Comment-driven tangent

Someone asked me about getting into the IT business without any formal education in the field... Before you decide to do this for a living, make sure you really, really want to do it.
And then ask yourself again.

This job isn't for everyone. Trust me, I have had months at a time when I seriosly considered a move to something, anything else.

But I digress... no formal education in the field? Never stopped anyone I know from getting into the punk rock IT biz.

Snowy Saturday Evening in Toronto

Walking down Markham Street towards Bloor this eve in heavy, gentle snowfall... Listening to "Amsterdam" by the Evil Doers... put me in mind of other places, other times and brought a smile to my face. Strangely happay and peaceful thoughts on a snowy evening in a Canada under a conservative minoroty, but certainly welcome for a number of reasons...

This winter hasn't been much of a winter around here, not after the last two years' winters (all those living in Ottawa feel free to mock us down here).
Anyhow, with such a lackluster winter there's not a lot of opportunity to go for a walk in the snow. What can I say, I enjoy it, reminds me of Saturday evenings in the winter when I was a kid, in Ellcottville with the family skiing all day.
In short, I can dig it.
Given this opportunity, I loaded up the shuffle with a new playlist and went for a a stroll to get myself a latté.

Here's the rundown:
First Impressions of Earth - the Strokes
Get Behind Me Satan - the White Stripes
Gran Turismo - the Cardigans
Hearts of Oak - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Lazy Line Painter Jane - Belle & Sebastian
Mellow Gold - Beck
Pre-Millenium Tension - Tricky
Some of my Best Friends are DJs - Kid Koala
The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society - The Kinks
The Uplift Mofo Party Plan - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Welcome to the Show - Evil Doers

It begins...

It's red, older than me and needs a french-threaded bottom bracket: my new frame.
A 70s vintage Gitane road frame, to be more precise.
Getting this built is gonna be FUN. So much so in fact, that I will be blogging the whole damned thing. I may even get some pictures of it.
I definitely need to clean the frame off with a degreaser... there's years of grime and oil deposits on the metal... and I'm not sure about the forks... the action is a little stiff when I attempt to steer, hopefully it's just a bearing needing to be repacked or something similar going on there. If not, new forks for me.

This ride will be downright sick when I have finished with it. It may even be dope (as the kids have long ago stopped saying).

Geekery

Picked up the Doctor Who Series One (aka the Eccleston Years) Box Set.
It's chock full of Daleky goodness.
Drool...

"Daffy" returns to the lexicon

It's back and it's prejorative. Try it out!

Instance One: "daffy bitch"
Usage: "Veronica, that daffy bitch, was telling everyone in the office Mario was a cokehead." or
"Shelley, that daffy bitch, has the rat teeth to chew through barbed wire."

Instance Two: "daffy motherfucker"
Usage: "Sandy damn well nearly electrocuted both of us when he forgot to disconnect the power to that battery pack. Daffy motherfucker." or
"Victor, you daffy motherfucker... you set the router on fire..."

Use it wisely.

In the Shuffle and lightly Jonesing....

I haven't had a cigarette in over a week, and I have not made anyone suffer. I'm feeling pretty good about that.

Here's what I have been listening to in order to get by:

[What, you think this is a sad excuse for a blog entry?
Sod off, I maintain it, I post what I want.]

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (album) - Kid Koala
Clash on Broadway Disc One (album) - the Clash
Love is What We Need - London Funk Allstars (from Cold Krush Cuts - Disc One)
An Unmarked Grave In Memory of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - Up, Bustle and Out (from Cold Krush Cuts - Disc Two)
The Revolutionary Woman of the Windmill (OestroGwen Mix) - Up, Bustle and Out (from Cold Krush Cuts - Disc Two)
Funeral (album) - the Arcade Fire
Anger (Rare Force 2 Meg Mix) - Ryuichi Sakamoto (from FunKungFusion)
More Beats & Pieces [Live in Koln] - Coldcut (from FunKungFusion)
Clockwork - Roots Manuva (from Funkungfusion)
Theme from Conquest of the Irrational (Remix by Prunes) - DJ Vadim (from Funkungfusion)
Emerald Alley (Indian Morning Theme) - Up, Bustle and Out (from Funkungfusion)
Digital - Joy Division (Heart and Soul - Disc One)
Glass - Joy Division (Heart and Soul - Disc One)
Disorder - Joy Division (Heart and Soul - Disc One)
Day ogf the Lords - Joy Division (Heart and Soul - Disc One)
New Dawn Fades - Joy Division (Heart and Soul - Disc One)
Shadowplay - Joy Division (Heart and Soul - Disc One)
Transmission - Joy Division (Heart and Soul - Disc One)
From Safety to Where...? - Joy Division (Heart and Soul - Disc One)
Atmosphere - Joy Division (Heart and Soul - Disc Two)
Dead Souls - Joy Division (Heart and Soul - Disc Two)
Atrocity Exhibition - Joy Division (Heart and Soul - Disc Two)
Means to an End - Joy Division (Heart and Soul - Disc Two)
Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division (Heart and Soul - Disc Two)
These Days - Joy Division (Heart and Soul - Disc Two)
Warsaw - Joy Division (Heart and Soul - Disc Three)
No Love Lost- Joy Division (Heart and Soul - Disc Three)
Leaders of Men - Joy Division (Heart and Soul - Disc Three)
The Kink Kontroversey (album) - the Kinks
Real Killer Part 2 - the Herbaliser (Remedies)
Who's the Realest - the Herbaliser (Very Mercenary)
The Missing Suitcase - the Herbaliser (Very Mercenary)
Ginger Jumps the Fence (Live) - the Herbaliser (Wall Crawling Giant Insect Breaks)