Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Google Video

Here is my first uploaded google video. Yes this is just the same video that I posted yesterday but I wanted to test out google video. It is a much nicer interface than putfile. Enjoy.

I am so smart. S M R T...


The Stupid Quiz said I am "Pretty Smart!" How stupid are you? Click here to find out!

Monday, January 30, 2006

Strange hobbies

I'm sure everyone has some hobbies, like coin collecting, needle point or porn but here is one of mine. Model live steam engines. I say one of them because I also collect coins, fly model rockets, pick locks, collect and repair old Coleman lanterns and I'm sure I'm forgetting something. Yeah that seems like too many things but I'm very curious about everything.

I was a bit bored tonight, a certain someone didn't want to do anything so I was stuck at home, and I really wanted to get out of the house. I was looking at steam engines on ebay but the downside is they are quite expensive. Basic ones are about $100 and the really interesting ones are in the $400-$500 range. Back to point I was depressed at my lack of funds so I dug out the steam engine that I actually own and wanted to fire it up. This actually turned into an adventure because I had to go find some distilled water and I had to go to two places to get it. Superstore has everything except distilled water. I got it at Shoppers of all places and it was cheaper than where I usally get it. Wow I really ramble on sometimes.

Here is a video I took with my digital camera of the engine running.
Click here to watch 'Steam-Engine'
Please be patient Putfile is kinda slow. I'm going to have the google video up soon but their verification process can take quite a while. Also my Canon A70 did a good job, but its mic sucks. The whistle on it is much, much louder than the video lets on. The dog was almost doing back-flips.

In the video you can see me stop the engine and spin it the other way. This steam engine is a double acting engine and can run in reverse but it doesn't have any way to change directions. Its actually a pretty faithful example of how a real steam engine works. The cheaper models are single acting oscillating steam engines and aren't as complex but they don't do a good job of modeling a large steam engine in my opinion.

In case you are wondering it is a Wilesco Model D 365. It does drive itself but I didn't want to make a mess on the kitchen floor. It spews hot steam and steam oil while it runs. I can't imagine running a full sized engine, it would need a huge amount of attention. I guess thats why they are usually given women's names.

I would really like to get one of these but they are about $400. But you can really spend as much money as you want. Jensen Steam Engines out of the US sells their Model 51 for $5000 USD. Here is some really good info about the model 51.

Have a good night

Best show on Television

Well maybe the title should be Best car show on tv. I am talking about Top Gear. I recently subscribed to BBC and finally got to watch the show I've heard so much about.

I used to watch a show called 5th gear and my lust for more was started when 5th gear ran a BMW and a Volvo head on at 100 km/h. Nothing else they did was as interesting as that but thankfully someone told me about Top Gear and I haven't looked back.

Top Gear does crazy things with cars. They wanted to see how fast you had to go to beat the radar speed cameras. It turns out you have to do about 170 mph to beat the camera. Hmmm... I think I'd have to do some major upgrades to the Jetta. They've tested how much abuse a Toyota truck can go through and they got a $500 rusty Jaguar to beat Ferrari's with some Nitrous. I wish I could find a clip of the one I watched on Sunday. Jeremy was racing James and Richard to Oslo from Hethrow airport. Jeremy was in a Mercedes SLR and the other two were taking a ferry. That car is simply amazing. It has a top speed of 208 mph and at that speed it will use a whole tank, 21 gallons, in 19 minutes. That would be if you could find somewhere to drive at 208mph for 19 minutes. It seems kind of strange because you would only cover about 66 miles... if my math is right. It doesn't seem like much to beat a ferry right? Well he had to cover more than 1000 miles through 8 countries to do it and the boat basically had a straight shot there. Incedentally the car won but that was because they tried cheating in a speed boat and it broke down. Then the rescue boat broke down. Terrible luck.

Although the best character on the show is The Stig. I'm not sure he is human, but he can drive anything with an engine.

So anyways go over to google video and search for Top Gear. Not all the videos are pure gold but they're mostly pretty good.


Now go waste some time on Google video

Then come back and try to figure out whether they are real or fake. Caution NSFW.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Aren't cops supposed to set an example?

You know what really grinds my gears? When a cop turns on his lights so he can blow through a red light. Now I always thought that the police were a pillar of society and were supposed to set a good example for us to follow. I can't really say that this is the worst thing that they could do. They could be leaving Indians out in the cold to die of exposure but where do you really draw the line?

I realize that there is a chance that the police are rushing off to save someone, but if they are in such a hurry wouldn't they have their lights on all the time? When they flip them on to run a red light and then off again on the other side of the intersection it makes it seem like there is no real emergency. Maybe I'm just bitter because I can't get away with running red lights all the time but aren't they needlessly endangering people by running red lights? Its bad enough that they are hypocrites when it comes to speeding. Isn't it a little ironic that the people that are pulling you over for speeding are the same ones speeding past you without lights or sirens? Again they aren't going to an emergency because they obviously don't have their emergency lights or sirens on and they aren't going fast enough to be responding to an emergency. I'm sure doing 70 gets you to the coffee shop sooner but if I were getting murdered I hope they would go a little faster.

But hey what do I know? I'm just the guy waiting patiently at the red light that they just blew through. I hope that I'm not trying to go through the green light when some cop gets a sugar jones. They really need to try harder in this city.

Here we go, this seemed to be a fitting link for today. They probably figure he stole the bike.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Thank god the election is over

I am so excited to be rid of those damn election commercials that I almost don't care who won. I was trying to watch Desperate Housewives on Sunday and every commercial break had 2 or 3 election commercials. I guess they had to cram everything they could in on the last day. Rediculous.

In case you were in a cave, or American, the Conservatives won a close race and will form a minority government. I voted NDP but they got trounced as usual. Alteast with a minority government they may hold the balance of power.

You in the back

"Whats a minority government?"

Good question, it seems most people don't know for some reason. In a perfect election the winning party get more seats than everyone else combined, they get 50% or more of the votes. When this happens they can do a lot of stuff because they can vote their own ideas through with no other party's help. Lots of stuff gets done but some stupid crap can sneak through. In a minority government the winning party has less than 50% of the total votes and therefore has fewer seats than everyone else combined. To get anything done they need to convince another party, or two, to vote for their idea. Consequently fewer things get accomplished but the crappy ideas have a harder time getting through.

"What does this mean for us?"

Damnit raise your hand when you have a question

This means that the Conservatives will have a hard time pushing through some of their dumber ideas. Like the GST reduction. Every Joe sixpack thinks this is a good idea because stuff will cost less. It may infact be a good idea because it will encourage more spending and that puts more money in the economy. If they had lowered income tax like they should have that would only increase saving by the people. That could work out into more spending, but not right away. Woops went on a bit of a tangent there.

"Why didn't the Conservatives do as good as the news was saying that they would?"

Well ironically they were too radical for some people. They wanted to shake things up and since they had never been in power before, that scared people. Also Ontarians are afraid of them. The Conservatives are from the west, their leader is from Alberta and hopefully they will remind Ottawa that people exist west of Thunderbay and east of Vancouver. The Liberals were doing a good job of keeping the East happy and thats the way Easterners liked it.

"Do you have any political training or any clue about what you are saying?"

Absolutely not. Take all of this with a grain of salt and go look at the CBC's Election coverage

"Do you always talk to yourself and answer your own questions?"

Shhhh.... people are coming. You want me to look crazy?

Linkage:

Ladies, lol like any of you read this, here is a good article you should, nay must read.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

The three worst movies I have ever seen

I realize that the title of this post can be a little misleading. How many movies have I seen? Could this really be a fair sampling of what is out there. Out of the top 100 rentals at Rogers Video in 2005 I have seen 70. I know some people have seen more but I think that 70% is enough to make this valid.

What do I mean by worst movies? The worst movies are the ones that make you angry that you paid money to see it, they make you physically ill to sit there and watch it, and they make you suicidal. You just want to end it however you can. These are not the movies that you didn't "get" or that were boring. Unless you felt the only way out was to kill yourself with your drink straw then it is just a bad movie, not the worst.

Counting down:

3. "Monster in Law" The only good part of this movie was Wanda Sykes character. I almost pissed myself when she said "I think you dislocated my vagina" after a fight over some gravy. The rest of the movie was total crap. The first half of the movie Jennifer Lopez is getting pushed around by Jane Fonda and it was just pathetic. The second half was a little better when J.lo was trying to get some revenge. That's why it is number 3, the second half was less crappy but still not good.

2. "Rumor Has It" This movie was annoying. It was the back story to the graduate. It was more predictable than... I don't know because nothing is this predictable. There is always the chance the sun won't come up tomorrow so I couldn't even use that cliche. I think that somewhere out there there is a giant cookie cutter that they just fire these movies off of. Let me tell you this one didn't even come close to breaking the mold. You could make more molds out of this one. Jennifer Aniston has sex with a guy that did her mom and her grandma AND could have been her dad. Who wants to have sex with her dad? I could hear the banjos in the background, well maybe it was just in my head. The only enjoyable moment was when her fiance finds her kissing the other guy. Finally some justice in this fucked up movie! O wait the spineless no balls dumbass takes her back. Awwww we have another sappy happy ending to another cookie cutter movie. What a surprise. He's gonna get a surprise when it starts burning when he pees. The other guy in this movie is a self confessed womanizer who did "tons" of drugs and is sterile so you know he doesn't use a condom. If you're going to cave in and take her back atleast send her to the free clinic. Jeezus this guys been fucking since the 60's and your fiance just did him. Ewww. Atleast it turns out that her real dad is responsible for this guy being sterile. Karma is a bitch.

1. "Down With Love" I don't even know where to being with this steaming pile of crap. Just don't see it. There's singing and a predictably sappy plot. I tried to kill myself with a straw during this movie. That promptly got me punched by Lindsay but unfortunately it wasn't hard enough because I was still conscious for the rest of the movie. This chick flick was so bad even she didn't like it. I was going to try to get my money back but she told me that I already made enough of a scene with my comments, complaints and the drinking straw incident that I couldn't make another one by yelling at the manager. There is no way they can give me back my two hours but a free movie or my four dollars back would have been nice. Can you even do that? I've never tried. By far this is the number one worst movie that I have seen. I'm sure it will be a long time before it gets bumped from top spot.

Lindsay's movie choosing privileges have been removed. I'm sure that sentence will get me in crap but I can't go to another one of these and walk away with my sanity. I just can't do it. There should be a disclaimer at the door of these movies.


WARNING
This movie is total and complete crap.
By entering this movie you have removed all liablility of the theater, its management, and anyone involved in creating, producing or distributing this movie.
You have been warned


I'm sure a number of lawsuits would follow but I know that I for one would appreciate a warning when choosing a movie. I realize that the title should have been enough warning but I'm going to start reading reviews before seeing anymore chick flicks. Please do not see any of these movies. If you have already seen them I feel your pain. No man should be subjected to these movies.

But incase you were ever wondering how many condoms you could wear at one time here is the answer.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

King Looooong

Wow I went to King Kong last night and my butt passed through sleep and was in a coma. The movie is 187 minutes, thats 3 hours and 7 minutes for the math challenged. It could have easily been 140 minutes if they cut out some of the crap. There was 10 minutes of Kong sliding around on the ice in Central Park. Why?

Warning: There may be some spoilers ahead

Overall it was a pretty good movie. I can't remember the last time I watched the original King Kong but I felt this was more or less what I was expecting. The CGI was spectacular. Pretty much everything seemed to be computer generated and I was having a hard time noticing what things were. Traffic always seems to be wrong. I don't know why they can make a 50ft tall ape but cars are a challenge. Does anyone remember in the second Matrix when Trinity is riding a motorcycle the wrong way through traffic and how fake it all looked. I got the same feeling here when they were smashing up cars in the 30's.

The Cast was good. I thought that Naomi Watts did a great job considering her screen partner was a giant monkey that can't talk. I was really amazed that she could run around the jungle and get tossed around by an ape for an hour and her nighty didn't rip a bit. I didn't know they had kevlar in the 30's but I guess they did because I didn't get to see one nipple. Jack Black on the other hand was totally wrong. He shouldn't do dramatic roles. I'm not saying he did a bad job but he was out of his element. Everytime he did the crazy eyes I expected something outragious to happen but it never did.

I found a number of things bothered me about this movie. It was too long. What was with the dinosaurs? Were those in the original? There is a Dino stampede part that reminded me of the car chase from blues brothers. There was a big dino crash and they kept piling up forever. It was a little rediculous. I'm sure I'm forgetting about something to bitch about.

Anyways its a good movie, if a little long. Go watch it on cheap night or in the cheap theaters.

These people could give the natives on Skull Island a run for their money

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Hell has officially frozen over

It finally happened. A Intel chip is driving a mac. I never thought I would actually see it but there is a new apple laptop and iMac that are running intel based chips. They claim the MacBook Pro is 4x faster than the old PowerBook but I wonder what kind of battery life it will have.

By far what I'm most excited about is the new power connector on the MacBook Pro. I must be a computer nerd to be excited about a power connector, right? Well hopefully everyone else will think its a great idea too. Everyone who has ever snagged or had someone trip on the powercord will appreciate this new connector.

I wonder how much longer they will sell machines with PPC processors. I know that I love my iBook but I would really like to see what the intel ones are like. Imagine a laptop running both OSX and Windows. I've heard the new macs can't run windows because they don't have a BIOS but I'm sure that someone will figure it out. Apple has already said they won't stop anyone from trying to install Windows on their mac.

Mac software on a PC would be nice. Apple seems pretty dead set against letting people put OSX on generic hardware. They say they are a hardware vendor not a software one. But if more people were using OSX how would that be a bad thing?

And now for your random link of the day. Impress your girlfriend by trying something other than the missionary position

Friday, January 13, 2006

I shoulda went back to bed

When I got up this morning I turned on the weathernetwork and I noticed that it was the 13th. Wait a minute that makes it Friday the 13th. Well I'm not a superstitious person but I may have to change my ways.

I didn't sit down at my desk until 11:20am. I get to work at 8.

First problem, our receptionist has a virus on her computer and she can't log in. Awesome. So I work on that for 2 hours and finally get it working. I have no idea what was on there but it was causing the RPC service to kill the computer. It was a dream.

Second problem, one of our sales people can't get outlook to open. Alrighty it seems to be a corrupt pst file. So I run the repair tool and that takes for ever. Part of her problem is that her pst file was ~1.5GB. So now her email is all screwed up.

Problem three. One of the backups is corrupt. You guessed it its the one that would have the most recent copy of her email. YAY! So now I get to try to repair a 30GB backup file.

Pst files have a limit of 2GB and I guess this was just the worlds way of saying clean it out or we will. You may have won the first round Microsoft, but we'll see who wins the war.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

You Are Japanese Food

Strange yet delicious.
Contrary to popular belief, you're not always eaten raw.

What is it about the left lane?

In my on going complaints about drivers in this city, I've been trying to figure out what allure the left lane on circle drive has. Just the other day I was trying to merge (yes I know I should give up on that subject) behind a minivan doing 60km/h. The idea here people is that you should be going the speed of traffic when you merge not 40km/h slower. So anyways I have a buffer car between me and the van so I decide to pass when we get on circle and the van cuts me off. Weeee I get to slam on my breaks because someone can't read a sign that says "slower traffic keep right". Mind you I wasn't even speeding I was just trying to get up to the speed limit. In a moment of unusual humility I give her (yes I assumed the driver was a woman)the benefit of the doubt, perhaps she is going to turn left onto Airport drive. Airport drive comes and goes, maybe a left onto avenue C, I know I need 6 kilometres to get ready for a lane change on a empty freeway. Apparently she needs more room than that because she doesn't turn at avenue C. Well I made my left turn so I didn't get to see how far she went before she turned. Who knows it could have been Regina. As she passed I noticed I was right, it was a woman, both hands on the wheel with a terrified look on her face. If you are so scared of driving than stay in the right lane with all the other slow asses.

Now why do people feel the need to drive in the hammer lane? Perhaps if the sign read "Keep right unless to pass". Maybe then people would stay where they should. Now I really don't think so. The general public does not read signs. Working in retail taught me this. Unless the sign has some bright contrasting colours with flashing lights and a naked woman standing beside it people will just pass it by. If they do notice the sign they won't have enough time to read it and even if they do or can read it they won't understand it.

The reason the current one doesn't work is everyone thinks they are the best driver on the road. Why else would I take time to write this. I am obviously the most skilled driver out there and that woman thought it was her duty to make sure I was going less than the speed limit. What about the old guy in the left lane going slowly? Well he's doing 92km/h in a 90 zone so he is the fast traffic. All those people in the right lane passing him go unnoticed because they are blocked by his macular degeneration.

Why does this matter so much anyways? These people aren't causing a problem. It's road-ragers like me that are causing accidents and getting on the news. It is true that there would be fewer problems if we stopped seeing driving as a competition and more as a borring monotonous thing that we have to do to get to work. Did anyone think that if people used their turn signals, didn't cut you off, went the speed limit, knew how to merge and stayed in the damn right lane that we would have nothing to rage about? Is it too much to ask that you follow the rules? I have no problem doing 90 on circle drive, the problem is that no one else does. Most mornings I barely get into fifth gear and I end up doing 70 or 80 in a 90 zone. The irony of it is that the right lane is usually the one that moves the fastest. Everyone is so intent on getting into the left lane that the right one is usually half empty.

So people please drive in the right lane and before you lane change use your head. Signal left, shoulder check, and check your mirrors to make sure that faster traffic isn't coming up behind you in the "fast" lane. How hard is that?

I swear we need better driver training in Saskatchewan.

Random linkage:
If only the UFC was like this

Monday, January 09, 2006

White Rum Sucks

But hey I didn't let that stop me from getting drunk. I did manage to track down some vodka and spiced rum first though. I figured that if I was going to lower myself to drinking white rum I might as well not be able to taste it anymore. We started out playing some card games. We played some kaiser, spades and 99. No one wanted to play strip 99 but oh well it was a sausage party anyways. I can't figure it out, why is the fat hairy guy the only one willing to get naked? I guess if you're at the bottom rung you have nothing to lose. So a 26 and a bit later I was stumbling around outside with an odd group. Myself, Melissa* (Lindsay's sister), John* (Melissa's boyfriends cousin), and Robbie* (Mel's bf's cousin and John's cousin). I told you it was an odd group. But we had the universal bond of all being drunk and off we went. Nothing really exciting happened, nothing was stolen or broken and no one got pregnant, but we did pee on lots of things. Even Mel peed on a garbage can. That was pretty freakin hilarious. We were all doing it why shouldn't she? Besides I had just whizzed on her car tire about 30 mins earlier and I think that she felt left out. A lot of things got mooned too. You guys in the car can thank my friend Mark for you seeing my pimply ass and possibly my tea bag when you ran that red light. I say that because he is the king of mooning. I'm pretty sure everyone that I know has seen his ass, not to mention the entire population of Mount Royal between 1996 and 2000. He will do it sober, just because he is bored, because I dared him or any other reason you can possibly think of. I on the other hand usually have to be drunk before strangers get mooned. So Saturday sucked a bit, but it was worth it. A good drunk is nice once in a while. It sheds off the weight of the world. The only problem is the world is waiting for you the next day with a hangover.

Random link for today:
Male crapping habits

*yeah I probably butchered your name. If you wanted it spelled right you should wear a name tag

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Go for gold!

Canada is playing Russia for the Gold in World junior hockey tomorrow. I'm pretty excited about it. I don't usually watch hockey but I do like to watch these. Also the USA is playing Finland for Bronze tomorrow too but I'll be at work for that one. I might bring a radio or find an internet radio broadcast of it so I can listen in at work. Incase you are wondering here are the times:

USA vs. Finland - 2pm CST
Canada vs. Russia - 6pm CST

I've always found it odd that you win gold, lose silver and win bronze. Silver has to suck.

And here is a funny random link for you
Linkage

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Its been 10 days already?

Well I'm back to work and it is now 2006. Seems like its been a long time since I last posted, but it has only been 10 days. Only 10 days. Seems like not near long enough. I haven't had 10 days off in a row since July of 2004 and now its over. Back at work, back to the routine and already wishing for more time off. The next long weekend isn't until Easter which is April 14th I think. Well enough whining it's time to catch up.

December 24th was the last day of work for us and it was a short day, we were let out at noon. It didn't really make a difference as there was no work being accomplished that day anyways but it was nice to be free. I had to mentally prepare for the night to follow so the extra time was nice. Lindsay's dad was having their whole family over to their house for supper and that was an expreience. There was around 30 people there and the house was boiling. Supper was awesome and we even managed to duck out early. We had to come back to my house because my family was having the traditional Christmas eve late supper and booze. Lindsay, Mark and I did our gift exchange that night because we didn't know when we would all be together again. Mark got some dishes and sharpies, Lindsay got her scanner and I got some board games and a couple movies. It was a good night.

The next day was usual Christmas day. We opened presents at home and then went to Granny's for more presents and food. So much food, we are pretty much eating all day non-stop. I got a rolling tool chest, floor jack and jack stands. Most of my presents were quite large and expensive so it didn't seem like I got much but I was really happy about everything.

I almost achieved my goal of not wearing pants on boxing day. I put on sweat pants so I could go out. I went to Lindsay's house for a bit to put together some furniture and install her scanner. That was all I did that day.

Lindsay and I went to Moosejaw for the 28th and 29th to visit her grandparents. That was pretty good except for the highways. Its not a long trip, 224km, or about 2 hours, but it was really foggy for the trip home. The whole front of the car was covered in ice when we got back. We visited the spa and the casino there. I made $2.50 at the casino. I was pretty impressed. We also went through the tunnels and that was pretty cool. I expected more of a historical tour but it was more like a moving play that you're part of. It was still really good. It is amazing that Al Capone was actually part of Moosejaw's history. I was also interested to find that Al Capone was really only a mobster for 6 years. All this legend and fame for 6 years of work. At the height of it all he was making $100,000,000 per year and this was in the 20's. Thats a lot of money. And for all his crimes and wrong doings he was finally arrested on tax evasion and died of a heart attack due to syphilis shortly after. Weak.

Back to Saskatoon for 5 mins and then we were off to Watrous because Lindsay was the photographer for a wedding there. I don't understand a new years eve wedding but thats what they did. It all took place in the Manitou Springs Resort. What a disappointment. We had one of the better rooms and it sucked. It was a double queen room, which doesn't make sense. Its new years eve, I'm drunk, and she's been at a wedding but atleast with a second bed no one had to sleep in the wet spot. Back to the hotel. This is supposed to be a destination, a fancy hotel that people come from far away to stay at. Cable tv? Nope. Internet? Nope. Fridge in the room? Nope. Overpriced waste of my time restaruant? Yep. Slow as hell elevator? Yep. Better than a Super 8? Nope. I didn't even go in the mineral pool. I was all excited about the salt water and being able to float until I realised that it was basically a large warm bath full of old people. Yeah I'll pass on that one. Atleast the restaraunt was good, right? Not a chance. It took 20 mins to get drinks, food took an hour from when you ordered it. It wasn't busy. There was 10 other people there. A monkey shit fight at the zoo? You bet your ass. Those monkey's could teach these people something about organization. I really shouldn't complain too much. Our room was paid for by the brides dad and I had free booze all night. I didn't really drink too much though. Probably only about 7 or 8 beers. I didn't want to have performance problems later *wink wink*. I hope our neighbors were either late partiers or heavy sleepers.

Back to the city again. I got to try out my new floor jack! It turns out that a grinding noise while brakeing isn't a good thing. On Monday I took a look at Lindsay's brakes and they are down to the backing plates. Its a damn good thing I didn't have to do an emergency stop on the highway. We would have been well planted into the ditch. Her dad is going to throw new pads on this weekend and do the rotors in spring. I don't really get the point of that. If you are doing pads, why not do the rotors at the same time? You're going to have it all apart anyways but whatever. Aslong as it gets done and her car is safe again. We did get great mileage though. I think we made 42mpg (or 47mpg I can't remember which) on our trip to Moosejaw.

Well there goes half my lunch hour but alteast everyone is caught up. Happy 2006.