I bought a poppy this afternoon on my way home from work. I'll lose it well before Remembrance Day. Why is it I can never put those things on right so they'll stay? I put the pin facing down, I weave it through my shirt or jacket...I can't figure it out. I don't think I've ever kept one longer than 3 or 4 days. It always falls out and I don't realize it. They must plan it like that so that you'll go back and make another donation and get another poppy. I wonder what the price difference is in making them if they were to put one of those clip pins that lock in place on them instead of the ones they have now. In the numbers they make 'em it can't be that much. I'd pay extra at donation time if they had those ones...cause then I'd know I wouldn't be coming back for another, and another, and another.

I work Remembrance Day, dead silence for two minutes...it's a dreaded thing in the industry...except on this one day. We run this promo for America's Most Wanted this week that has no audio whatsoever on it...also one for promoting the 2 minutes of silence (that is silence itself). Man, when those as come on, they get attention from us (cause we're monitoring constantly and when you don't hear something, that's bad...usually).

I ran the station full manual mode for half an hour this morning. I'm talkin' lining up the deck manually, rolling it manually, switching manually, ads off compile reel (no server), timing to the clock not timecode. Dono says I did an excellent job...and I think I did pretty good too (course I couldn't have done it without Dono).

Life's goin' pretty good.

Holy crap it's cold today! I mean I lived in Chetywnd and this feels cold. I've been inside the house for a few hours now...the fire is on, the furnace is going, and my balls still haven't fallen back to their normal position. It's true what they say about the humidity, not the actual temperature. This kinda cold chills ya to the bone, whereas the dry cold of the interior just gets ya on the outside...at least for short periods of time. It felt like -10 this morning, although on our newscasts, Astrid was saying it was a balmy +9. I couldn't believe it. I don't think the wind chill factor or the moisture index (is there such a thing? it sounds good anyways) was taken into account.

Work was good today. I started out up in the studio, pretty easy stuff. Then Pete remembered he wanted to train me more downstairs, so I swapped out with Dono to go and switch the remainder of the show...I've got New Day pretty much down pat...it's pretty simple. Then Pete had me running shows manually...the automation system wouldn't start the tape machines so I had to, then watch the timing to go in and out of commercial breaks. It was a good introduction and practice for a situation where automation or one part of it fails. Tomorrow will be even more manual running...I'm guessing I won't have any automation and will be running full manual. Yikes! Watch the New VI tomorrow...if you see a screw up, that'll probably be me.

I talked to Jen last night. It was very cool to hear her voice...it's kinda sexy.

Apparently it's lame that I haven't posted here in 4 days...this is according to this girl I've been chatting with who I met through Lava Life. Where's the cut-off for calling someone a girl? and when do you start using woman? Woman sounds too old and mature, but girl is often thought of as very young. Lady just doesn't work I don't think. I could say chick...this chick I been chatting with online (or how about smokin' hot chick? that's even better). Yeah, that works, and it's become fairly accepted in recent times by boy sexes as a general reference name for women/girls. Anyway, I've taken her advice and am posting something here before I get even lamer. She's quite a cool chick though and I hope I get to meet her before too long. She lives in Nanaimo, so there's a slight distance between us, but I'm pretty damn sure she's worth the effort.

So I lost at Settlers of Catan last night. Graham bought the Seafarers expansion for it and we've been playing it a few times now. I had no chance last night...cause Graham made up his own rules pretty much and then he got the lucky dice roll in the beginning and that was it. It's always fun, win or lose...and I have won a few times so I can't really complain. It's a cool game and I'm glad that Tree, Choy, Graham, and I are into it so much that we play a few times a week.

The phone rang at like 8 o'clock this morning...which is why I'm bangin' out this post at 8:30 (well, there's another reason too...). But who the hell calls at 8am unless it's like life or death or pre-arranged? I didn't really hear it until the last ring. Don't ya love that how sometimes noises in the real world affect what's happening in your dreams? A phone ringing could be a siren on a cop car, or a fire alarm or something. Years ago I used to have one of those alarm clocks with the very annoying buzzer...but I slept well into it on more than a few occasions cause the buzzer worked it's way into my dream somehow. Don't ask me what the dreams were about though...I rarely remember my dreams...and when I do, they're pretty fucked up.

Swiffer - why the hell wasn't I smart enough to put a paper towel on the end of a stick and sell it for, what? $14.95? Oh, it's electrostatically charged? Well tape a battery to the stick and run some wires from the poles to the paper towel...voila! Swiffer Wet? Use those heavy duty paper towels that can hold a roll of twonies (that doesn't look right) while they're wet. Man, some people have made a lot of money on very simple inventions.

Money, I shouldn't really complain about it. I'm better off than a lot of people out there. I'm lucky. Sure I have debt, but it's pretty measly and it's to my parents...and we all know the Bank of Mom and Dad is pretty forgiving and has damn low interest rates.

What concerns me about the current world is that the money is totally being mismanaged. We got people living on the streets (yes I know many of them bring it on themselves and/or want to be there and/or aren't legitimate, but there are some real cases where people have been shit on and/or have fallen through the cracks and just need some help) everywhere and not a whole lot is being done about it. Governments keep wracking up their debt, overspending on stupid shit. There is money in this world, and it's a shame that money has come to be the ruler of everything, but since it has, I think the money out there needs to be dealt with. There are some enormously wealthy people out there who don't seem to be spreading the wealth. And I don't want it...I don't want a single fucking red cent from any of those people of companies...I want to see it go to people and places that need the money. Not to make them rich, but to help them get to a state of being self sufficient. People can be so greedy with their millions and billions (I realize it's not all liquid). Hey I wanna be rich too...but I don't think I could bare to be rich and still have poverty all around me. I'd rather keep enough for myself to live comfortably and use the rest for the benefit of others.

And what's with the lottery? $30 million? Come one...give away a nice prize to a few people, but the bulk of that money is just gonna go to waste, so why not distribute it to those who could truly use it. I realize the lottery prize gets up to $30 million because people buy tickets to win it...so it's some sort of vicious circle I guess.

Ok enough, I'm just blasting off here. I know that writing it down here isn't gonna do anything. No one with millions of dollars is reading this. I just felt like spilling my brain onto the web for 15 minutes on something I've been thinking about for a while. If I ever do find myself in a situation where I have some expendable cash though, I will make sure I help out those less fortunate than myself. I have a few ideas.

NYPD Blue is an excellent TV show. The way it's shot, the editing, the soundtrack/score, the acting. I love it. I rarely watch it though. A couple years ago I caught pretty much the whole season...then I moved to New Zealand and didn't get it (it was on one channel, but not at a convenient time). I watched an episode tonight and my interest has been re-kindled. It's too bad Kim Delaney is not on it anymore, but Charlotte Ross is a very cool replacement.

Speaking of awesome, I just watched The Usual Suspects. A beautifully crafted film with an excellent mind fuck ending.

I've been thinking a lot lately about money and how it is so misused and mismanaged in this world that has come to live on it. I think I'll be writing some of my thoughts on money soon...not now, but soon. I have some ideas, and I know they're just ideas and in practice they probably wouldn't work, but I'm gonna slam 'em down anyways. I'd like to do something to change the world sometime in my life...even if it's just a little bit. And sure, not the whole world, but maybe Canada, or even just the world around me.

I hate it when ads for movies say "own it today on video and dvd". Video is not a physical thing you can own...it's the signal. The video signal can be recorded, in composite analogue on a VHS tape, or in digital format on a DVD. The 2 main consumer formats for distributing films is VHS and DVD. So the ads should say, "own it today on VHS and DVD". Some do, I'm happy with those ones. Just a Planman Pet Peeve.

Firm Hold
Super Hold
Mega Hold
Super Mega Hold
Ultra Hold
Super Ultra Mega Hold
Super Firm Mega Ultra Hold

These are the types of hair styling gel that are available from the different manufacturers on the shelves at London Drugs. Got my hair cut today, then stopped to pick up some hair product. How the hell are you supposed to tell which of those gels holds better than the other? Is Mega a more powerful word than Super? Is Ultra the end all be all of holding power in a gel? Firm Hold and Ultra Hold could be exactly the same thing coming from 2 different manufacturers. Where's the standard?

I bought wax instead.

I saw Juan the other day...she was in town for Thanksgiving with her family. I went for a visit and Tami (from high school) was there with her 6 month old girl, Jaden. It was cool to see them all...I hadn't seen Tami in like 5 or 6 years probably. Jaden has her ears pierced...crazy! But, Juan got her nipples pierced...a present for her boyfriend apparently. I didn't get a chance to have a looksee. Her parents don't know...I hope they're not reading this.......

I'm unimpressed with music that just keeps repeating the same line or lines over and over and over. This song (and it's a Canadian band, I hate to hack 'em, but it's gotta be said) by 3 Days Grace called I Hate Everything About You has a decent tune to it...but when you actually pay attention to the lyrics (something I seldom do, but this one is so obvious) it's just one verse. The second verse is the first verse, then the title of the song is repeated until the end. What up wit dat? That's not songwriting, it's lazy. It's all about marketing in that industry too...it doesn't matter if the song is good, if the producers and record label execs and the DJs who are in their pocket are saying it's good, then a good majority of us Peons listening to it will think it's good too.

New(ish) songs I'm hearing on the radio that I do like...musically and lyrically:

Hands Down - Dashboard Confessional
Try Honesty - Billy Talent
Still Frame - Trapt

That's just off the top of my head. There's more. I'm not saying that bands that repeat lyrics aren't talented...hell, I can't play guitar, I'm just saying I'm unimpressed with writing one verse and repeating it. Maybe the idea behind the song only warranted one verse worth of lyrics, maybe I'm way off base with this. It's what I think though. My website, my opinion.

I'm such a wuss sometimes. I get worked up over stupid things like movies. Last night, for some reason, I started thinking about that movie "Signs". A very good movie, I thought it was well crafted and accomplished it's goal. Very suspenseful. I got to thinking about it, and the aliens in it, and it just started to spook me out. I was in bed, covers up to my head (cause we all know our covers protect us from aliens and ghosts...) and my heart racing as I was too nervous to open my eyes for fear of seeing a "Signs" alien in my room. Similar things have happened with movies like "The Ring" and going way back to when I was 8 years old, the "Thriller" music video by Michael Jackson.

Speaking of movies, they're making one outside my work. They closed off Broad St for a week and have built a replica stage of the one from the Much Music Video Awards for scenes to be used in the "Much Music Movie". I stood on the stage today, as they were filming other scenes beyond it. I was also in the presence of Jason Priestly, the star of the movie. I'm not a big Priestly fan, never watched 90210 much, but hey, it's still cool to be in the presence of someone famous. George Strombolombolous from Much Music was also there, which was cool. Movie comes out in August sometime.

You gotta love it when you make a pick in a hockey pool draft and the other guys in the room go, "fuck", "shit", or "you asshole" - it means you've made a stellar choice. It meant a lot last night as Planman and 19 others from the New VI took part in the 3rd annual New VI season hockey pool draft. 10 players each, only points count, and one trade possible during the all star break. Since I've been out of the hockey scene for a bit, I wasn't too sure who the major players or prospects were, but I had last years points list, plus a hockey mag on loan from Q which gave me some projections. I managed to draft a team without any injuries or unsigned players...so it's looking better than some.

Planman's 2003/04 New VI Season Pool Hockey Players:
Todd Bertuzzi (Canucks)
Alexei Kovalev (Rangers)
Nicklas Lidstrom (Red Wings)
Petr Nedved (Rangers)
Sergei Zubov (Red Wings)
Jason Blake (Islanders)
Kip Miller (Capitals)
Mathieu Schneider (Red Wings)
Robert Reichel (Leafs)
Mark Messier (Rangers)

I'm ok happy with these picks. With 20 people in the pool, it was tough to get the players I was sure of. It'll be fun though.

I switched New Day yesterday which was pretty cool. I was a bit nervous, but my supervisor was always there to watch over me and answer my questions. By the end I had the idea pretty good and had sorted out the format of the show (which I mostly already knew). Man we've got some sweet ass equipment at the station.

I woke up 15 minutes after I usually leave for work this morning! Actually, I got up then. See, I woke up around 3am and checked my watch (yes, I waking up to a Timex watch alarm - I can't even check the time without grabbing the watch and hitting the Indiglo button) and realised I had an hour left to sleep (I'm on early shift this week). So I attempted to get a bit more rest. Later I was laying there wondering when my alarm was gonna go off. I kept putting off checking my watch, until when I finally did, it was 5:15. I think my exact words to myself were "Fuckin Hell!" I jumped up, changed my ginch, threw on some pants, shirt and socks, ran into the bathroom and spread on a good dose of deodorant and gave my face a quick splash of water, got my shoes on, grabbed a mint from the candy dish and headed out the door. I made it to town in 30 minutes flat...a trip that usually take 40-45 minutes. I wasn't late, I had 5 minutes to spare.

So I bought a radio alarm clock on the way home...hopefully we won't be doing that again!