Bloggin it up: November 2005

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Matt's Aspirations

Someday I will play Guitar like a rock star.
Air Guitar that is.

Very cool project.

This guy looks like me too, go figure.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Heart and Crown

Awesome night,

Small group of us (Amanda, Joelle, James, Carrie, Philip, Phil's really drunk friend, Palmer, Vero and of course me. All crammed into the mosh pit that is also known as Heart and Crown.

The Band was AMAZING, Ten Mile House, Everything they played is on my iPod under "Top rated music".
- White Zombies - More human than human especially surprised me, with me thinking at first, " I know this song... what is it... OMG this is more human than human, AWESOME!!"
A small mosh pit started when they were playing "She F#$%ing hates me", followed by the dance floor sized mosh pit when they played "Killing in the name of".

I showed up fashionably late, 11:30ish, and found Vero already waiting in line to get in. Unfortunately the place was packed and we had to wait another 1/2 hour to get inside, Boooo. Worth the wait. Drunken Palmer spotted us just before we were about to be ushered inside, and gentlemanly came outside (without a coat) to wait with us.

We got inside and made a b-line to the back of the bar where everyone else was, seeing Palmer already inebriated, I tried desperately to catch up, but after 6 shot gunned vodka and cranberries, I gave up, and just enjoyed the band.

We almost lost a lot of things last night. Amanda's Sweater, Matt's work cell phone, Phil's drunken friend "Random German" (that is up visiting Ottawa, and doesn't really know Ottawa that well) Amanda found her sweater somewhere, after searching for the cell phone, I had already given up, when someone else spotted Vero helping to look, and said "Are you looking for a cell phone? My friend over there has it.". Thanks anonymous blond girl.

After everyone had all their belongings, we went to look for Phil's drunken friend, unfortunately, with no success. I hope he found his way back, but it didn't sound like he knew where Carries house was. Thinking of this, I called (right before I wrote this sentence) Carrie, Phil's Drunken friend had found a cab, and him and the cab driver eventually found their way to Carrie's house. Surprisingly they all showed up at Carrie's house at the same time, even with the +1/2 hour they spent looking for him... nice.

After getting a thick slice of gooey pizza, I ended up crashing at Vero's huge ass res room. With Vero and Palmer. Vero is in charge of the entire Thomas residence, so she gets the best res room in the building. Her own bathroom, kitchen, both off of the bedroom, and a living room, AND she gets PAID to live here. Nice, (Palmer I still think you should sell your house and move in with Vero, make sure you get paid for your 1/2 of the rent though.)

Palmer and Vero are up now I will write a little more later.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Parking Lot into work?

2 Hour drive to work today... at least I had my iPod, NASTY weather, they need to get the snow removal service up to full strength, that was horrible.

Slow Internet

Why is my internet connection so sloooooooooow....

I would be happy to hit a mere 1/10000 of this.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Poker with host, "Shannon (boy)"

Ah, Poker with the guys.

My second time playing Texas hold-em.
I drove Duncan to the party, who was not going to play, but was going to hang out. After forgetting to hit the ATM on the way, I figured I would just hit up a little xbox with Duncan.

But I ended up putting in an IOU $10 and grabed my share of poker chips.
The card game, along with the Maureens chip dip extrodinaire, Shannons beer, and my fictional bus ticket money, made for a great game.
I think I did pretty good, although I was the first one out.
Technically, James was the first one out.
James and Dave went all in on the FIRST HAND!!!

"Unlucky James" had to buy back his chips from Dave for the second hand.

After my humiliating walk of shame away from the table without any poker chips, I hit up Duncan for some "Super Monkey Ball" Bowling. It is interesting bowling with a floor that is doing the wave. But as we noticed "Super Monkey Ball" Bowling is only fun for a very short period of time, then people just get bored.

Then "Unlucky James" joined in the bowling for a few frames before we gave up on it.

"Unlucky James" disappeared shorly after, to be replaced by Maureen who came back from the Girls night out.

It was getting to be a little later in the night by then, and Palmer and Shannon were still battling it out for about 2000 or so chips. They were still raising 1 or 2 chips at a time when I came back in, I guess that is the way to win.

At the end a Dave ended up being "perma-dealer" and Ryan and Shannon started playing a little more un-conventionally, I think they just wanted to finish the game before 2:00.

"Lucky Shannon" ended up winning the pot at the end.

Thanks for organizing Shannon, IOU $10. :)

Friday, November 18, 2005

Too long between posts

I had grand plans of posting some cool description of Ducans peril at the Whiskey bar on Saturday.

But, it has been almost a week.
So I have decided to just post the cool "Duncan behind bars" pic.

Monday, November 14, 2005

NIN in MTL

Awesome Friday, took the day off from work to hit MTL early.

As it ended up, I was stuck in the morning, my parents were picking Jennie up at ~ 10-11PM, and Jennie needed a bathroom break before that.

This means I am going to be late to get to Palmer's for our 11:00 departure time. I talk to Palmer (was it MSN or the phone... ? I don't remember), he tells (luckily for me) that since we are bringing women along with us, that we will be delayed until noonish. Perfect.

At about this time I remember that I ordered that 1Gig SD card for my camera, so I would have plenty of space for pictures. I call up Nitro, and ask them if it has arrived yet (it was hitting them via UPS that day), unfortunately, nothing yet, but they promised to call me as soon as it got in. My hopes were suprisingly high that it would be there in time, despite the 1/2 hour left before I was supposed to hit Palmers.

So I keep looking for a bathroom helper, my brother was not available, my parents were willing to do it, but it was waaaay out of the way for them. Looking out the front window, I noticed my neighbor has both of his cars at home, I suspect that he and his wife must have taken Friday off too. Good Stuff.
So I call them on the phone and Paul gratiously agrees to give Jennie a bathroom break, and offers to walk her around the block as well, perfect..

So I finish getting ready only to realize (again) that I am going to be late, luckily it's only 10-15 min late not that bad.

As I pass by the queensway exit for Nitro I decide not to call them, if they haven't called, it probably isn't there yet. Oh well my 256M card will have to do. (Palmer lends me his 1G card when we get to his house, and I never use it)

I hit Palmer's a little late, parked behind his car, and walked up to the door.
*knock knock knock..... door bell....*
No one home... hmm, Palmer did mention Trish was picking him up... for some reason I assumed he would have his car with him... Trish must be driving.
I call Palmer's Cell phone, he tells me that they are just getting off the queensway, good timing.

After a LONG awaited tour of the Palmer residence. Palmer, Trish, Jennie and myself all pile into Palmer's car and head off to MTL.
The drive up was good, a couple of things to note.

- Some of David DeAngelo's views on women are funny, and up for debate.
- Palmer and myself getting a picture with the Hawkesbury sign

(this post is getting freaking long.... and we are not even in MTL yet.)

As we drive into MTL, I get a call on the cell phone... My memory card is in now. Oh well, it will have to wait until Monday.

We end up parking in Palmer's usual MTL parking lot and head off shopping around MTL.
Palmer decided to pick up a HUGE purple duck.
I got myself the brown pair of leather mittens from Simons from the picture.. I don't know where they are now hopefully in Palmer's car, or hiding somewhere around here somewhere.

Along the way 2 stores tell me "Pas de photo [something else in French]", so I turn the flash off, and make sure the rest of my photos in those two stores are inconspicuous.

As I am writing this I decide to take a look at Palmer's blog to see if he mentions the purple duck or not... I see Palmer has found my mittens...

We eat at a great smoked meat restaurant (I forget the name), and continue to shop.

I end up picking up a very cool looking strategy game, and a deck of "invisible" cards (I didn't name them), they are, unfortunately, just transparent.

At this time Palmer and myself are just about ready to head off to the NIN concert.
We call the girls and tell them we are taking off, and not to try and find us where we previously agreed to meet. And off we went. (hitting Palmer's car briefly to drop off our goods.)

We get into the NIN concert a little early to allow us enough time to drop off the camera if security has a problem with it. Luckily they don't care. They just say "blah blah your section might not like the flash" (Everyone was taking pictures)

The concert was AMAZING, although it did take awhile for the crowd to warm up. It wasn't until they played "hurt" (1/2 way through) that the crowd started getting really into the show.

I screamed out a few of the songs, I thought my voice was going to be hoarse after the concert (but it wasn't)

Palmer picked up an expensive NIN/MTL poster, for a souvenir, the first booth we went to did not have any, and was "100% convinced" that they were sold out of that poster through the whole stadium. Luckily the second place we went sold Palmer one of their many copies.

They had an amazing set, which was 1/2 of the show, A huge semi transparent screen was raised and lowered a few times during the show. It acted both as a projection screen, and to provide cool shadow effects when the band played behind it. And the light show was equally amazing.

After Palmer and myself took in the rest of the euphoric NIN concert, we headed back to the car. The show went a little later than expected, so we called the girls to see where they were, no answer.. so we waited in the car. The girls showed up 10-15 min later, as we were looking at the pictures I took from the concert, complaining about the horrible Antonio Banderas movie they saw (which also ran later than expected).

And we headed back home.

That was an awesome day Palmer, thanks for organizing.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Piano Lessons

Starting to get into playing actual music now, makes it much more fun.
Although trying to remember what keys to press, count the beats, and keep track of the music all at once gets a little complicated. Especially when I am asked to say the notes as I play them.
lol, I always lose track of the music first... "where was I in the song, I am pretty sure that this key is next, then this key" I need more practice, I think once playing sheet music gets to be a little closer to a second hand reaction, everything else will fall into place.

That aside.

Music:
Barnyard Dance - Mastered
Twinkle Twinkle little star - got it
Mary had a little lamb - got that one too
November rain - ....not so much

I need to buy or make some sort of sheet stand for the keyboard. It has holes to put the stand in, but it did not come with one.
Also it would be nice to have another monitor connected to my computer that is within visible distance from the keyboard. Hopefully by next week.

Luckily, Mel (Mel, just started her own blog) thinks that holding an xbox controller while Burnout - Revenge is on, is equivalent to legal tender. I think I over-paid,lol , man that game is fun. I think I will try and get Shannon hooked on it (hmm good date/bad date?, lol). This game is so fun, picture yourself playing the old super mario brothers (orig) and then mario getting run over by a old weathered (3D) 4x4, then the 4x4 exploding right after running over mario.... then the camera doing a fly by and telling you how much damage you caused to mario..... wow...
(this is probably funnier if you have played a burnout game before)

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

What is a good movie to watch on a date?

When you are picking a movie out for a date, picking a movie that you remember really liking is a good idea. A better idea is to also look at the name of the movie.

For example, Fight Club, if you just think about the movie itself, you probably remember really liking it.
But, then if you think of the name, it will get you thinking, hey wait a minute... do you think there are lot of graphic bloody fight scenes in that movie?

Note: reading too much Jack Handy might make your posts confusing.

Monday, November 07, 2005

The Scene

The Scene ep 14 is live...
The episode is good, not great, just good.
I recommend watching from the beginning.

M

Cottage

Spent a bit of time this weekend at the cottage.
As you see the place is really going up fast.

September they started pouring the foundation.
At the end of Sunday, we had most of the windows and outside doors in place.
The sun had gone completely down at 5:30 ish, which of course forced us to stop working.

I am quite impressed with how the house is turning out. The most interesting part is going to be when they finish the sod roof.... very cool.

Friday, November 04, 2005

Winter Challenge?

Looking for Ve(accent-e-gu)ro in the Winter Challenge (found her twice), made me think a winter challenge looks really cool, that sounds like fun up at the cottage.

On the drive home, I kept thinking up different things about a winter challenge that would be cool.

Here is what I came up with.

2 person teams at $10-$20 a team. Pays for supplies and prizes. Or more or less depending on what kind of prizes I want to hand out.
Winning or finishing a stunt earns points. Extra points awarded for random things like showing more skin for the challenge. (keeping in mind this is outdoors probably in February)

A race, Sac race? Relay race?
Some throwing game, furthest throw? Throwing something into or close to a target?
Euchre challenge?
Build the coolest snow sculpture challenge.
Other challenges?

Hmm, these of course are all just random thoughts in my head right now.
What do YOU think?

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Thoughts from the crazy mind of Matt

A couple days ago I realized that my posts are not very adhoc, so this is right off the top of my head.
No topic, all off the cuff, lets see how it looks.

This is the sh#$.

I am doing a few average things right now I am updating my work system, and listening to my iPod.
Nelly Furtado.
Nelly Furtado is awesome, her music kicks ass. (James music tastes from what I read are somewhat lacking)

I read James' blog, It talks about how Holly reads the blogs (James and Palmers blogs) but has the nerve to not post her opinion, so I wonder how many "lurkers" are watching my blog right now?!? STOP LURKING POST A COMMENT!!!
A "lurker" is, "Some who knows me, reads my blog, and never post a comment".

Hmmm what to write about now, all off the cuff eh?... , hmm my cubicle, My cubicle is great.
There are 5 computers all of which I can touch without moving my chair, my work/laptop beast is the only one that is on, typing this on it right now, 2 are 1U super servers, 1 OLD Loaner laptop, and of course Debbie (I just named her) a hand me down work station that I use as a foot rest.

My work laptop of course stays away from Microsoft in all its evils,t it runs Linux (Linux makes work, FUN), and who wants to plug and unplug 10 cables every time you come to work and go home? Right, no one. I use a docking station (port replicator actually) I have an extra monitor plugged into it, to give me twice the space and twice the hoopla.

I had a problem at first as to where do I hang stuff so...... I have a few hard drive magnets. I use them to hold up the on call schedule, and the phone list on some wooden (faux wood) doors, one magnet on each side holds nicely.

What cubicle is complete without a Dilbert comic? My comic of course is more funny in person. It has a guy (I have no idea what his name is), complaining that there is no correlation between his efforts and his rewards.
To show off my inner geek, I have my binary clock
Other random items include, my phone, stack of pens in a plastic thing, my wireless hands free phone.

If I take my chair and push is straight back really hard I will hit my head and chair on my CD tower, my CD tower has a whole slew of CD's too numerous to mention.
And the cubicle end all, the mini garbage can.

I think I have given you enough of a view into my cubicle for now.
(No more Nelly songs, who wants to type without Nelly)

Booya, success

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Careful what CDs you listen to on your PC

DRM gone too far? Be careful what Sony produced music CDs you play on your computer.

http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/10/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights.html
Wow...
(Link is pretty technical)

Post of Random thoughts

I told myself yesterday that I would write a post, right off the top of my head.
No chosen topic, all off the cuff, see how it looks.

This is it.

Right now I am updating my work system, listening to my iPod.
Nelly Furtado.
I like Nelly Furtado, she has a lot of good rhythm and variation in her music.

I just read James' blog, stating that Holly reads the blogs (at least James and Palmers), gets me wondering how many "lurkers" there are.
My definition of "lurker" is some who knows me that has never posted a comment.

And now I am drawing a blank, hmm let me describe my cubicle, I am sure it is different than most.
I have 5 computers all within arms reach, only one of them is on, 2 are 1 U servers that are not in use at the moment, 1 Loaner laptop, and a hand me down work station that I use as a foot rest. And of course my work laptop that I am on right now.

My work laptop runs Linux (much more efficient for work), and through the docking station I have 2 monitors plugged into it, to give me more work area.

I have a few hard drive magnets that I use to hold up the on call schedule, and the phone list on my wooden cubicle cabinet doors, one magnet on each side holds nicely, they are faux wood.

I have a Dilbert comic up, with a guy complaining that there is no correlation between his efforts and his rewards. I have my binary clock (which I never use), my phone, stack of pens in a plastic thing, my wireless hands free phone.

Behind me I have a CD tower with a whole bunch of install CD's, and my garbage can.

And you know what that is all for now.
(No more Nelly songs playing, must put on something else)

Update
Re-reading this post I have decided that tomorrow I will take this post, rewrite it, see if I can make it interesting without adding any new content. (I will leave the original)

Bloggin it up