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Wow, amazing how that ‘next day’ really ended up being more like over a week. I know it’s my blahg, and the lot (okay very few) out there are probably wondering if I fell off the face of the earth, probably in applause, but I digress. I really think I should just lobby to have about 12 more hours added to each calendar day.

More or less, this is the feeling I’ve had in the last little while: I have been put on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now, I am so far behind, that I will never die. (Hat tip Bill Watterson).

Still, thanks to Ben, I may have the opportunity (we’ll see as the post goes on) to say something reasonably worthwhile. MAYBE. But again, we’ll see as the post progresses. As such, Ben has tagged me with a meh-me in which to reveal 7 [more as I've done a lot of these] random facts about myself, then tag others. As such, here we go:

1. The first live music act I saw live was Duran Duran, in 1983, in [sic] Make Me Laugh Gardens in Toronto. That night this was shot:

Yes, as a youngster, Duran Duran was my favourite band (excuse me whilst I run and hide). Even in grades six and seven, when Seven and the Ragged Tiger was big on the charts, I was in a class who favoured a majority of Van Halen, Twisted Sister, Motley Crue and Iron Maiden over ‘New Wave’. This just happens to be yet one more example of how I was persecuted by my peers as a child.

Two years later, in music classes in high school, New Wave took a backseat to The Beatles and Pink Floyd. The Beatles soon led to my lifelong love affair with Liverpool FC, and Pink Floyd opened my mind to all the music that stretched well beyond the mainstream.

Though all these bands hold special places in my heart, none take the place of Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine, and System of a Down. If CFOX were ever to go to a nothing but Nails, Rage, and SOAD format, I could live without hearing anything else on the radio. Ever.

2. I’m a really bad alumnus film student. I barely watch films in the theatres these days. Dark Knight was the last I saw at the cinema, and it could be the last until the release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and Watchmen before I see another. There are a three factors that are involved with this factum, which can be assessed thusly:

A. I’m trying to save for Dawn and my wedding. We’ve gotta pay for it ourselves (which right sucks ass, considering the cost of things these days). As such, it’s becoming way cheaper to by pre-viewed DVD’s of movies we want to see. And speaking of DVD’s, I’m SOOOOOO seething to get Battlestar Galactica season 4.0. And the webisodes.

B. Item A notwithstanding, there is a lot of shit out in the theatres these days. LOTS. And for Dawn and I to go watch this shit, it’s going to run at least $25 for the pair of us. Ugghhh. No, I don’t want to see a remake of some classic film, recast with Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton. Fuck me, how does Paris Hilton get movie roles? She can barely string three words together in one breath, let alone have the three make any logical, progressive sense.

I’m dreading when classics like Casablanca and Citizen Kane finally endure the modern day makeover.

C. Dawn and my tastes in film are fairly different. We can barely agree on anything shy of Harry Potter. Though I’m still convinced she’s a closet Battlestar fan myself.

3. I collect a lot. Really, a lot of junk. Dragons, Bobbleheads, Action Figures, Hockey Cards and Collectibles, and so on, and such. I’ve got three shelves above my desk loaded with it, and I need more storage space.

The only flaw with the current system is that Adina, our little, evil, Russian Blue cat, loves climbing up on it and continually knocks things off. Git.

4. I’m planning on entering the BC Poker Championships next year. Most days now I spend a few hours on Full Tilt Poker.net. Though it does sharpen your skills, not playing for real money can get really frustrating as your opponents become more megalomaniacal (as per Phil Hellmuth) then ever, and I think I need to sit at a few real money games before next November to balance it out.

5. This is nothing new or original for me, but I have absolutely zero tolerance for stupid people. Zero. It does explain why I can’t stand the ‘leadership’ at work precisely, but my real beef these days is this. Around Vancouver, it seems the stupider you are, the more disposable income you get. It’s reverse Darwinism at it’s finest. Survival of the weakest. As such, most of my free time is spent finding ways to use my intelligence to make a business of my vast wealth of knowledge, skill, and abilities as opposed to working for the lobotomized.

6. I really am an insufferable know it all. If he ever gets another blahg, just ask my lifelong buddy Todd. I hate being wrong, hate mistakes, hate correcting other people’s problems just as well as my own. Gah. Imperfection is the one human quality that I just cannot come to grips with, even though I admit there is a reason erasers are put on pencils.

7. I almost always wear a baseball cap. My entire life is one bad hair day. Luckily, at work, a cap is actually part of the uniform, so I’m lucky in the sense that professionally, I’m covered. Though on the rare occasion we go out for something nice, I have to remember if I have some goop of some form for my hair. Though this leads to problem number two. I like the stylishly messy look when we go out, where as the other half likes me looking ’smart’. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t like looking like a Norman Rockwell propaganda painting all that much.

As for tagging people, I don’t have many, but I will tag Dawn , MCF, and Peter.

Interdum vos ut volvo ferrus six.

Crossroads, Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden, Mentally checking out of work BEFORE you get a new job, and other illusions which appear to be fact.

Jeff O’Neil. Captain Scotty. Charis. Please get the fuck back on the air. I didn’t mind Neil Morrison filling in for you (for those from Toronto, the former Brother Bill), and the first couple of days of ‘The Worst of the Jeff O’Neil Show’ was bearable. No longer. I’ve now regressed. I did listen to the Team 1040 in the afternoons (Pratt and Taylor actually have a good show, so it’s not that bad). However, in the morning slot, the fare is not so appealing at times. Yup, we get Jim Rome.

My first glimpse of this ‘man’ was amusing. It was the Chris Everett remark made to the Jim quarterback of the same surname. Amusing for a moment, and that was it. But he has a radio show for himself? What the deuce? Now fair enough, I like sci-fi, and as such I would probably appear to him as ‘clown’ who dresses up to go to a Comic-con. I also like football. As in the variety that most North Americans would misname soccer. Someone so narrow minded and obviously shallow doesn’t deserve my attention. Until today. Pity about how thin this ‘worst of’ CFOX is spitting out is becoming. It’s worn out it’s welcome.

One good thing about Rome today. Big hit on Golf Guy. You know him. We all know him. He has a glove in his back pocket 24/7. He reads Golf Digest, but can’t break 100 without the repeated use of the foot wedge. Essentially, this person had no interest in golf, let alone sports until he got a hard-on for Tiger Woods, or realized it was an easy way out of the office early once per week. I always looked at golf one of two ways. You were either good, as in real good. My uncle, par example. CPGA professional. Otherwise, you’re like me and my old man. It’s an excuse to drink. We like to golf. We’re just not fakers. It doesn’t consume us.

Personally though, I’d rather ski. Golf’s lost it’s flavour for me. It was more a thing my dad and my grandparents did with me. That’s lost. But skiing kicks ass for me just as much today as it did twenty, even thirty years ago. A mate at work would rather golf because you can all year long here in Vancouver, but I’d still rather just ski 4 or 5 months a year. Especially if I live in the interior. And that possibility may become a reality, depending on how the new job prospect pans out. I want to say I have it, as I’ve never felt so sure about a job in quite some time, and it might be dangerous now that I’ve mentally just given up on caring about my current post.

I guess it could be worse though. I could live at Hastings and Main. I could be convinced that my current employer is looking out for my interests. I could actually think I’m making a decent wage. Or worst, I could think that I don’t deserve better. Sad thing is, some people I know at work do.

Pity.

Interdum vos ut volvo ferrus six.

How the electrical setup of my car put a puppet in management

You know, I did have a good vibe going into this week after posting that lovely photo on Sunday. In retrospect though, I wonder if anyone other than Dawn looked at it. Still, to my delight sheer horror, Monday morning my car wouldn’t start. Battery. But not just that. Positive electrode was eroded to the point it crumbled when I removed it. So, close to $200 in associated costs, and my car lives once more.

But it did take a physical toll. Transit to and from “work” is not entirely friendly. The SkyTrain gets me close, but no buses run close to “work”. As such, a shitty delightful 20 minute walk is required, at six something AM to “work”, and the same walk, this time uphill, after a physically punishing day. Needless to say, I’ve barely had the energy to sit behind my G4 to check and reply to emails, let alone blather on about the bollocks that is my life.

Though the commute gives me more time to listen to my not heavily used iPod, I do miss the first hour of Jeff O’Neil. Well, okay, Charis and Scotty, as they carry O’Neil’s overweight ass. Follow the previous link, click on Audio, and pull up WE BROUGHT NHL SMACK… ALL SEASON LONG just to get a taste of what I really like about the show. It’s a shame they didn’t have the best smack of all season on it (Ombudsben will get a kick out of this):

“Welcome to Minnesota. Home of the Wild, and home to 10,000 lakes, and 10,000 prostitutes. Most of whom are female. Right Wild coach Jacques Lemaire?”

You get the idea. I know, the ‘Nucks didn’t even make the dance, but alas, my East favourites, and original hometown Habs showed some grit tonight coming back to beat the Broad Street Bullies 4-3 in OT. Canada is definitely not out yet. And the Leafs continue to golf, and will they be retarded enough to wait another year before overpaying for Burke?

CFOX though, outside of the O’Neil show, has but two bright spots. Lana’s Indie Night in Canada and Neil Morrison’s Nineties at Noon definitely bring life to an over-produced, corporate, and bland view of Rock in the new millenium. As such, the afternoons are now progressing to sports radio to save me the headache of Billy No-Talent or Nickleback. [Watch me shudder at the thought] Which brings me to my ultimate point.

Nonis is out, and Mike Gillis is in. Fuck me running, it’s all I’ve heard all week long. It’s a mixed feel for any playoff games. With the Giants also out, hockey seems to have died. Maybe that’s a benefit of being an ex-patriot of Montreal, coupled with the Habs finally having a season we expect of them. Hockey’s still on the brain. But here, it’s next season, what’s Gillis going to do, should we re-sign Naslund, who should we trade, free agents… what will Gillis do.

About Mike, I do have two things to say. First, he gave a good press conference. Unlike many in this day, he didn’t hold back. He laid it out. The ‘Nucks need serious change, and they want to build around Luongo. DUH! Shame Nonis didn’t see the first part of that. Hey, maybe he’ll get hired by Burke if he signs in Toronto, so the two can be haunted by the ghost of Harold Ballard. And he had the bollocks to point out areas, most notably scouting and development, that needs a major overhaul. Good on you.

Secondly, and this is to the vast majority of gits in the Vancouver area who act like they know something about hockey but never laced up and can barely count past four,

IT WAS JUST A PRESS CONFERENCE. We won’t know what kind of GM Gillis will be for a couple of years yet.

Yes, the Vancouver faithful are already judging the inexperienced man on just a few words. Vancouver has been through rebuilds before. If history has taught us anything, we need to wait a few years to see if this new team that will develop will be a serious contender.

For me, I just hope that Gillis isn’t a puppet (I’ve seen a lot of that at “work”, and the smell reeks from GM Place to my home of the same), a figure to allow Aquilini to be the George Steinbrenner [of old] for Western Canadian hockey.

But only time will tell.

Interdum vos ut volvo ferreus six.

P.S. Help grow the population of my city, New Delphi.

We need a Winter Holy Day

Winter, simply put, is a quite dismal season. Even for us ‘winter types’, who enjoy curling, hockey and skiing, I still hate driving and dealing with the miserable weather day in and day out for four or so months. And the real kicker of the whole thing is this: no statuatory holidays. From May to December, every month has one. Victoria Day. Canada Day (though on the cusp of June and July). BC Day. Labour Day. Thanksgiving. Rememberance Day. And last but not least, the Pagan festival of Saturnalia, paying tribute to the birth of the Sun God, Sol Invictus. Or if you believe that in that whole Christ fairytale, Christmas. But our harshest months have no paid holidays (except for your vacation time if you take it… and I am).

So what can we do? In other provinces, such as Onterrible, they have recently invented ‘Family Day’ as a paid holiday. Fair enough. But being in BC, without said holiday, I’m far from impressed. And it really just doesn’t strike a chord with me. I’ve heard suggestions for Valentine’s Day, but that’s more work for the guys than their job. So it’s out.

CFOX got a proclamation from City Hall declaring 14 March Steak and BJ Day. Still not a paid holiday, but rather karma for the guys.

Which leaves only one solution. Today. St. Patrick’s Day. I do love Guiness’s Propostion 3-17 to get it as an internationally recognized holiday. Though I’d like to ammend it slightly. Give us the 18th off as well. My liver and head need serious recovery time.

I need to drink heavily now. That is all.