August 10, 2004

Well, it's that time of the year again. I'm gathering articles to review with two other editors for the CIPS Winnipeg Professional, our quarterly newsletter of happenings in our section and of ICT technologies in general. CIPS is the Canadian Information Processing Society, the oldest and largest association for IT professionals in Canada. We hold monthly events, mostly dinner meetings, where you meet some of the nicest people in the IT community, and you get to hear a quality speaker, as well. It's a lot of fun, especially if you are a "people person."

So, REM are coming to Winnipeg! This is something that I have literally dreamt of. Tickets go on sale in September and given that they are playing the Centennial Concert Hall, it's bound to sell out in about 5 minutes. Maybe less. The Pixies sold out the Burton Cummings Theatre in about 4 minutes and while they have a fanatical following, they are far less known that REM.

I just noticed the new issue of Wired magazine in the library at work. This is one of my favourite publications and since I already buy or subscribe to so many magazines, I'm thrilled that I don't have to buy it anymore.

Today was the first day of class for the Aerospace Systems Course, a ten-month long course aimed at airforce officers, usually at the Captain level. We have 12 students this year, including two from Qatar, one from the United Arab Emerites and one from New Zealand. It promises to be an interesting year.

Thursday, I should be off to the Steinbach Fly-In Club for my weekly round of golf. I'm absolutely astounded that I can't find a website for them. I also bought some golf balls this past weekend, which is a bit unusual for me since I find so many. I bought several Stratas that have cosmetic imperfections, as well as several found Titleists. The NXTs have a real nice feel to them. The Pro V's actually work well for me, but at almost $7 a ball, I'll just have to find other people's lost balls.

On Friday, I'm off to see Alien Vs. Predator, a guilty pleasure sort of thing, if there ever was one. I'm going with one of my friends who is an intellectual sort of person and is a huge film buff with great taste, so I don't feel so bad.