Oh, Brother

Heroes - Paul, Bill & Who?

2012-01-02T17:51:00.000-05:00

I was suddenly reminded yesterday of a topic I wanted to discuss some time ago, my heroes. Who are they? Why? To sum them up, there are three men I admire and wish to emulate in the achievements of my own life. They are (in chronological order by discovery) Paul Lotus, William Lishman & Dr. Who.

Paul Lotus

15 or so years ago, I fell in love with the achievements and antics of one Paul Lotus. In short, he traveled the world, used his brain to solve common, every-day problems and cared about the state of humanity. In 1988 he circumnavigated the planet on a sailboat, by himself. If you don't believe me, he wrote a book about it.

"Confessions of a Long-Distance sailor"
Copyright © 1991 — 2005, P. Lutus

He lives out in the Oregon wilderness in a cabin he built himself by carrying the lumber up the hill on his back and until he decided to buy his first computer (the brand new Apple II) he lived completely without electricity. Before all that, he designed spacecraft components for NASA Space Shuttle, researched at Mt. Sinai, and consulted at the University of Colorado.

I first learned of him from a friend who passed me a 3.5" floppy disk labeled "Arachnophilia 3". The program was like using notepad but with lots of customizable tool bars available for the web developer who just can't stand the standard Windows wysiwyg environments. I loved it and I still use 4.5 even though he replaced it with an OS independent Java version (I just don't like the feel of it).

Paul Lotus is my hero. He is adventurous, inventive and wise.

Soon afterwards I started researching underground homes... why? Because Lotus likes to say things like "Find out what everyone else is doing, and do something different". I liked the idea of a house with a unique look and is efficient to run. Most of all, I liked being different. During my research I discovered William Lishman.

William Lishman

Bill has this groovy website with very simple html stuff so I could easily view it regardless of my dial-up connection. Mind you I was still in college (about 21 years old) and it was 1998ish. High speed was available but not necessarily affordable to everyone.

I was entranced by his step-by-step description of how he conceived, designed and built his own underground home back in the 80's, decades before most of the technologies became available to builders. I loved it. I've sat for days, designing my own home similar to his concepts. I even got hooked on Mike Holmes shows just so I could learn more about materials and building codes. I'm still determined to retire to a home of my own design, blood, sweat and blisters.

6 or 7 years ago, I was receiving visitors from out east (my dearest friends Russel & Nicole) and thought they would get a kick out of seeing Bill's house. I knew I would for sure and my wife at the time was a skeptic that I just couldn't help but educate. So I started emailing Bill and asked for a tour of his home. Bill obliged and through some mishaps and bad timings, managed to show up at his house during a snow storm at 10pm with our starving infant children.

We were all fascinated by his home. He made it a point to show us his home-made refrigerator (which is a giant lazy-Susan on a pneumatic piston that rises and falls out of the counter-top by stepping on the corresponding pedals). He said "Everyone wants to see it first". I didn't even know he had it. It was awesome. We all had questions about the house, how it was built, where did he get some of his idea's, upgrades, etc. I found a photo of him and the actor Jeff Daniels sitting on the mantle. Russ and I thought that was cool. I didn't find out till a year or two later that the picture was taken when Jeff Daniels played Bill in the movie Fly Away Home. Talk about adventurous!

Bill Lishman is my hero. He is adventurous, creative and unafraid of popular opinion.

The Doctor (1-11)

Other than this year, the last time I stopped by to visit my friend Russel was in Fredericton some 3 years ago. During my visit, he introduced me to an episode of Dr. Who titled "Blink" and I was hooked.

I've become a huge fan, watching every episode and reviewing every decision he makes. I was riveted to the screen when he fought the Daleks with the Bad Wolf. I was devastated when he lost his love and companion Rose Tyler to the alternate dimension and I was floored when he faced the combined might of all his enemies and said "Come and get me, but remember who I am, and let some one else give it a try first!"

He is rebellious, brilliant, protective, imaginative, caring and vindictive. He has a dark side that all of his enemies have learned to fear. He is the Doctor and the Oncoming Storm. He is so lonely, being the last of his kind and yet he's almost never alone, always having someone who comes along for the ride. Above all, he loves Humans in our nearly infinite variation and capacity for everything. So flexible and stubborn and just so "stupid and beautiful". He's always ready to rescue us from his enemies and from ourselves.

The Doctor is my hero. He is passionate, abhors violence and tackles all obstacles with his intelligence and wit.

Heroes are meant to inspire us to improve ourselves by the example they make, the lives they lead and the achievements they leave behind. Being so inspired, we are meant to become examples, achievers and heroes for others. In pondering my heroes, their achievements and the reasons that I admire them, I was finally left with one question.

What achievements will I leave behind, how will I inspire others, who could possibly think of me as their hero?

---
Friar Greg

All I Want For Christmas

2011-12-24T10:54:00.000-05:00

Dear Santa,

I realize that you're an idea and not a real person, and that I'm 33 years old, not 5, and that by writing you I'm pretty much endorsing the consumerist paradigm of Christmas that I abhor so much. However I feel that I'm left with no alternative.

I don't come from a particularly wealthy family, and that among my siblings, I probably have the most stable career. Money is an issue but won't solve my Christmas woes. I'm not asking for money. What's important is what I need the money for, but I figure I should skip the money part and go strait to what I need.

All I want for Christmas is to have my children with me. In actuality, I'm supposed to have them already. The courts have agreed and given me a court order; the police agreed and the Children's Aid agreed but like everyone else, could only say "It's not our job". It appears that although I have the Right and Authority to see my children, I am at the mercy of a Munchausen psychopath who cares nothing for my feelings or the needs of our children.

I'm home now, after failing to retrieve the kids. Watching my nefews I can't help but be reminded of my loss. I budgeted most of my income for the retrieval and now can't afford even the wrappings of my usual eco-friendly, intelligence-engaging gifts for the rest of the family.

Nick, I need help. Please help me and my children have a proper Christmas.

---
Friar Greg

Delayed Flatulence

2011-12-07T16:19:00.001-05:00

A little boy blows up a balloon and starts flicking it all around the house with his finger. His mother tells him to stop it as he's liable to break something, but the boy continues.

"Johnny!" Mom screams. "Knock it off." You're going to break something. He stops and eventually Mom leaves for a short trip to the shopping center.

Johnny starts up with the balloon again after his mom has left for the store... He gives it one last flick and it lands in the toilet where he leaves it..

Mom comes in and while putting away the groceries gets a diarrhea run. She can hardly make it to the toilet in time and SPLASH, out it comes. When she's finished, she looks down and can't believe what she's seeing. She's not sure what this big brown thing is in the toilet! She calls her doctor. The doctor is baffled as she describes the situation, but he assures her he'll be over shortly to examine everything.

When he arrives she leads him to the bathroom and he gets down on his knees and takes a long, hard look at the thing. Finally, he takes out his pen and sort of touches it to see what it might be and POP! The balloon explodes and poop is everywhere. On him, the walls, etc.

"Doctor! Doctor! Are you all right?" she asks.

He says, "I've been in this business for over 30 years, and this is the first time I've ever actually seen a fart!"

Ewwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Aunt Pat, yet another funny from the family.
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Friar Greg
#180

Logic Bad

2011-11-30T12:00:00.000-05:00

Sometimes you just can't win. You think you've got it all figured out, and things are looking up. Maybe you've got this great idea that's either gonna make your life better or save the world, or cure cancer or something... then someone or something has to come along and just show you what an idiot you're being.

Well I've got only one thing to say about that:

http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/

Thanks Ethan, Lilah & Tim for finally putting my feelings into words!

---
Friar Greg

A day

2011-11-20T16:10:00.001-05:00

So I had an interesting day. Watched a lot of "Epic Rap Battles Of History" my favorites were Suess vs Shakespeare and Einstein vs Hawking. Lol i still can't get enough of this show. Look it up on www.YouTube.com/erb
I also tore my mothers keyboard apart to clean it because the f was stuck.

Then drove across town and uninstalled a dishwasher to bring it back to moms. I get back to find Anna singing to herself sitting in the car. Silly girl.
Finally, ate a sub while watching some unseasonal sailing down off the pier.
A good day i guess.
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Friar Greg

Night Thoughts

2011-11-14T21:44:00.001-05:00

It's a shiny evening here at the spider maze and my thoughts reflect the glossy covered murk within me. I don't want to rant or unload. It's a mixed feeling of the eager, overloaded, can't-ask-for-help-that's-weakness boredom that has plagued me for some months now.
Some things I wish I could get done with already, others I feel like I'll never do properly. So helpless at times and at others it's like I'm being held back. A proverbial mountain and anvil.
I can't seem to maintain a working task list at all, yet that's the best i can do...
Will just have to hammer away at it. Prioritize!
----
Friar Greg

More of Pat's Funnies

2011-11-14T21:13:00.000-05:00

Aunt Pat sent some more wild ones.... come laugh with me!!!

(minor edits for delivery purposes)

***************************

A man goes to see the Rabbi. 'Rabbi, something terrible is happening and I have to talk to you about it.'
The Rabbi asked, 'What's wrong?'
The man replied, 'My wife is poisoning me.'
The Rabbi, very surprised by this, asks, 'How can that be?'
The man then pleads, 'I'm telling you, I'm certain she's poisoning me, what should I do?'
The Rabbi then offers, 'Tell you what. Let me talk to her, I'll see what I can find out and I'll let you know.'
A week later the Rabbi calls the man and says, "I spoke to her on the phone for three hours. You want my advice?' The man said yes and the Rabbi replied,

'Take the poison'

***************************
A man goes to a shrink and says, 'Doctor, my wife is unfaithful to me. Every evening, she goes to Larry's bar and picks up men. In fact, she sleeps with anybody who asks her! I'm going crazy. What do you think I should do?'

'Relax,' says the Doctor, 'take a deep breath and calm down. Now, tell me,

exactly where is Larry's bar?'

***************************
John was on his deathbed and gasped pitifully. 'Give me one last request, dear, 'he said. 'Of course, John,' his wife said softly. 'Six months after I die,' he said, 'I want you to marry Bob.' 'But I thought you hated Bob,' she said.

With his last breath John said, 'Oh God do I hate him!'

***************************
Thanks again Pat, you rock!!!

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Friar Greg

Na No Wri Mo!!!! Na No Wri Mo!!!!

2011-11-03T18:34:00.001-04:00

Buddy at work suggested I get into this write-a-novel-in-a-month thing that he's gonna try (That's National Novel Writing Month) So we're swapping stories and ideas and trying to keep each other on track. If you're interested, here's the link http://nanowrimo.org/ so you can try it yourself.

Maybe I'll post the final product, or sell it... if it's any good. lol

---
Friar Greg
Post #175

Night planking

2011-10-10T20:20:00.001-04:00

It's thanksgiving with the girlfriends family. Awesome traditional meal and phenomenal pumpkin cheesecake to make my grandmother jealous.

What's the coolest part? Planking in the dark!!!

Happy thanksgiving Doods!!!

Friar Greg

The smoking square

2011-09-13T15:28:00.001-04:00

So the recent news? I'm not leaving Kingston on the 19th as i was led to believe. No I'm heading to Trenton on October 3rd and i have to sit on Pat until then. Which means 2 more weeks of looking at this stupid butt can. Fml.

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Friar Greg

Our first plankings

2011-07-26T18:14:00.001-04:00

So on Sunday, we were at Laurell's uncle's house for his birthday when her aunt mentioned this "thing" her son does with his friends called planking. What's planking you ask, as we did later in the car. So i looked it up and found "the laying down game". I was hooked immediately. I got the kids (including Willow, Relly's neice) to plank in the airplane position that night and again today at the water park.
I've also come up with a new idea based on owling where you squat like an owl in strange places. It's called gargoyling. You pick a place to owl and make a scary face and pose like a gargoyl. I think it's funnier. I'll have examples later.

____
Friar Greg

Finally fixed mobile blogging

2011-07-20T17:27:00.001-04:00

It's been a little while but I've finally managed to get my phone reconnected to blogger. Updates to come.

Two Trees and a Woodpecker

2011-04-27T10:27:00.000-04:00

Two tall trees, a birch and a beech, are growing in the woods. A small tree begins to grow between them, and the beech says to the birch, 'Is that a son of a beech or a son of a birch?'

The birch says he cannot tell, but just then a woodpecker lands on the sapling.

The birch says, 'Woodpecker, you are a tree expert. Can you tell if that is a son of a beech or a son of a birch?'

The woodpecker takes a taste of the small tree and replies, 'It is neither a son of a beech nor a son of a birch. It is, however, the best little piece of ash I have ever poked my pecker into.'

Pat, where do you find these?

---

Friar Greg

Invictus

2011-04-05T20:01:00.000-04:00

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

Friar Greg

I have become inspired by yet another poet. Bless the music of words for poetry is indeed the language of the gods.

Back in her day

2011-03-27T18:39:00.000-04:00

Pat hits me again...
---
In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. The woman apologized to her and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.”

That’s right, they didn’t have the green thing in her day. Back then, they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to the store.
The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But they didn’t have the green thing back her day.

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks. But she’s right. They didn’t have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby’s diapers because they didn’t have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts – wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right, they didn’t have the green thing back in her day.

Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish, not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used wadded
up newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she’s right, they didn’t have the green thing back then.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty, instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled pens with ink, instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But they didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus, instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But that old lady is right. They didn’t have the green thing back in her day.

---

Friar Greg

- Old should be New

A Letter to the Men's Helpline

2011-03-21T16:27:00.000-04:00

Hi Bob, I really need your advice on a serious problem: I have suspected for some time now that my wife has been cheating on me. The usual signs: if the phone rings and I answer, the caller hangs up; she goes out with the girls a lot. I try to stay awake to look out for her when she comes home but I usually fall asleep.

Anyway last night about midnight I hid in the shed behind the boat. When she came home she got out of someone's car buttoning her blouse, then she took her panties out of her purse and slipped them on.

It was at that moment crouched behind the boat that I noticed a hairline crack in the outboard engine mounting bracket. Is that something I can weld or do I need to replace it?

---
This is why I pity the male species.
Friar Greg

Growing up without a cell phone

2011-03-08T18:23:00.000-05:00

another awesome email from Aunt Patty...

  ---

   If you are 36, or older, you might think this is hilarious!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways...yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that I'm over the ripe old age of forty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

1) I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

2) There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

3) Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Nowhere was safe!

4) There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

5) Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

6) We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

7) There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOSH !!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

8) And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

9) We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen.. Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

10) You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!

11) There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

12) And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

13) And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!

14) And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!

See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1970 or any time before!

Regards,
The Over 40 Crowd

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Friar Greg

A Nutty Story

2011-03-06T20:47:00.001-05:00

So I went to use my guitar a few months ago, and found that it had been left out and damaged... the nut, a piece of plastic which holds the strings off the fret board and keeps them aligned, was chipped. I put off fixing it, not sure if it would cost much but just this Saturday, I took care of it.

I walked down to the guitar shop (Harmony Music Plus) where I purchased my dear Naomi nearly 13 years ago. I had pictures of the piece I needed because it was raining, and since I couldn't find my guitar case, I couldn't take my guitar out in the rain. I arrived at the store around 17 minutes past 9am which by the sign meant they had just unlocked the doors.

I went in and asked the gentleman behind the counter about my options... could I fix it myself or should I have it brought in? He suggested that if I was confident enough, I should be able to make the replacement easily, the part only being $5, it was worth trying. Bringing it in would cost me about $25 which was still, well within my range. But there were 2 drawbacks... 1) He couldn't guarantee the nut would be the right size and they vary between makes and models and I only had a picture. 2) I still didn't have my guitar case and she would get very wet in the downpour.

I decided to take the part home and try it. If it was the wrong size, or the job became too much, I could still bring either the guitar or the nut in later. Needless to say, the job was much easier than expected, but the part was the wrong size. So I went back to the store and here's how the conversation went...

ME: "I brought back my nuts..."
HIM: "What seems to be the problem?"
ME: "One seems a little larger than the other."
HIM: "No problem, we get that issue all the time."
   [Holds out his hand] "Here, let me see them."
   [Inspects nuts] "Yep, just what I thought... this nut needs to be shaved down to match the other one... I'll just work on them in the back."
   [Returns] "Here you go, I shaved your nuts for you."
ME: [reaching for wallet] "Awesome, thank you. What do I owe you?"
HIM: "Oh nothing, don't worry about it... I had the pleasure of holding your nuts in my hand."
ME: "Wow... you didn't even buy me a drink!"

Anyway, that's how the story goes... and I'm certain you could all come up with a hundred more puns for this funny but true story.

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Friar Greg

Carrot Cake

2011-03-02T17:46:00.000-05:00

I had a piece of carrot cake today with my meal.
It was delicious, and carroty.

I love carrot cake.
I miss it so much.

mmmmmm......
why do I love carrot cake so much?

Just because.

--
Friar Greg

Check out that good looking.... Beret.

2011-02-24T19:03:00.000-05:00

I love my new beret.
I love that I earned it.
I love that I wear Hermes the Greek god of medicine, communication and speed on the crest.

It's a nice beret.

Friar

RAC will be back in full swing

2011-02-24T18:59:00.000-05:00

I recently received a pile of new images and graphics for the RAC. I'm posting them soon, but I forgot how freakin' troublesome blogger can be when dealing with lots of images.

stay tuned.

Friar

Considerate Staff

2011-01-12T18:15:00.000-05:00

My staff here at CFLRS are very considerate. They are always helping us out when we need it and their friendly reminders leave a lasting impression. For instance: during this mornings inspection, It was brought to my attention that the quality of my hospital corners may not be completely up to par. Instead of making my bed again, I simply tucked the corner back under, hoping it would pass until later tonight when I could make it properly. To remind me that shortcuts just don't cut it here, the staff politely piled all my sheets and blankets on my desk and put my mattress in the shower. Wasn't that kind of them? Luckily no one got the bright idea of turning the shower on.

Still, lesson learned.

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Friar Greg
Unsecure message sent from my Blueberry device

Turning a frown upside down

2011-01-11T19:41:00.000-05:00

Reposted from todays Toronto Star

Tuesday, January 11, 2011 HOME > SPORTS > ARTICLE

Kelly: Canadian world junior fans criticized in Buffalo January 11, 2011 Cathal Kelly Sports Columnist

It's a week after Canada left, and Buffalo is only now feeling safe enough to begin unboarding the windows and crawling out of the basement. That's the impression left in an out-of-left-field attack on Canadian honour by a columnist at the Buffalo News. In purple tones, the piece – entitled "Disillusioned by Northern Neighbours" – paints Canadian fans as bunch of boozed-up hooligans who streamed over the border like the Visigoths advancing on Rome. Among the damning criticisms: we don't wait to turn right on red; we say "eh"; we like to take a drink; the Rogers Centre is ugly; we tip only two bucks on a $25 bar tab; someone punched someone else at a game. Oh, Buffalo. We rescued your tournament from local apathy and crushing irrelevance and this is the thanks we get? A visiting Swedish writer likened the city to something out of "28 Days Later (minus all the zombies)." One of your own players – Ducks prospect and Team U.S.A. forward Emerson Etem – called Buffalo a "ghost town" and "the worst city ever." And you're angry at us? Seriously? What'd we do to get you so hysterical? It is true that we showed up, injected hundreds of thousands of muscular Canadian dollars into your threadbare economy and rooted for our team. We'll admit that. We're sorry. That was pretty awful. There might have been a drunken incident or six. That's possible. Since the end zone seats at a Bills home game generally resemble a Hieronymous Bosch painting, we thought you embraced that sort of high-spirited fun. That was foolish of us. Are you hurt? Show us where it hurts. Because we'd like to kick it all better. The most grating thing about the ad hominem broadside is not that Buffalo (or, at least, one writer from Buffalo and a couple of anonymous bartenders) doesn't like us any more. It's that we're stood up beside the groaning American stereotype of Canadians and then judged unworthy by comparison. "I think we saw a different side of the normally placid, polite, patient, good neighbours we thought we knew," the News' Donn Esmonde writes, possibly while shorting out the keyboard with his bitter tears. Yes (sigh) that's us. Canada – the world's agreeable doormat. I urge Americans who labour under this delusion to test its truth in a bar in Rimouski or Saint John or Hamilton. Remember, our medical care is universal. Our dentistry is not. So bring cash. If any good can come out of this, it's the death of the idea of the Polite Canadian in at least one American city. For going on a century, we've put up with your jingoism and your insularity and your shocking ignorance of the world outside your borders. Yes, you won the Cold War. Yes, your economy is the foundation for our own. We can only say 'Thank you' so many times. It's become globally fashionable to kick uppity Canada lately. We took a hellacious amount of stick during the Vancouver Olympics for our Own the Podium initiative. Some people – notably Brits, Russians and a few cranky Americans – were put out that we got excited when we won. If that's a problem, then sadly, it's your problem. We've all taken a vote up here and we've decided that, in one sphere of life at least, we're not going to play nice any more. That's hockey. Twelve years ago, after missing a pair of hockey golds in Nagano, we were in the midst of a cringingly Canadian crisis of confidence. What changed? The players didn't get any better. The players have always been the world's best. The attitude changed. We collectively decided that while there is no shame in finishing second, it should not be a pre-tournament objective. This is Canada. We own this game. We carry that feeling around with us now, like the statement of fact that it is. It's no coincidence that in the decade since, we've enjoyed a level of unparalleled international success. Maybe that's what bothered you so much, Buffalo. As Americans, you're not used to feeling overshadowed or overmatched. Which is funny. Since that's something you taught us. -30

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Friar Greg
Unsecure message sent from my Blueberry device

Memorial

2010-12-12T09:00:00.001-05:00

This is a memorial to Cpl Greg Pilot. Found dead near the smoking pit doors. Rest in peace poor bird.

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Friar Greg
Unsecure message sent from my Blueberry device

2010 Christmas Break

2010-12-11T14:53:00.000-05:00

Hey all... it's been awhile since I've posted here but I'll let you know why. I've been at the CFLRS (Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School) in Borden ON and St Jean QC. It's been a long road with lots of ups and downs but I'm almost finished. Christmas Break will begin next week and I'll be home for a couple weeks to see everyone in Belleville and to spend some time with the family.

The posts here were on hold, but I'm fixing that. From now on, I will start sending blogs from my phone so you can continue following my adventures. Maybe for Christmas I'll get a net book and post proper updates.

Anyway... gotta run, Love from QC

---
Friar Greg

The Truth about Apologies

2010-08-25T01:12:00.000-04:00

This is the song that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends, somebody started singing it not knowing what it was, and we're all still singing it and that is all because This is the song that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends, somebody started singing it not knowing what it was, and we're all still singing it and that is all because This is the song that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends, somebody started singing it not knowing what it was, and we're all still singing it and that is all because This is the song that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends, somebody started singing it not knowing what it was, and we're all still singing it and that is all because This is the song that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends, somebody started singing it not knowing what it was, and we're all still singing it and that is all because This is the song that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends, somebody started singing it not knowing what it was, and we're all still singing it and that is all because This is the song that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends, somebody started singing it not knowing what it was, and we're all still singing it and that is all because This is the song that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends, somebody started singing it not knowing what it was, and we're all still singing it and that is all because This is the song that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends, somebody started singing it not knowing what it was, and we're all still singing it and that is all because ....

Friar Greg

#42 - #47 An Overdue Update

2010-08-11T00:49:00.000-04:00

I realize it has been over a month since my last update. I haven't forgotten all you crazy followers, nor have I been ignoring my cache's. I've simply been lazy when it comes to updates. So here you go, if you don't follow me on Twitter, then the following is news to you. :P

27th June
#42 - GC1ZHZQ The H A U N T E D Cache
This was a nice change of pace, as the kids and I showed "mommy" how to search for caches. It was a bad hair day. :P Took some stickers, left the stamp I found at GC1ZH69 - Drop off.

11th July
#43 - GC1TXMK Cacher's Delight
During the Kingston Buskers Festival, 'Bert and I took Sabenator & the Pirate. I was there for more of a baby-sitter capacity than the 'date' I was lead to believe. But at least the boys and I had some fun after being ditched for some street artists.

25th July
#XX - GC204YN QUINTE CACHE BLITZ #12 - Zwick's Park
#XX - GCJ961 Breeze off the Bay
The boys and I went for a nice bike ride around Zwick's Park but were unable to find any of the cache's before mommy decided to pick them up.

#44 - GC1WD0J Historic Corbyville
Captain Scott and I went out to Corbyville to take a look at some of the property there. We were looking for viable sites to play Airsoft but found that most of it was either too open, too private, or there was too much possible foot traffic. This cache was a fluke and happened to be 10 meters from where we parked anyway.

4th August
#45 - GC1NBGG Stella :Fairy of this Forest
Now with both my bike and the Captain's bike in working order, we decided to hit some caches on the East side of town. I didn't realize there was such a maze of trails out there but the Captain knew them all by heart. So we trekked in the pitch black on bumpy trails with flashlights. Lucky us... no poison ivy. phew!!

#46 - GC1NBH9 Rays' Woods
A little further up the trail.

#XX - GC1NBHT Sam: The Brother of Stella
Unfortunately, even leaving the bikes behind, we couldn't traverse the water hazards this site has to offer. Perhaps another time, with hip-waders & daylight!

#47 - GC1EXF6 trails end
Keep to the trail, you can't miss it. We tried as the crow flies and that just doesn't work. Also, look out for the bugs, not so many 'skeeters, but a real haven for the little buggers that like to fly into your mouth. We had to breath through our teeth for most of this one.

The Captain and I have been planning on dropping some caches around town, but I've been holding off. I think it's mostly because I won't be around much until after Christmas this year. I'm off to my Military Basic Training in September and won't be able to monitor any drops. But I think what I'll do is after my 50th find, give Scotty the go ahead to drop all the caches we've built. If I get that far and still have a few days before I leave, I may even do it myself. I really can't wait to see people finding my hides!!! I've been keeping my eye on GC1CR0Y - 50 Mission Cap for my 50th find. A little cheesy, I know but it's only 3 finds away and looks difficult. Totally worth it if I can pull it off.

Again, I apologise for my lack of updates. I hope the photo's make up for it. I'm glad you all enjoy my adventures and remember to always Cache In - Trash Out and don't be afraid to comment. I do appreciate a little feedback now and again.

--
Friar Greg

New Dignity

2010-07-19T00:16:00.000-04:00

I've had a bad year, oh well, life goes on. The main issue has been self esteem (my original article is still in draft) but today I want to talk about the other side of the coin, dignity.

According to Dictionary.com
dig·ni·ty [dig-ni-tee] –noun, plural -ties.

bearing, conduct, or speech indicative of self-respect or appreciation of the formality or gravity of an occasion or situation.
nobility or elevation of character; worthiness: dignity of sentiments.
elevated rank, office, station, etc.
relative standing; rank.
a sign or token of respect: an impertinent question unworthy of the dignity of an answer.
Archaic .

person of high rank or title.
such persons collectively.

Dignity is often used to describe a persons personal power or their behaviour in moments of stress and shame. Those without dignity are "...failing to treat themselves with proper self-respect.". I feel that this is completely understandable. We humans put ourselves through great amounts of stress on top of what the world around us expects of us. However, dignity is not behaviour, nor is it any kind of wealth or position. It is value. A person with dignity recognizes their own value, not their worth to others, but their value to themselves. "I will not do that horrible thing because I value myself enough to know that I don't deserve that kind of treatment".

I've been reading into all types of methods for men to fix their relationships and the theories are as numerous and irregular as the stock market. For instance; suppose I put the two polar opposite theories into the same room together, Roissy vs. Justice Marshall; the Alpha Jerk vs. the Beta Wimp. I say it this way because, well Roissy is a jerk. He plays head games, lies, devalues and basically spits on women. Following his advice exclusively will make a man cold and uncaring. This is not to say that he is wrong, I just feel that his methods and lessons are too extreme. Justice is much the opposite. He fits the beta style of feelings and conversation. Though he lists some excellent processes and points of fact, his style and methods are too weak, too soft, too feminine. I feel like he's trying to turn men into women or emotional slaves.

These aren't the only two sources, but to mention them all would dilute this article. So to boil it down, Roissy is correct. A man must take control of his life and embrace some of the Alpha qualities he describes And, Yes so is Justice correct in listing the sexual polarities between men and women, the man's strength reflects the women's strength. Finally, they are both correct when they agree that a man is only worth what he believes he is worth, and that is dignity.

I think dignity is the modern, PC version of what was once known as Honour. The best description of honour I feel was made by Liam Neeson's character in the 1995 movie Rob Roy when the Robert MacGregor sat his sons down to teach them the meaning of being a man.

...

son: Father, will McGregors ever be kings again?

Robert: All men with honour are kings, but not all kings have honour.

son: What is honour?

Robert: Honour is what no man can give you and none can take away. Honour is a man's gift to himself.

son: Do women have it?

Robert: Women are the heart of honour, and we cherish and protect it in them. You must never mistreat a woman or malign a man, nor stand by and see another do so.

son: How do you know if you have it?

Robert: Never worry on the getting of it. It grows in you and speaks to you. All you need do is listen.

...

This was beautiful the first time I heard it, and it has slept inside me ever since. It's taken until now, as I reflect on my own self worth to recall it and to determine what it means to me. All men with honour are kings so it goes to say that all men with any self worth are confident and worthy of respect. Only a man can give himself value, it cannot be given to him or taken from others. When we take value from other people, we know deep down that it doesn't belong to us and we become insecure, afraid and often that fear becomes our downfall.

I have forgotten my dignity, my honour. It was deep inside, overlooked as fear and insecurity drowned out its litany of encouragement. but no more. I have found that pocket of strength and I am moving on with my life. I'm having fun again, enjoying those parts of life that I have forgotten while hiding away in my cave for these past years.

Value is what a person needs to see in themselves before they will ever make anything of their lives, and not for others, but for themselves. Dignity/Honour is that value, Self Esteem is recognizing it.

--
Friar Greg

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dignity
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dignity

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114287/

http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/r/rob-roy-script-transcript-neeson.html

New Twists on Old Stories

2010-06-23T12:00:00.000-04:00

This list was forwarded to me by my Aunt Pat. She has a more earthy sense of humour that I like, so please don't take offence of anything here, they were not meant to insult. With that said, if you feel that you may be sensitive to earthy humour, then don't read this blog.

1. King Ozymandias of Assyria was running low on cash after years of war with the Hittites. His last great possession was the 'Star of the Euphrates', the most valuable diamond in the ancient world.
Desperate, he went to Croesus, the pawnbroker, to ask for a loan. Croesus said, "I'll give you 100,000 dinars for it". "But I paid a million dinars for it," the King protested. "Don't you know who I am? I am the king!"

Croesus replied, "When you wish to pawn a Star, makes no difference who you are."

2. Evidence has been found that William Tell and his family were avid bowlers. Unfortunately, all the Swiss league records were destroyed in a fire, ...and so we'll never know for whom the Tells bowled.

3.. A man rushed into a busy doctor's office and shouted, "Doctor! I think I'm shrinking!" The doctor calmly responded, "Now, settle down. You'll just have to be a little patient."

4. A marine biologist developed a race of genetically engineered dolphins that could live forever if they were fed a steady diet of baby seagulls.
One day, his supply of the birds ran out so he had to go out and trap some more. On the way back, he spied two lions asleep on the road. Afraid to wake them, he gingerly stepped over them. Immediately, he was arrested and charged with...'transporting young gulls across sedate lions for immortal porpoises'.

5. Back in the 1800's the Tate's Watch Company of Massachusetts wanted to produce other products, and since they already made the cases for watches, they used them to produce compasses.
The new compasses were so bad that people often ended up in Canada or Mexico rather than California . This, of course, is the origin of the expression,..."He who has a Tate's is lost!"

6. A thief broke into the local police station and stole all the toilets and urinals, leaving no clues. A spokesperson was quoted as saying, "We have absolutely nothing to go on."

7. An African chief was feeling very sick, so he summoned the medicine man. After a brief examination, the medicine man took out a long, thin strip of elk rawhide and gave it to the chief, telling him to bite off, chew,and swallow one inch of the leather every day.
After a month, the medicine man returned to see how the chief was feeling. The chief shrugged and said, "The thong is ended, but the malady lingers on."

8. A famous Viking explorer returned home from a voyage and found his name missing from the town register. His wife insisted on complaining to the local civic official who apologized profusely saying, "I must have taken Leif off my census."

9. There were three African maidens. One slept on a deer skin, one slept on an elk skin, and the third slept on a hippopotamus skin. All three became pregnant. The first two eac had a baby boy. The one who slept on the hippopotamus skin had twin boys.
This just goes to prove that...the squaw of the hippopotamus is equal to the sons of the squaws of the other two hides.

10. A skeptical anthropologist was cataloging South American folk remedies with the assistance of a tribal Brujo who indicated that the leaves of a particular fern were a sure cure for any case of constipation. When the anthropologist expressed his doubts, the Brujo looked him in the eye and said, "Let me tell you... with fronds like these, you don't need enemas."

Friar Greg

Thanks Patty, These are awesome!!!

Strength, Patience & Faith

2010-06-22T03:29:00.001-04:00

Tolerance - Faith

My biggest issue this past year has been confidence and faith in my own abilities. It's been harder with the separation than I would ever like to admit. While I drowned in my own poisonous pity, my wife has moved further away from me, which would be almost bearable except for her occasional talk about reconcilliation, or worse her taking other men into her life. I want both of course; to never have to deal with the relationship and its issues ever again and being torn with possibly making things work, to be with my wife whom I still love as much as I love our children: more than life itself.

I also believe in the seperation, only with time apart can we heal our personal issues in order to give the marriage the proper attention it needs without being bogged down with disagreements that really only distract us from the repairs we know must happen. If our goals are so alike, then why are we still drifting in an ever widening orbit around a ball of anger and resentment?

Pain... it's the only language we can communicate with anymore, that or indifference. I know that neither of us want it this way, but it seems to be all we can do. Other methods just crumble too easily into turmoil. I could hide my feelings in hobbies, alcohol, maybe even women, but it doesn't fix anything and I am still saddened, lonely, betrayed. The more I think about how my wife must be dealing with this, the angrier and more betrayed I feel. To know that she must feel the need (as I) to turn to another for companionship churns a bile I can never describe.

I know I can't blame her for this, we were both at fault. We were both victims of each others pain, each others past and eachothers fears of our future. Much of what happened leading to our breakup was quite unforgivable. Reactions to words and actions, perceived or misinterpreted, on both sides became scars and proofs that there could be no love, no working things out. Lashing out at our confusion was the only defence.

I can honestly confirm the validity of the old saying, that we always hurt the ones we love. Love is the only reason to react with so much anger. Only love can hurt us to such deapths where true hate is born. Sometimes, in a weaker person it only takes suspicion or the smallest of lies to trigger this conversion. Even in more confident personalities the slightest crack in belief or faith can destroy the trust built up over countless months, years, birthdays, Thanksgivings, mortgage payments and late-night trips to the 24 hour grocery store for those truth-is-stranger-than-fiction pregnancy cravings.

And so it goes. Shit happens. Life goes on.

Finally, with a clear view of the past, a complete acceptance of my shortcommings and barely the slightest glimpse of a manufactured hope in the future, I step boldly into a realm of possibility. I opened myself to forgiveness. Analysing my past and all the events I could remember that led me to agonize over my abandonment I rediscovered the simplest of truths. A tiny flower was rooted in the dusty cracks of what was once an ocean. My ocean. In the hard packed, dried desert where fathoms of well-being, confidence, surity and love had pooled until the quakes of our seperation. There grew a symbol of possibility. A symbol that a marriage I had believed irrepairable could still one day again crash waves of joy against the shores of this world. From the salted tears of pain an ocean can exist as they stream to the lowest points available and what can feel lower than the end of a long war with Love. As a brook is shallow and a lake is isolated, all rivers lead to the ocean. Forgiveness is born of love and from forgiveness grows even more love.

I forgive myself the words I have used to harm her for they were not meant for her. I forgive myself for actions born of fear for they were not her fault. I forgive her the anger, distrust and mistakes for I am certain her actions were not a reflection of me but of her own pain.

And although the thought of her with other men still stirs the indescribably terrible taste, I can forgive her them as well for they are only temporary. I will have the strength to grow past my shortcomings and the patience to await her healing. In the end, I have faith that we will once again be happy together.

Strength, Patience & Faith.

---
Friar Greg

Related materials:

"Forgive, forget. Bear with the faults of others as you would have them bear with yours. Be patient and understanding. Life is too short to be vengeful or malicious."

--
Phillips Brooks

"Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will be powerless to vex your mind."

--
Leonardo da Vinci

Have a Little Faith in Me (Poem)

When the road gets dark
And you can no longer see
Just let my love throw a spark, baby
Have a little faith in me

When the tears you cry
Are all you can believe
Just give these loving arms a try, baby
Have a little faith in me

When your secret heart
Cannot speak so *easily*
Come here darlin’
From a whisper start
To have a little faith in me

When your back’s against the wall
Just turn around, you will see
I will catch ya, I will catch your fall
Just have a little faith in me

Well, I’ve been loving you for such a long, long time baby
Expecting nothing in return
Just for you to have a little faith in me
You see time, time is our friend *for you and me*
Cause for us there is no end
All you gotta do is have a little faith in me
I said I will hold you up, I will hold you up
Your strength gives me enough
So have a little faith in me

My Fathers Day

2010-06-20T12:00:00.002-04:00

It consisted of this rash on both legs and my left arm... turns out it was poison ivy and I could barely afford the prescription with some opportune babysitting money.
I had to work thus I missed out on a possible RAC event, kids were supposed to camp and hang out with me all day and I missed brunch with the grandparents.
Not to mention I suffered an email attack and was high-jacked. Many of you may have noticed an infuriating request for money to be sent to the UK. Sorry about that. It's under control now.

My fathers day sucked.
--
Friar Greg

#37 - #41 An Unfortunate Incident

2010-06-14T09:00:00.000-04:00

Well it started out as any other night of treasure hunting. We started while it was still light and headed out to find the closest cache. I thought we would go check the Northwest part of town as that was the last high concentration.

#37 - GC1ZD2D The Future is Here

Right out in the open, probably best as a night cache.

#38 - GC13GVX "What's Playin' ?"

I must have passed this one 5 times but the Captain noticed it right away. Tricky little hiders, I'll get you!!! While we were looking, an Ex-Cacher approached us and correctly assumed our purpose. We chatted for a bit and invited him to come out with us some other time but he declined. "I tried that, not my thing" he said.

#39 - GC1E5TH Got Milk?

The Captain had already seen this one so he let me find it. I took pictures... don't know where they are. Very nice collection of items.

#40 - GC1ZM30 Yellow Bags

I found this one while Captain was on the phone.

#XX - GC1ZFRK Three Strikes Your Out

We both crawled on our bellies trying to find this one. It got dark while we were here. No find. Sux.

#41 - GC1QZJ6 Boo-Boo & Bean's Car Trade-In Cache

I can only say, you should always follow the directions. The path is so easy to follow, even in the dark and it's beautiful. However, I thought I could wing it and tried taking the South path instead of the North entrance... yeah... don't do that.

Anyway, we headed back to N.Front St to get something to eat, McDonald's, Burger King, Pita Pit... every one was either closed or wouldn't serve bikers. As we were pulling away from the Micky-D's parking lot my de-railer became entangled in spokes, ripped a couple out and twisted itself into an even stranger pretzel than normal. Really Sux!!!! I just dropped $175 in repairs, that I could ill afford, on this damn thing and now I'm left with no bike!!!

We ate at the Pizza Pizza. Probably the worst pizza I've ever had. In the past, I have burnt cheap, frozen pizza's in the microwave that tasted better than what these people were trying to sell me. Anyway, it was another terrible walk home as I ended up having the Vesuvius of all bowl movements, had to hold it for 2 blocks while I searched for a safe place to go, walking my bike and pausing every 15 steps. I did eventually find a nice shady spot but a couple days later, I broke out in Poison Ivy. The doc put me on teva-prednisone which made me a paranoid blubbering idiot and embarrassed the hell out of me.

An unfortunate incident. I'm now stuck walking to my caches. Enjoy your summer!

#34 to #36 - The Great Cache Robbery (Epilogue)

2010-06-03T16:32:00.000-04:00

Our prior outing "The Great Cache Robbery" looked great on paper, but there were a few unforeseen issues, time constraints mostly. Because we had missed a few caches, I took a leisurely jaunt today to pick some of them up.

#34 - GC27Z4F Loyalist's Backyard
Very easy find, I loved the walk around and the location is particularly beautiful. The rain was light and sparse, but the breeze was silky and lightly humid. On a dryer day, I could sit here for hours either reading or meditating. I took a green, braided key chain and left the pumpkin stamp found at Drop Off.

#XX - GC14ET4 Royal Canadian Air Cadet Cache #1
Checking the logs I did notice the plants that most were referring to as poison ivy, but I did not get any reaction from it. Neither did I find the cache. Checking both sides of the road and along the brush and trees of the East side and North of the stream, I found nothing but a couple of places a small cache might be hidden. I managed to convince the jogging parties that I was just reminiscing.

#35 - GC140WM Morris Needs Another
A clever hide, I had no idea of these paths, mostly considering that I've never had reason to see this part of town before. I took a large red marble & left behind a galaxy coin, I think I got it at Chuck E Cheese. The paths were easy to follow and the area is pleasant to visit. I would also strongly consider bringing a garbage bag for effective CITO.

#36 - GC1XKHP Micro Morris
This park is particularly well groomed and great for children to play in. The cache is cleverly hidden where groomers are not likely to disturb it.

I'm glad that I had the opportunity to pick up these finds. Though I missed out on the RCAC find, I'm sure it will show up again. The Micro Cache #1 doesn't seem to show on my Navigator, so I'll have to find a way to get it into the system or manually enter it into my device. Either way, it can't stay hidden from me for very long.!!!

Safe Caching
Friar Greg

#29 to #33 - Another Night Adventure

2010-06-02T11:06:00.000-04:00

Since hitting more than one cache on a given day has become a new habit, and seeing as how it's the odd cache in the bunch, not each one, that has become something memorable, I've decided to continue with grouping the cache descriptions for the ease of story telling. I also apologuise for not having any pictures from the trip, as my phone was low on power to start with, and it was black. I mean, our armoury of flashlights, headlights, bike lights & what ever else we were using, almost wasn't enough just to see the trails in front of us.

It all started when Cpt. Scott msgs me last night:

(edited from logs for length & content)

[9:26:24 PM] Cpt Scott: any plans tonight? feeling active?
[9:26:35 PM] Friar Greg: what do you have in mind?
[9:26:55 PM] Cpt Scott: geocaching
[9:27:20 PM] Friar Greg: which ones or part of town?
[9:27:30 PM] Cpt Scott: no matter. I would think maybe east end...
[9:29:02 PM] Friar Greg: there's trails end (waterfront), stanly park is a multi...
[9:30:16 PM] Cpt Scott: not done one of those yet
[9:31:01 PM] Friar Greg: and there are 3 in the woods east of haig, a little off the beaten track. bayview heights has a multi as well. I still haven't found woof woof or alemite park yet, thats all there is on the east side. north side has a large handful.
[9:32:21 PM] Cpt Scott: ok, I'm good for it. or north. makes little difference
[9:33:34 PM] Friar Greg: we haven't found the timmys one or mcleod yet
[9:34:02 PM] Cpt Scott: I'm game if you'd like to lead the way
[9:35:00 PM] Friar Greg: gimme 15-20 minutes and I'll meet you at timmy's?
[9:36:06 PM] Cpt Scott: how about 25 min? makes it 10pm
[9:36:13 PM] Friar Greg: perfect. see you there
[9:36:27 PM] Cpt Scott: k

as you can see, in the matter of 10 minutes & 3 seconds, we had decided on a course of action that would lead us to soon be hurtling our way down lit, empty highways normally bursting with heavy traffic or across thunderous river rapids over an incomplete & unstable bridge in the dark or ricocheting off hidden gravel spills in the middle of the blackest bike trail you could ever imagine. But what really got our blood pumping, was the final discovery of the infamous "Buffalo" mystery.

#29 - GC1ZZKE QUINTE CACHE BLITZ # 5 - East Riverside Park

Kenlaur sometimes makes a difficult job of finding his caches. I know I've had most of my failures due to his placements. However, this was not one of them. Now that we know how to search better, his tricky little caches are fun, easy finds. Even in the dark.

#XX - GC13H1E Kamp Cann - "IF" - Ton

This was an unfortunate bust. The location was perfect for a big cache, hidden away in what should have been a reasonably placed cache. Unfortunately it has been stolen. The bushes are a little difficult and the trash was just intense. We found the cubby and the rocks, but no cache was there. What weighed on my mind was not so much the loss of a large cache, or the amount of litter everywhere, but with the stigma attached to locations such as this. I was sure that if there had been anyone watching, they wouldn't think for a second, that we could possibly believe that two grown men crawling out of the bushes near a car pool parking lot in the dark looked like anything other than late-night treasure hunters. Sorry Scott, but I just don't think of you that way. :p I'm only surprised that we didn't stumble upon anyone reliving their dreams of hiking Brokeback Mt.

#30 - GC1ZXJA QUINTE CACHE BLITZ # 2 - Ships Ahoy

Initially, the Captain and I realized that the only ways over the river to this cache involved a 400 series highway, a long detour through Corbyville or heading all the way back to our starting point. However, the city saw fit to install a new bridge right at this spot on the river. It wasn't completed yet, there was still lots of reinforcing re-bar waiting to be filled with concrete, piles of steel bars waiting to be cut, fitted and welded into place and I would assume much of the lumps and shadows were hiding tools and power cords. What we couldn't understand was why the street lights on the West bank were all on while the street was completely cordoned off.

The trails were completely messed up with piles of light gravel just dropped in the middle of the path, waiting for the Bobcat's to come along and smooth the way. Our bike lights were completely useless in pointing these out until we had already been completely knocked off our seats.

Meanwhile, there were a few young girls in the Pirate Park at nearly midnight gabbing and gossiping all the while and never thinking of the fact that their parents are probably worried sick about them and that predators routinely scan these areas for kids no one will miss until it's too late.

Oh yeah, and the cache was very nicely hidden. You don't find spots like this very often.

#31 - GCPPJR McLeod Micro Cache

I had originally believed that this cache was on the East bank, but I was wrong. I also very nearly rode my bike right off the rocks into the water. Captain must have thought I was nuts. I just wasn't looking where I was going. We signed this one and "stuck" it back where it belonged.

#XX - GC12TQY Stand On Guard For Thee

I was pretty much ready to pack it in but Cpt Scott wanted to hit another. I found a multi cache within range and so we doubled back, all the way through the park and over the gravel piles back to were we had crossed. I hadn't been in this part of the park before, so the Captain took point, leading us through the many, intertwined trails to where the first step should have been. But it wasn't there. In fact, we believe that the public wash-room that stood there (maybe up until a day or two ago) was the site for the first micro, but it had been demolished. I even risked a jaunt through some poison sumac to make sure.

#32 - GC1K9FX Rocky Red Wings!

This one surprised me a bit. I forgot all about the fact that my Geocache account is hooked up to my twitter account. So as the Captain and I were hitting stray micros on our return trip, I received a strange sms "Rocky Red Wings! lol". My brother-in-law apparently thought that was a funny phrase when it was broadcast to all my followers.

#33 - GC1YC1T The Midas Touch at a Prime Time

And now for the final adventure. We landed at this spot just after midnight. I had already tried finding it once with SuzyQ but to no avail. This time we had lots of flash lights so the two of us split up, tossing ideas to each other over the radios and rummaging through brush, around garbage bins, inside tires... you name it. We searched for almost 2 hours. I don't think we would have stayed that long if it were not for the 3/5 difficulty rating. We even looked back at every log posted, trying to find a clue. The only clue posted of course was "Think Buffalo". You have no idea how that TESTED OUR PATIENCE!!!!

We circled both buildings, climbed poles and finally, FINALLY, just as we were going to call it quits... Captain Scott shows me what he found. Our cursing and swearing was enough to curl a stainless steel bar. A cleaner example was "I'd like to line them up, first that ****** that said it only took 10 minutes, then next would be all the ******* ******* loggers who said it was easy and then didn't sign the ******* log. Then the *** ****** ***** who put it here in the first place, and I'd just ******* smack them all!!!!"

We stopped in at the Timmy's for a couple of ice caps, cooled down and laughed at our simultaneous brain freezes. Talked a bit about FanExpo, cool costumes and fond memories. Then we made our separate ways to our homes. I was nearly attacked by a skunk which ran across the road right in front of me. As I sped up and circled wide he continued to threaten me with a raised tail. "Like I'm coming anywhere near you!!!" I said as I barrelled down the hill... then I heard a bunch of "pphhttss, pssshhhh, psshhhhh" and I had a mild heart attack. I thought I had just ridden into a family of skunks while looking at the first one, but it was actually the automatic sprinkler system starting up in front of the new Maranatha. I nearly died laughing.

Again, another awesome night adventure with my pal Captain Scott as we systematically lined up the caches and knocked 'em down. I hope you continue to enjoy the stories, and remember to always CACHE IN - TRASH OUT!!!

Friar Greg.

Mom's Birthday 2010

2010-05-30T14:15:00.000-04:00

Well, May came and went. Mothers day, certain anniversaries and birthdays included. I don't know what I can say other than Happy Birthday Mom.

I don't really feel like talking about the rest of it.

Hope your's was good, fun and full of happy things.

---
Friar Greg

#22 to #28 - The Great Cache Robbery

2010-05-20T03:19:00.000-04:00

This is a special entry due to the immensity of the event. I had suggested to Cpt. Scott that maybe he'd be interested in joining me on a long round trip, geocaching, bike ride, extravaganza around the west side of Belleville hitting every cache we could find. Originally there were 12 caches I wanted to hunt (2 being optional due to being on the north side of the tracks). The Captain agreed and on Thursday May 20th, we set out with my youngest son "the Sabenator" in tow for a 9km ride out to Loyalist College.

GC1ZM3E - Rockclimbin'
We couldn't find this cache and the rocks were a bit dangerous for searching so we decided to leave it for another time.

GC2204V - Tennis Anyone?
This was the first find of the day. Sabenator helped out too, crawling in amongst the trees and trying to follow us as we searched the branches.

GC1XYQN - Loyalist College Travel Bug & Geocoin Hotel
After a short meal break and a walk around the college we stopped in here to see the hotel, there was only a single traceable key chain which the Captain took and we both left a couple of single items. There was a week-old carcass of what we think was a raccoon. It most likely got hit on the road and crawled into this little clearing to die. Beware the smell!!!

GC1HM4B - Benny's Booty
This was the craziest cache of the entire adventure. It was marked some distance off the road so we took the first trail access we could find which happened to be directly across the road from the hotel. We began by following the trail North, but when the Captain decided that the trail was moving too far north we bushwacked directly west through the rough grasses and trees. After some extensive scratches pushing our bikes through the cedars (Sabenator just watched from his safe place in the covered bike wagon) we finally found ourselves back on the trail anyway... silly us!! Note, stay on the trail. From here we followed the trail all the way south to the conservation area's parking lot thus skipping most of the highway and missing GC14ET4. It was a beautiful ride with lots to see and mostly down-hill.

GC203YX - QUINTE CACHE BLITZ #11 - Quinte Conservation
An easy find though both of our devices kept pointing us away from the spot. A beautiful little park with a great view of the bay. The Sabenator fell asleep at this point after that bumpy ride all the way down the trail.

GCYRE8 - Restin in Belleville
This is a gorgeous graveyard with lots of paved paths and interesting tombs. We missed GC22TTN getting here as there wasn't really a path that we could see and didn't want to drag Sabenator through another dense brush area.

GCYREB - Restin` in St. James
These two graveyards are connected by paths and are actually quite simple finds. We saw some old ladies driving around checking what I thought was a GPS and I assumed they were caching. I was quite embarrassed as I approached them and discovered that they were measuring plots for their recently deceased relatives.

GC12KBV - Meyer's Pier
We realized that my 3-4 hour estimation was way off and as the Sabenator's mother was waiting patiently for me to return him. So the Captain and I skipped GC27Z4F, delivered my excited little boy to his mother and siblings then we came directly here (my find, the Cpt had already been here) to finish off the day. I took a finger puppet and left a marble.

We sat at the Winchester Arms for a pint of stout on the patio as a well deserved reward for our 11.7 km excursion and all our finds. A great day spent with great people in what I am starting to think is one of the coolest activities ever.

I think the next campaign will be to get all the missed caches, perhaps on a solo mission?

CACHE IN / TRASH OUT!
Friar Greg

#21 GC206QA - QUINTE CACHE BLITZ #15 - Picton

2010-05-14T17:05:00.000-04:00

Logged from my phone using the Geocache Navigator by Trimble

This was my second try at this cache and the second one today while waiting for my mothers car at the garage. I walked into Picton and through the construction zone, up to the cached park and after only a little frustration managed to finally pinpoint the cache. I do apologise for having previously called the bird a poacher, it was bad form, but really, it was confusing enough not to find the damn thing!!!!

Found finally, so there. I'm happy.

#20 GC1Q3XN - Restin' in Orser

2010-05-14T16:34:00.000-04:00

Logged from my phone using the Geocache Navigator by Trimble

So I was on my way into Picton to get the spark plug wires replaced and I thought I'd check and see if there were any caches nearby that I could walk to. I just happened to be 100 meters from this grave yard so I stopped nearby, walked in and found this cache. Nifty little spot. I loved the view.

News Update May 2010

2010-05-10T01:03:00.000-04:00

Another great hunt tonight with Captain Scott, we were all bundled up, had all the right tools and with bikes and radios we set out to find some caches. My recent blight of failures really left me feeling a little useless. I ended up returning the Triton to cover a couple of bills. But at least I was able to afford continued use of the BB software Geocache Navigator. I like this program, it has a lot of useful little tools and is self updating as opposed to Cacheberry which I had to manually maintain the cache files and in the end became a bit of a headache.

I found an awesome little statuette which will go into my collection of nifty little items. But I can't wait to fix my bike, the left pedal fell right off while on the far side of town hunting down that last cache Drop Off. Captain had a tool kit but the threads were so f&$d up it was useless.

I'm still holding off on the Zwick's adventure until SuzyQ can make another day trip into Belleville. Maybe tomorrow as we both have the day off.

Keep your batteries charged and bikes up to spec.

--
Friar Greg

#19 GC1ZH69 - Drop Off

2010-05-10T00:31:00.000-04:00

I've noted this one a while ago but hadn't been that side of town lately. I lost a pedal off my bike as the Captain and I were heading this way. It was a long walk home.

--
Friar Greg

#18 GC1CWRW - Restin' in St Thomas Memorial Garden

2010-05-10T00:24:00.000-04:00

This was one of the banes of my existence. I had looked for it twice with no luck then with a clue from the Captain and a surge of intuition I discovered the cache in a very unlikely place. Captain left a beautiful pin and I took the Monkey's wedged nearby.

Friar Greg

#17 GC27CV5 - Park-It

2010-05-10T00:17:00.000-04:00

I had previously not found this one, but the Captain took that extra look that I had thought about and had dismissed out of hand. Stupid me. Awesome night biking!!

--
Friar Greg

#16 GC1GMQV - Belleville McCache # 1

2010-04-22T11:34:00.000-04:00

The last find of the night, CaptScott took a nice pic of me near the site. He's foaming at the mouth to find more... I've created a Caching Monster!!!

#15 GC21NGG - A church Around the Corner

2010-04-22T11:29:00.000-04:00

A quick skip and hop up the street from the Orchard we found CaptainScotts first trading Cache. Left a coin and stuff. The Captain got excited, wants to hit them ALL.

#14 GC1ZJVF - Out In The Orchard

2010-04-22T11:19:00.000-04:00

This night I took CaptainScot out for his first burst of Caches, introduced him to his Blackberry software and roamed the city in the dark. Lots of fun. We started with some nearby caches and hit a couple of dead ends. I don't know if Kenlaur hides really well or if they're just missing.

CaptScott says about his first Find "made a new adventure out of an old fun hangout"

--
Friar Greg

#13 GC1FFXV - Round n' Round on the Spinny Thing

2010-04-20T10:14:00.000-04:00

This is a redo, I got to test out my new Magellan Triton 400 that I got second hand for a good price... going price is $169 at some stores but I traded some services to get this one. I never realized just how inaccurate the Pearl was leading me. First time around it lead me almost 10 metre's away from the 2nd step. By the time I was done documenting and replacing some of the steps (documents were water damaged) it was pitch black when I arrived at the final destination.

Nice cache, I took the gold coin and dropped the traceable key chain.

--
Friar Greg

#12 GC1XC0D - The Tackle Trading Post

2010-04-20T10:05:00.000-04:00

Kids first cache!!!

Kids and I did our first cache together on the way home from daycare... they had an absolute blast hunting for the "treasure". Scotty took the little miniature rogue and Sarah took the super ball, I left a pack of jolly ranchers for the next fisher-people to come by.

--
Friar Greg

#11 GC21HKD - Millennium Lookout Cache

2010-04-19T03:57:00.000-04:00

Found it... WOW, this is a nice view from here... I took the keychain traceable and left the vehicle I found yesterday.

Savages in this town I tell you, I found more litter on the ground around the trash bin than was acctually IN the trash bin!!!

CITO!!!!

--
Friar Greg

News Update

2010-04-17T19:58:00.000-04:00

So you've been following me the last week or so as I have run down, hunted down, gave up and wrote up every Geocache I could find. You will note, I try to put a photo to each one without giving away too much detail on the hiding places.
I have also been actively recruiting friends and strangers to help me find the sites. I think I have at least 3 converts. My sister Lesley is in the Philippines and she has already downloaded the software and joined the site. I'll be sending my first Travel Bug Sardo there for her to distribute. Today I found my 2nd bug Mater. He's going right into a local cache for the next hunter to claim. A new friend SuzyQ has already accompanied me on 3 finds and says she can't wait to try it again.
I thought I'd talk a bit about some of my failures. Despite not finding them, they were still very interesting hunts.
Round n' Round on the Spinny Thing - This was my first attempt at a multi step cache. I was able to find the first drop, but the location found there didn't lead me to anything. I'll have to try this one again later.

QUINTE CACHE BLITZ #15 Picton - This was a "happened to be in the neighbourhood" type of hunt that led to a cache, but not the one I was looking for... I think. Instead of the micro cache, I found what I think is a robins egg in it's nest. I was careful not to touch the nest itself but took a picture for posterity.
Restin' in St Thomas Memorial Garden - This one almost killed me I was so angry I couldn't find it. I followed the clues and read some of the past field notes, only to get all scratched up with nothing to show for it as the sun was setting and I lost all my light. I did learn to include a flash light in my hunting kit.
Hyde the cache - It appears that this one is missing, not my fault but it did lead me to the Victoria find and my first Travel Bug!
The Dugout - This brought back great memories but I couldn't find it and the second go at it was during a practice, so I couldn't really put that much effort into exposing it.
Fresh Timmys Dundas - I was there at the perfect time of day, little or no traffic, no one around, it's right out in the open... no cache. Maybe I'm just stupid. But it was fun, and I'll have to try it again soon.

I've also recently upgraded my membership at Geocaching.com so I can get the extra functions their website offers. AND I joined the Ontario Geocaching Association. Lots of cool events and people to meet I'm sure. I'm still looking for a proper GPS unit, perhaps I'll write an article on them in the future but for now, I'll keep it up with my Pearl and Cacheberry.

Thanks for Reading!!
---
Friar Greg

#10 GC1RD7V - Restin in Glenwood Cemetary

2010-04-17T18:20:00.000-04:00

This was my FIRST multi step. The clues were mostly strait forward, but I still needed some help from the guy at the Chamber of Commerce, Derek. He researched some of the requirements of the clues so that I could finish them. Good job Derek.

The cache was a nice size, lots of cool stuff and lots of signatures too. I loved the view and enjoyed a nice peaceful walk through the cemetery.

TFTC
---
Friar Greg

#9 GC1QG3Z - Shaggy Cache

2010-04-17T18:15:00.000-04:00

The Monty Haul!!!

The largest cache yet!!! wow, should have seen all the stuff in there. I found a little tracker, Tow Mater. :P I love that character.
My own flashlight had died today, so I traded it out for the new one that was in the cache. I also left some Irish coins & a screwdriver. A little confusing because I kept driving by it over and over again. It's in a completely inconspicuous spot so GOOD LUCK!!

TFTC
---
Friar Greg

#8 GC1VZGA - lookout

2010-04-17T18:12:00.000-04:00

The lookout is a little road-side stop for tourists to get out, stretch a little and climb the gallows... sorry... platform to take in the beautiful view of South Bay.

---
Friar Greg

#7 GC1ZFTB - Uphill Battle

2010-04-14T23:32:00.000-04:00

I haven't walked this way since highschool. But we enjoyed the crisp/warm Spring air and the walk all the way from Turbulent Waters. We stopped at the Belleville Chamber of Commerce and talked to Wayne, asked about any Geocache events or news in the area. I guess there was quite a following about 3-4 years ago and a regular event that just kind of died off. I'm going to get in touch with the last org that ran it and see what I can stir up.

Drop in to the Chamber any time and remind them that Geocaching is alive and kicking!!!

Thanks to Wayne for his help updating my Cacheberry database.

Wayne Zybala
Membership Services Coordinator
Belleville & District Chamber of Commerce
T: 613-962-4597 x.1
F: 613-962-3911
email: wayne@bellevillechamber.ca

Photo of me by SuzyQ - Turns out I was sitting on an ant hill... warning... they bite!!!
---
Friar Greg
w/ SuzyQ

#6 GC1ZRVF - Turbulent Waters

2010-04-14T23:15:00.000-04:00

This one has got to be the easiest find yet. I walked right up to it and there it was. A micro cache and SuzyQ's first find ever. It was so funny to watch her get excited. That must have been how I looked on Where the Dogs Poop. I let SuzyQ sign the cache for us and we moved on to the next hunt.

--
Friar Greg
w/ SuzyQ

#5 GC7595 - Stop and Smell the Roses

2010-04-14T23:10:00.000-04:00

Picture by SuzyQ

So this is a fake cache. I thought we just couldn't find anything. Truth is, there wasn't any cache to find. It was just a "come and visit me" kind of hunt. Joke is this... there's an official Canadian Geodedic Benchmark here. SuzyQ and I took pictures. It was her first cache so she was a little disappointed at first, but I think this benchmark should make up for it.

Info on Benchmark:
44 9.968
77 22.622
Geodetic Survey of Canada, Ottawa No 1548

--
Friar Greg
w/ SuzyQ

#4 GC1KBA2 - Victoria's Little Hide Away!

2010-04-12T22:19:00.000-04:00

I found Sardo, he was like: "Dood get me out of here!" so I took him. He's sitting on my key chain for now. My friend Suzie Q is having her first Geocache on the 14th so I'm going to let her drop it off if we find a large enough cache. Otherwise, I'll mail him to my sister in the Philippines. I'm sure she'll find a cool way to have him see the whole world. He's such a cute little devil dog. His story reminds me of a dog my boss used to have, she would enjoy everyone's leg as well. She just passed away before Christmas. I'll miss that little Pitu.

Easy find, I am all stoked for Find #5.

---
Friar Greg

#3 GC20Y8P - Addicted to Caffine # 3 - Bridge and Sidney

2010-04-12T22:01:00.000-04:00

This cache was really quite tricky. I was sitting right next to it the whole time and kept walking past it. Like a scarecrow in a dead field. Stupid me. Anyway... Thanks for the find, you're a tricky little hider aren't you!?

Here's what's really funny... I work here and eat my lunch on this spot every day!!!

---
Friar Greg

#2 GC1FXR4 - Under the Ground/Railroad

2010-04-12T12:21:00.000-04:00

This cache is a redo... I walked through it and thought... nice site... but didn't really search very hard. After my first cache find, I came back to check this out again and thank the gods that I did. I would have missed out on this wonderful find. KLEENEX!!! I needed some badly as did my bro Jeff. I found this funky earring on the street on my walk there and I thought it looked cool enough to leave in a cache, so I did.

I will however warn anyone going near this cache: there are needles here left by druggies and probably full of crap you DO NOT want in your system. I nearly quit on the spot when I found this one, but I moved on carefully, using a stick to prod around.

I am really loving this hunting. It's awesome! Wednesday, I'm heading out to Frankford to find a few with a friend. She's never heard of it before so I'm introducing her to the world of Geocaching, which is hilarious, because I only have 2 finds. :P

Friar Greg

Things we should know?

2010-04-12T11:03:00.000-04:00

I received this humorous forward this morning and thought I'd share my own thoughts on it as well.

Subject: THINGS WE SHOULD KNOW, BUT PROBABLY DON'T...

THINGS WE SHOULD KNOW, BUT PROBABLY DON'T:

1. Money isn't made out of paper, it's made out of cotton.
... and zinc, and nickle, and copper....

2. The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp (marijuana) paper.

Hemp is the stalks of a marijuana plant pulped down to make paper, textiles and other materials. It's not smokable. What I think is crazy is that back in the days soon after this Declaration was written, the first big 5 corportations made marijuana illegal because all the things it could provide like medicines, textiles, heating oils and other chemicals would have put them out of a business. It has nothing to do with the narcotic value of the plant at all.

3. The dot over the letter I is called a 'tittle'.

Is it the same for the letter 'j'?

4. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously  f rom the bottom of the glass to the top. (that makes my day!)

Is this something we really need to know?

5. Susan Lucci is the daughter of Phyllis Diller.

Both hot cougars!

6. 40% of Mc Donald 's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.

Just like only 40% of GM's profits come from manufacturing vehicles.

7. 315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.

I wonder if they use spell checker.

8. The 'spot' on 7UP comes from its inventor, who had red eyes. He was albino.

So as the inventor of the un-cola, does that make him un-human?

9. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents, daily.   (Just as I suspected)

I'm sure at least 6 of those kids went to better parents on purpose!

10. Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine are brother and sister.

I still fail to see why this is important.

11. Chocolate affects a dog's heart and nervous system; a few ounces will kill a small-sized dog.

This is usually really funny to watch, until you realize they're dead. Then not so funny any more.

12. Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's stomach from underneath, Causing the shark to explode.

Only half the killer whales are actually violent. It's like a subspecies of killer whale. And dolphins are known to attack sharks too to defend or protect others, especially humans who fall into the water.

13. Most lipstick contains fish scales (eeww).

Another reason not to use it!

14. Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants. (The Little Perv.)

Yeah, but that's Finland. No one really knows what to make of them.

15. Ketchup was sold in the 1830's as medicine.

Funny thing is that it's the vinegar in the ketchup that has medicinal properties and is the best disinfecting house cleaner available!!!

16. Upper and lower-case letters are named 'upper' and 'lower' because in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the 'upper case' letters were stored in the

Case on top of the case that stored the smaller, 'lower case' letters.

Funny how the English language just pulls it's rules out of the thin air like that.

17. Leonardo Da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time, Hence, multi-tasking was invented.

He could also draw a completely perfect circle, which no one has done, and one with each hand at the same time... the man was a machine!!!

18. Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given  out during World War II were made of wood.

lol Oscar wood....

19. There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos..

Or most waiting rooms for that matter!

20. The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan; there was never a recorded Wendy before!

There was never a recorded Adam before the bible either... what's your point?

21. There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with: orange, purple, or silver!

Maybe because of all those misspellings!

22. Leonardo Da Vinci invented scissors. Also, it took him 10 years to paint Mona Lisa's lips.

He never liked that painting, in fact he hated it, the only way to sell the damn thing was to tell everyone that it was his masterpiece. The lips were so sketchy, and his reputation so incredible, that people took him at his word and it now stands as the pinnacle of art instead of molding away where it should.

23. A tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion will make it instantly go mad and sting itself to death.

I'm sure KY or H&S would do the same thing. They are a violent, desert insect and unfamiliar with the tingly feelings.

24. The mask used by Michael Myers in the original 'Halloween' was a Captain Kirk's mask painted white.

I Vlogged about this one already... what we don't realize is that Shatner wore the myers mask for trick or treating one year just for kicks. Isn't that hilarious? He wore his own face to scare the little kiddy's!!!!

25. If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $1.19 You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a Loonie.   Good to know.

I am not going to count that out...

26 . By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you can't sink in quicksand  (and you thought this list was completely useless.)

If you walk with a big stick and check all your steps first, you won't fall in the sand to begin with!

27. The phrase 'rule of thumb' is derived from an old English law, which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb..

Where can I find that law again?

28. The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was the Victrola, so they called  Themselves Motorola.

They are also the first to manufacture cell phones.

29. Celery has negative calories! It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the Celery has in it to begin with.  It's the same with apples.

That means living on celery and apples will kill you.

30. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying!

Rinsing the onion first will also help cut down on the oils sprayed into the air while you're cutting.

31. The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.

Israel isn't even Jewish!

32. "Guinness Book of Records" holds the record for being the book most often stolen from public Libraries.

More likely every copy is taken out back and burned upon delivery.

33. Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing gas  in a space suit damages it. I NEED TO REMEMBER THIS.

And could you imagine skid marking your undies while in one of those things?

34. George Carlin said it best about Martha Stewart. "Boy, I feel a lot safer now that she's Behind bars. O.J. Simpson and Kobe Bryant are still walking around; Osama Bin Laden too, But they take the ONE woman in America willing to cook, clean, and work in the yard, and they haul her off to jail.

The world works in mysterious ways my friend....

Anyway, that was my take on the email. Hope you enjoyed it.

Friar Greg

Metal Monsters

2010-04-11T22:06:00.001-04:00

During my recent successful geocache, I walked by this house at 281 Sydney St here in Belleville. Whoever lives here is either just showing off his friends prowess or making these awesome metallic monsters himself. It is very reminiscent of the work I saw from Bill Lishman (think the giant dragon in Fly Away Home, that was real). Here are some pictures of what I saw. If you're interested, drop by his place and knock on the door. Find out for me if he's selling any of these crazy creatures. I wouldn't mind one or two of them for my front porch some day.

Some of these would look great out front on Halloween!!! Some are scary, others are artsy, and some are just plain goofy looking. All of them look like they took some real work to make them. My favourites are the spiders and the sword fish. The front of his house has a giant vine climber made out to look like a spider web complete with spider.

---
Friar Greg

#1 GC25XZC - Where the Dogs Poop

2010-04-11T20:52:00.000-04:00

This is the first official Geocache that I actually found the hidden cache. I had assumed that the first one I followed was just a place, the second one had lots of notes saying they couldn't find it and the third hunt turned up a mess of trash, leaves and a million places it might hide.

As my first official find, I dedicate "Where the Dogs Poop" to my first love who is still my dear friend, seeing as how this cache is located not 20 meters from where we sat, talked and sang to each other into the wee hours of the morning on the first day we met. Shannon, this one is for you.

I can't wait to go back and hit the other sites. I might have better luck now that I know what I'm looking for. Sometimes it just takes that one success to make all the failures become learning examples. Anyway. I hope you enjoy the rest of these cache blogs. It is exhilarating and I feel so adventurous as I set out to find a new place.

---
Friar Greg

MyPersonality.info Tests

2010-04-01T00:33:00.002-04:00

I recently completed another personality test on-line. The first part was a basic MBTI (but not affiliated) test which of course came out to the expected result ENTP. The second part was very interesting as it described how well I do in certain area's. More on that one later. First, here's a list of famous ENTP celebrities and historical figures. I'll bold my favourites.

Alexander the Great - king, military commander
Alfred Hitchcock - filmmaker (The Birds)
David Spade - actor, comedian
George Carlin - comedian, actor, author
James A. Garfield - American President
John Adams - American President
John Candy - comedian, actor
Julia Child - chef, author, TV personality
Lewis Carroll - author (Alice in Wonderland)
Marilyn Vos Savant - author, lecturer, playwright
Matthew Perry - actor (Friends)
Nikola Tesla - inventor, physicist, engineer
Richard Feynman - physicist
Rodney Dangerfield - comedian, actor
Rutherford B. Hayes - American President
Sir Walter Raleigh - writer, poet, explorer
Suzanne Pleshette - actress
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt - American President
Thomas Edison - inventor
Tom Hanks - actor
Valerie Harper - actress
Walt Disney - filmmaker, entrepreneur
Weird Al Yankovic - musician (satire/parody)

Notice that in this list there are 4 American presidents and a king... actually the only man to single handedly nearly conquer the known world. Alexander was also a student of Aristotle, who was a student of Plato, who was a student of Socrates; the top 3 of my 10 favourite thinkers of all time. Socrates is of course a previous incarnation of Christ, IMO.

The second part of the test determines my strengths. It kinda determines not my IQ, but what ratio of my intelligence is better suited to certain topics. Here's the results.

Musical	100%
Verbal/Linguistic	95%
Logical/Mathematical	95%
Bodily/Kinesthetic	80%
Intrapersonal	80%
Naturalist	75%
Visual/Spatial	70%
Interpersonal	60%

I would have thought my Visual/Spatial & Musical scores could have been in the 80's and Naturalist closer to 60%. No standardized test is perfect. But this really helps put many of my theories into perspective. For instance, here's a list of the jobs they say I'm best suited for. Again, I've put some in bold if I've already worked in or am interested in working in that field.

Actor, Artist, Consultant, Computer Programmer, Comedian, Computer Analyst, Designer, Engineer, Entrepreneur, Inventor, Journalist, Lawyer/Attorney, Musician, Marketer, Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Politician, Photographer, Systems Analyst, Sales Representative, Scientist, Writer.

I enjoyed Science, but I found it was really too restrictive, until I started watching Fringe. Dr. Bishop's crazy, mad-scientist is really cool and I will most likely, one day, probably end up like that... minus the 17 years in an asylum (I hope). Writing and Journalism I kinda do now with my poetry, web comics and this blog. I've already done 3 years in college for Computer Programming, Systems Design & Analysis. I love working with code and solving issues with hardware, software, environments, needs etc. Engineer & Inventor are BIG TIME goals of my current path for RMC. Hoping to get my Engineering degree in Robotics. Maybe invent some really cool coffee maker that delivers to your bedroom. I have consulted on the side, advising people on strategies for upgrading their business tech, or making suggestions regarding how they can improve the flow of data in their offices. Never made a cent, but I do it anyway.

So there you have it. Hit up www.MyPersonality.info and see it for yourself. If you're on my FB friends list, you'll be able to compare our results.

---
Friar Greg

Sister Lesley's Birthday

2010-03-23T01:00:00.001-04:00

What to say about Lesley...
Well, I'm proud of her for making such a successful life for herself. She went through hell, as did we all, but she grabbed it by the horns and actually produced something worth living.

Anyway, Happy 27th Lesley! I love you Sis!!!!

---
Friar Greg

DFF 002 - Epic Memory

2010-03-21T22:41:00.000-04:00

I'd like to thank my good friend Kronic for inspiring me for this episode of Dudes From Fantasy. It's been a while since I made a strip and this one just poured out of me. I wish they could all just come out and say "hello" instead of disappearing as soon as I open the template.

This one's for you dood...

---
Friar Greg

St. Patty's 2010

2010-03-17T01:00:00.025-04:00

It started off nice enough, I spent the day walking around town, collecting the things I would need for the evenings festivities. I needed something green so I stopped at the dollar store for a cheap Irish pin. I found a package of green/gold coins that read "get lucky". They became a hit at the bar. We met at the Winchester Arms which is really an English pub, but the closest thing to an Irish pub for Belleville. Some of the guys dropped in, but didn't stay long. They either had family or other parties to get back to. All together our little party consisted of Scott & Sandy, Ryan & Brianne and of course myself. Will, Bill & John made appearances.
Some women were actually trading my coins for drinks so they could get enough coins to "buy me" for the night. Thank the gods I didn't stick around long enough for the winner.

Early in the evening a girl came in with some guys and she was wearing this shirt "rub for luck". I guess she was the only other person getting harassed as much as I was. It was really packed almost until 11. Then a bunch of people began to leave and some more tables opened up.
The music was decent, there was only a single performer with a guitar and some Irish songbooks, but he wouldn't play anything I liked or knew. Scott and Sandy were scheming against me as Scott would camp out with his camera and get Sandy to flip my kilt when I wasn't looking. Lucky for me, he didn't get any good shots.

All in all, I learned a few valuable lessons about St. Patrick's Day that just don't occur on Robbie Burns Day.
1) Don't try too hard, the women are already going nuts and will search you out.
2) Don't drink too much, everyone else is and you don't need to end up following a mob of drunks.
3) Wearing a kilt is fine, but on this day, kilts are in season and it's a dangerous thing to be regimental around all those cougars. They'll embarrass the shit out of you!!!

--
Friar Greg

Inventor of Woman

2010-03-15T17:44:00.000-04:00

Another humor repost... sorry.

The inventor of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle, Arthur Davidson, died and went to heaven.

At the gates, St. Peter told Arthur. 'Since you've been such a good man and your motorcycles have changed the world, your reward is, you can hang out with anyone you want to in heaven.'

Arthur thought about it for a minute and then said, 'I want to hang out with God.'

St. Peter took Arthur to the Throne Room, and introduced him to God.

God recognized Arthur and commented, 'Okay, so you were the one who invented the Harley-Davidson motorcycle? 'Arthur said, 'Yeah, that's me...'

God commented: 'Well, what's the big deal inventing something that's pretty unstable, makes noise and pollution and can't run without a road?'

Arthur was a bit embarrassed, but finally spoke, 'Excuse me, but aren't you the inventor of woman?'

God said, 'Ah, yes.'
'Well,' said Arthur, 'professional to professional, you have some major design flaws in your invention!

1. There's too much inconsistency in the front-end suspension
2. It chatters constantly at high speeds
3. Most rear ends are too soft and wobble about too much
4. The intake is placed way too close to the exhaust
5. The maintenance costs are outrageous!!!!

God pondered for a moment: 'Hmmmmm, you may have some good points there, and it may be true that my invention is flawed but the last time I checked, more men were riding my invention than yours'.

---
Friar Greg

Sherlock a Super Hero?

2010-03-15T10:53:00.002-04:00

The following is a post I left on the Facebook Group Steampunk Ottawa on the discussion thread regarding the 2009 Sherlock Holmes movie with Robert Downey Jr.
I think "cerebral" was well translated with the short educated, intuitive, check-list leaps into his immediate future ie boxing match etc. Other than his quick wit and and even quicker analysis of people, it's difficult to translate ones thought processes without the written word. There are some fall-backs to live action stories that even the novels will continue to wield.
And as I do recall, Holmes was always full of anecdotal commentary and quite capable of physical interaction as the movie portrayed. A comic book character he did not seem. IMO.
Yes, the female characters were OOC for what we realize was a piece written when women were not then what they are today. So for the sake of social evolution, I grant the writers that discrepancy.
In conclusion, Downey did not really have much work to do other than costume and make up. He is IRL the epitome of the "too smart to be happy" gentleman with a habit of chemical escapism.
I can relate to him on so many levels in his life, his characters and even his excess. In order for me to be able to find more about him to like, I'd have to be gay.
5 stars, 2 thumbs and the special edition on the shelf, when it's available.
---
Friar Greg

Just a Reminder to Everybody

2010-03-15T01:37:00.000-04:00

From Full Metal Jacket:

This is my rifle.

There are many others like it, but this one is mine.

My rifle is my best friend.

It is my life.

I must master it as I must master my life.

Without me, my rifle is useless.

Without my rifle, I am useless.

I must fire my rifle true.

I must shoot straighter than my enemy, who is trying to kill me.

I must shoot him before he shoots me.

I will. Before God I swear this creed: my rifle and myself are defenders of my country, we are the masters of our enemy, we are the saviours of my life.

So be it, until there is no enemy, but peace.

Amen

Friar Greg

Where do we go now?

2010-03-04T01:00:00.005-05:00

This past March 1st was a Monday like none other in my life.

It was such a tramatic experience culminating from 6 months of self doubt, depression & disappointment. Dissappointment not only in myself for not having made a difference earlier but in the people I thought I trusted. It was a hard road, and I almost didn't make it. Many days I couldn't even feel; a dead person inside my own skin. I'm sure many of you recall the rants and pleas for attention. Not that attention was what I needed, most often even the honest sympathy of my brothers was enough to lose hope and tail spin into another bout of pain. I'm not going to go into too many details, much of it is already pretty well known. Don't believe the rumours, is all I can say.

For a very long time I practically lived online in games and social networks, desperate for some kind of sign that I wasn't alone. I grasped at straws seeking some kind of wisdom that could actually convince me that it would all be ok in the end. And in the end, it was. My rational mind knew, long before I began ignoring it, that my case was not without hope. Even logic supplied the necessary conclusions I should have held dear instead of disparaging my life and allowing the weight to settle ever deeper on my shoulders. Then it was over in a flurry of questions and answers, submissions and agreements, point for point, tit for tat. I was almost numb to the entire event as I watched it unfold before me.

Now is an excellent time to quote one of my favorite shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer (stop snickering, I'm serious!).
S6E7 Once More With Feeling - the musical

Where do we go from here?
Where do we go from here?
Where do we go from here?
The battle's done and we kind of won so we sound our victory cheer,
Where do we go from here?

Why is the path unclear?
When we know home is near?
Understand we'll go hand in hand
but we'll walk alone in fear, (tell me)
Where do we go from here?

When does the end appear?
When do the trumpets cheer?
the curtains close on a kiss
God knows we can tell the end is near.
Where do we go from here?
Where do we go from here?
Where do we go from here?

It's a lonely place to find myself, back at square one with only a whole new pile of work to do. I think I'm up for the challenge. I'll have to be. Even with all the extra baggage, this train is on a one-way track to freedom. Freedom from guilt, from depression, from self pity and most importantly, freedom to make the right decisions this time. My past is no longer a chain around my neck. This Marley isn't dead yet so I still have a chance to make it right, a chance to make ME right again.

Wish me luck.
--
Friar Greg

The Ugly Truth

2010-03-01T01:17:00.002-05:00

"A romantically challenged morning show producer is reluctantly embroiled in a series of outrageous tests by her chauvinistic correspondent to prove his theories on relationships and help her find love. His clever ploys, however, lead to an unexpected result" - IMDB.com

A 2009 romantic comedy with Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. What a movie, I think it picked up right where What Women Want and As Good As It Gets left off 10 or more years ago. It's full of Cock this and Cock that, gorgeous twins wrestling in a pool of jello and a well sculpted doctor dude stepping out of the shower. Gerard Butler's character Mike, though crass, arrogant and rude, still tells it like it is. He gives us the ugly truth in short, easy to manage bits of wisdom that all men should take to heart. He doesn't tell us how to look for love, or how to win over the right woman because they don't exist. What he does teach us, really, is how not to get your heart broken while trying to find someone to help you not feel so all alone. "Let him be a man!" he yells.

I can't help but notice how (inevitably) he falls in love with exactly the kind of woman he hates so much, an obnoxious, control-freak who refuses to admit when she's wrong. They (of course) were meant for each other, his brash, unapologetic, freedom-loving, over-the-top attitude brings out the adventurous girl inside the cold, love-lorn and lonely business woman. Neither one knows why they're falling in love, and who should?

We can spout all the rules about why we need Game, and how to maintain Power in a relationship but in the end, it's all about love. The immeasurable, unpredictable bonds that tie men and women (I'm not being exclusionary) together into what can be a whirlwind of passion, love or hate, or the comfortable safety of companionship none would trade for the world, isn't something that can be packaged or explained.

Women will ask "Why do you love me?" Which I think is probably the stupidest question a woman can ask, but the answer is perfect and I agree with it completely "Fucked if I know, but I do." I sure as hell don't know why, and I'm not even going to try to explain. I'm far from the best source of advice, and in my opinion, no one can be. Why do I, a man with a serious identity crisis, abandonment issues and low self esteem love a woman who has put me down, called me every name in the book, beaten me, turned friends and family against me, abandoned me and taken my children, dignity and civil rights away?

Fucked if I know, but I do.

Friar Greg

5 year olds first job

2010-02-25T20:54:00.002-05:00

This was forwarded to me sometime this last week and I thought I'd share it. I haven't been posting forwards in a very long time so I figure it's safe to put one up now. Go ahead and have a laugh.

Here's a truly heartwarming story about the bond formed between a little 5-year-old girl and some construction workers that will make you believe that we all can make a difference when we give a child the gift of our time.

A young family moved into a house, next to a vacant lot. One day, a construction crew turned up to start building a house on the empty lot. The young family's 5-year-old daughter naturally took an interest in all the activity going on next door and spent much of each day observing the workers.

Eventually the construction crew, all of them "gems-in-the-rough," more or less, adopted her as a kind of project mascot. They chatted with her, let her sit with them while they had coffee and lunch breaks, and gave her little jobs to do here and there to make her feel important.

At the end of the first week, they even presented her with a pay envelope containing ten dollars. The little girl took this home to her mother who suggested that she take her ten dollars "pay" she'd received to the bank the next day to start a savings account.

When the girl and her mom got to the bank, the teller was equally impressed and asked the little girl how she had come by her very own pay check at such a young age. The little girl proudly replied, "I worked last week with a real construction crew building the new house next door to us."

"Oh, my goodness gracious," said the teller, "and will you be working on the house again this week, too?"

The little girl replied, "I will, if those assholes at Home Depot ever deliver the fuckin'sheet rock."

Kind of brings a tear to the eye - doesn't it?
--
Friar Greg

Web of Trust

2010-02-15T18:10:00.001-05:00

So my friends, are you SURE that when you receive an email or a file from myself or someone else you know well, that it's actually from myself, your friend, or could it be from a hacker or virus? I've recently gone back to PGP for some security I was hoping for, and found them less than affordable. However, my favourite movement (Gnu) has come up with an alternative. GnuPG or GPG which is a FREE version of the same thing, a pretty decent privacy/validation service. I'm going to talk today about the Web of Trust.

We may recall the hilariously stupid comedy of Meet the Parents staring Ben Stiller & Robert Deniro as they battle it out trying to earn or destroy the potential Father/Son in-law relationship. In the follow-up movie Meet the Fockers, Deniro leaves this wonderful illustration for Stiller to find after an episode where a drunken Stiller has made an absolute fool of himself, embarrassing his future in-laws and his own family alike. I would like to use the same illustration to describe how PGP/GPG can help you (and I) build our own Circle of Trust.

Referring to the link provided (Web of Trust) I take you to the The GNU Privacy Handbook. A simple enough document describing how to use the software available for free at www.gnupg.org. If you're using Windows, then I would suggest you use www.gpg4win.org as it includes 2 different programs for managing keys (I'm enjoying Kleopatra) and plugins for Outlook & Internet Exploder. I don't use either of those, but I like the key managers. I am a strong advocate for Mozilla Thunderbird (currently using v3) which uses the enigmail plugin. I like it, it's built-in functionality allows me to set simple rules and not have to worry about "did I remember to sign/encrypt that last message?". However; it doesn't work alone, Enigmail still requires the GnuPG software installed.

Once a person has gone through the trouble of installing GPG and their preferred email client plugins, then gone through the steps to create their personalized key-pair (Private & Public Keys) what's next? You have a key, but no one trusts it. Here's where the hard part begins. You may not require all of your messages to be signed because, not everything you do really needs that kind of verification. But without any one elses public key, you can't encrypt anything for anyone except yourself. That makes the information safe, but not shareable. You need to find someone, someone you trust and who trusts you, whom you would want to share protected information with. Sure you can get your mother set up with a key pair as well, but really, does "don't forget to take out the trash" really count as vital information? One idea would be for a teacher to set up his/her own key set and share it with their students and make every one of them do the same. No assignment or message submitted electronically would be valid unless it was digitally signed by the student, and encrypted to the teacher. That works, limited but workable.

Now the teacher can set his or her trust level for each student and the students can do the same for the teacher. Now we all have validated keys. Unrelated 3rd parties are more likely to trust a students key if their professor has digitally verified that key. Hell, why stop there? Let's get ALL the teachers who teach that student, verify the key. Now, if one teacher has come lately to the show, receives a digitally signed message but can't verify it, he/she can go over to one of the other teachers and get a copy of the student's key from them, and the same for students. With a school-wide key server, the entire process can be simplified. Students working together on projects can sign each others keys as well for temporary periods of time, especially when one person submits the assignment for the entire team.

By digitally signing his or her assignments, the student has not only verified that no one has intercepted and modified what it contains, but they also take responsibility for what's inside. Here's an example: Student A submits a short assignment containing a few blocks of programming code and some descriptive paragraphs all of which was digitally signed but not encrypted. Student B has installed a trojan on A's computer and receives a copy of the email and the assignment. B then copies the assignment out of the message, changes a few lines of the description and tweaks the code a bit to make it look original. B then digitally signs his work and submits it to the same teacher.

Now, I'd like to stop there for a moment. A situation similar to this occurred in real life, to myself and my study group some 10 years ago but it was before I learned about PGP. My study group and I worked together on designing some code, we each submitted a copy of it with our own descriptions and referenced each other as helpers. The assignments were submitted individually into a shared public folder the teacher left open for us. Another student came along and copied our work, DELETED our assignments and submitted his own. When we were asked for our submissions (a day late I might add) and they were marked, my group and I were all charged with Plagiarism for not referencing the thief's "obvious" hand in our code design. It was a terrible hit on our records and nothing we could do would prove that we were innocent.

Here's how PGP would have resolved the issue. B has signed his work, but the filedate of his work is set after A's work was already submitted. B will now be held accountable for stealing the work already submitted by A. Had the work been encrypted to the teacher, B would not even have had the opportunity to copy anything because B can't decrypt anything meant for someone else. The joke here is, if B had submitted the code for his Trojan for extra credit, he probably would have received those extra marks instead of being labelled a Plagiarist for actually using it.

Anyway. This scenario can also be applied to any work scenario where the HR department wants to discuss sensitive topics through intraoffice email and they don't want anyone being able to intercept it. Or maybe when sending some pornographic material to your spouse in another department. Network admins have direct access to any and all messages moving through their servers, and those are only the people who are allowed access. Gods only know who has access that shouldn't. In reality, the ammount of privacy we DON'T have is absurd. Everyone should have a key, it's not a breach of privacy, I mean, if you want to share stuff unprotected, you can still have that as an option. If we can do it for sex, why can't we do it for emails?

In conclusion, I have a key. I don't have anyone signing my key. I know I have a lot of friends out there who would probably like to be sure that what they are receiving is really from me and not from some crazy/manipulative 3rd party. Or if they want to send me protected information, then by all means. Please follow the links and instructions above and share your key with me. You can find my public key on the key service. The reference for it is 0x48C8C609 and can be found on the key server keyserver.veridis.com just type in the reference number and download the asc file (Simple ASCII file). Import it into your key manager and now you can verify any messages I send you or encrypt messages you want to send me.

If you decide to share keys with me, then be welcome to my Web of Trust.

--
Friar Greg

That's why it's called Billiards, not Basketball

2010-02-10T19:45:00.000-05:00

I remember the first epiphany my wife ever had regarding my possibility as a mate. We had only been together a week or so, had our first kiss and taken many a moonlight walk along the riverbanks of our first home town of Fredericton New Brunswick. However until that point, we had not yet played pool.

I can remember walking down to the local upper middle class billiards chain-style lounge with that sinking feeling that a poor man was about to be humiliated. Not at pool. I've played it and I've played well. I was literally poor. I could not afford drinks not only for her but myself. I couldn't afford the table rental. I had just spent 2 months of my life on the road as a spiritual transient at the time that we met, which is what, she says, had drawn her across the smoky bar room to my lonely booth to begin with. But every man knows that is only a start. My eccentricity could only be used for first impressions and confusion (much as women are confused by gay men. Men that don't want women?) it was an ace up my sleeve, but I was still short a decent hand. Getting private with a woman requires a little more substance (read: money) or potential (read: looks/education).

So she bought the first round of drinks, bye bye brownie points. She also paid for the table... I wasn't really collecting those was I? And she proceeded to show me her ineptitude at striking the cue. Not a fake, she was honestly very bad at the game. No problem, here's my chance to make her feel good, let her win. But no. Having grown up with 2 very competitive sisters, losing to a woman, whether for love or even just for sex, just wasn't in my bag of tricks. I proceeded to call and pound down the balls into the leather pockets, the imagery mocking me, these will be the only pockets I fill. Then it came, like a holy grail to all weak-minded pretty boys... the woman's shit test* or SDST as they are described by Roissy.

She did not complain about her weight or hair or how ugly she was, she was anything but. No, it was an indirect accusation on her skill at pool. As her turn was over and I was stalking the last couple of shots, my wife-to-be gracefully and nonchalantly handed one of her balls into a side pocket that it was never meant to sink into. It was a challenge, a lugie on my shoe, a glove across my face. As a pretty boy with no money, I might get away with pretending I didn't see it though she was looking right at me as it was perpetrated. If I were rich, regardless of looks, I would probably laugh and continue playing... what's a ball to the man who can buy what he wants? But alas. I was the poor, hairy lad without a hope in hell of landing a gorgeous university student and spiritual woman who had broken all the rules to be the power-broker she always craved to become. Also, having been forced to defend myself from my younger, more ambitious and manipulative sisters, I couldn't let her get away with it. Rules are rules and I'll use them to mop the floor with anyone, or to defend anyone wrongfully beset. And I was such a miser for money, I couldn't just let anyone waste money, least of all on me. This was (at the time) a lot of money well spent and I just couldn't let it go.

I called her on it. I stopped what I was doing, came around the table and put the ball back where it belonged on the table and said with a playful grin "pretty boys and rich kids may let you get away with that, but I came to play pool, not basket ball, an no one cheats at my table. I don't have a problem with you winning, but you'll earn it." I must have struck a chord, and not just the G string, the look in her eyes was part admiration and a whole lot of famale rage. NOBODY has ever called her a cheater, she NEVER bought her own drinks or EVER paid to hangout with any guy, least of all some bearded ragamuffin street poet with only the cloths on his back. She was seething for about 2 minutes, probably churning my audacity over and over in her head, then it was like she saw me in a whole new light. She never complained again about our finances for 2 years. I moved in a week after the incident and the rest is, as they say, kids & history.

The crap that may have followed our marriage I can only say, is a different story. I never let her cheat though and she finally bested me, by the rules, a handful of times. I will remember for a long time that I was so proud of her.

---
Friar Greg.

My Birthday 2010 (32)

2010-02-10T03:58:00.000-05:00

Don't know what's gonna happen, I guess my sister is throwing a little All-Bithday's-In February party and we'll have cake.

I need to get something for my nefew then...

I hope she's still taking me out for drinks tomorrow night, or Friday, or Saturday... which ever day she decides to take me out, I need to get some social time in. All work and no sunlight makes Greg a pale and dull boy.

---
Friar Greg

Reading the Woman's Mind

2010-02-07T19:49:00.004-05:00

So, I'm thinking back to a bunch of arguments I used to have with Roberta, because I just love to torture myself I guess. But I keep remembering how I used to beg her to stop expecting me to read her mind. So I looked up the phrase "Why Do Women Expect Men To Be Mind Readers?" and found the exact article I didn't know I was looking for.

Women are emotional, period. Men are logical, period. We both have some skill in the others domain, such is life in a taoist view. However, even with special training, no man will ever have the talent and natural ability to match a woman when it comes to reading emotions. The same goes for women who will never truly understand men so long as they focus on a man's emotions and not on his logical processes.

I haven't read any other articles from that blogger, but it appears that it's a female oriented feed. I won't hold that against them. This article was enough for me. I will agree with it. I particularly like how she referenced Chris Rock's rant on arguing with women:

"Men, don’t argue–you cannot win. You cannot beat a woman in an argument–it’s impossible. You will not win. Because men, we are handicapped when it comes to arguing, because we have a need to make sense. Women aren’t going to let a little thing like sense screw-up their argument."

And this is absolutely true. Women don't need to make sense, they don't WANT to make sense, they just feel and they project that emotion out at you and when the wrong Emotional Radar sounds return, they freak and escalate. Having recognized, yet not dealt with, this phenomenon for 24 years with my mother and sisters and then trying to deal with it for another 7 with my wife I can only say, that women need to be as understanding as they are expecting us unsuspecting men to be. My own wife was (is) a mess and a dangerous person to be around. I'm not going to walk up and hold her and say, "it's ok dear, I understand" even if I do see the emotional stressers or signals, I might get attacked or have the cops called on me, either way I'm screwed AND IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!!! How can a woman expect any man to see teeth, claws and wild aggression and think they can even have a chance at making it better? ALL MEN know the golden rule if not from experience, if it bit you once, it will bite you again. It's a stupid thing to stick your hand in a blender, but only a COMPLETE IDIOT sticks his hand in again. As Mel Gibson said in What Women Want: "Women are crazy! Who would want to do that again?"

So the blogger says: "As a man, you have two options. (1) Adapt and train yourself in emotional intelligence so that you can communicate better on her level, thereby learning to read her emotional state, recognize when it’s changing and intensifying and nip the argument in the bud before it even starts, or (2) teach your woman to understand that you are not as good an an emotion reader as she is and to communicate better on your level by being more forthright with you about what’s bothering her in a calm fashion. If she insists on escalating into argument anyway, just playfully deflect, dismissively ignore, or just leave.Whatever you do, don’t waste time arguing logically. It just doesn’t work."

So I do both. I feel that I'm at the center line, I'm on this side, I have my logical argument all point formed, rounded and ready to go. I also have all the strength and compassion I can muster if she needs it. I have my eyes open and ready for any emotional tells or signs... but I can't cross the line, that's not my domain. I cover my side and I'm ready to discuss. She's over there brewing up a storm of emotions and none of it looks logical to me. So if she claims she needs help, that I have to save her from her self, her past, her feelings that I need to be her HERO then I need to know that! I need the map, the directions, and most importantly, I need that initiating directive. I need the warning order that says "be ready, it's coming, further orders pending" and they have to be in plain logical English that a man can understand. Only then can a man say "yes she warned me and now I can be ready".

This is what it means to be on a team. Having strange and unconditional expectations of your teammates without first explaining and discussing those expectations with them, is not good teamwork. It's disruptive, destructive and will get you turned out on your ass faster than $5 hooker gets dropped at the next corner.

Deborah Mackin says in her book The Team-Building Tool Kit 2nd Ed: "Rather than make aggressive "you" and "should" statements, team members apply what we call the RISC and PAUSE model to give and receive the feedback."

The RISC acronym works like such:

1) Report the facts: "Yesterday you said my idea was stupid"

2) State the Impact and why: "It made me feel really upset because it hurt my feelings that you would be so rude"

3) Specify what you prefer: "I prefer that you disagree and refrain from calling me or my idea's stupid"
4) State the Consequences: "If you continue to be rude to me, I'll just have to not include you in any further discussions."

The PAUSE acronym follows with this:

1) Paraphrase: "Let me understand this correctly; You think I called you stupid?"

2) Ask: "Did you actually hear me use the word stupid or was it implied?"

3) USE time: "I appreciate you bringing this to me. I'll think about it while I'm working and I'll try to respond soon afterwards."

This is logical advice from a WOMAN to be used in any team scenario whether in sports, business or a romantic relationship. If women are so incapable of logic, then why is this woman flogging such logical advice? I believe that women are not anymore incapable of logic as they appear to be anchored to their emotions.

For that, I'll quote Jack Nicholson in As Good as it Gets when asked how he writes women so well: "I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability!"

I think women just want to be difficult. If I'm wrong, then disagree. Prove me wrong but for the gods sake, don't blame ME for your feelings, they're YOUR feelings. I can't read your mind. Everyone is welcome their own opinions just as they are free to feel whatever they want.

Friar Greg

Other Quotes:

What Women Want:
Darcy McGuire: What kind of knight in shining armor would I be if the man I love needs rescuing and I just let him walk out my door?

Nick Marshall: Okay, gotta think like a broad, gotta think like a broad... okay. I'm a broad... I see... lipstick. On a Tahitian beauty under a waterfall, wearing nothing by a thong, cold water cascading down her ba... I'm a lesbian!

Nick Marshall: [reads the 'thoughts' of his two assistants]
Margo: [silence]
Eve: [silence]

As Good as it Gets:
Simon Bishop: You're why cavemen chiseled on walls.

Carol Connelly: Come on in, and try not to ruin everything by being you.
Melvin Udall: Maybe we could live *without* the wisecracks.
Carol Connelly: Maybe we could.

Melvin Udall: I've got a really great compliment for you, and it's true.
Carol Connelly: I'm so afraid you're about to say something awful.
Melvin Udall: Don't be pessimistic, it's not your style. Okay, here I go: Clearly, a mistake. I've got this, what - ailment? My doctor, a shrink that I used to go to all the time, he says that in fifty or sixty percent of the cases, a pill really helps. I *hate* pills, very dangerous thing, pills. Hate. I'm using the word "hate" here, about pills. Hate. My compliment is, that night when you came over and told me that you would never... well, you were there, you know what you said. Well, my compliment to you is, the next morning, I started taking the pills.
Carol Connelly: I don't quite get how that's a compliment for me.
Melvin Udall: You make me want to be a better man.
Carol Connelly: ...That's maybe the best compliment of my life.
Melvin Udall: Well, maybe I overshot a little, because I was aiming at just enough to keep you from walking out.

Play Dungeons & Dragons Online® for Free!

2010-01-30T00:32:00.000-05:00

I saw this link on my latest installment of LICD Play Dungeons & Dragons Online® for Free! and of course, I just couldn't let it go unclicked!!!

I will let you know how it goes!

---

Friar Greg

Your Apology

2010-01-22T14:17:00.000-05:00

"You don't seem to understand", is what you say to me

we're not on the same page like we used to be

You say I can't you see it your way,

why can't you ever listen to me?

So I'm still waiting

for your apology

I'm really happy for you, got your life under control

did you need to hurt me so bad, just to show me what I already know?

Did you think about the suffering that

built your self esteem?

is there anyone but you that you see?

Well I'm still waiting

for your apology

Brushed off your cold shoulder

took the time to try and understand

I sacrificed,

pretended to agree

But I'm still waiting

for your apology

---

Friar Greg

Jan 4th 2010

YEAH BABY!!!!!

2010-01-22T11:55:00.000-05:00

I'm one step closer to realizing my dream. I'm back in the game, keeping myself busy, learning something new everyday and working towards finally getting out of this shit hole I was dumped into.

yeah me,

Woot.

---

Friar Greg

#010 VLOG - Origins of the Fork

2010-01-22T02:49:00.001-05:00

My latest video, about where forks actually came from and how some 200 year old customs can still be implemented in today's dating scene.

---

Friar Greg

Sister Charlotte's Birthday 2010

2010-01-20T04:00:00.000-05:00

I'm so sorry Charlotte. I missed your Birthday.

Happy Belated Birthday lil' Sis!!!

Your Bro

Greg

How to Cook a Turkey

2010-01-19T13:41:00.000-05:00

Ok, this is a month or so late, but it has been floating around in my files for gods know how long and every 6 months or so, I find it, LMFAO and stuff it back in, promising myself that one day I'll share it with someone else. I can't even remember where I picked it up from.

Anyway, here goes.

How To Cook A Turkey

Step 1: Go buy a turkey

Step 2: Take a drink of whiskey, scotch or JD. I prefer Rye.

Step 3: Put turkey in the oven

Step 4: Take another 2 drinks of whiskey

Step 5: Set the degree at 375 ovens

Step 6: Take 3 more whiskeys of drink

Step 7: Turn oven the on

Step 8: Take 4 whisks of drinky

Step 9: Turk the bastey

Step 10: Whiskey another bottle of get

Step 11: Stick a turkey in the thermometer

Step 12: Glass yourself a pour of whiskey

Step 13: Bake the whiskey for 4 hours

Step 14: Take the oven out of the turkey

Step 15: Take the oven out of the turkey

Step 16: Floor the turkey up off the pick

Step 17: Turk the carvey

Step 18: Get yerslf another scottle of botch

Step 19: Tet the savle an' pour yerslf a glass of turkey

Step 20: Bless the saying, pass and eat out

Julia Childs would shit bricks if she read this.... or she'd lay an egg.

Happy Cooking!

Friar Greg

Dragons Den Meets: MacKenzie & Marr

2010-01-15T18:44:00.000-05:00

So,

The other night I got sucked into watching Dragons Den. Not because I like the show, but sometimes I like to see what is out there and available from Canadian Inventors. And every once in awhile O'Leary get's told off, and that's always a plus!!!

Well Last night, I only caught one segment, and that was MacKenzie and Marr Guitars. These guys have been friends since 1954 and the guitars they make are labeled with a picture of the two as boys. Nice to see.

They thought it fitting that one of the Dragons come down and play "taste test" riff. Blind folded, Dennis O'Leary (the cheeky bastard) tries first the $5,000 guitar. I couldn't make out the brand but it had mother of pearl inlay around the sound hole. I didn't expect him to have as much talent as what I heard him play. Then he tried the M&M which retails at about an even grand, a beautiful guitar very different from what you see on the racks. As they put it:

For our first guitar we could have followed the herd – spruce top, rosewood back and sides, etc.... but does the world really need one more Martin D-28 “me too” knock-off? The MacKenzie & Marr “Tofino”, while paying tribute to the innovations of past masters with scalloped X- bracing and precision fitted neck, breaks with tradition in both body shape and wood choices.

The tone was immediately different, very crisp, gorgeous intonation and an almost sparky attitude. I wanted one the moment I heard it. Even blind-folded, O'Leary assumed the better guitar was $5k, but no. The better guitar is only 20% the cost of the traditionally expensive instrument.

The deal they cut was decent... I could tell the boys were split on how well they had impressed O'Leary and Treliving, who piggybacked on O'Leary's offer of 7% Royalties on a $35k investment. That's not even a guarantee of return!! O'Leary doesn't make those kinds of deals!!! That has to be some guitar to make him throw money away like that.

Anyway. I'm putting this out there because I want to see more people playing the guitar. You can buy them only online at their website. Maybe some day I could afford it, My fender, she's looking/sounding pretty tired these days. I might just put her up on the wall.

Good job guys.

---

Friar Greg

What have I been doing with myself?

2010-01-12T12:39:00.001-05:00

Funny you should ask..

I realized recently that I'm still getting hits on this blog. I have also been shirking these entries merely because they are slow and uninformative. So lets catch up a bit on what's been going on with my life since before Christmas.

My great-uncle Luigi came to visit us for the first time from Switzerland. He was a hoot, and taking him to the Belleville Bulls hockey game was fun. We walked around town a bit, got some sushi and I teased him for dressing like he worked at the south pole when it was a mere -17C. I was only in a sweater and it boggled him.

What else... I got to see the kids on Christmas Eve... for a couple hours... she was late. "I forgot", right. I did the rounds, visited the usual suspects, put in my traditional appearances. I got some cool gadgets, like my new Logitech HD webcam. Which at first didn't want to give me more than 15 fps so it looked ghostly until last night, I actually pushed the resolution up to HD and the fps improved!! Next I need to get my hands on a nice compression mic and an audio interface. If anyone is giving one of these away, chuck'em my way!!

I've picked up some guides & manuals for Python Programming with my Chapters gift cards. The first book was really just a how-to for programming based in Python, so I went through it really fast and picked up some really neat tricks that I never learned to do in VB or VFP. I've come to like OOP now that I can implement it. Java just killed me with all it's intricate coding requirements. And yes Luigi... Python is also a scripting language which should also be supported in PostgreSQL. I can't wait to sink my teeth into THAT!!! But I still need to improve my skills.

I haven't coded in 10 years. However, I've already opened 2 projects based on stuff I learned in-book. The first one I can't tell you too much about other than one of the side effects is that I've produced my own desktop twitter app that is completely functional. Now I don't have to log in or send a txt from the cell. I just double click, type and send. The next step will be to get that app to handle a database full of twitter accounts. Opps, maybe I said too much.

The other project is nearly completed. I have successfully found a compatible (up2date) 3rd party module and scripted a front end which passes file names into it. The module (with my script) reads the ID3 tags usually found embedded in MP3 files. That's right, the information that is stored in the songs you listen to on your computer and tell your media player what song you're listening too are now at my disposal. I have taken that information and coded the script to REWRITE the file name into a decent naming convention. I was so sick and tired of people giving me files that looked like: "08_jumblebeets.mp3" and finding out it was really some house/jungle mixes they had scribed. So I fix the tags (you can do this in winamp or other media players) and run my program and the file now looks like this "Chris Cairns - Right by You (tentwentyfour).mp3" which makes it infinitely easier to file away in my "Music\Chris Cairns\" folder instead of the "My Documents\Misc Trax\" folder they usually end up in. This script works, I just need to tweek it a bit and get it to handle an entire folder of tracks instead of one at a time.

Anywho... I'm also registering for a couple courses at Loyalist College... actually they're hosted by RMC!!! It's call DMAS (Diploma in Military Arts & Science) and of it's 20 required credits, 13 are trasferable to RMC for their BMAS (Bachelors Degree in Military Arts & Science). YEAH BABY!! I might even pick up enough of the right credits to complete my certificate in programming that I failed to finish back in the day. Won't that be nice. I'm sure the scholarship should cover all that. Or I could just wait till I'm already enlisted and then it's almost free.

If you're wondering: "I though you were heading to Basic Training in January?". If you haven't been brought up to speed, I'm not gonna go into details... only delayed.

With that cool camera and some YouTube browsing, I managed to get back in touch with an old kindergarten friend of mine and we've been hamming it up on the internet for all to see. My friend Manuela (you may remember her) has picked up on it and decided to pimp us out. She's now our Executive Producer and may make some call-ins to the show because she's not gonna just pick up and drive all the way here to make an appearance. The image above is actually my production tag, like the ones you see on professional shows on tv... with the dog barking, or the finger puppet saying "grrr... arg!". Mine is easy to remember: The Mona Lisa asking "What? Is there something in my teeth?"

Here's hoping you all had a nice time over the holidays, that you ate too much, gained some weight, failed to quit smoking again and recorded everything for future humiliations.

Yours,

Friar Greg

New Years Eve 2010

2010-01-01T03:01:00.000-05:00

Yep, New years was a blast... you can watch some of the aftermath video here or check out the whole new series it has sprung!!! Go strait to Manuela's Pimp Page (she organizes them into playlists and their own channel so you can find them easier.)

---

Friar Greg

ps = Sorry I was late posting this!!!

Christmas Day 2009

2009-12-25T04:00:00.000-05:00

A Merry Christmas to all...

... and a joyful nondenominational holiday to the rest.

---

Friar Greg

Christmas Eve 2009

2009-12-24T04:00:00.000-05:00

I got to see the kids today... they were a little off... I don't know why. I mean.. they know who I am, but they treat me like a stranger almost...

I'm really not enjoying this being-kept-away-from-my-kids. Eventually the powers that be will get the picture strait in their heads and then everyone can keep their fingers out of my life so I can finally go out and fix it.

Friar Greg

An Unlikely Visitor

2009-12-09T21:38:00.000-05:00

Say hello to our new friend Rusty. She's a cardinal, and cardinals don't come around here very often. In fact, when we had birds outside our home in Sophiasburg, cardinals only visited once in a 7 year span. That makes 2 visits in as many decades.

Rusty was enjoying a seed feed at our red barn feeder hanging from our back porch. I took this picture 10 feet from and through our slightly dingy glass garden door. She still saw me and only stuck around long enough for one more shot... not a good one at that.

Cardinals are notoriously shy birds, more like the finch than the jay they may resemble.

Anyway. Our feeder is your feeder. Thanks for dropping by Rusty, you are always welcome here.

Friar Greg

YAY SNOW!!!

2009-12-07T09:35:00.000-05:00

The FIRST snowfall of the year... and I got it on film.

---
Friar Greg

Black Screen of Death Actually Caused by Malware

2009-12-03T11:51:00.001-05:00

Stan Schroeder fed this out just a few short minutes ago. Maybe Microsoft should just be grateful anyone bothers to be helpful at all.

---

A couple of days ago we wrote about the Black Screen of Death, a problem that caused Windows-based machines to freeze and lock out users, leaving them teary-eyed and black-screened.

The issue, however, doesn’t seem to be a common one, nor is it tied to Microsoft’s security updates, as we’d previously thought. In fact, UK security company Prevx, who pointed out the issue (and actually offered a software fix), admitted that the problem is likely caused by malware and not by Microsoft’s error.

Prevx’s CEO Mel Morris wrote a blog post, apologizing to Microsoft for the inconvenience. From the post:

“The issue appears to be related to a characteristic of the Windows Registry related to the storage of string data. In parsing the Shell value in the registry, Windows requires a null terminated ‘REG_SZ’ string. However, if malware or indeed any other program modifies the shell entry to not include null terminating characters, the shell will no longer load properly, resulting in the infamous Black Screen with the PC showing only the My Computer folder.”

The folks at Microsoft, understandably, aren’t happy. Chief Security Advisor of Microsoft EMEA Roger Halbheer fired at Prevx on his blog, saying:

“Looking at that, you should now make your risk assessment and decide which source you want to trust. For me, the ultimate source for information you should build your assessment on is neither Twitter nor your brother’s sister in law’s father’s brother (unless he works for Microsoft’s security) but our website.”

While this particular case was a false alarm, Halbheer forgets to point out that if we had listened exclusively to what Microsoft says when it comes to security issues in the past, we would have missed quite a lot of them. As always, don’t believe everything you read, see or hear, but also don’t immediately write off any news that doesn’t come from an official source.

--
Friar Gregory

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that

we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that
most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?"

- Marianne Williamson

#104 Pine Walls

2009-11-25T02:23:00.000-05:00

Today I'm on Phase III of the south wall in our dining room. Phase I was demo, I removed all the drywall from the inside of the exterior wall, repaired holes and cold leaks and replaced any stained or damaged insulation.

Phase II consisted of installing new recepticals for the electricity, replacing Knob & Tube wires (dead wires, not in use) with 14/2 wiring, and replacing the old vapour barrier with bubble wrap.

Phase III began with 3" horizontal strapping every 16" with an extra strap centered at 24" from the ceiling to accommodate the railing that will hide the new pine/drywall border. I finished off today by putting up the first 4' of pine.

Here's a picture of the finished bathroom which already shows what the dining room walls will look like. I'm not certain if the colour scheme will change, but the pine/drywall combo will definately be a nice touch. We will also be continuing the dark hardwood flooring (bamboo) in the dining room as well as most of the rest of the house.

I feel a little better getting my hands on something that makes sense...

... and playing with compressor tools.

--
Friar Greg

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?"
- Marianne Williamson

Sister Anna's Birthday

2009-11-18T04:00:00.000-05:00

Anna is now 1/4th of a century old. I can remember my first quarter. It was like yesterday, only 6 years ago really. Funny how things can change in so little time.

I want to do something special for her birthday but as usual, I've messed up my finances and can't afford anything since we all went out on Saturday night to get drunk. For some reason, buying her a pitcher at the bar just isn't special enough for an official birthday gift. Funny how things change in 6 years. I'll have to find something better.

In the mean time, Love you sis.

and Happy 25th Birthday!!!

Your Bro

---

Friar Greg

Remembrance

2009-11-11T14:00:00.000-05:00

A choice worthy of hero worship.

--
Friar Greg

#101 - People who feel the need to swear in polite conversation

2009-11-07T12:45:00.000-05:00

I swear, I use foul language and often profanities unbecoming a gentleman.

I do make an effort not to swear around elders, and definitely control myself around children. It's much like when I first started smoking. 15 years ago, my good friend Mike (the alien) would discuss the ethics, behaviors and attitudes of smokers in public. We came up with our own little code of conduct for public smoking and I've tried to live by these rules ever since. Mark the word tried; I'm still human.

since then, the province of Ontario has banned smoking in all public places, even at bars, one must step outside to light up. Bar/tavern owners have gone out of their way to provide outdoor patios for smokers in order to extend the area for drinkers, that way we don't have to keep paying the cover charge, or leave our drinks inside. This is good business.

Getting back to foul language. I realize that Yahoo feels the need to censor their users of inappropriate language, photo's and discussion topics. But why would they just delete thousands of threads & photos for the words and postings of 2 people incapable of self control?

would it not have been more productive to block those individuals, or blank out the inoffensive material and post a warning to admins? It WAS a monitored thread was it not?

and what was with the twitter comment made by the person responsible for the censoring? "I hate your freedom". That sounds very messed up; almost like she had a personal grudge against the group, or even the idea of free speech. It also reminds me of many political actions both here in North America and around the world, people in positions of authority rubbing out statements (or people) that don't fit their ideal society.

China was responsible for the deaths and disappearances of countless freedom speakers. The Nazi party also was responsible of propaganda and killings. When and where do governments/corporations get the right to do this? One deleted comment here, One nuked community there... should I expect to find dead bodies next?

Yahoo overstepped their authority. This is the plain and simple truth. On the other hand, people need to learn some self control. Becoming a member of a monitored community is the first step. By putting their work into the hands of the community admins they are respecting the decisions and ethics of those admins. In other groups, it's the general population that makes the decision to block or censor content that they deem inappropriate. Nowhere in that model does the corporation have the right to blast into non-existence anything without at least multiple warnings and possibly banishing the few people involved. We the people are quite capable of dealing with our own. We don't need Big Brother holding us down until we call "uncle". I agree that we do need to show a little more self control, but that's our problem. As for people who sniff around trying to find something to be offended with? Those self appointed censors can show a little more appropriate behavior as well.

After Ontario passed the no public smoking bill, they did not send cops into bars and shoot the smokers dead. There were warnings, pressure was applied to tavern owners and fines were placed on smokers and owners alike for ignoring the laws. But mostly, owners sent smokers outside and many patrons took it upon themselves to point smokers to the door. This is appropriate. Only when a smoker was behaving stubbornly and refusing to accept the needs of the community should the authorities be called in.

In my own opinion... I've never liked Yahoo. I stopped using geocities as soon as Yahoo bought them up, and I refuse to use any of their services (accept Yahoo mail which I use only as a dummy account to send junk, a fitting use in my books). I am quite capable of controlling my indiscretions, and I approve of my fellow humans mentioning to me personally and privately if something seems inappropriate. That's where discussion, debate and consensus comes from.

Friar Greg

from sources:

https://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/actions/new-twist-yahoos-ads.html

The Infamous 100th Webisode

2009-11-02T04:00:00.001-05:00

Oh jeese, it's here... you figured it wasn't coming, but it came. I didn't figure I'd get anywhere near 100 posts. Mostly garbage I'm sure, as most personal blogs are, but this one, actually took a little bit of thinking. I mean, it's not ALL garbage. I'm pretty sure.

Anyway, I sat down way back in June 09 when I realized I might actually make the ol' triple digits and tried to think of what would make a good 100th episode. My mind was quite blank, having just completed 2 scheduled blogs, and it was 4 am with lots to do the next day, I couldn't think of anything. So, I think I'll just stick with a Year-at-a-glance summary and YOUR top 5 lists.

In chronological order by publish date (because I can write 10 in 1 day and have them come out in mixed up order), here is a brief summary of the last 99 blogs (not including the top 5 which I'll describe a little better.)

2008 consisted of 4 posts: I watched a movie, took my son to fanExpo, watched my daughter get on the bus for the first time and candled my ears. Probably all the most exciting stuff happened in those 4 posts, but we'll carry on anyway.

2009 so far has consisted of: taking a panoramic photo, rewiring the phone lines, tried to teach my wife how to blog, uploaded a picture through email, made a stupid joke about alphabet soup, played a facebook game, referenced my first webcomic (which I posted again later when I merged the two feeds, this shouldn't count, but who can argue with numbers?), posted a joke from Aunt Catherine, had a weekend with the wife and kids, posted another joke from Catherine, listened to a crankpot (stupid me) about magnetic energy... probably a scientologist, yet another joke from Catherine, adopted deRothschild, got a puppy (though wife gave the puppy away 4 weeks later, made me sad), shaved my 'stach (Illianer Style!), compared my youngest child to Lau Tzu, commented on the new Spock actor, learned how to prewrite my posts for future syndication (lazy bastard), advertised my skills building outdoor furniture, posted yet another joke from Catherine (SBF picture is not my puppy btw), compared my mother to a psycho woman with a gun (hehehe... sorry), another joke from Catherine, another COOL joke from Catherine, a really funny joke from Catherine, a joke from India... lied... it was Catherine's too, TRIED to write an article about Queen Victoria but failed miserably, another Aunt Catherine joke, endorsed the 4 Agreements (GOTTA READ IT!!!), referenced a life concept from a fantasy novel, posted a poem I wrote back in high school, another joke from Catherine, posted a ... video from Catherine (that was a first), another joke from Catherine, A JOKE FROM CARL!!, Another joke from Carl (I'm not capable of humor apparently - I post everyone elses jokes), and ANOTHER joke from Carl, OOH OOH - I wrote a short essay on what I want to do with money, 4 jokes in a row from Carl, then I got bored and started watching YouTube and sharing it here, I made my first GoogleDocs Form, which was really cool but it doesn't work anymore, I posted some informational vids for my wife to learn about synching her phone online, another YouTube this one about gay marriage, Since I was losing my ability to write anything coherent I began re-posting old entries from 7 years ago when I was on walkabout, more funny vids, and here come the webcomics I referenced before but posted later, the 3rd webcomic was actually a poem I wrote in my head on the way home one day after feeling really bad about myself, another Walk the Earth re-post, a poem my son stepped on (fathers day poem - not mine - so cute), and another WTE re-post, lyrics I really like, a post on tiny homes, top 5 on litter, a Catherine joke, a poem about twittering, created some cool widgets, a grasshopper joke from Catherine, tomato joke from Catherine, trailer joke from Carl, another joke from Catherine, a pride picture of my daughter, 2 more Catherine jokes, 2 WTE re-posts, my wife's birthday (darling woman), another WTE re-post, unique time stamp, funny vids on weddings, RAC ranking, discussion on teen personalities, my daughter turned 6, a top 100 (my first) from buddy Scott, an article on marriage issues, RAC update, a personal values statement (warranting my first non-relative comment!), a count down referring to the this post, Kinks tribute, 2 RAC updates, some cool pics of the kids, my son's first day on the bus, FanExpo visit, a mobile post with my sister, a redefinition of my role in life, a reminder that this post is on it's way, a catchup post with pics of the boys, another mobile post from the underground with poems, a youtube video playlist, the introduction to my new Video Blog, and a video of my adventures in Residential Plumbing.

Statistical Summary - What's really sad is that of the last 99 posts I have published:

37 were Jokes (16 from Aunt Catherine & 8 from Carl. Very few were my own jokes, how sad.)

10 were videos I hijacked from YouTube, 2 were my own.

6 were re-posts of a 7-year-old journal/blog (which I will be continuing)

47 were useless mutterings or whoohooing myself for learning something new.

And the worst of all...

only 39 were actually my own writings for a blog, interesting stories about my life or an interest in getting a message through to the audience.

Here's a brief synopsis and YOUR top 5 list in reverse order of my own interest in them:

Notice the empty spots in the list? That's because no one picked any best/worst fav's from the list. In fact, there aren't any comments anywhere either.

I am a sorry, pathetic excuse for a blogger. I know, I'll make some resolutions (it's not New Years yet, what am I doing?).

From this day forth;

1) Jokes shall not exceed 1 in 5 articles.

2) These jokes shall be at least 50% of my own creation (or 1 in 10 if I can't think of anything funny)

3) I shall only publish articles that I feel I have put my best effort into.

4) All of my articles shall have a subject or theme and will meet all the requirements of a complete article.

*5) At least 2 in 5 articles must be about my family life ( no more humor to cover my lack of communication).

6) Every month I shall post between 10 and 20 articles. ( I've been keeping up with this so far, we'll see how it goes with the new rules)

7) I shall continue scheduling articles in advance to make sure that there are enough to meet the set quota.

There, that sounds about right. I'll make sure I post these rules where I can see them every day. I do this, just for you, the readers (and my own need for attention). So please, send me your feedback, comment on anything and everything you read. Praise my awesomeness and blast my idiocy. It's public for a reason, if I didn't want your feedback, I wouldn't post it. If I get enough comments and feedback, I may even begin a bi-weekly email corner, like Foamy Fanmail. Those were funny... hehehe.

Well, that's it from me here at the Oh, Brother web log. Thanks for reading my first 100 entries, and here's to another 500 more.

maybe, if I find the time.

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Friar Greg

friar.gregarious@gmail.com

#99 Vlog 2 - "My Plumbing Adventures"

2009-10-20T02:03:00.001-04:00

I still think this house is a nightmare, after gods-only-know how much money we've sunk into little repairs (new siding, finished garage, insulating, etc, etc, etc) and after a hundred copper solder fixes and switching to the new and very cool PEX plumbing system, we're still dealing with a million and one reasons this house should be bulldozed...

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Friar Greg
This is the last entry... stay tuned for #100

#98 Oh, Brother hits the video scene

2009-10-17T21:01:00.000-04:00

Hey all.

I've been playing with YouTube functions and have learned a whole lot about vloging. That isn't a typo. It's shot for Video Web Loging. Similar to this Blog (Web Log), Vlogs are video versions of what one would previously only write about. Here's the code to see my Vlog in it's own custom designed viewer.

Hope you like it and keep visiting back. Remember, there is only ONE more article before

"FRIAR GREG'S CRAZY 100TH WEBISODE!!!"

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Friar Greg

#97 "Flash" Performances

2009-09-28T15:40:00.001-04:00


FriarGregarious has shared a video playlist with you on YouTube. Here's a list of what's referred to as "Flash Mob's". Sudden occurrences where a mob of people, usually previously trained and practiced, who begin dancing in a public place. These occurrences are always without prior warning or advertising, always in a public place and they always depart immediately with no final bow. They just merge back into the crowds as if nothing happened. It's a wonderful thing to watch. I'm wondering if it's just as wonderful to participate in. If anyone is interested in forming a flash mob, email me and we'll see what we can pull off. "Flash" Performances
© 2009 YouTube, LLC 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066

#96 - Organic Me

2009-09-25T16:08:00.000-04:00

Sitting in the Organic Underground again... pondering life, the universe, everything. I had only hours before buried old feelings about past relationships. Feeling the beatnik, decided to type something with no direction. See me looking off into space, straining to see something that is not there, ever.

I remember an old resolution I once had, the day I wrote My Children at 17; "Never will I marry... I love children, I think I'll have some, but never will I marry." It wasn't until today I realized why I felt that way then, and why I was right. I was correct in my thinking. The old concept of marriage just doesn't apply to relationships today.

"All I ask of a woman is that she shall feel gently towards

when my heart feels kindly towards her,

and there shall be the soft, soft tremor as of unheard bells

between us.

It is all I ask.

I am so tired of violent women lashing out and insisting

on being loved, when there is no love in them."

Laws abound to protect one gender over the other, I am the minority in the sense that all laws are designed to exclude me. If I were to say anything about it I would become labeled in a most unpleasant way.

"The great cage of our domesticity kills sex in a man, the simplicity of desire is distorted and twisted awry."

I could feel sorry for myself, or I can move on, trusting no one.

"I never saw a wild thing

sorry for itself.

A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough

without ever having felt sorry for itself."

I guess it's a Lawrence day today... I'll just sit and ponder on his words.

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Friar Greg

Sources:

D.H. Lawrence

Playing Catchup

2009-09-22T04:00:00.000-04:00

I realize there hasn't been any real posts since the 12th so I'm gonna run a little catchup for you folks...

I got to take the boys to the fair on the 5th... yay!!!

It was the last time I got to see them... maybe ever... booo

Pics of fair with Scott, Scott & Saben:

I was arrested the evening of the 12th ... booo

Released the next morning... yay!!!

My phone was suspended... booo

I was blocked from seeing my children... booo

I was blocked from seeing my youngest child on his birthday... booo

I was loaned a phone by a good friend... yay!!!

I got a lawyer... yay!!!!

My life still sucks... booo

Everyone came and visited my blog page!!! yay!! hits went up!!!

No one left a comment on any of the blog entries... booo

No one has msged me their favorites yet... booo

I've met some cool people online the past few days... yay!!!

Went camping last weekend... awesome!!!

Here's a couple of pics:

Now just bored and lonely...

Later folks.

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Friar Greg

~ 4 Posts remaining!!! ~

6 posts to go

2009-09-12T13:08:00.000-04:00

The grand 100th episode of Oh, Brother will soon be upon us, I'm hereby calling out to all readers to visit this site http://friargreg.blogspot.com and pick out your favorite and least favorite posts. I shall tally up the results and add them on the 100th post for all to see. Special mentions will be added for anyone who also adds comments to the blogger site before that time.

Remember,

Any post between #1 & #99 are acceptable to vote on (not counting this one).
Cut off will be sometime just before the 100th post. Not certain when I'll make that so make your votes count and get them in as soon as the 99th is posted or before.
Send all votes in email to me at friar.gregarious@gmail.com

Comments on blog and personal synopsis of your favorite & least favorite posts in email would be appreciated.

My thanks in advance.

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Friar Greg