It's true.

All spelling errors aside, it's true this time.
I'd say more, but I think all three of you who read this understand.

Ladies and gentlemen, LosRicos has left the building.

1997 - 2007
Ten years ain't half bad.

Backyard Camping I go.

I don' t think you're ever too old for it. Especially when TheWife™ had never gone. Consider this a practice run before my Cottage Week vacation on the French River. We don't have to sleep outside-- I just think it'll be easier as there are 13 confirmations so far. Besides, I don't mind sleeping and whizzing outside. S'all good.
Actually, I'd like to go on a "real" camping trip at some point this summer. By "real," I'm referring to a campground that has bathing facilities on premise.

I believe I've seen it all on the Gardener Expressway. This week while driving to work I saw some schmuck eating a bowl of cereal while driving. A BOWL OF CEREAL! Seriously. What's wrong with people? I hope one day the milk lands all over his lap and it looks like he got a little too friendly with himself in the bathroom.
I actually learned the (and I use this term loosely) joys of driving home from downtown Toronto at 4 in the afternoon. I learned it thrice, and I wish not to learn it again. I was close to losing it a few times, ready to let lose a barrage of fists against the ceiling of my car. I can't do this again. Maybe I can switch it to a 7 - 3 shift when I have to do this shift again in eight weeks or so.

I'm still playing Second Life. I like it, because I'm learning new things. There are so many intricacies and new things to explore there. It's like what if the internet went 3-D. I don't know how much longer my infatuation with the virtual world will last, but hopefully I'll continue to enjoy it for a while longer. It's a getaway without having to get away.

Mingle² - Online Dating

This one really caught my eye, and is a nice reprieve from what has become the Facebook mayhem of donkey dung.
So rated PG. Shitty. But sure beats the hell out of G (HA HA Daejin)

New Toys

As some of you may know (I believe I've likely talked about it enough), I'll be going on a cottage trip towards the end of July (19th, to be exact). This is an annual affair that I haven't been able to attend in four years. Now comes lucky number 5 (?). This year's turnout promises to be pretty large. As such, TheWife™ and I went out today and bought a new tent. Tents have come a long way since the last one I had (when I was somewhere in and around 13). It so was super easy to assemble, and it also came with two sleeping bags, a light, a beverage cooler, and a convenient carry-all bag for all this camping goodness.
The wife has never owned a tent, and is very excited about the prospect of sleeping outside. So much, in fact, that she wanted to sleep outside tonight. I convinced her otherwise. We'll have our chance soon enough.

What's been keeping me even busier, and I hate to say this, is Second Life. For those of you who are blissfully unaware, I'll provide a brief explanation.. courtesy of Wikipedia.

Second Life (abbreviated as SL) is an Internet-based virtual world which came to international attention via mainstream news media in late 2006 and early 2007. Developed by Linden Research, Inc (commonly referred to as Linden Lab), a downloadable client program enables its users, called "Residents", to interact with each other through motional avatars, providing an advanced level of a social network service combined with general aspects of a metaverse. Residents can explore, meet other Residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, create and trade items (virtual property) and services from one another.

This is actually the first time I read the wiki-blurb.. and strangely enough I drew a similar comparison, which is the strikingly similarities to the virtual world Linden Labs provides, and that which was written by Neil Stephenson in Snow Crash. It really is a virtual world with no real winners or losers. It's what it's name implies.
What's blowing my mirrored nature of it all. An exchangeable currency to the US Dollar, real estate, "live" entertainment and clubs, red-light districts. It's really an amazing effort and rather bedazzling. Move over facebook, I'm somebody else's bitch now.

Good stuff.

Like any good music store, the iTMS will have sales. I jumped on the opportunity and downloaded three albums. What seems to be most listened to at this point is Foo Fighters most recent offering-- Skin and Bones. The 15 tracks on this album are all live acoustic tracks recorded live at the Pantages theatre in LA. I've always been a fan of their acoustic work, and this album exemplifies it all. A good listen if you're a fan of the Foo.

I seem to get these random compulsions to upload a bunch of photos to Facebook. Just before I sat down here (I didn't really move.. I'm still in my decrepit office chair) I went through something like 25-30 pictures and thought I would share with everyone. It appears I'm still owned by Facebook. Any guesses as to how long it'll be before some major corporation buys them?

Hobbystar Marketing has taken TheWife's™ and my money, which means we'll be exhibitors for the Artist's Ally at the Hobbystar FanExpo 2007. This, for lack of better adjectives, is awesome. Sunflower is is super excited, as am I. We hoped to go last year, but all the tables were taken by the time I thought about it. It was probably better that way though, since we have that many more Anime Oil Paintings to display. We'd be thrilled if people came down to see us, but I guess it depends all on how much geekdom you can handle. Myself, I will be in my element.

I should put something here.

Listening to:
Tarantula from the album "Tarantula - Single" by Smashing Pumpkins

It's all about my personally felt obligation to put something on the blog. It's what brings me back here each time. Suffer with me.

There's actually quite a lot for me to talk about.
I downloaded the full season of Heroes, after the barrage of praise the show got from those around me who'd actually seen it. I'd never buy the DVD upon it's release, nor rent it, so I don't feel as though I've done anything wrong. If anything, it simply ensured that I'll tune in next year to watch it. Besides, I don't have any intention of keeping it on the hard drive, or backing it up. I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

If Heroes was crack, I'd be a junkee. 'Nuff said.

***
I'd been wanting to pick up the book for a long time. I almost picked it up during a day trip to Hong Kong, although I was afraid of what might happen to me if I got caught bringing back across the border to the mainland. I saw it at Chapters @ 20% off-- I couldn't say no this time.
Mao - The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday is an unauthorized biography about Mao Tse Tung, the not so founding member of the Chinese Communist Party--one fact that you'll find within this books pages. Also within it's covers is some 150 pages of bibliographical references. I guess you could say this book was well researched.
Grindy gave me The Templars to read while I was off to China, but in all honesty, I don't think I got more then ten pages into it. This book, however, has me hooked. Likely because it's of a topic that's a little closer to me, given my time in China, not to mention my wife. It's powerfully written, although it's a little more than obvious that there's a little bias in there. Despite that, it's an interesting read. It'll be the first biographical/historical book that I've actually read. Heck, it made me put down "Neuromancer" by William Gibson. It's that good. If you're interested in modern historical reading at all, this book is definitely worth checking out.

A bit of a spoiler here-- Mao dies.

"Mao: the Unknown Story" (Jung Chang, Jon Halliday)

Is this a weekly thing?

It does seem that way, doesn't it? I actually get around to writing on the blog about once every weekend. Granted, that's about to change since this is my last weekend off for a while-- so maybe Monday's or Tuesday's? Ultimately, the goal is to write two or three times a week. A goal that seems to get stymied on a weekly basis by several mitigating factors ranging from time constraints to not feeling like it. I've become so apathetic in my blogging. This really should come as no surprise given that I was thinking about dumping it completely a couple of months ago.

I consider those around me who still maintain a blog, and what seems to make or break them. Grindy is relatively new to maintaining is own blog, and that alone gives him the fervour to keep it going. Daejin completely changed directions by creating and mainly focusing on his new venture, the more mainstream smallSHIFT. I think both Ross and I have hit the same unorganized blockage when it comes to blogging. We're oldskool, blogging in the old everything/nothing format that brought bloggers together at the turn of the century, when Web 2.0 was barely a murmur. Let's face it, unless you have a gift for telling entertaining stories, only those who are close to you will even glance at your blog. I think I used to be entertaining, but I seem to have lost that writing ability somewhere along the way. Strangely, I feel that if I were given a topic to write about, I could champion it and make it worth reading. It's my day to day blogging that seems to suck monkey pole.

As a whole, I guess it all depends on how much time I want to spend on my small internet pocket. I've had ideas for new directions (see current iteration, where I have failed to really incorporate my Chinese learning into my actual blog), but end up spending one short period every weekend doing anything with it. Subsequently, the old adage of only getting what you put into something. I guess it's all about zeroing in on something and, in my case, I'm almost completely overlooking LosRicos Presents.

That was me?

Damn.

I spent the better part of my day today going through the forbidden closet. It's been sealed off to outsiders, nay everyone since I've lived here. Contained in this sacred domain was MY LIFE before adulthood. It was quite disturbing going through everything. Not only did I find all my old high school student cards, I also found a lifetime supply of greeting cards, letters, and other stuff.

This expedition was prompted by the idea that I had WAY to much useless crap sitting around. My closet isn't a tomb. Anything that was in there was just collecting dust, must, and mould. I figured that it was time to shed off the excess fat, and hold a garage sale. The disheartening thing is that after all that digging, I really don't have all that much in the way of sellable goods. I went through a lot of boxes and drawers (yes, I had a dresser in my closet), but yet there wasn't much there.
I don't think I'm done with the shedding of the fat though. I think I'm also going to go through all my books and more modern junk and give that a toss, too. Donate it, offer it to others, perhaps burn it. Who knows. All I know is, I have a lot of junk that doesn't do anything, and really don't mean all that much to me. I'm not saying I'm trying to become a minimalist, I'm just saying that it's just time to get rid of the shit I don't need.

A pop-culture quickie.

I don't know if I ever mentioned it, so I'm going to today. The reason? Because it was thrown in my face for the umpteenth time.
Hong Kong actors got it made. I doubt many of you have paid much attention to Hong Kong cinema. If you have, then you'll notice something-- it's always the same freakin' actors. What's more, these actors also dominate the TV scene as well.
There's this one actress whose name I'll likely never know, that I've seen in at least FOUR shows in the past year. And it's not that she's all that pretty or anything. She's way too thin, although she does have the heavily sought after high cheek bones and pale skin. I've had the TVB channels for not even a year, which also makes this rather shocking. There's even this same blond white guy that seems to make a cameo appearance in every contemporary program. It's weird.
To counter my point (always have to be fair), HK TV works a little differently than North American. A show basically has a set number of episodes, and then it's done. It's rare that a show goes beyond that. There's one called Healing Hands which I know has gone to an unlikely third series.
Secondly, most shows don't run weekly, the run M-F or throughout the weekend, and thus end very quickly. This fact also contributes the frequency of need for popular actors.

The moral of this story is.. my cats take big poops.

At the half-point.

Two sleeps until I find myself back at the office. How drôle.

It's a good thing Ottawa took the series TODAY against Buffalo, as Cloudie and Grindy are probably somewhere over the Atlantic right now, on the way to France. They'll likely only miss one game of the Stanley Cup Final. That rolls off the tongue quite nicely, really.
I'll be happy once Stanley gets nestled into the bosom of the Sens.. the stress of it all is killing me-- however, it's worth it.

I came really close to posting on my LJ today, which is something I haven't done for 21 weeks apparently. I did manage to comment on a Joey Michaels post though. Baby steps. I guess having my own blog again kind of removes the necessities of updating the LJ.

I got nothing else juicy to go on, so I'll leave you with this instead. It's pretty funny.

What is it, really.

Sometimes I think I'm smart. Let's examine this idea a little more closely.

I'll be honest and say there I times when I sit in my overused heap of a chair, waiting for my girth to eventually crush it's tired legs. While I sit, I stare blankly at my internet browser of choice (currently sitting with firefox, but it changes every now and then). The internet, and this whole idea of Web 2.0 and what it is bounces back and forth around my noodle. So much in fact, that I Google it.

Web 2.0 is a term often applied to a perceived ongoing transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of websites to a full-fledged computing platform serving web applications to end users. Ultimately Web 2.0 services are expected to replace desktop computing applications for many purposes. -Google

So now I know.

Continuing with this honesty trend, I had a whole direction I wanted this to go in. This was going to be a smart post. Really. There were some actual though bubbles I wanted to explore. Then a pan of lasagne came up to me and forced it's flesh into mouth, disturbing my thought paths. It's self sacrifice allowed me to avoid the use of the noodle, and drove me towards a wanton desire to sleep. So regarding Web 2.0, I'm going to sleep on it, and I won't post about it again until a much later time when Web 2.0 was a mere stepping stone towards the Interweb™ 2000.

What's my motivation Mr. Deville?

No need to talk hockey. Ottawa is awsome. 'nuff said.

Writing lengthy emails is non-conducive to my blogging lifestyle. I've been writing a series of novellas to a couple of friends of mine over the past couple of weeks, which I have found has overused my blogging voice. It's all going to my personal correspondences.

It's not like my linking to it will generate him any traffic, but I will regardless. smallShift.com
From the website:

smallSHIFT is a blog built around the belief that technology in the hands of passionate users can inspire change, empower individuals and make a difference.

A noble effort. I've added it to my RSS feeds, so it can't be all that bad. I wish I had that kind of motivation to start a bold new project like that.

Segue.

I seem to be lacking in motivation lately. It's gone. Poof. I've lost the spark. Without spark, there can be no fire. Maybe I'm just dampened, and I'll try out soon. I hope so, because I hate feeling like this. I feel so.. useless.

Sick as a dog, but able to blog.

So yeah. Pretty sick. A veritable poopcano™ (I stole this from Kyle) out of the upper and lower major orifices. I think I'm finally on the mend, though. I haven't been this sick in a long time. It was similar to the second time I got food poisoning in Nanning. Not to regale you with my poop adventures, but today I find myself pooped out. There's nothing left. The mighty Mississippi ran dry. I'll be glad to get back to work tomorrow (as freaky as that sounds). I tired of sitting on the pot, not to mention there's a circle of pain that surfaces anytime my ass finds itself on the throne. Yes, I've been on it that much. 'nuff said.
I also miss being hungry.

I don't think it's much of a secret that I have the seeded desire to be re-educated. I've developed that thirst for knowledge, not so much to help further my career more-so for my own personal fulfillment. Something to help feed the whole pride and dignity. There are very few things more personally satisfying than to be able to say "I did that."
Grindy has decided to take a stab at Athebasca University, and one of their HR Programs. It's a cost of over $600 per 3 credit course. Let's do some basic math.

$600
x 30 (the amount of 3 credit course to achieve a BA)
$18,000 (or $6000/year for a 30 credit year)

Granted, you're not paying all this with one lump sum. In reality, you could be looking at a time period that could span over a decade. It all depends on how much time you can put into the courses. If you were to actually attend a university, you'd be looking at a yearly basic tuition of around $4250, but this doesn't cover any of your learning materials and other various University add-ons.
You have to question whether it's worth the expense. Some might say you can't really put a price on education.

Will I decide to go this route? It's tempting, but the cost does scare me a little. On top of that, I worry about how much this would interfere with my Mandarin language acquisition. Also, I ponder what actual program to take. Poli-Sci interests me, as well as their English program.
For now this is all talk and speculation. It is something that I am regularly contemplating though.

Just some breathing room.

As Grindy so kindly reminded me this evening, while we were watching a tough win for Ottawa at his place, I have been neglecting my blog for a week. Really, it's all a matter of priorities. During blogfest, my priority was to try and pull off a full 28 days of blogging. I met success, and so I was able to move on. In fact, I met success, plus a day. This past week my priorities were spending time with TheWife™, watching hockey, working, and sleeping. I also dabbled a little bit into Space Colony, and continued on with my ChinesePod studies. As such, the blog suffered. The blog came close be being an absolute ZERO priority for me in March. It's a nice thing to have waiting for me, but with the current schedule, it's far removed from the number one slot.

It was good to see Isabel again, after four years. If you don't remember, Isabel was my former roommate in Nanning. She was passing through Toronto on her way to BC to plant trees for three months in the middle of nowhere. Strange how things seem to pick up where they left off. As a roommate, she pretty decent. Wasn't uptight about anything, and wasn't a slob. Makes for a good living arrangements. We actually spent some time in Chinatown, and ate dinner at a local authentic eatery.. delish. I guess when you go through life events of this magnitude with someone, you become like extended family for life.

Just killing time.

I've decided to move my 38Gigs of mp3s from my external drive to my local drive. I'm still waiting. It's taking quite a while, really. I went through all my RSS feeds and even commented on a forum and yet I still find time to write this blog entry.
It's scary to think that a 30gig iPod wouldn't be sufficient for me MP3 needs.

I played Space Colony a little more last night. Well, actually, I think you could say quite a bit more. It's been a long time since a game completely killed my time senses. I got so involved that the world around me wasn't really there anymore. That kind of freaks me out.

As you can see, I've reworked the layout a little bit to compensate for ChinesePod's recent version change and how it effected posting their lessons other people's blogs. It went from a fairly unobtrusive oversized button to something the size of YouTube movie. That kind of annoyed me, but I guess we'll all have to deal.
Speaking of ChinesePod's recent version change (to V3).. I have to say that I've learned to rather like it-- or at the very least I like where it's headed. They've introduced a bunch of new tools for their premium subscribers (such as myself) that will allow for lesson scheduling, status of your lessons, as well as an awesome upgrade to the personalized vocabulary lists. Trying to figure out some of these new features, as well as trying to compensate for what it did with my old lesson lists was a bit of a challenge. I'm managed to work my way around them and have things set up the way I want them.

I thought I'd actually take the day off considering I just finished my blogfest but.. well.. you know. So I guess this makes 29.

And so it ends. (28 of 28)

28 Days later, and I still haven't been attacked by zombies. Despite what you might think, this completely sucks. I want to flex my zombie stomping skillz. I digress.

So it appears that my 28 days hasn't gone out with more than just being personally rewarding. If you didn't scope the comments from yesterday, a one Cassidy Summers, left his thoughts. Knowing that a complete stranger is regularly reading your blog does give you a certain warm and fuzzy feeling inside. A warm fuzzy I had completely forgotten about. I feel like I may be emasculating myself. I'll stop now.

What can $5 buy you? In Canada, it can buy you a few things. 4 Medium Coffee's from Tim Horton's. Maybe a Whopper Combo from Burger King. Some fresh veggies. So there are a lot of things you can do with $5. I'll get more to the point. Today, for $5, I made my first re-entry into the PC game market with a title called Space Colony. With a 4.5 rating from GamePro and a review line of "if you liked the Sims, you'll love Space Colony," I figured it was worth the bet. And so far, I think I'm winning.
You see, I was actually inspired by Grindy's purchase of Freedom Force Vs. The Third Reich. Having the ability to install Microshaft Winblows on my Mac, I figured I might as well make use of it.. so back to cheap PC gaming it is. So far the game is pretty good. Not too hard yet, although when I dived in head first I got way confused.
Now that I'm slowly making my way into the game, its a lot more manageable.
I must make sure this doesn't cause me to lose sight of my Language goals.

So, this wraps up my first blogfest. Perhaps I'll do another in a few months-- after summer is only a memory. And don't worry, I'll continue to blog. I might even try to keep it almost daily. The best way to keep the juices flowing is to keep writing, after all.

DaXiong Vs. Lakeshore (27 of 28)

I lost. You know I did. No one ever wins against traffic.
The City of Toronto misinformed it's citizens and visitors. The Gardener Expressway wasn't supposed to be closed until this evening, you lousy bunch of liars. As such, I spent an entire hour on Lakeshore Boulevard, and let me tell you, it wasn't pretty. It blows my mind how the City of Toronto was once considering doing away with the Gardener. It wrecks havoc on the city's traffic. It simply cannot be done, unless there's a ready alternative to go to.

It's hard to believe that I only have one post left for my blogfest. It means that a month has nearly passed buy, and all I have to show for it is (or what will be) twenty-eight posts on my blog. Has it done anything for my hits? Absolutely not. I'll be able to make a more accurate assessment in a couple of days. Like I said though, it looks pretty bleak. It's okay though, as this was more of test of my own ability to blog consistently (bad). Most importantly though, is that I didn't burn myself out.

One more thing. I just finished watching Curse of the Golden Flower, and other than it being filled with eye candy (in the forms of colour and every woman breasts looking like they're going to pop out of their garments), it really wasn't that good. Disappointing giving the cast. Proof again that a cast does not a movie make.

I need a bib (26 of 28)

I woke up this morning to find a gob of drool stuck in the corner of my mouth. You know you're old when...

As sad and depressed as this makes me, I think I've grown out of Nine Inch Nails. I was giving the album a short walk-through, but nothing caught my attention. Nothing made me think "hey, this is a great album." Maybe I'm just not in the right mindset to truly enjoy the album, but it's also my thinking that I never will be.
I downloaded the initial single "Survivalism" on March 13, and although it wasn't bad, it didn't grab my attention. Trent Reznor was a staple when I was in high school and college. It would appear that I have mellowed out considerably. What has happened to me? Arghhh!! I used to cool. Not really.

No comment. (25 of 28)

When the Lion King made it's way as a musical, I could understand the reason behind it's success. The movie was a musical after all. Easily adaptable with fancy costumes. It worked.
Later, with the success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, something strange happened. Someone thought it would be a great idea to turn that into a musical as well. Mistake. It bombed. I originally thinking something along the lines of "what the hell is wrong with those people."
In the latest news, Spiderman is now going to join the ranks of musical. WTF? Sure, I enjoy Michael Bublé's rendition of the Spiderman theme song, but that doesn't mean that a musical would work. As a matter of fact, I believe that it won't. I think this surpasses the stupidity behind the Lord of the Rings musical. Come on, people. Think about how ridiculous this idea sounds. This just proves that we're running out of good ideas for entertainment.

It finally came back. (24 of 28)

The Sun. Yes. It's finally here.
Quick factoid. The average amount of actual sunshine at this point in the month of April is somewhere near the 130 hour figure. This year, try 33. Have you been kind of moody lately? I think you now may know why.

I worked from home today. A bolt wasn't tightened, and my belt came off almost as soon as I hit the 401. I lost power, and the engine temperature went through the roof. Amends were made on the part of my mechanic, as well as fixing some extra stuff that needed to be done with no charge. I bare no grudge against him. Honest mistake. So after working from home for two days, it's back to the office tomorrow with a very quiet sounding car.

The reason why I actually have a moment to type this is because someone else, namely Grindy, is having more than his share of car difficulties. His clutch blew up. Poor guy. He just can't win when it comes to automobiles.

A message to the Ottawa Senators. You must win tonight. If you play a game on Sunday, I will not be able to watch it from the comfort of my home or someone else's. I will be at work. This will not due. So you must win. Do it.. for me.

**UPDATE**

They heard my pleas. They wanted me to not miss a game. I feel loved.

Another Day at Home. (23 of 28)

I worked from home today. It was awesome. Funnily enough, I believe I'm more productive at home than I am while at work. I seem to get a lot more done without even trying. Going to work is just too distracting I guess.

No need to discuss hockey today. We all know how it's going to end. If you think it's with a Sens loss, you're sadly discombobulated.

I don't talk about television very much, if at all really. I might mention a show here and there, but I really don't get into it. I'm not going to get into it now either. I will discuss, however, the joys of watching television in high definition.
I downloaded last night's episode of House, as I was more interested in the hockey game. How strange it was to see it in 16:9 on a high definition screen (ie my computer). I can understand why people have spent countless millions on these new high def televisions.. televisions I will not buy until I have to. That what friends are for. So now the question to me is, do I watch House on Tuesdays, or do I download it the following day and enjoy it in a better quality. Quite the conundrum.

Time to rebuild. (22 of 28)

I'm not going to knock those who scrapbook. I think bloggers are scrapbooking in their own way. Especially when the start adding photos and other various media.

Today I decided to rebuild my .mac account. I really haven't done much with it since I came back from China, although I think much has happened. More photos were taken. Overall, I believe this to be a worthwhile project.
Also influencing this decision is the inclusion of iWeb that came with my shiny new iMac. It would be a shame not to utilize all this wonderful software that came with this machine. Time to put on my game face.
So I've re-collected most of my photos since 2002 and will likely begin work on my new photo collection during the week.. or the weekend. It's kind of hard with the Sens in the playoffs.

Segue.

Sens played like shit tonight. However, due to a fluky goal at the beginning of the game, that gave them enough to get their win and lead the series 3 -1 with their 2-1 victory tonight over the Pens. I can't take too many victories like this though. Don't know if my heart can take it.
A truth was revealed however. My wife must be suited up and watching the game for a victory to emerge. The only game Ottawa lost was when she decided not to watch the entire thing. Yes, the entire life of the Sens '07 playoffs lies with TheWife™. Now accepting donations.

Last.Fm does it again (21 of 28)

When Section-9.ca was still operational, both TheRoss and I had a listing on our respective blogs for Last.Fm that showed what we had most recently listened to. Since we mutually decided to close it's doors, my Last.Fm account has remained pretty dormant. Despite my lack of usage, AudioScrobbler has continued running on my computers since that time. AudioScrobbler is what told Last.Fm what we were actually listening to.
Today I was curious, so after months of not clicking my over I finally made my way there. What I found was something new (for Last.Fm) which was also very welcomed by my part. It's result you can see above you. In the vain of MySpace, Last.Fm has gone one up and created a "radio" channel that you can embed into your blog. Instead of just one song, you can listen to many a track from right here. What's better is that it's absolutely free. Free is good. I'm curious how Last.Fm actually makes money, but at the same time, I don't really care. I'll just abuse it's service while it's there.

In completely unrelated news, I added Super Mario Bros. to my virtual console on my Wii. I remember that game being somewhat difficult the last time I played it. It seems so much easier now. I still like it though. It's so nostalgic. I'm going to look into other, more recent titles. By more recent, I mean N64 recent. StarFox 64 and Zelda: Orcana of Time are on that researching list. The Virtual Console really was a great idea on Nintendo's part.

One more week to go in the Blogfest. Damn, how time does fly.

They have the thirst (20 of 28)

There isn't a much better way to celebrate a birthday in April, then with a solid playoff victory. TheRoss is indeed the lucky birthday boy. I, am for the first time in a long time, am impressed with the grit and determination of a one Daniel Alfredsson. I've never seen him play his heart out before. Giving hits, taking hits, and scoring during the playoffs is certainly unusual for this team Captain. I think he finally realized that if he didn't step up this year, his days would be numbered. Also important to note is that Ottawa is blocking shots. Another sign of grit and determination. I love it. Playoff hockey really is the best hockey.
My eyes are burning. I believe I may have to step away from the computer, shortly. It's been a long week with too many early mornings and staying up later than I should. I'l be sleeping in tomorrow, and by sleeping in I mean anything past seven in the morning. I haven't been up this late since Wednesday, and I can feel it. How depressing. Bah well, only one more week of this and then I can stay up a little later again.
Let's see if I can stay awake long enough for The Apprentice.

Shh. He's sleeping. (19 of 28)

Grindy is passed out on my futon. My blogging rival sleeps as I blog away. How interesting.

So the Sens lost this afternoon. Wasn't a shocker. Quite the opposite really. I had a feeling they'd lose this one given the slaughter that was their first game. This time the Pens had something to prove. It was a close nail biting game. We'll get him tomorrow in Pittsburgh.

I had an odd feeling today driving to work. I determined that I miss being surrounded by mountains. How? Driving to work, there were clouds off into the distance, covering the horizon but up above there was nothing but clear sky. With the morning twilight, it appeared as though there were clouds in the distance, and I had the surreal feeling of familiarity of that type of scenery. There's something mystical about mountains that I grew to really enjoy when I was away from home. Now that I'm away from them, I miss them. méi bàn fă(没办法). Nothing you can do.

Ode de Traffic (18 of 28)

Tarnished by the automobile, people
Race up and down the lanes with no regard or
Attention to those around them.
F**K you I yell at them as I
Flip that trucker the bird.
Is it a wonder I come home grumpy when I get
Cut off no less than six times a day?

Stop and go. Stop and go. Going from the right lane into the merging lane to simple get a few cars further ahead in traffic--this is something else I see daily on the Gardiner. I know this is useless ranting. You've all seen it before, I'm sure. It just confounds me how people don't seem to care that this only compounds the problem instead of helping it.
Other things are annoying me, too. I won't get into it. I gotta learn how to rant in Chinese.

I don't know what's worse. (17 of 28)

I am completely bagged.. but for a good cause. The cause of watching the Crosby kids getting slapped around the Ottawa Senators. What a sweet, sweet sight that was. Woah. Too much brain power used to come up with the Crosby kids.

Does anyone still have Easter chocolate left? I have yet to polish it off. Slow and steady wins the race.

Nintendo released the full version of Opera 9 for the Wii, and it is much, much improved. I'd like to see it support more internet goodies for video. As it stands, I still can't watch CTV internet Video on Demand. Strangely enough, I can watch Global. Not sure what the differences are in their database of codecs and what you can find in a normal computer system, but it does limit it. Aside from that though, it's not a bad internet browser if you feel like being lazy on the couch.

Okay. Brain foggy. Must stop thinking now.

It begins tonight (16 of 28)

The question for the cup truly begins today. With my West Side team not in the playoffs this year, my only hope lies within Ottawa. Analysts are saying that the odds are in Ottawa's favour, but I believe it's going to be a tough fight. I think it's going to come down to goaltending. The Pens owned us in the shoot-out, but now that it's playoff time the shoot out doesn't matter. I hate the shoot-out anyway. Rayzor has the edge statistically this year, but it's playoff time. Stats on longer matter. It's gonna be an edge of your seat ride folks--don't kid yourselves.

Apparently winter still has one last gasp in 'em. Possibility of 15 - 20cm of snow. On April 11-12. Global warming my ass. Segue.
Something that's been on my mind as of late are the ideas of climate change and global warming. I don't know what to believe anymore. It's like the ongoing arguments about butter vs. margarine or the argument of coffee being good or bad for you.
In the corner to my left, you have Al Gore preaching about an aquatic Armageddon. On our right, we have the nay-sayers that say the amount of climate change we've seen over the past 50 years is completely natural and within norms. Who do be believe? Should I drink coffee, or shouldn't I? Is that margarine on my bread going to kill me? Unfortunately the debate isn't like a clear cut law. Neither side lie about the facts, they just interpret them differently. Science isn't perfect.

Technorati Tags: Hockey, NHL, Ottawa, Pittsburg, Playoffs, Climate Change

w00t! More Camp! (15 of 28)

Continuing on with the other part of V3's theme, I've added a bit more camp to the background. Yes, the repeating background image has made it's way to LRP. Before you start complaining, think about the alternative. I actually toyed with the idea of the stationary background. You know the one I'm talking about; the one where the text scrolls but the background doesn't. That just f**ks me up. I couldn't look at that everyday. I just couldn't.
One thing I didn't consider-- is this scaring away anybody? If it is, bah well. S'all good.

If you haven't already joined the Facebook group I'm an Ottawa Senators Fan, get on the ball. NO WAGON JUMPERS. There's no in-between. Got it? Good.

One of the things I enjoy about my iMac, is that it's still semi-portable. You can't throw it into a bag and go anywhere with it, but to move to other locations within the household isn't that big of a deal. As such, I'm actually sitting at the kitchen table with a view of my backyard. It still ain't pretty outside, but at least the snow is pretty much gone. Besides, I'm sure I could use the daylight. Don't want to become a basement hermit.

In preparation for m HSK stuff to come in, I'm going to make an effort today to begin studying and writing the Simplified Chinese characters-- like learning Mandarin wasn't already difficult enough! It's all good though, because it appears that I've fully committed myself to learning it. It's just a shame that it's taken me so long to do it.

Technorati Tags: Chinese, HSK, iMac, Mandarin, Learning

I did it. (14 of 28)

Point of note - this marks the halfway mark of my blogfest. Number 14! Wowza.

So I've taken the plunge. I've ordered an HSK kit, which I now know means Hànyǔ Shuǐpíng Kǎoshì (汉语水平考试).
A couple of interesting points to note about HSK test preparation. One, you'll be hard pressed to find anything related to the HSK at any of Canada's high profile online bookstores. Amazon.ca and Chapters.Inidgo had SQUAT. I found this rather disappointing, as I'm all for ordering from within Canada. Strangely enough, Amazon.com did carry HSK books but only in a limited selection.
Second point to note is that this was my second ever eBay purchase, although it wasn't an auction purchase, but an eBay store purchase. More interesting is that this purchase will be coming from Shanghai, China. The kit itself was something like $8CAD. It's actually costing me more to ship than it is to buy.
The negative part of all this is mainly the amount of time I'll be waiting before it gets here--likely 2-3 weeks. Then I will be knee deep in Chinese study..right in the middle of the playoffs. Can't wait to begin my mandarin cursing at the bad officiating!

Sens play on Wednesday. Remember to wear your jerseys!

Technorati Tags: Chinese, HSK

It's that time again. (13 of 28)

I've very thankful for my weekends. I know I deserve them. I definitely know I want them. Finally, it is mine once again.

Leafs are out. Hurrah! I thought New Jersey might decide to just let the Islanders win just to knock the leafs out.. but then it goes to a shoot-out. Who knew?

I'm grasping at straws tonight. I really am.
I'm thinking about studying to take the HSK. I can't remember what the acronym stands for, although I can tell you what it actually is. The HSK is basically a test that determines your level of Chinese ability. It's this test that you need to pass in order to study at a Chinese university. I don't want to study at a Chinese university, I just think it would be a very interesting thing to have under my belt. I figure I've been studying Chinese pretty much daily anyway, why not take it a step further.
We'll see what happens.

Now that it's weekend time, expect something a little more blog-wise.

Technorati Tags: Chinese, My LIfe, Weekend

Why have Children (12 of 28)

There are a lot of people around me having children. These kinds of life changing events seem to come in large batches, I've noticed. For a period of time, people are all graduating/landing their first career job. Then everyone is getting engaged, followed by the obvious marriage, and then finally it's children. I seem to be surrounded in that cloud for the moment.
While I was giving birth to something a little more nasty in the bathroom, I started to ponder the reasons of why people have children. Of course there's the whole need to propagate the human race sort of reason. We've been doing it for a long time, and I don't see that ending anytime soon. Then I couldn't help but wonder if we do it because having children is something that is expected of us. In a way, it's a type of brainwashing.
From the time we're very young, we're instilled with the notions of the previously mentioned life steps that we must go through. Girls have their dolls, and the boys have their manly toys (building tools, cars, war toys, etc). We play house. That's right, we become Jr. Families. Then in 15 - 25 years we take all that practice and apply it, just like we're supposed to. Life carries on.
We are lead to believe that getting married and having children will bring joy to our lives. And for some, I believe joy is brought to their lives with the induction of the little ones into their now grown up families. On the other hand, there are parents who shouldn't have been parents to begin with, and don't give their offspring the proper attention and direction they need. The cause of this.. usually "the accident" followed by the guilt of not wanting to abort. The whole propagation process fills all areas of the spectrum.

Myself, I don't know if I'll have children. No hard commitments have been made by TheWife™ and I either way. I don't want to have children because "we're running out of time." If we have children, I want to make sure it's for the right reasons, namely that it is something we want to take the full responsibility of doing, and not because it's expected. Then again, me taking this stance is probably something that isn't unanticipated.

Technorati Tags: Life Steps, Children, My LIfe, Pregnancy

What is there to say? (11 of 28)

So while the rest of y'all is at home enjoying your dull Good Friday, I'll be at work. Rest assured, I will be working at work as well. We've lost a good 16 man hours this week as one of my colleagues is taking an extended long weekend (started yesterday). Yay. More work for me. As if last weekend wasn't enough. Aīyōu. This week shouldn't be as bad as last week, regardless, I'm expecting the worst of the worse.
Once again, since I find myself either working, driving, winding down, or getting ready for work, I don't have much time for my own thoughts to surface; particularly when writing. So short and sweet it is. Number 11 is history.

Technorati Tags: blogging, work

A couple of changes. (10 of 28)

Look up. Wa-a-a-a-a-y up. Yeah, different title spread. Is this significant? In theory, yes. To help aid me in my acquisition of Mand-Chinese language, I thought it may be beneficial to incorporate my learning into an already existing hobby. I might use this space to help remember new vocabulary I've learned, meanwhile also introducing you into some of the things I'm doing. I haven't completely settled on how I'm going to do this yet. I also know that I'm not the best at follow through. Hopefully I can make this all work out, which would also continue to give me fervour to keep blogging.
So now that I've given you all the heads up, I best prepare for work. I thought I'd be a little different this time and post BEFORE work instead of scrambling to do so afterward.

ZaiTian

Technorati Tags: blogging, Mandarin, Chinese

Social Networking FEVER!! (9 of 28)

So yeah, I like facebook. A lot. I check back with it several times a day. It might be a fancy. It might be ongoing. We will see.
Over the past four or so years, I've been flooded with email requests to join others in multiple social networking websites. Since I've been bitten and infected with Facebook, my defences finally came down and I started investigating these requests and taking them a little more seriously. So seriously, in fact, that I signed up for two of them. I thought I'd give you a brief overview of what I found.

Hi-5 - Slow. Oh lord is it slow. Slower than MySpace. Thankfully, it appears to be easier to navigate. Like Myspace, it offers you the ability to put a favourite song on your profile page. The issue with this is that it's very difficult to to actually do. I tried. I failed. Granted, I didn't spend to long trying to figure it out because frankly, I didn't care.
Like other social networking sites, you can upload videos and photos etc. for others to see. You can also let it scan your address book in hotmail to find other users already using their service, but it stops there.
All and all, I didn't like it. I will likely never use this account... ever!

Tagged - This one is evil in its entirety. The setup process seemed fairly simple. Put in your vital stats and a password...and then you have to sift through 263 free gift offers to complete the process. Not only that, the system is just ugly. There also wasn't an easy way to look for a bunch of people.
Tagged sucks. Don't use it.

I have yet to develop a taste for MySpace. I find that it's still clunky and unintuitive. It's also kind of juvenile, which makes it good for the under 20 crowd. I'm on it, but I don't really use it.

So there you have it. Facebook wins, hands down. Join us.

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Hi5, Review, Tagged

Ugh (8 of 28)

I saw the bright light today, as I faced my own death trying to bike up that hill. Yes friends, it kicked my ass. My legs aren't killing me yet, but they will later. This, I already know.
A while back I bought the first season of Babylon 5. Yes, I'm fully aware that this was an über geek show. In a way it was very much like Dr. Who; great story line and horrible acting. The story itself was set to be a five year story, that almost didn't make five years. The ended up wrapping up most of the story by the end of season four... just in case.
I didn't end up getting into the series until near the end of first season, as I thought it was a cheap rip-off of Deep Space Nine. My ignorance was replaced with the knowledge that Babylon was pitched to Paramount before the concept of DS9 had been even thought of. As it turns out, DS9 was a high budget Babylon 5. I digress. Since I got into the show so late, I missed out on some of the back stories that lead into the epic scale battles which came later in the series.
Despite the acting and bad special effects (which were improved on later), the first season of B5 is actually a pretty great thing, considering the amount of money they didn't have. I'll undoubtedly pick up the rest of the season, especially given the price-tag for 950 minutes of entertainment. If you like true Sci-Fi and never got involved in B5, I'd suggest that you make up for your past transgressions and pick it up.

Technorati Tags: Babylon 5, Review, Season 1

Are we lonely? (7 of 28)

I don't know if I'm a product of Douglas Coupland novels, or whether I just happen to sing the same songs that he writes about.
Currently on the table is Shampoo Planet, which came after his first breakthrough novel (and still my favourite), Generation X. I'm not going to review it. I'm just letting you know the ingredients of my brain stew. The second ingredient would be none other than the Strange Birds disc (see day 2). These two prime ingredients are what's writing this post for me.
As a people, we are constantly trying to achieve intimacy and closeness with someone. We make friends, lovers, life and/or marriage partners, etc. Yet somehow I sometimes think that despite these people in our lives, we are ultimately still quite the lonely people. That's an issue with free will. We can do anything we choose to do (consequences and all), we make our own decisions, we have our own thoughts, we lead our own lives. But having this free will and individuality also isolates us from a collective form of being. We are cut off from the feelings and thoughts of others, unless they are willing to share. Even then, you have the barrier of communication which can cause loss of meaning or half-truths.
We can keep people close to us, and we can share our thoughts and ideas. Although this may be enough for most of us, I don't think we can truly be 100% connected to anyone else. That's what makes us human. That's what makes us individuals. Is there something greater than what we are living? Something where we are never alone? To that, I have no answer. I have no recollection of ever being there.

Technorati Tags: Lonliness, Philosophy, thoughts

It's my weekend, not yours.

While the rest of you are going back to work, I'll be chillaxin' at home with a beer in one hand, and a Wii-mote in another. It's been a stressful work week, and I'm glad it's over. It definitely a challenge this week, and I got through it. I have no beefs with it, I just hope I don't have to do it too often.

Now that it's all said and done, I can say I'm still tired. Oh, am I tired. The problem with working these kinds of shifts is that the blog fodder gets reduced to a pretty sharp minimum. I wanna have tons to say, but obviously it's hard to come up with. I think it'd pretty much be a cop-out to start talking about the daily traffic, or hockey, or even music. Sure these are all topics that everyone has an opinion on, but that also makes it way too easy. Given that I have the next three days off, I'm going to make it my mission to blog about something at least mildly though provoking. I remember a time when I would try and stir up some controversy by evoking peoples comments in regards to religion. Once again, that's become way to easy. Instead I'm going to aim for something that requires a little more thought and may even go against the grain. I may even piss people off. One thing that you must remember though; this is my blog and thus what I say here is right.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, My life, Weekend

A couple minutes past.

I hate the Leafs. Their stupid game caused me heartache in the form of traffic back up.
It doesn't matter. It's still during my awake time.
Work.. too busy. I should have delayed this blog fest for two weeks. Bah well. I'm knee deep now.

If I write any more, I'm going to collapse into a deep sleep that lasts until June.

Frequency, not quality.

23:49 according to my computer. Eleven minutes more and my blogfest would be a failure. Mind you, I'm come up with an excuse if it went past midnight. Time zones make things very convenient. I doubt I'll be posting from work--holy s*** is are we f***ed. Too much work and not enough people. If I get cranky this weekend, you'll understand why.

Despite having ten minutes to write this, I do have something a little interesting to say.
On the way to work, less than a minute into my drive, I came to the usual four-way stop of Duke and Dolph. What made it interesting was this shiny red pickup truck. Okay, it wasn't the truck itself that was interesting, but the driver. This 70-something year old lady was behind the wheel of this huge monstrosity. She wasn't a great driver either, fitting the mould of the typical "granny driver," except this time twice as dangerous. She couldn't handle the best. A right hand turn found her right into the oncoming traffic lane. I quickly got out of her way (as she was behind me) and continued on my way to work. As I continued to drive I thought to myself, "wouldn't this make good blog fodder" in that sort of rhetorical way.

Technorati Tags: My life, granny drivers

No, I didn't forget (3 of 28)

So the next three days will be difficult, to say the least. If I'm going to maintain my blog a day, I will likely have to write either first thing in the morning or while I'm at work. You see, my schedule for the next three days is 12pm - 10pm. Now while that may seem not to bed, leaving plenty of time to blog, you aren't taking account the nastiest commute known to man. I must leave around 10:40 to make my shift on time. This means that I also get home rather late. I also like to throw in some Chinese study time into my day as well. I will not succumb to the simplicity that is failure. I will survive.

David Usher released an album recently. Last week if I'm not mistaken. I purchased said album, and I gotsta say that it's pretty solid. It's not Moist, which I do believe is somewhat unfortunate, but if you can look past what David Usher was in that band and accept his evolution as a musician, than Strange Birds might be enjoyable to you. I concede to the fact that his style isn't for everyone, but in spite of that, there are some pretty catch tunes to be heard from this disk. As I age, I mellow, and Strange Birds seems to suit that fancy. As I've learned through multiple failures, I will not really go into much of a review of the disc in its entirety. Just give it a sample.

Technorati Tags: Blog, David Usher, music, My life, Strange Birds

Nyahhhh... next. (Blogfest 2 of 28)

Hey Grindy. Here's number 2 beeotch.

Yesterday was Southern Ontario's Summer sampler. 25˚C and Sunny. TheWife™ and I took a trip down the river to see how incredibly flooded it was.. and boy, was it.
When I was younger I, like most other of my age, enjoyed the swings. The effort to see how high you could get, coupled with the thrill of jumping off the swing at the vertical climax. Jumping from the swing made you a man, in that school boy sort of way.
Yesterday, during the Summer sampler, I got onto the swings. Just like when I was 9, I went through the motions to achieve the ultimate height. Throwing my legs backward, thrusting the forward, and I achieved the desired goal. The process itself was neither here nor there. It wasn't until I started looking at my feet as they passed underneath me, and the view of the gravel as I went back and forth that the spark of past memories ignited. It wasn't so much memories of a grand story or childhood experience, but more the strange familiarity of what I was seeing. I didn't stay on that swing long, afraid of what might transpire if I did. I really wasn't up for unlocking anything at that very moment. I've been beaten with the nostalgia stick enough lately as it is. TheWife™ and I moved on with our walk, denying what my history was trying to offer me at that moment. I hope that it was better off that way.

Technorati Tags: My life, Childhood, memories

14 - 28 days.

I've been mildly inspired by Grindy and his effort to make a post daily for 14 days. I believe he will do it, as he has a much stronger conviction to accomplish goals than I do. That's a nice way to say that I'm lazy. At the same time, I don't want to be bested by a blogging rookie! Out of Line is his first real blog, and I've been doing this since 1998, at the very least.
I'm also inspired by my shiny new iMac that sits in front of me. I actually have a hard time tearing myself away from it's enrapture at any given point during the day. For the first time in what seems like forever, I've stayed up much later than usual for the sake of my computing needs. It's THAT good.

Back to my original thought bubble, I guess this will make for Day 1 or anywhere between 14 to 28..hopefully.

In a bundle of great news, TheWife and I have passed through stages one and two of her immigration. I'm eligible to sponsor her, and she meets residency requirements. We just have to provide info of what's gone on in the past year and then like magic, she becomes a permanent resident. Of course, it's not quite that fast, but at least it's happening.

I'll leave things at that for now. I don't want to waste all my fodder on Day 1.

Technorati Tags: Blog, Immigration, My life

I was wrong.

I thought I could walk away, but blogging is more powerful than smack. I don't know how many times in the past couple of weeks thinking "this would make some decent blog fodder." Ladies and gents, I have returned.
As a point of note, V.2 might not be around for very much longer. I'm seriously thinking about changing directions.. which will probably last for the whole of two posts and then back to the status quo, but, you know. That's how I roll.

I finally broke down.. again.. and joined yet another social networking site. I am now Facebook's bitch. I think I'm digging this much more than MySpace. Infinitely more functional and tons less juvenile. I'm watching my friend's list grow faster than Michael Jackson's lawyer bills. I now highly recommend it. It's awesome.

Oh yeah, I have my iMac. It's nothing short of awesome.

I'm tired. I must sleep.

One more thing.. props to FortErieDave for showing concern for my blog's well being.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Blog, iMac, My life, Facebook

Time for a break.

I'm at the blogging road block. I think I've said all I wish to say for now. I don't know, perhaps I just need to walk away for a while. Maybe it's just how I'm feeling right now. I don't know. Maybe, just maybe, I've simply grown out of it..

Ladies and gents, I think I'm going to take a break from blogging for a little while. We'll see how I feel about blogging come the end of March. Will I come back with some new vim and vigour, with a fervour for writing about nothing once again? Or will I finally decide to walk away.

Stay tuned.

Just stuff.

Listening to:
迷失的季节 from the album "Your Colour (给你一点颜色)" by Cui Jian (崔健)

I just realized me weekend reports have kind of faded away. They'll likely be back in about a month. Just a heads up.

Congrats to TheRoss and Peaches... preggers! Peaches.. don't shave your head. TheRoss, don't ride on the coat-tails of your celebrity woman to gain fame and fortune. Of course, the lives I'm referring to in no way resemble the lives of TheRoss and Peaches... but.. you know.. I.. hey! Look! A stork!!

I couldn't help but laugh out loud last night whilst walking to a parking lot located a block away from my employer. Along this "trail," there are a couple of Japanese restaurants, a leather place, a couple of offices, a "Gentleman's Club" (DEFINITELY NSFW), and to the point, a dance studio. As I was passing by their window, I saw a crowd of zero-talent dancers doing their thing (they have zero talent, but I'm sure their heart is in it--I'm not judging). I know they were zero talent for one reason-- they were using SPIRIT FINGERS!!!! Cheerleaders are dancers that have gone retarded. I literally did laugh out loud to this sight. I simply couldn't help it. This was just too funny for words, providing that you know where the term "spirit fingers" comes from. I digress. It was funny. I'll leave it at that.

More news. TheWife™ got her latest visa extension yesterday. In a surprise move, the extended it for an entire year! Sweetness. So yes friends, even if worse comes to worst, you can still expect me to be here for at least another 347 days (new Visa runs out on Feb. 28 2008).

That will be all.

甘大熊

	菜鸟36 Professional Life
	Visit ChinesePod.com

Technorati Tags: My life, Immigration, Preggers

My hype begins.

Listening to:
Quicksand from the album "Light Grenades" by Incubus

It's true. I'm hyped.
The 2006 tax year was pretty weak on my part. Between being unemployed for probably close to two of those months, and the jobs I actually held when I was employed, the income potential was fairly poor. Rather close to "slave" wages. My total salary was less than Canada's 2005 Low Income Cut-Off point. I'm so glad that I found another job that puts me far beyond that number.
Didn't I mention something about being hyped?
I processed (well, my mother processed) my income taxes this weekend. I never know what to expect as far as returns go. I knew that my low income for the 2006 year would be decent, I wasn't prepared for what I was due. Instead of telling you the sum, I will tell you that when this cheque comes in the mail I will be going out and getting myself a new iMac 17" with 2GHz of processing goodness. What about the MacBook? Well, I opted out of the Macbook. For less than a Macbook, I can get a larger screen, more processing power, more hard drive space, and graphics that doesn't take from the main CPU. I lose that sense of portability, but realistically I don't really move from this current spot I'm in right now. The beauty of the iMac is also that it's pretty simply to move it to a new location, in case I did want to go somewhere else. Simply put, it just makes more sense. And, if for some freak chance I want to play some sort of PC game, this would give me more of an opportunity. Don't hold your breath though, folks. I'm all Wii, baby. Now that I think of it.. the Wii and the iMac use the same colour-scheme. I may have to add an iMac to the graphics content of this website. Hmmm.

	菜鸟34 Family Ties
	Visit ChinesePod.com

What a weekend.

I sit her in my computer chair, in front of my decrepit G3 iBook, eating a seaweed treat. Knock it all you like you uncultured ass, but they are still tasty. I sit in my chair and I reflect on this past weekend and I am reminded that it was good times.
It really was an interesting game in Ottawa. Sens Vs. Buffalo in case you forgot. McGratten and Neil raised their fisticuffs, Ottawa blew their 4-1 lead, however they managed to escape with a 6-5 victory. My voice after the game, well, wasn't much there. This is a normal occurrence when I attend a sporting event. Especially when it's a high scoring game. Two days later, and it's still not 100%.
After this game I learned something. I learned that Buffalo fans are just as stupid as Leaf fans.
Answer me this: If a team loses a game, inside enemy territory, is it even remotely logical to yell out that the winning team "sucks?" I think not. Should you not lose gracefully, accept the loss, congratulate on a good game and then make a hasty retreat? Why, yes. Yes you should. Did this happen? No. No, it didn't. There is no limit to idiocy.

Mad props to Grindy for piloting the automobile there and back. I know it wasn't easy as I have done it myself at least twice. Next time I go, it will be for longer than 20 hours. Perhaps three days would be nice.

I was fortunate enough to get an extra day off this weekend, that being today. I got an extra day to recover. Even though I didn't drive, any extended car ride has a knack of wearing me out. To finish off my weekend, I will watch movies, eat popcorn, and chillax. A suitable ending to an exciting weekend.

And in case you thought I forgot...

	菜鸟33 I Gotta Go, Babe
	Visit ChinesePod.com

Technorati Tags: Buffalo at Ottawa, Hockey, My life, NHL, Weekend

Neglect.

Hmmm. Seems you haven't done much with yourself in my absence. Heck, I think you may have even added a couple of pounds. Disgraceful.
What? You think this is my fault? I go out to work! I support you! you'd rather me quit so that we're poor and pathetic? To hell with that. I think you need to get your priorities straight and stop thinking about only yourself. Well, maybe I'd take you out places if you dressed up a little more.
You know, I think I've had enough of this. I'm going to bed.

I have this same argument with my blog all the time. We're just hitting a rough spot right now. I'm sure we'll get through it. We always do.

	菜鸟32 I Know You
	Visit ChinesePod.com

Technorati Tags: Blog, My life

What a beautiful day..

... to work from home. So I did. Never before have I had the luxury of staying home from work, but still get counted as being there. Unless you're just waking up from hibernation, southwestern Ontario's first qualifying snow storm of 2007 hit today (only in mid February) and as such, I was able to make it a "snow day." To show that I am responsible enough to work from home, I locked myself in the computer room upstairs before 6am and got straight to work. i stayed there (with the exception of bathroom, coffee, and lunch breaks) until the end of my "shift." For the record, most of my team didn't even show up today, included my two immediate bosses. My absence was therefor legitimized, so screw you.
I must say that working from home was simply awesome. I loved it. It's kind of like a forbidden fruit that you've finally managed to eat, and yet not get punished for it. Instead, I got the reward of saving gas money, and not losing a "sick-day." And now that I've had the fruit, you know that I want more. Please, I want to see another snowstorm and soon.

Wait. No I don't. Guess who shovelled the driveway after "work." This wasn't an easy shovelling job, unlike the faecal matter that spews fourth from my oral orifice. I'm paying for this mandatory suburban exploit as we speak. Muscles are tight, and the lower back is working it's way to killing me.

What an interesting scale. Work from home and shovel snow, or drive to work and not shovel snow. What a conundrum.

And it was THO! I swear! I asked her myself. No, really.

Technorati Tags: My Life, pain, Video Podcast, Work

My latest lesson.

Just another quickie. This is the latest lesson I'm working on.

	菜鸟30 Face Off
	Visit ChinesePod.com

This is how you do it.

Ladies.. well maybe not ladies. Gentlemen. This is how you get guys to buy a mac. Notice the unpadded T.H.O. ways.

Bet you thought it wouldn't happen.

But it did.

I said I would finish one soon, and so here it is. My fourth video podcast. Enjoy.

Technorati Tags: CDXC, My Life, MySpace, Video Podcast, VLOG

Excuses to Look at Hot Chicks - My CD Explained

I hope you got a few minutes, as this might be a bit of a long read. Daejin had it smart when he broke his CD explaination into numerous posts. I, on the other hand, am not nearly as smart as he is so I'll do it in one sitting. So I bring to you:

Excuses to Look at Hot Chicks unincluded liner notes
(by the way.. the links are to the music Videos.. more ways to kill time)

1. Vorspier - Johann Sabastian Bach
I got the name of this track wrong on the actual leaflet. My bad.
Kanon would be too.. commercial. Overdone. Overplayed. I like it, don't confuse my meaning here. I just knew something else with class should open up my masterpiece. I actually got this recording from the Evangelion score collection. I felt that this was also a good introduction to lead into

2. White and Nerdy - "Weird Al" Yankovic
I'm not an über nerd, but I do have certain elements of geek that still reside in my being. White and Nerdy just seemed like a bit of a satire of my high school and college years. Also, it's just so damn catchy. Did I mention that I'm now becoming known as "Sour Creme" at work?

3. Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny - Lemon Demon
I admit it, I saw the video first. "Weird Al" was a childhood hero of mine, and so I thought an appropriate segue then a song about lots more of my heroes. Another song I just truly dug in the past year and cranked the car stereo whenever it came on the iPod.

4. Mr. T.'s Commandments - Mr. T.
So yes, an apparent ongoing theme here. I didn't actually find out about this track until my later high school years when I watched the Weekend marathon Much, hosted by Steve Anthony. The song resurfaced while I was in China, and it's been on my playlist ever since.
5. Spider-Man Theme - Michael Bublé
Best. Theme song. Ever. Better than The Romone's cover. A crooner singing about Spidey? Awesome.

6. Fading Into Obscurity - Sloan
Something that happens over time. Great track. Good social commentary.

7. The Lonely Shephard - Gheorghe Zamfir and James Last
This was the last of my hero theme. Something to slow it down, bringing the wonder back down to earth. A great track that landed on the playlist. The melancholy of the big come down. We all know this feeling. I revisited this feeling last year.

8. Circles - The Salads
Funny thing about popular music; songs always seem to appear that describe what you're feeling at that moment. This was one of those songs in 2006. A track that I found myself looping on many an evening. A circle that seems to have finally ended.

9. Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day
Yes, another theme. I had big ideals when I came home. the longer time went on without these ideals being met, the more heartbroken I became.

10. Bitches Ain't Shit - Ben Folds (feat. Mr Reynolds and Lin-Z)
Intermission. Like Daejin and NIN, Ben Folds repeatedly finds himself on my mixes. What can I say? I'm a fan. Besides, this track matched my intro.. it was, uh, classy.

11. Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt - We Are Scientists
Slowly beginning to accept the status quo. Never accept the status quo. It's detrimental to one's health.
This track was actually one of iTunes weekly freebees. They had a long series of good releases this year. This happened to be one of them.

12. Mad World - Gary Jules
A brilliant cover to say the least. Taking a track, and making it his own, and having sound like it should That's Mad World. Simply awesome.

13. Borrowed Time - Scissor Sisters
Another CD mix re-offender. I often think about how close i was giving up on staying home. Living on borrowed-time, as it were.

14. Theme Original - XOC
Reset.

15. Best of You - Foo Fighters
I never actually heard the whole album, although I'm told it was was poop. This, however, is a great track. Somewhat of a motivational track for yours truly. A faithful reminder to keep trying, and not giving up.

16. Work it Out - Jurassic 5 w/Dave Matthews' Band
Keeping up with the motivation is hard work.

17. Pump it - Black Eyed Peas
The album was trash. Hated most of what I heard, but there's always a diamond in the rough. Of course they had to take samples from another song to do it. My only question, when are they gonna dump Fergie's as-er, Trunk?

18. Back in Black - Pee Wee Dread
It was cover. It really wasn't innovative. It was just.. cool.

19. Anna Molly - Incubus
Squeaked into this years mix. I love the track. I listen to it pretty my daily. I just couldn't, you know, make it work. So I threw it in at #19.

20. Feel Good Inc. - Gorillaz
Since it's inception in 2005, it's never left my iPod. I actually believed that the first Gorillaz album would be their last, but they surprised me with this new release. Oh yeah, it's a cool video too.

21. Peanut Vendor - Perez Prado
Roll credits. When's the sequal? Next year.

Technorati Tags: CDXC

My Fingers Are Freezing.

Excuse any typos that may occur. Cold fingers makes for bad keyboarding.

Last night was the CD Exchange. I haven't digested them all yet (I'm about halfway through). Look for a bit of a review/one-sided discussion about it in my upcoming Video Podcast. This time for sure. Two or three segments left to do. Wii!

I actually took the plunge today. Consider it a bit of an experiment, if you will, but I signed up for a months premium subscription to Chinesepod.com. I figure that I've been using their free podcast for a few months now, and my Chinese has certainly improved since then. I've had a few basic Mandarin conversations since. I guess as kind of a thank you, and out of curiosity, I thought I would drop $36 via paypal for a month. The insurgence of cash gives you a handful of tools to help you organize your learning, download some goods, and various activities to help reinforce what you've learned. I'm actually hoping that I'll be able to learn more written Chinese while doing this as well. I'll be sure to let you know.

I think I'll also provide their website widget for the lessons that I've been working on so you can listen to what sample what I'm learning. Perhaps you might learn a little something as well. Hoorah for Web 2.0. So without further adieu:

菜鸟29 The 9-to-5 Visit ChinesePod.com

Also remember, if you subscribe to their podcast via iTunes you also get a basic transcript of the days lesson.

Technorati Tags: CDXC, Learn Chinese, Chinesepod.com, Warioware: Smooth Moves

The Weekend Report #3... on Monday.

Although your weekend is over, mine is just beginning. Wheee, sucka.

This weekend was filled with our recommended daily intake of the white stuff (I mean snow, thanks). It's like the Winter Machine wasn't working before January and now that it is working, it won't shut off. We also got our first real blast of cold air, too. It's not the coldest we've ever had, but it certainly was a good, albeit quick sample.

I didn't get to write this at work over the weekend--I was much too busy. So busy in fact, that I stayed late on Sunday--my Friday. How's that for dedication folks? Our office is moving moving into the downtown core this weekend, which is going to tack some time onto my day. I'll likely be taking the GO instead of driving all the way there.
Paid Parking + downtown driving = Unhappy-Ricos

Another example of why I think people are morons.

Payday on Tuesday. :)) Time to recoup after a my post-Christmas binges.

And finally, tonight is our kinda-sorta-annual CD Exchange. After the actual exchange, I'll likely put together a post regarding my song choices and either put it here or on my LJ.

Technorati Tags: CDXC, Winter, Warioware: Smooth Moves, Weekend Report, Work