April 24, 2010

Playing catch up

I haven't posted in a little while. I've been a bit lazy about posting but it's not like I haven't been busy.

The networking has proven to be ridiculously easy here. Part of that has to do with being introduced to HOBN. It's opened up a tonne of potential not just in my work but in a lot of areas in my life and I am grateful for it. Hopefully this will mean things begin to pick up for me. I had a moment yesterday when I was walking to Timmy's for my morning coffee when I felt some hope; some real hope that I was finally going to be able to dig myself out of the hole I'm in. I think it's the first time that it really felt like it was real. Not just a light at the end of the tunnel. I could see it, believe it, and it was a great feeling. Now I just have to make it happen. This coming week is packed to the gills with meetings. Hopefully, This will prove to be a really fruitful week. I'm looking forward to it.

I spent the day fiddling with the tribal tattoo and Kevin's 1000W website. The tattoo has proven to be more troublesome than expected but Kev's redesign went well. Hopefully he likes it. It's pretty straightforward (almost plain) but I think it will suit it's purpose.

Tomorrow my goal is to finish the tattoo. Maybe I'll see if Opus is open and get some supplies to make Chris' celtic tattoo board.

Something I learned today: I've really overestimated how easy the tribal tattoo was going to be

Reason to smile today: Sense of hope and two showers today :-D

April 15, 2010

Smarter than your average...

Was in bed all day yesterday with a headache. Booooo...

Felt better this morning. Ian asked me to come out with him to Langley today. His Porche was in the shop and he was working today so he needed me to drive him down to Langley to give his folks money so that they could pick up the car and drive it to where he was working. He was going to drive the Porsche home and he wanted me to take the Smart car home for the evening. Still with me? The plan was actually a lot simpler than it sounds.

The Smart car, as it turns out, has quite a different driving mechanism. I had assumed it was just a regular manual transmission but it was in fact a clutchless manual transmission. For those of you that have some experience driving standards, you basically still had to shift but you didn't need to hit the clutch. Instead at the appropriate intervals you pushed up on the shifter to gear up and back to gear down. It took a little getting used to as, out of habit, I kept trying to gear down when I was shifting into second, fourth and sixth gear (yes, it has six gears although not a true six gear transmission). Eventually, I resorted to the paddle shifters on the steering wheel which worked far better for me. It was an unusual car to drive as it's wheel base is so short. Fun little car. I think I would still prefer a Mini Cooper S given the option but it was interesting as I had always wondered how it handled. It also cost very little to fill it up. Just over $18 and Ian said it would last for about 400kms whereas the equivalent for the Porsche would be closer to $70.

We saw Ian's mom. It was nice to see her again. It's been a little while since I had seen her. Just as I remember her. Nice little Irish lady. We went for Dim Sum in Langley which was quite lovely and then I dropped off Ian at work. He encouraged me to drive a round a little while I had the opportunity but the only place I really went was to Save-on to get some groceries. I had some things to do today anyways after not getting anything done yesterday.

Reason to smile today: I've always really loved the Irish and Scottish accents so seeing Mrs. Burns today was really great.

Something I learned today: How to drive a clutchless manual transmission. Very interesting experience.

April 13, 2010

Looking for jobs all day. Must find some work soon. Some potentially promising opportunities. We'll see what happens.

Mom beat me to the punch on e-mail again. Damn. I gotta be better with writing to her.

Mimi picked me up after work. She was pretty stoked about her M&Ms. Had dinner with Mimi and Tamami-san then had coconut M&M oatmeal cookies courtesy of Mimi. De-licious!!

It was nice hangin out with Mimi. Weird in some ways to see her all grown up. I still remember her hitting Li-san back after she got in trouble when she was really little. Thought it was the funniest thing ever.

Reason to smile today: Coconut M&M oatmeal cookies
Something I learned today: Baking powder actually expires.

April 12, 2010

Heather got to North Van in the early afternoon. Had been waiting to make my Timmy's run cos she said she'd be by in the morning. That's ok.

Met Asher. Super cute kid

Heather was super happy with her Quorn that I picked up for her south side.

Had burgers and root beer for dinner with Dan and Lara

RTST: Seeing Heather and how happy she was

April 11, 2010

Misa invited me yesterday to go to Seattle with him and Rob. Seeing as I had no lans I decided to tag along.

I noticed that Peace Arch border had gone through some changes. The old office was gone and some new buildings had been put up in a different location. I don't know if Calforex was in there or not but there was something a little sad about it. So many memories.

We got across the border pretty quickly and with relative ease. i had expected it to take longer with all of the new security measures but it wasn't a problem. I discovered, however, shortly after crossing the bordermy phone stopped working. Boooo. I had thought I would be able to roam using the AT&T network but apparently I cannot. This sucked.

The drive was pretty quick and as we pulled into Seattle we were able to find the SAM but we wound up driving around a little bit just to find parking. We decided to get some lunch first. I suggested we walk down to the Seattle Public Market. I was hoping to be able to have some lunch at that great little Chinese restaurant there. Unfortunately we walked the wrong direction and wound up having lunch at the Red Robin.

The SAM was pretty cool. Interesting collection of stuff but didn't flow very well both in terms of what was showing and how the layout was. Still, worth the visit.

Something I Learned Today: Seattle named after an Indian Chief
Reason To Smile Today: Crossing the border

April 10, 2010

Mortimus Nerd

I was supposed to go to the Slush Cup today but the outing was cancelled due to there being no event. The Slush Cup, as it turns out was back in March.

It sorta worked out well as Misa called to see what I was doing. I met up with him and his friend Rob outside of Big Pete's near Lonsdale Quay.

As we were deciding what to do next, Misa decided he'd better move his car as he was parked in a two hour zone and his time was nearly done. As he pulled out of his parking space he almost clipped a rather large black guy on a motorcycle. The fella who was wearing a black leather jacket with a skull and some sort of Korean writing on it started yelling at Misa and I thought for a second he was going to get off his bike, smash the window, drag Misa out by the scruff of his neck and pound him flat. I honestly don't know what I would have done (or could have done) if that happened. I know I started looking around for something ...not that it would have helped any. In the end, angry words were exchanged and he rode off.

Whew...

We went for lunch at the Quay. I had quite a lovely sandwich and a Weinhardt's Root Beer. I picked up an extra bottle for Dan as he had never had one before.

After lunch we hit another comic book store. I believe my reaction the second I opened the door was, "Woah..." I hadn't even stepped foot in the shop yet and I was already shocked. The place was completely packed. Not in a good way either. All I could see were piles of stuff. There seemed to be a marginal semblance of order but overall, things were just piled all over the place. As far as a collector would think, this place was a disaster. I don't think there was anything in there in mint condition due to the way things were stored. I think I kicked, knocked over and otherwise got caught on a half a dozen items piled up somewhere. Some of the piles were leaning precariously. one pile in particular went up to the ceiling and when I pointed it out to Misa he poked it to which I IMMEDIATELY replied, "please don't do that. I don't feel like being buried in an avalanche of plastic toys."

Dan made bacon wrapped hot dogs for dinner. Very tasty and very harsh on the arteries. I think I could hear my heart screaming at me to stop the madness. All I can say is, they were tasty even if Lara almost set the whole barbecue on fire cooking them.

We finished off the evening watching the Bucket List. Great movie. Always been a fan of Morgan Freeman.

Reason to smile today: Bacon wrapped hot dogs. Bacon makes everything better...

Something I learned today: I am not nearly as much of a comic book nerd as i had previously thought. I think that actually works out as a good thing.

April 15, 2010

Smarter than your average...

Was in bed all day yesterday with a headache. Booooo...

Felt better this morning. Ian asked me to come out with him to Langley today. His Porche was in the shop and he was working today so he needed me to drive him down to Langley to give his folks money so that they could pick up the car and drive it to where he was working. He was going to drive the Porsche home and he wanted me to take the Smart car home for the evening. Still with me? The plan was actually a lot simpler than it sounds.

The Smart car, as it turns out, has quite a different driving mechanism. I had assumed it was just a regular manual transmission but it was in fact a clutchless manual transmission. For those of you that have some experience driving standards, you basically still had to shift but you didn't need to hit the clutch. Instead at the appropriate intervals you pushed up on the shifter to gear up and back to gear down. It took a little getting used to as, out of habit, I kept trying to gear down when I was shifting into second, fourth and sixth gear (yes, it has six gears although not a true six gear transmission). Eventually, I resorted to the paddle shifters on the steering wheel which worked far better for me. It was an unusual car to drive as it's wheel base is so short. Fun little car. I think I would still prefer a Mini Cooper S given the option but it was interesting as I had always wondered how it handled. It also cost very little to fill it up. Just over $18 and Ian said it would last for about 400kms whereas the equivalent for the Porsche would be closer to $70.

We saw Ian's mom. It was nice to see her again. It's been a little while since I had seen her. Just as I remember her. Nice little Irish lady. We went for Dim Sum in Langley which was quite lovely and then I dropped off Ian at work. He encouraged me to drive a round a little while I had the opportunity but the only place I really went was to Save-on to get some groceries. I had some things to do today anyways after not getting anything done yesterday.

Reason to smile today: I've always really loved the Irish and Scottish accents so seeing Mrs. Burns today was really great.

Something I learned today: How to drive a clutchless manual transmission. Very interesting experience.

April 9, 2010

The dumps

Woke up late. Again.

I puttered around all day. Not particularly productive at all. I tried. I've been a little discouraged with the way the job search has been going lately and I've started to lose my momentum. Gotta stay positive and focused.

Went to the store at 4:30 to get dumpling stuff. Made dumplings for dinner which were incredibly well received. Afterwards, Lara and I rented movies. We watched Max Payne.

I wish I had more to write about today but I don't.

Something I learned today: Rogers stopped per second billing a long time ago

Reason to smile today: Dumplings?

April 8, 2010

Dogging it

Had trouble sleeping again last night. I gotta get on a regular sleep schedule. I was going to buckle down and get stuff done but the day seemed to just pass with nothing productive getting done. Ian pinged me to see what I was up to and I suddenly realized it was almost 11pm. Yeesh. What a day. Ian picked me up after he was done work and we hit Denny's. Nothing like Moons Over My Hammy after midnight.

There was a really loud cougar in the restaurant tonight. Looked like she had just gone out on the prowl with her friend. I think the best part of today was the new menu item at Denny's. Basket of Puppies. So very wrong on so many different levels...

Reason to smile today: Late night out with Ian

Something I learned today: an iPad will blend... with a little help (Seriously. That's about the extent of my knowledge today).

April 7, 2010

Rainy day, working day

It was raining today so it was just as well that I stayed in and worked. Spent most of the day hammering out the Oil Kings proposal. Putting this together was a lot more difficult than I expected. Ran into a glitch though. How the heck am I supposed to get this printed and bound? Hmmm... Maybe that zoo print place by Buzz.

Something I learned today: I need to go grocery shopping for more veg

Reason to smile today: more forward progress on another delayed project.