A day in the life of a semiconductor

RDP Client

2009-10-06T11:59:00.001-07:00

If you see gridlines on and RDP session, do not update your client to version 6.1, or this will happen:

On Banded Knee

2009-04-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

Warning!!! NSFW due to possible bare chicken legs

So I picked up my fancy shmancy(why is firefox trying to spell-correct shmancy?) knee brace today from my friendly Ossur dealer in Richmond*

*side note: I hate driving in Richmond. When I want to head South-West, why do I have to get on 99-North?

I thought I would share my excitement with the multitude of readers who call me begging for blog updates.

So without further ado, I present 'The Brace'

Straight:

Bent:

And the action shot:

I will be testing this puppy out later today on a run through some trails near my house. Wish me luck!

The Bionic Man

2009-04-02T08:47:00.000-07:00

Time for a boring update post, but here's the deal:

me: hey Doc, I flew off my dirt bike in a blaze of glory and now my knee hurts
Doctor 1 : It's just bruised, it'll get better in a week or two
me: hey Doc2, my knee still hurts
Doctor 2 : It might be a slight tear, be better in 2 months
me: hey Doc3, my knee still hurts and it bent sideways the other day
Doctor 3 : Hmmm, we should send you to physio and a specialist
Physio - Looks torn to me, ask the specialist what to do
Specialist - Looks torn to me, go for surgery
Surgeon - Looks torn to me, wear a brace

So, after about a year now, I'm going to buy a knee brace on Friday (Maybe with flames on it!) that will hopefully take the place of my ACL... And since I'm already signed up to join the company soccer team, I better get back in shape in a hurry!
ciao.

Awesomeness

2009-03-25T09:25:00.000-07:00

So I stumbled upon this funny Periodic Table of Awesoments which made me want to post my top 5 things that are awesome:

5. Sarcasm
Because I really really appreciate you and what you have done for the world.

4. Camping
I love sitting in a forest with a beer in one hand and a chainsaw in the other. So I guess this one could be renamed "camping or being a crazed killer". Whether it be in a tent with holes so big you can't remember which one is the door, or in "The affordable way to get away" boxtent in the back of my truck, me loves the camping.

3. lolcatz
Many dark and dreary days - where one thing after another was going wrong - have been turned around by a hillarious picture of a cat with a clever quip. And so I ask you all:
2. Boobs
'nuff said

1. Bazookas
To me, the bazooka was always the coolest weapon to pretend you had when having a pretend gun fight as a kid. Nothing felt quite like resting that cold heavy metal on my shoulder, closing one eye and taking aim at ~~my sister~~ the enemy forces.
* side note: Although my mother worked for the Canadian Forces, and let me watch training video's on how to properly fire surface to air missiles or the benefits of tracer ammo, I was never allowed to own any gun toys as a kid. Not even a water gun.
Nothing beats a bazooka. Nothing. Try using one in your next game of rock/paper/scissors. I guarantee you will win.

I'm back baby! And now for something completely different...

2009-03-05T11:06:00.000-08:00

So I'm finally moved into the new place! My apologies for forcing you to live without my mundane (or is that inane?) ramblings for far too long.

Are you like me? Do you ever watch/read/pay attention to someone ~~important~~ semi-famous and think 'Hey, I could do that!'?
Not in The Little Engine That Could way, but rather in the How is this guy more qualified than me? egotistical way. Well I do, and recently I have come across a couple cases of this which I will (maybe possibly might) prove that I could do it better.

This example is internet based, so the qualifications are that you breathe. I just checked, and I qualify.

The multitude of video game podcasts (that suck).

While I find ZeroPunction's reviews amusing, they are obviously written for entertainment and hold no real "review" value. Most other podcasts take 20 minutes to "finish munching their nachos"1 and then 3 guys with tantamount voices just mumble about why the current line-up of games isn't perfect. Then they argue why each other is an idiot.

I would like to find or create a podcast where people with distinguishable voices actually give some insight to how a game plays/looks/feels rather than the classic five year old argument "it sucks!", "does not!", "does to!".

Anyone have a good gaming podcast or maybe someone who would partner up with the old Fynnsky for our very own?

[1] Chris Storey, 2009

Eyes Forward!

2009-02-11T10:09:00.000-08:00

So Its 49 hours and 50 minutes until I move into my first place, and I'm getting extremely excited. The problem is, I still need to be constructive at least for the hours I'm at work. I'm like a little kid the night before Christmas. I know Santa won't come till I fall asleep, which causes me to not fall asleep!

me: w00t! new house!
computer: zzzzzzzz
me: I can't wait!
computer: shouldn't you be pressing keys or something?
me: shut up you, I'm trying to be excited over here!
computer: seriously man, I'm just about ready to turn on a screensaver. You don't think your boss will wonder why you have toasters flying across your screen and a blank stare on your face?
me: what would make him think anything was different than usual?

So now I need to focus on work... somehow... not gonna happen

This is too funny

2009-02-10T12:26:00.000-08:00

For all of you who know a fanboi (or fangirl)*
For those of you at work, you may want to plug in some earphones for this.

This could easily be swapped for apple. I'm still laughing out loud...

*fanboi - noun - from urban dictionary: Someone who is hopelessly devoted to something and will like anything associated with thier particular thing.
That damn fanboi only likes that game cause Capcom made it.)

Time keeps on ticking....

2009-02-05T12:10:00.000-08:00

So we're down to 8 days until I move into my very own townhouse. And 117 days until my wife is due with my very own kid. If Obama was right about one thing, it's that now is the time for change. I might as well open my own business this year to complete the trifecta of life-altering events.

"And then get a dog just for good measure" - Chris Storey.

So all the hard decisions on the new place have been made; what property to buy, what colour to paint the walls, carpet or hardwood, paper or plastic (not sure what that means) and furnce replacement. Jen has even laid out where I am allowed to watch sports and play video games on our old furniture and where the new stuff goes so she can watch "What not to wear if you want to be popular" and "Azerbaijan's next top model" in peace and comfort.

As for the new kid, not much has been decided. As we don't know yet whether it will be a boy or girl, we haven't decided definitely on a name. I've been doing my best to widdle down to a short-list. I've had some interesting suggestions from friends and family. Some of the better ones include:

Dolph
Optimus
Vader
Quinn
Sephiroth (not actually suggest for my child, but still worthy of making the list)
Jebus
Klassen (not actually suggested by, but rather in reciprocal respect of, Fynn Klassen)

Go ahead and pat yourself on the back if your suggestion made the list
There have also been many more that end in a vowel, which to me always sounds like a drug (sara fynn, dana fynn, laura fynn, luka fynn).

Anyone out there on the intertubes have some comical additions to the list?

P.S. - I have to admit, Optimus Fynn does have a nice ring to it

They're not all that big or bent

2009-01-29T11:33:00.000-08:00

So my buddy, we'll call him "Tech" to obfuscate his true identity, IM'ed me this today:

Tech: So I was sitting there at blendz listening to my iPod surfing when I heard screaming and some crying outside my headphones. When I turn around I realize everyone is staring at me a few of them with expressions of outrage and bewilderment.
Tech: They seemed to think it inappropriate to keep the laptop sound on while I listened to my iPod. I apologized and offered to play my iPod through my laptop speakers seeing as the music worked really well for the video I was watching.
They declined.
Turning around further I saw a mother and daughter with horrified looks on their faces. Beside myself at being so callose I tried to comfort the daughter and explain "they're not all that big or bent" the daughter could only blink and the mother stammered.

Tech: Aparently watching porn with the sound blasting at blendz is frowned upon. I think there should be a sign

Thanks for the good laugh Chris, er... I mean Tech

Plagurism anyone?

2009-01-16T14:23:00.000-08:00

I find it funny the way in which Wil Wheaton and others write blog entries as conversations with inanimate objects. It's not only funny, but also makes it really easy to explain a situation. So in the spirit of ripping off someone else's idea, here we go:

me: Finally, all this hard work has paid off and this script is done
linux: d00d, its only 137 lines of code
me: But they are 137 lines of glorious code!
linux: then why is it so easy to compile?
me: Because it's Perl!
linus: a real Perl programmer would have done it in 1 line
me: *sobs*

Ok, so not the best story ever written, but hey, its free! ciao

The Abolishment of the Mistake

2009-01-13T08:46:00.000-08:00

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

"To err is human."

"If at first you don't succeed, try again."

All clichés that my millions of loyal readers have likely heard before. Why then is making a mistake so taboo today? Please don't take this as if I am trying to teach ans/or preach, I know that most of this is obvious. It's just that I see mistakes (or at least admitting to them) becoming extinct.

*** Warning - More clichés ahead! ***

I'm not suggestion that we should celebrate our errors, but rather we should remember shit happens. We should focus on repairing any damage done and learn from our mistakes. Seems rather simple and obvious right? Wrong.

Whenever a problem comes to light (usually well after the offence has taken place) everyone immediately starts pointing fingers. God forbid that someone fess up! How could they? After all, they were so diabolically clever in there plans to cover up the error! Fess up? Now!? C'mon!

Let's take a quick look at my quotes from above to see some of the obvious reasons FOR making and admitting to mistakes:

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
This would suggest that 'experience' is gained by slipping up. Yet another reason we NEED mistakes!
"To err is human."
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Everyone f's up. You are not alone!
"If at first you don't succeed, try again."
Trial and error is one of the best methods for solving certain puzzles. If we aren't afforded the right to stumble, we'll never learn to walk

We can't place all the blame on the hidden offender though. We should instead look at why they are so scared to be honest. I have found that every reaction has an equal and opposite reaction. If you (attempt to) cover up your mistake, it will always come back to bite you. If you instead admit that you made a human error and look for guidance on the next step to take, you'll be surprised how helpful people will be. They will be refreshed by your honesty! And guess what? If you start fixing the problem when it happens, you can usually avoid a lot of headaches that would occur if it were left unchecked. So again I ask, why lie? No seriously! It's not rhetorical... I want to hear your thoughts!

Maybe the most apt quote I can throw out as a conclusion would be "Common sense is far from common"

Oh, and I blame video games. ciao.

Hello 2009!

2009-01-12T07:25:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posting, but holidays kept me busy :D

So we made it. Another year endured and completed. I'm not one for official New Years resolutions (because they always fail anyways) but I am making some major changes for 2009.

The most important change being a new addition to the family. June 2 is the planned launch day, but the weather might cause a delay so we'll leave the launch window open. Not that anyone is ever prepared for having a kid, but I feel very little anxiety and lots of excitement for this. Saying goodbye to waking up in ditches or trying to jump over a drawbridge in a dirt bike is doable when I think about all the things I'll gain as a trade off.

The next big thing will be moving into a new place in February. Having a kid, buying a townhouse... welcome to being old!

The last thing will be getting surgery on my ACL... keeps getting postponed so who knows when it will actually get done, but I'm assuming sometime in the first 6 months of the year... Good times to be had by all...

Well, there's the necessary update. Maybe my next entry will be less update and more "hmmm....". ciao.

Rebel Without a Ride

2008-11-21T14:41:00.000-08:00

Todays rant is about transit.

Now, I could go on for hours about the inadequacies of the system as a whole or the absurdity of the governing body (both in its previous state and the new closed-door dictatorship). While that would also make me feel better, today's discussion will focus on the ridership that uses the system and how much I truly hate some of them.

1. The Perpetual Stench
Maybe I have misused the term 'perpetual' as the horrid odours themselves are far from consistent. However, their presence on transit is never in doubt. To try to deal with this Stench (and yes, it deserves to be capitalized) I sometimes imagine a world where I can get on a bus or step onto a skytrain and NOT have the person beside me immediately pass gas. I understand that there may be medical conditions or other reasons why someone can not hold it in, but it starts the second the doors close and never stops for the whole trip. Do people get off on gassing an entire busload of people with the remnants of their extra-spicy burrito? People! For the sake of anything you hold dear, PLEASE STOP FARTING!

2. Gramma's Elbows
Rush hour. The train comes hurdling into a station. The brakes engage and the train comes full stop. "Ding-Ding-Ding" and the doors open. Now PUSH!!!!!!

I want to get home just as much as the next person, but to resort to pushing and shoving is a little much. My favourite player in this rugby match is the 4'9" 80 year old hooker (in the rugby sense, you sicko!) who ducks her head and squirms her way through the crowd to make sure that she gets in front of everyone. And of course she gets off at the next stop.

3. The Blockade
Opposite to complaint #2, when the the train/bus gets the the next stop and gramma wants off, there is sure to be a crowd of people - eyes all aglaze - blocking the doorway. No number of "excuse me"'s, "pardon me"'s or "get the hell out of my way"'s can help you out here. You need Moses like powers to part this sea. Be cautious! By the time you have found your way through the labyrinth the doors will smash on you and try to dislocate you shoulders!

And again, I feel so much better. Thank you for indulging a cranky little boy.

Server Quest: Part 2

2008-11-14T11:28:00.000-08:00

To recap, day 1 consisted of me obtaining little or no info, little or no access and finding out that crucial components of the server had been "misplaced"...

Day 2:
After some digging I was able to find the original tracking number for the mystical box-o-hard-drives. With the tracking number I then found out the "Klein" signed for the box. Talking to Klein revealed that someone named Ross had taken the box away from shipping receiving for some unknown reason. I call up Ross and leave a VM explaining my dire situation. He calls back a little while later and leaves me a VM to let me know that he "took the box and put it under a tarp near the back door by room 5E. Its under a circuit breaker."

My server is on the 4th floor in an unknown room. I assume that 5E is probably on the 5th floor so up I go in the elevemator.

*DING* OK, so now I'm on the 5th floor. In this building, NONE of the rooms are labelled, so I randomly start trying my access card to see what rooms I can get into. After 4 attempts I get into some sort of server/network room. I start checking under every green tarp in there. There must be a dozen scattered around the nooks and crannies of this particular room. Items found: garbage, old equipment, some large spools of wire (like 5' across), some ceiling tiles, chunks of metal, but no box in sight.

I head out the back door of this room which leads to a long hallway, at the end is another door. Dammit, my ID doesn't work here. That's ok, someone is coming out so I'll just pretend that I belong and walk right in. Now I'm in a room with kilometers of telco wires running into thousands of junction points. Maybe this is room 5E? I find some network techs roaming around and ask them. No one knows. I find some green tarps with more of the same underneath them (What is with all the green tarps as garbage areas in this building?). On guy approaches and asks if I need help.

I spend the next 10 minutes explaining the circumstances that led me to this point and he says "Well this is 5E, but there is definitely no box like that in here. Are you sure he didn't mean 4E?"
I think on that for a minute and since my server is on the 4th floor, maybe he is right? "Maybe?"
"Well, you can just go out that door there and go down the stairwell one floor"

Guess what? once you are in the stairwell you need the proper clearance to exit on the 4th floor... and the 5th floor, 3rd, 2nd... Ya! I can exit at the first floor. Back into the friendly elevator and up to 4. Long story short, I scammed my way into 4E and the box was not there. I figure I'll go back to 5E and ask the one helpful guy if he has any suggestions. I walk past a door with a small window in it and peer in...
* Circuit Breaker - check
* Green Tarp - check
* Box sticking out from under tarp - check
* Proper clearance to open the door? FAIL!

another long story short, I get the box. Hizzah!!

Back down to 4 and FINALLY time to install the missing components. Open the server case and notice a large metal bar blocking access to the area I need to install in. held together with torx screws! T-15 to be exact!

After asking the 4th technician I found and having all of them rply "huh?" and walking away, I realized that no one is going to lend me a screwdriver. So I roam around downtown and come upon The Source where a simple torx set is $20.

Moral of the story... I wish I knew, but it feels soooo good to complain about it!

Server Quest

2008-11-13T12:09:00.000-08:00

My past two days can most easily be described as a monumental quest...

I have been tasked with setting up a server at a location that my business unit has not used before. Simple enough, right? Here's what happened:

Day 1: The Lead Up

Armed with little more than an address and a contact who will meet me there, I head downtown to commence an OS install on a new server. I arrive at said location and am pleasantly surprised that my ID Badge lets me in the front door. Thing are looking good so far, maybe this will continue throughout my day?

I ask the security guard at the front desk where I might find either the data-center or my contact. Confused, he replies "There are many possibilities, which department is the server for?"
"ITI" I reply
He ponders for a minute and then "hmmm, I have not heard of this BU"
I then explain that this is our first server at this location. He suggests that we go walking around to see if my contact has already arrived.

After endless corridors, server rooms, offices and stairways I finally find my contact by yelling his name. We'll call him Bob. "Bob! Are you in here?"
He comes stumbling out of a closet-like-room and exclaims "I'm over here!"
Great, now we're getting somewhere.

I thank the security guard for a job done and approach Bob. He shows me to the server which has been racked for me already. I try to get some pertinent info about the building and the room but he is also new to this location. He advises that he has some important meetings to attend and with that I am alone to get down to work.

I start performing all the mundane tasks involved with setting up a server when I realize I am missing hard drives. This is no good. Can't continue until I find them. Flip open the phone and dial up Bob, "Bob, we're missing Hard Drives. I can't finish this until I have them."
"I'm on it!" and with that the call is done.

I start doing other parts of the install that do not require these Hard Drives. One task is setting and verifying the networking. Conversation with myself:
'Wait a second, there are only two wires here. I specifically requested 4. I'll just oull out my laptop, connect it to a CAT5 cable hanging from the ceiling and print the excel sheet to the nearest printer. Yep, I definitely requested 4. Oh well, I'll keep putting along with what I have. The sticker on this wire says it is connected to Port 33 on this switch over there. But how can that be? Nothing is plugged into that switch?'

Fast forward a couple hours... After following cable runs from my server, into the ceiling, down into wiring closets, back into the ceiling and finally into the switch I found the problem and corrected the wiring myself. So now I am sure that my server is plugged into the correct ports on the correct switches, but I still have no connection. Call up Bob again and he is "on it".

Time for lunch...

Get back from lunch and see that Bob left me a voicemail that the networking should be fixed now. Magically, I now have a network connection on the 2 out of 4 wires that have actually been installed. Rest of day 1 consists of actually doing the work I set out to in the first place.

Stay tuned for day 2...

Where is your old CRT?

2008-11-10T09:13:00.000-08:00

I was watching a piece on 60 minutes about the e-waste of America and where it ends up and it got me thinking. We all know that our garbage is being dumped onto developing countries, but do we realize the profound impact it is having?

Seeing the destruction it is causing was nauseating. I have a box full of e-waste in my garage because I've never taken the time to investigate local "recyclers" to see which ones are legitimate. How is one to know when companies like the one spotlighted in this news segment claim to be 100% environmentally friendly and promise that none of their good are being shipped to Asia? If I take my CRT to an electronic recycler, what guarantee do I have that it will actually be taken care of responsibly? I would hope that the government would check up on these companies, and since most programs that I have seen are supported by either the Provincial or Federal government, that leads me to believe they are somehow monitored. Has anyone out there heard any stories like this one in Canada?

Watching man take advantage of man this way just reasserts that we have a responsibilty, a duty as concienscious world citizens to protect the less fortunate.

I myself will be recycling my e-waste the best way I can find, hopefully I'm not taken for a chump.

update: I'm going to trust in my government regulators: http://www.encorp.ca/cfm/index.cfm?It=939&Id=12&Se=40

Lets try this again

2008-11-06T14:20:00.001-08:00

Gonna actually try to update my blog now and then. We'll see how long I can keep that up!

Still reflecting on the election results. A few things I've considered:

While most Canadians (including myself) would have voted Obama if they were able, I fear that the Democratic push for protectionism can only hurt relations between us. While I don't think this will result in a Trudeau-Nixon style hatred, I do feel we will be losing some ground with our neighbours to the South
I do feel sorry for John McCain. If only he had been the Republican candidate 8 years ago, how different a world we would be in now. Either he would have won or Gore.. He is a better politician and human being than Bush but my opinion is he lost due to 3 huge factors: nominating Palin, associated with Bush and his age. Palin was wrong for so many reasons but I'll just touch on one thing that I kept hearing about her; "She is energizing the Republicans and getting the female vote". The problem with this statement is that the people that were/are excited about her running are all on the far right. These are the same poeple that wouldn't vote for a Democratic EVAR. So congratulations Sarah on garnering votes that McCain would have received no matter who his running mate was.
$2 billion is way overboard for election spending, but now the precedence is set, so watch for bigger numbers in "Palin V Obama - 2012"
CNN's "Princess Leia" effect wasn't clean enough for production. Try beta testing next time!
Larry King should try to at least pretend he is unbiased

Other than that, life is busy, work is busy, video game season is upon us... ciao.