Why You Think The Net Was Born?

Had a chance to pop by Craig and Cheryl's last night for dinner and '24', both of which were quite good. Samantha, who some of you remember from this old post, is my new best friend. We've always gotten along but, for some reason, I now seem to make her laugh whenever I see her. She even ran upstairs yesterday to get her little brother Justin to "come see Rick", which he did. He's super cute because he's grown two bottom teeth in the centre, and two top teeth as little fangs, so his mouth fits together like a little puzzle. They've promised me some new updated pictures shortly, and when I get them, I'll put'em up.

Oh, and before I go, 'Lost' fans check out this well-researched theory. I suppose it could contain spoilers, but not based on anything publicized, that's for sure: The Ultimate Theory

Today's Random Links
Pigs are smarter than dogs and every bit as friendly..
Volcanic Golf.. I got 4,050 points to level 17
Motorist v Courier, courtesy of Cliff
PETA is just plain weird..

Uppercut

My attempts to enter the world of Entertainment/Television reporting may be about to take a large step forward. My friend Darren Hewett has launched Uppercut Media, a new one-stop site for news of all sorts. He asked if I would help out and, of course, I'm more than happy to. So, for the next little while, my news bits appear both here and there. There, however, you can get other news too, so I highly recommend adding it to your list of daily stops. It's in soft-launch right now so forgive any little errors you might find as you make your way through.

Now it's off to the gym for my daily run. BTW, today's random Hoff link is, quite possibly, the greatest thing in the history of the interweb.

Today's Random Links
The Hoff is hooked on a feeling
Play the Missle Maze

Blowing Through the Jasmine

This past weekend was Network Wars 11, and almost nobody could believe we were already at our 11th LAN party. Nerdy? Yes! Fun? Yes! Paul, Mark, and I were threatened with bad things if we were to forgo gaming for guitar, and we stuck to the script more than the others, truth be told. However, we still managed to get some playing in. Better yet, our goal of playing "Summer Breeze" by Seals & Croft all the way through became realized late Saturday. It was LEGENDARY. Classic song, and it shall be the first recorded track when this place gets turned into a studio in time.

Question for everyone - who here has an MP3 player, which one is it, and are you happy with it? I'm in the market very shortly for one and I'm leaning on the iPod Video 30GB. None of them seem to come with AM radio, which I'd use, and the iPod seems to be the popular choice. I use iTunes on this computer and I'm in love with podcasts, so it might be the best selection. Thoughts?

Cheers!

Today's Random Links
What's the Internet for....?

Canada Barely Votes 2006

So, as it's been noted, if you're Canadian make sure you're out voting today. Whoever your party of choice may be. Cliff wanted an election pool, and the "pool" is basically he and I predicting things:

For the sake of knowledge, the results after the 2004 election were:

And going into tonight, with some vacant seats, we're at:

So obviously Cliff and I are on the same page, and oddly enough, I made my picks without looking at his. My justification was based on six Liberal seats in Quebec won previously by under 5% swinging back to the Bloq, the NDP gaining in popular vote but only mildly in seats, and the Conservatives grabbing 15 of the other 52 ridings won by under 5% from a previous election. I stand by my comments since the start of this election, that being that people will decide their lives aren't that bad and go with the devil they know. I obviously don't agree with it, but Canadians have proven time and again that they're completely indifferent to political scandal.

And with that comes the end of our political slide over here. By tomorrow we should be back to our regularly scheduled .. whatever it is I do around here.

Cheers!

Nudge

I love technology, honest. That a war-time communications method developed by the Pentagon has evolved into what we see here is rather stunning. But, from time to time, I feel technology is not being used for the original intended purpose. This, my friends, is one of those times...

Note: Only funny to MSN Messenger users, and perhaps not even to them.

Paul sent you a Nudge!

You have just sent a Nudge!

Paul sent you a Nudge!

You have just sent a Nudge!

Ticking away, the moments that make up a dull day says:
alright, now that is out of the way

You have just sent a Nudge!

Rick says:
speak for yourself

Ticking away, the moments that make up a dull day says:
oh I shall.... with THIS!

Paul sent you a Nudge!

You have just sent a Nudge!

Rick says:
I don't get why sometimes we can send infinite nudges, and sometimes when I go to send a second one it blocks me.

Rick says:
today, infinite

You have just sent a Nudge!

Ticking away, the moments that make up a dull day says:
yeah me either, but my nudge power seems good today

Paul sent you a Nudge!

You may not send a Nudge that often.

Rick says:
NOOOOOO

Rick says:
You may not send a Nudge that often.

Paul sent you a Nudge!

Ticking away, the moments that make up a dull day says:
HA

Rick says:
CRAAAAAP

You have just sent a Nudge!

Rick says:
phew

Ticking away, the moments that make up a dull day says:
NO

Rick says:
AHAHAHA

Ticking away, the moments that make up a dull day says:
Im powerless now

You have just sent a Nudge!

Paul sent you a Nudge!

Stand Up

I guess there's not much stopping this from becoming a political-ish blog for the next couple weeks, and that's not altogether bad. Comments are still open for business, so have at it. I'm going to admit that I'm stunned the Conservatives are in line for a win right now, I really didn't think it would happen. For any of their haters you'd have to admit they've run a structured, tight campaign, and haven't yet fallen into the desperation we're seeing from the Liberals right now. I'm not sure what debates and literature they've been reading, but I'm quite sure Harper won't be putting armed guards on every street corner, regardless of what the TV tells me.

I had someone ask me the other day why I dislike the Liberal Party so much. He was a young guy, early 20s, and rather liberal in mind and action. I pitched one simple thing to him - much of, say, the last 40 years our country has been governed by Liberals. Is our country a better place today than 40 years ago? He said no. Our society seems to be cemented in the idea of "progress" and the fact that we should be able to do absolutely anything we want under the blanket of the Charter. If society continues to degrade morally, and become a consistently climbing violent environment, how is this "progress"? And where do our rights and freedoms end?

On a lighter note, the best part of the debates, hands down, have been Duceppe. I still argue he shouldn't be there (and the Green Party should), but the fact he had nothing to lose at all because nobody watching could vote for him lead to some great humour moments and comments. Even Layton has impressed me in the debates.. too bad his party scares the living crap out of me.

Remember, vote or P Diddy will kill you. Or something like that. I forget. As a smart doctor once said, "I saw it on a TEE VEE SHOW VONCE."

Today's Random Links
"Hands in my pocket hands in my pocket hands in my pocket..."
iPod's sell because of their shape? I can believe it..
100 things you didn't know before last year
Why didn't I think of this..

Deadpool 2006

So the Deadpool entries are in - only three. I have a feeling a few more may attempt to trickle in this week, and it'll be up to Kip and Cliff if they're included. In the meantime, here are the entries:

Technical Difficulties

I apologize that my resolution of daily posts has slipped up mere moments into 2006. Every spare moment I'm not working (which is rare) gets divided amongst my new guitar or 'Call of Duty 2' online. I shall return...

First Half Sportsnet Results

I made a stunning late comeback in the official Sportsnet hockey pool to finish first amongst the overanything crew for the first half. I was almost 40 points back with three weeks to go, and as you can see, made up that room and then some:

Still, my 363 points were only good enough for #11,228 overall. A far cry from my usual top 1,000 performance. Second half started last night and I'm #787 after one night. :)

Mr Garrison

I'm finally the happy owner of a new Garrison AG-300CE acoustic guitar. It was quite some time searching for the right one, then a special order, followed by the process of waiting for my special order to arrive. It came in new year's eve and I made it downtown last night to get it. I'm quite sure it was supposed to be more than I paid, but the guy I'd been dealing with was off and a different guy just ran the transaction through for the initial blind quote. I added a nice hard shell plush case, a new capo, and a mitt full of picks. I'm loving the guitar, though. Any concerns it wouldn't sound as good in the less sound-friendly confines of my living room were quickly alleviated. While I'll miss the Ovation, this guy is making it easy to move on. I even tried plugging it in last night - as it has electronics - and the sound was awesome. Good stuff.

Now, if I could only find my white Levy Air Force guitar strap...

DeathPool 2007

It's 2006, my friends! This is the year everything changes, mark my words.

In other news, Cliff has requested a Deathpool. Direct all whining to him 'cause I ain't hearin' it. Post your 25 picks in comments. People must be famous, so don't go picking your Uncle or Grandfather. You get points by subtracting the age they die at from 100. Winner gets nothing more than bragging rights. I'll give everyone one week to pick, and obviously, unlucky celebs in the next 7 days will not count.

Cheers!