Highlights

Cytoplasmic Writings - August 2006 Archives

August was another busy summer month. Lots of international crises during the month but I was unable to write any highlights down for the month. Too many personal commitments this month to jot things down.

Thursday, August 31st 2006

The last day in August and the summer ends. Well, summer doesn't mean as much anymore now that I'm working. It's true that the parents do take off some time so they can spend it with the kids, but since I ain't go not kids, that ain't me. It's amazing how fast the summer does go by. I've been back almost every weekend this summer and it really doesn't feel like it's been three months. Did lots of things but it still doesn't feel like ye old summer.

After work, we had another pod outing. This time we went to the golf driving range. This was the first time I've really played golf (normally putt putt for me) and it was fun and it definitely hurt. I have that tendency to try and mash the ball. I think it was from not playing softball for a year. I had a few decent drives but they were mostly shanks to the left or right. Most of my co-workers didn't know how to play either so it was all good times. After the driving range, we all went to a local bar and had beer and food. Well, I didn't have any beer, just the food. Just got back and now I'm typing this up.

The stupid car is acting up now. There's this unusual noise in the back that sounds like something caught in the wheel. I couldn't find anything but there wasn't a lot of light left. I'll have to check tomorrow. Hopefully it is just a loose hubcap or something similar. I don't want to go through another costly repair for this car. I'm sick of all the work I have to do on the car. Gah. Stupid cars. I still need to do the emissions test, registration and also the rust-proofing....more money into the money pit.

DRAGONCRYPT 8/31/2006 11:14:34 PM

Tuesday, August 29th 2006

Wow, I am dead tired from the weekend. I wasn't feeling very good today so I had to call in sick for work. I spent the whole weekend over at Jenn's new place helping with painting and moving. I've never really painted before but it is definitely a lot of hard, tiring work. The fumes also made the work difficult at times but the results are well worth it. I really like the new place and I think Jenn's family is really gonna enjoy it there. The drive is a little further but at least it's further away from the hustle and bustle of Toronto. I find that I really don't enjoy the streets of Toronto anymore. Everybody's in a hurry and always honking or cutting people off. Bleh.

Not much else to really talk about as the whole weekend was just some hard labour. Although, looking at the house, it made me wonder about what it would be like to have my own place. Jenn and I have discussed such things as special rooms (for my comics hehe) and such. I don't think I ever want to own a condo. Condos are great for singles but since I'm beyond that it's not the greatest environment to live in. I'd rather be paying a mortgage than maintenance fees. I'd also like a nice kitchen and some nice open areas in the house. I don't think I'd really enjoy living in a place that has no counter space to cook with. Of course, I'd LOVE an island counter-top with a possible sink. I'd also like a huge fridge and the wall oven unit. Yeah, all dreams for that dream house one day right? Well I think a good plan would be to get a nice place and then renovate it to suit your needs. The location is vital and then size will factor it. With the housing market at a possible peak, I'm hoping that it will be going downwards when I'm ready to take that leap forward to buy a house.

Man, I'm already talking about that next stage in life when I'm still in the infancy of this stage. LOL. I really do plan too much to the point that I overplan at times. I should stop planning so much because it inhibits some of the risks I think I should take. Planning has become a comfort zone because your always "thinking". LOL, way to fool urself I guess. Anyways, time for some warm milk and sleep. Nite.

DRAGONCRYPT 8/29/2006 11:45:44 PM

Wednesday, August 23rd 2006

Back from camping at Arrowhead Provincial Park. The trip was awesome and it was great to go camping again after a ten year hiatus. This was the first time I went camping without someone who knew about camping so it was really fun to learn some new things. One example? Jenn and I are gonna get a tarp to hang over the tent the next time we go. It rained Saturday night and a small amount of water leaked into the tent. The tent wasn't completely waterproof and it causes a lot of discomfort when sleeping. The funny thing is that Jenn was so afraid of the bugs but I got more mosquito bites than she did! Dammit!

The best part about camping is the relaxation. It was really nice to sit back in front of a warm fire and just chill without really thinking about anything. It was fun to roast marshmallows again and building a fire was awesome. We went fishing, hiking and just chilled a lot. I think it's safe to say that this could be an annual camping trip. The second time around, it will be much more comfortable of the both of us.

Sigh, now I'm back to work in a few hours. Well, to start the day off, I've got an interview for the IRT Server position. I still haven't heard back from the IT Service Desk position so I should email them and find out what's going on. More money with Server or the same amount but different department with IT Service Desk? It's a tempting either way so it will be interesting on how my interview goes and what offers (if any) that I get. I guess I should still apply for some other internal positions as well. Definitely interesting for the next month.

So the summer is almost over and I've done pretty much everything I wanted to do on my list except for building that other web site. Still trying to flesh out how I can start selling the goods without exposure using Ebay. Ebay is so expensive now that it's hard to make a living off of it. That was never my intention, but it does hinder my effort somewhat. Well, I still might put a few items up for auction to at least generate income for the store. Look for future updates. Aight, off to my first job.

DRAGONCRYPT 8/23/2006 12:30:25 PM

Wednesday, August 16th 2006

Had my IRT Server Exchange test today. I was tested on several aspects of the BlackBerry solution. Kinda fun actually. I don't remember the last time I wrote a test but it has been awhile. Since I've been supporting the BlackBerry handhelds for over a year now, I really didn't study. I figure if I didn't know the questions that they were asking...well, to hell with it because they're not appropriate questions. Tests and I are like that. Probably why I only have a General Math Degree.

Sleep has been sucking lately. I get over 6 hours (my normal average) and I feel like crap. I can't even remember the last time I've had a full night's sleep. I always seem to wake up in the middle of the night and then I have to fall asleep again. I'm not sure if it's a serious disruption to my sleep but I definitely feel tired in the morning. Maybe things will get better once I settle on a good sleep pattern...yeah right.

A few more days to camping! Woohoo! I'm gonna start packing tomorrow. The weather forecast is predicting sunny skies with a temperature around 22-25 degrees. Woohoo! Perfect weather for camping. Let's hope that the campsite is good, I can figure out how to make a fire, our food is enough, we catch fish....whatever, I think we'll have fun no matter what happens. The summer is almost over and I've had tons of fun so far. I hope that next summer will be even better for Jenn and me as we should have more capital to spend on trips and stuff (crossing my fingers). Not sure if I'm posting anything tomorrow, I have a few comic book reviews written up but I don't have covers for them yet. Before I go, congratulations to Vince and Darlene on their engagement. Good for you guys! Woohoo! Next will be the Mongoose! Hehehehehe.

DRAGONCRYPT 8/17/2006 1:04:29 AM

Monday, August 14th 2006

Back from a successful weekend in Toronto. Jenn and I drove back on Saturday morning and I cooked a seafood broth thingie with some wild rice. It was intersting and delicious. It was also the first time I used live mussels. Glad everything turned out.

Larry, Geoff and his friend Michelle came up to Waterloo on Friday for an impromptu bbq. My roommate, Brian decided to make some homemade burgers that were delicious! We ended up plyaing Isaac Asimov's Super Quiz III where I was defeated soundly. Geoff has so mad history knowledge yo! It was a shame that Dave couldn't make it but the time schedule was a little tight for all as Geoff was heading to Pittsburgh for school on Sunday. See you in December dude!

Jenn and I met up with my buddy Mike and his wife, Corrina, on Sunday. We decided to go to the Taste of the Danforth festival. The food was fantastic! The prices were really affordable and there was a wide range of food to be tasted. Besides the standard Greek food there were Chinese, Japanese, Brazilian and other types of food available. The weather was perfect for the festival. I ended up eating some pub grub and a Brazilian sandwich with chicken, beef and pork with some Brazilian sauce. Tasty. After the festival we went to Harboufront and walked around a little and then had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Decent food with some good prices. I was surprised at how affordable it was. Definitely a good back up plan if we're downtown with no plans for dinner.

Camping is coming up this weekend! Jenn and I started the planning and packing of the trip. It's car camping so we can bring tons of crap and some good food. If Jenn likes the whole outdoors thing then maybe we'll do some real outdoors camping in the future. I have never started a fire so it will be interesting to see how I perform on Saturday night. We're also hoping to at least catch some fish. However, we're gonna bring some backup canned eel in case we don't. Hehe.

Last week was definitely a bad week for Canadian soldiers as another soldier was killed on Saturday by a suicide bomber. THe soldier's name has not yet been released. That brings the total Canadians killed in Afghanistan to 26. August has so far been a brutal month with 7 soldiers killed since the beginning of August. I hope that this is not going to be an ongoing trend and that our troops are going to be more well protected now.

DRAGONCRYPT 8/14/2006 4:58:37 PM

Friday, August 11th 2006

The last shift of the week. The midnight shift is always worth it when you get off at 8:30 Friday morning. Although I have yet to get off on time all week. I keep getting actual calls so I've stayed over my scheduled shift each time. Well, it's the price you pay for taking only 3-4 calls a night (the rest being emails). Besides, I don't mind the extra cash.

I was dying Wednesday and was barely up during the last hour. Yesterday, after work, I crashed when I got home and I was finally able to sleep through the birds, lawn mowers and other daily distractions. I still only got around 6 hours of sleep so I'm hoping that's enough. Geoff, his friend Michelle, Larry and Dave are coming up tomorrow so I'll have a long day ahead of me. It will be good to see Geoff before he heads to Pittsburgh for law school.

Jenn and I finally finished the LEGO Star Destroyer I bought when I was in the States. It's an awesome set and I like how it opens up so you can play with it. I'm planning to take some pictures and post it up in the LEGO section for all to see. It's just amazing what you can do with LEGO these days. After building this smaller set, I really want the Ultimate Collector Star Destroyer. Of course, that's a pipe dream as it costs 400 CAD. One day....

Had a scare today as I lost my cell phone when Jenn and I took a walk. I didn't wear a belt so I attached the holster sideways to my pants. The phone must have gradually slipped out and finally fell out without me noticing. I was panicking as I didn't want to lose the cell phone and be forced to buy a new one. Luckily a couple found the phone and answered it when Jenn kept calling it. Thank goodness. I average like 100 minutes on my phone....well not even so I'm not worried about nobody contacting me, but it is my only means of direct contact besides email. Man, it's weird not having a direct land line.

Canada's casualties in Afghanistan have reached 25 as Master Cpl. Raymond Arndt was killed Aug 5th in a traffic accident and Master Cpl. Jeffrey Scott Walsh was killed in a shooting incident August 9th. My condolences to the families of both soldiers.

Britain has stopped a major terrorist plot to blow up 10 planes heading from Heathrow to the United States. The plot involved using liquid explosives and has prompted airports around the world to ban any bottled liquids in carry-on luggage. It looks like travelling on an airplane is getting more and more difficult. To be honest? Airlines should restrict all carry-on baggage. There's no real need for it. Carry-on luggage should be allowed an a need basis (ie diapers, medicine, etc). Screw the laptops, electronics, personal effects, etc. It's going to eventually be like that as the terrorists find new ways to bring weapons on board. Interesting times indeed.

DRAGONCRYPT 8/11/2006 1:32:21 PM

Wednesday, August 9th 2006

Going on my third shift for midnights this week and I'm dead tired. Yesterday I was really feeling it during my last hour at work. I started getting delirious and could barely troubleshoot any issues. The fact that I didn't get a good day's rest the day before did not help either. After my shift ended, I crashed when I got. Managed to get some sleep but still not much. We'll see how well I do today.

After I woke up yesterday, Jenn and I had dinner and went to Costco to pick up some supplies for the house. Costco is killer with all its bulk items. I never seem to spend less than 100 dollars there. I ended up picking up toilet paper, paper towel, tissue paper, laundry detergent, olive oil and hand soap. Grand total? 108 bucks. Wow. That's some crazy shite. The thing is, with these bulk quantity, these things would last me a full year. However, with three of us living in the house, it seems that it's at least every 3-4 months we get more supplies. Jenn made a good point that when things are cheap and in such a large quantity, people tend to waste more. I can't believe how fast we go through paper towels...

I'd like to ask all comic book fans to boycott the Canadian Fan Expo. I really dislike the way things are run at this convention and I find that the convention itself does not help the comic book industry. Year after year, the lines are purposely held up so the media can get "good shots". The number of comic book vendors is decreasing and the show area is simply too crowded. This year, the Expo has some great guests including Jim Lee and Geoff Johns. I almost decided to go to the show but I heard of some underhanded actions taken by the organizer of the show. For years, there have been two comic book conventions in Toronto. Both should theoretically survive as they are set months apart. However, the organizer of the Comic Fan Expo has been trying to run the other convention out of business. Firstly, he set up a "fan appreciation event" a week before the Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon and he even went as far as to name it "Toronto Comicon" which confused the hell out of comic book fans. The organizer first claimed that it was a scheduling mistake and it wouldn't happen again...well, it's happened year after year so it's clearly not a scheduling mistake. So this year, Paradise Comics decided to hold their fan appreciation event two weeks before the Fan Expo. Not a bad idea right? Well, the organizer of the Fan Expo called all the retailers that were doing his show and flat-out threatened them by advising the retailers that if they participated in the Paradise Comics Fan Appreciation Event, they would not be allowed to participate in the Fan Expo and all money would be refunded. WTF?!!! How the hell does this benefit the comic book scene in Toronto? This is pure greed by the Fan Expo. It is clear to me that the Fan Expo is just about making money. The organizer clearly does not care about promoting comic books to a wider audience and working with retailers to increase sales. Such actions are appalling to me and I am making an effort to never attend another Fan Expo again, despite the killer line-up they have this year. I ask all comic book fans to do the same. The sooner we get people like this out of the industry the better the industry will be. Well, that was a long spiel....sorry.

In other news, I ran Monday and Tuesday with Jenn and I've realized how badly I suck at running. Several parts of my body are sore and I can barely walk at times. I've been using the cross-trainer at the gym but I never realized how many other parts of the body I haven't exercised. I think it's about time I started doing weight training too. My triceps are becoming very droopy. Need to look like the modern-age Adonis y'know?

DRAGONCRYPT 8/9/2006 11:13:42 PM

Monday, August 7th 2006

Greetings to all. I hope all of the Canadians out there are having a great long weekend. I am so glad that the Canadian government decided to give us a long weekend in August. We Canadians definitely need the rest. It looks like the end of the sweltering heat from last week. We had some crazy thunderstorms and three tornadoes in Ontario. Around fifty thousand people were left without power in cottage country so that may have ruined a few long weekend plans. With the high humidity and temperature, I wasn't able to do much at home. My room registered 32 degrees and a humidex of 60%. It was even worse with the computer and monitors on. I'm definitely saving up to purchase some LCD monitors next year. I'm working the midnight shift this week so it gives me some time to catch up with reviews and journal entries. So here's the first one of the week!

Firstly, August 3rd was as deadly day for Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Four soldiers were killed in two separate attacks by Taliban forces. Cpl. Christopher Jonathan Reid of Truro, Nova Scotia was killed when his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb. Sgt. Vaughn Ingram of Burgoe, Newfoundland; Cpl. Bryce James Keller of Edmonton, Alberta; and Pte. Kevin Dallaire of Calgary, Alberta were all killed by an attack by militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades. My solemn condolences go out to the families of these men as they died serving their country. The mission in Afghanistan is important on so many levels and I hope that all Canadians remember the sacrifices our troops, whether in war-time or peace time.

Long-lasting peace in the Middle East? Who are they kidding? That hasn't been done in thousands of years and now they think it can be accomplished in weeks? The United States are clearly stalling for Israel as they continue to pound Hezbollah. There are a lot of angry people who have sided with both sides in this conflict. I've talked to many people who are angry at the actions of Israel and Hezbollah. Me? I think both sides are equally wrong and I agree that a terrorist organization like Hezbollah, which promotes hate, should be eliminated. However, it's the methods that I disagree with. We'll see if 'ever-lasting peace' will happen in the next few weeks.

Jenn and I went to the Royal Ontario Museum Friday night to take advantage of the free admission (4:30 to 9:30 every Friday). It was great. If you don't mind the large crowds and a ton of kids, I recommend going to see the exhibits. The Asian area was amazing. It was mainly artifacts from the last few millennia but I love seeing history in person. It's a shame that such artistry has been lost over the years as technology has advanced. Although we can do a lot of crazy things with machinery and technology, I think master craftsmen are a dying breed. One really funny observation I noted while viewing the exhibits. The historical items are mainly from the wealthy during those times. Poor people didn't have jade trinkets or elegant silverware. The items themselves were mostly purchased by wealthy people during our time and then donated to the museum. Damn those rich people...LOL. It will be interesting what museums of the future will display to represent our current culture.

DRAGONCRYPT 8/7/2006 7:24:00 PM

Tuesday, August 1st 2006

This heat wave is just killer. It's given me a reason to go out and buy an air conditioner for next summer. I don't think I can afford one this summmer but I'm definitely going to research prices for next year. The only problem is that an air conditioner doesn't really help with the humidity problem. When I walked out of work, I was hit with this huge wave of thick air. So gross. The forecast says that the weather is gonna stay like this for the next few days. Let's hope it rains and brings down the temperature and humidity. It would suck if it was one of those storms where the weather just gets worse. Sigh.

Over the weekend, I watched a few CCSA softball games. Surprisingly, I didn't get the urge to play softball. I'm having way too much fun this summmer. Speaking of fun, Mark's engagement party was great. His future father-in-law had one of the those crazy-huge barbeques you only dream about. I was able to put 40 skewers of pork on at once. CRAZY! The only bad thing that really happened at the party was my complete and utter collapse during the toast. When I was given the floor, I completely blanked out and said nothing. If it wasn't for the quick-thinking Maid of Honour, it would have been a sad, sad day. I hope this isn't a sign for the Best Man speech next year.

I'm gonna wrap this up right now because it's so gross and the more I type, the worse it gets. It's time for some low-heat generating LCD monitors. Time to save up for them. At least the prices are dropping like crazy for them...sigh, more items on my wish list.

DRAGONCRYPT 8/1/2006 11:50:18 PM