Even though she’s named after an American state, and she doesn’t have a hope of actually winning, Montana is my pick for Canadian Idol. Amazing talent, quirky personality, interesting dress sense. The rest of the 22 just seem bland in comparison.
I’m still amazed that I’m a father. I’m even more amazed that so far I don’t seem to be making a horrible job of it. I may not be the best father in the world, but I think I’m doing OK.
Fathers Day gives me pause to think about all that; to think about how surprisingly fulfilling the whole thing is. I was never really interested in kids and took a little persuading to finally go for it, but now I have one of my own I realise how incredibly special it is. Aidan shares half my genetic code, so there’s nothing more fascinating than watching him grow from a tiny helpless baby into a little boy who is already trying to assert his own independence. How will he turn out? How much will he be like me? How much will he be like Jen? Whatever happens, I will always be proud of my son and love him unconditionally. Right now I think he loves me back, but I probably won’t be so sure when he’s 14.
Fathers Day is special to me for another reason too though. My Dad died a few days before Fathers Day last year, so all the advertising leading up to Fathers Day brought back all that pain and loss that I felt last year, especially being so far from the rest of that side of my family. I can console myself by knowing that he lead a full, good and happy life, but it ended too soon and that will always hurt.
Since Apple have decided to start offering non-DRM music tracks on iTunes (and good for them), I decided to give it a try. The interface is incredibly smooth. I already had an Apple account from when I bought my Powerbook so I tried to log in with that and it automatically converted that account to an iTunes account. From there it was as easy as finding a track/album I liked and clicking “Buy”. The tracks download in the background letting you continue to browse and they get added to your iTunes library when the download finishes. No wonder iTunes is so popular.
The DRM-free selection is still fairly limited but I’m hoping it will grow, and more record labels will release their music in DRM-free formats. The tracks cost 40 cents more because in addition to the lack of DRM, they are sampled at a higher quality (not that my untrained ears would notice).
As for the music itself, I bought the entire KT Tunstall album, Eye to the Telescope. I’ve listened to it on the way to work for the last couple of mornings and I’m generally impressed. There are a couple of tracks I love (Black Horse and the Cherry Tree and Suddenly I See), some that I like and a few that I consider just filler.
There are not many vehicles you could drive at 270KPH head first into a concrete wall and survive. Luckily Robert Kubica was in one of them.
When I saw that accident I was sure Robert was either dead or seriously injured. I was absolutely positive we wouldn’t see him racing again this season.
I was wrong. Robert Kubica has a headache and a sprained ankle. He may be fit enough to race at Indianapolis this weekend. Wow.
Congratulations to Robert for being alive. Congratulations to Lewis on winning his first GP. Congratulations to Heidfeld and Wurz for well earned podium positions.
That’s it from me, I have to go send Massa and Fisi copies of the Highway Code (red means STOP guys!).
The F1 circus is in Montreal once again.
On the way to work this morning I saw on many street corners groups of men wearing bright red shirts looking very bemused and very lost. Why is it always the Ferrari fans who don’t know where they’re going?
The stores are festooned with chequered flag bunting and the number of supercars on the roads seems to have quadrupled overnight. The whole town has that F1 party atmosphere even if the Crescent street showcase is nothing more than a place to get sold a credit card.
In Montreal the race is almost a footnote. When a circuit is this close to a city it’s just an excuse to get drunk and party. Montreal is probably a lot like Monaco in that respect, except you’re still solvent by the end of the weekend.
My predictions? Massa will win. Hamilton will come second because it’s tradition now. Ralf will hit the wall. There will be a riotous exodus from NewTown when Jacques starts singing.
My wife has been having secret email conversations with some of my work colleagues. This is a good thing.
I recently had a conversation with work colleague E about the universal remote control he has. It sounded cool, so I relayed the conversation to Jen. She didn’t know work colleague E, but she did know work colleague D. So she emailed work colleague D asking him for the email address of work colleague E. Work colleague D sent Jen the email address of work colleague E. Jen emailed work colleague E asking for details of said remote. Work colleague E replied with the details of the remote and where he bought it.
The result of all this clandestine communication was a belated birthday gift for me of a Logitech Harmony 880 universal remote control. It has replaced the four remote controls we had littering the living room before and was very easy to set up. The press of a single button turns all the necessary things on to watch TV or listen to music. It has full control of the TV, the PVR, the receiver and even the Mac Mini. Sadly the IR interface in the Mac has a limited number of commands, but that’s a limitation of the Mac, not the remote.
So if you’re in the market for a universal remote, I highly recommend the Harmony 880, available at many online retailers. Or you could just mention it to your wife.