This is amazing. From Tuesday til today, this site has averaged over 4 hits per hour. I checked the counter stats and of my last 10 hits, 8 of them were for the penguin bashing game. Wow! Haha...

After averaging about 600 hits per month, I'll have about 1000 this month. Stop playing the penguin game people!

On Monday, at around 4pm I had to leave work because I couldn't stop coughing. I even brought in Buckleys, it didn't help me much. I had plenty of trouble falling asleep that night.

On Tuesday, I didn't have uncontrollable coughing until about 7pm. Buckleys stopped it, and I had little trouble sleeping.

Today, the uncontrollable coughing never came. It's 11pm. I'm still gonna have some Buckley's before I go to bed, just so I can get a good night's rest.

It's great.. I am having the herbal tea during the day, Vitamin C in the mornings, and Buckley's only when I need it. Tomorrow I'll bring the ginseng stuff for the tea, since Char says that will help clean it up once the virus seems to be waning. Excellent.. at this rate it looks like I'll be able to host small group on Friday. Of course, the huge mess I've left in my place due to the sickness could be a problem..

Tonight Kevin Ho and I went to see the Raptors play the Philadelpha 76ers. In theory we should have won this game. They were missing two of their top players, we were missing no one of significance. And believe it or not, we actually won a game we were supposed to win. It was a pretty good game, no 6-minutes lulls of non-scoring. No horrible turnovers, although we did give up way too many offensive rebounds. But it just didn't matter, because Philly had a bunch of scrubs playing against our healthy squad.

I still say Raptors should trade Vince while we still have a chance to. And here is the perfect trade scenario:

Toronto trades: SF Vince Carter (20.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 4.8 apg in 36.8 minutes)
PG Alvin Williams (8.6 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 4.1 apg in 30.7 minutes)

Houston trades: PG Steve Francis (16.6 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 5.7 apg in 39.5 minutes)
SG Cuttino Mobley (15.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 3.3 apg in 39.4 minutes)
SF Scott Padgett (3.1 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 0.4 apg in 9.3 minutes)

Comments: This deal makes the most sense. First, it works fine for both team's salary caps. Van Gundy gets two players who are fully willing to let Yao become the focus of their offense. Vince would be more than happy to be the #2 option on the team, and we already know he can pass the ball. Alvin becomes the passing PG that Van Gundy has dreamed about since coming to Houston. On the flip side O'Neill gets a young point guard who can basically do it all. Francis wants the ball, and he has never been the type who needs to hoist 35 shots to score 25 points. He plays good defense, and despite his "me me me" attitude, he still manages approx. 6 assists per game. Mobley is a great scorer as well, can shoot threes. Best of all his contract ends next season.

Picture this starting lineup:
C: Chris Bosh
PF: Donyell Marshall
SF: Jalen Rose
SG: Cuttino Mobley
PG: Steve Francis

a trip down memory lane: "nice"

"Hi!"
"Hi."
"What's your name?"
"Brian."
"Oh, that's a nice name!"

Does anyone remember this? When I think back of all the introductions I made as a kid, I think this one was probably the most prominent. I don't know why these kids would say the same thing. For the longest time I grew up thinking that I had a "nice" name.

Okay.. here's another one. I'd go to school wearing a new t-shirt or track pants, and a kid would come up to me.

"Hi Brian."
"Hi"
"Nice pants."

For some reason I'd always take this as a sign that there was something wrong with my clothing. I'd avoid wearing that pair of pants or t-shirt. Who in their right mind would come up to me and tell me they liked my shirt/pants, without having some alterior motive to insult me? It's weird that I had this way of thinking.

Here's another:

"Look, Brian broke our snow fort."
"No, it wasn't my fault."
"Look, it's ruined. Nice going Brian."
[silence. eyes shifted to ground.]
"Nice one, Brian."

And another:

[overheard conversation]
"... yeah and Mike is cool too, he's so funny"
"What about Brian?"
"Brian? Eww.."
"Hey, don't say that. Brian's nice."

Somehow back in those days, the word "nice" implied something terrible -- something awful that you had to try to avoid like the plague. How could a word like "nice" have been twisted around to imply something so bad, so insulting?

Another fact: the word "nice" never appears in the Bible. Synonyms of it like "kind", "gentle", "friendly", "fine", "beautiful", all appear in the bible. Maybe the word "nice" doesn't exist in the latin/aramaic languages?

When I looked up this word on thesaurus.com, (aside from its usually meanings) I found it a synonym of words like "choosy", "difficult", "finnicky".

How odd, that a word like "nice" can mean both good and bad. Better think twice the next time someone says "nice" to you!

Have a nice day everyone!

I'm going to work tomorrow. As it stands, my insane coughing doesn't start until midday and gets worse and worse as the day progresses from there. I don't know if that has to do with my own energy level or what, but I figure if I get to work early and work my ass off, I can maybe finish the work (deadline on Tuesday) I should have been working on all last week.

I went to service today, and I'm glad I did because Victor spoke about something that I needed to hear, "From Bad to Worse". This past week has been a big downer for me, starting with my cpu getting fried, then getting a flat tire, finding out stuff that I was hoping not to be true, and then getting sick.

There have definitely been feelings of despair, disappointment, and sadness during the past few days. The sickness has really taken a toll on me. The last time I lost my voice this badly was in Ottawa, 3 years ago. I wasn't able to sing properly for at least 3-4 months after I'd lost my voice. I hope that doesn't happen again. Also not having Mom here to care for me has really made me super home-sick during this virus. I'm willing to bet that if Mom were here this thing would've lasted only 2-3 days.

I'm really thankful of the friends around me who are caring, praying, encouraging me. It's been a huge blessing. I know it's just a virus but this past week has been my first true test living out here on my own. Thanks guys..

for all you smack the penguin fans, here are some links so you can continue your smackin':

i think this is the one b.p. scored 587 with:
http://mironov.net/pingu/pingu2.swf

there's also this one, which I managed to get 1212.7:
http://mironov.net/pingu/pingu3.swf

and for the normal version (which i've topped out at 323.5):
http://ze999.ru/stuff/ping/
http://mironov.net/pingu/pingu.swf

good times..


also many thanks to char for giving me the tea and other herbs to help me battle this sickness!

i really hate it when you go to see a doctor, when they give their prognosis it's like they're mocking me."no worries, you'll be fine. it's just a small little virus. give it a few days."
her blank stares says it all: don't be such a wuss!

I hate that. you go because you're worried about your own well being, because you're suffering and the doctor just belittles you by telling you it's nothing. "pulleeze.. it's nothing. why are you wasting my time?"

well, i went to a walk-in clinic under kenric's advice since i've been sick for close to a week.

here's another thing, why is it that when you go to the doctors, while you're in the waiting room, somehow you start healing up? by the time i got to the examination room, i was totally fine, i couldn't even cough if i forced myself to. what's up with that?

who needs medicine, fluids, and rest? just sit inside a doctor's office. it's the same thing. of course the second i walked out side, i was coughing like crazy again. *sigh*

she told me that it should go away in 7-10 days, and just to sleep, drink fluids, and take it easy. she also said to keep eating, but try to eat bland soft stuff.

she said i didn't have the stomach flu. and it's no more contagious than the common cold. "common".. hmph! "psshhh.. brian, it's no big deal at all, it's just a common cold. wuss."

The tire can't be fixed, so I'll have to get it replaced. Yippee!

My voice is really messed up.. I wish you guys could hear it.. it's a barrel o' laughs!

Last night I had a very strange dream in my intermitent sleep. It was weird because I woke up and somehow thought it was real, and then went back to sleep again and kept dreaming about it. All the way til when I woke up I realized I couldn't have been to all those places.

Anyway, the dream started out as a news story, when someone discovered that C.S Lewis had been a phony. Apparently, someone else had created this fake name and posed as Lewis, and written all those books. This guy wasn't even a Christian, but he had written all the books under C.S. Lewis' name, as sort of a trick.

Including the tales of Narnia.. they were all written by this guy, I can't remember his name but it was also two initials and a last name. I seem to remember W.C. Fields, but that doesn't make sense because he's a comedian. Anyway, maybe dreams aren't supposed to make sense.

So, in my dream the person C.S. Lewis never existed. He was just a penname. But then we (I can't remember who) were like, well what about those stories how C.S. Lewis used to hang out with J.R.R. Tolkien? How could those stories be true, if Lewis never existed? So then people started saying that maybe Tolkien never existed either!

That's around the time when I woke up.

Sleeping was harder than I thought. Somehow as soon as I tried to go to bed, my throat wouldn't stop irritating me. Every time I was about to sleep, I started to cough. Then, I vomited again. That's the worst though, when there's nothing in there and you vomit.. that gross yellow stuff comes out. Although I tried to get to bed at 7:30am, and woke up here at 7:45, I probably only got about 4 hours of sleep. :(

Anyway, I just wanted to write out a good luck for my brother D on his SATs today. Don't stress out man, you're the smartest person I know. Remember, the highest SAT mark in the history of our families is 0. And in our extended family, it's like 1450. That's nothing! No pressure!

Finally God has a plan for you and I believe it is probably in the academics. After all you've got nothing else going for you right? Haha..

I don't understand though, how do they schedule the SATs? Why aren't the rest of your friends writing it yet?

Another day, another missed day. Another day of sickness. This morning when I woke up I felt so much better. Everything was fine except for a stomach ache. That stomach ache grew into major pains until eventually it came.

Needless to say I have the stomach flu.

Looking at some online articles, this thing should pass in a few days, after which I should probably go and see a doctor. I'm hoping it'll be gone by Sunday, but it doesn't look like this will happen.

I have the chills now. When I cough, it no longer feels like I'm doing any damage, but on the other hand, there's nothing left to damage because most of my voice is gone.

I made some congee with chicken broth for dinner. It didn't taste too good, but more importantly, my stomach hasn't started gargling so maybe that's a good sign.

Tomorrow I have to drive to Scarborough to get that flat tired fixed.

I'm going to bed now. Have a good night.

Check out this quote by David Stern, commissioner of the National Basketball Association, when asked why he doesn't like the word "legacy":

"Because I'm very focused on the here and the now. I don't take notes. I'm not going to write a book. I decided long ago that if you spend your time taking photos, you don't enjoy the journey as much. I have the greatest job in the world and I'm enjoying it. I don't focus on the history aspect of it."

That was taken from this ESPN article

The thing is when I think about David Stern story, it really is a legacy. He's been with us from when Michael Jordan was drafted, til now. It truly boggles my mind what he's done in the past 20 years, what he's experienced. The NBA is right up there with NFL as one of the best-run sporting organizations ever. Okay maybe it's not quite up there with the NFL, but it's definitely head and shoulder's above hockey or baseball.

Anyway.. enough with the blogging.. you people must be sick of me.

I stayed home again today.

This morning I tried to catch up on blog reading. It's near impossible of course, you go to one, then another and another. There is one cool thing to note though, is the blogger banner and what it advertises for each person's blog. Check it out:

ebrian: "Small Group Curriculum" and "Free Bible Software", related searches: sermon central, sermons
sihlian: "Cool Mind Warm Heart" and "Free Bible Software", related searches: jacky cheung, weather canada
gkyam: "Do You Like Weird Music?", related searches: weird stuff, weird things
jedi-master: "Knee Pads" and "Pet Portrait Paintings", related searches: cartoon animals, cartoon dogs
ilchan: "Christian Faith" and "Troubled by Snoring?", related searches: sleep disorders, sleep
bassman_4f: "100% Free Blog Hosting" and "LiveLogCity", related searches: blog, blogger
iceman_onizuka: "Free Bible Software" and "Upcoming 'Passion' Movie", related searches: prayer of jabaz, jabaz

I read a lot more than these, but I barely knew most of them. Haha.. That's enough stalking for one day, I think. And yeah, I know that the banners are random -- but they're always somewhat related to the page still.

haha.. sharted.

D: I like the music on your site.. it's a nice touch. How do you do it?

Here's an interesting conundrum.

I'm sick. I have a cold. Today at work I coughed so hard that blood came out (ok, i'm just kidding) but it was pretty bad, to the point where my co-worked were like "brace for impact!" type of attitude towards me. I can still get work done ie: I'm still productive.

Do I go to work if I still feel the same way tomorrow, or stay home?

On the one hand I'd probably benefit from another day's rest, but on the other hand I waste taxpayers money because technically I could still be doing work. Also, by going to work I'm risking my teammates' health. But again, I can still get work done, I'm not sick to the point that I can't get stuff done.

The reason I stayed home on Tuesday was because I knew there was no way in heck I'd be able to do anything.

Now what? Any takers?

p.s.: sharted.. lol

the laser printer was supposedly sold out. i'll call them later to confirm. in the meantime, my fever and headache have subsided. i've been drinking water like non-stop here at work and things are going well. except for one time i choked on some water and couldn't stop coughing, it was so much coughing that i couldn't breathe, or lost my breath. people around me were all flinching and scared. it was kinda funny actually, because i felt like i was gonna die, but everyone around was just trying to avoid me.

i wonder if anyone reacted that way to Jesus, when he was carrying the cross. i dunno, it could have been pretty graphic, people'd come over and then just be like "eww.." and run away? It could happen! I guess we'll find out when we see the Passion movie.

speaking of Passion, the bassman was telling me that the next Passion cd will be based on remakes of old hymns, so that could be a treat for those of you who are big "hymn" fans! it comes out Feb. 27.

laser
i've been in the market for a cheap laser printer for awhile now. it'd be very useful for me for printing stuff when i needed it, such as maps to get to someone's place. it's just a convenience thing i guess. anyway, i've been trying to get a deal for a laser printer for under $300. That's been my goal. Today I found this great deal at Staples, check it out!

Go to Staples.ca, and add the Samsung ML-1710 Laser Printer.
+ add the Acco $0.32 ruler (no kidding.. it brings your purchase to just over $300)
- $100 coupon (70829)
- $30 off $150 coupon (68342)
- another $30 off $150 coupon (68360... for complete list of Staples.ca coupons, check here)

total =$141 + 15% = $161
- $50 mail-in rebate for the printer. The whole thing comes out to $111. Haha.

along came polly

this is a date movie, if there's such a thing. i mean lets face it, the date ends after dinner, then you go to a movie, and then it continues after the movie. but that's not the point. the point is it's a romantic comedy.

purely for the laughs I liked this movie although i didn't think it was as funny as Meet the Parents or Something About Mary. some points:

- most of the jokes were covered in the preview commercials
- they borrowed a storyline from Friends
- hank azaria is *ripped*
- whatever happened to alec baldwin? now we know.
- baldwin is either super tall, or ben stiller is super short
- i will never get sick of toilet-bowl humor
- there's a 1 in 46,000 chance of falling through a subway/sewer grate ?

6.5/10.0

for once the movie ended early but i wasn't able to join the fellows for food, as i am sickly. being sickly isn't so bad except being sickly whilst being home alone is. i can really see what ina was complaining about. it's amazing how strong a small cold can be when you're lacking mom's tlc.

edit: yesterday i was in sort of a funk and crabby mood. giving the movie more thought, i'd say it was more of an adaptation of some funnier movies in the past.
- the dancing part is taken from the hilarious Stiffler American Wedding scene
- the RiskMaster comparison between the two girls taken from an episode of Friends, when Ross compares Julie and Rachel ("just a waitress" is an exact copy of the line used by ross).
- or a comparison of stiller's father in the movie, similar to Silent Bob, in that he says nothing throughout the whole movie until the very end, and when he speaks, it's insanely insightful.
- a lot of jew jokes, possibly adapted from 'will & grace', what with grace adler playing reuben's cheating wife ?

okay, i'm stretching, but anyway all that said it was still pretty funny i change my rating to a 7.5/10.

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.