Jay’s Life

I came across this article for a pill that contains a mini camera, light and RF transmitter for taking pictures of the digestive tract. Seems a lot better than drinking some barium. I wonder if you have to give back the camera.

This is my new dog Happie!! Hes a stunning blonde (unlike Spencer)! He’s actually a goofy Pitbull crossed with some Black Lab. If you haven’t met him get your butts over here!

Well, Staysea and I are all moved into the new house. We have a LOT more space now and are loving it.

Thanks to all my friends who helped me move in, there is still some of the keg left over, so come on by for a pint!

It’s also Staysea’s Birthday today, so you may want to give her a call or an e-mail to wish her well! Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Recently, Six Apart, the company that writes MovableType the magic software that manages this blog, announced their new version 3.0. I was really looking forward to the new release, it promised some very nice updates. But, they changed their policy about licensing. And I can’t afford the personal upgrade.

I use MovableType as do every other site here on SDF1.net to create my personal site. There is no commercial content, I don’t make a profit running the site, in fact, I pay for the electricity and bandwidth for the server running MovableType and hosting 13 blogs with as many authors. Some blogs like “The Slakinski Log” and soon this blog, are couple blogs with 2 authors. I’m very much willing to donate to Movable Type’s cause, I was waiting for 3.0 to give up my money. But the donate link seems to have disappeared from their site with the new price plan.

I work for a software house so I understand the work involved in developing such excellent software, I’m afraid though, that I’ll be unable to follow this latest stride towards excellence.

Thank you Six Apart, I will continue to enjoy using your software in it’s previous version and bid you good luck in your future endeavors.

After a short 4 hour flight from Vancouver we’re back in Mississauga. It’s good to be home!

We went clubbing tonight. It was good, we stopped by a few clubs and ended up at Roxy for a drink and some good music. Now, that said, it’s my birthday today, at least now that it’s the 13th and I’m going to the Phoenix on Saturday night for some drinks. Everyone is welcome, anyone who want’s can see me there, if you buy me a drink, then that’s doubly good. Cheers.

So, why is it that the Canadian market, brethren to the American market doesn’t have iTunes Music Store? Maybe you should ask the Canadian Music Reproduction Rights Agency Ltd. (CMRRA). They have decided to set the royalties for online music sales well above the rate set out for CDs, from 7.7¢ to 10¢ per song. This is much higher than other regions such as Europe who collect 8¢. This seems to be a much clearer reason for the launch of a European iTMS than a Canadian one. As it stands, it looks like the newly reborn Napster will be the first to join the Canadian market from another market. So the Record Industry and the CMRRA are at odds as to how much to charge, as a result it may still be a long while before we see services such as iTunes in Canada.

We went on a walkabout around Vancouver today. We got down to the wharf and took a look at all the sea planes taking off, plus the marina there. WOW. For those of you looking for a last minute gift for my birthday on Thursday, there is a photo of the boat I’d like! We also where lucky enough to see one of the Princess cruse ships in port. HUGE!

In part of our walk we ended up walking by somewhere I might like to work some day, Electronic Arts. They make all sorts of great video games. We where actually on our way to Gas Town. It’s an older part of Vancouver that used to be lit with gas lamps. Very nice area now, but in the 60’s it was the center of Skid Row. In the 70’s the local merchants and residents joined together to reclaim the area and make it a place people would want to visit again. Now it’s full of posh shops and tourist stores. Including the world’s largest moose, in a fudge store. I think that the little area could be a lot nicer if it wasn’t such a tourist trap. There is a steam driven clock in the west part that was pretty cool.

Staysea and I got up early this morning and headed out to the West Edmonton Mall to play in the water park. Auntie Alison gave us a 2 for 1 coupon and Ronda offered to pay the admission so we couldn’t pass that up. We spent about 3 hours playing in the waves and going down the slides. It was a whole lot of fun. I wish that Mississauga would put in a big wave pool. There where 20 slides so the place is massive. The even changed a few of the slides since I was there last.
After the water park, we did a bit of shopping. You can download a map of the mall with all the stores to your palm, so I of course did. There where some fish tanks that where home to the cast of Finding Nemo. We then met up with Carl to go for lunch and do some more shopping before heading out to Maureen and Paul’s to have dinner. All my Edmonton family where at the dinner. I wish I could get out more often to Alberta to visit. My cousins are completely different every time I come out. Andrew, the youngest is 5 and last time I was here he was only a few months old and he had a nap on my chest. This trip he gave me a crushing hug. Amanda gave me a little yellow puff ball that I’m going to keep in my car.