Saturday, April 30, 2005

The Guide

The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy opened yesterday. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm looking forward to it. (I had briefly hoped that I'd get to see it tonight, but we ended up babysitting at the last minute, so those plans are out.)

But I'm also a bit trepidatious about it. I don't know if it's going to be any good or not.

I'll have to post a review once I've seen it, I guess, and analyze it to death.

P.D. James

I'm reading a novel by P.D. James right now, Death in Holy Orders. And there are two things I notice about this book.

First of all, James is an over-writer. This book is so overwritten, you can never just lose yourself in the story; you're constantly being reminded "I'm reading something that was written by a writer".

This is one reason that I think Stephen King is so underrated - he might write books about vampires and aliens and stuff, but the books are written with realistic characters, and his writing never gets in the way of your reading. I can easily lose myself in a King novel, regardless of what ridiculous plot it has.

The other thing I'm noticing in this James novel, which has nothing to do with her and everything to do with the book publisher, is that they messed up when they printed it, and there are a bunch of unnecessarily hyphenated words - as if they used to be split across two lines, but then they changed the formatting of the book halfway through, and somehow forgot to unhyphenate them. I don't know what technology Random House (the publisher) used for this book, but it really surprises me that this happened.

Stuff like this:

Dalgliesh said, "I'd like to keep this diary, if I may. Father Sebas-tian may be right, it could be totally without significance, but it's an interesting document if one is considering the circumstances of Ronald Treeve's death."

Everywhere else in the book, that name "Sebastian" is spelled without the hyphen, but then for one instance it will inexplicably have one.

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Now THAT is what a conference call SHOULD be like!

I'm home sick today, but I had a conference call that I had to go to, so I went. And it was great!

Here's how it went down:

  • 2:57: called the bridge number.
  • 3:05: The call started.
  • 3:05-3:07: We waited for everyone else to log on.
  • 3:07-3:10: Small talk, about other projects we're involved in.
  • 3:11: Business.
  • 3:12: Call is over, we all log off.

Why can't all conference calls be that quick and painless?

Friday, April 22, 2005

Smell

There's a weird smell in the cubicle where I'm working, like rotting food. And I've looked and looked, and can't find anything that might be causing it.

So now I'm starting to worry that I smell like rotting food. Which would make a very bad impression on my client, not to mention my coworkers.

So I hope it's not me.

Incidentally, I had to spell-check this post, simply because it includes the word "weird", and I can never remember if that word is supposed to be spelled w-e-i-r-d or w-i-e-r-d.

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Novel

Took a look through my "thriller" novel again. It's not looking too bad.

I don't, however, feel like writing right now, so I didn't add anything to it.

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

My head, my aching head...

I get headaches all the time, these days, and I'm wondering if it's related to stress. There are certain projects I'm on at work that are really getting stressful, and I found the other day that every time I would think about a particular project, a headache would form. (A pretty strong indicator, I think, that the headache is related.)

On a brighter note, I created a cartoon this weekend (and finished Monday) that I find absolutely hilarious, so every time I think about that, it makes me much happier.

(My wife didn't find it nearly as funny as I did. That's probably not a good sign... I guess I won't be submitting it for any prestigious cartoon awards.)

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Been a long time...

It's been quite a while since I posted anything here, mostly because I have been so busy this week. I just haven't had time to take a few minutes to myself, so even if I had something to post, I couldn't have done it.

Not that I normally have anything to say anyway...

But I did create a cartoon, the other day. (Well, it's not done, yet, but it's most of the way there.) Personally, I find it absolutely frigging hilarious, but that's just me. Who knows if anyone else will find it half as funny as I do. (I know they won't find it as funny as I do, but if they find it half as funny, that will do.)

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

What a lot of links!

The elitism post I just wrote had a ton of links. Frankly, it took me longer to put the links in than it took me to write the darned thing...

Sometimes I don't know why I bother.

Elitism bores me

It sometimes amazes me when I see the lengths to which people will go to try and feel superior to other people. It's not just the usual "I'm rich, and therefore better than you poor people", or "I'm poor, and therefore not as snobby as you rich people" thing that I'm referring to - people will use anything as an excuse to feel "elite".

For instance, is there a blog you tend to visit a lot, that allows comments? Take a look through them sometime, and I bet you'll notice that the regular posters tend to feel a bit superior to the newbies. (This is a more modern version of something that has always existed on Usenet and mailing lists.) To be sure, there is a certain amount of legitimacy when correcting and/or chastising someone for just jumping into a culture without knowing anything about it, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the smug feeling of superiority that people sometimes get, just because "I've been [reading|posting to] this [blog|website|mailing list|chat room|whatever] for X months, and you've only been here for a couple of days, so therefore I'm better than you".

I see it all over the place. People feel superior to other people because they drive better cars, because they dress better, because they listen to better music... blah blah blah. And it bores me. Why should I feel a need to prove myself to you, and substantiate your feelings of superiority? Well... actually, I don't feel a need to prove superiority, so you can keep on believing whatever you want. If you want to feel superior because you have a computer that's X% faster than mine, even though I'm a geek, feel free.

(Luckily, I don't feel superior to the people that feel superior to me. That would be a bit too meta for my liking...)

It's sad how Christians will fall into this, as well. Even though we're saved by grace, and not by anything we do, Christians will sometimes feel superior to non-Christians. This is a slap in the face to God for everything He has done for us.

Incidentally, this post sounds a lot more vitriolic than it was intended to. Aside from the Christian aspect, I don't really have strong feelings on the subject one way or the other...

Monday, April 11, 2005

Weird coincidence

I got to work this morning just behind some other woman, and had to stand behind her all the way up the escalator, because she's one of those people who doesn't walk up the escalator, she just stands there and enjoys the ride.

But the weird coincidence part came in when I left work today - at the exact same time as the same woman, and had to follow her down the escalator again.

Life is strange, sometimes.

My book

Well, I finally worked up the courage to look at the comments my pastor gave me, for my book (the Christian one), and it's not that bad. A lot of it is cosmetic stuff, and some is a matter that I consider preference, when it comes to grammar (although if I ever actually try to publish the thing, they may tell me that he's right and I'm wrong and make me change it anyway). Almost everything that he suggested, in terms of content, I completely agree with. (I say "almost", but I can't remember anything he suggested that I didn't agree with. I just like to play it safe, with these types of comments... hehe)

That's the funny thing about editing. A lot of times, I'll go through all of the suggested changes the first time, and I'll feel awful, because it seems like they're really tearing me down, but by the time I go through it again, it's not as bad, and I'm in a better frame of mind to see when they're really making a valid point.

All that being said, of course, I still won't write another technical book. Technical editors take too much glee in the editing process, and turn things into an "I'm right you're wrong" situation.

pron

I just realized that the pron in the store in the lobby is worse than I thought; they actually have real pron there too, up at the top of the magazine rack. I didn't notice before, because I've managed to train my eyes not to look up at the top levels of magazine racks, for fear of being mentally dubbed a pervert by other patrons of the stores that I frequent.

They also have Playboy playing cards; I mean really, who actually buys Playboy playing cards? Let's forget about the morality aspect of it, and pretend that playing cards with naked chix on them are not in any way contributing to the enslavement of wimmins. Let's forget that I work in an office building, and there could not possibly be any way you could use those playing cards at work. Even with all of that, I still have an issue with nudie playing cards: What kind of a loser do you have to be to buy Playboy playing cards?!? Who is going to see you with a pack of playing cards with the Playboy bunny on them, and think to themselves "Wow, there's a guy who's got it all together! Anyone who needs to look at naked pictures of wimmins while he plays cards is alright in my books!"

But apparently they're big sellers, because there are two racks of the things.

What a society we live in...

Friday, April 08, 2005

I'm not as young as I think

Every once in a while I forget how old I am. (Probably because I'm immature for my age.) I'm 30, but I don't feel 30. If I had to put a figure on it, I'd say I feel like a college student, in my low 20's.

This gets exacerbated because a lot of the people I speak to online on MSN are in that exact age group. So they're talking to me about finishing exams, and going out partying after class, and I'm right there with them, I'm on the same wavelength, and I find myself about to say something like "Tell me about it! I hate it when I was out late the night before, and have an early class, and..." and then I bring myself up short, and think "What the heck are you talking about?!? You're not in college, idiot! You're 30!"

But it's not just the people I chat with. It's also my [online] reading material. It's one thing to read Torontoist in my spare time, since I live in Toronto, but why would I even bother reading the He Said She Said column? What in heck does that have to do with my life? Not to mention the blogs that I sometimes read, most of which seem to be written by college-aged people as well. (You'd think adults with jobs have something better to do than blog or something...)

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Comments (revisited)

Well, it's not exactly what I thought it would be, but I've managed to change the way that comments happen on the blog, based on the Blogger help site.

I was hoping to adjust the formatting of the comments in the popup window, but I guess showing and hiding them right here on the page is good enough.

My wife crippled me

How's that for a misleading title?

My left ear doesn't work very well anymore, but my right ear does. I think it's because I spent so much time on the phone with my wife, before we got married. When I talk on the phone I always keep the phone on my left ear, because it's more comfortable for me that way, but I think I wore it out.

But after a while of us talking on the phone all the time, it became apparent to me that the conversations were getting quieter and quieter. The real jolt came when I switched the phone to the other ear one day, and realized that it sounded so loud.

Don't get me wrong; I don't regret all that time we spent on the phone. I'd gladly give up my hearing to spend more time with her, even if it's only on the phone.

I don't talk on the phone that much anymore, but when I do, I almost always have to use my right ear, because I can't hear well enough with my left ear anymore. (Even though I still find it more comfortable to hold the phone there.)

Now, there may be some naysayers out there, who claim that I would have gone deaf anyway, and I shouldn't blame it on my poor wife. Who, after all, just wanted to spend some time with me, and get to know me, and who can fault her for that? And to those naysayers, I say this: Oh be quiet! You and your logic, and your rational thinking, and your ability to use your brain for reasonable discourse! Pfft!

I won't even talk about my eyes; I'll save that for another post. (Mostly because I can't even remotely blame my blindness on my wife, so it doesn't fit in with the topic of this post. Unless I can somehow claim that I went blind from gazing on her beauty... Hmm...)

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Wainscotting

I was watching TV just now, and I heard them mention the word "wainscotting", and all I could think of was "We've been mentioned on telly!"

How's that for a reference that few people in the world will get.

I'm such a nerd/loser.

Home Movies

My wife introduced me to a cartoon called Home Movies. If you get a chance, check it out. (It's on Teletoon.)

Not every episode is stellar, but I love the show. I think half the reason I like it is that a lot of the script seems spur-of-the-moment - especially at the ends of the scenes, it sometimes seems like the actors are just going on and on, making each other laugh.

The other reason I like it is that every show is different. I mean, sure, the same characters are in every show and all that, but the plots are all over the place. You never know what you're going to get. This isn't the first show my wife has introduced me to; she also got me into Powerpuff Girls (which I don't watch anymore). But she didn't get me into Spongebob or The Daily Show - it was just a coincidence that we both liked those ones.

(I kind of hope Jon Stewart never ends up reading this blog; he might end up with a complex. "This is my demographic?!? People who also watch Spongebob, Powerpuff Girls, and Home Movies?!?")

Comments

Okay, so here's the deal.

My friend Kathryn visited my blog, and left a comment. "Aha!" I thought - I now have comments on my blog, and I can edit the template to make the comments look more consistent with the rest of the blog.

Unfortunately, I don't know if I can. I tried, and so far, I can't edit the look and feel of comments in the pop-up comment window.

Darnit.

But I'll keep trying, because I'm stubborn, and that's what I do.

My hair

I think my hair is [finally] starting to thin. My wife doesn't seem to agree, but it feels thinner to me.

Unfortunately, even if it wasn't thinning before, it will be now, because I keep obsessively running my fingers through it, because I think it's thinning.

Edge 102

I used to listen to Edge 102. They play music that I like, and they used to have a good variety. (I've even heard house, on occasion.)

Unfortunately, I had to stop, because their playlist is only about 12 songs long. Once you've listened for a half hour - contratulations! You've listened to every single song that Edge plays.

So, I don't listen to them anymore.

Tandoori shrimp

Public service message:

If you ever get the idea to try and make tandoori shrimp, using President's Choice Memories of Kashmir tandoori sauce, don't use pre-cooked shrimp from a shrimp ring. It will come out rubbery, because it's already cooked.

Sunday, April 03, 2005

I post a lot of short entries

And you should be thankful for that. If I didn't, you could be sitting there reading a whole lot of boring crap.

Survivor

I've taken to reading blogs lately, which is partly why I'm writing one of my own. And you know what I've noticed? A lot of people are writing about Survivor.

Morons.

But don't blame TV; it's not TV's fault. If there weren't fools around who wanted to watch that crap, they wouldn't put it on.

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Life is good

It's Saturday night. My wife is upstairs practicing the piano (on a crappy keyboard), and I'm in front of the TV, typing on a laptop computer through a wireless network connection.

I slept in until 11:30 this morning, and I'm probably going to bed earlyish tonight too.

The Simpsons is on TV right now, although that's not such a big deal, because the Simpsons is always on TV. But this is a good episode, that I haven't seen that often.

I had a great supper tonight, from which my stomach is still full. And I might have some dessert, too which will be pretty good.

All in all, my life is very good. The LORD has been very good to me, and I'm grateful to Him for that.

Friday, April 01, 2005

Damn this feeble memory!

There was something good I wanted to write about, and on the drive in to work I forgot what it was.