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Foresters Securities Fiesta!

I went on a date.

My friend Steve is a financial advisor (at least I think that’s his title) for Foresters Securities (Canada) Inc. Anyway, on Wednesday night Steve organized a Foresters sponsored Salsa and Latin Dancing at Fiesta del Sur. I was just going to show up solo but I ran into a friend in the parking lot at the University and as luck would have it she agreed to go with me.

We had a very good time snacking on tortilla chips and learning to Salsa dance. Afterwards we hit up the Starbucks at Chapters for some pastry goodness.

I am not certain at this point, but things went nicely and I think there might be some potential there… I’m just going to take it slow and see what happens.

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Tuesday Night Video Game Class

Tuesday was the evening of my Video Games class. The semester is winding down and I really need to get working on my final project — not to mention finish up some other somewhat overdue items.

I’ve been asked by some friends what the class is actually about. In it we talk about everything from gameplay and graphics to the cultural and philosophical implications of popular (and sometimes less popular) video games. The professor shows video clips from rare or unusual games and we learn about different genres and how things like setting and ambiance change the mood of a game.

We also talk quite a bit about gender stereotypes, violence, and the way the media portrays video game culture. It’s pretty clear that although there may be statistics out there claiming a lot of girls play video games, there are only two girls in the class and 30 very nerdy boys. (They’re not all nerds, some of us are in there doing research for blog postings). But seriously there are a couple of fairly nerdy guys in that class that drive me insane. Before this semester I wouldn’t have believed it possible to become THAT immersed in video games.

I think the most ironic thing for me is, now that I’m in the class I’ve probably played less video games than I did all summer, and yes playing video games is a requirement. I can’t explain it, but I guess it just goes to show — I’ll do anything to avoid doing homework.

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The Water Polo Finals

This Monday will be the last intramurals water polo game of the semester. My team is in the finals and it’s going to be quite the match. We’re going up against the number 1 team and to my knowledge I don’t think they’ve lost a game. The last time we played them we barely lost but I happened to be held up and missed the first half, so maybe things will be different this time.

As for last Monday’s semi-final game, it started out pretty rocky when they scored on us twice right off the bat. We came back strong though and in the end we won 15 to 5. Not a bad score for a semi-finals match.

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iPod Mittens

I found this linked all over the net but I think it’s pretty cool so I am posting a link to it here. It’s a homemade mitten with a built in pocket for your iPod. The coolest part is that the iPod actually warms your hand while you listen to music. It looks like it’s falling out in the image but the iPod fits completely in the pocket — it’s shown halfway out here for illustrative purposes.

Knitted iPod Mittens with PDF instructions so you can make your own. Now, if only I knew how to knit…

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Transformer Costumes

Check out this cool transformer costume that actually transforms. Not only does it transform, but it does so while it’s being worn! The only down-side is that the creator sells them for the extremely pricey amount of $4000 (USD).

Check out all the Transformer Costumes.

I didn’t have a lot of transformers as a kid, but I did have the model pictured here, “Starscream”.

(via BoingBoing)

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The Amen Brother Solo Drum Set

Informative, (though at times a little boring), the mp4 movie will make you realize how a small sample of music can become an integral part of our culture and how copyright law threatens to destroy the very same culture it claims to be protecting.

It was also interesting to see how a single drum solo could have such a huge impact on so many movies and advertisements. You’ll never experience another Howie Mandel Boston Pizza commercial the same way again.

Can I Get An Amen? (17min 46 seconds)

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The Natural Gas Bill Situation

Recently I switched to a fixed rate on the natural gas portion of my utilities. I am really happy that I made the switch because it’s already saved me a lot of money. However, I also switched gas companies – something I didn’t really realize I was doing. Not that it’s a big deal, but it has resulted in some confusion. Allow me to elaborate:

The old supplier is Direct Energy Utilities, and the new supplier is Direct Energy Essential Services. Since I didn’t realize there was a change I continued to pay my bills online like I always do, to Direct Energy (Utilities). Well you can imagine my surprise when I started getting overdue notices. But I brushed them off thinking, well I must have just forgotten to pay somehow I’ll do it now. So I sent the wrong company more money. Pretty soon the colour of paper for my overdue notices changed – a sign that something was drastically wrong.

When I called to find out what was going on, the person I talked to was very understanding and said that it happens quite frequently. It did somewhat bother me though to hear that if it’s not paid within only a couple weeks they’re going to cut the cord. Understandable from a business point of view, but kind of rude given the particular situation from a customer service point of view.

I still need to go to the bank and see what I need to do to get back the $400+ from the my old gas service providers. I hope the process is quick and easy to that I can use that money to pay the correct people. Who would have thought something as simple as changing to a fixed gas rate could result in almost having the heat cut off.

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Happy Birthday Mom and Dad

It’s my parents’ birthday today. Yup, that’s parents’ not parent’s. Both my Mom and Dad were born on November 22. Since we’re in the topic, it’s also my Dad’s twin brother’s birthday today too. So, happy birthday to all of you.

Even though I’m not in the same city as them, to help celebrate I might just skip class. Of course if you are my professor reading this, then you should know I’m totally just kidding and I actually have a bad case of the 24 hour bird flu. Really. *Cough*.