Highlights

Cytoplasmic Writings - Month Archives

July was my first month in my new position. I'm hardly on the phones now but the responsibility is much greater. I get to play with the software a lot more and I think that has really helped my understanding of the software. The learning curve is pretty steep and I hope I'll catch on quickly. July was also a month of fun in the sun! Went to Wasaga Beach (saw some thong-cladded beachgoers!) and got wicked sunburn. In fact, as of this post, I'm still peeling on my arms from it.

Tuesday, July 31st 2007

Holy shit, it's too hot and humid to do anything. I sit down at home and I'm more lethargic than ever. Got my shipping notice that the Star Wars 30th Anniversary cards have shipped. Also go my email from my other distributor letting me know the cards are ready for pickup. The cards themselves look really good but I've heard some nightmare stories regarding the case breaks. Some people have been missing the inserts that are promised. I can't believe Topps continues to screw these things up. I'm amazed the company still produces non-sports cards after a few of their more disappointing sets like Transformers. Well regardless, I hope I don't get some bum cases and pull some nice sketches and decent autographs.

So the water heater started leaking tonight. I had to turn off the heater and gas so we only have cold water. I took a really fast shower in the cold water. While it was refreshing for the first few minutes, it was horrible for the remainder of the shower. My legs were cold for 15 minutes after the shower when I decided to go sleep. I'll get the roommates to call the landlord to repair/replace the heater. Hopefully it won't take too long.

Jenn is coming up this weekend and it's gonna be fun fun fun! After this weekend, I'm going back to Toronto on Tuesday to prepare for Mark's wedding. I've got most of the speech in my head, but I should put it on paper so I don't forget everything at the wedding hehehe. I don't think Mark would enjoy that much. Let's hope everyone thinks my brand of humour is funny...otherwise, I'll just throw up and that would be that.

DRAGONCRYPT 7/31/2007 11:45:03 PM

Monday, July 30th 2007

There appears to be an issue with my web site host. I wasn't able to load any updates for a bit so I didn't update the website. Once the website was restored, I was missing a few entries so I've re-uploaded them again. So what did you miss in the last important week in my life? Lots! Ok....not lots.

Since this week has been a hot and humid scorcher, I decided to stay at air-conditioned work for a few hours before heading to the gym. Thought it would be a good time to do some extra work. Looks like I'll be working weekends again. Doesn't look like I have to do it too often but my department is implementing weekend shifts to help support the regular server support.

DRAGONCRYPT 7/31/2007 12:04:03 AM

Tuesday, July 24th 2007

I had my first crazy long call in quite some time yesterday at work. I took it near the end of my shift and ended up staying on it for a good six hours. Tired as hell but at least I have some extra cash. Got a few gift cards at First Markham Place (Best Buy and Chapters) so I'll be making some purcahses soon. I think I'm gonna go buy a Wii game. I've heard that WarioWare is good and Jenn wants the game so why not? We'll see when it goes on sale.

Work is getting fairly busy now so the days are passing by faster. I've actually got a lot of things to do and it's interesting to keep juggling everything. I hope I don't fall too far behind with my cases and other responsibilities. Regardless, it beats not doing anything and having the days pass by slowly I guess.

So how many people read the new Harry Potter book? Did you like the part where Harry dies? J/K. I have no clue who dies in the book. I think it's insane the amount of press and hype that the last book has generated. Goes to show that in this world there are still many many rags to riches opportunities. On a side note, I rather enjoy how many Potter fans bash some of the other series that came afterwards for "ripping off" Harry Potter. Um...Harry Potter is a rip-off of countless other fantasy novels. The entire genre is based on rip-offs. LOL. Funny reads though. I still want to watch the new movie as I've seen the rest (except for the Chamber of Secrets debacle) so why not see this next installment.

So I've been doing Neverending Quiz, the Flixster Facebook add-in lately. I'm so addicted to this trivia games. I think Larry and I are having a unspoken friendly competition to see who's top dog within our friends. At first there were a lot of stupid questions, but it's getting a little better with more old movie trivia. I love how people don't check there spelling and verification of questions and then people make new questions complaining about the original questions. Wow. Lots of pissed off people I guess. There are some pretty abstract questions. One was "who played Darth Vader" in Star Wars Episode III? It was David Prowse in costume...not Hayden Christensen. I'm such a geek =____=.

DRAGONCRYPT 7/24/2007 9:38:14 PM

Tuesday, July 17th 2007

Bleh. My mind is slowly becoming mush. I need to exercise it more often. I feel like I'm in this vast pool of thick mud. Kinda like the thick viscous liquid you see from that Star Trek TNG episoder where Tasha Yar dies. Yup, just like that tar-like substance. I think I just need a vacation; to go away for a week and not worry about anything. The funny thing is that I have nothing to worry about really, just a few tidbits here and there when you compare to others. Doesn't help shake the feeling though.

Maybe it's the accumulation of all the updates I've received from friends. I've had news of births (Congrats Joyce!), engagements (Congrats Ina!), and my involvement in a wedding over the last few months (the wedding in a month). It's just weird. Many people don't realize how old I actually am, and I think I forget sometimes too (like that time at Christmast dinner last year). Heh, age doesn't really matter, but it's those few moments that I guess it can overwhelm you. Hopefully, I won't get the dreaded mid-life crisis. I doubt it since I've been essentially living it through my twenties and now to my thirties. I've got enough toys to last two lifetimes I think.

Bah. This is just me rambling as my mind is in this state. It should pass in a few days. I usually get like this every 4-6 months (I think). It's more of just a harsh reassessment (realization) of where I am. Millionaire? not likely soon. Am I happy with my current status? I'll gladly say yes. Got a great g/f who is the one, a great new job and some pretty good friends. My finances are getting better and I'm learning to budget better as well. I can start thinking about my future and concentrate on the goals that I set myself earlier in life. I just can't shake the blehs right now. Bleh. Hmmm...till next time...

DRAGONCRYPT 7/17/2007 11:30:26 PM

Monday, July 16th 2007

I went to my first club in like 4 years over the weekend and it was...interesting. One of Jenn's co-workers invited Jenn and myself to celebrate her birthday. Since she lived downtown, Jenn and I spent some time down there before meeting up with her friend. Jenn took me to 7 West Cafe. It's this 24/7 cafe/bistro near Yonge and Bloor. The food was pretty good and not too expensive. I had a pretty tasty steak burger and Jenn had a pruscutto wrap (Jenn's first time eating pruscutto!). Very delicious. I wish I knew of this place before when I worked in downtown TO. Would have been nice to go here with the guys after playing some snooker.

Anyways, after dinner we hung around downtown some more and then headed over to Jenn's co-worker's place. It was a really nice view where she lived. The most freaky thing was the crazy elevator ride up to the 28th floor. So fast it was frightening. Anyways, went to this club afterwards called Empire. It was somewhat empty but filled in a little later. I had an umbrella and there wasn't a coat check so I ended up dancing with the umbrella. Can you imagine my dancing AND with an umbrella? Yes, it's as silly as you think it is. So there was this one bartendar at the bar that was pretty hot. Well hot in the sense that she had these HUGE BOOBS and wore this really small halter top. Of course, it was proper attire for the bartenders (which were mostly women). Anything to get those tips right? Anyways, have you ever tried not staring at something but you kept staring anyway? Like that ugly kid, or the really fat woman or the nasty vomit on the floor? Well, this blonde bartender's boobs had the same effect. The crazy thing was, I was glimpsing one time and she pulled down her pants and flashed her thongee-up butt. No joke. It was the craziest thing I saw. So I guess the bartender alone was worth the ten dollar cover charge at the door. Jenn was an awesome sport and didn't kill me when I told her about the bartender. I just couldn't help it :oP.

The music at the club was a mix of old-school and new stuff. I knew like 2 percent of the songs. The drinks were also crazy expensive. Jenn's co-workers ordered martinies and they cost fourteen dollars each. EACH. Crazy. I'm glad I do not drink. I also remembered how much damage those clubs will do to your hearing. The dull sensation of having your eardrums overloaded was not welcoming once we exited the club. It was a fun night, but I think my clubbing days (if I had clubbing days) are pretty much over unless Jenn wants to go.

DRAGONCRYPT 7/16/2007 8:50:49 PM

Thursday, July 12th 2007

I didn't realize that tomorrow will be Friday the 13th!!!!!! Freaky! I'm gonna go hide in a corner until it is all over. This superstition remind me of last weekend's famous July 7th, 2007 day. Apparantly, the number seven is lucky in many cultures and everyone wanted this day booked for their weddings and such. I have a feeling that August 8th next year will have a ton of Chinese weddings. Sometimes I'm too superstitious for my own good.

So tired from work. I am still not used to this 9-6 schedule every week. I enjoyed it when I worked at 10 or 11 so I could sleep late until 2-3 in the morning. The good thing is that I don't have to sign in at 9 to take a call. I can work on my existing cases and get settled in. Work has been interesting to say the least. I bought some memory for my test box and also brought in a hard drive from home. This allowed me to set up multiple VMWare servers without bringing down my test box. Woohoo! Now if I can only close one of my open cases...

Not going to write much here today, I'm too sleepy to think and I need to drive back to TO tomorrow. Everyone have a great weekend!

DRAGONCRYPT 7/12/2007 11:41:43 PM

Monday, July 9th 2007

Transforming Transformers

My friend Ernest held a Transformers party where he showcased his most excellent toy collection and we all watched a VHS (AWESOME) version of the animated movie. For those who don't know, click on this link to see the star-studded cast the provided the voices for our beloved 80's cartoon. After a little "play" time we all headed out to watch the new movie. I enjoyed the movie and thought it was very entertaining. Just finished a quick review in the movies section of my site. I've also posted reviews for a few other movies I've seen recently (Die Hard 4 and Evan Almighty).

I had the pleasure of a surprise lunch buffet Sunday afternoon and I must say, I can't eat as much as before. There was dim sum and tons of other decent food at the buffet but I didn't feel like stuffing myself. I only had three pieces of salmon sashimi! Gah! My standards have lowered significantly. I'm thinking of sticking to primarily all-you-can eat Japanese buffets from now on. They're the only cost-effective ones for me now that my stomach is so small...boohoo.

Less than a month to my buddy Mark's wedding. I still have yet to write a speech. I really need to think of some great lines to make up for the lack of any lines at the engagement party. This whole wedding affair has been interesting to say the least. I really despise how the wedding industry takes advantage of couples and their willingness to spend so much money to make their day "perfect". Some drinks, food and friends should be all that's needed. When did it get so expensive? I could buy a pretty decent car with some of the wedding budgets I've heard of. Wow. Good thing Jenn is into the whole eloping thing. Dinner at Buffet King to celebrate! Woohoo!

It's been a rough month for our troops in Afghanistan. Ten soldiers have been killed while serving in Afghanistan over the last month. My condolences go out again to all the families and people who have lost someone It sucks that our soldiers are killed by these insurgents, especially with the role our troops play in Afghanistan. I applaud Steven Harper once again on standing steadfast with our current position in Afghanistan. I also thought it was great that there were hundreds of people showing support for our troops when the bodies of the last six soldiers who were killed in action arrived back in Canada. Now is the time to be strong and support our troops. Withdrawal would only mean the Taliban win and the Taliban should not win ever again.

DRAGONCRYPT 7/9/2007 9:46:41 PM

Thursday, July 5th 2007

Hmmm...I was reading the very long thread on Newsarama about why reading the full comic book at a comic book store is akin to shoplifting\stealing from the shopkeeper and publishers. Interesting read. Many people didn't like the fact that an individual revealed that he reads the comic books at the local comic book store without paying for them. There were many responses and accusations and it eventually became a psuedo-flame war. Both sides are wrong and both sides are right. There are no clear-cut winners in my opinion. As a consumer, I have to right to inspect the product. When said product is a monthly publication AND the publication itself is available to read, I may read it once to see if it is worth my attention. Sure I could have bought it, but the way the product is displayed and the acceptable behaviour of the comic book store's patrons is the responsibility of the comic shop. The publishers don't care since the comic book stores have already paid for the comic book. If the store doesn't want to lose sales to people reading the books and not buying them, don't make them available to read, or even post signs stating that reading the books are prohibited.

On the flip side, the people complaining about how these "people" and the people who download comic books are killing the industry. Wake up. It's the D-I-G-I-T-A-L age. Marvel, DC and the other big houses have to change their marketing just like the movie and music industries have to. Embrace new technology and media and you'll make a killing off of it. I like the physical nature of comic books, but the top selling books have maybe 100,000 runs on average? Wow. Not the greatest numbers. If online downloads could bring in fringe readers and add another 50,000 readers, why not? Charge a buck a download and you'd still increase your readership at a fraction of the cost.

Of course, hard core comic fans would then say it's the death of the Local Comic Stores. I disagree. Local Comic Book Stores are their own deaths. I have yet to see more than two stores in Toronto that impress me. The others are your typical comic book stores with crappy stock, crappy service and an elitist attitude. Silver Snail is Toronto's most famous store but their elitist attitude rubs me the wrong way. The only store I really think is worth going to is Cyber City Comics. It's a little tight but the people are friendly (most of the time). There may be some great stores out there (IcV2 news features many) but they are the rarities. If local shop owners don't put the actual effort into promoting the industry, what's the point? The Publishers need to make money for themselves and it eh retailers suck at promotion, they'll find other ways to peddle their product. Anyone notice the slew of comic book movies? One movie deal is worth way more than a year's worth of titles.

That's why I love and hate this industry. Comic Book fans are a bunch of whiners who complain about everything. They complain that it's the same old shit and when they get change, they complain about the change. The fans fall for the same tricks over and over again and the industry has a tendancy to overkill everything. Variant Covers? Zombies? Dark, violent super-heroes? The same stuff over and over again. The it comes around to the status quo again and the fans start over again and complain. There's no winning.

Yeah I still buy the comic books because I enjoy them. I hate some of the plots, but the completist in me finishes off the runs at times. It takes a giant leap to stop any series in my own eyes, but I've managed to do so before and I'm glad for it. There are some truly crappy comic books out there and there are some real gems. I'd really like pick up the gems whenever I can. So back to the original conversation thread in Newsarama. Just some good entertainment for the night I guess.

DRAGONCRYPT 7/5/2007 9:42:27 PM

Wednesday, July 4th 2007

What a crazy weekend it has been! BTW, Happy Canada Day! The weekend was filled with many events. Firstly, it was Jenn's friend's wedding on Sunday so we spent Saturday going through errands (groceries, comic books) and hanging out. Friday night, we went to watch Live Free or Die Hard. It was a great movie. I was disappointed only by the 14AA rating. Die Hard 4 had everything I was hoping for and more. There was the humour and the violence and the totally unbelievable situations that John McClane finds himself in. Perfect Die Hard. Go watch the movie for the sheer fun.

The wedding itself was quite a ways away (near the airport). Jenn and I had plenty of time to kill so we went to the Woodbine Mall. It had the mini Fantasy Park area where kids could play. It was really neat. The mall itself was a little dismal but I did manage to pick up some LEGO sets that were discounted at Sears. The wedding was a muslim wedding with some prayer during the reception. It was interesting and it was cool to listen to the melodic prayer that was being read. The food was great but I forgot my camera and I also forgot to grab the Wedding Favour. Yup, 0 for 2. Sigh.

The next day was a regular day where I headed back to Waterloo. I made sure my laptop was up and running correctly. Yup! I got a new laptop. Well, not a new laptop but a hand-me-down from another team member (they got the new laptop). I didn't mind as it was still a laptop! I get to take it home and use it in cafes with Jenn (she has a laptop too!). That's just too awesome.

I spent Tuesday and today setting up my new environment. Learning a lot about setting up an Active Directory and Exchange environment. I ordered some more RAM from NCIX to boost my test box at work. In the end, I can also use the 2 GB as my gaming machine uses DDR. It all works out for me. I'll be spending all of Thursday installing my images onto the test box. The only worry I have now is the amount of hard drive I have. 40 GB just isn't enough to hold all the VMWare sessions and the rest of my environment. We'll see what we can do.

Tired as hell so I'm going to sleep a little early. G'nite y'all!

DRAGONCRYPT 7/4/2007 11:24:58 PM