June 2009
4 posts
Hybrid SUVs
Why are there Hybrid SUVs? For example, a Chevy Tahoe. Gas engine with lead battery electric secondary power.
It’s almost 6000 lbs of truck (5800 lbs). By any stretch of the imagination it is NOT a green vehicle. Lead batteries/current hybrid lifecycle environmental pros/cons aside, why a Hybrid Tahoe?!
Moving around 6000 lbs of truck takes energy. A lot more than (say) a...
Bonus time
Sometimes it sucks being a boss. And sometimes it is just fine.
Handing out bonuses is a good time. I liked handing out my teams’ bonuses to them. Sure, I (and they) wish they were more substantial, but nonetheless it beats handing out pink slips or reprimands.
This week was a good week.
Exam time drama
This week, I invigilated an exam.
I looked at the faces, young and old, of the exam students. Some were confident, some were scared. I tried to pick which of 31 students would fail and which 60% would pass and go on to the next course.
I used to be in their shoes. I had the utmost sympathy for their stress.
One woman left 45 minutes into the 3 hour exam, all red faced. She clearly was not...
May 2009
7 posts
Women are complicated and Arthur Erickson RIP
Okay. I give up. Women truly are from Venus. No mas. I jsut want to relax and chill. Is that such a big sin?
Arthur Erickson (Roy Thompson Hall’s architect, amongst many many other great buildings) died today. RIP
I was (am) just a dum, ignorant city kid. But I knew what looked right and felt good. Mr Erickson helped contribute to a part of that in Toronto and BC.
Victoria Day weekend
It was Eamon’s birthday yesterday. Wouldn’t you know it, Kevin and Eamon got a bit silly and some excess man-love occurred. Both of them started parading around with their shirts off. I think Vicky and Adam must have goaded Kev on and within minutes I was standing, sans shirt.
Great.
I think I will have to reciprocate somehow.
Sangria on the patio, I’m happy.
Hmm, I think...
Life of riley
Beach volleyball good, but NHL playoffs bad (Bruins and Caps lose, agh)
Sports nirvana
Okay, this is one of my three favourite sports times of the year. NHL playoffs, NBA playoffs, soccer and baseball on at full tilt — with Toronto having early contenders in both.
The Bostons Bruins are my favourite team, bar none. From the Bobby Orr and Cam Neely days, I suppose. They looked good, thoroughly trouncing the Hurricanes 4-1 in convincing fashion.
My kid sis roost for the...
April 2009
8 posts
My geeking and my old neighbourhood bar →
Okay, I confess. I’ve been spending many hours lately geeking on a $10 game I picked up to waste some hoarded brain cells on — Rainbox 6 Lockdown. For a $10 game (6 CDs), it’s a steal. My cruddy video card goes 4 or even 3 fps at the high activity/AI character action spots though, ah well.
I read in today’s Sun that my old neighbourhood bar (J&G’s at Danforth...
Why do firms lobby? $1 in lobbying = $220 in tax... →
A numbre of large US and multinational corporations lobbyed hard for the American Jobs Creation Act. Ostensibly, this Act was to repatriate earnings from abroad to help the US economy. Whata ctually ended up happening:
Spend $1, make $220
For every $1 they spent on lobbying for the tax break, corporations reaped a $220 benefit on their US income taxes, according to three University of Kansas...
AIDS: To disclose or not
I used to volunteer on CIUT FM (UoT radio, 89.5 FM) on the Board of Directors as the Treasurer. One of the (many) interesting folk I met there was Sky Gilbert, an AIDS activist.
Today I read that he thinks the Hamilton man convicted of knowingly infecting women with AIDS should have had his case dismissed.
Why? Because of the moral hazard of testing for AIDS. If one is not tested and...
Okay, when PMs and Presidents start hailing New...
Brown hails `new world order’ in crisis fight Friday, April 03, 2009
World leaders agreed a huge raft of spending yesterday to combat the economic crisis, pledging to lay out US$5 trillion (HK$39 trillion) by the end of 2010 as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown hailed a “new world order.”
The measures, agreed at a one-day summit in London, will see tax havens named and...
OPP say motorcyclist drove at 200 km/h
Qpril 02, 2009 Record staff WELLINGTON COUNTY
A Kitchener man is facing dangerous-driving charges after police said a motorcycle blew through the countryside at speeds topping 200 km/h. OPP patrolling on Wellington Road 21 near Inverhaugh on Tuesday afternoon saw the 2006 Yamaha motorcycle up ahead and witnessed...
March 2009
7 posts
Emotional content (warning)
Okay, V is pissed at me, not sure why.
Last night at the gym, she doesn’t talk so I start chitter chatter. She responds, okay, looks like it might be semi-normal. I buy groceries and cook up a quick beef stir fry because she says she’s hungry.
V talks on the phone with her mum in hushed tones. Okay, I figure she wants space for a private conversation. She goes upstairs. I finish...
Okay, now what
Bored bored bored.
St. Patrick’s Day was good, called in a favour from my gym bouncer buds. Fox and Fiddle, then 140. Good mid-week drinking and debauchery.
Weekend!
Can’t wait to hoist a martini and a pint or three.
May switch from ball hockey to Aussie rules, I’m sure my aching bones will hate me even more.
Prob Phil’s on Sunday with my hooligan bouncer buds.
The CBC’s Dragons Den is coming to Waterloo next week, Mar 20.
Auditions will be held next Thursday at The Centre for Business Entrepreneurship and Technology at the...
Bail me out, too!
I don’t understand this — US banks and insurance companies want the taxpayer to bail them out. US and Canadian automakers want the same.
They have more debts than they have assets/money in the bank. And (for the US automakers in particular), they spend more mney than they bring in.
Fine, how about us?
I’m sure we’d like our debts paid off. Or a government loan to pay...
haircut, oh no!
I cut my raggedy hair today. I give up, I don’t know how to grow it long.
I must be a closet fascist.
February 2009
23 posts
How come I went to the wrong high school?! →
A Whitby teacher was allegedly caught engaging in a sexual act with a 14-year-old boy last week, Durham Regional Police said today.
The 34-year-old woman was found with the boy inside a parked vehicle in a rural area of Clarington, where officers were looking for a missing vehicle, police allege.
The woman is an elementary school teacher and is also the victim’s athletics coach, police...
Bail out idiocy →
Okay. GM and Chrysler want $10 billion. Assuming 30 million people in Canada, that means GM and Chrysler want every man/woman/child in Canada to write a $333 cheque to them.
Why? If I run a business and it goes belly up, I don’t get a bail out from the tax payer.
It’s even worse in the US. Obama’s bailout price tag is $800 billion. With 300 million folk in the US...
Michael Jackson's brother planning slavery theme... →
(The Jackson family must have had some seriously bad stuff in their food)
Michael Jackson’s brother planning ‘slavery theme park’
Michael Jackson’s brother has come under fire for plans to invest in a £2.4 billion plan to build a luxury resort and slavery theme park in Badagry, Nigeria, a historic port town that was the last departure point for thousands of slaves leaving...
Sunday's to do list
Finish stripping wallpaper in the bathroom (the nasty bits in the nooks and crannies)
Cook dinner
Clean up
Beat up on the heavy bag/skip rope
Do work metrics (ha ha, as if)
Phil’s retro night
Valentine's Day
V called in sick, so I got the chance to spend the whole day with her — something a rarity as her work schedule has her weekends diametrically opposite to mine.
Dinner was a nice five course meal at Hannah’s Bistro. I’m no gourmand, but I enjoyed the dinner (and wine and company!) immensely. A tad above my usual budget range, but well worth it.
Arugula and Sprout Salad —...
Brant County OPP charged an OPP officer and... →
On Jan 31 the officer’s driver’s licence was suspended for seven days and the OPP unmarked cruiser was impounded for 7 days.
She was driving 165 km/h on Hwy. 403 – the posted speed limit is 100 km/h.
“The subsequent investigation found that the officer was not within the lawful execution of her duties at the time,” the OPP stated in a release.
Det.-Const. Heidi Fischer is...
Madoff pyramid scheme list →
Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgewick, 50 cent, Steven Spielberg all got swindled.
Why does this make me feel good?
Realization of self
I went out with V and some of her work buds.
I realize now that I have ADD still and get sleepy when bored. And that this happens often (work or socially).
I had to cut out of a meeting Friday, I was literally falling asleep since the content didn’t interest me.
I think I have to buy some caffeine pills, a jumbo bottle of them.
SlotRadio will revolutionize music for the masses...
In March or April of 2009 SanDisk will launch a new music player. It’s a tiny device slightly larger than an iPod Nano that will sell for $99 and come with a microSD slot card preloaded with 1,000 songs in seven genres.
Consumers will be able to buy additional slot cards for $39.99 with 1,000 songs in a particular genre. These cards will have DRM and will only work in the one ounce...
Body pump
I tried out a class at my gym today. It’s the first one I’ve tried in ages. I decided on this one becase a) it was always packed b) had > 1 token guy in it c) it actually used a barbell (of sorts).
The class itself was fine. More on the muscle endurance side of weights, which is fine. Not really a good mesh for my main goal of muscle size and peak power, but a good change of...
I'm confused
Okay, I must be dense. I think I am being friendly and helpful. Instead I guess I am a total heel.
(yes, this sounds like a teen emo song)
Gym traffic jam
Okay, I really enjoy going to the gym. I push paper and dollars for most of my work time. So after work, I like doing the opposite - namely lift and push stuff using my body.
I’m at the gym 5-6 times a week. It feels good to de-stress, has decent effects on my body, and I get in a zone and get high off my exertions.
Okay, maybe it’s a case of narcissism as well. I’m a...
January 2009
15 posts
