October 2004

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Our new car

October 29, 2004 in Cars by matt | No comments

Marcy and I bought a new car last night. By new I really mean old in that it’s used. Confused? Don’t worry – so am I!

As I mentioned last week we were looking for a replacement car for Marcy’s ‘91 Honda Civic. We didn’t want to risk it needing servicing on the middle of the 401 during the rush in the morning. So for the past 2 weeks we’ve been commuting together. Either Marcy or I get the longer drive in the hopes that we’d find a replacement car soon. Well we found one that we were happy with last week but looked at other alternatives around the city without finding anything better. So last night we filled out the paperwork and got the purchase order. We pick it up on Monday.

It’s a 2001 Honda Accord LX V6 with approximately 67000 km on it. It’s black and has all of the power options you’d expect. There’s no sunroof but we didn’t really want one. No leather seats either (which we did want) but you can’t get everything in a car. Pictures to follow obviously. We still have to arrange for insurance and meet with the bank tomorrow afternoon but that’s more of a formality than a hindrance at this point. I’m confident we can get insurance by Monday evening.

It’s going to be nice having a new(er) car. I can’t wait.

Afrobeat fun

October 29, 2004 in Life, Music and Toronto by matt | No comments

I’d really like to see this concert:

Sat Oct 30:NYC Rope A Dope Afrobeat Funk & Groove

‘ANTIBALAS’ 2 Sets @10:30 & 12:15. $15.00 Adv @Hs-Rt-Ss. $18.00 @Door.

Antibalas is a pretty amazing group. I have two of their albums (Liberation Afro Beat, Vol. 1 and Talkatif) but I don’t have their latest effort – Who Is This America? They’re a very political afrobeat/funk group that is supposed to be awesome in a live setting. I heard them mention the two concerts at The Horseshoe (tonight and tomorrow night) on Metro Morning during the drive in. They played a little Antibalas and it got me grooving.

I would go to the concert except for one thing – they’re playing 2 sets and the first one doesn’t start until 10:30. Sad as it may sound to you, that’s when I usually go to bed during the week. Last weekend we managed to stay up until near midnight but that was only because we slept in on Saturday morning. I’m not sure I’d have the energy to stay out that late no matter how good the band might be. Ah well, I can always listen to their albums.

How long will it last?

October 29, 2004 in Commuting and Toronto by matt | No comments

Well contrary to the ugly drive from yesterday today’s extended drive was almost blissful. Ok maybe I wouldn’t go that far but it was definitely better. No accidents on the major routes and we got to Ajax in a breezy 30 minutes. I figured on the way back into the city that the 401 westbound would be slow (since it is every single day) so you can imagine my surprise when I read this on one of the overhead signs:

401 Express and Collector moving well beyond Morningside

That was just incredible. Usually it’s down to a dead stop just past Morningside until you get to the DVP (about 15 kilometres). This didn’t happen today. We didn’t even slow down until I got off the highway. As I was driving through the habitual slowdown area, all I could think was that this was a great drive but then at the same time I was thinking that I shouldn’t think that in case I would jinx my good fortune. It’s kind of like when you’re pitching a no-hitter or bowling a perfect game (both of which I’ve accomplished several times in my illustrious careers) – you don’t want to mention what’s going on because you’re just not sure how long it will last.

One picture

October 28, 2004 in Pictures and Travel by matt | No comments

I haven’t really spoken about our weekend just past but let me say that it was very fun. Hopefully I’ll have some time to describe the new photos that I’ve uploaded.

This is my favourite picture from the weekend of Kristin (the birthday girl):

Kristin

I was experimenting not using the flash indoors. This of course increases the exposure time to compensate for the lack of light but I like the effect in this picture. I like the lighting on Kristin’s face and the sharpness of the foreground. I don’t like how the waiter in the background is blurry (he was moving) but I can’t do much about that except crop him out. I also could have abided by the rule of thirds a bit more but I wanted Kristin to be the focus of the picture, not anything else.

Oh well, I still really like this picture.

Emergency costumes

October 28, 2004 in Humour and Links by matt | No comments

If you’re grasping for ideas on what to wear for Hallowe’en, why not choose from this fantastic set? You’re sure to get a laugh. Or a scream. [via]

Red Sox win

October 28, 2004 in Life, Links and Sports by matt | No comments

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before how much I love reading The Sports Guy’s writings. He’s an excellent writer and he’s really funny. He gets sports, he knows a lot about popular culture and he routinely ties them together with remarkable ease.

I’ve read his articles after the Patriots won the Super Bowl (now apparently hidden behind a subscriber-only link) and now I’ve read his articles about the Red Sox winning the World Series. Truly an amazing turn of events from last week. I’m so happy for him and Red Sox fans the world over.

Augie likes his running diary of last night’s game. One of my favourite entries:

6:49 — Well, we had the lunar eclipse. I think this is a good sign. More importantly, Bonnie Tyler gets to fill out a 1090-form this year — Fox just replayed the moon with “Total Eclipse of the Heart” playing in the background. Plus, the Red Sox are trying to complete a World Series sweep. This is officially the weirdest night of all-time. I keep expecting Dooze to hop next to me on the sofa and ask, “Hey, who’s winning?”

and

7:18 — Top three places where I wish Fox had planted cameras tonight: 3.) Steinbrenner’s house; 2.) Buckner’s house; 1.) Nomar’s house. I just picture a sullen Nomar watching the game in the dark, as Mia brings him a glass of water and he says, “Thanks, beautiful.”

Classic humour. I hope the Sports Guy has a lot of fun this weekend celebrating because he deserves it. It’s going to be a grand time in Boston that’s for sure.

Edit: one more thing – his article from yesterday had an interesting set of coincidences

Weird fact in case you missed it: The Celtics won their first championship against St. Louis (1957); the Bruins broke a 41-year Stanley Cup drought against St. Louis (1970); and the Patriots won their first Super Bowl against St. Louis (2002). Hey, I’m just the messenger.

My coworker said that you can find patterns in any group of random statistics. Still, it’s interesting.

Child’s Play

October 28, 2004 in Links by matt | No comments

I promised Ian that I’d post about Child’s Play so here goes.

Child’s Play

Child’s Play is run by the two guys from Penny Aracde:

About Child’s Play

Here’s the deal. Last year we set up a charity called Child’s Play. We set it up because we were angry the media decided to blame all the world’s problems on games and gamers. Basically they said that gamers were bad people, and we thought that wasn’t right. Apparently, you guys agreed: through Child’s Play you sent more than $250,000 in toys, games, and cash to the sick kids at Seattle Children’s Hospital. That was awesome. You guys have proven over and over again that you are an overwhelming force, and you really came through and made a real difference to the 190,000 kids that Seattle Children’s Hospital cares for each year. So we’re doing it again this year, only this time we’ve expanded Child’s Play to five hospitals across the U.S. so you can send toys to a hospital a little closer to home. Child’s Play works the same as last year. With the help of hospital staff we’ve set up Amazon Wish Lists full of video games, toys, and movies. You can go to each hospital’s list and buy a toy, and that toy will be sent to the hospital. Some of these kids are in pretty bad shape—imagine being stuck alone in a hospital over the holidays–so getting something from a fellow gamer would really raise their spirits. Some of the stuff the hospital will give away for kids to keep, while other gifts (like consoles) will be kept by the hospital for patients to use throughout the year. Penny Arcade has a readership of something like three and a half million gamers across the world. We are arguably the largest community of gamers on the internet. The important word there being community. This isn’t IGN, this isn’t Gamespy, we are not a faceless corporation and you are not just a number tracked by a database and then relayed to hungry advertisers. You guys have proven yourselves to be a powerful force when stirred into action. Here is your opportunity to use that power to do some real good.

It’s a really worthwhile drive and I encourage you to participate if you can. It’s heartwarming that all of these gamers donated so much last year. I remember looking at the pictures and being absolutely amazed at the generosity on display. Here’s hoping that this year’s Child’s Play is even more successful.

The list

October 28, 2004 in Music by matt | No comments

I mentioned that I had recently purchased new CDs on the weekend. Well here’s the list in no particular order:

  • The Arcade Fire – Funeral (heard wonderful things about the band)

  • K-Os – Joyful Rebellion (which includes Marcy’s favourite song – Crabbuckit)

  • Elliott Smith – From A Basement On The Hill (his last album)

  • Jill Scott – Beautifully Human (praised here)

  • Gilles Peterson In Brazil (I can’t resist his compilations)

  • Iron + Wine – Our Endless Numbered Days (supporting good artists)

  • Amelie Soundtrack

So today I will be listening to music. I have the volume turned down low so I don’t miss any important conversation in our dev area.

Ugly Drive

October 28, 2004 in Commuting, It Happened To Me and Toronto by matt | No comments

Today’s drive into work was terrible. We didn’t have a chance to listen to the traffic reports until we got in the car but it wouldn’t have done us much good.

There was a collision in the eastbound 401 in the express lanes. One right-hand lane was blocked. In the collector lanes one left-hand lane was blocked with emergency vehicles. This was all at Avenue Road.

Basically as soon as we got on the 401 it was slow. We put up with it for not even one exit – we got off at Keele and drove down to Lawrence. Lawrence was a pretty good choice up until Avenue Road which of course is undergoing some serious construction work right now. One lane on Lawrence at Avenue was blocked so naturally the traffic was very slow there. The accident on the 401 wasn’t until after Avenue Road so we stuck it out on Lawrence until Yonge Street (arguably the world’s longest street). Up Yonge until the 401 and we were at a dead stop. People were taking their sweet time with the light at the 401 though apart from a guy driving an expensive Mercedes not knowing how to use a 5- (or 6-) speed transmission we were back on the highway.

Traffic was fairly smooth though a pickup truck in front of us was going too slowly for the passing lane. I got Marcy to school just before 8:30 – total drive time to Ajax was 1 hour and 20 minutes. I then stopped at Tim Horton’s for a coffee (and bathroom break) and ventured back towards the city. Naturally the 401 going west was fairly slow given that it’s the morning rush hour. I exited at Victoria Park because I knew that the Don Valley Parkway (which I talked about yesterday) would be slow. It’s always slow. Unfortunately they had one lane closed on Victoria Park because they had to pour concrete to form a new curb. Great!

Anyway I got to work at around 9:30. Total drive time = 2 hours, 20 minutes. Even getting here at 9:30 I was still the first developer in the office by at least 30 minutes. It’s great that way. Both of us were on time for work though Marcy just barely so. Unfortunately accidents on the roadway are going to be a normal part of our commuting life. So long as they don’t become daily events we’re good.

Modifying settings

October 28, 2004 in Work by matt | No comments

Last night someone used my computer here at work and did the following:

Unacceptable! If there’s one thing that I like with my computer, it’s consistency in its behaviour from day-to-day. I don’t want to come in and find all kinds of different settings changed. It’ll be nice once we get a more permanent IT guy.

Cool kids?

October 27, 2004 in Cultural Criticism by matt | No comments

There’s a blog that I read often (through RSS). The author frequently divides people mentions “cool kids”. This terminology irks me a great deal. It’s so exclusionary. If you’re doing what the author is talking about then you’re definitely not part of the “cool kids” clique. You can’t “strongarm” people into being cool. It’s just not possible and if you go around defining yourself and the actions of others in exclusionary terms like “cool kids” then maybe you have some issues to deal with.

I got a rock

October 27, 2004 in Music and Television by matt | No comments

Last night Marcy and I watched “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” I hadn’t seen it in a long long time and I think Marcy had only read the book.

My favourite (though saddest) segment is when they’re out trick-or-treating and at every house Charlie Brown looks into his bag and says “I got a rock”.

Kid Koala (who I haven’t listened to in too long) used this particular voice clip in his superb mix tape, “Scratchcratchratchatch“. A definite classic that I should listen to again.

I just need to get some headphones for work. I have ~$200 worth of CDs purchased over the weekend to listen to.

Dude, you’re getting a draft!

October 27, 2004 in Humour and Links by matt | No comments

Even if it likely won’t come to pass (and I sincerely hope it won’t), this site is still humourous.

Link courtesy of Ms. Huffington.

Car headlights

October 27, 2004 in Lessons, The Office and Toronto by matt | No comments

If I’m on the 15th floor of a building and when I look down onto the Don Valley Parkway and your car’s headlights are almost blinding me then I think you have a problem with the light alignment. You might want to check that out.

The link above is a pretty humourous read. I can understand why road rage can be a problem and I’ve only been commuting in the city for 3 weeks now. I’m putting in my order for a private helicopter soon.

Edit: I didn’t realize that the city of Toronto had its own set of traffic cameras on the roads. I was aware of the provincial ones (they’re very useful at times) but the RESCU ones cover areas not in the provincial basket.

Early riser again

October 27, 2004 in Cars, Life and Work by matt | No comments

So I’m here at work earlier than anyone else again. Marcy was ill yesterday and took a sick day so I was able to come in a little later than 7:30. It was different but there’s something about coming in so early that’s more rewarding.

So far this week has been much less hectic than last week work-wise. Working until 8:30 on a Friday night? Not so much fun. Particularly when you arrive at 7:30 in the morning. Fortunately I think I’ve ironed out all of the wrinkles that were giving me headaches last week and right now it’s more smooth sailing.

The plan is to make an offer on the car we saw last week. I hope it’s still there because it was by far the best car we’ve driven thus far. Oh well, if it isn’t around anymore there’s always another slew of cars ready to be bought. I just hope that we get a salesman who is nice and not sexist but that might be asking for too much.

Weekend finally!

October 22, 2004 in The Apartment and Travel by matt | No comments

The weekend is finally upon us. It’s been an exhausting one for Marcy and I. Even going to bed at our new time of 10 o’clock is not enough it seems to stave off the tired feeling that creeps up during the day. This weekend is going to be another action-packed, fun-filled one – we’re going to Montreal! It’s Kristin’s birthday next week and she’s having a bash tomorrow night with some people. It’ll be exciting to go back to Montreal. We were there in May for our minimoon. Good times were had. I’m definitely looking forward to a little R&R.

Tonight, if we can make it to Leon’s on time, we’re purchasing our leather furniture. Their deal for a 4-piece set plus a 36″ tv expires next week so we might as well get that wrapped up before we bogged down in details about buying the car next week.

iDebate

October 20, 2004 in Humour, Links, Music and Politics by matt | No comments

I haven’t seen this hypothesis before:

idebate

That would certainly explain “the bulge” controversy. Bush just wants to listen to his tunes! As I said the other day, some people work better with music.

Via Joi’s blog.

Sleepiness

October 20, 2004 in Life and Television by matt | No comments

An addendum to my last post.

Last night Marcy and I were rebels. We stayed up late to watch The Daily Show. It felt good – we missed Jon’s comedic banter. As a result though we’re both feeling pretty tired this morning. Fortunately I have my supply of stimulants right beside me. That should get me through the morning at least.

Give me the worm

October 19, 2004 in Life by matt | No comments

I get tired early in the evening. We usually go to sleep around 10:30-11:00. Certainly a far cry from the hey days when I could stay up past midnight. On the plus side, I get up much earlier (just after 6 on most days) which means that I’m far more productive in the mornings.

Car buying night #1

October 19, 2004 in Cars by matt | No comments

Last night after work Marcy and I test drove a couple of Honda Accords. Both were approximately the same condition – 2001 V6 4-door sedan with similar mileage. The first one we were able to drive on our own so we took it on the highway and parked in a parking lot and inspected the trunk and body. The car handled very well. The dealer gave us a fairly good offer even before the trade-in and I’m sure we can talk him down a little more since we’re paying up front with no financing (i.e. their sale is finished right away). The second car was $2000 more than the first and the dealer seemed extremely reluctant on moving on that price. We even lied to him about the other offer and the best he could do was say that he’d try to get his manager down in price. I wasn’t too impressed with him or the car. Tonight we’re going looking again.

Lack of e/i/fo/fum-tunes

October 18, 2004 in Music and Work by matt | No comments

So far at work I’ve decided to not listen to music while I’m working. Primarily it’s because I don’t want to seem isolationist and I want to make new friends and meet people and I might seem standoffish if I have headphones on my head all day. What I’ve discovered kind of surprised me – I’m more productive when I’m not listening to music. I’m not really sure why this is; I always found that I would work better if I had something nice to listen to. Perhaps it’s because here there are fewer distractions and I don’t have to figure what I want to listen to next every hour or so. We’ll see if this continues – so far the ambience is conducive to non-headphone work but I do miss my music at times.

The new digs

October 18, 2004 in Blog Discussions, Cars, Pictures, The Apartment, Toronto and Work by matt | No comments

So Marcy and I are getting more and more settled into our new lives here in Toronto. Almost all of the boxes that we moved have been unpacked and the remainder are being stored in the spare bedroom (man it’s great to have one of those). We’ve already picked out our paint for the entire apartment and are looking forward to decorating together. It will make a huge difference. We’re also looking at new leather furniture for the living room as it seems that all of the furniture stores in the area are having these crazy promotional deals (buy 3 pieces, get a big-screen tv). We’re thinking of going with a 4-piece black leather-split set from Leon’s because we think it’s the best value for the dollar and gives us plenty of space to sit in the new living room. We’ll probably give our existing couch (after the addition of a new slip cover). We won’t need a third couch after buying this new furniture.

Work has been extremely exciting so far so that’s definitely a positive sign. There are many differences between this job and my previous one but I won’t mention anything here. The job is very interesting, the people are great and things are really moving quickly sales-wise. We have an offsite meeting tomorrow. I’m not sure exactly what that entails but it sounds interesting!

Marcy and I are going to have to purchase a car quite soon. Her car is having some troubles and it’s not worth risking her driving an hour per day and getting stuck on the 401. Today we commuted together and after work we’re going to look at some used cars in this area. We’re looking at a 2000-2002 Honda Accord and fortunately for us there are plenty to choose from in the area.

Yesterday we went to clothes shopping and I bought a whole whack of new things to wear. Pants, shirts, shoes, even a belt! It’s very exciting. The new shoes I love – they’re slip-on leathers that looks nice and feel great. I’m wearing them today.

I have lots of photos to upload this week so stay tuned to the gallery! Now that I have consistent Internet access at home (and I can connect to the server from work), there should be more frequent updates in this space.

We’re back!

October 13, 2004 in Blog Discussions by matt | No comments

We’re back online here at the new homestead. It’s such a relief to have Internet access again. Stay tuned for more posts!

HoTMaiL

October 8, 2004 in Technology by matt | No comments

I noticed something about the new Hotmail the other day (the one with 250MB of storage). When you have a link in a URL now, it doesn’t open it up in a new framed window with that annoying Hotmail text at the top (”You are visiting a site outside of Hotmail” or something like that). Also the actual URL is no longer encoded into some Hotmail-based URL. Instead they’re using Javscript (or I guess JScript since it’s Microsoft-based) to open a new window. It makes the URL cleaner and also it’s less intrusive on the new window since you can actually read what the new URL is. Of course they’re still tracking what you visit inside of the Javascript/JScript function but most people probably don’t know or mind that that is happening.

BlogACatMas

October 1, 2004 in Cats and Pictures by matt | No comments

Well in honour of BlogACatMas, I should probably post a picture of our cats:

BlogACatMas

They’re best of friends. Except when they’re fighting.

Edit: You can find more cat pictures here!

Last day!

October 1, 2004 in Commuting, Kitchener-Waterloo, Moving, The Apartment and Toronto by matt | No comments

So tonight is my last night living in my apartment here in Kitchener. I’m hoping that once we move I’ll be able to sleep better because this whole week I’ve felt very anxious about the move. Most of the apartment is packed up and tonight we’ll finish up the rest. I’m not sure what percentage of our boxes we’ll be able to take tomorrow but I’ll be commuting back and forth next week anyway and I can pick up some boxes on the way back to Toronto. I fully anticipate being quite sore tomorrow night but at least we’ll be able to relax somewhat afterwards. I’m looking forward to being in the new place.