Schools out for SUMMER!!

[Pasta-power 7]

Summer is HERE and this is the official simtropolis topic!

[Slashback 136]

I think we need more to talk about than just summer...

[erbush 8]

lol Summertime is when I don't play World of Warcraft.. all the kids are around and they crowd everything up on my server.. I take a break until school starts again lol.

[joshriddle 29]

I'm glad thats for sure. But it has been almost 20 days for me allready. Really I plan on finishing up my City Journal Autry and making it a downtown by the end of summer, and maybe do a few other little things. Other then that, sleeping, eating, breathing, and playing SimCity 4 while being around here...

[-Lexus- 2]

Meh, I basically had no school since May and Im not really a fan of the summer. Its to hot for my liking.  

[Larks2242 251]

Little late school has been out since last month

[ilikehotdogsalot 308]

I want to find the High School Tips and Tricks thread, I was posting there during my summer in transition from middle school to high school, now I'm going to my last year of high school. 4 years already, wow...

[astronelson 339]

It's time for me to break out the gloves and scarves, we're in winter here in the Southern Hemisphere. I've already been on break for a couple of weeks already.

[Larks2242 251]

Originally posted by: astronelson

It's time for me to break out the gloves and scarves, we're in winter here in the Southern Hemisphere..quote>

Your so backwards from us

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Originally posted by: Larks2242

Originally posted by: astronelson

It's time for me to break out the gloves and scarves, we're in winter here in the Southern Hemisphere..quote>

Your so backwards from us quote>

Those of us in the Northern Hemisphere tend to believe that the Southern Hemisphere doesn't exist.  Well, you should broaden your horizons.  abcvs is in New Zealand, and others are in Australia, and South America.  It is getting mighty cold in Patagonia right now because they are in the equivalent of our January.

Don't let the nice weather in South Africa fool you.  They are in high winter, but they are not very far South, and with two oceans on their shores, things get well moderated.  Get out your globe, and you will see that most of Africa is between the two tropic lines with the equator running straight through Uganda (hot, hot, all the time).

So shed an icicle for the people at the antipodes.

Meanwhile, back to topic, it is summer where I am.  In southwestern Ontario, today is clear and bright.  It is time for me to do laundry (it is scheduled around here) so I have to end this post.  Yuk, yuk, and a-w-a-a-a-a-y.

09:04 ... and I am back.  The machine is whirling, or whatever it does, so I have about an hour (timer running).

Now is the summer of my great content.  Unlike the king whose opening line is overweeningly inverted at the beginning of the paragraph, I am not expecting to die any time soon.  I am almost settled in my new digs, and I no longer have to cut the grass, weed the beds, worry about the septic system, pay for utilities, clean the furnace filter, etc.  Living in a senior's apartment, albeit tiny compared to my house, is a blessing.  There is a dove cooing in the trees off my balcony, and it never shuts up.  I guess it is doing an IFF signal or something.  I haven't seen it, but I have a pair of 7 x 50 binoculars, so I will, eventually.  Instead of bustling around my house, hastily slopping down my morning mocha, I take it out on the balcony and sip it with gusto.  Instead of going out to pull weeds, I am sitting at my machine posting this.  I have now come into a more idle state than I have in a long, long time.  Many people living here are waiting for God, but I am not.  I have things to do, things to say, and He'll have to drag me off, kicking and screaming.

So, I am looking forward to a summer of relaxation and leisure, and the fall, winter and spring too.  For those of you who are still treading the wheel in the rat cage, have a good summer.

[Pasta-power 7]

Im going to summer camp and doing lots of fun stuff there next week!

[joshriddle 29]

I think we definately need to talk more then what is going to happen in our lives. Hurricanes, the oil spill, other disasters. But in the way of me I have begun to start sleeping from my usual 9:00 to 7:00 to 11:00 to 9:00, which, that is, correct me if I am wrong, but that is still 10 hours of sleep, which I think I need 13 to stay clearly awake during the day, I always am sleepy during the day, sometimes where I need a nap, but I can't take naps unless the sky is black outside and all I hear is the clock ticking, instead of a half-bright room, brother playing, the TV, you get the idea. I also intend on making all my regions into a one world government by the end of summer.

And I don't know how many people live in an area where it can get up to 105 degrees in the summer, it is only the 4th of July and it got up to 100 a few days ago, a few years ago it was 107, so I usually hit thee pool and water park. Thing is our car has no A/C, it broke, so I can't even stand to sit in that car for a matter of 10 minutes without beggining to sweat like a pig!

And no I don't mean a dictatorship when I say my regions will become a one-world government.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Well, it is hot as hades here in my place today.  I am pricing air conditioners, and I think I found one I can afford at Canadian Tire in Exeter, which is a short hop down the road.  Now, if I can get a driver to take me down there and pick it up, maybe I can find a way to install it.  It is 10K BTU, which is not quite one ton, but in this small place, it will do the job.

Anyway, I developed my new water world quite a bit.  Then I got tired of that and switched to a land based scenario in the Fairview map.  All profitable so far, but very small population in five tiles.  I've come back to SC4 now because I have wine 1.2-RC6 which seems to have fixed its paging problems.

Meanwhile, the canyons of cardboard have been reduced to a few hills, but I still haven't found the mother lode that contains my garbage bags.  And I have a big bandage on my leg which means I can't shower so I have to sponge bath and everything is very sweaty.  I found my razor and reduced my face fungus to its usual stubble of fuzz, so that's a relief.

I finally got my printer installed today, so I have a grocery list for Tuesday when the service takes us down to the grocery store, etc.  This is once a week and only costs $5 per trip.  It will be interesting to see what happens to the grocery bill with the new HST in place.  The GST (5%) and PST (8%) have been harmonized into this new tax grab.  HST is on everything, but some things used to be on exempt schedules for either GST or PST.  However, the HST(13%) is the same idea as a VAT.  Watch it get hiked to the same as the VAT in the U.K.  I understand it is over 20% now (someone correct me).  The mandarins of Byetown always find ways to squeeze more out of us po' folks.

So now, my happy summer is turning sour.  If I get the air system, things will improve.

I am also in the market for a new microwave, since mine died, but it will have to wait for the August stipend.  I am looking for a better desktop computer, too.  This old box is on its last legs, and some of it is no longer supported by anybody.  I will be spending the month looking for a brand new system.  Nothing special.  Core 2 dual with 4GB of ram and about 10 USB ports for my peripherals.  One or two hard disks, nothing very large, as I don't store much stuff.  I have all the printers, screens, keyboards and mice I need, and two free-standing hard disks of rather large capacity and a free-standing CD drive, so I don't need much except a new processor, some new disks, some new DVD drives (1 or 2) and lots of ports.  AND NO SOFTWARE, just a nice standard bios.

[WillG_75 19]

Summer? What's that? Oh yeah that....I haven't had that since High School

[Easy Bakes 253]

So do toilets realy swirl backwards inthe southern hemisphre? ( counter clock wise ) or left to right.

[hym 358]

Originally posted by: Easy Bakes

So do toilets realy swirl backwards inthe southern hemisphre? ( counter clock wise ) or left to right.quote>

More than anything, the direction a toilet flushes is determined by the shape of its bowl and the shape of it's discharge openings.

[Strategist01 0]

The only real effect of the Coriolis effect, is to affect hurricanes/typhoons/ whatever else different people call them. In order for there to be a visible difference in the way the water spins down the drain, the water would have to be perfectly still, and the bowl would have to be in the shape of a hemisphere, and the plughole in the middle. As the act of taking the plug out disturbs the water enough, the effect is lost.

Now onto something more relevant. It's winter here, yet I am wearing shorts and a t-shirt. It's pretty warm in here, although outside is cold enough for me to want to go back inside immediately. Oh, and it's dark. Far too dark this early in the morning. The sun only comes up at about 7:30; it's around 7:00 here now.

I have like a week left of my school holidays, then it's back to school...walking in freezing weather to school with no scarf or gloves is not funny. All I have is a blazer, jersey and long pants to keep me warm. The classrooms are usually warm, although there is no heating in the school.

Eh, can't think of anything else right now!

[Pleasedonotcry 1]

Originally posted by: A Nonny Moose

Originally posted by: Larks2242

Originally posted by: astronelson

It's time for me to break out the gloves and scarves, we're in winter here in the Southern Hemisphere..quote>

Your so backwards from us quote>

Those of us in the Northern Hemisphere tend to believe that the Southern Hemisphere doesn't exist.    abcvs is in New Zealand, and others are in Australia, and South America.  It is getting mighty cold in Patagonia right now because they are in the equivalent of our January.

quote>

It could be the reason that Northern Hemisphere cover more land than the Southern Hemisphere therefore there is a notion that it doesn't exist due to little land mass in the Southern Hemisphere. And not many people live in the Southern Hemisphere.  See Northern Hemisphere Map http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hemisferio_Norte.png

--------------

Actually school isn't out for the summer since there are schools and universities that operate during the summer. Like in University at Phoenix, courses are still running.

Since the economy is in the toilet, I guess I'm going to take some courses to graduate faster.

[Patricius Maximus 236]

Well, here in Canada the students generally get a Summer break (like the Americans) which begins this year on June 24 and ends after Labour Day (September 6). I'm no longer in that system myself, due to having graduated, but Summers in my home town are usually quite pleasant, although they are quite cool by most American standards.

[Red Lightning 7]

J-man-42, no summer is not here! its winter where I live! lol

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Right now, I could use a little winter.  My place is hotter than the middle tail race of hades.  Outside temp. predicted to go to 33 C and the humidex to 42.

The source editor on this site sucks.  It really has trouble with spans when you change text colour.  It gets the closing span symbol in the absolutely wrong place, and I am always having to edit it, especially in quotes.

[joshriddle 29]

Well, it is getting a little cooler around here, considering the hurricane, it gave us a little bit of a treat. It made up to about 90 a few days ago, and now it is starting to get up to about 100 today.

There is one big thing in our backyard that I absolutely hate. During the summer, there are a bunch of wasps and hornets that fly around in the backyard. And I got stung by one last year, and the mosquitos are very, ughhhhhhhhh.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Mosquitos are the national bird of Northern Ontario.  Some of them are big enough to carry off a small dog or child.  Fortunately with the hot weather, the black flies have died off.  They are a spring phenomenon.

If you are having trouble with wasps and/or bees, you either live close to a farm or a forest.  In either case, you need to find the appropriate repellent and wear it.  Stings are not funny.  If you have been stung once, you may have been sensitized.  If so, and you get stung again, you may go into anaphylactic shock which is usually fatal when unexpected.  If you have any doubts about it see your physician.

[joshriddle 29]

I have been sensitive to bug bites and stings ever since I was born. My first bee sting came from a honeybee, right in the neck. I think I thought there was a fly or mosquito on my neck so I whacked it, and then it got revenge. Once it stung me I whacked it again and it died and got stuck on my pants. My second one was when I stepped on one, except this one I think was a bumblebee, considering it stung a bit worse then that honeybee did. Then I think it was last year, I was walking around somewhere. And I flailed my arms, (can't remember why), and there was a giant wasps nest back there, and it whacked it and it came up and stung my wrist, my brother was with me and he got stung too. And boy that wasp just made my arm swell up like a basketball. It was red, and puffy, and huge. After awhile it started itching.

I think that had to have been a small, less hurtful wasp, considering it really wasn't as bad as I had expected. So I have been stung by some sort of bee or insect 3 times.

But I remeber my wasp sting, I really didn't feel well the rest of the day. Started getting a little dizzy, and my stomach hurt. Not like I was going to vomit but you know.

And I live in the city, but our neighborhood is very wooded, lots and lots of trees.

And it is getting muggy and humid around here. It is only 94 or 95, but it feels like 100. (fahrenheit) It is like 35 or 36 celsius

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Josh, don't fool around.  Go see your allergist.  It sounds like you are getting more and more sensitive to these venoms.

Well, today I got to go grocery shopping for the first time since I got to my new place.  The local senior's service runs a bus on  Tuesday morning that arrives as the big Weston's (Independent (hah) Store) outlet in Exeter, the next real town south.  I set up the pharmacy to transfer my prescriptions from the other place, then wandered around picking up a few comestables.  The fridge in this apartment doesn't have any ice trays and neither did the market.  I'll have to go to Canadian Tire, I guess.  It will be an excuse to use up my Canadian Tire Money (discount scrip they issue when you buy things).  I wonder how much CTC scrip I'll get when I buy my air conditioner from them?

Anyway, this is a huge grocery store, and it takes quite a while to get around it.  I got most of what I wanted, but I left my list on the table at home and didn't get any breakfast cerials, so that waits to next week and I am stuck with hot oatmeal.  (pant, pant).  Maybe I'll just stick to scrambled egg sandwiches because its quicker.

I bought some ice cream.  One of the new President's Choice flavours is Chocolate Cherry, with hunks of both in it.  Mmmmm!  and in this heat, really appreciated.  I am going to have some bananas cut up with some of this for dessert tonight.

It is so hot up here, I gave up and slept for about three hours with a big fan blowing on me this afternoon.  Now I understand the priciple of La Siesta, señores.  It is cooler now at 20:28 but the keyboard still feels wet.

So that's high summer in south western Ontario on the shores of beautiful Lake Huron.  The lake is about 10Km west of here, and I wish it was closer.

[joshriddle 29]

Eh. It has almost been a year since I saw my doctor for a checkup,might not be going for too much longer now, maybe he may say something.

Now I do believe I am getting more sensitive to them, but not on a scale where the next one is deadly. But if it is worse then last, whether bee or wasp, I probably will definately see my doctor.

But the main thing with me, during the summer, as you would expect, I always like to go swimming. And whenever I get out of our on-ground pool in our backyard I get a bunch of red bumps all over me, that itch like crazy, same situation I have now. It is either dry skin, or too much chlorine.

Recently I just coated myself with lotion, and soaked in an oatmeal bath, and then got out of the tub, took an allergy pill, and I got another coat of lotion, and an writing this post sitting wrapped up loosely in a clean soft blanket, like an egyptian's robe.

In the way of shopping, here in Fort Worth, Texas, a brand new chain of retailers opened up called Aldi, and we stopped in there one day when we were out by Ridgmar Mall, it was something like Safeway, Piggly Wiggly, or any other small retailer. They also did things a bit differently. First of all, the shopping carts were latched together, and if you stuck a quarter in one of them, it would unlatch. And when you were done shopping, you went up to checkout, and they would have 2 people there working. You would pay 6 cents for a paper bag, and you got to keep those paper bags. You would also bag your own groceries. Now I would bet you are wondering why they do all this? well,

1: So they won't have to pay someone to go out and get shopping carts, and keep cars from getting damaged by the carts, and keep the parking lot uncluttered.

2: Paying for your own bags and keeping them makes it where the store won't have to buy so many plastic bags, saving the customer money

3: Bagging your own groceries, that makes it so they won't have to pay extra to have someone bag it for you, saving even more money.

So really it is a good store, lots cheaper then WalMart. And they only have the essential foods, nothing like WalMart and you see it and go ooooooohhhhh, I want that! Just what you need. Unlike the 2 hours and $200 spent at WalMart, we only spent $63 and we were out of there in a matter of 30 minutes, so we may start making a effort to go shopping there, just like with Safeway up in the rural, forest mountain town of Evergreen, Colorado, where I first lived when I was a tikus. It is a lot better than that monster of a store WalMart.

So far it has been nice around here. Thing is in our car the A/C burned out, so I am sweating like a pig, but in our house there are ceiling fans, so that makes it OK.

And by the end of summer I plan ofn having a monster of a desktop computer built. I am going to get a Win7, with 4GB RAM, an Intel Pentinum I5, a disk with about 200GB of space, and perhaps a disc driver that will allow me to play, and write and re-write DVDs. Me and A Nonny Moose's computers are getting down to their last breaths, I guess. And I allready have a huge, 21 inch Acer HD- LCD Flat screen monitor, like a LCD HD-TV, so it is fine. Better than that trashy old box of a monitor I had before. But I plan on having my dad and uncle build it for me, because I may screw up the wiring or something. I may also get a fancy case to hold it in, and stick the old shell of a computer I have in our closet.

And I also will be needing a good motherboard as well. (I am stating this beause it will be built)

Anyway, my disk is getting down to its last breath too. A power surge zapped it, and that gave it 4 bad blocks. That is a presumption. If that isn't it, then it may just be the constant writing and rewriting.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Your fancy supermarket is the kind we call Value Mart up here.  The are also called No Frills.  They are usually the cheap end of another retailer.  Both Value Mart and No Frills are versions of Loblaw's which is the main retailer for George weston Limited.  Weston's big flagship stores that have been appearing for some time now are called Real Canadian Superstores.  They feature President's Choice products which are upscale, but reasonably priced.  Sometimes the PC products are less than the brand name, but not always.  Of course Weston's stores also carry No Name stuff, which is yet another store brand of lower quality.

The one I shop at is a Real Canadian Superstore but it is a franchise, so it is called Independent.  It is a Superstore in everything but name, and the prices vary a little.  The architecture and store layouts are identical.

Josh, you should remember the Jews who didn't believe Hitler's sting would kill them.  Go see your allergist.  The next one might kill you.

We are still in a heat wave.  There are smog alerts for most of southern Ontario and a full scale smog warning for Quebec.  Our part of the alert map is yellow, theirs is red.  I was talking to my sister last night who lives north of Winnipeg, and she says the next weather will be three days of very humid thundershowers followed by a cold front which will drop the temperature about 10 degrees celcius (ah!).

Meanwhile, I have to find the energy to do the rest of the dishes that are soaking in the sink.  Anon.

[joshriddle 29]

Smog alerts? Wow. The temps must not be that pleasant huh?

Today my computer crashed, but I managed to get it to come back on. It froze up so I turned it off, and when it was booting up it took awhile, and I got this screen saying,

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:

{Windows Root}\system32\something-or-another....

The something or another is true, I forgot what the rest said. So that old shell sitting on the floor may be down to it's last stand. I will go into the Registry Editor and look for it. I think this had to have been the bootup file. But now I turn it off when it does that and it starts up in safe mode, but it is running.

Off to investigate the issue.

Edit: I am writing this message with a bad block error on my hard drive. Funny thing is is that had to have been a month ago there were 4 of them, but that came along yesterday, according to the event viewer.

That in fact was what was causing that file at first to go corrupt. So I might have to get a new hard disk sometime soon. This one isn't worth repairing every month.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

The real answer to the Registry Editor is to not have a registry.  Bring your old box up on UBUNTU and you will find that it runs fine, mangled hard disk and all.  You can burn it onto a CD and test from the CD if you want to see what it looks like without installing it to your disks. http://www.ubuntulinux.org/

[joshriddle 29]

Really, it may be my CD/DVD Drive, considering in the Event Viewer it didn't mention the C:\ Drive.