~tremble~

Ohhh . . . the rally of Monte Carlo began six hours ago . . . I'm so excited! The Subaru World Rally Team already has pictures up. I love them!

Mmm . . . rally fever!

The Subaru World Rally Team website is carrying a heavy load right now, and the pictures are taking a long time to download. I downloaded the studio pictures of the 2002 WRC Subaru Imrpeza and made some wallpapers so that you other rally nuts could more easily get your fix. Wheeee!

The bitmap files were bitchin' huge, so these are jpeg files. Just click on the size you want, and when the picture finishes downloading, right-click and select "set as desktop wallpaper". You're done!

800x600 | 1024x768

800x600 | 1024x768

800x600 | 1024x768

800x600 | 1024x768

800x600 | 1024x768

~laboured sigh~

Lots of shuffling, but still can't quite iron out some kinks in the redesign. Looks like I'll need more time. I'll keep at it.

I can barely speak, I'm so excited!

~stammer stammer~ Speedvision . . . 9pm MST . . . WRC Monte Carlo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~swoon~ WRC . . . I love you . . .

~drool snort drool grunt slaver~

I love our townhouse, but I hate our plumbing.

When we first moved in, the faucet in the bathtub was leaking hot water. We didn't realize this until one of us took the first shower and discovered that someone had torqued the hot water tap so hard we almost couldn't turn on the water.

Not long after that, the sink faucet in the downstairs bathroom started to leak. Not long after that, the sink faucet in the upstairs bathroom started to leak. So off we went to the hardware store to purchase replacement gaskets, tools and such.

Several hours of agonizing labour, which included trying to clean mineral deposits off the tap components after having already shut the water off, we had three non-leaking faucets again.

Scarcely a month or two later, the upstairs sink faucet started to drip again. Then the downstairs sink faucet.

Off we went to another hardware store to purchase new faucets to replace the old ones. Rabbit gets displaced from his room into his cage, tools and plumbing components are spread all over the house, and FN's parents come over to help keep us from destroying our house.

After all this, the plumbing was once again leak-free and quiet.

Guess what happens next? The bathtub faucet starts leaking again. Profusely. Gallons of hot water. And our gas bill goes through the roof. Now we get to learn how to pry the bathtub faucet out of the wall to put in a new one.

If we have to go through this every few months, I think I will go utterly nuts.

Gradfinder gives me heart-palpitations.

With every passing year, more and more of my old classmates appear on that site, with more and more letters behind there names. For these oh-so-accomplished individuals, talking about what they've done since high school sounds fucking brilliant. For me, talking about what I've done since high school makes me want to vomit repeatedly and drink myself into a coma.

Their bios read much like this: So-and-so went to _______ (prestigious college) and graduated with ________ (prestigious degree). So-and-so is now working as a _______ (well-respected, good-paying position) at ________ (prestigious or secure business/institution).

Excuse me while I drive sharp objects into my chest.

"What university did you go to?"


"UofA."


"What degree did you graduate with?"


"I didn't."


"Oh, so what are you doing now?"


"I'm unemployed, busy putting the pieces of my shattered self back together after having a mid-life crisis. Oh, sorry, no, quarter-life crisis."


"Oh."


"And I'm on Prozac."


"Oh look! There's Jackie. I have to go."

For the year of my 10-year reunion, I think I'll schedule a trip to a disease-ridden patch of jungle somewhere.

Interesting facts about Edmonton animal control bylaws that I did not know prior to reading about it:

It is against the law to keep any large mammals (over 10kg / 22lb.) or their young, dogs being the only exception


that means no capybaras (150 lb. guinea pig) or 260 lb. New Zealand Kune-Kune pigs, unless I live on agriculturally zoned land . . . damn!

It is against the law to keep more than six small mammals over the age of three months


I can only presume small refers to anything under 10kg / 22lb.

It is against the law to keep more than two dogs unless the owner resides in an agriculturally zoned area, or unless the owner obtains a kennel license

Keeping live poultry, bees, poisonous snakes, poisonous reptiles or poisonous insects is also against the law

I don't think people generally get nailed for minor infractions of the bylaws, but if you've got a neighbour with an axe to grind, who knows? I wonder if the six mammal limit applies to small rodents. If so, I'm only allowed one more small critter! ~snicker~

Animals within City of Edmonton, Bylaw #9199


Cat Licensing Bylaw, #12222


Dog, Bylaw #10558

It's time I review the last few weeks, I think.

So how was Christmas? Surprisingly excellent. It was the first Christmas I spent without any contact with the less savoury members of my family, so a good time was in fact had by all. I even spent Christmas Eve with my friend Carrie and her family. She lives awfully far away, so having a chance to spend quality time with her is a rare treat indeed.

Many presents were delivered and received, and the holiday season was full of cheer for once.

New Year's was forgettable. I was too tired to party, so I went to bed early. I wish I could say that it was uneventful, but some rather un-fun things happened that I'd rather not get into. I'm still putting the pieces of myself back together, so if my posts are few and far-between, you'll know why.

When I'm able to, I'll be sure to get around to launching the redesign. I'm afraid I don't know when that will be at this point, though.

Here's hoping your Holidays were jolly and that your New Year's was better than mine. Cheers.

Old-school Internet/World Wide Web flashback, circa 1995:

Anyone remember a place called Talker? As far as I can tell, that link is where it used to reside, although you won't find it there anymore.

Talker pre-dated streaming chat, and worked much like a message board. It was 1995, I was 17, and I was a chat addict. Hardly any of my friends had access to the Internet back then, and I took to the World Wide Web (in all it's white-background-black-text-blue-link glory) like a fish to water. This was before porn had seeped into every corner of the Web, and before I realized that you could find such things on the new "Information Superhighway". And remember how Internet and World Wide Web used to be proper names that you capitalized?

Talker allowed you to choose an avatar to have next to your name, and also allowed you to display pictures. That is, until it became very popular and they had to ban pictures to keep things flowing properly. Very very old-school.

And yet, looking at an old print-out of a Talker chat session, I feel a tad nostalgic for the simplistic layout and agonizing lag between responses. None of this instant messaging nonsense. Back in my day, it was 14.4 kbps and 10 minutes to view a jpeg! You kids today are spoiled, SPOILED!

----------------------------

UPDATE:

Hankering for a flashback? I think I found just the place to get your Talker fix!