Christmas

We're planning an extended stay, a whole 3 days in Winnipeg over christmas. We fly in at 12:30 am Dec 24 (that's late Monday night if you will) and leave at 5am Dec 27. I expect to have about 12 hours of sleep total during this time, including the 5 hours flight time. For all those in Winnipeg I'd love to get together for at least a drink or two. We're booked most of the 24 and 25th, but probably the 26th is open. Any thoughts?

Oh, in writing my facebook status dealy, I checked to make sure I spelt 'abandoned' correctly. I use a quick google search for most spell checking since it kindly suggest the correct terms. I stumbled upon this site. http://www.abandoned.ru

This one's in colour, but most of the collection is in black and white. Why is black and white so wiked for some photos? The way it captures light is amazing.

Nicolas Cage is a dick

Powerthirst!

Another sketch, this from a comedy outfit out of halifax called picnicface.

Angry Boss

This is a relatively old sketch from saturday night live with Will Ferrell. I have probably watched it seven times and it still makes me laugh. Keep an eye on Peirce Brosnan as the nerdy applicant, trying not to laugh and failing. I don't know why I find horrific cruelty so very funny.

Here's a new one

Scan Me!!

Here's a classic!

Sorry... I just cant stop

exoskeleton (one of many models being tested as I understand). Now we just need some aliens to fight.

monkeys CAN fly!

they can also lower their life expectancy... dramatically.

this is brilliant!

"102 year-old
Chinese woman
who had lived her entire life
in the same mud house,
which stood behind the Beijing Hotel.

She spoke of
living through the
rule of China's last Emperor,
the Boxer Rebellion,
two World Wars
and the Communist Party's
rise to power.

She was afraid her home
was going to be torn down
because the hotel
was expanding."

You can check out the rest of the collection here .

Hurray G-Rock!!!!!

Ok, I am still fascinated by this building.

http://www.burjdubai.com

(In highschool I used to imagine living in something like this in say a penthouse with all glass exterior walls)

Here is a height comparision:

Tree man

warning some may be disturbed

you must see this SOLAR FLARE!!!!

This one is called Bike messengers on crack

I LOVE this site!!!!!!!

In The Know: Is The Government Spying On Paranoid Schizophrenics Enough?

This is pretty funny

Ninja Parade Slips Through Town Unnoticed Once Again

turn up yo sound

Guns from Canada!??!?

Apperantly Canada is a huge arms dealer. Apperantly we also have a pretty bad record of disclosing numbers.

Small Arms Survey a Geneva-based independent research project located at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva does an annual survey to determine the transperancy rating if individual contries.

Countries are rated out of a scale from 1 to 20. Canada got an 11, Iran got a 10.5.

You can also download these wicked Weapons ID Playing Cards!!!!

Colbert for Pres!!!

I was actually watching the show when he announced his (fake) intentions to run for President. There is actually a facebook group titled "1,000,000 Strong For Stephen T Colbert". Apparently there is a similar group for Obama. It took his group eight month to gain 380,000 members. It took Colbert two weeks to gain over a million.

It'a pretty good indication of the state of politics in the U.S. of A.

I also like this one. American's giving other countries advice on Dams. Go figure.

The world of Kim Keever

Here's a bio I grabbed off a website and some photo's of a wicked photographer. I thought you guys might like these.

Kim Keever's mysterious and painterly large-scale photographs represent a continuation of the landscape tradition, as well as an evolution of the genre. Referencing the Romanticism of the Hudson River School and 19th-century photography of the American West, they are imbued with a sense of the sublime; however, they also show a subversive side that deliberately acknowledges their contemporary contrivance and conceptual artifice. These images reflect none of the concerns with authenticity for which photography has historically been used; yet, they retain the inherent efficacy and rigor of their medium.

Keever's pictures appear to be of other worlds and times--a primordial past or post-apocalyptic future. A combination of the real and the imaginary, they document places that never were. He creates his panoramic universes and controls their fictitious environments by constructing miniature topographies out of materials such as plaster and reflective Mylar in a 100-gallon aquarium, which is then filled with water. The desolate dream-like dioramas are brought to life with colored lights and the dispersal of pigment, producing ephemeral atmospheres that he must quickly capture with his large-format camera.

Keever's staged scenery is characterized by a psychology of time and timelessness. Simulated meteorological gradations, suspended in vivid hues, map dramatic shifts in mood and trace conditions that move from somber darkness to twilit evanescence to the incandescence of morning.

The symbolic qualities he achieves result from his understanding of the dynamics of landscape, including the manipulation of its effects and the limits of spectacle based on our assumptions of what landscape means to us. Rather than presenting a factual reality, Keever fabricates an illusion to conjure the realms of our imagination.

Kim Keever lives in New York City, and has exhibited extensively in galleries throughout the United States and abroad.

UK Nightclubs Vs Swedish Nightclubs

link

Server Update #2

I got a 500GB hard drive for my brithday from my parents. Installed this into the server, sat back and basked in the 1.16 Terabytes of storage I have in the system. Well, not exactly, 160GB is from the 'dead' (more on this later) disk, and 500 GB is actually going to be 250, as one 250 GB disk will be used as a mirror so I don't go through this down time again.

After installing the new drive, and rearranging all the other disks to sit in front of a new case fan, i decided to boot up the system with the old 'dead' disk to see if time off made it work again. Well, what do you know, it booted just fine. I was able to backup everybodys home accounts and the databases/websites that I figured would be lost. Since I don't trust the disk at all, it'll be a while still to have the system completely back up, but recovering the websites and peoples home dirs. is definately a plus.

So, I think th plan will be, 2x250GB disks (as a raid 1 array, so 250GB total storage) as the system disk, and the new 500 GB disk as movie/tv storage for mythtv. The most important data (music) will be on the raid array for protection.

China, a country on the GROW!

China has 106 billionaires compared with only 15 last year

A few demotivational posters to start the week

Rocket-Powered 21-Foot-Long X-Wing Model Actually Flies

The death start better look out, if this baby flies, there's no stopping the rebel alliance.

Of course, there doesn't appear to be any videos yet, but I'm sure there will be soon.

What the FUCK!!! I mean, WHAT THE FUCK!!!!

Killer Brain-Eating Amoeba? Supposedly there have been several hundred reported cases since the 60s.

The World's Weirdest/Stupidest Conspiracy Theories

I particularly like the running commentary after the post.

Fun with XP

Open notepad, type "Bush hid the facts", sans quotes,save close and re-open.

oh my god! oh my god! oh my god! oh my god!

it's not much but it's a start! just don't rock it too much.



oh and there's a shit load more videos on youtube.

she's getting better but didn't make the kill on this little one.

Batman by Dostoyevsky!!!

I'm not even fucking kidding! It's a Batman adaptation of Crime and Punishment for your reading pleasure...

But my rent is a bargain I say!

Love

You know what I love? I love the fact that I can sit on the 17th floor of a downtown office building, look out any which way and see nothing but sky. Sky, green trees and mind-blowing sunsets. Absolutely fucking spectacular! Astonishing. Makes me forget about everything, good and bad. I love this fucking city, it gets me right here (pounds fist on heart).

Ellesmere Island

So as some of you know I'm now working for Parks Canada, and one of the perks of a government job is traveling. Some times its for meetings, other times its for research, or to take photos of certain parks where we're doing displays, ads, what ever. I've already started looking through our parks list trying to figure out excuses to visit the ones I'm interested in, then I came across Ellesmere Island! Yes at the most northern point of our country there is a national reserve, apparently it gets anywhere from 2 to 8 visitors a year (researchers and photographers by the looks of it). I also came across some not so fun facts about the park. At the time of it's creation for any area to be considered part of a country it needed to have a settlement of that country's people, not having any Canadian settlements in the area the clever politicians of the time decided naming the area as a "natural reserve park" in order to expand the country's borders. Later in the 60s this was questioned by an international body and the politicians of the time decided to kidnap an entire Inuit tribe from northern Quebec and "relocate" them to Ellesmere Island, given the Inuit's resourcefulness and exceptional fishing skills they would surely thrive. This was not the case.

Any how the bleak stuff aside I found some sweet photos of the area, it looks fucking amazing. Cold, but still fucking amazing! I just cant possibly figure out any scenario which would justify me taking a trip up to Ellesmere, but man its a part of the world not many get to see... cuz its so fucking cold.

B-52 Bomber flies across U.S. after accidently being armed with Nukes

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6980204.stm

Apparently, "At no time was there a threat to public safety". You know, unless it crashed or something.

It's comforting to know the U.S. Military keeps such good track of it's weapons. I wonder what the guy on the other end was thinking when they pulled the missles off the plane.

Lord of War

Apparently, the wars raging around the world, particularily in Iraq and Afghanistan, are putting such a strain on the supplies of ammunition that there is anticipation that the supplies for hunters might go short. Ha, can you imagine if we ran out of bullets?? We'd have to go back to boards with nails in them. Or better yet, lasers!!

Server update #1

I think it's been about 7 months since my server went down, which in the life of a computer is an incredibly long time. I built the system a little over two years ago, so it's definitely showing its age, but should for the most part still live up to its intended use. Ah, sorry for that, I missed its comforting hum, I'm getting a little emotional.

Anyhow, The 'crash' was a harddrive failure on what happened to be the disk that the OS was residing on. It was also the disk where all the home accounts were, the databases, the websites, and... Sigh, pretty much everything. Except! Except, the music and movie, ummm... backups. They were on two other disks that are still accessible.

This however doesn't mean the server is back up and running, it means that I'm not going to bludgeon myself with the computer for not backing up some...

Haha... ok, just went through a slightly fun telephone survey about beer. Yes I like beer, no I don't feel discriminated against by bud, No I don't think Coors light is unintelligent. All in all, it just made me want beer. The choices were Big Rock, Coors Light, Bud, Old Style Pilsner, Molson Canadian that they were interested in. I like Big Rock's range of beers, and quite enjoy Grasshopper and their honey brown. The rest I'd drink if they were the only option. After the whole survey was done, the very nice young lady asks for the first three characters of my postal code to verify that the survey was done in the correct province. I give them to her, and she says that they're not coming up as the correct province. I say they're for Ontario. She asks for my Manitoba one. I don't have a Manitoban postal code, I say. As she's quickly wrapping up her probably pointless survey with me, I relalize that they called my 204 number, which along with my 416 number go to the same phone. Haha, take that Ipsos Reid, Voip's got your number!

Now back to the computer, the plan, is to get two 500GB drives, to create a raid 1 array (Mirrored, both disks contain the exact same info, for redundancy), an external harddrive to back up everthing really important (like photos of my kick ass friends...) and then reinstall the OS and set everything back up. That will take a while, unfortunately, as I don't have a whole bunch of cash for the disks. I could get one 500GB disk now and run the risk of losing everything on that disk, but would have the external HDD for a backup for now.

I do want to get this damn computer back up, for the webserver and the mythtv setup, since I currently have two computers that aren't running anything.

More to come, hopefully I'll get computer parts for my birthday, and all will be good soon.

Cheers,.

Porn on the Internet? The numbers to prove it

It's not much of a mystery that porn is the biggest industry on the internet, but my recent Linux Journal gave some cold, hard (eh, eh ... wink wink... ) numbers:

This from the Linux Journal Index for September 2007:

Percentage of websites that are pornographic: 12
Porno. % of all search engine requests: 25
Porn percentage of all downloads: 35
Number of users viewing porn per second: 28,358
Dollars (US) spent on porn every second: 89
Number of new porn sites going up every day: 266
Estimated billions of porn web pages: 372
Position of sex among the most searched words: 1
US revenue from Internet porn in 2006: 2.84 Billion Dollars
Male percentage of Internet orn users: 72
Percentage of porn traffic during the 9-5 eight-hour workday: 70
Percentage or porn sites produced by the US: 89

There are other's but not as interestingly related to porn.
These numbers were sourced from 'Good Magazine'.

I wonder if the developers of the Internet, mainly the US government and universities, ever thought that they would create something that could deliver so much porn (372 billion webpages) to so many people (28K people/second).

So there you have it, porn does exist on the internet if you look hard enough for it...

Cheers.

Down by the road-side bomb

I think this is fantastic!!!

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/08/29/military-bombs.html

The Canadian government has decided to purchase 16 specialized vehicles from the U.S. army for the purpose of finding, uncovering and neutralizing Road-side bombs in Afghanistan. Six Huskies, Five Buffalos and Five Cougars.

The Huskies will locate the bombs, the Buffalos will dig them up and the cougars will neutralize them.

Now, admittedly I'm no soldier, nor do I have any combat experience, but common sense dictates to me that tripling the size of your convoy might make you an easier target. They also now have three machines to do what in my mind should be the job of one. You know, not to mention the fact that while your Buffalo is digging up the bomb, someone is sticking a couple more to the bottom of your Husky and Cougar.

But what I like best about this, is that they are purchasing these machines, used, from the U.S. military, who up to this point have had an exemplary record of NOT being blown up by road-side bombs. Or as they call these devices that never harm them, IED's.

Chuck Norris Fact of the Day.....

Chuck Norris puts the laughter in manslaughter.

It's time to get high boys!!

I've lost it!

So I think I fried two motherboards this week. Really shitty deal, but I did get my laptop, which is a bit of a plus but I haven't had much time to play with it since I've been troubleshooting the PC's all week. But this is as much as I've been able to figure it out on it.

Filipino inmates do a rendition of thriller!!!

Help again ......

So my friend's boyfriend is moving to Winnipeg in September and is trying to find a place in the village with not much luck as he is trying to do it from Victoria. Can you guys let me know if there are any vacancies in your buildings or anywhere around you? Thanks again.

haunted Taiwanese resort?

FYI I've done no work since I've been back from vacation

they found the fortress of solitude!

Terror!

Isn't it crazy how whenever anything happens in the States now, whether it be a boiler exploding or a bridge collapsing, the department of homeland security has to confirm it's not terrorism. If you ask me, I'd say the terrorists are winning.

Your assistance please.

Hello All,
My friend Kathy from Victoria is moving to Winnipeg in, of all times, January. I am making her a map of Winnipeg with all the 'cool' places I think she needs to know about. It would be great if you could tell me the places and things that you think are essential for someone to know so that they like Winnipeg and Manitoba. Also some specific places I would like are organic grocery stores and restaurants, and if anyone knows of a 'environmentally and human safe'?? mosquito repellent. She has lived in Victoria for the last 10 years and I want to make sure she doesn't have a nervous breakdown when she arrives in -30 Winnipeg January because she is going to be there for 4 years as her boyfriend is getting his PhD at U of M. Also any Winnipeg quirks that you can think of. Oh I can tell this is going to make me more homesick but it will be fun!
Thanks in advance,
Shereen

Random 2

A hummingbird flaps it's wings 50 times a second. If I could flap my arms that fast, I would probably chase you around and see how many times I could slap you before you got away. Just saying......

random

...I don't know man, I'm pretty sure those were the droids we were looking for!

Life.....

......is like a rabid dog. You gotta watch yourself until you're close enough to grab it by the throat.

End of an Era

Dark times we live in. Now there is no place we can go to enjoy a good wholesome cockfight. Not even Louisiana.

Posting for the hell of it

Post, Post, diddly post. ..

Well, now that's out of my system, I've got a couple questions:

Anybody have suggestions for interesting things, besides the obvious touristy things, to do in Ottawa? Amanda and I are going for the weekend.

Music, anybody hear anything good lately? Common has a new album coming out soon, Be was good, hopefully this one be good too. Beastie Boys have a new album out, it's instrumental like 'The In Sound from Way Out'. I do like that one. Of course these are all prospective good listens, anybody heard anything good?

BTW, I'm actually looking at my server now. It's still in the box, but I'm going to try and tackle it soon.

Oh, and the guest room is done, it's easily the nicest room in the house. New laminate floor (oak looking), two new twin beds, fresh paint, it's all pretty nice. hint hint... wink wink....

Cheers

Orbo, defiler of the natural world

The laws of physics no longer apply.

I'm Coming for You All

I'll be back in Winnipeg on Tuesday, July 10th until Friday, July the 20th. Prepare to be entertained! More accurately, prepare to entertain me! So, yeah, I'll see you then. When the sun rises, look to the North, and you'll see me comin'.

Happy Birthdays and Winnipeg notoriety on Slashdot

Nick, Canada: Happy Birthday. Cheers to you both, enjoy! (I know, not the same day, but didn't get a chance yesterday to send anything)

Here's something about Manitoba Public Insurance demanding Car Immobilizes in all new and high risk cars, otherwise they won't insure them. That's probably not a bad idea, and by the sounds of it, they're shelling out some cash for people to get it done. Article also states that Winnipeg has, per capita, a higher car theft rate than any other city in Canada. Go Winnipeg!! Murder (at least it was), car theft, and Slurpee capitals of Canada/World. Something to be proud of :)

Ouch, I stepped on a milestone

Well, yesterday was June 18th, which marks three months of sobriety for me. The last day I drank was March 17th, which, for the rest of the world, is St. Patrick's Day. It just occurred to me today that (assuming I stick with this), every year on March 17th when I am celebrating another year of sobriety, the whole western world will be getting as drunk as humanly possible. Damn. I wish I'd thought that through a bit better.

Hello Birdie

I don't know if I'm just a nerd, but I can't take my eyes off of this

Dr. Destructo

Jayesh that bastard. He broke my pipe. I've had that fucking thing for 9 years. 5 months with Jayesh and it's done. Bastard. Maybe it's a sign.

Gay Bomb!!!

Pentagon Confirms It Sought To Build Gay Bomb

Funniest animated gif ...

...you'll se all day

this ones for you Nick

for those of you not in the know, this is an excerpt from "They Live" a cult favorite from the 80s, and the inspiration for street artist Shepard Fairy's now famous OBEY. See, bet ya didn't know it had cultural significance.

For the geeks

Just started a new course at UW, Pretty interesting stuff. Cloak and dagger man.

Google these

Tempest - codename referring to investigations and studies of compromising emanation. Basically meaning somebody could be sitting in a van parked out back and be gathering information from the EM emissions of your monitor.

Titan Rain - the U.S. government's designation given to a series of coordinated attacks on American computer systems believed to be Chinese in origin.

Moonlight Maze - Russia's equivilant of Titan Rain.

Winnipeg... and beyond!

Well, winnipeg's is pretty much as far as we're going to go. But, we're coming all crazy like, so it'll be nuts! Well, actually we'll probably just relax, have some beer, and catch up. Man, what's happenning to us? I painted my guest room all day... bloody hell, I"m an adult. Life, that's a mean trick to plan on somebody.

But, here's the game plan.
1. June 12, leave TO. Midnight actually, as Amanda works until then.
2. Blast through the states as quickly as legally (sort of) possible.
3. Arrive in Winnipeg early Thursday.
4. Recover from 24+ hour drive.
5. 80's night anyone??
6. Friday, head out to lake 5 ish. All are welcome.
7. Saturday, Rhonda and Jame's wedding. We're pretty booked today for this shindig.
8. Sunday lake time. Hopefully the weather's good.
9. Lake time.... 10. Lake time...
11. Head back to 'peg. Visit, visit, visit.

We'll have my parent's cabin to ourselves friday onwards probably for as long as we need (monday/tues). As 7 sates, we're booked up saturday, but don't let stop anybody from coming out friday/saturday and hanging out.

That's about it for now, as I need sleep for work tomorrow.
Who's interested, there's three beds (singles) and a hide-a-bed, plus a day bed in the veranda, and of course room for tents, shacks and lean too's in the yard.

Peace .
matt

Water Buffalo Vs. Lions Vs. Crocodiles

This video is amazing, i just love how this all turns out.

Rock and Rule!

Does anyone remember this?



It's a Canadian animated film from 1983 called 'Rock and Rule.' I saw it when I as a kid and, for some reason, it's stayed with me ever since; although I did not see it again until recently. The story takes place in a post apocalyptic world populated by mutant rats and dogs. Mok (the shadowy figure in the above clip) is an aging, emaciated rock legend, akin to Keith Richards or Iggy Pop, who is trying to summon a demon during a concert to kill his fans, as revenge for his poor record sales. Angel, the blonde rat -woman in the clip, has the voice Mok needs to complete the ritual, hence the flashing ring.
Despite the fact that it was a canadian animated film, such musicians as Lou Reed, Iggy Pop (ironically), Cheap Trick and Earth, Wind and Fire contributed original songs. In fact, that's Debbie Harry, of Blondie, singing in the clip.
It's a very strange movie, and the dialogue seems as if it was written in a foreign language and then translated, though I know that's not the case. I'm not sure if I can recommend it to anyone who has not had the song featured in the clip playing in their head for fifteen fucking years, as I have.
Oh, in case you were wondering, in the clip the taciturn fellow with the red hair storms off because he's upset at Angel's insistence on playing her song. By the end, after Mok summons his demon, the only way to send the demon back is for them to sing the song together:



Proving once again, the fifth element is love.

Goofy Fails to Quit Smoking

I assure you, this is completely real; I remember seeing this when I was a kid. It was part of a series of Disney cartoons where Goofy attempts to deal(frequently unsuccessfully) with the pressures of modern life; there is another film where he tries to lose weight, and another where he tries to tolerate his obnoxious child. It's actually a pretty accurate depiction of smoking, if I may say.

THE WORLD OF TOMORROW ROW row ro...

I knew someone would jump on this technology when the tradeshow demos started circulating on youtube about a year ago. I just fucking wish it wasn't microsoft!

(make sure to check out the 3 video demos under experience.

I give you, Microsoft Surface.

I'm addicted to you tube

First the Starcraft 2 Trailer, you can even find gameplay videos on youtube. It looks so sweet!!


Next up John Rambo, yes they made a 4th Rambo. This doesn't really get good until midway!!


Now here's a new show on FOX. The Sarah Conner Chronicles. Hasta la vista, Baby!


Sweet the latest Transformers trailer!

New Movie Trailer

Latest and greatest!

Well I was excited to go the clinic today because I was having my cast removed. Now cutting off the cast and taking off the bandages went slowly but smoothly. It required soaking the bandages where the blood dried the gauze to the skin and some slow peeling.
Now part 1 of 2 of the suckyness, yes I just made up a word to describe it, when you have a skin graft they take just the top layer of skin from the donor site and in this case it was my left thigh. For the recovery process they have this saran wrap like material that is sticky on one side, and yes the sticky side goes toward the skin. Where ever they took the skin it doesn't stick because the blood and discharge keep it wet, everywhere else it's stuck and no soaking will help because it's plastic. The nurse was awesome and has a ton experience at taking this stuff off thereby has many methods at removing it.
Method 1, pull quick like a band aid, now this saran wrap is big and went from above my knee to under my hip, why she started with the area next to my boys I don't know. The first jerk and a sting that rang through every part of my body was enough to ask for a different approach.
Method 2, pull more slowly and at an angle perpendicular from the skin. All I can say about this method is that it felt like she was taking another layer of skin to do another skin graft. Strike two.
Method 3, pull slowly at an angle almost parallel to the skin. Ahh, granted this was the slowest way off doing it but was the most bearable and didn't have me twitching every two seconds. Great my thigh is completely exposed and it was quickly redressed with Mepilex Ag. This stuff is not supposed to stick... as much!
Back to the hands. To keep the skin stretched over graft site the have to secure it to the surrounding healthy skin. On the right thumb they used dissolving sutures which you might be able to see in the photos. On the left had the graft site was maybe like ten times bigger, my doctor was pretty funny and she joked that she didn't want to do a bunch of sutures and decided on using staples. When I first saw all the staples all I could think was "I have a franken-hand." Now comes part 2, if you look at the picture of my left hand you will see a couple of the staples that fell out and how the are shaped, now imagine those digging into your skin. The tool that they use to remove the staples look like a pair of nail clippers, and the way they work is that one part goes under the staple but on top the skin. The second part of the tool comes down on top of the staple, bending it in half, it looked like a metal bird of prey releasing its talons out of a fresh carcass. Needless to say this was very uncomfortable, especially on the back of the hand and on the inside of the wrist. After all of that my hands were redressed, this time in a manner that I can actually hold stuff. The physiotherapist gave some new exercises and the doc set me up with a follow up next week!

Left Thigh
Right Thumb
Left Hand

Just to remind y'all...

...I will be in town on Sunday Sunday Sunday. I get in around midnight-ish, and I'm sorry about that as I know a lot of you wanted to greet me at the airport with roses and signs and such ("Nick we (heart) you!" "Nick U R dreamy!"
But, Monday onwards I will be at your disposal, so dispose away, and I assure you it will not affect my disposition (cle-ver!).
Bit of a piss-off that I missed Marco's wedding, and now that I'm coming back he's suddenly leaving on his honeymoon. Pretty passive aggressive, Marco.
Oh, and that Matt and Amanda are coming to Winnipeg the day after I leave. Yeah, fuck you guys, too. Didn't wanna see you anyway. I like your house.
Incidentally, if by any chance there's a thunderstorm on Saturday night, and any of you find yourselves in conversation with a stranger, I want you to pause, look gravely at the encroaching storm clouds and say: "Mother of God, Nick's coming..."
See you next week.

Ronnie 8 hours after surgery.

I'M IN FUCKING LOVE!

sorry Jackie.

The Saga Continues

The past couple of weeks have been pretty frustrating for me, but today was just an added kick in nuts when I'm already rolling on the ground screaming "I give!"

I had a doctors appointment scheduled this morning at 8:30 and Shereen and I woke up nice and early to get ready. After we were all dressed and ready to go, Shereen went to go get her purse but couldn't find it. I then went to my hat and noticed that my wallet was missing, great! We looked around and all the windows and doors were locked except for one, where I noticed scuff marks underneath, and in the garden was one of our 35mm cameras. That's when we noticed my camera bag missing. So what appears to have happened is that someone sneaked in through the window after everyone was asleep, yes everyone was home and sound asleep, rummaged through only the living room and jetted. I called the burn clinic where I was supposed be in the next 15 minutes to let them know that I was going to be late, when we heard a knock at the door. It was Erin from upstairs, and she had Shereens purse with her, apparently it was left on their doorstep. Shereen went through her bag and the only things missing was her Ipod and a shitload of quarters she had from doing laundry the other night, her wallet was still in there so she doesn't have to replace any ID. Erin filed a police report for us. Off to the burn clinic.

Shereen and I arrived at the clinic at about 9:30, not to bad only an hour late, but they knew. So a nurse sat us down in one of the rooms and said that she'll be back to take the dressings off and let the doctor know we there. By the time she came back I had more than half the wrappings off, they've been itching like a meth head for the past week. The nurse cut the rest off. After a few minutes of waiting Dr. Boyle came in along with the plastic surgeon, two younger ladies that were either interns or clerks, I don't remember, and a medical person from the military. I love an audience. So they looked over my hands, compared them to the pics from last week and decided on surgery. The nurse came back after and redressed my hands, followed by the plastic surgeon who explained the skin graft procedure. They plan on being able to find time early next week to do the surgery. I will get one days notice and will not be allowed to eat after midnight, otherwise I might turn into a gremlin!

We came back home, and I decided not to go into work for the afternoon because I now need to replace my ID. I grabbed my passport and birth certificate and Shereen, Rocel, and I headed downtown. Shereen had an exam to write so she went off to school. First Rocel and I went to the DMV to get my drivers license replace, I gave them my ID and they asked me a few questions, one being "Do you remember the colour of the shirt you were wearing in your picture?" Next we went to the bank and I got my new debit card and canceled my old one. Now I just need to call Manitoba Health to get my card replaced. The most expensive thing in my wallet was my bus pass.

Fast forward a 40 min bus ride and we're back home now. The phone rings, it's the plastic surgeon from the hospital. They were able to find time for me tomorrow to do my surgery. I thought I was going to have a few days to prepare myself before going under the knife, now I have like a few hours.

Here's more pictures
Left Hand
Right Thumb

Cab rides back and forth from the hospital: $100
Stolen bus pass, SLR camera, Ipod nano: $69, $400, 2500 airmiles
Hands that smell like a wet dog's ass for 3 weeks: Priceless

So how was everyone else's past three weeks?

I'm going away

Colleen and I are off on our for real Honeymoon. We are heading to Europe for 30 days. May 6 to June 4. So unfortunately I won't be are for Matt and Amanda's visit, but the cottage in June sounds excellent. We are doing a two week Contiki bus tour that will take us around western Europe followed by two weeks on our own visiting friends and family.

It should be quite the adventure and I will be very very poor by the time it is through. Now that I'm signed in to this blog, I will try to update it while across the pond.

Hope to see everyone once I get back.

Update

So I went back to burn clinic again today, it's still undetermined whether or not I'll need any skin grafting. I'll have to wait again until next week. Also I booked my vacation time for June 15th-25th, I thought you may need another soldier to invade Winnipeg beach. Well here are some more pics from today and some hilarious videos I saw.

Left Hand
Right Thumb

I fucked myself up!

Ok, so whoever hasn't heard the story or seen the pics please beware.

So Shereen and I were trying to make fries on the stove with a pot of oil, when it got to hot and caught on fire. We covered it and it went out but caught again. We covered it again, then it caught again. Then I had the bright idea of taking it outside, so I grabbed this flaming pot of oil and ran it through the door and got some flash burn to my face(I'm still pretty though). Some of the oil did splash on to me and my sweater, which caught myself and my hair on fire. I stopped, I dropped, and I rolled. Being on fire had me a little pumped so we finally able to get some heavy towels to cover the pot and put it out. Shereen did call the fire department and ambulance and they were here within minutes. They cooled my burns with some saline solution and took me to the hospital, and at first look I only suffered 1st degree to the face, and it only felt like a severe sunburn. The docs said that my hands were a mix of 2nd and 3rd degree. I was given a tetanous shot and they gave me a perscription for Flamizine Cream, T3, and reffered me to the burn clinic the following Wednesday. Shereen was on duty for changing my dressings everyday. We ran out of the cream on Monday night so Shereen and Rocel suggested that I go into the hospital the next morning to get my dressings changed which I agreed to do. I was in and out with fresh bandages in about 2 hours. The next day at burns clinic was a bit interesting. By then I had a huge blister on my thumb the size of a base ball, not one of those softballs but like a pro size hardball. When the doctor came into my little alcove and saw this monster of a jawbreaker blister all he could do was look at me with a smile on his face and say "Nice!". Shereen and I busted a gut laughing with nurses there as they drained all my blisters and cut off all the dead skin. We were there for a couple of hours and now I have another appointment with them next Wednesday. Now Thursday came and went. This morning was a bitch of a way to wake up. I rolled over in bed to see who the hell was calling, I didn't recognize the number and didn't want to answer it. But it was still ringing and I said fuck it. It was a nurse from Vancouver General Hospital. It seems that anyone who visted the hospital this past Tuesday, which I was to get my dressings changed, may have been exposed to measles and they need me to come down to get an immunization shot. Fuck, so I had to get out of bed to get stuck by a needle again. I also forgot to return my dvds to Blockbuster. That's been my past 7 days. Any questions??

Note these pictures are very graphic and only look at them if you want to. I'm not making you look at them!!
These are pics from my visit at the burns clinic on Wednesday. The guy who took the pics was very cool about it and emailed us copies of the pics.
Thumb Before
Thumb After
Hand Before
Hand After

I too, am to be travelling

Yes, thank you Shouresh, I will be coming to Winnipeg. I am cementing the plans now, but I will be there from May 13th to May 21st.
On a vaguely related note, as I may or may not have mentioned to some of you, I have once again quit drinking. At the time of this writing, I have been sober for 38 days. The reason I mention this, is that if any of you suggest that we get drunk together while I'm there, it means you are a bastard. That being said, if memory serves, the Toad serves up a mean club soda, and I will be happy to sip that vile beverage while you lot get drunk and caper about for my amusement.
See you (some of you) next month!

For the Vancouverites

Winnipeg Travels

Hey.

I mentioned this in a comment on another post, but thought I'd make it official.
Amanda and I will be in Winnipeg:

May 24 - May 27. Not a lot of time, mainly coming in for my Mother's retirement party. However, we were thinking about trying to get together with our dear resident Winnipeger friends friday night (May 25).

June 13 - 24 (ish). Congrats to Rhonda and James. They're getting married. In Winnipeg Beach, too darn close to my parents cabin to not take it over for the weekend (15 - 17) and have a shindig. Come one, come all..

Now, that hopefully will get the ball rolling.

Matt

Half Pints Brewery

Here is a link to winnipegs new brewery Half Pints. All their stuff is tasty.

www.halfpintsbrewing.com

I want this accent!

it would go well with the mustache


PS: on a totally unrelated note, Nick I saw "the Host" last night, shit that was good! very weird, but very good.

wordcount

Ive never heard of this before.

This (#23) site ranks words by their popularity (#5754) in a fun flash format (#3897).

http://www.wordcount.org/main.php

he (#15) vs she (#30)

type in larger numbers for interesting words

The rumors are true...

Chuck and Ron have forced me to fess up, I too have some very special news. After much thought I thought it's about time I took the next step in being an adult and grew a mustache! oh and also Jackie has moved in with me.

PS: I'm also planning on buying a windowless white van.

WOOOHOOO, Matt's here!!

Yeah, you're here, I was worried that the house swallowed you guys up and forced you into the deep crevices of the Earth. Nice pics of the home, I can't wait until I have a chance to visit. Is the entire back yard fenced off for Kula? I still can't believe you guys are home owners and David is a dad!! Congrats you two, make sure to get to sign up to the blog for now to.

Now, I've heard through the grapevine a lot of gossip going on back home, and I'm feeling completely neglected and out of the loop that you guys aren't posting up any news of what's going on. You know who you are, so come on damn it. To be fair I'll let you guys in on a little something going on in my life on this side of the mountain. Well I don't know how many of you knew that I was looking in going back to school. But I applied at the photography school I wanted to go out here and I was accepted last month. Well I have paid my registration fee and secured my seat in the class because they only accept 24 people into the class. So boys and girls, I'm going to be going back to school this September. Now I want know about these rumors I've been hearing. Fess you guys. I know you miss my sexy but I'll do my best to project it from over here.

Yo, from Markham!

Ok. We're moved in. That was last weekend. We've unpacked all the boxes. That was this weekend. I've sat down at the computer, created me a blogger id and written a post. That should be obvious.

The move went smooth, filled an entire Uhaul type truck and three cars and it took another trip back to the condo to get my bike and some odds and ends. We've got pretty much everything unpacked now, and starting on renovations/fixups. There's going to be a few of those.

I think both of us are a little overwhelmed with space we've gained. One room in the basement is entirely full of boxes. I really want to dive into them. The yard and deck are great, although if it were above zero and not snowing, they'd be super.

Will probably start surveying the damage inside my server sometime next week, and if all goes well I should have something back up by the end of the month.

Here's some pictures of the new digs.




























Inside pics to come, we've got to get them a little more organized.

I think my pizza's cooked, cheers for now.

Peace out.
Matt

Transformer Costumes

A Lordi Video I haven't Seen

Rapist!!!!

mr. wawrin???

Chinese Hercules!

Apparently Bolo will kick any one's ass, ANY ONE! He just doesn't give a fuck.

Pretty pictures of pretty places

Shenzhen, China

Singapore City, Singapore

Sydney, Australia

Tokyo, Japan

Toronto, Canada (as if you didn't know)

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

New York, USA


Sao Paulo, Brazil

Seoul, South Korea

Shanghai, China

Chicago, USA


Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Frankfurt, Germany

Guangzhou, China

Hong Kong, China