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Thursday July 2, 2009
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add to furlI took my parents out to see Public Enemies tonight (capsule review: avoid at all costs; a dreadful, unfocused movie the only redeeming feature of which is the typeface used for the credits). Because it was opening night I thought buying tickets online in advance would be a good idea, and as we were going to the SilverCity in Burlington, this led me to the Cineplex website for ordering.
Other than being forced to become a "member" of Cineplex in order just to buy tickets, the purchase process went smoothly. The confirmation screen contained this strong directive:
You might think, from this message, what with all its MUST emphasis, that I needed to print the form out and enter my "booking number" to be able to pick up my tickets. Lacking a printer with which to do this, I ended up creating a PDF of the confirmation, transferring it to my mobile phone, and then ensuring that my mobile phone had enough juice to stay alive until we got to the theater.
When we arrived at the theater I went straight to the ticket pick-up machine, clicked on the "Pick Up Tickets" option, and was presented with the option of simply swiping my credit card to pick up the tickets. I did this, the tickets spit out, and I was on my way in about 8 seconds.
I wish they would align the instructions on their ticket-buying website with the reality of their ticket picking-up system: it would save a lot of needless confirmation form printing and hassle.
Today only one song is needed. It is worth a listen. Click to Play: Bettye LaVette - talking old soldiers We see birds every day of the year on An Island Walk.
Via rail once again offered free travel for serving members of the armed forces and a 50% reduction for family members.
Milan Lucic, Andy McDonald, Dan Cleary and Stephane Robidas were among the surprise names on the list of 46 players invited to the Canadian Olympic hockey team’s summer orientation camp Thursday.
That rampaging river didn’t quite subside into a trickle on Day 2 of the National Hockey League’s free agent period, but the player flow did become a little more restrained.
Keeping track of a beluga whale that entered the Hillsborough River earlier this month has become somewhat of a ‘Where’s Waldo’ game as officials with the Environment Department continue to receive conflicting reports.
Electric Moves had all of the right moves in winning in 1:56.4 for the fastest trip of the night Thursday at the Charlottetown Driving Park Entertainment Centre.
MONTREAL— Brian Gionta said that longtime friend Scott Gomez didn’t encourage him to sign with the Montreal Canadiens, but the two are delighted to be on the same team again.
OTTAWA— Jason Spezza is Dany Heatley’s close friend and has spoken to Heatley often during his disgruntled teammate’s standoff with the Ottawa Senators.
While most Islanders waved flags of celebration this week or ate cake, Fisheries Minister Neil LeClair was contemplating the icing.
Tourism Charlottetown launched another new tourism product Thursday night with the new P.E.I. Sound and Light Show.
Oyster and quahog fishers are now allowed back into the East River as the closure of the six-kilometre stretch Tuesday has been lifted.
P.E.I. retailers and consumers are being asked to check their fridges and freezers for beef products that may be contaminated with E.
The crew of a Victoria Class submarine took a break from some command training exercises and docked in the Charlottetown harbour over the weekend.
One hundred of Prince Edward Island’s top amateur golfers are scheduled to tee off this morning at the Brudenell River Golf Course in round one of the 2009 P.
SYLVANIA, Ohio — Morgan Pressel, Song-Hee Kim and Laura Diaz made the most of the defending champion’s absence at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.
Registration is at 12 noon. Ride leaves at 1 pm. Cost is $10 per driver; $5 per passenger. Ride starts at teh Bloomfield Park. There will be a BBQ at 4 pm; and prizes will be awarded. Donations will be accepted, as well. For more information, contact Joey or Debbie at 859-3775.
What a great way to enjoy the roads and scenery, and help out in a good cause, as well!
Until next time, keep the dirty side down.
Biker Deb
SUMMERSIDE — The world is once again beating a path to Summerside’s door this fall as the western capital plays host to the 2009 World Junior ‘A’ Challenge set for Credit Union Place.
SUMMERSIDE – Businesses and consumers need to realize that a blended tax is coming to Prince Edward Island and they must be prepared for its impact, says the president of the Greater Summerside Chamber of Commerce.
Friday
Manor Yard Sale
Organized by Maplewood Manor Auxiliary, Alberton. On manor grounds, rain or shine – it will be held indoors in auditorium if it rains.
SUMMERSIDE
It’s a summer season with an entirely Island feel. Harbourfront Theatre’s showcasing what P.
SUMMERSIDE – A Summerside man has been placed on probation after pushing his partner and throwing some of her things out the window.
Summer is when P.E.I. shines. It’s the time the Island showcases its assets to the world, from its musicians, food and sandy beaches to unique scenic locales and down-home hospitality that’s second to none.
ALBERTON
Stamp collector Rene Richard could barely contain his excitement Thursday during Canada Post’s official launch of the Stompin’ Tom Connors postage stamp.
Summerside – Sections of Water Street left unpaved are at the top of the priority list for road crews.
Rated: 14 Accompaniment (Coarse Language, Substance Abuse, Violence)
Runs: 102 minutes
Director: Christine Jeffs
Country: US
Released: 2009
Starring: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, Jason Spevack, Steve Zahn
Rose Lorkowski (Amy Adams) once led a charmed life, a high-school cheerleading captain in love with the team quarterback. Then life took a spiral downhill and now after 20 years, Rose is a single mom working as a maid. Her sister Norah (Emily Blunt) is a slacker still living at home with their dad (Alan Arkin), a failed salesman who never met a get-rich-quick-scheme he didnt like. When Rose needs to get her son into a good school she convinces her ner do-well sister to go into business with her cleaning up after crime scenes. In finding success in doing these dirty jobs, Rose and Norah not only turn their professional lives around, they discover things about themselves and each other they never dreamed possible. This terrifically quirky and entertaining character comedy is led by two-time Oscar-nominee Adams. Here she etches a very recognizable character - the small-time girl who achieved greatness in school only to make some bad personal choices and flame out after graduation. Mustering all the self-esteem she can find, Adams Rose shines brightly despite all the obstacles standing in her way. She and Blunt as Norah are flat-out wonderful together. Blunt plays the lazy sister who recoils at the thought of her siblings new money-making plan but becomes fascinated by the things people leave behind after they die. Its a keenly observed character and Blunt is subtle perfection. As their father, Arkin is homespun, understanding and endearing. Standouts also include Steve Zahn as Roses one-time high school boyfriend and now married lover and Clifton Collins Jr. as his rival for Roses affections... A rich and revealing character study revolving around two siblings with small-town hopes and dreams. Every character, no matter how little screen time, is beautifully written and acted. - Pete Hammond, Hollywood.com
!["=D>"]("{SMILIES_PATH}/eusa_clap.gif" "\"Applause\"")
... I had the pleasure of a brief chat with Steve Coast, OpenStreetMap progenitor, at reboot11 last week. Steve is a kind and voluble man, and I learned a lot about the skills you need to propose a crazy idea ("let's make an open home-brew street map of the world!") and have people follow you.
Now that vast tracts of the world are actually in OpenStreetMap, Steve suggested that the next level of data gathering might be collecting points for street addresses. This isn't exactly at a "we've 100% decided how to do this" state in the OpenStreetMap universe, but there's a generally accepted standard that people are using and the map is rendering, so that's good enough to plunge in. So I did. Here's how.
First, I headed out into the field with my GPS-equipped Nokia N95 mobile phone running the free WhereAmI application that allows GPS waypoints to be annotated (note that, because of nature of the N95, you likely have to sign this application before installing on your mobile).
Once the GPS had found enough satellites to find its location I started walking down the street. With the Annotate tab selected in WhereAmI I pressed the centre button on the N95's joystick when I was walking by the centre-point of each house, and added the house number as the "Name" of the annotation:
One way up the street I did this on foot; the other way I did it on a bicycle (the street's not very busy, so it was easy to amble). When I was finished, the WhereAmI Named tab had annotations for every house number on the street:
When I got back home I selected Options | Named | Save Named To File... in WhereAmI, and this exported all of my annotations as a GPX file to the E: drive of the phone:
Next I started up the built-in File Manager application on the phone, navigated to the E: drive (or "memory card"), found the exported file -- called wami-annotations-03.gpx -- and sent it to my Mac laptop by Bluetooth:
With the annotations file on my laptop, I was now ready to add the addresses to OpenStreetMap. Because of a peculiarity with OpenStreetMap importing -- it won't import a GPX file that consists entirely of waypoint and no tracks -- I first had to use GPSBabel to convert the GPX file into a native OSM-format file. I selected "GPX XML" as the Input File Type and "OpenStreetMap data files" as the output file type:
With the OSM-formatted file now in hand I fired up JOSM, the desktop OpenStreetMap editor, downloaded the existing map data for my neighbourhood, and then loaded (simply with File | Open) the OSM file with my annotations: this loaded my house number points into the map, and I was then able to edit each one, placing it to the right or left of the street and adding metadata to each point, specifically:
- addr:housenumber - for the house number, i.e. 343
- addr:street - for the street name, i.e. Progreston Road
- addr:city - for the city name, i.e. Carlisle
- addr:state - for the state abbreviation, i.e. ON
- addr:country - for the country abbreviation, i.e. CA
More details on the standards to use are on the OpenStreetMap wiki. The result was a map that looked like this:
Finally, I uploaded my changes to OpenStreetMap -- File | Upload to OSM -- and then went to the web-based Potlatch editor where I was able to see the satellite layer under my newly-loaded points and fine-tune the position of each housenumber so that the point fell over the house itself:
The result should be that, once the map tiles have rendered, you should see house numbers on the street my parents live on in Ontario.
It's not hard to imagine a modified OpenStreetMap-house numbering-optimized version of the WhereAmI application that would smooth over some of the steps in this process, but even with the standard setup I used it wasn't all that difficult, and the entire process, including field time, was less than an hour.
The easiest way to lose weight is to restructure your diet. Typically we eat too much food in the evening and not enough during the day. This rountine promotes weight gain, especially around the abdominal area. You can fight back against fat by learning how to eye your serving size. 
Most Holistic Nutritionists agree you can eat almost anything as long as you portion control it. It’s when we eat the wrong food excessivrely - ie: too large of portion, which is where we get into dietary trouble. By applying some simple rules of thumb, you will be able to portion control most foods.
“Eye” Your Serving Size Chart
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1 cup of beverage= 1 closed fist, example: juice, milk
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1 cup of dry good or vegetable = 2 hands cupped example: salad, pretzels
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½ cup fruit, dry good = 1 hand cupped example: ounce nuts, berries
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3 ounces of cooked meat, fish or poultry = palm of hand
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1 tablespoon of sauce, spread or dressing = 2 thumbs
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1 ounce of cheese = one thumb
It is especially important to eye your serving size when eating out at restaurants. If your serving size is too large bring the rest home and reheat for lunch the next day! Use the serving size chart next time your at a potluck or buffet sytly restaurant to keep your portions under control.
It may also help to preplan your meals. It’s the easiest way to stay on track and keep your portions under control. When your organized at meal time it makes grocery shopping much easier too! So lose more weight by keeping your portions in check, and enjoy the benefits of improved health and wellness.
Wasabi Potato Salad
12 servings
Preparation Time: 20 Minutes
Cooking Time: 15 Minutes
8 medium Russet potatoes (about 2 2/3 pounds) cut into 1-inch pieces
8 slices bacon
2 cups mayonnaise
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
1 to 2 tablespoons wasabi paste
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped celery
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons snipped chives
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
In medium saucepan, add potatoes to 2 inches boiling salted water. Return to a boil; reduce heat to medium. Cook, covered, about 12 minutes or until tender; drain and cool. Meanwhile, in large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes or until crisp. Drain bacon on paper towels; reserve pan drippings. Cut bacon into small pieces; set aside. In large bowl, combine mayonnaise, 1/4 cup reserved bacon drippings, horseradish, wasabi, and mustard, salt and pepper until blended. Add potatoes, bacon, celery, onion, chives and parsley; tossing carefully until combined. Cover; refrigerate until serving.
Tip:
Wasabi is a Japanese condiment similar to horseradish. Wasabi paste can be found in the Asian food section of some supermarkets. An additional tablespoon of prepared horseradish may be substituted for the wasabi paste.
Calories: 424
Carbohydrates: 19
Fat: 38
Fiber: 2
Cholesterol: 25
Proteins: 5
Sodium: 646...
Anyone have any more info on this? By the sounds of this the driver was heading up Bunbury after coming off of the bridge and was turning right on to Mason? If so this was more than likely in front of my house.
![":shock:"]("{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_eek.gif" "\"Shocked\""){kind=icon}
... HUNTER RIVER - The Village of Hunter River is planning a Summer Kick Off Party on Saturday, July 4 as friends, neighbors and guests are invited to the Dr.
Provincial fire marshal David Blacquiere and his staff are investigating two fires and dealing with the impact of a tragic traffic death this week.
Mary is a young artist who’s afflicted by a vampiric disease, needing blood to survive. Meanwhile, a blackclad killer is on her tail, and isn’t shy about offing people along the way. Mexican-made, in English. (The opening credits come fifteen minutes into a 92-minute movie! Whose idea was that?)
Director: Juan Lopez Moctezuma
Writer: Malcolm Marmorstein
Cast: [...]Tourism Charlottetown is preparing to launch another new tourism product this summer with the new P.