Highlights

Cytoplasmic Writings - June 2006 Archives

Monday, June 26th 2006

No posts for a little less than two weeks. With each weekend in Toronto, I only have the weekdays to write up any content. Unfortunately, last week was spent making the birthday present for my girlfriend Jenn. Decided to try my luck with my artistic skills again. I made Jenn a framed puzzle that we did awhile ago. I realized that we don't have many pictures of us doing anything so to encourage more pictures, why not a picture album? Turned out okay. I've realized that my artistic style is very regimented with clean lines. I don't try to get too creative and abstract is well...abstract to me. Definitely glad I didn't decide on an arts career.

The Edmonton Oilers lost. Lord Stanley's Cup stays in the United States for another year! There's already been a blockbuster trade with Vancouver sending Todd Bertuzzi to Florida for Roberto Luongo. There are rumours that the Leafs are trying to sign Chris Pronger but the Oilers want Kaberle and Steen. They better not give our youth away again! Ferguson's job depends on what moves he makes this summer. I'm willing to have a few off seasons with the Leafs barely making the playoffs for the next couple of years if the end result is a strong team that can compete for a decent amount of time. If Detroit can mix the veterans with the great young talent they have, why not us?

The first round of the World Cup is over and 16 teams are out. In fact the round of 16 is almost over as well. England has always been the team I've cheered for but if they lose, I wouldn't mind too much. I'd keep watching because the football has been amazing. So far England, Germany, Portugal, Argentina, Ukraine and Italy have made the quarter-finals. Tomorrow it's Brazil vs. Ghana and France vs. Spain. Too bad I have to work. The Portugal vs Netherlands was a crazy game. 24 offenses and 4 red cards. It was ridiculous as players started taking dives left and right. There were also some heated skirmishes between the two groups. Although the best camera shot of the game was when Deco and van Bronckhorst were chilling after both had received red cards. They looked like two guys just hanging out and enjoying the game (they're teammates on Barcelon). The result? A battered Portugal team missing some starters are going to face an English team still looking to prove that have what it takes to win the World Cup. Fun indeed!

Well, that's enough for tonight. I'll have time tomorrow so I should post some more info up on the site. Cheers!

DRAGONCRYPT 6/26/2006 11:07:16 PM

Tuesday, June 13th 2006

I've noticed that IE isn't showing the layout I put out for the World Cup groups. I can't figure it out. Oh well, I'm just gonna leave the post and not worry about it too much. Stupid Internet Explorer.

Saturday was a pretty long day. I spent the majority of the day with Mark and his fiancee Milana looking at venues for their wedding. We only got to see three places but one was in Ancaster so it took a little while. Wedding planning is crazy. I can't believe how much money weddings can be. I know it's supposed to be a special day but the amount you spend on the wedding is sometimes absurd. The price gouging is ridiculous. It makes me want to buy some land and make it a wedding haven. Set up different "sets" so people can have different weddings. Charge some ridiculous amount of money and reap the rewards.

After the venue planning, Jenn and I went to bubble tea with Dave, Larry and Geoff. We caught up on some old times. Larry had a close call on the go-kart track because some idiot was driving irresponsibly. The track officials continue to let this guy race even though he's dangerous. I really wonder how he drives in real life. There are so many dangerous drivers out there. Every weekend on my way home from or to Waterloo, I notice so many drivers weaving in and out the lanes trying to get to whatever destination faster. Most of the time I think these guys are good drivers. However, they're not safe drivers because they can't guarantee the response of the other drivers. By driving so dangerously, you freak out other drivers and then the bad drivers get worse.

Last weekend, Jenn and I went to Vaughan Mills Shopping Centre. They had a Zimmy's Billiards there and they had some sweet snooker cues. The tips were gorgeous. On top of that the cues themselves were on sale. Man, I really want a snooker table in my future house. Jenn has already said that we can have one if I build her a bar. I could do that no prob. After watching Holmes on Homes, I know that I have no talent for this stuff so I'll probably have to hire some respectable contractors to build me a nice bar complete with bar stools. Dare to dream.

DRAGONCRYPT 6/14/2006 12:33:41 AM

Thursday, June 8th 2006

The 2006 World Cup of Football begins tomorrow. Football is the sport of the world. Billions watch the World Cup and it is a source of pride for every country except possibly the United States. It's amazing that in the current FIFA rankings, the US is actually ranked #4. Crazy. FIFA is looking to introduce a new ranking system which would see a more realistic ranking. So who are the 32 teams vying for the prize? I've listed the countries and the groups below.

It's an interesting final 32 indeed. Definitely some countries that I would not expect on the list. I wonder who will be 2006's version of South Korea? Overall it will still be fun to watch the games. There are a lot of football fans at work so the workplace will definitely be charged up. One thing I noticed was the promise that every single match will be presented in HD. Wow. Makes me jealous of my parents' HD terminal.

In other news, Iraq's #1 terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed today by a US air strike. Of course, the Pentagon decided to release yet another picture of a dead terrorist to the media. Now al-Zarqawi's dead face is plastered all over the place. I know that he was a hard-line fundamentalist, but the dead should be treated properly, even if he is the enemy. It's actions like this that make the insurgents even more ticked off. I watched both British PM Tony Blair's speech and part of George Bush's address to the media regarding this. Man, Bush has really perfected the art of saying tons of shit but never releasing any information that's useful. The speech was about courage this and courage that. Sigh. The cookie-cutter speeches are really mind-numbing. Public speaker he ain't.

One more day until the weekend. Then it's off to TO for the weekend. I'll probably put another update up on Sunday. Cheers!

DRAGONCRYPT 6/8/2006 10:17:56 PM

Wednesday, June 7th 2006

The first entry in June and it's already 7 days into the month. I guess that's what happens when the month ends on a Thursday and I'm gone for the weekend. The weekend itself was great. I spent lots of time with Jenn. My sister treated the entire family to a buffet lunch on Saturday. We ended up going to Rex Saigon, this That/Viet/Malay buffet at Brimley and Sheppard. The food was amazing! It was nice to have a different type of buffet. I'm so used to Chinese and Japanese buffets. It was a little shameful actually, in my family, I used to be the one that ate the most. I think I ate the least in my family save for Jenn and my niece Audrey. How the tides have turned!!!

I picked up my comic books for the last three weeks. Another huge boxful of books. The cost wasn't that heavy until you factor in the 30 dollar variant I got. Didn't really want it but it was already in my box. Marvel Comics is going crazy with the variant covers. Every issue of Civil War has a 1 in 75 sketch variant. Wolverine Origins #2 had a RRP variant that was unannounced. Ultimate Fantastic Four #30 has two variants. The market is being flooded with variants again. I try not to pick up the expensive variants as I'm sure the prices will drop as the demand and speculation goes down. Some of the variants go for near cover price nowadays so it's definitely better to wait.

So I learned early this week that I had to cancel my camping trip to Arrowhead Provincial Park. Mark had scheduled the engagement party that weekend. It would have been nice to know this before I booked vacation time AND made reservations at the park. Mark was nice enough to offer to pay for the fees involved in transferring the reservation to Brian but it still sucks. Hopefully Jenn and I can book some time in August to go camping by ourselves. Also found out that I may have lost my citizenship card. There goes our US shopping trip. So all these plans I had for the summer are slowly being uprooted. It's kinda pissed me off this last week. The citizenship card is entirely my fault but it's just annoying to have all these things happen in the same week.

As I'm writing this, I just checked the sports update for the Stanley Cup Finals. Well, the Oilers are down 2-0 in the series now. They just lost 3-0 to the Hurricanes. Dwayne Roloson being injured is huge for the Oilers. Cam Ward was absolutely fantastic in net on Monday and he probably was again tonight. The biggest weakness I've seen in Ward? He gives up really big juicy rebounds. The Oilers really need to capitalize on those rebounds and shake Ward up a little. It's looking grim for the Oilers but the series ain't over yet.

DRAGONCRYPT 6/7/2006 9:33:45 PM