Saturday, December 24, 2005

Merry Christmas (with some jumbled thoughts)

I’ve been pretty busy this week with work (stalking -haha) and getting more involved at church (cleaning/moving and semi-street ministry). I’m pretty proud of myself. Usually, my past Christmas “vacations” end up having me wasting time, waking up really late in the morning and then watching TV all day. Not doing anything important at all. But, my productivity has been up this year, and I’ve gotten lots of things accomplished. Haven’t been on the computer as much too, which is why I’m typing unimportant things right now (meanwhile, 6 billion + people could care less, which is fine). I’ve been doing quite a bit of reading too in my down time too.

I finished reading 2 Chronicles and Ezra, (slowly going through the entire Bible) as well as Essential Punisher Vol. 1, Wolverine: Origin, and Batman: Year One (…what? I found them at the library! They mainly had stupid Garfield comics when I was younger, not this cool stuff…). I will also be starting to read Chinatown : An illustrated history of the Chinese Communities of Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax by Paul Yee. I’ll try to write a review of it when I’m done. Looking forward to it.

To everyone, Merry Christmas. My plans for tomorrow are to head to church for the morning service, have some meaningful fellowship there and then have some meaningful fellowship later with family and lots of food at home. It’s important to remember this isn’t just a “happy holiday,” (pffff...stupid politically correct tools...) but instead, the time we celebrate the coming of God in human form as Jesus Christ. Humbly born in a dirty, stinky, animal barn, (not a palace), and who later became the Saviour for all people of every colour and tongue in the entire world, whether they believe it’s true or not.

I hate how instead the true meaning of Christmas being known, its overshadowed by corporate and shopping greed, political correctness, stupid light displays, meaningless decorations, TV re-runs and “holiday specials, more political correctness, fat bearded hippies in a red suits, and people trying to convince their children that one particular fat bearded hippy in a red suit will bring them presents when they sleep on December 24th. Oh well. This lie will continue for years to come. And it seems that these other things that I hate probably won’t be going away soon either. Sigh.

I think that’s enough of my thoughts and ramblings for now.


"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. "
Luke 2:14 (KJV)

(Countdown to Cowtown: 3 days)

Hands in my Pocket - credit card commercial update

Its pretty amazing, since I’ve last posted, according to Site Meter, approximately 50 people or so have stumbled across the Terriblelands via Google Search trying to find more info about the famous (or is it infamous now?) CapitalOne credit card commercial!!! It really is great. But I'm not going to get a credit card from them, because I don't need one and can't afford it.

Anyways, thanks to Adtunes, I just found out that the artist who was commissioned to write the song for the commercial released the full length version on his website today!!!

Sooooo… click here to listen to the song and browse the artist’s website.
(To Googlers across Canada, your search is over!!- BUT if the link above doesn't work, scroll down and read the comments for more info)

And now, just for fun, the unofficial lyrics (I may have misheard some of the words as I typed it out) to the full length song, as partially heard and seen on TV from the Capital One credit card commercial!!!
-----------------
Hands in my Pocket by Jim Guthrie (2005)


CHORUS:
Hands in my pocket
Hands in my pocket
Hands in my pockets

Hands in my pockets
Hands in my pocket
Hands in my pockets
-----
Birds sing, Jet stream
Laser beam, I know the queen
All in a dream, Walking around
Hands in my pocket

Phone rings, melodic themes
Devious scheme, and then I scream
What does it mean, walking around
Hands in my pocket

CHORUS

BRIDGE??? :
Oh when I’m walking
Walking out in hopes I’d find an answer
But no matter how hard you fall
No matter how high you climb
It just gets heavy sometimes
-----
Downstream triple cream
Surgical team, a love supreme
All the things I’ve seen
All in a dream
Hands in my pocket

Birds sing, Jet stream
Laser beam, I know the queen
All in a dream, Walking around
Hands in my pocket

CHORUS
-----------------
Edit (April 26, 2006): Go here for update about the commercial.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Hands in my pockets, hands in my pockets, hands in my pocket

*** (click here to find out more about the Capital One commercial song) ***

I visited the ol’ SF of U today to buy/sell some textbooks and I looked at one of my marked final exams because the prof had office hours. Turns out, I got the very minimum mark, for the very minimum grade that is acceptable for me to have gained in the business faculty for that particular course. I give God all the credit for allowing me to pass and to get those 3 poopin’ credits!!! Whew!!!

In regards to the title, that's just lyrics from a CapitalOne credit card commercial - which is great! Because the music is so catchy! And funny! And hands in my pockets, hands in my pockets, hands in my pocket....lalalala....

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Is it sad.....?

........that I've memorized my library bar code number?

(note I used the American spelling of "memorized" instead of "memorised" - the horror the horror!!!)
(note how I just quoted Conrad's Heart of Darkness?)
(note that that book was stupid)
(note that I like sticky)
(sticky note)
(tim crazy)
(yep)

(note: that was a rhetorical question too)

Friday, December 09, 2005

I am become free

Also, I am improper grammar as well.

What a burden lifted now that I’m done my finals. One month breakage! (my apologies to everyone who still must study, it’ll be over soon. I saw the light. It’s bright. There’s no school work on this side too)

To those of interest, (if you’re heading to winter conference), the Countdown to Cow Town is approx. 18 days.
Before that happens, I am soooo looking forward to sleep. And hockey. And food. And more sleep. And maybe some house cleaning. And some C: formatting. And a few naps. Just your basic, general, typical, normal, ordinary, relaxation (oh yeah, I used a thesaurus).

While I’m in the order of saying uninteresting things, I
saw petrol for 88.9 ¢ / litre today (but its been and even now in some places around 90 something cents). I wonder why the prices are going down….

Conspiracy Theory: New technologies soon to be unveiled in the automotive market will cause gasoline to be less needed/consumed. I’m not thinking just electric. I’m thinking BIGGER technology!
Reality: I’m making stuff up.

Bah, seacrest out.
“that joke is so old Tim”
“I know, I know...”

Monday, December 05, 2005

les Finals

I’ve got exams until the end of the week. Sooo I shouldn’t procrastinate/waste time as much as I usually do.

Here’s something neat. In the AQ gardens by the pond, someone (or some people) I’m guessing over the weekend, made a giant snow octopus. It looks pretty cool. You can also see in the picture that it is incredibly foggy.

That is all.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

End of week 13 fo’ me & crazy thoughts

Wow, time flew by so fast this semester…what an overused cliché. But it’s true! Hopefully it’ll go faster so I can retire soon [grinning].

I have a theory, since time seems to go faster as we age, I think that God must be making the earth rotate faster, and because of the earth spinning faster, that’s why there have been so many natural disasters and strange weather patterns lately (like it snowing here now, again). Possibly? No…if that were true, than Michael Jackson would be black [crowd groans], (ok that wasn’t very nice. He’s a good musician. There that evens things out).

Anyways, No! Not a chance! Who am I kidding?!?! Trying to explain the acceleration of our measured continuum of ongoing occurring experiences and abnormal geophysical phenomena by way of the more expeditious circular gyrating progression of this particular planet?!!?! I can’t even predict gas prices!!! Which reminds me, I saw 89.9 ¢ / litre today. It’s going down folks. Just like my pants when I forget to put my belt on [crowd groans again].

Everyone reading this now has bad imagery/pictures in their mind of 1) Michael Jackson and 2) me bottomless. Hey, now you have a reason to go to therapy. Pink elephants! Pink elephants!

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Blackened Ice

Most of the snow’s melted where I am. But, black ice is abundant. As I was walking home just before 6pm today, I was walking down a mild sloping street and I started to slip. I didn’t fall though, because I’m such an amazing balancer and I have such fantastically strong leg muscles that I was able to stand firm and show that black ice, who the real man around here was!
Actually no, that didn’t happen. I slipped, regained my balance, and then slipped again and nearly fell. Then a car drove by and I’m pretty sure the passengers were laughing at my comical “ice dance”. It’s life. I’m getting used to it. I laugh at me too. Sometimes when I’m bored (or hyper) I’ll make faces at myself in the mirror and make myself laugh. 8^p

Oh yes, I saw gas for 90.0 ¢ / litre today. Yup, I was wrong. I’m not surprised that I was/am. I’m human. I make mistakes. I’m getting used to that too. No reason to laugh about that. Or is there......?

Meh, I'm tired.

Monday, November 28, 2005

Politics, Petrol, and Precipitation

(what’s with all this alliteration?!!?!)

1. Paul Martin Jr. is about to be unemployed, probably in January 2006 when the Liberals will lose power, I’m hoping. The oppositions in the House of Commons voted for and passed a no-confidence motion (that they have no confidence in the leading minority corrupt Liberal government) which means there will be an election soon. In other fantastic news, this taken from the CBC News website, “Monday's vote means a number of bills will die on the order paper, among them an act to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana

2. I saw 91.5¢ / litre today. Also, apparently crude oil dropped $1.50 a barrel on the markets if I remember correctly…I got that info from the morning news télé. I have a hunch that prices for gas won’t go any lower. But let’s hope I’m wrong. I don’t even have any evidence I’m basing that on....

3. It’s snowing outside right now. It’s not sticking (phew) but it looks veddy pretty in the streetlight. The snowline on the north shore mountains I noticed was pretty low today too.


.....booo school, work, final exams, and general bad stuff...........

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Two year old, toothbrushes, and torching

(thats called alliteration)


Know what's cute? Talking to a two year old girl.
Know what's cuter? Talking to a two year old girl who knows how to make an evil laugh, (ie. "HA Haaaa!!" [triumphant sounding]).


Know what's crazy? Having a computer on a toothbrush (ie. the Oral B Triumph or whatever). I know it's supposed to be the "technology age" now but this seems like too much. Who was the genius who came up with electric toothbrushes (one might think the plural form would be teethbrushes, meh) anyways? I mean think about. It's a plastic scrubbing device with an electrical charge that you put in your mouth. Didn't we all learn in school water conducts electricity? No fatalities as of yet I hope.
 

Know what's fun? Burning old bank statements. HA Haaaa!! Take that garbage looters and identity thieves!
 













"Burn baby burn! Disco Infernoooo...." I'm not crazy....

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Rainbow in the sky

(edit: added pic December 1 2005)
I saw a beautiful rainbow today around 3:45pm. Actually no I didn’t…that’s a lie. I saw TWO rainbows. They were in the north-east direction and arched over a huge part of the sky. The main rainbow was so vivid, with the colours becoming even more vibrant when the sun started to shine on it. Just above it was a faint, “thinner” rainbow, perhaps not as beautiful but still amazing to see. Maybe you saw it and know what I’m talking about.

The wind blew the clouds away and ROYGBIV faded out a little after 4pm. What a nice weathery way to end about a week’s worth of thick fog. I wish I had my camera. Fortunately, I found Robert's site through a search and he had his camera with him. Pretty colours hmm? Btw, the picture is his, copyrighted and is here courtesy of him.



Anyhow, time for a sigh and back to the real world. Sigh. End of week 12. Way behind in most of my readings/classes. Stuff keeps going and going. Work keeps coming. And then stress week hits (Finals…duh) which feels like a humongous burden trying to pull you into the ground. It will be over…eventually. Sigh.

"So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (The Message)

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

I sleep in class

I fell asleep in 2/3 classes today. It was great because I felt sort of semi-refreshed when I woke up and I got maybe an extra hour of sleep total. But, after waking up, I realized that I missed out on lots of notes and other important school-related junk I should have paid attention for. Then it ain't so great.

I think it must be funny to sit behind me. I kind of zone in and out of consciousness and I usually try to sit up straight. That usually means my head will end up nodding back and forth as I doze off, gently twitching back up ever so slightly when my neck starts to lean forward too much (not as graceful as a drinking/dippy bird though).

Gaaahhh registering for courses is stressful…….

btw - good song: Knees to the Earth by Watermark

Saturday, November 19, 2005

I visited Grouse Mountain / gas

If I remember correctly, the last time I went was in 2002, but I went on Thursday because there was free admission. And it was packed. Apparently thousands of other people found out it was free today too. There was a huge line winding outside the Guest Services office and Skyride terminal so I waited for around 40 minutes before boarding the Blue Skyride gondola, (apparently the red one had a broken breaker and was stalled for awhile?).

Finally at the top of le mountain (here's the map), since it was so packed, I decided to skip the Cut, assuming there’d be a huge line, and made my way towards Expo. I fell a bunch of times. It’s been a while….
The line for that chairlift there was huge too! Though probably less than the Cut’s. Waited in that for 25 minutes or so. There were lots of rowdy obnoxious sick individuals (mainly youth) throwing snowballs at everyone. The back of the line would throw snowballs at the front of the line and vice versa. People in between were getting angry. It stopped after staff intervened. Sigh. Stupidnes.

Made it to the Peak. It was clear and the lights from Vancouver and the rest of the Lower Mainland were so beautiful. Sooooo beautiful. My lousy pictures don’t do justice to it at all. You could see so far…and the lights glittered. I stayed up there for a long time, just staring, thinking, taking pictures….
After I slid/fell my way to the bottom, I decided my time was worth more than to just waste it by waiting in lines, so I decided to head home.

Despite having only two runs, it wasn’t too bad a day.

----------- 
This is the engine room (I think) for the Blue Skyride gondola. Those yellow wheel things were huge and the cables that they pulled were so thick. It'd be neat to tour that room and see how it operates.




Here's a view from the top of the Cut. See the city lights? It was a lot prettier there than in the piccie.







Here's a blurry view from at the top of the Peak (not the newspaper). If you cross your eyes, it looks normal.


 Cross your eyes again.





And here's the only decent looking picture of the night, with some city and the Grouse chalet in the background. Note how the surrounding trees have no snow on them hmm?



---------------
I saw 92.5¢ / litre on Friday at the pumps. It’s been hovering around the 93¢ mark or slightly above since I last noted.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Why do I do what I do?

If I don't do what I do now, will I ever?
And if I don't do it, who will?
So how or by what means (strength) will I then do it?
---------

Ignore the above questions. Just notes to myself.
The weather is becoming the opposite of summer....
It is getting colder. A lot sooner than last year.
I can feel it in the morning and I can see it from my breath.
'Tis wonderful.

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Searching for something / Site update

I got a quarter back in some change and it was one of those special millennium quarters the Canadian Mint issued during the year 2000. I collect those (still missing a few) and so I was searching my room for this little box that I kept the others in.

I knew where I kept the box, but it wasn’t there. And so I thought to myself, “I usually keep this box there, but since it’s gone, I must have moved it to a safer place.” So I started to search in a different part of my room and I still couldn’t find it (although I did get to go through some old “Tim-Nostalgia”). Then I sort of started to worry, because there’s a few bucks worth of quarters in that little box! And I wondered, “Why did I hide this from myself? Why did I pick such a good safe place, that it’s even safe from me?”

Minutes passed and I began to search the same place where I started in the beginning. And then I found it. It was barely hiding behind another object. It was actually pretty visible the entire time, if I had just looked carefully. But, turns out I already had the quarter, so woohoo, gained 25¢ in spending money.

Funny, how we can relate to dumb events in our lives like this. Sometimes we find it later, when we don’t need it (probably one of the most frustrating, like finding the flashlight on a sunny day instead of when the power was out). Sometimes we aren’t as fortunate and never find it. Sometimes we just plain forget about it forever. And then, sometimes we find it. Here’s something to think about:

"Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she'll call her friends and neighbors: "Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!' Count on it--that's the kind of party God's angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God." Luke 15:8-10 (The Message)
Jesus Christ came to this earth “…to seek and to save what was lost." Luke 19:10 (NIV). And when He finds the lost, there’s a party in Heaven. What a great anticipation! Something to hope for. How cool is that?


-----------------
On a side note, I put some new junk up as well as three new Spider-Man poses a few days ago.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Back + scratch = love Mom

I came home from school today and this is a paraphrased conversation I had with my Mom:

Me: What’s this? You bought a new glass squeegee thingy?
Mom: Yes, I got it at the dollar store. Look, I also got a backscratcher*, to your left.
Me: [ecstatic at the site of a backscratcher*] Hip hip hurrah!
*italicized for emphasis

I thoroughly enjoy having my back scratched. Probably more than Lance. It just feels so good. Keep that in mind if you ever think of asking me for a favour ("I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine?"). Kidding. But truly, God created back scratching and it was good. This makes me sound weird doesn’t it….I don’t care.
The amazing craftsmanship from bamboo, for $1.07. I think it came from the motherland too because there’s Chinese character’s on it. It works great. Fear me itches, Tim’s got a new weapon….[evil laugh]!
I love my Mommy. So thoughtful.


"Yup its official, Tim's lost it."
"I've been trying to tell you that since 2 years ago!"
"What a strange strange little boy..."
"He's a poached egg."


Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Almost end of week ==> rant

Yup, almost the end of the week (for me). w00teroonee.
And almost time to officially honour all the veterans of le Canada for their hard work and service of making this land better for people like me. Now and then I play around with the thought, should I join the army? Quit school now? This is such a lovely thought whenever I'm cramming...but on the other hand, it could be true...I think I read it in the 24 Hours that Canada might consider a National Service type thing because of low recruit counts. I'm not sure. Somebody please correct me.
Sigh. Nice to see the North Shore mountains all snowcapped and white. Even nicer to see the Cut on Grouse Mountain covered in snow....alas, I have not set foot on it nearly 3 (or is it 4?) years now...stupid school.
Btw, drawing connections from snow, I saw a few Christmas commercials on TV. Actually, they were "holiday" commercials, no mention of Christmas at all because some fruitcakes in an office somewhere thought it'd be safer to be politically correct.

Well you know what?! They're messed in the head!!! I wasn't born into a politically correct world and if things stay as they are now, there never will be since there's always injustice and some nutjob who's feelings will be hurt over nothing!! Bah humbug!!!!!

Hmmm...that came from nowhere didn't it. Sometimes when small things that are not causing problems for anyone get pushed into the spotlight so that 2 or 3 people can fuss over it and make the whole world take notice for no reason at all, just make me really peeved.
Why do some people care?
Why do some people not care?
Why do some people want to know the truth?
Why do some people say they are content in not finding the truth?

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Study/fail math proof joke

This is fun to think about, considering I have two midterms this week and another next week.
-----
Q: Prove that you will fail anyways, even if you study hard.
A: Assume that I can pass if I work hard and I’ll fail if and only if I don’t study.

Study = no fail
No study = fail
Study + no study = fail + no fail
Study (1+no) = fail (1+no)
Study = fail

-----
Isn't math fun kids?

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Nice doggie, good doggie.

Sometimes my dog looks at me as if I'm an idiot. Like he's better than me or something.

Maybe I'll just be sitting, studying and then as I day dream (la procrastination at work) I'll think of something funny, (perhaps a football in the groin (hehehehe)...that poor, poor Hans Moleman...) and then I'll laugh softly to myself.

Then I'll see movement at the corner of my eye, and there's Lance looking at me with pitiful contempt. Just sitting there, staring. And then he'll walk away as if he had other important things to do.

And thats when I'll run up behind him and punt him. Noooo, I wouldn't do that.
He's too cute. But just the thought of it....heheheeeee....

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Ramblings: Sore*, Rain, Bus, Notes to self.

I’m so out of shape. I was still sore* yesterday…had trouble going up and down stairs cause the muscles in my thighs were so stiff (is that the proper medical term?) and sore*. My goodness they were sore*. They’re not sore* today. However other parts of me are, such as my upper shoulder area and the left side of my stomach…maybe I stretched in a funny when I tried to pokecheck someone? Meh.

I may look fit, but ho ho hoooo…..no.

Rain has been nice the past few days. Except for when I get soaking wet.
Buses have been jam packed lately because of the rain (not too sure what the correlation there is though). I hate getting on a full bus and having people push up against you as more try to squeeze through the door at the last minute. I need my personal space! I feel so…so violated! And wronged! I am a Canadian citizen! No foreign backpack should have the right to caress my buttocks as I use the public transportation system!

[collapses in a state of heaving, sobs and tears]

Erm, yeah I’m not that melodramatic (oooh fancy word) . Must stop sleeping in class. Must start to pay attention in class. Must start homework before night it is due. Must stop relying on own strength. Must remember to utilize topic and concluding sentence correctly. Must is a funny word.
-------
Gas (hehehe....gas…hahaha I’m immature) has been been at at 93.9¢ / litre the past few days. Click here for more on gas prices.


"good grief Tim, you're so boring!"
"I'm not impressed!"
*edited soar to sore Nov 9, 2005...can't spell....lousy english....

Monday, October 31, 2005

So sore*…and more random junk

Uggg…..got back from church….
Played hockey…..
So sore*…..(even a muscle in my butt is sore*….I didn’t know I even used that one for sports…)
Ooooggg….it was fun though…
Should sleep well tonight….......zzzzzzz

--------
Remember that Canucks game I talked about over
here? Bah, it doesn't matter if you do.

Well, if you’ve been to GM place, you’d know what 50/50 tickets are.
For those who don’t, they’re just an in-house lottery type thing that they sell during the night’s event to rake in mucho revenue and give some to a charity or whatever they say they're going to do with it.
And apparently that night, two well known commentators, (Tom Larscheid and John Shorthouse), who can always be heard on CKNW 980 (on the AM dial when there’s a Canucks game), won that lottery.
It’s quite amusing. (Right click => Save Target As… => Desktop => Save)

*edited soar to sore Nov 9, 2005...can't spell....lousy english....

Saturday, October 29, 2005

Site Meter Fun and more random pics

I use Site Meter to track the hits to the Terriblelands (isn't that a fun word? all together now class, "the Terriblelands"). Anyways, someone in Ljubljana, Beltinci, Slovenia googled a funky word and they found my site, because my site was ranked number one according to that word.

Try it yourself. Go to
Google, and type in "stupidnes"

See? I'm ranked number one. My site is the most important thing related to "stupidnes" according to Google. Fascinating.
-------
funny picture of Mr. Wayne Gretzky. This was during the game that I was talking about over
here, and he was upset that the referee allowed a goal that was pretty iffy. (Ain't his teeth white?)
 


and here is some sort of networking job at a convention/expo whatever thingy place.
All that CAT5 (i think) cable.....its so beautiful yet so disturbing at the same time.....I think you'll only understand this if you've played around with network cables before.
 

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Lotto fever, bleak world, more gas, and happy corn

I meant to post this yesterday, but as I mentioned here, I decided to study instead. But I figure it’s still worth talking about it now. Yesterday, the Lotto 649 jackpot was estimated at $40 million, (Canada’s biggest ever) but ended up $54 million or something like that. And because yesterday was the draw, people were buying tickets like crazy and the news, specifically BCTV News on Global, decided that it was newsworthy enough to have approximately 17 minutes out of one hour (in my head I'm thinking "!!!!!!!!!!") to just talk about the lottery and promote how great it would be to win that poopin thing.
Almost every single person that was interviewed would have a dumb grin on their face saying that they held the winning ticket and that they would do this and this and buy this and that and etc etc etc…
Meanwhile, other people around the world thought it would be wiser to discuss solutions and plans in case an avian flu pandemic would break out amongst us vulnerable humans which according to the experts would kill [drum roll] - a lot of us. Which is more important…seeing people talk about pointless gambling? Or being warned that a certain fraction of the world’s population is going to drop dead in a matter of months? Hmmmmmm….lets think about that for uno momente...
------

I saw 95.5¢ / litre yesterday. I also saw 94.9¢ / litre today. Compared to last week.
And finally, a random photo update, which I will eventually put under Random Junk => attachments (aka random photos)



Happy Corn!!!! (thankee to mister NIC 10/100, but actually isn’t – ignore that private joke)

Monday, October 24, 2005

Current gas again....and I need to be more thankful

I saw on Saturday, Sunday, and today, gas for about 96.3 (varies) ¢/litre. How unfascinating!
----------
Well, start of week 8 of the semester. So tired. Sigh. Busy. Soreness. Work. Sigh. Humongo-mania extra uber-licious crazy-tastic econ 105 midterm to cram for (which means I'll probably try to be diligent and not post until the end of the week). Sigh. Hair too long. Watch strap broke. Sigh.

Siiiigh. All my issues and weird thoughts listed above are meaningless.

The last time I heard, there were over 80,000 estimated dead because of the earthquake (happened Saturday, October 8, 2005) in the Pakistan-India region. Most people there are struggling to find ways to get clean food / water, take care of their injured / sick family members or friends, and need adequate shelter before winter comes. And most of their homes and stuff is gone.

Closer to home, Hurricane Wilma just went through the southern part of the US of A and flooded a ton of places in the Florida area and strong winds destroyed lots of buildings (including homes). Water damage as far as the eye can see.

Compared to these people, wow, have I got it good. Life seems a lot better for awhile when you take the time to count your blessings, despite the fact you'll take it for granted the next day. Siiiiiiiigh. A purpose for every single thing that happens.....

Friday, October 21, 2005

I'm Roadworthy

To World (and it's inferior inhabitants):

I have my Class Seven Drivers License (the "N").
I now have been given the legal authority to commandeer two-ton masses of steel (on wheels) that are capable of imposing massive force at my every wish.

Rejoice with me,
or, fear me.
[shakes angry fist]


Love,

Tim
[blows kisses, gives the Queen E wave]

-----------------
You know what? The only reason I passed was because I got a nice, reasonable examiner and God directed my hands, eyes and feet while driving. All glory is His. Without His help, I'd still be a piece of flesh, forced to walk or taking Translink (U-pass-ing all over the city). Apparently I got mucho demerits though, but they can kiss my tailpipe.
Hoo-ah!

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Canucks on TV and random

Wow, I sure have missed Jim Hughson’s voice. And what a great game with the Phoenix Coyotes. I know it’s shocking, but tonight has been the first game I’ve seen start-to-finish this season. All the games before were either on TV channels we didn’t get or I was busy working. Mmmm…hockey….

Anyone notice Wayne Gretzky’s teeth lately? They’re pretty white. I wonder if he uses those whitening strips…but that’s not the point. The point is, has anyone ever seen Gretzky mad and yelling?!?!?!? It’s amazing (compared to him in the 1998 Nagano Olympics [i think]). I guess that makes him a real coach. Minus the profanities being yelled at 90 db at the ref (I don’t think Gretzky swears…he has kids…). Still a legend. I wonder if someday he’ll be hosting Coach’s Corner on CBC….hmmm…..i can't seem to picture him wearing a funky plaid three-piece suit....

btw, just for fun, I saw gas at 99.9¢ / litre today…

Oh yeah, one more thing, about the Translink strike (“relating” to the teacher’s strike). Apparently now they’re not officially going on strike, but some workers might be walking off the job anyways, so some bus routes will probably be down. This is going to force all people to either check the Translink website or watch/listen to the news to figure out if they can get to their destination. Gaaaaah. Isn’t selfishness just a great way to affect as many people as you can around you in the most negative way possible? Lovely. But it’s not right for me to pick on Translink and strikers. It’s everyone. Including me. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everyone being idiots to everyone. There, I just made the world better.

(its hard to tell, but there’s lots of sarcasm in the above paragraph)

(ACTUAL TIME OF POSTING: 11:22 am, Friday October 21, 2005....I meant to post this yesterday, but blogger wasn't working and i gave up and went to sleep and posted it now instead of yesterday. so there.)

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Stupid strikes and general ranting

I watched a bit of the news this evening and it’s irritating. I don’t know the whole story of why teachers are striking (something about money), but I do know that it’s not helping anyone. And now some big brained idiot(s) gets the great idea that other people in the workforce should strike / join picket lines in “support” of teachers and now there’s going to be a Translink strike on Friday (2 days from now) too. Just wonderful.

How does this help teachers? The people in charge of these activities always say on the news something like, “This is not an attack on the public / children, we just want to show the government / department heads / leaders blah blah blah....” But in the end who does it affect? How does a bunch of people sitting / standing / walking outside a school in the rain and wearing cardboard signs “make a difference” (and why is there such a thing as strike-pay?!!?!)?

If people want reform and are targeting governments (or other decision making bodies) they shouldn’t be causing trouble in public places and having meaningless rallies / strikes. Instead you go to the homes of where the government people live and set up camp in their front yard. You find out their phone number / fax number / cell number / neighbour’s number / e-mail and spam them into submission. But this should also be done in a legal manner. Although, my idea doesn’t legal. More like stalking. Well fine then maybe a little vendetta would help quicken the negotiations.

Sigh. Most of what I said is probably useless / not helpful / not do-able. It’s just that when you see bad things happening on the news and then you see it around you when you step outside your house, its frustrating and makes you wonder why these inconvenient and impractical things keep happening. Another sigh.

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Advice for the Day:

It’s probably best not to take out Vitamin C pills from a small plastic bag and pop them in your mouth when you’re on the bus or in any public place. And probably not good to do it in east Vancouver as well. Especially when your Vitmain C in a baggie looks like this:


It’s amazing how it kinda looks like an illegal narcotic.
“psst, is that funny lookin’ Chinese kid doing drugs? on the bus?!?!”
“wow he sure is funny looking”

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

les Gas prices again and etcetera

Phew. I started studying at 11pm, ended around 3am and then had the PHIL test about 6 hours later. Difficult. But by God's grace, Romans 8:28 will prevail..........(still though....stupid school).

Anyways, I spoke too soon yesterday about the gas prices. I saw 101.9¢ /litre today. I wonder what the new average will be?
Will the prices continue to fall?

Will they be like a chicken thrown off the edge of a building, clucking and fluttering helplessy to the ground in a tiny small cloud of feathers? hehehhe chickens....heeeheeeheee........delicious.

Seacrest out!

Monday, October 17, 2005

Gas prices et la procrastination

On my way to church yesterday, it was interesting to see gas prices were “down” to about 103.4 ¢/litre. And this afternoon I saw most gas stations were around that same price (or lower). It’d been above 108¢ for what over a week and a half? or longer than that? I know that going back to early September it was above 118¢, in mid-August 110¢ and waaaaay back in April, 105¢/litre. Yeah….I actually kept track of these things. Why? I don’t know…it’s just interesting, gauging the economy and blah blah blah…I have no idea what I’m talking about.

Wait, something I do know…in February of this year, the CDN dollar was worth around 83¢ American. Last week it was over 85¢. And now, it’s around 84¢. Heaps better than where it was in 2001. And staying semi-strong.

Why I am talking about gas prices and exchange rates? My title says it all. C’est la procrastination. I have a PHIL test in less than 24 hours. I should start to study….but hmmmm……you know what? I find that whenever I make a blog entry, it’s really hard to think up a title. That’s why you’ll notice most of them are dumb.

Ok I should study. Seriously. Is the word spelled “ok,” “O.K.” or “Okay?”
In other news, I bowled a 148 game with 2 strikes in the tenth frame and other strikes/happenings throughout. A new Personal-Tim-Record!!!

Gaaaaahhhhhhh fine. I’ll go study.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

School est un drag

Its weird. Last night, (Wednesday night) I was all pumped and ready to start Thursday, because I don’t have classes on Friday. I was thinking how great it’d be because it would go fast and I wouldn’t need to do much.

And then this morning I got to phil class.
And my body took notes while my mind stopped functioning.
And I didn’t understand what was being taught.
And then I had to prepare for the Bible study later in the day.
And then I went to my econ tutorial…..had no clue what was happening when trying to answer questions.

And then I went to Bible study.
And then I had to go to the 2 hour econ lecture.
And I zoned out.
And I told myself to stay awake and take good notes.
And I fell asleep.
A few times.

And then when class ended I was kinda happy, but kinda in a daze…..because I was thinking – school is sooo hard and difficult.
And then I thought (perhaps this is a revelation)– maybe it wouldn’t be so hard and difficult if I actually paid attention.
Sigh. End of week 6 only?!?!?!.......siiiiiiiiiiiiiigh…………snooooooooooore……….

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

We all Want

It’s difficult to watch/read the news with stuff happening in the world like bombings, floods, earthquakes, rising oil prices, on going teacher’s strikes (my goodness they clutter the sidewalk), health care etc. A lot of this is mainly because of everyone’s own tendency to be selfish and look out for their self. In my ol’ ECON 103 text book (ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES: Seven Ideas for Thinking...About Almost Anything by Douglas W. Allen….I think some people shuddered after reading that...tough course) it’s really true that everyone has insatiable wants. For myself now I want a car to drive, decent looking hair, a video iPod (those things are cool), new socks, hot buttered popcorn, an LCD monitor….the list goes on. And it’s the same for all of us. Don’t deny it.

There’s a verse I want to try to put into practice. I was reading Day 17 of The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren and the verse 1 John 3:16 popped out at me: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” (NIV) – and for our sisters. I’m thinking minimalistic here, but what would life be like, if everyone just did only one unselfish act everyday?

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on a side note, I noticed on a Translink bus today, after the sign flashed the bus number and destination, it then flashed “Go Canucks Go.” It’s nice to have hockey again.

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Cell Phone Musing and semi-update

I'm not sure how long they've had it (I'm sure its pretty recent), but President's Choice (you know, that brand Superstore and etc. is famous for?) now offers "PC Mobile" - another pay-as-you-go cell phone thingy.
They're using Bell's coverage.

I think the cell phone wars are finally starting to pick up, finally, in Canada. When I was going to get my first cell (just a few months ago actually...I know, that's how "hip" and "with it" I am) I'd constantly look at plans and pricings and stuff and watching American channels on TV would make me a little frustrated cause the competition is more fierce so the rates are a lot cheaper down there! I want to save $$$.

So anyways, I'm with Virgin Mobile now and I'm pretty happy with it. I'd say it's one of the, if not the, all round cheapest pay-as-you-go cell phone plan thingmajigs (just for saying that, Virgin Mobile gave me $1000!!! just kidding. i wish though). My number is 911 (<== blatant sarcasm) in case you want to give me a ring (ha! as if i'll pick up, I mainly use it as a pager).

Oh yeah, you'll probably notice the "ads" to the right of the main page of this site. I think they look nice. Spider-Man and Squirrel Fishing are cool (un-proper grammar everywhere.....).

And finally, Happy Tommorow Thanksgiving! Have fun spending time with family/friends and remember to thank God for all the abundance of stuff there is that's been provided. It comes from somewhere you know.

"wow, Tim sure likes using parentheses"

Thursday, October 06, 2005

General news (aka blah blah) and Site Update (Squirrel Fishing)

Whew…I meant to post some stuff the past couple days, but I was really busy with school. And I weighed it out in my head….should I study? Or procrastinate by posting a post? And I thought, hmmmm I’m not being a very good steward of my time….so decided not to procrastinate. And I studied instead. Maybe I’m changing and becoming a better person with better habits……(hah).

Ok in the news: - in case you’ve been under a rock for the past year, les Canuckleheads played their season opener against the Phoenix-coached team by Mr. Wayne Gretzky and won.
- its possible (I guess for some quite time now…I’m still new to the cell phone world) to subscribe and receive text messaged Bible verses on your cell phone
- and BC teachers are planning to go on strike. booo unions. boo money. boo government. boo world.

I had two midterms yesterday. Thank God its over and I was given the strength to study/complete them. Now I’ll just pray that I did well….8^D…..9 weeks of school left…..
Be warned, taking a shower doesn’t always have good outcomes. Somehow I got soap in my mouth today, and I may have swallowed it. And I got water in my ear which clogged it up for a while. I’m tired.

Regarding to the site, the other SQUIRREL FISHING VIDEOS are up and are here. And I updated the gigantism links page which now includes: zerodollarhomepage, beedogs, yousendit, and the lovely catsinsinks.

Saturday, October 01, 2005

Canucks Conspiracy Theory and Squirrel Fishing

Technically, its not really a conspiracy theory, but it’s a theory. “Conspiracy” just makes it seem better than say, a dumb scientic theory. Anyways… the Canucks have Richard Park. Seemed like a normal acquisition right? Wrong! There are many Koreans in the Lower Mainland. And I’m pretty sure the Canucks management knows that. But, not many Koreans are big fans of hockey. However, once Koreans start to hear there’s a Korean guy on the Vancouver team, chances are they’ll probably start to watch. And that will mean big $$$ for the Canucks. This may seem obvious too but, anyone wearing Park’s Canuck jersey to GM Place will probably be Korean. In conclusion, Richard Park = Canucks money maker (but so far, he’s just been playing good so that’s even better than $$$).

Enough of my crazy thoughts. I went squirrel fishing this morning!!! I’ll post some other videos in the future, but for now, here’s something cute until I put those up.

Friday, September 30, 2005

rain, random, and (re)search

At SFU, the rain was beautiful yesterday (as well as the mist. so peaceful). In between classes, instead of plunking myself in a study carrel I went up towards the AQ gardens and I sat on the steps (under some covering of course) and watched the rain fall (and then I read my textbook a bit…I didn’t waste all of my time…). When there’s heavy rain, and its falling fast, the AQ pond just looks so nice….ripples everywhere. I like rain. I like fall. Or autumn. Whatever its called. Leaves change colour beautifully. And all the bugs start do die. wahahahahah…….die all you bugs!

On a less morbid note, it’s now time for a random thought. After reading a label on a piece of fruit regarding the nutritional value, since I read that it has 0% fat, 0% protein, 0% carbs, etc….I conclude that:


Man cannot live on pineapple alone.

Hey, it’s the truth. Think about it. It tastes good, but you wouldn’t last long with all the acidity.
One other quick thing – 3 cheers for me! the Terriblelands has been indexed on google.com!!!! Try it! If you just type in: “the Terriblelands” in the google search engine, my site will pop up! hehehe lame I know.

Monday, September 26, 2005

don't see these people everyday

here's something you don't see everyday (or at least i don't).
from left to right: Mark Washington #23 of the BC Lions, Barrin Simpson #51 of the BC Lions, Pastor David Forrest of GT, and Laura Lynn Tyler of the former NOWTV.

(photo by me, (Tim), sunday september 25, 2005, Glad Tidings Church)

its not bad a picture i think.
hmmmm speaking of nowtv......they've been gone what, since labour day? replaced by omni 10?!?!? gahhh!!!!! for well over a year, i could depend that if i needed to, from 7pm mon-sat, i could switch on the tv and get my everybody-loves-raymond-laughter-fix.....now......its gone..........
i guess it will only be in my memories.....and here.

btw, if you're having a bad day and not feeling well, watch the news and you'll see thats somewhere there's someone off worse than you. its a cruel world. collectively speaking, we need all the help we can get, in more ways then one.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

sick do strange

sssiiiiigh.........i haven't been feeling too good since tuesday (sep 20) and nows its thursday, 2 days later, and i'm still not feeling good. but i've improved mucho so i'm grateful for that.

sickeness can make me feel and do things weird.
1. yestereday, it was my nose that was stuffed. today, it was my ear(s) that was stuffed. i had to try to pop it constantly to get rid of that air pressure or whatever in every single lecture/class/now.

2. for some reason on the bus to school today, my throat was reaaaly dry and it was being tickled i guess from my breathing. it was really bothersome and i was struggling because i didn't want to all of a sudden blow up and start have a coughing fit (the bus was packed) so i was struggling to keep my mouth closed and i got tears in my eyes because of that. and a tear ran down my cheek and i was sniffling cause of my runny nose, i think other passengers must have thought, " o dear, this strange chinese kid is crying on the bus"..... i didn't bother to look up to see if anyone was looking at me. stupid nose.

3. because i'm not feeling too well, i had the strange urge to find something warm and mushy to eat for breakfast. and i had oatmeal. i know, shocking. howver, it was very tasty (although it looked ....how you say "disgusting") after putting in the sugar. what a great word. oatmeal. its not really a meal though. it should be called oatmush..aren't i clever?

so thats it, three weird things that sick do strange to me.....for now.
i updated a new picture in the "meh" section, click here to see it.

Monday, September 19, 2005

engirsh foonee (actually linguistiscs)

wahahah this cracks me up. i'm reading the ccw for ling 100 and here's the boring cited part if you're that interested in looking it up:

Pinker, Steve, "How language works"
the language instinct
US: william morrow and company, 1994 ISBN:0688121411, p.87
copyright: william morrow and company/ access copyright, 1994

i don't know, i just copied that from the front of the ccw.
anyuways, heres the funny part, talking about sentences.

This sentence no verb.
and
This is not a complete. This either.

i read it and burst out laughing. i think i had too much dessert (sugar)....mmmmmm cake.....

two days after free 4 all

so i haven't had much time to post these until now. i came back home on saturday pooped. and after church on sunday i was still pooped. and now instead of doing my phil/econ/lings readings i figure now's a good time to start posting.

NOTE: most of the pictures are of bad quality either because i was behind a fuzzy window or i didn't use my flash. i didn't use my flash cause it's distracting and that caused the camera to automatcially use a slower shutter speed.

on our way to GT we passed by Broadway Church around 10:45ish where the other Free 4 All was taking place. they were going to open their doors at 11, but as we went by we already saw a huge line outside the building. we guessed we were to expect the same.
so........arrived at GT around 11am-ish. all volunteers were to be there early to prepare and do some last minute stuff. this is what the sanctuary looked liked before....thousands of toys....



 and here's the gym with 20 skids of food i think. it doesn't look like a lot in the picture, but its a lot. trust me.
people are taking the plastic off and unpacking the food stuffs
.




 later everyone was in the gym and we packed the bags in an assembly line type thing. then registration people (thats me) were called out to get trained to use the mini-computer thingies. just as we were done learning it, we were going to go outisde and pre-register people in line with the bar code scanner thing but instead, i got called back inside cause i had to manage the songs lyrics and dvd stuff. demoted from a symbol mc-50 to a motorola walkie talkie. i didn't get to play with the high tech gadget. o well.



 the doors would be opening around 2pm and volunteers were waiting around in the sanctuary, ready to greet the guests when they enter. and of course ready to help the kids to the the front so they could get their toys. ..



 and people start to come inside!...more...and more.....and more people....(volunteers are generally white shirted while guests are the ones with balloons above their heards cause chilrden were given free balloons).




 by 2:45, the place was really filling up. there's still a long line of peope to get inside! the first picture is of people lined up outside (i know, trees) and the 2nd one is an aerial view of the lineup courtesy of google earth and mspaint. the green square is where i was standing when i took the previous picture. and the 3rd is of the place filling up even more. people started to move into the balconies, but i wasn't able to get any more big pictures cause i was busy.


 

 this next one is of Ron and Ann Mainse from Crossroads??(is that info right??) filming stuff for i assume an episode for 100 Huntley Street. this is while people were still coming in and kids were running to their mini-Christmas-morning-in-september. the next one with the red arrow is poining to Rev. Billy Fletcher from Texas i think when he was asking if the people wanted more free stuff. they answered yes. in fact, here's a video. kids were told, when the countdown got to zero, to shout as loud as they could, and then the people on the stage would throw teddy bears at them. it was crazy and fun at the same time. right click, save target as here (need quicktime and zip extractor).


 here you sort of get an idea how many people were there. and the next one with the red rectangle is just a picture of fuzzy volunteers and a fuzzy larry and bob fuzzily waiting patiently...(grr shutter speed)




 more toys and etc were given out, a few songs were sung including a special one from our church's children's choir. then Rev. Billy Fletcher explained what was happening and why it was being done. people were touched. it's one of those you-had-to-be-there-to-fully-understand moments.
all the families were then offered the free gift of salvation and the ones who accepted stood up
. speechless.

 it was around this time that people were dismissed by sections to go through some doors that lead to thy gym so they could get their free bags of groceries. actually it was 4 big bags of groceries. there was a lot to give still. here we see the lineup to get out of the sanctuary and into the gym. to ensure orderliness and no stampedes occurred (thats my reasoning), everyone went out one door. Psalm 100:3



 and here we see the people getting their edible goods in the gym. those were big piles of groceries...



 a little after 5pm-ish, all the guests had left, and most of the cleanup was done. the rest of the volunteers met in the gym, discussed the fantastic happeneings of the day and what else needed to be done before we all left.

 wow. it was a very busy day. which is why i was pooped to do anything until today. Thank You God for great weather on saturday and our general safety.
i can't wait to see the videos that people filmed
....

Friday, September 16, 2005

ideas before le grauit pour tout

i don't know why...i have a weird habit of throwing in bad grammared/mispelled french into my own notes and agenda....so that's why the title looks funny...meh

(continuation from the previous post)
so i got to church. ran around trying to find what im' supposed to do and what work team i'm to be on. i thought i'd be doing the projector/ppt thing. turns out just 2 songs are going to be done tommorow and it should work out. found out i'll be getting to play with a little machine that resembles a palm pilot except the differences are......hmm.....let me explain first what the Free 4 All is first.

so....i think it was last week faimiles around the vancouver area were sent a post card type thing in the mail with a unique bar code on it and info inviting them to a church (eitther Broadway or GT) for sep 17, 2005 to get free food and toys for their family. then they go to the church and line up to get inside (i've heard about 750 families so far? with 800 kids total? i'm not sure about those numbers) and then they get to go inside and get their free stuff. no catch. how can there be no catch? it's from God. o wait there is a catch. you have to have the card to get in to get the free stuff. its from God but the process its given is through humans, hence the card with the code. but hey like i said before, not dinky stuff either. top quality stuff. 4 bags of groceries per famillie and 5 toys per kid (i think...i'll confirm these details later).

ok that's the basics. anyways what i learned tonight is that i think i get to play with a little machine that resembles a palm pilot except it has a bar code scanner on it and when i scan the family's post card thing, it sends the info down to a database server whatever thing in phoenix? and then tells me that they're now registered and can go in. its a very orderly process to insure that the families can get their stuff and people can't forge their own cards or go through to get things twice. and that little computer thing is worth maybe 100000 pennies...about the size of a deck of cards. the technology!

all this info is pending....i'm not guaranteeing its all correct, hence the question marks. i'm still not sure what will happen exactly tommorow since i got to church late. but this is what i think is happening so far. neato.
i think this'll be covered by the local news stations...maybe. o well. if not i will and i'll post some pcitures.

a transit story

amazing day. a beezy day looooh. had my lecon de conduisant (i know i know), ate lunch, rushed to sfu, got there around 2:30. helped set up for le welcome back de bbq, met old/new people, won a book (The Darknes and the Dawn by Charles Swindoll....can't wait to read it), and then jetted out of there around 5:15 cause i had to come home and then head out to GT for the prayer/prep rally.
that didn't happen.

missed the first bus by a few seconds at the sfu bus loop and then the bus pole schedule said the next one would be in 10 minutes. it didn't come until about 25 min later or so. missed the 6:05 #28 bus at kooteany loop by maybe 10 seconsd again. waited 15 min for the next one to show. got to phibbs, had to wait for the next 232 bus at 6:45ish. my parents were planning to leave the house by 7 so i called them and they'd already left. so i figured.....hmmmm maybe i'll bus it to church and then i'll miss just part of it only. so i got off around lonsdale/18th? or somewhere there. had to wait until 7:30ish for the next bus to the quay. had to wait for 26 minutes for the next seabus when i got there. ran onto the skytrain. got off at mainstreet/science world. waited until 8:45 for the #8 to fraser and 18th. finally got to church around 9pm-ish. oy. translink not too reliable hmmm but i should be grateful for the upass....sigh.

some strange things that i don't see everyday that i saw today whilst travelling:
- a boy on the bus chewing on the end of his umbrelal handle
- a filipino guy with a guitar case who strangely looked like jerome fontamillas (switchfoot in town?)
- 4 hells angels riding in "formation" and setting a parked car's alarm off on the side of the street
- red ink written on a skytrain pillar "bury the drug dealers before the bury us"
- part of the skytrain tunnel (eg. between the water front - stadium station) is nearly a pefect circle (tube-like). never noticed that before

one last thing. when you go to a ccc event, usually ignite, you get a name tag. i didn't realize mine was still on me until 10pm-ish....so i think all the bus drivers i encountered knew my name today.....sigh......
o yeah, i've estimated maybe just less than 50 km in about just less than 4 hours of transit/waiting....
bah-- other people have it worse than me. thank You God for my safety.