Not much has changed in the last few days, except, of course, the weather! It's gone from being +27C only a few days ago to -15C tonight with at least six inches of snow over the last couple days!

Tuesday night was the big election debate and I think I'd have to agree with the papers in that it was pretty much a draw. I was glad to see that David held his own. He only needs to learn one thing about public speaking: answer questions specifically and to the point. He's got the right answers, so he should feel free to be direct about them!

On Wednesday I had a board meeting and that was pretty much business as usual. Every meeting I am more and more astonished at how smoothly the organization runs compared with when we came to office only a few short years ago and had to clean house. There is no more fighting, there is no more partisan politics, only good work by, for, and on behalf of students. I don't expect it to last forever, but I can enjoy it while it lasts!

Tonight I had an excellent night of campaigning - almost every house I talked to said they would support Mike, and we talked to a lot of people. He's got a legitimate shot at this one so it's pretty exciting. We went to Trifon's for some grub afterwards which was a good time, but I was sure tired when I got home. It is cold out and I did a lot of walking!

Tomorrow is Hallowe'en and I'm going to be heading to Brad and Steff's for their big party. John and Cathy are going to be down from Saskatoon and a ton of other people are coming so it should be a good time. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday I'm going to be spending most of my free time campaigning, but it will all be over soon, and, God-willing, Mike will win!

Today at lunch I found myself downtown at IBM for a Regina Java Users Group meeting. Greg Hutchinson, a local consultant who runs his own company, Attractors Consulting, Inc., presented his topic, "Extreme Testing - The Extreme Programming Way". It was a great introduction to a topic I'm very interested in. I think iterative development is absolutely the way to go - I've seen first hand how quickly things can break down if you aren't doing enough (and the right) testing, especially on a large team like the one I'm working on right now. In fact, I'm thinking of a few side-projects at the moment that would be a great opportunity to really take advantage of and learn tools like JUnit. We have a tool at work that is licensed company-wide called Jtest that is supposed to speed up using it even more. Can't wait to try it out :)

Diego has written a great piece on the nature of blog posts and what people are trying to say with them. I think it's a great read. For me, my posts are snapshots of what's happening in my life and what I think about things. It's not like writing an essay - I just don't have time for that nor the inclination. I'm not about representing both sides of an issue or being too verbose about anything; I shoot from the hip and what you see is what you get - usually. I do try to stay away from the slander and what-not, but lately I've been really thinking about what others who don't know I have a website would think about me if they started reading this.

While Russell and thousands of others are profiting big-time from the public visibility they get on their site, I don't think my site is quite the same, it's a lot more personal - and a lot more irrelevant ;)

I just spent the last half-hour laughing at this. I literally cannot remember that last time I laughed this hard. If you have never worked on a helpdesk before, you will probably never be able to appreciate how absolutely hilarious it is!

This weekend wasn't the most productive one I've ever had. Friday I left work early to head to a Liberal campaign rally, and then I went to Bonzzini's for a little after-work gathering they call "TGIF", a regular tradition that we haven't had in a long while. I was originally planning to spend about an hour there and head home but when I arrived a guy from work had a full pitcher of beer ready for me and it just went downhill from there. I got super-smashed and had a great time but as usual made a huge ass of myself which is not cool. Let this be a lesson to you all: pre-planning is an important aspect of any good time. Your first step should be pre-planning so your fun doesn't kill you or get you fired. Or, you could just wing it and you'll be fine - I'm living proof.

This morning I got up and made a great breakfast before hitting the streets with Mike for the afternoon. After we were done we went back to his mom's place and had an excellent meal. I've spent the rest of the evening hanging out, doing laundry, and fooling around on the computer.

Tomorrow a guy from a local company here in town is coming at lunch to give me an estimate on how much it's going to be to install the satellite dish on the building. I'm going to be campaigning every night for Mike this week except for Wednesday as there is a board meeting that night. Thursday there is a Regina Java Users Group meeting at lunch so I'm going to be going to that - I should because I organized it! No plans for next weekend as of yet aside from even more campaigning for Mike. The election is in nine days!

Wednesday night was absolutely surreal! I went to bed at a decent time, around midnight, and got to sleep pretty fast. I was awoken in terror - somebody was banging on my bedroom door! I was half-asleep and trying to figure out what was going on. I figured out what it was - it was 10:30AM and I was late for work! Then, Marco opened the door and said, "You gotta come here quick! The cops are arresting the weed guy!" A quick glance at my clock showed that it was only 1AM in the morning! I threw my housecoat on and went into the Solar-arium. It turns out the sounds that he heard were not coming from down the hall (i.e. not the weed guy), but from outside as Marco had the windows open. I look down and see a real-life version of Cops happening in the courtyard! There's a guy in cuffs on his stomach, three cops, one of which with a huge leash with a giant dog on the end of it barking his head off. The guy is screaming, "I don't want to go to jail! I just want to go home and go to bed! I have school in the morning! I only ran away because I am paranoid! I don't want to go to jail!" It was hilarious!

Other than that, not too much has been exciting. Before the fireworks on Wednesday I was out campaigning with Mike. Yesterday I worked late until after 7PM and then the boss suggested me and another guy who was working late head with him to the Owl for some beers. It was pretty quiet so not much to report about that.

Tonight I've got a campaign thing for Mike to go to from 5 to 6pm, and then heading to an after-work gathering for a few hours. On Saturday night I am going to a steak night at The Pump ($12 if anyone is interested) and then going to Brad's to watch the Rider game and SNL - the best of Tracy Morgan!

Last night's union meeting was pretty much a circus. The meeting started at 7:30pm and wasn't over until almost 11pm. The chair had no idea about some basic rules to govern the conduct of the meeting (not that our union has any anyways) and it was pretty much a free-for-all. Looks like I'm going to have to clean-house like me and the boys and girls did at the Students' Union all those years ago!

Hi folks, just a quick update...the results are in, and I am not the next President of CEP 911. Here's the preliminary scoop on how the votes broke down, with only 68% of elegible voters casting ballots:

• Incumbent - 62%
• Me - 21%
• Other guy - 17%

My presentation to the condo association re: my satellite dish went very well, so I'm very hopeful I'll get permission to put it up. The only downside is by the time they get around to telling me it's okay another month or two will have passed by.

Tonight I went for groceries at Superstore and then dropped off at the parents' house for a bit. My mom is working on duplicating the chicken fingers and sauce from Pasta Prima, and I must say she's well on her way!

When I got home Marco suggested that we head to Dairy Queen, so we did! This got me thinking: random plans are good. I highly recommend thinking of a random plan in the near future and just doing it!

In other news as far as work is concerned, I'll know the results of the first ballot of the union election early tomorrow afternoon. Aside from that, my current gig is over at the end of this month, but my manager is putting me forward on another opportunity in Victoria that would see me out there until early next year. I will let you all know more as soon as I do.

You'll all be pleased to know that I believe the worst of my illness is over. On Friday after a dry-run of a presentation I had at work, I went home early and basically slept for hours. I felt like absolute garbage. Saturday was more of the same. Today when I got up I felt a lot better and made myself an excellent breakfast (think bacon, eggs, toast) and then headed over to the campaign office. Me and Mike hit the road for the afternoon of campaigning. I wasn't feeling great but I'm sure now that I'm on the road to recovery.

This week is another busy one, full of campaigning and two meetings. Tomorrow night I've got a condo association meeting where I will plead my case for getting a satellite dish. On Tuesday I'm heading to my first union meeting. I hope both turn out for the best!

Take some time out of your day today to remember Stu Hart - a true Canadian legend.

Just purely FYI: at the board meeting on Wednesday one of the profs gave a presentation on behalf of a group that he belongs to, the Green Haven Sun Club! Just in case you weren't aware of the group, they are nudists and they have a nudist resort near Fort Qu'Appelle a mere 30 minute drive from Regina!

I also wanted to make mention of China's recent foray into space. I think it's pretty cool, but it also pisses me off a great deal. I'm going to have to go ahead and echo Diego's statements here and say that we should already be on the way to Mars by now! What is the problem? Isn't every single human being interested in going to Mars? What's the deal? Let's get on it!

This past long weekend was a good one. Right after work on Friday me and Marco piled in the car, picked up Hali, and headed west. We stopped at Wendy's on the way out of town which was hilarious because they gave us five bucks extra back in change and even gave us an extra burger! Idiots! We dropped Marco off in Swift Current and then continued on to Maple Creek. My cousins were in town for the weekend's festivities but apparently did too much drinking on their journey to Maple Creek and weren't up to doing anything, so I went to the cabin, watched a bit of Dirty Work (great show!), and went to sleep.

Saturday after breakfast I went into town for a few hours to visit and what-not and then came back to the cabin for supper, as my dad had invited some R.C.M.P big wigs who were in town for the big show. They were all pretty cool except for one of the members' wife, who was a total bitch. Anyways, after supper we all went into town for the big dance. It was a good time, and I soon discovered that I was related to pretty much everyone in the building. I had a ton of beers and had a great time - it was a great little mini-family reunion!

The next morning (and day, for that matter) was super rough thanks to our old friend the hangover, but it wasn't that bad. A few more relatives were over at the cabin so that made the night pretty interesting. I got to watch a lot of TV which is something I haven't done a lot of lately so that was good.

We got up early and left the cabin on Monday morning, just in time to pick up Marco and get into Regina with enough time to attend the Rider game. I called around and couldn't find anybody to go with me so I ended up watching the game on TV instead (no blackout!), after a quick drive around downtown with Nick. The Riders won, which was good, even though they didn't deserve it at all (I wish the CFL could afford instant-replay!).

After the game I discovered that I wasn't feeling too well - and I'm still sick :( My illness has kept me from doing a whole lot, except for a board meeting last night and some candidate forums at work related to my quest to become Union President at work. I still feel like garbage today so I hope I'm better soon!

I received all my satellite gear and started playing around with it at home, and I think I managed to fry my receiver - I didn't need that $200 anyway :(

Hi everybody!

It's been a long week with lots going on at work and I've been out nights campaigning for Mike every night. The campaiging has been interesting to say the least but I'm pround to be out there supporting my buddy and I know he's the best person for the job.

I got my satellite dish and everything in the mail this week so all I'm waiting for now is the condo meeting so I can get permission to put it up.

My campaign for Union President started off with a bang at work this week, and there will be candidate forums on Tuesday and Wednesday at work next week, so I'm going to spend time this weekend preparing for that.

I'm off to the cabin right now to visit with family in Maple Creek for the Thanksgiving weekend. I'm planning to come back into town early in time for the Rider game on Monday at 2PM. Be prepared for a phone call - we should all go and check out the last Rider home game of the season!

It was a pretty decent weekend, on the whole. Friday night I went out with Mike to Bonzzini's where we enjoyed some fine beverages and discussed politics. I volunteered my services as a candidate for the Saskatchewan Liberal Party in my hometown's riding, so we'll see what comes of that! Afterwards we went to Blair's house for some beers before calling it a night, but not before a nightcap back at my place.

Saturday I slept in and then went over to Blair's to get Mikey Ellert's computer going. After that mystery was solved I went to Brad's and me, him, Jerrod, and Blair went to Kevin's to pick up Brad's parents' old couch (hide-a-bed) and chair and bring it to my house. What a bitch that was! That couch must weigh a hundred thousand pounds! Anyways, the four of us got it in there, and while it isn't pretty it's very functional and I'm very grateful - thanks to everybody involved in getting it to my place! After moving I went home to do some cleaning and what-not. Later on I went back to Brad's house with an arm-full of beer to thank my afternoon movers and to check out the new bar that Jerrod and Blair made for his house - very sweet! We watched the SNL season-premiere (which was mostly entertaining) before I called it a night early and went home.

This afternoon I went to a meeting for Mike's campaign team. I am going to be one of many going door-to-door in the weeks following the election announcement trying to get my good buddy elected and in the process helping our province get out of the malaise that it's currently in. What that means to you is that I'll be spending two to three hours everyday for the next month (election will be called soon, for those of you who didn't know) campaigning after work so I'm going to be pretty busy. With Mike's campaign and my campaign for union President at work, my plate is going to be pretty full!

Today was also me and Sofi's 2-year anniversary - I can only hope this is one of the last times we ever have to spend it apart!

Aside from campaigning I don't have too many plans for this week. Me and Hali are heading to Maple Creek this weekend after work on Friday and then returning home on Monday. Marco will probably hitch a ride to as he's from Swift Current. I'm hoping to come back a little early to catch the football game. Here's the deal: the game is at 2PM on Monday afternoon, tickets are $15, and they're expecting a sell-out on gameday (around 50,000 people) so it's going to be a good time. I haven't been to a game this year so I'd like to check out at least one before their season is over. Anybody interested? If you are, let me know!

After spending much more money than I can afford, I have won all of my eBay auctions and ordered the rest of the gear I need to get my "special" satellite system running. If my condo association doesn't let me put it up, I'm out a ton of cash!

Tonight I participated in my first eBay auction where I picked up a brand new RCA dish as phase 1 of my plan to acquire a satellite system. I still don't have permission from the condo association to put up a dish, but I'm working on a business proposal for the executive meeting in a few weeks that they won't be able to refuse - literally, because if they say no I will just put it up anyways :)

Tonight's board meeting was a lot of fun, especially after I realized that we're back to having meetings on weekdays which means the Owl is open which means I get discounts!

It's been a pretty lousy couple of days. On Monday I didn't get home until 10pm, because I stayed late at work to get some board stuff done and then I went shopping and to my parents' house to scan some pictures. Yesterday was a brutal day, mainly because I got up late, forgot my lunch, wasted an hour of my time waiting for the cable man, had to deal with stupid people at the gym, etc. One thing went wrong after another and I'm just glad that that day is over. Then again, if those things are the worst of my worries, then I guess I've got to take a step back and realize that I've got it pretty good. One positive thing that did happen is I finally went up into the attic of my place and got a feel for what it's going to take to do a litte re-wiring. It's not as easy as I was hoping it would be, but I think I'll be able to manage.

Anyways, today should hopefully be a better day. Board meetings are on Wednesdays now so that means that my weekends won't constantly be ruined should I decide that I want to leave town. I've still got no plans for the weekend, except heading to Kevin's to pick up a couch that I'm going to use until I've got the cash to pick up the furniture that I really want :)