Tune in, turn on, give up

Livejournal finally serves a purpose for me!

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:20:06 GMT

and it is to make me laugh my ass off at this lady's hilarious quirky comics.

http://beatonna.livejournal.com/50867.html

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 19:34:08 GMT

Haven't done anything on LJ for a while, but I sometimes get a hankering for these silly "get to know me" list thingys.

Gakked (seems to be the new word the kids are using these days) from LadyGiggles

1. How old will you be in five years?
39

2. Who did you spend at least two hours with today?
Tech Support

3. How tall are you?
6'1"

4. What do you look forward to most in the next six weeks?
Hopefully a long weekend at the cottage.

5. What's the last movie you saw?
Wind that shakes the barley

6. Who was the last person you called?
Tech Support

7. Who was the last person to call you?
Mom

8. What was the last text message you received?
Evil Jacque asking me something

9. Who was the last person to leave you a voicemail?
Mom

10. Do you prefer to call or text?
Email / ICQ

11. What were you doing at 12am last night?
Logging off of WoW to get some work done

12. Are your parents married/divorced?
Divorced

13. When did you last see your mom?
Yesterday

14. What color are your eyes?
Blue/Green I think. I don't pay much attention.

15. What time did you wake up today?
8:30AM

16. What are you wearing right now?
Housecoat

17. What is your favorite Christmas song?
Santa's coming and he's gonna kick your ass

18. Where is your favorite place to be?
Having a girly drink on the deck at the cottage on a nice sunny afternoon.

19. Where is your least favorite place to be?
On a long drive with my mom yakking away beside me and expecting me to listen.

20. Where would you go if you could go anywhere?
New Zealand

21. Where do you think you'll be in 10 years?
I don't know where I'll be in 2 weeks. 10 years is a bit too far off.

22. Do you tan or burn?
I burn once every spring and then stay tan all summer.

23. What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child?
Pretty much anything that was in a scary movie I saw.

24. What was the last thing that really made you laugh?
bash.org's top 200 quotes

25. How many TVs do you have in your house?
One

26. How big is your bed?
Queen

27. Do you have a laptop or desktop computer?
desktop

28. Do you sleep with or without clothes on?
I'm usually wearing something unless I have company.

29. What color are your sheets?
Black

30. How many pillows do you sleep with?
4

31. What is your favorite season?
summer

33. What do you like about winter?
Clean white snow on trees

34. What do you like about the summer?
more stuff going on. People are more outgoing and relaxed.

35. What do you like about spring?
Getting back out on the Bike again

36. How many states/provinces have you lived in?
Just Ontario

37. What cities/towns have you lived in?
Toronto, Scarborough (before it became part of toronto).

38. Do you prefer shoes, socks, or bare feet?
Bare feet

39. Are you a social person?
Once I stop being a caveman and get out of doors, definitely.

40. What was the last thing you ate?
um.. a pear, I think.

41. What is your favorite restaurant?
It varies as the quality of their kitchen staff go up and down, but the ones I like to hang out in the most are Kilgrours or the Butler's Pantry.

42. What is your favorite ice cream?
Ginger ice cream from Gregg's

43. What is your favorite dessert?
I usually prefer more of the main course to dessert, but I can be convinced by a good rice pudding.

44. What is your favorite kind of soup?
Guinness Beef Stew

45. What kind of jelly do you like on your PB & J sandwich?
one of those mixed berry ones, but it should include raspberrys.

46. Do you like Chinese food?
You betcha

47. Do you like coffee?
I used to hate coffee. Turns out I just hated BAD coffee. Thank god for ethopian coffee. Now I drink snooty rich blends I buy in kensington and I can tolerate Starbucks/Second Cup if I gotta.

48. How many glasses of water, a day, do you drink on average?
anywhere from 0 to 10

49. What do you drink in the morning?
Whatever is cold and then coffee.

51. Do you sleep on a certain side of the bed?
Usually the side within an arms reach of the snooze button.

52. Do you know how to play poker?
I do now.

53. Do you like to cuddle?
When I'm awake, definitely.

54. Have you ever been to Canada?
I hear they live in igloos there.

55. Do you have an addictive personality?
I used to say no, but then someone bought me WoW for christmas 2 years ago.....

56. Do you eat out or at home more often?
At home, but I order in a fair amount of the time

58. Do you know anyone with the same birthday as you?
My ex's dad, an old friend from gradeschool I've sadly lost touch with and I think Purplesofa has the same birthday.

59. Do you want kids?
I like kids, but I'm not too keen on having to look after a baby/infant/toddler so I dunno.

60. Do you speak any other languages?
I can sound like an idiot in French and barely speak a few words of some other languages.

61. Have you ever gotten stitches?
About 6 times in the same place. For some reason I damaged my chin a lot as a kid.

62. Have you ever ridden in an ambulance?
Nope. My mom wouldn't wait for one. she threw me in the back of the stationwagon and raced down to Sick Kids with the four-way flashers on.

63. Do you prefer an ocean or a pool?
Hey.. what's wrong with lakes? I like the waves at the ocean, but I prefer fresh water.

64. Do you prefer a window seat or an aisle seats?
I prefer to get both seats and put up the armrest. Stretching out legs + looking out window For The Win!

65. Do you know how to drive stick?
I prefer it, but most cars I borrow are auto so I get a little rusty with it.

66. What is your favorite thing to spend money on?
Gifts for other people when I find something really cool that I think they'll like.

67. Do you wear any jewelry 24/7?
No. Well... maybe if you count that german bullet that got embedded behind my left nostril in dubya dubya eye eye.

68. What is your favorite TV show?
Toughie. They all start so good and then.... kinda... let you down after a while. Heroes was great at first, so was BSG, Babylon 5, Carnivale, etc. Hard to pick one favorite, but I think the one I enjoyed watching the longest was actually Northern Exposure.

69. Can you roll your tongue?
yep. both ways.

70. Who is the funniest person you know?
that I know personally? Probably my old buddy Kurt.

71. Do you sleep with stuffed animals?
not that I know of. Sometimes I find a teddy hidden under the pillows.

72. What is the main ring tone on your phone?
just a standard ring. on my old cell, though, I spent 3 days programming in the opening notes from Gowan's Criminal Mind.

73. Do you still have clothes from when you were little?
I was little? My mom might have some. I don't.

74. What red object is closest to you right now?
one of those grip-strengthing exercise thingys that I only pick up when I'm annoyed by tech support and don't want to yell at them. :P

75. Do you turn off the water while you brush your teeth?
Nah. I'm pretty quick.

76. Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed?
My closet door doesn't stay closed very well so it's usually open

77. Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of bees?
Bear. only one (albeit large) object to avoid and they're considerably less creepy.

78. Do you flirt a lot?
I should flirt more.

79. What do you dip a chicken nugget in?
Sometimes in my milkshake. usually in honey, plum or BBQ sauce.

80. What is your favorite food?
A good indian curry. Especially Butter Chicken or

81. Can you change the oil on a car?
there's oil in a car? it can be changed?

82. Have you ever gotten a speeding ticket?
A few. It's the price I pay for not being bored while driving.

83. Have you ever run out of gas?
In the middle of the Great Salt Flat in Utah as the sun was coming up after I had just finished a 16-hour gung-ho turn at the wheel and was getting some shuteye. At the time it was a disaster, but like most disasters that you survive, it makes for a good story.

84. What is your usual bedtime?
Sometime between 1am and 4am

85. What was the last book you read?
"A Talent for War" - sci fi book lent to me by a friend

86. Do you read the newspaper?
I check the star and globe websites just about every day. I read a physical paper maybe once a quarter.

87. Do you have any magazine subscriptions?
Toronto Life

89. Do you watch soap operas?
I hope not. Tho some of the recent episodes of BSG have felt like soaps.

90. Do you dance in the car?
I do my share of shaking the vehicle fo sho.

91. What radio station did you last listen to?
CBC Radio One

92. Who is in the picture frame closest to you?
A bunch of my campers from when I ran Youth Week way back at Uincamp. It was at the end of a heavy rain and after sliding around on the grass (Common-sliding) we tried to see how many of them could fit at once into one of the showers.

93. What was the last note you scribbled on a piece of paper?
a support incident number

94. What is your favorite candle scent?
I don't care much for fake odours. Probably vanilla since it's one that they're actually good at imitating.

95. What is your favorite board game?
Tricky one. Probably Civilization or Twilight Imperium. Rarely get to play those though. The more playable fave is probably Puerto Rico.

97. When was the last time you attended church?
Actual church? not just some ceremony (wedding/funeral)? um... I think I attended a service at Don Heights Unitarian Congregation.... in.... 1997

98.Who was your favorite teacher in high school?
I don't really have one. There was this one Latin teacher that I never had a class with though. He was a funny old english type and he presided over the room where you had to go if you were late for Morning Prayers. I was always late for morning prayers so I hung out with him a bunch and got to know him. Mr. Carver I think his name was.

99. What is the longest you have ever camped out in a tent?
8 days in the Black Rock Desert for Burning Man

100. Who was the last person to do something extra special for you?
I have lots of good friends who do nice things for me. if I had to pick out something *extra* special, though, I would have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised to get a personal invitation (not just as a date) to Nikita & Lenore's wedding. It was heartwarming to have two such awesome people include me in the exalted company of other awesome people who were there. It was a great wedding and an honour to be there.

so...ya

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 16:49:57 GMT

I was groggy as hell, but didn't feel like having coffee this morning so I did something a little silly.

Not only did it actually work really well, but it gave me an excuse to finally get a flickr account and figure out how to link a photo into an LJ post (assuming this works).
It was kinda fun (although formatting is a beeyotch).

Note: that strange looking thing floating around in the not-coffee is a teabag.

seemed like fun

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 23:16:32 GMT

picked this meme up off an LJ Friend

You know the drill...

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you?re cool

Opening Credits: Phantom of the Opera (Techno Remix)

First Day At School: James - Laid

Falling In Love: Muppets - Kokomo

Fight Song: Arrogant Worms - Proud to be Canadian

Breaking Up: NIN - The Becoming

Prom: Go Home Productions - Essex Doves (mashup)

Life's OK: Steve Miller - Fly Like an Eagle

Mental Breakdown: Danny Elfman - Psycho Theme

Driving: Northern Pikes - Things I do for Money

Flashback: Timbuk 3 - The Future's so Bright I Gotta Wear Shades

Getting Back Together: Johnny Cash - I Hung My Head

Wedding: Presidents of the U.S.A. - Lump

Birth of Child: Bob Snider - Rejection Blues

Final Battle: Nick Cave - Where the Wild Roses Grow

Death Scene: Alphaville - Big in Japan (extended Dance mix)

Funeral Song: Soundgarden - Spoonman

End Credits: VNV Nation - Foreward

nice bit of serendipity : the mental Breakdown

The universe is all akimbo.....

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 18:15:42 GMT

Write down the date and time!
My dad actually just told me something interesting. (it doesn't happen very often)

1. some people Streaked the new years eve party he went to (which, sadly, makes his NYE party significantly wilder than mine).

2. he told me about this cool game that's making me think about whether it has a computable strategy algorithm.

the game's called "take". each player gets a pile of pennies. one at a time, each person puts a penny into the middle until someone says "take" and takes all the pennies.then the taker puts in a new penny and it goes around again... BUT.. each person only gets 3 "takes". Last one with pennies left wins.

So now I'm thinking about if you could come up with an optimum strategy for when to "take" based on # of players A and Starting # of pennies B vs. # of pennies you have left C for each take.

Hrmmm... Haven't used the brain for this sort of thing in a while. This is gonna bug me all day. :)

Passing along another cute link

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 17:12:49 GMT

a little something from boingboing that my American friends might find interesting.

Not that I think giving up and getting out of town is a good thing. The American spirit is not completely under control of the christian right wing yet, but quite frankly they're outbreeding you and that means whenever they are galvanized, they will outvote you. I heard and believe that more people voted for John Kerry than have voted for any president in history..... but more voted for GWB (unless you believe the election was rigged).

Anyway, I don't want to launch into yet another long diatribe about American politics. I just wanted to pass along the link to the nifty book. I wonder where Canada ranks up in the "Choosing a Country: How Do They Stack Up?" list.

niftysauce

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 17:42:14 GMT

I wanna get a notebook just so I can keep it on one of these

A must-see and buy

Fri, 13 Oct 2006 20:55:02 GMT

... on the subject of sproglings, now that I've run out of copies of it, I thought I might share the best baby gift evar! (omg!).

A friend of mine bought this for their friend's baby shower and I went down to Parentbooks and bought every copy they had (knowing that lots of friends are starting to impregnate themelves). With one forseeable exception, it was always so well received that I ended up going back to Parentbooks and again buying all their copies of it. I've run out again, but I think I've also run out of friends who I can expect to issue forth a new sprogling so I'm willing to share my secret.

Incidentally, there are a bunch of others in the series. An Italian one, A Jewish one, A Spanish One, A Chinese one. All about the foods of various cultures and all wicked cool, mon.

Cheers. :)

Actual Size

Fri, 13 Oct 2006 20:48:04 GMT

I categorize most people in one of three ways
1. Small
2. Smaller than me
3. Tall

Most people fit into category 2 with the exception of some very small and very tall people I know. I'm bigger than most people I know and I don't even think about it most days. Every once in a while, though, I look at a picture of me next to a bunch of people and I realize just how much bigger I am than most people and it amazes me a little.

A friend posted on his baby blog a picture of me holding his wee sprogling - which I thought was a very big baby for a mere 4 months old - and now that I look at the picture, the wee one (and my friends standing beside me) are rather dwarfed by me. Which is why the thought struck me so and since I have nothing better to do (notice I am looking at baby blogs) I thought I'd share the current contents of my brain with whoever. :)

Pretty damn cool

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 15:06:22 GMT

in case you, like me, couldn't go this year. This is a pretty cool way to feel in touch with what's going on at "home" this year.

http://www.current.tv/burningman/

because of 8. and it's something to do.

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 18:24:45 GMT

1. I'll respond with something random about you
2. I'll challenge you to try something
3. I'll pick a colour that I associate with you
4. I'll tell you something I like about you
5. I'll tell you my first/clearest memory of you
6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of
7. I'll ask you something I've always wanted to ask you
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on yours

nothing better to do than LJ. It beats working.

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 14:30:41 GMT

Dear Diary,

Hung out with a good friend who was going withdrawl-crazy last night. I'm sure it was no fun for her, but it was actually very pleasant for me. Indian food and a few cuddles FTW. Too bad the cats kinda got to me after a while. Allergies FTL, but premier-quality friend bringing the going-crazy lady her medicine FTW again.

The other good thing, though was the ride out there and back were the longest bike trips I'd done since... well... since last year I guess... and I feel great. Tired, but exercise-energized. Must try to do a similar amount of exercise several times a week. Maybe I should just go swimming in the pool out by the beaches more often.

sigh

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 19:32:41 GMT

all I seem to post is links these days. Found this while looking for something else. It's a real gem.

Another link

Mon, 29 May 2006 02:25:55 GMT

I sent this link to a zillion people so I thought I'd pop it here as well

The Captain (Picard) of Comedy

In other news: I'm almost out of the beer I brought back with me from Quebec. I decided tonight that when it runs out, no more beer for me for a long while as I am going to test my willpower with another weight-loss diet. Wish me luck.

Nifty Gothy Thing

Thu, 11 May 2006 18:33:30 GMT

Nothing really going on. Just thought some of you folks might like these Living Dead Dolls

VD!

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 18:44:29 GMT

Gosh Darnit! The send feature on http://www.meish.org/vd/ isn't working. Poop.

Oh well. Go there, pick a funny card and pretend I sent it to you.

Happy VD day all.

Why cellphones come with cameras these days

Thu, 10 Nov 2005 17:44:29 GMT

cellphone cameras may be generally poor quality and seem kinda silly, but if there was a camera in my cellphone, I woulda been able to take a picture of this really cute thing I saw the other day.

Imagine a big mean looking halloween pumpkin with a big mean mouth and big mean teeth carved it. (Grrr! Arrrr!)

Now imagine a cute little black squirrel sitting inside the mouth and eating away at the big mean ol' face from the inside.

It's a pretty cute mental picture and woulda made a darn cute actual picture, but alas, I do not carry my camera everywhere I go.

*pouts*

omglmfao. Up the Norn Irons!

Fri, 09 Sep 2005 08:16:59 GMT

It just doesn't get any better

By Brian Hutton

08 September 2005
Euphoria erupted on the streets of Belfast last night after Northern Ireland pulled off a sensational victory over England in a World Cup qualifying match at Windsor Park.

Fans rejoiced in the streets after the men in green - combined value ?8.5m - pulled off the seemingly impossible against a star-studded England team worth ?211m.

It was Northern Ireland's first win over England on home soil since 1927.

A sea of green and white flowed out on to the streets surrounding the stadium.

Only car horns could be heard above the exultant singing and victory chants.

David Healy, who scored what proved to be the decisive goal in the 74th minute, was the name on everyone's lips.

The boy from Killyleagh will be immortalised as the man who sealed the historic victory - the biggest since Gerry Armstrong scored that infamous goal against Spain in the 1982 World Cup.

David Norwood, from Ballyclare, said: "We played them off the park and deserved to win. It doesn't get any better than this.

"My son Matthew and his friend Tony were here with me. They will remember this night for the rest of their lives."

Mark Hewitt, from Co Armagh, said: "Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable! England are the supposed world champions and we beat them fair and square. We were not lucky. We thoroughly deserved the win."

"The Northern Ireland fans were magic from about an hour before the kick-off.

"And an hour after the game many were still there at the Kop end. They just didn't want to go home."

Gary Sands (19), an electrician, from Ahoghill, Co Antrim, was in disbelief at the result.

"I thought the Azerbaijan game was good but this is like we've just won the World Cup.

"In all honesty I expected us to lose but it's just the Northern Ireland spirit to never give up and I always keep coming to the games," he said.

John Ferguson (26), an accountant from Omagh, Co Tyrone, described watching David Healy's winning goal.

"We were in the West Stand and the place just went nuts. People say that their wedding day is the best day of their lives but for me it has to be tonight," he said.

George McCausland (44), a sales manager from Bangor, brought his 15-year-old son Stephen to the game.

"That was like a World Cup final to us tonight. It was a great advertisement to bring back the Home International Championship.

"You look at the atmosphere in there tonight and the amount of families and what a great carnival atmosphere there was.

"The optimist in me thought we had a chance of winning but the realist was thinking about keeping the score down. This is just amazing," he said.

Alan Steven (30), a sales rep from Lisburn, said Northern Ireland "played out of their skins".

Gillian Alexander (23), a teacher from Ballymena, said David Healy had played an outstanding game.

"Healy kept the team totally motivated, and the atmosphere at Windsor Park was totally buzzing," she said.

Ross Williams, a PE teacher in Donaghadee, said: "It was absolutely unbelievable. This was right up there with beating Spain in 1982, but it means so much more to beat England at Windsor Park.

"This was the biggest game of my life!"

One fan leaving the ground, his voice hoarse from shouting, was overheard telling his friends: "Can you believe it? Their team's worth about ?200m. Ours is worth about a fiver!"

And Taxi driver Gary McStravick (42) quipped that Northern Ireland wins were like buses.

"You don't see any for two years then two come along at the same time," he said.

Sad. But True?

Fri, 09 Sep 2005 08:08:00 GMT

Someone just sent me this story in an email. I read the whole thing and it sounds very sad and quite plausible given some of the news that's been coming out of NOLA lately, but something about the absolute nastyness of the authorities doesn't ring true. I've heard some bad things about the cops down there, but I thought that in general except for a few corrupt cops who pretty much ended up abandoning their posts the feeling down there was one that was more of exasperation and desperation than malevolence from the authorities. It also seemed strange that when I googled the author's names, there was a gaggle of websites that claimed it as an exclusive story.

Does anyone know if the story is true? I checked snopes for posterity, but they have no listing for it. If it's true, I thought forwarding to others seemed like the right thing. If not, at least I put in a bit of effort to check and added the caveat.

Thanks and Apologies

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 06:06:53 GMT

Hello Friends!

Apologies to everyone I haven't been keeping in touch with lately. I've been away for a long business trip lately for one employer and because that trip was coming up, I had to get a lot of work done for the other employer before I left. Hence, I haven't been good about returning calls, emails and invitations to things lately. Sad. If you haven't heard from me lately, I miss you and I promise to call soon to try to make sure we get together (especially if I promised to help you with the air conditioner WAAAY before all this hot weather came along)

Also thanks to all the kind people who sent birthday wishes while I was away. I'll have to figure out a time and place to celebrate. I'll have to do it soon, though, because I think I'm about to go off booze for a while as part of the diet I did a while ago and am seriously thinking of resurrecting. Maybe I'll just invite everyone over to hang out at my apartment and drink a big chunk out of my liquor cabinet. :)

Cheers all.

Sat, 02 Apr 2005 05:17:18 GMT

I promise, if you only watch it once it won't get stuck in your head like it is in mine. <HREF="http://www.tallyhall.com/aura/bman_high.html" No promises for multiple viewings, tho.

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 02:42:01 GMT

I had an interesting day today.

Although indoors it sucked (steam-cleaning all the carpets in the cottage), it was truly fascinating out of doors today.

When I woke up this morning, the air outside was so cold that steam was rising off of the entire Parry Sound bay as it cooled. there was no wind to speak of so it was like having a massive rising, but otherwise motionless cloud staying exactly about 100 metres away. It was really violently churning as it rose, but it never got any closer, so that was neat.

Then later in the day as the water cooled, we could see down to the edges and since ther was no wind, we could see the ice start to form and creep out into the bay AS WE WATCHED (very bitter that the camera battery was dead).

Later, the wind finally picked up and swept away the ice by our shore, but from the direction the wind was coming from, we got to see the ice creeping out from the eastern shore of the bay MUCH faster than it had been forming on our little waterfront. Very very cool.

I've been up there once or twice to watch the ice break and drift by in big slow-moving floes, but this was the first time I've actually seen the ice form. And it did it so dramatically, too. Wheee!

Fri, 05 Nov 2004 04:47:59 GMT

wow. Two links in one day.
wow. two POSTS in one day.

The first one was a picture. This one's at least a thousand words. An interesting read, though.

Thu, 04 Nov 2004 16:32:05 GMT

Cute

Thu, 04 Nov 2004 06:40:07 GMT

Who knew?

Americans like war.
Americans like warmongering.
Americans like war profiteering.
Americans like being lied to.
Americans like being conned.
Americans like the rich lining their pockets with the blood of the poor.

Hollywood got it wrong all this time!
Americans like the bad guys. They want to BE them. Let's move hollywood to texas!

This time, a MAJORITY of voters decided they wanted 4 more years of the man who:
-lied to them about a link between a man who "declared war" on america (Bin Laden) and a man who didn't.
-lied to them about why they were going to war.
-is destroying their economy, but tells them the economy is still strong.
-is destroying their environment but says he is protecting it.
-is eroding all the good will the country ever had in the world.
-doesn't believe all people should have equal rights (gays, arabs).
-wants women to have to have unwanted babies.
-ignores well-established science when it goes against what lobbyists want.

Gah.... the list is too long.

I love my american friends, but they are living in a country that I'm really starting to fucking hate.

I should have burned my american passport in front of the embassy when they invaded iraq. I should have become Canadian by now.
I've got to shake off this apathy. I've got to shake off that country.
I've always been Canadian in my heart and mind. It's time to become Canadian on paper, too.