Sunday, October 31, 2004

New Neighbours

Added a couple of new blogs to the 'Charlottetown' category, go give 'em a read.

By al - 11:37 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

In record numbers

I sat home for three hours, hoping to get some trick or treaters. I did after all buy 95 mini chocolate bars.

For those of you who have not been to my latest dwelling I live in an apartment on the top of an old house. I waited up stairs until 18:30, then I thought it would be better to sit down at the bottom of the stairs and turn on the light. I watched as the trick or treaters walked by. Then it occurred to me that the whole thing may have appeared creepy, even for Halloween. Butt none the less after an hour of waiting a set of three tricker treaters walked up to my door. To break my long standing record of only one trick or treater. I handed out my treats and sat and waited until time was up.

Now I have a lot of candy left and am not sure if I should gorge on it now or put it away for later.

By Sabrina - 8:31 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Deserted Streets

Well, it's 19:30 already and I've had a grand total of 1 set of trick-or-treaters all evening. And they looked a bit old to be trick-or-treating so I gave them little bags of peanuts instead of real candy.

Come to think of it I don't think any kids actually live around here. This is a great part of town because it's just 2 blocks from downtown, but it's not on the way to anything, so we get almost no cars or foot traffic, since we're right along the water on the Western side of the Charlottetown peninsula. That plus the fact that nearly all the nice older houses on this block have been turned into bed & breakfasts and you've got a pretty quiet Halloween night.

The same was pretty much the case where I lived in Freddie as well, between downtown and the water, only 2 actual families that I saw, not subject to much foot traffic aside from market day. I'm definitely draw to living in just that sort of situation.

All I know is I'm going to be damn sick of these little coffee crisp bars by the middle of the week.

By al - 7:33 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Leaving on a jet plane

Chantal, confirmed my flight for Nov 17th.

Cathay Pacific CX767 depart 09:00 arrive 10:35

I love Cathay's GPS tracking channel they have on the head rest displays. Plus they've got movies, music, and TV in Economy class. Come fly the slanty skies.

By TVT - 1:33 a.m. | (1) comments | Post a Comment

Saturday, October 30, 2004

James Wolcott's Been Ego Surfing

... And the rest of you are perverts.

Last 20 Searchengine QueriesUnique Visitors
29 Oct, Fri, 00:21:59 Yahoo: YOUNG SUCKY SUCKY
29 Oct, Fri, 00:33:45 Google: james wolcott
29 Oct, Fri, 00:53:20 Google: james wolcott blog
29 Oct, Fri, 03:24:33 Google: "money can't buy happiness" study university
29 Oct, Fri, 03:53:58 Google: James Wolcott blog
29 Oct, Fri, 07:12:54 Yahoo: c02/goodle
29 Oct, Fri, 07:54:50 Yahoo: c02/goodle
29 Oct, Fri, 14:43:39 Google: james wolcott blog
29 Oct, Fri, 18:45:22 Google: Wolcott Blog
29 Oct, Fri, 19:31:14 Google: Wolcott blog
29 Oct, Fri, 20:01:21 Google: "Joshua Rushing" quit
29 Oct, Fri, 21:48:18 Google: james wolcott blog
29 Oct, Fri, 23:12:05 Altavista: asian child model
29 Oct, Fri, 23:44:58 Google: wolcott blog
30 Oct, Sat, 00:22:46 Google: Wolcott blog
30 Oct, Sat, 02:08:58 Google: wolcott blog
30 Oct, Sat, 05:24:24 Google: wolcott blog
30 Oct, Sat, 05:27:44 Google: "i will hear no more" "about the german people"
30 Oct, Sat, 07:15:05 MSN Search: sonic the hedgehog hentai
30 Oct, Sat, 15:17:01 Google: transbeauties

By al - 5:01 p.m. | (1) comments | Post a Comment

Just when you thought it was safe to express an opinion...

This post by Peter Rukavina gave me the chills a little bit. Link.

Island Bush Supporters Phone Home

Here’s a larger chunk of the Guardian article that ran this morning headed “Watching our neighbours,” and written by Jim Day:

The actual number of people residing in the province who are eligible to vote in Tuesday’s United States election is not known. About 600,000 U.S. expatriates living in Canada have registered in time to vote.

Peter Rukavina of Charlottetown is one of them.

Rukavina, who has dual Canada/U.S. citizenship, considers himself a citizen of the United States. Although he spent only the first four months of his life living in the States, the website developer is in the U.S. on business about six weeks a year.

“I consider it a duty to vote,” he said.

Rukavina said he has been following this U.S. election more closely than any in the past. He has cast his ballot by mail for Kerry, which, he said, is really more a vote against Bush.

He has concerns with Bush’s war in Iraq. He said the president seems arrogant and unwilling to listen to other opinions.

Rukavina said he has friends in the United States who say they would seriously consider moving to Canada if Bush is re-elected.

“I think they just don’t feel they can stay in a country that Bush represents,” he said.

As a result of this excerpt, Catherine received four angry telephone calls this morning from Guardian readers while I was out at the market with Oliver.

In general, I was accused by the callers — all of whom somehow assumed that venting to Catherine was reasonable in lieu of me — of being some combination of anti-God, anti-family, a draft-dodger, a university professor, or naive about the war.

While everyone is entitled to their opinion, it does seem a little much to make unsoliticed Saturday morning calls, to my partner, about political disagreements. Send me a letter. Write me an email. Disparage me on your weblog. Rent a billboard.

It's a funny thing, because politics can be pretty heated here on PEI. We've not historically had any sports teams to follow so we've turned politics into the island passtime. But I'd not heard of someone receiving 4 angry phone calls in one morning because of their support for eiter the Liberal or Conservative parties, despite people describing themselves as life-long members of one single party. Yet the level of emotion people have invested in the American political system, with teh stark two-party divide representing two nearly-separate cultures, is so strongly-entrenched in people that it results in incidents like the one described above.

Perhaps I'm just very isolated the other way. I can't say I've ever met someone who's said they support George W. Bush. (Kayla says her parents are big into the war on 'those people over there' but I've never talked to her otherwise hilarious mom about such things.)

When someone says ‘I'm a libaral’ or ‘I'm a conservative’ there's an ambiguity there between whether they meant capital-L Liberal as a term of inclusion or small-l liberal as an adjective. That ambuigity isn't there when someone says ‘I'm a Democrat’ or ‘I'm a Republican’. When someone says either of those statements they are identifying themselves as part of a group, and in a world where Yankees fans and Mets fans get into fistfights outside of ballparks on a regular basis this mentality can get way out of hand.

As incorrect as I think some Conservative or BQ party supporters seem to be, at least none of them claim that Stephen Harper talks to God. Perhaps if they did they could justify harassing people in this way.

By al - 3:41 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Friday, October 29, 2004

Good idea, iffy execution...

Sabrina and I were at Pat & Willy's tonight, just a typical sort-of-mexican pub food place. They have an interesting menu item called a 'stuffed club', basically a club sandwich with turkey and bacon, but with stuffing on it as well, so it's like a turkey dinner in a bun. I was intrigued, so I ordered it.

However, the first bite, with the moist stuffing hitting the tastebuds first, tasted like somebody had already chewed the bun for you. Kind of a creepy sensation.

By al - 10:07 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

I'm sorry I forgot last year, but Happy B-Day Internet! I'll be celebrating with pr0n.

By TVT - 3:51 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

...but no one understands him but his robot woman

Spielberg I could kiss you. Now if only the Japanese DVD wasn't so bloody expensive. Someone wanna bootleg this already? I'm not fond of watching the divx of theatre handycam and no subtitles. :(

By TVT - 1:20 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Big Mario is watching you.

Shameless plan follows:

I often fantasize about Samus Aran of Metroid fame as we cavort in a fit of unbridled naked passion.

Your loyal fan who has to wait months between kickass Nintendo releases cause you won't own up to the fact that your 3rd party support is deader than my Dreamcast - have you considered going SEGA?,

TVT

P.S.
Princess Peach is HOT.

By TVT - 10:46 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Remainders: Tired as Shit Edition

  • The Formosa Tea House has these mango jelly dessert things that are sort of like a giant fruit-flavoured gummy floating in mango juice packed in something like a jello cup. Best dessert ever, but eating it without a spoon gives me naughty thoughts.
  • Seeing Matt Good and Melissa Auf Der Maur (former Hole / Pumpkins bassist and all-around Canadian goddess.) on Monday. Quoth the Justin: "if i ask melissa if courtney pulled the trigger then its a given that i get drunk on your tab." me: "yes you do. For one year." Blog exclusive on Monday night? Tune in and fine out. And yes, binnie, you're coming. Go buy a ticket.
  • Might not end up getting to go to Montreal for the Games Summit. Hopefully I will, though, just so I can have the fun of having to respond to "so what do you work on" with "I'm not allowed to say". Though that's probably more common than not in the games industry.
  • I'm getting enough HTML and CSS experience now that I'm starting to consider just writing documents in it and forgetting about word processors. Doing up a little JavaScript counter takes me less time than figuring out how to get Word or WordPerfect to do section headings the way I want, anyway.
  • Speaking of the Formosa Tea House, they used to have a website, but the address now leads to an adult site. This is sort of a back-door extortion benefiting the domain name registration companies as a consequence of not paying your bills or simply deciding to de-register the name.
  • Half-assed Halloween costume: buying a gorilla mask from Zeller's. Brilliant costume: said gorilla mask, but wearing a hat. Don't even bother explaining it, it's more post-modern that way.
  • Had another run-in with the stone-faced, unfriendly fellow ATC tenants today in the elevator. I thought Islanders were friendly. When I think people are being reserved that's when it's serious.
  • I'm seriously disappointed in the amount of follow-up to this.
  • You should all be incredibly grateful at my restraint in not blogging about US politics. But seriously, 370 TONS OF EXPLOSIVES MISSING?? So not only did he have no new weapons, the ones that the world did know about and were keeping an eye on are now gone. Good work, there, folks.
  • Dear Tim Hortons, I'd buy more smile cookies if they didn't taste like I immediately need 5 new fillings.

By al - 1:46 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Red Sox: Best National League Team

The 4th game of the World Series is in about the 6th inning at the moment, and Boston is up 3-0, so it looks like they're about to win the World Series easily.

Now, I normally prefer National League teams to American League teams, partly because I've always been an Expos fan so those are the teams I'm familiar with. But also because there's a perceptable difference in the style of play between the two leagues. In the National League, of course, the pitcher still has to hit in the lineup, instead of teams getting to use a designated hitter. This difference, for some reason or another, makes the position of the manager much more important to the outcome of a game. Instead of potentially having an entire lineup of players who can just stand there and swing away and hope to get a home run, the manager has to strategize to try and get the pitcher either on base or to advance the runners that are alraedy there by bunting.

For some reason this difference results in a ripple effect which makes National League games more often about hitting line drives, getting on base, stealing bases, sacrifice flies and other basics of baseball, while American league games are stereotypically more about slugfests.

But the two teams playing against each other tonight seem to have their roles reversed. Boston has great pitching, multiple gold-glove winning defence and no single stand-out hitter expected to produce the majority of the runs.

St. Louis, on the other hand, have fairly mediocre pitching, and big bats from Puholds and Walker. St. Louis' pitching weakness is really what's doing them in in this series, giving up too many 2-out runs and many more hits than the Red Sox pitchers.

If it wasn't for the colossal number of errors Boston has been making I would be extremely happy with how they've been playing.

Of course part of this theory about the Expos style of play might be because of the number of former Expos on the team, specifically Pedro (all is forgiven), Orlando Cabrera as well as a bunch of other recently-national league players, like Schilling. Not to mention, of course, former Expo from back in the day manager Terry Francona. (Edmonton Sun article:
Francona's All Grown Up)

Of course there are as many exceptions to the NL / AL 'styles' as there are examples of it, but I'm just happy that the team I want to win is playing baseball i like to watch. Now just stop dropping the ball.

Edit: WHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! GO SOX!!!!





.. and you gotta love the Boston Globe logo fun:

By al - 11:12 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Peking Duc

In this case, I'd vote Bush. Ummmm spicy.

By TVT - 9:17 a.m. | (2) comments | Post a Comment

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Remainders: Stealing from two blog girlfriends at once edition

Too lazy to write one of my usual long essay-type posts trying to make something sound more important or meaningful than it is, so I'll just steal Wonkette and Li'l_k's technique of just doing bullet points.
  • Neither the Cardinals nor the Red Sox are playing very good baseball. Boston had 4 errors in their first two games, and Pedro is stinking up the first inning here. Lucky for him he was saved by a brilliant double play after loading the bases on two walks like the choking tool that he is.
  • Even though I love not having to get to work until 10:00am, by the time I get home and make supper it's too late to do anything. Getting a bit monotonous. And Binnie's disappeared lately so I have to branch out and bother other people now. Almost feels like work.
  • Guess how much a laptop battery costs. Go ahead, guess. Nope, it's like twice as much as you just guessed, $222 after taxes. Fuck, toshiba, the things I could buy for the price of this little brick of PCBs that doesn't even power this thing for more than an hour and a half. I want an iBook, screw Intel.
  • Everyone in the Atlantic Technology Centre besides us are a bunch of untalkative weenies. Saying ‘hi’ in the elevator, you'd think I'd just sneezed on someone.
  • I fucking hate Jerry Bruckheimer (not going to bother looking up how to spell it.) If this was soviet russia, he'd be making propaganda films for them instead of doing it for free.
  • Pedro just stood there and fucked the dog at his first at-bat. He sure did drink the asshole juice since leaving Montréal.
  • My baby sister thought it was a good idea to put palmolive in the dishwasher when she ran out of powder soap. That's one of those mistakes you only make once.

By al - 10:11 p.m. | (2) comments | Post a Comment

DS = dating sim

What the deuce? I never thought I'd see Japanese dating sim type games make it across the pond, but Sega and Ubisoft are releasing them for the Nintendo DS.

I dunno if this'll sell. I mean, train sims, horse racing games, and pachinko games sell a shitload of copies over there but that doesn't mean we're all that eager to play em.

Note to Nintendo: Find better launch titles or at least give me a compelling reason to shill for 2 screens.

By TVT - 3:17 p.m. | (2) comments | Post a Comment

Monday, October 25, 2004

Exciting day at work

To day seemed like a fairly average day for the place. The morning swept by. I worked up some smelly chemistry extracting my product from water once I retrieved it from the walk in fridge. I was cold. I played with the Big magnet and then wondered off to lunch. I made a salad. It always takes me for ever to eat a salad, there is way more chewing involved than a sandwitch.
The after noon was busy. I was trying to run two reaction that had similar conditions, except one component, were the molar content of one reactant in solution A was twice that of B. However in the middle of all of this a fire alarm goes off. I thought some one had triggered it again and we would only be outside for a moment. Not the care. Real fire in a dryer of some sort. We sat outside for over an hour freezing in our paper thin lab coats. Then when we were allowed back in we were told to leave asap because the sprinklers were no longer working. So I set up my reaction at record speed and left.
It was an interesting day.


It occurs to me, if that fire had not been contained half of charlottetown would have to be evacuated and I probably would never know what hit me....It's a good thing my imagination doesn't run away with me.

By Sabrina - 5:19 p.m. | (2) comments | Post a Comment

Where's my poppy coin?

Why am I reminded of that old Saturday Night Live sketch on unsafe toys with Dan Akroyd?


Swiped wholesale from Family Guy

Brian: “Yeah, about your pamphlet… Ahh, I’m not seeing anything about German history between 1939-1945, there’s just a big gap.
Tour Guide: Everyone was on vacation! On your left is Munich’s first city hall erected in 15…
Brian: “Wait, wait, wait, what are you talking about? Germany invaded Poland in 1939
Tour Guide: “We were invited! Punch was served! Check with Poland!”
Brian: “Well you can’t just ignore those years, Thomas Man fled to America because of Nazism’s strangle-hold on Germany”
Tour Guide: “No, he left to manage a Dairy Queen”
Brian: “A Dairy Queen, that’s preposterous.”
Tour Guide: “I will hear no more insinuations about the German people! Nothing bad happened!


I have yet to play any of the current fad of Vietnam flavored 1st person shooters. Though I am intrigued by re-enacting the Vietnam War in a grisly pantomime by killing my countrymen. Hmmmm... Until then, you'll see me standing in line at the Toys R Us for the Charlie Gook action figure with rice eating action(tm).

By TVT - 1:11 p.m. | (3) comments | Post a Comment

Hero

Saw Hero tonight, like usual waiting until its last day before finally getting out to see it. I'm glad I did, too, since this is one of those movies that really makes use of the movie theatre experience, feeling like one is immersed in an environment rather than peering into a box. One surrenders a certain degree of control when one lets someone else control the projector and the lights. You can't pause the film to take a breather, or rewind to remember some potential clue that suddenly occurs to you. You are taken along, and you put your experience into the hands of the filmmaker more so than when you are sitting at your couch clutching a remote control, with phones ringing and kids running around and all the rest of it.

Hero is paced very erratically, with fights erupting out of nowhere, and interrupted because of a musician has stopped playing and the combatants pause to entreat him to keep on playing, keeping pace with their rhythms with his own.

Aside from the pacing, the look of the sets was naturally gorgeous, but equally beautiful were the close-up shots of the actors, so you could see every line on their face, and every subtle tick to show that there might be more than what is being said. The brilliant use of lighting and tone and shadow added a whole other dimension to the film compared with every other martial arts movie I've seen.

The special effects were also very well done. Instead of being garish, they felt like they were painted on after the fact, as if an artist was accentuating a scene for effect rather than trying to convince you that this was all part of the original scene. Not really noticing that something might be computer generated is when the technique is put to best use, in my opinion.

As for the story itself, it had a refreshingly non-linear and non-concrete structure to it, with versions of past events changing with the telling, and you start to get inside the heads of the two principle plot-mover characters, and begin to think along the same lines as they do, not because the story is predictable, but because the film does an excellent job of conveying motivation and character. This is where a director who comes from the world of dramas and character films can bring something that a pure martial arts director wouldn't even think about.

The theme of the film is a bit unsettling, going against the grain of the severe individualism conveyed in a lot of martial arts heroes, but there's a deeper admonishment as well that people might miss.

This is one of those movies that reminds you why letting yourself be swept up in the flow of the film is the core of the enjoyment.

By al - 1:23 a.m. | (1) comments | Post a Comment

Sunday, October 24, 2004

I don't know how he does it...

My buddy Justin getting friendly with KMFDM. (yeah it's the same guy who ate pickles out of the jar with Weird Al.)

(Cross-posted to The Immortals Co-Opt.)

By al - 2:34 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Saturday, October 23, 2004

Family History Tidbit

From a geneology I found at home here today:

“Martin O'Neill, born 1864, died 1907 at age 43.

Was highly intelligent and attended Cambridge. But, it was said that he had just too much of a brain, and died at an early age.”

By al - 8:30 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Links Discussion Page

This is a permanently-linked page to leave comments about the links in the del.icio.us sidebar, and just as a stand-alone discussion page for whoever wants to chat.

PS. if Tuan or Sabrina or Chantal or Greg or Ming want to have their own list of links send me an email and I'll get you set up as well, would be a cool addition to the site.

By al - 1:20 a.m. | (5) comments | Post a Comment

Friday, October 22, 2004

The Question I hate the most.

In normal conversation especially with some one you have recently become acquainted with you may asked them where they come from. To me this is the hardest question in the world to answer. And the related question, where did you grow up, is not much better. Every time I am asked on of these questions I stumble around looking for the correct answer or at least the answer that people want.

How hard can it be? It seems like a straight forward question. At least to most of you who did not grow up moving from one place to another. Let's do a quick review of binnie's life.
I was born out west in a city by the name of Edmonton Alberta. Now I have very few if any memories of this place. I was three years old when I left so all the memories I do have seem more like forgotten dreams than real memories.
When I was three I moved to a place called Chatham New Brunswick, where I start my growing up. I do remember a few things about it. Including a vague memory of looking at the military house that would become the dwelling of my family for several years. I had friends here and grew up believing that grand parents were not suppose to be close to where you live but that you got to go on vacation and travel around and see them. It was quite the interesting believe which would be shatter later on in life.
Then I moved again. I was eight when we moved. It was during the summer and many of the young kid I had started growing up with had done the same. They moved too, so I thought It was the normal thing to do.
So I moved to Kensington Prince Edward Island where I celebrated my 8th birthday about 7 days after moving into the house mom and dad had chosen for us. It would be in this place that I would learn how different my life was from other people. There was People in my new village that had never moved, even adults. There were kids on my street who lived with both their parents and grandparents and others who had grand parents who lived in Kensington. There were even people who played with their cousins every day. I was lucky if I seen mine once a year. It was bazaar, but in this second portion of my growing experience, I learned that I was the one with the different life. Then it happened again when I was 13. I moved.
I was in Junior high when I arrived in Auburn Nova Scotia. Here I found more people like me, people who grew up moving every few years, who had parents that were from different provinces and new that the world didn't end at the border of the province. I finished growing up in Nova Scotia and my parents moved back to PEI. And I wondered of to UNB then MUN.

I have been asked so many times where I am from and generally stumble when I answer this question. What do people want to know when they ask me this. Where I was born, where my parents live, where I finished high school, it is so ambiguous if you are me.
What brought on this little blurb? Not being asked where I am from, rather hearing several people from my lab discuss friends they have had since grade one. This is one of those things I have no idea what it is like. When you are 8 years of age living the place you started school, you don't have the ambition to keep writing letters to people who move every few years. It is very easy to loose track of them.

By Sabrina - 5:11 p.m. | (1) comments | Post a Comment

I Heart Halo 2

I think they forgot #6 - Be in a different country. :)

Five Excuses for your Sweetheart

Let's face it, some of you out there do not have a significant other. If this is you, go ahead and close this window and go back to talking to your 35-year old trucker pretending to be an 18-year old girl in some Internet chat room. For those of you with a significant other, November 9 may pose a significant problem. While I have the good fortune of dating a girl who actually likes watching me play games, many of you have a girl or guy who can't understand your fascination with shooting things on screen. November 9 has to be your day, so how do you get your loved one to leave you the hell alone on your most hallowed (or Halo'd?) day.


#5 - Fake Death. We don't recommend this too highly, but in extreme cases you may need to blow up your car or put ketchup on your chest and fake a stab wound. She'll cry, but you'll be in the clear once you've snuck out of the body bag. Head to a friends house and play some Halo 2!

#4 - Your IGN Gig. "Honey, I have the best news, I got hired at IGN! You know, that website I go to all the time and bitch about? Yeah, they hired me and now it's nothing but lobster and caviar. My first job is playing this game they sent me for free. Since we're now rich, go spend the day shopping. Uh, yeah, go crazy. I'm just going to sit here and work." This is also dangerous as you don't actually have a job at IGN. Sorry, but we'd never hire you.

#3 - I Love You. Take your copy of Halo 2, boot it up and start playing. Ignore your sweetie until she begins to complain. Turn your head for the briefest moment and say, "I love you sweetie, I'll be done in a second." Be nice and keep playing. Repeat until you are thrown out of the house. Should buy you at least two hours of play time.

#2 - Pity Me. I'll admit, this one was ripped right off of Scrubs (the TV show, go watch it right now). But I've used it myself in real life and it is incredibly effective. First, you have to have some type of infirmity. If you are lucky enough to have diabetes, that's a great one, but otherwise try and catch the flu (or fake it) or if you must, resort to any obscure ailment you can find by randomly searching the Internet. When you start playing Halo 2, let your love know that your ailment is acting up, that you aren't feeling well, and that you just need to take your mind off you debilitation for a bit. "Baby, my halitosis is really kicking in. Uh, I need a Tic-Tac and some Halo 2 and I'll be alright." Mmm... on second thought, just fake the diabetes if you have to (or earn it by power-munching lots of high-sugar snacks).

#1 - I've Met Somebody Else. It's a drastic move and one you need to implement at least two days prior to Halo 2's release but no more than ten days from release. You tell your sweetie you've been talking to someone from work who really likes games and how this other person (who ideally should be hot) wants you to come over late at night to play games with her alone. After some prolonged fighting and deep soul-searching, your sweets will feel the need to compensate for any lack of video game interest. This also works for sex, but this is about how to get your girl to let you play Halo 2, so get those thoughts out of your head. She'll let you play, she may even try to play some herself. The grace period only lasts about two weeks max, but for sacrificing some emotional trauma, you earn the benefits of her temporary guilt. A sure-fire winner.

By TVT - 9:00 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Copycat

Seriously, Justin Trudeau, hamming it up at your dad's funeral, and now marrying a supermodel? If you keep up this pace I'd have to recommend not taking any small plane flights.

By al - 1:21 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Needles

As posted to Hello Dita

I remember when i was six getting an immunization shot.. My mother had been less than honest about what the reason for this trip was, and the nurse made me look the other way before bringing out the needle and saying "one two three I met a flee" and OUCH WHAT WAS THAT FOR??

I was quite ticked at my mother for taking me somewhere just to have some woman trick me and then hurt me, so she took me to the park on the way home. Now my arm wasn't feeling numb or anything, so I do my usual thing and go on the monkey bars, until I get to the top, hanging down from the then-tall structure and I suddenly lost all feeling in my left arm, at which point I fell right to the ground.

Funnily enough, I'm actually not afraid of needles now, just as long as I know wah's coming.

By al - 11:51 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Top Ten Things to do in Montreal

... while at the game development conference:

10. Bring a shirt and tie in case I accidentally find myself in a fancy Italian restaurant.
9. Learn how my hotel's metro stop is pronounced in garbled PA system french.
8. Practice restraining myself from saying “Wow, I've never seen so many nerds in one place before!”
7. Get a working battery so my laptop is actually of some use.
6. Get a replacement for the useless piece of crap 802.11 card, see above. And by useless I mean.. stepped on.
5. Check to see if my theory that I'm always either the geekiest cool guy or the coolest nerd holds up with such a large sample size.
4. Learn the names of one or two video games that have come out in the last 3 years, just so I can carry on a conversation.
3. Ask the guy from BungieSoft how much his soul was worth.
2. Give the Olympic Stadium the finger before it crumbles completely.
1. Advice from labmate Nat: Try not to feel up too many strippers.

By al - 2:34 a.m. | (1) comments | Post a Comment

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Home for the holidays

Well, a good portion of it anyway. I'm leaving mid November on a 2nd tour of duty. Happy I am.

By TVT - 3:09 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Monday, October 18, 2004

Not all of us define greatness the same way

Last nigh the CBC gave us the list of top 50 Canadian, voted on by the populous of this country.

I must say there are several names on this list that do not belong, at least in my mind.

The top ten list which we have the joy of being able to watch 1 hour long show on each of them over the next 5 weeks is slightly less frightening, however there are at least two names where I disagree completely.

By Sabrina - 5:17 p.m. | (3) comments | Post a Comment

More Stupid Pet Tricks

I think my dog has learned what I mean when I say 'bye bye'. To her it means 'no walk for you', so when I say it she just looks sad and mopes off. Whenever I do take her for walks I always end up walking so far that she's pretty worn out when it's over, you'd think she'd learn.

She did what I can only describe as a very cat-like thing yesterday. I was holding my arm out, perfectly rigitly, and she started wondering why I wasn't petting her like I'm supposed to, so she sticks her head under my hand, thinking I had forgotten how this process works. But I still didn't move. (driving dogs nuts is half the fun of having them, you see.) So, frustrated, she walks away, but realizes that this is the same as being petted, since my arm was still there. So halfway through she turns right around and goes under in the other direction, and eventually made five full circles in this fashion. Now I just need to make a little scarecrow type thing for her so I can read the newspaper in peace in the morning.

By al - 2:00 p.m. | (1) comments | Post a Comment

Sunday, October 17, 2004

Binnie's chili

Okay after I was finished with my room I became bored again.
So I decided to make chili

Now before you try to make this stuff...Remember this is not for those who have pansy tongues...But those who are from place of extreme spice may find this sweet.

I have never made chili before as traditionally it is a meat eaters entree. And I have had some difficulty finding a good recipe on the net or in my large number of cook books. So being the person I am I decided to invent my own chili from what I had in the kitchen.

here is what I used.

1 can of tomato soup
1 onion chopped
1 clove of garlic chopped
1 can of kidney beans drained and rinsed
1/2 a yellow pepper
5 dried chilies chopped
4 Sun dried tomatoes chopped
5 cherry tomatoes hauled and quartered
1 stick of celery chopped
5 mini carrots chopped
1 hand full of broccoli florets
2 cups of TVP (texture vegetable protein)
2 cans of water f( I used the tomato can to measure the water)

I fried the onions, garlic and peppers all together with a dash of olive oil
added the can of tomato soup and the 2 cans of water. Brought the mixture to a boil and added the can of kidney beans. Followed by the TVP. I allowed that to boil for a while then I added the veggies and tomatoes and stirred. Then I spiced her up.
I used the end of my cayenne pepper, a bay leaf, oregano and basil. Stirred and let simmer for 20 minutes.

I can't wait for tomorrow when I bake up some potatoes and stuff them with this stuff and top with a bit of cheese.

Okay the spell check will not work...But I will try to edit tomorrow...This was the case with my previous blog too....

By Sabrina - 8:10 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Some lessons will never be learned

Today was one of those days were I found myself lost in a huge pile of boredom. I called my sister and wondered over there to do some laundry. That took up a couple hours of my day. But that was quickly over and I had to find something else. Well I decided to change my room around. This is something I tend to do every few months. Someone had once told me that it helps alleviate boredom. So I did it. I changed my room around. In the process I did all the cleaning bit and got rid of a lot things that were garbage. I also moved my desk. I wanted to be able to the phone on my desk. That required that I push my desk about two feel along the same wall it lived on since I moved into this apartment.
I came to the conclusion that if I remove all my breakable dragons I should be able to move it no problem....Problem the desk had sunk into the carpet. I couldn't budge it. I knew this long before I started the process but every time I move my desk. I actually told my self that some day I would learn that I have to take my computer off my desk before I could move that desk. Maybe some day I will.
However, my room now rearranged, I remember the laundry I did at my sisters this morning and I watch my alarm clock blink, I guess I am not quiet done but at least the time was not lost. I have accomplished something I have wanted to do for a couple weeks now.

By Sabrina - 7:57 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

“Pirates and Emperors”

This if fucking awesome. (click play, d'uh) Schoolhouse rock parodies rule. A slightly more jaded view of the world than the ‘hey, life's great if you're white and american’ vibe I got from Matt Stone and Trey Parker talking about Team America: World Police. (though the movie still looks funny as hell, of course.)

By al - 2:51 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Saturday, October 16, 2004

The New “Wilhelm”

The Wilhelm scream is one of the most commonly re-used film sound effects, from this WikiPedia article:

Wilhelm scream

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Wilhelm scream is a stock sound effect first recorded in 1951 for the movie Distant Drums. It has been featured in dozens of movies since. Alongside a certain recording of the cry of the red-tailed hawk, it is probably the most well-known cinematic sound cliché.

The Wilhelm's revival came from Star Wars-series Sound Designer Ben Burtt, who tracked down the original recording (which he found as a studio reel labeled "Man being eaten by alligator"). He named it after a minor character who emitted it in the 1953 movie The Charge at Feather River. Its use in Star Wars was the beginning of something of an in-joke amongst some sound designers of the film industry, (especially at Skywalker Sound). They continue to try to incorporate it into movies wherever feasible; action movies are naturals, but film sound cognoscenti are particularly impressed when it is used naturally in films such as A Star Is Born (with Judy Garland) and A Goofy Movie.

External links

But now there's a new kid on the block, courtesy Governor Howard Dean and an unfortunate audio eqiupment setup, we get the latest cliché, which I just noticed in this HP commercial (on the left) in the second scene if you listen carefully. I'm betting it will turn up in a few more places as well.

Oh, and of course: The Scream Clip (sound only)

By al - 6:49 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Best. Episode. Ever.

Jesus I'm so glad I don't work on Friday and happened to catch Crossfire on CNN today. Jon Stewart had his Network “I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!” moment and it was perfect. I don't see how CNN can go on as they do now.

Jon Stewart on Crossfire: “Stop, stop, stop, stop hurting America.”

By al - 1:03 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Thursday, October 14, 2004

On Having an Entire Movie Theatre to Yourself

Tonight was just the second night that City Cinema was playing Collateral, so I thought I should get their a little bit early in case there was a line, just to make sure I could get to my my seat before the movie started (without 15 minutes of commercials before the movie this is actually an issue).

So I went there straight from work, but when I got there the place was literally empty. The girl beind the concession counter just seemed happy to have somebody there. She was as nice as could be though, which made me smile after a day of staring at a computer screen.

As I was taking my food in she said "I hope your favourite seat isn't taken". Ha ha. So just when I was walking into the theatre, the other guy who was working that night went to turn on the projector, and the film started just as I was sitting down, the only one for whom the movie was playing.

It's sort of like having the biggest, greatest TV ever.

As for the movie itself, it was good, but sort of felt like somebody else making a film in the style of Michael Mann rather than something new from him. Too many clichés, perhaps, though that was probably what he was going for, to make a straight-up thriller type movie. The characters were all a bit too two-dimensional, though.

By al - 9:13 p.m. | (1) comments | Post a Comment

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Now Hiring...

If you or anyone you know would like a job as either a game programmer or a Mac systems administrator (mac certified preferably) let me know (aloneill blat gmail blot com), there's definite opportunity coming very shortly. They'll be in Charlottetown.

By al - 4:27 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Memo to Tim Horton's

While those automatic change dispensers might seem like a good idea, Murphy's Law* of Service Industry Employees, that the person serving you will evolve downward until they are barely minimially intelligent enough to carry out his or her duties applies, and they will immediately forget how to count. Thus my having to remind them, practically every time, that they forgot to give me the twonie that wasn't included in the change dispenser. Likely because the machines are of American design and don't handle dollar coins.

Either that or they are trying to rip people off.

* No pun intended.

By al - 3:23 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Monday, October 11, 2004

Maine is seriously more Canadian than most of Canada is.

By al - 10:17 p.m. | (2) comments | Post a Comment

Poodle-Shaped Sponge

Wow is it ever raining outside. Yet, dogs have to pee too, and this one hasn't figured out how to flush, so i had to let her outside.

Now it's raining inside.

Upon reflection, it probably would have been less of a mess if I just let the thing pee on the floor and cleaned that up instead of having to chase after her with an old towel scrubbing the dirty footprints and drying up the splattered rainwater. Now, most dogs when they are wet stink to high heaven and just drain water onto the floor. Not poodles, however, their hair density is so high that the water literally stays put stuck to her sides until she decides to shake it off. I ended up rolling her up in her rug and giving it a squeeze. Probably should have tied both ends and hung her out to dry as well.

I wish I had a digital camera just so I could show how utterly sad and pathetic a large, dripping wet poodle who knows she looks like shit can actually look. Dogs who know how pretty people think they are can be terribly annoying, so knocking her down a peg now and then is at least some consolation for having to clean up an indoor rainstorm.

By al - 9:18 p.m. | (3) comments | Post a Comment

Look Where I Get to Go

Montreal Games Summit, 2004

The event

The Montréal Game Summit is a new event for video and digital game professionals based on needs expressed by the industry. The event is destined to become THE annual gathering of Quebec's game industry and will also include participants from other parts of Canada and Eastern United States.

High-level content

The Montréal Game Summit will be a targeted event with a limited size to create an environment where learning and networking are facilitated. It offers: High level and specialized content covering creation, production and programming and in-depth coverage of advanced topics for experienced professionals.

My job rules. Did I mention I come in at 10am every morning and get Fridays off? Because I do. Feel free to hate me, I know I would. Also, at no time in carrying out my job duties will I ever be required to debug someone else's SQL queries. That alone sold me on the job. (I'm probably violating my NDA already.)

By al - 8:12 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

By TVT - 6:33 p.m. | (2) comments | Post a Comment

Sundays With Tina

Note: If you didn't get the above pun this post will likely not make much sense to you.

Oh how happy was I tonight, lazily switching channels looking for something to watch after Futurama ended. I ended up on Topic A with Tina Brown on CNBC, usually the subject of well deserved ridicule, but compared with the rest of the Sunday talk shows is actually quite above-average. (note that this doesn't in itself imply that it is good.) But oh how happy was I this week when I saw who the panel was. It was surprise to see my blogging girlfriend, Wonkette, but also my new blogging boyfriend, James Wolcott. Together the two of them produce about the most witty commentary on US politics. Wolcott's wit is like a razor while Wonkette's (Ana Marie Cox) is like a cricket bat wound in barbed wire. And the two of them were put alongside some unknown-to-me conservative columnists who really didn't have a chance.

When the topic of the last presidential debate came up, the conservative pair dutifully tried to parrot the usual party line about how Bush looked 'confident', but being from the blogging world where one doesn't pay attention to the rule that you have to take your opponent seriously, no matter how stupid the thing they might be saying is, Wonkette just burst into muted laughter, and shot back that Bush definitely lost the women's vote thanks to his outburst, and Wolcott added that this must have been what Bush would have looked like when he was a raging alcoholic. Normally these political talk shows are stacked in favour of the conservative side so much that it was an aberrateion to see it the other way around.

The most ironic part of the whole affair was the fact that Cox was allowed anywhere near the show at all. One of the best parts about wonkette.com is a bit she does called “Thursdays With Tina” where she regularly uses Tina Browne's Thursday column in the Washington Post for easy comedy material. I think putting her on the show was Tina's attempt to show us how cool she is, and that she is in on the joke. But Ana winked at me when the camera first panned to her, yes she did, and with that she re-assured her loyal readership that she wasn't selling out to get on TV. (she had done that long ago, doing MTV's political convention coverage.) But since she is earning a rather low paycheque from known thief Nick Denton to write her blog, one can hardly blame a little media whoring now and then. Especially not since it means we get to laugh at Tina Browne's attempt to look hip and in with the new cool kids on the block, the bloggers.

Here's a Thursday's With Tina post just for fun. Link.

Thursdays with Tina: My Birthday Present to You Edition

Back by popular demand: Translating Tina Brown's Thursday column in the Washington Post. We understand it so that you don't have to.


Tina saysTina means
Are the media having a nervous breakdown?I believe I am a member of the media.
The broiling partisan heat, the pressure to get out of third place with a scoop, the hot breath of cable news, the race to beat all the hacks and scribes who keep nibbling away at the story (your story, the story you've spent five years trying to get right), the baying of the bloggers, the sick sense of always being news-managed by the White House's black arts, the longing to show the Web charlatans and cable-heads that rumpled-trenchcoat news is still where the action is, the pounding inner soundtrack that asks: Am I a watchdog or a poodle? A journalist or an entertainer? A tough newsman or a mouse with mousse?All the editors have left the building. I am here all by myself. LALALALALALA. I think I'll run naked down the hallway!
But he looked as if his psyche had been through Hurricane Ivan. I have a desperate need to be topical, even when the topics are unrelated in any way.
Every editor, producer and reporter knows that the warp speed of the news cycle means we are all only one step ahead of some career-ending debacle. Not that I would know anything about career-ending debacles.
Fear of missing the bandwagon is behind all the hype about the brilliance of bloggers who blew the whistle. Hello? Hello? Are there any editors heeeerrre? Ha ha. More running naked down the hallway, mixing metaphors as I go!
The way things have unraveled must be Karl Rove's wet dream: a living, breathing example of ostensible liberal media bias with which to bludgeon the rest of the press into an even deeper defensive crouch.A metaphor here, a metaphor there, who cares? Bludgeoning the media with a living breathing wet dream! Lalalalalala!
Like O.J. Simpson's infamous "struggle" to squeeze his big hand into the glove, the letter was just a lousy piece of evidence that should never have been produced in court. Now because CBS, like Marcia Clark, screwed up the prosecution, Bush is going to walk. Every thing is like some thing. Sometimes more than one thing! That's why we need so many metaphors. See, it's like the internet start-up bloggers are in slow-motion car chases while Fox breathes down their necks in a trenchcoat with poodles and a mouse and mousse and Karl Rove's wet dream. Yay!
A veteran newsman is in the twilight of a long and distinguished career. He just wanted to taste that sweet medicine one more time. I'm lonely. Please come back.

Breaking the News, Then Becoming It [WP]

By al - 1:15 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Sunday, October 10, 2004

what mystical creature are you

While waiting for phone calls one finds all kinds of things to do





ex 12
You're a mermaid. The stereotypical mermaid had a
long, fish-like tail that blended with the
human torso at the hips and almost white skin
with red hair or some off color like green or
blue. They were the most fantastic singers and
the siren type of mermaids would lure sailors
with their lovely lullaby into dangerous rocks.
They were mostly harmless and peacefull and
they were content to simply sit on the beach
combing their hair or in the water playing with
friends. They never wore clothes and were
always women. They were sweet and a little
deciteful at times. (If you cannot see the
picture, go to my userpage and look near the
bottom. There should be the picture and
description for all the results)


What Mystical Creature Are You? (Pictures)
brought to you by Quizilla

By Sabrina - 3:33 p.m. | (3) comments | Post a Comment

Week from hell

Many of you may have read my previous post about not becoming a chemist.
That incident was the beginning of a week I wish had never happened. My week continued on with finding out a very close friend of mine is in the hospital again. This friend had a brain tumor and has had three surgery already. She is back in the hospital to have fluid removed from the brain which means more surgery. Over all this a frightening ordeal.

That same day as I was going grocery shopping with my sister my brother in law noticed that my license plat had been cut up. Here is the crime I had never heard of but know why it occurs now that I have. The bastard's cut the corner of my licenses plate off. The corner contained my new registration sticker. They took the sticker so that they would not have to pay for registration this year. Meanwhile levying me having to buy a new plate. The girl at the DMV told me that this has been going on for years and happens all the time. Earlier they use to pull of the stickers, so the adhesive was changed on the sticker so they don't come off easy, so now they cut the licenses plate, then steam the sticker off so they can use it.

Well why I was trying to report this to the police, a car full of groceries the bottle of pickles fell out and I ended up cutting my hand all to pieces. I was very frustrated at this point.


Well the day ended with me feeling this impending doom. The feeling never went away but I had put it up to having such a bad day. Then the week got worse. I got a call from my sister she was at the hospital and she was about to loose the baby. They were sending her home because there was nothing they could do for her. After it was all over she had to return to the hospital for a minor surgery. This was all I could handle. I can't even imagine how my sister was feeling. We had to wait. Sit around watching TV and wait for her to loose the baby. As one can imagine emotions were crazy high. Then late last night it was over and aunt binnie is no more.

To be honest I would just like to for get this week and especially the last 24 hours had never happened.

By Sabrina - 10:48 a.m. | (1) comments | Post a Comment

Friday, October 08, 2004

Has Been

Speaking of the Trek, William Shatner's new album has no business being as good as it is.

1. Common People (4:38)
- featuring Joe Jackson
2. It Hasn't Happened Yet (3:46)
3. You'll Have Time (5:15)
4. That's Me Trying (3:45)
- featuring Aimee Mann and Ben Folds
5. What Have You Done (1:45)
6. Together (5:36) - featuring Lemon Jelly
7. Familiar Love (3:57)
8. Ideal Woman (2:22)
9. Has Been (2:16)
10. I Can't Get Behind That (3:00)
- featuring Henry Rollins
11. Real (3:08) - featuring Brad Paisley


Dare you listen?

Actually I suspect it might be more of a career resurrection for Ben Folds than for Shatner. Either way, the Leonard Cohen vibe is definitely a direction more novelty music should be moving in.

By al - 3:35 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Scotty?

I'm not the only one who sees Captain Kirk wearing the new US Air Force space badge am I?

By TVT - 8:55 a.m. | (2) comments | Post a Comment

Thursday, October 07, 2004

Under NDA

Reading the terms of my NDA at work, I'm pretty sure I'm not actually allowed to say I work here. Which is awkward because I constantly run in to people from my last co-op job since we're both in the same building. "so what are you doing for them?" "I can't say."They don't even want people to see the inside of the office, and it's not just because it's a mess while we set up the new building. It was easier to get into Point Lepreau when I was working there :)

On the other hand, not being able to take work home might actually lead me to having weekends to myself to do other things. This will be a new experience for me. (once I get my thesis revisions accepted... grr.)

By al - 2:16 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

Stranded!

Took the Legacy into the shop today. I called them back a few hours later to get an update as it was getting late. Apparently I have no coolant in the engine, cracked cap and damaged hose. He listed off a few other items that needed my attention, but the coolant's definitely the show stopper for now. So, I'm currently stranded at work until my sister can pick me up. . . and as dial-up doesn't work either, I'm catching up on my surfing.

I'll find out how much repairs will cost for the Legacy tomorrow. Hopefully it's under my budget.

By Ming - 5:26 p.m. | (1) comments | Post a Comment

This one's for chibi-G and The Duc

The rest of you can stop reading now. :)

I can't believe Honda has beaten Nissan and Subaru at their own game. I swear I didn't write that article. If you look real close you can see the kitchen sink. ^_^

Dear Honda, I want this system in a Civic coupe or RSX - RIGHT NOW. Signed, future customer.

By TVT - 11:41 a.m. | (2) comments | Post a Comment

Whilst browsing quizilla

I found a lot of useless chick related questionnaires, but this one stood out. Sweeeet.

Greatest gun ever! Feel special. Beautiful and reliable but can still scare the living bejesus outta anyone.
Sig Sauer P226. Greatest gun ever! Feel special.
Beautiful and reliable but can still scare the
living bejesus outta anyone.


What handgun are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

By TVT - 11:11 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Hooray for modern astrology

Like OMG! Like the interweb totally knows who I am. Keen! Earth? Why that's part of astronomy. How did the internet know that I love astroscience? I'm scared. Hold me.

YOU ARE EARTH!
Your inner element is one of great dependability and security. You like things the way you like them, and you work hard to achieve what you perceive as the perfect balance of things in your life. Your drive to succeed is admirable and second to none. You are the rock in the storm that people need, the stability in life that so many lack. Your drive to be the best often leads to tremendous success in both life and business - an idea line of work for you. You tend to be picky about friends and acquaintances, as you have the same high standards for others as you do yourself. But when you have a friend you will stick by them no matter what - you are a friend to the end. Love doesn't come easily to you, and you may find yourself searching through many to find the one you are looking for. When you find that one you love you will lavish all your love and affection on them, and you tend to be very sensual, even decadent when it comes to passion.
Your greatest strengths are your ability to make a decision and stick to it and your ability to remain strong no matter what happens. Your weakness is your tendency to get too stubborn and your refusal to give even an inch with even those you care about. Balancing your strengths and weaknesses is crucial for you to achieve balance in your life.
Astrologically, Earth is associated with the signs of Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn. You are most compatible for either love or friendship with another Earth Elemental or with an Water. You are least compatible with an Air Elemental.


Kudos on the Taurus call. Alas, the 'drive to be the best' crap belies my slovenly nature. Boo. That pillar of support is also a load of bullplop. But I do dig the sensual part. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to the backseat of my car with the woman I love and I won't be back for a whole 10 minutes...

By TVT - 10:46 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

George, RIP 2004

He was the cutest, most precocious little scamp a boy could ever ask for. I'll miss you George and when I get back goddamit I'll avenge your death! Unlike OJ, I'll find that scooter driver and hunt him down.

George, I loved you like a son - a really stupid, bitey, shits everywhere son, but a son nonetheless. You will be missed. And if I hear that anyone's eaten you. I swear I'll make them pay. *sniff* :(

By TVT - 10:29 p.m. | (2) comments | Post a Comment

Why I don't want any of you to become chemist......Understand

Today while I was in the bathroom checking out my hair I notice a shadow which ran down the left side of my head, just inside the hair line. What the Hell is that. I whispered to my reflection and bend closer to look at it. I noticed that is was a scab and all the hair in the thin line was missing. I released multiple curses and suddenly realized where the soar had come from.

Yesterday, while I was chasing down some dichloromethane, I wondered into the plant to look for some help. In the process I was struck on top of my head with a large drop of something. I looked up and there was a very large reactor dripping away. When someone walked by I asked what was in the reactor and they did not know. But it was normally water. Okay so no big deal. The mild irritation I was feeling was most likely just paranoia ( a common thing when one works with dangerous chemicals). So I wondered away and when I had collected my dichloromethane I decided for the hell of it I would rinse off my head. I noticed a large bit hair come out. But I put it off to shedding.

So any way people are investigating what was in the reactor and other than a frankenstein type mark down the side of my face I am pretty much okay. And true I was really lucky....If it had say gotten my eye....Okay I don't want to think about that

By Sabrina - 10:03 p.m. | (1) comments | Post a Comment

Which Element Are You?

Stolen from amyt.

You are ETHER
YOU ARE ETHER!


Well, well... you are the mysterious Fifth Element!
The Fifth Element, Ether, is used or conjured
in many ancient religions or magics, but is not
something found on this plane. Those that have
been able to make the ascension to the Ether
are truly evolved people, possessed with
heightened senses of intelligence, perception,
and empathy that others simply don't have.
Everyday possessions aren't of much interest -
you are beyond that. You tend to gravitate to
open spaces, changing environments, and won't
saddle yourself with one style or decision.
Indeed, just one type of career isn't of
interest to you either, as your need to
constantly continue evolving and growing won't
allow you to settle down. Sadly, this need may
also impact your social life as well. You tend
to have few friends as not many people
understand you, and fewer relationships because
you simply outgrow them.

Don't be discouraged by this, though. You are truly
one of the unique, for very few people have
been able to achieve this type of
enlightenment. Be proud and use your knowledge
and experiences to teach and help others as
much as you can. Good luck and congratulations!


Now that you have an idea of your strengths and
weaknesses, why don't you put them to the test?
If you follow my lead I can take you to a game
world where you can explore different sides of
yourself and taste real power. Just follow my
lead, enter a name...



Which of the 5 Prime Elements are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

By al - 6:23 p.m. | (1) comments | Post a Comment

Caffeinated, Ginseng Beer

I gotta pee just thinking about it.

By al - 5:26 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Movie Reviews for Nerds

I love this site, but I don't think Binnie will be too happy with this review. :)

By TVT - 3:17 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Shaun of the Dead

It's pretty obvious that every zombie movie made since the real Dawn of the Dead was basically a video game concept, lots of easily-killed enemies coming at you with no depth to them at all and no reason to watch more than one. What makes this film so much better is that the Zombies are sort of a plot twist in what started out as a totally different type of movie, sort of a British romantic comedy.

It does a great job of satirizing the genre, the characters thinking that the zombies are all just really drunk, and at the beginning of the film having the main character shuffle down the street, hungover, and looking a lot like the other dopey, slow-moving background characters.

One of the more ironic parts was actually the previews for other, more traditional 'horror' films like some new Chuckie movie that will inevitably suck, but seeing them still playing the horror genre straight when Shaun of the Dead is already out and actually giving us something new and interesting, is at least, a noble exercise of stupidity.

By al - 7:22 a.m. | (1) comments | Post a Comment

Monday, October 04, 2004

Fuck Coke and Pepsi

I've made my switch. :)

By TVT - 5:44 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

ohboyohboyohboyohboy!

Big day. Binnie's goin into space! Here's video of the 1st one if you missed it. I wonder if this ride will be as eventful. Let's pray all goes well.

By TVT - 9:06 a.m. | (2) comments | Post a Comment

Sunday, October 03, 2004

Nothing like it

Okay most of you know I finished my masters at MUN quite a while ago. Well today I received one of the largest recognition of that. It came via my mother.
Apparently they sent it to her.
It was heavy and bound with a burgundy cover with my name printed in gold on the bottom.
The thesis came to me finally. It is odd to look at all that work bound into one volume, when everyone who has ever done grad school knows there are volumes of stories and work that gets left out. But the neatly printed pages with a minimal number of errors (every thesis I have read to date has had errors in it, mostly typos) makes the accomplishment that much more.

It feels over now

By Sabrina - 4:55 p.m. | (2) comments | Post a Comment

Open Source Logo Action

If anyone wants to mess with the site logo, I put up the original image in .xcf format that has everything split up into layers to make it easily manipulated using The GIMP, if you want to change yourself or put the other Chantal back, whatever. Go nuts, it'll be fun.

Here it is.

By al - 2:31 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Google Aptitude Test

Clever enough to work for Google? Here's the aptitude test...
page 2
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And the original link to the Google Blog entry is here.

By al - 10:35 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Saturday, October 02, 2004

Something to try if you are bored.

Kim gave me this one. Not sure where she got it, the net a book or a friend. But is good especially if you know someone allergic to eggs.



Raspberry chocolate chip muffins

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup chocolate chips
2 cups raspberries
¾ cup sugar
½ cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon lemon (or extra vanilla)
½ cup milk ???

pre heat oven to 375 C
cook 25-30 minutes


mix flour, baking powder and chocolate chips
cream together better and sugar add vanilla and lemon
in two additions each add milk and dry ingredients alternatively

By Sabrina - 11:08 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Why the media is like high school gossip

Out now are so many shows dedicated to watching the famous people of this land. Call it what you like, media, news, pavaratssi; they are all gossip columns. What has been accomplished by this type of hounding and eye oogling? Simply that we have replaced those popular kinds at school with famous people from movies, TV and music.
They entertain us with their art (even though some of it may not be considered art, however that is another blog). We repay these people by spending lot's of money on their merchandise and by paying attention to overemphasis they make. It is rather sad if you think about it.

The thing that sets me blazing lately is how much the media concentrates on weight. Every were you turn a magazine is telling you that this actor has gained weight, developed cellulite or that they have lost weight and become anarchic. So much effort has been puts into watching these people and remarking how bad they look now that they have gained 6 pounds that the average girl out there becomes depressed just seeing it.

How are we to compete. We have turned ourselves into the high school losers who want to be just like the popular kids except we can't. We can't afford the doctors, trainers and dietitians our idles can. We have let ourselves grow up into a vast world were the cool kids are those who have people looking after them, telling them what to eat, how to dress and the rest of us just can't compete.

I for one have become so fed up at hearing Jennifer Lopaz has a big Ass and Danny Devito doesn't have a good beach body. I would like to see on those magazines a change. Tell us something other than how fat, thin or beautiful they are and start telling us that they eat nothing but lettuce and carrots and how hard life is when you can't indulge in a chocolate Sunday when your depressed. I would like to see the focus taken off the negative and replaced with articulated columns on the persons art. Post the magazines carrying these columns on the grocery shelves and on the E talk daily type shows.

Let's get out of high school, disobey the norm and not worry what the cool kids are doing. I understand that this won't happen because too many people are obsessed with the famous but for once I would like to standing in line to pay for my groceries and see a magazine which is about the art instead of the smut.

By Sabrina - 2:34 p.m. | (1) comments | Post a Comment

Friday, October 01, 2004

one with The Schwartz

You can't see me, but I'm doing my happy nerd dance.

I also suggest checking out Shaun of the Dead if you're down with swearing, zombies, and brits. A fine combination if I may say so.

By TVT - 1:10 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Odd fish

Every now and then a quirky gem makes it across the pond. Introducing the world's first snowball simulator, from the friendly folks that brought you Pac-Man.

By TVT - 10:18 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

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