Blogging 360

Posted on May 23, 2006 by Heather

If you take a look over to the left, you will see that I’ve added my Xbox 360 gamer tag and a link to my Xbox’s very own blog. Amazing, eh? I do share my gamer tag with quanta, since he seems to be too lazy to make his own and switch all the time, or maybe he is being nice and helping me to get a larger gamer score. Either way, you might see some games listed that really aren’t to my taste, namely Fight Night Round 3 and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter.

Right now I am having a great time playing Kameo. It is a very pretty adventure/role-playing game that really is a whole lot of fun.

As for the Xbox 360 itself, it is a very nice system, although the DVD drive is exceptionally loud. The Xbox dashboard is nicely integrated, as is the Xbox Live Marketplace. My biggest complaint, other than the loud drive, is the fact that when browsing the marketplace, the Xbox continually pauses while it loads items. One would think that the system would be capable of containing a small list of items in memory.

I don’t think I would have the system, though, if I hadn’t received it for free. I’m not overly keen on Microsoft, and I don’t think that the 360 will stack up well against the PlayStation 3. Gosh, I sound like a fangirl, don’t I?

1 Comment | Posted in My Life |

Iran and the Badge – True or False?

Posted on May 20, 2006 by Heather

Yesterday morning I noticed a picture of Jews from World War II wearing identification badges on the front page of the National Post newspaper. This, of course, caught my attention, so I stopped to read the leading story–Iran had past a law requiring all non-Muslims to wear an indemnifying badge. I was shocked. Why hadn’t I heard about this on the news this morning? Had the National Post managed to get a massive scoop?

Today I decided to look for a story about this online. I couldn’t remember which newspaper I had seen the story in yesterday, so I decided to try both CBC Newsworld and CNN. Strangely, neither of them had any stories about a dress code in Iran for non-Muslims. Hmmmm… what’s going on here? Sure, the National Post is a conservative newspaper (for Canada anyway), but they would check their facts before printing such an inflammatory story. Right?

Well, it turns out that their story was at the very least exaggerated, and at the very most outright false. I found this story on their site today: Iranian embassy denies dress code.

So what was the purpose of this story? Why did the National Post run it without checking to see if such a law really was in place? The fact that both stories ran together with a picture of a Jewish badge from WW2 says to me that they are trying to elicit feelings of anger. I still don’t understand their motivation, though.

1 Comment | Posted in Media & Politics |

Walk for Kids 2006 – Aftermath

Posted on May 7, 2006 by Heather

Wow, are my legs ever sore. Not surprising, since it’s not every Sunday that I walk over 5km.

The Bell Walk for Kids Help Phone went wonderfully well today, even if I was exhuasted afterwards. It was great to see so many people out on such a wonderful day, supporting a good cause. There were even several dogs taking part too. 🙂

I would like to thank everyone who pledged me in the walk. This year I raised $60. Sadly, that isn’t anywhere near as much as I raised last year, but that is mostly my fault since I didn’t campagin as hard as last year.

If you are interested in donating to Kids Help Phone, you can do so here.

Comments Off on Walk for Kids 2006 – Aftermath | Posted in The Outside World |

Walk for Kids 2006

Posted on May 5, 2006 by Heather

This Sunday I will be taking part again in the Bell Walk for Kids Help Phone. The Kids Help Phone is a phone line that kids can call to get advice or just to have someone to talk to. The councilors help them with everything from dealing with their parents’ divorce to dealing with thoughts of suicide. They answered over one million questions online and over the phone in 2005.

The Kids Help Phone service is supported almost entirely through their corporate sponsors and through private individuals. That’s where you come in. You may not be Canadian, you may not have kids, you may not even have a phone, but surely you care about children and believe that they should be able to find support when they need it most. Please take the time to pledge me in the Bell Walk for Kids Help Phone.

link removed

Thank you for your generous support of a cause that is important to me.

1 Comment | Posted in The Outside World |

Excuse Me, But What Does That Mean?

Posted on April 29, 2006 by Heather

This is what happens when the justice system becomes to concerned with the process: Judge scolds Moussaoui juror for using online dictionary. I don’t understand why it was not made clear to the jury what all the words in the charge to them meant. An uninformed juror is clearly not a good juror. I also don’t understand why there was an internet enable computer in the jury room…

1 Comment | Posted in Media & Politics |

Brightness Among the Grey

Posted on April 5, 2006 by Heather

Yesterday I was supposed to walk up to Bloor street to pick up some groceries, but I was feeling kind of blah so I put it off to today. Today the weather seemed unpleasant–snowing one minute, raining the next, and sunny a few minutes later. But I dug the bundle buggy out of the closet and headed off on my walk, and I am so very glad I did.

Since I was out in the yucky weather regardless of whether I really wanted to be, I thought I would enjoy a nice slow walk and watch the birds playing. So many of them were out enjoying the rain and picking seeds and what-not off of peoples lawns. When I was about half way to my destination I noticed that spring flowers have started to pop up. I was nearly dazzled by the bright colour of the bluebells peaking out from under a hedge, and the yellow of the crocuses nearly made up for the lack of sun today. There is also ample evidence that more flowers will soon make an appearance, as I saw the leaves of tulips and lily-of-the-valley (my personal favourite) poking through many people’s lawns and gardens.

Sadly, I’m going to be stuck indoors downtown tomorrow, which means I’m unlikely to see any real flowers. But on Friday I need to take another walk up to Bloor street. This time I will try to pay closer attention to the flowers brightening up the brown and grey lawns.

1 Comment | Posted in The Outside World |

Spring is Coming, But I’m in an Office

Posted on March 28, 2006 by Heather

Yep, I’m still alive. I’ve been busily working away at my newish job. I have learnt so much about graphic manipulation in the last couple of week! It is amazing what I can do now. I think I may have to show off my mad Photoshopping skillz soon. (But, uh, I actually use CorelDraw and CorelPhotopaint. But that’s besides the point.)

Spring is well on it’s way here. Tulips are starting to pop up right in front of our living room window. I really enjoy having a “garden level” apartment. It is wonderful to get to look at flowers from down at their level. They sometimes even more beautiful from that angle.

As much as I am enjoying my job, I’ve had to spend far too much time in the office lately. Being stuck on the 28th floor in the middle of the city isn’t doing much for my spirit, especially when I am there for 12 hours sometimes. But coming home to my plants, especially my new orchid, is very inspiring and soothing. I can’t wait for the day when I can have my own backyard garden to relax in.

1 Comment | Posted in My Life |