Category: Daily life

An apology in point form

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Sorry, I’ve been too busy to blog anything terribly interesting because:

  • The course I’m doing right now is killer. I was talking to a classmate today, and he concurred: the workload for this one is much, much heavier than anything else we’ve done. It’s interesting, but it’s time-consuming. I guess I was due for one of these; too many so far have been crazy easy.
  • It’s the summer. Days that aren’t hotter than the hubs of hell draw me outside.
  • Family’s been visiting, and family trumps blogging.
  • I seem to be reading (for fun, in addition to for school; I finally finished Cluetrain, Planet Simpson and No War: America’s Read Business In Iraq) again, not to mention finally putting a dent in our Zip queue.
  • Work is busy…not so much because I have impending deadlines, but because I feel a bit rejuvenated. It’s just as frustrating and bureaucratic as ever, but I seem more determined than ever to kick bureaucracy’s ass. I’ll let you know how that goes.

However, I can report some things that grabbed my eye today, but only in point-form:

Music:

  • I’m going to miss Asobi Seksu at the Horseshoe in September as I’ll be away on course. Frig.
  • There’ll be a new Trail Of Dead album in October.
  • The Mercury Prize shortlist has been announced, and I couldn’t give a toss about any of the finalists. The only one I liked at all is the Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan album, and even that wasn’t great.
  • The Weeds theme song next season will be sung by a different artist every week. Lined up so far: Death Cab For Cutie, Regina Spektor, Elvis Costello and Jenny Lewis. Cool. “Little boxes…”
  • The new Johnny Cash disc, American V…magnifique.

Movies:

Sports:

  • Bill Simmons has picked a favourite English Premiership League team. He settled on Tottenham Hotspur, because “If London was the Corleone family, Manchester United was Sonny and Arsenal was Michael, then the Spurs would be Fredo with a little more street smarts.” Brilliant.

Right, that’s it. Back to work for me.

[tags]cluetrain, planet simpson, no war, asobi seksu, trail of dead, mercury prize, isobel campbell, mark lanegan, weeds, johnny cash, clerks ii, lady in the water, arrested development movie, all your snakes are belong to us, bill simmons, tottenham hotspur[/tags]

Here's why my day has sucked so far

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment
  1. This morning in the shower I got shampoo in my eyes. A few minutes later, and God knows why, I had “2 Legit 2 Quit” stuck in my head. I’m not sure which was more painful.
  2. Nellie was sick today and had to stay home, so she went back to bed. As I was getting dressed to go spend the day in the office, she was curled up on the bed, all cozy and surrounded by cats…sick or not, I envied her.
  3. I’ve had killer heartburn all morning, so I skipped my usual morning diet pepsi and bought some milk. I got back to my desk and drank half the carton in one go. Turns out it was pretty much spoiled, so that didn’t taste so good.

I’m thinking the safest course of action for me today is to just hide somewhere and ride it out.

[tags]bad day[/tags]

Queasy

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Well, we’re an unhealthy bunch here at the Dickinson ranch. I felt a little wonky all day; around 3:30 I felt fully wonky and left work, came home and laid on the couch until Nellie arrived. We had a summerlicious dinner tonight with some friends and I didn’t want to miss it, but didn’t really feel up to eating. I was actually a little dizzy until we got to the restaurant (Goldfish) and I had some bread and water. Now that I’ve eaten (it was pretty good, but not great) I feel better, but still just a little off. Nellie, on the other hand, started feeling nauseous toward the end of dinner and got progressively worse. I’ll just be happy if we can make it through the day sans vomit.

.:.

A phrase I never thought I’d type: Mogwai will be on the Miami Vice soundtrack.

.:.

More than 200 dead in Lebanon now, including several Canadians. The Guardian seems surprised that western powers haven’t intervened, but they shouldn’t be. The US has always back Israel very heavily; they won’t move to stop any Israeli attacks (within reason), and no other western or european country will do anything unless America makes a move first. Or perhaps what seemed in the Guardian like surprise was just veiled criticism?

I just bought a copy of Munich yesterday and began watching it today. I wonder if Ehud Olmert struggled with the moral justification of his reciprocal response as much as Golda Meir struggled with hers? I’m amazed anyone runs for political office in the middle east, knowing that you could — and probably will — have to make decisions like that.
[tags]goldfish, mogwai, miami vice, lebanon, canadians, israel, ehud olmert, golda meir[/tags]

"Hair is dead"

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I love relaxing Friday nights…just Nellie & I, some delivery and some movies. It’s too hot to do much else this weekend.

Proof (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was a little better than I expected. The previews made it look like little more than standard family drama, but it got a little deeper than that. It was obvious that the movie was adapted from a play — too obvious, actually, since the dialogue felt stilted at times. It started well and picked up steam through the middle, but just lost it in the final third. Still, pretty decent performances, especially by Gwyneth Palthrow, who I don’t normally like.

Wolf Creek (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was crap. I was hoping for something better than Hostel, but it was never tense, or scary, or even overly bloody (except for one or two unpleasant parts)…just shlocky. It’s too bad, the first half of the movie did a decent job of setting everything up, but it just went to waste. Maybe if it’d carried any of the authenticity the “based on actual events” tagline (which is a lie, by the way) tried to impart at the beginning, it would have been better.

[tags]proof, gwyneth paltrow, wolf creek[/tags]

8 oz. USDA Prime Beef With Brie de Meaux, Grilled Porcini & Shaved Summer Truffles

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Last night kicked off this year’s Summerlicious fun. For the third time in as many years we went to Bymark, accompanied by T-Bone and #4 (as I believe he’s known). Let’s face it, we were there solely for the burger; it was as good this time as it had been in years past (I didn’t miss the foie gras). It normally costs $37, so you’d expect it to kick ass…and it does. Every time. The only bad part was that, due to our late reservation, we didn’t get to the burger until about 10:30 at night, so this morning when I woke up I could still feel the burger’s in my stomach.

We also got to try some Francis Coppola wine, followed by a bottle of Pacina. If a bottle had come out labelled “Brandino” or something it might’ve freaked me out.

.:.

Any plans I had of sleeping in a bit late this morning came crashing to a halt at exactly 7 AM when some yahoos started running jackhammers across the street. It was so loud the cats freaked out and hid in the den, and even closing the double windows couldn’t drown out the sound. I could even hear some guy out his balcony yelling, “Hey, shut the fuck up!!!!” at the jackhammering dudes, but to no avail. If anybody couldn’t hear, it was them. Anyway…it seemed a little early for such nonsense. Surely there’s a bylaw I could reference if I weren’t too lazy to complain…

.:.

After staying pretty much quiet for the whole offseason, the Canadiens have finally made a move or two: they dumped Richard Zednik before signing Mike Johnson and Sergei Samsonov. Zednik-for-Johnson is a good equation; adding Samsonov gives them more depth at centre, but it sure as shit doesn’t give them more size. They might be going for some sort of record; has any team ever started the year with 4 centres under 6 feet? If they dump Radek Bonk I believe they’ll manage it (’cause no way on God’s green earth is Mike Ribeiro 6 feet tall).

The Raptors have made some minor moves as well, adding two European players (Jorge Garbajosa and Anthony Parker) and signing John Salmons this afternoon. And, of course, there was the trade for T.J. Ford a while back.

.:.

If you watched The Daily Show last night you saw Ted Stevens, the Senator from Alaska, make a fool of himself trying to explain net neutrality to Congress. As this ABC article says, “It’s too obvious that this man has no idea what the Internet is exactly and no idea about the issues behind Net neutrality. It seems like a miracle that he can even find the crapper.”

You can hear the pitiful shilling here. By the way, dig how he pronounces “Deutsche”.

.:.

Also on The Daily Show last night: Shawn Wayans, star of the upcoming Little Man, which appears to be a right piece of shit. It has a 20% rating on Rotten Tomatoes right now, just slightly worse than the 22% sported by You, Me and Dupree.

.:.

Finally, and obviously most troubling, is what’s happening in the middle east. Israel didn’t want their soldiers to be kidnapped, but they’ll certainly sieze the opportunity to go on the offensive. The US will obviously back Israel should anything escalate, just as Syria and Iran will back Hezbollah activity in Lebanon. The question, in my mind, is whether Saudi Arabia and/or Egypt would intervene if Israel moves more aggressively into Lebanon, or even against Syria. If the US found itself trying to decide between Israel and Saudi, all while fighting a war in Iraq and rattling sabres at Iran…it could get even messier (if that’s possible).

[tags]summerlicious, bymark, francis coppola, pacina, canadiens, richard zednik, mike johnson, sergei samsonov, anthony parker, john salmons, daily show, ted stevens, net neutrality, little man, dupree, israel, lebanon[/tags]

"petulance, selfishness, looniness, take your pick"

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He won the Golden Ball this year for being the best player in this tournament. He’s one of the greatest players ever to wear the French colours. Sadly, shamefully, what Zinedine Zidane will be best remembered for now is headbutting an Italian player late in the final game of the World Cup, for which he received a red card. His team could not recover; I fear his legacy will suffer the same fate.

.:.

I picked the wrong time to walk to work this morning. It was raining, the kind of rain that comes in at 45 degrees and laughs at puny umbrellas like mine. Thus, the backs of my legs are soaked. Could life get any worse?

Oh yeah. See above.

[tags]zinedine zidane, headbutt, a hard rain’s a-gonna fall[/tags]

Hell all

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

That subject line is a lot funnier if you worked at Delano.

.:.

Word of advice: if you should find yourself drinking a chocolate chiller from Second Cup (or any other similar frozen drinky thing), restrain yourself from sucking it all back in one or two gulps. Today I inhaled so much ice in one go that I temporarily incapacitated myself. I’d hate to see it happen to you too.

.:.

My music “inbox” is getting out of hand again: Be Your Own Pet, Danielson, Danny Michel, Jesu, John Frusciante, Jolie Holland, Primal Scream, Thom Yorke, Tilly & The Wall and a few others that wouldn’t fit on my memory key. Is there some part of my music habit that I can outsource? Perhaps my evaluation of new music can be offshored?

[tags]delano, second cup, enjoyment outsourcing[/tags]

Cruised

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

T-Bone claims that a guy just checked me out on our way to get a croissant from Holt’s. I highly doubt this. If he was straight, he was checking her out; if he was gay, surely he’d have better taste in men.

[tags]broken gaydar[/tags]

Hotter than the hottest summer was hot

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Walking down to St. Lawrence Market (to pick up some steaks and bacon) on a 35 degree day really works up a thirst, so we popped into C’est What for some lunch and a weissbeer. Along the way we stopped at the condo site to guage the progress — they’re up to the 38th floor now — and Nellie picked up some hair product while I sat outside in the shade.

I sometimes feel guilty for running my air conditioning, but today it was a necessary evil.

[tags]st. lawrence market, c’est what, weissbeer, air conditioning[/tags]

Personally, I think she may have lots of babies in lots of places

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I had a pretty good day. I got a lot done at work this morning (partly because I did a lot of prep work last night), and then at noon our department had a barbecue and team-building thingy outside. Ate a burger, drank some water, found some shade and then took part in the little team competition. I caught and returned a soccer throw-in, identified some flags, figured out the world jumble (the trick: don’t look at it for a few seconds) and kicked a penalty shot (using a winnie-the-pooh ball) past my VP. Alas, my team came in second, but we won some chocolate medals. Score.

I then had coffee (well…frozen icy chocolate beverages) with my friend Amy. She was the first person I met at this company, back in 1997, and after all the different roles and different departments for both of us (including a two-year stint at another company for me and a year of mat leave for her) we’ve ended up working on the same project. She’s like a big sister to me, but she also happens to be a very trusted colleague, so it’s great that we’ve ended up working just a block apart.

.:.

From Yahoo: Britney Spears may have baby in Namibia.

If you care about this story at all, I fucking hate you.

.:.

I am both excited and guilt-ridden about what I am about to do: turn off the computer and just watch a movie. How sad is that?

[tags]team building, britney spears, namibia, protestant work ethic[/tags]