Posted by rae in
Reid,
travel,
workat 11:58 am on Sunday, 23 September 2007
Waiting at Gate 134
“Boingo”? Did Cory start up an ISP?
I’m sitting here at gate 134, with no WiFi because it’s provied by “Boingo Wireless”, and the minimum you can buy is 24 hours for $10.
If they sold 1- or 2-hour chunks for $5 they would be rolling in it, the idiots.
Wow $10 for 24 hours!
But I only want 1 hour
For the first time, I got pulled aside at US Customs.
I think my guy was alarmed when I said I was going on business and I would be attending a week of meetings.
He gave me an orange clipboard, and I went into the people-we-think-are-working-illegally waiting room.
Well, it wasn’t called that, but that’s what it felt like.
The lady at the front asked me to put my two index fingers against a biometric fingerprint scanner,
took my passport and boarding pass and asked me to sit down and wait for my name to be called.
She kept the documents, which alarmed me almost as much as taking my fingerprints.
I wonder if there is a mechanism by which I can get my fingerprints expunged.
I doubt it. “Foreigners” have pretty much zero rights in the U.S.
When my name was called I talked to a guy who was clearly zeroing in on my being a salaried employee.
But when I told him that (a) I worked in Toronto, and (b) was incorporated, he calmed way the fuck down.
He said it would be easier if I got a typewritten letter next time clearly delineating the relationship between myself and OSAF.
I dunno, this is the first time it was a hassle of any kind.
So now I am waiting at gate 134 for my flight to San Fran, after having a modest lunch of tuna sushi and a diet coke.
I have a couple of bags of Skittles for the plane, and I found an outlet into which I’ve plugged my laptop, so I’m good to go.
Or sit and wait until 1pm, as it were.
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Posted by rae in
Reid,
hardwareat 11:18 am on Friday, 21 September 2007
So while I’m in San Francisco next week, I want to go visit a Fry’s Electronics to both pick up a new phone for home (the
Panasonic KX-TG1034s with an extra handset), and to just browse.
There is no store near Toronto like Fry’s.
It’s like Canada Computers on steroids.
On the other hand, maybe there is an electronics place in San Francisco that sells the handsets at the same price and would be much easier to get to.
In order to go to Fry’s I’ll have to take the CalTrain (very similar to Toronto’s GO Trains) to Palo Alto and then
either walk or take a cab for two miles.
If anyone has advice about electronics stores in San Francisco, I would gladly appreciate it!
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Posted by rae in
familyat 3:29 pm on Tuesday, 18 September 2007
I found out last night that my Grandmother, Evelyn Ellis, knew Norman Jewison’s family and used to visit.
Apparently she would stay over sometimes; and when she did, Norman would have to give up his bed (in the living room) so she could sleep there.
Hah!
Poor little Normie.
Hope she didn’t put him out too much.
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stack o’ videos – click for readable text!
So the deal is, if I transfer all our old 8mm videos to DVD/DivX, then we can buy a new HD video camera.
Cool, thinks I, all I need to do is borrow Vartan’s 8mm videocamera, which has FireWire out, making digitization a snap!
Vartans videocamera
So I pick up the camera from Vartan Friday night, and tonight I try to set it up, only to discover that.. I can’t find my mini-FireWire cable!
You see, the videocamera has this teeny-tiny FireWire jack.
mini-FireWire jack
I have lots of full FireWire cables, but I think I may have lent out my mini-FireWire cable.
If you have such a cable I could borrow, or you have one of mine, let me know!
I’ll try asking at Friday night gaming, if I remember.
I guess I could always buy one while I’m in San Francisco next week..
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Posted by rae in
family,
homeownerat 8:47 pm on Wednesday, 12 September 2007
I’m trying out an EyeSpot video.
It’s of the birch tree the Friday it came down.
Our birch tree fell down
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what are those characters before the ©?
I was watching some
movie trailers:
Iron Man,
War,
The Last Legion,
Exiled,
Lions For Lambs,
Right at Your Door,
and
The Signal.
At the end of “Exiled”, I noticed something funny in the end credits, as you can see to the right.
Heh.
Btw, I heartily recommend the “Iron Man” trailer. Yes, they used the Black Sabbath song.
“The Last Legion” looks really good, and I was susprised to see
Colin Firth
and
Ben Kingsley
were in it.
“War” and “Exiled” look to be two good martial arts action movies.
I suspect the former will be more in the impossibly-good category,
while the latter has more of a “Reservoir Dogs” feel to it.
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Tree down!
So we’re a bit tight for time today, what with Ronnie’s Mirror flyers not showing up until 11pm last night, and neeeding to shower and pack to leave for Tony’s cottage by 7pm or so..
So what happens?
One of our Birch trees in the front yard decides to come down!
Argh.
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