Month: March 2014

Danica and I are claiming bragging rights. When one of our 2008 Macs suffered a lethal hard drive attack, we pondered alternatives. Buy a new one? Take the old one in for repairs?
Repair turned out to be fairly cost efficient. We got a quote for around $200, but it would have meant leaving our old hard drive and all of its data in the hands of strangers. We didn’t feel comfortable leaving financial data floating around.
So we watched some how-to videos online and downloaded PDFs showing the parts we’d need. We bought a new hard drive, a couple of Torx screw drivers, popped the glass off the screen with suction cups and lifted the LCD screen away.
Danica’s nimble fingers and her keen eye for detail helped with wiring connections. We removed the old hard drive, put in the new one and crossed our fingers.
The iMac booted back into life, asking for our Time Machine backup files. Within a couple of hours, the new hard drive had lapped up all of the backups and Danica was back in the game!
Total cost: $82 including tax, plus 14 bucks for the screw drivers. I can use them on our other iMac when the time comes.

The iMac deserves maintenance, now that Spring is here. Time to archive and free up some hard drive space. But first …
Many years before she became a grown-up mother, my niece Stephanie was able to perform this entire piece by memory. Her kids are too young to get the humour, but maybe she’ll perform it for them when they are older.

Stephanie, back in the day. Here she poses with her gift quilt … one of Danica’s early ones.

The quoted Colombo poem:
Canada could have enjoyed
English government
French culture
and American know-how.
Instead it ended up with
English know-how
French government
and American culture.

He adds a footnote:
“The sentiment may be less true in the future than it has been in the past, but again it may be even more true.”
What’s all this about? I checked to see if the blog I has been hosting for my old friend Ben Viccari is still working properly. It is, and it’s full of good stuff.
Ben died back in 2010, but I keep the blog as a reminder and a tribute. While reviewing the entries, I found Ben’s item on John Robert Colombo, occasioned by the author’s 70th birthday. The poem Ben chose to quote tickles me just as much as it did him.

The big banner on the front of Ends on Queen Street East has understandably given rise to a rumour that Ends is going away. It isn’t.

The confusing sign refers to the adjacent Binz stores, which are indeed closing by the end of April.The good news is that the Binz owner is looking for new space, possibility in Leslieville. At present, everything in the store is 15% off… bins, kitchen gadgets, bath accessories, storage boxes. Picture frames are 30% off.
Other good news is that Harold will keep running his popular Ends store (end-of-line clothing, mostly), despite the banner.

Who replaced the label “guaranteed juvenile drivel” with the more famous “may contain mature subject matter”? Anyone have a name?

I knew founder and resident astronomer John Crossen when he was Mr Wonderful, a talented advertising copywriter. Quite a leap from there to the stars, but John has done it beautifully. He and Debbie live right beside their unique and world-recognized Buckhorn Observatory. They share the house with cats (4 at the moment) and a deaf white rabbit they rescued.

Our friend and today’s driver, Brian Hickey is a long-time friend of the Crossens. We owe our visit to him … just to chat today, which is very easy to do with John and Debbie. It wasn’t a star-gazing day, more of an equipment viewing thing.
Look at the size of that telescope! The roof retracts too, sliding out onto the frame you see at the end of the long building. There is a “warm room” holding photography equipment, walls full of framed pictures of notables who have visited. You can see the dome of another observing station alongside the main building.

Last month, Porter airlines lied publicly and in writing, sending out an email blast saying, “As you’re probably aware, there’s a small but vocal group that opposes Porter and wants to have the airport closed.”
The opposition is to adding jets, not to the airport. Porter knows this, of course.
This month, the Toronto Port Authority turned cry baby, whining to councillors that city staff’s conditions for island jet traffic are “poison pills” that pro-jetters can’t swallow. Funny, because the TPA put up the money for the consultants the city had to hire in order to assess the jet proposal.
I guess they don’t like the suggestions they paid for.

The photo dates back to 2006 and it’s only now that Canadian troops have finally left Afghanistan. Was anything accomplished, anything gained for the lives we spent, Afghani and Canadian? Did we waste our military resources and vast sums of public money?
Some schools were built, some girls got to attend, we are told. Cold comfort. There are needs for schools and educational opportunities for boys and girls here in Canada, and we don’t need military force to deliver them. All we need are better political priorities.

Cats don’t even like the indignity of being watched when they do something clumsy. A kick in the rear? THERE WILL BE A PRICE TO PAY!
Play the 911 call.

More story …

The likeness is unmistakable to subscribers of the company whose logo is a red sphincter.
Ted Rogers towers over the city.
Hard, heartless and homely, the expressive tribute captures the spirit of customer service and the beauty of advanced technology.
Woodbine and Danforth