Thousand Words

054 - Day 26

2009-01-05T01:53:00.001-05:00

Thursday. Thursday is the day we find out how much longer this transit strike of ours will last. There's a small part of me that is crossing his even littler fingers in hopes that the wonderful drivers, maintenance staff, and others will vote (thanks to some federal intervention), to have their say on the city's most recent offer, in favour of the offer. this means buses, after multiple inspections and revving up, will be back within one and a half weeks from now. The bigger part of me, ever sceptical, knows that the vote will ruin any chances of getting back to travel normalcy and that buses won't be back on the streets until the better part of January - at the earliest. A little Transit Union-run website has this lovely message for its members:

BREAKING NEWS - January 4th, 2009
Forced Second Vote On City's Latest Offer Details Known

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The vote ordered by Minister of Labour Rona Ambrose and conducted by Canada Industrial Relations Board will be held on:

Thursday, January 8th, 2009
6:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Civic Centre – Lansdowne Park on Bank Street
FREE PARKING AT LANSDOWNE PARK

Please be sure to bring photo identification with you as well as OC Transpo identification on the vote as the Board officers may require it.

Please be sure to vote to reject this offer and show the City our solidarity.

Your future, your families future and your Union's future depends on this vote.

Please, vote NO.

I have to wonder why this whole process is being drawn out, not unlike a kid looking to hear stories, tell stories, get water, and inspect for monster activity every nook and cranny to avoid going to bed. Any decent person would expect that both sides of any work stoppage, especially one that cripples a city, would work long and hard to resolve their differences. Instead of picturing a bunch of balding, middle-aged men sitting at an uncomfortable table in a windowless, cigarette smoke-filled room into all hours of the morning, I see text messages bouncing back and forth from one blackberry to another:

MaireLaire613: wanna go bak 2 werk?
ACorn279: R U GONNA WIN UR NEXT ELECTION?
MaireLaire613: i'll txt u after my ski trip.
ACorn279: CAN I COME? I JUST WAXED MY SKIS!
MaireLaure613: r u gonna win ur next election? lolz
OCMercy: burn!

Winter break is over and classes are starting. I imagine many students have worked hard at making exams when the strike started, then relegated their time to becoming hermits, just staying at home whenever possible (or a friend with a fancy car comes along). The weather for my walk to school tomorrow morning: cloudy with sunny breaks, and a high of ohmygosh I still need to walk a hour to get to school! And I shouldn't even be complaining all that much, because at least I can get to my classes in a reasonable amount of time with a reasonable amount of effort. All the walking I'll be doing this week will render my Wii Fit useless.

And it's -3C, for the record, feeling like -9C. Where's my scarf?

053 - Day Eight

2008-12-18T02:10:00.003-05:00

Just after writing my last blog, I thought about what I would say to the mayor if I bumped into him on the street. What better place to get inspiration that his Web site? There, he blogged about day seven of the strike, not unlike I did. Only, while my post talks of how I'm surviving not having buses, his post was deeply soaked in the unfortunateness of this whole situation, how reasonable he is being, and how his new plan is all about improving safety. After reading a few of his posts, I decided to write him a letter. And after the letter wouldn't send through the site, I just faxed it to him (yay for that nifty feature I never use on my printer). My letter was strong in its neutrality:

Faced with this transit strike, many people have flocked to Web sites and Facebook groups looking to get around town. I am sure there are some great success stories proving that Ottawa is a great place with great people. We have heard extreme stories in the news of how people cannot get around, are missing appointments, and how businesses are starting to feel the impact of Ottawa-sans-bus.

This past week has been a wonderful experiment. It has shown that for how much ordinary commuters like myself complain about the buses, routes, drivers, and the like, we ultimately need the system and can accept its flaws in the face of the alternative. It is easy to take it all for granted, and commuters and non-commuters alike have really seen this past week how much everyone depends on having OC Transpo. In a lot of ways, they really do carry the community of which they are part.

Hearing that the strike will be at least another week certainly makes me, and I imagine everyone else, sigh and take a moment before having to continue planning how to get to and from the most essential of activities. We start to see first-hand the benefits of compromise. There has been a whole lot of "I'll go out of my way to drive you to X if you don't mind arriving 20 minutes early." and "you can be 10 minutes late, but then you'll have to do task Y." For a week, that has worked for many of us. It will for yet another.

Each of us have made sacrifices, whether it was spending more time in traffic, giving up shifts at work, paying more for parking, changing daily schedules, staying in instead of going out, etc. In that spirit, I ask you the City and the transit’s Union to seek out each other's needs and reach an agreement. Take initiative. Work together to end this dispute so that life in the city and everyone, whether they use OC Transpo services daily or have never stepped foot on a bus, can get back to normal.

In the end, there are no heroes or villains, no offenders or victims, just people. There are you, me, and over million others. It does not matter who is wrong or who is right, just that differences get settled and everyone pushes forward.

Thank you for your time and enjoy the holidays

I wonder if there's a more innovative way than a fax machine to send a message. If there were, I might be more persuasive in my words.

As we walk into week two of this strike, I'm going to have to get more creative with my getting from place to place. OC Transpo's Web site has some suggestions:

Park & Ride for Carpooling: Not relevant, since I'd have to walk to the nearest park & ride. I may as well spend my energy walking to where I want to be.
Carpooling & Ridematching: Ridematching might be something to look into, though I do wonder how reliable it truly is. I kinda carpooled on my way to work today. It was nice.
O-Train: Why do they list this as an alternative when it clearly states that service is also disrupted?
Taxis: at about 16¢ per 93 metres and a starting price of $3.40, it could get expensive, fast.
Para Transpo: Not all that applicable to me, since I dont' have a short-term or permanent disability.
Teleworking: It's not easy to manage and sell at retail from my own bedroom.
Biking: This was an option before the strike started. I guess they took it down when they realised that it was winter, and only the hardcorest of hardcore bikers get out.

I guess I'll have to be more creative than whoever made up that list.

I've also always wondered how many councillors and municipal government types have any real interest in public transit. Looking beyond the strike, I see a light rail platform that's stuck between Middle-of-nowhere and Not-quite-relevant, with Carleton in the middle. It has been there for close for 7 years, and I don't see it ging anywhere fast because nobody seems really interested in connecting all corners of the city in a quick, convenient, environmentally gentle (potentially, anyway) way. Whenever it comes time to try to save money the city eliminates and reduces service on some routes rather than trying to plan new routes that would improve efficiency and generate more riders. I truly believe that Ottawa's bus ridership would jump if it were easier and faster to get to more places. It's that bump that's need to make such improvements to the system possible. The city's transportation people and OC Transpo's powers that be should be made up of people who are genuinely interested in taking transit to the next level - for the city, commuters, and yes, even drivers.

Note: Eigth days without buses means I have wasted an average of about $16 on my transit pass.

052 - Day Five, Six, Seven

2008-12-17T05:08:00.002-05:00

Day five was fun. I arrived at work an hour and a half early (when rides are offered, you don't really want to push your luck). This allowed me the opportunity to sit down and have breakfast with a coworker. Subway breakfasts have become boring ever since they stopped actually preparing eggs and stopped carrying round 4" buns; they're microwave-ready egg patties leave me with an underwhelming 'meh'. I learned that there was freezing rain going on, so thankfully another coworker offered me a ride home.

On Day Six of this wondrous OC Transpo bus strike, I did the inevitable: I walked to work. With a car, there are half a dozen different routes to take to get there, and two buses (that take the same basic route). That said, there's no convenient way to actually walk there, not without having to overshoot and circle back, or walking from point A to point B to point C to the Destination. It's all very awkward, and a lot of it has to do with how poorly planned out the mall and its immediate surroundings were. I opted to use a bunch of side streets that looked via Google Earth to be the best path to take. Had it not been winter, I'm sure there are other shortcuts that could have been explored, but snow limits one's ability to explore. As does time, and the need to actually have energy to function for the following eight hours.

I also defiantly walked past a "do not walk here" sign on the transitway and walked straight through the station, in the middle of the road. It's not like there are any buses around to be delayed or hit me, right?

What worked for me was that the temperature was not only above zero, but edging toward double digits. Winter boots kept my feet (mostly) dry as all that snow we've been up to started going the way snow does when its warm. Had it been colder, or windy, it might have been hell. Luckily, all I really had to deal with was the splashing caused by vehicles thanks to the watery state of the roads. One driveway I saw during my journey was less a driveway and more a pond.

You also notice in the winter that most of these side streets don't actually have sidewalks.

Today, I went to pay for my winter semester. The credit card company is probably happy now that I owe them money. I feigned happiness to the woman at the Registrar's office that I would be getting lots of reward points, kicking myself slightly for not going with the not-so-free credit card plan that rewards me more points for every dollar I spend.

My little cousin drove me, since she had an appointment at the school. It's moments like that where you realise that the little girl you perceive is actually almost 18, is driving by herself, and is planning to move into a house with a bunch of friends. We talked about drinking and driving and drugs and boyfriends. Very surreal.

Her appointment turns out would last the whole evening, so I walked home rather than wait an hour for a friend to pick me up. I might have waited had I remembered that they day before, snow was melting left, right, and centre, while today it was comfortably below zero. The whole bike path was ice. Yay for winter boot traction!

One week later, I must admit that with a bit of luck and wonderful people patiently dealing with my frequent requests for rides, the bus strike hasn't been too bad. Sure, I still have some Christmas shopping to do that I haven't done, and I haven't had the freedom to go and do things, but I'm still getting to school and work as needed. The two head cheeses behind this kerfuffle still aren't bending to meet one another at some reasonable medium. Last I heard, there's talk of possibly talking again "before Christmas". Here's to another week of getting around how I have been: one day at a time.

051 - Day 3, 4

2008-12-14T02:52:00.003-05:00

I went to Cornwall (city south of Ottawa, on the Ontario-New York border) to make sure a window was installed at my friend's house. Aside from a brief visit to Niagara falls in the early 90s, this is the closest I have ever been to the US. It took about an hour and a half to get there, and all I could think was "in an hour and a half, I could almost get from home to Carleton University, and back by bus and O-Train". Or not, since it was the third day of the strike.

While there, my friend's dad and I begun work on a project that we have. A while back, I may have hinted at something cool I was working on. My friend's dad writes lots of articles about Nepal. What I had done for his birthday was edit and compile a number of them and make them into a book, using Blurb software. The end result was very good. We've decided to use it as a starting point to refine the book and make it sellable. We worked a bit on it, changing a few things here and there. We would have worked more, but the house was cold, so we headed back home. When we got back, I made arrangements to get to work the next day.

The Book

Luckily Prashanta and Prabin agreed to take me to work, though we did arrive a little bit late. The one thing I love about going to work every day is that you get to see the changes that occur. Because I hadn't been there in almost three days, there was a lot to take in: things get moved, things are gone, there are new things, someone changes his or her hair. I don't know what it would be like to be gone for a week. Or more! Someday, I'll have to take a trip somewhere and find out. I left work early just because there wasn't a whole lot to do. It's proving pretty rough being at retail in a prime holiday shopping season when inventory levels are low. It really becomes a box of chocolates when you throw in a transit strike and weather that can change on a dime.

Fortunately, Prashanta was able to pick me up when I was done. I'm kinda looking forward to the time when I actually walk from home to work, or vice versa. I just want to complain about having had to walk all that. Of course, I think I would want to wear a sandwich board telling those who pass me about my wonderful love for the City and the transit union. I also can't wait for the Internet to evolve to the point where sarcasm is clearly shown as it is when spoken.

I did play a bit of Metroid Prime with a 12-year old. I absolutely love that game - up until the last region, Phazon Mines. Tallon, Magmoor, and Phendrana are all spectacular levels with so much to discover. I could play that first half of the game over and over and still enjoy the story, the art style, the enemies and bosses... it's that last part of the game that ruined it for me. Replaying that 6-year old game (!!!!) really stirred my desire to continue playing Metroid Prime 3 for Wii. I'll get to playing games when I have the time.

050 - Day Two

2008-12-12T10:53:00.002-05:00

The benefit of not having buses is that I won't hear the early morning bus go by if I'm up at 4AM and 5AM. I haven't been up that late in a long time.

I had to go to school for a meeting, so I walked. I brought along my newly-acquired snowshoes so that I could take the bike path that cuts through the Centrepointe area. This path is faster than taking any major roads from my house. After the recent blizzard, I figured the path would be travelled, but difficult (hence the snowshoes), but to be surprise, it was completely ploughed! On my way home, I donned the snowshoes and walked around Centrepointe park - at least until the battery in my camera died.

Is walking a realistic alternative to public transit? It is in some cases. For instance, the walk to school was a pleasant one, given that the weather was nice. And to be honest, it isn't something I've ever done. The only time I had not taken the bus to get to school was the one time I biked along that same path earlier this fall. The 40-50 minutes it takes might get old over time though, especially if it got really cold.

I do, however, really like the idea of showshoeing. I hated it back in elementary school when we would use the big, heavy wooden ones. Not too long ago, I got the idea that I would like to try it again, with a more modern, aluminum set. I figured since I love winter so much, I should go and do more outdoorsy activities, beyond skating on the canal (which I hate and only do once a year). Perhaps I'll actually try snowboarding this year. It looks so easy in 1080 and SSX, after all!

Day two wasn't much of an issue, even less so than yesterday was. As I ponder how I'll get to and from work over the weekend, I'm hoping that the City and the transit union stop acting like fourth graders and start actually trying to resolve their issues. At least the union leader isn't doing interviews anymore. A 10-year old could give better interviews - 10-year olds are in the 4th grade, after all.

Speaking of which, I did see Dan in Real Life last night. It was a surprisingly good movie, with actors in roles in which you don't often seem them. It also makes me not want to wait to have children. That movie might have caused a strange dream in which I was introducing to my family two women (one slightly younger and one significantly older, though neither are people I actually know) who were pregnant by me. However, it was all elaborate, like a reality show, with all kinds ot twists and turns and "you'll find out... when we come back!"-esque moments. I guess that would be the best way to go about such a situation.

049 - Day One

2008-12-11T04:09:00.002-05:00

I've decided that I would like to blog everyday. It's not the first time I've said that I'll do that, but now I have a reason. Ottawa is currently in a public transportation work stoppage. In other words, the buses are on strike. OC Transpo is on strike. If you're keeping score, we're two weeks away from Christmas and dead in the middle of exam season.

My mom has never been able to drive, so the bus has been my primary means to move about the city for school, work, shopping, socialising, entertainment, and on occasion, sleep. This strike is going to make it extremely difficult for me to make it to work, even though I don't live all that far from where I need to get five days a week. It's not within walking distance, but it doesn't take all that long in a vehicle. If this work strike lasts nearly as long as the last one did - 24 days in 1996 - then I'll be walking to school, which is a decent 40-minute walk, at best when bike paths are used. I don't think those get ploughed in the winter. And even worse, I know there are others who are far more inconvenced, to use a euphamism, that I.

Yesterday, the union head of OC Transpo drivers, André Cornellier, made a few appearances in the media. CTV here, here , and on the radio here. I understand the bus driver's position and that they have been without a contract for a long time now, but Cornellier's demeanour and utter lack of respect (or the show thereof) for the public certainly didn't get me to sympathize. I doubt that he garnered any support from us public types.

That isn't to say that the city isn't to blame, either. It's only more recently that I've started to develop an understanding of municipal politics. And it's in that time that I've learned that Ottawa's city-level politics is ridiculous. Mostly, I'm disappointed and borderline frustrated that there has been near zero progress on improving rapid transit and light rail in the city since the O-Train launched six or seven years ago. Every week, some new figure proposes a new plan that will save time and money compared to the current plan, which nobody seems to want to get behind. And the plan that was in place a few years back was grounded, even though we still had to pay for the breached conracts that were in place. Isn't it better to pay for something rather than pay for nothing? It's not like the expanded O-Train line wouldn't have been beneficial; it would have been much more useful than what it is now. It's being in love (or, at least being married to) the status quo that really annoys me, and our councillors aren't willing to flirt with change, let alone make it their misteress (or mister.... whatever the male equivalent is. Cabana boy?).

This, of course, brings me back to the transit strike. I don't see either side offering a comprimise anytime soon. The union is too obsessed with getting more sick days and a flexable scheduling system (which has its own flaws... ask anyone who has ever not had a bus come), and the city is too busy trying to get the public on its side by saying, "we're offering them tons of money in these 'hard economic times'." The drivers and the public seem to be stuck inbetween.

One thing that I found surprising is that the union (or whoever it was) isn't allowing for more school buses to be on the road. The schoolboard hatched a plan to get more buses to pick up some fo the students that use OC Transpo to get to school - but if they do that, then they "cannot guarantee [that] school [areas] won't be picketed." Kids should be in school. They need to be in school. It's ridiculous that they would rather use kids by disrupting schools and keeping the kids from being on time than being coopoerative on such a simple level. I'm sure parents appreciate the extra headache in the morning.

Day one isn't a problem. Despite the big snowstorm that we just had, finding rides to and fro isn't too hard for a day or two - at least for me. At least for now. My friend's father drove me to work where I am now, blogging. One thing has changed significantly between the last strike 12 years ago and now: the Internet. With people being so connected, especially here in Ottawa, it's so much easier to find rides. There are easily a dozen websites and Facebook groups offering to connect people for carpools and rideshare initiatives. The safety and reliability of such proposals have yet to be tested in such dire situations, but it would be amazing if through these efforts, people managed to find their once stranger neighbours who work or commute in the same direction or to the same areas and formed new friendships - or at least new carpooling buddies. That's what community should be about. Frankly, that's what Ottawa should be about. As much as I'd love to see bus ridership increase (I would love to not have the service on my three routes reduced), I would also love to see the Transit people, as well as the City people, realise that they in fact do need us as much as we need them.

048 - Of Stamps and Secrets

2008-11-12T01:11:00.004-05:00

Photos: Alanis, Chickens, Meaghan Smith and Ron Sexsmith, Pixie Hollow, Snow in October, escalator, Halloween Costume (Joe Jonas, Jonas Brothers), Pramod Dhakal, Wall-E and Eve art, someone's parcel paid in a whack of 52¢, 96¢, $1.15, and $1.60 stamps.

I completed a huge project that didn't involve school. I'll reveal it very soon, as early as next week. It's pretty awesome, but still a secret. That's what I've been up to. I've also been working a lot and doing some school. Oh, and watching television shows! Stargate Atlantis, Dexter, and Pushing Daisies are impressing, and Heroes is getting pretty tricky. It makes me wish that there were two Bryan Fullers, one for Heroes and one for Daisies. And perhaps one for a new Star Trek as well.

Speaking of Star Trek, someone revealed the new original Enterprise (photo) for the 2009 movie. I must say that I really like it, except for how the nacelle pylons' positions. But that's enough geek from me for one day.

Recently, I've seen the following movies: Strange Brew, which I didn't understand at all. It was too 80s Canadiana for me, I suppose. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, which proved to me that not only is Kevin Smith pretty brilliant at creating a cohesive world and making it entertaining across various viewpoints and characters, but he can also create a spoof that isn't of the terrible quality of spoofs post-Scary Movie. I must see Zack and Miri make a Porno, if only because it's a Kevin Smith film.

Anyway, I must get back to preparing for a presentation for later this week. More later!

047 - Wind Gods and Ringtunes

2008-10-05T23:06:00.003-04:00

October is here, and my room is freezing cold. I really think I need to reinsulate the window area, and possibly get a new window. My plan is to go, hire the worst guy possible, then complain to Mike Holmes. In response, he'll come here, ask how on earth someone whose job was to insulate a wall and replace a window used 17 junction boxes in the process. After a few words like "unbelievable", he'll fix it for me, add a shiny new seat and electrical surge protector, and proclaim that he "love his job". Simple, no?

In other news, I've dusted off my Wii. It's sad how I've become accustomed to not having the time to play such fandangled devices. In a rare spurt of energy, I went and beat Lostwinds, a WiiWare game that I bought back in May and stoppe dplaying after all of 41 minutes. It is a great little game, one that I'd love to have seen more of (seeing as I beat it after another 3 hours). Hoping to continue the trend of actually playing the games that I've bought, I moved the Wii back to the living room. It gets more light there.

My DS is far from neglected though. After I get to finishing Kirby, I'll get back to The World Ends With You until the new Castlevania arrives. I hope there's a last minute pre-order bonus with it, though.

Which leads me to movies. The last ones I saw were Bee Movie (cute, but not Pixar by a long shot), A Dog's Breakfast (funny, but not as amazing as I was hoping, despite Rachel Luttrell yummy cameo), and National Treasure : Book of Secrets (much better than the first, surprisingly). I'm working on Hello, Dolly. Walter Matthau is about 30 years younger than what I know him as. It's quite something.

Lastly, I have a new ringtune for my phone, in celebration of Halloween. Listen.

046 - Scooters, Fog, and Rainbows (oh, my)

2008-09-25T03:08:00.003-04:00

045 - I think I'm Going to Need a Bigger Box

2008-09-24T12:16:00.005-04:00

The new TV season has kicked off with a pretty epic set-up for Heroes' third season, as well as a nice start to Big Bang Theory's second. I love when shows don't pick up right where they left off, but that's often hard to do when the vast majority of 'em have cliffhanger season finales. Heroes cheated a bit last year by throwing you a few months after the events of the season 1 finale, and then taking a later episode to answer 'how did they get here?" Those are perfectly exciting. I expect a similar filler this year too, at least on a couple of storylines. Up next: Dexter, Californication, Chuck, Pushing Daisies, Corner Gas, and Little Mosque on the Praries, though I have no idea when that one starts - or where I"m goig to find the time to watch all of those. Despite my crazy-expensive cable package, torrents and my PSP may become my best friends.

In the meantime, I need to prepare a presentation of sorts for work. There's a staff meeting this weekend, and I get to discuss, well... magic. I do have a basic guide form which to work, but I hope I'll have the time to really add my own perspective to it, if at all possible.

One big accomplishment I accomplished earlier this week: I finished ripping all of my music to my computer - that's about 220 cds! I've never had such instant access over my entire library (including songs downloaded form iTunes, Puretracks, and other less legitimate sources). I just have to decide what to do with it all. Twenty-five gigs of music might merit the purchase of an iPod, not because I don't have a fabulous mp3 player already (8 Gig Creative Zen Microphoto), but because I use iTunes anyway, and I need something bigger so that I don't have to pick and choose. Apple did just release a cooler, cheaper 32-Gig iPod Touch - but it's still over $400. Maybe after Christmas...

044 - Dusting off the eStuff

2008-09-21T23:29:00.004-04:00

Well, I had the summer off, from a blogging perspective. But now that fall is officially here, it's time to e-dust off my blog, my website, my and Prashanta's podcast Livejournal, Flickr, and the like. That, and I have a fancy new laptop with which to do everything on. On which to do everything? Reminds me of a Fifth Grader Australia question. Anyway, I do have big news: Prashanta and I will be podcasting soon. Our revival was inspired in part by another podcast effort that we're working on.

That effort, which involves Nepali Youth discussing (in Nepali) topics and stories relevant to them, finally got off the ground, and has actually been accessed by people from all around the world. When I think about that - how within one day of putting content online, people from Australia, the US, India, Nepal, Europe, and across Canada - it reminds me of how truly powerful the Internet is. That and how Canadian politicians are wasting resources scouring the 'net for pictures and postings that get their rivals in trouble. It's almost scary that if someday I ran for Canadian Prime Ministry, someone could spend a day on archive.org or something and find out that I wrote something like "Oh, I wish the power would go out" the day before the Blackout of 2003, and get me booted off the ticket for having beliefs and wishes that would destroy the very fabric of Canadian life.

Actually, I would probably make a great party leader. I would be more effective than Dion, warmer than Harper, and less annoying than Layton. I would focus on my platform and how it would benefit Canadians both in the present and the future. And I would explain it thoroughly, with realistic timelines. Simple, no? I think if people respect you and see you as someone without a personal agenda, they'll hear and care about what you say. Unfortunately, I can't say that I'm overly interested in any politician right now.

Photos: A recap of the summer.

043 - Digital Nightmare

2008-05-13T12:38:00.003-04:00

Sony lies. "Watch videos on your psp" they say. I'm a fairly tech-oriented person, but I really have no idea how to put movies on the bloody playstation portable. I think you need some sort of Sony diploma to do it. It should be as simple as click-and-drag, but it's not. You have to convert whatever movie file you want to one of the twoish video formats the device can read. And then, if you're lucky, it'll fit on the system. No, Sony, I'm not buying more of your high-priced memory.

Let alone trying to take a movie from a DVD and trying to get that on a psp. That requires more software just to take the movie file(s) on the disk and putting it on the computer. And possible intermediate software to take that and convert it to something the psp converter can understand without freezing your system. And that special edition Juno dvd that comes with a digital copy? Brilliant - unless you have a psp.

No matter what, it'll take longer than the 15 minutes you have before you need to leave.

This is why I want an iPod Touch. I'm sure it's much more friendly, even if files need to be converted. Though I'm sure there's an even easier kitchen sink player out there. Actually, probably not. That's just a dream. And if it were real, it would probably be ugly, and suck battery life like no tomorrow. Kinda like the psp.

Why, if there's a standard dvd format and a standard high def format, can't there be a standard video format? Digital protection (DRM) on files is also a terrible idea that just makes it that much harder to deal with. Especially when there's more than one type of protection. *points finger at Apple, Microsoft* Bad people!

Pictures: Tim Hortons chai tea, Chinatown, hair colouration

042 - Buck 65 Concert, Photoshop Experiments

2008-05-04T22:31:00.004-04:00

I like concerts. There's something about live music, being in front of the people who make said music, being surrounded by people who are equally (or more) into the music than you are... something about that whole process that makes the music exciting. In contrast, I don't really like live concerts on cd. There are a few exceptions (Great Big Sea's Road Rage, for example), but the music without the atmosphere is only half the experience. Recently, I saw Buck 65 at the Bronson Centre, with Skratch Bastid and Cadence Weapon. It was a good show despite the mediocre sound and audience-not-at-capacity. Even though the venue is seated (it's an ancient high school auditorium), I still found myself standing by the stage. My ears aren't particularly happy when that happens, but it's worth it.

It's even better when you get a few good shots. My battery life was limited (and died eventually), so I enjoyed the music rather than try to capture it. I wasn't particularly happy, but it was a good concert!

Michele accompanied me to the concert. A few days later, we had some work-related adventures including a trip to our offsite via OC Transpo and a trip to the mall's garbage and recycling facilities. I like adventures, even the ordinary, ordinarily boring ones.

On another note, I've decided that I should probably learn how to use Photoshop. I have such a powerful tool sitting on my computer, and the most I use it for is resizing pictures. Today,I experimented with smoothing out skin tones, leaning how to, as Nelly Furtado would put it, "Make it look whiter than it seems / Paint me over with your dreams." Not that I'm looking for a job over at Maxim or Cosmo or anything...

Before (click to enlarge)

After (click to enlarge)

Just don't show her, because I might get hit. Or worse.

041 - Earth Day, April Fools

2008-05-02T01:37:00.004-04:00

These last couple of days were a harsh reminder that, on occasion, Ottawa weather likes to mess with you just a little bit. After a solid week of weather jet lag that made believe it was mid-June, we returned to late April without much warning. I got snowed on, albeit wet snow - and for all of five minutes. But during that five minutes, I was riding my bike. Figures.

I was dismayed not to have a Future Shop or Best Buy flyer this week. I though perhaps it was the deliverer, since they aren't exactly known as being a good pot of gravy. But no, a quick trip to FS's website quickly reveals that "We will not print a flyer for the week of April 25" to "support Earth Day." I felt kinda proud for them for about five seconds, until I realised that maybe they should have told me so in their flyer last week - the one that's good for two weeks. Or maybe they did and I'm just not as Sherlock Holmes as I thought I was. Anyway, I thought about just how much plastic their products ship in, and how much energy the use to keep their dozens (per store) of televisions powered to sway meandering customers and school them in the wonders of acronyms and contrast ratios. But maybe keeping only one cash open when there's a seven-person lineup is another quiet method of their to save the Earth, just like not printing a flyer once.

Personally, I didn't really celebrate Earth day. I forget it even happened, though in retrospect, I remember seeing a poster at my local grocery store made by grade school kids, telling people to turn their lights off. But these token "let's love the earth for a day" won't really matter until every day is Earth day. Recycling took a while to catch on; people laughed at the idea of separating their garbage when it was introduced. Resource conservation will catch on mainstream-style at some point. Maybe by the time my kids are in school.

040 - Maple Music is the Simon Wilcox to my Tulip Festival

2008-04-19T01:37:00.004-04:00

I love Maple Music. For the uninitiated, is a little online music retailer - one that specializes, or at the very least exclusively distributes Canadian music. Arrogant Worms, Billy Talent, Jill Barber, Sarah Slean <3. On top of music, they also have some merch: hoodies, posters, autographs, and even concert tickets.

I also love how my spell check doesn't know the words Slean, merch, nor hoodies.

Anyway, I've made two orders with them so far, and they're just awesome! The prices are what I'd call reasonable, at least prices that would sway me to buy stuff if I were at HMV or something like that. I bought Simon Wilcox's newest, The Charm and the Strange and Kinnie Starr's Anything. A few years back, I bought Simon Wilcox's second cd, Smart Function, in part because the listening station had it and I was impressed (and in part because it'd give me something to see at Tulipfest). So a follow-up cd was a no brainer for me. Smart Function is a work of art. A slightly dark, highly-energized, low energy (if that makes sense) work of art. Kinnie Starr, I had heard a couple of tracks that I love (including the La Le La La that I had already purchased through iTunes), so I figure I'll like the rest.

Sorry for all those brackets.

Anyway, I bought the cds thinking they'd take a good week to arrive (as indicated by my shipping method). I got them two days later. W00t!

And so far, I'm loving the Simon Wilcox. It's actually pretty rare for me to buy a cd that I don't like, even if I haven't heard it before. Kinnie Starr is still in the shrink wrapping, but I guarantee that'll change soon. Funny story about Simon Wilcox - after I bought her cd a few years back, I saw her at the Tulip Festival. She was wonderful! I remember Vivi thinking all of her songs sounded the same. I digress! After she performed, she went to the signing tent. And I hadn't brought my cd jacket! I went in line anyway to meet her, and she was so nice, and enjoyed my little story of having bought her cd, but not having the jacket. I need to get it signed someday.

MyMusic.com is another Canadian music retailer, but they have all kinds of artists - it's CD Warehouse's online store (or at least they're affiliated somehow, I think). I haven't bought anything from it; while there's lots that separates it from Maple Music, I prefer Maple. Though the idea of having a Desert 5 list is pretty awesome.

So yes, the whole point of this entry: Maple Music, brackets bad - at least for those who buy music and read, respectively. But seriously, who buys music and reads these days?

I miss the concert series at the Tulip Festival.

039 - Doubleyou doubleyou doubleyou dot

2008-04-17T23:59:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I was just abuzz with energy, so I began work on my website, for the first time in about two years. And surprisingly, I'm almost done! Hopefully I'll get enough work done on it this weekend so that it can go up. The image is just a snippit of what'll be shown on the site.

And the Sens aren't in the playoffs anymore! I was looking forward to working on those dead nights where the entire city is collectively focused on televisions big and small not in the store. Oh well, what's that great Ottawan saying? "There's always next year"?

038 - Brains!

2008-04-15T23:42:00.002-04:00

My Brain Hurts.

037 - My shirt is soaked, and my soul

2008-04-12T00:41:00.003-04:00

I need some adventure STAT! After (reluctantly) turning down a trip to Japan, I need something to keep me occupied! Today, it rained lightly but steadily, which is refreshing considering how long a winter we've had. SPRING! I love exclamation marks!

This morning, I was on a role. I woke up with a brilliant invention I need to develop. It's so sensitive that if i post it online, someone from Thailand, or the Louisiana government will steal it and profit from my brilliance. Shortly thereafter, a brilliant (ok, not brilliant, but at least average) emo song popped into my head. Lyrics and all! Though it doesn't have a chorus yet... but I'll give you a peek at my favourite verse:

It was two days ago
When you said you loved me
Your cherry cheeks aglow
From head to toe you had me deep

Very emo. Maybe I'll finish it and startup a one-hit-wonder emo band! I have a drummer already, and I tried recruiting a bassist today!

Anyway, my weekend is filled with work and studying. And more rain, if The Weather Network is to be believed.

036 - It's a faaaaaaake!

2008-04-10T02:59:00.005-04:00

Photos: Hannah Montana mannequin, parking lot at night

What a day indeed! In one mail-checking session, I received money from the government, a notice of bankruptcy and a call for objections for the sale of Disney Store by Hoop Retail, and a letter from Japan. The latter has amazingly colourfully cute stationary! It feels as if it's a letter right out of Animal Crossing, sans exotic furniture present. Oh I really want some exotic furniture! I also reinflated my purple yoga ball thinking maybe I can sit on it when I play videogames in my room. I tried it out by playing some Beautiful Katamari. Man, that game is trippy! I don't know how to roll properly, so I don't end up with big Katamari balls, leaving the King of the Cosmos pretty bummed.

My room is also almost 100% tidy! I will take pictures when it's sunny. I'm out of room for DS games and cds. Uhoh!

Deep Space Nine's season six In the Pale Moonlight is probably the greatest hour (well, 44 minutes) of Star Trek. It's captivating storytelling. If anyone decides to ever make, or even pitch a new Trek series in the future, they absolutely have to watch and learn from DS9 because it has it all: drama, sci-fi, homages, relevance, comedy, consequences, villains with depth, multi-faceted main characters that grow, likable and useful satellite characters, romance (well, pretty good romance for sci-fi), even music moments. It's hard to believe that it ended almost ten years ago.

I think I need to get me some tarps, some lights, and an external flash for my camera... I'm starting to feel inspired to try new things with my photography. Also a blow torch and some peanut butter.

035 - Tetrachloromethanedoesn't extinguish the passion for poetry

2008-04-08T01:50:00.005-04:00

The past five days of work have been crazy. And filled with... work, but still fun. Between the pancake plush, vanilla cake, pants-dropping poems, wonder weiners, garbage, coins, cameras, oranges, pineapple princesses, and yes, even Lion King 1/2... it'll be nice to take a couple of days to not work - and work on school work. Is it next week yet?

Other than that, I've bought games that I haven't (and won't, for a week anyway) play: Beautiful Katamari and Tomb Raider Anniversary - both of which I for a good deal on. My Spanish is improving, possibly. At least, I'm learning words. I guess sentences are the next hurdle.

Pictures: toppled public garbage, mall, vanilla cake wit Buzz and Woody.

Oh, and the Title goes out to Ricky P for a job well done.

034 - Nothing like the fresh scent of Febreeze and a graveyard hunt

2008-04-02T20:05:00.003-04:00

Photos: Bus ride, Carleton U avast, No dumping on the big pile of snow, road ice melting, a shoe unearthed, anime-style armored beast with special guest SUN as it's powering sphere of light, messy room made messier in my attempts to tidy it, cards, locker art.

Perhaps as a nod to a friend of mine on Livejournal, I've decided to clean out my room (see pictures), organize stuff, and weed out things that I don't really need or want... including sifting through the three random drawers of mostly random stuff that I have. Back in high school, I'd take my cheapo film camera with me and take pictures (much like I do now, but with less apprehension taking shots of people) and get double prints so that my friends can take pictures they wanted. Well, the (many) leftover got chucked. I know I have copies in photo albums, so they just went ploof! It's a darned good thing I have a digital camera now, and Flickr.

Gone are tons of high school class notes. If ever I need some cosine laws, I'll search Wikipedia.

I kept all of my Christmas and birthday cards though! There's something about a card that I just want to keep. Included in those are some "happy birthday" art left on my locker in high school. Is it bad that high school was oh so long ago? I don't want to be old yet!

I also reorganized my unusual collection of penguin plushes. Crazy penguins. All those eyes staring. I hope I never bring a girl home; they're liable to scare her away.... Scratch that. I'll just buy a throw blanket ;D

And my Xbox is finally beside my television and not halfway across the room. That makes me happy.

In other news, yesterday after my presentation, I went on an adventure to try to find the OC Transpo Graveyard, where you can find all the city buses that are beyond repair. I didn't quite make it, but some intense staring at Google Earth told me that I was very close. I can't wait to actually make it there! My hype for this place is so high that it may actually beat "the sound made by crushing plastic bins in a garbage compactor" as most awesome find of the year. Most of the pictures I posted were taken on this mini-adventure.

Or plan out a large-scale adventure! School is almost done! Oh, and if you haven't already, please read Questionable Content, from the beginning. It's pretty cool (plus has robots with death rays).

033 - Universe Girls, Earth Hour

2008-03-30T23:45:00.007-04:00

Photo: The icy water described in my previous entry.

I found out today that I actually know one of the 62 contestants competing for the 2008 Miss Universe Canada crown, or belt, or wand, or whatever it is the Miss Universe Canada wins. Kinda makes me wonder someday whenever we wander out of our backyard of a solar system and meet other alien races, how will they open up and even judge Miss Universe events. Especially if other species look less like Vulcans and more like, well...

Suffice it to say that I wish Agnes well. Je voterais pour elle s'elle me donne un bracelet!

Earth Hour went well I heard. Even though Prime Minister Stephen Harper's house was all lit up, Ottawa's power consumption dropped 4%, and Toronto dropped over 8%. I was working that night, but we turned out half the lights, the projector, and television and put on the fun and breezy Lilo and Stitch soundtrack. A few kept asking why the store was so dark. I like to think that we made someone happy, other than Kat and me, of course.

Once all the snow melts and school is done, I can finally go biking again! Today, I went and got my bike tuned up so that it's ready to go. Hopefully I'll get out more this year than I did last year... Which reminds me, I need to buy a great water bottle. And maybe a helmet.

032 - The Puddle and the Mannequin Army

2008-03-29T04:13:00.003-04:00

I was walking home tonight along the sidewalk, and at a particular point, the sidewalk dips, creating a valley of sorts. Everyone knows to avoid this during the springtime, as all the snow melts, leaving a body of water more comparable to a lake than a puddle. It's always better to circle onto the muddy grass than to brave the puddle. Two guys were walking toward me on the sidewalk, about equal distance from the puddle. I sped up to avoid awkwardness of trying to pass along the grass path at the same time.

I made it to the other side with a few steps to spare. The two guys walk by; though I can no longer see them, I can hear them talking to one another. Suddenly to my surprise, I hear the sound of breaking ice. The sound of cracking is quickly replaced by the sound of shattered ice being stirred in the water, the steps becoming more and more wet. I think, "are they going through the water?" Just then a scream, "arrrgh!"

Silly guys.

Pictures: Rear View Mirror, Mannequin Army. Or at least gang of five-year olds.

031 - Beauty, Beast, and Mrs. Pot

2008-03-23T20:05:00.003-04:00

Photos could be summed up with one phrase: Again with the eye pictures!

So I was thinking today about the words "once" and "ounce". They're so similar in appearance and lettering, but they sounds very different from one another. A linguist could probably tell you that the words are very dissimilar with the parts of the mouth and throat used to pronounce them, all because of one letter. Think of the difference U can make. It would be borderline remarkable if the English language didn't resemble what would result if you left a four-year old in a white room with a bucket of chocolate and a fresh set of Crayola markers. Or crayons.

Happy Easter!

I've managed to stuff all kinds of things into this long weekend: Smash Bros., babysitting, work, movies, and television shows. Some of these activities overlap. Weeds is a great show. I might dare to say fantastic. After watching the first season on a couple of sittings, I might have to buy it and the second season to add to my scifi-heavy tv-dvd collection. And third, and fourth apparently. And I've watched Pirates I, II, and III (minus the first hour for which I fell asleep). They don't wow and amaze me, but it is a fun ride while it lasts (the latter one lasts too long, i fear). My cousins are entertaining. And Smash Bros is grand.

Oh yes, and I've been watching Star Trek The Original Series Remastered Season One. I hadn't seen much of the original show, so the polished episodes and new, yet still retro effects are fun for me. Plus, it's a great way to examine just how television had changed in 40 years, everything from how people act to camera angles... I was telling my mom the other day how in the 50-minute episode The Enemy Within, Kirk's captain's log tell you right from the start what's happened - a doppleganger of sorts was created by a transporter accident, unbeknownst to anyone. If that were made today, that fact would be the big twist that you've been trying to figure out (or had figured out a good 25 minutes ago, depending on the writing and direction quality) that gets resolved in the last 5 minutes of the 42-minute episode. Huh.

The Children's Place announced recently (link) that as part of their effort to "strengthen" their "core business", they are exiting the Disney Store retail space. The Walt Disney Company might purchase back 2/3 of those stores. Interesting news indeed. I'm not yet sure what it means, but I'd love to work for a huge multimedia beast with it's hands in the gaming industry. And maybe I should dust off (well, figuratively. computer files don't really get dusty. Though maybe they should... maybe in MAC OS XI) my resume.

And I think maybe, if it's possible, I've had too many cupcakes today.