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Top Ten Gadgets of the decade

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:26:00 +0000

Engadget just put out a list of the Ten Gadgets that defined the decade. I'm a bit of a gadget guy, so the list brought back some fond memories.

Canon Digital Elph S100

First on their list is the Canon PowerShot S100 Digital ELPH camera. I bought this as my first digital camera in preparation for my trip to Seville, Spain for a month of language classes in early 2001. This 2.0 megapixel camera was extremely well built and wonderfully compact. I ended up using this camera exclusively on my trip and did not take a single picture with my film-based SLR I had also brought along with me.

With this camera I took one of my favourite pictures from over the years.

Today we have a Canon SD850is point & shoot that essentially uses the same formula: compact, well-built point & shoot that takes great pictures.

Additional pictures from my trip to Spain can be found in my Gallery.

Apple PowerBook G4

Next on their list is the Apple PowerBook G4. I've been a PC-guy most of my life although I had played with Macs from time to time over the years. It took me until 2009 to finally move into a sleek 13" MacBook Pro and I'm loving it.

Windows XP / Mac OS X

I suppose these two Operating Systems were quite significant over this decade. I'm much more familiar with XP and I'm going through some pain learning OS X now. I can't say I really love either of these OSes... I can live with them as long as they stay out of my way as much as possible.

Apple iPod

It wasn't until the iPod Nano was introduced that I jumped onto the iPod bandwagon. But what a wonderfully music-filled bandwagon it was! It's still going strong although it now tends to be a repository of Canto-pop for others in the family.

TiVo Series 2

The TiVo was revolutionary for me in many ways. I had largely given up watching television after my VCR missed recording an episode of 24 season 3 back in 2004. But the TiVo brought me back from the dark ages allowing me to watch television when I wanted.

The TiVo has served me well with a wonderful user interface, but with the lack of HD capability in Canada, and my not-so-bad PVR from the Bell Entertainment Service has finally led me to retire my Series 2. PVRs from the cable companies, in my opinion, are still playing catch-up to this device that arrived in 2002 in terms of user experience.

Motorola Razr V3

The Razr is a beautiful phone: I loved the flip and its slim profile. I waited until June 2006 to finally pick one of them up (back when I used to use eBay).

PalmOne Treo 600 / 650

Back in 2003 when the Treo was introduced, I had not yet caught onto the smartphone trend. I was stilling using my ancient PalmPilot back in those days.

XBox 360

Growing up I always had a bit of console envy. I didn't own an Atari 2600 until they were obsolete and I tended to side with the loser of the various console wars over the years (I owned a Sega Saturn and later a Sega Dreamcast). This time around Engadget is raising up the XBox 360 as one of their top 10 of the decade, and I ended up buying a PS3.

iPhone

I love my iPhone... ok, I've said it.

ASUS Eee PC 900

And lastly, Engadget names this netbook in its top ten list. I don't think netbooks are for me, but I can certainly understand the appeal.

A better courier experience

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:00:00 +0000

I haven't had the best experience with Purolator courier in all of my years of sending and receiving of packages. I've had packages lost for weeks, outrageous custom brokerage fees, and confused and unhelpful CSRs to name a few of the annoyances. Whenever I see one of the trucks on the road, my blood pressure usually rises up a notch.

I'm currently awaiting delivery of a shiny (ok more like matte) grey Dell quad-core PC. The trouble with couriers and home delivery is typically the customer needs to await delivery of the package during business hours (9am - 5pm) and it is often difficult to know exactly what day a package will arrive.

More often than not, I miss a delivery and have to drive out to a shipping depot near the airport or some other obscure location in order to pick up my package: certainly not convenient considering the premium one pays for courier service.

But yesterday I actually had a good experience thanks perhaps to some combined ingenuity with Dell: I received an automated phone message indicating that my shipment would arrive January 14th (still between 9am - 5pm) and allowed me to directly reach a Dell representative or receive additional information from Purolator on delivery options if I am be unable to accept the package as scheduled.

Sure enough, checking my Purolator tracking information the shipment in on a truck for delivery today. While I still need to physically be at home today, at least I knew what day it would show up: a step in the right direction. Hopefully the couriers think of more novel ways to please the non-business customer: perhaps provide after-hours shipping (for a premium), or provide package drop-off in partnership with large chain stores (e.g., Staples, Shoppers Drug Mart, etc.) allowing convenient local pick-up of parcels. Given the growth of online shopping these types of innovations surely are in demand and would be welcomed.

How much a baby can grow in a year!

noreply@blogger.com (janjan) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:17:00 +0000

It's amazing how fast babies grow. BB got this sweater last Christmas. The sweater is so big compared to him that it can be used as a blanket.

A year later ... Look, he can fit in this sweater no problem!

A little more child-proof

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Thu, 15 May 2008 03:08:00 +0000

The previous owners of the home did a great job on renovations. One thing they did that was a little questionable was the removal of railings on the stairs and on the landing leaving a 3 ft. drop off exposed. It actually makes the living room look more open, but it isn't exactly baby-friendly.

Well after a year or so of talking about it, we finally had some railings installed. We wanted to keep the open feeling and decided to have glass railings installed. We're pretty happy with the result and glad that, once Brayden begins to crawl, he will not need to contend with a dangerous fall.

It's a media centre, honest!

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 04:02:00 +0000

So I picked up a little media centre for Janet and I to use. It's pretty versatile: it lets us play and stream music, videos (including DivX), and watch YouTube videos on our TV. We've been watching home videos of Brayden bouncing on his Jumperoo, a good number of television series on DVD, and the occasional Blu-ray movie.

At least that's how I now justify the purchase of the PS3. Sure, I'm playing games on it too... but we really are using it a lot more as a media centre... really!

Cross-border shopping

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:51:00 +0000

Spring-time is here and it's time to replace the beat up tires on the A4. I ended up ordering some Kuhmo Ecsta SPT's from Tirerack; it's still significantly cheaper to order them from this U.S. retailer, pay for shipping, brokerage fees, duty, GST/PST than it is to pick up these same tires locally.

Perhaps the new tires will breathe some new life in my trusty A4. I still want to have some fun in the car that I drive, given Janet tends to drive the GTI.

Old-fashioned

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 16:44:00 +0000

As I look into the future, I wonder how my son will perceive me as he gets older. I wonder if he'll think I'm old-fashioned, if he'll think the music I listen to is old and out-dated. Or perhaps he'll think the way I bought music at the turn of the century to be old and out-dated...

I just picked up a copy of Radiohead's In Rainbows on CD. This may not seem special in any way, but the album was available at a pay what you want price for download back in October stretching the limits of how mainstream music is distributed. But I still prefer to have the physical CD, the art work and the plastic disc.

Sure, the first thing I did was rip it into MP3 format but there is something about having the physical CD; perhaps something I can pass down to my son someday. And when I do, he'll probably look at it in the same way we look at 8-trac or cassette tapes and wonder about his strange, old-fashioned Dad.

Good customer service

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 00:37:00 +0000

Like many others, I've had problems with customer service with various service providers from my DSL and wireless companies, so it's nice to be able to share a good experience for a change.

Since switching to Star Choice around a year ago, I've been impressed with their helpful and knowledgeable customer service representatives, and their 24 hour call centre. Yesterday, I started experiencing some problems with the Star Choice PVR I purchased less than a year ago. After speaking to customer service and walking through some diagnostics they decided my PVR needed to be replaced.

Less than 24 hours later, the courier arrived at my door with a brand new PVR along with the necessary paperwork to return my old PVR (with instructions on how to have the courier pick it up from my residence).

I'm impressed.

New winter shoes for the GTI

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 17:06:00 +0000

While we've had a mild fall, it is time to put the winter shoes on the cars. My initial plan was to try the GTI's all-season tires (Continental ContiProContact) this winter. But the GTI will largely be used by Janet and baby Brayden so I thought winter safety really should be a priority.

Calling around the local shops winter wheel and tire packages (16") could be had for $899+taxes for Gislaved (Swedish) tires and steel rims or $999+taxes for performance winter tires (Pirelli Sottozeros) and steel rims.

Thinking about the strong Canadian dollar, I looked stateside to tirerack.com and found I could get good winter tires (Bridgestone Blizzak REVO 1s) and aluminium alloys (that look a heck of a lot better than steel rims as you can see) for less including shipping, duty, taxes, and customs brokerage fees.

So I put in my order and expect some pretty big boxes from UPS next week.

Brayden Ho

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 18:14:00 +0000

We're proud to announce the arrival of Brayden Ho into the world. He was born on Sunday November 4th at 6:33pm weighing in at 6lbs 7oz. Both mother and son are doing well. Mom and Dad are thoroughly excited, and just a touch tired.

We're getting there

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:57:00 +0000

The (approximately) one month countdown to the baby's arrival as begun. Over the last number of months, we've slowly been preparing ourselves and the home for his arrival. It's been an exciting and educational process.

Part of the process included quite a lot of consumerism: the purchase of a stroller, cribs and dressers, and the incredible assortment of baby clothes and gear. Of course, the baby also prompted the purchase of a new car (admittedly, the baby didn't need a hot hatch... but who knows maybe baby will become the next Lewis Hamilton someday).

The nursery is now painted (an assortment of yellow, green, and blue colours), although Janet wants some clouds painted or at least some glow-in-the-dark stars stuck on the ceiling. But the nursery is largely done although we can always do a bit more decorating.

We've read a lot of books on pregnancy, healthy sleep for babies, and of course taking care of babies (Janet and I are pretty baby-care-ignorant). We've also got a couple of pre-natal courses under our belts now too...

So we are indeed getting there... We're excited, a little scared, but very much looking forward to meeting our baby.

A new set of wheels

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 20:39:00 +0000

We picked up a new set of Italian wheels over the weekend. No it's not a Ferrari, but it does come with a luxury seat with some serious side bolsters and a 5-point harness, it has responsive "zero-radius" handling, and comes with a cup-holder. Yup, we picked up our very own Peg-Perego UNO stroller in hot "mod blue".

Pimped-out 300

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 04:33:00 +0000

Pimped-out 300
Originally uploaded by who_ca

We saw one serious Chyrsler 300 in Montreal. Wow.

The Police in Toronto (without the pepper spray or tasers)

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:56:00 +0000

Last night I had the pleasure of witnessing Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland rock the Air Canada Centre. The Police Reunion Tour drew out a capacity crowd of more mature music lovers (in our 30s and above for the most part) allowing us relive a little of our past.

While the band was up to the task, the crowd was showing its age with everyone in my section staying seated, except when two young 20-somethings (can they really know who The Police are?) decided to stand and dance (well really sway a bit with beers in hand). Some concert-goers behind me were clearly annoyed and asked me if the two guys up front were "bothering me"? I replied "sort of..." but then remembered that I was at a rock concert and I figured people should stand and dance if they want to. I guess we really are getting old.

The band opened with "Message In A Bottle" and covered most of their big hits in their 2-hour set. Sure there was some fiddling with the arrangements, but nothing became horribly unrecognizable. I still have "King of Pain" and "So Lonely" in my head.

The band had energy, played fairly tight, and sounded good. Perhaps a bit more energy from the crowd would have made the concert all that much more memorable. In the end, I'm glad I had an opportunity to see this trio perform on stage.

A parade, some jazz, and a chateau

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 04:51:00 +0000

CRW_7946
Originally uploaded by who_ca

Janet and I took an extended weekend to enjoy a train ride east to Montreal and Quebec City. The train is a wonderful option for travel to Montreal and we opted to stay at the Hilton just above the train station.

In Montreal we enjoyed a colourful parade and the always energetic jazz festival. We said good-bye to Montreal and moved on to Quebec City.

We stayed in the old city next to the Chateau Frontenac and essentially walked, enjoyed the cafes (when it was not raining) and eat at wonderful restaurants.

While the train ride is certainly a step up from driving, it was still a long ride back to Toronto from Quebec City.

A little music on a Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 04:17:00 +0000

Steve found a fantastic deal on RedFlagDeals for free Van Morrison tickets at the Hummingbird Centre Thursday evening. The tickets were priced at $172.88 each for balcony seating, so paying a mere $4.75 for two tickets (for a service charge) was an incredible bargain.

The 90-minute set was excellent. The arrangements were blues-inspired including a rendition of "Have I Told You Lately". It was thoroughly entertaining, although I must admit I was hoping he'd break out into the version of "Moondance" I remember from The Best of Van Morrison CD I once owned (but lost while living in Ottawa).

After the concert, we made our way to C'est What? where we were fortunate to hear singer/songwriter Kate Schutt perform live. Kate plays a Novax 8-string guitar/base hybrid instrument while singing wonderfully melodic jazz songs (she has a fantastic voice that reminded me a little of Jewel and Norah Jones). After an enjoyable evening, I picked up her "No Love Lost" album on the way out the door. She's playing at the Beaches Int'l Jazz Festival in Toronto on Sunday, July 22nd from 5-7pm... try to catch her if you can.

Sad news for MythTV and Tivo (Canada) users

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 15:19:00 +0000

The source for TV guide data to MythTV and many Tivo users in Canada will no longer be available after September 1st. Zap2It Labs has decided to stop their service.

Eastern Europe photos... finally

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 05:32:00 +0000

I finally have some pictures from our Eastern Europe trip from way back in November posted.

A strange neighbour

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 03:18:00 +0000

The house next to mine is deserted, or at least it seems to be. I've been told that the house has been vacant for 5 years. Yet, from time to time, mysterious garbage bags appear on the curb, and recently we've experienced some unusual electrical brownouts.

Last summer I did see some evidence of renovations being done in the home but a year later and nobody has moved in. The lawn now consists of grass over three feet in height and things are looking quite unsightly.

With the string of reports on the news about marijuana grow ops in residential neighbourhoods, I started to wonder. But there are not the other tell-tale signs. There is no condensation on the windows, the windows are not blocked, there doesn't seem to be regular traffic to and from the house.

I suppose I'll continue being a nosy neighbour to figure out this mystery, or at least get them to cut their lawn.

5-Door GTI

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Fri, 18 May 2007 17:59:00 +0000

5-Door GTI
Originally uploaded by who_ca.

We've added some driveway art in the form of a new Volkswagen GTI. It's a fun, tossable, little car that still provides the practicality we need thanks to the 5-door configuration.

Some of you may recall pictures of a sweet GTI in my driveway. That was of Mike and Dawn's ride and, yes, we liked it enough we bought one ourselves.

Squirrel revisited

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 15:09:00 +0000

Back in February I wrote about our unwanted visitor. We ended up having the good people from AAA Wildlife Control take care of sealing up the gaps in our roof to keep visitors away. $500 later, our attic is squirrel-free.

But, that does not seem to have stopped our little friend from trying to get inside. Every once and awhile I still hear the scampering of little feet on top of our roof. Yesterday, I caught the little guy (who is noticeably less red then when I spotted it in the winter) sitting in our eaves where his little door into our attic used to be.

Perhaps he was reminiscing about the good old days when he was able to curl up in our attic insulation enjoying the creature comforts of our home.

Smoke, electronics, and a good experience

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 03:45:00 +0000

Last Friday, my 2-month old battery backup UPS decided to die. We had a brown out (just enough to dim the lights in the room) and the UPS to switched to battery backup mode. My computer was hooked up to it, and at first things were just fine.

But then my computer lost power and rebooted: precisely what the UPS is supposed to prevent. So I looked under the desk at the UPS and noticed it was making a strange buzzing noise, which was then followed by the release of some nasty, smelly, smoke.

I quickly powered off the UPS, and opened the windows around the house to try to air the place out. I'm guessing something short circuited in the UPS... electrical arching and melting wires do not smell nice.

I called Dell where I bought the UPS (after calling 3 different numbers each time being informed I needed to call elsewhere) , and was told that because the unit was over one month old it was not their problem. So I called the manufacturer APC told them my smoking story. Within minutes they located stock at their Canadian warehouse and had a new unit shipped out. I received it on Monday.

They'll be mailing me tags for me to ship the faulty unit back. I guess some companies still understand the need to keep customers happy. I'm impressed.

Our sponsored child

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 18:07:00 +0000

Today, Janet and I decided to sponsor a child through World Vision. We had been thinking about doing this for some time but we finally decided it was time to stop putting it off.

We chose to sponsor Richel, an adorable 5 year old from the Philippines. Our money will go to World Vision to help the community where Richel lives.

We hope to write to her, and send her some small things (World Vision suggests paper items such as colouring books, pictures, stickers, etc.) just to let her know we do want to help and we do care.

While this is really only a small contribution of $35/month, we hope this little bit helps make her life a better one.

All charged up and ready to mow

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:19:00 +0000

Home ownership has brought on new responsibilities. One of which is gardening and with that mowing our lawn. Many would argue that even maintaining a lawn is not particularly environmentally friendly with the need for constant watering and mowing. While I've decided to keep the lawn, I did opt to purchase a cordless electric lawn mower to try to do a little to keep the environment a little less noisy and a little less polluted.

Now all I need to do is wait for the grass to start growing and I'll throw this baby into action.

A quick trip to New York

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne) — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 03:09:00 +0000

To use up some soon-to-be expiring air miles, we decided to take a quick weekend trip down to New York City. Flights were delayed thanks to some high winds, but we eventually made it to the Intercontintal Hotel in Midtown East.

We took in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (their free guided tours are fantastic) and the American Museum of Natural History. We were fortunate to have a corporate membership allowing us to bypass the crazy lines.

For dinner, we treated ourselves to the Hearth Restaurant, located in the East Village [map]. This neighbourhood has a wonderful mix of ethic and higher-end trendy restaurants. Hearth was casual and we enjoyed excellent service. I very much enjoyed the roasted loin of venison, and Janet had the braised wild striped bass (which was a touch bland). However, the side of gnocchi was simply melt-in-your-mouth fabulous.

Returning to Toronto was a bit of an adventure that included a cab to LaGuardia, getting on the plane, getting kicked off the plane (apparantly the plane was too heavy so they had to remove all of the Asians on the plane and one other visible minority to make it light enought to fly), and getting shipped off to JFK in a cab (first they gave us a voucher for a non-existant car company before finally getting us in a car). Flights were cancelled due to freezing rain in Washington, D.C., but we got lucky; a plane trying to head to D.C. was forced to land at JFK as it was running out of fuel. Unable to continue to D.C. due to weather, they diverted it to Toronto and we got on with standby tickets.