Xed’s Weblog

Been using Firefox since early 0.x betas and haven’t really ever been unhappy with it. It has progressed a lot since the early days and is far superior product to any version of IE. However, after trying Google Chrome last year, there are many elements that I liked about but most importantly is the noise free interface. The major drawback at the time was the lack of extensions in Chrome. Well, that has changed and they are now available for Chrome as well, including my all time favorites AdBlock and LastPass…

Made the switch, at least temporarily to see if I stay hooked.

Since acquiring my new Can-Am Outlander, I have been on the lookout for a good second hand trailer. I finally came across one for sale on Kijiji Montreal recently. Unfortunately, neither vehicles that Tracey or myself own have a trailer hitch. So I had to sink some money on that as well.

After some grief on Tracey’s part arranging to have the hitch and receiver installed on her Equinox (bigger towing capacity than my little Matrix), it all got done today.

I took this candid portrait in early December of Tracey’s dad, Ross Moore, at his birthday party… I liked it so I thought I would share it. Mr. Moore is a veteran of WW2 and is hard of hearing due to concussion from a tank shell. He also had shrapnel damage to one of his legs so he is a bit unstable but surprisingly mobile considering his age, 87… And a very generous, lively and nicest person you will ever meet…

Back from spending the holidays in New Brunswick with my family. Unfortunately, my brother Darren and his girlfriend Diane could not make it up to Fredericton at the same time as Tracey and myself were in town, maybe next time. We arrived on Boxing Day and went to my Aunt Debbie for a Patterson pot-luck supper with all our relatives. Saw some of my cousins for the first time in many years (easily 15 or more). Also went to see the movie Sherlock Holmes with my friend Nick, who was also in NB visiting family. The movie was quite good. For new years celebrations, we went to my uncle’s place and ate, drank and played charades.

The drive down to New Brunswick was great, the roads were great the whole way and pretty much empty, which is the norm for that province. It is almost like one is driving through a nuclear fallout zone, for the lack of vehicles on their 2-lane highways. The way back to Montreal was quite the trip, started out with snow falling for the first hour and half, cleared up until we got to Quebec city, where it was snowing pretty much all the way home.

Well here is hoping that 2010 will bring more sanity in the economy and start to turn around on the job front so less people are struggling to pay their bills or worse, losing their homes to the banks… With large companies outsourcing quality North American jobs to India and other cheap labour traps, I suspect that it will be many years before their CEOs realize that a reduction of “consumers” who can afford to buy their expensive products and services ultimately means less profits for their shareholders.

Tracey and myself did some local shopping while we were down. She bought herself a nice full-face masked helmet so we can both ride on my Can-Am Outlander 650 MAX legally. With the recent snowfall I will need to figure out if I can get the Outlander to the main Quad trail here in Saint-Lazare using one of the secondary access routes near our home. It is not utilized often and mostly by snowmobilers so it isn’t packed down as much for wheels. If not, it means we’d have to ride 3 to 4km to the street where the main entrance to the ATV trail is, which is risky with the SQ potentially pulling us over for being on one of the residential mains… I really need a trailer and a hitch.

After having been back for a few hours in our home, I’ve really come to appreciate our wood stove, back to 25°C temperatures…