So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

It’s been a good run, but I think it’s time to retire the blog since while I can go on and on about music, movies, personal finance, reading pet peeves, and shiny, shiny toys, I’m sure my readers can get all that elsewhere–and to call myself a writer, I have to actually…you know…write.

Note: The WordPress import function obviously doesn’t work very well since a number of posts are missing and many embedded videos are broken, but I don’t have time to fix everything.

For Fuck's Sake!

The same jackass without a life hacked my web site again! Good thing I have back ups.

The Sweater

Is it Christmas yet? No?

:(

Well, it is close enough for me to share one of my favourite childhood memories: “Le chandail de hockey” (“The Hockey Sweater”). If you grew up in Canada and are a hockey fan (really, Canadian and hockey fan should be synonymous), you probably know this classic short story:

Roch Carrier recounts the most mortifying moment of his childhood. At a time when all his friends worshiped Maurice “Rocket” Richard and wore his number 9 Canadiens hockey jersey, he was mistakenly sent a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey from Eaton’s. Unable to convince his mother to send it back, he must face his friends wearing the colours of the opposing team.

By the way, Eaton’s is now defunct and the Maple Leafs still suck.

Three Days Grace's "Break"

Love the song, confused by the video. And is it just me, or is this tune incredibly upbeat for 3DG?

Also, it looks like Adam Gontier put on a little weight. Hopefully, that means rehab actually worked for him.

A higher quality video can be seen on YouTube (no embedding :( ).

It's Shiny, It's Pretty, It's Tiny…Can It Be?

Since Dell is still dragging its heels on the netbook front, I decided to postpone my early Christmas present to myself. I looked briefly at HP, but the netbooks with the features I want are only on the 11″ models, which defeats my purpose of getting a netbook. I want something decent I can carry around in my shoulder bag. However, I think the true reason for the delay is because I absolutely adore my Apple MacBook Pro with its merging of stunning design and functionality and can’t bear the thought of taking a step backwards. However, Apple currently isn’t interested in the netbook market. And who can blame them with the high margin MBPs selling so well?

Thus, I put away my dreams of an Apple netbook…until I saw this pic:

No, it’s not an Apple. It’s from the cell phone maker rival that recently launched a lawsuit against Apple: Nokia. With the Booklet 3G, the Finnish company is taking a page out of Apple’s design book with the aluminum unibody and the Chiclet-style keyboard. Other drool-worthy features include the trackpad that allows two-finger scrolling, HD screen resolution, HDMI output, and–the biggie–12-hour battery life but without the ugly protruding battery.

Perfect?

Not quite. There’s only 1 GB RAM that’s non-upgradeable because it’s soldered to the board. Really?!? In this day and age?!?

And the Z230 processor made me wonder what Nokia’s engineers were smoking. *sigh* Nokia, you are so close.

There are also complaints about the pricing. In the US, it’s USD$299 with a two-year contract from AT&T or USD$599 standalone. Since I’m a commitment-phobe, I’d buy it standalone. Hey, USD$599 isn’t bad, considering I was and still am willing to pay USD$1000 for an Apple netbook. However, I’m not willing to spend six Ben Franklins for 1 GB non-upgradeable RAM and a processor that should be discontinued.

*sigh*

The search for the perfect netbook continues.

Social Code's "Satisfied"

The theme song for all urban fantasy and Harlequin Blaze heroines:

(The more I listen to this song, the more I like it. Too bad the same can’t be said for some romance sub-genres.)

Fuming

Some jackass without a life hijacked my web site, so give me a few days to fix things.

TT #46: Halloween for the Anti-Social

Thursday Thirteen

Halloween for the Anti-Social
or Me, the Sofa, and the Big-Screen TV

As amusing as it would be to watch people dress up as a pimp and his ho (actually did happen last year), Jon and Kate, or Balloon Boy, the Significant Other and I decided we’ll spend this Halloween stretched out on my sofa and go through my collection of Halloween-themed DVDs while munching on a variety of deep-fried goodness.

Number 1
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Number 2
Garfield’s Halloween Adventure

Number 3
Sleepy Hollow (really, any of Tim Burton’s movies would be suitable for Halloween)

Number 4
Beetlejuice (another Tim Burton)

Number 5
Corpse Bride (and another Tim Burton)

Number 6
The Amazing Screw-on Head (David Hyde Pierce killed me in this title)

Number 7
Hellboy (David Hyde Pierce was amazing in this one too)

Number 8
Army of Darkness (so many classic lines, so few people get them *sigh*)

Number 9
Drag Me to Hell (Sam Raimi doing what he does best: meshing horror and comedy…and not a single emo-teen superhero in sight!)

Number 10
Shaun of the Dead (Zombieland is my new favourite zombie movie, but it’s still in theatres)

Number 11
Hot Fuzz (Timothy Dalton’s in it; doesn’t that make it a horror?)

Number 12
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (probably the only title from Francis Ford Coppola I did not find overly pretentious)

Number 13
Blade (only the first one because the series went in the crapper with the two sequels)

I'm Now a (Tor)Mentor

I came back from vacay and found an e-mail in my inbox asking me to be a mentor. Apparently, a new hire from another department wants ME to formally mentor her. Yes, someone actually wants to receive guidance from ME. Yes, ME. Dudes, I’m the poster girl for what NOT to do in the corporate world. I don’t dress for success (in fact, I’m usually mistaken for a co-op student); I have no filter between brain and mouth; I can’t schmooze (I only attend business functions for the food); and I’m a political liability because I can’t suck up network to save my life. I’m one of those delusional people who believes my work results and output should propel me up the corporate ladder. (Hah!) Sure, I have my fans at work, but even though my boss loves me, he has a hard time selling me to other executives during ranking season because I’ve been known to call some of them idiots. (Hey, if the shoe fits…)

Anyway, I tracked down the girl who wants to be my mentee and tried to talk her out of it. I truly believe she’d be better served by someone with more experience than me (i.e. someone who can actually help her career), but she’s adamant about her choice. So, starting in November, I’m going to be using my years of work AND life experience to guide someone young and impressionable along her own career path.

Yeah, I’m scared, too.

(On the bright side, our monthly lunches will be expensed on my corporate Amex.)

Republicans for Rape

So, I was going to post about how after watching UFC 104 last night I came to the conclusion MMA is gay because it’s all about the man love, but someone sent me a link about 30 US Republican Senators who voted AGAINST Senator Al Franken’s anti-rape amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill.

WTF?!?

Franken introduced the bill, which prohibits the US government from contracting with companies that prevent their employees from accessing the US justice system regarding rape and sexual assault claims, because in 2005, Jamie Leigh Jones was drugged, beaten, and gang-raped by her Halliburton/KBR co-workers while working in Iraq. To prevent her from reporting the attack, she was locked inside a shipping container for over twenty-four hours. Her rape kit was “lost” after it was handed over to KBR security and the rapists were never charged. Even better, she was not allowed to sue KBR because her employment contract said sexual assault allegations would only be heard in private arbitration, a process that heavily favors corporations (the corporations, after all, decide which arbitrators to hire).

<td style='padding:2px 1px 0px 5px;' colspan='2'Rape-Nuts
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