Palmer's World

Last night, Eric dropped by to watch the uncut version of American Psycho. I love the satire in this movie and I think Eric enjoyed it also. The ending gets a little wonky but whatever. Christian Bale is the man.

Anyhow, I was commenting on how the stero seemed all wonky (as in the vocals were coming through the rear channels) and so we toyed around with the entire setup for a good 45 minutes.

The ultimate test was when I popped in All That Could Have Been - NIN Live. But the DTS didn't work at all! That took awhile to figure out but as soon as it was discovered we sat their in bliss at the sound. I really can say that I feel that I'm at the concert while watching this thing. Amazing.

I am now pumped to see NIN with Matt in a few weekends. Hopefully we can exchange our tickets to get floor seats.

Thanks to Eric for making my audio experience life changing.

Now when I say it was the best party ever, I am excluding the Trilogy of New Year's Parties I used to have. Those were the best parties.

But in second place, Duncan's WICKED Hallowe'en party this past Saturday.

What can I say? I think my costume was a BIG hit. I felt like the Paparazzi was upon me when entering the event. I felt like Santa Claus (pose for a picture!).

Speaking of pictures, I've reached my monthly upload limit of 2GB on flickr.com so I won't have access until tomorrow. So I'll put up the Hallowe'en photos then. There were AMAZING costumes all around (except for that dude in a pink towel. What was up with that?)

Speaking of pictures, I've come to realize that there are a billion digicams out there being used, but not an easy way of sharing them. Granted, there's the great software package Picasa (coupled with Hello) by Google, but it only works if you are online with someone chatting. I'd like to put up all the pics from Saturday night on flickr so if you can somehow get them to me, that would be swell. So far, I have Vero and Joe's pics to put up. From my last count, I think Matt, Larisa and Mel had a digicam going on.

What can I say about Hallowe'en? I thought my costume went over well and it wasn't cumbersome. It was surreal to be looking out of two little holes all night long though. I felt that my brain didn't realize there was a giant party going on...I just remember talking to individuals. Even if I was talking to Carrie and there were people around, I could only remember Carrie because I could only see her.

Highlights of the night:

• Christina losing her fellow friends in a cab. I believe they found the place 30 minutes later
• Showing Matt and the Pink Panthress his old room
• Seeing Vero scared of me all night because of the crazy face I had on
• Watching Bruce Campbell slay some Deadites
• Holly
• Dickus Maximum (call him Richard) calling upon the power of Zeus
• Captain Campus Card (until I found out he had that costume from work!)
• Taking a shot with a straw
• The dude at Tim Horton's giving me the devil sign

Duncan, mad props goes to you for that wicked party! Did anyone happen to find the following items at the party:

• A shower cap (with a T-Shirt inside)
• A wallet full of $100s. That's definitely mine.

I also have a pink feather boa if anyone wants to claim it.

What's this? Rambo IV is starting filming in the spring?

Rocky VI is following in December of '06.

Sly, where have you been?

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php?id=11748

iplaying: A little CCR boys. Run through the jungle...

6/49: I've had this strange vibe after being overly lucky in the past week. Vero bought a ticket for the 6/49 and I took a look at it. The freakiest thing had occured...she had grabbed a Quick Pick and 5 of the 6 numbers were numbers I used to play. Seriously. What's the significance of that? Is this a sign? Even if we don't win the lottery, that's a pretty freaky coincidence. Also, I went to buy 10 numbers but the attendant misheard and gave me $10 worth instead. Is this a sign? I didn't bother buying my original ten. I think that when people invest their thoughts into winning the lottery, they become superstitious.

high suspect:I received a letter from Nanny yesterday talking about her trip to Greece. Upon arriving at the Pearson Airport in Toronto, they were informed that they were both a 'high risk' and that they would need clearance from the airport manager.

I want to give Pearson a call and ask them since when are two 80 year olds are high suspect on an airflight. They found it very strange as well as I. If you want me to paint a picture...can you imagine your grandmother being a terrorist?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I don't subscribe to ANY cable TV, I'm supposed to get public access channels, correct? I do have Global and CityTV and others, but where is CBC? I missed the Trudeau documentary this past Sunday because of it! Should I be calling Rogers complaining that I'm not getting my public access TV? Is CBC public access? As far as I knew it was. Someone show me the way. I need my P.E.T.!

playinginthepod: All of My Chemical Romance. I am digging this band.

Yesterday I got a great joke in my email from a colleague. Then I was talking to Patricia and she said she got the same joke, but from a different source. I have thought about these occurences more and more with the advent of email. I believe that we are connected closer than we think.

My theory: That we are connected via the Internet in within six degrees of someone.
My findings so far: Many times have I received the same joke from two different sources that I don't feel are connected (other than knowing myself). So where does the connection between them lie?
My experiment: I want to develop some kind of email to go out and see if it comes back to me. For example, I would send it out to all my contacts. It would have my information on it. It would ask that if you know me AND you didn't get this email from me personally, to send it back to me, and send it out to everyone you know. I haven't ironed out the details of what could be flawed with this logic (and of course, the lack of willing participants to forward on this email for this silly little experiment). I would assume that in the second degree, I woudl receive many emails. Such as friends and family members that have met me but I don't have their email information. What would be interesting is once it gets past the third degree. I want to see how far of a connection can be linked to me. Come full circle.

On a side note, I have a great story from Christiane. Christiane appeared in a news segment when she was a child. They were just interviewing random kids about some topic. So, one day this video comes out of the closet for the family to watch as well as her new husband (or husband to be...I can't recall when this story actually takes place.) So they are watching this video and lo and behold, Christiane appears and everyone has a good laugh. They keep watching and all of sudden Christiane's husband says "Hey! That's me on the video!". Sure enough, he also appeared on the video on a separate interview at the same event. Please note that Christiane and him did not meet until quite a while later than when they were elementary school. They did not even go to the same school. This event was something going on that all the Ottawa area elementary schools visited. Bizarre.

So they bring the video to Christiane's sisters place to show her and they are thinking this is the craziest thing ever. Until Christiane's sister's husband walks into the room and says "Hey, that's me on the video!". Sure enough, he pops out of nowhere, makes a funny face on the camera and walks on.

Three totally unrelated chidren living 50 kms away from each other, going to separate elementary schools, attend an event and all end up on a news segment...later on in life, they are all connected.

Whoa.

update: This post was split into shorter posts so the comments may refer to some wonkiness.

When I first moved into the new house, I noticed that there are a slew of rabbits around the area. At first I thought they were the neighbour's, but it turns out that they have migrated here from the field which has now become home of a mini-mall.

At first, I was not impressed with these rabbits, especially considering one had managed to burrow its way underneath one of the patio stones in the walkway.

All jokes aside about letting it grow bigger and having some wabbit stew, I never noticed the rabbit for a few months.

I get out of my car after a grueling mid-term tonight in Communications class (Boo!) and lo and behold, a white rabbit munching on something two feet away from me, shivering because the temperature is dropping fast (heard it's going to snow tomorrow. Oh joy.). I can't help feel bad for this rabbit! What do rabbits do in the winter? Do they hibernate? Is there a humane society for rabbits that I can deliver this one to? Someone help me! I am starting to feel guilty and now the thoughts are pushing towards having a haven in my garage for these creatures of the woods. This is five minutes after exiting my vehicle...I bet when I read this tomorrow I'll be thinking "What the heck man? It's only a freakin' rabbit."

nowplaying: You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison by My Chemical Romance. So far, MCR is decent. Mike suggested I get into them. They are coming to Ottawa soon. If I like what I hear, maybe I'll go to the show. I also read on Netphoria that they are comparable to my most beloved band in the world. So far, I don't think so, but it's not bad either.

What's going on in my iPod right now?

U2.

It's all about U2.

I'm slowly getting excited. I brought myself up from disappoitment months ago when I wasn't able to get tickets to the show.

Now I'm slowly creeping back up.

Tonight: Have a mid-term in my Intro to Mass Communications class. How do I feel about that? Well, it's multiple choice/true/false questions. Normally that is fine, but I am not a fan of memorizing dates and places and people's name. "What year was television first introduced in Canada?" "Who sent the first radio broadcast?"

I am hoping that the teacher doesn't dwell on names and dates, but more on the principles taught in the course. So far, he is a pretty kick ass professor. Best I've ever had. He's even realizes that we won't retain much from his class, but he feels that if we remember ONE THING that he taught for the rest of our lives, it's worth it. I agree.

nowplaying: Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2

So I forgot to add my favourite part about Saturday night at Patty Boland's. As soon as I walk through the door I stumble into my good friend Krista leaving the place. She has this incredulous look on her face of "What the heck is going on here?!"

I talked to her on Monday and we all had a good laugh about my great outfit on Saturday night.

I'm sending out a thanks to Krista since she has done two cool things in the past while for me:

• Helped me with my constant painting questions. If anyone needs any help with their interior decorating, Krista is the person to help you. She's a virtuoso!
• Having a killer party at her place a few weeks ago. Sadly enough, this was the night after the Collective Soul concert so I was still feeling pretty rough. Anyhow, there was some great nacho dip being made (I'm assuming by her) that I shall have to steal the recipe for. Granted, I won't even bother making it, but it's good to have in case I break down and having the craving for it. I must admit that I was shocked to see Krista's pad seem so...NORMAL! Here she's going on about interior decorating and whatnot so I'm thinking I will be walking into the most eclectic living space in the world, but no. The walls are white. Krista, what are you waiting for?
• Hey, I know you read this blog, where are the pictures from that night?

I'm thinking I should have more of these posts where I talk about friends and family so they can say "Hey! I made it onto the blog!"

In other news, I'm looking into this whole $40 M prize for the 6/49 draw on Wednesday.

Would $40 M ruin my life? I'll let you know. ;-)

update: Alright, so I noticed James' comment asking how the money would ruin one's life. I'm not denying that I would have a kickass life afterwards, but it's where you get into the whole "Do I give money to my friends?" issue. If I had a wad of cash to spend, I would most likely want to give a little back to my friends...pay off their house, buy them an island, whatever. But once you go down that route, it's all or nothing. You either figure out EVERY SINGLE PERSON that would be offended if they didn't get some cash coming their way, or else you don't bother so you don't piss off anyone.

Example: I pay off James' house. But not Matt's.
Well, Matt is now pissed. Matt will question what kind of friend I am to him. Chances are, that would strain our friendship.
Maybe I'm overanalyzing this a whole lot. Let's be honest...I would have a few years to think about this problem while I am on an island somewhere playing old Sierra computer games. Hello Daventry!

Am I ever glad that I'm living in Ottawa and not Pittsburgh - soon to be Zombie Haven.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/41676

Also, if you're in Toronto, check this out!
http://www.torontozombiewalk.com/

Links graciously taken from The Wolfshack.

Monday morning. Studying for a mid-term. My throat is itchy on the bus. Can the day start off any worse?

Get to work. My cell phone rings. There's only one reason why it would do that in the morning.

Joelle: CALL BOBFM! WE JUST WON THE U2 TICKETS! I'M RUNNING RIGHT NOW!!!
Translation: I can only imagine that Joelle was either on her way to work to get to a phone, or on duty (she works as a teacher).
Joelle entered into a contest to the local radio station, BobFM so that we can win U2 tickets. Supply the radio station with two names and then once a day they will call out those two names. If the two people call within 9 minutes, they win tickets to see U2 at the Corel Centre as well as a pre-party called the Bono-Bash with free drinks and food. Also, on Friday, they were giving these tickets out every hour from 8 until 6 in which Trish GRACIOUSLY accepted the duty of listening to the radio all day long in case my name was called. I was in a meeting for most of the morning and was unable to listen to BobFM. Let it be stated here for her valiant efforts, she shall be rewarded with a supper at St. Hubert's.

Background: U2 is coming to town. I was on Ticketmaster at 10:00 AM the day of the sale. Three hours later, never got through the system and never got tickets. I was not impressed.

Back to the Present:
I call BobFM. I'm so frantic that I misdial the number 4 times. Take a breath dude.
BobFM: Good morning, BobFM!
Me: Hi, this is Palmer calling in for the U2 contest.
BFM: What's your phone number?
Me: 555-5555 (for all the Internet folk reading this blog)
BFM: Hold on.

(listening)
BFM: Alright, we have someone on the line for the U2 contest. Joelle are you there?
Joelle: Yes! I'm so excited!
BFM: Great. So we're still waiting to hear from Palmer. Do you know where he is?
Joelle: No, I just called him. Maybe he's on his cellphone?
BFM: Maybe it dropped the connection or something.
Me: WHAT THE HECK MAN!? I AM RIGHT HERE! HELLO, CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?!

At this moment I grab the other phone to call in, maybe they don't know that I'm on the line.
Turns out they were just fooling around with Joelle.
BFM: Hey look who it is! Palmer!
Me: Hey, how's it going?

All the ramblings of congrats go on about this and they ask what our fave U2 songs are where I'm totally drawing a blank and say 'Elevation' which is a crappy tune, but oh well, what can I do? I'm on edge here. For the record, Streets is the best song ever.

So there you have it. On November 25th, Joelle and I are hitting up a pre-party with food and drinks, and then watching the U2 CONCERT!!!! I AM PUMPED!

A weekend recap for those interested in what I actually do with my free time, and not just interested in my random rants du jour.

Friday: Went to Barrymore's with Mike and Joe to see Comfortably Numb - Canada's own Pink Floyd cover band. They played The Wall in its entirety, as well as a retrospective of other delights from Dark Side of the Moon, Division Bell, and classic cuts. I was very impressed with them. If you shut your eyes, it was like being in the room with Floyd. I belive I read they are actually endorsed by Floyd as one of the premiere cover bands out there. I figured out that they played for 3 1/2 hours. Insane.

Saturday: Roamed around town with Joe which brought us to Cam Kong eventually (I can see Holly exclaiming "Cam Kong!? Where was I?) and then we ended up at Rob's place for dinner. We worked on my Hallowe'en costume which worked out fine. For the people whom haven't heard what I'll be dressing as, I may as well keep it a secret until next Saturday when we hit up Duncan's place for the big party.

Went to Melissa's for Mike's birthday which was a great time full of jello shooters and good eats. Unfortunately, we had to leave to go to another birthday party. Vero's friend Chantelle was having people over and then heading out to Patty Boland's.

What can I say about this party we went to? Vero told me that everyone had to dress up in 80s/90s clothing. Considering all my clothes are still from the 90s, I figured 'No Problem!' and wore a nice AC/DC t-shirt. However, Vero had other plans. As you can tell from the picture, I was decked out in a nice Bahamas muscle shirt along with sweat bands and some leggings (not seen in the picture unfortunately). Vero is lucky for the following reasons:

• I'm a good sport
• I'm a little crazy
• I had quite a bit of alcohol in my system at this point

We arrive at Chantelle's party to find no one else has dressed up, not even the hostess. Ah well, not a big deal. I'm in no mood to go change. The highlight of the night was when they wanted to take a swing at a pinata (sp?) and Chantelle's brother takes a stick in full swing (we're talking with all the force in the world) and misses the pinata but clocks Chantelle right in the kisser. Beautiful. In my life, I have never seen an event such as this. She turned out alright and only had a bloody nose.

Went to Patty Boland's with Vero and we managed to skip the lineup since we were decked out in these great costumes of ours. However, once we got inside, someone passed us the message that the rest of the gang has decided to go back home and watch a movie. We decide to stay and rock out for the rest of the night. The common 'Happy Hallowe'en' phrase was used when people commented on our outfits in which they responded "Hallowe'en is next week" in which I would reply "Good one buddy. Do you really think we would be dressed like this if it wasn't Hallowe'en?".

Quite the crazy night. I highly recommend everyone dresses up for Hallowe'en on a random day and see what people say.

Guess who just won a trip package to go see an exclusive show in Toronto?!

Awww yeah! On November 6, I'll be taking a bus down to Toronto along with Vero, catching a show of Our Lady Peace at Massey Hall and staying at the Bond Hotel! I'm so pumped! Our Lady Peace haven't even toured Canada yet in support of their new album.

AWESOME.

I can't believe my luck with OLP in the past...so far, I've got to see them at a soundcheck thanks to Amanda, do a concert review for the official website (which included tix to the show) and I believe I may have won tix to another show that I remember.

AWESOME!

I picked up the new album from Default the other week. Default is one of those bands that aren't on the top of my list, but don't piss me off either.

However, I've found through the years that I tend to like it when a band changes their style from time to time. Their second album 'Elocation' was more of the same. I thought that maybe the third one would be different. Nope. More of the same.

Is more of the same a bad thing? Let's take AC/DC for example. They've spent years and years and years figuring their ULTIMATE RAWK FORMULA and now that they've found it, they stick to it. Is this a bad thing? Depends on who you ask. On one hand, if people like adventure movies, they'll keep watching adventure movies. So, if I like the AC/DC formula, I'll keep buying their albums. Will I say that they are revolutionary and "YOU HAVE TO GET THIS ALBUM!!!" to everyone I see? Probably not. So, as long as Default sticks to their formula and doesn't release a shitty album, I'll keep buying. The only band I ever stopped buying albums from were the Cranberries. After their album "Bury The Hatchet" I realized it was a message to me to stop buying their music because that album was really really REALLY bad.

Miscellneous Ramblings/Updates/Questions:
- watched 'What The Bleep Do We Know?' at Ben's last night. Decent documentary on how humans and interactions and reality, and basically...quantum physics.
- My friend is in search of a Pumpkin costume. To not ruin the surprise, I won't let you know who is looking for it. Let me know if you have one.
- Any takers on that iPod Photo I'm selling? It's a steal baby. Christmas is coming up. Buy your loved one something.
- Leave some comments if you would like! I tend to check out James/Ferda's blog as well as Matt's every day and we leave each other our own little community notes. You should check out their blogs because they give you a snapshot of their (exciting?) lives.
- School is going well. I handed in my first essay a few weeks ago so if it comes back with a fail grade, I'm dropping out now! I can't hack it! ;-)

From ChartAttack

"Well, more accurately, it appears Jeff Martin is calling it quits. According to a statement, Martin is working on finishing a solo record and will tour in support of the finished product. The singer is ready to shift his focus to himself."

I must admit I'm a saddened by this news. I've followed The Tea Party ever since Edges of Twilight.

The article makes it sound like Jeff Martin is going to just do his own thing...maybe there is hope that The Tea Party will come back together eventually (and not end up like David Usher and Moist).

Picture Yourself...leaving work. Walking down the escalator. Your music in your ears. Then you see some people start to run. You know what it means. There's a bus about to leave!

I squint my eyes to see what number bus is leaving. Yep, it's the 27. The one I want after a hard day of work. I take a couple steps down the escalator but then realize it is futile.

But something stirs in me. It's the music. What's the ONE SONG in the universe that can move a man to do more than he thinks he can?

Eye of the Tiger. Coming from my iPod magically.

I start to sprint. I run. I dodge people left and right with my goal in sight. Then the guitars come into the song.

DUHN. DUHN DUHN DUHN.

I make it to the bus. I DID IT!

I laugh at myself at the absurdity of it all, but in my mind I can only envision one person.

Paul Duffy doing pushups every time he hears this song. Whether it's at a wedding, a dance, a funeral. He will do the pushups.

I never had respect for Paul Duffy. Until now.

Me: Hello?
Them: Hi, is Mrs. X there? (Mrs. X is the person who sat here before I moved two weeks ago.)
Me: No, she moved offices. I can give you her new number if you would like.
Them: Yeah, sure. Do you have her new number?
Me: Yes I do. Are you ready for it?
Them: Yes.
Me: 555-
Them: Wait, hold on, I need a pen.

Why is it that when people say they are ready to absorb a simple 7 digit number, they aren't really and as soon as you ramble off three numbers they freak out and think "Dang, I gotta get a pen."

Let's be honest...I know I'm not smart enough to remember a phone number so I write it down. However, I bet if someone offered me some cash to remember a number, it would be engrained into my memory like Hurley from Lost.

This picture of Dean Roland goes out to the ladies who were swooning over him on Friday night.

Collective Soul concert...what can I say? I missed out when they were in town this past year because I was in Europe. Very pumped to see them again.

The event was a win-to-get-in-and-rock-your-heart-out event in which Vero scored tickets to. Awwww yeah! You're the best babe!

Inside the Ottawa U Rec Complex, they had the place set up for free massages, free beer, free candy, free CONCERT! It was wild. Boy opened up for CSoul which was great. They have a few rocking tunes and the singer reminded me of Mick Jagger.

CSoul was amazing. Odd to see Ed Roland have a music stand with lyrics on it. The memory must be slipping on him. All in all, I got to hear all the songs I wanted to hear, along with an emphasis of stuff from Youth. Two devil hands up on this concert.

Songs Played That I Can Remember:

• Shine (of course)
• Better Now
• Precious Declaration
• Home
• How Do You Love?
• Counting The Days
• Under Heaven's Skies (currently my fave CSoul song)
• Heavy
• Run
• Compliment
• Why Pt. 2
• Gel
• The World I Know
• December
  

Sometimes I wonder if I'm actually in a sitcom involving office antics. An example: Friday, I was off due to the exam so I had asked a co-worker to get a room reservation contract signed and faxed over. Come Monday morning, I get a phone call from the Holiday Inn saying they received one contract signed, but not another one. Strange. Alright, I'll just go ask my colleague about it. Ooops...she's sick. So I ask a few people to get to the bottom of it.

In the meantime, I'm working on something else and lo and behold, someone walks by and passes me a contract they found at the fax machine. Hey, it's the missing contract! Why is it our fax machine and not the one at Holiday Inn?

That's right, someone here faxed it to a machine which was 10 meters away.

Classic. I'm having a good laugh right now and I'm sure they will too when they get back tomorrow.

update: I'm not allowed to laugh at this anymore. I did the exact same thing yesterday.

what'splayingrightnow: Ladylike - Big Wreck. I found a SLEW of miscellaneous MP3s that I never bothered throwing onto the iPod. With a lot of downtime this weekend, I managed to throw them all onto it. I'm a music machine right now.

I have one more written exam this afternoon for a PM-04 competition. Hopefully I fly through this one. You know when you get to that point where you pretty well think you know all the material, but you just don't really know? Then you start doubting yourself?

That's the point I'm at. I sitting here looking at my notes and thinking "Yep, I know this." I even write out everything in my memory and double check it. Even though I know 100% of what I'm studying, it still may be the wrong things to study.

Handed in my first essay to the University of Ottawa yesterday. You may see me drop out if I end up failing the first essay. If I can't pass the first essay, there's no way the rest will get better! ;-)

Good vibes go out to Vero this weekend as she sadly found out that the 15 page essay that she thought had to be double spaced actually has to be single spaced. Ouch. That's doubles her workload out of left field.

Veronique needed a book today for her class and we had to resort to the public library. I can't say I have been there much in my life, but I've realized what a magical place it is.

Don't get me wrong...I'm not going to be some library geek spending countless hours there. But they have EVERYTHING there.

You want CDs? Done. Free CDs. To borrow. To burn. To steal.
You want DVDs? Done. I even saw the third season of Trailer Park Boys there. At the LIBRARY! Come on!
Did I mention all the books and magazines?

Anyhow, the rules are as follows:
You can take 10 CDs, 10 DVDs, 10 Audiobooks and as many books as you can carry out at a time.

The RIAA is looking for the suppliers of music downloads? Feast your eyes on a municipally funded establishment.

Amazing. Right under my nose all this time. Let's just say that instead of going to Blockbuster to find the hot new release, I'm going to walk down to the library and check out a no-so-new release. There's tons of movies that I haven't seen.

I am selling my iPod with 1 1/2 years left on the warranty. I can transfer the warranty into your name. Warranty is pretty good. Full iPod replacement if they find something wrong with it...also a battery replacement if it doesn't hold its charge anymore.

It is:

• iPod Photo
• 60 GB (to give you an idea, I put my collection of 200 CDs on it and it still had 20GB left)
• No engraving on the back

Make me an offer.

Say goodbye to my little friend. Last month's cell phone bill - $90. What the heck? Better watch my minutes. This month's cell phone bill - $118. Time to ditch this thing. Sure, the cell phone is convenient, but so is having a little cash in your pocket going jing-a-ling-a-awwww yeah got enough to buy a new CD.

I supose I'll keep the cell phone in hopes that I can use a pay as you go. Probably the smarter move, but will it cost more in the end? I suppose if I only use my cell phone in DIRE EMERGENCIES (aka, running late getting to the girlfriend's) I can swing it, but can a man with a cell phone for 2 years deal with going backwards in technology? Yikes!

Kudos to Melissa and Mike for hosting a wicked Thanksgiving potluck yesterday. I'm turkeyed out. Seriously. I wanted to eat more and more and more, but the stomach had to call it quits. Dang. There's always Christmas.

whathaveibeenwatchinglately: Lost! Lost is getting very cool. Alias...not so much. Alias has gone from my fave tv show to "Man, I have to waste my time with this because I've put some time and effort into watching the show this far." In its defense, I felt this way both at the beginning of Season 3 & 4 and was pleasantly surprised at the end of the season.

So far, so good in terms of blogging. I find I enjoy it so far and I am not losing interest. Here's some reasons that I feel blogging is great:

- I feel connected to you all. I'm not talking about the random people who stumble upon my Blog and don't even know who I am. I'm talking about the family and friends I have reading this every day to see what the heck I'm up to. In a strange way, I feel that the more connected the world makes us (technological wonders) the more disconnected we become. E-Mail is light years ahead of the postal service...Instant Messenging has become the written form of the telephone. I feel that I don't put enough effort into sending a quick email to people to give them an update on my life. If I choose to do so, I end up writing 1000s of words that intimidate the reader. They're thinking "Oh man, I have to respond to that?!". Forget it.
- I feel I have great stories. I feel that whenever an event happens in my life, I like to add flavour to it and perhaps embellish a little on the details. I make the events in my life grand! So I love the fact that this blog can be a document of my life. A snapshot of what is going through my head at the time and what is happening...in essence this may have become the extension of my Eurotrip 2005 journals that I kept while on the road. In my journals I not only wrote about what I was doing, but what I was feeling at the moment, or what music I was listening to. It gave me a perfect collection of the surroundings so I can remember exactly what I was doing at the time. I feel like the blog has become the new Doogie Howser M.Dium of having a diary. It's great. Granted, no one in their right mind actually airs out their thoughts on work, friends, or other drama-creating machines that are in their life in fear of having inner thoughts becoming public. Imagine if someone wrote how they hated their boss and then one of their co-workers sent the link to them? Sweet Hammer of Thor!
- Vero pointed out in some research on blogs that people feel a bit of fame. They love it when they hear about a certain post on your blog, or if people leave comments. It indicates that whatever you're doing is an event in someone else's lives.

What are the drawbacks of a blog? So far, the only thing I can see is the fact that (once again) it may make people become more and more distant. People will tune into my blog and know everything that is going on, but will they bother phoning me to talk about the exact same topics? Probably not. Let's be honest...I'm not the best for returning phone calls to begin with. (By the way Duncan, I'm not bringing Smashing Pumpkin pie to the potluck on Monday, so you can go ahead.) However, at the same time, it hasn't been too bad. I learn about what others are doing and I can either leave a comment or send them an email asking them more about how they wired their stereo, or how they are making out with Lavalife.

I'm thankful for all of you in my life and now I feel a little more connected to you. It feels like I'm sending out a mass email to all my family and friends to let them know what's going on in my head. Sometimes that's all a person needs to know...how their friend is doing.

This post goes out to Carol whom I made a deal with to call every 22nd of the month since we felt that we drifted apart. I'll admit that I haven't done so in the past few months due to the purchase of the house and moving in and whatnot. The 22nd of October is a Saturday. Sweet. I'll be calling you then Carol.

Happy Thanksgiving tout le monde. Eat a lot of turkey and have a drink.

Looks like I am not the only one pissed off at Sony/EMI

http://www.chartattack.com/damn/2005/10/0602.cfm

The time...April 12
The place...Paris France
The parking job...how the heck is this guy going to get out?

This is actually how people park in Paris. Philipp was telling me how bumpers are really used in Paris. They need to be if you think you're going to get out of your parking spot!

I started going through some old stuff of mine last night along with Vero. Mom and Dad said that some of it was quite funny.

Well, the side-splitting moment came when we looked at my report card from Kindergarten and it stated that I had trouble with the balance beam and walking backwards.

Walking backwards? I never knew that this was part of the curriculum. What would happen if I ended up failing this portion of the class? Imagine if they tested you on how you skated! Good Lord, I would still be in Kindergarten to this day.

Hey, maybe this whole walking backwards thing has to do with my lack of athletic ability...

We had a great laugh at this comment and we decided to save the other Grades for later. We had our fill for one night.

In other news, am writing that exam in a few hours for the PM-03 Permanent position. Let's see how that goes. I heard they have set us up with computers this time around which is great. Who writes by hand anymore?

whatwasIlisteningtothismorninginthecar: New Nickelback album. Pick this album up. It's solid. Better than the past two albums and I really enjoyed the last one.

Not willing to give in and waste my time with EMI to listen my new CD (oh I will be contacting them...) on my iPod, I found a great program called isobuster which allows you to take a look at all the data on a CD, not just the files that Windows Explorer allows you to.

whatI'mlisteningtorightnow: The Entire New Album of Nickelback. Awww yeah.

I must admit I'm a little bummed right now since my dad left this morning. He has been here for the past five days which was great. I never really get a chance to hang out with my family like that anymore since we live so far away from each other. I'm sending some great thanks out to him for helping me out with the house over the past week. I would probably be working on the house until April 2007 if he didn't come by. It's a shame that I couldn't spend more time with him during the day but some of us have to work and the vacation days are dwindling due to EuroTrip 2005. Hey, speaking of which, I finally managed to cut all photos down from 2200 photos to 1000 photos from my 5 week jaunt in Europe. I'm planning to start uploading them to the Internet soon so I'll let you know when that's done.

Next Up: Study for that PM-03 written exam on Thursday. Yikes! Essay due next Thursday in which I inconveniently (conveniently?) misplaced the list of topics to write about...and I have another written exam for a PM-04 position next week. Good thing the weekend is approaching. Oh yes, and I must not forget to boycott EMI.

So I just dropped by HMV to pick up the new Nickelback album and the dude at the counter says "Hey have you listened to Theory of a Deadman before?" I'm thinking "This guy is sharp. He knows that Theory of a Deadman are on Chad Kroeger's record label.

Me: "Yeah, they're really great. Their last album is probably my favourite of the year."
Dude: "Oh really. Yeah I really like them. How about Nickelback? Are they any good?"
Me (not believing what I'm hearing): "Uh what?"
Dude: "Yeah, I don't have any radio or anything so I don't really know the new hit songs or anything."
Me (with an incredulous look on my face): "Well, you should listen to them. They are top notch and you'll like them if you like Theory."

With that I walked out and asked myself the following questions:

1. Who hasn't heard of Nickelback? I mean...they have had the #1 selling single in North America (if not the world...where's my Communications book? I just read that stat yesterday) with "How You Remind Me"
2. What's this guy working in a music store if a) He doesn't listen to much music due to lack of a radio and b) He hasn't heard of Nickelback. Wouldn't that be one of the weeding out questions during the interview? "Who wrote some rocking tunes and evoke the devil sign spirit in us at a concert? Oh, and their albums all sound the same. "Uh...AC/DC?" Man alive! This guy shouldn't working at the record store. Well...at the very least he will be around a lot of music now. Maybe that's why he took the job.


Update: If you use iTunes/iPod to carry around your music and listen to it, don't bother buying this disc. They have copy protection on it that prevents you from copying to iTunes. You will hear more from me as I will write a nice letter to EMI stating how they are screwing over fans who actually pay for the music. I suppose I should write to the band themself...but when does that ever work? The sad thing is that I doubt HMV will let me return the disc as soon as I have opened it. You can thank CD Burners for that policy. Granted, I am not against the policy. I'm just ticked that I can't do whatever the heck I want with the music I've purchased. I'm pissed.

whatisnotplayinginmyfreakingipodrightnow: All the Right Reasons by Nickelback (should be labelled All the WRONG Reasons IMHO)

Lucas asked for some Guitar tablature sites I like to visit so I threw one up on the right hand side link section. He gave me a good idea that I should actually save a slew of tabs to the website so that if I'm on the road away from my lyrics, I can just pop onto the website and download the tabs I'm into. Mike and I have a GMail account set up for that sort of thing (along with some friendly highly legal MP3 trading so that we can learn each others songs). Lucas, your wish will soon come true...a full encyclopedia of Guitar Tabs pour toi. For now, check out the link I provided...it's my fave site to check out.

iPlayingrightnowinmyears: Santa Monica by Theory of a Deadman

Weekend Recap: Dad showed up on Friday and we had a fish fry with Lynn, Sue, Mike, Vero and I. Man, that was a good feed.

Saturday, Maureen showed up via the bus and we toured the city buying various things for the house. Danny and Rebecca showed up at night to visit.

Sunday, Véro, Dad and myself went on a tour to the Antrim Flea Market (formerly of Stittsville fame). I was very impressed by it however I left a comic I bought on someone else's table. I picked up a few CDs also. You cannot go wrong with used CD purchases nowadays...they are mostly from the 90s which is my favourite era of music. My cousin Shawn was talking about how the most influential music of your life is between the ages of 13 and 19 which kind of makes sense. Years ago I remember just sitting listening to the music, staring at the lyrics and memorizing every song. Now, if a new album of someone comes out (like Our Lady Peace), I listen to the album, realize it kicks ass, but don't sit myself down for hours and hours absorbing it. This brings back a memory of when I first moved to Ottawa and Bert was talking about how some of his favourite albums are the ones he didn't like at first. He had to learn to appreciate them. I agree with this wholeheartedly.

Conversation at the Antrim Flea Market:
Lemon-Stand Dude: Who's Pedro?
Me: My friend down in Mexico.
Lemon-Stand Dude: What's he running for?
Me: President.

Blogger Problems: Uh oh...something happening in Bloggerland has prevented me to put up this update right away. Is my miracle solution wearing thin already...