Category: Miscellaneous

I’ve been discovering the joys of podcasts lately; the new version of iTunes is really handy for getting new content. I should mention that even if you don’t have an MP3 player like an iPod, you can still listen on your computer.

There is one podcast in particular that I really love. It’s the CBC Radio’s program Quirks and Quarks. I highly recommend adding their feed. (http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/quirks.xml)

This week the topics ranged from Australian Spiders that eat each other during copulation to how biologists are creating real life chimeras, and as well the ethical and moral questions that come along with such endeavors. They also talked about Chickadee speech patterns and how radiation, something that is known to cause cancer, can be used to treat it. It’s really fascinating stuff.

I’d like to expand my podcasting palette, so if you’ve got a good podcast please leave a comment with the feed.

My brother was about to throw out an Austin Powers “The Spy Who Shagged Me” baseball cap that my mom has been saving around the house for awhile, but instead I decided to sell it on ebay. If you want a great hat, you better get in on this auction!

After reading a post I saw on BoingBoing.net I decided to take an MIT Weblog survey.

This is a general social survey of the greater weblog community being conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Our goal is to help understand the way that weblogs are affecting the way we communicate with each other. Specifically we are interested in issues of demographics, communication behaviors, experience with weblogs and other technology, and the meaning of various types of social links within the blogosphere.

If you have a blog and you want to participate, click the image link below:

To satisfy the computer geek inside yourself, here is a neat preview of things to come from Microsoft. It’s a fascinating look at some of the things RSS will be doing in the near future. I think it will create a drastic and wonderful change in the way most people use computers.

(via Channel 9)

Summer has started and the days are already starting to get shorter – how disappointing. I drove to Medicine Hat this morning and spent the day with my family. Gary was here and together we bought the supplies for printing designs onto blank tshirts. We never made any yet though, because this afternoon we got distracted watching a couple episodes of Band of Brothers; also I couldn’t think of a good idea to print.

Gary had his new camera with him, and the photo above was taken with it. I was hoping to take a few pictures while I am here (and I still am), but so far I’ve only taken a couple and nothing really amazing to anyone that isn’t a direct relative. But since I brought it up, here’s one of Gary too.

I took my camera out with me this morning. Deep in my heart existed a hope that something fantastic would happen, that I would be there documenting the historic moment when a UFO fell from the sky crashing into the local FutureShop on my little Kodak DX3900 Digital Camera and then everyone would love me!

Unfortunately the UFO failed both to materialize and then crash. That’s okay though, people tend to like me anyway.

So I’ve decided to go somewhere I’m guaranteed to have some subjects, but where am I going? Well as Bill Murray in The Life Aquatic said, “You’ll have to tune into part II. I don’t want to give away the ending.” I guess you’ll have to check back tomorrow.

A seemingly impossible thing happened today. The painting I’ve been thinking about doing for months now, finally happened. But that’s not the impossible thing.

I decided to read some more of Anna’s book, “Middlesex”, while I waited for the primer to dry. It’s one of those books where you can’t wait to get back to it, but at the same time you dread the fact that you’re racing through it so fast that soon it will be over. Suddenly there came a rustling from the other side of the house. It sounded like someone was on the stairs. Must’ve been the toilet just topping itself up, I thought to myself.

I had a roommate about a year ago that believed someone or something haunted this house. How silly I thought, it’s just an old house; old houses creak and twist under their own weight. It’s probably just the wind.

The toilet moaned again. Or was it? I knew that my house is 100% apparition free. There are no such things as hauntings, there is always a reasonable explanation. Another pause, then more noises. I put my book down and peered down the hallway. There was nobody in my house – this I knew because both the doors were locked. Shuffling in the living room. Oh !@#%&.

“Hello?” I ventured, “Is anybody there?” I knew I would feel silly after I discovered the obviously logical explanation, but nervously I grabbed a chair to defend myself against whatever interloper happened to be in my home.

As I rounded the corner, there in my living room was a small terrified bird feeling trapped inside this old house. She smashed herself against the glass terrified of what I might do to her. I opened the door and the small creature set herself free. Goodbye my little bird, I said as the beautiful sparrow flew into the sky. I have no idea where that bird came from.

Having such a visitor is supposed to be a good omen; a signal that something good is about to happen to me. It reminded me of someone else I used to call “My Little Bird” and whom I also set free. Of course if she ever wanted to visit me she would be totally welcome, because she’s my best friend.

I’m fighting it.

Throughout my life I’ve had a tendency to fall deeply in love. In the first grade I fell head over heels for a classmate named Melanie Meyers. She moved away and I never saw her again until the summer of 1988 (3 years later). It took me until half way through that school year to finally get over her. At that age 3 years was over a third of my life – crazy eh? I used to pray to God every night that Melanie would love me. Of course I don’t really pray anymore, but things haven’t changed much as I aged.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to feel sorry for myself and I don’t feel like the Lone Ranger here. I know that most people go through the same pains of a breakup that I’m going through, but after all of the heartbreaks I’ve been through, it just never seems to get any easier. This time I am trying something new. I’m trying very hard to “make the break-up work”. I know she wants to live her own life and where I normally would spend all my energy at forcing something that was not meant to work, this time I’m focusing all my attention at NOT trying to win her back. I find that for me, it’s an extremely hard thing to do.

I want to give her things. I want to call her everyday. I want to fly to Vancouver and see her. I’m trying hard not to do these things.

I don’t want to date anyone for awhile – or at least keep my dates to 1 or 2 per person and then move on; nothing serious for a bit.

After I broke up with my previous girlfriend, I started to date Anna-Maria almost immediately afterwards. This helped me get through the break-up but it built a weak foundation for our new relationship. I was too depressed to properly “woo” Anna-Maria and hence the great memories of our courtship are largely composed of my wallowing for the last girl. I feel horrible for doing that to Anna-Maria and I don’t want to do that to whomever I date next. I have to hand it to Anna for keeping me around through those early days.

I need to get my life in order. I need to work on becoming a better person. To that end I’m going to try and disconnect for a few days (baby steps here). I believe I spend way too much time on the computer and I blame that part of myself for neglecting Anna-Maria. So I’m just going to unplug it for 48 hours. It might not seem like much, but believe me it’ll be a good goal for me.

This morning I finished packing up my stuff and returned my motorcycle. I bought one final shirt and jumped into a cab.

Thailand has a tax for people leaving the country. You have to pay 500 bath if your flight is international or they don’t let you leave. I had worked my money down to the cent but ended up having to get more money changed for my overly heavy bag fees and the aforementioned “leaving” tax. GRRRR.

I loved Thailand and was surprised at what a treat Malaysia was to return to. I met up with Jon at GXM Studio – he’s been so great to me – and he let me stay at his place.

We met up with a couple of the Canadian girls from the University Wednesday afternoon and had a great time hanging on the beach. We went for supper together and I had some roasted Duck. It was extremely spicy to say the least – I, unfortunately, am not great at eating really spicy food. Luckily I was able to share a little bit of Kelsey’s not-so-spicy leftovers.

That evening I saw things that blew my mind. I guess it’s fair to say that there are a plethora of prostitutes in Thailand. On Wednesday night I think we found the epicenter. I was glad to have been there with the Canadian girls because the “ladies of the night” seemed to leave us alone while practically jumping on every other guy that walked down the street. The thing that was kind of surprising is that the girls didn’t look like the typical prostitutes you would see in films, they looked like any other Tai girls with normal amounts of makeup and pretty standard looking dresses (IE. not something you’d go to church in, but nothing that would shock you at the bar either). Also of note was the fact that they were fairly good looking girls. A lot of older, “less handsome”, white males were making the rounds, some sitting down with a girl others just coming in and walking out with a “friend” in only a few minutes.

The thing about the prostitutes there, is that some of them are men. Or more accurately – “were men”. There are a ton of lady-boys in Thailand, men who apparently wanted to become women and so they did. Dave and I didn’t seem to have any problems picking them out (it didn’t seem very difficult) but the girls weren’t as quick to spot them as we were. Once we started pointing out the ones with really large hands, shoulders, feet, and adam’s apples, they started to get the basic pattern.