I saw a hairy coo!

So we're safely back in Seattle. The only major mishap was that Heathrow lost one of my mom's baggage, but it should show up eventually. We think it's still in London.

We had an awesome trip! One of the trip highlights was seeing many Highland hairy coos and sheep. I'll eventually post up my trip summary, it may not be tomorrow as I'm already feeling the jet-lag, and we still need to drive home to Lotusland and do loads of laundry, catch up with the work and school stuff that I've missed.

I'll leave you with a Scottish joke:

Q: There are 10 coos on the field. How can you tell which one is the oil tycoon?

A: coo-eight (Kuwait).

PS coo == cow

Tea with the Queen!

Yay! So we're finally going to go on our UK trip! I probably won't have much of a chance to go on the Internet the next 10 days.

Pray that my foot will hold up, that none of us will get sick and that there won't be any hassles with the airport.

Stay tuned for my UK update in a couple of weeks...!

Passing through Seattle...

So we're in Seattle right now. Tomorrow we'll be heading to the SeaTac Airport and on to London!

My sister spoke with BA, and they assured her that it would take max one hour to get from Terminal 1 to Terminal 4 at Heathrow. Plus, they will transfer our baggage to the connecting flight. So I feel a bit better.

Tonight we went to Jak's Grill for dinner. I highly recommend it, the steak was yummy. But anything cooked in butter will always taste good.

Getting Ready.

So tonight we've been frantically packing for our big trip. Tomorrow we'll be driving down to Seattle and staying at my sister's place overnight. Then Friday evening, we'll be on a plane headed to London!

We have possibly one minor snafu in the travel plans. We will be going to Edinburgh on the second half of our trip. From there, we will be flying directly from Edinburgh to Heathrow, and from Heathrow back to Seattle. We have a two hour window to switch planes.

Formally, we thought that we would have enough time to switch planes, but that was before the whole bombing scare. We have to sprint from Terminal 1 to Terminal 4. Anyone whose been to Heathrow knows how massive that airport is. Cross fingers that we will get there in time (or perhaps swing an earlier flight).

Because I have nothing much to say...

I found the Netherfield Ball scene for both the 2005 and the 1995 versions of Pride and Prejudice. I love the music and the imagery of the 2005 version (conversation is a bit stilted, not sure if it's on purpose or they were concentrating hard on their steps), but the 1995 version's closer to the book.

2005 version:


1995 version (see Jane bob her head):

BMW Films

This is my favourite BMW Film - Star. And yes, that's really Madonna.

(Sorry, it's a big file, so you may want it to load fully first before watching)

Resize Images

This tool is awesome! Every time you want to resize an image, you normally need some tool like Photoshop to do the dirty deed. I found this great site that will resize images for you, including making avatars.

I love the Internet!

This hot/cold thing BITES!!

Okay, I'm suppose to subject my foot to one minute of cold (0C) and one minute of hot (40C). I have had several people tell me that this is a good technique to help my foot heal faster, but I've never heard of this technique before. I'm not doubting the physio's and my friends word, I just don't understand how this is suppose to help my foot. Anyone care to enlighten me?

Oh, and pray hard that my foot will be well by Friday. Well, really Saturday morning, as by that time, we'll ben in London!

Heels: 1, Weed: 0

So last week I had managed to hurt my left foot wearing heels. I thought I'd dress up nicely for a change, seeing that it was my 4th wedding anniversary. It would have been okay, except I walked across campus in the heels. Not my brightest idea.

Before the end of the day, my left foot was in considerable pain, and not because of my foot rubbing against my shoe and causing blisters (I didn't get blisters). No, apparently, the cuboid bone (I think that's what it was, he was talking fast, despite my asking him to repeat it several times) in my foot was slightly out of alignment, according to my physiotherapist. What I could gather from him, because it was slightly out of alignment, it was interfering with some muscles and nerves, causing the pain.

Now my foot's all taped up, and I'm going to follow his instructions: alternate between hot and cold to help with the healing. I don't know how that will help, but I'm going to trust him. After all, I'll be going on vacation in a week, and doing lots of walking, so my foot better be better by then.

I feel like someone's beaten me up...

Finally, after another harrowing 11.5 hour day, it's done. My main user group was pleased as punch that they weren't harassed as much this time around (and that's saying a lot). They saw it as a success (again, that's saying a lot).

I had a barely standing application which I pretty much baby-sat for a two days, ending with a server crash. Sweet.

The whole ordeal for me lasted about 36 hours, minus about 5 hours of sleep that I did get. All that to fight against human nature: procrastination and last-minute-itis. Bah.

So to entertain you readers, here's someone interpretation of Gwen Stefani's song Hollaback Girl. This is somewhat amusing, or my foggy, sleep-deprived brain seems to think so.

T -20-ish hours...

And counting. It's 8.19PM, my day will end at 4.30pm, tomorrow. Yes, I'm counting down the hours now.

KOOKY: First day of school...

I hate today. Today is the first day of school. That means that students whose parents have paid for the BMWs, Mercedes and Z350s have parked their cars in my parking space in the parkade! Actually traffic wasn't that bad this morning until I got onto campus. It was then a 10 min wait to get to the parkade. Stoopid students have ultimately added 10 minutes to my commute.

Further, I refuse to go into the main part of campus for the next two week. Err, make that until the end of September, as I'll be on holidays mid-September. Just waiting for things to settle down a bit. I'll be hiding in my soul-sucking, windowless office in the basement until then (actually, it's not too bad down there, but I wish we had a window. The guys do freak out when the Midwifery people next door start making weird noises, ha!)

This week is also the deadline to put in your medical school application. I was absolutely appalled at how many people put in their application at the very last minute! It's like they don't really care whether or not they want to get into medical school! The thing is that not only do they have to have their online application filled out and fee paid, but they also have to have all their transcripts and other supporting documentation in by the deadline as well. The courier companies will be making a killing come Thursday.

In any case, not only do I get to work overtime this week (and not get compensated), I have start arranging for things for when I go on holiday. I'm also feeling a big blob as I haven't had a chance to go to the gym in the last week or so. First it's work, then I hurt my foot on Friday (my fault), but darn it, it still hurts!

Yeah, I'm a big whiner!

How to find someone on the internet...

Dumb Little Man proves just how easy it is to find someone on the Internet...

Cirque Du Soleil

The first time I'd ever watched a Cirque Du Soleil show was actually on a 3D screen, Journey of Man. I personally didn't like the film as a whole, but the acrobatics really got me hooked.

My favourite part was the scene with the two statues. How anyone was able to hold those positions for any length of time astounds me to no end. Yes the picture on the left are two human beings, and not inanimate object, and yes, they are holding themselves up using strength alone.

Since then, I've seen four Cirque Du Soleil shows: "O", Mystere, Alegria and Saltimbanco. "O" is my favourite out of the four. This one's a little different from the rest of the Cirque shows as about 2/3 of the show is done in water. I would pay money to go see this show again, and this show is not cheap to watch! Alegria is the favourite out of the tent shows.

I was poking around YouTube and found a few clips that were interesting (clips may take a minute to load):

"O" trailer:


Clip from Alegria (this is long):


Cirque du Soleil at the 2002 Oscars:

I'm in trouble now!

My Pride & Prejudice piano music finally landed on my doorstep yesterday. I was planning on spending pretty much the entire weekend doing homework, but temptation awaits!

As much as I was lukewarm about the movie, I loved the music. I'm afraid that my butt will be parked in front of my piano instead of my computer. Eep!

Okay Go

Many of you probably have seen this, but it's neat enough for me to share with those of you who haven't seen it...

Anniversary

So yesterday was my 4th wedding anniversary. Yay us! For those of you who weren't at our wedding, that's my cake topper on the left, which I made myself (ie bought the action figures, and glued them on a platform). I still love this thing, and it sits proudly on my desk for all to see.

We didn't do much, just went to Quattro on Fourth for dinner (it wasn't too bad, but I wasn't really all that hungry), then rented Inside Man. It was entertaining, and I give it two thumbs up. The story is laid out very neatly, and there is a twist at the end, of course. However, it's also a pretty forgettable film. Acting was good, but Clive Owen couldn't quite nail the American accent, so it irritated me a bit, and I really like Clive. I liked him much better in the BMW Films and in Gosford Park. Sin City, meh, I felt that he didn't fit the roll. Maybe he just shouldn't be doing films where he has to speak with an American accent. (I also saw him in King Arthur and Bourne Identity. King Arthur just wasn't a very good movie, and in the Bourne Identity, he was just boring.)

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).





.

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.

Does Your English Cut the Mustard...

I suck...

Your English Skills:

Grammar: 80%

Punctuation: 80%

Spelling: 80%

Vocabulary: 40%

Does Your English Cut the Mustard?

Got this from The Teacher...

The Source of all Evil

You decide...

http://thesource.ofallevil.com/

I am coveting this right now...

No, not the bed frame, that's ugly! The mattress!

I was at the Relax the Back store over the weekend and decided to lay on their floor model. It was comfy. Extremely comfy. Insanely comfy. (I also sat in a Zero Gravity chair. Very comfy as well).

And only a mere $2400 for a Queen size. I will be dragging hubby there one day soon.

Hubby should be glad it's not the Porsche Carrea GT that I want to get, only a mere $550,000...

Treasure Hunters

So I stumbled on this show Treasure Hunters on Monday and found it a pretty interesting watch. There are a lot of similarities to The Amazing Race, as these people travel around the world doing different things.

The main thing about Treasure Hunters is that the whole entire game is a puzzle, and not just parts of it. It also seems that time and money are not factors in this (except the fact that each team is racing against each other). They're also given little laptops to carry around and use should they need to.

"Treasure Hunters is an exciting new adventure quest series featuring multi-player teams that will be sent off around the globe on a search for clues leading to the location of a hidden treasure. The first team to decipher all of the clues will be given the location of the treasure. The focus of the show will is not so much on the race to find clues, but on the actual solving of the puzzle instead."

Interesting premise. It certainly appeals to me at some level as I really love puzzles and rather take my time to figure something out properly than trying to race to figure something out quickly.

I'm surprised that NBC doesn't have a heck of a lot of information about this show on their website. They are looking for cast members, but it's uncertain if it's for the current season or the next one. I'm not too sure if they're somewhat ashamed of this show and don't want to showcase it too much on their website, or their webmaster is just incompetent and didn't plan out the site appropriately.

One group that's already annoyed me is the "Geniuses". Whether or not these three guys are really as geeky looking in real life as they portray themselves on the show, I don't know. But their theme was just lame. And they were annoying me.

But I guess I have another thing to watch on Monday nights for the next little while.

Pride & Prejudice Meets Harry Potter

I love both (although I still reject the idea of Keira Knightley playing Elizabeth Bennet), so I found this vastly amusing...

Arr, ye mateys!!

I went to go see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest last week. I give it 7 out of 10. Here's why:

• They put way too much plot in the storyline. Without seeing if there were a lot of ties between the second and third movies, I have to say that they crammed too much in. I was actually wondering when the movie was going to be over about 2/3 of the way through it. That's just not a good sign.
  
• I liked the first movie better because the plot was neat enough and the movie was fun! This movie was fun too, but it dragged too much, and took some of the fun away from it. I felt that the big fight scene with the water wheel was just too long. (Although a friend of mine liked this movie better than the first one cause there was more swashbuckling action).
  
• I don't understand Davy Jones's character, and unless they explain how he came about in the first place in the third movie, I will be vastly disappoint in the script.
  
• The voodoo lady was getting annoying.
  
• One question that I kept asking myself is "What happened 13 years ago to make Jack Sparrow promise his soul to Davy Jones?" If it's answered in the third movie, I'd wished they'd hint at it in the second. If they don't tie this up neatly, again I'll be disappointed.
  
• My other question is, "What the hell is Keria Knightley's character doing in this movie?" Really, if it weren't for the fact that they felt they had to include Keria Knightley in the movie, they definitely could have done without the character. Really. And I'm not just saying this because I thinks she's a mediocre actress at best.
  

What did I like?

• The way Jack Sparrow runs like a girl. (And Johnny Depp was excellent through the whole movie)
• Tom Hollander, who played the bad guy.
  
• Actually most of the acting was good. And Orlando Bloom, for all the over-acting that he did in Lord of the Rings, is getting a wee bit better. But I still don't like him. Or KK.
  

A word about Tom. I've seen him in Pride and Prejudice and Gosford Park. He played two completely different characters in both movies, and I really thought he did a wonderful job in both. I didn't know he was playing the baddie in Pirates until I watched the movie. I hated the bad guy, and that to me, made me respect Tom Hollander's skill as an actor more. I've also seen him in a couple of other productions, but those two movies stick out the most in my mind because I've only seem them about 50 times each. Heh.

Chaucer' Blog

One thing that had really bugged me was that people had always called Shakespeare "Old English". It's not Old English people! It's Modern English. The colloquialism is different, that's all. It's no different than if you went to Australia or England and you heard phases or terms that you don't understand. Their terms of references are different from North America, yet, they are still speaking English!

Case in point, Shakespeare's Sonnet 18:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date

Now here's Middle English (Intro to Canterbury Tales):

Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;

Old English (Intro to Beowulf):

Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum,
þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.
Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,

So you can see what the difference is!

Anyways, I was chuffed to see that Chaucer has a blog. Check it out!

iPod Accessories

You too can have a toilet paper holder with a built in iPod player stand. More here.

Disco Darcy

I never liked Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice.

But I have to say that this Disco Darcy grew on me...


[Source]

Back to Lotusland

Well, I'm finally back in Lotusland after 11 lovely hours on Highway 1. The trip should have taken 10 hours, but we ran into traffic going through Surrey for no apparent reason. I think the Port Mann Bridge is a huge bottleneck, hence the reason why they're going to twin the bridge. Trust me, sitting on a highway with the sun beating down on the car, at a dead stop in a 100 km/hr zone is not my idea of fun.

Some points of notice about my trip to Cow Town (in no particular order):

• I saw lots of moo-cows, and mooed at them. They didn't respond.
• Who is crazy enough to bike up the Coquahalla highway? That highway going north is pretty steep. Well, I saw three crazy people.
  
• Calgary can get pretty windy
• Calgary has mosquitoes. I was bitten three times
• RVs are spawns of Satan.
  
• No amount of talking will convince me that cowboy boots, cowboy hats, plaid shirts and string ties are a fashion statement.
  
• We had a lot of bug guts splattered over our windshield while driving on the highway. One particular insect splatter is bright yellow. I wonder what sort of insect it is? (There were some red splatters as well. We figured them to be mosquitoes who had a feeding frenzy on some humans. Imagine that, another person's bodily fluids on my windshield).

I also saw a lot of really bad driving while on the highway. Some didn't understand the concept of a fast lane. Here are some tips:

• If there are people passing you, get out of the fast lane!
• If there is more than one car tailgating you, get out of the fast lane!

Savvy?

Cow Town Day 3 - One sick hubby!

Well, we were suppose to have gone hiking in Banff today (Saturday), but hubby was still not feeling well. So I left him at home while I hung out with my friend "L" and her hubby "R".

L also bought a electronic piano the same time I did, and I was playing with it a little bit. I'm not as rusty as I though I was, but my piano-playing skill has really degraded with many years of non-practice.

The highlight of the day was going to Smuggler's Inn for dinner. Prime rib, yum! I'm still trying to figure out how big their biggest cut is. 21oz?

Cow Town Day 2 - Stampede

Today we went to the Stampede. I actually have pictures on my cell, but I won't be able to download them until I get home.

First off, we went and had free Stampede Pancake breakfast. After all the horror stories that I've heard about half cooked food, it was surprisingly not too bad. I can understand that they end up making food for several hundreds of people, so that may happen.

As we were taking the C-Train to the Stampede grounds, hubby was decidedly not feeling well, so ended up going home. I continued on with a couple of hubby's friends.

I had a pretty good time, but I hate to say it, the Calgary Stampede is somewhat similar to the PNE. Sure, the PNE doesn't have chuckwagon races or rodeos, but there is a separate rodeo in Lotusland that has similar stuff.

One of hubby's friends kept on trying to get me to buy a cowboy hat and trying to convince me that cowboy wear (cowboy hat, cowboy boots, string ties, large belt buckles and plaid shirts) were the in thing for fashion. Uh, no thanks. There were a lot of people around wearing various combinations of the above, which was odd for me to see.

Cow Town Day 1

After an 11 hour drive from Lotusland to Cow Town, we were pretty tired. We had to contend with drivers that drove in the fast lane that should have been in the other lane, RVs, road construction... Fortunately, no dead deer, although we saw mountain goats.

So today, shopping at Market Mall, Gravity Pope, and I picked up this sweet thing. Now we have to figure out where to put it...

(Yamaha P140)

Off to Cow Town!

Tomorrow hubby and I will be heading off to Calgary to visit the family and friends out there, so I may not be blogging for the next few days. Hopefully we'll get there in one piece. PST-free shopping here I come!

Other news:
Said application (SharePoint) that I had to demo, my director at the last moment pull in our PM/Consultant, who knew the application better than I did. Which was a good thing as there were people there who asked questions that I couldn't answer, but he could. I hardly said a thing. Stress over! Thanks for the good thoughts guys!

However, the day I go back to work, I have three back-to-back meetings in a row in the afternoon. The morning will be spent to wade through email. (Okay, maybe not. I'm lugging the laptop to Cow Town, so I may check before then =P No nagging, DC!)

I need to keep my big mouth shut...

I just let my director (my boss's boss) talk me into doing a demo tomorrow on an application that I know very little about. However, I'm deemed as one of the "experts" in the group, as I have played around with the application more than most others, and I do certainly am more familiar with it than she is.

I have no idea who my audience is. I will need to get plenty of sleep tonight so I don't look like a walking zombie like I normally do. And I will need to dress up a bit and put on makeup. And write up an outline. Bah.

This post is sponsored by IT Plumber/Janitor

Hubby, a new word for you to use in regards to the idiots who served you at Vera's Burger Shack: himbo.

(Note that one of the owners had actually responded to hubby's comment. Good times!)

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

"SKOOKUM"

Okay, I've now hear this used word used by three different people, all who are at work, and twice alone this week. It seems that it has various meaning, but it's definitely regional jargon that's becoming mainstram (locally anyways). You should see if you can incorporate it into your conversation once a day.

"Skookum."

There's my effort for today.

[Wikipedia]
[InfoPlease]
[Encarta]
[Grandiloquent Dictionary]

N's birthday pic

This is a picture from Sunday, when we took N out for his birthday. He and hubby had the feast for two.

Happy Birthday!

Happy July the 4th!

Today happens to be my best buddy, "N"'s birthday. We took him out for dinner on Sunday, and I made him choose a restaurant, so he goes and chooses Liliget Feast House. I never knew that we had a Native Indian cuisine restaurant until now.

I had the venison. It was okay, it tasted a bit like steak, but was tougher and chewier, but still moist (ie, not dry). It was not as gamey tasting than I thought it would be. Hubby and N shared the Liliget Feast Platter for Two.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10.

Afterwards, we went to La Casa Gelato for dessert. N had Durian & Jackfruit and persimmon. I could smell the durian.

Venison:

Some pics from English Bay:
Inukashuk (N and hubby are standing on the left in the shadow):

New fan! (Finally)

So thanks to our friend and all around fixer-upper guru "E", we had our fan installed last week. Yay!

Why were there sparks when hubby did it? Well, he screwed a screw into a wire. Way to go hubby. But really, it's a good thing that he didn't electrocute himself when that happened.

It took me a couple of days to get used to the fan blowing air down instead of from the corner of the room, but it does the job more or less. Now let's hope it doesn't get any hotter...

KOOKY: Can you spot the difference?

(Boy, I haven't done a KOOKY posting in a while...)

Can you spot the difference?

gynecology
gynaecology

And more importantly, do you really care?

Well someone does care, because they got really upset about it, and they want them all changed.

Welcome to my world.

(They wanted the one with the "a" in it, British spelling and all. And it seems that Blogger spell check is an equal opportunist, it recognizes neither).

Weed's guide to the Grouse Grind

So today hubby and I did the Grouse Grind. I wanted to do something a little different from my regular Saturday morning step class at the gym, and since it was such a nice day, I figured, why not?

Today's time: 1hr 9 mins.

I'm really pleased with this time as it's the best time I've done since university. I guess all the cardio I've been doing has helped.

Weed's rules when doing the Grouse Grind:

• Never stop for more than 30 seconds
• Never sit down, except if you need to remove a pebble from your shoe, otherwise, you'll never get back up again

However, we did get there at 8.50 am, waaaay too late as there were a lot of people on the trail, too many for my taste. We're going to try getting there at 8 am next time.

Afterwards, hubby and I went to IHOP for brunch. Yum!