a new me...
… considering all the changes in my life, it seemed fairly fitting that jules.ca also got a fresh look…. so - what do you think? simple, understated, clean?
;-)
it’s all about de-cluttering.
The Weekend Before the Long Weekend...
… you know the type - the one where you go up, open the cottage, check to make sure everything is still alive (or dead), and that no one has made a home in your weekend home ;-)
It’s also good practice for making sure you can kee up for the rest of the season…. ;-)
It was an amazing weekend. Sunny and thunder-y on saturday, and nary a sunburn!! The bugs weren’t horrid [yet] and the sleeping was nice and cool. And the Storm!!! One flicker of hydro, but we were [unfortunately] spared the need to go and dig out candles.
We also found these things… that would be awesome for the chicklets….. :-)
Packing Regrets...
…. not a day goes by that i don’t miss my computer speakers. What was I thinking, those many weeks ago, when looking at the mess of cables under my computer, around my computer, behind my computer… and making the executive decision that i could easily live without sound for 3 months. WHAT WAS I THINKING!?!?!?
Especially now, with the insane proliferation of podcasts, and new music and even being able to listen to voice mail…. those abilities are all beyond me - for now :-(
Anyone recommend a decent USB speaker system, that doesn’t require insane amounts of cabling?
(just incase i have to crack uder the pressure of the silence)
;-)
More anti-net-neutrality sentiment
… aside from my undying gratitude….. john carrol deserves a big hug for writing common sense arguements for not needing net neutrality.…
and hey - who would have thought there would be a non-net neutrality group???
Thanks to Mark Goldberg for sharing this! I owe you a coke.
:-)
It's been.... One Week!
(yup, that was sort of a perverse reference to a bare naked ladies song)….
wow, i didn’t quite realize till today how much i know, and the inverse, how little that it really is, in the grand scheme of things. Just knowing what i do, makes me realize all the theings i DO NOT know. That is perhaps one of the sexiest revelations i’ve had in a LONG time.
:-)
Thoughts while Commuting...
Now that i've got more time to think (commuting to the new gig), i used this morning's uber-slow, rainy drive to figure out how to make the whole net neutrality mess make sense for my new company who cannot be named (TM)
A few things hit me:
- The theory of actually, technically being able to differentiate bits across the internet is pretty far fetched. The ability to give one http packet preferential service over another http packet is likely absurd and unfeasible.
- this would even be the case of for VoIP packets, so a carrier really couldn't prefer it's own VoIP product's packets over a competitor's packets, even if there was a way to do it…. and if the consumer moved their VoIP service between, say, home and cottage, and they had 2 different ISPs between home and cottage, the carrier could end up deprioritizing it's own service eventually…..
- If, for a second, carriers COULD figure out how to differentiate, then, in theory, you could actually offer different classes of service to consumers, and let THEM choose the priority of their packets. That would make infinite more sense, and would allow customers to put some muscle behind some of the applications that are just beginning to emerge.. ie home security, health monitoring, video conferencing etc…
- The biggest hurdle to differentiation is that carriers all have their own models for classes of service. Allstream's is different from Bells is different from AT&Ts is different from Verizons… and so on. Trying to get every carrier in the world to agree on one standard would likely be impossible…. so - even if a carrier says they are going to prefer one packet over another, it's only ever going to work on THEIR OWN NETWORK. Once it gets off their network, all bets are off…
So - what do we do? Well, someone really does have to help pay for enhancements to next generation networks. And likely the heaviest users of the network should be paying more than the consumer….
Historically, the cost of 1 mbps of bandwidth was theoretically the same, regardless of who you were… oh sure, wholesale and volume discounts could apply, but really, 1 mbps was 1 mbps…. Carriers didn't do themselves any favours, by simply dropping the prices for internet service across the board, and now are in a position that sees internet connectivity as a declining revenue product.
What if the carriers could differentiate on the *types* of bandwidth. If you were a customer who required IP transit, or used BGP, or needed redundancy/diversity, the cost of 1 Mbps of bandwidth would be MORE than if you were just in the market for internet connectivity. It would be a completely different pricing model. So the small business who just needed 10 Mbps of internet connectivity (and would rely on their own ISP for routing) would have a different per/Mbps price than a large business, say, IBM who needed IP transit to various different ISPs….
This new model could still satisfy those folks who are worried about the stifling of internet innovation, and yet protect carriers as well. If you were a wee web application company, you wouldn't need the whole IP transit/Redundancy/BGP product, all you would need is the "standard" service. You would still be accessible to the world, and you could beta test to your hearts desire. Once you had proven you had something that people wanted, and were willing to pay for, you would upgrade to the IP transit version, guaranteeing your connectivity.
It's not like that now, atleast not with the different companies i've had the pleasure to work with… but it could be canada's answer to net neutrality.
I'm off to get ready for the next commute - and to think about the alternatives…. what if the internet backbone mimicked Frame Relay? You would have Port speed and CIR to deal with… and the ability to "burst", and then you would have packets that were "discard eligible" if you started to run out of bandwidth…..
;-)
Holy CATS! The Place is Sold!
Wow! No agent, no flyers needed, no silly viewings or open houses! The tower has been sold! To a neighbour! It’s the absolute best of both worlds. And to think the wiz was worried. Sheesh. The hardest part will be the waiting till August to move! Already we are talking and making lists and dreaming about the new place. First purchases were yesterday, and funnily enough, both the wiz and i returned home with new coffee makers ;-) Almost identical coffee makers ;-)
August 11th… here we come.
Update on 2006-05-11 01:18 by jules
gurl bloggers?
… are there more gurl bloggers than boy bloggers?
Discuss.
Update on 2006-05-09 10:51 by jules
i wonder if there is a relationship between "professional bloggers" and personal bloggers, and the ratio of male and femal bloggers….. the funny thing, i read loads of professional male bloggers, you know the type, they are pundits, or industry dudes; but there are only a few female professional types….
and then on the personal side, there are loads of female personal bloggers, and only a handful of personal guy bloggers…
still curious..
jules v.s. wireless
After spending 2 and a half hours trying to get my new wireless router to work with my rogers internet and my primus VoIP phone, i had to give up and revert to my old setup….. we had bought a new wireless router to take advantage of some of the new bells and whistles, and to also have some better (read: some) security on the wireless access… it's all fun and games to knock people freeloaders off the service, but they keep coming back ;-)
So, my primus modem wants to be right behind my cable modem… and my old wireless router (linsys) didn't care that it was connected behind the primus box…. but for some reason, the new d-link was more finicky, and when i pluged it after the cable modem, the primus phone service didn't work. I never could get any connectivity through the new d-link wireless box…
And so, 2 and a half hours later, everything is back the way it was… and the new d-link is back in it's box, ready for someplace other than here. It's luck it didn't end up in the lake.
Grr.
Lingering effects of Thursday...
So i thought i was fine. I should have been fine… but i still feel like 10 lbs of poop in a 5 lb bag :-(
So i relaxed the day away, trying to get a new wireless router to work. No such luck.
Atleast i was succesful in making sauce. Tomato Sauce. 3 types of meat. The condo smells amazing ;-)
Living in Virtual Reality...
… it's early, very early, and i'm up, wandering around and waiting for the water to boil for coffee… and decided to poke into Scobleizer and see what that wee microsift due was up to… eep - i should have just read the newspapers, would have been safer…
He'd documented an interesting virtual game/MUD/MOO called Second Life. I'd never heard of it, and so I gave it a google. Yikes, like i just want to drop over the sleeping dog.
You see, in 3rd year university, i was quite deep into mutiuser games, and multiuser games that let you make things and do interesting things in VR. I was hooked, classes were ignored, boyfriends too. Really, not entirely my fault, it was all greg's fault . It was an interesting time, before windows took over the internet… a simple time ;-)
Regardless, i sit here now, wondering if I really want to delve back into that world, to see what is new, what it's like, what has changed. Now isn't a good time, ;-) I don't have countless hours to dedicated.
My fingers are itchy, maybe i'll just poke at it till the rest of the world wakes up.
good luck jorge!!!
a compadre of mine begins his photo showings this weekend - good luck JF! He’s managed to snag a primo spot with Contact.
If you’re able - pop in and take a boo, he’s outstanding, plus, he’s been busting his butt framing for the past 3 weeks!!!
tequila, watches and homeless guys...
….just your average thursday night in the city ;-)
With a gazillion closest friends….
It was a good goodbye fete last night. All the folks who have helped and laughed and supported each other over the past decade. Plus I got a snappy new watch!!!! 
And now, as i pour over the sordid photos and memories of last night, i do so with fondness and appreciation.
Highlights:
- learning that not all tequila is bad tequila
- when it’s your fete, all beverages are free
- sometimes it *is* ok to slurp oysters from the shell
- 2 is the right number of bio-break bodyguards to have
- no matter how much water you drink, sometimes it’s not enough
- hugs can really scare away hiccups
- it’s good to give money to homeless guys with no shoes
- 34 is too old to stand in line for a bar, any bar
- leather couches are a perfect accessory for beverages
- it’s good to go home at the right time, after the last pub
the funniest goodbye note:
as transcribed by an associate from a voicemail…
tell the "traitor"…so long and thanks for all the fish. If she can’t figure out what book it is from, she can buy me a candy floss from the glencoe fair if she ever goes back…
Thanks E.F.
:-)
dancing around net neutrality
Imagine my surprise, sitting down to last week's Eweek.com magazine, and flipping backwards to forwards [how else does one read a tech magazine], I stumbled across Peter Coffee's article on Super services=superhighways.
Sure, it starts off as a grand plug for distributed content provider, Akami , but what he's really getting to is the fact that we don't and can't want a flat, undifferentiated network for the internet.
The internet requires its own internal segmentation to deliver services based on ability and inclination to pay for them. - Peter Coffee
Ahem.
Mark Golderberg is also saying similar things about Net Neutrality, and that differentiated services are a logical progression in the evolution of the Internet
WWRD?
… I grin as I write this, as a few of you will understand the meaning behind WWRD, once I explain it….
WWRD: What Would Ron Do?
The Wiz and I often ask each other that question, when there is a tough decision to be made. "What would Ron do?". Likely I should also explain who "Ron" is… Ron Close was the leader of Netcom Canada, and is now the boss of Bell New Ventures. He is quite possibly the best leader (TM) we have ever known; unflappable, charismatic, insightful, and an all around great guy. He’s the guy who’s had his hands on the levers, with his kimono open, while the strategic clouds are banging…. and he’s just one of us chickens.
So, when we find ourselves in a pickle, and need to make a worthy decision or plan of action, we invariably fall back to: WWRD? It’s certainly kept us out of "some" trouble….
Lot's of Life Change at Once: Can You Deal?
… I’m funny that way…. making a decision, and then acting on it, on all of it, all at once… I did it a few years ago, leaving, moving, buying, changing…. and now; accepting, resigning, buying and selling…. once i start the wheels in motion, i can make many decisions at once… providing that i’m the one making the changes…. ;-)
It was pointed out to me this morning that i may be a bit of a control freak that way…. hating when changes are thrust upon me, but relishing change when i am at the helm… I suppose it sort of makes sense…. yet, even when i am not in control, i manage to take pieces of the change and make them "mine", thus staying involved, even when i’m not steering.
The hardest part is when change happens without a good foundation for understanding, and there are no little handles you can hang onto… Those changes are the types of things that spur my own changes, and force me to act in my own best interest… now those are fun changes….
Pfft. Change.
More excitement...
It looks like we’re not the only part of the family to buy a new nest….
hamster and jerem did as well…. congratulations!! They have WAY more grass than we do. Likely they will also need to buy some….
Goats…. something to keep the grass down….
7 days left...
… and then i pack up all my pencils and school supplies and return to the real world… and, can you keep a secret? I’m secretly ready!!!! Staying home isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. I can only do so much reading and cleaning and sweeping and walking. I’m getting itchy to go out and meet and do and converse. Plus, I think the dog is ready to have her place back…. she keeps locking herself in the bathroom, and she still hasn’t gotten over the fact that we are moving, despite how many times we tell her. Sure, I could draw her a picture, but i’m pretty sure that she won’t get it.
Don’t forget - thursday at big daddy’s!
Who do *you* write for?
… i struggle with this question daily… and am thrilled that other folk's are thinking about the same things…. horse|pig|cow is having the same interesting thoughts… as is this dude, Guy Kawasaki.
Both very different angles, both have interesting ideas, both have different places where they've been, and where they want to go.
:-)