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Bonjourno!

Added some new links to the right side of the page. I can already anticipate the main question I'll be getting, so I may as well answer it now: Yes, I do know Lance.

So what's new, you ask? Very little, I respond. Tomorrow is the last day I physically have to be present in a classroom until the beginning of January, so I'm pumped about that. I have a very necessary haircut scheduled in between classes tomorrow (these sideburns are outta control!), and then my thesis supervisor is taking us grad students out for drinks on his tab (gotta love those Italians) at the Faculty Club on campus after last class. I'm gonna drink that Club out of Diet Pepsi by the time I'm done with his money (lol).

I only have one midterm to study for, but it's in my weakest subject area: international relations. It's mainly about terrorism, so it should be relatively interesting to cram for. I also have a 20 page paper about Canada's relationship with Quebec due less than a week after the previously mentioned final exam. I don't want to get too far ahead in these assignments until I get some further direction and feedback, so I'm pretty much taking it easy for now (hence tonight's post). I'm saving the bulk of my thesis research for the holidays. My thesis proposal made it past the grad student table, and now I await the judgment of a panel of academics in mid-January...so I'll have something to work on during the holidays, don't you fret! I'm even taking 10 days off of work in December to get this stuff done.

Staff Christmas party is this Sunday. I'm kinda jealous...Colin works at Scott's Parable's and has his Christmas party at the Willows. I work at a grocery store that rakes in a ton of money a day, and our party is at Eastview Bowl. I love bowling, but it should be a precursor to a larger soiree. I'm kinda disappointed by the rumours I'm hearing of a ton of people getting drunk before the party then going bowling though...and I'll likely have to drive these people over, because my conscience won't allow me to let them drive themselves. Sigh. On the other hand, I should be able to post one of the better scores of the day!

I also have given great thought to what my baking contribution will be for the staff room for the holiday season. Last year, the great ladies at work baked so many things that I partook in and in some cases specially requested. I felt as though I should give back. Buying stuff from Tim Hortons felt like a cop-out. My cooking skills are in great need of honing, but I baked pumpkin cookies with colored chocolate chips just to get a laugh, but this plan backfired: everyone who tried them loved them, and the resulting blindness was minimal. I'm now getting asked what I will be bringing this year, since I've gobbled my fair share of the upstairs goodies to date. Since I've been to busy to further pursue the evolution of my cooking skills, I've settled on a coconut roll, where the instructions take up less than a 1/4 of the cookbook page, and only require 4 things: flour, coconut, peanut butter and a fridge. I should be able to pull that off, and once again, hopefully with minimal blindness.

Alas, I must take my leave of you all. My presence is required in the kitchen...I must not shirk the responsibilities required of me as this household's official peppernut tester.

I have a beef...

I rarely eat at Burger King, but everytime I drive by it I can smell their charred burgers. Not a pleasent smell, and I find it lingers on my car for a few hours too.

They already draw my ire because they say they serve breakfast until 10:30am...but they always shut it down 10 minutes early. If I come to Burger King at 10:20 in the morning, I'm sure as heck not coming for a Whopper and a Coke. I'm there because I'm too lazy to make my own breakfast, thank you very much.

I wish I was writing my thesis proposal about how much I hate Burger King, but alas I am not...I suppose I should get back to finishing whatever it is I'm writing about.

Wasted Weekend

I have 4 assignments due between this Wednesday and next Wednesday, so I had plenty of stuff to work on this weekend. What did I accomplish? Freakin' nothing. I'm very angry at myself right now.

Friday I worked and played my first game of poker with some current and past co-workers until about midnight. Lost 20 bucks, but had a good time. I won a few hands and wasn't the first one eliminated, despite knowing very little about the rules. My table gave me the instruction card from the deck that tells you how good hands are ranked, but took it away when I won 2 or 3 rounds...

Saturday I worked, then watched both games of the Hockey Night in Canada doubleheader. Did some light photocopying for a book chapter I have to read, but never got around to actually reading it.

I was surfing the internet before I was going to start my homework today, but then I stumbled across a news item where a popular wrestler named Eddie Guerrero had passed away. I've watched wrestling since we got cable when we moved to the city...he was a funny, high-flying entertainer. He had overcome drug addictions and alcoholism to reach the very top of his profession, and died today at the age of 38 from causes unknown. I was bummed to hear that, but it was good to hear that he recently celebrated 4 years of sobriety and was a born-again Christian. I spent a good hour reading tributes and watching videos that celebrated his accomplishments. RIP Latino Heat.

Then the Rider game came on, and surprise surprise, we lost. If we had done anything of substance in the first half, we would have put up a better fight. Our offense was just that...offensive. The adage "defense wins championships" rings true, but shouldn't it be assumed that said defense is aided by an offense that can generate more than 5-6 yards at a time? That was a waste of 3 hours.

Then it was my grandmother's 71st birthday. Just to clarify, this was NOT a waste of time...I just wish it wasn't today (lol). My cousin Derek has this cool hand-held machine called 20Q...you have to think of an certain item, and this machine asks you 20 questions about it, with you answering yes, no, sometimes or uncertain. But the time the 20 questions have been answered, it tells you what that item is. We tested it 5 times, and it got the item right 4 times. Unreal. Had some delicious cake and good conversation...left at around 9pm.

Since I've been home, I've been listening to music and absolutely cannot will myself to do any scholarly reading or writing. My thesis supervisor emailed me twice tonight about how my thesis proposal is going. It's going alright...nowhere. I have work that needs doing, so why can't I do it? To quote Drew Carey when he was stomping through a water fountain in Las Vegas with Jerry van Dyke of "Coach" fame: "Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!"

Then I typed up this blog when I should have been reading. Only your comments will wipe away my guilt ;)

Montreal makes good sandwiches

I first started this blog thingy out of sheer boredom, but I love how it keeps me in touch with all my Dalmeny High pals! It sure saves me from having to remember and update email addresses. It's also awesome seeing these very same people with their own blogs...it's just like reading dossiers 8) I hope to see some of you at the Bella concert in a week, or if I can't make it, then hopefully sometime before the Christmas holidays!

And to update my previous post, I thought long and hard about what entrance music I'd have when I was eating a delicious Montreal smoked meat sandwich at Louis' this afternoon. I believe I would select "Doesn't Remind Me" by Audioslave. What would you select for yourselves?

They're not booing...they're saying BOO-YEAH!

No reason for this update, really...I'm just tired of reading about citizenship programming.

Listening to some Chris Cornell, post-Soundgarden and pre-Audioslave. Also listening to Alter Bridge (the former Creed), who have a song that I believe is a wrestler's theme music. Wrestlers have very cool music. Wouldn't it be cool if we all had certain music for whenever we enter a building or go in front of an audience?? What would my music be? Something to ponder for tomorrow's lunch break, I suppose...

I went as a Flames goaltender for my Halloween work costume because my Donald Trump wig fell apart when I tried it on. I also realized that Trump doesn't wear glasses. How did I not figure that out when I bought it?? Oh well, my goalie gear was a big hit. I even wore goalie pads, which was really easy on my knees for a change. A co-worker called my costume "cute", which was not at all what I was aiming for. I was aiming to be both scary and funny! I thought I had the best costume prize locked up until Shaun comes dressed as Hugh Hefner. I don't think management should be able to win the prize ;)

We also got our Christmas holiday work shirt...it's booger green. I can understand a darker, Christmas tree-like green, but this isn't even close. This company just doesn't get it. Oafs, all of them!

School is going well. I'm meeting my deadlines and keeping up with future assignments, and I'm in the 75-85 range like I always am. Need to do more work on my thesis just to convince my supervisor that I'm actually progressing in my study, but I find it hard to justify doing this year-long work now when I have day-to-day assignments/readings that need doing. I've spent all day reading up on my topic so I can submit a two-paragraph abstract of where I think my 80+ page project will be headed. I'm also supposed to submit a formal proposal before we break for Christmas to my thesis committee, but the department head, who sits on my committee, recently had a heart-attack, and although he's apparently fine, we're not sure when he'll return to work. I'm kinda in limbo as far as that goes, but I'm not going to worry about it.

I usually hate hot drinks (namely coffee), but I find myself addicted to Tim Horton's hot smoothies. I'm gonna go grab one now, as I'm headed off to the university to have myself a little photocopying party. I bid you all a fond adieu.