I take back the comments I made about the anniversary of September 11. I was thinking about it this weekend and I am an information hound, especially when it comes to stuff like this. I am sure that I will be watching all the special tributes and memorials about the lives of people since...all the heroes....all the people lost. I just watched this thing on CBC tonight about this Italian-Canadian gentlemen who was on the 84th floor of the second tower when the first tower was hit. He stayed up there for a while...then realized he should leave...and you know the rest of the story. It was still remarkable to actually listen to someone speak who was physically a part of all that. I will try to absorb as much information about September 11 as possible but I still do think that there will be too much American propaganda that day (and that week actually).
It's the night before the work week starts and what have I done today? Well, my normal Sunday night routine (Holiday Monday night in this case) - I filled up gas in the car AND I ironed my dress shirts. How crappy is that? I really hate ironing. Really hate it. I gotta start buying all wrinkle-resistant clothing. Even that stuff though has to be ironed if you wanna look crisp.
So - let me tell you about Saturday night. I am so embarrassed to admit this but I stayed home the entire night, watched Breakfast at Tiffany's alone in the basement. I was in bed by 11:00 pm. Is that not pitiful? I am 24 years old and my parents were out more than I was this long weekend. Damn, that is said. But - I did get a lot of sleep and now I am ready to tackle the work week. Next week, I've got some partying going on so I am not too worried. By the way, Breakfast at Tiffany's was pretty good. The best part for me was definitely Audrey Hepburn cause she is money.
Played baseball with Scott today. That was a lot of fun. It would have been great if we had one or two more people but it was still good nonetheless. Gotta get out and do more physical exercise though. This diet (no snacks and lots of fruits/veggies) is going well but now I also gotta keep up the physical work.
Overall - I would have to say that life is good these days. Work is keeping me busy. I am learning a lot of new stuff. I am working out. Getting to see lots of my friends. Spending time with mom and dad. Can't ask for much more.
GOOD LUCK to everyone starting school tomorrow. Man, I used to remember this night. The last night of summer - the night before the first day of school. I never could sleep cause I would always be too nervous. Hopefully, I won't have any problems tonight. Sweet dreams everyone,
Monday, September 02, 2002
Saturday, August 31, 2002
It's Labour Day weekend and I actualy forgot this was a long weekend. Very weird cause I expected that once I started in the working world, I would turn into one of those people who look forward to their next weekend every Monday. Slowly, I will probably turn into that guy but for now, it is all still new so I guess it's okay that I am not that way yet. I am a big nerd right now cause I am working on my laptop and my desktop at the same time. I've got two mice in my hands navigating on two monitors...what a loser!!!
Last night was a lot of fun. Su-Lin is moving to Kingston for the next 5 years for her joint Law/Masters degree which is really awesome. Congrats Su-Lin! So, we all went out to Marche last night for dessert and just chilling out. I really had a good time hanging out with most of the old high school posse. It was fun just catching up and finding out what everyone else is up to these days. It was also great to see etch who I haven't seen in almost a month. It was just like old times which was great. Joking around about business cards, breathmints, shoehorns and of course intria. $hit I can't believe that Eric's job at CIBC has him dealing with Wendy (my former boss from Intria ). There is a name I didn't expect to ever hear again. She was a pretty bad boss back during that co-op term. That is where I got my satisfactory evaluation (and all the rest have been excellents or outstandings). That job was so bad too. Most of you, I am sure have heard the stories...
I watched Fight Club the other night. Haven't seen that movie in a few years. It was pretty good again but I still don't totally get it. I am not sure if you are supposed to totallly get it though. In any case, good flick and norton and pitt were a great combo. That night, I went to Ashvin's place with Ketan and we chilled out. Had some awesome steaks on the barby so that was great. Thanks a lot for dinner Ashvin...it was some good $hit.
It's Saturday night and I am sitting in my room updating my webpage. What a loser! My parents are out at someone's house for dinner so I get to reheat some leftovers when I get hungry. I ask you, who is the man??? In any case, I was sitting here thinking about things. It seems that almost everyone I called today to see what they were doing tonight seems to have plans with their boyfriend or girlfriend. So, I get to sit here at home on my own. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I mean, it would be great to find that special someone but she ain't out there yet. I'll know when I find her though and so will all of you.
In any case, work is keeping me super busy so all's good. I got to see my first customer yet. That was an interesting experience since I totally forgot what it was like to sit in a boardroom with another company discussing strategy and implentation of a plan. That'll be me leading the conversation soon enough. I was doing this online sales training CD yesterday and in the office and it was the funniest thing in the world. I failed it 5 times before I finally passed. Man, I am an absolute idiot. It was out of 35 and if you got more than 4 wrong, you failed so I really had to know my stuff. I wrote down most of the questions cause they were repeating a lot but damn, it still took me too long cause I got lazy and stopped paying attention to my notes. Did I tell ya? I am going to Milwaukee next week for a couple days of training. That is exciting but the weirder thing is that I am flying home to Toronto on September 11, 2002.
The one year anniversary. Man, that is gonna be weird. I think that that week and especially that day is gonna be filled with so much U.S. patriotic propaganda. There are gonna be so many tributes and memorials. I am definitely gonna try and avoid the TV for a few days.
Off to eat some thawing hot dogs in the sink...
:o)
Last night was a lot of fun. Su-Lin is moving to Kingston for the next 5 years for her joint Law/Masters degree which is really awesome. Congrats Su-Lin! So, we all went out to Marche last night for dessert and just chilling out. I really had a good time hanging out with most of the old high school posse. It was fun just catching up and finding out what everyone else is up to these days. It was also great to see etch who I haven't seen in almost a month. It was just like old times which was great. Joking around about business cards, breathmints, shoehorns and of course intria. $hit I can't believe that Eric's job at CIBC has him dealing with Wendy (my former boss from Intria ). There is a name I didn't expect to ever hear again. She was a pretty bad boss back during that co-op term. That is where I got my satisfactory evaluation (and all the rest have been excellents or outstandings). That job was so bad too. Most of you, I am sure have heard the stories...
I watched Fight Club the other night. Haven't seen that movie in a few years. It was pretty good again but I still don't totally get it. I am not sure if you are supposed to totallly get it though. In any case, good flick and norton and pitt were a great combo. That night, I went to Ashvin's place with Ketan and we chilled out. Had some awesome steaks on the barby so that was great. Thanks a lot for dinner Ashvin...it was some good $hit.
It's Saturday night and I am sitting in my room updating my webpage. What a loser! My parents are out at someone's house for dinner so I get to reheat some leftovers when I get hungry. I ask you, who is the man??? In any case, I was sitting here thinking about things. It seems that almost everyone I called today to see what they were doing tonight seems to have plans with their boyfriend or girlfriend. So, I get to sit here at home on my own. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I mean, it would be great to find that special someone but she ain't out there yet. I'll know when I find her though and so will all of you.
In any case, work is keeping me super busy so all's good. I got to see my first customer yet. That was an interesting experience since I totally forgot what it was like to sit in a boardroom with another company discussing strategy and implentation of a plan. That'll be me leading the conversation soon enough. I was doing this online sales training CD yesterday and in the office and it was the funniest thing in the world. I failed it 5 times before I finally passed. Man, I am an absolute idiot. It was out of 35 and if you got more than 4 wrong, you failed so I really had to know my stuff. I wrote down most of the questions cause they were repeating a lot but damn, it still took me too long cause I got lazy and stopped paying attention to my notes. Did I tell ya? I am going to Milwaukee next week for a couple days of training. That is exciting but the weirder thing is that I am flying home to Toronto on September 11, 2002.
The one year anniversary. Man, that is gonna be weird. I think that that week and especially that day is gonna be filled with so much U.S. patriotic propaganda. There are gonna be so many tributes and memorials. I am definitely gonna try and avoid the TV for a few days.
Off to eat some thawing hot dogs in the sink...
:o)
Wednesday, August 28, 2002
didn't see my big fat greek wedding tonight cause it was sold out by the time we got to the theatre. so, i went home and instead, i rented gosford park with winnie and we watched that. i didn't think that highly of it. perhaps i was tired but it just didn't do it for me and i actually fell asleep briefly twice. for a murder mystery, whodunit - i thought they kind of gave away a lot! also, all the characters pretty much looked the same so it was so annoying trying to figure out who was who and making sure you had accounted for everyone. i definitely wouldn't have given it all the oscar nominations that it got. that is for sure.
off to bed. good night.
off to bed. good night.
Sunday, August 25, 2002
The last week has been pretty hectic. I have become a Toronto Commuter. By that I mean that I am out of the house everyone morning by about 6:55 am and I arrive at the office by about 7:45. I then work out in the gym most mornings for about an hour. After that, I take a shower and get ready for a long day at the office. I get to my desk (actually, I don’t' have a desk yet and I am squatting at someone's who is away on vacation for 2 weeks) and turn on my laptop and begin the day. It goes strong with meetings, projects, etc. Then, before I know it, it is about 6:45 pm and it's time for me to leave so I pack up and I am back on the highway by about 7:00 pm getting home by about 7:45.
12 hours…just like that!
Needless to say that my days are pretty long but I am not complaining because I am busy, I am learning, I am meeting tones of people and I am enjoying myself. Can't really ask for more than that, can you?
Saw Signs on Friday night. I thought it was a good movie. Shayamalan is a very good director. His foreshadowing is great and he makes the story flow nicely. This movie was also good because there was a tint of humour as well (the aluminum foil scenes). You wanna know something silly? In the scene where they are showing Mexican TV footage and in the final scene when Mel Gibson's brother "swings it", I actually had pins and needles all over my body because of what was on the screen. It was a weird feeling. I was actually sitting there in my seat at the theatre and I was kind of freaked out. That is what made that movie so enjoyable! I also saw Blackhawk Down last night. That movie was pretty good too and the thing that I really liked was that it wasn't as American as I was expecting. With Jerry Bruckheimer - I was expecting crazy huge explosions and US flags everywhere. I had the crazy explosions all over but there was actually fewer American propaganda than I expected. The story was actually pretty good too. Unfortunately I am pretty ignorant about the entire Somalian civil war that occurred in 1993 (and is probably still occurring now) so I didn't know how accurate the story was. War strategy is pretty intricate but when Americans or other peace keepers go into these foreign lands to do their thing, all strategy is thrown right out the window because the people they meet on the other side (whether it is Africa, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan or China) are in such large numbers and are looking to kick some ass.
This weekend was pretty good. Friday night after Signs, I went out for dinner with Cristine at a Chinese restaurant in Mississauga. It was really funny cause Cristine asked the waitress for "another menu" in Mandarin. Sure enough, she came back with a different menu that was for Chinese people as opposed to the "generic white Chinese food menu" they had given us at first (all because of me probably). The "secret menu" actually was quite different and we found some good stuff on it. Ashvin had a bbq at his place yesterday so that was fun. Most of the Marathi posse was there which made for good times. Then today, Ashvin, G and I went golfing at an executive par 3 course in Unionville. It started out really poorly but by the end, my wedge and 9 were hitting really well and I was totally getting under the ball almost all the time. Right now (and for the last 7 hours or so), my neighbours are having this huge cookout in their backyard. They are playing some wicked hip hop, soca, calypso and funky beat music. This one guy has been cooking on the grill for easily about 6 hours. He is right in there marinating, making the fire bigger and tasting the meat. It all looks really good and there are a ton of people that seem to be enjoying themselves. Some cute girls are there too so that is always a good thing.
Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. I'll keep this story short but it was very very very frustrating and made me very angry. Last Tuesday during my drive home from work, I got cut off by this chump in a little white Civic. I slammed on my horn for about 15 seconds or so while I was right on his ass. I waved at him through my windshield cause I wanted to make sure he knew what he did was wrong. He was oblivious to the whole thing and proceeded to go to the centre lane where he thought he was gonna overtake some slowpokes. I stayed in the right and ended up passing him so when I did, I gave him the stare and left it at that. Then as I was driving along, he managed to catch up I guess and overtook me now on the left. But as he was doing that, he was swearing and giving me the finger (among other things). He caught me so off guard and I was so shocked that he did that. What a complete ASSHOLE. You know what got me too, he was definitely a father's age. He was an older Sri Lankan gentlemen - probably in his 50's. Man, the never of that punk!
On Thursday, I went on my very first Toronto Harbour Boat Cruise. It was a work sponsored event with an open bar and great food right on one of the tall ships called Kajama. We cruised around the harbour for about 4 hours and it was getting pretty cold by the end but it was so worth it. I had such a good time and it was really beautiful. The Toronto skyline is fantastic. We just have to get something done with that damn waterfront and then we'll be the bomb. Mingling with work people that night was interesting and it is usually interesting in general. Some of them are really awesome and no matter how much I know them through work, I can still chill with them and have a good time. Conversations with others though, damn that is like pulling teeth.
I'll leave you with one final question. Recently I have been in a debate with someone about what the tallest structure in the world is. It's still the CN Tower right? Followed by the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.
Good night and sorry for the long blog but that's what happened when you haven't written in a while…
12 hours…just like that!
Needless to say that my days are pretty long but I am not complaining because I am busy, I am learning, I am meeting tones of people and I am enjoying myself. Can't really ask for more than that, can you?
Saw Signs on Friday night. I thought it was a good movie. Shayamalan is a very good director. His foreshadowing is great and he makes the story flow nicely. This movie was also good because there was a tint of humour as well (the aluminum foil scenes). You wanna know something silly? In the scene where they are showing Mexican TV footage and in the final scene when Mel Gibson's brother "swings it", I actually had pins and needles all over my body because of what was on the screen. It was a weird feeling. I was actually sitting there in my seat at the theatre and I was kind of freaked out. That is what made that movie so enjoyable! I also saw Blackhawk Down last night. That movie was pretty good too and the thing that I really liked was that it wasn't as American as I was expecting. With Jerry Bruckheimer - I was expecting crazy huge explosions and US flags everywhere. I had the crazy explosions all over but there was actually fewer American propaganda than I expected. The story was actually pretty good too. Unfortunately I am pretty ignorant about the entire Somalian civil war that occurred in 1993 (and is probably still occurring now) so I didn't know how accurate the story was. War strategy is pretty intricate but when Americans or other peace keepers go into these foreign lands to do their thing, all strategy is thrown right out the window because the people they meet on the other side (whether it is Africa, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan or China) are in such large numbers and are looking to kick some ass.
This weekend was pretty good. Friday night after Signs, I went out for dinner with Cristine at a Chinese restaurant in Mississauga. It was really funny cause Cristine asked the waitress for "another menu" in Mandarin. Sure enough, she came back with a different menu that was for Chinese people as opposed to the "generic white Chinese food menu" they had given us at first (all because of me probably). The "secret menu" actually was quite different and we found some good stuff on it. Ashvin had a bbq at his place yesterday so that was fun. Most of the Marathi posse was there which made for good times. Then today, Ashvin, G and I went golfing at an executive par 3 course in Unionville. It started out really poorly but by the end, my wedge and 9 were hitting really well and I was totally getting under the ball almost all the time. Right now (and for the last 7 hours or so), my neighbours are having this huge cookout in their backyard. They are playing some wicked hip hop, soca, calypso and funky beat music. This one guy has been cooking on the grill for easily about 6 hours. He is right in there marinating, making the fire bigger and tasting the meat. It all looks really good and there are a ton of people that seem to be enjoying themselves. Some cute girls are there too so that is always a good thing.
Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. I'll keep this story short but it was very very very frustrating and made me very angry. Last Tuesday during my drive home from work, I got cut off by this chump in a little white Civic. I slammed on my horn for about 15 seconds or so while I was right on his ass. I waved at him through my windshield cause I wanted to make sure he knew what he did was wrong. He was oblivious to the whole thing and proceeded to go to the centre lane where he thought he was gonna overtake some slowpokes. I stayed in the right and ended up passing him so when I did, I gave him the stare and left it at that. Then as I was driving along, he managed to catch up I guess and overtook me now on the left. But as he was doing that, he was swearing and giving me the finger (among other things). He caught me so off guard and I was so shocked that he did that. What a complete ASSHOLE. You know what got me too, he was definitely a father's age. He was an older Sri Lankan gentlemen - probably in his 50's. Man, the never of that punk!
On Thursday, I went on my very first Toronto Harbour Boat Cruise. It was a work sponsored event with an open bar and great food right on one of the tall ships called Kajama. We cruised around the harbour for about 4 hours and it was getting pretty cold by the end but it was so worth it. I had such a good time and it was really beautiful. The Toronto skyline is fantastic. We just have to get something done with that damn waterfront and then we'll be the bomb. Mingling with work people that night was interesting and it is usually interesting in general. Some of them are really awesome and no matter how much I know them through work, I can still chill with them and have a good time. Conversations with others though, damn that is like pulling teeth.
I'll leave you with one final question. Recently I have been in a debate with someone about what the tallest structure in the world is. It's still the CN Tower right? Followed by the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.
Good night and sorry for the long blog but that's what happened when you haven't written in a while…
Sunday, August 18, 2002
Milwaukee was an overall great experience. It served as a fine introduction to my new employer. It will be interesting to see how I fit into the culture of this company. I really hope that I excel at my job. Thursday the 15th was our Mentorship workshop. The mentor program is pretty good. Everyone is paired up with someone more senior in the company and basically that is the person that acts as their counselor, advisor, advocate, everything in the company... Any dumb questions - ask the mentor. Seeking career advice - ask the mentor. The manager on the other hand handles day-to-day operations and goals, objectives, etc. My mentor is great. He has a very senior position within the Canadian organization and he is a really personable guy. On that Thursday night after the mentorship workshop, we all went out to this funky fusion restaurant in downtown Milwaukee called Onyx. The food was good and the drink was excellent. We all got pretty looped that night. I was drinking my new favourite drink - Amaretto and Ginger, also G&T's, wine, tequila, a little bit of everything :) After the dinner, we went to a hip hop club called Eve. Good times there as well and the best part was that my mentor (who has 3 kids) and Marie-Pierre's mentor came out to the club along with one other mentor. So, all the other students kept saying that Canada has the best mentors and that was cool. Guess who I saw at Eve that night...
You ready? Latrell Sprewell And I did something pretty stupid at the time but very funny now looking back at it.
a: waiting for latrell to finish his conversation with some chicks
a: tapping latrell on the back (as I am up to about his shoulder blades)
a: Hey Latrell, what's up man?
l: turns around but doesn't really awknowledge me
a: Man, I am from Toronto and the Raptors are gonna kick your @$$ next year!!!
l: smirks, turns away in disgust and goes back to his buddies (without even hesitation)
So, that is my claim to NBA fame. Someone told me later that I was pretty lucky to not have been strangled by him or something. If you recall, he was the player who strangled his coach, P.J. Carlisimo a few years ago cause of some disagreement.
I left Milwaukee on Friday (left earlier than expected cause Marie-Pierre and I flew standby and got on the earlier flight. We had the same flight attendent that we had two weeks prior when we flew down. He was a pretty funny guy who obviously was sick of the Toronto - Milwaukee route and wanted out. He was so sarcastic the entire time saying stuff like "They (Air Canada) made $___,___,___ in profits last year and all they can offer you are these _______ pretzels." And when he was announcing something to the entire plane he said, "And if you have any requests or concerns, please hesitate to inform me" (instead of don't hesitate). I was thinking that he muswt be new and they've put him on this crappy flight to earn his stripes. Eventually, he will be able to work some better flights but for now, as long as he sticks through it, his job sucks.
Went to a bbq at Seema's house on Friday night. It was a lot of fun and I got to meet some cool new people. Met this one guy who used to work at Steve's Music in downtown Toronto and who now teaches guitar. Interesting... Then, I went to Mendhi, Masti, Masala last night - An Indian cultural festival at Harbourfront. It was pretty good but very crowded. Lots of brown people everywhere you looked actually. The food was so expensive - it was a rip off!!! $5 for Bhel Puri??? $8 for Tandoori chicken and Nan??? Where do they get these prices man? But Cristine, Florence and I were suckers and stayed there to eat. Meanwhile, my parents had the right idea and went to Gerrard Street for dinner instead. Good call Mom and Dad. I watched Spy Game last night with Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. Good movie but I didn't follow the entire plot. It was a bit confusing but pretty interesting overall. I love seeing all that cool spy/espionage stuff.
Gonna go now and see what Sunday has in store for me...
You ready? Latrell Sprewell And I did something pretty stupid at the time but very funny now looking back at it.
a: waiting for latrell to finish his conversation with some chicks
a: tapping latrell on the back (as I am up to about his shoulder blades)
a: Hey Latrell, what's up man?
l: turns around but doesn't really awknowledge me
a: Man, I am from Toronto and the Raptors are gonna kick your @$$ next year!!!
l: smirks, turns away in disgust and goes back to his buddies (without even hesitation)
So, that is my claim to NBA fame. Someone told me later that I was pretty lucky to not have been strangled by him or something. If you recall, he was the player who strangled his coach, P.J. Carlisimo a few years ago cause of some disagreement.
I left Milwaukee on Friday (left earlier than expected cause Marie-Pierre and I flew standby and got on the earlier flight. We had the same flight attendent that we had two weeks prior when we flew down. He was a pretty funny guy who obviously was sick of the Toronto - Milwaukee route and wanted out. He was so sarcastic the entire time saying stuff like "They (Air Canada) made $___,___,___ in profits last year and all they can offer you are these _______ pretzels." And when he was announcing something to the entire plane he said, "And if you have any requests or concerns, please hesitate to inform me" (instead of don't hesitate). I was thinking that he muswt be new and they've put him on this crappy flight to earn his stripes. Eventually, he will be able to work some better flights but for now, as long as he sticks through it, his job sucks.
Went to a bbq at Seema's house on Friday night. It was a lot of fun and I got to meet some cool new people. Met this one guy who used to work at Steve's Music in downtown Toronto and who now teaches guitar. Interesting... Then, I went to Mendhi, Masti, Masala last night - An Indian cultural festival at Harbourfront. It was pretty good but very crowded. Lots of brown people everywhere you looked actually. The food was so expensive - it was a rip off!!! $5 for Bhel Puri??? $8 for Tandoori chicken and Nan??? Where do they get these prices man? But Cristine, Florence and I were suckers and stayed there to eat. Meanwhile, my parents had the right idea and went to Gerrard Street for dinner instead. Good call Mom and Dad. I watched Spy Game last night with Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. Good movie but I didn't follow the entire plot. It was a bit confusing but pretty interesting overall. I love seeing all that cool spy/espionage stuff.
Gonna go now and see what Sunday has in store for me...