Pleasant Interruption

Friday, February 25, 2005

Hiro Oh 99, I Heart You
At 10:36 PM
by: Hiro

Funny that Nana mention the 99(It's an OC Transpo bus and mentioned in yesterday's post). Well, not funny in the sense of a knee-slapper or a laugh-and-a-half, but coincidentally funny I guess. That is, my fellow readers, because the dear 99 and I have quite the history. The following is a very personal and touching story that I hold close to my heart and I would like to share it with you. I apologize in advance for the long post, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

[engage crazy blurring effects with some funky sound effects to let us go into the past]

It all started in the summer of '04. Ah, it was indeed a magical summer. My first time living in Ottawa. Well, not really Ottawa since technically I was in Gloucester(pronounced "Glosster" and not "Glouchester" by which I mistakenly called my first time), but it's actually just a shithole on the outskirts of Ottawa so we'll just call it Ottawa. The reason why I ended up in Gloucester is quite peculiar. That summer was my first co-op work term and I got a job in Ottawa at Natural Resources Canada. So naturally, over the months before May(when my job started) I did not bother finding a place to live in Ottawa. That is, until 1 week before I was to start working. So I decided it was high time to set things in motion to assure that I wouldn't have to live in a box for a few weeks. I casually asked around to see if my friends in Ottawa knew of any places for rent. Sure enough, a couple of days later my good friend Jeff from back home messages me saying he's in a townhouse all by himself with a place for me. Not quite close to my workplace, but I'm lazy. Deal. Did I mention it was only $225 a month? Haha sweet deal.

Right, the 99. You're wondering what the heck this has to do with the 99. So anyway, I lived about a 12.672345 minute walk away from the St. Laurent mall which has a large bus station. I first met the 99 on my second day of work. The first day, I had taken a combination of 2 buses(the 14 and the 85) and it took forever. I felt like I was on a tour bus of Ottawa. Needless to say, I looked for another bus. I searched through all the listings, and I found out about the 99. It was love at first sight.

From the mall the 99 would come by and whisk me away on an enchanting 20 minute journey to work. The 99 truly was a glorious bus. Despite being on the totally wrong side of Ottawa, it was a short trip to work as the 99 took a route that avoided most of the busier roads and stations. And I didn't even have to transfer. Bonus.

The 99 took good care of me that summer. It was thanks to the 99 that commuting across town was bearable. However, I did have a certain gripe with the 99. You see, every morning I would sleep in rather late(as far as having a full-time job goes), til around 9 am every morning. The fact that I have flexible hours at work made it that much easier to get every bit of sleep possible. The problem was, the 99 came every 10 minutes or so, early on in the mornings, then about every 15 minutes between 8-9:30 am. But after 9:30, the next 99 wasn't until 10 am.

Almost every morning I'd drag myself out of bed at 9, get ready in 15 minutes and haul ass over to the mall. I've even sprinted the entire 12 minute walk(and then through the entire mall to get to the bus station) in a matter of minutes. Desperate times call for desperate measures. However almost once or twice a week, the 9:30 would be early. I'd miss it by minutes, sometimes seconds. So then I'd have to sit at the damn station for half an hour until the next bus. This, as you may have guessed, did not amuse me. I'd get into work around 10:30 and have to work until 6:30 pm. Let's just say we weren't exactly on speaking terms on the ride home.

Speaking of getting into work late...there were a few times that I didn't get into work until about 11 am. Then I'd take my lunch break an hour later. Heh, good times.

So anyway, the summer went by quickly and I bid my farewell to the 99. It was a great summer but not all things in this world are meant to last. A long distance relationship wouldn't have worked out too well I'd imagine.

This January, I was back on co-op and I returned to my old job. It was a great job and I loved Ottawa (all my good friends from back home going to school in Ottawa didn't hurt either) so I figured why not. However, I decided I'd treat myself this term and live closer to work or at least my friends. Consequently, I am now living in Brooks residence(it's like an apartment) on University of Ottawa campus. Win-win situation. It's awesome.

As fate would have it, the 99 was once again the quickest and easiest way to get to work. On that cold, miserable January 3rd I was greeted by the 99. Having spent 4 months apart, I was a bit nervous to hop aboard. However once I was taken in by the warm, welcoming atmosphere, it felt like it was just yesterday. Can't you see? We were simply meant to be together.

The 99 is still the same though. Old habits die hard I guess. I now usually take the 9:22 am bus(keep in mind I'm a lot closer to work now) to work. But as in the past, the 99 sometimes comes a couple minutes early and I just miss it making me wait until the next one comes at 9:40. Now it's only a 20 minute wait but this sure ain't summer. I get to stand all alone outside in the freezing cold as countless drivers pass by laughing(on the inside) at me for being stood up.

We're kind of on a break right now. This actually happened to me 3 times this week. This morning the 99 tried to patch things up between us but I'm still a little bitter. Maybe I'll have the weekend to find it in my heart to forgive the 99.

An apology wouldn't hurt either.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Nana Just to Let You Know I Am Still Breathing
At 1:56 PM
by: Nana

Like Hiro's post about the new update (which is smashing), this will not be a post in the normal Pleasant Interruption style. I'm just going to talk about myself.

Yesterday, (I came back to Ottawa after visiting my 'rent's place for part of reading week) I decided to save money by taking the bus from the train station instead of a cab. I learned that I probably should not take the 99. Ever. Unless I want to take another hour long walk home.

Apparently, I cannot take a normal picture. I always end up in some fantastical pose which is structurally impossible. I'd link to some examples, but really, if you want to see Escher I'd say go to the source. I'm not sure what I'm doing in the banner picture, so don't ask. My brother refers to it as "the monkey pose", but I like to think that it's the last part of an awesome drum solo.

Okay, I've violated this place enough with my evil personal blogging! I just have two more things to say: Tony, the receipts came in for the apartment, and the Vietnamese telemerketing guys are calling you again.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Hiro To Deny its Existence is a Crime to Humanity
At 10:18 PM
by: Hiro


Ahhh, elegance, simplicity and practicality. Beauty.

Today I feel that we need to have a (one-way) discussion regarding faucets. Indeed, it plays an integral part in our lives and yet rarely do people sit back and realize this fact. Without the glorious aid of these marvelous devices, we'd be banished to a world of dirty dishes and dirty hands. And how else would we brush our teeth? How...uncivilized.

I am not going to talk about how they work. Oh no, that is just so boring. Nor will I be talking about their design or the various brands available on the market. There are much more pressing matters to attend to.

I am going to attack the very issue that the majority of you, the people, have had to unfortunately deal with, yet are either still in denial, too shy, or simply too ashamed about it to talk about it in the open.

"What?" you say? "I do not harbour such feelings" you say.

No really, it's ok. Just let it out.

We all hate them.

I hate them too. I hate them passionately.

"Hate what?"

The faucet with 2 knobs.

There, I said it! Now let's talk about them in a calm, objective manner.

Alright, we all know the terribly depressing story.
You want to wash your hands/face/dishes/toothbrush.
You can't use cold water to wash your hands.
You can't use scorching hot water.
You must find the gentle medium.

It is like an epic quest, one that we must endure daily, and multiple times at that. Yet unlike the stories sung of great adventures of the past, there is no "happily ever after" for this tale. It is a quest that ends, only to begin anew.

What usually happens? You turn on 1 tap (for the more daring, both...at the same time) and deduce that it is too hot/cold and proceed in slowly increasing the other tap while monitoring the temperature of the water that is now coming out. This process is usually repeated by switching from one tap to the other, and - for the more experienced - sometimes decreasing the flow from the selected tap. After about 3 minutes, even the most incompetent person can usually attain the desired temperature for the river of life.

Now, to be fair, I must carefully point out a possible exception to this rule. There are some legendary 2-knobbed faucets for which the "hot" tap is actually a "warm" tap. In such rare cases, one can simply use the "hot" tap and disregard the other one with no consequence.
But of course, we all know that that these are simply wive's tales told to gullible folk.

Now, returning to the subject of finding the gentle medium. There are a few heinous consequences to this process.

If you, like myself and many others, feel guilty in letting the tap run while doing something that doesn't require the running of water, which pretty much encompasses all morning tasks such as the brushing of teeth (or dentures or diamond rocks), or shaving (mainly but not exclusive to males), or the insertion of contacts(or other objects? hmm I won't ask, so don't tell), then you try to limit the amount of water being wasted.

However, the fact that it takes some time to get to the stage of actually using the water, a lot of water is wasted in the process and to turn the tap off to conserve water, would most likely be negated by more water being spent to repeat the process. Also, it is quite difficult to achieve this lukewarm water when the water is flowing at a low rate. The water is often gushing out by the time you are satisfied.

Stop! Stop! Yes, I hear the cries of agony. Let out the screams. It is the pain leaving your body.

Now, since you are still with me, I assume you are expecting me to share some sort of sage-like wisdom in hopes of providing a solution to years of torment.

Yes, in these days of innovation, technology, and dreams being realized, (wo)mankind has given birth to a wonderful product that one may boldly state as being "the best thing since sliced bread." It is known as...

The faucet with no knobs.

It is simple, yet elegent. Fashionable, yet practical. A true beauty in all respects.

A single, commanding lever can give the freedom of a wide spectrum of temperatures, yet ingeniously remember the temperature when turned off. It can also allow you the freedom to independently choose flow rate while maintaining a constant temperature.

And, as an added bonus, you can turn these faucets on/off with almost any body part. Yes, even that one.

Your nose, that is.

Why, oh WHY are they not found with every sink?

Monday, February 21, 2005

Hiro And Now...Back to Your Regularly Scheduled Interruption
At 10:20 PM
by: Hiro

Weeeeell, that took a considerably longer time to do than I had hoped.

Readers, meet Pleasant Interruption Version 2.

I spent a good chunk of this weekend working on this new design so I hope you don't think it looks like shit. In any case, being that it's my first time delving into the world of web graphic design I don't think it's too terrible. It's still a work in progress but I think it's finally complete enough to be put to use as I didn't feel like delaying this any longer.

Any comments, suggestions or critiques are welcome so please let me know either by commenting on this post or messaging me on MSN. Preferrably MSN if it's to insult my design so as to allow me the opportunity to immediately insult your face. Haha kidding...

I'd insult your life. Oops! Kidding again! haha

No really, please don't be afraid to critique any part of the design as the only way I can make it nicer is if you tell me what's wrong with it! I'm not exactly the most creative person so all the help I can get will be appreciated.

Right-o, now that I have this giant time vacuum out of the way, I can proceed to engage the not-so-giant-but-still-pretty-big time vacuum of writing blog posts.

What, you were expecting an actual post today? Ha!

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Hiro Please hold...a blogger will be with you in a moment
At 11:37 PM
by: Hiro

Hello, this is just a short message to let you know that we haven't forgotten about the blog nor are we on the run from authorities.

I've been pretty busy this week after work and tonight I spent some time working on a new design as well as brainstorming for a profile section among other things.

So please stay tuned and you will soon find that the drought will have been worth it!

And of course, some big fast posts hopefully on the way as well.

Monday, February 14, 2005

Nana Sold My Heart at a Pawn Shoppe, Baby
At 11:41 AM
by: Nana

First of all, this blog is the best invention since Jenga. And that, dear readers, is a lofty accolade. Things I hate about my Flatmate is a blog where the author lists one thing per day which annoys them about their flatmate (roommate for those of you who aren't following along). The posts range from the trivial to the hilarious, and I recommend checking this blog out. Now, to more pressing matters.

Tony Tone, never leavin' the ladies alone!
<3

I don't think I need to remind anyone which day today is, as it's significance goes much farther than it being Monday. Yes, today one of the most derided and celebrated of all quasi-holidays, Valentine's Day. I'm sure you've heard all the insults and jibes about this day already, so I won't bore you (much). If you're anything like me, a callow, sunken husk of the man I once was, Valentine's Day can be an annoyance at the least. However, rather than curl up into a ball in the cupboard and wait for the day to be over, I have a few other solutions for people like myself. These are last ditch ideas for those of you who WANT to enjoy Valentine's Day, but don't have anyone to enjoy it with (either by choice, or chance... if it's chance then you suck).

Break up an existing relationship:
This idea is good for a number of reasons. First of all, you can make another person as miserable as you are! Second of all, it's fun (I'm told)! Destroy the foundations of V-day by becoming a home wrecker (NOT WORK SAFE). For added points, break up with the person tomorrow, thus making their life random and meaningless!

Confess to the apple of your eye:
Is there some guy/girl out there who you think is the bee's knees? Be mildly romantic and profess your undying love for them, extolling their virtues to the heavens. Make some sort of analogy about one of their body parts and something only passingly associated with said part (for example, eyes to stars, hair to fields of wheat, or leg to cricket bat).

Drunken rampage with your mates:
Yes, I said mates (arr). I don't really need to explain this one. You just get drunk. With your friends. Make sure it's cheap beer. Try and become blind. Oh, get some fried chicken too. Try and be as dirty as possible, because bringing yourself to an even lower level will make self pity all that much easier (annual event at my place!). Afterwards, run around parks or other public areas looking for HAPPY people, and harass them--choose your own methods, but I suggest water balloons.

So those are my suggestions for surviving Valentine's Day if you don't have a significant other. If you do, have a happy and wonderful day, but watch out for me trying to ruin it.

Friday, February 11, 2005

Hiro Imagine a Tupperware® Party.....but WITHOUT THE TUPPERWARE
At 7:32 PM
by: Hiro


Looks can be deceiving

Ok, this one is for all you guys reading this. Well, girls can read on too but well, according to my research, most of you already know what I'm talking about. Well, I guess not the younger ones. At least I hope not.

Let me preface this by saying that I deserve some sort of a medal. A majestic city in my name. The Nobel Prize should be valued as worthless as a Kinder Surprise toy in contrast. I believe that I am now entitled to belong to the highest echelon of society. I should be revered and respected a thousandfold more than all of the world's greatest men in all of its history. My mere presence alone should humble all those who are fortunate enough to have me in their company.

Why am I entitled this honour you ask? Because I am going to single-handedly reveal a mind-shattering truth that is unbeknownst to quite possibly the entire male species. Aeons in the dark, I can now shed some light for the other half of the world.

Today, during one of my usual chats with 2 of my (awesome) roommates - Amanda and Kat - the conversation took an interesting turn that led to quite the shocking revelation.

Never in the perverted parts of the deep recesses of my mind have I ever fathomed such a concept.

So imagine a tupperware party. You know, like they had in the 60's and 70's. All the housewives went to them. They talked about how they'd use the tupperware. They sold tupperware to each other. By Golly, they sure were popular. I mean, tupperware is a godsend and what better way to spend an afternoon with the ladies and socialize while buying tupperware?

So they kinda faded into the pages of history and tupperware parties are no more.

Right?

WRONG.

In fact, they're as popular as ever.

Except now...it's without the tupperware.

Well, see for yourself. I present to you: the Fantasia Home Party.
(WARNING: DO NOT CLICK ON THIS AT WORK)

What do they do at these parties? Well, I don't think I can summon the words to describe such lurid unmentionables. Go to the site and see for yourself. It's a tad...naughty.

So now you're saying, "Wow what a letdown, it's not very shocking that they have parties like that." Oh no, it's more than just that. It's the fact that most (over 70% according to my terribly inaccurate survey) girls have at least heard of them, while a number (anywhere from 10-40%) of them have been to one, or at least been invited to one. They start as early as high school!

And how many guys I asked knew about them? 0.

Ok allow me to paint you a picture here to put things in perspective. So there are all these whacko cults out there like the Church of Scientology, and the Freemasons (you know...the Masonic Temple people). But everyone's heard of them. Sure, they're secretive but we at least know they exist!

But with this, it's as if half of the world belongs to a clandestine, underground cult and the other half doesn't even know of its existence! Isn't that a bit eerie?

This has been a totally life-changing discovery and I must say, it has totally changed my outlook on life and my perspective on television, sports, academics and even cheap wing nights! The fingers of corruption have left nothing standing in its wake, not even sparing my morning oasis of 2-egg/2-toast breakfasts!

Well, no longer shall the men of this earth walk blind, deaf, and oblivious.

Set forth my young disciples, and proclaim the truth.

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Hiro Chrétien's Balls...
At 10:26 PM
by: Hiro

...were shown off during his testimony at the Sponsorship Inquiry today in Ottawa. Golf Balls, that is.
Many of you have heard of the "adscam" but may be oblivious as to what it's actually about. Well the heart of the scandal is about $100 million out of total of about $250 million worth of "sponsorship" funds that were purportedly paid out to Liberal-friendly (read: they donate to the Liberal party or are run/owned by ex-Liberal politicians) ad firms for doing little or no work.

What the heck were the "sponsorship" funds you ask? Remember back in 1995 when they had that referendum in Quebec to determine whether or not they would separate from Canada? Well, it was a damn close call, being barely defeated by a 50.58% to 49.42% vote. Anyway, it scared the hell out of the federal government and they decided to put together a fund to "sponsor" the idea of Canadian nationality in Quebec by funding billboards and all sorts of Yay-Canada events.

Anyway, there's been an inquiry (headed by Mr. Justice John Gomery) going on looking into exactly what happened and what sorta shady deals went down behind closed doors. This naturally rocked the Liberal party, and was one of the main reasons the other bastards managed to steal a number of seats from the Liberals in the last federal election. The inquiry centres around a bunch of higher-ups in the government who were running the program at the time of the scandal and most notable, Jean Chrétien himself.

Chrétien was on stand today in court telling his side of the story. His story was that he had no choice but to do what he had to do in order to keep the country united. He did what any Canadian would have done when faced with the possibility that the country could be torn apart. I'll give him props for that. Besides, everyone loves Chrétien. He's the man.

Check this out here for more in-depth information.

Is the inquiry worth the $60-million dollar pricetag (as it stands thus far) to get down to the bottom of this? Maybe, but I say we just cut our losses...as it's getting close to how much money was lost in the first place.

Peace in the Middle East hopefully, as today marked an official ceasefire between Israel and the state of Palestine. For those of you who've been living under a rock, it's been over 4 years of shit hitting the fan in the holy land. How long will this peace last? Who knows...but it ain't totally over yet.

Google Maps was just recently released into beta(meaning you can try it out, but it's not finished quite yet).
To quote Nana: "GG Mapquest" (if you didn't get the joke, GG means good game. It's also what people say to other players in computer games after they've slaughtered them to rub it in).
It's absolutely AWESOME. The mapwars(oh it's a fierce one alright! no really, it is!) are over. Even if you're not even looking for directions or a place on a map, you can give yourself hours(ok maybe a few minutes) of high-quality entertainment just playing around with it.
Seriously, go check it out here: http://maps.google.com

Nana This Post Written With One Space After Each Full Stop
At 9:10 PM
by: Nana

I'm feeling linky today. If you visit them all, I will give you a cookie.

d20s can be used in lesss-nerdy pursuits, such as drinking games. I know from experience, since I roll 20s like a pimped out SUV, yo. Critical hit indeed.

I feel like I should warn you. The rest of this post actually WILL waste your time. It is only for those who haven't yet reached the end of the internet (and who want to), and for those who love reading about punctuation, typographic errors, and the like.

I thought of this problem as I was writing a paper for a class. How many spaces should one put after a period? These sites try and tackle the issue. Most people either put two spaces after a period, or just one (I say most cause some people put MORE SPACES. Yes, I have seen it with my own two eyes). Apparently the period-space-space comes from the poor legibility of period-space when using a typewriter. Since most computer fonts are proportional (meaning, that they have different widths for each character, and consequently, for the space), the single space is wide enough to counter any legibility problems that typewriters had.

Here's a quote from Webword.com!
In the days of typewriter manuscripts the extra space was necessary to separate the ends and beginnings of sentences. The space character never changed. With the advent of electronic typesetting, the software attempts to 'fit' the type to specific line lengths, it both expands or contracts the available space to make the type fit. Word spacing is where most of this space 'play' takes place.

So is it anachronistic to put two spaces? Or nostalgic even? I'm a two space man myself, but I'm trying switch to one after reading all of this. If you leave three spaces (superfluous!), then you must have some sort of typographic fetish.

The video in the first link talks about other archaic typewriter practices, such as underlining, and the modern alternatives for emphasis that I lovingly overuse whenever I damn well please (subtlety). The rest of this post is in bold. Just kidding. Oh God, I've been living an underlining lie!

So what does all of this mean? If you didn't stop by at leat one of those sites, or if you're just confused by all of my links, I'll lay it out for you. Two Spaces = Get into the 21st Century. Still not convinced? Perhaps this article has the best answer for you (the bottom of the page):
I liked the website with the info below:

Should sentences be separated by one space or two spaces?
Yes.

Monday, February 07, 2005

Nana Gettings Things Done (no, really this time)
At 1:43 AM
by: Nana

On Saturday I woke up pretty late (I won't say when). This was after a night of semi-quasi-partying, so I decided that something productive should follow, by default. So, I read a chapter from one of my books and began to write up a summary of it. This was a pretty big accomplishment, as anyone who knows me well will say, because I am a procrastinator. Most people you talk to regularly will say at least once in their life that they are probably "the biggest procrastinator[s] in the world." However, they have not met yours truly, for I am, in fact, the very root of the word as it is used today, and as such, the reason that the word exists. I am the necessary component for procrastination to exist, and everyone measures themself against me. I am the rule that measures the length and breadth of the kingdom of procrastination. Now that I'm done being verbose, and not all too self-absorbed, I'll get to the meat of this post. Also, sorry about all the commas. There's something about nesting comments in commas and parentheses that gets me going.

It's hard for me to get things done (which is apparent in that gargantuan paragraph). I stumbled upon this link from the website which controls my life, Lifehacker. It's about a program that was invented by David Allen, called Getting Things Done, or GTD for those in the know.

It's kind of interesting in it's approach. You first fashion yourself a Hipster PDA (set of index cards and a binder clip), or some other method of getting all the pending tasks or ideas out of your head (the site lists a few). Then you make categorized inboxes called buckets organized by the urgency of whatever it is that you need to get done. So, if there's something you can do easily (like right now), you do it and scratch that off your list. After this you continually review each box and move the different tasks between them. So, for example, if you were thinking of picking up guitar and you saw an ad for cheap lessons, you would move that idea from the "someday" box to the "next action" or "project" box.

The whole thing sounds sort of convoluted (and if not, confusing), but if you're like me and you have trouble keeping yourself on task, this might be a cool thing to try. I'm going to make a PDA and get some boxes this week, and I'll keep you all posted on my progress. For those interested, the link I mentioned above has a few extra links to David Allen's website and some GTD related stuff.

Sunday, February 06, 2005

Hiro Cool: Sculptures, Lights and Comments
At 11:02 PM
by: Hiro

Winterlude started on Friday and it goes for a couple of weeks here in Ottawa. Apparently there's some cool stuff that's supposed to happen. Last night Nana, Tony and I walked down to Confederation Park across the street from city hall to check out some ice sculptures. Overall experience rating: cool. Here are some of them:
Nana's comment for the bottom right sculpture was "she's got back."

.

On our way out of the park, we crossed an intersection that employs that loud chirping sound to signal a walk.
I joked: "Haha, imagine if you recorded that sound and then played it through a megaphone while a blind person was waiting at the lights...when the lights were red. Man, that'd be so cruel."
Nana's response: "Don't you mean cool?"
And so the three of us laughed and continued walking.

.

Also, in case you haven't noticed, I spent some time today adding in a really cool feature. If you look on the sidebar to the right, you'll see a "Recent Comments" section. It will list the latest comments people have posted. No longer shall comments be made only to be ignored by everyone else.

In Other News,

Some people got together and threw around an oval shaped ball made of leather. There was also some scoring system involved indicating that the "White team" beat the "Green team" by a score of 24-21.

Cleaning chemicals somehow made its way into cartons of 1% chocolate milk produced by the company Natrel. The company immediately recalled them all on Wednesday when it found out about the mishap. Now some loser is launching an $11 million class-action lawsuit against the company. Ok first off, if the Canadian Food Inspection Agency or some government body wants to slap them with a fine to teach them a lesson, then that's cool. But if this guy thinks he deserves millions because he vomitted for an afternoon, he needs a slap upside the head. (Scientists have say the chemical would cause such stomach upset but nothing longterm). He apparently also "suffered psychologically and experienced economic losses." Right, losses of the $1.50 he paid for his carton of milk. I bet that guy isn't even worth $500 if he was out of work for 2 months. Now this isn't the most extreme case of stupid lawsuits (and fine, you can even argue that it's not stupid), but you know what, I'm just getting really sick and tired of all this shit in the court systems.

Friday, February 04, 2005

Hiro Free Beer is Awesome
At 7:55 PM
by: Hiro

So a couple of nights ago Nana and I went to On Tap for a....um I'm not quite sure what it was. A frat (Tom, a friend of ours is in it) was trying to get people together or something on a Wednesday night (at a bar that's not-so-popular on a Wednesday night) under the guise of a big event. Right. Well, we went to support anyway. Anyway, I think there were like 80 people total. Er wait, 40 if I don't count the drunken double vision. HOWEVER!!! (triple exclamation for dramatic effect) the three of us were sitting at a booth and a really hot chick comes up to us telling she's some Bavaria promotionalist or something and there's some free stuff to be had if we went and started drinking Bavaria (instead of our non-Bavarian beers we were drinking). So yeah we get a round of Bavaria (thanks Tom) and we each got free t-shirts. And then we ask Tom how much the Bavarias were. 6 bucks...each. Compared to the 3 bucks for other beers. Initial evaluation of the situation: "Shit that's expensive!"

The moral of the story? We each got t-shirts for 6 bucks and got a FREE BEER. True story.
Now, Some News.

The Oil-for-Food Program scandal is something you may have heard recently in the news. To put it simply, the program itself was designed as a way for Iraq to sell its ridiculous amounts of oil to the world market so it could buy goods for its citizens like food and medicine while preventing them from using that money to buy weapons. When oil was sold, the buyer would pay the money to an escrow account (a middleman to hold money) and then Iraq could spend money from that account to buy...well, food. What ended up happening was Iraq would buy goods, using money from that escrow account, from bribed companies that would overcharge Iraq by, say 10%, and they would keep a part of it while giving back the other half to Iraq in cold hard cash. Saddam might've been a whacko, but you gotta give him credit for knowing how to run shit haha. Now a bunch of U.N. people are getting caught up in this scandal but we don't really give a shit about them anyway.

Rogers Communications bought the SkyDome for 25 million bones....quite the bargain compared to the 580 million pricetag it came with when it was first built. Fine, I'd buy it too just to say I own the SkyDome. But the bastard (Ted Rogers, owner of Rogers Communications) goes and changes it to the Rogers Centre. Seriously, what the hell is he thinking. I hate old people with lots of money.

Google recently released its Google Local feature. You can access it by clicking on the Local link right above the search box. Anyway, I think it's really awesome. Not only does it make searching for businesses easy, it gives you a map! True story. Check it out! (Wo)Man, Google's gonna take over the world.

Cell Phones make you drive just as bad as a senile, useless, boring, senior citizen according to some recent studies. And I bet you'll go impotent like them as well if you hold a cell phone too close to the goods for long periods of time. In any case, we have enough old people on the damn roads. Stop using cell phones while driving ok? Thank you.

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Hiro It Just Makes Sense.
At 7:17 PM
by: Hiro

Yesterday was a big day in Canadian politics. In case you haven't heard, they introduced the bill(C-38) that would officially allow same-sex marriage all across Canada.

And in case you haven't heard, we're made up of all types of people, we abolished slavery a few years ago, and (holy shit, you're kidding me!) we're now allowed to shop on Sundays!

See, when a society grows up and realizes that some things are just plain stupid, it will change its views regarding those issues. Not allowing same-sex marriage is exactly one of those things. Let's not even go near the fact that religious institutions simple don't belong in politics. Let's hope that there is some truth behind the words "separation of church and state."

Now, it's kind of odd that a concept so utterly logical would have so many people in opposition. Apparently, some 40% of the population are against it. Now just to be fair, most of them don't mind "civil-unions" (and are in fact supportive of giving them the same legal benefits), they just don't want their cherished word "marriage" perverted to the point of being associated with something "evil". Right.

So for those of you who are sitting on the fence, let me break this down for you. I won't even waste my time telling you why you should support it, since mere simple reasoning should explain that quite clearly. Let me address the "concerns" that the naysayers have with the issue at hand:

Gay or Lesbian couples will be able to adopt children! The aliens are invading! Warning, warning, danger, danger! Rally the troops! First off, just because 2 parents are heterosexual doesn't make them good parents. Just the same, 2 homosexual parents don't make them bad parents either. Also, regarding the "just think of the children!" argument, get a life. I think a kid having 2 gay parents is the least of his/her worries if they've been living in a foster home or wait a minute, (could this be the reason WHY they're being adopted in the first place?) if their real parents don't give a shit about them or are dead?

My religious hall/building/shack could be forced to be rented for same-sex marriages! Well, if it's being rented out to the public as a business, then of COURSE you can't discriminate against same-sex marriages. Just like you can't discriminate based on race. Hmmm could there be a connection?

It's against my religion! Your religious bigotry will be allowed to continue because the bill specifically states that religious institutions do not have to perform, or even recognize same-sex marriages.

My religious leader told me it was evil! Learn to think for yourself. Stop being a puppet. Religions aren't perfect(just as anything else in this world), and sometimes they just might be wrong.

You will turn my children gay. Better gay than discriminating bigots.

You will turn me gay.
Just admit it.

Evil!!!!! No, no, you've got it all mixed up. Here is evil.

(Just to clarify, I am not against religions or religious groups. I am against religious institutions trying to impose their values upon the rest of society who, heaven forbid, aren't part of said religious institution. In fact, I don't even care if a religious institution is against same-sex marriage or worse yet, homosexuals entirely. Just so long as they can recognize that it's their opinion and should not be imposed on the whole country.)

To summarize, I think it just makes sense. We're Canada. We pride ourselves in being the "nicest" country and we like to think that as Canadians, we are friendly, respecting and tolerant. Gays and lesbians have had enough hard times and they're finally getting some room to breathe. Why be total assholes and treat them like they're less than the rest of us? They aren't imposing their beliefs onto us.

When was the last time you had a gay or lesbian knock on your door at home or approach you on the street with a pamphlet telling you how you need to be saved from heterosexuality and that their lifestyle is the way to salvation?

Have you ever heard of a gay missionary?

I rest my case.