Author: Erwin

The long weekend is over. That’s too bad. I really needed the three days off. I’ve been working OT for the last three weeks. It was good to just to sleep in everyday.

I’m looking at a map right now and I just realized I hiked around 10 km total today. It didn’t seem so far at the time but I’m really tired right now. I essentially hiked from North Rd. in Coquitlam, up to SFU, and then to Burnaby Mountain Park where the lovely Horizons restaurant is located. I’d never been there before. The view kicks ass from the park. You’re so high up you can see so far into the west. I was able to see all of Burnaby, downtown Vancouver, and it just visible but I could make out the tall buildings on campus at UBC. The sun had just broken out too while I was looking at all this. It was beautiful, sorta like that “stay gold” moment with Ponyboy.

Then it was time to head back. Not ten minutes into my journey home, the sun was behind the mountain and trail got dark quite fast. By the time I got back to my car about an hour later, it was nearly pitch black. I gotta start bringing lighting with me or start earlier. Anyways, I’m beat now.

Time to go to bed.

So this dude wrote some guidelines that men and women should follow to maintain a healthy, platonic friendship. Well, at least that’s the title. If you read the guidelines though, it kinda makes you think the title should be, “How to maintain being friends with a girl you are hopelessly in love with”. I don’t necessarily believe in all of these but I’ll list a few of the suggestions here:

1. No hugging for greetings or salutations. Hugging is only allowed for personal tragedies or blessed events when the emotional significance of the situation blocks out the knowledge that your boobies are pressing against me. We have hands; lets shake them.

10. No confiding in me about boys. I am not your girl friend; I am your reluctant man friend who officially hates all men that you date now or in the future. Asking for hypothetical guy advice is okay; just don’t slam me with details about particular guys you are sleeping with. If this rule seems contrary to rule 7, just remember that I’m a beautifully complex being.

14. No dating any guy who treats you bad or neglects you in any way, that’s just a slap in my face. I fucking adore you.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2PyiuxfZ5Q]

I know some of you must be tired of all the Borat exposure in the media. He’s been everywhere but you have to admire Sacha Baron Cohen. He’s been across the world doing a million interviews in character. The man is a machine, and a comedic genius as well. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is unlike any movie I’ve ever seen and that’s a compliment. Cohen went to the extreme to make this movie as funny as it could be, including one outrageous scene which defies description. I can only encourage you to see it.

The above interview took place the Monday after Borat was released, debuting at the number one spot. Borat is talking with the people at the Today Show on NBC. It was the second interview with Matt Lauer in less than two weeks. Look for a cameo from douchebag Bill O’Reilly near the end.

Hey, it’s almost midnight and I’m coming live to you from downtown offices of EA. I’m quite sad that I’m still at work. Someone better appreciate the work I’m doing here.

So the Democrats took the Senate. Maybe the average US voter isn’t as dumb as I thought. And Rummy resigned today as well. Yay! That’s the first bit of good news politically in the US since probably 1996. Could Palpatine’s rule be at an end?

Ok, I’m going home now.

A week ago, I predicted “business as usual” for the 2006 midterm elections in the US. I was wrong. At the time of this post, the Democrats control the House with a wide margin. Nancy Pelosi, stands to be the first female speaker of the House. I can’t imagine in a million years that the Republicans would ever let a female lead the House.

What’s even more surprising is that at this very minute, the Senate is still within grasp for the Democrats. They need two more contests to go their way and they’ll have it. Despite all the good signs of this evening, the Republicans will retain control there. Remember, the GOP still has the voting machines on their side.

The bad news continues with six more states voting to ban gay marriage. The states of Idaho, Colorado, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Virginia, and South Carolina all now have new material for their tourism campaigns! Way to go!

The overall interesting question is whether or not the US voters actively voted for change. Control of the goverment swings back and forth between those two parties naturally anyways just like how our magnetic poles do every couple thousands of years. Was this a conscious change or just nature working it’s usual magic? Hard to say.

Ok, back to Stewart and Colbert!

So last night I was sent on an errand to buy fruit. It’s kinda like living with Kramer from Seinfeld. Anyways, I was in a rush to get back to watch The Simpsons, so I high-tailed it to the nearest produce department, which happened to be a Safeway.

In the pouring rain, I made my way to the entrance of the store. As I am about to enter, two males are leaving. They are in their late teens or early twenties and scruffy looking, the norm for where I live. As I pass them, one dude says to other, “Hold on, I’m going to go back and get that chick’s number.”

I am immediately intrigued. Dude turns back goes back into the store. I enter the store as well. I let him get a little further of ahead of me. This might get interesting. I see him walk towards one of the aisles. In this aisle is a single person, a female. She looks like she’s in her late teens as well. Her hair is jet black. She’s kinda gothy looking but cute.

As dude saunters up to the girl, I file past them into the aisle. I’m the drinks aisle. I go far enough not to impinge on them but close enough to hear. I pick up a package of Crystal Light. Only five calories per serving huh?

I sneak a look over. They’re talking but I can’t hear exactly what. It seems to small talk. He’s got a handful of papers in his hand, like a mishmash of wadded up forms. Some of them look like coupons. Is he giving her a coupon? Is that his in? Weird. Then he starts patting down his pockets. It looks like he’s fishing for a pen or something.

I look away for a second to examine the box of Crystal Light. Then, I hear him say, “Listen, do you want to go out sometime…”

He pauses. It’s a long pause. I look up to see what’s happening. Out of nowhere, a third person has joined them. It’s a guy, tall and gothy looking too. He’s standing right next to goth girl. The implication is that they are together. Where the hell did he come from? I swear I would have heard him walk by me. No one is saying anything. The silence is loud. I can feel the awkwardness from where I’m standing.

Painful seconds pass by. Finally, the dude yields. He wads his paper back up into a ball and abruptly turns and leaves. The goth couple are left behind. They begin to talk in low voices. It’s impossible to hear what they are saying.

With that, I remember I need to get back home to watch TV. I put the box of Crystal Light back on the shelf and head off to the produce section.

So dude may not have been suave and deboner but I applaud him for trying. Next time he’ll have a pen and the girl won’t have her ninja boyfriend appear out of nowhere.

So I won an Xbox 360 last week in a contest. Pepsi runs this contest every year. When you buy Pepsi products, the packaging contains a PIN that you enter online. They do a draw every hour for thirty or so straight days. The more PINs you enter for each draw, the greater your chances of winning. The neat thing is you don’t have to buy Pepsi products to get a PIN. Using this link, you can request a single PIN. You can get lots of free PINs in this manner.

If this all sounds strangely familiar, it’s because back in 2004, I wasted about half an hour a day for almost two weeks trying to win a prize. I accumulated close to 100 PINs and entered them into a single draw. I lost. It was devastating. My friend Sarah had the same thing happen to her. I skipped out on the 2005 contest.

Long story short, I grabbed a few PINs this year and completely lucked out. My Xbox 360 arrives later this month.

While winning a prize that retails for $570.00 is nice, I soon realized this “free” prize is going to wind up costing me money. The first thing is I have nothing decent to play the 360 on. All the TVs in my home are not HDTV compliant. They are of a decent size but each one has an aspect ratio of 4:3. Look, I don’t want to sound whiny or anything but next-gen consoles are designed to be played on high-resolution, widescreen displays. This means that optimally, the aspect ratio should be 16:9 or 2.35:1 if you’re so inclined.

Second, now I gotta buy 360 games. This is almost unavoidable but I can borrow games for free at work through the IRC. Also buying used games at rental chains is a great way to save money. A co-worker has let me know he’ll lend me a few of his games too. Nice!

Third, now I’m tempted to buy 360 accessories. The prize pack only comes with one controller but it’s always handy to keep another controller around if Jennifer Love-Hewitt wants to drop by to play some Halo with me. Controllers start at $50!

The first problem is something that has to be dealt with. It’s a waste to play the 360 on regular CRT TVs. Unfortunately, LCD TVs are still pretty expensive. Even at 32″, an HDTV ready LCD TV is over $1000. There are some priced at exactly $1000. Still, I wasn’t expecting to be dropping a cool G on a TV anytime soon.

The solution I’m probably going to go with is to buy a widescreen LCD computer monitor. These things aren’t exactly the same as HDTVs but they support high resolutions and are much more cost effective than the alternative. I can snag a 22″ widescreen LCD for under $400. I can also use it for my computer so I get an upgrade that way as well. A single purchase that benefits two different systems in a bonus in my books.

I’ll try to borrow as many games as I can and buy used ones. Maybe I can buy a used controller too.

A second solution also exists. I could just sell the damn thing for $500. I was thinking of buying a new computer before I entered the contest. Traditionally, I’ve been more of a PC gamer than a console one. If I sold the 360, it’d make my new PC quite cheap to buy. Still, the 360 has impressed me with its features and online service.

I’ll most likely keep it.

I feel quite lucky to have blogged throughout my grad school days. Those were such fun times and with a blog, I can go back and read what was going on with my life back then. For example, on Friday, February 6, 2004, I watched two movies that night. That’s some of the crazy ass stuff I used to do in school.

It’s a shame I didn’t blog in undergrad because there were certainly some blog-worthy events in those five years. For example, there was the time those guys on my dorm floor lit a table on fire in the hallway and had to throw it out the door. Or the time those same guys all urinated in the same large glass jug for kicks. Then the jar got tipped over in one of the guy’s room. It shattered into a million pieces. Or how about the time I went into a guy’s room and saw him boil potatoes in a pot on a hot plate. After the potatoes were done, he showed me how you could just pour out the water onto his carpet. Let’s not forget the time the potatoe guy started breeding fruit flies in an unoccupied room and called them his “children”.

Man! I sure missed out on some awesome blog material. That was just the stuff about other people. I haven’t even included my own personal stories.

Maybe I can like, retro-blog or something.

I worked late again tonight. At least EA ordered dinner for us this time. Dijon chicken linguine. It was tasty but someone stole my garlic bread. That’s ok, because they were lots of people without food, so I hope it went to someone who really needed it.

I’m tired, so I got nothing exciting to write about. Instead, here’s someone else’s blog post about not having something to write about.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgGyuzYVx_4]

Oh man, I came home from work at 11pm. That ain’t cool. I got no time for nothing. Sorry. Instead, please enjoy this clip of Borat talking with Matt Lauer.