November 2004

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A Raptors game for me!

November 30, 2004 in Life, Sports and Work by matt | No comments

My supervisor got me a ticket to a Raptors game in January. I’m not sure why me but I’m grateful. It’s a home game against the Golden State Warriors. It looks like a pretty good seat judging by the price and the location within the arena. We’ll be less than 10 rows from the net. I say we because one of the other guys at work got a ticket to the same game on behalf of the company. Perks can be a nice thing.

This is the little statistical fact that they placed on my ticket:

During the 1997-98 season, Marcus Camby leads the league in blocked shots with 3.65 per game, becoming the first Raptor to lead in an NBA statistical category. In the same season, Camby notches his first two career triple-doubles as a Raptor and establishes a franchise record 11 blocked shots in a single game.

Ah, the advantages of having a young team. It’s easy to make records.

Proof I don’t know everything

November 30, 2004 in Lessons and Work by matt | No comments

I spent all morning and part of the afternoon trying to figure out a problem here at work.

Combined hours put in by three of the developers (including me)? 9.
Amount of frustration and confusion abundant in the work area? Nearing record levels.
Eventual cause of the problem? An errant file left over from a fruitless attempt last Thursday.

It’s like one of those A-Ha (maybe related to the band) moments. Something so simple was tripping you up and you didn’t even realize it. At least I can finally put this project to rest. It’s been in the “complete but not really complete” phase for more than a week now.

Chocolate

November 30, 2004 in Commuting, Food and It Happened To Me by matt | No comments

Chocolate is tasty but not so much when it’s on your pants. It seems that I somehow managed to get chocolate on the seat of my car which apparently transferred itself to my pants while I drove in this morning. I have no idea how this happened but I do know that it looks slightly embarrassing. Fortunately I was able to clean off most of the chocolate by using a paper towel and water. I’ll have to clean my car seat when I get home tonight.

Toyota family

November 29, 2004 in Cars and Family by matt | No comments

An addendum about the weekend – it seems that my parents have become pure Toyota drivers.

We used to be a Ford family. This was primarily because my dad worked for an auto parts maker and Ford was their biggest customer so when he was offered a company car, the list consisted of almost entirely Ford vehicles. His choice was usually the Mercury Sable which is no longer made. It’s a decent enough car and since he’d get a new one every 3 years or so we didn’t have to worry too much about the pitfalls of depreciation.

For our minivan we had a Dodge Caravan for the longest time. It got us around and was high enough that my mom could see while she was driving (a big step from driving the previous car – a Tempo). Once they moved to Michigan, they got a Town & Country. The lease on that was 3 years long and once it expired they purchased a Toyota Highlander. When my dad got a new job in Ohio he needed a new car for commuting so he got another Mercury Sable. The lease on that expired this September and they now have a brand-new (salsa red) Toyota Camry. We rode in it this weekend and it’s very comfortable.

I’m not sure what the point of mentioning all of this is but I do find it interesting.

Tepid season

November 29, 2004 in Economy, Family and Travel by matt | No comments

They’re saying that it was a “tepid start” to the holiday shopping season in the U.S. Marcy and I were in Ohio this past weekend and we did some shopping on Saturday and I’d have to agree with that assessment. Friday was the usual go-nuts bonanza (Target would give you a wake-up call at 4 A.M. Friday morning if you desired) but on Saturday the mall was nowhere near as busy as I was expecting. That’s ok though, we got most of our shopping done without worrying about lines or traffic jams or the like. Of course I’m not sure that Ohio is a good example to use since their economy has been decimated over the last few years but it has to count for something.

The weekend was fun though driving to Ohio and back is certainly no casual jaunt. Having cruise control is a definite bonus. My parents continue to amaze me with their decorating. They’ve made some significant progress in the basement renovations and put up some nice wood panelling in the hallway. I wonder if I’ve inherited any of that skill.

Insanity abounds

November 29, 2004 in Life and Links by matt | No comments

This whole story is very disturbing and bizarre. I don’t understand people sometimes.

Audio? What a scoop!

November 29, 2004 in Jeopardy! by matt | No comments

Jason has a copy of the audio for Final Jeopardy! the day Ken loses (supposedly tomorrow). I’m always amazed at how Jason gets these tidbits of information. You can read Jason’s post for the final answer much discussed here and elsewhere.

I was watching A&E last night and they had a commercial for this week’s featured Biography – Ken Jennings on Wednesday. They preempted the biography of Scott Peterson to show Ken. This leads me to believe that tomorrow is indeed the last day for Ken. It’ll be a heartwarming episode.

Bus shootings

November 29, 2004 in Toronto by matt | No comments

I heard about this story on the news this morning. That’s very close to our apartment. The grocery store we go to is at that intersection. It kind of makes you think that random violence could happen anywhere at any time to anyone. Is it possible to avoid? No but it is possible to counter your fear. Society is not always pleasant but it’s not all that dangerous either. It’s sad that the price of life can be so high for some.

Timing is everything

November 29, 2004 in Lessons and Work by matt | No comments

Sometimes you realize just how fortunate you can be in terms of timing. You make a decision and even though you have doubts initially, it ends up being for the best in the long run. It’s impossible to stay ahead of the game forever or always but it’s striking when it happens consistently. I still feel badly for those left behind.

More newness

November 26, 2004 in The Apartment by matt | No comments

This week was a pretty revolutionary week for new things in the apartment. In addition to our new furniture we bought a new duvet (no cover yet but that’s coming) as well as 2 new pillows. Our other pillows were pretty battered (mainly by me). We decided to go with a king-sized duvet even though we have a queen-sized bed. That way there’s more than enough duvet for the bed. It’s very comfortable; we got it on sale from Beddingtons. We also put new sheets on (which we got from the wedding) but that’s probably not as interesting. With all of this newness on the bed it took a night or so to get comfortable but now I think I have a good sleep planned out. We’ll see how well I sleep in Ohio this weekend. That bed is usually too comfortable; I sleep far past the time that I should though not that I’m more of a “morning person” (I never thought it would happen again) hopefully I can get up early and make full use of our time in the Buckeye State.

New furniture

November 26, 2004 in The Apartment by matt | No comments

Remember the new furniture we ordered more than a month ago? Well the order has finally been completed as of last night. We now have the 3-seat couch, loveseat, armchair and 32″ Toshiba television. It definitely helps fill in the space in the living room. The television is huge though, well huge compared with the old tv which I think was 24 or 26 inches across. I like it; it was incredibly easy to hook in the VCR and DVD player. The next step will be to buy our new bookcases and start/finish painting the living room. It’s going to look really nice once it’s done. I can feel it. We moved the old couch into the bedroom and it fits pretty well in there though we’re going to have to move the bed over a little. The cats like it – more stuff to run over. Naturally they loved the big tv box.

Eat it!

November 26, 2004 in Cats and Pictures by matt | No comments

Another picture from the Royal Winter Fair:

I love Canadian beef

I like this picture. Speaking of cows, it’s interesting how they sleep almost exactly like our cats:

Pumpkin cow

That’s like Pumpkin.

Elle cow

That’s like Elle. I hope they’ll be ok this weekend by themselves. We’ll give them lots and food and water.

That’s living

November 25, 2004 in Lessons by matt | No comments

This article in The Onion is pretty funny. I know a lot of guys just out of university who think they have it made because they have a good job and are unattached. It’s easy to get smug if you’re on either side of the attachment fence. The important thing is that you’re happy with who you are and what you’ve accomplished.

Mmmmacaroons!

November 25, 2004 in Food and Life by matt | No comments

I’ve discovered the joy that is a chocolate-dipped mini-macaroon. It is so tasty! Having more than one is even tastier!

Sweetcheeks?

November 25, 2004 in Pictures and Toronto by matt | No comments

A few weeks back we went to the Royal Winter Fair here in Toronto and I took my camera with me. I took a whole bunch of pictures but this one stands out.

Sweetcheeks

Crowd appreciation is the determining factor in this contest according to the poster. Fortunately we missed it.

It’s true

November 25, 2004 in Links and Technology by matt | No comments

We are the tech-support generation [via].

I really don’t mind fixing computers and electronics. What I do mind is someone assuming that since I have a degree in computer engineering that I should automatically know what is wrong and how to remedy certain problems. Fortunately this issue hasn’t come up in a long time.

CBC + Zero 7 = Simple Things

November 25, 2004 in CBC and Music by matt | No comments

Ok, this post has been floating around in my head since September but I only seem to remember it when I’m in the car listening to the radio. I listen to CBC Radio One almost exclusively and though it doesn’t have commercials per se (it’s public radio), they do have promotional clips for the network and other shows. The CBC promotional clip features a band I know very well – Zero 7. This was the same band that I gushed about almost exactly two years ago after having seen them in concert in Seattle. They’re really a special band to me and my ears. I never get tired of listening to their albums, particularly their debut Simple Things.

Anyway so the CBC uses little bits from a variety of songs off of Simple Things. Not much but enough for someone familiar with the music to recognize it. It brings a smile to my face each time I hear that. It’s nice knowing that someone at the CBC appreciates music like this.

Upgrading again

November 25, 2004 in Blog Discussions by matt | No comments

This morning I upgraded this to be running the latest nightly build of Wordpress, 1.3-alpha-5. It took a little bit of work to get things working with the themes and configuration files/plugins but we should be good to go (again). I haven’t noticed many major changes between the previous version I was using (alpha-3) and this one. Mostly they are minor user interface-type changes.

That said, Wordpress still rocks and is going to rock even more in the future.

Scary driving

November 25, 2004 in Commuting, Life and Toronto by matt | No comments

Remember how I mentioned last week that we watch Breakfast Television in the mornings for their traffic reports? Well it’s a good thing because this morning we had it on (Marcy had to leave early to pick up her guest speaker that never ended showing up) and at around 6:45 they showed a shot of the 401 eastbound in the collector lanes. A van/pickup truck had gone through the guardrail at Don Mills road and had fallen onto the 401 collector lanes. It’s kind of scary that that can happen so easily but the roads were very icy this morning particularly on ramps and bridges (those signs don’t lie!). The vehicle was extremely lucky that it didn’t land on another car and I can imagine people’s fright as they’re driving through that area and they see a car go over the bridge. It must have looked like something out of a movie.

Fortunately as a result of this accident, my drive was relatively light (there were no injuries in the above accident). Don Mills was closed from Sheppard down to the 401 and so the volume of traffic usually barreling down that street in the morning was noticeably absent. York Mills was slow from Yonge to Leslie; I stopped at the Yonge/York Mills subway stop to see if Marcy’s friend was there and didn’t want to get back on the 401 given the mess described above.

Edit: According to this Toronto Star story (who knows how long that link will live), the driver was driving a pesticide truck and since it crashed onto its passenger side, the driver was not injured. He has something to be thankful for today that’s for sure.

Headphones on their last ears

November 24, 2004 in Life and Music by matt | No comments

Remember the headphones that the cats were snacking on back in September? Well it’s been a rough few months for these things. The covering on the headphone has been shredded and I basically have only foam touching my ear now. Back in Kitchener the headphones were in the tv case and that’s where we kept the cinammon pinecones so the headphones smell strongly of cinammon. Now today the headphones fell on the floor (not an unusual happening) and the right “phone” broke. It attaches back to the headpiece but it’s by no means secure. Not exactly comfortable to listen to music with either. I need a new set of headphones.

Must be nice in Vermont this time of year

November 24, 2004 in Toronto and Weather by matt | No comments

I’ve officially seen my first snow of the year. It’s wet snow but definitely snow. It’s all downhill from here. Driving home is going to be a joy.

This made me mad

November 24, 2004 in It Happened To Me, Technology and Work by matt | No comments

I got an email last night:

During routine maintenance on www.microsoft.com/careers, it was determined that there was a discrepancy within your customer record which has resulted in your account information being deleted.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, but encourage and invite you to re-visit www.microsoft.com/careers to set up a new user profile so you can continue to explore the many career opportunities available at Microsoft. Thank you for your time, and for considering Microsoft Corporation as a potential employer. Staffing Department Microsoft Corporation http://www.microsoft.com/careers

Well that’s pretty great news now isn’t it? I really hope that every company deletes my customer record like this. Note that they don’t tell me what the discrepancy was or how I could avoid repeating the discrepancy in the future. My information is lost and there’s nothing that I can do about it.

A few months back I was applying to Microsoft jobs very regularly but stopped once it was decided that we would be moving to Toronto instead. However I’m still not very happy with this. Someday we might end up moving to Seattle though we’re pretty comfortable here right now. The point is that despite their “sincere apologies”, the data that I had provided to them is lost. My tailored resume, my job searches, the jobs that I had applied to, they’re all gone.

It doesn’t exactly leave me with a positive feeling.

This made me laugh

November 24, 2004 in Commuting, Life, Pictures and Toronto by matt | No comments

My previous post linked to a page talking about the QEW. I’ve spent the last little while navigating the rest of that site and discovered that it’s a really full and thorough resource on Ontario’s highway system. I ‘m interested in this kind of thing so I’m appreciative of having it around.

They have a section for old highway photos and this one made me laugh:

401 and Leslie

That’s a picture of the 401 looking east at the Leslie Street exit. I doubt that there’s any time of day or night where the highway is that empty. I wonder if someday we’ll look at the pictures of the highway in the east and west that is currently surrounded by farms and have the same thought. The growth of the Ontario megalopolis continues unabated. Well except for the proposed Greenbelt.

Normal buildup

November 24, 2004 in Commuting and Toronto by matt | No comments

I have a surplus of posts popping around in my head.

Whenever I listen to the traffic reports (which is often now that I’m commuting everyday), I wonder what someone new to the city/province/country would think listening to these reports. Acronyms and designations abound in each and every report.

QEW?
DVP?
The Allen?
Across the top?
Normal buildup?

It would take some time to decipher exactly what these all meant. I pity anyone visiting the city for a short while not knowing their way around and relying on the traffic reports to help navigate the streets. Of course I pity anyone who has to drive anywhere in the city during rush hour (aka every hour). With today’s heavy rain and tomorrow’s likely snow, it’s not going to be pretty.

Anyway, I guess once you get a handle on all of the terminology for traffic around the GTA it’s pretty easy to digest the traffic reports. It’s just something I think about. I like to muse on different things (as you may have surmised already).

Painting picket fences

November 23, 2004 in The Apartment by matt | No comments

We don’t live in a house so we don’t really have any picket fences. Painting however? We will be doing plenty of that over the next little while. It’s going to be pretty exciting to see the apartment change from off-white to a rich full spectrum of colours. Here’s what we’ll be doing (actual colour names not accurate):

  • Living room – camel

  • Hallway/dining room – cream with burnt pumpkin accents

  • Kitchen – burnt pumpkin (it looks good)

  • Master bedroom – light blue with gold accents

  • Guest bedroom – two-tones of yellow (sponged)

I think we’re going to try and get some of the supplies (brushes, tape, ladders, etc.) tonight. Taping is going to take a while so maybe we can start doing that and perhaps start painting before the end of the week. Stay tuned for pictures!

Moving fridges

November 23, 2004 in It Happened To Me and The Apartment by matt | No comments

Last night Marcy and I helped the woman down the hall moving her fridge into her dining room. Her husband is away in the Middle East and since we’ve spoken a number of times, I guess she was comfortable enough to ask us to help her out.

She has two children and her son “wears her out”. He likely has ADHD and she just got a new puppy (a dachshund) in the hopes that that will calm him down a little. I hope for her sake that it has some positive effect on him.

I’ve never moved a fridge before but we managed to do it. We had to take the doors off of the freezer and fridge part, lift the fridge over the lip in the floor leading to the dining room and then roll it into place and reattach the doors. All in time to savour our seafood lasagne for dinner.

That was my adventure for the 6:30-7:30 PM hour last night.

Ford Mustangs

November 23, 2004 in Cultural Criticism, Politics and Television by matt | No comments

On Sunday Marcy and I watched American Dreams. We don’t usually watch it but it’s a show that Marcy has enjoyed in the past and so we just started watching. It was their Christmas special I guess because Thanksgiving is this week. It was brought to us “without commercial interruption” by Ford. I guess technically that statement is true.

The annoying thing about the episode (centering around an MIA son coming home in time for Christmas) is that Ford was an integral part of the episode. The televisions in the store were showing Ford commercials from the 1960s, the bus had a poster for the Mustang on the side. And at the end of the episode the returning son got a new Mustang (1967 version). How naturally this ties in with the new Ford Mustang which has design essences of that 1960s version.

After the episode was done there were between 5 and 8 minutes left and Ford filled this with an extended “commercial” for the new Mustang. It featured a soldier coming home from Iraq (likely) or Afghanistan. His mom and brother come to meet him at the airport but his dad, lacking some emotional connection with his son, does not. The dad finally shows up having completed some “errands” for his wife. The father and son have an awkward conversation and we learn that the dad also served his country in war, likely in Vietnam. The dad has a Ford Cobra and the two reminisce and talk about the car. Then it’s revealed that the dad has bought a brand new Mustang for his son. The son seems pretty happy and who wouldn’t be? Getting a new Ford vehicle makes all of that fighting in Iraq worthwhile! All of the horrors? All of the fighting? Melting away as we speak because now I get to drive this bad boy around town. What a boon!

Pardon the cynicism but Ford’s advertising this fall has really irritated me. I’ll write more about this later.

I’m a goofy goober

November 22, 2004 in Movies by matt | No comments

On Saturday we went to see The Spongebob Squarepants Movie (hyped up here). Actually we saw 3 movies on Saturday (the list for November is much fuller than October). We went to Famous Players Colossus in Woodbridge and it was insanely busy. It was also insanely expensive – $13.95 per ticket. The theatre looks more like a spaceship than anything. The theatre was full of kids which probably wouldn’t surprise anyone. Someone used a laser pointer just when the movie started but fortunately that practice did not continue.

The movie was pretty funny in parts but overall I was not as “gung-ho” coming out of the theatre as I would have liked. I guess it’s difficult to translate a 30-minute cartoon into a 90+ minute cartoon. I didn’t like how they marginalized Sandy and Squidward’s characters. I also didn’t like the emphasis put on “being a man”. The princess looked like she belonged in a Scooby-doo cartoon, not a Spongebob one.

No movie is perfect. I’m glad that they made a Spongebob movie because we all know that the world needs more Sponge. I was just expecting a little more.

Soundworx again!

November 22, 2004 in Music by matt | No comments

On Friday I couldn’t listen to music because for some reason my sound card wasn’t giving me any sound (one of the basic properties of a sound card). I just tried playing a sound and it worked. I’m not really sure what changed between Friday and now but I am glad that it works again. Now I can listen to last night’s Gilles Peterson show. One of the neat things about listening to his show is that I get to hear the news right before the show starts. It’s a little taste of the items catching the attention of the BBC once per week.

Horrendous

November 20, 2004 in Cultural Criticism and Sports by matt | No comments

Watching this footage made me sick. To think that professional athletes and fans would behave so despicably makes me sad. I can’t believe what I saw and I hope the players and fans are charged with assault. Judging from the footage they all deserve some harsh punishment. To something that is supposed to be “family-friendly”, the NBA was anything but last night.

Laughs

November 19, 2004 in Humour and Links by matt | No comments

I don’t put much faith in gossip but this is a funny story even if it’s not true. [Via]

Freemans tuesday night the 16th of nov. the bush twins along with 2 massive secret service men tried to have dinner they were told by the maitre ‘d that they were full and would be for the next 4 years upon hearing the entire restaurant cheered and did a round of shots it was amazing [Ed: We’re hearing that this is actually true.]

Spiciness!

November 19, 2004 in Food and It Happened To Me by matt | No comments

Phil’s recent post got me thinking about spicy foods.

When I went grocery shopping on Sunday I bought some chicken wings. I had wanted to get the mild or medium President’s Choice Buffalo Chicken Wings but they only had the hot variety. Thinking that it couldn’t be that spicy and seeing as I had no alternative choices (apart from the dreadful No-Name mild wings that we had purchased previously), I went with the hot wings.

Yesterday we had them for dinner and they definitely lived up to their name. They were too spicy for us and I felt kind of ill afterwards which is never a good sign.

I think next time we’re going to get the naked wings and season them ourselves or try and find the mild or medium varieties. A repeat of this experience is not desirable.

Hazardous sneezing

November 18, 2004 in Health by matt | No comments

Marcy made an interesting observation this morning: I sneeze too violently.

It’s true; my sneezes are hurricane-worthy, cataclysmic events. This has been the case for centuries or since I was a little kid (whichever is sooner). I used to plug my nose and let the inside of my head absorb the pressure but apparently that’s bad for you (my parents telling me “you’re going to blow your brains out!” is still ringing in my ears).

Anyway, the past couple of times I’ve had sneezing attacks, I’ve hurt my neck. It’s really stiff and sore this morning and I was just getting past the pain from the last sneezing attack. Something has to change it seems – either I stop sneezing altogether or I need to find a better way of expressing the sneeze because I need my neck to feel ok.

Foggy!

November 17, 2004 in Commuting, Toronto and Weather by matt | No comments

Over the day it has become increasingly foggy outside. The traffic going north on the DVP has not increased (or decreased for that matter) in speed all day. It’s been slow. Over the weekend they rearranged the construction lanes on the 401 near Yonge Street which makes the whole transfer from northbound to westbound that much more frustrating. I think it’s a day for taking York Mills/Wilson home.

A Grey Video

November 17, 2004 in Links and Music by matt | 1 comment

Remember Grey Tuesday? There’s now a video called Grey Video. I’ve seen this link on a bunch of different places but I’ll point to Downhill Battle for this post. The video is pretty interesting (a la Buddy Holly) but I think it’s easier to make black & white clips merge together seamlessly than doing it in full colour like Weezer’s video. Check it out!

Edit: the official site has gone down but here are some mirrors!

Definitely headline-worthy

November 17, 2004 in CBC, Humour, Sports and Toronto by matt | No comments

The current #3 story on the CBC News site?

Sex OK during Grey Cup week: Argos coach

Seriously! Go read the article for yourself.

Argos head coach Mike (Pinball) Clemons sent the press gallery into hysterics at Wednesday’s news conference with his response to the seemingly annual question of whether his players would be allowed to have sex in the days leading up to Sunday’s CFL championship game against the B.C. Lions (CBC, 4 p.m. ET).

While most coaches usually brush off the question, Clemons, renowned for his jovial personality, chuckled and offered his view on the subject. “Personally speaking, this game is of such great magnitude that far be it from me to interrupt what may be a player’s normal course of action for readying himself for a game,” he said, as those in attendance laughed. “If it has worked thus far, please indulge. “If it has not benefited you to this point, please abstain.”

A humourous sound bite from a humourous coach (also a former player of the team).

Sports bets

November 17, 2004 in Cultural Criticism and Sports by matt | No comments

During the drive home from work last night they were talking about the Grey Cup. It’s this weekend in Ottawa and features the Toronto Argonauts against the B.C. Lions. It should be an entertaining game but the news item mentioned the fact that the Premier of Ontario (Dalton McGuinty) was wagering the Premier of British Columbia (Gordon Campbell) over who would win the game. The stakes? Twenty pounds of beef from either province. Aside: the government of B.C. has a far better website than the government of Ontario. This reminded me of a Sports Guy article a few weeks back:

My only pet peeve about having a Boston team in the Finals: When the Boston mayor makes the stupid bet with the other team’s mayor. Drives me crazy.

For instance, before the World Series, Mayor Menino of Boston wagered a bunch of Boston beer and food products (Legal Seafood’s clam chowder, a case of Sam Adams beer, 11 pounds of Dunkin Donuts coffee and a bunch of other Boston-related stuff in exchange for Anheuser-Busch Products, Toasted Ravioli, Bissinger Chocolate and some other St. Louis goodies from Mayor Clark Griswold. That’s a bet? Those are high stakes? Oh, no, we lost … darn, we’re never gonna replace all that clam chowder; I never should have let him sucker me into that. Please. I hate this stuff. Just one of these times, I want one of the mayors to throw something out there like, “If you guys win, I’ll sleep with a tranvestite … if we win, you have to try heroin and speed at the same time.” Now THAT would get people talking.

I agree that would get people talking. I think getting people discussing the CFL is an improvement over the state of affairs a few years back.

Goodbye Mike from Canmore

November 16, 2004 in Entertainment and Links by matt | No comments

John Morgan from Air Farce dies.

Links

November 16, 2004 in Cultural Criticism, Links and Politics by matt | No comments

A trio of links that I’ve read over the course of the day:

All share a common theme. Urban elitism? Democratic depression? The New Federalism? We’ll see where this leads.

Butter fingers

November 16, 2004 in It Happened To Me by matt | No comments

I went to The Beer Store last week and picked up a case (of 12) of Rickard’s Red. I carried it over to the cash register (in hopes of paying for it) when it completely slipped out of my hands and crashed to the floor. Naturally the glass bottles broke and beer started flowing but I don’t think anyone would want to drink this beer. I apologized to the clerk and she assured me that it was ok and that this happened all of the time. I went to get another case and managed to hold onto it long enough to pay for it and exit the store. The clerk had to go fetch a mop to clean up my mess. I felt badly but there really wasn’t much I could do.

Gotta love that Vibe

November 16, 2004 in Cultural Criticism and Music by matt | No comments

I don’t usually read “The Fix” on Salon but today’s entry had me curious:

Awards-show stabbing: Violence broke out an hour in to the taping of Vibe Magazine’s two-hour award show last night when a knife-wielding member of Death Row Records chief Marion “Suge” Knight’s posse lunged toward after rap star Dr. Dre as he began to accept a Vibe Legend award from presenters Quincy Jones and Snoop Dogg, according to a witness. The would-be attacker was allegedly then blocked by members of rapper 50 Cent’s entourage, though one unidentified man was reportedly stabbed. The event was quickly canceled, and stars — including hosts Tyra Banks and L.L. Cool J — beat it out of there. “Russell Simmons ran out of here crying,” the witness said. But hey, don’t worry. The witness also helpfully reported that, “Whoever was stabbed was definitely not a celebrity.” (NY Post)

That award show has had problems each year they’ve tried to have it. It’s a wonder they keep on trying. At some point I guess they’ll finish the 1999 awards show. That’ll be an accomplishment.

Gee thanks

November 16, 2004 in Career by matt | No comments

I love personalised rejection letters:

Dear Candidate,

Thank you for your interest in Xxxxxxx Xx Xxxxxx and your recent application to the Software Developer – Manufacturing I.T. opportunity. Although your skills and qualifications are impressive we are currently pursuing other candidates. Your profile will continue to reside in our database. We encourage you to update your profile regularly and to continue visiting our website for new opportunities. You may also sign up to have automatic emails sent to you whenever a job matching your skills and interests become available. Again, your interest in XXX is sincerely appreciated and we wish you much success in your future endeavours. Kind Regards, XXX Recruitment

It makes me feel very important if they’re willing to send me a templated letter like this. It’s unfortunate that I didn’t receive this notice back when I was looking for a new job. But I guess it would be unreasonable to ask for companies to abide by my schedule. That relationship only works in the other direction with punitive measures in place to ensure that we abide by their schedule.

Fila Brazillia

November 16, 2004 in Music and Television by matt | No comments

Fila Brazillia is one of my favourite duos in music. Period. Their discography is one of my most prized musical possessions. I routinely listen to some of their older albums. I listen often to their recent release, Jump Leads primarily because I can’t find where I put the album and also because I was underwhelmed with its sound. It didn’t sound as polished as previous releases; it didn’t have that flow and 4 or 5 really great songs. Before I left Kitchener I bought a few CDs at the local record shop downtown and two of the CDs that I bought were this year’s releases from Fila Brazillia – “The Life and Times of Phoebus Brumal” and “Twentythree Dicks and Twentythree Records”. The latter is a series of cuts that didn’t make it onto the former. There are some really high-quality tracks on these two albums. “Boca Raton” on “The Life and Times…” is a favourite at the moment. This album sounds more industrial and less jazzy than Fila efforts. There is a lot of synthesizer work which makes it sound like an instrumental New Order album in some ways.

A Fila Brazillia song was featured in CSI: Miami last night. A track from Jump Leads but I can’t recall the name. It’s been a while since I listened to it.

Wikipedia’s music entries are growing more complete. I’m impressed! Their entry on Ambient Music is quite thorough. Potentially a replacement for Allmusic? We’ll see.

A curious sequence of events

November 16, 2004 in Food, Health, It Happened To Me and Television by matt | No comments

This happened this morning:

It was kind of strange. I guess they could have read CNN’s story and come up with the same introduction but it seemed rather coincidental to me. It was like I was watching someone reading Joey’s blog. I guess it shouldn’t be too surprised if people in other media read Joey’s blog; after all he’s been in the Globe and Mail several times now.

Moral of the story? Hardee’s is trying to kill people.

It be warm in here

November 15, 2004 in Work by matt | No comments

It’s quite warm in the office today. It could be because of the weather (it’s nice and sunny outside). A more likely cause is the two servers we have running on the desk next to me. They’re pumping out a great deal of heat. Fortunately these machines won’t be here for much longer. They’re going into our production site as soon as we configure them properly. In the meantime I will dress appropriately – beachwear will abound! Ha yeah right, that’s not exactly respectable attire.

Pearls

November 12, 2004 in Toronto by matt | No comments

We’re thinking of going to this tonight.

Pearls have intrigued humans for thousands of years. These mysterious and beautiful objects have a rich cultural history – they have adorned religious and secular art, been the cause of conquests, encouraged exploration, fuelled businesses and industries, and have long been associated with royalty. They are symbols of purity, virtue, glamour and wealth.

Pearls are among the most coveted of all gemstones. Unlike other gems, they are the products of living animals. Their biology, microstructure, and chemistry are as interesting as the jewels they become and their ornamental uses. The exhibition Pearls: A Natural History will trace the natural and cultural history of pearls around the world, telling the story of how they are formed – in nature and by humans, how they are harvested, and the ways they are used and worn. The story of these natural treasures embraces the worlds of science, art, literature, history, and jewellery. The exhibit opened at the American Museum of Natural History (New York) to stellar reviews. The ROM will be the only Canadian venue. The exhibit features more than 600 spectacular objects, including nearly a half a million individual pearls, drawn from major museums and private collections from around the world. Highlighted are lustrous 50-million-year-old fossil pearls, a replica of a 14.5-pound pearl, the largest ever harvested, and of course, fabulous jewellery and fashions that have adorned the likes of Queen Victoria and Marie Antoinette, and celebrities such as Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe. This multi-faceted exhibition is sure to interest everyone – from museum visitor to gem connoisseur to biologist.

I’m not sure if we’ll actually get around to going to the museum tonight (Fridays are their free nights) but we’ll definitely get there before the exhibit finishes in January. By the time Friday rolls around we’re both so tired that the desire to go out is usually outweighed by the desire to relax and sleep.

I win!

November 12, 2004 in It Happened To Me and Work by matt | No comments

Haha, I bet the co-op student, Nishant, that if he got here before me this morning that I’d buy him lunch. He needs to go to Waterloo tonight because he’s helping out with the Impact 2004 conference there. He lives in the west end and takes public transportation to get to work. Unfortunately we didn’t agree to any terms where I win the bet. Oh well, teasing him will be enough.

Government holidays

November 11, 2004 in Commuting, Life and Toronto by matt | No comments

Today was a government holiday and federal corporations (like banks) also were closed. Since these institutions did not open today there were fewer workers who needed to travel to their place of employment. This had a significant impact on the level of congestion on the highways this morning. That is, it was very light. I got on the Don Valley Parkway and didn’t have to stop and wait for a place to open in the far right lane. Rather the traffic was moving quickly enough that I could merge in a normal fashion. This is highly unusual and did not go unnoticed (obviously considering the post about it). I’m sure some people would want more government holidays like today but considering what today is I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m confident that tomorrow will be a return to the normal routine.

Do-be-do-be-do

November 11, 2004 in Marriage by matt | 1 comment

One more post and then I’m headed home.

I saw this on the Wendy and Joey wedding blog this morning (click for larger image):

Do vs. be

Joey writes that “this comic pretty much sums up who each of us is, and who we are together”. I can say the same thing about Marcy and me. You can guess which is which I’m sure. Opposites do work well though in many ways Marcy and I aren’t opposites but rather complements or near-to-similar. We make a great team.

Bad Shaw

November 11, 2004 in Cultural Criticism and Technology by matt | No comments

I just read about Shaw Cable’s horrible new policy of blocking network traffic:

When customers of Canada’s Shaw Cable high-speed Internet service noticed that their filesharing activity had slowed down dramatically, they didn’t know what to make of it. Calling the ISP didn’t help: Shaw’s tech support people swore that they were delivering all the packets they received from their customers, just as you’d expect. After all, who’d want an ISP that picked and chose which of your communications got through — imagine if the phone company or the post office just silently threw away some of your messages based on secret criteria!

So the Shaw customers went to DSL Reports, a community site for posting about DSL and other high-speed providers, and they found that they were not alone and not imagining things. Lots of Shaw customers were getting really crummy performance out of their Internet connections. Then someone claiming to be a Shaw insider posted an explanation: Shaw had secretly installed a packet-filter on its network that was using hidden rules to silently discard some of its customers’ packets. And they’d instructed their tech people to lie about it when customers called in and asked. It might have been a fake, but not long after, DSL Reports got a letter from Shaw’s lawyers telling them that this was confidential info from a Shaw employee and that they’d be sued if they didn’t take it offline, so it looks like its true (says DSL Reports, “Needless to say, we’ve never bent over for an ISP upset at bad publicity, or forked over anyones identity, and we’re not about to start.”) Here’s the facts, then: 1. Shaw is indiscriminately censoring its customers’ Internet feeds. It’s not blocking infringing files (hell, Shaw can’t even know for certain what files are and aren’t infringing for each customer), it’s blocking protocols, applications used to transmit and receive tens, hundreds of millions of public-domain, copylefted and non-copyrightable works. 2. Shaw is lying about censoring its customers’ Internet feeds. 3. Shaw is threatening to sue people who tell the world about its lies. Are you a Shaw customer? Do you still want to be, in light of the above? Link

Why Shaw would do this I have no idea. One thing is becoming frightfully obvious to me is that ISPs are a) scared and b) too powerful. This is one of the most important lessons that I learned from reading Lawrence Lessig’s The Future of Ideas – when you can control several components of the hierarchy (hardware, access, content), it’s a dangerous mix. No one company should have that power.

Nostalgia Meme

November 11, 2004 in It Happened To Me by matt | No comments

As seen in various places, most recently on Saltwatersound’s journal:

10 years ago I:

  • turned 15

  • was in Grade 10

  • had a crush on one of my closest girl friends (the cause of much drama over the next 3 years)

5 years ago I:

  • Was in 2nd year at the University of Waterloo

  • Feeling burned by my first co-op employer

  • Interviewed with my next co-op employer (the cause of much drama over the next 3 years)

  • Kind of disappointed that my best friend in high school wanted nothing to do with me and with the reasons given

  • Started taking Accutane

1 year ago I:

So far this year I:

  • got engaged!

  • got married!

  • moved to a new city

  • started a new job!

  • bought a new(er) car

  • got another kitten

  • became more interested in photography (with the help of a new camera)

  • started this blog hosted on my own domain name

  • turned 25

  • accumulated debt (which I will continue to pay down)

Yesterday I:

  • Worked hard

  • Spoke with one of the people who left and realized that they were nothing more than scared

  • Returned a couple of movies on time (for once!) and hunted down some new printer ink

  • Marked true/false and multiple choice questions (call me a para-marker)

  • Actually had time to watch Law & Order and part of CSI: NY (which I haven’t seen since this day)

  • Had a fantastic steak dinner

Today I:

  • Had an almost-enjoyable drive in (more on this later)

  • Worked hard

  • Realized that I forgot about Ed’s birthday (I feel really badly about this)

  • Reflected on the meaning of today

  • Will be spending the evening alone as Marcy has parent-teacher conferences until late tonight

In 1 year I:

  • Will be living in a nicer apartment/house (this will happen)

  • Be less debt-ridden

  • Be generally healthier and lead a healthier lifestyle (see my goals)

  • Continue to build upon the solid foundation Marcy and I have in our marriage

  • Continue to learn (extremely important)

  • Hopefully remain at this company and be successful here (financially, personally, professionally)

  • Will do better at keeping in contact with friends and family

In 5 years I:

  • Will be 30 years old (to some this is a milestone)

  • Might consider doing graduate work (or a professional degree)

  • Will be a little bit wiser about my life and my career

  • Will deepen and broaden my relationship with my most important person

  • Will be personally, professionally and financially secure

Possibilities

November 11, 2004 in Music and Toronto by matt | No comments

Should I get tickets for this concert?

16-NOV-04 SUFJAN STEVENS LEE’S 19+ $14.00

I admit it’s very tempting. Sufjan Stevens is one of my recent (in the last year) favourite artists (see this praise post). I’ll think it over.

Submission

November 11, 2004 in Links and Movies by matt | No comments

Since I can’t seem to post to my del.icio.us account right now, I’ll add the link to Theo van Gogh’s short film, Submission here. IFilm is hosting it. Synopsis:

Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh (yes, that van Gogh) was assassinated November 2, 2004, by a 26-year-old extremist Muslim of Dutch-Moroccan descent. The current theory is that he was taken down for his critical look at the treatment of Muslim women. It’s not a documentary, but a metaphorical look at the harsh realities of their lives. (In English with Dutch subtitles.)

I’ll have to watch when I get a free moment. [via]

1337 W4g3rs

November 11, 2004 in Humour and Jeopardy! by matt | No comments

Jeopardy! takes a two week break to bring us the College Tournament so no more Ken until near the end of the month. It was on while we were getting ready for dinner and I was feeding the cats during the revealing of Final Jeopardy! questions. I’ll let adm summarize [via]:

Tonight was round 1 of the Jeopardy College Tournament. One of the contestants, Kermin, a comp-sci/engineering student from Carnegie Mellon University, had a commanding lead (well over $10K) going into Final Jeopardy.

His final wager had Alex Trebek scratching his head, but Kermin was clearly sending a message to fellow computer nerds. His wager: $1337 In leetspeak, 1337 translates to “leet” or “elite.”

As soon as Alex announced his wager I chuckled. I wonder how long he was planning that little stunt. He was a pretty impressive contestant and I’m looking forward to seeing him compete again. Hopefully he comes up with some equally geeky for his next appearance!

Lest We Forget

November 11, 2004 in Life by matt | No comments

Today is Remembrance Day. It’s a terribly important day because we need to pay homage to the men and women who gave their lives to bring us freedom and the lives we enjoy today.

I had a poppy on today for about 2 minutes before the wind whipped it away. It is incredibly windy out today.

I posted this poem last year and I’ll repost it here:

We Shall Keep the Faith

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields, Sleep sweet – to rise anew! We caught the torch you threw And holding high, we keep the Faith With All who died. We cherish, too, the poppy red That grows on fields where valor led; It seems to signal to the skies That blood of heroes never dies, But lends a lustre to the red Of the flower that blooms above the dead In Flanders Fields. And now the Torch and Poppy Red We wear in honor of our dead. Fear not that ye have died for naught; We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought In Flanders Fields. Moina Michael’s reply to John McCrae (1918)

Two years ago I also posted about Remembrance Day even though I was living in the U.S. at the time. This day has always been important to me.

When I was in Europe last year I made it a point to take a picture of the white crosses in Normandy:

White cross

At some point I’d like to have this picture printed. Perhaps this one too:

Row of crosses

I heard on the radio that the last remaining Canadian veteran that saw action during World War I will be laying the wreath at the services in Ottawa. One man left. Will we still remember their sacrifices after they’re gone? We’ve already lost most of the men and women who fought in the Second World War. Will Remembrance Day mean as much to our grandchildren as it does to us? Does it even mean that much to my peers? I have a feeling for some people it’s a meaningless day but I would hope that for the majority of people that they acknowledge why this day is important.