Bill Hutchison » Other

How We Survive Without Cable

Bill Hutchison — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:35:00 +0000

Watch Free TV Online in Canada on the Internet

Cable television here in Calgary costs from $36.00 – $121.00 + tax per month. One way that we cut costs on our monthly budget is by not having cable. We never had it in Australia, and so far we are surviving pretty well not having it here.

What I think a lot of people who do pay for cable don’t realize is that a lot of the programming that you can get through cable is freely available on-line if you have a high speed Internet connection. I’m not talking about stealing content through illegal video downloads or watching it on YouTube. I’m not even talking about purchasing videos through iTunes or a service like Netflix. I’m talking about watching TV Shows for free on-line.

Below is a list of 18 stations that make a portion of their shows available for free viewing on-line:

Free On-Line Canadian Television (TV) Stations

Considering all the options available, plus free movies from the library, and new release DVD rentals for only $1.88 I don’t really see any need for us to have cable in our house. It’s actually a pretty easy way for us to save $36 – $121 per month.

Remember – Lest We Forget

Bill Hutchison — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:07:34 +0000

Remembrance Day is a day honoured in most British Commonwealth Nations around the world. Some places it is known as Remembrance Day, others Poppy Day, in others as Armistice Day and in yet others as Veterans Day. It is defined as:

A day of remembrance for the men and women who have served, and continue to serve our country during times of war, conflict and peace.

Currently I have an uncle in the Canadian Air Force, one of my Grandfathers was in the Canadian Air Force during and after World War Two, and Tamara’s Grandfather was in the Australian Army Corp during World War Two (and his father during World War One).

We’ll never have a future if we don’t remember the past.

Today was a day for us to not only remember the sacrifices of these men and women, but also I think to remember that they fought so that we wouldn’t have to. The First World War was described as “The War To End All Wars” because it was so horrific. Obviously history has taught us that was not the case, and that we continue to fight was around the globe. As Canadians and Australian’s however we do not usually fight wars as the aggressor, but in the defence of others.

Today I took the kids down to the Calgary War Museum where they were having the Remembrance Day Ceremony. I wish that Caleb was still up so that I could quote him exactly, but here’s a try at a seven year olds description of what Remembrance Day is:

A day when we remember the soldiers who died so that we can be free and live in a free country.

I reckon that kid nailed it on the head …

Beware What You Post …

Bill Hutchison — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 15:10:57 +0000

This is a subject that Tamara and I have been talking about for a long time …

When we found out who Caleb’s possible teachers were going to be one of the first things that we did was to go home and “Google” the teachers names. We wanted to find out who they were, what they stood for, what they were involved with and of course, do we want this person teaching our child?

I can guarantee that we were not the only parent’s to do this, and I know that employers are doing the exact same thing with job applicants. Here is a good example of three job applicants, and three bad search results.

When we searched for Caleb’s potential teachers we found that one was heavily involved in their church, and the other one was involved in short term mission trips with her family. Both of which were very encouraging finds for us as parents.

But what if we had found a binge drinking party animal, or someone who was having a whinge about their students on a blog? I reckon we would have been walking into the school and requesting NOT to have that person as our kid’s teacher.

In the days of Facebook, MySpace, camera phones, blogs and an unrelenting desire for exhibitionism in some people I can guarantee that you are being searched for, and found.

What are people finding when they search your name?

Update:

Slashdot has a great ongoing discussion about this exact topic, and the ethics of searching for potential employees here.

Jingle Bells – The Australian Version of This Christmas Carol

Bill Hutchison — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 12:40:14 +0000

This is another Christmas Carol that has been adapted to have an Australian version of it. We had a lot of fun singing Aussie Jingles Bells as a family.

Aussie Jingle Bells

As you can hear, especially at the end, our son loves Aussie Jingle Bells, and gets really into it. We thought that he was going to overload the web-cam at some points …

Here are the words for The Australian Version of Jingle Bells, at least, it’s the version that we sing:

Jingle Bells – The Australian Version

Dashing through the bush
In a rusty Holden Ute
Kicking up the dust
Esky in the boot
Kelpie by my side
Singing Christmas songs
It’s summer time and I am in
My singlet, shorts & thongs

CHORUS:
OH, JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS
JINGLE ALL THE WAY
CHRISTMAS IN AUSTRALIA
ON A SCORCHING SUMMER’S DAY
JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS
CHRISTMAS TIME IS BEAUT
OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO RIDE
IN A RUSTY HOLDEN UTE

Engine’s getting hot
Dodge the kangaroos
Swaggy climbs aboard
He is welcome too
All the family is there
Sitting by the pool
Christmas day, the Aussie way
By the barbecue!

CHORUS

Come the afternoon
Grandpa has a doze
The kids and uncle Bruce
Are swimming in their clothes
The time comes round to go
We take a family snap
Then pack the car and all shoot through
Before the washing up

CHORUS

The 12-Days of Christmas – The Australian Christmas Carol Version

Bill Hutchison — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 10:31:34 +0000

Australia has it’s own versions of lots of popular Christmas Carols. Here is one of the Aussie Christmas Carols that we have sung as a family.

The Aussie 12-Days of Christmas

And here are the words for Aussie 12-Days of Christmas, at least it’s the version that we sing, as there are at least four different versions that we have heard.

The 12-Days of Christmas – The Australian Version

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
A kookaburra in a gum tree

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Two snakes on skis, and a kookaburra in a gum tree

Three wet galahs …
Four lyrebirds …
Five kangaroos …
Six sharks a – surfing …
Seven emus laying …
Eight dingos dancing …
Nine crocs a – snoozing …
Ten wombats washing …
Eleven lizards leaping …
Twelve possums playing …

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Twelve possums playing, Eleven lizards leaping,
Ten wombats washing, Nine crocs a – snoozing,
Eight dingos dancing, Seven emus laying,
Six sharks a – surfing, Five kangaroos,
Four lyrebirds, Three wet galahs,
Two snakes on skia, And a kookaburra in a gum tree.

Thank You to our Aussie Diggers

Bill Hutchison — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:20:00 +0000

Earlier this year we went down to the Strand here in Townsville for a welcome home concert put on for Australian Soldiers who have served overseas in the last few years. Townsville is a “garrison” city, and a lot of our troops have been in Afganistan and East Timor in the last year. The city put on a well deserved concert and parade for them.

At the concert was Shannon Noll, Claire Clarke, Garry Bradbury, 1RAR band, and Beccy Cole. The music was fantastic and the general feel at the event was one to celebrate and thank the troops and their contribution to Australia and the world.

I think that Beccy Cole’s song “Poster Girl” highlights the general feel of most of us in Townsville towards the troops:

For that song Poster Girl Beccy Cole won three “Golden Guitars” for Single of the Year, Song of the Year and Female Artist of the Year. You can listen to more of Beccy Cole on her MySpace page here.

Note: The comedian Garry Bradbury was very inappropriate for a family event. His jokes may have been funny in the field for just the troops, but definitely not for all the kids at the event. He got very few laughs after the first few minutes.

My New Favourite County Music Blog

Bill Hutchison — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 01:44:00 +0000

I’ve been spending the last few days slowly looking through a new Country Music Blog that I came across. The web-site isn’t new, but it’s new to me.

The site is very well laid out, easy to navigate, and has a lot of great song reviews. Most of the country music song reviews include a link to where you can listen to the song (although some links don’t work from Australia, bummer).

For a good sample of a country music single review check out the review of George Strait – “I Saw God Today”.

How I’m Increasing my Productivity Today

Bill Hutchison — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 01:48:55 +0000

Today I am unsubscribing to most of the e-mail newsletters that I have signed up for.

Most of the e-mail newsletters related to Internet Marketing all push the same sales stuff on me, over and over again, and very few that I have been subscribed to actually provide valuable content. I figure that if I only stay subscribed to one or two of them, I should get all the important stuff come through anyway.

The newsletters that I am subscribed to for CNet and other on-line publications are great, and full of original and valuable content, but most the content I can get in an RSS feed, so I don’t think that I will be missing anything.

Most mornings now I log in and see over 30 e-mails in the box! How the heck did I ever let that happen?

Time to simplify things… It’s time to start reading less, and writing more.

Next step, reducing the number of RSS feeds I subscribe to.