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...
Sunday, November 30, 2003
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
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.
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.
Sunday, November 23, 2003
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...
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...
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
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...
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...
Friday, November 14, 2003
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...
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...
Sunday, November 09, 2003
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...
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...
Wednesday, November 05, 2003
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?
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!
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!
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!
Saturday, November 01, 2003
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???
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???