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On Friday night, EA will take over a restaurant/bar downtown so that the team can have a skate 2 wrap party. Yes, pennies are being pinched but kudos to EA for recognizing that it’s ok to spend money to celebrate the great work of over a hundred people. Before anyone gets on their high horse and mentions party money when EA laid off so many last month, don’t be a dumbass. The money spent on one party on a single evening wouldn’t have saved even one job. Also keep in mind, everyone who worked on skate 2 is invited to attend the festivities, that includes people who were laid off weeks ago.

In the last week, I’ve heard from two of my friends who just secured employment from other local gaming companies. That’s awesome news and I’m really looking forward to congratulating them at the party.

I believe there will be good times to be had.

I was so proud of myself tonight. I managed to buy a toaster oven for my apartment without having to solicit opinions from anyone!

I bought a reasonably-priced stainless steel toaster oven from of all places, the Real Canadian Superstore. Not only did I buy it from Superstore, it was a President’s Choice branded toaster oven. I chose that particular model for several reasons. First, it was priced right for its size, which is to say 13L of toasting capacity. When I make toast, I make a minimum of 10L of toast. The stainless steel look of it also matches the rest of my appliances in my kitchen. Last but certainly not least, it has a blue LED-like light on it. Keep in mind, the light is “LED-like”. I don’t think it’s actually a genuine blue LED but it kinda looks like it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a blue LED on a kitchen appliance before. Years ago, only super high end electronics had blue LEDs. Thanks to easier and cheaper manufacturing techniques, blue LEDs are almost everywhere now.

I’m hoping the bed and couch I buy will have blue LEDs on them too.

It seems like I’m looking to buy anything related to a household these days. While I have some cookware, cutlery, dishware, and a shower curtain now, I’d really like to buy a vacuum as well.

Does anyone have any suggestions on which models I should look into? Please don’t mention Dyson models. I am sure they are fine but I’m not willing to spend the premium prices for them.

I’ve received a significant amount of visitors to this blog looking for details, especially pricing on the new line of 2009 plasma TVs that Panasonic has announced. I don’t believe Panasonic has released the MSRP for any of the models. That hasn’t stopped one Japanese web site from speculating what the prices might be. Keep in mind, this is only their guess, which has nothing to do with Panasonic officially:

“The new TVs are scheduled to be released in series from March 1, 2009. Though there are no manufacturer’s suggested retail prices, the expected market prices of the Z Series are about ¥700,000 (approx US$7,824) for the 54-inch model, about ¥600,000 for 50-inch and about ¥550,000 for 46-inch.

The expected prices of the V Series are about ¥400,000 for the 50-inch model, about ¥370,000 for 46-inch, about ¥300,000 for 42-inch, about ¥220,000 for 37-inch and about ¥200,000 for 32-inch.

The expected prices of the G Series are about ¥350,000 for the 50-inch model, about ¥300,000 for 46-inch, about ¥250,000 for 42-inch, about ¥200,000 for 37-inch and about ¥140,000 for 32-inch.”

If you want to read the entire article, click here. Who knows what the actual pricing will be, though for consumers’ sake, I sure hope these estimates are on the really high side.

You have no doubt have heard of men who are completely clueless when it comes to Valentine’s Day etiquette, ranging from forgetting the day entirely to being a moron on said day. This year, I got some first-hand experience at how dumb men can be. Let me explain in detail.

Last year, I started a tradition where I gave all the ladies on the skate franchise team a Valentine’s Day card and a generous amount of Hershey’s Chocolate Kisses on the big day. Twelve months ago, I bought a pack of cheesy Spider-Man V-day cards designed for kids and addressed them to the skate ladies. It turned out to be a big hit, so I decided to continue the tradition this year.

For 2009, I bought extra-fancy Spider-Man V-day cards. This time they were lenticular cards that gave wicked awesome 3D effects when you tilted the cards. I also bought red and silver foiled Hershey’s Kisses with some almond Kisses mixed in for good measure.

Now since we had some unpleasant “staff reductions” last month, the seating plan went to hell afterwards. Since we had people on different floors, there was a quick consolidation of team members to get everyone back on 12. Because of that, I couldn’t rely on the name bars on the cubicles to tell me where all the ladies were sitting. To help me, I asked Amie, our production coordinator, to assist my efforts, with the stipulation she would get an extra dose of chocolates. She easily agreed with my plan and she printed me up an interim seating plan with all the ladies’ cubicles circled for quick reference. With the plan in hand, before I left for home on Thursday, I laid out the cards and chocolates for all the lovely ladies of skate.

When I arrived at work on Friday morning, I had already received several thank yous via e-mail and got a few more while I was brewing my first cup of green tea. The strange thing was that while I was getting my tea, Sarah or Toshi as I call her, walked by and didn’t say anything. That was kinda weird since she’s pretty good at her “please and thank yous” and we get along well.

I didn’t think anything more of it and then I had hours and hours of meetings that day. When I returned to my desk around 3pm, I checked my e-mail and there was one from Sarah. It was short and to the point:

“I can’t believe you forgot about Toshi on Valentine’s Day. :(“

I was like “WTF?!” I distinctly remember putting her card on her keyboard and the chocolates on her desk. I got up immediately and walked over to the cubicle where I had left her stuff. Instead of finding Sarah, I found some random dude. She was sitting in the cubicle next to random dude.

“Sarah, you sit here? Why aren’t you sitting in this cubicle?”

It turns out she and random dude traded places but didn’t register the move with Amie, so the seating plan wasn’t accurate. Ok fine but the card was clearly made out to Sarah. If I showed up to work one day and found a card addressed to a girl and some chocolates, I’d make sure the right person got the card and chocolates. So now my attention turned to random dude.

“Hey! Did you find a card on your keyboard this morning you mofo?”

It turns out he did and he still had it on his desk. He then showed it to me.

“Did you turn the card over and read it?”

Yes, he had in fact read it.

“Did it occur to you that your name is not Sarah and perhaps that card was meant for the Sarah, the very same Sarah that sits right next to you?”

He really didn’t have an answer to that.

“Did you also find some chocolates on your desk?”

Yes, he did find some chocolates on his desk.

“Where are the chocolates now?”

He ate them almost right after he found them. Now, I was getting really annoyed with this guy.

“Let me get this straight, you found a V-day card that wasn’t addressed to you, along with some chocolates but you neglected to give the card to the intended recipient, who sits next to you, and you also ate the chocolates anyways?”

He nodded.

Random dude was still holding the V-day card at this point so I snatched it out of his hand in a manner that was so indignant, it was straight out of a movie. I then turned in place and politely gave the card to Sarah who had been watching and listening to my exchange with random dude the entire time.

“I’m really sorry. This is yours.”

Sarah thanked me but I really wanted to grill random guy again. Before I could, another dude jumped to his defense by saying random dude thought everyone on the team got cards and chocolates. That has happened in the studio in the past but my card was signed by me! It said “From: Erwin” on it! Anything from the studio says “From Black Box”! How stupid do you have to be to mix up those two things? Also, if I were in his shoes, I’d double check with the person sitting next to me to make sure everyone did get something (before tearing up chocolate wrappers). How hard is it to turn to the person next to you and ask, “Hey, did you get some chocolates too”?

I wasn’t buying any of that crap. I told random dude not to eat anything that wasn’t his ever again, especially if it was from me. What if I had put ex-Lax on his desk?

Anyways, I turned to Sarah and said I’d try to rectify the situation further and I’d be back. I walked over to Amie’s desk and explained the situation to her. She was quite sympathetic and she offered some of her Kisses from the mound that I had given her. That was quite sweet of Amie.

With chocolates in hand, I went back over to Sarah’s desk to make it right again. She was very thankful and seemed pleased once again. I apologized once more but before I left I shot random dude a dirty look.

I’m known for being a pleasant guy to be around on the team and one that gets along with just about everyone but random dude is testing my abilities in that regard. The shit he pulled was weak. It’s not that I feel bad for me but it’s because there were several hours there where Sarah thought I had somehow accidentally or purposefully forgotten about her. That’s the part I’m not cool with. I later found out that Sarah had asked some of the other ladies if they got chocolates and a card, and they had to lie so that she wouldn’t feel bad. That didn’t make me feel good.

Random dude, you best be changing your behaviour from now on.

I’m pretty sure I just heard a werewolf outside. It also could have been a coyote but I’m not ruling out werewolf just yet.

A few weeks ago I was at an evening gathering of young people at someone’s residence. Someone called it a “house party” or something. Anyways, it was basically a day after I barely escaped the layoffs at Black Box. With my good fortune, I knew I was going to be able to go through with my apartment purchase.

At the party, I saw a young married I couple I know, “Dave” and “Joyce”. They had recently just bought a place themselves, so we had lots of stuff to talk about. The conversation turned to furniture, specifically placement of said furniture. I explained to Joyce that despite the absence of a den, I was still planning on having a modestly-sized desk (with my computer) in my apartment. Joyce was adamant about not placing the desk in my bedroom. She said a desk in the bedroom evokes images of a university student who studies and sleeps in the same room. I believe Joyce said the bedroom should be the place for only three things: sleeping, watching porn, or having sex. Joyce also said that no woman would take me seriously if she saw a desk in my bedroom. She said to get a small corner desk and place it in the living room.

I was slightly skeptical about her claims but then again, I have no idea what women are thinking about 99% of the time and here was a woman telling me what other women would be thinking, so I had to give it some serious thought.

To get another opinion, I spoke to my very good friend “Ron”. Ron flat out said Joyce was crazy and not to listen to her. He said that I should place my desk anywhere that I wanted to because after all, it’s my apartment, not Joyce’s. Ron then also gave quite the compelling statement:

“If you found a girl that was willing to reject you based purely on where your desk was in your apartment, then that girl really wasn’t the one you deserved in the first place.”

It was if I was back in a small mud hut on Dagobah again. I could not find any argument against Ron’s wisdom.

So here’s my thoughts on this. I don’t like the idea of placing a desk in my living room. I’ve seen it done in other places and it looks very messy. The living room is for entertaining, it should be kept neat, tidy, and clean. I also imagine I’ll be doing most of my guest entertaining in the living room, so I want it to be a nicely decorated space. Having even a small but random desk in a corner doesn’t help me achieve that goal. While I do think a desk in the bedroom is a better choice, keep in mind the desk size and shape will be respectful of the space it occupies. It won’t have tons of papers or crap on it. It’ll have my monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, maybe a book or two, and perhaps a few papers I’ll be reading at the time. I plan on keeping it clean and minimal.

I’d like to open up this topic for discussion among my readers. Where do you think my desk should go? Please leave your thoughts as a comment. I’d like to hear what you have to say about this.

After some thought, I am going to hold off on my TV purchase for at least another three weeks or more. After talking to some dudes whom I respect, I’ve been talked out of buying the $4000 LCD TV from the future. It’s just too high of price for a TV that only displays pictures. Had it also cooked and cleaned for me, then it might be still in the running.

Since then, I’ve given more thought to buying a plasma TV. After doing some research, I came across a report on Panasonic’s new plasma offerings for 2009 (my emphasis added):

“The G10 series is offered in 42”, 46” 50” and 54” screen sizes. Unlike the above series, the G10s are standard depth plasmas (around 3.5”). The G10 uses Panasonics new “green” (low power) Neo PDP technology with Infinite Black and 40,000:1 contrast ratio and full 1080 lines of motion resolution. Features include VIERA Cast Internet connectivity, THX Certification, SD card slot for still photos & AVCHD home movies and 3 HDMI inputs. The 42”, 46” and 50” models will be available in March with the 54” arriving in May. The model numbers are TC-42PG10, TC-46PG10, TC-50PG10 and the TC-54PG10.”

This bit of info is important for several reasons. First, Panasonic has quietly positioned itself as one of the best plasma TV manufacturers in the world. Second, they’ve somehow managed to reduce the power requirements of their plasmas to apparently 50% of their 2007 models. For their higher-end models for 2009, this means some of them are about 1″ thick now. Hopefully, this will also mean they’ve done away with the fans that were necessary with older models. I’m fine with a thicker TV but if they’ve reduced the amount of juice it requires then it becomes cheaper to use, it’s better for the environment, and it’s quieter since it doesn’t require fans now.

Availability is supposed to be in March but unfortunately no pricing has been announced. So for now, I’m going to wait.

I received a letter in the mail today from one of the banks I do business with. They were informing me they were about to cancel one of the credit cards I have with them. Apparently there was a security breach with a large payment processor based in the US. Heartland Payment Systems discovered some malicious software in their system and made the breach public in late January.

It’s not known if any of my credit card info was compromised. What is known is that somehow my card went through their systems in a legit transaction. It could have been something I ordered online but it’s my trip to Vegas that probably connected my card with a US payment processor.

I’ve looked at my statements and nothing has looked out of the ordinary. Every transaction has been mine. As a precaution, my bank will be issuing me a new card with new microchip-based security. I was scheduled to get this new fancy credit card a year from now but this breach has moved that timeline up. Interestingly, for retailers who have new terminals that support chipped cards, I will now be required to enter in a PIN to complete the credit card transaction, much like debit card. That’s another PIN to remember.

As far as I know, this is the closest I’ve come to someone trying to steal my identity.

Until this weekend, I wasn’t sure which TV was the one I wanted. After some research I have determined the Samsung LN46A950 is object of my desires. This 46″ marvel of technology is the first in the “9” series for Samsung. It features LED backlighting with the ability to provide local dimming. If that didn’t make any sense to you, it didn’t to me either until Saturday but in other terms, it means that this TV produces extremely deep blacks and faithfully reproduces stunning colour. It’s quite possible this model is the best LCD TV for its size on the entire planet. You can read a review here.

Of course, with such accolades, one can’t expect this thing to be cheap and unfortunately, it is not. The LN46A950 retails for just about $4000 CAD which is on the crazy upper-end of the price spectrum for LCD TVs. With prices dropping as the trend for the last two years and some decent models for even under $1000, this model stands out with its luxury price.

I haven’t totally ruled out buying this but I’ve already started investigating alternatives. For example, I’m also looking at plasma models which could possibly offer somewhat similar performance at about half the cost. One drawback of plasmas are significantly higher power requirements. For example, with average use, the LN46A950 would cost about $45 a year to run. A similar sized plasma would cost about $130 a year to run. Of course, I’d have to keep my plasma for about a bazillion years before the operating cost savings of the LN46A950 would equal the initial difference in price.

Anyways, I’ll do some more research.