Online TV

www.tvchannelsfree.com and www.justin.tv

Two fantastic websites that offer random online television programming. I can see another addiction coming on (as I watch the Kung Fu channel!).

The Hangover

No, I don't have a hangover, but I did watch The Hangover last night. I have to say that its not as bad of a movie as people seem to think it is. Ok, it has your classic "bachelor party gone wrong" theme, but the characters work. Zack Galifanakis is funny as hell.....Anyways, bottom line is that I thought it was pretty good. Checking out Wikipedia, I see The Hangover 2 is due out in 2011. The same actors are even reprising their roles. Not sure how they'll get a sequel out of this, but anything is possible I guess. Stay tuned!

After A Lengthy Absence...

...I'm back...slightly. I don't really have time for a huge post at the moment, but lets just say the summer is over and we're back to school! The rest of my summer basically entailed a trip to Montreal/New York, a wedding, some cottage time, some fishing and some serious relaxing! All in all, it was great.

So what else is new? Not a lot really. I downloaded The Hangover and am about to burn that. I may get a chance to watch it sometime this week. Leafs are back on the ice for some preseason action and doing quite well. Its nice to see the kids out there putting in an effort to make the team. Also, the NFL season is back in business! I'm watching the Steelers/Bears game at the moment.

Anyways, just thought I'd check back in with the 'ol blog. Now, I'm off to burn that DVD and do some marking!

The Ugly Truth

Saw this the other day at Empire Studio 5 in Miramichi. It was actually a lot better than I was expecting. I went in there thinking "chick flick" but it the humour is pretty crude and explicit....actually my kind of film haha. I'd highly recommend it if you are looking for something to see this week.

I discovered a new poker site (as if I needed that). PKR is a fairly new poker site that is much more high tech and advanced to some of the ones you might be used to. It is entirely 3D and you can do everything from design your own avatar to doing actual animations and voices while you are playing. It is really cool. They also have some neat and extremely addicting games such as the 10 cent Sit n Go freerolls. I spent most of the evening playing those. I even placed first in one and second in another.

The frustrating thing about sites like that, and freerolls in particular, is that you always seem to get beat out by garbage. Poker involves a lot of skill and a lot of luck but unfortunately I think freerolls are entirely luck. I'm constantly getting put out by 10-7, 8-6 and so on when I have AK, AQ and KQ. My advice is that if you want to learn to play poker, stay away from the freerolls. Put a few dollars in and play some no-limit cash games. The players seem to play a little smarter...

What else is new for me? Not a lot....should be a quiet week. I need to make a dentist appointment for the end of August and call our so-called prospective contractor back to see if he will bring us our estimate. I may head down home for a night next weekend (since down home is only about 40 minutes from here!). On August 3rd I am off to Montreal for a 3 day Science conference. From there, Erin and I are heading out to Ormstown for a couple of nights to spend time on the farm and then we are off the Saratoga Springs, NY for 2 nights before heading back home. Busy couple of weeks!

Anyways, I'm off to watch the 1975 version of The Amityville Horror. Classic, old-school horror movies never bore me! I may even submit a review to Rotten Tomatoes.....

And The Rain Continues...

Oh well, not much we can do about that I suppose. So what has been happening since I last wrote? Well, I attended a "soiree" of sorts on Saturday evening. A friend of Erin's got married so we attended the wedding/ensuing gong show. Mixing a bottle of Crown Royal with a few cigars is always a good time, and this was no exception. The "gong show" seemed to be enjoyed by all and, hey, no hangover on my end!

Sunday was mostly a day of relaxation. I got home, ran 4 k (mainly because I was so thankful that I wasn't hungover and could do it haha) and spent the evening watching "Coupling".

On Monday, Erin and I hit up 9 holes of golf in the morning. I hadn't played in a couple of years so I was clearly a little rusty but I didn't do too horribly. I'm presently looking for a set of clubs but am having difficulty finding some at a decent price and for my dexterity (left-handed....anyone??). In the evening, we fired up the new outdoor fireplace and sat around for a couple of hours. The weather was beautiful, much more than today.

Yesterday, we made the first trek of the summer up Sugarloaf Mountain. I had promised myself a week ago that I would get up there and take some pictures. The hike itself wasn't the greatest because of the smothering humidity. But, I was able to get some great pictures!

Not much happening today. I hit up the gym earlier on and did a 5k run - 32:55.....cut about 45 seconds of my time from last week. Ideally, I'd love to get that down under 30 minutes, but we will see what happens - under 20 minutes would be even better!! :)

I was able to get a great deal on some PEI cultivated mussels today at Sobeys - $1.69/lb. I picked up 4 lbs and figured that would make a great supper with a couple of Coors Light. I'm sure it won't disappoint.

Finally, I joined a website last night called www.updown.com. What this website does is give you a virtual $1,000,000 to begin your own stock portfolio. With this money, you may buy and sell stocks and see how much virtual cash you can make. I bought 1000 shares of McDonalds and 500 shares of Colgate (mainly because of something I saw on the news last night). So far, for the day, I am up about $300. I've taken a great deal of interest in the economy and especially global finance so it will be interesting to see how much virtual moolah I can come up with. I also thought this was perhaps a great stepping stone to some higher level, real life investing. I will keep you posted!

British Sitcoms

I feel that I must profess my love for British sitcoms, better known as BRITCOMS. I don't know if it is the accent or if it is their casual usage of words like "bloke" or "wanker" but man, I find them hilarious. I began watching Season 1 of this show called Coupling. Its quite hard to describe it in terms of comparing, but you may liken it to a British version of Friends. They actually came out with a U.S version of Coupling about 6 years ago but it didn't fly.

Anyways, each episode involves these 6 friends as recurring characters. No matter what happens, they all seem to be somehow connected to any jam that one of them may get into.

Each episode normally focuses on the same them: men, women and the sexual tensions and escapades between them. It relies on the fact that men don't understand women and women don't understand man. The producers and writers were genius in the fact that this makes for hilarious television. I'm not talking about genius in the sense that "wow, they came up with this amazing idea for this t.v show". Sitcoms have revolved around this theme for years. These guys just happened to finally get it right.

What else is new? After hours of hauling wood and getting eaten alive by "skitters", I didn't make it up the mountain on Thursday. I have a wedding to go to tomorrow, Sunday will likely be a gym/relaxation day and planning on doing some golfing on Monday. I'm looking at also lining up some fishing for next week so hopefully that will happen. All in all, its been a fabulous summer so far but as usual, its going by way too fast!

I'll write again on Sunday.

1997

I just downloaded a CD by the band 1997 entitled A Better View of the Rising Moon, which was released in April 2007. I hadn't heard of this Chicago-based band before. As I came across their listing under the Alternative category on a torrent site, I decided to download and give it a listen. Man, their music is very eclectic. I would describe it as a unique mix of pop, punk and with a softcore metal influence. Very cool me thinks...

On a side note, I will be assisting in the extraction of firewood from a forest-like surrounding tomorrow......in non-geek lingo, that means I am helping to haul firewood. I enjoy getting out in the nice weather and doing some physical labour. I am pretty active as it is, but I do enjoy variety and this would certainly count as variety. Also, tomorrow Erin and I are planning on climbing Sugarloaf Mountain. We've been to the summit of the brazen Sugarloaf a few times this summer, but I have yet to get my camera up there. I think this would be a great time to do that, don't you? I plan on doing a video at the top of the mountain to possibly post on YouTube, and plan on taking some pics as well. We have some beautiful scenery here in the Restigouche area and its essence needs to be captured.....with my camera! Following the mountain climb, I expect to be sitting outside in front of a sizzling fire with a few cold ones, as I did tonight! Ahhh......I love summer vacation!

Treego is the devil...

First of all, I feel that I should tell you that the experience I am about to relay to you is merely told from my point of view. You may try this activity out and have a totally different experience....if so...good for you....

Anyways, this past weekend, Erin and I headed down to Moncton on our so-called "Treego" adventure. The plan was to stay at cottages in Shediac Friday and Saturday nights with the 30 odd other people that were with us, do Treego Saturday morning, take in a boat cruise that evening and head home Sunday morning. Well, Friday was fantastic. Got into Moncton around 4:00, hit up Costco for some goodies and then made our way out to Shediac. Once there, the evening was mainly spent relaxing, playing around with the kids that were there and enjoying the beautiful weather.

Saturday was a totally different story. We arrived at Treego around 10:00. Once we got briefed on the safety features of our harnesses and taken through the demonstration course, we were on our way to the real deal. For anyone who has never done Treego before, let me briefly explain to you what it is. Essentially there are 4 courses, each increasing in difficulty. You are required to cross ladders, platforms, tightropes and ziplines in order to get from tree to tree and complete each couse. Needless to say, as the courses increase in difficulty, they also increase in height.

The first couse was not a huge problem. My comfort level was not all that high, but I survived. In the second course, I began thinking....way too much. Yes I was harnessed in well......no the chances of me falling were not great. However, I began thinking about the height and began asking myself, "why am I doing this?". Thus, after 2 courses, I called it quits. Many others did as well, but Erin kept going. In this case, the downside was that I had to sit around and wait for another hour and a half while others finished. I wasn't a happy camper..

Anyways, the bottom line is that for me, Treego SUCKED. I found it to be pointless and just plain stupid. Sure, lets climb through trees.....haven't we spent millions of years trying to evolve the OTHER WAY??? If I could turn back the clock, I would never have agreed to go. The painstaking reality is that I am very angry and disappointed in myself for not finishing. I always finish what I start. However, I can tell you with precise certainty that I will never go back there. I know physically I could have kicked Treego's ass.....I couldn't handle it mentally and the reality was that I found it to be just plain stupid and would tell anyone who asked the same thing.

Oh well, enough of that. The upside was that the Atlantic Nationals Car Show was being held at the same time in Centennial Park so I got to check that out. It was pretty awesome. I also got to go fishing this past Thursday and caught some dandy trout - the biggest I have EVER caught.

I guess the lesson here is that there are those good events in life.....the good things.....the things that you will always enjoy no matter what. You should never let the GARBAGE, TRASH AND BULLSHIT get in the way of those good things.....and I never will again. :)

Public Enemies

Well, considering its summer vacation, I decided to catch up on a little movie-watching. I've seen a couple of really good movies lately that I feel I should tell you about (and that you definitely need to see...).

First of all, Max Payne was a fantastic film. I had heard mixed reviews about the movie but I thought Mark Wahlberg did an amazing job portraying the wacked-out police detective Max Payne. While I won't provide any spoilers, I will tell you that the spirit element and theme of betrayal collaborated to make this movie top-notch in my books.

On Saturday afternoon, I caught a matinee showing of Public Enemies at good 'ol Apollo Cinemas. The film stars Johnny Depp and centres around the life and times of Chicago crime boss John Dillinger. While the flick is 2 hrs and 20 minutes of pure violence, I throughly enjoyed the flawless acting and the historical brilliance of this one. It grossed something like $26 million at the box office this past weekend so it will be interesting to see what the upcoming weekend holds.

Anyways, the summer movie season is just heating up. We have Orphan slated for release on July 24th, Funny People on July 31st, G.I Joe August 7th, District 9 August 14th and The Final Destination on August 28th. Go on out and catch some of these summer movies.....I know I will!

Rain....Rain...

Yeah, definitely not a fan of the constant downpouring on my all too short summer vacation. It has seriously rained everyday for the past week. Not only that but in that time span, the sun has literally made an appearance for maybe all of 4 minutes.

If anyone is looking to check out a movie coming out on DVD, I recommend The Haunting in Connecticut. Its certainly not an "A" rated movie, but it will most definitely scare the crap out of you for a couple of hours. Its due out July 14th but I caught the "sneak-peak" version. Any of you techies out there know what that means...

Anyways that reminds me, I need to make a copy of Wolverine for a friend of mine. Talk later..

A Reflection on the King of Pop..

It shocked us all this past week when the news exploded of Michael Jackson's passing. With all of the information that the media has presented us with over the past 5 days or so, the most compelling and intriguing quote I have heard is that "he will be worth more dead than he was alive". This is something that I really need to take issue with.

First of all, whether you loved him or hated him, the man was a "pioneer" of pop music. He led the way for other pop musicians including Justin Timberlake. I dare you to try and name a current pop artist who doesn't toss out a few Jacko moves when on stage. Go ahead...try it...

Second, the man had a difficult life. Ok, ok....I know what your thinking. Millionaire this....pedophile that....yada yada yada. From the time he was a child, his life was a constant media circus. As he has said before...he never had a childhood. As strange as it may be to have children sleep over at his house (at age 40), I think that he was probably trying to grasp some of that youth and to maybe show these kids the kind of life that he never had. Again, the level of appropriety could be questioned, but at this point thats neither here nor there...

Finally, it disgusts me that the media has made a mockery of him for so many years and now, every channel has a so-called "tribute". Wouldn't it have been easier to just leave him alone when he was alive, to appreciate his music and to try and understand what he was all about? Jokes are jokes and, personally, I don't think they will ever be put to rest. But couldn't we have given him SOME privacy?

I admit, I was guilty of the jokes. I admit, I bought into the rumours. However, I want to remember the guy for the good that he brought to the world, especially the music world. I want to remember him for the amazing entertainer that he was. Maybe everyone else does too. Maybe this is why they say that his value will be more in death than it was in life. I would just hate to think that people are beginning to realize that, for so many years, they have underappreciated and mocked a legend...and now he is gone..

Virsona

www.virsona.com

This seems like a fantastic addition to a Social Studies or Language Arts classroom. Students can talk to (and create) chat bots that resemble historical figures, politicians, athletes and others. I plan to have my students choose a historical figure or an influential person from the present day, do research on that person and create a chat bot. Students need to choose questions that could be asked of their bot and provide answers for those questions based on their research. Seems pretty neat...

What else is going on? In the midst of getting my Adobe Youth Voices project going. That should be interesting. We have been discussing the concept of "freedom" and will be using personal photos with a variety of edits for the backdrop in what should be an interesting end product. I would have liked to get this off the ground sooner but there has been so much going on that I haven't had the opportunity to do it. We'll see how it turns out.

Also, I have been accepted to a summer conference put on by the Canadian Space Agency in Montreal. The conference will run from August 4th-6th and include many hands on sessions and networking opportunities. I first found out about the conference through my involvement in the Tomatosphere project. This is a project that investigates how tomato seeds that have spent time in space react to being planted back inside our atmosphere. All in all, I'm looking forward to the conference.

That is all for now...

Federal Budget Day....

...is upon us Tuesday. Personally, in these times of ecomomic despair, I am interested to see what will come out of this budget. Judging by what CBC is reporting, a good deal of money will be poured into social housing. Apparently, the housing package will include:

• $1 billion for social housing renovations.
  
• $600 million for on-reserve accommodation for aboriginal people.
  
• $400 million for seniors' housing.
  
• $75 million for housing for people with disabilities.

This is an extremely important aspect of the budget considering lack of adequate housing for social programs in many Canadian cities. With the economy in a present downturn (or recession as it is being referred to), it is important that social programs get the much needed funding to keep them afloat. Yes, taxpayers will have to pay the price, but hopefully that price will be less over the longrun than having to pay to constantly upkeep substandard housing.

To check out other aspects of the budget being reported, check out www.cbc.ca