I Just Received My Canadian Forces Release Papers Arrived Yesterday

It was a little unsettling. I felt that it stirred up memories: so many lost hopes; a little bit jealousy because of others getting opportunities that I did not get; bad relationships.

There were positives, though.

Use FujiPlay To Connect Fuji MX-700 With Linux

I discovered that Fujiplay does a great job of connecting my Fuji MX-700 to my Kubuntu computer, while digiKam & gphoto2 fail miserably. Fujiplay is not KDE or Kubuntu specific, or specific to any desktop, so it should work fine with all Linux computers.

• Fujiplay
• ubuntu hardy fujiplay binaries
• ubuntu hardy fujiplay man pages

In the remainder of the blog entry, I give the details of why I tried Fujiplay, and then rant a little.

Announcement: Added New Page, Listing Where To Find Me

I thought that it would be useful to have a page of links of where to find me. The page is at the top. Let me know if you cannot find the page.

I Climbed The Grouse Grind

[Update: I've added photos that I took, before and after the hike, to the end of the blog entry.]

I've been waiting to climb the Grouse Grind for ages. I finally completed it, yesterday. I did it in 1 h 20 m. I thought that I did well, but I was below average.

In the remainder of the blog entry, I'll talk about my experiences, and give you some important information.

Our Christmas Performance

We, the Vancouver Orchestra Club, will perform on Dec. 4. For tickets and times, check back at this blog, or our concerts page.

So far, it's been fun, listening to the Star Wars music on my computer, and reading the 3rd trumpet music at the same time. I think that I should be able to play most of it.

Asperger's Syndrome Update

I went to the walk-in clinic, about an hour ago. The doctor said that it seems that I probably have it. He referred me to a counselor, who will help me through the next stage of diagnosing this. He said to keep on reading up on it.

Article: "Vancouver parking spaces will be transformed into parks"

It seems that people are trying to do something fun and clever to make a point: Vancouver parking spaces will be transformed into parks. In the remainder of the blog entry, I write about my impressions and ideas.

Employment: No Thank-You Note Could Mean No Job

It turns out that an employer might actually not hire you simply because you did not send a thank-you note. I've never heard of such a thing, before.

I copied the relevant text from that page, and pasted it in the remainder of the blog entry.

Article: Gain Perspective On Innovation And On A Quarrel

Here is a great blog entry on how to balance 2 views, to bring about progress: a field guide to transit quarrels.

Even though the blog entry is applied to transit, it is clearly applicable to all forms of innovation, whether that be church ministry, innovation in business, or just growing your activity club.

Survey: Environmental Actions And Beliefs

Here is a survey that I made for practice: Environmental Actions And Beliefs. It was made from a template that came with SurveyMonkey. I modified it just a little to make it more user friendly. Hopefully, I can get some good experience from this.

Why Google's Services [e.g. Gmail, Analytics, etc.] Are Slow

I think that I discovered why Google Analytics and Google Gmail are very slow. I'm an Opera user, and I thought that Google made changes to its services which made it incompatible with Opera. I don't know if that is the case, but I found out that we can adjust the network connections settings to receive data in the way that Google wants to send.

I'll try to give Opera users a walk through, but I'm sure that the overall principles still apply to Firefox users and other users.

Announcement: Minor Improvement To Blog Entry Jumps

I've tried to improve the text for the link that leads you to the blog entry, to avoid redundant text. I also decided to add better phrasing in the final paragraph before the link, to let you know what is in the remainder of the blog entry.

I haven't gone back to the previous entries to make corrections, so some of them are still a bit weird.

Counting In A Faster Tempo

I've struggled, all of my music life, with counting. "Playing In Half-Time" is a web page that helped out a little.

This is just 1 of the tips that I need to do well at this Christmas's performance.

Announcement: I'm Distracted With The Possibility Of Asperger's Syndrome

I've have discovered that I might have Asperger's syndrome, so I am feverishly pouring through all the information that I can get my hands on. I've even sent a questionnaire to people.

I'll try to start posting blog entries again, soon.

Environmental Survey

I created a new survey about the environment.

ODF Template Survey

It took me a while to get around to it, but I decided to offer this survey. I'm really interested in quality control for my templates. Please take the necessary 5 - 10 minutes to complete the survey. You'll be doing your part to improve the state of free/open software, because free/open software needs templates too. Click here to take survey.

Type 2 Diabetes Update [dark eyebrows & grey hair]

I didn't get a call from any doctor on Thursday. I waited until the end of Friday to be even more sure. I should be okay.

Grey Hair Update

I've been reading a bit about grey hair formulas, and lead acetate. Right now, it's supposed to be okay to use in Canada, but I will definitely take a close look at the ingredient list, before soaking my hair with it.

Videos: State Of Masulism Is Encouraging

My friend, Jack Day, of Masculism.ca, in Vancouver shared with me these 3 videos.

• Defeating Feminism- Part 1
• Defeating Feminism- Part 2
• Defeating Feminism- Part 3 Conclusion

We shouldn't break open the champaign, yet, but I'm encouraged by them, because the end seems to be near, for the feminists. Hopefully, we won't push the pendulum too far. Until then, we have to remember that women have too many rights.

For now, I'm going to be optimistic, as if we have already won, yet, fight as if the war is almost over.

Spanish Bullfighting Banned

I'm very glad to read about this: Spanish bullfighting ban: 'Finally, we've overcome this evil curse' - Out of Bounds - NBC Sports. It seems like such an unfair sport. I don't see any value to it, at all. I think that if I grew up in that culture, then I might be more inclined to appreciate it, but I think that my external perspective gives me more clarity.

Links On Posing For Cameras

Today, I'll go with my friend to Coal Harbour. I'm volunteering to help him with a client. I'll help her pose, so that can he take some great photos of her.

Here is 1 link that he recommended that I read over, and 2 links that I found useful. There are YouTube videos, as well, but these explain a lot, and should be enough to keep us busy.

• Model Posing Secrets For Your Next Fashion Modeling Job
• Posing women silhouette illustration stock photos - Search results
• Posing men silhouette illustration stock photos - Search results

I Might Have Type 2 Diabetes [dark eyebrows & grey hair]

[Update: I wrote a blog entry on the results, or lack thereof, of the diabetes test: Type 2 Diabetes Update [dark eyebrows & grey hair]

I went in for a test for Type 2 Diabetes. I decided to colour my hair a natural black, to get the grey out. Read on for the details.

Free Beer At Free Beer Camp

I don't encourage people to drink beer, but this seemed a bit much to pass up.

Sierra Beer Camp

Announcements: I Added HTML

If you've been having trouble reading through a blog entry, because the paragraphs were not displayed, then you are probably 1 of the people that will want to take another look, since it should be easier to read, now.

The remainder of this blog entry explains why the problem happened in the first place, and how I solved it for most of the blog entries.

Creating Surveys

Lately, I have been playing around with SurveyMonkey.com, to try to create user satisfaction surveys for my Lulu.com templates. So far, it seems to be going well. It probably took a full work day to complete it, because there seems to be so much information to get from participants, and so much information about designing surveys to learn.

I'll probably have to finish it in a couple of weeks. I want to make sure that the survey works well, as soon as I release it.

Once it is ready, I'll give you the link.

Motivating Employees

Dan Ariely & allyourcode wrote about motivation, and how easily managers can take that away, by just rejecting our projects.

• An interview with Miguel Barbosa
• Meaning at the High-Tech Workplace

Read more for my response, and a suggestion on how to break bad news to employees.

How I Spent My Birthday

I'd like to give you all a rundown on what happened on my birthday. This is a cross post from my hosiery blog.

My Birthday

Tomorrow is my birthday.

Volunteered For ESL Organization

I volunteered to tutor ESL. I think that it is important to practice my skills, so that I won't lose it. It'll ensure that I have job opportunities, if i decide to teach again.

I Joined An Orchestra

I joined an orchestra yesterday, because I'd like to start performing again. I feel kind of nervous, because I suspect that the trumpet player is quite good. I feel kind of sad, because I wish that I could join a good orchestra that played only Christian music.

We'll see how it goes. The concert will be in December and June.