Sofa for the office!

I bet you a million bucks I'd be heralded as the best boss in the world if I got this couch for the office. We laughed this summer when we saw a bunk bed-style cot, saying it would fit in the storage room, which could become a nap room. Well, this would be ever better! Hmmm.....

[via Gizmodo]

Scooter suitecase, to get you across airport!

Who wouldn't want this? We've all raced for flights. Imagine how much easier that would be if you had one of these bad boys!

[via CrunchGear]

Weekly Shuffle Music Podcast

Hello again friends. With the absence of the podcast over the course of the last month, and with the holidays coming, and knowing there will be further absences, I thought I'd take this opportunity to post a podcast to get us through to the New Year when hopefully things will get back to normal a bit. So enjoy! As per usual, to hear the podcast, click the logo above!

1. Still, There Are Ones - Statues - Aux
2. Tampa to Tulsa - The Jayhawks - Rainy Day Music
3. Saskatchewan - The Rheostatics - Double Live
4. Your Mother's Gone - The Mountain Bluebirds - The Mountain Bluebirds
5. All The Diamonds in the World - Bruce Cockburn - Waiting for a Miracle
6. Heart of Mine - Peter Salett - Heart of Mine
7. The Good Life - Justin Townes Earle - The Good Life
8. True Patriot Love - Joel Plaskett - Down At The Khyber
9. 1234 - Feist - The Reminder
10. Shame Shame Shame - Jenny Scheinman - Jenny Scheinman
    

Computer design would make EVERYONE a "PC"

Check out this beautifully designed desktop computer by Dave Schultze, and his industrial-design company, Shultze Works. Clearly it's based firmly in a 1950s design, and in fact is based on the Philco television. If only computers came with original designs like this. Might be a whole lot more interesting!

[via NY Time Gadgetwise]

Notable tech of 2009

Well it's that time of year. Everyone and their dog is preparing their best of lists for 2009, and for the past decade. Cnet is no exception, and they've posted a list of the top 20 notable tech products of 2009. Lots of good stuff on their. What would be on your list? Click the logo to see the list.

[via Cnet]

Dialy Stuff Report, slowly coming back to life...

Hi everyone,

I know it's been a while since I've posted. Pretty much a month. As you've not doubt seen, my family and I have been dealing with a significant tragedy in our lives. Other things have required a great deal of my attention, and obviously, my blog about "stuff" hasn't been at the top of that list of priorities.

That said, as things begin to settle back down and life slowly begins to return to normal, I'm looking forward to starting up the blog again. It probably won't be much in the next few weeks as the holidays occur, but come January I want the blog to get back to normal.

I'd like to thank everyone out there for their support in this difficult period. It's quite unbelievable to know how much love there is in the world.

Despite everything, my Mom was a daily reader of the blog. She may not be able to read it where she is now, or she may be very impatient for new content....Better safe than sorry, no?

Watch for new posts soon.

Dennis

Jeannine Landry, Obituary

It is with the deepest sorrow that we announce the sudden passing of Jeannine Rose Landry (née Dagenais) on November 15, 2009, in Ottawa, ON.

Her gentle spirit, fierce love and steadfast loyalty will be missed by all who knew her. Jeannine’s soul touched and supported so many people over her 75 years.

She was a strong, devoted and supportive wife to her husband Leon; they had just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in September. Leon was her special life mate, and while she would be proud of the courage he is showing in this time, he is clearly bereft without her.

She was a loving, wise, and gentle mother, grandmother, sister, aunt , mother- in- law, sister-in-law and niece. She was generous and unconditional in the love for her family. Their hearts are heavy with sorrow and can only take solace that the gift of her love has improved how they measure their lives against her glowing example of how to live, how to love and how to serve others.

She was a great friend, who was looking forward to the next excursion with her ladies, most likely to shop for Christmas, so that she could carry on her Christmas elf passion for this time of year. Their friendship was a source of great joy to her. She was also looking forward to the resumption of her bridge games, and was on the lookout for a new deck of cards during her last visit to Ottawa.

She was a nurse for 40 years serving all over Ontario, tending to those in need, bringing comfort to people, in a vocation that, in reality, was a perfect fit for her. She finally settled in the community of Deep River, where people are unafraid to continually remind her family what a wonderful and caring nurse she was. Even after retirement, she continued to support the Deep River and District Hospital where she was an active volunteer in the hospital gift shop run by the Hospital Auxiliary.

Hers was a creative spirit, finding its outlet in cooking, baking, sewing, knitting, painting, working stained glass and in so many other ways. Her family was enriched by the many mementos that she created for them over the years. But more importantly, she encouraged her children to find their own outlets and cherished the many evenings their music filled every corner of the house. She was a voracious reader and found great solace in the written word. Jean also possessed a playful, self-deprecating sense of humour and loved nothing more than to share laughter with her family. These gifts she bestowed on her children, opening up worlds of wonder for them that they would otherwise not have had.

More recently, her day could not begin without her cup of coffee (milk and one teaspoon of sugar), review of the paper and the completion of the daily crossword puzzle. Once that was done, she was ready to go.

Her family - husband Leon, children Diane (Roland), Denise (Rémi), Guy (Wanda) and Dennis, grandchildren Gabriel, Roxanne and Noémie, sister Theresa, brother Raymond (Rita) , aunts Marie and Georgette, in-laws Gerard (Laurette), Alban (Paula), Lionel (Maryanne), Roger ( Peggy), Jean-Auguste (Edithe), her godsons, Roger, Martin and Glen and her many nieces, nephews, great-nieces and nephews are truly lost without her, and can take some peace in the fact that her faith in God was deep, and His plan for her was to instill a sense of wonder and love in the many lives she touched. Rest well Jeannine, not a day will pass without your memory being honoured by those you’ve left behind.

Jeannine was pre-deceased by her parents Armand and Florence Dagenais, as well as her brothers Jean-Louis and Roger.

Funeral services will be held in Sudbury at 11am on Friday, November 27 at Église St-Dominique (1241 Diane Street, Sudbury, ON). Jeannine’s ashes will be laid to rest in the Lasalle Cemetery during a brief ceremony following the funeral.

A memorial service will be held in Deep River at 2pm on Saturday November 28, 2009 at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church (80 Highway 17 East, Deep River, ON).

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Deep River and District Hospital Foundation, details can be found here: http://www.drdh.org/Documents/WhatistheFoundationPamphlet.pdf

In all the world we shall not find
A heart so wonderfully kind,
So soft a voice, so sweet a smile,
A soul so devoid of guile.
A devotion so pure, so deep
A love so beautiful to keep.

Dear Mom, I love you

Long time readers of this blog will know that I don't normally share intimate details of my personal life. This post will be different.

On Sunday, November 15th, at 11:59am, my beloved mother, Jeannine Rose Landry, passed away. It was sudden and unexpected. Fortunately the immediate family was able to rush to her side to say final farewells, though sadly not everyone had the chance to do so before the end.

She had a number of ongoing and relatively serious health issues, though at this point we only know that she died of an infection which caused her blood pressure to drop so much, so fast that it caused her heart to stop. They will be doing autopsy, which will hopefully provide us with some answers and details about the actual cause of her death, which may also help others in the treatment of the ailments which she suffered.

As a nurse of 40 years we know she would have wanted to go fast and not linger. She also did not want excessive heroic measures done. She passed very peacefully in the end.

As can be imagined we are all quite stunned and in a state of shock. She went into hospital on Saturday afternoon and was gone less than 24 hrs later.

I'm very fortunate on many levels. She had been in Sudbury for a week before going on to Ottawa. So I had a good last visit with her before she passed. I think of the time she got to spend with my little dog Murray. They loved each other enormously, and I'm glad he got to spend some time her before the end.

As mentioned, my mother was a nurse for 40 years. Working in practically every department in the hospitals she worked in, of particular note is her time working in natal care and palliative care, essentially helping people in and our of the world. She was s nurse's nurse. Tough as nails on behalf of her patients, and tender and caring when tending to their needs.

She was a beloved wife of 50 years, a mother of four, a grandmother of 4 (if you count Murray my dog, I do and I think she did too!), a mother in law, a sister, an aunt, great aunt, and last, though certainly not least she was a friend.

Already her presence is missed. Ours is a very close family, and I know that mine is not the only heart that is bruised and battered. Our entire extended family is in a great deal of shock and pain at the moment trying to deal with what happened so suddenly and without warning.

I loved my mother beyond any means of measurement and will continue to do so. I hope, and I think I can be comforted in knowing, that she forgave all the stupid human things that we are capable off. In particular I hope that she forgives for the times I was impatient with her.

In loving memory, for ever.

World's best invention?

Check out this new fireplace/pizza oven. Have you heard of anything that makes any more sense? Highly unlikely. Stay warm and stuff your face with homemade pizza. I will, thank you!

[via Cnet]

The great basement re-org

As some of you know, I've been involved in some changes around the house for a few weeks now! It's all coming to a conclusion, thank God. Basically, I decided to get some new living room furniture (new couches and tables), a new bed, and most significantly, switch two rooms in the basement. The first room is the smaller of the two, and was for the first five years in this house, my office. The second room, bigger, brighter and barely used was a guest room/den. I finally had to ask myself, is this the best use of space in the house?

The very easy answer was no. Hence the re-org. The problem? I have a tiny basement, all finished. Not much room is available to facilitate the switcheroo, which require moving EVERYTHING a few times over!

But that stage is finished, and tonight, I'm pleased to post some photos of my new office, which was outfitted with new desks, printer station and shelving. All for about $150. I'm not even kidding. I got the desks for $30 each at XS Cargo, a great discount store selling remaindered and bankruptcy items, some refurbished, etc. The shelves came from Ikea for $42 and the storage on the shelves all come from Dollarama dollar store for about $30. I had to buy a few supplies to stain the shelves.

Verdict for me? I love the room. It's so much more pleasant to spend time in than the other room. The smaller room is a darker room, which makes it much more suitable as a bedroom. And once I'm finished with it, I think it will be quite cosy. I've even bought some vintage paintings for the room!

Here's a picture of the new office.

After initial switch over.

Final room...

HSPA Palm Pixi and Pre coming to Telus!

This is very exciting news. Telus will be picking up not only the HSPA Palm Pre, but the Pixi as well. Telus is turning out some very, very choice phones! Soon, they will have all the bases covered, BlackBerry, Palm, Windows Mobile, Android and of course the iPhone. Expect these phones in January!

Not plan or pricing details available yet. On one hand I'm kind of sad that I went ahead with the HTC Hero. I always loved Palm, and I've always wanted them to have a very successful comeback. I was excited by the Pre when it was unveiled last year at CES. That said, so far I'm totally in love with the Hero and HTC's Sense UI. Good luck Palm, I'm sure I'll be back to Palm some day!

[via Mobile Syrup]

Cool MacBook decal

If I had a MacBook, I would so have this decal on it! This is awesome and hilarious!

[via Gizmodo]

I Can haaz wall clok?

This might be the coolest wall clock I have ever seen. Ever.

[via Apartment Therapy]

New use for waffle irons

Waffle irons are great. Love mine. A while back my pal Tara sent me a link to a site about how to make pressed sandwiches with a waffle iron!!! Genius! I love a hot/pressed/baked sammy!

The other day I came across yet another type of food that you can make in a waffle iron, that is not waffles. It's COOKIES!!! Hello!?!? And it only takes 90 seconds. I'm sure would like some fresh cookies...done! There's even a short video on MarthStewart.com with a recipe. Another tried and tested recipe can be found at Fine Dining.

[via Lifehacker]

Motoral Droid/Sholes coming to Telus?

If you watch any television on American channels, then you have likely seen an ad lately from Verizon about their shiny new Android phone, the Droid. It's being touted as the Android phone to beat, and second only to the iPhone at the moment. It just launched on Verizon, and word is, thanks to the Mobile Ninjas, that the phone will be coming exclusively to Telus here in Canada in the first quarter of the New Year. Oh my, thank you HSPA on Telus!
[via The Mobile Ninjas]

Weekly Music Shuffle Podcast

Well how do, dear listeners. Was off this week and saw the brilliant Monsters of Folk show at Massey Hall on Monday last. What a show, killer. Work on the great house re-org is almost done, and tomorrow should be a nice, quiet and restful day. So without further ado, how about we spin some tunes! As per usual, to access to podcast, just click on the logo above.

1. Weakened State - Sarah Harmer - You Were Here
2. Rise Up With Fists!! - Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
3. Nothing More to Say - Joel Plaskett Emergency - Ashtray Rock
4. Dope Fiends and Boozehounds - Rheostatics - Whale Music
5. Another Likely Story - Au Revoir Simone - Still Night, Still Night
6. Apartment Song - The Tragically Hip - Trouble At The Henhouse
7. The Double Life - Rainer Maria - music.download.com
8. Magic - Ben Kweller - Ben Kweller
9. Other Towns & Cities - Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
10. Rock The Casbah - The Clash - Combat Rock