Mental Health is Overrated

2008-08-18T21:28:00.003-06:00

Post Race Feelings
Everything below the hips hurts. Some of my toes feel worn out today. Despite the post-run massage/baths, these muscles sure are aching today.

Results are now online. Some stats - I finished:

at 1:53:28 overall, with a pace of 5:23/km. Compare this to Wednesday's pace of 6:33/km for a 15km run (with two killer hills), or to the 5:21/km pace I set for last year's Winterstart (8km, 2 km of which is uphill)
313th out of 1105 participants, or in the 72nd percentile of runners
213th out of 484 men, in the 46th percentile
101st out of 341 men aged 20-29, in the 70th percentile. That surprises me, I thought that number would be much closer (if not lower) than the total for all men.

2008-08-17T16:07:00.002-06:00

My nipples! The Body Glide does nothing!
Today I ran my first half-marathon, 21.1km during the ING Marathon weekend here in Edmonton. I've planned to run this since February, at which point the most I had ever run was 13km.

Random Thoughts:
- I must say, the whole thing was a very, very well organized event. I can't really think of single thing that they did wrong, or even could have done better. Kudos to the organizers.
- I'm not a hot-weather runner. In the last few years, the only training I've done usually started in early to late October, so it was a real shock having to try to run in 20+ degree heat. Today's forecast was for 30 degrees.
- The course itself was gorgeous, a path giving one of best views of the River Valley I've ever seen. Once out of downtown, I got lost as to where I actually was in the course, which doesn't usually happen.
- One nice thing about the course was the amount of shade it presented. That, combined with water/Gatorade stations spread roughly every 3km helped keep the impact from the heat to a minimum.
- I heart people with supersoakers. Next running event on a hot day, I'm gonna go down there and do my part.
- I rececived my first ever post-event massage, thanks to some sort of error in my mom's favour (she did the 21.1km walk, and didn't want the massage). Apparently I really should see a chiropractor about my hip and IT band. Huh.

Lessons learned:
- Note for future training - learn how to drink & run.
- Vaseline on a stick is meant for applying to a chafed area, power gels are meant to be eaten. Got it.
- Power gels, when eaten, are actually quite terrible tasting. At leas the strawberry banana flavour I had. It was like eating flavoured pure corn syrup. I'm just glad I didn't get chocolate. But I did spend a good 1/2km thinking of flavours that would work. Maybe something citrusy. And mint wouldn't work, because I'd probably end up using it for toothpaste and find myself sleep-sprinting.
- Another note for future training - don't spend the first 5 months training hard, and then take the 2 month leading up to the race 'easy'.

So all in all, it was a good event. On Wednesday, I ran a 14km loop with Justin in about 1:35. Based on that, I was aiming to run the race in under 2:10. Well, I'm happy to say that I did make my goal - I ran the damned thing in 1:54:18! Over 15 minutes better than what I expected! So either I had a good day, or I'm just shit at guessing my time. I guess there's something to say about HGH.

I'm pretty sore, but I stretched really good afterwards, and that combined with the massage, the soak in the City Hall fountain, and the coldest bath I've ever taken, should hopefully keep the pain to a minimum.

2008-07-10T15:27:00.001-06:00

Pickings
Esks over the Argos
Alouettes over the lowly Stamps
BC wipes the floor with Winnipeg
Riders rough up the Cats

2008-06-14T15:53:00.003-06:00

Programs Finale
A few weeks ago, I found a program to do what I've always wanted my computer to do - rotate desktops. You always see these great desktops that people will send you, or you have tons of photos that you like to display, but I hated that I was always stuck with one at a time. After some searching, I stumbled onto John's Background Switcher. It's exactly what I wanted. You have have it set any way you want. Currently I switch to a new background every 3 minutes, so every time I go to the desktop it's a nice surprise!

Good wallpaper resources:
- Desktoptopia - another desktop switching program that supplies it's own collection of wallpapers. Not nearly as good as JBS, but it has some nice backgrounds
- InterfaceLIFT - An amazing assortment of backgrounds, in a variety of sizes. Highly recommended, a lot of great nature photos
- Pixelgirl Presents - A number of nice backgrounds, though lacking in good sizes, especially for widescreen monitors

2008-05-27T18:00:00.002-06:00

How about them Penguins, huh?
I'm finding that keeping up a good signal-to-noise ratio on a personal blog can be a challenge. While it's nice to keep people in the loop of what's going on in my life, I'm finding it a lot harder to keep up the effort. And it's not like I'm out of ideas for stuff to write about (off of the top of my head, I could easily pump out 5 or 6 unique posts), but maybe the passion isn't quite there. Which isn't unusual, as anyone who's followed this blog (hi Mom!) knows that these things are cyclical, and I feel like I'm coming out of a downturn on stuff to discuss, which is nice.

Heard of Twitter? It's a pretty irritating idea, this microblogging, and I'd really hate to use it instead of my blog to let people know about the menial details about my life. I am however, looking for a good way to continue to contribute to this blog, without feeling the need to elaborate on my experiences. Keeping that in mind, I'll be experimenting with a Twitter feed to the sidebar so that I can pare down stories to their interesting basics without all the filler.

I'm not sure whether RSS feeds will work with it, but ideally I'll get it going so that it'll RSS-dump 10 at a time or whatever. Who knows.

2008-04-21T13:02:00.002-06:00

Jott
How about that weather, eh? We drove back from Calgary yesterday, and the entirety from Leduc to Edmonton was covered in black ice. We ended up driving at 30km/h on the shoulder, which was surprisingly ice-free, just to make it home safely. I stopped counting the number of cars in the ditch after 30.

I've talked about Google Calendar before, and waxed poetic about the benefits to my productivity. I've recently discovered another tool to help with my life. It's called Jott.

Jott is a free service that transcribes your short messages into text and emails it to you, or in my case adds whatever you say as a Google Calendar event. So say I'm walking down the street, and I think, 'I really want to punch Louis in the face on Friday'. But knowing me, by Friday I'll definitely forget. So I whip out my cell, hit speed dial, give my message, and within minutes an event is created.

2008-03-06T16:30:00.003-07:00

Head Shave Update
We've just received word that the 4th Annual Engineering Head Shave has $51,627.14 for the Alberta Cancer Foundation. Including Razored for Ron, here's an estimate of where we stand in 5 years (there's some talk that the 3rd Annual may be higher, which I think is being looked into)

4th Annual EHS: $51,627.14
3rd Annual EHS: ~$32,000
2nd Annual EHS: $26,338.00
1st Annual EHS: $13,064.00
Razored for Ron: ~$12,500
----------------------------------
Approximate Total: $135,500

Which works out to about $27,100/year. Also, if you squint, it roughly looks like a Fibonacci Sequence. So next year, they'll have to raise $80,000 to keep a good thing going.

2008-02-27T22:18:00.002-07:00

This Year's Goal
I've never really been much of a runner. I've managed to push my way to decent running times over previous races, usually with minimal training. But throughout the years, I've always had a mental block about running over 8km. And I have no idea why.

However, that's gonna have to change. I just signed up for the Energy Capital Alberta Open 21.1K Run, my first half-marathon, taking place on August 17.

I started training officially two weeks ago. Doing the math, if I run 11.5 km this weekend, and add 500m every week until August, I'll be pretty near the race distance. Of course, I'd like to add some other training in during the week, probably focusing on hills and speed (though not both at the same time).

2008-02-26T11:42:00.001-07:00

Venn
Instead of actually writing about my life, I'll instead post another link to something I find clever.

2008-02-18T23:05:00.002-07:00

Whe W Las Lef Ou Heroe...
It started as a simple typo... it ended 2 hours later.

Graeme: brb
me: me too
Graeme: bac
me: bac
Graeme: shi
me: h h
Graeme: wonde ho lon w ca kee thi u
me: i onl w ha someon t anno wit thi
Graeme: ca thin o someon wh migh enjo thi . O hat i.
Sonja has joined
Graeme: ther
me: h sonj
Graeme: yo suc sonj
me: that' bette. what' u, sonj?
Graeme: she' bus lookin fo a wit a accen o i
me: o, ca yo eve d tha?
me: tha too m whil t ge
Graeme: wel it' i wor documen
me: o. leavin spac fo singl characte i prett confusin
Graeme: kno
me: wh doesn' sh us th characte ma?
me: yo ca cop fro ther
Graeme: she' go ma compute
Graeme: no sur exactl ho thing wor ther
me: righ. stupi mac
Graeme: sh foun i no
me: o goo
Graeme: me
me: s wil sh tal no?
Graeme: don' thin she' realize tha she' bee invite t thi cha
me: s thi entir conversatio wa wast o tim?
me: lik usua?
Graeme: prett muc , yea
me: jus checkin
Graeme: sh jus foun i
me: h h
Graeme: sh jus calle u insan
me: m? wha abou yo?
Sonja: o h eve mor insan
Graeme: rea wha wrot agai. sai u, no yo
me: whoop
me: should'v know bette
Sonja: he gar
me: h sonj, ho wa you weeken?
Graeme: didn' understan th on thin sonj sai, i wa poo gramma
Sonja: fuc of graem
me: yeah, shithea
me: thi i fu
me: no yo hav t lear ho t spea lik thi
me: o'wicentowic rule!
Sonja: h h
me: b th wa, sonj, awesom batma phot
Graeme: w nee a ar motio fo thi ne wa o sayin o'wicentowic rule no
Graeme: tha wa m suggestio
me: ts ts
me: agree
me: w nee t lear ho t sa i i sig languag, s dea peopl ca enjo i als
Sonja: he understoo tha!
me: probabl involve th middl finge someho
Graeme: wa jus writin tha!!!!
me: dammi
Sonja: tha coul wor, wil practic tha
me: coo
me: yo kno what' goo son? "Wh ar yo, Defender o th Univers?" b th Dear
Sonja: graem onl on her, hav t practic o hi
me: wel, ou mo alread doe
me: ho wa you weeken, sonj?
Graeme: whe she' sobe tha i
me: s... neve?
Sonja: poo mam double
Graeme: exactl
Graeme: coul yo actuall se he givin anyon th finge?
me: h h, no reall
Sonja: t answe you questio gar, m weeken wa reall goo
Sonja: ho wa your?
Graeme: don' tal t hi sonj, he'l onl tal bac
me: ful o up an down. som reall goo part, som reall frustratin part
Graeme: an yo wan t sto tha viciou cycl no
Sonja: m to, al th part ha t tal t graem wer frustratin
Graeme: o, ra int pet sawye an tin dance a bp' o saturda, e?
me: to lat
me: yea, h tol m tha. wa gonn mee u wit the late, bu the wen t a countr ba downtow
Graeme: yea, oi cit roadhous
Graeme: wha di yo en u doin thi weeken
Graeme: airin ou you underwea ove th fres ai intak fo building
me: n, usuall wai unti it' fort degree celciu wit 100 humidit for tha
me: me u wit jacqui an loui, an war wa i tow.
me: sa th movi "bucke lis"
Graeme: wa i an goo?
me: i wa alrigh, thoug hele love i. laughe an crie th whol wa throug. war, o th othe han, fel aslee a on poin
Graeme: h h
me: h h
me: prett funn
Graeme: no surprisinl
Graeme: yo crie i i?
me: i fulfille th requiremen: i i ha morga freema, wil blubbe lik bab
Graeme: fo som reaso, i i ha an blac gu yo cr lik bab
me: wel, tha extend t rea lif, reall
me: wha di yo ge u t thi weeken?
Graeme: sonj an ar makin sur t watc ever me brook movi
Graeme: we'v see robi hoo an spaceball s fa
Graeme: blazin saddle an youn frankenstei ar nex o th lis
me: that' weeken wel spen
Graeme: i sonj wasn' ther, it' b reall goo weeken
me: h h
Sonja: bastar, ha t eras th nic thin wa gonn writ
Graeme: bullshi
me: wel, a leas ther wasn' muc t writ
Sonja: tru, didn' hav t eras muc
Graeme: yo tw ar bot bitche
me: fuc of
Sonja: wel sai gar
me: i cam fro th hear
Graeme: hat yo bot
Graeme: you col, cholestero-fille hear
Sonja: wai, yo tal abou gar no righ?
me: ye. i h wer referrin t you hear, h would'v use word lik 'blac, blac, bitte hear'
Sonja: fric, suc a gramma
Sonja: oo tha hurt
Graeme: h h
me: o mak referenc t you lac thereo
me: graem?
Graeme: wha?
Graeme: I' no th on wh suck grandm
Sonja: e gros
Sonja: no wha mean!
me: i' confuse no
Graeme: Sonja: fric, suc a gramma
Graeme: oo tha hurt
me: i anyon els gettin a headach fro doin thi?
Sonja: ye
Graeme: that' caus yo bot ar stupi
me: talkin t graem, tha i
Sonja: jus goin t sa tha!
me: grea mind, yo kno
Graeme: d yo ge th grandm jok ye, gar?
me: n
me: althoug mos o you joke suc, s it' n surpis
Graeme: bu yo ar prett retarde, s m havin t explai th jok i n surpris eithe
sonj sai: "fric, suc a gramma"
me: righ
Graeme: "...suc a gramma"
Sonja: sa i ou lou
Graeme: =suc grandm
me: hmm....
me: coul yo typ i slowe, pleas?
Graeme: n, bu thin w shoul thin abou gettin yo thos hooke o phonic book agai
me: stil hav the, proppin u th couc
Sonja: o... though yo sai yo wan t ge hi hooker ou o th phon boo agai
Graeme: yea, thos ar proppin u th televisio
me: th smel i terribl
Graeme: that' hele
me: he! hele ma smel, bu sh doe no smel lik pil o dea hooker
me: thi i goin o m blo, thin
Graeme: h h
Graeme: wh don' yo jus emai i t loga, he' th onl on wh eve read i anywa
me: an mo
me: an an stalker ma hav
me: loga no include
me: s muc fo gettin wor don tonigh
Graeme: yea, m to
me: i wa wort i
Sonja: wha d yo mea, w al learne ne languag toda
me: englis?
Sonja: graeme' no quit ther ye, bu he'l ge i soo
me: that' wha they'v bee sayin fo year
Graeme: comin fro th america, tha reall hur
me: h h
me: i' gonn sho thi t hele, an se ho muc o i sh ca rea
Graeme: sho he regula conversatio, you'l ge th sam resul
me: craz gibberis
Sonja: i' reall worrie abou mysel becaus ca rea i...
me: yea, that' sig
me: soo you'l b sayin o'wicentowic rule
me: that' termina
Sonja: h h no likel
me: terminall awesom!
Sonja: h h
me: i'v bee waitin seve year t sa tha
Sonja: prou da fo yo an yo famil
me: that' stor fo th grandkid
Graeme: he' kiddin sonj, there' la tha say tha h can' hav an childre
Graeme: o wicento-spaw a the ar calle
Sonja: than go
me: wha th la an th FD don' kno, can' hur the
Graeme: FD?
me: perhap woul infor whateve governmen agenc deal wit livestoc
me: Foo an Dru Administratio
Graeme: that' wha w though
me: ar yo bot i th sam roo?
Graeme: yea, es bac offic
Graeme: gettin homewor don
me: s instea o talkin t eac othe, yo jus gmai cha?
Graeme: jus lik ou famil a christma
Sonja: h h, it' bette thi wa
me: bu wit les booz
Sonja: yea, definitel no enoug booz her
me: it' eve bette bein te kilometer awa
Graeme: yea, g te kilometer awa sonj
me: g nort
me: s we'l b twent kilometer awa
Helen: "Wha th fuc!?"
me: sh go confuse o th fourt sentenc
Graeme: wo, sh mad i farthe the expecte
Sonja: no ba ide, mayb i'l g eve farthe s can' smel yo an mor gar
Helen: You'r al fuckin loser, sorr sonj didn' thin woul pu yo i th sam grou o o th sam leve a thes tw dimwit
me: tha sound lik a challeng, sonj
me: forge abou thi month' showe
Sonja: hele, don' worr- there' year o catchin u t ge t tha leve
Sonja: yo showe monthl no? that' a improvemen
me: no reall, sonj. jus spen mos o you tim watchin futuram and eatin cheeto, an you'l ge ther
me: cour-ordere
me: no m ide
me: plu, th petitio wa convincin
me: we'v almos bee doin thi fo a hou an hal
Sonja: h h, i' puttin thi o m resum a a thir languag
me: wicentowes?
me: what' th secon languag?
Sonja: thi mus b a dialec o wicentowes
me: where' graem g?
Sonja: spanis
me: qu?
Sonja: tak a lea
me: a
me: hav tol yo ho muc hat tha fucke?
me: s muc
Sonja: h h, tel m mor
me: wel, ha h show yo hi 'm littl pon' porcelai plat collectio, ye?
me: caus that' ful afternoo righ ther
me: o hi collectio o shirt wit unicorn flyin throug spac fro aroun th worl?
Sonja: groa... i'l preten hav t sor sock o somethin instea
me: yea, it' easie jus t ge i ove wit, lik rippin of lon, irritatin bandag
Sonja: wh don' h eve wea the t schoo?
me: o he wil neve wea the
me: to valuabl
Graeme: peopl jus don' understan th beaut ther i behin th shirt
me: that' anothe hou conversatio righ ther
Sonja: jee, goo thin we'r o brea
me: yea
Sonja: hele stil readin th conversatio?
me: na, sh lef
me: on of he friend ha crapp da, s sh wen t g ea ic crea wit he
Sonja: o that' nic o he
Sonja: plu, fre ic crea!
me: ye
me: mor th ic crea tha anythin, thin
Sonja: mm
me: yo hav th whol wee of?
Sonja: yea, it' nic
Graeme: whic frien?
me: collee

2008-01-08T21:52:00.000-07:00

Link
If you're at all interested in videogames, you might get a kick out of Zero Punctuation.

2008-01-04T12:23:00.001-07:00

What's New
Hola, amigos. I know it's been a long time since I rapped at ya, but I been trying to keep myself dry in the shitstorm, you know?

So it's 2008. What's happened since the last exciting episode of MHiO? Well....

YMCA Trouble
At 2am in the morning of the Head Shave, vandals broke into the school that Helen worked at, setting fires and causing all sorts of vandalism. Damage is estimated at $1M. So that put a damper on what was a great day.

Engineering Head Shave
The 4th Annual Engineering Head Shave was on November 30, 2007. This marks what should be the last year of my involvement in the event. This year, our goal was to raise at least $29,000, in order to break the $100,000 mark in total funds raised.

The event went as well as always. It was well run, professional, and successful. The only blip was that we only found out how much we had on hand that day, ~$21,000. The last I've heard however, is that we're at approximately $47,000 raised, with donations still coming in!

Christmas
Christmas was fun. Ate too much, drank too much, spent too much. So, the usual. Spent a lot of time with friends from out of town, which was great. The 22nd-24th was spent in Calgary with Helen's family, and after that was back in Edmonton for a marathon of meals.

On the 27th, we held our annual tackle football game, and first event in the inaugural Racial Olympics. So it was the white guys vs. the non-white guys, and after a two-hour match and two shoulders popped out, we called it at a tie. Good times.

Merch
I bought a TV. Not for the price shown now, but I'm loving it. Next year, I'll get a decent sound system.

Also, I won a hockey stick signed by Hemsky. Sweet, eh?

2007-12-01T14:17:00.001-07:00

Race
About a month ago, a group of us took to Banff to participate in the 2007 Winterstart 5-miler. You may recall that I've participated in the last few years, with mixed results.

So Paul, Louis, Jacquie, Helen, Helen's parents, Helen's brother David, David's girlfriend Nicole, and their two friends John and Amir all made the trip. It was nice to be out there. There was no snow on the ground when we got there, so we went on a few nice walks.

After last year's race, I resolved to run the race in under 40 minutes, a 3:38 improvement from that year's results. I trained a lot more than I had ever done before, but not as much as I thought I should have done. The race has a path that is roughly 2km flat, 2 km uphill, 2km downhill, and the last 2km flat. I started the race with Jacquie, Louis and Paul. We all stuck together until the halfway point, when Jacquie tailed off and I, believing that I had tailed off, sped up.

It wasn't until about 1.5km down the hill that Paul and Louis blew by me, and I picked it up again to keep with them. When we hit the last flat portion, Paul somehow kept his insane downhill pace. I managed to keep up with him until about the last 500 meters, when I dropped my fucking toque. It took me about a minute to realize what I had dropped, go back and use the shitty glo-stick light to find it in the dark. I did my best to make up lost time, but ended up finishing in 41:41 , about a two-minute improvement. Paul finished at about 41:08, so even if I'd kept with him, I'd still be a good minute shy of my goal.

2007-10-30T10:21:00.000-06:00

Funny ha ha
Work's been absolutely crazy lately, and it won't be getting any better for a little while. Here's a post I meant to spit out a month ago:

Before last month, I had never once been to the Winspear Centre. Then within 5 days, I was there twice. That's weird.

On Thursday, I went to see John Pinette, one of my favourite all-time comedians. If you've never heard of him before, hit play:

He was the car-jack victim in the series finale of Seinfeld? Remember that guy? Anyhow, it's been a long time since I laughed that hard. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The evening started with Graeme and I missing our LRT stop, due to his incessant jabbering, and my habit of drowning out the white noise with showtunes, or an episode of Futurama or something.

Anyhow, we got to the show just in time to find our seats as the opening act got on stage. He was quite funny, and I'm pretty sure he was a local guy too. He talked about having a girl's name (Kerry), little things that bug him, and finished with truck testicles. I was impressed that he was able to have a good few jokes about the testes without generally repeating what's already been said on the Garner Andrews Show for the past few weeks.

Then Pinette came on and for an hour and a half, my knee was bruised form slapping it so hard. Graeme's head was perpetually leaned back in laughter. It was great. It was one of those things were you look at the time, and can't believe that it was more than half an hour.

It's really hard to convey exactly what he talked about, since he waxed hilarious about all sorts of topics, but here's a small list of what he touched on:

Air Canada
Cruise ships
Buffets
Italy/Italian food
Misadventures after tequila
Family
Thanksgiving
Foods that aren't food (turnips, alfalfa sprouts)
Etc.

It was worth every cent.

Days later, I took a chance to go see Henry Rollins, one of Paul's favourite comedians. He was good, but in a different way. Firstly, his focus isn't on comedy. His tour is more spoken word, a lot of which just happens to be funny. Also, it was very long. He talked non-stop for 3 hours. And despite how funny he was, I was checking the ol' watch at about the 2.5 hour mark. His stories have a flow to them, and he managed to get a lot out in those three hours, but I'll be damned if I can remember any of it. His few memorable stories:

Being on a tour bus
Playing a concert with his idol band, whose drummer was terminally ill (less funny, but interesting)
Going to visit other countries that most people are scared to, like Syria, Iran and Lebanon
Being an American (except his anti-Bush stuff. I'm getting a bit tired of "Bush is stupid" jokes, truth be told)
His manager's daughter

2007-10-19T12:05:00.000-06:00

GCal
Have I mentioned how much I love Google Calendar? I have never been more organized in my life. Palm Pilots, handbooks, notebooks, writing on the hand - nothing has worked even remotely as well as this.

I'm currently rocking 16 different calendars on this thing - 9 of my own, and 7 imported. My own:

Gary's events
Helen's events
Friend Birthdays
Family Birthdays (I split them up so that my mom could use it without having to see all of my friend's birthdays as well)
Exercise Done (Ran 5km in 25 minutes, etc.)
Finances (bills paid this day, get paid on that day, etc.)
Three calendars for goals - To Do, To Do During Work (essentially work stuff, or stuff that can only be done during 9-5 like calling a bank), and one for longer term goals

The imported ones consist of sports schedules (Esks, Oilers, Olympic Hockey, World Junior, etc.), holidays (Canadian, American, Christian), and those of friends and family (currently my mom and Paul)

The only things I would really like to see would be more colours available for calendars, and a good way to incorporate Jerry Seinfeld's productivity secret, which is intriguing.

2007-10-10T08:29:00.000-06:00

Fuck yes.
It's about time. I refer of course, to the upcoming release of a Dr. Mario game for the Wii. It looks like they've added a few new things, so I hope that the classic mode is still there. Plus, they says there's online play!

2007-10-05T14:21:00.000-06:00

A quick tour of where I spend ~40 hours of my week

Our office is in kind of an L-shape. Here's one side. My current office is on the other side, but I spent a few months in each of the first two 'cubicles' on the left.

Here's the other side. Move a couple bookshelves strategically, and you'd have an interesting place to play paintball. Although my crusade for a weekly bowling tourney down this hall continues.

Here's where the magic happens. It's a bit messy, I know. But not as messy as you thought it'd be! The wall on the right is decorated with a variety of posters, both work-related & personal, and there's a couple bookshelves to the left of the table. Those boxes under the table are some decent-sized fuses.

The view. The parked cars all face 90th St., and you can make out 51 Ave. as well. Nothing too exciting here, but every once in a while a cop will pull someone over onto this street.

2007-10-01T08:28:00.001-06:00

I kept telling the ladies that I was hot...
Now I have proof! At site last week, I got a shot taken from a IR camera. I'm wishing I didn't smile, since it looks like i have a giant overbite.

Alternatively, the post title could've been "My mom keeps telling people I'm cool..."

2007-09-21T08:54:00.000-06:00

Worn
I am exhausted today, but I wanted to get a few random thoughts out of my head before I get back to work.

It's edam gouda
If I were to have a cookbook, it would definitely have to be all about grilled cheese sandwiches. Think about it, there are very few things that would not go well mixed into a grilled cheese sandwich But the possibilities - ham, bacon, turkey, guacamole, more cheese, dijon mustard, jam, peanut butter, etc. I could even have to elaborate stuff (think butter chicken grilled cheese sandwiches)

On waffles (I)
Helen got a waffle maker for her birthday, so we've been on a weekly waffle kick. The great thing about waffles, is that if you make enough, they'll last you the entire damn week.

On waffles (II)
When waffles start getting hard and a bit stale, towards the end of the week, they make not bad biscuit-like snacks.

On waffles (III)
Now that I think of it, waffles really are underused as merely a breakfast thing with various toppings. Make them a bit less sugary, and I bet they'd be wicked in a taco salad, with cheese, sour cream, salsa & guacamole. The square shape is just conducive to this sort of thing.

2007-09-10T20:44:00.000-06:00

Oh boy
Has this thing been neglected. I'll get around to the trips in the next few posts (I promise!), but here's some things on my mind, and random things that happened since last time.

And the cow goes:
Saw the Arrogant Worms with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, which was really great. I was a bit surreal watching a comedy troupe with a 50-man ensemble in the middle of a park, but it a lot of fun.

Highlights:

Me Like Hockey, Pirates of the North Saskatchewan, watching Graeme get giddy about the encore - Jesus' Brother Bob
The hilarious reaction of the Worms to the audience participation in Mounted Animal Nature Trail
The numbnuts who kept yelling "Toronto Sucks!" at the end of the concert, who I assume wanted the Toronto Song, done by the Edmonton group Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie
I learned that grass seating only actually means camping chair and grass seating only

Asschokes:

Helen got tickets to the Labour Day rematch. There are really few things that get me as mad a when I see my team lose a game they could've won. Oh fuckin boy is that frustrating.

The only really neat thing was coincidentally sitting across from Kyle Kawanami's parents on the LRT, and then running into them twice afterwards. Really great folks. I can see where Kyle got his sense of humour.

Whoo! Sexy!:
Went to O'Byrnes with Olivier & Ania a few weeks back. We were sitting in the corner booth in the upper floor, and Helen stumbled upon a book that a bunch of us had written in three years ago. It was weird seeing all these funny, loserish scribblings from a bunch of drunks.

Oh, and have you tried that new Keiths Amber Ale? Shit is it ever good.

Random Musings:

Damn I wish iTunes could do a smart playlist for the songs I listened to most often in the last 30 days. It can do song I listened to most ever, all songs I listened to in the last days, but not both.
I've started to actually train for Winterstart this year, making it the earliest I've trained for this thing, beating the old record of a week-and-a-half before the race. I ran 8km with Jacquie & Louis (who are joining the race this year too!) on the weekend, and ~4km worth of Emily Murphy hill a week before and they both felt pretty good.
I'm desperately trying to throw Helen a surprise party, but she keeps ruining it. She already knows of its existence and what day it's on, so I'm left by surprising her with what we're doing (Uturamafay arathohmay!) and what we're eating (Othingnay utbay Eetoschay!)

2007-07-20T10:24:00.000-06:00

Arggh
Helen and I, and two of our friends have been trying to get together to see the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie for some time now, and we finally got it done last night. I went into the movie with pretty low expectations, especially considering that Graeme was disappointed with it, and we generally have similar tastes, much to Helen's and my mom's chagrin.

But I ended up liking it. The movie was quite hard to follow, but with prior warnings in mind, I managed to figure out the whys and the hows after a while, even all of the double crossing of the triple crossers.

There were some lows, such as the fate of the mighty Kraken and explaining how Barbarossa returned form the grave. It also seemed that much of the plot was there only to serve as a way to supe-up the final battle. SPOILER ALERT: If you don't want to read the spoiler, don't highlight the portion in between the square brackets (I hope this works with RSS). [There's all this buildup towards releasing Calypso, with meetings, and captains, and explanations, and yet when she's finally freed, she grows 100' tall (which is fucking weird), talks gibberish, disintegrates into crabs, and then does fuck-all except make it rain and causes a maelstrom for the climactic battle. Some vengeful god.]

But overall, I'm glad I saw it in theatres, instead of on my meager TV screen.

2007-07-18T22:23:00.000-06:00

See.... my loafers, former gophers
Another great segment from CBC's This I Believe. This time from author David Chilton

I believe I may be the luckiest guy going.

I was born to absolutely fantastic parents—the ultimate lucky break. Although I counsel people in “The Wealthy Barber” to choose their parents wisely, I’ll admit I had little to do with the whole process.

Despite a diet that includes two packages of Nibs a day and not-so-good sleeping habits, dictated by my addiction to “Law and Order” reruns, I’ve been remarkably healthy. More importantly, my children, now teenagers, have shared my good-health fortune.

I’ve also had a lot of lucky breaks in my career. Many times things have fallen my way…right place at the right time kind of stuff. Truthfully, I’ve really only had one good idea—“The Wealthy Barber.” In fact, my dad, in an interview was asked whether he was worried that I would be a one-hit wonder and replied, “That’s one hit more than I thought he’d have!” Sadly, I agree.

Interestingly, one of the luckiest things that has happened to me is that, unlike many, I realize how lucky I am! I have many faults (far too many, my friends would agree, to list here), but one quality I have in spades is perspective.

A traffic jam doesn’t stress me out.

A long line-up at Starbucks doesn’t throw me into a bad mood for hours.

I don’t view a delayed flight as a tragedy of epic proportions.

In short, I recognize the difference between a minor inconvenience and a major problem. Sadly, many don’t.

When you look at our lives closely, especially in the context of the rest of the world, and even more importantly, in the context of history, the vast majority of us are very lucky, indeed.

In fact, if you’re Canadian and healthy, you truly have very little to complain about. Yet complain we do! Too often, the littlest of things are blown out of proportion and affect our dispositions dramatically.

It’s amazing that we can tune our TV’s to the goings on in Iraq, the suffering in Africa, and the displacement in New Orleans, then be in a foul mood for hours because of construction on our street or the fact we can’t find a babysitter.

Crazy.

I believe it doesn’t get a whole lot better than right here, right now. Yeah, my taxes are a little high. Yeah, it’s awfully cold in January and February. Yeah, my hair’s turning grey. But in the big picture, does any of this stuff really matter that much? For most of us life is not only good, it’s getting better. Don’t let the naysayers and the negative media fool you—by almost every measure our lives are dramatically better that at any other time in history.

From literacy rates to calorie intake to life expectancy to average net worth to educational opportunities to sizes of homes to penetration rates of luxury goods, it’s truly hard to find bad news. Yet we not only find it, we focus on it, stew on it, and let it overwhelm us emotionally.

Again, crazy.

Interestingly, many of my friends are truly dealing with legitimately big problems, cancer for example. Yet they’re often the ones who have perspective, who realize how, with health, life is, in fact, fantastic here in Canada.

In summary, I believe in perspective and my perspective is, “I’m one lucky guy.”

2007-07-17T18:09:00.001-06:00

Reviews Galore
From the last month...

Harry Potter V:
This movie would be just fine if it weren't for the book. The movie, which ran shortly over two hours, was full of the typical digital splendors and visual gags one has come to expect with the series. The pace was quick, the actors competent, and the action... well it was kinda there too.

The problem I have with this installment relates back to my first sentence, in that I had a decent vision in my head of how certain key scenes and fights and lines were to be done, and they met my expectations on very few. Numerous plot points were cut entirely, or altered somewhat significantly in order to keep the movie more cohesive, so that they didn't need to introduce new minor characters. The action also felt a little lame, that while the two major battles at the end where very flashy, they failed to invoke any sort of emotional response, be it grief or awe in the death of a character or the climactic battle, respectively.

What this movie needed was another half hour to include the plots and the details that were missed from this movie. It would even be greatly justified, seeing as the source was the largest book so far.

John Grisham's The Rainmaker:
A lengthy story based on a young struggling lawyer who winds up with a major case, and going up against big insurance and their army of high priced lawyers.

I liked this book. It was slow to get into, but eventually I warmed to the characters, and read through it at a good pace. The characters were generally believable, and story kept me wanting to continue. My only real criticism was with the plot itself, and how everything seemed to unfold a little too tidily for my tastes.

George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia:
This story of Orwell's time fighting in the Spanish Civil War was an up and down tale for me. I enjoyed his details of the actual fighting, but drifted in and out of his words on much of the politics behind the war. Terrible, I know.

Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five:
Recommended by a couple friends of mine, I found this classic book very ok. The story was fine, a little confusing at times, but I made my way through it. I actually still don't know what to think. It'll be the last time I read it. So it goes.

Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead:
Instead of slogging my way through the whole thing, I got a audiobook copy of it and listened to all 32 hours of the damned thing over the last month during work. I liked it, although I'm certain I didn't completely understand it. At times, I couldn't figure out why certain characters did what they did, but that's part of the price I pay for listening to it while doing gathering data.

2007-07-10T21:34:00.000-06:00

Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead!
A great couple weekends lately. Last weekend, a whole bunch of hacks, frat guys and assorted friends of Chris Samuel participated in his last Theatresports show. I have never laughed so hard about a running monologue about soup. Chris was great, as were the wild-acting chick on his team, the Napolean Dynamite-esque dude on the opposing team, and the team comprised entirely of guys in the second half.

This past weekend, Helen and I took off an extra long weekend to travel down to Kenosee Lake, SK to my Aunt & Uncle's cabin to help celebrate my mom's 50th birthday. It was a grand ol' time, with drinking and golfing and tubing and waterskiing and attempted wakeboarding, complete with a Survivor type competition between two halves of the family. Thanks to a last minute blowout in the Hula Dance competition, the Brothers Wicentowich won out over Helen & Heather (aka Supercuz) to secure the win for the night. Pictures to follow.

2007-07-04T21:18:00.000-06:00

This can't go on - Lord knows you got to change
I've been fairly happy with the what Google does. I love Gmail, Google Reader saves me tons of time, Google Maps isn't too shabby, and Google Calendar has kept me more organized than I have ever been. However, what they're missing, is some sort of address book to connect it all. Sure, they have the Contacts list in Gmail, but that adds every goddamn person I have ever emailed, regardless of whether I like/know them or not.

I found my list of things to talk about from the Phoenix trip, so I'll start to get that out of the way next time.

Song Title: Evil Ways - Santana

2007-06-26T21:00:00.000-06:00

I'm burning all your stuff, but that's not enough
Huzzah!

I've been doing a lot of reading lately, although I'm not really sure why. It's not that I don't like it, far from it, but there's this compulsion that hasn't been there for a while. I'm gonna start posting short thoughts on book I've recently read, for the hell of it.

First off, I grabbed a copy of Garneau Block, the serial in book form by Edmonton Journal columnist Todd Babiak. I've generally been a fan of Todd's writing in the Journal over the years, and I can see a lot of his past columns find their way into his book, such as distaste for large, loud trucks fashioning a logo of Calvin peeing on a rival truck brand as Edmonton's inferiority complex.

I'm still very conflicted about how I feel about this novel. Some of the characters I found likable enough, some were even charming. Others were irritating, or worse - unreal. In a book like this, the last thing I wanted was a character who I couldn't see as a real person.

The story generally revolves around a group of neighbours dealing with the impending loss of their homes, their 'broken' (for lack of a better word) personal lives, and their attempts to fix both. The plot worked well enough, despite it's minor flaws. In places, it felt very disjointed (it was a daily serial, after all) but flowed pretty good otherwise.

The one sticking point, which was both a good and bad thing, was his setting. Babiak definitely integrates an Edmonton feel to it, with many, many references to some of the various landmarks and culture around Edmonton, be they famous, infamous, or neither. I could see myself in many of the locations, and felt the heart tug when he mentions the poor girl who was murdered on the golf course some time ago.

On the other hand, many of the references in the book felt forced, as if they were thrown in there just for the sake of making it more "Edmontonian". So instead of saying, "they drove down the street to the coffee shop", he would say something like "they drove down Calgary Trail to the Second Cup near the Superstore". I'm exaggerating, but the effect left a small ill taste in my mouth.

Overall, I would recommend reading this book... eventually. I wouldn't go out of my way to buy or read it, but I'm glad I did.

Song Title: Thanks That Was Fun - Barenaked Ladies

2007-06-25T10:13:00.000-06:00

The poison makes its way though my body slowly
On Saturday, Helen and I made our way to Jones' going away party. He got a job at Google down in California, so he tried to arrange a party with all the things he won't get down south. So we started with some high quality Alberta beef at The Keg, did some 5-pin bowling over near Bonnie Doon Mall (the curling rink was apparently closed), and ended with drinking on Whyte at the Billiards Club. Good times. He'll be missed.

I've started listening to the This I Believe essays put on by the CBC. The first I heard really struck a chord with me, so I'll leave it with you here.

I believe in science and art and the practice of design that brings them together to change the world.

I have three wildly inventive young daughters and they have opened my eyes to my believe in the mystery and power of creative invention. They remind me on a daily basis of my belief in the scientific method, of questioning our experience and my belief in the vast unknown. My work as a designer demands the intersection of these two great cultures of our time: science and the arts. In our society they mostly live separate lives, developing separate world views, distinct methods and segregated communities of thought and practice. The more I work as a designer, a practice that demands the constant negotiation of the boundaries and intersections of these two worlds, the more deeply committed I am to the foundation of science.

The historical scientific project, to build a common language of human knowledge, where any scientist working anywhere can challenge and revise and add to our shared resource is perhaps the greatest human achievement of all time. It is a practice that is beyond race or nationality or religion. It is supremely egalatarian and ultimately global and collective. It is a shared human resource equally accessible from anywhere by anyone. It is on this human foundation of knowledge that we solve the challenges that we face as a global society. It is science that has opened up the electromagnetic spectrum so that we can explore the universe in all of its complexity. It is science that has allowed us the wonders of communication so that you can hear my voice today, wherever you are. It is science that has built the tools that has overcome diseases like small pox and SARS and soon polio and others. It is science that has built the pathway out of the dark night of ignorance, mythology, superstition and religion allowing us to replace imaginary stories with hard won empirical knowledge.

My commitment to scientific knowledge in no way diminishes my belief in the mystery and power of the arts. It is art that sings to us and opens up our hearts to one another. It is art that gives meaning to things that would otherwise go unnoticed. It is art that connects us to our past. It is art that cracks a smile and laughs at our limitations, that speaks to us of the darkness we cannot say out loud. It is art that proves our worth, that demonstrates our capacity as inventors and lovers and wild untamed beings. And in the end it is art that allows us to understand and express science. In my practice of design these two worlds of esthetics and scientific knowledge, of mystery, uncertainty, of intuition and expertise come together to create new possibilities for shaping our world. Everything we do as designers draws on the arts and the esthetic dimension of cultural life and rests on the foundation of the scientific project. At no time in human history has the potential for designing solutions that contribute to the benefit of human kind been greater than it is today. And because of the growing body of knowledge in both science and the arts, it will be even greater tomorrow.

When I watch my three young daughters draw and write and sing and dance with abandon I am confirmed in my belief in our power as creative beings. My challenge as a parent and our collective challenge is simply to allow that creative force to live as my daughters grow and emerge and shower us with gifts.

-Bruce Mau

Song Title: The Poison - Pedro the Lion

2007-06-18T09:31:00.001-06:00

I wanna know - have you ever seen the rain?
Finally some good news, at least the way I see it.

Father's Day was an good, busy weekend. On Friday, we drove down to Calgary. We spent most of the night at a pub celebrating Helen's brother's birthday, where Helen repeatedly schooled the Stampeders-clad friend of her brother in a chugging contest, and watched UFC on a big screen.

On Saturday, I helped her dad set up a bunch of cool stuff on their brand new iMac, and in the evening, we held a Happy Birthday-Happy Father's Day-Congrats on Graduating (x2) Party. It a good time, especially since I was able to make my dad's ribs recipe. And lost badly at Catchphrase, though my team was clearly superior to the others. We just had a string of bad luck.

On Sunday, we drove back through terrible weather to the family farm near Millet, AB and spent time laughing, eating, and teasing some kittens. We also went frog hunting, something we haven't done in many years.

That evening, the Wicentowich side of the family came over for a Father's Day dinner, where we had, of course, my father's ribs recipe again. I was in heaven.

Today is the one-year anniversary of my working with GP Technologies.

Post Title: Have You Ever Seen The Rain? - Creedence Clearwater Revival

2007-06-07T22:01:00.000-06:00

For I am a poor and wretched boy, a Chimbley, Chimbley Sweep
Mark your calendars. On November 30, 2007, the Engineering Students' Society of the University of Alberta will be holding the 4th Annual Engineering Head Shave. Our goal this year is to break the $100,000 mark for total funds raised for the Alberta Cancer Foundation. We're sitting just over the $70,000 mark from the last three years, and I think we can do it.

Saw Knocked Up a few weeks back - if you liked 40 Year Old Virgin, you'll likely enjoy this one as well.
This weekend I helped build a fence for some friends. It went surprisingly well, and it looks pretty damn good.
Addicted to Heroes now.
Been playing Madden on the Wii a bit too. It's good, except you can tell it's a little buggy, since my quarterbacks keep throwing interceptions. Hopefully they'll work on that for Madden '08.

Roman & Kyle tried it out a couple weeks back as well, and it was pretty interesting (read: hilarious) watching the guy who has apparently very little knowledge in football kick the ass of the guy who knows more about football than anyone I know.

Post Title: The Chimbley Sweep - The Decemberists

2007-06-03T21:35:00.000-06:00

Do you have any idea where I was at your age?
My brother took our three young cousins to see Shrek 3 the other day. They were, as expected, a little too excited. As they were sitting there in the quiet theatre, the youngest - Curtis, was so excited to see his favourite character that he yells out, "I like pussy!"

Graeme turns to him. "Puss. In. Boots. You like Puss-in-Boots!"

Song Title: (Antichrist Television Blues) - The Arcade Fire

2007-05-30T21:05:00.000-06:00

There are roadblocks everywhere, and only suffering on TV
Been a while. Lots happened while I was gone.

First things first - Louis and Jacquie got married! Congrats to those crazy kids. Which leads us back a few weeks ago... Louis' stag.

Similar to Olivier's stag, a good group of us went camping and got good and shit-faced. Highlights:

Trying out Graeme's beer bong
Making Louis puke for the first time in many (>10) years
Louis' young brother (pictured below with Louis) getting smashed, puking, and passing out all before sunset
Shooting bottles
Breaking axes
Other hijinks

Two weeks later, they got hitched. There was a very nice ceremony at the Citadel, which was both classy and short. The reception was at the Best Western on Stony Plain Road, and was pretty nice. It was great seeing some old friends again, like Amy, Ward, and of course - Peter (scum). Maybe I'll post some photos later, but probably not.

What else... got Madden 07 for the Wii. Keep getting intercepted. Helen thinks I get too angry when I play it ("Fucking motherfuckers!"). The only real drawback is that the wrist strap gets in the way of angrily slamming the couch cushion.

Song Title: Road to Peace - Tom Waits

2007-05-08T12:34:00.000-06:00

With us or against us - the line is in the sand
After a few months of "training", I participated in my first half-triathlon on Sunday. The University of Alberta TriTrathlon consisted of a 750m swim, a 22.5km bike, and a 5km run.

My goal was only to finish, to prove to myself that I could do one, and to act as a marker for how well trained I am for a full triathlon (hopefully) planned for the summer.

So I did finish it, dead last in my age group and just above the lower 10% overall, but I did it.
http://www.ualberta.ca/~tri/tryTriathlon/TryTri2007/2007UofAtri_SprintTri_AgeGroup.txt
http://www.ualberta.ca/~tri/tryTriathlon/TryTri2007/2007UofAtri_Sprint_Overall.txt
I think that if I had a better bike, and put a full effort into my run, I would've beaten the one guy ahead of me in my age group.

Swimming was by far the worst part. I've been taking advanced swimming lessons at the YMCA for a couple months, and I do have the past experience from doing lessons up to Bronze Medallion. Two weeks before the race, I could do 750m in ~20 minutes, which I thought wasn't too shabby. Turns out it was pretty shabby indeed. Lessons learned:

Don't panic.
Hope that they don't forget to put you on the swim heat list, and then stick you with a group of people who swim it in ~14-16 minutes. Being lapped repeatedly is not great for morale.

The bike portion was by far the easiest part of it for me. I've ridden in numerous 150km, 2-day tours, so I've got a fairly good base to work off of. Things to remember:

Double knot your fucking show laces!
If you borrow a friend's bike (thanks Louis!), check to make sure that all the gears work properly.
More specifically, if you are riding up Emily Murphy Hill four times, make sure you can go into 1st gear.
Bring water, instead of trying to grab from the guys with the table on the side giving water to runners.

I've never quite been able to figure out my running. It's apparently ok, since I can push out an 8km run with little training, but it never feels all that natural. But the run went quite enjoyable. I had a good pace, and very few people by that point to pass me, so I enjoyed the scenery.

-------------------

On another note, it seems that Graeme's decided to bring his copying of me to a whole new level. I work for an engineering company on 51st Ave., he has to work for an engineering company on 51st Ave. It's adorable, really. No shitting, we're about a block away from each other.

Oh, and add another definition to your Wicentowese-English Dictionary:
Buying clothes - Picking up whatever beer is giving away a free t-shirt at the time

Post Title: Yes! Yes!! Yes!!! - Barenaked Ladies

2007-04-24T12:37:00.000-06:00

I still mean to post about the trip to Arizona, but for the meantime, entertain yourself with The Instigator, the CBC.ca comic about hockey. I can't get enough of it.

As well, I can't stop laughing at the Kodiak commercial with Bobby Orr. Sellout or not, at least he's doing something funny with it.

2007-04-19T14:38:00.000-06:00

Alberta doesn't suck... but Calgary does
Go Wings. Waiting for some files to export, so I'll throw up another installment of Wicentowese

Graeme: you were here at school? please tell me you didn't talk to anyone I know and mention your last name
me: yeah, i talked to everyone you know (steve, ravi)
Graeme: no wonder they're avoiding me more then usual
me: well, plus the fact you smell like wet dog
Graeme: it's snowing, give me a break. oh yeah, mom noticed mouse crap in the garage
me: it wasn't snowing last week
Graeme: so I set some traps and caught two so far
me: yeah, you told me. fucking sonic sensors
Graeme: yeah. the crap is right by the garbage on that white shelf by the door. so she's all freaked out
me: crappy. i really have to stop storing my collection of open jars of peanut butter in the garage
Graeme: I told her that it was just my pet hamster who was crapping in the garage. thank god she didn't notice my pet badger crap in the attic
me: damn, i told her it was you crapping in the garage
Graeme: I wish I could crap that small. so convenient
me: well you can, but it takes a lot longer and is no way convenient for anyone
Graeme: think of the random additions to people's food
me: why don't we just keep using the mouse droppings?
Graeme: where's the personal flair to the prank?
me: i think it's in the way that you get the poop in the food is where the glory's at. dropping a mouse dropping into steve's drink from the 6th floor etlc isn't easy, but it's so worth the effort
Graeme: yeah, but crapping from the 6th floor into Steve's drink... that's style
me: touche. but so awkward. "Oh hi Mary-Ellen. Oh nothing, what are you (grunt) up to?"
Graeme: think of how little toilet paper you would need to use
me: who says i use toilet paper now? why do you think helen's jersey hasn't been throw off the balcony yet
Graeme: haha and yet it still looks the same

Song Title: Toronto Song - Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie

2007-04-17T08:55:00.001-06:00

Ol' Black and Blue Eyes
I'd love to post a good recap of how the trip to Phoenix went, but this week is entirely focussed on studying for the FE Exam. I'll get something next week, when I'm not training for the upcoming triathlon.

Song Title: Ol' Black and Blue Eyes - The Fratellis

2007-04-11T10:42:00.000-06:00

I went crazy again today
Well I'm back from the trip. There's a lot I want to talk about, but it'll have to wait until the next post(s) when I can throw up some photos with it.

In the meantime, some other developments.

On the day before we left for Phoenix, Helen threw a pair of my jeans into the wash, not realizing that my poor cell phone was still in it. So we left it to dry over the course of the vacation, and I came back, expecting to add to the growing list of broken expensive electronics I've created over the years. Lo and behold, it still works! There's a slightly noticeable watermark behind the screen in one place, but other than that, I can now wait for the damn thing to rust itself to death.

Last night, Helen and I took in the OK Go/Snow Patrol concert at the Shaw. And it was really good! We caught the last song of the warm-up act who had a good energy. OK Go played mostly up to expectations, the front-man was good, although I was disappointed with the singing of the rest of the band. The band was friendly with the crowd, and they ended with the dance number to A Million Ways, purportedly because it was a treat for their last show on the tour. Great crowd pleaser. Here It Goes Again, the treadmill hit that made them famous was done well enough, but I was hoping they'd play the video on screen. And out of pretty much every concert I've ever seen, they had the best background attention. A projector, a screen, and a number of videos that kept the eye pleased. The best was a video of things being blown up (a couch, a stack of toilet paper, etc.) and then shown in reverse slow-motion.

Snow Patrol has a great sound, and is a great live band. Their songs were all well done, but there is only one thing that sticks out in my mind. With many hit songs that feature an artist from another group, I've never been able to see those songs live. Thankfully, the lone girl from the warm-up act came together to duet for Set Fire to the Third Bar, one of my favourite songs by Snow Patrol (there seems to be a pattern of my liking of songs with a a women's voice singing over a guy's, or vice-versa. I'll post about that later). And as a surprise, they brought out two fire breathers during the song, which was cool.

Song Title: Paper Bag - Fiona Apple

2007-03-30T16:50:00.000-06:00

I've got no one left to mourn for me
Everything is coming up Gary. First, I had lost my keys on Wednesday, and it looked like my contacts may not have arrived in time for the trip. And the lost keys would have cost my work at least $600 in lock changing. But today, this glorious day, my keys were turned in to the Southgate Shopping Centre customer service, saving a number of headaches, my contacts came in just in time, and I'm going to Phoenix next week. Life is indeed good.

At Louis & Jacquie's place the other night, we tried the Rayman: Raving Rabbids game for the Wii. And despite being absolutely crazy and weird, it is incredibly hilarious and addicting. We spent a good hour-and-a-half later than we planned trying to pass this one mini game involving shutting port-a-potty doors for at least 50 seconds. I know.

Song Title: Leslie-Anne Levine - The Decemberists

2007-03-22T10:05:00.000-06:00

Tears stream down your face/when you lose something you cannot replace
A bunch of random notes, just cause.

Bought a bunch of games for the Wii this last little while, all thanks to an accidental sale by Zellers.

Started swimming lessons last week, in preparation for a future triathlon. Back in my youth, I managed to get the Bronze Medallion, the first level above the colours. Since then, my technique has gone completely to shit, so it's been good becoming less awkward in the water. I'm actually enjoying the swimming more than I thought I would.

A few weeks back, I called into the Garner Andrews show with a good story for that morning's topic - sleeping at work. I had a co-worker at Canadian Tire who had set up a bed in the top shelf of the warehouse using camping equipment, and would bugger off for a nap during work. Anyhow, I just found out that my friend's sister somehow recognized my voice on the radio, which I found weird.

Because I expected to see a lot of driving on the road trip a few weeks back, I downloaded the audiobook for Eragon and its sequel, Eldest. I finally finished listening to them, and they were... ok. A little hokey, but there were a few decent twists I didn't see coming. The worst part of having the book in audio format read aloud by a dude is that all women characters sound butch, and stuff like "Charge!", which may sound fine being read, sounds corny as hell.

I just made my first purchase off of eBay - hockey tickets. More specifically, tickets to the last home game of the regular season for the Phoenix Coyotes. Against the Canucks! So I need to make a sign for Gretzky, something funny. For the two people who read this blog (hi mom!), any suggestions?

Song Title: Fix You - Coldplay

2007-03-15T10:47:00.000-06:00

And that frankly will not fly
On the weekend, Helen, Graeme and I took my three young cousins to the Shrine Circus, held at Rexall. It's been many years since I've been to the circus, and it was the kid's first time, so we were all understandably excited.

And it was pretty good! The acrobatics were great, the elephants were pretty cool, even the terrible theatrics weren't so bad. The kids certainly enjoyed it. While the boys Curtis and Tyler enjoyed stuff like the high-wire motorcycle and their brand new, expensive light-up extendable swords, Julia was most impressed with the gymnastic parts like the women who did tricks like spinning down a large ribbon.

However, there was one notable disappointment, and it is was the clowns. The lame, unfunny terrible clowns. What do you expect when you go to see clowns at the circus? Spritzer bottles, pies in the face, squirting flowers, general mayhem and theatrics, right? Well, I'll tell you what, those fucking clowns were not silly, they weren't funny, they were fucking cheerleaders. Their main skit consisted of getting one side of the audience to compete against the other over who was louder, using letters that spelled the words CLOWN and FIRE (fire was from the firefighter clowns, from which there was no fire). Oh, and later, they splashed a bucket of water at one clown, who chased the other into the audience, and thrown a bucket filled with popcorn at him. I shit you not, popcorn. They should have spelled LAME.

Although the dude who did a backflip on a tightrope was pretty killer.

Song Title: Such Great Heights - Iron & Wine

2007-03-13T10:33:00.000-06:00

You, you work all night
Last week I took a trip out to sunny Saskatchewan, in order to visit some Enbridge pump stations. The purpose of the trip was in order to gather the settings and other important information on the various electrical components in their system, so stuff like breakers, fuses, transformers, etc. The plan was to spend two weeks visiting four stations between here and Kerrobert, SK and gather everything I need. Due to poor time estimation, and good preparation, I was able to finish the job within four days - a station/day.

It turned out to be a very valuable experience as well. The electricians leading me around the site were very helpful, and I learned a lot about how it all works just by asking too many questions about how this works, or why the company installed that.

Song Title: Party Hard - Andrew W.K.

2007-03-01T10:40:00.000-07:00

I dig it when you have a smile on your face
Last night, I took Helen to Van Morrison, one of her favourite artists. There were a few interesting things about the show.

1. Aside from a song from his band, there was no warm-up act. The show started at 7:30 sharp.
2. True to rumours, the show lasted a mere 90 minutes, and we were home by 9:30.
3. For an act with a 10 piece band, there was a lot of talent on stage. But did they have to give two or three artists a solo on nearly every song? I like hearing great solos as much as the next guy, but it would be song-piano solo-fiddle solo-bass solo-end of song. There was generally 2-4 solos/song, which really would have left room for a couple more classics played.
4. Notable songs not played - Warm Love, Have I Told You Lately
5. Best song - Gloria, followed by Domino
6. Most disappointing song - Moondance (did they have to solo everyone during that song? Including the backup singers?)
7. The lack of a real encore. He left the stage for a minute (I didn't even realize he left), the band stayed, reannounced him, and he finished off the set with a decent version of Brown-Eyed Girl and Gloria.
8. The sheer number of unknown songs played. There was approximately a 3.5:1 ratio of songs I've never heard of to classic Van Morrison.
9. Near complete sell out, and I have never seen the average age of a person in Rexall so high.
10. They took down the retired numbers to make room for equipment, so I couldn't even see Messier's banner.
11. Van Morrison reminds me of that serious, odd uncle that moves in slightly jerky fashions, and is quick to lose his temper.

All in all, not worth the money. Too short, didn't play all the hits we'd hoped, but damn if he doesn't have a great voice.

Song Title: Warm Love - Van Morrison

2007-02-20T13:26:00.000-07:00

Well hers is a tonic and mine is a gin.
Pretty good long weekend. Didn't do anything too stressful, and got a few things done. Yesterday was especially good, by starting with several episodes of Scrubs, scoring a Wii for some friends by chance, and spent the evening with family celebrating my dad's birthday.

Helen and I brought over the Wii, and watched as my 80-something grandma, 90-year-old grandpa, and aunt and uncle laughed and bowled with the remote, and faired reasonably well all things considered. My uncle even schooled Helen at the game that she regular kicks my sorry ass at.

Song Title: Flathead - The Fratellis

2007-02-14T17:40:00.000-07:00

They were here first
As Helen can very well attest, I'm not always very good at doing one thing at a time. I find that when I'm watching a movie, or reading a book, I need to have some other sort of minor distraction going on in the background, like doing a sudoku, or listening to music.

At work, I'm fortunate enough to have bosses cool enough that allow me to listen to my iPod while I work. I don't abuse this privilege by any means, but while I work on repetitive tasks, I'll listen to keep the ADD side of my personality happy. After a while though, I began to become tired of music, and moved onto podcasts. As it stands, I regularly listen to nearly 20 podcasts throughout my work-week. If any of these interest you, they are available on iTunes:

60-Second Science - A quick story about recent quirky science news (daily)
CBC Radio: Editor's Choice - A variety of CBC Radio programming chosen by an editor (daily)
CBC Radio: Quirks & Quarks - The weekly science segment show in podcast form (weekly)
Comic Strip Live - Audio from a comedy club in New York (irregular)
Economist.com - Some of the top stories from the weekly magazine (weekly)
UofA Friday Review - Updates on what's going on at the ol' alma mater (weekly)
Grammar Girl's Quick & Dirty Tips - Improving your grammar (every few days)
Legal Lad's Quick & Dirty Tips - Improving your legal knowledge (every few days)
Money Girl's Quick & Dirty Tips - Improving your finances (every few days)
Mr. Manner's Quick & Dirty Tips - Improving your manners (every few days)
NY Times Front Page - A selection of stories from the NY Times (daily)
NHL Insider Bob McKenzie - Some thoughts on NHL developments (irregular)
Real Time with Bill Maher - The full HBO show in podcast form (weekly during the season)
Savage Love Podcast - Sex advice by Dan Savage (weekly)
The Garner Andrews Show To Go - The best from Sonic 102.9's morning host (daily)
The Onion Radio News - A short funny news brief (daily)
Vital Signs - Medical mysteries and their solutions (weekly)
World Today Select - Interesting stories from around the world brought to you by the BBC (daily)

Song Title: Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap

2007-02-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

Today is the third anniversary of my dad's death. Not a day goes by where I don't think about him, or miss him with all my heart.

2007-02-08T13:36:00.000-07:00

Call the police and call the press, but please dear God don't tell my friends
I may have mentioned this in past posts, but Graeme and I have a tradition going whereas we'll give the other person a call during a concert to let that person listen to a song or two. Last night, Graeme heard great renditions of One Week and If I Had $1,000,000 from the Barenaked Ladies.

This marked the first concert where I had floor seats, which was an interesting experience in of itself. I had the perpetual tall guy who stands the whole time in front of me, but if you're in the front section, you shouldn't have any business sitting during the concert anyhow.

Now they released a new album on Tuesday, as a second part to their September release. What surprised me most of all was how few songs they played from their newest material. Three or four songs at most from two albums. Obviously, they needed to give a lot of play to their classics, but they also spent a fair amount of time playing songs from their earlier albums that were never released as singles, such as This Is Where It Ends (woot!), and Box Set. Their new songs (Easy, Sound of Your Voice, Angry People) sounded great live, and I came off liking Easy a lot more in concert than I do on the radio.

There's a lot that I wanted to say about the concert, but they come off more as a whole bunch of little points not suitable for writing down. My last thought on the concert: I wish I had floor tickets to the Hip.

Song Title: This Is Where It Ends - Barenaked Ladies

2007-02-06T14:30:00.000-07:00

Rubbing sticks and stones together make the sparks ignite
Today, the Barenaked Ladies release Barenaked Ladies Are Men, their second CD in 6 months. Made up of what didn't make the cut for Barenaked Ladies Are Me, I have high hopes for this new release. I had heard snippets of some of these songs back in the summer, and I liked their sound. Their last album was fine, but it was merely that - just fine. You can tell that their sound is much more refined than their earlier works, and I'm not entirely convinced that it's a good thing.

Although tomorrow's concert should be great.

Post Title: Afternoon Delight - Will Ferrell

2007-02-05T11:21:00.000-07:00

God Damn This Cheap Hotel
First off: a Zorro game for the Wii. Squee! There's a lot of potential to make a great game here - a whip, for god's sake! Side note: there's also great potential for an Indiana Jones game, though they'll probably fuck it up doing a half-assed movie tie-in, if that new sequel ever hits the ground.

The Wii has been getting a lot of attention lately. A whole gaggle of Helen's friends from work and abroad spent a good portion of Friday night bowling, boxing and batting their way to glory before we hit Whyte. And on Saturday, a group of classic friends popped their Wii cherry on the Sports game.

I probably should have something other than video games to talk about here... go Oilers!

Post Title: Cheap Hotel - Ron Sexsmith

2007-01-29T16:24:00.000-07:00

Who keeps the metric system down? Wii do! Wii do!
Eventful weekend. Helen's folks came to visit. Watched Borat. Bought a Wii.

The Wii was an unintended purchase. I wanted one, but since they were so rare, I figured that I'd wait until the market's saturated with them. I went to pick up photos from Superstore, and just casually asked if they carry them. The guys says, "Tomorrow morning, 9 of them." Now, Superstore doesn't have their number in the phone book, so kids can't just call them and ask.

I dropped my mom off at the airport the next morning (she's going on a cruise!), went to Superstore, and grabbed it.

Aside from the Wii Sports that comes with it, I haven't bought any Wii games. I have, however, made my way through getting the virtual console games - classics, brought back to life:

Mario Brothers (for Helen)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (the 3rd best puzzle game of all time)
Mario 64 (for Helen)
Toejam and Earl (for a friend)

with plans to buy Mario Kart 64 (the best of the series, though I'm among the few to believe this), Zelda 64, and Dr. Mario (the greatest puzzle game of all time) as they are released. Eventually I'll get actual Wii games, such as Madden, Zelda, and Excite Truck (for Helen).

As I mentioned, Helen's folks came up. They enjoyed playing the Wii Sports, especially the bowling game. By the end of the weekend, both Helen and I had our asses handed to us by her folks in that game. My favourite was easily the boxing, and the least was the golf (I just can't get into virtual golf in any manner, shape or form).

Title source: Simpsons episode "Homer the Great" (with slightly altered lyrics)

2007-01-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

We, we've got the same heart
Once again, returning from an unintentional hiatus. It's not that I have nothing to talk about, or that I don't have the time, I simply didn't feel like it.

Christmas was good, as was New Years. The family is doing well. Graeme went to Montreal for Congress (lucky bugger), and his MecE club placed 3rd in Geer Week (EEs won it again!).

I took in the Hip concert, which blew my mind. Goddamn does Gord Downie have energy. Most of his latest album translated well to live, especially "The Lonely End of the Rink", "The Drop Off", and "World Container". I was slightly disappointed in the version of "In View", but you can't be picky. Most of his classics were changed up for the live performance, which is fine to me, but Graeme didn't appreciate the mix-up. Graeme's first concert at Rexall, he was mainly disappointed that they didn't play his favourite Hip song, "Fireworks". A great, great fucking concert nonetheless.

What else is new? Helen's good. We're going to Phoenix in April for a friend's wedding, and are going a bit early to tour the Grand Canyon. And we're looking into a bigger trip in the summer. Similarly, work's good. Things are moving slower than I'd hoped, but I'm keeping busy and challenged nonetheless.

A friend uses lines from great songs as her post titles, an idea I'm going to steal beginning today. I hate making up titles.

"You and I are A Gang of Losers" - The Dears

2006-12-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

There's Gold in Them Hills
Took in the Ron Sexsmith concert last night at the Myer Horowitz Theater. The warm-up act, a cute gal from the Maritimes named Jill Harper, was probably one of the best warm-up acts I've ever seen. Helen enjoyed her so much that she went out and bought her CDs during the intermission.

She was less impressed by Ron Sexsmith. I can't blame her though. Sexsmith's songs begin to blur into the same sound after the first 10 or 15, and his set ran nearly an hour longer than we had expected, which was nice. His encore lasted a good five or six songs alone. I find it's a great sound to have going on in the background.

Saw Casino Royale last week. Easily my favourite Bond movie yet. Very gritty. And it stayed fairly close to the original, at least in terms of major plot points.

2006-11-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

I suppose I should elaborate.
As I alluded to in my previous post, the Engineering Head Shave once again beat it's goal, this year raising nearly $31,800, with donations still coming in. I expect that we'll beat $32,000 when all is said and done.

By the numbers:

$31,671.31 raised, with donations still coming in after the event, with nearly 60 participants.
$2,528.47 raised through the Engineering Hair Dye, and over 20 participants going bright pink thanks to Marvel College.
$2520.28 raised by the students of Campus St-Jean to shave the hair of one of their student executives
50" of hair donated by 6 participants, which will be used to help make wigs for cancer patients

An article by The Gateway on the event.

It feels good, in so many ways. Including Razored for Ron in 2003, I have now been personally involved in helping to raise what, nearly $83,000 for charity? This year will likely be the end of dying my hair, and I'm not yet sure as to whether I'll stay involved in organizing the event. I'll have to see how the climate in the ESS evolves. I'm on the fence either way. I am after all, graduated from the UofA. On the other hand, I'm good at what I do, and this event is a legacy that I helped to create. Time will tell.

I'll post a photo later on, if I can.

2006-11-24T18:09:00.000-07:00

$31,000
We did it again.

2006-11-22T10:57:00.000-07:00

Really
Again, it's been a while since I blogged. Crazy busy at work, never like doing it at home.

The Engineering Head Shave is only 2 days away now, and I think we just might make our goal of $30,000. It'll be close, no doubt, but we can always blame Steve if we don't make it.

Helen won tickets to last night's Oiler game in RATT, and picked them up wearing her Flames jersey. I could hear the booing from the 2nd floor of SUB.

Dammit, I thought I had more to talk about again.

2006-11-13T06:56:00.000-07:00

Best mid-wicket
Some fucker broke into my car over the weekend. From what I can tell, only a few little things are gone, like my iPod charger, a bunch of coupons/gift certificates. But it cost me a couple hundred to fix the door handle.

And I have no idea what this means, but I can only guess that it's equivalent to beating Gretky's scoring record by a hundred goals.

2006-11-10T15:31:00.000-07:00

West of Hell
I finished John Steinbeck's classic novel East of Eden earlier this week. It was quite a good read - long, but an interesting look at an array of different types of people throughout the generations of two families. It's a lot to absorb, especially when one begins to develop thoughts on the themes and ties to the Bible. I'm about halfway through Get Shorty, and am looking forward to getting into The Areas of My Expertise John Hodgman, otherwise known as the "PC" from the Get a Mac ads.

I thought I had more to write about...

2006-11-08T12:02:00.000-07:00

A dialect is born
me: hey
Graeme: yo
Graeme: good news
me: what
Graeme: we've coined a new term in the ESS office
Graeme: Wicentowese
Graeme: it's our language
me: mwu ha ha ha
Graeme: because we translate "ESS Office" into "personal locker"
me: ha ha, and 'clean' into 'piled onto other shit'
Graeme: haha
Graeme: and 'shower' into 'go for a jog'
me: and 'go for a jog' into 'bug the shit out of everyone'
Graeme: and "I apologize for being so cool" into "O'wicentowich rules"
me: ha ha, and 'please, let's have a civilised discussion here' into the Jesus dance
Graeme: and 'shut up wicentowich' into 'let's hear what wicentobabble sounds like'
me: and 'spending time with friends' into 'watching futurama in my underwear'
me: i think there needs to be an english-wicentowese dicitonary
Graeme: haha
me: gotta go
Graeme: good go away

Other translations are welcome.

2006-11-07T12:18:00.000-07:00

A couple things I forgot
Ol' Spaghetti Legs, Jackie Parker has died. I still like going to the park named in his honour just near my house.

On Sunday, I also got the chance to finally catch up with my good friend Peter. Good to know I'm still scum in his eyes, though.

The Engineering Head Shave toques are in! And I gotta say, they are the best quality toques we have had yet. They're gonna be a hit.

2006-11-06T13:56:00.000-07:00

Engineering Head Shave Update

As of 2pm, November 6, we are at 47 participants.
As well, I have secured some pretty kick-ass prizes for top fundraisers, so get those pledges going.
Finally, the ESS has VIP Cards for Wooly Bully's, that'll get you ten free wings on Wednesdays along with perhaps some free drinks, for only $5, which goes towards the Engineering Head Shave.

2006-11-06T12:09:00.000-07:00

And it's ever-present everywhere
I am in a great mood, especially considering it's cold, sunless Monday. I'm a little disappointed that my updates haven't been more regular, but that's life. On Thursday, I had to work quite late, so Helen and I rushed just in time to catch the James Blunt concert.

I've always had kind of a blank view of James Blunt. His songs are neither overly 'wow', nor overly 'bleh', but they're agreeable enough. Helen is a fan, and this concert was part of a birthday gift. In person, I found this position reinforced. I wasn't jumping in my seat singing along to any of his songs, though I was entertained well enough to call it a good night. His newest(?) hit Goodbye My Lover, which I hear is the most popular song for funerals these days, would have had a much harder impact if it weren't for the cat-callers. My favourite song of the evening, turned out to be a pretty good rendition of Supertramp's Breakfast in America, and Graeme tells me that his final song You're Beautiful translates well enough over a cell phone.

I took Friday off, and drove down to Calgary, so Helen could deal with the registration of her new car - her parents' 1993 Honda Accord. She's excited, to say the least. As a bonus, she's not using my car to get to work anymore, so I'm happy too. While that was going on, I attended a funeral for my uncle's mother. I had never met the lady, but from the speeches and tributes given to her, you could feel the love for her and the grief the family was going through. There were only a few dry eyes by the end. My mom summed it up best by saying how you know it's a good funeral when you come out knowing more about the person. I hate funerals where it's more about the grief than it is a celebration of their life.

The rest of the weekend was spent in Banff, where I once again ran the Winterstart 5-miler night run. For the uninitiated, you start in Banff, run out 2 km, run up the mountain 2km, run back down 2km, and then the final 2km to Banff. I trained moderately well, though not to the shape I wanted to be in. Along with Helen, her parents, her brother and his girlfriend, Paul also came out, and ran with me until the last rise when I fell back. But he helped me shatter my previous best of 47:26 by crossing the line at about 43:38. Helen also kicked ass, running under 49 minutes.

2006-10-25T13:07:00.000-06:00

Swinging
Last night, my brother and I treated our mom to the Matt Dusk concert at the Myer Horowitz Theatre. For those of you who haven't heard of him, he's like Michael Buble, and other jazz bands that reminisce of Sinatra et. al. The warm-up act was a guy, a girl and a guitar playing music with a very Cuban influence. They weren't bad by any means, though I would have appreciated it a lot more as background music coming from the far side of a coffee shop. Dusk himself was a great singer with great stage presence, a good sense of humour, and a good band backing him. For $35, it was a good deal.

The 3rd Annual Engineering Head Shave is starting to build momentum. This year it will be held on Friday, November 24, in the ETLC Solarium. Once again, I am helping out, but to a lesser extent than last year. As of yesterday, we were already at over 20 participants, and a good portion of them dying or donating their hair. The goal is $30,000. Of course I will be shaving as always, so if you have a few extra bucks, it'd be appreciated. You could always participate yourself, or as some have attempted - raise money to have someone not shave their head.

I wonder, could Magneto ever own a credit card?

2006-10-22T13:49:00.000-06:00

Hee hee
From Wikipedia...

The name Gary is derived from the word spear and used to describe a "spear thrower"
Graeme is the original spelling of the name Graham, and means grey house, grey armour and well health.

2006-10-16T13:11:00.000-06:00

I'm gonna let it shine
I made the point to scribble various notes about intricacies of my recent road trip, but before that, a few minor notes:

For the latest on hot news items, I've found that Wikipedia provides concise, indepth summaries of the news stories.
I had previously ragged on a Sonic 102.9 a while back, mostly because the station rubbed me the wrong way. But I feel it's necessary to retract that, and admit that Sonic is a pretty good station, without the assholeness of the Bear or K-Rock.
Another good use of wiki software would be to store, sort and share recipes. Wikimedia has something to what I'd be looking for, though it is not very deep.

And as promised, notes from the trip.

Walter loves Eatmore bars, making him one of 20 people in the world that actually prefer them to other snacks.
The waitress at the motel bar in Provost is a spot-on clone of the irritating dark-haired chick from the OC. Wow.
I'm watching a biography of Wayne Gretzky when a commercial start off with an amazingly beatuiful woman, who states "I have genital herpes."
I'm called Walter's son in a gas station and a Home Depot, prompting Walter to ask me how old I think he looks (he's 40)
Holy fuck, there are a shitload of birds migrating through Saskatchewan
Walter's favorite sayings:

"Half a dozen of one, six of the other"
"...as the crow flies"
"...the upshot of this is that..."

What does upshot mean?
I gotta say, I'm very disappointed that the only change to the HNiC opener is to change the scene of the Lightning hoisted the Cup to the Canes hoisting the Cup. As far as HNiC openers go, they can do better.
The Oilers have changed their intro song from the Black-Eyed Pea's Pump It to U2's Vertigo. While it's definitely a step up, it still doesn't bring the chills of say, U2's Where the Streets Have No Name in Vancouver.

2006-10-11T13:06:00.000-06:00

This little blog of mine...
It's not that I haven't put off posting, it's just that I've been so damn busy, so this update post will have to come in three parts.

Part 1: The science
For most of last week, I was gone for work, on a road trip with Walter, an engineer at GP. We drove to Provost on Tuesday, stayed two nights, stayed another night in Killam returning Friday. The purpose was to visit various Enbridge pump stations along their pipeline and take ground resistivity and ground grid tests. Let me explain.

When the shit hits the fan (ie. an electrical fault), a lot of current may be pumped into the ground. Since the ground has a resistivity to it, Ohm's Law (V=IR) says that we'll find that the ground has a potential across it. Now, if you were to be standing on the ground, and you grab the fence, which is at another potential, you could kill yourself, as current flows through your body and possibly through your heart (it only takes ~100 mA through the heart to kill a man). What's scarier is that the same thing could happen from taking a step. You left foot is now at a different potential than your right, and current shoots through your legs (and crotch, I imagine).

What many companies will do is install a ground grid, which is exactly as it sounds. A grid of copper conductor buried below substations and other electrical equipment is then tied to the fences and other places in the area to try to keep the potentials the same. So even if you are standing on 1000V ground, it's ok because everything else is at 1000V

Walter is on a project to check whether their ground grid system is good, so we run these tests to help build the computer model. Perhaps my shoddy MSPaint diagrams can help.

In the ground resistivity test, four metal probes are stuck into the ground, at a distance 'a' from another. The outer two probes inject a small current into the ground, and the inner two probes measure the potential across one another. The distance 'a' is then increased from 0.15m - 10m in various steps, and the test is repeated. The further apart a is, the bigger sphere of influence each current probe creates, so we can get an idea of the soil qualities at various depths. For instance, one test in pure dry sand had a very high resistivity, which suddenly plummeted once the probes reached a certain distance apart. We knew then that we had wet sand.

In the ground grid test, a current probe (black on the diagram) is placed well out of the ground grid's area of influence (~300m in our case). A voltage probe meanwhile, is used to measure the potential at various points from the 300m out, and inwards towards the grid at ~15m intervals (the grey probe, shown at various stages). This gives us similar results about the effectiveness and properties of the ground grid.

Next time: Part two: the journey

2006-10-03T14:18:00.000-06:00

Crude Decisions
Wow, what a week. I've purposely not updated this blog since Monday, when Stantec called and offered me a job in Red Deer. Now, I've always wanted to work for Stantec. They do good work. Plus, I like Red Deer. Good location, nice city, one of my best friends is living there, so there's a lot going for the offer.

Obviously GP didn't like that, and they fought hard to convince me to stay. And it was interesting, everything good Stantec had, GP could counter, and vice-versa. The appeal of working for a small compnay like GP nearly offset working for a "corporate machine" like Stantec. It was one of those win-win--lose-lose situations. Either way I gained something, but I lost something else in the process. I slept like shit that entire week.

And other than the professional aspects, there were personal aspects I needed to consider. Helen, for instance, was equally torn on the issue - quit a job with decent benefits to live closer to her family and hometown, or stay with the status quo? I'm in a one-year lease, which I could always break. I'm working out with another of my best friends regularly - will it happen once I move? Do I want to move away from my family?

Finally, on Friday afternoon, before the weekend where I'd make my choice, the VP took me out to where my project (if I stayed) was going to be - the Wabuman Generation Plant. And that sealed the deal.

I figure, I can work for Stantec later on. They know I'm good enough to work for them, and I'll only get better. The job in Red Deer works around controls and automation, which seems cool, but if I'm going there to do that for a long time, I don't want to miss out on this chance to work in a huge-ass generation plant. So hopefully in a month or two I'll be spending a few months stationed out at the Sundance Generation station. Plus, I got a huge raise to match Stantec's offer.

Now I'm off on a road trip until Friday with a co-worker, as we travel from Enbridge pump station to pump station, taking soil resistivity tests along the way. Woo Provost!

Reading
I've got a library card for the first time in years (which coincides with living without a newspaper subscription for the first time in my life - the Globe & Mail kept getting stolen), so I'm looking for good book recommendations if you've got 'em.

Predictions:
Calgary, Montreal and Edmonton will win.

2006-09-21T13:14:00.000-06:00

Almondette
This is what I protect against:

I took a screen shot of a training video I watched, which also included some pretty intense videos of how bad this shit looks. And if the equipment is not properly protected, you could be dead within half a second, as opposed to some minor burns.

Today is also Logan's birthday, though it's probably over by now since he's in Denmark. Happy Birthday anyhow!

2006-09-18T16:51:00.000-06:00

Masquerade!
Hoo boy, am I sore. Helen's folks came up this weekend, but I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

In the days approaching the release of The Last Kiss, Zach Braff's follow-up to Garden State, I found myself increasing worried that it would be a waste of a good movie pass. This wasn't helped by the flogging it received on various reviews, especially the AV Club, which often follows along my thoughts as well. But you know what? I liked the damn movie. Yes, we know it was full of pensive stares, and angst and love and stuff, but dammit, my expectations were low, so it was good! It was no Garden State (which happened to be my first date with Helen). So thank you AV Club, for not ruining the evening. And surprisingly, it was most of the parts without Zach Braff (ie. most every other storyline) that I liked. Except when he gets slapped. That part rocked.

Anyhow... right, Helen's folks. They came up. They're good folk, so I always enjoy spending time with them. Her dad has a great sense of humour, and her mom takes my side often enough, and they don't seem to genuinely hate me, so it's all good. Sunday morning, Helen's dad and I went for a run.

Now Helen's dad, if you don't know, is a crazy fucking man. Athletically, that is. He's in his late 50's, and still runs triathlons, bikes intensely long distances on a regular basis (I'm talking 90km, 3 times a week sorta crazy), and recently travelled to France to bike one of the mountain stages of the Tour de France.

I've got a very strange body chemistry, in that I don't really have the body of a runner, but I can pop out 5km pretty easily, despite not really running in a long time. But goddamn, did that 8km kick the shit out of me.

On Sunday, I limped my way up and down the stairs of the Jubilee with Helen as we caught the evening performance of Phantom of the Opera. It was fantastic. Chills were sent down my spine. If you can, go see it.

2006-09-16T13:21:00.000-06:00

Predictability
Whoops, missed the predictions. Well, haven't checked the scores yet, so let's say....

Eskies over Tigercats
Alouettes over Lions
Bombers over Stamps.... fuck!

2006-09-15T09:40:00.000-06:00

An island
I just won a pair of tickets to Little Miss Sunshine. Whoo! I saw an article that asked for what people considered the top 5 videogames. I didn't read it, but here's what I thought, in no specific order:

- Civilization II
- Tetris
- Diablo II
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert
- Mario Kart 64

Thanks to my night class, I missed the first Engineering Head Shave meeting. Things are looking good once again. I'm in charge of sponsorship.

My esteemed (?) brother (?) makes a good point in last post's comments section. We can annoy worse then [sic] that.

me: hey
Graeme: what
me: guess what jessica's new password is on the ess computer is?
Graeme: iheartwicentowi
me: ********
Graeme: I was gonna guess that next
me: mama jess is angry!
Graeme: mama jess SMASH!
why were you there?
me: she wanted me to change the password for the president account, and it was my email password, and didn't want to give it away
the offices look good
Graeme: thank you
she won't let me in them
me: they changed the password! i had to get steve to let me in
Graeme: they won't tell me the new password
me: i had to talk to steve * shudders *
Graeme: could be worse, you coulda touched him
me: i offered a hug, but he said he gets enough from you
Graeme: I do give the best hugs
me: well it's the way you cup the balls at the same time
Graeme: ewww
you're gonna put this on your blog, aren't you?
me: meh
it's not really a secret about your 'special' hugs
would it annoy you if i did?
cause then i might
Graeme: I don't care
Luba and Logan are the only ones who read that waste of internet space anyway
me: luba reads it? wow, i feel bad for her
well, as i always say, there's simply not enough stuff on the internet talking about porcelain kittens, so this lets me take matters into my own hands
Graeme: yer an idiot
me: I don't get it
Graeme: ask logan
me: i don't want to talk to logan
why did you comment on my blog?
Graeme: boredom
desperate for attention
me: finished degrouting mom's tiles again?
Graeme: she took them out
so I tried degrouting the carpet
me: how'd that go?
Graeme: she got really mad when I threw grout all over the carpet
me: well shit, no doubt. you gotta prime that stuff first
Graeme: they didn't teach me that at plumbing school
me: what did they teach you then?
Graeme: shit flows up
me: huh. that's a good metaphor for the ESS
Graeme: it really is true for the ESS as well

2006-09-12T16:05:00.000-06:00

Double Post Tuesday!
Women in Engineering (Alana?): Here on in, I'm cheering against the Riders. They have a pretty tough schedule ahead of them (assuming Edmonton will be tough), and it's the best chance the Eskies have of making the playoffs.

Another recorded conversation with Graeme (there are many, many more conversations of the like, and worse in spoken word only):

me: Good news! There's hope for you yet! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4748292.stm
Graeme: I've already seen that. It doesn't work. They just made me buy the damn thing a new barn.
me: but at least you got laid from it.
Graeme: nah, just a kick in the nadds

I suspect this isn't over.

2006-09-12T12:02:00.000-06:00

Doing Well
Life is good. It really is. I'm sitting here at work, learning about my field, periodically checking in on the Apple Media Event, and enjoying it all. I've been planning on buying a Mac for a little bit now, sometime in Spring '07, and I am very impressed with what they've brought out, especially in terms of the device that'll wirelessly play your stuff on TV. I'll have to watch the video tonight.

In other news, I bought Civilization IV on the weekend, while Helen bought the first season of Smallville. CivIV is unreal. It's like taking CivII, the last version I've played, and just adding an enormous amount of depth into it. Helen started watching Smallville, and isn't initially impressed with it. As a self-proclaimed purist, based on a weird hybrid of general Superman knowledge and a Lois and Clark fascination, she doesn't like seeing Lex Luthor in the town of Smallville as Clark's friend. Though we both know she'll become addicted.

I've been having weird luck lately, in that wihtin a few days, I saw three guys I haven't talked to in a long time. I saw Michael & Steven Wheeler, who I've known since elementary on Whyte on Friday, and Ryan Lemiski (since junior high) working out at the UofA. Moving on, Ward informs me that Mike Peca lives in the same building as Justin.

Oh, and this morning I got row 12 floor seats to the Barenaked Ladies concert in February. And their new CD comes out today.

Life is good.

2006-09-09T18:38:00.000-06:00

I'll post later on working with a company like GPTech, but I've realized there's no predictions up for this week yet.

I'll take the point for Edmonton
I haven't seen the score, but I'm figuring Hamilton will once again have their asses handed to them by Toronto
And the Bombers'll beat the Riders

2006-09-04T15:58:00.000-06:00

Mother fucker.
Calgary just scored again.

First off, to the people who happened upon my site looking for 'Teddy Ruxpin cable wiring', schematic of teddy ruxpin', or 'orgies make the world', I wish you the best in your searches.

The weekend was fun. Jacquie has now moved up to Edmonton for Drumheller to continue to work as an EIT for ATCO Electric. Helen and I hosted a Saturday morning brunch for her, Louis, Ania, and Olivier as an excuse to get together and a reason to unpack our new place.

In the afternoon, we all took a trip to the Royal Alberta Museum to see the Geisha exhibit. It was neat, moreso because I had read Memoirs of a Geisha, and seen the movie. We also checked out the other exhibits on Alberta's nature, bugs and rocks, and the First Nations. In the evening, I got repeatedly and unfairly beaten in Settlers, while having too much beer.

On Sunday, I once again hosted my annual rib BBQ. It turned out real well, though I lost at poker later on.

2006-09-02T20:02:00.000-06:00

Heap
Well, things have certainly changed since I last posted (not including predictions). I am in a better mood now. I had spent a good couple hours changing these properties on a the computer model, only to discover that they had to be changed back, so that left me foul.

Helen and I are now settled into a the apartment, having spent most of the last few days packing, moving and unpacking boxes. The place is nice - very spatious. I just finished building my new BBQ for the balcony. While I was moving, we borrowed my Uncle's truck. When we returned it at 11:00 that night, I realized that I had left the car key in my pants at home, essentially wasting a good hour and a half, and not doing anything for my reputation in the family (thankfully, there's always Graeme to make them appreciate me).

The NY Times has a very interesting article on using genetic testing to help eliminate hereditary cancer genes in new embryos. Good news indeed, considering my family line has a fairly strong history of cancer.

What else... I'll be taking a course at NAIT this fall on the Canadian Electrical Code. Yes, it sounds dry, but it's one of those things that will definitely be worth it long-term. And I don't mind the idea of learning this code. I've always had an appreciation for the rules of the game.

Speaking of appreciation, I've begun to make good use of my Google Calendar account. Aside from noting the plans of 4 people, I also have a fairly comprehensive list of family/friend birthdays and anniversaries, when certain bills are due, various holidays, and a complete Oilers and CFL Schedule. Yes, it makes me a loser, but it is a genuine attempt to actually keep track of things.

2006-09-01T17:43:00.000-06:00

You know Jack?
Predicitons now, stories later:

Montreal beats BC
Winnipeg beats Saskatchewan
The Eskies trounce the Stamps
Toronto whoops Hamilton

2006-08-28T14:49:00.000-06:00

Buff Book
Man, I'm in a shitty mood today. I don't even know why.

This last weekend went ok. Most of the time was spent moving into my new place, the apartments with the yellow balconies near Southgate. You can see them from the Whitemud. They're nice.

I had a whole bunch of other things I wanted to talk about, but fuck it.

2006-08-24T14:43:00.000-06:00

Crayon Pot
My predictions record is getting worse by the week. Let's hope that I have a little luck this week.

Montreal beats Calgary
Winnipeg beats Toronto
Saskatchewan beats Hamilton again.

The new Barenaked Ladies is coming out soon. If you want to see a band treat their fans right, watch what they do - regular podcast with music, special offers for purchasing their discs, opportunities to remix and submit songs, chance to design concert t-shirts, chance to appear in a music video, etc.

2006-08-23T12:23:00.000-06:00

Oddcasting

In the last day, I've started to learn to use Microstation, a program similar to AutoCAD, but many times more frustrating.
I've discovered that listening to podcasts such as Quirks and Quarks, the Barenaked Ladies podcast, and other programs of a decent length seem to increase my productivity here at work. I wonder why.
Back in my last few months of school, I was hooked on Sukodu, to the point that I would bring them to nearly every class. I've now moved on to crossword puzzles, and have a daily ritual consisting of doing the Merriam-Webster Online crossword, which has a great format
Apparently Settlers of Catan, along with other board games, will be coming to the Xbox Live Arcade. Really awesome, but still not enough for me to buy one.

2006-08-21T14:47:00.000-06:00

Trying to keep an eye on you
The weekend went nice, although the Esks managed to lose again. The trip to Calgary went well enough, considering that it is Calgary. Helen stacked up on the gifts, including a very cool cookbook that will get good use. We taught her parents to play Settlers, which was more confusing and stressful than I could have imagined. But her dad ended up winning in what was probably the most intense game of Settlers I ever played.

I talked to Graeme briefly, on such topics as plans to bug ESS President with our Jesus dance, and the fact that we just aren't irritating enough people. Graeme's solution to this would be to start a podcast, so that we may begin to irritate the masses on a global scale. While I admire his scope, I do foresee the problem that it will require us to actually talk to one another.

Also, if you haven't seen the Calgary Flames Red Hot video, please do. Then, download it, and send it to every Flames fan you know as incontrovertial proof that they are tools. Hell, I've even put it on my iPod, for a quick pick-me-up when I'm feeling blue.

2006-08-18T16:28:00.000-06:00

pop fizz ah!
You know what makes a good day? When the next version of the software you're using arrives, and boasts "Undo" as one of it's new features. Fuck yeah. And this is pretty powerful software too!

I worked out this morning, and then spent a few hours with a hand sized sledgehammer pounding in grounding rods into grass, dirt and dirt/rock packed road. I could barely lift the damn thing by the end.

Going to Calgary this weekend, with the promise of good food, good people, and maybe even a little Rocky Horror Picture Show. Have a great weekend!

2006-08-17T15:17:00.000-06:00

Fucking Windows Media...
.. for crashing my internet browser before I could post this, and without saving. The title was previously Musings

You know what I hate? People who use an exorbitant amount of smilies when they use online forums. Like so.
What else? I hate people who use too many shortcuts in their online chats/forums/text messages. The only one that I use and tolerate is 'brb', for convenience when you really have to pee, or the boss is coming. But this 'omfg, r u 4 real? i m gr8!' bullshit doesn't fly.
An interesting first date idea... donating blood. Can sit and talk, doing a good cause, and a free cookie afterwards! Just make sure it doesn't come off as creepy.
Also sucky - spending an hour inputting data into a computer model, then realizing you were using the wrong revision of the model.
Bad news: I spilt an entire glass of water all over my pants and desk/Good news: I know now that these pants are impressively non-absorbent. My wallet wasn't even damp.

Helen's birthday is on Saturday.

Predictions:
Eskies beats BC
Montreal trounces Toronto
Saskatchewan beats Hamilton, Jason Maas weeps silently.

2006-08-14T15:56:00.000-06:00

Then it isn't worth a kiss
Well, I was half right on last week's guesses putting me at a 6-6 record.

This weekend was interesting. Helen and I are trying to find a place, and it looks like we might be staying in the apartments near Southgate. The place would allow a BBQ, which rocks. Speaking of which, Louis and Jacquie came over for a BBQ last night, and we hung out and played a board game. They're good folk. Upcoming this week.... Helen's birthday on the 19th.

2006-08-10T12:15:00.000-06:00

Could've Been Worse
You've probably heard the news regarding the arrests in London regarding the planned plane bombings. Well, early word from Helen is that today is when her folks, brother and his girlfriend are returning from a trip to Spain through England, so they're in store for a bit of a wait.

We finished that AutoCAD project on Tuesday, so now I'm back to finding, inputting, and checking data for a computer model for another project. A bit dry, but necessary. As well, the boss has given me the opportunity to spend 1/2 hour to an hour a day doing some studying of IEEE standards and procedures, which the nerd in me is excited about. It's essentially a golden ticket to improve my knowledge.

I've been doing a bit more reading lately, which I like. On the camping trip, I read Casino Royale, the first James Bond book. My dad owned a bunch of them, so I'm going to start working my way through them. Unless the Bond girl is named Vesper, the trailer for the new Casino Royale movie looks absolutely nothing like the book. Hopefully the villain and basic plot are the same.

This Week's Predictions:

Edmonton wins... finally
Montreal should beat Calgary
Toronto sadly, will beat Hamilton
Winnipeg will pull through against BC

2006-08-09T09:43:00.000-06:00

Banter I
My esteemed brother and I are well known for our own little breed of back and forth banter. There has been many a meeting where we were told to stop, shut up, or some other variety of threat. We combine self-deprecation with what I like to call one-uppance. We generally stay on a theme, and try to outdo the other's previous statement, whether it be in terms of how pathetic we can make the subject, how gross we can be, how little other people like us, how much we annoy others, etc.

I chatted with him on Gmail chat the other day, so here's a bit of a transcript. A bit of background info first - we rent movies off of Zip.ca, which allows you to set a list of DVDs to rent. Graeme is currently working for my uncle in Calgary as a plumber, and I bug him that he unplugs toilets all day, though he hasn't actually used a plunger yet. Opa is our conservative Dutch grandfather.

me: you put some shitty movies onto zip
Graeme: yeah, so?
me: I don't know if we have enough time for the firsts 7 seasons of My Little Pony
Graeme: priorities gary, priorities
me: yeah, but the special Behind the Scenes disc? c'mon
Graeme: when you're dedicated, you're dedicated
me: why don't you just buy them, so you can collect the oversized porcelain pony collection?
Graeme: got em
ebay
me: dammit!
well, if you get my little pony, then i'm ordering the complete Teddy Ruxpin
Graeme: teddy ruxpin sucks
me: take that back!
Graeme: no, I don't like him
he is not a classic character from our youth
me: I said, take it back!
who cares about our youth. It's a classic character from age 19-23
Graeme: nope, he blows
me: you blow!
Graeme: damnit
me: yes!
Graeme: I always leave myself open for that one
me: yep
how's plunging?
Graeme: rewarding
me: found a goldfish?
Graeme: looked like it, didn’t taste like it
me: what did it taste like?
Graeme: not sure
everything tastes the same after a while
me: maybe bring some ranch dressing to spice it up
Graeme: that's dessert
me: the ranch dressing?
Graeme: yeah
me: on its own
see, I save the ranch for an appetizer, and take the jar of mayonaisse and a spoon for dessert
Graeme: I can't afford cocaine, so i just use mayoniaisse that i leave in the sun
me: you mean suntan lotion?
that's what i use it for
Graeme: no, for coke lines
me: you realize i'm emailing this conversation to Opa, right

2006-08-08T10:05:00.001-06:00

You gotta be kidding.
Along with Kyle, who's in-depth and insightful analysis of last week's matchups led to the same predictions, we both ended up 1-3. I'm now and even 0.500.

Helen and I took a trip out to Wasa Lake, BC for a weekend of camping and swimming. Of course, we didn't leave quite on time due to the requisite car fuck-up. This time, my key snapped in half in the trunk lock.

We stopped quickly in Red Deer to see my buddy Ward and his roommate at their apartment, which was nice. It's good to see friends where you can immediately pick up where you left off, being smart-asses all over again.

Wasa Lake turned out to be a very nice campground. I would have liked a little more privacy, but you take what you can get. The beach was similarly nice, and the water was not overly cold, though you couldn't tell by the way I complained. Helen tried to tan her legs to a shade remniscent of years past, and I did my best not to burn badly. I failed, and now look like the fucking Polka Dot Door.

Of course, going back wouldn't be the same without the requisite car fuck-up. This time, my car battery died.

2006-08-03T23:17:00.000-06:00

Predictions II
Although the Montreal-Toronto game is probably over by now, I haven't heard any of the scores, and the ol' marrow is gonna go with the Alouettes. Not a hard pick to make.

Other than that:
Edmonton will beat BC
Winnipeg will beat Hamilton, though it breaks my heart
and finally, Saskatchewan will beat Calgary, again.

2006-08-02T21:30:00.000-06:00

Schematically Correct
Today was probably one of my best days at work, aside from the time I got to travel around down in the UofA utility tunnels of the back of a little moped, measuring cable lengths with the guy who turned out to be the caterer for my Oma & Opa's wedding. Let me explain.

I'm coming up on my 11.5 hours here at work today, all because we had a dropped a bombshell on us about the project we were working on. The project, for a company call Powertran, is to draw out the layout, wiring and schematic diagrams and nameplate for this transformer they are sending to ATCO. All of these are done using AutoCAD.

The layout is what the transformer physically looks like, what you would see from each of the side and top views. This is the most time consuming, since you need measured accuracy about placement, and changing one little thing on one view usually changes about 2 of the other views.
The wiring diagram gives a simplified view of what the circuitry controlling the transformer is like.
The nameplate is a physical plate of metal created giving a number of specs for the transformer.
The schematic diagram, which we only started today, is a more in-depth view of the wiring diagram, showing specifically which wires connect to the different components, with more detailed labeling.

It's a relatively easy process to go from a schematic to a wiring diagram, but the reverse - which we are doing, is apparently more difficult. But what's made the day so good?

First, I've probably learnt more today than I have so far since I starting working at GP, in terms of how things are wired and why.
Second, this is the first day where I've been in a real time crunch, with real deadlines and real clients waiting. I haven't felt this type of pressure, a good, intense pressure, since the overnighters I did back in University (back in University, what a weird new concept).

I'm going camping this weekend with Helen in BC. Yay!

2006-08-01T07:54:00.000-06:00

Start Your Day Off Right
I forgot my my lock to go for a workout, gel for my hair, my lunch spilled in my backpack, making it seem like I'm wearing Eau de Cantaloupe, and it's not even 8:00.

Update: The owner of the building told me I can't walk around in my socks anymore, because of fire hazard reasons. Dammit!

2006-07-31T16:06:00.000-06:00

Style with Confidence
The title is off of the extra hold hair gel sitting on my desk. Thankfully, I have neither.

This weekend was good, but full of ups and downs of complete stress to nothing at all. The big highlight of the weekend was attending Adam Henderson's wedding. Adam, for those of you who don't know, is a great friend in ChemE, and one of the biggest volunteers for the ESS.

The wedding was nice. I was really impressed by the church in Morinville. It was easy to find as well - twice as tall as any other building. The reception was also very nice. The food was great, the gifts were phenomenal (shot glasses!), and the dance floor stayed busy all night. The only weak point were the speeches and the MCs, which paled in comparison to Olivier & Ania's wedding. Other than that - a great time.

On Friday, Helen, John, Laurel and I took in Blue Rodeo at the Capital Ex. It was a great show, and ended during the fireworks, which also impressed.

On Sunday, Helen and I met with O&A at Olivier's dad's house, and we. tried out the new Settlers expansion I received for my birthday - Seafarers of Catan. It was a lot of fun, moreso than I would have imagined. It's a lot less complicated than the other expansion, Knights & Cities of Catan. Though I'm looking forward to trying it with both at the same time, a fucked up idea indeed.

The rest of Sunday was relaxing. I watched Fun with Dick & Jane, which was what I expected, and played around with Photoshop and Dreamweaver.

Oh, and other than those bums losing it at Commonwealth, I was 3-1 for the week in my CFL predictions.

2006-07-28T13:57:00.000-06:00

Predictions
For the past few years, both Kyle and I would make our weekly predicitons about who would win the CFL games. Unfortunately, it seems that neither of us have gotten on board with that yet. Whereas Kyle would generally base his predictions on logic, and an incredible wealth of knowledge about the CFL, I would use gut instinct, or failing that, a coin. Oh, and an unwavering faith in my Eskies.

Winnipeg vs. Hamilton
Hamiton's well due for a win, but it won't come this week. Winnipeg

Montreal vs. Edmonton
Edmonton

BC vs. Toronto
BC

Calgary vs. Saskatchewan
My mind says Calgary, but my heart say Go Riders! Saskatchewan

2006-07-26T10:46:00.000-06:00

Cheers
They say I'm 23 today.

So what interesting happened on my birthday, in years past?

811 - Battle of Pliska; Byzantine emperor Nicephorus I is slain, his heir Stauracius is seriously wounded
1788 - New York ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 11th state of the United States.
1878 - In California, the poet and American West outlaw calling himself "Black Bart" makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box will be found later with a taunting poem inside.
1991 - Paul Reubens, better known as Pee Wee Herman, is arrested for allegedly exposing himself at a Sarasota, Florida adult theatre.
1991 - Sonic the Hedgehog is released for the Sega Megadrive in Japan.

I share a birthday with Mick Jagger, Kevin Spacey, Carl Jung, George Bernard Shaw, and Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor.

King Offa of Mercia, Pope Paul II, Emperor Komyo of Japan, King Otto of Greece, and Eva Peron all died on this day.

2006-07-25T10:43:00.000-06:00

Roll the R
This weekend was spent in Calgary, celebrating Helen's mom's birthday. A large group of us all went out to Bragg Creek, where Graeme got pooped on by a bird.

I was also surprised to realize that my birthday is actually this Wednesday, a thought that never occured until Helen reminded me. Her folks got me this cool game called Alhambra, where you essentially buy tile pieces for your "palace" and build it up, trying to get the most points as possible. You'd have to play it to appreciate the complexity of that statement. Graeme bought me the latest volume of Family Guy.

2006-07-21T16:35:00.000-06:00

Revenge of Murphy's Law
The day before Helen and I are to go down to Calgary, and are frantically trying get get a number of important errands done, my car decides to fuck up, and pour out radiator fluid like hell. A few hundred dollars later....

Oh, and for any MecE's who complain about the course where they have to draw perspectives... pussies.

2006-07-19T12:57:00.000-06:00

Interesting
I just got back from lunch with one of my co-workers, who as it turns out was actually at the Engineering Week Skit Night where the "Shoot the Bitch" incident had occured, forever changing Geer Week as we now know it. It's good to know that throughout 16, 17 years of yearly transitions, culpable of exagerations, miscommunications, and other -ations of the like, the story of how the shit hit the fan is more or less dead on.

Oh, and Helen bought a bread maker last week, and made 3 different loaves in 2 days. Yum.

And, I just found out that my grandpa, who doesn't even own a computer, wants me to buy him an iPod.

2006-07-18T13:20:00.000-06:00

On the other side of the stick
I just got back from attending my great-aunt's funeral. I wasn't that close to her (only meeting her a few times in my adult life), but the funeral was nice, and filled with emotion nonetheless.

Only one story of note to mention from this past week, other than the fact that I popped the tire on my bike.

On Sunday, my mom wasn't able to make church at 4:00 with my Opa (grandpa in Dutch) as originally planned, so I offered to take him. Of course, Opa wanted to me to pick him up at 3:00, so we'll have plenty of time to get there. Ten minutes later, we're sitting in the church, waiting for the next 50 minutes for mass to start.

During this time, Opa starts to read this little booklet he has that describes what hymns will be sung, and the significance of blah blah blah. At the end of the booklet, there's a little feature on human trafficking, and what we can do to help stop that. At about 5 minutes to mass, with the church starting to reallly fill up, Opa turns to me, points to his booklet, and says "Yeah, what is this word mean?"

Looking at the word Brothel, my immediate instincts were to tell Opa to ask my aunt Teresa. Instead...

Gary (muttering): "It's uh... where prostitutes work."
Opa: "What?"
Gary: "Um... where uh... prostitutes work."
Opa: "What?" (even louder)

I ended up pointing at the word whore house until he realized that the two meant the same thing. I'm going to hell.

2006-07-10T16:27:00.000-06:00

To the Bride and Groom!
As I sit here, waiting for drawings to print, it is with great joy that I look back on this weekend, and recount the marraige of Olivier and Ania Hamel. It's true, that after nearly 5 years together, two of my best friends tied the knot on Saturday. I was honoured to have been Olivier's Best Man throughout it all, with Louis, Ward and Heck rounding out the groomsmen.

The day was nearly perfect. In the morning, there were much concern as Ward had a seizure while at home, and was taken to the hospital. He was alright, and was able to make the reception.

The ceremony itself was nice. It was held in a Polish church near Nait, although no one really liked the priest. My good friend [Micheal] Johnson was scolded during Communion for not eating his bread immediately.

Helen was the official photographer, and by all accounts - rocked. The official photos were taken at the Provincial Musuem, and went very well I'm told.

The reception was held at the Sheraton on Argyll, across from the Casino. Good place for a wedding, not so good for a grad banquet. The food was great - prime rib. My mom and Olivier's dad were MCs, and did a great job as well. They instituted an interesting rule to the evening; instead of clinking the glasses, you had to tell a story about Olivier and/or Ania, or sing a song in a language other than English. Well, with a large Polish and French crowd gathered, I can tell you that the bride and groom were making out a lot that night. The other groomsmen and I also got involved in the action, warming up like a barbershop quartet before breaking into "Ole, ole ole ole, oleeee oleeeee"

I had created three presentations for the reception. The first was for the MCs, and had pictures to accompany what they said. The second was a montage of both of them growing up and being together, and was played throughout the dance off to the side. The final, and a crowd favourite, was a video of some of the funny pictures and clips from Engg Week movies that they were involved in. You can see a low-res version here.

When introducing the head table, Olivier got up to the mike and described the "Odyssium story" to everyone. If you don't know what I'm talking about - good. If you do - fuck you. Anyhow, I was able to work that into my Toast to the Groom, which was in my mind a success. I made people laugh, and clap, and Ania even cried at one point. So... yeah.

2006-06-29T16:56:00.000-06:00

Busy, Busy
So work's going well. I've been working on arc-flash studies, which are used to determine safety zones around large electrical equipment. I'm helping out on a project for Enbridge, where we have to do these studies for all of their stations down across the Prairies, and a bit into Ontario.

Right now, we're on what is I hope the worst part - collecting data. Since Enbridge won't supply us with the raw AutoCAD files, and just pdf's of the station plans, I've been spending my last two weeks making measurements of how long the important cables are. The cables, depending on their length, add more resistance to the system, and are thus a somewhat important factor. Once we have all this and the other data we need, we can proceed with the computer models.

Today, my Uncle, Aunt and little cousin from Denver arrived. My Uncle and I are hoping to go skydiving on Sunday - I'll let you know how that goes. The last time he was up, the wind was too much, and they wouldn't let us. As well, Justin arrives tomorrow, and I'll have to hang out with him.

The stag was a lot of fun, mostly memorable, and may be the start of a yearly tradition (without the marriage aspects though).

2006-06-23T09:57:00.000-06:00

Great Fucking Albums
Once again, it looks like I might get back into the swing of things with posting. I made a small change in the header while I was relocating my hosted files last night. Anyway, I've been finding myself impressed with a few albums, where I know and/or like all but maybe 2 of the songs, which is rare for compiled CDs. These include:

The Guess Who - Greatest Hits
Barenaked Ladies - All Their Greatest Hits
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (more impressive since it's not even a greatest hits album)
Soundtrack for the film Garden State
The Fabulous 60's & 70's: Loving Mellow - An obscure 29-song disc chock-full of obscure hits from those decades.

I'll post more once I think of them.

2006-06-22T12:49:00.000-06:00

Car Flags at Half-Mast
Damn. Damn damn damn. Oh well, next year. This whole playoff run got me pretty hooked on Covered in Oil, a fun little blog. Speaking of blogs, my good friend Peter now has one, as does Paul specifically for his adventures in Europe. Compared with Peter's blog, and Paul's new look on his old one, this page is starting feel a little scummy. The months of neglect didn't help. Maybe I'll perk it up a little bit in the coming months.

But in the meantime, woo boy am I busy. This coming weekend is Olivier's stag, the next is my grandpa's 90th birthday party, and the week after is Olivier & Ania's wedding. Hey, has anyone written a "toast to the groom" speech before? Advice?

I wanted to post some pictures of the apartment, but the server guy we're subleasing from is down right now. Another time.

2006-06-17T16:28:00.000-06:00

Goilers
So I'm completely graduated now, having gone through the Iron Ring ceremony and convocation. I'm now standing at a crossroads of what I'd like to do with the rest of my life, and where I'd want to do that. For the time being, I'll be working at GP Technologies, a small power consulting company here in the City. Come September, that may change.

As well, my association with the Engineering Students' Society has declined dramatically, as my term as President has come to an end. Looking back, I don't regret a thing. I sometimes wonder if I should've diversified myself more, but I feel that I did make a difference, if only a small way, but it's good enough for me.

Helen and I moved into an apartment for the summer, subleasing from a friend. It's pretty nice.

I took a road trip with my buddy Ward to see Justin in Toronto at the end of May, which was a lot of fun as well. I was introduced to a new car game, where you have to find 000 - 999 sequentially on license plates. I'm currently looking for 005.

2006-03-08T18:31:00.000-07:00

Right. Back to Business.
Helen bougth a brand new digital SLR Pentax camera yesterday, and has been going nuts on the picture taking. It's nice to see her get geeked up about something techie for once. It's nice though, the pictures she's taken so far are really good.

So, back to Geer Week. The EEs won, with a theme of GrEEse. The results were tight - really tight. We won by 8 points over the CivEs, and the difference between us and the fourth place MinEs was 40 points. MecE placed third. But I gotta admit, we did pull out all the stops. There was the two stunts - a car smash, and a ice sculpture of a car (which still hasn't melted). There was also the bribes of food for the judges, and the fact that we won Battle of the Bands and Large Poster. It was a great week, and a perfect way to end a degree.

In other news, the ESS Elections are underway. It's a race between Mat Johnson and Jessica Mueller, which is great because either way, the ESS is in good hands.

Oh, and I received the Golden Geer this last weekend. The speech about me was pretty neat, about how it should be renamed the "Weppler-Wicentowich Award". Felt good. Furthermore, I was able to let Kyle Kawanami, who has been the biggest non-engineering supporter of our Faculty with an honourary Golden Geer.