2011 has been an interesting year for me.

• I’ve had a couple of publishers ask for a full of my last novel (in late 2010)… they still have it.  I’m sure they’ll get to it eventually.
• I’ve been working more and writing less.
• I’ve lived through a renovation that went 100% past schedule (overlapping another renovation that started in 2010).
• I got my office back, after a year of a half.  It’s nice to have a place to work.
• I’ve made a couple of new friends.
• I’ve lost a friend.

Basically, the year has been a bit of a write off.  I’ve been under renovations since August 2010, and that can throw a serious wrench into the best laid plans.

Bring in 2012.  I’ve got big plans for you!

Lest We Forget

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Arnie Kasdorf passed away a year ago.  We miss you, my friend.

Summer has kicked in, and the Blog has officially entered a slow period.  I’m off camping with my boys for 7 weeks.  I’ll leave you with this, found on my good friend Rob Peters site.  He doesn’t know the source, so if someone does, let me know.

I don’t twitter, tweet, twat… whatever it is you call someone that uses twitter.   That being said, I found this link on Robert Sawyers blog, and it’s pretty darn good:

A 29 year old son lives with his 70+ Dad.  His twitter page is all about things his Dad says.  I’ll tell ya, his Dad is funny and wise.

“We didn’t have a prom. Dancing wasn’t allowed…What’s Footloose?…That’s the plot of the movie? That sounds like a pile of shit.”

“Remember how you used to make fun of me for being bald?…No, I’m not gonna make a joke. I’ll let your mirror do that.”

“Just pay the parking ticket. Don’t be so outraged. You’re not a freedom fighter in the civil rights movement. You double parked.”

Arnie Kasdorf was my neighbour: for many years an acquaintance, and for the last few years, a friend.

Arnie was a stay-at-home dad from when I first met him, about 11 years ago.  He raised 3 beautiful, thoughtful, and considerate children.

Here I am, a wanna-be writer, and I can’t seem to get the words from my brain to my fingers, and the screen is getting too blurry to write anymore.

The world is an emptier place.

http://www.passagesmb.com/obituary_details.cfm?ObitID=156160

For Edgar Allan Poe, 2009 has been a better year than 1849. After dozens of events in several cities to mark the 200th anniversary of his birth, he’s about to get the grand funeral that a writer of his stature should have received when he died.

- Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears.

- Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.

I hit this web site every day.  Todays picture is one of my favorite optical illusions.

I’ve had my iPhone for quite awhile now, and I’ve been adding and removing apps as I needed them.  Before each removal, I synced the phone, and made a backup of the device, just to be sure.

Well apparently that’s not enough.  First, syncing the phone does not, by default, sync the apps that are on the phone.  Okay, that’s my bad.  I should have looked at all the other tabs in iTunes, and figured out what was going on.  Now that I have ‘sync apps’ checked, they still don’t sync since my Mac doesn’t have rights to the apps.  Great, thanks.

However, backup doesn’t actually backup the phone.

My phone had been getting slower and slower as time went on.  I did some research, and apparently a reset of the phone would fix the issue.  So I dutifully did a backup of the phone, did a full reset, and then a restore of the phone.  BLAM!  I lost almost everything.  The only thing that stayed was my email and calendar settings (oh, and my contacts list).  Everything else was gone.  Wiped out.  Not to be seen anywhere.  That included, of course, my handy dandy ‘Password Wallet’ that stored all of my passwords for the various systems I use and admin.

I’m not sure I have a copy of those passwords.

The iTunes App store keeps a list of the software I’ve downloaded, so I’ve restored all my purchased apps.  But c’mon.  Really?  A backup that doesn’t actually backup?  What the hell are you guys thinking?

Now some Apple dude (or dudette) is probably going to tell me what I did wrong, and why backup does what it does (my guess is something to do with DRM bullshit).  But that’s not going to bring back my lost data, or the lost time I spent getting my apps back (and I’ve only gotten back the paid apps so far).

All-in-all, I’m not a happy camper.

edit: But my iPhone is fast again!  LOL

Still on holidays, and having a blast!

Well, I’m 4 days into my holidays with the family. We hit Moose Jaw and went into the ‘Al Capone’ tunnels. I’d tell you about it, but I can’t. I was told to fugetaboutit. After that we hit Drumheller and wnt to the Royal Tyrrell Museum, which is always great. The kids loved it. They seems to enjoy Reptile World a bit more though.

Now we’re in Calgary visiting my brother, but we’re heading to Banff this morning. Cya, off to do more holidays…

“Daddy, why is 6 afraid of 7?”

http://www.cracked.com/video_17571_789-because-today-should-have-its-own-retarded-movie.html

Well, I had to cut the finger nail off today.  it was getting caught on things and I didn’t want it to tear.  Now, I’m worried that the edge of the cut will catch and tear, but there’s no way I’m trimming that.  Maybe a bandage will help, but then it keeps everything kinda moist, which I don’t like too much.

Happy Canada Day to everyone.

From: Top Cultured