Month: September 2006

Categories
life

Blast from the Past

Today, I took my camera into the shop to be sent away for repairs for the third time in two months. That isn’t to say that I’ve actually sent it away three times, but this was my third trip down to the store in an attempt to send it away. The first time when I heard it would take 6 to 8 weeks before I would get it back, I decided to keep it just a little longer because I really wanted to take photos with it while I was in Banff.

The second time I took it in, the lady behind the counter told me they couldn’t “look it up” on the computer and I would either need my original receipt or have to pay $50 to send it away. Yeah right! I promptly decided I would come back on another day with my receipt. What a hassle.

Today I took it in, realizing full well that this means I’ll be switching back to my little Kodak point-and-shoot camera for the next month and a half—an idea that does not please me as I’ve become quite addicted to my Nikon D70s SLR.

The problem with the camera, and they tell me this kind of thing is quite rare, is that the aperture was somehow getting stuck after I would shoot a small number of photos, and then the next shot would be extremely under exposed and the display would flash the word ERROR in nice friendly letters. After a few seconds—sometimes as many as 30—the camera would return to normal pretending like nothing happened. At other times, it would just refuse to take any more photos regardless of what I did until I hit the preview depth-of-field button clearing the aperture from its incorrect position.

Although the extra trips down to London Drugs were a little bit of a hassle, I’m glad I happened to be there today because, while I was standing there waiting for the guy to fill out some paperwork, who should I see but my ex-fiancée Janine and her husband, Jonas.

It was a pleasant, but short, reunion. She told me a few things about her life and I brought her up to date on what I’ve been doing over the last two or three years. It was too bad I didn’t have my camera working—it would have been nice to take their photo; they looked really nice together. Her husband appears like a fairly on-top-of-it kind of guy and it sounds like things are coming together nicely for her. It’s fantastic when you can have such a genuine and guilt-free conversation with someone for whom you once cared so much about but had, at one point anyway, lost the ability to communicate with due to the baggage of a relationship gone bad and the complications of a new girlfriend whom was quite jealous of the old. I am happy for Janine and pleased to have found out what her life is like now.

The whole experience got me thinking how things really have worked themselves out for the best—it was hard to see that just a little over 4 years ago when we broke up.

Categories
education

My Marks

You know what kind of letters make you the happiest? The kind that tell you—hey you’re kind of smart.

The Université Laval sent me my marks today. I got an A in CORRECTION PHONETIQUE (Phonetics) and a B- in LANGUE ORALE ET ECRITE (Oral and Written Language). La langue française est très facile.

Categories
article

Rock Paper Scissors

The world’s most expensive game of Rock Paper Scissors was used to decide which of two art houses would hold an auction valued at $20 million.

I think tomorrow I’m going to find someone to have a match of paper rock scissors and will I choose rock? Too obvious—scissors all the way.

I heard that there was something like a 4% jump (I can’t remember the exact percentage—so sue me!) in the amount of times people were using rock after the Simpsons episode where Bart is thinking about his Rock Paper Scissors move against Lisa, “Good old rock, nothing beats rock.”

Categories
Miscellaneous

Blogger SAT Thing

I didn’t even remember to spell-check it, but a few minutes ago I entered the Blogger SAT challenge.

We’re especially interested in finding out if bloggers, because of their regular practice in short-form writing, might be able to perform well on the test. On the blogger’s side, they’re used to cranking out pointless rants on a moment’s notice. But highschoolers are well-practiced at responding to their teachers’ inane writing prompts. Bloggers get to choose their topics, so blogging may not transfer well to the SAT’s writing prompt. Who can perform better on the SAT test? There’s only one way to find out.

So, without further ado, we present the Blogger SAT Challenge. We’ve prepared a (relatively) controlled environment where our victims volunteers can respond to a sample SAT question.

I just want to mention that 21 minutes goes REALLY fast when the pressure is on.

Depending on my “grade”, I’ll decide in the future whether this particular essay ever sees the light of day.

Categories
article Health

Sleeping Together is Good for You

Sleeping with a partner can save your life. From the author, Dr. Paul C. Rosenblatt,”It surprised me how many people thought they were alive today because they shared a bed”.

Did I mention that _I_ am a lifeguard?

Categories
animation

Pyrats

I’ve been saving this little gem of a video much like a pirate hoarding gold. Today is the day I was planning to link to it and I almost forgot!

Pyrats

Enjoy: Pyrats, a swashbuckling animated short from those talented scallywags at Gobelins animation school.

Categories
humor

Pirate Jokes

An able-bodied seaman meets a pirate in a bar, and they take turns recounting their adventures at sea. Noting the pirate’s peg-leg, hook, and eye patch The seaman asks “So, how did you end up with the peg-leg?”

The pirate replies, “We was caught in a monster storm off the cape and a giant wave swept me overboard. Just as they were pullin’ me out a school of sharks appeared and one of ’em bit me leg off”.

“Blimey!” said the seaman. “What about the hook”?

“Ahhhh”, mused the pirate, “We were boardin’ a trader ship, pistols blastin’ and swords swingin’ this way and that. In the fracas me hand got chopped off.”

“Blimey!” remarked the seaman. “And how came ye by the eye patch?”

“A seagull droppin’ fell into me eye”, answered the pirate.

“You lost your eye to a seagull dropping?” the sailor asked incredulously.

“Well,” said the pirate, “it was me first day with the hook.”
______________________

One day, while sailing the seven seas, a look-out spotted a pirate ship, and the crew became frantic.

Captain Bravo bellowed for his red shirt. The First Mate quickly retrieved the captain’s red shirt, and, after donning the shirt, the captain led his crew into battle and defeated the pirates.

Later on, the look-out spotted not one, but two pirate ships. The captain again howled for his red shirt and once again vanquished the pirates.

That evening, all the men sat around on the deck recounting the day’s triumphs, and one of them asked the captain: “Sir, why did you call for your red shirt before each battle?”

The captain replied: “If I am wounded in the attack, my crew won’t notice my bleeding and will continue to fight, unafraid.” All of the men sat in silence and marveled at the courage of their captain.

As dawn came the next morning, the look-out spotted not one, not two, but TEN pirate ships approaching. The rank and file all stared at the captain and waited for his usual request.

Captain Bravo calmly shouted: “Bring me my brown pants!”

Categories
Art

A Little Banksy Never Hurt Anyone

Banksy is in the news for painting a live elephant as an artistic way to raise poverty awareness. A video of the elephant in question is available on Youtube.

While painting an elephant may have irked some animal rights activists, the video showing what he did with 500 of Paris Hilton’s CDs is much more interesting.

Remember what Banksy says, “Leave the house before you find something worth staying in for.” Something I should be taking to heart more often.

Categories
family life

Death in the Family

I’ve been spending some time with my family in Medicine Hat over the last week. While I was here, we received some very bad news. A cousin of mine, Michael Scoville, passed away last Friday at the age of 26 years old.

Of all my cousin’s, I hung out with Mike more than any other. We lived in the same city for most of our lives and were pretty much the same age. We never went to the same school at the same time for very long but I was always amazed at how many people knew Mike all over the city.

Growing up we had our share of fighting between us but within the last ten years, or so, we made up and I enjoyed running into him at his parents house on the many occasions when they would invite us all over for dinner. It’s sad that he’s gone.