journal features
movie reviews
photo of the day

michael's journal

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-five years and one million words

2023

movie review - Belle

2023.10.01, Kokubunji
Tonight for "movie night", my daughter and I watched a Japanese movie inspired by Beauty and the Beast.

movie review - Something in the Dirt

2023.09.30, Kokubunji
This is an interesting story about two neighbors in a small apartment building in Los Angeles who investigate some crazy phenomenon after one of them witnesses some unnatural light the unexplained levitation of household objects.

movie review - The Vault (2022)

2023.09.27, Kokubunji
This is a movie about some dudes who break into the world's most secure vault, which is apparently in Spain.

moody sky in kita-kyushu

2023.09.26, Kita Kyushu
Collections containing this photo.  architectur

what I did at work today

2023.09.25, Fukuoka
I believe this is the third time I've been in the news in Japan.

today, a short speech

2023.09.25, Fukuoka
I'm due to give a short speech at our office's Grand Opening.

fukuoka bridge in the evening

2023.09.24, Fukuoka
Collections containing this photo.  streets of

taking my chances in Fukuoka

2023.09.24, Fukuoka
Missed my son's event at school today because I had to leave town.

movie review - Tremors: Shrieker Island

2023.09.23, Kokubunji
I don't recall having seen any of the Tremors movies except for the first, and I'm surprised to learn that this is the seventh.

where oh where is my mind?

2023.09.22, Kokubunji

movie review - Outside the Wire

2023.09.22, Kokubunji
This is a near-future Sci-Fi movie about a drone pilot who causes the deaths of some marines in a conflict in Ukraine through hitting a military target that was immediately adjacent to their position.

skype credit deactivated

2023.09.22, Kokubunji
I don't know why Microsoft does this, but they periodically notify me that they're going to deactivate my credit on Skype.

sick kid

2023.09.19, Kokubunji
My daughter and I seem to do everything together these days.

movie review - Spider-Man Across The Spider-Verse

2023.09.18, Kokubunji
One complaint I have with these Spider-Man movies is that the titles are so similar that you can't tell which is which.

ow my floating in space brain

2023.09.15, Kokubunji

movie review - Prey

2023.09.14, Kokubunji
This is a fun if chronologically distant sequel to the '80s movie Predator.

Canada is changing

2023.09.10, Kokubunji
I note that Canada's first World Cup showing (and first victory over an american team) comes on the 30th anniversary of our last win of a Stanley Cup.

mmmm specialty grocery store

2023.09.09, Kokubunji
Today Mari and I went to an unassuming grocery store that I'm sure we've passed on many occasions without entering.

yesterday's oatmeal, day after day

2023.09.08, Kokubunji
Well, it's Friday.

a message from the government of Canada

2023.09.06, Kokubunji
I was wondering when these guys would get around to Canada.

250 quotes

2023.09.05, Kokubunji
Today I added a quote to my collection and noticed that it was my 250th.

notes from a novel

2023.09.02, Kokubunji
My brother passed along this rather incredible account of typeset in the Star Trek movies and TV shows.

no charges for dinged door

2023.09.01, Kokubunji
When we were in Hakone last weekend, a young couple was hanging around our car right after we arrived.

Star Wars Pianika

2023.08.28, Kokubunji

shooting into the sun

2023.08.25, Tokyo
It's lens flare and no focus. Collections containing this

movie review - Mission: Impossible

2023.08.23, Kokubunji
Once upon a time I watched "Mission Impossible II" and did not like it.

The Most Dangerous Weapon

2023.08.23, Kokubunji

sunset over kokubunji

2023.08.22, Kokubunji
Collections containing this photo.  twilight &n

replenishing the vending machine on a Monday

2023.08.21, Hakone
Collections containing this photo.  people at w

temple basin for ablutions

2023.08.21, Hakone
Collections containing this photo.  simple joys

the poisoned land

2023.08.20, Hakone
This area was poisoned by whatever gas was coming out of th

fire in Whitehorse and a hurricane heading for Los Angeles

2023.08.19, Kokubunji
El Nino and a hundred million Ford F-150's and here we are.

more trouble for the car guys

2023.08.12, Kokubunji
The other day I shared a link to the woes of the car manufacturing industry as they face unprecedented problems.

matsuri walking

2023.08.05, Kokubunji
At a matsuri, people started a rhythmic dance of sorts with

electric vehicles

2023.08.03, Kokubunji
I noticed this article title "the potential looming auto industry fiasco", and thought it got everything just about right.

movie review - Hidden Strike

2023.08.02, Kokubunji
We thought this flick looked interesting -- I had thought that Jackie Chan had retired.

longest ride of the year

2023.07.30, Kokubunji
Today was another ridiculously hot day, but I decided that rather than spend yet another weekend indoors, I'd hop on my bike and do a dry run for a longish ride I have planned.

passport reform

2023.07.29, Kokubunji
I note that Canada has reformed its passport process.

my father is gone

2023.07.28, Kokubunji
Death, what a bummer.

working under every kind of lag

2023.07.24, Kokubunji
I've recently flown to the Netherlands and to British Columbia and my brain and body seem to be in broad disagreement.

so this is kabuki

2023.07.23, Ojimachi
In a rather jarring change of pace, I found myself in a Kabuki theatre today.

choosing death

2023.07.23, Kokubunji
My brother called to let me know that our father has set a date for his medically assisted death.

home again

2023.07.22, Kokubunji
I know it's not the last time I'll travel by plane this year, but I am glad to be done with it for now.

movie review - Bridge Over the River Kwai

2023.07.20, Salt Spring Island
I was slowly engrossed in this movie after a shaky start in which its clearly dated setting initially had me cringing.

good-bye

2023.07.19, Salt Spring Island
This afternoon, I gave my father a final hug, a final kiss on the cheek, and told him I love him, and then I left.

an outstanding day for fishing

2023.07.18, Campbell River
We were back on the water this evening, but it wasn't my on

Buttle Lake, BC

2023.07.18, Campbell River
This part of BC is so beautiful, I can barely believe it.

opening day for salmon in 2023

2023.07.15, Campbell River
At 05:30, we hit the water at high tide and headed to the s

of tiny mice and tiny snakes

2023.07.15, Campbell River
While on a hike earlier in the week, I came across a tiny mouse so small that its entire torso and head were no larger than the last digit of my thumb.

meeting of two lakes

2023.07.14, Campbell River
This is where Buttle Lake and Upper Campbell Lake meet, in

movie review - Fool's Gold

2023.07.14, Campbell River
I got in late and decided to burn off what remained of the evening with this movie on Netflix.

movie review - The Edge of Tomorrow

2023.07.13, Campbell River
After a long day's errands, hiking, and fishing, I spotted this underappreciated classic on Netflix and watched it for what must have been the third or fourth time.

movie review - The Out-Laws

2023.07.12, Kokubunji
This is a fun movie about a shlep whose fiance isn't close with her parents.

outdoorsy, even

2023.07.12, Campbell River
This morning I took Oma/Opa's PC in for repair and got it booting again.

fly fishing

2023.07.11, Campbell River
I decided to try my hand at fly fishing while I'm in Campbell River.

visiting Opa!

2023.07.10, Campbell River
I'm in Campbell River, BC, for the next two weeks!

movie review - Black Hole

2023.07.08, Salt Spring Island
Tonight I watched this 1979 sci-fi movie with my brother and sister-in-law.

half-dead Stanley Park

2023.07.08, Salt Spring Island
It seems that a good third or more of the trees in Vancouver's Stanley Park are dead.

so this is British Columbia

2023.07.07, Salt Spring Island
I arrived in BC this afternoon.

skirt caught in bicycle

2023.07.07, Kokubunji
This morning I spotted a young woman whose skirt had gotten caught in the rear gear assembly of her bicycle.

it looks like COVID lock-downs were marginally effective

2023.07.05, Kokubunji
Social distancing had more impact on mortality than lock-downs.

Will AI be a force for good

2023.07.03, Kokubunji
In May of this year, Ted Chiang wrote a piece in the New Yorker comparing AI to McKinsey, a consulting firm famous for "extracting shareholder value" by tactically tearing apart functioning companies.

movie review - Nimona

2023.07.01, Kokubunji
This is a movie about a knight whos act of knighthood is sabotaged by a violent act of terrorism that causes him to unwittingly kill the city's monarch.

movie review - Mission: Impossible Fallout

2023.07.01, Kokubunji
This movie is honestly an excellent action film.

movie review - The Adam Project

2023.06.30, Kokubunji
Between jaunts to other continents, I managed to watch this with my kids.

incorrectly secured ssh server

2023.06.28, Kokubunji
Ever since I rebuilt my websites on this AliExpress Celeron server I have apparently been under the false impression that I had blocked password access on SSHd.

world travel

2023.06.26, Kokubunji
I'm in the midst of a busy travel time.

movie review - Galaxy Quest

2023.06.23, Kokubunji
I watched this again with my daughter and I really enjoyed it.

thoughts on Canada from a recent immigrant

2023.06.23, Kokubunji
This fellow's criticisms are sadly accurate.

hello K2

2023.06.23, Karakoram
While flying between Dubai and Tokyo I realized we were fly

cycling by the sea-side

2023.06.20, Hook of Holland
I cycled to Hook of Holland after work.

flown around the world

2023.06.19, Amsterdam
I landed in Amsterdam at 13:45 today, having left Tokyo at 18:00 on Saturday.

disclocation

2023.06.18, Dubai
I'm having one of those 21st Century dislocation moments.

movie review - Extraction 2

2023.06.17, Kokubunji
This is a sequel to the interesting Netflix movie "Extraction", which was a straight-up assassin story with enough intelligence and vulnerability to set it apart from the usual fare that I think most of us have been ignoring for decades.

wrapping up a beach BBQ

2023.06.09, Odaiba
It wasn't really a beach - this is Tokyo after all - but we had a BBQ event and this is most of us.

movie review - Shooter

2023.06.08, Kokubunji
Once in a while Netflix will recommend an older movie you've never heard of.

movie review - The Edge of Seventeen

2023.06.07, Kokubunji
This is about a teenager who is struggling with life following the death of her father -- an event that's weakened the family to the point of disintegration.

movie review - The Bubble

2023.06.07, Kokubunji
This is a movie about the cast of a series of blockbuster action movies.

wait is Krikket England?

2023.06.07, Kokubunji
Somehow a story line from the Douglas Adams "Hitch-hikers" books popped into my mind this morning.

movie review - Ghostbusters: Afterlife

2023.06.06, Kokubunji
For some reason my daughter and I decided to watch this second modern sequel to the '80s original "Ghostbusters".

movie review - Don't Look Up

2023.06.05, Kokubunji
This is irritatingly close to a good movie.

movie review - White Noise

2023.05.20, Kokubunji
I probably shouldn't be writing a review of this.

How Brexit Unexpectedly Strengthened The EU

2023.05.20, Kokubunji
What a mess!

photo of the day

2023.05.15, Kokubunji
The "photo of the day" feature has been reinstated.

movie review - Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank

2023.05.13, Kokubunji
This is an animated flick about a scrawny young dog who dreams of being a samurai.

my colleague thinks I have COVID

2023.05.12, Tokyo
I described my symptoms from Wednesday's hell day to a colleague and he told me that it sounded like COVID.

town hall at work

2023.05.11, Tokyo
I went to the office despite being quite sick yesterday.

in space, AI knows you have no moat

2023.05.06, Kokubunji
It seems that everyone's waking up to the fact that useful AI is here now, and is incredibly easy to build.

home again

2023.05.04, Kokubunji
This morning we left our hotel and made our way back to Naha.

last day on the beach

2023.05.04, Okinawa
last day on the beach It was time for us to return to (comp

let's check this out

2023.05.03, Okinawa
let's check this out Fatal swimming! Sounds like my kind of

a grotto by the sea

2023.05.03, Okinawa
Today we had a later start, hitting the road at around 10:00.

the marine playground

2023.05.02, Okinawa
Collections containing this photo.a lifetime Our day b

to the aquarium!

2023.05.01, Okinawa
Today, we headed north to the famous aquarium on the north

wandering Naha's sprawling market

2023.04.30, Okinawa
We arrived in Okinawa today for a four-day visit; our firs

crazy cycle

2023.04.22, Kokubunji
From time to time, since I had COVID officially in August, I've had "flu like" days where I feel mildly feverish, exhausted, and headachy.

too cool over too hot

2023.04.25, Kokubunji
It's been strangely cool the past few days.

just call me Beneberg

2023.04.24, Kokubunji
I'm delighted to add yet another mis-spelling of our last name to the pile.

recent photos

2023.04.23, Kokubunji
This past week, I added a new feature to this website.

The Boy ran to his basketball practice

2023.04.23, Kokubunji
I learned this morning that The Boy ran all the way to his school at one point this week.

movie review - Murder Mystery II

2023.04.22, Kokubunji
This is a sequel to 2019's surprisingly good Adam Sandler movie.

Qatar of the Caribbean

2023.04.21, Kokubunji
It's painful to watch Florida turn into a miserable fundamentalist state.

the A.I. dilemma

2023.04.21, Kokubunji
Why it suddenly matters how we roll out artificial intelli

back on the road

2023.04.17, Kokubunji
Today I cycled from Kokubunji to Kichijoji on my way to work.

pen care room at Itoya

2023.04.16, Kokubunji
pen care booth at Itoya This is the room where you can br

Ginza just after a rainstorm

2023.04.16, Kokubunji
just after a rainstorm in GinzaCollections containing this photo.

Tokyo sky after a rainy day

2023.04.16, Kokubunji
end of a rainy day in Tokyo The Girl and I had returned to

was caught in some weather

2023.04.15, Kokubunji
But it was a warm rain.

pets wait in boxes

2023.04.10, Kokubunji
pets wait in boxes I don't know if this was a pet store o

walked to Shinjuku

2023.04.10, Kokubunji
After work today, I walked from Shibuya to Shinjuku, to catch my commuter train.

the blazing colors of spring in Tokyo

2023.04.09, Kokubunji
The spring colors around here are astonishing.

parakeet with a manual lens

2023.04.08, Kokubunji
I got very lucky this morning.

rain over Shibuya, Yoyogi, and Shinjuku

2023.04.07, Kokubunji
It was a rainy day in the inner west side of Tokyo.

a very welcome sign of spring

2023.04.02, Kokubunji
welcome sign of spring Things are sprouting, everywhere.

lovely driveway in my neighborhood

2023.04.02, Kokubunji
These lovely little flowers had come up all over a driveway in our neighborhood.

candid moment for a couple in a park

2023.04.01, Kokubunji
We were in Tonogayato garden (yes again!

koi want to be fed

2023.04.01, Kokubunji
Where's the food at?

where I work

2023.03.31, Kokubunji
I work on the 42nd floor of this building.

a courier in Hachioji

2023.03.28, Kokubunji
A bike courier waiting on his next destination.

batteries are quickly getting good

2023.03.25, Kokubunji
I don't know what's more interesting, the content or the fellows discussing this development.

Indo-Pacific is damp

2023.03.25, Kokubunji
It was so damp today that I had to go to five street-side vending machines before I found one that worked.

GPT-4 shows sparks of "artificial general intelligence"

2023.03.25, Kokubunji
I find it amazing that it works and we don't know why but

soaring electricity prices

2023.03.21, Kokubunji
We paid ¥58,000 for electricity in February.

all praise be the pajero mini

2023.03.21, Kokubunji
all praise be the pajero mini I like Japan's many functio

many shoes in a place

2023.03.21, Nagano
Maybe it was the staff in a restaurant or something like t

stalking its prey

2023.03.21, Kokubunji
I think it was hunting small fish.

hanami in the park

2023.03.21, Kokubunji
This is a stitched-together panorama.

two hour drivers lesson

2023.03.19, Kokubunji
I had to endure a two hour drivers lecture in Japanese, tod

Tokyo cherry blossoms in late winter

2023.03.19, Kokubunji
It was a glorious scene on a gorgeous day.

to the DMV!

2023.03.19, Kokubunji
Today I managed to renew my driver's license on my own.

drivers update

2023.03.18, Kokubunji
Tomorrow, incredibly, the family will be heading in three different directions by 08:00.

one cms to rule them all

2023.03.15, Kokubunji
I've just noticed that I have continuous recordings of edits to this website's page dating back to this time in 2008.

early morning walk in a hazy valley

2023.03.11, Azumino
Nothing seems to be in focus, but I love it.

clear stream

2023.03.11, Azumino
This has to be the clearest stream I've ever seen.

wasabi farm

2023.03.11, Azumino
It's been a very short trip.

a wall of cloud and rock above Azumino, Japan

2023.03.10, Azumino
The sun was heading down behind the Northern Japanese Alps.

early March and I need a fan

2023.03.07, Kokubunji
It's the end of the first week of March, and I just brought out the fan to cool myself through the afternoon.

when I'm 0o64

2023.03.06, Kokubunji
Later this month, I'm turning 52.

tired daddy is tired

2023.03.05, Kokubunji
I never used to get bags under my eyes. Now they never leav

can't wait for April 12!

2023.03.05, Kokubunji
I'll be sitting a two-hour driver's ed instruction video in Japanese.

a macro ant photo by my daughter

2023.03.04, Kokubunji
I got a ring to reverse-mount an old manual focus lens on Emma's camera.

well-lit greenhouses at night

2023.03.04, Kokubnji
Seems enticing, somehow.

movie review - We Have a Ghost

2023.03.03, Kokubunji
This is a story about a family that moves into a grand old house to discover that it's haunted by the sad ghost of a man with a middle-aged paunch and a combover.

happiness is a new aquarium

2023.03.03, Kokubunji
This is the aquarium I set up for The Girl.

fast train in the suburbs

2023.02.28, Kokubunji
I went out for some "shutter therapy" after another long day.

jewerly out of reach

2023.02.25, Kokubunji
Today we went to a place I'd visited last year to see about getting a new ring fashioned for Mari out of her engagement ring (which she hasn't worn since she noticed it was scratching baby #1) and her late grandmother's ring.

oh, to be ƿerneburg

2023.02.24, Kokubunji
If history had played its cards better, my last name wouldn't be Werneburg, it would be Ƿerneburg.

delicate flower

2023.02.23, Kokubunji
I'm not even sure what color this is.

the purest blue

2023.02.23, Kokubunji
I found this on the back side of a house, perched above a narrow laneway full of passing cyclists.

Chairman daddy's long walk

2023.02.23, Toronto
Today I went for a three hour photography walk around Kokubunji.

gorgeous planter box, Kokubunji

2023.02.18, Kokubunji
Collections containing this photo.cozy urban scenes s

taco wasa, tachikawa

2023.02.18, Tachikawa
Looks promising!

photo day with my daughter

2023.02.18, Kokubunji
Today I took The Girl into Tachikawa, the nearest large (sub)urban center to our home.

lines at night

2023.02.17, Kokubunji
On the way home tonight, I stopped and shot this view down an out-doors hallway.

talking cat film is extremely good (actually)

2023.02.16, Kokubunji
I have written nearly eight hundred movie reviews and the person who posted this may be one of the few who sees the concept the same way.

sun's rays through a bulb

2023.02.15, Kokubunji
Collections containing this photo.moods streets of to

movie review - Amélie

2023.02.14, Kokubunji
I last saw this movie about twenty years ago.

two of the Girl's new fish

2023.02.12, Kokubunji
The Girl is the proud fish mama of three sprightly little goldfish.

the lone attendant

2023.02.11, Kokubunji
I wonder what he did to pull garbage duty.

new camera adventure

2023.02.11, Kokubunji
For the past eight years I have been using an Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mk II.

movie review - Avatar, the Way of Water

2023.02.08, Kokubunji
I can hardly call a movie that cost a billion dollars a "lazy cash grab" but this thing had some fundamental story-telling problems and was a confusing mess to watch.

six weeks with a foreign object

2023.02.08, Kokubunji
Ever since the New Year's, when I went fishing on six separate days, I've had what I thought was a minor infection on my finger from briefly hooking myself while out on the water.

swollen fingers grasp for the sky

2023.02.05, Kokubunji
Collections containing this photo.textures trees & tr

worst app in history

2023.02.05, Kokubunji
To date, the worst applications I have used were: SAP, the

made with love

2023.02.04, Kokubunji
Whoever laid these out, did so with love.

movie review - Troll

2023.02.03, Kokubunji
This is a film about a real Troll waking up and terrorizing Scandinavia.

escalator marilyn monroe

2023.02.02, Kokubunji
I liked the way this young lady's skirt was catching the wi

do this don't do that can't you see the signs

2023.01.29, Kokubunji
And I thought Canada was lousy with signs. Collections co

kleptocurrencies, anyone

2023.01.28, Kokubunji
I watch the Youtube videos of a former hedge fund manager who explains who things like financial scams and Elon Musk work.

human scale

2023.01.27, Kokubunji
Collections containing this photo.walking around in Ja

frigid basketball "goal"

2023.01.25, Kokubunji
The Boy has a semi-portable basketball net that sits in our driveway.

movie review - Dungeons and Dragons

2023.01.23, Kokubunji
There's a new Dungeons and Dragons movie coming out, and it looks pretty good.

a million words

2023.01.23, Kokubunji
I've written 1,077,939 words on this website.

lucky strike at the lanes

2023.01.22, Kokubunji
Collections containing this photo.color a lifetime

gone to seed

2023.01.21, Kokubunji
Some spaces in Kokubunji that were productive farms become

The Girl on a swing

2023.01.21, Kokubunji
So fast she can't be photographed.

movie review - Puss in Boots The Last Wish

2023.01.21, Kokubunji
For movie night, we watched this sequel to the "Puss in Boots" spinoff of "Shrek 2", which came out way back in 2004.

farewall, coal industry

2023.01.20, Kokubunji

the hydrogen economy

2023.01.18, Kokubunji
Last year I made a comment on a Youtube video about the problems of hydrogen vehicles.

the young Tokyosiders

2023.01.17, Kokubunji
Not a pretty town, but I can dig it.

strangely pointless pen

2023.01.17, Kokubunji
I had the strange experience today of discovering that the ball point had fallen out of my ballpoint pen.

visitors!

2023.01.16, Kokubunji
We had some friends visiting from Toronto this weekend.

to the circus!

2023.01.15, Kokubunji
Today we went to a 120-year-old circus.

Yodobashi Camera

2023.01.14, Shinjuku
Collections containing this photo.

the red door

2023.01.14, Kokubunji
I wonder why they need the brick when the have the fancy do

200 dollar trout reel let's go

2023.01.14, Kokubunji
Collections containing this photo.fishing

a day on the road

2023.01.14, Kokubunji
Today I had to go to the clinic to get repeats on my migraine meds and the sleeping pills I some to need to get through the night.

must be plastic day

2023.01.09, Kokubunji
This is my neighborhood garbage depot on "plastics" day.

movie review - Palm Springs

2023.01.09, Kokubunji
This is a movie about a young woman who becomes trapped in a "Groundhog Day" daily time loop.

built me a watch

2023.01.08, Kokubunji
My brother made me a leather watch strap.

the boy and his catch

2023.01.06, Miyazaki
The Boy caught a Bonito! Collections containing this phot

hiding and seeking too hard

2023.01.05, Nichinan, Miyazaki
The kids were playing hide-and-seek today, and it all went too far.

slightly fashy iconography

2023.01.03, Miyazaki
I spotted this car outfit with decals that I thought were m

fixing my fiction

2023.01.02, Nichinan, Miyazaki
I've now used feedback from ChatGPT to brush up the story I ludicrously submitted to a Toronto Star short-story contest twenty years ago*.

movie review - Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

2023.01.01, Kokubunji
This movie's had quite a rave reception and I have to say that I'm not entirely sure why.

movie review - Glass Onion

2023.01.01, Kokubunji
This is a charmless sequel to a very different and original murder mystery.

clear cut over Nichinan Miyazaki

2023.01.01, Nichinan
My son and I tried to recreate a walk from three years prio

bamboo makes for messy forests

2023.01.01, Nichinan
The Boy and I went for quite a hike, today.

2022

1,472 emails in 2022

2022.12.31, Kokubunji
It looks like the steep declines in email over the past few years are no longer possible.

eruption under a dawn cloud-deck

2022.12.30, Kagoshima
Collections containing this photo.  skies  

the volcano is close tonight

2022.12.30, Kagoshima
Welcome to Kagoshima, a city on a drowned "graben"

the kamikaze museum

2022.12.29, Kagoshima City
Collections containing this photo.moods a lifetime

a fishing tale

2022.12.28, Nichinan, Miyazaki
Happy Yuletide!

movie review - Free Guy

2022.12.25, Kokubunji
What can you say about movies you see on airplane equipment?

pre-dawn homes and solar panels

2022.12.25, Nichinan
Collections containing this photo.  exploring M

boy texting by the sea

2022.12.25, Miyazaki
You can take the boy out of the city but you can't take the

movie review - Boyz N The Hood

2022.12.19, Kokubunji
I watched this seminal flick from the '90s with The Boy, today.

veggie stand at night

2022.12.18, Kokubunji
...sailor's delight! Collections containing this photo.&n

movie review - Training Day

2022.12.17, Kokubunji
My son wanted to a see a Denzel Washington movie so you know this was my first thought.

drowning in spam

2022.12.17, Kokubunji
Somewhere out there is a chef named Melissa Werneburg.

15 million surplus deaths in 2020-2021 for some reason

2022.12.15, Kokubunji
Say, do you remember COVID-19?

electric tuk-tuk

2022.12.15, Kokubunji
This morning while taking the garbage to the pick-up site I saw and electric tuk-tuk called a "Fun vehicle".

fireball over a low cloud deck

2022.12.13, Kokubunji
Oh wait, that's the sun. We don't always see it a lot in To

dragon pursues the sun over Tokyo

2022.12.12, Kokubunji
I think I shot this with my Nokia 6.1. Collections contai

shifting colors in an art exhibit

2022.12.11, Yokohama
We went to a performance/art exhibit thing in Yokohama call

driving in Tokyo

2022.12.11, Kokubunji
I've driven in Japan before but never Tokyo.

packing heat

2022.12.11, Kokubunji
We've packed up the used heater that wasn't working properly and have bought a new one in its place.

omotesando in the golden hour

2022.12.10, Omotesando
Collections containing this photo.

tiny eatery

2022.12.10, Kokubunji
This little eatery had been built in a semi-open space conn

downtown with The Girl

2022.12.10, Kokubunji
I took The Girl downtown today.

Internet dudes can ruin anything

2022.12.06, Kokubunji
This morning a Reddit user with a female name and icon posted a photo of a new aquarium that had just been set up on Thursday.

meteorite simulator

2022.12.06, Kokubunji
Who doesn't love blasting the planet with asteroids!

settling an aquarium

2022.12.03, Kokubunji
Sadly, all of Emma's three street-festival goldfish fingerlings are gone.

watching old TV

2022.11.30, Kokubunji
I've been watching "Star Trek Deep Space Nine", lately.

a used heater

2022.11.28, Kokubunji
We bought a new (used) heater and it only works on certain wall sockets and only if you let it heat very gradually.

movie review - Project Power

2022.11.27, Kokubunji
This is a Sci-Fi thing about some genetically-modified humans living in a world that has censured them and placed them under rigid restrictions.

window repairs

2022.11.26, Kokubunji
Thanks to being the parent of a teenager, I now get to learn how much the replacement of a school window costs.

movie review - Bullet Train

2022.11.27, Kokubunji
This action-comedy is so much over-the-top fun that I watched it a second time with my kids within days of my first, solo viewing.

movie review - Slumberland

2022.11.26, Kokubunji
My daughter and I watched the original story about a young girl whose father disappears at sea.

movie review - The Menu

2022.11.20, Kokubunji
I honestly have no idea what the fuss is all about with this movie.

re-arranged the aquarium

2022.11.19, Kokubunji
The Girl and I took some time to re-organize the aquarium.

email from my daughter

2022.11.18, Kokubunji
I had three emails from my daughter this morning.

The Girl has a new aqaurium

2022.11.17, Kokubunji
We went more than two years in this house without an aquarium, ending a run of about fifteen years of continuous aquarium-keeping.

pre-dawn reflection in Fukuoka

2022.11.15, Fukuoka
Collections containing this photo.pre-dawn walking around

movie review - The Curse of Bridge Hollow

2022.11.12, Kokubunji
This is a fun story about a kid who moves to a small town with her parents.

the Aral sea disaster

2022.11.10, Kokubunji
I thought I had a handle on how bad the Aral sea ecological catastrophe really was.

failed derailleur

2022.11.09, Kokubunji
This is how badly the old derailleur failed on my bike. The

pic of a red moon

2022.11.08, Kokubunji
This is my humble photo of the lunar eclipse.

trouble under a red moon

2022.11.08, Kokubunji
I left work early tonight (just past 17:00!

movie review - Wendell & Wild

2022.11.06, Kokubunji
This is an animated story I watched with my ten-year-old daughter for "movie night".

peakaboo with the parasols

2022.11.05, Kokubunji
Collections containing this photo.landscapes greenery col

movie review - The Man From Toronto

2022.11.04, Kokubunji
This is a movie in which Kevin Hart plays the diminutive comic relief and someone capable of maintaining a scowl plays the heavy.

blue sky at night

2022.10.30, Kokubunji
Collections containing this photo.skies color simple

China's debatable population

2022.10.30, Kokubunji
I hadn't realized that China's population figures were questioned.

that's a punishment job

2022.10.30, Kokubunji
I was reviewing some old photos and was reminded of an even older event in my life.

what work used to be

2022.10.29, Kokubunji
I recently uncovered these old pics from my time at NikkoCiti.

farewell, Twitter

2022.10.28, Kokubunji
I've been a fairly regular user of the social media site Twitter for the past several years.

movie review - The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

2022.10.25, Kokubunji
This is an infectiously chaotic story about a famous but fading movie star who is invited to the home of a Spanish billionaire for a $1 million project of unknown purpose.

could Brexit have been a mistake

2022.10.25, Kokubunji
I mean, for small businesses apparently yes.

waves breaking in the sky

2022.10.23, Kokubunji
Collections containing this photo.color skies No contex

well I like tall trucks and I cannot lie

2022.10.23, Kokubunji
Collections containing this photo.vehicles streets of tok

movie review - The School for Good and Evil

2022.10.22, Kokubunji
This is a film with a star-studded cast and an overly ambitious plot that more than fills out its 2+ plus run-time.

bronze watch

2022.10.22, Kokubunji
Collections containing this photo.

fixed thumbnail images

2022.10.20, Kokubunji
I've noticed that the thumbnail images on this site have started to become inexplicably uneven in size.

apple vs intel chip performance

2022.10.19, Kokubunji
I watched a Youtube video relating the recent performance

renaming files containing a space from the Linux command line

2022.10.16, Kokubunji
Every year I make a book of photos from the kids' past year.

movie review - The King's Man

2022.10.11, Kokubunji
This is a somehow unappealing prequel to "The Kingsman", a modestly original take on the spy genre.

what dies with us

2022.10.11, Kokubunji
I follow a Reddit thread on Gen-X.

blue hands on a Guanqin watch

2022.10.06, Kokubunji
Collections containing this photo.watches I put these b

movie review - Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood

2022.10.04, Kokubunji
I spent the first twenty percent of this movie thinking that I was seeing a cartoon prelude to a live action movie.

Germany's Catastrophic Gas Problem

2022.10.03, Kokubunji
The Germans seem to have really made a mess of their energy security.

a day fit for haircuts and curtain shopping

2022.10.02, Kokubunji
It was one of those days.

by all means don't send the king

2022.10.02, Kokubunji
It seems that the new King in the UK (my liege, since I'm Canadian) wanted to go to the next big climate conference.

the inevitable Nordstream murder

2022.10.01, Kokubunji
I watched a run-down of several theories around who blew up the Nordstream natural gas pipelines.

a dinner with my wife

2022.10.01, Kokubunji
Mari and I found a Thai restaurant in Tachikawa and went for dinner without the kids for the first time in so long I don't honestly remember.

commute hell

2022.09.30, Kokubunji
This morning I was out the door at 07:15 determined to ride to Kichijoji, half of my 25km commute and something I used to do routinely.

kept him on the road

2022.09.27, Kokubunji
The Boy was pushing his bike pretty hard and had the chain "fall" (he can't describe it better than that, I think it skipped).

movie review - Wrath of Man

2022.09.25, Kokubunji
This is, like other Guy Ritchie movies, about a gangster in a pinch.

who needs boots or food when fighting on the Steppe

2022.09.25, Kokubunji
This fellow says that the Russians are calling up 300,000 - 1,000,000 men but they might not be able to equip them with .

why me no grammar

2022.09.24, Kokubunji
We met Yagu and went to The Boy's school for an open house today.

writing during a write-off

2022.09.23, Kokubunji
Today's a holiday in Japan but we're completing a cloud migration and I had to follow the team's progress for about five hours.

fast homework

2022.09.22, Kokubunji
I wasn't really able to tackle my homework this past weekend but when I noticed a message from my instructor commending me on always doing my homework I redoubled my effort and got it done with around a minute to spare before our call.

escher would be proud

2022.09.19, Kokubunji
Collections containing this photo.lines architecture

movie review - Finch

2022.09.18, Kokubunji
This is a sci-fi flick about a man surviving quite alone after some apocalyptic disaster.

must be the season of the super typhoon, yeah

2022.09.18, Kokubunji
Typhoon Manmadol, which is currently making landfall in Kyushu, may be the largest (geographically) in the history of Japan.

movie review - Drifting Home

2022.09.17, Kokubunji
Now I'm not dumb but I can't understand how this story played like fantasy but we're expected to believe that it's real.

happiness is a silent bicycle

2022.09.16, Kokubunji
It's so, so nice to ride a bike where the chain isn't making noise and skipping all over the place.

bicycle repair

2022.09.14, Kokubunji
Recently, Mari's old 650b*-based bike has been having some difficulty.

the COVID gift that keeps on giving

2022.09.13, Kokubunji
It's been a month since I got over the initial bout of COVID and I'm still having days where I feel just like I did: sore throat, headache, wheezing, stuffed up sinuses, can't sleep.

movie review - Everything Everwhere All at Once

2022.09.11, Kokubunji
On the surface, this is a sci-fi movie about a woman in her fifties that is asked by an other-dimension version of her husband to join an epic struggle to save the multiverse.

a new server for the site .. again

2022.09.10, Kokubunji
It's scarcely been 18 months since I last migrated this website to a new server, but I've done it again; with a twist.

Air Canada refund

2022.09.08, Kokubunji
Air Canada still hasn't refunded the money from the ticket they cancelled.

everyone has COVID

2022.09.06, Kokubunji
I've heard of three more people getting COVID in the past few days.

farewell, COVID

2022.09.05, Kokubunji
It looks like I'm finally kicking the after-effects of my bout of COVID.

farewell, old PC

2022.09.04, Kokubunji
Today I took (most of) the systems case to the local community center to dump in an all-metal recycling box.

Twistin' by the .. floor

2022.09.03, Kokubunji
The Girl made her own game of Twister.

hello, lost photos

2022.09.01, Kokubunji
I've recovered my "lost" photos from 2006.

new PC build

2022.08.29, Kokubunji
About 18 months ago I wrote a piece about building an old PC into a modern workstation.

farewall, lost photos

2022.08.28, Kokubunji
On our recent trip to Canada, I tracked down a lot of old backups because I'd discovered at some point in 2021 that I'd deleted the original images from a visit to a bamboo forest in Kyoto.

Frankenstein's PC

2022.08.27, Kokubunji
I bought a new systems case that arrived last night.

ill again

2022.08.26, Kokubunji
When we landed at Narita we finally got to the baggage gate some two hours after touching down.

movie review - The Gray Man

2022.08.24, Kokubunji
This is a spy thriller in which the government aims one of its off-the-books killers at another of their killers.

twelve days late

2022.08.22, Kokubunji
We're back in Japan.

what flies and what does not

2022.08.21, 10,000 meters
I brought many of my old photo backups and some old hard drives.

farewell, Maebh

2022.08.20, Toronto
I took our dear Maebh, the Kia Rondo, to the dealership to hand her over today.

movie review - Day Shift

2022.08.18, Kokubunji
This is a movie about a vampire hunter in Los Angeles.

staying positive

2022.08.12, Toronto
I had another COVID PCR test today and yup, I'm still positive.

and then there is working remotely

2022.08.11, St. Catharines
I started working remotely, today.

lotsa kilometers

2022.08.10, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.a lifetime vehicles

COVID positive

2022.08.08, St. Catharines
Today I had a positive COVID PCR test.

beaver patrol

2022.08.05, St Catharines
Mari and I went for a walk tonight, from mum's place on Linwell out to the beach at Port Dalhousie, then back over the pedestrian bridge at Royal Henley Park (odd name, I thought).

movie review - Luca

2022.08.04, Kokubunji
This is an unassuming animated movie about a mer-boy/reptile who becomes interested in the humans in a nearby village - which is in sunny rural Italy.

the movers are settled

2022.08.04, St Catharines
We've chosen our movers.

walking and walking

2022.08.02, St Catharines
The Girl and I went for a walk today, first to the water and then back; and then to a nearby shopping mall.

first win: the sofa

2022.08.01, Toronto
When we went to the storage unit to day I picked up my "old" home-built PC from 2018 or 2019, which contains a bunch of parts I want to take home (to Tokyo).

Taipei breakfast

2022.07.31, Kokubunji
The three of us went out early this morning and found a bakery that was open in the neighborhood where we're staying.

to the storage unit!

2022.07.31, Toronto
Today we went to the storage unit in farthest-flung Scarborough.

in Toronto

2022.07.30, Toronto
We're in Toronto.

back for luggage

2022.07.29, St Catharines
We've retrieved our luggage.

movie review - No Time to Die

2022.07.28, Kokubunji
This is the latest Bond flick and it is not good.

survived our travels

2022.07.28, St Catharines
We're at "Grandma's" after quite a trek.

movie review - The Sea Beast

2022.07.23, Kokubunji
Movie night comes to Netflix once again.

happy pi approximation day

2022.07.22, Kokubunji
Celebrating 22/7 (or ~3.

mountain pass

2022.07.18, Kokubunji
Recently I've been rebuilding a study tool for kanji that I accidentally nuked several months ago.

snow in thirty degree weather

2022.07.17, Kokubunji
It was pushing 30°C at ground level, but clearly it was cold enough for snow at ten kilometers or so.

they call them chemtrails

2022.07.17, Kokubunji
Condensation trails, or "contrails" are one of the first things I can remember learning as a child of a glider pilot.

movie review - Venom: Let There Be Carnage

2022.07.09, Kokubunji
In this sequel to "Venom", a sloppy sci-fi/super-hero movie featuring a human and his alien "parasite".

movie review - Guns Akimbo

2022.06.29, Kokubunji
The premise of this movie is that a wastrel winds up with guns surgically grafted to his hands.

end of a Dockers belt

2022.06.28, Kokubunji
On the weekend our family had a water-balloon fight on our street.

movie review - Jumanji: The Next Level

2022.06.25, Kokubunji
This is a sequel to the imaginative and fun, "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle".

me brain lead

2022.06.25, Kokubunji
So it turns out that if you were born in North America between 1966 and 1975, there is a hundred percent certainty that you were exposed to harmful amounts of lead as a child.

35º on June 25

2022.06.25, Kokubunji
It's 5º in Tokyo right now with humidity of 43%.

movie review - Central Intelligence

2022.06.22, Kokubunji
This is a movie in which Kevin Hart plays the diminutive comic relief and someone capable of maintaining a scowl plays the heavy.

movie review - Spiderhead

2022.06.22, Kokubunji
This is an unpleasant little Sci-Fi number that features a number of inmates at a facility who are serving lengthy sentences.

movie review - Pig

2022.06.21, Kokubunji
This is an off-beat movie about a former star chef who now lives in a shack in the hills with his truffle pig.

cut down in my youth

2022.06.20, Kokubunji
A few years ago, my daughter was playing with my shaver.

movie review - Spider-Man No Way Home

2022.06.19, Kokubunji
This movie is what they call "fan service", designed foremost to please people who are really into the material.

the word of the day is 詩

2022.06.18, Kokubunji
On the downside my Japanese reading this weekend is on Yoko Ono.

there is something at the bottom of the sea

2022.06.16, Kokubunji
It's remarkable to me that we can't even find the DNA that could tell us what these are.

movie review - Greenland

2022.06.15, Kokubunji
Apocalypse now!

movie review - Nobody

2022.06.12, Kokubunji
This movie is a near miss.

clothing

2022.06.08, Kokubunji
I watched a Youtube video about the textiles industry.

twenty years of photo CMS

2022.06.07, Kokubunji
I went hunting in my journal and found what I was looking for: record of when I started working on the database-driven photo manager I use.

crow chasing butterfly

2022.05.30, Kokubunji
Today we watched one of The Boy's basketball tournaments.

electric cars

2022.05.28, Kokubunji
I have this growing conviction that electric cars are not the solution to our car problem.

towel day and the living is easy

2022.05.25, Kokubunji
I marked this auspicious day by buying books, but not Douglas Adams.

movie review - Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

2022.05.22, Kokubunji
This is a Marvel super-hero movie with enough of a re-skin that it is more watchable than many.

boom town

2022.05.20, Kokubunji
Today there was a persistent rumbling that waxed and waned in volume.

movie review - Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them

2022.05.18, Kokubunji
This was a "movie night" movie and despite myself I found it growing on me.

analog computers for artificial intelligence

2022.05.18, Kokubunji
I can barely keep up with these things. I mean, I don't th

five years after a death

2022.05.16, Kokubunji
My friend Kevin Atwood died five years ago.

birth of a nation

2022.05.16, Kokubunji
I hope the author's right that all this suffering and dest

I have learned the prefectures

2022.05.15, Kokubunji
Emma is studying the prefectures of Japan, so I've decided to learn them as well.

movie review - The Addams Family

2022.05.14, Kokubunji
This is an animated remake of the old Addams Family series, movies, and comic strips.

Near Dark

2022.05.10, Kokubunji
This is the tale of a young Texan who falls in with a bunch of vampires.

remind me to never swim again

2022.05.08, Kokubunji

movie review - Falling Down

2022.05.07, Kokubunji
For Movie Night, The Boy and I watched this now thirty-year-old Hollywood flick about a mentally and emotionally disturbed individual who - get this - attempts to walk across Los Angeles.

crapped on by a bird for the twentieth time

2022.05.04, Kawasaki, Japan
It's happened for the first time in nearly three years - hit with shit yet again.

ugh Scotch

2022.04.28, Kokubunji
I bought some Japanese whisky that turned out to be a form of Scotch.

movie review - Ad Astra

2022.04.24, Kokubunji
This is an interesting work of Science Fiction that starts with its main character falling off a sky hook and then follows him to every miserable corner of a future that's at once dystopian but also somewhat grounded and optimistic but not in a Star Trek way.

farewell cameras

2022.04.22, Kokubunji
The household is now down to just two cameras.

movie review - Black Crab

2022.04.17, Kokubunji
This is a tense tale set in a near future Crapsack World where war has broken out between .

modding watches

2022.04.16, Kokubunji
Today I did some work on my watches.

movie review - Turning Red

2022.04.02, Kokubunji
This is a family-friendly animated movie about a girl in Toronto's Chinatown community (the one on Spadina) who discovers that she is heir to a family secret - puberty-onset shape-shifting superpowers.

Toronto real estate trap

2022.04.01, Kokubunji
The average home in Toronto is now $1.

power shortage in Tokyo

2022.03.22, Kokubunji
The power generation company has announced that due to damage sustained in the large earthquake last week, the power plants in the north-east part of Japan are at maximum capacity, with zero spare.

fishing with the boy

2022.03.21, Yokohama
Mari arranged a fishing trip for The Boy and me, as it's a holiday.

large quake in Tokyo

2022.03.17, Kokubunji
There was a large quake tonight, easily the largest I've ever experienced.

movie review - Raya and the Last Dragon

2022.03.15, Kokubunji
This is a particularly good animated kids' movie.

latest watch acquisition

2022.03.08, Kokubunji
For years, while earning barely enough to pay the bills in Toronto, I'd occasionally write about this or that "watch crush".

movie review - A Promising Young Woman

2022.03.03, Kokubunji
This is a movie about a guilty survivor of a horrific incident at a university in which a fellow female student is filmed while being raped to death.

well-wishes for Ukraine from Canada

2022.02.26, Kokubunji
I live halfway around the world but I thought I'd create this token of my well-wishes for the people of Ukraine.

movie review - The Suicide Squad

2022.02.24, Kokubunji
This is a comic book movie based on real comic books that I have actually read*.

movie review - Seventh Son

2022.02.21, Kokubunji
This is a Fantasy story about the seventh son of a seventh son - a supposed marker of great ability as a wizard.

frost-bite

2022.02.15, Kokubunji
I've realized that the house is so cold I've developed frost-bite on my little fingers.

curious polarizer lens

2022.02.13, Kokubunji
I went to work today, downtown.

The Boy has a lucky break

2022.02.11, Kokubunji
The Boy has been accepted to a STEM program at a high school in Toronto.

is this what happened to Star Trek Discovery

2022.02.08, Kokubunji

movie review - What Happened To Monday

2022.02.07, Kokubunji
This is a movie set in a near/alternate future in which GMO's were necessitated by an ecological collapse - humanity was starving.

movie review - Mother/Android

2022.02.01, Kokubunji
This is a frustrating Sci-Fi/thriller flick that doesn't realize it's promise.

goodbye, Google Workspace

2022.01.31, Kokubunji
On the weekend, I received an email from Google that they were cutting my legacy account on Google Workspace.

movie review - Extinct

2022.01.29, Kokubunji
This is a somewhat weird and off-putting animated story about a species of cuddly mammals that have bodies shaped like donuts - replete with the center hole.

running in spot

2022.01.24, Kokubunji
Every day I tackle a couple of items from my to-do list, sit down to work, race through lunch, site down to work again until 19:00 or 20:00, and then face the too-brief evening exhausted.

movie review - How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

2022.01.23, Kokubunji
This is the third in the "How to Train Your Dragon" series of animated movies.

The Boy sits an exam

2022.01.23, Kokubunji
My son had to sit an English-language exam today, so I packed him up and we went to Kichijoji.

movie review - Hilda and the Mountain King

2022.01.22, Kokubunji
This is an animated story of a human girl who wakes up to discover she's become a troll.

accidental scotch

2022.01.22, Kokubunji
I bought some Japanese whisky in the grocery/drug store and it's .

the cold house

2022.01.18, Kokubunji
It's not cold in Tokyo, but the houses sure are.

movie review - A Quiet Place II

2022.01.15, Kokubunji
This is a sequel to a sci-fi thriller in which massive comets have fallen to Earth, spawning alien killing machines as they go.

waiting for an Earthquake

2022.01.14, Kokubunji
I find that any time there's any small shift or movement, I'm waiting to see if it's an Earthquake.

slammed

2022.01.13, Kokubunji
I've only been back to work for 2-3 days and already it's like I never took two weeks off.

crazily late mail

2022.01.12, Kokubunji
Today some Christmas cards arrived in the mail.

movie review - Nightbooks

2022.01.09, Kokubunji
For "movie night" we watched a film about a kid who likes to write scary movies.

movie review - Casino Royale (2006)

2022.01.08, Nichinan, Miyazaki
Today my son and I watched the first of the Bond movies to feature Daniel Craig.

dead turtles in a harbor

2022.01.07, Nichinan, Miyazaki
It will surprise no-one that we went fishing today.

movie review - Goldeneye

2022.01.07, Nichinan, Miyazaki
I watched this Bond flick with my son as part of our ongoing series.

a waterfall in Miyakonojo

2022.01.06, Nichinan, Miyazaki
We traveled to Miyakonojo in the interior of Miyazaki, today, to visit with family.

fishing once more

2022.01.05, Nichinan, Miyazaki
Today Mari drove me and the two Akios down to Kushima, to meet her uncle and board his boat.

third literary agency queried

2022.01.05, Nichinan, Miyazaki
Not having had a response from the second literary agency I reached out to in early December, I've now written to a third about my novel manuscript.

fishing news

2022.01.04, Nichinan, Miyazaki
We took to the water again today, and I tried to catch larger fish rather than loading up on smaller ones as we had last time.

New Year's activities

2022.01.03, Nichinan, Miyazaki
Today we went to a shrine first thing, leaving at 08:00 to beat the rush.

daddy cleans a beach .. sorta

2022.01.02, Nichinan, Miyazaki
Today we headed out for a bit of a trip around the coast, just Mari and I and the kids.

movie review - License to Kill

2022.01.01, Nichinan
Today my son and I watched our fourth James Bond movie, for the fourth actor to take on the role.

Happy new year - the 25th anniversary for this journal

2022.01.01, Nichinan
Well, I can honestly say that 2021 was one of the hardest of my life.

2021

1,573 emails in 2021

2021.12.31, Nichinan, Miyazaki
The collapse of email as a communications medium proceeds at a furious pace.

recharging

2021.12.30, Kokubunji
I can't believe how exhausted I became this year.

movie review - Don't Look Up

2021.12.29, Nichinan, Miyazaki
This is a satire of the handling (or lack there-of) for a dire situation in which two American scientists discover a killer asteroid that's on a collision course with Earth.

movie review - The Spy Who Loved Me

2021.12.29, Kokubunji
This is the third Bond movie that my son and I watched together.

deep sea fishing

2021.12.28, Nichinan
I went fishing with my father-in-law today.

movie review - On Her Majesty's Secret Service

2021.12.21, Kokubunji
This is the second Bond film that I watched with my son.

movie review - Goldfinger

2021.12.20, Kokubunji
I watched this with my almost-thirteen-year-old this morning.

movie review - Gremlins

2021.12.17, Kokubunji
I showed the kids this '80s classic movie tonight.

built a TV stand this morning

2021.12.11, Kokubunji
I built a TV stand this morning.

second query letter sent

2021.12.05, Kokubunji
Not having heard from the first literary agent I reached out to six weeks ago, I've sent a second query to a different agency.

movie review - Green Snake

2021.12.04, Kokubunji
This is a Chinese-produced movie on Netflix that my daughter and I watched for "Movie Night".

today I played "Nihonjin Mitai"

2021.12.04, Kokubunji
A good friend has produced a card game called Nihonjin Mitai.

TV replaced

2021.12.04, Kokubunji
Our TV comes from Hi-Sense, a Chinese manufacturer that's been around for a number of years.

movie review - Anna

2021.12.03, Kokubunji
Burned out after another brutal week at work, I sat in front of Netflix and took a chance on this movie about a beautiful young Russian woman who winds up working for the KGB in the waning days of the USSR.

mid-night earthquake service

2021.12.03, Kokubunji
Yesterday I was woken at 02:00 by a modest earthquake.

my last palindrome date?

2021.12.02, Kokubunji
It's 2021.

shaken at night

2021.12.02, Kokubunji
I was woken at 02:00 by an earthquake.

that jaclyn moriarty

2021.11.27, Kokubunji
I've been reading a book called "The Whispering Wars" to my daughter.

movie review - Zack Snyder's Justice League

2021.11.20, Kokubunji
This movie is four hours long.

movie review - Red Notice

2021.11.19, Toronto
Sometimes, Hollywood will make a movie simply by assembling a leading cast and letting them do their usual shtick.

movie review - The Amazing Spider-Man 2

2021.11.18, Toronto
We watched this one for "movie night", and I realized that I'd somehow never seen this movie.

movie review - Jumper

2021.11.16, Kokubunji
It's been quite some time since I watched this Sci-Fi/thriller.

photo books are en route

2021.11.15, Kokubunji
Every year, I make photo books detailing the kids' lives.

drowning at 2.4º

2021.11.14, Kokubunji
My mum sent this tool, which shows how different cities will look once flooded by the expected rise in sea level over the coming decades.

good e-commerce experience

2021.11.14, Kokubunji
I had an unusually good e-commerce experience with a company called Number Barn that lets you park phone numbers.

new watch

2021.11.13, Kokubunji
I bought an all-silver watch to offset my entirely dark-dial watch collection.

too stupid for a space empire

2021.11.10, Kokubunji
The space adventurism of billionaires gives me solace that humanity is never going to colonize space.

state of the watch collection

2021.11.01, Kokubunji
After receiving a generous watch gift from my brother I'm suddenly a watch collector.

movie review - Dark Shadows

2021.10.30, Kokubunji
This is the story of a vampire who is locked up in a coffin for centuries and then released in our time.

movie review - Army of Thieves

2021.10.30, Kokubunji
Following hot on the heals of "Army of the Dead" comes a prequel about the German safe-cracker.

dinner with a friend

2021.10.22, Kokubunji
I had dinner with a friend tonight for the first time in so long I don't remember.

I love this new Macbook

2021.10.19, Kokubunji
There, I said it.

movie review - Jexi

2021.10.16, Kokubunji
This is an awkward semi-comedy featuring a guy who loses control of his life to an app.

submitted a query letter to a literary agent

2021.10.15, Kokubunji
I've submitted a query letter to a literary agent in the UK regarding my latest novel manuscript.

queried my first agent

2021.10.15, Kokubunji
I got my first query letter out the door with a synopsis and the first three chapters.

fast computer

2021.10.14, Kokubunji
I'm trying to find some reliable numbers of my new Mac's power draw, because I seem to be getting far more use out of a battery charge then I was expected.

long ride to Ibaraki

2021.10.11, Kokubunji
It was a beautiful day today, and the only one in the forecast for my week off that wasn

movie review - Men in Black 3

2021.10.10, Kokubunji
This is by far the best of the Men in Black movies about human cops chasing a bunch of alies around Earth.

movie review - Abominable

2021.10.10, Kokubunji
In this story, a girl finds a yeti cowering on the roof-top of her building.

first new computer in more than a decade

2021.10.09, Kokubunji
I've bought a new laptop for the first time in well over a decade.

quake!

2021.10.07, Kokubunji
We had a great earthquake today, a 6.

here comes a man through the window pane

2021.10.04, Kokubunji
This morning as with most Mondays I got an early start at work at around 07:00.

movie review - Men in Black II

2021.10.03, Kokubunji
This was another "movie night" viewing on Netflix.

108 to 99.8

2021.09.27, Kokubunji
I got a reading of 99.

tried to fix our TV

2021.09.25, Kokubunji
We tried to fix our TV today.

bee-keeping is pretty amazing

2021.09.24, Kokubunji
Lemme just grab a handful of bees real quick.

movie review - 12 Strong

2021.09.23, Kokubunji
This is the telling of a team of US soldiers that went into the Taliban's stronghold in Afghanistan following the 9/11 terrorist strike.

movie review - Pirates of the Caribbean

2021.09.19, Kokubunji
Another semi-lockdown quarantine movie review with the kids.

movie review - Goosebumps (2015)

2021.09.18, Kokubunji
We watched this with the kids.

movie review - The Little Things

2021.09.13, Kokubunji
This is the story of a detective who is sent to his former precinct in Los Angeles to complete some paperwork.

movie review - Kate

2021.09.11, Kokubunji
This is an action pic about an assassin who's been tasked with hitting a yakuza target.

thinner

2021.09.08, Kokubunji
We're going through a bit of a cool spell, so my wrist has become a bit thinner.

movie review - Pets United

2021.09.05, Kokubunji
Once in a while my daughter and I try to watch something for "Movie Night" that turns out to be unwatchable.

movie review - Midway

2021.09.04, Kokubunji
My son and I watched this flick for a school assignment.

movie review - Sweet Girl

2021.08.28, Kokubunji
This is a story about a man and daughter who lose their wife/mother and the father can't shake that his wife was allowed to die due to some mix of medical and pharmacological incompetence and/or conspiracy.

completed the first draft of my novel

2021.08.28, Kokubunji
By finding an hour or so per day I've managed to rewrite a novel from scratch in the course of six weeks or so.

movie review - The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf

2021.08.27, Kokubunji
This is an animated movie based on the excellent TV series "The Witcher".

movie review - Penguins of Madagascar: The Movie

2021.08.22, Kokubunji
This is a spy farce starring the penguins from the Madagascar movie which I want to say was fifteen years ago or more.

first draft of latest novel within sight

2021.08.22, Kokubunji
I've completed the plot for the first draft of my rewrite of a novel I first wrote from 1990 - 1994.

movie review - Knives Out

2021.08.15, Kokubunji
This is a whodunnit set in a mansion.

movie review - Vivo

2021.08.14, Kokubunji
In this film, a girl in Miami finds a kinkajou (a rare monkey thing) while on a trip in Cuba.

movie review - Hot Fuzz

2021.08.11, Kokubunji
This is an over-the-top cop-in-trouble movie in the vein of "Bad Boys II".

typhoon season

2021.08.10, Kokubunji
Last year I don't think Tokyo was hit or skirted by any typhoons.

scripting for site management

2021.08.09, Kokubunji
I use scripts to support the content management system that I wrote to create and serve this website.

the new fishing watch

2021.08.06, Kokubunji
I bought a new fishing watch for 2200 yen.

counting flights

2021.08.05, Kokubunji
A couple of weeks ago I was having trouble sleeping and decided to count all the times I'd flown.

movie review - R.I.P.D.

2021.08.04, Kokubunji
Sometimes there are movies that seem to be grown up around the personas of the lead actors.

grapes from our yard

2021.08.04, Kokubunji
Someone planted a single grape vine in our yard.

second vaccination blues

2021.08.01, Kokubunji
Had my second vaccine shot yesterday.

second vaccination

2021.07.31, Kokubunji
I've had my second vaccination, in a small clinic in the neighborhood (Kokubunji).

saw a bat on my street tonight

2021.07.28, Kokubunji
I saw a bat on our street tonight.

journal live once more

2021.07.25, Kokubunji
I've taken my journal live again.

weight loss

2021.07.23, Kokubunji
Just under two months ago, Mari and I switched to a low-carb diet.

maddening TV issues

2021.07.21, Kokubunji
We've been having problems with the sound-bar for our television dropping out all the time.

movie review - Wish Dragon

2021.07.20, Kokubunji
It's about a young fellow who is being raised by a single mother.

Ome is for (river) lovers

2021.07.17, Kokubunji
The rainy season has abruptly ended, and the temperature is north of 30°C every day.

movie review - Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

2021.07.10, Kokubunji
This is a sci-fi action film about a pair of agents for a galaxy-spanning government military force of some kind.

half-vax

2021.07.10, Kokubunji
I got my first vaccination shot today.

movie review - Secret Magic Control Agency

2021.07.03, Kokubunji
This is an animated flick that re-purposes twenty-something Hansel and Gretel as investigators for the society of magicians that maintains order by tracking down missing peoples of all types.

speculative sci-fi

2021.07.03, Kokubunji
I've finally finished a story I started in 2003 about how multi-cellular life got started on Earth, and added it to my little collection of sci-fi.

fiction reboot

2021.06.30, Kokubunji
I've restored some of my fiction to my website.

backup strategy works (for once)

2021.06.29, Kokubunji
Today I discovered that something had gone wrong with the software I wrote to manage my book reviews.

well I've never been to Ome

2021.06.28, Kokubunji
Today I cycled up to a town called Ome in Tokyo's far north-west.

damaged my lawnmower

2021.06.27, Kokubunji
Having this kind of day.

movie review - Rubber

2021.06.24, Kokubunji
This is a movie about a pissed-off semi-sentient car tire that discovers it has psionic abilities.

a day with immigration

2021.06.18, Kokubunji
Today we set out at 08:30 for the pension office.

first migraine in a week

2021.06.15, Kokubunji
Well I made it all of six days with this new drug in my system before taking a cafergot for a migraine.

conversational

2021.06.08, Kokubunji
My Japanese is getting to the point where I can string together actual (spoken) paragraphs now.

two shots in the arm

2021.06.08, Kokubunji
Today I had two shots at a hospital of a drug supposed to prevent migraine for up to a month.

movie review - The Spiderwick Chronicles

2021.05.30, Kokubunji
This is a movie about a trio of siblings that move into a rambling and decrepit home of a deceased relative after the separation of their parents.

the spider-plant incident

2021.05.30, Kokubunji
I'd noticed recently that the little pot into which I'd transplanted my spider-plant seemed oddly full, like the soil was about to overflow the thing.

movie review - The Do-Over

2021.05.29, Kokubunji
This is an Adam Sandler movie.

poorly made watch

2021.05.28, Kokubunji
I made a watch from parts I ordered on Ebay, AliExpress, and Amazon.

movie review - Army of the Dead

2021.05.27, Kokubunji
This is a style-over-substance heist movie set in a fictional Las Vegas that's been over-run with zombies.

movie review - Valley of the Dead

2021.05.22, Kokubunji
Set during the Spanish civil war, this is a zombie movie.

movie review - Heroes Wanted

2021.05.20, Kokubunji
This is a very uneven telling of the assembly of a "B" team of agents to track down a missing nuclear bomb.

movie review - True Memoirs of an International Assassin

2021.05.18, Kokubunji
This is the tale of a novelist who writes spy thrillers.

yes, it must be Monday

2021.05.17, Kokubunji
I managed to nick myself twice with a new razor blade.

movie review - Thunder Force

2021.05.14, Kokubunji
I have a feeling that this movie came together due to someone owing someone a favor because I don't think it was built on an idea per se - or at least not a solid one.

parking a phone number

2021.05.13, Kokubunji
When I moved from Tokyo to Toronto I bought a phone number in Toronto in advance through a small Canadian company.

waning eyesight

2021.05.12, Kokubunji
Over the past couple of mornings I've been going through some of my pics from the past few months.

Kokubunji at dusk

2021.05.09, Kokubunji
Kokubunji at dusk Collections containing this photo.kokubu

movie review - Spider-Man: Far from Home

2021.05.05, Kokubunji
This is a strange version of Spider Man that has no origin story but is basically a kid in the by-now Iron Man's wake.

first night with the window open

2021.05.03, Kokubunji
I slept with the window open last night for the first time this year.

movie review - The Mitchells vs. The Machines

2021.05.02, Kokubunji
This is an animated flick we watched on "movie night".

another quake

2021.05.02, Kokubunji
We had an early morning quake again today.

laying down plastic for rows of produce

2021.05.01, Kokubunji
laying down plastic for rows of produce Collections contai

the family that Casio together

2021.05.01, Kokubunji
I gave The Girl a Casio watch for her birthday.

used things doubling in value

2021.04.29, Kokubunji
In what is surely a sign of a stable economy, my seven year old SARB watch from Seiko is now selling for twice its original retail price - used.

building a watch

2021.04.23, Kokubunji
I'm going to build a watch from parts that I ordered from Ebay in the US and Aliexpress in China.

mowing the lawn every week?

2021.04.18, Kokubunji
And now it seems I have to mow the lawn every week.

a contact by a former employer

2021.04.17, Kokubunji
Today I was contacted by a former employer about the possibility of training their firm on a renewed push on the work we were doing 2-3 years ago.

we forgot a rake

2021.04.11, Kokubunji
So I mowed the lawn in about ten minutes.

our new lawnmower

2021.04.10, Kokubunji
For the first time in 30+ years, I'll be mowing the lawn this weekend.

movie review - I Care a Lot

2021.04.07, Kokubunji
This is a movie about an elderly woman whose life is turned upside down when she's forcibly confined in a nursing home by a crooked self-employed agent who has the legal authority to make self-serving financial decisions.

like books a-flight in the Golden Hour

2021.04.03, Kokubunji
like books a-flight in the Golden Hour Collections contain

the black heart door

2021.04.03, Kokubunji
the black heart door Collections containing this photo.wal

teaching the girl about lines

2021.04.03, Kokubunji
teaching the girl about lines Collections containing this

movie review - Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase

2021.04.03, Kokubunji
This is a story of a girl who's drawn into a ghost story.

a park in cherry blossom season

2021.03.29, Kokubunji
a park in cherry blossom season Collections containing thi

prepping for a big one

2021.03.29, Kokubunji
We had another earthquake on Sunday.

a Tokyo front yard in the Golden Hour

2021.03.26, Kawasaki
a Tokyo front yard in the Golden Hour Collections containi

and suddenly it's hot

2021.03.26, Kokubunji
Until just yesterday we were using our space heaters on a daily basis.

welcome to spring, everyone

2021.03.21, Kokubunji
I'm celebrating with a nasal/chest cold, which The Girl brought home early in the week.

life two-thirds gone

2021.03.17, Kokubunji
Hmm, I guess I've burned off two thirds of my life expectancy.

migraine journal

2021.03.16, Kokubunji
I went to see my neurologist again today.

mt fuji across water

2021.03.14, Chiba
mt fuji across water Collections containing this photo.

mt fuji across water

2021.03.13, Chiba
mt fuji across water Collections containing this photo.ski

hello, southern Chiba

2021.03.13, Tateyama
Today we went to a small city in southern Chiba prefecture called Tateyama.

happiness is a new fishing rod

2021.03.10, Kokubunji
Mari's bought me a birthday gift of fishing.

movie review - Ocean's Twelve

2021.03.08, Kokubunji
This is a sequel.

last week's homework

2021.03.08, Kokubunji
For last Tuesday, I had to write something about an interesting experience.

a camera review

2021.03.07, Kokubunji
The camera market is imploding fast.

a year in Japan

2021.03.06, Kokubunji
It's been a year in Japan as of today.

PR status here I come

2021.03.03, Kokubunji
I hope this unverified article is right, because it means I qualify for Japanese Permanent Residency.

so long, LastPass

2021.03.02, Kokubunji
I've been using a password plugin in my browser called LastPass since who knows when.

new camera bag

2021.03.01, Kokubunji
My beloved old camera bag has become faded, worn, stained, and shapeless.

photos deleted 13 years ago

2021.02.25, Kokubunji
I've discovered that I've managed to delete some ~150 or so photos from a 2006 trip to Kyoto with Mari and mum.

movie review - Constantine

2021.02.23, Kokubunji
It's been many years since I was happily surprised by this gritty Angles-and-Demons flick featuring a human who has learned many occult secrets and now spends his unhappy days fighting "Lu"cifer and his minions.

movie review - Gods of Egypt

2021.02.22, Kokubunji
This movie has a promising cast and certainly appears visually stunning, but is let down by an unengaging story in which characters behave without clear motive and no one is really very sympathetic.

checking out houses with my gal

2021.02.20, Kokubunji
After we'd had our bentou, we dragged The Girl into see some open houses that were freshly built in a quiet corner of our neighborhood.

checking out cameras with the girl

2021.02.20, Kokubunji
When my brother and I were small my mum would occasionally ask what kind of gift to get for our dad.

a surprise piano

2021.02.19, Kokubunji
My boss is going back to Europe for failing to deliver on a major risk project.

GPU prices

2021.02.18, Kokubunji
On October 9 I bought a video card for The Boy's PC for ¥28,000.

movie review - Johnny English Strikes Again

2021.02.17, Kokubunji
This is a spy spoof in which Rowan Atkinson plays a dimwitted secret agent of mostly good nature.

an animal is a moving thing

2021.02.16, Kokubunji
Today's word in Japanese is 動物, or doubutsu, or animal.

the square root of first is ash

2021.02.14, Kokubunji
I just learned the word for grey in Japanese; haiiro.

the earthquake

2021.02.13, Kokubunji
We've had several quakes in the near year I've been here.

movie review - Get Smart

2021.02.11, Kokubunji
This is a luke-warm reboot of a TV show from the '60s that lacks a good deal of the charm of the original.

I got lost today

2021.02.11, Kokubunji
I decided, around 15:30 to head west to the Tamagawa to see the river by bike.

in bloom

2021.02.10, Kokubunji
Two weeks ago I was surprised to see plum blossoms in the neighborhood.

movie review - Space Sweepers

2021.02.09, Kokubunji
This is a Korean piece of Sci-Fi that I quite enjoyed.

unseasonably warm street photography

2021.02.06, Kokubunji
Kokubunji isn't exactly a beautiful place but it's lively enough for a tiny city in the middle of 40 million people.

leads for a "vintage" pencil

2021.02.06, Kokubunji
Today Mari and I went for a walk to do some errands.

movie review - Serenity

2021.02.04, Toronto
"Take me out into the black, tell 'em I ain't coming back.

another new server for emuu.net

2021.01.31, Kokubunji
I've long since lost count of the many, many VM's and physical servers upon which I've had emuu.

3° in Tokyo

2021.01.31, Kokubunji
It's 3° outside this morning, which means it's scantly warmer indoors.

movie review - Finding ‘Ohana

2021.01.30, Kokubunji
This is an entertaining film that's basically "The Goonies" in Hawaii plus girls.

the 15 million year pandemic

2021.01.29, Kokubunji
And we think *we* have it rough.

a bird made of cheap Chinese bricks

2021.01.27, Kokubunji
Some of the cheap Chinese lego-like bricks I ordered before X'mas arrived.

abandoned laneway

2021.01.21, Kokubunji
A few blocks from our place is a laneway that's been abandoned.

cold house

2021.01.12, Kokubunji
This new residence of ours is about thirty years old.

movie review - Inside Man

2021.01.11, Kokubunji
The main weakness of Heist movies is being too clever.

movie review - Holmes & Watson

2021.01.11, Kokubunji
As much as I like the stars of this film, I couldn't sit through it to the end.

old PC finally complete

2021.01.10, Kokubunji
Late this summer, we went to a "recycle shop" that Mari had found online.

movie review - The House with a Clock in Its Walls

2021.01.09, Kokubunji
This is a spooky family flick about a boy who goes to stay with his uncle, who is something of a witch.

movie review - Papillon

2021.01.07, Kokubunji
This is a gritty telling of true events in mid-Century France.

sunset on a New Year's Day

2021.01.01, Kokubunji
We went out to see the sunset.

2020

migraine report

2020.12.31, Kokubunji
I was thinking back across the year and realized that I may have gotten through the year without a day lost to a migraine.

the death of email

2020.12.31, Kokubunji
This time last year I recorded a count of the emails I'd received through the year.

movie review - The Midnight Sky

2020.12.26, Kokubunji
I really wanted to enjoy this movie about a scientist struggling to resolve a global climate crisis while a space mission is returning to the ruined planet.

movie review - We Can Be Heroes

2020.12.26, Kokubunji
Of late, Robert Rodriguez has been making kids movies.

movie review - Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey

2020.12.25, Kokubunji
This is a musical number about a genius inventor who is ripped off by his apprentice.

starting to feel a lot like X'mas

2020.12.24, Kokubunji
crowded tree Mari's done a stellar job of X'mas as with eve

jupiter and saturn

2020.12.21, Kokubunji
We were treated to an amazing image of the moon, Saturn, and Jupiter all crowded into a single corner of a cloudless sky at dusk, tonight.

movie review - Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)

2020.12.20, Kokubunji
This is a Batman spin-off, or perhaps a spin-off of "Suicide Squad", which is a spin-off of Batman.

a trio of heaters

2020.12.20, Kokubunji
Today I bought three heaters.

lego from China

2020.12.19, Kokubunji
The Girl has been playing with Lego a fair bit, but sadly we had to leave most of it in Canada so she's got way more windows than wall pieces and some of her creations have been a bit rickety.

movie review - The Matrix Reloaded

2020.12.13, Kokubunji
I tried showing my kids this flick for "movie night".

movie review - The Vast of Night

2020.12.12, Kokubunji
This film was a recommendation from a friend, and I was completely blown away.

articular disc slipped

2020.12.12, Kokubunji
I had to go to a dentist today because of a persistent problem in my jaw.

out of migraine meds

2020.12.11, Kokubunji
Well I've got three of my migraine capsules left.

movie review - The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

2020.12.05, Kokubunji
This is a spy story, set in the Cold War.

movie review - Animal Crackers

2020.12.05, Kokubunji
For "Movie Night" my daughter and I watched this one.

the trouble with pandemics (episode 334)

2020.11.29, Kokubunji
It looks like we have no option to get the photo books to people on time.

my annual fall from my bike

2020.11.29, Kokubunji
We went to Tachikawa today to get me onto a mobile phone service.

movie review - The Goonies

2020.11.28, Kokubunji
This is the '80s classic featuring a bunch of kids who decide to explore a house where they think some evil-doing is afoot.

movie review - The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two

2020.11.27, Kokubunji
Proving once again that there can't be a good movie without a sequel, this is the unnecessary follow-up to the endearing Netflix Christmas Special featuring Kurt Russell as Santa Claus.

hello kitty bank

2020.11.27, Kokubunji
I needed a new bank account, because the Japanese banking system is .

the trouble with mobile phones (II)

2020.11.26, Kokubunji
I didn't get as much done today as I wanted.

fishing in Yamanashi

2020.11.25, Yamanashi
Today I joined the headhunter who placed me at my current gig in a fishing trip.

another busy day

2020.11.24, Kokubunji
Today we set off right away for Fuchu, a city adjacent to Kokubunji.

the trouble with mobile phones

2020.11.23, Kokubunji
One odd wrinkle has come up in our plans to switch to a low-cost phone provider.

movie review - The Matrix

2020.11.22, Toronto
This is a classic science fiction movie from twenty years ago, before financial crises, calamitous presidencies, and terrorist strikes at the heart of the global financial industry.

a productive day

2020.11.22, Kokubunji
I've discovered that I've been completely exhausted.

movie review - Over the Moon

2020.11.21, Kokubunji
This is a kids' movie from a Chinese studio that features an ancient tale from that same country of a goddess who winds up stranded on the moon / living in association with the moon.

photo books ready to roll

2020.11.20, Kokubunji
I used some white corrective tape to patch up three mistakes in this year's photo books, which arrived last Sunday.

movie review - Beyond Skyline

2020.11.17, Kokubunji
This is a fun Sci-Fi flick about a cop whose son is becoming a petty crook.

river trek

2020.11.15, Kokubunji
We headed off at 10:30 this morning hoping to reach a place where there's a ravine full of autumn colors, this finally being the season.

smashed my beater watch

2020.11.08, Kokubunji
I caught the edge of the glass on my beater watch on a surface while taking The Girl out to the park today.

movie review - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

2020.11.07, Kokubunji
Today we watched a movie the kids only know from memes.

proxy TV

2020.11.03, Kokubunji
Today I hooked up a small Linux device between the new TV and our even newer Internet connection*.

the grass is riz

2020.11.02, Kokubunji
We've been diligently watering the grass and watching for some sign of life but we were beginning to think it hadn't worked when Mari spotted tiny shoots all over the tiny yard.

Kokubunji is for lovers

2020.11.01, Kokubunji
This morning I carried on with the work on volume thirteen of the kids' photo books.

making hay in the sunshine

2020.10.25, Kokubunji
Today was a sunny day (queue the day-long migraine) so we decided by around nine in the morning to seed the yard in hopes of growing a lawn.

a day of rest

2020.10.24, Kokubunji
This morning I set off to find a kickstand.

buying a TV

2020.10.20, Kokubunji
Buying a TV has become insanely difficult.

bird feeder

2020.10.18, Kokubunji
This past week the landlord sent some gardeners, who aggressively cut back the cedars and made pollards out of the deciduous trees.

Japanese lesson no. 2

2020.10.13, Kokubunji
I had my second Japanese lesson tonight.

good news today

2020.10.11, Kokubunji
For the first time in four days, it was not raining incessantly.

prescription reading glasses

2020.10.10, Kokubunji
This morning Mari and I went to Kunitachi, a city in our 'hood with a name that seems to be comprised of bits of the larger cities.

first jaunt on my new-old bike

2020.10.09, Kokubunji
Today after a grueling day and the end of a grueling week*, I was told that Ken had left his umbrella at school and that I'd had to meet him.

sofa and beds

2020.10.07, Kokubunji
We've finally bought a sofa and some bed frames.

movie review - Venom

2020.10.06, Kokubunji
This is a sci-fi/super-hero movie about a disgraced photographer and the alien symbiote that he meets while breaking into a lab owned by a billionaire.

Bering land bridge idea

2020.10.06, Kokubunji
Ken's writing a piece for school on the Bering land bridge.

ants, getcha flying ants

2020.10.05, Kokubunji
Our place is (literally) crawling with what appear to flying ants.

on CEO's and civil wars

2020.09.28, Kokubunji
A friend posted to slack: "Andreas Liris, the CIO of Ma

rebuilding the Tokyobike

2020.09.26, Kokubunji
Mari's old Tokyobike now has a new set of tires and tubes, and a new front axle to replace the one I broke when attempting repairs in Toronto last year.

total aquarium kill

2020.09.25, Kokubunji
Mari's dad had a near total aquarium kill incident.

movie review - Enola Holmes

2020.09.24, Kokubunji
This is an imaginative new story about the young sister of Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes, who defies her older brothers by striking out to find their mother, who seems quite fixed on not being found, for reasons unknown.

scary summary of the Canadian economy

2020.09.23, Kokubunji
In an exchange with a friend in Canada who's a lawyer and fo

shopping for a TV but buying a fire extinguisher

2020.09.19, Kokubunji
Today we went out while Ken was at school.

movie review - Da 5 Bloods

2020.09.18, Kokubunji
Every time I sit in front of a Spike Lee movie, I'm hoping for "Do the Right Thing" or "Malcolm X", and not, say, "She's Gotta Have It" or "School Daze" (which was the first of his works I saw).

yesterday's paper wasps

2020.09.18, Kokubunji
Mari spoke to the landlord about a nest of paper wasps that she'd spotted hanging from our bedroom balcony.

old badge, new coaster

2020.09.16, Kokubunji
I spotted the "badge" from the baseball hat I bought as a memento when on a week-long science trip on the west coast in 1986.

buh-bye beef

2020.09.15, Kokubunji
We're discussing giving up beef.

passport lost no longer

2020.09.14, Kokubunji
My passport went missing for a week during the move, which was a problem because I'd have to register my new address with the government.

revamping an old PC

2020.09.14, Kokubunji
I've mentioned that I bought an old Dell PC for about 15,000 yen (maybe $CA180).

friendly neighborhood

2020.09.13, Kokubunji
On Sunday, we went about introducing ourselves to the immediate neighbors.

weird sleeping

2020.09.08, Kokubunji
We're sleeping in the tatami room until we have beds.

high speed Internet

2020.09.07, Kokubunji
I imagine I'll be laughing at this post some day, but I'm pleased with the high speed of our Internet connection.

Michael's day off

2020.09.07, Kokubunji
Today we had plans to rent a car and do a bunch of housewares shopping.

Sunday, busy Sunday

2020.09.06, Kokubunji
This morning presented some challenges.

new type of home

2020.09.06, Kokubunji
Mari and I have been remarking to each other what a difference this place is already making.

evacuating for typhoon X

2020.09.06, Kokubunji
Mari's parents are evacuating in advance of typhoon X.

cycling between homes

2020.09.05, Kokubunji
Needless to say, as I cycled from home to home this morning, the weather was 32°.

hello, home no. 27

2020.09.05, Kokubunji
As I write this, I'm looking at a pile of 33 boxes from our home in Toronto.

the lease is signed on home no. 27

2020.08.31, Tokyo
Yesterday we signed our lease and forked over a fortune in fees and rent and illegal key money.

mind-bending 7nm chips

2020.08.30, Tokyo
We have to buy The Boy an iPad for his school.

movie review - The Sleepover

2020.08.29, Tokyo
We watched this for "movie night".

appliances issue resolved

2020.08.29, Tokyo
Mari had the movers come in to do an estimate today.

recycle shops

2020.08.26, Tokyo
Tonight we went to a "recycle shop", which is the Japanese name for a store carrying used stuff.

a partial bike commute

2020.08.24, Tokyo
Our real estate says we're almost certainly going to get the place in Kokubunji.

to the dentist!

2020.08.23, Tokyo
All of us went to the dentist this week.

furnished!

2020.08.22, Tokyo
Last night we picked up a car share vehicle* and went to a destination in Shibuya to pick up a used IKEA table and chair.

04:00 on Saturday morning

2020.08.22, Tokyo
I woke around 04:00 this morning.

a used table and chairs

2020.08.22, Tokyo
Mari's found a set of tables and chairs for the new house, at 1/4 the new price.

land management

2020.08.20, Tokyo
Mari told me last night that after thirty years, a law prohibiting the consumption of farmland for housing will expire.

Miyakonojo is hot tonight

2020.08.18, Tokyo
Today it was 39.

advising younger professionals

2020.08.16, Tokyo
After a thread on Reddit, someone sent me this query: Hello

a home in the 'burbs

2020.08.15, Tokyo
We've been looking at what it means to have to pay two months' rent in deposit plus one month's rent to the (illegal!

High of 36°C and 70 percent humidity today

2020.08.11, Tokyo
Today was possibly the hottest day of the year.

movie review - The Old Guard

2020.08.09, Kokubunji
This film is a .

movie review - The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

2020.08.09, Tokyo
This is the tale of a young man who learns how to set up a wind-driven pump to bring up ground-water and save his family's farm in a time of drought and conflict in rural Malawi.

Toronto's tech sector

2020.08.09, Tokyo
I saw another gushing article today about "Toronto's booming tech sector" and how its job growth is now greater than that of Silicon Valley.

found a suica card today

2020.08.08, Tokyo
I found Suica card with a recent date on the street.

the school tour

2020.08.07, Tokyo
Mari and The Boy went to the school today for a tour.

phones and banking

2020.08.06, Tokyo
Mari and Ken took off at 09:00 or so to do some banking and to buy some mobile phones.

movie review - NexGen

2020.08.05, Tokyo
For "Movie Night" my daughter and I watched this flick about a robot that's escaped the Evil Clutches of a boy genius who's been driven somewhat mad and then loses control of the AI he's created.

you mean a real architect

2020.08.04, Tokyo
I was talking with my "dotted line" boss in Europe in our regular biweekly call on Monday.

house-renting blues

2020.08.03, Tokyo
We've now lost a couple of homes we'd wanted to rent.

the virus and efficiency

2020.08.02, Tokyo
There's a joke in (seemingly endless) circulation on the Internet about how the virus and associated changes have led to more efficiency at the office.

twenty years of "progress"

2020.08.01, Tokyo
Maybe as a global society we shouldn't have elevated "value extraction" into a religion, so we'd a) have some sense of shared outcomes and b) could be prepared for this.

COVID-19 in the building

2020.07.29, Tokyo
On Sunday my colleagues and I at work were alerted by email that there had been two cases of COVID-19 in our office building.

teaching photography

2020.07.27, Tokyo
The Girl has taught me something about teaching photography, as she learns.

passed a test today

2020.07.26, Tokyo
I sat (and passed) a test on the cloud platform technology we're using at work.

man those CIA exams were hard

2020.07.25, Tokyo
During the chat with my direct boss this past week about my "promotion" some interesting things emerged.

movie review - Triple Frontier

2020.07.23, Kokubunji
This is a story of a band of mercenaries and former soldiers who come together to rob a drug lord.

bound for Hachioji

2020.07.23, Tokyo
Today we waited out the (morning) rain and went to Shibuya.

on Pi Approximation day

2020.07.22, Tokyo
I read this poem today.

looking at places

2020.07.19, Tokyo
This weekend we looked at six apartments.

one horned, one eyed, flying

2020.07.17, Tokyo
The Girl was at home today with me as The Boy and Mari were off for his entrance interview and exam for a private school.

practice interviews

2020.07.11, Tokyo
This weekend we're working through more prep for Ken's school exam.

early morning coffee run

2020.07.09, Tokyo
I took The Boy out this morning on a pre-work walk.

goodbye RBC credit card

2020.07.07, Tokyo
One of the pleasures of moving out of Canada is dumping your Canadian banks.

Grandma makes a save

2020.07.06, St. Catharines
Grandma's been getting weird texts from some unknown party about "E06" needing a credit card for bill payment.

and they're here!

2020.06.30, Tokyo
Nearly four months after I landed on March 6, the family is here!

the final countdown

2020.06.29, Tokyo
In preparation for the family's arrival, I've been shopping and cleaning.

things are tough back in Toronto

2020.06.28, Tokyo
A friend of mine lost his job in Toronto in early October, just a couple of weeks before I did.

Farewell, Kenilworth

2020.06.28, Tokyo
Mari and the kids are out of our apartment on The Boyilworth.

securing my email

2020.06.26, Tokyo
I'm moving my mail hosting for werneburg.

farewell, Olympus cameras

2020.06.25, Tokyo
Because I unloaded all of my old Minolta and Pentax gear, I only currently own two cameras.

1,000 person Zoom

2020.06.24, Tokyo
Grandma was on a 1,000-person Zoom call today about social and environmental issues.

pulse oximeter at last

2020.06.23, Tokyo
This past Sunday I finally took possession of my pulse oximeter.

happy father's day

2020.06.21, Tokyo
One of the first things you forget about when moving to a new country (or even one where you've lived before) is the holiday schedule.

farewell, home no. 25

2020.06.20, Tokyo
As part of the eternal hiring process for my current job, I had to enumerate all the places I'd lived in my life.

more stress eating

2020.06.19, Kawasaki
I splurged on some peanut butter last night.

stress eating

2020.06.17, Kawasaki
I woke up to some really bad news this morning (a death).

baking hot

2020.06.12, Kawasaki
It's 31°C and 68% humidity right now.

I (also) would like to learn more Japanese

2020.06.09, Kawasaki
I share my son's interest in learning the language of the country in which we'll be living.

les.net to the rescue

2020.06.07, Kawasaki
When I was heading to Canada nearly ten years ago, I realized that I'd need a Canadian phone number to support my job search.

farewell, 32spokes.org

2020.06.07, Kawasaki
The old 32spokes.

keeping the car

2020.06.06, Kawasaki
Looking at the situation, we've decided that we'd be walking away from too much value in light of the likely difficulty in selling the car for anything like its "normal market value" [sic].

mapping west Tokyo

2020.06.06, Kawasaki
We're hoping to get The Boy into a certain school in the city center, a part of the city where rents are a bit much.

unemployment in Canada

2020.06.05, Kawasaki
Well, as rough as the job is, and as rough as it is to migrate back here rushed and unplanned, it looks like the numbers validate my impression of Canada's fortunes.

not flying home

2020.06.04, Kawasaki
It's official, I'm not flying home to help pack, move, or bring the kids here.

storage

2020.06.03, Kawasaki
I've found an interesting storage company in Scarborough.

goodbye 32 Spokes

2020.06.02, Kawasaki
I'm winding down my activities with "32 Spokes", the cycling safety advocacy group I belonged to for six and a half years.

R0 won't do what you tell it to

2020.06.01, Kawasaki
Just in time, the R0 value in Japan is going up again.

new glasses

2020.05.31, Kawasaki
Today I picked up my new screen-reading glasses an I'm shocked to learn how much better my monitor is than I knew.

fishing and cycling

2020.05.30, Kawasaki
Today I set off fairly early on a shopping mission.

movie review - Silver Linings Playbook

2020.05.23, Tokyo
This is a movie in which a man returns to the house of his parents following an eight month stay in an institution.

our next stop

2020.05.23, Kawasaki
Mari found some temporary accommodation options for when they arrive in early July.

the buried river

2020.05.22, Kawasaki
Near my place in Kawasaki, a river is driven below ground before continuing a short distance later.

TTC transit passes from the late '90s

2020.05.20, Toronto
These are monthly transit passes issued by the TTC in the late '90s.

porting a home phone

2020.05.20, Kawasaki
After writing about the VPN thing the other day, it's occurred to me that we could keep our Toronto phone number simply by bringing the tiny VOIP device and the old handset with us to Tokyo.

re-connecting with a former colleague

2020.05.19, Kawasaki
I've re-connected with a number of former colleagues from my last run at the life insurance firm where I am today.

the trouble with covid, episide 847

2020.05.18, Kawasaki
Several private schools in Japan are barring kids from other countries to enter their intake exams, or simply not having those intake exams.

VPN software

2020.05.17, Kawasaki
One of the irritants about being mid-way between two countries is the way that national boundaries still play a part in some services like telephones and media.

slept on the main floor

2020.05.16, Kawasaki
I woke with a migraine coming on at 04:00, so I moved my bed down to the main floor in order to get some cooler air.

noisy motorcycles

2020.05.16, Kawasaki
I've finally figured out where there are so many delivery motorcycles racing back and forth outside my building all night.

feral piglets

2020.05.14, Kawasaki
Tonight I went out for a bit of a walk to burn off some stress and to finally mail a letter that I've been trying to send for some time.

movie review - Mission: Impossible - Fallout

2020.05.12, Tokyo
This strangely-named movie is one of the best thriller/action films I've ever seen.

laws of synthetic intelligence

2020.05.11, Kawasaki
I'm thinking of writing some laws of synthetic intelligence into my story.

progress on my novel

2020.05.10, Kawasaki
This weekend I concluded a major edit of the middle third of my old novel project.

hakubishin and me

2020.05.08, Kawasaki
Tonight I was out taking some photos and I ran across a masked palm civet, and introduced species that humans brought with them for some reason during prehistoric times.

thinking about mutation

2020.05.08, Kawasaki
I've been reading about SARS2 mutations.

tours of Kawasaki

2020.05.07, Kawasaki
So far, I've given three tours of my part of Kawasaki by "zoom.

selling things

2020.05.06, Toronto
We're selling our stuff in advance of the big move to Tokyo.

walking around in Japan

2020.05.05, Kawasaki
I've made a new photo collection.

movie review - Extraction

2020.05.02, Kawasaki
This was a surprisingly good action film about a mercenary who's sent into Bangladesh to extract a kidnapped child.

vroom vroom v-v-v-vroom oom oom vroom v-v-vroom

2020.05.02, Kawasaki
I can hear the sounds of someone playing a tune by gunning the engine of some kind of high-performance motorbike.

sixty-six kilometer ride

2020.05.02, Kawasaki
I hopped on my bike at 13:15 and got off again 32km later.

lockdown self-haircut no 1

2020.05.02, Kawasaki
It's been five weeks since I last cut my hair, so after The Girl's cake singing, I had a shower and put the hair attachment on my beard trimmer.

organic crunchy peanut butter

2020.04.28, Kawasaki
I've been changing my mind about my local grocery store.

a home with stuff

2020.04.28, Kawasaki
Today a number of deliveries happened.

my new charge card

2020.04.27, Kawasaki
It's funny that you could be pleased to do something as trivial as activating and charging a prepaid credit card with funds but given that I had to use Google Translate every step of the way it was something.

movie review - Prospect

2020.04.25, Tokyo
This is a science fiction movie about a future that feels a lot more realistic than Star Trek ever did.

Pandora's wine

2020.04.25, Kawasaki
When this charming millennium was still young there was in Canada a show on TV called "Corner Gas".

non-surgical masks

2020.04.24, Kawasaki
Yesterday I received a package of fifty disposable face masks.

burning disks

2020.04.23, Kawasaki
I've filled five of the 100GB disks with media and other stuff from my Dropbox account.

new weight loss plan

2020.04.22, Kawasaki
In the interests of staying alive, I've been staying indoors every other day (at a minimum).

100GB BD-R

2020.04.21, Kawasaki
I'm giving up my account on "Dropbox", a cloud storage service that's been around for years but has been getting progressively more expensive and in some ways frustrating.

just got paid today

2020.04.20, Kawasaki
Well I just got paid today, got me a pocket full of change.

woke up saying so

2020.04.19, Kawasaki
I woke up from a mid-day nap by happily announcing, "I'm awake!

sudden depression

2020.04.19, Kawasaki
When I spoke with Jon this morning he told me that he's been seeing people living in tents in green spaces about Toronto.

our angel fish laid eggs

2020.04.18, Kawasaki
Ken sent me a text early on Sunday morning (their time).

wandering the streets of Kawasaki

2020.04.16, Kawasaki
Tonight I hit the road because I realized I'm gaining a lot of weight.

living "under postponement"

2020.04.14, Kawasaki
Out for a stress walk just now, I noticed the wacky name of the neighborhood on a pole.

Fuji glimpses

2020.04.14, Kawasaki
Years ago when I lived in Sydney it was frequent that you'd see apartment listings featuring the term "harbor views".

John Prine is no more

2020.04.13, Kawasaki
The other day I posted a video by Bonnie Riatt.

a very zoomy easter

2020.04.13, Kawasaki
This morning (my time) I joined the Masterson clan in an Easter video chat on "zoom.

difficult night

2020.04.12, Kawasaki
There has been a noise complaint about my apartment.

the loneliness index

2020.04.11, Kawasaki
It's now been two weeks since I had a face-to-face conversation with anyone.

wandering along rivers

2020.04.11, Kawasaki
Today I went for a bit of a walk.

nothing succeeds like failure

2020.04.10, Kawasaki
At the end of the week I can report than both of the jobs I thought I'd saved have slipped through our fingers.

walking after lunchtime

2020.04.08, Kawasaki
Today I ate leftover rice and lentils with the last of my prefab fish.

first hurdle cleared

2020.04.08, Kawasaki
I've surprised myself by diffusing the situation at work with my staffer who was on Monday evening was talking about going to a lawyer.

lockdown in Toronto

2020.04.07, Toronto
In Ontario right now only one person may leave the house for shopping.

running out of coffee

2020.04.07, Kawasaki
Last night I went out to get some things prior to the impending lock-down of Tokyo.

dissertation getting read

2020.04.06, Kawasaki
One of the websites where I "published" the dissertation for my master's degree reports that that svelte 40,000 words has now been read 700 times.

selling cars

2020.04.06, Kawasaki
We had planned to sell our car this summer.

movie review - Green Book

2020.04.05, Tokyo
This is a movie about a tough who works as a door man in the early 1960s.

online board games

2020.04.05, Kawasaki
I played an online board game with one of my colleagues, today.

novelizing once again

2020.04.04, Kawasaki
I spent eight hours working on my old 2000-2008 era novel project.

farewell, Canada

2020.04.03, Kawasaki
Air travel between Japan and Canada is no more.

3km walk

2020.04.03, Kawasaki
Tonight I did the loop through the great big cemetery near my home*.

opticrom in Japan

2020.04.02, Kawasaki
I use eye drops on a fairly regular basis for a couple reasons.

zoom children

2020.04.02, Kawasaki
Almost every morning I get to see the kids.

Internet access restored

2020.04.01, Kawasaki
One of the irritants about this little apartment has been the Internet connectivity.

home schooling

2020.04.01, Kawasaki
Meanwhile in Toronto, the school board has (finally!

tough times

2020.04.01, Kawasaki
I reached out to a friend who just moved to Vancouver with her husband in the Autumn.

farewell March!

2020.03.31, Kawasaki
Well that's the end of a month I'm sure I'll never forget.

what a Monday

2020.03.30, Kawasaki
I reached out to a lawyer friend in the Toronto area today.

snowing for hours

2020.03.29, Kawasaki
Today it snowed a lot.

getting money in Japan

2020.03.29, Kawasaki
I mentioned to Mari that I noticed when getting money at an ATM that the ATM had a currency button.

kiddie-pool lockdown

2020.03.28, Kawasaki
Today Tokyo is on a lock-down lite, as the governor dips our collective toe into the concept of a locked-down Tokyo but without all the pesky stuff about businesses closing.

health insurance card

2020.03.28, Kawasaki
My health insurance card arrived!

unmasked

2020.03.27, Kawasaki
Tonight after a grueling day I attended a "virtual drinks party" with a bunch of colleagues on our shared text/videoconferencing app, which was nice.

movie review - Sicario

2020.03.26, Tokyo
This is a movie about the state of the "war on drugs", as told from the point of view of an officer from a local law enforcement agency who is drafted following a significant drug bust.

rice and lentils

2020.03.26, Kawasaki
I've got food coming at me from all angles.

word from St. Catharines

2020.03.25, St. Catharines
Grandma reports this experience shopping for groceries in St.

the middle manager's prayer

2020.03.24, Kawasaki
Once upon a time while visiting my dad's office (at which I would later hold some summer jobs) I saw a many-times photocopied sign titled "The Middle Manager's Prayer".

first week working from home

2020.03.23, Kawasaki
Mari had ordered a small desk and a ball chair so that I would have somewhere to sit while living in this little apartment.

laundry in high wind

2020.03.22, Kawasaki
I did some laundry this morning but it was far too windy to keep the stuff on the railing outside so I had to crowd myself in with drying racks all over the ~20 square meters of my apartment.

so this is Akihabara

2020.03.21, Kawasaki
After a bit of a slow start, I went back to Kawasaki's city center and returned my keyboard.

first holiday

2020.03.20, Kawasaki
No sign of the fever today, so I presume that my self-diagnosis of strep throat couldn't have been too far off the mark.

the fever

2020.03.19, Kawasaki
I woke soon after having eventually fallen asleep; maybe at 1:30 or so.

taking the long way home

2020.03.18, Kawasaki
I worked from home today.

movie review - Doctor Sleep

2020.03.16, Tokyo
This is the story of what becomes of little Danny from The Shining.

walking in the sun

2020.03.15, Kawasaki
Today I walked for about 4.

sometimes it snows in March

2020.03.14, Kawasaki
Early this morning I ran over to the dry cleaner's and picked up my suit.

COVID19 in Japan

2020.03.13, Kawasaki
If you're wondering, yes there's information on the developing outbreak in Japan.

Tamaplaza

2020.03.13, Kawasaki
I spent the first part of the day puzzling through the ongoing destruction of the global economy.

slow day

2020.03.12, Kawasaki
Today Mari and I started the day by reviewing our priorities and deciding that there was no rush in finding an apartment.

apartment has WiFi

2020.03.11, Kawasaki
Aha, I've figured out how to use the neutered phone that came with this studio apartment as a WiFi hot-spot.

land of constant paperwork

2020.03.11, Kawasaki
My day started with a trek to "mouth of the gully" to drop off my suit at a dry cleaners.

movie review - Ex Machina

2020.03.10, Tokyo
This is an unpleasant movie about a reclusive genius and tech billionaire who has been dabbling in artificial intelligence androids - to make women to keep under his thumb.

moved in (pocket WiFi to the rescue)

2020.03.10, Kawasaki
Bright and early this morning.

a long day (part two)

2020.03.09, Kawasaki
I wrote about all my running around in the city but I left out one exhausting piece.

a long day

2020.03.09, Kawasaki
I woke at three this morning, unable to shake the jetlag.

one thing I forgot

2020.03.09, Kawasaki
I need inserts for new shoes or I get plantar fasciatis tears.

house-hunting

2020.03.07, Kawasaki
Today we looked at a house in the city of Setagaya within Tokyo's long border with Kanagawa prefecture.

in Tokyo

2020.03.06, Kawasaki
My day was pretty full.

aquarium care

2020.03.06, Toronto
In my absence, Mari suggested that the kids start tending to the aquarium fish on a daily basis.

rumor and shortage

2020.03.04, Toronto
I'm preparing for tomorrow's trip.

job offer in hand

2020.03.03, Toronto
I woke up today to find that I have my job offer.

transferring phone numbers

2020.03.01, Toronto
When I came back to Canada I used a service offered by a fellow in Manitoba to acquire a number in Toronto's then newish 647 area code.

new shirts

2020.03.01, Toronto
One of the final purchases to get me back in corporate form was a set of shirts for the office.

poor little chime ball

2020.03.01, Toronto
When I was a baby, someone bought a chime ball for my distraction.

the kijiji people

2020.02.29, Toronto
Today I gave away a good chunk of my old film and early digital camera gear.

leaving for Tokyo

2020.02.27, Toronto
We're leaving for Tokyo next week.

movie review - Descendants 3

2020.02.26, Toronto
OK, I've sat through two of these with the kids.

movie review - The Imitation Game

2020.02.26, Tokyo
This is a telling of Alan Turing's contributions to the British war effort in the Second World War.

stealing wages from teachers

2020.02.25, Toronto
As of this morning, the government of the province of Ontario has now paid us $250 in compensation for the strike days that saw our kids at home.

so this is February?

2020.02.24, Toronto
I cycled downtown to pick up a prescription, today.

to the aquarium!

2020.02.23, Toronto
We took the kids to the aquarium today because The Girl had an annual pass that was about to expire.

movie review - The Gentlemen

2020.02.22, Toronto
This is a gangster film from the United Kingdom, cleverly told as recounting of a movie plot being pitched by somebody knee-deep in the story himself.

showed the boy how to shave

2020.02.22, Toronto
Last night at bedtime I showed the boy how to shave, since he needed it.

job offer drafted

2020.02.21, Toronto
Last night I reached out to a number of the headhunters that I'd spoken to during my time in Tokyo over the new year's, mentioning that I was still "working with" NN Life for this gig.

out of date linux nerd

2020.02.20, Toronto
Just telling myself, "You so old, you still use df -lk /volume".

movie review - Dumbo

2020.02.16, Toronto
This is a live-action kids' movie about a fellow who is trying to hang on to his family's circus.

surprise!

2020.02.16, Oakville
This morning we all headed out to get some greeting cards, because in the afternoon we were to pile into poor old salt-stained Méabh and toodled up to Oakville for a surprise birthday party for uncle Scott.

flipped off in Oakville

2020.02.15, St. Catharines
We're in St.

more D&D

2020.02.14, Toronto
Today The Boy's best friend came over and we carried on the long-running Dungeons and Dragons campaign with the two boys and The Girl playing.

Valentine's day lunch

2020.02.13, Toronto
With tomorrow being a PA day, meaning the kids would be home, Mari and I headed out together for a Valentine's day lunch at a Lebanese restaurant in Leslieghville.

taking the bikes for a spin

2020.02.12, Toronto
Today I took the kids outside so that they could take their bikes for spin up and down the street.

jobs in Toronto

2020.02.11, Toronto
While I wait for things to happen in Tokyo, I've been applying for roles in Toronto and the region.

happiness is a new visa

2020.02.11, Toronto
The Boy and I went downtown to pick up my spiffy new spousal visa at the Japanese consulate.

farewell, my brothers in arms

2020.02.10, Toronto
Tonight I got together with a small group from "32 Spokes", the cycling advocacy crowd in our part of town.

laid up this weekend

2020.02.09, Toronto
I've had a fairly strong bug this weekend.

strike time means entertaining boys

2020.02.06, Toronto
The TDSB teachers are on strike today, so I wound up with four 11-12 year olds playing D&D at our place.

taxes

2020.02.05, Toronto
In preparation for my departure I did our taxes today, though I can't submit them yet.

the slow road to action

2020.02.03, Toronto
I just noticed this in our councilor's latest email blast (from the 31st).

farewell to outerwear

2020.02.03, Toronto
Today one of my preparations for my likely departure was taking my ancient leather jacket and two very old blazers to the Value Village.

it's a new dawn

2020.02.02, Toronto
Every now and then I re-order my website or some part of it.

terrible father

2020.02.01, Toronto
Today I learned that my daughter has somehow not watched Star Wars at nearly eight years old.

goodbye, dungeons and dragons books

2020.01.31, Toronto
In preparation for an expected move to Tokyo, I've just taken the "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" books that we used in the 80's down to the end of our driveway for someone to pick up.

closed my corporate bank account

2020.01.30, Toronto
I've closed the bank account for my consulting business.

goodbye, former coworkers

2020.01.30, Toronto
Today I went downtown to meet an old colleague for a coffee.

TTC's presto service is nuts

2020.01.29, Toronto
I have to use the TTC tomorrow, and realized that I would have to sort out my payment card.

musings on an economy

2020.01.28, Toronto
Today I met an old colleague downtown for lunch.

movie review - Running with the Devil

2020.01.25, Miyazaki
This is a downer of a story about a much of mutually antagonistic members of a drug cartel that's imploding over internal strife.

doing things the dad way

2020.01.21, Toronto
When I was young I always marveled at my father's ability to get things done by refusing to make someone else's problem his own.

back in the grey

2020.01.13, Toronto
Touched down in Toronto today.

movie review - Kingsman: The Secret Service

2020.01.12, Nichinan, Miyazaki
The way this movie was advertised didn't appeal to me, somehow.

the old man and the sea

2020.01.09, Nichinan
I went fishing with my father-in-law on the Philippine Sea today.

interior of an ancient tomb, Miyazaki

2020.01.05, Miyazaki
interior of an ancient tomb, Miyazaki Collections containi

relief map of two burial mounds

2020.01.05, Miyazaki
relief map of two burial mounds Collections containing thi

the tree abides

2020.01.05, Miyazaki
the tree abides Collections containing this photo.Japan 20

archeology in Kyushu

2020.01.05, Kyushu
Today we did archeology.

at a fine ryokan in Nichinan

2020.01.04, Miyazaki
at a fine ryokan in Nichinan Collections containing this p

a meeting room in the former home of a samurai

2020.01.04, Miyazaki
a meeting room in the former home of a samurai Collections

today we picked strawberries in January

2020.01.04, Nichinan
Today we picked strawberries.

praying at the new year

2020.01.02, Nichinan
Today we went to a shrine to pray, as it's a new year.

a tacked on doorbell

2020.01.01, Miyazaki
a tacked on doorbell Collections containing this photo.Jap

2019

bamboo path in the hills

2019.12.31, Miyazaki
bamboo path in the hills Collections containing this photo

a valley seen from a clear-cut

2019.12.31, Miyazaki
a valley seen from a clear-cut Collections containing this

A small shrine in the hills of Miyazaki

2019.12.31, Miyazaki
A small shrine in the hills of Miyazaki Collections contai

only 8,886 emails this year

2019.12.31, Nichinan, Miyazaki
My multi-annual plan to reduce emails has continued.

two boys and a rocket stove

2019.12.30, Miyazaki
two boys and a rocket stove Collections containing this ph

sampling the rice

2019.12.30, Miyazaki
sampling the rice Collections containing this photo.a life

rice stock for making mochi

2019.12.30, Miyazaki
rice stock for making mochi Collections containing this ph

no climbing to the roof

2019.12.29, Miyazaki
no climbing to the roof Collections containing this photo.

my wife's elementary school

2019.12.29, Miyazaki
my wife's elementary school Collections containing this ph

my wife's old elementary school

2019.12.29, Miyazaki
my wife's old elementary school Collections containing thi

fishing at sunrise

2019.12.28, Miyazaki
fishing at sunrise Collections containing this photo.Japan

a forestry lane on a hill

2019.12.27, Miyazaki
a forestry lane on a hill Collections containing this phot

nichinan is a mill town

2019.12.26, Miyazaki
nichinan is a mill town Collections containing this photo.

wet weather on broken hills

2019.12.26, Miyazaki
wet weather on broken hills Collections containing this ph

a fish restaurant in aitsu, in Nichinan

2019.12.25, Miyazaki
a fish restaurant in aitsu, in Nichinan Collections contai

something in the ground

2019.12.25, Miyazaki
something in the ground Collections containing this photo.

a complex coastline, Nichinan

2019.12.25, Miyazaki
a complex coastline, Nichinan Collections containing this

oh, Fermi and your paradox

2019.12.21, Nichinan, Miyazaki
Two interesting articles on the Fermi paradox state: one, that civilization burns itself out via industrialization-fueled climate change; and two, that ignoring the discussion isn't helping us mature to the point that we can even contemplate moving into the stars.

on a laneway in Tokyo's east side

2019.12.20, Toronto
on a laneway in Tokyo's east side Collections containing t

family-chan!

2019.12.20, Nichinan, Miyazaki
Today I traveled from Tokyo to Miyazaki, where I met Mari and the kids.

another two-fer

2019.12.19, Tokyo
Today was another with two good things.

chiibas

2019.12.18, Tokyo
chiibas Collections containing this photo.cycling in Japan

movie review - The Secret Life of Pets 2

2019.12.18, Tokyo
Well, in for a dime, in for a dollar.

plan of a bike parking garage

2019.12.17, Tokyo
plan of a bike parking garage Collections containing this

the reunion

2019.12.17, Tokyo
Two good things today.

Jeff

2019.12.16, Tokyo
Today I met with an old classmate from Japanese courses way back when I was at NikkoCiti.

movie review - 6 Underground

2019.12.15, Tokyo
This is a choppy heist movie by a director who absolutely nails the stunts and visual wizardry and often struggles to capture natural human interaction.

a canal on Tokyo's east side

2019.12.15, Tokyo
a canal on Tokyo's east side Collections containing this p

ironing board

2019.12.15, Tokyo
Today I decided I'd had enough of the cell-like "hotel room" in which I've been hold up at the surprisingly cheap cost of ¥5000 a night and went on a long walk.

Satoi-san!

2019.12.14, Tokyo
Today I made the trek out to the south-eastern reaches of the Tokyo "ku", to visit an old friend: Satoi-san.

jetlagged!

2019.12.13, Tokyo
I had no meetings arranged today, but did some banking.

stepping back twelve years

2019.12.12, Toronto
Today I met with a fellow Canadian in the lobby of a life insurance firm where I worked when Mari and I were first living together.

an old acquaintance

2019.12.12, Tokyo
This afternoon I met with an old acquaintance - a headhunter I'd met with in the frantic days before I ultimately left Japan in late 2010.

Tokyo sky tree

2019.12.11, Tokyo
Today I visited Tokyo sky tree, doing the tourist thing after a day of meetings yesterday.

movie review - Spider-Man Homecoming

2019.12.10, Toronto
For a second time in as many decades, the Spider-Man movies have now been rebooted; they've started all over again.

first meeting

2019.12.10, Tokyo
First thing I crossed the city center from Kameido to Shinjuku to go to a book store that I knew had English-language map books.

looking for work (in the only right places)

2019.12.09, Tokyo
I flew to Tokyo today to find work here.

cancelling wind turbine projects because reasons

2019.12.07, Tokyo
Ontario's cancelled another wind-turbine project.

smuggling out e-waste

2019.12.04, Toronto
An interesting article in The Verge about how greed drove a "recycling" company to falsify documents in order to conceal that monitors containing mercury were being sent to Hong Kong for dismantling.

we're burning our plastic bottles

2019.12.03, Toronto
You know how you're so good about sorting plastic bottles from non-recyclable trash?

quantum science for a real mind-bend

2019.11.25, Toronto
OK, I had to watch this one twice.

happy Fibonacci day!

2019.11.23, Toronto
For my math nerd friends out there.

same ol' same ol'

2019.11.22, Toronto
Today I rode up to the Bermondsey neighborhood to meet a friend and fellow unemployee.

the entrepreneurs

2019.11.21, Toronto
Today I had a meeting downtown with an entrepreneur who's built a thriving software business; within a couple of years of their start they now have four products in production with different clients.

solid-state batteries are here

2019.11.18, Toronto
In this fascinating video, we learn that solid-state, eco-friendly, stable, and inexpensive batteries are just around the corner--prototypes already exist!

movie review - Murder on The Orient Express

2019.11.15, Toronto
This is a retelling of the classic Agatha Christie movie.

movie review - Die Hard

2019.11.12, Tokyo
My eleven-year-old son and I watched this in the run-up to Christmas.

on asking whether you should really be CEO

2019.11.12, Toronto
A friend in Australia passed on an article in which a corporate board member spilled the beans about the mis-allocation of millions of dollars towards management consultants who provided little value.

gitlab owns an error

2019.10.30, Toronto
Today I received a letter from the CEO of Gitlab about the retraction of a planned service that had worried the user community.

explosion of red, toronto at autumn

2019.10.29, Toronto
explosion of red, toronto at autumn Collections containing

tree reflected in ashbridge's bay

2019.10.29, Toronto
tree reflected in ashbridge's bay Collections containing t

the changing season, toronto's waterfront

2019.10.29, Toronto
the changing season, toronto's waterfront Collections cont

chatting on a misty morning on Toronto's waterfront

2019.10.29, Toronto
chatting on a misty morning on Toronto's waterfront Collec

changing colors along toronto's waterfront

2019.10.29, Toronto
changing colors along toronto's waterfront Collections con

people strolling on a misty morning, toronto

2019.10.29, Toronto
people strolling on a misty morning, toronto Collections c

misty morning on Toronto's waterfront

2019.10.29, Toronto
misty morning on Toronto's waterfront Collections containi

three hearses parked in a bikelane, toronto

2019.10.25, Toronto
three hearses parked in a bikelane, toronto Collections co

movie review - In the Shadow of the Moon

2019.10.16, Toronto
This is, at first glance, a murder investigation.

sequence 8, 13, 19, 26

2019.10.16, Toronto
Today The Boy brought home math homework that was in our opinion way above the grade six level - to provide a formula that can explain the sequence 8, 13, 19, 26.

tall grass blowing in autumn

2019.10.13, St. Catharines
tall grass blowing in autumn Collections containing this p

autumn sunlight through tall grass seeds

2019.10.13, St. Catharines
autumn sunlight through tall grass seeds Collections conta

movie review - Avengers Endgame

2019.10.04, Toronto
What a load of shit.

movie review - Bullet Head

2019.09.29, Toronto
This is an interesting story that feels like an adaptation from a stage production.

movie review - El Camino Christmas

2019.09.28, Toronto
This is a story of a young man who goes out in search of his estranged father.

twenty years of this journal

2019.09.28, Toronto
I just noticed that today is the twentieth anniversary of my web journal as a daily events record, not just movie reviews and the odd news.

won't somebody think of the children

2019.09.27, Toronto
This is where my cycling advocacy stuff is taking me these days.

ate some wheat

2019.09.26, Toronto
On the weekend, I ate some wheat.

movie review - Bumblebee

2019.09.25, Toronto
This past few years sure has produced a lot of prequels and spinoffs.

farewell to summer

2019.09.25, Toronto
My summer went by in a blur of long start-up weeks.

the boy plays piano

2019.09.24, Toronto
Early in the summer, I heard Ken playing early in the mo

movie review - Avengement

2019.09.23, Toronto
I wasn't sure the title of this one is actually a word, but it is!

good-bye websites

2019.09.23, Toronto
Over the weekend I repatriated the last of my websites.

oh, Calgary

2019.09.20, Toronto
I read a story from Calgary in which a resident has been getting endless death-threats because he pointed out that the city's bus drivers are refusing transit tickets printed in French.

humans versus the environment

2019.09.19, Toronto
It seems that the people trying to solve the Fermi paradox are increasingly coming to the conclusion that we're utterly alone in the Universe.

it was thirty years ago this month

2019.09.18, Toronto
I've just realized that it was thirty years ago this month that I returned to Ontario to start my university studies.

rats play hide and seek

2019.09.17, Toronto
So it turns out that rats can play hide and seek.

movie review - Mortal Engines

2019.09.14, Toronto
This is a splashy fun flick set in a future where cities are now mobile affairs, roaming the countryside and taking what they need directly.

what have the Romans ever done for us

2019.09.13, Toronto
Tell us, Boris!

tweeting to Gorbachev

2019.09.12, Toronto
So I wrote a tweet to Mikhail Gorbachev to thank him for getting the USSR through the Chernobyl crisis.

fun times in the US election cycle

2019.09.10, Toronto
I'm constantly amazed at what politics looks like in this brave new millennium.

movie review - Zombieland: Double Tap

2019.09.09, Tokyo
This is the sequel to the only good zombie movie in recent years, "Zombieland", released a full decade earlier.

the holy shopping center

2019.09.09, Toronto
Time was, I was underemployed and adrift.

farewell to sea ice

2019.09.07, Toronto
Well, I guess within another couple of years there won't be ice in the Arctic ocean year round.

reasons to be thankful, UK edition

2019.09.06, Toronto
Watching what's happening in the UK these days certainly gives me pause.

broken ring and post - tell 311

2019.09.05, Toronto
Remember folks, when we see a broken or missing ring-and-post on the street in Toronto, we tell 311.

new contra-flow bike lane

2019.09.03, Toronto
Living in a city where people routinely are struck down in the streets by an out-of-control driving populace, it's nice to see some small signs of progress.

no fish this trip

2019.08.31, Ontario
no fish this trip Collections containing this photo.fishin

fishing beneath the lock

2019.08.31, Port Severn
We followed up on the tip from the camper at the lock and fished below the dam at Port Severn (which is a fish sanctuary in the spring).

the frog-catchers

2019.08.30, Port Severn
Our last full day at the cottage saw autumn-like weather, definitely time for long sleeves.

wind and lots of it

2019.08.29, Port Severn
Well the improved fishing was short-lived.

fishing in the rain

2019.08.27, Port Severn
It rained all day, today.

boats tied up at dawn

2019.08.26, Ontario
boats tied up at dawn Collections containing this photo.mo

paddling on wye marsh

2019.08.26, Port Severn
Today we went paddling on Wye Marsh near Midland.

living the cottage life

2019.08.26, Port Severn
This was us, yesterday.

young angler greets the dawn

2019.08.25, Ontario
young angler greets the dawn Collections containing this p

early fishing

2019.08.25, Port Severn
We headed out early this morning, and while I caught only a single pike it was a beautiful time to be out on the water.

cottage country

2019.08.24, Port Severn
We've arrived.

movie review - Upgrade

2019.08.23, Toronto
This is a near-future science fiction piece in which a car mechanic who loses his wife and the use of his limbs in an assault after his automated car crashes.

that's all folks

2019.08.23, Toronto
It's been a very busy week as I prepare to take the family to a rented cottage for the following week.

interior of a (very) old barn

2019.08.18, Kawartha Lakes
interior of a (very) old barn interior of a (very) old barn

second Paul, second boat

2019.08.18,
Today a fellow named Paul who is not our neighbour but rather the neighbor of a friend in Fenelon Falls took us out on his boat.

movie review - Identity Thief

2019.08.14, Toronto
This is a movie featuring a male lead who always plays mild-mannered sweat-hearts and a female lead who always plays abrasive people with poor judgment and/or socialization.

movie review - Overlord

2019.08.12, Toronto
Somehow, the early PC game "Doom" spawned a genre of movies.

movie review - Bad Times at the El Royale

2019.08.11, Toronto
Where to start.

busy weekend

2019.08.11, Toronto
This weekend we had plans on Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon/evening, Sunday morning, and Sunday afternoon/evening.

happiness is a warm kettle

2019.08.09, Toronto
What does it say that a hand-me-down electric kettle made our week, this week?

killing things on my bike

2019.08.08, Toronto
I related to a friend how I'd accidentally run over a small snake on my bike, and then nearly hit a dog and he said, "At least you didn't kill a child.

amazing but obvious

2019.08.07, Toronto
Cheers to Cloudflare for taking the amazing but I have to say rather obvious step of taking 8chan off the air.

this cannot possible go skynet I mean wrong

2019.08.06, Toronto
Well, what could possibly go wrong with launching an aware military defence network that can control spy satellites?

a rare get-together with part of my family

2019.08.04, St. Catharines
My brother and his wife are in Ontario for a wedding, so we all got together in St.

when a cyclist drives

2019.08.03, Toronto
Driving in an unfamiliar area, I was shocked to see a terribly-uneven railroad crossing immediately before us.

say, would you reboot the box under the fish tank?

2019.08.01, Toronto
Today proved that there can be times when you text your spouse to ask them to say reboot a computer system inside the aquarium stand, and it's work-related.

what happens to your credit rating when you give up an old credit card

2019.07.29, Toronto
The lore of credit ratings says that maintaining credit accounts for a long time is good, so I've always wondered what happens if you give up an old credit card.

movie review - Descendants 2

2019.07.28, Toronto
When I reviewed the Disney direct-to-whatever movie "Descendants" two weeks ago, my hasty review contained a lie.

Porter's five forces

2019.07.26, Toronto
Today I read a story about Intel's apparently upcoming ouster from Apple's lineup - pretty shocking stuff; remember MBA graduates, Porter's five forces have been established for a long time.

movie review - The Meg

2019.07.25, Toronto
My daughter loves shark attack stuff, so naturally we watched this when the chance came.

46°C in France today

2019.07.25, Toronto
So France and other European countries are setting record temperatures; in these cases I'd like to tell my kids that we did the best we could for the world but we all know that that's a blatant lie.

starting up an old project

2019.07.25, Toronto
I've decided to resume the novel project I set aside eleven+ years ago when my son was born.

riding rental bikes in Toronto

2019.07.24, Toronto
Today I rode a rental bike from Toronto's bike sharing service and thoroughly enjoyed it.

writing loveletters to politicians

2019.07.23, Toronto
Today I wrote to emails of thanks to the Toronto Mayor and the city Councillors that took the lead on the recent spate of directives to make the city's streets safer.

to what could this be referring?

2019.07.22, Toronto
The Late Show had a faux 'Wheel of Fortune' style puzzle tonight, for which I just couldn't pick a single answer.

wildlife, while there is some

2019.07.21, Toronto
So it turns out that Manta Rays can leap right out of the water into the air.

selling my work online

2019.07.20, Toronto
Today I put a manual of policy and procedures on risk management for small non-profits for sale on my "professional" website.

old memories triggered by the weather

2019.07.19, Toronto
The weather today perfectly reminded me of hunting for tadpoles and Oma's cooking, while staying with the old folks on vacation from Calgary 35 years ago.

movie review - Point Blank

2019.07.18, Kokubunji
This is an implausible tale of a crook who is freed from hospital by a nurse.

bike sharing stations everywhere

2019.07.18, Toronto
I am happy to report that the city's parking authority is in no way fooling around with the bike-sharing project - there are bike stations everywhere, now*.

movie review - Descendants

2019.07.15, Toronto
This is a direct-to-whatever movie from Disney.

not at all a real-estate bubble

2019.07.15, Toronto
Even if you wanted to buy a place in Whitby or Brampton (or Milton!

what does 2475 dollars get you in Toronto

2019.07.13, Toronto
I saw a (badly written) article about new apartment building

movie review - Sabotage

2019.07.12, Toronto
Arnold Schwarzenegger uncharacteristically plays a corrupt DEA agent in this movie of suspected revenge by one of his gang's victims.

happiness is ditching a bank

2019.07.12, Toronto
I closed a credit card account of 18 years standing because of one bad call to a bank; I don't know why banks can't be bothered to solve problems for long-term clients but this just forced me to move more business to my credit union.

switching to v-brakes

2019.07.11, Toronto
I've done some math and it seems that riding a bike for the past eight years has saved me $9,000 in TTC fares.

movie review - Office Space

2019.07.10, Toronto
I watched this again after several years, and I think I've belatedly come to realize that this movie had quite an effect on me when I first saw it twenties years ago.

162cm and growing

2019.07.10, Toronto
My son's above the 98th percentile for height; I was hoping he'd avoid a lifetime of backache and poor shoe selection but no.

that's mr wernebung to you

2019.07.09, Toronto
When I called up the Canadian Red Cross to give them a new credit card number the fellow took down my name as Wernebung; I'm glad that's not how it's spelled.

the Boy's big opportunity

2019.07.02, Toronto
Our son plays tennis, and his club has just asked him to join a new youth program that will see him get a lot of exposure this summer.

in our first parade

2019.07.01, Toronto
Today all four of us rode our bikes in the East York Canada Day parade.

movie review - Asterix - the Secret of the Magic Potion

2019.06.30, Toronto
This is a charming attempt at bringing the Asterix books from many a Boomer and Gen-X childhood to the flat screen.

skunked on the Holland River

2019.06.30, Toronto
We had our fishing trip today.

opportunities to fish

2019.06.28, Toronto
We've rented a cottage for the last week in August, and have also decided to go fishing this weekend.

good news for the Danforth Avenue bike lanes project

2019.06.27, Toronto
Toronto's Infrastructure & Environment Committee has passed resolutions calling for the creation of bike lanes on Danforth Avenue.

movie review - Red Sparrow

2019.06.25, Toronto
This is the tale of a girl from a rough background who is simultaneously a ballerina and maybe also a prostitute or any way seems to be living with a gangster.

paying attention to cyber security

2019.06.25, Toronto
In a discussion on cyber security breaches, someone referenced an incident in Baltimore.

my date with Kevin

2019.06.24, Toronto
For the first time, I met a colleague I'd worked with remotely for four years - he suggested we meet as he was visiting Toronto.

caught in the rain three times in a day

2019.06.20, Toronto
I had to run some errands while at work today, then had a meeting over dinner.

the fridge that ran

2019.06.19, Toronto
Our fridge is eleven years old and won't stop running; no wonder we have an $80 hydro bill every month.

movie review - Murder Mystery

2019.06.18, Toronto
This is a good Adam Sandler movie.

flooded beach like glass

2019.06.18, Toronto
I for one welcome the flooded Woodbine beach - this morning the water was like glass and it reflected gorgeously.

your credit card don't mean nothing to me

2019.06.17, Toronto
Today I tried to add my Visa card to PayPal; I was declined, so I called the bank but was given the run-around.

bells on Danforth

2019.06.15, Toronto
Today I joined hundreds of other cyclists in riding the length of Danforth Avenue from Withrow park in the west to the Oakridge Community Recreation Centre in the east.

lotsa email from my pal Cron Daemon

2019.06.12, Toronto
The Boy was watching me struggle with my inbox, and asked who "Cron Daemon" is and why I didn't spend much time on his email.

movie review - Early Man

2019.06.11, Toronto
Some kids' movies are good enough to grab the whole audience and keep them engrossed.

shred those parking tickets

2019.06.10, Toronto
I saw a truck from one of those document-shredding services with two parking tickets on its windshield; I somehow suspect I know what'll happen to the tickets.

an sd-wan breakthrough

2019.06.07, Toronto
At work, we've made a real breakthrough with the performance of our software.

mercedes CO2 emissions are getting worse

2019.06.06, Toronto
Today I noticed that the average CO2 emissions of the fleet of cars sold by Mercedes actually got worse by 12g/km between 2016 and 2018.

crapped on in June

2019.06.05, Toronto
For the 19th time in my life, I've been crapped on by a bird.

car expenses piling up

2019.05.31, Toronto
It's amazing how quickly the car repair bills pile up when your warranty expires.

more views of a flooded beach

2019.05.30, Toronto
This is the far side of Woodbine beach: the water is receding, but the beach is still swamped.

an exploding star caused us to walk upright?

2019.05.29, Toronto
It's pretty amazing to see what we can work out these days, such as a distant supernova leading to humanity's ancestors walking upright.

flooding on Woodbine beach

2019.05.28, Toronto
Woodbine beach was largely underwater this morning, so I made a panorama pic.

the first bite is the only welcome one

2019.05.27, Toronto
I'll posit that the first mosquito bite of the season is the only welcome one.

Toronto from Leslie Street Spit on a hazy day

2019.05.26, Toronto
Toronto from Leslie Street Spit on a hazy day Collections

a young snake in the weeds

2019.05.26, Toronto
a young snake in the weeds Collections containing this pho

an uber eats driver does something kind

2019.05.25, Toronto
I saw an Uber Eats driver do something kind - she got off her bike to help a blind man cross Bay street.

unnecessary goop

2019.05.23, Toronto
I bought some goop to remove a rubbery-looking streak from the side of our car only to find that the auto shop had removed it for me.

that's it, I'm off to Collision

2019.05.22, Toronto
Joining the boss today at Collision conference here in Toronto - it's a conference for startups and their investors.

our cycling advocacy group took a break and just rode for fun, today

2019.05.21, Toronto
For the first time that I can recall, our cycling advocacy group took a break and just rode for fun, today.

movie review - All the Devil's Men

2019.05.19, Toronto
This is a spy story set in the modern, post-Cold War era.

ran into my eleven year old on the street today for the first time

2019.05.18, Toronto
When I ran into my son on the street today, I realized that it was the first time I'd encountered him acting as independently as he has for the entire school year.

on this day last year a man I don't know died cycling in my neighborhood

2019.05.16, Toronto
Like me, Doug Crosbie was a cyclist and a father.

what I'd look like as a woman

2019.05.14, Toronto
Last night a colleague took a pic of me through some app that slapped a woman's 'do on me and made my features more feminine.

woodbine beach is flooded again

2019.05.13, Toronto
Thanks to high water levels and a few days of east winds, a great deal of Woodbine beach is under water again this year.

movie review - The Green Hornet

2019.05.11, Toronto
Sometimes they make a movie where they just land on a personality and a broad plot line and start rolling the cameras.

a message from the Australien government

2019.05.10, Toronto
A friend sent me this satirical "ad" for the "Australien" government.

movie review - Beyond White Space

2019.05.09, Toronto
This is a sci-fi piece about a crew that hunts space whales!

it seems that Boeing's had a long history of cut corners

2019.05.09, Toronto
Hat tip to Adrian for the link.

movie review - In Order of Disappearance

2019.05.08, Toronto
This is the story of a snow-plow driver from a mountainous area of Scandinavia.

with the kids now 11 and 7 years old, I suddenly noticed the absence of Thomas the tank engine

2019.05.08, Toronto
I suddenly noticed the absence of Thomas the tank engine videos in our home.

kicking caffeine (again) and the headaches have improved

2019.05.07, Toronto
Having recently kicked the caffeinated coffee has had an impact on the incessant migraines I've been suffering this year.

if we allow 2° in global warming 6° is inevitable

2019.05.06, Toronto
According to the short series of videos below, it' inevitable that even a 2° rise in global temperatures, it will give rise to fully 6° in changes.

three months to fix a fender-bender

2019.05.03, Toronto
Between Sonnet insurance and Toronto Honda it's taken 3 months to fix a bumper cover; I now have to actively manage both daily.

the soaking of the year

2019.05.02, Toronto
I can't recall having gotten so wet at such a low temperature as cycling into the wind of last night's rainstorm at 5°.

April freezing rain brings May d'oh

2019.05.01, Toronto
This year in Toronto it appears that April freezing rain showers bring May well not flowers more like almost-freezing rain showers.

games of thrones WTF

2019.04.30, Toronto
I've been watching "Game of Thrones" but I've been struggling to endure the increasingly dilute signal-to-noise ratio as the writers have clearly decided to sprint this "saga" to the finish line.

freezing rain at the end of April

2019.04.30, Toronto
I rode home in freezing rain last night

stolen bike part

2019.04.26, Toronto
I'm not sure why someone would stoop to stealing one of these, but it happened to me this week.

moving sidewalks

2019.04.25, Toronto
I just learned that Billy Gibbons had a band before ZZ Top.

movie review - Mile 22

2019.04.24, Toronto
It's Marky Mark vs Ip Man in a spy story that leans very heavily on violence in an un-named South-East Asian city (it was filmed in Bogota!

the weather has finally changed

2019.04.24, Toronto
I don't know how it's taken so long this year but the weather has finally changed for the better some six months after the first snowfall.

movie review - Going in Style

2019.04.22, Toronto
This is the story of three retirees who decide to pursue a life of crime to pay the bills after they're screwed by the company for which they'd all given a life's labor.

another Easter egg hunt complete

2019.04.22, St. Catharines
Another successful Easter egg hunt this year, the bunny was credited with doing a good job with the eggs

movie review - The Jackal

2019.04.20, Toronto
To catch an international assassin, the police employ an imprisoned IRA agent.

two bikes

2019.04.17, Toronto
How nice it is to take a bike ride with a small child, unsteady perhaps but growing in confidence and excited to explore the world.

scranos weaponized malware

2019.04.16, Toronto
So, this Scranos is a mutable piece of malware with a great deal of capability and it's still just getting warm.

king street pilot is permanent

2019.04.16, Toronto
Every day I cross the center of Toronto's downtown via street only usable by transit, taxis and bikes - not a big idea globally but new to TO.

woe is the speeding Audi

2019.04.13, Toronto
Certain Audi drivers are going to ruin it for everyone.

cycling in freezing rain

2019.04.11, Toronto
The boss called from the western edge of the city with some urgent news.

switching database extensions in PHP

2019.04.07, Toronto
I must be the very last person on Earth to migrate a substantial PHP project from the antique mysql_ functions (which went out with MySQL 5.

hello, michael.werneburg.ca

2019.04.06, Toronto
I've just taken my website to a new domain.

why don't you get a job?

2019.04.06, Toronto
I hope some day when I tell my kids "Why don't you get a j

survey of character strengths

2019.04.05, Toronto
I took an online survey of my character strengths.

big rainbow trout on Toronto's waterfront

2019.04.04, Toronto
As I was riding home tonight I saw one of the regular anglers on our stretch of the waterfront.

movie review - Lockout

2019.04.02, Toronto
This is a movie in which a soldier, having been framed, agrees to travel to a space colony to rescue the daughter of the President of the US or some similar political body.

tweet your way to resolution

2019.04.02, Toronto
Two months ago, we were in a fender-bender.

movie review - The Highwaymen

2019.03.31, Toronto
Sometimes you see a movie whose premise appears to be to assemble certain actors and let them do their thing.

rapa nui statues

2019.03.29, Toronto
So it turns out the famous "Easter island" statues are only found near sources of fresh water.

time for our annual hobbling of the city's transit

2019.03.28, Toronto
Toronto has a long-standing tradition of making plans to do something about its crippled transit system, then scrapping those plans.

happy 80th, dad!

2019.03.27, Toronto
Happy birthday, dad, and thanks for everything!

farewell to my non-profit board

2019.03.26, Toronto
Tonight was my last night of service on the board of directors of Cycle Toronto, an advocacy organization with a vision of a future city that's safe for cyclists.

latest watch crush–frederique constant

2019.03.25, Toronto
Is it a bad sign that your taste in watches ranges from $50 to $900 and you can't afford any of them?

on the killing of muslims at prayer in Christchurch

2019.03.22, Toronto
Some words from a muslim on the killing of muslims at prayer in Christchurch.

cycling advocacy in Beaches-East York

2019.03.21, Toronto
I'm a member of a group of cycling advocates in my home "ward" in Toronto, "Beaches-East York" (catchy, I know).

defeated commuters

2019.03.20, Toronto
Still feeling vindicated in riding my bike to work in some chilly conditions.

cycling on powder, cycling on ice

2019.03.19, Toronto
Second day of cycling for the year, and I've managed to fall.

hanging in my closet

2019.03.19, Toronto
I saw this amusing sign near the office:

first day back in the saddle

2019.03.18, Toronto
Back on my bike, and on day one I missed a major disruption to the subway.

yardworks we like your shovels

2019.03.17, Toronto
We use snow shovels from "Yardworks" - in the interest of product failure analysis, here are some pics of one shovel that broke.

website dropped by google when I switched to https

2019.03.16, Toronto
In September, I switched to SSL on all my websites; doing so killed all the traffic.

movie review - Life

2019.03.15, Toronto
According to my records, I don't have good luck with movies titled "Life".

happy Pi day, everyone

2019.03.14, Toronto
I usually celebrate this day by returning to my bicycle for my commute.

when will this winter end?

2019.03.04, Toronto
I think this pic says it all.

movie review - Prisoners

2019.02.24, Toronto
This is a movie about two girls who are taken from their families and the efforts to bring them back, both by the police and one of the fathers.

everybody loves hypnotoad

2019.02.11, Toronto
If the fine folks who produced the Simpsons and Futurama had nothing more to say on the nature and quality of televisions shows, they need only have said this.

movie review - Polar

2019.02.03, Toronto
This is a grim flick about a semi-retired contract killer who's attempting to live out his life in the woods outside a small town.

coyote on the street tonight

2019.02.01, Toronto
I ran into a coyote on the street tonight.

movie review - John Wick

2019.01.26, Toronto
The Boy wanted to see this flick, so we did.

11,600 emails

2019.01.26, Toronto
In 2017 I received 18,000+ emails (not including work).

watch out, moon!

2019.01.21, Toronto
The rate of major meteorite strikes on the Moon is increasing.

movie review - IO

2019.01.20, Toronto
This is an interesting if challenging film about a lone young lady trying to find a solution to a major environmental catastrophe on a (very) dying planet Earth.

latest watch crush

2019.01.12, Toronto
It's been too long since I posted about my latest watch crush.

tempus fugit

2019.01.11, Toronto
It's been a full month since I posted something to my twenty year old journal.

movie review - Avengers: Infinity War

2019.01.06, Toronto
The kids like super-hero movies, so we're watching a bunch.

movie review - Psychokinesis

2019.01.05, Toronto
This is an uneven movie that grew on me as it went on.

movie review - F.R.E.D.I.

2019.01.05, Toronto
This is a movie about a kid who discovers a robot thing.

still limping

2019.01.04, Toronto
I'm still limping from having (probably) broken a bone in my foot.

CIA no more

2019.01.01, Toronto
Whoopsie, I seem to have forgotten to renew my Certified Internal Auditor designation.

2018

goodbye, 2018

2018.12.31, Toronto
People seemed to behave like 2018 was a bad year, but I think I had a good one.

movie review - A Million Ways to Die in the West

2018.12.29, Toronto
As I was watching this, it began to dawn on me that it was mostly just alternating shots of two people speaking.

movie review - Solo: A Star Wars Story

2018.12.25, Toronto
This is a Star Wars prequel that needless attempts to tell Han Solo's back-story.

testing some network equipment

2018.12.20, Toronto
I am testing these inexpensive devices for a startup. Col

a friend turns fifty

2018.12.19, Toronto
I had a rare get-together with a friend tonight, a few days before his fiftieth birthday.

movie review - The Christmas Chronicles

2018.12.17, Tokyo
This is a charming Christmas story featuring a brother and sister who are spending X'mas eve alone (mum's working; dad's dead).

movie review - Gringo

2018.12.13, Toronto
This is the story of a corporate employee who is sent to Mexico for purposes that aren't quite what it seems.

a live turkey vulture

2018.12.12, Toronto
Today a turkey vulture landed in our back yard; I was able to get the kids to my window to see it take off.

movie review - The Dark Night Rises

2018.12.04, Toronto
This is a thoroughly unpleasant Bat Man movie with an absurd story line even by the standards of Bat Man.

the week that wasn't

2018.11.19, Toronto
November in Toronto, when you can say, "Thank god we carried the sofa down all those stairs before it started snowing".

movie review - The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

2018.11.18, Tokyo
This is a series of shorts set in the Wild West of the late 19th Century.

cool text-only weather site

2018.11.08, Toronto
Quite by accident, I discovered a cool weather website that uses no graphics at all.

musical talent

2018.11.03, Toronto
Our ten year old made a song with his iPad that's on par with much of the electronic music you hear today from adults.

the night I was noface

2018.10.31, Toronto
the night I was noface Collections containing this photo.p

broken foot

2018.10.29, Toronto
I think I can confirm after several days of throbbing and inflammation: I've cracked a bone in my toe or foot.

international cluster

2018.10.27, Toronto
For kicks, I've turned my website into a cluster running out of New Jersey and Amsterdam across two hosting companies.

movie review - End of Watch

2018.10.23, Toronto
This is the story of two men who join LA's police force in the time when the city (and continent) are being overrun by the drug trade.

farewell to AWS S3

2018.10.20, Toronto
I've figured out how to cut my spend on hosting my websites from $15 to $6.

seven point seven billion people on one page

2018.10.14, Toronto
I found a representation of all seven point seven people on one page - I had a heck of a time finding myself.

twenty years with my own domains

2018.10.07, Toronto
I registered my first domain - etherlabs dot net - on this date in 1998.

two day retreat

2018.10.05, Toronto
For the past two days, I joined a client's executive team and board on a strategic retreat that started with "What do we do as a company?

no online gaming with nintendo for my son

2018.09.22, Toronto
My son can't play "Splatoon 2" on his Nintendo Switch because he can't find 8 paying members online.

movie review - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

2018.09.21, Toronto
This is the grand finale of the "Harry Potter" movies and I think it's only to be seen if you've seen part one.

movie review - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

2018.09.20, Toronto
The kids have been watching the "Harry Potter" movies without me because I watched them all once years ago and refused to do so again.

movie review - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

2018.09.18, St. Catharines
This is hands-down the best super-hero movie I've seen.

18,000 emails in 2017

2018.09.18, Toronto
According to my inboxes, I sent or received 18,000 emails in 2017.

1.5 billion seconds old

2018.09.18, Toronto
Some time ago, I noticed that the UNIX epoch had turned 1.

movie review - Next Gen

2018.09.17, Toronto
This is an animated story about an advanced "security" droid and the human girl it befriends.

the long ride

2018.09.17, Toronto
I started a new commute today, some 13+ kilometers across the city center.

movie review - Handsome: A Netflix Mystery Movie

2018.09.14, Toronto
This is a story about an LA detective who works magic in the field but stumbles in dealing with his own affairs.

movie review - Downsizing

2018.09.12, Toronto
This confounding movie begins (more or less) with a couple's decision to shrink themselves to live in an eco-friendly fashion as miniature humans in a miniature domed habitat.

all is well that ends in baboon urine

2018.09.08, Toronto
We went to "African Lion Safari" today, so naturally the car came back decorated with baboon urine.

replaced the shifters on my bike

2018.09.07, Toronto
Today I took some time out from my job search and non-profit commitments to change the gear shifters on my bike.

let's encrypt for free certificates

2018.09.05, Toronto
I've now put SSL encryption on all four of my websites.

new website for my professional profile

2018.09.04, Toronto
I've made a new website for my professional profile, featuring some case studies.

on execution

2018.09.03, Toronto
Today I read an excellent post on getting things done, by a City of Toronto executive.

daddys flabby belly

2018.09.03, Toronto
This morning our dear daughter re-introduced me to one of her friends: "This is my daddy, and my daddy's flabby belly.

"I loev you daddy keep wrking"

2018.09.01, Toronto
The Girl threw an envelope into the office this morning.

oracle cloud is unavailable

2018.09.01, Toronto
I'm jobsearching, and came across this odd warning when foll

good times and a cupcake

2018.08.31, Toronto
I had the best cupcake of my life today, from a place on Gerrard called the Hype Food Company.

movie review - Train to Busan

2018.08.30, Toronto
This is a clever zombie movie set in Korea.

CIA for five years

2018.08.28, Toronto
It's been five years since I wrapped up a year - and five hundred hours of study - toward the Certified Internal Auditor designation.

chasing the garbage truck

2018.08.28, Toronto
Both of my grandfathers were known to chase down the garbage truck and get something precious back that their wives had thrown away.

website transition is complete

2018.08.27, Toronto
At long last, I've implemented the flattening tool on risktopics.

yonder coming Putin

2018.08.27, Toronto
I wrote a folk song based on "The Midnight Special" about today's political events in the US.

movie review - Valhalla Rising

2018.08.25, Toronto
This is an unrelentingly unpleasant movie in which an unspeaking slave finds freedom when his captors are attacked.

wow YYZ terminal 3

2018.08.25, Toronto
I had the pleasure of picking up a friend at YYZ's terminal 3 today, such a refreshing change from the spacious and beautiful terminal 1!

the kids are home

2018.08.18, Toronto
I can tell the kids are home: I had to wade through Japanese educational toys to get to the bathroom, where the sink was 2/3 full of soap foam.

movie review - The Drop

2018.08.15, Toronto
This is a movie in which a bartender is dragged into the underworld of crime.

on the water at 6:30

2018.08.14, Toronto
I was out on the water at 06:30 again this morning, fishing and watching the sailors, paddle-boarders, and kayakers.

movie review - Sausage Party

2018.08.13, Toronto
This is an animated story about supermarket food products that become aware that they are food stuffs and other disposable products - and then fail to recover from that realization.

our summer of fishing

2018.08.13, Toronto
Last night, I caught my first trout from Canadian waters.

movie review - Superbad

2018.08.12, Toronto
Two high school nerds attempt to throw a party.

crapped on again (yes again)

2018.08.12, Toronto
While fishing, it happened again.

stress and weight gain

2018.08.11, Toronto
I've lost nearly 3kg since a highly stressful contract ended six weeks ago.

movie review - I Kill Giants

2018.08.10, Toronto
This is a story about a teenage girl who's struggling with her emotional load due in part to suffering terrible bullying, witnessing the illness of her mother, and living without her father.

drama on the waterfront

2018.08.10, Toronto
This afternoon I noticed a lot of sirens, and the presence on a number of helicopters.

movie review - Safe House

2018.08.09, Toronto
This is a drama about a raid on a "safe house" maintained by the CIA, and the unlikely pairing for the rest of the story between one of the agents and the Bad Guy he is tasked with protecting.

day of the worm

2018.08.09, Toronto
I got on my bike despite the heat, and put another 15km on my bike doing chores today.

movie review - Extinction

2018.08.07, Toronto
This is a story of Armageddon; peaceful cities of citizens going through their lives in a near-future setting that seems to be getting on pretty well.

survived some flooding

2018.08.07, Toronto
There was flooding in Toronto tonight, and twitter was alive with astonishment; I couldn't help but think of the typhoons.

long point disappointment

2018.08.05, Long Point, Ontario
This morning "grandma" and I drove from Saint Catharines to Long Point on Lake Erie hoping to see the provincial park; we failed.

back from fishing

2018.08.02, Nichinan
After fishing with my father in law (and my late "fishing

How It Ends

2018.08.01, Toronto
This is a movie about a handful of characters weathering the end of the world.

urban cycling

2018.07.31, Toronto
It feels strangely good to be back; it must be the jetlag, which is monumental.

what a difference ten years makes

2018.07.30, in the air
I left the kids with their mother in Japan, today - it's amazing to see how far they've come.

looking for things in the surf

2018.07.29, Miyazaki
looking for things in the surf Collections containing this

one final venture onto the sea

2018.07.28, Nichinan, Miyazaki
It was my final weekend in Japan, and Mari's uncle took us out on the water one last time.

grocery boy and passing train

2018.07.27, Miyazaki
grocery boy and passing train Collections containing this

our fishing spot

2018.07.25, Miyazaki
our fishing spot Collections containing this photo.waterwa

Akio's red snapper

2018.07.25, Miyazaki
Akio's red snapper Collections containing this photo.fishi

fishing with my son

2018.07.25, Miyazaki
fishing with my son Collections containing this photo.fish

my red snapper

2018.07.25, Miyazaki
my red snapper Collections containing this photo.fishing

movie review - Black Panther

2018.07.25, Toronto
The four of us went to see this hugely popular super-hero flick and I have to say I am close to the end of my tolerance for these things.

me and my tilefish

2018.07.24, Miyazaki
me and my tilefish Collections containing this photo.fishi

a good day's haul

2018.07.24, Miyazaki
a good day's haul Collections containing this photo.fishin

back on the water

2018.07.24, Nichinan
Today we went back out on the sea with Hosoda-san for what became the Day of the Snapper.

movie review - Django Unchained

2018.07.23, Toronto
Everyone loves this thing, it's current rating on imdb on 8.

the young violinist

2018.07.22, Miyazaki
the young violinist Collections containing this photo.

k'pow!

2018.07.21, Miyazaki
k'pow! Collections containing this photo.skies decisive mo

a night out for fireworks

2018.07.21, Miyazaki
a night out for fireworks Collections containing this phot

fireworks behind a tall wall

2018.07.21, Miyazaki
fireworks behind a tall wall Collections containing this p

a long day on the go

2018.07.21, Japan
We spent the night in an interesting little hotel that's next to one of the main Japan Rail station in Matsuyama.

Who built the world

2018.07.20, Nichinan
Today our six-year-old daughter asked "Daddy, who built the world?

the architecture of dougo onsen

2018.07.19, Ehime
the architecture of dougo onsen Collections containing thi

dougo onsen in matsuyama

2018.07.19, Ehime
dougo onsen in matsuyama Collections containing this photo

if you're ever in Matsuyama...

2018.07.19, Matsuyama
Tonight I ate pork uterus.

castle in matsuyama

2018.07.18, Ehime
castle in matsuyama Collections containing this photo.arch

the Seto inland sea

2018.07.18, Ehime
the Seto inland sea Collections containing this photo.Ehim

shipyards

2018.07.18, Ehime
shipyards Collections containing this photo.Ehime

keeping desktop applications up to date

2018.07.18, Toronto
I've installed something called Glary Utilities to mind my PC's stability and security.

fukushima a-bomb museum

2018.07.17, Hiroshima
fukushima a-bomb museum Collections containing this photo.

even a nuked watch

2018.07.17, Hiroshima
even a nuked watch Collections containing this photo.moods

cycling at sundown, Hiroshima

2018.07.17, Hiroshima
cycling at sundown, Hiroshima Collections containing this

the old man and the sea

2018.07.13, Miyazaki
the old man and the sea Collections containing this photo.

deep sea fishing

2018.07.13, Toronto
Today I went deep-sea fishing for the first time, and caught some unfamiliar but delicious species.

mystery fish off of Nichinan

2018.07.12, Miyazaki
mystery fish off of Nichinan Collections containing this p

omohata off of Kyushu

2018.07.12, Miyazaki
omohata off of Kyushu Collections containing this photo.fi

sunrise on Nichinan

2018.07.11, Miyazaki
sunrise on Nichinan Collections containing this photo.expl

old canal bridge, Nichinan

2018.07.11, Miyazaki
old canal bridge, Nichinan Collections containing this pho

sunset over Abaratsu

2018.07.11, Miyazaki
sunset over Abaratsu Collections containing this photo.ski

revenge of the swallow

2018.07.09, Miyakonojo, Japan
Perhaps I had it coming when a swallow crapped on me this morning.

rusty glass american flag

2018.07.08, Miyakonojo
Collections containing this photo.  rust   walls

my latest car crush

2018.07.08, Miyazaki
my latest car crush Collections containing this photo.vehi

flooding in Miyazaki

2018.07.08, Miyazaki
flooding in Miyazaki Collections containing this photo.eve

sunrise after the fog lifted

2018.07.08, Miyazaki
sunrise after the fog lifted Collections containing this p

outdoor hallways, Miyakonojo apartment building

2018.07.08, Toronto
outdoor hallways, Miyakonojo apartment building Collection

the boy, fishing in Odoutsu

2018.07.07, Miyazaki
Collections containing this photo.  fishing &nb

fishing boat out of water

2018.07.07, Miyazaki
fishing boat out of water Collections containing this phot

rough skies over tonoura

2018.07.07, Miyazaki
rough skies over tonoura Collections containing this photo

a harbor before a typhoon

2018.07.07, Miyazaki
Collections containing this photo.exploring Miyazaki

typhoon-disturbed sky over harbor

2018.07.07, Miyazaki
typhoon-disturbed sky over harbor Collections containing t

undercarriage of a steam train

2018.07.04, Tokyo
undercarriage of a steam train Collections containing this

disney sea

2018.07.04, Toronto
Today, inevitably, we wound up at Disney Sea.

hello, Ghibli museum

2018.07.02, Tokyo
Today we took the kids to the Ghibli museum, jetlag or no.

hello, Tokyo and your electric vehicles

2018.07.01, Tokyo
Hello, Tokyo, it's been too long - 5 1/2 years!

movie review - Big Game

2018.06.29, Toronto
This is an ambitious movie about a young lad who's sent out to kill a reindeer with a bow and arrow as part of his "becoming a man".

moving on

2018.06.26, Toronto
After a year-long contract that saw 50-55 hour weeks every week, it's time to set aside the labor at last, and take a vacation.

some weird sin

2018.06.24, Toronto
To de-stress, I've been playing the original 1991 version of Civilization.

five years of risktopics.com

2018.06.21, Toronto
I've had this site on the go for five years, now.

black plastic is killing the planet

2018.06.06, Toronto
Wow, it turns out that black plastic is a lot worse for us than I knew.

more bike problems

2018.05.29, Toronto
I blew a tube tonight, it went off like a gunshot.

movie review - Ghost in the Shell

2018.05.26, Toronto
This is a retelling of an animated movie from several years ago, but the story lines deviate considerably.

broke another spoke

2018.05.22, Toronto
For a second time in the past month, I've broken a spoke - these new bike wheels seem to have a problem.

fracking the human being

2018.05.19, Toronto
Discretionary energy is a term used to describe optional effort that an employee might put into their job.

movie review - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

2018.05.09, Toronto
As you can probably tell from the title of this movie, it's a sequel and not a particularly good one.

the broken spoke

2018.05.09, Toronto
A spoke broke on Friday; when I got it fixed, the mechanics told me the problem was "too much weight".

movie review - Beasts of the Southern Wild

2018.05.07, Toronto
This is a telling of the eradication of the culture of the marginal islands in the Gulf along Louisiana.

cold city awakens

2018.05.03, Toronto
cold city awakens Collections containing this photo.street

happiness is a new camera lens

2018.05.03, Toronto
In preparation for our trip this summer, I've bought a lens for my four-thirds system, a Rokinon 12mm.

movie review - Kong Skull Island

2018.04.30, Toronto
This is a re-telling of the King Kong story, but with Brie Larson along for some reason.

movie review - Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle

2018.04.30, Toronto
This is the tale of four high school kids that get swept up in an ancient video game that transports them to an in-game world of high stakes adventure.

happiness is new wheels

2018.04.23, Toronto
I'm back on my three-season bike, and the new wheels make an enormous difference!

time to buy worms

2018.04.21, Toronto
Finally, it's time to buy worms and go fishing!

movie review - A Perfect Getaway

2018.04.20, Toronto
This is a story about three couples who meet while hiking a famous path in a tropical paradise.

movie review - Midnight Run

2018.04.17, Toronto
This is a buddy movie in which a tough bounty hunter and a skittish accountant are thrust together by circumstances.

movie review - The Hitman’s Bodyguard

2018.04.16, Toronto
Once in a while, Hollywood produces a movie where they take some stars and tell them, "Here's the plot outline, improvise.

movie review - The Spy Who Dumped Me

2018.04.15, St. Catharines
A couple of years ago I wrote one of my mini-reviews about "Jupiter Ascending", a Mila Kunis movie that eh, didn't work.

an ice storm and a felled tree

2018.04.15, Toronto
I was just sitting at my desk at home when I heard a great wrenching sound - one of the old hardwoods along the property lines between our places and the next had snapped in twain halfway up, with the crown crashing down where there are usually several cars behind a small apartment building.

movie review - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

2018.04.14, Toronto
We watched this for "Movie night".

privacy at Facebook

2018.04.02, Toronto
The recent flap about the Cambridge Analytica breach at Facebook has people talking about privacy issues pertaining to that website.

reflected sunrise

2018.04.01, Toronto
reflected sunrise Collections containing this photo.walls

my beloved SARB

2018.03.31, Toronto
And of course my beloved fishing watch. Casio Duro C

movie review - My Neighbor Totoro

2018.03.31, Totoro-nto
Despite the many times I've seen this film over the years, I realized with a start today that I've never written one of my capsule reviews for one of my favorite flicks.

top of his class

2018.03.31, Toronto
Ken finished the winter session of his Saturday tennis classes today with a bang.

seven thousand reads for a watch review

2018.03.30, Toronto
A few months ago I wrote a review of a watch - my every day wear, a Seiko SARB 033; it's now been read 7,000 times.

movie review - Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

2018.03.27, Toronto
This is the story of an aging actor who decides on one final big splash.

the breakdown

2018.03.20, Toronto
Cycling to work today, my winter bike brown down: the cassette was spinning freely on the rear axle.

movie review - Wind River

2018.03.19, Toronto
This is a surprisingly excellent story of a wildlife officer who becomes involved in the investigation into the murder of a friend's daughter.

movie review - What We Do in the Shadows

2018.03.17, Toronto
This is a mockumentary/found-footage flick about a house (nest?

crapped on again

2018.03.07, Toronto
I discovered splat of bird crap on my shoe; my sixteenth crapping upon by our flying friends.

the planning fallacy

2018.03.04, Toronto
Today, while pursuing one of my hobbies, I discovered something called the planning fallacy.

movie review - Mute

2018.03.03, Toronto
This is a gangster flick, in which a mute bartender is dragged into the appalling underworld of a sci-fi Crapsack setting.

back on my trusty steed

2018.02.26, Toronto
With the weather suddenly (and suspiciously) nice, I hopped on my bike for work today, grinding rust off the chain and unironing my shirt.

movie review - London Has Fallen

2018.02.24, Toronto
This is an action movie, a follow-up of sorts to another with a similar title and the same bluff lead.

movie review - War Dogs

2018.02.23, Toronto
This is a movie about gun-running during the Bush administration and the massive orgy of mis-allocation of resources across the global "war on terror".

unstrangled at last

2018.02.23, Toronto
After years of substandard home network performance, I've finally taken the plunge and built a proper network at home.

skunked at 4:20

2018.02.19, Toronto
I should have realized that our anticipated ice fishing trip would be a bust when I encountered a skunk in our backyard at 4:20.

movie review - Song of the Sea

2018.02.15, Toronto
This is an animated story of a young boy who lives on a lighthouse with her father and little sister.

Valentine's day vm backup plan

2018.02.14, Toronto
I'm working on a project in which the data set is so sensitive that backups to long-term media

Facebook is troubling

2018.02.12, Toronto
The other day, I realized that my regular use of Facebook as part of my advocating for safe cycling infrastructure in Toronto was having some negative effects.

taking a break from Facebook

2018.02.06, Toronto
And I'm done with Facebook.

movie review - The Vault

2018.01.30, Toronto
This is a Horror movie dressed up as a robbery flick.

three hours of sleep, 11 hour workday

2018.01.29, Toronto
I notice I'm not writing much in this aging journal; maybe it's the three hours of sleep and the 11 hour workday?

movie review - Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

2018.01.23, Toronto
This anime has the interesting premise of documenting mankind's return Earth some 20,000 years after Godzilla chased them off the planet.

how to look silly – bicycle addition

2018.01.22, Toronto
If I ever cared about my appearance, it's not as I start pushing fifty; this is how to look silly on your bike, in the name of safety.

the frozen shore

2018.01.21, Toronto
the frozen shore Collections containing this photo.toronto

playing at his daughter's adoption anniversary

2018.01.21, Toronto
playing at his daughter's adoption anniversary Collections

Darwinism

2018.01.21, Toronto
Darwinism Collections containing this photo.toronto's wate

movie review - Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

2018.01.18, Toronto
This is a movie about a twentyish drop-out who meets a girl with some very strange dating requirements.

replaced the bracelet on my SARB033

2018.01.15, Toronto
This Christmas, I replaced the bracelet on my Seiko SARB033 with a nice leather strap - I think it looks much better, and haven't taken the watch off since.

hand-rolling backups like in the 90s

2018.01.12, Toronto
I've once again found myself hand-making a backup solution when a large organization has proved incapable of deploying a sensible solution.

getting to work in the snow, darkly

2018.01.08, Toronto
The fates just didn't want me getting to the office, today: I woke with a head cold, in a power outage, as the snow sheeted down.

"wrong!"

2018.01.07, Toronto
We were at dinner with friends at their lovely home in Hamilton, when we had to coax The Girl into eating some meat with her meal.

frozen Niagara falls

2018.01.07, Hamilton
We're going to check out the frozen Niagara falls before everything melts again, tomorrow.

movie review - Home Alone 3

2018.01.06, Toronto
So it turns out there's a third of these movies, and tonight that's what we watched.

more nerd news

2018.01.06, St. Catharines
Five years ago, I bought an external USB 3 device - two weeks after I finally have a USB 3 capable system, the external drive has died.

the pay-off

2018.01.05, St. Catharines
I had one of those milestone days today, where months of work on various projects comes together all at once.

coming to the Americas

2018.01.03, Toronto
I think it's really amazing that they're able to use DNA and archaeology to work out the history of ancient peoples with fair confidence these days.

unwelcome news on new year's day

2018.01.01, Toronto
We've just received word that our application for an apartment suitable for our growing family has been denied.

2017

hackintosh no more

2017.12.29, Toronto
So my hackintosh has proven unstable - so much so I broke down and bought a Windows 10 license.

so much for peace

2017.12.28, Toronto
Yesterday I said that all was peaceful in the last work week of the year; I forgot some of the things that have to happen for year's end revenue-recognition purposes.

home again, back to work

2017.12.27, Toronto
The primary benefit of working during the Christmas break is the peace: time for documentation!

Boxing Day in Canada

2017.12.26, Toronto
Working for a US firm, as I am once again, I'm at a loss to explain Boxing Day to Americans.

new strap on SARB 033

2017.12.25, Toronto
new strap on SARB 033 Collections containing this photo.wa

driving in a winter paradise

2017.12.23, St. Catharines
Driving to grandma's house in St Kitts for X'mas we found fresh snow lining the grape vines and tree branches; beautiful.

white Christmas

2017.12.22, Toronto
It snowed overnight, returning the landscape to a wintry white just days before Christmas.

hackintoshy

2017.12.21, Toronto
I've taken the plunge - I'll be installing the OSX license from my now-defunct Mini onto some generic PC gear.

goodbye, mac mini

2017.12.20, Toronto
My mac mini's up and died, and it looks like Apple wants $1,700 for another one - which ain't gunna happen.

movie review - Home Alone 2

2017.12.19, Toronto
We recently showed the kids the movie Home Alone and I stupidly mentioned a sequel.

movie review - Star Wars: Episode VIII

2017.12.19, Toronto
"Uncle Jon" and The Boy and I went downtown to see this.

the longest board meeting

2017.12.19, Toronto
The board meetings that involve the annual operations and budget reviews are always long - but this one was only 2 1/2 hours.

the price of bitcoin

2017.12.18, Toronto
Adrian in Japan sent an interesting link to the writings of a bitcoin skeptic.

those who need closure

2017.12.15, Toronto
From a Youtube video, today I learned that there are two typ

FOOSH goes the cyclist

2017.12.14, Toronto
My mum works in the medical field and shared a slideshow about FOOSH injuries - fell on out-stretched hand.

you may find yourself .. President!

2017.12.13, Toronto
Someone's made a mashup of the Talking Heads with US President Donald Trump - it's disturbingly good.

movie review - Home Alone

2017.12.12, Toronto
We watched this with the kids for "movie night".

latest watch crush

2017.12.12, Toronto
My latest watch crush is thin, square, and digital - but not smart.

snowfall

2017.12.11, Toronto
It seemed, when riding this morning, that I'd timed the switch to the beater perfectly: the city had coated the streets with salt.

happiness is an old bike

2017.12.09, Toronto
I picked up the 25-year-old bike I'm using for the winter, today - I'd forgotten how light it is.

too busy for email

2017.12.08, Toronto
I was so run off my feet at my client site I didn't send a single personal or business email all day.

movie review - Tales of Earthsea

2017.12.07, Toronto
This is a (very rough) adaptation of Ursula K Leguin's novels that spanned decades of the world of Earthsea (as well as taking decades to write).

two hours of budget talks

2017.12.07, Toronto
When you sit on a board of a non-profit, there shall be annual budget reviews, and they shall be long.

Best. Tree. Ever

2017.12.06, Toronto
We skipped the expensive trees we've been getting in the Beaches, and got our best tree to date at a grocery store.

a network outage and a scramble

2017.12.01, Toronto
I had the unusual start to my day of getting to the office to find the network completely out; so I scooped up my laptop and headed home.

a year-end party

2017.11.30, Toronto
Cycle Toronto's staff and board had our Christmas/holidays/etc party tonight, out in the west end.

the neglected fountain pen

2017.11.29, Toronto
During the height of the craziness when I was doing my masters degree, my brother gave me a fountain pen.

black mountain bikes get stolen a lot in Toronto

2017.11.28, Toronto
According to an article that features my cycling advocacy non-profit, it turns out that black mountain bikes are the most stolen bikes in the city.

holy ecological crisis, Bitcoin

2017.11.27, Toronto
Wow, the global Bitcoin system is really a disaster for energy consumption.

beater bike don't go too fast

2017.11.25, Toronto
I patched up everything I could on my beater bike, a 25 year old mountain bike with extended handlebars and seat post.

an interesting day (at the office!)

2017.11.24, Toronto
My colleagues and I spent nearly the entire day working through the next version of a client's product.

movie review - Office Christmas Party

2017.11.23, Toronto
This is a delightful Christmas movie featuring an office Christmas party that gets a tad out of control.

happy Fibonacci day, everyone

2017.11.23, Toronto
It's Fibonacci day, 11/23 - derived from the sequence in the Fibonnaci series where you find each number by adding the two before.

three good things

2017.11.22, Toronto
As part of my ongoing attempts to get my migraines under control, I'm trying to recognize more good things as they happen.

Seiko's spring drive

2017.11.21, Toronto
I've been chatting with a colleague about Seiko's spring drive watches - apparently they use both mechanical and quartz components.

movie review - The House of Small Cubes

2017.11.20, Toronto
This is a perfectly-paced animated short about a rising flood that causes one aging gentlemen to progressively build new stories onto his home.

another long Monday

2017.11.20, Toronto
I'm taking an evening class, and I'm enjoying it quite a bit but it turns my Mondays into 9AM - 9PM affairs.

movie review - Tron

2017.11.18, Toronto
This is my second review of "Tron", some sixteen years after the last time and I presume thirty years after I first saw it.

cycling into strong wind

2017.11.16, Toronto
I rode in against a biting 30kph wind this morning, fallen leaves flapping wetly and low clouds skudding.

it's time to tune up my beater bike

2017.11.15, Toronto
The city salted the streets last week, a reminder that it's time to tune up my beater bike for the winter.

a week of green

2017.11.14, Toronto
Still no change to the migraines, but I'm prepared to stand by the assertion that the green lights are helping me sleep.

DISC analysis

2017.11.13, Toronto
I had one of those DISC personality profiles done through an affiliate of my night school teacher.

the unsafe workplace and the body's response

2017.11.11, Toronto
Simon Sinek gives some interesting insights into how unsafe environments (such as a workplace with infighting) has a deleterious effect on our health through changing the chemical balance of our bodies.

the worm is turning on sexual harassment

2017.11.10, Toronto
It's shocking to see the sexual harassment scandals multiply, some really disappointing stuff is coming to light.

movie review - Land of the Lost

2017.11.09, Toronto
This is a crass and awkward retelling of a classic sci-fi/fantasy story in which people find a lost world of dinosaurs and lizardfolk under the Earth's surface.

day three

2017.11.09, Toronto
I've been on this green-light migraine therapy for only a couple of days but I'm now sure I'm sleeping better.

green medicine

2017.11.07, Toronto
Tonight I am doing a Canadian first: participating in a University of Arizona study into whether green light can prevent migraines.

the perfect paper airplane

2017.11.05, Toronto
the perfect paper airplane Collections containing this pho

10,000km and what do you get

2017.11.04, Toronto
I dropped by Cycle Solutions on Kingston Road to have my rear wheel looked at; they shocked me with the news it was finished.

down the hill and up again

2017.11.03, Toronto
I met a friend for lunch, today - a feat that meant cycling first down and then up the hill to St Clair.

so this is November

2017.11.02, Toronto
It's November in Toronto, and the thick gloom has settled in nicely.

back on the bike, and counting cell-phone drivers

2017.11.01, Toronto
I counted 6 drivers operating their vehicle with a cellphone in hand as I glided past a line of 37 slow-moving cars.

environmental risks in North America

2017.10.27, Toronto
Here's an interesting video on environmental risks in North America - I hadn't known about the solar flares, wow.

green lights for a migraine study

2017.10.26, Toronto
I'm joining a study into whether nightly exposure to green light can help ward off migraines.

no cycling for a while

2017.10.25, Toronto
My latest cold has knocked me out, looks like I won't be cycling for the rest of the week.

turning grey

2017.10.24, Toronto
I met with some colleagues I hadn't seen in six months - they greeted me with, "You're really turning grey!

Monday's count: 3 in 30

2017.10.23, Toronto
As I watch for phone-surfing drivers, I've never noticed someone with a passenger in the car use his phone while driving.

movie review - Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

2017.10.22, Toronto
This is a movie telling of a book I have read to my son.

a glow-in-the-dark bicycle

2017.10.20, Toronto
I've put reflective tape all over my bicycle; see how it glows in the dark.

glow in the dark bike

2017.10.19, Toronto
glow in the dark bike Collections containing this photo.ba

Thursday's count

2017.10.19, Toronto
Cheers to the driver of Ontario BUDHADOG; I've seen him 5 days in the past 2 weeks, never once driving and texting.

we can have nice things

2017.10.18, Toronto
Toronto took another step toward keeping its infamous Bloor cycle lanes, today.

Tuesday's count

2017.10.17, Toronto
Today I counted 5 cell-phone holders as I passed 49 cars - and one person eating with a spoon from a glass bowl.

Friday's count

2017.10.16, Toronto
I counted 6 drivers Friday, in a stretch of 36 cars, who were using their phones - that's more than had a passenger.

a lightweight, secure, fast page view tracker

2017.10.13, Toronto
A year ago, I designed a lightweight, anonymous page-view counter for my website: 75,000 views later I'm sharing with the world.

ISACA article is live

2017.10.12, Toronto
I've had permission from ISACA to re-publish my article, which appeared in ISACA's Journal earlier this year (volume 5, 2017).

the chilly weather is here

2017.10.12, Toronto
Sadly, yesterday was the day that I put away the shorts and rode in my Trailer Park style cool weather track pants.

smart phone, stupid drivers

2017.10.11, Toronto
As I rode past a line of slow-moving cars today, I counted 8 drivers using their phone (out of 46 cars).

still feeling thankful

2017.10.10, Toronto
It wasn't a great day, but there's lots for which to be thankful.

crapped on again

2017.10.09, Toronto
I was crapped on by a bird again, today - for the fifteenth time in my life.

Autumn fairgrounds

2017.10.08, St. Catharines
Autumn fairgrounds Collections containing this photo.shado

basement of an old mill

2017.10.08, St. Catharines
basement of an old mill Collections containing this photo.

at the fair

2017.10.08, Toronto
We attended the Thanksgiving "festival" at Balls Falls.

a dinner alone

2017.10.07, St. Catharines
Mari and I left the kids with Grandma and had a rare dinner out, together.

movie review - Moana

2017.10.06, Tokyo
This is the story of a girl who sets out to save her tiny Polynesian island, which is dying from creeping black plague that infects the food and eventually can be seen in the air.

giving thanks on Thanksgiving

2017.10.06, St. Catharines
It's Thanksgiving in Canada, and our little family certainly

cycling 1,650km to work

2017.10.05, Toronto
By my rough estimate, I've traveled 1,650 km getting to work and back, since I started this summer.

how to disagree

2017.10.04, Toronto
Lots of good material arising from the debates online about some cycle lanes (who'd have guessed!

inventing the jaywalker

2017.10.03, Toronto
Recently, there was some debate on the meaning of 'jaywalking' - a term invented by the auto industry and friends.

a beautiful day for a ride

2017.10.02, Toronto
Yes, it was only 8oC this morning, but the weather was perfect for cycling: calm wind & lotsa sun.

movie review - Pixels

2017.10.01, Toronto
This is an Adam Sandler movie in which he and a (rather excellent support cast of) team fight to save the world from space invaders that have chosen the form of all our favorite '80s video games.

the annual retreat

2017.10.01, Toronto
I spent the day on Toronto's harbor islands, at the annual retreat for the non-profit board on which I sit.

my kingdom for some taurine

2017.09.29, Toronto
It's funny, that with products like Red Bull everywhere, it can be hard to find taurine in pill form for daily control of migraines.

bus tried to block me, today

2017.09.28, Toronto
When I tried to turn left from Woodbine to Cosburne this morning, a TTC driver used his bus to block me.

movie review - Megamind

2017.09.27, Toronto
This is an animated kids movie featuring a super-villain as its central character.

sober is ready when you are

2017.09.27, Toronto
The line is supposed to be "summer is ready when you are", but summer just left, and I always hear "sober is ready when you are".

meeting with old friends

2017.09.26, Toronto
For the first time in nearly a decade, I had dinner with Jon and Charlie, who I've known for 22 and 36 years, respectively.

home made granola

2017.09.25, Toronto
For the second weekend running, I've made some grain-free granola.

a portrait of a family

2017.09.24, Toronto
a portrait of a family Collections containing this photo.p

the Equifax breach

2017.09.23, Toronto
I've gotten questions from a variety of people about the Equifax breach, and what it means to them in terms of potential ID theft.

45km and what do you get

2017.09.23, Toronto
Today I did the ride with Cycle Toronto; 25km with a crowd of a couple of hundred people.

live global map of surface winds

2017.09.20, Toronto
My mum sent along this amazing map of the surface winds on the planet; the visuals and interactivity set a new bar.

my first publication

2017.09.19, Toronto
my first publication Collections containing this photo.

published

2017.09.19, Toronto
ISACA's sent me some copies of the issue of their Journal that includes my article.

my failed ride with the TTC

2017.09.19, Toronto
On Friday, I tried to attend a talk at 08:30 downtown; but the TTC had other ideas.

Tracking Vulnerability Fixes to Production

2017.09.18, Toronto
As an IT auditor at a software company, I discovered that security vulnerabilities in our bespoke product had not been getting released to clients on a timely basis.

end of an exhausting week

2017.09.15, Toronto
It's the end of a week that began with me working past midnight and finished with me abandoning a TTC bus and walking home.

Japanese resolve

2017.09.14, Toronto
The Japanese are being a lot more patient with the North Koreans than I think I could be.

read a great sci-fi book

2017.09.13, Toronto
I've recently read a great sci-fi book titled "All Our Wrong Todays".

happiness is a new classroom

2017.09.12, Toronto
I've pulled the plug on my data science MOOC: the instruction was aimless, and the assignments uneven.

happiness is a new drive train

2017.09.11, Toronto
My 25km daily commute's been rough on my bike; after three years it was time to replace the drive train.

sunflower black and white

2017.09.10, Toronto
sunflower black and white Collections containing this phot

happiness is a new drive train

2017.09.10, Toronto
happiness is a new drive train Collections containing this

that 70's car

2017.09.08, Toronto
I've noticed an increase in the numbers of beige, khaki, and orange cars on the roads recently: it can mean only one thing.

woodbine auto service

2017.09.06, Toronto
woodbine auto service Collections containing this photo.wa

Dropbox nuked my journal photos

2017.09.06, Toronto
Dropbox has decided to turn off public image sharing, even for their paying customers - reducing their value-add but not their price.

40 years of the Voyager spacecraft

2017.09.05, Toronto
From the photos in this article it seems that it was casual Friday when NASA made the golden records sent with the Voyager spacecraft.

fund raising, we're fund raising

2017.09.04, Toronto
My fundraising for the 25km safe streets bicycle ride in Toronto is $75 along, so far - thank you donaters!

pity that Saturn cars are no more

2017.09.03, Toronto
Having had our car struck twice, I have to say I've come to appreciate what Saturn was doing with their polymer cars.

a fundraising ride

2017.09.02, Toronto
I am doing a fundraising ride to promote safe streets in Toronto.

evaluating third party cyber risk

2017.08.31, Toronto
The Investment Industry Association of Canada has issued new guidance on evaluating cyber security readiness in third parties.

well that was quick

2017.08.31, Toronto
So there are leaves blowing in the streets, and I wore a hoodie while cycling to work; it's Autumn!

a scratched car

2017.08.30, Toronto
Our beloved car has been scratched, and I'm thinking of getting it painted - time to source someone to do the work.

yakiniku in Toronto

2017.08.29, Toronto
Mmmm, Japanese "yakiniku" in Toronto.

riding on Woodbine

2017.08.28, Toronto
Today I had the pleasure of riding up the length of the new cycle lane on Woodbine Avenue - a great ride!

the spinners fidget, the wife does not

2017.08.26, Toronto
the spinners fidget, the wife does not Collections contain

two skunks for two anglers

2017.08.26, Toronto
We headed out under calm, clear skies, and attempted to reproduce last week's fishing success despite the un-fishy weather.

light fixture

2017.08.24, Toronto
light fixture Collections containing this photo.architectu

movie reviews - Passengers

2017.08.22, Toronto
This is a Sci-Fi flick about colonists headed for a distant planet.

don valley weather

2017.08.22, Toronto
don valley weather Collections containing this photo.skies

approximately a month late for pi

2017.08.22, Toronto
pi approximation day was 7/22, I've only just thought of it today.

PhD in a box

2017.08.21, Toronto
PhD in a box Collections containing this photo.a lifetime

arrows on the streets of Toronto

2017.08.21, Toronto
I've figured out the small arrows on the streets of Toronto that point from the center of the street to the curbs.

another submitted blog post

2017.08.20, Toronto
I've been asked to submit another guest blog post for my professional work.

a bass from lake Ontario

2017.08.19, Toronto
a bass from lake Ontario Collections containing this photo

GMO salmon in our grocery stores

2017.08.18, Toronto
If you thought that salmon you ate was a natural organism, I hope you don't live in Canada.

fever days

2017.08.17, Toronto
Nothing quite like a fever in the warmest weather of the summer.

sick again - again!

2017.08.15, Toronto
I'm back on antibiotics again, for the fifth time this year.

back in the city, and commuting again

2017.08.14, Toronto
On my first commute through the city today, I saw a mastiff in a bike trailer (designed for kids).

textured stone wall, university campus

2017.08.13, Toronto
textured stone wall, university campus Collections contain

a hallway in late summer

2017.08.13, Toronto
a hallway in late summer Collections containing this photo

overblown window architecture

2017.08.13, Toronto
overblown window architecture Collections containing this

harsh shadows over busy architecture

2017.08.13, Toronto
harsh shadows over busy architecture Collections containin

lost our canoe

2017.08.11, Toronto
I've caused the destruction of our canoe.

petroglyphs park

2017.08.10, Stoney Lake
We went to the Petroglyphs Provincial Park near Stoney Lake, today.

fishing with a teenager at dawn

2017.08.08, Ontario
fishing with a teenager at dawn Collections containing thi

septic tank repaired!

2017.08.08, Stoney Lake
Following a large rainstorm on the weekend, the septic tank at the cottage we're renting seemed to have filled up.

Julia's creek

2017.08.06, Kawartha Lakes
Julia's creek Collections containing this photo.

here comes vacation

2017.08.03, Toronto
We're going on vacation and my fourth sinus infection of the year just keeps getting worse.

counting the days

2017.08.02, Toronto
We leave for the rental cottage in 48 hours.

lightning without clouds or rain

2017.08.01, Toronto
July went out with a bang - thunder, that is - under sunny skies without rain.

this Trump mess is becoming distracting

2017.07.31, Toronto
Just how much money does Trump owe these Russian gangsters?

to the park!

2017.07.30, Toronto
We took Ki-kun to Tommy Thompson park for a picnic and some fishing - it was the first time he truly felt that he was in another land.

to the falls!

2017.07.29, Niagara Falls
We took Mari's nephew to Niagara Falls, as one does with visitors to Toronto - but then we did something a bit unusual.

how Russia and Trump fit together

2017.07.29, Toronto
It's always seemed that Trump and the Russian criminal syndicate/rulership had some joint concern driving their actions.

and now, a teenager

2017.07.28, Toronto
Mari's nephew is staying with us for the next three weeks; now we have a 5 year old, a 9 year old, and a 15 year old.

air jamming at a blues festival

2017.07.27, Toronto
air jamming at a blues festival Collections containing thi

the ground beneath me sags

2017.07.27, Toronto
The excavation next door to us seems to be causing subsidence in our yard.

the worst kind of cyclist

2017.07.26, Toronto
Today I encountered the worst kind of cyclist: he passed me in an intersection by ignoring a stop sign.

like busy is a virtue

2017.07.25, Toronto
The job's already gotten busy enough that I'm already pining for the days this Spring when I wasn't working.

three weeks of cycling and I gain 2kg

2017.07.24, Toronto
After three weeks of cycling 23km every day I've actually gained two kilos.

movie review - The Fantastic Mr. Fox

2017.07.23, Toronto
This is a superb animated movie featuring a certain fox that decides it's time to return to old ways of pilfering the odd chicken from the farms in the area.

getting it wrong with R

2017.07.23, Toronto
I'm taking a "MOOC" on Coursera in data science.

back in Toronto and vowing to do better

2017.07.20, Toronto
Having witnessed Ottawa's mature network of cycle lanes, my resolve is doubled to do something about Toronto's unsafe streets.

de-identifying health information

2017.07.19, Toronto
I currently have a contract with a firm that "de-identifies" health information prior to it being shared with third parties such as marketers, drug manufacturers, and researchers.

goodbye, benefits

2017.07.19, Ottawa
It seems my drug benefits plan has expired - who knew my migraine drugs would cost $240!

drinking with PhD's

2017.07.18, Ottawa
Tonight I found myself drinking with four Ph D's and one professor - all substantially younger than me.

Ottawa's got nice cycle lanes

2017.07.17, Ottawa
I am very impressed with Ottawa's cycling infrastructure; separated lanes in green spaces and protected lanes on the streets.

the seat fell off my bike today

2017.07.13, Toronto
The seat fell off my bike as I was crossing a busy street, today.

1.5 billion seconds

2017.07.13, Toronto
Today I noticed something: we've passed through 1.

nearly struck by a truck on Bayview

2017.07.12, Toronto
A pickup driver nearly ended my life on Friday.

movie review - Your Name

2017.07.07, Toronto
This is an engrossing tale about two teens who keep waking up in each other's bodies; one boy, one girl.

movie review - Okja

2017.07.07, Toronto
This is a film about a semi-sentient animal named Okja; she's a genetically modified super-pig, larger and tastier than ever and stationed by an eccentrically-run company with a young girl in Korea.

that's a lot of tracking!

2017.07.07, Toronto
I have this browser plugin that blocks third-party tracker systems from the websites I visit.

good times

2017.07.07, Toronto
I had lunch with two colleagues who lost their jobs the same day I did.

goodbye, greenery and quiet

2017.07.06, Toronto
Be it ever so green and quiet and perfect, my route to my new job isn't going to last.

back to work

2017.07.04, Toronto
Having lost my job in April, I was unexpectedly a part of the family's life again around the house and able to take the kids to school and so on.

the long climb

2017.07.04, Toronto
This is the route I took on my first day at the new job: a lot of climbing over nearly 14km.

movie review - Transformers

2017.06.30, Toronto
If you're going to watch a Transformers movie, let it be this one.

goodbye, first half of 2017

2017.06.30, Toronto
Goodbye, first half of 2017: you took a friend, you took my job, and you thwarted my fishing - here's to the second half.

latest watch crush

2017.06.29, Toronto
She ain't exactly pretty; ain't exactly small: she's my latest watch crush.

gaming Google news

2017.06.27, Toronto
two of four articles are spam?

video conferencing at last

2017.06.27, Toronto
If there was any upside to a two-hour conference call last night, it's that my home Internet seems to have stabilized at last.

Bells on Danforth once again

2017.06.24, Toronto
We lit out at 10 to attend the "Bells on Danforth" ride once again - this time with Mari and both kids.

200 years of the bicycle

2017.06.23, Toronto
The bicycle turns 200 this year, in fact we're only a couple of weeks away from the bicentennial of its first public use.

thank you, AK-88178

2017.06.22, Toronto
Out for a spin today, I had the misfortune of being in a "sharrow" with a driver staring at his cell phone.

privacy in this day and age

2017.06.21, Toronto
Sometimes people get emails that make it clear their personal network is known to various websites or agencies.

welcome, summer of '17

2017.06.21, Toronto
Ye gods, summer is finally here

another record breach

2017.06.20, Toronto
A data analytics company leaked personal information on 200 million voters.

we have no privacy

2017.06.20, Toronto
Sometimes people get emails that make it clear their personal network is known to various websites or agencies.

half a "Chantelle"

2017.06.19, Toronto
I cycled 30km today, but there's a dedicated cyclist on the CT board who cycles 70km a day - I managed nearly half a "Chantelle".

movie review - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

2017.06.18, Toronto
This is a film about a boy who joins an unusual household full of bizarre children.

fishing on father's day

2017.06.18, Toronto
The Boy invited me to go fishing today at Tommy Thompson park - where at least the mink catch fish.

poaching tusks in Siberia

2017.06.17, Toronto
Poachers in Siberia are digging up mammoth tusks with pressurized water, making themselves rich but fouling the rivers.

another tattoo used

2017.06.15, Toronto
I've discovered that another of my old tattoo ideas was used by someone out there.

no lice on us

2017.06.15, Toronto
The kids were tested for lice, but there were no lice.

writing an industry standard

2017.06.14, Toronto
The Investment Industry Association of Canada is producing a two-document guide on evaluating cyber risk in their third party (vendor) arrangements.

lice, getcha lice

2017.06.14, Toronto
The school just sent a note telling us 24 children at the school have head lice.

ISACA article accepted

2017.06.13, Toronto
The ISACA article has been accepted.

cruel bunnies

2017.06.13, Toronto
It was nearly the end of me today when a bunny darted out as I was riding, this evening after a non-profit board committee session.

cycling with a snapping turtle

2017.06.12, Toronto
As I was on a 13km ride, I encountered a snapping turtle on a wooded path - it had the trail to itself.

toronto from a canoe

2017.06.11, Toronto
toronto from a canoe Collections containing this photo.tor

movie review - I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore

2017.06.11, Tokyo
This is a movie about a loser name Ruth whose home is robbed.

canoeing and reading

2017.06.11, Toronto
At 6:30 this morning, my friend Richard picked me up for a morning jaunt to Leslie Street Spit from Cherry Beach by canoe.

fixing people's bikes

2017.06.10, Toronto
I spent six hours today fixing kids' bikes at Main Square

fawaffle!

2017.06.08, Toronto
The "fawaffle" truck was at The Kids' fun fair - a falafel sandwich not wrapped in pita but a waffle cone made of falafel.

say, that emperor has no clothes

2017.06.07, Toronto
It's funny how everyone's going around on egg-shells pretending that we don't know that Trump's just a crook.

snuck off for some fishing

2017.06.06, Toronto
I left the apartment before six this morning to do some fishing in Scarborough; it's amazing what the unemployed can do.

total party un-kill

2017.06.04, Toronto
I allowed my son's D&D group to worm their way out of their death-by-riddle from our last session.

my wife can live with me

2017.06.02, Toronto
Mari says that it's been nice having me around the house these past two months - that she thinks we'll retire well together.

that's it, I'm going fishing

2017.06.01, Toronto
I took the morning off for some fishing, but the lake's still funny.

events on Toronto island cancelled due to flooding

2017.05.31, Toronto
Our son was supposed to attend his first camp on the Toronto islands this summer - it's been cancelled due to flooding.

Covey time-management quadrants

2017.05.30, Toronto
Where oh where has the four-quadrant Franklin Covey time management system been, all my life?

goodbye, great barrier reef

2017.05.30, Toronto
So, we've killed the great barrier reef; mission accomplished.

goodbye, May

2017.05.29, Toronto
This was a busy, busy month - a blur of interviews, meetings, phone calls until I got sick and had to take some time to recover.

first family cycle trip

2017.05.28, Toronto
The family took a cycle trip down to Tommy Thompson park today and had a fine time.

this is why I joined Cycle Toronto

2017.05.27, Toronto
A five year old cyclist died this week when he fell into traffic - this is why I joined a cyclists' advocacy group.

is that a bubble bursting

2017.05.26, Toronto
It looks like Toronto's immense housing bubble may finally have burst.

waves on a flooded lake

2017.05.25, Toronto
waves on a flooded lake Collections containing this photo.

the lake has risen up against us

2017.05.25, Toronto
The boy was heroically standing at the brink as the waves came crashing in.

happy towel day, everybody - you'll need it with this rain

2017.05.25, Toronto
Happy towel day, everybody - you'll need it with all this rain.

safe harbor de-identification of health data

2017.05.24, Toronto
The health industry works with a standard called the "Safe Harbor" for de-identifying personal information.

catch of the year

2017.05.24, Toronto
It is with great embarrassment that I've finally caught my first fish of the year in late May.

describing May 2-4 to Americans

2017.05.23, Toronto
How better to describe the Victoria Day weekend to Americans than by its nickname, "May 2-4"?

movie review - Lego Batman Movie

2017.05.21, Toronto
I don't know if this movie was strictly necessary, they covered Lego Batman in sufficient depth in the Lego Movie itself.

Blame!

2017.05.21, Toronto
This is a good anime about a time in the distant future where humanity has been sidelined by its own housing and infrastructure, and now ekes out a marginal existence in the shadow of security systems that refuse to let them sufficiently travel or build to reclaim their world.

we won a three-legged-race

2017.05.20, Toronto
My wife and I won a three-legged-race - I think it was the first I'd ever run.

an ISACA article

2017.05.18, Toronto
Tomorrow's the deadline for the next issue of ISACA's "Journal".

flooding on Toronto's beaches

2017.05.18, Toronto
Lake Ontario was apparently at its highest ever yesterday, May 17 - I've put together a pic of what that looks like in Toronto.

time to regroup

2017.05.17, Toronto
Kevin's death is having an effect on my job search.

goodbye, Kevin Atwood

2017.05.16, Toronto
My musician friend Kevin Atwood has died, as humorous and sweet a fellow as you'll ever meet.

clever driftwood wreath

2017.05.14, Toronto
clever driftwood wreath Collections containing this photo.

snapped my fishing rod

2017.05.13, Toronto
While enjoying a relaxing fishing jaunt, I stupidly broke my fishing rod, for the first time in my life.

five days of pain

2017.05.12, Toronto
I've had a right-side, weather-related migraine for five days.

created a job - for someone else

2017.05.10, Toronto
My habit of introducing people I feel should be working together has paid off in a job created, but for someone else.

the fun is in the doing

2017.05.09, Toronto
Once again, I'd like to quote Kurt Russell: the fun is in the doing, not the talking.

our first fish of the year

2017.05.08, Toronto
The boy caught his first fish of the year, today - a tasty 45cm pike.

fx trading and a positive attitude

2017.05.08, Toronto
Mari says it's common wisdom in the FX trading world that one must keep a positive attitude to place productive trades.

dungeons & dragons total party kill

2017.05.07, Toronto
I played D&D with my son, his two friends, and their father yesterday.

a month of unemployment

2017.05.06, Toronto
It's interesting that some things have changed so much and some so little, being unemployed for a month.

illicit help from the TTC

2017.05.05, Toronto
I had a little help catching the 502 at University and Queen yesterday on my way home.

my mind, mapped

2017.05.05, Toronto
I did a personality test of sorts, and learned I'm an odd duck.

busy as if I had a job

2017.05.03, Toronto
Toronto's become a city of new software ventures in the past few years.

movie review - Nice Guys

2017.05.02, Toronto
I loved this movie.

the only chart that matters

2017.05.02, Toronto
My wife's an economist by training and is now learning to become an FX trader

bird of prey at our window

2017.04.29, Toronto
A bird of prey suddenly arrived on our balcony, diving at a mourning dove.

new season of Archer

2017.04.28, Toronto
"Good news and bad news," I told Mari, "the new season of Archer has started.

tweeting for traffic

2017.04.27, Toronto
If you tweet updates to your website at a certain time of day, you can get a steady increase in traffic.

vice president of a non-profit board

2017.04.26, Toronto
Last night I was nominated to be the Vice President of the board of Cycle Toronto.

so this is a dentist's office

2017.04.25, Toronto
Another benefit of unemployment

movie review - Sing

2017.04.24, Toronto
I wonder if any good movie ever had the word "Sing" in the title.

volunteering at school

2017.04.24, Toronto
Another benefit of having all this free time - I got to volunteer at the school for the visit of a scientist.

networking

2017.04.23, Toronto
An unexpected benefit of being unemployed: I am meeting a lot of people.

my guide on managing third party risk

2017.04.22, Toronto
I've written a guide on managing third party risk, that is, the risk that comes with sharing your data with third parties such as service organizations.

13 years in Toronto

2017.04.21, Toronto
Last month, I passed the sum of 13 years spent living in Toronto.

4ºC and raining

2017.04.20, Toronto
4ºC and freezing rain under 30kph winds; the worst cycling!

PMP for five years

2017.04.19, Toronto
Today is the five year anniversary of my long slog through the PMP exam.

45km of cycling

2017.04.19, Toronto
My various meetings took me downtown twice and to the Danforth: some 45km of cycling in a day.

the boy has figured out the Easter bunny

2017.04.17, Toronto
A friend made a comment about hiding Easter eggs, within earshot of my son; this led to something unexpected.

movie review - Criminal

2017.04.16, Tokyo
This is a strange and violent story about transplanting the memories of a dead spy/soldier into the brain of a death-row prisoner with a neurological condition that means he'll never have empathy and will never deviate from his life of violent disregard for society.

movie review - The Discovery

2017.04.16, Toronto
This movie centers on a small scientific team that's worked out how to prove the existence of the afterlife.

we've overclocked the kids

2017.04.16, Toronto
Trying to figure out what's happened to our kids, today, to make them so hyper and babbly.

metrics that matter

2017.04.15, Toronto
The article I placed on LinkedIn about losing my job has now been read well over 1,000 times.

a migraine in nice weather

2017.04.15, Toronto
As so frequently happens, the weather gets nice and I get a migraine.

it's bigger than it looks

2017.04.14, Toronto
it's bigger than it looks Collections containing this phot

a family day

2017.04.14, St. Catharines
Today we went to St.

moth-eaten suit

2017.04.13, Toronto
The damage to my good suit is irreversible.

720 reads in 48 hours

2017.04.12, Toronto
My previous post (which was cross posted to LinkedIn) regenerated over 700 reads in under two days.

gracious in defeat

2017.04.11, Toronto
Two women colleagues described me as "gracious" today; I don't think that word means what they think it means.

I lost my job

2017.04.10, Toronto
Last Tuesday, I lost my job during a restructuring at PortfolioAid, a compliance solutions firm.

thoughts after six years

2017.04.10, Toronto
I've gathered my thoughts on exiting an executive role at a software firm after six years.

movie review - Jurassic Park III

2017.04.09, Toronto
Well, it had been almost 17 years, so I decided to show the kids this flick for "movie night".

sleepless night

2017.04.07, Toronto
Every other night since my ouster, I've not slept.

today was non-profit day

2017.04.06, Toronto
It's a good thing I didn't have a pesky job to contend with.

time off for good behavior

2017.04.05, Toronto
I was a mid-level executive at employer of the past six years.

cut down in my prime

2017.04.04, Toronto
I lost my job today in a restructuring that saw 4/10 members of the management team gone, among others.

DIY macro is iffy

2017.04.02, Toronto
DIY macro is iffy Collections containing this photo.watche

movie review - The Lost World: Jurassic Park

2017.04.02, Toronto
This is one of the sequels to the stellar Jurassic Park.

precision of apathy

2017.03.31, Toronto
A colleague came by to inform another; "I care about this as much as you do - to the power of minus 100.

movie review - Predestination

2017.03.29, Toronto
This is a movie about a person involved by an agency in fighting certain crimes in the past.

my first NBA game

2017.03.29, Toronto
I attended my first NBA game tonight - we had a great time (watching the local team blow a game-long lead in the fourth quarter).

feeling thankful for a head cold's passing

2017.03.28, Toronto
I think the metaphorical back of this head-cold I've got is broken

farewell, SIRA board

2017.03.27, Toronto
My first term as a non-profit board member ends on March 31.

the message and the medium

2017.03.27, Toronto
A former colleague on the SIRA board published this article to LinkedIn.

How to create a unique minimalist watch brand

2017.03.26, Toronto
Here's a guide to creating your own successful minimalist watch brand.

cold number twelve

2017.03.25, Toronto
I lost exact count around Christmas, but I've got cold ~12 since September building up.

-8°C on the third day of Spring

2017.03.23, Toronto
It's -8°C on the third day of Spring

printer ink costs how much

2017.03.20, Toronto
Ink cartridges for our home printer are so expensive that it's the only thing people have to say about the otherwise decent printer.

simultaneous owl/human blink

2017.03.19, Toronto
simultaneous owl/human blink Collections containing this p

changes to my website

2017.03.18, Toronto
In the past couple of days, I've brought back my book reviews, added a watch review, and made changes to speed up the site.

feeling the spray

2017.03.17, Niagara Peninsula
feeling the spray Collections containing this photo.moods

our day off

2017.03.15, Toronto
Beware the ides of March, your day shall be a bust if depending on the weather forecast

unsubscribing from things

2017.03.13, Toronto
The new year is ten weeks old, and I have unsubscribed from 22 email things.

my father's new watch

2017.03.12, Toronto
I love it when people "buy into" a brand intended for a wildly different demographic - my father's new watch is a great example.

an interesting take on consulting

2017.03.11, Toronto
I've started reading Peter Block's "Flawless Consulting".

my latest watch crush

2017.03.11, Toronto
I like watches, and true to Pisces form, my interests tend to flit about like a butterly in a field of flowers.

settling Australia

2017.03.09, Toronto
It looks like Australia's original settlers lived without mass warfare; an interesting break with the usual pattern of human history.

a good crack at explaining the Vancouver housing bubble

2017.03.08, Toronto
I've come across a really good explanation of the Vancouver housing bubble, from SFU.

never park your bike on Duncan St in Toronto

2017.03.06, Toronto
Never park your bike on Duncan St in Toronto unless you want it destroyed or stripped.

movie review - Ex Machina

2017.03.04, Tokyo
This is a story of a robotics specialist who's sent to the remote residence where his genius/billionaire boss is holed up working on who knows what.

toronto housing is becoming fun

2017.03.03, Toronto
Housing in this city is now in the lofty company of Vancouver, where you can't guess if a listing is a parody.

riding in Toronto's second winter

2017.03.02, Toronto
My ride to work started with a flat that I deemed a slow leak; I pumped it up and took off into 40kph winds at -9.

cloud hosting, not lightning fast

2017.03.01, Toronto
I did some speed testing and discovered that AWS and Google are slow at serving fonts.

blessed but unmotivated

2017.02.28, Toronto
Here's an interesting article outlining all the things Canada's got going for it, and all the nothing we're doing with the opportunity.

the ever-expanding sh*tlist

2017.02.27, Toronto
These are the 64 IP addresses that I current block on my websites.

have I adopted a Michael face?

2017.02.27, Toronto
New research suggests that we adopt a face that reflects our name - I wonder if I've got a Michael face and if so, what does it mean?

movie review - Skiptrace

2017.02.24, Toronto
Someone decided, "Let's put Johnny Knoxville from Jackass in a movie with Jackie Chan.

claiming professional expenses in Canada

2017.02.24, Toronto
In Canada, anyone on the treadmill of maintaining professional designations gets a couple of tax incentives.

no ice fishing this year

2017.02.24, Toronto
Looks like we've lost the rest of the ice fishing season.

never park on Duncan street

2017.02.22, Toronto
never park on Duncan street Collections containing this ph

shuttered to the heavens

2017.02.22, Toronto
shuttered to the heavens Collections containing this photo

helmet cam!

2017.02.22, Toronto
We were watching a hockey game, when we saw a camera angle that we couldn't figure out.

a memorable d&d session

2017.02.21, Toronto
We played d&d on the weekend, and it was a memorable session - turns out they heard "white tower" when I was saying "wight tower".

movie review - Girlfriend's Day

2017.02.18, Toronto
There's a variant of the film noir where the detective is accidental.

happiness is a plowed cycle lane

2017.02.17, Toronto
The city of Toronto's been doing a good job lately of keeping the cycle paths plowed in the dead of winter.

two and half minutes to midnight

2017.02.16, Toronto
Things continue apace - now the doomsday clock's back where it was in the 50's!

replaced a strap on my beater watch

2017.02.15, Toronto
I have a Casio MDV-106 that's been my beater watch since the spring of '14 or so.

now what, America

2017.02.13, Toronto
Hard to imagine that things could get this wacky, this fast, in the US - I feel for my American friends.

court case

2017.02.12, Toronto
On Monday I appeared in a court room for the first time, for the guilty plea of the driver who knocked me off my bike.

goodbye, bank

2017.02.11, Toronto
A certain credit card issuer decided they would issue me a new card, then didn`t, but froze my existing card.

new census data

2017.02.10, Toronto
Oh boy, new census data - and my home town of St Catharines has once again bucked the trend and not show growth.

get cyber safe

2017.02.09, Toronto
The government of Canada has produced some guidance for small-medium enterprises which is a) quite good and b) surprisingly readable.

the flight of the wealthy

2017.02.08, Toronto
It looks like the wealthy are planning on pulling the plug on the US.

movie review - The Last Witch Hunter

2017.02.06, Toronto
This is a Demons-and-Angels bit of Fantasy about an immortal "Witch Hunter" who, in the modern time, gets wrapped up in an effort by (un-Hunted?

goodbye, ecology

2017.02.03, Toronto
So it turns out there are micro-fragments of plastic in the seafood we eat; we now have that stuff in our blood.

so this is kakistocracy

2017.02.02, Toronto
For once, I find myself doing some reading about the character and intent of a US President, with some interesting findings.

migraine summary for 2017

2017.01.31, Toronto
It looks like I lost three days outright to migraines in '17, and had to take strong migraine drugs some 84 other times during the year.

goodbye, January

2017.01.31, Toronto
I foolishly chose to take the TTC to work today; two fares ($6+) to get to work late.

wet weather in January

2017.01.28, Toronto
wet weather in January Collections containing this photo.s

riding in the snow for my son

2017.01.27, Toronto
To get anywhere in downtown Toronto, there is no substitute for a bike.

migraine prophylactics are as bad as the problem

2017.01.26, Toronto
I've said it before and I'll say it again, daily prophylactics for migraine are more trouble than they're worth.

still ukraine, still ukraine

2017.01.25, Toronto
On my son's new globe, some things never change; Crimea is still Ukraine #earworm.

movie review - Office Christmas Party

2017.01.23, Toronto
This movie is about some people trashing their office over the cource of a Christmas party.

movie review - Hotel Transylvania

2017.01.23, Toronto
By all accounts, Adam Sandler is a decent guy who treats people well and there's no denying that he's made his own path.

virtual kidnapping

2017.01.23, Toronto
In addition to CEO fraud emails, now there's virtual kidnapping.

hello, sunshine

2017.01.23, Toronto
It's ten to five, and the sun's just going down; so good to have some sunlight in Toronto!

hello, October's shoes

2017.01.21, Toronto
Mari realized that the shoes we ordered from the US back in October hadn't come; I called the shop, they'd had them for months.

goodbye, Mr Obama

2017.01.20, Toronto
They say you bungled the American empire, Mr Obama; I say good riddance, let the US be a country again.

goodbye, civilization

2017.01.19, Toronto
Farewell, civilization as we've known it.

financial industry vendor management

2017.01.11, Toronto
Today I attended an wealth management industry committee meeting in which we're looking at an industry-wide approach to managing third party risk.

poor Maebh

2017.01.11, Toronto
The storm last night tore a piece off our building that came down and onto our car - I wonder if insurance will cover it.

hello, ETL

2017.01.07, Toronto
Another year, another extract-transform-load project.

goodbye, little aquarium

2017.01.06, Toronto
Friends have taken the smaller of our aquariums - I know it's in good hands with a smart young lad.

ten years with this journal

2017.01.01, Tokyo
I've been keeping this journal for a full decade, now!

goodbye, home phone

2017.01.01, Toronto
We'll be cutting our home phone spend from $28/month + tax to ~ $9/month by going VOIP.

2016

mobile data overage charges

2016.12.30, Toronto
For the past few months, I've been paying $5 - $10 a month for overshooting my cellular data allotment on my mobile phone.

No fishing here

2016.12.25, Toronto
No fishing here Collections containing this photo.fishing

movie review - Star Wars: Episode VII

2016.12.24, Toronto
How better to spend X'mas eve than with a slick continuation of a movie from your childhood?

movie review - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

2016.12.23, Toronto
Which aristocrat will marry which daughter?

movie review - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

2016.12.23, Toronto
This is a "Star Wars" story, telling the tale of the many Bothans that died bringing Princess Leia the plans for the Death Star -- as referenced in the very first "Star Wars" in 1977.

cycling at Christmas

2016.12.23, Toronto
I cycled in to work today; the major trails away from the streets were icy, but the streets were good.

watching TV has changed

2016.12.19, Toronto
Last night I heard the audio for a show through my phone while watching the TV; I felt old.

the frozen driveway

2016.12.18, Toronto
Our steep driveway is covered in ice thanks to a new city policy towards meltwater and rainwater.

slushy alley delivery trucks

2016.12.16, Toronto
slushy alley delivery trucks Collections containing this p

the book I wish I'd had

2016.12.16, Toronto
Ray Pompon's book IT Security Risk Control Management: An Audit Preparation Plan is the one I needed back in 2011 when I first took a service organization through an audit.

latest watch crush

2016.12.13, Toronto
I'm looking at a thin dress watch to slip under my French cuffs.

cycling at minus six

2016.12.09, Toronto
My rear shifter cable was locked up this morning due to the -6°C weather.

the flaming lips sell out

2016.12.06, Toronto
So; the Flaming Lips have lent "Do You Realize" to the latest Transformers movie.

movie review - Home

2016.12.05, Toronto
This animated kids movie is such a frenetic mess that it lost the attention of our four-year-old and we stopped watching it.

movie review - Arrival

2016.12.04, Toronto
Jon and I went to the local cinema to watch this sci-fi flick about first contact with aliens.

movie review - The Red Turtle

2016.11.28, Toronto
This is a story of a man who is shipwrecked on a deserted island.

securing your life

2016.11.22, Toronto
The New York Times recently ran a piece with practical information about protecting your online life.

movie review - Paddington

2016.11.20, Toronto
This is an excellent animated movie about an anthropomorphic, talking bear who decides to travel to London to find a home after being pushed out of his own by an earthquake.

yet another reason to patch

2016.11.18, Toronto
Today I had an illuminating call with our insurance broker and carrier about an exclusion in our errors & omissions insurance pertaining to unlicensed data and software.

here comes fascism!

2016.11.18, Toronto
The Toronto District School Board has circulated an email about escalating racism and hate in the city.

back on my steed

2016.11.17, Toronto
One round trip on the TTC is one round too many for a dedicated cyclist; I don't know how people do it every day.

damaged bike chain

2016.11.16, Toronto
I don't know how I did it, but I managed to bend two links in my bike chain.

the boy's catch one morning

2016.11.13, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  fishing

the fish I caught twice

2016.11.13, Toronto
the fish I caught twice Collections containing this photo.

movie review - Kubo and The Two Strings

2016.11.13, Toronto
This is a lovingly-made animated story about a boy who sets a monstrous spirit loose on the world and must walk the path of his ancestors in order to set things right.

movie review - The Boy and the Beast

2016.11.11, Toronto
This is an animated flick from Japan, about a young boy kidnapped to an alternate world (of ghosts or demons, I want to say?

top hits these past ten days

2016.11.01, Toronto
My website's seen a predictable trickle of traffic lo these past nine - ten days.

woke up braking

2016.10.26, Toronto
I woke myself up reaching for my bike brakes, this morning.

suicidal cyclists

2016.10.25, Toronto
Yesterday I saw a cyclist hanging onto the door handle of an SUV westbound on Richmond Ave at speed.

movie review - The Wolverine

2016.10.24, Toronto
This is yet another super-hero movie.

DNS subdomain discovery

2016.10.24, Toronto
This weekend, I found this interesting little tool called DNS Dumpster.

inching closer to github pages

2016.10.24, Toronto
I will achieve in time, my object all sublime, to move this website to a free platform.

lost cycling glove

2016.10.23, Toronto
An occupational hazard of cycling: losing your gloves.

taking stock

2016.10.20, Toronto
I don't get a lot of feedback on this journal/website project of mine any more.

shaking like a leaf

2016.10.19, Toronto
It turned out that all this confusion about us being "good parents" came from both of us going to see The Girl for her night terrors.

"you guys are good parents"

2016.10.18, Toronto
Our four-year-old surprised me this morning, sticking her head into the washroom and saying, "You guys are good parents.

fintech and information risk

2016.10.17, Toronto
An article appeared in "The Investment Executive" this weekend that highlights information risk in so-called fintech.

movie review - Captain America: The First Avenger

2016.10.14, Toronto
We watched this for "movie night" with the kids.

younger fisherman than fish

2016.10.09, Kawartha Lakes
This looks to be around a ten year old walleye. The boy's o

the fish magnet's first walleye

2016.10.09, Lower Buckhorn Lake
The Boy caught his first walleye tonight.

my first crappie

2016.10.07, Lower Buckhorn Lake
I caught a lovely crappie today, a good-sized and healthy-looking specimen with good "shoulders".

fare well, beloved Gill

2016.10.04, Toronto
Gill, our 9-10 year old angel fish, has died.

movie review - Hachiko: A Dog's Story

2016.09.30, Toronto
This is the story of Hachiko, the dog who is immortalized with a bronze statue at Tokyo's Shibuya station.

young coyote on kenilworth avenue

2016.09.27, Toronto
young coyote on kenilworth avenue Collections containing t

on failed persons

2016.09.27, Toronto
The Basel definition of operational risk is this: "Oper

coyote incident

2016.09.27, Toronto
Today a coyote came to visit us.

a flat on new tires

2016.09.26, Toronto
The toll from using cheap tires has started: I'd only just had a cycle shop fix my screw-up with my chain (I missed a small guide on one of the derailleur wheels) when I had my first flat in nearly two years.

Kids' sports day

2016.09.25, Toronto
The Boy had his first tennis lesson of the Autumn, today.

new drive train

2016.09.25, Toronto
I changed the cassette and chain on my bike today; a clear case of better late than never.

movie review - John Carter

2016.09.23, Toronto
This is an update of an early science fiction story from a full Century ago.

on reputation and character

2016.09.23, Toronto
It's almost comically unfashionable to talk about things like character and reputation in today's society, but it wasn't always so.

it's been a better week

2016.09.22, Toronto
Bruised ribs or no, it's been a better week.

of trout and bruised ribs

2016.09.20, Toronto
I headed out for a bit of fishing and landed nothing but some bruised ribs.

wed men tells no tales

2016.09.20, Toronto
A friend said he had some tales from his honeymoon.

yup, quite a week

2016.09.16, Toronto
After 3 board committee meetings, 2 grant applications, and an audit, the week ended with my walk-around USB drive dying.

what a perfect day

2016.09.14, Toronto
Summer's nearly over, and I feel that I actually lived it this year, unlike the past 3-4.

what a week, 2016 edition

2016.09.13, Toronto
Missed a day due to illness yesterday; today I discover that my bike tire needs replacing; the bike shop that claimed to have the tires and tubes I wanted had neither; then the watch repair guys break my watch; then I put the new tubes in my new tires, and put those on my bike and noticed that one of the spring arms had broken on my rear brake.

ken's presentation

2016.09.12, Toronto
Ken gave a presentation to his class on the subject of himself.

week not going as planned

2016.09.11, Toronto
Was sick all day with a sinus headache that triggered a migraine.

dangerous and fruitless fishing

2016.09.10, Toronto
The Boy and I were supposed to go fishing, but it rained and I decided to go out at sunset - this was a mistake.

no eth0 after linode moved me to kvm

2016.09.09, Toronto
Linode, my internet hosting provider, urged me to move my VM to a new infrastructure; doing so cost me 14 hours of downtime.

using a fishing map

2016.09.04, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  fishing

as the fog lifts

2016.09.04, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  fishing

debating a cycle lane on the street

2016.08.22, Toronto
Tonight I attended a meeting in my neighborhood to discuss a proposed contra-flow cycle lane.

movie review - Kung Fu Panda 3

2016.08.21, Toronto
The kingdom has never been under greater threat than when a pissed-off water-buffalo with unlimited strength and the ability to command certain wild magic aims to I dunno, take over.

fishing no more

2016.08.21, Toronto
My fishing partner has left me high and dry, now being eight-and-a-half.

movie review - The Edge of Tomorrow

2016.08.18, Toronto
This is a science-fiction piece with a clever premise - one heroic human must re-live a day of battle with an invading alien species every day until he "wins the day" and saves our species.

UGO wallet saves an angler from a fine

2016.08.08, Toronto
A wallet app on my phone saved me from an MNRF fine this weekend.

a girl's first bass

2016.08.07, Ontario
a girl's first bass Collections containing this photo.fish

cry the beloved economy

2016.08.05, Toronto
Canada's balance of trade set a new low today, but it's the historical context that tells the story.

going fishing

2016.08.04, Toronto
Our son is really pretty amazing.

that'll teach us for going to Canadian Tire

2016.08.04, Toronto
We've been having car trouble, but something's gone right at last.

learning to ride at Arnon's house

2016.07.27, Alberta
My daughter, learning to ride at Arnon's ranch south of Cal

fishing in a river with the kids

2016.07.27, Alberta
fishing in a river with the kids Collections containing th

verdant Alberta

2016.07.27, Alberta
verdant Alberta Collections containing this photo.landscap

lost a trout at the last minute (again)

2016.07.27, a mountain river
I'm cursed when it comes to landing trout in western Canada - today yet another one slipped away from me.

low tide side on the salish sea

2016.07.22, British Columbia
low tide side on the salish sea Collections containing thi

caught the same fish on different days

2016.07.20, Salt Spring Island
I caught a fish last night, then caught it again this morning - I was embarrassed for the fish.

made in england?!

2016.07.19, British Columbia
made in england?! made in england?! Collections containing

small boat, long water

2016.07.19, British Columbia
small boat, long water Collections containing this photo.r

not a small car after all

2016.07.19, British Columbia
not a small car after all Collections containing this phot

a little girl and a little lamb

2016.07.18, British Columbia
a little girl and a little lamb Collections containing thi

wave shaped shoreline

2016.07.17, British Columbia
wave shaped shoreline Collections containing this photo.ro

waves crashing on rocky tidal pools

2016.07.17, British Columbia
waves crashing on rocky tidal pools Collections containing

lonely park bench on a beach

2016.07.17, British Columbia
lonely park bench on a beach Collections containing this p

tidal pools at Botany Bay

2016.07.17, British Columbia
tidal pools at Botany Bay Collections containing this phot

exploring Botany Bay

2016.07.17, British Columbia
exploring Botany Bay Collections containing this photo.roc

coastline at morning

2016.07.15, British Columbia
coastline at morning Collections containing this photo.

salmon lost its head

2016.07.15, British Columbia
salmon lost its head Collections containing this photo.fis

a wake at sunrise

2016.07.15, British Columbia
a wake at sunrise Collections containing this photo.

the boy and his fishing adventure

2016.07.15, British Columbia
the boy and his fishing adventure Collections containing t

trout fishing, BC style

2016.07.13, British Columbia
trout fishing, BC style Collections containing this photo.

sea kayaks on freshwater

2016.07.13, British Columbia
sea kayaks on freshwater Collections containing this photo

how to sabotage innovative projects

2016.07.11, Toronto
One of my favorite books on internal control; sorry, the only good book I've ever encountered on internal control is "Intelligent Internal Control and Risk Management" by Matthew Leitch.

hydro bill results

2016.07.05, Toronto
I've had my next electricity bill; my changes resulted in a $22 (13%) savings.

movie review - Nightcrawler

2016.07.03, Toronto
This is a movie about a thief and con-man who pushes into the TV cameraman line of work after witnessing a crew in action.

fishing in the city

2016.07.02, Toronto
It's confirmed, I've found a reliable fishing hole in Toronto.

movie review - Tangled

2016.06.30, Toronto
This is an animated telling of the Rapunzel story with some updates.

no fix for cyber security in our lifetime

2016.06.23, Toronto
An article landed in my inbox today in which an expert from Marsh was quoted as saying, "Cyber as a pervasive risk will likely not be solved in our lifetime.

a boreal owl

2016.06.20, Toronto
We've been hearing owl calls in the night for some weeks now, I think I've identified the species.

June evening in Toronto

2016.06.16, Toronto
June evening in Toronto Collections containing this photo.

fixing the electricity bill

2016.06.13, Toronto
Looks live I've shaved $20 off my monthly electricity bill with just two changes.

a sequel to the passion of the christ

2016.06.10, Toronto
Naturally, Mel Gibson's doubling down on his widely criticized move to bring back the anti-Semetic "The Passion of the Christ" BS from the middle ages.

Trump! Let the fire burn how it will.

2016.06.09, Toronto
Some people are going to vote Trump because they want to see the elites suffer with the rest of us.

movie review - 99 Homes

2016.06.08, Toronto
This is a gripping story about a man who is evicted from his house during the Great Financial Crisis, but through a series of events winds up working for the crooks that had him evicted.

the Endor holocaust

2016.06.08, Toronto
Aw, no.

today – jackhammer plus migraine

2016.06.08, Toronto
Indoors: me, barely hanging on with a right-side migraine.

Maebh with a canoe

2016.05.23, Toronto
Maebh with a canoe Collections containing this photo.a lif

movie review - Dredd

2016.05.23, Tokyo
I wanted an action flick, and this appeared on a streaming service.

three pike night

2016.05.22, Toronto
Of the three pike Ken caught that night, we kept8 only the

two kids and a pike

2016.05.22, Victoria Harbour
two kids and a pike Collections containing this photo.fish

the kids clean a pike

2016.05.22, Toronto
the kids clean a pike Collections containing this photo.fi

gane's law on the passage of data and meaning

2016.05.16, Toronto
Gane's Law: "Any information that must be passed through two levels of management shall be mooted by the voyage, for it shall be diluted and misconstrued.

movie review - Interstellar

2016.05.12, Toronto
This is a sci-fi movie that goes to great lengths to be pro-science and defend humanity's space record and so on but when push comes to shove it veers into mysticism.

killed a squirrel with my bike

2016.05.10, Toronto
I started the day with running down a squirrel with my bike.

a cycle lane on Bloor

2016.05.04, Toronto
Toronto city council has turned a corner, voting to install a cycle lane on the city's main, long, crowded, east-west shopping street.

the high price of civilization

2016.05.04, Toronto
Our electricity bill came to $173 for two months, up $10 because I once left the iron on for 4 hours?

the baby squirrels lived

2016.04.29, Toronto
Last weekend, we discovered a squirrel's nest; we wound up with three baby squirrels in a box.

farewell shopping malls

2016.04.28, Toronto
I learned today that traffic at shopping malls has fallen by 50% since 2008.

is risk management a profession

2016.04.25, Toronto
A risk practitioner vastly senior to me posited the question on LinkedIn whether risk management is even a profession.

the problem of entitlements

2016.04.25, Toronto
Virtually every organization has the problem of managing IT asset entitlements.

squirrels in the storage shed

2016.04.23, Toronto
I was in the storage shed, and spotted some debris atop a box on the top shelf.

the edge method to puzzles

2016.04.23, Toronto
I do believe our almost-four-year old has the hang of the edge method to jigsaw puzzles.

failed your PMP exam?

2016.04.22, Toronto
That sucks.

long dive by a bird of prey

2016.04.22, Toronto
I saw a bird of prey take a long straight dive with its wings folded.

property damage

2016.04.20, Toronto
Something happened to the fences, railing, and steps at the property where we live.

first board meeting

2016.04.19, Toronto
If you're a member of Cycle Toronto, you can rest assured that the board is organized and energetic.

the tower climbers

2016.04.17, Toronto
Our company did a CN Tower climb. I brought my son, who inf

1776 steps in 23:41

2016.04.17, Toronto
Today, I climbed the steps of the CN tower with our eight year old son.

movie review - Jupiter Ascending

2016.04.15, Toronto
As much as I like Mila Kunis and suspect she deserves a break for being on Family Guy for so long, this movie was a troubled project by the (now) sisters that made the "Matrix" movies.

tax refund

2016.04.15, Toronto
It is really annoying to get such a substantial tax return every year; why can't the government remember from year to year that it's over-taxing us by hundreds of dollars a month!

another presentation

2016.04.14, Toronto
I did another presentation, today.

people really do plug in the USB devices they find

2016.04.13, Toronto
In case there was any question: people really do plug in the USB devices they find.

where are all the posts

2016.04.12, Toronto
Some day, I suspect that The Girl is going to ask: when you started this website, you made all kinds of posts.

officially on board

2016.04.12, Toronto
I met with the President of the board of Cycle Toronto for dinner, tonight.

silent attack of the balloons

2016.04.11, Toronto
A friend came by with some helium balloons, which The Girl promptly took to her bedroom.

evaluating a vendor's SOC-2 report

2016.04.11, Toronto
Someone asked me how to evaluate a service organization's SOC-2 report.

back in the saddle

2016.04.10, Toronto
My entire body aches, but I'm back on my bike for the commute.

bike fixed

2016.04.09, Toronto
I've had my bike repaired; happily, I got a small discount for being a member of Cycle Toronto.

the doctor says...

2016.04.08, Toronto
The doc says that I should get back on my bike as soon as the immediate pain is past, as it prevents PTSD.

knocked off my bike by a driver

2016.04.07, Toronto
I was knocked off my bike on the way home today by a driver who then fled the scene.

snow in April

2016.04.06, Toronto
It has now snowed every day since April Fools Day

Googling the quick and the dead

2016.04.05, Toronto
Google autocomplete completes a friend's name with the word "obituary"; he'd also cancelled the phone number I had.

head of state, athlete, billionaire, or drug lord

2016.04.04, Toronto
A headhunter once put it simply as he could: "What's your career trajectory, CEO, COO, or CFO?

no joke

2016.04.01, Toronto
For 04/01, we created a new password policy: whenever any password in the enterprise changed, all must be changed.

SOC-2 versus SIG

2016.03.31, Toronto
My team has been spending some time reviewing the forthcoming SOC-2 control standards.

you spin me right round

2016.03.31, Toronto
Our three year old spontaneously started singing DOA's "You Spin My Right Round" despite our never (never!

beaver patrol

2016.03.30, Toronto
Tonight while fishing (fruitlessly) at the Ashbridge's Bay marina, a large beaver paddled right by in front of me.

gave away a tail light, today

2016.03.29, Toronto
After my first Cycle Toronto board committee meeting, I found a red cycling tail light on the sidewalk.

scanning slides and negatives

2016.03.28, Toronto
Someone asked my advice on how to best scan slides and film.

skunked but loving it

2016.03.27, Port Dalhousie
Had another wonderful day of fishing to no avail, tonight.

governance and board positions

2016.03.22, Toronto
I've joined the board of Cycle Toronto, an advocacy association of city cyclists who are pushing for a safer city in which to ride.

Cycle Toronto's newest board member

2016.03.22, Toronto
To my surprise, I won the election to the board of Cycle Toronto.

first fishing trip to the rouge river

2016.03.19, Toronto
Today we went down to the rouge river to do the first fishing of the year.

scouting fishing locations

2016.03.18, Toronto
I spent half an hour or so on the way home, toodling about the waterfront scouting fishing locations.

business books

2016.03.17, Toronto
Someone asked me today about management books I'd recommend.

migraine care in Toronto

2016.03.16, Toronto
I've just made a doctor's appointment for January 11, 2017.

Toronto vs Silicon Valley

2016.03.15, Toronto
It looks like Toronto's housing is now less affordable than that of Silicon Valley.

first day of fishing

2016.03.13, Toronto
Fished down at the marina again for an hour or so.

laid low

2016.03.11, Toronto
Laid low for two days, in my prime, just barely 45, by my fourth bug this winter.

movie review - The Big Short

2016.03.08, Toronto
This is a dramatic telling of real events that happened during the Great Financial Crisis.

movie review - The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

2016.03.08, Toronto
Well, we got it over with, today.

filthy March cycling

2016.03.08, Toronto
Crowds of cyclists are already out, some two months earlier than they would have 5 years ago

back on the road

2016.03.07, Toronto
First day back on my bike, and I came across two blockages on the Richmond cycle lane and maybe half a dozen on the Adelaide lane.

manual lenses on a modern camera

2016.03.05, Toronto
My birthday gift (to self) was a pair of adapters for my Olympus camera body.

my profile as a cycle toronto board nominee

2016.03.03, Toronto
As a nominee for a position on the board of directors for Cycle Toronto, here's my 'candidate profile'.

case study on advanced persistent threats

2016.03.02, Toronto
In the middle of 2015, I produced an analysis of my employer's readiness regarding risk due to "advanced persistent threats" in the cybersecurity space.

bifocals to read my pill bottle

2016.03.02, Toronto
Just in time for turning 45, I needed my bifocal safety goggles to read a pill bottle today.

crapped on again

2016.02.29, Toronto
Got crapped on by a bird again, today

our neighbor is our neighbor

2016.02.24, Toronto
It turns out that the woman who lives in the apartment downstairs from us works four buildings from me.

hey presto

2016.02.23, Toronto
I've pulled out my Presto card, which I last used when moving back to Canada in 2010, for the TTC.

running for a board position

2016.02.21, Toronto
I've applied to be considered for the board of Cycle Toronto.

management consulting vs internal audit

2016.02.20, Toronto
I've just completed a three day intensive course on management consulting, which covered the twin streams of a) diagnosis and b) change management.

a three-day intensive course on management consulting

2016.02.20, Toronto
Today, I completed one of the most intensive training programs of my life.

flying west with the kids

2016.02.18, Toronto
We've been invited by my father and brother to take a vacation with them this summer.

movie review - The Grand Budapest Hotel

2016.02.17, Toronto
This is a Wes Anderson movie in which a hotelier runs afoul of the "pock-marked fascists" in the years leading up to and including WWII.

concentrated volunteerism

2016.02.17, Toronto
In the past few months, I've dropped three of the professional associations I'd belonged to.

icy shoreline, frozen spray

2016.02.15, Toronto
icy shoreline, frozen spray Collections containing this ph

icy shoreline, lake ontario

2016.02.15, Toronto
icy shoreline, lake ontario Collections containing this ph

standing on a freezing lake

2016.02.15, Toronto
standing on a freezing lake Collections containing this ph

frozen shoreline

2016.02.15, Toronto
frozen shoreline Collections containing this photo.

bucket lined with perch

2016.02.14, Ontario
The two boys caught well over 100 perch today. Collection

major fracture in the ice

2016.02.14, Ontario
major fracture in the ice Collections containing this phot

four fishermen, 150 fish

2016.02.14, Lake Simcoe
Today might be Valentines Day, but two of us spent it on the ice with our sons, not with our brides.

at least five problems with security metrics

2016.02.04, Toronto
Last year, I participated in a panel on "metrics that matter" at RSA.

the risk of false brand identity

2016.01.31, Toronto
A colleague from the CMC posted some thoughts on brand based on one of Seth Godin's periodic utterances.

stay classy Toronto

2016.01.18, Toronto
First thing I saw @ 6:45 this morning was a driver hit a parked car and drive away - stay classy, Toronto.

bifocal safety googles

2016.01.12, Toronto
So it's come to this; I've bought some bifocal safety goggles, so I can see what I'm doing when I'm working with my hands on my (increasingly rare) crafts work.

movie review - Paprika

2016.01.10, Toronto
This is anime with the lid off.

giving a strip of flesh

2016.01.09, Toronto
I awoke at 4 or 5 this morning with another bloody migraine; soon I'd be mopping blood from the floor.

roundabout new year's resolutions

2016.01.08, Toronto
For the new year, a friend has decided to exercise less and pay less attention to his finances.

lifelong friends

2016.01.02, Toronto
lifelong friends Collections containing this photo.a lifet

twenty years with a website

2016.01.01, Toronto
19 years ago today, I brought the first database-driven part of this website online.

2015

storm trooper armed with a skateboard

2015.12.31, Toronto
storm trooper armed with a skateboard Collections containi

have a good winter, bicycle

2015.12.28, Toronto
When they lay down the salt, I put away my bike.

rock and roll, dying of old age

2015.12.28, Toronto
Well, Lemmy's dead.

three with migraines

2015.12.27, St. Catharines
Asians get fewer migraines than other racial groups, and I'm hoping that that will improve my kids' outlook.

merry X'mas!

2015.12.25, St. Catharines
At grandma's in Saint Catharines for Christmas - probably for the last time, as she's planning to leave.

studying contractual and financial risk management

2015.12.14, Toronto
It's true that you get like the people you live with; I've spent a lot of time in the financial industry, and it seems I've picked up a thing or two.

a German santa told me "hajimemashite"

2015.12.12, Toronto
Today a German Santa Claus told me "hajimemashite".

on paneling

2015.12.08, Toronto
Tonight I moderated a panel of experts on the role of the board in setting strategy.

moderating a panel

2015.12.08, Toronto
I moderated a panel tonight.

I won a door prize!

2015.12.07, Toronto
For the second time in forty-four years, I won a door prize, tonight.

making christmas tree ornaments

2015.12.06, Toronto
Ken and I went to "Four Cats", a local DIY arts place for kids, and made X'mas ornaments.

Vtech data breach

2015.12.01, Toronto
I sent a friend a note about the latest data breach that's in the news: Vtech.

detoured by tragedy

2015.12.01, Toronto
I was unable to cross the Don river at my usual spot due to a police barricade; they'd found a body in the river.

curly wrought iron whatsits, toronto

2015.11.23, Toronto
curly wrought iron whatsits, toronto Collections containin

movie review - Hop

2015.11.22, Kokubunji
This is a lack-luster animated movie about the son of the Easter Bunny, who decides to move to LA and be in an obnoxious, self-indulgent, and boring movie.

I got the city to change something

2015.11.21, Toronto
I managed to get the city to undo something that was inconveniencing cyclists.

more fun with my camera

2015.11.20, Toronto
I've been taking photos of people who park in cycle lanes; It seems that I'm starting to get known to that community.

graffiti mystery uncovered

2015.11.19, Toronto
I discovered hidden graffiti with the gain on my digital camera, today.

five years on the job

2015.11.16, Toronto
I've been at this job for five years, shattering my previous record

farewell stranger

2015.11.15, Toronto
We've wiped out 50% of these creatures in the past 25 years

brown bear and bleached bones

2015.11.15, Toronto
brown bear and bleached bones Collections containing this

C3P0's final repose

2015.11.15, Toronto
C3P0's final repose Collections containing this photo.

migraine educational session

2015.11.14, Toronto
This week, I attended an information session on enduring with migraines, which I've been doing for 40 years.

"checkup"

2015.11.13, Toronto
Our daughter calls this: "Checkup"

the straitjacket

2015.11.13, Toronto
I'm constantly amazed at how difficult it is to break free of the straitjacket of the immediately urgent.

no poppy for remembrance day this year

2015.11.11, Toronto
Oddly, I couldn't find a poppy for sale this year.

what is this rodent

2015.11.10, Toronto
Ken and I came across this former rodent.

nine years on

2015.11.09, Toronto
Turns out, Mari and I forgot about our wedding anniversary again this year.

some home-made fishing lures

2015.11.07, Toronto
The Boy and I have been making wooden fishing lures, and rebuilding some old ones.

hiring for many talents

2015.11.06, Toronto
I've repeatedly been faced with the difficult task of hiring for ambiguous roles where a range of different skills are required.

Milan and me

2015.11.04, Toronto
Me and my long-time colleague Milan. Collections containi

cycling in Toronto, early November

2015.11.04, Toronto
cycling in Toronto, early November Collections containing

yeah, I nailed that mid-term

2015.11.04, Toronto
88%, that'll do.

flickr pool on cars parked in Toronto cycle lanes

2015.11.02, Toronto
Not sure what good this will do, but I've started a flickr pool with pics with cars parked in Toronto's cycle lanes.

toronto cycling in november

2015.11.01, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  moods  

the boy's home-made lure

2015.11.01, Toronto
the boy's home-made lure Collections containing this photo

rodent skull on leslie street spit

2015.11.01, Toronto
rodent skull on leslie street spit Collections containing

pumpkin pics from Hallowe'en

2015.11.01, Toronto
It's amazing what people can do these days.

angry pumpkin is angry

2015.10.31, Toronto
angry pumpkin is angry Collections containing this photo.e

crap bunny mask with eyes exed out

2015.10.31, Toronto
crap bunny mask with eyes exed out Collections containing

breezed through a test on risk finance

2015.10.28, Toronto
I feel I did rather well on a test on risk financing tonight; in fact I think I over studied.

why ERM versus traditional risk management

2015.10.24, Toronto
I'm studying for a course on risk financing, and have a quibble with an answer "in the book".

thank you very much, Ontario driver BKDV 035

2015.10.22, Toronto
Today's run-in was with a Volkswagen, Ontario license plate BKDV 035.

collided with a taxi on King street today

2015.10.19, Toronto
I was struck by a taxi on King street today.

beautiful autumn reflection

2015.10.18, Toronto
It really can be a beautiful part of the world. Collectio

fishing in a river

2015.10.18, Toronto
For the first time in decades, I fished in a river.

movie review - The Wolverine

2015.10.16, Toronto
In this mean-spirited and gruesomely violent outing, super-"hero" Wolverine spends some time in Japan, hitting the usual wall of culture and language the way the rest of us do, but managing also to get nuked.

agility and risk

2015.10.16, Toronto
Dave Thomas, one of the originators of the "Agile Manifesto", gave a talk in January that explains where the Agile movement has gotten off the rails (no pun intended).

mmm, pike for dinner

2015.10.11, Huronia
Collections containing this photo.  fishing

so this is Detroit!

2015.10.09, Detroit
I'm in Detroit for a conference, and had the opportunity of taking a tour around the city center.

collided with a jogger, today

2015.10.06, Toronto
I collided with a jogger, today.

movie review - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

2015.10.02, Toronto
My son's interested in these movies, so we've been slowly seeing them through.

17,500km of cycle-commuting

2015.10.02, Toronto
In the past five years, I've done about 1,750 trips to and from the office.

west is left and right is east

2015.09.28, Toronto
Looking at one of Ken's homework assignments, we saw that he'd correctly divined a pattern in a set of diagrams of blocks that grow by accretion.

the girl tries her hand at fishing

2015.09.27, Ontario
We were at the mouth of the Credit river. Collections con

late summer on lake ontario

2015.09.27, Toronto
late summer on lake ontario Collections containing this ph

the little one fishes in lake ontario

2015.09.27, Toronto
the little one fishes in lake ontario Collections containi

decorate cabbage is decorative

2015.09.27, Toronto
decorate cabbage is decorative Collections containing this

movie review - The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

2015.09.27, Toronto
I thoroughly loved this story, based on an old poem, about a day-dreamer who is forced by a crisis at work to embark on a global adventure to track down a very larger than life photographer.

using a cache server to secure WordPress

2015.09.25, Toronto
Securing a website that runs on WordPress can be a challenge.

big data? no thanks

2015.09.21, Toronto
Big data - no thanks!

sunset for fishermen

2015.09.20, Toronto
"Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing tha

sunset for anglers

2015.09.20, Toronto
As usual, I didn't catch anything. It doesn't matter. Col

perhaps a chain pickerel

2015.09.20, Toronto
perhaps a chain pickerel Collections containing this photo

first fish from lake Ontario

2015.09.20, Toronto
On my fourteenth visits to the marina at Ashbridges Bay park, I landed a damn nice fish.

another blissful night of fruitless fishing in Toronto

2015.09.19, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  twilight &n

cool evening on the Toronto waterfront

2015.09.19, Toronto
cool evening on the Toronto waterfront Collections contain

a bird struck our window

2015.09.13, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  the quick a

so that's a wood thrush

2015.09.13, Toronto
Today I learned what a wood thrush is, by having a dead bird on our balcony to identify.

a slow start to Toronto fishing

2015.09.07, Toronto
I have gone on eight separate fishing trips around the city, and not caught a thing.

mink on the run, toronto waterfront

2015.09.06, Toronto
mink on the run, toronto waterfront Collections containing

movie review - Mad Max Fury Road

2015.09.01, Toronto
This is a distant sequel to the '80s Mad Max movies, which were guns-and-motorbikes romps through a post-apocalyptic Earth.

the sweet sting of the needle

2015.09.01, Toronto
Ah, the searing kiss of the tattoo needle; how I missed you.

a turtle in lake Ontario

2015.08.31, Toronto
For the first time in my life, I saw a turtle in Lake Ontario this morning as I cycled to work.

canvassing the public for signatures

2015.08.25, Toronto
Spent 80 minutes this evening collecting signatures for a CycleToronto petition.

tall aquarium

2015.08.24, Toronto
We're breaking all the rules: it's tall and it's located ac

happiness is a stable aquarium

2015.08.24, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  a lifetime

ant colony is growing

2015.08.23, Toronto
The queen ant I found is raising a successful colony: there are now babies.

morningside creek, toronto

2015.08.22, Toronto
morningside creek, toronto Collections containing this pho

what the hell, I'll cycle to Markham

2015.08.22, Toronto
I was scratching my head for something to do, today, so I hopped on my bike and went north.

beautiful waste treatment plant

2015.08.21, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  streets of

holding up the sky

2015.08.21, Toronto
holding up the sky Collections containing this photo.stree

forecast so wrong, I had to buy a jacket

2015.08.21, Toronto
This morning the weather forecast said high of 29° and sunny, no mention of rain.

movie review - This is the End

2015.08.17, Toronto
This is the telling of a bunch of hot young Hollywood types who are Left Behind when the Rapture comes.

shorn

2015.08.17, Toronto
Today I accidentally shaved off my eyebrows with the assistance of our three year old.

a pike under placid water

2015.08.15, Victoria Harbour
The water was dead calm, so I paddled across the bay to a small island that's littered with fish scales, crab claws, and cormorant crap.

bats over the beaches

2015.08.14, Victoria Harbour
I was nearly home when I came upon some small bats gliding over the street

coffee for the whole office

2015.08.13, Toronto
Today, I'm taking some ice, some condensed milk, some boxes of tea bags, and some tonyo to the office.

lost child

2015.08.12, Toronto
Tonight I helped the woman after me in the queue at the grocery store find her three year old.

a take-up reel for an 8mm film projector

2015.08.11, Toronto
While cleaning out the basement of the family cottage, I found an 8mm projector.

John Cleese laughs at my alma mater

2015.08.10, Toronto
Several months ago, my mum sent me a Michael Enright interview with John Cleese.

landscape in five colors

2015.08.08, Ontario
Collections containing this photo.  landscapes

hay is in, sky is blue

2015.08.08, Ontario
hay is in, sky is blue Collections containing this photo.o

rudder and screw of a large ship

2015.08.08, Victoria Harbour
rudder and screw of a large ship Collections containing th

every vacation must end

2015.08.08, Victoria Harbour
After two weeks of fighting with phragmites and hoarded junk (and a certain amount of fishing), it's time to rejoin the fray.

deep water runs slow

2015.08.05, Victoria Harbour
deep water runs slow Collections containing this photo.gre

wye marsh and historical site

2015.08.05, Victoria Harbour
wye marsh and historical site Collections containing this

a bass and a pumpkinseed, being cleaned

2015.08.05, Victoria Harbour
a bass and a pumpkinseed, being cleaned Collections contai

late summer, ontario

2015.08.04, Ontario
late summer, ontario Collections containing this photo.ont

fishing from a dock on the bay at evening

2015.08.04, Victoria Harbour
fishing from a dock on the bay at evening Collections cont

martyr's shrine, ontario

2015.08.04, Victoria Harbour
martyr's shrine, ontario Collections containing this photo

the other michael werneburg

2015.07.25, Toronto
I've found a few other people with my name, around the world.

helping a fellow cyclist in need

2015.07.24, Toronto
By happy chance I had my usual bike repair kit with me yesterday when I pulled up next to someone who was replacing a flat tube.

movie review - Frozen

2015.07.23, Toronto
This is a story about a princess with special magical abilities that let her control ice and snow.

how profitable are your clients?

2015.07.23, Toronto
It's taken me some doing, but I've sorted out a mechanism for determining the profitability of clients for a software firm.

let's not go blind

2015.07.22, Toronto
Let's all be careful around rural Ontario this summer kids

a trailer hitch for our Rondo

2015.07.21, Toronto
We're adding a trailer hitch to our Kia, so we can take the bikes to the cottage on the weekend.

ten years

2015.07.19, Toronto
Today's the tenth anniversary of our meeting, Mari and me.

On the Ashley Madison list? Blame it on Target

2015.07.18, Toronto
It's occurred to me that if someone's name turns up on the user list at Ashley Madison, they can just blame Target.

for love of Pluto

2015.07.17, Toronto
It's fun to watch the various reactions to the new images coming back from Pluto - especially the emotionally charged ones.

what's algebra

2015.07.15, Toronto
And then one day your first born is suddenly solving ?

woohoo, everyone borrow more!

2015.07.15, Toronto
Phew, the Bank of Canada just lowered interest rates

a pleasant summer

2015.07.15, Toronto
A colleague is in Dubai, where it's 44° today - this morning in Toronto it was 13°.

new shifter cable

2015.07.13, Toronto
Yesterday, I installed my first shifter cable on my bicycle; it went smoothly but I'm still having phantom shifts.

reading and recovering

2015.07.11, Toronto
This weekend, while we tried to nurse our girl back to health, I picked a book on human evolution.

movie review - The Other Guys

2015.07.08, Toronto
This is a buddy-cop movie in which two jerks in the precinct take up an important case following the deaths of the actual stars.

bee in a flower

2015.07.05, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  the quick a

Regal Bikes

2015.07.03, Toronto
I love this brand! Collections containing this photo.&nbs

black and white wall at an alley

2015.07.03, Toronto
black and white wall at an alley Collections containing th

so this is sugar beach

2015.07.03, Toronto
I accidentally discovered "Sugar Beach" today when looking for somewhere to read.

a motiv bicycle badge on the street

2015.07.02, Toronto
a motiv bicycle badge on the street Collections containing

old steel and scarred brick under paint

2015.07.02, Toronto
old steel and scarred brick under paint Collections contai

sharp shadows and battered steel

2015.07.02, Toronto
sharp shadows and battered steel Collections containing th

sears free spirit badge on the street

2015.07.02, Toronto
sears free spirit badge on the street Collections containi

battered rusty steel at high sun

2015.07.02, Toronto
battered rusty steel at high sun Collections containing th

plankton develops eyes on its own

2015.07.02, Toronto
Hooray for science - we've discovered a type of Japanese-Canadian plankton that has developed eyes.

fireworks over ashbridges bay

2015.07.01, Toronto
Happy 148th, Canada. Shame it was windy, but it still worke

Canada day fun

2015.07.01, Toronto
We ended the day with a trip to the beach and watched the fireworks.

refreshed website look

2015.07.01, Toronto
I've retooled the site again, reducing the load time from 3½s to ½s.

byblos on duncan street

2015.06.30, Toronto
byblos on duncan street Collections containing this photo.

loading zone, old building

2015.06.30, Toronto
loading zone, old building Collections containing this pho

gallant bicycles

2015.06.30, Toronto
gallant bicycles Collections containing this photo.badges

stepping up to 49mm

2015.06.30, Toronto
Gotta admire a camera store that honors a four year old gift card - thanks, Henrys.

Oh, syphilitic Lousiana

2015.06.29, Toronto
Syphilis, Louisiana - say it ain't so!

flight of the manta ray

2015.06.28, Toronto
flight of the manta ray Collections containing this photo.

swimming among the kelp

2015.06.28, Toronto
swimming among the kelp Collections containing this photo.

I came here to shout at some sharks

2015.06.28, Toronto
I came here to shout at some sharks Collections containing

deadly fish at the aquarium

2015.06.28, Toronto
deadly fish at the aquarium Collections containing this ph

new photos

2015.06.28, Toronto
There is a new collection of photos, here.

poor little rained-on dolls

2015.06.27, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  found objec

bright red door

2015.06.27, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  color  

OpenDNS

2015.06.27, Toronto
In an audit of my employer's cybersecurity stance, I found things to be generally quite good.

proud owner of a new camera

2015.06.26, Toronto
Well, I did it

geography game, and the risk of Kyrgyzstan

2015.06.25, Toronto
I found this online game where you try to put names on countries.

new chain, new cassette

2015.06.24, Toronto
After barely eight months, I'm already on my second chain and cassette.

movie review - Inherent Vice

2015.06.22, Tokyo
This is a tale set in 1970 Los Angeles, in which the stoner element is strong but the old guard elements of society still remain in some force.

so it's decided

2015.06.22, Toronto
Nine years ago, I bought an inexpensive camera expecting to use it for two years.

fixing bikes in the park

2015.06.21, Toronto
This Spring, I took a bike repair course; today I put it to practice by once again repairing people's bikes.

Shakespeare in the park

2015.06.19, Toronto
Tonight I'm taking my son to see "Hamlet" in the park.

that's no way to toss your salad

2015.06.18, Toronto
Today my foot slipped on an escalator stair; my arm went up, throwing my lunch into the air.

pan-am games already getting on my nerves

2015.06.17, Toronto
Today I witnessed a cyclist take a tumble as he navigated some unannounced barriers on our route.

the juggler

2015.06.15, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  street fest

shooting in a cemetery

2015.06.15, Toronto
I love photography in cemeteries. So many interesting combi

donated some old cameras today

2015.06.15, Toronto
I donated an antique SRT-101 and two X700 bodies and some lenses to a camera shop; they're making a mural.

broken bicycle seat

2015.06.14, Toronto
I seem to weigh too much for this bike seat design! Colle

The Raleigh, Beaches

2015.06.14, Toronto
The Raleigh, Beaches Collections containing this photo.bad

volunteer bike repair

2015.06.13, Toronto
I turned up at a kids cycling event, ready to do some bike repair

"Don't worry, Daddy!"

2015.06.12, Toronto
Tonight while I was bathing our daughter, she saw me fretting about something and said, "Daddy, don't worry!

baby bunnies at dusk

2015.06.12, Toronto
Today's trip home was better than yesterday's - better to the tune of baby bunnies on the cycle path.

took a spill on my bike

2015.06.11, Toronto
Pinched between the ruined tracks and an oversized truck parked on the right, I took a bad bounce off of an uneven concrete rim next to the tracks and went down.

movie review - Star Trek Into Darkness

2015.06.10, Toronto
This 2013 Star Trek movie was such a mess I couldn't sit through the whole thing.

more camera porn

2015.06.10, Toronto
This time it's Sony that's caught my eye, with these fine entries.

a peer to mentor your staff

2015.06.09, Toronto
Another thing about getting older

met an old friend for lunch, today

2015.06.08, Toronto
One of the things about getting older

the first family cycle trip

2015.06.07, Toronto
We cycled over to cherry beach and had a surprisingly chilly picnic.

a busy Saturday in June

2015.06.06, Toronto
This morning I: a. Ironed all my shirts for the week ahead

the old bait and switch

2015.06.03, Toronto
Fell for the old bait and switch last night, this time with a camera company.

cycling in a sports coat

2015.06.02, Toronto
This morning I attended an interesting seminar at MaRS, on the subject of innovation.

you work twelve hours, what do you get

2015.06.01, Toronto
Another day older, and more deeply entangled in discussions around insurance, monte carlo.

i think my daughter is a time traveler

2015.05.30, Toronto
I saw my future daughter as an adult on the street, today.

an explosion of bicycle traffic

2015.05.28, Toronto
The bicycle lanes on Richmond and Adelaide have exploded.

i've finished my bike repair course

2015.05.27, Toronto
I've finished my bike repair course, and it's made a big impact to the way I view my bike when I ride.

systems thinking

2015.05.26, Toronto
I attended a really strong seminar on systems thinking as an approach to change management.

late to bed and early to rise

2015.05.25, Toronto
Starting to think that years of burning the candle at both ends might be taking a toll.

canvassing on Danforth

2015.05.24, Toronto
Today I spent 90 minutes canvassing on Danforth about the cycle lane that we want to build.

lunch with smart people

2015.05.22, Toronto
Today I had lunch with one of those smart people who reflexively starts mentoring during a conversation.

bike repair stations in Toronto

2015.05.21, Toronto
A local brewery is sponsoring free-standing, self-serve bike-repair stations in Toronto.

the common law of business practice

2015.05.20, Toronto
Someone* once said this of choosing a vendor's solution base

repairing a rear wheel

2015.05.20, Toronto
Tonight in our cycle repair class we dismantled the rear wheel; really getting comfortable with this, now.

Detroit, here I come

2015.05.19, Toronto
That's it

another workaday audit

2015.05.18, Toronto
Another visit by our service auditors this week.

a raccoon in crisis

2015.05.15, Toronto
Today's adventure began Jon with asking, "Does that look like a hand to you?

risk assessment in a nutshell

2015.05.14, Toronto
A pithy quote on risk assessment.

a fine mist, backlit by the dawn

2015.05.13, Toronto
I saw a fine mist falling, back-lit by the dawn and adrift on a gentle breeze.

of headwinds and the spring's fresh insects

2015.05.12, Toronto
I arrived at work with a mouth- and mustache-full of this year's crop of bugs.

interviewing means meeting interesting people

2015.05.11, Toronto
I'm interviewing for two jobs right now, it's a golden opportunity to meet some interesting people.

movie review - Gravity

2015.05.09, Toronto
This is a movie about an astronaut who's on a mission when debris strikes the station they're working on, trashing it and the shuttle that brought them.

what a week

2015.05.08, Toronto
Well, it's been a long week, but the family's healthy and whole, so all is well.

here come the bike repairs

2015.05.07, Toronto
As I'd hoped, there will be a full slate of opportunities to volunteer for Cycle Toronto this summer, fixing people's bikes.

tearing apart a bicycle wheel

2015.05.06, Toronto
At my cycle repair class tonight I learned how to dismantle a wheel and repack the bearings.

meeting in a discrete place

2015.05.05, Toronto
I met a friend for drinks tonight at the pub under the Strathcona Hotel.

hiring on LinkedIn

2015.05.04, Toronto
I recently posted two job openings to LinkedIn.

taxes done

2015.05.04, Toronto
I'm always torn about a good-sized tax refund.

warm and pleasant at last

2015.05.01, Toronto
It's been so cool, dreary, and wet for so long that it's gotten hard to remember what sunshine feels like.

strange way to start a resume

2015.04.30, Toronto
Today I read a resume that started with the word "Competencies" misspelled.

more equipment, more

2015.04.29, Toronto
I went to Jacob's hardware for a set of combination wrenches for bike repair today; love that store.

kit flying in the spring

2015.04.28, Toronto
Emma's old enough to hold a kite string, now, so we put her to work.

back on summer tires

2015.04.27, Toronto
I've traded in my knobby 700x35's for some sleek 28's - always a happy surprise to feel the road again.

movie review - Horrible Bosses

2015.04.26, Toronto
This was a fun flick about some guys who decide to strike back against their horrible bosses .

teaching cycle maintenance

2015.04.26, Toronto
I'm only three weeks into my cycle repair course, and I've already missed a class.

family-chan!

2015.04.25, Toronto
And just like that, I'm back to the routine of kids with stomach bugs and meal routines.

my pilgrimage is complete

2015.04.24, Toronto
Someone at RSA called it a pilgrimage that is mandatory but that you only have to do once.

meetings

2015.04.23, Toronto
I skipped another afternoon of "keynotes" to meet with a succession of people.

Torontonians everywhere

2015.04.22, San Francisco
Today I decided that I'd had enough of the "keynotes" and went for another walk with my camera.

over the top in the USA

2015.04.21, San Francisco
The conference officially kicked off today, so naturally the first event was so over the top that it defied belief.

RSA Conference panel

2015.04.20, Toronto
1,200 people showed up for our panel at RSA.

wandering the hills of San Francisco

2015.04.20, San Francisco
After today's session, I went for a walk through Chinatown with my hot pink Minolta XD-11 and some black and white film.

a jet swirling contrails

2015.04.19, San Francisco
As we came over the last range of mountains I spotted another plane coming from the south (left).

heading to San Francisco

2015.04.17, Toronto
In two days, I leave for San Francisco; I'm joining a panel at the sprawling great RSA conference.

movie review - How to Train Your Dragon 2

2015.04.16, Toronto
This is a sequel to an animated movie that united Norsemen and dragons.

another cyber presentation

2015.04.16, Toronto
I was asked to present on information risk at our annual user conference, held today.

running red lights

2015.04.15, Toronto
Today on the way home from my cycle repair class I see nine cars run red lights.

the police use malware to persecute whistleblowers

2015.04.14, Toronto
And in this crap-hill 'verse, the police use malware to persecute whistleblowers.

using malware to persecute whistle-blower

2015.04.14, Toronto
A colleague passed this along.

the McNamara fallacy

2015.04.13, Toronto
It's funny how you're more likely these days to see an economist declaring the system bogus.

preparing to speak at a panel

2015.04.10, Toronto
I've been invited to participate in a panel at the RSA Conference in San Francisco this year.

hiring is tough work

2015.04.09, Toronto
I'm currently hiring for two disparate roles, and it's tough sledding.

first day of cycle repair classes

2015.04.08, Toronto
I took my first class of eight with the TDSB cycle repair program at Central Tech tonight.

an earful of pool water

2015.04.07, Toronto
I was holding The Girl in an indoor pool when she grabbed my head and forcibly squirted a mouthful of water into my ear.

making chocolates with grandma

2015.04.05, Toronto
making chocolates with grandma Collections containing this

on "How to avoid a breach"

2015.04.05, Toronto
I recently saw a LinkedIn post to an article titled, "Data breaches

speaking at this year's RSA Conference

2015.04.02, Toronto
I've been asked to join a panel at this year's RSA Conference in San Francisco.

perspective

2015.04.02, St. Catharines, ON
It took us 3½ hours to drive the 100km to Saint Catharines today, and I was weary and grumbling upon arrival.

movie review - Limitless

2015.04.01, Toronto
This is a movie in which an experimental drug sets a very average fellow free to do great things.

an april fool's .. process manual

2015.04.01, Toronto
This year we issued a bogus process manual at work on "Accessing the stairs" for April Fools Day.

today my employer had a very good day

2015.04.01, Toronto
A competitor has announced a product that competes with something we're doing; it's welcome news.

working my way through my dissertation, still

2015.03.31, Toronto
I've posted another piece of my research findings to my other site, risktopics.

this time with feeling

2015.03.30, Toronto
Back on the bike, again.

the last stand of robin hood

2015.03.29, Toronto
I took the boy to see the farewell performance of "The Heart of Robin Hood" today.

movie review - Thor

2015.03.24, Toronto
This is a super-hero movie based on the Marvel Thor comic books, which I never read.

cutting off your nose

2015.03.23, Toronto
This article suggests that we should no longer use email, because it's not safe.

a Torontonian for one quarter of my life

2015.03.21, Toronto
I've now been here in Toronto for 11 of my 44 years.

family evaporating

2015.03.20, Toronto
I've noticed something: our family's withering away.

Maebh, scratched already

2015.03.15, St. Catharines, ON
We discovered that someone's struck our car and driven away without telling us.

happy Pi day, everyone

2015.03.14, St. Catharines, ON
It's 3/14 again; happy Pi day all you nerds and mathematicians.

first Ethiopian meal

2015.03.13, Toronto
Tonight I met a friend over Ethiopian food; it was the first time for both of (combined age, 84).

two day migraine

2015.03.12, Toronto
I've just been through the first two-day migraine I've had in nearly fifteen years.

winter's back is broken

2015.03.10, Toronto
And on the second day of decent weather, the count of cyclists to our office doubled to two.

back in the saddle, 2015 edition

2015.03.09, Toronto
I've finally ridden to work; a late start this year but it's good to be back on my bike.

a life 55 percent gone

2015.03.08, Toronto
Turned forty-four this week, and for the first birthday in years, I've noticed; I guess I can see fifty coming.

an ear for voices

2015.03.05, Toronto
We were listening to a Beatles song and Ken remarked, "that voice sounds like the singer from 'Monster in Paris'.

this is supposed to be cycling weather

2015.03.03, Toronto
March is usually when I get back on my bike; looks like it's not happening this week.

beyond risk-listing and the ISO31k diagram

2015.03.02, Toronto
Matthew Leitch is a risk management researcher in the UK I've leaned on more than once when I needed guidance.

movie review - The Hangover, Part 3

2015.02.27, Toronto
This is the third in the series of the "The Hangover" movies.

what the SEC thinks about information risk

2015.02.27, Toronto
As a "knowledge worker", it's important to understand how one's output is used.

kei-tra in Canada

2015.02.24, Toronto
I saw an honest-to-goodness Japanese "kei-tra" (kei truck) on Queen street tonight.

counting to and from five

2015.02.22, Toronto
Our little one can reliably count to and even down from five (and up to six).

the TTC breaks a perfect streak

2015.02.18, Toronto
The TTC really slipped up tonight; they let a whole street car full of people get to the Beaches.

ice fishing, 34 below

2015.02.16, Lake Simcoe
Today The Boy and I went ice fishing with Richard and his son.

this website is a decade old, I'll probably end it

2015.02.15, Toronto
Good ol' emuu dot net, my second website, is now ten years and four months old

forgetting my UNIX

2015.02.13, Toronto
I'm slipping; I went to null a file by copying /dev/null to it, and took about five seconds to remember /dev/null.

it looks like "cybersecurity" is here to stay

2015.02.12, Toronto
I'm not wild about the word "cybersecurity".

more on ISACA's certifications

2015.02.11, Toronto
I work in information risk management; there's a bevy of certifications in the field, but grandfathering is a big black eye.

like tobogganing on glass

2015.02.08, Toronto
Last weekend we took the kids tobogganing on a hill where someone would a few days later leave a lot of broken glass.

movie review - Safety Not Guaranteed

2015.02.07, Toronto
This is a quirky science fiction piece about some journalists who decide to check out a weirdo inventor who is working on a time travel device.

Exhaustion

2015.02.05, Toronto
The Girl's almost sleeping through the night, now.

movie review - Oblivion

2015.01.28, Toronto
This is an under-rated science fiction piece about a pair of humans assigned to oversee robotic drones that patrol a quadrant of the dying Earth.

getting some sleep

2015.01.28, Toronto
Emma woke twice last night, and I slept through both events; it's the dawn of a new age.

we're on to something

2015.01.27, Toronto
Our darling daughter didn't sleep through the night - but she didn't demand that we attend to her, either.

now I've seen everything

2015.01.23, Toronto
Today I saw a driver pull up onto the sidewalk to pass a taxi that had stopped with its blinkers going.

our new mayor just obsoleted our car purchase

2015.01.19, Toronto
A month after we break down and buy our first car, TTC improvements and fare reductions occur.

some good points on points-based immigration

2015.01.17, Toronto
Canada's just changed its immigration "points system" to ramp up the import of talented (but cheap!

cybersecurity as a systemic risk in the financial industry

2015.01.15, Toronto
Outsourcing technology service arrangements carry considerable risk to both parties.

movie review - Sideways

2015.01.14, Toronto
I saw this a second time, recently, and felt that some of its shine had worn off.

on having a plan in life

2015.01.14, Toronto
Five year ago, I had the advice from an entrepreneur that to get big things done one should have a life plan.

I'm just too nice

2015.01.12, Toronto
Today I managed to convince my son that his aunt found his uncle in a pre-Internet "catalog of husbands".

my son calls Markham "Mirkwood"

2015.01.11, Toronto
After seeing some of the Tolkien movies, Ken's taken to calling Markham "Mirkwood".

the risk of time sheets incomplete

2015.01.05, Toronto
I work in an industry where records of time spent on distinct projects are required of knowledge workers.

so now it's snow tires

2015.01.03, Toronto
Don't worry about a snowy winter in Toronto this year, I've bought snow tires so it won't snow at all.

2014

movie review - Dallas Buyers Club

2014.12.23, Toronto
This is a movie about a young man in the early days of the AIDS crisis who contracts the disease from a junkie prostitute.

R & D funding

2014.12.23, Toronto
Got a double dose of good news on our R & D funding at work, today.

business lunching

2014.12.18, Toronto
One recent thing I've started doing is meeting new business contacts over a coffee or a meal.

feeling thankful

2014.12.17, Toronto
Tonight I met with a friend whose daughter is recovering from a serious concussion.

I really am becoming middle aged

2014.12.16, Toronto
First it's car shopping, now I'm buying life insurance - no doubt about it, I'm middled aged.

doing it for himself

2014.12.15, Toronto
Ken cooked himself some hotdogs by dicing them up and frying them.

thanks for nothing, mbna

2014.12.15, Toronto
I've been using an MBNA mastercard for quite some time, but they've decided they don't want me anymore.

my son's D&D character has died

2014.12.13, Toronto
Facing an adversary both too strong and too many, The Boy's party was outgunned and simply ran out of luck.

writing with light

2014.12.12, Toronto
writing with light Collections containing this photo.simpl

things have come to a pretty pass

2014.12.10, Toronto
Things have come to a pretty pass when you find yourself crafting a ransom note.

o frabjous day, callooh callay

2014.12.08, Toronto
Today started out with a prescription for antibiotics, but ended with a giant bag of free wooden train stuff.

where are my sarcastic air quotes

2014.12.07, Toronto
Both kids had a fever this weekend; if you haven't dealt with a delirious six year old, you haven't lived!

SIFMA makes the first move

2014.12.05, Toronto
Over the past couple of years, I've been watching for a "guidance note" from one of the regulators on cyber security.

dodging ice patches on my bike

2014.12.04, Toronto
Looks like the wide, rugged tires on my Surly are just the thing for dodging or riding over patches of ice.

movie review - 2001: A Space Odyssey

2014.12.01, Toronto
Before I write this, I'll clarify that I think there's a good chance that the director of this movie faked the original moon landing on behalf of the US government during the Cold War competition with the Soviets.

the day of Christmas trees

2014.12.01, Toronto
I've started compiling a new section of my website dealing with the house rules for dungeons and dragons.

worst day of the year

2014.11.28, Toronto
Take a day that starts with a migraine, then add some grief from a car dealership, an auditor, and a failed hard drive.

no car after all

2014.11.27, Toronto
So it looks like we're not buying a car after all - a supposed problem came up with the warranty, so it's undone.

published with the IRM

2014.11.26, Toronto
The Institute of Risk Management has agreed to publish my dissertation to its membership.

introducing people

2014.11.25, Toronto
One of the advantages of attending network events is that you meet people who make you think.

movie review - The Cabin in the Woods

2014.11.17, Toronto
This is a horror movie within a sci-fi movie about a world-wide effort by humanity to appease the old gods using a systematic approach to sacrifice.

now I own a car

2014.11.15, Toronto
At 43, I now own a car for the first time in my life; nay, it's an SUV, and we can thank parenthood.

mw, interacting with people

2014.11.14, Toronto
Today I managed to do some socializing; such a rare treat in Toronto when you're middle aged.

16,000 days

2014.11.13, Toronto
I've lived 16,000 days.

eight years

2014.11.12, Toronto
Mari and I realized that the eighth anniversary of our wedding ceremony on a beach in Thailand was last week.

another sale for "The Fourth Turning"

2014.11.11, Toronto
I should be on commission for the 1994 book "The Fourth Turning", I keep convincing people to buy a copy.

a day of learning to .. influence

2014.11.08, Toronto
I attended a Cycle Toronto event today, to learn how to be a better advocate for change in the city.

movie review - Monsters University

2014.11.07, Toronto
I bit off more than I could chew with this one, walking away at some point to let me son soldier on while I did some chores.

cycle toronto for a year

2014.11.06, Toronto
It's been a year since I joined Cycle Toronto; I'm marking the event by attending a day long seminar on a weekend.

pedestrian traffic accidents in Toronto

2014.11.05, Toronto
Here's the correlation between hours of darkness in the day and the number of Toronto traffic accidents involving a pedestrian.

how to create a start-up, for real this time

2014.11.03, Toronto
Today I read an article on start-ups by Paul Graham - perhaps the most important I've ever read.

happy eighth anniversary, my wife!

2014.11.01, Toronto
I spent the day with a cold, and we were nursing a sick kid for half the day only for the other one to wind up with a migraine.

Hallowe'en was fun for once

2014.11.01, Toronto
We had a ball last night with the kids for trick-or-treating.

cycling light with a backpack.

2014.10.31, Toronto
I've decided to forgo my pannier and rack, for a while, in favor of a water-proof backpack.

an experiment in risk culture programming

2014.10.30, Toronto
A large part of my duty as a risk manager is to guide the organization

found an anonymous love note on my bike

2014.10.30, Toronto
This morning I discovered that someone had left an anonymous love note on my bike.

the stinging kiss of cold rain – how I've missed you

2014.10.29, Toronto
Had my first taste of a late autumn, low temperature stinging rain tonight.

paid for my damaged bike

2014.10.28, Toronto
Today I received the check for the bike that was destroyed on September 22nd.

Michael Werneburg, MSc

2014.10.27, Toronto
I got a 79% on my dissertation, which I'm told is pretty good for the UK.

my path to a master's degree

2014.10.26, Toronto
I've just completed my master's degree, something that took 2 1/2 years.

first commute on my new bike

2014.10.24, Toronto
With a new bike, you really get what you pay for; my new Surly Cross-check is a thing of beauty.

at last, my new bike

2014.10.23, Toronto
This evening I took possession of my new bike, a Surly Cross-Check with townie handlebars.

four weeks without a bike

2014.10.22, Toronto
Four weeks ago, a movie production company's truck destroyed my bike; it's been quite an adjustment.

Ontario has roads

2014.10.21, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  landscapes

the dice are trying to kill my son

2014.10.15, Toronto
I've been playing D&D with my young son; I swear the dice are trying to kill his first character.

a risk practitioners uprising

2014.10.10, Toronto
I took a couple of vacation days to go to Minneapolis and join the third annual conference of the Society of Information Risk Analysts, an interesting group of risk practitioners that is putting together what seems to be not exactly a people's uprising but a practitioners' uprising in the information risk management field.

So this is Minneapolis

2014.10.08, Minneapolis
I

500px is our neighbour

2014.10.07, Toronto
I've just discovered that the offices of 500px are half a block away, on our street.

the TTC is not good for my legs

2014.10.06, Toronto
It's now been two weeks since my bike was destroyed, and my legs and hips are constantly sore from lack of exercise.

the day my lies caught up with me

2014.10.05, Toronto
"I'm glad I didn't trust you," my wife said as I walked through the door.

movie review - The Lego Movie

2014.10.04, Toronto
This is a feature-length advertisement for all things Lego, and I found it quite entertaining.

going to Minneapolis

2014.10.02, Toronto
I'm going to join a conference on information risk management in exotic Minneapolis.

success at last with my bike

2014.10.01, Toronto
I've finally had some success with getting my damaged bike replaced; I had to resort to threats.

what happened to my bike

2014.09.30, Toronto
It was hit by a truck during the filming of a Nicholas Cage

no progress on getting my damaged bike replaced

2014.09.30, Toronto
I've placed an order for a new bike, but no one at the movie production company will give me the time of day.

late summer cycle commuter

2014.09.29, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  moods  

bike at the end of its life

2014.09.29, Toronto
bike at the end of its life Collections containing this ph

could this be our first car

2014.09.29, Toronto
It's not much to look at, but this is the type of car we're considering for our growing family.

red sky at night

2014.09.28, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  color  

all-city space horse

2014.09.28, Toronto
While I imagine the "Space horse" might take the award for most strangely named bicycle, it is truly beautiful to behold.

some camera gear is getting really, really good

2014.09.27, Toronto
I would never have guessed, but Sony truly leading innovation in the camera market these days.

a cyclecross frame with townie handlebars

2014.09.26, Toronto
As I get older and stop making sense, one of my highest priorities in choosing a bike is my poor old back.

hot pink camera

2014.09.25, Toronto
I reskinned a favorite camera with pink leatherette.

scared into trying an anti-virus package for my Mac

2014.09.25, Toronto
Every time I go to a cyber-security event, I learn to be scared for safety of my home computers.

movie review - The Princess Bride

2014.09.24, Toronto
This is a movie telling of a story book as read by a grandfather to his grandson who is home sick.

what bike next

2014.09.24, Toronto
So my beloved, but somewhat underweight KHS bike is gone.

and then, in a second, my bike was destroyed

2014.09.23, Toronto
The movie "Pay the Ghost" cost me my bike today when one of their truck drivers crushed it.

the secret of life: dignity and meaning

2014.09.22, Toronto
Today I read a mission statement for life by American author & statesman John Gardner.

fun at "Jungle Cat World"

2014.09.20, Orono, Ontario
We went to bustling Orono, Ontario today and saw some of the world's last remaining 120 Amur leopards.

my odyssey on the TTC

2014.09.19, Toronto
Today I had a truly bizarre trip to work, courtesy of the Toronto Transit Commission.

applying for an award

2014.09.17, Toronto
I'm going to submit an entry for an award competition, based on my work over the past few years.

hot pink Minolta XD-11

2014.09.16, Toronto
I've received the hot pink leather kit I ordered from Japan.

5,000 journal entries

2014.09.15, Toronto
I've now written some five thousand entries in this journal of mine.

a new rangefinder-style camera on the market

2014.09.15, Toronto
Mmmm, the march of progress in camera technology and design.

some monarchs at last

2014.09.14, Toronto
My son and I must have seen a dozen monarch butterflies in the city today as we rode "Bells on Danforth".

80% of the monarch butterflies I've seen this year were road-kill

2014.09.13, Toronto
Eighty percent of the monarch butterflies I've seen this year were roadkill we passed on a four km cycle trip today.

cycling to savings

2014.09.12, Toronto
I figure my bike saved me five TTC fares today; I've now saved over $3,400 in TTC fares in two years with a $700 bike.

holy crap, this is early September

2014.09.11, Toronto
I faced a 30kph headwind heading west into the city this morning, then a biting 15 kph headwind heading east again in the evening.

learning the ropes in marketing

2014.09.10, Toronto
We've been on quite a marketing roll at work, recently.

so it's meritage

2014.09.09, Toronto
Thanks to my mum's expertise, Mari and I have been "bumped out of our wine bracket" and now drink Meritage wines, which are blends that take the various excesses out of the different single-grape type drinks.

car ownership

2014.09.08, Toronto
It looks like we might become the last family of four without a car, and finally join the driving set.

[[whinny sound]]

2014.09.06, Toronto
I told Ken, "Stop horsing around!

DaftBlogger once more

2014.09.05, Toronto
Once again, I've written a post about the thrilling world of service audits; incredibly, I keep being invited back.

yet another camera crush

2014.09.05, Toronto
Meanwhile, I've abruptly developed a new camera crush.

beautiful day for outdoors volunteering

2014.09.04, Toronto
All set for that volunteering stint with Cycle Toronto; by which I mean, I know where to be and when.

all moved in

2014.09.03, Toronto
It's nice when you're a niche software provider and you're in a like-minded neighbourhood.

catching the last summer rays in Toronto

2014.09.02, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  streets of

gathering dusk in late summer

2014.09.02, Toronto
gathering dusk in late summer Collections containing this

"that's not how it works"

2014.08.31, Toronto
We were watching "Raiders of the Lost Ark".

volunteering

2014.08.29, Toronto
I'm signed up for more volunteering for Cycle Toronto; this time, manning a booth at the last East Lynn market for the season.

moody boardwalk

2014.08.28, Toronto
moody boardwalk Collections containing this photo.toronto'

the two year old does her best marilyn monroe

2014.08.28, Toronto
the two year old does her best marilyn monroe Collections

toronto cycle trail on a misty august morning

2014.08.28, Toronto
toronto cycle trail on a misty august morning Collections

moody lawn behind the beach

2014.08.28, Toronto
moody lawn behind the beach Collections containing this ph

lone sailboat in ashbirdges bay

2014.08.28, Toronto
lone sailboat in ashbirdges bay Collections containing thi

stupidity again today

2014.08.28, Toronto
Today a restauranteur distinguished himself when I tried to pay with a credit card at his cash-only spot; he let me go.

to the science center!

2014.08.27, Toronto
I took the day off due to The Girl's being unwell, and spent the day with The Boy; we went to the science center (naturally).

always on the hottest day of the year

2014.08.26, Toronto
Cycled in a mad rush across the city today, getting to the hospital - it's always on the hottest day of the year.

today I pissed away $45

2014.08.25, Toronto
I mis-heard a quote at a print house: I thought I was spending $16, but it came to $60; aging does not make you wiser.

"not really, dude"

2014.08.24, Toronto
I asked Ken something today, and he told me, "not really dude.

today, the storage unit

2014.08.24, Toronto
Today we really lived it up, clearing out the storage unit for the first time in three and a half years.

men with small moustaches

2014.08.23, Toronto
Tonight Ken asked me, "why do men with small moustaches want to be bald?

a letter to the tooth fairy for his sister

2014.08.22, Toronto
Ken wrote a letter to the tooth fairy today, on behalf of his sister.

feeling rough today

2014.08.22, Toronto
For whatever reason, it wasn't until today that the news of the death of a friend a few weeks ago really hit me.

housing in a bubble

2014.08.21, Toronto
When your kids are too big an noisy for your apartment, but the housing market's gone bubbly, you must ride it out.

and now, a book project

2014.08.20, Toronto
Next up; a book project on how to get a service provider through an audit, to sell to regulated industries.

today they buried a friend

2014.08.19, Toronto
I have a nasty habit of missing out-of-town funerals; so it was again today.

edited star wars movies

2014.08.18, Toronto
At a BBQ, I learned that I'm not the only one who shows his kids the fan edited versions of Star Wars.

twenty years

2014.08.16, Toronto
I've now been working for more than twenty years; I suppose it's better than to toil in obscurity than it is to loaf in obscurity.

disoriented

2014.08.15, Toronto
Hardly know what to do with myself now that I'm not studying and writing for hours a day.

Toronto is nice in Augtober

2014.08.14, Toronto
It was 14ºC this morning, and so cool in the evening that the heat came on in our apartment.

my dissertation is submitted

2014.08.13, Toronto
I've submitted my dissertation; three years of work has come to this final piece in my master's degree.

dear Adobe and Microsoft...

2014.08.12, Toronto
Dear Adobe and Microsoft; I've paid for both your products, I need them to work together -- get on it!

it's the final push

2014.08.11, Toronto
I'm only days away from submitting my dissertation.

you win this round, phragmites!

2014.08.08,
I've fought to a draw with the phragmites at the cottage; after days of work with the scythe, it feels like harvesting than eradication.

movie review - Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

2014.08.06, Toronto
I showed The Boy this bizarre but lovable movie about a mopey kid who wins a much-sought-after prize to tour a chocolate factory run by a famous recluse.

caught a big bass

2014.08.06,
I've never been a successful fisherman, but today I caught a 43cm/17" bass off the end of the dock.

the fisherman

2014.08.05, Toronto
Ken's been catching fish left and right; at this pace he'll have caught more this week than I had by the age of forty.

it's war!

2014.08.04,
We're at the cottage, and it turns out that the waterfront's become infested with an invasive species called "phragmites".

so they're making another "Mad Max" movie

2014.08.01, Toronto
So they're making another "Mad Max" movie; I just hope it's not another "Prometheus".

yay, here comes ebola

2014.07.31, Toronto
There are more an more articles spreading about an ebola article in western Africa.

movie review - Contagion

2014.07.30, Toronto
This is an interesting piece about some potential ramifications from a pandemic.

another cyclist hit on the streets of Toronto

2014.07.30, Toronto
A cyclist was struck by a car a few blocks from where we live; it turns out that it was our city Councillor.

what I do

2014.07.29, Toronto
Someone on LinkedIn asked why I have the title of "Director of Business Risk & Opportunity", so I wrote it all down.

a long week is over

2014.07.25, Toronto
Never buy an adjustable stem for a bicycle; that bit of advice sent me from pillar to post today until I'd fixed that mistake.

rest in peace, Brian Handy

2014.07.24, Toronto
A friend and mentor has died.

a house on fire

2014.07.23, Toronto
Tonight in the wee hours, we were woken by the sirens of fire engines; a house across the street was aflame.

happy pi approximation day

2014.07.22, Toronto
Happy Pi Approximation Day, fellow nerds; 22/7 = π.

Toronto ferry dock's

2014.07.21, Toronto
Went to see if Ken's cycling gloves were at Toronto ferry's "lost and found"; it turns out that's just a pile of junk on a sidewalk.

movie review - The Master

2014.07.20, Toronto
This is a story of a psychologically damaged veteran of world war two who returns to normal life after a stint in the care of a psychiatric ward.

the curse of camera lustin'

2014.07.18, Toronto
With just 1 income and 2 kids to feed, I'm the rare photographer who is resisting his wife's urging to buy a new camera.

dissertation draft submitted

2014.07.17, Toronto
Tonight I submitted my first complete draft of my dissertation to my supervisor in the UK.

now (zero) days without a cycling accident

2014.07.16, Toronto
I know all the young dudes gotta ride fixies with feet velcro'd in, but fer god's sake wear a helmet.

our halfling daughter

2014.07.15, Toronto
Once again, someone asked Mari, "Oh, she's your daughter?

watches rub off on people

2014.07.15, Toronto
Among the other "watch people" iin our office, one has bought the SARX017 I decided against back in the spring.

flesh-eating bacteria be damned

2014.07.14, Toronto
I had a chat today at lunch time with someone who's recovering from a fight with a flesh-eating bacterium.

slowly, Toronto is becoming cycle-ready

2014.07.10, Toronto
With the new contra-flow cycle lanes, the city is learning that cycling is a solution; no one tell the Mayors!

someone who gets it

2014.07.09, Toronto
When you're lost in the midst of a dissertation, it's enormously helpful to meet someone who understands you.

putin mugs make happy

2014.07.08, Toronto
I bought some his-and-hers coffee mugs with images of Vladimir Putin for my brother and his wife.

feeling thankful for small things

2014.07.07, Toronto
The torrential rain that was coming down all night finally eased up about 1/4 of the way through my cycle commute.

a day of fishing on center island

2014.07.06, Toronto
We spent the day on center island again, this time for a day of fishing.

found by my tiny daughter

2014.07.04, Toronto
As I cycled home tonight, I heard a familiar voice cry "'addy"

why me not think good

2014.07.03, Toronto
In the same book I quoted yesterday, I found this list of common problems with human cognition; it's a doozy.

now I've read everything

2014.07.02, Toronto
I found this excerpt in a business management book, today, and to be honest I believe it completely.

great ball contraption

2014.06.29, Toronto
Some people are really mechanically inclined; no surprise this lego-based "great ball contraption comes from Japan.

to Leslie Spit!

2014.06.28, Toronto
Today was our first visit to Leslie Spit so far this year.

the soaking of the year and a book on executing on strategy

2014.06.25, Toronto
Tonight it was raining so hard on my way home from work that I might as well have been cycling in the shower.

arsenic in the food, and a half-eaten baby

2014.06.24, Toronto
So it turns out that rice from the US, which we've been eating daily for years, contains way more arsenic than it should.

movie review - Coherence

2014.06.23, Toronto
During the passage of a comet, a group of friends have a dinner party.

car wax on a bike

2014.06.23, Toronto
It's not usual that I meet someone who towers over me, but one such giant taught me that you can use car wax on a bike.

ken's new bike

2014.06.22, Toronto
I took Ken up to Cyclepath on Danforth and got him a new bike.

movie review - Riddick

2014.06.21, Toronto
This is the unnecessary third movie in the "Pitch Black" series.

what a perfect day

2014.06.21, Toronto
We spent the day cycling with some friends, down to center island then up its length, then back.

internal control calendar

2014.06.20, Toronto
I had to set up a schedule for internal controls at a small

as a birthday prank we re-did Carol's office

2014.06.20, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  a lifetime  

no more shooting film

2014.06.20, Toronto
The repair shop wants another $60 just to get a quote on my film cameras; I guess I'm done with film photography.

young no longer

2014.06.19, Toronto
There was a time when I was young; I recognize that those days are long over.

a bike lane approved

2014.06.18, Toronto
Cycle Toronto's "32 Spokes" in Ward 32 has managed to get a contra-flow bike lane through the PWIC today.

edits, edits, edits

2014.06.17, Toronto
I'm in the final stretch for my dissertation; the endless edits and rewrites.

cyclist down (on the tracks, naturally)

2014.06.16, Toronto
This morning on the way to work I passed a fellow cyclist who was down on the street, gasping in pain.

learning at the feet of the masters

2014.06.14, Toronto
I had an interesting opportunity to learn from some talented Toronto drivers today; I assume it's a full moon?

give the cyclist a door prize!

2014.06.13, Toronto
I got doored by someone emerging from a taxi, today; I pulled out of it but it's still dangerous and annoying.

walking five kilometers for charity

2014.06.12, Toronto
I was part of a $500,000 fund-raising 5km run today.

movie review - Elysium

2014.06.11, Toronto
I was attracted to this flick originally because I learned that it featured an orbital named Elysium - just like an unpublished novel of mine.

maxalt, a migraine drug as bad as the problem it solves

2014.06.11, Toronto
It's official, I can not take the migraine drug "Maxalt" without developing chest pains and winding up in the hospital.

interesting weather

2014.06.10, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  streets of

cycling through a rainy park

2014.06.10, Toronto
cycling through a rainy park Collections containing this p

the rusty ol Kenneth A

2014.06.10, Toronto
the rusty ol Kenneth A Collections containing this photo.t

a foggy beach in the city

2014.06.10, Toronto
a foggy beach in the city Collections containing this phot

ruining film with a shutter problem

2014.06.10, Toronto
I picked up some film today; it looks like I've got shutter problems with both of my beloved old X-700 cameras.

weekend of LEGO

2014.06.09, Toronto
I spent the weekend playing with LEGO with my son.

another year, another AGM

2014.06.05, Toronto
Time flies when you're having fun; and so, I found myself at the annual general meeting of the institute of internal auditors.

3D yoda head for lego minifig

2014.06.04, Toronto
Our friend Michael has made our son a Yoda head for a LEGO minifig on his company's 3D printer; it looked amazing!

I shot the Kenneth A on a difficult day

2014.06.03, Toronto
The stars aligned this morning, I was able to shoot that boat with my son's name.

great people are almost always bad people

2014.06.02, Toronto
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely; great people are almost always bad people.

The Kenneth A

2014.05.30, Toronto
Today I spotted a boat that had my son's name, "Kenneth A"; knew I should have brought a camera.

fondling cameras

2014.05.29, Toronto
I dropped off some film and took the opportunity to fondle a digital camera (behind my film camera's back).

bring coffee or don't come home

2014.05.28, Toronto
No coffee in the home this morning; Mari's look said, "Bring coffee beans tonight, or don't come home.

bikes made in Toronto

2014.05.27, Toronto
I've noticed some new brands of bikes around, of late; it turns out there are two new bike manufacturers in Toronto.

today I "biked to work"

2014.05.26, Toronto
I joined Cycle Toronto's "bike to work" thing today for the first time; it was fun, there were hundreds of cyclists involved.

voting Green

2014.05.26, Toronto
I had no idea who I'd vote for in the Provincial election; happily I've learned that someone I know is standing for the Greens.

happy towel day!!

2014.05.25, Toronto
OK, geeks, it's towel day and I hope you've got your towel with you.

progress on my dissertation

2014.05.24, Toronto
I've made quite a bit of headway with my dissertation, in part by taking a week off of work to throw myself at the thing.

storm shutters maybe

2014.05.22, Toronto
I have to assume the building on the right predates the one

Rob Ford's not all bad

2014.05.20, Toronto
Rob Ford's not all bad; thanks to him, parents are having the "drugs are bad" talk with their kids waaaaay ahead of schedule.

gluten-free beer in Japan

2014.05.18, Toronto
Mari's just discovered that the whole time I was in Japan, there were gluten-free beers available (dammit).

first barbeque of the year

2014.05.17, Toronto
We went to a barbeque today, with tonnes of great food, some wine, and some friends.

dragging out the bikes

2014.05.17, Toronto
This "Spring" has been so cold and wet that we haven't been on a joint bike ride yet.

movie review - Wreck-It Ralph

2014.05.16, Toronto
I watched this with my son for "movie night".

another semi-annual audit complete

2014.05.16, Toronto
We breezed through another semi-annual audit today.

seeing to Niagara

2014.05.15, Toronto
On Sunday we went to the beach and I noticed that I could see a lighthouse on the Niagara shore of the lake.

good-bye "yarsh"

2014.05.14, Toronto
Our daughter's learning to speak using words, so no more waking in the night only to point at a wall and whisper "yarsh".

on coffee and batteries

2014.05.13, Toronto
Some days are full of import; some times you're just happy to remember to buy coffee and batteries.

the year's first sand-castle

2014.05.11, Toronto
We went to the beach, today.

happy mother's day (from cyanide and happiness)

2014.05.09, Toronto
I'll let this speak for itself.

there will always be cheddar in the mouse trap, baby

2014.05.08, Toronto
I've been noticing a lot of anniversaries floating around these days.

movie review - Her

2014.05.07, Toronto
This is a science fiction film about a fellow who falls in love with a synthetic intelligent that's partially resident in his "phone".

yup, it's allergy season

2014.05.07, Toronto
After days of symptoms it's clear - the temperature has hit the double digits (at last) and now it's allergy season.

consuming the blood of the young

2014.05.06, Toronto
So it turns out that we can improve the health and energy levels of the elderly by giving them blood transfusions from younger people.

another new blog post

2014.05.05, Toronto
I've written a blog post that dives into some of the results of my masters dissertation.

may the fourth be with you!

2014.05.04, Toronto
Today we went to the toy store to pick up a scooter for The Boy; incredibly, there was a line up waiting for the store to open.

and now the mosquitos

2014.05.02, Toronto
It's not enough that we're still experiencing March weather in May - now we have to contend with mosquitoes, too.

don't drop the baby!

2014.05.01, Toronto
The other day, I nearly dropped our squirmy little girl on her head; when I caught her, her hair was already touching the floor.

movie review - The Adventures of Tintin

2014.04.30, Toronto
I really enjoyed this animated rendition of the old "Tintin" comic books.

so I guess we'll need a new mayor

2014.04.30, Toronto
At last, we'll finally start to get over the Rob Ford era here in Toronto.

are audit reports all about marketing

2014.04.29, Toronto
I am writing a dissertation on the impacts of implementing an enterprise risk function at service organizations.

the story of my father's arrival in Canada

2014.04.28, Toronto
Here's an account from my father of his arrival in Canada in 1956.

cycling in dress socks

2014.04.28, Toronto
I was so out of it this morning I cycled to work in a pair of dress socks - it must be Monday.

red light at dawn, cyclist's .. delight

2014.04.25, Toronto
I've had a happy experience with "Outdoor Gear Canada", the distributor of the blinking lights I use for cycling.

bigger nerd than ever

2014.04.24, Toronto
I've found a way to be a bigger nerd than ever; using an RFID-proof wallet.

more fun with my dissertation

2014.04.23, Toronto
I've had some interesting results from a survey of technology service providers who had completed a third-party service audit.

return of the cold weather

2014.04.22, Toronto
I grew up in Calgary, so I don't mind winter; but enough of this 3°C and rain!

simpletax.ca to the rescue

2014.04.21, Toronto
I've been back in Canada for three years, but I still haven't gotten used to our complicated tax return system.

progress on my dissertation

2014.04.20, Toronto
As part of my masters dissertation, I surveyed six firms to evaluate their experience with service audits with interesting results.

easter eggs for a toddler

2014.04.20, Toronto
It was The Girl's first Easter egg hunt with her brother, and she was lucky: her brother was a real sweetheart about sharing.

shooting my coworkers

2014.04.18, Toronto
Earlier this week, I lived out the dream of shooting my coworkers.

my annual presentation to our clients

2014.04.16, Toronto
Recently, in reading a book on strategy execution, I found a clear test of why an employer should retain you.

everyone's lived in Japan

2014.04.14, Toronto
While munching on a burger at Queen and Spadina today, I watched the people go by.

movie review - The Secret World of Arriety

2014.04.13, Toronto
This is an animated movie from Japan's Ghibli studio.

having a ball

2014.04.11, Toronto
I've done some of the most interesting stuff of my career this past week.

the ice has finally melted

2014.04.10, Toronto
At last, the winter's ice is finally gone.

more bike repairs

2014.04.08, Toronto
Last year I had a new set of handlebars put on my bike, they're "city bike" style, swept back like a pigeon's wings.

instead of kisses, I get kicks

2014.04.07, Toronto
My daughter kicked me in the throat yesterday for asking for a kiss.

Mari and the kids, gone for a month

2014.04.02, Toronto
Mari and the kids have been in Japan for the past month, and we had our final Skype chat tonight before they'd get on the plane.

a remarkable trip to work

2014.04.01, Toronto
Today as I was riding to work, I came upon a construction site where a giant crane was lifting some concrete barriers into place.

new camera crush – the Fuji XT-1

2014.03.31, Toronto
Today I managed to hold the most recent object of my camera affection, an XT-1 from Fuji.

a wallet in the street at 07:45

2014.03.29, Toronto
As I was rushing across town on my bike this morning I found a wallet lying on the street at Dundas Avenue (at Hastings).

the good thing about a masters degree

2014.03.27, Toronto
When you're an adult student doing a masters dissertation, it seems that having interested responses from authors you're citing can come with the territory.

an icy beard at -12ºC

2014.03.26, Toronto
I've been cycling all week so far, but today was the coldest day I've cycled (possibly ever).

a scarf and a bike at -11º

2014.03.24, Toronto
OK I admit, today's cycling was a bit chilly.

movie review - Back to the Future

2014.03.21, Toronto
I tried showing my son this movie but he didn't get it or think it was at all good.

a loaf in every microwave, and a cyclist in every rainstorm

2014.03.19, Toronto
I've been back on my bike for two days and have already had my first good rain storm.

sunset shadows

2014.03.18, Toronto
In a city over-run with condo construction, the little thin

queen street on a march afternoon

2014.03.18, Toronto
queen street on a march afternoon Collections containing t

beaches in winter

2014.03.18, Toronto
beaches in winter Collections containing this photo.street

cycled to work today

2014.03.18, Toronto
I took the plunge, and cycled to work in -5°C weather on roads that were mostly clear but naturally still somewhat icy.

housing in Canada

2014.03.12, Toronto
The house where my family lived from the time I was nine through eighteen was sold this year.

roofers at 08:00 on a Sunday

2014.03.09, Toronto
Good lord, guys.

emerging from winter on my bike

2014.03.08, Toronto
I rode my bike up to Danforth and Pape to pick up a suit and some shirts.

two more professional blog posts this week

2014.03.07, Toronto
This week I've made two new blog posts.

the 143 is no kind of express bus

2014.03.06, Toronto
There's a supposedly "express" bus that runs from Toronto's Beaches neighbourhood to the downtown.

new beater watch

2014.03.06, Toronto
For quite a while, I found myself torn between a rugged no-worry every day watch and something more expensive.

fleeing the winged sales baboon

2014.03.04, Toronto
Today I rid myself of a bank that doesn't understand its basic function.

so this is forty-three

2014.03.03, Toronto
I have never been told "happy birthday" as often as I was this year.

tobaggen track in our backyard

2014.03.02, Toronto
Say what you will about the constant snow and cold, we've got a pretty good tobaggen track in our backyard right now, with a nice jump and two exciting curves.

new thinking on a watch

2014.03.02, Toronto
Mari and I have decided to get a different "JDM" watch for me in Japan while she's in Japan with the kids over my birthday.

the forty-two-year-old adult boy

2014.02.23, Toronto
The Boy and I went to see the Lego movie for a second time with a coworker of mine.

latest watch crush

2014.02.22, Toronto
I've discovered a website where you can order "Japan Domestic Market" Seiko watches, and found this lovely item.

are risk registers obsolete

2014.02.21, Toronto
I founded the risk management function at PortfolioAid

the high price of cycling in Toronto (weather edition)

2014.02.18, Toronto
the high price of cycling in Toronto (weather edition) the

bike buried by late snowfall

2014.02.18, Toronto
bike buried by late snowfall Collections containing this p

public action

2014.02.18, Toronto
I took The Boy to a public meeting held by the city to look into whether they're going to build the cycle lanes we've been working for.

thinking of watches

2014.02.15, Toronto
I've been thinking of replacing the watch that died on me a couple of years ago

privacy petition

2014.02.11, Toronto
Today I signed a petition about online privacy.

writing dissertation surveys

2014.02.11, Toronto
The next phases of my dissertation is to start polling people.

more blogging

2014.02.09, Toronto
The editor of the blog for which I submitted the article has now asked me to write something for him every month.

movie review - Avatar

2014.02.08, Toronto
This is a science fiction flick set in a considerably-distant future where humanity is combing the stars looking for things to plunder from planets that are already occupied by intelligent species we don't understand.

camera porn from Fuji

2014.02.08, Toronto
Ah, man, the things you see when you have neither the cash nor the time.

movie review - Under The Skin

2014.02.07, Toronto
This is a science fiction story featuring aliens that have come to Earth to harvest men.

gung hay fat choy MacKenzie clan!

2014.02.06, Toronto
At a Chinese New Year's party this past weekend I met someone who, like my mother's family, has connections to the MacKenzies of "Middle River" in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

crikey another storm

2014.02.05, Toronto
Great, another snow storm.

more blogging (ISACA)

2014.02.04, Toronto
A contact at ISACA has agreed to look at what would be a second blog post for their regular feature, "ISACA Now".

business planning

2014.02.04, Toronto
Getting a business plan down on paper is one of those substantial, cathartic affairs.

a guest blog post

2014.02.02, Toronto
Say, my guest blog post on risk & opportunity went live on the 19th.

progress on my dissertation

2014.01.31, Toronto
I've nearly completed the first draft of my literature review.

a bloody snowman

2014.01.30, Toronto
A friend in Tokyo sent me a funny image and story about a raccoon-eating snowman in the US.

buh-bye cafergot

2014.01.29, Toronto
Some great news today: the medication I take for my migraines has been discontinued.

a letter and a bottle

2014.01.28, Toronto
Our downstairs neighbour has to live with every bump and shout and scrape that we produce.

got an old charge reversed

2014.01.27, Toronto
It's been one of those months, where every time I turn around something's gone sideways.

tales too crummy - must be the TTC

2014.01.25, Toronto
I took Ken to a birthday party for a boy who's a day younger than him.

five minutes or forty, TTC

2014.01.24, Toronto
The TTC is under the delusion that street cars come to my stop in the Beaches on a roughly five minute schedule.

PrimeCables won't accept returns on audio-visual electronics

2014.01.23, Toronto
I bought some A/V equipment from a Canadian retailer called PrimeCables.

rush passport!

2014.01.22, Toronto
Just once in my life I'd like to do a passport application without it being a borderline panic.

reading at natural speed

2014.01.21, Toronto
The Toronto school system has a reading system where the kids follow graded levels, A, B, C, etc.

debit card fraud (or is it FUD)

2014.01.20, Toronto
Today I attended a seminar on securing personal data, presented by someone with experience in the credit card world at the highest levels.

TV time, again

2014.01.17, Toronto
So, I have a TV for the first time in 9 1/2 years.

credit card number compromised

2014.01.14, Toronto
Three years ago, someone stole my driver's license details and I had to go through months of getting the resulting fraudulent activity unwound.

still no TV

2014.01.14, Toronto
Having a TV mounting bracket on the wall, but no TV to hang there is a strange situation but that's where we stand.

checks lost in space

2014.01.13, Toronto
Some time back, Mari and I took our son into the branch of our local bank to open an account for him.

risk, opportunity, and the service organization

2014.01.12, Toronto
Specialist information technology services organizations play a substantial role in regulated industries such as finance.

ice and slipping

2014.01.12, Toronto
Two of my coworkers have slipped recently and injured themselves.

movie review - Snowpiercer

2014.01.08, Toronto
This is the tale of inmates of a high-speed train that is circling the Earth on a track spanning a global frozen wasteland.

hanging a TV and a concrete hammer drill

2014.01.05, Toronto
We're still waiting for our TV to arrive, but we have the mounting bracket so I put that up.

comments, I get comments

2014.01.05, Toronto
I've been getting some good comments on my website recently, including my tale of being crapped on by birds and my guide to .

bare footprints in snow

2014.01.04, Toronto
bare footprints in snow Collections containing this photo.

a woman lying in the street, not able to breath

2014.01.04, Toronto
About a month ago, I was arriving at my street at the end of my nightly cycle commute when I noticed a woman lying in the street.

a fight on the subway

2014.01.03, Toronto
I may have stopped a fist-fight on the subway, tonight.

a new year in Toronto

2014.01.01, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  twilight &n

Harper is a facsist?

2014.01.01, Toronto
They couldn't spell fascist, obviously, but I think the wor

after an ice storm

2014.01.01, Toronto
after an ice storm Collections containing this photo.archi

forest after an ice storm and a thaw

2014.01.01, Toronto
forest after an ice storm and a thaw Collections containin

the last of their kind

2014.01.01, Toronto
the last of their kind Collections containing this photo.

some resolutions

2014.01.01, Toronto
I've decided to renew my decade-lost habit of making new year's resolutions.

2013

a concussion and a new phone

2013.12.30, Toronto
I recently switched to a new mobile provider and at the time turned down the phone they wanted to send me; now I've changed my mind.

home again

2013.12.29, Toronto
We're home, and it's turned bitterly cold.

no snow at all

2013.12.27, St. Catharines
We all brought our parkas and boots and even a sled, but the snow's all melted and it's even moderately sunny - I'm not complaining, but I am overdressed.

Doctor Who has become a mess

2013.12.26, St. Catharines
Doctor Who has become a shadow of the unique and shining thing that it once was.

the work year grinds to a halt on a good note

2013.12.24, Toronto
On this, the last business day of the year, we got some very good news on a project I've been working on since February: a whopping refund from the Canadian Revenue Agency.

how an ice storm kills trees

2013.12.22, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  snow and ic

ice-coated branches

2013.12.22, Toronto
ice-coated branches Collections containing this photo.snow

second secret bonus level of fatherhood

2013.12.21, Toronto
Today I made The Boy laugh milk through his nose.

owing everything to your forebears

2013.12.17, Toronto
At a staff Christmas party today, the conversation turned to philosophical questions around having kids.

Rod Ramirez, RIP

2013.12.16, Toronto
Good bye, old friend.

movie review - The Incredible Hulk

2013.12.15, Toronto
So, they've rebooted "The Hulk" movies.

movie review - Planes

2013.12.14, Toronto
This is a Pixar movie, but you can scarcely recognize the genius behind "Toy Story" and "Finding Nemo" in this abysmal straight-to-DVD release that incredibly somehow makes "Cars" look good.

dissertation's first part complete

2013.12.13, Toronto
I've submitted the proposal and research methodologies portion of my dissertation.

rationalizing our mobile phone services

2013.12.12, Toronto
The bill for our mobile phone services somehow piled up to $85 this month.

the secret bonus level of fatherhood

2013.12.03, Toronto
When The Girl was new born and colicky, I spent hours and hours singing every song I could think of to try to pacify her.

political activism

2013.12.02, Toronto
This weekend Ken and I had fun stuffing information pamphlets into mailboxes on a short one-way street in our neighbourhood this weekend.

who knew that imperial measurements could be so fun

2013.12.01, Toronto
Remember, it's three steps to a pace.

purple sky at night

2013.11.30, Toronto
The sunsets here are as good as when I lived in Vancouver.

the ribs of the sky

2013.11.30, Toronto
the ribs of the sky Collections containing this photo.skie

on selecting a professional designation

2013.11.28, Toronto
Here's some interesting guidance I found, from a financial regulator on the concept of professional designations.

movie review - Up

2013.11.27, Toronto
This is an excellent animated kids' movie about an elderly man who is being pressured to give up his home by callous real-estate agents.

an arrest on my street

2013.11.27, Toronto
As I was taking Ken to school this morning I noticed two police officers leading a man in handcuffs to their patrol car.

back on my bike

2013.11.27, Toronto
I was sick on Monday of last week, and wound up missing a whole week of cycling as I rode the TTC.

getting together with friends

2013.11.24, Toronto
We had the happy change of pace today in that we were invited to the home of some friends for dinner.

way to go, Toronto

2013.11.22, Toronto
Which of the following are now gone or going: a) Honest Ed's

an "oldie"

2013.11.17, Toronto
I was in a store this week when an old song came on.

a telco does something kind

2013.11.15, Toronto
Today a telephone/communications company did something decent for perhaps the first time in history.

dancing and singing

2013.11.14, Toronto
The Girl has taken to humming and sub-vocalizing some of the children's songs that she plays from a small toy.

the new MEC logo

2013.11.14, Toronto
a flabby logo for a flabby clientele I work right next to T

my new bike seat

2013.11.13, Toronto
I'm now cycling with a seat without a 'horn'.

what ISACA needs

2013.11.12, Toronto
I belong to an IT governance, audit, and security organization called ISACA.

bouncing on Dundas

2013.11.11, Toronto
Well, it's Monday, following the classic definition; "A sunny day that follows two days of cloud and rain.

more identity theft factors

2013.11.09, Toronto
I didn't leave the house today, choosing instead to divide my time between my dissertation and the data breach / identity theft nonsense.

a new name

2013.11.08, Toronto
Due to my identity records being stolen from the website of a clueless Trust Company, I sought the advice of a lawyer.

saving the day, one latte at a time

2013.11.07, Toronto
When we sat down for breakfast, we realized that we'd both failed to make coffee.

advice on my dissertation

2013.11.06, Toronto
I've heard back from my supervisor.

new seat for sore back

2013.11.05, Toronto
I spoke with a fellow this morning on my ride to work about the unusual seat on his bike.

-5° this morning

2013.11.04, Toronto
What a day to leave the house without a toque or a scarf.

data breach at a Canadian trust company

2013.11.03, Toronto
I was seriously hoping to get some studying done this weekend.

happy November, drivers

2013.11.01, Toronto
Today someone with a mobile device in his lap decided he'd had enough of waiting at the red light and made an abrupt left turn through the intersection, despite the fact that three lanes of one-way traffic were closing in from the right.

scanning in color

2013.10.30, Toronto
I've finally figured something out with my scanner and the software I'm using.

me and "Cycle Toronto"

2013.10.29, Toronto
I've signed up with an organization called "Cycle Toronto", formerly known as the Toronto Cyclist's Union.

happy birthday, history

2013.10.26, Toronto
Happy 301st birthday, steam engine.

bad environmental news, good environmental news

2013.10.25, Toronto
First, the not so good news.

back is getting better

2013.10.24, Toronto
My back's on the mend for the first time in roughly fifteen months.

the day I came to work without pants

2013.10.23, Toronto
Today I had to face the fact that I might have a bit too much on my mind.

writing a dissertation proposal

2013.10.22, Toronto
I'm writing my first-ever dissertation proposal at the moment.

special kind of tired

2013.10.21, Toronto
I walked about 1.

jaws closing in

2013.10.20, Toronto
jaws closing in Collections containing this photo.color sh

fifteen years online

2013.10.18, Toronto
Fifteen years and eleven days ago, I registered my first personal Internet domain: etherlabs.

another year's audit in the bag

2013.10.17, Toronto
I'm getting to the point that the auditors spend only four hours on-site to do our SOC-2 audits.

new handlebars just fine

2013.10.15, Toronto
I can't be sure, but I believe that my new handlebars are already helping my back.

low waters in the Autumn

2013.10.13, Georgian Bay
low waters in the Autumn Collections containing this photo

movie review - Transformers: Dark of The Moon

2013.10.11, Toronto
This is the second sequel to the splashy first from six years ago.

adopting north road handlebars

2013.10.11, Toronto
I'm in physiotherapy for lower back pain that's been plaguing me for over a year.

professionalizing IT security

2013.10.10, Toronto
Nearly a year ago, I came across a well-written piece on the state of the IT security field, and what's wrong with it.

another event, another speaker

2013.10.09, Toronto
This time it was a mutual fund industry event, and the speaker was the Ontario minister of finance.

so it's muscular

2013.10.08, Toronto
Today I learned from my physiotherapist that a long-standing discomfort I've been putting up with is not a side effect of a surgery I had six months ago, but of a lifetime of slothful lazing about in front of computers.

laid up with a migraine

2013.10.05, Toronto
I had the worts migraine of the year today.

a speaker at an industry event

2013.10.04, Toronto
Today I manned a booth at an industry event for Canadian investment brokerages.

seven year itch

2013.10.02, Toronto
Mari and I have been married for nearly seven years.

how long can a rebranding go

2013.10.01, Toronto
We put the finishing touches on a rebranding effort at work, today.

fist-fighting commuters

2013.09.30, Toronto
Recently on the way home from work work I saw two fights erupt on a short stretch of my route.

so the West is getting dumber

2013.09.27, Toronto
Apparently, the population of the west has seen a steady erosion of IQ test results since Victorian times (the late 19th century).

goodbye Monarch butterflies

2013.09.25, Toronto
On a recent trip with Opa, Ken was enthusiastic about seeing some Monarch butterfly caterpillars crawling on some milkweed plants.

movie review - Zero Dark Thirty

2013.09.24, Toronto
This is a fictionalized telling of the capture and execution of Osama bin Laden following the 9/11 attacks.

pen-test successful

2013.09.24, Toronto
We had our annual penetration test last week.

times have changed (school hardening edition)

2013.09.24, Toronto
They've installed upgraded door locks at Ken's school along with buzzer systems and security cameras.

smartphone hell

2013.09.23, Toronto
This video says it all.

tough week (two days in the office edition)

2013.09.19, Toronto
Well I only worked in the office two days this week but it felt long enough.

enrolled

2013.09.17, Toronto
After nineteen years and change, I'm a university student again.

petroglyphs park

2013.09.16, Toronto
Today, Ken, his Opa, and I went to Petroglyphs Provincial Park.

and now, 12º again?

2013.09.14, Toronto
Two days.

first day of physiotherapy

2013.09.13, Toronto
I've started working with a physiotherapist due to the lingering pain in my back and pelvis.

volunteering for what

2013.09.12, Toronto
Because I have so little with which to occupy my time, I'm looking at volunteering for some of the professional associations I belong to.

movie review - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

2013.09.11, Toronto
This is the sequel to the original Transformers movie from 2007, which was entertaining.

and now, 30° plus again?

2013.09.11, Toronto
The weather has gone completely nuts.

$60 brake fix?

2013.09.10, Toronto
And that's enough of paying for bike repairs I should be able to do myself.

accepted to the master's program

2013.09.09, Toronto
I got into the graduate school program in the UK.

fixing the brakes

2013.09.09, Toronto
I didn't get around to fixing my brakes on the weekend, so I switched around the damaged brake arm from the front with one at the rear of the bike (leaving the pads backwards) and set off.

ken gets stung

2013.09.08, Toronto
It's the season for yellowjacket hornets, and even though we all know not to swat the damn things (this causes the hit insect to release fight pheromones, which attracts angry allies), I accidentally knocked one of the things while trying to wave it away.

opa's vengeance is complete

2013.09.07, Toronto
Opa and Oma presented the kids with some gifts last night.

dad's in town

2013.09.06, Toronto
My father and step-mother are in town.

brakes broke

2013.09.06, Toronto
I came out of the office tonight to discover that a component of the front brakes on my bike has broken.

michael werneburg, pmp, cia

2013.09.05, Toronto
Well I passed my CIA exam.

fifteen kids, one car

2013.09.04, Toronto
A car alarm sounded across the street this evening, something I haven't heard in the 21/2 years we've been here.

two days left, possibly one head cold

2013.09.03, Toronto
I feel like I've got a fever coming on.

two fishermen, five fish

2013.09.02,
Knowing that we were heading out mid-day, I woke Ken early and we headed out on the water by 06:30.

two fishermen, no fish

2013.09.01,
For some reason I got the old row-boat down to the water, put The Boy into it, and dragged him half-way across Sturgeon Bay, rowing into a steady headwind the whole way.

seven kids, six parents

2013.08.30, Toronto
We were outnumbered at a get-together this evening with Elias's family and Manami's family ('round here we identify families by the first name of the first born, for whatever reason

"don't get fatter!"

2013.08.29, Toronto
As I was heading out the door today, my five year old son warned me, "don't get fatter!

going back to school

2013.08.28, Toronto
The results on the daily practice tests I've been doing for the CIA final exam are getting steadily better.

soaking of the year

2013.08.27, Toronto
In each of the two years since I've been back, I've fallen from my bike once and been caught in torrential rain at least once.

chinpunkanpun

2013.08.26, Toronto
There's a word in Japanese, "chimpunkanpun"

pedialyte and tequila

2013.08.25, Toronto
It must be a Sunday afternoon when you're down to mixing tequila with expired children's electrolyte drink.

more blonde in the gene pool

2013.08.23, Toronto
My mum, our family's chief genealogist, has been contacted by someone through ancestry.

stuff getting cheaper (not everything)

2013.08.22, Toronto
In the midst of perpetually increasing costs of living, I've noticed that some things seem to be getting cheaper.

bird shit .. again

2013.08.21, Toronto
For the thirteenth wonderful time in my life, I've been shit on by a bird.

cycling in the morning

2013.08.20, Toronto
I left home before 07:00 this morning, cycling under a red dawn on streets I expected to find a good deal quieter than they in fact turned out to be.

a friend is moving to town

2013.08.19, Toronto
One of my few remaining friends in Japan has decided to leave .

silent communication

2013.08.18, Toronto
In the midst of our dinner, The Boy got up and went to use the toilet.

a BBQ in Lelieville

2013.08.18, Toronto
An old friend (and former boss) had us over for a BBQ today so that our wives and kids could meet.

a five year old's taste in music

2013.08.16, Toronto
So my son likes AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie".

studies .. work .. studies .. work

2013.08.15, Toronto
I've taken up the routine of leaving for the office at around 7 every morning and studying until office hours start.

keep calm shirts

2013.08.14, Toronto
It's funny how these "keep calm.

just call me Wmeburg

2013.08.13, Toronto
Ah, fer cryin' out loud.

movie review - We're the Millers

2013.08.12, Toronto
I enjoyed this movie more than I expected to.

cycling again

2013.08.11, Toronto
This weekend we got Ken out on his little green bike for the first time in quite a while.

movie review - Safe House

2013.08.09, Tokyo
This is a spy/action movie in which one character (played by Ryan Reynolds) is guarding a CIA "safe house" and the other (played by Denzel Washington) is one of the world's most wanted criminals.

meeting an entrepreneur

2013.08.09, Toronto
Today after work I met with a whip-smart fellow who's uncovered a business opportunity and is designing a technology solution.

rescheduled my exam

2013.08.08, Toronto
My practice quiz results still aren't where I need them to be.

goodbye, visitors

2013.08.07, Toronto
We've been spending time with a succession of visitors from overseas since the middle of June.

a day off .. to study

2013.08.06, Toronto
We've got friends in town and I took the day off so that Mari, the kids, and I could get together with them.

more plecostomus

2013.08.05, Toronto
The recent heat wave killed the dwarf plecostomus in my larger aquarium 2-3 weeks ago.

cheery new cherries

2013.08.04, Toronto
Ken and I went to the local pet store today and bought some tiny cherry barbs for the small aquarium.

again with the rain

2013.08.02, Toronto
Toronto I love you, but your weather is bringing me down.

riding with a stool sample

2013.08.01, Toronto
Emma still has some lingering effects from her illness, so I found myself riding through the city with a baby's stool sample to deliver.

fooled by the weather network

2013.07.31, Toronto
For the first time in months, I took the TTC to work today.

4 out of 5 ain't bad

2013.07.29, Toronto
I reckon I've got some four out of five of the skills outlined as "essential" in the line of work I'm moving into.

our girl's first words were a hummed tune

2013.07.28, Toronto
I think The Girl is back to normal.

CIA no. 3 is the hardest

2013.07.27, Toronto
I take back what I said about CIA #2 being difficult.

home from the hospital

2013.07.26, Toronto
And thus ends two and a half days that I'd sooner forget.

balancing work and kids

2013.07.25, Toronto
It's funny, I'm in the midst of studying things like accountability and efficiency, and dropped two and half days of work right in the midst of several projects & initiatives because one of my kids got sick.

from 1983 to 1997

2013.07.22, Toronto
The Boy and I have been playing an emulated version of the ~1983 Commodore 64 release of the original "Mario Brothers", the platform game.

kites attacking passersby

2013.07.21, Toronto
kites attacking passersby Collections containing this phot

balmy beach, Toronto

2013.07.21, Toronto
balmy beach, Toronto Collections containing this photo.lif

angry twilight following the storm

2013.07.19, Toronto
angry twilight following the storm Collections containing

after the rainstorm

2013.07.19, Toronto
after the rainstorm Collections containing this photo.skie

mammatus clouds over toronto

2013.07.19, Toronto
mammatus clouds over toronto Collections containing this p

and the weather has broken

2013.07.19, Toronto
For once I got really lucky with the weather.

36º water cooked my fish

2013.07.18, Toronto
I came home to the news tonight that my beloved zebra loach had died.

two more quizzes

2013.07.17, Toronto
Well, not sure what happened today, but I averaged only 63% on my two quizzes.

practice quizzes and nothing but

2013.07.16, Toronto
So I started my day with a practice quiz before work, and ended it with another after work: average score, 90%.

movie review - Avengers

2013.07.15, Tokyo
Everything about the Iron Man character in these marvel movies rubs me the wrong way.

CIA: the final countdown

2013.07.15, Toronto
This time next month, I will have written and passed the final of my exams for the CIA designation.

now it's my turn .. been promoted

2013.07.15, Toronto
I'm the world's newest "Director, Business Risk & Opportunity".

movie review - Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

2013.07.14, Toronto
This is a movie that attempts to tell the tale of the Cabin in the Woods from the point of view of the supposed inbred hillbillies that terrorize the urban teenagers.

LED for the aquarium

2013.07.14, Toronto
The light over my larger aquarium is now so feeble that it's allowing brown algae to grow.

another cousin is wed

2013.07.13, Toronto
I'm quite a bit older than most of my seven cousins, who range in age from about 20 to 28.

on the debilitating smart phones

2013.07.12, Toronto
I think the smart phone is crippling us.

so long, managerial accounting

2013.07.11, Toronto
It's taken a few weeks, but I think I've rounded the corner on the managerial accounting portion of my CIA studies.

migraine with aura

2013.07.10, Toronto
One of my colleagues had laser eye surgery recently.

record rainfall

2013.07.09, Toronto
So we had a bit of a rainfall last night.

wiped out by a migraine

2013.07.08, Toronto
Had an awful day today.

the proud boy with his first catch

2013.07.07, Georgian Bay
the proud boy with his first catch Collections containing

The Boy, fishing and grinning

2013.07.07, Georgian Bay
The Boy, fishing and grinning Collections containing this

how to avoid being C-3PO

2013.07.07, Toronto
I recently came across a bullet list of the three principle jobs of the risk manager.

sunrise over low waters

2013.07.06, Georgian Bay
sunrise over low waters Collections containing this photo.

canoe on river under kite nest

2013.07.06, Georgian Bay
canoe on river under kite nest Collections containing this

corn hanging to dry in a longhouse

2013.07.05, Georgian Bay
corn hanging to dry in a longhouse Collections containing

crumbling barn, huronia

2013.07.05, Georgian Bay
crumbling barn, huronia Collections containing this photo.

audit in the summertime

2013.07.04, Toronto
It's funny undergoing a rigorous external audit just as silly season kicks in.

movie review - Watchmen

2013.07.03, Toronto
I won't belabor this: this 2009 film is the most disappointing comic book adaptation I can recall.

my brother's been promoted, too

2013.07.03, Toronto
Congratulations, baby brother.

a friend gets promoted

2013.07.02, Toronto
A lawyer friend has taken a gig that he summed up by saying, "The exposure includes things like potentially testifying to congress.

heya, Canada, happy 145th!

2013.07.01, Toronto
We spent a good deal of the day wandering along the lakeshore park.

pride day with drama and ego

2013.06.30, Toronto
pride day with drama and ego Collections containing this p

hadn't realized that Sabertooth was gay!

2013.06.30, Toronto
hadn't realized that Sabertooth was gay! Collections conta

pride day with love

2013.06.30, Toronto
pride day with love Collections containing this photo.toro

toronto pflag, 2013

2013.06.30, Toronto
toronto pflag, 2013 Collections containing this photo.toro

pride day with fans

2013.06.30, Toronto
pride day with fans Collections containing this photo.toro

movie review - How to Train Your Dragon

2013.06.30, Tokyo
This is an animated movie set in a mythical Earth in which Norsemen of the viking era are at war with dragons.

2013 Toronto pride parade

2013.06.30, Toronto
Today we went to the pride parade on Yonge Street.

reading in the park

2013.06.28, Toronto
Recently, I've had the good fortune to be able to do my CIA reading in the park, next to the lake.

cyclist daddy

2013.06.27, Toronto
Nothing warms my heart like seeing one of my kids using the

when I buy bicycle chain oil, it shall not rain

2013.06.27, Toronto
My bike's been left in the rain so much when locked up at work that the smaller steel nuts and bolts are all orange with rust.

screaming on the street

2013.06.26, Toronto
I had an unexpected experience today that saw me screaming at strangers on the street.

lost a good raincoat today

2013.06.25, Toronto
Through a tale too dull and stupid to tell, I managed to lose a good rain poncho today.

my younger brother is 40 years old

2013.06.24, Toronto
Well, time flies (who knew?

scarborough bluffs, toronto

2013.06.23, Toronto
scarborough bluffs, toronto Collections containing this ph

"bird of prey"

2013.06.23, Toronto
One of the odder first words that our fourteen-month-old daughter uttered, today, was "bird of prey".

northern watersnake

2013.06.22, Toronto
We took in some sights around the Niagara region today.

the falls!

2013.06.21, st. catharines
We took Mari's parents to see the Falls today.

dining without children

2013.06.20, Toronto
On several occasions since The Boy's birth, we've eaten nice meals (cough cough, "without kids") because The Boy was fairly good with sleeping through the late afternoon-evening if we got lucky.

why did it have to be a summer cold

2013.06.19, Toronto
Sinuses throbbing, nagging cough, and sore throat.

the girl with the TARDIS tattoo

2013.06.18, Toronto
I saw a woman at the office today with a tattoo of the TARDIS from Doctor Who.

managerial accounting, here I come

2013.06.17, Toronto
This CIA study is taking me to some interesting places as a more organized version of the here-and-there studies of business concepts that I've been engaged in over the past few years.

rainy father's day

2013.06.16, Toronto
We're heading to Oakville for the traditional family BBQ there for Father's Day.

depressingly good writing

2013.06.14, Toronto
The other day, we saw a display of photography at the museum that was so good I found it depressing: I'm just not progressing in that field at all.

learning to walk

2013.06.13, Toronto
The Girl's grandparents have only been here a day, but The Girl's already benefited.

a PMI event, once a season whether I need it or not

2013.06.13, Toronto
Much to my amazement, I noticed that the PMI event I attended tonight was the first I'd been to in three months.

cramped quarters, lots of love

2013.06.12, Toronto
Mari's parents are in town.

bike fixed – off to meet "Kazu/Jiji"

2013.06.11, Toronto
So it turns out that something like 40cm of that cord that got caught in my rear gear assembly last night in the rain storm was still inside the mechanism, trapped between the gears and the wheel.

free car rental insurance

2013.06.11, Toronto
So it turns out that the new cash-back credit card gives us the car rental insurance waiver benefit without an annual fee.

that was a lot of rain

2013.06.11, Toronto
The weather forecast (when theweathernetwork.

filed a police complaint

2013.06.10, Toronto
Someone heading west-bound on Dundas this morning decided to use the cycle lane to try to overtake other drivers this morning.

Oracle SQL query not like %

2013.06.10, Toronto
I learned something from one of our more clever developers today.

depressingly good photography

2013.06.09, Toronto
Today we went to the ROM to see a photography exhibit.

movie review - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

2013.06.08, Toronto
This is a spy - or perhaps, counter-spy - story about a retiree who is called back to active duty to unmask a mole in Britain's intelligence division.

apple gets it right

2013.06.07, Toronto
The other day I wrote about my dissatisfaction with Apple's support for our PC's and other equipment.

funny little thing called linux mint

2013.06.06, Toronto
We have a laptop that's perfect for our five year old to watch DVD's and downloaded stuff.

apple support fails to impress, as usual

2013.06.05, Toronto
We have a Macbook Air.

urgency on the street

2013.06.04, Toronto
urgency on the street Collections containing this photo.a

dodged a $5 bullet

2013.06.04, Toronto
Our son destroyed a brand new library book by tossing it into his backpack with a thermos bottle with the lid still unsealed.

thirty traffic signals, twenty of them red

2013.06.03, Toronto
This morning I had one of those days.

cycling 20k to a child's party

2013.06.02, Toronto
Ken and I put in another 20km round trip today, getting back up to Don Mills.

megafauna, a meteorite, and a doomed civilization

2013.05.31, Toronto
So it turns out that it's possible that a meteorite impact occurred here in North America 13,000 years ago, when the place was still largely covered in ice.

on cash-back credit cards

2013.05.30, Toronto
I was given the advice that a cash-back credit card can save hundreds of dollars on routine purchases.

back to jewelry photography

2013.05.29, Toronto
Once upon a time, I published a guide to photographing jewelry.

the fate of smart kids

2013.05.28, Toronto
Ken plays with a boy down the street who is shunned by all of the other kids because he reads at a high level (at this point, he's a year and a half ahead).

it's a small (webinar) world

2013.05.28, Toronto
Today I attended a webinar, as I frequently do.

Wordpress and nginx

2013.05.27, Toronto
So it turns out that the good folks that produce WordPress have done some naughty hard-coding of $_SERVER variables in their product.

pylons around .. fungus

2013.05.26, Toronto
I'm not really sure what's going on here. Collections con

another fine day at the science center (with our Weehoo)

2013.05.26, Toronto
It was a beautiful day.

movie review - The Place Beyond the Pines

2013.05.23, Toronto
This is a movie about two men with young sons in the same town.

movie review - Prometheus

2013.05.23, Toronto
I really wanted this prequel to the first Alien movie to recapture the dread, world-building, character-driven narrative, and over-all vibe of that original movie.

ball chair no more

2013.05.23, Toronto
Today my ball chair burst.

CIA #3 is going to be difficult

2013.05.22, Toronto
I think I said this about the previous two CIA exams as well, but this third one is going to be a killer.

back in the saddle

2013.05.21, Toronto
After two weeks of TTC due to recovering from a procedure, I am very, very happy to be back on the bike.

if I were 23 again

2013.05.20, Toronto
On an Internet forum, someone asked what advice I'd give my 23-year-old self if I could.

turkey vulture in the Beach(es)

2013.05.20, Toronto
I saw a turkey vulture drifting above the Beaches today.

weehoo and eastern kingbird

2013.05.19, Toronto
Ken and I took to the cycle paths today, heading to Leslie Spit, then up the Don Valley as far as Riverdale Park, then across to home.

thirteen knuckles

2013.05.18, Toronto
So it seems that "13" tattoos are a thing now.

and yet I did nothing

2013.05.17, Toronto
On a stretch of Queen Street East I saw some unhappy things this morning.

soft palette of sunset

2013.05.15, Toronto
soft palette of sunset Collections containing this photo.s

rock, robot rock, bwamamama

2013.05.12, Toronto
Ken can make a reasonable facsimile of the synthesizer sound from this Daft Punk song.

snow, sleet, hail, and "rain, i think"

2013.05.12, Toronto
Today it snowed.

Permian redux

2013.05.12, Toronto
Ken and I watched an interesting video on the great extinction event that brought the Permian (and the entire paleozoic, life's first run on Earth) to an end.

just reading about .. monster trucks

2013.05.03, Toronto
Ken brought home a book from the school library that was about monster trucks.

today, I ate outdoors

2013.05.02, Toronto
Spring comes so slowly to Canadian cities!

the Lockwood secret

2013.04.30, Toronto
Over the past two years, I've noticed west-bound morning commuter cyclists on Queen Street deke off of Queen at Lockwood Road, which is only a block long.

accounting is more interesting than I would have guessed

2013.04.29, Toronto
In preparation for the final exam in my quest for the CIA designation, I'm reading a book on Accounting.

the new bike trailer came through

2013.04.28, Toronto
Ken and I rode to the tip of Leslie Spit today.

the Boy can play (baseball)

2013.04.27, Toronto
I took Ken to the park with the new trailer bike.

three flat tires in no time

2013.04.26, Toronto
On the way home from a PMI event last night one of my bike tires ran flat.

the center of the Earth is aglow

2013.04.25, Toronto
Apparently the center of the Earth is a super-dense ball of solid iron at six thousand degrees.

my love – hate releationship with theweathernetwork.com

2013.04.25, Toronto
Every day I go to a website for lies.

website getting smaller

2013.04.24, Toronto
I've taken all of my family and personal photos offline, leaving only stuff that's more suitable for the general public on this site.

a tale of two countries (or WTF, Amazon!)

2013.04.23, Toronto
I've been looking for a replacement plug for a Thera-band ball chair that I've got.

leveraging a CIA into an MSc

2013.04.22, Toronto
I've found a couple of master degree programs that I can do online in a year using my expected CIA certification to get a waiver on the first two years work in the degree.

bikes, bikes, bikes

2013.04.21, Toronto
After the cold weather had long since settled in this past Autumn, my boss told me that his family had a spare bike (a loaner long forgotten by a now-defunct bike shop) and that I could have it.

crapped on by a bird again (that's twelve)

2013.04.20, Toronto
I pulled out the suede coat that my mother resurrected for me recently with some repairs, and lo and behold, there was a spatter of white birdshit that must have hit me when I was cycling this week, from the looks of things.

April 20th and it's snowing

2013.04.20, Toronto
One could be forgiven for thinking this was Calgary.

PMP for a year

2013.04.19, Toronto
Wow, it's been a year since I wrote the bizarre and tricksy PMP exam.

my bike has brakes again

2013.04.18, Toronto
I've paid someone to reinstall the rear brake on my bike.

movie review - The Amazing Spider-Man

2013.04.17, Tokyo
This movie features a 29-year-old actor playing a seventeen year old, in a retelling of Peter Parker's becoming Spider-Man.

muddy cycling again

2013.04.16, Toronto
Cycling in cold, wet weather tends to keep the fairweather cyclists out of the way, but you sure get muddy.

my friend Geoff - homeowner

2013.04.14, Kawartha Lakes
My friend of twenty years bought a home in the sticks. You

the fourth turning

2013.04.10, Toronto
It took me nearly a year, but I've finished this book at last.

CIA exam no. 2 complete

2013.04.09, Toronto
I passed another CIA exam.

movie review - X-Men: First Class

2013.04.08, Toronto
Only the incredibly self-serious X-Men franchise could start a superhero movie with a scene from a Nazi prison camp.

tall bike

2013.04.07, Toronto
I wonder how many clowns climbed down from this. Collecti

trees and shapes

2013.04.07, Toronto
trees and shapes Collections containing this photo.toronto

goodbye, old city; hello condos

2013.04.07, Toronto
goodbye, old city; hello condos Collections containing thi

young, lonely doctors

2013.04.05, Toronto
It's been one of those weeks.

it is not a race

2013.04.04, Toronto
Now I know I'm getting old.

saddle sore but riding

2013.04.03, Toronto
I have never been this saddle sore.

back on my bike

2013.04.01, Toronto
I rode my bike to work today.

Lego fails us again

2013.03.31, Toronto
After our visit to Legoland, Ken was very keen on Lego and spent quite a bit of time building models from the small kit we bought him at the site.

Toronto's legoland is not worth it

2013.03.29, Toronto
We went to Legoland today.

Toronto produces some stupid politicians

2013.03.27, Toronto
Today wasn't a day of big accomplishments for Toronto-area politicians.

I did a COBIT 5 panel today

2013.03.27, Toronto
Today I participated in a panel on implementing COBIT 5.

pigeon trapped in a window

2013.03.21, Toronto
You know how a fly will get in through an open window and be unable to get out again?

CIA exam no. 2 is a lotta work

2013.03.19, Toronto
I've postponed my second CIA exam by 2 1/2 weeks.

movie review - Source Code

2013.03.15, Toronto
This is a story about a grievously injured soldier who is put into service in a simulation in order to stop a bombing of a train.

old door hinge

2013.03.14, Toronto
old door hinge Collections containing this photo.walls & r

alarm bell, spattered with paint

2013.03.14, Toronto
alarm bell, spattered with paint Collections containing th

zombie monkey carcass

2013.03.14, Toronto
zombie monkey carcass Collections containing this photo.l

vines on a wall, out of season

2013.03.14, Toronto
vines on a wall, out of season Collections containing this

gloomy park in the autumn

2013.03.14, Toronto
gloomy park in the autumn Collections containing this p

my home town and the underground railway

2013.03.10, Toronto
It turns out that my home town was the northern end of the "underground railway", something that my mum has mentioned several times over the years.

movie review - This is Forty

2013.03.07, Toronto
This is a movie about a couple who are dealing with middle age.

a good day, today

2013.03.07, Toronto
Three good things that happened today: We verified that a

lordy, lordy, look who's forty-two

2013.03.04, Toronto
Say, I've turned forty-two.

more new photos

2013.03.03, Toronto
I've started a new chapter in the ongoing photo record of the lives of our kids.

new photos

2013.03.03, Toronto
I've finally got 'round to adding some new photos to the collection from our X'mas and New Year's Eve in Miyazaki.

my gods, I finished a book

2013.03.03, Toronto
Much to my amazement, I've finished reading a book only two months after knocking off two other volumes from my embarrasingly long backlog.

something must going well

2013.03.03, Toronto
I've now been at my current employer longer than I've worked anywhere else.

movie review - Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

2013.02.25, Toronto
I have no idea how this mess of a movie got released.

To COBIT 5 or not to COBIT 5, that is the question

2013.02.22, Toronto
I have some good news about the adoption of COBIT 5: it has many improvements to the actual implementation of its contents.

code of conduct

2013.02.20, Toronto
Today I wrote my employer's "code of conduct" in a nine-hour stretch.

so much going on...

2013.02.19, Toronto
I've been burning the candle at both ends again for quite a while.

russian meteorite

2013.02.18, Toronto
I just find this footage fascinating.

ball chairs

2013.02.15, Toronto
We used to have ball chairs in the apartment in Tokyo (in fact we had only two real chairs, and one was a highchair for our then-little firstborn.

Valentine's Day is for .. olives

2013.02.14, Toronto
Ken spotted a small candy jar full of the chocolate covered almonds I'd brought home for Mari.

on tesla cars

2013.02.14, Toronto
My boss drives a Tesla Model S electric (luxury) car, and gave me a lift last week.

never trust a photocopier

2013.02.12, Toronto
Here's an interesting video on why you should never trust the all-in-one photocopier/printer in your office.

birthdate all primes

2013.02.10, Toronto
I've just noticed that my birthday is made of primes, taken at the two-digit level.

100 pennies, no problem

2013.02.09, Toronto
Ken had an assignment this weekend that was timed to mark the demise of the Canadian penny: that was, to bring in 100 pennies for a charity.

30cm of snow and getting to work

2013.02.08, Toronto
This morning I had a follow-up dentist appointment at 08:30.

business books by the pound

2013.02.06, Toronto
Recently I've bought a couple of business books and found them to be much lighter & shorter fare than I'd expected.

choosing project management software

2013.02.04, Toronto
I am amazed at the variety of lousy project management software and software-as-a-service that exists today.

movie review - The Hangover, Part 2

2013.02.03, Toronto
This is a sequel to the original Hangover, which was set in Las Vegas.

larger photos on emuu.net

2013.02.02, Toronto
In recognition that the 'net has moved to a 960px standard width for websites, I've adopted that as the new long-side size of the images on emuu.

some photos of Miyazaki

2013.02.02, Toronto
I've finally got some photos scanned from our trip to Miyazaki at the end of 2012.

someone's been using my camera

2013.01.31, Toronto
someone's been using my camera Collections containing this

TTC trifecta

2013.01.30, Toronto
Three wins for the TTC in their efforts to make me late for

snowfall in the city

2013.01.28, Toronto
You'd think that Toronto would be ready in the event of snow, but this morning eveything was chaos.

so this is Saturday

2013.01.26, Toronto
We had a damn busy day, today.

movie review - Crazy, Stupid Love

2013.01.25, Toronto
This is a tale of a couple who divorce after the spark is lost in their marriage.

seeing what we're eating

2013.01.25, Toronto
Today I finally managed to replace the too-dim 25W bulbs on the ceiling fan we installed over our dining table.

take the colleagues bowling

2013.01.24, Toronto
Today we had our Christmas party.

surprise visit (two month old story)

2013.01.23, Toronto
At the beginning of December, I had some fun taking The Girl to visit her mum.

mystery symmetrical anglefish white bumps

2013.01.23, Toronto
For the second time in the past two years, our anglefish developed odd white bumps on the side of its head.

first practice quiz of CIA exam no 2

2013.01.21, Toronto
I've read through the first two chapters of the prep book and have taken the first chapter's test.

stories of career set-backs

2013.01.19, Toronto
At the conference today the keynote speaker was making a point about learning from failure.

"Career Day" at PMI-SOC

2013.01.19, Toronto
This is how I spent my day today.

another new web design

2013.01.18, Toronto
I read a good e-book called "Bootstrapping Design" that made me realize a thing or two about the design of this website and how I might approve it.

frost in my beard

2013.01.17, Toronto
It's now cold enough that cycling to work I get a frosty beard and moustache by the time I'm at the office.

Japanese airlines grounding their 787's

2013.01.16, Toronto
Great, just great: the planes we were flying on in Japan last month have just been grounded due to safety concerns.

armed and dangerous

2013.01.15, Toronto
Cry, the beloved country.

bike brake failed me for the last time

2013.01.15, Toronto
The other night as I was cycling home in cold but dry conditions I hit the one patch of my route that's always a little different.

take it from me, life's a grand ol' time

2013.01.14, Toronto
One of my coworkers came stomping into the office today just as I'd returned to my desk with a wry smile on my face—it looks like we'll be undergoing a new round of struggles with our building management in getting our kitchen sink onclogged yet again.

weather report

2013.01.10, Toronto
On Sunday conditions were perfect for snowmen, we made a bunch of big ones, rolling up the ever-so-slightly wet snow so easily that it left bare patches of green grass.

Oh, Nikola Tesla, will you ever win

2013.01.10, Toronto
Once upon a time, in a job interview, I was asked to describe my hero, and why he was my hero.

website content management systems

2013.01.09, Toronto
So it's decided: out of ten content management systems that I've looked at, WordPress turned out to be the one that best met our needs.

jet lag with kids

2013.01.08, Toronto
Ugh, ten hours of jet lag with two small children.

the snowmen

2013.01.06, Toronto
Wow, just like that* we're back in Toronto.

I drank something that had dead insects in it

2013.01.04, Miyazaki
I drank something that had dead insects in it Collections

frozen cabbage field

2013.01.04, Miyazaki
frozen cabbage field Collections containing this photo.gre

farewell, "calamity year"

2013.01.04, Nichinan, Kyushu
Yesterday we went to a sea-side shrine to observe the new year with prayer and the throwing of small clay balls.

I drank what

2013.01.04, Nichinan, Kyushu
Today we ate at a local restaurant for lunch, a small treat from Mari's mum in honour of our departure.

we almost ate what

2013.01.03, Nichinan, Kyushu
So it turns out that when we were in Takachiho last week, we might well have been served "Japanese giant hornet" (as food that is, not as a means of assassination).

climbed a hill

2013.01.02, Nichinan, Kyushu
The family took a trip out to a place in the sticks that had outdoor tennis courts, to let the boys (aged 4-13) run off some energy.

I wonder where film cameras might have been by now

2013.01.02, Nichinan, Miyazaki
Given all of the technology that's available now, I wonder where film SLR cameras might have gone if there were still a market.

a new favourite place in the neighbourhood

2013.01.02, Nichinan, Miyazaki
There was a deep frost last night, which kept the sleeping room damn cold last night.

movie review - Men in Black

2013.01.01, Toronto
This is a '90s movie about a New York police officer who has a strange encounter with a humanoid with non-human features in a lengthy foot chase after a crime.

rural kyushu seen from a hill-top

2013.01.01, Miyazaki
rural kyushu seen from a hill-top Collections containing t

new year's political message

2013.01.01, Nichinan, Kyushu
There is a grass-roots movement building among Canada's first nations people that is purposefully excluding the aboriginal communities' own political leadership as a matter of strategy in order to focus on achieving results, and to take matters into their own hands.

sunrise over the new year

2013.01.01, Nichinan, Kyushu
In the pre-dawn gloom this morning, we all piled into the cars to travel to the coast to observe the first sun rise of the new year.

Japanese radishes drying in the sun

2013.00.10, Miyazaki
Japanese radishes drying in the sun Collections containing

tall weeds in janaury

2013.00.10, Miyazaki
tall weeds in janaury Collections containing this photo.gr

2012

approaching the waterfall

2012.12.32, Miyazaki
approaching the waterfall Collections containing this phot

surveying the countryside

2012.12.32, Miyazaki
surveying the countryside Collections containing this phot

rocks like elephants

2012.12.32, Miyazaki
rocks like elephants Collections containing this photo.exp

rice paddies, black and white

2012.12.32, Miyazaki
rice paddies, black and white Collections containing this

shiitake being grown

2012.12.32, Miyazaki
shiitake being grown Collections containing this photo.exp

hazy valley, Miyazaki

2012.12.32, Miyazaki
hazy valley, Miyazaki Collections containing this photo.ex

canyon or crevasse?

2012.12.32, Miyazaki
canyon or crevasse? canyon or crevasse? Collections contain

subtropical playground

2012.12.32, Miyazaki
subtropical playground Collections containing this photo.e

15k on the year's final day

2012.12.31, Nichinan, Miyazaki
I took my old bike out for a spin this morning, covering about fifteen kilometers from Mari's parents place to the sea then back inland, through a tunnel that cuts through a big rock in the middle of the valley, and then traipsing my way back.

see of clouds over rural Japan

2012.12.29, Miyazaki
see of clouds over rural Japan Collections containing this

cloud-filled valley in kyushu

2012.12.29, Miyazaki
cloud-filled valley in kyushu Collections containing this

mountain and moon overlooking a cloud-filled lowland

2012.12.29, Miyazaki
mountain and moon overlooking a cloud-filled lowland Colle

the sea of clouds

2012.12.29, Miyakonojo, Kyushu
This morning I was picked up by my father-in-law at 06:45 for a trip up a mountain-side to see an effect for which the Japanese use the word 'unkai', meaning a 'sea of clouds'.

undokai over rural miyazaki

2012.12.28, Miyazaki
undokai over rural miyazaki Collections containing this ph

a sea of cloud and a setting moon

2012.12.28, Miyazaki
a sea of cloud and a setting moon Collections containing t

a stormy, almost-bright evening in rural Kyushu

2012.12.28, Miyazaki
a stormy, almost-bright evening in rural Kyushu Collection

facebook account deactivated (again)

2012.12.28, Miyakonojo, Kyushu
I've decided to deactivate my account on Facebook again.

come here son, how does this smell to you...

2012.12.27, Miyakonojo, Kyushu
Children, so many uses.

teaching a photographer

2012.12.27, Miyakonojo, Miyazaki
I love explaining photography stuff to people just getting into the game.

sakura-jima is erupting

2012.12.26, Miyazaki, Kyushu
We returned to Miyakonojo today to the sight of Sakura-jima, Japan's most active volcano, erupting across the sky.

best-ever sushi

2012.12.26, Hyuga, Kyushu
I'm getting like my mother, telling people about a fantastic meal I once had while travelling.

rail bridge, japan

2012.12.25, Miyazaki
rail bridge, japan Collections containing this photo.explo

intense agriculture, japan

2012.12.25, Miyazaki
intense agriculture, japan Collections containing this pho

rugged terrain, japan

2012.12.25, Miyazaki
rugged terrain, japan Collections containing this photo.ex

paddling in a gorge, miyazaki japan

2012.12.25, Miyazaki
paddling in a gorge, miyazaki japan Collections containing

movie review - Bee Movie

2012.12.25, Toronto
This is an animated movie set in a bee hive.

Takachiho gorge

2012.12.25, Takachiho, Kyushu
Today we travelled with Mari's parents to Takachiho gorge in the north-west corner of Kyushu.

what's this - warm nigiri?

2012.12.24, Miyakonojo, Kyushu
What's going on, Japan?

climbing a hill to nowhere

2012.12.23, Nichinan, Miyazaki
Every year-end that I've visited Mari's parents' place in Nichinan, I've climbed a steep paved road up the side of the western wall of the valley in which the property is situated.

is there a bike shop around here

2012.12.23, Nichinan, Kyushu
Today I went around the town looking for someone to help me get some air in my tires.

so .. that was the apocalypse

2012.12.21, Nichinan, Miyazaki
My flight went well, and then upon arrival in Japan things went somewhat less smoothly.

our Ken, catching a squid

2012.12.20, Miyazaki
our Ken, catching a squid Collections containing this phot

here comes the apocalypse!

2012.12.19, Toronto
Doesn't it just figure that the Mayan apocalypse lands on a Friday!

I'm still thinking about "War Horse"

2012.12.18, Toronto
This time last week I saw the play "War Horse".

coding today

2012.12.17, Toronto
It is amazing what you can do with the web development software libraries that are just sitting around today; in about two literal minutes, I added a "WYSIWYG" editor to the tools that I use to make this website.

Toronto's school board responds to the shooting

2012.12.17, Toronto
The shooting in Connecticut prompted the Toronto District School Board to put around an advisory to parents about advising children during this time.

fishing vessel moored at Nichinan

2012.12.16, Miyazaki
fishing vessel moored at Nichinan Collections containing t

photography hobby on hiatus

2012.12.16, Toronto
I'm looking at buy another used Minolta film camera body.

comments, I get comments

2012.12.16, Toronto
I'm getting more comments to my website these days; it's become a daily thing.

cycling in sleet

2012.12.15, Toronto
One of the hidden benefits of having lived on a foreign coast of the Pacific for five years: I'd forgotten how much freezing rain stings when you're cycling in it.

movie review - Cars

2012.12.14, Tokyo
This is a much-celebrated animated movie from much-celebrated Pixar.

shooting in the US

2012.12.14, Toronto
Another shooting in the US.

movie review - Skyfall

2012.12.13, Tokyo
I get the gritty tone of the recent Bond films.

cycling in the dark

2012.12.13, Toronto
First it was sweater-vests in the office, now this.

-2° and back on my bike

2012.12.12, Toronto
With the exam behind me I'm free of the need for study time on the TTC.

CIA exam 1 complete

2012.12.11, Toronto
I passed.

NHL fans unite!

2012.12.11, Toronto
Some NHL fans are taking matters into their own hands with a counter-strike of their own.

a final quiz

2012.12.10, Toronto
I've taken a final 40-question practice quiz ahead of tomorrow's CIA exam #1.

killed by a prank

2012.12.08, Toronto
When I was younger I was routinely enraged by the things in the news.

no quiet like the absence of children

2012.12.07, Toronto
The apartment was so quiet overnight that I could hear, from my bed, the sound of the aquarium lights coming on in the living room.

the family is on a plane

2012.12.06, Toronto
I put my family on a plane today, they'll be gone to Miyazaki for the next month.

alive again!

2012.12.05, Toronto
I've just been through a really bad three-day patch of fever, nausea, sore everything, and exhaustion.

a meal between Thanksgiving and X'mas

2012.12.02, Toronto
We'd failed to attend family functions both at Thanksgiving and Christmas, so today we split the difference and dropped in to see Scott & Sue, who hosted both of the missed events.

quiz results all over the place—not confident

2012.12.01, St. Catharines
It's been a busy twenty-four hours.

Toronto's politics are disturbingly amateur

2012.11.30, Toronto
So this week we lost our Mayor because it seems he doesn't know how to use of his position in an appropriate way.

don't look now, but I did some coding

2012.11.30, Toronto
Quite some time ago, I did a fair bit of coding.

an AGM and some stretching exercises

2012.11.29, Toronto
Today I voted at an annual general meeting.

progress with my CIA exam

2012.11.28, Toronto
I'm making some fair progress with my CIA exam studies, getting reasonably good marks even in my lowest-scoring sections.

never get off the goddamn streetcar

2012.11.28, Toronto
Today I knew I was in for trouble when I didn't see a streetcar pass the end of my street in the Beaches.

movie review - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

2012.11.23, Toronto
Well, this year is turning out be really something.

so it's come to sweater-vests

2012.11.23, Toronto
There was no !

Apple, quit nagging me about iTunes...

2012.11.21, Toronto
I like many things about my Mac Mini, but iTunes sure ain't one of them.

tweaked my bike

2012.11.19, Toronto
I'm not riding my bike on a daily basis these days, having traded fun and liberty for reading on countless slow-lurching public transit vehicles.

santa claus parade

2012.11.18, Toronto
The Santa Claus parade wasn't really enough to hold The Boy's attention this year.

a perfect day for a parade

2012.11.18, Toronto
I took Kenny to see the Santa Claus parade today.

CIA is harder than PMP

2012.11.17, Toronto
I've taken two practice quizzes today for the first CIA exam, from the Gleim resources I bought.

happiness is a clean audit

2012.11.16, Toronto
I've been with my current employer for two years, as of today.

new lenses

2012.11.15, Toronto
I picked up some new lenses for my glasses today.

falling glass cripples city

2012.11.14, Toronto
Tonight I stepped out of the office building to discover that downtown was once again in complete gridlock.

the apartment next to ours

2012.11.13, Toronto
I saw the woman who lives in the apartment in the building next to ours.

Fuji XE-1 envy

2012.11.13, Toronto
I walked to the camera store where I normally develop my film, to drop off a roll.

four streetcars to get home

2012.11.12, Toronto
Due to a combination of short-turns, I used a total of four streetcars to get home tonight.

remembrance day

2012.11.12, Toronto
Ken's school had a remembrance day event today.

what, no linkedin profile

2012.11.12, Toronto
This morning I wanted to look up a fellow who'd made a presentation at an event last week.

learning to read new words

2012.11.11, Toronto
Ken's teacher sent him home with a reader on Friday.

burned out vacuum cleaner

2012.11.11, Toronto
Since Electrolux won't support our vacuum cleaner (we brought a Japanese-bought model to Canada), I've decided to take it apart and see what I could do.

"boys and girls like to help"

2012.11.10, Toronto
The Boy helped me with making pancakes this morning, as he usually does.

pretty in pink

2012.11.08, Toronto
pretty in pink Collections containing this photo.

thanks for the taxi ride, TTC

2012.11.08, Toronto
At the end of a long day, I missed my streetcar by about ten seconds.

500 months old

2012.11.06, Toronto
I've been back in Canada for two years as of next week, minus the time I ducked back to Japan for a month to get my family (our official arrival date was eventually January 4 or so of 2011).

end your television

2012.11.05, Toronto
We don't have a TV at home.

day of the dead

2012.11.04, Toronto
Today we went down to the Harbourfront center (ignoring the unseasonable cold) and enjoyed an introduction to the Mexican "day of the dead".

swimming in water

2012.11.03, Toronto
We've been taking the kids to "swimming lessons" recently.

lots of pedestrian injuries

2012.11.02, Toronto
My renewed streetcar ridership is paying off in that I'm getting plenty of time to study.

on the TTC again

2012.11.01, Toronto
I've relinquished the bicycle in favour of the TTC.

our little butterfly on her first hallowe'en

2012.10.31, Toronto
our little butterfly on her first hallowe'en Collections c

Hallowe'en

2012.10.31, Toronto
We went out briefly tonight for Hallowe'en, The Boy went as a pirate.

oh, Sandy

2012.10.31, Toronto
Now it's just getting tiring.

I feel safe in .. well, the Beaches

2012.10.29, Toronto
Say what you will about the Beaches, it's one of the safest areas in the city - according to this interactive map anyway.

giving me memories

2012.10.28, Toronto
Today I wearily told The Boy, "No, I don't remember the incident you're talking about.

two good presentations

2012.10.25, Toronto
Today I was slated to attend three presentations.

LMT Connection at the X

2012.10.22, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  events dear

a door to somewhere

2012.10.22, Niagara Peninsula
a door to somewhere Collections containing this photo.wall

ruins on the escarpment

2012.10.22, Niagara Peninsula
ruins on the escarpment Collections containing this photo.

abandoned lot - scarborough

2012.10.22, Toronto
abandoned lot - scarborough Collections containing this ph

autumn comes to toronto

2012.10.22, Toronto
autumn comes to toronto Collections containing this photo.

amazing sand sculpture, 2012 CNE

2012.10.22, Toronto
amazing sand sculpture, 2012 CNE Collections containing th

a beach dotted with catle towers

2012.10.22, Toronto
a beach dotted with catle towers Collections containing th

a fine day to "study" in a cafe

2012.10.22, Toronto
I stopped on the way home to attempt to study for my CIA exam.

long walk in the neighbourhood

2012.10.21, Toronto
We went for a long walk in the neighbourhood today.

another new website design

2012.10.20, Toronto
In keeping with my usual habit, I've once again redesigned the website.

back on Dundas street

2012.10.19, Toronto
I've given up cycling on Queen street in the mornings.

audit dry run

2012.10.18, Toronto
The audit dry run is done for the year.

another year, another spill on my bike

2012.10.17, Toronto
As I did on September 2 last year, I had a spill today while crossing wet streetcar tracks.

Louis CK on being a dad

2012.10.16, Toronto
Once again, the man is right on the mark.

dear diamond taxi of Toronto

2012.10.16, Toronto
As I was cycling to work today I passed one of your taxis, which was stopped at the curb in the right lane on Queen Street east in the Leslieville area.

movie review - Moonrise Kingdom

2012.10.15, Torono
This is a story of two young people falling in love in a tiny island community.

movie review - Seven Psychopaths

2012.10.14, Toronto
This is an amusing story with a great cast about a struggling writer whose unstable and mercurial friend tries to draw him out.

where is the "certification" for CEO

2012.10.12, Toronto
There are so many certifications on the market today, but none are for a senior manager in a large IT department.

audit crunch time

2012.10.11, Toronto
The auditors are due for their dry run on Monday.

learning to snap!

2012.10.10, Toronto
Ken's learning to snap his fingers.

CIA exam no. 1 here I come

2012.10.10, Toronto
I've signed up for the first of my CIA exams.

a happy home for some neons

2012.10.09, Toronto
a happy home for some neons Collections containing this ph

slow, TTC kinda day

2012.10.09, Toronto
Having returned the car before work, I took the subway to the office.

so I said to the tattoo'd bodybuilder...

2012.10.09, Toronto
I dropped off a rental car and subsequently found myself on the subway this morning.

upgraded an aquarium

2012.10.08, Toronto
I've upgraded our little 10 gallon aquarium to a 16 gallon affair that sits in the same footprint but is 60% again taller.

Woodend

2012.10.07, St. Catharines
Today we went for a stroll in the small forest of Woodend conservation area, just outside St.

thanksgiving in Niagara

2012.10.06, St. Catharines
We picked up a car today and did some errands.

hey, remember the NHL

2012.10.05, Toronto
Looks like the NHL is having some sort of strike or lockout or who gives a crap.

CIA exam 1 prep

2012.10.04, Toronto
Well.

OK fine, maybe I'll dabble in an MBA

2012.10.03, Toronto
I've decided that once I'm done with this CIA program I'll knock of the certifications do the MBA program with Heriot-Watt in the UK (distance learning).

my sister-in-law, the artist (take II)

2012.10.02, Toronto
A week ago my sister-in-law sold a painting.

think your Monday morning sucked?

2012.10.01, Toronto
My Monday morning started with the sight of someone being arrested in the parking lot of a convenience store.

movie review - Hot Tob Time Machine

2012.09.29, Toronto
You can probably understand everything you need to know about this movie from the title.

$1600 in TTC fares not spent

2012.09.29, Toronto
My records indicate that I've saved $1600 in TTC fares since late March of 2011 by cycling to work on many days.

he wants to grow up

2012.09.28, Toronto
Kenny is so keen on growing up tall that he's sworn off chocolate milk, taken to eaten broccoli and brown rice, and knows that he shouldn't have too much cola.

one CIA exam down, three to go

2012.09.28, Toronto
I've had confirmation that I'm exempted from the fourth exam in the CIA certification process.

construction outpays technology

2012.09.28, Toronto
Well it's official, the construction industry out-pays the technology field.

my sister-in-law, the artist

2012.09.27, Toronto
My sister-in-law has sold another piece to a visitor to the gallery where she's currently showing.

nazi buddhist relic is a meteorite

2012.09.27, Toronto
I think this story is the reason that the Internet was created.

the new pleco

2012.09.26, Toronto
The new pleco I got for the small aquarium has vanished.

long nights, short days

2012.09.25, Toronto
I'm putting in some long hours at the office today.

incorporating in Canada

2012.09.24, Toronto
I found some amusing guidance on who can serve as a director for federally-incorporated corporations in Canada.

autumn means long johns

2012.09.24, Toronto
Hello Autumn, let's celebrate your return

that 70's boy

2012.09.23, Toronto
Today Ken and I were playing with Lego and he was humming the tune from Star Wars and I thought, "What have I done to this kid?

111.6cm and growing

2012.09.22, Toronto
The boy now towers over his classmates in his weekend Japanese school.

buying and renting a home in Toronto

2012.09.21, Toronto
I've found an article linking to a calculator for a buy-vs-rent comparison in Toronto.

trade show

2012.09.20, Toronto
Today, despite massive exhaustion, I manned a booth at an financial industry annual event.

rushed to the hospital by an EMS under threat

2012.09.19, Toronto
Last night my son had an attack of croup and needed some swift help from my inhaler and (more importantly) the city's EMS to survive.

day in a daze

2012.09.19, Toronto
Being in the emergency ward until 02:30 with a small child that's just had a brush with death leaves you a mess the next day.

movie review - Margin Call

2012.09.18, Toronto
This is a dramatic telling of the implosion of an investment bank during the (totally over) Great Financial Crisis.

more camera porn

2012.09.18, Toronto
My camera-buying days are over for the time being.

they say comfort is the enemy of greatness...

2012.09.17, Toronto
They say comfort is the enemy of greatness.

advice from my father

2012.09.16, Toronto
My father sent some advice on the constant issue of re-training.

on the beach

2012.09.16, Toronto
Today we went to the beach, and someone I wound up working on a sand-castle pretty much solo for about two hours.

a day of study

2012.09.15, Toronto
I've now officially signed up for the CIA course, the die is cast, I'm paid up.

audit season is exhausting

2012.09.14, Toronto
I don't think I've been awake past 21:30 on a single night this week.

keeping warm with a ceiling fan

2012.09.13, Toronto
I hadn't realized that a ceiling fan could be so good for your electricity bill.

movie review - Inside Job

2012.09.12, Toronto
This is a documentary about the great financial crisis, narrated by Matt Damon.

here comes Chika

2012.09.12, Toronto
In one of those weird juxtapositions, our friend Chika from Japan may be joining us, along with her husband, for Thanksgiving dinner in Niagara.

camera porn

2012.09.11, Toronto
Mmmmmm, new camera I can't possibly afford.

who me, MSc

2012.09.10, Toronto
I've stumbled into an interesting option to the MBA route I've been investigating: with my upcoming CIA designation I can do an MSc.

everyone's getting certified

2012.09.09, Toronto
Everywhere I look I see people "upgrading their skills".

a pair of wee neons in a young aquarium

2012.09.08, Toronto
a pair of wee neons in a young aquarium Collections contai

a new start for a tiny pleco

2012.09.08, Toronto
After the great die-off in my larger aquarium last weekend, I'm going to take a month before buying any new fish.

awoke from falling asleep

2012.09.07, Toronto
Woke at two this morning with a headache and went to lie on the sofa with a stomach full of pills.

my CIA induction begins

2012.09.06, Toronto
I've started studying for the CIA designation.

on governance

2012.09.05, Toronto
In the past, in dealing with internal audit, I often wondered at the perceived value-add of the function.

going to Tokyo

2012.09.05, Toronto
Tonight I met with a young fellow who's planning his first dose of overseas living; in Tokyo.

movie review - Despicable Me

2012.09.03, Toronto
This is an animated movie about a villain with minions, a lair, and a mad scientist.

aquarium holocaust and a new plan

2012.09.03, Toronto
I've just been through an aquarium holocaust.

movie review - The Book of Eli

2012.09.02, Toronto
This is a science-fiction story set in a near future dystopia that is looking more and more likely by the day.

To MBA or not to MBA...

2012.08.31, Toronto
Now I'm looking at online MBA and other (e.

photos from a wedding

2012.08.30, Toronto
I've finally managed to get a few pics together from the wedding of Kate and Ben some time ago.

ridiculous rain

2012.08.28, Toronto
It rained so hard last night it sounded like a bunch of people were dancing on the roof.

creeping aquarium ownership

2012.08.27, Toronto
I'm considering replacing our small second aquarium with a substantially larger one.

lost our son, briefly

2012.08.26, Toronto
The boy now rides his bike so well that it seems he thinks he doesn't need our company while away from the home.

oh my god, that new camera

2012.08.25, Toronto
Hey sexy mama, where you been all my life?

so long, MBA idea

2012.08.24, Toronto
Once again, I've looked at doing an MBA.

good at engineering not at relationships

2012.08.23, Toronto
The other day I asked a six year old friend of The Boy the following question: "Your Daddy is older than me.

movies about a crisis

2012.08.23, Toronto
I've now watched two particularly good movies on the financial crisis: "Margin Call" and "Inside Job".

everybody just calm down

2012.08.22, Toronto
Today I had the pleasure of sharing the road with a driver who basically had to have the horn going wherever he went.

taller fish tank

2012.08.21, Toronto
I'm looking at upgrading our little 40 liter aquarium to a 60 liter "tall" variety that would allow us to retain the lid and lamp and filter.

weird bike problem

2012.08.20, Toronto
The problem with my bike seat post constantly sliding down isn't getting any better.

and this is why I shaved

2012.08.18, Toronto
I shaved off my entire mustache and beard because I'd gone halfway and everyone around me told me to finish the job.

a beautiful night

2012.08.16, Toronto
We had a picnic in the back yard of some friends tonight, the weather was spot-on perfect.

LMT Connection

2012.08.15, Toronto
Though we'd seen "LMT Connection" play dozens (and dozens)

mans best friend

2012.08.15, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  the quick a

a tsunami over toronto

2012.08.15, Toronto
a tsunami over toronto Collections containing this photo.

running on the beach in his cycle garb

2012.08.15, Toronto
running on the beach in his cycle garb Collections contain

apostrophes in email addresses

2012.08.15, Toronto
It turns out that you can put an apostrophe in an email address; I learned this today while corresponding with a client.

movie review - Looper

2012.08.14, Toronto
This is a science-fiction flick in which an assassin kills people sent through a chute from the future.

bicycle thieves

2012.08.14, Toronto
Yesterday I went to the bike shop to have a small bolt repaired.

java certificate issuer database "security"

2012.08.13, Toronto
It turns out that in addition to the other shortcomings of the Java environment, there's essentially no security at all on the way it controls certificate authorities.

emperor tetras play rough

2012.08.12, Toronto
One of the new emperor tetras is now swimming around with a great chunk missing from her stomach.

some new tank mates for our aquarium

2012.08.11, Toronto
I went out with Kenny to buy the lightbulbs for the new ceiling fan we had installed above the dining table.

rrrr, not again!

2012.08.10, Toronto
When shopping today, it was just one stop after another.

...and rained (so I tinkered with a vacuum cleaner)

2012.08.10, Toronto
It rained hard for two hours this morning; if we weren't caught up to the yearly average by yesterday, we are today.

and then it rained

2012.08.09, Toronto
We've had something like 20% of the rain we expected in Ontario this summer; today morning we caught up with the average.

the garden hose

2012.08.08, St. Catharines
I spent a good part of the day chasing my son around the yard with a garden hose - a substantial part of the day indeed.

african lion safari

2012.08.07, St. Catharines
Today we had a fantastic time with the kids at an outdoor zoo that encourages you to drive through various game reserves.

laid up all day (again)

2012.08.06, St. Catharines
I had a migraine that kept me in bed until after five in the afternoon; for once, my mother had a migraine on the same day.

on vacation

2012.08.05, St. Catharines
We're on vacation; Kenny and I spent much of the afternoon chasing each other around Grandma's yard with a water hose.

farewell my german blue rams

2012.08.04, Toronto
My German blue rams have died, much to my dismay.

hot day to be moving

2012.08.04, Toronto
I just met our new downstairs neighbour; it's 33ºC and he's single-handedly moving his stuff into the apartment.

becoming a man again

2012.08.03, Toronto
Our son noticed that my beard is coming in again; he told me, "You're becoming a man again!

vacuum cleaner fun

2012.08.02, Toronto
The Electrolux vacuum cleaner we bought in Japan has stopped working; the local shop says repair is impossible.

delayed flights

2012.08.01, Toronto
We've had such bad weather that everyone heading West has had badly delayed flights.

oh my aching back

2012.07.31, Toronto
Between the new bike and new baby carriage, I'm dealing with a fair bit of back pain these days.

so I'm clean shaved

2012.07.30, Toronto
For the first time since perhaps 2004, I've shaved my beard off.

farewell to the family

2012.07.30, Toronto
After dinner, uncle Ken came for a visit to collect a forgotten pair of sunglasses.

the juicebag self portrait

2012.07.29, Toronto
the juicebag self portrait Collections containing this pho

LMT with friends and family

2012.07.29, Toronto
Today we went to see LMT perform at the Beaches Jazz Festival; it's been over 20 years since we started coming out for this band.

the whole family's around

2012.07.28, Toronto
Everyone's here, my brother, mother, and father.

crapped on by a bird, again

2012.07.28, Toronto
This makes the eleventh time I've been crapped on by a bird.

a wedding in Toronto

2012.07.27, Toronto
My cousin Kate got married today, on the tenth anniversary of their meeting in some high school related activity (in July?

survived a weird cycling error

2012.07.26, Toronto
I cycled to work today in the rain because I have to be home at 16:30 and cannot rely on transit to make that happen.

tracking the TTC

2012.07.25, Toronto
For some reason, the TTC tracks the location of all of its streetcars, but left it to someone else to publish the information in real time.

beautiful picnic

2012.07.24, Toronto
Another perfect summer day, another perfect picnic.

center island picnic - and how to catch seagulls

2012.07.22, Toronto
We met Jon, Manami, Kii-chan, and The Chako at the ferry terminal just before noon, and spent the day at center island.

my glasses fell in the fish tank

2012.07.21, Toronto
my glasses fell in the fish tank Collections containing th

aborted jazz

2012.07.21, Toronto
Today we attempted to take in some jazz at the Beaches Jazz Festival, but Kenny had other plans.

movie review - Madagascar

2012.07.19, Toronto
This is an animated kids movie about a collection of zoo animals that wind up being shipped off to the African island nation of Madagascar.

solving the BYOD riddle

2012.07.19, Toronto
This article presents a policy that allows employees to bring their own mobile devices to work, while at the same time avoiding the security and support issues raised.

jon and manami and little kii

2012.07.19, Toronto
My long-time friend Jon and his family are in town; naturally, I ran into them on the street on the way to work.

comedy of errors - father's day gift indeed

2012.07.18, Toronto
I bought something online that was supposed to be a Father's Day gift - it still hasn't been delivered, a month later.

not so sweet hitch-hiker

2012.07.17, Toronto
As I rounded the final corner on my ride in, today, a young fellow on a bike appeared next to me and said, "Thanks for the ride, bro.

what do they do

2012.07.16, Toronto
On top of the building next to where I work, there is a large patio used by the condo-tenants to lounge around all day.

visiting with old friends

2012.07.15, Toronto
Tonight we visited with some old friends from the first two times I lived in Toronto: Stephanie and Brian.

夏祭り in Toronto

2012.07.14, Toronto
Today we attended a "夏祭

new fish

2012.07.14, Toronto
Today I took Ken out on an expedition to Parliament and Carlton to a pet store for some new fish.

happiness is a new bike

2012.07.12, Toronto
What a difference it makes to ride a new bike; good-bye stiffness in the neck, hello new sore spots in the legs.

new article on bring-your-own-device at work

2012.07.11, Toronto
I've completed the article on the challenge of bringing mobile devices to work that I've been asked to write.

cupcakes and quizzes

2012.07.11, Toronto
I wanted to do some training today, so I used some quizzes and cupcakes.

new photos

2012.07.10, Toronto
I've added a raft of new photos to the site.

two offers, today

2012.07.10, Toronto
Today I was offered two opportunities: to write for an ISACA blog; and to teach in Tunisia.

finally bought a bike

2012.07.09, Toronto
I bought a bike today for about half the price of bringing my "old" bike from Japan.

the fish kill

2012.07.07, Toronto
Just the other day, I was thinking to myself - wow, it may have been six months or more since the last fish death in our aquaria.

hot as the hinges of southern Ontario

2012.07.06, Toronto
We hit a record temperature of 36°C today, and it was humid.

gods

2012.07.05, Toronto
Kenny constantly asks me to draw things for him.

narcissist test

2012.07.05, Toronto
I took a test today to see if I'm a narcissist; turns out I'm devoid of all ego, an empty ghost of a man.

hearing from an old friend

2012.07.05, Toronto
Once upon a time, I wrote something on this site about my early childhood; today I heard from a friend who found his name there.

an old SRT-101 handed down (again)

2012.07.04, Toronto
A Minolta SRT-101 camera that my mother bought for my father in the early 70's was handed down to me in the 90's and is now my son's.

rainy picnic

2012.07.03, Toronto
We had a picnic with Chinese and Korean food in the back yard of some friends, tonight - hiding from darkening rainclouds we did okay.

weight-bearing powerline

2012.07.02, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  streets of

walking in a city plagued by condo projects

2012.07.02, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.  streets of

old road warrior

2012.07.02, Toronto
The TTC has a rolling stock of street cars that are as old

reflections of the street, downtown toronto

2012.07.02, Toronto
reflections of the street, downtown toronto Collections co

clever cat graffiti, toronto

2012.07.02, Toronto
clever cat graffiti, toronto Collections containing this p

the boy's bike is a hit

2012.07.02, Toronto
This weekend I started teaching Kenny how to ride his first pedal-bike; by this evening he was riding unassisted.

an apartment on Craigslist - not so fast

2012.07.02, Toronto
It seems that Craigslist isn't just hookers and bogus sports tickets: scammer rings are now faking apartment ads.

fireworks of every kind

2012.07.01, Toronto
We went to see the fireworks at the beaches tonight.

"nothing is enough"

2012.07.01, Toronto
I saw a woman on Queen street with a shirt that read "nothing is enough".

cranky comments on my website

2012.06.29, Toronto
For some reason, I enjoy the odd cranky comment I get on my website - it lets me know that someone's reading.

spelling

2012.06.28, Toronto
Kenny's abilities with words and numbers are really taking off.

buh-bye Captain Jack's

2012.06.28, Toronto
I never knew anyone to eat at Captain Jack's floating restaurant in Toronto and come away with a happy tale.

working together again

2012.06.27, Toronto
Today I had the odd experience of holding a business meeting with someone I worked with fifteen to seventeen years ago.

cycling with an old chair

2012.06.26, Toronto
Today I cycled several blocks with a 40-year-old chair on the back of my bike.

the green bike is ready

2012.06.26, Toronto
I've finished repainting the bike for Kenny and have re-assembled the thing - it looks pretty damn good I believe.

never enough green paint when you need it

2012.06.25, Toronto
I've nearly painted Kenny's bike, but have hit a snag - the spray can is empty!

the half-green bike

2012.06.24, Toronto
Kenny's new bike is coming along nicely: the first coat of final paint is now half done, and I've replaced the white tires with black ones.

kenny's bike is primed

2012.06.23, Toronto
I finally finished stripping the paint off of the bike I'm rebuilding for Kenny, and have started painting the primer.

Motörhead

2012.06.21, Toronto
I was playing some Motörhead and Kenny said, "i like this music!

PMP reunion lite

2012.06.21, Toronto
For an informal reunion of our sixty plus PMP exam prep class, all of four people turned out - not much has changed in Toronto I guess.

finally got my bike back

2012.06.20, Toronto
After $82 and five days, I'm finally on my bike again.

dogfight at a family barbecue

2012.06.17, Toronto
We had a Father's Day barbecue today, and sadly a dog fight broke out.

bike wearing out

2012.06.15, Toronto
My faithful old bike is wearing out, after only 15 years.

my new Minolta lens

2012.06.13, Toronto
Today I took the time to walk the alleys near my office with my faithful X-700 and my "new" 35mm lens - it's reinvigorating to create.

the paper cranes auxiliary force

2012.06.12, Toronto
Today, recognizing that my wife and I have plenty of time on our hands, I volunteered our help in making paper cranes for a wedding.

so this is the economy

2012.06.11, Toronto
Even if I didn't have a colicky newborn keeping the two of us up half the night the commotion in Europe would be keeping me up.

drums and sunshine

2012.06.10, Toronto
We went to a drumming festival in Woodbine park today; 'twas brillig.

new lens

2012.06.09, Toronto
Despite unhappy past experiences, I bought a used 35mm lens for my old Minolta gear on ebay - it's arrived and it's a winner.

"i have no friends"

2012.06.08, Toronto
The Boy was looking out the window, forlorn, as his sister cried endlessly behind him.

I wanna look like mungo jerry

2012.06.08, Toronto
And here I didn't think that "In The Summertime" by Mungo Jerry couldn't get any better - and then I saw the video.

more passwords in jeopardy

2012.06.08, Toronto
On Wednesday, someone announced that they'd stolen millions of passwords from LinkedIn; today I had warnings from two more websites.

letting go

2012.06.07, Toronto
Here's the blurb I found on whether investing time in something makes sense.

one more happy birthday...

2012.06.05, Toronto
Today Kenny was forecasting some activities for next year, and said, "one more happy birthday, and i'll be five!

no, 28 is 28

2012.06.05, Toronto
We didn't get the apartment we wanted, so my commute will stay what it is.

28 becomes 16

2012.06.04, Toronto
It took me 28 minutes to cycle to work today, the first time I've timed it in over a year.

pulled pork - it must be Summertime

2012.06.03, Toronto
Well it was only about 20ºC, certainly not summer; but we had summertime food - pulled pork, hot dogs, and beef-on-a-bun.

movie review - Red

2012.06.02, Vancouver
This is a movie about a retired CIA spy who is classified "RED": Retired, Extremely Dangerous.

kamil is in town

2012.06.01, Toronto
Dr Zaniewski, a friend from half a lifetime ago, made it to our place despite my instructions.

no rain last night

2012.05.31, Toronto
We had a forecast for rain last night, but it simply didn't materialize - again.

everyone's busy, all the time

2012.05.28, Toronto
People are so busy these days that making plans is becoming a matter of "What about the third weekend in June?

my good name

2012.05.27, Toronto
Wow, someone's asked me to be a reference in applying for a new venture affecting their livelihood.

professional development

2012.05.26, Toronto
Today I went to a "PMP" related "professional development day" - at $280 I think it might just have been worth the money.

comment-spam

2012.05.25, Toronto
I get a steady trickle of comments on this site; but for every real comment there are two anonymous 'bot spam dumps.

today's spelling words

2012.05.24, Toronto
Today's spelling words are "BANANA" and "BROTHER".

Canada's entry to keystone kops police state

2012.05.24, Toronto
Canada's following it's big brother's lead into an era of amateur police statism; it would be funny if .

my ancestors, the "children of peace"

2012.05.23, Toronto
I see from the historical records that a certain idiosyncrasy runs in the family, and I am pleased.

movie review - Date Night

2012.05.22, Toronto
A bored couple living in New Jersey head to Manhattan for a night on the town in an effort to save their stale marriage.

don't worry about the economy

2012.05.22, Toronto
Gee, these gloom and doom merchants never let up.

the Beaches was crazy today

2012.05.21, Toronto
We tried

to the zoo!

2012.05.20, Toronto
We did our yearly trek to the zoo today as part of our "all about Kenny" weekend - our way of making up for all of the baby focus of late.

Japanese sports day

2012.05.19, Toronto
Sports day is a big event in the Japanese school year, and today we attended such an event in the Beaches.

so this is Mississauga

2012.05.18, Mississauga
Today, for the first time in years, I had reason to visit Mississauga - Toronto's strictly-for-drivers "other half".

"COB" day

2012.05.17, Toronto
Today our firm had what turned into a rather fun test day; everyone stayed home and attempted to work from there.

ah yes, diapers

2012.05.16, Toronto
I'm struggling to get diapers right again.

the fluoride in Toronto's water

2012.05.16, Toronto
I doubt this will surprise the people who know me, but I'm starting to side with the tinfoil hat wingnuts on the fluoridation of water.

that's one yellow sticker for a boy...

2012.05.15, Toronto
Kenny's been earning stickers with happy faces every time he properly uses the toilet for a BM.

focusing and tracking

2012.05.15, Toronto
Well, "First Grandaughter" may have had a wobbly start with her eyes (I was briefly concerned that she could see at all through one eye that was bloody from birth) but she's come a long way already.

Fiat 500

2012.05.15, Toronto
The car rental agency I deal with insists that there's nothing for me this Friday except a Fiat 500 - dang!

toronto housing prices

2012.05.14, Toronto
I looked up some figures and have come to an unsurprising conclusion: Toronto's housing prices are unaffordable.

five old cameras

2012.05.13, St. Catharines
We've been helping the family move my step-grandmother out of her condo and into a seniors residence; I've inherited some cameras.

we've fled the city again

2012.05.11, St. Catharines
Hello, Niagara, always a pleasure - especially with Spring in full bloom and the weather beyond coat warm; ahhh.

found some old photos

2012.05.10, Toronto
From time to time I find a batch of photos that somehow didn't make it to my website; today was one of those days.

soaked on my bike again

2012.05.09, Toronto
Yesterday, they forecast 20mm of rain and we had none; today "isolated showers" meant five hours of heavy rain.

no Olympus OM-D for downtown Toronto

2012.05.08, Toronto
"Downtown Camera" in Toronto "will not be carrying" the Olympus OM-D, due to worries over the financial health of Olympus.

a boy and his baby sister

2012.05.06, Toronto
Collections containing this photo.

a new toy train for my son

2012.05.05, Toronto
The Boy has many of the same "Thomas" trains for his wooden

way to go, TTC

2012.05.05, Toronto
Today at the last minute I learned that my streetcar will be unavailable until October starting tomorrow.

May the Fourth be with you

2012.05.04, Toronto
Well today was Star Wars Day so of course Kenny and I watched Empire Strikes Back.

another sign of aging

2012.05.04, Toronto
Today I had another sign that I'm getting old

jaywalking in Toronto

2012.05.01, Toronto
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first canadian in new clothes

2012.05.01, Toronto
first canadian in new clothes Collections containing this

cycling in the snow in late April

2012.04.27, Toronto
So we had 25°C in mid-March, and now we're having snow squalls in late April.

thoughts on the PMP exam (2012 edition)

2012.04.26, Toronto
I found the exam pretty tough; here are my thoughts on the experience and advice for exam takers.

pmp = headhunters

2012.04.25, Toronto
For the first time since I've been back in Canada, a headhunter called me.

child benefits in Canada (our government is crazy)

2012.04.25, Toronto
Applying for the child benefit program (a subsidy of $100/child under 6) in Canada is ridiculously difficult.

paying for PC support

2012.04.24, Toronto
It's come to this - I'm paying for someone to look into a wonky laptop.

what do you mean tax return

2012.04.23, Toronto
I've been so busy with the PMP exam that I've neglected the impending April 30 due date on my tax return.

a custom wooden train for my son

2012.04.22, Toronto
Made this unique train for my son's set. The front wheel o

Prince's "Kiss"

2012.04.22, Toronto
I showed Kenny the 80's video "Kiss" by Prince.

if there must be trouble

2012.04.22, Toronto
Thomas Paine said, "If there must be trouble let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.

next up: hangliding

2012.04.20, Toronto
Now that that exam is out of the way, it's time to follow on a vow I made a decade ago: to try hangliding.

hello, twitter & facebook

2012.04.19, Toronto
Quite some time ago, my twitterfeed account ceased functioning (and then ceased to be).

michael werneburg, pmp

2012.04.19, Toronto
Well, it took four long hours, but I've written my PMP exam and passed.

PMP exam, here I come

2012.04.18, Toronto
I'm up to a 90% on the practice exams, and I've read as much as I physically could tolerate; I'm as ready as I'm going to be.

onward and upward

2012.04.16, Toronto
I'm up to an average of 86% on my practice quizzes for the PMP exam; with the pass/fail at 61% I'm feeling cautiously optimistic.

waterfall at the zoo

2012.04.15, Toronto
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movie review - Midnight in Paris

2012.04.15, Toronto
We got about fifteen minutes into this when I realized that I hated everybody in it.

stormtrooper smacks his head

2012.04.15, Toronto
Kenny demanded to see Star Wars again today (I've created a four year year old monster).

socializing again

2012.04.14, Toronto
It's been a while since we had a get-together with friends, but today we hosted a couple and their two boys.

PMP preparation

2012.04.13, Toronto
I managed a 74% on my first go-through of a 409-question sample test in preparation for my PMP exam on Thursday.