Nature/Wildife documentaries can sometimes be just friggin amazing. I was watching this one on the animals of the alps last week...amazing imagery. I have no idea how they get the shots they do. It's one thing to be able to get close enough to the animal to capture the moments that they do, but to do that and then make the images stunningly beautiful with excellent exposure and framing. I'm sure it must take forever to get the shots they get, but good on 'em for doing it. The end result is gorgeous! I don't know about audio...it could be foley'd in afterwards for many of the shots, but sometimes it seems like it was recorded alongside the images, crystal clear of course, and that is amazing as well.

I just found out about this novel writing "competition" that is happening in November. The challenge is to write a minimum 50,000 word novel in 1 month. They expect a lot of crap (and it's not like they're reading all the entries...it's just a word count at the end to see if you completed the task). It would be a good way to kickstart me into writing the novel I keep saying I'm going to write. I think I'm going to take part. Click the link on the main page of the site to check out the National Novel Writing Month website.

Fresh bread (or buns...you know, baked dough) is so great. Problem is, it just doesn't stay fresh. I find myself either eating as much of it as I can to get it while it's fresh, or I have to refrigerate it to keep it from going stale. Course refrigeration is almost as bad as it going stale, but it can stay somewhat fresh for a bit longer. When you've got fresh bread, you wanna keep it like that and part of the secret is how you get the air out of the bag so when you re-seal it, there's no air to go to work on staling it. Of course you can't squeeze all the air out, because air is what makes the bread all fluffy and yummy. So it's a careful balance of squeezing enough, but not too much, air out of the bread bag to have the bread stay freshest, longest.

Think that was weird? Yes, I'd say so too...but hey, I was thinking about it as I made a sandwich, and I said, "what the hell", and decided to post it.

You know what else I did that's weird? When I filled my car with gas tonight, I hit $42.someoddcents when the nozzle gave the first full stop. Of course you know when you hit that first nozzle stop that the tank can take some more...so I eased the trigger on for a bit more and managed to get it up to $45, however I overshot and hit $45.01. Well, that wouldn't do, I had to get it on a somewhat even number, so I settled for $45.50. Course then I go inside and pay with my credit card...so does it really matter how many cents I put in? Does Master Card care? Why do I do that? I'm fuckin weird, that's all there is to it.

I didn't use to like mustard, but whilst in New Zealand I acquired a taste for it. Now I love it...but good mustard. Basic old French's prepared yellow mustard is ok, but doesn't do much for me. I love the Grey Poupon style Dijons, as well as grainy mustards...mmm. Classy mustard, that's what it's all about.

It's funny when I accomplish something with regards to this website (usually in the php/programming/dynamic realm). I feel like I am the ultimate genius for figuring out whatever it was I wanted. Ya, me, the ultimate genius. All I did was use google effectively and find the code I needed on someone else's site. Searching other people's problems to solve my own...that's what it's all about. Still it's a good feeling when you get it done.

Have I mentioned how much I enjoy NYPD Blue? The music is awesome, the way it's shot is great. I don't care that the content isn't realistic (not that I'd know what realistic police content is like), but I think the acting is decent. Dennis Franz plays Sippowicz so well. It's just plain enjoyable and I'm sad that it's in it's last season. I'm really liking the latest years here with Mark-Paul Gosselar and Charlotte Ross. I have a feeling I've written all this before.

Ahhh, I'm back. Sorry for the delay, but I transferred planman.net to new servers this week and didn't want to post anything new in case it got lost in the shuffle. Everything went smooth and now here I am.

I started running this week. Yes, running. I get up and I go for a run before I shower. It works quite well, because I'm never in a rush when I get up and it's not like I have to get up early so I'm able to run before I go to work. When I get up I still have 3 or 4 hours before I have to be at work. Plenty of time to have a run around the neighbourhood. Maybe I should call it a jog...it's more of a jog than a run. I definitely don't sprint. I haven't measured out the distance I've been going, but I think it's got to be around 2K or so. Not much, but I'm just starting out...need to build up. Actually my aim is to downsize, not build up...but you get what I mean. It feels good after going for a run...it's a great way to start the day (once you actually get going...that's the tough part). My blood gets flowing, I have more energy, and I just feel better all round. I'm going to keep it up.

It's time for me to stop spending money. I've been just going crazy the last while...I don't know why, but it seems everywhere I turn there's a deal I have to have or something I need to buy. I've got the new toys, everything is working, I've got to stop buying shit and start just enjoying what I have. Need to build up some savings. So from now on, it's just food and rent and car payments for me.

Speaking of food, I need to get groceries.

Don't you hate it when you shit, wipe, flush, and then after you've taken about 5 steps away from the bathroom, you realize you weren't done? It happens more often when you're sick, but it does happen from time to time when you're not. What's worse? Getting hit with that "I gotta shit" sensation when you're in the shower (or the tub, or the pool, etc). Usually it means you've gotta go quite soon, but you may be covered in soap. So you rush to wash off the soap, but it really doesn't rinse off any faster when you try. Then you gotta get out and dry yourself off. Now the big problem is the ass. You need to have it dry, not so much for the actual business, but for the wipe (wiping with a wet ass does not work, toilet paper is made to degrade in water). But you can't dry your ass well enough because by this stage you've probably got a turtle head poking out and if you wipe, then the towel will be soiled. It's a tricky situation. There is one worse though, and it's pretty obvious. Shitting your pants has got to be pretty bad. Thankfully it hasn't happened to me since I was in diapers (as far as I know). Of course in diapers it's expected, but really, if babies knew what they were doing, do you think they'd do it?

Ok, now I gotta shit.

Ralph Nader was on Letterman last night. If I was American, I would vote for him.

I'm liking my new speaker setup...I got the new receiver and 6.1 channel sound system and I hung the speakers from the ceiling. They're spaced apart well and it sounds pretty good. Movies with Dolby Digital or DTS are so much better now that I am engulfed in sound, and even 2 channel sources sound pretty good when they're processed and sent to all the speakers. I am truly surrounded in sound.

You know, I often thing of good things to write about here...but by the time I finally get on, I've forgotten what they were. It annoys me, and I'm sure it annoys you too.

First time since April that I put gel in my hair. I'm not shaving it again (this season at least). It still pretty much does whatever it wants, but I guess with the gel I have a tad more control.

Thanksgiving dinner at the parent's house was good...just a small one this year, only 4 of us. Dad and I picked up some firewood from a friend's house, plus I put a new hard drive in his 'puter. It was a bit scary when I put it back together and the monitor didn't light up...fixed that and then the computer wouldn't boot into Windows. Finally got it all sorted out and now Dad has about 15 times as much storage as he had before.

Some guy crashed his bike in the same spot I did a few weeks ago. Those railroad tracks are treacherous! I could feel his pain. I maneuvered the tracks successfully and asked him if he was ok. He nodded "yes", but still had the shocked look that I must have had after my fall...you can't believe you were stupid enough to have slipped and fallen. He was wearing pants...I don't think he got any serious road rash.

Happy 75th to my Grandma this weekend! Just had a nice lunch at Kiplings in the basement of the Empress Hotel. Nice buffet. Caught up with My great uncle Sam as well as other family members and friends.

Also, congratulations are in order for Gord & Brandy-Lee. Gord popped the question last week and they are now engaged! No date is set yet (to the dismay of many family members, but it doesn't really bother me). They've been together for over 7 years...maybe even 8 now...so it was looking pretty inevitable. Good on ya Gord!

I keep getting in shit when I don't update. Sorry to my faithful readers. I haven't updated cause there hasn't been much, plus I got new toys so I been playing with them.

Let's see...soccer, I scored a goal (and missed several great opportunities cause my kick sucks) and had a couple good passes and assists. I didn't have to wear a pinney this week cause I wore one of my yellow shirts. Smart eh?

I'm thinking of re-arranging my furniture. It's a little tough to organise what I got in this bachelor suite, but it's possible.

See? There wasn't much. But I will post more soon.

So I'm in the grocery store, walkin' around, looking at potential goodies, and they've got the music going in the background and it's all good, but then Bye, Bye, Bye by N'Sync comes on and I START HUMMING ALONG TO THE SONG as I wander around. It's bad enough that I know the name of the song, or even that the song I heard is an N'Sync song, but that I know it well enough to hum along...holy poop chute! How lame am I? It's that damn radio job I had...I played too much lame music and it's stuck with me. Ugh.

On the way home I managed to eject it and insert Jet Set Satellite - Baby Cool Your Jets. Much, much, MUCH better!

I need a new book to read. Sabulsky said he was gonna send me a couple, but who knows when that will happen. He's told me he's gonna send me lots of things, but I have yet to see a package arrive. Chucky has a couple books I need to get...maybe I should go pick those up. Course there's always the Corporate Finance text books Choy loaned to me...they're sitting on my bookcase, taking up about a quarter of the space. I could learn some new things about money and the management of it, but, just looking at those books, I'm not very motivated. I need to get me some more Vonnegut. Maybe I do need to make a trip to the book store. Or maybe I should just start reading the paper? Maybe if the paper delivery person didn't put the paper on my door mat, which is always soaking wet because it never dries out after a rain, and get the bottom half of the paper all wet, I might be inclined to. As it stands I have to dry the paper out for a day or two, and by then I figure it's old news and I don't bother with it.

I need a hobby. I need to go outside more. I need to do something with my life besides work, eat, and sleep. Maybe I'll write that book and/or screenplay I've been thinking/talking about for the last couple years. I just need to organise my thoughts better. Maybe I should do drugs...it seemed to work for those writers in the 70s I read about in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls.

I gotta go to work.