OH JOY

After I bought my apartment, I’ve at times wondered what would be the first thing that would need major repairing. Well, I don’t have to wonder no more. To cut to the chase, there’s a water leak in the ceiling above my toilet in the bathroom.

I was taking a shower this evening after returning from my weekly jai alai game. After I was finished cleansing myself, I turned to move the shower curtain out of the way. It was then I noticed a weird discolouration on the bathroom ceiling above the toilet. I quickly dried myself and then applied my usual salves, ointments, and powders to my body. Once clothed, I went to the utility closet to get a step ladder.

I got up close to the part of the ceiling in question and gingered touched the part that looked the most affected. It was slightly moist to the touch. I then lightly poked at it with my index fingernail. The ceiling was mushy. It was so mushy that my fingernail left an indent in the ceiling. It was at this point I knew this was serious.

I’m keeping an eye out on it. I’m about to go to bed. I’m not sure if there’s anything to be done tonight. The live-in building dude has hours of 8am to 5pm and I’m pretty sure he’s in bed now. The professional building manager doesn’t start until the morning as well. They have an emergency number but I’m not sure if this counts as an emergency. Water isn’t dripping down just yet. I believe this could wait another six or seven hours until morning.

What I am worried about is how much work is this going to be to get everything repaired. I’m also concerned about who’s going to pay for all of this! I’m almost certain I’m still under the new home warranty but I admit I haven’t read all the clauses in that thing. Maybe this type of thing isn’t covered. Perhaps I’m just being pessimistic but if I had to pay for all of this, that would suck big time.

Stayed tuned for further details.

CANUCKS IN HIGH DEF?

With the approach of the new hockey season, I am faced with a new question. Do I order new HD channels to watch the Canucks in high definition? Right now I have a sweet deal with Telus where I get one year free high speed Internet and their Telus TV service. With Telus TV, I get a bunch of standard definition channels and about sixteen super awesome high definition offerings. Unfortunately, I don’t get any sports channels in high def. As it stands, the only Canucks I’d get in HD would be on CBC. If you look at the schedule here, that would be only two games a month.

Now if I get Sportsnet Pacific, I’d get way more games in HD. There are seven games alone in October that will be broadcast in glorious 720p. The crappy thing about getting the new channel is I can’t pick SPac by itself, it has to come in Sports bundle. On top of that, they force me to get the standard definition pack just to allow me to pick up the high definition version of the channel. The SD sports pack is $6 and the HD version is $5. All told, that’s $11 a month for seven sports channels in SD and four in HD.

I’m not sure if that’s a good deal at the moment. Do I really want to see the Canucks that badly? Why can’t I just get the one channel I want in HD?

SEVEN MINUTES TO HOME

I had dinner at my parents’ house this evening. When I came home, I was strolling through my apartment lobby when I decided to take the stairs up to my place. I’d never done that before even though it’s something I’ve been meaning to do for a few weeks now. I prefer getting my physical exercise in a practical way. I’ve never liked just spining on a stationary bike or running on a treadmill. I liked getting fooled into partaking in exercise, for example chasing after a yellow ball on a court or having to walk around a lake to see a beautiful view. Taking the stairs to my apartment is practical in that if I want to get back home, I have to walk up these stairs.

It was the very first time I’d been in one of the two main stairwells in my apartment building. The first thing I noticed was that the stairwell was wide enough to be comfortable for single file but not practical for any more than that. It was tight and compact unlike some office towers I’ve been in where the stairwells were made to help transport lots of people quite quickly.

I made a point not to race up the stairs, since at the 28th floor, it wouldn’t be a sprint. I took it at a moderate pace. I didn’t start to feel the physical exertion until about the ninth floor. It was at this point my body realized this wasn’t a walk in the park and that I was actually hauling my own ass up into the sky. This manifested itself in some burn in my legs and quicker breathing. I didn’t stop though.

I just kept on trudging up those stairs. The best motivation was seeing those floor numbers increase little by little. Just like anything, a big problem is best solved by dividing it into little pieces. So I just took it floor by floor.

Soon enough, the magic number of 28 appeared at the top of the steps and I opened the door into freedom and my floor. By now, my legs felt ok but I was indeed breathing quickly. It took me approximately seven minutes to get from the lobby to my floor. It really wasn’t that bad at all.

I’m hoping to do this more often, especially when coming home from work.

SNEEZING

I have this theory that the symptoms of the common cold can be brought upon by a simple sneeze. To be clear, I don’t think sneezing is the cause of a common cold. What I mean is that, if you already have the cold virus, I believe a sneeze is often the catalyst which signals to your body to start feeling things like a runny (or stuffy) nose, coughing, and so on.

I’ve experienced several instances where I was feeling fine until I sneezed, immediately after which I started feeling the effects of a cold. Now, I maybe a dolt but I’m not doltish enough to think sneezes cause colds. So I must have already been “sick” but just not been feeling it.

Now here’s where my theory perhaps gets a bit far-fetched. I believe that had I not sneezed, I still would have had a cold but the symptoms would have been much less prominent or I could have delayed the onset of symptoms until much later.

Now since I’m not a doctor, the Internet is a great place to spread this type of pseudo-science. I’m hoping all of you believe my theory and tell your friends. Forward this post to your parents in an e-mail.

KNOW THIS

If you’re ever on a motorbike traveling through Montana on the Interstate and your chain breaks, you can text me to get you the number for a Suzuki dealership near Helena. I will pretty much respond within five minutes.

DID YOU KNOW?

Did you know that even though we live and work in completely different parts of the city, my sister and I take the same bus to work?

Yes, that’s correct, we do indeed take the same bus. You might think that means I see my sister almost daily but that’s not true unfortunately. While we do take the same bus, my sister takes it nearly three hours earlier than I do. I’m not even awake when she’s off to work.

The other difference is that while she needs to travel a fair amount of distance to get to her place of employment, I’m only on that bus for less than ten minutes to get to the studio.

I sometimes joke that I’ll wake up early one day so that we can both catch the same bus, just so we can be on that bus together for about ten minutes. Then I realize how early that would be. I think it’s better if we just keep to our own schedules.

SKATE 3

Though many of you already suspected as much, I can finally reveal that I’m working on a game called skate 3. The press release went out this week.

While the press release did mention some key and new features we’ve added this time around, there are a few things we’re keeping under wraps for now. There will be some interesting items to be revealed in the months to come.

CHICKEN PARTY

A few weeks ago I was on my way to my parents’ place for dinner. I happened to be traveling along North Road in Coquitlam when I noticed a new business in a strip mall. The name of the business was “Chicken Party”. Now if you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you’ll know I love chicken in all its culinary forms.

I didn’t have time to stop by to check the place out but I’d like to. As I thought more about it, the name “Chicken Party” seemed kinda familiar. It was only when I got home later did I find out what “Chicken Party” meant in another context. According to popular rumours, a “chicken party” is a gathering where young women perform oral sex on several men at the party. I believe this type of party was discussed on Oprah but it was never confirmed that teenagers were doing this at all.

In any case, I am unsure if the owners and proprietors of “Chicken Party” on North Road are aware of the double meaning. I am also unsure if this double meaning makes me more or less inclined to try the chicken at “Chicken Party”.

If you want to check out the place yourself, here’s the listing for it.