Hello all, and welcome to another edition of my insanely-long blog updates, which is more than likely going to be incredibly long, on the basis that my blog updates always highlight my boring life, as well contain rants about today's society, or as Peter Poorman describes it, "the world according to Huy."
Anyway, before I start rambling about my boring student life, I am going to change things to make them seem more interesting. Usually, I talk about my boring life before I complain about society's illiteracy and flaws.
Now, first of all, as you all know, I really enjoy watching Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, even if it has been cancelled. And on that show, one of my favourite characters is Simon "Cookie" Nelson-Cook, who is a total nerd that doesn't think about the consequences to his actions about 99% of the time, and is played by an actor named Daniel Curtis Lee. But, recently, my cousin Ky showed me the actor's YouTube channel... and now, I don't think I like that guy anymore. If you would like to see why, you can click here. Yeah, he's annoying, isn't he?! And believe it or not, Devon Werkheiser (Ned Bigby) is an apparent musician. To check out his YouTube channel, click here. Crazy, isn't it?
Another crazy thing is Tony Merchant, who is an old guy that launches lawsuits against companies for what seems like the most absurd reasons. For instance, as you know, he recently launched a lawsuit against Toyota, which is related to the company's most recent global recall of 8.5 million vehicles. Now, he's launching yet another class-action lawsuit against the company. But this time, it's for the 2009-2010 Pontiac Vibe models, which is manufactured in part with Toyota at its joint-venture plant in Fremont, California, known as New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., or NUMMI. Anyway, Merchant claims that the Pontiac Vibe from those model years is a "veritable twin" of the Toyota Matrix. Yeah, that guy is pretty greedy, and I think I'll stop talking about that guy. Now, as much as I dislike Mr. Merchant, I will stop complaining about him now, as he is just doing his job, even if I disapprove of his actions and because my opinion is largely biased. As you can tell by now, I obviously love Toyota, and will continue to defend the company in all situations, even if I have to mention the sticky-accelerator-pedals (but I will do so with humour). Yes, I might be angry at him because he is suing Toyota, but I wouldn't be angry with him if we launched another class-action lawsuit against General Motors. It's just like hating a cop because he arrests you for committing a crime. For example, if you were driving down 8th Street East here in Saskatoon at 75 km/h when the posted speed limit is 50 km/h, you would dislike the peace officer that writes you a ticket. But, if it were happening to someone else, you would probably laugh, or lecture them if you knew the driver being ticketed. Again, this is just a police officer doing their job, because that's what they do to make a living, even if they take the fun out of entrapment by letting drivers know where they will be ahead of time by issuing news releases on their website.
I have always wondered what happened behind the scenes at construction sites or renovations. Well, recently, while I was in Lower Place Riel of the Place Riel Student Centre at the University of Saskatchewan, there was a hole on the hoarding that covers up the construction "site." So, I took a picture through the hole and now have photographic proof that all construction workers are lazy.
Recently, Reverend Nathan Dutnall and I wanted to nominate each other to be on Canada's Worst Driver. Well, we only wanted one person to nominate the other and decided on game of "rock, paper, scissors," and I won. As a result, I got to nominate the Reverend Dutnall. Now, the show did get back to me, but Reverend Dutnall gave it a second thought, and decided that the idea was stupid. Oh well. I didn't really want to be on the show in the first place, although some would agree that I should be on the show.
Now, how many of you live in the northeast segment of Saskatoon and bank with CIBC? Well, you'll find that in order to withdraw cash, your closest bank machine is at the University of Saskatchewan campus all the way in Lower Place Riel. And, what if you wanted to make a deposit? Your closest choices for a branch, or an ABM, are either on 8th Street East at their branch, or at the President's Choice Financial bank machine inside the Real Canadian Superstore, or at their branch on Circle Drive near Faithfull Avenue. Well, CIBC recently announced that they will be opening a new branch in the University Heights area in northeast in Saskatoon in the spring of 2011. For more details, you can click here. This is good news, because I have found myself in that area needing cash before and I didn't want to pay $1.50 to access my cash through another bank's ABM. The branch will be located on Attridge Drive just east of Heal Avenue and will be opening six days a week, including evenings and Saturdays. How convenient!
Now, recently, I received an interesting Facebook message from someone named Sally, who is supposedly one of my cousin Ky's friends. In this message, she said to "go fuck yourself." I wonder if she talks to her parents that way. Although I may have deleted the actual Facebook message, I never permanently delete my emails, and as a result, I still have the original email. The message that she sent to me contained many basic grammar errors and should not be taken seriously. To see the embarrassing email, click here. I like how she refers to me as "fucking immature college guy." Besides, I care about my cousin, and the fact that he spells words or uses them incorrectly makes him look retarded, which will eventually become reflective of his personality once he is in the real world. I am sure that Patrick Wong will enjoy that Facebook message because he too is just as crazy as I am in many cases. Oh yeah, by the way, for those of you who have something to say to me, you should probably use proper grammar when you send me threatening Facebook messages or emails as well. Otherwise, I will not take your message seriously either.
Recently, I was bored and decided to pay a visit to the Chinook Centre's (in Calgary) website at www.chinookcentre.com, and they were advertising a book titled Chinook Centre: A City Within a City, which chronicles the mall's history and its surroundings, as well as other things. Anyway, when I return to Calgary some day, I will stop by that mall, as it is my favourite mall in Calgary. In fact, I will also purchase a copy of that book.
Anyway, I recently did some thinking about my own life and went as far back as when I didn't really care about politics. When it comes to politics, I didn't start to pay any attention until the year 2000, when Jean Chrétien called a snap election and won a third majority government. At that point, I thought Joe Clark looked funny, and I had no idea that he was the Prime Minister of Canada at one point. Back then, I only liked Chrétien because of his accent. And, as mentioned, I thought Joe Clark looked funny. I also found it funny when someone threw chocolate milk at Stockwell Day... and I didn't really care about Alexa McDonough. Today, I realize that Jean Chrétien was indeed an important figure in recent Canadian history while Stockwell Day was since replaced by Stephen Harper, who would later become the Prime Minister of Canada. Eventually, Joe Clark would resign as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, which would ultimately be merged with the Canadian Alliance, thus forming the Conservative Party of Canada, which was denounced by Joe Clark. And as for Alexa McDonough, she was the first woman to lead a major federal political party. She, of course, has since been replaced by Jack Layton, who has an interesting-looking moustache.
Recently, my friend Phil shared a link with me that I found interesting. It was a website about Vermont becoming a part of Canada and seceding from the United States. I thought some of it was hilarious, since it had some outdated information. But then, as it turns out, the person(s) that created the website shelved the idea (or website) when Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States. To visit the website, you can head on over to www.vermontcanada.org. There is also a Facebook group for those in the New England region that are in favour of secession from the United States. I encourage you to check out that group as well, as it is kind of funny.
Now, as you all know, the Government of Canada, led by the Conservative Party of Canada, recently tabled Budget 2010 in Parliament. And, not surprisingly, Gilles Duceppe, leader of the Bloc Québécois, stated that his party would "outright oppose" the budget. Well, that does not surprise me one bit. Jack Layton and the NDP are voting against the budget at this point, and Michael Ignatieff and the Liberal Party of Canada is voting against the budget. However, Ignatieff stated that enough of his MPs would abstain from voting against the government to avoid an election, considering the fact that the defeat of the budget is essentially the opposition voting "yes" on a motion of non-confidence. However, despite an election being avoided, this proves that Mr. Ignatieff is only interested in one thing: power. Now, we'll just have to wait until he loses an election for him to return to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Now, speaking of politics, I am currently watching the situation in Britain very closely. According to this article, the Conservative party over in Britain once had a lead of ten percentage points in opinion polls. As of recently, that gap has narrowed to 2%, and chances are, it will be a minority government in Britain, like our current minority government here in Canada. In Canada, Canadians elected our country's first minority government since 1979 in 2004. In Britain, the country last elected a minority government in 1974, and if this year's election results in a minority government, it would be the first for Britain in 36 years. That minority government in Britain lasted in 1974 lasted for six months, and the election following that resulted in a majority government. Eventually, the Conservatives over there were in power for 13 years, and the Labour party has been in power for 13 years at this point. Now, in Britain, there is no such thing as televised leaders' debates, yet. This year's televised debate, if there is one, will be the first televised debate in British history. Now, speaking of televised debates, you should read this article. It's hilarious! As for the election in Britain, since this year is the fifth year since the current Labour government was re-elected (with Tony Blair as the leader before Gordon Brown took over), a call for an election is due by May 5, 2010, and I can't wait! Personally, I'm hoping that it's David Cameron that will be coming to Canada this year for the G8 and G20 meetings, instead of... Gordon Brown.
With politics now aside, I was recently driving along Circle Drive sometime within the last month and noticed that the Office Depot store on Circle Drive has closed. A while ago, the store was bigger, and it looked like that the store downsized. But now, the store appears to have completely disappeared. Although it's sad to me, since that store was the store I went to when I was dissatisfied (although rarely) with the Staples store across the street, it's not surprising. But, it is still a damn shame.
Well, now that my absurd rants about society are finally over, it's time to talk about my boring life. And since it's been a month since my last blog update, you are once again in for one hell of a long blog update. In fact, it may so long that Noelle won't want to read this update, ever, or she may just skip to her name now.
Since my last update, it was a week of midterms. And on Friday, February 12, I wrote my last midterm, which was an open-book midterm. Eventually, I started to surf the Internet that week downtown with my laptop through the Government of Saskatchewan's free wireless access points in downtown Saskatoon. It is pretty fast, but mysteriously stops working once you board a Saskatoon Transit bus. Anyway, February 11, 2010 was my two-year anniversary with Marriott International. Yes, I have worked for Marriott for two straight years. And later that day, it was revealed that my computer science assignment and program, which were completed just an hour before the submission deadline, received a mark of 19 out of 20. Anyway, February 12, 2010 was a good day, because I did not have to work that evening. Now, later that day, I also received a free iced coffee from the Starbucks joint in the Murray Library. One of the baristas at the store said that I should try my usual drink "her way," although I don't remember the differences. But either way, it was excellent. But despite that, I dismissed it for some stupid reason. But on the bright side, in addition to my stupidity, I did receive two drinks, for the price of one! But also, the more important thing was that it was the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games in British Columbia. And, as for the opening ceremony, I must say that it was tremendously wonderful. But despite the cool day, some jerk did press all of the elevator buttons in an elevator I used at school before I entered the elevator. And on the way home, the transit operator of the bus I boarded was extremely nice for some reason. He greeted every single passenger that boarded the bus, and told every passenger to have a nice day. It was spooky because nobody is ever that nice, as it seems.
The next morning was an important day, as my cousin Jeannette and her husband David came to town. Well, the day started out with me going grocery shopping, driving my mom to work and then proceeding to a job interview. Then, I went home to drop off some groceries at home, and realized that their flight to Saskatoon from Calgary would be delayed. But at this point, it would have been nonsensical to pick up my cousins (Ky and Tho) and then go to the airport. So, instead, I just headed straight to the Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport, which in reality is a pretty small airport that will soon be expanded. Anyway, that day would be the start of a fun long weekend, as it seemed. It could have been more fun, had my younger cousins decided that they didn't want to spend all day at home doing nothing. Anyway, that Saturday was interesting, but it would not be as fun as the remainder of the weekend. On the 14th, which was both Chinese New Year's Day and Valentine's Day, was another interesting day. For starters, everyone went to this Chinese restaurant joint called Yip Hong's Dim Sum Restaurant. Eventually, we went back to my home in separate cars, with me stopping at the Petro-Canada gas station across the street. I did buy a slush that was supposedly Coca-Cola. Instead, it tasted like... stuff that wasn't Coca-Cola, and the only person in the car that enjoyed the slush was my evil cousin Tony. Eventually, we all played an electronic edition of the MONOPOLY board game. And before the end of the night, my younger cousins (including Tony) would have to go to church, which would be my time to grill some meat on my hippie eco-gas grill that I bought at the Real Canadian Superstore during the summer of 2009. And by the end of the night, there was a new episode of The Simpsons that involved curling, as well as Homer and Marge visiting the beautiful city of Vancouver.
On February 15, 2010, or Family Day here in Saskatchewan, David and Jeannette went to the wedding of Jeannette's friend Amanda, which was their original reason for visiting Saskatoon in the first place. During that time, I did a lot of useless stuff at home, such as watching my cousins play some loser game called Flyff, before I found something to do: play Cooking Mama on the Wii. Eventually, it was time for the reception, and it was decided by Jeannette that David would not have to go to the reception, which was hosted at the Delta Bessborough, which turns 75 years old this year. Anyway, to tease my cousin Tho, Jeannette told him that in order for David to remain at home, he would have to wear Jeannette's sparkly shirt/jacket encrusted with beads and/or sequins. To see what my cousin Tho looked like wearing it, click here. Then, there's my cousin Ky, who may have enjoyed it a little too much. Anyway, after Jeannette had left, we decided to "go to church and pray" as David calls it. By that, he just means "to go out." So, we drove around Saskatoon for about half an hour, got bored and decided to drop by the Real Canadian Superstore, located at 2901 8th Street East to buy some junk food. While there, I was able to bug Sara. Immediately after that, we dropped by the BLOCKBUSTER store, located at 1505 8th Street East to rent a game and a movie. The game was named after a movie, and was titled Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian The Video Game. As for the movie we rented, it was Zombieland, which turned out to be hilarious, even though it was a little bit odd.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010 was the morning that Jeannette and David would return to Calgary from Saskatoon. They were to board their plane at 7:00 AM and would arrive in Calgary at 7:10 AM, local time. After dropping them off at the Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport, I went home to sleep, before spending the day doing nothing, as I had no school to go to, since it was Reading Week. And later that night, I went to Fuddruckers with one of my evil partners in crime, Peter Poorman, where we both bought ourselves one-pound burgers. In fact, I have photos of him eating his burger right here. But before my night ended, some stupid female version of a busboy would "accidentally" spill beer on my jacket and would pretend nothing happened, which pissed me off. And by the time I had dropped Mr. Poorman off at his home, I was tired, and fell asleep by the time I got home. I also stopped at the Real Canadian Superstore (located at 2901 8th Street East) across the street, while Shelly was supposedly working. But when I visited the store, she was nowhere to be seen.
Now, during Reading Week (February 15 to 19), I did almost absolutely nothing. But during that week of doing nothing, I was planning on searching for a new job. With dismal results, I finally decided that I would apply to work at home with my current job for Marriott International. Yes, I would become a home agent at that point. And on February 18, 2010, I would make that official. I also remember mailing Taylor Martens a spiteful gift card, and a card that was also considered spiteful. First off, I know that he prefers Rogers Video over BLOCKBUSTER. To spite him, I purchased a BLOCKBUSTER gift card. I know how much he dislikes Disney movies, so... I bought him a birthday card with a Disney movie theme. And last, but not least, Taylor Martens seems to dislike the Real Canadian Superstore for some reason. So, to spite him on that front, I bought the gift card and the card itself at the Real Canadian Superstore. And later that week, I also watched The Jerry Springer Show for the first time in a long time. But last, but not least, that week, the University of Saskatchewan finally made T2202A forms available for printing for income tax purposes. At this point, the only thing I was waiting for was my T4 form. And by the end of the day, it would be time for me to return to work. As for the 20th of February, my cousins came over to stink up the place before I went to work.
The week of February 21 to 27 was boring. Anyway, on Sunday, I went shopping, and decided that I didn't like big-box store locations without self-checkout terminals. But earlier in the day, while shopping at the Real Canadian Superstore, I bought two cool items at only $3.99 each. I bought a cheesecake and a key lime pie for $3.99. On Monday, I went to my workplace to pick up my T4 slip, and completed my tax return the same day, which also resulted a in a kick-ass tax refund, although not as kick-ass as last year's tax return. This year, I was able to take advantage of two limited-time tax credits, even though they were non-refundable and had no effect on the amount of money that I would receive as a tax refund whatsoever. I also travelled at 35 km/h in a school zone with a speed limit of 30 km/h. Does that make me a menace to society? I also read something totally bizarre that involves British city councils taking themselves to court over parking tickets. Now, if I could totally do that with myself, I would be more than willing to take myself to court over any odd situation, such as giving myself the "dangerously silly move." In fact, I know someone within my own family that would love to take to me court. His name is Tho, and he says he'd like to sue me for damages because I have tormented him so many times over the past few years. At this point, he currently demands $20.00. And during that week, an interesting video that involved former TechTV host (Call for Help and The Screen Savers) Leo Laporte surfaced. Mr. Laporte hosts a radio show called The Tech Guy. And on his show, he took a call from a crazy woman who had been stealing an Internet connection from someone in her neighbourhood for 18 months. To see the video, you will need to click here. And by that time, the situation with Saskatoon Transit and its customers not knowing how a Go-Pass works, why they should get one or the fact that they still had paper bus tickets was getting pathetic. And one day, while I was catching a transit bus home, some guy was chasing after the bus, and coincidentally, the transit operator stopped in front of my home, and I got off. So, technically, I could say that the transit operator dropped me off in front of my own home. Also, during that week, I found credit card statements and someone's résumé in a trash bin in a men's washroom in the Edwards School of Business. I took the stuff and placed it in a recycling/shredding bin in the office wing of the building. Also, that week, I got my passport photo taken, and I am too embarrassed to reveal how I looked in that photo, so you're not going to see it, punk. And during that week, it was known to the general public that the Hummer brand now has a very high chance of disappearing at some unknown period of time. Also, during that same week, I was in my sociology class eavesdropping as two ladies sitting behind me discussed their love with one of their supposedly-loving-boyfriends. Anyway, as it turns out, the girl that is "dating" has never met her own boyfriend and that she was planning on flying out to Halifax from Saskatoon to see this guy for their "one-year anniversary," even though they had never met. Sound familiar? It sure does. In fact, Cory Standing dismissed it as stupid when I told him about someone I know. And coincidentally, the topic we discussed in class that day was polygamy. Continuing on with my unusual stories, I saw something totally bizarre during my bus ride home on the afternoon of February 25, 2010. At the intersection of 3rd Avenue North and 23rd Street East (southbound), I saw a guy get out of an SUV through the trunk, but entered through the passenger door. The SUV had one of those licence plates that were hanging from the trunk door (what you typically see when people test drive dealership cars). Then, he got out of the car, went into an empty Honda Accord in the left lane and then eventually started to 'fill' the gas tank with the container he got from the SUV. I am questioning the licence plate and the fact that he exited through the trunk door after entering through the passenger door. I have no way to describe what I saw and I wish I had video footage of what I saw. And immediately after getting off that bus, I stopped by the Shoppers Drug Mart store at the Westgate Plaza on 22nd Street West to pick up some mail at my postal office box. While I was there, someone driving a big car that looks intimidating (Chrysler 300 Touring) drove by and gave me a look that would be considered "dangerous" when consulted with my friend Nathan's standards. But despite the intimidating-looking car and the dirty look, the guy was playing country music (I wish I knew who the singer was because the song was kind of catchy). The fact that country music was playing in the car brought a huge smile to my face. Another thought that came to mind at that time was the sound of barcode scanners. When I worked at the Real Canadian Superstore, the barcode scanners on each cash register had buttons that allowed you to adjust the volume of the scanner to complement your own preferences. Well, in the past, I increased the volume of the sound to annoy Zheng. However, that guy actually enjoyed it and I ended up annoying everyone else in the process. On Saturday (February 27), I went to some place called A-1 Tire and Wheel to get two newer tires installed on my car, seeing as to how I cannot afford four new tires at this time. I felt weird being there. In the meantime, my cousins were of course at my house stinking up my room. And to top off that week, I spent that Saturday evening at work. Yeah, I had a "great" time at work.
The week of February 28 to March 6 was a more interesting week. During the wee hours of February 28, 2010, I was driving home and decided to drive by the Real Canadian Superstore on Confederation Drive to take a peek at the renovation process. But, when I arrived, something had just happened to my dismay. Now, for those of you who know me, you should know that I never really liked the automatic doors at that store due to the fact that they were from Stanley Access Technologies. Well, when I arrived, I was surprised to see that that Stanley automatic doors that I never really liked so much were gone. Now, I was in "shock," but not because I liked the doors; I just got used to the doors. And every time a set of automatic doors get replaced, even if I didn't really like them in the first place, a part of me dies. But on the bright side, the doors that replaced the Stanley doors were from my favourite automatic door manufacturer, Gyro Tech. But, that brought concerns to me as I am a huge fan of the Gyro Tech automatic doors that are currently installed at the store located at 2901 8th Street East. The doors have been at the store since the store's opening sometime in the early 1990s. The store has gone through two major renovations, and the automatic doors that are currently there have lived through those two major renovations. But, here is why I'm concerned: if automatic doors that were installed only seven years ago can suddenly be replaced, then what chance do automatic doors installed nearly 20 years ago have of not being replaced? That is the concern that I have at this point. But, despite the new automatic doors, something special happened in Canada that day. And on that day, Canada won a gold medal after winning a hockey game against the United States, and it's all thanks to a guy named Sidney Crosby. In fact, Sidney Crosby did so well that a Buffalo, New York-based radio station refused to play Canadian music for an entire day out of spite, which reminds me of the hilarity of Seinfeld and the basis of spite. And at some point in time, my foreign friend Darryl opened up about his potential homosexuality. To see the proof/screenshot, you may click here. And also, thanks to Canada's win against the United States, U.S. President Barack Obama now owes Prime Minister Stephen Harper a case of Molson Canadian. Now, had Canada lost, Mr. Harper would have owed Mr. Obama a case of Yuengling beer. And, Dimitri Soudas, the prime minister's spokesman also won a bet, which means that Robert Gibbs, Mr. Obama's press secretary had to wear a Team Canada jersey. On the afternoon of March 1, 2010, I was sitting on a transit bus at the downtown bus terminal and noticed that the bus in front of me made the most kick-ass departure, ever! The bus that was used in the incident was a 2008 New Flyer D40LFR (0807), and its driver just left really quickly, and it looked like the driver assumed the coast was clear. I don't know how to describe it, but I must say that it was the quickest transit bus departure I have ever seen. Later that night, my torrent of the only season of That '80s Show finally completed after four hours of downloading. After watching the first two out of thirteen episodes, it became clear why the show was cancelled only after thirteen episodes. Since that time, I have not bothered to watch the remainder of the show... because, let's face it, it's a terrible show. On March 2, 2010, I received a $10.00 cheque from TNS Canadian Facts for taking surveys at their mysurvey.ca website after redeeming some points. Before I received the cheque, I got an email informing me that my last name was spelt incorrectly and that I would not be able to deposit or cash the cheque and that a new one would be issued immediately. So, at the time, I thought that may have just misspelt my last name by a letter or two. But when I received the cheque, the error wasn't even anywhere close to being my last name. To see what I mean, click here. Now, to go back in time for a bit, I received an email with a special code from WestJet on February 24. In this email, they thanked me for participating in their contest that was held back in the fall of 2009. Well, I remembered playing that game and trying to enter the contest, but not completing the requirements because I thought it involved too much work and that I had no chance of winning. Well, I did win, in a small way. In the email, I received a one-time code that would take 25% off of any airfare through their website as long as I did my travelling between April 15 to June 23 and September 8 to October 31, as long as I made the booking by March 7, 2010, even if the fare was part of a sale. So, I kept the email for serious consideration. So, after going through numerous days of emails and advertised specials, a flight to Ottawa was at least $225, and was considered too expensive for me. However, that would change on March 2, 2010, when I received a special email that advertised "50% off everywhere we fly. Yes everywhere." In that email, the price to fly to Ottawa was $175. So, excited, I attempted to use my special code, and found that it was a kick-ass deal that had to be taken advantage of, since there was only one day to take advantage of the new pricing, and five more days to take advantage of the additional 25% off. I found that the flight there, at the lowest price, would be $146 while my return flight would be about $123, not including taxes, fees and other charges. So, in total, the airfare portion of my trip would cost around $365.00, including the taxes, fees and other weird charges that I am too lazy to verify or explain. And as of 3:00 PM on Wednesday, March 3, 2010, my trip to Ottawa was official. I will be heading to Ottawa on the morning of May 1, 2010 and will be returning to Saskatoon on the evening of May 5, 2010, which is also the same day that a call for a general election in Britain is due. But of course, the highlight of that week was the tabling of Budget 2010 in Parliament by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, which has been called a "boring budget." And of course, I already talked about that. But, I will add one thing: it really was a boring budget. There were few (or none) new spending measures, and it essentially gave Canadians what we were expecting: a road map to a balanced budget at some point in time and spending cuts. March 4 was also the debut night for The Marriage Ref, which sucked, because Tom Papa is an annoying host. Now, if Jerry Seinfeld were the host, I wouldn't mind watching it at all because you know how much I loved his show about nothing, and him in general. In the same day, I also wrote my sociology midterm, before going to a meeting at work from 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM to meet my new manager, Danielle, and another manager, Jamie, who both work in Salt Lake City. Yeah, as of March 12, they are my new bosses. But, that Thursday was also payday for me. But, more importantly, my tax refund was deposited into my bank account. So overall, Thursday was not so bad. And before I got home, I made a stop at Petro-Canada gas station on the corner of 22nd Street West and Witney Avenue South to get some gasoline. Now, as I took the pump, I got a "call" from the clerk inside saying that they were out of regular gasoline (or "Regular Clean" as they call it) and were offering premium gasoline (or "Plus Clean" as they call it) for the price of Regular Clean. This made my day a happy day, and I decided to buy a lottery ticket, which didn't win any money at all, unfortunately. And as for that Friday, it was just another boring day before I went to work. And as for Saturday (March 6), it was my younger cousin Ky's fifteenth birthday (although I did not wish him a happy birthday), which means that (believe it or not) it is time for driver education, which means that he may be able to drive soon, if his dad is with him. I may decide to "teach" him to "drive" too, but so far, I don't have any immediate plans to do so in the near future. Now, speaking of him and kids his age, the Government of Saskatchewan will require kids his age who want to be employed in Saskatchewan to pass a test. For more details, click here. Anyway, despite being his birthday, Ky, and his brother Tho decided that they would like to spend the day at my home, effectively stinking it up simply by being there, because they don't always shower before coming over.
Anyway, as for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games, they were wonderful, and never in my life have I seen Canadians so patriotic. It was so beautiful. And, among others, Sidney Crosby, Joannie Rochette, Clara Hughes and many other Olympic athletes made me more proud to be Canadian than ever! As for the Olympic Games, I would love to see Canada host the Games once again! But this time, it should be the Summer Games!
In the wee hours of March 7, I drove home and decided that I was hungry. So, I stopped at the Burger King on Confederation Drive and ordered the "new" Smoky Steakhouse XT burger. They were out. I kind of wanted a Whopper at that point, but was kind of sick of the plain taste, and decided to order a Bourbon Whopper instead. And, I replaced my regular fries with a poutine, which ended up tasting terrible because the fries were hard. But on the bright side, I enjoyed my Sprite! Now, this past Monday, I was surfing the Internet, got bored and decided to visit Jim Pankiw's website at www.jimpankiw.ca, and saw a few interesting grammar errors. To see for yourself, click here. On Tuesday, Brian Topp was at the University of Saskatchewan. Now, as most of you probably don't know, or care about, Brian Topp was involved closely with the discussion regarding a failed coalition government that was about to be created in late 2008 and early 2009 in an attempt to take over power from the Conservative government. I was planning on attending his presentation or speech, but was too tired. In fact, I was so tired that I didn't even know Patrick Wong was in the same computer lab as me when I was using the computer lab located in Arts 277. And at this point, I overlooked something important to me when I booked my flights for my trip to Ottawa: my younger cousin Tony's sixth birthday. Yeah, that little man is important to me, and I will continue to love him as an older cousin, even if his older brothers Tho and Ky describe him as "Satan in a child's body" or "the devil boy." This past Thursday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made his response to the Throne Speech in the House of Commons and in real-time on that evil YouTube website, which would be the first time any Canadian prime minister has done so, and I'm glad it was Mr. Harper. However, when I tried to access the live feed on Thursday, I was not able to do so from school. And later that day, I got my "revenge" against Patrick Wong in some way, when I saw him sitting at the front of the computer lab (Arts 277) and made a big deal about it on Facebook. On Thursday evening, I went to my workplace and picked up some stuff. For starters, I took my personal belongings home and placed them in my car. At that point, I felt like I just got laid off. Then, I came inside and brought out my computer, monitor, and other stuff, as I would start my current position in my new capacity as of Friday. After that little venture to work, I got my vehicle washed. And as for Friday, I started my first shift of work from the comfort of my own house. But technically, instead of working for six hours, I only worked four and a half hours as the installation of my equipment to get it running properly took about an hour and a half. As for yesterday, I went shopping at the Real Canadian Superstore located at 2901 8th Street East and saw a guy wearing a pink shirt and bright purple tie, who, as it would later turn out, worked at the pharmacy. And while I was there, I saw a stack of coupons that got you a free Gillette body wash product if you purchase a razor or a pack of razor blades. But, the odd thing is that the coupon has a security hologram, which is highly unusual for manufacturer coupons. It's a waste of money, and a waste of resources that could be used elsewhere. If you don't believe me, you can click here to see the coupon. If you'd like your own copy, you can head on over to www.brandsaver.ca. And after that, I went to my uncle's house to pick up my cousins before heading home to the comfort of my own house. But before I did that, I "etched" a bad message into the dirt on my uncle's 2007 Honda Odyssey. To see what bad message I "etched" into the dirt on his van, click here. And eventually, it was time to "go to work," in my room, where my home office is set up. So far, the adjustment from work to home has been good, except for one thing: the headset. The headset I received to work at home sucks, as it seems to pinch the ears and the microphone portion is too far from my mouth. But not surprisingly, Shelly suggested that it was because the headset was pink and purple.
And as for today, I woke up and watched America's Most Wanted on Hulu and eventually finished up this blog update. And at some point in time, my cousin's daughter came over but didn't really cause a whole lot of trouble, as she seemed to be afraid of people she has only met twice in her life.
At this point, I would be done talking about my boring life. Now, I'm going to talk about the things that are coming up, soon. For starters, Mount Royal Collegiate turns 50 years old this year and will be celebrating that fact this upcoming September. If you went to that school, I encourage you to attend their celebrations. For more information, you can visit www.mountroyal50.com and RSVP. I will be attending the event, as will Mr. Peter Poorman, whom I consider a minor celebrity.
As you may or may not have read, I will be visiting Ottawa on May 1 until May 5. This is exciting, as I have wanted to go to Ottawa for the past two years. Between now and then, I will need to do some research as to where I would like to go in Ottawa besides Parliament Hill. Now, the disappointing thing is that I will not be able to see question period with my own eyes, and thus will be limited to CPAC or the news, as tours of Parliament are cancelled, rescheduled or rerouted during question period. However, I may still be able to see the public proceedings, such as the introduction of bills or something. So far, the airfare has been paid for, and the hotel arrangements are complete. The only problem is that I am not staying at the Courtyard Ottawa anymore, which was cheaper, as I cancelled my reservation for that hotel about two weeks before I made the actual airline booking. And now, that hotel is no longer offering an associate discount rate. I did book at the associate discount rate at the Ottawa Marriott, but it is at a higher rate and the very last night was sold out. As a result, I plan to spend the last evening of my trip in Montréal, when I rent a car. In fact, I may even plan to pull over once I enter Québec just to say that I entered Québec, before moving on to Montréal. In order to get around Ottawa and Montréal, I plan to borrow my uncle Harley's GPS device, which he bought just to navigate around Edmonton and Calgary. Since returning to Saskatoon, I don't know if he has actually used the device. Now, the only stupid thing is that I will be flying to Calgary, which is the opposite direction, before boarding another plane that flies over Saskatoon (I'm presuming) to Ottawa, thus making my trip to Calgary a useless one. Then, on the way back, I will fly past Saskatoon into the Calgary International Airport once again, then board a flight to the Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport. And since this is the second time I will be staying at a Marriott in Canada, I plan to take advantage of something else: a 20% discount on all food and gift purchases within the hotel. And since I'm staying at a hotel that has room service, I plan to pig out on room service food during one of my nights at the Marriott, which is something I have wanted to do since watching an episode of The Simpsons titled "The Last Temptation of Homer." To see a clip of that episode, click here. Among other places I would like to visit during my trip to Ottawa include the Royal Canadian Mint and the Canadian War Museum. And as for most of you that know me, this should not come as a surprise to you: I plan to visit a Real Canadian Superstore at some point. At this point, I am travelling with nobody, but anyone who is willing to come with me is more than welcome to (I highly doubt this). And, as for my hotel stay, it could potentially be free under some familiarization program my workplace has among its hotels. I'd also love to try some kick-ass restaurants in the Ottawa area, and will be researching the area based on reviews, and other stuff. This research will begin at some point in early April. And as for the Montréal aspect of my trip, that has not been planned yet, but I will begin planning at some point as well, or may decide to cancel that aspect altogether. At this point, the only confirmed events are my vacation time (which was recently approved), airline tickets and hotel. The next thing I will need is a car rental, as well as my uncle Harley's GPS device. Now, not only will this trip fulfill one of my recent dreams, it will also give me a break from the people that I love, and dread at the same time. For starters, it will be a weekend without my cousin Ky's smelly hair, my ugly cousin Tho's evil face, my cousin Tony's evil ways, the constant bickering of my aunt and... my mom's... yeah, I'm going to miss my mom, but that's not going to spoil my trip. But another benefit is that it will give me a break from Andrew Pang's phone calls (ha ha). You see, Mr. Pang has a tendency to call my cellular phone a lot, and would often meet me in person at school at some point in time. Now, when he calls during my trip, he won't be able to meet me in person, because I'll be all the way in Ottawa, even if it only lasts for four days. Besides, I could potentially say that I went to Ottawa to spite Mr. Pang, because, according to him, I am evil. Oh yeah, I just made a reservation at the Residence Inn Montréal Downtown.
At this point, I will also be checking up on election speculation in Britain, as a general election is due on May 5, 2010, and this year's general election in Britain will include the country's first televised leaders' debates, which have been the norm in Canada and the United States for decades.
May 12, 2010 is the official launch date of Microsoft Office 2010, which will be released to business and commercial customers, and should be available to the general public at some point in June.
As of yesterday, the Marriott reservations centre here in Saskatoon reduced its operating hours to 9:30 am to 9:30 pm and will be closing at 9:30 pm on March 26, 2010. Although I will no longer be working there and will continue my same job at home, I must say that over the two years that I have worked there, there were good and bad days, but what kept me at work was the good days, and the fact that I can stay at Marriott hotels at a rate that can be considered almost free. Once the centre closes, I am going to miss it, as I enjoyed the drive to work and the drive home from work even more. But yes, I will miss the place, believe it or not, and I will miss most of the people that I worked with for the past two years.
Now, in the news recently, I was really excited to learn that there will be an eighth instalment of the Police Academy movie series. Now, although there will be a new class of cadets and actors, I am still excited.
For those of you who shop at the Real Canadian Superstore located at 411 Confederation Drive in Saskatoon, the store has closed early as of today at 6pm and will not re-open until Tuesday morning at 7am, due to the renovations at the store.
Tonight on FOX, there will be a new show that will make its debut during the timeslot of American Dad called Sons of Tucson. Although I have yet to see it tonight, it looks stupid and I would not be surprised if it disappeared the same way That '80s Show did. Now, there is a FOX show that I really enjoy that's new and doesn't deserve to be cancelled, and that is 'Til Death, which features Brad Garrett, who starred as Robert on Everybody Loves Raymond. Now that show deserves not to be cancelled, just like That '70s Show. As for what is airing on television tonight... on the FOX network, there will be new episodes of 'Til Death, The Simpsons (for the first time in weeks) and Family Guy... and the pilot episode of Sons of Tucson, which looks stupid. As for the 'Til Death, there are two new episodes, and I have already watched one of them. And for those of you who live in Saskatchewan like I do, where we don't change our clocks when daylight savings time is in effect, everything on television is now one hour earlier.
Anyway, that's all for this edition of my ridiculously-long-and-immaculately-coded-blog-update. Thank you for reading and remember, DON'T GET RIPPED BY THE RIPTIDE!
Thank you for your concerns, and have a good night, or day!
Hello, and welcome to my blog. And yes, I know that it has been about three weeks since I last updated this blog. As a result of my delays, you can expect one hell of a long blog update because I am that cool. And yes, I know you love to read about my boring life. I know Peter Poorman does. In fact, he has told me in person, and on Facebook. Obviously, that guy is a committed reader and should be commended.
But, let's move on.
We'll just go straight to my boring life now.
When I last updated this blog, it was the end of the second day of the current academic term at school. And at that point, I forgot that the GST/HST credit was being issued, and was slightly caught by surprise. The very next day, which was Wednesday, I went to school, again. And when I was downstairs on the ground floor of the Arts building, I wanted to get up to the first floor of the building to head to my political studies class. Instead of walking up some stairs, I used the elevator. Yes, I know that I am incredibly lazy... and I'm not really concerned about that. Later that day, I had a wonderful thought. If you live in Saskatchewan, you should know that the Government of Saskatchewan's new cellular phone ban came into effect on January 1, 2010. If you are driving like a maniac anywhere in Saskatchewan, you will not be allowed to talk or text on your cellular phone, unless you are using a hands-free device. The only exception is when you are using it in an emergency. Now, this cellular phone ban is a great idea. Do you know why? Occasionally, there will be a jerk that calls and maybe, I don't really want to talk to them. And when I don't really want to talk to them, I don't answer the phone. I used that excuse on one occasion, and was scolded and was told that I was "a dick." With this new cellular phone ban, I can use that as an excuse, even when I am not really driving. So, when David Couchman calls, and I don't feel like talking to him, I can say that I was driving down the mean streets of Saskatoon. And even if I'm not really doing so, I can still use that excuse. See? It's a win-win situation for the both of us, even if Mr. Couchman gets angry. Later that day, I went to the bank to prove to them I was still going to school so that they could waive my bank fees for about a year. After visiting the store, I paid a visit to the Real Canadian Superstore on Confederation Drive, because I was on the west side of town. While I was there, I noticed that the store, after getting a fresh paint job, was undergoing renovations... again. If you want to see what the store's layout will be like, you can certainly click here.
Later that week, I tried to picture myself as a bouncer. When I asked Delaney Leatherdale about the idea, he told me that I would be the worst bouncer. But despite that bastard's negativity, others applauded the idea, including Reverend Nathan Dutnall, Peter Poorman, Larry Chen and Curtis Carignan. The reason I pictured myself as a bouncer was because I have been watching too much television. In fact, Reverend Dutnall told me that I would be the greatest bouncer, ever, contrary to what Mr. Leatherdale believed. Other than that, things were boring.
On January 8, 2010, I received a very unprofessional letter from someone who works for Starbucks Coffee Company that was based in Saskatoon. The envelope looked fine, but the letter was typed up in a crappy way. First off, the letter was printed using an inkjet printer. Secondly, a Starbucks letterhead wasn't even used. But as for that Friday night, it was just another boring night at work. As for January 9, things were... boring!
January 9, 2010 was another boring day. At that point, I was just bored and was falling asleep at work, on the count of it being Saturday. Well, I did drop by a bar to meet up with Darryl Bergeron and Cailin Fisher, but that visit was brief, as it was for "business." Essentially, it was because one guy was too good to buy tickets to an event called Mock Wedding 2010. Mr. Bergeron is a University of Saskatchewan student, but works in the day and takes night courses. And Mr. Fisher... just doesn't go to school at this moment. So, the business deal was for me to buy eight tickets to the event. At some point during the meeting, Troy Robinson appeared. Oh yeah, his real name is Garnet.
On January 10, I began watching a movie titled Trudeau: The Man, The Myth, The Movie, which chronicles the life of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. The movie was pretty good overall, but also sad. But, the movie made the whole history thing come to life. Overall, it was pretty good. Later that day, in the evening, I watched something very important: The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special-In 3D! On Ice! I enjoyed the documentary special very much, and it was kick-ass! Now, over the weekend, I saw something for the first time: a Saskatchewan Party attack ad. The ad is pretty funny, and I like how they use Dwain Lingenfelter's words against him. And by the end of the night, I really wanted tax-filing season to begin.
January 11, 2010 was a day that I will never forget. Well... I probably will, but it won't be for awhile. Anyway, it was the first day of the second week of a new term, but that wasn't really important. I had finished classes for the day and took a Saskatoon Transit bus downtown to be as close to Kiwanis Park as possible. Why? Well, it was the day the Olympic flame arrived in Saskatoon during its relay across Canada. And yes, I went alone because I am a loser. But while I was there, I saw a couple of people that I know, including Benji Noon and my angry friend Eric Yee (he only looks angry when he plays sports), who forgot to bring a camera. I took many pictures, which can be found here. There is also a picture of me holding a replica torch, but I won't post it, as it is covered in RBC Financial Group advertising. The event was fun and I enjoyed the entertainment that was provided by Coca-Cola, as well as the free Coca-Cola that I received. Although the event was unforgettable, it was not as exciting as I assumed it would be. For many people, an event such as the arrival of the Olympic flame should be unforgettable, as it is an once-in-a-lifetime event. Although I understood this, my gut feeling when I saw the torch was... boredom. Throughout my years of going through elementary school, middle school and eventually, high school here in Saskatoon, I was told that I "showed no emotion" and that I never really showed any excitement for... anything. Before graduation, I didn't really show much excitement, apparently. Well, after an event such as the Olympic torch's arrival in Saskatoon, I am starting to think that what people have been saying is true. For those of you who have known me for years, do you think this is true? But anyway, during the event, there were protestors, and I'm pretty sure I saw Cory Standing (the crazy bastard who cut his ponytail... I still miss seeing that ponytail... because Mr. Standing just isn't Cory Standing without it) there too! Then, after the event, I went home. After being at home for a few hours, Cailin Fisher dropped by my house (primarily to pick up the tickets I had purchased for him earlier that day) and hung out for a bit. After he left, I tried to watch Global National on Global TV. But, instead of watching Global Saskatoon, I got a feed for Global Edmonton. As it would later turn out, a construction crew in Calgary building a skyscraper 'accidentally' cut a cable, which somehow affects Saskatoon too.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010 was a 'longer' day at school, and was the first of the term. The only thing that makes it "long" is that I have to attend a tutorial in addition to my usual classes. But, no matter how "angry" I feel, I will always be happy to learn that my day won't be as bad as Chelsea Breher's day. And when I think about that, it brings a smile to my face, just like my cousin Tho's "sour face" brings a smile to my face. And with unprecedented warm weather, I was starting to wonder... will spring come early this year? Unfortunately, I would be "served" with a resounding no later on in January. Unfortunately, it would be the same day that as many as 200,000 people would be killed in Haiti after an incredibly-strong earthquake hit the region. At this point, I encourage you to donate to any charities that are currently helping the recovery effort. Please click here.
January 13, 2010 was just another boring day, and the weather was still decent. I had plans to build a snowman (with breasts, like the snowman I saw in early 2009 at a house on Arlington Avenue near 14th Street). In the end, I got lazy, and that plan to build a snowman was... terminated. Later that afternoon, I went outside and barbequed some ribs and pork chops, which made my cousin Ky jealous. And before the end of the night, I watched the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. That movie was hilarious, until the ending. But, the ending was fine. But now, I wish I had a machine that created food with a drop of water too! I also watched World's Greatest Dad that week, and I thought it was a bizarre movie. Now, if there's any movie that was dreadful, it was All About Steve. Later that day, I had also learned that the Reverend Nathan Dutnall decided to buy a MacBook, which was shocking.
The 14th of January was also an interesting day. Well, it was like any other day, except with an interesting twist: I had an ultrasound at 11:00 am. But before going to that ultrasound, I learned something interesting in my sociology class: if you plan on distributing drugs or making drug deals, Tim Hortons is a great place to do something like that. It's open late, and apparently, the cops don't know that. But, according to my previous sociology professor, that is not true, and the cops are always there (often in disguise). Later that day, I headed home via Saskatoon Transit, but had a change of plans when the Reverend Nathan Dutnall called. So, I got off of the bus I was on and headed over to another bus, where I saw Jennifer Rospad, who was headed to Mount Royal Collegiate (where we went to high school) to tutor high school chemistry students (those who were taking Chemistry 20 or Chemistry 30). But, on the way to the good reverend's house, I got off of the bus near Howard Coad School to take a picture of the greatest graffiti, ever. It had already been there for months, and the City of Saskatoon still has not cleaned or painted over the graffiti yet. Reverend Dutnall has suggested that city crews may believe that the graffiti is just as awesome as we think it is, and have not painted over it as a result. Well, I would have to say that I agree with him, because the graffiti can be considered a masterpiece. Now, recently, during a discussion with the minister over the phone, Reverend Dutnall had mentioned something important about using the services of Saskatoon Transit: what to do when you don't want to board the bus that is about to arrive because multiple routes serve your stop. Reverend Dutnall had pointed out that people do all sorts of weird things to tell the transit operator that they do not want to board the bus, ranging to a headshake or a gesture that tells the operator to "scram." Reverend Dutnall believes that there should be a universal rule to tell the transit operator that you do not want to board the bus. I simply suggested the "dangerously silly move," and he instantly agreed. And later that day, I went out... on a date. Things went well, but I don't think I will go out with her again. And since things aren't progressing beyond the first date, I will not mention anything else.
January 15, 2010 was another Friday at school that I'd rather not go through, again, mainly because I don't remember a whole lot from that day, other than the fact that I had to go to work. But on the way to work, I did see a 1997 New Flyer D40LF parked in front of someone's house. Obviously, the bus had broken down somehow or there were mechanical problems, because there were people who were getting ready to tow the bus.
On the morning of January 16, 2010, I was checking things out on my iCoke.ca account, and had realized that I had more than enough coins to purchase tickets for some Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games events. Sadly, I didn't take advantage of the situation, as there was no way in hell I'd be going to Vancouver this month. As of today, I have just over 100,000 iCoke coins. Later that day, my cousins Ky and Tho came over to hang out, while stinking it up at the same point, as the two bums refused to shower before coming over. But, despite that, I later found out that afternoon that retailers and software companies were finally providing tax software that could be used to file your income taxes for the 2009 tax year. At this point, I am ready to file an income tax return. Well, I'm waiting to do so. I have made all of my claims for deductions (with the exception of the T2202A) and have not reported my income. At this point, I am waiting for my T4 slip, as well as my T2202A slip. Eventually, I had to drive to work, which was like a test of my sanity. Eventually, I started what would be a 'brutal' shift at work. Everyone was grumpy (the way Dwain Lingenfelter feels about the people of Saskatchewan), or stupid. By 10:40 PM, I was ready to go insane... but then I made it all the way to 12:30 AM on the morning of the 17th. But before going to work, I made a stop at a Starbucks Coffee location to pick up my free birthday drink. So, I chose an expensive item: a Strawberry Banana Vivanno Smoothie. Yeah, it wasn't very good...
Sunday, January 17, 2010: I spent most of the day relaxing and doing absolutely nothing. Later that day, I started to wonder why people who have said that they have been "screwed" by Future Shop in the past kept returning to the store. For example, someone I knew said that they vowed never to return to the store in 2004. Six years later, he is shopping at the store and even praising it occasionally. In 2008, I worked with a guy named Ken, who later quit. He had told me about a guy at the store and how rudely he was treated, and said that he would never return to the store. Yet, in 2009, I saw him leave the store after purchasing a laptop for a teenager, who I will assume is his son. When I documented this thought on Facebook, I was immediately confronted by Mitch Kurylyk, who works at Visions. According to Mr. Kurylyk, Visions is way better than Future Shop. But, I love Future Shop, and the fact that Mr. Kurylyk works for Visions is not going to change that. Eventually, the status update alone resulted in many notifications that I had regretted. Mr. Kurylyk said that he had seven reasons as to why Visions was better than Future Shop. When pointing out why I like Future Shop, I placed a major emphasis on laziness. For instance, when I visit Future Shop, they have automatic sliding doors. Any man who is as lazy as I am should know how important automatic sliding doors are. Now, if I were go to Visions, I would be bound to push and pull at least one door manually. Man, I don't like to push and pull doors manually if I don't have to, especially if I'm potentially making a big purchase. And when it comes to making a big-ticket purchase, automatic doors add a sense of superiority to the situation. Later that night, I was bored because there were no new episodes of my favourite FOX shows. Instead, I tuned into CPAC and watched a show called Beyond Politics, which features politicians and their personal lives. The idea behind the show itself is pretty cool, but I've got to say that most MPs lead boring lives. The only MP I found remotely interesting as I watched the videos to the show online was Jim Prentice, who currently serves as the Minister of Environment. Actually, I didn't even watch through the entire episode... but his name is pretty cool. And other than that, the host of that show is pretty good-looking. I also started watching question time from the British Parliament, and it was also entertaining, but it will never be as hilarious as question period here in Canada. But, by watching question time in Britain, I got a sense of the issues that are occurring in Britain, in addition to those that are currently issues here in Canada. And over there, the Leader of the Opposition, David Cameron, who is the leader of the Conservative party over there, has made numerous calls on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to call a general election already. And when it comes to the most kick-ass MP in Canada, I'd have to say it is John Baird, who is the MP for Ottawa West-Nepean, and is also the current Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. Why do I like Mr. Baird? Well, he has a cool-looking face, and he yells a lot. Later that night, Mr. David Couchman, who is Mr. Daniel Couchman's older brother, had informed me that I should most likely expect a visit from him this month. So far, I have yet to see that happen because he is an evil man.
January 18, 2010 was the start of a whole new week of school. At that point, I sat through an entirely-boring political studies lecture. However, the highlight of that day was when I boarded a bus from the university, only to make it my destination ten minutes earlier than the scheduled arrival time. Sadly, I didn't have anywhere to go that required my time. Later that night, I also downloaded a trial copy of Adobe CS4 Master Collection.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010 was an interesting day in my sociology class. But later that day, it was revealed to me that there would be a Monopoly board game that would be released soon, titled Monopoly Canada... and potential players here in Canada would choose the cities that would be featured on the board, based on votes. As a result of that, I strongly urge you to visit www.monopolyvote.ca to vote for the beautiful city of Saskatoon! And if you don't, I'll be forced to hire Godzilla to stomp on your house. But before the end of the night, there was an 'upset' win in Massachusetts, as Republican Scott Brown beat out Democrat Martha Coakley for the Senate seat of the late Ted Kennedy, which essentially threw the whole healthcare reform process in the United States out the window. After so many months of debate and political wrangling, that's a damn shame. But then again, that's America's problem - and not mine.
January 20, 2010 was the last day that Saskatoon Transit sold paper bus tickets that you could use to ride its buses. As of the next day, they were making the transition to the new Go-Pass smart card system. But later that day, we were discussing one interesting question in my political studies class: is there a true national party? Well, that's a question I'd still like to completely answer. But for the time being, I do not think so, as the leaders of the parties usually represent their own ridings. For example, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is also the Member of Parliament for Calgary Southwest, was once part of the Reform Party of Canada, which represented western Canada and its interests. Back during his days of university, before the creation of the Reform party, Mr. Harper was disgusted by the Liberal government of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who brought the Constitution home to Canada in 1982. But, that's not why Mr. Harper was disgusted. I don't remember exactly why he was disgusted, but it may have something to do with the National Energy Program, which set the price of oil and natural gas in Canada, and was highly unpopular. Anyway, back to the discontinuation of paper bus tickets. The discontinuation of bus tickets would mean a new era for Saskatoon Transit. This would be the first time Saskatoon Transit has taken electronic forms of payment, and should be documented as part of transit history. However, the change in terms of history means that the potential for photocopied bus tickets was gone. As much as I hate to admit this, I photocopied bus tickets as a child. Occasionally, I would have no money because I spent my allowance. So, if I wanted to go somewhere, I would photocopy the bus tickets in colour and use card stock paper. Then, to test the counterfeit bus tickets, I would ask the transit operator for a transfer paper. Back then, Saskatoon Transit was known as Saskatoon Transit Services. That day was also the last day of my cousin Ky's first semester of high school. Before going home, I made a stop at a BLOCKBUSTER store, and then the Confederation Walmart store, which has since closed. As of January 21, 2010 at 5:00 PM, the Confederation Walmart no longer existed and would re-open as a Walmart Supercentre in Blairmore on January 22, 2010.
January 21, 2010 was an interesting day. In the morning, I caught a transit bus to school. But, before getting downtown, I boarded a regular route. But, the stupid part was that the bus was a transit bus with a green and white livery, which is mainly used for DART routes. So, when I got downtown, I boarded a DART bus. But this time, a bus with a blue and white livery was used for the DART route. What the hell? How hard is it to use the correct buses?! If all DART buses were under repair, then I wound understand the situation. But in this type of situation, I wonder... what the hell?! According to Alex Short, a bigger budget for buses may solve the problem. I, however, doubt that. But then again, Mr. Short is just as evil as I am! Before I came home from school that day, I made a stop at my postal office box to check to see if I received any threatening letters. Although I did not receive any angry letters, I did receive a very nice postcard from a guy named Zheng Wang, who was in Turkey at the time of mailing. To see it, click here. Mr. Wang was in Turkey for a debate club tournament/championship/competition. Within days, I received a souvenir from the man, who had sent me a shot glass.
January 22, 2010 was the day of my 21st birthday. However, it was also Teagan Hiebert's birthday as well. She too turned 21 on that ultra-important day, and I hope that she had a kick-ass birthday. The day was generally pretty good and a considerable amount of people wished me a happy and prosperous birthday. Even people who supposedly 'spite' me wished me a happy birthday, which was sad, when you compare that to my supposedly-close friends. Back in 2008, I decided to stop talking to someone whom I once had a close friendship with, and I feel that it was a good decision for me. Since that time, she has apologized for her comments that had offended me back then, but that is not going to change things, as I do not like the person that she has become. But with that aside, I was hoping that she would at least say "happy birthday" to me, either on Facebook or through a text message. What happened? Nothing happened. There was no post on Facebook, and no text message was received, and I felt deeply hurt. But then again, why should I care? I now know who my true friends are, and she isn't one of them. Now, speaking of true friends, I received an incredibly kick-ass (and generous) gift from a close friend named David Couchman. Although Mr. Couchman has threatened my life and insists that I should never reveal what the gift is, I am greatly appreciative of Mr. Couchman's gift, as it is mighty generous. As a result of the kick-ass present, I am totally speechless. In fact, I may be speechless enough to actually hug Mr. Couchman, but then that sounds kind of fruity... so the idea is out! But, at this time, no amount of words can express the true appreciation I have for Mr. Couchman's gift, and it could not have come at a better time! But other than that, my day ended at work, because it was a Friday, and I had to work. But out of all the cool people who wished me a happy birthday, only one person addressed me as the Reverend Huy Dang, and that person was Benji Noon. But, the coolest birthday wish was from a person all the way from Australia! Anyway, birthdays used to be important to me... until I turned 19. Well, back when you were younger, you needed to be 13 to enter a lot of contests in Canada. You needed to be 15 to obtain your learner licence in order to drive with a parent, guardian or any qualified driver. You need to be 16 in order to be eligible for a road test, which will eventually give you a licence that allows you to drive by yourself. Of course, that still isn't it. You need to be 18 years old to be the "age of majority" in many provinces. But in Alberta, Manitoba and Québec, this means that you have also reached the legal drinking age. When you are 19, you can legally drink elsewhere in Canada, including Saskatchewan and British Columbia, which are the provinces that actually matter to me. Now, by the time I was 19, I thought that all of the obstacles of minimum age were over, specifically in Saskatchewan. However, I was dead wrong, and I found out while I was planning a trip to Ottawa. At that point, I had convinced Andrew Pang to possibly come with me. He agreed, but brought up an interesting point: how will we get around? I simply answered "We'll rent a car, jerk." But, he then pointed out that you needed to be at least 21 years of age to rent a car. As it turns out, the obstacles I had faced regarding minimum age were far from over. Generally, most car companies require a person renting a car to be 25 years of age or older. In some cases, those aged 21-24 can rent a car, but at an additional surcharge. So, with that being said, I am glad (not entirely) that I am now 21 years of age. But, what I did not appreciate was being called "Old Man Huy" by Phil Wu, as it 'insulted' me (this is sarcastic)! I also did not appreciate being called a "pain" by Miss Breher, as it "hurt my feelings." But before the end of the day, I realized that I love the WhoCalled service from Rogers. The service sends you a text message of your missed phone calls. This especially comes in handy when you are in an area that didn't have a signal, or when your phone has died. At that point, you would not know if you had any missed calls. The WhoCalled service informs you that people actually tried to call you while you were in an area that had no reception, or when your phone had died. I love it because, if people I don't like very much decides to call, and I can't answer it through absolutely no apparent fault of my own, that is my excuse. I can simply say to them, "Oh... I don't remember getting a call from you," even if I really do know that they called. As you can see, this service is wonderful, as it allows me to be as evil as Mr. Poorman.
The morning of January 23, 2010 was like any other morning. But this time, while driving around, I had my notebook computer with me. This time, I decided to scope out the downtown area, and attempted to connect to the 'SaskConnected!' network again. This time, the service was worse than when I had originally tried it in 2007. The funny part was that before you are allowed to go anywhere, the agreement states that all pornographic and hate websites have been blocked. Oh well. I then took it on campus, but the wireless network connections there stink up the joint. But, despite the horrible Internet connections at free spots in Saskatoon, it was also an important anniversary. Not too long ago, in a place that seems so far away, in Ottawa, Ontario, the nation's capital, then-Leader of the Opposition Stephen Harper pulled the plug on Prime Minister Paul Martin's minority Liberal government. Within weeks, Mr. Harper won the election like a true man, and became Canada's 22nd Prime Minister of Canada. And on January 23, 2010, it was the four-year anniversary of that date. During that same day, many people across Canada got together in rallies across Canada to 'protest' the prorogation of Parliament. Yeah... prorogation is at the discretion of the Prime Minister, and should stay that way. At some point during the day, I also went to the new Walmart Supercentre in the Blairmore area, which seems like it is outside of Saskatoon at this moment. But, despite the fun of the day, it would be the start of a horrifying weekend, weather-wise. There was a ton of snow, and I got stuck in the snow on the way to work. To add to my woes, a cab driver drove by and gave me a dirty look and then took off, while I was stranded. At this point, it was the second time I had been stuck, and I had been helped by a Good Samaritan earlier when I got stuck in front of my uncle's house after dropping off my evil cousins. Eventually, I made it to work one minute before my shift began. And to top things off, I hated things at work, as the people were grumpy. But earlier in the day, I did see a really funny commercial for a law firm, although I don't remember which law firm it was for. I do remember that it involved a lady that was "injured," but then it turned out that her injury involved putting a bandage over the cut or injury. And at the end, there was a disclaimer that stated that "Oh yeah, you actually have to be injured," or something similar to that. Eventually, work came to an end, and the drive home would be hell. By the time I got home, I was stuck in my driveway, which was actually my front lawn. That is sad, considering the fact that I was able to see part of my lawn just days earlier.
Sunday, January 24, 2010 was the second day of the terrible, terrible snowfall. At some point during the day, Saskatoon Transit indefinitely cancelled all bus service, before restoring some of it. The service would not return to normal until the morning of January 28, 2010. But, at 2:00 AM that morning, I was playing some old Apple II games using an emulator. Remember The Oregon Trail and Number Munchers? Those are two classic games. Later in the day and into the night, I spent hours digging out of the snow... and that was with a snow-blower. At that point, I was pretty sure that Vancouver could be using the snow. By 10:15 PM, I was finally finished. Thankfully, there were no new episodes of my favourite FOX shows at the time. During the snow removal process, I was wondering: did people actually go to the Alan Jackson concert at that time? It turns out, people actually did. And at some point, I was hoping that professors and the university as a whole could cancel classes. That announcement never came. Instead, students received emails informing them that the university's roadways were being cleared and classes were expected to resume as per normal procedures. That really placed a dampening on my aspirations of not going to class. And at this point, I would like to mention that I was very jealous of a several individuals. First off, I was very jealous of Taylor Martens, who now lives in the Vancouver area, which has a lack of snow. Then, I was very jealous of David Couchman in general, because Calgary wasn't pounded with the heavy snowfall. Then, last, but not least, I was absolutely jealous of Kelsey, who is living in Australia until this summer, I believe. While she was enjoying the warmth of Australia, we here in Canada, did not enjoy the weather at all. Speaking of Kelsey, if you know her, why not read up on her adventures in Australia through her blog (even if she hasn't updated since November) by clicking here. Speaking of blogs, that evil guy Jesse Dubois hasn't updated his blog since November. My RSS feed for his blog has been sitting there and not getting any new posts since November, around that time I deployed Windows 7 Professional. Ah yes, that seems like it was yesterday. And to top that off, Scott McCallum said that there hadn't been snow in Kelowna, British Columbia for more than a month.
January 25, 2010 was the first day of school after the 'major' snowstorm that 'pounded' Saskatoon. By that time, the snow had already moved further east and 'pounded' Manitoba, which eventually led to Ontario, and creating floods in Ontario. Eventually, I left to go to school. But, I didn't take Saskatoon Transit to school, as there was no service to my neighbourhood at all. So, I took my vehicle to school and got stuck in front of my house, twice. The first time was when I left the house, and the second time was when I came home. But as I was driving around, I failed to see a single New Flyer bus on the streets of Saskatoon. All transit vehicles that were used were either those stupid old GM buses or those boring MCI buses with the conventional steps. Later that day, I went home and watched America's Most Wanted on Hulu because I missed the episode the previous Saturday night. It was an interesting episode. The portion was specifically interesting was the segment that featured a young university student who was intrigued by her missing relative. At one point, she had a great aunt named Dorothy, or 'Dot,' who went missing. Dot had married a man, but divorced him. Then, she married another man, but eventually just disappeared. And at some point, her family just assumed that she remarried. But, the young student had a different feeling, and she believed something more sinister happened. So, she devoted some of her time looking through thousands of Jane Doe cases and found one particularly interesting case about a body that was found in Boulder, Colorado in 1959. With the help of a local historian, the Jane Doe body was exhumed and was matched. To check out the case, click here. And later in the day, I was thinking: "Damn it, I wish Mr. Plow were real." Back in December, when there was a little-more-than-usual snowfall, Jennifer Rospad suggested that I hire Mr. Plow. Now, I'm wishing I could have done something like that. But earlier in the day, I had an interesting discussion with my political studies professor about how entertaining politics can be. He said something that I totally disagree with: if politics were entertaining, then it's probably not good for society. Now, despite the snow and limited service for Saskatoon Transit, I saw high school students waiting for a bus that would never arrive in front of a high school (Bedford Road Collegiate). This makes me wonder about how stupid teenage kids are these days. In an age of the Internet, which is readily available almost anywhere, you could find just about anything on the Internet. And if I were a teenager, I would probably at least do a Google search to see if there would be bus service, or watch the news. Well, today's teenagers are different, as many of them no longer watch television. Instead, they are watching YouTube videos. Then, many teenagers complain about missing a television show's new episode because they were on YouTube and Facebook all day. Basically, what I'm saying is that teenagers seem to know very little about common sense these days. And when it comes to the Internet, teenagers today only seem to visit two websites: YouTube and Facebook. But of course, as pointed out by Clint Parker, the Internet is for porn. Again, the Internet is for porn. And no, he's not crazy... as far as I know.
January 26, 2010 was the second day of apparent snow removal by the City of Saskatoon's lazy workers. It was Tuesday, and still, my street hadn't been cleared at that time. As a result, Saskatoon Transit's bus route through my house was running on "modified" service. But, in sociology class, I realized that I enjoyed my sociology professor's outrageous examples. For example, if you reduced the amount of cigarettes you smoke per day from 100 to 20, your risk of lung cancer decrease slightly. But, during the class, some guy came in late and wanted a seat that had a left-hand pull-out desk. He told me to "scoot over," and I refused, because he acted like he was "all that." I refused, and he got angry and did the same thing to a young woman, who I guess felt intimidated by him and did move... but then things went the other way and she didn't move. Well, if he had asked me nicely because he knew I was actually right-handed and not left-handed, he wouldn't be writing with his left hand in a seat for right-handed students. Now, the only person that thought it was kind of funny was Patrick Wong, as far as I know, because he was the only person I had discussed the situation with. And before the class ended, I learned why my professor loves beer so much. For every example that he used that involved money, he would end the example with "which could have been used to buy beer." And later that day, I paid a visit to the Midtown Plaza, where I saw Peter Poorman, who works at Randy River in addition to working at Cover-All Building Systems. The reason I went to the Midtown Plaza was to visit HMV, so I could purchase a copy of Michael Jackson's This Is It with my $25.00 HMV gift card, which came with a free poster. When I entered the store, I saw Mr. Poorman leaving the store, after purchasing a DVD for himself. At this point, I was really jealous of him because he had recently purchased a big Panasonic HDTV, which is kick-ass when you compare it to the 32" Sony HDTV that I have in my room, which I purchased at the Real Canadian Superstore located at 2901 8th Street East here in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on December 26, 2008. If you were to ask me to make a purchase and choose between a Sony and Panasonic television set, provided that the prices were reasonable, I would probably choose to purchase the Panasonic television set. And later that day, I realized that I would be "broke" at the end of the week, as the deadline to pay for tuition and other school fees was looming. That deadline was on Friday, January 29, 2010. And now that I feel broke, I wish that every store would have a "shoplifting department," as featured on The Simpsons.
January 27, 2010 was a Wednesday and early in that day, I found out that the Greater Catholic Schools Division school board was planning on enforcing a ban on energy drinks somehow at some point. That ban would eventually expand to cover pop, sugared juices and flavoured water. That's a pretty good idea. When I was in high school, a lot of students would buy a lot of energy drinks that they didn't really need. They told me that they either enjoyed the taste (I sometimes do) or really needed it (I highly doubted that). But to this day, many kids consume energy drinks because they like to think that they look cool by doing so. I have a cousin that is guilty of this. In fact, I was guilty at one point. In 2006, shortly before and eventually, during a date, I had consumed a can of Full Throttle, and this did not go over well with Kyla Peterson at the time, as she was concerned about my health at that time. My addiction to energy drinks dates as far back as 2005, when I was encouraged to try the stuff by a younger cousin (who is only months younger than me), who had consumed the rancid stuff in order to stay up at night to play computer games overnight. So, until 2007, I had an "addiction." By the end of 2006, I found myself drinking a can for days in a row during some occasions, simply because I liked the taste. And because of the price tag, and the "addiction" to the stuff, I found myself spending as much as $90 in a month in April of 2006. This addiction would officially end in May of 2007, after I tried something called NOS. Since then, the amount of drinks that I consume has gone down dramatically. In 2009, I only used the stuff on three occasions: twice at work when I had different schedules that needed adjusting to, and once during final exams in April of 2009. Anyway, I commend the Catholic school board on their initiative. However, I remain sceptical of their plan and how they plan to "enforce" it. But more importantly... on that day, Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced something 'revolutionary:' the iPad. It sounds stupid... and I'm starting to wonder if Steve Jobs was on crack.
January 28, 2010 was a Thursday, and it was time for sociology class. My sociology class is in St. Thomas More College, and whenever I enter the building, I always smell something good! I love that building because of that. So, after sociology class that day, I decided to buy something at the Choices at St. Thomas More cafeteria. At this point, I was hungry. But since I'm cheap, I just bought a muffin, which was delicious. And after eating the muffin, I was full. So as you can see, a muffin can be very filling. Later, I was using a computer in an Arts & Science Computer Lab. I was sitting there minding my own business when two campus security officers (one of them a female) approached me, nodded at me, then walked past me to the end of the row to use another computer. This was in Arts 277, and it certainly scared the hell out of me. Of course, David Lee joked that I should stop looking at pornographic material at school, and Alex Short suggested that I stopped being an "h4xor." Later that day, after school, I went downtown and stopped at the Saskatoon Transit customer service centre to convert some existing adult bus tickets into a new Go-Pass and waited in line for almost twenty minutes like a poor sucker. Eventually, I bought my cousin a high school Go-Pass as well, after hearing that he was supposedly stranded at school because my uncle didn't pick him up, and he was too much of a loser to keep some change around to take the bus. Eventually, he walked home. So as it turns out, I bought him a Go-Pass with ten rides out of pity. And by the time arrived home, I was happy because the City of Saskatoon's Engineering Department finally removed the snow on the street... and pushed it to the sides of the street, which is kind of lazy. But, the great thing is that they cleared the snow from my fake driveway (it's actually my front lawn) and shovelled the snow into snow-banks in front of my neighbours' homes. Although I was happy, I'm pretty sure that my neighbours weren't. And by that time, Saskatoon Transit's service was almost back to normal, with the exception of route 14. But, earlier in the day, I did take some compromising pictures of Andrew Pang, who was wearing a suit. Although the pictures are not on Facebook, they are on Flickr. Although the day was kind of boring, I did hear something funny as I walked through the Arts Tunnel. At that point, the computers were removed for some apparent renovations. But, as I walked through the tunnel, I overheard a guy who said to a girl, "Hey, did you know I jacked all of the computers around here?" Then, the girl replied "No you didn't. Read that sign!" I had a pretty good laugh when I heard that.
January 29, 2010 was an evil day. It was the last day students at the University of Saskatchewan could pay their tuition without incurring additional fees or penalties. And when I paid that tuition, I was happy to see the balance on my statement go to $0.00. However, I was not happy because about 75% of the money that I did have was... gone. And now, it's time to go back to saving more money, which will be a little more difficult, as my guaranteed income from working will cease to exist as of March 26, 2010. Later in the day, I took an interesting quiz that told me what my true passion supposedly was. And, it told me that my true passion was my family, which is untrue. However, Gail disagrees and says that I talk about my family all the time. Well, I do complain about them a lot... so I guess it's kind of true. Now, in the past, I have been known to make really screwed up assumptions about other people based on the way they look. I've realized that I should probably stop doing so, as it is wrong to judge people "based on their covers." Well, sadly, in the real world, that's how people will judge you, and we just have to accept it. However, my younger cousin seems to refuse to believe that and says the real world "sucks." For example, there is an Asian guy in my computer science class, and when I first saw him, based on his facial expression, I began to think of him negatively, until I got to know him. Now that I know him, he's actually a pretty nice guy and is almost as much of a crazy bastard as I am. Later that afternoon, when I was heading home, I thought it was still funny that there were still Christmas decorations around Saskatoon along 25th Street and 22nd Street as well. For example, as of January 29, 2010, there was still a sign that said "Season's Greetings" on 22nd Street near Witney Avenue. It was funny because it was almost the end of January. Well, I guess Christmas is a year-round thing to the City of Saskatoon. And at some point during the day, I started to wonder what life would be like if I did not know Peter Poorman. Mr. Poorman is evil and is a self-proclaimed "texting fiend," and I can see why he would deserve an awesome title such as that. Out of all the people that I send and receive text messages from, I always enjoy the messages from him, and I specifically enjoy the conversation when he says "Excellent," like C. Montgomery Burns on The Simpsons. And at some point during that time, I went to work at 6:00 PM and finished work at 12:30 AM on Saturday morning, which would be January 30, 2010. During my time at work, I did speak to someone who said they worked at FOX. During my lunch break, I drove to Burger King for some reason, even though I wasn't even hungry. With time to kill, I went to the nearby Salvation Army Thrift Store on Faithfull Avenue and 42nd A Street East. While there was nothing to do, I did go through their collection of old crappy music and bought myself two CDs for only $0.99 each. The first one was a Limp Bizkit CD, which was titled ""Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water." The other was one a CD by a group called Plus One titled "The Promise." Eventually, I returned to work Eventually, I just returned to work and stayed there until the end of my shift.
Saturday, January 30, 2010 was another day of my cousins coming over to my house to stink it up. And eventually, I drove them home, after a day of Tho complaining that his laptop stinks up the joint. As I drove to work, I took some time to take a look the landscape and lamp posts along the streets in Stonebridge, and I've got to say that I like the way things have been set up. But, I am only wondering about one thing: why weren't the posts for the traffic signals painted the same colour, instead of being left the way they are? Here's an example. But, I did stop at the A&W in Stonebridge at one point during the trip, and I eventually saw a fast-food joint called Wok Box Fresh Asian Kitchen. At that point, I wanted to try some food there, but ended up not doing so. Eventually, I went to work, as my shift would start at 6:00 PM and would remain at work until 12:30 AM. But while I was at work, I played around with the Coca-Cola vending machine. I had some rusted quarters... and so, I placed them in the coin slot, and pressed the "coin return" button, and out came different quarters, with one of them being a Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games collectors' coin. So, I repeated the process until I got some different quarters that were for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games.
The 31st of January was a pretty decent day. I started my day off by eating sweet potato fries that my mom bought from Costco. Then, I actually went to Costco to eat free samples, as there was nothing interesting to buy. And while I was there, I did buy a hot dog and pop for $1.99. After that place, I drove across town to visit the Real Canadian Superstore located at 2901 8th Street East. There, I bought some groceries... and then I headed to that new Chinese grocery store on 20th Street West near Idylwyld Drive South, which is called An-An Market. The stuff there was alright, but I wouldn't shop there on a regular basis. At this point, I am still wishing that T & T Supermarket would at least consider building a store in Saskatoon. And later that night, new episodes of my favourite FOX shows were finally on television. However, I unintentionally missed The Cleveland Show.
February 1, 2010 was the first school day of February, and was also the first day of the month, and it started off pretty well. On the way to school, the transit operator of the bus route that I took "accidentally" closed the door on a little girl, and I laughed, because she is a mean little girl. It was also the start of an interesting phase in the history of Saskatoon Transit. The department officially made its switch over to the new Go-Pass system. That means that that stupid fare-box that didn't count your change was gone. And now, the new box counts your change and the driver will know exactly how much you put in. So, if you had paper bus tickets, they will no longer be accepted (at least they shouldn't be). If you have paper money, it will not be accepted. If you have coins, you will be forced to deposit the coins one-by-one in the new fare-box. If you have paper bus tickets, you can have them transferred to a new Go-Pass free of charge. All subsequent monthly bus passes will also be placed on a Go-Pass as well. Since I am too lazy to explain the benefits and requirements, you can click here for more information. And for all university students, you should know the drill. However, the pathetic thing is that there are passengers who still don't know that the transit system has switched over to the new system, despite the billboards and posters on all of the buses within the fleet that are operating -- people still use paper bus tickets. Then, there are young people who still deposit their coins. But, for them, I'm pretty sure that they know... they just want to ride the bus for $0.75 (trust me, I know people who do that for a fact, and then tell me about it after doing so) because they think the driver won't know. I think the solution is to get rid of the old fare-boxes once and for all. Now, on the way home from school, there has been an old woman who has not switched over to the Go-Pass yet, and it appears that she feels that she does not have to. On Monday, she was lectured about switching to the Go-Pass. She ignored the lecture. Yesterday, she was lectured, again, and she even asked the transit operator: "Why do I have to do that?" Today, she was told to "make it quick." Man, if this keeps going on, I don't think she'll ever make the switch to the Go-Pass until her six-month senior bus pass expires, or even later. That same day was also the first day of my cousin Ky's second semester of his high school career (and hopefully, it will be his second out of only eight). And before the end of that night, I would enjoy what would be the first half of a two-part episode of Two and a Half Men.
Tuesday (February 2) was a good day. The best part of it was that I had no sociology class, as the professor cancelled the class because he had to leave town for some unknown reason... possibly business. So, I didn't start my day at school until 9:30 AM, when I arrived and headed to Arts 140, when I was greeted by a jerk named Chelsea Breher, who probably called me a "pain." Now, when people say I'm annoying, they call me a "pain in the butt," or a "pain in the ass." She just calls me a "pain." Obviously, she is too lazy to call me the whole, proper title, which should be "pain in the rear end." Anyway, I eventually left to the Spinks addition of the Thorvaldson Building for my computer science lab/tutorial, where I used a computer with two monitors, even though I had no plans to use the second monitor because I am a crazy bastard, according to most of the people whose names I have mentioned. And of course, the day was good, because although my day seemed "long," it wasn't anywhere near as long as Chelsea Breher's day... and that brings a smile to my face because everyone knows that I am supposedly "evil!" Later that day, the April final exam schedule was released, and I was very upset. In April, my last final exam will be on April 28, 2010. I was upset, because I have never had an exam schedule last that long before... but then again, there is a first for everything.
And, in the same day, the University of Saskatchewan campus was being invaded by high school students. Other than that, I don't remember a whole lot, other than going to my lectures and talking to the Reverend Nathan Dutnall over the phone about some nonsensical encounters.
Last Thursday, I had a boring day at school. Eventually, after classes, I went downtown and headed to CIBC to deposit a cheque for $50.00 or so. Then, I headed down the street over to the RBC Royal Bank branch at 1st Avenue and 21st Street to redeem a fake Visa gift card for a collectors' set of fake RBC Visa gift cards. I eventually walked slowly towards the downtown bus terminal, and on the way there, I saw an old high school teacher, Mr. Brimacombe, who was unrecognizable from a distance. I eventually boarded a transit bus to Reverend Nathan Dutnall's house, and chatted with Jennifer Rospad on the way there. She told me that her boyfriend one day flapped his hands, and she had instantly recognized that hand gesture as the "dangerously silly move." Well, because of this story, and the fact that her boyfriend inadvertently performed the move, I would like to meet him. He sounds like he could be as nonsensical as I am (yeah, you wish). After spending an interesting amount of time on the bus, I went to the minister's house and we discussed nonsensical things, and watched an episode of Steven Seagal Lawman on A&E, which is a lot more entertaining that COPS. Eventually, I also paid a visit to the Real Canadian Superstore on Confederation Drive in an attempt to check out their renovations. I have one thing to say: they're okay. Other than that, I was at home doing nothing. Earlier in the day, I wrote a midterm exam for my sociology class, which I barely passed.
Friday was just another boring day of lectures, before going home to nap for the afternoon before work. Eventually, I went to work at 6:00 PM, which was kind of interesting.
This past Saturday was just another lazy Saturday. I woke up and eventually went to my uncle's house to bug my cousins. But this time, I tried some food at a new joint that opened up on Clarence Avenue South at the Stonegate Shopping Centre: Wok Box Fresh Asian Kitchen. The food was good, but it was also very expensive, considering the small portions. Eventually, the two evil young boys came to my house, ate my food, and stunk up my room for four hours... and then I drove them home before going to work. Work itself was so boring that I started counting down the minutes. Eventually, I was told to put myself in "aux," or "scheduled downtime," meaning that I got paid to sit around, starting at 10:03 PM until midnight, thanks to Aaron Arnault. But, because things changed, and the fact that Mr. Arnault is evil (I like to make this strong accusation because he giggles and laughs every time I say so), my freedom ended at 11:30 PM that night. Eventually, the shift did end, and it would be last shift for two weeks. I asked for this upcoming weekend off, based on the fact that my cousin Jeannette is coming to town. At this point, I will not be returning to work until February 19, 2010 (U.S. President Barack Obama visited Canada on February 19, 2009). On Saturday, I also learned that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is an avid computer programmer too! For proof, click here.
As of Sunday morning at 1:00 AM, I was relaxing in the comfort of my own home, and loved every moment of it! As for Sunday itself, it was a pretty lazy day, as I sat around doing almost nothing for a few hours. Eventually, I did some shopping with my mom at the Real Canadian Superstore, Shoppers Drug Mart (at The Centre Mall) and Sobeys (in College Park). And at this point, I'm wondering why the Sobeys store in College Park does not have self-checkouts like the Varsity Common and Preston Crossing locations! At Sobeys, the guy that was buying groceries before me wasn't really buying groceries. He bought hair gel, condoms and a frozen dinner. I don't think I want to know about what he was going to do at home. Now, as for television, there was nothing good on television. As for my favourite FOX shows, there were no new episodes on television, which made my night a boring one.
On Monday, I woke up after a lack of sleep, tired. In class, I was tired, and sleepy, and I felt like taking a nap. But in the end, I never did... and went to sleep incredibly tired. But before I went to bed, I saw the second part of that two-part Two and a Half Men episode from last week, and I was slightly shocked by the ending. But earlier in the day, I was wondering why I hadn't been moved over to the newer Facebook yet... but then a few hours later, it just occurred, and it wasn't as cool as I thought it would be. Yeah, Monday was pretty boring.
Yesterday, I boarded a Saskatoon Transit bus and was scolded by the female transit operator about how we live in a society that is "ladies first" just because I boarded the bus before a female did. Well, I was closer to the bus. But, sociology class was fun because the professor called himself a jerk. He explained that in high school, students usually prefer female teachers because the teacher is usually a nice lady or a young and attractive teacher that recently graduated from college. Then, in university, female students complain because female professors are mean to them... then, "you meet this jerk named James." Eventually, we got our midterms back, and I barely passed, which is an indicator that I need to study for midterm #2. I also learned yesterday that Arnold Schwarzenegger would be carrying the Olympic torch at some point in Vancouver this Friday leading up to the opening of the Olympic Games. Eventually, I headed home and received a cheque for $125.42 from SnapDollars.com. Then, I eventually headed back to school to attend Google's presentation at the CSSS Career Fair. I failed to find a suitable spot near the Spinks addition or the Thorvaldson building. As a result, I was forced to park behind the Physics building, then walk through the Geology building and then to Thorvaldson. Now, of course, I still can't wait until I receive my T4 and T2202A slips. I did, however, receive my T4A slip yesterday, which I don't really care about, because it's more income to report. Now, yesterday, at Apple's presentation, as well at Google's presentation, I learned that there are a lot of students from the University of Saskatchewan that now work at those companies and others like Pixar (now owned by Disney). Eventually, I came home and worked on homework and assignments before "hitting the hay," whatever the hell that means.
This morning, I went to school earlier, and took my laptop to school for the first time, after buying a laptop sleeve/case for it that would allow me to bring it around in my backpack without damaging it. So, I really liked Windows 7 until today, when I had problems connecting to campus printers through its wireless network. It turns out that I would need to manually install drivers for the school's printers on my own laptop before I can connect to the network printers wirelessly. But once I do, I will be able to print stuff from my laptop without having to login to a school computer. And by the way, a hell of a lot of Canadian cities was added to Google Street View today, including the ski slopes in Whistler that will be used by Olympic athletes during the Games! For a list of new cities, click here. And earlier today, when I was taking the bus home, I saw a woman with a hairy chin, and it was almost a full beard, and I must say, it was one of the most bizarre things that I had ever seen. Eventually, I headed out again, and in the process, I got a new wig, I rented a few movies and I deposited a cheque at a CIBC branch before going home to watch Arthur on television. Eventually, I worked on my computer science assignment, and then typed up the rest of this blog update... or finished it... well, whatever flips your waffle.
Anyway, now that I have finished talking about my boring life, I thought I would take the time to discuss a 'few' interesting things.
First off, still fresh on a lot of people's minds is the recent Toyota recall and the suspension of sales on eight Toyota models, including the Camry, Highlander, Corolla, Avalon, RAV4, Matrix, Tundra and Sequoia. The number of vehicles involved in the most recent recall is about 2.3 million. Although I understand why people would be scared to drive their new Toyotas, I am giving the company the benefit of the doubt, as the company has stood for safety, reliability and quality for 50 years or more. Besides, is it really Toyota's fault that a third-party company created inferior gas pedals? Now, what disturbs me is that there are people starting or joining class action lawsuits against the company for what seems like retarded reasons. For example, in Ontario, there is a guy named Steven Hamilton, who is suing the company for the most retarded reason, if it is even a valid reason: "he can't resell his car." Apparently, he bought a new Toyota recently and now wants a full refund. He also alleges that the automaker and supplier "knew or ought to have known" of inherent design defects in the pedal system and its components in models as far back as 2001. The claim has not been proven in court. Since I drive a 2001 Toyota Camry, should I join the lawsuit too? What if I take some duct tape and tape the pedal in a way that it gives off the effect of unintended acceleration? Well, I must say that Mr. Hamilton is a pathetic loser and anyone who joins his lawsuit is just as pathetic as he is. Suing a car company because you can't resell your car is such an American thing. Are Canadians turning into Americans? Well, it appears to be that way. Then, there's another lawsuit here in Canada that begins here in Saskatchewan with Regina-based lawyer Tony Merchant, who has also started a lawsuit "on behalf of Toyota owners." Well, his lawsuit makes a little bit more sense than Mr. Hamilton's lawsuit, but I would have to say that people who join the lawsuit are just pathetic losers. At this point in time, I see no reason to change my preference, and I am more than willing to purchase a new Toyota, should I be able to afford a new Toyota. At this point, I still have my sights set on a new Toyota Highlander Hybrid. The vehicle is spacious, has lots of space to lug cargo around, if you really wanted to. But, best of all, I can be an environmental hippie in disguise. When you drive a hybrid car, you are using less gasoline, which in turn, is smoother, quieter and cleaner. It is quieter, which reduces the impact of noise pollution. It is also cleaner, as less carbon emissions are created from the hybrid vehicle. But, even though you are kind of a hippie, people aren't going to notice that fact right from the start. First, when people see you driving a new Toyota Highlander Hybrid around, their first impression will be: "Wow, look at that beautiful vehicle! It's so beautiful I can cry!" Then, they would of course want to check it out... inside and outside. Once that has been done, they will eventually come to the realization that it is a hybrid vehicle, and then, and only then, will be there one of two phrases. The first one may be something like this: "Look at this loser, driving a hybrid vehicle. What a hippie!" Or, they will say "Wow, what a nice car! And to top that off, he's considerate when it comes to the environment!" And since environmental change and global warming are huge topics these days, the latter will most likely be said.
Now, a while ago, I may have told you about an experience I had with Starbucks Coffee. My addiction to their Iced Coffee with Milk began back in October of 2009 when I tried the product for the first time. I was instantly hooked and eventually bought the product on a regular basis at the University of Saskatchewan Learning Commons location. Eventually, I was able to purchase the same product at other stores for a while. Then, one day, at the Midtown Plaza, I was told that it was discontinued. I then tried the 2nd Avenue/22nd Street location, which made me the product. Since then, it has been discontinued too. Eventually, every location, except for the location at the university, has told me that the product had been discontinued. Eventually, as I was upset, I wrote a letter to the company's Calgary offices. Weeks later, I received a very unprofessional letter from what I thought was the company (an official Starbucks envelope was used) that was typed up with terrible grammar. Now, the embarrassing part was that it wasn't even printed on a letterhead. It was printed on plain paper... and an inkjet printer was used. To see the embarrassing letter in question, please click here. Last month, I received another letter. This time, it was from the official headquarters in Seattle. To see the letter, you can click here. Now, speaking of Starbucks, you should check out this statement the company made about a bizarre lawsuit involving a former employee and her relationship with another employee, which is apparently against company policy. I don't know what the whole story is, but frankly, it sounds a little too stupid to research. So, if you are bored, I suggest you tell me about it.
Now, recently (January 22), Walmart Canada closed its store at the Confederation Mall here in Saskatoon and opened a new store in the Blairmore Suburban Centre on the outskirts of Saskatoon. Although a new Walmart Supercentre is exciting, it was not as exciting as I had hoped. When I visited the store, I was greeted by the same (and sometimes rude) employees of the Confederation Walmart, which was fine, because working in retail can be a stressful job. But, what particularly ticked me off was the fact that the store had no self-checkouts. Now, that is just not cool. If the fairly-new Stonebridge store has self-checkouts, why can't the even-newer store in Blairmore have self-checkouts? That was only one concern. The other thing I didn't care much about was the quality of their meats. When I saw their selection of meats, I was disgusted by how they looked... and I'm starting to wonder why people think (or are under the impression) that buying their groceries at a Walmart Supercentre is better than buying them at the Real Canadian Superstore. For those people, they are probably on crack. I know of at least six people who think that way. Now, if you were to ask me where I would want to buy my groceries, I would proudly say the Real Canadian Superstore located at 2901 8th Street East. As for Walmart Supercentre, I'd rather be slapped by a woman than shop for groceries there. Now, although the store didn't satisfy my odd expectations, I did notice something funny about the area: the street names. Well, the store is located on Betts Avenue, which is probably named after somebody. But, a couple more examples of odd street names in that area include Shillington Crescent and Molland Lane. If it were up to me, that neighbourhood would have all of its street names named after things and characters on Seinfeld. For instance, I wouldn't mind seeing Costanza Lane or Newman Avenue in that area.
Recently, I received an interesting email that included $20.00. In case you haven't heard, there is a product/service called 3V Prepaid Visa, which offers Visa card numbers electronically. You can purchase prepaid vouchers at participating stores and then shop online with them. This comes in specifically handy when you don't have a credit card to use and there is something you want to buy online but the vendor won't accept PayPal as a form of payment. So, as a random Twitter user, I eventually received an email with a $20.00 voucher included. So, I used it to pay $20.00 towards the balance of my tuition and school fees. Now, although the idea and service helps many people who don't have credit cards or bank accounts, it does have one flaw when you are obtaining your number. When you are online, you will get the entire credit card number, but no expiration date or CVV2 number. Instead, that is sent to your email address. But, when you check the email address, there is no credit card number. Instead, you will receive the CVV2 and the expiration date separately. That's the only minor inconvenience, and there is my opinion on the 3V Prepaid Visa. So, to sum it up in one sentence, here is my opinion: it's an innovative business idea with a minor inconvenience.
Now, recently, I received a pretty cool email. Sadly, it was spam. But, it was still more convincing than the usual spam I receive. What particularly caught my attention this time was that the fake name used was "Rev. Pastor Williams Brown." You should check out the email by clicking here. Man, I love spam.
At this point, it is time to file your income taxes. And for those of you who don't like to pay to file your taxes because you make over $20,000 a year, I suggest that you use StudioTax, which is totally free, even if you make $1 million a year. To take advantage of the program, you can visit the developer's website at www.studiotax.com.
Now, for another article... recently, I read a column written by Les MacPherson about drivers needing to consider the true toll of traffic after a 19-year-old lost her life on one of our freeways. Well, usually, I don't always agree with MacPherson and his columns. But, on this particular article, I would have to say that I agree with him completely. Well, although a woman had lost her life due a to a terrible tragedy, people were complaining that the Saskatoon Police Service took too long in their investigation, and they were angry because it took them a long time to get home. Wow. That's just freaking pathetic! What I specifically agreed with was this: "The correct response would have been to solemnly resolve to avoid such tragedies in the future by driving more attentively ourselves. A bit of humility, too, would not have been remiss, for we all are wounded when someone is killed on our city's streets. Or at least we should be." I also agree strongly with this follow-up statement: "But no. There was none of that, or none, at least, that I heard about. Instead, there was city-wide bellyaching over the extra few minutes it took people to get home after work. Heaven forbid we should make any kind of sacrifice so police can properly investigate a fatal accident." Yeah, people are pathetic these days. If you were to take me for example, I support Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada. And as much as I hate the Liberal Party of Canada or the New Democratic Party of Canada, I only hate their leaders and MPs as politicians. If you were to remove the party affiliations, I'm pretty sure that most politicians are good people. For instance, Jack Layton, who is now suffering from prostate cancer, is a pretty nice guy. Then, there's Michael Ignatieff, who travelled and left Canada for 34 years doing what he loved. But, in the world of politics, things like don't matter to your opponents. Keep that in mind.
Now, at this point in time, I really wish Parliament were in session, even though I support Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to prorogue Parliament. Why? Well, I really miss question period! But, it's only a few more weeks until Parliament returns, and I'm sure I can wait. But speaking of politics, let's talk specifically about Saskatchewan politics. As you should know by now, the Saskatchewan Party recently released attack ads about Dwain Lingenfelter and his put-downs of Saskatchewan, as well as calling Premier Brad Wall a loser. Well, Premier Brad Wall is not a loser, and is the second-most-popular provincial premier in Canada, just behind Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams. Anyway, when questioned about the ads, Mr. Lingenfelter decided not to make an apology and continued to call the premier a loser. Well, not only did Lingenfelter stoop to the Saskatchewan Party level, he has also shown the citizens of Saskatchewan that he is an arrogant prick who does not deserve to be elected. Now, as far as attack ads go, the Conservative Party of Canada recently asked me to make a donation to their party. In the "personalized" letter that I received, I was told that the party was planning on spending some of the funds received to create television advertisements. Well, I hope they are attack ads, again! When it comes to attack ads, the Conservative Party of Canada's attack ads usually rule! And of course, I look forward to seeing these new television ads!
If you live in Saskatoon, you should know that Jim Pankiw was a controversial Member of Parliament up until 2004, when he was defeated by Conservative MP Brad Trost in the riding of Saskatoon-Humboldt. He was originally a Reform MP and then became a Canadian Alliance MP, but later left the party when Stockwell Day became the leader. Eventually, he re-applied to the party when Stephen Harper took over. However, Stephen Harper rejected his ass. So, since then, he had gone back to being a chiropractor and stayed out of the spotlight until last Thursday, when he announced his return to politics at the Saskatoon Inn. That announcement coincided with the re-launching of his website, which is apparently "state-of-the-art." Well, for a state-of-the-art website, the website did have some pretty funny grammatical errors. Here's one example. The man also joined the technological age and opened up a Twitter account. Of course, even his Twitter account had featured an error that is considered unforgiveable. To see that error, click here. And if you look carefully, one tweet says "Just had my press conference! I announced today he will be running in the next Federal Election as an independent for Saskatoon-Humboldt." Yeah, it's kind of sad. Anyway, as an MP, I would assume that Dr. Pankiw, or the person that he hired to design his website and update his Twitter page on his behalf, would have basic grammar skills. Apparently, that doesn't appear to be true.
Now, almost two weeks ago, during the weekend of the fourth anniversary of the day Prime Minister Stephen Harper was elected, I read an article about Mr. Harper's mass changes to Canada. And although I did disagree with some aspects, I did agree with one part: Canada was an easy-going country in 2006 (perhaps too easy-going). Today, the country really is different from what it was four years ago, and I like the direction that Mr. Harper is taking Canada. Hopefully, Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be our prime minister for as long as Pierre Trudeau was. And if you disagree, well... that's your problem. To see the article, click here.
Now, I recently read another article on the Internet about capital punishment. Now, it's a good thing that crime rates are dropping isn't it? To me, it is. To others, it doesn't matter. The article I read was about capital punishment and the fact that views of Canadians when it comes to crime are hardening and that hardening view includes the death penalty. Well, I can understand why people would be upset with the current justice system in Canada... because, more than often, it does seem like criminals are getting lighter sentences than usual. Not too long ago, a man who had raped his daughter was still able to serve his "sentence" in the community. Then, there's a high school student in Regina who shot his former girlfriend, was convicted, who then appealed his sentence, and eventually got a lighter sentence. And by the way, when it comes to murders or homicides, as many as 62% of Canadians believe that it should be punished with the use of capital punishment. I for one, however, do not support capital punishment, as there is always a chance of a wrongful conviction later on down the road. An example of this includes a Canadian by the name of David Milgaard, who was wrongfully convicted in the murder of a Saskatoon nurse named Gail Miller. Well, that's enough for this controversial topic.
Now, if there's anyone I hate, it's Stephen Colbert. That guy is annoying, and stupid. First of all, he thought Vancouver was in Saskatchewan. Secondly, he is obnoxious. And last but not least, he is full of crap. Sadly, he'll be in Vancouver during the Olympic Games making sure that the Canadian athletes don't "cheat," as well as providing commentary (possibly retarded commentary) on the events with some other person from NBC.
Well, that's enough for now, and I hope you've enjoyed my incredibly-long blog update, as it spanned more than twenty printed pages. Hopefully, that fact won't deter my loyal readers, such as David Couchman, Noelle, Larry Chen and others, from reading this immaculately-coded blog in the future. Others have told me they stopped reading because this blog is "too long."
But before I go, I must mention that there are things to look forward to this week. Although this week is a week that consists of writing midterm exams, the end of the week looks great. This upcoming Thursday, which is February 11, is the two-year anniversary mark for my time at the Marriott global reservations centre here in Saskatoon. Then, on Friday, it will be the last day of midterms for me. But, even bigger than that fact is the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games, and there's nothing bigger than that! Then, on Saturday, my cousin Jeannette and her husband David Lee are coming to town for a wedding, which will be held on Monday, February 15, 2010, which is also Family Day. Of course, another big occurrence is that after Friday, I won't have to go to school for an entire week! And by the way, Tuesday will be Taylor Martens' birthday! And speaking of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games, there will be a special episode of The Simpsons where the family will travel to Vancouver and will participate in the sport of curling on the American team! The special episode will air on February 14, 2010 on FOX and Global 8:00 PM (7:00 PM in Saskatoon on Global and FOX WUHF-TV Rochester; 10:00 PM on FOX KAYU-TV Spokane). I can't wait to see that episode!
Well, that's all for now... and I hope you have fun filing your income taxes (yes, it's that time of year again)! What will you do with your refund?
