Happiness is a warm couch

What a week. First I feel that I've overheard some diabolical alien laughter. Next I win 24 dollars on a scratchie (yes!). A day or two later I walked past the same lumberyard and hear a Kookaburra call. Obviously its not aliens, but an international bird smuggling ring. Or at least thats what the aliens want me to think.

However the best part of the week was the weekend. Shan and I went and saw A Scanner Darkly on Saturday. I really really enjoyed this film. It kept me interested with fine actors on screen (Winona Rider wasn't annoying for once, still a little whiney though :P). Also, I still haven't got around to seeing Waking Life yet so the Rotoscope technique was really good to see in a film again, giving it the surreal effect which I haven't seen since Wizards.

Then on the Sunday we went back out to Richmond for house shopping (or I should say outfitting, we aren't going to buy little tiny houses... that would be silly). We took back the TV we originally bought as it was not everything we had hoped for and got a better deal. And they were nice enough to deliver it for us for free as they had no models they could sell us on site. Also we went back to IKEA and got the couch that we saw last week. It gets delivered tomorrow so when I get home from work I'll have something comfy to relax on in the evenings as apposed to the chairs we borrowed from Christine (which we appreciate none the less). And then we sat back, ate dinner and watched the last three episodes of Doctor Who from the current season.

T'was a good week.

Weird occasions bring plenty of dollars

Some people would say "why are you taking pictures of lumber yards?" and I would like to answer that question. For the last week I've been walking past this place on the way to my skytrain station in Burnaby. Everytime I've walked past it after work I have heard evil cackling. The first time I thought "no I just heard something from off the Trance track I was listening to, thats nothing" and I went on my way.

The second time I heard maniacal laughter I stopped. Took off my headphones and was completely convinced I could still hear it...it stopped and then I went on my way, keeping a wary eye over my shoulder.

The third time I noticed something calling out in pain. I say something 'cause it certainly didn't sound human. And then it got drowned out by an electric saw. I then sped off.

And then, I won $24 CAD on a scratchie!

I wonder what will happen when I leave work today

Come on honey, lets smash the state tonight

Argh, this is the second time this has happened to me. Last friday we noticed that my Credit Card was "missing" after I went to use it the other day. We traced back to Milestones that it was the last place that I had used it. They were not overly helpful and it was finally decided that they could not "find" it. So we canceled the card.

Today, I went to take some money out from an ATM today and it got seized. I was so angry! We've just called Australia and discovered that the idiots canceled the wrong card! So I'm without an ATM card nor a Credit Card for a few weeks. Thankfully this time shan's around so we still have some money.

The last time this happened to me, Shan was out of the state and I'd had my ATM card not returned to me at Coles (and didn't notice as it was rather busy, but partially my fault). I rang the coles later and they said they didn't have it. I still had my Credit Card, which promptly got eaten by a machine the next day. Thankfully I had friends I could borrow money from (those zombie dollars got me quite far).

So what does this mean:

1. Always make sure you get your card back
2. We should return to a bartering system and just herd Sheep everywhere. I know I'd accept Sheep over Visa any day. I can see the sheep are right there!

The Dead shift: a week in progress

This week I undertook my job in the funeral business. I'm working for Alderwoods in Canada in the Network support center. I am supporting most of the US and Canada for their networking needs. So far I have learnt how to call ISP's and reboot routers, riveting stuff I'm sure :) However it is giving me experience in and area of IT I have not had the chance to work in before and making sence of my CCNA studies that is quite useful. You could say the job is just like 6 feet under, but with more gigs.

The most amusing thing on the job this week so far has been the number of sites around america that have been hit by lightning. 27. 27 alone this week! I know for most of the USA thats nothing, but the fact that 27 funeral homes have been hit by lightning which have blown out their DSL links makes me think one of two things. One, their doing something to piss of a deity of some kind. Or two, their attempting to bring back the dead, ala Frankenstein. Sure you could say theres a third, they are in hurricane zones and its that time of season, but I'd just say your taking the logic path and go home and play with pythagorus :P I'd like to think there are 27 frankenstein monsters running around America ... ah the American dream.

Also if you've read Shan's blog, you would know that we have just got a new appartment in the "Kitsalano" area, which is similar to Balmain. We have a 2 bedroom appartment which was advertised as a "1 bedroom with den". Its soooo good, we have room for visitors and still plenty of room for a circus ;) I think we really lucked out. We're not really paying much more than we would have payed for our appartment in Sydney after the price hike we would have gone through had we stayed in Sydney.

Due to our new appartment, we went shopping in IKEA today. We arrived at 11am and litterally shopped til we dropped (true story). It was 4pm by the time we got out. But we successfully bought most of the things we need to set up a place and got sweedish meatballs to boot (we ate them, not kicked them ... I know you were thinking it!).

So so far, Vancouver is looking up, I miss everybody terribly, but I reckon this is all going to be worth it :) Catcha on the flip side.

Yo ho ho and a bottle of Bikini Martini

We went to see Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest today. What a film! From the moment the film started to the end of the film I was watching one of the best pirate, swash-buckling films in ages. The movie had a few corny turns but who cares, there was sword-fighting, betrayl, capture, torture and home for tea and medals... or so you think. Surprises all round we shot down the red baron ... i think I've wandered off topic. I better go see the movie again just to be sure. 4.5 Stars from me.

After that we went Milestones for dinner to celebrate my finding a job. I've only applied for two jobs since arriving and the second one came through. I am now employed by Alderwoods, the 2nd biggest operator of funeral homes and cemeteries in North America. Finally I get to support the enternally interned with their connection beyond the grave. Finally I've found my medium .... I am soooo sorry.

Turn the dang music down and get off the damn lawn!

We went to Frontline Assembly last night at Richards on Richards. It was really cool once we got inside and saw that this is one of those bars that features in almost all TV and low-budget films shot in Vancouver.

The bar was filled with Industrial fans and punk enthusiasts. Every 5 minutes I expected to see either Leon or Goggles Medway in the crowd, but they were nowhere to be seen. I kinda missed them for an event like this.
We arrived while DJ? Acucrack was playing. His music was nice industrial music which near the end of his set almost became happy hardcore, which was a little odd.

Next came Urceus Exit, who played an awesome set. The music wasn't that danceable (apart from the last song) but it was some of the best live industrial music I've heard.

After them was an act called Conjure one. Apparently they are an offshoot from Frontline Assembly ex-member. Unfortunately they were nothing special. The female singer was trying to sound like sinead o'conner. The music was nice but nothing new.

Finally FLA came on. I was really looking forward to their show and sadly I was a little disapointed. I've only just got into FLA over the last year and really have loved their music. To be honest, the music could have been the best in the world last night, but I would have like to have heard the lyrics and enjoyed the music without my ears bleeding. We stayed for 20 minutes of their set and just left. I had been warned by a few that FLA are not as good as they used to be, which was indeed a fair call, but I would have thought the noise level would have been sussed out so they could have played at their best.
However that didn't ruin the evening. I was happy to go out and here some good live music with Shan, which I haven't done in ages and not even the loud music and partial deafness after leaving could have ruined that :)

Wacky city

Shannon has claimed rights to blogging about our day out. However, there are two guys down on the beach as I right this, having a lightsaber duel! There on the beach and yelling "the force is on my side" ... if I didn't have a job interview tomorrow I'd have real difficulty in not going down there and joining in. It looks pretty cool from up here on the 24th floor. I think I could like it here :)

In a land of plenty, some bring none to the table.

Well it was a day for ups and downs. We watched the football this morning. Yay for Germany and boo for Italy. I can only hope that Germany kicks them out of the World cup.

The next upset was when we went to the bank and found out we had to make an appointment to do so. They originally quoted 2 weeks to do so, but we were able to get that down to a week. We're going to see if some of the other branches can help us out rather than going through the main branch.

We had a lovely lunch at Earls and we're very happy with out choices. Sadly we were not served by Crab man.

The final upset of the day (so far) was that we have been searching for an ethernet hub or switch so we could share the 1 port high speed modem shan's mum has for her computer and shan's laptop. Then once we got my PC and an appartment of our own, to use for LAN's, etc. However the only switches I could find required Routers to which I already have one coming via sea and would not need. Now that wasn't the worst part because the clerk at least told me it wouldn't work with a high speed modem, rather than letting me walk of with it. He also mentioned that they are phasing out hubs and it will be quite hard to get one.

So we were walking home and walked past one of the small computer stores where you can get single hardware rather than bundles. Great I think. I walked in and asked the kid behind the counter "Do you have any Hubs?". He blinked at me "Hubs?" "yes, ethernet hubs...for networking" "I've never heard of hubs, what are they". I thought, this is not so unreasonable, if there phasing them out he may not know. "Oh .. ok, do you have any switches" he looked to be of the age that would play computer games, LANs and such. "Switches? You mean like, for turning things off an on?". I stood there dumbfounded for a second. Shannon then pointed above his head behind him and stated "no we mean those behind you". He looked at them and then shrugged. I left very quickly before I started to yell. How can he work in a computer store and not know what a Switch is or if they even have any?! I ask you, what is che, WHAT IS CHE?!

Look after your planet and service with a smile.

I went and saw Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth today. I thought it was a well done documentary. Sadly, the message about global warming, while clear, is nothing new to me. The movie will most likely be seen by the masses who already believe and follow the "doctorine". Its also a little podiumish for Al Gore. Thats not doing him a disservice but it could be construed as a poster for Al Gore were he to campaign. Not that given the chance I wouldn't vote for him. That should not detract from the powerful message and the good work he is doing to make people aware of what is happening with Global Warming. The website for the film is also filled with helpful information in how to help combat global warming and inform others in what they can do. I strongly suggest either seeing the film or visiting the website.

On a more positive note, after the film we went up the road and had Mexican food at Las Margarita. I have to say one thing I love about eating out in Vancouver is that the service is almost always fantastic and should you have a query about the menu eg. "I was wondering if you could tell me how this is prepared and what this means" the waitress/waiter doesn't have to go check with the chef, they actually know their job. Also, table service for alcohol! Woo!

Insanity

I was just watching the news and a special article came on. Apparently Western Canada's temperatures having been reaching a high of 29 degrees and some people are having difficulty dealing with this. How on earth can anyone complain about 29 degree heat?! Oh well i guess they don't have to put up with 39-41 degree heats in their summers.

Sunchasers

With Vancouver in full summer mode we have truly chased the sun to its resting place like Anningan chases Malina (who is well and truly in control here). We have sunlight until 10:30pm last night which is a really weird experience but means you can have a lot more sunlight to do activities in the day. The temperature is perfect around 25 degrees and the sun doesn't tend to burn you to death. I've always been a very anti-sun person (what with my plans to pull the sun from the sky) but I feel my temperament cooling towards a more Vancouver temperature.

We walked around the city today and shan had a blast showing me around the place. A few sites i remembered from the last time we were in Vancouver 4-5 years ago but most places were new to me. We had some nice Japanese food for lunch and then went shopping.

It really feels weird to be living in a new city and a new continent. I like it though. I'll review that feeling after I've been here a while depending on my employment situation.

Nous sommes arrivés !

Shan and I have arrived after our 17 hour ordeal on the flight from Sydney to Vancouver. We are extremely tired but safe and sound. I will post more later when my brain is prepared to function at an acceptable level....zzzzzzzzzzzzz