Spaghetti And

One handy thing about the latest iPod touch is that it has a camera built in. This allows for the easy capture of interesting things with little fuss. Here's an example. Tonight at dinner a small bit of spaghetti fell and formed itself into and ampersand on the table.

Soundtrack is NOT a Genre

The other day my sweetheart and I went to the movies to see the Lincoln Lawyer. The movie was most enjoyable and one thing that made it even more so was the terrific soundtrack. The music perfectly captured the mood on the streets and carried the viewer from scene to scene effectively and unobtrusively. After we got home I bought the album at iTunes and I was disappointed to find every song tagged with a genre of "Soundtrack." Augh! Who does this sort of thing? Now I may be a bit obsessive about my iTunes metadata, but this drives me nuts. Instead of downloading and enjoying the music, first I have to tag each song appropriately. Here are the results of my efforts:

Now I can relax, knowing that every song will automatically appear in the correct smart playlists. Sometimes I'm in the mood for Blues, sometimes Jazz, sometimes Hard Rock. I am never in the mood for Soundtrack! Wake up, Apple, and stop tagging soundtracks this way.

Throwing Snow

For a long time I felt as though I was the only man left in Bruce County without a snow thrower. Well, no longer! We picked one up during boxing week and I am now a member of the mainstream snow belters and can throw snow across my front yard with minimal effort. Here's a picture of me and my new machine in action.

Now I no longer have to dread the mess that the plow dumps all over the end of my driveway in the mornings.

Early Winter

Winter has hit with vengeance in Bruce County this year and it decided not to wait for Christmas like it often does. Snow arrived at the beginning of December and there hasn't been much of a break since. Last Monday, while on my way to pick up the dogs from their grooming, I was hit by a pickup truck that came straight out of the white out. Thankfully, there was just a little damage to the Sebring's rear end and nobody was hurt.

What the plow left one morning.

We had enough of a break last Saturday to pick up the Nubbin from Mississauga. It was about the only nice day so far this month. Since then, we have been hamered by snow squalls which have managed to close most of the roads around here and trapping me at home for two working days. My pre-Christmas work scheduled is now completely messed up. I hope I can get everything done in the few working days I have left before the 23rd, when the Noodle comes home.

My Sweetie on the snowshoe trail.

The Last Step

Some time after we moved into our house we discovered that the deck off our kitchen was disintegrating from underneath. At that time, I designed a replacement deck and, with a little help from my friends (and family), built it.

I didn't quite finish it, though. We had always intended to put a long step off the deck opposite the house. This step was to almost the full width of the deck. The only problem was that, since there was a pond just off the deck, there wasn't much room to work and the step would eat into the available pathway between deck and pond.

Finally this year we filled in the pond and had a nice patio built in its place. now that there was room to work, I finally finished the job.

Plan is a perfectly good word but it's not plane (or plain)

The other day my sweetie was talking about some of our kids' friends who grew up on phonics and never learned how to spell. The title of this entry is a quote that caught my ear and stuck with me. I really had to chuckle. It is hard to read some of what they write online as I have personally seen entire sentences where there is not a single word that is correct on the context of that sentence. some of the words may be actual words, but they were not what the writer intended. It brings to mind the story I heard a long time ago of Ladle Rat Rotten Hut. This is, of course, a translation of Little Red Riding Hood whereby every word is an actual english word, but no word is correct in its context. The entire text could pass a spell checker without error, but the grammar is absurd at best. The funniest aspect is that, when read aloud, it sounds like the original story, but spoken with a thick German accent.

Art on the Side: Art Show

Art on the Side: Art Show: Here is the artist with the display of highlights from her first year's output from UTM/Sheridan as it appeared for the start of the 43rd annual Bruce Peninsula Art Show. It has been wonderful to see her talent be exposed through multiple media and I am excited to see her continue to grow and stretch as an artist. Way to go and keep up the great work!