OMG! Everyone'll Know Where I Am!

This map shows my present location. The information is available because I joined Google Latitude and requested that it track me at the present time via my phone. As long as I have it switched on I can display my present whereabouts. Should I wish to stop reporting, I can disable the feature.

[LINK ABANDONED]

Again, privacy advocates have prematurely tried to scare people into believing they should keep this information private. Why? Oh, there's always talk about a news report which indicated people were telling potential robbers that they were presently not at home. Whoa, how frightful! Finding out the hours that one works gives those same people an eight-hour block of time in which you're not home. I'll live with that threat, if it will allow me to meet up with a friend who happens to be in the same neighbourhood.

I have the same distain for those drilling a fear about Facebook settings into people. In the large scheme of things their calls are misguided. If some information is used to provide a better advertising experience, let it rip; as nothing annoys me more than un-targeted ads. Also, more importantly, as I've said again and again, nobody gives a crap about your information. Everyone thinks they are so special and such individuals. But honestly dear, the only people who care what is in your online profile is your mother, and basically she doesn't even bother to read everything there!

Just act the same way online as you would in any public space. Oh, and get over yourself.

An Exercise in Vanity

In yesterday's entry, I rather undeniably bragged about having put over 7,000 pictures on the Flickr website. That is a sizable number, surely. Unfortunately, most of them don't include me. What the hell, this whole blogging charade at http://dennissylvesterhurd.blogspot.com is an obvious cry for recognition, isn't it?

In a bit more than a month, I will have been at this game for seven years. That means an entry every single day for seven whole years! Who in The Creator's name does that? My powers border on superhuman. Okay, there's no denying my egomania; it's self-documented. I may as well accept myself for whom I am.

Doing so will allow me to shamelessly include this picture from the summer of 1961. Gads, I was a cute tyke.

Make a Show (of Your Digital Photos)

I am really impressed with the way that tripadvisor.com is pushing forward into the social networking space. Of course, I've always liked that site as we do a lot of travelling and rely on the user comments when booking hotels in places we've not been. They have pushed to integrate Facebook well. For example, if I look up a city that a friend has tagged on his or her World Map, then I see their icon automatically on that page. I can then ask questions of people in my social group. It's a shame that more haven't travelled or joined Trip Advisor though!

I somehow discovered yesterday, their new TripWow. I never thought that sharing photos all around the net made much sense. That's why I continue to dump most images directly into Flickr. It has become my super-album storage bin. I believe I've more than 7000 images there. I noticed that TripWow allows a user to make use of photos from many online sources. I let it pull in an album of mine. As the spring trip to Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara was one of the most recent, it was the one I started to play with.

TripWow has some very intelligent aspects to it. It defaulted to TexMex music although the seleciton can be changed, and even personal music can be used. I was impressed in many ways but I have only started to discover the ways to customized the slide show.

I don't know if I'll ever do many of these, or if I'll even finish this one, but I certainly like the idea of being able to mash up photos in a special slide-show presentation. I would imagine that five minutes is most people's limit of concentration, so thirty photos would probably be an appropriate size. This has far too many and at twelve minutes it is wayyyy to long. I simply wanted to showcase the new software, not actually create a valuable, watchable, one. Even though the photos are all mine, I don't think I could stand trying to watch this whole mess.

Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara - May 2010 Slideshow: DennisSylvesterHurd’s trip from New Westminster to 3 cities Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara and Lake Chapala was created by TripAdvisor. See another Mexico slideshow. Create your own stunning free slideshow from your travel photos.

Drinking Plenty of Fluids

I feel like someone smacked me up-side the head (with a brick, no less!) I cannot remember ever getting the flu in the middle of the summer. Thankfully, I'm not teaching this month, so there was no guilt in being able to lie about. In fact, since I first got up this morning at 6:00 am, I have slept an additional four or five hours. It feels weird to have the balcony windows open and the bedroom blinds closed.

One thing doesn't seem strange. Of course, staying hydrated has always been important when sick. There was an unopened bottle of ginger ale in the refrigerator. Perfect! I associate that product will illness as we hardly ever consume carbonated pops. This type of President's Choice brand is especially great. It has a very strong taste. It reminds me of chewing on a piece of real, crystallized ginger.

So it's good that I can afford the time for a summer cold, and that I have all the remedies, even the requisite drink!

I Knew I Wasn't the Only One

I can hardly believe it myself! It is the height of summer at the moment. So, why am I checking with real estate agents in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico? Whereas there are housing markets in Las Vegas and Phoenix which have completely fallen apart, my overriding interest is in a place where prices are down only 20% off their peak highs. Could it be that the AARP website just published a listing of the top ten international destinations? It lists PV as number one for American retirees! Hey, that was MY idea!

Damn, even though the value of our apartment here in Vancouver has fared very well over the last few years, I may never be able to afford anything with a view of the ocean in Mexico. I wonder what these modest apartments near the river cost? Click on the picture to load Google Street View and look around yourself.

The Weekend

Imagine, if you will, the perfect desert oasis with a back deck and lovely pool. The beauty of the dry landscape rolls up nearby mountains. At the house with all the amenities are a couple that rush to fulfill any little whim. Mouthwatering food is offered up each mealtime. The conversation is intelligent and wide-ranging. It feels like home without all the errands.



For example, here we were sipping pool-side cocktails on my birthday last Friday. No wonder why Jay and I are so keen on going down to visit Lynne and Joel each summer. We made a three-day weekend of it and got back yesterday evening. Just click this sentence to see a Flickr slide show of 57 photos from the entire trip.

Back!

At home 8:10 pm after 665 miles on the truck. Although we travelled down via I-5, I-90, and I-82, we returned via US Route 12 and I=5 only. Here is a famous view of Mt. Rainier along Highway 12.

Harnessing the Wind

Today was a very nice day. After a masterful, hearty breakfast by the swimming pool, we lounged around for much of the morning, doing little errands and conversing. Then, we decided to visit the Wild Horse Wind Facility in Kittitas County. We first had to travel the back road for a bit more than a half hour to get to Ellensburg, WA. Then, we travelled to the turbines that can be seen from miles and miles away. Puget Power operates the site now and we learned a lot at the public center. After ice cream, we wound up back at the house's pool for a fantastic chicken dinner. Ah, this is the life!

Road Trip!

Leaving in a few ...


View Larger Map. Then, click on routing to see Street View snaps.


... be back Sunday!

Puttering About

I didn't have much to do today.

Seeing how we're making tomorrow into part of a long weekend and taking a road trip, I looked at my truck. I put a little air in my tires as I hardly ever check them. In addition, I put a quart of water into the radiator reservoir. I even took the huge, empty-bottle box and cooler from the back so US customs won't have so many questions. But these things didn't take very long.

I am looking forward to getting on the road relatively early tomorrow morning. I love desert; actually I should say I love driving into such a different type of environment. Within hours, we can go from pine-clad forests to a semi-arid region. The geography of the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada rocks!

Noisy Morning at the Apartment

We knew their leaving was coming. This morning before I got up, three of the four baby finches had flown away. I heard the noisy encouragement from the parents from about five o'clock. I peeked in the nest as soon as I stumbled out of bed and there was only one remaining.

This bird wasn't quite ready to leave. He did manage to exit the nest at 7:18 am but at first he didn't go far. He huddled about 12 inches under the nest, on a little branch, for most of the morning. The parents constantly returned to the balcony to call to him. Actually, they were making a heck of a racket. Now, however, all is quiet. It seems as if the whole family is gone. Now, I feel a little sad.

Hum ... 53?

No, it is not my age, although on Friday I will getting within a few years of that number. Instead, it seems as though I've got 53 Android apps on my phone at the moment. I didn't count but a website did. I signed on to appbrain and it's quite brilliant. It lets one manage one's applications on a website, and then automatically sync them up with one's phone.

A few week's back I made a listing of the apps that were on my phone but I did it by hand. By using appbrain.com it was as simple as just clicking a link. You'll notice that I do not have any paid apps installed. They are in the order of installation or update.

DennisSylvesterHurd's Installed Apps
Phone: Nexus One
53 total, 53 free (100%), 0 paid (0%), 47MB total size

• moveo pedometer (beta)
• c:geo ~ geocaching for Android
• Aldiko Book Reader
• Voice Chat Robot
• FxCamera
• GPS Status
• mSpot - Music Player
• AppBrain App Market
• 4 teh birds
• NPR News
• Foursquare
• Shazam
• Movies
• Shopper
• Unit Converter - ConvertPad
• Listen
• Scanner Radio
• DroidZebra reversi
• Blue Sea Live Wallpaper
• AppAware App Market
• Bubble
• Coin Flip
• Bump
• picplz
• antivirus free
• Backgrounds
• Google Goggles
• Meebo IM
• CBC Radio for Milestone
• Aquarium Live Wallpaper
• IMDb Movies & TV
• Sweet Dreams
• Flash Player 10.1 BETA 3
• Voice Recorder
• Earth Live Wallpaper
• File Manager
• Text-To-Speech Extended
• Google Translate
• Google Maps
• Google Sky Map
• Solitaire
• Advanced Task Killer
• WiFinder
• World Time
• My Tracks
• WeatherBug
• StopWatch
• XE Currency
• Twitter
• Talkback
• Facebook for Android
• Amazon MP3
• Google Voice

View this app list on AppBrain

I love my phone. I must admit that I never, ever thought I'd be saying something like that. It's just with a data-plan, a phone becomes something personally worthwhile. It's like a little part of me. In the movies, you may have seen the dramatic proof that the character is escaping from the confines of their existance. They show this by throwing their phone in the lake or tossing it out of the car window. Nobody who owns a smartphone would ever do that!

Filling in the Gaps

Just filling in history that might be sparse on the ole blog. As well as the present, I hope that entries will eventually cover most of my many years on the planet. Here Jay stands at Borobodur. It was taken during July of 1992. Eighteen years ago, we spent the summer in Indonesia.

At the End of the SkyTrain Line

I honestly cannot think of a place I'd rather call home. I do, however, have to be more appreciative of the fact. I live about 12 miles from the Waterfront in downtown Vancouver. In fact, I can take the SkyTrain right from my building and pop out at the location above in about twenty-five minutes. The trains come every 2 or 3 minutes, so there's never a wait like at a bus stop. It's so easy and so accessible that the truck stays in the parking stall. We went to Vancouver just to get out in the fine weather that is still here.

I cannot exactly remember that last time I was in Vancouver though. Since the 2010 Winter Olympics in February I could probably count the number of trips on one hand. I love New Westminster, but have to remember to get down to the big city more often.

The Sun Continues to Smile on Us

I haven't got any statistics to prove it, but I'd venture a guess that the rates of reported depression must be much lower during the summer months. Of course bad things could be occuring in some people's personal lives at any time. It's just that it seems so easy to be happy when the sun is shining.

I guess, it might be the contrast that we have due to the higher latitudes. I suppose in places where it's always sunny, the brilliant orb is not such a mood booster. As a general rule, I think I'm always pretty upbeat. If it all boils down to chemicals in the human brain, I'm grateful that I never have need for help by prescription. Thank, God, I guess.


People in August at the uptown Starbucks.

Finding Hidden Treasure

I got my old Garmin GPS back in June of 2004. I thought it was the cat's meow for a little while. Initially, I was excited about the idea of geocaching. I probably located less than a dozen before my interest started to wane. Entering data on that old device was a real chore. It just proved too cumbersome to keep up with that hobby.

Welcome June 2010 and the arrival of my Nexus One phone! I spotted software in the Android Market entitled, c:geo. It takes all the effort out of connecting to the www.geocaching.com website. It can even automatically locate geocaches that are near to one's present location. That ease translates into my renewed interest in geocaching. Here's a little YouTube clip explaining what the idea is all about.


Watch the clip directly on YouTube.

Little in Life is Permanent

New Westminster, British Columbia didn't become my home until 1996. Of course learning the history of one's place is an innate desire. My little city is important in the history of this region. At the time of the great Gold Rush, this was the starting point for many miners coming from San Francisco and Seattle. They headed up the Fraser River from here. In fact, New Westminster once had the honor of being BC's capital.



These things are in my mind today, as I watched a crew disassembling some very old piers along the river. The work is being done as this little stretch of riverfront is being made into a municipal park. I can view the progress from the apartment. In the early 1900's these piers were the site of fish canneries. I am sure that after the days of the canneries, the location was used for some sort of heavy industry. Much of the dirty soil was contaminated and has already been trucked away. We arrived here nearly a decade and a half ago and this area was abandoned. Weeds grew unfettered behind rusting fences.

Now, I am beginning to see the huge timbers that were long covered with layers of wood, and then tar. I can't but wonder about the time they were placed there. I also think about those labourers who toiled so many decades ago putting them in.

A Deep, Hidden Message

Forget Carmen Sandiego; Where Am I?

I know my Trip Advisor map mashes up well on Facebook though the use of a tab on my profile page. This is a fine example of how data can be shared with friends. As a case in point, I can click New York City and ask for help and recommendations from my friends. I, then, see the names and faces of only those who've been there and authorized themselves as capable and willing of providing advice. In fact, they include these folks: Anas, Chip, David, Heather, Lynne, Mark, Michael, Noura, Randa, Sandy, Susan, Terry, Wanda, and Wendy. I'm not likely to need their help at this time, but this does show the power and utility of allowing fairly open privacy settings on Facebook. If one is too private, there is little benefit of being a member at all.

Speaking of sharing, I do wonder if I can put in my Trip Advisor map here. I was entering cities on my going to list. Spain, Portugal, and Morocco are on the itinerary for four weeks in September and October.

Going Bananas

Due to the Internet, life has changed. I don't know exactly when I first began to realize that all the good thoughts had already been thunk up, but with the web it is waaaay too easy to prove.

For example, I was just thinking about how funny bananas are. I wasn't even alluding to May West type wit; it's just they are a really strange fruit (with a lot of potassium, I might add).

So, all I did was enter b-a-n-a-n-a and q-u-o-t-e-s into my browser and page after page of humorous quips emerged. Damn, there're even directories of banana quotes! Sigh. I see there's little reason to spend any time thinking up something funny.

List One

List Two

Playing Tag

The only way to keep good track of online photos is to tag each one. That way rather than simply being organized in a folder, they are available for search. Here's a tag cloud of my 200 most frequently used ones. Of course I've used many more tags than these few hundred as I have nearly 7,000 photos online. By typing in search terms, for example, I just discovered there are fewer than 500 photos with me in them! Okay, that's a lot, isn't it?

Our Little City's Show & Shine

Tomorrow, downtown New Westminster will be full of old cars and a multitude of pedestrians. It will be a far from an ordinary Sunday. Columbia Street will be closed and act as the venue for the special event. This marks the eleventh year of the Royal City Show and Shine.

I find myself getting stressed due to all the events that take place at this time of year. It seems that everyone's happenings have to be crammed into the few summer weekends in July and August. I have to remember that these things are optional. I must convince myself that if I don't need to hit every single festival, parade, or event. Missing something isn't really horrible. It's not actually a sin to let a sunny day pass without running somewhere. The idea should be to enjoy the days of summer.


This photo was taken last year on Sunday, July 12th.

British Columbia's Big

People, whom I know from other places, may not really understand where I live. I'm not commenting on their general geographical skills as I assume most could easily find Vancouver, Canada on a map. I mean most people are not aware of two really important factors about British Columbia. First, BC is big. Americans might understand a little better if I say that our province is about the equivalent size to 5.5 Floridas. Yet our population is less than 1/4th of that of the Sunshine State's. Secondly, due to BC's vast size there are many types of terrain including Canada's only desert. I seldom have to contend with snow. I wanted to include the photo below to make the point clearer. I took this on my walk uptown this morning.

The Path Captured by My Phone

View Trip to walmart on my bike in a larger map

Phew! It seems warmer today than yesterday. It might just be that the ground and objects are finally heating up. You won't read any complaints about this from me! Even though it may hit 32C (89F) today, I am thankful we'll sleep well as it will dip down to about 13C (55F) tonight. This has got to be the epitome of perfection! There sure seems to have been a great deal of blogging about weather in recent days. I guess it's nice to have all this extra time to talk about this subject.

I just returned from a ride on the e-bike over the Queensborough Bridge to Walmart. I didn't go for anything other than the scenery.

Pier Park Progress

It was so great out today, I had to walk to the Patullo Bridge. Many folks from around here probably think the old structure is scary to drive across. We'll that ain't nothin'. Walking with one's back to the semi-tractors is no picnic. This is especially true as the trucks are about the same width as the lane they're supposed to occupy!

I took a number of photos. The little walkway is on the west side of the bridge and offers good views of downtown New Westminster, BC. I wanted to include this one just to show the progress on the downtown Pier Park project.

Turning Water into Motion

Most of the power in British Columbia comes from hydroelectricity. In fact, BC Hydro is the name of the entity that is responsible for power generation in the province. Today, I got a chance to convert a tiny bit of the energy produced by falling water to turn these tiny wheels.

At long last, the weather was nice enough to take out the e-bike. I don't think I've been on it since a really nice patch of weather back in the middle of April. I got this little Chinese-made scooter from a Canadian Walmart almost exactly a year ago. It hasn't got a lot of gumption on the hills around here but it does well enough to shuttle me around. It is hard to remember it's a bicycle. Driving it is always a little confusing. I go through parks on sidewalks and we've got lots of dedicated bike paths, but there are times when I have to act like a motorcycle at street corners. Cars always assume I've got a real engine. The beauty is though, because it doesn't, I don't have to register it or pay insurance.

I love just silently whooshing around on a fine day like today. Finally, summer arrived with perfect 20C (70F) temperatures!

The Neighbouring Province

Last night, we were considering how to spend the month we've scheduled for vacation this year. The big plane tickets have been purchased and we're leaving from Seattle on September 6th. Yet, in Europe nowadays, flying on the little discount airlines is cheaper than trying to take trains. Alas, travelling by rail seems such a more civilized way to get around. We are realizing, for time's sake, if we want to explore both Barcelona and Lisbon, we'll probably need to book those flights quite early. I guess, we can manage Morocco and the far south of Spain using surface transportation.

All this talk, made me realize we have rather neglected local travel. The problem with driving in Canada is there are such vast distances between places. Unless one has a long break, it is simply not possible to get there and back in time. For example, we last visited Calgary in December of 2003. That's about as close as a big city as can be, but it takes two days of driving to reach it.

Give Me Some Heat!

I usually brag to others about our weather here. I let them know that while much of Canada can turn into a sheet of ice during the winter, the Metro-Vancouver cities seldom have snow. In the summer months when temperatures climb to uncomfortable temperatures elsewhere, I boast about summer nights that are often in the high teens (60's Fahrenheit).

It's beginning to be a little difficult defending our normal climate. Here it is the Canada Day long weekend, and Vancouver is still grey and rainy. It's been this way since last fall save for a few good weeks at the time of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Supposedly there were a few warm days when we were in Mexico at the beginning of May. But come on, already!

There is a weather forecasting rumour that a nice high-pressure system will park itself over us this week. For the area that means warm, sunny days and the strength to ward off bad weather from the Pacific. I surely hope it comes to pass. I'm ready.

At least in a few weekends we're planning a trip down to eastern Washington to stay at Lynne and Joel's summer home for what we'll make into a long weekend. By chance that is my birthday weekend as well. I'm quite ready to spend some time in the desert. Last August, we visited the Thomases and that was the last time we were down. Lynne's parents were staying for a short time too. In this photo we were having breakfast next to the pool.

Today's "What's on My Phone" List

In February of 2006, I listed the timers that were current on my satellite TV PVR. It is interesting to see the programs I watched, especially since most of them are no longer being broadcast.

This fits into my general concept that even the most mundane aspects of life become noteworthy if enough time passes.

Discovering the contents of a time capsule, whether intended or not, can have a significant historical value. For example, I've only been the owner of an Android phone for a few weeks. Yet, I'll take a moment to list of the apps on my phone right at this moment. I know things will change and the items will take on added interest when time give greater perspective. I will only list the icons on the phone's 5 home pages. For example, you won't find the Solitaire card game on this list although it's loaded and accessible.

FREE GOOGLE OR ANDROID APPLICATIONS

Calendar - Tracks appointments.
Contacts - Syncs Gmail, Facebook, and Twitter apps.
Earth - The same as the PC version including Street View.
Gmail - My main mail client.
Goggles - Identifies products by using the camera.
Listen - Podcast collector via Google Reader.
Maps - Same as the PC version.
Messaging - To handle text messages.
My Tracks - Uses GPS to show routes travelled.
Navigation - Traditional GPS w/ Voice Turn by Turn
Shopper - Identify barcodes or logos online.
Sky Map - Shows what is in the night sky.
Translate - Speak English and translate to other languages.
Voice Dial - Just part of Android

FREE APPLICATIONS FROM OTHER COMPANIES

Advanced Kill - Saves battery by stopping apps.
Android Market - The official place to find apps.
Antivirus - Just to stay safe, I guess.
AppAware - Shows what apps other people are downloading.
Bump - Transfers business card info, by touching phones.
Calculator - Doh!
Camera - Also a part of Android. Should be above?
CBC Radio - Stream many stations live. Read news.
Currency - Finds XE.com exchange rates. Nifty!
Facebook - The offical Andoid app.
File Manager - See what's on the SD card.
Foursquare - Location aware app. Say where one is.
GPS Status - Shows satellite reception.
IMDb - Customized for the small screen.
Movies - Similar to the one above but from Flixter.
mSpot - Keep 1600 songs online for free streaming.
News and Weather - Nothing special. Forecasts seem accurate.
OverDrive - Works with my library's audio books.
Public Radio - Streams lots of NPR stations.
Shazam - Indentifies a song by listening to a sample. Magic!
StopWatch - As it says. I use at work.
Sweet Dreams - Turns off the phones functions at night.
Translink - Allows look up of local bus, SkyTrain schedules.
Twitter - The official Android app.
Voice Recorder - Good for making audio notes.
Weatherbug - Slick but too big. Can set multiple locations.
WiFinder - Helps choose wifi connections.
World Time - Shows time in chosen cities.
YouTube - Link to the mobile site. Android 2.2 does Flash.

Coming This Fall: More of the Mediterranean

It's a done deal. Although we had been following the air ticket prices on Expedia for a few weeks, last night we pulled out a credit card and made it official. We're going to Spain in the autumn! The little red circle shows Malaga, as that's the city where we'll land and depart. Those dates are Monday, September 6th to Tuesday, October 5th.

We've got a lot of time to plan an suitable itinerary. We want to go to Lisbon, Portugal and Marrakesh, Morocco as well as travelling in southern Spain. Of course we'll scale the Rock of Gibraltar too. This should be a lot of fun! This trip follows journeys to Europe in 2005, 2007, and 2008.

We Got Here for the 127th

This is the fifteenth time we've seen Canada Day. That doesn't sound like a long time but that means we've been here a tad longer than 10% of the age of the country. We first landed after an exhausting flight from Dubai through the old Hong Kong airport at the end of June 1996. We were in a cheap hotel down in the worst part of town for there was no wide-spread Internet to check about our choice beforehand. We reserved from an old BC Accommodation Guide by telephoning prior to our departure. We knew a lot about what would become our adopted country. One thing we weren't aware of, at the time, was that July 1st marks the national birthday. We wondered what all the fireworks were all about on that first one we witnessed from a Hastings Street hotel window!

This year has been a bit of a bust too. Jay had dental surgery yesterday and has a jaw which is terribly swollen. It was again cloudy with showers. I have a bit of a sore throat and headache. Still, we are happy to be here and wish all other Canadians a wonderful day. I`ll post a shot from Canada Place in downtown Vancouver taken on last year's Canada Day!