Fluff On The Internet

Few things are better....

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:27:00 -0700

...than getting into a cake-and-icing fight. With a 19-year old girl.

Heard on Sportsnet

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:46:00 -0700

What do you get when you mix Viagra with shampoo?Don King.

OCD du Jour

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:44:00 -0700

I'm back to obsessing about getting in a ride for the Iron Butt Association. One of my work clients is in Mission, and I've been shocked lately at the ease with which I'm able to cover that trip. I don't even feel it when I'm done the ride.

I've been thinking about this since I tried the last time, and failed due to a mechanical issue, and now I'm back to thinking about it again. A lot. Blaine WA out to Bozeman MT, then turn around and come back to a town called Riverbend, also in Montana. According to Google Maps, it should take about 15 hours of actual riding time to do that (if I follow the speed limit the whole way....). Sleep for a few hours at the most convenient (read: cheapest) motel I can find, then come back to Blaine. Total distance: 1566 miles.

At 70 MPH (the speed limit on much of the US interstate system), it would take just under 21.5 hours of riding to pull this off. And the rules allow for 36 hours. I'm really not seeing a problem here..... I gotta go for it.

I wonder if...

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:30:00 -0700

I had to make a quick pit stop the other day at a gas station. That in itself is probably not of any serious interest to anyone (at least I hope it isn't).

But I was shocked that the bathroom at the gas station. It's the station on Powell St. between Raymur and Glen in Vancouver. It was lit by a true blacklight. Not a white light in the place, only the black light.

Ummm... wtf? Are they trying to create mood lighting for the addicts in the neighbourhood?

Happy Birthday

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 06:46:00 -0700

I sometimes wonder whether we as Canadians are less patriotic than our neighbours to the south. But then I go open another beer, and eventually I just stop thinking about it.

Have a safe Canada Day everyone.

On Self Image

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 20:52:00 -0700

One of the items have been having trouble with lately is my self image. There are a number of aspects of myself that I'm really not too happy with lately. My weight (the highest average it's ever been), my overall fitness level (the lowest in 10 years), and smoking are the big ones for me.

It's not that I think I'm ugly (I know I'm not) but these points are causing problems for me, at least within my own mind. I know the fitness level and the weight are directly related; if I exercised more, my fitness would go up and my weight would go down. Logically I'm perfectly aware of this relationship, however I find myself reluctant because for the past couple years it seems that every time I get involved in any measurable amount of exercise, I get injured. Which leaves me back on the couch, unable to work out. If you've seen me when I get injured, you know that I don't tend to do it by half measures... I'm usually out of commission for months at a time.

And the fitness level is also related to the smoking thing. I've gone long stretches without smoking, and yet I always seem to go back to it when I find myself in a funk, or at the first sign of a truly stressful situation. I don't particularly enjoy the fact of it, and yet I find myself doing in nonetheless. And right now I don't want to quit for fear of gaining more weight.

Which can be overcome (I know) by more regular exercise. Which I'm afraid of for fear of injury. which leads me to the spiral I'm in.

Food And Music

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:45:00 -0700

No one wants to go see jazz in the park tomorrow?

And has anyone been to the new iteration of the Richmond Night Market this year? I know it's now the 'Summer Night Market', but it's still in the same place, so in my mind..... In any case, has anyone been? Any significant differences from last year? Specifically, how's the selection of food vendors, and are any of them any good?

Keeping Happy

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:39:00 -0700

To tie in to my post from a couple weeks back, I'm making a concerted effort to get to more musical events.

With that in mind, does anyone wish to join me at David Lam park on Saturday to take in some of the Jazz Festival shows going on there? The schedule of performers is here

Crisis Of Identity

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 07:13:00 -0700

If you see me regularly, you may have notice some.... differences... in my demeanour of late. Some have commented that I've seemed pre-occupied, distant, or detached.

Part of the reason for this is the fact that I don't always share my emotions very well. If they're positive emotions I do fine, but anything with a negative slant to it gets pushed to the sidelines. I know why that happens, but I won't go into it here.

As far as the detachment is concerned though, it's something I'm moderately concerned about. Well, not actually concerned, but maybe acutely aware of. I tend to do it when I find myself emotionally overwhelmed for one reason or another. Am I overwhelmed lately? Yeah, I think I have been.Over the last 3 weeks, my emotions have run the gamut. And I do mean the whole kit and caboodle of available options. And that's just not me. Normally I'm fairly composed when it comes to emotions, and lately I haven't been. Emotional strength is one of those areas where I usually do exceptionally well, so this change is leading me along the path of "Now what the fuck is going on?". Not being able to rely on an aspect that's usually a pillar for me also leaves me wondering what else I may need to re-evaluate. Hence the above titled crisis of identity.

It's odd to be at this stage of life and questioning what's going on in my own mind. I'll grant that I'm nearly 40 and an argument could be made that I'm having some sort of mid-life crisis, but I honestly don't think that's the case here. That said, I'm not sure exactly what the difficulty actually is except to know that there is one. And as I'm wont to do, when something is going on I tend to withdraw.

I'm rambling, and in my own mind I'm starting to run around in circles aimlessly. Time to break this particular cycle, I think, and try to focus my mind on something else for a few hours.....

Yeah, I Know

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:10:00 -0700

So I've been a bit on the quiet side lately, I know. Part of it was me going out of town for a few days (as I'm about to do again today). But part of it has also had to do with things going on in my head.

Part of the reason I started blogging (several years ago on a wiki-based system, actually) was to have an outlet. A place to vent. It could be argued that this was the original idea behind blogs in the first place, that they be used as online diaries. I think the medium has become diluted to a fair degree, with blogs specific to certain topics now becoming the norm rather than the exception.

But for me that's not what this blog is about. From its inception it was meant to be an outlet, a means to air out the cobwebs within my own skull. I've gotten away from that over the past while, I think to my own detriment, by writing more about matters of fluff, than about those things that matter to me.

I think that might be the first thing I need to change to get my mind back on track to where it needs to be.