On Friday night Mike came over and watched The Matrix: Reloaded with Marco and his friend Evan. I fucked around on the computer instead of watching it because I was not interested in seeing that movie again. Afterwards, me, Mike, and later Marco went to the Freehouse for a few pints and closed the place down.
Saturday night I picked up Zab at his new place and met Tyler at the Galaxy to watch The Matrix: Revolutions. Both Matrix 2 and 3 rank as the worst movies of 2003, and they are right up there on the all-time worst list. The answer to any question you might ever have regarding anything that happens in those movies is: who cares? If you have seen the third one, read Diego's abridged version of the Matrix 3 script and tell me if that isn't the fucking truth. From now on I am just going to watch the first one and pretend the other two movies never happened. Kudos to Zab for his hospitality after the movie, it was very much appreciated, although nothing could make us forget the atrocity we had just seen!
In other news, SaskTel Mobility is having a promo where they are giving free text-messaging to subscribers until January 31, so you can feel free to send me a message anytime using this form or send an e-mail to
CENSORED!
.No big plans for this week. There is going to be an URSU staff X-mas party on Saturday night, otherwise it's all about chipping away at that to-do list and trying not to drown from all the work-work.
I finished reading Struts in Action a few days ago and I'm very glad I did. A colleague had picked it up at work but moved on to another project before he could put it to use so I finally brought it home. I would consider myself pretty much a Struts 1.0 expert, but I really don't have much experience with any of the 1.1 technology or really anything recent in Jakarta-land, although I've been reading and keeping up on it as much as I can. This book did a great job of keeping 1.0 and 1.1 things separate and clearly showing what the differences are. I am not so sure how good a how-to book this one is for those completely unfamiliar with Struts, or at least web frameworks, but my gut feeling is that it would be a good one. I might be biased, as well, because Ted Husted and his website got me out of a lot of jams when I was learning Struts for the first time ;)
Union wants job back for drunk, armed, threatening worker
Last Updated Fri Nov 28 23:11:47 2003MONCTON-- The union representing a Moncton city employee who came to work drunk, armed with a shotgun and looking for his supervisors is trying to get his job back.
George Pavlovszky is in jail after a conviction on a weapons charge following the April 10 incident. And he lost his job.
No one was hurt and he was quickly subdued.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees has filed a grievance to have him reinstated.
It has no legal obligation to fight the case but "Mr. Pavlovszky paid the ultimate price in the workplace by being dismissed," said CUPE representative Susan Barton.
The city will fight, said spokesman Steven MacKinnon.
"Clearly in society I think we have to establish some thresholds of behavior. I would submit that Mr. Pavlovszky's behavior crossed that threshold and by quite a significant amount."
None of Pavlovszky's co-workers would talk, but MacKinnon says they don't want him back.
Written by CBC News Online staff
Copyright © 2002 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved
This article pretty much sums up my absolute disgust for most elements of labour and the political left. It's hilarious how the majority of the people I have met in my life that have espoused the beliefs of the left do things like what the union above is doing - things that are clearly wrong, insane, or both. They preach and preach about how their way is the only way to local, national, and global salvation, all the while doing things that are not only wrong, but at the same time completely against what they claim to stand for.
This week has been a pretty uneventful one. Aside from last night's board meeting and subsequent long history lesson with Jason Horsman about our mutual and life-long enemy the CFS, it's been pretty quiet. Work is super super super busy right now, and it's starting to spill over into my personal life. It's not like I have so much stuff to do that I have no time to breathe, but it feels like it and it makes me uncomfortable. With that being said, I am leaving for Mexico in less than a month and there is a lot of Christmas-related things that will take time out of my normal schedule that I've got to keep in mind or else I just might wind up going under.
Aside from seasonal things, I also have some motion pictures to see. If anyone would like to see Matrix 3, please give me a call and we can go and see it together before it leaves theatres. Also, Return of the King is out the week of the 17th, and I am not going to miss that for anything, so get in touch and you can join me!I will be buying tickets soon!
I found this article (from here from here from here) and I just gotta say it really sums up why I not only am I optimistic for the future, but why I think we've made some good moves in the past - both of which are two ideas I'm sure leftist-types don't agree with. The entire text of the article is re-printed below for your reading pleasure:
Refuting the Cynics
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: November 25, 2003The Economist magazine recently observed that in the 40 years following World War II, "America and Europe seemed to be growing more like one another in almost every way that matters." Demographically, economically and politically, the United States and Europe seemed to be converging.
Then, around the middle of the 1980's, the U.S. and Europe started to diverge. The American work ethic shifted, so that the average American now works 350 hours a year - 9 or 10 weeks - longer than the average European.
American fertility rates bottomed out around 1985, and began rising. Native-born American women now have almost two children on average, while the European rate is 1.4 children per woman and falling.
Economically, the comparisons are trickier, but here too there is divergence. The gap between American and European G.D.P. per capita has widened over the past two decades, and at the moment American productivity rates are surging roughly 5 percent a year.
The biggest difference is that over the past two decades the United States has absorbed roughly 20 million immigrants. This influx of people has led, in the short term, to widening inequality and higher welfare costs as the immigrants are absorbed, but it also means that the U.S. will be, through our lifetimes, young, ambitious and energetic.
Working off U.N. and U.S. census data, Bill Frey, the indispensable University of Michigan demographer, projects that in the year 2050 the median age in the United States will be 35. The median age in Europe will be 52. The implications of that are enormous.
As we settle down to the Thanksgiving table in a few days, we might remind ourselves that whatever other problems grip our country, lack of vitality is not one of them. In fact, we may look back on the period beginning in the middle of the 1980's as the Great Rejuvenation. American life has improved in almost every measurable way, and far from regressing toward the mean, the U.S. has become a more exceptional nation.
The drop in crime rates over the past decade is nothing short of a miracle. Teenage pregnancy and abortion rates rose in the early 1970's and 1980's, then leveled off and now are dropping. Child poverty rates have declined since the welfare reform of the mid-1990's. The black poverty rate dropped "to the lowest rate ever recorded," according to a 2002 study by the National Urban League. The barren South Bronx neighborhood that Ronald Reagan visited in 1980 to illustrate urban blight is now a thriving area, with, inevitably, a Starbucks.
The U.S. economy has enjoyed two long booms in the past two decades, interrupted by two shallow recessions, and perhaps now we're at the start of a third boom. More nations have become democratic in the past two decades than at any other time in history.
In his forthcoming book, "The Progress Paradox," Gregg Easterbrook piles on the happy tidings. The air is cleaner. The water is cleaner and we are using less of it. Our homes have doubled in size in a generation and home ownership rates are at an all-time high. There are now fewer highway deaths in the U.S. than in 1970, even though the number of miles driven has shot up by 75 percent.
Obviously, huge problems remain. But the overwhelming weight of the evidence suggests that despite all the ugliness of our politics, this is a well-governed nation. The trends of the past two decades stand as howling refutation of those antipolitical cynics who have become more scathing about government even as the results of our policies have been impressive. The evidence also rebukes those gloomy liberals who for two decades have been predicting that the center-right governance of Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush would lead to disaster.
Most of all, the evidence rebuts the cultural critics of the right and left, who have bemoaned the rise of narcissism, cultural relativism, greed, and on and on. And while many of these critics have made valid points, if you relied on their work you would have a horribly distorted view of the state of this nation.
In his book, Easterbrook seeks to explain why we feel gloomy even as things go well. I would only add that the beginning of political wisdom in times like these is realistic optimism, and the proper emotion at this season is, as always, gratitude.
Wednesday night's union meeting was one of the shortest ones ever, thank the Lord, with a running time of less than 55 mins. That meant I had two or three extra hours free which was a welcome respite.
Thursday night was a good time - me and Azure-Dee used my 2 for 1 coupon at the Rainbow. We got there early so we decided to kill time with a game of pinball, something I don't get to play too often. I wish I was enormously rich and could afford to get one of those machines because they are super fun to play. The flick we chose to see was Matchstick Men, which was a great show and one I highly recommend. Nicholas Cage is not an actor I will usually stick up for, but the movie was very quality, including his performance.
Friday night it was poker night again at Brad's, this time with a bigger crowd. All in all me, Brad, Jerrod, Blair, Tyler, Ryan M., Mike, and Chris all had a great time. I was up until something like 6AM and had a blast. By far the highlight of the night was the hanging of the light over the table turning the garage into a real backroom poker hangout!
The next day was not so fun as I paid the price for my fun the night before in the form of throwing up half a dozen times. By the time supper rolled around I was good to go, though, and came back home to watch my copy of The Two Towers Extended Edition. Mike came over and joined me for most of the show, and it was a great one. I loved the new additions to the show, although there wasn't anything too major. A few important plot points from the books were added, though, that really made it better in my eyes. Me and Mike ordered pizza and stayed up to watch some classic SNL before hitting the sack.
Today I took it easy and hung out around the house. Since I'm leaving for Mexico in under a month I've got a lot of things to get done before I leave so I tried to make a plan for that today. Blair came over tonight and we tried to get his firewall going again to no avail, so I'm going to have to keep working at it this week. Other than that, I've got a board meeting on Wednesday. I hope that's all I have to do this week - all I know is I can't afford to waste another weekend like this one!
I finally have my car back! I picked it up this afternoon after Marco was kind enough to give me a ride to the dealership to pick it up. The cleaned it inside and out for me so it wasn't too bad. After work tonight I went to get film developed, bought groceries, picked up my copy of The Two Towers Extended Edition, dropped off some stuff at the folks', and generally just enjoyed having a car.
Today I got to chat with Rob Giberson for the first time in ages. It took months and months of leaving messages but he finally got back to me! I've never met anybody who is as busy as that guy. Still no big plans for this week ... I am going to the union meeting tomorrow night and on Thursday night me and Azure-Dee are using my 2 for 1 coupon at the Rainbow to check out a flick. I have a feeling I have a party to go to on the weekend, but I'm not at liberty to say more at this time!
In other news....I am returning to Mexico shortly! Sofi pointed me towards a cheap flight, so I went to the travel agency and I've got it on hold for me now and I hope to confirm it tomorrow. I'll be spending Christmas (Dec 20th through the 28th) in the air and in the heat of sunny Mexico. If you can keep it a secret ... I'm also planning to ask Sofi's parents if I can marry her ... sssssshhhhh!!!!
Here are pics from the roll of film I developed and a few others I scanned. You'll find such moments as my recent hunting trip, Thanksgiving in Maple Creek, Steve's wedding in Saskatoon, the trip to see R.E.M. in Missoula (check out the bugs on my car but try to avoid the joke the dirty fags tried to play on me), and a few from Brad's wedding. Enjoy! 01990001.JPG 637.71 KB 1536 x 1024 18/11/2003 |  01990002.JPG 731.80 KB 1536 x 1024 18/11/2003 |  01990003.JPG 698.05 KB 1536 x 1024 18/11/2003 |
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Well, Grey Cup is over for another year, and another decade in Regina. It's amazing how something that was such a big part of Regina for the last week and the last year didn't really have to much of an impact on my daily life, which was good. Everything was too expensive for me to participate in, so I was able to avoid most of it, which was just fine with me. The stuff that I did partake in was fun, so all in all a great thing.
Friday morning I dropped off my car at the dealership and then came home. Marco was kind enough to give me a ride to the Door Store to pick up some custom shelves that I ordered, and I spent most of the rest of the day putting them up. Blair came over with his computer that night and we hung out, drank beer, fixed his machine, and listened to some classic Adam Sandler!
I slept in on Saturday and then decided that my original idea for the day, painting, was just too much work so I decided to unpack all the stuff in my room. I hadn't done it since I moved in but now that I had the shelf space it made things a lot easier. My room is now virtually bare and it is huge. The only thing missing from it now is baseboards, so hopefully I can convince Jerrod to come over and take care of that situation for me. After I finished a delicious supper of mule deer that I murdered myself, Brad came and picked me up and we went to his garage to join up with Jerrod and Blair for an evening of poker. We got a late start but it was all good. I lost my shirt - okay, only ten bucks - but it was a blast. Tyler showed up later with some more beer in the nick of time so it was a good night all in all. I sure hope we do it again real soon!
I had crashed at Brad's Saturday night, so he gave me a ride home in the morning so I could shower and change. Soon it was time for Blair to pick me up again, and we went back to Brad's to watch the big game. In attendance were Darcy, Blair, myself, Brad, Steff, Jerrod, Holly, Ryan, and a surprise visitor, Azure-Dee. We didn't really pay attention to the game that much, but the right team won so that's all that mattered. Highlights included watching that asshole Don Matthews lose, the idiot Canadian Idol guy who couldn't even lip-sync, and the huge bombs both teams were throwing in the first half. After the game me, Darcy, Brad, Steff, and Jerrod met up at Bart's on Broad for a bit to socialize a bit more before Darcy heads up to the Great White North for a few months to earn some quick cash. I was home before 11pm so it was a good night and a good way to cap off a great weekend and a great vacation.
Today Marco was kind enough to drive me to work in the morning since my car was still in the shop, and guess what? - it still is! It won't be ready until tomorrow morning, so I'm car-less for another night. It's not that bad except I am running super low on groceries so I guess that's the plan after I get my car tomorrow.
No big plans for the week except a union meeting on Wednesday night this week. Anybody up for poker again this weekend? Give me a call!
Well, it's been a long week but I'm still on vacation so that's good :)
We left Friday afternoon after work. My folks picked me up and we headed for the cabin. We woke up super early on Saturday morning and went into town. Me, Brandon, Dad, and Grandpa headed up highway 21 just north of the Maple Creek junction where we did most of our hunting. Me and Brandon got our first-ever kills - two mule deer bucks that were bedded down near a rockpile. Both were four-points which was a decent size. We were going to head east of 21 to fill our antlerless tags but after some phone calls realized that the season wasn't open so we headed back into town to skin and hang our animals. My uncle built a shed in his backyard that had all the gear so it was pretty slick.
Sunday we went into town for lunch and then cut up the deer. We settled in for some supper and then to watch the Riders lose yet another season of football. It was unbelievable how bad they played! Put Burris in! Fire Barrett! The list goes on and on...
Monday we were up early again heading east of 21 to fill the rest of our quota. This time my uncle Blair came with us. Blair got two, Dad tagged two, and me and Brandon tagged one each. By the time we got back into town there was just enough time to skin them and call it a night.
Tuesday we were up early again with another new team member, my cousin Christopher. He had one tag left and me and Brandon each had one, and we managed to get them all in the space of an hour! Not bad! We went back into town, cut up the deer from the day before and skinned the day's catch. That left a bunch of time so we went back to the cabin and Brandon cooked up some of the newly-cut meat - delicious! I was exhausted and pretty much hit the sack.
Wednesday morning we got up and went into town to cut up the rest of the meat. We were going to leave shortly thereafter but we couldn't! You see, Mom and Hali had left on Tuesday afternoon because they had to work Wednesday, so they left a car for us, but took the keys! Me and Brandon had to drive out to the junction to get the keys that they had shipped on the bus back to us. It was a huge delay but eventually we did get back home - this time I had a freezer full of meat with me, and just as much still in Maple Creek to make sausage with at Christmas time!
Wednesday night I went to the university to meet up with Mike, who was just finishing a board meeting for me thanks to be being out of town. Thanks for covering for me, dude! We went to the Owl for a few beers and then went to the Grey Cup tent downtown for another brew. Beer was $4, so we weren't going to stay there very long! Mike called it a night so I went to Blair's to have some more brews with Tyler and Jerrod. It was fun, and I called it a night around 1AM.
I would have pictures from the big hunting trip on the site, but I haven't been able to get them developed because upon leaving Blair's last night I noticed someone had been kind enough to throw a huge piece of concrete through the back window of my car :( That means no car for me right now and $200 out of my pocket :( I spent the bulk of this morning on the phone with the cops and the insurance folks, and it's all getting straightened away and fixed tomorrow at the dealership. I had a few things planned for this weekend that I won't be able to do due to lack of funds, but I've got lots of home stuff to do so hopefully I'll make a dent in the ol' to-do list.
Grey Cup party is at Brad's on Sunday - be there!
I'm heading out of town to the cabin tomorrow right after work and I'll probably be returning around Wednesday or Thursday next week. It's hunting season and it's time to bag me a dead animal, or three!
| CONSTITUENCY: REGINA DOUGLAS PARK | |||||||||
| Candidate | Party | Vote Count | Pop. Vote | X | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harry Van Mulligen | New Democratic Party | 5123 | 57.38% | X | |||||
| Laura Ross | Saskatchewan Party | 1882 | 21.08% | ||||||
| Mike Farmer | Liberal Party | 1690 | 18.93% | ||||||
 | David Orban | New Green Alliance | 147 | 1.65% | |||||
| Wayne Mastrachuk | Conservative Party | 86 | 0.96% | ||||||
| |||||||||
As you can see, and as I'm sure you've already heard, Mike did not win tonight. The results across the province were similar for the Saskatchewan Liberal Party. There's a lot of things I could say about the results, but I'm sure you've already guessed what most of them are. I will say this: I was and am very proud to have been a part of Mike and the Liberal Party's campaign. I spent most of my free-time over the last week and the weeks before on the streets and in the polls because I believed and still believe that Mike is the best candidate and a great person. The Liberal Party was the only party that had a sensible plan to save Saskatchewan, let alone had any plan at all. If nothing else this election certainly proved that Saskatchewan desperately needs to be saved - from itself.
Last night was the big Hallowe'en party at Brad and Steff's house. Tons of people were out and made an appearance, even a bunch of people I didn't know. I had to get up today to go campaigning for Mike, so I wasn't able to get too crazy, but it was still a good time. I didn't get home until close to 3AM! There were definitely some moments to remember, like Tracey's near-naked costume and the "message" she had for those interested in seeing more, Brad's constant obsession with cocks and everything cock-related, Steff's giant boobs, and last, and at the same time the least, Brad's ridiculous idea to have a thong adventure in front of everyone...not to mention all the other great costumes!
I had only one arm ... wasn't that CRAZY?!?