Tag Archives: Melanie

Archive Journal Entry: 20030317

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Melanie’s dad, Benny, had a party at our house for his 56th birthday. We had a great (fabulous) meal care of Linda, Benny’s girlfriend. The other highlight of the evening was the DDR game running on a PS2 that Kristine brought over (this was the second time). So in respect of that we have some links: the flash version, open source PC version StepMania, free PC version Dance With Intensity. I guess I’ll have to buy a dance pad 🙂

Christian sent me this link [PDF] – it’s a bit of a read but it’s worth it if you are interested in advertizing, promotion, media, internet chat or communities.

Someone emailed me today with questions about career strategy.

Archive Journal Entry: 20030306

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Gack. Long time no write. Here’s a few quick notes:

Went to Sudbury for a night to visit with Mom, Rob and Cal. Helped them get a phone jack working so they could get internet. Lots of gifts exchanged. Justice got really sick with a cold. Drove back with Alexei. Melanie and I talked about her starting an education business related to homeschooling.

Here’s some misc links: persisting objects, synthetic sapphire, and systems programming in c.

This week I have worked really hard. It is 5:30 am and I just finished at the office! I have a demo tomorrow afternoon and a plane to catch in the evening so I’ve still got lots to do before the “day” is done.

Archive Journal Entry: 20030226

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Today was a pretty good day. The second day of Ayyam-i-Ha, we had Melanie’s sister, Kristine, their dad, Benny, and his girlfriend, Linda, over for dinner. Melanie made an absolutely fantastic dinner including home-made bread, a great salad, her amazing squash and apple soup, and bruschetta (sp?). The meal was vegitarian, partly for Linda’s benefit. We opened some gifts. Melanie got me the Strictly Ballroom DVD (US$, CA$), one of my all-time favorites. I first watched it at Cory April’s mom’s house in Saskatoon. I’ll have to watch it again very soon 🙂

The other cool thing today was getting together with a bunch of friends from InSystems. I worked there back a little over a year ago from Oct. 2001 to Feb. 2002. Primarily I was working as the software architect for what became their eXterity products. In particular, I worked on their “Magic” authoring product (due to be released at the end of this month). Aparently it has continued to do very well as a project. Anyway, today a bunch of InSystems people came to have lunch with me at an Indian restaurant called Motimahal. The food was good and the company was excellent. It was so heartwarming to see my friends again. A big “THANKS!” to all of you!

Melanie has been reading “The Absorbent Mind” (US$, CA$) by Maria Montessori. She is incredibly inspired by it. I haven’t read it myself, but I certainly hope to!

I have been researching teaching the kids foreign languages. Two nights ago I did a big search for Arabic and Chinese online tutorials. I didn’t find anything amazing, but I did find some beginner material and some source material that I can use to make better stuff. As well, I’ve got to research some language learning methods. In particular, I want to find out more about “The Silent Method” and the “Power-Glide” materials – anyone have any experience with these, please email me. We are planning on teaching French (because Melanie and I know it fairly well), Chinese (because it is part of Melanie’s heritage and we expect our kids will go to China), and Arabic (so that they can read a substantial portion of the Baha’i writings in their original language, e.g. The Hidden Words). As well, the diversity in these languages we hope will improve their thinking skills.

Archive Journal Entry: 20030217

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Here’s a site with a good selection of Baha’i Prayers.

It’s the wee hours of the morning and I just got a phone call. Two weeks ago, I found out that today is “President’s Day” in the USA. Unfortunately, I had already booked my tickets to leave from Toronto very early in the morning. I would spend a day in Jersey City without being able to go into work. Ick. Particularly when I could spend that time at home… So the woman on the phone informs me that my flight (in 5 hours) is cancelled due to bad weather, would I please consider taking another flight? I would be delighted to fly tomorrow instead and at 9:30am instead of the unfortunate 7:10am I normally book myself for! So there it is.

I’ve started to work with PovRay and Moray which are a very powerful combination for doing 3D modelling and rendering. Moray has a similar style interface to 3D Studio Max. I intend to use the two to model and render some of my custom home designs. Melanie and I share a strong interest in architecture and home design. Someday we hope to design and build our own custom home. Some of the things we want in our home: radiant floor heating, large lot preferrably with natural woodland on it, raised bungalow plan, hardwood and stone floors, high quality and detail and moderate square footage, built in bookshelves, energy efficient and extremely environmentally friendly… and more! I’m sure I will write more about this subject in the future.

Archive Journal Entry: 20030205

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Haifa had an adventure today. So for dinner, Kristine and Celine were over. Melanie made stir-fry. Haifa wanted to eat with her chopsticks (I got them for her a few weeks ago) so she did. After dinner, Kristine noticed that Haifa was running around and playing with her chopsticks. Kristine told her to put them down and not play with them. Haifa immediately ran away with them and threw herself down on a pillow. Then she started to cry. Melanie ran over and asked her where it hurt. Her eye! Melanie looked and there was a piece of chopstick sticking out of her eye through her eyelid. Celine asked if she needed to call 911. They decided to drive to the hospital. After a two hour wait, the doctor pulled the chopstick peice out of her eye – apparently, thank God, it had gone in between her eye ball and the bone of her eye socket. Her eyelid bled a bit. The doctor thought that everything was okay. Apparently the piece in her eye was about 1cm long (2/5th of an inch). I guess that’s a pretty good warning to us that we have to pay more attention to safety around the house. Anyone who reads this, please say a prayer for healing so that her eye doesn’t get infected (doctor says there is little chance of that). Ug.