the pod bay door

.: It doesn’t get any closer than this, does it?

CAD=USD

.: I’ve done little with the new template, because I’ve been busy with other issues. In the past few weeks, I’ve been spending time assessing HDTV home theatre options, and finally settled on a package that included a Panasonic plasma tv, an Onkyo receiver, a set of Polk Audio speakers, and a Sony blu-ray player.  My good friend Geoff Harder was integral to the setup last Friday.  He helped me in a number of ways, including driving me to Best Buy to pick up the tv, which was too big to fit in my Corolla, and then spending hours helping me configure the components in my living room.   Details to come with photos sometime soon. And further work on the blog layout is also forthcoming.

Video courtesy of Chris Labossiere, who writes: “This Antonov 225 was landing in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on March 30th, 2010. It was in Edmonton to collect military cargo and helicopters which were destined for Afghanistan.”

Antonov 225 – Worlds Largest Fixed Wing Aircraft from Chris LaBossiere on Vimeo.

.: I’m migrating and editing most of my old pages, which I had in many sub-categories. I began building these subject pages back in the mid-1990s, when my web page first appeared, in pre-blog days. I guess it was always the librarian in me. When services like de.licio.us came along, I never opted to switch, but continued to maintain my own subject pages. When I finish the migration and merging of these pages, I’ll need to do some serious editing. The “Internet” page, for example, has links to some pages that are quite old and outdated.

I also don’t know how to clean up the footer on my site, since upgrading to Thesis.  I’ll probably need to go into a forum and ask for help.

.: Tonight while watching the one game playoff between the Twins and the Tigers, I was stunned after the bottom of the 10th inning as I watched the Sportsnet announcer advise viewers on the Prairies that Sportsnet West was switching from the baseball game to a hockey game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Calgary Flames. The announcer said viewers could switch to Sportsnet East (which requires a subscription, of course) to continue watching the game. Problem is that Shaw Cable doesn’t carry Sportsnet East, so even if I had wanted to immediately subscribe to that channel, I couldn’t.

I sent the following note to the jerks at Sportsnet a few minutes ago:

————–

Just wanted to say how incredibly disappointed I was that Sportsnet West chose to drop the Twins/Tigers game after the 10th inning. I live in Edmonton. Your announcer told us we could switch over to Sportsnet East to watch the game. Shaw doesn’t carry Sportsnet East in Edmonton. So we had no broadcast of an incredibly exciting game.

For whatever reasons you chose to do this, or was forced contractually to do this, it was a bush league, amateur move of the lowest order. It reminded me of the Heidi football game in 1968 (look it up on Wikipedia).

It’s no wonder Canadian cable networks continue to look so provincial and amateur compared to their American counterparts. A one-game playoff to decide a divisional championship, and you choose to stop broadcasting it in extra innings. Unbelievable. Such a juvenile decision gives me as a viewer no confidence in your management’s abilities to make informed decisions that serve your viewers in the best possible way.

If I could offer one suggestion, it would be to grow up. How can you consider your operation to be major league when you clearly can’t even cover Major League Baseball?

Thanks for ruining my baseball viewing tonight.

Sincerely,
Randy Reichardt

I scored 91/100. Not bad. Maybe I will move there someday soon.

DO YOU BELONG IN NYC?
Yes, but sometimes you wish there were a better option.
You do love New York, and you fit in here better than you have anywhere else. You’re committed to the city, and you take advantage of all of its amazing food, culture, nightlife and arts. But you have nagging doubts about this relationship. Spend your whole life here? Not sure about that. Sometimes you wonder about that farm in your fantasies or even just a smaller city. But in reality, you know there’s nowhere better. Click here for suggestions about how to really enjoy NYC.

Do you belong in New York City?