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07 May 3 down...I frequent a newsgroup where a select few try to keep a hold on the riff-raff. The problem is that this newsgroup relates to certification and there are many people (term used loosely) who try to either buy or sell materials that are blatant forms of cheating. The group does their best to run this type off. I am proud to be amonst them. The group is more often than not seen as "thugs" and "bullies" but I think they are providing a valuable service. I have had the priveledge of meeting a few over the past year, two of them at TechEd 2005. Ed and Wayne have pictures on this here corner of cyber-space and last month I was tickled to meet up with Ken. He was on a learning junket from Boston and since Toronto is not that far from me (just a couple of hours) I had the chance to have dinner with him. The food was ok, but it was really great to meet another of that group. Since there are 51 in the group currently, I now have 3 down and 47 to go. I should get to meet up with Kat this summer and who knows when I will meet the others. I think I will start a check list. On the flip side, I'm not sure how many more Ferraris I can afford to by (ok, that's an inside joke) 05 March RollercoasterSeems that I've been on a rollercoaster for a few months now. In December my Grnadmother died and my wifes Grandmother just this week. Along with the piles of other thigns in between, I feel a little out of sorts.
My Grandmother was in her 90s so its not like it was sudden. Still, she was the last remaining Grandparent and since she lived so far away, I was unable to attend the funeral, so it was a bummer all the way around. She was really an interesting woman and I can remember my Dad trying to out wit the ole Gal in scrabble and having my Dad fail miserably. She was the daughter of Danish immigrants and this is how I can claim some scandinavian blood. Still, I'm not going to root for the NFL's Vikings
 The Mrs's. Grandmother, was going to be 98(!) this month. She had been living in her own home up until a few years ago and I was starting to think that she would be carried feet first out of that house. I might miss her even more than my own Grandmother. When I left Toronto to find work in the Niagara area about 15 years or so ago, she was kind enough to put me up for a month. She always made you feel welcome, but never put her self out of the way for you. She made you feel at home, like you had always been part of the family. She used to give the kids a little money for their birthday, a dollar for each year. One time I joked that I would be turning 50 next year. WHile we all had a giggle over my sudden interest in my advancing age, I was completely dumbfounded when for my next Birthday she gave me a $50 any ways. She was great and I will miss her very much.
Along with this, I wrote 2 MS Beta exams in December. With the stress of the study and writnig the 2 exams, with Beta exams you have to wait for the results. In February I found out that I had passed exam 70-444. YIPPEE!!!!!! finally I get the rollercoaster going up again. I haven't recieved the results for the other exam, but I think I've failed the second one - 70-447. Down we go again. I also applied for to help out at TechEd as a TLG (Technical Learning Guide) which was more waiting for a response. Friday they sent out the e-mails for who's going. I didn't get one. More down. Win some lose a bunch. There might still be a chance I get to go, but now I might have to wait for TechEd 2007. Assuming I don't die from all of the ups and downs that is. 27 November More MexicoWhen we arrived in Mexico, I was enjoying the sunshine. Every single day was bright and hot. Nice change from the land of ice and snow. Ok, that wasn't fair. When we left Toronto it was nice, but extremely dark. We left home at 2:50 am and arrived at the airport around 5. Very dark, very sleepy, didn't care, was on my way to Mexico. The plane was an Airbus 320. I HATE the 320. There is not enough room in the isle to turn around. Seriously sucks. Doesn't matter. I was on my way to Mexico.
Alright, I had high expectations, but I was really looking forward to this. Good news is, when we arrived in Mexico, I was enjoying the sunshine. We touched down at noon and it was clear, sunny and warm - NAY HOT! Shorts and t-shirt in November. I LIKE IT!!!!
We stayed at an all inclusive called the Qualton. Nice place. Right on the beach, only 10 minutes to Old Puerto Vallarta (they call it the Romantic zone and not surprisingly the Qualton is in the Hotel zone). The first day was just laying around the pool. The next day was an adventure - took the bus into the Romantic zone to check out the old city. 9 pesos for both of us for a bus tickets. But since they dirve like they've been drinking tequila all day, they should have been calling them "E tickets". The entire ride on the buses/cabs/etc. where more in the category of "thrill ride" instead of "transportation". The old city was nice, but along the main street you have your choice of jewlery stores (The Mrs. was MOST pleased
 ) or time share salesmen/women hassling you. The all inclusive means you wear a neon sign around the wrist that appearently says "you should annoy me to death about a time share I don't want".Still it was lovely, Ellen bought some stuff, I took some photos, we saw the flea market. By 2 in the afternoon we were swealtering. So we went back to the hotel and had a message at teh spa. They had a show after dinner which was fun. Not quite Broadway quality, but...
Sunday we went on a bus tour. This is something I would strongly encourage you to do if you go. The bus took us into the old city and then we had a guided walking tour around some of the old city. After this we hopped the bus and went further along to a spot to catch a drink. Happened to be in a jewlery store (hmmmmm) but after this we sent along to Mismaloya and Los Arcos. Very pretty spot (see the pics in the new photo section called November 25). After this we had lunch in the jungle, saw a tequila factory and then back to the Hotel. Great day.
Monday morning we went to Bucerias. The bus trip there was, um, more exciting than the city bus. While there were some touristy things there, it was almost 3rd world in some of the things there. We spotted a vedor selling butchered chickens in an open air stall that seemed to be just screaming "saminila" to me. Still, it also had another flea market and was a fairly pretty spot.
Tuesay, beach for the day and then to the Krystal Hotel's Mexican Fiesta. Lotsa fun. Wednesdat was another beach day and we went kyaking in the ocean. Ellen also got her nails done in the spa.
Thursday we went on a booze cruise. We mainly went to try snorkling and see the waterfalls at Quimixto. We were told that if we weren't skilled snorklers we shouldn't go in. LIES! should have gone. On the plus side if I had gone, I would not have gotten pics of the colourfull fish at Los Arcos. We had folks falling down drunk next to a family with little kids on the way back (kind of annoyed me) but the falls at Quimixto and the scenerey was worth it.
all in all it was a GREAT TRIP! 24 November MexicoAs I previously mentioned, I went to Mexico. It was SUCH a great trip. I have never been before, but it was one of the nicest vacations I have aver been on. I will try to give a summary soon (maybe even become a travel agent  ) but here is a beautiful sunset to tied you over. I took this from inside of a little hut that was part of our hotel in Puerto Vallarta where the Mrs. and I would have a plate of nachos and something cool to drink on those hot afternoons. Here we could enjoy the cool ocean breezes, snack, play some cards, erad a book and just let our cares melt away. You can find some other pictures I snapped in Mexico in the Photo Album at the end of the family view. Sadly all I have to remind me are the pictures now that I am back in the snow of Canada.07 November so what's going onThere are various plans in the work this week. The Mrs. and I are busily preparing for a big event that begins in a mere 3 days. She and I have been giddy about it for weeks and the little darlings are ticked big time. We giggle and they growl. My wife and I have even gotten to the point of doing the "Santa is coming!" thing we used to do with the kids.
"How many more sleeps, Neil?"
"3 more sleeps Ellen!"
"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
What could possibly turn normally sedate adults into goofy teenagers? How about a vacation. Ellen and I are heading to Mexico without the kiddlies for a week. This will be the first time that we have been on vacation without them in 15 years. My eldest is not amused. So of course we do what any right thinking parent would do, we torture her by bringing it up often.
On a "I did not know that about Neil" note, this will be my first trip outside the US or Canada. I got my passport for the foray south to TechEd and the Mrs. got hers at the same time. Puerto Vallarta managed to be the lucky recipients of our foolish spending and I am looking forward to warm beaches, cool drinks and a complete lack of responsibilities.
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 21 September I love teaching!So I am teaching 2261/2262 whic are teh Windows XP Desktop Support Tech courses this week and I am remembering how much I used to love teaching on a day to day basis. Don't get me wrong, I love my job but I really like to teach. The materials are familiar, the act of setting up computers for a class, the rush of adrenaline I get when the first morning starts and I'm at the front of the class - I love it. Perhaps I have an ego issue; being the trainer makes you the center of attention.
 shame the course is almost half over. On the plus side I get to do it all again next month! 01 September August kind of suckedI could complain that work is in overdrive, or that my kids wouldn't let me read potter to them or that I got called in from my vacation to fix an upgrade gone wrong. But August sucked for a bigger reason. Ellen's Brother passed away. So long Norrie, I wish I had known you better.
Here is his obit:
WOOD, Norrie, John _ Suddenly taken in the arms of the Lord on Thursday, August 18, 2005 at the age of 50. Norrie, loving husband of Ruth (nee Hawman), dear father of Christine and Eric; stepfather of Carolyn and Charmaine; grandfather of Owen and st ep-grandfather of Jamie, Joshua & Cassandra. Survived by his parents Major and Mrs. Norman (Nancy) Wood, grandmother Mrs. Francis Green; brothers Barrie (Melanie), Robert (Colleen), sister Ellen (Neil) Mac Murchy, nieces and nephews. He will be sadly and dearly missed by all of his family, friends, fishing buddies and circle of brothers (NWRSDH) Norrie was an employee of Canada Steamship Lines and was Deck Hand for 26 years. He was a dedicated worker and lover of sports, nature and music and not only played guitar and sang, but was avid and brilliant Blues Harmonica musician. Along with Norrie's determination and strong will of life, his love and devotion to his family and kindness to others will always be remembered fondly in the hearts of all who knew him. the celebration of Norrie's life will take place at the Salvation Army Citadel, 400 Niagara St., Tuesday, August 23 at 12:00 p.m. Refreshments and fellowship to follow with family & friends in the Youth Hall. Internment arrangement s are incomplete. In lieu of flowers donations to be made to Kids Help 1-800-268-3062, 439 University Ave. Suite 300, Toronto, Ont. M5G 1Y8. "To our brother and good friend, Norrie, until we meet again forever. "Arrangements have been intrusted to Passfield Mortuary Services, Inc. 22 August End of an eraI guess it was bound to happen. It's really kind of sad to watch your kids grow up and know the things you did in years past are no longer the norm. I have one kid who spends more time with her boyfriend than she does at home (no surprise I guess - life is like that) and they have both started with minor work roles this summer. In a few short years they will be on thier way out in the big wide world. All of this is expected but there are somethings that just strike me more than others in this regard.
This time it was the new Harry Potter book.
I can hear a collective "huh?" from those reading. Let me explain. I finally got to reading the latest installment of J.K. Rowlings series on "the boy who lived" and finished it in short order. Yes I have read all of the previous ones as well. For those who feel that it has some evil undertones becuase it "glorifies witch-craft", grow up. You had best toss out Cinderella, Snow White, King Arthur, Wizard of Oz...Sorry, that's a bit of a sore point with me. I still think that it's a good vs evil story and I'm ok with it. ok, end of that rant.
The thing about me reading it though it that I read it to myself. This was the first of the series that I did not read aloud to the entire family. My intent was to read all 7 of the books to my family as we sat together in the living room after dinnner for an hour or so each night till it was done. This was what we had done for the previous 5 books. I even got into character for the voices. I think I had Hagrid down to a "t" even before the movies were out.
But this year, Heather wanted to start reading it right away and Ashley was finished the book before I was. I realy must admit that I felt a great deal of remorse over this little item. I'm not angry that this is the way it went down, but I do feel a bit of melancholy thinking about all of the times we DID read it - together. It was the end of an era.
The next one I might just read to the Mrs. as we both wonder how our kids managed to grow up so fast. sigh.... 28 July TechEd wrapupTechEd has been over for almost 2 months now *sniff* but there has been so much going on that I have barely been able to keep up. It's time to post a few pics and mention a few people that really made the event special.
First off, I want to thank Ed W again for picking me up at the airport and dropping me off again. This was a huge deal for me and he just didn't think anything of it. Ed wasn't going to TechEd, but as he was a local, he gave me a couple of good heads ups for things in the area. I enjoyed having dinner with him on Saturday and I hear that some of my swag went to good use for his kiddo (though the balsa airplanes sound like they didn't even make the car ride home). I just herd that he's got a new gig in Orlando and is looking forward to the possibilities. That's Ed taking a picture of me taking a picture of him.
A few of the MCTs that were super special. Karla, Doug, Rob (all of whom I had a great meal with Friday night), Kim-Kim, Jerry, David E., Oliver, Wayne McG, Ken R, Paul A, Anton, Rod, Mike B, Serge, Rolly, Inigo...Man the list goes on forever. I really feel like I was part of the group from word one. The list there includes people from not only the US and Canada but from all over Europe and Aussieland. If I missed anyones names I appologise.
I also had the unmitigated pleasure of meeting Bob and Ray. While they were less talkative than they seem on thier web site, I was still pleased to meet these 2 celebreties. The stagering thing was how BIG TE was. 3 million sq feet was one number I heard. The HOLs where huge and the photo below was only half of the machines available. The proctors did an AMAZING job. I hope I can help out with the labs in the future. They told me it was a lot of work, but I would still love to say that I have actually WORKed with these people.
Another fun piece was all of the STUFF they gave us. I'm paying for it now as every Tom, Dick and Harry is calling asking if I want to buy thier product. I saw a lot of stuff I might be able to use, but I also saw a lot I can't use and some I already have. On top of that there is this thing called a budget...Still I managed to get some cool shirts. One of my favs is the one Steven Wynkop (sp?) of swynk.com fame was giving out (See the back of shirt pic attached). Prolly wont mean much to you unless you are familiar with databases, but it cracks me up. MS also gave out this one too. nice...
All in all, TechEd 2005 gave me the opprotunity to Learn a lot, Laugh a lot and live a little. I sincerly hope that I get to attend this event again in some capacity. Boston is the next destination, hope to see you there in 2006. Now I guess it's time to take down the 2005 logo from my profile (*sniff*) 25 July ConfessionsThere are somethings you aren't supposed to admit to. That being said, in this age of enlightenment (har, har), there are many who regularly come out of the closet, so I think I will too. Peaked your curiousity yet? No, it's not what you think. I am a closet Wrasslin fan. It's my guilty pleasure. And before a host of people try to inform me as to whether or not it's scripted - yes I know that. That's not the point. If you were to go to a play you would not try to inform me that "Hamlet is fake". Now I am not going to equate the WWE with Shakespear, but the fact is, plots of good vs evil and the struggle for a glorious prize (or a leather belt with a bit of tin) played out before a crowd is not an uncommon theme.
Last night, I had the opprotunity to go to a match. The WWE came to Buffalo for the "Great American Bash". Sure my seat was so high up that each match was an ant match, but I had fun. The plotlines were relatively predictatable; the good-guys won most of the matches, and there were plenty of acrobatics and fireworks. The only real complaint that I have was the lack of verbal communications. On TV there are the announcers descibing the loathing of one participant towards the other, the wrestlers spouting prophetically their upcoming dominance of some other opponent, and other methods of expanding on the plots other than what occured in the ring. There was precious little of that last night.
There, now it's out in the open. I'm a wrasslin fan. AND I'M PROUD!!! (please don't tell anyone, ok?) 04 July One of those odd thingsIn the 1952 Bugs Bunny cartoon "14 Carrot Rabbit", Bugs gets a strange feeling any time he is near gold. This has 2 notable effects. First, becuase it happens frequently to our long-eared hero, he doesn't think that much of the object that is the cause of his "twitch". Secondly, those around him are far more interested and in the case of Chillicote (Yosemite) Sam, a little too interested.
I can sympathize with the cotton-tailed conjurer of karrots. I also have a strange feeling that I get around a certain object that has now become common place to me but brings a certain (although lesser) interest from those around me. It happened again this weekend. I was just pulling up to my house in my car and a few hairs on the back of my head went up. I had a quick scan otuside the car, and there it was. Another 4 leaf clover. I began finding them in my teen years and just plain gave up counting them quite a few years back. I had found in excess of 100 when I thought "what's the point?"
4 leaf clovers are supposed to be a symbol of good luck and are considered rare. I find them not that rare and I can assure you that my bank account has not grow fat from the lottery winnings. They are, however, an interesting conversation starter and if you are every in my neck of the woods I will do what I can to wrestle you up one.
Here is the one I found on the weekend 21 May CommunityI have a pet project on the side that has been a bit of fun. For the past few months I have been compiling a list of blogs that MCTs have put together. I’d like to say it was all my idea, but when ever someone says that, it’s rarely the case. The truth is that it came up in a discussion in the MCT private newsgroups one day. Russ Kaufmann mentioned that he was looking for a complete list of the trainer’s blogs. He was reading them over lunches and quite enjoying the different MCTs and their wit and wisdom, but thought it might be better if there was one large collection of them he could hit. I had been creating an MCT Blog roll on my spaces page and another MCT Karla had a few listed on hers. I thought I might be able to put a little something together. I said I would give it a shot and created the list. Andrea and Lorenzo suggested that having the list in markup form (XML and OPML) would be useful as many used Desktop RSS readers instead of just hitting the web pages. I should have known better than to volunteer <g> From March to Thrusday (May 19th), the list had grown to over 50 entries and the XML and OPML files were being updated weekly. I had received some good feedback from some folks out there and the biggest regret I have is the need to limit this to MCTs only. One non-MCT that came across it was Jason Row. He had found the site and was digging through the list as well. I got in contact with him through e-mail and I really did regret not being able to put him on the list. Hopefully Jason will go through and get his MCT one day and I can add him to the list. A small wrinkle came about when I received an e-mail from Ken at Microsoft. Ken is the Program Manager for the MCT program and he asked if it would be ok to mention the MCT Blog list in an upcoming MCT Flash (a newsletter sent out via e-mail to all MCTs). The flash came out today. Add Your Voice to MCT Blogs (Worldwide) Join the ever-growing list of MCT blog sites created and operated by MCT Neil MacMurchy, who says, "The MCT private newsgroups allow us to share information with each other in a private manner, but there are lots of things I wish I could share openly with my friends and students as well. MCT Blogs allow us to inform each other and potentially our students of items of interest to us." To add your blog, send an e-mail message to Neil and include your transcript sharing credentials for verification as an MCT. So far Friday I had received several requests to have MCT blogs added to the list and over 10% of my traffic on that page has occurred in the last 24 hours. It will be very interesting to see how the list grows. I may even need to have a second page soon. 09 May A new toy?Well there is a new toy in town. Check out my Wallup. It's invitation only, somewhat like the beta of GMail was. This thing is still in Beta, but it looks kind of neat and there are a few features there that I don't get here in the way of formating. We shall see if it is something I stick with or not. If you do check it out let me know what you think. 21 April One of those questionsOk, Harry a guy from work asked me recently "what's the perfect album? You know the one that you love every song one it." None of the songs suck and you wouldn't be able to tell the B side without a label. He was quick to point out that, for him anyway, it's "Who's next?" by the Who. I must admit that it's a pretty good choice and it got me to thinking about it. I came up with a few that really show my age though. "Abbey Road" by the Beatles, "the Stranger" by Billy Joel, Supertramps "Crime of the Century" (Though Jon chose "Breakfast in America"), Peter Gabriel's "So"...on and on I could go. Ellen took Queen's "Night at the opera", and I'm sure Ashley would be taking Linkin Park's "Hybrid Theory". I also have liked the new Black Eyed Peas CD and the new Outkast CD. So what about you? What's your perfect album? 12 April I am now the answer to life, the universe and everythingYesterday was my birthday. Several people wished me well (thanks) but I had to explain to at least one person what I meant by "I am now Doug Adam's magic number". Well, of course I wiki'd for it (I blame Karla): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Answer_to_Life,_the_Universe,_and_Everything and it's such a nice image in the corner I couldn't avoid posting the link :) 02 April April weather in Canada is NOT Funny!Last week we had some beautiful weather. Sunny day on Tuesday as I went to the store to replace my cable modem (power supply died) and I absolutely did not want to go back to work. The frisbee factor was off the scale for a March day. Wednesday, Thursday both sunny and warm. Friday was overcast but still above zero celcius so it was ok. Today we got a big fat kick in the pants. We woke up to snow. It was hanging around freezing all day but the white stuff was ugly. We got between 5 and 10 cm of the stuff. But if that wasn't enough, we had planned to BBQ for dinner! It is a true example of the Canadian mind set that we blindly pressed forward and made dinner on the new BBQ. But just to insult to injury, Faraz IM'd me this morning and informed me that in Karachi, Pakistan (his home town) it was 50C today! Spring weather. yuck. 18 March Names on the doorI've been in my new office for more than six months, but they've finally put my name on the door. It was so exciting I had to get Verna to take my picture next to it. Wow, I really should get out more. 14 March Random quotes/thoughts
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