The Poor Radio

This is the story of how I managed to destroy a radio in under 5 seconds. When I say radio, I mean military grade walkie talkie type unit (Motorola XTN XU 2107 to be exact). The tractor I was using was a big John Deere tractor (John Deere 4320). The pull behind mower (Progressive Pro-Flex 120) that is hooked up to it is 10 feet wide and sounds like an airplane and that isn’t an exaggeration. This happened a few weeks back, but I told someone in an email just recently.

Well, what happened was I had my radio sitting in the cup holder on the tractor and I drove in between two trees. One of the trees had a branch the perfect height and length to reach the radio. As the branch went by, it took the radio with it. I didn’t notice until I heard a large clunk come from the mower itself. As I looked back, I noticed that my radio was gone and then realized what had happened. I felt awful. The radio did pretty well, all things considered. It didn’t survive however. It had been ripped open, the LCD had been decimated, and the batteries were in a few pieces. The belt clip was totally destroyed, as was the antenna. I was able to recover the volume knob, which I stuck on the other radio that was missing one. That was the only good thing that came out of this.

Mike (the second assistant superintendent) was the only one there that day, so I told him. He thought it was awesome. I told Pat (the superintendent) the next day that I owed him some money (those things are worth about $200 each), but he said not to worry about it. He owed me a golf ball, (specifically, a Callaway Tour iX, which is about a $5 ball) so he called it even. Good deal eh?

I was going to take some pictures of it, but Mike whisked it away when I told him. I think he thought that it was bothering me, but I actually wanted to keep it, especially since he just threw it away.

Tidbits

No, not Timbits, but I would like some of those. I haven’t had those in a while, in fact, I haven’t had Tim Horton’s anything in a while. I think I might go on Monday. The only problem is that the Tim Horton’s at the University is always busy, like really busy. The line stretches across Mac Hall most times. I don’t think I’ll go to that one.

In other news, police surrounded a convenience store today, where a sasquatch was attempting to buy Haagen Dazs.

I bought a new domain name, ashotinthedark.ca. I was hoping to get just shotinthedark.com/ca but that was, as I thought it probably would be, taken. I think I am going to create a photography website for myself there. I’m not sure though and if I do, it won’t be coming anytime soon. I was also thinking about redesigning this site. I’ve always known that it doesn’t display correctly in browsers using the Webkit engine, like Safari and now Google Chrome. I have never figured out why though. My code is 100% standards compliant (minus the YouTube embed code and the Lightbox JS CSS, which isn’t my code).  Those exceptions are not the problem though. It hasn’t ever displayed properly and I didn’t have an embedded video or Lightbox originally. I haven’t really cared before because it isn’t a very big difference and I don’t have many visitors from Safari and gang.

However, lately the design and the fact that it doesn’t display properly in some browsers has started to bother me. I think it is time for a change. It will probably take a while though, so don’t get excited. I’ve also decided that I’m done with doing websites for other people. That means that in the redesign, the portfolio will probably be gone. I’m also thinking that I am going to redirect all traffic from mapledesign.ca to here too. I hate that site. I threw it together quite quickly using a design from OpenWebDesign.org and always meant to change it. Well, I never did and I don’t like it.

I spent $10 USD on glowsticks today at the dollar store. I got quite a bit, which was awesome. I got four four packs, two six packs, three individual ones and one lantern thing. The lantern was really cool. I think I got a pretty good deal. They were well worth the $10.

As for my schooling this year, I changed my major. Well okay, not technically. I didn’t submit an application in time last year and am, therefore, still a computer science major. I am, however, not taking any computer science courses. I am taking courses that will go toward a geology degree. I am pretty excited and happy so far. All the courses that I took last year transfer over nicely, so that’s pretty awesome.

Well, I think that is about that I have to share right now. Sorry for not posting in a long time. Hopefully my next post won’t be in a couple months. Oh, for those that were wondering, or even if you weren’t, the Canadian copyright legislation (Bill C-61) is dead. Since we are having an election in a month, the Parliament has been dissolved and that legislation, along with a few others, died. That doesn’t mean that copyright reform won’t take place, it just means that particular attempt failed. Copyright reform will come back though, regardless of who wins the election. This is what Michael Geist had to say a few days before the election call:

“Raising the profile of copyright has required thousands of Canadians to pro-actively contact their elected representatives. Starting next week, those same representatives (and would-be representatives) will be seeking you out.  They will be knocking on doors, making phone calls, attending all-candidates meetings, and generally doing their best to convince voters that they will best represent their interests. I believe that this presents an exceptional opportunity to ask the question – where do you stand on important digital issues such as C-61 and Canadian copyright reform?  Does your local Conservative candidate support the reintroduction of Bill C-61 or would they work toward amendments before it returns?  Is your local Liberal candidate willing to commit to public consultations before the introduction of any new copyright bill?  Is your NDP or Green candidate firmly against the approach in C-61?  These are the questions (along with positions on net neutrality, telecom competition, broadband access, and privacy) that need to be asked again and again and again this fall.  Bill C-61 may be about to die, but the prospect of Canadian DMCA-like legislation remains very much alive.”