Highlights

Cytoplasmic Writings - February 2006 Archives

February did indeed feel like the shortest month of the year. February also brought the cold winter back to Waterloo and Toronto. We were all spoiled by the warm weather in January and the cold frigid weather quickly in February quickly quashed any hope of a warm winter. The Olympics were in February and Canada had its highest medal count ever.

Tuesday, Februrary 28th 2006

NHL hockey is back! I watched the first ten minutes of the Maple Leafs game against the Washington Capitals. The Capitals scored two goals and then I turned off the television. Glad to see that the Leafs haven't changed much. It's gonna be interesting for the next 25 games as the Leafs are in the thick of it, fighting for a playoff spot. At least the team is healthy right now. Good luck guys!

I had the day off today. It was a little scary as I woke up thinking I had to work. Sigh. Yesterday night I accidently signed off a half hour early from work. I thought I was off at 7 for some reason instead of 7:30. Luckily and can make up for the lost time on my next shift. Whew. So have any of you done anything stupid like that before? Which gets me thinking, how do those statistical companies calculate man hours wasted or used? I always hear those stats about this and that causing man-hours wasted but how they calculate that? Just plain weird to me.

I ended up doing lots of things today. Did some grocery shopping this morning. Decided to use 2% milk instead of cream for my coffee to save a few bucks. Man, I really have to get used to it cuz it tastes so watery. I also bought some pasta on sale. I decided to try making some of those fancy pastas like linguine. I don't know what kind of sauces I'll make, but it should be fun. I also cleaned my office today too. I got rid of a lot of boxes and re-arranged the comic books I have up here. I also found out that I buy an average of 75 comic books a month. Man, that's a lot of comic books. That explains why I keep running out of long boxes to store stuff. It was a good cooking day today too. Everything I cooked today tasted good. Nothing was too salty or too sweet. Even the rice was good. I guess somedays you get lucky. I've had days where I put too much salt. I still get nightmares from the salty eggplant I made.

I can't believe that March is tomorrow. February always blows by so quickly. It's almost tax return time and I've got to get my act together. I still have to file my corporate taxes from when I was with Second Cup. Man, the whole incorporating thing is a pain in the butt, especially when you have to pay an accountant to do your taxes. Just another cost to add to the total. I'm really hoping winter will be over soon. March brings Spring and I hope it will be a long one. I remember last year that Spring was really short. I don't recall if it was due to Winter being long or Summer coming early. Either way, I prefer having a nice long Spring full of showers and nice cool weather. Well, that's it for now. See you all in March.

DRAGONCRYPT 2/28/2006 9:07:06 PM

Sunday, February 26th 2006

Go Canada Go! Final Edition

The Winter Olympics are over and Canada has won a total of 24 medals putting them 3rd in medals won and 5th in medal standings. I saw an article saying that even though Canada won more medals, there were more events and our gold medal count stayed the same. Who cares?! Just because there were more events doesn't mean we automatically win this new events! And the fact we still placed 3rd for total medal count means the other countries didn't have a free-for-all either. Sheesh, stupid reporters. Well, looking forward to Vancouver 2010, maybe a trip over to watch (hint hint nudge nudge Jenn).

I had to work this weekend so it was a Waterloo weekend. Jenn is coming up next weekend so I'll be staying in Waterloo for three weeks straight. I don't mind, it saves gas money now that prices are going up due to an attempted attack on Saudi Arabia's largest oil refinery. Is that area of the world getting more dangerous or is it just increased media coverage? In fact, there are so many dangerous things happening around the world that I'm glad I'm not travelling a lot. Martial Law in the Phillipines, Canadians murdered in a Mexican resort, Bird flu scares everywhere. Travelling in Canada will be fine for now.

I cooked my very first batch of curry this week as well. I wasn't exactly sure how to cook curry but I figured it was pretty simple. After work, I headed to the University International Food Market and got the cheapest pack of curry powder I could find. I used beef shank which made the meat really tender. The only thing is that the meat became a little tastless and the curry flavour didn't really settle in. I did manage to stink up the whole house with the aroma of curry. Luckily Brian didn't mind. Mark bought me a huge cookbook a while back and I've been trying to learn new recipes. A lot of recipes ask for too many ingredients. I'm a simple guy and since I don't use too many herbs and spices, much of it will go to waste, especially the fresh herbs. I saw some chefs make a salmon Wellington and I'm really keen and making the same thing. It looks so simple that even I could do it. Before I try the Wellington, Jenn and I are going to try and make some panini. Jenn got a craving for it and then I got a craving for it. Eggplan panini here we come!

Tomorrow marks 8 months I've been with Research In Motion. Wow, pretty soon it will be a year. I'm fairly happy with where I am and things look bright in the future. Debt as always is pulling me down, but if I can survive the next year, I will have paid off some of my loans and that means more income to pay off the other loans. So many loans. Sigh. Well I've learned my lesson the hard way and more than once at that. I guess that's why I don't call most of my friends or hangout with many people. I really can't afford to do much except chill. Some friends offer to pay but I'm not too comfortable with that. It's a great gesture but I just don't feel comfortable most of the time (I have done it before). Anyways, it will probably be another year of keeping a low profile before I'm able to go out a little more. No worries I guess.

DRAGONCRYPT 2/26/2006 11:51:14 PM

Wednesday, February 22nd 2006

Go Canada Go! Part II

Canada now has 18 medals and is tied for 3rd in the medal standings. It's great to see Canada's athletes winning in the Olympics. I really wish the IOC wouldn't let the professionals play hockey, basketball or football. Granted, this is a time for the world's best to shine, but it would eliminate the countless debates about playing for your country or playing for your team. Sure, let NHL players play in the world championships, that's okay. But leave professionals out of the Olympics. Most Olympians struggle to get financing for their sport while the professionals just come in and play. Pffft.

I've been in Toronto enjoying a little mini-vacation. Since I'm working this coming weekend, I was given today off so I decided to take Monday and Tuesday off as well. The time spent in Toronto was well spent. It consisted mainly of just spending time with Jenn, but man was it fun. We watched Sideways. Great movie, kinda gut-wrenching at times. I had to roast a turkey on a short notice (undercooked) it and watched the season finale of Rescue Me. Word is that there is gonna be a third season. Awesome!

Got caught up on my current comic books. I still cannot believe how many books I collect. There's a lot of good stuff coming out and I really have to pick and choose. Though I did get dinged for the variant covers coming out. A lot of comic book fans complain about variant covers. I never got it. If you don't want the cover, don't buy it. I like have multiple covers if all the covers are GOOD. If they suck, I feel cheated. It's gonna be another 3 weeks before I get my next batch of books so I'm getting anxious for the next release of Infinite Crisis. Crazy!

My roommate Brian and I had an interesting conversation last week. We both were discussing the various events that have transpired recently in the world and we both came to the same conclusion. Fuck the Gene Roddenberry ideal of humanity getting along. It's not gonna happen in our lifetime. Also, I firmly believe that not all differences can be settled. Some have to be conquered or assimilated. There are too many people out there who think everyone can get along, and day in and day out, reality proves those people wrong. Some things aren't meant to survive, but humans love to cling to things. So am I making any sense? I dunno. But it was a good conversation anyways. Guess you had to be there.

Well, my adventures in cuisine continue and I think my beef stew is ready. First time I'm using beef shank so I hope the meat is super-tender. I still can't get the tender meat thing going right and it always ends up being hard and chewy. Man, I suck at cooking.

DRAGONCRYPT 2/22/2006 7:20:40 PM

Wednesday, February 15th 2006

Go Canada Go!

Canada has 4 medals so far. They're not doing as well as many thought they would be. Who cares?! Congratulations to all those who compete. Not many get to even participate in the Olympics but they made it that far. Sure it would be AWESOME if you win a medal but it's all about the spirit of the games as well. It was crazy watching Beckie Scott catch up to the rest of the pack and then take the lead. S-I-C-K!. Women's hockey thumped their competition. I think they overdid it but the rules need to be changed so goal differential isn't as important. I am certainly looking forward to watching more hockey games and of course the speed skating pursuit....crazy stuff.

I am sooo frustrated with my scanner computer. I just want to throw the whole machine out the window sometimes. I've narrowed it down to a corrupt file system I think. Though if the issue is with the actually IDE controllers I'm screwed. Though the prices for used computers aren't that bad. For about 100 bucks you can buy some decent machines and since all my parts work on the older systems, I'd be upgrading to a kick-ass scanner computer. Too bad I don't have 100 bucks. Sigh. I'll try a few more things before I finally give up and bring back my other computer that's currently connected to the television. But I NEED to watch Battlestar Galactica on TV!!! Ok...maybe not.

Gas prices are so LOW! They've been under 80 cents here in Waterloo for the whole week. I'll never understand the fluctuating gas prices but I'll take cheap prices whenever I can. With our utilities, I've begun to notice their bills. Natural Gas is constantly increasing and the hydro bill is set to increase this summer. I can't wait for the day we cheap energy is viable. I'm like talking dirt-cheap, clean energy. That would be great.

Oh yeah, Happy Birthday to Andrew, Brian and Joyce. It's that time of the year where the February kids have their birthdays all around Valentine's Day. Speaking of Valentine's Day, Jenn and I decided not to celebrate it as it's such an expensive event. We spend lots of quality time together so we don't need Valentine's to remind us of that. The good thing is all that chocolate goes on sale right after the 14th. Woohoo! So did anybody celebrate Valentine's Day and what did you do?

DRAGONCRYPT 2/15/2006 10:45:58 PM

Sunday, February 12th 2006

Just got back from Toronto. It was another Chinese festival, the one celebrating 15 days after the New Year. I'm pretty ignorant of Chinese celebrations so I don't know the exact name of festival. I should find out though so I know to tell my kids one day. As with all Chinese festivals, my mom made lots of good food for the family. I did manage to only eat one pork rib. Couldn't hold back on the fried shrimp.

On Saturday Jenn and I went shopping. Jenn and I decided not to give in and celebrate Valentine's Day as everything is expensive on that day. We'd rather celebrate some other day or just do what we do now, which is celebrate every day. So many stores have changed in Fairview. Jenn brought me into Claire's. It's a fashion accessory store and it was PACKED with little girls with the parents looking at earrings, hair clips and other accessories. SCARY. I couldn't believe how some of these young girls were already wearing makeup and doing their nails. Jessica Simpson had this little tiny lip gloss for like $12. Crazy. After shopping at Fairview we went to Pacific Mall to buy some stuff and it was, as always, packed. The one thing about Chinese people I've noticed, they can dress really bad, but it doesn't matter because lots of them dress really bad. I pointed out to Jenn some decent looking asian girls who work some pretty short skirts and then having it completely ruined by the inward facing knees walk. I don't think Chinese people are genetically inclided to wear skirts. Maybe that's why we have those long dresses.

After Pacific Mall we went to First Choice Supermarket to buy some groceries for Jenn's mom. Wow. That place is another cheap Chinese supermarket. I really don't know how these places survive when Loblaws and Dominion charge so much in their stores. Sometimes the goods aren't the best of quality but they are still delicious and edible. I dunno. Anyways, after groceries, Jenn felt like Korean food so we found this place on Highway 7. Pretty good food. I had the spicy cold noodles and Jenn had spicy pollack stew. Lots of Korean food seems to be spicy. Of course, it was bubbles after, but Jenn had arranged to meet with her friends so we started and ended early at around 11ish.

Phew, busy weekend. It was nice to go out after staying in all the last two weeks in Waterloo. There's not much to do here and even less when you don't know many people. Besides, everything costs money and I'm currently trying to save as much of that as possible. Well I've got a weird shift this week, right in the middle of the day. Can't do much before and defnitely cannot do much after. So it's pretty much eat, sleep, workout and work for this week. I do get five days off starting friday though. Woohoo! Till next time.

DRAGONCRYPT 2/13/2006 1:37:18 AM

Wednesday, February 8th 2006

Who likes Porn? I love porn. Naked women and men having sex and pictorial shots of nude women helped me grow up. It made me understand the basic differences between a man and a woman. I remember the first time I saw a picture of a fully nude woman, genitalia and all. It was soooo GROSS. Never in my mind would I have expected something as gross. For all I knew, I thought there was no labia and folds of flesh. Eeewwwww! Or was it gross? I'm glad I had this reaction when I saw a woman on paper instead of seeing my first real woman naked in front of me. What would that woman do if I, in the midst of a torrid passion, said "eeeeewwwwww!". Right. That would definitely set the mood. Sure a lot of porn is really gross, but a lot of it is educational. I respect porn stars. They enjoyed doing something and they've made it their job. They're doing much better than I am. I don't really enjoy my job so I don't really try as hard (no pun intended) whereas pornstars seem to give it their all.

So why am I talking about porn? I dunno. I find porn interesting. Sex is the ultimate intimate event and it is also the ultimate social release. You can enjoy sex with someone you love and then you can have sex with 40 other strangers in a fuckfest orgy. Wow. Some extremes eh? I seen lots of things that have crossed over the line I set myself for being appropriate. But as long as everyone is consenting, then it doesn't bother me and I try not to judge. Some people like anal sex, some people like casual sex, some people like torture. Myself, I like good enjoyable sex. You need to be turned on to enjoy sex so if these things work for you, good for you. I like the fact that people are having more sexual freedom, but I've noticed that with the freedom, kids have ignored the safety involved with sex. Condoms are a must with partners you aren't familiar with. STDs are rampant and people forget this. In this day and age where more and more young people are sexually active, it's a good time to look out for yourself. Ultimately sex is about satisfying your own needs while hopefully the other parties are doing the same. Don't have sex for the other person cuz the other person will pick up on it and not enjoy themselves either. There are some things I wouldn't do even if the hottest girl in the world asked me to. I would never go down on a girl who's been partying all day and all night in a thong and a skirt. Do you know how much nasty sweat has just built up there? NASTY. Anyways, to all who are sexually active, just be safe okay? So whether you are fucking; a cow, girl, guy, tofu or whatever, practice safe sex.

DRAGONCRYPT 2/9/2006 1:12:42 AM

Sunday, February 5th 2006

It's Super Bowl Sunday. I've never really been interested in the sport of football. I remember watching a few Super Bowls a few years back and they were exciting at times. However, with all the strategy and timeouts that delayed the game, it got boring fairly fast. Now I like watching football movies. Movies like Any Given Sunday and Varsity Blues made me respect football and the people who play. It's so huge in the US and I cannot imagine the pressure that kids go through to get into the NFL. The same goes for any major sport I guess. So who is going to win? Don't really care. Larry and Geoff are supposed to come up today to watch the Super Bowl. I'll watch some of it but I have other stuff to do so I'll let them watch the game with Brian.

Since we're on the topic of sports, I must talk about my beloved Toronto Maple Leafs. Wow, I never realized how many people hate the Maple Leafs. I think it's penis envy really. People from the West despise us because we always have the money. The Habs fans hate us cuz, well, they're Habs fans, that's natural. As for me? I don't depise any Canadian teams, except for one team: Ottawa. I've never liked Ottawa. In the beginning it was fun to poke at the fans and the rivalry was great. But after a few years of beating them in the playoffs when they should have won and then fans complaining about it. Well I'm sick of it. Jeez. On paper, Ottawa should have killed the Leafs every time. It's not the Leafs fault that your team cracked under pressure. Hey, the Leafs cracked under pressure in the later rounds too. Well, this year Ottawa has a really good chance of winning the Stanley Cup. I do wish them luck and I really hope a Canadian team wins the Cup this year.

Okay, I gotta go back to work and fix one of my computers and finish off some hobby stuff for the webpage. Oh yeah, I finally was able to post some movie reviews. Not the greatest reviews but I don't like spoiling the movies too much for readers. Still lots of empy space on the website and I'm hoping that will change soon. Cheers

DRAGONCRYPT 2/5/2006 12:28:51 PM