Category: Miscellaneous

After almost 11 months of no kayaking, Anna-Maria and I packed up the boats and headed out to Park Lake for some extreme kayaking fun. She had just purchased a new wet suit and was eager to try it out. What we didn’t realize, for some unknown reason, is that Lethbridge is perhaps the windiest place on the entire earth — well I’ve never been to Kansas during tornado season but this had to be close.

When we arrived at the lake the white caps from the waves did somewhat intimidate Anna, but I told her there’s nothing to worry about and we pressed on.

As it turns out there really was nothing to worry about. We kayaked across the lake, got wetter and colder from the wind blowing water up onto us, but really it wasn’t that bad. I tried surfing some of the waves in my kayak but then after a moment decided I didn’t want to have to paddle all the way back against the wind. We ended our adventure about a half an hour later and again packed up the boats.

Later that night we went out to The Blarney Stone with some friends where I ate approximately 1 million 15 cent wings. They were so tasty except for TEX-MEX flavored ones. They needed less TEX and more MEX.

Last night Anna-Maria and I took in a movie at The Mill. The show we saw, though I had my doubts going into it, was “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”. (Apple Trailer | Rotten Tomatoes) With a star studded crowd, including Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst & Elijah Wood, and a script by Charlie Kaufman it turns out this movie is actually one of the most original romantic comedies I’ve ever seen. The film itself is brilliant, “an endlessly clever, humorous and strangely moving story that will leave you with a warm heart and smoke curling out of your ears.” However, the thing that is so astounding about it is the fact that it is, at its core, a clean and simple story about ordinary human desires and weaknesses that anyone can identify.

I can’t say this movie is for everyone (in fact when my parents saw it, they walked out — they said it was just too weird) but if you like the type of scripts that writer Charlie Kaufman is famous for, such as “Being John Malkovich” and “Adaptation” then this is a movie you’ll love. Oh and if you’ve already seen it and would prefer to forget it, you could always book an appointment with Lacuna Inc. and have the memory erased forever…

I got called into work last night because the guy who was supposed to come in didn’t know it was his shift and claimed he was too drunk to be able to work anyway. I don’t know, but I’m thinking if he doesn’t get fired I’m sure he will be skating on thin ice.

Speaking of ice, it sure was disappointing that the Flames didn’t win the Stanley Cup last night. I came home to find Anna sprawled out on the couch looking particularly devastated (ok maybe not that bad but I, like her, like to dramatize things). I told her that even though we would have been really happy and celebrated if they had won, the best thing to do now is just put it behind us. That’s exactly what I’m going to do – and to start I’m going to shave off this beard!

Tonight is the final game of the Stanley Cup. Anna and I bought chips and other food for the game tonight and in case you thought I am just jumping on the band-wagon at game 7, well would a band-wagon jumper have a fine play-off beard? (Caution, some of you that have not seen me in awhile may not recognize me in the following picture).

I plan to shave it off tonight after The Calgary Flames beat The Tampa Bay Lightning. Go Flames Go.

Anna-Maria and I saw a coyote on campus at the University of Lethbridge this afternoon. As luck would have it I happened to have my digital camera with me; so here is the photo.

I don’t know much about coyotes, but I looked up some info on google and here is a quick summary:

• Only 5-20% of coyote pups survive their first year.
• The coyote can run at almost 40 mph.
• Coyotes can breed with both domestic dogs and wolves. A dog-coyote mix is called a “coydog.”
• The coyote is more likely afraid of you than vice-versa.
• Coyotes maintain their territory by marking it with urine.

This particular coyote was not running anywhere near full speed, but he did look somewhat afraid of us. I can’t really blame him though because we were in the Jeep which, in my humble opinion, is enough to put a great deal of fear into any pedestrian – member of the canine family or not. He wasn’t afraid to the point of “marking his territory” however.

In addition to photos of bridges being off-limits, you can add this tourist photo below, (taken by my Dad in 1997), to the type of images soon to be illegal if the NYC Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposed ban on taking pictures in the subway system is approved.

Apparently they are planning a general prohibition against photography and videotaping in any of the Big Apple’s subway systems as an anti-terrorism measure.

A group of about 100 photographers held a small protest recently taking pictures of each other taking pictures in the subway.

From the NYTimes:

There was a tense moment when the crowd decided it would photograph a transit police dispatch station at 14th Street. A startled officer came out and suggested that they leave.

“You didn’t say ‘Cheese!'” one of the cheekier photographers said.

Anna-Maria and I have spent the afternoon working on a new blog for French-Canadian actors working outside of Quebec. It’s purpose it to help unite the people across Canada working in French theatre. Unfortunately for English speaking folks like myself, it’s all in French, but hopefully you can enjoy the image of my apple tree in the header.

Cancer cells beware: A new study by researchers in the UK has shown that a certain genetically-modified virus has the ability to multiply rapidly only in cancer cells killing them off while leaving normal cells alone. The team plans to test the genetically-modified virus in clinical trials in people in 2005.

A couple of years ago a newly acquired “friend” of my mom’s asked her if she could set up the kids (meaning my brother and me) an interview with a recruiter for Microsoft that was coming to town. We were somewhat computer literate – I had worked at the computer store, and so did Gary but she didn’t know that. It was odd to say the least. Then it got more suspicious – they were holding these so-called interviews at Humpty’s restaurant for crying out loud.

The spider senses were tingling but we were just so curious as to what was really going on that we had to go. That was my first and thankfully last encounter with Quixtar. Needless to say we didn’t sign up.

MSNBC has an interesting report about Quixtar’s shady practice which sounds exactly like that first meeting:

Greg Fredericks: “If you’re somewhat serious, all I mean by somewhat serious — if you invest maybe, say, 10 to 15 hours a week in your business. This is your own business — you could generate in the next 12 to 18 months, an extra quarter of a million.”

Tim Sandler [Dateline producer]: “I’m sorry. How much?”

Fredericks: “A quarter million.”

Sandler: “You’re making more than $250,000 — quarter of a million?”

Fredericks: “Umm hmm.”

The funny thing for us was, the guy was trying to tell us that if we had a webpage selling goods we were going to be RICH RICH RICH. They were comparing their sales to that of Amazon.Com and Ebay. We knew it was a scam so just for entertainment purposes we went to their website, not only was it not spectacular it wasn’t even working. Now Quixtar has bigger problems than an out of service webspace:

Both the FBI and the criminal division of the IRS are making separate inquiries into at least two top distributors not focused on in this [MSNBC] report.

It’s probably not too late to get signed up with Amway, or Quixtar, but if you want you could always wait for the next reincarnation of the giant pyramid sales scheme organization. Thanks for the job lead mom! j/k ;)

Pictures like this one that my dad took of me in 1997 at the Brooklyn Bridge are no longer allowed to be taken according to an over-zealous police officer in New York.

From a PBase photo gallery:

Due to security concerns you cannot legally take any photos taken ON or near a Bridge without permission. My friends and I were taking photos of the sunset near the Verrizano Bridge in January 2004 when we were asked to show our ID to the cops and told not to take photos.

…The reason we have to get permission to take photos now is because of the distruction [sic] of the World Trade Center.