F 1 D 0 -- 2001 12 02 at 16 30 New Colours. Comment please. I'll change them back if it was better that way. This change makes the pages printable. I've been trying to have me some fun. So far so good. I spent the weekend at Sanderson Taylor. Literally! I camped there, so I didn't waste time with 2h transportation back and forth. I'm here to get a shower and find my way back there again. Oh, I love that part of Toronto. It is on Queen Street West. Now I am not a big fan of all the kids who want to go to the club dances, but I like seeing the crowds, none the less. About a block away, in the southerly direction, there are about a dozen expensive places to drink and make believe you can dance. They also lure men. That is their sin. The women get in for free, or if not free, very easily. The men must wait in line for ages, where, after a big door fee, they can listen to loud recorded music. But the sin? They are all but promised free sex. So the women are there for something social to do, but all too many of the boys there are hoping to find true lust. Well, there are a shortage of loose pickups, and when men and boys are drunk, they fight over them. Just to the west of this area is Spadina and Queen. This is the north end of fashion district. Fashion as in Design! So if we proceeded south a few blocks to King, there are a zillion cafes which cater to the folks who use artwork and fabric to design interesting things. Just north of this is the south end of Chinatown. Within a block, you can see the signs. No more people dressed with over permed over coloured hair. Many people, couples and children, all loaded down with groceries. Serious crowds all shopping for fresh food. I found my way into a BBQ house, where I got the smallest piece of Barbecued Pork they had. It was perfect. They chop it up and ladle honey sauce on it. Across the street was Co Yen, a Saigon Sandwich place, where for a dollar you get something wonderful. Coriander, homemade pate, homemade turine, homecured ham. Just one 'slice' of each. For a dollar. For 50c more, you can have a bit more. And for 1.00 more you can get pretty much what you want. For the vegetarians, the sandwich is entirely different. I'm not certain WHAT is in it. I've had it. I've enjoyed it. But that doesn't equip me to tell you. What else? I love Active Surplus. That's an older store on Queen Street near Spadina. I'm sure they've been offered zillions of dollars to sell out to Gap or Nine West or any of the other big names in clothing. But they remain. So does Steve's Music. They too have been there a long time. I went in and drooled over the Roland XX-700 (I forget the letters). It had the feel of a grand piano, and the most perfect sounds. Now, I rather like synthesizers. As a rule, they have 500 sounds, and 30 nice sounds. This one? It had 500 sounds, and 450 nice ones. Yes! And all it would cost me is my soul. What a deal! What a deal! I've been craving barbecued chicken, but that doesn't seem to be a chinatown treat. The store was just too far away. There is a 24 hour Dominion, but I'd have to get there while the BBQ section is alive. Not to worry. I've taken a roast out of the freezer. I'm off to band practice. Then I'll head back to Sanderson Taylor to finish the installation I'm doing. I love that work. It takes a while to set up, but I am so happy doing it. I just got a call from Ari, who was at his customer's place. It seems that Roger's cable has a program which does autoconfiguration. That made the browser do a lot of things. You connect, it opens up MSIE, Outlook, and a host of other programs. Not Good. He called asking about how to prevent the scripting. So now the computer doesn't automatically do anything. Don't the people who do marketing know how angry popup screens are? Especially cascading ones? I won't pay for services which are advertised this way. Right now on Talk City, they have some interesting gorilla called Bonzi Buddy. This is a talking animation, which is always asking you to spend money and upgrade him. How do I know? I have a customer, also near to Queen Street West, who used to love him. Now she has his voice turned off. It just sits in the corner and pouts. Oh. And it makes cartoonstyle balloon words. I don't have proof, but I hear that Bonzi is spyware. It watches your activity, and uses the choices you make to help pick appropriate email for you to receive. What a treat! So I cannot say if it does this for certain, but I don't like the idea of a spy cartoon. I like to shower just before I leave the house. I'm fresh for the maximum period of time when I do things that way. If you look at the Hora Mare, it is rather characteristic of the music we practice on Sundays at Kevin's place. A bit strange, a bit haunting. Always a challenge. If you cannot imagine the music by looking, download ABC2MUS, which will play it for you. That's all I know.