Month: April 2015

After five years, my mortgage is up for renewal in July. My current lender just send me a letter detailing my renewal options. I currently have a variable rate mortgage with a current rate of 2.25%. They gave me two viable renewal options: a 5 year fixed at 2.79% or a 5 year closed, variable at 2.35%. It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to see that they are offering me the same mortgage product, the variable rate one, at a rate that’s one-tenth of a percent higher. Why would I choose to renew at that rate and pay more?

A quick look at a mortgage comparison site showed me in less than two minutes that I can similar mortgages at 2.00%, a substantial amount lower than what I was offered.

I’ve read that lenders try to take advantage of the convenience factor so they can lock you in at the higher rate. Indeed, they sent me all the forms for renewal and all I have to do is fill out a few boxes, sign my name, and then mail it off with pre-paid envelope. Boom! Then I’m paying more money that I have to for another five years.

It’s clear that I’m going to do some shopping around before choosing what mortgage product I’ll be going with for the next few years.

Out of curiosity, I recently downloaded an app for my tablet that analyzes your sleeping patterns. You’re supposed to run this app while you sleep for many nights in a row so you can gather lots of data points. I’ve only recorded one night of sleep so there are no trends to report and everything is subject to how good an app can be at analyzing a human being while they sleep.

The app makes use of the accelerometers in my tablet to detect motion and I’m guessing they have an algorithm that determines what phase of sleep I’m in and good that sleep is. As such, my tablet needs to be on the bed with me. The app can also use the microphone on my tablet to detect snoring and/or sleep talking. I decided to turn this feature on and also record any disturbances it detects. For snoring detection, it necessitates my tablet had to be also near my head for the night.

The results after one night of sleep are as follows, according to the app. I got approximately six hours of sleep (I know, I stayed up way too late playing video games). Of that six hours, about one hour was spent in deep sleep (consisting of three separate cycles). I also spent 7 minutes snoring (according to the app). The app also recorded every time it thought I was snoring. A few times it just recorded the sound of me just turning over or the rustling of my water bed but sure enough, it did record me snoring many times. I played back all the clips and while I do snore, I don’t think it’s that loud. I knew I was snorer before this, it’s just interesting to listen to it in detail. I was kinda afraid I’d hear myself struggling for breath as that’s a sign of sleep apnea but I don’t believe I heard anything like that, just regular snoring.

I need to have a few more data points before I can see a trend of how my sleep is. Maybe I do talk in my sleep and I just don’t know it.

The 2015 NHL playoffs start tomorrow and the Vancouver Canucks have returned to the post-season after a one year absence due to a crazy man. The Canucks have caused me much emotional pain and grief through out my entire life as it requires much strength to follow the team year after year. Some of you might remember that I traditionally bet against the Canucks each series they face. The reason is quite simple: if they win, I lose some money but I’m happy they move on but if they lose, the pain is somewhat dulled by the extra cash I win. The last two times the Canucks were in the playoffs, it was an easy bet to make. They lost in the first round in both 2012 and 2013, getting handily beat by Los Angeles and San Jose. You could tell the Canucks were not in a good state either of those years and were ripe for a beating.

This year, the Canucks face the Calgary Flames. Both teams are quite evenly matched, with many experts saying it’s a toss-up at this point. On paper, the stats give Vancouver the slimmest of advantages which might explain why Bodog, an online betting site, marks Vancouver as the favourite. I disagree with Bodog, however, as I think it’s a mistake to just go with the stats. With such closely matched teams, I’m hesitant to make a bet right now. Had Vancouver been paired with either Chicago or Anaheim this round, I’d be itching to put money down but that’s not the case.

I still have a few hours before the puck drops, so I can still make a bet until then.

I recently re-discovered the joys of napping. Two weekends ago, on the Sunday, I woke in the morning and perhaps had stayed up too late the night before. I dragged my ass to Fan Expo Vancouver because I wanted to hear Brent Spiner speak at a Q&A session. Once that was over, I left almost immediately for home. Once back at my palatial abode, I debated doing productive things like laundry but I felt really tired. So instead of washing my genital coverings, I crawled into bed for what turned out to be a two-hour nap. I woke up feeling quite awesome and very refreshing, despite knowing that you’re not really supposed to nap for more than an hour.

This evening I was feeling quite tired, possibly because I had a case of the Mondays all day. I took a 20 minute nap around 9pm. Again, perhaps not a good idea since it might affect my ability to sleep for reals later on but I did wake up feeling much better. If you haven’t napped in a while, you might want to try it out again!

Last week I was at work and went down to the cafeteria to get some lunch. I went to the salad station to see what the feature salad was for the day. I saw some people already in line and I noticed a gentleman there. My brain processed that his face looked familiar but I couldn’t place where I knew him from exactly. As my brain worked to figure out who this man was, I just stood there staring at him from about 10 feet away. I must have stared at him for about a good five seconds, which is a long time to be staring at someone if they don’t know you. By this time, he sorta noticed that I was creeping on him and I quickly diverted my stalker gaze. Fortunately, my brain was able to recall where I knew this dude from.

When I first started my current job, I watched hours of tutorial videos about a particular piece of software that EA uses internally. Nearly all the videos featured the dude I saw in the salad line up. That’s why he looked so familiar to me. I’d say a lot of people in the company across many studios have seen these videos now, so I’m guessing he gets that weird look of recognition frequently when he visits other EA locations. To close this story, the feature salad did not tickle my fancy, so I chose something else for lunch that day.

Well, the three pounds I gained since starting work has now materialized into five. This is definitely not a good trend, despite my efforts to only eat salad for lunch at work. The only course of action is to eat healthier and get more active. On the diet front, I’ll have to do better and I’ve already stopped eating doughnuts as my afternoon snack. That was a bad habit for one week. As for exercise, I came up with an idea last night.

I wanted to see if it was viable to walk home from work. According to Google Maps, it would be a 9.8 km walk going by the shortest route and it would take me two hours and eight minutes. That’s not exactly a short stroll but certainly within the realm of possibility. There are some pros and cons of doing this. One of the pros is that I can cut through a large urban park by using their trails. Theoretically, this should shorten the amount of time and distance of the walk home. It’s also much nice to walk through nature than on the side of the road with cars whizzing by me. Unfortunately, it’s been many years since I’ve been to this park and I’m unfamiliar with the trails. I also don’t want to be caught out in the trails once the sun sets. These two problems can be solved however. I walk the trails one weekend and get my bearings. As for the sunlight, every day that goes by the days grow longer and sun sets later.

I definitely will also need to eat something before leaving work. I’m usually starving by the time the work day is over so there’s no way I can go on this monster walk without fueling up first. I also think I’ll attempt this on a Friday, just in case it kicks my ass so bad I’ll be a mess the next day.

I do not want a repeat of 2013 when I ballooned up to 175 pounds. I can’t imagine that I weighed that much!

I wish more interviews would be conducted in this fashion.

The Deadpool movie is filming in Vancouver currently and I’m pleased as punch that a high-profile production is in the city. Ryan Reynolds, who grew up in Vancouver, plays the titular character. In the video above, someone in the awesome looking Deadpool costume (who may or may not be Reynolds) waves to people who are watching the filming.

A lot of people have high hopes for the movie and don’t want it to suck.

I have a very unique name. Not a lot of people named their kids “Erwin” these days, no matter how they spell it. I’ve gone through my life meeting very few people with my name. Back in 2008, EA hired a contract artist who had my name but he spelled it differently. That was the first time I worked with anyone that had my name, even if the spelling was different. His contract ended and I became the only “Erwin” on the team again.

A few weeks ago, I learned that there is already another “Erwin” on my current team. He spells it “Irwin” but I won’t hold that against him. He’s been on the team long before I was but then again, given the pedigree of the team, could you not say I was actually there before he was and I just came back after a long absence? Well, that matters little now I suppose. I wonder if he feels like I’ve invaded his turf with my “Erwin”. He’s a QA guy, which is interesting because I used to be a QA guy too. Imagine if we were both QA guys on the same team. They’d have to label us as “Erwin” with an “E” or “Irwin” with an “I”.

Well, my contract is over in 11 months, so after that he can go back to being the only “Irwin” on the team.

I’ve been a bit vague about all the details of my current job because there are aspects about it that I can’t reveal until probably around June. Nonetheless, I can say that I’m on the Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare team. As such, it’s my understanding since I was hired, I am the only person so far to have worked at PopCap Vancouver proper and also on be on the Garden Warfare team. It’s been interesting to compare and contrast the two teams from my unique perspective.

PopCap Vancouver was a very unique studio. We were a small group of perhaps 20+ people, spread across two teams. Originally, PopCap Vancouver was an independent studio that PopCap bought, changed their name, and brought them into the PopCap family. This was before EA bought PopCap themselves. PopCap Vancouver was much more PopCap than EA and I realized this quite quickly when I was first hired. First, my main e-mail address was a PopCap one. Sure, there was an EA e-mail alias that worked but I was considered a PopCap employee and my entry in the e-mail address book was not under EA Canada but in the PopCap section. Most of our IT and systems were administered by PopCap staff in Seattle. I remember asking for VPN access and that came through Seattle and not Burnaby. Indeed, when I connected, I was going through the PopCap network in Seattle and had no access to the network at EA Canada. Most importantly, I was also subject to the PopCap bonus and vacation structure. At PopCap, you’re given four weeks of vacation right away, no matter if you’re a junior engineer or a senior art director. I remember thinking that I instantly had more vacation than several of my more senior former co-workers out in Burnaby. PopCap also gave out quarterly bonuses, which was something unique within the family of EA studios. I’m not sure if they still do that but it was great getting that one quarterly bonus… lol. Overall, my entire time I was at PopCap Vancouver, I felt like a PopCap employee through and through, with a slight acknowledgement that EA owned us overall.

On my current team, things are a bit different, even though we work with the most successful and popular intellectual property that PopCap has ever produced. First, no one has a PopCap e-mail address. We all have standard EA e-mail addresses. All of our systems and network access goes through the EA Canada. We really don’t have access to the PopCap network, nor do we need to on a daily basis. Even though I’m a TFT and I don’t get bonuses, my regular full-time co-workers are still subject to the EA Canada bonus structure. The vacation policy is also the EA Canada one. No four weeks of vacation for everyone. From an organizational standpoint, we are definitely EA Canada employees who just happen to work on a game that has PopCap intellectual property.