I was recently invited to join this site with some interesting games where you can earn some money but you have to play real opponents and defeat them. If you win you climb the ladder and can earn some good money, of course you take a chance each time you play that you will lose and fall to the bottom of the ladder. I have a few invites if you are interested give it a try.

Moola (Click for an Invite)

As I have been planning for my upcoming trip I have been looking at getting a new camera as my current digital camera is about 5 years old so an upgrade is definitely needed. I have looked at some review sights and the thing I have discovered is that the more I search the more I am confused about whether I want a compact, a SLR or a cross between the two.

Here is what I am looking for and hopefully someone can recommend something which will meet my needs. The camera needs to have better than 3X Optical zoom, good startup speed so I am ready to take pictures quickly, image stabilization of some sort, a flash, a viewfinder would be nice but is not necessary and although not a deal breaker good low light/night pictures would be nice. I have been looking at the Canon Digital Rebel XT as well as the Canon A570 and some different Olympus cameras as well. I think I would like a compact SLR like camera as I do not believe I will be changing lens at all. Looking for some recommendations to help me make the decision. I am open to suggestions if someone knows about a compact that will meet my needs I will certainly have a look.

Lately I have been listening and watching alot of podcasts from such places as The BBC and PBS on both current affairs and history. I tend to go through phases and I am currently in my ‘knowledge sponge’ stage and cannot get enough of these podcasts and when I have listened to all that are available I go hunting for new ones to satisfy my hunger.

I have been listening to several from the BBC World Service Documentary Archive with subjects including the insurgency in Iraq all the way to life in Hong Kong 10 years after the handover. What I find particularly fascinating besides the information is not only the range of topics but the depth of the stories and how easy it is to become engrossed in each report. Today I was puttering about and as I listened to each podcast and moved on to the next one I did not realize it but I had spent almost 8 hours listening to podcasts. I guess I am addicted, but this is one addiction that is not all that bad.

So what do you think of my Simpsons’ character?

He looks like me, what with the bushy eye brows and devilish good looks, I could picture this handsome guy in an episode of The Simpsons.

I participated in the Mt Cheam Lions Club Model Railroad Show in Chilliwack on the weekend. I was asked to bring my Dad’s Z Scale layout which is pretty rare and as it turned out was the only Z Scale layout at the show. The variety of layouts was extremely interesting to see and the depth of detail on some of the layouts was incredible. I was impressed by several of the layouts but especially the World War 2 setup by a member of Mount Rainier N Scale Model Railway

Also there was a good selection of remote control R/C cars and planes and the show had a demonstration area where the planes were flying and a race track for R/C street cars. A lot of interesting things packed into one area.

I was pleased and surprised by the attention my layout received from the large number of participants that attended the show. The uniqueness of Z Scale makes it an instant marvel and the detail of the engines and cars are a draw. I was bombarded with questions from young and the not so young and even though I have limited knowledge I was glad I did some research before the show. I received a lot of compliments which I felt a little embarrassed about because I was just showing the trains and layout, my father acquired and built the layout over a number of years and it was his pride and joy.

Still I did get it going and it is a nice legacy so I am not sure what is next but I would like to get more involved and maybe create my own layout. As I am not really a modeller it could be a real challenge. Since I have some Z Scale Trains already it makes sense to go in that direction. One major challenge with Z Scale is the small size (1:220) and maybe working with N Scale (1:160) might be a better fit for me.

I have owned, used and abused my cherished notebook (laptop) computer for almost 2 years and made a big decision on the weekend. I was going to format my hard drive and those who have contemplated or actually formatted a drive know how distressing this chore can be, especially if it goes wrong. Now it is not like my notebook was not functioning it was just very bloated with all kinds of crap that has been installed and either removed leaving some remnants or just not used anymore and forgotten. Since I have completed this task on my desktop unit multiple times I knew that their were certain files I needed to back up to avoid grief later. Since I use Firefox and Thunderbird I found the files with my profiles and all my data files and copied them to my external drive. I must say my external drive is soooo damned convenient that I do not know how I survived without one.

Next came the big step, actually formatting my hard drive and hoping like heck that I did not forget to copy something to my external drive. This is the most nerve racking time as you wait to get the Operating System reinstalled and then the process of getting all the required software reinstalled. My plan was only install what I needed to function and not install all the crap I had on their before.

I was surprised at how quickly I had my notebook back up and running with a slimmed down Program Files directory. Using both my USB drive where I store all the required drivers, spy and antivirus software and my external drive with the rest of my required files I was able to get my notebook up and running within 3 hours. Not bad as I was watching a movie while working on my notebook it seemed to make the time go much faster.

Now I have my notebook running faster with less crap on it, a successful operation. Still a nail biter as you never know what will happen when you dive into reinstalling a Microsoft product. Reinstalling and setting up both FireFox and Thunderbird was a breeze and Microsoft should take a few notes on how simple it can be to reinstall a program with the previous settings.

I am glad to get rid of all the extra crap and especially like the increase in speed.

If you ask my friends I am very conservative and will not make rash decisions. Normally I will think before I leap. Occasionally I say what the hell and jump into something even if I do not know what the hell I’m doing.

The other day a neighbour mentioned that the local model railway show was interested in displaying my ‘Z’ Scale trains for their show on the weekend of October 14-15 I told him that I would check into it. A couple of things occurred to me at this point, one, the trains had not been used in over 5 years and two, I have no idea how to run them or get them going. Let me explain, the trains in question were my Dad’s and they are made by Marklin in Germany and are the smallest scale trains made (1:220). The layouts are small enough to fit into a briefcase.

My dad purchased the different components about 30 years ago during his trips to Germany and built a custom layout which is in a table 5 feet long by 2 foot wide with a custom controller to control all the switches and tracks.

So now I have been playing with the trains the last couple of days trying to get them to run and finally I have successfully got a train running and it is amazing to just sit and watch the train go around the track. I am not sure why but I am enjoying the task of getting the trains and tracks back in shape. I have gotten quite proficient at setting up and hooking up different car combinations and knowing what speed to set the transformer to get the trains running without jumping the track. As I am not mechanically inclined If I may say so I am quite proud of myself.