Friends
Posts related to my friends.
I am off to Calgary this morning with Jane and Andrew to visit some friends. It's amazing how many people have moved south in the last year or so! Anyway, I'll be back sometime on Sunday.
I am always on Twitter though!
Yesterday I took a trip down memory lane and revisited my old high school, McNally. I've been back a few times since graduating in 2001, but yesterday's trip had a very specific purpose - I went to congratulate my old principal, George Rice, on his retirement. I found out this was his last year a few months ago via Megan who has been teaching at McNally this year. Helps to have people on the inside ;)
I passed the news along to a few friends including Sharon who suggested we get former students to sign a card for George. As those of you with Facebook know, that project started a month ago or so. Megan arranged to have a small item added to yesterday's staff meeting, and Sharon and I took the card to present to George along with Megan and Anna (another graduate from my year who is teaching at McNally). We managed to get at least one graduate from each year since 1997 sign the card, which I thought was pretty amazing. This was his 14th year as principal at McNally, and I know there are students from each year that are grateful he was their principal.
Walking into the staff meeting was kind of neat - there are a lot of teachers there that I remember, and they clearly remembered us. Nice to see people smile when you enter the room! Megan and I said a few words, and a few of the ladies shed some tears. George smiled and thanked us, shaking my hand and giving Sharon a hug. A few stories were shared, and then we let them finish the staff meeting. We walked around the school a bit too - it looks mostly the same except for the courtyard which is beautiful! You can see pictures here.
You might think it's odd that I would be so interested in going back to see my high school principal, but I don't. I spent a lot of time in the office during my three years at McNally, for both good and bad reasons! I was heavily involved in Students Union (finishing as Co-President with Sharon), I was the student rep on School Council, and I was McNally's student rep for the Superintendent's Advisory Committee. Bad reasons include conflicts with teachers, and things I'd rather not mention ;) Needless to say, I saw a lot of Mr. Rice and developed a good relationship with him.
Generally speaking, I don't think we realize or appreciate the effect someone has had upon us until it's too late to thank them for it. I know George had a positive impact on me, always providing encouragement and leadership. I am glad I had the opportunity to thank him for it.
In case you're wondering, George isn't taking much time off! He's planning to take a short vacation and then he'll be making a bid to become a school board trustee. I wish him all the best!
For those of you who use Facebook this will come as no surprise: I'm addicted. I don't know what it is about the site, but something has me completely hooked. Lately when I think social networking, I think Facebook - it seems to me they have found the magic formula. And I really want to understand what that formula is.
Here are a few "magic ingredients" that I have come up with:
- Human Connection. I think it's human nature to want to be connected to other humans. Obviously, this is the core of Facebook's product. Sure you can share links and write notes and such, but the core idea is connecting with other people, and everything seems to be designed with this in mind (you can tag people in photos, notes, etc.)
- User Interface. With the exception of the ugly banner on the left side, the site is clean and the layout is mostly consistent. I think for the same reason people love Google's simple front page, people love Facebook's simple interface.
- News Feed. Aside from being an efficient way to display information, the news feed makes logging into the site many times a day worthwhile. There's always something new to see. Try to imagine Facebook without the news feed...it's hard isn't it? This is a key feature.
- Almost Live Casual Communication. I think Facebook is great for communication that falls somewhere in between instant messaging and email. Like a simple "hey how's it going" that doesn't require an immediate response, nor an entire email message (which would appear in your inbox alongside important messages and spam). The wall is definitely another key feature.
When they first decided to open the site up to everyone, expanding away from their original audience of college students, I wasn't sure if it would work out. I figured it might make Facebook seem less attractive. Turns out my suspicions were wrong. Facebook is definitely going mainstream.
I'll think about this some more, but what you do think - why is Facebook so addicting?
Oh, and if we're not friends on Facebook yet, add me! Here's my profile.
I have been spending far too much time on Facebook lately, so I couldn't help but notice the vertical banner ads for classmates.com that appear on the site. And I can't figure out why they bother. I mean, I signed up for classmates.com probably six years ago, and never visited the site again.
Well until this week, when I went back to see if it still sucked (so I suppose you could argue their advertisement worked to an extent). And yes, it does still suck. I understand why there are two gas stations on every corner, and why you can usually find a Wendy's or Burger King wherever there is a McDonald's. They have really similar offerings. Is this the case with Facebook and classmates.com? I don't think so.
Facebook and classmates.com just might be the best examples of Web 2.0 and Web 1.0, respectively.
They are almost polar opposites. Facebook is clean and fast. Classmates.com pages are slower and cluttered. Facebook is entirely free, while classmates.com is primarily a premium service. Facebook has features like photos, blogs, and mobile support. Classmates.com has message boards and biographies. Facebook is new and hip, classmates.com is old and tired.
It seems to me that at their core, the two services serve the same purpose: connecting people with friends (and especially classmates). In my opinion, Facebook does a much better job. It's easier, and costs nothing. Classmates.com appears to be quite successful though, so I wonder if people use the two in different ways.
If they are in fact used for the same purpose, then I wonder if advertising on Facebook is at all effective for classmates.com. I can't imagine it would be, but perhaps I'm missing something here.
If you think I can't cook, think again! I'm an absolute whiz with the microwave! Heh, but seriously, a few days ago my friend Sharon and I got together to make dinner. She suggested quiche, and I said what? Haha! It actually turned out pretty good. We took a bunch of pictures of the cooking process, mainly because we don't cook with any regularity. The next day it occurred to me that I could turn this into an interesting podcast episode!
It turns out that I rather like the format of this episode, so I intend to use it for future episodes. I am calling them photo stories, for obvious reasons. Have a suggestion for a topic? Let me know!
Enjoy!
Yep, it's that time of year again. Time to head out to Lisa's place at Bonnie Lake to celebrate her birthday! I've been looking forward to it, as the last couple of years were lots of fun, and I don't see Lisa all that often.
I should be back sometime tomorrow.
Yesterday afternoon my friends Violet and Vincent were married in a lovely ceremony, which was followed by a banquet last night. Violet looked absolutely gorgeous in her dress, and Vince didn't look too bad himself! The weather was great yesterday, and I think everyone had a good time.
I'm only 22 years old, but events like this sort of make you feel older, you know? For instance, in between the ceremony and the banquet, a bunch of us went to Moxie's downtown. When I went up to the bar with our waitress to pay, she asked if we were celebrating a grad or something. I replied, "nope, a wedding." Now maybe she meant a post-secondary graduation, but I got the feeling she was talking about high school, which is especially odd since it was the afternoon, and it was July. Regardless, I realized that big events for my friends are now weddings and children, not graduations or simple gatherings.
I took lots of pictures yesterday, which you can see here. Unfortunately the ones from the actual ceremony are not great, because the official film/photo crew were hogging all the best places, and at one point, even asked the guests to refrain from taking pictures, which most of us promptly ignored.
If you're reading this V&V;, I hope the move to Calgary goes smoothly, and have a wonderful time on your honeymoon! And Jane et al, thanks for the superb organization, I know the newlyweds appreciated it, as did guests like myself.
Nope, this isn't about global warming - sorry activists (don't you know most of that global warming stuff is hogwash anyway?) - it's about Inuvik, where my parents live. Well, Inuvik and Aklavik. For those of you who don't know, Inuvik is a planned town, created because Aklavik used to flood all the time. It's been about fifty years since it last happened, but Aklavik has completely flooded again, forcing an evacuation:
River water started to flood the community Friday, and many roads are still underwater. The hamlet declared a state of emergency, flying 300 people, mostly seniors and children, out of the community over the weekend. Most of the evacuees are staying at Inuvik's army barracks, while others are staying with relatives.
Apparently the water is really high in Inuvik too, according to my Dad:
There were ice chunks the size of cars. There were trees of all sizes. There was a 1000 litre fuel tank. There was a telephone pole. The annual spring break-up of the Mackenzie River is under way and it takes anything that stands in its way with it. This years break-up has the river higher than I have seen it before in my 16 years here.
The other interesting thing about break-up is that prices rise temporarily, as goods must be flown up. Normally trucks can drive up, crossing the river either using a ferry in the summer, or just driving right over the ice in the winter.
Hopefully the break-up will be over quickly. My Dad has a good set of pictures if you want to check it out, complete with telephone poles floating in the river!
Thanks to everyone who came out to dinner last night, it was lots of fun! If you couldn't make it, don't worry about it. Special thanks to Megan (and whoever helped her) for getting that awesome cake made and stuff, that was really cool :) Here are some pictures I took from last night, and here are some pictures that Megan took (I like this one).
Now that we've celebrated a little, it's time for us to get back to work!
Today is Family Day in Alberta - hope you are spending some time with your family! I went for lunch with my extended family of friends today at Red Robin's downtown. Here are a few pictures.
According to my Dad, we may be giving up Family Day if the Conservatives are successful in declaring a national "flag day" holiday. I personally don't see the point in having a flag day. We don't have separate holidays for our anthem, or national sport, etc. Seems to me "flag day" is really just part of Canada Day!
You might recall that a few weeks ago I posted about how our good friend Sharon is a closet gamer. To refresh your memory:
When Sharon took the controls to play, it was like I had stepped into an alternate universe! She was so masterful at the famous side-scroller, she knew where all the coins and mushrooms and flowers were, all the secret passages, everything. Not only did she know the features of the game like the back of her hand, she had the timing down pat. And her hand-eye coordination was surprisingly good. In fact, she played so hard and so well, that I saw her head bob to the music. It was nuts!
Well, now I have more than simple text - I have a couple of photos! In the first, you can see Sharon is holding the NES controller. In the second, you can see she's actually playing Mario. Enjoy!
Today the Edmonton Journal featured the Alberta Centennial Edition, a collection of stories about 100 Albertans living and working in the province today. Along with each one is a related story about Alberta's history. If you follow the above link and navigate to page 46, you'll find an article entitled "Breaking out of his pod", all about Dickson Wong.
It's a really well-written article, although it says that Dickson sings in three choirs when in fact he plays piano in three choirs. In fact, Dickson is quite the piano man! He played last night at Yi-Li's BBQ, and he often entertains guests at the Paramagnus offices, as seen here. The article talks about a number of things including Paramagnus, the podcasting robot, and Dickson's Chinese heritage and language. It mentions our leather couch and frequent late night trips to Denny's! I even got quoted a few times.
The subtitle of the article is "Versatile computer engineer aims to market podcasting software in China" - perhaps more a prediction for the future than an accurate representation of present day, but intriguing nonetheless. Dickson scanned in the article, which you can find here.
Congratulations Dickson!
It's been a busy weekend as far as parties go! It started on Friday night as Chu (or Steven) and Michelle had a dinner to celebrate their birthdays, both of which are in September. It was a relatively small gathering, but it was really good! Michelle made almost all of the food, which was very good. May brought an ice cream cake from DQ that was delicious. Good times! You can see some pictures here.
Last night was Yi-Li's summer BBQ. It was also a "going away" party for Ylz, who left for a four month job in Rainbow Lake today. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, and some amazing steak. We also played Bingo and Cranium, and somehow figured out a game of paper-rock-scissors challenges to finish off the melted green tea ice cream cake (that was a disgusting green goop). Dickson played piano for a while as everyone just kinda relaxed. Here are the pictures. Have fun "up north" Ylz!
Last night I went to a late show at the Fringe with Sharon and Dickson. This was my second year attending the annual festival, the first for Dickson, and the millionth for Sharon (she's such a pro she knows the code-speak the volunteers use!). Parking was non-existent as usual, and there was a lot of people. It was fun though! Oh and for the record, I really don't like this year's name, "Fringe A-Go-Go". Doesn't appeal to me at all, I don't know why.
We waited in line to buy tickets, and then had time to kill before the show started so we walked around a bit. To my surprise, they were selling mini-donuts! I love those things, I just can't help myself when I see them. After I bought a bag, we went to Starbucks. I really wish they had made that one on Whyte Ave and Calgary Trail bigger - it was so crammed last night.
The show we went to see was called "Nighthawk Rules", from the company 40 Foot Theatre, directed by Jeff Page. It was written by James Hamilton and Colin Doyle, who also starred as the two main characters. The only other character in the show was played by Lora Brovold. Here's the description:
It's hard to stay friends. Barry and Dick have been friends since grade 7. The problem is, Barry wants to settle down with his girlfriend Pam, but Dick still wants to drink all night and steal street-signs for kicks. While Dick pulls from one direction, Pam pulls from the other. Dick and Barry embark on a drinking game to end all drinking games-the object of which is the destruction of their friendship or the destruction of Barry's future with Pam.
If you're planning to go see the show, skip this paragraph. The description is okay, but it doesn't really tell you what happens, which I guess is the point, but still. It turns out that Barry and Dick fall in love, and end up starting a relationship. Totally unexpected, but brilliantly portrayed in the show! The guy who played Dick was especially convincing, and delivered his lines perfectly. Lora who played Pam only had a very small on-stage role, and unfortunately for her, it was meant to be completely over the top, so you're left not liking her character at all. There was a lot of laughing, a lot of swearing, and some good "shock value" moments too, such as when Barry and Dick share their first kiss.
It was a really great show! I enjoyed it, though I could have done without Sharon's comments afterward. But don't worry, I will exact my revenge one way or another. I'm planning to go see at least one more show, so watch for another review!
On Wednesday evening I was driving with Ada to volunteering, and on the way we saw one of the dumbest, ugliest cars ever! It was a Cavalier, circa late 90s, and this is what the guy had done to it:
- Attempted to put a body kit on the car, but it really only covered the sides and front.
- Attached what appeared to be chicken wire to the front grill.
- Painted the entire car an ugly, matte grey-blue.
- Added a "dual" exhaust.
- Took off the door handles!
That's right! We stared at the car, because there were no door handles. We couldn't figure out how the doors were supposed to open. Anyway, it was a really ugly car. If you're going to pimp out your ride, at least start with something good, and don't do a half-assed job.
I should invest in a small camera to keep in my car so that I always have one ready. Would have made an excellent "your caption here" photo!
What a great camping trip! We got back this afternoon from Wizard Lake, after an excellent weekend with pretty good weather (except for this morning when it rained a little). Among the campers were myself, Jane, Yi-Li, Andrew, Megan, Warren, Lucky and sometimes Dickson (he came and went). Highlights include midnight frisbee with glowsticks and the most massive coffeemate fire known to man, but here's a quick recap of everything:
Warren, Yi-Li and Andrew were the first ones to arrive at the campsite on Thursday night, followed by Dickson, and then me. With no women around, we took our time putting up the tent, making drinks, and cooking steak (very delicious) over the fire. Yi-Li brought glowsticks, and so we each wore one on our wrists, and we taped a couple to the frisbee so that we could play midnight frisbee! It's actually pretty cool, playing in the dark.
The next day we mostly just waited for Jane and Megan to arrive! Warren cooked bacon for breakfast, and we spent the day walking around the campground, playing frisbee and badminton, exploding pop cans, and crashing a basketball game the girls who were staying next to us were playing. Jane arrived as we were playing basketball, so Lucky joined in the game :) When Megan arrived, she brought with her a massive screen house that we built and put a picnic table inside of, and of course, a can of coffeemate. Needless to say, we built a big fire and threw a whole bunch of coffeemate on it! But the best was yet to come, as we all decided we needed more coffeemate for the next night. Megan even said she'd bring a fourth can if I touched the burning logs in the fire - so of course I did!
Dickson went back to Edmonton on Friday night, but came back during the day Saturday, while Megan left in the afternoon to go back. As a result, Saturday was spent waiting for Megan to return with four cans of coffeemate! We bought some more wood and chopped it, after which we built an incredible base for the biggest coffeemate fire ever seen. We played Risk, cooked marshmallows, hotdogs and hamburgers, and once again prepared for midnight frisbee with glowsticks. When Megan returned with coffeemate, all four cans, we almost couldn't wait to burn it.
The fire took a while to start, as our incredible design didn't allow any air to get in. Jane ended up taking most of it apart to light it, after which we stuck it back together. Then the festivities began. We tried a bunch of different methods, but found that if we held two handfuls, and threw in one after the other with the second slightly higher than the first, the coffeemate made the biggest fireball. We thought it was amazing when all seven of us were throwing coffeemate at the fire, but after about ten minutes, the neighbours had seen what we were up to and had formed a large group of onlookers. Sensing an opportunity that could not be missed, we invited them to partake in the craziness. And that's when the largest coffeemate fire known to man burned - when thirteen different people each threw two handfuls of coffeemate into an already oversized fire! The resulting fireball was absolutely incredible, all of it captured on three different video cameras (Dickson has posted the video - download it here [WMV, 20 MB]). Definitely something to remember!
We spent the rest of the night drinking, reflecting on how big fires attract girls, and waiting for the meteor shower that was supposed to happen (we only saw a few). Eventually we went to sleep, only to wake up the next morning with rain! We had planned to leave around lunchtime anyway, so we packed up early and headed back to the city where we stopped at Denny's. I had to clean my car this afternoon too, as it was completely covered in coffeemate from the big fires. Fortunately, it looks as good as new now!
And that was the camping trip! Dickson has posted some pictures on Flickr, and you can see my pictures on Flickr too (seventy six in total).
Happy Birthday Lisa! Just got back this afternoon from the big bash up at her family's cabin in Bonnie Lake, which is near Vilna, northeast of the city. The people, food, drink, and weather were all great, what more can you ask for, really? Lisa's cabin is really nice, thanks so much for having us!
Megan and I drove up sometime yesterday afternoon (we got going rather slowly) and arrived in time for some relaxing on the beach before dinner. We followed the instructions Lisa had provided, and while we found the place okay and went through some interesting towns like Andrew (where we saw this sign) we decided that the route was really more complex than it needed to be. Needless to say, we came home a different way!
After dinner, the rest of the evening consisted of drinking games, some birthday cake (that no one ate!), drinking around the campfire, and generally, more drinking resulting in lots of empties! A grand time was had by all (at least I think it was). Quite a few people had to leave early for work, but those of us who did stick around just took it easy.
All in all, a great weekend! Lisa's party seems to get bigger and better every year, so I look forward to the 2006 bash! You can check out all the photos I took at the party on Flickr.
I am off to my friend Lisa's cabin to celebrate her birthday, so I'll be back tomorrow sometime. Have a great weekend!
When pondering something, it's usually a good idea to get some varying perspectives, so that you can make a better decision. According to Inge, my perspective is carnal:
You can look that word up, if you're unsure of the definition. And now, I'll return to the darkside.
This birthday wish comes to you all the way from Seattle! Hope you enjoy your day. I'd direct folks to your blog to leave you a birthday comment, but unfortunately, you don't have one. Now that you're another year wiser, maybe you should start one ;)
There are so many of you convocating this week, I figured it would be much easier to just make a blanket congratulations post. And hey, if you've learned anything during your time at the University, it's that I am lazy! Or that sometimes, you can't help but cut a few corners.
So to Violet, Annie, Sharon, Megan, and whoever else is convocating in the near future that I missed, congratulations! Some of you have already made your way into the "real world", but I know all of you will be successful. I just hope you find your time at University was useful, because we all know my thoughts on that matter.
Ever wonder why it's called "convocation" and not "graduation" or something? Especially since they limit the number of people who can convoke anyway. There's your thought for the day!
It's amazing what you have to catch up on when you're gone for a whole day! We made it back from Calgary without any problems last night. We did however, have a lot of left over fries from Peter's Drive In, and four boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts! Dickson's new car is amazing on gas, thank goodness.
Armed with MapPoint on the tablet, we made our way around the city, visiting all the different stores we needed to. We learned a little more at each place, and as a result, purchased most of the stuff we needed at the last store we visited. So things are moving along nicely for the robot project! We'll hopefully have the design and preliminary work done by early next week. And who knows, maybe a website :)
Ah, everyone's favorite secretary has finally joined the darkside. Welcome to the blogosphere Annie :)
Blogging is mainstream, I know, but I still get excited when someone I know starts a blog.
As you can see, I made it back alive from the Kokanee Freeride! I'd never been boarding on a mountain before, so it was quite an experience. The weather was awesome, and the snow was really good in the morning. In the afternoon it kinda turned to slush, and just made everything soaking wet, but that's okay.
I think I did pretty good snowboarding. I could definitely get used to it. Thanks to Felicia, Dickson and especially Andrew for putting up with my slowness - I constantly felt I was holding them up! I didn't fall down THAT many times, but my knees are a bit sore. Fortunately, no face plants this time. I do have to learn not to rely on my heels so much though, it makes the leg muscles very sore after a while. One cool thing, as Andrew pointed out, is that I managed to make it off the lift once (or was it twice?) without falling! Definitely an accomplishment for me :)
The bus ride there and back seemed very long, but the stop in Edson (about half way) made it bearable. The beer gardens were pretty cool at mid-mountain, lots of people, including the Kokanee girls! And they looked just like they do in the commercial, with the silver suits and everything. It was awesome! I didn't drink that much, but my snowboarding-goddess friend Felicia (she's really good) managed to down a couple, and then board down the hill with a Kokanee in hand. I wish I could say I did that, but I'd have spilt the beer for sure, and I'm not into alcohol abuse! Next time.
I must say, snowboarding on a mountain is very humbling. There were hundreds of little kids who could carve circles around me, it was insane. They must have started very young - made me feel old actually. The wonderful views and longer runs made up for that though!
If I had any complaints, it would be that the lockers are too small, and there aren't enough. Seems to me they could make a lot of money if they upgraded that part of the experience. Minor detail though, really. Hopefully I'll get the pictures from Felicia soon (she was our photographer) so I can post the good ones. Definitely liking this snowboarding thing. Again, thanks Kim for scoring us the tickets, and thanks Dickson, Andrew and Felicia for coming! It was fun :)
Hope you enjoy your day today! A bunch of us went out to celebrate on Friday night, you can see some pictures, and check out Andrew and Megan's writeups too.
Dickson has written up a post explaining a few more problems with Ourmedia. I also listened to the interview on IT Conversations that Dickson did, and I have pretty much the same thoughts - pipe dream. I'm ready to be proven wrong, but the policing of content will be another headache to add to the list I created a few days ago.
Marc Canter just kills me. Near the beginning of the interview, he tries to apply the term "open source" to Google, Amazon and eBay because they provide an API for their platform. Aside from the fact that Eric Raymond and others probably have a thing or two to say about that, if those three companies are open source, why not Microsoft? Microsoft is not a software company, they are a platforms company. Windows is a platform with extensive APIs. Same with .NET. Same with Windows Mobile. Same with Office. Same with the new XBOX. The list goes on.
While we're talking about Ourmedia, if you want to know what its like for users who just go and try it out, read this post and this post from Robert Scoble. Robert described it like this: "The Our Media experience was a bit rough."
[Tags: ourmedia open source ]
I remember doing the 30-Hour Famine back in junior high. It was tons of fun - we stayed at the school throughout the 30 hours, playing in the gym, running through the halls, and generally having a good time. After it was all done, we held a big buffet for everyone to gorge on, and I remember it containing a lot of pizza.
I haven't given much thought to the event since that time, but I was recently reminded of it by Darren Barefoot. He's taking up the challenge on April 1st and 2nd, and he's looking to raise $1000 by the end of the month:
Seeing as the last time I tried fasting I caved after about 15 hours, this should at least be good for some entertainment. I’ll take whatever you got. Five bucks. Great. Fifty bucks? That’s great too. You Americans can give money too—we’re an equal opportunity website around here, and your money goes farther north of the border. I’m probably going to go on about this thing a fair bit over the next two weeks. Indulge me—it’s for a good cause.
It's a great cause, so stop by and help him out! At the very least, wish him luck :)
[Tags: famine charity hunger] [Categories: worldvision famine hunger]
Last night I went to see Stewart Lemoine's "The Salon of the Talking Turk" with Sharon at the Varscona Theatre. We didn't have tickets, and so weren't sure we'd be able to get in, but it turned out that I was right and Sharon was wrong, haha, it wasn't sold out.
Here's a little about the play:
Leona Brausen stars as Cornelia, an affable divorcee with a latent longing for scientific enlightenment, and Davina Stewart plays her best friend Dominica, a free-thinking flapper and serial fiancée whose uncharacteristic embrace of thrift will have far-reaching implications for everyone she knows. Lanky newcomer Andrew MacDonald-Smith plays Cornelia's over-achieving layabout brother Wally, and Mark Meer is back with Teatro in a sensational turn as the mysteriously enlightened and frankly opinionated automaton, The Talking Turk.
I really enjoyed the show, probably a little more than Sharon did. It was full of excellent one-liners, like "faith is for the busy". The only thing we noticed is that the actors made quite a few errors in their lines, somewhat surprising when you consider that they have performed the same stuff every day for the last two weeks.
We stopped at Starbucks on Whyte after for coffee. There are some things you only find on Whyte Avenue, and I am continually amazed. We saw four people in bright orange t-shirts with matching hair promoting a spa. We saw a group of four pirates walk past. An ambulance and a fire truck descended on the building next to us. Drunk people falling all over the place. A woman carrying a case of beer (is she crazy?). You name it!
Anyway, thanks Sharon!
On Friday night we had a birthday party for Kimmi. We went for dinner to Boston Pizza, then we all met up at Dickson's for some cake, XBOX action, and movie watching. It was good times!
We basically played NHL 2005. I am not sure if it's because it is really easy to have four players at once, or if it's because none of us have watched hockey in a while, but that's the game we chose! As for the movie, we watched Wimbledon. I was just happy to watch something with Kirsten Dunst, but in all honesty, it was pretty good. I kept expecting her dad to shout "Velociraptor! Run!" though.
Thanks to everyone for coming, and Happy Birthday again to Kim! You can check out some pictures from the event here.
Last night a bunch of us went to Boston Pizza (where else) for Dickson's birthday dinner. It was pretty good, and Michelle even brought Jello shooters so that was fun! The problem was that almost everyone at the table was Asian and didn't have a clue how to do them properly. Megan and I just shook our heads :)
In another sign that we are all getting old, almost everyone went home right after the dinner, but Felicia, Kimmi, Dickson and I all went to see Hide and Seek. While not too bad, it wasn't THAT scary. Certainly not as scary as Felicia's incessant jumping would make it seem. I really like Dakota Fanning (as an actress you sickos) and I think she gave another excellent performance. Her star continues to rise! It was an interesting role for De Niro, not sure I really enjoyed him that much in this movie. Good twist in the movie too, so worth a watch.
Andrew has a post about Dickson's birthday here, Kimmi posted here, and Michelle posted here. Check out some pictures from last night in my gallery.
Turns out we had reason to be overly confident - but it was close! We found out at the awards presentation today that we did in fact place first in the competition, so we were pretty stoked about that! It was a great birthday present for Dickson too - Happy Birthday! As we placed second in the test part of the competition, we got 40 points (where first got 50). The judges told us today that we also placed second in the creative part of the competition, but only 4 points separated first and third, so it was tight. Either way, we placed very well in both so combined, we were first overall.
The drive back from Calgary was again uneventful, though it was nice and sunny today so it was a much easier drive than in the fog. So easy in fact that we once again worked in the vehicle! We were going to stop at Pete's Drive Thru for lunch on the way out, but it was so packed, and neither of us had cash, so we went to Mr. Sub instead.
I just updated the photo gallery with some pictures from the competition and the presentation today, so check it out. Now that we are back home, we once again return to work. Our sights are now set on Imagine Cup 2005 and the trip to Japan!
Megan and I have looked at the details for our trip to Northern Voice in February and we want to get everything booked and confirmed relatively quickly. So if we have talked to you about making the trip with us, please let us know whether or not you are coming by Wednesday, January 26th.
And if you do decide to come, make sure you register for the conference. I should add a countdown script or something on here, I am getting excited!
Felicia does! I guess she started her blog quite a while ago, located at http://starfishi.blogspot.com. Apparently I was telling her some statistics back in October about how so many blogs die soon after they are started, and so Felicia is proud to post once a month to keep it going. For that reason, I told her that her blog is like PMS! She didn't like that comment :P
Thank you Megan and family for hosting my 21st birthday party yesterday! My actual birthday is not until tomorrow, but I think Megan picked a good date for the party, as we had a pretty good turnout (considering it is the holidays), including Dickson, Andrew, Lisa, Joe, Nick, Jill and Felicia. Thanks everyone for coming!
We started the evening, and continued for most of it actually, by playing XBOX. The gang gave me Halo 2 and NHL 2005 so that was wicked! We immediately put the NHL 2005 to good use - if there is no hockey on TV, we'll make our own hockey! Dickson seemed to beat me every time, while Megan and Felicia were pretty evenly matched. Lisa caught on quickly and probably could have taken on Megan!
And we also played some less technical games too, using cards! There was lots of food, and of course, Coke. Megan baked a delicious cake that her Mom made the icing for - apologies for my terrible cake cutting skills! Ah yes, another gift I got was a bottle of Baha Rosa. It shall be put to good use on New Year's Eve!
Anyway, it was lots of fun, nice to see everyone! Thanks again Megan. You can check out some pictures from the evening here.
This afternoon Dickson and I took Sharon to see A Christmas Carol at the Citadel Theatre here in Edmonton. Not only was it kinda cool to do something so seasonally appropriate on Christmas eve, it was a very well done production!
I was quite impressed not only with the costumes and music, but with the stage! The stage and effects were amazing! There was a bed that rose out of the stage, snow falling from the ceiling, ghosts and goblins flying around, all sorts of things.
Now if only it would snow tomorrow :)
I know not everyone is done exams yet, and this is kind of short notice, but we're planning a dinner tomorrow night at Earls on Calgary Trail. If you want in, please RSVP as soon as you can, or just show up I guess! We are planning to meet at 6 PM, nothing fancy, just a group dinner before the holidays. Hope to see you there!
Tonight I went snowboarding at Snow Valley with The Snowmaster (Dickson), The Unsung Pro (Felicia), her sidekick (Steph), The Speedster (Chu), The Noobs (Michelle and Andrew) and The Snowbunny (Renee). And it was actually quite fun!
This was the first time I had ever gone, so I fell down a lot at the beginning. Including one or two face plants. And let me tell you, it hurt. I think it was worse because I was only wearing jeans, so I was completely soaked by the night's end. I think I did pretty good though, taking to the chairlift hill almost right away. By the end I was doing quite well, and not falling down (except when I tried to walk). My knees hate me, and I am sure they will hate me more tomorrow.
Dickson is amazing, Chu is so fast, Felicia never falls. I was in awe. I guess practice really does make perfect! Even though I enjoyed it, I couldn't help but think that something was missing. The group assures me that on a mountain things are much different, but it felt like I should be shooting at targets on the way down or something. Just up the hill and then back down, over and over. Maybe I need to get the guts to do some jumps or something to make it interesting.
I am quite sore now, and I know it will be worse tomorrow. My nice hot shower helped when I got home, and the rum is definitely helping now. If only I knew a pharmacist :P
Yesterday was, aside from being Remembrance Day, Jane and Andrew's Birthday Bash! And what an event it was! This was not your average, ordinary birthday party, no sir. It was a full out, no holds barred, massive dinner following scavenger hunt and cake decorating events topped off by Shrek2 kind of event. And it was tons of fun!
Despite having very explicit instructions to arrive at Jane's promptly at 1 PM, everyone was late and I think I was the last to arrive. Gotta make an entrance, you know? While waiting a few people started playing Cranium, funny how that game is always present at our gatherings. Jane and Andrew had obviously done a lot of planning for this party, as there were a series of events ready to be tackled. The first was to divide into three teams and decorate two cakes each. Team Black consisted of myself, Megan, Greg, John and Peter. The very aptly named Team Roadkill consisted of Dickson, Violet, Kimmi and Mr. Awesome, otherwise known as Alex. I think they also had Candice and her boyfriend. The third team was Team Lucky, and consisted of Warren, Yi-Li, Felicia, Andrea, and Natalie. The cakes were all amazing, but seriously, I think ours should have won. I mean, Roadkill made a nice effort, as did Lucky, but the Black cake was just amazing.
The next event was a city-wide scavenger hunt. In addition to having a number of items to retrieve for points, there was also a lot of activities that had to be done - proof was a picture, or in some cases, the proof was in the activity, like getting a stranger to call Jane and Andrew and sing happy birthday. There was lots of things on the list, like eating snow, getting a picture of the wall I destroyed at McNally a few years ago, walking into Radioshack with tin foil on your head and acting crazy, filling out and submitting an application to McDonalds, collecting bus transfers and passes, sitting in the middle of a road, etc, etc. When all was said and done, Team Roadkill came out on top with roughly 2000 points thanks to their bus transfers, Team Black finished second with about 1700 points thanks to their bus passes, and Team Lucky should have found a four-leafed clover or something as they came last with roughly 500 points. Good times!
After the hunt, it was time for a well-deserved dinner at Blue Chicago, a new place on 142nd and Stony Plain. It was pretty good food, although the portions seemed a little small - maybe it was just me. There were a ton of people at the dinner, as some people didn't come to the earlier activities. Good times indeed, Andrew ate Team Black's cake, and Jane and Andrew blew out the candles to mark another year. Dinner was followed by some people heading back to Jane's to watch Shrek 2 on DVD - such a funny movie!
Anyway, thanks Jane and Andrew for hosting an amazing event! We'll definitely have to get everyone together to sort out the pictures (I have 188 alone, and I know there are like three other cameras with similar numbers). So yeah, happy birthday, and I look forward to seeing if anyone can top this event! Andrew has some thoughts on the day here, and you can check out my gallery of pictures here.
I actually had a somewhat productive Sunday! One of the things I did was create a CD for our Camping Trip which happened almost a month ago now. I burned a few copies tonight, so ask me in CAB for one. The CD has all of the pictures and video, as well as a musical slideshow of some of the best pictures.
Last night Megan held a little get together at her house as she is on her own this weekend. It was pretty good to see everyone for a bit! We had nachos (thanks Kim) and some other snacks, and of course, rum and Coke! For entertainment we watched the unrated version of The Girl Next Door which surprisingly not everyone had seen. Such a funny movie!
Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera, so there are no pictures to post this time. Won't happen again :P
Anyway, thanks again Megan! Good times!
Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I will leave you with this:
What were YOU doing at the time of this post?
Last night was our so-called "Go Fly Or Go Home" dinner at Joey's Global Grill in South Edmonton Common. We decided it was time to dress up and have a fancier dinner than our normal Boston Pizza events. I think it went quite well, and everyone seemed to have a good time! It's always nice to see people dressed up anyways :)
We had to wait a bit for tables, but I was pleased with the service we got. The staff did what they could to accommodate us, which was nice as they do not take reservations. We had a pretty good turnout too, so we took up three tables - Sharon, Stephanie, Megan, Jane, Violet, Felicia, Tom, Mack, Lisa, Laura, Tess, Joe, Dickson, Alex, Andrew, Renee, and Candice.
Felicia arrived a little late but she brought everyone roses - it was a nice touch! Other highlights included Joe and I getting $10 glasses of wine for $6, our hot waitress who looked exactly like Mischa Barton from the O.C., Megan and I ordering Asian food and getting chop sticks while the Asian people all ordered white food, and the dessert that looked like steak and ice cream. After dinner a few of us went to Felicia's house to relax and watch Pirates of the Carribbean. Thanks Felicia for being so hospitable!
Well that was fun! Thank you to everyone who came, and I hope you had a good time. We'll have to make this fancy dinner thing more than a once a year event! You can see the picture album for this event here (29 best ones posted). If you want all the pictures taken on my camera (145 total), let me know and I will burn you a CD.
Okay we have finally decided on the details for this Saturday's semi-formal/formal dinner event! Although they do not take reservations (the only thing we didn't offer was renting the entire place, morons) we have a plan. And if for some reason, they create problems, I'll make a scene and we'll take our business elsewhere! Don't get me wrong though, sounds likely we'll get tables okay.
WHO: All of you!
WHAT: Dinner with friends
WHERE: Joey's Global Grill, 9911-19 Ave. South Edmonton Common
WHEN: Saturday, October 2nd, 2004 at 7 PM
WHY: To have a good time and go fancier than BP's for a change!
Keep in mind this is a no jeans event! Dress nice for a change :P If you have any questions or whatever, post them here or email/call me.
Yesterday we celebrated Michelle's 20th birthday (a little belated, but thats okay). There was a ton of people there, you're so popular Michelle ;) It was good fun!
We went to Asian Grill House downtown, to have "hot pot". I had never had this before, but basically each table has a small grill and a small boiler and you cook the food yourself. So you go up buffet style to get the raw meat, then you take it back to your table and cook it up. (They do have a select amount of precooked food.) Chu was a beast man, he must have cooked an entire cow in that boiler, and he just kept going!
It was a rather interesting experience! Dickson is a professional cook, knew exactly what to do with all the food and sauces. And Andrew is a damn white man. He even used a fork! Anyway, good times and happy birthday Michelle! You can see some pictures here.
In case you missed it, Michelle has changed the location for her dinner this Saturday. It is now at Asian Grill House on 107th avenue and 96th street. Full details here.
See you there!
Wow, what a weekend! Or was it?! Haha just kidding, it was tons of fun, even though it poured almost the entire time. And because it rained, it was quite cold too. We had a pretty good turnout, with Andrew, Jane, Megan, Andrea, Jen, Felicia, Chu, Michelle, John, Peter, AndrewH, Dickson, Sharon, and Kimmi making appearances.
First off, big thanks to Jane for getting this show on the road. And awesome job picking the site, we are definitely going to have to go back. Megan, Felicia and I arrived around 7 PM on Friday to see Andrew and Jane setting up camp, and Chu and Michelle setting up the love shack! Man that tent was rocking! Friday night also saw Andrea and Jen come in Andrea's Aztek (you know, with the tent on the back) and John, Peter and AndrewH all came as well.
It absolutely poured on Friday night, an experience Inge summed up quite well - "it felt like I was in Jurassic Park". That description was dead on - everywhere you stepped there was a huge puddle of water and mud. Everything was completely soaked on Saturday morning, including my jeans. So soaked in fact, that Felicia had to lend me her sweatpants so Andrew and I could take some clothes down to the dryer. Thank goodness Kokanee Springs is an RV park and had such facilities!
In addition to a washer and dryer, they have a driving range which we took full advantage of on Saturday. Felicia and I did our best to make a "happy gilmore" shot, and the one that I hit perfectly came right after Jane turned off the video camera. Peter had the longest drive, with Andrew and I not far behind.
Jane was our resident cook, and she made some awesome sandwiches on Saturday. Oh yeah, and Andrea toasted the buns and spread the mayo, so kudos beans! Dickson and Sharon stopped by on Saturday, and I think Sharon wins the award for "Most Out Of Place". Fortunately they stayed long enough to see the fireworks! Not real fireworks, but we got some awesome flames going with coffeemate. Flames so high that we almost got the trees! The stuff is so flamable its crazy - I even burned my hand with it! It rained again Saturday night, and Megan's stereo finally gave out and starting making noises like an upset animal.
Unfortunately most people left Saturday night, so there was only me, Andrew, Kimmi, Megan, Chu and Michelle left on Sunday morning. Chu and Michelle got up at some ungodly hour and left, so the rest of us had to clean up the campsite. It looked like a damn warzone, let me tell you. We even had explosions as Kimmi decided it would be a good idea to throw a lighter into the fire! If only we had video footage...
Kim, Inge, Megan and I went to Denny's for lunch after we got back into the city today. It was kind of funny actually, we were so dirty and probably smelled so bad. I can just imagine what people were thinking! Somehow I arrived home with more alcohol than I took (Kimmi brought me more out on Saturday) so we'll have to go camping again soon :) I dunno about anyone else, but that shower I had when I got home was quite possibly the most satisfying I have ever had. I can finally feel my feet again.
Alright, I think in order to make a good experience great, you have to take away some piece of knowledge - you gotta learn something. I think this weekend was great, so here is what I took away:
- Andrew is a pretty good camper - and he slept in the bed of his truck! Awesome!
- You should always bring two pairs of pants and two pairs of shoes. Thanks Felicia!
- Coffeemate even burns in the air and will carry the flame quite high!
- Lighters make awesome explosions in fire pits.
- You should definitely wear gloves when at the driving range.
- You can reply to almost any statement with some variation of "or can you?!"
- Shoes will burn when you put them in the fire.
- The conversation can always reach "a new low!"
- When you're in the forest, you are never out of firewood.
- CD's can be dried off and played without error.
- A marshmallow is only roasted properly when you can take the shell off three times.
- I am a very helpful and considerate drunk!
Ah good times! Check out the photo album of pictures from my camera here. Hopefully I can get the rest of the pictures and video from Jane, Felicia and whoever else, and we can put together a CD photo album. I expect to see all of you there next time, for the entire weekend!
In a matter of hours I'll be on my way to the Kokanee Campground in Seba Beach! I am mostly packed...I got the beer. So yeah, I guess I am finished packing. Andrew's post pretty much sums it up - this is gonna be great :)
Lots of people are going, so look for some good pictures/video on Monday. Have a great weekend!
Yes, Dickson returned today (Monday) from China. And what better a way to welcome back a good friend than making him attend a dinner with friends when he's completely jetlagged! I am not even going to bother writing where we went, because I am sure you can guess. We did have a good turnout though, with me, Andrew, Dickson, Nick, Sharon, Annie, Violet, Megan, Joe, and Jason all attending.
Its kinda funny actually...I had Patel's dinner somewhat planned for about two weeks before the actual event, and I think we had more people come tonight after rounding people up just 2 hours before we went. In any case, you can see pictures from the event here.
Welcome back Dickson!
Tonight (being Friday) was the big dinner event with Ashish! It was good fun for all who came, like Violet, Andrew, Tom, Megan, Kim, Greg, Michelle, Long, Eugene, Ashish, Bhavya, Mike, and of course, yours truly. Wow am I a name dropper or what! To all of you who chose to do something else (or nothing at all) - your loss!
After dinner at BP's, some of us went to play a little pool at Metro downtown. I got totally schooled by Mike and Ashish, absolutely no competition. I must practice more! Anyhow, after pool I went to see "Hero" with Ashish, Eugene and Long - review to follow. You can see some photos from tonight here.
Good to see you Ashish, good luck with the rest of your adventures in Toronto! And see you there next weekend ;)
Here are the details for tomorrow night's dinner:
WHO: You!
WHAT: Dinner with Ashish!
WHERE: Boston Pizza Downtown (10620 Jasper Avenue) - Map
WHEN: Friday, September 3rd, 2004 at 6:30 PM
WHY: To have some fun with Ashish and friends before he leaves!
Hope to see you there!
Tonight Andrew hosted another Cranium party at his house (more here). In attendance this time was me, Kimmi, Inge, Jane, Ylz, Poon, and Warren. It was fun, but once again, my team did not win. We did pretty good tho Poon! You can read more about it here.
We also took advantage of the people and being at Andrew's house and did some recording for Blogosphere Radio. I don't think we have ever recorded so much in one session, let alone material so varied! We had funny parts, low parts, and some very heavy and serious parts too. This will probably be one of the most challenging edits to date ;) Pictures from Cranium and the recording are here.
I have been thinking recently about our radio, and I might do an experiment coming up in the next couple weeks. But first, I should have our server fixed next week and the new show posted, so look for it!
Tonight (being Tuesday) Felicia, Andrew and I went to East Side Mario's in Sherwood Park. First of all, they got lost. Not like a few blocks away lost either - they were like 15 minutes away from where they should have been! I dont know how much clearer I could have made my directions! Anyways, after a botched dinner we prepared to make our getaway and ended up driving over an angled sidewalk. Hey, it looked like a driveway to me.
So then it was back to Felicia's to get her little sister Stephanie. For the record, I didn't do or say anything that might have you believe I was Dickson (Stephanie is only 15)...so keep that in mind when reading Inge's blog. We finally decided to go rent a movie - we got The Thomas Crown Affair because they hadn't seen it. Its one of my favorite movies of all time...if you haven't seen it, go watch it right now. Like drop whatever it is you're doing and rent/buy/download it this instant. You won't be disappointed.
But before we made it back to Felicia's to start watching, we stopped at Yi-Li's house and interrupted him and Jane who were, ahem, watching a movie. Good times. Lets see what else happened...Felicia vaccumed up a spider because "it was too big to pick up with Kleenex". Stephanie and Felicia eat a lot. Like bowls of cereal followed by fruit followed by popcorn followed by ice cream. And this was after we went for dinner.
OH! And Andrew drove his truck tonight. I am trying to remember, but I don't think I have ever actually seen him drive before. Anyone else? And why is it that these people who rarely drive ALWAYS get lost? See a connection?
In case you didn't know, Ashish Patel is back in Edmonton until September 6th. So I think we should all go for dinner with him so he can tell us about his adventures in Toronto and New York - like presenting to the CEO of IBM!
WHO: You, Ashish, and friends!
WHAT: Dinner and maybe something after!
WHERE: Boston Pizza Downtown (most likely)
WHEN: Friday, September 3rd, 2004 at 6:30 PM
WHY: Because you know you wanna come!
So far I have five people confirmed not including myself and Ashish. If you are planning to come, please leave a comment here or email me. I'll post more updates here as the event gets closer!
On one of the nastiest days of the year, Sharon convinced me to go to the Fringe. Or more specifically, the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival. First of all, its "Theater" haha! And secondly, International? Not even the New York Fringe claims to be International!
Anyway, we went to see "Adorable" by David Belke. The play tells the story of a paranoid magician and his new assistant. I thought it was really good; Sharon said it wasn't his best (I think she was just showing off her extensive Fringe knowledge ;)). I think I'd go again next year as long as the weather is nicer! Even though today was the last day of the Fringe, they are showing "the best of" for the next couple days if you are interested.
After the Fringe we went for dinner and decided to try Joey's Global Grill in South Edmonton Common as neither of us had been there. That place looks so fancy from the outside, we felt completely underdressed walking up to the door. It wasn't too bad though, even some guys in ball caps inside.
I can safely say it is my new favorite restaurant. The place is immaculate, and the bar is awesome. It is huge, and looks so nice with colored bottles and fancy lighting all the way up the wall. Oh and two pretty big LCD TV screens. Leather seats. Leather menus. The service was good, the food was great. The music was decent (80s and 90s dance pop mostly). And most importantly - a staff that puts Moxie's in the northside and every other restaurant in the city to shame. Absolutely INSANELY good scenery. Give it a shot!
Saturday afternoon we did another Blogosphere radio show - a back to school special! It really is quite funny I think, so watch for it. Hopefully I will have it posted soon! Megan was our guest on this show.
That night Megan, Andrew, Jane, Yi-Li and I went to Kelsey's for dinner, then back to Inge's to play Cranium. In case you are not sure, Cranium is one of the games they sell at Starbucks. I must say, it was really fun! Jane and Megan beat Inge, Ylz and me in the first game, and China beat Canada (like the Olympics) in the second game.
Check out some photos from the game here, or just click on this picture:
Nick you missed out, you should have come! Tons of fun!
Last night Andrew hosted a Poker/XBOX Party at his house. And of course, what party is complete without BPs? It was good times, good to see John and Peter for the first time this summer as well! Also in attendance was Megan, Jane, YiLi, Felicia, Warren, and Joe! I guess looking back the poker party quickly turned into an XBOX party, but it was fun.
We had some fun with my new digital camera, so be sure to check out the photo gallery for the party here!
Tonight (being Friday) I went to Improvaganza at the Varscona Theatre with Sharon (who, notice, remains blogless). It was really entertaining, very funny! And as luck would have it, for their last skit, they took a suggestion for the setting, and someone yelled out Inuvik. What are the odds?
After the theatre we went to my new favorite Starbucks! In the new building on the corner of Whyte Avenue and 104th Street, there is a Starbucks. Right across the street from the Second Cup and the Timothy's. Anyway, not only is it brand new, it has the coolest bar inside! And it is open until 1 AM, which means you can sit around drinking coffee and enjoying the, ahem, scenery passing by.
Thanks to everyone who came on Thursday to the Blogosphere dinner! We had a good turnout, and it was lots of fun (except for the slightly odd waitress showing us pictures of when she was 300 pounds - seriously I was trying to eat). Hopefully everyone will come to the next one and bring more people too! Here are a few photos from the dinner, especially look at the last one.
What are you doing tomorrow night? Hopefully nothing so far, because you should be attending the Blogosphere.ca dinner! Here are all the details you need:
So far we have me, Dickson, Andrew, Michelle, Chu, and possibly Megan.
http://tinyurl.com/54buu
Posted using PostInk
UPDATE: Sharon, Megan, Annie and Don are all confirmed!
Okay there I said it. Congratulations on the glory to those with guts.
In other news, Megan and I went to Starbucks tonite (third coffee of the day for me). I asked for Caramel Machiatto and the guy tried to say they were out. Yeah, like I am gonna fall for that! It was very good :)
Went to dinner at East Side Mario's in Sherwood Park with Megan tonight. Among other things, we chatted about the camping trip and wrote down some more details - so hopefully we can get that off the ground! Inge and Dickson...you should have come!
While we were there we saw Ryan from the trip last weekend, and chatted with him for a bit. Turned out Dave was having his birthday gathering there, so we waited around to see Matt and Lisa as well. It was like a camping trip reunion!
Anyway, I remain weak. Need more beer!
Very fun weekend out at Lisa's cabin! The weather fortunately held off until today as well, which was good. On the drive home Megan and I stopped two or three times because the storm was just too bad to drive in. Alas, we made it home safely only to find out that West Edmonton Mall was evacuated due to flooding, the Quesnell (sp?) Bridge and Fox Drive were closed due to flooding and instability, people were canoing down 116th street and 75th avenue, and that a tornado had touched down just outside Morinville. Craziness!
I came home with about 30 mosquito bites, 1 burn from the campfire, and a lot less alcohol than when I left. Fortunately I also came home having met some great people :)
Can't wait til next weekend now!
So tomorrow I am off to Lisa's cabin with Megan and a large group of other people to celebrate Lisa's birthday! It should be fun, hopefully I can remember some of it. Anyways, no posts until we get back on Sunday evening :)
Have a great weekend everyone!
My apologies for the delay on this one, but my site was down all of yesterday. Soon everything will be on the new server and it'll be all good once again :)
Happy Belated Birthday Sharon! To celebrate, I think you should start a blog ;)
If you aren't doing anything on Saturday you should come to BP's at South Edmonton Common to watch Game 6 of Tampa Bay vs Calgary! Unfortunately the Flames won tonight, so I'll be cheering for Tampa to win and then take the cup at home! I'll be there, and so will Dickson, Andrew, Megan, and probably Sharon and Annie (who, please note, STILL do not have blogs). After the game we're gonna go watch The Day After Tomorrow.
WHO: You and the people above!
WHEN: Saturday, June 5th, 2004 at 6:00 PM
WHERE: Boston Pizza's Lounge at South Edmonton Common
WHY: To cheer on Tampa Bay then watch a movie!
Hope to see you there!
In case you hadn't noticed, it rained tonight! I was outside all evening, supporting Megan's team in the cancer fundraising taking place at Foote Field. It's a walkathon, and each team has to have two people walking at all times. Megan and I even walked for a shift (30 minutes). I think it goes til like 1 PM tomorrow.
They might have picked a better night though, as it was quite wet! Still it was fairly warm, and I didn't REALLY care as Megan's cousin was present :)
Friday night was Greg's birthday celebration at the Druid downtown. I think Dickson and I did a good job of making sure Greg won't remember a thing - good call on that winning shot Dickson! Wondering what the winning shot was?
Bartender: What can I get for you?
Dickson: Give me the nastiest shot you have.
And believe me, it was nasty. The shot glass smelled so bad, so horribly bad. But Greg took it like a man!
Last night was the 30th Anniversary celebration for Megan's parents. Even though the average age was much higher than I can count, it was fun! Andrew gave two very funny speeches, and is now known as "Tom's Little Buddy". Also, I finally got to meet Megan's cousin Christine. That was good :)
Our good friend Sharon (ahem) sent me a link on messenger today to The Word Spy defining the term "technosexual". Apparently this term is the "new word of the week" to replace familiar terms like geek, nerd, techie, etc.
They go on to list the earliest citation of the word on March 8th, 2004, so it is definitely new. From what I gather, the term is supposed to be the opposite of metrosexual. Here is a good description:
"With metrosexuality, it's about style, fashion, culture, and grooming for the straight male. A metrosexual man may be seen at an NBA game one night and an art gallery opening the next," says Ricky Montalvo, the man who wants to take technosexuals mainstream. "We take it one step further by adding technology. A technosexual man may not need to go to the NBA game because he can get highlights and scores via SMS or by browsing the web on his PDA while at the art gallery."
—Katharine Miller, "Enter the Technosexual," AlterNet, March 8, 2004
Somehow that makes it sound powerful doesn't it? "We take it one step further..."
Tonight was Ashish's going away dinner and get together (you might remember, he's the hardworking, never sleeping, genius guy that got the job with IBM). Dinner was at Boun Thai downtown, and it was very good. I have a new favorite rice - coconut rice!
After dinner was some Playdium action (before they shut their doors) and then we went to see Van Helsing. The movie had lots of action which was good considering the storyline was quite a cheesefest. It's quite amazing (or sad?) how they managed to fit so many characters into the same script. It wasn't bad though!
I know you'll have fun in your suite in Toronto, working for Big Blue, but I wish you luck Ashish! Have fun, but make sure you come back :) You can see some pictures of tonight here.
Now for some sleep before recording our second Blogosphere Radio episode tomorrow!
Learn about green tea and check out a site my friend Jen Chan made! At the very least, do your work search robots! SOBEG LTD.
The last two days have been very busy! Yesterday was some good times at the plant with Dickson, Andrew and Greg, and then pool and fooseball. I owned at the former, sucked at the latter. Then last night we had a dinner at Boston Pizza for Megan's birthday which was a lot of fun. There was quite a few people there, and it was nice to see everyone together - it doesn't happen as often anymore. Thanks to everyone who was able to make it. Oh and for the record, the communists lost.
Today was YiLi's BBQ at whorelack park. Fortunately the weather stayed nice long enough for some baseball and food :) I learned very quickly that it is Springtime - need to take my Claritin with me!
Happy Easter everyone! And while I probably won't be the first to say it, I can be the first to blog it - Happy Birthday Megan!
Just wanted to say a quick happy birthday to Courtney! Hope you have a good time tonight :)
Dickson and I have a new motto: With Ease! This is a direct result of our 391 project which I talked about earlier. You can read Dickson's excelllent recap on the weekend here.
So what is left? 379...with ease! Imagine Cup 2004...with ease! Paramagnus Imagine...with ease! I just hope we live up to the motto ;)
Yesterday afternoon I went with Dickson to meet Sharon and Annie at the Second Cup on campus. Its always interesting when we get together, but here is a brief rundown on what happened:
1) I declared that lattes are for wimps - as Sharon was drinking one...
2) Dickson and I were introduced to Sharon and Annie's mutual friend Catherine (or Katherine?). Very nice girl who apparently has a boyfriend and was recently engaged. The funny thing is that when Sharon told me that, she said it like I cared...like they were hurdles or something...Please!
3) Another person sitting next to us overheard our discussion and ended up chatting with us. Nice to meet you Barb!
4) For some odd reason, Catherine got the idea that I should be a teacher...
In any case, the plan is to do the same next Tuesday, so hopefully Sharon and Annie don't get in the way! "Shes a nice girl don't corrupt her!". Settle down and go with the flow ladies!
Well tonight I was once again trying to entice Sharon into blogging. I explained to her that it would only take 30 seconds to set it up, and 30 seconds to make a quick "Hello World!" post. Here is what she said to that:
That'd be like giving pot to an unsuspecting 13 year old...all it takes is that one drag...
I agree blogging is addicting, but I don't think its THAT potent! One day she will blog...it's only a matter of time...
Last night was the University of Alberta Mixed Chorus concert, and I went with Dickson, Andrew, Joe, Nick, Lisa and Dave to watch Megan and Mike (or listen haha). The concert was really good, and I feel like a regular after attending for three consecutive years! Maybe I should win an award or something. The concert was at the wonderful Winspear center, where you can hear a pin drop.
After the concert we went to Boston Pizza with some of the choir people for some late eats and drinks. Good times, good times. And let me just point out for the record that we drank to Mack TWICE (or was it three times?), and drank to Nick, only once. Better luck next time! Maybe if you had a blog! HAHA!
Tonight I went for dinner with Dickson, Annie and Sharon to Tokyo Express just off Whyte Ave. It was quite good, I had never eaten there before and was impressed with the taste. I had double the chicken - don't do this unless you are very hungry, lots of food! The girl working at the time was quite cute though, I must say. I shall have to return one day!
After eating, Annie and Sharon took Dickson shopping at Old Navy. I happened to tag along, but let's get one thing straight - I was JUST tagging along! It was quite comical to say the least, and Dickson ended up buying a pair of jeans. If you are curious as to how it went, here is a brief overview of the key points:
Annie: Dickson you need jeans!
Dickson: Uhh...okay.
Sharon & Me: *snicker* *snicker*
Annie: Go try these on!
Dickson: Okay...
Annie: Turn around lets see your butt!
Dickson: *obliges*
Mack: *laughs*
Sharon: oh my god *laughs*
So yeah, all in all it was quite amusing! After the jeans were purchased, we wanted to go to a movie, but Sharon and Annie are lazy and don't get out enough, so they decided not to go. So with that, Dickson and I went to see The Passion of the Christ, but that deserves its own entry.
It seems that another person has come out from hiding with their blog. Check out Megan's blog at http://mig14.blogspot.com. I think its great people are blogging...but where are the feeds?! I really get annoyed with blogs that don't have RSS or Atom feeds...thats like having a book without the binding - you can read it, but its a lot more troublesome!
It appears as though Andrew is blogging once again (looks like he started way back in the day!) Check out his blog here. My list of people to get blogging shrinks yet again...
Dickson's site is back up now - DNS hosted by yours truly :)
Anyone remember going into the washrooms in high school, and reading "for a good time, call..."? Or maybe you don't have to remember, go into any public washroom today and you are sure to find it scrawled on the wall!
Anyways...I am glad Dickson started blogging. But you have to check out his blog. It reminds me of reading that message - nice and explicit! It really is Dickson's House of Love! I cannot wait until we drag more people into the blogosphere.