Name: Ozmodiar
 Q3A Name: [VW]Fox
 Email: Yes, it's on computers now.
 Description: Employed, but NOT on the trolley.
 Project: Show-winning 1992 VW Fox & winter-surviving Arctic Fox wagon
          Another method of making money (100% legal, of course).  Stay tuned.
 Cool-ass font: OCR A Extended
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 I don't spell check these things, sorry.  I just type 'em and upload.  And rant.

Sunday, December 31, 2000

Yeay.  Statuatory holiday.  My birthday.

I worked today 1-6:30.

I had today off.  I played FF VIII all day.  With breaks to surf the net.

I was supposed to work today, but some guy from the union noticed that together with the statuatory holidays I would have been paid for 6 days (along with a few other part-timers), and told the supervisor to cancel one of my days.

I worked today 1-8.  Got sent home 1 hour early.  Yeay.

I worked today.  9am-9pm.

I worked today.  9am-9pm.  And they asked me to stay more overtime after 9pm.  I said no.  Merry Christmas.

On a "huh?" note, I worked for the Grocery department today, and all of the work was done at about 8:20pm.  The supervisor there was much cooler than in either Dairy or Produce, and just talked to us for 40 minutes so we would get paid right 'till 9pm.  That was really cool!  I also found out that the handheld computer things we use to work with are worth about $3500 CAD.  Each.

Insurance update.  We got kicked out of the last company we were with because we have a dog that isn't spayed/neutered.  We found a company that encourages dog ownership by giving dog owners a 2% overall discount!  WTF is up with this world?

Fucking spam:

Fucking Windows error messages:

.

Ahh fuck.  I was about to start bitching this morning about how life sucks, how I get no respect when looking for work, how I get no respect at my current "job" and lots more.  Believe you me, I am still most displeased about the situation my life is in... but... just as I was starting to type, Misty started going nuts outside.  Low and behold, someone dropped off a package at the door.  It's a Christmas present from Mina.  I have no idea what it is, but this'll be the first Christmas present I have received from a friend (I mean aside from family, cousin, friends of the family).  I am so excited and so happy!  No rant for today *^_^*

No, I haven't become a kinder, gentler Adam.  Just been way too busy (and/or tired) to rant.

I still hate my job (especially when work runs out with 20 minutes left in the day, and we are forced to go home... on several occasions we have asked if we could stay and clean up the warehouse, just to be paid for the last 20 minutes;  unsurprisingly the answer is 'no').  My summer car has some parts coming for it.  My winter car is OK, but needs an oil change and tune-up.  I am looking into some performance parts for it too... even though I shouldn't, since it's a winter car.  But it will make a very nice sleeper.

I'd write more, but I'm tired and will get to sleep before midnight tonight, unlike the 3-4am which I've been doing for the past few days.

Lastly, I was watching the Discovery Channel a few days ago (yes, I admit to watching Team Discovery Channel), and there was an interview with a Dr..  Here is a screen shot.  I cannot believe that this is true.  Mint!

Here are some thoughts.  Gladiator is a good movie.  Not the best of all time, just a decent epic film.  Nothing 'breakthrough' about the storyline... very typical.  Borrows from many well-known stories IMHO, even the Biblical Joseph story.  It's good that they didn't resort to serious graphic violence.  Why do people say one thing and then do another?  It really pisses me off.  And then use excuses like "well I can change my mind."  People who don't give credit where its due also suck the bag.  People who badmouth truckers and say that they're the worst drivers on the road.  No, it's the people who drive right at the speed limit, below it, failing to keep up and/or yield to traffic that suck.  Merging skills are important too.  This reminds me of when I was driving with a guy I know and we were late.  We had to get to a store before it closed and the trip involved some highway driving.  The guy was driving and kept on complaining that we were going to be late.  (Had he arrived at my house 20 minutes earlier than he did, like he said he would, we would not have been late.  But this is another story.)  Anyhow, he would speed up to pass cars to at least 140-150 km/h, and right after passing them, pull in front of them and slow down to 100 km/h again.  And would then complain of people high-beaming him and also of other cars driving at only the speed limit.  I pointed out that if he was in a hurry, he could accelerate a bit at least to keep up with the faster cars on the road, but that wasn't an option because it's illegal.  And passing someone at 150 is?  Now that I'm typing this, I think I've mentioned it before.  One last thing (I'm tired and it's 2am)...  a few of my friends complain about being single, not being out with 'young people,' not being able to "get their dick wet" and of feeling their lives are boring.  I suggested going to a few bars or clubs in Toronto.  Nope, not an option for them because it's too far and they don't like the clubs in Toronto.  I have even offered to be the DD and to buy them each a drink.  Nope.  Then stop fucking complaining!  Other times when I bring up a club/bar trip up, I get told that "we're" too old to be going to clubs.  I am not too fucking old to do anything!

And here's something I saw on my way home tonight - 2 guys in a 4-door Escort.  While driving, the passenger would open the right front door, stick his foot out and let it drag on the ground.  Safe.

More reasons why I don't like my job.  Monday I was feeling a bit sick, but went in to work anyway.  During the day I told the supervisor that I was feeling sick, and that if anyone was being sent home, I'd appreciate some time off so I could get better.  He said that there was very little work to do and we would all be going home early.  Good!  Midway through the day some people were sent home, but not me.  Two hours before my shift is up he says "Adam, buddy, can you hold out another hour?  I want to let everyone go home at the same time."  I accepted because although I was feeling like shit, I wasn't going to give up the $10 I was going to make, if he made me stay this long.  I did make a point of saying that I was starting to feel worse than I did in the morning.  One thing I'll give this new, young supervisor guy is that he remembers my name.  Last week the guy who calls me "big guy," "Al" and "boss" called me "smiley".  But he is better than the guy that gives me time off without a word, and then turns around after I come back from the day off and tells me he can't give me any more time off.  Nice.  Back to being sick.  Tuesday I felt horrible.  Big headache (nothing I took made it go away), fever (39.5 C), hot/cold, dizziness, weakness and a nastyass throat infection.  I call in and tell them I was sick on Monday but was at work, but 'today' I feel really bad and can't make it.  "But you don't sound sick, you should come in anyway."  "Believe me, I'm sick and dizzy when I walk around."  "... ok fine, so you won't be coming in?"  Fuck me!  I call in, I definitely sound sick (my voice was scratchy, low, and I genuinely coughed a few times), and they don't believe me.  Wednesday I had off, and Thursday I was back at work.  I was feeling better but still shouldn't have been doing physical work.  Today I feel better but I'm weak again and have a cold of some sort.  If I'm sick tomorrow, I'll still go in to work, and if I feel like shit once there, I'll just tell them I'm leaving because I'm sick.  I'm not one to start a fight... but if they don't believe me, I'm seriously going to call the union rep on the intercom and tell him I am having a dispute and need a moderator.  After all I pay the fucking dues every week.

This also reminds me that I didn't get my incentive bonus for last week.  By my calculations I averaged around 110% of the standards, made approximately $300 into my pocket for the week, so the bonus should be 10% of my pay, or about $30.  I got nothing.  I will take it up on Saturday.  If they tell me I don't deserve it, I will make them pay me anyway.  I geniunely worked my ass off the week before to see what I could do if I tried.  It looks like the only thing I got was this flu thingy.  Oh well.  I'll just bend over now...

Too bad, so sad, prepare to die.

Here is where I stand:  I graduated from high school with honours, in an enhanced program.  I was accepted into every university I applied for, and was even offered a small scholarship at York, which I didn't take.  I graduated from university with honours again, doing a major and minor in 4 years.  (I was going for a double major at first, but ended up dropping German to a minor.)  I am very good with computers and was a facilitator/instructor!  And on paper, even a 'manager' of a computer traning school!  The school got shut down and I was denied employment insurance.  No employment placement agencies were able to help.  The only job I was offered was construction for minimum wage working 6 day weeks (I was told ~12 hours days), through ManPower.  I declined.  Four and a half months of looking, applying, going to interviews, etc. resulted in nothing.  Midway through the time I started applying everywhere.  NG was the only company that wanted to and did hire me.

What does this say?  Either a) I really am not qualified and undeservingly got my diplomas (completely false, I can assure you), b) something's wrong with me, the way I apply for jobs, the types of jobs I apply for and "the wrong questions must be being asked" (as someone told me), or c) something's wrong with the system here.  I remember when I was still in high school and looking for a part time job.  Most places told me that they were looking for at least university students;  this was for jobs at video game stores, electronics stores, etc..  The only places that hired me were the Mississauga News (delivering newspapers) and the music conservatory where I took lessons (I was an assistant music teacher there).  So now I am a university graduate and am in the same position.  If someone tells me that they guarantee a job once I finish some course or diploma program I don't trust them.  No one will persuade me that I will be guaranteed a job once I finish x courses.

As for me, I seem to be depressed.  It's probably much more serious than I think, but I'm not about to go see a doctor and spend money to be diagnosed with something I know I 'have.'  I hate don't like my job, I have no faith in any institution that guarantees job placement, I rarely feel happy enough to do anything 'fun,' whenever I do something 'fun' I feel bad because I'm spending money which could be going towards some sort of "education," e-mails are piling up because when I do have free time I lack the mental energy to do anything.  Most of my close friends think they're "old" and hence don't go out to clubs anymore, don't stay/hang out late, rarely participate in binge drinking, and although have bought fast cars (170+ HP), do not drive them above ~4000 RPM.  Right now I don't even have the energy to rant anymore, but I'll just explain the car thing before I pass out.  I am not saying that if you have a powerful car you should be racing it all the time on the streets, but if you went out of your way to buy a new and/or used car with that much power, why don't you use it?

More morons:  Today I tried to make reservations for VWoT's meeting this Sunday, at Casey's Bar & Grill in Brampton.  Because this is a larger meet, I wanted to reserve for 30 people.  The chick who answered the phone first put me on hold for at least 5 minutes (I dialed before Voyager started, got put on hold, and finally got to talk to someone after the commercials that follow the intro.), and then told me this:  "I can't take your reservation now because the guy who is in charge of them isn't here.  Call back tomorrow and talk to Art Stewart sometime between 9 and 5."  Mr. Stewart will indeed be hearing from me.  He can hear from you too:  905-450-5248.  If we can't make the reservation, I'm sure some other fine establishment will want our money.  Quick math: say only 20 people show up, at ~$15/person = $300.  I know this isn't exactly a lot of notice, but if the same place was able to accomodate at least 20 people over the reserved amount 2 years ago at an A4.org meet, I don't see why they can't do it this year.  And not being able to place a reservation because some guy isn't there?  Fuck off, is what I say.  If I can't get the reservation, we will still take over their parking lot.

More insurance shit:  We told State Farm to fuck off after all of the stuff they fucked up.  The new agent didn't fuck anything up, but they 'noticed' that my brother had the accident in my car in May 1999 and raised his insurance rates from below $200/month, to $1500/month.  We called and there was no mistake.  Apparently he is a high-risk driver and is being 'punished.'  So we switched insurance companies because my bro was quoted $1500/year, and the new insurance co knew about my brother's driving history (i.e. the accident).  This was less than he was paying at the original State Farm agent too, so we went for it.  Barely a month with them, we found out about the dog thing.  (To reiterate: We will get the boot from them mid-December because our dog is not spayed/neutered.  No chance to remedy the situation.  Period.)  And on top of this, my bro's insurance rate changed to $3000/year.  Apparently the fucking moron bitch quoted the $1500/year because she accidentally put my brother in as a female and not a male.  This is a fuck.  Fine you can make a mistake... but what the fuck is the double standard for females who have had car accidents vs. males??  None of this is exaggerated or made up.  Also keep in mind that my brother's case still hasn't been settled in court.  Guilty until proven innocent.  Raped because he is a young male driver.  Eat penguin shit you ass spelunkers.

</commode mouth>

About the only things in life that makes me smile are:  Jack of All Trades, Futurama, my friend Mina and my immediate family.  Everything else has been shit lately.  Yes thing could be (much) worse, but they could also be a lot better...

With that thought, it's time to go to bed, because I don't (sic) want to be late for work tomorrow.

PS.  Oh, and I haven't had the time or energy to reinstall the dashboard in the Adamobile IV... it's been almost 2 weeks.

Whoa... too long without writing my thoughts here.  Don't have time today, but I'll post a development.  We have been kicked out of our house's insurance policy.  Why?  Because our dog is not spayed/neutered.  No questions, no opportunity to remedy the situation (we wouldn't anyway);  we just got the boot.  Nice, eh?

The Adamobile IV is now mobile.

Oh, and I love descriptive errors, which aid in fixing the problem.

.

Upon my parents' arrival back some phone calls were made.  The idiots at the GM dealership said they didn't say that the package would be delivered within an hour, but that they would pack it within an hour.  I like people who lie.  The non-English speaking turds at a grease supplier said "we were busy".  When I tried calling, the skank of a secretary kept on feeding me lines about how the guy I need to speak with was in a meeting.  All day.  And the guy who was supposed to deliver the 3 180kg drums of grease thought there was no rush.

In other news, I got my first performance bonus from NG.  More on this later.  And no, I'm not quitting the job now.

I need info on 8v VW heads and tuning them.

I also like football and how it runs into shows I like to watch, such as Futurama.

And to finish things off, I am downloading most of season one of Kodomo no Omocha.  Kono no anime wa kawaii desu ne.

Yesterday is finally over.

Here's my schedule yesterday:  get up at 6:45am.  Perpare invoices and other paperwork for the shipment.  Shower & eat.  Leave house at 7:30 for the GM dealership.  Get there for 8:30 due to horrendous traffic.  Luckily, all of the parts except for one control arm were there.  On Saturday, they agreed to pack everything and deliver it, because there was no way I was going to fit it into any of our cars.  I double- and triple-checked the part numbers, ensured they knew where they were going, that they knew how to pack it and paid.  They assured me they'd pack it into the smallest volume possible, and that they'd deliver it within the hour to the shipper.  So I left for my dad's shop, to call him with an update.  Everything seemed to check out fine.  I went home to re-do the invoices, because the parts that were to be shipped weren't all there, and the total number of packages also had to be changed.  I do that, deliver the invoice to the shipper about an hour later, and the crate still isn't there.  I head home, make my lunch, change for work, and it's just time for me to leave.  It's 12:30.  I get home from work and find out the crate wasn't delivered until 5 hours after they said it would make it.  Again, this goes to show you how much you can trust people.  The dealership is always late with parts, but they reassured us that this time they'd be on time, since they're going overseas.  Whatever.  I also found out that there were to be 2 drums of grease delivered yesterday, but have not been.  I couldn't get a hold of my father, so I have no idea who was to deliver them and from which company.  Again, hooray for people's promises.

Here's my schedule for the next two weeks:
Weekdays:
6:30am -- wake up, shower, eat, walk & feed dog
8:30am -- leave for my dad's shop
11:15am -- leave shop for home, to get ready for my job
12:30pm -- leave home for my job
9:20pm -- get home from job, walk dog, eat, shower, take care of dad's businesses
11:30pm -- sleep, if everything gets done

Saturdays:
8:00am -- I get to 'sleep in,' then walk the dog, eat, shower
10:30am -- leave for my job
7:20pm -- back from work, walk dog, eat, shower
9:00pm -- probably ready to pass out

Sundays:
Work on my cars.  Both need attention, the winter one needs heat among the more serious things.

Here is something from the "I can't believe this happened" Department:

My parents were supposed to leave on a plane trip tonight to Europe on Lufthansa airlines.  Fine.  Good German airlines.  Nothing weird will happen, right?  Uhhh... not exactly.  Here's the low-down:  The flight was supposed to be at 21:something.  My dad was finishing up and tieing up loose ends at the shop and I was there helping.  Around 15:00, when we were getting ready to leave for the house, we got a call.  From a friend of my father's who works at Lufthansa Cargo at the Toronto International Airport.  The guy knew my parents were leaving on a trip on Lufthansa tonight.  Were supposed to be leaving tonight, that is.  He says "Andrew, your flight has been cancelled."  My dad thought this was a joke.  It wasn't.  He told my dad that there are problems with the plane and crew.  Apparently they don't have a properly-trained crew to fly the airplane because it's a new model, and a crew will have to be flown in from New York tonight.  This is 15:00.  My dad immediately gets on the phone to the Lufthansa/Air Canada office (the tickets are free through his credit card.)  After a good 20 minutes on hold he speaks to a person.  The person informs him that they had no method of contacting him regarding the matter.  They suggested a flight at 17:00 (by this time it is about 15:45).  There was no way my parents were going to be at the airport in that short a time.  The next available flight was to be at 5:10 or something like that on Saturday, and the one my dad chose is for 16:20 on Saturday.

Fine.  So there are problems with the plane and/or flight crew.  Shit happens.  But.  How did the plane make it to Toronto in the first place?  Was it on auto-pilot, since there was not a properly-trained crew available?  Did it get build on the runway and this will be its maiden voyage?  Did the previous crew turn out to be helmet-wearing monkeys?  Did the previous crew get so trashed upon landing that they need a whole 24 hours to recover?  Why were we not informed?  Was there truly no way to look up the last name and use a phone book?  Who the fuck is responsible?  I dunno.  Something to think about the next time you have to fly somewhere.

Reason for my parents' trip -- to see what is going on with the European market of my dad's export business.  Specifically what's happening as a result of the dolt from the Canadian company that has decided to sell direct to some guy in the Ukraine at lower prices than my dad gets, AND lower prices than my dad's supplier gets!!

One thing that surprised me was my boss's reaction when I called up explaining the situation.  I called at about 20:45, because my parents realized that no one else could drive them to the airport tomorrow.  I called, asked for the supervisor and explained myself.  He said "You know what, big guy?  Take the whole day off."  I thanked him several times.  Highly un-normal, in my opinion, for him to be so nice and understanding.  Aside from the "big guy" comment, I really appreciate what he did.

Last thing for tonight:  GM was supposed to deliver some parts that were to go out by cargo this morning.  Quite a few expensive parts (Cadillac: hood, fenders, strut towers, engine subframe, and more).  9:30 this morning my dad calls, asking where his parts are that were supposed to have been delivered by 9:00 sharp.  "Well, you know what, we didn't get any shipment last night.  Sorry."  Thanks, chief.  Now the parts are supposed to come Monday morning.  I will then be picking them up (in what car, I don't know yet), packaging them, writing an invoice, delivering to the shipper;  all before noon, when I have to get ready for my job.  Hurrah.

This morning, money also made it into my dad's business account, for parts previuosly sent.  $5.00 was missing from the amount sent.  This is not the first time.  The sender paid all of the money-transferring fees, and nothing was to be charged to my dad.  Instead, the $5 was charged to my dad.  This happens with every money transfer.  It's either a glitch in the computers, or someone is taking the money a la Office Space.  "OK.  I will burn down the building."

Ain't life grand?

In good news, a friend of a friend is buying my GLI.  I will get less money than I hoped for, but I get 2 8v heads along with it!  One's a stock Digifant head, the other a small-valve CIS-E head that's been P&P'd and shaved.  Arctic Fox, get ready.

Oh fuck.  I will try to contain myself, but don't count on it.  I'll bullet today's rants so they're easier to follow:

• On $3069.74 in my bank account I got $0.01 in interest and was charged $8.95 in service charges.  I did nothing other than deposit and withdraw money (no more than 5 times) through my bank's ATMs.  No Interac, no credit cards (haven't been approved), no cheques (don't got 'em), no Other Bank Charges.  Nothing.  I am really glad my money gets me about 0.000039% annually.
• On a $529.82 gross paycheque, I was deducted $118.84.  Apparently this is rather normal.
• In a similar vein, a good friend of the family with a construction business was by today.  He told us he had to pay $50,000.00 in income tax last year, on $80,000.00 in earnings.  This is without the GST he had to pay.  Holy shit.  No under-the-table shit happening either.  This guy is trustworthy and completely legal.
• Two weekends ago a few guys at NG just LEFT during the middle of the day.  They left their machines in the middle of the warehouse and went home (or to drink or whatever they did).  They were back working on the Monday after when I had my shift, apparently with no punishment at all.  WTF?  Other guys just plain don't show up for some shifts and aren't fired.  I do not understand.  I jokingly asked a supervisor what the punishment for missing a shift is and he said "Kinda a bad work ethic, eh big guy?  But nothing happens;  they just don't get paid for that day".  I wanted to tell him to fuck off right there and leave, moon him, and stick Mr. Torpedo in the sour cream product, or perhaps the non-dairy-dessert-topping- product.  Oh and tell the cafe lady that her "macaroni and cheese" had no cheese or cheese product.  I work fucking hard (my lower back hurts daily, and I've lost a lot of fat off my body, and my arm and finger joins hurt a LOT each morning, before I get the moving... sometimes the pain is really sharp -- so sharp that I get tears in my eyes when I bend my fingers).  Anyway, I work a lot harder than the class acts that work at NG, such as the negro (his term, not mine) that told me I dropped the back of my pallet, yet didn't stop to help me pick it up like the white guy did, and I get no respect.  "Hey big guy, I can't give you any more weekends off." or other shit like that.  Fuck.
• Get this:  my parents' former bookkeeper fucked up.  He declared a loss for us back in 1997.  Twice.  A loss of ~$25,000.00.  Last year, my parents were audited (the first of 4 so far).  When they contacted the bookkeeper to help them figure things out, he told them to contact the government directly and represent themselves.  Shocked by this (this wasn't the first time this ex-bookkeeper raped us up the ass...) my parents sent a letter from a lawyer, asking the idiot to pay the original fee, the interest since then, and the $1000 they have had to spent so far for a new bookkeeper to figure out where the old one fucked up.  This totals about $8000 so far, more daily.  The ex-bookkeeper replied with a letter from his lawyer, threatening us that it will be impossible for us to win in court, that "everyone makes mistakes," that we signed and agreed there were no mistakes in the tax return, and lastly, that we had 3 years to invest the money we didn't have to pay, so we should have more than enough for the fines now.  Oh, and to back up a bit, when the audit first came up and my parents called the guy, they kept on getting his machine.  This was weird, because they'd call daily at every hour, on weekends, and other times.  They kept on leaving messages.  Eventually a piece of Registered Mail came and informed us that we have to represent ourselves.  This guy better get what he deserves.
• On a good note, among way too many bad ones, it's good to know that some companies actually do honour their `lifetime warranty` policies.  Delta, the faucet company, has sent us a new internal valve (or whatever that whole thing inside a bathtub faucet is called) by courier.  All we had to do was call them up and request it.  No questions asked.
• Back to shit.
• Volkswagen sucks ass... as far as their policies and politics go.  The cars are still cool, especially the older ones.
• 1) I got a letter from someone at VW.com telling me that my web site is inaccurate.  At first I thought they were going to take me to court for having a Volkswagen-related web site (I know several people who were, and were forced to shut down their site, or pay damages.)  Anyway, it was to inform me that VW Canada still exists, and that I should make the neccessary adjustments.  So I did, as badly as I could.
• 2)  This one is totally fucked.  Maybe it's specific to the Queensway Volkswagen dealership, though.  My dad gets parts delivered from them.  The parts driver sat down for a minute today and told us something.  He has been with them for 9 years.  Recently he was forced to take a pay cut.  A cut of $120/week.  He now makes $350/week for 62 hours of work.  Using my math skillz: assuming he gets taxed 30% like I do, he makes $455 gross/week.  That makes $7.34 / hour.  Before the cut he made $611/week, or $9.85/hour.  That's a cut of $2.50 PER HOUR!  Fucked up shit, to say the least.  And QVW has recently replaced their entire parts department staff.  (This is the reason I got a Passat O₂ sensor rather than the Fox one I ordered.  We returned the Passat part and insisted on our money back, which we got.)  Next time I'm in there, and they fuck up the smallest bit I am going straight to head office.  Not gonna bother with the manager or re-asking the question, bringing in diagrams, parts, etc..  Just straight to head office (which I now know where it is, due to that e-mail), and then we'll see.  Oh, and the driver was planning getting married, which he has now cancelled because he can barely afford to support himself at the moment.  I'm 'happy' to hear that I am not the only one with a massively fucked up life.
• In other "good" news, last week I saw a cool cartoon called "Downtown" on YTV.  It was exactly about me - a nerd/geek who is sick of life and doesn't know what to do.  Fucked.  It had wicked beats (drum and bassish, house, and other cool stuff), and was drawn sorta in the Clerks animated series style (which got canned after 3 episodes, 1 of which I saw).
• Fuck.  I better get some sleep so I can go and "work" again tomorrow.
• There were a few more things I wanted to put up here, but I'm so fucking depressed now... all that remains is to have a drink and go to sleep.  No, I'm not an alcoholic.  Yet.
• I have had enough of life.  I want out.  I am fucking serious.  It's all a rat race with no rewards.  No one gives a fuck about you, and when someone says they do, run the fuck away as fast as you can.
• I have been doing a lot of thinking about why I chose to go into Arts at Waterloo.  Part of choosing Waterloo was to be with a few of my friends, and go into a general program because I didn't know what I wanted to do.  Why didn't I know what to do?  Partly because I'm rather indecisive, but partly because of my high school counsellor, who was of no help when I asked for assistance in figuring out what kind of job I'd be good at.  That and her suggesting university, because it's better than college... I think that's who instilled that incorrect notion in my head.
• BTW:  there is something wrong about income taxes -- there is a loophole so you can bypass them altogether, legally.  I am looking into this.  And you can also get money back if you use anything that is Kosher and you aren't of that persuasion.  I will get the forms soon.
• @home fucking sucks money ass too.

Anyhow, I'm tired and ranted out.  More another day.

Why does my life suck so much?  More on this later.

@home was fucked again today.  No connectivity, as they put it.  Apparently the DHCP server for all of Ontario was down.  Whatever.  So I call. On hold for 30+ minutes.  A woman finally answers.  As usual, I lie and present myself as my father, in whose name the bill is.  Otherwise they deny me service, even though my father has called in the past and said that it is alright for me to call on his behalf.  But anyhow, on to my story.  The woman says "I am pinging your machine and am getting a ping back instantly.  You are online."  I explain that 30 minutes prior, when I first dialed the number, my net connection was down.  I restarted my computer and also unplugged my modem, waited 30 seconds and plugged it in, and the online light is on.  This is all the retarded stuff they ask every time.  I also explain several times that I have not changed any settings.  She peoceeds to tell me that my connection is up, and is asking why I am calling.  I again explain.  This time re-iterating that it wasn't working prior and hence I called.  I request a credit on my bill, because I do pay for 24/7 service but I don't get it.  She says the credit will be applied.  We'll see.  Only once have I received a credit, for a whopping $3.00 during one month.  About the only setting I had wrong from what she told me to input was the mail server.  I had "mail" like you're supposed to, but she said change it to "mail.wlfdle1.on.wave.home.com".  Of course, I'm running a software proxy, so I'll make the changes on my server, and not on my box in my room.  We'll see if it helps.

Second @home problem.  Lost e-mail.  Again, they asked for my e-mail password saying they can't do anything without it.  I said "well, I'm sure the technicians can run some sort of mail server diagnostics without my password."  She said, "no they can't."  I still didn't give her my password.  She says it most likely won't be resolved then.  Fine.  I won't use the @home mail server then.  It recently rejected a 2 MB attachment, saying the limit was 1 MB.  Nice.

No quotes for the past 2 weeks, sorry.  Will post some soon.

I got a call back from theYMCA after calling them again, this time speaking to a white woman, and not an immigrant, like the one with whom I had an appointment back in May or whenever it was.  This woman told me that because I'm working more than 25 hours/week, I don't qualify for their help.  Apparently I can get it, because the woman knows my parents.  [My dad is looking for a mechanic and/or apprentice for his shop.  He contacted the Y and got a guy sent over.  Guy came in first day, didn't second day, did third day, didn't fourth day, kicked out.  Now they've sent a second guy.]

...

OK.  Time for some thinking aloud.  I shouldn't complain too much, because things aren't that bad.  But on the other hand, they aren't that good either.  Watching the tail end of a show on TVO this evening made me think;  I believe this was a motivational show of some sort (hence it made me think).  Basically scenes of space and space exploration, backgrounded by classical music, and foregrounded by quotations.  This one made me think, but I can't remember who said it:  "Dream your life as though you will live forever.  Live your life as though you will die today."  Fuck.  That is so true, and I think I'll give it a try.  Currently my life consisits of sleep (<6 hours/night is not nearly enough), work (job), work (help with family businesses), work (stuff at home, car, etc.), eat (quickly, because work is ever-present), and brief moments of rest, and real split-seconds of pure ecstacy (usually while doing something I really should stop doing).  Again, my friend Mina in Japan always listens, tells me to stay healthy and not overwork myself.  Why are friends like this so hard to find?  Anyway, something in my life must change, and I think it's me.  Time to change.  But it's tough to do something you don't want to do.

Last quote, from Marshall McLuhan (sp?), also from that TVO show:  "There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth.  We are all crew."

@home's mail servers don't work now.  I really don't feel like calling, being on hold for 30 minutes, and then being told that my settings must be incorrect.  The woman told me to change my mailserver from "mail" to "mail.wlfdle1.on.wave.home.com" ... which didn't help.  About all it did was increase the time it takes to DL e-mail.

I'm really tired, so I'm gonna hit the sack and hopefully do some lucid dreaming.

Oh, and now that I wanted to UL this, @home is down.  Completely.  I've been redialing at least 20 times, one right after the other, and it's busy.  I will call back tomorrow morning and make myself clear, that I want more credit on my bill for this month.  If you (the reader) has @home and it's down even for a minute, PLEASE call 1-888-288-4663, choose options 1, 3, 0 and tell them you want a credit on your bill. Explain that you pay for 24/7 service, and that you are not getting it.  If the droid on the other end of the phone says "that's not true" quote the TV commercial from several months ago "click on, click off... always on"... if that doesn't work, ask for their supervisor.  Don't be surprised if they say "he's on his break now."  Insist on speaking to someone superior.  If that doesn't work, be sure to have written down the "technical support representatives' name" and ask for their employee number.  Call Rogers' head office and tell them about the shit service.  Remain calm and don't swear unless they are total fucks about it.  </advice>

Mr. Colon is coming.

In other news, I went to a Job Fair today.  It proved com-fucking-pletely useless.  The ad said 75+ employers... I guess that was about right for the number of booths there.  5-10 were empty, or had a sign and empty desk, oh, and no one there.  There's a Resume Clinic booth too.  So I went there.  I sit down, chit chat, then the lady mentions that she taught a resume writing course for 5 years.  "Good," I think, "finally someone who will be able to help me!"  She looks at it, says "good, you know employers just scan down the left hand side and look at the headings first".  That was about the most useful tidbit of info I got -- makes sense, but I never thought of taking extra special care to make sure the headings kicked ass.  She went on to say that it was all in the proper tense, that it was nicely spaced out and that she wouldn't change a thing.  Thanks  Most places were NOT taking resumes, and instead, I have quite a few cards with web pages on them and "go to our web site" was all the info I managed to squeeze out of the lackeys in the booths.  The most informative proved the Carreer Training booth, for obvious reasons - because they want to sell courses.  HP just told me they hire all the time and to post my resume on their web site.  Gee, something I already knew.  FutureShop, GroceryGateway and a few others have no head office in the area, or even not in the country!  So all they were looking for were warehouse people, sales associates (i.e. droids), and other menial job positions.  What a waste of time.  And no one could answer my question regarding what is deemed more important - actual training, or real-world experience.  CSIS told me I need to learn French first.

That's all.  I've got about 30 seconds to get dressed and go to the Geezer Freezer, where I lose pay, rather than earn it.  (More on this soon.)

Coming soon, a batch file for SETI@home that does everything in RAM so your HDD can spin down.  Lates.

Been meaning to mention this since last Saturday.  Why is it that fun seems to usually involve things illegal, or at least alcohol?  :)  Last Saturday involved wine.  Then some kahlua.  Then some kahlua/tequila/ice.  Then a decongestant a bit more potent than ephedrine.  Then we couldn't find a decent after-hours.  The only thing we found was a weird party with up-tempo reggae and booze being served at 4:30am.  Not a good scene though.  Still, the beverages kept me going :)

And here's a mystery that's been plaguing me for a few weeks now -- how is it possible to make lemon yogurt and key lime yogurt.  Does the acid in both of those fruits cause milk to go curdly?

And lastly, fruitarians are weird at first thought.  I first heard about them at my friend's wedding, from the people I sat with.  IIRC, a fruitarian is someone who is a vegetarian, but strict to the point of not eating anything that will result in no offspring for that plant -- i.e. nothing with seeds.  So things like carrots and potatos (sp?) are fine, but strawberries, tomatos, etc. are not.  Odd.  But chaqun a son gout, or however you spell it.  Gots to go.

What happens when your CPU fan on your Celeron 420 (Celly 333 @ 83 MHz FSB) dies?  This.  BTW: it turns out that the + lead on the 3-pin plug was messed up.  Some action with a pocket knife fixed it.

The Adamobile IV?

I guess the King is using this time away from the throne to let loose.  Funny, I let loose when I'm on the throne!  ^_^

It's picture time: and a great disclaimer from The Sopranos:

Now more about the cop.  When I saw the cop in my rear view mirror, I was expecting to get pulled over for an 'improper muffler,' 'improper front turn signals,' 'noise pollution,' or something else.  (I was listening to a minidisc pretty loud with my subwoofer on, of course [Baby Bumps - I Got This Feeling];  my exhaust is louder than stock;  and I've been having a problem with cylinder #1 -- the spark plug doesn't fire sometimes.  More on this last one later.)  When cyl #1 doesn't work, the car sounds like a tractor, or an American V8 with really wild cams.  When the guy pulled in front of me, I was ready to jump out of my car, honk my horn through the open window to get the cop's attention, and point (while jumping) at the Bronco.  But I just drove the way I was planning on going, and when I saw the cop sans turn signal, I was about to swear out loud (a bad habit I've gotten into lately, esp. while driving) for the cop not doing anything.  But when I saw the cop turn, I got my hopes up;  although I was still ready to swear for the cop not using turn signals.  The cop followed me for about 300m (up to the first lights).  Then pulled up beside me.  I got scared, thinking she was gonna pull me over for nothing.  But then I noticed her looking at the Bronco in front of me and typing in something on the computer.  "Zuh?" went my mind.  Then she pulled up a bit, so she was driving with about 1/2 of the cruiser in front of my car (on the lane beside).  Her turn signal goes on, and I let her in.  Roof lights go on, and she pulled over the Bronco!  I was ready to jump out of my moving car, to kiss her for doing what she's supposed to be doing.  But instead I pulled in behind where she was and passed her and the Bronco, almost wanting to do a 2nd-gear burnout :)

In other news, Brent Spiner has a part in South Park:  Bigger, Longer & Uncut.  Neat.

My life blows.  Today is a perfect example.  Wake up at 9:00am.  Shower & eat.  Have stuff to do around town.  Get back at 12:15pm.  Make lunch, change & go to work.  Dreak working while at work, get sent to Produce Department (it sucks ass over there).  Come home at 9:20pm.  Exhausted.  Grab a bite and pass out on the couch.  Repeat.  This is my life.

During my trip around town today (primarily to order a box for my bro), I have regained a splinter of respect for cops.  Cruiser #189 at around 11:45am.  I was on Dundas standing still facing westbound just before the Hurontario intersection, waiting to turn right.  The light turned green, and the car in front of my moved rather quickly, yet I was slow to react.  I wasn't stopped for 10 minutes or anything, but I was stopped long enough for an old-ass Bronco II to cut across into my lane right in front of my hood, using his turn signal.  Right behind me was a cop.  The Bronco turned north on Hurontario, as did I, both of us signalling.  The cop did as well, but didn't signal.  500+ meters north of Dundas the road goes under a bridge with train tracks.  The cop stopped the Bronco there!  I assume for the cutting in front of me.  I'll get into more details about this tomorrow, because I've exhausted and sick of life today.

@home really sucks.  They say they don't have any problems with their mail server.  Why, then, do I get screens like this: ... "a few minutes" usually lasts a few hours.  Once again, the little people are fucked over.

Still angry at the bitch of a cop.

Remember the Natural Gas guy who was supposed to come and inspect a tag?  Well, he had an appointment on Monday of this week.  No show.  We called the company to say he didn't show, and they said he was too busy that day.  (Too busy to call and cancel?)  So they rescheduled to Tuesday.  The fuck didn't show again.  We're not bothering to call.  And if he shows up, we're not letting him in.

And now a small rant before I head off to work. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Permit me to elaborate.  Throughout history, the "little people" or the minority, the misunderstood, etc., have always been fucked over.  And always fucked over by those in power.  I'll only cite documented history -- the middle ages.  There was the King (and/or Queen) and their court, and then the rest (people living in near-poverty, in service to the King).  The peasants were fucked.  No matter what they did, they couldn't win.  To use a translated expresssion, they were spitting from below.  In other words, whatever they said, did, complained, asked - just came back down onto them and fucked them up.  Since I'm almost late for work, I'm gonna cut this rant short.  If I remember, I'll post up more examples later.  Anyway, the average person alive today is in this very same position.  Fucked over by cops, by the government (taxes, anyone?;  how about me being rejected for Unemployment Insurance?), by insurance companies, by so-called educational institutions (my B.A. is really fucking useful, don't you know), by the NG supervisors who don't give time off, and by many, many more people in power.  Doesn't life suck?  Makes me want to just float through life like a piece of shit in an ocean, so as not to be worried by all the people wanting to screw me over.  Gotta go.

Off topic:  Permint.  Funny.

Fuck being polite.  Fuck not fucking swearing.  Get ready for a bigass rant.

Motherfucking cops.  I have lost all respect for the fucking Police force.  Here's a background history:

A few months ago my father got a ticket for something he didn't do.  He was driving home from an appointment at 5:00pm on a weekday.  He was stopped as the second car at a red light.  The speed limit is 60 km/h.  At the time there was traffic on the road.  So much so, that no car was able to go anything even close to over the speed limit.  About 200m after the traffic lights, the traffic was already stopped in the right lane (of a 2-lane each way road), due to the sheer volume.  My father tried to switch to the left lane to get around whatever might have been blocking the traffic, but when he tried to, the left lane stopped moving as well.  A bit farther down the road there were cops writing tickets.  Writing tickets for all the cars driving down the road.  As soon as one car pulled up with the flow of the traffic congestion, the car was stopped by a pig and given a ticket.  Farther up the road there was 1 radar gun on a tripod and 3 cop motorcycles, with no one around them or the radar.  My dad inquired what the matter was with the pig, and he said "you were speeding, just like everyone else."  Knowing that arguing at the scene only results in a larger ticket, my dad took the ticket and planned to fight it.  Today he had the court date.  In two words, he lost.  Let me explain.

[The following measurements were made a few days after the ticket was issued using the trip odometer.]  The distance from the traffic lights at which my father was stopped to the point where he got the ticket is 400m.  The ticket is for 95 km/h, and in court the pig said he already reduced it because my dad was going way over the limit.  My dad asked a few questions of the cop in court, namely a) do you remember how the traffic was b) do you remember what you did before you talked to me c) do you remember what you did after you gave me the ticket, and others.  a) "I don't remember, but because it was around the evening, there must have been some cars on the road."  b) "Yes. I was at the side of the road, used my radar gun, measured that you were doing way over the limit, stepped out into the road, stopped you and gave you the ticket."  c) "No."  The cop kept on adding that he has been instructed in the proper use of the radar and that it was checked and calibrated both before and after the session.

The judge didn't believe a word of what my father said, and my father's testimony (or whatever it's called) was completely disregarded.  The fucking corruption in the so-called legal system is fucked.  I have no more respect for the cops, judges and any other fucks who are in positions of power and abuse it.

My parents and I spent at least an hour talking about this incident tonight.  My adrenaline was really making itself visible, and I really feel like hunting down that cop and doing something.  I know I won't, but I still feel like it.  I take some comfort in the fact that some day the cop will be in a similar position where he's being fucked with and can't do shit about it. And hopefully he'll remember what he did tonight.  Whether there is equilibrium with respect to stuff like this in this world cannot be said for sure.  If anything, there are more bad things that happen to test us.  I'm not trying to press my religious beliefs on anyone, but incidents like this get me thinking.  I believe in God (not so much in the institution known as the church, though) and that some day everyone will have to answer for what they've done in life.  No one's record will be clean.  So what if you get away with fucking over the little people while on this Earth... this is just a brief part of your life.  Forgiveness is important, but it probably has it's limits.  I could rant on and on for hours, but I'm not going to tonight, because I cannot put everything into coherent words right now.  I've got so many ideas circling in my head right now, all about so many topics, that it would take all night to even figure out what I should write about tonight.

I am still pissed off at that fucker of a cop, who wasn't "just doing his job", but at the same time, he is also trying to make a living to put food in mouthes and clothes on backs.  Conclusion: not sure.  In the end, I probably do forgive him for what he did, but not completely.  If he is in full control of himself, he knows what he did wrong.  I'm not ill-wishing anything onto him, but I trust that he knows what he did, and will eventually have to answer for it.

I don't even know if the above sentences make sense... I don't feel like re-reading them tonight.  So that's all for tonight.

Let me end with a funny quotation:

Your position is always what's best for the mission, let's call it the missionary position. .

A "mere" reinstall of Win98 overtop of the old install fixed the 504A.  For now at least.  I still have no idea what caused it to mess up.  Hopefully it won't come back.  Weird thing is that immediately after reinstalling, during the first bootup after the "Preparing to run Windows for the very first time..." a window came up saying something like "It appears that the last few times your computer tried to go on Standby it crashed.  It is adviseable you turn this feature off.  Would you like to turn it off?"  I turned it off, but was not aware I ever had it on.  Maybe this was the reason for the crash?  I dunno.

In other news, the Celly 420A is now sporting a 40 GB HDD.  $250 CAD.  And a neused CPU fan because the old one was grinding away slowly.

In still other news, the new State Farm agent has also fucked up.  Apparently my university diploma is not enough to prove that I have graduated wih a degree.  [A "Good Student" discount is granted for anyone 25 and under who has graduated from uni or college.]

Nearing 1k WUs for SETI@home.  W00p, j0.  M4D.

QOTD:  This is a fuck. -- Sameer

My source for the Bilsteins is employed again and tells me they are again obtainable.

Sleep time.

Got to talking with a friend of mine about how much @home sucks.  Here's a true story related by him:

they're all braindead.  did you know that their computer system will not accept more than one service call at a time?  [my roommate] called rogers to have the cable connexion checked out.  they sent some fuck in, and he didn't even properly connect it!  5 days later, i had to take 3 hours off work to wait for a tech to come in.  he (strangely enuff) got there at like 8.45am, and had everything sorted straightaway.

anyways, when i called rogers@home, they said that they were going to send in someone to check my modem.  i'm like, my modem is fine!  the whole cable is out!  so i set up an appointment anyways, then called rogers cable TV, and they were trying to tell me that it had something to do with my modem or whatnot.  i asked if i could have a tech come down and check the cable connexion, and she said that their system wouldn't allow me to have 2 appointments made up, so i would have to cancel one or the other.  what a bunch of fucks.

.
In other news, my Celly 504A is not well.  Winblows 98 has smelled things up.  "MPREXE has caused an invalid page fault in Explorer.exe"  OK fine, I'll boot into Safe Mode.  Safe Mode says "The Shell32.DLL file cannot start.  Check the file to determine the problem." and "Explorer has caused an exception in..."  The only weird thing I've found is a call to "cbomhcaqbsnuj.exe" in WIN.INI... anyone know what this is?  The file resides in my C:\WINDOWS folder.

I am still Frostillicus.  HP guy hasn't returned my call.

When compared to other men, you truly are a Bonaparte. hahahahahahahaha

Saw 2001:  A Space Odyssey (sp?) for the first time, and also Eyes Wide Shut.  Thoroughly enjoyed both films.  Comparing the two, I really liked the way Mr. Kubrick uses music to signify similar moods, scenes and fore- and aft-shadowing.

Hooray, it's the long weekend!!!  Oh, wait, I worked today.  And I get to work on Holiday Monday.  I wish I could work Sunday too, because I won't know what to do with myself all day.

Where is my life going?  Is it worth to bother taking some more courses / post-secondary education?  Will I just end up being employed at a different warehouse, fast-food establishment or local convenience store?  Am I the one who's going crazy, or is it the people around me?  Why have I started to talk to myself while at work?  Why's the sky so blue?  Where is Timbuktoo?  Questions.  Always with the questions.  What is the meaning of life?  Oh well... some things man was not meant to know.

Something I recently noticed -- the characters in Clerks are younger than me.  Scary.

Two additions to my DVD collection -- Magnolia and The X-Files Complete Season 1 set.  Couldn't find the new edition of Boogie Nights.

I like it when people don't return my phone calls.  "Hello, this is Adam.  I had an interview with you before your vacation for the Consultant position.  I am calling to follow up on the status of my application.  I would appreciate a telephone call letting me know either way - whether or not I am still being considered for the position.  Thank you again for your time.  My phone numer is xxx-xxx-xxxx."  Five days have passed with no calls.  I have tried calling in the meantime, but was met with the answering machine each time.  So much for the person's word that they'd call me back either way.

I cannot overemphasize the thought that has gone into each Star Trek: TNG episode, as well as most Simpsons ones.  I will dissect a few sample episodes to prove my point.  But first some sleep...

Last thought of the day:  Miyazaki Hayao is brilliant.

Doh it's September already!

Toyota Pronard.  I am not joking.

OK.  So I call up @home today to get the down-low... actually I'm on the phone with them now, and typing everything I can.  Basically what's happening, is every few days I lose a bunch of e-mails.  I know they're sent because I can see them on the web site of the mailing lists, but they don't make it into my inbox.  Also, e-mails sent from various other people don't make it to me randomly.

Here are actual quotes:

"I really don't have a logical explanation for this, and I don't know what the problem could be."

"Let me go with you through your mail server settings." (her)
"No, they're fine, because I get e-mails, just not all of them." (me)
"But maybe they're wrong." (her)
"Well, I am getting some e-mails, so that's not the problem." (me)
"OK, well maybe the mailing list you're on is configured incorrectly." (her)
"No.  I also don't get e-mails sent from various friends and other people." (me)
"Well, maybe your friends aren't configured properly." (her)
"No, they're fine too, because I get some but not all of the e-mails they send to me." (me)

"Please give me your password for testing purposes." (her)
"I don't think that's a good idea."
"But how are they going to test your e-mail without your password?"
"I assume they have other ways."

The chick's name was Maria that I spoke with, and she wouldn't give me an employee number or last name, so I essentially have no way to complain if she does nothing about this.  I called at 11:15am Eastern Time today, August 31, 2000.

She said she sent a complaint report to California where the mail servers for all of @home are.  I'm not expecting for service to improve.  An hour after I spoke with her, my e-mail is down altogether ("The Mail Server Responded: mail storage services unavailable, wait a few minutes and try again.")

In other news, I have been tempted twice:

• Tuesday - a waitress forgot to add an item to the bill.  The people I was with wanted to leave without paying.  I paid for it.
• Wednesday - outside FutureShop a blue Astro van pulled up and offered to sell me speakers.  I resisted.  Their excuse was that they were supposed to get 16 pairs to deliver to FutureShop but got 18 instead, and wanted to pass the savings on to "a fat cat like you" ("you" = me).  Weird.

I'm not writing this  to glorify or deify (sp?) myself.  I'm just fed up with being treated like a piece of shit when it comes to finding jobs.  Most of the other NG employees would take advantage of the above two situations, IMHO.

Lastly, I was briefly speaking with an African Canadian collegue of mine a few days ago.  He related this thought-inspiring comment.  "So everyday when I get up and I'm washin' my balls, I wonder why I even bother to show up at NG."  I've been looking for words to express my true feelings towards my job;  I have found them.

Cops.

So I'm driving home from L.O.T.S.'s house;  11:00pm-ish.  Obeying the 70 km/h speed limit.  I drive past a well-known car hangout and a hundred meters later I notice I'm being tailgated.  Close!  I'm in the middle lane, and the two outside lanes are empty.  Car continues to tailgate.  Maybe 500 m later the car passes me.  It's a cop in a fully-marked cruiser.  Peel Regional Police cruiser #157.  The cop passes me and starts accelerating.  I don't know exactly why I do this (although I have an excuse in mind) - once the cop gets ~200 m in front of me, I downshift and he accelerates like mad, with no sirens or flashing lights at all.  90 km/h ... 100 km/h ... 110 km/h ... still 70 km/h speed limit ... 120 km/h ... 125 km/h ... 130 km/h ... upshift ... 135 km/h ... 140 km/h ... OK.  At this point I look down at my speedometer and realize I'm doing 2x the posted speed limit.  I stay at 140 km/h and note that the cop is still getting farther away from me.  Not that quickly, but at my best estimate he's going a good 160 km/h or so.  Passing cars without turn signals and rather "recklessly" - i.e. pulling up close behind them and then passing.  On both the left and right.  I see a red light up ahead, and before that a hill.  Cop goes over the hill, and I take the opportunity to slow down so I don't end up stopped next to him (her?) at the lights, arriving only a few seconds after.  Coming over the hill, I notice the cop in the left turn lane;  light is still red.  I am the only other car at the intersection, waiting to go straight through (no cars going perpendicular to "us").  Cars coming from up ahead, but nothing that close.  Still red.  Car comes from left, going straight through (perpendicular to me - from left to right).  Cop pulls into the middle of the intersection and only once he's in the MIDDLE of the intersection does he turn on his flashing lights!!!  No siren.  I see the car braking heavily so as not to t-bone the cop.  As soon as the cop clears the intersection the roof lights go off and I see the weight shift towards the rear of the car and he takes off again.  WTF?

<bigtime commode mouth>  How fucking corrupt is the police force?  I mean, what the fucking fuck??  You don't hear much about the pigs being nasty and corrupt here north of the border, but it too is not completely unheard of.  (Example to follow.)  Fucking shit!!  And there's nothing that a simple person like me can do.  Sure I could call up the station and report the fucker.  BUT... I assume I'd have to file a formal report in which I'd have to give my name and other personal info, which the pig who's taking fucking advantage of his titfucking status could use against me.  I have no doubt he (or she) would have no problem looking me up in the computer and then hounding me on the streets, just looking for something to nail me with.  So, I have no logical choice but to sit here and take it like everyone else.  I am fucking tired of the corruption in the police force.  </bigtime commode mouth>

Here's that example.  A friend of mine has a modified car.  It looks normal from the outside and even sounds pretty normal.  Nothing flashy like all the Hondas you see and hear running around.  My friend does race the car a bit on the roads, but not a lot.  During a regular night at a car hangout, the pigs showed up.  They were fucking with everyone they could - like explained in that A&E special a while back.  My friend was checked out thoroughly (took his license for 15 minutes to check their computer, inspected stuff on the car, etc., etc., etc.)  They found nothing but told him they knew that something was being hidden and they'd keep an eye on him.  In the weeks following and to this day, whenever there's a cop around that car, be it parked, on the road, highway, etc., it ALWAYS gets pulled over and checked out.  WTF?  I am honestly worried about this type of treatment.  And if you complain, the cop's gonna find out anyway and screw you over for good.

Classic lose-lose situation.  What can you do?

Hmm.  I like applying for jobs.  Today I got a call back about a Computer Technician position I applied to.  I applied back on May 5, 2000.  Glad to see they are in immediate need of a new person.  The ad said something to the effect of "experience is more important than certificates/courses" so I applied.  The woman who called me to book an appointment said that if I do not have any certificates, diplomas or similar to bring to the interview, I will not be considered for the position.

Watching BT this morning.  There's a chef on.  The hostess asks him the best place to enjoy Spanish food (the type he's demonstrating how to make).  He said "Food is like sex, you can enjoy it anywhere and anytime."  The hostess went white and was quiet for at least 5 seconds after which she said "I can't believe you just said that."  On the air.

Here's a funny error I had pop up yesterday while downloading Gone In Sixty Seconds:

.

Wow.  What a weekend!  I spent both days around cars and I loved it!!  Also hung out with some really good friends -- ones that will help you (not me, just a general pronoun here) swap a tranny if you blow it up, say right after an autocross.  In 4 hours.  I'm really glad I can all those guys and girls (yes, girls who would rather talk cars than shopping!  Isn't that wicked-awesome?) my friends.  Just say that your cars runs fine at the autocross, and afterwards they remove the cones and you do "fun runs".  Basically screw around on an empty parking lot.  You push the car more and just have a blast.  Then you push the car a bit too much (or the last push was the last straw in a series of pushing it too much) and your tranny just blows up.  The guy you're in the car with says, "[n]o worries, I have a spare 9A at my house.  We can bring it in my parents' car."  Another guy says "I'll call CAA and we'll tow the car there on my account."  The organizer of the autocross says "I have a clutch kit I'll give you a deal on."  And you get home, have 3 knowledgeable people telling you what to do, and you swap the blown-up tranny for another.  In 4 hours.  That is awesome!

OK.  So I'm at an autocross spectating.  Then over to a friend's house for a BBQ and chillin' with some crazy VW-heads like myself.  On the way home two things happen.  1) I'm almost driven off the road, and witness a head-on accident involving a brand new Jaguar with 5 high school kids in it, and 2) almost get my arm torn off as my elbow's sticking outside of my window at a red light -- by 3 bikes racing IN BETWEEN the stopped cars!

Go and grab a coffee or beer.  I am in a ranting mood.  Lots of topics forthcoming tonight.

Hmm, what should I start with?  How about a brief rant about seeing new jobs, follow-ups from interviews and suchandsuch.  I didn't hear back from HP.  I'm not totally angry at this because the interviewer told me, the interviewee, that I would get a call back either by Friday of last week, or 2 weeks after the Friday because the interviewer was going on vacation.  So we'll see whether this person will actually call me back, or whether it will be an empty promise such as I received at every interview.  The one exception was the Oakville (?) Public Library where Mr. Andrew Sullivan did in fact call me back to tell me that unfortunately I did not get the job.  He probably doesn't know because he's not reading this here .plan, but I really really appreciated that phone call.  While it would have been nice to have been hired, it really meant a lot to me that he kept his word and telephoned me either way following the interview.

Today I got forwarded 3 applications from a customer of my dad's shop.  This guy made no promises about "I'm a big wheel at the ___ factory, and when I say 'give Adam a job,' they will give you a job."  He did promise to get me applications, and that he did.  My faith in humanity is restored once again.  The applications are for Ingram Micro (I applied there for a warehouse position prior, but heard nothing back), for Panasonic/Technics/Quasar, and for some German logistics company.  I am to get them to him by Wednesday morning.  We'll see what happens.  I'm not sure about the German company, mainly because I have forgotten most of the German I knew, and also because I can picture myself laughing out loud at the interview because I'll think of "But Homer, vee are Germans, vee are from zee land of chocolate!"  And I'll drift off for 10 minutes to the land of chocolate where I chase chocolate rabbits, bite a chocolate dog's behind and bite a chocolate lamp post.  Ingram Micro would be interesting because they're a computer firm, and the Jaapanese conglomorate chould be interesting too, especially if they use Japanese ideals such as Kaizen and Tatemae and Honne.  Not to mention the cute Japanese receptionists ^_-  If I do change my carreer from the Frozen Foods Distribution Industry to another, you can rest assured it will be listed here.  Of the 4 things in the works now, I think HP would be ideal.  Not sure if it will work out;  my contact on the inside tells me there's lots of red tape in place, because up until now the position has only been open to co-op students in computer fields.  They are looking to change it to a full-time position for "anyone", but I dunno what will happen.  Pray for Adam.

Here is a good rant, something rare from the mind of Adam :)  This past weekend I spent both at the Peach Festival in N.o.t.L. and in Hamilton at the Festival of SuperFriends.  I attended both to listen to the Toronto All-Star Big Band, in which my brother plays 1st alto saxomophone.  The band is awesome, especially if you consider that it is made up almost entirely of high school students!  The clarinettist, pianist, saxomophonist, part-time conductor, percussionist and trumpetist, who is actually _1_ person, is a 17-year old in attendance at U of T's music program now.  He is a amazing.  I hear the only instrument he cannot play is the slide trombone.  Listening to the band play reminded me of my days in the high school bands and how much I miss it now.  I was never super-awesome at playing the clarinet, but I was good.  Perhaps I should pick it up again and find some band to play with.  I really miss music.

On Sunday at the Festival of Friends, I initially planned on going to hear a Japanese taiko drum ensemble.  We got there a little late, but that was actually good.  We missed the taiko drum ensemble's first performance, but caught a 7+ person guitar jam session featuring a guy named Cyrus.  Happy Fish still resounds in my head;  what a great song!  His CD is available at record stores... I will probably pick it up soon.  I kind of regret not getting it at the Festival and getting it signed.  The Japanese taiko drum ensemble was good too.  Not as good as Kodo, but then again this group were just "regular" people who do it part time.  Impressive nonetheless.  A very fun-filled weekend.

Now back to my usual fist-shaking and frowning. "Growing old."  Am I old?  I sometimes feel old, but I know I'm not.  I'm not even 1/2 way into my 3rd decade of life!  The majority of my "good" friends (and I'll explain "good" later) think we're 'old' and act according to their beliefs.  They believe they're too old to act crazy once in a while in public;  they believe they're too old to go to a dance club;  they believe they're too old and too mature to have fun while driving a car (I mean race it on the streets a bit, push it harder in turns, etc.);  too old to admit they play video games.  WTF?  I have no qualms about admiting to what I do, and what I enjoy doing.  Yes I still live with my parents;  yes I enjoy screwing around with computers;  I enjoy the Internet;  I like working on and driving cars (not that I know how to do anything with a car);  I play video games;  I love going to clubs and enjoying all they have to offer (somewhat responsibly);  yes I still play with LEGO, I even buy new LEGO sets!  Fuck, my desk currently has the following "toys":  Slave 1 LEGO ship, 3 mini Star Wars LEGO sets (STAP droids, Darth Maul & Speeder Bikes), Gonk and Jawa action figures, a plush Watto, Rinoa and Quistis action figures, a Darth Vader PEZ dispenser, and a LEGO Episode 1 sub (Bongo).  When I want something, say like a Final Fantasy 8 action figure... I buy it!  Who cares if other people think I'm a "man-child" or if I get looks from the (cute) cashier.  If I want to spend a weekend indoors playing LAN games, I do it!  I don't show up at a DOOMsDAY only to be all talk when I'm on the winning team, and if I end up on the losing team I quit and play solitaire.  I work hard for my money (much harder than all my friends, IMHO) and I spend it on what I want.  If I feel like a Corona, I buy a Corona.  If I feel like a Heineken I spend the extra $5/pitcher, rather than complain that it's expensive (and then turn to the waiter and order a $7 Martini, like one of my "friends" did).  Yes, I'm single.  I'm working on that one -_-  I have penpals -- there is nothing "gay" about having penpals.  In fact, next to my best friend and my family, I find my friend Mina in Japan is one of a few people I can be totally honest with, figure out problems with, and just talk about anything.  That's what a true friend will do.  None of this "if you ever say that again in public, I won't hang out with you" BS.  Or shit about being too old to go to a dance club.  STFU to all of you.  Either take me as who I am and be my friend, or fuck right off.  I'm not writing this to offend anyone, I just feel I have to write it out.  Maybe it should go in a diary which no one except for my will read, but then again maybe people should read it.  I dunno.  I don't regret saying any of this.

Here is something one of my "friends" does.  It is really annoying.  I'll get a call, e-mail, or question when I see this friend.  It's usually a detailed question concerning something I have at least some in-depth knowledge in, be it computers, cars, Internet stuff, languages, "underground" music (I hate that term, but cannot come up quickly with a "genre" to group it all under), or any other topic.  This friend will know very little or nothing at all about the subject being asked about.  Yet during my reply the friend acts as though they already know it all and are just 'quizzing' me on it.  [sorry about the lack of gender specification, and improper use of plural pronouns... I'm trying to be as general as possible]  Either that, or the next time they see me, or when we're with a group of our mutual friends, this friend will quote the information I provided as though it were their own discovery or idea.  On a few rare occasions I have stood up for myself, only to be 'brushed off' by this so-called friend.  I don't need to have quotation marks placed around everything I say, nor do I feel that I am the conveyor of all knowledge, but I would like some recognition, or at least no false claims by the friend in question about it being their ideas or discoveries.  A quick example would be a discussion about minidisc video cameras we had over some beer.  Honestly, prior to my mentioning them, this friend thought a minidisc was actually a CD5.  I enlightened the friend with a few specs I know of the Sony minidisc video camera, such as the $5000+ price tag, 20 minute video/minidisc limit, etc..  When we were together with a few friends a few weeks later, this "friend" brough up the minidisc camera topic and said stuff like "yeah, I was thinking about getting a minidisc camera, but they only have a 20-minute limit so they suck."  Yes that's somewhat true, but you did not figure that out, nor did you even know what a friggin minidisc was before I told you!!!  Among the worst cases of this with this friend was an article that was written for a newspaper where I was misquoted, the wrong conclusions were drawn from my quote, and I wasn't even credited with the quote (nor was I actually told the questions I was asked over the phone were going to be used in a newpaper article, let alone that an article was being written)!  Upon confrontation regarding the mis-quote, the friend denied the article had been written, and because I had only read it but didn't save a copy, the friend acted retarded as to having written it.  I know that this person wrote it 100% for sure, because some of my other friends told me about it, and the author's name was the same as this friend's.

OK, that's almost 90 minutes of ranting.  I'm running out of adrenaline, and I also need to get some sleep before tomorrow's 2^oC workday.

You want more?  Fine, one more topic.  Why is it so difficult (for me) to find and make new friends?  I know I'm a bit of a loner, and probably really strange in my actions, humour and outlooks at first glance, but I'm not a gargoyle, ogre or dirty old man.  Am I?!  This goes beyond finding a girlfriend or future wife (doh, don't even want to think that far down the road).  I mean just finding some people who will enjoy doing at least some of the stuff I've grown to love.  Do I have to become a Stonecutter?  I found this ad from a Japanese girl on a penpal forum.  I think it's really cute: "I'm an attractive and romantic Japanese female who seeks a kind and sincere Western boyfriend for friendship or somethingelse.If you live in Japan, please send me e-mail with your information."  This one is a tad extreme, but shows that the person is all about having fun, and has no problems about saying it how it is.  Not to mention "somethingelse" ^_^

More?  OK, this is the final encore.  Last topic.  Retarded Canadian Tire employees.  In the true FutureShop fashion of "Sorry sir, these surround speakers don't feature 'impedance'," here is a tale from the local Crappy Tire.  Saturday morning.  Canadian Tire store with parents.  Dad is buying tools for his business.  PST exempt, because they're for the business.  "This purchase will be PST exempt."  Chick behind the cash register picks up a flyer, shuffles through it and says "sorry sir, you have to pay both taxes."  "No, I mean I have a PST number and this purchase will be PST exempt."  "No sir, everyone has to pay taxes here."  My dad brings out a signed PST Exemption form;  signed, dated and filled out.  "What's this, I've never seen this before."  My dad, used to this sub-par service says, "you just have to type in 0000 and then it will ask you for the PST exempt number on your cash register."  The chick doesn't want to do it and calls the next cashier over.  The other chick also has never heard of a PST exemption.  They call over a 3rd person who actually listens to my father, types in 4 zeros, and low and behold, "please enter PST number..." appears.  During this whole time I am already fed up with shit treatment and service, and am speaking Polish with emphasis on English words I'm throwing in like "Manager," "bad service" and the like.  The chicks were zoned out, so they didn't even hear me.  Finally they type in the PST exemption number and the exemption is applied.  Yes it is possible that the employee had not been instructed in how to enter a tax exemption, but "the customer is always right" and you don't tell the customer that they're wrong, and that they have to pay the taxes.  When I have a job, I do my absolute best to do that job properly.  When I was working at FutureSkills (before it went totally downhill), I asked lots of questions about methods of payment.  My instruction was basically "well, try to get either cash or credit card since that's the easiest to deal with."  I insisted on being trained on how to take cheques, debit cards, and other stuff.  I was told "we'll show you later."  That evening, on my shift alone, someone wanted to pay by cheque and have it broken down into payments.  I had no idea how to do it, and I told the people that I had not been instructed in how to break it down into payments.  I didn't tell them that a "cheque" is not a valid form of payment or anything retarded like that.  Whatever jobs I have had, I did my very best to do everything I was required to and never do I do a half-assed job.  Where does it get me?  Well, firstly I graduated with an Honours B.A. combined with a minor... and I work in a fucking grocery warehouse for about $24k with absolutely zero benefits.  And I get taxed a lot.  And rejected for credit card applications.  This last rant is getting off topic, but only a few more lines to go.  Why am I still getting rejected for credit card applications?  Mastercard couldn't give me a reason;  again, the droid on the other end of the line just said "your application was rejected, no reason has to be given."  And VISA said they couldn't find a credit history for me... so I guess they assume the worst??  Fucking shit.  I got OSAP for 2 years (got rejected for 1, and didn't apply my first year).  I paid it ALL back upon my graduation, and had it not been for the fucking idtios at CIBC in Meadowvale, I would have had ZERO interest!  I had to pay something like $17 in interest because they fucked up large, and didn't even issue a letter of apology.  I informed the VISA people that I have had an account at one bank for 5+ years, and that I have no loans outstanding, etc., but they basically said if there's no credit history, there's nothing they can do.  Kind of like the titfucking cops and their sub-$1000 attitude.

I'll leave you with this thought, based on the "you can't file a police report if the damage is under $1000"...

I'm sorry sir, because you were only bruised by the truck that hit you, you cannot file a police report because you weren't badly hurt.

I imagine a whole building of Chief Wiggums, acting as the Peel Regional Police.  Did I mention I was passed by a cop on my way home from work?  I was doing the limit, 80 km/h, and this cop just ran on me doing I assume at least 120 km/h  No lights or sirens.  I didn't catch the cruiser number, otherwise I would have called the fucker in.  I don't hate the Police, just all of the corrupt and asshole officers.

No word from HP (yet).  Oh well.

Here's a picture of me at work.  (I'm the guy behind the glass.)

Here's a tale from Adam's Daily Adventures:

After a spirited drive home from Hamilton, during which I found out that a stock '87 325is complete with 5 people and a trunk full of music instruments and microphone and speaker stands, can still slap my empty Fox around ... I guess the 1.8T is the only option.  I guess I'll try the 2P tranny first :)  Where was I...

Oh yes, got off the 403, and going north on Mississagua Road.  Just before the 401 I noticed something shine at me from the road just in front of my car.  Too late, ran over it.  It was some sort of window-sized metal frame with a solid fill (maybe wood, maybe metal... dunno).  Didn't hear a pop and the car drove normally, so I drove the 1.5 km to my house and then checked it out.  Rear tire was about 1/2 inflated.  Car went in garage, 13" winter rim went on (the spare's in show-condition, so I can't use it...), and I dialed up the Police.  The 14" (Michelin X-One) has a nail, screw or something similar 2-3mm in diameter stuck in the tread.

"Hi I'd like to report a large piece of debris on Mississauga Road."
"Hold on let me transfer you..."
I got to some "Reports Department" and reported where it is, and was told it will be taken care of soon.  I then asked whether I should file a report in case there's damage to more than my tire.  Got transferred to the front desk.
This is where I'm not sure if I was told the whole "truth", or whether I asked the wrong question, or what.  I was told that if the damage is under $1000.00 I cannot file a report and just have to talk to my insurance company.  The officer's exact words, after putting me on hold and looking it up somewhere, were "I'm sorry sir, there's nothing we can do if the damage is under one thousand dollars".  During my entire phone call, no one asked me for my name or any other personal info, nor did they want any when I offered.  Is this true?  WTF?

.

I can't believe my brother's already 19.  That makes me even older :(

Why is it that everything I really enjoy in life is either unhealthy or illegal?

Still waiting to hear back from HP.  I'm losing hope, but still wouldn't mind getting the job.  Forgot to mention, there was a car in the parking lot with the license plate SW33T.  That is M4D L33T.  Perhaps a T44B0 plate is in my future?  Or 51CK.

In other car news, my friend and 1.8T-thought-instiller Damian, has located 2 interesting items.  Firstly a complete 1.8T for $3500 CAD.  And secondly, an Audi Fox GT, in apparently awesome condition, runs, 5-speed.  SW33T indeed!

Met Kars & Trucks guy at the Honda Dealership last night.  He was tight-lipped, but did reveal some info:

• 1973(?) Porsche 6-cyl boxer
• Race spec
• "SRS" - one of only 100 ever built
• 12 000 RPM redline
• Transmission
• 1st - 100 km/h
• 2nd - 150 km/h
• 3rd - 215 km/h
• 4th - 250 km/h
• 5th - ?
• Can raise the front wheels in 2nd at 150 km/h
• Even in 4th it still pins him in the seat
• 5200 lbs (+8 12" subs - i.e. close to 6000 total)
• He runs sport bikes and smokes them regularly
• 650 HP dynoed
• Runs on leaded 120 octane fuel, available at his shop for $2.00/litre (he claims $3.00+ everywhere else)
• Is building a custom tranny to handle the power.
• Hasn't 1/4 miled it yet

.

Interesting.  I had an interview at HP this morning.  Went OK, I think.  We'll see.

Moral of the day: Not all VW owners are intelligent.

I was coming off the 401 at DIxie, going south (to the HP interview).  Lots of traffic there, as usual.  Waiting to make the right onto Dixie, waiting at least a minute.  Finally I see a slow-moving truck coming in the right lane on Dixie, and all the faster cars in front of it have passed through the intersection.  I see cars in the middle and left lanes, but they're going straight (i.e. not signalling).  So I make the right and floor it so the truck can't accidentally run into me and claim he didn't see my car because it was lowered (more on this another time).  Just as I floored it, I hear a honking.  Mirror - truck is still far away.  Left - beeyatch in a new blue Golf is honking at me and giving me the finger.  I assume she was making a secret, illegal, un-signalled turn across the intersection in front of the truck.  Because I was trying to keep my adrenaline level down for the job interview, I let her cut in front of me, then immediately into the right turn lane for the Honda dealership (cutting off the guy in that lane I might add), and gave her a "thumbs up, chief" look and thumb-up.  I like bad drivers who probably don't even realize they're doing illegal stuff on the road.

Congratulations to my good friend Andy who got married today!  Wooooo!!!!!!  (I remember yelling "wooo"s loudly in New Orleans, when the jazz band won.)  At the wedding I met a woman from Vienna (now living here), whose native language is German, and she studied Russian and English at university.  During my brief conversation with her, the topic of my job came up and like everyone else, she was surprised that I couldn't find a job in the language field.  And like everyone else she said "well, it shouldn't be a problem for you to get a job using your language skills."  Like always, I didn't want to make a big scene and angrily explain that if I could get a good job, I wouldn't be moving fucking groceries for $25k gross without any benefits.  On the plus side, I spoke in Russian with her... something I haven't done with anyone since April 1999.  I sounded retarded and couldn't remember any complex words or very and noun endings.  I bet you she was thinking "and this is what they consider fluent after 4 years of university in Canada?"  Oh well.

I am lucky enough to work tomorrow, holiday Monday.  My life sucks, but what else is new?

In other news, my left ear is making funny sloshing sounds, and the right front area of my head hurts when I perform anything physical, sneeze or cough.  I'm going to get it checked because I think it could be something serious.  I hope not, though.  Oh, and I dropped a box along my leg yesterday, resulting in a nice painful area and swelling.  And I am gradually losing the feeling in my toes;  it comes back when I don't wear my safety boots, though.  When does the hurting stop (both physical and 'liforal' -- i.e. like latoral, except dealing with life)?

S-U-C-K-M-Y-A-S-S ... forensics.

I've been e-mailing back and forth with a Japanese girl (in Japan) for a good few months now.  She is very interesting, and I'm really wondering why I don't meet people like that locally... but I won't get into a rant about that now.  What I do want to touch upon is the American presence in Japan.  For the unaware, the US Military still has bases in Japan to this day to allegedly make sure Japan won't do anything "bad".  And the Japanese people really resent this.  Not only because they're constantly being watched and bothered by (horny) American men, but also by the retarded actions of them.  A few years ago an American officer hit a 5-year old Japanese girl while driving a car, and she died from the injuries.  The Officer in question took refuge in the military base and was never charged.  What a typical American attitude.  I'm not saying all Americans are idiots, but it only takes one to further the reputation.  Japanese authorities are not allowed to enter the base, so there's virtually nothing that can be done.

Off topic -- Orgasmo is very funny.

"It's a free country!" my ass!!  Tiny example from the music industry.  Watch MuchMusic.  Listen to the bleeped out lyrics in Eminem's song "The Real Slim Shady" (or whatever the title is).  Comparing it to my uncensored Napster-downloaded copy, "a man and another man can elope" is bleeped out in the video.  At the same time, Bloodhound Gang's "Mope" features Pac-Man ^TM saying "[m]e, bitches" and that is NOT bleeped out.  WTF?  Eminem does not swear in that particular lyric, but due to the controversial (sic) nature of the comment, it's bleeped out.  Is the word bitch, when not used as the term for a female canine, no longer offensive?

In other news, my life sucks ass.  I am young, highly intelligent, educated, well-rounded, cultured, and posess many other qualities, but they are not enough for me to get a good job.  I am stuck working in a fridge for $12.55/hour.  WTF?  A person who claimed they could get me a job (friend of a friend type of thing), recently spoke with me.  This person gave me a few names and numbers to call.  Most numbers ended with an answering machine or secretary;  in both cases I left messages.  I never heard back.  I called again.  Same thing.  The person's response?  "The wrong questions must have been asked."  A big WTF and STFU go out to you (not the reader, but the person claiming to be almighty)!!  To me, that is one of the rudest things -- talking to someone, and referring to them in the third person!  I don't have the balls to tell the person off, nor am I enough of a Rude Boy to do so.  Maybe if was wearing a "Word" hat.

I also don't understand people who claim to be the source of knowledge about everything.  Example: raves.  I have been to several raves, but none recently.  I haven't lost interest, but those around me whom I used to rave with have.  Now I got to talking about raves with a friend of mine.  This friend has been to two raves, neither without me, yet claims to know everything about them.  Seeing the brief scene in Kids, this friend immediately commented about how the music was the wrong style, how the people weren't dressed like you do for a rave (how DO you dress for a rave?), and how the venue was too small.  WTF?  Same person made the statement that they will no longer go to raves because "there are too many Ginos and 15 year olds doing drugs."  Ok.  Whatever.  You hear me make one comment - it's good that you remember it almost word for word.  But don't cite it as though it is your discovery or your opinion!  I hate people who feel like they know everything about a certain thing, just because they tried it once, or because they read about it (on the Internet, usually). Argh.

Or get this.  A few weekends from now my brother will be playing his last gig with the band he's in.  I really want to go.  A friend of mine wants to get trashed and find Century Sams to enjoy.  I explain that I really want to attend this concert.  The friend's response?  "Well, can't you just go for a song or 2 to show you're there, and then come out to get loaded?"  Fuck Martinez.  Fuck, fuck Martinez.

OK, now that my adrenaline is pumping, it's time for sleep.

TGIFarted.

Back from Waterfest 2000.  Ran away with 1st in my class, which I still don't know what it was.  I have never seen a slower or longer burnout than one done by a new 1.8T Passat wagon.  On 17"s.  With expensive tires.  Going from a parking lot onto a street.  The only thing missing was use of the turn signal ;-)  I met the Momentum Motorsports guys too - very cool, and very funny.

Mobile homes.

WTF is this?  Odd indeed.

I Dream Of Jeannie 1.8T.

Poker??  I hardly even know her!

Here's something that makes me go hmmmm. A newly-made friend of mine at NG had a wedding to go to, so he went to his supervisor.  This was last weekend; he inquired about getting time off before and was met with a Simpson-esque shrug-mumble-a'unno response from the supervisor.  So Saturday comes and the wedding is on Sunday.  My friend goes to confirm that he has Sunday off, with the wedding invitation IN HAND.  Here's what the supervisor said, word for word as my friend quoted him: "What?  I don't believe you.  This invitation is fake.  I expect you to be here tomorrow morning working, or you lose your job."  WTF is what I say!  And a STFU too, to the supervisor [lack of capitalization denotes disrespect for said person, whose title is not capitalized].  There's nothing my friend could do.  He's strapped for money and like me, this was the only job he could get.  (He finished his 1st year of uni in April and was looking for work since).  He really needs the money to pay for next year, so he skipped the wedding and came to work.  I don't know if I would have had the balls to tell the super to fuck off, but I definitely would have let it be known what he said.  And I would have called the head office to complain, not to mention go to the union rep immediately, and probably go to the wedding anyway.

<commode mouth> Shit, if they tell me on Thursday that I don't have the time off around the Waterfest weekend, I'll fuckin' mess them up so bad they won't know who to call.  I'll call in some pipe-hittin' friends too (there are several working in the warehouse with me), not to mention tell the mofo off, and possibly even call in on the powers of Zed (much as I hate to do that).  </commode mouth>  Then again, I could just take a relaxed attitude towards work, go to the exibition of my favourite squadron of automobiles, and get the supervisor's sorry ass fired.

Speaking of Waterfest, most of the secret weapons I was going to bring out have not yet arrived at my house.  Hopefully I'll at least have 1 pair in time.  I have 3 small weapons that I finished installing today ^_-

PJs is funny:  "The Declaration of Superintendence."

What an interesting patent.  Owned by IBM.

OK, some people I just will not understand.  It's too much to spend $5 between 3 people for a pitcher of imported beer (rather than domestic), but it's not too much to spend $6.99+taxes on a single Gin Martini at the same place and time!??  WTF?

Here's that promised rant aboot NG employees.  Yes, aboot.  It's aboot dignity.  Aboot integrity.  Err, yeah.  Friday during 1 of the 2 20-minute breaks I decide to get a bag of chips from the vending machine.  I inser the coin into the slot, key in the appropriate number, the spring thing turns, releases the bag, but the bag gets caught on the bag next to it.  I enthusiastically tap the glass, but to no avail.  No one tells me anything.  I get in line at the cafeteria and see a guy that helped me while in the warehouse (one of a precious few who don't snub my questions).  He says that the cafeteria lady has a key.  I ask her, and she gives me a looney from the cash register to buy another bag.  I choose the same slot and 2 bags fall.  I take one bag for myself and return the other to the lady, since it was "her's".  To this a few of the guys in the cafeteria who never talk to me say stuff like "are you retarded, you could have gotten a bag for free!  I would have stolen it!  It wasted my time!"  WTF again!  I've gotta get out of this place ASAP IMHO.  TIA to anyone that hires me.

Here's one last WTF before I fall asleep at the keyboard;  after all, it is almost 2 in the A.M..  I was at the shop mid-week this past week.  A recurring customer comes in and starts recurring in his speech.  (Don't worry, I have no idea what "recurrcing in his speech" means... it's funny, like Turd Ferguson)  Chit chat, be nice to the customer, the customer is always right even when wrong, blah, blah, conversation turns to what I'm doing right now.  I somewhat jokingly say "I work in a fridge."  "Why are you working in a fridge, didn't you graduate from university?"  "Yes, but since I couldn't get any other job, I took this one."  "Oh, I'm sure there are lots of jobs out there, you should quit and get a better job.  I know Ingram Micro is always hiring, and I know someone who works there."  (side note: I applied to a warehouse position at Ingram Micro but didn't even get a call back.)  "That would be great if you could pass my resume on or something.  It will look better than if I just walked in and handed them my resume."  "Sure, you know, my son even applied there, but didn't get the job.  He's currently working in a National Grocer's warehouse."  Blah, blah, blah.  Turns out the guy apparently works the same shift as I do, but I've never heard of him or seen him on the work schedule.  Well, whatever.  Point of the rambling, quoting paragraph is: "Everyone has a bigass mouth and knows best.  But when you talk to them, you find out they're in the same poo you are in. Often in deeper poo, or more poo and the poo of a bigger animal."

As promited, some info on exchange rates.  Online, 1 BR$ = ~0.654 CAD.  Everywhere I've called in Canada (CIBC, Western Union, Money Mart), 1 CAD = ~0.504 BR$.  In reality, 1 BR$ == ~0.6 CAD.  I know this because I sent 150 CAD to my friend in Brazil and got BR$ 147.00 in parts + 3 day courier shipping, 1.5 kg of packaging material to ensure a safe trip, and some money for him.

"You guys are all a bunch of dicks." -- Canadian Minister of Films

PS.  My 26 GB HDD has about 20 MB free.  Yes siree.  Time to burn some CDs.  But first, sleep.

I have a bigass rant about the level of employees at NG.  But it'll go up later.

Here is a group I should, uhh, join.

Ninja Burger!  Ninja Burger?

Rogers@home's customer service sucks ass.  Large.  Call 1-888-288-4663 and choose options 1, 3, 0 to find out for yourself. Last week or two weeks ago there was an outage for a whole day.  I called, they fixed it by the morning of the second day.  I asked for credit for the downtime (after all, I do pay for service 24/7), and was told I'd get it.  Yesterday and today there is no service again.  I call: yesterday there was supposedly a problem with the proxy in all of Ontario, and today there is a problem with a router in the Peel region and in Ottawa.  I get told that I've never asked for credit before, and they can't issue credit going back.  I see.  OK, what's done is done, assholes.  So I ask for credit for today and yesterday, saying "there has been no service available both yesterday and today."  The customer service idiot, can't remember his name but it was something like Vinesh and he spoke with a thickass accent, told me that there have never been outages for more than a whole day in any area and Rogers@home is proud of that.  I insist that yesterday there was a problem with the proxy in all of Ontario (citing the automated message), and that today in the Peel region (i.e. where I live) there is a problem with the router resulting in no connectivity again (again, citing the message).  His response is, "well, it's not the same problem."  Eventually after more citing of the facts (i.e. I pay for 24/7 service and don't get it), he did issue credits for yesterday and today.  We'll see if they're actually applied.  Oh and BTW, I was on hold for at least 25 minutes.  And despite what the menu tells you, "billing" does not include credits, only making payments online.  So no matter what your problem with Rogers@home is, call 1-888-288-4663 and choose 1-3-0, and when asked, say your name is the name of the person in whose name the service is (in my case my father's).  Otherwise they claim they can't do anything for security purposes.

More on this next bit later -- don't trust the exchange rates between currencies that are quoted in Canada.

I don't care what anyone says, The Outer Limits is a very cool show.  Interesting episode tonight... "Although survival of the fittest is the cornerstone of evolution, perhaps it will be the meek who will inherit the Earth after all."

Just for the record, I have been on the Jack of All Trades scene for a few months now.  I have known about it for a long time, but have only seen it in person in the past few weeks.  No one I know knows about it, and if they say otherwise, they suck.

Here is yet another example of "why don't I have a decent job?"  I need to send money to Brazil for some car parts.  About BR$ 150.  The CIBC at Queensway/Kipling sucks ass.  Don't do business there.  I will never again set foot in the one in Meadowvale Town Centre because of being screwed over with my student loans.  When I first went into the Queensway/Kipling one, they said "no problem", and that I could send either a money order, bank draft, or just wire the money to Brazil in any currency (i.e. USD, CAD, BR$, of the ones I asked about).  When it came time to send the money, it turns out they can only do it in USD, and only with a bank draft.  And with a retarded $150 CAD surcharge!  WTF?  I'm sending about $100 CAD worth of money??

It has been suggested I try Western Union ("Money Mart" in Canada).  I look it up on the US web site, find a location close to me (Millcreek by the SubWay).  Call them up.  The skank I spoke with quoted me the following:

• 1 BR$ = 0.657 CAD
• 150 BR$ = 228.30 CAD

Somehow that doesn't add up.  She claims with the $24 CAD service charge, it does.  OK, so if 1 BR$ = $0.657, then 100 BR$ = $65.70, and 150 BR$ = $98.55, plus their $24 fee = $125, right?  WTF?  I explained it to her by saying "if 1 Brazilian Real is less than 1 Canadian Dollar, why is 150 Brazilian Reals more than 150 Canadian Dollars?"  I am dead serious - her answer was "well, when you convert it, it becomes more."  STFU bitch!  I wish I had gotten her name;  feel free to call the location and ask her yourself -- 905-812-3165.  Her final word was "you can call Western Union and have them answer your question."

So I did -- 1-800-235-0000.  I spoke with a woman with a heavy Chinese accent.  I seriously had to ask my question 3 times, and I worded it really in a very basic manner, after hearing her "hallo, wehcome to Westaa Uniaa, how may I hewp youu".  I asked "I need to send Brazilian currency to Brazil from Canada.  I need to send about 150 Brazilian Reals, how much will that cost me, and what options do I have."  I paused between sentences so she could catch up in understanding.  From her I think I understood that:

• From the USA, you can send money directly to a person's account anywhere in the world.
• From Canada, you can't.  There's no way.  "We don't offer those kinds of services in Canda."
• The only way is to wire 'cash' to a Brazilian Western Union, and have the person pick it up there.
• She had to way to tell me the exchange rate between anything other than USD and another currency:
• 1 USD = 1.80 BR$
• 1 USD = 1.48 CAD
• Using my basic math skills, that tells me that 1 BR$ = 0.822 CAD... now how does this compare to 1:0.657 that I was quoted earlier?

The 1-800 woman also couldn't tell me what information I needed from the person to whom the money is being sent.  I asked "I need the person's name, but do I need their address, or any other information."  "You just send the money and the person picks it up there at a Western Union."  "Yes, but do I need to give the person's address or any other information to ensure the proper person picks up the money?"  "No, you don't understand, the person just goes to a Western Union in that country and picks up the money.  We don't deliver it."  "But how do they make sure the proper person gets the money?"  "They just give their name."  "OK, never mind" and I hung up.  Equal Employment Opportunity Employers are good in one sense, but not good if the person hired can't speak English or perform their task as well as a native English-speaker or at least an immigrant like myself who is fluent in the language.

Tired, but working overtime.  Time-and-a-half is good.

Saw a mention of this on Blue's...  I never noticed this example, but I've noticed others.  "Ms. Pac-Man" -- How can a Ms. be a Man?  I know that maybe she's married to a Mr. Pac-Man, but it still sounds funny.  The one I noticed is in the song "King of my Castle", which is sung by a woman :)

Look for me this weekend at the Kitchener Bug-Out.

Sometimes Barney plays Peekaboo on his own.  Funny.  But not what you think!  Get out of my gutter!

Well, it's been over a week and my Unilink Selector still hasn't arrived.  I am not happy.

Remember 4k intros?  Well, something similar was devised for HTML programming and the results are way cool.

And here is a funny picture leeched from another site:

.

Dwight Strong is a bitch.  It turns out my winter car is still insured and with comprehensive.  I haven't driven this car since May, and it was never to have anything but the basic coverage.  Despite faxing my university diploma and calling them each time (a total of 4 times now), my "good student discount" has been removed.  It is to extend through to my 25th birthday following my graduation.  The coverage on my summer car has gone from ~$70/month last year to $120/month this year, apparently for the same coverage (comprehensive).  Now they claim never to have received my diploma, and hence cannot continue the good student discount.  I hope he gets fired and screwed over by someone else in the exact manner he has been screwing us over these past 5 years.

I don't know who knows this, but we have an export business.  We have been dealing with a company here for 10 years and the best we can manage is a 20% discount off the "retail" prices.  There is a Russian interested in the same products, who has tried buying from us but was not at all timely with payments and claimed the goods were shipped damaged and wanted a re-shipment for free.  Upon our refusal, he attempted to circumvent us by going directly to the manufacturer (from whom we buy), but was refused because of his bad history with us.  A few months back he changed his company name, and re-approached the manufacturer.  Within a few weeks he was granted a 40% discount and has exclusive rights to Russia.  If this doesn't get resolved I will make it known, what kind of operation this company runs.

On a better note, I worked 4.5 hours of overtime yesterday.

No I haven't stopped shaking my fist at the sky.  I've just been tired and sick (flu).  Soon some ranting will commence.

First this, brought to my attention by my good friend L.O.T.S..  My comment: "At least we know that the more some things change (i.e. Anime in Western theatres), the more they stay the same ('dubbing is better because you don't have to read the stupid subtitles')."

Here's a great song title that came up over some beer yesterday: "I gave you my love, you gave me the clap."

Well, the work is easy.  Basically you get a phaser-looking computer that tells you what items to pick -- i.e. 3 cases of orange juice, 7 cases of butter, 2 cases of Sunny D, 1 box of yogurt, etc..  I just drive around the warehouse collecting items onto 1 or 2 skids, depending on how many there are (the computer tells me how many skids), then wrap them up, and put them down in the appropriate area.

Like I said, easy work.  But too easy, because I feel myself getting dumber by the day.  The crowd there is also as I expected it.  It's basically people I don't like to be around.  The same people that are annoying in high school and that drop out of university, are the ones that end up here.  Most are not helpful, and have forearms that are larger than my thighs in diameter!  Many of them I would also like to avoid meeting in a dark alley, especially if they are wielding a metal pipe.

Talked with L.O.T.S. about this yesterday for a bit.  He forwarded his theory that basically people who work in offices are nice to be around, whereas those who work in warehouses and other manual-labour jobs are not.  This is a generalization, and L.O.T.S. himself mentioned this, but it's a fact.  Whether it's because they have something to prove, feel threatened by a new employee stealing away their precious weekend working hours or what have you.

I've got a job working in a computer shop lined up, providing I can prove my skills, which I feel I can.  While I don't consider myself a quitter, I will be probably quitting the warehouse job this Friday.  Many reasons contribute to this; I'm going to make myself a chart with both jobs and pros and cons of each to help decide.  If it comes out well, I'll post it here for no one to read, since no one reads this page anyway ^_-

Work is not fun.  Monday was spent hearing about how great the company is, yesterday was machine training on the jiggers, and today I actually get to start work.  While I'm trying to to psych myself up against it, I don't think I'll like it.

Here's a Microsoft Bug Report.  Funny.

OK.  I am no longer a *happy camper*.  Had my first day at National Grocers today;  it was primarily hearing about how the company is good, filling in many forms, finding out about the Union, and watching 1980's WHIMS safety videos.  I don't like this job any more.  I was mislead at the interview into thinking this was a full-time position.  Here is what it is in reality:

• Permanent PART-time position.
• $12.55/hour to start ($12.00 + $0.55 premium for working afternoon shift)
• Raise after 1 year.  A raise of $0.50
• Another raise after 2 years from starting date.  Another $0.50
• NO benefits as a part-time employee.  Ever.  Never.
• In order to become full-time, I have to be employed for 1-2 years, have enough seniority AND be approved by the Union to advance.
• Permanent part-time also means they only guarantee 3 hours out of each 8 hour shift you're signed up for.
• And on average only work 2-3 days/week are scheduled.
• $6.50 from each week's paycheque goes to the Union.

This sucks ass.  But at least I'm glad I didn't go through a placement agency.  I talked with 2 guys who are also going to be working at NG, who made $5 less per hour just because they went through an agency.  The $5 per hour per person per day went into the placement agency's pockets.  I now have added placement agencies to the ranks of lawyers, cops, the EI people and the YMCA's Summer JobSearch Program,  in my Scale O' Society.

Back to National Grocers.  I guess the tests I had to write at the interview should have been an indication of how lame this job would be.  The test consisted of a spelling portion where there were words written out and I had to rewrite them with any corrections, ones I remember: "goverment," "comitment," "commentery" and a few others which any junior high school grad could spell.  The math portion included such brain stumpers as "4x6," "12x3" and the ever-impossible "16*6+3."  Also was a sheet full of pairs of numers and/or number-symbol combinations.  I had to tick off either (S) for Same or (D) for Different.  I was given 5 minutes to complete this, and I was done in about 1.5 minutes.  The trickier ones included such pairs as "1245 1245," "0.002% 0.0002%" and "F6B123 FB6123".  I don't know how I passed.  Today I wish I hadn't.

The Media sucks.  Re: the Walkerton, ON water problem.  I wish I had recorded an audio clip of this from the TV.  It went something like "And today this lady can no longer trust her former friend... the water from her tap."  WTF?  Is that lady one of Bart's People?  "Some people say the ducks went to Canada; others, Toronto."

Ow, my freakin' ears.  Sasha was loud.  My ears haven't rung in a long time from music that was too loud.  But it was good.  Very good!  What's more, I discovered a new drink - Rev.  The music was awesome, but the venue was not.  It was at a club called Meow.  It was way too packed, and a bit too loud for my tastes.

Time to celebrate the job!  Sasha.is in town, so I'm going to hear him spin.  $30/ticket, it better be good!!  Can't talk (i.e. rant) much more now, I'm too happy about finally finding a job!!!

I don't believe it.  I had a job interview today and got the job!  $12.55/hour to start!  Working 5+ days/week, in a +5^oC dairy warehouse for National Grocers.  5-minute car drive from my house, working 1pm-9pm.  Benefits & raise after 90 days!!  Cool!!!  I start on Monday!

The interviewer girl sucked at her job.  She'd ask me a question, reformulating it about 3 times each time, and then wouldn't listen to my response such that I'd have to repeat myself twice!!  Apparently she was in training, but the chubby chick that was training her didn't step in and help her.  A really annoying interview.  The interviewing wench couldn't even read my resume properly!

Bought Fight Club on DVD last night.  Great movie.  With the mounds of extras you get, it's well worth the $27.99 CAD I paid for it.  Buy it at MusicWorld and get a cool gift.  Haven't watched more than 10 minutes of it yet, so I can't comment on the transfer.  The packaging is cool too, except for one thing.  "Disk 1" and "Disk 2".  When will people learn the difference between discs and disks.  ARGH!!

In other resume news, I am no longer a university graduate, nor do I have good proof-reading skills or MS Word skills.  The resume I fax to jobs that don't require a post-secondary education no longer list my university degree, have a few spelling mistakes thrown in, and the look of the resume is un-polished (with not-lined up text, an extra bold character in 2 places, and messed-up spacing.)  If this can't net me a job, I will totally give up.  This resume is already in circulation at various warehouses, mushroom-growing plants and such and such.

Here's an interesting thought I heard on the Dragon's Teeth episode of ST: Voyager:

"When it's raining, do you get wet while running around trying to find shelter,
or do you get wet by just standing around?" I think I'm more of the latter, but I know I should be the former.

Interview tomorrow for warehouse position with National Grocer.

Let it be known that I have performed a dumbening of my resume.  I am no longer a university graduate, and only have an OSSD, without an Ontario Scholar.  I have had no significant achievements after high school, with the exception of the VW-related stuff.  If this cheating cannot land me a minimum-wage job, I don't know what can.

When applying for jobs online, and requesting a return-receipt, I love seeing this:

Subject:
        Mail System Delivery Report
    Date:
       Mon, 5 Jun 2000 10:59:52 -0700
   From:
        Mail Administrator

As part of the delivery process, your message was relayed to a machine
which does not handle delivery status notifications.  As a result, it
is not possible to determine whether the message will get to its final
destination.

Why don't I have a job?  Today's dolt works at Mississauga Volkswagen.  I am in the process of adding in 3 additional VDO gauges to better inform me of what's going on under the hood.  I have the gauges, but need the sending units.  I know the gauges are off a mid-80's Audi 4000 5-cyl, I think a 1985, non-quattro. So I go in with the gauges, tell the guy what I know and ask how much the 2 sending units are (the voltmeter just hooks in anywhere into the circuit).  The guy insists there are 3 sending units, and comes  back with prices of $170 each for all 3.  I reiterate that all I need are the sending units (i.e. I explain "the parts attached to the engine that tell the gauges what to display").  The guy says "oh", leaves to check, and comes back saying that the Audis never came with the gauges I have and that I must be mistaken in what they're off of.  Again, I reaffirm my statement, that they're off a mid-80's Audi 4000.  I suggest that he go by the part numbers on the actual gauges to figure out what they're from.  He says he can't do that.  His boss, Mr. Tos - the guy that interviewed me and lied to me a few weeks back, looks at the gauges (specifically at the part numbers), and tells the guy "they're off an '85-87 Audi 4000", check that.  Low and behold, Audis did come with the gauges.  Guy leaves, this time the prices are $40 (oil temperature) and $170 (oil pressure).  He still insists they're off a 4-cyl engine, when I know for a fact they were taken out of one with a 5-cyl.  Whatever.  Anyhow, this ordeal took about 10 minutes.  If I had that job, I would know what sending units are.  I would know that they're different between the 4-cyl and 5-cyl engines.  I would be able to perform the job for which I am being paid.  But apparently I do not have enough experience in the field to be hired for the position.  Life is unfair.

4 months sans le work.  WTF?  Current plan - if nothing surfaces by noon-ish tomorrow, I perform a dumbening of my resume down to retarded grade and apply for minimum wage hydrant painting positions.

Cops suck ass.  I'm out to lunch with my good friend L.O.T.S. this afternoon.  We are sitting at an intersection that has a separate light for the left turn lanes.  There's some van in front of us that didn't make it and is waiting on the red left turn light.  The light for going straight through the intersection (for the same way we're pointed) goes amber, so this guy inches forward.  Light goes red, this guy makes a turn!  Waiting first in line on the street perpendicular to the one we're on is a pig.  The pig does nothing. WTF?  Do the fucking cops not make as much comission from running a red light as they do from a speeding ticket?  WTfuckingF?  Hindsight tells me I should have taken the cruiser number and van's license plate down and called the station to complain.  What a fucking unfair world.

To reiterate the unfairness, here's a true story from yesterday.  Shop needs a part - o-ring seal for a distributor on a 1987 Olds Custom Cruiser (or whatever the name is - those hugeass station wagon things).  First stop, Crappy Tire.  After waiting for 10 minutes for the fuck behind the counter to get off the phone (it was a personal call to his girl/boyfriend from the sounds of the conversation), he just leaves.  Another east-Indian guy shows up.  I can barely understand him.  I say "I need an o-ring for a distributor, for an 87 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser."  I had to repeat this 3 times until he understood.  Luckily I had it written down on a piece of paper, which aided him in understanding the simple English language being used.  He disappears for 5 minutes.  Comes back and says, <accent> "I'm velly solly sil, ve do not stock doze parts any mole in cal palts.  You will have to go haldwale." </accent>  I ask whether he's serious, and apparently so.  So I go over to the faucet section and look.  No o-rings at all.  They'd be made of the wrong material anyway, so I leave.

Time for the GM dealer on Dundas just east of Dixie.  I wait in line for about 5 minutes while the guy in front of me repeatedly repeats what car and part he needs, and the oaf behind the counter can't find it.  The guy pays and starts leaving, and the used car dealer that was behind me tries to start ordering his touch up paint.  I just step in front of him.  He looks at me and says, "oh, ok, you can go first."  "I was first anyway."-me  The guy mumbled something in some Oriental language I couldn't decipher.  Dolt.  Sorry, back to the oaf.  Just to paint an image of him: biceps bigger than my neck, and forearms to match, chest the size of a commode.  Gino-type tight t-shirt and wide pants.  I show him the part, describe it as an o-ring and say what car it's for.  "So you want a washer, right?"  "No, it's actually an o-ring."  "Oh, ok."  Looks it up on his computer for another 5 or so minutes and says, sorry that car never existed.  He disappears.  Comes back with another guy.  Other guy tells oaf that he should be looking for a 307 engine and an Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser, not a Chevrolet Caprice Classic.  Both guys disappear for a few minutes again.  Second guy comes back and says it's special order and won't be in for 2 weeks.  I leave.

A similar thing happened at Mississauga BMW a few days back.  The wrong part was brought, yet the wench at the parts counter insisted it was the right one.  (Rubber coolant hoses were ordered, steel brake lines were brought.)  This is the job I twice didn't get.  WTF?

I don't get it.  What do I have to do to get a job?  I am so much better educated and brighter than all of these people, yet I don't have the job.  Fuck.

Saw the Raving and Ranting special on MuchMusic.  Pretty bad, but I wasn't expecting much better from something that'll be aired on TV.  Some thoughts:

• Master T, as cool a cat and Jamaican as he is, is not the ideal host for this.
• That female Oriental councillor (Olivia Chow?) was the smartest person there aside from the "younger" people like the rave promoters, the guy who admitted to doing E and the National Post writer guy.
• I'm surprised Don Berns didn't show up and voice his opinion live.
• Funny to hear the cops fumbling for words after the fact was mentioned that the guns were NOT from a rave, and about those faked pictures they took with drugs and planted flyers with butterflies.
• The guy who admitted to doing E.  WTF was with the audience?  There seemed to be a gasp, snickering, whispering and almost a surprise when he admitted to it.  I'm not saying he should have been praised or handed more E to demonstrate how it's taken, but a more mature approach would have been good.
• The caller from Vancouver was good.
• The doctor who started ranting on about how you can do E but don't do too much and don't mix it with other drugs was very wrong for national live TV.
• Maybe I should get into journalism or something therelike... I am very good at writing, and have been told by numerous people that I'm "diplomatic" and don't take sides.

Tito Puente (sp?) died today.  What a loss.  I liked his Simpsons appearance.

Been meaning to post this for a while - the creator of PKZip died a few weeks back from alcohol overdose or something.  It's a shame.  He was an alcoholic and had cronic depression or something like that.  He'll probably go forgotten, despite so many millions using his software daily!  I prefered ARJ back in the day due to its -v1440 and -i2 switches, but use WinZip mostly nowadays.

I'm getting really excited about some BX action from Brazil.  Example: H4 lens complete, ~$40 USD.  Compare with stock 9004 lens for $205 CAD.

If there's one thing you can count on in this world, it's cops out in full force on the last day of the month to make up their quotas and earn their commissions.  Bastards.

Finally caught Jack Of All Trades.  "Sorry Emperor, you won't be getting any head today."  Hee hee hee!

Was chatting it up with M.Sastar.  Interesting conclusion was drawn - companies that sell stuff which is used after business hours should have tech support & customer service lines open after business hours as well.

Went to a Compact Car show on Sunday in London.  Interesting show.  Noticed a big difference between VW owners and all others.  I am planning an essay on the topic soon.

That brings me to my next point - I'm planning on writing essays once in a while, so I don't forget how to do it.  While still at school, I used to be able to whip off an essay in a night;  but now that I haven't done it for a while, I am not as quick as I used to be.  I don't want to lose this good skill I have, so I better practise it.  That and my languages.

Tomorrow I will call up every placement agency I can find.  I have also been urged to remove the "Interests" section from my resume;  the person who suggested this told me that it was a trend a few years ago, and today a resume is only supposed to show what you know and where you've worked.

Saw Road Trip yesterday.  Funny.  Not funny = no seat belts were worn throughout the movie, except when they're getting into the Taurus for the first time.

In the words of Deepthroat, "Trust no one."  Why?  Well, there's my ever-present inability to find work through people who guarantee they'll get me a good job, and now the following.  The new location of the shop cannot exist where it was intended to.  <rant>  What a fucker!  The owner of the building said he applied for all applicable building permits to do with a class x (sorry, can't remember what class we fall under) automotive car repair facility.  Today we got word that the zoning is incorrect for a car repair garage, the wall that was built (not by us) to divide off our unit was built to incorrect specifications and will have to be torn down (after $500 in paint was used by us), and the permit for a large overhead door has been denied.  Fuck.  That $500 is nothing compared to what it cost to move the hoists and equipment, not to mention the hours put into the move.  Who can you trust in this world?  I know that from now on I will only trust myself, my parents and brother, and no one else.  Everyone else is separated by a near-infinite gap and are not trusted by me.  "If you don't do something yourself, it won't get done."  I am about ready to give up on everything.  And soon, I will.  I'll just get some shitty job (if I can even get that) doing whatever and getting paid whatever and sort of make a poor attempt at an existence out of that.  Maybe some illegal road racing on Creditview, Erin Mills or up in north Toronto will help pay the bills.  And what else makes me angry?  There's an ad (which I'll scan in later) in the Employment News proclaiming $90,000 in assistance to immigrants.  I will agree that people newly-arrived to any country need some help but not at the fucking expense of current citizens!  What the fuck?  Some immigant is get many money?  Premium, answer-question, job-get, 100%!  And I am not able to get a job, despite wanting to?  To quote Mr. Syzlak, "Get eurass back to eurasia."  Fuck.  Anyone have ideas on what I should do, let me know.  Otherwise I really, seriously, not-joking, don't know what else to do. </rant>

Answered the phone today, it was a friend of my parents.  This person knows I'm not having any luck in finding a job.  The person had the audacity to say "You're looking for a job, but you're doing everything in your power not to find it, right?"  STFU!  In case anyone is wondering, I am not making ANY of this up!

Know what else sucks?  The media.  The Global Village, as described by Marshall McLuhan is very accurate and very good.  To an extent.  But when you get instant news from something that hasn't been investigated yet, and the idiot reporter jumps to their own retarded conclusions, it's just plain retarded.  I still recall when Princess Diana's Mercedes-Benz crashed and she was killed... the woman reporter's comment after reporting the death was, "well, I guess Mercedes better re-engineer their cars to be safe after this incident.  It's clear they are not safe."

Along the same lines, you get people who hear about something, look it up on the net, and fancy themselves experts.  I'll cite some examples next time, as I'm really tired all of a sudden.

Compact Car Show coming up this weekend in London.  I'll probably go, but don't expect to have a chance against: clear tail lights, 19" chrome wheels, liquid-cooled amps (yes, they do exist), NOS, $15k paint jobs, gold chain license plate frames or crown air fresheners.  I do expect "this is a VW what?" and "Why the fuck do you care about this POS, get a real car."

Still looking for a 2N tranny.  And now a mid-80's MAF sensor from a 5-series Bimmer.  MB should work too.

22:45  Alright!  The long weekend's here!  Finally done moving the shop (still one car left at the old place), and done preparing the shipment for tomorrow morning.  So exhausted.  Not used to work.  Out of shape.  Cut.  Tired.  Bruised.  Burned.  Ultra-dry skin.  Tired.  Bigass headache.  Tired.  Sleep.

Run-down of the past few days:

• Last week daily:  Work from ~noon - 20:00 at the shop.
• Friday:  Work from 10:00 - 23:30 at the shop.
• Saturday:  Work from 8:00 - 22:45 at the shop.
• Sunday:  Work from 9:30 - 22:00 at the shop.
• Today:  Work from 9:00 - 15:00 at the shop, 15:00 - 22:30 at home on the shipment.
• = FUN!

I love the bitch customers who come in weekly to mooch a hoist for a few hours, borrow tools and return them months later, then claim they'll help whenever we need them.  But when asked to help with the move this weekend, all you get is "well, this is the long weekend... you don't expect me to give up a long weekend, do you?"  No comment required by me.

Another friend of my parents knows someone who "works with computer" and apparently says he can get me a job.  Uh-huh.  We'll see.  By no means have I gived up before trying, but I've heard "I'm a big wheel at the computer factory" so many times and had a 0% success rate, I am very, very skeptical.

"Escapism is good." - A.B.  I watched Majo No Takkyubin again yesterday.  What an awesome story.  I recently read an interview with the director where one of the descriptions was "a Europe where no World Wars ever took place."  A very accurate description.

I'm tired and can't even rant about bad drivers, women drivers, visible minority drivers, retarded TV commercials, not being able to find Pee-Wee's Big Adventure on DVD, not being able to find Keiner Liebt Mich in any format or any language, or anything else.

PS.  I'm tired.

It begins.

Short rant before I leave for horrid work - on the news this morning some guy was claiming that within 2 years he wants to change the emissions laws so that all cars will have to run on premium gasoline.  He was a representative of the research division of Petro Canada.  Hmm.  Need I say more?

Now, my car runs on 94 octane already, but that's due to the modifications that I've performed.  It works out to be a bit more expensive to run, but I get more kilometers out of a tank with 94 octane and my mods, than I did with the stock setup and 87 octane.

It never fails, it never fails.  I was going to write about this yesterday, but was too tired.  At the shop again, a guy that told me that I should go through HRDC to get a job.  He claimed that before getting HRDC benefits and before even applying to get them, he went to a place called Back To Work Services, and they helped him find a good job for free.  Hmm.., OK.  He said it was a branch or division of ManPower.  ManPower doesn't think so.  This is what he said way back in March or whenever he told me about it over the phone.  Yesterday I spoke with him in person.  Turns out the place he went through won't deal with you unless you're getting employment insurance benefits, most courses/assistance cost money, and he didn't like the first 3 jobs they got him (he's at the 3rd job now).  What a great place, eh?  I'm regretting I, uhh, didn't go there yet, otherwise I'd have to spend money I don't have, and hate the jobs they get me.  Oh, and did I mention I'd be unable to actually get their non-free assistance, because I can't get EI benefits?  (I don't think I mentioned this, but close to a month ago I went to the HRDC building on Dixie/Dundas, with my Record of Employment, and it turns out that I am ineligible for EI benefits, because I wasn't an actual full-time employee at my previous job.  Herein lies the reason why I was paid an hourly rate, and not a wage with benefits.  Oh well.)

Murphy's Law strikes again.  Pictures forthcoming.

Does anyone read this page?

My life tastes like burning.  I have lost faith in humanity again;  I don't know what I was thinking with having my faith therein restored.  My gravitation towards commode-mouth is rapidly accelerating.  I don't approve of it.  Horrendous weekend is about to begin.  Doh.

Was watching EC tonight.  The special host Nadine's English skills are bad.  I only took note of one sentence:  "Would you say your likelihood is jungle music?"  Now I could be wrong, but I found it unpossible to fail English.  'Likelihood' can't be used like that, can it?  I will ask this again, why don't I have a job, and cretins like her do??

Oh dear.  I spent at least 20 minutes reading this and examining the pictures close up.  I am now going to check my yard.

I'm looking for work.  It's great to see job ads like this one, with no contact information.  [I didn't manipulate the content of the picture, beyond making it into 1 picture rather than 2 screens.]

OK, another person has made it into my upcoming black list.  Dwight Strong, State Farm insurance agent.  Let's count the strikes against:

1. First the turd didn't want to switch around the insurance last fall when I got my winter car;  he eventually did, but fucked it up such that my summer car had NO insurance (I wanted fire & theft on it for the winter).
2. Then he told us that he will be making no more changes "because you're too much work for me."  OK, guy, we have 6 cars (yes, six), 1 dealer plate, 1 house and 1 business insured through you.  If that doesn't bring you a nice cheque each year through your residual income, I don't know what will.
3. Each time I've gone to get a picture of my car and the VIN sticker taken, they lose it.  When I was getting my summer car re-registered this May, I asked no less than 3 times whether they have a picture of my car on file, and if they'd like to take another one just in case.  The reply was, "no we don't lose things around here."  Guess what, they need a picture of my car.
4. State Farm, for those that don't know, have a 'good student discount'.  Meaning that if your overall average is at or above 70%, or if you make a report card/transcript say that through manipulation, you get a discount.  [I have never done the latter but know people who have.  After being dropped out of school for 2 years!]  So, upon graduation from university, they asked that I fax them a copy of my diploma so that my good student discount will count up to my 25th birthday.  I did, and confirmed that they got it via a phone call.  Today they asked when they're gonna get it, because they've already processed the insurance without the discount.  Thanks, bitches!
5. If him and his wife don't shape up soon, I'm gonna go over there with a pipe.  And possibly run my winter car into their window be unable to stop in time.
6. The only thing that counts for him is that he is giving us the best deal by a long shot, when compared to any other insurance company.  But the hassles are not worth it.

Advice - don't read anything about the X-Files season finale, or anything about X-Files at all!!  Yesterday I read a news tidbit about how David Duchovny is in talks with Fox, etc., and the article concluded by saying something like "and at the end of the season finale airing soon, ___."  FUCK!  First the Simpsons where Maude dies was ruined, and now the finale.  Did I mention the article went on to ruin next season too??  </shaking fist at sky>
If you want to know what I wish I didn't know, highlight here > David Duchovny gets abducted at the end of the season finale.  He is only signed for the first 11 or 22 episodes of next season. <

I wonder if this item comes in an inflatable variety...

Wow.  I have somewhat restored faith in humanity!  I got a call today from the Burlington Library (where I had the interview last week).  Well, I didn't get the job, but the guy who interviewed me had the courtesy and respect to return my call and call me back telling me the bad news.  While I would have liked to have gotten the job (who wouldn't have?), I was really happy to know that he kept his word about calling me back to let me know either way (whether I got the job or not).  Thanks!  Another thing: I was one of 4 people remaining to be considered for employment - I guess that means that my skills do have a use out there... I just have to find where.

Today I'm faxing out an application to the City of Mississauga, because I've found one online.

It's already tomorrow, but I feel like updating today, and not changing the date.  Boy I'm evil.  Time for some shaking of my fist at the sky:

Was at the shop again today, ran into yet another of the people that guaranteed me a nice job at their cracker factory;  guaranteed by their Big Wheel status there.  So I get asked, "are you working yet?"  Of course, I say "no, but I'm always applying."  [paraphrased, but all statements were made] "Well, I guess you don't really want a job since you don't have one yet.  I mean there are so many jobs out there.  It's just easier for you to sit at home and do nothing."  I didn't have my witty hat on and I was tired, otherwise I would have exploded.  Well, I hate to break it to everyone who thinks I am super happy fun guy without a job.  It is nice to not have a commitment to get up and go to work, but even that sucks.  I think most people don't understand how frustrating, depressing and generally shitty I feel becuase I cannot find any employment.  I still have quite a large sum saved up in the bank despite buying a DVD player, some parts for my car, taking a trip to MI, partying now and then and all of the other expenses.  I'm not bragging, just saying that to 'prove' I'm not mooching off my parents.  In fact, I haven't asked for anything and haven't received anything beyond a roof over my head and adequate sustenance for the employment searching marathon.  So to conclude before I fall asleep at the keyboard, a hugeass STFU goes out to all those who think I am 100% enjoying not being employed.  Now time for sleep.

Met someone today.  Really smart guy.  Has a Bachelor's degree in something like philosophy and a Master's in Child Psychology.  Is he raking in the big bucks?  Nope, he does rustproofing on cars.  There are no jobs out there.  It's actually really comforting to know there are others in the same situation as me.

Another short story - for the longest time a friend of the family was supposed to get me a list of placement agencies.  (Since late February, actually.)  I finally got the list yesterday.  Today this person calls me up and asks whether I applied to all of the agencies, knowing that I am helping out at the shop 100% of my time (i.e. 9am-11pm).  I said, "no, haven't had the time since I'm helping at the shop."  This person's reply is "Well, if you have that attitude, don't look for help from me."  STFU.

Now time for sleep, since it is tomorrow in 1 minute.

I take back my comment about the listing of university education, etc. on my resume.  I spoke with 3 different people over the weekend about this topic, and came to the conclusion that the practise is common.  All three were Masters or PhDs in chemical engineering, metallurgy and IIRC mechanical engineering.  Having no Canadian Experience ^TM they were unable to find decent work here.  Upon removing their higher education, leaving only the equivalent of a technical college, they were able to find work after a certain time.  While I don't have oodles of higher education to remove, I do believe I may be dumbening down my resume.

It only takes one bad cop to ruin every cop's image.  Why?  Permit me, if you will, to relate a true story.  A friend of mine has an Audi Coupe.  He recently needed a rear muffler, and since the dealer's prices are insane, he opted out to get an aftermarket, stock-spec one installed.  He did and it's no louder than a stock one.  It looks different, because it's more of a universal fit one, and also because it's still nice and shiny.  So, last week, this friend is driving along, obeying everything humanly possible, when he's pulled over by a pig.  The cop comes out of his cruiser and says, "I have to write you up a ticket for an improper muffler."  My friend was very taken aback, and said "but I just got it installed, and it's a normal, cheap muffler."  To this, the cop's reply was "I'll now have to write up a ticket for improper headlights too."  (My friend has legal, DOT-certified super-white bulbs in his headlights.)  After this my friend just stayed quiet, and is planning on making an ass out of the pig-mofo in court.  I know my friend's going to win, because he has the bill and box from the muffler, and the bulbs have "DOT" stamped on them.  Cops, being paid a commission (yes, it's a proven fact), write up as many tickets as they possibly can.  I hope they all get what they deserve.  Lesson: never argue with a cop;  take the ticket and the kick his ass in court.

Anyone looking for me this week - good luck.  E-mail me.  Long weekend is also busy.  Looking at painting close to 200 m² of wall, and possibly close to that in floor.

Hooray for cloning!
.

Yesterday I was told the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard, in regards to my job searching.  I got to talking with a guy, and I mentioned that I'm looking for basically anything now, including factory work, warehouse positions, etc..  He asked whether I listed my completion of university and high school on my resume.  I, of course, said "no."  His reply was that I shouldn't list any education because that will mean I need the job more than someone who is well-educated.  Uhh, no, I don't think I'll be doing that.

When I was down in Burlington for the interview, I dropped off a resume at the VW dealership there.  The manager wasn't in, so I left it with the guy I spoke with, and got the manager's business card.  I have been calling back every day since, and every day I hear "I'm sorry, he has the day off today."  WTF?  I am in the process of compiling a list of people not to trust, and you can rest assured that Mr. Paul Leggat of Roseland Motors Limited will be on it.  STFU, Leggat!

You know what else I hate?  WWW sites with automatically-popping up windows.  And no, not the pr0n ones.  I mean 'normal' sites that have an ad that pops up every 2 minutes.  I'm genuinely interested in the article or products, but pop-up windows are really annoying.  This one also magically causes its browser window to become active for no reason.  Annoying when you load up the page and then go back to typing up an e-mail, or ICQ or something.

Tee hee.  Wish I lived there, instead of the stupid street I live on.  Any street name that has a retarded first word, followed by two more, should not have been thusly named.  Thusly?

And one last thing from the "Why don't I have a job and these idiots do?" department:  There's a shipment of parts going out this morning.  It's going overseas, so everything has to be correct.  When ordering, parts are always checked many times, and whenever possible, pictures are faxed and circled indicating the exact part.  Well, you order them, you show them pictures, you verbally describe the part, and you still get the wrong one.  Retarded.

On Monday I'll call back about the Library job.  I really like the way it sounds and would like to be working there.

Now off to work some more on the Quantum.

Good morning all, permit me to begin with a few STFUs:

• "Rave Parties Banned" - Hmm.  The council in T.O. voted 25-24 in favour of banning "Rave Parties" in city-owned buildings.  Yes, this will stop the crazy "Rave Parties."  Yup.  Overall, the arguments I heard quoted on the tele sucked major ass.  One female councillor, forgot her name, attempted to delay the vote until at least the coroner's inquest (into the death of that 21 year old guy who allegedly O.D.'d on Ecstasy) was complete.  They told her to STFU and voted anyway.
• Teachers in ON to get "commission" for teaching anything beyond classroom time.  WTF?  STFU!!!!  There was a study done recently into how effective and skilled teachers are (or something along those lines), and also with this study after-school activities were discussed.  The woman that was interviewed (someone from the school board) made a suggestion that teachers should be paid extra for every extra-curricular activity they organize/supervise/etc..  Yes, that will help with the quality of teaching.  The additional quantity of money they'll be raking in will not affect them one bit.  Nope.  They're making way too much as it is (school councellors especially - a special STFU goes to my old high school counsellor who screwed me over large on a few occasions... don't worry, I'll rant about her in the future).  WTF?  You became a teacher to teach children/teens, but you won't help them out beyond the boring lecture at the front of the classroom?  Money is all that's important to you?  You suck.  STFU!

Saw American Beauty last night.  Good movie, but I thought Magnolia was a lot better.  The story was more involved and somehow cooler.  But don't get me wrong, I really liked AB.

Pics going up later today from the last April VWoT meet, and the show this past Sunday, where I took first Dasher/Quantum/Fox!  W00p!

Interview with The Friends of the Library in Burlington.  And by that I mean an interview for the position of "Computer Operator" at the Burlington Central Library.

Nachos are good.

Update:  Interview went well, IMHO.  The guy interviewing my has a VW (like I do, for the unaware), and actually checked out my web pages and commented on them!  [about how I'm putting together a 386 box to help with SETI@home -- you have to do some reading and digging to read about that].  All of the other interviews I've had where someone mentioned they looked at my web pages, commented about the neat picture on the main VWoT page (how low that Golf is), or how I have a page about the VW Fox.  I.e. they just type in the URL and that's it.  Job sounds cool, actually much more along the lines of what I'd like to be doing than what I thought "computer operator" entailed.  It sounds like it's mainly inside tech support both for staff and library-goers, as well as for staff at other branches.  Anything from "the 'net isn't up" to "my screen is blank" to "I need a new NIC" I believe.  And despite being in Burlington, it only took 30 minutes to get there (I assume 45-60 in traffic).

Picked up the last two Apex AD-600As from FS the other day, both are 1/2000 and have the loophole menu.  Neither is for sale, so don't make offers.

Fox is running veeeeeery nicely!  While this is just a by-the-seat-of-my-pants judgement, it feels quicker to accelerate after the exhaust manifold and downpipe work (thanks Dave!).  If I just floor it in 4th on the highway it goes.  And keeps on going (and pulling strongly) past 160!  Haven't had a chance to test out beyond that yet.  Before it used to choke a bit around 150 and then pick up a bit after 160.  Still debating whether or not to hunt down a 2P transmission and swap it in.  First, though, the suspension needs an upgrade and the front brakes.  And very first of all would be to get a job.

Back in the day, collecting TXT files on how to upgrade computers, become a ninja, solve KQIII or LSL3 was the thing to get from BBSs.  Then came MODs, S3Ms, XMs, et al..  Then MP3s.  Now MPEG4s.  I need a few of those IBM Deskstar 75 GB HDDs.

Interesting.

When looking for a job, I love to see this.

1st place in Dasher/Quantum/Fox class.

585 km out of a tank.

Just watched That 70's Show.  Funny for these reasons:

• Use of:
• "You're gonna wear your ass for a hat."
• "Fortress of Solitude"
• superlative-noun-ever construction
• Skankoid
• "Super Crazy Wonderful Happy Fun Time" (the opposite of "work")
• "Burn!"
• And due to being funny because it was true

It's too hot.

Not much time right now (it's 8:30).  Heard the following stories on the news this morning:

• Some gov. of ON coucillor (or someone therelike) has apparently written a letter, proposal and motion to shut down all "Drug Rave Parties" in the GTA.  Claiming that drugs are the sole reason for raves, this guy wants them all shut down.
• A woman was killed in a car crash in BC a while back.  Word is, the car she was driving had been in an accident before, and the airbag not re-installed when it was fixed.  They claim that the steering wheel was one with 'airbag srs' written on it, but was instead filled with foam.  In BC there are no regulations that say you have to reinstall an airbag following vehicle repairs (i.e. when rebuilding after an accident).  The cop being interviewed, and the female interviewer came to some weird conclusions.  The cop was being really careful in what he said, but the interviewer kept on drawing conclusions.  "So would you say it would be important to insist on seeing the airbag if you purchase a used car?"  And other such retarded, uninformed and illogical statements.

May the fourth be with you!

Still no job.  Had 2 interviews this week.  Neither really fruitful.  G-money still hasn't called me back from that warehouse position.  Kinda good, since I only got my car together late last night, and still have to pass emissions, get it registered and clean it, so I wouldn't have had the time to start working today.

This might not mean anything to anyone, but it's big news.  In fact, very few people know about it.  Altrom bought Metrix, and Metrix will be completely taken over (and maybe shut down) at the end of this calendar year.

Also, was talking to someone who used to work as a shop advisor at Canadian Tire.  In the late 1980s a new policy was brought into effect.  Each car coming in for anything (i.e. a check-up, repairs, tune-up, etc.) had to leave with at least a $150 minimum bill!  I am not joking!!  A letter had to be signed by each employee, and if they refused, they were laid off!  And today, the same thing happens, except there's no letter to be signed.  Each employee is on 3-month contracts.  If, during those 3 months, a minimum dollar amount of work and parts is not fulfilled, the contract is not renewed.

On Tuesday I got another Guarantee (not an actual guarantee) that I would get a job.  This guy claimed I could easily get a job this Thursday, i.e. today, doing data entry for $13.80/hour to start, with a raise and full benefits after 30 days.  I am keeping a STFU warm on the back burner for him.

I need a 2N transmission complete with linkage (or a 2N transmission and linkage from a PSA).  Anyone selling?

Passed Drive Clean!  With all my mods intact, didn't have to take anything off!  No trickery involved!

	Limit	Reading
HC ppm	101	76
CO %	0.57	0.09
NO ppm	0786	436
	RPM	1643
	Dilution	14.69

Testing guy said car's running lean.  In a few weeks I'll pick up Motronix' 4.0 bar fuel pressure regulator.  That should help the lean problem.  Then I'll have to talk to AMS regarding a custom ECU; might have to install a knock sensor for it to work.  Definitely worth it, though;  should add 10% in HP and fatten up the torque curve too!  140 HP?  With a stiff suspension & the 2N tranny?  W00p!  I am hax0ring this f0x0r and becoming l3373r.  ph34r m3, im n07 4 l4m3r.

Have I ever mentioned that Customers Suck?  Here's some 411:  guy comes in asking how much for a new gas tank with installation.  Gets quoted a price (at discount, since he's a previous and frequent customer).  Calls around, gets a quote for the job from another place that's below our cost for the tank alone.  Comes in asking if we can do it for this lower cost, saying "[a]re you gonna do it for me for $120?  Can't you use the money?"  WTF?  STFU, beeyatch!  BTW: lifetime warranty on the tank we provide, 3 year on the other one.

Anyone looking for me over the next few days, I won't be easily accessible until Monday.  E-mail is best, I'll to my best to check it regularly.

It was the best of days, it was the worst of days (and it still is).

Check this, guy.  Late last week my father got word of a warehouse position at a car parts warehouse in Mississauga.  Today I was to go in for 1:00pm for an interview.  I did.  The guy was really cool.  After talking to me and reading over my resume, he commented about how intelligent and educated I was.  He was also impressed with my starting the VWoT Club, and the variety of knowledge.  He asked why I wasn't working at a 'good job';  meaning that I am so educated that I shouldn't even be considering warehouse positions.  I explained that it has proved to be nearly impossible to find decent work without prior work experience.  He agreed.  We talked about my passion for cars, and among the questions I asked was about having a day off here and there over the summer in order to facilitate going to car shows.  He said he saw no problem with it.  During the interview he said he needed a few days to interview a few other people.  At the end he said, 'you know, what forget it, how would you like to start working tomorrow.'  I replied that I would love to, but am not able to;  explaining that this coming weekend there is a VW show I am attending and need time to put my car back together.  I said that at the latest I would be ready to work on Monday, and most likely by the end of the week.  He agreed, and told me to call him back later today. So I did.

I calculated how much time I'd need to put my car back together, get it to pass emissions, get it re-insured, get it clean for the show, etc., and figured that it would be a tight fit this week.  I could make it in for Friday, but Monday would be best.  So I called him, explaining that I could start working Monday at the latest, and maybe Friday this week.  He said he'd call me back within 2 days to let me know.

I was feeling so happy on my way from the interview.  It was so crappy outside - windy, rainy and gray, but I was so happy (something I haven't been since...).  I get home, chill out a bit, figure out how much time I need, and call him back.  I hear "I'll think about it and call you back within two days."  I am taken aback at his sudden change in 'attitude' and feel like sh!t again.

That is all.  Time for dinner, That 70's Show (some goode olde fashioned escapism), and sleep.  Maybe a movie too.

Interview at 10:00am tomorrow morning, at that place where I had an interview last Friday.

To sum up today, permit me to quote two truthes:

It's now what you know, it's who you know.
No experience, no job.  No job, no experience.

End transmission.

If you haven't sent in your tax stuff, you're screwed.  Thank you.

Hear of that whole Elian thing?  Well, you can own a piece of the history!  Here.  There used to be another item, but it's now gone.  It was a picture allegedly coloured by Elian while staying somewhere.  It had a picture of a squirrel and some nuts.

Hail to the King, Baby!

Last night was fun!  Lots of nice cars, a guy with a Benz as a winter car, a few A2 VR6 conversions, being kept safe by The Law, and more.

Word booty!  Had the interview.  Went well, IMHO.  The place is a parts jobber in Brampton.  The guy was really nice.  We got to talk a bit, but the place was really busy, so he thanked me for my time and told me to call back early next week.  He also gave me his home number to call him because he's always busy at work.  I got the impression he liked me, so I'll call him up tonight (if anything, just to leave a messsage to thank him and say that I am interested), and to set up a real interview when his annoying customers won't bother the process!

Here's a link for the ladies!

Is the world coming to an end?  Are monkeys flying out of my butt??  Are pigs flying???

Why do I ask these questions?

Example 1:  Today I fax out a few resumes and e-mail a few others.  And guess, what?  I got a call back this evening to come in for an interview tomorrow!!  It's for a Brampton company, for the position of Parts Counterperson.  And, at least over the phone, the guy sounded cool.  He said he was impressed with what I've done in the past, naming my education, VWoT and saying he really wanted to discuss them.  He sounded really excited and eager to meet me, which I think, is a good sign.  Let's hope for the best.

Example 2:  In addition, the funniest Simpsons episode ever was on at 17:00 - the Union Boss one.  "Now do Classical Gas!"

Example 3:  Found out there's a VW show in MI on May 7, so I have something to look forward to!  Now I've just gotta get my show car back together...  Somehow I don't think I'll have a chance to win anything without the rear seats, interior panels, with a rust-proofing-oil-covered exterior, and no recent pictures in my album.  Where's my licorice whip?  I've got to get crackin'!

Example 4:  Well, nothing else good happened, but nothing that bad happened either ^_^

Bad things 'happening' today:  My high-temp paint hasn't come in yet;  it was supposed to be here on Tuesday at the latest.

To end on of a funny, here's something I yoinked from HardOCP:

What if DR. SEUSS wrote your computer repair manual.. would it go like this?

If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port, and the bus is interrupted as a very last resort, And the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort, then the socket packet pocket has an error to report. If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash, and the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash, and your data is corrupted 'cause the index doesn't hash, then your situation's hopeless and the system's gonna crash!

If the label on the cable on the table at your house, says the network is connected to the button on your mouse, but your packets want to tunnel on another protocol, that's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall, and your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss, so your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse, then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang, 'cause as sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang!

When the copy of your floppy's getting sloppy on the disk, and the microcode instructions cause unnecessary risk, then you have to flash your memory and you'll want to RAM your ROM, quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your mom!

I laugh.

You want other news?  Well, not much else to say.  I pillaged and looted an '85 Audi 5000 S of some useful parts for the Fox, and some unuseful-but-cool parts also.  My good friend Snuffy will also try and see if there are any positions at the company's where he's working.  I found an online ad for job openings there, and he said he'll see whether there's any internal hiring for friends and family of current employees.  Tomorrow will be a fun evening cruising around the T-dot with fellow 'dubbers.  Details on VWoT's pages.  Can't wait!

For some reason, I don't feel like ranting today.  I hope that's a good sign!  I notice that I haven't posted any pictures since the farting skunk and the Helly Kitty vibe.  I'll do my best to provide something soon.

Fuck.  Fuckitty fuck fuck.  Suck suck suck.  Fuck fuck fuck.

Now that I've got that off my chest, time for a rant.  I'm still pissed at the guy with the Car Detailing job, but what is to be done.  Remember how I applied to BMW Mississauga for a parts counter person position?  Well, it was filled.  In today's Mississauga News, there's a new ad.  This time it says "only experienced need apply".  For the same position.  I'll apply anyway. I figure that:
1) owning 2 cars
2) working on my 2 cars and tuning them
3) starting a car club
4) starting, running and researching a car-specific web page
5) being a university grad
should count for something.  But I guess you can't get anywhere without experience.  And without a job, you can't get experience.  What a lovely circle.  At least it keeps me applying for jobs.  The phone company, electric company and waterworks are in business!

That idiot from the Parts Counter job for which I had an interview last week hasn't called back.  Because I'm feeling particularly nasty, I think I'll call tomorrow, ask for him, and say "Hi, I'm Adam and I was in for an interview last week.  Because you did not call me back when you said you would, I have come to the conclustion that you are full of sh!t, and I don't want to work for you.  And believe you me, I will spread rumours about you and your company."  Well, I probably won't bother, but I might.

I am really, for sure, 100%, can't-you-see-that-I'm-serious serious about being out of ideas on where to find work.  I tried friends of the family - no help.  I tried looking on my own - no luck.  I tried 2 placement agencies (Pinstripe Personnel and something Computer Staffing), also no help - apparently I don't have enough skills and they do not guarantee placement.  I have tried the YMCA's summer job program or whatever it's called, also no help.  Anyone have ideas??

On a lighter note, look here.

Further funnitude here.  Not funny unless you've seen 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Hmm..  how does this sound?  Thursday during the day I was out and when I came home (it was about 11:00pm) and got the message, it was obviously too late to call back.  This was regarding a car detailing job about 10 minutes away from my house.  I called on Saturday (Since on Friday the place was closed).  I was told the contact person wasn't in on the weekend, so I left a message on this person's voicemail saying that I did get the message, that I was still interested in the job and that I'd call Monday.  Well, I call today and am told the job's been filled.  Now I know the company wants to hire someone ASAP, but what kind of treatment is this - call me saying that you're calling about the job I applied for, I call back and speak with the person as soon as I can and am told that the job is filled.  Does this mean I wasn't a good candidate anyway, and the reason I was to come in was just out of courtesy?  If this is the case, then I'm glad I didn't go because it would have been more time wasted like at the YMCA.  Oh well.

Now time to go work on the cars.

Oh man... get ready for a rant and a half!!

Today I had an appointment at the YMCA Job Finding Program (or whatever it's called).  It was a total waste of time;  well, maybe not a total waste... because it reasurred me that I'm searching for jobs in the proper way.  I was to have an appointment with someone I was referred to, but that didn't happed.  I was then scheduled to meet this morning with a guy named Kim (ended up he was Korean or another east-Asian nationality)... but that didn't happen either!!  (I'm actually kind of happy, because he looked much younger than me, and wasn't dressed up like all of the other 'employees' there, and I use the term loosely).  So I got to have a councelling session with a person... let's call this person Idiot... no, that's too obvious.  How about Cretin.  No, that could confuse him with another rather incompetent individual.  How about Dumbass?  Good.  Ok, so Dumbass sits me down, and gets me to fill out some form; it has questions like "what do you think is your weakest point", "when I go into an interview, I _____" and other things presumably designed to get you to figure out where you suck.  But most of the questions were really general, or referred to things I didn't understand.  When I was finished filling it out, Dumbass told me he made a mistake and I should have filled out that form at the end.  Dumbass also started making excuses about how his computer was broken and how he didn't know how to read my results... oops, I revealed that he's a 'he'.  Too bad for him.  After this he screwed up the order of the forms he had to fill out twice more.  What a turd.  Among the questions he asked me was what kind of work I was looking for.  I told him I'd like to get into computers;  he told me that was impossible, because they had enough people looking for work in computers already.  Dumbass claimed he'd try to help me, but said the market was saturated and I don't really have a chance.  He asked me what other skills I had, I said 'languages'.  So he puts down "translator / interpreter" on his form.  OK, if he can find me a job doing that, I'll dance for him.  He did many other retarded things.  He concluded by telling me where I could look for jobs (newspapers, the Yellow Pages, the Internet, walking door-to-door to companies, and other ways).  Thanks chief.  He went on to say that my communication skills were excellent and that I seemed intelligent and there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to find work.  He showed me the computer lab they had and told me to try Employment Insurance and call him to tell him how it went.  He couldn't even find the number or location of the nearest office himself!  What a butt!  Did I mention he was my age, didn't have much counselling abilities, and I could perform the job he was doing?  He was also a visible minority, further proving to me that I am at a disadvantage to finding work.  I'd rant more, but the dog farted, and that usually indicated she needs to take a dump.  Gotta go... more ranting later.

Tad more about Dumbass.  The only things he said about my resume were "the content is really good, but you have to take the bold off the font."  I know there's no bold in my resume; only where applicable (headings and whatnot).  He insisted it was all bold.  A big STFU goes to him.

I also stopped by the Employment Office (Dundas/Dixie) on my way home.  They were NO help either.  The hag that spoke to me (with an accent, no less) told me to 'come back next week sometime'.  They have a centre there for helping people find work... but only people who are receiving benefits.  The guy there wouldn't even tell me what they offer!!  WTF!  I think I'm going to resort to shaking my first at the sky, stroking my beard, and pondering what is to be done with this world.  I'm getting really angry, so I'll stop on this topic for now.

This morning I saw something on TV.  Some soccer mom got her kid a big Pikachu doll that says "Pikachu" when you squeeze it.  Cute in a Japanese way;  not as cute as the Hello Kitty vibe, though.  She then demonstrated that it actually says "F-ck you" instead of "Pikachu".  She held the doll squeezed such that it was essentially saying "Pika" over and over again, really fast.  She says she called Nintendo, but they told her to screw off because they only license the doll, and don't actually make it.  Will she sue?  Wouldn't surprise me.  The funniest thing was when the guy interviewing her asked "So, did you noticed that it said 'f- you' right away, or did it take you a few times?"  She said "No, I had to listen to it a lot over and over again, and figure out what it said."  Uh-huh.

And what's up with CBC lately?  They have both specials on TV about how hockey is a violent sport and should be regulated, and at the same time they have the commercials where people say what their favourite playoff memory is, when they sing the Hockey Night In Canada music, etc..  CBC's just as crooked as the rest of the world.

Apex has NOT arrived.  Now they say Saturday... I'll believe it when it's in my hands.

Update - 11:00pm or so.  Apex is in my hands.  My BMW-owning friend and I went to Barrie to pick up two Apexes.  Price was $20 more than in the GTA, but with a $10 discount it was still worth it.  It works and does what I want it to;  i.e. region-free, no Macrovision and no CSS.  W00p!  Tired American Pie (had to turn off the parental lock thing), and The Matrix.  No problems with either.

Pack it up, pack it in.  Let me begin.

First, here's a patent I never want to see actually picked up.  VERY scary.

Here's an odd eBay auction item.  Since it probably won't be there for long, here's the picture.  What is it?  A Hello Kitty (TM) vibrator!  I kid you not!

Sarari-man wa sutinkii desu ne.  Hai, soo desu yo!  Read here.  Yet another reason why Japan is so interesting.  Here's a quote, if you still haven't clicked on the link: "pens made of germ-killing plastic."

In other news, today I had my first interview.  It went just as a first interview should go.  I was told what the job entailed, got asked a few questions, got the chance to ask a few questions.  Then was told that I would get a call by Tuesday either way (that's better than left hanging).  It was for a Parts Counter position;  not 1-2-3 counter, but as a guy standing behind a counter dishing out industrial machinery parts.  Fun.  Minimum wage fun.

Tomorrow I have an appointment to meet with a counsellor at the YMCA;  free service where they look at your resume (help you write one if you are without), suggest possible jobs, and help you apply to them.  We'll see what I'm qualified for.

I have given up hope in the Government's Employment Insurance program.  In order to get assistance in finding a job, you have to be getting benefits.  And to get benefits it's a wait of approximately 13 weeks (8 weeks for them to process the forms + 2 weeks without benefits [a policy they have] + up to 3 weeks before you get the benefits).

Got my exhaust manifold and downpipe back today;  a friend in the know had been working on it to improve flow.  Not expecting big gains - maybe a few HP at the top end.  Whenever my high-heat paint comes in (good up to 1400^oF) I will be putting the car back together and driving it!  With all luck before the end of next week.  Next Friday (the week after Good Friday) is a bigass T.O. VW meet, not organized by us (VWoT).  I need to show everyone who's the boss! :)  hehehehehe  Word is there's a VR6 turbo NOS Golf around town.  Nuts.  Definitely won't be able to keep up with that one :)

I watched the end to N.G.E. again yesterday.  Wow.  Can't wait to see the two movies.

Other than that, not much to report.  Update to VWoT pages coming soon, and a bigger one to the VW Fox pages is imminent.

Still no word on Apex.

Thought of the day (rant coming on this in a while):

Many universities and other places have associations.  "Black Students' Association," "Chinese Christian Fellowship," "Muslim Students' Group," etc..  There are also events such as "Black Heritage Week," "Gay Pride Week" and others.  Now, what would happen if a "White Students' Association" was formed?  How about "Straight Pride Week"?  I'm not saying this to start a controversy or anything;  just to point out the double standards that define our so-called free society.

Adam's .plan is a joint venture of Matsumura Fishworks and Tamaribuchi Heavy Manufacturing Concern.

Is this a dream?  WTF??  I fax out many resumes this mornin AND SOMEONE CALLS ME BACK!!!  It's for a Parts Counter job.  Not what I want to be doing, but if it's the only offer I'll ever get, I might as well go in for the interview.  I also have an appointment booked for Thursday to meet with a guy named Kim (odd) at the YMCA.  We'll see if either of these comes through with anything useful.  I'm not holding my breath, though.

D.O.E. = Depending On Experience

I am waiting for a bus.  That, and for a job.  Today I faxed out a whole slew of applications - ranging from Canadian Tire (there's a new store opening up at Mavis & Brittania or so), a few General Labourer positions in and around 'ssauga, 2 Assistant Network Administrator jobs, a Parts Counter Person job, and a few Warehouse Worker positions.  All jobs were $8/hour or more.  Some had "$x/hour, D.O.E."  No one I have asked knows what this "D.O.E." stands for.  It is my belief that this stands for either "Dumb Only Employed" or "Deserving Omitted Employment."  Yes, good grammar not that is, hmm?  Funny is this, yes?  No, because I don't have a freaking job.  I don't want to stoop as 'low' as Ice Cream Rep. or Coffee Agent.  Click on those links to see the actual job postings from the Job Bank.  I will also apply to various Lawn Care Technician places as well;  at least if I do get hired for one of those I'll have the opportunity to get lots of fresh air, move around, and get sunburned.  Happy Happy.  Joy Joy.

Today was the second day in a row that I called the YMCA's job line.  "All of our operators are currently busy, but because your call is important to us, please leave your name and telephone number after the tone and a representative will get back to you on the same business day."  Yeah right.  Bite my shiny metal ass.  I have received no phone calls back.  WTF am I to do?

If I had things my way, the world would have ended just after December 31, 1999.  That way all of these problems would not have had the chance to happen.  Little red guys in pyjamas would be poking some people with pitchforms in the butt, while others would have wings.  The rest would be in purgatory :)  That's the first time I've set myself up to use that word.  I'm a big boy.

Thinl English is easy to learn?  Decipher a sentence like this:

Had I gone to the barber, I would have had to have been having my hair cut while there, otherwise they would have had to have thrown me out for not having had my hair cut.

Misutaa Supaakudo no charenji ni ojimasu. Ore wa Nihon-go benkyoo shimasu.

Apex is now due on April 20th.

I am really behind on e-mail.  Anyone waiting for replies will have to wait some more.

Jetta overheated again today.  Radiator fan doesn't come on, and thermostat doesn't open.  Haven't checked for water pump operation yet.  There's a 130 HP VW Fox for sale this week in the Auto Trader.

Here are my Jetta's magical gear specs:
1st  - 3000 RPM @ 30 km/h
2nd - 3000 RPM @ 50 km/h
3rd - 3000 RPM @ 75 km/h
4th - 3000 RPM @ 100 km/h
5th - 3000 RPM @ 130 km/h
       6000 RPM @ 260 km/h (theoretical - there's no way this car would get that high, since it's illegal on roads)

This page will soon be re-linked from my other web pages; I don't give a f--- anymore whether potential employers read my rants.  Maybe they'll feel sorry after reading the painful agony that I live in eveeeeerrrrrry daaaaaaaay.

It is now tomorrow (i.e. after midnight), so I better sign off here.

Sincerely,

A.B. with a (useless?) B.A.

This .plan will self destruct... if deleted.

Guess what?  Still no job for me.  The Job Bank (the thing run by the Canadian Government) is pretty worthless.  About 1/3 of the ads there refer you to a placement agency, which does NOT guarantee placement!  WTF!  Why advertise possible jobs rather than available ones??  And there are very few jobs listed that pay over $10.00/hour.  Most are manual labour and require experience!  WTF again!  Starting tomorrow I have a few concrete names to call and pester for assistance in finding work.  If this does not work, I will resort to manual labour of some sort to aid in paying the bills (which are starting to pile up, fast).

Another example of how skilled I am.  Yesterday, I was off to a party at a friend's house in Drumbo (1.25 hours west of Mississauga).  About 20 minutes into the trip, my car overheats - the coolant temperature gauge went all the way up, and the oil temperature started creeping above 120^oC, i.e. NOT a good thing.  Having no tools, coolant or a cell phone handy, I had to improvise.  We were just nearing that service area between Mississauga and Waterloo, so I pulled off there.  Looks like more than 1/2 of my coolant leaked out somewhere, so I had to get some water in there.  No bottle.. doh.  What do I do?  Empty my windshield washer fluid into my friend's car's resevoir, and use my container to fill my radiator back up with water.  That, combined with having the heat on full blast and the windows down allowed me to continue the trip at average speeds (for me).  And I can't get a job!

I'm starting to think that I'm overqualified for the "warehouse help," "general labourer" and other jobs, and hence priority is given to people who theoretically need jobs more than me.  And the jobs I can do are given to those who have x years experience, regardless of their skills.  Something else that isn't helping, is the delay in replies from potential employers.  Example.  I applied to a 'tech support' job for the Royal Bank in mid-February.  On Friday I got a letter dated April 8, 2000, saying that my application for employment was processed, but unfortunately there were no positions currently available. That's close to 2 months of processing time!!  Again, if I didn't still live with my parents, I'd probably be living on the street by now, since I couldn't pay the bills (despite having the skills).

My trip yesterday also revealed that I have some sort of magical transmission in my GLI.  I didn't think it odd, since the RPMs in its 5th gear were about the same as 4th in my Fox's (i.e. 3000 RPM @ 125 km/h vs. 3000 RPM @ 110 km/h).  The other car I was driving with was at 4500 RPM @ 125 km/h, and my friend's modified Cabriolet runs at about the same.)

Apex still hasn't arrived.

I'm off to a VWoT meeting today, check our pages for info where we're meeting.

Do you like drinking games?  Well here's one that's current with the times.  It is on the trolley, if you know what I mean.

Like I've always been saying, "it's who you know, not what you know."  Still no job, but thanks to the mom of one of my friends, I now have:  some reliable places to go and ask for work, actual names of people to talk to, AND someone to vouch for me.  Employment insurance isn't worth the hassle, in my opinion.  8 week wait for the forms to be processed?!?  Followed by 2 weeks without benefits?

The Apex will come at sun-up.

To conclude today's mini update, here's a great picture [stolen from an ad running on various tech sites]:

Time for a late-evening update.

Here's something I was taught through experience today.  If you know something has to be done, but you're too lazy to do it, it'll be OK for a while (much longer than you expect), but eventually it'll still break, at which time you'll HAVE to fix it.

Jobs.  I was talking with a friend at the VWoT meeting today about jobs, careers, and finding decent work.  He graduated with an engineering degree a few years ago.  He graduated in May and decided to take a summer off to let his brain cool down.  During this time he was looking around for possible employment on the side, and applying; no answers.  After the summer was over, for 6 months he look for work hardcore.  Work in his field, and stuff that he'd be qualified to do, being a recent graduate.  Nothing.  After these 6 months he did find work, but as a bank teller, and only because a friend of his got him the job.  [Goes back to the "It's who you know, not what you know" fact.]  After a full year of working the teller job and looking for engineering-related work also, he was able to land an entry-level job applying his degree's knowledge (he didn't say what job); also, as you may have guessed, through a connection.  What does this mean?  It means that the government and all other job-finding institutions suck ass very hard and very well.  They are mere money-making establishments with an external appearance and advertising claiming they can find any work for anyone.  And that blows.  Large.  And all those public events held by the government claiming that they have put an extra 1 billion dollars into the student jobs area is pure, 100% B.S..

Futurama today was hilarious.  Simpsons was good too (the AmWay bit is soooooo true).  X-Files was interesting;  Ms. Anderson has a creative mind.  That topic of "if you had made just 1 choice differently in your past, your life would be totally different now" has been on my mind a lot recently.  And while I (like I assume everyone has) have regrets as to past actions not performed, I don't have any real regrets about the major choices I have made.  In fact, while some choices may seem rather stupid or not-thought-through today, because of them (for example) I acquired an interest in something, that made me pursue something, that made me meet someone, who has become a very good friend, etc..

In other news,

• I'm being threatened with collection agencies by UPS, DESPITE having sent in payment for what I owe them (the GST).  Calls to their reps go answered, and they claim that all will is well, and that the F will be changed to a G in my last name.  I'd like to extend a big mofo of a STFU to UPS as well.
• My Celeron 300A is now running at 504 MHz (112 x 4.5x @ 2.10v), I can't POST at 124 FSB.
• Dexter's Laboratory and Powerpuff Girls are great shows.
• So is Nanalan.  The bee is my favourite.
• And while on the topic of TV, the more I think about it, ST: TNG was one kick-ace show.  I'll do a rant on this topic one of these days.
• Sakura season has started;  wish I was there to see it (and other things too :)
• I want Vib-Ribbon, aka Singing Crack Rabbit.  Mmm... it's CrackTastic!
• People that have no respect for others' property should get what they deserve.
• People who preach and expect what they themselves don't do, aren't nice.
• Ultimate power setup: ABA block, 8v big valve head with port & polish and extrude hone, stage III water-air kit, oil cooler, 2N tranny, all in a BX wagon body, with Fuba, 9.4" vented conversion, 13x8 with 175-50-13.
• Don't worry if you don't have a clue as to what most of these points are.  I felt like being Mr. Mysterio tonight.

I'm tired.  And if I wasn't, I'd rant some more.  Time for either a few races of GT2, or perhaps reading about Bilbo and where he'll go after his birthday party (yes, Mattisastar, it is only recently that I have picked up the book and am reading it).

PS.  That farting skunk is funny.  He squints as he poots.  I laugh.

Time for a rant.  It's been a while, so I don't know how my ranting skills are.  I'm really pissed off about not being able to find a job, so I hope that fuels the skills I need.

Why can't I find a job?  At first I was looking for work I'd like to be doing, and work that I could do (i.e. have the skills for).  Stuff like Computer Technician, E-mail Support for Royal Bank (like a call centre, except through e-mail), Network/System Administrator's Assistant (when "working" at my old job, I was telling the tech guy how to solve some problems!), and the like.  Since I have no training whatsoever in those fields, I wasn't greatly surprised that I didn't get them.  Next I expanded my search to include jobs like "Office Helper", "Coffee Maker" and basically assistant in an office, like "General Clerk", etc..  Since that didn't work, I even started applying to car detailing jobs, warehouse help jobs, and the like.  The only thing I haven't yet tried is to apply to jobs that pay less than $8/hour.  Why?  Well, we did spend $20,000ish on my B.A., so I figure I am better than minimum wage, right?  WTF?!

I can almost fix computers in my sleep!!  Yesterday I figured out why ICQ was randomly disconnecting -- it needed the outgoing IP configured in an Advanced tab (the help doesn't mention this).  And this morning, my Word 2000 died; Winblows claimed the WORD.EXE file was fux0red.  Uhh, OK.  Fine, I'll reinstall off the CD.  Wrong, my ancient 12x Toshiba has given up the ghost; it will become a cup holder.  So what do I do?  How about share a CD-ROM on my server and install off there.  How many tech guys would figure that out in 10 seconds?  Do I have to lie on my resume and say I was a Network Administrator for 12 years, during 8 of which I have experience in Win98?  [I have applied to two Office Helper jobs that claim they need 8 years of Win98 experience.  Why I laugh?]

"So Adam, why don't you try going through Employment Insurance?" you ask.  Well, let me tell you.

1. I didn't know you had to apply immediately after losing your job, otherwise you get almost no benefits
2. They don't actually help you find a job.  The "Representative" (more on this later), whom I spoke with, told me that they can show me how to use the Job Bank computers, but don't offer any services beyond that.
3. Get this: 3-8 weeks for the forms to get processed, 2 weeks after they get processed you're guaranteed NOT to get benefits, and up to 3 weeks after that before you start getting benefits!   Say I lost my job, but didn't have my parents to fall back on for a roof and adequate sustenance... I would be on the f-cking street!!

Does that answer the question?  I hope so.  I have two last resorts before I totally resort to being a Squeege Kid.

1. Go through a placement agency and take a "Lawn Care Technician" or other sub-minimum wage job, where the agency will take 1/2 of my pay.
2. The upcoming YMCA career fair.

Now, while it is true that my Bachelor's Degree (in German and Russian, for those who don't know) doesn't directly lend itself to a career (although I was assured while still taking courses, that some jobs would be available), I think that 4 years' worth of university experience, and a degree in Honours Russian with a German minor would count for something in the workforce, yes/no?

This next bit will be a bit controversial, so don't sue me.  Do I have to become a minority to get a job?  Take the "Representative" of Employment Insurance I 'spoke' with over the phone with, and I use the 'spoke' term lightly.  She had a thickass east Indian accent; she had to both repeat herself a few times so I would understand her, and I had to slowly repeat my English sentences to her so she would understand.  And she didn't have information I asked for on hand, and this wasn't complicated information either.  I asked "what qualifications do I have to meet to be eligible for Employment Insurance."  Her response was, "you have to be not working."  I asked "can you be a bit more elaborate - did I have to be working at least a certain amount in the past, making at least a certain amount of money, etc."  "You had to work for the past 52 weeks, at least ___ hours [can't remember the amount, something like 910 hours]."  When I asked what determined how much I got in benefits, she said she didn't know.  Any my problem is this - why does someone who cannot speak the English language properly AND doesn't know the answers to questions she'll be asked have a job, and I can't get one?  WTF???  I mean, do I have to start speaking with some badass accent and get a fake passport from whoknowswhere, and then apply for a job?

If anyone has ideas what I should do to find work, do let me know.  Or knows a good mask and fake passport issuing place.

Apex is coming.

Watching Episode 1 for the 6th (I think) time is fun.  Especially if you're looking for bloopers.  Stay tuned for some possible Real Funny Sh!t (TM), if I can figure out how to do it.  No more details on this yet.

Want a free Sega Dreamcast?  Here's some down-low.  Although the article is informative, there is a funny quotation in it:

Sega also hopes to woo gamers away from PCs, which currently allow users to play a limited number of games over the Internet.  Currently, there are no Sega games available online.

I see 2 things wrong with that statement; 1) there are tons of games you can play online through a PC, and 2) well, if Sega has no games available online, what's the point of the modem inside the Dreamcast and them launching their own gaming ISP (see story for more details).

5 days until Gabbo Apex.

Wazzzaaaaaaap!

Read this article.  If you don't have the time, here's a quotation:

"It is already possible for an assassin to send someone an e-mail with an innocent-looking attachment connected to it. When the receiver downloads the attachment, the electrical current and molecular structure of the central processing unit is altered, causing it to blast apart like a large hand grenade."

Mind you the above quotation did come from The Weekly World News, a publication not unlike the National Enquirer :)

Look for updates later today on my ventures with unemployment, providing I actually speak with something other than a machine.  "If you are looking to apply for unemployment insurance benefits, press # to disconnect."

Here's a funny phone call, I had the pleasure of handing a few days back.  Some woman calls, asking for my mom;  she totally mispronounced her first name and last name (in a way I've never heard before).  So I ask, "who's calling"?
"Oh, I just need to speak to her."
"Are you a telemarketer?"
"No sir, this is a personal call from Quebec."
"Really?  If it's a personal call, why can you not pronounce the names properly?  Not even her first name?"
"I'm sorry for troubling you sir, I seem to have another number on file, and I'll try that one."
"Where are you calling from?"
<CLICK>
The woman never called back, on any of the 5 or so numbers that might be registered in our name (2x home, 1x cell, 2x work).  If I could find a job doing this (dissing telemarketers), it would be fun.

Funny link: nads.com.  Not what you think, but still funny.

I have now located servers that have complete episodes of:  Seinfeld, Pokemon, Star Trek: Voyager, Sliders and more.  Here is the cool disclaimer from the site:

Disclaimer:

All of the content listed under this site is not to be downloaded, viewed, or used under any circumstances. If you do choose to ignore these rules, the webmaster and hosting organization are not responsible for your actions pertaining to the information on this site. If you enter this site and do not agree to or ignore these terms of agreement, you can not provide any treatment of our hosting ISPs, or anyone choosing to store information on this site because your actions will be a violation of  code no. 431.322.12 of the Internet Privacy Act from 1995.

This site and it's webmaster cannot be held responsible for any content or files linked by this website.

If and only if you have read the disclaimer, you may enter this website.

Episode 1 comes out tomorrow on VHS (only).

The Mississauga Volkswagen jobs have been filled -- I was ill-suited for both a parts delivery driver and for parts counter person.  That smells.  I figured I'd have some advantage for starting a VW Club and running a VW Fox web page (the largest on the 'net, I might add); I guess not.  BMW Mississauga has yet-to-call regarding a parts counter person position, but I doubt I'll get that either. Sucks to be me.

Here's my job-searching strategy:

• Bother HRDC Canada - whose hours are a cool 9:30am-4:20pm Mon-Thurs.
• Go to YMCA's services next week

.

Read these next words and remember them.  I have been unemployed for 2 months, during which I have been looking for work.  If nothing develops from either the VW dealership or the BMW one, Monday I will be contacting Unemployment Canada (or whatever they're called), and taking advantage of their services.  I have been employed in the past, sufficiently to have earned unemployment priviledges, and will not put them to find me a job.  Look for updates on how that goes.  And all the people who have told me "Yeah, I can get you into my company noooooo problem!!  Take a load off, just gimme a resume and you'll be in,." I send a HugeAss (TM) STFU!

Here's a cool-looking game that's still being developed, Black and White.

Contrary to what you may hear from Fox, there are plenty of web sites offering downloads of Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy, and X-Files episodes.  As I type, I have original Transformers episodes downloading in the background.  I guess all this free- and unemployed time allows me to search and download anything I like.  The fat pipe also helps, although as more and more people in my neighbourhood are connected, the highest rates I've seen are in and around 230 k/sec;  no more 450 k/sec for me.  Still better than the 31.2 kbaud I used to get with a 33.6 modem.

On April 10th all will become clear.  Gabbo?  No.  Apex?  Yes.

Not much to report.  Still unemployed.

Want to waste some time?  Give this a look.

I might have a source in Brazil for tinted rear lights, clear front turn signals, a badgeless grill, and a turbo!  [For the Fox.  Woo!]

Can't talk, eating.

But here are 2 links (v. funny):

• http://bitmagic.com/preview1.html
• http://bitmagic.com/preview3.html

Here's some dilly:

• ATI will be laying off their ENTIRE software testing staff within 3 months.  I found this out from an inside source.
• 10:00 am tomorrow morning I am going to Mississauga Volkswagen to meet with the parts department manager regaring possible employment opportunities.  He said the only position they're looking for is a driver, which would also not be a bad thing.  But since he wants to meet me, that's more than I've been getting from everywhere else I've been applying to.  Weird thing is, that he didn't ask me for my name or anything.  He just said to come by at 10:00 am.
• Adamobile II work will probably commence this weekend.  Exhaust comes off, so does the valve cover.  Interior should go back in soon.  Maybe tomorrow.

So it's been a few days since I last updated.  Here's some down-low on what's been happening in the wonderful world of Adam:

• No job.  Didn't go for that grueling 3-hour interview, because I was assured when I called to confirm it, that I would NOT be getting a job soon.  This was to be merely a skills assesment session, and by no means do they guarantee placement.  When they told me this (without me asking about % successful placement), I told them that actually I wanted to cancel and I'd be calling them on when I could come in.  Any company that assures me up front that they won't get me a job can go away.
• Job possibilities - 2 more friends of the family have come forth with "ahhh gehrauntee" statements about getting me into their offices.  One guy is from the technical department at the head office of National Grocer, and the other works at ATI Technologies.  Both would be interesting.  Will they be fruitful?  Dunno.
• Our '87 Quantum wagon is naked and getting body work done in preparation for a fresh coat o' paint.  The engine and suspension is virtually identical to my Fox, except bigger.  Neat-o.  Two weeks and we should have it back and be putting it back together.
• I have found an '86 Quantum 4-door for sale for $1500 ($300 LESS than the rusty '82 coupe I went to see 2 months ago). I don't need a 3rd car at the moment, but this one sounds like it's in good condition... but so did the coupe.  This one looks totally unassuming - just like any other 4-door sedan.  Swap in a mildly modified 200 HP 5-cyl turbo and mmmm.....

I'm tired, so no more ranting today...

No rants yet.  Maybe later in the day.  Here's a funny quotation I found on Blue's: "Thank you for your email. This Internet of yours is a wonderful invention."
(George W. Bush to Al Gore, from Text of Bush e-mail to Gore).

Another funny link.  Always make sure you know what you're bidding on on eBay.

My DVDs have arrived.  I now own Tokyo Drifter, Armageddon (Criterion edition), and Run Lola Run, in addition to many I already own.

Update on my wisdom tooth, for those that care.  Remember how 3 had erupted and were growing fine, and the 4th one was not, and Dr. J said 2 had to be removed?  Well, the 4th has erupted and seems to be growing.  Still crooked, but I think it might straighten itself just to show Dr. J (my dentist) how little he really knows.

Alright, it's 11 in the PM, and life sucks (at the moment).  I'm finally getting replies trickling in for jobs I've applied to.  I've received 2 or 3 rejection letters saying "Thank you for applying, but..." and the like, but now I'm actually getting calls to come in for interviews.  Good?  Well, you (and I'd) think so, right?  Wrong!  The 2 calls I've gotten so far are from placement agencies.  So far, so good; but the good ends there.  The companies advertise possible jobs on monster.ca and workopolis.com, and by no means do the jobs they list actually reflect real ones!  That is false advertising, and it smells a lot.  Way to get my hopes up, Pinstripe Personnel.  I'm scheduled to go in for a 3 hour interview on Tuesday.  That'll hurt.  And they made explicitly clear that I will be in no way guaranteed placement with them.  The 3 hour interview, for which I'm supposed to dress as though for a "final formal interview," whatever that is, is supposed to assess my skills and data entry technique (the "position" I applied to, based on the ad on workopolis.com).  In conclusion, I will go to the 3 hour interview on Tuesday, but I'm really not psyched up about it or getting a job through them.

Looking through the online job hunt sites, now that I know about the underhanded tactics that placement agencies use, I have noticed that the majority of sites out there contain listings from placement agencies.  I wonder how many of them are for actual jobs.  So far, the only place I have found that lists actual employers, and not placement agencies, is The Job-Line.  But even they are weird, because in the Technical area they list primarily jobs requiring specific non-technical skills like welding and dispatching.  Odd.  (They also have listings for Toronto School of Business as a reputable school, which I can tell you isn't.)  If anyone reading this can offer me a job, I am getting desparate.  I was hoping to win a car from Tim Hortons today, but all I got was a Buttered Bagel; oh well.  This is actually the first time I've won anything from their rrrroll up the rim deal thing during 3 campains that I've been actively drinking their coffees, with intents set on winning.  That last sentence is grammatically incorrect, but I'm too tired to figure out the correctness in grammaritude, despite being an above-average grammarian of the mammalian species.  I should join the Movementarians.  Time for beddy-bye.  ^G

NO CARRIER

Another day, another no job.  Me fail English?  That's unpossible!  Wanna see some funny Engrishfrom Japan?  Look here.  Now, I appreciate Japanese people (girls especially) much more than the average gai-jin, and in no way is the above link supposed to ridicule the people of Japan.

Who reads this?  It's no longer linked anywhere.  I wonder if this shows up on Yahoo searches because I have "Dirk Diggler" at the top, and possible mentions of pr0n and other such words in the text.

Word on the street is that Flat Eric will be making appearances in Levi's ads on this side of the Atlantic as well.  Word booty.

Here's a mathematic equation:

Funny TV Commercial + drugs = __________

Got an answer?  Well, let us examine this:

     Funny TV Commercial
+   drugs    .
     SuperBeer

There's your answer.  Both videos get funnier with subsequent viewings.  Large.  (I wonder what the Buffet King is up to these days...)

Awww crap.  Why me?  OK.  I was out most of yesterday, and there was a message left for me on the phone.  My mom listened to it and saved it.  She told me that it was someone calling back offering me employment of some sort.  So far, so good, right?  Yes.  I got the message last night.  This morning I get up, then wake up, then eat and shower.  Check my e-mail (cable modem) and then proceed to listen to the message.  What do I find out?  The phone's dead.  So I have no way of listening to the message that is saved.  Woo-hoo.  Three Liberty Bells.  I guess at some point, someone will have to venture out, burn expensive gasoline, and make use of a public phone to inform the buns holes at Bell that they have cut our phone lines.  Since I am lazy, and since I can apply for more jobs online, I won't do that just yet.  I also have some more FF8 playing to do.  I think the job in question is an "Administrative Assistant" position, which I applied to.  Better than nothing, I guess.  Now if I could just call them back...

Here's another brief rant: movies.  Why are some available in the USA but not in Canada?  Verfied examples:

• Run Lola Run DVD
• Totally not available in Canada
• Kiki's Delivery Service VHS (subtitled & letterboxed)
• Only the dubbed one is available in Canada
• My Neighbour Totoro VHS (dubbed)
• Totally not available in Canada
• Dorian Gray VHS
• Again, totally not available in Canada

New topic - Futurama episodes.  I have found all of season 1 in MPEG format.  ~200 MB per episode.  Downloading from an ultra-slow site at 1.41 k/sec! :(  Hopefully they'll be better quality than the RealVideo ones I already have.

Update on the phone thing:  In the evening, around 6pm I got a strange phone call, on our now-working phone line.  I pick it up with a "hello" (no "moshi moshi" or "wazzzzaaaaaaaap?").  The woman on the other end of the horn says "Uh, hi, I had your number on my phone.  Are you from Bell Repair?"  I said "no" and she said, that her phone wasn't working earlier and thought I was calling to fix it.  Uhh... odd.  Anyhow, the phone now works.

What to say?  Well, I'm updating this regularly :)

One of the links to the weather forecast pics was screwed up (actually the file was named .JPG instead of .jpg).

Who knows my last name?  Definitely not UPS.  This is the first time I've seen my last name misspelled this way. There's a G in my last name, right?  Well, they used an F.  Believe you me, I was most displeased.  How do you confuse a G with an F in someone's handwriting?  I have the package box with address, and there's no way it looks like an F.  Even after I called them (more on why in a bit) and corrected the spelling mistake, this "final notice" I got today still has the F-spelling.  What a bunch of numb-nuts.

Here's the low-down on the UPS thing.  I bid on a DVD through eBay and won.  Agreed on a shipping method with the seller (in the USA), and I sent him a money order for agreed-upon amount which included all shipping, packaging and of course, the DVD.  I spent (too) much money on this rare, secret, out-of-print DVD.  How much?  Won't say.  What DVD?  Criterion's edition of John Woo's "The Killer."  Anyhow, I got the DVD, watched it, and all was good.  One month to the day after receiving it, I got a letter. Here's a scan of its main message.  I think it's funny that "This package should have been delivered C.O.D.  Our records indicate that no money was collected."  Of course no money was collected - the package was left on my doorstep with no mention of C.O.D. anywhere on it.

So I called them up.  First remedying (sp?) the last name spelling thing.  The guy I spoke with was cool and said "hope you don't mind me asking, but have you ever seen your last name misspelled like that?"  I hadn't, and we both laughed.  He sounded to be one like me - i.e. still relatively young, and working at whatever pays money (which I soon too hope to be doing).  Back to the topic - he said that it's standard procedure to do the following.  Since I wasn't given the choice whether to accept the package when I was confronted with a C.O.D. (which there wasn't supposed to be), and since the amount is under $100 CAD, he can do a "Good Will Adjustment" and just nuke the money I owe.  This is good.  I was happy.  Oh, and the C.O.D., as can be read in the scan of the letter, is for duties accumulated at the border.  This is by no means the fault of the seller/shipper.  What I don't get, though, is the following math:
.

$2.42	Brokerage GST		OK, makes sense.  Broker did work, I pay GST for service.
$18.61	Customs GST		This I was expecting, since the value was cited as over $60 CAD, which is the limit for gifts being 'imported.'
$21.26	Ontario PST		Isn't PST only applicable to stuff bought in the Province?
$0.28	COD GST		This works -- 7% of $4.00 = $0.28
$42.57	Total Government Charges		Adds up.
$30.00	Entry prep fee		Uhh.. OK.  The package was not opened.  Wish I was making $30 for touching boxes.
$4.50	Disbursement fee		No idea.  The UPS rep I spoke with said this was a standard charge.
$4.00	COD surcharge		COD, eh?  Doesn't that involve asking the recipient for money?
$21.31	Total GST		I guess.
$81.07	Total Invoice		OK, so in addition to the $18.61 I was nailed with for importing a DVD, I had to pay $62.46.  Nice.  Where does this money go?

.
So that's that.  I'm fully expecting to have the same treatment with the 3 DVDs ordered through my friend L.O.T.S..

Here's something cool, being downloaded from a site in Germany:

Well, it's 22:33 and I have to update again.  I'm angry, and will strike down with  great vengeance and furious anger, those, who oppose normal values and friendships.  Well, that may be a bit harsh.  Here's the down-low, in short form.  I, along with 3 'friends,' was supposed to see Mission To Mars tonight (opening night).  Without using names, I'll use numbers: 1=me, 2=guy who bought tickets, 3=guy coming from work, 4=guy at home.  2 bought tickets during the day for a 20:00 showing; tonight is opening night and the theatre is 20 minutes from my house.  2 dropped off a ticket for 3 at 3's house.  3 came home between when 2 dropped off the ticket for 3, and coming to 1's house to pick me up.  Upon his arrival at 19:05, I inform 2 that 3 is home and needs a lift.  4 also needs a lift.  2 suggested all going in one car to pick them all up and then go to the theatre.  I suggested that 2 go to the theatre and save seats while I speed around town to pick up 3 and 4.  2 agrees, but doesn't like the idea.  I pick up 3 and 4 and we arrive at the theatre at 19:50.  We find 2 outside the theatre with no saved seats, and since they already let people into the theatre, we have no seats saved.  The only ones free are in the very front row.  We sit, and when the previews come on, I note (at least three times) to 3 and 4 that I cannot watch the movie like this and would like to go get refunds; they shrug them off.  (as we were walking into the theatre, 4 was complaining severely about front row seats).  Towards the end of the previews 3 and myself ask 2 and 4 if they don't want to leave and get refunds.  Movie starts and 2 and 4 still don't want to leave, saying that they're already here and don't want to waste time.  Myself and 3 decide to leave, 2 and 4 say it's OK.  I'm pissed that 2 didn't save seats, and that 2 and 4 didn't want to leave, despite complaining a lot before the movie.  Oh well.

I can't believe I forgot about this.  It took my good friend Andy's reminder to, well, remind me.

Happy 69^th Day Of The Year!!!

Wow.  Since it's a leap year, the day comes 1 day 'early'!  Woo hoo!!!!! :)

I'm also inching up to 100 completed work units for SETI@home.  W00p!  Ph34r my l337n355!  Yes.

Adamobile II news:

• Bilstein shocks should be ordered soon, and will nicely complement the Neuspeed lowering springs - car should sit 1.25" lower.
• Tinted rear tail lights from a VW Voyage Sport in Brazil will make a nice addition; I just hope my friend Ricardo down there can find them.  Looks like they'll cost ~$80 each + shipping + duty + cargo handling fee + brokerage fee + broker handling fee + ... you get the picture.  Well worth it, though, since they were never available in North America.
• Turbo?  Maybe.  Apparently they're relatively easy to find in Brazil.  A Stage I kit would be nice.  (Stage I = just a turbo, but no intercooler.  This means no complicated install.  Just swap over the intake and exhaust manifolds, maybe revert my ignition timing to stock, and vroom.)  Probably expensive, so I'll have to get hired somewhere first.  I wonder if my sport camshaft will be OK with the turbo.  Probably not.  Hmm.
• Also, additional gauges (oil temperature, oil pressure, voltage) will be added somewhere.  They're out of a late 1980's Audi 5000 5-cyl turbo.  They'll be pillar-mounted.
• Minidisc changer?  Maybe.  Depending on how expensive.  Apparently you can pick up a nice one nowadays for around $300 CAD.  I remember when a 6-disc RF CD-changer used to cost about $1000 CAD!

Three new DVDs will soon be in my hot, little, sweaty hands.  Thanks to my good friend L.O.T.S. for adding them to his DVDexpress order.  I really shouldn't be spending money since I'm not making it, but there's plenty in a 4-digit figure in the bank... for now.

I should get back to faxing out resumes so those beavers have something to build their dam out of.  (Mental image - Simpsons episode where beavers build a dam out of those tube-message-carrying-things ^TM).

OK, one more thing.  Last Sunday's repeat of the X-Files (the Dec. 31, 1999 & Frank Black episode).  Mulder's comment "see, the world didn't end" right after him and Scully kiss at midnight is really cool.  Makes reference to both Y2K and to the fact that they were never supposed to kiss onscreen.

Peace out.

Anyone reading this from outside the GTA?  Probably not.  If so, can you believe we had a high of 20^oC today??  Don't believe me?  Observe this kommeshuro:
 

Current conditions	Forecast	Long term forecast	Normal Temperatures

These are vidcaps from The Weather Network.

OK.  So I've been fired laid off for over a month now.  At least 3 weeks of that, I have been faxing and e-mailing out resumes.  At first I was only sending out my info to places I'd really like to work at, and had a remote chace at it too (tech support, phone support, etc.).  I later branched out to office positions where I'd be making coffee, and basically reenacting Office Space daily.  During all of last week, I have just been sending out my info anywhere and everywhere that would take them, including factories, courier places, general labourer and warehouse positions, etc., etc., etc.!  And NOTHING.  Not a word.  Not even, "thank you for applying but the position was filled by a friend of the boss's, so you had no chance anyway" letter.

This morning I found something interesting on Workopolis [cool name] (along with monster.ca, the two best job search sites out there - www.jobshark.com sucks ass a lot, in my experience).  It's a job for digitizing video for upload to an FTP site, with some minor adjusting to the video as well as Windows file management stuff.  Smells to me like digitizing pr0n for web sites, but I have no pronblems with that.  $15/hour to start, with time-and-a-half overtime after 44 hours/week, plus some sort of benefits (dare I ask)?  So I e-mailed them some info, and actually got back a response!  It's a form I have to fill out with basically what my resume says, but at least it means that someone (or some script) read my e-mail and took the time and bandwidth to actually fire off a reply to me.

Enough ranting about that.

Over the weekend at a VWoT meet, I saw a sweet car.  A 1990 VW Golf GTI with a Corrado VR6 transplant in it.  I've seen VR6 transplants into A2s before, but this one was really nicely done (almost looked stock), and had room for both a turbo and supercharger!  The owner is actually planning a supercharger upgrade soon!  Phat!  Oh, and the whole Corrado interior was swapped in as well!  Mint, guy! :)

I'm still waiting to hear about availability of turbo kits for the BX cars (like my Fox) from Brazil, which are apparently not that difficult to locate.  I just hope they're 8v, so they'll bolt right up.  200 HP Fox anyone?

There was something else I wanted to touch upon, but since my dog is running around the house, methinks she's asking to go on a walk and take a dump.

If any potential employers are reading this (I don't know how you'd find it, since it isn't linked), please don't think I'm an idiot and rant about everything.  I'd love to have a job with your company and put my mad skills to good use!

This smells.  I took a week or 2 off immediately after being fired laid off, and after that I've been faxing, e-mailing and smoke-signalling out resumes to whoever claimed to be accepting them.  But NO ONE has been responding to them.  My best hookup so far is a night-shift job loading and unloading trucks for Purolator Courier at $10.17/hour to start, big raise after 3 months and sweet-ass benefits (because it's essentially a government job - Purolator Courier is run by Canada Post).

It... is finished.

Game over.  That's all she wrote.  The phat lady has sung.  Good bye.  Lates.  Peace out.  Word.  I'm free.

Today I basically cleaned up my stuff, erased my existence from the computers here, made sure there wasn't any incriminating paperwork left, and basically brought this room to the state of disrepair in which I took posession of it.  If they need anything, I do have backups made, they're just not here.

Sorry, no rants today.

Actually, just one, about what they'll be doing here after I'm finished.  This is another Thing I'm Not Supposed To Know ^TM.  But I somehow know it anyway.  I heard that they won't be signing up any more people for our services; this, however, is contradicted by a phone call I got today from someone that was registered tomorrow.  Not my fault.  Apparently, since the company is broke, they cannot pay out the customers that have pre-paid for our services, and will simply give them the time, then shut down completely.  But before they totally disappear off the face of the earth, this room will have a different purpose during the week.  It will be used by a teacher to teach some computer course, on the few computers that are here.  Then, for Saturday, every computer will have to be wiped clean and our software reinstalled.  Every week!  This is plain stupid, but I didn't come up with the idea.  I wish them the best of luck with their future endeavours, and hope I find a cool job quickly.

Time to go home.

It's almost over.  Two more days.

Rumours are starting to fly.  Yesterday I was asked what my hours were this week in the evenings.  I told the truth.  The person asking was from the parent company, so I didn't feel bad witholding information.  But in reality, I wasn't witholding anything, since I was only asked about this week.

Yesterday I was chatting with the tech guy here.  He said someone asked him if e-mail could be edited after it's been sent.  He made it clear he throught it was impossible, by opening up his Outlook, clicking on the inbox, clicking on a message, highlighting text and trying to type over it.  He said, "look, see you can't edit it.  What do these people think?"  I ask him, what about if you used a text editor to edit the inbox file, wouldn't that work?  He said it probably wouldn't.  Well, it does.  Sad.  Now why am I not a tech guy making $60k like he is?

Went to check my e-mail this morning and I found my homepage (the one Netscape starts with) had been changed!  It was changed to www.gohip.com/ and then a whole bunch of pointers and stuff.  My page still looked like my old homepage (www.metacrawler.com), but there was a tiny window in the top left with gohip advertising.  I didn't do much research into it, and fired off an e-mail to metacrawler, probably a bit prematurely.  I assume it's gohip's underhanded advertising that's to blame.  What's more, is the CHANGED MY SIG FILE!  I assume it's the same type of link that can change your start page, that can change the sig file link.  A file called C:\NETSIG.TXT was copied to my HDD, and set as the default sig for all 5 profiiles I have set up in Netscape.  Annoying!  I'm gonna let them have it when I get home, and I'll fire off an e-mail to @home so they can act accordingly.

When I got in to my work today, I inquired again at the front office about whether my "boss" could see me today.  I said, and I quote, "Do you think ___ will have time to see me today?"  The secretary, in her usual "I'm not at fault attirude" said:
"Well, Adam, you know what, we were really busy here yesterday.  But we tried to reach you in the evening and you weren't there."
"That's weird, I left at about 5 to 5pm," - me.
"Well we did try to reach you."
"So do you think ___ will have time to see me today?"
"I don't know, but I'll see.  Why don't you try later."
"OK, uhh, what time should I come to see her."
"I don't know, she's in a meeting right now."
"Fine."  And I just left the office.  Look for an update later.  I want to see her to tell her I can't sign the form she says I have to sign on Friday, without first knowing exactly how much I'll get paid, how much they're going to deduct, when I see my T4 slip, etc..  If I continue to get this shabby treatement, I'm really going to let them have it tomorrow.  To start things off, I haven't shaved in a week, so I'm really scruffy-looking, I need a haircut, and I've worn the same shirt all week.  I doubt anyone notices, and I don't care.  It's funny to me!

I'm on my way down to attempt to see the "boss" when I run into her getting into the elevator.  She said the secretary told her today that I want to meet with her.  So did she not know yesterday?  Dunno.  Anyway, they can't fire me and can't pay me until I sign that form.  But I don't want to sign the form until I know how much I'll be getting paid, deducted, etc., since I won't be able to go back and say "hey you didn't pay me enough" after I sign it.  This is going to be interesting.  I found out, though, that I'll be getting paid for 2 44-hour weeks.  Sweet.

Daily log:
 

9:50	Wow, I'm even earlier today!
10:05	The room is set up and I'm bored.  E-mail is checked.
10:25	Daily news search.
11:00	Nothing to do.  Sitting around.
11:10	See "boss."
11:35	Back.  Updated this page.  Now back to the wall.
13:00	Customer comes in
15:00	Customer leaves.
17:15	I get up to make a phone call.
19:00	I leave, again being paid until 20:00.

.

Perfect Day has been ruined.  But having attained the Perfect Week last week, I cannot complain.

I have to sign some "release & idemnity" form before I get fired.  It basically says the parent company cannot be held accountable if they don't pay me enough, deducted too much, that I have to return everything I've tried to steal, etc..  I will demand I get the money I'm promised first, as well as a list of what's been deducted, before I sign the form.  What are they going to do, not fire me?  I will make the demand today, and was told earlier I have to sign the form on Friday.  We'll see.

Found out another stupid thing about the parent company of my company.  It would appear that I could have had an underground parking spot if I so desired it.  No one told me, and I've been parking at the very far end of the parking lot - it's at least a 3 minute walk to the building!  I'm not complaining -- sitting on my ass all day being radiated on by computers isn't good for my health, so the few minutes I spend walking in the fresh air is good.  But what kind of company doesn't tell it's employees to what they're entitled??  Good thing they told me I get free coffee.  Speaking of which, I don't really know this (I'm not supposed to), but the cafeteria for the entire building is getting the boot too.

Daily activities log:
 

9:55	I figured I'd arrive early at least once more before I get fired
10:00	The room is ready for customers.  0 are scheduled to come in.
10:10	I'm called away out of the room.  My room is locked.  I found out many things which I actually have not heard anyone tell me.  Don't ask what I know, because I know nothing.  And what I may reveal under interrogation I didn't hear from anyone.
12:30	I'm back in my room.  I hope none of the 0 scheduled customers were by.
13:00	A customer comes in.  WTF?  Boy is this customer going to be surprised when I inform them that after Friday our services will no longer be available.  I hope my "boss" takes somea truckload heat for this.
15:00	Customer leaves, back to the Internet full-time
16:55	Time to go home.  I watched the newest Simpsons episode and waited for for my "boss" to have time to see me.  She hasn't yet.

The cooland leak in the GLI is definitely the thermostat.  I will be replacing it tonight.  My Fox battery, currently in the GLI, is being drained.  Could be the radio, or perhaps something I fried when I melted the headlight switch a month ago. Oops.

OUCH!  I'm getting into the elevator to go downstairs (more on why later), and there's someone already going down.  As I'm about to step in, the guy starts closing the door.  ANd it wasn't by accident, he kept on pressing the "close door" button.  What an ass!  I didn't say anything, but he gave me a really dirty look.  I hope I'll see him again before I get fired.  Now, I was headed down to talk to my "boss".  I requested to see her this morning when I first got in, and apparently she's too busy to see me.  Fine with me.  The secretary better remember I requested a meeting today, so that when I refuse to sign that form on Friday I can truthfully say "I tried to see you, but you deemed me unimportant."

Here's something else.  I'll give specific details after I get fired.  But I can tell you this: the cafeteria, owned by a really cool guy here for 8 years is also being sacked. At least he's getting more than 1 weeks' notice unlike me.  Usually he's a quiet and reserved guy, but when I told him that I heard he was being shut down, he started going on about how he hates this place.  I wonder how much the parent company will save.  And how much they'll lose from having to pay out my company's customers for unrendered services.  This'll be fun.  If anyone knows a way I can sue them or make them pay for what they're doing, legally of course, do let me know.

Here's another car-battery-boosting story.  Primarily due to the Century Club attempt, and secondarily due to my laziness, I did nothing over the weekend in regards to the dying battery in my GLI. So, without surprise to me, Monday after work, I go to start my car, and the battery's at about 11 volts.  It cranked over about once, but then the battery said no more, and the power fell to 8 volts... i.e. not enough to start the car.  Being prepared, I put on my boots which I had in the car.  Since the parking lot hasn't been plowed yet (I think it's been at least a week since it snowed hard), push-starting the car by myself was nearly impossible since I couldn't get any traction (sp?).  [Side note - yet another reason why this company smells -- no plowed parking lot; and it's a big parking lot!  Good thing I'm getting fired.]  So back to my story.  Scanning the nearly empty lot, I see a woman sitting in her car that is idling (it was an old Ford Thunderbird, if I'm not mistaken).  I walk up to her, and she opens her window.  I say "my battery is dead, could I get a boost?"  She says "...no, my car does give..." and rolls up the window.  I stand there outside her car window for about 5 seconds, and give her a "huh" look.  I then proceed back into the building (after all, I don't want her to sue me with sexual harrasment or something stupid like that), but pause for another 5-10 seconds behind her car.  She turns around in her car and just looks at me.  I just shake my head and keep walking. I wonder how she'll feel when the same thing happens to her.  She'll get what she deserves, I'm sure.  So, I go into the office again, and ask the secretary if there's anyone in the office today that can give me a boost.  She says, and I quote, "You know what, Adam, I don't think anyone can help you here."  WTFF!  (The 1st F is like 2nd F, except with an 'ing' suffix.)  This time there is no customer in the waiting room to help me.  One of the employees of the parent company is leaving and almost weasels out of helping me, but does help in the end.  Why are these people afraid to help me?  What gives?

A quick word about Volkswagens -- the battery is totally interchangeable between my '84 GLI and my '92 Fox.  Some American makes change the specs for the battery (side terminals rather than top ones), between different years.  VW doesn't.  Also, the spark plug wires are identical from the cap to the spark plugs - good and efficient.  Practical.  Just the way I like it.

A follow-up on my being relieved of duty.  I'll have to sign some letter which says I cannot do a whole bunch of stuff following being fired.  I may not be able to write the name of the company here in my plan, but those intelligent enough (unlike the parent company's employees that call me Fred) should be able to figure out where I work from the details given here on my web page.

Forgot to mention this - I really liked X-Files on Sunday, and thought the idea for the story on Star Trek: Voyager last Wednesday was cool, but should've been dragged out into 2 parts.

Found out from the tech guy, that I'm not the employee that got canned.  The resident janitor / handyman was apparently let go yesterday - he came in at 14:00, and was given the boot at 14:30.  Wish he would've told me, I would have gone for a drink (or many) with him.  He was one of the only people who actually knew my name!  A really smart and good guy.

I guess last week will be as close to the ever-elusive Perfect Week as I'll get.  There was 1 guy in, but he is the husband of one of the employees of the parent company.  So he doesn't cound as a customer.  I have nothing further to accomplish.  I guess I could get drunk here... that would be funny.  I have 3 days left, so I just may attempt it.

Here's my daily chart o' activities.
 

10:03	Arrive at "work"
10:10	The facilities are ready for the 0 customers that will be in today
10:15	E-mail & Internet
11:10	Web page updating time
14:05	Web pages updated (new VW Fox stuff), time for chili lunch
14:45	Done lunch, back to the net
15:50	A customer comes in - doh.  There goes my Perfect Day.
16:20	Chat with tech guy - rumours are the building are flying that I got fired (not laid off)  hee hee
16:45	Back in my room - there's a customer here, so I have to be in the room.  Net surfing is furthered.
16:50	Customer leaves.  Back to the Internet.
18:30	I'm notified I have to leave the building by 19:00.  I better be paid until 20:00, since those are my hours today.

Well, let me start off the day like this.  And keep in mind, the following statement is true.

I have been fired.

Yep.  Well, not "fired", but "due to reasons...," "your services are no longer needed," "we are giving you 1 week notice," etc., etc., etc..  This has been a day long in the coming.  I wonder if I contributed to it.  Probably.

Anyhow, I'll enjoy this last week of "work".

You want rants?  Sure.  Friday afternoon, 17:20ish.  I come back into the office from my car.  Because the parking lot is deserted, I ask the secretary if there is someone in the office that would be able to give my car a boost, since my battery is dead.  She just said "no, there isn't anyone here that can help you."  WTF!?  It's not like I'm a criminal off the street!  I'm an employee of this company!!  So who helps me out, but a person in the waiting room!  It's good I'm getting fired.  Be sure to check next week for information about how much this company and its parent company suck ass.  I'm sure I can write many paragraphs about how it really sucks.

On Saturday I made it 50% of the way to Century Club.  It is my belief that Coronae are far more gaseous, which aided my stomach in not accepting the first 50 shots.  I followed the return of the Coronae by imbibing more and not feeling bad.  The Mystical Journey home was mystic indeed.  Complete with sled dogs, at attack from a meat packing/killing place, and walk-by by Khlau Kalash Pizza.

Have I mentioned that I've been fired?  Hey L.O.T.S., is your company still hiring?  Let me know.

While I'm not depressed or surprised, I don't feel like working this week.  I'll see if I can bring this place back to how I took posession of it.  I'll do my best to put everything back to the working- and non-working order I found it in.  FDISK.EXE is my friend.  So is the garbage can and erasers.  I better get to work...

Just for everyone's amusement, I'll keep a daily log of what I do for this, my last week of employment with the company at which I am still employed.
 

10:05	Arrive at work
10:10	The room I am in is ready for the services I provide, and I proceed to check my e-mail.
10:40	E-mail checked, I proceed to surf the net to look for news on cars and computers
10:45	The tech guy says my "boss" wants to have a meeting with me
10:50	A customer comes in, I set the customer up, and proceed to go into the meeting
11:00	Meeting.  As soon as I walking into my "boss's" office, and the door is shut, my boss says "let me put my phone on 'do not disturb'.  I know what's coming.  I sit there and listen to excuses about downsizing, lack of customers, and general crap.  I get told that my last day of work will be Friday, and I'll be paid 2 weeks' salary (i.e. my hourly wage, since they didn't want to put me on salary) plus vacation pay.  Blah blah blah.  I don't get angry or yell or anything, but it was boring to hear the "boss" trying to make up excuses.  I was also informed (perhaps lied to) that they're in a process or downsizing and I'm not the only one getting fired laid off.
11:25	Meeting's over, back to the net.
13:30	Lunch time, while surfing the net
14:00	Web page updating time
15:00	Back to the net and e-mail.
16:45	Home time.
17:25	I finally manage to get a boost for my car
17:55	Home.

.
Friday, January 21, 2000

Hmm.  Another meeting with my "boss."  Today I'm supposed to present her with my findings.  With about 10 minutes to go, she has sent someone up here to ask me to bring a chair down to her office.  (I'm on the 6th floor, she's on the ground floor.) Hmm... there are already 2 chairs plus hers in her office.  Who will be meeting there with me?  Her, the tech guy and the second-in-command?  Security?  The Police?  Doh.  Wish me luck!

The beginning of the end is forthcoming.  Yes, that is what I think.  Here's a run-down of the 20-minute meeting:
My "boss" has absolutely no clue about what the company I work for does.  She is actually the boss of the parent company of the one I work for (sorry, I won't mention names so as not to speed up the process of my company closing down).  When the management of my company dispersed following the buying out of shares by a group of  African investors (yes, it's true) in 1998 and 1999, my current "boss" was just handed the company without real knowledge of what was happening here.  So, she has no idea who is in charge - she assumes she is now the head person, but like me, doesn't know whether a head office still exists somewhere, where (if anywhere) money is made or comes from, the future of the company, the skills needed to keep it runing and making money, and other such trivial things.

What I did was compile a list of our current customers - the ones still entitled to our services.  There were approximately 75 on this list, 50 of which have been in between Sept 1999 - Jan 2000, and only about 10 of which have been in more than once.  Of the 50, only 6 have registered since August 1999; the rest are remnants from our old, and more convenient location.  My "boss" wants to know the situation and will be meeting with some other guy next week to discuss the future - namely whether kills will be made in regards to my company.  So I will await the inevitable.

What gets to me, though, is how much my "boss" doesn't think of when it comes to my company.  While in her office she asked me what I thought, and I was completely honest.  I told her that if I had a phone line or at least an extension where any callers could leave voice mail, it would be possible to streamline the hours we were open.  The customers could call ahead and say when they would be coming in, and I could keep the place open accordingly.  (||Currently and customers call the parent company and are greeted by the secretaries.  The secretaries then leave written messages for me.  I then call the person back, but am greeted with their voicemail :||)  She said that was an interesting idea, but it probably wouldn't work (OK with me, I'll just keep "working" 9-5 and making the money which isn't being made by the company).  I have no complaints.  The next thing I asked, was whether there is any advertising happening to make the people out there available of our services.  She said she didn't know.  I asked if it wouldn't make sense to put something out so as to attract customers so we could start making money.  She said that it would cost money, and she doesn't want to do that.  (I was very close to telling her that "to make money, you have to spend money", but I didn't know whether it would be appropriate.  So I stayed quiet on that point.)  My comeback was to ask her whether there is any mention of my company in the parent company's broshures, flyers and other advertising material.  She said there isn't.  So I said "why not just put in 2 or 3 sentences explaining what it is I do, and what services are available at my company".  She said she hadn't thought of that.  (Now my post-secondary education is a Bachelor's degree in Russian and a minor in German.  I have NEVER taken ANY marketing, accounting, business, or whatever other courses.  EVER!  Not in university, not in high school, never!!)  How is it that I came up with that idea and she, and others who are paid to work on the marketing, didn't?!  In fact (no joke) I had a conversation with the janitor/handyman here on the exact same topic!!  He comes in to chat once in a while, and jokes about how little work I really do.  It's great!  He asked me whether there was any advertising, and whether it would make sense to put a little box in the corner of the parent company's flyer saying "also available: _____".  It would cost nothing as far as extra paper or ink - just about 10 minutes of setup to make some fonts smaller and add in the text about my company.  Maybe I should apply to the marketing/advertising department here.  Whoa, this is a longass paragraph.  But I'll continue on for a bit more.  For now I am still a full time employee, pulling in at least 40 hours a week, sometimes as many as 91.  My hourly wage is substantially higer than minimum wage, and I make more than if I were to go on salary (and the benefits suck ass a lot).  I do hope the meetings result in something good - i.e. getting some new customers so that I have something to do during the days, and so that I can demand a pay raise.  If they cut back my hours that would also be interesting, because I could probably land another part time job at an adult video store or something and rake in the big bucks.  I could also get a night-shift job and just sleep here.  Sweeet.  And if this place pulls through until September, it may even work well with my doing the Master's which I'm contemplating doing.  Go do school, "work" part time here, and work as a T&A and R.A.  Nice.  Did I mention there are big grants and scholarships available? :)  Not sure if I'll ever use an M.A. in Russian, but if it's free, and if I can put off making decisions about my future life, why not go for it??  Whoa, I'm off on a tangent.  What do I remember about tangents?  Well, that Mr. Baker is a tricker.  "I didn't expect you to get that test question, because we haven't covered the material yet."  That and his infamous triangle-that-can't-exist question.  Truly you are the Tricker of Trickers.  I wonder if he's found his cumber-bund yet (uhh.. that can't be the proper spelling).  OK, enough ranting for one morning.  It's almost time for lunch.

Oh, and the chair wasn't employed in my beating, running-over or to prop me up while bent over.  She thanked me for it and put it in another room.  Maybe someone has a chair fetish and needed one of the chairs I sat on.  <shudder>

So, I foresee today, January 21, 2000, as the beginning of the end for my dream job.  I will bring in a camera next week so I can have a reminder for myself about how little work I did.  If I had a webcam up here, all you'd see is me sitting in a corner surfing the net.  Oh and playing video games.  And eating.

This typing is the most work I've done all week.  I'm tired.  Time for a free coffee.

The elusive Perfect Weed has eluded me again.  Perhaps next week will be my lucky week.

I look forward to the meeting with the crew tonight - L.O.T.S., M.I.AStar, Snuffy, and P.P.T.P.Eater.  Nachos and beer for all!

Oh, and immediately after work I'm going hunting for a 3" case fan with the highest CFM rating I can find.  Well, the highest that won't require a portable generator to power.  That and yet another slot fan.  Then we're off to 504 MHz and beyond! Peace out.

Well, into the meeting with my "boss" I go.  Look for an update later in the day.

Good news, the institution hasn't been closed down.  But they want to know how many customers are through here daily, how many have been here in the last 4 months or so, and how many we still owe money.  I guess this will determine the future.

Extra, Extra!  Micro$oft smells!!  Here's a screenshot of Micro$oft's Canadian web site from earlier today (it's been fixed since).

Here's a bonus image for my train-liking friend:
(Sorry about the grainy quality, I was watching it on Global rather than on Fox.  Fox gets much better reception at my house.)
.

Looks like I've got an Xten-damix Perfect Day lined up.  This will facilitate (how appropriate) a longass .plan update.

I went to look at the 1982 VW Quantum.  Nice to look at.  But nowhere near the "excellent condition" that was advertised in the paper.  Nevertheless, it would be cool to own.  Here are some pictures I took.  Turns out it's a 4-cyl 1.7L gasoline engine.  If he drops the price by about $1000 I'll consider taking it off his hands.

Next.  Last night I needed gas for my car.  So I drove over to the gas station.  It was a really freezing day, so I guess people got scared or something and the gas station had a lot of traffic.  The self-serve side has 8 uhh.. what are they called - the things that the nozzles and hoses are attached to - anyway you know what I mean.  All 8 were full.  One side had 1 car waiting, and the other side where I was had myself and a car in front of me.  I have the gas tank cap on the opposite side of the other car that was waiting, so I lined up behind a different car.  I was sort of out of the way because the car still tanking was facing me (and the car behind him, was also facing "outward" - makes sense?)  Anyway, while I'm waiting, and after the car that was waiting to tank in front of me pulled in to an empty 'thing' an old 5.0L Mustang pulls up and waits where the other guy was waiting a few seconds ago.  The car for which I'm waiting to finish finishes and that Mustang just pulls in in front of me and gets ready to tank.  I pulled up right behind him, got out, and said in a calm voice
"Excuse me, I was waiting first."
The guy says "No I was here before you."
"No, I was waiting right there and then you pulled up."
"But you weren't in line."
"Really?  Why was I standing there then??"
"OK, fine, I'll move."
What he did was moved up about a meter so he was right behind the other car that was tanking and hadn't left yet.  This was by no means enough room for me to pull in behind him because the hose wouldn't reach.  Nevertheless I had pulled up right behind him and seeing that the hose wouldn't reach, I backed up a bit.  While I was waiting for the car in front of him to move, so that he'd move, so that I could actually tank, he sat there revving his engine really high.  Eventually the car moved, he moved into position and so did I.  He didn't say a word but kept on giving me weird looks.  What an ass.  I should've taken his license plate # down.  It was a white older 5.0L Mustang (or so the badge said).  If I was driving the $60 car, and not the $500 car, I may have accidentally hit the accelerator rather than the brakes.  Oh, and he peeled out of the gas station having finished paying before me.

Next order of agenda.  Uhh... oh yeah.  My Alpha cooler came in yesterday.  Can't wait to mount it and see what it'll be able to do.  I'll have to get a high-CFM case fan, though, with a Molex connector rather than the 3-pin speed-sensing one I have now (the Alpha has 2 speed sensing one, and my mobo only has 2 3-pin headers).

Here are some great links:

• How to deal with Telemarketers.  (found on HardOCP)
• Goat Launch abandoned (found on Blue's)

Have I ever mentioned how cool Q3A is?

If you haven't heard the rumours about The Simpsons this season, and don't want to, then don't highlight the line below.  I read about this mid-summer sometime, though I didn't read specifics.  But even knowing the rumour will ruin this season.  So don't read if you don't want to know.

Don't read! ->   A major character will die this season.   <- Don't read!

I'm writing about this, because a few radio stations have started talking about it and that blows goats a lot.  I had forgotten about what I had read, and now I've been reminded again.  I like to be surprised, I do willingly suspend my disbelief, and never read reviews or even previews for movies or show episodes.  This way you don't see scenes from mid-way through a movie which get your brain thinking.  Because The Sixth Sense was so talked about, one of my friends was disappointed in the film because he figured out what would happen within about 10 minutes of the movie.  A phrase like "you will never guess the ending" really ruins a film.  Oh well.

BTW: Simpsons was really funny on Sunday, and I really liked X-Files too.  I think I have a few vidcaps from Sunday's Simpsons.

Since I'm working 11 hours today, I'll probably update this page later with more.

Woo.  It's Friday, and it's a Perfect Friday.

Don't look for a rant today, I'm tired.  Got home at 2:30am and went to sleep at approximately 3:00. Zzzzz...

But I had a good time last night - I went to a New Year's Eve party at one of my former prof's houses.  New Year's Eve, you say?  Yes, I say.  According to the old Russian calendar yesterday was the last day of the year.  I can't remember what year, but I should have it in my notes somewhere.  If I feel like it, I may dig through them and find it.  Anyway, it was good to see a few of the people that I went to classes with.  2 of them are now doing the Masters program.  They're trying to convince me to join the Dark Side and also take it.  2 years and I get a Masters; I doubt I'll ever use it, but it'll look good on a resume, no?  Gotta do some thinking, the application's due in March.  Back to the party - it was fun, like I said.  Lots of good food and drink for all.  (Even too much for some.)  I wasn't sure what to expect, never having been at one of the prof's parties.  (This is an awesome thing about being in a small department - you know all of the profs and many of the students.  Some of my classes were as small as 4 people!)  I was thinking we'd have to sing Russian folk songs and dance, since those were the rumours.  Well, instead, I found out about many things.  About what?  Well, about having orgasms from chocolate, about drunk people falling over and getting right back up, about feeling people's hearts, how to say "to screw" (and not with a screwdriver) in Russian, about Russian porns, Austin Powers in Russian (this is where "to screw" was from), and loads of other interesting tidbits.  I just wish I had written down "to screw" in Cyrillic, or even transliterrated for that matter.

On the way to the party (~80 km each way), I think I lost about a third of my GLI's coolant.  Oops.  The 'cork' on top of the radiator leaks.  Not sure if it's the valve mechanism there, a crack in the plastic top of the radiator, or what.  Oh well.  Took it easy on the way home (there weren't any gas stations open on the way!), and the temperature never went above 90-95^oC.  I'll have to look at what's causing the problem.  If it's something serious, maybe I better sell this car and start driving the Quantum (providing it's in good shape, that is).

WinGate crapped out again.  Argh!

I'll update the VWoT pages today with some dates, times and other info for VW shows this season.  Hey L.O.T.S. -- you gonna come out to some shows?

I should get off my butt too, and put the interior back into my Fox, as well as:

repaint some of the blue things (brakes, valve cover, timing belt cover, tail pipe)

put on the timing belt cover

find sport shocks and install them with Neuspeed springs

find sending units and install 2 additional VDO gauges on the pillar

find and order tinted tail lights from Brazil

look into a variable fuel pressure regulator, K&N panel air filter, Swiss-cheese the air box

get a new cigarette lighter socket

.
That's it for today.

Happy New Year! :)

Perfect Day yesterday.

It may come as a surprise to some, but today was the first day this winter that we got snow that actually stayed on the ground!  Back in November there was a day when it snowed but it all melted in about 20 minutes.  Snow is good, I like it.  Some don't, but if they complain so much, why do they live in Canada??  After all, according to the Americans we all live in igloos, have teams of sled dogs instead of cars, and see the sun for only a few months of the year.  But I don't feel like ranting about that...

...instead, I'll rant about drivers during the winter.  Generally the first snowfall of the season is the worst and the next few are pretty crazy as well.  Today's/last night's snowfall was by no means big.  My car had about 1-2 cm of powder snow on it and the temperature is around 0^o C.  At the time I was driving to work (9:20am) the major roads had been salted, but the smaller ones hadn't yet.  The main roads were just wet - no worse traction than during a rainy day.  The smaller roads had slushy and wet packed snow on them and were a tad slippery (fun to drive on, though).  I don't know whether some people are so stupid, don't pay attention while "driving" (if you can even call it driving), or don't care.  Twice, two different cars, several cars in front of me were making lane changes.  They pressed the gas pedal and turned the wheel; only problem is their cars were old American ones with rear wheel drive, and they didn't know how to properly handle them.  So the ass ends swung around nicely, putting the cars about 45^o off of what they should be facing.  Both 'drivers' managed to get their cars facing the proper way and back into the one lane they're supposed to be driving in in time not to cause an accident.  But what are these people thinking?  Did they not notice the snow on their cars this morning?  Do they not remember from last winter and many winters past?  Argh.

Next: de-snowing your car.  No offense to the ladies, but the cars I saw this morning which were only marginally de-snowed were being "driven" by women.  Do you only look out the driver's side of the front window and the side driver's window? Oh, OK, in that case you don't have to remove the snow off of any other part if your car.  BUT, if you drive, and I mean drive your car properly, you should remove all of the snow.  EVERY window.  Both side mirrors, AND the hood, trunk and roof (so it doesn't blow onto the car behind you).  ALSO, you know those red lenses in the rear of your car and the clear ones in front?  They actually have light bulbs behind them and light up when you press the proper switch inside your car!  These aid others in seeing your car on the road, even if you don't have to see out of yours.  And providing you know how to properly use the brakes and turn signals in your car (no, you don't drive an automatic car with both feet; and the turn signals DO get turned off once in a while), they also show your intents to other drivers on the road!  Clever, eh?  Now we don't have to rely on telepathic abilities!

More?  OK.  Driving slower = good.  Driving too slow = bad.  Got it?  Reducing your speed on slippery roads and during poor visibility is a Good Thing ^TM.  This allows you more reaction time and allows your car more room to stop since the roads are slippery.  (Remember how you fell on your ass last winter on the ice?  That's because ice is slippery.  And when you're in your car, while you won't slip on your seat, your car's tires are still prone to slippage on the ice on the road.  Make sense?)  But say you're making a left turn across a 2-lane (each way) road.  Yes you want to go a bit slower so you don't pull a nice power slide (holding L on top of the controller :) ), but going too slow will cause you to be hit by the cars whose lanes you're driving across.  Yes, you are permitted to make left turns; just make them quickly enough so you don't get brapped by other cars.

More still?  ...sure.  Car broken down?  Move it out of the way!!  DON'T turn on the hazard lights and leave it in the center lane!!!  If you can't push the car yourself (believe me, cars are a LOT lighter than you think, when you're pushing them), then get someone to help you push it off to the side (into a gas station parking lot, mall parking lot, or in worst case, into the right lane NOT near an intersection).  And turn on your hazard lights!  NOT just your parking lights, and NOT the right turn signal!  It's very misleading if you do that.

Even more still?  ...ok, but I'm running out of steam.  Remember how yesterday you were driving down the same road to get to work?  Remember how it had 2 lanes plus a left turn lane?  Well, chances are, the Ministry of Transportation DIDN'T go out overnight and change that to only 1 lane.  Really, I'm not joking!  If you don't remember how many lanes there were, stay close to the right hand curb - chances are the road has a lane on the right hand side and then you'll be driving in it.  Same thing goes for left turn lanes.  If there was on there yesterday, but today all you see is snow on the ground, the lane is still there underneath (trust me on this one).  So get in the left turn lane when making a left turn, and let those wanting to go straight through the intersection go straight!

Even more still again?  ...uhh, ok fine, last one.  If you read the above paragraph, coincidentally the same applies to parking lots!  I kid you not!!!  If there were lanes painted on the ashphalt yesterday, chances are that they're still there this morning under the snow!  You don't have to invent your own! Isn't that easier?  Did you see a sign that says "1 car for every 2 parking spots if it snows"?  No?  That's because it's NOT THERE!  Leave the same amount of space between your car and the one you park beside so that the parking lot doesn't run out of room!!

Enough ranting about the snow.  Maybe I'll write more later today.

Now here's a story about how unthoughtful I am, also related to the snowfall and cold weather.  Well, I don't think I'm stupid, but I should have checked this, but I didn't.  Say you buy a car for the winter, spending, oh ...say $500 CAD (=~ tree-fitty USD).  You get neused tires, install the proper spark plug wires and spark plugs, change the oil, get it emissions tested, and drive it.  Hand brake works, brakes work, exterior lights work, windshield wipers work, windshield wiper fluid squirts, doors lock, etc., etc., etc..  Say you're driving this morning and the windshield gets especially salty and gross.  The wipers still work, but the fluid doesn't.  You pull the lever a second time, but still no fluid.  D'oh.  Turns out there was blue-coloured water in the reservoir that was frozen solid.  I hope the added volume of water when it's frozen didn't crack anything in the pump or the tubes.  Oh well.  I've got 2 spares sitting around for Foxes, should fit.

I'm supposed to go to a party tonight at one of my former prof's houses about 80 km away.  I hope the weather gets better.  I don't HAVE to go, but I've skipped out the past 2 years due to either bad weather (I commuted to university) or due to having to work.  Hmm.

Well, that's about all.

Computer problems at home - WinGate, upon use, bumps CPU usage to 100% and it stays there.  The proxy works sometimes, but not always.  Keeps on disconnecting AIM also, and randomly ICQ.  Only change that was made was ICQ was upgraded to 99b.  NOTHING was changed on the server.  Truly weird.

Oh, one more thing.  I have found my favorite movie of all time (aside from the Star Wars trilogy) for sale!  It's a German movie that used to be available subtitled only in Canada.  It was a rental-only movie for $80 in stores; but of the 3 stores I ordered it in, NOT A SINGLE ONE was able to get it for me.  I've now found it on eBay for about the same price.  But there are 6 days left in the auction so the price could go way up.  I hope it doesn't.  Video stores don't carry this movie so I can't even pir8 it (I saw it during a screening in a class I took at uni).  Wish me luck.

Oh, and I didn't end up going to see the Quantum last night.  I had to work (for a change) and by the time I got home it was dark.  No point in going to see it.  Will go see it Saturday morning with my mechanic.

No rant yet.

I have good news, though.  My good friend L.O.T.S. may be doing a guest column sometime soon.  Look forward to it here eventually.

My fears were unjustified.  While Fox and Comedy Central have yoinked full episode videos from countless sites, my fellow clarinetist has located a site which has South Park, Futurama and Simpsons episodes in RM format.  My cable modem and 27 GB HDD will be being put to good use!

So far, so good.

I will get off my ass later today and put up pics from the Hoodlands reunion.

You want a rant?  Here goes.

<rant>
"Extra extra, Canada's education system smells!"  Why?
The reasons for this are many and plentiful.  Another export of Canada is corn, or as the Indians called it, maize.  In conclusion, Canada is a land of diversity.
Seriously, though, here are some thoughts.  That new education outline thing that was published late last year is really badly thought out.  Teachers are now only given a set of guidelines as to what the student is expected to do at the end of the grade being taught.  It is up to the teacher to figure out how to do it.  This is good, because the teachers don't get lazy, but at the same time not choosing readers and specific books for the students to read (to use English as an example) will result in a non-standardized graduating class.  Since the goal of standardizing the education system was to make a more-or-less homogenously educated population, this is really missing the point. And some of the demands are just plain stupid.  I think it was a guideline for grade 8 -- each student will have to write a short drama complete with dialogue and music to be performed!  I read a quotation from a professional musician who said even HE wouldn't be able to come up with something like that in a mere few weeks.

Also take this example from a friend of my parents.  She is currently a full-time teacher at a school, teaching English to grade 6 students.  Her pedagogical background is teaching grades 1-3, AND she is a non-native speaker of English!  I'm not putting down immigrants (I'm one too), but there's something wrong here.  This lady herself even met with the principal of that school to explain to her that she isn't the best candidate to teach English especially at the grade 6 level.  The principal said there was nothing that could be done.  So this lady went straight to the board of education to find out.  They didn't give her an answer, and instead she was threatened by the principal that she'd be fired to trying to bypass her.  The funny thing, is that there's another teacher at the very same school currently teaching something in grade 3 (can't remember what subject), who would much rather be teaching grade 6.  Both the lady and this other teacher confronted the principal with this, and again they got a response that nothing could be done. Maybe the principal is none other than the Revolting Blob.  Whatever the case, it is my university-educated opinion that the education system smells a lot here.

You want more ranting on that topic?  Guidance Counsellors.  They suck ass big time too.  When I was in high school, my friend's counellor was always out playing golf when my friend wanted to see him.  When I asked my guidance counsellor for advice as to a university and how I'd figure out what field to go into, I was just told "well, think of what you like doing and look in these books" and I was handed a stack of university calendars.  She said there wasn't much else she could tell me because it was my decision.  Lick my sack.  I remember that at my Commencement she came up to me and asked how my university was.  I said "fine".  I didn't have the courage to tell her off then, but if I confront her again she will get what she deserves.  Loudly.

</rant>

I've burned enough calories from ranting, time for other subjects.

I will be going to see the Quantum on Wednesday.  Here's some dilly:

• 1982 Quantum 2-door coupe
• 103,000 original miles!
• Full service records
• 5-speed
• 1.7L 8v 4-cyl (as far as I can tell, I'll see on Wed for sure)
• Minty green colour
• New tires, fuel pump and battery
• Minor rust along fenders
• Runs great, very quick, super roomy

.
Looks like I may have the Adamobile IV.  To refresh for the uninformed:
• Adamobile I    = 1988 VW Fox GL 4-door (fully loaded except for moonroof)
• Adamobile II   = 1992 VW Fox 2-door (base model except for A/C; no longer a base-model)
• Adamobile III  = 1984 VW Jetta GLI 4-door (stock winter mobile)
• Adamobile IV = 1982 VW Quantum 2-door coupe?


Stay tuned for info on Thursday regarding this matter.

Seeing (C) 2000 at the end of shows is weird.  I have yet to see "MM" (Roman Numerals).  Which reminds me, there haven't been any M&Ms commercials either.  What a lame marketing campain - they started it in late 1998 as "official candies of the new millenium" and now they're nowhere.  I won't be eating M&Ms just for that.  I'll settle for a Gay Cowhand (use your thesaurus to decode that one).

If anyone's reading this, let me know.

Good, a Perfect Day so far.  There's a new student registered for tonight at 18:00, so I guess the ever-elusive Perfect Week will not be attained.

I don't feel like ranting much again today, so first a link, and then a short rant.

This is funny because it's true.

Now the brief rant.  The company I work for, while having a reputable parent company, in itself, sucks.  Our service is a very good one, but there is no management.  We used to have about 10 locations in and around my city as well as 2 around the country, and one in South America (or at least planned for there).  Now there is only my location and one other.  Most of the others have folded, and 2 have been bought out.  The new owners want nothing to do with me, yet keep expecting me to provide my service even though I get no money (commission) for it.  I'm not complaining much, because I make much more money than I should be for just sitting on my ass, surfing the net, and working on my web pages.  Anyway, I got a fax today:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I browsed to the _____ web site and found an impressive array of ______ (our service).

Unfortunately, no mention was made of price, availability, shipping time, and so on.  Perhaps you could provide me with these and other details, either by fax, e-mail or phone.

Thank you,

Jane D'oh

OK.  First off, while our web site still exists, it hasn't been updated since June 10, 1999.  They list my location as being here (surprisingly), AND they also mention the other locations which have now been bought out!!!  Secondly I don't sell anything that can be shipped, so I don't know what Jane D'oh wants to buy.  There is no more head office for the company, I cannot get the proper materials to provide the services I do (I've been doing lots of illegal photo-copying and software copying, not to mention licenses that have run out 1+ years ago).  I don't know who runs the web site, who pays for the .com registration fee, or even who authorizes my paycheques.  It's really hilarious when I think about it.  Aside from that web site (which I didn't know still existed until today), the company does NO advertising whatsoever (seriously), not even through the parent company or to the parent company's employees (who can use our serives for free!!)  Now I'm just starting to ramble, so I'll stop.  One last thing is that I'm NOT allowed to use the services of the parent company for free, while any employee of the parent company can come here and do whatever they like for free (and complain too).

Oh well.  I've got an appoinement at my dentist tomorrow morning to fill in some pre-cavities in my wisdom teeth.  I wonder if he'll suggest yet again that I have them removed.  Years ago he said only one of them would come out straight and the others would cause problems.  Today 3 are fully erupted (I think that's the proper term), and the last one is erupted but growing at a bit of an angle (45+ degrees forward of what it should be).  I'm assuming IF I have to have any out, it'll be this one, and not all 4.

If I haven't mentioned this before (uhh...), Q3A is one wicked game!  I now have my cable modem connection shared through a P-100 server.  I don't have a 3Dfx card in it, so I can't run a server off of there.  I'm running a WinGate proxy.  I use socks 5 to connect to Q3A Internet games from both computers that are connected to the server.  The awesome thing is that if I set up a server on one of the client machines, I can both connect any computers from the LAN to it, AND my good firend L.O.T.S. can connect from the Internet via his cable modem!!

If I could just get AOL Instant Messenger to stop booting me randomly, I'd be fully satisfied with the LAN Internet sharing setup.

Still no word on the '82 Quantum.  From what I can tell, it's got a 1.7L (1698 cc?) longitudinally-mounted I4 mated with a 5-speed.  The Audi 80 2.0L 8v should be an easy swap, but I wonder whether the 5-cyl turbo would fit also; would probably require a 5-cyl tranny.  Anyway, something to think about.

Another day, another Perfect Day.  Unfortunately, this Pefect Week may be ruined tomorrow and Friday.  We'll see, though.

You want a short rant?  You got it!

I was reading up on the lastest computer hardware, and the article had a note on "cracking open" the case of an Athlon.  Don't understand?  Don't worry.  The "crack" was linked to a site on drugs for comedic interlude.  I followed it and found the following definitions for "RAVE":

• Raves are large all-night dance parties held in unusual settings, such as warehouses or railroad yards, that feature computer-generated, high volume, pulsating music.  [in the MDMA section]
• "Rave," which describes a party designed to enhance a hallucinogenic experience through lights and music. [in the Street Terms section]
Hi.  When I go to a "rave", I go to an "unusual setting" and I insist on "computer-generated," "high volume," "pulsating" music.  I tolerate no less.  I also demand that the party be "designed to enhance a hallucinogenic experience through lights and music."  Can you see that I am serious?  Rrrrriiiiiiight.  This is why raves get banned - some group of ill-informed parents hears how much fun their kids are having, hear urban myths about drugs being used by non-criminals, and find the easiest scapegoat - the country's youth.  Good job people.  You suck the bag.  If I can find it again, The Toronto Star had an article about 2 months back about how raves in Toronto were to be banned.  Good luck.  Get out of my way, all of you.  This is no place for loafers.

Or take these statements about marijuana:
"Because of the drug's effects on perceptions and reaction time, users could be involved in auto crashes. Drug users also may become involved in risky sex. There is a strong link between drug use and unsafe sex and the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS." [from here]
Can't this be said about any drug?  How about alcohol?  Or ignorance?

I'm all ranted out for today.

Guess it's time to go home.  I'll try to get off my ass and work on the VW Fox pages again.  Oh yeah, if anyone cares, I found an '82 VW Quantum 2-door coupe for sale here in Ontario.  If you don't know why this is interesting, then you don't know Volkswagens.

If I could find the Criterion 'The Killer' DVD I'd be ultra happy.

OK.  A new year = time to rant... or something like that.

Since today will be the second Perfect Day in a row, I have lots of time to rant.  Here goes:

Napster is awesome.  I just leave it running on all of the time.  Currently shared - my DL <dir>, complete Basement Jaxx Remedy album, and complete Mr. Oizo Analog Worms Attack album with video (disguised as an MP3).

Big companies suck ass.  Take FOX, ViaCom and Comedy Central for example.  Throw in Volkswagen (VWoA) as well.  The Internet is a great place to meet people with likes similar to yours.  Be it fans of the Simpsons, Futurama, Star Trek, South Park or Volkswagens.  You like something, you make a web site.  You make no money off of it, you don't claim that you invented the Volkswagen Fox or the Comic Book Store Guy, you have info about what you like, tips, tricks, quotes, sound files, etc., etc., etc..  Along comes a bigass corporation.  You get a letter saying "you are infringing on copyright notices..."  Usually ending with a "unless you promptly remove the infringing material, you will be sued for more money than you will ever own, you life will be ruined, you have 5 minutes to move your cube, nice knowing you, thanks for supporting the ___ franchise."  Suck my balls.  Well, actually don't.  My non-marketing-educated opinion goes like this:  say I am driving some car right now.  I see a nice VW Fox on the road (uhh... random example, really) and want to find out more.  Since the VW dealer has no info (and fewer and fewer parts available by the day) I turn to the Internet.  There I find web sites about Volkswagens.  They tell me what parts to get, part numbers, tips, tricks, etc..  Eventually I'll have to get something at the dealership, which will mean they will make money.  All because I read about it on the Internet.  Now say you find a web site about the VW Fox but all it says is "I'm sorry, I am no longer able to providoe information to you.  VWoA threatened me and ordered me to shut down the site."  You'll think "what a crappy company, I think I'll buy a Honda".  (No, I haven't been threatened yet, but I know others that have been).  Point is: free publicity = good.

What gets to me even more, though, is the two-faced nature of some of these people.  Take a read at this article on Yahoo.  The person from Comedy Central that they quote, Steve Albani, makes this statement:

"I think it's foolish to alienate the fans [of FOX shows]," he said.
"The Web is a great way to spread the word about a show. It's free marketing." Uhhh.. OK.  And then on December 29th they went and shut down SouthPark Central which had full episodes on it's server.  That's weak and it sucks ass.  Large.

My friend M. 'FYT' T. got this e-mail.  He had a good laugh.  And then I did as well...

> -----Original Message-----
> From: 634.3136@compuserve.com [SMTP:634.3136@compuserve.com]
> Sent: Monday, January 03, 2000 6:09 PM
> To:
> Subject:      Prosperous Future
>
>
> UNIVERSITY DIPLOMAS
>
> Obtain a prosperous future, money earning power,
> and the admiration of all.
>
> Diplomas from prestigious non-accredited
> universities based on your present knowledge
> and life experience.
>
> No required tests, classes, books, or interviews.
>
> Bachelors, masters, MBA, and doctorate (PhD)
> diplomas available in the field of your choice.
>
> No one is turned down.
>
> Confidentiality assured.
>
> CALL NOW to receive your diploma
> within days!!!
>
> 1-212-465-3248
>
> Call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including
> Sundays and holidays.
>
> rem--  2000_pcii@popmail.com

He suggested this is DeVry's new marketing tactic.  It wouldn't surprise me.  Confidentiality assured -- I guess you don't have to have your name written on your diploma if you don't want to.

That's about all the ranting I can take for one day.

Final comment - L.O.T.S. has kindly sold me his Gran Turismo 2 for PSX.  It is a great game.  Thanks L.O.T.S..

I guess I'll take the time here to also mention some further Highway Robbery.  There exists a fabled 2-DVD Limited Collectors' Edition of Army of Darkness.  As best I recall, mine is listed as being limited to 30 000 copies on the back.  The one L.O.T.S. picked up the other day is limited to 4 000!  My assumptions are that mine is a USA ediiton (bought from dvdexpress), while L.O.T.S.' is a  Canadian one bought locally.  This makes 2 Highway Robberies for one location - the AoD DVD & Q3A Elite edition.

Oh well, the world didn't end.  And I had my hopes up too.  Maybe in a year when the new millenium REALLY starts...

About the only thing that happened was I got 1 year older.

Does anybody read this?  If you do, here's my New Year's Eve.  I was planning on hanging out with the parents and brother.  The bro got a gig to play from 21:00-2:00.  Pooey.  And literally 3 days before New Years, the parents decided to go to some party.  Which left me alone.  Ended up going to a friend's house where I watched people play Monopoly, then attempted to put together a puzzle and then played cards.  Not exactly how I envisioned spending December 31, 1999.  If the world had ended, it would've been worth it :)

Since I cannot get a copy of GT2, I've been reading about it.  Most reviews say it's a very good game, but all pick at it with uninformed views.  I cannot cite a source, but I remember reading an interview with someone from Polyphony Digital when GT1 came out.  Among the biggest complaints is that the cars take no damage.  The response was that Japanese auto makers agreed to give out specs of all of their cars, as well as allowed Polyphony Digital to use the names, logos and whatever else, AS LONG AS their cars would have a good image.  This meant that they could not be crashed and look "bad".  While this may seem strange, it was part of the agreement, and that's why the cars take no body damage when you smash them into things.  I still haven't played GT2 (or even seen it), so I can't really comment.

Time to rant:

• Why is no one worried about Y2K anymore?  Mid-year in 1999 many people were running around crazy, talking about how the world will come to a halt, chaos will break out, and other stuff.  There was always something on the news about how this person is building an underground bunker, about how Company X has said they're ready, gloating about how the USA and Canada are ready while parts of Africa aren't.  Etc., etc., etc..  Whereas today, you barely hear a word about.  There aren't shortages of goods at stores, bank machines aren't constantly empty from people emptying their accounts.  One one hand, it's good that no one is panicing (panicking?  sp?), but on the other hand, it's eerily calm for 9 days before the world is supposed to end.
• I recently saw an interview with some guy that had theories about what will happen.  He said that most likely, nothing really big will happen.  There might be some power outages here and there, the odd store not having its computers up, etc..  But he said the real problems might start shortly after midnight.  Midnight goes by, people embrace, drink a toast, and see that nothing has happened.  So they start trying things - turning on every light in their house, flushing every toilet, trying to make a phone call.  This will overload any system, and may seem like there are "Y2K bugs".  When you don't get a dial tone on Mother's Day, you think "oh, many people are calling their mothers, so the phones are jammed".  But if it happens on January 1, 2000, you think "oh no, Y2K!!!"

I think a Perfect Day is upon me.  Woo.

Hooked up my server yesterday, and hooked up the monitor/keyboard switch too.   There's some nasty shadowing and blurring action on my monitor :(  It looked so nice too, 18.0" viewable @1024x768.  I'll have to put on some ferrite donut-things on the cable to see if it'll help.   I couldn't tell the difference in games or DVDs, but in Windows text stuff if got ugly.  I guess I'll just have to play games and watch DVDs on the computer then; no work for me.

One last rant.  People who don't know the difference between discs and disks.  I hate it.  A car does NOT have disk brakes.  A computer does not have a hard disc.  A CD is not a disk.  It is these same people that claim they have a v.56 bis modem, an 8 megabit video card, and a drink tray in their computer.

If anyone other than my friends are reading this, I'm surprised.  In case you, the reader, doesn't know, my main car is a VW Fox.  Right now I'm driving a 1984 VW Jetta GLI for the winter.  Back to the Fox, though.  Why does VWoA deny this car's existence??  There is NO mention of if on http://www.vw.com in their history section, although the DO MENTION VW models that were never sold in North America such as the VW Taro and Polo G40.  I have e-mailed them once before asking why this is so, but never got a reply.  Soon enough I will write a Bigass (TM) letter letting them know what I think.  Parts for the Fox are also getting harder and harder to come by.  Part numbers get superceeded all the time, and the superceeded part numbers AREN'T VALID!! Argh!  I better stop before I get really angry.  Oh, and you can't search for a used Fox either.

More ranting on another day...

Still no replies regarding the Fest.  I have heard from Steve, Mark, Yee-Min and Matt.

Mr. Oizo will be available at the Fest.

Another Perfect Day ruined by a single person.  Argh!  The ever elusive Perfect Week escapes from me again.  At the same time, though, I am happy, because a Perfect Week will almost certainly mean a Perfect Lack Of Job for me.  So it's better that I stick to the occasional Perfect Day.

For some reason I remembered Mumra yesterday.

Got my server together last night.  Win NT wouldn't detect my 27 GB HDD as anything more than 8 GB, and wouldn't make partitions larger than 2 GB!  Win98 formatted it to 26.something GB using FAT32.  I just hope Win98 will be stable enough to be a server.  If it doesn't, I'll have to source out a copy of Win2000 and hope it runs below the P-166MMX minimum requirement (on my P-100).

I still haven't heard from too many people coming to Doomsday.  Is anybody reading this?  Is this thing on?  Hello?  My pills!

I get angrier and angrier riding in elevators here.  I will post a top ten list regarding why other people in elevators suck.

L.O.T.S. you lucky GT2 owner, you.  I hope Santa provides the same piece of software to me.

Cornbread; ain't nothin' wrong with that!

Napster rules yet again.  My 27 GB HDD will soon be filled.

I also uploaded a newer version of my VW Fox pages this morning.

2 more hours of "work" and I can go home.

Doh, I had a Perfect Day lined up yesterday and it was ruined.  Same thing today.  Argh!

Here are some reasons why I like working where I do:

• The only people that know my name are the tech guy and the janitor.  Yesterday the janitor was telling me stories about how he played football in high school and broke people's legs.  Interesting.
• Other than the 2 mentioned above, people don't know my name.  There are two women that call me Fred.  I should call them skanks or something in return.  But then I think about how much work I do, and the fact that I get paid for writing web pages like this make it worth while.
• One thing I don't like is not getting information from the office.  Yesterday in the afternoon I had the payroll woman come up to me and ask why our timesheets weren't in yet.  They always go in on the 7th and 22nd of the month, so I thought December was no different.  But apparently a memo (pronounced meemo by her) was circulated around the building last week outlining that they have to be in on the 20th this month.  Oh well.

Anybody coming to the Fest on Monday and Tuesday next week, please let me know you'll be coming.  I have only heard from a handful of people, so I don't know how many to expect.

I should get back to working, and by "working" I mean surfing the net.

Oh, BTW, Futurama was hilarious on Sunday!

Well, the Perfect Day streak has been ruined.  Damn.

Shopping today must be crazy; good thing I have most of mine done already.  Now if I could just find presents for people aside from myself, I'll be ready :)

More on my Pure3D problem.  I've localized it to the Win98 Registry.  Here's the down-low: when I search for "gamma" I eventually find a "3dfx interactive" folder which has 3 gamma settings (RGB).  These were set to some ridiculously-high number with 8 or 9 digits in base10.  I switched them to 0, restarted, and Quake2 looked normal.  But upon turning my machine on this morning, the same problem resurfaced, although the 3 gamma settings were still at 0. I rebooted, and they turned to that high number again.  Weird.  I changed them back to 0, but no effect this time.  So I don't know what's going on.

Aside from that, not much to report.  When's everybody going to get back to me regarding the fest?  We must have a fest sometime soon, because Q3A is amazing.

Another Perfect Day at work.

Here's something I forgot to mention yesterday in regards to my dentist -- the girl who was doing all of the cleaning work on my teeth would ask before she did anything.  Like "would you like some shades so the light doesn't bother you?", "Now I will be operating a cleaning wand, is that OK with you?", "I will lower the chair, is that alright?" and other such stuff.  Maybe dental practices have changed in the year or so since my last visit; it seemed like they got sued for scaring someone by asking them to open their mouth or something, and had to say a disclaimer before everything they did.  Truly bizzare.

My computer is being stupid.  This is my Celeron 420A in question, equipped with a Canopus Pure3D card.  glQuake runs fine.  Unreal runs fine.  Quake3Arena runs fine.  Quake 2 does not - it gets a mega gamma correction from somewhere and just looks ugly.  There is a "3dFX Voodoo" tab in display properties, but changing the "apply gamma correction to glide" doesn't do anything.  It's weird that only Quake2 is affected.  I've also tried every gamma- and brightness-related setting in Quake2 I could find.  I got it looking normal once after screwing around with the 3dfx tab in display properties.  I then ran glQuake which was too dark to see with the exception of the torches on the walls.  When I exited it and loaded Quake2 again, same gamma-correction problem.  Odd.  Andy, if you read this and know what's going on, let me know :)

The Fest will probably happen December 26 evening - December 28 night.  It would be best to set things up and get them working on the evening of the 26th, and then have some solid days of gaming.

Mr. Oizo rocks the house.

Perfect Day at work.

Mr. Oizo has arrived for me at HMV.  If you know, you know.  Hopefully I'll get some Christmas shopping done too.  Stuff I've ordered from Chapters arrived this morning; didn't have time to open and check it.  If it's what I ordered, a 3rd Highway Robbery even has taken place.  Is this a sign?

My dentist says I need to have my 4 wisdom teeth out.  Only 1 is slightly crooked.  I have a feeling Dr. J has a deal lined up with some oral surgeon somewhere which facilitates kickbacks.  He's a good dentist, but it seems unnecessary, in my dentistically-uneducated opinion.

HardHat, if you're reading this, I'm sorry to say my stories aren't as cool as yours :)

Today is a good day to live.

1)
Q3A owns.  I set up a CTF server on my Celeron 464A, non-dedicated.  My bro plays on it.  I join in on my Celeron 420A (running on an EX chipset, no less!).  The 464A has a cable modem attached (yeah, it'll be shared on the LAN later).  L.O.T.S. also has a cable modem.  L.O.T.S. connects to my server on the 464A.  We play for about an hour.  I cannot believe how easy it was to set up this game!  If it plays as easily through firewalls I will explode.

2)
Alpha coolers.  Those who understand, understand.  $48 USD (P3125CM60) directly from Japan.  $10 USD shipping to Canada. Total: $58 USD, or $87.14 CAD.  The cheapest reseller I've found in Canada sells them for $89.95 + shipping.  Down they go.  Hopefully it'll arrive in time for DOOMsDAY.

3)
Another Perfect Day at work.

4)
Go here and search for:

comicbook store simpsons realaudio Laugh.

Here's a story.  Gather 'round children, for this will be a story of Highway Robbery.  Most everyone who reads this will not have known about the original Highway Robbery ^TM that took place some time in 1994.  For those that don't know, a 94% was achieved for no real reason.  Anyhow, let me start ranting on the proper topic.  Last week mid-week sometime, I decided to head on over to my local Electronics Boutique for the purpose of ordering a soon-to-be-released computer game - Quake 3 Arena.  I also wanted one of the 20,000 tin-boxed editions because they look cool.  Whenever I first saw the tin box on EB's website many weeks ago, I knew I wanted it.  I went over to the 'Boutique and said "I'd like a yellow boat, with extra motors".  No wait, I asked whether the stores would be carrying the "Elite Edition".  To this the droid behind the counter replied "no, but I really want one too."  So, not having a credit card of my own (yeah I know I should get one), I decided I was screwed and couldn't get an Elite Edition.  Oh well.  Too bad, so sad.  So, getting back to the Highway Robbery.  Last week I went in just to put money down so I'd have some sort of copy of Q3A when it finally shipped.  Much to my surprise, the same power droid who told me the wouldn't be carrying the Elite Edition last time, told me I could put down money to get an Elite edition now.  Hmm.  The droid went on to say that since I was pre-ordering so late, I wouldn't be guaranteed an Elite ed., but I'd get a regular cardboard edition either way.  So fine, I had a $20, so I put that down.  Once I got home from putting down the $20, I called up the other Boutique in the area and they said "yeah, you can get an Elite Edition if you reserve it".  I said, "sure", the woman took down my full name and phone number.

New paragraph.  Friday of last week comes along and I get a message on my machine - "Hello this is Electronics Boutique Erin Mills calling.  This message is for Adam.  Adam, we have Quake 3 in stock, but since you ordered it so late, we only have a cardboard-boxed one for you.  We will hold it for 48 hours."  (Wish I had recorded this message from my answering machine)  LIARS!!  But a cardboard-boxed one is better than no Q3A whatsoever.  Upon arriving home tonight my brother gives me a message that my good friend L.O.T.S. has requested I call him.  I do.  L.O.T.S. informs me that he would like to go out tonight and spend money.  Money is good, so spending it must also be good, and I agree.  I head over in the GLI, and we drive.  First stop, EB @ Square One.  We walk in, I wave my pre-order receipt and the droid takes it.  Out comes a shiny metal box, i.e. the Elite Edition.  Woo!  I guess they must have ordered more than the droid first presumed, since I got a metal-boxed one.  Adam 1, Droid 0.  Since it was only 8:20 in the PM, L.O.T.S. and I head over to EB Erin Mills.  (For a second time, we notice that there are a lot more FYTs in today's malls than there were about 5 years ago).  Escalator to second floor, walk into EB.  Check out new and used games - most are CHEAPER than @ Square One!  Even new releases!!  Hmm.  Since both pre-orders were in my name, I again step up to the counter.  I say (my exact words): "Hey.  I've got Quake 3 pre-ordered."  The reindeer-horn-wearing girl asks, "what's your name?"  I say "Adam".  She bends down and disappears.  Up she comes holding ... an Elite Edition!  I stand there trying not to look abnormal.  I sense L.O.T.S. is feeling the same feelings.  I look over at him, and we are both trying to contain laughter, "haa haa's" directed at the EB, and general snickering.  L.O.T.S. whips out some currency, it is exchanged for the said Elite Edition, and the Highway Robbery is complete.  That is all.  Adam 2, Droids 0.

Just a note of clarification.  I refer to this as Highway Robbery for several reasons:

I was told I would get NO Elite Editions, and instead I got 2.

At no point did the girl ask my full name or phone number to verify I was indeed the Adam who was promised an Elite Edition.  It is L.O.T.S.'s assumption that another Adam had ventured into the EB and asked for his Elite Edition, and was presented with a "but you already picked it up!  You were here with your friend who paid for it!"  But it's not our fault she didn't do a background check.

Highway Robbery.

---

Disclaimer:  The above content is intended for mature audiences and should not have been read by children under the age of 18.

---