Month: July 2005

THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY

Earlier in the day, I would have thought my highlight of the day was seeing those gaggle of super hot ladies on W. 4th Ave. when I was out for lunch. I was wrong. Then I thought the highlight would have been watching the fireworks at Spanish Banks. I was wrong again.

No, the highlight of my day happened around midnight when I found myself standing on top of a parkade on-campus somewhere with Tomo, Adam, Joel, Tyson, and Tom. It appears that Tom and Tyson have started this two person fight club where they duel each other with homemade swords.

This is how serious they are about it. They go to Home Depot to buy plastic piping material which they fashion into swords complete with custom made hilts. Tyson has a wooden staff that he duels with, a la Darth Maul style.

On the way up to the parkade roof, I was a bit skeptical as to how impressive this whole thing would be but I would soon see the intensity involved. Both Tom and T-Bone started off with a single sword each. They warmed up a bit first but before Adam, Tomo, and I could even notice, the two duelists engaged each other in furious combat. It was a lot faster and dangerous mind you, than I had anticipated. There was considerable weight behind each strike and blow. Was it Anakin vs. Obi-Wan? No, not exactly, but no one would have mistaken this as simple play fighting. Speed and danger were definite elements in this.

Before long Tyson brought out the staff and that seemed even more dangerous than the swords. After battling for a short while, both Tom and Tyson decided to grab a sword in each hand. Four PVC swords were in play at the same time.

I’d seen enough after this, so I decided to go home. On the way down the stairs, I saw a police cruiser heading up to the top floor of the parkade. I had no doubt in my mind the cops were on their way to see what the hell was going on up there. I kept on walking.

I’ve received reports that the cop questioned the boys as to their activities, but left them be, albeit a little perplexed as to why good friends would want to bash each other with swords.

Alright, it’s getting late, I’m out.

MORE LATER

I did indeed go see that place I mentioned earlier. I will have more to say about that trip later. Woba, Conklin, and I went out for beers afterwards which is why I don’t have time to write now. Enjoy the sunny day!

YOU KNOW WALK THE EARTH… MEET PEOPLE… GET INTO ADVENTURES

Before I graduated, the only thing that really caused me stress in life was school work. Otherwise, I was pretty happy with my life. Now that I’ve graduated and have a full-time job, the only thing that causes me stress is figuring out where I’m going to live in September.

Actually, that’s not the only thing that’s causing me stress. Now I’m also wondering if I can actually afford to live elsewhere in September since I have to start paying off my student loans. I’m going to see this apartment tomorrow night. It’s in a nice location and the building has just gone through renovations and upgrades. It seems very impressive and the people who are running the place have been courteous and professional the entire time I’ve talked with them. As far as the building itself goes, I’m getting a really good vibe from it.

However, I took the weekend to do some really grown-up things like taking a hard look at my finances. I went online and downloaded all my bank transactions for my primary account from January on. I put all the data into a spreadsheet, separating it into months. Man, I was spending money like crazy some months. It was all very irresponsible from a financial point of view.

The point of this was to see what my spending patterns were like to keep me in a relatively happy lifestyle. I then made a budget of what I’d be spending each month if I did move into this new place. I discovered that it’s my loans payments that causing some trouble. If I didn’t have to shell out $450 a month to pay off my debts I’d be fine. That’s not my minimum required payment but that’s the amount I think I should be paying. I could pay less, but I wind up giving the bank more in the end because of the interest. Isn’t it a rule where you’re supposed to pay off your loans as fast as reasonably possible?

Anyways, according to my best calculations if I stick to my own monthly repayment amount, each month I’d have about $1000 left over for food, entertainment, clothes, doctor/dentist, sundries, paper towels, and miscellaneous items. That works out to be around $250 a week. Can I live on $250 a week? I guess I could. I’ve look at some random seven days periods during the last two months. Some weeks I’m under that amount, but others I’m over.

Here’s something to think about: I’m eating most of my dinners at SJC still which costs me about $5 a meal which is a great deal. If I move to this new place, I either spend more on dinner each night or try to eat for the same amount (which I think an idiot like me won’t be able to do). Even if I keep my budget to $250 a week, that would mean every dollar I make a month would be accounted for. Nothing would get saved. Aren’t you supposed to save even a little bit of money each month just in case of rainy day?

I’m getting tired, I report back when I see the place tomorrow.

THE RETURN OF HOCKEY

Tonight was one of those times where I was glad that I didn’t have to work late. I left work and stepped into a glorious early evening. I met up with some friends and grabbed some dinner sushi. We took it down to Jerico Beach where we proceeded to have dinner in the shade.

The croquet set was then brought out and a course was set up on the sand. Along a backdrop of a golden sky we played a rousing game of croquet. Sarah and Brad were among the competitors and I felt most fortunate to see them before they left for home in Saskatchewan. Thanks to my skilled playing partner Rhonda, we took the game in a hard fought struggle.

After stopping for some quick photos on the beach, I hoofed it up to 4th Ave. to catch the bus back to campus where I had a 9pm meeting for the SJC boys for hockey. I was a few minutes late but that was ok since I had the ball and no one could have played without me.

It’s been months since we’ve played ball hockey in the parkade, with the respite being almost as long as the NHL lockout. We had an excellent turnout considering how long it had been since the last outing. A good time was had by all and I think everyone enjoyed the exercise. Adam even figured out a way to control the lights in the parkade.

When everyone was exhausted, we headed up to the SJC patio for beers which was generously provided by Commander Body himself, Mr. Bodnar. Excellent conversation ensued which included the formation of a bet and a discussion of the Photoshop skills of one British economics student. While I thought the evening was going to wind down there, I was wrong. It seems more than a few of us were hungry.

Five minutes later, we all piled into T-Bone’s car for the quick drive over to McDonald’s. While some of us had to go unshowered and unchanged, others decided they had to change clothes and comb their hair. I believe everyone was pleased with the food they received and Tom even got a toy with his Happy Meal. While we sitting outside, we saw some guy running down the bike lane along University Blvd. He wasn’t even running to catch a bus.

With the food gone and toy collected, I decided to walk home. Now here I am with you fine folks. I’m tired now but I had a good day.

THE RETURN OF GAMING

Since about February, it was nearly impossible for me to play games on my computer. I’d load up a game and then within five minutes my computer would then spontaneously reboot. In the subsequent months I tried almost everything to solve the problem. I updated the drivers for nearly every component in my computer. I tried turning off my sound card. I took out various memory modules and then put them back in. Nothing. It still crashed after just minutes of starting a game.

For months, I did no gaming whatsoever, leaving my computer to just run e-mail, TV watching, and web surfing. It was like being a teenage girl. Then just last week, a co-worker of mine was trying to get me to start playing WoW. I told I couldn’t and I wouldn’t anyways, since playing WoW is like taking crack. I explained to him why I couldn’t do any gaming at all with my random re-boots. He asked me if I had cleaned my computer case recently. I then realized I hadn’t done that in quite a while.

The next day, I bought a can of compressed air from a computer parts store. The best way to clean dust from inside a computer case is to use compressed air to blow it all out. Last weekend, I finally had time to do a thorough cleaning. I took my computer outside into my apartment courtyard and placed it on one of the picnic tables. When I opened the thing up, the dust was heavily caked on in several places. It was all over the various fans inside. Dust was basically everywhere.

Using the high pressure air, I blasted away all the dust I could find, paying special attention to the fans. It took over ten minutes of cleaning before it was anywhere near dust free. It was good that I was outside since several grey clouds wafted over my head from all the dust.

After I was done, I took everything back inside and fired up a game. I proceeded to play Call of Duty : United Offensive for nearly three hours that night. It was a good feeling. I finished it tonight. I may go to Future Shop on my lunch hour to pick up another game tomorrow.

Well, for reading what must have been a boring post, here’s a link to a somewhat comprehensive list of fatal accidents at Disneyland. Thanks PK!

HI MY NAME IS GEORGE, I'M UNEMPLOYED AND I LIVE WITH MY PARENTS

So I’ve been trying to find a new, affordable place to live, preferably near my work place. Finding a new place to live sucks. I wish I didn’t have to leave my current apartment but I won’t be a student beyond August, so I’ll probably get kicked out.

I discovered a few things in my search for an apartment. The first is that rent is relatively expensive around the Kits or UBC area. For the same price of a dank one bedroom basement suite in that area, I can rent out the entire floor of new houses in the East Van. Actually, if I were just willing to live near the Joyce Skytrain station, I could afford living in one bedroom apartments in buildings that less than five years old. The commute wouldn’t be that bad except that I’m not really sure how I’d like living in East Van. All my friends are out by Kits and that’s the neighbourhood I like hanging out in.

The second thing I’ve discovered is that apartment managers are some of the most miserable sumbitches on the planet. I looked at this apartment on Saturday, it was by W. 12th and Birch. The guy that was showing the apartment to me made it seem like he was doing me the biggest freaking favour in the world. I was polite and courteous, and did not take much of his time. Yeah, I know he must have had a lot of people showing up to see the place, but that’s your job. If you hate it that much so that I can almost instantly see that you have no will to live, it’s time to move on. The apartment itself was alright, but I can’t imagine having to go to this guy when something needs fixing. Maybe I’m being picky but I think I’ll pass on the place.

One other thing I did notice is that there are many relatively affordable places for rent downtown. While it isn’t my first choice, I might have to seriously consider getting a place there. There was one place I saw downtown that I really liked but it was out of my price range. It’s called the Metropolitan Towers and it’s located on 930 Seymour Street. The complex is about two years old and it’s a great looking complex. Instead of a codgy old dude, I was met with a pleasant woman who was the leasing manager. She had me sit down in her nice office and gave me a rental package with floor plans. I was first shown the studio apartment on the 30th floor I believe. It was decent sized with newer model fridge, stove, and dishwasher. It came with in-suite laundry. The best thing about the place was the windows which went from one end of the apartment all the way to other. The view was spectacular with the ocean at one end and the mountains on the other. It must be quite the show at night with the lights. I was then given a tour of the facilities including the meeting room, theatre, and in-house fitness centre complete with cute girl working the desk. And what pray tell is the damage per month for this? Tree-fitty. Actually no, it’s $1050 a month, which at this point in my life is a little beyond me.

So the search continues. I am at my parents place tonight for an experiment. I’m going to try the commute from their place to work just to see how it is. Total travel time is about an hour, which isn’t that good but isn’t that bad either. Yes, I may have to move back with my parents temporarily if I can’t find a suitable place by the end of August. There’s only two good things about that: I can save some money and I can move out immediately once I find a place to my liking.

Anyways, almost time for bed. By the way, tonight’s Family Guy episode? Another classic in my books. Did you see how much poop was in Stewie’s diaper?