January 2, 2008
I got back from my trip, and two days later, so did my luggage. While I was returning from the States, my bag went to Amsterdam and then on to Mumbai, India, where it looped back north to Denmark, before making its way home to Canada – on a completely different airline than the one I flew. Yikes. But I have it, intact, so all is well and this just becomes a story to start out the new year.
January 3, 2008
Did you watch the Winter Classic, the first outdoor NHL hockey game in America between the Buffalo Sabres and the Pittsburgh Penguins played in the snow in front of 71,000 people in the Buffalo Bills’ football stadium on New Year’s Day? If you did, you know how much great fun it was; if you didn’t, you probably don’t know what the heck I’m talking about. Either way, NHL, do it again!
January 4, 2008
I hear the RIAA now wants to sue Wassily Kandinsky for depicting a record in his 1923 painting Composition VIII. Said an RIAA honcho, “Who does this Russian abstract painter think he is?! I know that’s a Deep Purple album he put up there in the corner. Did he think I wouldn’t notice?! It’s purple! It’s obvious he’s thumbing his nose at downloading. Well I’m here to tell him, That’s copyrighted, mister! And as long as the RIAA has thousands of lawyers, he’s not getting away with that! Let this be a lesson to ALL long dead abstract painters from Europe - we will rock you!”
January 5, 2008
I’ve been vividly dreaming of late. Why, just last night I was involved in a caper. That’s right, a caper. I was up to my neck in it too. It was spooky and noirish and get this - I was the bad guy. Ooh, the bad guy in a caper dream, perfect, exciting. I felt good when I got up, like a million bucks. Two million bucks! Stand back!
January 7, 2008
The company that hosts this site has been bought twice in the eight years that I’ve been here. The new owners want to move all the websites to a new server and a new plan. They want to eliminate the older server and its templates. This means that I cannot migrate my old site to the new server. It would have to be recreated from scratch. Very daunting and nearly unacceptable. They want to shut this host down in April. We’ll have to see what happens.
January 8, 2008
Like watching a cat cough a hairball, I’m amazed that the American media is so dedicatedly focused on keeping us completely and fully informed of every little nuance of the oh so wacky yet trashy spectacle that is Britney Spears. You ever wonder what happened to Osama Bin Laden? Do they (the media)?
January 9, 2008
The clutter in my office is appalling. If it weren’t me creating it, living with it and ultimately contributing more to it, I would be embarrassed for the person working here. But since it is me, and I have no intention of beating myself up (or cleaning the office), I applaud the mastermind who is able to weave his way through this litter and still be the creative and brilliant sod that he is. Haw!
January 10, 2008
I’m always asked why an Internet publisher needs a state of the art Chemistry Department. And my answer is always the same: It gives us the edge over other Internet publishers who don’t have their own. Those poor saps have to farm their chemistry out to some 3rd party lab. We do it all in-house! No wonder our growth has been so phenomenal and sustained and the envy of many.
Dr. Michal Jablonsky, Chief Executive Chemist, Chemistry Department, Keith Ryan Publishing, holding an important test tube that could set the publishing world on its ear.
January 11, 2008
Here’s a reason why it’s tough to be the boss. Something comes across your desk that is good, very good for having been unsolicited. But you can’t just commit to it because it’s dependent on someone you’ve never heard of or met. This person is integral to the project’s success, and without committing money and/or resources, you have no subjective data to go on. If you pass on it, likely a competitor will be waiting. If you make a gut call and proceed with it, and it turns out to be a success, it will just show how astute you are in your capacity to make these kinds of decisions and everyone will love you for it; if it turns out the person is not right, then the failure will be on your conscience and resume and company bottom line; either way, it’s all yours to own. Now, you’re the boss, a decision has to be made, what’s it going to be?
January 13, 2008
I got my first hands on with my Dad’s new Mac recently. Very pretty, beautiful to work on, a really nice machine. I think my Dad made an excellent choice with his new computer. My only gripe was the fact that there are no right click context sensitive menus. I must have right clicked a dozen times before I could remember there is no right click on the Mac. How come?
January 14, 2008
‘I think Bush is a moron’ brings up 1,630,000 Google pages. Because I think Bush is a moron, there are now 1,630,001.
January 15, 2008
Somebody sent me a crystal ball. I keep waiting for it to get cloudy and discern the future. I’ve stared at it, shaken it, twirled it and rolled it. I’ve asked it questions, cursed at it, and ignored it in case it needs its space. Nothin’. A whole lotta nothin’. Maybe it’s just an objet d'art? And I’m supposed to put it in my garden? Or my bathroom. You think?
January 16, 2008
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIThe TUCKER & SOPHIE & MADDIE ChroniclesIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
I went out to shoot some Winter pics of the dogs, but I tripped and dropped the camera in a wet, sloppy snowbank and my picture taking machine has stopped working. While I attempt to dry the camera out, here are a couple of photos from the Summer and Fall to fill in.
Sophie and Tuck
Maddie
January 16, 2008
I have 29 DVDs and CDs full of backup material for both my computer and Susan’s Tablet. I have several flash drives of varying sizes with backup data as well. I use InCD and have dozens of them with tons of material written all over the media (InCD is a program which formats rewritable discs in such a way that they can be used like hard disks or floppy disks. This means that you can save, copy or delete files from any application onto the disc.). Frankly, I have no idea what’s on any of ‘em. Sure, I might write 'KR’s Documents' and the date on the disk case, but what’s actually in there? I’d have to go through all the directories and all the files to see what’s what. Right. Unless your H.D. crashes, who’s gonna do that? I haven’t even mentioned the hundreds of 5 ¼ and 3 ½ inch floppy backups from every computer I’ve ever had going back 24 years now... This is why I want a NAS home server.
January 18, 2008
Here I am in my 3rd grade class picture, front row, white shirt, rolled up jeans and work boots (my same attire still today!). Half the guys in my row look like they’re going to a Vic Damone concert. But not me; take me as I am or leave me as you found me. I wonder if this is my iconoclastic streak emerging or the fault of my mother for letting me out of the house on picture day dressed like a plumber.
January 19, 2008
I would love to make an outdoor ice rink on our property. Unfortunately, where I want to put it is about the furthest distance from a water line on our entire acreage. It would be really expensive to bring one out there and bury it so that it wouldn’t freeze in Winter. And since running water is, duh, the necessary ingredient to making an outdoor ice rink, you can see my terrible dilemma. But you know what? Given time, I shall overcome even that, because I see it happening.
January 20, 2008
Today is the NFC Championship game in Titletown, USA. Go Pack.
Update: The other team won. Sigh.
January 21, 2008
My camera lives! See, part of our driveway from this Winter morn.
You know what else was on that memory card? Back in December I had gone out on a cloudless, pitch black night to take some pictures of our outdoor Christmas tree - and found this on one of the shots.
There was no wind, no clouds and no blowing snow. This image has not been manipulated in any way. ‘Splain that, Ricky.
January 22, 2008
Not to brag or anything crass, but my day is starting our pretty well. How’s yours going?
January 23, 2008
Man, I tweaked my back while sleeping! How can you do that? I woke up as if I had lifted something heavy and pulled a muscle. How can you do that?
January 24, 2008
I’ve got a 25 GB folder I’ve been deleting from my computer for the last four hours. According to the percentage bars, I’m about ¼ done. My computer has all but locked up. My processor is screaming like Maria Sharapova slapping a backhand. It’s not pretty, but the file has to go.
January 25, 2008
Oh swell, it’s official, the company that hosts this site is permanently shutting down its servers at the end of March. Because a lot of this site is proprietary to their architecture, I can’t just move keithryan.com intact to another host. I would have to create a brand new website from scratch, ugh. Right now, I have well over 600 pages and thousands of links (all pointing to the current server). This site has been up for 8 years, and the thought of doing it all over from the beginning is très unappealing – as is not having a site. Your classic dilemma.
January 27, 2008
I have been giving a lot of thought to the website demise. I still don’t know if I’ll launch another iteration, keep it the same, change it completely or shutter it for good. I just don’t know. Not yet anyway. Stay tuned.
January 29, 2008
I was watching a program on Edgar Cayce, the foreteller. Cayce said there was no time and no space, everything happens simultaneously, and the future is completely malleable. Which is, of course, exactly what I’ve been saying on this website to all who find their way here. Now I’m no prophet, but I knew what he knew.
January 30, 2008
Maintenance of our property has overtaken my day. I’ve spent the last 3 hours plowing snow, and now I’m off to recycle. Exciting? You bet. Rewarding? Uh-huh. Time consuming? Yup. See ya.
