They're not yelling "boo" they're yelling "boo-ush"

What a difference a few years, a few thousand dead Americans, and a few billion dollars can make...

I'm the stocks on the day of the crash

Woke up this morning feeling pretty good.
Just came off a solid ten hour sleep, and a big 18-0 victory in waterpolo last night in our first playoff game. It was a huge upset considering we had 1 sub and they had an army. Plus they did this big hardcore chant thing before the game, so we thought we were toast. I punched a girl's fingers pretty hard, kinda felt bad about it. Overall our preconceptions were way off, and they were brutal players.

Anyway, just before heading to campus I got a call from my mom informing me that a letter had arrived back home to tell me that I wasn't accepted into the micro/immu masters program for next year.
To be honest I'm not entirely surprised, since my marks are just below the cutoff. But I am surprised that I heard back so soon. The deadline for applications isn't until June, and if there are spots available at that time they contact the people who were just below the cutoff line. So to hear in March seems kinda odd...
I'm still going to look into the details of applying to different faculties though, since the micro guys might just be pricks.

Once I got to campus and had something to eat, I instantly started feeling like a bag of shit. I had to leave class early, and I still feel terrible. Gut and sinuses. Hopefully it's just gonna last for today.

Details are still coming in for the summer out west, but by the looks of it I'll have to look into a job or an internship come the fall. I'd like to stay in my field, and maybe in a few years I'll come back to do the masters thing. As for now I've gotta buckle down like crazy to get some decent marks this semester. The next month is gonna be brutal, so I'm gonna get at it early for once to hopefully lessen the burden.

Support the troops...

Nobody remembers the runner-up

I've got a fair bit to report on lately, but I've been so damn busy I haven't had time to even sit down and think about things for awhile.

First off, I'm ecstatic that the Patriots lost the Superbowl. If they had won, everyone would rave about how amazing and how epic their season was. Undefeated/perfect/never see that again blah blah blah...
It's not perfection when you cheat. It's not perfection when you get favourable call after favourable call, just because the refs don't want to see the Pats lose. And it sure as shit ain't perfection when your quarterback saves his worst performance of the season for the only game that matters.

Go fuck a dozen models and leave em once they're pregnant you arrogant bastard. See if Mintvis cares.


If the Giants had lost the game after that amazing play where Manning miraculously escaped the crowd of defenders just to throw a Hail Mary of a ball to be caught in highlight rel fashion, I woulda been some pissed. Those are the plays that are supposed to win Superbowls, and I'm glad it turned out that way.

Next up, our trip to Montreal last weekend.
Eight of us in total headed up to frenchfry land for some good old boozing and hockey. We arrived in a brutal hail/snow storm, but the weekend turned out pretty well. The Habs beat the Isles, we got wasted two nights in a row, and had first class tickets on the train for the whole trip.
It was too bad that we didn't get to see much of the city though, since the hockey game was in the 2-5 pm slot, which essentially killed the only daylight that we had on the whole trip up there.


And I was supposed to be heading back to Montreal in a few weeks, but plans fell through for that. I can't say I'm heartbroken, considering I'll be going to Ottawa next weekend for the Family Day long weekend, and I've got no damn money to spend on an extra trip anyway.
It is too bad that I won't get to see my good buddy from TO, but I'll probably just head down to see him sometime in reading week anyway.

As for school, I've been swamped to the Nth degree lately. Lab reports, assignments, online quizzes, exams, and plain old lab work is starting to kill me. Add my actual job to the mix and I don't have much time for anything.

I did get my Masters application in last week, and I'm hoping to hear back from that soon. I'm kinda borderline with my marks, and I doubt this semester is going to raise them any, so I'm not too sure about my chances. But I guess if that fails I'd just try to find a job in my field around these parts.

As for a summer job, I just found out last night that I got the job out in Panorama, BC, working at a golf course with a bunch of buddies. So far Bender Stevo and Eddy are 100% hired, and we're waiting on 4 or 5 others to get their asses in gear and find out.


So as of May I'll have a nice change of scenery for a few months. Thew wife isn't too pleased with the whole idea, but she's been supportive of my choice, which is awesome. I just feel like I've gotta get away from Ontario for awhile, especially if I'm gonna be in school for an extra two years down here. And if I don't do it now, I doubt I'll ever get the chance again.

Anyway, it's time to hit the ice so I'd better be off.

If you don't know me by now...

There are few commercials that make me want to try their product. This is one of em.

Pointless Drivel

If there's one thing in this world that I don't give two sweet fucks about, it's gotta be celebrities.

The news feed on my MSN window came up with a title the other day saying something about the custody battle between Britney Spears and K-Fed.

Like, oh my gawd! I can't, like, believe she could, like, possibly take care of a child. Like, shah...

And ya gotta wonder...

WHO GIVES A FUCK ABOUT BRITNEY SPEARS

It's unbelievable how much time and money some people will spend on this type of shit. Just look at all the tabloids, all the magazines and newspaper titles, and all the pictures of Joe-Fuckhead and Sally-Slutmaster. It's all a fucking illusion that average people are taught to buy into.

If you buy this product you'll get more sexy women to rub themselves all over you.
If your hair looks like this, you'll land yourself a nice rich businessman and live happily ever after.

Everyone's sent chasing the American dream and watching the goings-on of celebrities instead of trying to actually accomplish something in their own lives. Are we really that boring that we need to live vicariously through someone on TV or in a magazine? Do we really need to live up to these ridiculous airbrushed standards of the world? Should we be dedicating our time to looking at the cellulite piling up on some movie star's ass? Is Tara Reid's nipple all that entertaining? Does a photograph of Lindsay Lohan's snatch improve our lives in some way? And are the perverted photographs of the paparazzi something we really ought to be supporting here people?

Honestly, what the fuck. Try getting your own life.

Write a book.
Volunteer for something.
Read the news paper.
Plant a fucking tree.

At least better yourself or the world in some way, rather than waste time on the mental midgets we're supposed to idolize.

Don't worry Paris, I wouldn't dream of it...

New Year, Same Old Crap

This new year, I have complied a short list of resolutions for everyone that is not me:

• stop wearing those fucking bluetooth earpieces. you look like douchebags.

• if you think of yourself as a big tough man, and attend sporting events, don't drink light beer. light beer is for americans and pussies
  

• enough with the fucking facebook applications

• start wearing clothes that fit you. especially you muffin-toppers and gangsta whiteboy thugs.

• stop buying shitty music. pap bullshit and mindless dancefloor music only exist because somebody buys that crap

• enough with this "support the troops" bullshit. if you really want to support the troops, either a) join the army or b) bring them home before any more get killed

• stop watching pointless shit on television. reality tv is not real so stop kidding yourselves; entertainment tonight has no fucking impact on the real world; and Sally Perfecttits from the OC is never going to fuck you. hell, even Jerry Springer's lead security man's got himself a show now people - don't you think we've gone far enough??

• don't even bother going to the gym. we all know you're gonna show up twice in january and then quit, so save your money
  

Convictions

Over the past few days the courts have handed down some noteworthy decisions:

1. Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison for his role in the dog-fighting ring that he helped to organize. It's a step in the right direction to show the rich and famous that they're not above the law, and also a good stride for animal rights. But you have to wonder why Vick acted so foolishly during the court case when he was only looking at 12-14 months. (And you also have to wonder how he even faced a prison term as low as 12 months in the first place, given the brutality of the crimes.
2. "Lord" Conrad Black was given a sentence of 78 months in prison and ordered to repay over $6 million of money embezzled from shareholders in his company, Hollinger International. This is a light sentence again, considering he could've faced a couple of decades behind bars. At least the US courts proved he wasn't entirely above the law...
3. Robert Pickton was convicted of 6 counts of 2nd degree murder for the killings of prostitutes on his Vancouver area pig farm. He still awaits trial for the murders of 19 other women, and has been implicated (but not charged) in the murders of even more. At the end of the day this guy is going to be behind bars for the rest of his life, but I find it pretty amazing that he wasn't given 1st degree murder convictions. After the first time, he had obviously established what he was doing - hence it was premeditated. I'm also somewhat surprised that Ontarians haven't given nearly as much notice to this case as they did to the Paul Bernardo/Karla Homolka case back in the 90's. This guy is probably Canada's worst serial killer ever (caught?) but he hasn't received nearly as much attention.

Delta

For the first time in months I was able to wake up on a weekday without an alarm clock forcing me out of bed. Granted it was 2 pm, but that kinda made it all the better.

Yesterday was the last day of classes for the semester, and fortunately it was also the last day of work until the new year. And for the first time ever I have less that 5 exams in December. Granted, I had to write two big essays in the last two weeks, but that leaves only 3 exams, which is nice.

And after my exams are done on the 18th I'll be heading to the wife's to stay for a few nights before my dad and bro pick me up on the way to Chicago. Rather than buy each other gifts this year we figured we'd take a trip together and get out to a few hockey games. It's going to make for some tight travel times to make it home for Christmas eve, and I hope the weather holds out.

On a different note, for years I've been trying to figure out how the hell people can make pictures look like this:

A few weeks back I got off my lazy ass and decided to find out how to do it. In reality it's not that hard to do, but I think I gave myself the 24-hour carpal tunnels syndrome due to my ceaseless mouse movement for a few days there.
But after doing a bunch of pictures and putting them up on my flickr page (as seen cycling on the sidebar), I only ran into more questions. One girl on there claimed she could make her camera select only specific colours without having to do any work by hand, but I can't figure out how she does it. She claims that every Canon can do it, but as far as I can tell mine can't. And the damn thing is fairly new, so I'm a little confused.
I'm also pissed off that the program I used to make the changes to the pictures was only a trial program on my computer that has subsequently expired.

Then again, tis the season. So I might have to ask for a decent program to screw with more photos in the future.

Trouble

A few months ago I came across an article on the BBC saying that a billionaire American businesswoman had left $12 million to her pet dog, Trouble.

For the sake of justice, I can only hope that hell does exist...

In brighter news, the dog has now received death threats! I understand the reason for the threats, but what the fuck people? The selfish bitch you ought to be more concerned with is the one that just died. The dog is just a bloody dog.

I can't imagine what this poor woman's life must have been like. How could someone like that have any friends? I just keep picturing a female Monty Burns sitting in her empty mansion fingering away at that glass of brandy...