New router on its way

My current router is on its way out... A while ago, I took the cover off it because it was overheating. Now come Fall and the heat being turned on, it's just spasming. Apologies to those on my MSN list having to deal with my MSN constantly signing in/signing out.

Don't worry though. The new router that's on-route is the WRT54GL. Oh yeah baby.

Thanksgiving Weekend Hiking Trip

The group (minus Sam) posing at the highest point in the park.

During the Thanksgiving long weekend, I went hiking with a couple friends in Frontenac Provincial Park. The park is about 20 minutes north of Kingston. My friend Sam has a blog entry describing the trip along with nice pictures. Check out his blog.

Update: The complete set of pictures by Sam can now be found here.

Algonquin Park Canoe Trip

Two weekends ago, I went on a canoe trip in Algonquin Park with a couple buddies. We started in Ragged Lake, went through Smoke Lake, and then Big Porcupine Lake where we camped overnight.

One of us fishing at our camp site on Big Porcupine Lake.

The campsite was fantastic. It was located at a point overlooking the lake. At night, we had a spectacular view of the stars.

Time lapse photograph of the stars. Notice how Polaris stays in the middle.

After we canoed back on Sunday, we took a 10 km hike on the Centennial Ridges trail to catch the sunset above the park.

The group overlooking Algonquin Park at sunset.

Trip summary:

• 6 people, 3 kevlar canoes
• 1 lb of gorp each
• 6 portages totalling 2370 m
• 23.1 km, there and back

More pictures of the trip can be found here. (Photos by Sam and Horace)

I climbed a 5.13a, in sneakers. Take that Spiderman! (Photo by Horace)

Decline in Pirates Population Cause of Global Warming!

Correlation? I think so!

Beth Rodden climbing a 5.14b. I was speechless after watching this video.

Super deal for students

As part of a new Microsoft initiative, they are offering students the normally $900 Office 2007 Ultimate software for $64. Note: you will have to download the software (500MB). It mentions you can order the physical DVD for a small charge, but I was never given that option.

"As part of Microsoft Corp.'s commitment to education, the company is introducing a promotion inviting students who are actively enrolled at educational institutions and have a valid e-mail address from the institution to purchase Microsoft(R) Office Ultimate 2007 at a student price of $59.95 (U.S.). "The Ultimate Steal" promotion will run in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States starting today and in France, Italy and Spain starting Sept. 20, 2007. The promotion will end April 30, 2008."

• Read more here.
• Buy it here.

French River canoeing trip

The photos from the canoe trip can be found here. (Photos taken by Horace)

I am super-excited about doing some backcountry canoeing this long weekend on the French River. More details to follow!


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Insane video of storm sewer overlow in Minnesota. I wondered whether this was a design flaw, or did somebody forget to take down a bulkhead lol...

Funny pics I came across today, lol - superheroes are so gay...

TONIGHT, WE DINE IN CLEVELAND!!!!

I have a lot more respect for Geraldo Rivera after watching him in this interview with Bill O'Reilly. The argument is whether somebody's illegal status is an issue in a drunk driving death. Huge shouting match ensues.

FYI:
I was trying to backup some DVDs but I found my DVD drive's (NEC ND-2510A) read speed to be extraordinarily slow. After some research, I discovered many DVD drives come with what's called a riplock which limits the speed at which DVD videos can be read and copied. This was something that was implemented to curtail piracy. So although your drive is rated to be 8x or 16x read speed, the riplock limits the maximum read speed to 2x. To remove this limitation, you can search for hacked firmware online that removes the riplock.

So I finally traced my MSN disconnect problem to my router. Turned out my model, the DI-524 has been known to overheat when handling too many connections. And to make matters worst, I was stressing it out by running custom firmware on it - yes, the same one I recommended to use in a previous blog post...

I've solved the problem temporarily by reverting to factory firmware and taking the cover off the router to allow for more airflow.

Wicked animation of Master Chief of Halo fame versus Metroid's Samus.

Best day ever!

- received prize money from bridge competition
- lunch at Goodview, boneless chicken with black bean sauce for the win
- bought great computer monitor for $40
- got two new pairs of Levi 501 jeans on sale
- replaced wonky desk light with Ott-Lite
- offer of employment from Marshall Macklin Monaghan

Giraffe + quicksand:

Could it be... Duke Nukem Forever, near release? *Head explodes*

You'll get a kick out of this game haha: http://www.thatvideogamesite.com/play.php?id=542

On January of 2003, I mused on a popular technology forum about using the technology that drives ionic air purifiers to cool computers. It's called plasma dynamic ionization or more commonly known as the Zenion Effect or corona wind.

I mentioned two advantages: one, it's near silent because there are no moving parts, and two, as sort of a joke, that its original function as an air purifier will keep those dust bunnies out of computers! I had a short-lived thought about modding my case with one of the off-the-shelf units (like what somebody did recently), but that was that and I never gave it any thought afterwards.

Until today. I was browsing the net and came across this article: The Future of Things - Ionic Wind - Chillin' The PC. It describes a collaborative effort between the University of Washington and Intel - the world's largest CPU maker - of adapting the technology to cool computers. My idea! Haha, why am I in civil engineering again? Hmm, I wonder what my chances are at a lawsuit...

On an aside, hey Google, I hope you're reading this because I contacted you last year about an idea I have and you never replied!

Back from my Quebec vacation! Spent New Years at the Chateau Frontenac ... that's all I am allowed to say officially.