have you nothing you fear?

Mom and dad settled down to clean up the spot,
Wondering how much of our turkey he got,

I swear that I heard, as he skulked out of sight…
“I will do it again! Next year’s Christmas night.”

Today I was dreaming about a White Christmas. Like in the song.
“I’m dreaming of a White Christmas!”
It was very bright, and I remember in my dream having to wear sunglasses because all of the sudden the sun came out and the snow became REALLY bright. And in my dream there was also snowball fights, snowmen wars, even a snow tank! It was really fun and everybody kept pelting each other with snow.
But then I woke up.
Whereas here it’s nearly been all but white. White does not seem to be in Richmond’s vocabulary. I mean, sure, there’s been snow. But not on Christmas. I can’t remember seeing snow on Christmas. I’ve seen snow on other days, but not on that specific day.
And, well, it’s been raining this morning, and is starting now to clear up. I wish it would just make up it’s mind. I mean, I would like it to stick with one weather. Maybe even snow!
I just wish I could pelt someone with a snowball here.

Cheers,
Snow-Deprived,
Tim

Well, Christmas is nearly here.
And the family is here.
But I have absolutely nothing to do.

I have to wait until Christmas, and get the new toys from under the tree when it comes. But until then I’ve got to hold on. I almost feel the world is closing on me, and that I’m going to go crazy before the special morning. And until then I have to keep myself entertained.
I could just keep pulling pranks almost 24/7, hearing screams go off now and then randomly through the house. Starting off with pranking my mom and the my dad. I already pranked my mom yesterday by hiding a spider on the shampoo bottle.
I got a good,
“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU TIM!”
But I still think I should get them both at the same time. So, this is a warning.

TWO DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS:
DEAR MOM AND DAD,
YOU’VE GOT 2 DAYS.
AND A PRANK WILL BE UNVEILED THEN.

You better be careful where you step!
Hee hee, cheers,
Tim

I’m sick and tired of all these very old marvel characters, they’re just everywhere. The hulk, Batman, Spider-Man, Superman, or even just Wonder Woman. A lot of them end up with -man or -woman.
And the problem is I have a problem getting a break from them. They’re everywhere! T-Shirts, TV, Halloween, Toys, Christmas Presents, Beach Towels, especially internet!

I would even like to know the author instead of the character!

Maybe if they created a new set of heroes, like a normal person with non-average abilities! Then that would be a hit!
Maybe just a man with talents but they aren’t extraordinary like Superman. Maybe even an average policeman! Something like that I can enjoy because I’m really on the edge of my seat because I know he can actually die.
Or someone disabled who can fight crime.
Or maybe even a story of an average life of a soldier!

These things could make wonderful stories… it’s just that people who create comics don’t realize that, and often racking their brains for another superhero. Why can’t they just use people who exist now? Why does everything have to be unrealistic?

Maybe later in the future… maybe later.

The other day I had the opportunity to visit Tim’s school during the day. His mom had forced him to wear rain boots, and so he arrived at school without shoes to use for gym. It fell to me to run them in for him.

I arrived at the school, went into the office, and explained my predicament to the admin assistant. I told her who they were for, and without looking anything up she said “Oh, Tim, his class is upstairs that way.”

Later that night I asked Tim why the principal’s office seemed to know him so well….

He looked at me and started with “Well, you see, I get hurt a lot.”

I’m afraid I didn’t hear the rest of the answer, by then I was laughing too hard.

Wow, the Christmas spirit is starting to go around! I see a lot of holiday show specials and a lot of people starting to decorate their houses.
Even the library has been decorated!
Well, I’m really excited, and I’m counting down until the day comes. And any day now I’m going to immediately start nagging on what I want for Christmas… Beware: You’ve only got a few days left to relax, mom and dad…

Every website I visit daily is starting to decorate their websites. One of the most decorated I would definitely say is Google. But small time websites like Gaia are also decorating. It’s really nice to see nearly everyone getting into the spirit.

As for me, I’m starting to write… wait… never mind.
I’ll keep that a secret…

You’ll all see why…
Tim

Hot on the heels of discovering that they are filming a version of The Colour of Magic, I just got passed this piece of unfortunate news.

Terry Pratchett has announced he has Alzheimer’s disease. Its very early, and isn’t really affecting him yet, but he may have to rework his schedule.

In typical Pratchett form, he has told his fans how to interpret this news: “This means I’m not dead yet”.

And in my oft usual manner of throwing in random quotes that I like at the end of an article, his response to J.K. Rowling’s statement that she didn’t think of the Harry Potter books as a fantasy novel, and really didn’t think she was writing fantasy…

“I would have thought that the wizards, witches, trolls, unicorns, hidden worlds, jumping chocolate frogs, owl mail, magic food, ghosts, broomsticks and spells would have given her a clue?”

Hot on the heels of the Asus EEE, which is a beautiful machine, I see rumours that its first competitor may be about to arrive.

The competition is great, but we will have to see. One of the things I like about the Asus is the lack of any moving parts; carrying hard-drives has always been a problem with laptops. 30GB would be nice, but 4 USB ports on the ASUS means I can put what I want on…

Funny how it took $400 laptops to bring Linux into people’s houses!

And since we are again linking to my favourite technology and society site I have to give the quote that gave me the best smile today, about Canada’s Industry minister backing off on the new copyright legislation:

In response to Angus’ criticism in Parliament, Prentice simply said that “the bill will not be tabled [introduced] in the House until such time as myself and the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages are satisfied.” Which raises the obvious question: Canada has a Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages? Does that even fit on a business card?

On the weekend we decided to go watch a movie. Dad tried hiding it from me, saying we’re going to see “it”, and the times were 1:30 and 3:30.
I had no idea what he was talking about. But note to dad: do NOT leave clues to things your trying to hide ON your computer…

Well, we got to see the Golden Compass, and in my opinion. It was nicely filmed and had nice scenes and angles. I loved the imagination put into the film. I really need to read the book this movie is based on. But anyways…

I’m not going to ruin this film for you, but I was watching, and, all of a sudden, these people pull up the credits! And when they jumped to the black screen, I thought it was representing night. They were going to wake up and the movie will continue.
Then, all of a sudden, I see the words.

DIRECTOR:

And I’m saying to myself:
“No, no, NO!”
Apparently, my dad was expecting it. He knew it was going to end, and I just stared at him blankly, and said,
“What?!?”
Now, I’m really upset. But I realize that it did it’s magic. By complaining, I feel also like I want more. So on the long run, they did their job. They got me craving more…

I think I need to write this down before my memory goes blur. The story I would like to share here is the limo driver we met at Tahiti Villiage Resort in Las Vegas.

After we signed the deal for time share with Consolidated Resort, we were offered a limo ride to Tropicana Hotel (where we stayed in Vegas) as a surprise gift. Our limo driver is a tall white gentleman in his mid fifties. He has the next door uncle’s look with warm smile on his face. He greeted us at the door and led us into the car. (more…)