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My internet, that blessed fount of procrastination, has been restored, restored after no less than five Bell technicians and uncounted phone conversations. What a kerfuffle! But now that it is here, surrounding me, binding me to the outer world, I have drunk deeply from its waters and have been fairly actively playing video games. Peace, when have I done otherwise? For the computer, I have thus far played: - The Book of Unwritten Tales: Downloaded this one way, way back and finally got around to finishing it. Really a lot of fun, with intricate hand-drawn graphics and lots of self-referential humour. Worthy point-and-click adventure. - Convoy: I Kickstarted this one, intrigued by the notion of a FTL-like in a Mad Max-esque world. The combat employs a novel engine that plays like an RTS on rails. Fun, but graphics leave much to be desired. - The Curious Expedition: Lovely, tiny pixel figures crawl around the world, annoying (and sometimes befriending) the locals while pillaging t...

My ADSL connection has gone way off, rarely any connection at all now. A lot of back and forth between Teksavvy, myself, and Bell, a maddening circle of bureaucracy to which I wonder if any relief can be found. If I say I don't have internet but the company desires that I prove it, what is the conclusion? I would more seriously consider dropping the whole thing if I didn't so enjoy watching videos, though I suppose I could get used to foregoing even that if it meant I could satisfactorily escape this hellish cycle. January has now past, and my age has increased again. What more is there to speak of? I had my MRI for my knee on the 5th, and it confirms our fears -- my ACL is torn, and surgery is required if I am to contemplate karate, or any activity that requires sudden changes in direction. I have tentatively booked an operation for the 10th of March, to be followed by a couple weeks of rest followed by rehab. I am nearly used to the idea of going under the knife, though a...

Wednesday, December 16th, 2015 A long day of travel: flying to Newark airport, the train to Penn Station, subway to Grand Central, another train to New Haven, then a shuttle bus to the corner of Chapel and Temple street onto the green of Central Park, ending under a purple sky. Unseasonably warm, dense air. On foot to the Courtyard Marriott, my right knee complaining from all the schlepping of carrying my bags. I'd managed, in a momentary lapse of judgment, doubly triply quadruply burdened by the heat, my sweat, the overboiling of humanity swarming under New York's Grand Central Station, to break the tow handle of my luggage. Thus I carried it like some atomic weight for much of the journey. After settling in under the hotel's mediocre WiFi, I marked out a couple highlights on a paper map and made the trek across town, a solitary walk through downtown New Haven which was nearly silent at 8 PM on the Wednesday the week before Christmas. The pizza (or "apizza...

The MRI for my knee comes up in January, so I've been (mostly) avoiding karate. In the meantime I've taken steps towards outfitting myself with archery equipment, which I guess is a thing I do now. Who knew there are so many doodads and trinkets involved? My mind has been taken up with my coming trip to Connecticut for a few days. Why Connecticut, you ask? Well, my friend David and I put in a bid to see the new Star Wars film with several (minor) podcast celebrities. Trip of a lifetime? Maybe. What's there to do or see in Connecticut? Not much. Will this dent my wallet? YES, QUITE A BIT. It will at least make use of the vacation days that I'd been saving up, though not at all in the manner I'd imagined. I don't think I have much else in news. I went to a couple of those ROM Friday Night Live events, which I have to say my feelings on which are very mixed. There's just something irksome about today's youth drinking and schmoozing amongst historical a...

Blargh my place is falling apart! This time, the heating has gone iffy, hardly going since Friday night. I had a technician come by today and he said that the water cooling tower appears to still be on (which perhaps it shouldn't be, considering the weather?), which makes it difficult for our unit heat-pumps to properly warm up. He also said that when everyone is using the cooler-than-necessary water to heat their places, there's a danger of the water freezing, which would make everything take even longer to get warm again. So I wait. I have since purchased an oil heater, but it only makes a small local difference in my spacious abode. Thankfully the weather is slightly warmer (high of 16 tomorrow!), so it's not a huge issue right now. What is a big deal is that my phone line sounds line it's been damaged again, resulting in creepy-crawly internet. Le sigh. Speaking of falling apart, I started doing some physiotherapy for my knee after re-injuring it during karate...

My father had his surgery and is recovering, his quality of life diminished, though his spirits have mostly returned. My sister and I have been squeezing a bit more time in for family. The fate of the cancer remains to be seen. Mother seems to bear it well, all things considered. I have been going on a few dates, so that is something. Saw a few movies (Inside Out, Ant-Man, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation). Went sailing around the island with friends. Didn't much notice the Pan Am games, despite the warnings. I caught some preliminary archery on July 16th, which was fun enough. Oh right I injured my knee! Not terribly, but enough to keep me from going to karate. We suspect it's a  meniscal tear , and an ultrasound and X-ray showed it's likely not more than that, if that. It happened during sparring -- my leg got caught as my partner and I wrestled for position and gave out, a sharp, sudden pain freezing my body. It doesn't bother me too much now, and is seemingly ge...

Summer and still no decisions on my vacation. I have given thought to taking every Monday or Friday off for a month to at least use up the days. Even then, how would I spend the time? Is this what a mid-life crisis looks like? A loss of direction, a mule pulled toward every promise of hay? O.K., I'll allot some time to think about this. I saw Amy Schumer and friends at Massey Hall, part of their "Trainwreck" tour. A fun, funny night: Vanessa Bayer likeable and passable; Mike Birbiglia polished, his material barely worn; I didn't care for Colin Quinn's jabs at the environment, cheek or no; Dave Atell remains that dirty uncle, no subject safe; Judd Apatow pleasantly surprising. And Schumer satisfied, quick and smart and completely comfortable. I will however note three annoyances: 1. The tickets were $100, which I thought a bit high; 2. The seats were in MH's balcony section, which are too thin, too shallow, too hard AND too far; 3. The show gave proceeds to...

I see only the mistakes Yeah, I guess I really like archery. From what I've tried it's rather a lot like golf in that one's form, at least in the beginning, is a lot more important than hitting the target. Consistency over accuracy. I got my first real taste a couple weekends ago, when I drove out to Kitchener to celebrate Andrea's birthday with her and her crew. If I find the time I can see myself taking this up, I really do. My time since my last entry is mostly taken up with karate and FutureLearn. Gosh I just really do enjoy those on-line classes. I suppose I've been up to other stuff too -- installed and put a few hours into Heroes of the Storm, the new Blizzard online RTS arena game. Yeah, I guess some things never change. I suppose you're wondering how work is, and the answer is that it's complicated. I still feel at times lost, my routine for the past ten years thrown out of whack, swimming upstream against a current of training, administrati...

The rumours were true -- my company was purchased and I now work for a much larger software/tech company. More responsibilities, not much more pay. Closer office, but without many of the comforts I've grown accustomed to: rooftop patio, private bathrooms and kitchen, varied lunch options that didn't come out of an assembly line. That last one I still feel deeply, as our new watering hole, The Duke of Devon, has all the charm of a fake Rolex, and at about the same price. My day includes brushing elbows with financial types, and a lot of elevator etiquette. At least I finagled a window cubicle. Do I like the job, you ask? It's still too early to say. Certainly I've become disillusioned with my previous job's work of late, needing a shake-up. Whether this move is it is yet to be seen, but I do have some amount of hope. We only moved offices last week, so I'm still getting a lay of the land, so to speak, still in "new employee"-mode. Time will tell. Sp...

Summary: Inventor Nathan (Oscar Isaac) has his employee Caleb (Domnhall Gleeson) test an artificial intelligence (complete with humanoid body) named Ava (Alicia Vikander), through a week of one-on-one conversations in a remote, isolated laboratory. The interviews lead Caleb to a plan of his own. Reaction: I was blown away by Ex Machina: The emotions it invoked surprised me, the A.I. was believable, the tension palpable. The style, the music! To say it moved me is an understatement -- I was haunted, remain haunted, by the ideas it conveyed, the insight it gave. Spoils follow: Beware ye who should look beyond their place in time! Follow-up thoughts: The brilliance of the film is in having an unnervingly life-like yet fragile gendered automaton that humanizes itself before us, drawing us in, encouraging us to marvel at its transformation and share in its hope to be human. And then finally, utterly, shattering that perception, revealing how little it shares with humans, a sociop...

Spring, it seems, has finally reared its windy, rainy head. What a joy it is to be outside without that biting chill we have endured for so long. The seasons pass and I trudge along, forgetting more and more each day, memories falling like so many grains of sand slipping through my clenched fist. I saw Chappie on Easter Friday and thought it was decent; not perfect by any means, but I enjoyed it. I'm sure others will pick on the acting, the plot, and the corny voice and mannerisms of the titular robot, but I was particularly troubled by the simplification of what's involved in writing an artificial intelligence! The brain is not a blank slate that can be filled easily; it has built-in tendencies and algorithms -- Chappie displayed a sense of right and wrong, of justice, of community, and these are not simple things to describe, let alone develop a script for. Additionally, if the programmer built an algorithm to grow a brain, can he not make many more thinking machines? That ...