Attack of the Nematodes

On the weekend we discovered that we had an investation of beetle grubs eating the roots of our grass, leaving large dead patches. Turns out, there's an investation all over the west end of Peterborough. I talked to a neighbour of mine who works for the Ministry of Natural Resources who said that the problem is that parasitic nematodes used to keep the grubs in check, but our use of pestacides has all but wiped them out. Now that the city has banned the use of pesticides, the grubs are making a dramatic comeback, but the nematodes are not.

The solution, buy nematodes. Yup, you can buy them and apply them to the lawn with an applicator that attaches to the garden hose (similar to how you can apply some plant foods and fertilizers). The thing is, thanks to the investation in our end of the city, everyone is sold out of the things. I managed to pick up the last batch from a store 30 km north of the city and sprayed them on tonight.

Apparently, the things burrow into the grubs, and feed and multiply until the grubs explode. Isn't the insect world wonderful. :D

Uru - My Other Time Vampire

The Myst games have been something I've greatly enjoyed since the very first game so many years ago. The series has had it's ups and downs (certainly more ups, though), but the Uru idea was always an interesting one. Though set in the Myst universe, Uru was very different as it was initially invisioned as a massive multiplayer game. The original on-line portion quickly died, but last December it was revived through Game Tap.

Now, new material has been added, story lines developed, and many new players have joined. I've got to say, from my initial trial membership, I've enjoyed Uru far more than I would have expected. I've met a lot of great people and had the kind of multiplayer fun that I didn't think was possible in a Myst game.

Shortly after signing on last spring, I began a log of my experiences within the game. Check it out if you like.

On another note, I took a picture of what my model of the HMS Supply is supposed to look like when done.


We'll see how close I get.

Survivor Blahs

Last night Survivor China aired and I pretty much couldn't have cared less.

I used to be a Survivor fanatic. To attest to this, just take a look at this website I started during Survivor's second season in Australia. I used to play a strategy game called Diplomacy and the alliances and back stabbing of Survivor reminded me so much of Saturday afternoons playing Diplomacy that I couldn't help but be intrigued. Besides that site, I spewed on about Survivor Strategy on various boards and blogs, the latest you can find if you view my profile.

So why did the latest season premier come and go without so much as a blink from me? Quite frankly, the show has just become more and more tired. It was really only momentum that carried me as far as it already has, but now, it just isn't worth the energy anymore.

HMS Supply

For our 20th anniversary last June, Debbie bought me a wooden model kit of a 18th century brigantine, the HMS Supply. The boat itself doesn't mean anything to me, but my wife knew my love of tall-ships, especially from this period, and how I've wanted to try one of the models for some time. She had a number of options, including the fictional HMS Surprise from Master & Commander, but the Supply was of level two difficulty which she figured would be good for my first one.

My summer had been a busy one, with not a lot of time spent at home, so I haven't gotten too far into it. The frame, decking and some of the hull is complete. Here's a pic, though a couple more rows of the hull lining has been done since this picture.


The hull planking is tricky because you have to bend the wood to fit the frame. It is especially tough around the stern where the planks have to twist upward. Here's a rather crappy pic of the stern as it looks now.


The wood is bent by soaking it in water and then using a soldering iron on it. I'm eager to get the hull done, because the model gets more interesting after that. I'll keep posting pics here as to how things are going. I also figure I should post a pic of what it's supposed to look like when done too.

Mike

Hereos

I don't watch I lot of network TV (I know, everyone says that). My wife had been bugging me to watch this show all last season but each time I gave it a shot I just couldn't get behind it. Debbie would try to explain, "well that guy, he can absorb other people powers, and he can bend time."

... Okay?

Debbie also suggested I should try watching Lost the year before. That show I did give a fair shake but, I have to say, I hate Lost. The show stinks. I could get into all the reasons why I dislike the show (which will likely prompt the, "You f------ suck, man - LOST ROCKS!!!" type of reply - that is assuming anyone reads this), but the main reason I can't enjoy the show is how much I dislike it's principle characters: a pompous boy-scout doctor, a pretentious barbie whom I'm supposed to believe actually killed someone, and a self-righteous punk. And, I'm supposed to care what happens to these people?

Well, Heroes came out in DVD a bit ago and I took advantage of the situation to begin renting the disks from the video store. I've got to say, the thing has got me hooked. I've just finished off disk five - the first eighteen episodes down now - and plan on picking up the final episodes tomorrow. Very enjoyable, believable, characters and a well paced plot. Lost should be taking notes.

Mike

Hi There

You know, it's funny. I've been on the Internet publishing materials and spewing my opinions about whatever topic has obsessed me at the time for more than the past decade, but it's always been under a pseudonym - HCIsland in case you want to dig him up.

It's not that HCIsland is any different than me, he's not, but I've always wanted to keep my on-line identity separate from "real life" one. So why the change?

To be honest, I don't know. I think part of it could be this, so called, Web 2.0 and the proliferation of on line social networking services like MySpace and Facebook. I did give those a very brief try, but they just weren't me. Too busy.

So here I am on Blogger (actually - I've got other Blogger material out there that I'll post links to -- probably soon though no promises). What, exactly, I'm going to do with this space, I'm not exactly sure, but I think I will center it around things I do in my everyday life.

But who knows. This may fizzle out too.