i still can't get over this guys voice.. in the song "mi mancherai (il postino)", i don't even know what the dude is singing about, but it still gives me chills down my spine, and tears to my eyes... it's just *that* good!

edit: it drives me nuts to be here at work, because i want to try to sing along..

i'm back!

my cpu got fried on thursday night. i'm not sure how it happened, it was working fine that night, but the next morning it wouldn't turn on. on saturday my friend keith and i spent a few hours trying different combinations to see if it was something else, but in the end we concluded it had to be the cpu.

our plan was to buy the cpu today, right after church, so he came along to the service. i'm not sure what he thought of it, i didn't ask yet. anyway on the way over to pac.mall, there was a funny sound coming from my car, so when we parked we had a look. flat tire! doh! luckily i have that nissan road side assistance deal, so they came in a changed the tire for me. it wouldn't have been hard to do it myself, but it was pretty muddy and cold so i didn't want to bother.

afterwards we bought the cpu, came back here and well, it's up again. thank goodness.

the last 24 hours made me realize what a crappy and boring life i have. i couldn't think of anything to do when my pc was down. i slept on my couch for most of the day watching who knows what.

my bro got me the josh groban cd, "closer", for Christmas. i've had it for awhile now but just started really listening to it today. i brought it to work and have been listening to it with headphones. it's amazing. less than half of it is in english.

his voice is just really nice. wow, i wish my voice was *half* as good as his.. i guess it's like this. there's a certain scale from 1 to 10 for quality of voice. then beyond that there's another scale, where you can sense the singer's emotion. josh groban is a 20.

yesterday in the bachelorette, this one guy gave her a pair of slippers and this great line: "It's so you know I'll be with you every step of the way." Aww... she ended up giving that guy the white rose, which signifies he gets an individual date with her. Smooth!

hmmm.. should i be posting this stuff on my blog? now i'll never get to use it!

last night's dream is very vivid. i dreamed that the rapture came, and i was left behind. but it was all online, so it was like I'd go click on a person i know, and then it would just say something like "user doesn't exist". Then I'd click on another and another. It really freaked me out. Only my non-christian friends remained!

i wonder if this is a common fear that other christians have. knowing full well how much time you set aside for God each day, knowing all the sins you've committed:

Would you be surprised if you were left behind?

I can't believe it's only Wednesday. I thought it was Thursday and tomorrow was Friday, so I left just enough food in the fridge before I'd have to cook on Saturday. Now I'll have to improvise something for Friday.. Darn! I guess I failed to mention that on Saturday I attempted to cook enough food to last the week. I missed it by a day, it seems.

Today I woke up on my own, for the first time since last year. I finally caught up from the sleep I missed from the past 2 weeks. My brain woke me up at 6am, then again at 7am. Then the alarm woke me up at 7:30am. I'm glad because the last few days I slept 8 hours and was still waking up exhausted. It was kinda scaring me..

Things at work are going normally. My boss has been impressed with my work on the admin manual for the system we've been working on. It's all coming together now. UAT starts some time in March, and as the lead I'm pretty excited about it. It should be very interesting.. haha.. here I am getting all excited about testing, of all things. It's funny how the other day I heard someone say "module" and it brought back some memories (and nitemares) of school. I don't think a day went by in university that we didn't hear the word 'module'. I guess what they say is true, that what you learn in school really is, 99% useless.

what a disappointment. this weekend's football games were all disappointing except for one. they were good games, just that my teams didn't win. Go Colts! I think it's clear now who the REAL nfl mvp is.

those pictures will get done, soon.. the program i found to do it is nice, but it's a bit slow, i haven't gotten the hang of it yet. i want to upload them at 640x480, because at 1600x1200 they take too much disk space.

i bought an mp3 player from monchichi today. i'm not sure if it was the right thing to do, given my recent spending. but i was going to get one anyway, and this one was a cheap. i figure i saved money in the long run. worse case i could give it away as a gift..

i've been contemplating a new cell phone. my current one is kinda boring. i want a cool funkie one with flashing blue lights and plays a nice tune when the phone rings. i want the whole world to know when i'm getting a call! telus has the new lg4600 (incidentally i discovered the lg 7000 is already out in asia). still, it flashes and has color screen, and has a polyphonic ringer. what more could a guy ask for?

for everyone who's sick.. get well! G suggests taking vitamin c's.. i did that in university, but nowadays with all those sick days i have stored up, i kinda don't mind if i got sick. haha.. i'm kidding of course. if anything, i should at least try to get better to benefit those around me!

take care everyone.

what a game! what... a.... game!!

oh btw, i didn't do the egg thing. i guess i'll try it next week, or sunday afternoon. i've been cooking for the past 2 hours. i've made enough to last the week, possibly longer. Hehe..

out

I went out today. First time that I've been outside since last Sunday. It's supposed to be -20 C with windchill. But it didn't feel too bad. In fact, I wasn't impressed at all. Maybe I should've gone out yesterday, when it was -34 C. Looks like I missed out..!

I bought two cd's, The Singles 1992-2003 by No Doubt, and Dizzy Up The Girl by Goo Goo dolls. I went out planning to buy the Dolls' cd and Michelle Branch, but Futureshop was sold out on her stuff, so I got the Dolls' cd, and then I just happened to see the other one, looked at the back and found 4-5 songs that I liked by them, including Sunday Morning, one of my faves.

The No Doubt cd is good. I don't usually comment on mainstream stuff, but I'd hafta say I'm already satisfied with this buy, having only listened to the cd halfway. I really really like the new song It's My Life, the remake of an old 80s hit. Also kinda neat is the insert, which gives 3-4 paragraphs about how the song came to be. I've always thought No Doubt was a little bit ahead of its time. They're not like regular bands. They incorporate various styles of music. Rock, dance, alternative, even reggae. Their music sounds nothing like anyone else, it's very unique. Anyway..

As for "Dizzy", I chose to buy this cd for two reasons. One, I like their stuff, and two, I've ripped them off for long enough. Having listened to googoo mp3s for years now, it's time to give back a little bit. They deserve it.

more funnies from vegas.

my parents had a fridge in the garage. after all those tv shows where i see people store useful things in the garage, for the first time saw it being put to use. a fridge! food.. in the garage. what a concept!

my brother told me about this funny thing they do to eachother at school, it's "equalizing". it's a boys only thing. basically what happens is some poor kid is standing around mind his own business, and another kid will come up from behind him, reach between his legs, and "cup" him. LOL. my brother says it's funny because you can see a little guy do it to a huge guy, and when he gets cupped, he jumps so high up that it looks like the little guy is super strong.

also he told me there were next levels, where someone will "cup", and the "lift". And even worse, someone would cup, grab, and then pull down! Hahahaha.. crazy kids..

i'm downloading pics (finally) and will put them up somewhere.. I guess yahoo pictures?

= sports =

just a few words about something i was just reading over lunch. espn did an article on eli manning, younger brother of current nfl co-mvp, and how he could be the #1 overall pick at this years draft. what a great story this is, if he were to be taken first over all by the Chargers. what a family. what's even cooler is Eli, short of Elisha, went to the same school his father played, you know what else, his mother was homecoming queen from that same school, Ole Miss. isn't that amazing?

both boys, quite smart, garnering honor roll every year. both are 6-5, peyton is about 10 pounds heavier. both obliterated college records, and both are winners. even their father was great, archie made the pro bowl twice in his illustrious nfl career. all 3 play the same drop-back style.

it's probably not a big deal but to me this is all very cool. i mean their father must be absolutely thrilled. he spent 14 years in the nfl with absolutely atrocious teams, some of the worst offensive lines in the history of the nfl. he was battered and beaten. then you look at Peyton Manning, who's well on his way to be one of the most successful quarterbacks ever, improving from previous year every year since he entered the league. the Colts have good coaching, and a *very* nice offensive nucleus to build around.

and not to jump the gun but imagine if Eli Manning goes to the Chargers. That's an even better (younger) nucleus to build around. David Boston, LaDainian Tomlinson. there's nothing better than having a great pass-catching runningback for a young quarterback. it provides the qb with a safety blanket. and tomlinson had what, 100 receptions this season?

this is great. the last few days of pdl has talked about temptation, how it God's lessons in building us up. and how when i get a tempting thought, rather than try to block it out i should just think of something else. so now every time i think of a temptuous thought, i have either practiced guitar or done some pushups. so either i'll get worse and worse but get really good at guitar and building up my bulging muscles (lol), or i'll be one step closer spiritually.

that's a decent trade-off..

eggs

eggs are very nutritious. i've missed out on this nutrition for the last 3-5 years, when i began to realize i was allergic to it. it made me think today that i should try to get back on eggs. there has to be a way. when i looked it up on the net, someone pointed out to me that i was likely allergic to certain forms of cooked eggs. in my case, she said that there were certain proteins created from fried eggs. I feel like i've been over this before.

anyway, i was thinking, maybe once a week i should try cooking eggs in a different form and trying them out. but knowing that there is some bit of risk from the allergy, i would set a date ahead of time, like a Saturday afternoon so that i have
1) ample time to recover if i need it
2) at least on sunday people would notice i didn't make it to church
3) well, let's face it i couldn't try this on a work night

i could sample small bits at first, and if nothing happened, i could try more and more.

from as far as i can remember, i have always had the same problem with scrambled eggs, but i used to be able to eat fried rice, but now i can't, which means the allergy has become much more heightened. but i also used to have hardboiled eggs with no ill-effects. maybe i should try that. also, fried eggs like a la sunny side up etc, i should try those as well. also someone at work suggested i try just yokes, or just whites, to see what happens.

i guess i'll target this saturday for my first try at this. hard-boiled seems like the safest bet, since i had them when i was little, and also i can eat those thousand year old ones without any problems.

exercise

i am going to start exercising. now before you start inviting me to your sporting event, stop. i haven't played sports since grade 9 gym class with mr. bury, so i'm not about to start now.

yesterday i started doing push-up's, and i will add various ab exercises as soon as i learn how to do them.

i've always talked about getting into shape but never putting any action behind those empty words. with all the time i have on my hands, why not sacrifice a little gaming time and putting it towards making myself healthy. for one thing i remember from my Ottawa days that working out kinda quashes the appetite or gives you a sense of 'bodily conscience', or 'stomach alarm'. also now that i'm nearing the over-the-hill mark, i figure i better get that metabolism a kick-start.

i was reading an article that said that working out in the morning, right after an 8-12 hour 'fast' is good. apparently something about how the body is low on some chemical that is needed for energy, and as a result the body uses the fat instead of that chemical. well, i'm not really that fat, tho i have fairly big, albeit subtly big, belly. and butt, i think my bum is big, at least it is, according to my mom.

officially i am cutting out Manchu Wok from my diet and replacing it with Subway. i usually have the Wok on Thursdays. maybe.. well i still have mcdonald's 2 times a week. would it be better to replace mcd's instead? the thing is the Wok meal costs about the same as a submarine, whereas the McD's meals are dirt cheap.

i am about to eat instant noodles with dumpling and watercress. WATERCRESS? i looked that up and it says "Any of several related aquatic plants". Gee, that says a lot doesn't it. it's leftovers from the hot pot. holy cow.. i typed that 3 times and kept typing "hoptop" by accident..

Until next time, this is..

Today at church it seemed to me like the speaker didn't properly prepare for his sermon because he was dragging on those long sentences that you use when you try to reach the word count for a paper or essay in highschool. He seemed to ramble on and on and only got out 2 points.

In Vegas, my family goes to a church called South Hill Church Community, which is weird since here it's Toronto Chinese Community Church. They have Church and Community flip-flopped. The worship team at South Hills is quite good. The leader is a big Chris Tomlin fan so that helps. Secondly their drummer, apparently finished second in a national drummer competition. He's unbelievable, and he shows how much he enjoys when he plays, beam from ear to ear. The main pastor is Brett Johnson. His message is very brief and simple, but he gets the point across and they are very applicable lessons. Also they had this "Gospel Mystery Box", where a kid would put a secret household item or toy, and on Sunday, they'd gather at the front, and the pastor would have to open the box, and deliver a quick sermon for the kids, and use that object in his lesson. Pretty creative..

Tonight we had small group at my place. It took a bit of procrastinating to finish cleaning my place up. Yam brought an electric plate stove thingie and veggies and meat, and we had hot pot. It was pretty good.. I can't believe I don't have any vinegar..

There were 5 of us. Nancy, Duncan, Gladys, Carrie, and yours truly.

Aside: I am truly blessed by the friends I have in here in Toronto. Definitely my most cherished times are these, spent with my fellow servants of Christ. Each week I look forward to Fridays and Sundays, they are the highlights of my week.

Afterwards, we headed out to PacMall to have bbt with Ina. She's flying back down tomorrow morning. I stopped having tapioca whenever i go for bbt. In fact I dunno why i still called it bbt. It should be called ljt (lichee jelly tea). But seriously, no one would understand what i was talking about..

--- sports ---

as i predicted, indy got by denver. i used to be a bronco's fan, until Jake Plummer came along. I've never liked this kid. Nobody in the history of the league has had as bad of a interception-to-touchdown ratio (not counting this season), and still remained in the NFL. To me that says he was given one too many chances to play. So that said, I don't believe in "the snake", and I think he doesn't deserve to play in this league.

I'm a little miffed by the recent performance of Mr. Brandon Stokley. A great talent that did little or nothing, waits until I've completely forgotten him and then starts beasting.

also as i predicted, Favre beat the Seahawks. With the recent death of his father, I believe not only is he fired up but the team as well want this bad, just for him. Crappy teams can win when they have the proper motivation, so a team like the Packers are extremely dangerous. I didn't watch the game, but looking at the boxscore it looks like it was a good game. It's funny for Mike Holmgren to have been in two hard fought battles (think GB vs. 49ers a few years ago, Holmgren's last game with the Pack), and lose them both.

i was wrong about Dallas, although at the same time, was right that without establishing the run they'd have no chance.

two things:

firstly, on my plane ride home from Phoenix (it was a connection flight). I sat next to a young boy who kept asking me questions non-stop. I didn't mind so much except at one point i felt like sleeping but he kept on going. the thing is though, on the other side of the boy was his older sister, probably around 15-16 years old (the kid was about 11, although i never asked).

after a barrage of questions, she turned to him and told him to be quiet and leave "the man" alone.

haha. that shocked me. sure, legally i am a man, at 25 years old, i'm well past the legal definition of a man. i don't know why but i still feel like a kid and refer to people my age as kids as well. now if she had said to "leave that guy alone", then that would've been fine.

gosh.. i'm a man. maybe i should start behaving like one?

secondly, i was reading an article in an entertainment magazine from Vegas. there was an article about the goo goo dolls, one of my favorites. they talked about how most of the dolls' songs invoke vivid memories from various parts of our lives. i thought about that and i think the author is right. if i think about songs like Name, Slide, Black Balloon, Here Is Gone, Iris, Dizzy, Broadway, they all invoke memories of my past. i guess i could say that if the Dolls released a greatest hits album, it would be the soundtrack of my adolescence. That's pretty wild..

= sports = (seriously, don't read this if you don't follow the NFL)

the US covers football extensively, (it's like their hockey).

just a quick flip on the nfl playoffs.

i've been cheering for the Vikings and Seahawks this year. i'm a sucker for high octane offenses and teams with no defense at all. they're fun to watch. however, they don't win unless they're perfect, so Vikings missed the playoffs. i've been scouting the Seahawks for the last couple of seasons, and I think this is the year they could make some noise. Next year will probably be their year as Holmgren finally has his offense, they just need to work on defense over the offseason.

initial predictions is that the packers will probably beat the seahawks and force me to cheer for the pack. that's okay though, i'd love to see Favre make a run for the bowl.

that said, i believe it will be Rams or the Panthers coming out of the NFC. The Panthers are a lot like the Ravens, they have a good running game and strong defense. I like the cowboys and bill parcells, but they are very young and inexperienced.

Philly. They remind me of the Pats two years ago when they won it all. The downfall of this team is Donovan McNabb. McNabb is a far superior QB to Tom Brady, and I think ultimately he will hinder this team from going deep into the playoffs. Doesn't make sense right? Philly is McNabb, whereas that NE team was just a big team of no-bodies. McNabb will take it upon himself to perform, and he will feel pressured to get things done on his own. He'll put the team on his shoulders and carry the team. The trouble is, he can't afford to rely on the players around him like Brady did that year. You heard it here first.. Philly will choke.

I'm an NFC type of guy. I'll cheer for any team that makes it to the finals, other than the Panthers. Imagine a Panthers/Ravens SB? Booooooring!


in the AFC i like the Colts but i see the Ravens as a definite force. If they can by some miracle get past the might titans, i could see them reach the finals and possibly win it all. the trouble is, Tennessee is for real this year, not like in previuos times when they squeaked into the playoffs or won by some miraculous play. they're actually really good this year. McNair played through the pain for once in his life.

The Colt's hopes lie in Manning's ability to step up in the playoffs, which he's previously been unable to do. I have a feeling this is the year Manning finally gets this monkey off his back.

Everyone talks about Tom Brady and the Pats. I have never liked Tom Brady because I've always felt he gets undeserved credit. He is the type of QB who keeps his team in games because he doesn't do anything. And the reason he doesn't do anything, is because if he does something, he'll likely make a huge error. He is the modern day Troy Aikmen.

Pats had a relatively easy schedule this year, and finished 14-2. They have basically the same team as the past 2 years minus a few key defensive players. 1 year they won the SB, the other year they sucked. How do you explain two identical teams, won winning the SB and the other year sucking, and then being really good again?


There are too many great teams in the AFC this year. Ravens, Colts, Titans.. even the Chiefs all have good enough teams to beat any of the NFC teams. They're like the western conference of the NBA. Another reason to cheer for the NFC.


The very truth is I haven't followed the NFL as closely as in previous years. I've been known to make scoring predictions but I can't do that this year because I just don't know enough to make a guess. As with every year, thousands of experts make their early predictions and 99% of them get it wrong.

My pick is the Rams vs. Titans in a rematch.

Ah.. home again.

Las Vegas, Days 7-11

It snowed last night and when I woke up the rooftops and front "lawns" (there's no grass.. it's just gravel) was covered in snow. My family had never seen snow in Vegas so it was a treat for everyone. Surprisingly I heard it's warm in Toronto today. As if the cold weather has made its way towards me and is chasing me.

Not alot has gone on since I last posted. I've finished 3 computers games. Halo, Tron 2.0, and I just finished Call of Duty a few moments ago. Of the three, Tron was the most fun and interesting.

It was Madame Toussad's, not Tussan. A-Mei was in town, she performed at the.. Rio? I don't remember now. I didn't go. For a brief 1-2 months I was a fan. But not anymore.

My grandfather went through some weird stages, a few days ago his face became very red and it was like he was having a fever, or possibly even a minor stroke. For a good 10 minutes he had food in his mouth and he wasn't chewing or even speaking, although he was still responding to us. Then yesterday he started crying when he wanted more milk. My dad was a little scared but he poured him some more and he stopped crying.

Yesterday we went to a sushi restaurant (buffet) called Blue Wave. $22/person (ouch!). My brother went there for his birthday a few months ago, and threw up afterwards because he ate so much. Since then he'd been raving about the restaurant and how I should go. So we went. It was really disappointing. It turns out that they "ran out" of salmon. Imagine, sushi with no salmon. How devastating!

I got a good pic of the vasectomy.com billboard. There is also another ad, that says 'reverse vasectomy'. The funny thing is it also says "guaranteed or your money back". Hahah..

There are a lot of Hummers in Vegas. I've seen at least 40. Also a lot of Cadillac Escalade's, you know, the big trucks that all the big stars drive. And quite a few Corvettes. No sup-ed up Civics here.

..

My heart sank when I received news of Eric. I was both surprised and deeply saddened. It didn't fully sink in until last night I was lying in bed thinking about how awful it must be for Nicole, I had trouble sleeping, thinking about how she must feel during this ordeal. For him, I pray he isn't in pain or turmoil. I have no idea what the person goes through during a coma. Is it a sleep state, or is it a dream state? Is he constantly trying to wake up and being unable to, or is he completely unaware of it? Mostly I pray for Nicole and his sister and parents. It is the worst feeling when you want to help someone and feel helpless because there's nothing you can do.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Today we all got up pretty late (8:30am). We all wake up fairly early here because the house is brand new and there are no blinds, so when the sun comes out, it gets way too bright.

We went to The Orleans hotel to watch Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. It was pretty good. I cried a few times, all tears of joy. They changed a lot of things from the books, but it was still pretty good. The audience applauded after Legolas' big oliphant performance. Also just before the movie started a perky mom yelled out "MERRY CHRISTMAS" to everyone. Americans rock. There's no "happy holidays" out here. It's Christmas time, plain and simple.

Yesterday we went to the Christmas service at South Hills Church Community, where my family normally worships. It was a packed house. They rent out the gym at a school called Bill Carter. I'm not sure who Bill Carter is.. The service was quite good.. everyone was all dressed up. I was in my normally ghetto travelling clothing! Haha. Come to think of it, all my clothes are pretty ghetto. Maybe I need a change in wardrobe..

Anyway after LOTR we went to the Venetian hotel on the strip. My bro got us 4 free tickets to see Madame Tussan's Wax Museum. I'll post pics after I get home. They were really realistic!

By the time we got home, it was 6pm, too late to cook and my grandparents were starving. So we hurried out to the nearest place to eat. Unfortunately, it was Silverton's Hotel Casino. Their buffet has got to be the worst buffet I have ever eaten. I was starving, and yet when i got my plate and went to get food, I was totally stumped. It was worse than a school cafeteria.. $14/person for pure crap. That's US dollars..

Oh, for Christmas I got a new pair of shoes. Nike walkers.. pretty nice. They look a big goofy but they're really comfortable!

Las Vegas, Days 2-5

Las Vegas is a fun city, but really only *fun* if you're a non-believer going on a wild gambling, drinking and sexapade. Of course then for me, it's just the bright lights and being with family. And laughing at the hilarious sex billboards. One of them which I still haven't gotten a picture of, is this giant white billbard with the title "vasectomy.com", with the caption "it's easier than you think" underneath. Haha..

I saw Roy's buddy, (the white tiger) at The Mirage, The Bellagio, Caesar Palace, Treasure Island. They're all just hotels with casino's and expensive shows which I can't afford. Outside along the strip, there's funny little latino guys handing out "business" cards, which show naked girls and phone numbers. The Bellagio has a fountain that's supposed to move around with a song that is playing, but I went during the day and that show only goes during the night. Also at the Mirage there is a water/show volcano, which also runs at night. Treasure Island has a big pirate ship with scantily clad women dancing on it. Also at night.

I'm hoping to catch it all one of these days.. and get good pictures.

Oh yeah, I bought a new digital camera. Olympus Stylus 400. I was just going to buy the 300 but my dad told me "don't be cheap, Brian". I also got a 256 mb card for it.. The camera is almost the same as my old one, so no learning curve..

What else.. I went to a few buffets now. The food is really cheap here, but the food is also really bad quality. Whereas in Toronto when you stop eating at a buffet because you feel satisfyingly full, in Vegas you stop because you think you're gonna be sick (before you're full). It's a different sensation.

I saw Red Rock Canyon, on our way to visit my dad at work yesterday. It was breathtaking. Massive mountainss of red rock surrounded by white, and regular grey. While I was standing at one of the lookout points I started to sing "Wondrous Works". It goes:

Looking at His Wonderous Works
I stand, Amazed in awe.
How can any person doubt that
He is God?

Since nature sings out its praises
That I ought to know
To share in this grand worship to the Lord

Well.. those are probably wrong.. but close? My dad works in this tiny little shack, while his real office is still being built. The back of the office has a small jail cell. Pretty cool..

There are more "In-n-out" and "Jack In The Box" burger joints than McD's here.. Btw, in In-N-Out burgers are amazing...

Las Vegas - Day 1

The flight left a little late because they had to de-ice the wings. But all in all it was a good flight. I got a window seat and we got to see Santa Clause 2. Pretty silly movie, but it had a nice ending..

As the plane was landing, you could see "the Strip". The airport was right beside it.. I could see the big MGM Grand hotel, the big Pyramid thing. The city of Las Vegas was surprisingly larger than I expected. Going in I thought it would be the Strip, and then desert. But really there's actually a small little city here!

The first thing I saw when I came out of the plane was slot machines. Slot machines everywhere! People were actually using them! I couldn't imagine, how could you get off a plane and just start gambling right away. Or maybe when you're flying away you need that last *fix* before you leave. How silly is that..

It was big hugs all around when we met in the baggage claim area.

I dunno for me it was weird seeing the family again, and it was weird on the ride home, looking around and seeing the bright city lights. They had a lot of partial nudity on the billboards.. Las Vegas must be the most liberal city of the US. Also in the US, Mariah Carey, and Seinfeld. Too bad the shows are so darned expensive.

The weather is nice, it was around 10pm PST, and I had my head out the window as my dad was driving. Not for very long though, it's not *that* warm. Still, pretty nice..

When we got to the house, I realized what a big place it was. The house is a mansion.. I mean it is big. If any of you have been to my house in TO, it's nothing compared to this house. It could just be the architecture. It's much more "grandeur". It reminds me of Tim's house in Kanata, only bigger (but no basement, so all in all probably smaller).

My mom said that in Vegas if it rains for more than 10 minutes, there's a flood.. LOL

As I was saying, house is pretty massive. They have a giant screen tv, and all kinds of stuff. The place seems too big, like it needs more people. They should have at least 2-3 more people living here. Maybe me and my future wife.. hehehe. They built a bedroom for me, and the washroom has two sinks..

The water here is soft.. when you soap up, you can't rinse it all off.. it's so weird. My bro says they use half the amount of soap he used to use. It just doesn't wash off..

At night, it was super cold. They forgot to open up the heat vent in my room, and I was so cold. It was like camping, you know that feeling of coldness at around 4-5am? That's what it was like, all night long. In the morning I opened my door and went into the sitting room and slept there.. It was way warmer.

Today we're planning on going to the Strip at night. Actually I'm glad to get this outta the way. After all, it's Sin City. It's the last place I want to be. If it were my preference, I'd rather fly them all to TO and celebrate Christmas there. But this is how it's gonna be.. so I have to live with it.