iMatt :: The Blog of Matt Clare

Announcing Clurko.com – where Lindz and I plan to chronicle this whole wedding/ rest of our lives thing.  We’re planning to add lots, but for now you can go there to find out why we chose Clurko.com.

I’d also like to encourage you to register for an account so that you can leave comments and vote on eventual polls.

Apparently white powder was found in two locations at Brock today. I snapped a few pictures of the action with my phone and was able to learn a little bit from colleagues.

From what I can tell the two packages that were found, which I hear was “Protien Powder”, in the Walker complex and on the 12th (or 13th) floor of the Shmon Tower.

The interesting part was all of Brock’s web pages (including WebCT) slowed to a crawl as the world tried to find out what was going on at Brock.

I’m sure I’ll learn more tomorrow, what I do know is the Mackenzie Chown is four stories tall – so I’m a little worried about the CBC or Canadian Press reporter filed this:

The package was apparently found on the 12th floor of the school’s Mackenzie Chown complex in the heart of the campus. – Powder-filled envelope prompts decontaminations at Brock U, CBC.ca

The CBC.ca article also goes on to say that “The building is home to the university’s faculty association and academic computing facilities.” which is true. This makes me worry that this reporter might just be wondering the odly layed out (it’s all on a 45′ angles, not 90′ angles with a ground floor with offices numbered 200+ ) reading off office names over a cell phone hoping to find an exit or stair way to the 12th floor.

Here’s offcial word from Brock’s communications office: Suspicious Envelope Discovered at Brock University Determined to be Non-Harm Causing

UPDATE: Looks like that reporter made it out, the CBC’s article now says:

The package was opened at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday on the 12th floor of the school’s Arthur Schmon Tower, located in the Thistle Complex at the centre of the university campus in St. Catharines, Ont. – Powder-filled envelope prompts decontaminations at Brock U, CBC.ca

Steve Barkey died last week.

He was a great guy. As clichéd as that sounds, as much as it seems like an understatement, or the praise that could be attached to any name – Steve made himself great.

He was the kind of guy who was always up for a good laugh and really wanted to make you laugh. Steve and a smile were never far apart. He wouldn’t miss a chance to share a compliment, an answer or a hand and always had an insightful point. I certainly felt like I was an important part of his life, outside of my family, he’s made the most comments on my blog. ( So you know about FireFox…., Goodbye Gentoo – putting the Fedora on, TechTV Meetup, Laptop Rearview Mirror)

The life that was cut short had all the indications of being one we could all look back on with pride, instead we’re left reflecting on a impressive overture followed by an abruptly ended first act.

There are a lot of things I’ll never be able to think of without thinking of Steve [and so much the better]: Pontiac 6000, Acura CL, creative ways to operate a car horn, Comm. Tech. @ MDHS, The Pumpkin’s Adore album, Sax-a-ma-phone, Win Amp and joy sticks, DELL’s offices, TechTV meet-ups, and many more things I’m sure to discover.

Lastly, to conclude my thoughts on a less serious tone; perhaps the most shocking thing about this is I never thought I’d refer to Steve Barkey and short in the same sentence.

Lindsay and I are engaged!

This past Saturday (September 2nd) Lindsay was down visiting me in St. Catharines. We had watched repeats of tennis games all morning, at one point Lindz even commented on how fast my heart was beating. After lunch I suggested that we go down to the falls for the rest of the afternoon. Lindz thought that a trip to Chapters was a far more appropriate idea considering the amount of rain coming down, but I insisted and dressed in a proper shirt and pants while she slipped into her weather-appropriate LuLu-Lemon sweats, hoodie and baseball cap.

On the drive down Lindsay clearly thought this was an odd choice for a rainy day activity but I assured her we could see the falls from the dry car and she had the idea to go on the new fairs-wheel and to visit the casino. As we lined up for the fairs-wheel and I thought “just the two of us, great view, this might be the time” but we then got in our condoler only to have the AC system drip on our heads.

Our next activity was to visit the Niagara Casino and Lindz won $18 and was given a handful of change by some nice old lady who must have been a departing American tourist. I let Lindsay know that it was her lucky day.

I then told Lindz that I was hungry and that we should go get supper. As we walked past the car Lindz asked “where are we going?” – “I made reservations.” – “where?” – “up there.” was my response pointing towards the Skylon tower. Lindz latter told me that she had an inkling that something special was about to happen, but was pretty sure I wouldn’t pop the question with her in baseball cap.

We had a lovely dinner with an amazing view and when the waitress asked if we wanted desert I abruptly said no and waited for her to clear the table. I then reached into my camera bag and located the silver ring case that had been following me around the the trunk of my car for the last two weeks (not insured in my house) and showed it to Lindsay. I said to Lindsay that “I love you more than anything else [in this world] and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?” Lindz of course said yes and we kissed and held hands as the restaurant rotated us back in view of the horseshoe falls.

Once we’d had a moment our bus-boy brought over the cheque and suggested we go up to the observation deck. That’s where we snapped the photo below.

We’ve got lots to decide and this is a good place to get updates on that kind of information. We’ll eventually create a website to chronicle this whole process (I’m already templating it in my head). For now Lindsay is off to see relatives in Thunder Bay mid-week and I’ve got one of my most busy work weeks of the year to look forward to.

It was announced last weekend that the temporary replacement of Jacques Villeneuve by the excellent Polish driver Robert Kubica was made permanent throughout this year and next. Kubica replaced Villeneuve at the Hungry GP and the team was pretty clear in their interest in Kubica and apparently Villeneuve forced the team to commit to one of the two.

In any case I’d like to thank the 1997 F1 world champion for his contribution to F1 both on track and off. No one was better at getting under Michael Schumacher’s skin and JV’s legendary disregard for sponsors was always pretty funny. Jacques used to have the least amount of media events of any F1 driver, and once when at an energy drink’s event he responded to the question about “does this stuff work?” with “I don’t think so.”

That said, with BMW Sauber JV seemed to be looking a lot more dignified and bringing experience to the team. BMW did some really cool demos and lots of media days this year and Jacques was a very willing and important participant in all of them.

Despite my general dis-interest in the sport, my hope is that JV joins his rival and kindred spirit Juan-Pablo Montoya (JPM) in NASCAR next year. I think the real ballad or Ricki Bobby is coming true – without the homosexuality.