Been a while since I posted anything, but things have been busy here. We just moved into an apartment down the road from my parents house, which is awesome! Two stories, 2 bed 1 bath with a combination kitchen/living room downstairs. Much more comfortable now!
With the new apartment came the decision of what to do with my boat... I got a boat a couple years back for free from some friends of the family that had it hauled up for years, its a 16ft Kestrel dinghy which needs some fairly extensive hull work to get it back in the water, but the sails are in great condition. It will need a new set of rigging, and the iron centreboard keel is rusted fairly badly around the pivot point, so that will need some welding work as well.
The first problem was finding a location to DO the work, since it can't be done at my parents house. The apartment has a driveway of sorts, but it is a shared access point to the central field that the villas surround, so that was out of the question. My uncle had previously suggested that we might be able to use a shed on the property of his business, but there were two problems with that; 1) he doesn't own the property, and 2) it isn't close enough to home that I can just hop over and do some work on random occasions... So I had quite a problem. Fortunately, my grandparents live across the road from me now... and they have a more than adequate driveway that is almost never occupied. Success! I now have a location to do the work! I got my grandad's permission (he doesn't mind... partially because he's too old to care and he's already built more than a couple boats of his own in the same location... so it might give him some interest...)
Moving the boat proved less trouble than i had anticipated... My uncle had a trailer free on Sunday so we got together my dad, brother, uncle myself and a few others and moved the boat down the road easily. All of the odds and ends were already in boxes in my dad's garage, so it was no problem to toss them all in the back of my truck and stick them on my patio / under the stairs inside. The 20ft mast is laid down next to the hull in the driveway, so everything is sorted :) The sails are sitting happily under the stairs with the rudder, tiller and a couple other nicknacks... so now "all" thats left is to fix the boat itself!
next step... mobilising the "work force" to repair the hull... Need to sand down the gelcoat to fiberglass, fix the specific areas that need strengthening / rebuilding, then recoat the entire hull with a layer of glass (to be safe...) and gelcoat. Not too hard right...
Monday, July 7, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Barbados Rediculousness
Now I love Barbados... but its a lot like Communism... a great theory but when you actually have it running in a practical sense it SUCKS... today's case-in-point... setting up a Bridal Registry...
In order to set up our Bridal Registry, I called Cave Shepherd to schedule a date we could come in and do all the picking out of stuff. Would that it were so easy! This apparently is not how it works... First you have to go in to Register to Register... yeah... you have to physically go into the office to make an appointment to COME BACK and select all of the goodies that you want people to buy for you. Does this make sense to ANYONE? I couldn't simply do this over the phone??? In a NORMAL country you CALL them to make an appointment to come in to select stuff...
Just another example of the rediculousness of Barbados... I also hate going into town specifically for other reasons, predominantly the rampant scent of urine, and the constant barrage of offers for a taxi... Now don't get me wrong, were I to want a taxi the ability to draw taxi-men like flies would be GREAT, but it gets annoying when they are standing in a group and you have to tell each one individually that you do not require a taxi. The faux british accents just add to the effect really...
Today's specific town annoyance? Assholes that park IN FRONT OF the entrance to the fenced off parking area, instead of just going inside and paying the measely $1 per hour. It's not just the sheer cheapness that bugs me, it is the whole fact that they parked in such a way as to actually partially BLOCK the entrance. WTF???????
- Matt
In order to set up our Bridal Registry, I called Cave Shepherd to schedule a date we could come in and do all the picking out of stuff. Would that it were so easy! This apparently is not how it works... First you have to go in to Register to Register... yeah... you have to physically go into the office to make an appointment to COME BACK and select all of the goodies that you want people to buy for you. Does this make sense to ANYONE? I couldn't simply do this over the phone??? In a NORMAL country you CALL them to make an appointment to come in to select stuff...
Just another example of the rediculousness of Barbados... I also hate going into town specifically for other reasons, predominantly the rampant scent of urine, and the constant barrage of offers for a taxi... Now don't get me wrong, were I to want a taxi the ability to draw taxi-men like flies would be GREAT, but it gets annoying when they are standing in a group and you have to tell each one individually that you do not require a taxi. The faux british accents just add to the effect really...
Today's specific town annoyance? Assholes that park IN FRONT OF the entrance to the fenced off parking area, instead of just going inside and paying the measely $1 per hour. It's not just the sheer cheapness that bugs me, it is the whole fact that they parked in such a way as to actually partially BLOCK the entrance. WTF???????
- Matt
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Karate food for thought...
Found this on the Karate Underground forum, thought I would share it... I have copied the original post here without the references as they are very long. The post is somewhat a summary of the findings of the studies referenced. Thought you would find it interesting, the link to the original forum topic is: http://www.karatethejapaneseway.com/karate_underground/viewtopic.php?t=8407
Enjoy!
"The following is a brief summary from the referenced research.
Research has shown that child and adolescent problem behavior can be a precursor of adult criminality but that the peer tutoring and coaching of Karate have a significant effect on positive social behaviors.
One survey examined the aggressive tendencies of participants at seven different martial art schools of Karate, Taekwondo and Jujitsu. The survey evaluated the importance of meditation, the amount of respect the students showed towards the sensei, the dojo, and each other, the level of contact allowed to vital areas of the body, and the relative importance of Kata. Based on this, they classified four of the schools as "Traditional" (more meditation, respect and Kata, less contact to vital areas) and three of them as "Modern". Beginning students in both traditional and modern schools had similar scores. More advanced students in the traditional schools showed lower scores for aggression than beginning students.
There was no change in the scores of the students at the schools with the "Modern" emphasis. Other surveys have shown similar results. Traditional martial arts students increase their self-acceptance which does not occur for students with a Modern emphasis in training.
Most research supports the idea that it is the training environment and style of instruction which influences these differences. One study has shown the possibility that it is the sensei or coach who acts as a role-model and "leads by example". It has been shown that there is a positive correlation between an instructor's aggressiveness and his/her student's aggressiveness. Conversely there is a negative correlation between an instructor's Traditional characteristics and his/her student's aggressiveness. One interpretation of this is that the student models the behavior of the instructor.
Karate is a complex psychomotor activity that enhances perceptual and motor skills. Karate encourages self-regulation and executive skills through self-discipline, self-control, self-respect, self-confidence, self-esteem, self-knowledge and self-improvement. It has been shown, when properly taught using a strong role model, peer group and value system, to be a effective method for problem behavior reduction. A significant improvement in temperament scale scores of intensity, adaptability and mood regulation is shown throughout the many studies carried out since the 50's. Some of the psychosocial benefits seen in martial arts studies probably originate from the physical activity itself. Exercise in many forms can promote psychological well-being amongst the practitioners. However, research which directly compares martial arts with other forms of physical exercise shows that a martial art produces positive psychosocial changes that are greater and more far-reaching than those produced by many other physical activities. These changes may have different cause and are probably due to other non-exercise-related aspects of Karate."
Enjoy!
"The following is a brief summary from the referenced research.
Research has shown that child and adolescent problem behavior can be a precursor of adult criminality but that the peer tutoring and coaching of Karate have a significant effect on positive social behaviors.
One survey examined the aggressive tendencies of participants at seven different martial art schools of Karate, Taekwondo and Jujitsu. The survey evaluated the importance of meditation, the amount of respect the students showed towards the sensei, the dojo, and each other, the level of contact allowed to vital areas of the body, and the relative importance of Kata. Based on this, they classified four of the schools as "Traditional" (more meditation, respect and Kata, less contact to vital areas) and three of them as "Modern". Beginning students in both traditional and modern schools had similar scores. More advanced students in the traditional schools showed lower scores for aggression than beginning students.
There was no change in the scores of the students at the schools with the "Modern" emphasis. Other surveys have shown similar results. Traditional martial arts students increase their self-acceptance which does not occur for students with a Modern emphasis in training.
Most research supports the idea that it is the training environment and style of instruction which influences these differences. One study has shown the possibility that it is the sensei or coach who acts as a role-model and "leads by example". It has been shown that there is a positive correlation between an instructor's aggressiveness and his/her student's aggressiveness. Conversely there is a negative correlation between an instructor's Traditional characteristics and his/her student's aggressiveness. One interpretation of this is that the student models the behavior of the instructor.
Karate is a complex psychomotor activity that enhances perceptual and motor skills. Karate encourages self-regulation and executive skills through self-discipline, self-control, self-respect, self-confidence, self-esteem, self-knowledge and self-improvement. It has been shown, when properly taught using a strong role model, peer group and value system, to be a effective method for problem behavior reduction. A significant improvement in temperament scale scores of intensity, adaptability and mood regulation is shown throughout the many studies carried out since the 50's. Some of the psychosocial benefits seen in martial arts studies probably originate from the physical activity itself. Exercise in many forms can promote psychological well-being amongst the practitioners. However, research which directly compares martial arts with other forms of physical exercise shows that a martial art produces positive psychosocial changes that are greater and more far-reaching than those produced by many other physical activities. These changes may have different cause and are probably due to other non-exercise-related aspects of Karate."
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Painballin' in Barbados
Set up a paintball game for my department at work that went off yesterday. A blast was had by all. Ended up with 20 people in total, a mixture of people from work and their friends, and that made for a wicked 10 v 10 ctf match on "Mongoose Island" up at Kendal Sporting. This arena is literally an island with ridges and bushes and lots of long grass, making for a great set of games.
The other team had an early lead after my group failed to get good cover points early on, and they quickly monopolized on this by taking out our advance squads and getting the flag back to their base for a quick win. We learned from our mistakes, however, and after a quick strategy session we developed a solid base strategy which we used to capture the next two wins in a row. We had about half the team set up a back row and laying down covering fire from the very beginning as they crested the first ridge, with myself as runner heading straight down the middle to take up a good spot close to the flag to assess the situation and then run in during a break in fire to grab the flag and fall back quickly. One of the others worked his way to the flag position by combat crawling around the side of the main path and taking up position where I could drop the flag off to him if I got shot (which I did... repeatedly...) and from which he could sneak back around to our base without the other team realising. The others took up covering positions closer in on the second ridge to protect us on the retreat.
This plan worked well on both occasions, but we suffered major casualties at the hands of a good friend of mine (and professional paintballer...) who formed the backbone of the other
squad. Unfortunately, this was not enough and we managed to take the day with a 2-1 win over the others. All in fun!
The free-for-all final run was another highlight, with everyone taking up tactical positions for an all-out war on one another. A few of us took up a position deep in the grass and were doing quite well. Myself and one other combat crawled into the high grass and managed to take out a few people before I had to fall back to a group position in a small cleared area with a tree. My ninja friend from earlier had set up next to the tree picking off people behind barrels and such. I joined him there, along with another latecomer, and we formed a solid defensive point until one of the IT guys from work made his way all the way around the island and came up on us from behind. He got a few shots off on us before we all pivoted on him and sprayed him in orange.
All-in-all, everyone had a blast, and I would recommend this sport to anyone. Working on setting up a competition team with a few of the guys from work, and hoping to convince the company they should give us money to do it too!!! My only wish? Get an urban setting made and fast! I want sniper positions!!!
The other team had an early lead after my group failed to get good cover points early on, and they quickly monopolized on this by taking out our advance squads and getting the flag back to their base for a quick win. We learned from our mistakes, however, and after a quick strategy session we developed a solid base strategy which we used to capture the next two wins in a row. We had about half the team set up a back row and laying down covering fire from the very beginning as they crested the first ridge, with myself as runner heading straight down the middle to take up a good spot close to the flag to assess the situation and then run in during a break in fire to grab the flag and fall back quickly. One of the others worked his way to the flag position by combat crawling around the side of the main path and taking up position where I could drop the flag off to him if I got shot (which I did... repeatedly...) and from which he could sneak back around to our base without the other team realising. The others took up covering positions closer in on the second ridge to protect us on the retreat.
This plan worked well on both occasions, but we suffered major casualties at the hands of a good friend of mine (and professional paintballer...) who formed the backbone of the other
squad. Unfortunately, this was not enough and we managed to take the day with a 2-1 win over the others. All in fun!The free-for-all final run was another highlight, with everyone taking up tactical positions for an all-out war on one another. A few of us took up a position deep in the grass and were doing quite well. Myself and one other combat crawled into the high grass and managed to take out a few people before I had to fall back to a group position in a small cleared area with a tree. My ninja friend from earlier had set up next to the tree picking off people behind barrels and such. I joined him there, along with another latecomer, and we formed a solid defensive point until one of the IT guys from work made his way all the way around the island and came up on us from behind. He got a few shots off on us before we all pivoted on him and sprayed him in orange.
All-in-all, everyone had a blast, and I would recommend this sport to anyone. Working on setting up a competition team with a few of the guys from work, and hoping to convince the company they should give us money to do it too!!! My only wish? Get an urban setting made and fast! I want sniper positions!!!
Tha Winnaaaas!
Tha Loosas!
Tha Loosas!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Cattlewash Camping Trip
Went camping this weekend with my dad, brother, some cousins and their dad, and a couple other people. We drove down to Cattlewash early on Friday afternoon to pitch our tents in a neat sheltered area just off the main road and spent the afternoon chilling out on the beach playing football. I was a bit sick with a URT Infection so I ended up spending a lot of the time chilling in the hammock we brought and reading Emperor: Death of Kings by Conn Iggulden (great series, great author...). When the sun dropped behind the hills we had our lanterns out with the cd player blaring rock music from my parents' era, sippin on wine / baileys and all-around chillin 'out.
After a long night of high winds and sheet rain, during which my brother and his friend's tent got blown down around them, soaking them and the tent and causing them to retreat to my dad's grand vitara for the rest of the night, my dad's other brother Bruce and his posse showed up bright and early in his Land Rover with french toast applenty! Unfortunately they couldn't stay, because it was his wife's birthday (we forgot when planning the trip!!). The rest of our group also showed up and we were off to hike up through the hills of the Scotland District National Park, which gets its name from the fact that certain areas look like the Highlands.
We spent about 3 hours total on the whole trip, hiking up the southern side of the Mount, having to search for the trail we normally use as it had overgrown through lack of use. Normally the route takes us on a brisk walk along the side of the slope, meandering up to a hill-crest that we then follow around to the top of Chalky Mt. After that it is just a quick climb up
through gaps in the rock to the top. The geology of the area is really neat, the whole range was uplifted in some kind of massive geological event millenia ago, and the crust that formed it is alternating layers of chalk and some kind of high ferrous content volcanic (maybe?) rock. Since then the chalk has eroded away much faster than the other rock, leaving the ridges that we walk along, the hills and mountains themselves, and lots of small run-off created valleys. On top of all of this is also a layer of the very clay-ey "soil" that is typical of the area.Normally, the descent is a quick reverse of the route up, with a semi-jog down the fairly steep, rambling slope of the base. When we were at the top, however, we decided to do something different and do the descent on the steeper northern side of the Mount and pop over to Windy Hill to look for salt crystals on the hill my dad's family used to own. This was a bit more tricky of a descent and involved an almost vertical climb down the face of the rock, but still safe enough for your average hiker avec guide. Case in point: my cousins and I used to run amok
around the hills at Windy Hill when we were probably about 6 or 8, and all of the kids in my family (including me obviously...) have been up to the Chalky Mount Summit at the tender age of 3. On this occasion one of the kids with us was 10, and he got down fine (although he had to be helped in some areas...). After the initial descent, the rest of the way down essentially involves following the crests in the hills all the way down to the coast, using the trees and other vegetation as handholds to climb down the steeper sections.All in all, it was a great day and lots of fun all around! Only a few minor injuries, not unexpected due to the nature of the hike. Nobody was hurt badly and we all had a blast! Anyone who visits Barbados, I would definitely recommend this hike. Unfortunately (or fortunately...) I don't think there are any guided tours, so you would have to find the route for yourself or maybe give me a call and convince my dad and I to show you the way ;)
Full album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10880&l=9cb5a&id=501494043
Rating:
Difficulty: Medium to Difficult - no marked trail, majority of the route is a combination of climbing / hiking with some parts requiring you to scale short sections of cliff face.
View: AMAZING. You can see the entire East Coast from the summit, really breathtaking.
Recommendation: Find someone who knows the area (and who you can trust...) to take you if you plan to do this hike, or at very least to explain the route. There is no marked trail so it would be easy to get stuck and not know where to go. There are no companies in Barbados that do this (that I know of) so you might have to wing-it, but its worth it when you get to the top.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Windows SP1 on Boot Camp!!!
Reposted from my other blog on freewebs, since I am sort of switching to this one and want to keep this article available. Enjoy!
Windows SP1 on Boot Camp!!!
Windows SP1 on Boot Camp!!!
Monday, Nov 19, 2007
In all the literature I have read on the topic this has been reiterated over and over again, "It is IMPOSSIBLE to use a Windows SP1 install disc with Boot Camp.". LIES I SAY! I refused to believe this, and so set out to disprove this theory earlier today... also I'm too lazy to make a Slipstream disc to to the install ^_^
Continuing on, it IS in fact quite possible to install Windows SP1 on a Mac using Boot Camp, the problem exists in the fact that the Drivers CD for some reason doesn't work, and there appears to be an issue in the booting up of the OS. I have read that this is because the Mac keyboard etc all connects through USB 2.0, which is not supported by SP1... not sure how accurate this is since DURING the installation these work... but anywho! Here's what I did :)
What you need:
Boot Camp (Now only available with Leapord)
A blank CD (for the Boot Camp drivers)
A Windows SP1 cd of your choice (or SP2 but really that defeats the purpose of this whole article...)
Fusion or Parallels Desktop
1. Install Fusion (or Parallels)
2. still in Mac OSX, go to the windows update site and download the network install version of the SP2 update
3. Install Boot Camp, make a driver CD and continue on to installing Windows SP1
4. If yours is anything like mine it will lock up just after most of the install when the computer is about to actually load windows, just do what I did and hard reboot (hold down the power key) and start up in Mac OSX (you may need to hold the option key to trigger mac to boot)
5. In OSX, load up Fusion (or parallels...) and you should see the Boot Camp Partition. Start the Boot Camp partition VM, Fusion will install the usual bizzniss, and allow you to finish installing SP1 (you should still have the cd in the drive).
6. When the SP1 installation finishes you should have a running version of windows with the VMware toolbox installed (optional i guess... I still installed it anyway), and Windows will be bugging you to activate it... You really dont have to since you will have to reactivate in like 20 minutes anyway.
7. Copy the Windows SP2 install file over to your running BootCamp VM via your medium of choice... Using the Network shared folder option works... I just used a USB key, simple and efficient and you dont even have to unplug it ^_^ more laziness.....
8. SP2 will install itself and reboot, do it... and youre done! Eject the windows cd, shut down the VM and put in the BootCamp Drivers cd. Reboot your Mac into Windoze now...
9. Windoze will boot up with reduced functionality, as theres no drivers! Don't bother trying to activate yet it wont work (no network... no drivers...).
10. Run the bootcamp cd and install all of the drivers (just say yes to everything...)
11. Activate windoze and youre off!!! You now have a perfectly lovely working version of Windows SP2 installed on your Boot Camp partition, without the hassle of having to "slipstream" an install.
Good Luck and Adieu!! ^_^
Peace.
Folkstone
Kayla and I have decided that we want to visit as many of the beaches here in Barbados as possible, and post all about them on my blog, pictures et al. So here goes....
Kayla's parents were here for two weeks over Christmas, so I took them on a round-the-island sightseeing trip, with a stop-off at Folkstone for some swimming/snorkeling. Unfortunately we didn't stay very long and so didn't take any photos. On the other hand, the beach at Folkstone isn't really much to look at so pictures would have been a waste anyway. The reef is really the only draw, and snorkeling there is usually quite nice but her parents did not want to swim out to the reef so after a short swim (the waves were kicking up quite a bit as well...) we piled back into the car and drove home.
Eventually we will come up with a "formal" rating system, but for the moment suffice to say that the beach side of Folkstone leaves much to be desired. There is also a large picnic area with a few picnic tables, but it isn't very nice. The reef there is somewhat of its saving grace, as it is a nice spot to go snorkeling, and it is a protected location too so there is no worry of boats or jet skis damaging the reef ecosystem.
Rating
Beach: 3 /10
Reef: 6.5 /10
Amenities: 5 / 10
Kayla's parents were here for two weeks over Christmas, so I took them on a round-the-island sightseeing trip, with a stop-off at Folkstone for some swimming/snorkeling. Unfortunately we didn't stay very long and so didn't take any photos. On the other hand, the beach at Folkstone isn't really much to look at so pictures would have been a waste anyway. The reef is really the only draw, and snorkeling there is usually quite nice but her parents did not want to swim out to the reef so after a short swim (the waves were kicking up quite a bit as well...) we piled back into the car and drove home.
Eventually we will come up with a "formal" rating system, but for the moment suffice to say that the beach side of Folkstone leaves much to be desired. There is also a large picnic area with a few picnic tables, but it isn't very nice. The reef there is somewhat of its saving grace, as it is a nice spot to go snorkeling, and it is a protected location too so there is no worry of boats or jet skis damaging the reef ecosystem.
Rating
Beach: 3 /10
Reef: 6.5 /10
Amenities: 5 / 10
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
