Post 3977 - Wednesday Night Stuff

Well, hello again, my friends.

Early early early Thursday morning. I didn't write on Tuesday because my body shut down early, so I turned in early. And today I have been busy... what was I doing? I installed some of those plastic anchors in the wall so I could hang up a couple of things so they wouldn't fall out of the wall. Realized I really should get back to finishing an article for Frank, before I got to work on two more articles. But, instead, I just have the draft of the first article over there, all marked up, but not revised in a condition to send off to my editor.

Maybe it's because on Tuesday morning I got up at 7, and took the bus just past 7:30 to go downtown for the day. I researched at the library all morning, but before it opened, I spoke with a young woman named Francesca, who is from the Bahamas. She asked me what I was there to research, and I told her I wrote about unsolved murders and missing persons cases. She said it was interesting and asked if I had ever heard of Sir Harry Oake.

I replied that I had. He was a Canadian who moved to the Bahamas and became very wealthy. Somewhere along the way, he angered someone so much that he was killed in bed, in a very gruesome way. I do not pretend to know everything about the Oake murder, but it is interesting enough that a Canadian up and moved to the Bahamas in and of itself. That he was rich almost beyond measure is even more interesting. But that he was slaughtered in his bed, and the murder remains unsolved nearly 80 years later, is of course interesting to me.

I gave her one of my blog business cards. She said she would write me once she had spoken to her grandmother who is still in the Bahamas. Apparently, the case was one of great interest to her and other family members. Perhaps I will get an exclusive!

So, I researched my topic at the library in the morning and then walked to the Archives, which is... I guess about a 15 minute walk from the library, if you meander like I do. I researched an unsolved murder there, one of the ones from last week that I didn't have time to finish. Even working flat out, I couldn't go through all the microfilms put aside for me, but I found enough information to write a pretty lengthy article about the case. It will likely be the first major article about the case in decades. The one I am finishing now is almost certainly the first one written about the case in a very long time. 

I got home in time for dinner on Tuesday, but I was tired from all the walking and the staring at a computer screen all day, so that is why I turned in early.

I wish I had had that excuse today.

I think I will turn in. Have to get up relatively early in the morning.

See you later on, on Thursday.

Bevboy

Post 3976 - Monday Night Stuff

Hi. Another short post.

I get up early on Tuesday morning to do some research on a couple of cases. To finish the research I began on a case last week, pretty much. I am booked for three hours, but I can't imagine it will take that long. 

I spent a few hours this afternoon working on a draft of my next cold case article for Frank. I wrote too many words. There is a bit too much meandering, so I have to tighten the piece, probably Tuesday night. Then I will send it off to my editor and proceed to write the article for the case I will be researching on Tuesday. I want to get that done... I guess on  Wednesday. After that, I have a third article to write, about yet another cold case. 

I am hoping that I will have all three articles in to my editor by the end of the week. 

I also pitched a couple of other articles to my editor. He has agreed to my pitches, and I will be researching those this week as well. I am hoping that I will get lucky and find the information I seek. Time will tell.

Nice to have a purpose in life, eh?

I see where the CBC today did an article about the 1906 Stetka murders in Dominion, Cape Breton. I did that story a year ago now, and much of what I covered then is covered there. I should tell them the next time I do an obscure cold case so they can turn around and plunder my work.

My AHI's were a little high Sunday night, 10.3 or so. I was in the three's for several days, so it was disappointing to say the least. I don't know what to do to improve. It just goes from night to night, and week to week. I can tell you that with a number of 10, I have felt a little more logy today, a lassitude I do not have when the numbers are three or four. Of course, before I began to use a CPAP machine, I had numbers of over 40, which is a number I can no longer fathom or contemplate. It is no wonder why I kept dozing off at work, or would often fall asleep while watching tv, at 7:30 at night., or why I had to take long naps on Saturday or Sunday afternoons. Since I began using a CPAP machine, I have required far fewer of these extra naps, and seldom doze off at inappropriate times. The machine may have saved my life.

Speaking of AHI's, I think I will turn in and see what kind of numbers I can get tonight. Have to get up early and head off to do my work.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3975 - Sunday Night Stuff

 No. I didn't sleep for three days. It has just been a few days since I could write you is all.

Sorry about that. 

I wish I could say I did a lot the last few days, but the reality is that I did not do much at all. We got groceries on Thursday and didn't really leave the house much until Sunday morning, when we  went off to pick up a Brother laser printer for a whopping ten bucks from a fellow out Hammonds Plains way. He wanted the printer gone because he wanted to get something newer. But the printer seems to work just fine for what it is. 

After the purchase we made our way over to Gary Martin Drive and had lunch at the Millstone pub. It is a retro sports-themed public house, and the food is actually pretty good. We both had the eggs benny on fish cakes, and enjoyed them so much that we ate every scrap of the food, which threw off our dinner plans, because we were so full.

This afternoon we just chilled out and gazed lovingly into each other's eyes. 

Tonight we watched some of our shows. "The Rookie" goes from light comedic to dark like no other show I can recall watching in my life. "The Equalizer" start was delayed so we will watch it on demand. "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist" is having a sophomore slump, which is disappointing. "Good Girls" just gets... gooder every week. 

I am not sure how the week will play out. There are things to do, both here and in other parts of Halifax. How much of that stuff I will do, I am not sure yet. Remains to be seen.

I am going to turn in. Pushing one ayem.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3974 - Zzzz!

Title pretty much says it all. I have been logey all day. My ahi's were "only" about 6.3, which is very low by my standards, but probably quite high by others'. 

Anyway, I am beat. Turning in.

Write you tomorrow.

Bev

Post 3973 - Wednesday Night Fun Times

Hello again, my dear friends.

I did not write on Tuesday because my body shut down around 10pm. Today, we piled in the Soul and drove to the Valley for the day. We were mostly in Wolfville, spending some time at the Farmer's Market store and Eos Foods and the Odd Book and enjoyed a very nice dinner at the Naked Crepe. 

Wolfville. We both love that town. We always have a good time there. As you know, I attended Acadia University in Wolfville in the 1980's, a time so long ago, and so far away, that it seems to have happened to someone else; but at the same time, I think of my years there so often that it can seem like yesterday. Time is funny sometimes. 

After dinner we drove around the town for a spell. We went up Gaspereau Avenue to the associated valley, as we wanted to find the many wineries there. Benjamin Bridge. Gaspereau Winery. L'Acadie. And finally, Luckett's. I am told that there is at least one more winery in that valley.

Of course, there are other wineries in other parts of the Annapolis Valley, but they are mostly within a 20 km radius or so. There is one winery in Port Williams, but another one was supposed to open last year. One outside of Kingsport. Avondale Winery is in another part of the Valley, closer to Windsor. Of course, the first winery in the area goes back to the 1980's: Grand Pre Wineries.

There are so many wineries that we have to wonder how many the economy can sustain. There are only so many women who can only drink so much wine over a sustained period of time that one worries how many can survive. 

We returned to the city just in time to drop off at the Vet's to pick up Newbie's latest cat food allotment. He is taking to the wet food much more than the kibble, which is unfortunate because it was made clear to us that he is not to consume anything else. He is on a specialized diet that demands he eat nothing else. He is the kind of guy who begs like a dog and mewls and meows until he gets what he wants. It is why I donated his older Iams food today to the animal hospital in Wolfville. 

We got back around 7. Newbie was all over me within minutes. We watched some of our shows and I hopped on my laptop and here we are.

I also jumped on to newspapers dot com tonight. I searched for a famous unsolved murder I have written about for Frank and noticed that someone with the victim's surname had clipped the same article I had. I contacted him. If he is related to the family in some way, then this can be a major "get" for me. Could blow the whole story wide open. Have to wait and see. Which is something I hate to do.

It is late. Been a very long day. I think I will turn in if you don't mind.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3972 - Monday Night Frolics

Hello once again, my lovelies.

Had a long day. A good day. Was up at 7 and at the bus stop shortly after 7:30 to catch the bus downtown. Ate some breakfast at McD's on Spring Garden Road and waited 20 minutes for the library to open. Once it did, I went up to the fourth floor and requested several containers of microfilm so I could research an unsolved murder. 

Spent the full morning there. Grabbed a bite on SGR before walking to the Archives, where I had booked a three hour research appointment to research another unsolved murder. And there was another unsolved murder days after the one I was researching, and it was on the same microfilm canisters as the first murder, so I got a lot of research on a third unsolved murder as well. All three were from many years ago, and I was lucky enough to find pictures and graphics that can be used in the upcoming articles. 

If I feel especially productive, I will write all three of the articles this week. 

I will write about this in the articles, but I get quite angry about these forgotten cases. They shouldn't be forgotten. My articles should remind people of these cases, not educate them about them. There should be a comprehensive central repository listing all such cases, regardless of their age. But the closest thing is the Awards for Major Unsolved Crimes Program, which doesn't list everything, by a long shot. 

As much as I know about these cold cases, I know there are other cases in the province that I know nothing about. Something from 75 or 100 years ago where someone went missing or was murdered, and the case was forgotten about and people went to their graves without knowing what happened to their loved one. I have no idea how people can go on living after that.

Anyway, it is late, and I got up the better part of 18 hours ago. I think I will turn in. Lots to do on Tuesday!

See you then.

Bevboy

Post 3971 - Sunday NIght Short and Sweet

 It is past midnight. I should have gone to bed a good  hour ago, but I am not that tired and I was researching a nearly 100 year old unsolved murder. I downloaded quite a few articles on the case and will do more researching on it at the archives or library in the coming week or two. One of three cases I am working on at the moment.

We had a quiet day. Patricia made salmon benedict for breakfast. It was as good as you might imagine it to be. And we had a chicken dinner tonight. In between I did some cleaning up downstairs, finding a clear plastic set of drawers I used to keep cables in, but which I no longer want. Patricia may find a use for it in her she-shed. If not, out it goes on the next garbage day. 

It is pushing 12:30, and I have to get up early and go off to do some researchy stuff, so I will call this blog post short.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

 

 

Post 3970 - Stuff Bevboy Cannot Do

Hello again, my lovelies.

I had an interesting to and fro with a blog reader earlier today, on Twitter. He mentioned in another exchange with someone how he had run some Cat5 cable from one level of his house to another. I wrote and confided that I had never done such a thing, and wouldn't know how to do such a thing. 

He wrote back that it really wasn't that difficult. That you had to measure the square root of the hypotenuse by Pi to the third power. Why, I have no idea. Then, you had to drill holes large enough to accommodate the cable that you were running. Then... I guess you hire Ant-Man to take the cable for you from its source to its destination, because how the hell else would you do it?

My friend said something about a snake doing the job. I would have more faith in Ant-Man. I do not trust snakes. They are icky, and their spittle and venom would get all over the end of the cable and might even bite off the little nubby thing at the end that keeps the cable connected to the computer.

It all brings to mind the many things in this life that I cannot do. That nobody has ever taught me, or shown me how to do, or which I tried and failed at. But they are things that people are just expected to pick up along the way, through some kind of osmosis or hocus pocus utterly unknown to me.

Other things I cannot do:

I cannot drive a manual transmission vehicle. Dad had them over the years but between my not expressing an interest in learning, and him not offering to show me, I never learned how to do it. I do not have a clue why anyone would want to drive a manual transmission. I have heard that they are more efficient and have other advantages, but I will be damned if I know what they are, and whether they are so compelling that a fella would want to learn at this advanced age, to drive a stick shift.

I cannot break an egg open the way you see on cooking shows. It looks effortless. The cooking person just squeezes the egg shell in a certain way, and it dutifully opens up and the egg runs out, and nary a piece of shell ends up in the pan or mixing bowl or whatever. I take a butter knife and "chop" the egg shell, and then manually open it with both hands, and about 30% of the time a piece of the shell ends up in the pan or mixing bowl or whatever. Patricia thinks my method laughable, and she is not wrong. But it is the only way I know to crack an egg.

I cannot get past page three of most "literary" novels. In high school, I had to read books by Sinclair Lewis and Margaret Lawrence and others, and barely survived. Tell me: is the purpose of these books to bore the living shit out of people?

I will catch hell from those who adore such books and admire these and other authors, but reading anything where not much happens to people I do not much care about, is a form of torture for me.  I mean, Ami McKay is a casual friend to me. She always says hello and has always been kind to me. My mother loved "The Birth House". Patricia did, too, and has read several other books by her. So I feel I should at least try to read her books. But when I hear critics who likely drink their tea with the little pinky stuck up while consuming watercress sandwiches with the crusts removed, extoll her virtues, it doesn't make me want to go out and read her. But she has always been hella nice to me, and even offered me some literary advice a couple of years ago, so I will try. I promise. Right after I read the latest Jack Reacher. 

And, too, Donna Morrissey used to be in my Toastmasters club. And her books are recognized as crime fiction with the Crime Writers of Canada, of which I am a proud member, so maybe I should give her a try as well, huh?

So, those are things I cannot do, try as I might. There are more, but it is 2 am, and I should turn in.

What can you not do, that you wish you could?

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3969 - Friday Night Stuff

A day later.

Well, we didn't go downtown today. The weather didn't cooperate, so we stayed home. Another day of watching the tube. 

As things stand we plan to go downtown on Saturday and again on Monday. We will have lunch downtown on Saturday before I go to the library to do some research. 

We are not sure where to go to lunch. We don't go downtown very much any more. There is so much construction. So many places have closed. Getting downtown is a pain. Finding a parking space is a pain. The new parking system was designed by people who don't give a rodent's rump about anyone who actually drives a vehicle. The only reason we are going there tomorrow is because I need access to a microfilm reader and only the central branch has them. 

I lived in the south end of the city, on Green Street, for more than a decade, but that was 20 years ago, and I no longer miss living there. It used to be a draw, but now it is a drain, to go downtown. I wish I didn't have to go there any more.

C'est la vie.

Hundreds of you have asked me about the keyboard on this laptop. I am happy to report that it is working perfectly again. That is good because I don't want to spend the money on a newer laptop right now. 

And on that happy note, I am going to turn in. 

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3968 - Thursday Night Stuff

Hello, everyone. How have you been?

I didn't write on Wednesday night. I am sorry about that. And the Tuesday night post had the wrong number on it, so I fixed that just now. 

I have long since forgotten why I started numbering the posts. It was something I wanted to do in 2007, so I did it, because it was my blog and I could. But as I have pointed out before, there have been times when I lost count, and used the wrong number. That is why the total number of blog posts does not match with the numbering, if you catch my drift.

The last couple of days have been about not doing that much. We went to the Sobeys tonight and spent more than we meant to, which is par for the course. We did that because we wanted to make sure we had enough provisions to withstand the impending storm. Besides, there was a sale on the salmon that we like, so we stocked up. 

We are barely a day away from the first day of Spring, but you wouldn't know it, given the forecast. We are supposed to be nailed in the coming hours, which is especially annoying because I am scheduled to go somewhere Friday afternoon.

I spent an hour or so tonight on Newspapers Dot Com. The semi annual subscription is well worth it if you want to do any kind of serious research about much of anything. Google is trying to digitize newspapers but there are serious gaps in any run of any newspaper they have, and I am not sure what priority they have in adding many more. There is a competing product called Newspaper Archives Dot Com, but I could not justify two subscriptions. There is apparently little overlap between the two services, but I only take their word for that. Each service claims to have 1000's of newspapers in it, but both of them have relatively disappointing coverage of Canadian newspapers. 

Anyway, I was researching an old unsolved murder in Halifax from long ago. The relatively few Canadian newspapers did contain some wire service stories about the case, which I can use to help me do a full research job at the archives or library in the coming days. 

The case fulfills anybody's reasonable definition of an unsolved murder, but I am willing the police do not consider it such because they offered a suspect, who ended up being acquitted of the charges. The police's position is they offer a suspect and it's not their fault if "their guy" doesn't get convicted. They have done their job. It has probably happened a few times over the years, but I only know of one other case around here where that has happened. It was the murder of Arnold "Smiley" Bailey, in 1988. The police offered one, maybe even two, people, both of whom were dutifully charged and not found guilty. Nobody has ever been convicted of his murder, but you will not find it on the list of unsolved murders in Halifax. This other case I am researching is another example of that, from decades earlier. Another forgotten case. Another forgotten murdered woman. 

Look for this case in an upcoming issue of Frank.

It is quite late. I am going to turn in. Potentially busy day on Friday.

See you then.

Bevboy

Post 3967 - Does this work?

A Tuesday night. Newbie is on my lap. And I recalled that years ago I could update the blog via email. 

I don't recall doing this via phone before, though.

Let's see if this works.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3966 - Short And Sweet

Hi. It is pushing two ayem here in Nova Scotia. I have my laptop on me. The only illumination here in the living room is from the usb light I got at the dollar store last week, clipped to the monitor.

I keep thinking about Eleanor Jarman, the "Blond Tigress" I told you about last evening. Her son LeRoy died in 1993. His son, Doug, who had taken up the mantle of trying to get Eleanor's record expunged/pardoned, and who had been quoted in quite a few newspaper articles in the mid 1990's, himself died in 1999. I think I have found his daughter and his widow. Messaged the daughter just now. Will see if the family has some hither-to unreported information about Eleanor.

Why? Because I find this case extremely fascinating. It doesn't take place in Nova Scotia or in Canada, so I doubt if Frank Magazine would have the slightest interest in running anything I could write about it, but that won't stop me from trying to find out some information about the case anyway. 

Eleanor took on an assumed name after she broke out of prison. That named is revealed in a newspaper article from late in 1994, but I didn't have any luck finding her on find a grave. Perhaps there is yet another name she went by?

So, anyway, that is why I am still up at this late hour. 

The new "America's Most Wanted" started this evening. Elizabeth Vargas was a wise choice to be the new host. I am thinking that John Walsh is tied up with his other show and his contract will not allow him to do this as well. Plus, he is 75 years old and Fox may have wanted to go a little younger. I dunno. But it is a good promising start to an old favourite. I hope it is on for many years.

I think I will turn in. Not sure what time I will get up, but we'll see. 

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

 

 

Post 3965 - Sunday Night Shenanigans

How have the last few days been?

I turned in early on Friday night. I was pooped for some reason. And on Saturday we were up so late that I decided not to write a blog post. No excuse.

I am trying to turn over a new leaf, and keep it turned over. That means a blog post every day if at all possible. No guarantee I won't miss a day or two here and there, but I hope it is the exception and not the rule.

On Sunday we spent some time doing some early Spring cleaning. Patrica uncovered some clothes of mine, and I spent some time this evening seeing if thney still fit and whether I still want them. She found a very nice pair of black jeans I bought a couple of years ago and had forgotten about. They fit very well and I will wear them this week. 

Also found some summer shorts to wear. Not to mention some clothes that are so old or worn or both that I think they should go in the garbage, so they will. There is a veterinarian up the road. They are always accepting old blankets and the like, so we will do a trip there perhaps as early as Monday. 

The recroom has been in a state since the great flood of 2019. When they brought back all the boxes and stuff, I began to unload them. It is a process I never quite finished. Add to that the stuff from the Valley house that I kept, and there is always stuff to do there that needs to be addressed but just hasn't. But on Sunday I moved the tv stand so it now points in the right direction, and sat in my fave chair in the house and  watched a bit of television. It is a goal to re-establish that room as the entertainment centre for the house in 2021. Assuming, of course, that we remain in this house for the duration. 

The housing market around these here parts is very hot these days. It is a heat that is permeating the province, but it is hottest here in the greater Halifax area. We would like to buy another place, but while we would sell this place with little problem, there remains the small matter of where to move to. It becomes bewildering and bedevilling, so we just change the subject after a few minutes. 

Speaking of changing the subject...

I just posted this on my Facebook, but I will write about it here as well. The "Blond Tigress" story of many years ago continues to fascinate me. Here is a woman who broke out of jail because she had heard that her kids might be in trouble. She learned they were well, and then dropped out of sight. For 35 years. They communicated via classified ads in a local newspaper, and finally arranged to meet one night in 1975. Then, she walked out into the night, and her family never saw her again. Communication via classified ads tapered off. 

Here is the story. Keep your hankies with you. You'll need them.

No. The story didn't take place around these here parts. But the story is one that won't let me go.

It is nearly two in the morning. The clock change has wreaked havoc upon my body yet again, and sleep will be hard to come by. 

See you tomorrow. Or, rather, later on today.

Bevboy

Post 3964 - Thursday Night Stuff

Well, there you are. Where have you been?

Another day where not much happened. I slept in. Made lunch. Did dishes. Patricia made a nice dinner. And we watched some stuff on the PVR. 

I think we need a bit of variety in our lives.

I swear we will step out tomorrow.

The keyboard on this old laptop is still working. The 8 key was acting up for a month or so, but has been working perfectly for about 10 days now. I did order a replacement keyboard, but in looking at youtube videos, they look like a bugger to replace, so it is just as well that it arrived in the mail all mangled and stuff. I'll throw the replacement keyboard in the garbage.

You know, I still have a crapton of Bevboy's Blog business cards. I am repeating my offer to mail a passel of them to anyone who requests them. If anybody reads this blog post, anywhere in the world, and you want some business cards with my name on them, unique business cards, beautiful business cards, leave a message with this blog post, or message me on Facebook, or email me at the official Bevboy's Blog email address. I promise I will contact you back and get your mailing address and mail them out to you. 

I keep my promises.

You have a good night. Talk at you on Friday.

Bevboy

 

 

Post 3963 - Wednesday Night Ramblings

It is late. But not as late as it was when I wrote Tuesday's blog post. I was up until 2 this morning and I am feeling it now. Will turn in as soon as I press the "publish" button on the upper right hand corner of the screen. 

We didn't do much today. I made dinner, consisting of haddock portions and rice and veg. We watched several hours of the tv, which makes me think that we need to get out a bit more. We promised each other that we would get out of the house on Thursday.

Say, you may have heard about the My Heritage "Deepfake" thing a couple of weeks ago, where you supply a photo and they animate it in a way that makes things look simultaneously fascinating and creepy.

I thought I would use the official Bevboy avatar, but it didn't work as it is at the end of the day, a cartoon image, so I used the basis for that caricature, which is here:

Then, I ran it through the app, and here you get me at 11, sort of moving around.

I did have that silly little sneer back then. It was my Elvis Presley phase. I hope you don't mind it too much.

I think I will turn in. You guys have a good day. I will bark at ya tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3962 - Tuesday Night Stuff

You? Again? To what do I owe the pleasure?

Hello once again, my dear friends.

Another day behind me. It is past one ayem Wednesday morning. I should have turned in some time ago, but time is different for me now. I slept in until quite late Tuesday morning. My CPAP machine told me I had but 5.2 average hourly incidents of apnea over night, which is something to be grateful for. 

After lunch, we decided to drop off some stuff at Value Village in Bayer's Lake, so we did. They gave us a 20% off certificate so we decided to go inside and see what they had.

Patricia ended up getting a cast iron skillet with grill marks in it. Brand new it would be $150 or so; she got it for about 20. I got a little usb light thingy you  plug into a laptop to throw off some light when it is this late and you can't see what you're typing. 

Then, we went to the Dollarama. I found a pretty neat usb light thingy for four dollars which is on two foot or so cable and clips on to the monitor. It has an off/off switch and throws off enough light to read by, which is pretty awesome. I am using it right now, and I love it. I may go back and buy a couple more just... because, I guess.

I topped up the gas tank because gas is supposed to go up yet again this week. I am not all together sure why this is the case, but we don't drive all that much and decided to fill it up now rather than wait in line Wednesday night. After that I got some of the "cheap" eggs at the Guardian Drugs in Timberlea.  Six months or so ago, they were $1.99 a dozen. Then they went up to $2.49. Last week, they went up to $2.79. They sell eggs as a loss leader to get people in the door. The problem is that more than a few people buy eggs there and nothing else. 

I also got a one hole punch because I wanted one. Looped some twine through it so I could hang it on a hook.

It has been a quiet night here. I have been researching a 1973 missing persons case involving two people, Ron and Terry Yakimchuk, who moved "to the Maritimes" (nobody seems to know which province) from Edmonton, and never arrived here.  They never even arrived at the Toronto wedding they were supposed to attend. There has been no trace of these two in nearly 50 years. It is a fascinating story, but I am not sure how much I can advance it. I don't even know which province they were hoping to settle in. Nobody seems to.

One of the great things about having a subscription to Newspapers Dot Com is the ability to research, well, just about anything.  I did manage to source a few articles about Ron and Terry, yielding some information. 

I discovered an article at the Archives a few years ago about a little British girl who had been kidnapped by her dad in 1991 or so. For a time, the trail led to Nova Scotia. The Herald did an article, which I found. It pointed to a piece on CBC television, which would be almost impossible to see unless the CBC's own archives are that vast and expansive. 

I dutifully created a file entry in the active case binder I keep here at Casa Bevboy. Created a file folder in my Dropbox for the case, and deposited the PDF of the article from the Archives in it. And that was about it, for the last few years.

Anyway, tonight I decided to plug in Emma Hallam's name into the Newspapers search engine. I am pleased to report that she was found living in Florida with her father and his mother. A judge ordered Emma returned to her mother in the U.K., and this was done. I am doubtful if at the time any of the local media bothered to report the girl's fate. She would be about 35 years old now, and perhaps a mother of her own. I found a few Emma Hallam's on Facebook. Her mother is named Michelle, and I found a few Michelle Hallam's as well. Would be interesting to see how they are doing now.

My own real problem with Newspapers Dot Com is the relative lack of Canadian newspapers. There are more than a few but they pale before the American content on the site. And there is practically nothing from Nova Scotia. You would think that the old Daily News would be on there, but it isn't. And the Chronicle Herald can trace its roots all the way back to 1824, but despite their severe money problems they haven't leased its content to a provider like Newspapers Dot Com. A shame, really. 

At any rate, it is super late, so I should put some distilled water in the CPAP machine and turn in. Sleeping in until noon may be fun once in a while, but I don't want to do it for the rest of my life or anything.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3961 - Monday Night Reflections

Yes. I know what "perambulations" means. Of course. Er, yes.

How was your day? Mine was quiet, but then again, most of them are. The roast beef we had for dinner on Sunday became a beef and lentil soup on Monday. I later added a can of black beans to the soup, so on Tuesday it will be a beef and black bean and lentil soup. Although, perhaps I should listen the primary ingredients in the order that they were added, so it should be beef and lentil and black bean soup. Yes. That is what we will call it, hereafter.

I didn't do anything with the printer on Monday. I put it back in the box on Sunday and will put it away until such time as I have used the three remaining boxes of toner on the Samsung ML-1915 printer. I admit that when that blessed day comes, that I will miss the printer. Have had it for such a long time. I had resisted getting a printer for years and years. I figured that, in the year of our Lord 2007, I would not ever need a printer. After Patricia moved in, she began to wonder aloud why we didn't have a printer, so I finally acquiesced in 2012 and got this one that I still have. 

I once owned four of these printers, plus a few other laser printers that I acquired very inexpensively. I bought the duplicate Samsung printers because they always came with toner, and I would move the toner to the old printer and keep the printer. I eventually got rid of all but one of those printers. I have kept the duplicate Samsung printer for the eventual day when the first one would stop working, but that day has never come and likely never will before I retire it, and its backup.

The computer equipment I have acquired over the years would frighten you. I have several flatscreen monitors; one of them is hooked up to the all-in-one I got late in 2020 and it provides more screen real estate than I perhaps need, but it is nice to have nonetheless. I thought I had more keyboards than I do, though. I recently looked for one to use as a backup keyboard on this laptop, and had a hard time doing so. Which is fine, because the keyboard on this old laptop is working again. At least it has been the last couple of days.

And I have many more computer mice than I perhaps will ever need. 

I went to a store that was selling off old fixtures and bibs and bobs from a restaurant in the Spring Garden Road area, last summer. I got four Bacardi drinking glasses that light up when you put any liquid in them. And I got many pieces of ethernet cable as well. Some really long pieces that I may never use. And some really short pieces that one needs sometimes. All for super cheap. I keep as much of that old equipment in a cabinet in an even older entertainment centre I bought many years ago. 

Since the keyboard appears to be working again on this old laptop, it saves me the cost of getting another laptop for a spell, at least in theory. The battery on this one lasts maybe 90 minutes if I am lucky. I know the new laptops' batteries can last for 6 hours or more, so I am a bit jealous. 

I find I use this old laptop more than I do most any other computer I own. I am not sure why. I guess it is because I just like sitting in this big old comfy chair in the living room and typing in stuff. It is a convenient and agreeable way to do stuff, so that is how I spend my time.

I should probably mention the death of a friend of mine.  His name was Rod Doiron. I had known him for the better part of 30 years, since the early 1990's, when I was in Toastmasters. I had briefly flirted with the idea of learning magic, so I joined a local magic club. I can no longer remember if I had first met him through TM, or the magic club. 

 

 

 

People often found Rod off putting. He had a way of saying what was on his mind, with few filters and little thought of tact or how the tone wrapped around those words might be received. I had worked with one other guy over the years whose filter was non-existent and who would say hateful and vile things to me as a matter of course, so I just took what Rod said to me at face value, which I think he appreciated.  And I appreciated his wise council and the direction he provided.

He quit Toastmasters in 1998 after 20 years of it. He felt he had learned all he would ever learn, and he was probably right. But his interest in magic so far as I know from the online tributes to him never seemed to wane. If anything, it waxed to the point of a passion.

Rod touched many lives, most of which I don't know about. But he greatly influenced a man who would go on to become a Member of Parliament and Canada's Speaker of the House of Commons in Ottawa. When Geoff Regan joined Toastmasters back in the 1990's, he was scared to death of public speaking. Rod was so helpful to Geoff that when he visited our club in 2008, many years after Rod had quit TM, he made a point of mentioning Rod and how his time in Toastmasters had helped him. 

I really should tell Geoff that Rod died. I doubt if he knows. 

I lost touch with Rod over the years. Our lives went off in different directions, but we certainly knew each other and I thought of him often and fondly. I do not know if he thought of me often or fondly, or at all, but that's ok. He helped me in Toastmasters. He helped me with some magical effects that I struggled with. And he went on to enter the lives of others and helped them. He was that kind of guy.

I don't know what Rod died of. I haven't seen an obituary yet. I have heard one or two details about his death that I am not prepared to share here. I also haven't heard anything about a funeral or a celebration of life.

Ha. Wouldn't it be a gas if he disappeared from his coffin, with some kind of flourish? 

Goodbye, my friend. See you on the other side. 

And I'll see you guys tomorrow.

 

Bevboy

 

 

Post 3960 - Sunday Night Stuff

Hello once again.

Newbie likes to sit on my lap. When he sees me using my laptop, like I am now, he saunters over and wedges himself between the laptop and my gut. He's happy. And he is far enough away from the keyboard that I am relatively productive.

I spent yet more time Saturday night frigging around with that Brother printer. I learned that those models have a hidden menu which shuts off the "deep sleep" mode, which I thought would fix the problem of being able to print to it when it was in that mode. I awoke this morning and tried to print something to it from my phone. The phone didn't even see the printer until I physically turned the printer off and then back on again. Meanwhile, of course, it saw my Samsung printer with no problem.

I am sure there is a way to get around this, but I am not interested in frigging around with it even more. I still have the Samsung, which works perfectly, and still have to go through three unopened boxes of toner. Upwards of 4000 pages will have to come off that printer before the toner cartridges are exhausted. 

Had a quiet day. This evening we watched Harry and Meghan explain what their lives have been like the last few years. If true, I wouldn't wish their lives on anyone. Neither would you. I have nothing further to add to the discussion that thousands of pundits will spend hundreds of hours discussing in the coming weeks, so I will shut up now.

I am hoping to get to the Archives later on this week. Been sitting on a pretty interesting unsolved murder from 100 years ago, and I want to know more. The Resk case will have to go on the back burner for a bit. I can't take it any further unless some more compelling information comes my way, or I uncover something, and neither situation fits right now. 

It is late, so I think I will turn in. 

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3959 - Saturday Night Stuff

Printers. I hate them.

I got the new-to-me Brother printer working earlier today, at least via wifi. I got it talking to the network in the house, and easily connected to it. Then, it goes into a "deep sleep" mode, and the wifi signal is not re-established when it "wakes up", unless you physically turn the printer off and then back on again. Which is silly, because if I am upstairs and the printer is downstairs, it means I have to go downstairs, do what I just stated has to be done, and then send the print job to it again. It is a silly arse thing to have to do.

Meanwhile, the vintage 2009 Samsung laser printer, hooked up to a computer via usb, just works, unless there is no paper in the tray, or the one or two times there has been a paper jam.   Bought it used in 2012, and it has been nearly nine years of nearly flawless service ever since. The only downside is that I have to make sure that the computer it is hooked up to, hereafter referred to as a print server, is up and running at all times. Since that has historically also been the media server, until it got too old to serve media, then this was not a big deal. 

I thought that having this Brother printer would fix that problem, but if it likes to take naps and go for long walks along the beach with its significant other, then it is not much good to me. 

I have a theory why the ethernet connection doesn't work, but if the "deep sleep" mode kicks in at any rate, then there is not much I can do. 

Rats.

Sorry for the foul language.

Other than that, it has been a quiet day. I washed the dishes to remove the perception that a hoarder lives in the kitchen. I found a more permanent solution about where to store our gift cards. I'm sure you would like to know where they are, but we must have some secrets, eh?

Oh, yes. One more thing.

I think I have a cold.

I am not sure what fresh tortures await me as I try use a CPAP machine whilst experiencing a cold. I don't know what will happen if I sneeze my head off with the mask on my face. Nothing pleasant, I am sure. It will be an interesting evening around here.

I think I will research how to deal with this issue.

Talk at you tomorrow.

Bevboy

I am a dog with a bone with these problems. I

Post 3958 - Friday Night Frolics

Welcome to the weekend.

You'll be pleased to know that I did indeed purchase the printer I mentioned to you yesterday. $20 for a printer that has built-in wifi and has an ethernet connection. I spent a couple of hours this evening frigging around with the printer and got the duplex feature working. The previous owner had turned it off for some reason. Printed off a document using half the paper on this printer than on the one I have been using for years.

I haven't messed around with the wifi yet. I probably won't. I had another wifi-based printer, and the connection kept dropping. Which was not at all frustrating.

But while I can hook up the ethernet cable to the printer, and my laptop sees it, I can't get the printer to accept any documents sent to it. It just sits there and doesn't print anything I send it. 

So, usb mode works great. Wifi, I haven't tried. Ethernet should work but is not working. 

I will figure it out. I will then wonder what the hell was wrong with me because I didn't figure it out right away. It would likely have helped if I had had the manual for the printer. 

We ran other errands today. Patricia had a medical appointment, after which we had lunch at Edible Matters in Hammonds Plains. Patricia had the ribs and I had a veggie pasta dish. We both enjoyed our meals very much. We went from through Bedford and then ended up at Bedford Common, before we drove to the Timberlea Sobeys and returned home.

We were still full from dinner. I had a snack about an hour ago, and Patricia was sleeping when she didn't hear me cussing over the printer.

Not sure what we will do on Saturday. Will likely frig around with the printer for a spell.  I'm like a dog with a bone, you know.

You guys have a good evening. Stay safe. Talk at ya tomorrow.

Bevboy

 

 

 

Post 3957 - Thursday Night Shenanigans

Boy,  hope I spelled shenanigans correctly. That would be a shenanigan unto itself. Border line ironic.

How was your day? We... didn't do that much. This evening I found a Brother laser printer with the features I want it to have: duplex printing, and an ethernet connection, for a price that seems almost too low. I will see it tomorrow and make the decision then. The highlight of my day, if the thing works.

We didn't go through our things to see what else we can donate, but upon reflection, perhaps we should be selling some of that crap. The pyrex dishes are of good quality and would fetch 20 dollars or so. Better to have it in our pockets rather than someone else's. 

I realize it is best to keep things into perspective and to count one's blessings, but it is not always easy to do that. We have kicked the tires about buying another house, selling this one of course, but the prices are getting out of sight. We would have no problem selling this place, what with the new deck and doors and windows and its proximity to a school; but that doesn't help us find a place to move to. We have decided that we need certain creature comforts, and as we grow a bit more mature being relatively close to all the retail in Bayer's Lake and the inevitable medical centre that will be built there in the coming years makes living in this part of the greater Halifax area all the more compelling. 

At the same time, we are mobile enough that we can up and move to where we want, and perhaps that is something we should do while we are able. 

It is something to think about whilst I doze off tonight. 

Busy day tomorrow. Errands to run. A printer to purchase.

See you then.

Bevboy

 

 

 

Post 3956 - Wednesday Night Stuff

Hello again, my friends.

Today was another day for the record books. Assuming your idea of keeping records is along the lines of not doing much. I got in touch with my tax accountant on Tuesday, and today I scanned in various receipts related to my taxes and then emailed them off to the accountant. I am still awaiting information from my credit union and will have that in a couple of days.

This being a pandemic year, I am not sure how the tax thing will shake out. I keep thinking I will have to pay in, that not enough was deducted at source. I will know in a week or so. 

Whilst I was busy scannin', Patricia was in the kitchen deciding what to keep and what to donate. We didn't know it, but we have four large Pyrex containers. We decided we would keep two. There was also a serving dish that we would use in the oven as well, even though perhaps we shouldn't have. That went in the pile to go to Value Village. Some pots and pans that don't really fit in the space we have, are also going. We will still have more pots and pans than we really need, but we will at least be able to store them all.

The same deal with the dishes. We have too many. Quite a few I purchased when a restaurant was closing years ago. Good quality dishes for very cheap, and we use them all the time. But when Patricia moved in  years ago, she brought dishes as well, and now we have several too many. 

Don't get me started on the coffee mugs. Too late. I just did. We have too many of those as well. I don't know about you, but everyone has his/her favourite coffee mug, and uses it until it falls apart before using another one. We use five or six of the mugs at the most, and wash them and redeploy them. 

We are also getting rid of an electric can opener. I had one for many years when I was renting an apartment on Green Street in Halifax because as a left-handed person, I had a helluva hard time using a manual can opener. But I finally found a manual can opener I can use with only a modicum of difficulty and use that. I had forgotten I still owned an electric can opener, and it is going in the pile, too.

Have I ever told you about a comic book story I read when I was nine or so? It was in one of those old Marvel comics that reprinted their horror stories from the 1950's, reproduced in a very poor manner. Maybe the book was called "Beware". I don't remember. But the story is about a guy who hears about an impending nuclear incident or some calamity. Today, he would be called a "prepper", but back then, he is just a crazy person who designs a shelter for himself to be protected from this emergency. 

He stocks his shelter with every possible provision and locks himself inside, secure that he will outlive all the dummies who did not prepare themselves the way he did. The story's kicker? He realizes in the last panel that he neglected to pack away a can opener or two. I am guessing he dies by starvation, off panel.

Ever since I read that story all those years ago, I have made sure that wherever I go, I have a can opener or two within easy reach, even if I don't have any canned goods within easy reach. I always had at least one can opener at work, even though one could readily locate a can opener in the kitchen. I ended up with two or maybe even three can openers in a desk drawer, keeping in mind that old comic book story and the cardinal rule from grade school that one should always have two pencils on hand, in case the lead breaks on one of them. (I usually had three in case some wiseacre didn't abide by that rule and needed to borrow one of my pencils. Or can openers.)

I think we got rid of one of those can openers last year, but I fought like hell to keep another one of them here to go along with the red can opener that Patricia favours, which I find to be a never ending  source of frustration to use, so when she turns her back, I dig out the one I prefer and use that instead. 

We are keeping the manual can openers. We. Just. Are.

And now you know why.

Sorry you asked?

Tomorrow will be more of what we did today. Deciding whether to donate 40 spoons, or 14 forks, or 18 butter knives. Because we are retired, and we can.

You understand.

I think I will turn in. Thinking about utensils and can openers so tires one.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 3955 - Tuesday Night Stuff

Hello again, my lovelies.

I didn't write on Monday because my body pretty much shut down around 10pm. Slept for many hours and got up late. The exciting life I lead!

We went to Superstore on Tuesday afternoon and got a bunch of stuff, some of which we didn't need but may yet use. We have a couple of cabinets downstairs in the laundry room, and it is festooned with canned goods and bottles of this and that. Adding to the this and that are the four bags of Starbucks coffee that were marked down to a near-affordable price. 

It has been frightfully cold around these here parts today. Minus 25 degrees or so if you consider the wind chill. But because of the windows and doors we had installed last year, we are quite comfortable. The temperature is only at 12C or so, and we are warm. This time last year we would have booted the temp up much further and had to use blankets and sit away from the front door because of the draft. We are blessed. If we end up selling this place and moving to another, it will have to be somewhere where the doors and windows are relatively new. 

And it has a man cave.

And Patricia has a she shed.

And a home office/library.

And at least two bathrooms.

Wouldn't say no to a garage.

You understand.

Of course, with the price of homes being what they are, shooting up into the ionosphere, we are likely stuck here for quite a while yet. We could sell this place and do quite well, but there would be no corresponding place for us to move to, so we are at a disadvantage. You understand.

Hey, "Jeopardy!" is about to start. Better boogie. 

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy