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It’s been a fun couple of days at home with my family. It was good seeing my sister again. She was quite generous to me with Christmas gifts. I will be sure to make it up to her next year when I’ll be hopefully employed. What else have I been doing? Well, I’ve been hitting Bittorrent pretty hard. With UBC Resnet restrictions on Bittorrent traffic, it’s hard to get stuff at my apartment, but here in Telus-land, it’s been smooth sailing. I’ve done a few movies and some Mythbusters episodes. It’s been good stuff all around.

I have also done a lot of shopping, but I’ve been trying to keep to the essentials. I bought a router on-line from Future Shop. This is for setting up a home network at my parents’ place. A network will now be necessary since my sister is temporarily moving home to start a new job. I also went to Costco to buy things like a giant bottle of water, a giant bottle of juice, and one giant Coke bottle candy. After that, I hit Ikea to get a $5 frying pan and some other stuff. Tomorrow, I’m going to Wal-Mart (I know, please don’t send me e-mails about Wal-Mart) to get some cheap shampoo, toothpaste, jock-itch powder and toothbrushes. When I look at it, I don’t think any of it was too extravagant.

I am tenatively scheduled to return to my own apartment tomorrow afternoon. I need to take care of a few things back on-campus, one of which is to get my crap together to prepare an application for graduation. I guarantee you that I will encounter the most horrendous UBC bureaucracy you’ll ever hear about. This will mean some interesting posts on this blog. Being back will also mean I’ll be on my own computer which is good since my parents’ computer is having some serious issues.

I will probably return to my parents’ place on the weekend to help my sister setup the network (if the router gets here in time) and to also re-partition this computer’s hard drive. For now though, look for the next few posts to come from the home office.

I woke up this morning with what my sister and I refer to as a “cut” in my hair. A “cut” is when some of the hair separates away from the head, forming a pseud-wing, and exposing a line of exposed scalp. I woke up late of course and my parents had a dim sum reservation to make. As my mother chided me for not even having my clothes changed, I decided I had no time to get rid of my “cut”. I went outside with the “cut” intact.

I was out in public all day with. I’m about to go to Future Shop. That is all for now.

Once again, it’s time for my annual holiday greeting. From all the staff here at www.erwintang.com, we’d like to wish you a happy holidays and a prosperous new year.

My love for kettle corn began one sunny afternoon in Seattle several years ago when EA trucked a few of us down for a Mariners baseball game. At first, I wasn’t sure of this popcorn that was cooked in large metal kettles. Why would popcorn taste any better because it was popped in a large kettle, I thought. Then I had my first couple of bites.

The addition of a little bit of sugar to regular popcorn in a kettle was pure culinary genius. I was immediately hooked by the combination of sweet and salty tastes. Each kernel that I was about to pop in my mouth became a flavour mystery. Would this be a salty or sweet kernel? I just didn’t know. The unpredictability of each kernel drove me to sample more and more of this delightful treat. Pretty soon, the bag was empty and all I could was look at my co-worker, Chris D. with dismay.

Since that day, I’ve discovered kettle corn is pretty hard to find in Canada. When you do find it, it’s expensive to buy and some of it really sucks. Most of the time, they don’t put enough sugar on it. Don’t hold back man, hit me with them pixie sticks!

On the weekend, I saw on the shelf at Safeway, microwaveable kettle corn. This was a new development to me from the people at Act II. I was skeptical of their kettle corn but I bought a box anyways. I popped a bag last night and I am happy to report that for a microwaved product, their kettle corn is pretty damned good. It’s sweet enough for me and I was surprised I got to the bottom of the bag so quickly.

Act II also has some other popcorn products, including Extreme Butter. I don’t know how it can be that extreme, but I hope to find out someday.

Wow, did I just write an entire post about popcorn?

I am really tired right now. Why am I not in bed and sleeping? I’m going to stay up a bit longer and try to figure that one out. As soon as I do, I’m going to bed.

Anyways, tomorrow I’m going to attempt to contact as many people as I can that I should contacted a long time ago. Whether you’re a friend or an acquaintance, I’ll be trying to either call or e-mail you. Don’t worry if you don’t hear from me tomorrow, it just means you took candy from me when we were in grade five that I haven’t had time or I lost you contact info. Don’t take it personally.

I went shopping again on Satuday afternoon. This time, the crowds were not as sparse as Friday evening. There were more people milling about on the streets and in the mall downtown.

I did some street shopping for a bit before heading back into Pacific Centre via The Bay. As I was walking towards one of the doors I was right behind this lady. There was a steady stream of people using these doors at this particular entrance. As she got to the door, she held it open just long enough to get herself in, but not anyone behind her. I thought that was really rude of her.

With the crowds being what they are, I’d say nearly everyone I’ve been in front of has had the courtesy to hold the door open for me. I’m not talking about stop-walking-hold-the-door-for-me-and-let-me-go-in-first type of door holding, I mean the push-the-door-back-while-you’re-going-through-so-the-person-behind-you-can-get-through-too type of door holding.

I really surprised by her level of rudeness. I had to open the door all the way myself. When I got through the doors, I noticed she was going down a set of stairs that was divided by a hand-railing. She was going down the right side of the stairs. Quickly, I raced down the left side to catch up to her. Just as she got to the bottom of the stairs, I deftly cut right in front of her path.

I wish I could tell you that some more entertaining things happened after I cut her off, but that didn’t happen. I hope she got really, really, really annoyed for like a nanosecond. Yeah, I’m a bad boy. Take note ladies, I’m dangerous.

I think it’s been over two months since I’ve ventured downtown. Tonight, I changed that by starting my holiday shopping. As soon as my bus made it over the Granville St. bridge, I saw an attractive girl wearing a mini-skirt and white thigh-high boots by a bus stop. I took that as a good omen.

The crowds were extremely light and I easily purchased two gifts before it was even 6:30pm. I needed to eat, so I decided to go to my favourite pho place, Pho Van on Main Street. When I got there, I ordered a large pho tai. The steaming bowl of noodles that soon got to my table was intoxicating. My pho consumption has been quite light this term, something that I hope to rectify next term. It was as good as ever. The thinly sliced, slightly raw pieces of beef almost melted in my mouth. Oh delicious pho, I suckle at your brothy, sweet teat once again.

By this time, it had started to rain quite heavily and stupidly, I had not brought along an umbrella. Knowing it was about quitting time, I crossed the street to where my mother works. I was hoping that my Mom was still at work and perhaps I could borrow a brolly from her. As luck would have it, my Mom was still there along with my Dad. They were going to eat some dinner before heading out to play some mah jong. They were pleasantly surprised to see me. When I told them why I was there, they insisted I was join them for dinner next door at this Hong Kong style cafe. As I sat there watching them eat, they asked me questions about the exciting life that I lead. With dinner finished, I was loaned an umbrella and driven back downtown so I could continue shopping.

If there was post-dinner shopping crowd, I never saw it. I think in this Internet age, the days of jam-packed malls might be behind us. I went to a few different stores, looking for both myself and my family. I didn’t find any more gifts, but I did buy a pair of jeans from Old Navy. That place is great for cheap essentials, things like undershirts, socks, and underwear.

After that, I’d had enough, so I went back home. Tomorrow, I am going back downtown in an attempt to get some smaller items. Is everyone else done their shopping?

SJC resident Tyson, explains to us the real meaning behind the movie Top Gun.

So the plan tonight was to play the last organized game of hockey before the holidays. I get changed and grab my hockey gear and head off to SJC at 10pm. I get there and see a lot of people in the social lounge. Adam comes outside to greet me. For a guy that supposed to be playing hockey it seems weird that he’s dressed in a sweater, khakis, and moccasins. He tells me that hockey doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.

I look inside the social lounge and everyone is watching the extended version of The Return of the King. Eh, no big deal, we’ll just start play again in the new year. I go inside and watch about half an hour of the movie. I figure I’ll leave and go back and clean up my place. While I’m watching the movie, Eddy, Chiming, and Woba come up to me.

“We’re gonna go drink some beers at Koerner’s.”

I join them at the pub. It’s pretty dead in there. No girls to speak of. We have a few beers and talk about SJC life in general. It’s a good time to be had by all. Pretty soon, we all get hungry. The decision is made to go to McDonald’s. I’m still carrying my hockey stick at this point. We make our way over to McDonald’s. The place is packed with guys, not a single girl is there. Something about the late hour and desire for fast food has brought out the guys. Meanwhile, the girls and their clean arteries are safe at home.

We consume our grease and talk more about SJC, the future, the past, and why impicit integration doesn’t work with large time steps. I notice some interesting fellas in the restaurant. There’s two old guys in the corner who seem to be emanating some serious BO. One guy walks in with a 7-11 bag full of muffins and pastries. He doesn’t order anything, just sits down to the table next to us and starts eating.

Then it’s time to leave and the nice guys are nice enough to walk me home. I wonder if I’ll go shopping tomorrow…

I have finally finished Half-Life 2. It is quite simply an awesome game. The sequel to one of the most influential titles in the gaming history, HL2 is the best first-person shooter I have ever played.

From a visual standpoint, the game is amazing to look at. The finest of details are rendered. I caught myself staring at the rotating metal blades of a windmill as it caught the rays of sunlight from above. Others may coo at the graphics in Doom 3, but the scenes in HL2 are a beauty to behold. The fact that it’s playable on machines that are nearly three years old is a testament to the engineering skill of the developers.

Thing that I liked the most is the inclusion of real-time physics in the gameplay. Objects now have representative mass and material properties. Nearly anything in the game world can be picked up, shoved, moved, thrown, or dropped. Gone are the days where your tank-destroying missile launcher wouldn’t even move an office chair an inch.

The ability to pick-up and move items in the game world in a huge forward step in gameplay. How many times have you entered a room full of ammo and medkits, only to discover you were carrying the maximum allowed items already? This is not a problem in HL2. You can simply pick-up said items and bring them with you. Or, toss them down the hall with the gravity gun.

New strategies are now possible with HL2. Pinned down by enemy fire? You can now grab a desk and use it as cover as you make your way across a room. The ability to move furniture now allows you to barricade doorways and create choke points. In one particular level, I was able to block four doorways which I had to defend with filing cabinets and desks. It challenged me to find better ways to solve the problems presented. Any game that does that is a worthy experience to me.

Now, I’ve heard some grumbling on the Internets about the ending to this game. Yes, some of you may not agree with how it ended. Before you continue your grumbling though, I recommend you take a look at this site. It will provide you some information that hopefully will put the ending in context to the larger story at hand.

If you’re even the most casual PC gamer, you can do no wrong by picking up a copy of Half-Life 2. And oh, just for you Frank, here’s a picture of Morgan Freeman as the hero of Half-Life 2.