peace tower

One of the things I like about being Canadian is that our parliament is accessible. There is a large security and police presence, but they blend and observe instead of putting on an overt show of force with an aim to intimidate (because that works so well in other places).

It allows us to take in the history of the area and see what belongs to us up-close, instead of being separated from it by fences, crash-guards, the military, law enforcement, or other barricades. You don’t get that in many places, and I hope the powers that be don’t ever forget who it’s all about.

I like being able to walk around, and not just because it lets me get the odd capture like this one.

reboot: 31536000

Gawd, how does the time go by so fast. I posted this pic a couple days ago on flickr, and despite the facial expression, I’m actually feeling pretty good. I took this after the first workout I finished where I didn’t think I was going to die – it’s taken somewhere around 4 weeks to get to that point. It’s not a long time, but it sure feels that way sometimes despite how quickly it flies by.

It’s been a tough few months, but things are looking up. A couple things that I can control – but haven’t been – are back under control, and it’s a huge difference. I’ve dropped about eight pounds, my back has stopped screaming at me (now it just pisses and moans once in a while), and I’m not winded from running up four flights of stairs anymore.

My brain is actually working again, as I’m supplementing work with a healthy dose of reading and coursework that I’m interested in. Lots of little steps that are adding up; like what about bob without the irritation and Richard Dreyfuss (which I suppose are one in the same in that flick).

Well we know where were goin’
But we don’t know where we’ve been
And we know what were knowin’
But we can’t say what we’ve seen
And we’re not little children
And we know what we want
And the future is certain
Give us time to work it out

– Road to Nowhere, Talking Heads

I’m still not entirely sure where I’m going, but I seem to have a general direction picked out. That’s good enough for me now, and I’ll continue to refine that with time. I have a feeling I’ll be getting a Christmas gift that a lot of people get, but no one wants, which kind of pushes me to keep working it out.

The trick to that one is to mitigate the receipt, so I’m working on ways of ducking to the side. I had some great plans, but they kind of fell apart and put me back at square one. This is a good thing, because I’m not at square minus-five (I keep telling myself this, anyways).

So, things are looking up, and it’s finally stopped raining.

sf book meme

Moggy‘s got a meme up that I can spend the couple minutes on to answer as well. Have a look below the jump if interested, and the theme of the meme is which of the books on the Science Fiction Book Club’s 50 most significant SF/Fantasy books list have you read or tried to read, and did you like, love, or hate them. There’s a few books I’ve never heard of, and more than a few that I think are missing from the list, but that’s just me.

Surprisingly, I have (tried to) read all of the top 10. That may have had something to do with my favourite course of all-time – “Anthropology Through Science Fiction” – a third-year credit whose reading list was awesome. The prof was great, and it’s amazing how much information about the writer’s environment/time that you can glean from what they write (which was something I had never considered looking for in SF before). Good times. Anywho, the list is after the jump.

Read more

six feet under

Huzzah, huzzah!

I knew if I wated long enough, the price of a season’s worth of Six Feet Under would fall below $100. Best Buy has Season’s 1-3 for $49.99 CAD now, and if you haven’t ever watched the show, I strongly recommend it. I got Season’s 1 and 2, which will keep me busy now that I’ve finished Lost (yes, I’m kind of ashamed) and Battlestar Galactica 2.5 (what have you done to Starbuck you character-murdering drones?).

Anywho. Great TV that I think is well worth the $50.

yvr: departing

I’ve managed to travel a ridiculous amount in the last decade, and one of the only things I have found hard is the return home. After several hours – anywhere from 4 to 24 – I find myself in a familiar environment and realise I’m really close to being “back”.

As I walk from the gate or customs to the luggage carousel, I always notice that the pace of my fellow travellers pick up. Mine never does, because I know that my luggage won’t be there, and I’ll have a few minute wait. What distinguishes me from the bulk of my fellows is that there’s someone waiting for them when they return.

When I’m visiting people I care about, getting on the plane is always hard. There’s more where I’m coming from than where I’m going, and I know that the only thing waiting for me at home is a cab ride or collecting my car from the parking garage, and a 15 minute ride home either way. No one’s ever at home, and I never get a hug that says “welcome back”.

When I’m visiting, there’s always friends at the other end. There’s nothing quite like being spotted from across the concourse by Zoe and being greeted by a mad dash and a huge hug, or a beer in the airport bar (only in YVR, which rocks) with Rachel and James because you just want to reconnect and say hi right then and there.

Moments like this always make me sad. I’ve posted this photo before, but rediscovered it last week and realised what it means to me. Poking through the cloud is the place where my friends are, and where i was a few short hours ago. I’m on my way out, I don’t know when I’ll be back, and there’s not a lot to look forward to until I’m actually home and even then, it’s usually the day after.

Parting nothing. Departing is such sweet sorrow. I know I’ll be home, but sometimes what’s on the other end doesn’t seem to be worth it.

just so ya know…

…if you’re using mod_python and Apache 1.x do not, under any circumstance, upgrade to gcc 4. Bad things happen to your server.

Also, don’t tell me I should be using Apache 2. I know that. I may make zulu upgrade his code, because that’s really the only reason why we aren’t.

But still – Apache 1.x, mod_python, libc6, and gcc 4 are really bad news. So don’t. No, seriously, don’t.

I’ll post more on this a little later (along with how to make mod_myasql_auth actually work with Apache 2.3.x), but I just wanted to say that after three months of the webserver here taking a dump on a regular basis since upgrading Debian, the problem is solved. mod_python was the culprit, and it has been sent to its room.

Thanks to the squid-folk for their patience while their sites dropped off the map for no apparent reason several times a week and I couldn’t figure out what was going on. All better now. Teh yay!

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