Month: February 2007

So I just got back from my Media Ethics mid-term. I think I did decent to my usual standards (anything over 75% is alright with me) but lately I’m starting to change how I feel about education in general.

When I was younger I wanted to just get by the course. Hey, I wanted a decent mark also, but I lived my life according to scoring well on an exam.

But what about the knowledge gained? I don’t know…I have to admit that sometimes I didn’t really care about the knowledge. Or, at the very least, I didn’t even think about it. I just went to class, heard what the professor had to say and then studied for the test.

Tonight I hit upon a question about a Supreme Court case that I didn’t have a good grasp on. In the end, I probably bombed the question, but I’m not really concerned with the actual mark. I am concerned that I don’t have a grasp on the subject matter – in this case, the outcome of the Supreme Court case I was reading. Heck, maybe my legalese is pretty well non-existent so it’s hard to understand it all after reading 20 pages.

So, there you have it. I have realized that I have finally become a student who wishes to absorb knowledge. In my view, I don’t believe sending teenagers to school is necessarily the best idea. I’m not saying that I didn’t retain what I learned in college. I did. Maybe not the specifics (Hey, how do I do a FOR Loop in C++ programming language again? Hmm…off the top of my head I believe it’s (for i=0;i<10;i++), hey, I actually think that's right! I'll have to check that out later. I actually just impressed myself!), but I have a greater appreciation for education than I did 10 years ago. I believe this is the secret Rick has discovered as he pretty well hasn't left the school life and I doubt he ever will. One word Mr. MacLeod - Professor.

Check out this article from NME:

Guitarists attempt to break rock record

Record-breaking bid set for London

London department store Harrods is hosting a bid to break an unusual rock record.

The store will attempt to beat the world record for the most guitarists playing one song simultaneously.

Harrods, based in Knighstbridge, hopes to get 2,000 guitarists to perform Deep Purple‘s ‘Smoke On The Water’ at 8am on February 18.

The existing record was set in Vancouver in 1994, where 1,322 guitarists took part.

The attempt is part of the ‘Harrods Rocks’ season, which runs from February 1 to March 3, and participants in the attempt will receive complimentary earplugs and a free T-shirt and plectrum.

For more information, and to register to take part, visit harrods.com.

—-
This is amazing! I want to find out more about the Vancouver world record! I wish I could take part in this world record setting. So cool! An excellent song choice also!

In the haze which is the morning hour when I awake from my slumber, there is little light in my room. To begin with, there is only a bedside lamp shedding rays of illumination towards the far corners of my room. Most of the time, I cannot even see the corner of my room. One day, it was sunny out and I rose the blinds to find that a family of geese had settled into the corner of my room! Considering I haven’t noticed them before, I just let them be and threw them some of Mike’s food items from the fridge.

So, one would hypothesize that the solution to my dilemna would be to invest in a new lamp. That’s an excellent point but one that I am always forgetting to do.

The flaw in my dimly lit room is when I grab stuff in the morning, sometimes I find…they do not match.

For example, ONCE AGAIN, I have a blue sock on this morning next to a black sock. I don’t even know how I have come to inherit a black sock as my system is a fine one – Buy white, buy black. Then, in the morning, all you have to do is reach in and pull out the right shade of sock. I don’t care if a sock doesn’t match. It’s not like they have fancy designs on them.

But somewhere along the trek which is life, I have inherited a blue sock and I swear it ends up on my foot every few weeks and I swear each time to throw it in the trash. But by the time slumber comes henceforth (10 Palmer points if you can identify where that line comes from), I forget that I have the blue sock on when I throw it into the hamper.

Palmer’s life is fraught full of little bits of irritation. In the grand scheme of life, is it worse than…an agent of SPECTRE after me? Heavens no! But I do live in fear that someone will realize I have two different socks on.

At least it’s not as bad as one day at work I noticed some guy had two different shoes on. That made my day.

iplaying: Heartbreaker – Led Zeppelin (Led Zeppelin III)

Saturday night brought me to Mike and Melissa’s place after a hard day of studying for Media Ethics. Ugh. I still don’t have Section 1 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms memorized yet.

We started out at Pho Maximum (or was it Maxim?) on Merivale. This was my first Pho experience which turned out to be a success! I enjoyed it thoroughly and it warmed my body while sitting across from the window. I had pleasant conversation with all and was happy to have spoken to Mark (Marc) in a sober fashion as the last time I had met him, was at my Christmas part. NOT a good time to have a conversation with me, unless you want to talk about what beer is better, or philosophical issues.

Heading over to Mike and Mel’s place, we munched on some good treats and settled into the living to play around with Joe’s electric guitar. I impressed myself with my rendition of Crazy Train which I only know the first few riffs for. Considering I am more of a rhythm man myself, I always am proud of anything I accomplish in the world of lead guitar.

Considering it was Melissa’s birthday, there was a questionnaire about her which only confirmed the fact that I really don’t know much about her! 😉 It was a neat idea and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I may borrow it for future events.

I played a little Dance Dance Revolution which I found very lame. Larisa pointed out that it gets better if I increase the difficulty level. I decided to not give it any further chance, as I realize that Guitar Hero 2 is so much better than dancing around the floor.

The moment of the night was when we pulled out Them Vs. Us (the board game my parents bought me for Christmas) and we had a full out battle of males vs. females. I think there were a good 30 of us competing which is insane considering everyone yells out answers within a time limit. Half the time people on the same team didn’t hear that someone on their team had yelled out the same answer a few times.

It was funny when someone commented “I can’t believe you played this game with your family!” due to the sheer R Rated cards that show up from time to time. They misunderstood that I had received it from my parents, not played it with them. 😉

In the end (does this even need to be said?), the males trounced the females once again which just goes to show .

All in all, a fun night! Kudos to Mike and Melissa, and seeing that TODAY is actually Melissa’s birthday, I send birthday wishes to you!

iplaying: Send It Up – Vertical Horizon (Everything You Want)

For awhile now, as I’ve been searching deal sites like redflagdeals.com or pricenetwork.com and they always advertise this NCIX.com website.

I decided to peruse their wares as I am in need of some blank DVDs and CDs.

Well, I was in for a pleasant surprise! I managed to score the following items:

• 50 CD-Rs for $5.99
• 100 DVD-Rs for $27
• 2 96 Disc Carrying Cases at $4 a pop.

Not too shabby at all. Perhaps there are better deals out there for the DVD-Rs that I would have found if I would have spent the time searching, but I figured the CDs and carrying cases were a steal of a deal and a quick look into other stores showed 100 DVD-Rs for $27 was a fair price.

Anyhow, I haven’t received them yet so I can’t comment on their prompt service, but I’m sure I will be checking out this store in the future if I need anything!

iplaying: You Say – Vertical Horizon (Everything You Want)

It’s coming from all sides…first Joe mentions Van Halen, then Chez106 speak about how it has hit RED ALERT status on their website which can only mean one thing.

Chances are, Van Halen are coming to Ottawa.

Beauty. Whoever is interested, let me know.

What’s my history with Van Halen? Well, to recap my history in the music scene, I wasn’t really into music until the mid-90s. 1996 to be exact. I remember it well. Someone had lent me the Aerosmith – Get a Grip album. What a beauty. What were these amazing sounds coming from the speakers? Guitar solos? Sweet Mother of Pearl!

Later on that year, I picked up the Van Halen – Balance album where I was introduced to Van Halen. A decent album, I didn’t know what to expect. Then the cream of the crop came to me in the form of Best of – Volume 1. I didn’t know what the hype was about. Some old singer of theirs…a Mr. David Lee Roth had come back to the fold and recorded two new songs for the album. What’s the big deal? He isn’t the current singer, Mr. Sammy Hagar.

After listening to Best Of album, I realized that there was a whole world of Van Halen out there to experience. The David Lee Roth era was more rock (it seemed to me) whereas the Hagar era was more toned down, more “Hey, I’m getting a little older, but I’m cool with it.” rock. At least, judging from the Best Of album. I can’t say I own many other Halen albums other than 1984 (the quintessential!).

So now Diamond David Lee Roth has returned to the fold for a tour and Ottawa is a rumoured date. Excellent. This is an experience that doesn’t come around too often.

I am laughing to myself right now thinking of Troy and him saying “What the heck?! My first album was 1984, and Ryan didn’t even get know the band until 1996?!”

update: Alright, I’ve been listening to Balance again and I take it back. Van Hagar rocks just as well as the Roth Era. They must have just picked out the slow tunes as singles.

iplaying: Poundcake – Van Halen (Best Of…Volume 1)

My chair is broken to the point where it always loses it’s height setting and I’m sitting a foot from the floor. Argh.

My friend Sara’s brother has a weight bench with weights to give away. If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll hook you up with Sara. I don’t know ANY details.

So besides the fact that I had to travel to the far ends of the Earth to get these new earphones for my iPod, I got them for free care of Apple.

My warranty is almost up and I managed to get a new iPod out of them a few months back. So, considering my warranty is running out next month, I thought I may as well invest in a new pair of headphones!

Very simple process actually – they will send you the new headphones without even receiving the old ones back right away. They do give you a time limit (like 3 weeks) to send back your defective ones or they charge you $23.

Two thoughts come to mind here:
1) Apple warranty is pretty good about their cheap-ass earphones. I mean, your dog could eat your earphones and as long as they are on warranty, they will replace them. In my case, I simply indicated that the left phone cut in and out sporadically and voila, a new set sent my way!
2) Even if I didn’t return my old ones, $23 seems like a cheap price to pay compared to the $39 that is charged for a new pair. Granted, you have to be under warranty.

Anyhow, in the end, I must admit that I think the iPod headphones suck anyhow for their sound quality, but there’s no wrongdoing with owning a new pair.

iplaying: Get It Right – Jets Overhead (Help! A Day in the Life)