Nice time-lapse sunrise from the "Paris of the Prairies" - my ol' stompin' grounds. A big shout out to Toon Town. Keep it real.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLWMQvGnToM&feature=related
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Latecomer Customers
So I work at a local grocery store as you may or may not know. And one thing I REALLY hate, one thing that REALLY bothers me, is when we have those late comer customers - who have had THE ENTIRE day to get their butts down to the store and do their shopping - show up at 1 minute to closing. They come on in to the store, - and no these aren't hard-working, blue collar types who just got off work and need a quart of milk and a loaf of bread - No. For those people I have sympathy. They're in, they're out. As I do when I go to a grocery store near closing.
But no, last night, we had two ladies decked out in their nice winter hats and scarves, golden earrings on. Two Haitian sisters or something. Anyways, they saunter on in, push their cart at a speed of a cm/hr. They pick up this package and put it down. Then this package and put it down. Then they pull apart my nicely, straightened counters. (For some reason customers are ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED that if they just keep digging - by George! they will find the perfect pack of chicken breast or butt roast. So they dig and rummage and dig and rummage. Then they stroll over to the fish counter, la di da di da, oh, Mr. Fish Man (they say to my colleague), how much does this weigh, how much would a pound be of this, etc. etc. They stand at his counter for 7 whole mins! Ladies! WE ARE CLOSED!!!! Get your shit and go home! We've been there for more than 9 hours already. We want to go home. Why couldn't you have come 6 hours ago when we had 8 guys on duty and we can bend to your every beck and call. Not at 10 minutes after closing, a day before christmas eve, when it's been busier than a snow plow guy in Ottawa in mid-December!
Argh. These people. To all of you out there, please do the friendly employees at your local grocery stores a favour - GET THE HELL OUT WHEN THE STORE IS CLOSED! ty.
Oh, and in good news, Dwayne De Rosario will be playing with Toronto FC next season. If he has a healthy season, he, along with Brennan (coach Carver should really play him up front more) could be pounding home the goals. I also see a spot for young Ibee Ibrahim up there too. Or even Dwayne and Ricketts. Whoa whoa whoa. And we can't forget Barrett. Power line: DeRo, Ricketts and Barrett. Wow. I see that line averaging a goal a game. I see TFC finishing third in the conference this year. Allez les rouges!
But no, last night, we had two ladies decked out in their nice winter hats and scarves, golden earrings on. Two Haitian sisters or something. Anyways, they saunter on in, push their cart at a speed of a cm/hr. They pick up this package and put it down. Then this package and put it down. Then they pull apart my nicely, straightened counters. (For some reason customers are ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED that if they just keep digging - by George! they will find the perfect pack of chicken breast or butt roast. So they dig and rummage and dig and rummage. Then they stroll over to the fish counter, la di da di da, oh, Mr. Fish Man (they say to my colleague), how much does this weigh, how much would a pound be of this, etc. etc. They stand at his counter for 7 whole mins! Ladies! WE ARE CLOSED!!!! Get your shit and go home! We've been there for more than 9 hours already. We want to go home. Why couldn't you have come 6 hours ago when we had 8 guys on duty and we can bend to your every beck and call. Not at 10 minutes after closing, a day before christmas eve, when it's been busier than a snow plow guy in Ottawa in mid-December!
Argh. These people. To all of you out there, please do the friendly employees at your local grocery stores a favour - GET THE HELL OUT WHEN THE STORE IS CLOSED! ty.
Oh, and in good news, Dwayne De Rosario will be playing with Toronto FC next season. If he has a healthy season, he, along with Brennan (coach Carver should really play him up front more) could be pounding home the goals. I also see a spot for young Ibee Ibrahim up there too. Or even Dwayne and Ricketts. Whoa whoa whoa. And we can't forget Barrett. Power line: DeRo, Ricketts and Barrett. Wow. I see that line averaging a goal a game. I see TFC finishing third in the conference this year. Allez les rouges!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Magic Trick Gone Horribly Wrong
Title says it all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWTaVjX9TR4&feature=related
update (09.01.2009): i just realized that it was somewhat irresponsible of me to not add a disclaimer to this posting. this video is graphic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWTaVjX9TR4&feature=related
update (09.01.2009): i just realized that it was somewhat irresponsible of me to not add a disclaimer to this posting. this video is graphic.
Eye Of The Needle Art
An amazing story out of England:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE5gdDcmo_4
An artist, a sculptor, who creates his works of art inside the eyes of needles. Not too bad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE5gdDcmo_4
An artist, a sculptor, who creates his works of art inside the eyes of needles. Not too bad.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Facing Life Head On
Something I've learned over the past few weeks is to face life head on. This means not putting off to tomorrow what can be accomplished today. For example, sometime in the next 3 weeks I have to call Civic Hospital and book an appt. with the anaesthaesist (is that how you spell that?). (This would be for my upcoming wisdom tooth extraction.) I don't really want to. Cause I don't really want to go through with the whole thing. Who wants to go under the knife, get put out, and wake up all doped up and peeing in potted plants as my girlfriend put it. (A family member apparently attempted to do this after coming out of general anasthesia, thinking he/she was in the bathroom).
Anyways. I realized I can't put stuff off. If you have that piece of paper work to fill out for some government loan or benefit or drug plan. Fill it out. Don't say tomorrow. If you have something to pick up, but it's snowy and cold outside and you want to do it tomorrow, no. Do it today. Of course within reason. Don't endanger your life. But I mean, 90 percent, if not 99 percent, of the trials and ordeals we face throughout our daily lives involve non-life threatening issues. Filling out paperwork, getting your hair done, this and that. So go do it.
Cause life can't be a bowl of cherries. And I know we all know this by a certain age. But we still strive for it. We turn on the computer cause we don't want to do our homework. We flip on the PS2 or the Wii cause that'll kill some time and we don't have to go to the gym. This and that, this and that. You can always put something off. But if you do what you have to do when it should be done, you will find yourself a lot further ahead. It's hard to take that first step.
Example, going to the dentist a few months ago. I hadn't been in nearly two years. I didn't want to go cause I was worried they'd find a cavity or have to do a filling and that my wisdom tooth poking through would need to come out. In fact I was right about all of it. I had to get a filling re-done (that drill sure vibrates your jaw!) and I have to get that wisdom tooth pulled - not just the one but all 4 now! But you know what, once all that's done. It's done. Then, presuming I don't chicken out at the last minute, when I get my wisdom teeth pulled at the end of February, it's done. So when I have my next dentist appt. in June, I go and my filling is done, my wisdom teeth are out, and there's not really a whole lot left they can price gouge me for. lol. nah, they mean well. there's not a whole lot left they can do for me.
So when you tackle the issues as they come at you, you win. It might sound cliche, but it's true. Do what you have to do today, not tomorrow.
As for myself, I have an anaesthesist appointment to make...
Anyways. I realized I can't put stuff off. If you have that piece of paper work to fill out for some government loan or benefit or drug plan. Fill it out. Don't say tomorrow. If you have something to pick up, but it's snowy and cold outside and you want to do it tomorrow, no. Do it today. Of course within reason. Don't endanger your life. But I mean, 90 percent, if not 99 percent, of the trials and ordeals we face throughout our daily lives involve non-life threatening issues. Filling out paperwork, getting your hair done, this and that. So go do it.
Cause life can't be a bowl of cherries. And I know we all know this by a certain age. But we still strive for it. We turn on the computer cause we don't want to do our homework. We flip on the PS2 or the Wii cause that'll kill some time and we don't have to go to the gym. This and that, this and that. You can always put something off. But if you do what you have to do when it should be done, you will find yourself a lot further ahead. It's hard to take that first step.
Example, going to the dentist a few months ago. I hadn't been in nearly two years. I didn't want to go cause I was worried they'd find a cavity or have to do a filling and that my wisdom tooth poking through would need to come out. In fact I was right about all of it. I had to get a filling re-done (that drill sure vibrates your jaw!) and I have to get that wisdom tooth pulled - not just the one but all 4 now! But you know what, once all that's done. It's done. Then, presuming I don't chicken out at the last minute, when I get my wisdom teeth pulled at the end of February, it's done. So when I have my next dentist appt. in June, I go and my filling is done, my wisdom teeth are out, and there's not really a whole lot left they can price gouge me for. lol. nah, they mean well. there's not a whole lot left they can do for me.
So when you tackle the issues as they come at you, you win. It might sound cliche, but it's true. Do what you have to do today, not tomorrow.
As for myself, I have an anaesthesist appointment to make...
Good Songs
Every once in awhile I like to do a posting on some good tunes. Too many people miss out on good music - one of those things that helps us get through life. I would easily place it in the top 5.
Here are some songs that have been influential to me over the past six months:
TUPAC - often thought of in some circles as a typical, gangster rapper, Tupac Amaru Shakur was actually VERY poetic and in many ways, not at all your typical African-American rapper. His songs deal with social issues: poverty, drugs, street life, single moms, broken homes, deadbeat dads, and race relations. Here are some songs that have sort of been relegated to dusty and forgotten shelves - good songs with a purpose and a message: (NOT gangster rap! not all about the "bling, booze, and bitches") YouTube these titles:
They Don't Give a Fuck About Us
Last Muthafucka Breathin'
As Soon As I Get Home
Dear Mama
Ghetto Gospel
Unconditional Love
My Block
Next up, so many people miss out on good, foreign music. French, Italian, Arabic - whatever. Myself, I love music from the middle east. Arabic, Persian, Turkish, North African. It's all amazing. Well, to be honest, some of it isn't any good, but the songs that are, are true gems. They make for AWESOME driving music or workout music or simply "lift-you-out-of-your-bad-mood" music. Check these titles on YouTube:
Rai NB Fever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4BIYTE6jEA
Rai NB Fever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEpWs4Clw-U&feature=related
And One Of My All-Time Favourites! (My girlfriend can attest to this as I listen to it over and over again in the car.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PS5PEPQwVyQ&feature=related
This song will pump you up!!!
Moving on (listening to it right now so im gonna type really fast and perhaps make some typos. bear with me.)
Other songs worthy of mention:
Nickelback: Gotta Be Somebody
Lights: Drive My Soul (she's Canadian)
The Killers: Mr. Brightside, Somebody Told Me (older, but still awesome)
Rocky Soundtrack: Going The Distance
And one of my new Top 10 faves: Thriving Ivory: Angels On The Moon
Enjoy. And listen to lots of music! It's good for ya.
Here are some songs that have been influential to me over the past six months:
TUPAC - often thought of in some circles as a typical, gangster rapper, Tupac Amaru Shakur was actually VERY poetic and in many ways, not at all your typical African-American rapper. His songs deal with social issues: poverty, drugs, street life, single moms, broken homes, deadbeat dads, and race relations. Here are some songs that have sort of been relegated to dusty and forgotten shelves - good songs with a purpose and a message: (NOT gangster rap! not all about the "bling, booze, and bitches") YouTube these titles:
They Don't Give a Fuck About Us
Last Muthafucka Breathin'
As Soon As I Get Home
Dear Mama
Ghetto Gospel
Unconditional Love
My Block
Next up, so many people miss out on good, foreign music. French, Italian, Arabic - whatever. Myself, I love music from the middle east. Arabic, Persian, Turkish, North African. It's all amazing. Well, to be honest, some of it isn't any good, but the songs that are, are true gems. They make for AWESOME driving music or workout music or simply "lift-you-out-of-your-bad-mood" music. Check these titles on YouTube:
Rai NB Fever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4BIYTE6jEA
Rai NB Fever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEpWs4Clw-U&feature=related
And One Of My All-Time Favourites! (My girlfriend can attest to this as I listen to it over and over again in the car.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PS5PEPQwVyQ&feature=related
This song will pump you up!!!
Moving on (listening to it right now so im gonna type really fast and perhaps make some typos. bear with me.)
Other songs worthy of mention:
Nickelback: Gotta Be Somebody
Lights: Drive My Soul (she's Canadian)
The Killers: Mr. Brightside, Somebody Told Me (older, but still awesome)
Rocky Soundtrack: Going The Distance
And one of my new Top 10 faves: Thriving Ivory: Angels On The Moon
Enjoy. And listen to lots of music! It's good for ya.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Wisdom Teeth Oh Wisdom Teeth
I've got 4 wisdom teeth. Guess that means I'm smart? Either that or a cash cow for oral surgeons in the Ottawa area.
I'm going under the knife in late February. Gonna get all 4 suckers taken out - in 45 minutes apparently. God speed doctor! I'm actually happy about this 45 minute time frame. Means minimal chances of jaws locking up, etc. I hope it's quick and easy. That it be painless, I can't wish for that. But I think I can take it. What with Advil Hercules Strengths and all - have they not patented those yet? : )
But yeah it'll be good. Since I'm a diabetic I'll be going into the hospital. But that also means that Ontario health pays for it. Not a bad thing.
I'm not looking forward to it, I don't think anyone ever looks forward to surgery. But if you look at the fact that you are on this Earth for up to 100 years, chances are something will go wrong at some point in that amazing body of yours. Colons, cataracts, ulcers, cysts, this and that. A little date with the scalpel never hurt anyone. Or did it? I don't want to hear the bad stories!
No doubt I'm a little anxious about going under general, but it's only for an hour or two. Also, the drugs they use in those anasthesias are apparently much less worrisome than they were 30, 40 years ago. Heck ol' Jean Chretien was put out for 4 hours when he got heart surgery a year or two ago.
I'd be more concerned for people from the Ottawa valley. Many residents in this neck of the woods (my girlfriend included) are suspected to be carrying a gene for Malignant Hyperthermia, MH. MH basically is some sort of immuno reaction to the anaesthetic. The body says, nope don't like this, and for some reason shuts itself down = death. This happened to a distant cousin of my girlfriend's back in '74. As for myself, unless my Quebecois ancestors from around Montreal mixed with the people from the Valley, I should be in the clear. It's a one in a million thing. And no, I'm not going to go on to Google and start reading about bad reactions to anaesthesia. I don't want to know.
I asked the surgeon at my consultation today. What did people do 100 years ago? They must have had wisdom teeth too? Well apparently "their jaws were bigger" - I don't really buy that, humans don't evolve that much in 100 years - that's only like 4 generations. He also said that alot of teeth back then would have simply rotted out and thus there was most likely room for the wisdom teeth. Who knows. All I know is I wish I had only had 2 of them. : )
Alright folks. More on this later. Take 'er easy. Hope your shopping is all done.
I'm going under the knife in late February. Gonna get all 4 suckers taken out - in 45 minutes apparently. God speed doctor! I'm actually happy about this 45 minute time frame. Means minimal chances of jaws locking up, etc. I hope it's quick and easy. That it be painless, I can't wish for that. But I think I can take it. What with Advil Hercules Strengths and all - have they not patented those yet? : )
But yeah it'll be good. Since I'm a diabetic I'll be going into the hospital. But that also means that Ontario health pays for it. Not a bad thing.
I'm not looking forward to it, I don't think anyone ever looks forward to surgery. But if you look at the fact that you are on this Earth for up to 100 years, chances are something will go wrong at some point in that amazing body of yours. Colons, cataracts, ulcers, cysts, this and that. A little date with the scalpel never hurt anyone. Or did it? I don't want to hear the bad stories!
No doubt I'm a little anxious about going under general, but it's only for an hour or two. Also, the drugs they use in those anasthesias are apparently much less worrisome than they were 30, 40 years ago. Heck ol' Jean Chretien was put out for 4 hours when he got heart surgery a year or two ago.
I'd be more concerned for people from the Ottawa valley. Many residents in this neck of the woods (my girlfriend included) are suspected to be carrying a gene for Malignant Hyperthermia, MH. MH basically is some sort of immuno reaction to the anaesthetic. The body says, nope don't like this, and for some reason shuts itself down = death. This happened to a distant cousin of my girlfriend's back in '74. As for myself, unless my Quebecois ancestors from around Montreal mixed with the people from the Valley, I should be in the clear. It's a one in a million thing. And no, I'm not going to go on to Google and start reading about bad reactions to anaesthesia. I don't want to know.
I asked the surgeon at my consultation today. What did people do 100 years ago? They must have had wisdom teeth too? Well apparently "their jaws were bigger" - I don't really buy that, humans don't evolve that much in 100 years - that's only like 4 generations. He also said that alot of teeth back then would have simply rotted out and thus there was most likely room for the wisdom teeth. Who knows. All I know is I wish I had only had 2 of them. : )
Alright folks. More on this later. Take 'er easy. Hope your shopping is all done.
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