Happy Birthday Sandra!

It's my friend Sandra's birthday today so we'll wish her a Happy 20-something! I hope she has all the fun she's entitled to after these horrendous exams are over with.

So where have I been?

Seems like the wrath of assignments, projects, uncompleteable (Is that even a word? It should be.) midterms and cold, wet weather have gotten the better of me.

Have I become the lazy fatass I was when I was 16? Perhaps.

My car needs servicing yet again despite the $1,500 bill I forked over last time. All was necessary though and the mechanic is a good guy despite indirectly taking food out of my mouth. Visa and American Express love me. I'm their #1 client.

Lookin forward to going out this weekend though - it's been a while. Let's get our drink on.

Police Brutality in London

This is crazy!

If anyone witnessed this in London please get ahold of the author of that article. Will write more later, but definitely not a surprise to read about officers on a power trip. It's just sad to see it goes way too far sometimes.

Online etiquette

No this isn't yet another complaint about how the Internet is dragging our human interaction and writing skills into the gutter.

 

Some expressions derived from online chatter can describe one's behaviour accurately enough without them having to write complete sentences to describe their state of emotion. So really, it's making our language more efficient.

 

Please don't take this and apply it to your professional lives, however.  I'm just talking about casual writing between friends.

 

 

The Beef

 

The problem I'm finding these days is with the overuse of these helpful acronyms, punctuation, and spelling in general.

 

Not only that, but (granting an exception for ESL students), it seems like some people never quite understood the difference between they're, their, and there as well as numerous other words (to, too, and two).

 

 

Let's examine LOL for a minute: Laugh Out Loud.

 

The goal of this expression is to subdue the need for writing an endless string of hahaha, or typing I am laughing so hard right now.

 

Unfortunately the efficiency is annulled when numerous LOL's are joined together, expressing extreme cases of laughing out loud.  Funny, but counterproductive.

 

LOL LOL LOL LOL !!!!!

 

 

The Killers

 

Punctuation and lack of proper Internet etiquette really kills it for me sometimes.  Let's provide some examples to get you in the same frame of mind:

 

Are you going to Jessica's party!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Well, if you'd ask me in the form of a question I'd consider it.  Unfortunately, not only are you screaming at me with 30 exclamation marks, but your question lacks the basic building block of the request-response scenario: The Question Mark.

 

The answer to your pseudo-question is NO anyway.

 

 

Another example:

 

HEY DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE I CAN GET THIS PHONE????????  I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

We've already covered the punctuation so I won't beat you over the head with it again.  At least this person used a question mark, though 10 of them may be excessive.

 

Their problem is that they haven't yet caught on that not many people type in ALL CAPS on the net, and when they do it typically demonstrates some form of excitement or anger.

 

So if you're not feeling any of those, click the damn thing off and continue typing without screaming at me.

They grow on you

When UGGs first made it on the scene, I really couldn't believe my eyes. Could some seriously ugly boots really capture the hearts and wallets of Western's beautiful student body?

Somehow it did many years ago, and I ridiculed this "fashion statement" like it was my job.

Just picture a very attractive girl, who could be seen in August weather in a short skirt, tank top and cute sandals, engulfing herself in ugly, wooley-mammoth-looking boots in the fall, complimented by tucked-in grey sweats and a hoodie. Now, maybe I've suddenly become attracted to those hunter-gatherer types of girls (Neanderthelle), but something about girls in mukluks three times the size of their legs is kinda hot these days.

Surprisingly, I've come to accept the new look of today's Western woman. It's very unfortunate that they don't highlight her curves in the least way, but I'm sure that despite the freezing whether outside (oh not now, but just you wait) she's having her own little party in her boots. And I'll just have to be happy for her. Or just cross my fingers that I get invited. Whichever.

For a different angle, see what Paige has to say about them.

Yes, this was just a sad excuse to link to her page. Girls are pretty.

Paige, you're pretty.

Hush...

Hip-hop fans and those of you who enjoyed the brief pre-challenge music from The Contender may want to check out the new album from Hush: Bulletproof.

R&B fans might be more drawn to tracks like Let It Breathe, but high energy tracks like Fired Up and Put 'Em Down (both from The Contender) are more for the hip-hop crowd.

Hush is also featured in the upcoming Need For Speed: Most Wanted video game soundtrack.

Oh please!

So people have been complaining about Steven Harper's comment about the Remebrance Day poppy.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

First of all, he's not criticizing the symbolism of the poppy, or making any form of negative gesture towards our veterans. I'm sure like the rest of us he has a great deal of respect for them.

We're talking about the production quality of the symbol itself, how the fastening design hasn't much changed in the 80 years that it's been around, and how they constantly fall off since they use a simple pin instead of something that would actually keep the poppy attached to your clothes.

I can't believe people so easily turn this around as some form of shameful comment against the veterans. They obviously have incredibly poor listening skills, and have this magical ability to tune out what he actually said.

Selective listening is bliss.

Autumn in London

This is my usual biking route - from home to campus, then backtracking through the Thames River Trail - about 30km in total. There's always some nice scenery, but I love the fall especially. The smell of the leaves and a cool brisk wind just seem to wake you up nicely in the morning.

20 Years of Nintendo

1UP.com writes about Nintendo's 20th anniversary in North America.

Man I spent so many hours playing those games as a kid and, ironically many of them are still loads of fun, which I can't say about some old TV shows I used to watch.

Winter's coming

Well, what a weekend I have.

At least there's some decent weather out. Yes, I know, it's getting colder, but there's still plenty of sunlight to be getting out with the bike or rollerblades, or whatever else gets your jollies off.

My weekend unfortunately will be consisting of a lot of dedication in the computer labs on campus. Yes, I'm the ubergeek this weekend. I've got two assignments and a project report due next week, coupled with a midterm on Saturday.

God I love Computer Science. Not only does it have a magical ability to turn women off like a bad cologne, but it eats up your free time like crazy.

If it's still dry, and there's sunlight, I will be riding the bike when I can! Still waiting for that damn mechanic to call me back with the bill.

Should start cutting down that damn money tree now I suppose, seems like labour charges might be outweighing the value of my car.

Nuts, bolts, and dolla billas

So I took the car into the shop today - there's been many things needing repair for a while, but they weren't bad enough to fix over the summer. Now that winter's coming, things like a leaking exhaust, squeeling brakes, seized calipers, and a minor A/C leak might be worth looking at.

Looking forward to a friendly call from the mechanic giving me a much higher estimate than I'm expecting. He's a decent guy though so maybe it won't be all that bad.

A local Toyota dealer did fix a seized caliper just over a year ago, so I'm hoping it's that same one that I can take back to them and say "WTF". Otherwise, it'll be a few more leaves off my money tree.

If I give him a whole branch, maybe he could bump the horsepower up a hundred or so. Or at least put a Type-R sticker on the back.

No, that wouldn't be cool.

YouSendIt stores 1Gb files

This site I came across recently is a great way to circumvent file-size limits on email servers.

YouSendIt simply hosts whatever file you'd like for seven days (or 25 downloads). During that time your recipients and whomever you send the link to can download the file quickly and easier (no registration required).

In addition, downloading from their site is quite a bit faster than if you were able to grab it via email.

MySpace Hacker

For all tech-savvy people out there, this is a must read.

Some have cursed Samy's name ever since he unexpectedly came up on their MySpace profile, but regardless, he ended up coding some wicked hack that ended up gaining him over one million "friends" in a very short time.

Read the whole story, get a technical explanation (and code) as to how he did it, and read the interview.

On the same topic, here's a funny anti-MySpace site, and another even funnier one.

Only in America

So the makers of Axe body wash have gathered together $15,000 to Pimp Your Fraternity Shower.

The catch is that this bathroom must be so absolutely disgusting that it will be voted as, well, most deserving of a makeover.

I can't really understand the need for a plasma screen inside my bathroom, but hey, what the hell? It's free!

Check out the rules here. Unfortunately you do have to be a resident of the USA, and your frat must be recognized by the college.

Quebecor president's sister assaults police

If you think all the press about this situation is because some chick assaulted police officers, you're wrong.

The majority of the press is about how wrong and unjustified it was that the police assaulted her (watch the video here).

Oh please! Are you kidding me?

She got exactly what she had coming to her once she committed the crime, then proceeded to ram her car into a police cruiser, and have them chase her for multiple blocks in Montreal.

Not only that, but before the officer slams her into the side of the cruiser, she's already resisting pretty heavily.

And this was all for what? A pack of cigarettes? Need I mention the 21 criminal charges she's facing in total?

Clearly this girl has issues, but just because she's the sister of a multi-millionaire doesn't mean she's entitled to anything more than your average citizen. It does mean unfortunately that she's entitled to increased publicity.

If the average citizen did something that stupid, regardless of their sex, I'd applaud the police for their actions just the same.

There are quite a few people that scoff at the police, simply because they're not intimidating enough. Don't get me started about traffic cops that bust people for going over the speed limit - they're a different breed entirely. I'm talking about those officers that actually serve some purpose.

If you knew that you would not only get arrested, but have the crap beat out of you by the cops (à la Russian Polizei) then maybe you'll reconsider what you're about to do.

Vive le Montréal!

(Here's a followup to the story)

Mom delivers 16th child

And They want more kids on top of this... are they crazy?

This had to happen in the US of course. I can't imagine what people are thinking when they do this.

How can you not be busy enough taking care of 4 children comfortably? Are these kids actually getting enough attention?

People complain when classrooms get over a certain threshhold since not one child is given adequate support and attention, since the teacher's (or in this case, parents) efforts need to be spread across many students, and not enough time can be devoted to one who may have more difficulty with certain issues than others.

Clearly, this is just like a rich kid, who never really appreciates all the things he has, but enjoys the feeling he gets when new toys and more expensive gifts are given to him. Of course he'll just keep on accepting them, but does he really take care and value them as someone less fortunate would? Of course not.

And once again, the weirdness of it all centers around religious fanatics. "If God wants to give us more children..." Umm, actually it's not God that's doing it, it's just a biological fact that if you have your husband injecting sperm into you, most likely a child will be the end result.

People will never cease to amaze me.

I suppose the one positive thing I can say about this family is that the husband is a hard worker, and the family isn't just sitting down in front of the television collecting unemployment insurance.

Let's talk about cup size

It seems like no matter where I get a Tim Horton's coffee from, especially those medium cups, coffee constantly sloshes out the sides of the lid, spilling on my hands, clothes, shoes, and car upholstery.

Do you people not use your own product?

Surely you must notice a problem when your average no-name brand cup, and someone with Starbucks is happily walking down the street, yet the poor bastard that opted for Tim Horton's coffee is cradling the cup with a 5-pack of napkins that are soaked with java.

It's also unfortunate that you have two (at least) different manufacturers supplying you with lids: Lilly (GTA) and Conference Cup (London).

Coffee leaks out of each equally, really, but at least Conference Cup can manage to make a lid with a half-decent tear-off tab. It could also use some improvement however.

Lilly on the other hand seems to think their completely inadequate design for the tear-away top is satisfactory.

Well, Lilly, let me tell you something: when I open 10 coffees, and 4 of the tops tear sideways, diagonally, and basically every way but the way they're supposed to, there's a problem, isn't there?

I'll make a deal with you. Even though I haven't had academic training in this field, I will volunteer my free time, to speak with your product "engineers" (what do you guys get paid for anyway?) and make numerous suggestions that would improve this situation. Better perforation for one thing.

It's too bad that this rant will never get into the hands of the marketing or product development team, but do realize I'm not just a bucket of thumbs, who somehow finds a way to screw up well-engineered products.

These same issues infuriate other people too, and the annoyace becomes far more severe when this phenomenon manages to cause coffee spillage on numerous items surrounding you, including other people.

There are reasons why certain products are well designed: the majority of people using these products experience some degree of satisfaction that can augment the enjoyment of the product itself.

This means people would enjoy your product (coffee) more if the containers you placed your product in were of a better design. And the same happens to some degree, vice-versa.

I might also mention, that while you're adjusting your cup and lid specifications with your suppliers, that you coordinate with your store managers and advise them that their cream dispensers are highly uncalibrated.

These machines are supposed to dispense an equal amount of cream, proportional to the cup size if you don't realize this already.

What does this mean? One cream in a medium coffee, is equivalent to one cream in a large coffee. So those of you who order a small regular (one-cream one-sugar), but a jumbo triple-triple thinking you're getting the equivalent proportions of cream, you are mistaken. Or at least you would be if the machines were dispensing cream consistently across all the stores.

We all know unfortunately that no matter which location you visit, you're met with the adverse situation of having your medium-regular coffee anywhere from damn near black to a full-on double-double.

It's not that difficult to notice defficiencies in your system guys, so please, Mother of Christ, get on it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a great weekend we have here in Oakville! The sun is shining, everyone and their kids are outside, and although there is the occasional cool wind blowing by, this makes for a very enjoyable weekend.

Not only are we giving thanks for umm... well, the stuff and people that we have, but I've found Thanksgiving is the perfect time to bask in the materialistic world that we live in and treat myself to something needful... or at least, "wantful". Is that a word?

I had recently taken to lowering myself (what a terribly unfortunate life I lead) to purchasing sunglasses from local sporting stores... giving myself a budget of no more than $30 per pair since I've lost or have had many pairs of Oakleys stolen.

This weekend's task was finding a replacement for my current inexpensive (cheap) pair of sunglasses that broke last week.

The problem is, that not only are sunglasses one of the few ways us guys can accessorize (yes I realize that statement is the tell-tale sign of a metrosexual), but the cheaper alternatives really are inferior in every possible way.

Not only can I spend a whole day and find nothing but pure crap, manufactured in the People's Republic of China, but none of them really look that great either, and most will experience breakage during a light breeze. Never mind the crooked arms, and hastily glued-on lenses.

Oakville Place, Oakville's only real mall, was recently renovated and now houses some very nice stores, including a Sunglass Hut booth.

The poor guy at the booth of course had to mute his frustrations, and deal with my indecisiveness for almost an hour while I perused the abudance of plastic, metal and glass. Fortunately for him, after dismissing several of his potentially acceptable suggestions, I managed to find a pair of Maui Jims that served as great multifunction glasses.

He actually twisted the frames of these all around, yet they not only refrained from snapping, but immediately reformed themselves. Cool.

We'll see how long these last before following in the doomed footsteps of the last three pairs!

Like a sieve

I was at Square One about a month ago.
In walking around I step into Eddie Bauer to see if anything's changed... I'm not much for the clothes but they have the occasional bag/watch that's pretty nice.

I spot this water bottle, and say to myself "hey that'd be handy".

In using this bottle ever since, I've noticed two very huge errors in design:


The large straw doesn't easily collapse into the bottle.

If you've got it standing up, there's no way to close the bottle. If you pull it out, there's no place to put the straw. If I put it in my messenger bag, it really does slosh and throw water all over the place unless I'm holding it, or supporting my bag with one hand while making huge efforts to move my legs and feet in an almost motionless fashion.

Just think of the Ninja, and how they do it. As you can imagine, it's not easy. Even doing all of these actions simultaneously, it still leaks out the top.

I might also add, that the straw has an accordian-like section at the top end, like those drinking straws you used when you were 10 years old. It's just as rigid as the rest of the straw of course, so... the purpose? You'd have to ask Eddie.


It still leaks.

Let's say I bend the straw a bit and force it into the bottle. You might say, "Alex you idiot, why not just close it. Doesn't it close?"

Why yes, it does. Or it looks like it does anyway. Making careless assumptions such as those will give you wet-ass my friends.

The rubberized "stopper", although it does look efficient enough, tends to somehow detach itself, leaving the top open to full H2O-flow once again.

Eddie Bauer, please test your products before releasing them to the general population.

Believe it or not, there are products in existance that don't frustrate every neuron of one's mind while using them.

Welcome Taisho!

Owain and Michie Yamanaka had their first child, Taisho, this past week. Looking forward to meeting the young lad!

Just don't let him consume that corrosive slop at the rate we did when we were kids!

Kev Does Hong Kong

For any of you that know Kevin, you may want to stay updated with his Hong Kong trip.

He'll be there until the end of December in the first semester of his last year of law school.

There've been an unsurprising number of rants about people, but some pretty hilarious stories also. He's keeping it up to date as often as possible.

This weekend he's in Japan, starting in Tokyo then visiting Yuya in Gifu.

Are we at the airport?

I still haven't figured out why many people on campus this year have opted to purchase those clunky roller-bags.

What am I talking about?

You know when you're at the airport, and everyone's rolling their belongings in luggage that have casters on the bottom?

This is because when you travel, you don't want to be dealing with heavy baggage, which unfortunately doesn't include what your significant other may be haunting you with.

But we're not on the airport, we're on campus. How much stuff could you possibly need to have with you at all times, that you must roll your bag with you across campus?

This brings back memories of my x-girlfriend in Texas, wondering why 90% of the students at her school walked around with them also.

*batump batump batump batump batump batump batump*

If I could better describe the sound they make, I would, but unfortunately this is the best I can do.

*batump batump batump batump*

Let's hope the majority of the student body doesn't follow suit.

Overheard @ Western

Definitely one of the more entertaining blogs, and how appropriate!

Conversations overheard at UWO

A new blog

Haven't really played around with this much, besides my MSN Space.

We'll see how it goes!