Hopefully now I can get a good night's sleep...

So I just dropped about $200 on a new ComfortPillow by Tempur-Pedic. In the past, and for as long as I could remember, I had always stuffed my blanket under my neck because I could never find a pillow that was supportive enough for my neck.

I had previously bought an Obus Forme Contour pillow, but didn't like it because 1) the shape of the pillow really bothered me. I tend to hug my pillow when I sleep, and this pillow was not conducive to hugging. 2) It felt too small and 3) It still didn't give me the support I was looking for.

I eventually tried out a Tempur-Pedic pillow about a month ago, and I'd really felt the difference between the Tempur-Pedic memory foam, and the other ones. I was pretty much sold at that point.

I spoke with a friend of mine yesterday who had a Tempur-Pedic contoured pillow, and she said that the pillow has lasted her five years with no wear. Her husband still sleeps on conventional pillows, and he goes through about two every year at about $30 a pop. If you do the math, the conventional route is actually the more expensive one.

Most mornings when I wake up, even if I've gotten my 9 hours of sleep, it's rarely restful. I wake up feeling tense (from all my stress), cranky and very tired. And trust me when I say I don't wear tired very well. Hopefully this will solve the problem.

We also tried the Tempur-Pedic mattress, and we've already decided that when we go to replace our mattress the next time around, it'll be the Tempur-Pedic mattress that we'll buy.

I'm not in a happy place right now...

$1,600 to fix my car!! @#$%^$# clutch!!!

Plus, they won't have my car ready until tomorrow. But I can't pick it up tomorrow because I have five @#$%^$# meetings and will be at work late. And by the time I'm done, the dealership would have closed.

I'm just going to go into a dark corner now and cry...

Wow...

For some reason, I find this fascinating. Must be the biologist in me. Of course, if it really happened in my own yard, I would be none too pleased.

However, you can't blame the caterpillars, they are only doing what nature intended them to do. It's just as natural to them as farting is to us.

(BTW if someone can identify the language, I'd appreciate it. I'm guessing Swedish?)

KOOKY: A day in

Well, it's not even 9 am when I got a bit of excitement at work.

First today is the 2nd day of orientation for the 1st year medical school students. As in years past, they are doing some sort of bonding within their pods by playing silly games. Today a saw a bunch of people running across the grassy knoll, grabbing a tennis racket, and spinning around with it, racket end on the ground, handle end on their foreheads. Yes, these will be our future doctors.

Anyways, walking past them, I went into the village where I saw some filming happening. I asked the guy in Starbucks what they were filming, and he said it was something with Halle Berry in it. Sure enough, after I walked out of the store, they started rolling.

So I saw Halle Berry walk across the street, and get into a Volvo FC90. She was in the car alone, so I suspect that the whole scene was her talking to someone on a mobile. But we'll see when Things We Lost in the Fire comes out next year (premise sounds boring).

I thought about taking a picture with my camera phone, but someone probably would have yanked it out of my hands. I don't do stealth very good.

Hate your mobile phone?

Hate your cell phone? Battery died on you in the middle of a very important conversation? Well you can get your revenge by joining to annual Mobile Phone Throwing World Championships, held every year in Finland, the land of mobile phones.

The official site lists this year's winners' throwing distances. It's interesting to note that they use the French notation of a decimal (ie, they use a comma instead of a period).





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Comment on Techology by Calvin

Don't you feel sometimes that technology has resulted in a "I want it NOW!" culture?

Calvin's dad certainly thinks so, and I believe that his thoughts certainly reflect End Users feelings.

Because people are so used to getting technology instantaneously, and at a fairly cheap price, people simply assume that if they ask IT for it, they'll get it tomorrow (sometimes sooner), at virtually no cost to them.

When in reality, what they are asking for will probably take months to plan, develop, test and deploy, and probably costs tens of thousands of dollars as well as thousands of man-hours to put it together.

And you know what the real kicker is? This is supposed to be completely seamless for the end-user. ie they will probably never see the blood, sweat, tears and countless of late nights (or cups of coffee consumed) to getting the project up and running.

See what Calvin's dad has to say....

Wigs for Dogs

Do people really love their dogs that much?








[Source]

Canada World Youth

So my cousin "S", who's 18 and just graduated from high school, decided that, instead of going straight into university, she would go and see a bit of the world first. She just left today.

She's joined a program through Canad World Youth, volunteering with others to help out in the community. First, she'll be going to Grandby, Quebec for 3 months. Right after that, she'll be travelling to Africa (Senegal I think) for another 3 months of community work. CWY strongly discourages meetings with friends and family, so she won't be home for the next 6 months.

S is a really smart cookie, she's self-reliant, and whatever she puts her mind to doing, she can go a long way. But she doesn't know what direction she wants to take yet (like most 18 year olds). Hopefully by being away from her comfort zone, she will learn to discover where her passions will bend towards and discover her own path in life.

Words fail me...

Apparently, Wenger, the maker of the Swiss Army Knife, has created a knife with every tool that the company makes. This certainly has to appeal to someone, and heaven forbid, Hubby may ask for it for Christmas...

Pluto fights back

So after posting about the sorry state of Pluto, there seems to be a bit of a backlash from the other astronomers who weren't present to vote on Pluto's demotion to a dwarf planet.

You can even find "Save Pluto" paraphernalia all over the Internet. So do your part to support Pluto, buy a bumper sticker.

Why?

Why do people put mayonnaise in hot dogs?

I just had a jalapeno smokie with mustard, ketchup, cheese and onions. They listed all these ingredients on the whiteboard. But they didn't include mayonnaise, yet someone had put it in. Bad on them.

My stomach is not in a happy place right now, and I feel like puking.

Happy Friday everyone!

Google walks around nekked!

I checked Google Analytics today. To the left is a map overlay, showing where each person who hit my site is from. The bigger the circle, the greater the number of people who have hit my site from that area.

There seems to bee a nipple over Alberta and over Ontario.

MI-5

I am soooo excited! Hubby and I love MI-5 (called Spooks in the UK), and finally, finally, A&E is going to broadcast season 4.

They're already on season 5 in the UK, and I thought I would have to subscribe to BBC Canada to hopefully see it, but we're holding out a bit longer to subscribing to digital.

"Mark's Very Extravagant Mother Just Sent Us Ninety"

Apparently now Pluto has be de-classified as a plant because a bunch of astronomers have redefined what a planet is, and Pluto just didn't make the cut. We only have eight planets, not nine.

Science is so fickle, they can't even make up their minds about this sort of stuff. I now have to unlearn everything I've learned about the Solar System. I feel double sorry for all the schools and students who have to buy brand new editions of science textbooks stating that Pluto is not a planet in our Solar System. All astronomy papers must also be amended, theories thrown out.

Really the only winners here are the people who sell this information. That's what you get for changing your minds all the time.

Another Pride and Prejudice spoof

This one is better done than the Harry Potter one I posted a little while ago. The TV show is Avatar: The Last Airbender...



After some digging around, I found the original trailer (sorry, not the best quality)

Scary...

This happened near my house yesterday. In fact, we saw the police blockade as we were driving by there later that evening on our way to a late dinner out.

It's really scary to think that something like this can happen near my house and during rush hour. I actually take that stretch of road to work in the mornings. My mom actually takes that route home after work, and thank goodness she left work late.

One of hubby's friends had a similar thing happen to him, only he was hit because he got caught in the middle of a police chase in the middle of Downtown Lotusland. Again during rush hour. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt. However, how anyone would think that they would be able to get away in such a congested traffic area, I'll never know. I suppose adrenaline does things to you.

Anyways back to the accident last night. They had said on the radio this morning that she had broken up with him while he was driving. While he needs lessons in anger management, she needs to learn a few lessons in timing.

x != X

So I've been banging my head against the wall for about two weeks trying to figure out what was wrong with my code. Finally, today someone pointed out something so obvious, it's one of those things that you'd naturally miss, even if it punched you in the face.

What is the difference?

I ate a hash brown for breakfast?

I ate a hash brown for Breakfast?

Well, there's a capital in one and not the other. That was my problem. Depending on the language you work with, most programming languages are case sensitive, so the computer will treat them differently, even though they are the same to you.

Same, same, but different.

Pink is the new black?

Okay, I realise that all the examples in this post is from the same site, and the author of the site happens to like pink. I can live with that, after all, it's her opinion and her site. However, I don't like this trend of marketing pink things for the female market.

Marketing gurus out there: I love techie toys. However, I HATE PINK!!

Please do not insult my sensibilities by assuming your target consumer (ie, me) likes, or even want to buy something that's pink. The moment I see something pink, it turns me off from buying your product. Period.

Pink PSP
Pink RAZR
Pink DS Lite
Pink SLVR
Another pink RAZR
Pink Hello Kitty mobile
Pink headset (with diamonds no less!)
Pink Vertu
Pink Samsung E800 mobile
Pink Sanyo 3100
Pink Nokia N72 (My respect for Nokia has momentarily gone down the tubes when I saw this)
Pink PS2 Gaming Console

Okay, something a little more interesting...

Apparently, although this is rare, it is possible for your cervix to pop out during labour (called a cervical prolapse). It happened to someone on Hitched, and it took three tries for the midwife to shove it back in.

I am so not looking forward to this whole give birth to a kid thing...

What I Did Last Friday...

So I promised my friend PJ3 that I would do my best to post at least once a day if he would comment more.

This is going to be tough because I am really a boring person; I don't have a witty remark or intresting ancidote every day; in fact, sometimes it's hard press for me to think of anything to post. But here it goes.

So on Friday night, I went to River Rock Casino with a couple of my friends for some fun and frolecking. I netted a whopping $18.30 that night. Apparently, my game is Double Diamond, as I couldn't seem to win at any other one-arm bandit game. Good times.

Beta Blogger, Part 2

Okay, I'm beginngin to really like the new changes.

Spell check is really cool, and quite effortless! Words are highlighted and you just have to right-click to change, if you so desired.

I managed to get my web tracking back in, so we'll see if it does work

Template changes are a snap, and I'm so loving the widgets! Apparently you don't need to push out template changes any longer. Once you hit "Save", they are already there. Cool!

Star Trek Convention

I really, really, really want to be here this weekend. Every captain will be there, except for Captain Picard. Sigh.

Why am I not there? Money. We're going on a big trip next month, so I have to save up. But more importantly, no time! This weekend will be homework weekend, once again! Boooo! (BTW, for those who witnessed my crying jag over the weekend, I'm feeling much better!).

It's their 40th anniversary, so you know there's going to be lots of people (they're predicting 20,000!) and lots of stuff happening. My sister and I went two years ago, and it was fun, but kooky. (And I thought I'd never wear jeans in 40C weather in Las Vegas!) My sister tried talking me into going this year, but unless she does my homework for me, I'm planting my bum firmly in my seat in front of the computer.

Hello Kitty Mobile

This is for my friend in Calgary who loves Hello Kitty. Yep, they now have a phone... [Source]

Beta Blogger

So I'm trying out the new Beta features of Blogger right now.

Things I like so far:

• You can now label posts
• Template changes are much easier
• They've included widgets for easier template changes as well as edit options right on the blog itself.
• Side bar widget, template edits and WYSIWYG editor uses Ajax (the geek in me is happy)
• The ability to restrict who sees your blog. (not that I will for this blog, but it's nice to have that option).
• Single sign-in credentials using my Google account instead of keeping separate sign-ins for Blogger and the rest of Google-land.
  

Things that I'm not too impressed about.

• The template change removed my tracking, and I can't access the HTML yet. I'm hoping that will change soon. (I can go back to my old template, but I'll see how I like the changes first)

So far, so good...

KOOKY: Choosing a new boss

I'm in a unique position at work: I get to choose my new boss.

So my old boss had decided to take on another position. While I'm glad for him, that just means that things are kinda at a stand-still operationally. Don't get me wrong, things are still getting done, but it's a "wait-until-the-new-boss-is-hired-before-we-start-anything-new-and-revolutionary" situation.

What's unique about this is 1) I've never had to interview a boss before. Peers yes. 2) How many places allow peons to choose their boss? Not many. So I'm trying to make the best of it as I can.

I had volunteered to be one of the people to be on the selection committee. Needless to say, it's been interesting so far. Trying to define what I want as a manager, how to go about choosing that person, and defining what is best for the team is not easy: people have different ideas and different priorities. Trying to find someone to fit that criteria is even more daunting.

I'll let you know how things turn out...

I'm a cheap drunk

Apparently I can't hold my liquor. I had about 1/6th of a glass of white wine for dinner, and this was after I ate my food. I now have a pounding headache, my face is blotchy red, my skin's itchy, and want to curl up and go to sleep.

Hello Kitty Aficionados...

It seems that the Sanrio folks have come up with the ultimate Hello Kitty: A signature Hello Kitty figure with a Paris Hilton look. Unfortunately (or fortunately), it's only available in Japan, but if you're patient enough, I'm sure one will show up on e-Bay before long.

If this is not the way to immortalize Paris Hilton, then I don't know what would do it. And think of all the things that you can do with your Hello Kitty Paris Hilton doll...

[Source]

For all the Corrie fans...

KOOKY: Prostates

The following is an actual conversation that took place between DC, IT Plumber/Janitor and myself. IT Plumber/Janitor had posted this on his blog, but frankly, it's a really boring retelling, and the humour of the moment was lost. I am here to rectify this (please note this is a gross paraphrase of the actual conversation, we were too busy laughing)

*********************************

I've always thought that only men had prostates. Last Thursday, IT Plumber/Janitor dissuaded me of such a notion....

IT P/J: You know, even thought we work for the Faculty of Medicine, you'd think that discussions of bodily parts would come up more often. I learn about lots of things while talking with some researcher in the hallway of the Prostate Centre.

Weed: [Nagging about how men should be going to see their doctor now to perform annual checkups because the things that causes the risk and diseases that men develop later in life, can actually start in their late 20s, so it's a good idea to start measuring a baseline of health while he is still healthy. After all, you're IT guys, you too would be frustrated if you didn't know what state the system was in before, and would be frustrated with trying to catch problems early too, but the end users wouldn't tell you that's there's something wrong, correct? Nag, nag, nag]

IT P/J: The thought of working with a roomful of guys with smelly fingers, leave that job to the doctors.

Weed: Well, it's a good thing women don't have prostates for a doctor to check.

IT P/J: Actually, I was told by a doctor that there is a cluster of tissue (in the female) that has very similar cells structure as male prostate. It is commonly known as G-spot. I guess that also explains why some guys get off on getting their prostate massaged during "certain situation".

DC: [Doubles over in laughter] You just confirmed what I already knew.

[Hilarity ensues]

Blueberry Pie!

Today a bunch of us went to White Spot for lunch. While they try to make themselves out as a gourmet establishment, their food is pretty middle of the road. (They have some really bad, cheesy TV commercials with Rob Feenie, who owns Feenie's and Lumiere, and John Bishop, who owns Bishop's, a few very poo-poo restaurants in town). However, White Spot is known for some favourites, one being their blueberry pie.

Yes folks, it's blueberry season right now, and Lotusland can churn them out by the truckload. They're plump and big and oh so yummy!

I had a huge slice for dessert for lunch, and boy, was it ever so yummy! It was more like blueberry, with a side of pie. Really! So I got the brilliant idea to buy a whole pie for dessert for our Star Trek Marathon that we had tonight. Definitely a hit! Yum!

Blueberry with a side of pie!



A mountain of blueberries!

GIMP

Photoshop users, do you want to use an imaging tool that's as good as Photoshop (or so I've been told)?

Try the GIMP.

What do I use imaging software for? Well, I use it for resizing an image, and cropping and image. That's it. I'm a photo imaging loser, I can't do anything else. In fact, my brain freezes up when I try doing anything more than that. Okay, maybe use the sepia function, but that's pushing it.

The beauty of the GIMP is that it's completely free. Here are some photos from the Calgary Stampede from a month ago that has been sitting on my hard drive because I didn't get a chance to transfer the images to my work laptop, which has Photoshop, so I can resize the images, but now they're resized now that I've just installed GIMP on my desktop....

Free Pancake breakfast!


Me at the Indian Village


Hungry porkers!

Captain Picard Song

I almost peed in my pants when I saw this. It's really well done!



(If it doesn't download, view it here)

Keira Knightley: A Biopsy

RC from Strange Culture had left a comment on one of my blog postings asking why I had it in for Keira Knightley. Not true. I just don't understand why she's such a big thing right now and why people think she's so hot.

I won't comment on her looks as she was born with her features and can't help how she looks. She does have nice eyes, I will give you this. (I don't think she's bad looking per se, she just has weird features).

I will instead point two things out which she can change:

#1) KK can stop slouching.

KK has a long graceful neck, and would look elegant if she actually didn't slouch. I think anyone who slouches makes themselves look lazy and unintelligent. But most of all, it's an unflattering look on anyone. Anyone's looks can improve immensely by just standing up straight.

With her longer neck, she reminds me of a vulture. Or a turkey. Here's proof:










































If you still don't believe me, then you stand in front the mirror and see if you can stick your head out in front of the rest of your body. The only way to do so is by slouching.

#2) She needs acting lessons.

I've seen KK in six movies: Bend It Like Beckham, Love Actually, King Authur, Pride and Prejudice, Pirates of the Caribbean 1 & 2

In all six movies, she has failed to wow me with her acting. In fact, her acting's very forgettable. She does a good enough job at delivering her lines, but please don't tell me that she's a good actor, or tell me that she actually deserved all those nominations for her role as Elizabeth Bennet.

The worst for me was the scene where Lady Catherine confronted Elizabeth about her supposed "engagement" to Mr. Darcy. Judi Dench was awesome. KK was a walking zombie. For pete's sake girl, someone stops by in the middle of the night to throw false accusations at you, and insults you and your family in the process, and you act like you're sleepwalking?

She acts the same in every single movie, and she has the really boring pouting thing that she does in every single movie. Very unoriginal. She doesn't make me believe that she's any character. She makes me believe that she's KK trying to be another character, and failing miserably, IMO.

But I suppose there's no accounting for some people's tastes.