ShinyPlasticBag

Oh, joy of joys, Monday. I love Mondays — seriously. Whilst most of you suckers have to deal with the joys of Monday to Friday jobs, I'm still a weekender. Monday indicates that another weekend has been successfully worked, and then vegging can thus begin. Or, something like that. I had to work today (short shift, 10:30 - 2:30), so there hasn't really been all that much vegging. Guess where I am? That's right, the Commons at Dal. Playing with a Mac. Man, I wish I could buy that PowerBook that I lust for so vigorously. Selling stuff really sucks, and my laptop hasn't generated much interest in the world of purchasers. I guess I must be asking for too much, but I can't really sell it for any lower than I am now. It's a big problem.

Anyway, loyal viewers, I have found some excellent sites. First of all, a site that is dedicated to helping people lose weight in a novel way: My Pet Fat. It's a glob of imitation fat — as in human body fat — that you can carry around you as a reminder of your goal. It's really quite sick. I think I might buy one, just so I can throw it at people. Go look at it. It's vile.

Next up is something that I came across last week, but I think deserves a more in-depth mention: Crying While Eating. I find this site so incredibly hilarious that I have been giggling about it all day. From Stefan's woeful lamentation of his dependence on technology to Hannah & Paul and the growing gulf between them, it's 100% pure gold. This site is the best thing since Eric Conveys an Emotion.

Anyway, I'm off to cruise the Interweb some more. Cheers.

Update: Somebody called about the laptop, woot! Maybe I was just being impatient. We'll see.

• Written on 30 May 2005 & posted at 03:00 PM.
• There are 13 comments.
• Permalink.

Seriously, folks, something is afoul here. It's been raining all month. I'm not sure what it is that we've done to deserve such terrible weather, but I sincerely regretted not wearing gloves to work today. I'm not kidding.

I mean, look around: a state of emergency has been declared in Lunenburg (oh, so many jokes to be made...). It's not just that it's cold, or that it's raining, but that it's cold AND it's raining, and that it's been doing so for weeks on end. A heavy rainfall warning is in effect again today. May is usually my favourite month, but I think this might have strained our relationship.

Did you know that the average Canadian drank 93.7 litres of coffee in 2004? How much do you think I drank? Should I be ashamed?

• Written on 26 May 2005 & posted at 02:54 PM.
• There are 39 comments.
• Permalink.

Well, folks, I did it. I ran in the Bluenose Marathon — sort of. I, of course, am not capable of running a real marathon (which is 43 kilometres). I did, however, run in the 5K race, where I came in 111th. I like nice round numbers like that (although I do wish I'd come in 17 spots later for the 2⁷-ness of it). My mom and Mary Ann were also there, with Joey and Janet providing much needed moral support.

You see, yesterday, we experienced what Joey would call “serious weather”, with winds up in the area of 70 km/h and oodles of rain. It was not exactly good marathon weather, but it was a rain or shine event. After all of the effort I put into getting the weekend off, nothing would have stopped me, and most other people seem to have felt the same way. Although the opening procedures were moved into the Metro Centre, and the course was changed (most drastically for the full marathon runners, who instead did two circuits of the half marathon instead of crossing the bridge into Dartmouth as originally planned), thousands of people still showed up. It was definitely nice to be a part of something so big, even if I'm not a real runner.

The Halifax Herald printed everyone's names and finishing times, accurate to 1/10th of a second thanks to the little (presumably RFID) tags we wore on our sneakers. This information was available via a link I posted yesterday, but it's nice to see it in print. Go me. The relevants numbers are as follows:

• Dustin: 31m:41s, 12th
• Me: 46m:57s, 111th
• Mary Ann: 49m:04s, 122nd
• Mom: 49m:07s, 123rd

Alex — the hippie, not the baby, of course — ran the half-marathon, which is very awesome. Her time was 2h:31m:35s. Incidentally, there were a lot more people running the half-marathon than anything else (1279 people, versus 660 in the 10 km, 309 in the full marathon, and 182 in the 5 km). That being said, there were also a lot more people who didn't bother to finish.

Anyway, it was definitely an experience. I had a blast and I think I'll do it again next year (hopefully something more exciting than the 5 km run). There's also a run this summer I was thinking of doing, on Canada Day, since I already have the weekend off and it supports my employer. Who knows?

• Written on 23 May 2005 & posted at 11:11 AM.
• There are 18 comments.
• Permalink.

Ola, it is I, the Cereal Killer. Or, something along those lines. Minus the Cereal Killer bit. I'm tired — leave me alone. It's 3:09 am at the moment, and I'm at work. I'm doing this Thursday night backshift instead of Friday night, because Elizabeth (the Sunday - Thursday backshifter) was kind enough to switch with me. Taken in concert with a vacation shift on Saturday, I've got a weekend off, the first one in quite some time.

Why, you might ask? Well, because inertia is evil: I'm being daring and different and physically active, running in the Bluenose Marathon on Sunday. I am not doing the marathon, though, I'm just doing the walk/jog (five kilometres, or eight miles). This was originally my mom's idea. She's actually running for charity (the Molly Appeal, so named because the concept appealed to a woman named Molly — I kid you not). She raised about $150, without really trying. Be proud of her.

In other news, my week has been pretty uneventful. I saw Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith tonight with my Dad. I thought it was really good, but I have an issue whereby I think pretty much all movies are good when I see them in theatres. I'm sort of sad that that last Star Wars movie is finally out; it's a tradition I only ever partially got into, but a tradition nonetheless. Whenever I think Star Wars, I think of The Phantom Menace. It was a tremendous disappointment, but it still has oodles of memories attached to it. The excitement around the world leading up to that movie was absolutely incredible. I went to see it at one of those midnight “sneak previews” with my cousin Darryl (I can't remember if anyone else came with us). We met some interesting people, waiting in line for two hours or so. May 19th, 1999. Exactly six years ago yesterday.

I'm listening to “I Think She Likes Me” by Treat Her Right, a band I've never heard of. It must've gotten downloaded during one of my many MP3 blog zeitgeists over the past few months. It's very strange, but lately, I've been a big fan of strange. “BaBa” by Bunky also falls into the awesome/strange (Strawesome? Awestrange?) category. To the best of my knowledge, though, no one else likes this song.

Ugh. 3:14 am. Pi o'clock. I'm definitely ready to get to sleep (which won't be very satisfying, since I plan on getting up early to enforce a switch back to a normal human sleep cycle). There's absolutely nothing happening here tonight. In closing, I'd just like to say that Tony bought an iPod, and I'm very jealous (although I still think he should have gotten the pink one). Six months from now, I want to own a PowerBook and an iPod. I will join the Cult of Mac. Nick will point out the irony, and it will be awesome.

• Written on 20 May 2005 & posted at 03:09 AM.
• There are 12 comments.
• Permalink.

What the...musical...baton? Durr. I think I just got roped into a meme. That being said, let's get it out of the way. I'm going to be embarassed, I know it.

Total volume of music on my computer: 1.70 GB on internal hard drive, 41.45 GB total.

The last CD I bought: “Drunk Enough to Dance” by Bowling For Soup. That was ages ago.

Song playing right now: the theme song to “Ultimate Cars” on Discovery Channel. Instead, I'll let iTunes choose a random song for me. That song is...“California Rain” by Silvertide.

Five songs I listen to alot:

• “Sherri” by Billy Idol
• “Hammering in my Head” by Garbage
• “Halcyon & On” by Orbital
• “Goodnight Goodnight” by Hot Hot Heat
• “I'm Not Okay (I Promise)” by My Chemical Romance

Five people to whom I'm passing the baton:

• Apollo
• Chris
• Keddy
• Penny
• Taylor

• Written on 17 May 2005 & posted at 02:12 PM.
• There are 11 comments.
• Permalink.

Things that are exciting include: freshly brewed coffee. And English muffins. Seriously, I'm a big fan of both of those things. I feel like it's been absolutely ages since I bothered updating this site, and I guess it really has been. Eep. Here's what's going on in my world:

Thing the First: Worked Friday and Saturday night, the first of which being the slowest night I've ever worked, and the second of which being one of the busiest. Seriously, Saturday night absolutely sucked. It was Castro's birthday on Saturday, though, so that is worthy of noting (even belatedly). Sunday night, Janet, Keddy, and I went out for coffee with aforementioned Castro at the Tim Horton's in Burnside. It was very dirty and the coffee sucked.

Thing the Second: Worked yesterday (evening shift). It was pretty busy, but not insane. On my lunch break, I went over to the Dalhousie Learning Commons to play with their Macs. I figure that if I'm seriously considering trading my PC for a Mac, I should probably get as much experience on them as possible. Things learned yesterday: they use the equivalent of Alt instead of Ctrl for their shortcut keys. Disconcerting, since it eliminates a decade of muscle memory.

Thing the Third: I woke up this morning and was confronted by Kitty in the living room, who immediately began whining for attention. Then I noticed he'd not only puked in the middle of the kitchen floor, but also ON TOP OF one of the tables in the living room. Seriously, what the hell? Cats! Grr!

Thing the Fourth: I really think CSI: Iqaluit would be an awesome TV show.

• Written on 17 May 2005 & posted at 01:44 PM.
• There are .
• Permalink.

Good news: unlike Keddy, I passed through Friday the 13th without major incident. Actually, I passed through without incident at all. Although I don't have any superstitions attached to Friday the 13th, I recognize that quite a few other people do, and that belief changes how things actually play out. It becomes a self-fufilling prophecy. However, nothing happened at all. Even when I got to work, there was only a single patient there, and they left fairly quickly. Last night was, in fact, eerily quiet. I came home with a full psychic energy tank, so when I saw Janet waiting for the bus, I decided to pick her up and drive her in as far as the bridge terminal. By the time I got home, I still wasn't tired, and ending up discussing (of all things!) quantum mechanics to (of all people!) Mary Ann. What a wacky morning.

Moving on, the good news continues, since it looks like it's pretty nice outside. We've had a mildly shitty week, weather wise, with oodles and oodles of rain and clouds and coldness. I guess spring just hasn't been ready to spring. That being said, lots of trees are starting the bud, and you can start seeing city employees around, trimming hedges and planting flowers. Our city is ugly, but at least they try.

Have you seen the trailer for The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe yet? It looks absolutely fantastic. The series of books was one of my favourites when I was growing up. Just like the Labrynth, though, there's stuff to it that you definitely never notice when you're a kid. In the case of the Labrynth, it was David Bowie's package. In the case of Narnia, it was the overt religious symbolism, just veiled enough to keep little kids from recognizing it for what it was. It definitely wasn't a surprise, since all of C.S. Lewis' other books were essays on Christianity, and either way, is somewhat interesting. The books are definitely classics, and I'm very glad they kept the spirit of the books intact (I originally had fears that the books would be “translated” into modern time, but they're just not proper unless it's the 1940s).

Anyway, I've got some stuff to do (including, but not limited to, eating). Until next time.

• Written on 14 May 2005 & posted at 05:07 PM.
• There are 13 comments.
• Permalink.

ARG! The Home Delivery theme song is so catchy. I love this show. Seriously, there's something wrong with me. Help. I have absolutely no idea how they always manage to find a group of people that need a paternity test. I would never have imagined that the percentage of the general population with questionable parentage would be so high. That being said, it's good bad TV, and the hostess is pretty hot.

Anyway, I totally pulled a Mark (pulled a me?) yesterday, doing something that only I could manage to do: I forgot to go to work. I didn't sleep very well the night before (or last night, either) and I slept in way too late. By the time I'd gotten up and showered and dressed and was eating, it was 3:20. Nicolle from work called and asked me why I was late, to which I responded “Uh? I'll be there in 30 minutes!!!!” (with all four exclamation points and everything). It actually took more like forty, but it all worked out in the end (I just skipped my lunch break). I still have no idea when I picked up that extra shift, though. Go me.

In other work news, I've successfully wrangled my way out of working the weekend of May 20th and 21st. It's pretty much official, I'm actually going to do the walk/run segment of the Bluenose Marathon. My mom is running as one of Molly's Runners (a charity event for the Molly Appeal), and I think I'll just be limping somewhere nearby. As she said in an email, “tall people only have to walk to keep up with me.” So, I hereby invite yonder folks to come and mock me mercilessly on the 21st as I try to do something physically active. Go me!

As a final note for today, I'm very into two web sites right now: Coffeefog, a pretty funny blog (see Diaries of an Incompetent Dog-sitter for a good example), and Edge, a weird, science-y site that's good to read late at night when bored. And...cut.

• Written on 10 May 2005 & posted at 01:14 PM.
• There are 13 comments.
• Permalink.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Wow, isn't that annoying? Imagine if the brakes in your car started making that noise non-stop. Ours did, last night. After a few months (d'oh) of having bad brakes, they finally got to the loud, annoying warning sound. Needless to say, the first thing I did today was take it up to Canadian Tire. I just hope it doesn't cost a million dollars to fix.

Actually, they just called me. It's going to cost a million dollars to fix. I am definitely not pleased at the moment. Must finish this later.

... Eight hours later, give or take ...

Okay, so things were very expensive. The previous “million dollars” quote ended up being $120 lower than the final number. Cars are so freaking expensive. Anyway, at least our car can now stop on a dime. Speaking of which, a story. When I was a kid, I had my Nintendo, and I loved it. I also had a Game Genie, which offered me all kinds of interesting opportunities to cheat. When Super Mario Bros. 3 came out, I anxiously got a copy of GamePro to see the latest cheat codes for it. One of them was called “Stop on a dime”. Try as I might, I could never figure out what it did. As far as I could tell, all of the coins were worth the same. Maybe the blue coins that appeared after you jumped on a P-block counted as dimes, I thought — they didn't. Maybe (and this is the funniest) the code made you come to a screeching halt every 10th coin you collected — it didn't. After a bit of me struggling, my mom came in and asked what I was doing. When I told her I was trying to figure out what “stop on a dime” meant, she told me. At this point, I noticed that Mario stopped as soon as I let go of the direction pad, instead of skidding to a halt.

The moral of this story is that seven year olds are idiots. And cars are expensive.

• Written on 06 May 2005 & posted at 12:18 AM.
• There are 14 comments.
• Permalink.

Hmm. After a weekend of absolutely terrible weather, it seems like it's actually pretty nice outside today. As you can imagine, this means that our insane cat is going...insane. It's really annoying: he's following me around the house and howling at a fairly regular interval (around five seconds). I feel sort of, well, jet-lagged. As time goes on, working backshifts seems to be more and more disruptive to my sleeping schedule. I went to be at 12:30 last night and didn't fall asleep until after six. It really sucks.

After a few hours of non-sleep, I got up and started programming. This isn't normally something I do when I can't sleep, but it kept me amused. I took that PHP command-line shell that I wrote a few weeks ago in C# and rewrote it using PHP. This is better, not only because it seems more appropriate, but because it's now platform-independent (it runs as a shell script on *nix) and easier to modify. I'm planning on releasing it on here pretty soon.

Anyway, it's May 2nd, which means that taxes are due, and therefore, Mom and I are doing are taxes tonight. We're not just procrastinators, we're professionals. It's absolutely fantastic. Last year was even better, though, since we waited until August to do them. That being said, there's sort of a nice finesse to doing it on the last possible day instead of three months later. It's a judgement call, I guess.

I've got Red Delicious songs in my head. Isn't that strange? Does anyone else even remember Red Delicious? I really miss finding cool music on MP3.com. Stupid sell-outs.

• Written on 02 May 2005 & posted at 01:28 PM.
• There are 28 comments.
• Permalink.