It's been a while coming, and some concessions to meet Canada's privacy commissioner's concerns had to be made, no doubt slowing the release of the first pass of Canadian Street View for Google Maps, but today it's official. I have to first admit that some of the Firefox addons I had set up based on excellent advice on the safe web surfing front interfered for a bit, but a quick Google-powered search of the infoweb got me over that hurdle, allowing me to view my son and daughter-in-law's linked view of their place. (Thanks for Tweeting that, Tyla, or I may not have figured out my Firefox issues! And Johnath, too. Figured it had to be me if both of you were able to view your places.)

Since Toronto was mentioned in the list of cities included in this pass of Street View, I thought I'd try to locate a house I knew well from my childhood: the last place my paternal grand-parents lived. I can't recall the exact number of the house, but it was on St. Germain Avenue in Toronto. I do recall it being one storey, with a shared drive to the left of the house as you faced it from the road and a few other details such as houses on both sides, so not on a corner or next to a commercial building. It was near Avenue Road, which I recalled from the many commutes via TTC between that house and a bank on Yonge Street, near Queen's Park where I worked at the time. I am almost certain it was West of Avenue Road as well. That seemed enough to get started.

Easy, huh? Just 'walk' down the street and it'll pop out at me. So I thought. Things have changed a lot on that street since the mid-seventies. It's more built up and a lot less green. Bricked over front lawns would have given my green-thumbed grandfather fits. After a virtual walk up and down both sides of the street I was unsuccessful in my quest. If and when I do have the street number, I might try again.

One address I do perfectly recall is that of the house in which my family lived whilst we expanded from two siblings to four in Whitby, Ontario. I remember the phone number as well. Probably not for that house any longer. Hmm. Wonder who's using it now? Back then local phone numbers were identified by an exchange name plus five digits. Which might be what makes it easier for me to recall eons later: MOhawk83132. But back to Street View - Canadian Content.

Google's database has estimated the address incorrectly, so ignore that. (Wonder if they accept corrections?) By the relative location of a house whose number is readable and the location of the Catholic school as the opposite end of the street from 'my' house, I know the address of the house is 222 Warden Wilson Avenue, Whitby, Ontario.

And here's what it looks like as of Google's drive-by sometime this past year.


View Larger Map

We lived there from approximately 1954-55 until the summer of 1964. I am amused by the two trees on the front lawn. There were two there back in the day as well and about that size, maybe a bit smaller. Dad made ice rinks there while we were very young. Probably while there were still babies being born and the trek to the end of the street to the 'big' rink at the school was too much to contemplate. Those of us who were out learning to skate used the trees as a turning aid: just grab one on the way by and hang on until you were pointing the other way. Worked great. At least where there were trees.

More trivia that the picture brings to mind was the summer all four of us came down with the measles and lay outside on cots watching the sidewalk being installed. That was probably the biggest thing that happened to our street while we were there and great entertainment for bed-ridden sickos.

Lots more to check out another time. But there you go. Some family history for those who are interested.

Hello again, World. Hello friends, relatives and unknown others who pop by to see what's happening here. It's been a while since I've shared my current state of being and doing and thinking, I know. Problem was I didn't know what part of the chaos with which to begin, which part with which to end and kept hoping it would end soon so I could move on to more interesting (to all of us) uses of my time.

So I felt more than a little 'stuck' and going nowhere fast on any level. Who wants to read about that? And who wants to write about it? With somewhat subdued optimism I continued to grit my teeth and believe that layers of the chaos would become undone with patience and persistence. Chronic pain and medications to dull it contributed to the increase in patience and lowered volume of persistence, to be sure.

This optimism, or delusion, led me to focus on one part of the chaos in particular over the past year or so. It is a part that provoked uncomfortable feelings of powerlessness for quite a while, but over which I am ready to make another effort to gain the upper hand. As time passed demands on my waning energy levels and decreased ability to focus (sometimes it's hilarious, most times just plain confusing, scarce energy wasting and depressing) and make decisions resulted in the addition of item after item to the 'to do' list. A list that appears in many iterations somewhere around here but promptly becomes lost in the internal and external disorganization that has besieged me. And so it has been going until lack of progress on the any of the lists has prompted threats of various ilk from those waiting for things I hadn't thought critical, but are to them.

Confusion and stress have been locked in a escalating cycle of enabling, creating a multilayer rat's nest of inter-dependencies. Now that I'm tripping over the nest, the task of slowly unraveling it looms in my immediate future. This will be slow slogging and personally painful on many fronts that bear exploration with a professional counselor. I get tired just thinking about it right now. The upside is that each layer untangled will relieve a bit more internal stress. And I will have become somewhat less of a pain in the *** to those others. Good for all of us.

In the meantime, I wish to assure those who've had the pleasure of characterizing me as a pain in the *** (you know who you are) that I am also a pain in the *** to myself. And can honestly say "I feel your pain."

Equity achieved.

Just thought I'd let you know.

[updated Oct 6, 2009 to correct spelling, grammar and inconsistencies with the 'bleeped' word, because they bugged me]

Health care plans, rhetoric and realities are the sujet du jour for our American friends as the introduction of government funded alternatives are being considered there. There's an equally interesting set of perceptions under discussion on Mike Hoye's blog right now that's prompted me to share some of my own perspectives. In particular it was comments supplied by Chelsea and Beltzner that really got me involved. They make important points which bring the details into the discussion; that place where the devil lives is often ignored because it is difficult to compare apples and oranges -- especially when the oranges are really pears in disguise.

There's nothing "universal" about oft-termed Universal Health Care [Insurance] Plans in Canada, except the propaganda that's been unquestioned for so long it's become "fact" to many Canadians. To whit, in Ontario the premium for coverage (this *is* still an insurance plan after all) became self-funded (by the govt) a few decades ago. This helps with the "it's free" propaganda story, because it *feels* free. In BC, however, a premium is still payable to keep oneself and family covered. If you have no income the government will subsidize this but (and this is a big BUT for particular segments of the population) you have to apply. (Aside: I don't know of any statistics on how many BC residents are covered and how many are not. Might be interesting to find out though. In light of the "universality" lore bandied about by proponents.)

If anyone thinks government-grown health care coverage policies are simpler, fairer or easier to negotiate than dealing with an insurance company of your choice, do check BC's rules surrounding eligibility & enrollment, start of coverage and premiums (esp. premium assistance scheme).

On the subject of moving around for employment, also note that there will be charges (varying from nominal to astounding) to be paid to each physician's office to send your files to your new doctor. These will not be covered by any plan and, in most cases, will be payable before the transfer takes place. And, should there be a scarcity of family doctors in the new area, you will not be able to see specialists until you land one. Why? Because walk-in clinics (at least when I went through this) cannot refer one to a specialist.

In general, the services covered by provincial plans are fairly minimal when compared to typical private plans south of the border. To *top up* this coverage, most employers in Canada provide *private* extended group health benefits to their employees which offer differing levels of reimbursement for expenses not already covered: drugs, dental care, vision care, psychologists, physiotherapists, medical equipment, etc at various levels of premiums and coverage. If you're not employed, or your employer does not offer this benefit, the default provincial coverage is limited to services offered in hospitals and doctors' offices.

So, "Universal, Single-Payer" health care coverage would appear to be a mythical beast in Canada. What is true is that by and large, hospitals in Canada are publicly funded and therefore not observably "for-profit" undertakings, unless one were to consider expense reduction comparable to increasing profits in the private sector. It is also true that the Canadian system generally handles life-threatening emergencies and routine medical care (in a family practice) fairly well. If your problems require a specialist and therefore very likely some diagnostics and/or surgery - not so much. Wait times for all of these are becoming longer and longer. There are sites where you can view the details of a select type of surgical wait statistics. BC and Ontario's for example. (Caveat: these are compiled by the same folks who administer the systems under scrutiny.)

These wait lists have been an issue for Canadians for years. Even the Supreme Court became involved, pronouncing, in a 2005 decision "Access to a waiting list is not access to health care."

Recent economic difficulties have reduced governments' taxation revenues. This week local news reports here in BC highlight purported plans to significantly reduce services at hospitals - by cancelling approximately 6,000 "elective" surgeries. The term bears explanation, since there is a big difference between "elective" and "not medically necessary". Generally, elective surgeries are non-emergency surgeries that can be planned ahead, although this can include not medically necessary things such as cosmetic surgery, it can also include orthopedic surgeries, cancer and neurological surgeries. If a specialist recommends surgery, personally, I'd call that medically necessary (urgent or not). But I'm not an insurance company, government funded or no.

Interesting to note that one of the arguments made by proponents of government funded/administered health care in the US revolves around the discrepancies in per capita spending on health care there and in Canada. Canada's system is considered to be more effective due to lower levels of spending here. After reading the news article linked above (it's pretty concise), I'm left wondering whether a reason for the lower levels is really that the government doesn't have the cash to spend more. Another is very likely the fact that the government regulates the charges allowed by participating physicians and surgeons. (Again, some apples vs orange-coloured pears comparison problems.)

So very believable I couldn't resist.



"Estimation" -- from xkcd.com, natch



PS: I think I got the alt tag too this time around!

Spring may be playing hard to get but Easter Sunday arrived today. A couple of weeks ago I managed to remember that Easter was imminent. At that time, faulty calculations (calendar math) on my part led me to believe time for mailing surprises to friends and family was plentiful. By now you've figured out that I ran out of time.

Better late than never, right? That's what I thought. At least they'll know I was thinking about them. They may even be more surprised this way.

When I was growing up, our family's Easter traditions included an indoor egg hunt.** Small foil-covered solid chocolate eggs were hidden in various spots around the house by an adult and the children hunted them down. In my case, we were four and competition added another level of fun to the game.

When I introduced the hunt to my own children, I enjoyed the event twice as much. Hiding the eggs was almost as entertaining as watching the hunt. The hiding spots had to be challenging but not discouragingly so. Each year the hunters' skills improved, their height increased and new strategies were needed.

A great time was usually had by all. Most amusing to me were the playfully desperate requests for tips when a few sneaky eggs remained. These were as often as not followed by groans of disbelief upon their eventual discovery - almost in plain sight. Some years eggs were discovered long after the season had passed.

Another tradition was the dyeing of egg shells which required the insides to be blown out through a small hole in the shell. Having done this more times than I can count, I have great appreciation for the gentleman who creates art from empty egg shells by drilling hundreds (or thousands) of tiny holes into them. Sounds simple, but the results are stunning:



His name is Franc Grom and he lives in Slovenia. I hadn't heard of him until today when I happened upon this mention of his patient craftsmanship. Some of his eggs are definitely Easter themed (such as the one above), but these less fancy ones are my favourites:



More examples of his art can be seen here (non-English site) and over here.









** Also sickeningly sweet Laura Secord eggs and attending Mass. I don't know how we managed to survive all of this in one twenty-four hour period.

I've been anxiously awaiting the next specialist's appointment re: The Neck Problem as patiently as I could muster. Yesterday I remarked to the cats and myself that I was almost there: 6 weeks left of an initial 4+ month wait. At the same time as I was pleased to have survived living in this state of limbo for as long as I have, I was also thinking 6 more weeks sounded pretty long.

Today the surgeon's office called to reschedule the appointment. Most times this means later, but not today!

Oh, no! In about a week's time I will have my second surgical consult.** Yay!

Stay tuned. Think good surgical thoughts for me. (That's what I'm after - again. :-)








** An even earlier date was available but I want to wean myself off the brain- and pain-dulling medications before seeing the surgeon. A week gives time for the slow-accumulating one to dissipate.

Browsing through shops in West Vancouver killing time between ferry sailings, I happened into a shop for gardeners. Not only were their wares interesting and at times amusing, the music playing sounded heavenly. Great background for reading or relaxing. All women as far as I could tell.

The next track was just as wonderful. Wondering whether it was piped in from elsewhere or not and then what she could tell me about the group, I asked the clerk. The result was the discovery of a local vocal group called Pandora's Vox. The quality of the sound engineering had misled me; I anticipated these were professionals, but no. At least as far as I can gather from their site.

Wanting to support this not-for-profit amateur endeavour, but having missed a recent concert date, I settled for purchasing a copy of the CD that was playing.

You can sample some of whisper of angels (the one I snapped up) and other CD's on their site: www.pandorasvox.ca.

As promised in the last post, a trek into 'town' really did take place. The day following that was a not-doing-much recovery period. Frustrating but somewhat predictable these days.

Perhaps due to continuing adjustment of levels of meds, or other mysterious reasons, yesterday I was the victim of a serious Nap Attack. Conked out unintentionally and came to seven hours later. At midnight. Unhandy.

The upside was going outside with the cats for a bit. The stars were beautiful. So peaceful and quiet at that hour.

The not-so-upside was having half a brain today. And being multiple-levels of cranky.

This too has come to an end, though. Tomorrow has to be better. Really. I insist.

I was commenting on a friend's blog this am after which I aimlessly checked my son's blog for the first in a very very long time, I admit, and noticed I'd been tagged in a blog meme. Also tagged in a Facebook meme recently. I might bring that to the blog, too. Evil? Maybe. Then, I checked the Twitters I follow to find that another of the circle of geeks has purchased a toy much like one of my latest.

Anyway, I don't have time to do anything but mention these and promise to respond in more excruciating detail soonishly. Why's that, you ponder? Because I will be on the noon ferry to the mainland to return some toys that didn't do what I wanted as well as I wanted them to.

And today, I mean it.

Figured out how to make recorded videos less fuzzy. I think. It's daylight here now so that might have something to do with it, but I'm betting on the choice of HD 'size' of the video file. (Guessing at what the UI is trying to convey.)



On to other chores. See ya. (Only realized how punny that was after I typed it. Sorry.)

Got me a new toy to replace the other toy that was cheaper for a reason. Took most of the afternoon to figure out how to get my OS (Windows Vista) to let the webcam (Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000) record audio along with the video.

The web delivered up the secret.

Again. Where would we be without other people posting what worked for them? Back at the drawing board.

The trick is a 'clean' boot of Vista (see the link) before the webcam installation procedure. Not that the wizard or the Quick Start Guide that came with mentioned it.

By the time I created my first ever video, it was getting kind of dark. Hence the fuzzy result. But it works. It really works.

Wallpapers from Schtickers. Maybe.

Vista and HP's printer software don't play as well together as XP and the same printer did. HP's "Solution Center" kept claiming there were no HP devices on my network. Damned lies, I say.

The printer worked (after I figured out that IP address changing after a reset on the router thing). Basically at least. But scanning to a document not so much.

HP's official site (from whence the Vista drivers were downloaded) was of no help. But searching that awesome web turned up this extremely helpful blog post: No HP Devices have been detected. HP Solution Center will close now. on a Blogger blog yet already.

I just finished executing the general approach to the problem for my printer (different model but same problem). Et voilą!

The secret seems to be omitting the handily offered (and reoffered throughout the installation) HP Update portion of the package. So, thank you web and thank you anonymous blogger!

(And thank you server tech for today's very fast response. ;-)