Congrats to Canada
A big congratulations goes out to the Canadian National Dragonboat team that placed First overall at the World Dragonboat Championships on the weekend in Shanghai. They won the Nation's Cup by winning 2 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medal.
Cristine was there competing as well. I am not sure how her team did but what an honour to paddle for your country! And I know that she has worked VERY hard for this so I am so proud of her.
Monday, October 25, 2004
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Spam on Cell Phones???
I got a text message tonight from "No Name, No Number" and it said something to the effect of "La Rouge Niteclub open this Sunday and every week for Live to Air. No cover before 11:00. Call XXX-XXX-XXXX for guest list"
What the hell is that??? How do I get spam as a text message? I didn't know they could do that? Man, spam is coming everywhere. I sometimes get spammed by Telus but I expected that because they are my service provider. Are they selling my info to other third parties now?
Something silly is happening.
Oh yeah, I finally finished "The Life of Pi". I started it last month and finished it yesterday. Good book. Just don't think it lived up to the lofty expectations I had set for it. Now, I am reading Holy Cow by Sarah MacDonald and so far, it is great.
Time for a new week...
I got a text message tonight from "No Name, No Number" and it said something to the effect of "La Rouge Niteclub open this Sunday and every week for Live to Air. No cover before 11:00. Call XXX-XXX-XXXX for guest list"
What the hell is that??? How do I get spam as a text message? I didn't know they could do that? Man, spam is coming everywhere. I sometimes get spammed by Telus but I expected that because they are my service provider. Are they selling my info to other third parties now?
Something silly is happening.
Oh yeah, I finally finished "The Life of Pi". I started it last month and finished it yesterday. Good book. Just don't think it lived up to the lofty expectations I had set for it. Now, I am reading Holy Cow by Sarah MacDonald and so far, it is great.
Time for a new week...
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
The 3rd and Final U.S. Presidential Debate
This is quite hilarious. It is about serious topics. But man, the two of these guys are arguing with one another about points like little kids. Issues I've heard so far include Home Economics, Healthcare, Veterans, Gay Marriage, Abortion and Terrorism. When Kerry speaks about certain topics like healthcare and economics, they do a split screen and George W. has these really stupid "I think I said something wrong" coy smiles and it is absolutely hilarious seeing his reactions. All they do is blame each other and talk about what the other did wrong in the past. They spend way more time on that and much less time on what they are actually gonna do if they are President. And if they do say what they are going to do (better the healthcare system, etc), they rarely explain how it's gonna happen and how they are actually going to make it happen.
Canada has come up a few times now. First was regarding the flu vaccine shortage in the U.S. According to Bush, they were dependent on some company in England that "contaminated" the vaccine. Canada is now who they are turning to in order to provide the vaccine. Canada was also brought up when talking about border protection.
I also learned tonight that the Minimum Wage in the U.S. is at $5.15. And it's been that way for 7 years? Holy crap. That is damn low.
Both candidates support the Second Amendment that says any American can own a gun. The difference between the two of them is that Kerry doesn't support Attack Weapons and Bush apparently does (not in those exact words. What I actually mean is that Bush didn't support the Anti-Attack Weapons Bill during his administration. Bush's quote is as follows: "I believe that Americans should be allowed to own guns. The best way to protect Citizens with guns is to prosecute those that commit crimes with guns."
I'm donw with this thing...
I should really find out some more about Canadian politics rather than watching this crap.
This is quite hilarious. It is about serious topics. But man, the two of these guys are arguing with one another about points like little kids. Issues I've heard so far include Home Economics, Healthcare, Veterans, Gay Marriage, Abortion and Terrorism. When Kerry speaks about certain topics like healthcare and economics, they do a split screen and George W. has these really stupid "I think I said something wrong" coy smiles and it is absolutely hilarious seeing his reactions. All they do is blame each other and talk about what the other did wrong in the past. They spend way more time on that and much less time on what they are actually gonna do if they are President. And if they do say what they are going to do (better the healthcare system, etc), they rarely explain how it's gonna happen and how they are actually going to make it happen.
Canada has come up a few times now. First was regarding the flu vaccine shortage in the U.S. According to Bush, they were dependent on some company in England that "contaminated" the vaccine. Canada is now who they are turning to in order to provide the vaccine. Canada was also brought up when talking about border protection.
I also learned tonight that the Minimum Wage in the U.S. is at $5.15. And it's been that way for 7 years? Holy crap. That is damn low.
Both candidates support the Second Amendment that says any American can own a gun. The difference between the two of them is that Kerry doesn't support Attack Weapons and Bush apparently does (not in those exact words. What I actually mean is that Bush didn't support the Anti-Attack Weapons Bill during his administration. Bush's quote is as follows: "I believe that Americans should be allowed to own guns. The best way to protect Citizens with guns is to prosecute those that commit crimes with guns."
I'm donw with this thing...
I should really find out some more about Canadian politics rather than watching this crap.
Monday, October 11, 2004
Reality Television
Just sitting here in my hotel room flipping channels. On TV, the commercials I just saw were completely stupid... "He's a Lady" and "The Real Gilligan's Island". What the heck is this crap? There is a new reality television show popping up every hour of every day. There is so much junk on tv now... The only ones that I like to watch are The Amazing Race and The Apprentice but the other stuff is just plain stupid. I guess the thing with Reality Television is that it is cheap to do. There are no actors to pay and sets to worry about. It makes sense economically and I guess the other thing is that people who watch TV feel that they can somehow relate to the characters cause they are more "real"
Only in America I guess...
Just sitting here in my hotel room flipping channels. On TV, the commercials I just saw were completely stupid... "He's a Lady" and "The Real Gilligan's Island". What the heck is this crap? There is a new reality television show popping up every hour of every day. There is so much junk on tv now... The only ones that I like to watch are The Amazing Race and The Apprentice but the other stuff is just plain stupid. I guess the thing with Reality Television is that it is cheap to do. There are no actors to pay and sets to worry about. It makes sense economically and I guess the other thing is that people who watch TV feel that they can somehow relate to the characters cause they are more "real"
Only in America I guess...
Sunday, October 10, 2004
Long Weekend? What Long Weekend???
I am sitting here in Lake Geneva, WI right now. Arrived this afternoon around 2:00 pm and I'm here until Thursday for training for work. If you didn't know, it's the Thanksgiving Long Weekend in Canada this weekend but unfortunately, I have to work on my long weekend so I don't get it. Stupid Americans never consider us Canadians and went ahead and planned our training for the week starting on the Monday of Thanksgiving. Do you think a sales meeting or training would ever be over any American long weekend? I think not.
This weekend...what I had anyway was great. Friday night started with All you can Eat Sushi for Etch, Krix and I. We went to a place called Asahi at Carlton near Sherbourne (close to Cabbagetown) and had a laugh filled meal including the raw beef that Kris ordered cause he thought it sounded good. Overall...there were some amazing Makis and a couple others that weren't so good. All you can Eat Sushi is definitely a cool concept though and awesome to eat some good food. After dinner, we walked for close to 45 minutes down towards the Paramount cause we decided to watch a movie.
We watched The Motorcycle Diaries which was a phenomenal movie. It was very powerful and offered a lot of incredible imagery. The scenery in South America (Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Columbia and Peru) was absolutely stunning and totally beautiful. I have wanted to go to South America for a while now and after seeing that movie, I can't wait until I can finally go. Che's life (prior to his Political Activist days) was really quite full of experiences and opened and shaped his mind. The people he met along his journey impacted him and really made a difference.
Saturday, I got to hang out with my niece Ankita. It was great to see her and play with her yesterday afternoon. We carved a Jack 'O Lantern which was fun. I've never done that before and I know Ankita had a great time scooping out all the goop from the pumpkin. At night, the boyz came by with a couple of the ladies. It was and always is great to hang with G, Ashwat, Kdot and Samp along with the new additions to the posse - Raq and Andrea. I made chicken fajitas and Ash brought a nice salad. Andrea provided the dessert (chocolate brownies) and together, we had a feast. I must say though that we are getting old. We all sat around eating and drinking and we were talking about marriage, weddings, politics, real estate and work. Crazy how things have changed.
Well...guess I should get to bed cause I have to work tomorrow morning at 7:30. For all of you in Canada...enjoy your day off. Guess I'm the sucker now.
I am sitting here in Lake Geneva, WI right now. Arrived this afternoon around 2:00 pm and I'm here until Thursday for training for work. If you didn't know, it's the Thanksgiving Long Weekend in Canada this weekend but unfortunately, I have to work on my long weekend so I don't get it. Stupid Americans never consider us Canadians and went ahead and planned our training for the week starting on the Monday of Thanksgiving. Do you think a sales meeting or training would ever be over any American long weekend? I think not.
This weekend...what I had anyway was great. Friday night started with All you can Eat Sushi for Etch, Krix and I. We went to a place called Asahi at Carlton near Sherbourne (close to Cabbagetown) and had a laugh filled meal including the raw beef that Kris ordered cause he thought it sounded good. Overall...there were some amazing Makis and a couple others that weren't so good. All you can Eat Sushi is definitely a cool concept though and awesome to eat some good food. After dinner, we walked for close to 45 minutes down towards the Paramount cause we decided to watch a movie.
We watched The Motorcycle Diaries which was a phenomenal movie. It was very powerful and offered a lot of incredible imagery. The scenery in South America (Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Columbia and Peru) was absolutely stunning and totally beautiful. I have wanted to go to South America for a while now and after seeing that movie, I can't wait until I can finally go. Che's life (prior to his Political Activist days) was really quite full of experiences and opened and shaped his mind. The people he met along his journey impacted him and really made a difference.
Saturday, I got to hang out with my niece Ankita. It was great to see her and play with her yesterday afternoon. We carved a Jack 'O Lantern which was fun. I've never done that before and I know Ankita had a great time scooping out all the goop from the pumpkin. At night, the boyz came by with a couple of the ladies. It was and always is great to hang with G, Ashwat, Kdot and Samp along with the new additions to the posse - Raq and Andrea. I made chicken fajitas and Ash brought a nice salad. Andrea provided the dessert (chocolate brownies) and together, we had a feast. I must say though that we are getting old. We all sat around eating and drinking and we were talking about marriage, weddings, politics, real estate and work. Crazy how things have changed.
Well...guess I should get to bed cause I have to work tomorrow morning at 7:30. For all of you in Canada...enjoy your day off. Guess I'm the sucker now.
Sunday, October 03, 2004
Weekend Update
I had a really good one. It was quite busy but I got to see a lot of buddies and have a lot of fun. Friday night was pretty chill. I just went out to Madras Palace for some Masala Dosa with the 'rents. Then, I went home and watched the final 2 episodes of 24, Season 2. It wasn't as good as season 1 in my opinion. Lots more wholes in the story and discontinuity (is that a word?). The thing is though...that show is built and aired in such a way that I wouldn't be able to watch it on a weekly basis. I have to watch it when I have all the DVD's of all episodes cause they keep you on the edge of your seat the whole way through.
Saturday, I satisfied a craving. I have been wanting Dim Sum for a while now and I finally got to have it. Once again, I was the token brown guy among my Asian friends and we went out to a nice Dim Sum restaurant in Richmond Hill. The food was good but damn, we had A LOT of it. After food, we tried to figure out what to do and eventually settled on the driving range where we proceeded to have driving and putting contests. I'm sure we disrupted all the other hardcore golfers around us but screw 'em!, we were having a good time. At night, I went to a concert with Sachin and Etch. We saw the Afro-Cuban All Stars, a Cuban lounge band with a wide array of instruments including trumpets, trombones, a sax, bango drums, piano, violen and dancers. It was a great show although it started out slowly cause there weren't that many people into the dancing. Evntually though, the crowd came around and it was fun. There was even an 80 year old man that joined them on stage. He used to be in Bueno Vista Social Club so he came out and performed. He was singing and dancing on stage. After, I went to a lounge called Lily in Little Italy which had some cool music playing. Was there till late which probably wasn’t a good idea cause I only got about 4 hours of sleep.
This morning, I had to wake up at around 8:00 cause I did the CIBC Run for the Cure. It was a good time (so many people – almost 40,000 I think). I completed the run in 24 minutes which was great since my goal was 25 minutes. In total, I raised $520 which was awesome. I only decided to do the race on Thursday night so to raise that much is such a little time was perfect. It was a really neat atmosphere down there and tonnes of people to share a special occasion with. After the run, I took the subway home and then on the bus, had to listen to the entire conversaton of this damn chick who was talking so loudly on her cell phone. I don't think she knew how to use her "inside voice". Man, she was a tool. Got him, ate some lunch and then took a nap cause at 4:00 pm, I had a beach volleyball game. It was our team's second game of the season in our Fall League. We kicked butt today.
Oh yeah, two other quick things from the world of baseball. My condolences go out to the family of John Cerutti (former Blue Jay Pitcher during the 80's). He was found dead in his Skydome hotel room today. He is now a TV Commentator for the Jays and was supposed to call todays game but never showed up for work. Apparently he died of natural causes.
Also in baseball news, it appears that Carlos Delgado has just played his last game in a Toronto uniform. What a classy athlete and truly an ambassador to Toronto and his native, Puerto Rico. I wish that idiots like Vince Carter could watch and learn from a guy like Carlos. He will certainly be missed.
That is all. Now I must sleep. I need a massage!
I had a really good one. It was quite busy but I got to see a lot of buddies and have a lot of fun. Friday night was pretty chill. I just went out to Madras Palace for some Masala Dosa with the 'rents. Then, I went home and watched the final 2 episodes of 24, Season 2. It wasn't as good as season 1 in my opinion. Lots more wholes in the story and discontinuity (is that a word?). The thing is though...that show is built and aired in such a way that I wouldn't be able to watch it on a weekly basis. I have to watch it when I have all the DVD's of all episodes cause they keep you on the edge of your seat the whole way through.
Saturday, I satisfied a craving. I have been wanting Dim Sum for a while now and I finally got to have it. Once again, I was the token brown guy among my Asian friends and we went out to a nice Dim Sum restaurant in Richmond Hill. The food was good but damn, we had A LOT of it. After food, we tried to figure out what to do and eventually settled on the driving range where we proceeded to have driving and putting contests. I'm sure we disrupted all the other hardcore golfers around us but screw 'em!, we were having a good time. At night, I went to a concert with Sachin and Etch. We saw the Afro-Cuban All Stars, a Cuban lounge band with a wide array of instruments including trumpets, trombones, a sax, bango drums, piano, violen and dancers. It was a great show although it started out slowly cause there weren't that many people into the dancing. Evntually though, the crowd came around and it was fun. There was even an 80 year old man that joined them on stage. He used to be in Bueno Vista Social Club so he came out and performed. He was singing and dancing on stage. After, I went to a lounge called Lily in Little Italy which had some cool music playing. Was there till late which probably wasn’t a good idea cause I only got about 4 hours of sleep.
This morning, I had to wake up at around 8:00 cause I did the CIBC Run for the Cure. It was a good time (so many people – almost 40,000 I think). I completed the run in 24 minutes which was great since my goal was 25 minutes. In total, I raised $520 which was awesome. I only decided to do the race on Thursday night so to raise that much is such a little time was perfect. It was a really neat atmosphere down there and tonnes of people to share a special occasion with. After the run, I took the subway home and then on the bus, had to listen to the entire conversaton of this damn chick who was talking so loudly on her cell phone. I don't think she knew how to use her "inside voice". Man, she was a tool. Got him, ate some lunch and then took a nap cause at 4:00 pm, I had a beach volleyball game. It was our team's second game of the season in our Fall League. We kicked butt today.
Oh yeah, two other quick things from the world of baseball. My condolences go out to the family of John Cerutti (former Blue Jay Pitcher during the 80's). He was found dead in his Skydome hotel room today. He is now a TV Commentator for the Jays and was supposed to call todays game but never showed up for work. Apparently he died of natural causes.
Also in baseball news, it appears that Carlos Delgado has just played his last game in a Toronto uniform. What a classy athlete and truly an ambassador to Toronto and his native, Puerto Rico. I wish that idiots like Vince Carter could watch and learn from a guy like Carlos. He will certainly be missed.
That is all. Now I must sleep. I need a massage!
Friday, October 01, 2004
CIBC Run for the Cure
This Sunday October 3, 2004 - I will be participating in the CIBC Run for the Cure. This year, I came into contact with a few people affected by breast cancer and realized how close it really can be. I have wanted to do this run for years and now, I finally feel like there is a real motivation behind completing it. I'm sure that you may already know people who have been affected by this awful problem or will know someone in the future.
I'm sure a lot of you have already supported others so if that is the case, I completely understand. However if you can spare a donation, I would really appreciate any support that you can provide. The even better scenario would be if you could complete the run yourself. Alternatively, you can follow the instructions below and help me out...
It is very SAFE and EASY to make a donation using a credit card or an e-mail money transfer. The donations website is secure and will accept your credit card.
- Simply go to https://www.cibcrunforthecure.com/rftc2004/html/login.asp and click on DONATE in the bottom right corner.
- Search for me
- Select my name from the search results.
- Choose your donation amount and click on Support at the bottom.
- Then, it will prompt you for your contact information, relationship to me, etc.
- After entering all that, click on continue and it will prompt you for credit card info or you can do an e-mail money transfer
If you don't want to use the online system, but would still like to donate the old fashioned way, please email me and I will collect the money from you to submit it on race day. If I can't get the money from you by Sunday, I will front the cost and then you can pay me after (by cash or cheque).
If you want a tax receipt, you will automatically receive it for any donation of $20 or more. If you require a tax receipt for a donation below $20, simply request it. In both cases, the tax receipt will be e-mailed to you.
Thanks a lot and I really appreciate your support.
This Sunday October 3, 2004 - I will be participating in the CIBC Run for the Cure. This year, I came into contact with a few people affected by breast cancer and realized how close it really can be. I have wanted to do this run for years and now, I finally feel like there is a real motivation behind completing it. I'm sure that you may already know people who have been affected by this awful problem or will know someone in the future.
I'm sure a lot of you have already supported others so if that is the case, I completely understand. However if you can spare a donation, I would really appreciate any support that you can provide. The even better scenario would be if you could complete the run yourself. Alternatively, you can follow the instructions below and help me out...
It is very SAFE and EASY to make a donation using a credit card or an e-mail money transfer. The donations website is secure and will accept your credit card.
- Simply go to https://www.cibcrunforthecure.com/rftc2004/html/login.asp and click on DONATE in the bottom right corner.
- Search for me
- Select my name from the search results.
- Choose your donation amount and click on Support at the bottom.
- Then, it will prompt you for your contact information, relationship to me, etc.
- After entering all that, click on continue and it will prompt you for credit card info or you can do an e-mail money transfer
If you don't want to use the online system, but would still like to donate the old fashioned way, please email me and I will collect the money from you to submit it on race day. If I can't get the money from you by Sunday, I will front the cost and then you can pay me after (by cash or cheque).
If you want a tax receipt, you will automatically receive it for any donation of $20 or more. If you require a tax receipt for a donation below $20, simply request it. In both cases, the tax receipt will be e-mailed to you.
Thanks a lot and I really appreciate your support.