Category: my ramblings

Anyone want two tickets to see the Stones tomorrow? We’re not going. I didn’t even realize when I bought them that the concert was in the middle of the week and going to be all friggin’ day.

Monday was by birthday. Yay me!

Dammit, I was thinking of an intelligent post this morning on the subway, it was all formed in my head, then I didn’t write it down. Grr.

Recently, I revamped the UNNA site with a tweaked look and new icons. I also got an idea for a super-secret project yesterday, hopefully I’ll be able to bring it out.

Oh yeah, now I remember what I was going to write about. They’ve finally ironed out the kerfuffle about what you can and cannot bring to the big Stones & Friends concert on Toronto on the 30th. According to Metro, it breaks down like this:

Bringables:

• snack foods
• special dietary foods
• non-alcoholic beverages in plastic sealed containers, maximum of two 500mL-sized containers, free water refils available onsite
• cellphones
• knapsacks and soft sided coolers
• beach towels
• cushions, sealed (no zippers)
• binoculars
• medications
• rain ponchos

Non-bringables:

• cameras of any type
• audio and video recorders
• chairs
• fireworks (duh)
• weapons including pocket knives
• alcoholic beverages
• cans and glass bottles
• camping or camping equipment (including sleeping bags)
• hard-sided coolers
• bicycles, skateboards, rollerblades, scooters

Note that phones are OK, but cameras are not. Phone-cameras? And cushions with no zippers is like nail clippers being confiscated on airplanes: it’s totally stupid.

Finally, after a few weeks of unmitigated fluff and crap, finally some good movies are coming out this week, movies that I will actually pay money for. Yay!

The other night I watched Terminator 2 for the first time. It was good.

Our kitten is coming along nicely, his name is now Felix and he is VERY hungry. As in 5am-waking-me-up-with-wailing-kitten-noises kind of thing. It’s fun! Yeah! Do you sense the sarcasm?

Yesterday we went to Pacific Mall in Markham, which is apparently the largest Chinese indoor mall in North America. It is quite a place to go, especially for an ignorant white man like me. I’d never been, as it was built while I was in Guelph doing my degree. There is a ton of stuff there, but it got somewhat repetitive after a little while. Sandy and I spotted some cool NBX wallets and stuff in the first gift store we went into, but I soon realized that virtually every gift-like store had this stuff. The food stores, on the other hand… we blew probably too much money on candy and the like. I bought a huge container of those pre-packaged jellies for $7.99. I also tried a can of Pocari Sweat, which I have been wanting to try ever since I read about tokimi’s trip to japan. It’s… interesting stuff. Also tried some real iced tea that had lychee juice added, it was excellent. If they sold that in convenience stores I’d drink it every day.

I swear I’ve wrote an entry with that title before…

HMV doesn’t have the new Guster album yet. HMV won’t have it until July 15. Amazon.ca does have it, and will send it to me for $18.86. Hrm.

Good: the Concert for Toronto. Except that SkyDome SUCKS for concerts. It was like having a concert in an oil drum.

Bad: misato got 0wned by some script kiddies. Rebuild time. Bastards.

Guess who just gave me a call? My car insurance broker. He had good news: because Sandy and I are carrying our apartment insurance on the same company as our car insurance, I save 5% on my car insurance renewal. I already knew that, thanks Scott. He also had other news: our premium is up around $1000 from last year, when we lived in Guelph. Guelph is way cheaper for car insurance than Toronto, but rates have been going up in Ontario like nuts. It will cost around $2200 to insure Sandy on our car (1997 Chevy Cavalier, 2dr, 145000km), and I get covered for free because we live together but are not yet married. I don’t want to know what it would be like if I was the primary, as males under 25 get screwed on car insurance, no matter what you drive.

Anyways, summer is finally settling in, so last night my dad came over and help install an air conditioner in our bedroom. I am glad that our electricity is included in the rent…

Sandy has a job interview today, for a position at a summer camp involved in the Toronto First Duty Project.

Uhm… I think that’s all for now. Car insurance sucks. Yeah.

Yesterday was Sandy’s convocation ceremony! It was great and brought back memories of my own convocation last October. Her mom, dad, Meem, and friend Laura came out as well. The ceremony was like all other convocation ceremonies: long and sometimes boring 🙂 I was waiting for her as soon as she got off the stage though, and I’ll never forget the smile on her face.

We recently got a tropical fish tank. Rest assured, this was prior to the release of Finding Nemo, so we’re not riding any kind of trend here. Heck no. What happened was I expressed some interest in getting some fish. Sandy said “Hey! I’ve got an old fish tank at my parent’s place, I’ll bring it home!” Said fish tank turned out to be very old and very small, and in need of a new light fixture. It did have a brand-new filter though. After some trips to PetSmart and talks with pet store employees and buying the wrong lid and light for the old tank, we (well, I, and we) just bit the bullet and bought a new 15 gallon tank and heater. After being very overzealous getting started, and one complete water change later (complete with one of our cats jumping in a half-full tank full of dirty fish water, gee that was fun), the tank has become fairly stable and is staying clean on its own. I’ve learned that there’s lots of information about tropical fish out there and a lot of it is made up or whatnot. A great site I found is AquariumFish. They take the time to explain things in a direct and simple manner that I can understand. A lot of other sites I found didn’t do this. Caring for tropical fish (NOT Goldfish) can be simple and complex at the same time. Simple when things are going good, complex when they’re not 🙂

I should take some photos and post them here soon. I have tons of photos to post actually…

I have a new job. I’m working at Maptuit in the support group. Hey, it’s a steady job – actually my first full-time job yet.

Now, on the other hand RBC has totally fucked up my last pay, and now I have to wait for the next payroll cycle for them to adjust it properly again. Who the hell says the have the right to go into my bank account and take out money anyways? I already don’t want to go back there.

I spent the past two weeks helping out Grant to move a bunch of websites from three servers onto one new one. Unfortunately, on the weekend he tore a tendon in his leg and will be out of commission for a while… but I kinda need the money he owes me! Well, I’ll have to call him and see what’s going on. Because of all of this SARS crap they’re severely restricting visitors to the hospital he’s in.

On the lighter side… we went and saw Finding Nemo last night. It was good, damn good. There was a lot of water, which meant a much simpler physics model for Pixar to deal with, except for some moments and jokes where it was suspended, eg. baby turtles sliding down a big sea turtle’s back as if it was a playground slide. But then again, this movie has fish with human-like faces (well, at least eyes). Overall it was excellent.