Ottawa Humane Society Needs Your Help.

Posted: 14th July 2008 by Luc "Sandman" G. in Life, Ottawa

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KittensThe Ottawa Humane Society is overcrowded and is in dire need of your help. There are currently close to 300 kittens and cats that are in need of adoption. The OHS usually has a maximum capacity for 200 cats and has had to resort to putting multiple cats per cage.

In order to help boost adoption, the shelter is holding a Canuck special during the month of July. The OHS is reducing its adoption fees by 25$ for any cats with a Canadian themed name, such as Chinook or Tuque.  Cats pictured on their adoption website that bare a maple leaf are also part of this event.

The normal rates for cat adopting a cat is 205$ for a kitten and 150$ for an adult cat. This price is very low for everything that your pet will get. All cats are vaccinated, are implanted with an ID microchip and are spayed or neutered. If the kitten is too young to have been spayed or neutered, the OHS will give you the paperwork necessary to receive a free sterilization from your local vet. If your pet is suffering from a medical condition (such as ear mites, which is very common in kittens), you will also receive medication free of charge. Your new pet will also be covered with Petplan Insurance for a period of 8 weeks after adoption. All these extras add up to over 625$ if you were to pay for them yourself.

If you can’t adopt a cat, the shelter is looking for foster homes for a multitude of felines due to an upper respiratory infection outbreak that is very similar to a cold. The OHS is looking for loving fosters who can look after the poor sick kitties and help them recover more quickly from the infection.

Housing, feeding and caring for all these animals requires money. Even if you’re not in a position to adopt a pet, a money donation goes a long way to ensure that these animals are healthy enough to find a loving home. The OHS is also in need of receiving blankets to help with cat care. If you have some to donate, they can be dropped off at the OHS’s main shelter.

The Ottawa Humane Society is located on Champagne Avenue in Ottawa and is open weekdays from 9am to 7pm and Saturdays from 10am to 5pm. If you can’t make it down to the main shelter, the OHS also has pets for adoption at a multitude of local area pet stores. To find out which pet stores are participating in the program, please call the shelter at (613) 725-3166 or email the adoption department.

Goodbye South Side

Posted: 12th July 2008 by Luc "Sandman" G. in Football, Ottawa

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South Side at Frank Clair StadiumOn Sunday July 20th a part of Ottawa history will be no more. The south side stands at Frank Clair Stadium will be demolished, wiping away 50 years of history in just the blink of an eye.

Frank Clair stadium, formerly known as just Landsdowne Park, was first built in 1909 for the Ottawa Exposition. For 50 years only the “North Side” stood, with seating for 10,000, the south side comprising of simple small bleachers. It was in 1960 that the South Side as we know it today was erected. The new structure added 6,414 seats in the lower bowl and 7,870 in the upper bowl. In 1967 the North Side was torn down and rebuilt to include 14,542 seats and also included the Civic Centre arena and convention space.

Over the years, Frank Clair stadium has been home to 2 CFL teams, the Ottawa Rough Riders and the Renegades. The yearly Panda Bowl between rivals Ottawa University Gee Gees and Carleton University Ravens was also held at the stadium.

View of the South Side at Frank ClairIt was after hosting part of the FIFA under 20 World Cup in 2007 that cracks and defects were found in the South Side stands. This lead to the immediate closure of the stands. Upon further investigation it was determined that fixing the problems would be too costly and that the South Side had to come down.

I have many memories of Frank Clair stadium. I spent one summer working at the stadium during the Rough Riders’ final season, dispensing beer to the many thirsty football fans that walked its halls. I attended many concerts, including the biggest concert to ever come to Ottawa. It was in the South Side stands that I sat for the 2005 Rolling Stones concert, sharing that experience with 45,000 others.

Frank Clair south Stands from Bank street.I also attended many football games, for both the Renegades and the Rough Riders. For most of those games I sat in the North Side stands (not by choice), but I always found the atmosphere more fun on the South Side. The North Side always appeared to have a more sophisticated, sports minded atmosphere while the South Side was always party central.

At 8am next Sunday the stands that tower over the Rideau canal will come crashing down in a puff of smoke, concrete dust and melting steel. Never again will fans hear a response to the famous local football chant “South Side sucks!”

Lifestream.fm: the Friendfeed Killer?

Posted: 10th July 2008 by Luc "Sandman" G. in Internet

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I managed to get an invitation code to the new lifestream service Lifestream.fm. What’s a lifestream? Well its a site that aggregates all of your other websites and social networking sites, like your blogs, posted images and videos, Facebook updates, Twitter, etc… So any time you update any of your sites, Lifestream will inform your friends and family of the changes. Instead of them having to go to multiple sites, everything is nicely indexed on one website. Its similar to Friendfeed but even in beta, Lifestream seems to take the lifestream idea and make it better. For example, it allows your friends to comment on your feed updates and contains 56 services that Lifestream.fm will keep track of, instead of Friendfeed’s 41.

Lifestream.fm  is currently in closed beta. However, I have 10 invitation codes to share with you.

218abb14
bbf543ef
a4d30f1d
4bf926da
e9079c22
e9b79659
2ce9d9dc
d94af121
006c5532
67643412

Once these are all used up I can probably get my hands on some other codes. You can contact me using the Contact Me form listed at the bottom of the page on the right column.

Ottawa Senators Sign Jason Smith

Posted: 8th July 2008 by Luc "Sandman" G. in Hockey

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The Ottawa Senators have added to their blueline by signing Jason Smith to a 2 year, 5.2 million dollar deal. The former captain of both the Philadelphia Flyers and Edmonton Oilers led the Flyers last year with 204 blocked shots and and 142 hits. He brings some much needed grit to the Sens’ defence and leadership in the dressing room.Its not the puck moving defenceman that Murray was looking for, but I believe he will be a good asset for the team.

blog.dreamrealm goes OpenID

Posted: 7th July 2008 by Luc "Sandman" G. in Internet, My Websites

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blog.dreamrealm has now activated OpenID. This will allow you readers to comment on my blog entries without the need to fully register by using your OpenID account.

What is OpenID? Its a system that was developed a couple of years ago that is now really gaining ground. It eliminates the need to manage different usernames and passwords across different websites. You can read more about it on OpenID.net

I personally have been using OpenID for a few months now and absolutely love it. The more websites that use it (and it grows by hundreds every day), the more useful it becomes. I decided to use Verisign as my OpenID provider as they are well known in the IT field for security. Getting and using OpenID is free of charge. I also use Seatbelt, a Firefox plugin that simplifies the use of OpenID. If you don’t wish to use Verisign there are dozens of other free OpenID providers out listed on the OpenID.net website.

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