This Christmas was my last while living in Orillia. I visited Mom & Ross, Dad & Cathy, and my sisters of course. On Christmas Eve I went to a Christmas mass at a Catholic church with my dad and sisters. Christmas Eve is usually the only time I ever go to church, so every year it feels like deja vu. I wonder if Christmas is the only time my dad goes to church too? I am not Catholic. I was baptized Anglican (because I have a different biological father) which I hear is very similar. When I was younger we attended several churches before we found the one we liked the most: "Alliance Church". The preacher talked using conversation style and usually made the sermon interesting to listen to. Catholics have all kinds of rituals and the sermons put me to sleep.

Just before going to church I attended the Future Shop boxing day specials online (early access). They shut the site down all afternoon then opened it at 7:00 PM for browsing only. I opened the three items I wanted in separate tabs for quick access, then waited for 8:00 PM when the sale starts. In seconds I added the items to my shopping cart and was trying to check out. However, the site got so bogged down I had to give up by 8:15 PM to go to church. When I got back I found that they had shut the site down because of unanticipated volume (they should have been using Sun SPARC hardware :). Fortunately they reopened the site around 11:00 PM. The site put me in some queue when checking out because of the volume of users? I had to wait 45 minutes for my turn to check out!! I managed to snipe a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT 8.0MP SLR digital camera for $399 before they sold out minutes later! All of the items I bought went sold out just minutes after I checked out. One of the other items was a 650V APC backup UPS for $39! They allowed only one per household so I went to the store on boxing day to pick up a second for my other computers. I saw some guy holding the wrong model (not on sale) so I told him. He didn't believe me so I reached down and snapped up the last one, then took off. While I was leaving I heard someone say "oh, he took the last one". muwahahah. While checking out I told the teller about my experiences purchasing the camera online. He was really upset because he wanted one too, and the shipment didn't arrive at our location for boxing day. He said some people were waiting outside since 3 AM for one of those cameras and were very upset. I'm glad I bought mine online!

The main items I got for Christmas from family are: Spring 2 Enterprise Applications (book), Struts 2 Web 2.0 projects (book), 1.5 KG of chocolates (you should see the size of one of the bars!), some wood and metal hand saws, some shirts, big flash light, key chain digital camera for the car (in case of car accidents), golf balls, and body spray. Thanks everyone!

During my week off I worked feverishly night and day reorganizing my home office. I went through my file cabinet and reorganized all of my files. I ended up shredding tons of useless stuff. I reorganized my server closet, removed a 5 port switch that was there because cables weren't long enough and replaced it with longer cables. I did so much in that room, it took days to complete. I won't be working from home until the move to Toronto, but at least now I know how it will look.

I rebalanced my RRSP portfolio this week. Hopefully I will see some improvement in the coming months. Also, I switched my cell phone from a Bell Mobility plan to Virgin Mobile. I don't use very many minutes per month, so pay-as-you-go is best for me. Bell doesn't sell minutes that don't expire for 365 days, but Virgin Mobile does. Bell charges ridiculous access fees and tower fees etc, but Virgin Mobile doesn't. Bell makes you pay extra for features like caller ID. Virgin Mobile gives you all features for free. Virgin Mobile runs on the Bell network so I know the coverage will be just as good, except I'll be saving hundreds of dollars per year. The only thing I don't like about Virgin Mobile is their phone system and website look like they are targeting 14 year olds. They call me "man" on the phone, use a lot of improper grammar, etc.

I have a few more things on my todo list. Hopefully I can get through them before work starts again:

• Wipe laptop and install Ubunut 7.10 on it. The upgrade from 7.04 failed, and now Thunderbird crashes all the time when I open it.
• Replace video card in Dell tower with one of my spares. The current one died months ago so I've been using my laptop instead. Update: It turns out the display cable was unplugged from behind the LCD panel :/
• Organize email. I'm really not looking forward to this -- over 3500 in my inbox. I think my new approach for 2008 will be to NOT look at emails as they arrive. Instead, I will open Thunderbird every hour or two when I have time to file all new emails into their proper locations. I think the problem has been emails arrive while I'm in the middle of something. I give them a quick look then back to work. Eventually enough have piled for me to give up on sorting them until the end of the year.
• Clean guest bedroom. James from IJW's BC office will be at IJW for a few days in January. He'll be staying in my guest room for those few days. Right now I've got a lot of cables and computer junk piled on the bed from my major office clean. I'll have to find a place for that junk.

By the time I get back to work at IJW, it won't feel like I had holidays because I've been doing so much work at home. Oh well, at least the work is finally getting done. I've been putting most of this off for a long time.

There was an animal that looked like a dog, but I'm not sure what it was. Just think of it as your neighbor's dog. It was laying on the ground with someone's boot crushing the neck until blood squirted out of the nose. Then they stepped up onto the skull to crush it. Next, a knife was shoved into the butt to skin the animal. The entire skin was peeled off, right up to the snout. Picture a skinned dog. The animal was still breathing!!!!! Imagine someone went that person's house and did the same to his child. It is exactly the same, the only difference is that there are better laws to protect humans. I hope PETAs video put that guy in jail for the rest of his life.

Next was a Butterball turkey slaughter house. They kill 50,000 turkeys a day. Some people might think it's ok, as long as it's done humanely. What kind of person do you have to be to slit the throats of animals all day every day? The kind of person who thinks nothing of animals, thinks they feel no fear, pain, and have no feelings. These people have fun abusing the turkeys daily. Breaking legs, smashing their heads, sitting on them to crush them, putting fingers into the vagina of a hen, etc. It was all caught on video. Yes they are all going to die anyway, but why torture them like this?

How about monkeys in American research institutions being shoved into tiny cylinders so they can't move. Or, being put into an immobilizing device so that the monkey can't move any part of its body, then purposely inflicting pain once per month. Or sticking tubes down their noses twice a day to test chemicals on them. These monkeys clearly had terrible open wounds on their skin, and were absolutely terrified.

I also saw how pigs are killed -- being chased around the pen with a crow bar and being beaten to death while other pigs watch and squeal in terror, waiting for their turn. A friend of mine was telling me that there's a pig farm around here that kills pigs the same way.

I remember reading in the local newspaper about a local congressman (possibly the Mayor?) who has a farm with a dozen reindeer. He was starving them to death, and the OSPCA went there several times to check on the animals. Imagine pictures of Jews during the Holocaust; just skin and bones. That's what he did to these animals until they were all dead, and the laws did not permit the OSPCA to do anything until after the fact.

I can certainly empathize with PETA activists because I've lived with dogs and animals all my life. I know they are more than just a living organism. I wish I could do something but I don't know what. Maybe every time someone phones asking me to donate to a charity, like the Police Association asking for $35 towards their "Fish with a policeman" thing (why do they need money for this?!?!), I will turn the conversation around and ask them to donate $100 to WSPA, OSPCA, PETA, and other grossly underfunded organizations that could actually use the money for a good cause that will make a difference in the world. Maybe one day I'll be one of those people secretly video taping animal abuse then putting people in jail for what they have done. Maybe when I retire it will be on a farm that cares for rescued animals. Who knows.

A few times I year I post a general update on life. I'm a bit overdue since several things have happened lately. In August I sold my first car (1998 Subaru Forrester) in record time: 2 hours. I put a for sale sign in the window and parked it in the parking lot at work. The guy who owns the business across the hall from us bought it to use as a "winter beater" :/ I bought myself a fully equipped 2004 Nissan Murano SE with leather interior. Here's a picture of what it looks like:

I like buying used because I paid about 50% the cost of a new Murano, it runs great, and still looks new. The other day I saw my old Subaru in the parking lot as I was backing out. The owner had backed into a parking spot so it looked like the Subaru was watching me, jealous that I traded it in for a better look'n young thing. Then I remembered that cars don't have feelings.

Another big change is that I have decided to move to Toronto in the spring of 2008. I got permission from my boss to work from home, an estimate on what my house is worth from a real estate agent, and pre-approved for a larger mortgage from the bank. I'm going to put the house up for sale at the end of February. Once it is sold I'm going to ask for a long closing date (up to 3 months) so that I can find a place to live in Toronto, buy it, and choose the same closing date for an easy move. I want a high rise condo in downtown Toronto with 2 bedrooms, balcony, allows pets, etc. I have a list of requirements, and know that there are places out there within my budget.

Another big change is Ryco Technologies. I have had a burning desire to start a software company since I was 12 years old. I didn't have a clear vision of how it would happen, but always knew that it will happen at some point in my life. I've been gaining work experience at IJW for the past nine years, and never stop thinking about Ryco Technologies. This year I finally got a vision and am taking the first two steps to get there. I convinced my boss to lay me off Jan 1st 2008, and to hire Ryco Technologies as a subcontractor. Initially I'll be gaining experience managing my books with guidance from IJW's financial administrator, while continuing my regular programming duties. Shortly after I move to Toronto I hope to be ready to invest some money in a small side business. IJW knows about this and we have agreed on how I will handle support requests for the side-business during regular business hours. Later in 2008 I want to start work on the first of 4 fairly large business applications on my own time which will become Ryco Technologies' first software offerings. I'll be enlisting the help of two industry experts that I know personally (they don't know who they are yet :) for valuable guidance, requirements planning, and possibly help with marketing. I hope that in several years my four applications plus the other service will grow Ryco Technologies into a profitable business with multiple employees. If it flops, I will have gained valuable experience that I can apply at any company and will be happy that I tried.

I'm very fortunate to be able to work a stable job where I can apply and improve my skills while simultaneously making all of my dreams come true. I'm very thankful to my employer for that.