My World

It’s true, sometimes I can be a slack arsed twat.. and it’s never more true than when it comes to the blogging thing.. I realised just now as I was posting episode 48 of the My World Podcast that I haven’t blogged at all since this time last week.. BZZZZT - thanks for the committment!

Thing is, I don’t really have much to tell that isn’t totally “Dear Diary” pedestrian.. Yeah, I hung out with friends and coworkers, watched the fireworks, saw a movie, went on a team building thing for work, hung out a bunch over the weekend.. wow.. I could have just written it all in 3 lines instead of waffling on for 15+ minutes.. oh well, ho hum..

With a lack of inspiration, I’ll sign off for now.. go download the podcast (or subscribe in iTunes), go listen, go write some feedback.. more breaking news as it happens, right here, right now..

Why “The Laundry One”? Because honestly, it’s a totally pedestrian episode and laundry was just about the most exciting thing I talked about.. Check it out and send me your feedback on the questions posed in the laundry debate section of this week’s show!

Link: podcast48.mp3 (26:34, 12.2Mb)

In this week’s show:

• Round up of the past 7 days
• The Sydnie font issue
• Other people’s laundry: Touch it or leave it?
• ..and a bunch of other tripe not worthy of mentioning here.

What I Forgot This Week: I had audio feedback times two from Shanelle, and also a comment from Jared from a couple of weeks back.. DOH! Rest assured, I’ll play these next week for your listening pleasure!

Frappr Map: If you listen to the My World Podcast on a regular basis, you should add yourself to our Frappr map! Check it out at www.frappr.com/myworldpodcast.

It’s not every day a co-worker tells you that he spent his weekend babysitting a tiger, but if any proof were needed - check out the photographic evidence:

This is my longest podcast to date! Not quite an hour, but not far off either. First two thirds or so are the regular thing, and in the last third or maybe a quarter I give you a slice of me - some thoughts about real life issues rather than the regular pedestrian stuff. Maybe that’s cool, maybe that’s boring, maybe you’re living vicariously through me - who knows. But here it is, for your aural pleasure…

Link: podcast47.mp3 (58:13, 26.7Mb)

In this week’s show:

• Round up of the past 7 days
• Redefining the phrase Tiger Team
• Promo: http://shadowfalls.podshow.com/
• Some clips from Radio 1
• Talk about Jake & Erin’s podcast #16
• Office dress code
• ..ending it all with a slice of me!

Post-show thoughts: I played the Radio 1 clip about mobile phones but missed the point - I really wanted to talk about what the public people said, not what Chris Moyles said - DOH! Anyone got any thoughts on that stuff? Can’t live with your mobile? Helps relationships etc?

I haven’t listened back to the show but I’ll give it a whirl tomorrow.. anything else that springs to mind, I’ll blog here :-)

And don’t forget, if you’re a My World Podcast listener, should should add yourself to our Frappr map! Check it out at www.frappr.com/myworldpodcast - cheers!

URL: http://www.ctlcast.com/

Choose The Left is a podcast by Jake Cordova and Erin Hatch. They used to be married, now they’re divorced, and they do a podcast together. Crazy? Sure - a bit! Entertaining though? Oh you betcha! I’ve played a promo for their podcast on mine before, and will be giving them a shout out tomorrow too. Their latest podcast, #16, was just amazing! There’s this bit in the middle, or maybe it’s towards the end, where they start talking about people, relationships, doing stuff for others, love and what that means, all sorts..

It definitely struck a chord with me, and made me wonder about a lot of stuff.. like.. what’s the point and implication of being very open and honest like that on your podcast? can stuff come back to bite you on the ass in the future? is that necessarily a bad thing? what do I think and feel about the stuff they said? *shrugs* food for thought - I’ll be sending them feedback tomorrow and I think there may be a section in my podcast that stems from what they said in theirs. Check back tomorrow for the My World Podcast #47!

I really hate when I don’t blog for a few days then have a bunch of stuff to say, which may be mostly pedestrian, but I still want to say it anyway.. So here’s what’s been going on in my world since the last time I blogged:

Tuesday: Mike came over and made me watch Canada’s Next Top Model. It was the penultimate episode of the season and it’s so funny watching girls get drunk and totally bitch each other out. I’m not sure any of the 4 finalists were actually all that likeable, but it was entertaining enough to get me to set MythTV to record the season finale the next night. Good times hanging out with Mike too - I haven’t seen him in forever cos he’s currently in Toronto for school but was in town for a week visiting family. He’s funny cos he’s so opinionated and totally pulls me on it when I say something that he doesn’t quite agree with. More people need to be like that - have an opinion and stand by it, rather than being all laid back, laissez-faire, and “it’s all good”.

Wednesday: Went to The Kingston after work for Laura’s leaving do (LAWWWRAAAH!) which was a joint thing with Bonnie who’s also leaving. Told Shawn I was going for “one or two” and would be home “around half six, maybe seven”. Fast forward a bunch and there I am, coming home around 10ish, having had more than double “one or two” (but only just) (you with me? counting along at home there? prizes for the right answer!). Laura’s from the UK, came here with her boyfriend Neil on a 1 year working visa, which is now coming to an end so they’re off back home. Neil’s a good bloke too, very nice, very “normal” - totally reminds me of people I know back home. We need more people like that here!

Thursday: Went over to Josh’s to hang out with him and Brian. They’d been out to eat earlier but I had to finish off some work stuff. Stupidly I went over there in jeans (I hadn’t changed in to shorts when I got home from work). Josh lives on the 3rd floor of a 3 storey building.. aka top floor.. aka bloody hot! I was soon wishing I’d thought to put shorts on. We were going to watch Nightwatch, that Russian kind of horror/forces of light and dark movie, but after chapter 3 it kept skipping and fucking up so BZZZZZT no, that wasn’t happening. Ended up watching Snatch on VHS (fast forwarding through the trailers - how quaint!). Highlight of the evening: Brian’s burps. When you’ve had all you can eat Japenese food, then wash it down with 4 beers, you do these great burps that smell like rotting corpse in a dumpster in a piss filled back alley. Seriously. And by great, I mean “not so much”.

Friday: Left work a bit early, got a haircut, came home to rinse the guck out and get presentable. Told Shawn I was going to the pub for “one or two” to which he replied “so I’ll see you around 10 then?”. Cheeky twat. Dragged him along for one so he could meet Simon, who’d bought a new longboard the day before. Reason for going out was Deejay’s birthday. Had a couple of drinks but really did call it quits after that. Shawn went off to bike around the city and take cool pictures, I headed home to veg and chill - end of a long week!

Saturday: Had a nice lie in.. mooched around, vegged, chilled. John came round and we went walkabout. Talk about heatwave - it’s been really hot in Vancouver for the past few days! Downtown was scorching hot.. we sat in the shade by the back of Sears and shot the shit for a bit.. good times.. but as soon as we were mobile again, in direct sunlight, wow - HOW hot?! Back to mine to veg’n'chill in the aircon (which I’m loving at the moment, by the way!).

Josh phoned to see if I fancied doing something so he came over, slightly boozy, then we went out and hit the movies. The plan was to see A Scanner Darkly at 10:25.. only it started at 10:15.. and was also pretty much sold out.. Brian met us at the theatre and by strange quirk of events, we ended up watching Lady In The Water, which I’d previously said I wasn’t really all that fussed with seeing. That said, good flick - I’d give it 7 out of 10, and Brian and Josh both said they’d give it an 8. Typical M Night Shyamalan movie, where it starts out alright but then requires you to totally suspend disbelief at some point towards the end where it gets a bit cheesy porn corny with it. If you go see the movie, drop me a line and I’ll tell you where I thought that turning point was.

Sunday: More of the same - got up late, vegged and chilled. Did some laundry, took the trash and recycling out, clean’n'tidied a bit. Spoke to the parents back home - they’re having the same heatwave that we are, apparently.. hmm - global warming anyone? Went to the movies to see Who Killed The Electric Car? which was pretty good. Really makes you wonder about the state of the world though - it would seem that electric cars are all good, but because they have the potential to decrease profits of car companies, oil companies etc they kind of had the plug pulled (excuse the pun!). Definitely worth checking out I reckon - it’s a definite conversation stirrer. Came home after grabbing a bite to eat, hung out with Shawn for a bit, then David came over and we watched Garden State. I love that movie. Can’t totally explain why, but I think a large part of it comes down to the “realness” of it. Is that even a word? Should it be “reality”? Meh, who knows?!

So.. that’s my world for the last 5 days.. off to bed shortly, back to the grind tomorrow, yay - gotta love Mondays (not!). Laters people! :-)

I’m sitting on the sofa with my laptop, having just uploaded my latest podcast and made it available via my blog and through the iTunes podcast directory. I’ve got the TV on, watching the CTV national news at 11. And it’s fucked. They’re showing the stuff that’s going on in the Lebanon and it’s all a bunch of people bombing everyone else, scenes of mass destruction, dead and injured people all over the place. BZZZZT - It’s fucked!

There was a 2m high tsunami in Indonesia which has caused a bunch of damage and devastation. If you haven’t seen An Inconvenient Truth, you should check it out. Good documentary about the climate, global warming, what’s going on, what it means, and what can be done.

Closer to home, we’ve got the teenager who had his hand pretty much severed from his arm when a bunch of guys wielding machetes stormed the house party he was at and started swinging them around. What the fuck? This is in Vancouver! Fucksake!

Then there’s the recent “People are just fucked” debate. In the past week, a number of people I know have been stunned and bewildered by the actions of others. People doing and saying stuff that just MAKES.. NO.. SENSE! Now this is mostly “other people” as opposed to “my people” - sure, my Sunday was “interesting” on a couple of different levels but I don’t really consider any of that stuff to be really fucked up. No, fucked up is the guy who dumps his girlfriend when they’ve had nothing but good times and a week previously was gushing about how he feels so lucky having her in his life, then dumps her with a “you’re really great, it’s not you, it’s me”. Or the guy who wants to cool off the relationship with the girl, then wonders why she’s upset, then says he misses seeing her, wants to hang out, have her in his life etc.. uh, buddy? you kinda want to have your cake and eat it..

I’m sure this whole electronic age has a part to play in all this too.. A girl freaks out because she emailed a guy at 11:45 and 2 hours later he hasn’t reply. She’s all “what the fuck?!” and I’m saying “Chill the fuck out - you emailed right before the lunch hour and his calendar shows as busy all day - he’s probably either at lunch or in meetings!” - We’re talking 2 hours people. You want an instant response? Go with real time communications. It’s called the telephone. Don’t get bent out of shape because he/she didn’t reply to your instant message, text message or email right away. People are busy, people are at work, people are distracted enough already. Seems that so many people I talk to lately have problems or issues communicating with that person that they’re getting wound up over!

My solution? Booze! The great social lubricant! If you can’t sit down and have a mature, sane, rational, calm discussion with whoever, let’s all go down the pub, chill out and get mellow with a couple of beers or vodkas, then have a cool, calm, collected conversation and relate with each other on a decent level. Who’s in?

Last Monday just wasn’t the day for doing the podcast.. I figured I’d do it on Tuesday instead. That didn’t work out either.. Wednesday I was out and figured fuck it, I’m just gonna skip one. I wasn’t the happiest about it, and I’m not sure that my one tonight is all that, or worth waiting for, but you can be the judge..

Link: podcast46.mp3 (29:56, 18.3Mb)

In this week’s show:

• An explanation for last week’s absence
• How Microsoft .NET and C# drove me to drink
• Cirque du Soleil: Varekai
• Complicated banking back home
• Judging on first impressions / the look of people
• Mind altering drugs
• Blarmcast blurb about Wankergirl
• ..ending with the usual wrap up and feedback request!

I know you all missed me last week.. so feel free to leave me feedback! Or at least add yourself to the Frappr map at www.frappr.com/myworldpodcast - cheers!

Hate: Going to bed late, and realising that although you’ve got clean sheets, you need to make your bed before you can lie in it.

Love: That feeling of getting in to clean, fresh sheets and drifting off in to a peaceful slumber!

Seriously, isn’t jumping in to a bed with clean sheets just like one of the best feelings ever? I half fancy new sheets, pillows and a new duvet maybe.. some big plush foofy comfy squidgy affair like you see in department stores and want to jump all over but don’t.. mostly..

Bit of a jam-packed weekend! Here’s how it played out:

Friday: Dejan from work called at 4:30. He was already in the pub with Allan, did I want to come, and could I bring the soldering iron that I’m lending Allan that forgotten and left on his desk? Sure - I guess so! Hit the Loose Moose, had a drink, which turned in to 4 by the time people had come and gone and stuff.. Came home ever so slightly buzzed, John came over, we hung out, watched the new Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, easy going laid back chilling - nice, just what I needed!

Saturday: Met Aunty Marj and Paul down at Granville Island for lunch and caught the sun a bit. Bussed it back downtown together, they went off to Gastown, I came home to chill for a bit. Brian swung by and we hung out for a bit. He went off and I went out with Alyson and her friend Nicole. Original plan was Pirates Of The Carribean 2 but it was sold out, so we ended up hitting Sammy J Peppers on Granville Island for a bite to eat then calling it quits. Complete gong show down there, different people hosting and seating inside versus outside on the patio, if you have drinks at the bar while you’re waiting you can’t transfer those to your table bill, all sorts of stupid shit that makes for bad customer service. Meh, whatever..

Sunday: Lazy leisurely start to the day.. made plans to hit Lonsdale Quay for lunch with Shawn and Nolene who’d never been there before (HELLO?!).. Met John on the SkyTrain with timing that couldn’t have been better if we tried. Decent lunch at Lonsdale then back downtown, Shawn went off shopping with Nolene and I hung out with John. Cue bizarre funny conversation about seeing other people which was mostly quite amusing.. especially as this other guy he’s recently met is someone that I’ve chatted to online.. sing along now: “It’s a smalllll world afterrrr alllllll” :-)

Out for dinner with Aunty Marj and Paul at Cactus Club on Broadway, then met up with Brian and went for a walk’n'talk, ended up at mine talking till 1am.. Interesting conversations.. nothing too deep’n'heavy, not one of “those” conversations, just two friends shooting the shit.. mostly.. (sitting here writing this with a wry grin on and the stereo cranked playing a CHOOOOOON at way above recommended decent neighbourly volume levels, laughing to myself with the craziness of life and certain situations, it’s “entertaining” right?)

About time I went to work I reckon.. back for more blogging antics tonight and the much awaited return of the podcast! I know you all missed it big time last week by all the emails and MSNs I got about it.. Laters people - have a good one!