Farrago Archives - Page 2 of 42

Chinese cities with beautiful women, I seem to know how to pick ’em

Before moving to Dalian in 2005 I spent a good amount of time on the Internet researching the place to see if it was the type of city I’d like to live in. Looking back on what I read, it was the typical “Dalian is a beautiful sea-side city” tourist crap that I would hear …

September 2, 2009

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Blog redesign, take 5-ish

As will be apparent to everyone reading this, sans feed readers, the blog is undergoing a bit of reconstructive surgery. Please bear with me as I juggle the redesign of the site with “real” work. I had nothing against the last design (despite it borrowing 5 bucks and not paying it back), but after having …

June 2, 2009

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Big-time Button

Just got a message via Flickr that a photo I took a couple weeks back of Button made it to Purina’s Pet Charts – a collection of pet stories, pictures and videos. She’s currently ranked #2 – help me get her to No. #1! Vote for the photo here: http://petcharts.purina.com/Default.aspx?day=2009-4-13 UPDATE 04/14: Button’s picture hit …

April 13, 2009

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Disturbing Dubai

It’s rare that I hit on topics here that don’t involve myself, my adoptive country of China or my homeland of Canada. However, I just finished a long investigative report in The Independent about Dubai, and felt the need to share. The article, written by Johann Hari, shocked me. I had never really put much …

April 7, 2009

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I am an atheist

I’ve always considered myself a spiritual person. But I suppose if I’m going to write about this properly, I need to define that at least a little. I’ve always looked at myself and my life as a palette by which I can express my existence in more than just a purely utilitarian way. I view …

March 31, 2009

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Reminder to turn stuff off: Earth Hour tonight

Just a quick reminder that Earth Hour is tonight from 8:30pm to 9:30pm (local time). One hour of lessened electrical usage might not suddenly spark a mass movement towards a cleaner greener world, but I hope you’ll all join me in turn your stuff off for 60 minutes to recognize that there is a cost …

March 28, 2009

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Pupdate: Button the Brave

As mentioned, we recently got a new puppy named Button. Now having had a few days to get to know our newest family member, it’s neat to see her personality shining through. Addie was the first time I ever raised a puppy, and so everything was new. I had no way of knowing what was …

March 22, 2009

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Starting again

It’s been two and a half months now since our dog Addie died, and though it’s rare a day goes by that we don’t think of her and miss her terribly, we’ve started to feel there just wasn’t enough dog hair all over everything. So, about a week and a half ago we contacted the …

March 19, 2009

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One final toss for The Dooze

An incredibly touching story by ESPN’s Bill Simmons about the death, and most wonderfully, the life of his dog “The Dooze”. Impossible not to draw some similarities between Bill’s loss and our own. h/t Beijing Boyce on Twitter.

February 1, 2009

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Mac’in it up with a fruity new computer

I’ve officially joined the club. You know, that pretentious group that hangs out in cafes with their white Apple-logo lit, doing little other than subliminally pointing to the branding and winking. Those that are quick to tell you how amazing a Mac is, and how super better it compares to a PC, while barely having …

January 23, 2009

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Optima Dog Food Saga: It’s Done

Most often I feel time is moving much faster than I expect it to. This last month, however, is an exception. It’s hard to believe that it was just over four weeks ago that we got the news about our Optima dog food being contaminated with aflatoxin. Only a month ago that we began to …

January 22, 2009

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Optima Pet Food Saga: Media’s double-edged sword

It’s been a crazy week – both with trying to catch up on work I let slip while caring for Addie over the holidays and also with trying to bring some perspective to this whole, ongoing, experience. When all this began I created a Google Alert for “Optima dog food”, so I’d know any time …

January 17, 2009

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