Highlights

Cytoplasmic Writings - January 2007 Archives

February was started quiet and ended with quite a bang. We finally received the winter snow and the cold weather that us Canadians should expect. For the shortest month of the year, it certainly felt like more than 4 weeks.

Wednesday, February 28th 2007

The gas shortage that Ontario has been facing has me a little worried. Why is there such a significant gas shortage? According to the Toronto Star, it is due to the CN Strike, Imperial Oil fire, frozen St. Lawrence, etc. This shortage shows how dependent we are with gas. Imagine. I've seen a few gas stations empty before prior to this shortage but it was scary seeing so many gas stations closed due to supply shortages. I think when I can afford it, I'm definitely going either electric or hybrid. No, I'm still not going to buy a hybrid SUV (too funny).

February, as always, has come and gone quickly. It's been such a blur that it's almost tax season again. More taxes to do. I got my T4 slip from work and was amazed at how much I actually earned this year. Not a huge amount but definitely my largest yearly total ever. Here's to having a somewhat stable job with benefits. The extra cash goes to debts and it feels good to slowly pay off the loans. However, I've still got a ways to go.

Work has been so busy for the last few weeks. It has contributed to the blur that has been February. I decided to provide input at work and was pulled into some mini-projects. I'm still contemplating whether that was a mistake or not. I got the excitement of enjoying work again, but I'm not sure if I should have revealed my possible potential. Well, I'm thinking it's a good thing to show a little bit of my potential. Maybe it will lead to better positions in the future. I miss the thrill and excitement while working. I remember experiencing everyday at Second Cup. It was really fun. Of course it was a complete downer after the morning rush, but hey, them's the breaks I guess.

So do the Maple Leafs make the playoffs this year? I dunno. I hope they do, but if they don't, I hope they don't fire Paul Maurice. I think the Leafs have been pretty good with what they have. Currently Peca, Wellwood, Tucker and Kubina are injured. I didn't expect the Leafs to be fighting for a playoff spot. I really think Raycroft has not been given the chance he deserves. People don't think he's a number one goalie. I think he is. Okay, he hasn't really stolen too many games, but he's a solid goaltender. The defense has been doing shit at times and when you're paying 20 million for 4 defensemen, you expect more. Well, regardless of whether the Leafs make the playoffs or not, it's been a great season so far. Go Leafs! Go!

DRAGONCRYPT 2/28/2007 11:39:42 PM

Monday, February 26th 2007

So I haven't posted any entries for the last few weeks. With February being such a short week, it would suck if there was only one or two posts for the entire month. I was in the process of writing some things up so I'll just post them on the intended dates instead.

So is everyone on Facebook?!!! Go on Facebook?! >__<

Drove home Sunday night during the mild snow. It was big enough that it slowed down traffic significantly. Lots of cars in ditches and on the eastbound lanes, a semi spun completely around taking out three lanes. The coolest thing I saw were the snowplows. All four lanes being plowed in succession and the HUGE line of cars behind them just slowly advancing. Very cool site. Totally uncool were the SUVs and all-wheel drive cars swerving between traffic and causing all sorts of havoc. Assholes! the whole lot of them. Just cuz their cars can perform in the snow doesn't mean you can scare other drivers into making careless decisions. On the opposite side were the drivers that were too cautious. The one guy I remember was in the left lane going 40. Sigh. That's just not good dude.

Went tuxedo shopping with Mark. Tuxedos all look the same. The only difference I really saw were the tails and no-tails. One button, two buttons, three buttons, vests, shoes. So much stuff to look at. So glad I won't be having a wedding anytime soon. An if so, my bridal party is going to wear recycled potato sacks. Makes me look good in my khakis and tricked out shirt.

DRAGONCRYPT 2/26/2007 9:45:32 PM

Saturday, February 23rd 2007

Damn, after a couple weeks of crappy snow we finally get a really nice day. Jenn and I drove home early Saturday afternoon. We ran some errands and I went to Planet X up in Richmond Hill. It's small little comic store that has a lot of non-sports cards. The good thing about that store is that the cards sometimes go on sale. I got lucky and managed to pick up 12 packs of Artbox's Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone trading cards (yeah, I know it's Philospher's Stone). Normally these cards are expensive so it was good to pick up some for such a low price. I'm looking forward to going to some more non-sports card shows searching for those really cheap packs.

Speaking of which, I recently picked up some really cheap Planet of the Apes movie cards. There's this one set of chase cards call Simian Cards where it was a velvet embossed card. So cool! I love these cards. They were full colour and they beat the pants off those holograms or sticker cards some sets have. I really wished Topps and other companies would use this technology more. I think people are really getting tired of the same old chase variants.

Topps is supposed to be releasing a new Star Wars trading card set in June. Since it's the 30th anniversary of the A New Hope, the expectations are high for this set. I'm not sure what they can really put into this set. Boxes of Evolution Update can still be readily available for 40 bucks. None of the 1/1 cut signatures have surfaced (yet) and it's near impossible to get some of those chase cards (James Earl Jones should NOT have been an A class autograph). The only big name that hasn't signed for Star Wars is Harrison Ford. People have been speculating about memorabilia cards but we all know how Lucas loves to horde his props. We'll just have to see what Topps decides to release.

DRAGONCRYPT 2/23/2007 12:45:12 AM

Wednesday, February 21st 2007

One of the most annoying things the Bush government has done has been the stupid new Daylight Savings Time 2007. I have no idea why they decided it was a good idea to change the dates on these things. It's really fucked up the entire tech sector. People are scrambling to get their hardware and software updated. Why the big deal? Well it's not really a big deal unless you live and die by appointments. I guess real-time systems will also be affected when systems will be off. I guess in the grand scheme of things, Daylight Savings Time isn't that big of a deal. However it's amazing how many corporations are really working to update their systems. We are such slaves to time...

I really hope that I won't have so many appointments in my Calendar that I have to rely on my BlackBerry or PDA to help keep track for me. Granted, I'm not going to schedule my washroom breaks and such but it's still amazing to see the amount of appointments some people have throughout the day. I'm lucky if I have more than two in a week. Some people enjoy having a full Calendar and others can't live without their Calendars. It's so scary how people take technology for granted. 10 years ago I don't think you could have wireless Calendar updates, music and video downloads on the fly and almost instantaneous email messaging globally. Yet people complain about 5 minute message delays and having to wait more than 30 seconds for an appointment to update. What the hell were people doing in the fifties? It can't be that we're more busy nowadays is it?

DRAGONCRYPT 2/21/2007 9:57:37 PM

Friday, February 16th 2007

LEGO is planning to release a Ultimate Collector's Series Millennium Falcon. Holy Shit. It's over 5000 pieces, minifig scale and $670 Canadian. That's right, with taxes, that's over 700 hundred dollars for a LEGO set. I want it. I want it! Dammit! I want it! For those that want to see this brick wonder, go to LEGO's site and you'll see it. I need two more jobs to afford everything I want LOL. I've seen some of the pics for the new 2007 sets coming out later this year. More great new sets from LEGO. After a few years of pretty crappy sets, LEGO seems to have gotten their act together and are producing some good quality sets. I'm avoiding the Batman series but the minifigs are just so kewl! Vikings is great series as well. Too bad it's a Toysrus exclusive.

Super Mario Strikers and Super Mario Baseball have become cheaper to purchase. I was seriously contemplating purchasing them both. They look like great party games. Then I was thinking the last time I had a party and it's been a goddamn long time. There was a housewarming two years ago but that has been it. I don't even know who I would invite anymore if I had a party right now. There are just so many different groups that I think it would be awkward if I invited people from all those groups. I'd really like to get a bunch of the gang back together. It would be great to catch up with everyone. All those people that have become doctors, lawyers, professors....on the other hand...I'll just stick to watching movies with Jenn.

DRAGONCRYPT 2/16/2007 11:10:33 PM

Wednesday, February 14th 2007

Every year I write about how Valentine's Day sucks and how it's just a retail marketing plan. I'll just skip that this year. Do you guys remember when we were little and we gave out Valentines to all the kids in the class? The more Valentines you got, the more popular you were. I remember it was also so cool to get Valentines for all the cute girls in the class. It's funny too, when you're younger, you give EVERYONE a Valentines. When you approach Grade 5 or 6, you start choosing who to give Valentines to. I remember my Valentines count dropped significantly as I become more nerdy. LOL. All the cute girls I used to hang out with when I was younger would be too pre-occupied with their "hot" boyfriends. LOL. Those were the good times. I may not have been popular but I think I managed to elude most of the stereotypical public school shunnings. Granted my class was all smart, there were still jocks, geeks, nerds, princesses etc. You name it, we had it.

The really good thing about Valentines (and any holiday actually) is the discounted products after the holiday date. You can bet that Valentines candy will be dirt cheap. Same with Easter, Christmas and Halloween. I'm just a dark chocolate fan now but I know when I have kids, I'll be on the prowl to stock up on the goods to give to other peoples kids. My kids will eat dark chocolate and rockets! Rockets are AWESOME!

Speaking of holidays, there's not holiday in February and March. It sucks. We need a long weekend in here somewhere. There's family day in some parts of Canada (Alberta). The rest of Canada should adopt something like this for either February or March. There's such a long gap between the New Year and Easter. Coupled with the crappy winter, it's a potent mix of depression and boredom. It definitely makes a job more difficult with no break. I'm just glad I was able to take some vacation days to make my 5-day weekend. Okay, back to looking at Valentine's Day lingerie. Lisa Gleave is HOT!

DRAGONCRYPT 2/14/2007 10:47:14 PM

Saturday, February 10th 2007

Tomorrow there's a non-sports card show that I would LOVE to attend. Well, it's a sports card show that has a few non-sports dealers. Few most likely meaning two. I'm not sure if I'll find anything good to buy but I'm going to be in a bargain-hunting mode. I don't want to pay full price for anything really and I definitely don't want to end up blowing my money on some overprice box of cards.

Why the hell is it soo fucking cold?! It makes me slow and stupid when it's this cold. I don't feel like doing anything but shiver for the entire day. I have become such a pansy-ass when it comes to the cold. I used to be fine with cold weather (until it hit minus 30). Now when the temperature hits -10 I'm a crybaby looking for warmth. I don't know what happened but I've become more susceptible to temperature changes. Go figure, I'm a snake. Sigh.

DRAGONCRYPT 2/10/2007 9:45:37 PM

Wednesday, February 7th 2007

I've stumbled across some interesting websites that I'd like to share with everybody. The first is www.fairness.ca, a website that was created by the Ontario Government to "educate" everyone on how Ontario gets the shaft in the equity sharing programs to the federal government. For years Ontario has and will always be the economic engine of Canada. Yet we pay billions in tax dollars to the federal government and get much less back in funding. Instead the money is shared among the poorer provinces. I don't mind sharing the wealth but if what the website states is true, these other provinces actually get more benefits than Ontario does. That's wrong. Ontario's infrastructure is suffering while other provinces are thriving? Not the best equity sharing plan out there. Check out the site. It is a little one-sided, but it does provide a lot of information that Ontarians should be aware of. Speaking of fairness...I wonder if Toronto will put up it's own website...

DRAGONCRYPT 2/7/2007 10:55:37 PM

Monday, February 5th 2007

What a vacation! Woohoo! Well, it wasn't really a full blown vacation, but it was 5 days off from work. 5 days plus a sick day. I wasn't feeling too hot today and had to call in sick. Better to be safe than sorry, especially with this weather. I find that it is really difficult to do phone support when you're sick. You can't speak and think properly and it's torture for the customer and the techie. Man has it been cold lately!

After two years, I finally went to the dentist. Good news in that there were no cavities and my teeth are okay. Good for what I've been doing with them. I don't have crazy bright whites but at least my teeth are straight (mostly). The next appointment will be the doctor's appointment and then the optometrist. I need to take advantage of the benefits from RIM. Besides, as I'm nearing the *gulp*, thirty-something mark, I need to make sure I go for regular checkups. In fact, I'd recommend that we all should go for regular checkups. It's free and there is no harm in going.

During vacation, met up with some of Jenn's classmates. They're pretty funny people. Glad to see that Jenn picked funny people to be friends, especially when it's a science program...hehe...just joking. Speaking of friends, I finally was able to meet up with Dave and Larry and we chilled at bubbles. It was great to catch up with Dave. We determined that we had not seen each other for 2-3 months. I've seen Larry so it was AS great to see him :P.

Didn't do much else in Toronto. I relaxed a lot and tried to chill as much as possible. I've realized that many of my goals from last year were not met. The online store isn't up and running and neither are half the sections on the website. I have decided to go partially to PHP and MYSQL for easier updating of the site. Now I just have to learn how to code in it. I can't be too difficult, I just need the time and patience to do it. For those who don't know, I'm in the stone ages and everything on this site is manually updated. Yup, I use an HTML editor and just cut, paste and enter new entries in. I like manually coding everything but it's too time consuming nowadays, especially with the amount of things I want to put up. Man, I'm typing this up and I swear I've said this before. Sigh.

Anyways, good seeing all those people I saw in the last week. Sorry I missed the rest of you but hopefully I'll fit everyone in during the upcoming months! I know I haven't kept up with many of you so I'm gonna try an make the effort this year to see people. Hey, maybe a BBQ is in order this year? We'll see!

DRAGONCRYPT 2/5/2007 9:38:23 PM