Happy Thanksgiving!
Posted by Brian
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American readers out there! Although I will be home in Canada for the holiday, I will be having a Thanksgiving feast complete with a 12lb turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, biscuits, corn, gravy, and a homemade marble cake for desert! Oh how I love having two Thanksgivings (Canada's is in October)...
As for that power outlet, it turns out that my original brilliance in getting that dimmer switch to work wasn't actually brilliance at all. It was the reason my power outlet wasn't working! A huge thanks to Terence and my father-in-law for helping me figure it all out, and teaching me a few things along the way.
Oh yeah! My visitor record extension finally came in! YES! It means I can visit my family for Christmas without having to worry too much about getting back into Canada! You see, if I were to visit my family on "implied status," it would mean that my permanent residency application would basically have to start over if I were denied entrance back into Canada, which is a very good possibility if I'm only on implied status. SO! This also means I can go to Costa Rica in January! 
WOOOOOOOO
Alright, I better get started getting ready for tonight! Cheers!
House Stuff
Posted by Brian
This weekend is nearly over, and it's been all about the house. Yesterday, we spent the majority of the day out and about, shopping for different things. We tried to find the clearance store for kitchen backsplash tiles, but they weren't open yet, so we took a trip to Home Depot (to two of them, actually) to find a melamine panel that matched our cabinets. Our plan is to create a shelving area between where our kitchen cabinets end, and where the countertop ends, so that we can eventually tile across the whole width of the countertop. Well it turns out that neither Home Depot have the melamine panels we need in the right color (Beech), so that project was put on temporary hold, along with the kitchen tiles.
Today I managed to install a dimmer switch for our pot lights, my first electrical project in the new house, and it actually turned out just fine. The bad news is that while shutting off the switch at the fuse box in the cellar, I blew out one of the recepticals in the same room. And even worse, it was the receptical powering our TV, cable box, Playstation3, and Xbox360, so we had to maneuver our way to a different power outlet to get power to them. I went to Home Depot and picked up a new receptical (one with test/reset buttons), but couldn't for the life of me get the grounding wire around the screw while installing it. I was running out of daylight so I decided to wait for tomorrow to try it once more before I inevitably call in an electrician to put together a measly power outlet for me. We'll see how it goes.
Until next time!
Karate Today; World at War Tomorrow
Posted by Brian
About 15 minutes from leaving to go to karate tonight, I've got perogies in my stomach and I'm ready to go. Super pumped about Call of Duty: World at War coming out tomorrow. Co-Op play in the single player campaign = awesome, Nazi Zombie mode = awesomest.
I've been making some progress in my calendar webapp, you can check it out here while I have my server running: http://72.138.250.109:444/index.php
And my wonderful cousin-in-law Karen just linked me a pair of wedding rings on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vt_related_1&listing_id=14837461. Wow. I told her if they were $300 cheaper I would absolutely buy them.
Oops: It’s November already?
Posted by Brian
Yeah, I know. I have been very neglectful of my website. It has been crying out to me to update, and I have ignored it. Any doubts you have about what kind of father I'd ever be are extremely valid.
Anyway, here's what's been going on the past month or so. Nadia and I are both doing very well, and are still a very happily married couple (I know, I thought she'd have kicked me out by now too), and our house is coming along nicely. Nothing major (or minor, for that matter) to repair, it's completely furnished, so now we're just sort of waiting for my permanent residency to come through so that I can get a job, and then we can afford getting things we want but don't necessarily need. Besides, isn't that the ultimate objective for a homeowner?
Yesterday we celebrated Sierra's 1st birthday with Kin and Ian, along with several members of the family. Nadia and I had a great time, and afterwards spent the late hours of the night playing video games with Karen and Terence. Contrary to very true rumors about Karen's playing ability, she managed not to die very much, and we were all proud.
And now for the thing no one really cares about: what I've been doing to keep myself busy. My contract work has been slowing down a bit, but all is well. I am trying to learn the basics of a couple of new computer languages: Erlang, Django, and software like YAWS. I'm getting quite comfortable with JavaScript through jQuery, and am getting more comfortable with PHP. A recent project of mine is creating your basic calendar web application via PHP/MySQL, with basic features like adding/deleting events for specific dates, etc. My plan is to expand on that idea to provide advanced functionality, while using new languages as a means to learn by experience. I do have one major hurdle to overcome, in that I probably have an IQ around 50, but hey we all need challenges to overcome, right?
Okay, I'll leave the post off with a pretty funny video from 236.com: http://www.236.com/video/2008/get_your_war_on_new_world_orde_10121.php
It’s Been Awhile
Posted by Brian
Yeah, we've been a little busy lately, sorry about that. Last Sunday we had a really great Housewarming Party, about 30 family members and family friends attended (all at once), and both Nadia and I are very happy with how it went. It was so good to see everyone again too! If you're reading this and attended, thank you so much for coming!
This week is just the normal work schedule, nothing substantial planned. This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving weekend (Columbus Day in the U.S.), and my parents are driving up from Massachusetts on Saturday! They're staying until Tuesday morning, so we'll have a good amount of time with them, but as always I'll miss them when they're gone.
Also, thinking about a subscription to Scientific American.
Holy Time Warp, Batman!
Posted by Brian
Has it already been over a week since my last post? Sheesh, well here's a quick update.
Last Friday and Saturday I was lucky enough to get to see two Red Sox vs. Blue Jays games, and my cousin Erin with her boyfriend Scott were there as well, up from Massachusetts! It was great to see them again. The games were great, too - the Sox won Friday's game but lost Saturday's.
Sunday, Nadia and I finished putting together our spare bedroom (i.e. assembling the bed, and moving around the furniture), so it's ready for guests! THAT'S NOT AN INVITATION, KAREN! Haha... 
Well that's about it. In the evenings we're watching the remaining seasons of The West Wing (me for the third time, Nadia for the first.. I know, I'm pathetic), and I'm spending my spare time either doing contract work or doing random things like reading or trying to teach myself 4 different computer and actual languages at the same time. Okay see ya bye!
Dizzying Weekend
Posted by Brian
And the weekend is gone not as quick as it arrived, but quicker. Saturday was spent helping our beloved cousin Karen (*cough*sarcasm*cough*).. ahem... pardon me. As I was saying, we spent Saturday helping Karen and her parents move boxes and small items (i.e. anything that wasn't a table, shelf, or large item) into their new home. It was a great time, and we even got a free lunch at All-Star Wings, a great wings place that's right around the corner from our house and that I didn't even know existed. They have more flavors than you can fit in a barrel and of course, it was delicious.
Today was finally finishing the painting in our house. We touched up a lot of white spots showing through, finished the first floor hallway, and painted the front entrance. Then we got rid of the painter's tape that was still littering our home, and wow, it's all finally done. It's really quite unbelievable. Anyway, afterwards we watched some great Red Sox Baseball vs. the Toronto Blue Jays, and cheered (at least I did) as they won. We watched as much of the Patriots game as we could, but around 5:30 it was time to head to Nadia's grandparents house for a big family dinner. We had a great time, and are stuffed with food! Luckily I was able to watch the remainder of the Patriots game, and saw them finish off the Jets. Brett who?
And now, it's Sunday night, and we're both beat. I think I'll sleep in an extra hour tomorrow morning.
Cheers!
Presidential Election Poll
Posted by Brian
Alright, this is getting a bit absurd. I realize a lot of friends from Canada visit this page, but 50% of the votes in my Presidential Election poll is "I'm Canadian!" C'mon, people from the United States need to represent!!! And I just used three exclamation points there too, so now you have to.
Go! Vote! And then go vote on November 4th!
TED Talks – Brian Cox on the LHC at CERN
Posted by Brian
I think that's a record for the number of acronyms in a post title. Anyway, this presentation is absolutely incredible in its ability to make sense of what they're doing over at CERN with the Large Hadron Collider. Here it is.