I took a day off from going to the hospital and visiting my Dad. As much as we love to be there with him, we there are other people’s needs that need met. While working today I was slowly writing down my thoughts about the current events and it turned into a letter. I think that the best way for me to keep on top is to share how I’m feeling, and I’m feeling like hell… So as you might imagine, this is very emotional and probably sounds like a bunch of rambling, but either way.

A Letter to my father.:

Hey Dad,

I love you.

I know we don’t talk about mushy things much, but there are a lot of things I’d like to tell you.
You’re an amazing inspiration to me, you’ve taught me so much about living life. I have so many memories of us having a good time.

Jumping off of the roof in Ottawa into your arms, you taught me to trust.

Making those cassette tapes with scary noises around halloween, you taught me to laugh.

Being with mum and always doing the most thoughtful and wonderful things for her, you taught me to love.

Preserving through your entire life of obstacles, you’ve taught me to be so strong.

You’ve introduced me to all of my hobbies and loves of life. When i was just a kid you would bring me to the base and let me hang out with all of the computers. They fascinated me and I’ve never looked back since. One of my most vivid memories was playing Q-Bert on one of the ladies’ computer. It was so much fun and yet i had a need to know how it all worked. You always took to new things with chutzpah, and showed no fear to me when I was in control of a full sized car, speeding around in an open parking lot. You taught me that the best way to drive a car isn’t to steer it, but to guide it around corners. And later, how to drive in the snow and do reverse donuts in the Taurus. Always teaching me and instilling your huge amount of knowledge in a fun way to me.

In an effort to stop wasting your gas, i’ve discovered that the most fuel efficient speed for my car is 88 km / h. i get almost 55 mpg going that fast (thats how fast i drive on the highway). Thanks for always slipping me a 20 when mum wasn’t looking, it always went towards that damn gas bill, but i would have paid it myself if it meant coming home to see you guys. I cherish every weekend that I spent in Parrsboro.

The house now feels so big and empty without your big heart inside of it. There’s so many small un-finished projects around the house that need to be finished! Looking around i see all of the handy work we’ve put into it together. You taught me to always measure twice and cut once, not always by example. We’ve built so much of this house you and I. The metal shed out back, the back door steps, so many of the renovations downstairs, landscaping to small things like replacing fuses (and finding a penny in one to keep it shorted, LOL), light fixtures, running cables all over so we could have satellite TV in every room. You’ve taught me everything i know about fixing and repairing a home.

More than anything, I want you to be around to be the grandfather to my children, i don’t know if i can provide the same caring and knowledge that you did, you always know what to do and i’ll need your help raising them.  I want you to be present when they have their first steps, when they say their first words, even when they graduate high school and go off into the real world. I want them to know what an amazing man you are and I don’t think they’d grow up half as wonderful not knowing their Grampie.

You’re a great community man, always doing so much for everyone. You continually inspire me to help people who are less fortunate than I am, or are just in need.

That’s about all the guts i can spill for now, I just want you to know that I’m so proud to have you as a father. It’s an incredible experience that everyone else in the world is missing out on.

The puppies miss you. we miss you. i love you.

your son (adam)

xoxoxo

Tags: Cancer, Dad, Letter

I had a good chat with Jessica the other day about my work load, the things I say I will do, things promise I will do, priorities, and life decisions. She always gets me in a thought provoking mood. It turns out that I have made it a habit for myself to tell everyone YES! to whatever they’re asking, and then attempt to cram it into my schedule. It’s been pointed out to me that if I somehow don’t get these things fit into my schedule…. I appear un-reliable. eek. So there are 2 action items that I’ve decided i NEED to take. I need to start telling people that I’m busy, and I need to come up with some clear goals that I am going to work on. So i’ve decided that in order to build motivation… I need a list! I’ve always been inspired by Erik Kastner’s Blog posts about his goals and I think that writing them down and making it permanent will help make it happen. I have a reputation to uphold, you know!

This Month’s Goals:

1. write this post
2. contribute something good to an Open Source project
3. follow up with at least 1 micro-startup idea
4. break 100 twitter followers
5. work on our Wedding & RSVP web page
6. finish 2 paintings
7. finish my mother’s website
8. lose 15 pounds

Write this Post! (and more more after this)

I’ve had this post stored in a text file on my computer for about a month. It NEEDS to be written out, and followed through with. So in completing this post, goal number 1 should be adequately sufficed!!

Contribute something good to an Open Source project

This has always been one of my goals. I know that i contribute to the Dashboard Framework almost daily, but that doesn’t count. I’m talking big time project, small time grunt work. I’ve been using this software and giving them a pat on the back, saying it’s great, reporting bugs etc. I need to give back to the community that I am continuously taking from. It’s the nature of it all.

Follow up with at least 1 of the micro-startup idea

I’ve come up with so many great little web startup ideas over the past year or so that i no longer know which ones are good / feasible / possible. I’m going to try to whittle it down to 1 for this month and attempt to get the ball rolling. Even if it is as little as IsDaneCookInThisMovie.com, it’s still a tiny step in the right direction.

Break the 100 Twitter Followers barrier

They say that you don’t get the full experience of twitter until you have at least 100 followers. So I really want to experience the full effect of this social network.

*update* This happened yesterday. I’ve reached 100. So i guess i’ll aim for 125 by this time next month!

Work on our Wedding & RSVP website

This is something very important to both Jessica and I. I’ve been saying that I’ll work on it as soon as i get some time. All I need to do is set some time aside for this, and without design, the programming shouldn’t take more than an hour or 2. (design help is very welcome — thurloat at gmail dot com *wink*)

Finish 2 Paintings

I have 2 paintings on the go right now, and they always take the back seat to other projects. It’s something I really enjoy, and something that I can connect with Jessica on. I started a huge one around Christmas for her and I still haven’t passed the pencil-on-canvas stage. This won’t be an easy one to fit in, but if i can hold off on doing other things, I know i can find time.

Finish my Mother’s Website

So my Mum started her own cloth diaper business last year and I’ve been promising all along that I would make her a website for it, and help her with online marketing for it, etc. I can usually only seem to find 20 or 30 minutes at a time and I’m stuck at about 85% on this one, I just need a little boot in the arse to complete it. The only reason it’s on here is to make sure that I get it done.

Lose 15 pounds

I know this goal sounds un-reasonable, but I know i have the power to do it myself, and they say the first few pounds come off really quickly. I’m not expecting this sort of weight loss to be linear. I just know that if i put a ton of work in early, than I can see faster results which will motivate me to continue. The muscle burn that I’m feeling already is motivation so far, but the numbers do help.

So that’s my list to complete over the next 30 days. I’m going to make it a priority for this month to post a weekly check in with my goals to make sure I’m following through with them. If you’re noticing me slacking on these goals, put me in line! This is extremely important to me, and I hope you’re all kind enough to help !!

Tags: change, goals, programming, website

So, here I was (you are here). Sitting on the couch, leisurely watching “John and Kate plus 8”. When I looked over at Jessica’s Psychology Quiz. This text is quoted straight from an University Psych textbook… seriously.

If Captain Picard leaves Deep Space Nine at 0900 hours and travels at Warp 4 his shuttlecraft, he can rendezvous with the Starship Enterprise in 4. 2 hours. However, in order to reach the ship so quickly, he would have to travel through the Neutral Zone, and his presence would undoubtedly be noticed by Romulan warships, which would attack and destroy his craft. Thus, Picard realizes that he will have to take another route to the ship and thus devises what comes to be known as the “Picard loop” to get around the neutral zone. The Captain has applied ____.

A) crystallized intelligence ability

B) an algorithm

C) deductive reasoning skill

D) means-ends analysis

My question is: Why is picard on Deep Space Nine?

“….[u]nder the terms in the memorandum of understanding, Penske would obtain the rights to the brand as well as certain other Saturn assets. GM would continue production, on a contract basis, of the Saturn Aura, Vue and Outlook.”

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[Source: General Motors] [more details]

Looks like the Saturn Astra is getting canned. It’s such a great dissapointment for me, as i haven’t had a single issue with it and i continue to enjoy driving it every day. Although, maybe this will make the resale value skyrocket because my model and options will be rare (XR, 3dr, 5spd, handling package, no 18s) ? Here’s to hoping, along with the dissapointment that I probably won’t be buying a Saturn again.

[Source: Adam Thurlow]

I just got my mitts on Google Chrome for Mac. The JS speed is incredible.

There is actually a visually noticeable speed difference when using our Framework back-end. I might just start using it for adminning sites / content entering because it doesn’t ever bog down on the heavy JS loads for Chunk revisions. It just seems to be more snappy in general compared to FF 3.01 where on many occasions will freeze up for 1/4 of a second when it’s processing JS / finishing a page load that creates a frustration inside of me so deep and burning…

… seriously. it’s only quarter of a second. but if i had all of those 1/4 seconds back, i’d for sure have at least a minute on my hands.

P.S. i just noticed that half of the toolbar for making tumblr posts has dissapeared in chrome.. weird.

Lately, something that has been invading my tweets and really interesting me, has been the news regarding Chrysler and the General Motors (GM) bankruptcies. Keeping tabs on the auto industry is a odd hobby of mine. You’d like me to fill you in on the confusion of it all? SURE!

So from what i’ve gathered, the situation as it stands on The Big Three (Ford, Chrysler and General Motors) is as follows:

• Chrysler is so bankrupt it isn’t even funny. They are selling off all of their semi-profitable brands to other companies and seeking buy-outs from foreign markets.

• GM has also filed bankruptcy, but has put a wonderful Public Relations spin on the whole thing. IIRC the company is now 60% owned by the US government, and i’ve just recently heard that the Canadian Government has decided to invest ~ approximately $10 billion in the “restructuring” of the brand. They’ve decided to focus on only their core market. This means that Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC will be the only surviving GM brands, and they’re also looking on cutting down their expansive, self-competitive lineup to under 30 offerings across all brands.

Today, GM released their “Re-Invention” Commercial to explain to the public in “fluffy” words, that they’re going to fire union workers, and do a lot of cost-cutting.

• Ford is on top of their game. No one has heard about Ford lately because they decided to restructure in 2006 before anyone else knew something was going wrong. See, back in 06’ when Ford got their new CEO, he did a massive “re-invention”. They have since brought back the Taurus (mistake to have killed it), are working on a global automobile platform, and keeping as economical as possible. Ford is expecting to actually have to INCREASE production in the second half of this year by about ten percent in all of this economic turmoil.

So that’s how I am seeing the big three right now, and somehow after a few years ago, Ford has pulled off being the top dog (for now). They seem slightly worried now that the gvt’ owns 60% of GM, that they will no longer want to do business with them.

“We look forward to working with the Obama administration to ensure that the government’s majority ownership of GM will not change the industry’s competitive dynamics and that a level playing field will be maintained.”

The Auto Industry is in a rediculous amount of trouble in North America right now, and the way I see it, in less than 3 years Chrysler is going to be history, the GM ‘upturn’ might finally swing around in 6 years, and Ford will benefit greatly from taking the early damage from their restructuring in 06’ and be the only one left of the big three who can continue to sustainably innovate, build reliable automobiles, and still have a large Reasearch and Development section for greener cars in the future.

I think that the damage has been done to the other not-quite-as-big two, and they’re going to have a very steep hill to climb in order to find their way out of this hole. Especially since Ford is one step ahead.

To wrap up, I believe there is a quote that sums up this whole situation:

“If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.” – Confucius

I’m slowly working on getting together this Tumblr theme, it’s coming along decently, and i have a ton of stuff i want to do with it! i’m going to goto external JS city on this thing.

Either way, i’d like to know what everyone thinks of the fixed position layout in the bottom. It’s not standard for sure, and it probably goes against some sort of written ‘Design Code’, but golly, i like it.

That being said, i’m still working on it / tweaking it every evening a little bit at a time. So hopefully it eveolved into something decent looking.

“We should have our minds open, but not so open that our brains fall out.”

– Allen Ross Anderson

i smelled my first cut grass of the year today. heaven.

So last night in a fit of frustration, from not getting that TV Tuner card working on my windows media centre computer. I went to town and downloaded Ubuntu 9.04. I was impressed with all of the new fancy things it had (faster load times, ext4, didn’t have to find new drivers for a few things like i did last time [8.04], picked up my tv resolution first go [unlike 8.04]) i was pleased…

until i noticed my mouse kept getting stuck in a window. If i would click on any window (not including the menus), that element would capture my mouses focus and no matter where else i clicked, it wouldn’t let go. Occasionally, a right click would release it from that element, but most of the time i would have to hard quit out of that application for it to release my mouse.

Does anyone have a clue about this?