Before I forget - here’s a link to a “Bagel-Cam” which is a webcam that was pointing at the craft services table on the set of Jackie Chan’s movie The Tuxedo which sounds pretty absurd…So, watch that show (C O’B reference) …

Erin and I went to a movie with her Aunt, Uncle and Cousin last night - Kate and Leopold. It stars Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman, and can you believe it, it’s a romantic comedy. For some reason, we got free passes to a sneak preview of it. It was interesting…First, the whole movie had an odd colour tone to it - kind of like when you’re watching out-takes on DVD’s. Some of the scene’s looked truly awful as far as video quality goes. I suspect it will get cleaned up before it’s actually released though.

As for the movie…Well, first I should confess that I don’t mind romantic comedies. Yes, they’re formulaic, but sometimes they can be quite good. You’ve got your basic - Boy meets girl, girl hates boy, boy romances girl, girl falls for boy, boy loses girl, girl comes running back to boy at the end, music swells and credits roll. It’s actually pretty funny applying this formula to romantic comedies - it applies in most (if not all) cases.

Well, they followed the formula for this one, except they mostly forgot the comedy part - there were a few chuckles, but certainly not any more than an average Schwarzenegger movie (Yes, I meant Schwarzenegger - I wouldn’t try to type Sandler and have it come out that wrong…) To me, the characters didn’t make me care about them all that much, and the outcome was never in any doubt. There was no real conflict in the movie, and there were some pretty contrived plot holes (which is to be expected when a movie deals with time travel I suppose.) It was pretty long too, as romantic comedies go, though I suspect that a lot of what we saw last night has been/will be cut before it sees it’s release date. For what it’s worth though, Erin really enjoyed it, as did her Aunt and Cousin (I’m not convinced that her Uncle liked it as much as the rest of them) and after all, these types of movies are aimed at the female demographic pretty squarely.

On the other hand, the Habs won last night, and Jeff Hackett is back from his injury.

Simpsons quote of the day - “Unshrink you?! Well that would require some sort of a REbigulator, which is a concept so ridiculous it makes me want to laugh out loud and chortle.. but not at you O holiest of gods with the wrathfulness and the vengence and the bloodrain and the ‘hey hey hey it hurts me’” - Miniature Professor Frink - betcha thought I’d forgotten about him…

I mentioned in a comment on Friday that I’d post some links to weblogs that I read - well, I’ll do them one at a time so as not to overwhelm you.

(Especially since I’ve done three posts today - a new Greg Record!)

I’ve chosen a weblog that I’ve been reading off and on for a while now - BlahBlog which is usually a good read. I’m not a big fan of some of the “Blog scene” stuff that’s posted there - I couldn’t care less about a so-called “A-list” unless it includes all of the following: 1) a certified insane helicopter pilot, 2) a socially mal-adjusted tough guy with a distinctive haircut/personal style, 3) a suave con-man that can convince anyone of anything to get whatever he wants, and finally 4) a master planner who can disguise himself as all sorts of different people, usually old men. Optionally, 5) a large black van with a red stripe down the side, loaded to the gills with heavy weapons whose sights are broken.

>Anyways, I haven’t told the tale of the new coffee machine yet, so I thought I should do that at some point.

A couple of weeks ago, we got a new coffee machine here. The old “coffee” machine made some of the worst tasting coloured water that I have ever had the displeasure of experiencing. Plus, it was a pain in the butt to clean it, and the people who were on the list to clean it never used it, so it didn’t get cleaned that often. As an example, my month (month!) to clean it was July, and it got cleaned 5 times during July (according to the cleaning check-sheet). Of those 5 times, 3 of them were when I was on vacation (for a week.) Plus, I cleaned it twice as often as the person the month before me, and the person after me didn’t clean it at all (note - for those of you too lazy to do the math, I only cleaned it twice, some mysterious benefactor did it the other three times)

Anyways, the new coffee machine is about 1/3 the size of the old one, and the coffee actually tastes like coffee, and it doesn’t need constant cleaning. The way it works is this: User opens sliding drawer. User selects coffee packet from 4 varieties displayed conveniently on top of machine. User puts packet (really a tiny little plastic “cup”) into slot in drawer. User closes drawer, places cup on spot (not marked “X” but you get the idea) User presses button. Machine spits coffee into cup, discards coffee packet. User enjoys coffee flavoured coffee.

It’s pretty neat to see in action anyways, though it does seem a little wasteful. I’ve only tried two of the 4 flavours, and didn’t really care for either of them, but I recognize that lots of people would like those coffees - one was a French Vanilla (which always sounds good to me, but I never like it) and the other was a Dark Roast (again, I don’t like Dark Roast, and this tastes like Dark Roast, so I didn’t like it…) One of these days, I’ll try the plain-jane Colombian coffee, and see how it is. The fourth “flavour” is decaf, which I’ve never really gotten the point of (It’s like drinking near-beer as far as I can see)

Nice try - you’re not getting two Simpson’s quotes today.

Friday was an interesting day. I was downstairs in the food court enjoying my morning coffee break, letting my coffee cool, and talking about something pointless and silly. The CIO came down (as he does on a regular basis - to buy coffee and take it back upstairs) but instead of buying coffee, he made a bee-line for my table. My back was mostly to him, so I didn’t realize that he was coming over to see us until he was right behind me. Anyways, he taps me on the shoulder, and tells me that I’m needed upstairs for a meeting in 5 minutes.

I’ve been in a handful of meetings with the CIO in the 18 months that I’ve been working here, but this was the first time I’ve ever seen him 1) come down to coffee and get someone and 2) get me for a meeting at all. All in all, it felt a little like getting called into the principal’s office :)

As it turns out, I’ve been assigned to a new “top secret” project - the existence of the project isn’t what’s secret, basically I’ll be working on an “Intranet” type of project for the Board of Directors. What’s top secret about it is that the contents of this Intranet are so confidential that nobody within the company (well, not nobody, but practically) will have access to it, except me. That’s right, somebody’s got to do the setup/maintenance, and that somebody pretty much has to have access to the sensitive information in one form or another, so to mitigate the risk, I was chosen as the sole IT point of contact on this project.

When I first caught wind of this last Monday, I wasn’t sure what to think about it, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought it would be a good thing. Basically, it gives my work exposure at the highest levels of the company - if I do well, it looks good on me. Of course if I screw up, that’s a different story entirely ;)

On an unrelated topic, I don’t know if the titles of my posts make much sense to the majority of the people reading this page. I’ll explain this one, and then you can play along at home with future titles. See, this post was regarding my “Top Secret” project at work, so I lifted a quote from the movie “Top Secret” and put it in the title - if you haven’t seen the movie, then the title makes no sense, and even if you have seen the movie, it doesn’t really make much sense, other than the “Top Secret” tie-in. You’re welcome to disregard the stupid/inane titles that I put up there each day, but if you want to play along with the home version of our game, feel free to post in the comments section in the future if you think you’ve “got it.”

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Hey mouse. Say cheese. [Takes a flash picture of the killer robot Itchy, short-circuiting it] Hey, with a dry cool wit like that I could be an action star.” - Bart

John Russell “Jack” Mitchell or J.R. as he loved to be called, passed away peacefully in Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on Thursday, November 29, 2001 at the age of 84. Jack was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on April 4, 1917, two months after his father passed away. He started school in Stirling, Scotland at the age of four and a half with his Aunt Elizabeth as the teacher. He returned with his mother and sister to his father’s homestead (1900), where they could see McNutt, SK out of the kitchen window (no trees). Jack, at 6 years old skipped Grade 1, and then later skipped Grade 7. He graduated from Goose Lake High School at the age of 16.

He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941, and trained as an electrician. He then became an electrical instructor, until he re-enlisted as a navigator. He was scheduled to go to the Pacific, when the war ended.

While in the Air Force he married Ethel Viola McDonald of McNutt, SK on August 14, 1943. Their homesteads were just three miles apart, but were separated by the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border and the Assiniboine River. After the war Jack and Ethel returned to the family homestead. His mother then moved to Roblin, and lived one house East of the old Hall, until she passed away in 1982, at the age of 95. Jack and Ethel built a new home on the homestead in the 1970’s. Jack was very inventive, putting into his new home, an elevator, green house, solar water panels, low voltage wiring, central vacuum cleaner and heat pumps.

Jack was very active in the community, being a charter member of the Tummel-Roblin Credit Union, the Roblin Co-op, the Roblin Pool Elevator Board, the Roblin Co-op Housing Board, the Tummel United Church (where his Grandfather was a charter member), sang bass in a number of church choirs, member of the United Church Presbytery, a member of the Royal Canadian Legion, the Horticultural Society, the Agricultural Society, the Tummel Beef Ring, the Tummel Farm Forum, the Cromarty 4-H Tractor Club and 4-H Automotive Club, the Roblin Fair Board, the Manitoba 4H Board, the Roblin Airport Board, Roblin Economic Development Board. As well as supporting the Liberal party, Jack was also an enumerator for every election and every census for many years. An active member of the Historical Society, Roblin History Books and the Hudson Bay Route Assoc., J.R. served his community at every opportunity for decades. Every good deed starts with just one thought. This sums up dad’s life. He will be profoundly missed.

Leaving to mourn his passing are his wife, Ethel of Roblin, three sons and their wives: Robert & Marilyn of Amarillo, Texas; Brian & Marilyn of Regina, Saskatchewan; Scott & Alexis of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, nine grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and his sister Jean Purdy of Winnipeg. Jack was predeceased by his parents, and Ethel’s brother, John, and sister Emma, of whom he took affectionate care.

Honorary pallbearers are Jack’s grandsons Trent, Kevin, Brett, Greg, David, Bryan and Darren. Traveling abroad and unable to be here are grandchildren Jonathan and Jennifer.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Tummel United Church, Royal Canadian Legion or a charity of your choice.

Where have you heard that before?

The funeral was nice, though the day was quite tiring. Overall it was good to see everyone come out and honor my Grandpa for the man that he was. Lots of good stories were told, and retold, I learned quite a bit about him that I didn’t previously know - he was quite a busy man. Erin and I took a plant from Grandma and Grandpa’s house, but we don’t know what kind of plant it is. My Grandma had lots and lots of exotic plants, a collection the likes of which I don’t think I’ll ever see again. Most of them were Cacti, but this one is a succulent(?) of some sort. We’ll have to figure it out before we kill it off from over/under watering. I think it need repotting too.

I promised that I’d cut & paste Grandpa’s obituary here, but I don’t have it. I’ll have to get someone at Mom and Dad’s to email it to me, so I can put it up here. At any rate, the past week has been a bit of a rollercoaster for me, not to mention the rest of the family. It was good to see my cousins, who I hadn’t seen in a while, but it was too bad that it was under such sad circumstances. We were all sitting around the livingroom at the farm, and Grandpa’s chair was empty. Ok, I’ve gotta stop writing for today, it’s time to get back to work.

Simpson’s quote of the day: Dr. Hibbert on Broccoli: “Oh yes. One of the deadliest plants on earth. It tries to warn you itself with its terrible taste.”