Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Happy New Year Everyone!

Haven't posted in a while so I thought I'd take a few minutes and get out a quickie. ;o)

Christmas was fantastic! I spent Christmas Eve with Aaron's family in Sherwood Park and had a blast. Dinner was insane, I haven't eaten that much in one meal in a loooong time. Then we all sat in the living room and opened presents... it was great to see everyone so excited. Aaron was a little worried that there would be family drama (apparently a time-honored Christmas tradition), but everyone was on their best behavior and a good time was had by all.

We spent Christmas night at Aaron's parents' house, and woke up (way too) early on Christmas for hot chocolate and Bailey's and Santa Presents! Santa had found some maddeningly difficult-to-open puzzle boxes online somewhere, and each of the kids got one with a $20 bill inside. I was the last one to get mine open but in fairness I think I also got the hardest one. :oP There were lots of other presents too, and I think Aaron came out the winner with a shiny new XBox 360 to play with. After presents, it was time to go back to Auntie Linda's house for more food, leftover from the previous night's gluttony.

All in all I had a wonderful time, with the best part being that our first real Christmas together was pretty much drama-free. This time last year, Aaron wasn't out to anyone in his family so it was great that everyone was so welcoming and accepting of my presence. I've been made to feel like part of the family, and I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas gift.

Today we're off to Fernie for what's looking to be a fantastic ski weekend slash New Year's party! I'm sure I'll have more to blog about next week, hopefully with pictures!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Where you been all night??

I KNOW you been cheatin on me... lemme smell yo' dick!

And of course the obligatory musical accompaniment:

Yawn

I haven't been sleeping well the past few days. Sunday night I got about three hours sleep, Monday night maybe two. I did a little better last night with a whopping five hours!

I'm pooped.

Hopefully I'll be able to saw a few more logs tonight.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Religion is Dumb

Last night I went with my brother and sister to see Religulous, Bill Maher's documentary on religion. I enjoyed it, since for most of the movie Bill was pretty much echoing my own thoughts on the issue of religion back at me, and it's always fun to have someone famous tell you how smart you are. ;o)

You could call me skeptically agnostic. I think it's unlikely that there is a supernatural, omniscient, omnipotent being who created the universe and listens to Littly Jimmy's prayers every night, but I'm willing to concede that it's possible. I think that atheism is almost a religion itself, with its own dogma and its own set of fanatics, and I'm not quite willing to slide that last little bit over to the there-is-no-god side of the religious continuum.

What I do believe, however , is that god does not exist in the form preached by the big monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam). I think that all three of those are patchwork religions, pieced together by taking bits from other religions that came before them and mixing them all together. I think that initially, religion was a way for ancient people to answer the questions they had about their lives and their surroundings. Making up a story about how the sun is a fiery chariot being pulled across the sky is a perfectly reasonable way to explain something that would otherwise be wholly unexplainable. So, people made up their stories, and passed them on to their children, and before you know it, everyone took the stories for granted as being the truth. Eventually, some people figured out that they could take these stories and use them to control the actions of those around them: those who were not in power could use the stories to get power; those that were in power could use the stories to cement it.

Fast forward a few thousand years, and basically the same thing is happening. Parents teach their children about their religion, and after hearing the stories umpteen times the children just learn to accept them as fact. Those who are in power are still using religion to to maintain that power. The only difference is we should know better by now. Back in the Bronze Age, if a respected member of society told you that Earth and the Universe was created in seven days, don't really have a choice but to believe him. We should know better by now. We have all the information available that we could ever want, and yet people still cling to ideas that were conceived thousands of years ago. I don't get that at all.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Um...

TWICE I've seen this picture today, and TWICE my first thought has been "Geez, Michael Jackson is looking extra scary today... why is he in a wheelchair?" Are they really the same person? You be the judge:

Sunday, December 7, 2008

So much to blog about tonight

Pitter patter, let's get at 'er:
  • Canada's douchy Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, shut down our government on Monday by asking the Governor General to prorogue Parliament until the end of January. Near as I can tell, that makes him a proroguer, and all of us proroguees. I'll have mine with sour cream and bacon bits please.

  • I've been seeing ads for the Snuggie lately. The first time I saw this commercial was last week, and it completely cracked me up! Don't you just hate it when you're trapped under a blanket and can't get out?!! Something about the way that woman flails about trying to answer the phone is hilAReous!

  • My poor boyfriend is sick as a dog. I was feeling headachy and snottery most of Friday too, but whatever I had, Aaron has got it 10x worse. I went up to Edmonton as usual on Friday night, and since he was in no condition to go out we spent three quarters of the weekend chilling out watching movies. We did manage to go out and do a bit of Christmas shopping on Saturday afternoon... I think it took a lot out of my fella, but I'm glad he got out of the house for a little bit anyway. Anna came over on Saturday night to watch Forgetting Sarah Marshall with us... damn, what an insanely random and awesome movie! If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. I also recommend that you B your L on some Ts.

  • Why is it that otherwise intelligent people start driving like retarded monkeys after the first snowfall of the year? I left Edmonton earlier than usual tonight because we've had some freezing rain and snow this weekend, and I didn't want to drive after the sun went down and it got really cold. So, I left the city around 3:30, and the highway was completely dry. DRY. And yet, the whole way home, there were people driving 80 or 90 km/hr. The posted speed limit on that highway is 110; I normally drive 115-120, and most of the time there are people blowing by me like I'm standing still. Tonight, not so much. I can understand being cautious, but seriously, the highway was in perfect driving condition for 90% of the way home. It started to get a little slippery around the time that I was going past Lacombe, when the sun really disappeared. And of course, I adjusted my speed to something more cautious then too... I've driven enough in my life to know that you should adjust your driving to the conditions. I firmly believe that it's just as dangerous to drive too slowly as it is to drive too fast.

Friday, December 5, 2008

A Stupid Thing That I Learned Today

Who knew that John Ratzenberger was in The Empire Strikes Back? Certainly not me!

Monday, December 1, 2008

What a fun weekend!

I had such a good weekend!

Aaron and I drove down to Calgary on Friday night for my company's Christmas party. The drive was pretty good, even though the highway was ridiculously busy. The highlight was watching Aaron get changed into his dress clothes all while staying buckled up in the passenger seat, and then spending like an hour tying and re-tying his tie for like an hour until he got it just right. ;o) The Christmas party itself was fantastic! The buffet dinner was delicious, and we had a blast hanging out with my coworkers. Plus, Aaron and I got our caricature done and it turned out really well! I'll have to remember to post it once I have a chance to get it scanned. The party was at the Hotel Arts, which was a really swanky venue. There was all sorts of cool art up and down the hallway, and the rooms were top notch. My only complaint was that the pillows were really huge, which made it hard to get a comfortable sleep.

We spent Saturday hanging out with Aaron's old roomate Ryan and his boyfriend Jim, and eventually ended up partying at The Eagle. Shenanigans ensued, and good times were had by all. Except for Jim the next day. Heh.

A couple pics from the Christmas party:

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Merry Christmas from the American Family Association

Check out this festive item that the American Family Association is selling on their website:


Plant this puppy on the lawn of your favorite neighbor to spread a little holiday warmth!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Speaking of dumb...

I put an item up for sale on eBay last week... a Bamboo MTE450 drawing pad. I bought it for a good price in Chicago last July, and was going to give it to Aaron for his birthday. I ended up picking up a different model for him though, and since I couldn't return the one I originally bought I thought I'd sell it.

You can get this drawing tablet for $80 from FutureShop or any other electronics retail store. My tablet hasn't been used, but I did open the box, and all I really wanted was to get back most of what I paid for it. I figured I'd set up my auction with a Reserve price of $50 and a Buy It Now price of $65. For anyone that hasn't used eBay, that means that at any time, an interested party could end the auction and purchase it outright for $65.

Well, my auction ended yesterday, and the winning bid.... $76! Why anyone would bid more than the Buy It Now price, I have no idea. With the $13 he paid for shipping, his grand total is $10 more than he could have bought it for from FutureShop.

I am perfectly happy to take his money though, and I do hope he enjoys his drawing pad!

Somebody get this guy a research grant, quick!

As seen today in FailBlog:

fail owned pwned pictures

There sure is a lot of dumb floating around out there. I did a bit of looking around and found the original post here.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Pardon Me

George W. Bush started issuing his exit pardons yesterday... so far he's issued 14 pardons and commuted two prison sentences. I don't recognize any of the names on the list so far, but usually the big controversial ones don't come until the last few days of the Presidency.

No murderers on the list yet, but quite a few drug dealers and environmental offences. There's one that I don't understand at all:
Brenda Jean Dolenz-Helmer of Fort Worth, Texas, for reporting or helping cover up a crime.
Well, which is it? Reporting a crime, or helping cover up a crime? They seem pretty opposite to me.

There's been speculation that Bush will preemptively pardon some of the Gitmo torturers to prevent possible prosecution by the Obama administration... we'll have to wait and see how it turns out.


Monday, November 24, 2008

The Earth according to Facebook

This is ubercool:



This app was developed at a recent Facebook Hackathon.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

What to get that special someone

What do you get that special someone for Christmas when they seem to already have everything? How about some of the fine literary treats you can buy at your nearest web-store:

Natural Harvest - A Collection of Semen-Based Recipes

by Fotie Photenhauer

Natural Harvest - A Collection of Semen-Based Recipes by Fotie Photenhauer (Book) in Cooking

Printed: 61 pages, 22.86 cm x 17.78 cm, perfect binding, full-colour interior ink

Description:

Semen is not only nutritious, but it also has a wonderful texture and amazing cooking properties. Like fine wine and cheeses, the taste of semen is complex and dynamic. Semen is inexpensive to produce and is commonly available in many, if not most, homes and restaurants. Despite all of these positive qualities, semen remains neglected as a food. This book hopes to change that. Once you overcome any initial hesitation, you will be surprised to learn how wonderful semen is in the kitchen. Semen is an exciting ingredient that can give every dish you make an interesting twist. If you are a passionate cook and are not afraid to experiment with new ingredients - you will love this cook book!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Wednesday

I've posted this before, but I was watching the news tonight and I see Lloyd never got the message. So, in the hopes that some big-shot CTV producer with a lot of clout happens to see this, here it is again:
For those of you that don't know who Lloyd Robertson is, let me introduce you. As the Chief Anchor of CTV news, he does a pretty good job.... I've always thought he wears a little too much makeup, but that's really neither here nor there.

There is one thing about him, however, that drives me absolutely nuts: he pronounces the 'D' in "Wednesday". Instead of saying "wenz-day" like every other English-speaking person this side of the Atlantic, he says "wed-ens-day".

Lloyd, please stop. You're making my ears bleed.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Election Reflections

It's been a couple weeks since the US elections, and I've had some time to reflect on the results.
  • Barack Obama - I'm elated that Obama had such an overwhelming victory! After eight years of utterly failed policies, near-complete incompetence, and possibly criminal activities, it's exciting to know that real change is close at hand. Barack Obama is one of those rare politicians that has the ability to inspire people with his passion and eloquence, and I think that that is exactly what the United States needs right now. Ideologically, he's vastly closer to my own values than Bush was, and I'm hopeful that his administration will be able to pick up the pieces of a broken nation and put them back together again. It's going to be hard work and take a long time, but I believe that Obama is in the process of surrounding himself with the right people that will be able to help him do just that.

  • John McCain - I don't mind John McCain as a person or even as the politician that he used to be. In order to become the Presidential nominee for the Republican party, however, he had to pander to a lot of groups that I have absolutely no time for. I think that he'll soon fade away into obscurity, so I won't spend a lot of time talking about him other than to say that I'm very glad things turned out the way they did.

  • Anti-Gay Ballot Measures - This was the area of real disappointment. Out of the four anti-gay ballot measures (Prop 102 in Arizona, Initiative 1 in Arkansas, Amendment 2 in Florida, and Prop 8 in California), all four of them passed. Now those first three, I can at least understand: it's the Deep South and people are still conditioned by entrenched religious "values" to be ooged out by the thought of two men or two women in love. Unfortunate, but we can't expect that these ideas that have been pounded into the social consciousness for hundreds of years to be changed overnight. But then there's California. California! Long thought to be the most progressive state in the Union, the population of California actually voted to recind a right that already existed. Unbelieveable.

Monday, November 17, 2008

What if The Matrix ran on Windows XP?

This made me laugh, and seemed like a good follow-up to last night's post.


Sunday, November 16, 2008

Well THAT can't be good

I saw the most hilarious Windows error message on Failblog the other day:

fail owned pwned pictures

Three cheers for Windows Vista!

I was also looking at a flyer for computer/electronics site Tigerdirect.ca today, and glanced at the current pricing for Windows Vista. Between the ridiculous pricing and the error message above, it got me wondering why more people aren't migrating to other operating systems yet.

10 or 12 years ago, Windows was definitely the way to go. With Windows 95, Microsoft built on (read: "completely plagiarized") the fantastic work done with Apple's Ma cOS and found a way to market it to the masses. Compared to Macs, PCs were relatively inexpensive, and now that they had a graphical interface they were simple enough for non-geeks to use every day. Windows 95 was still much buggier than Mac OS 8, but it had mass appeal due to price, availability of software and the ability to run legacy DOS programs.

How things have changed. MS's most recent OS, Windows Vista, has been a relative flop. Prone to odd quirks and outright crashes... difficult to use (for the average Joe and the IT Pro alike)... too expensive and actually confusing to buy due to the number of different versions... and of course Apples genius "I'm a Mac" marketing campaign... Windows Vista never stood a chance.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Why This Blog Is Just Six Words Long

Well, first of all, it's a tribute to an under-appreciated musical and comedic genius, the one and only Weird Al Yankovic. I've been cracking up over Al since my friend Glen played his "Weird Al" Yankovic tape for me back in Grade 5.

This Song's Just Six Words Long is kind of a poke at song writers who don't put any thought into their lyrics and just churn out whatever they think people might buy. I'm looking at you, Pop music. Plus, it's unbelievably catchy and gets stuck in your head.



So anyway, that got me thinking about how it's so easy for anyone to post anything they want on the Internet. There are so many blogs out there (present company probably included) that will blather on about nothing, and just post whatever their opinion du jour is without ever putting much thought into it.

I'm going to try not to do that, but no warranty is expressed or implied. If you feel that any posting has not lived up to your expectations, feel free write to me about getting a full refund.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Number 2


I needed a second post to help me play around with the page formatting. Also, I like to hear myself talk. Also also, I think I'll store images in this post when the need for them arises.

Move along, nothing to see here.

Blog Virgin No Longer

I have various places around the Net where I've posted thoughts before... message boards, Yahoo 360 for a while (until my Yahoo decided to delete my account one day for no apparent reason), Facebook more recently. And while Facebook is great, it's not really intended to function as a blog... you get a bit of control over how your Notes look, but there's no real way to make them stand out from everyone else's Notes. I guess I feel like they lack any identity.

So anyway, here it is: my shiny new blog. There's not going to be any real theme to it, just random thoughts that I feel the need to share with world.

Enjoy.