Category: Uncategorized

So I might jinx this by just even writing about it but over the weekend I set forth some plans that might allow me to go on a police ride along in the near future. I’ve wanted to participate in such an activity for years but wasn’t sure how to go about it.

I don’t want to go into the specifics but an opportunity came up this weekend and inquiries have been made. It still may lead to nothing but at least the right parties are now involved. I’d like to keep the particular policing agency and jurisdiction under wraps for now (and possibly forever) as I’m not sure special favours might need to be called in for this.

Even though it still might not happen, I’m extremely excited about this. I’ve watched the show COPS for years and it would be such a thrill to actually sit in the police car during an officer’s shift. Let’s make this happen!

Well, if I can’t get this song out of my head I might as well try to inflict the same pain on you. “Jump in the ocean, hug a whale!”

This skit gets weird in a few places but I learned that people over 40 use Tinder. I did not know that. Also, Conan and Dave make up some pretty good fake names.

A few weeks ago, a co-worker and I were leaving work, headed for the train station. Outside at the entrance, we found a small group of people taking a picture of the building. They were specifically posing in front where the building number and street name is. The entrance is quite nondescript. It is literally just a number and a street name. It’s not even a famous address. If you Google that address, you just get links to building management company.

So why would these people take a picture of that? I don’t know. Fans of the studio? Didn’t seem like it and if they were, they’d probably be better off taking photos of the giant UFG sign on the tops floors of the building. Maybe one of those people share a name with the street name? Scavenger hunt? I’m still confused by the whole thing.

Last evening I got bit by some mosquitoes for the first time in about two years. Along with our mild winters, mild summers, and beautiful scenery, Vancouver is also blessed by a lack of mosquitoes… usually. I’m not sure if it was the heat wave that brought them on but they somehow presented themselves while I slept. My windows weren’t open any more than usual, they’ve been wide open since the beginning of June. In any case, my torso and legs have now been blessed with some lovely red and slightly itchy welts.

Let’s hope this doesn’t continue, even if I want the great weather to persist.

I didn’t get as much sleep as I wanted last night. It was hot and it was more difficult to sleep than normal. In the early morning, a constant breeze materialized, which made things better.

The start of the day was hot. It was hot all the way to work. A coworker of mine was all sweaty in the elevator ride up to the studio. Once we got inside, we were greeted by the sweet comfort of air-conditioning. I cooled down quite quickly but it didn’t make me want to leave the studio at all. For lunch, a few of us darted across the street to restaurant. Normally, on a sunny lunch hour, the patio would be packed with people. Today, it was devoid of eaters, not a soul wanting to brave the hot temperatures.

After eating, we ducked back into the studio. I usually take a walk in the afternoon but I decided to stay within the sheltered coolness of air-conditioning. I was lucky to ride home in an air-conditioned train car. Perhaps it will be cooler tomorrow.

The province of British Columbia is suffering under a heat wave currently. Parts of Vancouver reached a high of about 30 degrees Celsius over the weekend. It was cooler out by the water but apparently it was much hotter as you went east. Some parts of the province sweltered under 40 degree temperatures.

Now I know some people live in parts of the world where such heat is routine and normal but this is rare for these parts. For Vancouver, the temperatures in the summer are around the low to mid-20s. I will pass along an interesting anecdote. I work with three Brazilian students who are here for the summer. One of them is from the desert region of Brazil. I didn’t even know such a place existed but that’s beside the point. Last week, he complained about heat here in Vancouver. So, I think it’s ok to call this a heat wave.

In previous posts, I’ve written about an e-mail account that I don’t use for anything. It’s a generic e-mail account that comes with your ISP. I’m sure a lot of you have had at one time something similar. For many people, an ISP e-mail account was their first ever e-mail address they had. Of course, the online world is more sophisticated now and people mostly use dedicated e-mail services like Gmail. I can’t remember the last time I e-mailed someone and their address was an ISP account.

Well, every few months, I like to log into my ISP account to see what crap has been sent to me. It’s mostly spam but sometimes I get some interesting messages. A few weeks ago, I saw a message that wasn’t spam and that had a few attachments. The message had been forwarded to me from someone. It contained tax returns for two women. Now I could have done the right thing and just deleted the message but I didn’t. I opened up the tax returns and looked through them. Judge me if you wish but I was just curious. The returns contained a lot of personal info: full name, address, birth date, social insurance number, and of course, financial information including income. After looking at the returns, I deleted the message, attachments and all. I didn’t copy any of the information down. I couldn’t even tell you what the names of those women were.

People should be really careful about where they send information. The sender of this message could have easily avoided this problem by just double-checking the e-mail address. What if I was someone who was really morally corrupt?

This particular YouTube channel was brought to my attention by a former coworker. I haven’t had the proper amount of time to figure out why it exists. I do like the golf-style TV commentary though.

This happened a few months ago but a man named Kevin Strahle attempted to drink a gallon of Tabasco sauce in one sitting. Strahle is also known by his YouTube persona, the L.A. Beast. He is a competitive eater and makes a living off his YouTube channel. You might be surprised to learn this but people like Strahle and others make a decent amount of money by filming various eating challenges.

Strahle has filmed himself eating things like a cactus, the hottest peppers in the world, boiled Coca-Cola, five pounds of gummy bears that cause diarrhea, and much more. It’s fascinating watching his various feats of eating strength. While I was watching these videos, I was also cognizant about how much money he was making. YouTube doesn’t release figures but I’m ballparking that Strahle probably pulled in at least six figures in the last twelve months.

Anyways, enough about money, let’s get back to drinking a gallon of Tabasco sauce. I won’t spoil the ending except to warn you that if you watch the video, it gets a bit messy at the end… ok, a lot messy. You have been warned.