Today is April 24, 2008. I'm getting married in 23 days... gasp! For the next little while, I'll blog a bit about my general thoughts as this day approaches, amongst other stuff.
Although there are some who have told me marriage is the best, the vast majority of people tell me it's not as great as you think it's gonna be. I've heard a lot of people say you have to really work hard at it. Maybe I'm crazy but I'm really looking forward to that hard work.
My general impression of wedding planning is that it's a bit too over-the-top. I think most brides would emphasize that it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and the biggest day of their life. Whereas some guys, myself included, would say that it's just one day. Why are we spending this much on ONE day?
That was me about 4-5 months ago.
I think weddings are a magical time for the bride so they are generally more involved in the planning process because they care more. The groom is kind of just there, making sure they don't spend too much, but also his role is pretty much to keep a hands-off approach but close enough to ensure his bride's happiness throughout this process. And providing reassurance that it isn't too much.
For me, I've been pretty much hands off for most of it. I've seen the wedding more as a formality, just something we need to get done for the sake of family, friends, God, and that whole official-ness of it. Many times we've actually both considered just eloping because of all the pain it would avoid. But in the end we're definitely both looking forward to this big day.
That's not to say I don't plan on indulging on this day, soaking in the moment and making the most of this once-in-a-life-time experience.
April 24, 2008
April 23, 2008
American politics
Can't seem to avoid this stuff, as it's brought up every day at lunch time in our lunchroom. If you're eating lunch with my co-workers, you pretty much have no choice to talk politics at some point, which kind of annoys me because it's not even OUR politics.
Anyhow, I came across this video that I'm sure many of you have already seen. It's called "Yes We Can" by Barrack Obama.. I thought it was pretty cool:
Hahaha... oops.. my bad. I am so sorry for that. Here's the real one.
Anyhow, I came across this video that I'm sure many of you have already seen. It's called "Yes We Can" by Barrack Obama.. I thought it was pretty cool:
Hahaha... oops.. my bad. I am so sorry for that. Here's the real one.
April 22, 2008
Asparagus Mystery
There's something strange I noticed a few years ago while eating asparagus. It was around the time when I had dusted off the Hamilton Beach Grill I had. Someone had brought asparagus to a barbecue I attended and all they did was put olive oil and salt on it to season it.
It tasted amazing so I went home and did it myself.
The strange thing was, for the rest of the evening my pee smelled really gross. Kind of like rotten cabbage. I didn't think much of it until about a few months later, I was over at Pastor Vic's place for a BBQ, and we were all eating kabob's, and I offered Mike some asparagus, and he said "No thanks, I don't want my pee to smell funny afterwards."
Since then I've always noted the smell of pee after asparagus. It's quite a phenomenon. I even told my mom about it but she didn't believe me because it never happened to them.
As it turns out, asparagus has amino acids, whereupon if they can be broken down by your stomach enzymes, one component called "methyl mercaptan" really really smells. And only 40% of the world's population experience this.
Apparently scientists are split when it comes the actual cause of the smell (why some people smell it and some don't). Some believe that more than half the world's population lacks the genetic enzyme required to break down the amino acids to methyl mercaptan, while scientists believe that everyone can do this but only 40% of the world's population have the genes to be able to smell it in the urine.
This is pretty fascinating to me. This means that some scientists believe that two people could be standing side-by-side in a bathroom and one would smell the awful pungent smell of asparagus pee, while the other wouldn't smell a thing..
Does your pee smell especially worse when you eat asparagus?
It tasted amazing so I went home and did it myself.
The strange thing was, for the rest of the evening my pee smelled really gross. Kind of like rotten cabbage. I didn't think much of it until about a few months later, I was over at Pastor Vic's place for a BBQ, and we were all eating kabob's, and I offered Mike some asparagus, and he said "No thanks, I don't want my pee to smell funny afterwards."
Since then I've always noted the smell of pee after asparagus. It's quite a phenomenon. I even told my mom about it but she didn't believe me because it never happened to them.
As it turns out, asparagus has amino acids, whereupon if they can be broken down by your stomach enzymes, one component called "methyl mercaptan" really really smells. And only 40% of the world's population experience this.
Apparently scientists are split when it comes the actual cause of the smell (why some people smell it and some don't). Some believe that more than half the world's population lacks the genetic enzyme required to break down the amino acids to methyl mercaptan, while scientists believe that everyone can do this but only 40% of the world's population have the genes to be able to smell it in the urine.
This is pretty fascinating to me. This means that some scientists believe that two people could be standing side-by-side in a bathroom and one would smell the awful pungent smell of asparagus pee, while the other wouldn't smell a thing..
Does your pee smell especially worse when you eat asparagus?
April 16, 2008
Blog killer
Can a blog be killed? I think so.
How can you kill a blog? Take the blogger, give him someone better to talk to than a computer. Give him a friendship that lasts forever, someone to hold hands with, someone to love and who loves him back. Someone else to shares his deepest secrets with, his burdens and also his joys. When you can do this to the blogger, the blog dies.
This blog is nearing its end.
How can you kill a blog? Take the blogger, give him someone better to talk to than a computer. Give him a friendship that lasts forever, someone to hold hands with, someone to love and who loves him back. Someone else to shares his deepest secrets with, his burdens and also his joys. When you can do this to the blogger, the blog dies.
This blog is nearing its end.
April 09, 2008
April 07, 2008
Blue Jays Drunkfest
I think they serve too much alcohol at these games.
On Friday we went to the Blue Jays' home opener at the Rogers Centre (it's not the Skydome anymore!) with the small group. Organized by one of the SG members who happens to be a big baseball fan.
The last time I went to a baseball game, it was with Euhan of all people. He had gotten free tickets at work and we went because he'd never been to Skydome before. We left around the 7th inning because it was so boring.
Friday's game wasn't all the different, except we were in the 500 level and apparently, it's all one huge drinkfest up there. Game, what game right? It's so far away from the field you can't really see anything.
They decided to honor Roberto Alomar before the game, which was nice because I don't think I've been a fan since those days. I couldn't help but feel a bit emotional as they played clips from the glory days. Robbie came out in his usual swagger/walk and thanked the fans. It was pretty nice. But then it just turned south after that. In a surprise move Paul Godfrey decided to also honor Paul Beeston. I have utter respect for the guy, but after you just did Alomar was this the right move? It took a little thunder away from Alomar in my opinion.
Before long the game was underway, and after about 3 hours, we were into the 2nd inning and Ina turned to me and asked "Can we go home now?".
Baseball is by no means a spectator sport. In my opinion, they should play the game with no crowd and record the whole thing, and then show it on television, edited to remove the boring parts. Then they could pretty much play it as a commercial because there's probably only about 45 seconds worth of good footage. I wouldn't mind if they played this commercial several times over the day to get plenty of coverage. But to have it on television, for people to have to pay money to go see this snooze-fest..
You find yourself looking at the scoreboarding every 4 seconds to confirm whether the last pitch was a ball or strike. They've got this board letting you know how fast the pitch was, and whether it was a slider, cutter, curveball, changeup, fastball, knuckleball. This was all they could come up with hoping to entertain you. You could have drinking games to the tune of what pitch was thrown. My monies on a curveball next. No I think it'll be a change up. Drink up, losers -- it was a SLIDER What the hell is a slider anyway? Look, it's Jerry O'Connell falling from the sky!
My biggest question about the evening was why they didn't have replay. It's bad enough that something exciting happens every 15 or 16 hours, but to have no replay means that you have to wait that much longer for something interesting to happen. If you missed it because you were asleep, or too busy reading the little tidbits of bio information of the player at bat, you're going to have to wait until essentially next week to see the next great play. Kinda makes you feel like the guy on Polka Dot Door, missing the Polkaroo for the umpteenth time. "The Polkaroo was here???!? AND I MISSED HIM AGAIN!??!?!?!"
I can't count the number of times we were trying to guess how fast the next pitch was going to be, and we heard the crack of the bat hitting the ball, some cheering, and you look down and realize you just missed the most exciting moment in the past 13 hours. In fact from where we were sitting, even if we WERE paying attention you can't see what is happening. The angle was off and the ball disappeared just below the front row of our section. Our reaction was pretty much based on looking around at the rest of the crowd to see how they reacted. They're cheering, therefore we must cheer! YA!! GO BLUE JAYS!!
Every hit looked like a potential home run from our angle. Every pitch looked exactly the same as the last. We just had to trust the scoreboard to be correct that it was a ball or strike.
Around the 6th inning or so, everyone stood up in our section and a few sections over to the left. Something was happening, only it wasn't on the field. A few sections over to the left, some shirtless dude was pounding away on a guy in a suit. FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! Meanwhile the game is still going on. Some sucker at bat is probably thinking we're all cheering for him -- as if anyone actually cares about the product on the field.
We started seeing rows of people chanting something at the ushers and cops as people were arrested. Then it all died down, and we resumed watching this incredibly boring sport.
About 15 minutes (or what felt more like 30 hours) later, all of sudden everyone was standing again and looking at this same section again. This time, there was a blond with a pink blue jays t-shirt on, standing up, with her hands by her sides getting ready to pull up her shirt. And she did. Boobies. Cheers from the crowd, drunk teenagers all whooped it up, and she pulled her shirt back down and then raised her arms in victory.
Ushers came running again trying to stop it and kick her out, but this time about 2-3 sections were protesting "LET HER STAY! LET HER STAY!". Memories of Growing Pains when Mike Seaver locked himself in his highschool with "Heck no, we won't go!" chants flooded into my head.
Eventually these poor ushers relented, unable to wrestle this girl, who was now hiding behind about 20 of her friends. Then the cops came finally and arrest her, along with several of her accomplices.
From all corners of the dome, people start throwing their "Rally Towels" onto the field. These towels with the old Blue Jays logo and the new logo on it. They gave them out prior to the game and now they had become ammunition for people to throw and protest how boring baseball was. Even the lower bowl got into it, throwing their freebies to the field. You would see an usher go and retrieve one, and just as he turned around to head back to the dugout area, someone else would throw another. This went on for approximately 45 hours.
Then we notice there were 3 ushers in our section, looking around for the unhappy towel throwers, we guessed. We didn't have a bad section with flashers and fighters, but we did have some raucous fans booing anyone who walked up the aisle wearing Red Sox clothing. We also had a lot of "BOSTON SUCKS" and "F___ you Ortize" chants. I even threw in a few of my own "VC Sucks" chants but not loud enough for people to hear, because I'm not a big guy.
Then all of a sudden an usher ran up to a bunch of 13 or 14 year old kids a few rows ahead of us. All through the game we saw them passing this large carton of Tropicana. Being the innocent people we were, we thought "hey look, those kids snuck in a carton of juice to the game, that's smart since the drinks are so expensive here". Turns out it was alcohol. The usher grabbed the carton opened it up and took a big whiff. You could see from his expression it was not freshly squeezed florida oranges in there.
At this point the raining towels were coming down in big droplets of 1 in every 5 seconds. It was really getting crazy.
Then, after another 30 hours of baseball fun, another roar from the crowd. I looked over to the troubled section but everyone was looking down. There were another 2 more morons who had jumped the wall and were running on the field with no shirts. A woman with a bra and a man. These guys are so drunk, they aren't even streaking the right away. The girl got stopped pretty quick but the guy ran out and deked out the guards pretty good. He may have potential as a future CFL runningback. Finally he was tackled by an usher. The crowd was loving it. More towels, bottles and cups go flying.
We put on our jackets and got the hell out of there.
On Friday we went to the Blue Jays' home opener at the Rogers Centre (it's not the Skydome anymore!) with the small group. Organized by one of the SG members who happens to be a big baseball fan.
The last time I went to a baseball game, it was with Euhan of all people. He had gotten free tickets at work and we went because he'd never been to Skydome before. We left around the 7th inning because it was so boring.
Friday's game wasn't all the different, except we were in the 500 level and apparently, it's all one huge drinkfest up there. Game, what game right? It's so far away from the field you can't really see anything.
They decided to honor Roberto Alomar before the game, which was nice because I don't think I've been a fan since those days. I couldn't help but feel a bit emotional as they played clips from the glory days. Robbie came out in his usual swagger/walk and thanked the fans. It was pretty nice. But then it just turned south after that. In a surprise move Paul Godfrey decided to also honor Paul Beeston. I have utter respect for the guy, but after you just did Alomar was this the right move? It took a little thunder away from Alomar in my opinion.
Before long the game was underway, and after about 3 hours, we were into the 2nd inning and Ina turned to me and asked "Can we go home now?".
Baseball is by no means a spectator sport. In my opinion, they should play the game with no crowd and record the whole thing, and then show it on television, edited to remove the boring parts. Then they could pretty much play it as a commercial because there's probably only about 45 seconds worth of good footage. I wouldn't mind if they played this commercial several times over the day to get plenty of coverage. But to have it on television, for people to have to pay money to go see this snooze-fest..
You find yourself looking at the scoreboarding every 4 seconds to confirm whether the last pitch was a ball or strike. They've got this board letting you know how fast the pitch was, and whether it was a slider, cutter, curveball, changeup, fastball, knuckleball. This was all they could come up with hoping to entertain you. You could have drinking games to the tune of what pitch was thrown. My monies on a curveball next. No I think it'll be a change up. Drink up, losers -- it was a SLIDER What the hell is a slider anyway? Look, it's Jerry O'Connell falling from the sky!
My biggest question about the evening was why they didn't have replay. It's bad enough that something exciting happens every 15 or 16 hours, but to have no replay means that you have to wait that much longer for something interesting to happen. If you missed it because you were asleep, or too busy reading the little tidbits of bio information of the player at bat, you're going to have to wait until essentially next week to see the next great play. Kinda makes you feel like the guy on Polka Dot Door, missing the Polkaroo for the umpteenth time. "The Polkaroo was here???!? AND I MISSED HIM AGAIN!??!?!?!"
I can't count the number of times we were trying to guess how fast the next pitch was going to be, and we heard the crack of the bat hitting the ball, some cheering, and you look down and realize you just missed the most exciting moment in the past 13 hours. In fact from where we were sitting, even if we WERE paying attention you can't see what is happening. The angle was off and the ball disappeared just below the front row of our section. Our reaction was pretty much based on looking around at the rest of the crowd to see how they reacted. They're cheering, therefore we must cheer! YA!! GO BLUE JAYS!!
Every hit looked like a potential home run from our angle. Every pitch looked exactly the same as the last. We just had to trust the scoreboard to be correct that it was a ball or strike.
Around the 6th inning or so, everyone stood up in our section and a few sections over to the left. Something was happening, only it wasn't on the field. A few sections over to the left, some shirtless dude was pounding away on a guy in a suit. FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! Meanwhile the game is still going on. Some sucker at bat is probably thinking we're all cheering for him -- as if anyone actually cares about the product on the field.
We started seeing rows of people chanting something at the ushers and cops as people were arrested. Then it all died down, and we resumed watching this incredibly boring sport.
About 15 minutes (or what felt more like 30 hours) later, all of sudden everyone was standing again and looking at this same section again. This time, there was a blond with a pink blue jays t-shirt on, standing up, with her hands by her sides getting ready to pull up her shirt. And she did. Boobies. Cheers from the crowd, drunk teenagers all whooped it up, and she pulled her shirt back down and then raised her arms in victory.
Ushers came running again trying to stop it and kick her out, but this time about 2-3 sections were protesting "LET HER STAY! LET HER STAY!". Memories of Growing Pains when Mike Seaver locked himself in his highschool with "Heck no, we won't go!" chants flooded into my head.
Eventually these poor ushers relented, unable to wrestle this girl, who was now hiding behind about 20 of her friends. Then the cops came finally and arrest her, along with several of her accomplices.
From all corners of the dome, people start throwing their "Rally Towels" onto the field. These towels with the old Blue Jays logo and the new logo on it. They gave them out prior to the game and now they had become ammunition for people to throw and protest how boring baseball was. Even the lower bowl got into it, throwing their freebies to the field. You would see an usher go and retrieve one, and just as he turned around to head back to the dugout area, someone else would throw another. This went on for approximately 45 hours.
Then we notice there were 3 ushers in our section, looking around for the unhappy towel throwers, we guessed. We didn't have a bad section with flashers and fighters, but we did have some raucous fans booing anyone who walked up the aisle wearing Red Sox clothing. We also had a lot of "BOSTON SUCKS" and "F___ you Ortize" chants. I even threw in a few of my own "VC Sucks" chants but not loud enough for people to hear, because I'm not a big guy.
Then all of a sudden an usher ran up to a bunch of 13 or 14 year old kids a few rows ahead of us. All through the game we saw them passing this large carton of Tropicana. Being the innocent people we were, we thought "hey look, those kids snuck in a carton of juice to the game, that's smart since the drinks are so expensive here". Turns out it was alcohol. The usher grabbed the carton opened it up and took a big whiff. You could see from his expression it was not freshly squeezed florida oranges in there.
At this point the raining towels were coming down in big droplets of 1 in every 5 seconds. It was really getting crazy.
Then, after another 30 hours of baseball fun, another roar from the crowd. I looked over to the troubled section but everyone was looking down. There were another 2 more morons who had jumped the wall and were running on the field with no shirts. A woman with a bra and a man. These guys are so drunk, they aren't even streaking the right away. The girl got stopped pretty quick but the guy ran out and deked out the guards pretty good. He may have potential as a future CFL runningback. Finally he was tackled by an usher. The crowd was loving it. More towels, bottles and cups go flying.
We put on our jackets and got the hell out of there.
April 04, 2008
One hurdle at a time
I find that I can't handle more than one big hurdle at a time. There are major things in life that I feel I need to get out of the way before I can do another big thing. Like for instance, a job opportunity came up about half a month ago. I've been just about "okay" with my job and I've been looking for changes. But with the wedding coming up, I feel it's too 'big' of a hurdle for me to jump over while looking for work at the same time. It's a fairly large undertaking to look for a job, apply, get the resume in order and all that.
Another one is planning for Longlac. I've been tasked or asked to lead at least a week of Longlac short term missions for the church this year. I haven't even thought about it for more than maybe 3 hours total in the past 3 months. I just don't have time for it and I don't feel like I can think about it until the wedding is done with.
So for now I'm stuck behind this wedding thing.
There are also different levels of hurdles. Little things would be like if I had to take care of an errand that might only take me an hour to do, but it was something I didn't really like doing, I might put it off until I have taken care of something else that is slightly more stressful. Like if I had to make a presentation at work, I might put off doing the dishes for a week. That kind of thing.
I feel like I need a clean slate before I can perform certain tasks, even if they are simple tasks.
I also feel like I often save tasks to the end, not to procrastinate but rather so that I can do things all together. I find that Ina is the same way when it comes to this. Like for instance I got one of my buddies address so I could send him an invitation, but rather than sending it I'm still holding out for another address. Instead of just mailling it, I want to do them all together. Which is probably a mistake because by waiting this long it will probably be too short notice for the both of them and then neither of them will come.
Another one is planning for Longlac. I've been tasked or asked to lead at least a week of Longlac short term missions for the church this year. I haven't even thought about it for more than maybe 3 hours total in the past 3 months. I just don't have time for it and I don't feel like I can think about it until the wedding is done with.
So for now I'm stuck behind this wedding thing.
There are also different levels of hurdles. Little things would be like if I had to take care of an errand that might only take me an hour to do, but it was something I didn't really like doing, I might put it off until I have taken care of something else that is slightly more stressful. Like if I had to make a presentation at work, I might put off doing the dishes for a week. That kind of thing.
I feel like I need a clean slate before I can perform certain tasks, even if they are simple tasks.
I also feel like I often save tasks to the end, not to procrastinate but rather so that I can do things all together. I find that Ina is the same way when it comes to this. Like for instance I got one of my buddies address so I could send him an invitation, but rather than sending it I'm still holding out for another address. Instead of just mailling it, I want to do them all together. Which is probably a mistake because by waiting this long it will probably be too short notice for the both of them and then neither of them will come.
April 03, 2008
False advertising
...Photoshopping gone terribly, terribly wrong. This cereal is so great, it changes the pigment of your skin!
March 26, 2008
March 20, 2008
Coffee experiment: It's over
The experiments are over. I have had two straight delicious, non-leaking perfect coffees, not too hot or cold, no leaking, no dirty looks from the cashier ladies, no defective lids, and yet, no winners.
One thing I have discovered, though, is my co-worker who sits behind me has won 4 times out of 10 on large cups of coffee. I'm at 1 out of 11, for medium. So bigger is better.
One thing I have discovered, though, is my co-worker who sits behind me has won 4 times out of 10 on large cups of coffee. I'm at 1 out of 11, for medium. So bigger is better.
March 13, 2008
Coffee experiment: Parts 5, 6 & 7
I'll try to make this brief.
Part 5 coffee lid wasn't perforated properly. One side opened as usual but I had to tear the other just to lift it. Right away alarms were going off in my head as I knew I would be writing this blog to tell you that I had lost due to a defective lid.
"Please play again"
Conclusion: If the lid is defective, you are going to lose.
Next coffee, I am pretty sure she gave me cream instead of milk by accident.
"Please play again"
Conclusion: If you don't get what you ordered, you are going to lose.
Today's coffee. Looks like they ran out of milk. I got maybe a drop and she didn't bother opening up a new carton and instead just poured the coffee into maybe 1/4 of the milk I should have received.
"Please play again"
Conclusion: If the Tim Horton's server is too lazy to get more milk, you are going to lose.
Part 5 coffee lid wasn't perforated properly. One side opened as usual but I had to tear the other just to lift it. Right away alarms were going off in my head as I knew I would be writing this blog to tell you that I had lost due to a defective lid.
"Please play again"
Conclusion: If the lid is defective, you are going to lose.
Next coffee, I am pretty sure she gave me cream instead of milk by accident.
"Please play again"
Conclusion: If you don't get what you ordered, you are going to lose.
Today's coffee. Looks like they ran out of milk. I got maybe a drop and she didn't bother opening up a new carton and instead just poured the coffee into maybe 1/4 of the milk I should have received.
"Please play again"
Conclusion: If the Tim Horton's server is too lazy to get more milk, you are going to lose.
March 10, 2008
Coffee experiment: Part 4
As usual we went for coffee and I got my coffee. The thing is my friend was going to redeem his free coffee, so I didn't know if that affects mine or not. I tried to act like I didn't know him when we got to the front of the line, because you never know right?
As we were walking back to the office I noticed that the coffee kept dripping out. Little drops fell into my hand and I'm thinking oh man, this coffee cup is defective. It must be a loser.
I got upstairs to my desk and opened it up, and holy crap it was full right to the brim. The miniscus was all that was keeping it from spilling! What in the world.
I took a big whiff of it, it smelled fine, it wasn't as hot as I'd like it to be but it tasted fine as well.
"Please play again"
Conclusion: If the cup is leaking or filled too high, you are going to lose.
As we were walking back to the office I noticed that the coffee kept dripping out. Little drops fell into my hand and I'm thinking oh man, this coffee cup is defective. It must be a loser.
I got upstairs to my desk and opened it up, and holy crap it was full right to the brim. The miniscus was all that was keeping it from spilling! What in the world.
I took a big whiff of it, it smelled fine, it wasn't as hot as I'd like it to be but it tasted fine as well.
"Please play again"
Conclusion: If the cup is leaking or filled too high, you are going to lose.
March 06, 2008
Freebird! Freeeeeebirrrrrrrrd!
I remember listening to Freebird for the first time in my life. I was standing in front of my television with a plastic guitar controller strapped to me. My brother and I had been taking turns on songs to finish up Guitar Hero, and we had done it, we'd finished the game. The game called for an encore and was preparing us for one final big finish song, and they said it was a song called "Freebird". Of course neither of knew what it was, so we were excited. The game kept asking:
"Are you ready?"
"Are you sure you're ready?"
"Are you really sure?"
And we were thinking YES damnit, let's play it!
So I'm playing the song, for about 5 minutes I was there, playing the guitar, and it was a joke. Turns out Freebird is a slow song by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Maybe it gained popularity because of it's lyrics? It's a slow song so it's a little bit anti-climatic. After all the songs we thrashed our way through, to end it all with this soft song, it's nice but it's not what we had hoped for.
So 5 minutes into the song, I'm getting bored and wondering if maybe I can transfer the guitar over to my brother and let him go for a few minutes. But then, hello, it starts to speed up a little bit. It's getting faster. Next thing I know, the tempo quickens and I'm playing a short solo, only it's not a short solo, it's a long song, like 2 minutes. Then 3. Then 5. What's this, a 10 minute solo? I'm going crazy now, my brother is like "what the heck.. does it end?", and I'm like "OMG this song rocks". I'm playing this impossible solo that I can barely keep up with and it lasts forever. It's like a crazy mother of a song, 15 minutes in total and the second half sounds nothing like the first. Just when you think it's over, it starts again. The two of us are going nuts. What the heck is going on, does it ever end?
Finally, the song ends. We erupt in excitement over what has just transpired. I feel like I just ran the marathon. My fingers are exhausted and I'm sweating like a hog. We go from "What the heck is Freebird" to "OH EM GEE.. Freebird is the best EVAR!".
"Are you ready?"
"Are you sure you're ready?"
"Are you really sure?"
And we were thinking YES damnit, let's play it!
So I'm playing the song, for about 5 minutes I was there, playing the guitar, and it was a joke. Turns out Freebird is a slow song by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Maybe it gained popularity because of it's lyrics? It's a slow song so it's a little bit anti-climatic. After all the songs we thrashed our way through, to end it all with this soft song, it's nice but it's not what we had hoped for.
So 5 minutes into the song, I'm getting bored and wondering if maybe I can transfer the guitar over to my brother and let him go for a few minutes. But then, hello, it starts to speed up a little bit. It's getting faster. Next thing I know, the tempo quickens and I'm playing a short solo, only it's not a short solo, it's a long song, like 2 minutes. Then 3. Then 5. What's this, a 10 minute solo? I'm going crazy now, my brother is like "what the heck.. does it end?", and I'm like "OMG this song rocks". I'm playing this impossible solo that I can barely keep up with and it lasts forever. It's like a crazy mother of a song, 15 minutes in total and the second half sounds nothing like the first. Just when you think it's over, it starts again. The two of us are going nuts. What the heck is going on, does it ever end?
Finally, the song ends. We erupt in excitement over what has just transpired. I feel like I just ran the marathon. My fingers are exhausted and I'm sweating like a hog. We go from "What the heck is Freebird" to "OH EM GEE.. Freebird is the best EVAR!".
March 05, 2008
The coffee experiment: Part 3
My efforts to make a completely ridiculous conclusions from Tim Horton's Roll Up The Rim To Win continues. Yesterday I went to redeem a free coffee, being careful not to reveal that I had the winning rim until after they had selected the cup and poured the coffee. Because hey, you never know right?
I opened up the lid to take that initial first whiff. It smelled burnt. It smelled like they had used burnt roasted beans or something, but either way it just did not smell right. Now if you take into account the conclusion from Part 2, you know what I was thinking -- "this coffee doesn't smell right, therefore it will not taste good, and therefore it will not be a winner".
But amazingly its taste did not agree with its smell -- the coffee tasted fine. In fact it was better than fine, it was nearly 90% as good as the the winning cup. So there I was thinking, the coffee tasted fine, but it didn't smell right. As far as I could remember, the winning cup of coffee smelled normal. I mean, it's not like I noticed anything peculiar about it, right? What does this mean?
Conclusion: If your Tim Horton's coffee doesn't smell right, it is not going to be a winner.
In other news, this is what happens to your body when you drink a Coke.
I opened up the lid to take that initial first whiff. It smelled burnt. It smelled like they had used burnt roasted beans or something, but either way it just did not smell right. Now if you take into account the conclusion from Part 2, you know what I was thinking -- "this coffee doesn't smell right, therefore it will not taste good, and therefore it will not be a winner".
But amazingly its taste did not agree with its smell -- the coffee tasted fine. In fact it was better than fine, it was nearly 90% as good as the the winning cup. So there I was thinking, the coffee tasted fine, but it didn't smell right. As far as I could remember, the winning cup of coffee smelled normal. I mean, it's not like I noticed anything peculiar about it, right? What does this mean?
Conclusion: If your Tim Horton's coffee doesn't smell right, it is not going to be a winner.
In other news, this is what happens to your body when you drink a Coke.
March 04, 2008
The coffee experiment: Part 2
I'm trying to think of the last time my coffee tasted as good as it did today, and I think the last time was actually when I decided to try some Country Style coffee about a month ago. It tasted sweeter than usual.. like the sweet taste of victory.
Anyway, today's results were rather astonishing because they in fact somewhat contradict my previous findings. The coffee, as I mentioned, was fantastic. But what's surprising was, I didn't even check the result until after I finished drinking. So in all likelihood it COULD have been a losing cup. But it wasn't -- it was a winning cup.
WIN / GAGNEZ UN CAFE / COFFEE
Conclusion: Winning cups of coffee taste better.
Anyway, today's results were rather astonishing because they in fact somewhat contradict my previous findings. The coffee, as I mentioned, was fantastic. But what's surprising was, I didn't even check the result until after I finished drinking. So in all likelihood it COULD have been a losing cup. But it wasn't -- it was a winning cup.
WIN / GAGNEZ UN CAFE / COFFEE
Conclusion: Winning cups of coffee taste better.
February 29, 2008
Doing fine dot org
If you haven't noticed by now, there's a huge ugly ad on the side bar under "Sponsor". I didn't design it so don't look at me. It's for a web forum, who's advertising agency contacted me to help them advertise. It seems the forum is all about people who are doing fine, which is actually kind of refreshing when you consider the majority of web forums out there are where people go to complain about something, argue with eachother, or sell things.
Anyway, these guys contacted me a week ago and I figured hey, why not. In return (if there are indeed folks reading this blog) they will give me a substantially huge reward, likely in the form of pennies. We're still in test stages to determine whether it is worth it for them -- so click it now!
*By the way, please don't abuse this. They do have ways of knowing if you are abusing it.
Anyway, these guys contacted me a week ago and I figured hey, why not. In return (if there are indeed folks reading this blog) they will give me a substantially huge reward, likely in the form of pennies. We're still in test stages to determine whether it is worth it for them -- so click it now!
*By the way, please don't abuse this. They do have ways of knowing if you are abusing it.
February 28, 2008
Amazing discovery
I made an amazing and shocking discovery yesterday. I'm going to do a little more experimentation, but I thought it'd be interesting to post my initial results below. As we've always done for the past few months, at 2pm, a co-worker and I went downstairs to get coffee in order to beat the afternoon food coma. We lined up at Tim Horton's as usual, and I ordered and received a medium regular coffee, with milk and sugar. We went back upstairs and parted ways as we arrived at my desk. I put my coffee down on the table.
I took off the lid of the coffee, and poured the coffee into a mug. The reason I wanted to do this was so that I could take an early peek at the rim, to see if I had won a prize. So I rolled up the rim.. and saw the words "Please play again".
Now here is where it gets really crazy. (Warning: Do not continue reading if you have a weak stomach.)
I grabbed my mug to take a sip of coffee..
...and discovered...
THE COFFEE DIDN'T TASTE AS GOOD AS IT NORMALLY DOES!!!!!
Possible conclusion: Tim Horton's coffee loses some taste when you already know you've lost!
February 27, 2008
Songs that remind me of..
Ina and I were trying to think of good romantic songs to use for our "first dance" at our wedding, but it seemed like every song I came up with, she said no to because that song "already belonged to someone else". I couldn't help but feel a little jealous about this...
Anyway, it got me thinking about how certain songs remind me of things, maybe not people in general, but of moments or milestones in my life. Over the years I could put together an interesting little soundtrack of my memories.
"One and One" by Robert Miles
This song reminds me of my 1st and 2nd years in university. My roommate (and highschool pal) Keith and I would always play this song just before every exam. At first it was more coincidence -- playing mindless dance music was the only type of music that mindnumbing enough that it didn't make us think or lose focus, but also repetitive enough that it kept us alert. But then as exams came and went, we'd play it more and more, until it became part of our ritual.
I heard this in a store a year ago and feelings of exam anxieties came over me. It was pretty eerie.
"Open The Eyes of My Heart" by Sonicflood
As overplayed as this song has gotten over the years, I will not forget this song because it was the song that motivated me into buying a guitar and teaching myself how to play guitar. I'd heard it many times before but there was this one time when we were in Ottawa at The Metropolitan Bible church. Every month they had worship night at "The Met" as they called it. Anyway there was just that one time when they played it there that it struck the heart of me, opened my eyes -- to the wonderful sound of acoustic guitar. I remember sitting in the front row, this guy Geordi or something, he played it, and as I sang and looked up (they had a skylight) I was looking into the sky -- it was pretty amazing. I would be forever changed by that one evening of music. I bought my first guitar a week later.
"Under The Bridge" by Red Hot Chili Peppers
I'm trying to think of a song that I've recited more times than this one.. I can't think of any. First time I heard it was at chinese school at Agincourt Collegiate, some kid had brought his ghetto blaster and were blasting this song in the hallway. It must have been grade 7 or 8. I'm trying to remember how I could have memorized the words to the song without having a tape of it.. but nevertheless I did memorize it and years later I still find myself singing it to myself.
It's one of those solitudinal ballads that you find yourself singing when you're bored, lonely or sad. Which to me seems like something I experienced a lot as a pre-teen and adolescent.
Anything by Mariah Carey
I learned to sing by singing along with Mariah Carey songs. Well.. maybe that not the full truth -- I learned to sing from being part of the T3C Children's Choir. That, combined with uber musical genes from my parents made me the singer I am today. Which isn't saying a whole lot.. but..
I remember many a night, broken hearted or "in love", where I would sit at my desk with my head phones on blasting Mariah Carey songs. Or when I was home alone, I'd belt out her tunes as her CDs played in the background. Showering I find is another great time to sing Mariah.
..
I guess it's just fun reminiscing of old days, and seeing how there's songs that just stick with you when they happen to be playing during certain moments in your life.
Anyway, it got me thinking about how certain songs remind me of things, maybe not people in general, but of moments or milestones in my life. Over the years I could put together an interesting little soundtrack of my memories.
"One and One" by Robert Miles
This song reminds me of my 1st and 2nd years in university. My roommate (and highschool pal) Keith and I would always play this song just before every exam. At first it was more coincidence -- playing mindless dance music was the only type of music that mindnumbing enough that it didn't make us think or lose focus, but also repetitive enough that it kept us alert. But then as exams came and went, we'd play it more and more, until it became part of our ritual.
I heard this in a store a year ago and feelings of exam anxieties came over me. It was pretty eerie.
"Open The Eyes of My Heart" by Sonicflood
As overplayed as this song has gotten over the years, I will not forget this song because it was the song that motivated me into buying a guitar and teaching myself how to play guitar. I'd heard it many times before but there was this one time when we were in Ottawa at The Metropolitan Bible church. Every month they had worship night at "The Met" as they called it. Anyway there was just that one time when they played it there that it struck the heart of me, opened my eyes -- to the wonderful sound of acoustic guitar. I remember sitting in the front row, this guy Geordi or something, he played it, and as I sang and looked up (they had a skylight) I was looking into the sky -- it was pretty amazing. I would be forever changed by that one evening of music. I bought my first guitar a week later.
"Under The Bridge" by Red Hot Chili Peppers
I'm trying to think of a song that I've recited more times than this one.. I can't think of any. First time I heard it was at chinese school at Agincourt Collegiate, some kid had brought his ghetto blaster and were blasting this song in the hallway. It must have been grade 7 or 8. I'm trying to remember how I could have memorized the words to the song without having a tape of it.. but nevertheless I did memorize it and years later I still find myself singing it to myself.
It's one of those solitudinal ballads that you find yourself singing when you're bored, lonely or sad. Which to me seems like something I experienced a lot as a pre-teen and adolescent.
Anything by Mariah Carey
I learned to sing by singing along with Mariah Carey songs. Well.. maybe that not the full truth -- I learned to sing from being part of the T3C Children's Choir. That, combined with uber musical genes from my parents made me the singer I am today. Which isn't saying a whole lot.. but..
I remember many a night, broken hearted or "in love", where I would sit at my desk with my head phones on blasting Mariah Carey songs. Or when I was home alone, I'd belt out her tunes as her CDs played in the background. Showering I find is another great time to sing Mariah.
..
I guess it's just fun reminiscing of old days, and seeing how there's songs that just stick with you when they happen to be playing during certain moments in your life.
February 13, 2008
Family vs fame
Over a month ago I pleaded with Roger Clemens to just be honest. Be honest to himself, his family, and America. If he had listened to me and done this back then, he might still have a respectable reputation. But now as he sits before a grand jury, with three different testimonies from different people that directly contradict with his own, you realize that it's no longer about his reputation -- it's about jail time. Perjury is a major offense. You can't just apologize and go home to live the rest of your life.
You almost feel sorry for the guy because he really just got in way over his head. He kept thinking about his reputation as one of the best pitchers in the history of baseball -- instead of his wife and 4 sons. That's right Roger, you are better off as a shamed pitcher than a father in jail. Think about it. You shouldn't have to think very long about this one.
--
Had this conversation while watching the movie "I, Robot" with some friends last weekend:
BY: Hey, isn't that the Transformers kid?
JT: Yea.
VP: Whoa, I didn't know he was in this.
[Will Smith comes flying in with his motorcycle and shoots some robot in the head. He tumbles around and suddenly there's a gun in his face.]
JT: Is that Ashley Judd?
VP: I don't think so..
BY: That's the mother of Tom Brady's child. Bridget Mona-something.
VP: What?? The mother of his child? Why don't you just say--
BY: .. the Patriots' quarterback. He's dating Gisele Bundchen now.
JT: Nice.
VP: Oh.
Anyway, this reminds me of the Superbowl. Which was just unbELIevable.
There's something to be said about the New York Giants, the team that I counted out in every round of NFL playoffs this year except for the game against the Bucs, of which I simply didn't care -- to come out and play a nearly flawless game, to beat the mighty New England Patriots despite their all-star lineup, perfect execution of NFL Salary cap exploitation, with the "best" quarterback and defiant cheating coach. And not just that, but to produce one of the highest rated football games in the NFL's history, and the most exciting Superbowl game I've ever seen.
The crazyier thing was I had just finished making a speech about how Eli needed to come out from Peyton's shadow, when he made that incredible scramble, escaping two potential sacks and then converted that incredible play to Tyree. At that moment in a game, to make such an awesome "Helmet Catch", it was simply amazing.
You almost feel sorry for the guy because he really just got in way over his head. He kept thinking about his reputation as one of the best pitchers in the history of baseball -- instead of his wife and 4 sons. That's right Roger, you are better off as a shamed pitcher than a father in jail. Think about it. You shouldn't have to think very long about this one.
--
Had this conversation while watching the movie "I, Robot" with some friends last weekend:
BY: Hey, isn't that the Transformers kid?
JT: Yea.
VP: Whoa, I didn't know he was in this.
[Will Smith comes flying in with his motorcycle and shoots some robot in the head. He tumbles around and suddenly there's a gun in his face.]
JT: Is that Ashley Judd?
VP: I don't think so..
BY: That's the mother of Tom Brady's child. Bridget Mona-something.
VP: What?? The mother of his child? Why don't you just say--
BY: .. the Patriots' quarterback. He's dating Gisele Bundchen now.
JT: Nice.
VP: Oh.
Anyway, this reminds me of the Superbowl. Which was just unbELIevable.
There's something to be said about the New York Giants, the team that I counted out in every round of NFL playoffs this year except for the game against the Bucs, of which I simply didn't care -- to come out and play a nearly flawless game, to beat the mighty New England Patriots despite their all-star lineup, perfect execution of NFL Salary cap exploitation, with the "best" quarterback and defiant cheating coach. And not just that, but to produce one of the highest rated football games in the NFL's history, and the most exciting Superbowl game I've ever seen.
The crazyier thing was I had just finished making a speech about how Eli needed to come out from Peyton's shadow, when he made that incredible scramble, escaping two potential sacks and then converted that incredible play to Tyree. At that moment in a game, to make such an awesome "Helmet Catch", it was simply amazing.
February 04, 2008
Life
When my parents moved away, my mom left some of her plants at the condo for me to look after while they were gone. There were at least half a dozen, including a couple of trees. At this time there are maybe 2 left of those group.
I'm pretty bad in terms of remembering to water them, and as a result most of them have died.
At work, we had a couple of potted plants, and when this guy Gary moved offices, he left his two plants in my care. I did my best to keep them alive. One of things I found that helped was that since I often get up to stretch my legs and clear my head, I walk over to the plants to give them some water.
Well that was about 2 years ago and one of them died. But two months ago, I was eating some clementines and found one particular clementine full of seeds. Anyway, I took about 8-9 seeds and planted them into the pot where the plant had died. I watered it every day, whenever I got up for a stretch. Sometimes I watered it 2-3 times in one day, just a little sprinkle.
Then two weeks ago, a couple of sprouts came out. It was awesome. I called over one of my colleagues who had seen me planting them months ago. We were both thrilled. Every couple days we've seen a new sprout -- there are 8 total now. The first couple are really doing well, almost 2 inches tall with a couple of leaves each.
This is the most exciting thing I have to look forward to every day when I go to work.
I'm pretty bad in terms of remembering to water them, and as a result most of them have died.
At work, we had a couple of potted plants, and when this guy Gary moved offices, he left his two plants in my care. I did my best to keep them alive. One of things I found that helped was that since I often get up to stretch my legs and clear my head, I walk over to the plants to give them some water.
Well that was about 2 years ago and one of them died. But two months ago, I was eating some clementines and found one particular clementine full of seeds. Anyway, I took about 8-9 seeds and planted them into the pot where the plant had died. I watered it every day, whenever I got up for a stretch. Sometimes I watered it 2-3 times in one day, just a little sprinkle.
Then two weeks ago, a couple of sprouts came out. It was awesome. I called over one of my colleagues who had seen me planting them months ago. We were both thrilled. Every couple days we've seen a new sprout -- there are 8 total now. The first couple are really doing well, almost 2 inches tall with a couple of leaves each.
This is the most exciting thing I have to look forward to every day when I go to work.
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