10 Types of People...

I know, most of these are old and you've seen them before but I hope there is at least one in here that may be new and you can get a chuckle out of...

There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.

I'm not anti-social; I'm just not user friendly.

My software never has bugs. It just develops random features.

I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code.

The box said 'Requires Windows 95 or better'. So I installed LINUX.

A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history - with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila.

Ethernet (n): something used to catch the etherbunny.

There is only one satisfying way to boot a computer.

Concept: On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the escape button.

Cannot find REALITY.SYS. Universe halted.

WinErr 547: LPT1 not found... Use backup... PENCIL & PAPER.

Bad or missing mouse driver. Spank the cat? (Y/N)

Hackers in hollywood movies are phenomenal. All they need to do is "c:\> hack into fbi"

RAM disk is not an installation procedure.

Smash forehead on keyboard to continue.....

Bugs come in through open Windows.

To err is human...to really foul up requires the root password.

FUBAR - where Geeks go for a drink.

Hey! It compiles! Ship it!

Sorry, the password you tried is already being used by Dorothy, please try something else.

My computer was full, so I deleted everything on the right half.

NASA uses Windows? Oh great. If Apollo 13 went off course today the manual would just tell them to open the airlock, flush the astronauts out, and re-install new ones.

Man is the best computer we can put aboard a spacecraft...and the only one that can be mass produced with unskilled labor.

Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle.


And my personal favourite...

"Mr. Worf, scan that ship." "Aye Captain. 300 dpi?"

Mandarin Orange Tart

You've GOT to try this!



Crust:
¾ cup / 175 ml butter, softened
1 ½ cup / 375 ml flour
1/3 cup / 80 ml powdered sugar
¼ tsp 1.2 ml salt

Cream Cheese Layer:
6 oz / 170 g softened cream cheese
2 tsp / 10 ml Watkins Vanilla Extract
2 tbsp / 30 ml Watkins Mandarin Orange Fruit Dip Mix (Available for a limited time only)
2 tbsp / 30 ml soft butter
2 tbsp / 30 ml milk

Top Layer:
5 oz / 142 g marshmallows (1/2 bag)
½ cup / 125 ml milk
3 tbsp / 45 ml Watkins Mandarin Orange Fruit Dip Mix
¾ cup / 175 ml whipping cream
1 can mandarin oranges (drained)

Preheat oven to 350F / 180C. Mix crust ingredients together until a soft dough forms. Press in bottom of a 10 inch / 25 ml pie or tart pan and prick well. Bake at 350F / 180C for 15 to 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool.

Beat cream cheese, vanilla, dip mix, butter and milk together until smooth. Spread over bottom of pie crust. Melt marshmallows and milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Let cool. When cool, stir in the dip mix. Whip cream until soft peaks form. Fold into cooled marshmallow mixture. Pour half of mixture over cream cheese layer. Place mandarin oranges over marshmallow mixture. Pour the rest of the marshmallow mixture over the oranges. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Turn That Light Off!

Well we finally received the little power meter consumption calculator (or whatever you want to call it) that we ordered months ago. It turned out that it wasn't exactly free like they said as we still had to pay $8.99 shipping and handling but it's an impressive little gadget to have. It was easy to install with one half of it strapping on to your meter outside to watch the little wheel going around, and the other half sits in the house either on a shelf or hanging on a wall. It tells you how many cents per hour you are using in power, the running total you've spent since you set it up, the outside temperature and even the time. Not a bad little rig to have at all.

So far we've learned our power costs per hour are as follows...

Lights - 1 cent
Refrigerator - 1 cent
Furnace - 2 cents
Coffee Pot - 3 cents
Toaster - 3 cents
Microwave - 3 cents
Water pump - 4 cents

Screen Cleaner

Is your monitor screen getting so dirty that it's becoming hard to make out what you're trying to see? I've just found the perfect tool to fix the problem. Click HERE.

Home & Happy

I’M BACK!!!!!!

We left Inukjuak Friday afternoon (-30 and blowin’ bears!) about 3:30 and after a brief stop to drop off and pick up passengers in Umiujaq we made the short hop to Kuujjuaraapik where we all got offloaded in order to pass through security before heading to Montreal.
I’ve mentioned this before in other blog entries but basically the smaller communities don’t have any facilities for proper security screening so anyone southbound has to get off the plane in either Kuujjuaraapik, Kuujjuaq or La Grande, go through screening and get back on the aircraft to continue their journey.

We had all been wondering about getting into Montreal as the weather forecast was not good. Our alternate was apparently Ottawa but I was pushing the pilot to head for Sudbury, if not Manitoulin East! Despite all our worries though the Montreal weather was still fine when we got close so it was back to the good old Holiday Inn for the night. I’m getting to be on a first name basis with many of the staff there now that it is a regular stopover for me. I highly recommend the lamb chops if the buffet is open when you arrive. (Sorry, can’t apologize to the vegans, these are just too good!)

So after a good nights sleep it was up at 6:00 a.m. to check the email and off to the airport on the 7:00 a.m. shuttle. The predicted storm was just starting to hit the city and it was a bit of a hairy ride slipping and sliding around Cote de Liesse and into Pierre Trudeau Airport but we made it on time and after a Burger King breakfast I headed off to clear security and wait for my flight. I’ve always found Montreal one of the harder security checkpoints to get through (Timmins is actually the worst, followed by Sudbury!) and this was another normal day there with “boots off, belt off, wallet out, swab the computer” routine. It’s great entertainment when you travel out west and you see all these Saskatchewan and Alberta fellows hopping around taking off their cowboy boots but no fun when you’re certain you won’t set off the alarm yourself this time but get patted down anyway.

Anyway, at the airport, checked in and through security ahead of schedule and the flight is still on time… until they let us know that the aircraft we’re taking is enroute from Halifax and left there late. So… aircraft arrived late, we boarded late, we had to de-ice and then while we were holding short waiting on final clearance some sort of alarm went off in the cockpit and it took them 20 minutes to decide that it was a false alarm and we took off anyway. This isn’t the first time I’ve been on Air Canada and they’ve come on and said, “We’re sure it’s nothing and we’re going for it.” This doesn’t particularly bother me as I been bush flying for over 30 years and so far “going for it” has never been a problem. (I am convinced that when I die it will be on a flight that is completely routine however and not an iffy situation at all.) The bottom line here is that we arrived in Toronto 20 minutes after my flight for Sudbury had left so that bumped me to the next one and I arrived only an hour and half late.

I was happy to see Gloria, Andrew, Sandra and Nicholas there to pick me up and off we headed to good old Manitoulin following a Quarter Pounder with cheese lunch and a stop for a large double-double. Ahh... it's these little things you start to miss when you're away for any length of time.

I didn’t realize how much I also missed the island and being home until I walked out on the deck and heard absolutely nothing. That’s right, nothing. Not an arctic wind blowing, not a snowmobile running, not a bunch of kids jumping on containers, not the glycol heating system in the house roaring like the ocean all night long… nothing.

Here’s to Silence, Home and Happy again…

Recharging

Well it’s Day 34 and only 13 left to go on this trip. I just realized this morning that even though the laptop is full of music I haven’t listened to any of it since I left Wiky. I guess that means that I just take my job too seriously and it’s taken over my world almost completely. I’m up at 6:00 a.m. just to get a little internet time and get caught up on the previous days news. It can take 45 minutes (or more) to get a dial-up connection from here and if I want to get anything done that’s when I have to start. Then I’m so beat when I get home after 8:00 p.m. I usually just grab a sandwich or something, check my email and upload web site changes. Around 9:30 it’s just about lights out time for me and I’m in bed well before 10:00 p.m., guess I’m just getting old, eh?

Anyway, the laptop is now cranking out some vintage Led Zeppelin, Grand Funk Railroad, Iron Butterfly and Doors and I can just feel my personal batteries charging up. There is an entry today on Life On Manitoulin in which someone mentions a music trivia theme and I think that’s a great idea. It might even make a great thread on the Discover Manitoulin Forum or some other blog.

So here’s my contribution and I look forward to seeing other challenges on your blog.

“She would never say where she came from… Yesterday don’t matter cause it’s gone… While the sun is bright, or in the darkest night, no one knows… She comes and then she goes…

The name of the song and any one of the many artists that did this classic if you please...

Good Day, eh?

It seemed to be a short day yesterday, very busy with several payrolls hitting the same time as the welfare cheques. As a matter of fact the last couple weeks seem to have been just a couple days long. I guess that means that I’ve had some good days and results to kick in my unconscious internal motivation.

Wish we could motivate a few of the staff in a few of our stores though but as the experts say… “All motivation is self motivation.” You can’t just demand that someone like his or her job or his or her life. What you have to do is maybe help them lean in a constructive direction, help then see their value, help them see that they can and do make a positive difference in the world around them. If a person believes in themselves they can’t help but be motivated, right?

The weather has been perfectly clear for over a week now, which means it’s been a spectacular moon and we’ve also been treated to one of the best displays of northern lights that I’ve ever seen. Hey! I just remembered we have a total eclipse of the moon Saturday night… hope it stays clear until then. See you on the dark side! (No we don’t have any trees up here… this photo was taken off our deck on Manitoulin last summer.)