Category: Uncategorized

Hulu has just released the first trailer for 11.22.63, their new mini-series based on the book 11/22/63 by Stephen King. The novel is one of the best I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading, combining my fascination of time travel and the assassination of JFK. James Franco plays the central character in this drama, the school teacher who goes back in time to prevent the events of that fateful day.

If the mini-series is even half as good as the book, it will be some fine television. I just hope the show will be faithful to the source material and that they don’t deviate too much from the book’s ending… that bittersweet ending. I shall say no more.

I am happy to report my poop hip is no longer causing me any pain. One night of semi-restful sleep did the trick. It’s like I have Wolverine’s healing power, if Wolverine were an old, decrepit man. I actually pooped twice at work today, no accident those times.

I was downtown this evening to meet a friend and decided to pop by the venue where last weekend’s bachelor party was. I forgot my scarf there on Saturday. You might be surprised to know it was not a strip joint where I forgot it. I will say no more but I did manage to get my scarf back. It’s my favourite scarf and the only one I wear so I was very happy to get it back.

Ok, check back tomorrow to see if write about poop again.

Earlier this morning I found myself having the need to poop at work. This in itself is not an uncommon occurrence as I frequently poop at work. Anyways, as I was sitting at one of the designated waste stations I was about to wipe myself free of excrement. As I shifted my body to do so the toilet seat underneath me unexpectedly moved laterally a few inches. The seat was loose and it was able to move far enough that those nubby plastic supports on the bottom of the seat shifted off the top of the bowl. So not only did it move laterally, it moved plunged vertically. I was lucky to not fall off in my state. Relieved that I suffered no immediate harm, I moved the seat back to where it should have been and finished with my cleansing ritual.

I didn’t think about my slight misadventure on the bowl until several hours later when I got up from my desk to get some water. My right hip began to hurt whenever I took a step on that side. It wasn’t painful enough that I couldn’t walk but I felt like running would have caused some major discomfort. At this point, I was cursing my advanced age and thinking how ridiculous it would be to have a wonky hip because of a toilet accident. The pain stayed with me until well into the evening where thankfully I now only feel slight dull ache on that side.

I’ll be very disappointed if this becomes a chronic condition.

On Saturday, the bachelor party that I was responsible for organizing was held somewhere in downtown Vancouver. Despite the title of the post, no one died during the party. As some of you know, the responsibility of such a party weighed on my heavily and was causing me some very real stress. In general, the evening went fairly well and I think most of the gentlemen enjoyed what I had planned for them. Most importantly, the groom-to-be had a good time and I think that was always the end goal.

Now that I’ve been through that trial through fire, I feel like I’d be even better at planning the next bachelor party, should I need to. If anyone is facing the same problems with planning, I’d like to impart some wisdom earned through my own experiences. Obviously I will not get into the specific details of what happened on Saturday evening. Actually, I consider that a sign the evening was a success. My friend, the groom, said that absolutely there were some things that happened that wives and girlfriends would not be happy about. I personally thought it was pretty tame stuff but hearing that made me feel relieved.

Ok, so first off, you will need a fair amount of time to plan the party properly. The more complicated or involved the event will be, the longer you will need to plan it. Also, if the group is large, it will also take more time to plan. I’ve heard some people say you should start planning two months in advance. I say you don’t want to leave it any less than a month in advance.

Second, do seriously consider using a professional (bachelor) party/event planner to help with the planning. Leveraging other people’s experience is something that applies to a lot of situations in life, not just bachelor parties. I went this route and it really helped me focus on what was available to me both in terms of budget and group size. By having a planner, I avoided the clichéd dinner at a pub followed by a visit to several strip clubs type of bachelor party. The event planning company I dealt with has done this hundreds of times, so they know exactly what to do and how to make your party fun for everyone.

Third, while very unfortunate, the reality is that money will increase the odds your party will be better, smoother, and more memorable than if you didn’t spend more on it. I have heard of a few great bachelor parties where not a lot of money was spent to organize it and not a lot of money was spent during it as well. Those are definitely exceptions though. Whether it’s food, alcohol, or strippers, all these cost money and for those particular things, the general rule of thumb is that the more you spend on it, the better it is. In hindsight, I should have put in more of my own money to make the party even crazier and grander.

Lastly, don’t be conservative about your planning. This applies to everything. If you think you’ll need 10 large pizzas, get 12 or 15. If you think 20 strippers is enough, get 25 just in case. No one remembers a bachelor party by saying, “Man, remember that party where there were just enough strippers for us?” Indeed, you want the party to be the most memorable thing these gentlemen have ever been part of. No bachelor party ever got better and more crazier because the organizer held back. If you think you’ve got it just right, go ahead and get more of everything.

At beginning I was dreading this great responsibility but now I feel like I’d like to do it again (well obviously not with the same groom).

For the last three weeks or so it’s been extremely difficult to get my car out of or into the parking garage in my building. The fob that opens that gate was acting up but I wasn’t sure if it just needed a new battery. When I pressed the button, the LED on the fob still lit up so I thought it might just be broken.

I got myself into two particular situations where I probably should have just went out and replaced the battery. The first was when I wanted to go somewhere and I got to the gate exit. I kept hammering on the button on the fob, the LED lights up but gate stays closed. I rolled down my window, stuck the fob outside, hoping it would send a clearer signal but no dice. I must have sat there for at least two minutes by myself. Finally, another vehicle that was leaving pulled right behind me. They probably waited about thirty seconds, wondering what the hell I was doing. They could see the fob in my hand, stuck outside the window as I was pressing on it madly. They figured it out and they mercifully used their own fob to let me out.

Now while getting out was great, I immediately thought that I wouldn’t be able to get back in. Once I was done my errand, I was just hoping that another car would be leaving and I could slip in while the gate was opening for them. I believe this is how criminals get into buildings. Anyways, as arrived home, luck was not on my side. I stopped at the gate and again hammered on the fob. Nothing happened. It was useless, I would have to wait for someone coming out or someone coming back just like me.

Sadly, none of those things for quite a while so I just had my car idling on street with my left blinker on. Luckily the street is wide enough that other cars could go around me on my right. It was five minutes before the lights of another car appeared from behind the gate as someone was leaving. Five minutes doesn’t seem that long but trust me it is, especially when you’re waiting in traffic to turn left into a parking garage you can’t get into. As the gate opened, I drove back in, silently thanking the person who was leaving.

That was about three weeks ago and that was also the last time I drove until today, when I got the battery replaced in my fob. Everything now works fine. I’m an idiot for procrastinating that long.

It’s currently raining in Vancouver, which probably doesn’t sound too out of the ordinary but I’m probably understating it a bit. The rains were torrential and heavy for most of the evening. I looked outside in the late afternoon and the deluge was impressive.

I actually was planning on leaving work at 6pm but my usual ride home said he’d probably have to stay until at least 8pm. So I had to make a decision, leave at 6pm and get drenched on my way to the bus stop or stay later and stay dry. Staying later also meant I’d get dinner too. I took the lazy option and stayed later. A warm meal and dry clothes won out in the end.

On our way home the rain was a steady deluge and some streets were like small streams. A huge flooded portion of the road awaited us at the bottom of the hill. We inadvertently splashed some city workers trying to unblock the drains. What a miserable night to have to work outside. Thanks to my friend, I got home relatively dry and warm.

It took until this week before the weather felt cold to me. Not bad I suppose. Throughout September and October it was quite mild and I thought a jacket was still optional for those months. That changed this week when I was actually glad I had a jacket on.

Of course, when I say it feels like cold, that means it’s cold for Vancouver. The temperatures are still above freezing but have now dropped to the single digits. I might even pull out my winter coat for the first time for this fall.

Well, it’s just gonna get worse from here on in. The weather is gonna suck until about late April.

Tomorrow is Remembrance Day, a statutory holiday in this province. While normally I would have the day off, management at work has requested it be a normal working day with the stipulation that we would get another day off in lieu of. It was also stated that if people wanted to participate in Remembrance Day ceremonies, they could.

While there is no doubt I was looking forward to having the day off, I understand the project is at a critical stage so I get why we need to come in. On the other hand, since I’m on a fixed contract, I made sure to ask my boss that I’d be getting that day off well before the end of my contract. There’s no use in promising me the day off next summer if I won’t even be around for that. My boss is a cool dude though and he understood I wouldn’t be working for free. I’ll probably take the day off in December.

Anyways, working on a stat holiday is interesting because no other teams will be at the studio, including food services. As such, management is getting a catered lunch for us, which is nice of them to do. At least we will be well fed.

So enjoy your day off tomorrow people!

I napped on both days of the weekend, which is a lot of napping for me. I’m not sure if that was an indication of how tired I was from the work week. Whatever it was, it might explain why I woke up almost two hours before my alarm was supposed to go off this morning.

I tried going back to sleep but it was a lost cause. I just surfed on my tablet, taking in the morning news and looking at pictures of kittens. Despite being awake so early, I was determined not to be just as late as I usually am for work. Knowing my tardy self, there was a real danger of just wasting the whole two hours of extra time. I managed to arrive at work fifteen minutes early than usual, so at least it was not a total loss.

Of course, you don’t lose two hours of sleep without consequence so when the afternoon rolled around, I was very tired. It was nothing that two shots of espresso couldn’t handle though. I still love naps though.

Are you aware that Nordstrom has opened up a location in Vancouver? If you’re on social media, this is something you probably know already. A few weeks after the store opened I went to check it out. It’s definitely a high-end retailer. The store is well-appointed and you can easily tell it caters to those who have a lot of money to spend. After looking at a few price tags, I felt out of place there. The one thing that I did enjoy seeing though was at the men’s shoes department.

Nordstrom Vancouver has a shoe shine service. The practice of having your shoes shined by someone seems to have fallen by the wayside. From movies and TV shows of the 40s and 50s, it appears that it was much more common back then. Before seeing the service at Nordstrom, the only time I’ve seen the service offered was at the airport.

Anyways, I recently bought a pair of leather shoes and I treat my shoes very poorly. I buy relatively cheap dress shoes for less than $100 a pair. I never get them cleaned or put on any of that stuff that is supposed to make them last. I decided maybe I should see if taking care of them will improve their durability.

On Saturday, I had to meet a friend for a quick meet up downtown. After we were done, I headed to Nordstrom to get my new dress shoes shined. There were two shoe shine dudes working that day. One of them was already busy with a customer, so I got the remaining dude. He was super friendly and offered to charge my phone while my shoes were shined. I declined but it was nice knowing you can get a bit of juice while you wait.

I was actually quite excited to get my shoes shined because it felt like I was going back in time and doing something from a bygone era. My dude was quick and efficient with the shine. First, he took a cloth and cleaned off the dirt from my shoes. It was wet and terrible outside, so there was probably bit of water and mud on them. I’m probably forgetting a few steps but I believe he added a conditioner to my shoes next. That helps the shoe leather last longer. He even applied a sole and heel dressing. That’s a nice touch that I wasn’t sure if they were going to do. Finally, he applied the polish and then buffed the shoes to a nice shine.

The cost of the shine was $2.50 which is a fantastic price. I tipped my dude just because he was so friendly. I only have one small suggestion. I get that for $2.50 I shouldn’t expect the royal treatment but he went quite fast and I would have preferred a little more time and TLC spent on all parts of my shoes. Overall though, it was a very pleasant experience and I definitely recommend taking care of your shoes this way.

When I went back outside, I noticed any water that got on my shoes was beading up. That meant that the water wasn’t being absorbed into the leather and my shoes were already benefiting from the shine.