Month: March 2014

During my trip to Las Vegas, I actually stayed in two different hotels. The first was the Trump, which I thought was fantastic. One of our party though, arranged for us to get some heavily discounted rooms at the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas. The Mandarin Oriental LV wound up being the classiest and most impressive hotel I’ve ever stayed in.

I guess my friend mentioned to one of the staff that it was my birthday during our check-in process. Later that evening, I found nice card addressed to me in our rooms. None of the Mandarin Oriental hotels are cheap places to stay but if you get a chance to spend even one night there, it is quite the grand experience.

I knew when I went to my current job that I’d probably see people from my last job fairly regularly. This was to be expected since the two locations are separated by a very short city block.

On my way to or from work or during my lunch hour I’ve seen the receptionist, an animator, a designer, a few engineers, and one of the recruiters. In every case, I’ve just smiled, said hi and went on my way. It wasn’t awkward or anything, and really why should it be? I didn’t make my departure into a spectacle (at least I think I didn’t) so there’s still an air of professionalism.

Though it is interesting to note this is the closest geographically any of my two consecutive jobs I’ve ever had. Anyways, I’ve made it past my second week. Yay!

I’ve been talking about it for a while but I think I’m going to finally buy a larger slow-cooker. I made a chicken stew on the weekend and I couldn’t fit all my veggies into the cooker I have now. I don’t think I need a fancier one, just one that is bigger.

I was talking to a doctor friend of mine in the last few weeks and he told me about a study between people who ate a Mediterranean diet and people who ate a low-fat diet. I believe the study went on for at least ten years and the people who ate the Mediterranean diet were much healthier and suffered less health problems as those who just ate low-fat foods. I already eat a lot of fish but I’ll try to increase my vegetable, fruit, and olive oil consumption.

I’m getting my first paycheque from my current employer at the end of the week. The last time I was paid by anyone was three weeks ago.

Loyal readers, this evening I just renewed this domain for one more year, meaning this little dog and pony show that you’ve been visiting will be around until at least 2015.

The 24th of this month marks the fourteenth year that this domain has existed. Holy! Now I’m feeling old. There are now kids in high school who are as old as this website. I still remember a time when the Internet was still unknown to the general public and just us university kids used it. Now I gotta step around senior citizens looking at porn on their laptops using free wi-fi at coffee shops.

Here’s to another year of substandard Internet entertainment!

You know, sometimes I think it would be interesting just to watch celebrities eat a meal.

I can’t remember the last time I owned a printer. Was it when I was in my mid-twenties and I had an inkjet? My memory isn’t what it used to be. I just never really printed stuff and everything I did need printing for I did at work. A month ago though, I decided I needed a new printer. Why? Well, my Mom is getting tired of replacing the ink in her inkjet printer. For her printing needs, she really needs a laser printer. When I was much younger, laser printers were the best printers but they were also really expensive. You can now get home/office laser printers for less than $100. I also needed a printer because, to be honest, I had to print out my recent letter of resignation. Could I have done that at my previous place of employment? Sure, but that printer was located at the opposite end of the floor from where my desk was. Someone easily could have intercepted it while it was sitting in the tray before I could get there. I suppose I also could have stayed late until most people had gone home but people liked to work really late at that place. I didn’t feel like staying late.

So I went and bought a laser printer on sale. It was nearly 50% off, so the final price was well under $100. After I got it home and set it up, it felt weird having a printer in my home. I used it initially to print out my short and succinct letter of resignation. The text was so crisp and sharp, the ink black as the depths of outer space. I was pleased that the printer gave my letter an extra sense of purpose.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to need the printer again after that but it did come in handy. I used it to print out all my travel documents for my trip to Las Vegas. I printed out my itinerary, boarding pass, hotel information, and travel insurance. It was a very convenient thing to have around. It was also of great value when I had to print out a handful of forms for my first day of my current job.

I’m not sure what I’ll need the printer for next so perhaps it’s time to hand it to my Mom. It sure was handy to have when I needed it though. Oh, and if you’re wondering, I did not print out any porn with it.

I survived my first week at the new job! That’s actually not surprising. I’ve worked there before and I kinda know a few people on my team already anyways. Everyone has been super friendly and supportive during my first week. It wasn’t hard to have a great first week.

As I expected, the vibe I get from the studio is good and the culture fits my personality well. As for the work itself, I feel like I’m hitting the ground running and will be a valuable member of the team quite soon. Overall, I feel relaxed, comfortable, and that I belong.

Let’s hope the next week is just as good!

Last week I saw several shows while I was in Las Vegas but the best, by a country mile, was Absinthe at Caesar’s Palace. Located in a Spiegeltent on the casino grounds, it’s a show unlike anything I’ve seen in Las Vegas.

The tent itself isn’t that big, so the venue is small and intimate. Most of the audience sits in normal card table chairs and even in the very back row, I don’t think you’re more than 40 feet from the performers. For those in the front rows, it would be very easy to reach out and touch the acts.

Absinthe has been billed as one of the most raunchy and shocking shows in Las Vegas. Sure, there is a bit of skin for some of the acts but the majority of the controversy comes from the hosts, the Gazillionaire and his assistant Penny Pibbets. The duo introduces each of the acrobatic performers. In between the acts, the Gazillionaire and Penny are not afraid to take their comedy into areas that some might find uncomfortable. They’ll make jokes or rib audience members based on their ethnicity, sexual orientation, appearance, and just about anything that might get them a laugh. In my particular show, the Gaz mercilessly taunted an Asian woman and her adult daughter about things I can’t really discuss on this blog, suffice to say it was of a sexual nature. The video above shows the Gaz and Penny at work. The audio from the video is definitely not for sensitive ears.

The acts themselves are as impressive as the Gaz and Penny are raunchy with their jokes. All of them feature feats of strength, agility, balance, and creativity. Someone said that it seemed like they took the best parts of all of the Cirque du Soleil shows and crammed it into Absinthe. Since the show allows photography and filming, you can probably see everything on YouTube but that would be doing yourself a disservice. It’s really something to be seen live and up close. Having said that, here’s an example of one of the great acts in the show.

Absinthe is easily one of the best ways to spend 90 minutes of your time in Las Vegas.

No matter how many times I go to Las Vegas I will never get used to the change in the humidity. Living in Vancouver, the humidity is well over 80% across all the months of the year. As I write this, the humidity sits at a whooping 96%. When I arrived in Las Vegas last week, the humidity was less than 25%.

I didn’t notice the absence of moisture in the air right away. It was after my first night that I woke up and realized my skin had turned into a hide that had been out in the desert for weeks. It took only a day for the Nevada air to dry everything out. I had to moisture my entire body after every shower after that.

On one particular day, things got interesting when a freak rain shower happened upon the city. It rained for several hours, cooling off the temperatures and adding moisture to the air. I was outside at the time and I remarked how the air felt so much more comfortable to be in and to breathe in. It was one of the rare times where Las Vegas felt like home.

I wonder if people who live in the desert get the reverse feeling when they come to places like Vancouver. Do they noticed the increased humidity? If so, how do they feel about that? Do they want to dry out their skin to make it more like home? Personally, I’m thankful that this wonderful moist air does wonders for my skin and hair.

So today was my first day at work at United Front Games. As many of you know, I was employed at UFG for about 2.5 months three years ago. I have returned to the studio, hopefully for a longer duration than last time. I can’t divulge what I’m working on for now. Perhaps I can say that I’m working on an Xbox One title.

The studio is located just down the block from where I used to work, so the commute is nearly identical from before. It was a pretty standard first day for me, which included setting up my computer, installing software, meeting lots of people, reading e-mails and documents, and drinking tea.

In the afternoon, it was apparent that Las Vegas was still lingering about as I was extremely tired. I’ll need to find some extra rest for the duration of the week.

Lots more to tell in the coming months!