These truly are the dog days of summer... I've been happy but lacking any desire to do any posting. It's hard to imagine that the long weekend is already here; where did the summer go?
I hooked up with Carmen yesterday for the first time in a long time. We've talked and emailed but hadn't actually gotten together since January! At least that was the last time that either of us could recall. She's great as always and has also been having a busy summer. Hopefully we can manage to have these get togethers be a little more frequent in the future.
The big news of the day came from Carrie, (belated birthday wishes kiddo!) when she gave me a call last night. It was her birthday yesterday and she had some huge news; she got engaged on Wednesday! Greg popped the question and she said yes. I'm really happy for her as she's a total sweetheart and deserves to be happy.
I also heard from Janice who recently got back from her vacation in Kelowna and is headed to Montreal next month. I missed her email from earlier this week, so we're going to get together next week sometime. Been a while since I've seen her as well. Where did the suimmer go?
Well, it wasn't even five minutes after I had posted on Friday that I found out that the Kelowna fires were moving. My aunt and uncle as well as my cousin and her husband had all been forced to evacuate their homes. It was so surreal to think that the fire was moving through a neighborhood that I had grown up in. I still have friends that are living there and I wonder how they're doing.
Friday night was spent relaying messages to the family down here and the main thing is that everyone is safe. The weather is improving a little, so hopefully they'll be able to get a handle on it.
For me, my weekend has been uneventful. I napped most of Saturday away and today
I did some shopping. Exciting stuff. I did catch up with Andrea last night and she's doing well. She's taking a little break from her site but expects to be back in a week or two.
Stats time now... I would appear to be the internet authority on XXX XXX-XXXX. 36 people have come to this site since the begining of the month after entering that phone number into a search engine. I'm starting to think that I should call and thank someone for all the traffic...
Spare a thought for the people in Kelowna tonight. Those fires are really burning up the valley and it's shocking to watch your hometown in that state. Thanks to all of you who have asked but all of my family is either in the city or north of it and not in any danger, but we do know people who had to flee. What a terrible thing to go through...
So Biff can't play baseball... That's a shame.
Today is 819. Some of you will know what that means. For the rest, perhaps someday I'll explain it... Another Friday 5 as I'm short on things to say and yet feel the need to blog. Go figure...
Damn Source Safe wouldn't let me check out this page... Sadly for all of you, I got it fixed. So Monday is done and only four more days to go at work. Today was fine and they actually bought a foosball table, TV and xBox for the office. Just in time for me to leave; perhaps they are celebrating my departure. Of course unless I assemble it, they might be SOL as no one seems to be very handy around there.
Had to go up to Brian's place and get that worm off his computer. Damn thing wouldn't let me use a floppy but I was able to grab it from here before it re-booted on me. Took over almost hour but he's back in business.
If you haven't been infected but still need the patch (yes Mom, I'm talking to you...) you can go to Microsoft and get the fix. On the upper right click on 'Download' and then choose 'Open'. Follow the instruction and let it do it's thing. Re-boot when it's done and you'll be ok.
I ran into Louie and Cathrine on my way home. They moved downtown a couple of months ago and they're really liking it. Good to see them again and they were surprised and happy that I'm heading back to IW. Me too...
I've noticed that Andrea is taking a break. I hope it's just a break but her site doesn't seem to be up anymore. I know she hasn't been posting as much as usual but I hope this is only temporary. I already miss her views on life.
Gonna make some dinner and then finally start work on a new pictures page. That's been in the works for months now and I have some new pictures to put up. I imagine this news has you all aflutter...
Well, the summer of weddings is officially over... It doesn't seem all that long ago that I was trying to get Paul down to the Soho for his stag in time to prevent everyone from killing me for being late. In four weeks I've been to two stags and two weddings and it's all gone so fast.
Karan and Claire were married yesterday evening at Cecil Green Park at UBC. It was a beautiful ceremony and was a great feeling to be a part of seeing your friends get married. They had a funny slide show after dinner and many touching speeches that made it pretty obvious that they will have a long and happy life together.
It's hard to reacap the entire evening here but seeing Karan and Claire and all my other friends together reminds me of how lucky I am to have such great friends. Once again, lots of past and present Infoslaves which only made me more excited about returning. Paul, Rachel, Kim, Jennifer, Ryan and Marwan were all there and were really happy that I'm able to go back to IW. Everyone is doing well and having a great summer so it was nice to be able to spend this evening together.
I should have taken more pictures, particularily of Claire who was so beautiful in her dress. It was also really nice to meet the families and friends from both sides. Karan was hilarious during his speech; ever the ubergeek, he had his speech on his handheld but kept losing his place. He finally admitted that paper would have been better which got a big laugh as Claire had warned him about that.
Thanks also to Maureen and Chris whom we had just met and were kind enough to cart our butts out to UBC and back so that we could get liquored up. Actually, we were all pretty good and didn't go too crazy. It was just nice to be a part of it all...
Today was a stressful day. As some of you know, I am returning to Infowave in September. I had to go and give my notice less than 24 hours after having been given a really positive review and raise at Responsetek. Talk about awkward timing...
They were pretty surprised and disappointed but accepted my resignation. They gave their opinion of the move but didn't press the point. I know that even now, Infowave is risky but in my gut it feels right. I've been laid off before and it might very well happen again but I've been there and I can handle it. It's always hard to quit when you like the people that you work with and I know that the timing was bad, though I don't think that there's ever a really good time to do it.
On the positive side, I'm really excited to be returning to Infowave; it's going to be like going home again and it's a great feeling. I don't know what the deal is; I guess I'll never work downtown for any length of time! At least this time I was able to do it during the summer and really enjoy being downtown. Working downtown is great but ultimately the destination is more important than the location.
Many thanks to the asshole who set off the fire alarm at 3:20 this morning. There was no fire but in a building this size, how do you tell? I talked to the manager in the morning and inadvertantly ratted the person out after I told her I heard a woman yelling "Dave, where are you going? Dave!" over and over.
She was really interested in that and it turns out that they had someone on video tape but couldn't prove anything. Once I had told her what I heard she knew exactly who was involved so I guess it's case closed. Bastards. I was awake for over an hour after that.
Amazing news from Hooterville today... Gramps is out of the hospital! I gave him a call tonight and he sounded great; really strong compared to the last time we spoke. He might have to go back in but at least he's home for now.
I had an interesting meeting at work today. Riz called me into the CEO's office and did it a manner that made me feel that there was going to be trouble. Obvoiusly he did it that way to try and get a rise out of me. They told me that they were very happy with me so far and that they had some things that I need to work on, which I was already aware of. They then told me that they were happy to tell me that there were giving me a raise! Yeah for me!
Unfortunatley, I won't see that raise until Monday as payroll screwed up again and the cheques won't be ready until Monday. That's the third time in the five months I've been there. Nice. It's not that big a deal I guess; I don't need the money but that's not really the point, is it?. Whatever, it made me feel good and it's always nice to be appreciated and recognized by your employer.
Odd that no one pointed out that I had mis-spelled 'Anniversary' on Monday. I thought that Biff might have seized his chance to correct me given how much I complain about his spelling. Of course, he probably can't spell 'Anniversary' either...
These must be the dog days of summer as I really have nothing to say... Work is fine, The Shnewt's are legal and life is great. That about sums it up.
You may have heard about the MSBlast (Lovsan) worm out there attacking machines. We got it at work yesterday and it took a bit to clear it up. If you haven't been hit yet, you will be, so go to Windows Update and make sure that you are updated on your patches.
Be patient, part of the worm is a DDoS against Windows Update so you may need to go somewhere else to get patched. Norton has a removal tool that you can use to clean your machine. You can download the fix and Read Me file from me if you like.
Wow, I can't explain what happened to the latter part of last week. Whatever...
Yesterday was wedding day though obviously, not for me. Because I fear the bride, I shall use no names however it does involve Paul so I'll leave it to you to do the math.
We got together in the morning so that we could set up the music at the hotel. I had no idea that it was such a swanky place. They had booked a 35th floor suite at The Wall Center. Two levels, two decks and views of the city that are unbelievable. Of course I had no camera with me so no pictures... Some of the crew were already there doing some decorating so Biff and I got to work settng up the notebooks.
It didn't take long and there was a good bit of time spent drinking in the views. I left about 3 PM as I still had some things to do before heading back for the evening. It was nice to meet the families as well. I had met Paul's parents once before but this was the first time meeting Rachel's side and they had made the trip from Australia. I didn't really talk to her Dad much, but her Mom is much like Rachel; something else!
Rachel looked absolutely stunning in her wedding gown while I kept confusing Paul for the barman and repeatedly asked him to get me a drink. They restated their vows and went upstairs to take some pictures while the rest of us mingled downstairs. Lots of Infoslaves, past and present which is always great plus the ususal suspects inhabiting the lower floor. Aaron and Kat were there which was great. AF had to get dressed at the airport after arriving back form a business trip in the early evening. He held up pretty well given that it felt 8 hours later to him. Kat and I spent a good part of the evening together chattng and smoking. Hopefully she isn't regreating her 'lapse' too much today!
The night went on and we enjoyed a first class view of the fireworks from the deck upstairs. Good that China won as they really put on the best show. I finally left at 1:30 despite the protests and ended up walking home as there was a long wait for a taxi.
I was amused to watch Karan try to extract himself from a mis-step that took place with Claire late in the evening. Hopefully their wedding will still be a go this time next week.
Overall, the event was a roaring success. I was a good boy and didn't drink too much so I felt ok in the morning, save for a lack of sleep. Days like today I'd give my left arm to be able to turn off my mental alarm clock.
[UPDATE] China just finished their show and it was amazing! The fireworks and the sounds were breathtaking. Hopefully someone from team Canada was there taking notes on how it's done.
Lots of police out tonight too. There are six of them standing across Denman, making everyone walk around them. I don't recall ever seeing that many out before and it's a shame. I can recall when the fireworks were talked about for the fireworks and how 350,000 people could get together for a fun night and no troubles. Now it's about the violence.
The Snowbirds put on a great show this evening too. The sound of those engines ricocheting off the buidings is cool. Now if they were allowed to fire on some of the freighters in English Bay... [/UPDATE]
Lacking anything compelling to say, I've decided to try the friday five and see how it works out. Not the most exciting questions but this isn't the most exciting blog in the world either...
The AC at work has been running amok again meaning it's the temperature of a morgue in the office. I guess it's appropriate given I sometime wonder if my co-workers are dead. I swear it's so quiet in there it's almost spooky. *mental note: bring mirror to place under co-workers nose*
Another fantastic weekend is under my belt and I really don't want it to end, but all good things do. I did witness something strange today. Twice in Stanley Park I witnessed drunk idiots being arrested. First while waiting to tee off for golf this morning, a pair of Vancouver's finest walked onto the course, cuffed two idiots and hauled them off. Then this afternoon I was back in the park mountain biking and I saw four cops cuff this guy and take him away. Nice way to spend your weekend.
My golf game sucked though I did manage one birdie in between losing three balls. At least I didn't lose them all on the first hole like last weekend. None of us seemed to be having the best game in the world actually. Brian seemed to do the best but Neal was really having trouble with his drives. Every ball would go off the toe of his club. "Get closer to the ball" Didn't help him...
After golf, I got together with MiHwa and Ji-Young and we rented some bikes and went through the park and around the seawall. Just a beautiful day for doing something like that and we all had a great time though we might be a bit stiff come morning. Pretty busy on the seawall but in the park it wasn't too bad so we mostly stayed in there.
We went for Vietnamese after and I was in a good mood after such a great day so I picked up the cheque. The girls were surprised and offered to pay for dessert so I suggested True Confections as they have great desserts. Now I've never been there but I always here great things about it but no one ever mentioned the prices! $28 for three desserts and three coffees! Holy shit, dinner was only $31 so needless to say, I felt a bit stupid after that.
We rounded out the evening on the beach watching the sun go down before heading home. Tuesday it's back to the grind. Still, I remember that it was all that long ago that I would have given anything to have a grind to go back to, so I won't complain about it.
Back from Whistler, relatively unscathed after 'Karan-A- Booza'. Karan is a machine! It was incredible to watch him drink so much and just keep going. I would have been down for the count if I'd maintained his pace.
Shnewt and I were the last to arrive so we only had time to drop our bags and get in a cab. The hotel warned us to go early but it turned out to be optomistic as we were the first people in the bar. It did fill up but overall the village was quiet. The balance of the evening can be summed up as a lot of drinking and making sure that Karan drank even more. Good fun given that Paul and I only knew Karan and were meeting his friends for the first time.
Hooked up with MiHwa and her friend Ji-Young for dinner at The Keg last night. Ji-Young is visiting Canada for a couple of weeks and it was nice to meet her as I had heard alot about her. After dinner we came back here to watch the fireworks and I have to say that Canada was a little disappointing compared to the show on Wednesday. A good show, but seemed a bit understated. Natrually, a bunch of drunk teenagers (read assholes) ran amok through the streets and ruined it for those around them. If they keep it up, these could be the last fireworks which would be a shame.
Today is the Pride parade which is always fun, so I'm going to wander down and take that in as well. On a closing note, my new phone is fantastic and was worth the wait to get it. It came in handy a few times during the weekend for reasons that I won't get in to here!
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