Highlights

Cytoplasmic Writings - October 2006 Archives

October was a busy month. Had lots of things to do and I had to adjust to the new job position. As Winter approaches, I hope that things will slow down and I'll be able to get more time devote to the multitude of hobbies that I'm falling behind on.

Tuesday, October 31st 2006

Happy Hallow's Eve!!!!!

It's that time of year again where all the kids turn into diabetics! Woohoo! Just watching my co-workers consume free candy and chips was enough for me to stay away from all the junk food. We have two junk food machines on the floor and they're refilled twice a week at least. It's pretty crazy how fast people go through chips, chocolate bars and candy. I'm guessing that many people went out dressing like hookers and pimps. Seems to be the trend with a lot of celebrities so I guess everyone else follows suit. Though I did see a full grown man in a Superman outfit today....that was disturbing. No Bat-nipples though.

Jenn bought this book by Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, and it's been an interesting read. I didn't have time to finish the book but there are a lot of very valid points that Dawkins makes. Dawkins has a very aggressive stance towards religion and it clearly shows in the book. However, I urge all those who are religious not to veer away from the book. Read it and make your own judgements. If you stick to your faith, it will be that much more powerful. For me, I agree with the majority of what I've read so far. Interesting read.

My car is falling apart. I had a regular check-up and the amount of things that needs to be done to the car is staggering. Luckily none of them are critical components and Brian has offered to help me with some of the repairs. I hope that it will go over well. Too bad the weather SUCKS. Stupid weather. I guess I'm not rustproofing the car this year. Sigh.

Last week saw the release of two great card products. The first is Lord Of The Rings Masterpieces. It's a card set that showcases the art of Lord Of The Rings. Also, in each box, there are two sketch cards. Normally that would be worrisome as that sort of guarantee would mean crappy sketches. However, the artists and the work they did for this set has been phenomonal. Check out LOTR Sketch Cards, a site that is devoted to showcase some of these awesome talents.

The other card set is the World of Warcraft TCG. It's been a while since it was supposed to be out and it sure looks like a hit. I got four boxes for a really good price and I'm thinking of flipping them on Ebay as I'd make a decent amount of money on them. I don't plan to play (no time) and I don't want to be burned like I was with all the VS boxes I still have sitting around. That means I'm gonna be an active Ebayer again. If I post these boxes I might as well start posting everything else. That should kick my ass off the chair. I'll see if I can link something up on this site too. I still haven't put anything into the Leftovers section. Sooon!

DRAGONCRYPT 10/31/2006 11:20:01 PM

Sunday, October 22nd 2006

It's that time of the year again where I have to try and weatherproof the house. Not one of our windows closes properly so there are always drafts in the house. I'm not sure if the side outer walls are insulated either because they're always cold to the touch. So in an effort to save on heating costs, we've tried to seal up windows with film covers and foam tape to block drafts from doors and such. I bought this huge chunk of styrofoam and used it to fill in the cracks on one of our kitchen windows. I'm hoping that this will keep the house warmer for longer periods of time.

Stayed in Waterloo the whole weekend and did tons of "window" shopping and shopping as well. Brian found me a wire-frame shelve at Habitat for Humanity. However, it was missing some parts so I'm hoping to pick up some spare parts at Solutions in Toronto. Also scheduled my 120 K tune-up with the dealer. Man, another 225 dollars for the inspection and oil change. I hope they don't find anything really wrong of the car...though there are funny noises coming from the car.

Decided to make something new for cooking. I saw a lot of recipes for making baba ganoush, an eggplant dip. I wanted to try so I baked some eggplants and cooked some garlic and hot peppers in olive oil. After 30 minutes of baking, took the eggplant meat and added the garlic and hot peppers. Everything in the blender, add a little bit of cream and voila! Some really nice eggplant dip. It tasted really good. Now I've got something to make for parties. Woohoo!

Other things I learned about cooking today. Do not touch the cast iron pot with your bare hands, especially when it's really hot. Using your bare hands to deseed hot chili peppers is also not a good idea, unless the goal is to lose feeling to your fingers. When tossing food while cooking, don't toss too vigorously, otherwise the food ends up on the floor. Remember that hot oil is indeed hot. Yup, lots of lessons learned today. Most of the food was tasty and I hope I remember how I made them. Otherwise, they're gonna be one-time dishes....sigh.

DRAGONCRYPT 10/22/2006 10:38:16 PM

Thursday, October 19th 2006

Have I ranted and raved about Seaons 3 of Battlestar Galactica yet? Two weekends and three episodes so far and the drama never stops. I love how the story-writers incorporated suicide bombers. Awesome. Battlestar Galactica is unique in the sci-fi world. It's refreshing after so many years of the sanitized Star Trek. I'm glad to watch a show where humanity's darker traits are showcased regularly. If you haven't seen it, go pick up the mini-series and watch from the beginning. You won't regret it.

Speaking of TV shows, I saw an episode of 24 the other day. I think it was season 4. I honestly don't remember. 24 is another awesome show but it's hard to keep up with as there I kept missing the shows. I must say though, everytime I watch an episode I get the urge to watch them all. I remember A&E having marathon and I was glued to the TV. Jack Bauer rocks.

So who in Toronto is voting in the mayoral and city council elections? I urge all to vote, even if the candidates aren't to your liking. Choose the best possible fit and be part of the process. To be honest? I want David Miller to win again. I think he's done a decent job and he deserves another term in office. Toronto doesn't need another mayor coming in with more ideas to solve its problems. Although, Miller needs to do something about the TTC. Get rid of the political meddling that has tainted it these past few years and get it back to the respectable transit system that was a model for North America. Vote! Vote! Vote!

DRAGONCRYPT 10/19/2006 10:14:46 PM

Tuesday, October 17th 2006

Man, it's been an odd and rough last weekend. Had to go home early on Friday and took the day off from work. Did get to spend a lot of time with Jenn. We ended up going downtown on Saturday to a photo exhibition at BCE place with one of Jenn's classmates. Some really cool pictures and some pretty powerful ones in the news area with pictures from Hurrican Katrina, Iraq, DR of Congo, etc. They were pretty graphic but definitely pictures that make me feel lucky to be living in Canada.

Another two Canadian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan over the weekend. NATO just does not have enough troops in Afghanistan. If the US was so primed to take on terrorists, why don't they have a hundred thousand troops in Afghanistan hunting down Al Queda and the Taliban? No, instead hundreds die daily in Iraq for reasons that don't even exist anymore. Sure, Iraq was run by an evil dictator but finish the jobs you set yourself. It's funny because so many people were worried about a prolonged theatre in Afghanistan and were likening the invasion to the Soviet invasion. Looks like history is repeating itself once again. Sigh.

Still taking some extra-long calls in the Server group. It does seem like we take less calls and that these calls are definitely longer than your handheld and desktop issues. Learning tons of stuff though so it's great in that aspect. Though having to work overtime and also driving back to TO is kinda draining. Makes you not want to really talk to anybody on the phone after spending a good six to seven hours on the phone. It's a wonder that I still plop myself in front of the computer every night.

DRAGONCRYPT 10/17/2006 11:43:01 PM

Tuesday, October 10th 2006

Had a wicked Thanksgiving weekend and I hope that everyone else did too. Jenn came up Thursday night and chilled with me until Monday morning. Unfortunately, I had to work Friday and Monday so I didn't get to spend lots of time with her. We decided to make tons of good food for the weekend. On Saturday there was some curry penang crab legs. This was awesome. I learned how to make some really tasty curry. My mistake was to always throw the powder straight into the pot and to mix it up with cooked food. It's better to make the paste and fry it up a little before adding the ingredients.

On Sunday, I decided to make a pot roast as the turkeys were all expensive. Jenn and I decided to make a yellow bell pepper lime soup. It involved roasting the peppers and then blending in with the food processor along with cooked onions, garlic, chili peppers and chicken broth. The result? I really nice tart soup that's perfect for the winter time. I had enough to last the past few days and it was definitely something that is enjoyed more on a cold day. The pot roast was pretty good too. We decided to buy some herbs to see what flavours there would be. We got Savory, Thyme and Marjoram. They were all kinda earthy and minty. Tasty and really good with potatoes. The roast was nice with the herbs too along with a nice shallot and mushroom gravy. Yum....all this talk about food is making me hungry....

We went to Chapters on Sunday and there were tons of cheap recipe books. I can't wait to cook more over the years. Cooking is so interesting and the best part is you get to enjoy your fruits of labour at the end. The downside is if the food is horrible, you still have to eat it. LOL. Went to Sears and they had a 30 percent off sale on LEGO so I picked up the B-Wing re-release. I was so tempted to pick up the Slave I re-release as well.

Oh yeah, on Thursday, Research In Motion gave their employees leather jackets. It was a great gesture and it was fun watching an entire office dress in the same jacket. It was actually kind of disturbing to watch. One thing that never ceases to amaze me? How people still would complain about free stuff. On a somewhat related note, apparantly Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of RIM, has purchased the Pittsburgh Penguins. There's tons of rumours that Jim will move the time to Canada. I found it funny as a lot of sportcasters call Jim the "owner" of RIM and other made-up executive positions. Honestly, this has lowered my opinion of sportcasters. Do a little bit of research before you blatantly say the wrong things. Then again...it's sports...

DRAGONCRYPT 10/10/2006 10:34:14 PM

Wednesday, October 4th 2006

Sports commentators are funny. Especially the American ones as they try to find facts to fill up the time. I was watching the Tigers vs Yankees game 1 yesterday while working out and the attendance records were shown. The New York Yankees had around 4.4 million in attendance and the New York Mets around 3.7 million. Pretty good numbers. Then one of the commentators says something stupid. He goes and says there are 8.1 million people in New York and it's simply amazing that when you add the 3.7 million and 4.4 million together, it's almost the population of New York....WTF?!! Okay, there are 81 home games for each team. So if you do the math, roughly 44 THOUSAND fans went to each game.....most are probably season ticket holders. So no, Mr. I-am-a-smart-sports-commentator-guy, the entire population of New York did not go watch baseball games. Sure there's that slight possibility, but with your mathematical reasoning...is a little warped. Laughable, but warped.

Yesterday, Sgt. Craig Paul Gillam and Cpl. Robert Thomas James Mitchell were killed when they were attacked by Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. Five other soldiers were wounded. The Canadians were involved in a road reconstruction project. I've listened to the opposition politicians calling for a re-assessment of Canada's role in Afghanistan. They say Canada should not be in a combat role and should be concentrating on reconstruction. The initial role in Afghanistan was supposed to be reconstruction but the Canadian Army knew that there was going to be heavy fighting. Now that Canadian soldiers are dying, our politicians want to pull out? Definitely do not agree with these politicians. I believe that Canada is the right country to help rebuild Afghanistan. The real issue is the lack of troops on the ground. NATO desparately needs more troops to stabalize the region. Of course, they're all in Iraq....

Today is the first day of the NHL season. The drastically different Toronto Maple Leafs are playing the Ottawa Senators. I watched a bit of the game and Raycroft is looking good so far. Paul Maurice has really changed things up. I'm looking forward to this season and the excitement that it should bring. Last season proved there was no guarantees on who makes the playoffs but I think that the Leafs will make it this year. If they play hard and are free from injuries, they'll make it. Go Leafs! Go!

DRAGONCRYPT 10/4/2006 10:07:46 PM

Monday, October 2nd 2006

My first day of pain wasn't that painful after all. I took my first Server calls today by myself. It wasn't as bad I had thought it would be. Nothing too difficult but I'm definitely waiting for that 3-5 hour call. Let's hope the rest of the week goes fairly smoothly.

Weekend was awesome! Had not seen Jenn in two weeks so we chilled all weekend long. I really like Jenn's parents' new house. It's very homey and kinda makes me want to buy a house soon. Well not too soon. Saturday night went to bubbles at Ten Ren's. Wow it has been some time since the last bubbles. We decided to check out the brand new Ten Ren's on Highway 7 but Larry had an idea. Go to the old one for one drink and then head over to the new one. Interesting. We did end up doing that and it was fun. There was an increase in price at the newer Ten Ren's. Weird.

Jenn and I had this discussion about how expensive mooncakes are compared to when her mom was younger. It's true. Mooncakes, which was celebrated by all classes has now become a luxury item the rich give to friends as presents. I can't imagine buying four mooncakes for 50 bucks and then eating them. Kinda sucks to see such a traditional festival be trended to the point of high-priced novelty. One day I'll have some mooncake. Just not now.

Well I'm dead tired. This 10:30 to 7:00 shift is killer. You can't do too much in the morning and you're left scrambling at night. To think I get an entire month of these shifts so I can better me skillz yo! October is here and so comes the sausage and beer! Ahhh....how I miss the Man Show!

DRAGONCRYPT 10/3/2006 12:23:03 AM