Author: admin

Go read Amin’s blog entry here.

His friend in Ottawa is selling off a SLEW of DVDs for killer, killer, wholesale prices. Sounds like he went out of business unfortunately.

I managed to pick up The Beatles Anthology (reg $70), Varsity Blues (hello whipped cream bikini!) and Spinal Tap for $50.

You can’t go wrong. I’m pumped to check out The Beatles Anthology…was a mini-series created by the remaining Beatles back in the 90s. I also received the companion book version of the mini-series from Vero at Christmas. I’m Beatled out!

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People have been asking how I got a dent in my car. I have no idea. It’s on the underside of the bumper, so all I can think of it the car hit a curb or a snowbank…

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Unbeknownst to some people, the roomie Mike just started his new job (for life!) at Foreign Affairs Canada today. Congrats!

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I am hooked on Season 4 of Smallville. I believe Mike is hooked on it also seeing that he’s watched 16 hours of it in the past two days. Man, it would be cool to be retired. Wanna know what my ideal retirement would be, after I do all the travelling I want? Work at a comic shop and watch TV series all day long. End of story. And tend to my vineyards.

Turns out I’m not insane.

Once again, my clock went off at 6:12 instead of 6:25.

I changed it to the right time, went for a shower, and the clock was advanced in time.

Must be something loose in the clock.

Normally I would just beat it against the wall and see if that fixes anything. But I’m making some coin now…I’m sure I can afford a new alarm clock. Plus, I could always put this clock in the spare room. So what if my guests get to wake up 13 minutes earlier?

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Last night I did my Comm Research test which confirmed that I need to take better notes. Either that, or the prof is insane. I then spent a few hours with Vero which was excellent.

Anyone out there have a heat gun I can borrow? I have a dent in my bumper and I’ve heard that if you heat the thing up, you can just push it back out, since it’s plastic.

Last night I walk away from my computer.

It’s 10:59.

I walk into my bedroom. The alarm clock reads 11:19.

I check my wristwatch – it’s 11:00.

Clearly, my alarm clock is messed up. This is the SECOND time this week where the time is messed up. I have no idea why.

I change the clock time. I set my alarm for 6:25.

I wake up at 6:25, do the usual stuff and then when I reach for my cell phone and watch, I discover that the time is…6:25.

As in, I just spent fifteen minutes in the shower, and it is now only the time where I woke up.

What the heck?

I believe I am going insane… I had a migraine headache the other week and ever since then, weird, silly things have been happening like the inability to type a sentence, or my clock times changing randomly.

In terms of the clock time changing last night, logic would dictate that it really was 11:19 when I went to bed and both my computer and wristwatch were off…but that doesn’t really make any sense.

So…I’m going insane I think. Or my alarm clock has a glitch.

Speaking about bettering oneself, I’m finally going to go to a doctor to get a physical. I’ve never been to a doctor since I was a kid, and I met a Doctor while in Europe who was saying how I should think about getting checked out before I’m 30.

I’m not worried about something, but it’s good to go to a doctor to get checked out just in case they can prevent something.

So, word of advice for the day – Go see a doctor! They are there to help. Contrary to popular belief, they are still accepting new patients. At least the one I found is.

You all know me, I’m an easy going guy. Nothing really rocks my boat.

But when the dreaded Friday approaches, I cringe.

Sure, I’m happy that it’s the end of the week. I would be stupid not to. Work seems a little more slack on a Friday…it’s like I am the leader of a zombie pack and I am a zombie myself.

But, the one thing that irks me, is the following conversation that happens with people.

Me: “Hey, how’s it going?”
(Random person): “It’s Friday!”

ARGH! I know it’s Friday! Everyone should know it’s Friday. Friday is not an emotion. I know these people are only trying to say “Hey, I’m doing pretty good. The week was hard but it’s the end and I’m looking forward to relaxing this weekend.”

But give me something with substance here people! It irks me when they use a day of the week to convey their emotions. You know it wouldn’t even be so bad if someone replied:

(Random Person): “I’m doing pretty good. It’s Friday!”

Hey, I can relate. I hear ya man. Good times are a-coming, especially when you have plans to see the Jeff Healey Band tonight with some friends. Can’t complain.

But when you just say “It’s Friday” it irks me. Especially when the same people do it. It’s like ‘their thing’ to say when Friday is coming up.

I’m going to try out the ‘It’s Tuesday’ for awhile and see how that treats people. What will people think? Will they think I’m happy because it’s new release day for most different forms of media (aka new CDs, new movies, etc.). What about if I said “It’s Wednesday!” Does that mean that I’ve made it to hump day and I’m good to roll down the other side of the hill. Maybe if I still collectec comic books this would show that I’m glad it’s Wednesday because there are some new comics on the rack.

Oddly enough, I don’t have this feeling when it’s Monday. I think there are a few people who say ‘It’s Monday’ and I just don’t bother to care either way. Maybe it’s because I’ve led my pack of Zombies from work on a Friday but still am a Zombie when I return to work on the Monday.

Happy Friday People.

A stroke of ambition hit me late last night and I decided to test out the TV tuner card Mike lent me to see if I could digitize my old videocassettes.

Success! Sort of?

The thing works…I started recording a Smashing Pumpkins: Intimate and Interactive concert back from…1998? It records in real time so I figured it would try and tape the entire 6 hour tape. I left it running overnight and when I awoke, I found it did in fact tape the 2 hour long show, but didn’t bother capturing any other footage on the videocassette. Another drawback is the fact that this 2 hour long MPG file is 8 gigabytes large…I would need a dual-layer DVD to put this onto.

Granted, this is after setting it up for 45 minutes and letting it run overnight. I’m sure this weekend I will find the answers to the following questions:

• The resolution of a TV set is 320×40. But if I record at 700+ it turns out to be less in size. What’s up with that?
• Is there a way to bring down the size while recording? When trying to create the DVD, it does start talking about how it’s WAY too big for a conventional single layer DVD and attempts to downgrade the quality, but it only shaved off 500MB. So two options appear: 1) Figure out a way to record it into a lower quality to begin with. 2) Use a program to downgrade to a nice 4.7GB size (perhaps DVDShrink? Does it work with MPGs?)
• What do I do with all the old videocassettes afterwards? I’m talking EVERYTHING. I want to first transfer any home videos, as well as stuff I’ve videotaped off of TV. Then I will ahead and tape actual movies. But afterwards, should I just chuck them in the garbage? In essence, I have converted the videos and they will be on a nifty DVD. I have heard that DVDs degrade over time, but so do videocassettes…
• Can I make a business out of this? Someone told me that a business charges $75 per hour of video that they convert to DVD. That is insane. I mean, I haven’t gone through the whole process of making a DVD yet, but I don’t think it will take too much of my time. MAYBE if I have to search for different scenes and make a menu and whatnot.

While reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (I just realized that I haven’t hyperlinked much text in the last while…I suppose it’s just a little extra time out of my day whereas you can just Google anything your heart desires…) I came across this interesting concept where a teacher didn’t provide grades throughout the term which pissed off people at first, but then it changed the way students approached the learning angle – they actually ended up producing better work and paid more attention in class (as opposed to the end of term slump where everyone knows their marks anyhow and they don’t really care). It shows that students should be in an institution of education to learn and not to get a grade.

This was an interesting concept as it ties into the whole theory that you should be educated because you want to be, not because you are told to. Granted, this doesn’t work for children…they wouldn’t know any better. Or would they? While reading Race Against Time I am finding that as soon as gov’ts eliminate school fees, 1000’s of children are coming to school because they wish to learn. This is hard concept for a lot of people who have grown up in the education system we have here, where everyone gets an education…my prof mentioned that it’s funny to see that University courses are the one thing in the world that you pay a lof of money for, but are ecstatic if it gets cancelled one day! Imagine an opposite scenario where you had to give the Prof $100 each class you attended for a three hour lecture. No wonder the universities take their tuition up front!

Anyhow, I feel that I am now entering the point in my life where I am wanting to be educated, and not for grades. I recall when I decided to return to University, I was driven by the fact that if I didn’t have a degree, I would probably not be able to become a Director one day. That was my driving force. I didn’t even really know if I would enjoy Communications…the only reason I took it was because it was a 90 credit course.

But I slowly realized that I enjoy going back to class as I get to learn something. I put a lot of actual thought into the essays I’ve written and it’s something I actually care about. I look at what errors I’ve made and where I can improve. This isn’t the Palmer of yesteryear where he just cared about his grades…this is the Palmer of now where I am more concerned of what I take from the class.

Prof. Lowes says that the best students don’t get the best grades. I am starting to see why he says that.