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CBC sure got the short end of the stick when they renegotiated with the NHL on when and which NHL games they could broadcast for the 2007-08 NHL season. I can even see some of the effects during the 2006-07 season's playoffs.
The semi-finals are here with the Ottawa Senators playing the Buffalo Sabres, and the Detroit Red Wings playing ... that other team ... what was the name again ... doesn't matter. I'm sure all the NHL fans are equally split between Detroit, Ottawa, and Buffalo.
We are now going into game #5 between Ottawa and Buffalo, with Buffalo on the verge of elimination with Ottawa leading the series 3-1. I have to hand it to Buffalo because they've fought hard all season and one of the few teams that deserves a chance at the Stanley Cup. But on the other hand, Ottawa is just as deserving especially with losing their chances the last couple of years being remarkably kicked out by the Toronto Maple Leafs (to this day I still believe that Toronto paid off Ottawa to lose in the name of greater advertising revenue .... just a theory).
On to game #5 and it's this Saturday in Buffalo at 2pm? What the H-E-double-hockey stick ??? Who in their right mind watches hockey in the afternoon on a Saturday? Those time slots were relegated to Sunday afternoons to teams like Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Florida Panthers, and Carolina Hurricanes (no offense to those teams ... I only say that because their viewer crowds have not yet been developed).
Instead of the usual beer, nachos and popcorn saved for Saturday evenings in front of the big screen, I'll have to eat my hot dog, hamburger and fries indoors. Sheesh. I think this is all the NHL's doing in pleasing the US tv-networks like Fox (ie. WUTV in Buffalo .... "he shoots he scores" Ed Kilgore-outbursts)
GO REDS GO!
For those of you who designing websites and are not newbies, here's a website that in my opinion has the ideal photo gallery template design. Although it is not for the faint of heart as it involves Movable Type and some custom scripts. The site is by Douglas Bowman and can be found here : http://dbowman.com/photos/.
I've based one of my website's photo gallery on his general design. Although the website photo gallery I created was based in ASP .Net and still has some manual procedures in the process, it's general "feel" is that of Douglas's site.
Photos are uploaded through an admin interface and added to a SQL database. The only process I have yet to automate is the cropping of each photo album. Each photo album's thumbnail is a cropped copy of one of the images within the album. Right now I use 2 separate programs to perform the adjustment.
My photo gallery can be found here : photo gallery
A USB-key becomes a lifesaver for people who constantly work with computers. You're likely to find hundreds of links online that you obviously bookmark. But what happens when you're at home and need the link of the site you bookmarked at work? That's where the USB key comes in ... save the bookmark to your USB and when you go home take it with you.
But the problem lies there ... why hassle yourself with the constant back and forth and perhaps losing the key? That's when I stumbled across a website called Fortuitous. More specifically the article titled Living Online with Web Apps. After reading it I made the push to use both Google Spreadsheets and Google Browser Sync.
Google Spreadsheets I now use to track bill payments and business information. Now I can access the data from wherever I am ... even while on my ski trips. I only wish there was some sort of scripting language like VBScript in Excel. I've written some handy functions that separate costs for bills that cross the calendar years (note: why can't companies adhere to the calendar year for billing cycles? It would be much easier to get a bill from January 1-31 than from December 20, 2006 - January 19, 2007)
And finally for the time-saver! Google Browser Sync. Although I was somewhat reluctant to give up my Internet Explorer, the force to move to IE7 annoyed me enough to switch to Firefox. Now I use it all the time. Google Browser Sync is a plugin for Firefox that will store your bookmarks in Google, and allow you to pull them up on any installation of Firefox across the world. It's made my life easier.
Now, if Google could design some sort of service that allows you to create groups of users who you are friends with ... so that your bookmarks get shared among them all. Perhaps a special "social network folder" that can be separately defined with its own list of subscribed users.
Not too long ago my OCZ 1gb USB key was in my shirt pocket when I decided to do the wash. While pulling out the wet clothes it was sitting at the bottom of the washer. 4-letter S-word, 4-letter S-word, 4-letter S-word.
Lucky SOB I was as everything was copied off, the key reformatted, and back in use. I think it should be added to PC Magazine's list of Top 10 Washable Tech Products
Here's another interesting site I stumbled upon. Giveaway of the day (link: http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/). They essentially give away quality software for free each day. On occasion there may be a utility that you will find useful , but best of all it's free! But act fast as it only allows you to download the software during each 24hrs.
If you're a Canadian and you either have a bank account or know somebody who does, be sure to check out the Bank of Canada's search page for unclaimed bank balances. If you have opened a bank account and have no activity for 10 years, the account and its balance do not get lost ... they get transferred to the Bank of Canada.
Type in your name, type in your parents names. Heck, type in your neighbour's name and let them know if they have any outstanding bank accounts!
The Boys from Buf is an ethnic Macedonian band that plays across Ontario, New York and Michigan. Ask any Macedonian if they've heard of "The Boys" and they are sure to answer yes. They are even known in Australia!
They are my favourite Macedonian band so much in fact I had to pay special tribute to them by writing the following piece (to which I wrote for a Boys from Buf fanclub group) :
YOU KNOW YOU LISTEN TO TOO MUCH BOYS FROM BUF WHEN ...
- You call up Z103.5 and tell them to "pump" the "Bufksoto" on the "pump it or dump it radio show"
- Your cell phone ringer is the clarinet solo at the beginning of the Bufskoto.
- You're cruising the Danforth in your mother's Oldsmobile playing "Imeto Makedonsko" with the windows down hoping to cause some shit.
- You walk into a dance and the Boys from Buf shout your name like Norm from Cheers.
- You have the same white jacket and pink shirt that Chris wore for the 1979 album Boys From Buf.
- You think Mitsotakis is still president of Greece because "Pesna za Mitsotakis" is one of your favourite songs.
- Every time you get invited to a wedding the first thing you think is, "I hope they get Boys from Buf"
- The only time you wish you could get married again is so that you can get "Boys from Buf" to play at your wedding, and dance on the tapan.
- You wonder why "Tommy on guitar" plays every other Boys from Buf function.
... and finally the #10 reason why you know you listen to too much Boys from Buf is ...
10. Every function the Boys from Buf plays at you end up buying another CD because you don't know which CD player you left your last copy of Boys from Buf in.
