Environmental Update

My house is fucking hot.

New or Old?

My dad has a few different medical problems. He takes a few pills to manage most of them but for his arthritis, nothing seems to work well for him. Back in the late-nineties he started taking some herbal stuff that our relatives in the Philippines sent him. They get it from Chinatown in Manila. This stuff worked better than any of the regular drugs that have been prescribed to him over the years. The only problem I have with this is that none of us know what the stuff is or what it's supposed to be used for or even its real name. The box it comes in is all written in chinese (I guess I could get it translated - I know enough chinese people) without a word of english. The only reason I don't question it more is because I've seen the incredible difference it made with my dad's arthritis. However, the past couple days I've had to look at it a little more objectively. This "stuff" that he gets imported is made without any type of regulatory groups, it has no evidence-based research to quantify its effectiveness, there are no documented adverse effects, and no mention of drug interactions. But, I guess if it works... :

Wanted: Vacation

I don't know what it is. Lately I haven't been able to sleep, I haven't had much of an appetite, and I can't concentrate on anything. I need a vacation from everything.

You Know You're a Star Wars Geek When...

• You wave your hand purposefully and 'use the force' to open and close automatic doors or elevator doors.
• You've 'wielded' a flashlight and made humming sounds.
• You are POSITIVE you are force-sensitive and only lack the proper training.
• Your house robe is brown and extra large.
• You have a bad feeling about everything.
• Whenever you went anywhere outside with your friends, you always walked single file, to hide your numbers.
• You've been pulled over by a policeman, and when asked to see your driver's license you replied, "You don't need to see my identification."
• And when he asks about your two friends in the back "They're for sale, if you want them."
• You have held up an onion ring and said, "Look sir...droids!"

What Kind of Kisser Are You?

This is what I got:

Part Passionate/Part Expert Kisser

"For you, kissing is about all about following your urges
If someone's hot, you'll go in for the kiss - end of story
You can keep any relationship hot with your steamy kisses
A total spark plug - your kisses are bound to get you in trouble
You're a kissing pro, but it's all about quality and not quantity
You've perfected your kissing technique and can knock anyone's socks off
And you're adaptable, giving each partner what they crave
When it comes down to it, your kisses are truly unforgettable"

What a load of crap.

Its Been a While

Last night was Dennis and Olivia's wedding shower. They had a few (approx. 23,000) people over at their new home. Tonnes of food, lot's of friends, and alcohol pouring down like a waterfall. There were a handful of us that lasted until the end, about 1:30 or 2am. When I got home I downed a very large glass of water and passed out. This morning, I woke up to my blackberry beeping in the next room (I have the alarm set on it for 7:30am. I always forget to turn it off on weekends). I get up to turn it off, and *BAM!* I had to sit down again holding my head. I haven't had a hangover in a long time. I stumbled to the other room to turn off that damn blackberry and then stumble back to bed. I didn't take any Advil until 10-ish when I finally woke up again and had the courage to take the stairs down to the kitchen.

How Fun

These are the coolest invitations I've ever seen.

Frustrated

My Top Ten Worst Qualities (from my point of view):

1. I'm selfish.
2. I'm lazy.
3. I'm a snob.
4. I'm conceited.
5. I have a short attention span.
6. Nothing is good enough for me (but... see #2)
7. My effort is always good enough (but... see #2 and #4)
8. I'm irresponsible.
9. I'm not motivated.
10. I can be quite inconsiderate.

My Top Ten Best Qualities (from my point of view):

10. I'm the most humble person you'll ever meet. Oh crap, guess not.

Long Weekend

You're probably thinking, "It wasn't a long weekend." Well it was for me. When I changed jobs all my vacation time was paid out. That means any time I take off from work from now to new year's will be unpaid. Bummer. I was supposed to have 2 weeks off but I cut it down to just 3 days. So I've been off work for 5 days now (including the weekend). At my old job I'd have 5 days off between sets and in that time I'd usually have 2 or 3 days of doing nothing. I mean nothing. Sit in front of the tv all day, play video games, and not talk to anyone. It was great. I miss it now but this past weekend I had a couple of days of nothing. I know what you're thinking: "You're such a lazy slob. That's how you got fat." Well screw off. That's not how I got fat. Anyway, it usually helps me appreciate my job a little bit and when I go back to work, I'm usually more excited about it than if the weekend was full.

Wednesday:
Nothing day.

Thursday:
helped Jeff move some stuff to his new place.

Friday:
Fantastic Four and a little shopping.

Saturday:
helped Jeff move a little more stuff to his new place.

Sunday:
Nothing day.

Oh, did I tell you? Jeff got a new place down the street from me. Its really nice. Steve and I bug him about never actually moving in. I kinda like helping him move little by little. We usually move a few things and then sit around talking shit about everything and everyone. Don't worry though, we're not talking about you. ;)

Movie Review

Fantastic Four with Jessica Alba, Ioan Grufford, Michael Chiklis, & Chris Evans

All the movie reviews said it wasn't that good. I liked it. C'mon its based on a comic book! Don't expect Shakespeare or anything.

Big Brother

No, I don't mean the reality show on TV. I mean the Man. I'm talking about "them". I'm talking 1984. Just in case you haven't noticed, I've added a hit counter at the bottom of the page. It shows how many people have visited this blog since the end of June. It also collects stats like how many hits/day and which hours of the day were busiest. Seems like the evening is busy, 2100hrs being the busiest, and just after lunch, between 1300hrs and 1500hrs. The afternoon hits amused me. I figured out what this means: Get To Work!! I can just see it - you get back to your desk after lunch and you've forgotten what you were working on just before lunch or you just don't want to get started yet. "Hmm, let's read everyone's blogs..." Then you go through your list of regular blogs (you might even have them bookmarked) for about 15-20 minutes. You know, if you use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer, you can open all your bookmarked blogs in tabs all at once.

Flirting 201

Here's a few more tips from the pros (read: some website I saw a while back):

• Mimic her movements. I don't mean act like a 7 year-old, I mean when she sits, you sit. When she turns to face you, you turn your shoulders to face her.
• Make sure you keep an open posture. Don't sit with your arms crossed facing away from her.
• Face her. Conversations over someone's shoulder is annoying. Turn towards her and remember: lean in a bit.
• Everyone likes to be interesting so talk about her. Do Not start bragging about how much money you make or what kind of job you have. Talk about her family, her occupation, what she does for fun, and then work in how you can do these things with her.
• Take advantage of opportunities to make contact with her. "Hey, check this out." and then grab her hand and lead her towards whatever you were talking about. Don't grab her hand and pull, just take her hand like you're just trying to get her attention and then let go. You just met her, she's not your girlfriend - let go.
• Pay attention to her reactions. If you touch her arm and she reacts like someone spit on her arm, don't do it again. Better yet, step back. If you start talking about her family and she gives you one word answers, say "Hey, my friend is calling me, I'll catch you later." and then leave and don't talk to her again. If she volunteers info or leaves herself open to more innocent contact, stay and be charming.

Remember, nothing confrontational and no excessive use of touch. Otherwise, you'll just come off as creepy, or a jerk.

Small World

I'm always amazed at how small the world can be. Last week (or so), I was reading Vanessa's blog and I noticed a picture. I thought, "Gee, that looks a lot like Jane." So this past weekend I was talking to Jane and Joe and I find out that it was indeed Jane, and Joe is good friends with Vanessa. Now the funny thing about this is that the only way I know Vanessa is... well, I don't really know her other than what I've learned about her on her blog. See, she's Celia's sister's friend and I just ran into her blog when I was surfing through the link's on Eva's blogsite. I've never met her in real life. Maybe the world isn't so small and its the Force. I mean, what are the chances that Luke would kiss a princess that actually turns out to be his twin sister? The Force, man... makes the universe a very small place.

Flirting

Some people flirt naturally. They don't try - their personalities are just flirtatious. Then there's the people that have to try. Their flirting seems forced, their conversation seems fake, and their body language doesn't match their words. I figure that when it comes to flirting, the words don't really matter. You can have witty remarks, funny comments, and intelligent answers but if you sit there with your arms crossed staring at the ceiling, you're still a jerk. If your answers are simplistic and you barely know what the conversation is about but your body language is good, well then you're a sexy beast. Of course there's always the difference between just looking for someone to fool around with that night and looking to start something more serious. I'm not very good at either, but I have been lucky the past year with the latter. ;)

Top Ten Flirting Techniques:

1. Eye contact. Don't stare into her eyes - that's just creepy. Just make contact once in a while to show you're focussed on her.
2. Smile. No fake smiles. Smile like she is funny or smile like you're happy to be there.
3. If you talk about religion or politics keep it light and don't get angry. I don't care how passionate you are about something but if you start yelling at the person you're trying to flirt with you won't get far.
4. Touch. No, don't grope, don't try to cop a feel, and don't grab. I said touch - and nowhere inappropriate. As you're talking lean forward (see #5) and touch her arm lightly. If you're both sitting down, lean in and touch her knee. Not the thigh, the knee.
   
5. Leaning. Lean towards her when you talk like you're going to whisper something in her ear. Like you're telling her a secret. Creates intimacy.
6. Don't yell. If you're at a loud party and its hard to hear each other, it gives a good excuse for #5. Just lean in and speak normally closer to her ear.
7. Don't overdo it. Don't lean in with your hand on her arm whispering in her ear all the time. Use it with style.
8. Don't make shit up to make yourself sound better. Just tell the truth - you live with your mom and you have no idea how to run the washing machine.
9. Talk about something she is interested in. I don't care how much you like to watch wrestling, neither does she.
   
10. Basic Hygiene: brush your teeth, wear clean clothes, wash your hands. Try some mouthwash too.

I know advice from me is just a bad idea, but this is just what I heard from the pros. If it doesn't work for you, don't blame me.

*sigh*

This is a common occurence in any one of my classes:

"Oh, if you want to move back one field, you press and hold shift and then press tab. No, don't hold it, just once. Well, hang on, you just have to press tab until you're back where you started. Ok now, shift and tab. Oh it didn't work because you pressed the space bar. Okay, you're getting this error message because you've entered a space in that field. Backspace it out. No no no, backspace. It's over here. Near the enter key. That's right, both spaces. Okay good! Now, shift and tab..."

You get the idea.

Movie Review

Mr. and Mrs. Smith with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie

Pure Entertainment. Don't expect any socially redeeming values or deep philosophical meaning. Its beautiful people blowing shit up. Very fun to watch.

Miss Saigon

To be honest, I've seen better. But, having said that, I would like to add that last night's performance of Miss Saigon at the Stanley theatre was pretty good. The helicopter scene was better than the one at the QE performance a couple years ago, the Engineer was excellent, and the small venue made for a more intimate feeling allowing you to see the facial expressions of the actors. We had crappy seats, but they were still good. y'know what i mean?

Good Guys and Bad Guys

After watching Batman Begins, we walked out to my car and I noticed that my lights were still on. Shit. Tried the engine - dead. Double shit. We were just about to go inside and call a tow truck to come and boost my car (my roadside plus covers this sort of stupidity) when we decided we'd try to push start it first. I probably would have been able to push it myself with Celia driving, but it would take a lot of time to get enough speed. I approached some young punks and asked them to help me push start my car. These young punks were more than willing and we got the car started in about 20 seconds. These guys were so helpful I should have given them money. But, of course, I'm poor so forget it. A hearty thanks and best wishes from me is all I can afford. As it turns out, these guys were the good guys and not the young punks I thought they would be. Thanks guys, I'm forever in your debt!

Movie Review

Batman Begins with Christian Bale, Michael Caine, and Katie Holmes

Better than Tim Burton's Batman. I liked it.

Crazy English Language

It's no wonder people have a hard time learning english. There are no rules to follow and words are made up every day (eg, ebonics).

What's the plural of octopus? Octopi
What's the plural of cactus? Cacti
What's the plural of status? ...
What's the plural of census? ...

Maybe there is a rule behind this but I don't know it. Any english majors out there that can explain it to me?