Kimler Adventure Pages (http://randsco.com)

Alex "wrote" her very first letter to Santa Claus, with a list of what she wants for Christmas. Her wants are few! She also visited Santa at the local mall and is eagerly awaiting the red-man's trip down our chimney. Merry Christmas everyone!

Alex's first letter to Santa Claus!

Well, it was more a dictation that actual writing, as Mom played the part of "secretary" and Alex acted as "the boss" (a role she plays all too well).

The Oop did pen the salutation to Jolly St. Nick and then - at the end - penned her name, which was followed by an alternating, ungulating row of X's and O's - for hugs and kisses. (I think she's pretty smitten with the rosy-cheeked, gift-giving man)!

You can see from the above image that Alex is still struggling with the letter "S" (and also has a tough time writing the number "3"), though she fairs pretty well with the others. There's always the occasional "backward" letter and sometimes - guess this is common? - Alex writes a whole word (her name, usually) in mirrored reverse. I couldn't do that if I tried. I wonder if that's why Dad and Mom are palindromes? Makes it easier for kids to spell!

Although the body of the letter was in Rachel's handwriting, the words belong to our 5-year-old kindergartner.

To read Alex's cute Santa Claus letter, Merry Christmas greeting and pictures ... carry on

Alex's letter to Santa

An electrician advised Scott against moving our electric Maytag dryer controls, but we really didn't want to purchase a brand new dryer, just so we could stack it onto our washing machine (and save space in the utility room). Read about how Scott sorted the spaghetti and modified our dryer.

Utility Room Remodel
Moving Dryer Controls so the Dryer Can Stack onto the Washer

Maytag Dryer: This dryer is very similar to ours, with the controls at the top and back - tough to get to if it's stacked on top of a washing machine, like we're wanting to do.

Our utility room is pretty small and not well utilized. One of our ideas for gaining space, was to stack the dryer onto the washer. Unfortunately, our older-model dryer isn't a match to our newer, front-load washer. Not only is the dryer is a different make, model and year, but the controls are at the top and back. If we stacked it - as is - you'd need a ladder to dial in a setting and turn it on!

What to do? Plunk down $400-$500 (or more) for a comparable stacking dryer? Our dryer, a higher-end model that came with the house, has an "intelli-dry" sensor that shuts off the unit when the clothes are dry. It works great! Seems wasteful and expensive to purchase a new one, just to stack it.

Instead, we thought Scott could find a way to move the control panel to a lower position. This would enable us to stack our old (working) dryer on top of our newer, front-load washer, for a lot less money.

Our neighbor, Charlie, a retired electrician, thought this would be a tough job. "Do you know how many wires you'll have to extend and move?" he asked, "There's about 30 or so wires back there."

This is one of those cases where ignorance is bliss. Undaunted by Charlie's warning, Scott pushed forward and - last weekend when Rachel was off with Alex in Vancouver and he had the house to himself - he tackled moving the dryer controls.

For a low-down on putting the dryer high up and learning how Scott managed to move the dryer controls ... carry on ...

Moving the Dryer Controls

Nanaimo - Record snow fell on Sunday, dumping 33 centimeters overnight and in the morning. Record cold temperatures accompanied this record snow dump, changing what had been a mild winter thus far, into something a tad more extreme.

Thirty Six Centimeters of Snow

Record Snow: View out the kitchen window on Sunday morning. Thirty six centimeters of snow got dumped on the Hutton House, burying the honda, the BBQ, the table ... everything! Record temperatures accompanied the record dump.

Rachel and the Oop were off visiting grandparents in Vancouver, so they missed witnessing yesterday's record snowfall.

"When I went to bed on Saturday night," Scott said, "there had only been a light snowfall that afternoon and nothing after that. When the fire hall pager went off at 5:30 AM Sunday morning, I woke up and looked out the window. It was a white winter wonderland!"

Thirty three centimeters of snow had fallen, during the night. Outside, Scott flipped "the beast" into 4-wheel-drive and plowed his way to the North Cedar Fire Hall, seven kilometers away. There, personnel put chains on the front-line pumper (Engine 1), back-up pumper (Engine 7) and the water tender (Tender 6).

Another 3 centimeters fell Sunday morning, bringing the December 14th total to 36 centimeters. This beat the previous December 14th record of 19.8 centimeters, which was set in 2000.

For more Nanaimo snow records and photos ... carry on.

More on the Record Nanaimo Snow

What parent isn't proud when their kid takes the stage for the first time? Alex's school put on a Christmas Pageant and the kindergarten classes all joined in to do a reindeer "Hokey Pokey" dance. (Video included)

Alex Takes the Stage for a "Reindeer Hokey Pokey" Dance

Hokey Pokey Kid: Here's Alex in her "reindeer" costume (cut-out of hands for "antlers" and a Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer red nose!). Here, Alex is enjoying a bit of post-Christmas-Pageant, home-made apple and blackberry pie!

Alex loves to perform at home, taking over the living room, doing her modern, "interpretive" dancing (and sometimes singing). So I figured she'd be all over her Christmas pageant like a dirty shirt, but I was a little surprised she wasn't more "into it" than she was.

Woodbank Primary School put on their annual Christmas Pageant the other night. They had an afternoon performance (rehearsal with the other grades) and a 6:30 PM performance, for the parents. Each class did one (or more) songs on a temporary, elevated stage in the gymnasium. It was pretty cute, watching all the kids perform. Some were really into it and others weren't, but a fun time was had by all, I think.

We sat next to our family doctor, Neil Rogers, who has twin boys starting school next year and another son in 2nd grade. (You know you live in a small town when you go to the "school play" and see your doctor!)

Unfortunately, my camera battery was dead, but Rachel came to the rescue and caught video of "the Oop" doing her Hokey Pokey thing! (They were supposed to be "reindeer" and each kindergartner had a red nose and a head band with cut-out hands as "antlers". Both the morning and afternoon kindergarten classes were combined, which is why there's so many kids.)

Alex is wearing a blue dress and is - pretty much - the kid in the center of the video. Her teacher, Mrs. Pettit, is the one you see in front, waving her arms and shaking her head, giving directions to the kids.

OKAY ... I'll shut up now. Head to the next page to see the unedited, raw footage. (Pasted in a relative hurry for eager grandparent's pleasure)!

Alex does the Hokey Pokey

The U.S. Economy. If you're worried about all the doom and gloom about the U.S. Economy, tired of watching your investments decline in value, worried about your job ... then this video outlining the government's plan to get back to prosperity is sure to cheer you up!

Good News About the U.S. Economy

U.S. Economy - A huge debt load. Excellent plan for prosperity. Hmmm. What about the future?

It seems that every time you watch the news, there is doom and gloom about the U.S. economy. First the sub-prime lending fiasco, then housing prices take a nose-dive, then the government $700 billion dollar bail-out and the financial markets are dropping like a stone. Everyone is worried, not about a recession, but an out-and-out depression. Long-standing companies are folding, the automobile manufacturers are asking the government for help, unemployment is climbing, foreclosures right and left, no-one is building homes, which means more unemployment ... will it ever end?

Anywone who thinks they're immune from the effects of this economic downturn is kidding themselves. This crisis will touch everyone, in some way, at some point.

Fred Thompson, a former actor (of Law and Order fame), U.S. Senator (Republican; Tennessee Senator from 1994-2003) and candidate for the 2008 Republican nomination for President of the United States, has some good news to share, about the U.S. economy. In the 8-minute video on the next page, he summarizes the government's plan for getting the economy back on track. In plain English, he cuts through the chatter and presents the plan in a completely understandable way.

The video is a "must-see" for anyone worried about the economy, the future of their jobs, potential bankruptcy of Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security, their retirement investments or pension, or the financial future of their children! By the end of the video, you'll have a complete understanding of the current plan, faith that the government is doing the right things and peace of mind.

The U.S. economy will be heading for prosperity in the new year ... watch the video and relax ...

Video on U.S. Economy Plan

On an unseasonably warm & sunny November day, Rachel & Scott paddled their new sea kayaks to DeCourcy Island, 6-kilometer offshore Vancouver Island. DeCourcy Island is home to Pirates Cove Marine Park and has a rich history, including buried treasure! (DeCourcy Island maps, photos and tales "Brother Twelve", Canada's notorious cult leader)

Blue Heron Park to Pirate's Cove Marine Park, on DeCourcy Island

Scott on Stuart Channel: With the Yellow Point area of Cedar in the background, Rachel got this shot of Scott paddling his mango-colored Current Designs "Storm" kayak. We're heading across the Stuart Channel to DeCourcy Island and Pirates Cove Marine Park on a fine sunny November afternoon.

After two years of living in Yellow Point, we finally bit the bullet and bought two ocean-touring kayaks. They are both used kayaks, obtained from a 2008 rental fleet sale at local outfitter (Alberni Outpost). They're both bomb-proof, made of tough, durable roto-molded plastic. We haven't acquired all the accompanying gear (we still need spray-skirts, for example), but were eager to plunk them in the water for a test paddle.

A week ago, the stars and planets aligned, so we took a 12-kilometer round-trip paddle from Yellow Point (putting in at Blue Heron Park), paddling 6 kilometers across the Stuart Channel, to explore Pirate's Cove Marine Park, on DeCourcy Island. Alex was in day-care and kindergarten for the day. Rachel was scheduled to attend a B.C. Nurses Union meeting, but it was canceled at the last minute. Even the weather cooperated; after four days of rain, the skies cleared and it was a sunny, unseasonably warm November day. Wow! We just had to get out of the house before the November rain and drizzle returned.

It took us a while to get organized, tossing Rachel's blue Necky "Elaho HV" Necky "Elaho HV" Kayak Rachel's Necky "Elaho HV" kayak. The "HV" means "High Volume". Necky added 3 inches to the length and width of the cockpit of a regular "Elaho", making entering and exiting easier. This roto-molded plastic touring kayak is made by Necky (in Washington State). It offers outstanding turn response, good leaning & solid edging. It's narrower than most touring boats, which lowers its initial stability, but increases handling and performance. (Necky no longer manufactures the Elaho line). The Elaho HV is 17-feet long, 22.5-inches wide, weighs 63 pounds and can carry 325 pounds. The metal rudder is standard.  kayak and Scott's mango Current Designs "Storm" Current Designs "Storm" Kayak Scott's Current Designs "Storm" kayak. The "Storm" is a lively, rugged & affordable touring kayak. It's designed to handle tremendous abuse. Built by Current Designs, the Storm is a roto-molded polyethylene kayak. The model underwent a major design fine-tuning in 2004 and sports a new hatch system & rudder controls. The deck fittings are recessed and have full perimeter deck lines. It's a very stable and rugged performing touring kayak. The Storm is 17-feet long, 24-inches wide, weighs 63 pounds and can carry up to 400 pounds. Click the link for the Current Designs website & more about the Storm kayak.  kayak onto the roof rack of the Honda Accord. We packed a lunch and drove three or four kilometers, from our house, along Yellow Point Road, to Blue Heron Park, where we dunked the boats in the water and began our paddle over to DeCourcy Island and Pirates Cove Marine Park.

To find out more about DeCourcy Island, our kayak trip and Pirates Cove Park (with maps) .... carry on ...

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OKAY ... It's not as important as voting for the President of the United States, but there's a local election that will expand the Fire Protection Boundaries in our area. Even though I can't vote, I'm urging residents to vote "YES". Find out why

North Cedar Improvement District Voting on Nov 15th

Vote YES - Residents of Yellow Point and South Cedar: vote "YES" on the November 15th Referendum question to extend the North Cedar Fire District Boundary ... it just makes sense.

Cedar and Yellow Point residents will be voting to elect an RDN Area "A" Director on November 15th. Some property owners will also be voting on a referendum to expand the NCID/NCFD fire protection and emergency response boundaries.

Voting will be held at the North Cedar Intermediate School (2215 Gould Road, in Cedar) on Saturday, November 15th, from 8 AM till 8 PM.

I can't vote because I'm a permanent resident (not a Canadian citizen), but I can urge you to vote for your choice of Directors and "YES" to the referendum question:

Are you in favour of the North Cedar Improvement District extending its fire protection boundaries in order to provide fire and emergency response services to properties in the Yellow Point - South Cedar area at an estimated cost of $70 per year plus $66 per $100k of assessed property value?

There's not much information on the Internet about this fire protection expansion, so I thought I'd put some out there.

Residents who vote "YES will be closer to their fire hall (receive faster fire and emergency service), they'll actually have ownership of both their fire hall and the equipment, they'll also gain voting rights and they may save money through lower homeowner insurance premiums. It just makes sense to vote "YES".

For more about the referendum, a comparison chart that clearly shows why a "YES" vote is the right vote and a map of the affected areas ... carry on ...

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Our five-year-old daughter, Alex (whom we call "the Oop"), had a great Halloween this year. Her Halloween costume was a princess gown, tiara and a shimmery golden cape. She thought she was pretty cute. She was! Hope you had a great Halloween too!

Halloween Tales of Princess Oop

Princess Oop: Alex wearing her "Princess" Halloween costume, standing next to the one-tooth pumpkin she helped carve, is ready for an evening of trick-or-treat. A dollar-store crown and a six-dollar thrift store costume shows that parents don't have to break the bank to put a Halloween outfit on their kid.

Alex has been enamored with Princesses for some time. It all started when she received a Disney "My Princess Collection" Alex's Princess Books "My Princess Collection" is a boxed set of 12 hardcover books containing illustrated stories about heroines from Disney and Pixar films, including: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Mulan, Beauty and the Beast (Belle), Toy Story 2 (Jessie), Alice in Wonderland, Atlantis (Kida), Aladdin (Jasmine), Sleeping Beauty (Aurora), A Bug's Life (Dot), Pocahontas, and The Little Mermaid (Ariel). They're all told from a first-person perspective - that of each Princess - each being a story of true love, adventure and "living happily ever after". The Oop loves them and both Mom & Dad can tell each story, from rote memory.  of bedtime stories, as a gift from her "Uncle" Bruce and "Aunt" Michelle. For a while, they were her favorite bedtime reading choice and it started a near-obsession with Princesses, which resulted in a myriad of drawings, discussions and has - hopefully culminated with - this year's Halloween costume.

Trust me, as a responsible father, no-one wants their little girl believing that they are "a princess" ... with all the self-important, royal behavior that might follow! (Pity the poor guy marrying into THAT, some day, eh? I'm not sure where he'd sit on that royal court, but I doubt it'd be as "prince" ... more likely knave, slave or court jester!)

Alex's "princess" costume consisted of a $5 princess dress at the thrift store, a $1 jewel-studded tiara and the golden cape she was given for 'dress-up' on her birthday, a few weeks ago. Best $6 Rachel ever spent! The Oop loved it and played her part royally, wearing it to the local pumpkin patch, then to kindergarten, a party at day-care and (of course) trick-or-treating on Halloween night!

For a slide-show of the Princess Alex's Halloween festivities (and a celebration of the joy, innocence and excitement of a 5-year-old girl) ... read on ...

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Randsco is "published" in a French textbook, a Florida reader sent Scott a Penn State baseball hat and Oklahoma's Red Dirt Emporium donated generously to Randsco. (Hmmm ... maybe it's time I find a way to say "thanks" to everyone that's helped Randsco ... here's a start)

Some Recent Kudos

October has been another milestone month for Randsco.com. In addition to setting new records for visitation and Google AdSense revenue, there have been a number of other, off-site developments.

Two of those arrived by mail. First, we received a hard-back book. Randsco.com is now "published"! (One of our online photos was used in the book). Second, just yesterday, Scott received a surprise package. (No, it wasn't a bomb ... it was a Penn State baseball cap! We surmise that it's a "thank you" for the Geographically Challenged article, since it arrived without a note).

The other recent event was an generous, unsolicited donation - (donations of any kind, are a rare event) - by a company in Oklahoma, for the use of the Photo-caption Zoom technique.

Over the years, we've received a variety of unsolicited, creative "thank you's" for helping with HTML code, PHP scripts and/or our CSS techniques. Two that come to mind are a hand-made Afghan rug, which we received from a U.S. Army helicopter pilot stationed in Afghanistan and the other, an Opera CD sent by a Dane, living in Spain, who's wife is a singer.

We've had it on our "to-do" list to add a section that says "thanks" for all the people that have donated, contributed or helped Randsco.com in a meaningful way. This post is a way of biting the bullet and just "starting", though it will take some time to construct something more finalized and formal.

To find out more about our plans for "thank you's" and the story behind the book, the hat and the Oklahoma PZ3 donation ... carry on

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WARNING: Funny video about John McCain and Sarah Palin winning the U.S. Election in November. (A plan for disenfranchised liberal elite Americans - Move to Canada). Enjoy.

A Plan for America's Disenfranchised Liberal Elite

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A comparison of Canada's 2008 election and that of the United States - what it cost each country to elect a leader. (Hint: Record amounts set by both countries). Shouldn't it be less expensive to elect public officials?

Canada & United States - Cost of the Election

U.S./Canada Election Spending: Canada spent $300 million on their 2008 election and the United States is on target for spending $5.3 billion. Both values are the highest ever, in their respective countries.

Comparing Canadian and United States politics is bit like comparing grapefruits and tangerines. They're both fruit, citrus even, but also very different. In one respect though, Canada and U.S. are the same - they'll both spent record amounts in their 2008 elections.

It's a travesty that each election should consume ever more energy (time, material and money). It'll be a relief when they're finally over.

For a comparison on election costs between Canada and the United States, carry on ...

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First School Bus Ride: About a month after school started, Alex had a chance to take the school bus home. Boy, was she excited about doing that!

A "Proud-as-Punch" Kid

Barreling Down Yellow Point: Alex's school bus arriving at her stop. Yes, there are still a couple of 5-acre parcels available at the end of our street. See that pot-hole? It's something we have to try and miss, each time we come home. We're getting pretty good at putting the tires between the pot-hole and the road edge!

School started some time ago, but it wasn't till this month that Alex rode the school bus home for the very first time. It wasn't for lack of lobbying on her part.

"Mommy?" (or Daddy, depending), she'd ask, "Can I take the bus home tomorrow?"

More often than not, Alex was headed to day-care immediately after her afternoon kindergarten class, or off to swimming, or we'd pick her up on our way into town ... or some other activity. It's a rare day that she can actually ride the bus and boy-oh-boy, was she eager to do so.

Riding the bus to school isn't really an option, since the bus comes at 8 AM and her kindergarten class doesn't start till 11:35 AM. However, riding the bus from school is an option and (somehow) she knew it! She was bugging us about riding the bus since school began.

Finally, the opportunity to take the bus home came up and she was sooooo excited!

To see how excited and proud a 5-year-old can be about riding a school bus for the first time .... read on ...

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Had your laugh today? Watch this 30-second television advertisement titled "GOTCHA" selling Wienerschitzel hot dogs. It's a riot! Enjoy!

World's Most Wanted Wiener

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Alex turns FIVE today! We're throwing her a "surprise" birthday party at a local playground, this afternoon. See a slide show of her day, which started at 6 AM, and get a dad's perspective on what he thinks of his five-year-old daughter.

Our Little Girl is Five Years Old

Alex the Five-year-old: "The Oop" turns five today! Happy Birthday!!

Yesterday morning, Alex helped Dad bake her birthday cake. She got out the eggs, butter, flour and even managed to stir up the cake batter. But what she really wanted, was to "help" decorate it.

Last night, Alex - AKA "the Oop" to family and close friends - got her chance. While Dad layered on the frosting and made a couple of colored batches for the lettering, Alex feasted on the sugary dregs. No wonder she had a hard time hitting her normal 8 PM bedtime! (Of course, Mom had to help too - *cough* with the frosting).

Alex's birthday started dark and early this morning, because Rachel is working a day shift and wakes at 5:30 AM. Alex is off to day-care today, then kindergarten, then day-care again, then "the surprise"! (Mom has planned a birthday party at "Jump'n Jimminy's", a kid's play palace in Nanaimo) Alex doesn't know anything about it! Her cousins (Toby and Ella) and her aunt are even coming over from Vancouver and will be there for the festivities!

Our little girl is five. When did that happen?

For a slide show and more details about Alex's "big day", carry on ...

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Things I bet you didn't know about Penn State: They currently have the largest college football stadium in the U.S. (Beaver Stadium); when they have a "white-out" there ... it rocks; and the Penn State Nittany Lions (currently #6) are *finally* being recognized as a contender for the National Title.

Penn State Beaver Stadium "A Flashbulb"

Beaver Stadium: With a seating capacity of over 107,000 people, it's currently the largest college stadium in the nation. During a "white out" (here the 2007 Notre Dame game), it's quite a spectacle.
Photo by Barbara Popek - click for 2048x1536 original

Of the five things that Stewart Mandel (senior Sports Illustrated writer) learned about college football teams last weekend, two of them involved Penn State:

Besides learning that Alabama's offensive line is overpowering, he learned that "Penn State is the class of the Big Ten" and my personal favorite, that "anything other than the 'White Out' isn't worth it".

Anything other than the "White Out" isn't worth it.

If I was a Circuit City employee trying to woo a customer into buying a $2,000 High-definition plasma television, the first thing I would show him is Saturday night's broadcast of the Penn State-Illinois game. Even seeing it for a third time, it was impossible not to be awed by the visual grandeur of Penn State's "White Out," which manages to turn a 110,000-seat stadium one enormous flashbulb. It's powerful, it's organized (right down to the block "S" in one corner) and, quite frankly, it's awesome.

Two words of advice to all the other schools trying to mimic it: Just stop. Seriously.

Beaver Stadium is currently the largest college stadium in the United States, with a seating capacity of 107,282. (It's only 1,000 seats larger than Michigan's "Big House", which will be even bigger, next year).

An interesting note of comparison: State College, where Penn State's main campus is located, has roughly a population of 38,000. The campus enrollment is approximately 43,000 students. Even if every student, teacher and State College resident attended a game, the stadium wouldn't be full.

In "Happy Valley", it's not so much as a game, as it is a religion. (Or is it just one big tail-gate party? Although, that's almost laughable, since I didn't see one "tail gate" during last week's game ... just big, expensive RV's!)

For more Sports Illustrated enlightenment and photos of Beaver Stadium, carry on ...

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Article updated with new information from the W3C - July 2009

I've advocated for XHTML and CSS, thinking it was the future of the web. I'm no longer convinced of this. We've decided to go back to well-formed tag soup XHTML after realizing the price for serving the "application/xhtml+xml" MIME type wasn't worth the cost. Find out why

Back to XHTML v1.0 Strict and text/html
In other words: "Well-formed Tag Soup"

Since late 2005, we've been serving our pages as XHTML v1.1, using the application/xhtml+xml MIME type for those browsers - notably FireFox, Opera & Safari - that understand it. (To do this, we used server-side scripting to set the MIME type in the header. For more about the technique, read this 2005 article - "Are You Serving XHTML with the Wrong MIME Type?")

XHTML v1.1 has only negligible coding changes from XHTML v1.0 strict. However, unlike XHTML v1.0, its supposed to be served as an XML document (hence the MIME type). So what? Well, serving XML-based web documents (XHTML v1.1 as application/xhtml+xml) comes at a huge price and we're tired of paying it (and our readers are too - *cough* most notably ¥åßßå).

Originally, we viewed XHTML v1.0 as predecessor of HTML, since it was standard-based and eliminated the problems of proprietary tags and sloppy coding. We blindly migrated to XHTML v1.1, thinking we were further future-proofing our pages. HA!

The future direction of the web (XHTML and HTML) is muddled. Consider: HTML isn't being phased out; developers of browsers such as FireFox, Opera and Safari are lobbying for (and developing) HTML 5; the W3C has renewed the HTML working group; and the Chief Technical Officer of Opera says, "I don't think XHTML is a realistic option for the masses. HTML 5 is it." [sources]

To find out what price our readers will no longer have to pay, and more about XHTML v2.0 and HTML 5 ... read on

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If you're sick of Obama, McCain (politics in general) and the gloomy economy, college football is an excellent diversion! Demonstrating why college football is so fun, last night unranked Oregon State toppled the number one seeded USC in a stunning upset. Find out more and what it means for Penn State and see a preview or their game against Illinois, which will be shown regionally on ABC, Saturday night.

College Football: Oregon State Stuns #1 USC

BCS Bowl Bye-Bye? USC quarterback Mark Sanchez walks dejectedly from the Oregon State field, after suffering a hugely unexpected loss, which will drop them from their #1 ranking.

I just happened to turn on the television last night and noticed there was a Thursday night college football game on (this must be a new thing, aren't college games played on Friday night or Saturday?). Oregon State and USC were playing, but what caught my attention, was the score. It was late in the 2nd quarter and Oregon State was ahead: 14 to nothing!

Hey, wait a minute.

Isn't USC the number one team in the nation? Isn't Oregon state 1-2 on the season? Didn't Penn State play Oregon State in their first-ever meeting, in week 2, running them all over the field, whipping them with a 45-14 win?

Gee, it be sweet if Oregon State could beat USC! It'd be like a double scoop of my favorite ice cream ... USC loses a game and its #1 status (I've never been a fan of that private school) and the team that Penn State played, is the one to do it! Kinda makes Penn State's football light shine that much brighter!

So I grabbed a beer, sat down and convinced my five year old daughter that we were rooting for the guys in the dark-colored jerseys (it was either that or I'd be stuck watching cartoons, while this important upset might happen!)

Fortunately for me, Alex rooted right along side Dad (for a while), then became pre-occupied with toys, until her bedtime. I got to watch college football history in the making!

For more Friday football buzz (and a Penn State -vs- Illinois Game Preview) ... carry on ...

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We've been running Google AdSense Adverts (shown only to search engine visitors) for nearly a year and a half. Revenue has increased, over time. We figured we'd take another stab at increasing our stake, so we revamped our adverts, their placement, how they show and focused Google ad bots onto more relevant text. Learn more about our Google AdSense Advertising Empire! (lol)

Randsco Revamps Google Advertising

Google AdSense: Ah, the joys of monetizing the blog with Google Ads! A "watched pot" comes to mind.

Back in February, we talked a bit about the history of Randsco and how it's become a calling card for web development work. We also talked about monetizing the blog and on our philosophy about Google Ads. The revenue from these context-related advertisements has been modest, but it has grown, as Randsco readership has increased.

Google Ads were added in June 2007 as "a test". We've been pleased with the results from these - relatively unobtrusive - ads and as a consequence, thought it time to revisit our Google Ad strategy. We're hoping to catch more paid clicks.

New Google Ad Strategy in a Nutshell

We've increased the number of Google Ad blocks to four three & a video Google Adsense Rules LOL ... four turned out to be a violation of the AdSense "Terms of Service" agreement (you can have, at most, 3 ad blocks on a single HTML page). So ... we've replaced the 4th ad block (bottom of the page, 728x90 banner), with a YouTube video block. (Might be entertaining ... or not.) Click the link (or in this box if it comes up over the link) to see the Google AdSense Rules , instead of one ad block. As before, we're only showing them to visitors who land on Randsco from a search engine (Google, AOL, Yahoo, MSN, etc.) We don't want to shove advertising at "loyal" readers - anyone landing here by typing "randsco.com" into a browser address bar, bookmarking us as a "favorite", or linking in from a non-search-engine link. Originally, we only showed Google Ads to search engine visitors on their landing page, but we've now expanded that to every page they click through to see. We've also pointed the Google Ad bot to only look at the body text of each article (and comment text), which - in theory - will yield more relevant ads.

To learn about Ad revenue growth, Google Ad tactics and the specifics of the Randsco Google Ad policy changes ... read on ...

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Randsco Hacked - Hackers gained FTP access and uploaded two .htaccess files, both attempted to redirect search engine visitors to another website. One failed, the other was successful. Read the postmortem on how approximately 15,000 Randsco visitors were hijacked over 5 full days, last month.

Hackers Hijack Search Engine Visitors for Five Days

Hacked Stats - Hackers hijacking search engine visitors had an impact on the August stats. (Columns represent the number of visits, pages, hits and bandwidth used, for each day. Normal averages for Randsco are 3577, 8278, 129882 and 1.33 Gigabytes, respectively). For five full days, the number of visits dropped from about 3500/day to around 700 per day.

This wasn't the first time our web server has been hacked. Last year, while we were hiking the West Coast Trail, Randsco was hacked, along with everyone else on our (then) shared server.

What is it about hackers? They seem to know when you're away on vacation and nowhere near a computer! Grrr.

Fast forward a year and we're now on a VPS host. This time, (as far as I know), it was only Randsco that was hacked.

For five full days in August - and a couple of partial days - all visitors clicking through to Randsco from a search engine, weren't connected to Randsco. Instead, they were automatically redirected to a spammy website that was selling "anti-virus software". The site loaded a "virus scanner" and a JavaScript alert window, which popped up in the middle of the screen. Closing these pop-ups was also difficult, as they spawned further pop-ups.

Visitors typing in a Randsco address into their address bar, weren't affected. The hackers were targeting major search engine visitors only (Google, Yahoo, AOL, etc.)

I don't know if that website was legitimately selling marginalized software or if it was a ploy to get unwary visitors to download something malicious. One is definitely worse than the other, but for me, a moot point. The fact that hackers were successfully able to redirect search engine visitors, was an egregious violation of our privacy and goal of providing helpful, relevant content and a positive visitor experience.

To learn more about how hackers gained access and what they did (a postmortem, if you will) ... carry on.

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Today is Alex's first full day of kindergarten, although a week ago, Alex had her first meeting with her kindergarten teacher. It was an hour-long "meet-and-greet", involving a few kindergarten kids and their parents. We all got a tour of the kindergarten room and Alex got to meet a few of her classmates. Oh boy! Alex starts SCHOOL!

These are Exciting Times for Alex!

First Day at Kindergarten - Mrs. Petit, the kindergarten teacher, reads a book, "The Mixed up Chameleon", to a small group of kids. Five new students, their parents and the teacher, met for an hour, last week. It was part of an "easing-them-in" program for all 55 kindergarten-age kids, as they head into Cedar's "Woodbank Elementary School".

Today is Alex's first full day of kindergarten. One week ago, we took Alex in for her (official) first day of kindergarten, which amounted to an hour-long meet-and-greet between a few kids, their parents and the kindergarten teacher. Then, starting on Monday of this week, Alex began attending kindergarten, but it was only for one-half the time (one hour, instead of two and a half) and with only half of the class.

The new way appears to "ease in the kids into kindergarten". I guess some kids have a difficult time being away from home, in many cases, for the first time.

Not Alex. She is hugely excited about kindergarten and loves going. When I picked her up yesterday afternoon, she explained that there were, "So many kids there, dad!" (Alex loves people, so will have no problem adjusting to school.)

She even has "homework" to do, every day (including weekends)!

For more about Alex's kindergarten class, her very first day, the teacher and even a slide show about "A Day at Kindergarten" ... use your "inside mouse" and click "Read Full Story"

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Alex stayed with maternal grandparents, during our recent canoeing adventure on the Bowron Lakes. They took her camping to Watch Lake, in the southern Cariboo Mountains of central British Columbia (not too far from where we were). Alex went on her first horseback ride! See the nice photo scrapbook that her grandmother made for her (viewed in the new AstonishMe! Photo Gallery)

Grandparents Take Alex Camping

Map of the Southern Cariboo Area of British Columbia - Just a few kilometers south of Lone Butte (aptly named), one can find Watch Lake and much larger Green Lake. It's a popular recreation destination, with lots of wildlife, fishing and campgrounds. (Click on the picture for more information about the area).

Mom and Dad couldn't have gone on their 6-day canoeing adventure on the Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit if maternal grandparents hadn't been willing to look after Alex, during this time. Alex had fun in Vancouver, but it was the camping trip to Watch Lake, near 100-mile House, that Alex really enjoyed.

"Gran" and Grandpa took Alex in their Volkswagen Westfalia camping van to a recreation area in central British Columbia, just a few hours south of where Mom and Dad were canoeing on the Bowron Lakes. The area is in the Southern Cariboo Mountains and is renown for fishing, wildlife and contains a plethora of small lakes. Apparently, they've been visiting Watch Lake and staying at the Watch Lake Lodge cabins and/or campground, for years. It's the kind of place that fosters a long-term relationship with customers, reminding me of some of the summer resorts in Pennsylvania and Upstate New York.

Alex enjoyed swimming, horseback riding, campfires, playing with other kids, playing games, feeding the ducks, walking the dog, eating roasted marshmallows and a BUNCH of other things!

Her "Gran" took lots of pictures and made Alex a scrapbook of her time at Watch Lake. It was very well done and Alex decided she wanted to share it. (It doesn't hurt that my AstonishMe! mate, ¥åßßå, has nearly finished the alpha-release of a very spiffy bit of jQuery-based photo gallery code!)

To see Alex's scrapbook at Watch Lake (and a cool online photo gallery) ... sally forth!

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Bowron Lakes Canoe Trip: Listed as one of the World's top 10 best wilderness canoe trips, we thought we'd give it a whirl. We dropped Alex off with grandparents in Vancouver and made the 9-hour drive to get to the renown park in central British Columbia. Follow along by reading the journal of our 6-day wilderness experience! (Pics, maps, video, a slide-show and resource section all - eventually - included).

A 6-Day Canoe Adventure in the wild Cariboo Mountains

The Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit: If you're looking to whet your appetite for adventure, follow along on our 6-day Bowron Lakes canoeing adventure. If you're looking for a beautiful coffee table book of this wonderful, pristine wilderness - click the picture for a glimpse at Chris Harris' book - "The Bowron Lakes".

The Bowron Lake Provincial Park, in central British Columbia, is a wilderness park that encompasses over three hundred thousand acres and contains a world-famous canoe circuit. The circuit includes six major lakes (Indianpoint, Isaac, Lanezi, Sandy, Spectacle and Bowron) and together with several other smaller lakes, streams, rivers and portages, makes up a unique, circular wilderness wetlands route. The circuit is 116 kilometers long (72 mi) and includes a total of 10 kilometers of portages. Most visitors take six or seven days to complete the circuit, though many linger - fishing, relaxing and enjoying the breathtaking beauty of this unique wilderness.

Bowron Lakes - one of the ten best wilderness canoe trips in the World.

- Outside Magazine

The area was classified as a game reserve in 1926, by the British Columbia government, thanks to efforts by Frank Kibbee and Thomas & Eleanor McCabe. In 1961, it was reclassified as a Provincial Park and named after John Bowron, a gold rush pioneer who later became the Commissioner at nearby Barkerville About Barkerville Barkerville is the largest historic site in British Columbia. Founded in 1862, Barkervilles was the "gold capital of BC". Burned down, it was rebuilt, but became a ghost town. It was restored in 1958 for the Provincial centennial and today, remains a town of discovery - a unique streetscape with over 125 heritage buildings, Royal Theater shows, exhibits, stage coach rides, street theater in the summer and unique shops, filled with Victorian-era merchandise. Open all year, the town springs to life in the summer months. Thousands of visitors come from all over the world to travel to this unique attraction. There are mining demonstrations, street interpreters, restaurants, gold panning and other displays. Click the green-shaded word to visit the Barkerville website (should open in a new window).  B.C.'s famous restored gold-rush town.

Both are located in the Cariboo Mountains in central British Columbia and accessed via Highway 26 from Quesnel, to Wells (90 km, or 55.8 mi, via a paved road). The Park can be reached by a secondary road (at this writing, a dirt road) that is another 30 kilometers (18.6 miles). Bowron Lake Provincial Park is - quite literally - at the end of the road.

Bowron Lakes Facility Map: This unique, circular canoe circuit starts at the registration center and heads in a clockwise direction. The camps where we stayed are highlighted.

Join us on our 6-day adventure. The journal is rich in detail and includes many photographs and a short video of a moose grazing. If you're planning your own trip, the slideshow will whet your appetite and the journal will provide some insight about what to expect. We've also included a useful "Resources" section at the end, which may aid in your planning. It includes a detailed contour map, which you can download and use.

For us, the Bowron Lake Canoe adventure is our first canoeing trip, though hardly our first adventure trip. It is also our only adventure trip of the year, without our four-year-old daughter - thanks Gran & Grandpa, for hosting Alex! - and we had an excellent time! Wildlife, scenery, people, paddling and the weather were all outstanding.

Enough preamble ... on with the adventure.

Guess who's heading out on a wilderness adventure?! Yep ... Scott & Rachel are going to be sleeping in the dirt again. This time we're embarking on a 100-kilometer wilderness canoe trip. The trip is right around the corner and we're buzzing with anticipation.

Bowron Lakes Canoe Adventure

Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit: A 116-kilometer canoe circuit that encompasses a rectangular-shaped chain of lakes and interconnecting rivers through the wild Cariboo mountains in the heart of the British Columbia interior. Outside Magazine ranks this canoe trip as "One of the top 10 canoe trips in the world".

The food dehydrator has been running for five days straight, as we prepare six or seven back-country suppers. We're starting to get excited, because we're fobbing Alex off on grandparent's in Vancouver, and taking some "grown-up time" - heading off on another wilderness adventure!

Like most people, with gas prices so high, we're setting our sights on a "local" destination. We're also doing a trip that's a bit different than anything we've done together - we're embarking on a multi-day canoeing trip. The place we're headed is about a nine-hour drive from Vancouver, into the interior of British Columbia - Bowron Lake Provincial Park.

According to Outside magazine, the Bowron Lakes canoe circuit ranks among one of the World's 10-best canoe trips. It's a different way of traveling for Scott, that's for sure! (Rachel has done the trip before, when she was quite young, with her family. Still she remembers little, so it's as if we're both going for the first time ever).

To learn more about Bowron Lakes, get a detailed topographic map of the Bowron Lakes Provincial Park and view a video, which will whet your appetite for adventure ... read on.

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When it comes to finding which websites link to your domain, or to a specific URL within your domain, Yahoo!Search beats the pants off of Google search. Find out why.

Who Links to Your Internal Web Pages?
Why Yahoo Search Soars Over Google

One measure of the relevancy ("success" or contribution) of a website, is to find how many other people reference (link to) its pages. To answer this question, until now anyway, I've headed to the search engine I usually use - Google.

By typing link:randsco.com into a Google search box, it spits back a list of sites that link to this domain. (Instructions for this - and other - advanced Google operators).

Doing the above yields about 200 results and going down the list, one can see which sites link to our domain. Unfortunately, many of the results are actually randsco webpages or they are sites where I have placed a link (e.g., comments I've made on other blogs, newsgroups or forums). It sure would be nice to eliminate those and see only other people linking in. (Particularly useful tracking down folks violating our copyright policy, by using our CSS techniques and PHP scripts for commercial purposes and bypassing the "donation required" step).

Step aside Google, because this is where Yahoo beats the pants off of your - very simple - "link:" search. Yahoo!Search is more powerful, more accurate and more comprehensive.

To learn about the power of Yahoo's inbound link searching and how to stretch your link-searching muscles .... read on ...

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Yesterday, we returned from hosting our first visitors at the floating cabin. It was a success! The weather (for the most part) cooperated, the boat didn't break down and we even remembered to bring the cabin key this time! We did encounter a few SNAFU's however

Bruce & Michelle / Langley, B.C.

Lunchtime Break: Michelle and Bruce take in the views from our kayaking lunch stop. It was a perfect cove for lunch, affording views northeast and east, protection from offshore winds and even some decent beach combing. It took us almost 4 hours to paddle most of the way around the islands, from the cabin.

This summer season seems to be all about the floating cabin, as we're trying to find the best way to get there and work out some kinks and make sure that the boat, "Blue Yonder" is reliable and seaworthy. We were eager to share our love for the outdoors and the unique wilderness experience at the floating cabin, but we were a bit nervous about having our first visitors.

It's fitting that they were Bruce and Michelle, because they were also our first guests in Edmonton, showing up within a couple of weeks after we'd moved. They also like the out-of-doors and have recently gotten into kayaking. They were visiting Vancouver Island for an anniversary vacation and when we found out, we invited them to the floating cabin for a few days.

We had a great time, even though there were a few mishaps: an overloaded boat; a swarm of vicious, stinging bees; and the loss of eight crabs to determined seals. It seems that every trip to the cabin brings up 'interesting challenges' that turn into humorous and memorable events!

To read about the adventure of our first floating cabin guests .... carry on (the narrative is in their own words, as transcribed from the cabin guest journal) ...

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Rachel reviews "The Time In Between", an award winning novel by David Bergen. A

(Fiction)Review of "The Time In Between"
an award winning novel by David Bergen

The Time In Between: A Vietnam veteran is still suffering depression, night terrors & panic attacks, decades after his service in the war. He reads a book by a North Vietnamese soldier - whose experiences seem to mirror his own - and he goes to Vietnam & then disappears.

The 2005 winner of the Giller Prize, David Bergen’s novel, “The Time In Between” is about a Vietnam veteran, Charles Boatman, who returns to Vietnam to face some of the demons that have haunted him for decades after serving there. When he goes missing, his son and daughter, Jon and Ada, travel to Vietnam in search of him. While Jon soon emotionally abandons the search for his father, Ada continues to follow any clue that might lead to her father, becoming entangled in the lives of those she meets. The novel unfolds, moving between past and present, father and daughter, as the two main characters each weave their way along an emotional journey. The strength of the tie between father and daughter is developed in the section of the book covering the years prior to Charles' return to Vietnam and then as Ada gains insight into her father's trauma as she continues her search for him.

Click "Read Full Story" to continue reading the review of "The Time In Between".

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IKEA Svala Checkerboard Table Project: Alex got an IKEA "Svala" table from her grandparents. Most IKEA furniture must be put together and a finish applied. This was no different. What was different, however, was that Scott turned it into a checkerboard. (Step-by-step instructions, tips and photos are included for other do-it-yourself project types).

IKEA Svala: (Starting Point) An un-finished children's table that comes with two chairs, which was given to Alex by Gran and Grandpa Pilley. (First thing 4 year old Alex did? Scrawl on it with Crayola crayons! The project started with a fair bit of sanding).

DIY Project for an IKEA "Svala" Children's Table
(or any other unfinished table, for that matter)

I had the idea of doing something special with an IKEA TRIVIA: What Does IKEA Mean? The popular Swedish home furnishings retailer - IKEA - has 282 stores in 36 countries (and plans on opening about 23 more stores during 2008). It was founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad (17 at the time). The company name combines the first letters of the founder's name and the village in which he grew up (Elmtayrd Agunnaryd) ... hence: Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd! Now you know! Just remember it for the next time you play Trivial Pursuit!  table that Alex got from her maternal grandparents, as a gift. Sure, I could have simply stained it, or applied polyurethane, but I wanted to try my hand at something slightly more fancy.

Final Svala Checkerboard Table: Here's the final table and chairs, in Alex's room. A fun project, it provides Alex with a game table, in addition to a table for tea parties and a surface upon which she can color. The polyurethane finish makes it impervious to spills & stains.

By adding a checkerboard playing surface, Alex could use the table for more than just tea parties and coloring sessions. The only question was, "What's the best way to add the checkerboard?"

The project languished, partly because of other chores and a busy schedule, but also because I was couldn't decide on the best way to proceed.

Ultimately, I flew by the seat of my pants, using a combination of spray paint, wood stain and polyurethane. I tried to add an 'antique touch' to the finished product and all-in-all, I'm pleased with the way it turned out.

I thought I'd share the steps (plus a bit of what was learned along the way and things I'd do differently) in case someone else out there wants to take on a similar project.

For step-by-step instructions and photos ... carry on brave DIYs!

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See how searching for an EXIF program, led me to find a 50 year old photo of my mother on the Internet! (She was then "Miss Marilyn Dyer") SURPRISE MOM!!

The Things You Find on the Internet!

Camp Wolters: Here's an aerial view of Camp Wolters, taken sometime prior to 1963. During WWII, Camp Wolters was the largest infantry replacement training center in the United States (it covered 7,500 acres, reaching a peak troop capacity of 24,973). It's certainly larger than what I suspected.

I didn't get much done today, as my nose led me tripping across the Internet. The bloody web, eh? It can be such a time waster.

During my travels however, I happened to dig up an old photograph of my mother (a certain Miss. Marilyn Dyer) taken in 1957! If it surprised me, my bet is that it will really surprise her!

When she met my father, she was working at Camp Wolters, just outside of Mineral Wells, Texas. (They were both living there, my dad as an army dude - not sure his rank or duty. Funny how little we actually know about our own parents.) Mom however, was the Assistant Director of the Camp Service Club. (I bet she had lots of guys asking her out on dates, because, being single and setting up all those social activities, you're just bound to meet lots of cute guys.)

Wedding Chapel: My parents were married in this church (2006 photo), at Camp Wolters, just a tad over 50 years ago! (Happy 50th wedding anniversary Mom & Dad!)

So my dad stood out from the crowd at Camp Wolters. They met there and married there too, at the little church that was on the base. The church is still there, but Camp Wolters (later called Fort Wolters) is no longer. An Army camp from 1925 to 1946 Camp Wolters was deactivated for a time. It became an Air Force base in 1951, but in 1956, it reverted to the Army to house the U.S. Army Primary Helicopter School. Camp Wolters was renamed "Fort Wolter" in 1963, when it was designated as a "permanent" military base. The base was deactivated in 1973 and now the site is an industrial park, National Guard training center and a Weatherford College branch campus.

To find out what led me to discover my mom's old photo, to see the photo and a bit more about Camp Wolters ... trip on to the next page!

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Alex caught her first fish (a rainbow trout), at Nora Lake, while visiting her grandparents in California, during our mid-June holiday. She had great fun fishing and catching her first slippery trout!

Alex Catches Her First Fish at Nora Lake, in Northern California

Alex Catches Her First Fish at Nora Lake, California! Holding a nice-sized rainbow trout in a washrag, Alex proudly shows off the first fish she's ever caught!

There's something very special about a kid catching their first fish! Funny though, because the Oop probably won't remember the event, as she's only four and a half. Nope, it's more a memory for the parents and - if your lucky - a great photo opportunity! (Wonder how many family albums contain grinning kids and their prize catch?)

The Oop didn't disappoint, in the photo department. Sporting rather cool-looking purple shades and gripping a decent-sized rainbow trout, Alex proudly showed off her first fish. Grinning gamely, she's gripping it tightly with a washcloth, in order to gain some traction against her slippery catch!

Alex's first fish came during a recent trip to California, with her Dad, to visit her paternal grandparents. The fishing expedition was suggested by Bill and Kitty, friends of the family and it was a huge relief to drive out of the (hot) northern valley and into the hills that surround Mount Lassen.

The weather was cool and the smell of pine trees permeated the air, as we drove past Grace Lake, driving over to nearby Nora Lake. Alex was excited to go fishing and eager to get her mitts on some ' Power Bait What is Power Bait? Powerbait (Berkley Trout Bait) is a moldable fish bait that comes in a small jar. It's effective for catching fish, but boy does it stink! Powerbait comes in a variety of bright colors and also comes as pre-formed nuggets. ', which she wanted to buy when we got home, as she was pretty certain that Tuxedo, our cat, would find it a delicious snack!

To read more about Alex's first fish ... continue on ...

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A trip to California with the Oop, a new hot-tub project and the normal run of web work ... things have been pretty thin at Randsco for a while. We recently took a family boat trip to the floating cabin . Read about the adventurous ordeal in this floating cabin log entry.

First Solo Trip to the Floating Cabin

Blurry Bear: At dusk, a black bear and her cub came out of the woods near the cabin, to eat mussels off a log that had been lifted onto the beach at high tide. Using a zoom lens through misty rain, Scott added this image to our growing collection of "blurry wildlife" photos.

Our first solo trip to the floating cabin was very memorable. Some of the memories will actually be GOOD ONES!

A flat tire, a bloody nose, getting hung up on the dock while launching, a rough-as-cobb trip (during which, we almost turned the boat around and headed for home), a four-hour boat ride, locked out of the cabin and running out of gas ... are some of the not-so-good ones.

We're new to the floating cabin and also to our boat. As a bunch of newbies, we're learned a BUNCH of valuable lessons during our ill-fated trip! HA!

There were some positive events. Despite pouring rain all Friday night and Saturday morning, it did - eventually - clear up and we had a rain-free (and sometimes sunny) Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. We spotted a couple of sea otters (a baby one on the back deck, which we watched from about five feet away). We also saw loads of bald eagles and a few bear (one of which we watched all morning, as it meandered along the beach, flipping rocks and eating various sea creatures). We met a few of our cabin neighbors. We also learned where we can get gas, along the way to the cabin.

To read the cabin log entry from our first solo trip to the floating cabin ...

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A National Geographic photographer I am not. As providence would have it, however, I spotted a "Barred Owl" in our pasture the same week I was testing a new (powerful zoom) digital camera. I was able to get some decent photos and now I'm sold on the camera. (It was an expensive owl sighting!)

Barred Owl Spotted at the Hutton House

I happened to be taking our guest dog for a pee break, in the pasture, when I spotted this Barred Owl (Strix Varia) in a large Douglas Fir tree. I quietly and quickly went back to the house and grabbed the new Lumix TZ5 digital camera I'm testing this week (it has 70X digital zoom).

Sometimes, lady luck smiles broadly in your direction!

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Opacity is a CSS3 directive, but there's no reason not to start using it today. Apply it against the major browsers, validate it against the W3C CSS validator and I'll even show you a great "Before & After CSS Opacity Technique" for displaying your before-after photos

hover to read

Using the CSS3 "Opacity" Directive: Future-Proof, Valid CSS and No CSS Hacks

The "Opacity" CSS directive is part of the CSS "level 3" Color Module, which is a "Candidate Recommendation". In a nutshell, this means that opacity isn't "ready for prime time".

Darn and phooey! You like opacity. And why not? It's fun to play with and you can achieve some nifty web effects using opacity. (I'll demonstrate an opacity technique that provides a great CSS-only way of showing "before" and "after" photos!)

Enjoy the MAGIC of Valid CSS3 Today!

What is opacity? Well, it's the opposite of transparency. Something that has 100% opacity is 0% transparent. Likewise, something with 0% opacity is 100% transparent.

The W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) recommends thinking of opacity as a post-processing operation. After an element (including it's children) is rendered into an image for the computer monitor, the opacity setting specifies how to blend the element into the final display.

Applying opacity to an element is easy. Simply specify the "opacity" directive to a selector and provide a value from zero to 1.0, where zero is completely transparent and 1.0 is completely opaque.

Of course, the difficulty is that the level 3 CSS candidate recommendations are only honored by a select number of web browsers, notably current versions of FireFox, Opera, Safari & Netscape. As usual, the Grand Pubah of browsers (Microsoft's Internet Explorer), doesn't adhere to this as-yet approved CSS directive.

That's the bad news.

The good news is that I'm here to tell you that if you want to use opacity for your web pages - you can! We have been for some time!

There's a way to use opacity for FireFox, Opera, Safari, as well as Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7. (According to AWSTATS, a web server statistics program, 97% of our 113,728 April visitors used one of these browsers ... heck, that's about as close to "everyone" as you're going to get in this cross-browser world of ours!).

There's even a way to use opacity so that the CSS validates (to verify this, just click on the "CSS" validation button in the footer below)!

Best yet, it's completely future-proof and requires no CSS hacks.

OKAY ... you're primed and ready. You want to start using opacity.

All you have to do is read on, Cascading Style Sheet lovers ... read on ...

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Yesterday, Scott spent the day cutting a cord of wood at an Island Timberlands clear-cut. It was hard work, but for $30 a cord, who could resist? Find out more

A Chainsaw, Cord-of-Fire-Wood-Cutting Day

Chainsaw a Cord: We each came away with about a cord of fire wood - for $30 and a pile of sweat - at the Island Timberlands clear-cut logging site, in the hills behind Chase River.

We heat our home with a wood stove. Last winter wasn't super cold, but it did seem to linger and we were scraping the bottom of the wood shed by the time warm spring weather finally arrived. We're already thinking about building next year's supply, but not eager to shell out approximately $170 per cord. When Travis called to say that we had an opportunity to cut our own fire wood for $30 a load, we changed our family's weekend plan, so that Scott could participate.

Alex and I woke up at 6 AM on Saturday, tended to the chickens, fixed a fresh, fried-egg breakfast and then headed over to Travis' house. Alex stayed, to play with Miki, while Travis and I headed up to a clear cut area behind Chase River, to chainsaw up a bunch of fire wood.

Thank You for letting us cut fire wood on your land, rather than piling it and burning it!

The land is owned by Island Timberlands and for a handful of days this year (6) it is opened up to the public, so that they can cut fire wood. The "U-Cut" program is unique and (as far as clear-cutting can be considered environmentally friendly) it is a beneficial way for the timber company to get rid of unwanted timber. (Normally, such timber is heaped into a great big pile and burned).

Neither Travis, nor myself, have been on a timber land chain sawing trip, so for us, it was a new adventure!

To read more about our chain sawing, sweat dripping day .... read on ...

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Whiting Way Estates: (an update)

Of the eight 5-acre parcels for sale at the end of our neighborhood, only two remain. Six sold in less than four months, all over $250k CAD. Amazing. See which, for what, get an update on the tree-killing neighbor and see a pure-CSS hover technique

75% of Whiting Way Estate Lots Sold in Four Months

The advertisement on page twenty seven of the May 2008 issue of the local "Take 5" magazine reads:

Serene Yellow Point Acreage

Wonderful 4 to 6 acre properties. In a postcard setting, right in the heart of sought after Yellow Point. ONly 8 parcels in total, each with their own unique qualities, but all very nicely treed and private. One of the areas sunniest spots, abundance of wildlife, ponds, forest and wonderful park area. Only a short walk to incredible Robert's Memorial oceanfront park, airport, ferries & picturesque Ladysmith within a 15-minute commute. This will be a great place to live!

The magazine advert by realtor Ed Morrison, was accompanied by a small sketch map, showing that four of the properties had been sold.

In late January, we reported that the first of these eight parcels, in our neighborhood, had been sold (and that the new owners had illegally cut down trees on designated park land, so he'd get a better view of the pond). The advert sketch map parcels marked as "sold", didn't jive with those marked as "sold" on the "For Sale" signs, at the entrance of each property.

It got me wondering, "Which parcels have, in truth, been sold?"

I called the realtor's office to find out and what I heard, astounded me. Fully six of the eight parcels have already been sold and doggone close to their asking price! That's nearly $300k per pop in four very short months!

To see a map of which properties have sold, asking prices, selling prices, which properties remain and a fancy pure-CSS aerial photography hover overlay (and an update on the tree-slashing, lot-7 owner) ... read on

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OKAY ... I'm a closet American Idol watcher (mostly because I couldn't carry a tune if it had a handle on it). The only musical instrument I can play is a CD player and I can't play that very well. However, I was floored a few weeks back, when David Cook sang a Chris Cornell cover to "Billy Jean" ... have a listen

David Cook & David Archuleta

David Cook: With a unique rocker style, David has been belting out some pretty amazing songs and I'm predicting that he'll be crowned this years "American Idol".

The David & David title takes me back to 1986 and the one-hit-wonder by the band of the same name - "Welcome to the Boomtown" (a great song in it's own right and inserted here - in 128 kilobits per second glory - for your listening pleasure and my listening nostalgia).

No, I'm talking about David Cook and David Archuleta, the two finalists of the 2008 "American Idol" pop television show.

OKAY ... I may be old(ish), but hey ... I'm a watcher of the show and have been rooting for David Cook ever since I heard his jaw-dropping rendition of "Billy Jean" (a cover of a cover by Chris Cornell), the original having been written by Michael Jackson, at the height of his career.

Talk about song selection! (The judges are always coaching contestants about song selection on the show) and I just have to say ... I think David Cook's selection of that song - I forget what week it was, but there were several contestants remaing ... 8 or so - was SPOT ON!

To listen to the cuts done by all three artists - (Michael Jackson's original version of "Billy Jean", Chris Cornell's stunning cover and David Cook's amazing spin on Chris' version) - carry on ...

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When I went to renew Rachel's subscription to "Creating Keepsakes" magazine, I discovered that the publishing company - CK Media - is duping subscribers into believing they're getting HUGE "Insider Savings" on rates, when instead, they're paying MORE! This adds up to a couple of million dollars in extra revenue. I'm holding the company to task on it. Find out more

Magazine Unethically Dupes Subscribers

Scrapbooking Layout: A sample of Rachel's work, this dual-page layout of Alex, preserves a moment in time. (We let Alex dress herself, to give her "choices" and let her express herself. One morning last spring - Alex was 3 and a half at the time - Alex chose this very unique ensemble, complete with Michael Jackson (ish) gloves! Too Cute!)

Creating Keepsakes (published by CK Media) lies to customers about HUGE "Insider Savings" on magazine subscription renewals. Instead, existing customers pay up to 25% more for renewals than brand new subscribers pay! Subscribers are left wondering, "Where are my HUGE Insider Savings? This is how I'm valued as a customer?"

Rachel enjoys scrapbooking our adventures, big or small. She's put together some really nice layouts and our shelves are slowly being filled with 12-inch by 12-inch binders, each holding stunning and creatively designed pages. It's a hobby, a creative outlet and it's been fun to watch her skills and pages improve over time. We enjoy pouring over the old memories, reliving the joy, adventure and good times. The scrapbooks are a treasured family heirloom.

For Mother's Day, last year, I bought Rachel a 12-month subscription to a magazine called "Creating Keepsakes", published by CK Media. The magazine is all about scrapbooking. She draws a lot of inspiration from looking at the featured designs, staying on top of new tools, styles and scrapbooking trends. She really looks forward to the magazine arriving in the mail each month and it's been a wonderful gift.

When I went to renew her subscription this Mother's Day, I happened to discover that existing customers pay up to 25% more to renew their subscription than do brand new customers who are signing up for the first time. This doesn't seem right. You'd think that CK Media would reward existing subscribers, eh? What's worse, is that they flat out lie to their customers, stating on the magazine subscription expiration notice:

LAST CHANCE FOR INSIDER SAVINGS ... ACT QUICKLY ... you can still maintain your insider status which entitles you to take advantage of HUGE SAVINGS and home delivery at no extra cost!

We've all seen these magazine subscription renewal forms, right? "Act Now" ... "Hurry" ... "Huge Savings" .... "$70 off of news stand prices" ... etc. I've never looked to see if it's a better deal than what's offered for new subscribers ... until today.

To follow the trail of magazine subscription enlightenment, subterfuge and *gasp* bold-face lies ... read on brave magazine subscribers ....

Read full story...

Clever British Columbia Tourism Ad

An online (pure CSS) replication of a lenticular, transforming print ad put out by Hello BC. (Photo donated by Tom Dempsey)

"Beautiful British Columbia" is what it says on automobile license plates in these parts and why not? When the heavens dump as much water on such a mountainous landscape, it's bound to be green and beautiful, filled with streams, lakes and waterfalls!

Tourism plays a huge roll in British Columbia's economy, accounting for nearly $5.5 billion dollars in 2006 (about 4% of the Province's GDP). One out of every 15 jobs is in the tourist industry. Unlike timber and fishing, tourism is actually a booming industry in B.C., growing nearly 5% a year since 2004.

As a result, clever people at advertising agencies are hard at work, coming up with new ways to make a British Columbia vacation sound irresistible. One such print ad landed in our mailbox (courtesy of the previous owner). It was an ad extolling the beauty of the province with a 6-inch by 9-inch photograph of a lone canoeist on Emerald Lake, in Yoho National Park. Using a lenticular printing process, the image transforms from one to another, depending on the viewing angle. One image is a the photo, with a puzzle grid overlain and a piece of the puzzle is missing (the canoeist). The tag line at the top reads, "The only thing missing ... ". The other image is the original photo (no jigsaw grid and no missing canoeist) and the tagline is completed, to read, "The only thing missing is you".

It's not your typical print ad. It was made by Tourism BC, to promote their 2008 BC Escapes Guides. I thought of a way, using CSS styling, to do something similar on a web page, so a had a play and came up with the image on the left. (The photo isn't identical, but it is of the same Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park. The photographer - Tom Dempsey - lives in Seattle and graciously donated the image.)

Hover over the image to see an online version of the lenticular ad effect.

To see the original print ad and learn more about tourism in British Columbia, read on

Read full story...

MyHomeHardware - We saved money by cross-border shopping in the United States for 96 hinges and 48 cabinet pulls, when we recently gave our kitchen a face lift. Total cost: a little over $100 CAD. Savings by not buying from Home Depot Canada? $500!! Outrageous.

Cabinet Hardware:
A U.S./Canada Cross-border Shopping Tale

MyHomeHardware: Score one for the "little guys". We received excellent value and great customer service from this company in Florida!

We've been in our "new" (24-year-old), Vancouver Island home for a year and a bit. The galley style kitchen is a traffic jam, drives us nuts and needs a complete renovation. Unfortunately, we have neither the funds - nor the time - to embark on such an expensive and extensive project, at the moment. So, instead, we've satisfied ourselves by painting the (dark forest green) cabinet doors, using a lighter earth-tone melamine paint ("Cozy Cottage") and replacing the old cabinet hardware with something more modern and brighter.

Dismantling: Alex helps Dad take off the cabinet doors and faces from the drawers. Rachel then spent several days, sanding and painting over the bright forest green, using an earth-toned, melamine acrylic paint.

Having a major kitchen renovation under my belt (I completely gutted and re-built the kitchen in my 1940's California bungalow-style craftsman home), I had some idea of the costs associated with cabinets and cabinet hardware. After we counted the number of pull/hinge sets we'd need - forty eight - we took a trip down to the local Home Depot hardware store to purchase some simple, brushed chrome wire pulls and matching hinges. That's when the project stalled, because after a rough tally, we were looking at about a $400 bill and Scott said, "No way! That's outrageous!"

This is the tale of how we bought our pulls and hinges from an eBay company in the United States, for a fraction of the cost that Home Depot wanted for similar items. Chock up another success for cross-border shopping. It's thumbs down for Home Depot Canada for not being competitive and a big thumbs up for MyHomeHardware for their accurate product description, prompt shipping, reasonable shipping costs, product prices and customer service!

Read full story...

Twin Kayaks! We're now the proud parent of two 9-foot, 6-inch kayaks that weigh in at 40-something pounds each. The amount of plastic in our lives continues to climb! ( On the plus side ... they'll be loads of fun for visitors at the Barkley Sound floating cabin .... "Topanga?" )

"Blue Yonder" Gives Birth to Twins!

Twins! Measuring 9.5 feet long & weighing 42 pounds, we found the new twins in our front yard, this morning! It was a quiet, over-night delivery by the mum (a 19-foot Bayliner Classic).

Little did we know when we bought her, but "Blue Yonder For those that don't know, "Blue Yonder" is our new-to-us 19-foot Bayliner Classic Cuddy boat that we acquired as means of getting to the floating cabin. Click for more about the floating cabin & boat " was pregnant! (No wonder we got her at such a good deal)!

Early this morning, when we went outside to fetch the morning eggs, we noticed that there were two brand new baby kayaks, sitting in the yard. Apparently, they had just been born and were resting, after their birth, the night before.

We didn't know that boats could even get pregnant, but we're pleased with the new arrivals and will care for them as if they were our own.

Mum appears to be doing just fine, but she's tuckered out from her labor and is resting under a waterproof tarp. The twins appear healthy and fine. They each measure 9-foot, 6-inches and weigh in at respectable 42 pounds (can you say "ouch"?)! They're healthy baby kayaks, for sure. There is some question about their lineage, however. (Mum has classic yachting lines and a white fiberglass hull, with blue canvas on top. The twins are both beige and made of plastic.) Hmmm ... it leaves us wondering who the father might be?!

Mum is mum on the matter. (Mum is mum? Of course, who else would she be? The English language, eh? ) We're concerned that she's been slumming it on the wrong side of the yacht club, had a late night rendezvous with a certain tugboat, or maybe a wild fling with a schooner? *GASP* Perhaps liaison with a *hold-your-breath* working skiff?! Who knows,eh?

Regardless of their heritage, we're now the proud surrogate parents of two brown baby kayaks! (Some people "invest" in trampolines for their back garden, we get a pair of his'n-hers matching kayaks!) Go figure.

For more about the new new twins, read on.

Read full story...

Today, because of the Intuit "Sunset Policy", Quicken Deluxe 2005 will lose certain functionality. It's a blatant money grab by Intuit, confident I've grown used to the functionality and will purchase a new version ($89). Sorry guys, I'm getting off the Sunset Train. Read how I'll regain the lost functionality (and actually improve upon it)

Sunset Policy: Quicken 2005 Deluxe users must upgrade to Quicken 2008 Premier ($89.99), in order to keep using the same features.

Shame on Intuit's Sunset Policy, which disables certain software features after three years, effectively forcing customers to purchase an "updated" version (containing few substantive improvements).

I've been using Quicken since 1990 (18 years). I'd say that makes me a long-time customer. I used to upgrade every year and drool over the new features like a kid looking through a confectioner's window. As the product matured, I noticed that the new, must-have features became fewer and farther between. The software also became more expensive and so, I stopped purchasing yearly upgrades.

Apparently, I wasn't alone. When Intuit noticed this shift in consumer behavior they countered it with a planned obsolescence of their products, in the form of a Sunset Policy. By disabling certain features every three years, they could generate revenue by forcing users, dependent on those features, to upgrade.

This first happened to me in 2005, with my Quicken 2002 version. At the time, I didn't object too loudly, because I found a way to upgrade for free! Fast forward to 2008 and now it's Quicken 2005 that that is being crippled - today. Intuit says, "Buy Quicken 2008 Premier or lose certain online features."

Well, this time Intuit, I'm getting off the Sunset train. I've found a simple work-a-round for downloading multiple, daily stock and mutual fund quotes, which is the only feature I use that's going to be disabled today. And thanks to my mate, I now have mQuote, which is actually superior to the historical quote retrieval "service" that I'm losing inside Quicken!

For more about why the Intuit sunset policy sucks and my stock quoting work-a-round, read on.

Read full story...

April 19th - Vancouver Island gets blanketed by a foot of late spring snow. Scott's called out to the North Cedar Fire Hall. A power outage affects over 20,000 customers across central Vancouver Island! What a day, eh?

April 19th - Power Outage & A Crazy Foot of Snow dumped on Vancouver Island

Late April "No-way-Man"! An unhappy Vancouver Island snowman, holding spring flowers.

Note: Happy snowman blatantly stolen from Shaun at travbuddy.com and photo-shopped to be unhappy by yours truly. The unhappy snowman represents this author's sentiment at such a late snow dump and is not a reflection on Shaun, who is a known maker of happy snowmen. Shaun even won a "Happy Happy Happy" award at travbuddy.com, for his contributions!

Has the old man spat his last winter's gasp? Most everyone around Nanaimo is hoping so. Many residents on Vancouver Island woke up Saturday morning to nearly a foot of snow and darkness, as much of the mid-island was without power.

Temporary Craziness: Today's temperature map shows how western Canada seems to be stuck in winter, while eastern and much of central Canada is enjoying the spring we should be having. "It's not fair!" Bawahaha!

Geez. What's up with this crazy weather? Isn't Vancouver Island supposed to have the the most temperate climate in all of Canada? Here we get this huge, late dumping of snow (plus the cold temperatures to go along with it) and many of the eastern Provinces are enjoying unseasonably warm weather!

Go figure.

For more about this crazy day, including pictures and an early morning ride with Alex to the North Cedar Fire Hall, to put the chains on the fire trucks ... read on ....

Read full story...

We thought we'd introduce you to our floating cabin, which is situated on the wild, rugged and wet western coast of Vancouver Island. It's located in Julia's Passage in the Barkley Sound and a stone's throw from the world-famous Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

Wilderness Floating Cabin: The cabin is located in the Barkley Sound, just off the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island. Catch crab off the dock, dig for clams or collect native oysters during low tide. Fish for salmon, cod or halibut in nearby waters. It's a sea-food lover's paradise and a great jumping-off point for Pacific Rim Park adventures!

The floating cabin is located off the west coast of Vancouver Island. Not far is the Broken Group Islands and the Pacific Rim National Park. It's a pristine, wild, wet and wonderful land; a kayaking mecca with many coves, beaches and small islands. The wildlife is amazing: black bear, bald eagles, killer whales, sea lions, seals and sea otters, among other creatures. If you like sea food, you'd love this place. Clams, oysters, prawns, crab, salmon, halibut and cod - it's all on the menu.

Over Easter weekend, we took the new boat down for a 4-day trip. It was our first trip to the floating cabin this year and quite an adventure, piloting our "new" boat, which was christened "Blue Yonder" - this happened inadvertently, when Scott radioed to our cabin friends, using the off-the-cuff call sign. It was an hour and forty minute journey down the long inlet, from Port Alberni, to the floating cabin. Traffic was light, but the seas were heavy and we bounced along, singing the theme song to Gilligan's Island.

We had a nice holiday with our friends, Candace and Richard. The weather was especially nice, even though it snowed a bit on the last night. Blue Yonder handled well, although she needs a few repairs and extra gizmos that we'll need to plunk into this particular 'hole in the water'. We're looking forward to sharing this special, wilderness floating cabin with some of our more adventurours guests that may come to visit.

To learn more about the floating cabin, see satellite images of the area, as well as photos ... read on. If you're coming up for a visit, you'll find this post a good primer about "what to expect". If you're likely not ever going to visit, then you'll gain a glimpse of this truly unique, wonderful and diverse area.

Read full story...

House Colors: When you live in the "North-wet", the painting season is very short and if you want to protect your house from rotting, you need to plan ahead.

Hutton House: Last summer, I took a picture of Rachel sweeping off the roof (right when the broom handle broke and the head came flying off). The cat, watching from a reclined position on the patio, wasn't too impressed. The photo also shows the paint colors and trim, less than a year after we moved into our home in the woods.

Painting. Not the most fun of projects, but it sure can make a difference to the appearance (and help protect) a home.

Trouble is, one is always left with half-used cans of paint and (one of my pet peeves) - forgetting the name or formula for the paint that was last applied. Yeah, the hardware store can do a color "match", but often it's off by a shade or two (or maybe three).

This exciting post is my effort to eliminate the paint color issue by keeping tabs on the paints we use around and inside our house. No more worrying about losing the formula because the top of the paint lid has paint on it, the sticker has come off or the print is so faded that it can no longer be read. No having to remember smooth-sounding emotive paint names.

Once I've actually painted some bit of the house in these colors (the "Japanese Maple" is slightly different from what's on there now and the "Whispering Pine" is a new accent color), I'll put up a photo. Maybe it'll spark a whole new trend in house colors? - or NOT!

House (Exterior)

October 2009 Update

Philip Coggan has written an excellent report on the asset management business, in this month's issue of "The Economist". An interview with the author is presented. If you invest, you owe it to yourself to hear what Philip has to say about fund managers, fees, performance and ETFs

Fund Managers do well - for themselves

Fund Managers: Asset managers are paid well, even if they are poor at their job. (Roughly two-thirds of actively managed mutual funds can't beat the index against which they're measured.)

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and asset manager fees are again in the news. This time, in a special report on asset management titled, "Money for Old Hope". It appears in the March 1st issue of The Economist, a UK periodical.

I wrote about outrageous Canadian Mutual Fund Management Fees in early 2007. As a seasoned US investor, I was shocked to discover that Canadians pay the highest mutual fund management fees of any industrialized nation.

Imagine a business in which other people hand you their money to look after and pay you handsomely for doing so. Even better, your fees go up every year, even if you are hopeless at the job.

Philip Coggan
(on asset management)

As an individual investor, the best way to avoid shelling out your hard-earned money to greedy and non-performing mutual fund managers, is to invest in Exchange Traded Funds.

I'm glad to see that I'm not alone in my thinking. In the 14-page Economist Special Report on asset management, Philip Coggen examines the fund-management industry. In his discussion, Exchange Traded Funds are mentioned as being part of the solution in avoiding costly fees, which erode returns.

His description of the asset-management industry is very enlightening, as he outlines the perfect business: "Imagine such a business", he quips, "people hand you their money to look after and pay you handsomely for doing so." Sounds good, so far. But he sweetens the pot by saying, "Even better, your fees go up every year!" Wow. Cool. I want that job. Then he drops the bombshell by saying that you don't even have to be very good at your job and you can still get the monetary reward. Ouch!

The focus isn't on Canada, it's on the asset management industry at large. (In Canada, the amount that most investors pay toward management fees is criminal).

Anyone who wants to save more of their investment money owes it to themselves to read this article. For an audio interview with the author, a synopsis of this special report and a road map for higher investment returns .... read on.

Read full story...

Photo-Caption Zoom images have been problematic in IE tables. It's yet another failure of IE6 and IE7. However, I've spent some time and made a work-a-round that yields good cross-browser results (and overcomes the IE tables problem). Have a look -

Photo-Caption Zoom Inside an Internet Explorer Table

You like Photo-caption Zoom. You've finally found a valid, pure-CSS, easy-to-use technique that shows both a thumbnail and zoom-able detailed image (along with a caption), without your visitor having to leave a page or suffer through another pop-up window. You deploy it inside of a table and suddenly, when you view it in Internet Explorer, it doesn't work right.

I've received many emails and comments from people about Photo-caption Zoom not working inside an IE table. Up until now, the only "solution" was to say, "don't use tables", quickly followed by "Internet Explorer sucks". (I had one desperate client for whom I "welded-on" a series of Photo-zoom DIVs to the edge of a table. It was my first stab at a work-a-round and it worked fine, until the font size was changed).

While it's comforting to me that the problem isn't the Photo-caption Zoom code (it's an Internet Explorer problem), this isn't much solace for anyone wanting to use it. What's a person to do?

A Solution to the Internet Explorer Table Problem

I recently had a play with Photo-zoom inside of tables. I was able to isolate the Internet Explorer problem and find a work-a-round. It side-steps the IE tables problem and also works in other browsers. Have a look.

The table below contains Photo-caption Zoom images. It works in both IE6 and IE7 (as well as Opera9, Netscape9 and Firefox2). Yay! Finally - a way to use PZ3 inside tables.

The PZ3 Caption: Here is where you can add relevant information with the detailed image. Wax lyrical about your product. The text doesn't clutter the main page and search engines can index it! Product Description Price Avail ThermalTake TMG A1 CPU Fan 35.14 CFM max flow at speeds between 300-2,500 RPM. Quiet, reliable cooling. The TMG A1 uses a frameless fan design that virtually eliminates noise-producing turbulance. Runs quiet at 16 dBA. Supports AMD PWM FSC specs. $49.99 In-stock

Photo-caption Zoom: One benefit of using PZ3 is having the ability to add descriptive text to a photo. This helps provide additional information about a product, or explains more detail about the image. Thermaltake Silent Case Fan (White) 63.3 CPM at 1600 RPM. This DC, 120mm case fan is very quiet (16 dBA). Count on Thermaltake to make the worlds best cooling products. The Silent CAT fan is an intelligent choice. It runs quiet and is affordable. $9.99 In-stock

To learn more about the Internet Explorer tables problem and work-a-round, read on ...

Read full story...

The first Egg! - On of our four ISA Brown laying hens had their first egg this morning. After raising them from day-old chicks, we're quite excited to see "our girls" grow up! It does mean, however, that Scott better get busy and finish building their nesting boxes!

The Golden Egg: Though it's not made of gold, it might as well be. A $300 coop, $60 in feed and untold money in electricity, time spent tending and chopping up kitchen scraps - HERE is the fruit of all that labor. The first egg!

"The Girls" Begin to Earn Their Keep

A few weeks ago, the woman who generously gave us four laying hens, came over with a dozen brown eggs. They were produced by the same batch from which ours were split. Ever since then, Rachel has been bemoaning the fact that our four chickens (AKA "the girls") have yet to lay an egg.

Oop Scratch: Four year-old Alex feeds one of our four laying hens some "scratch" out of her hands, whilst another looks on. Our girls LOVE their scratch, but we give it to them sparingly, like candy, as it's not as nutritious as their layer pellets.

Scott built them comfortable and dry accommodations ($300 in materials), they have plenty of scratch to eat, room to fly and play in their run, laying pellets to eat, an endless supply of fresh water ... heck, they even have a 4-year old kid that plays with them occasionally. At last tally, they've consumed 4 sacks of feed ($10 each), a sack of #2 grit, countless tubs of kitchen scraps (dutifully diced up for them, I might add), God knows how much electricity to keep them warm, many water changes, hand-feeding, and people who let them out in the morning and put them to bed at night.

Materials for the chicken coop: $300
Having comfortable chickens: Priceless

For everything else, there's the grocery store.

They live in chicken heaven and the only thing they've produced is an ever-accumulating pile of chicken manure, under the chicken coop.

All that changed today. When Scott let them out this morning and gave them their day's supply of scratch - which is tossed out onto the ground, as they seem to enjoy "scratching" at it and picking up the bits ... go figure - he spied a lone brown egg, resting on the mesh floor of the coop.

To find out more about our four hundred dollar egg ... read on ...

Read full story...

Crashing 4-year-olds

Last week was a blur. First, my 4-year-old computer crashed. Shortly after, my four-year-old kid crashed (she became ill). Work came to an immediate halt. Rachel was on her 4-days of 12-hour hospital shifts. I faced a broken computer, a broken kid and the joy of running the house. Days were spent rebooting and shuttling CD's and my nights were spent soothing, medicating and taking care of our sick little girl. I didn't get much sleep.

I began as I was working on my 4-year-old computer, as I normally do. It began to fight me. Nothing unusual. I've been experiencing crashes and computer problems for over 6 months. I've been expecting the point of no return, but trying to put it off. You see, I'm an application guy. I'm not a hardware guy or a network guy. I like to USE the computer, not tinker with it.

I said, "Oh no, here we go." It's not a pleasant sensation, but who can complain after nearly four years of relatively trouble-free computing?

A sub-spooler system failure kept me from printing a check deposit slip. Rebooting didn't fix the printing problem. Restoring the system to an earlier time (which has, on occasion, been my saving grace) didn't fix the problem. I restored it to a month ago. After reboot, the computer froze and I found myself staring at a multi-colored taskbar and desktop. While it was pretty, it was also ugly. The cursor was toast. Keyboard entry didn't do anything but "bonk" at me, after entering a buffer's-worth of keystrokes. Then the computer said, "Game over." It initiated an auto-shutdown. Ack!

What was left? It was time to re-install the operating system from scratch.

That night, after day-care, my 4-year-old daughter decided to call it quits too. She initiated an auto-shutdown after contracting a nasty cold. The only difference between her shut-down and my computer shut-down, was that she waited until the middle of the night to shutdown, rather than shutdown in the morning.

To read about my week of fixing 4-year-olds ... carry on.

Fixing 4-Year-Olds

This is as close as it gets to an "About Randsco" page. Readership sits at 85,000 unique visitors a month (Jan 2008). Reasons why, what's popular, monetization, Interent penetration & the future of Randsco are all discussed.

Randsco: 86,500 Unique Visitors During January

On Growth: Nearly 15% of all the visits Randsco has ever had, came last month.

-Awstats     

"Randsco" was born early in 2005. It was a blogging experiment that came about after acquiring a domain name and moving to a shared hosting company. Before that, we had maintained our websites at GeoCities, a free online host. In autumn of 2004, GeoCities changed their advertising and because the new method impacted the visitor experience, we made the leap to an inexpensive ($5/month), shared host.

Randsco Growth: The graph shows how readership has grown. The graph was made during October. Then, we had 375,000 all-time visitors (hence the 1/3 of a million served). At the end of January, our all-time visitor tally is 614,000. Before the year is out, we'll have served over a million readers!

Randsco started as a means of documenting our lives (primarily for ourselves, but also for family and friends). Additionally, it allowed us to share our love of backpacking, cycling & adventuring with like-minded people.

Wow, have things changed. We still document our lives, keep friends and relatives up-to-date and share our adventures, but Randsco now serves up much more:

• A word-of-mouth web development business.
• XHTML & CSS articles & techniques
  • (e.g., Photo-Caption Zoom & Pop-Info)
• Web Articles
  • (e.g., Preparing Photos & MSIE z-index)
• Informative Articles
  • (e.g., Alberta Oil Sands & Canadian MERs)
• b2evolution Support
• Book Reviews
• Humor

Because Randsco has been (sorta) monetized, we've recently moved to a $50/month VPS host. Hopefully this will result in a superior visitor experience (stability & page load speed).

Readership growth is due to a number of factors: worldwide Internet penetration, benefits of a blog tool, increase in SPAM and (last but not least) valued content. To find out a bit more about monetization, what articles are the most popular, worldwide Internet penetration & the future of Randsco .... read on.

Read full story...

My grandmother, Mildred (Hoyt) Miller "Grandma Milly", passed away today around noon. She would have been 98 years old on March 29th. Rest in peace, Grandma. I love you.

Grandma Milly: Scott, Aunt Karen & Grandma Milly in 2001 (Rachel met my spunky Grandma after our backpacking trip into the Grand Canyon and took an immediate liking to her).

March 29, 1910 - February 3, 2008

The last email I had from my Grandma Milly was on February 12, 2007. She sent us a Hallmark online greeting card. She was thoughtful that way, always sending cards, notes and emails. The amazing thing, of course, was that at 96 years of age she was using a computer (even more amazing, considering she had advanced macular degeneration and could barely see)!

But that's my Grandma Milly. Always outspoken, full of spit and vinegar, having a huge zest for life and an indefatigable spirit.

After a year in the Glencroft Care Center, Grandma Milly passed from our lives today, around noon. Rest in peace, Grandma. You will be missed and you are loved. (I shall heap upon Alex, tall stories about "my favorite grandmother"!)

Whiting Way Estates - a nearby, rural subdivision. Lot number 7 was the first to sell and the new owners announced their arrival by clear-cutting trees. They cut down trees on designated, protected park land, so they could have a view of the pond. Read about this travesty.

Owner Cuts Trees In Protected Wetlands

Whiting Way Estates: Looking west, from Lot 4, along the road, which dead ends on the subdivision. The entrance and gate into Lot 7 is just out of view, beyond the right-hand bend, in the distance.

Cutting down mature trees on designated Park land is a heck of a way of introducing yourself to the neighborhood.

- a neighbor     

The land used to be part of a cattle ranch. It's been selectively logged a couple of times. A few years back, it was sold to developers and they subdivided it into eight individual, five-acre parcels and a park. Development of our rural neighborhood is inevitable and we've been watching the 'progress', over the past year. First they bulldozed a rough trail, trucked in lots of fill and gravel, using it to build up a road-bed. Last summer they laid down 'chip-seal', drilled water wells (one on each property), stuck up signs and waited for buyers to snap up the lots at about $300k a pop.

The first one has been sold - lot number 7.

I was surprised that it sold first. It's a pie-shaped lot that backs up to a large pond. On the positive side, much of the parcel is hidden from view of the road. On the negative side, much of the parcel is exposed bedrock (sandstone), with only a thin veneer of moss growing on it.

Lot 7 - SOLD: The new gate leading into lot 7, which was the first lot in "Whiting Way Estates" to sell.

The new owners have put up a spiffy looking gate and did something that I didn't think of doing. They clear-cut a swath of trees and now have a wonderful view of the pond.

Only vaguely do I remember what the parcel looked like, before the trees were removed. I seem to recall that the pond was largely hidden from view, by the dense forest.

It was surprising to see a large stack of logs, piles of brush, torn up ground and Caterpillar tread marks everywhere. Surprise turned to shock, however, when I realized that trees were cut down on the adjacent lot 9, which is park land!

For maps, pictures and more about the damage ... hit "read full story" ...

Read full story...

Alex's art has changed dramatically, over the past year. The growth in her artwork from 3 years to 4 years is amazing. Have a look back at her accomplishments, in this retrospective: "Alex: A Year of Art" (which also includes a pure-CSS 'popInfo' slide show).

Alex: A Year of Art

Alexandra's Art: A portrait of the 3-year-old artist, taken during the summer. She was quite enthusiastic about her flower, which she had 'sculpted' with neon-orange Play-Doh!

A simple typo would change the title to "A Year o fArt"! LOL! You've got to love English, eh?

Hey, teasing aside, I love my little girl! It's more challenging some times than others, however. I'm thinking of this morning, when, at 6:15 AM, I woke up with her face 2 millimeters from mine.

"Daddy, Daddy," she said. The sound was muffled through my ear plugs, but I heard her say, "You need to wake up."

"Why?" I asked, still very groggy, "What's the matter?"

"I have to watch T.V.," she said, matter-of-factly.

"Ah, no you don't," I replied, "For one, it's too early and for two, you're going to day-care today."

"Whaaaa!" she cried, running out of the room and leaving me with an unexpected, loud and way-too-early wake-up call.

Even with the temper tantrums and the repetitive questions, Alex (also known as "the Oop", a family nickname) is generally a pretty good kid. If she's not pestering the cat, watching television, playing computer games, turning her room into a disaster zone or "helping" us with tasks, Alex can be found doing artwork. She LOVES art! (What kid doesn't?)

It's been interesting to watch her artwork change, over the course of the past year. She's now almost four and a half years old. She's becoming a "big girl" and it's starting to show in her art.

For one thing, Crayola crayons are less often broken into bits and used as "soup" or "kids" or "whatever" in her play. They're less often found lying about the house, as they're now utilized for their intended purpose - art - and kept in her plastic crayola tub.

This has been a nice change, but it's not as remarkable as what she's doing with the crayons. A year ago, she was learning to color BETWEEN the lines. After she mastered that, it was time to learn color-appropriate drawing. (You know ... elephants are grey, not purple ... plant leaves are green, not multi-colored, etc.) During the year, she began to experiment with free-form drawings. Then, this fall, she drew her first "object" (a "portrait" of Tuxedo, our cat). Soon after, other things began to follow. She went through a "flower" stage. Now she's starting to draw PEOPLE!

In fact, I'm now the proud owner of a self portrait she did, where she drew herself and then me! An "Dad 'n Oop" picture! (Be still my beating heart)!

These developments are amazing to behold and I know that sooner than we can blink, she'll be all grown up and out of the house. I'm already ruing that day, but I try to make each of these moments last, because they are so precious.

As much as I love my little girl and her art, we don't save any of it. I don't want to end up with drawers full of old art. Instead, I scan them into digital files and save them (along with our monthly photos). We think it's a great way to keep her art without taking up physical storage and then we've got a chronologically stored history of her artistic development!

It was after looking back at her art, over the course of the year, that her development became apparent. In an effort to demonstrate her accomplishments and to showcase her work, I've put together a "popInfo" "popInfo" CSS Technique. popInfo is a pure XHTML/CSS method that makes this pop-up information box. It's cross-browser and standards-compliant code (no javascript). It saves page real estate, adds information, interactivity and is search engine optimized. Learn more about "popInfo" by clicking the link (or anywhere inside the popInfo box). <-- More "Alex Art"! This drawing is from the "princess series" (she was - still is - enamored by princesses of all kinds). I've probably scanned 20 or so "princess" drawings! show. It includes 13-months of her artwork, from January 2007 to today. There's a representative picture from each month, plus a brief description of each piece.

In fact, the background on this page is one of her recent works. It's titled, "Sidney" (she's the 13-year-old girl that lives next door, who often babysits Alex). You can see that she's now combining her "flowers" with "people"! I wonder what will be next?

To see the "Year of Art" slideshow (or another way of using the "popInfo" pure-CSS technique) .... carry on ....

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Rachel reviews "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier", an autobiography by Ishmael Beah. It's a mesmerizing tale of how an ordinary African boy, living in Sierra Leone, becomes a killing machine and lives to tell about it

(Non-Fiction)Review of "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier"
an autobiography by Ishmael Beah

"A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" is an autobiographical tale of tragedy, violence & survival. At 12 years old, Ishmael Beah lost his parents to a Sierra Leone Rebel group, while at a neighboring village with friends. For three years, his life was turned upside down.

Living in the relative comfort of North America, war is not something that I know much about, but Ishmael Beah knows about it first-hand. In his autobiography “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier,” Beah tells his tale of tragedy, violence and survival. He uses honest, straightforward language that carries you along as though he were telling the tale as you walk beside him.

When twelve-year-old Beah, his brother and some friends left home to visit a neighbouring African village, they had no idea that their lives would be forever changed. While away, the Sierra Leone rebel army attacked his village, leaving in its wake a tide of chaos and devastation. Beah tells how he spent the next few months wandering the forests, trying to find his family and to overcome countless difficulties in order to stay alive. While traveling with a group of six other homeless boys brought Beah companionship, it also meant that they were regarded with fear and suspicion, or met with hostility, as others thought they were a wandering squad of child-soldiers. Months passed and the boys narrowly avoided death by any number of ways, until they are given shelter at a village occupied by government forces. However, the reprieve was short-lived as, within a few months, the village was surrounded by rebels, leaving the boys no choice but to take up arms and become child-soldiers.

Click "Read Full Story" to continue reading the review of "A Long Way Home".

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