Hmmmm.... never got to see The Passion of the Christ today. My friend got to Fairview at 2:30 for the 4:00 showing to buy tickets and it was already sold out! I'll try to catch it soon.

So many decisions regarding the colour and tile selection for my new place, and upgrade decisions. I definitely want to go for a modern look... went into some furniture stores on King Street, some really nice stuff, but lots of cash needed to get the good stuff of course. A few months away for that stuff though.

Happy Leap Day! (Is that what today is called?) I'm going to head down to where my condo office is today to go and check out colours and tiles for the place that I bought, and then it's off to see the controversial movie that is "Passion of the Christ". And then it's a rush home to watch the Oscars tonight.... let's go Peter Jackson and "Lord of the Rings"! It's about time you got the reward that you deserve!

Oh man.... not a thing to be doing when you're still recovering from a bad cold... went to an all you can eat Chinese hot pot place for dinner tonight... Tak Hing Hot Pot on Warden, south of Finch in Scarborough. For those of you who don't know what hot pot is, think of it as similar to fondue (I hope you know what that is), except that you're cooking various types of raw meats, seafoods, and vegetables in a boiling soup broth. Anyways, this place was a definite deal, $14.95 plus tax and tip, and there was a ton of variety too, including giant oysters, which of course are my favourite. Now, I won't need to be eating anything for a good long while.

I'm curious... I do get a decent amount of hits every day, and a few of those are actually regular readers. However, only two of you actually bother to leave any comments on a semi-regular basis... c'mon, speak up with your opinions people!!!

Controversy.... that would probably sum up Mel Gibson's new movie "The Passion of the Christ"... is it anti-semitic or not. I'm going to ignore what extremists on both sides are saying, and watch it on Sunday afternoon, forming my own opinion as a Catholic who is familiar with the gospel depictions of Jesus' last days, thank you. However, in some of the initial viewings by movie goers yesterday, was that some people were complaining that the movie was "too violent and graphic".... um, what did you expect? You want to see a realistic portrayal of an event such as this and not expect to see blood? I remember hearing the same thing when movies like Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan came out.... give me a break, stick to your PG-rated movies and stop complaining.

The quest to save Angel continues.... there was a Web site, saveangel.org, that was set up when it was announced that Angel would be cancelled. Fox has already set they have no interest for picking the show up, so all hope is on UPN. Sign the on-line petition, it's getting a ton of media coverage, there is some hope yet!

Totally different topic today.... although the planned U.S. missile defence program has absolutely nothing to do with weapons in space (despite NDP lies), I thought about the whole concept of why there is opposition to weapons in space. Isn't that being totally naive to oppose it altogether. Maybe ban it against the use of it attacking other nations, that's one thing, and that is already covered in a 1967 international treaty. But, at maybe I let my ideas run too wild as I watch shows like Star Trek and the like, and this may not happen for centuries from now long after you and I are gone, but we should be able to defend ourselves against threats from other planets, or for that matter, flying space debris coming to crash into earth. Far fetched I know, but it is still a definite possibility.

Feeling sick.... gotta go home early....

Hmmm.... got invited to a friend's surprise birthday party being given by his wife in a couple of weeks. But I am pretty pissed off at my friend right now as he hasn't replied to my emails lately, including those of a business nature. No thank you yet either for my wedding gift, there's only so much giving, without any receiving in return that one can take.

"Hey Man".... do women normally say that to guys in a greeting.... I figure there are only two times that one would say that, (1) she's royally pissed off at you (I don't necessarily think that's the case here, from the tone of the conversation), or (2) that's getting way too friendly and trusting that she feels comfortable with you, but sees you just as a buddy and nothing more. Would they really use this phrase otherwise?

Haven't posted at all the last few days, post-interview, but to sum up: drowned myself in Guinness at King Edward's Arms on Thursday night, went to a friend's mom funeral viewing on Friday night, and then dim sum, chilled out yesterday (feeling a bit sick), and just bought new shoes this afternoon.

Had my Japan program interview earlier this morning, it started out well, the personal questions on why I want to do the program and stuff, I totally did amazing on. But then they asked me to do a demo self-intro lesson. Don't think I did well at all, the Japanese person in the room said it would be too much for young kids who don't know english to handle. I just got a bad vibe after that, I'm pretty sure I won't be making it into the program.

New poll numbers in this morning's Globe and Mail had the Liberals dropping way down to 35%, and the Tories coming up into striking distance.... could it be possible that the Conservatives can actually pull off the big upset in 2004 and winning an election? It's still a longshot, but this could totally change the leadership race. Although I'm supporting Clement, I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that realistically, Belinda will win. However, now that it is somewhat possible that the Tories have a shot in a general election, will the membership rank-and-file really want an untested person to be leader during an election race and critical debates. Could Belinda realistically pull off something like the famous Mulroney "You had a choice" moment in the 1984 debate with John Turner. This should be interesting.

Now some really bad news.... they cancelled Angel!!! My Buffy-verse is closing down on me! Noooooo!!!!!!!!!! I suppose there's a slim possibility that another network could pick it up, but the problem is, that unlike when Buffy went from the WB to UPN, that was a bidding war. The ratings for Angel have not been as good (despite the same quality of writing).

It's a little bit after the fact now, but that whole Conan O'Brien and the Quebec controversy last week.... lighten up people! When was the last time you've been to a comedy club? I am so sick about all of this fear about offending Quebec and French-Canadians, haven't they already cost us enough money (Sponsorship scandal etc.)

I'm going to a board meeting for the local federal Conservative Party tonight, right when I least have time for it. I got my interview for that Japan program on Thursday morning, so should try to do some more practice answers. I also need to get something else out of my mind until after Thursday, but I have absolutely no regrets about it.

The goatee debate continues... grow it back after Thursday? I think I look better with it...

Not that I necessarily agree with the entire concept of a blanket salary freeze for Ontario civil servants ("you get what you pay for"), but the fact that Premier McLiar backtracked from it so quickly just shows who he's really beholden to.... not the good of the general Ontario public, but to all of the labour unions.

I haven't come up with a good nickname for Paul Martin yet in this whole scandal that's-a-brewing.... any suggestions?

Will these dumbass voters now finally realize what absolute CROOKS the people serving in Jackass Chretien's cabinet was? I hope the scandal goes right to Jackass himself and that he is implicated and charged. Hell, and there is no way that even Paul Martin, as finance minister, could not have known what is going on.... the question is, will the stupid Canadian voter finally sit up and take notice and vote these idiots out????

Since I have a lull here at work in Winnipeg... I now definitely know the meaning of "dry cold". Having to constantly drink water, super dry skin, and more static electricity than I have ever encountered.... last night, I'm pulling off the sheets to get into my bed at the hotel.... wtf??? Static electricity all over the blanket, so much, that I actually blew the light bulbs in the lamps when I reached to turn them off!!! I took the entire blanket out from under the sheets and comforter, and never felt such a big shock in my life. That, is the meaning of dry cold. I always thought it was a load of BS, that advice about having to ground yourself before handling computer memory chips etc. because of the risk of static electricity, but here, they really do have to heed that advice.

On another topic, it's better to do something and get a negative result, then not doing anything and getting that same negative result or living in limbo.

And this is being posted from Winnipeg!

Cold... yeah, it's cold, although not as bad as I thought it would be. Walked about 10 minutes from the hotel here at Portage and Main to some really cool restaurant-bar called Earls, goddamn, their ribs were good! Better than anything in Toronto, that's for sure, U.S. quality. People here are super-friendly too, the airport limo driver as we were coming in from the airport, was giving me a bit about the history and details of the Winnipeg area, plus stuff to do... he's the one who told me to go to Earls. A lot better than my airport limo driver in Toronto earlier today, that's for sure.

I flew WestJet.... really friendly service and everything on time.... and why do I avoid flying Air Canada whenever I can? It's nice also to be on a Canadian airline where the only french that you have to hear is a tape recording.

Flying to Winnipeg this afternoon for work.... so, I'll get to see what the "windiest street corner in Canada", Portage and Main, is like. Should be a different experience. Not sure what there is to do in the evenings though, it doesn't look like the most exciting city in the dead of winter.

I went to watch "Lost In Translation" Friday night at the Carlton. (I know it's on DVD already, but there was "someone" that I was seeing it with). Here's the thing about the movie (and it was an excellent movie, Sofia Coppola and the actors really made you feel empathy for what they were feeling, as we all feel the same emotions in our real lives), although I have female friends that are just friends with no other intention implied, there are some other ones who you meet that no matter how hard you try, they will never be "just friends" in your mind.

Yes, indeed, the weather today notwithstanding, I think this is going to turn out to be a really good week.

Paul Martin claimed that when he became Prime Minister, one of his main objectives would be to tackle the "democratic deficit", and one of the solutions was to permit more free votes among all MPs on the majority of votes. However, there appears that there won't be a free vote permitted on continued funding for the $1 BILLION-PLUS gun registry. How exactly are you empowering MPs, when many of your own Liberal MPs think that the gun registry is a colossal waste of money. You say that you're looking at all aspects of federal government spending to try to control costs and eliminate waste, is there any single item that is more wasteful than the totally useless gun registry?

Are you also sick of non-techies calling you every five minutes asking you to fix some computer problem for them....
New York Times Article: Geeks Put the Unsavvy on Alert: Learn or Log Off (Registration required for first-time NY Times visitors).

Okay, no more wait, I'm happy, I guess I worry too much.

Today is a day of waiting and wondering.

Who's the "genius" at CHUMCity who programmed Star Trek: Enterprise for 10 PM on Wednesday night this week? Many of the viewers who watch Star Trek are the same people who also watch "Angel" on City's sister station, The New VR! And it wouldn't be so bad if it were reruns, but both shows have new episodes this week! It appears to be due to a 90 minute Bachelorette being on City at 8:30, hopefully this is only a one-time occurrence.

I never even noticed the whole Janet Jackson thing last night, only heard about it on the news this morning.

Will this be a good week?

Hey, I just realized that it was a year ago yesterday that this blog first started. Happy anniversary! (I saw some retrospectives on the shuttle accident on TV this morning, and recalled that this was around when I started this blog).

Super Sunday! This is not such a big deal to me this year, but I will be cheering on New England in this evening's game. I'm more anticipating something else that I have to do today. But I am going to a small gathering at my friend's place to watch the game, oh no.... even more greasy, high cholesterol junk food....

I went to All-Star Wings with my cousin on Friday night... now let me tell ya, on their menu, they grade their wing varieties by the heat level., going from level 0 right up to level 9 (armageddon). I generally get the level 3 or 4, which I can handle easily. There are very few items at level 5 and above in fact, mostly just varying degrees of hot sauce. Just for the hell of it, me, my cousin and his friends, after we finished our normal order, decided to try out the honey version of "5 Alarm Inferno", which is on level 6... i.e. above this one, there was still "The A Bomb", "The H Bomb", and "Armageddon" that were hotter than what we were trying. I had ONE of these 5 Alarm Inferno wings, and was dying, my tongue felt like it was burning up. I did manage to have a bit of a second one after coating it in blue cheese dressing, but could not have any more. They have an Armageddon Wall of Fame where if you eat 10 of those in 30 minutes, you get put on the wall, but there's still nobody on there.