Worst Wedding ... Ever!

A friend posted a video on Facebook called "Best Wedding Ever". While I didn't watch it I was reminded of the worst wedding I had ever been at. My then best friend D was getting married to a pig eyed sack of shit (PESS) and I was the best man.

I usually say I can't remember the whole tale unless I have a lot of booze in me. The truth is so much shit and stupidity happened I usually repress it. I am not even going to get into everything here. That would include the whole lead up to the wedding and the aftermath.

She was in love with the idea of being in love and getting married rather than in love with my friend. In fact she told a mutual friend that she "wanted" someone else but settled for him.

Some "highlights".

Having to be prepared to break the arm of the Bride's Brother so he stops harassing the Bridal Party. (That was actually the night before.)

Mediating a very vocal fight between the Bride and Maid of Honour the night before.

Having to turn on the over head fans at the church because no one, including the Minister, thought they would be needed on a hot humid summer day. (No A/C in that church.)

The Minister having to re-start the vows 33-4 times because the bride was laughing too much. Not nervous laughter, belly laughing. Which she then tried to blame on others.

The Father of the Bride's Toast to the Bride and Groom which began "I know a lot of people here hate me and want to see me dead."

The "Wedding Song", Meatloaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light". They had wanted his song "2 out of 3 ain't bad" but we talked them out of it. Seriously, they wanted "I want you, I need you, there ain't no way I am ever going to love you." but settled for a song about a guy who hit his 40's and realizes he made a mistake marrying the woman.

Everyone "having" to attend a breakfast the day after the wedding where the presents were opened. PESS would take the presents while giving the cards to hubby. She would ignore the cards, unless hubby found money in it. When it came to the presents she would pronounce whether they were good or bad and actually had a pile for those she liked and those she didn't. Always nice to let people know you think their presents are crap after getting them to pay for a meal to hear this pronouncement.

The bride accusing me and one of the Bridesmaids of screwing on their wedding bed. (We snuck into their room, left presents and papered the door shut. She turned that into us bumping ugly on the bed because ... well she needs drama in her life at all times.)

All in all it was the worst wedding I have ever been too. (I left lots of stupidity out that just made it worse.) Hopefully I never go to one that trumps it or I will stop going to weddings. To no one's surprise the couple is now unhappily divorced. Unfortunately for hubby, she made him choose between her and his old friends years before the divorce. He chose her, cut of all his old friends, and last I heard was pretty much alone, miserable, and blaming everyone but himself for his life.

RCMP Criminal Background Check takes even longer.

I was at my brother's tonight. His wife's brother and family are visiting and he is in the RCMP. We talked about the whole fingerprint VSS check. He says it is worse than I was told. It will take 3-4 months to get the check done if you are lucky. Expect it to be more like 6 months.

Why? Because the government dumped the extra work on the RCMP, and other police forces, without actually giving them more people or money to do it. The VSS checks have a low priority. And there isn't any movement by the government to improve things.

I have already lost 12 jobs because of this. No one wants to wait 3-4 months, let alone 6, to hire someone to fill an empty position. So much for trying to find work in fields I am qualified in and would enjoy.

People who know nothing about the process but feel the need to tell me that it couldn't possibly be the way it is tend to irk me. One of those type of people was at my brother's (a mutual friend of my brother and I) during this conversation. Maybe now he won't feel the need to open his pie hole and speak about shit he knows nothing of, shit that I am actually having to deal with.

The joys of life.

Rum and Coke Joke

A Baptist minister was seated next to a Newfie on a flight to St. John's. After the plane was airborne, drink orders were taken. The Newfie asked for Rum & Coke, which was brought and placed before him.

The flight attendant then asked the minister if he would like a drink.

He replied in disgust, "I'd rather be savagely raped by a dozen whores than let liquor touch my lips."

The Newfie then handed his drink back to the attendant and said, "Me too, I didn't know we had a choice."

Depression

I always thought depression is one of the most dangerous of states of mind. At extremes it can cause people to do some self-destructive things. One of the things I enjoyed about the high level class I taught, with adults, is that we could explore serious issues. Depression is one that worked with quite a few classes. It is something I have had first hand experience with.

Back in the mid-90's my life was falling apart. If I believed in suicide, well, I wouldn't be writing this right now. I can't really put my finger on any one thing that got me through it. The support of my Mom definitely helped. It just took time to work through things and actually believe life would get better.

Lately I have been feeling a little down. Life isn't going the way I want it too. It is hard to find a job I actually like. While I could piss and moan about the bullshit in Korea I enjoyed teaching. I actually miss teaching.

Last night, halfway through a show I enjoy, I just got hit by a wave of depression. I felt like crying and I had no idea why. The night was pretty much a write off. This morning I started to do something that I haven't done in a long time. I tried to talk myself out of going for my morning walk. It had rained so it was wet and foggy, and it looked like the rain could start again. Luckily, I didn't convince myself not to go.

I find that when I walk I do one of two things. Either I put my brain in neutral and the time just passes while I think about nothing. Or I talk/think through whatever is on my mind. Today I did the latter. And it worked, I figured out what was bothering me.

Yesterday I had a security system installed for my Mom. It does home security, fire, and there is a special pendant like thing for medical help for my Mom if needed. With Ruger gone it bothers me to think of Mom being home alone. If I take a job outside Canada, or in another Province, she would be alone. And that dear Brutus is the rub.

What got me depressed was the fact I got the security system ... and Ruger is gone. It made it somehow more definite and really brought it home. He isn't here to protect her anymore. To protect the house. Even now, writing this, I am getting choked up. Damn I miss that crazy mutt.

It is strange what can bring out our emotions at times. Or plunge us into a bout of depression. The hard part is getting yourself out of it.

Internet Threats

A friend, EB, is currently involved in a "war" of sorts on YouTube. A guy he used to be friends with turned into a twat and started attacking and making threats. EB lashed back telling what he thought of him and let it go. The self named "fat angry bastard" continued his attacks including personal threats and "calling" EB out.

EB lives in the UK. FAB lives in Australia. What kind of a morons tries to "call someone out" from the other side of the world? Does he actually think EB will hop on a plane and come fight him? And making threats of violence on video over the net? Bravo. So brave. And so admissible in court. What a fucktard.

EB made a beautiful reply which basically encapsulated what I thought of FAB's stupidity. He pointed out that FAB needs to be careful who he attacks and calls out. There are a LOT of whackjobs on the internet, and YouTube in particular. One day he is going to piss off, threaten, the wrong one and he may end up with a visitor at his door.

Just look at how the Korean NetNazis act out and post peoples personal information. FAB posts videos on YouTube showing himself, his home, and talking about life. That makes it even easier to find him if some whackjob was so inclined. It is something Herr Consoleman on Korea Sentry needs to keep in mind as he spews his racist bile while living in Australia. His personal info is just a google click away.

It reminds me of the stupidity of some of the idiots who called in when I worked at the call centre. I had access to their SSN, personal information, and cell phone account. If they call up and piss off the wrong person they could REALLY get fucked over. Actually, considering some of the people I worked with, I am surprised it didn't happen more often than it did ... and wasn't reported.

It seems like a lot of people put their brains in neutral when they go on the internet. Thinking they can do and say whatever they want with no repercussions no matter how vile they act. In one way they are right, most of the people they target won't fight back offline. They just shouldn't be surprised if some whack job takes their threats seriously and shows up to say hi.

Shit My Father Said ... about Sons and Daughters.

"With my sons I only have to worry about one prick in town. With my daughters I have to worry about every prick in town!"

This was said to one of my Sisters when she was about 15 or 16 and asked our Father why her older brother could date when he was that age but she couldn't. Need less to say my Sisters ofund this unfair and just snuck out and dated behind Dad's back.

Shit Morons Say ... to their mother.

"No, she was a sweet little MILF."

I have a confession to make. Well, it isn't really new. It isn't something I haven't said before. Sometimes, I am a moron. Sometimes I just have a massive brain fart. It happened today.

I went for a walk with my Mother after supper. At one point I head off to walk up a big hill while she takes a gentler route and we meet up. On the way up the hill I met a woman, as Arizona would say a hotty with a naughty body, walking her Shitsu. Both were friendly so I stopped and talked for a couple of minutes.

When I caught up with my mother I mentioned meeting the woman and dog. Mom said she thought she heard me talking. Then she asked me if it was an older woman walking the dog. (Someone she knows.) I replied with the first thought I had ...

"No, she was a sweet little MILF."

I almost smacked myself in the head because the next thing I expected to hear was "What is a MILF." Luckily my mind had caught up to the speed my mouth was moving and I was able to direct the conversation away from that and onto something else.

Doh!

What the ... shitty mail?!?!?!

A friend of my brother's got a strange mail. The doctor wants a stool sample to test for cancer so they MAILED him a kit and he MAILS the sample back in.

I gotta say, they did a good job packaging it and with instructions. Everything is pretty clear and easy to understand. It just isn't something anyone expected to see in the mail.

A special shit envelope for the pea sized piece of feces to be put in is provided.

Then you put it in the barrier pouch. They even provide a return envelope to mail it back in.

However, I was left wondering something. I always thought you were NOT allowed to send hazardous waste of any sort, and human feces counts, through the mail system.

Kitchen Confidential

I FINALLY found a copy of Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential at the used book store. Funny thing is I was looking for some Steven Brust, they had none I don't already own. On the way out I just happened to glance at a shelf by the exit and KC jumped out at me.

I am almost half done it already. It is hard to put it down once you start. :)

Shit People Say ... when giving birth.

"I am having a transaction!"

One of my Niece's gave birth the other day and said that gem while going through the pains of childbirth. In her pain addled state she went with transaction instead of contraction. I suppose knowing she is a Banker makes it funnier. ;)

Shit People Say ... About Eating.

"If I only ate when I felt hungry I would never eat."

I was talking with a couple of friends over coffee a few years back when the subject of eating came up. (Stig may have been there.) I had mentioned that I forgot to have breakfast so I was hungry. Hilda asked why I didn't eat breakfast. My reply was that if I am not hungry I don't usually think of eating. To which she made the above comment.

It just struck me as something strange to say. Especially coming from someone who was ... portly herself.

Facebook Follies

The latest stupidity by Facebook seems to be their "improvements" to chat. For some reason they decided that you shouldn't be able to shut chat off permanently. Now that they have "fixed" it every time you log on chat opens and if you have to shut it off.

How they thought this would be an improvement or something people would want is beyond me. I have yet to see anyone on Facebook have something nice to say about the changes to chat.

I guess when you are the leader in an area you don't actually think about what people might or might not want. Facebook seems to do shit like this just for the sake of doing it.

I started using Google+ but it is kind of boring once you get it set up. Which means that even if Facebook is fucking up by the numbers there is really no competition for it to worry about. Yet.

Bravo Facebook, for coming up with new ways to piss off customers.

Hot Damn!

I am so glad I don't live in Ontario. Well, I am normally glad of that anyway but now even more so. They are in the midst of a heat wave that makes South Korea look cool in the summer. With the humidex it has been around 48 Celsius.

We have been luckier in Nova Scotia. Low humidity and a high of 24 today. Rain expected if the weather forecasts are right for a change. They called for rain and possible thunder storms 3 days in a row this week and it never happened.

Cherry & Chili Chocolate

I am not a big sweet eater so I was surprised to be given a chocolate bar yesterday. It is a Lindt 70% Cacao bar. Inside is a cherry-chili and truffle filling. What can I say, I figured I would try it but expected to be disgusted to some degree.

Was I wrong. It wasn't the greatest thing I have ever tasted. But it wasn't that bad. You couldn't really taste the chili until the after taste hit. Then there just a little hint of heat. After trying a piece I knew that I had to expand the experience.

I brewed up some coffee to try it with. Chocolate and coffee can often go together . It was a beautiful mix. The only thing I could think of that would make it better would be a cigar. So, I took the coffee and chocolate outside and sparked up a Montecristo torpedo.

Man oh man they complemented each other. I often enjoy coffee and cigar. The flavours usually go well together. This time was even better. The strong flavours of the cigar and coffee mixed with the sweet of the chocolate and the subtle flavour of the cherry and chili. It was like a symphony in my mouth. Definitely something I will have to try again sometime.

Cult of No Responsibility

I made fun of Korea and the cult of victimology that seems to thrive there. In Canada and the US we have a similar problem in a different way. People just don't seem to take responsibility for what they do. They always seem to dregde up some excuse so as not to blame themselves.

On the extreme end of it you have the assholes who act badly, attack people, or even kill people. It is all the rage and has been for a while. Someone acts out on an airplane and it isn't their fault it is air rage. Some mook doesn't like the way another one is driving and runs him off the road, road rage. Cyclists get pissy, bike rage. Racial Rage. The list goes on. In the end it is just another way of not taking responsibility for our actions.

Now you have the family of a mook who rioted in Vancouver blaming the crowd for egging him on rather than suggesting little Nathan man up and take responsibility for his actions. It also begs the question if the crowd had egged him on to kill someone would it be his fault or would that excuse it to some degree?

Growing up I was taught that we were supposed to take responsibility for our actions, and even our inactions. Sometimes I wonder if that was a rare thing to learn and if Parents stopped teaching it.

What the ... Buddha?!?!?!

I noticed something kind of strange a minute ago. For a person who claims no religion as his own and who was raised United Church ... I have a lot of Buddha's in my living room.

There are five different little Buddha statues on my window sill. Three were gifts and two I bought. There are no Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or any other religious objects in my apartment. Nor am I a follower of Buddhism. It just struck me as strange.

I was always kind of partial to Buddha's image. It reminds me of me, big belly and all. In fact, my first year I was nicknamed CIA's Buddha. The police we taught, and who worked near my apartment, called me that.

One day a friend was driving and pulled a u-turn where he shouldn't have. A cop waved him over. They nattered in Korean when the cop looked at me and said "Oh CIA Buddha!". He let my friend off with a warning.

It is funny the things we think of and what triggers them.

What the ... announcement?!?!?!

I get a kick out of "friends" on Facebook who make great announcements when they decide to pare down their "friend" list. Some of them create events and if you don't "attend" they take you off their list.

Everyone I know on Facebook has "friends" who really aren't. I am as guilty of it as anyone. Some are acquaintances and not real friends. Some may be people we "befriended" because you need them to play some of the games on Facebook. Some are friends of friends who sent a friend request and for whatever reason (they are hot, apathy, not wanting to not befriend someone, etc) we made them "friends" on Facebook. Some people seem to collect friends and take great pride in pointing out how many thousands of "friends" they have.

Then people start "cleaning" their friend list of dead wood but have to make a big production about it. It reminds me of people announcing they are leaving a web site, forum, club. They turn it into something dramatic. Why? For the attention.

If I am on your friend list and we aren't really friends guess what? I am probably not even going to notice you removed me since Facebook doesn't tell you when people remove you. So, I am not going to miss you. Now if someone like Stig, or people who are really friends, removed me I would notice because we actually use Facebook to communicate.

I used to play a lot of games on my Facebook account. As I mentioned, you pretty much have to befriend people you don't know who play the games if you actually want to get a head in them. What I found was that there was too much spam created by game messages and it annoyed my real friends. My Facebook page was spammed by game messages and whatever was going on in the lives of these people that I don't know and in many cases really didn't care to hear about. So I made the decision to stop playing all of the games except hockey and scrabble.

Once I made that decision the next logical step was to pare down my friends list to include only real friends. I didn't make an announcement because I know that those I remove will either not notice or not care. If they did they could always message me. But no one did for the simple reason that we weren't really friends. Hell, they weren't really even acquaintances. So why make a big production about it? To get some attention.

Anthony Bourdain - No Reservations - Japan

They were showing the episode of No Reservations where Bourdain went to Osaka a few years back on Travel & Escape. One of his comments when he was in a restaurant with 2 comedians was so true and so sad.

They were at a restaurant where you grilled up your own octopus balls. Bourdain quiped about how this would not flay in the US due to liability issues. He said something to the effect of "alcohol, hot grills, and sharp objects mean this would never work in the US". It is sadly true for Canada too. Their insurance companies would have a fit and jack their cost up until it was too high to pay.

It isn't even the combination here. In Halifax the Korean restaurant I knew of,before going to Korea served you the samkyubsal cooked. When asked why the owner said it was because the customers complained about the smell. What a bunch of wussies. So you smell of a little meat. Hell in Korea the restaurants usually have a bottle of febreeze or soemthing so you can get rid of the smell. If that is the only reason you don't like a place it is pretty sad.

Loud Mouth Know-it-alls.

One of my brother's has the most obnoxious neighbour. Let's call him Jerry. Jerry is a loud mouth know-it-all. He is actually worse than most of that type because he an be so obnoxious about it. Jerry worked for the power corporation and supposedly selling insurance. Yet it doesn't matter the subject he knows more than you.

I can remember a few years back when a bunch of us gathered at my brothers on a Friday evening. Two of the guys are mechanics and were talking about a problem with my nieces car. Jerry had to chime in and tell them they were wrong, he knows the problem, this is what it is. Seriously, these guys do this for a living and are damn good at it yet this twat thinks he knows better. The next day when they worked on my niece's car they were right about the problem.

Friends have stayed away from my brother's when the chance of Jerry being around are strong. Unfortunately for my brother, in the last month and a half, the chances were pretty much 100% any given day.

I tolerated the asshole because he was my brother's neighbour. It became hard to do after after an incident at my brother's 50th birthday party. My brother and his wife asked me to take pictures. There was a pretty big crowd there for the party. When we all moved inside for the blowing out of the candles and munchies I was taking pictures. All of a sudden up walks Jerry.

"How would you feel if I knowcked that fucking camera out of your hands and put it under my foot?" He asked.

My reply was "How would you like it if I knocked you to the ground and put my foot in your fucking throat asshole?"

Jerry blinked, seemed to be about to say something, and left. Typical Jerry. All bluster. No substance.

Jerry even made one of my brother-in-laws, who is pretty laid back, blow his top. He was being his usual obnoxious self telling people they knew nothing about a subject when my brother-in-law had enough. From what I heard second hand it started "Jerry, you are fucking idiot who thinks he knows everything. You need to shut your god damn mouth because you are nothing but a fucking idiot who is full of shit." The verbal lashing lasted a couple of minutes. After which Jerry shut the fuck up and slinked off home.

Since my brother has been home for the last month an a half he just couldn't get away from Jerry. If he stepped out to start the BBQ there was Jerry on his patio. Friends would be over and they would look out the window into the back yard and there was Jerry looking in. He would go out to the garage for a cigarette and to talk with a friend and there is Jerry. Like a bad penny he just kept showing up.

Hell, I house sat for my brother a week ago and there were a few times I felt like someone was watching me. Odds are there was. Jerry.

It hit the tipping point for my brother last week. Jerry had appeared too many times in the span of a couple of days. He had been his usual self and the last time he was over had to insert himself into my brother's conversation with another friend. Once again, he knew it all, my brother knew nothing. My brother tore him a new asshole. From what I hear he didn't hold much back. It ended with Jerry saying he wouldn't see him again. Hopefully Jerry is a man of his word.

Loud mouth know-it-alls. There are too many of them in the world. May they all be put in their place.

What the ... upgrade?!?!?

Once again Facebook has been "upgraded". Once again it is something that wasn't necessary and is now annoying. Basically, Facebook has changed chat. Now, every fricking time you log on chat opens and makes you available. If you want it off, and I always had it off, you have to turn it off every time you log on. What a piece of shit.

I recently got invited to Google+. It is kind of boring but at least it doesn't force you to be in chat every time you log on. It has made me realize just how little I actually need or use Facebook. I use it to talk to a few friends and play a couple of games. Other than that it is just to see the odd status update of a friend that is interesting or informative. Definitely not to use the chat function they are trying to ram down my throat.

Ed O'Neil

"Hang die! Hang die Swearjin Cocksucker!!!

Holy shit. I was channel surfing and ended up on a biography of Ed O'Neil aka Al Bundy. He LOST the role of Swearjin in Deadwood because he refused to do a reading for it because he was too big a star. Damn!

I loved him in Married with Children. I love him in Modern Family. He would have been great as Swearjin.

Swashbuckler

I love Pirate movies, especially some of the oldies like Errol Flynn's. Tonight I watched "Swashbuckler".

It is a 1976 movie starring Robert Shaw. Jamaica is taken over and plundered by a tyrant who ousted the governor. It is left to Captain Ned Lynch (Shaw), a pirate, and the Governor's daughter Jane (Geneviève Bujold) to save the day. Ok, that is a bit too simplistic.

It is not a bad movie. Not as action driven as the 1st Pirates of the Caribbean. It has a pretty good plot, the acting was ok, and some of the characters were a little too cartoonish (Lord Durant and Major Folly). While it could be better it could have been much worse.

The sword fighting was pretty good. When Lynch taught Jane a lesson in sword fighting on the beach it reminded me a bit of the scene in the 1st Bandaras Zorro movie. Where he fought Zeta-Jones character. Not as much clothing came off, but it reminded me of that.

Captain Lynch's ship, the Blarney Cock, actually got listing in the credits. It was "played" by The Golden Hinde, a replica of the original Golden Hinde sailed by Sir Francis Drake.

All in all an enjoyable movie to while away an otherwise boring evening.

Feeling chuffed!

I was doing some long overdo cleaning of my bedroom. Lot's of stuff to throw out, whether for garbage or for charity. I managed to fill 2 bags of garbage (not garbage garbage just stuff that isn't any good ... too old ... old papers ... etc.) and a bag of old clothes that are still good. Some are brand new, stuff I bought when I first got home that is way too large now.

Then there was the bonus. Old clothes that were still in good to great shape that I hadn't been able to wear in years. Over a decade for some. I now fit into them and some of them are actually loose. A year ago my old bathing suit wouldn't have fit over my ass. Now it is loose. Damn it feels good. :)

It makes me wish I had started cleaning sooner.

I even put my last suitcase in storage. That was kind of hard/sad in a way. It means I have closed the door on going back to South Korea, or anywhere else. I am going to focus on finding something I like and staying here. It was something I have hesitated to do since I got home and I think it is something that has been holding me back.

Oh well, life goes on. I am going to reward myself with a R&J Churchill. :)

What the ... referrals to here?!?!?!?

After checking it out for What The Kimchi I figured I would look at how people were being referred to Flint's Follies.

It seems that flint's Follies gets most referrals from google searches involving RCMP Criminal background checks, however worded. "RCMP computer criminal record search" and "can a criminal background check take more than 3 months" being the latest versions. Our position on the list was around #4 and 5.

My post on one of the rioters also drew in some referrals from google through "nathan kotylak parents" and "nathan kotylak". We were the #2,4, and 5 in those searches.

P.K. Subban has also given us some referrals. "pk subban bruins stanley cup finals landsburg" and "pk subban cheering for the bruins" being the most popular. Strangely enough we were #1 AND 2 for both searches.

Other referrals came from ""Slaves" "Michelle Bachman"", "loto winners", "access to family doctor nova scotia", "adults moron", and "vienna bad santa recipe from anthony boudain".

P.K. Subban cheered for Bruins in playoff final.

According to Michael Landsberg of TSN, P.K. Subban (Montreal Canadiens defenceman) told him he was cheering for the Bruins to win in the Stanley Cup finals. This has the panties of some Habs fans in a bunch. Here are a few comments taht were posted:

Buyout PK Subban right now. Put him on waivers. Trade him to Boston for a conditional 7th.

Cheering for the team that beat you? Last time someone did that was the French circa the summer of 1940.

PK should keep quiet about “rooting” for the bruins….they are our arch rivals going back decades….and an american team.

You don’t cheer for your rival. Period. End of Story.

*burns PK jersey after bruins comments*

What a bunch of immature wankers. These are the type of idiots that remind you FAN is in Fanatic.

I am a habs fan. I thought Boston deserved the win. They were clearly the better team. Vancouver was outplayed even when they won. If you can't acknowledge that you need to grow up.

Do these idiots think that every player on a hockey team is a fan of the team? I would imagine a lot of, maybe even most, players never play on their favourite team. When the team you are on is knocked out why not root for another one?

And then you have the idiots that pull the "Vancouver is Canada's Team" card. The team might be IN Canada but a vast majority of Boston's players were Canadian.

In theh end "fans" like them look classless and immature.

Shit Morons Say ... about Slavery.

"Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an AfricanAmerican baby born after the election of the USA‟s first African-American President."

Wow. What can you really say when presented with such a monumentally moronic statement?

Are they really trying to say that slaves kids have a better family life than African-American kids today? There were no "slave families" you bloody morons! Under the laws at the times slaves weren't allowed to marry and any kids were the PROPERTY of their owner.

The twats who created the pledge have removed the aforementioned section but refuse to apologize for it. In fact what they try to pass off as an apology is really them saying they removed it because some people read it wrong.

Michelle Bachman and Rick Santorum, who signed on to teh pledge, are now trying to distance themselves from that passage. EIther they didn't read the 1st page of the 4 page piece of crap or none of their staffers did. Or maybe none of them can read?

Now I understand how some of my friends felt when I told them some of the shit South Koreans said and did when I was there. It is just so insanely stupid.

Space Battleship Yamato

Growing up I enjoyed watching cartoons. There was one, an adaption of a Japanese animation, called Starblazers. The original anime was actually a prime time show and not necessarily meant for kids. It was chopped up, much like G-Force, and presented as a kids show but it still had a level of grit and maturity that you didn't see in Western cartoons back then.

As a kid I always wondered what it would look like if they made it into a live action movie. If they COULD make it into a live action movie. Well they can and did. It was released last year as Space Battleship Yamato.

I enjoyed the movie. The CGI and special effects were great.The acting was good. The story followed the original series with some changes. Since it is a movie and not a multi-episode TV series they couldn't spend as much time on the different characters. The main focus is on the character we knew in Starblazers as Derek Wildstar. The enemy, the Gamilons, were changed too. The doctor was female but still loved Sake. Regardless of these changes they didn't hurt the storyline. All in all it was a good watch.

Stig and I were talking about the movie a little while ago and he made a statement I totally agree with. The most disappointing things was that the alien device (or alien itself) only ripped off the female leads spacesuit and left the rest of her clothes intact. ;)

Using Jargon at Work

When I worked at Convergys we were told in training not to use jargon with customers when they called in. Which makes sense, there are a lot of technical terms that people wouldn't understand. Basically we were to get them on and off the phone as quickly as possible. So why use language that would just lead to more questions and explanations?

However, we were also trained that if the customer asked a question we were supposed to answer it. Sometimes out calls were monitored "for quality control purposes". Which is a way of saying to make sure we are doing our job properly. We would get feed back, through or Team Leader, about any calls of ours that were monitored. There was actually a score given. This is where the bureaucratic bullshit mentality caused problems.

A customer called in and wanted some features added to his phone. No problem, an easy call. As I started the process he asked me what I had to do in order to install the features and start them. So I told him in simple terms.

"All I have to do is click on a few places, buttons on a web page, and then hit go."

Easy to understand right? Should be no problems right?

Well, 5 minutes after I finished the call my Team Leader came to my cubicle to go over my "report card" as he called it. It turns out that Quality Control monitored the call and "penalized" me for using jargon and holding a conversation with a customer. An offence that had to be dealt immediately by my team leader. The jargon? I said button. The conversation? Answering his question. Seriously.

I went through the call with my team leader and asked him what he would have done? He said the same thing I did. So what is the problem and why did I lose points? Because QC said I used jargon. Was it jargon? Not according to my team leader BUT according to QC it is. QC seemed to imply that I should have ignored the question, which of course would have then cost me points.

I asked me team leader if all the Quality Control people were such anal retentive idiots. I also told him I wanted to dispute the report because it was stupid. So I had to waste more time writing my rebuttal, which I worded more diplomatically than what I wrote here. In the end nothing ever came of it and I quit working there. Too much stupidity like that went on.

NHLTV again.

For a change they are actually showing classic games. It would have been nice to sit down and watch one, especially considering they are old enough that I forget or don't know the outcome. Except for one problem.

When you go to the channel it tells you what the game is and the outcome. It looked something like this.

From 1979: Montreal at Boston in Game 4 semifinal-round series. The Bruins got by Montreal 4-3.

Why the hell tell the ending?!?!?!? If I wanted to know before watching the game I would look it up on the internet. Instead my interest in watching the game evaporated because I know how it ends.

They do this for every game. What a bunch of Icetards!!!!

The Urban Peasant

Recently on another blog there was talk about the use of the word peasant in a derogatory fashion. While it can be used that way I always thought of it to mean rustic and simple. As in, peasant food. All of this got me thinking of a cooking show I used to watch many moons ago on CBC. It was called The Urban Peasant and was hosted by James Barber.

The show was always good to watch. It had the right mix of cooking and humour. Now I would like to watch some episodes and reminisce but it isn't on any more. James Barber died in 2007 and there was only 1 DVD released, which I can't find. Anyone know of a good torrent site for episodes?

Damn I am sore!

It is funny how something we watch others do and think we can do easily with no pain really isn't that easy.

I am NOT much of a handyman. My Mom needed to have the back deck fixed. Last week my brother David (no not David/KRD) checked it out for her. It turns out when she hired someone to make the deck they never made it to code. They didn't lag bolt it to the house, instead they used about 12 or so galvanized nails. They only put leg posts on the front and never sited them properly. This caused the deg to sink about 6 inches or so on one front corner and 2 inches or so on the other. All of which made for a wobbly deck that really wasn't safe.

So this morning we set out to fix it. We jacked each of the bad sides up and put in new posts. The old ones were not done properly and only had a few galvanized nails, not even screws, holding them in place. Now they sited properly, shouldn't sink again, and are screwed in properly, with the right number of screws.

That turned out to be the easy part. I had to go under the deck and ratchet the bloody lag bolts in. Holy hell my hands and shoulders are sore! It looks so easy when you see people ratcheting stuff in. Now I know better.

I was sweaty by the time we were done the posts. It was kind of hot out. By the time I finished the lag bolts I was drenched. My ball cap was so sweat soaked it has to be washed. Next time I will know better and either hire someone or not assume it is easy. :)

Happy Canada Day

It has been a good Canada Day Weekend. I didn't go see the fireworks Friday night though. Saw the ones last year and, well, they just don't compare to the Lunar New Year fireworks I saw and participated in when I was in Qingdao.

Nice BBQ at my brothers yesterday. Chicken, sausage, grilled veggies, salads. Then rum, cigars, and a fire after supper. Good times.

Congrats Stig

Congrats on finally starting that blog you threatened to make Stig. :)