On Board Games

My favourite thing about getting together at Christmas is that my family always plays ridiculous board games.

Over the years we have developed several favourites: Apples to Apples, Catch Phrase, occasionally Cranium or Pictionary. My favourite is Catch Phrase. It's a frantic blend of Hot Potato and a simple word game. You just try to get your team to say the word on the disc and then pass it on before time runs out. The best part is that the timer is random and accelerates as it gets closer to running out. This inadvertently causes mayhem as teams are throwing the disc back and forth and as people's gestures and descriptions become louder and more grand. The team caught holding the disc when time runs out succumbs to the cheers and jeers of their opponents and team mates. It's ridiculous.

Take my sister for example. I'm not sure what she's doing - but it looks stupid and that's enough for me.

MobileMe (pt 2)

I have started working on my other web page. I'm not sure that I'll continue it. But for now, it's a fun distraction.

You can see it here: Grande Fully Body 2

MobileMe

I think Apple products are over-hyped.

But I'm a sucker for them anyway. My newest obsession is their MobileMe service. I started using it when I needed to post some photos online and wanted my friends and family to be able to download decent sized pictures so they could go out and print them themselves. I started using flickr but got fed-up with it after about 10 mins and signed up for the 60 day free trial of MobileMe.

If you've never heard of it, it takes your computers (desktop/laptop/work computer) and syncs them if you so desire (you even have the choice of selecting what is synced between them. In my case, I have Safari bookmarks, my address book, my email, and some other stuff synced. If you have an iPhone or an iPod touch, it also syncs those with your computers. You also get a bunch of storage space, really awesome photo and video galleries, and the ability to make a website/blog using iWeb.

I realize nobody cares about this stuff as I do but I think it's a super big deal when software developers figure out a way to tie all of your devices together using the same suite of software. It makes life a lot easier. My two complaints right now are that the syncing is sometimes a little glitchy and that it's very expensive. It's about $100 for a year's subscription. Right now I've got my free trial and we'll see whether or not I renew once that's up.

Check out the gallery here.

It's pretty sweet.

on university students

one of my biggest pet peeves is hearing students complain "why do i have to know this anyway? It's not like I'm going to need to know it when i..."

I dont know why it pisses me off. But it does. Shut up and take the class.

Ugg-o

As Keanes are to the Folkfest, Uggs are to MacEwan.

They're fucking everywhere.

They're killing me!

Girl A: "I love Starbuck's green-tea latte!"

Girl B: "I never go to Starbucks. Their coffee's gross."

Girl A: "Me either, but I love their green-tea latte."

Grow a pair and tell your moron friend that you like Starbucks. It's okay to have your own opinion.

For real...?

A girl sitting next to me just confessed to her friends that until recently she'd never cooked an egg in her life. In the end, the congealed yellow goo she served her boyfriend was neither recognizable nor palatable.

I don't mean to infer that women should be able to cook; I mean to infer that everyone should be able to whip up scrambled eggs.

What the hell does this chick eat?

Well hello

I realize it's been ages since I've posted anything - especially since the last two posts were just videos with little commentary - but I haven't had time. Initially it's because I was in exam and assignment hell, but now I'm too freakishly obsessed with LittleBigPlanet for the PS3. IT'S SO GOOD!

It's the perfect culmination of brilliant visual design, fun gameplay, online goodness and, the best part, the ability to create and share your own levels. In my opinion, the level designer is the greatest thing to happen to video games since they discovered the 3rd dimension. Honestly. Brilliant.

Designing the levels is a fantastic nerdy-blend of design and science. It's hard to make something that's fun, functions properly with gravity, and looks great. It's to the point where I've started pre-sketching my designs before making them.

Anyhow, the point being, I've been really busy with my PS3 so whenever I have free time I invest it there, not here. Until I get bored you'll just have to read Gary's Blog which is infinitely more interesting than mine anyway.

Also, watch this video:

We all think it

I like this clip.

Quick! I need to lower my cholesterol!

Go Duff

Research on Sex & Gender

I like my anthropology class. It makes me laugh when I read old-timey research on sex & gender. I imagine heavy set men with moustaches and pipes sitting around drinking scotch while concluding that, genetically, women have smaller brains (and are therfore less smart) then men because, as a species, we require women to stay home and nurture children rather than pursue intellectual endeavors.

I love old-timey sexism.

You Don't Win Friends with Salad

But you're unlikely to lose friends either.

Debate²

I spent the brunt of yesterday evening switching between the American Vice-Presidential debate and the Canadian Leader's Debate (secretly I also switched over to Star Trek: Nemesis occasionally.)

The point:

I like Elizabeth May, Jack Layton, Stephane Dion, and Gille Duceppe. I would prefer to vote for Layton but, as my riding has zero chance of going NDP, I'll be voting Liberal.

Sarah Palin drives me crazy.

The Highlights:

Jack Layton asking Stephen Harper "Where's your agenda? Under your sweater?"

Sarah Palin droning on about how terrorists hate all things american, such as tolerance and women's rights. (But when she says she's anti-gay-marriage and against a woman's right to choose that doesn't count.)

The Conclusion:

In Canada, nobody will vote for the party they want to win until we implement proportional representation.

Sarah Palin is a douche.

Our Impending Election

The closer we get to our federal election, the more frightened I become of the results.

I think the conservatives stand to do quite well now that they are a homogenous blend of Reform, Canadian Alliance, and Conservative parties. To contrast we have the poor center to center-left parties splitting votes between the Liberal, NDP, and Greens. I know that the Liberals, NDP, and Greens are completely different parties but from a vote splitting perspective, they're the same.

I don't know who to vote for and I'm usually very decisive with elections. I would usually lean NDP but lately I find they're trying to play it "cool" and want to come across as friendly and relatable but seriously, just tell us what your positions are! Quite skirting around important stuff while constantly attacking Harper. The people that are going to vote NDP probably hate Harper anyway, we don't need to be told to.

I will likely end up voting Liberal because in my riding, the NDP have zero chance of winning. I agree with a lot of what the Greens have to say but Elizabeth May is pro-life and some of their agenda is quite right-wing, which I don't agree with.

When I talk to people about political issues, they all seem to find the things I find important, important to them too. The problem is either that these people AREN'T VOTING!! or they're BLINDED BY THE CONSERVATIVES and voting for creepy Steven Harper anyway.

COME ON PEOPLE! Look at what a right-wing approach to economics does to a country - we have a perfect example of the insustainability of capitalism in the United States right now. Their economy is slated to implode, except for a 700 Billion dollar bail-out by the government (aka: the taxpayers) that is supposed to restore confidence in the economy. Well, I saw a woman on Larry King the other night who commented on the ailing business in the United States. She said if these companies are too big to fail, and too entrenched in the global economy to be weeded out, then they are too big to exist. And I agree. Isn't the point of capitalism that strong and well-run businesses survive? Well why should the government support ailing giants who made bad business decisions? I understand the counter-argument that it's to avoid repeating the Great Depression but seriously, let's learn from our mistakes, bail these companies out, then start splitting them up. They should not exist on the scale they are allowed to exist on.

Anyway, this is a long rant. My point: Don't elect the Conservative party in Canada. The North American idea of capitalism does not work. The Canadian Left needs to band together to topple creepy Steven Harper - I don't know about you but I like the environment, I like healthcare, and I like gay marriage.

J'ai Pas Vingt Ans

I blame Gary for my pop obsession.

I blame Leigh for my knowledge of French music.

On Post-Secondary

For those of you who have spent some time in post-secondary, you probably understand the vague relationships one has with their instructors.

I find the weird relationships with instructors kind of uncomfortable. I want to appear eager, so as to appear that I like class, but I don't want to appear *too* eager cause I don't want to come across as a suck-up. If I'm asking lots of questions, I don't want to be the annoying keener, I just really want to make sure I learn what I'm supposed to know in the correct manner. Also, if I skip class, I'm old enough to be responsible for my decisions, I don't need reprimanding.

The point of all this: I think several of my instructors this term have ill opinions of me. I may have salvaged one relationship today... but all in all, I don't think I'm doing that well.

Yawn.

When people yawn, they make the ugliest faces. It's like yawing turns us into ugly-face contortionists, stretching our facial proportions to inhuman limits...

I was thinking about this because I'm pretty sure I had my picture taken last night while I was mid-yawn. I hope I look at least as good as J-Lo.

Bacon

As someone who eats healthily and tries to consume as nutritious food as possible, I have to say, I frigging love bacon. I think bacon makes every kind of food better. I've never had a bacon desert but you know what, if one existed, I bet it would be awesome.

Eighties music is good.

I like eighties music.

When I was a kid, my dad always listened to what I considered "oldies." And now, here I am, listening to the modern child's equivalent of oldies.

How apropos.

Yawn

I think I'm generally pretty witty. But what I've discovered is that my wit, and personality in general, is contextual. When I'm around someone funny, I think I'm funny. When I'm around someone smart, I think I act smart, etc. etc..

I would prefer to write wittier blog posts, like Gary, Bobby and Jasmine - but that just doesnt seem to happen.

I think I'm too serious on the inside.

The Folkfest (thus far...)

Bobby and I arrived at 6:45pm. The folkfest starts at 6. The lineup to get in snaked around the block several times, down another block, across the street, and back up again. We didn't get in until 8pm and the reason we got in at 8 is because a security guard redeemed our tickets cause someone figured the lineup was absurdly long and something needed to be done about it. Otherwise I'm sure it would have been 8:30.

Other than the long line everything was cool. It's the funnest four days of the year and I'm really glad that Gary's there this year. It will be awesome.

The only other thing I have to complain about is the douche that sat behind us as we watched the main stage. You see, our fold up chairs are totally folkfest standard (we bought them there) but the guy behind Bobby was complaining that our chairs were too high. I think he was just mad that we weren't on our tarp for most of the night and then showed up at the end.

He's a jerk.

Despite my complaints I look forward to the rest of the weekend. Martha Wainwright is my hero. Hawksley Workman sucks.

Food TV

All of my friends know that the only TV channel I watch is the Food Network. It's really lame, but it's what I like. I watch a lot of Iron Chef (I'm not pretentious - I don't say I only like the Japanese version... I actually prefer the American one. They don't use as weird of ingredients) but I really like the regular hosts.

In my head, I've invented fictitious relationships with the hosts - I'm on a first name basis with them. I feel like Paula should be the aunt I occasionally visit. She'd overstuff me with rich (somewhat absurdly rich) food and tell me I'm too thin. Rachel would be the irritating sibling I love but don't like to be around - except at Christmas. Giada would be the slutty woman across the hall and Bobby Flay would be the intimidating boss I don't have.

God I'm lame.

Inspiring Quotes from Friends

"If you get tanked, you should go home and watch the Annie Lennox DVD.

Sometimes when I'm drunk - I do.

And I cry."

-Anonymous

The Capital Ex: Formerly known as Scuzz Days

For Fallon's birthday extravaganza, a handfull of us went to the Capital Ex and, oh man, what a show.

First of all, let me say that I love working on Whyte Ave because it is prime for people-watching. Now let me say that the Capital Ex makes people-watching on Whyte Ave seem like a waste of time. Holy shit, Edmontonians are fantastic.

The first brilliant even of the day occurred shortly after Gary and I walked through the gates. We were heading toward the Fire Ball (be careful when using this ride as a meeting point because it turns out there are -2- rides called the Fire Ball at the Capital Ex) when we walked past a man and his girlfriend (wife?) pushing a stroller. As they walked, she looked off to the side and accidentally veered the stroller into the man's walking path. He stopped, looked at her, and shouted "WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU LEARN TO DRIVE?" So another perfect day at the Capital Ex begins.

Once we met up with everyone, Fallon commented that they just passed some shirtless guy with the hottest body she had ever seen and the ugliest face she had ever seen. It turns out that a lot of guys at the ex fit this description: Shirtless, buff, ugly, and trashy.

Gary spotted one of the best sights at the Ex, which was a girl wearing thick flip-flop sandals that read, "Smells like couture" on the side. Gary poignantly remarked, "I don't think so," and we moved on.

Later in the evening we went to see Dragonette. They were spectacular. I made Gary wait in line with me for their autographs after the show even though I was more than 10 years older than most of the people in line. When we got to the front, I had no idea what to say to them so I awkwardly stumbled over my words until I spat out, "My name is Ryan." I think the lead singer and the keyboard player thought I was handicapped. The drummer made no comment but the guitarist, Joel, was quite friendly and noted, like everyone does, that i look like Stiffler. Now I have an autograph from Dragonette with an, "I look like Stiffler" comment on it. It's fantastic. Next time I go to their show, I'm bringing a sign that says "Joel thinks I look like Stiffler - Play True Believer for me."

It was a great day. But this post is getting really long so I'm stopping now.

Oh My God Girl

This past Saturday turned out to be one of the most fun nights I've had in ages. After sneaking a flask of gin into Mama Mia!, Gary and I retreated to my apartment where we listened to great music (oh Annie Lennox,) watched hilarious videos (Oh Period film,) and ate delicious snacks (Que Pasa I love you.)

After inventing a brilliant drink - blueberry lemonade blended with Gin - Gary and I were sufficiently tipsy and wanting to go out. Jackie came by for a bit but had to quickly mosey over to Hudson's so she could pick up a drunken Katie. While Jackie's visit was brief, it gave me enough time to showcase some of my awesome stationary and to laugh and complain about work. (Re: the stationary: I can't help showing people things when they come over! It's compulsive. And in all fairness the stationary was strewn about my coffee table so it was in plain view.)

Once Jackie left, Gary and I decided that, while it was after 1am, we could still sneak over to Buddy's for a couple of dances before calling it a night. Gary was worried there would be a line and I poo-pooed this idea, saying we'd be fine. Well, who knew that we'd get to Buddy's at quarter-after-one only to wait in line while the look-a-like cast of High School Musical was ushered into the bar along with many a drunken hag, and an abundance of 15 year olds. It was creepy and I felt old.

Perhaps in response to the personal assault I felt after seeing people younger than me let into the bar V.I.P. style, I became a little bit chirpy and started making loud snide remarks about the VIPs. Two guys in front of Gary and I agreed with most of these comments and turned around to start chatting with us. Well as it turned out, they had VIP passes too and volunteered to sneak Gary and I in along with them. Fast-forward about thirty minutes and you have me and Gary, beers in hand, drunkenly dancing to Estelle, Kylie, Britney, and some random song that we'd never heard before but Gary really liked.

Overall the evening was a smash hit. At this point it felt like we had gone to see Mama Mia! days earlier. I ran into a bunch of old friends at the bar including one of my favorite employers ever, Brian from Windows Salon. Brian isn't a homo so I don't know what he was doing at the bar. Word on the street is that it was supposed to be a reunion night of sorts with one of the old stylists. Wouldn't you know it - she never showed up. Ouch.

While all was well and good, the night wore on and the most shocking of bar events ever took place. I'm not going to write about it here because I think Gary already did a sufficiently good job of that on his blog. I suggest you go read it here.

All in all it made for a fantastic evening and gave me plenty to talk about with my estranged boyfriend while he's off in New York. I don't know if Gary remembers but we sort of made drunken plans for this coming Friday night... we'll see what happens I guess. Otherwise I now get to start counting down the days until Bobby comes home so that he can come along for the next shocking night of debauchery.

Fantastic.

I Forgot about this Gem

Please watch. Please watch all the way until the end.

periods 101

Oh It's True!

I noticed that my friend Jasmine made a great comment on her blog recently.

I suggest you read it here.

Prana-Llama

So I quit working at Activa a couple weeks ago cause things there were a little slow for me. I moved over to my friend Kristi's center, Prana Holistic, and I'm loving it.

This weekend we get to have a party because we filled an entire drawer with client files. My job is to bring punch. I think I'm gonna borrow a Starbucks Cambro and load it up with boozy deliciousness. Any recommendations on good punch recipes? I'm curious to try Gary's orange flower drink.

F*%* You Bell!

Earlier this year I payed a fairly large chunk of money to end my mobile contract with Bell. My cell phone broke, and rather than renew with them for a free phone, I payed out the time and signed with Fido instead.

Bobby just received a notice from Bell that his fee for call display is going up $2 and that every incoming text message will cost him $0.15. That's Bullshit! I'm so glad I left that company because now with Fido I get decent customer service, better phones (hurray iPhone!), per second billing, and no b.s. text message fee.

I can't believe that Bell and Telus would introduce this fee when they're already going to have to compete with Fido and Rogers who will soon be selling the iPhone.

I hope all the Telus and Bell customers leave and sign up with Fido. Pay out your contracts! It's worth it to avoid the ridiculousness that is Bell. Trust me.

Thai Chicken Curry

When it comes to cooking, I have one guy I trust more than anyone else: James Peterson. He has a gigantic cookbook that includes recipes and steps and photos on how to cook virtually everything.

Well yesterday I made the book's Thai Chicken Curry which is made completely from scratch. I had to go to the Lucky 97 market in China Town so I could buy weird things like Kaffir Lime leaves and Galangal and Thai Hot Peppers. First of all, I can't believe how cheap the lucky 97 market is. Second of all, I'm so impressed with the curry from scratch. It was so fragrant, and so delicious, I'm very pleased. Next time the weather is a little cooler and I can cook inside again, I might take a second go at it.

I realize this post isn't terribly interesting, if you ask Gary, he'll tell you that none of my stories lately have been interesting (and in all fairness he's totally right.) But I really needed to let everyone know how awesome James Peterson and the Lucky 97 Market are.

Oh my sides...

I'm drinking a caeser. Bobby is playing Mario Kart. Our patio door is open.

A police siren echoes in the distance.

Bobby responds "They're coming to get me. Cause I'm so fast."

I'm Getting Excited

It's summer. Summer means Folkfest and Folkfest means music and beers. It's the best four days of the year.

A few years ago I saw Martha Wainwright for the first time on one of the small Folkfest stages. She was wearing a cute white mini-skirt, a white jacket, white knee-high boots, and a mint green scarf. I managed to snag a copy of her CD and have her autograph it that day.

She's coming back to folkfest this year and I'm looking forward to it. If you aren't familiar with her music watch this video. It's fantastic, and so is she.

Read It

Gary posted a comment on the Ikea commercial I posted a few days ago. His comment is genius. Go read it.

Spiceallo

Spiceallo

Adj. Spice-al-lo

Etymology: A port-manteau of spicy and buffalo, spiceallo hails from the late-night Denny's crowd.

1. Having the flavour aroma, or quality of spicy buffalo
You should totally order the spiceallo wings

In response:

Gary posted his favorite Ikea commercial on his blog earlier today. I do agree with him that the "start the car" lady is fantastic, but my favorite ikea commercial is this one from a few years ago.



I love their commercials - I just wish their stuff wasn't so crappy.

I'm Ridiculous

I spend money on the stupidest things.

Generally, I like what I'm spending my money on. But I tend to get excited about things and then over do it in a short period of time. For example, last year I revived my old Nintendo and wound up buying a bunch of games for it on eBay. I love my Nintendo. I love the games. I have no regrets. But I always wind up going really gung-ho for a week or two until I'm distracted by my next new hobby.

This week's hobby is stamping supplies. I'm not a "crafty" person. I don't scrapbook. I don't make ugly hand-made cards (I make nice-understated ones.) But holy-hell is it ever easy to spend a crap-load of money on it. I looked through my banking info for the past week and I have spent more money on supplies than I care to admit.

All this means is that if you do anything for me - you're getting a card. If it's your birthday - you're getting a card. If you die - you're getting a card.

Just know that along with the massive amount of time I invest into making it, I also spent a hell of a lot more money buying the supplies to make the card than I would have if I just bought a stupid card from Chicken Scratch.

My goal is to change my obsessive consumer habits by the end of the month. I will adhere to this goal buy deciding on big ticket items I want to purchase and then saving the money I would otherwise squander for said item. It's funny how consumption is how I plant to reduce my consumption. God I hate that part of myself.

What a nice Saturday...

Today was beautiful.

I started my new job at Prana Holistic. I was able to leave early, come home, and meet my cousin for a drink. She came by to hang out with me and Bobby before we all shuffled off to The Druid where we each had a pint and closed our afternoon.

Bobby and I then came home and watched a little bit of the E True Hollywood Story on Who's the Boss before making dinner. Our dinner was delicious and now we're sitting on our patio, listening to schmultzy bossa nova music, pounding back a bottle of cheap wine. It's great.

I had to write this post to inform you all that bobby has resorted to lighting dried flowers on fire with our barbecue starter. He's a little drunk and really bored.

I think I'm more entertaining than that burning flower. He's just a jerk.

P.S. Bobby is not a jerk. He's fantastic - just easily distracted by fire.

It's True

So I have to say... The iPhone is fantastic. I know I tend to drone on about many things technology related but seriously the iPhone is incredible. Kudos apple. Kudos.

Father's Day

So today is father's day.

I spent the day with my dad and my uncle repairing my defective car. I don't know how dads and uncles know about cars and home repair - maybe because they just teach themselves on account of it being way cheaper. Because of them, what could have been a $300 bill at the auto-shop instead cost $70 for a replacement part that we installed ourselves.

Now Bobby and I get to go home and try and fix our lighting fixture and our faucet.

I feel so grown up.

When it rains.

This week has been shit.

First, the light in my kitchen stopped working. It's not burned out, it's just dysfunctional.

Second, the faucet in my kitchen exploded and, despite the attempt to repair it, it remains broken. For some reason we're unable to shut the hot water off to replace the broken part.

Third, my iMac is fried. There was an OS update this past week and the day after I installed it, Bobby was watching a video on youtube, the computer crashed, and now it won't restart. It's so far-gone I can't even get it to start from the boot disc.

Fourth, my car broke down. In what were otherwise humorous circumstances, it gave up on Gateway Blvd and Whyte Ave in front of Hudson's. The drunkards sitting on the patio shouted advice at me just as a fire truck pulled into my lane, blocking my only exit, so that Gary, Fallon and I had to push the car up to the fire truck's bumper until it moved.

It's been a shitty week and the weekend has, thus far, been crammed full of the crappy kinds of activities I hate doing (such as home-repair.) And when my shit weekend is over, I start another shit week of work where I close most of the week and will likely deal with perpetual understaffing (as usual.)

Sigh.

At least I get to adopt my new iPhone on Monday. Yay!

iPhone

So Jason, my boss, is a big techno-nerd and has, since the new iPhone 2.0 was announced yesterday, already ordered himself one. That means that his old iPhone is for sale. I'm a chump, and offered to buy it.

I think I'll be able to haggle enough with him to get a fairly sweet deal, but now I need to sell my Sony Ericsson t650i. The Sony Ericsson was the best phone I have ever had and I love it so much. It'll be sad to part with it but tomorrow, I'm posting it for sale on ebay, unless of course someone reading this wants to buy it.

Let me know.

Brilliant.

Customer Voice Survey

Dear Everyone,

Starbucks introduced the Customer Voice Survey a few months ago as a way for us to gather feedback on how we're doing. The problem is that in order to feel motivated enough to do the survey, customers either need to feel really angry or really, really happy. If you are a regular at Starbucks and have been handed one of these surveys, please fill it out to compensate for all the complainers! And while you're at it, mention my name. Cause my distric manager will give me a prize if you do. I don't know what the prize is, but I'm curious. It's the whole "what's in the box" syndrome.

Today Gary gave out one of the surveys to one of our customers, Kate (who works at C'est Sera) and we were harassing her to mention our names in her review of the store. Well, she could tell how eager we were for her to do it and now she's holding her glowing review ransom in exchange for something super secret. Smart girl.

P.S. Devlin's has cheap martinis some nights. Last week, it was Thursday and I got good and bombed for not a lot of money. But be careful of the sugary martinis, they can cause bad judgment and grumpy boyfriends (though I don't really see what the big deal is with going to the McDonald's drive-thru.)

Eco-Clean

While at my parents yesterday, my mom spilled some wine on her countertop and couldn't get the stain out. Then she remembered picking up this eco-cleaner that was being demoed at Costco and decided to try it out. As soon as the the cleaner touched the wine, it was gone. I was so amazed. I went onto the company's website here and was amazed to find that it's Canadian, it's non-toxic, bio-degradable, and organic!

So I rushed off with my mom to the Sherwood Park Costco to pick some up for myself. Now I feel totally vindicated since Bobby and I will be using a locally made, natural, safe cleaner that kicks so much ass.

This is a boring post, I know. But seriously, everyone should use this stuff. They have it at the Sherwood Park Costco until June 15th. If anyone wants to make a day trip out there to buy some I will gladly drive them in exchange for some gas money.

My shameless guilty pleasure.

It's so gay but I love it.

The Great Outdoors.

Having a patio is the greatest thing ever. My only beef with ours is that it faces east, not west. That means I have to have brunch outside instead of dinner. Oh well.

The east facing patio hasn't stopped me from cooking everything I possibly can outside though. Right now, for example, I'm grilling chicken breasts and cooking an indian vegetable curry to go with them on the side burner of the barbecue. Fantastic.

Who knew my cheap-ass Superstore barbecue would be so awesome?

I'm looking forward to patio brunches though. Even if it's just me. I'll happily sip espresso and be snooty all on my own.

How european.

Patak's

Several months ago, on a whim, I bought a jar of Patak's curry paste from Superstore. Since then it's sat in my cupboard gathering dust.

Today I busted out that jar and decided to cook something with it since I'm relatively low on food and needed to get creative. Well - let me tell you - that paste kicks so much ass.

All I did was cook a can of tomatoes, some cauliflower and some yellow pepper with the paste and then serve it on top of grilled chicken thighs. I could take or leave the chicken - it really only served as a functional source of protein - and in the future I'd like to add chickpeas. But man oh man, I curious to try other Patak's stuff now.

I'm tres excite for my next trip to superstore.

P.S. Also, the President's Choice Naan is very good. I don't mean to over-triumph the superstore brand products but wow it's good. I hate shopping at Superstore but their stupid good products coerce me to.

It's not my fault!

I've been a little light on the Blog entry front these days. I'm sorry. I realise that only about five people read my blog, but you are five important people and I'm sorry I've let you down.

The good news is I've finished my spring session class and, aside from hellishly busy shifts at the Starbucks, I've got my freedom back for three months.

It also happens that this regained freedom coincides with a recent discovery I made: Mario Kart Wii kicks so much ass. I've been playing it quite a bit - the other day mine and bobby's combined Wii playtime was over eight hours. That's embarrassing. But since we still made time to go to the gym and cook dinner etc. I think it's justified. It doesn't matter what my playtime is at as long as I don't get Jabba-the-Hut fat in the process. And that shouldn't happen unless my ice cream eating habits continue to grow at an exponential rate - In which case I might end up a 400lb fatty in about three days.

I'll let you know if it happens.

Until then, I will continue to post and continue to kick ass at Mario Kart online.

I'm addicted

I griped a lot about Mario Kart Wii when it first came out. I don't love the new control scheme with the Wii Wheel and I'm not impressed with the adjustments to the button layout on the gamecube controller. I was also extremely disappointed when I played the four person multi-player mode only to find out that it looked only moderately better then the N64 edition of the game.

But I have to say, Wi-Fi kicks so much ass. I only have one friend registered (cause NOBODY is responding to my note on facebook and cause I'm not 12) but it's enough. It's the fun-ness of multi-player without having to organize a videogame night and without having to play splitscreen. It kicks ass.

WTF? #2

I haven't posted in a while and at the moment I only have one comment:

If you're going to get your dinner from OPA or your ice cream from Marble Slab, it's not appropriate to eat said items while sitting on the Starbucks patio without buying anything from the Starbucks. Secondly, it makes you a total douche if you leave your garbage behind on the Starbucks patio. If you do this kind of thing, expect people to talk badly about you, and expect the universe to smite you at some point.

Also, when you're using the washroom at the Starbucks and you drop toilet paper, paper towel, or toilet seat covers, pick them up and throw them out. You would do it at home wouldn't you?? Then why not when using someone else's washroom?

Just saying.

Oh film.

My digital camera broke earlier this year and, rather than having it repaired, I've been using my old crappy SLR camera instead.

I like the look of film, but man it's expensive to develop. 500 digital photos: cheap. 48 film prints: $28. Yikes.

OK so I'm a creeper - sue me.

I live a sad, sad life.

In this sad life, I have opted to use a stat monitor to track the activity on my site. It amazes me that, all of a sudden, the traffic to my page has expanded beyond my group of friends to include people from all over the world.

What is the reason for this global phenomenon? It seems google image search is referring people to my page because of the calvin and hobbes truck logo I put in.

That's the weirdest thing to me.

Who knew?

So, I make fun of my parents quite a bit. Mostly I ridicule them for their strange food concoctions - chili-ghetti par example. Imagine, if you will, what was once a pot of chili being magically transformed into spaghetti sauce through the simple addition of oregano and rosemary. It's really as confusing as it sounds.

My dad likes to apply that same "carpe diem" attitude to his booze. Mix a little cider with some beer, mix some crystal lite with some wine etc.

Well, I seem to have adopted their shameless cavalier attitude as I myself have discovered a melange that I am quite fond of. Get yourself a giant bottle of Orangina and a klassy box of wine and you will have yourself the greatest impromptu Sangria ever.

I love it.

What the hell?

So this was my phone blog photo. It seems to have worked. Excellent - Gary (and Yahoo!) prepare to meet the challenge of a lifetime. Although Gary does generally have more interesting blog posts than I do. (see today's Miley Cyrus rant.)

About this photo: This is a page from our Starbucks Summer Beverage launch package. They felt it necessary, on the one blank page in the book, to write This Page Intentionally Left Blank...

I don't think I need to comment.

What a Sunday

Is any weekend complete without a trip to superstore? No. I didn't think so.

In order to really complete this weekend, Bianca and I not only hit up the Superstore, we also hit up: Toys r Us, The Italian Centre, the Superstore liquor store, the bank, and the dollar store.

What a day, let me tell you.

Observe Bianca shopping for Joe Clothes:









After our jaunt to Superstore, I bought myself a box of wine and Bianca bought some vodka. Later on in the night Emmanuel, Trina, Jasmine, Bobby, Bianca, and I got together and played Mario Kart Wii and Rockband. Our band was so cool we all had to wear glow bracelets.



I have to say, that of anything in the whole day, I was most impressed with Bianca's ability to get totally wasted off four drinks and Jasmine's mad skills at Rockband. This girl picked up the guitar, put it on expert, and kicked all of our "easy" and "medium" asses. I was (correction-am) amazed.

It's a Hot Topic

Well, today the buzz in all my friends' blogs seems to be both my karaoke shindig last night and Rockband. Let me tell you, both are (were) awesome.

I was initially nervous about the karaoke because renting a machine and being responsible for it in a bar where there are other customers is a lot of pressure... Barb at the Next Act helped alleviate some of that pressure by CLOSING THE BAR TO THE PUBLIC JUST FOR ME! I felt like a superstar. I've never had anything like that happen to me before. All my favorite friends were able to come and sing their hearts out without having to worry about other douchey bar patrons. It was great.

Thanks go out to Noel and Gary for my Pride Rainbow cake and birthday gifts. Also, Gary mentioned in his blog a few weeks ago about spending too much money on Stamping Supplies from Le Papier but the card he made me was so wicked awesome I think the supplies were worth it.

Next Blog: Why Rockband kicks ass, and how to convince my boss at Starbucks that we should do Karaoke Sundays at the Bux.

The $100 Post

I'm going to try something. Sometime today, I will take a picture with my new phone and post it directly to my blog from the phone. I don't know how much it will cost, or if it will cost anything, because I signed up for FIDO's unlimited surfing option which includes 25 picture messages but the customer service representative doesn't know if my phone will be compatible with the option (why it wouldn't - I don't know.) That being said, I'll either pay $3.50 for the surfing option, and that's it, or I'll pay $3.50 for the surfing option and then pay like $10 for the post I send. It could be a pricy post.

Oh well, it's all in the name of research and learning.

While I'm Thinking About It

I love Calvin and Hobbes. I think it's the greatest comic strip in the entire world. And It really pisses me off to see stupid asshole jock losers with the "Calvin pees on the truck logo" stickers adhered to the back window of they loser trucks. They're crap.

What the hell do they mean anyway? Do you hate your truck brand? Wouldn't you want him peeing on the logo of an opposing truck company?? And why him? Why does it have to be Calvin? Why can't it be some crap jock icon? How about something involving Budlight, or the Kokanee Ranger? Calvin is in no way affiliated with beer and therefore non-jock relatable.

As if any of them have even read the comic anyway.

It's British Semantics really

Earlier today I avoided my take-home exam by sitting at Starbucks where I feigned work.

I sat in my stool at the bar and watched as Gary deviated from the perpendicular, resting his hand atop the sanitizer machine. He stood aghast at his now crud-laden hand and exclaimed, "I leant over and now look what's on my hand!"

I told him leant isn't a word. But I was proven wrong:

leant (lěnt)
v. Chiefly British
1. A past tense and a past participle of lean.
2. To Deviate from the perpendicular.

While I generally prefer the British version of all things relating to the English language, this time my ego is involved. So today I think Stupid Gary and his stupid British sayings.

We're in Canada Gary.

On Take Home Exams...

Imagine this:

The school term is almost over. The last week has been absolute hell but the seemingly endless pile of assignments has finally been completed and you breathe a sigh of relief.

You stroll into one of your last lectures, happy that all you have to do now is sit and learn, and then write the final. It's during this happy moment that your teacher drops the bomb: You final exam is three hours of multiple choice questions, and two take home essays. F*CK ME. That's what you think.

Fast forward a couple of weeks to the middle of exams. You've completed all but the last one, you're a tuckered out, and you just want to write a straightforward multiple choice test. But you can't. You have to sit in a Starbucks and come up with something to say about Educational Technology. Actually... make that two somethings. Two papers.

I don't want to write these. I just want to take the multiple choice test. I'm losing my motivation and the frenchman next to me, gesturing loudly while on his cell phone, is beginning to piss me off.

We're Snowed In and Making Dinner

Holy crap, there is so much snow. It's April 20th - what gives?? It's a good excuse to make rich, slow cooked food though.

Tonight we're making a close-roasted pork tenderloin with mole inspired seasoning and baby new potatoes. It's not really in the same flavour category, but we needed to use up our asparagus so we're making that too. It will be glazed asparagus with artichokes and a lemon-mayonnaise sauce. Yummers.

I also haven't finished Season 3 of Arrested Development yet so we'll be watching that tonight also. Snow days are crap, especially in late spring, but it's a nice excuse for a night in.

Happy Birthday to Me

Everyone knows about my cell phone mishap.  I've been droning on about it for weeks.  Well soon I will reach the exciting conclusion to this story because today I ordered myself a totally wicked-awesome Happy Birthday phone.

I bent under the pressure of all my friends and jumped the Nokia ship to Sony Ericsson.  The phone I ordered is the T650i and it's supa-pretty. I'm pumped. I just hope that its blogging feature works on the Fido network so that I no longer have to think "I should blog about that when I get home" and can instead think "I should totally blog about that right now - but won't cause it's way too much work."

Since I ordered the phone online, I imagine they'll ship it on Monday.  The shipping is 1-2 days so hopefully it's here for my birthday on Thursday. Yeah!

P.S. Watch this cool youtube video that showing off the phone's light-up effects!

Things I learned tonight:

1. If you go to a bar dressed as a firefighter, a good dance move is to pretend you're spraying everyone with  a hose while occasionally directing the middle finger to the ceiling.

2. You can pretend like you belong at all the parties by showing up, but people will still make fun of you if you're skanky enough to try picking up a homosexual of the opposite gender.

3. Just because you "dressed-up" by wearing a black T-shirt and black hat, doesn't mean you can stalk the cute 18 year old.  She's smart enough to avoid you.

4. Flailing around and bouncing chaotically is chic enough to fit in with hipsters.

5. It's 2008, but some clubs still think Rave music is a good theme for Friday nights.

6. My boyfriend can let loose every now and again.

Ho Hum

I'm lazing in a coffee shop, finishing the last bit of school work I have for the term, watching people stroll by with umbrellas.  Everyone looks cold.  Most people are wincing.

And yet there's something strangely gratifying about a rainy day.

I like music that features the Guit-board

Though you may know it as the keytar.

What a feeling

Flashdance is the coolest movie in the whole world. I I was so ahead of my time when, at four years old, I was obsessed with the soundtrack.

Whatever happened to the powerballad? Music now days needs to be more epic.

It's like, a frappucino

Dear Teenage Girls,

You should be aware that when you and your clique come into the Starbucks, we know what you're up to.  You'll ho-hum about what to get, check your text messages, giggle about Gordon's muscles and then each of you will order (one at a time) a stupid Caramel Frappucino and you will all pay with debit. We hate you.

My advice is you either pay cash, or take turns paying for each others drinks when you come in. Further to that, just tell us what you all want, all at once.  It's way faster that way.  The old man behind you who just wants a coffee will be very appreciative.  As for your text messages and Gordon: It's rude to use your phone when we're talking to you - but you can still giggle at Gordon. I'm pretty sure he likes it. He's a straight man at Starbucks - that's what he gets.

Let's talk about food ba-by...

I've decided that my life is very unfocused.  I spend a lot of time working and studying without really having a goal in mind.  I think my blog clearly reflects the discontinuity in my life.

Henceforth my blog focus is food - with the occasional rant re: whatever the hell I feel like.

My dilemma

Today I broke my cell phone.  It fell out of my hand as I flipped it open (the RAZRs open with such force after all,) and crashed to the ground.  I have the extended warranty on it but they won't cover the damage inflicted to it via ground collision.

Now I have no way to reach anybody other than the internet.  Perhaps I'll start using skype and my notebook can function as a giant cell phone.

My dilemma is what to do next.  About 3 weeks ago I decided I wanted to cancel my plan with Bell and switch to Fido.  At that time, Fido offered me a really sweet deal ($17.50/month for 200 minutes, free evenings & weekends @ 5pm) and Bell offered me a counter deal ($35/month for 200 mins, evenings & weekends @ 6pm, and system access fee included, and a $200 phone credit toward a new phone.) Now Fido has reneged on their offer and I'm pissed.

I don't want to renew my contract with Bell.  My last few bills have been insanely large and their customer service and website are really crappy.  But I don't want to pay $220 to cancel my contract and move to Fido if they're not willing to offer me anything half-decent.

Stupid Goddamn cell phone.  Why did I drop it.

WTF?

What the hell is with all the snow. Are we Toronto now?

Planet Earth in my Nose

For anyone who has seen the Cave episode of the BBC's Planet Earth series, remember the stalactites? and stalagmites? and eventually the extremophile snottites?

I feel like I'm a snottite.  But instead of producing sulphuric acid I just produce more boogers.

I hate being sick.

How Klever

Klassy is not better than classy,
Kafe is not the same as Cafe,
and Kool is determinedly un-so.

Why must you business owners replace Cs with Ks in your business titles? It's unnecessary and it makes you look fucking ridiculous.

Observe soklassyproductions.com par example.

I rest my case.

Thank you so much...

Last year, my mom won a scratch and win contest at Indigo Books. Her prize was a free book a month for a year.

Since then, she's given me her free book coupon about 2/3 of the time and I have used every one of them to buy cookbooks. Most recently, I picked up The Silver Spoon which is a veritable bible of Italian foods. This book has 2000 recipes and recommends using minimal ingredients for each of them.

Last night I made Bruschetta (with my own twist by adding roasted red pepper, pepperoncini pepper, and basil oil), my own mixed herb salad with goat cheese and cranberries, mushroom gratin, and simple tomato sauce (the only ingredients are tomatoes, fresh basil, and olive oil). I wish I could cook like that everyday.

Bobby took part in the fun and made us some Tiramisu to go with everything. We used the organic Espresso Regalo from Starbucks in it and man oh man, good coffee makes good tiramisu. It doesn't hurt that Marscapone cheese tastes like whipped cream mixed with butter - but crap it's expensive.

I love Italian food. I think it's my favorite. I'm happy it's so simple to make.

Meow meow purr purr

My cat, normally very independent, has taken to sleeping with me at night. He'd been crawling into my bed occasionally for a while but, after having my nephew over the other night (Gus is apparently terrified of my nephew), Gus has decided my pillow is the best place to spend his nights. It's cute and I appreciate it because somehow a purring cat makes it easier to sleep.

WTF?

So I'm sitting in the Lab section of my educational technology class this morning and have completed my assignment ahead of time. Check out my wicked multiple choice quiz and crossword puzzle on my fake school website here.

Anyhow we eventually segued from crossword puzzles and quizzes to using Excel as a tool for managing marks. Now, I understand that Microsoft Office is a completely alien set of application that nobody on earth ever uses for anything - especially not as a university student. Despite this, you can imagine my dismay when, what should have been a 10 minute demo, took for-fucking-ever. I can't believe that University students don't understand excel or, even more to my dismay, basic math functions! What is wrong with people??

Example:

My teacher demos how to add the marks of several assignments together and then calculate the average via a VERY complicated =average(c2:c5) formula.

Girl A: "What do you mean by 'calculate the average?' is that like, adding the numbers?"

Girl B: "Yeah, can you slow down? I'm still trying to find this 'excel' program? Where is it? On the desktop?"

Guy A (in a loud whisper - obviously intending for others to hear him): "I hate this fucking class. Why did I even wake up this morning."

Guy B: "Ya. I think I'm still drunk from last night."


THESE ARE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO TEACH?? HOW THE FUCK DID THEY GET INTO POST-SECONDARY?

Theme for my next party:

I can't wait.

It's a no...

I've decided against the food blog.  It's too much work.  Instead you can all just read whatever the hell I feel like writing on any particular day.  I think it keep things entertaining for you and easy for me.

That's a good combo.

Food Blogs

My blog is insanely disjointed.  It's a combo of food, video games, personal opinion, and journal entries. I was thinking, because other people's food blogs are kind of crappy, that I should start an exclusively food related blog. We'll see - I'm a little low on the "motivation" these days.

To counter Bobby's post on his favorite smash bros. character, I wanted to let everyone know that MY favorite character is Luigi.

He's fantastic. While I also like Pit, from Kid Icarus, I prefer Luigi because of his wicked side-flying head butt.  Smashy Smashy!

My failed experiment...

I had intended to photograph my herb garden as it grew so I could compare my regular herbs with my aerogarden herbs, but I've hit a snag.  My digital camera broke on Sunday at the GP staff party.  Now I have to describe the herbs instead and you'll just have to take my word for it.

Overall the aerogarden herbs are kicking the regular herbs asses.  By a lot.

That's all.

Anything but

I have a lot of homework to do.  

Actually, I've had a lot of homework to do for a week.

WHY THE HELL CAN'T I FOCUS AND JUST DO IT?

I've been having such a hard time gearing myself up to do it.  Anyone have any advice on how they overcome apathy toward school? Anyone? Please comment if you do.

After a week experiencing an etherial high from the surprise scholarship I received, I was crushed today when I received, what I consider, sub-par marks on my Ed Psych and EDIT tests.  I don't really care about my EDIT mark because I didn't study and otherwise just don't understand what the hell I'm supposed to do in that class.  On the other hand, I studied for Ed Psych and thought I knew the content fairly well.  It seems I'm just crappy at generalizing "arts" concepts - maybe I'm too detail oriented.

I miss sciences.

*sigh

Frigging Alberta

I'm tired of everybody's apathy toward politics.  Dismal voter turn out is so frustrating when it results in the biggest tory majority government ever.  The Edmonton Journal said that Albertans voted "en masse" for the tories but that's not true... the majority of Albertans voted "en masse" to stay home and do nothing.  We now have a majority government with 73 seats and an opposition with about 10.  That's pathetic.  That's not an opposition, that's 10 nerds who are about to be bullied into submission for the next three or four years.

I want to move.

Bowie's in Space

I'm studying for school - but photobooth is more fun

I heard it can be a side-effect...

Yesterday at work I lost my vision.

I was working along and suddenly I couldn't see out of my right eye.  It was scary.  An hour later my sight came back and everything's been fine since then.

Weird.

A note on the PDA

Dear nasty couple sitting across from me in the cafeteria:

It is not appropriate for you to make out at your table. I don't care how "in love" you are. We're in a cafeteria. If you need to make out, do it in some dark hallway. There's plenty of those at Grant MacEwan.

I'm trying to eat my grapes and you're making me want to barf them up.

My Grow Op

So I've been trying to cultivate some fresh herbs in my apartment but as I only get a minimal amount of light through my east facing patio door, they're not doing so well.  My mom must have felt sorry for me when I showed them to her on her last visit so yesterday she gave me a present.  It's an aeroponic indoor garden called (wait for it...) the AeroGarden.  Anyhow, it is the supposed fail-safe method to grow all sorts of plants indoors.  I'm going to track the growth of my traditional herbs, which I planted about a month ago, versus the AeroGarden herbs which I planted this morning.  The photo below compares the AeroGarden (left - obviously) to the old-fashioned herbs as they appear on day one of this study.  By week 9 I'm supposed to have a lush StarTrek-esque garden.  We'll see...

Here's what it's all about:

Bianca's look of unadulterated joy stems from her win at MarioKart moments before this was taken...

...and that's not a trophy in her hand, that's a pitcher of booze melange.

Francopains

Ou est la livre? A la bibliotheque,

Ou est la musique? A la discotheque!

It's so good!

On Video Games Live

For Christmas Bobby surprised me with tickets to go see “Video Games Live” which is a concert of video game music performed by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the Kokopelli choir. It was last night.

I know what you’re thinking.  And you’re right - It’s the nerdiest thing in the whole world. But it was great.

Imagine 2500 of edmonton’s nerd-elite all in one place (other than the Engineering Building at the U of A.)  It was hilarious.

There was a lot of cheering and shouting when the tracks for games like Final Fantasy and Super Mario were played.  I think the game that received the least amount of fanfare was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – with good reason.  What gamer gets super excited amount movie franchises turned game?? No gamer – that’s who. Harry Potter, hmph.

Other games whose soundtracks were played were Metroid, World of Warcraft, Jade Empire, Halo, Zelda, and Mass Effect.  Having never played most of those games, I didn’t really care about their music – new games all seem to have the same epic score soundtracks that I tend not to notice.

Afterward, we went to the Starlite room for the after party which was basically a Gravity Pope night out.  Eric, Jasmine’s boyfriend, made my night when he played Chill from Dr. Mario and Flashman from Megaman 2 in his DJ set.  Somehow I find it strangely exciting to hear video game music at a bar.  It helped me discover that I share my secret hobby with a bunch of people I thought were too cool for games. But their not! And that makes me happy, just like the concert did.

Midnight Cookies

It's midnight on a Saturday.  Instead of ripping it up with Gary and Noel at Suite 69 (which I think would have been supa-fun) I'm at home making chocolate chip cookies. However, when I say that "I'm" making cookies, I mean that Robert is.  It was my idea, and I was going to do it, but he took over.  

I'm very impressed with him right now as cooking at midnight is so unconventional and usually he's so logical. It's a leap.  

Maybe he was hungry.

Warp to World 3-Fun

So if you read Bianca's blog, you would know that tonight she's coming over for an old timey Mario, Mega Man, Zelda showdown.  It seems she'll be taking the soiree quite seriously as she's decking herself out in an all-over Mario Print Sweatshirt that (I think) she got from Woodward's.  This could be problematic.  I can't let someone upstage me in my Nintendo Nerdiness and the sweatshirt I had with Mario in his frog-suit on it, from grade 3, is long gone.  So I think I'll need to make a new shirt for tonight.  I was thinking about ironing on a classic mega man logo - something that shows he means business.  Just like I mean business - Robo-attacking, power-upping business.

Mmm... Lentil Soup

When looking online for recipes that might help me use up the copious amount of dried lentils I bought, I came across this recipe.

It's from the Post-punk Cooking website (which I've never been to before) and it sounds awesome.  As soon as I make it, I'll let you know how it goes.  I anticipate it will go well thanks to the Dean & Deluca spices Bobby brought for me from New York.

Tomato Bocconcini Salad with Basilolio

You need:

Baby Spinach
Cherry Tomatoes
Mini Bocconcini

Extra Virgin Olive Oil
White Wine Vinegar
Basil Infused Olive Oil

You need to:

Wash the spinach and dress it in white wine vinegar and olive oil. Pile the spinach leaves in the center of a plate and top with a generous grinding of black pepper and sprinkle of kosher salt.

then

Wash and halve all the tomatoes. Scoop out the seeds and the extra flesh. Stuff each tomato- half with a mini-bocconcini ball. Arrange the tomatoes on a plate in a ring around the spinach salad. Drizzle with the basil olive oil.

A Salad for One...

Today my uncle, my cousin, my mom, and my grandma came over for an afternoon visit. In preparation, I picked up a few groceries and put together a light spread. While the ciabatta with spinach dip was wildly popular, nobody touched my personal favorite: The tomato bocconcini salad with basilolio.

And now that everyone is gone, I will eat it myself - and I will love it.

My first real post

Ok. I need to complain a little bit about my computer problems.  Anyone that's one of my facebook friends and makes some attempt to creep on my profile every now and again should be aware of the computer problems I have had since last August.  I'm sad to say that here I am, six months later, and I have made no significant advances in getting my computer fixed.  Granted, I kind of gave up after January, but either way I'm pissed off.

In an attempt to improve my computer on my own, I went yesterday to buy some more RAM for my iMac.  Now, if you know the iMac at all, you know it's stupid easy to upgrade the ram.  You undo ONE screw and pull of this protect-o-plate, slide in the new ram, and you're done.  That's it.  Anyhow, during one of my many trip to MyMacDealer (don't ever take you're computer here - they're technologically intept and will tell you that your computer is fixed on FIVE DIFFERENT FUCKING OCCASIONS when really they've done nothing) they replaced some defective RAM.  It seems that upon replacing the RAM, they also stripped the screw holding the protect-o-RAM-plate onto the iMac.  You can imagine then, that it was ridiculously difficult when I went to upgrade cause I couldn't get the bloody thing off.  In the end I wound up breaking the plate in two and possibly damaging one of my RAM chips in the process.  That part is my fault but I attribute the situation to them. I hate them.

Now I need my computer fixed and I need a new protect-o-plate.  I love my Mac and am happy with it despite the shit luck I've had getting it fixed (Why don't computer techs listen when I talk to them??) but I really need to do something about this situation.  Maybe on reading week, when I'm blogging the hell out of some shit, I'll do something about it.

3..2..1..

Alright.  Here it is.  My blog.  I'm hoping that over the course of reading week, I'm able to post enough wicked awesome content that more people subscribe to my blog than to Bianca's.  For real though, I will make an attempt to write something semi-regularly to keep at least my parents interested.