I'm addicted to Sudoku:

http://www.websudoku.com/

I've decided to put together some basic rules for how to solve a sudoku puzzle. Watch this space for more.

My parents allowed me to open up my very own bank account at the age of six. I distinctly remember this, and somewhere at home I have the original bankbook for that account.

One day I rode my bike to the local bank and deposited a bunch of spare change (pennies, nickels, dimes). The coins added up for $5 exactly. I deposited these into my account, at 8 years old, on my own.

But then I went outside, and tried to open the lock on my bike to head home. I could not open the lock. Couldn't remember the combination for some reason (although I must have used that combination to lock the bike up in the first place). Anyways, I tried and tried, and the bike lock would not open.

I wanted to call home but I had no money on me. And of course, I could have called collect but I didn't occur to me. Thankfully, I was standing in front of a BANK at which I had an account. I could simply withdraw the money needed to make a phone call to my mom, to ask her what the combination was again.

So, I go into the bank and withdraw the $5 I just deposited. I even ask for it in change. Out of the $5, I take 25 cents and make a phone call home. She gives me the combination. It works. Great.

Then I head back into the bank, and deposit $4.75 to my account. And head home.

To this day, I still have this bankbook. Deposit $5, Withdraw $5, Deposit $4.75... all on the same day. I should have called collect, or at worst, just withdrawn 25 cents from my account.

(And child bank accounts back then were “no fee”, so I did not lose out on transaction fees...)

When I was a young boy, I discovered that the local dry cleaner would pay half-a-cent for each wire coat hanger returned to him.

Being the brilliant (and geeky) kid that I was, one day I went though my family closets at home and took (stole?) dozens of unused coat hangers. I took them down to the dry cleaner and collected 25 cents. It occurred to me, even at that young age (7 or 8 years old I think)... what would the dry cleaner do if I returned 51 coat hangers instead of only 50? How would be pay me my half cent?

I imagined there might have been a special half-cent coin or something. Or perhaps he would have rounded up and paid me 1 more penny. I should have tried that.

Of course, my mother was pissed at me because there were no more unused coat hangers.

A random list of things I would like to do before I die. Hopefully at least 70 years from now...

• Drive a race car around a race track
• Get my airplane pilot's license
• Ride a Harley
• Appear in a movie
• Get in a fight
• Learn to play an instrument
• Go into space
• Sail in a (real) submarine

I've tried not to make my list about possessions, and it is a true reflection of my true self. I did not say things that I have no interest in doing (like climb Mount Everest) even though they may be recognized by others as impressive feats.

The list focuses on gathering experiences, enhancing my knowledge, or simply fun/cool things to do. The list is not complete - nowhere near. But it's a start.

After trying the Ging distribution of Linux, and experiencing some of the shortfalls of booting from a CD (slooooow boot time, and almost no software installed), I decided to try a Linux distro that everyone seems to recommend: Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is nice so far. It booted quite a lot faster. In fact, if it took a long time, I didn't notice. It comes with Firefox installed (unlike Ging) so I can make use of it right away. And it looks friendly (although Ging looked friendly too). That look probably has more to do with the Gnome interface than anything else.

If I ever need a Linux OS permanently installed somewhere, I might choose Ubuntu.

A few months ago, I read about a research project being conducted by National Geographic. You submit your DNA sample, they do an analysis of the Y chromosome, and then they will tell you the route your oldest ancestors took to leave Africa. It sounded interesting to me, although I didn't really understand everything about the project, but I purchased a kit and submitted my sample.

What I didn't know until I looked into this project, is that there is a significant piece of DNA, through the Y chromosome, that is passed almost unaltered from father to son. So scientists have the ability to go back many, many generations along the male line - father, to father, to father, and so on forever. Every once and a while, a slight mutation enters the line, but that's evolution in action.

Incidentally, there are female genes passed from mother to daughter called mtDNA.

For the record, I am a member of Haplogroup I. I might be a member of subgroup I1a, but I'm not totally sure. I'm still doing research on that.

So what does that tell me? Not much. I share a common ancestor with almost every person alive today - “Eurasian Adam” - the common ancestor of every non-African man alive today (the M168 DNA marker). He wasn't the first man alive, so he's not the biblical Adam. But he's the only one with ancestors that left Africa and survived.

After leaving Africa 45,000 years ago (the M89 marker), most likely my ancestors settled in southeastern and central Europe about 20,000 years ago (the M170 marker).

I've signed up to get my genes analyzed further. Hopefully, it will allow me to find relatives in Canada that I didn't know I had. But I'll talk about using DNA to research my family tree another time.