ShinyPlasticBag

Today is a significant day! It is, you see, the 13th anniversary of the introduction of Depo Provara, and the 36th anniversary of the first computer-to-computer link on the ARPANET. It marks 17 years since the Sega Megadrive was introduced in Japan, and 76 years since the stock market crashed and started the Great Depression.

Of course, it's also Janet and Katie's birthday. Out of everyone I know, I think they hold the record for birthday with the most significant historical events attached to it. Anyhoo, they're 23 today, so wish them happy birthday. I'm afraid to report that no matter what you do, you'll never be able to get a gift nearly as cool as what I got Janet: it's a toy from the “Pyrates” line, called Mutiny Isle. It's sort of the same vein as the Mighty Max line of toys from our youth, but crossed with LEGO. A piratey skull opens up and has all kinds of fun piratey things inside, like a shark and a cannon that really shoots. It's easily the coolest toy of recent history.

Anyway, there was a gathering of like minds last night to celebrate early, tonight having already been earmarked for a Halloween party (my costume will be “Awesome Computer Geek”). On that note, I should go get ready. Since it's a weekend, I'm pretty out of sync with time and therefore not nearly as alert as one should be at 4:30 in the afternoon.

• Written on 29 October 2005 & posted at 04:29 PM.
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What the heck? I just came to see if anyone had commented on the item I posted last night and, um, it's not here. It's not anywhere in the database! I swear, I wrote a nice long rant late last night, but I have no idea what I did with it. What a bummer!
Basically, it consisted of me complaining about the horrible local media. We're currently getting hit with the remains of Hurricane Wilma and Tropical Storm Alpha, but all they have been talking about on the news is how this will stack up to Hurricane Juan. It's been two years, and that's all they can ever think about: Juan Juan Juan. This, of course, is a topic that vexes Joey to no end, since the grandstanding of local media has long been the bane of his existence. It really reminds me of the exaggerating Today show reporter that's been making the rounds lately, but not nearly so funny.

Anyway, I've got a midterm that I should be studying for. Procrastinating by writing a blog entry once is bad enough, but doing so twice (for the same entry) is too much. Ciao!

• Written on 25 October 2005 & posted at 11:26 AM.
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I very strongly believed that when I wrote today's entry, I would be proudly proclaiming victory (for the most part) over our bathroom renovations: on Monday, Joey and I got the vanity and sink and toilet installed, with new wall coverings. On Tuesday, Joey kept on working and got the shower region anchored and secured, as well as replacing the Gyproc(tm) that we smashed out while removing the old bathtub. Pleasant news indeed, since it's been two weeks since we lost use of the upstairs bathroom. However, I received a very pleasant wake-up from Mom this morning (at 6:17!): the shower had a leak and was dripping into the downstairs bathroom.

*ahem* ARG. Not pleasing news. Fortunately for us, Joey roared in to the rescue and around 10:30 we began investigating the problem. Since we had fears of poorly installed drains or leaking toilets, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the answer was ridiculous: the showerhead had not been installed tightly. After giving it a few more rotations, poof: no more drips. Bonus. While we were doing this investigation, though, we decided to finally fix the leaky faucet in the downstairs bathroom. That turned out to be a lot more work, but it's fixed now too.

So, I guess I get to proclaim victory on the bathroom after all. The only thing left is to paint up the walls and buy new doodads (or fixin's as some people call them): toothbrush holder, soap holder, toilet paper holder. I am exceedingly pleased. That being said, I think I speak for everyone involved when I say I will never fix another bathroom for the rest of my life..

• Written on 19 October 2005 & posted at 02:50 PM.
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Last night, I got to partake in the most amusing activity on the planet: watching a 3D IMAX movie. In this case, it was Magnificent Deoslation, which is Tom Hank's latest endeavour. It was pretty awesome: not only was it 3D, but Morgan Freeman did some of the voice acting. Morgan and I, we go waaay back. I am curious, however, as to why IMAX film makers seem so enamoured of remote places as topic matters. They've got movies about Mount Everest and the bottom of the ocean, the International Space Station and the moon...it's a little strange. That being said, I can't really imagine anything else (other than normal Hollywood movies) being any good.

Woot! My spicy chicken strips have just buzzed. I will return shortly. [...] D'oh. In my haste, I forgot that the chicken is only at the half-done-flip point. How unforunate.

In other news, it continues to rain here. It rained all last weekend and it looks like this one will be the same way. I'm not sure what's wrong with our weekends lately. It seems that last weekend's downpour brought fall along with it, because it's been a lot colder this past week. Late yesterday, it started raining again and hasn't stopped. Therefore, I'm also starting to think that (perhaps) the world has been submerged in a large body of water and has a leaky protective shell. It seems like the only logical way to explain things.

Anyway, the buzzer is going off again, so I should go. And don't forget to donate to Janet's Vespa fund.

• Written on 15 October 2005 & posted at 04:21 PM.
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I had a dental appointment this morning. I dutifully woke up and walked up to Cole Harbour Dental Centre for my scheduled cleaning and found out that I am, in fact, an idiot, and this was actually a cavity filling endeavour (the cleaning in my next appointment). So, there I am, mouth agape with the spit sucker and the water sprayer and the drill that makes the worst noise ever thinking “This isn't fair. I didn't have a fair chance to acclimatize myself to the prospect of that stupid drill, and oh, right, I'm paying a small fortune, too.” Of course, the whole operation only took about fifteen minutes, so I'm really just complaining for no reason. Plus, it turns out that Dalhousie actually has dental insurance this year, so I only have to pay for 30% of my bills. Woot.

Anyway, I'm now back to home and happy to see that Lost & Found is on. I never get to see the beginning of it, but it's a good movie. I am brewing coffee and attempting to trick myself into doing something productive (like do my English class readings, or calling Nova Scotia Power to get them to extract our power lines from the tree in our front yard). Also, I'm hungry, but wary of trying to eat with my mouth partially frozen. So, I should go fight all of those battles. What else is new?

• Written on 12 October 2005 & posted at 12:19 PM.
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Home improvement update: things progress, but very slowly. After two days of solid effort but in by Team Bathroom, we've got the shower mostly in (it's a three part behemoth) and the floor mostly done. Janet and I installed the new floor this evening, and the shower will be done tomorrow. After that, we've just got to pop the toilet on and install the new sink/vanity thingie. The walls have been destroyed as well, but I'm not sure if we're fixing them tomorrow or waiting for another weekend.

Everyone is pretty drained, especially Nick (who has put in a Herculean effort over the past 36 hours). I, too, am le tired, which is a little stupid since I'm pretty worthless during home improvement endeavours and basically just end up standing around and handing things to people. It's barely past 10 pm and I feel like I'm going to fall asleep as I write this.

Anyway, updates later on. Later all.

• Written on 08 October 2005 & posted at 10:11 PM.
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Ah, excitement! The great house remodelling effort has truly begun. We've got white birch hardwood floor for the living room, a new sink for the upstairs bathroom, and a new washer & dryer. This week, we'll be buying a new toilet and bathtub/shower as well, with the intent of redoing the upstairs bathroom on Friday. Can you feel the excitement? I'm looking into finding water efficient toilets that don't cost millions of dollars. So far, I'm not having much luck. Also, I just remembered that we need to find new flooring for up there too. I'm really excited — for those of you who have never seen our bathroom, it's purple. I have no idea what the previous homeowners were thinking when they selected the purple bathtub and purple toilet and purple sink, but I'm sure it was wacky.

So, as excitedly expected in my previous entry, I got my new Ray Kurzweil book. I've only read the first chapter, but I'm impressed thus far. What I love most of his writing is that he not only explains everything in great detail, but he does so in an entertaining way. For example, chapters in this book end with hypothetical chat transcripts between himself and (to name a few) Bill Gates, Ned Ludd, and Charles Darwin. It's absolutely enthralling.

Anyway, I've got to teach myself some philosophical logical deduction (joy), so I'll end this now. Later all.

• Written on 04 October 2005 & posted at 10:43 AM.
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Tonight, I went to see what may well be the best sci-fi movie of the past decade: Serenity. As a movie-fication of the interesting (yet short lived) TV series Firefly, it exceeded my expectations. It really and truly rocked, and Summer Glau is wicked hot (although I'm confused why the official site of someone from Texas ends with .co.uk) for a crazy chick.

Anyway, I'm now at work and bored, listening to a speech by Brian Eno about the Long Now Foundation, which is currently high on my list of interesting things. This is a group that has built a clock that will run for 10,000 years and is working to preserve hundreds of languages before they die out completely. Their projects are interesting and their lofty goals are pretty noble given the modern attitude on time. I'm intrigued. I bought a book about the clock called Clock of the Long Now, which should arrive sometime next week. I love Amazon.

Speaking of books, Ray Kurzweil, author of my beloved Age of Spiritual Machines, has a new book out, which I also bought, and which also should arrive sometime next week. As my school workload increases, it's a good thing that I'm importing additional things to waste my time. I, unfortunately, am an idiot.

• Written on 01 October 2005 & posted at 03:42 AM.
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