New Year's Eve a little early in my house

This morning my dad went out to visit the printer who looks after his magazine and was supposed to go out for lunch with him like they often do around the holidays. The printer had a couple other buddies over and I guess they were just chilling out and having a good time so the 4 of them got into the drink. It was quite amusing cause when my dad got home, he was clearly a little loopy. He seemed to be coherent of everything but was just acting very funny. He dropped his glasses a couple of times. While I was driving with him, he thought his seatbelt wasn't on even though it was. He was giggling and laughing a lot. He is now taking a nap (has been sleeping for a few hours). We've got some company coming over tonight for new years and he has to be in "entertaining" mode... I must say - that was a funny afternoon and something that was totally unexpected.

On an unrelated note - congrats must go out to Nitin and Manju who had a baby girl named Ellora on Boxing Day. I can't wait to head out to Calgary to meet her.

Happy New Years everyone. Stay safe and have fun!

Urban Legends Online

I was talking with my friend Cris a while ago and just remembered that she mentioned this site. I just went to look for it today and found it. It's quite an interesting read so the next time you get an e-mail forward about "Little Sick Johnny", "Attacks in Mall Parking Lots" or "Hotel Room Keys with all your credit card info", go and check out the Urban Legend Library

Have a good one...

A Couple Days full of Memories

Boxing Day evening was a good time. A family friend of ours - Leena - got married in the summer. Her wedding reception was at Bombay Palace on Friday night and most of the Toronto Marathi posse (those that are in town) were in attendence. It was a lot of fun to see all of my old friends...a lot of whom I hadn't seen in a long time. There were so many kids there that I used to play with when I was younger and some that I used to babysit. They are all 19, 20 or 21 now and in first or second year university. Very funny to see them after so long. A couple of them said they recognized me right away (as if I haven't changed). I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing cause I used to be a scrawny little indian boy who always turned black in the summer. Come to think of it...methinks it's a bad that that I allegedly haven't changed. I hung out a lot with G and we had some good conversations so that was great. The food was pretty good too - often at these Indian banquets, the food is crappy and oily but it actually wasn't so bad.

After the reception, I visited Kris' for his birthday. Just chilled there for a little while...cause it was late. More about Kris' birthday in a second.

On Saturday morning, my dad and I went to MDG Computers to buy a new computer for the family. We got a P4 with a boatload of RAM, some other cool stuff and a 17" LCD. All of that for $2000. Damn, prices have really come down. 5 years ago we bought basically half that system for $2800. We pick up the new computer tomorrow and I'll have to learn how to do homenetworking in order to set up our network properly. I'm sure I'm going to fail miserably...

I then went to Mondo Shoe Outlet and they had a sale on all old Aldo, Pegabo, Transit, etc. shoes. The shoes were all cheaper (probably last season's stock, etc). They had this one promtion where you could buy 1 shoe and get the second pair for $0.01. I got two pairs of shoes and I'm quite happy with my purchases.

Saturday was a wonderful day. I saw so many people (new and old) and everyone was in the holiday spirit so it was fantastic. In the afternoon, I met up with K, Ing, Chooey and A-Diddy for lunch at Swiss Chalet. They have this annual girls meeting where they go shopping, etc and this year some boys were invited. Turns out that I was the only one who came so I got to chill with all the ladies for the afternoon (which was absolutely no problem). It was great to see all you guys. K and Ing, I can't believe the last time was graduation... We all had some great conversations and enjoyed the company of Sherlock.

I then went over to NS' house and we chilled out before going for a run on the boardwalk at the beaches. It was really nice to go for a run since I've been SO lazy for the past 2 weeks (that was actually my first ounce of physical activity in a LONG time). Running along the boardwalk is really nice...it definitely beats my Warden, Steeles, Birchmount, Finch run here in Scarborough. Once we got ready, we went to Dave's dinner at Golden Thai. The food was yummy and it was great as always to see the UW posse and share old stories and memories. We got a lot of chuckles as Etch, Tai and I recounted our Camping Trip from November. Cantos stories were wonderful as well. Dave - congrats on the new job buddy...it sounds like it's gonna be intense.

After Thai food, I went to Kris' birthday party in Sauga at the Snug Harboour Restaurant. It's located right on the water in Mississauga (Hwy 10 and Lakeshore). Really nice location. But really, what do I want to talk about? None other than Mr. Khan - he was on fire last night and I must say the line of the night was:

"Hey baby...don't judge a book by the cover, read the pages inside first (as he starts peeling off his shirt). Kris - you were pure jokes last night and all that placebo alcohol we were feeding you at the end of the night was definitely working. Hope you had a good time buddy...I certainly did.

Etch - nice wristband by the way.

Boxing Day 2003

It's 9:50 am and I am at home after visiting some stores this morning. I was out of the house by 7:45 today and on my way to Future Shop for my first stop. I got to the store at Warden and McCowan and it was literally a scene out of some crazy mob movie. There were people everywhere. Sales Associates in their powder blue shirts were running around like Gladiators. I was on a mission to find my digital camera. The Canon SD100. There was no way in hell that I was gonna get it cause the store opened at 6:00 or 7:00 am today and I was just WAY TOO LATE. My smarts then took over and I thought...let me go to Henry's at Kennedy Commons cause they don't open till 9:00 am. I got there. Was first in line (waited in my car till they opened). Once the door opened, I made my purchase. Got the SD100 and the S230 (last year's model). Only difference I can see is in the memory (SD vs. CF) so now I am going to try and find out which to keep. If you have any suggestions, let me know.

I have to go to Scarborough Town Centre now with my mom for some more shopping but I want to chronicle this all later. I'm sure it'll be an adventure.

World - meet Telula
Telula - meet the world.

You might be asking who Telula is and let me tell ya. She is my new snowboard. Sleek and black...carving like nobody's business. She treated me very well this weekend when I was up at Blue Mountain with Etch and all of our high school buddies. It was a fantastic weekend with 16 people staying in a chalet. We had about 15 cm of FRESH powder on Saturday morning which made the whole experience even better.

Had a stealing secret santa and the irony of it all was undeniably hilarious. Then we had the fear factor challenge and YES - I was a bit wimp but dog food, raw pickled pork, sushi with only wasabi, egg nog/feta combo juice and oozing, nasty smelling, gravity defying shrimp guts sauce just weren't gonna do it for me.

Can't wait to get out on the mountain again...

Sunday night - went to K&R's place for a holiday party - Marathi posse style. We had yummy mussels and salmon. The food was GREAT. the company was fantastic and again we had had a secret santa (that's my 4th of the season).

Yesterday, I babysat (not really a baby though so more like kidsat) my niece. It was great to play with her all day (while I was doing work everytime my cell phone rang. We watched Finding Nemo - a great movie. I definitely wanna see it again and catch all the funny "big kid" jokes...cause there are a few.

Karen - Welcome home buddy. It must be weird to be in Toronto after a whole year has passed by. It'll be good to see ya this weekend. Talk to you soon...

Luen - methinks that camels will be hard to find in India buddy...possibly in some parts of the dessert but you might have better luck asking for a stray dog or something. Nice new site by the way.

It's wet out there today. Stay dry and have fun everyone.

Guess what I did on Tuesday night? I went to the office around 12:30 that afternoon, parked the car, got my stuff and started walking to the office. As I was walking, I touched the button on my keychain and locked the doors (heard the horn sound). Went to the office, went to the caf and got a fork for my lunch, then went to my desk and set up shop. Was working there till about 5:30 and was getting ready to pack up and go to the Drake and Firkin for dinner and drinks with office peeps. I packed up everything, put on my coat and started walking to the door. I reached in my jacket pocket for my phone and keys. Found my phone. Didn't find my keys. Damn, that was annoying. So I retraced all my steps...checked everywhere (including the garbage) in my cube area, the caf, outside in the parking lot too. But, I couldn't find them anywhere. I checked with security - no one had turned them in.

So I called my Ford Dealership but they couldn't give me my key code since I didn't have the serial number of the vehicle. I was going to have to call the 1-800 Ford Service number. They would call the dealership and give them my serial number so they could cut and reprogram me new keys. That would have cost me $80 and then I would have also had to pay the towing charge to get the car to the dealership (another $50 or so). Luckily, one of my buddies at work had a great idea. I drove her car home and got my spare keys, went back to the office and gave her back her car. So the only problem was that I had to drive to/from Scarborough/Mississauga one extra time on Tuesday (but I did take the 407 so it was a little quicker). And now, I've gotta go to my dealership and get an extra key cut for my car.

So a mental note for you all...keep the serial number and a copy of your vehicle ownership with you at all times (in your wallet or something) in case you need to call your dealership and need some vital information. Speaking of which - I still need to put a copy of that stuff in my wallet...

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen. What a beautiful and glorious Tuesday morning. I just got off the phone with Bell Canada. I had sent the following letter about 10 days ago... Why don't you peruse it?

_____________

President and CEO
Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE Inc.)
1000, rue de La Gauchetière ouest, Bureau 3700
Montréal, QC H3B 4Y7

November 26, 2003

RE: Bell Canada Account Number: xxxxxx
Bell ExpressVu Account Number: xxxxxx
Bell Sympatico Account Number: xxxxxx

Dear Mr. Sabia,

My family has been a happy customer of Bell Canada’s for the past 33 years. We have also been with Bell ExpressVu for 2 years and Bell Sympatico for just under 1 year. During this time, we have been generally pleased. I was recently excited to see your promotions for the new Bell Bundles and was looking forward to taking advantage of the cost savings. Little did I know that on Monday November 24, 2003, I would be disappointed beyond belief with the lack of integrity and commitment to customer service demonstrated by your company.

My frustrations peaked on Monday but to tell you the entire story, we must travel back to the week of November 10, 2003. That week, my father and I decided that we would like to take advantage of the Bell Bundles promotion that you are currently offering. We called thinking that it would be easy since we are existing ExpressVu and Sympatico subscribers. While on the phone with a CSR, we were told that in order to take advantage of the Bundle, we would have to have all the billing information under one name. At present, the phone service is under my father’s name while ExpressVu and Sympatico are under my name. We wanted everything to be billed to my credit card and we wanted to maintain my father’s name on the directory. The CSR instructed us that we would have to visit a Bell World store to get this taken care of. We got busy and couldn’t go right away but figured that when we had 30 minutes, we would go together to the nearest Bell World store.

On Monday morning, my father and I made our way (in the rain) to the Bell World Store in Bridlewood Mall. After explaining our situation to the Sales Associate, we were told that they could not make the change in-store and we would have to call the call centre (contradicting the information from 2 weeks ago). She connected us on the customer phone in the store. We explained the situation to another CSR (Patricia) and she indicated that she was not the correct person to speak with and we needed to speak with someone in the “One Bill” Department. She put us through to another CSR who promptly put us on hold for 9 minutes, until we were finally connected. She explained all of our options, took my credit card number 3 times and started to explain our future billing process. As she did this, she disconnected the line and we were stuck with dead air. We waited in the store hoping they would call us back (since we said we were at the Bell World Bridlewood Mall store). No one called back. I spoke with the in-store Sales Associate and she connected me to another number (the Bundles hotline this time). I spoke with a woman named Ruby who was not very pleasant and glossed over my problems and frustrations. She had no regard for the time I had already spent and the frustration level I was already at. Needless to say, I was becoming more agitated because she was asking me all the same questions I had just been through with the previous CSR. I was put on hold again and then told that I was going to be transferred to the Billing Department to get my credit card information (which was already completed). I was on hold for 11 minutes and could not wait any longer since I had to get back to work so I hung up the phone.

After we got home, my father decided to call 310-BELL to see if anyone could help him out. Once he got through with a CSR (Erin), she went through the same process that we had already been through twice this morning. After all that, she told him that Bell wouldn’t be able to separate the billing name and the directory name (contradicting the information we were told in the morning). My father told her what we were told in the morning but she said her supervisor would say the same thing as she and they couldn’t help us at this time. She asked for our name and number and said that a representative would call us back within 48 hours.

On Monday evening, we decided to call one more time. Our patience wasn’t very high and by this point we were quite irritable. We spoke with a CSR named Amanda (ID# F439) who was very helpful and took the time to listen to our problem and work through a solution with us. She identified exactly what we needed to speak about and saw that the CSR that we dealt with in the morning (who accidentally hung up on us) actually did what she was supposed to and had started the process of setting us up on a “One-Bill” account. Amanda did everything she needed to and then told us that we would have to be transferred to the Billing department to take care of the “One-Bill” setup. At that time, I spoke with another CSR (Crystanne) and she helped me set up the pre-authorization of my credit card for my “One-Bill” account. I asked her about finalizing the “One-Bill account” and she said she couldn’t do that. She transferred me back to Sales and Service where I spoke with another CSR (Linda) who told me that my “One-Bill” account was already set up. That is just another example of Bell’s systems and people not communicating and sharing the same information.

I was looking on the Canadian Business Review (http://www.cbr.ca) and found this information about one of your corporate initiatives:

Customers first
BCE is refocusing and simplifying its business, placing the customer at the centre of all its operations. To do this, the company is strengthening its culture of productivity; simplifying operations, particularly in how services are accessed by customers; and leveraging its own skills and those of its partners, to deliver the world’s most advanced, value-added services to Canadians. This new commitment was formalized in May 2003.

It is now November, 2003 and the long winded story that I just shared with you identifies that your “Customers first” strategy which has been implemented for 6 months is not working. The operations and processes that I have dealt with are not simple. Your services cannot be accessed easily by the consumer. I also don’t think you are delivering the most advanced service to Canadians today because it took 3 hours and approximately 8 different people to “help me”.

I realize that we may simply be one customer but I believe that the strength of a company depends on its relationships with all their customers, regardless of who they are. I trust you feel the same way as well. At this time, I am convinced I have made the wrong decision to choose the Bell Bundles because of the level of service and commitment I have received thus far. I am an Account Executive for a major corporation and know that if I treated my customers this way, I wouldn’t be able to keep them much longer. I don’t think that I was helped very much today. In fact, spending close to 3 hours on the phone and at your Bell World store is not my idea of a very productive day. All this for something that should have taken no more than 30 minutes.

Mr. Sabia, you can imagine how angry and frustrated I am with your company for me to take a further hour out of my day to document this situation and bring it to your attention. At the very least I expect an apology and some sort of compensation for my family's frustration. However as a successful business professional I am more interested in an explanation as to why it is so complicated to get anything done with the Customer Service Representatives in your company. I expect to hear from you shortly, and in particular with an explanation why myself and my family should continue being customers of Bell Canada, especially with the current competitive telecommunications landscape as it is today.

Yours truly,


Mr. AG

cc: David, Vice President, Consumer Marketing, Bell Canada
cc: Charles, Chairman, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

__________________

The Senior Executive Consultant to the Vice President (not sure what that is) called me this morning and we had a nice conversation. He explained their side, answered all of my questions and at the end - I was offered the next 2 months of my billing free. So, in the end - I spoke up, they heard and presumably made changes and also took the time to answer me. He was a nice guy and had some excellent points. I like the way he handled my questions and concerns. Definitely had a very professional demeanor and style.

Thanks for the inspiration Kevin...
:o)

Weekend came and went. It's now Monday night - the 15th of December and in about 6 days, I'll have my first of about 2 straight weeks of holidays. I can't wait for that. It's gonna be great and I am totally gonna chill out. Lots has happened over the past while in my life as well as in the lives of the peeps all over the rest of the world. Let's start with some world news...

Canada has a new PM. And his initials are the same. The name is Paul Martin. From what I've read and heard so far - he will be a good man for the job. Has some excellent ideas and defintely knows a thing or two about finance so that should help out the whole budget thing. I think from a country standpoint, Chretien was just getting to the point where he didn't really seem to care anymore. He was making decisions and doing things "just for the sake of doing them" I think. It's a welcome refresher to have Martin. Let's see how things go.

"We Got Him" is the headline on every major newspaper today referring to the Sadam Hussein story. The thing I am hearing consistently on radio call-in shows and reading in the paper is how shocked people are that he didn't put up a fight when he was found. He was just lying in that hole with a small pistol...essentially waiting to be found. Seems a little strange to me. Then again - people are saying that he was just a bully and when it comes down to it, most bullies are chicken and only pick on people smaller than them. Eventually - the psche of a bully is all about themselves. It's interesting cause there are all these people who follow his words and will kill themselves for the cause that he preaches. They are so determined to help his movement against Western culture, etc. At the same time (yesterday), this strong, defiant man was found hiding in some hole and didn't put up any kind of fight when he was caught. I was quite astonished to see that so many people were so ecstatic that he was caught. Especially in Iraq and surrounding countries - people were so joyous, they were shooting rifles in the air and celebrating. At the same time - the media only shows us what they want us to see so you can't totally believe that. Overall, it's good they caught him - perhaps they can get him to talk and tell them more evil stuff. At the same time, this kind of validates President Bush's "War on Terrorism" in the first place so I don't like that. I'm sure he's sleeping a lot better these days...

Christmas is around the corner and with that comes shopping and gifts. I've never been a huge Christmas gift guy so I don't need to get too many this year although I am taking part in 4 Secret Santas (2 have already happened and the other 2 are this weekend). They've all been different too - we've had the ones that are straight up - I have "Jacque Strap" and he has "Poca-Hotass and" it continues like that. Or there is the stealing version where you can trade your gift with someone who has already picked. Speaking of shopping - I was at Scarborough Town Centre on Saturday and damn - that was madness. I was there for close to 5 hours and that was about 4.5 hours too long. I got a couple decent deals but I am still looking for a new winter coat as well as some black dress shoes.

I'm playing basketball in less than an hour so I've gotta leave soon. It's the last game of the year and we're gonna start up again in January on the 5th. Hopefully I go out with a decent game tonight and I drain some jumpers. It all starts with strong D though so as long as I do that...it'll be fine. The Raptors are looking a little vulnerable in the front court sizewise. They'll be eaten alive by any of the big Western Conference teams so let's see what they do to strengthen the roster. Rebounding and defence down low are killin them They have the offence (there is no question about that ) but to be a great team - you need to pull some stops on the defensive floor to minimize the amount of points the other guys are scoring. They're playing Mr. Nash tonight. He can light it up for 65 points but the Raptors have to win 66-65.

Did you guys hear about this story from Tuesday night? It's absolutely hilarious and totally cool. Since that game, this UBC kid has been battling media attention left right and center. He even had an exam the next morning that he had been studying for all day long. He was signed to a 1 day Amateur contract by the Canucks in order to make it work with all the injuries. He wasn't paid at all but I think the Canucks should have given him something - even a thousand bucks would be cool. The League minimum is like $100,000/year or something. Divide that by 82 games and you pay him about $1000 for his fun. Or you give him tickets and stuff for the future. I'm sure he got all the autographs he needed. The best part was that Johan Hedburg (the starting goalie for Vancouver) was in a collision with 63 seconds left in the first period. The crowd started chanting "Le-Vesque", "Le-Vesque" hoping that he would come in for the end of the first period. How cool would that have been? Hedburg should have said - "Coach, I just need to rest up for the end of this period and the intermission - I'll start the second". It would have been a magical story...

Company Christmas party tonight. Should be fun. There are some amazing door prizes...hope I get one of them. A Trip, TV, Digi Cam, etc

Went for Sushi and chilling with Kris last night. It was good to catch up.

WEEKEND IS HERE!!! YEAH!!!

Did you guys hear about the building collapse in Toronto yesterday? The old Uptown Theatre was being demolished and there were some problems and one of the walls went crashing/crumbling down and actually fell on an ESL school. 1 student died which was very unfortunate and several other people were injured. The student who died was from Costa Rica and was heading home next week for Christmas and then this happend. My how quickly time can change...

who said that white men can't jump? check out this guy. pretty sweet, eh? although none of it is that original. it's still pretty fierce...

One down. One to go.

I got my snowboard this weekend. Bought a Lamar Mission board with Lamar bindings. Also got a padded bag, installation of bindings and a crappy coupon booklet of lift tickets. All of that came to approx $350 so I think I did pretty well.

Now, it's the Digital Camera. It's between the Canon SD100 and Canon S400. If you have an suggestions - please let me know as I am having a tough time making my decision.

Weekend was good overall. Battled some traffic in the shopping malls. Still have the little Christmas Shopping that I have to do. Went for some YUMMY Thai food on Friday night to a place called Thai House on the Beaches. Went to Bombay Bhel for YUMMY Indian food yesterday night. We went to the Yonge/Eglinton location for the first time yesterday and it was just as good as the Richmond Hill location. Saw my niece Ankita tonight - she is so awesome. We played and coloured and hung out. I can't wait to see her again. It sucks that her and her mom will be moving to New Jersey this summer once she finished grade 1.

Time for bed now. I have to get some rest. Got some big stuff on the go with work for this week...

Two games with this new lineup and two fun-filled wins. This Raptors team is definitely more fun to watch and puts a lot more points on the board. Defence and rebounding is still a concern but it'll come along. Should be an interesting ride and cause the Eastern conference is so crap...they could actually finish quite high in the division. The Leafs are kicking butt right now too. They've won 6 in a row and are 1 point behind 1st overall in the league. Can you believe that?

My buddy T sent me this funny link today...check out the new architecture in London.

Tonight I made dinner for ma and pa. I pan seared Salmon and I also pan seared Tuna. The salmon was marinated in dill, lemon juice, salt and pepper. The tuna was marinated in orange, basil and garlic. I breaded the tuna as well and it tasted quite good although it was losing it's crunchiness by the time I ate it. I also made a mushroom and pepper risotto and grilled veggies. I learned some important lessons tonight with respect to the cooking process. Mistakes I won't make next time - that is for sure. I recently found this recipe for a Malaysian Chicken Curry. Maybe I'll try that this weekend.

Time to fly...

i am testing a new blogger tool from the google toolbar. it's call blogthis. kinda neat.

i still have to make my webpage better though. i don't have any links, pictures or anything.

Today was the first real snow fall of the year and once again (without fail it seems), the bad drivers were out in full force. It's funny how people just forget how to drive in the winter and automatically go slower once the white stuff appears for the first time. My normal 40 minute drive took about 65 today but I thought it was going to take close to 90 so I wasn't that upset. What did piss me off though was those idiots who are so important that they feel they have to drive on the shoulder to overtake stop and go traffic. I was on the 427 Southbound when I noticed some cars doing this. I was annoyed so I decided to move over so I was blocking the shoulder and thus, no one could pass me. It was great cause I did it just as this fool in a small white Toyota was trying to get past me. I could see him getting upset behind the wheel and cursing but really, what's he gonna say to me? Absolutely nothing cause he knows he's wrong and I called him out on it. It felt good to do that...put that guy in his place (for about 10 minutes anyway)

Raptors game and Leafs game were crazy tonight. The new Raptors played well and it's nice to see less double teams on Vince. With the new scoring presence of Marshall and Rose now...Vince and Alvin will have higher FG% and more good looks at the bucket. Tonight after work I came home and had dinner. Then, I went to the basement and watched the games all night long. I haven't done nothing and watched sports/tv on a weeknight in months. If felt good to just do nothing tonight. And now, I'm yawning like a mofo so it's time to hit the sack.

Chooey...great site - I have to link to it too cause it's funny: Teen Lingo Site.

I haven't blogged since my crime-related rant from the other night. I haven't read that blog since either so I'm not totally sure if it made sense or not. In any case...I think there was some merit in my words and probably a bit "too much" at other times. Oh well, what's said is said...and what's done is done.

Sparks - you like the deal buddy? I am worried about Rose. I keep reading that he is a beeyatch in the clubhouse and a big time whiner. He ran himself out of Denver and Indiana (and it looks like the same thing happened in Chi-town). Hopefully playing with Vince may change that. Marshall is a solid pick up...not sure how many points he'll put up but it should be good. I think losing JYD is bigger than it seems. Offensively, he's as good as AG. But what he really brings to the team and the court is heart. No one matches the heart and desire that guy brings night in and night out. I think they are definitely going to miss that. We'll have to wait and see how the team chemistry changes. Also, the team is very small now. Rumour has is that another deal will come soon for a big man. The MoPete for Othella Harrington deal is still being discussed so let's see if that happens. I wish that we could have thrown MoPete in the Bulls deal instead of JYD. Needless to say, this team needed a shake up of some magnitude. Glen Grunwald pulled the trigger on a deal that will make or break his future with the Raptors too...so let's see what happens. One last thing that alarms me is that Kevin O'Neil who has a really close friend in the Chicago media apparently told his friend to break the trade to the media when he caught word of it last Friday because he wanted no part of Rose on his roster after the deal. I guess we'll never know if that rumour is true...

Went shopping with Etch today at Scarborough Town Centre. I got some stuff. Shoes, pants, lip balm. Didn't get my snowboard or digicam yet though. I did find out some great info though in my research. Check out the early days of snowboarding......good thing they changed the name, eh? I need a board and bindings. I am trying to find a good deal and some good selection. Went to Sportcheck today and there was one K2 Satellite board that was okay but just that. It didn't really make much of an impression on me and the guy helping me was pretty useless too. In terms of a DigiCam - I want the Canon Powershot SD100 so now I've just gotta find the best price. It's retailing for $450 right now but online, I've seen it for as low as $264 USD. I am also considering e-Bay but I've never done it before. I am just a little skeptical of that whole process still. I haven't registered yet but I am leaning towards trying it out. I gotta figure out who to become one of those stealth bidders that comes in at the last second and gets the win.

Simpsons tonight (both episodes) were pretty funny and last week - when they went to London and when Homer's licence got suspended were both really funny too. Man, there were some great lines. I really lost it when they started dancing to the Ghostbusters theme song tonight. I'm not sure why I lost it but I was howling. I was also watching this other show for a little while tonight called Jamie's Kitchen and that was quite good. I think that the premise of the show is that Jamie Oliver (The Naked Chef) has recruited 15 random kids (with no cooking experience) and he's training them to become chefs... Some of them (most of them) suck and it's taking them quite a while. It's really interesting to see everything that goes into starting a restaurant.

Time to bounce. Gotta be in Burlington tomorrow morning for 8:00 am.
Happy December folks...

With the recent crime related craziness in Toronto over the past few weeks, I've been having several conversations with plenty of people about what can be done. I am so confused about our laws and completely agree with Police Chief Fantino who is saying that the laws need to be tougher. Right now, people who committ crimes aren't scared of the consequences. Also, there is such a different idea placed upon criminals in our society. There are high priced defence lawyers whose job is to get a first degree murder suspect off on some technicality...what the phuck is that about?

The other day, my buddy Kris wrote a very good e-mail. I don't know if I should share this but I will. Sorry Kris if you wanted this private. I just thought this was perfect and you've hit the nail on the head...

I don't know what the hell the younger generation is thinking. Who the hell do they think they are carrying a gun. It pisses me off to think that punks without guidance are taking away innocent lives in their conquest for respect. I would have no problem if all these gang-banging little shits were thrown into an oil frigate, shipped to an island off the coast of Greenland and let loose to shoot themselves to death. As long as they hurt only each other and no one else in the process. I hope that all trouble-makers looking for an answer through violence meets a very painful and enduring punishment from either our police force or another foolish child. In these stories when I hear the age of the people killing and being killed, I wish that Canada and perhaps N. America would take on much harsher laws for underage offenders. My "penal matrix" argument still stands. All offenders have one thing to offer - a human body. Thus it should be used for just that. Those who are serving sentences to which there is no possible chance of parole should be used in everything from drug testing to organ donation. For those who aren't serving life sentences, I can think of at least a dozen uses for an able-bodied humans in Canada. Snow shovelling, clearing forestry, serving in soup kitchens, cleaning highways, cleaning public toilets - the chain gang mentality exists in the South-Eastern US states and should be embodied here as well. There is an argument that supervising these gangs are more costly then leaving them in a cell, but my tax money fuels the whopping $65K/year cost for each inmate in prison in Ontario...if I'm going to pay that sort of cash, I want my driveway shovelled in the process.

I think that Kris has hit the nail on the head. It starts with young people and the complete lack of respect they have for human life. It's all about "rep" and being cool....nothing else. When I was at L'Am, there was this kid who came from a bad part of Scarborough right by my house called Glendower. In Grade 9 Intro to Business class, I distinctly remember this - He called me over and opened his backpack slightly and showed me a gun. That's right. There was a gun in his bag. What the hell is that? I still to this day can't believe I saw that thing. It just shows that this has been a prevalent culture in our society for years and it only gets worse with every passing day.

Don't get me wrong...there are plenty of good kids out there with sound heads on their shoulder that work hard, have fun, all of that stuff. But there are those inconsiderate, ignorant fucks out that that just don't understand simple right from wrong. They aren't scared of anything (including dying) and their ill will or ill words spread around amongst others...especially those kids that are considered "outsiders" and are looking for attention. This whole gang mentality is getting to be too much. It's not just one ethnic group that is at fault too. There are black gangs, indian gangs, sri lankan gangs, chinese gangs, vietnamese gangs - you name it...they are all around fighting for turf. I don't live in southcentral LA or anything like that but it sure isn't the way it used to be.

My uncle and I were chatting tonight and he brought up a really interesting thing. When he was in grade school (50 years ago), the kids were scared of the teachers...in fact that behaviour was around when I was in grade school. But over the past 10 - 15 years, that behaviour has slowly been changing. Now the teachers are afraid of the students. How the hell are kids supposed to learn in an environment like that? It's just shear madness.

There are many potential solutions...My choices definitely include tougher laws for criminals and serious offenders and I really agree with the idea of putting criminals to work. This city is getting so filthy and clean. Let's get criminals to clean it up and do other odd jobs. The caveat to this story is that there is always an inherent safety issue. Who would want their kids walking beside some park where a bunch of criminals are picking up garbage? And the story continues...

It just seems that there needs to be more discussion about this matter. Hopefully new Mayor Miller spends less time on that stupid bridge to the Island Airport and more time on more serious issues like the fact that his city is getting more and more unsafe and dirty. Premier McGuinty needs to start looking at this problem as does current Prime Minister Cretien and the new Prime Minister Martin. Politicians, although they are just puppets of society need to start addressing certain issues and tackling them. More and more people are becoming enraged and demanding a cure to the problem.

Something is wrong when a 40 year old man is watching tv with his son in their living room in Markham and a stray bullet comes flying through the wall (bricks, metal, drywall, etc) and hits him in the head and he dies almost instantly. The only thing he was able to do while he was falling off the couch in front of his shocked child was to tell his son to call 911. That is absolutely unbelievable and completely WRONG.

It's Sunday night. Blogging night if you will. Lots to write about and lots to catch up on. Hopefully I can remember it all. Well, for starters. I got the company car on the weekend. Say hello to a nice new 2004 Ford Escape. It's silver, has quite a lot of power (V6) and should be fun to drive. I just don't like the idea that I am now an SUV guy. That is a little disheartening actually. I really liked my Protege and will miss driving it around all the time. It was such a fun car and the 13 months we were together were fantastic. Now, she's on to my mom...who I know will be very happy. The Escape is okay so far. Driven it for the past couple of days and I'm getting used to it. One funny thing is that when it was delivered to me on Friday, I took it for a spin with my dad and we discovered that the turning signals weren't working. That was annoying. I took it to the dealer on Saturday and was there FOR ALMOST 3 hours. Man, that was a waste of a Saturday afternoon. At least the problem got fixed though. Had I known it was going to take that long, I would have asked them to drive me home or at least to the mall or something. In any case, I talked on the phone for a bit, had lunch (on them) and watched the Raptors game in the lounge.

This weekend, I caught up with a good friend of mine who I haven't seen in a LONG time. She's in med school at Western and is now doing a rotation in Tobermory (sp?) which is out by Owen Sound. It was so good to catch up with you Natalie and I can't wait to see ya the next time you're in Toronto. Keep practicing those noises though! I have a challenge for ya...

I went to a really good restaurant on Friday night. It's called the Irie Food Joint. It is Jamaican food like roti, jerk chicken, curry, etc. The food was really good. I had this peppered shrimp. It was the best tasting shrip I've ever had. After, we went to a place called Habitat which was really neat. It had a cool vibe and the dj was spinning some groovy tunes. All of this was for my buddy Ravo. He arrived from Chicago/St Louis on Friday night and a bunch of the Udub posse hadn't seen him in a while so we all wanted to get together. Sanj - thanks for organizing...it was great.

Watched the much antipated and publicized Heritage Classic yesterday. That was quite an event! Kudos to the city of Edmonton and the NHL for putting on a really cool event. Also, my hat goes off to the players who braved the -20 degree weather to play the game. That must have been really hard for them to do...

It's starting to get cold. Santa Clause is in the Shopping Malls. My snow brush is in the back seat (instead of the trunk) and I am sleeping with 3 sheets. Winter is around the corner boys and girls...

Yesterday was one of the most dissapointing days I've had in a long time. It was supposed to be a wonderful day. An evening filled with a game of basketball followed by a hip hop concert with some great old skool artists.

Let's start with the basketball game. I got stuck on a team with two of the biggest f*cking hogs I've ever played with. The two of them NEVER passed the damn ball. I am no Kevin Garnett, in fact, I'm not even a Yogi Stewart but sh*t man, it's a freaking game! The two of them pissed me right off. Even guys on the other teams were making comments to me. I hope I never get stuck with those guys again. It' just pick up basketball in a crappy community centre one night a week...but it's okay to have fun you idiots!

Now for the concert. After ball, I went back to my buddy Sach's place. I played ball with him and his friends. After dinner, which Sach made, which was very good (we had Salmon), he decided he wasn't going to go to the concert anymore. As a result of him bailing, I was on my own cause Etch was with all of his work friends and they were already at the show. I got to Tonic and there was a huge lineup outside the club. I had f*cking ticket and I still had to wait in line. It was the stupidest system ever. Ticket holders and non-ticket holders all stayed in the same line. What kind of f*cking logic is that? I got in line at around 10:20 pm and I didn't get into the club until after 11:30. I missed over 30 minutes of the concert. The concert was Arrested Development and Grand Master Flash. Arrested Development (the part I saw anyway) was really hype. I caught Mr. Wendel and Everyday People which was great. And they also played Marley's Redemption Song and some cool Hip Hop with a jungle beat. Overall, they were high energy and it was good. Then, almost 60-75 minutes passed by until finally Grand Master Flash came out. During that hour of standing and waiting, the crowd was getting quite restless. They were playing the sh*tiest house/dance music ever (totally not appropriate for a hip hop crowd) and eventually people started booing and chanting "Flash, Flash, Flash, Flash, Flash" It was way too much and just stupid. Flash didn't come on till 1:15 am. We left at 2:30 am cause it was just too late. I didn't get to bed until 3:00 am so as a result, I didn't get any sleep and I was annoyed most of today.

Overall, an annoying and painful day.
What could have been great with simple basketball and simple hip hop turned stupid and frustrating.

Have a good one...

The snow has arrived. The snow has arrived. Every day is getting colder and windier. Winter is right around the corner - actually it's pretty much already here. One of these days, we are going to wake up and the city will be dumped on. There will be something like 15 - 20 cm of snow everywhere.

I saw Kill Bill this week. It was a really interesting movie and actually, not as violent as I thought it was going to be. I think I had made it out to be so much more violent based on what everyone told me about. The violence was tastefully done in a way in certain parts because of the way the cinema was shot. The cinematography was really interesting. The story was quite interesting and there was a lot of cool things going on. I will watch the second one when it comes out in February. This weekend, I think I may see Lost in Translation as I've heard it's quite a good movie, especially for those folks (such as myself) that are interested in travelling globally.

On Wednesday night, a bunch of the Phun Popo posse got together for sushi and we had a great time. We went to Sushi Time on Queen Street and had a lot of food. All of which was quite yummy. The tuna was especially good, as was the tempura (but not the tempura drywall). After, we went back to H&Z's place. Man, that is a sweet pad. They live in City Place (the condos right beside Skydome) and they are damn nice. Whenever I see my buddies/peers with their own places, it's quite cool and I totally wanna move out.

On Wednesday, it was made official. My boss sent out my promotion e-mail to the entire company (coast to coast) announcing that I have completed my training and now, I'm an Account Executive (aka Salesman). The job will be interesting. I get a company car shortly too so that will be nice. Then, my mom gets the Protege and we say good bye to the Accord (after 14 fun years). There will definitely be some challenges (Actually lots of challenges) in this new role.

Here's to the weekend!
Enjoy...

Hard to believe that it's Sunday afternoon. These weekends just fly by. The week as well was quite quick (guess moreso for me cause it was a short work week since I was camping on Monday). This week was nice - met some cool new people so that was nice. Last night, I went to a dinner party at G's gf's place with Kdot and his gf. It was a nice evening. I made quesadillas that turned out quite well. Don't think I've ever marinated chicken as well as I did last night. We played ping pong and the Game of Life last night so that was a lot of fun. Man, I used to be all right at ping pong but I was getting beat last night. I gotta step up my game the next time we play. I want a rematch!!! Watched Matrix Revolutions yesterday. It was a pretty good movie and finally the Matrix kinda makes more sense to me. Thanks for explaining everything G. I'm not totally into it like a lot of other people are but it was nice to get things explained and clarified to me last night. There were a lot of scenes with religious connotations as well...in my eyes anyway. I won't say anything more than that though in case you haven't seen it.

Went to the Raptors game on Thursday night vs. the Mavericks. It was dissapointing that Nash wasn't playing. I was thinking abotu it and I think that he is one of my most favourite players in the league. It's a combo of the talent as well as the Canadian heritage. I would love to see him in a Raptors jersey...just can't see that happening.

Here is my assessment of the Raptors so far...Chris Bosh will be an exciting young player. He's got great court sense and should be a nice asset to the team. At point, this is where we need some help cause Alvin just isn't 100% right now. Vince is playing really well...especially on D so that is impressive. Overall though, we just don't have enough offense. We need that consistent second option after Vince.

Went to Nikhil's housewarming on Friday night. Just a chill night, watched a Hindi movie that was a copy of Seven but still quite a good movie. Same concept but a different way of portraying it. It's always chill to hang with Nikhil cause all of his friends are so talented and love the music that they make. They just sit around freestyling and exchanging beats so it's awesome to just chill with them.

Off to play some rollar hockey now. Have a great Sunday - it's beautiful outside...

randoms from the "internet"...


1. Check out the latest on eBay:


2. IMPORTANT HOTEL ROOM CARD KEY INFORMATION

Southern California law enforcement professionals assigned to detect new threats to personal security issues, recently discovered what type of information is embedded in the credit card type hotel room keys used throughout the industry.

Although room keys differ from hotel to hotel, a key obtained from the "Double Tree" chain that was being used for a regional Identity Theft Presentation was found to contain the following the information:

a.. Customers (your) name
b.. Customers (your) partial home address
c.. Hotel room number
d.. Check in date and check out date
e.. Customers (your) credit card number and expiration date!

When you turn them in to the front desk your personal information is there for any employee to access by simply scanning the card in the hotel scanner.

An employee can take a hand full of cards home and using a scanning device, access the information onto a laptop computer and go shopping at your expense.

Simply put, hotels do not erase these cards until an employee issues the card to the next hotel guest. It is usually kept in a drawer at the front desk with YOUR INFORMATION ON IT!!!!

The bottom line is, keep the cards or destroy them! NEVER leave them behind and NEVER turn them in to the front desk when you check out of a room. They will not charge you for the card. (Information courtesy of: Sergeant K. Jorge, Detective Sergeant, Pasadena Police Department)


3. Danger of Re-using plastic bottles --- For your health and safety. Here is the text of an email sent to one of our Natural Resources and Mines staff.

"Many are unaware of poisoning caused by re-using plastic bottles. Some of you may be in the habit of using and re-using your disposable mineral water bottles (eg. Evian, Aqua, Ice Mountain, Vita, etc), keeping them in your car or at work. Not a good idea. In a nutshell, the plastic (called polyethylene terephthalate or PET) used in these bottles contains a potentially carcinogenic element (something called diethylhydroxylamine or DEHA). The bottles are safe for one-time use only; if you must keep them longer, it should be or no more than a few days, a week max, and keep them away from heat as well. Repeated washing and rinsing can cause the plastic to break down and the carcinogens (cancer-causing chemical agents) can leach into the water that YOU are drinking. Better to invest in water bottles that are really meant for multiple uses. This is not something we should be scrimping on. Those of you with family - to please advise them, especially children."

Regards
Graham Bauer
Workplace Health and Safety Officer
Department of Natural Resources and Mines
Level 4 Mineral House
41 George St
GPO Box 2454
Brisbane Q 4001
Phone: (07) 32247829
Fax: 32248607
Email: graham.bauer@nrm.qld.gov.au

I am a little sceptical of this last one cause it could easily be the water bottle manufacturers who have fabricated something like this just to sell more bottles. Any of my "chemi-cally oriented" friends (who probably don't read this) - can you verify this?

25 lbs of weight on each of our backs
21 km of hiking on day 1
16 km of hiking on day 2
8 trekking poles
4 sleeping bags
2 tents
1 map

What does that equal?

It's a weekend in Algonquin of course. I've been home for about 24 hours and had some time for my body to recuperate (sp?) after the camping adventure in Algonquin this weekend. I went on Sunday morning with Tchao, Tai and his brother Win. We had a really great time although it was quite grueling. I've never camped before (well, I've car-camped...but that just ain't the same as real hardcore camping). We were cooking our own food (okay, Tai and Win did), we set up our tents (okay, Tai and Win did), we filtered water (okay, Tai did), we provided gear (okay, Win did). So really...what the fugg did me and Tchao do? Methinks we were quite a burden for the most part. But I think they didn't totally mind so that was good.

This whole trekking thing is really cool and something I could do more often. I just don't know how often I could do it. Possibly once or twice a year but I can't see myself going out and buying all the gear. I am quite full though cause we defintely had quite a bit to eat throughout the trip. Lots of constant snacking and drinking tonnes of water for energy.

Thanks go out to Win and Tai for allowing us to come along on the trip. It was definitely a fantastic experience. I can't wait to see how all the pictures turned out...

I'll keep y'all posted. I am still quite tired from the trip so I should make my way to bed now... Good night!

25 lbs of weight on each of our backs
21 km of hiking on day 1
16 km of hiking on day 2
8 trekking poles
4 sleeping bags
2 tents
1 map

What does that equal?

It's a weekend in Algonquin of course. I've been home for about 24 hours and had some time for my body to recuperate (sp?) after the camping adventure in Algonquin this weekend. I went on Sunday morning with Tchao, Tai and his brother Win. We had a really great time although it was quite grueling. I've never camped before (well, I've car-camped...but that just ain't the same as real hardcore camping). We were cooking our own food (okay, Tai and Win did), we set up our tents (okay, Tai and Win did), we filtered water (okay, Tai did), we provided gear (okay, Win did). So really...what the fugg did me and Tchao do? Methinks we were quite a burden for the most part. But I think they didn't totally mind so that was good.

This whole trekking thing is really cool and something I could do more often. I just don't know how often I could do it. Possibly once or twice a year but I can't see myself going out and buying all the gear. I am quite full though cause we defintely had quite a bit to eat throughout the trip. Lots of constant snacking and drinking tonnes of water for energy.

Thanks go out to Win and Tai for allowing us to come along on the trip. It was definitely a fantastic experience. I can't wait to see how all the pictures turned out...

I'll keep y'all posted. I am still quite tired from the trip so I should make my way to bed now... Good night!

I got back from Milwuakee this afternoon. Was down there for the past few days for my graduation ceremony (not the whole pomp and circumstance or cap and gown). Just a quick powerpoint about the last 15 months, listening to my other 13 classmates do the same thing, eating a crappy lunch and then receiving my certificate. The night was quite an event. We had a stretch SUV (an Explorer I think) and went around town to dinner and then a bunch of bars - Turners, Cush, Taylors, Rain and Eve. It was quite an evening and definitely had a very "American" feel to it. I think it was the stretch Explorer that did that. Cause it was Halloween, we were planning on dressing up but didn't end up doing it which was kinda unfortunate. It would have been fun to go into those bars all decked out like lots of the other people...

As I'm writing this blog, I am realizing that it sucks quite a lot. There is no flow. No writing talent. I think I'll stop.

But before I do, one beef I have. I think I've blogged about this before but I'm not 100% sure. At Pearson International Airport (in Toronto), why don't they have a separate line for Canadian citizens at custom/immigration when you enter the country? For the most part, most Canadian citizens would walk right through quite quickly. The visitors (on Visas, etc) ccan sort through all their paperwork in the other lines. It's just so annoying to wait for people to sort through all their paperwork. This would definitely make life so much easier. The cost is negligent because the infrastructure is already in place. I guess it may cause schedules of the customs officers to change slightly but not by a huge amount. And think of the headaches it would save? Other cities like London and places in Asia do this? Why can't we???

Sparks...you are probably the only person who reads my site that might find this article interesting. Have you seen the latest news between Shaq and Kobe This is some hilarious stuff. Two grown men bickering like little school kids...

It's definitely time for bed now cause I have to get up at 5:30 am so I can be ready for my cab that will take me to the airport.

I'm heading to Milwaukee tomorrow for the next few days. It's really weird cause in the past 15 months (since I've been in this job), I've been on flights to/from Milwaukee about 10 times I think. Never thought that this would be as much of a destination for me as it has been. Work for the past few days has been quite cool cause I've had the opportunity to make some customer pitches and demo some equipment.

There is a new section in the Tuesday Toronto Star called ID. And today, there was an article entitled Solace in tequila nights. It was an excellent article and definitely made me think about stuff (these are thoughts by the way that I almost always have).

Yesterday, I played basketball with a bunch of guys who I met through my friend Sach. We played at a community centre in West Toronto for abotu 1.5 hours. The game was pretty good. Very very tiring! Man, I thought I was in pretty good shape (running and gyming 3-4 times/week) but after a few runs up/down the court, I was dying (as were the rest of the guys). Overall though, it was great and even better to know that this will be a weekly occurance. Incidentally, I suck at basketball now. I used to be pretty good and had some skills but damn, I can't shoot a jump shot now. What the heck happened??? I have no idea. I hope my game gets better over the next couple of months.

Greetings folks. The weekend is just about over and this coming week (although I'm not really looking forward to it) will probably fly by very quickly. I am in Hamilton doing some product demos tomorrow and Tuesday and then from Wednesday - Saturday, I'll be headed to Milwaukee for my graduation from my training program. So before I know it, it'll be next weekend around this time and I'll be sitting in the same chair in the same room doing the same thing.

Friday night for Kevin's birthday, it was the much-anticipated visit to North 44. Now, I'm no fine dining connaiseur by any means but I think I know what good service, good food and good ambiance should entail. So with that, I must say that I wasn't too impressed with any of those three things. The food was just okay. The appetizer I had was nice - these funky shrimp dumplings (in kind of a hoison sauce I think). The main course was halibut in a coconut, coriander and chili curry cooked in a banana leaf. The fish just didn't taste that good. And dessert was pretty good but the manner in which they brought it out (and charged us all for it unknowingly) was a little tacky. Service was also subpar primarily because for parties of X or more, they automatically add gratuity. So, immediately - they didn't need to work as hard and in my eyes anyway, it showed. Lastly, ambiance - I've been to several other "less chi-chi" restaurants in Toronto that have much better ambiance...better music for one and better lighting. So overall - over $100 for dinner at that place was not worth it.

What was worth it was hanging out with all our buddies. It was excellent to hang with Kevin for his birthday and I especially enjoyed seeing so many people together that I've known for quite a while. I met a few new people so that was nice as well. Overall, the people definitely made the evening. I didn't get to bed till past 5 that morning...it was a great evening.

More to write but I've gotta sleep so will have to continue tomorrow.
Good Night all...

Happy Diwali to all my friends and family! May you all have a wonderful holiday season.

I am so hooked on my hockey pool, it is absolutely crazy. I spend at least about 30 minutes on it just about every night looking at stats, contemplating transactions... Blair, it's funny that you wrote that on your blog...I just sent you a message about hockey - go figure man.

This weekend is going to be great. It's Kevin's Birthday dinner tomorrow night at North 44. Should be a fun and rather pricey event. I was looking at the menu online today...looks like some cool grub. I'm always up for new cooking ideas. I clicked on a link from Blair's site - some girl named Kim I think. Anyway, she has an amazing recipe section on her site and I am definitely gonna try some of them (especially the garlic mayonnaise).

I got some Learning Language CDs for my driving while I'm driving to visit customers. I got spanish for now. Let's see how it goes. I think this could be an excellent way to pass the time (especially those days when I'm driving 3 or 4 hours). Thanks for the idea bro...I'll let you know how it comes out.

Last thing - Blogger sucks @$$ and I can't get most of my archives from more than 6 months ago. What the hell is that? Why have an "archive" section if you aren't going to keep them? If anyone has any suggestions on how I can get them back, I would really appreciate them. As of now, I am quite annoyed that I don't have them...and there doesn't seem to be a way to get them back.

I just caught up on a whole bunch of blogs...pretty much everyone's actually - Tchao, Karen, Ingrid, Luen, Tai, Kevin, Christine, Sparks... It was great to read all your stories after about 2 or 3 weeks. I really gotta keep more up to date.

Couple things definitely stand out:

Etch - great Curling event on Saturday. You did an amazing job organizing and everyone definitely had a great time

Kev - great blog about Steve Bartman. I totally agree with you.

Christine - awesome heartfelt words from a few weeks ago. I guess that's what we're all searching for.

Luen - congrats on the new bike - the Fuel looks awesome dude. Wish I was more into biking cause then I would totally ride with ya. However - we will totally have to snowboard together this winter (I haven't been in 2 seasons...eeek!!!)

Sparks - my fantasy hockey pool is so addicting. I missed the draft as well and got stuck with my pre-ranked players...got some goodies (hossa, alfredsson, lidstrom) but also got some duds (my goalies). Tell me more about Radiohead...seems like I definitely missed out.

Tai - if you ever go for a trip like that again (the one you did on Thanksgiving), I would totally love to come with ya! I really wanna do a hardcore hike/adventure day like that. Would love to help out with setting up anything and just wanna learn that stuff.

So much has been happening of late that I don't even know where to start. I've wanted to post a few things over the past few days but couldn't find the time on a few instances and then couldn't find the words on a few other.

The most important thing right now is the story of Cecilia Zhang , the 9 year old Toronto girl that seems to have been abducted from her bedroom while she was sleeping sometime last Sunday night. I really can't believe that this has happened and I am quite shocked. I drove past the neighbourhood where it happened yesterday (it's only about 10 minutes away) and I saw a bunch of cops (in cars, walking and on horses). Everyone is looking everywhere for her but my worries are that she is long gone. It's been almost 72 hours since she went missing and in that time, her kidnapper could have taken her anywhere... As the case goes on and there is more and more info available, it is starting to seem like this might be a ransom related abduction. Some are even speculating that the kidnapper is known by the family. We'll have to see what happens. All I can say at this time is that my heart goes out to the Zhang family - I can't imagine what her parents and grandparents are thinking and what must be going through their heads. It must be absolute fear.

What absolutely amazes me is how society just moves on despite things like this happens. We continue to go about our daily routines with work and other crap. I am just as much a culprit in this dirty world that I am painting and I'm not sure what I can do about it. I have continued working, making plans with friends, etc. At times, I sit back and contemplate how she must be feeling or what her parents are thinking about. But then, reality sets in and I have to get back to my committments.

I have actually been thinking about all those committments of late and really trying to prioritize and understand what is the most important thing for me. I think one thing that I really want to understand more of is my own culture. That starts with language and religion. I don't by any means call myself religious but I would like to understand what being a Hindu means and what Hindus stand for and believe (I know bits and pieces but want to take the time to really know it). I also really want to become fluent in Marathi. It's my native language and I would really like to hold a conversation with anyone in Marathi (with a proper accent as well). To do these things effectively - I think I'm going to have to live in India for 6 months to a year. Not sure when that is going to happen but I really hope it plays into my cards somehow as I think it will be an excellent experience.

The Europe/Asia/Australia thing is still definitely on my mind...just not sure of the timing there and how it will play out. I've definitely got time on my hands right now and every day ahead of me. I just have to put in my time for a little bit and set a good base. Then, I can become a little more risk-taking and make things happen the way I want them to.

This past weekend with my brother visiting was nice. Unfortunately, the four of us (my brother, me and my parents) didn't have that much time to really spend together (other than at dinner). It was good to catch up with him and I know that there are definitely plenty of lifestyle choices and preferences that he and I share which is good cause he can relate at times (especially things related to travelling and meeting new people/new cultures.

I'm off to Milwaukee next week for graduation so then, I'll be a full-fledged business man. Not sure what that means...but let's see how I do.

Today has been a fat day. I went for a run yesterday and it was good. Gonna go again tomorrow morning. The new shoes are pretty nice so far and quite comfortable. I have been pretty good with my work out routine. Gym (for weights) or running almost every other day for the past few weeks. I actually took in the waist on one of my dress pants this weekend (so that was a great ego booster). I am still snacking a bit too much when I work from home so I've gotta keep an eye on that. Overall though, I am doing pretty well so far...

I am in London, ON right now at my hotel surfing on a high speed connection. I owe you guys some serious updates cause the last few days (since last weekend) have been great. I am going to give the abbreviated version right now actually...

There was A LOT of eating cause it was thanksgiving weekend. In fact, I went to 2 Thanksgiving dinners. At one, I made the staple Guacamole which turned out to be really good and for the other, I made a smaller serving of guacamole as well as a side dish. I decided to make some sort of a baked dish...but didn't really know where I was going with it. It ended up being a mix of different veggies including yams, eggplant and zuchinni. An interesting combo I know...but check this out: I made a garlic mashed yam as the bottom layer of this dish. Then I put a layer of grated cheese and bread crumbs. Then I put a layer of oven-roasted and seasoned eggplant followed by another layer of cheese and bread crumbs. I then added another layer - this time it was oven-roasted seasoned zuchinni and again a layer of cheese and bread crumbs. I then finished it with a tomato and onion mixture with basil and hot peppers. That served as the sauce on top with one more layer of cheeze and bread crumbs. All in all, it turned out to taste really good and I was quite impressed. One funny comment was that my dad said it was quite mushy so perfect for old people. Next time - I will bread the eggplant and zuchinni and it'll be even better...

I also have been watching A LOT of baseball. Did you guys see the Cubs and that crazy "fan-interference" thing in Game 6? Wow, it must be crappy to be that guy! I really feel bad for him. Anyone who is calling him a fool for doing that and anyone in Chicago that is threatening him is a complete hipocrite because any baseball fan at a game would have done the same thing.

Last weekend, I also played 3 rounds of golf - that's 54 holes! It was pretty good overall and I hit a tonne of awesome shots but I still duffed a lot and am still not that consistent...oh well, it'll take time I guess. I am definitely improving with some of my clubs in particular so I'm happy about that.

This weekend my brother is coming into town for a few days so that'll be cool to chill with him again. We are going to do some shopping and I am finally hopefully gonna buy a snowboard so I'll have some of my very own gear now which is totally cool.

Time for a quick sushi dinner. Then, it's back to my room to work on a presentation and watch the ball game...Game 7 tonight b/w the Yankees and Red Sox. It's Pedro vs. Clemons - should be a dandy!

i went to one of the best concerts i've ever been to last night...it was called tabla power and it was such an amazing evening of tabla mastery and talent. i was absolutely in awe basically the whole night. there were 7 performers - each doing tabla solos (with accompanyment on the harmoniaum, flute or other indian instruments). each performer had about 20 minutes to do their thing but most took longer (some 35 and 40). basically...all this added up to a fascinating mix of talent and an excellent evening of music. the show started at 7:30 pm and i didn't leave until 11:30 pm. it was 4 hours of brilliance for only $10. YOU CAN'T BEAT THAT!!! the performers were so varied as well. there were 2 16 year olds, one PHD student, some peeps my age and then a couple older ones. they all had varied upbringings and differences in teaching (as can be heard in their styles) but they were all excellent in their own right. the best part of the evening however...had to be the man himself - one Mr Gurpreet Chana. he was on fire and received a standing ovation at the end of his set. just listening to him was so amazing. words can't describe how much of a presence he had on that stage and the way he made his tablas sing.

it's a beautiful thanksgiving long weekend this weekend. today i was wearing shorts while i was golfing - the weather was so beautiful. tomorrow, i am gofling again so hopefully the weather holds up then as well. and then on monday, i think i'm going to play some roller hockey so that should be sweet too. gotta organize some ish in my life too this weekend so hopefully that will sort itself out.

guess who is &#!@ing playing the music so loud again tonight? what an @$$HOLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thank god i am leaving now to go to ashvin's b-day bash at shmooze and mom/dad are out of town with some friends tonight.

i won't let that ass ruin my mood though. last night's show was inspiring and such an amazing event. may all events be as simple and perfect as that!

Greetings earthlings. I'm sitting in my hotel room in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin (half way between Chicago and Milwaukee). I got here yesterday (Sunday the 6th) and will be here till Wednesday the 8th. I am here for new prodruct training and the entire Americas team is here so I am meeting some new people and also getting the chance to interact a lot with the Canadian team.

I flew here on Friday night. Stayed in Madison, WI on Friday night and hung out with my boys Tim and Ray. Ray just got a new house in Madison and damn, it is HUGE. We went out for nice Laosian-Thai food and then met up with other peeps and went to Madison Masala for a lot of drinking and smoking hookah. It was a great evening. :o) We ended up at another bar and didn't get back to Ray's till quite late.

On Saturday, we woke up quite late at Ray's place and just lazed around. Watched A Man Apart that morning and I must say that as far as druf movies go, I definitely thought Traffic was much better. A Man Apart had it's moments but it wasn't fantastico by any means. Saturday afternoon, I went back to Milwaukee with Tim and we watched the Cubs-Braves game. The game was SSSOOOO long and part way through, we decided to go for a work out. Got back and the game was still on - that was crazy. Anyway, the Cubs lost...more on that later.

At night - we went to Dancing Ganesha. It's an Indian fusion restaurant in Milwaukee and has received decent reviews. We had a group of 17 people and I wanted to find a place that could accomodate us and that had decent reviews. When I made the reservation, I spoke with the cook/owner named Usha and she was excited that I was coming in for dinner. We got there just before 8:30 for our reservation. We didn't actually start until close to 10:00 pm and we didn't leave until after 12:00 am so that wasn't so great. The service was so horrible too and one of the waitresses we had was a horrible b-yatch. They were out of so much food. They were late in bringing stuff (even though we were the only party left in the resaturant). They also messed up our drink orders several times. At the end of the night, we got the bill and there was an automatic 20% gratuity added because we were a party of more than 8 peeps. We all couldn't believe that it was 20 freaking % with the crap service that we received. Spoke with the manager again and explained to her the situation. She said that the 20% is "suggested" so we suggested not to leave it. We still left abour a 10% tip so I still think like we shouldn't have. And guess what...at the end of the night, after we explained what was happening to the waitresses, the b-yatch had the gall to say "you should be ashamed at yourselves for this tip" to Dave and I. Can you believe that? What a stupid and bitter person.

More stories for you from the road...will continue tomorrow.
Good Night

It has been such a busy week. I can't wait till it's done. There have been ups and downs as well...so it'll be nice when it's over cause I wanna get past this one. Last Friday night I chilled with Kdot, Ashvin and G - it was the much anticipated Marathi posse reunion. We visited a cool restaurant at Queen and Pape - Spudnuckers or something like that? Played some poker and Halo and really - just chilled out. It was a great time. I love hanging out with those boys and definitely need to do more of it. We were talking of doing a road trip in the near future and that is a definite must. Those are my boys and we don't hang out enough so taking off for a while on a vacation will be great. It might be the maritimes, might be winnipeg, might be the states, but the best thing might just be to hop in the car and go...and let the wind take us where it wants to.

On the weekend, some of the Phun Police posse went up to SSM to visit Bobby for Gimme the Light: More Fire. The 3rd installment in Phun Popo jams up in the Sault. We had a good time but it was just too short a trip. Definitely would have preferred to go up on the Friday night instead of Saturday afternoon. Basically, we were in SSM for about 20 hours in total and the total drive took about 15 hours. The Sault is quite small. As are all the other cities that I drove through in Ontario for work. The more I see those places, the more I realize that I have to live in a pretty big city. I just can't do the small-town thang.

Monday night I went to the Maple Leafs - Canadians game in the company box down in the platinums. We were sitting 5 rows up from the Habs bench - the seats were pretty freakin' amazing. You don't realize how small the ice surface is until you sit that close and see it for yourself. The food and drink was great in the box of course. Last night, I was in Waterloo for the On Campus Info Session. It was quite interesting to speak with the students as I remember being in their position a few years ago. Asking all these questions looking as if they are intelligent and looking like they care. I noticed as well that a lot of the kids looked so nervous so that was interesting.

Sci-Bus Peeps - guess who I ran into last night after the info session? I was at Plantation for coffee with Ruth, Cris and G. And we ran into Joan Sanger! Yep...that's right. Joan is still in Waterloo and it was great to catch up with her. She still remembers most of us from our class and was asking about peeps. She's working on a number of projects right now including some work with Paul Martin. She also was telling us George Dubya stories...what a tool that man is! It's so interesting to listen to Joan speak cause she is the epitome of "proactive" and not worrying about failing. If she wants to do something, she'll just go forward and do it. That is quite an admirable trait.

Tonight, I've been trying to decide who I'm going to vote for tomorrow. After researching each parties site independently tonight, I was looking for comparison sites as well and came across this one. After reading, I think I know which way I am going with my pick. It'll be interesting to see how things shake out for the province. People are saying that a Liberal majority could be detrimental as well.

I am traveling again this weekend. Leave for Milwaukee/Chicago on Friday the 3rd. Gonna hang with Milwaukee posse over the weekend in Madison and Milwaukee which will be a great time. Then, it's off to Lake Geneva (somewhere in between Chicago and Milwaukee) for some product training for 4 days. Will be back on Wednesday night. It'll be nice to go but I must say, I am getting sick of planes, cars, buses and all other modes of transportation!

I am especially hating driving these days. Why you ask? Well, I'll give you the truncated version of the story. Up until Sunday September 28, I thought I was a really good and responsible driver. I got my first ticket that day. It was for speeding. I told myself - okay now you have your warning...never do it again and what did I do??? I got busted this morning again for speeding! That is the only two infractions on my record ever AND ALL IN 3 days! I am so annoyed and know that I am a good driver. I speed when I need to (and when it's dry and nice weather). When it's wet or stormy, I don't go fast. Now. I am forced to drive all cautiously and I hate driving that way cause then, you have no confidence. It's gonna take some time to get back to driving more like normal. I did really need these warnings though cause I was even thinking that I was driving too fast at times. Anyway, I am completely embarrassed cause I got caught not once but twice and the second time I was going even faster. It really sucks! It really does! But, it's a good message to get. It seems that it needs to be drilled home in my head too.

My public service announcement to all of you is: DON'T SPEED. Otherwise stuff like the deaths of 4 high school students in Orillia or the accident of the Hockey players in Atlanta could happen. I feel like I've learned my lesson now so hopefully I can practice what I preach.

Time for bed...gotta go to the polling stations tomorrow!
Night.

i bought a new pair of shoes today. i got the Brooks Addiction 5 i've gotta try them out on the treadmill tomorrow so i'll let you know how they turn out. now, i need to buy some crosstrainers and i'll be set. oh yeah, and then there is the little thing of new black dress shoes too.

and what about the snowboard, digital camera and whatever else is down the road....damn, and i thought i was saving.

but it's all necessary gear isn't it???


hey - did you see carlos tonight? he was on fire. 4 home runs!!! what a superstar. the jays, with halliday, delgado and wells are freakin' amazing - next year could be there year (just need a closer and they'll be set). how could we get gagne from LA?

watching ER tonight. Parminder Nagra is on it. the indian girl from bend it like beckham. she is on it for 8 episodes...we'll see how she does.

just finished watching the episode and it was pretty good. i must say that i am hooked again. that is the one show that i have been pretty hooked on for a few years. i watched it all the time when it first started. stopped for a few seasons and then got back into it a couple years ago. we'll see how this season is.

by the way - if you haven't seen bend it like beckham. GO AND SEE IT!!! it is one of the best movies of the year and definitely one of my favourite movies of all time.

The blog I gave ya last night was quite sub-par. Today, I would like to quickly make mention of something that is in the news. The Toronto Maple Leafs have decided to stop supporting the annual Easter Seals Skate they have for physically challenged and disabled children. They've been doing this skate-a-thon for 21 years and it gives kids an opportunity to look forward to each year as it comes closer. I listened to Ken Dryden on the radio today and he basically said it came down to a dollars and cents issue. The amount of money it costs to put on and host such an event just didn't offset the actual amount of money fundraised. They say "there is too much cost (20% too much) to host such an event". "Also, it takes a lot of staff time at MLSE and Easter Seals to put on such an event and that creates additional cost too".

I understand that to run a business, you have to be conscious of revenues and expenses. But please don't tell me that a corporation such as MLSE (Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment) has such a huge "cutting cost" issue. I mean, if you gotta cut some costs - take some money out of salaries like all that you are paying high-priced over the hill players. There are other ways to cut costs and really - you can pony up some money to cover the costs of this.

21 years of tradition. How can you break tradition? Bobby Orr started this and then the Toronto Maple Leafs took over. I really can't understand this decision and really think it is a poor one.

The provincial election is around the corner and I don't really know who I am giong to vote for just yet. I must say though that I am completely disheartened by the entire process because all each leading candidate does is bash the others. It's absolutely nuts and so childish...the kids, oopps, I mean politicians just fight with each other and call each other names like they are in a school yard. Fundamentally, a lot of them (Eves, McGuinty, etc) are saying the same thing too so I've gotta dig deeper to really understand what is going on. Education. Health Care. Infrastructure. The Deficit/Economy. Those are all key issues! On another political front, Mayor Mel Lastman's last official day was yesterday (I believe). So the city of Toronto will be experiencing some change shortly. Hopefully, it is favourable.

I just fell asleep for 10 minutes...methinks that's my cue to leave.
Lates,

i was at the Jays game tonight and i must say...WHAT THE FUGG WAS THAT? that was such a horrible call man. 6th inning. one run ball game. one on and no outs. is Halliday really going to pitch at someone? as the future Cy Young winner (someone who has hit only 8 batters all season in like 500+ at bats) this was such a horrible call. made completely on emotion and no rational decision at all. even the other umps were a little perplexed. apparently a memo was given to tosca and pinnella before the game warning both sides to avoid pitching at players (since this season's rocky history between the jays and rays). tosca was only notified of this during the meeting at home plate right before the game started so he didn't tell roy cause he didn't want to break his concentration. then the rest is history.

it was pretty cool being there and booing with everyone else. one fan through a foul ball he caught back onto the field a couple innings later and he was tossed two. the ump just called such a horrible game...it wasn't even close. he was umping like a pee wee or A-ball ump. That chump cuzzi is a complete tool and should be fired.

i really hope this doesn't affect his cy young chances. it'll be interesting to see how things come about after this...

It's been quite a week and weekend. Very action packed and very eventful. To start, let's talk about the week. I got my first 3 sales for work the week before (so that was quite exciting news). So all of last week was spent trying to make sure all the paperwork is in order (which it is for the most part) but there are always little things to consider right at the last minute. I did a lot of driving last week for work too - almost 1000 km's as a matter of fact. i went all around Southwestern Ontario - they were quite long days. I thought my car was starting to smell a little (not that bad or anything) but just enough to make me think of getting an air freshener. I keep meaning to go to Pacific Mall and pick up one of the cool dash board air fresheners but I keep being lazy about it. So, I bought of those $1.29 ones that you hang from your rear view mirror. Man, that was STRONG and it smelled not so good at all. In fact, it was quite irritating to my throat and it felt like it was taking over so I quickly tossed that out (after less than 24 hours).

I lifted weights at the gym for the first time in a couple months on Wednesday. It was really good but two days later I was SO SORE. It's Sunday now and i feel a lot better but I just have to make sure that I stick to my routine nice and solidly. This whole "shedding some pounds thing" is working...slowly. (very slowly).

On Friday - Hurricane Isabelle was supposed to hit us and wreak havoc on all parties involved. It was quite windy at times and I did get quite wet running from my car to the office but overall, it wasn't anything that crazy and I can't understand why it was blown so much out of proportion. I ended up going to Waterloo on Friday night with Etch, Sparks, C-Dawg and G. We had a blast, starting with a bbq and then went to a wine and cheese, a bar called Starlight and finally to Revolution (going in there was so old skool) - that was one of our old stomping grounds. Then again, I'll definitely think that the next time I'm in Fed Hall. That night was full of assorted intoxicants and it made for fun times and several funny memorable times. The classic was Etch breaking out into song (fully melodic, no less) as he was singing the song from that movie Old Skool. On Saturday after brunch at Angie's - we played some frisbee and football on the lawn on campus - it was such a beautiful day...totally the thing to do.

Man, the campus has gotten quite better of late with those new buildings (Environmental studies and Co-op). Still no continuity of architecture but having all those facilities must really be cool. Walking around campus (and at the bar the night before) - you can definitely see that the kids are younger this year (with the double cohort and all). That is pretty crazy. I am 8 years older than some of them :o)

Today I played golf at Uplands and I absolutely SUCKED. I am so pissed off cause my game is totally digressing. All those lessons I took are proving to be useless now. I was playing really well in May, June and July. But now in August and September - I've been stinking the joint out. I really hope to turn this around quickly cause I want to be good at this game. Golf is such a concentration game and such a practice oriented game. It's gotta be back to basics for me. Driving range this week fo shizzy. I have to improve. This just ain't right.

I am buying a snowboard and bindings for this season...SOON. Any suggestions on where to look? e-mail me here

Thanks,

got a couple interesting forwards today that i'd like to share...first one is short and sweet. second one is long but a good read:


Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer is in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbemls. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.


___________


Article on Canada from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

You live next door to a clean-cut, quiet guy. He never plays loud music or throws raucous parties. He doesn't gossip over the fence, just smiles politely and offers you some tomatoes. His lawn is cared-for, his house is neat as a pin and you get the feeling he
doesn't always lock his front door.

He wears Dockers. You hardly know he's there. And then one day you discover that he has pot in his basement, spends his weekends at peace marches and that guy you've seen mowing the yard is his spouse. Allow me to introduce Canada. The Canadians are so quiet that you may have forgotten they're up there, but they've been busy doing some surprising things. It's like discovering that the mice you are dimly aware of in your attic have been building an espresso machine.

Did you realize, for example, that our reliable little tag-along brother ever joined the Coalition of the Willing? Canada wasn't willing, as it turns out, to join the fun in Iraq. I can only assume American diner menus weren't angrily changed to include "freedom bacon," because nobody here eats the stuff anyway.

And then there's the wild drug situation: Canadian doctors are authorized to dispense medical marijuana. Parliament is considering legislation that would not exactly legalize marijuana possession, as you may have heard, but would reduce the penalty for possession of under15 grams to a fine, like a speeding ticket. This is to allow law enforcement to concentrate resources on traffickers; if your garden is full of wasps, it's smarter to go for the nest rather than trying to swat every individual bug. Or, in the United States, bong.

Now, here's the part that I, as an American, can't understand. These poor benighted pinkos are doing everything wrong. They have a drug problem: Marijuana offenses have doubled since 1991. And Canada has strict gun control laws, which means that the criminals must all be heavily armed, the law-abiding civilians helpless and the ! government on the verge of a massive confiscation campaign. (The laws have been in place since the '70s, but I'm sure the government will get around to the confiscation eventually.)

They don't even have a death penalty!

And yet .. nationally, overall crime in Canada has been declining since 1991. Violent crimes fell 13 percent in 2002. Of course, there
> are still crimes committed with guns -- brought in from the United States, which has become the major illegal weapons supplier for all of North America -- but my theory is that the surge in pot-smoking has rendered most criminals too relaxed to commit viol! ent crimes. They're probably more focused on shoplifting boxes of Ho-Hos from convenience stores.

And then there's the most reckless move of all: Just last month, Canada decided to allow and recognize same-sex marriages. Merciful moose, what can they be thinking? Will there be married Mounties (they always get their man!)? Dudley Do-Right was sweet on Nell, not Mel! We must be the only ones who really care about families. Not enough to make sure they all have health insurance, of course, but more than those libertines up north.

This sort of behavior is a clear and present danger to all our stereotypes about Canada. It's supposed to be a cold, wholesome country of polite, be! er-drinking hockey players, not founded by freedom-fighters in a bloody revolution but quietly assembled by
loyalists and royalists more interested in order and good government than liberty and independence.

But if we are the rugged individualists, why do we spend so much of our time trying to get everyone to march in lockstep? And if Canadians are so reserved and moderate, why are they so progressive about letting people do what they want to?

Canadians are, as a nation, less religious than we are, according to polls. As a result, Canada's government isn't influenced by large, well-organized religious groups and thus has more in com! mon with those of Scandinavia than those of the United States, or, say, Iran.

Canada signed the Kyoto global warming treaty, lets 19-year-olds drink, has more of its population living in urban areas and accepts more immigrants per capita than the United States. These are all things we've been told will wreck our society. But I guess Canadians are different, because theirs seems oddly sound.

Like teenagers, we fiercely idolize individual freedom but really demand that everyone be the same. But the Canadians seem more adult -- more secure. They aren't afraid of foreigners. They aren't afraid of homosexuality. Most of all, they're not afraid of each other.

I wonder if America will ever be that cool.

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)
Author: Samantha Bennett
Published: Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Copyright: 2003 PG Publishing
Contact: letters@post-gazette.com
Website: http://www.post-gazette.com/