Random Cynicisms

16 months

2009-08-27T21:32:00.001-02:30

Has it seriously been 16 months since I was on here?

First Ride

2008-04-16T20:02:00.004-02:30

Odometer : 1784 kms

Well I just got my first ride in for the year. It was cold, and the roads are covered in gravel, but it was great fun.

I have been dying to break out the bike fore the past few weeks, and when I was driving home from work today I saw the temperature was 8 degrees, and that was good enough for me!

I haven't done much with this blog in the last year (nothing actually), but I did mention on here is was thinking of getting a new bike. I was lucky enough to pick up a 2007 VStar 1300 last June.

I absolutely love riding this bike. Its got a ton of power and accelerates super smoothly. As you can see from the first line of this post, I put about 1700 kms on it last year, and I haven't even dropped it yet!

Its the standard model, not the touring edition, but its dressed up a bit like the tourer. It came with the low windshield, engine guards (crash bars), driving lamps and sissy bar. Over the winter, I've picked up a few goodies that I'll be installing over the next few weeks.

The quick list of stuff to install :
1) Highway Pegs
2) Cobra tachometer
3) Kuryakn ISO Grips
4) Cobra Fi2000R Fuel Injection Tuner

So its going to be a fun couple of weeks. Hopefully the weather warms up a bit, and I can get a few kms on the bike before and after the installs.

Ottawa 07

2007-05-21T12:42:00.000-02:30

You'll have to excuse me, I'm not at my best

I've been gone for a week

I've been drunk since I left

And these so-called vacations

Will soon be my death

I'm so sick from the drink

I need home for a rest

Take me home....

So yeah, Facebook.

2007-04-29T13:57:00.000-02:30

I've been on facebook for a couple of months now, and its crazy how many people from previous lives can flick right back into the forefront of your mind in an instant. Its like everyone I've ever met is there, and people who I haven't talked to in years can suddenly announce something to their closest friends, and I get to participate in the news as if I was still close to them.

It provides a way for you to keep in touch with old friends, without even reaching out to contact them. You just log in, and are instantly presented with a voyeristic view into hundreds of peoples lives. Fresh pictures, status messages, notes. For all I know, people I knew in Grade 2 are looking through my pictures, and know that I'm working most of this weekend, or am looking forward to a trip that is upcoming.

Its scary really, because sometimes you find yourself just clicking. Clicking a piece of news, which leads to a picture of a friend. Then you browse an album, then you see a picture of another friend you know, whose with someone whose not on your friends list, then you add them, then follow more links. Next thing, you've been on there an hour, and you've got much more important things to do !

But the instantaneous nature of the information is also a big part of the draw. I found out last week that my cousin got engaged. Did I find out from him? nope. My parents ? A proud Aunt or Uncle ? Nope. Facebook told me.

I've always had a big problem keeping in touch with people. I've had friends who were extremly close to me move away, and I never bother to call them. I mean ever. I'll go two or three years without talking to them. When one of my close friends goes away on a work term, I'll talk to them every day for weeks, then they move. I won't call, E-mail or IM them for 4 months. But the day they get home I am back on the line, excited for them to be here. My best friend moved to Ottawa 8 months ago, and we've spoken on the phone twice. He called me both times.

This is something I don't understand. I don't comprehend why I don't feel the need to pick up the phone to reach out to people. I just don't. I don't even call/see my mother, and she lives about 6 blocks from me.

But facebook. Man, Facebook. It brings information to you, you don't need to go looking, poking around. Its not gonna help people like me who don't deal well with distance. Its kinda depressing really.

Typical

2007-03-26T19:53:00.000-02:30

Yeah, this pretty much sums up a lot of days I have had in the past two years of work in the real world. Sigh.

Testing Facebook Badges

2007-03-06T16:40:00.000-03:30

hmmm.. thats neat....

Toronto '07

2007-03-03T14:38:00.000-03:30

Last weekend, myself and Krista took a long overdue trip to Toronto. We went up for four days, and it was a great time.

We previously had planned to go up in September, but unfortuantly, just a few hours after we arrived in the T-Dot, we got a call that Ks grandmother had died. Back on the plane, and back to Newfoundland we came. We had pre-paid our stay at the hotel, so I figured all was lost in that department, but they were awesome about it. They left us with a full credit which we were able to use this time. The Holiday Inn on King is a super hotel, and I would reccomend it to anyone.

We had four fun-filled days in which we did an awful lot of stuff. We did the touristy walk around, I met up with an old friend for dinner, went to a Raptors game, spent an afternoon in the Royal Ontario Museum, saw The Phantom of the Opera, and went to the 2007 Canadian Autoshow.

The autoshow was the highlight of the trip for me. It was great for a bunch of reasons; anyone who knows me will know I'm nuts for cars (especially Jeeps) and also, Steve, Adam, and Scott came in for it, so we had an awesome afternoon together. Anytime you bring a group of Engineering Buddies together after a long absence, hilarity is sure to ensue, and this was no exception.

The first memorable moment was when we stopped to watch one of these demonstrations where a guy basically tears up the paint on a car with keys and 'magically' restores with a rub from the super-secret wax formulation. A guy with a pretty heavy Rastafarian accent is spouting his schpeel (did I just make up a word?) and the wax is doing its job. He finishes the presentation with the standard "Normal price is $60 per bottle, Car Show price: $20! But wait !!! the first three customers get a second bottle, FREE!" He then proceeds to place packages of wax in mine, Steve's, and another guys hand. Hes talking as he does it, and hes kinda hard to understand.

Me and Steve look at each other, and are kinda confused, wondering if its free. The third guy ponies up the $20 and walks away. Steve looks at the sales guy and says "I'll give you $30 for the two packs." Dude is pissed! He takes Steve's package away and gives it to Scott, looking for his $20. We all just kinda shrug and start to walk away, giving the guy back his stuff. Steve is about 15 feet away and the dude shouts out to him. He looks around, takes off his microphone and says "just give me the money." without a trace of any accent. He does not look happy. Steve hauls out the $30, and we walk away with 4 bottles of wax thanks to Steve's awesome powers of negotiation!

Did I mention we got bonus shammys? I can't wait to ruin the paint on my truck this spring. I think I might use sandpaper.

A few pics from the afternoon are located here.

Other random Toronto Pics from the weekend are here.

Death of a Tivo

2006-10-07T16:20:00.000-02:30

I think a startling number of posts on this blog of mine are related to the death of electronics.

I have just ahd a death in the family. My first Tivo has departed from this world. *sniff* I was just watching a re-run of "Holmes on Homes" and it croaked. My girlfriend almost had a panic atack when she found out, as she had a few episodes of other shows saved that she's been meaning to watch.

It is a double kick in the pants, as I had upgarded this Tivo to hold over 140 hours of stuff, so it was the backbone of my home entertainment center. I will have to revert to my secondary TiVo, but at only 40 hours, It may not be able to keep me entertained for long :P You'd think I watched alot of TV or something :)

In other news, I sucessfully got my motorcycle permit last month. I'm eligible to go for my road test come mid-October, but I may have to hold off until the spring as the old bike I'm borrowing from my dad is having a few electrical issues. Hopefully I can get them sorted out in the next week, and do my test for my license. Else, I'll take care of it early in the spring.

This is a pic of a bike like the one i'm riding now :

Its pretty fun to ride. If I can get it tuned up and running right, it may even be fun to ride next summer. I am thinking about geting a new bike though... maybe something post-millenium.

9/11 5 years later

2006-09-11T15:53:00.000-02:30

I was eating breakfast (probably a Bread Loaf from Mrs. Vanelli's,
damn those were good) in the UC with a bunch of my friends. Joe Coady
came by and said he had just left CHMR and they were getting news over
the wire (I assume they have a telegraph machine left over from WWII)
that a plane had hit the world trade center.

I, much like everyone else, didn't believe him, and told him that i
was going to interrupt my breakfast, walk to the Engr Computer Lab and
check CNN.com to see if it was true. If he was pulling my leg, I would
return to the table and beat the heck out of him, as I do not like to
be interrupted when I am eating.

I slowly walked away from the table, fully expecting him to call out
to me, and say he was only joking. I got over to the lab and tried to
haul up CNN, but it was down. I tried for a few more minutes, and
finally got a response. It was a simple page, obviously they had taken
down the news site to save bandwidth and get the message out without
crashing their servers. Just a bold black headline that read something
along the lines of "World Trade Center Attacked!" over a picture of
the two burning towers.

I went to Dr. Georges class soon there after, but could only sit for a
few minutes. I got up, and went over to the Breezeway and watched the
coverage live, there were a ton of people there. I saw the towers fall
and literally almost cried right there. The mood in the bar was as
intense a situation as I had ever experienced.

Very few moments will echo in my head like that morning.

random thought

2006-07-02T19:13:00.000-02:30

I'm thinking of getting my Motorcycle License. Stay tuned....

Yay for Woodworking!

2006-06-12T22:15:00.000-02:30

One of the most exciting parts of having a new house for me has definitely been having a Garage to shag around in. I'm the type of guy who has all kinds of crap kicking around, and I always get stupid ideas of stuff I'd like to do or build.

Well the majority of those ideas end up with me tossing out an amount of cash ranging from a few bucks to a few hundred, getting halfway through whatever it was, and ending up with an expensive pile of junk that eventually gets broken up or thrown out.

This time was different !

Apparently, I have successfully built a poker table ! ! I think I did an OK job at it too ! You can tell its homemade, but it seems like its going to stand up for a while. I'm very pleased with my self. It took me three days, and actually, I still have to screw it all together tomorrow when the stain dries, I was very impatient and wanted to test fit it together, so that's when I took the picture.

I guess that means I still have a chance to screw it up..... hmmmm.... well, I'm pretty confident I can finish this one, so I won't let that phase me.

I found the inspiration for the design at this site, so a Big thanks goes out to Paul Cherry for posting a detailed write up of how he built his. I made a few executive decisions and slight changes to his design, but all of the fundamentals are the same.

I'm planning on hosting a poker tournament at the end of July when a few engineers are back in town for visits etc. It should be good times !

holy crap, I got a house.

2006-05-20T16:11:00.000-02:30

Well, I've taken another inevitable step towards adulthood; I got a house !

I've moved into Airport Heights. That means I am offiially representing The Gazeebow ! If your not from aroun here, that means nothing to you, so you'll have to excuse the inside joke.

But yes, I got a new house, which I'm very pleased with. Its freshly built in a new subdivision, so its pretty messy around, and will be until all the landscaping etc gets finished.

As you can tell by the sign, we used it as a Model Home for a Month before I moved in. As well, that picture was taken a few weeks ago, so theres still lots of snow around.

Its taken a few weeks to settle in, so thats why I haven't made an entry 'till now. But, with everything finally unpacked We can start to get organized. I'm very excitedabout the fact that I have a garage. If you know me, you'll know how much crap I generally carry around in my pockets and in my Truck, so having a garage is a godsend for me and my mountain of stuff. This "stuff" would often be referred to by the uninformed as garbage, but I've got a use for it all!

Time for me to go and do some more house stuff, so i'll leave you with this video of a real life "The Simpsons" Intro I just found. Some people have way to much time on thier hands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49IDp76kjPw&feature=MostReferred&page=2&t=t&f=b

Weekend Update

2006-03-20T20:46:00.000-03:30

I read an interesting blog tonight, which inspired me to come here and update my own. However, the blog I just read was quite well written, was very topical, intelligent and full of flowery metaphors, none of which are qualities I would attribute to this page. So I guess I figured out why the other blog was so interesting to read. :S

Well, as I suspected, the past weekend was a blow out. Friday night was a great time as expected, though I think I was a little too partied out by the end of it. Luckily I made it home in one piece, and after I regrouped with the boys Saturday for lunch to run through the nights events, it was declared a success. I can't wait till next year, hopefully we can all make it again.

Now for the random thoughts that have struck me lately.

I was very relieved when I walked through the grocery store last week, because I spotted The Reese Peanut Butter Cup aisle. I've previously referred to this discovery here, but this past week there was what I feel to be a much needed addition. The Reese Caramel Filled Peanut Butter Cup. Man, I've been saying this almost as long as I've been calling for a Boston Cream Timbit, "We need more Reese ! Add Caramel!! Anything to give me more variety!"

Really, when do variations on a candy actually take on a life of their own and become a new candy? Where is the line between a Caramel Reese Cup and a Rolo? Is it the Peanut Butter ? What about if they release a Peanut-Free Reese to be politically correct and re-admit Reese to Grade Schools? Is that a Rolo ? I doubt it. If anyone can clear this up for me, I'd be more than obliged.

Something else I did last time I was at the supermarket was to buy a new Razor. This task is becoming more and more like buying a power tool at Canadian Tire. You can select anywhere from 2-6 blades, disposable or non, pressure relieveing, gel coated, rust checked, CFC-free .... the list goes on. Me being who I am, I fell for the big "It's New! It's New!" display. The Gillette FUSION! Holy friggin crap this thing is huge! 5 Blades packing as much beard destroying power as allowed by law in the 50 states. I actually think they are classified as a Weapon in France. Kinda like that Mac Laptop when it first came out.

Even once I had decided that my peach fuzz needed to be trimmed by a tool that actually had more cutting power than my gas weed-whacker, my shaving descision tree had not come to an end. I had to then decide if it was worth an extra $3 to me to have the razor vibrate as it sliced through my crimson beard. I was a little dissapointed when I found out the cheaper one ($10.99) didn't vibrate at all, I figured it would at least be solar powered or something. However I did decide to get the cheaper one, as I came to the conclusion that I could buy 50 cents worth of duct tape and mount the thing to my electric tooth brush to achieve much the same effect.

I then had a thought. Since there was about 2 pounds of steel in each razor head, I figured the replacement blades would be a little more expensive than the preceding Mach3 blades, whose price had been steadily climbing over the past two years, presumably tied to the price of Oil as everything seems tbe now-a-days. Well, was I in for a shock. And not a Labatt Shok (Can you say "failed product"?), I mean a real kick-in-the-balls type of suprise moment. $34 friggin dollars for 8 replacement blades. Jesus Mary in the Garden, thats Half my weekly grocery bill! How on earth can people justify these things?

Mind you, I still bought the razor to test out, and I must say, it does give a decent shave. But not a $34 shave. I think I'll be sticking to my Mach3. Not the Mach3 Turbo Nitro Champion edition, just the straight up Mach3.

One note to anyone thinking of trying the FUSION for themselves. Gillette makes reference to an unprecedented 6th blade for trimming hard to reach areas, however they neglect to mention that it lies in wait in the package awaiting an unsuspecting hand to grab it. Apparently, in order to get those tough spots, the blade has to be mounted in a defensive position on the back of the razor. I nearly had to go to the emergency room after the GD thing sliced me into pieces. I guess I should have got the FUSION Child Lock edition, but the refills for that one are like $70.

St. Paddy's Day cometh

2006-03-17T11:56:00.000-03:30

Well Top o' the Mornin' to ya!

Happy St. Patricks Day everyone. Its time to celebrate the time when Good ol' Patrick whacked all the snakes in Ireland, and saved countless children from future scary encounters with them. Or maybe that was a Simpson's Episode... either way, today is all about getting drunk !

It should be a blast tonight, as we have our traditional pint-phuckin at The Republic, followed by a night of general debauchery. Its hard to say where we will end up, or what we'll have done, but if we get through the night without anyone getting stabbed or arrested, it'll go down in the books as another successful Paddys day.

All I know for sure, is that it's gonna be an expensive night!

Williams vs. McCartney on Larry King

2006-03-03T11:36:00.000-03:30

Tune in tonight at 10:30pm NST for what should be an interesting debate.

For anyone who doesn't know, Paul McCartney is in Canada, and made a visit to the Ice Floes North of Quebec to engage in a protest against the seal hunt.

<->
Edit - News Stories on the 'debate' from CNN.com and CBC.ca CBC says that apparently Danny's side of the story is going to be pre-taped, so this might not be as knock-down drag 'em out as I first thought.
<->

This could actually be pretty good tonight. I'm definitely going to
tune in. I think that Danny will be able to handle this situation, as
he's pretty good at cutting through "spin" that gets thrown at him.
For Instance:

"The longtime animal-rights activists want to publicize the plight of
the fluffy white pups, which are calved and weaned from their mothers
on the frigid ice before being clubbed to death."

Hunting these whitecoats has been banned for years. Since the mid-80s
I believe. As well, I'm nearly certain that 'clubbing' is also banned,
high powered rifles are the tool of choice. The seal hunt is no
different (when undertaken properly) than any well run bovine
slaughterhouse.

Sure, there will be people who don't follow the rules. There will be
problems. But those problems exist with any organized activity
undertaken by a broad spectrum of people. There are cruel
slaughterhouses, there are drunk drivers, there are bad sealers. Does
this mean we need to ban hamburgers, cars, bars and the seal hunt ?

Hopefully Danny Williams can make a good impression tonight. i know he
won't change the activists mind, but he might be able to get the real
message out there that we arn't a bunch of barbarians with clubs.

Roll up the Rim '06

2006-03-02T14:40:00.000-03:30

This idea is totally stolen from Jeremy's Blog

My Record of Dissapointment with this year's "Roll up the Rim to Win!" Contest from Tim Horton's. I've had 5 or 6 cups in the last 2 days, and have won ziltch on them, but I'll keep official track starting with this XL Coffee I'm currently drinking.

2006 results:

14:38 02/03/2006 XL: Please Play Again
20:00 02/03/2006 LG: Please Play Again
10:30 03/03/2006 XL: Please Play Again
14:23 03/03/2006 LG: Please Play Again
08:15 06/03/2006 XL: Please Play Again
10:45 06/03/2006 XL: Please Play Again
14:00 06/03/2006 LG: Please Play Again
09:15 07/03/2006 XL: Please Play Again
15:00 07/03/2006 LG: WINNAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Coffee.
07:45 08/03/2006 XL: Please Play Again
13:00 08/03/2006 LG: Please Play Again
08:45 09/03/2006 XL: Please Play Again
09:15 10/03/2006 XL: Please Play Again
15:00 10/03/2006 LG: Please Play Again
10:02 13/03/2006 XL: Please Play Again
11:15 13/03/2006 XL: Please Play Again
08:45 14/03/2006 XL: Please Play Again
10:30 14/03/2006 XL: Please Play Again
15:00 14/03/2006 XL: Please Play Again
09:00 15/03/2006 XL: Please Play Again
10:45 15/03/2006 LG: Please Play Again
14:00 15/03/2006 LG: Please Play Again
19:00 15/03/2006 HC: Please Play Again
08:00 16/03/2006 XL: Please Play Again
11:00 16/03/2006 XL: Please Play Again
13:45 16/03/2006 LG: Please Play Again
09:30 17/03/2006 XL: Please Play Again
14:35 17/03/2006 LG: Please Play Again
08:30 20/03/2006 XL: Please Play Again
13:35 20/03/2006 LG: Please Play Again
09:00 21/03/2006 XL: Please Play Again
14:00 21/03/2006 LG: Please Play Again
09:30 22/03/2006 GL: Please Play Again
15:00 22/03/2006 LG: Please Play Again

Golden Snow Day

2006-02-25T15:48:00.000-03:30

Contrary to the title of this post, I will not be talking about peeing in the snow.

We are having a good storm here today. upwards of 40 cms predicted over the next 24 hours. Add to that the winds up to 100 km/hr and its one of those days you don't want to go outside. Heres a picture from my apartment door.

Its pretty much a white-out out there.

On to the golden part of the post. Yesterday The Gushue Rink from St. John's, Newfoundland won the Olympic Gold Medal in Men's Curling. Made up of four young guys from all over NL and Russ Howard who I believe is from New Brunswick, They beat Finland 10-3 in yesterdays game. It was great to watch, even for someone like me who doesn't follow curling. Everyone here on the rock is super proud of the boys for what they have acheived. They are great ambassadors for us all.

The whole province came to a standstill yesterday afternoon. Schools were shut down at lunch, and alot of businesses were either closed or had TVs in the office to watch e game. We spent the afternoon in the boardroom watching the game over a few beers. Yay for the Olympics ! :)

Congrats to Brad, Russ, Jamie, Mark and Adam, you've done us all proud!

How you like your action?

2006-02-19T21:02:00.000-03:30

If the answer to that question is "Mutherfuckin Fur Packed!" then you are my kind of person.

Last night, me and the guys went to see Fur Packed Action at a reunion show at Junctions. Fur Packd haven't played a show in a few years, and last night was worth the wait. A great crowd, great music, and great energy made for a fantastic show.

They started the night with a short 5 or six minute home-movie type film that they shot while on tour a few years back. It was pretty funny. Then they took the stage, and the film contnued in the background while they played. It was a 3 hour montage of wierd and crazy movie clips for the 70s and 80s... like shots from ballroom dancing movies and stuff blowing up. It was the kind of video you would see if you stayed up till 4am watching NTV an they took a break for some Fidel Castro clips. Man, I love 'Waiting for Fidel'. Now that's Television!

The show poster for the weekend.

Anyways, Fur Packed Rock! If they do another show in a few years, I'll be there with bells on.

The second coming... Or is it third?

2006-02-15T20:24:00.000-03:30

Man... I really can't seem to keep this thing updated hey ?

Who knows... maybe this time it'll happen. Perhaps soon, with enough updating, this blog will catch the eye of the newspapers... or CNN... yeah, that'll happen! ummmm.... no.

But really, did the first person who wrote one of these things think that eventually they would become a "trusted" news source? Referred to by national Newspapers and Television stations? Seems pretty out there, but hey, that's where we are now.

No, I don't hold aspirations like that for this blog. Honestly, I doubt very my people will read it at all. However, I do find that when I flick through a few postings that I've done in the past, I like reading it, and it helps me remember stuff I might other wise forget. So for that reason, I'm going to keep updating it when I please. I won't promise myself to do it daily, weekly or what ever, cause I'd just be fooling myself. But I'll update it when I feel like it. If there is actually anyone reading this, then you'll just have to deal with that! However, leaving comments might make me check it regularly. Things always work better when they are two-sided I find.

So, whats new with me ?

2006........

Wow... Another new years! Maybe not as eventful as some new year's eve's past, but lets face it, that probably a good thing. I had a great time at my friend Amy's house. She had a big party for everyone that we hang out with, and there was a big turnout. We always have a great time at Amy's, we always have. Ever since grade 11 when her parents were the 'cool' parents who let us drink and party in their basement even though we were underage. They were always home to make sure no one got in any trouble, but they were never on top of us so we could always have a good time. Wow, that was a long time ago!

But this year was a great party, however, about 2:00am we lost the power! It stayed out for at least a half hour, at which point I called a cab for me and Krista. We were home by 2:45, and that was all she wrote for New Years 2006.

Sirius......

I have a new toy that I've grown to be attached to. I've recently acquired a Sirius Radio receiver. I gotta say, its fantastic! I drive a lot during the day (3-4 hours on a busy day) and I was ready to blow up my FM Radio. There are only so many times I can hear Beyonce or that Simpson chick (The one with the hot sister) before I want to run my truck into a pole.

With Sirius, the selection is great, all the music channels are specialty channels, so you tune to a channel based on the type of music you are in the mood for. Jazz, HipHop, Trance, Alternative, and yes... even Pop. Whatever you want, its got. The music all commercial free as well.

Add to all that the sports coverage, Comedy Channels, and as of last week, Howard Stern! I now have a new morning Routine. I used to be die hard for VOCM's Open Line (hey, its better than Beyonce) but now Howard, Robin, et al take me into lunchtime. I'll probably talk more about this in a later post, once I get used to all the inside jokes.

Red Wine...

Lastly (for now) is my newfound appreciation for red wine. This one I owe to my girlfriend. Before a few months ago, I would say all the red wine I've drank in my life wouldn't fill a single bottle. Since then we've got corks lining the kitchen wall. Every weekend we have at least one, if not more. And I still drink my standard dose of Blue Star. Does this mean I have a problem ? I don't think so. I just enjoy the taste.. .right? That's cool ?

Anyways, I must be off for now. This post has gotten way too long... I wonder if that's why I don't update this often? My terrible habit of rambling makes these entries too long... So I don't do them often enough. And when I don't do them often, I've got too much to talk about... and .. uh-oh... This one of those self fulfilling prophecies I think... I'm doomed !

New Years Eve 2005 Pictures

2006-02-14T21:37:00.000-03:30

New Years Eve 2005 Pictures

2005-08-23T19:33:00.000-02:30

Misc Pictures from Summer 2005

August Update

2005-08-23T18:08:00.000-02:30

Some rain today wha?

Welcome to August in Newfoundland. Summer is drawing to an end already. It only started three weeks ago, and it was great while it lasted.

Anyways, I've been enjoying summer to its fullest while its here. Lately its been trips to the beach, and Poker at Rob's house. See the pic to the left, that was taken while we were sorting the chips, which should be obvious because it was defiantly more chips than I had in front of me all night. I did terrible. But I had alot of fun.

Meanwhile, work is keeping me very busy. I'm learning alot about what it takes to run a small business, and while its great to be your own boss (I'm almost there:P) with that freedom comes alot of headaches. I won't bore you with the details, but it's been an eye opening summer.

In the meantime, as the summer winds down, it means that my friends are slowly going to move away again. Colum leaves after this weekend, he goes to school at Dal. Sept. 19th marks the departure for Little Phil, as he embarks on a journey through Medical School in Cork (I think) Ireland.

I'll upload a few pics to spice this place up, as I don't really have much to say. :)

The Pinnicle of Canadian Mediocraty

2005-07-29T12:14:00.000-02:30

I saw Ashley McIssac perform at the George St. Festival last night. I was looking forward to the show, as it was something a bit different than I was used to; a cross between the Celtic traditionalists and the 3 piece rock bands that are so prevalent around here.

I did enjoy the show but i found a few things strange. Many of McIssac's released tracks feature vocalists, and all the songs that anyone knew were played as instrumentals, which I found to be a bit anti-climatic. And something else I learned is that he must feature other vocalists on his albums because singing is not his strong point. The few traditional songs he sang were rough and hurried, which was dissapointing.

About halfway through the show, things deteriorated into a semi punk band show with very little fiddle, much more heavy guitars and grunting into the microphone. The songs about Pot Smoking didn't really go over large with the older crowd who showed up to see him play "Sleepy Maggie".

Overall I thought it was worth $5 even though it wasn't what I expected. You can't really complain for that price.

Due to popular demand

2005-07-27T12:04:00.000-02:30

I have decided to again begin updating this blog.

I've been pretty busy the last few months adjusting to post-University life and all that. I've been meaning to update this Blog for the last little while but due to my absence, I had a lot to say and even more to gripe about, hence that first entry was a daunting task that I couldn't fit into my schedule.

So I've decided to cut my losses and forget about the last few months blogwise. I'm sure a few tidbits will be mentioned in the next few posts, but I don't have the time (read: I am too lazy) to properly document the latest comings and goings.

Heres the quick version:
I got My Iron Ring
I graduated
I got a 50% in Ahmed's Course (whew!)
I have a job, working with my father
I now know alot about drainage issues relating to backyards
I still know nothing about concrete
Sidewalks are easy to build
People are hard to please

That pretty much sums up the last 3 months. I'll be more dilligent in my Blogging in the coming weeks. Promise.

Thanks for staying tuned!

The Final Hurdle

2005-04-20T01:14:00.000-02:30

CS 4753 - Artificial Intelligence

This is the final course I will complete in my 6 long years of University. Tomorrow Morning, I write the exam and am freed of the imposing doom that has loomed over me for the entirety of my legal-age life.

In 9 hours, I will finish my Degree, and will be awaiting John Crosbie to place the orange and Maroon hood of a MUN Engineer upon me, and forever bestow on me the title: Phil Ryan, B.Eng. No one can take that away from me.

Except Dr. Ahmed. That guy is a real pain in the hole. On Monday, I wrote my final exam in his course, and it was a killer. I had a 57 going in, which isn't great, but survivable. All I needed to do was pass the final and I would be a shoe-in for my degree. Man did he put the boots to us. He really reamed us just like they used to back in the day when they were trimming the class size down to what they deemed an acceptable level.

I don't really think that I'm in danger of failing, but the mere fact that the ring isn't on my finger and this is looming over me is kind of putting a damper on me. I'll find out Friday, and I really do think things will be ok.

However, if they are not, and I fail that course and don't graduate, man oh man, there's gonna be a riot.

I'll keep y'all posted. Pray for Mojo.

All Poped Out

2005-04-13T00:43:00.000-02:30

As we all know, the pope died recently. This is a loss for the world, as he was a pretty good pope. Did alot to help things like the Fall of Communism, and the ostricization of Homosexuals from the Catholic Church. Hmmm.... I guess we're not all perfect.

Well, "why are you talking about the pope" you might wonder. I'm a fairly Liberal guy. I'm technically Roman Catholic, but I think I'm more of a Hatchings-Matchings-Dispatchings kind of church go-er. Births, Weddings, and Funerals are about all the events that get me into a church. So Its a bit odd for me to make a post about the pope.

I was in Chapters the other day reading the magazines while Krista was in a job interview. Every magazine on the shelf was plastered with pictures of the pope, images and stories of his life, and just general news coverage of the whole event. I think that if you properly arranged all the magizines, ther would actually be a way to spell out POPE in big letters with his pictures. There was one noticable exception to this rule. The Canadian Edition of Time magizine had a rag-tag bunch of post-teen punks on the cover. Consequently, they were the band "The Arcade Fire", not a bad band if you are into the funky indie rock scence, but I must question thier ability to trump the death of the Pope.

I checked the date on the cover, and it was April 4th. several days after the pope-al passing. What was the editor of that magazine thinking ? Really, what could trump the pope checking out? Maybe another faux-pas from George Bush, but other than that I think the pope-card needs to be played.

Anyways, I'm rambling now. Time to get back to my Blue Star.

Final Days

2005-04-12T23:29:00.000-02:30

10 Days. Thats all thats left.

In 10 short Days, I'll be crossing the front of the EN2006 lecture theatre to have a silver ring put on my finger by one of the engineers who is a part of the Corporation of the SevenWardens. Sounds a bit Lord of the Rings-ish I know, but they are the governing body who oversee the Iron Ring ceremonies held in such high regard by Canadian Engineers.

But I digress, What I'm really getting at is that the long haul will be over soon. My first exam is the day after tommorow. I've got 4 exams in 7 Days, which is not going to be a big deal. I've done 6 in 6, and survived it. I've really only got one exam that i'm worried about, Digital Communications. Its all wierd signal analysis stuff, that isn't exactly the toughest stuff, but I have zero interest in it, so I find studying for it a royal pain in the ass. Not to mention i think the Prof is a dick, and he's probably going to screw us sideways in the exam. All I need is 50%.... I can make up the marks to get my average in other courses.

So Its Communications Electronics, Business Law, Digital Communications, Artificial Intelligence, alot of drinking, Iron Ring, more drinking, then back to work. Time to start life in the real world. I don't think I've ever faced something so scary!

Approaching the finish line

2005-03-31T04:22:00.000-03:30

I've just put the finishing touches on my Senior Engineering project, which I will be demonstrating to a jury of professors and peers tomorrow. I have been working on the project for the last 12 months. The most productive time period by far was from 2-4am today.

Its unbelievable how much code you can type, ideas you can hatch, and coffee you can drink in that time. For anyone interested, I managed to create a script that produces a Gantt chart using HTML tables, with text based dates in an access database as the source. If that means nothing to you, trust me when I say it was incredibly hard.

Below is a pic of my Chart. That pic also demonstrates the typical aesthetics of my project. I'm pretty happy with the way its turned out. My project is not nearly as technical as some of the others in class, however I believe it has its own merits, was quite difficult to implement, and is also quite practical. I hope I can finish it, and get it put to use at the office this summer.

Wish me luck tomorrow. I hope my App doesn't crash during the presentation is all!

2005-03-31T04:21:00.000-03:30

This is what the Scheduling portion of my Project looks like.

Roll Up The Rim To Be Dissapointed

2005-03-30T00:52:00.000-03:30

I'n the past seven days, I've purchase 19 Large coffees with milk from no less than 4 Tim Hortons locations in the greater St. John's area. Add to that at least 10 cups I've picked up for other people on related coffee runs.

Total Winnings from these 29 cups: zero. nadda. nil. zilch.

What are the supposed odds? 1 in 5 or something? Even 1 in 10 ? I got nothing! Not a single Donut, Muffin, Timbit or Home Theatre! I mean, all I want is some sort of renumeration for my coffee purchases. Preferably something I can turn around and sell in the Buy and Sell for a couple hundred bucks. Is that so much to ask?

Tommorow is the last day I have to work on my Term 8 Design Project. Thursday at 12 the presentations begin, and at approximatly 9pm, it'll all be over, and it's gonna be a dirty drunk! The presentaion/demonstration day is our version of the Grade 7 science fair. But this time our moms didn't do our project for us... well, most of us anyways.

After thursday, It'll be a weekend blitz for my Artificial Inteligence course, then i've got 5 days of class, 4 exams, and one DDay before I get my Iron Ring!

nearest book game

2005-03-29T12:11:00.000-03:30

As seen on naeim's blog:

Grab the nearest book. Don't search for something cool. Grab what's actually closest to you.

Open the book to page 123.

Find the fifth sentence.

Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

"However, if N - M < n, the smallest possible X value is n - (N-M)."
- Devore, Jay - Probability and Statistics for Engineering and the Sciences

5424 words + 1240 Minutes = 29 pages of BS

2005-03-28T03:36:00.000-03:30

Home again. Just finished the first draft of my report. I say first draft, but its due tommorow, so lets call a spade a spade and i'll say I've finished my report. 29 pages. Not bad, considering the set goal was 30, and I was aiming low 20s.

Tommorow will consist of a quick paper review, then printing and binding, and then the completion of my logbook. Notice how I don't mention classes in that schedule. I've cut more classes in the last month than I think I have in my engineering career, and I've never been known for my diligent attendance.

I just ate Mcdonalds, Again. 2 more cheeseburgers to add to the weekend total. If my heart survives the next 3 weeks, I'm going to donate my body to science to see what the hell pulled me through.

And I got the worst news ever last night. Labatt is on strike. This is going to have serious effects on my Blue Star intake in the immediate future. Bev ran to the store in a panic today and got a dozen cans for our emergency supply in school. Thank God he did because we are going to need them in the long hours ahead this week. I actually obsconded from school with one tonight. The Shining Star never tasted so good.

I lift my victory Blue Star to all the engineers finishing thier Term Paper as I speak.

Paper Progress

2005-03-27T19:16:00.000-03:30

It's 7:16pm.... I have 15 pages written for my report, and virtually nothing in my logbook. Its going to be a long night.

In the last 24 hours, I've eaten Wendy's twice and McDonald's twice.

Happy Easter.

Now this is what I Call productive.

2005-03-26T21:26:00.000-03:30

Its 9:27 on a Saturday night. I'm still at school. This sucks.

But I've got a paper due Monday morning that's worth 20% of my Term 8 project. Its supposed to be 30 pages and its currently 8. So what am I doing? I'm posting pictures to my blog from last weekend, and I'm on my way downtown to The Attic to see my buddy Jeremy play with his band Drop Trou. Man, I don't know why my paper isn't finished yet! I'm like, constantly working on it!

This will tell you how desperate I am to procrastinate this paper till the last minute. (Can procrastinate be used like that?) This afternoon, I called my Mom to see if she wanted to have a sandwich somewhere. I just heard a collective gasp from everyone reading this. Well, we went for a bite, and it was suprisingly non-confrontational. We had a good chat, and caught up on a few things. It was the first time I've spoken to her in a few weeks, maybe that's the secret.

I had my formal presentation on Thursday past. It signaled the beginning of the end for my Design Project, which is the beginning of the end of my Engineering Degree. It went pretty well, I didn't prepare a whole lot for it, but I generally do that sort of stuff fairly well on my feet anyways. This paper is a whole other matter altogether. I doubt I'm gonna hit the 30 page mark with it. So I'll have to make sure that the BS I fill the rest of the paper with is just believable enough that the markers don't notice. Is that even possible? At this point, I really don't care.

I must get going. Don't want to miss too much Trou Droppin' downtown, I'm sure the other better-prepared engineers are already well on their way to a drunken stupor, I can't miss it all!

2005-03-26T21:25:00.000-03:30

Me and Jamie, St. Paddy's 05 at The Republic

2005-03-26T21:24:00.000-03:30

A few of My Engineering Buddies came down as well.

2005-03-26T21:22:00.000-03:30

Here's a shot of me and the guys on St. Paddy's day at The Republic. You'd be suprised how drunk we actually are.

Happy St. Paddy's Day

2005-03-18T15:39:00.000-03:30

As the title insinuates, its That time of year again. When the good peolple of the world get drunk like The Irish, and The Irish get even drunker.

The big day was actaully yesterday, and you could almost feel it in the air, though on second though, maybe it was just the smell of beer in the air that made it apparent. I didn't go drinking myself, as I had too much school work to do. Also, I'm saving my energy for tonight.

Every year my self and the guys go drinking to celebrate St. Paddy's Day on the weekend closest to the 17th. We've been doing it ever since we could get into the bars downtown, and we've always hit the same spot, The Republic. We haven't missed a year there, even when two years ago we had a nasty snow storm and we were the only people in the bar.

Its a tradition that I hope doesn't fade away too soon. Especially since we are starting to head our own ways after graduating school and getting jobs and whatever else. Our numbers are dwindling, but the friendships are still there. Thats why its ever so important that we take this oppurtunity and get absolutly shitfaced together!

I'll see if I'm able to focus my eyes enough tommorow to post a couple of pictures from tonight. Now, where did I put my 4 leaf clover boxers?

2005-03-10T22:33:00.000-03:30

My new truck, with my girlfriend Krista sitting in the passenger seat.

I leased a Truck!

2005-03-10T22:20:00.000-03:30

I've moved into a new stage of my life. I just leased a 2005 Chevy Silverado. I'm very excited, especially because I got a great deal on it.

But what this really means is that I am getting rid of my Jeep. This is big for me, because for the last several years, my Jeep has been a defining part of my personality. Ask anyone who knows me, My Jeep is a huge part of my life. It sounds really stupid, but its true. I'm in a Jeep club, I have Jeep friends, I go driving in storms just because i can.

So its a big step for me to move away from the Jeep, and its gonna be really hard to do. I say 'going to be' because its still parked outside my house, the lease isn't up yet. It'll be up in two months, and I don't want to be around anyone when I do have to let it go. I get depressed just thinking about it.

All part of growing up I guess.

Reese is the new CSI

2005-03-07T12:52:00.000-03:30

It seems that in todays culture, when someone has a good idea, and makes a bit of money off of it, the first instinct is to make subtle changes and re-market it to the exact same people who consumed the first product.

I call it the CSI Principal. Some CBS producer thought it would be a great Idea to cookie cutter their show to other cities across America, From Vegas, to Miami, to New York. Apart from scenic and weather differences, I really can't find any concepts unique to any of the shows apart from the actors, which I'm positive are only different because they don't have enough hours in a week to use the same people in all the shows.

Does the world really need 3 hours of CSI per week? I don't think so. Some would say the same for Law and Order, but I like that show (shows?) so there will be no harping on it here. Also, that was on the air for like 10 years before the first spin-off, so it has 'street-cred'.

This CSI Principal has spread however, far beyond TV. It has in fact spread as far as the pharmacy near my house. I walked in there at 11:45 last night, looking to buy a geometry set, and a complex number calculator (don't ask) and I found myself in the newly established Reese Peanut Butter Cup Aisle.

As far as the eye could see, variation upon variation of Reese, mutations that had split from their predecessor. The original 3 cup package. The jumbo 4 cup package. The even more expensive two cup package was seemly more value because each cup was about 2 inches thick. Not to mention the Reese's Pieces.

Then, apparently exhausted with size and quantity variations, Reese decided to shake things up a little by changing ingredients. White Chocolate Reese, Inside out Reese (PB filled with chocolate) and now the newest, Reese Fudge Cups. And the fudge ones had "Limited Edition" stamped on them. Is there really a point of having Limited Edition Candy ? Isn't it all pretty limited in that they generally serve their purpose rather quickly then we part ways with our candy a few hours later? Are people supposed to start collecting these bars now to show to their kids in 20 years like a Wayne Gretzky Hockey Card?

sigh.

What was ever wrong with the original ? Are they that low on ideas for new Candy Bars? What did our forefathers do for marketing gimmicks before there were a ton of ideas out there to copy? So many questions, and all answered by one fact.

I bought the new Fudge Reese Cups. I was pulled in by the advertising, and on top of my $10 grade school geometry set, and $14 triple-blade razors, I threw down the extra $1.10 for the new product. And I was fairly happy with my purchase.

So I guess the real answer is that marketing in this fashion works. Its depressing, and un-original, but it works.

Dell Computer for $299

2005-03-02T12:26:00.000-03:30

My buddy Rob just told me about an awesome deal on www.redflagdeals.com . A new Dell computer, with a 2.4GHz Celeron, 256 megs, 80 gig. it doesn't have a monitor, or a CDBurner but looks like a solid business machine.

I just ordered 3 for the office, $1034 for all the machines, including tax & free shipping! What a great deal that is! Check out the deal for yourself on Dell , I encourage you all to spend your hard earned money.

Whirly Bird

2005-02-26T15:36:00.000-03:30

The Helicopter that almost cleaned out my Backyard, Its bigger than it seems in this pic.

Is that a Helicopter?!?!

2005-02-26T15:35:00.000-03:30

Last night around suppertime, Myself and my buddy Jamie were enjoying a couple of beers in my den when the house started to shake. We ran to the back windows to see what was going n and to our suprise, a Helicopter was buzzing over my house, about 50 feet off the ground!

He buzzed the house a couple of times, then hovered over my backyard for a minute, it looked like he was trying to land next to the barn. Suddenly he pulled up, then flew a few hundred feet away, out over the water behind my house. He flew back in, and started to try and land in the graveyard next to my house. This is when it got scary. He seemed to be having some trouble, and was hovering maybe 10 feet off the ground, spinning around and rocking side to side. Pulling up again, he took off crookedly, and buzzed right over my roof on a steep angle. The windows were shaking and the trees outside were nearly tearing them selves out of the ground, it was really intense!

He managed to land in a backyard a few houses up from mine, and promptly shut down the engine. Jamie and I, being true Gawkers, jumped in the Jeep and drove to the spot where he set her down. I took a couple of snaps of it from the road. It looked like he was having trouble with Ice on the rotors, as a light freezing rain had started in the last hour or so.

The heli was still 'abandoned' when I drove by this morning, so perhaps he was having a bit more trouble than it seemed, or maybe he just didn't have the nerve to jump back in right after the scary ride!

But, most importantly, when we got back to the house, the beer was still cold.

2005-02-24T23:28:00.000-03:30

The end of an era.

Laws of Physics:1 Blackbery:0

2005-02-24T23:16:00.000-03:30

Well, it was inevitable.

I dropped my blackberry yet again. This time, the law of averages took over, and the screen is smashed. This blows. This is what it used to look like. I'm devastated right now.

This is gonna be expensive. :(

Poker Defeat

2005-02-24T09:55:00.000-03:30

Well, another poker tournament with the engineers has come and gone. Yet again, I did not win. However, what's worse, is that I went all-in (and lost) against the one person that I did not want to beat me, Steve. Commence several weeks of ridicule. I'll have to try and get him in the after exams tournament.

In other news, the Artificial Intelligence project I am doing with Jeremy is progressing, which is good since it is due tommorow. It is an AI which has to be able to play the Chinese game 5x5 Go (I think) and it has to compete against other AI's in the class. We are pretty much fighting for second place, as the one super team of Ajay and Naeim is always far ahead of the pack.

My Term project is starting to loom awful big on the horizon. I remember saying to myself, "yeah, I've got 6 months left to do this, it can be done." Well now, I'm not that much farther ahead, and I've only got one month left. WHERE THE HELL DID THE LAST FIVE MONTHS GO ? Sorry about that., but I honestly don't know where my time has been spent.

Time for a meeting with my project supervisor, I wonder how he's gonna handle my lack of progress?

2005-02-24T09:54:00.001-03:30

The New Champ, Reid-o. Good Job Buddy!

2005-02-24T09:54:00.000-03:30

The OLD Champ Steve

The First Post

2005-02-19T23:30:00.000-03:30

Well, here I am. A blogger.

Blogs appear to be the Segway of 2005, everyone talks about them, knows all about them, and thinks they are the greatest thing since Bob Dole invented the Internet, but doesn't really know what to use them for.

But I guess if CNN is paying people to cover the Republican National Convention using these things, maybe theres something to them. Cause we all know CNN is never wrong, right?

I guess I'll open with a little about me. I'm finishing up an engineering degree at Memorial University, specializing in Computer Engineering. I live in Topsail, Newfoundland, close to St. John's. But enough about me, you'll earn more as this goes on.

My first foray into publishing thoughts online, was long before the craze of blogging began. The site I would read and posted on a bit was www.theopendiary.com which is no longer operating. Back then, it was mostly middle aged people who would post anonymous accounts of how depressing thier lives were. Now, blogging has brought forth a whole new generation of deep thinkers, who seem to truly believe that thier poetry is good, and people actualy believe the pensive facades that they hide behind while posting.

This will not be that type of Blog. This Blog will not be full of emotional musings and cry me a river rants about why the world is against me. I don't exactly know what it will be, but it won't be that.

I guess I'm just starting this because its the trendy thing to do, and they can be an interesting read when properly done. And I'm an attention whore, I forgot to mention that one.

Anyways, stay tuned. I'll see where this goes.