Tens of boxes to put my order into, and they had to choose THIS one...

Last week, I had my old friend Robin Kowal over to watch the season finale of LOST. To celebrate the occasion, we ordered Chinese food from what I consider to be the BEST Chinese Food restaurant in Winnipeg - Hong Hing Chinese Food Delivery on Ellice Avenue.

Not only do you get a lot of great tasting food for a great price, but it all comes packaged up in an inappropriately labelled box whose text you wish you'd never read!

Yeah, hi, Hong Hing? I'd like to order some Mushroom Fried Rice, Chicken Balls, and Stir Fried Veggies.

Oh, and hold the Bladder Control Pads, because.. uhh.. well, I can hold it.

Oh, and for the record? The LOST finale was AWESOME! I'm not sure what some people were expecting to see....

Currently playing: Men Without Hats - Living In China
Currently colouring: The Chronicles of Conan Volume 20: Night of the Wolf!
Proudly in my fifth Cola free year!

McDonald's Crispy Chicken Classic. Because I deserve the BEST!

Tonight, I had a Crispy Chicken Classic from McDonalds.

Here's the marketing messaging from the side of the box it came in...


It reads:
EXPERIENCE CHICKEN BLISS
For those who appreciate the finer things in life, we humbly offer the Crispy Chicken Classic. Bon appetit.

Wow.

It was good. But it wasn't THAT good!!!

I think a little perspective is in order, Ronald!

I don't see how ANYTHING I receive while sitting in my 1995 Pontiac Firebird at a drive-thru window can be put in the "finer things in life"`category, no mater how "humbly" the uniformed, 16 year old, talking pimple offers it to me!

It`s quite the exaggeration. I`d be willing to bet that the writer of that description probably had a previous career embellishing people`s personal ads!

Currently playing: Harlequin - Sweet Things in Life
Currently colouring: The Chronicles of Conan Volume 20: Night of the Wolf!
Proudly in my fifth Cola free year!

One chapter ends, and another begins...

Today, I said goodbye to an old friend.

For the last 9 years, I've been employed at a local software developer as a Multimedia Specialist. In addition to video and Flash projects, the bulk of my work was maintaining their websites and portals.

Today was my last day.

I start a new job on Monday.

I was able to see through an 8 month web revamp project, and posted the results last night. By 3 o'clock this afternoon, I'd done my last bit of tinkering. I posted the changes, and powered down my computer.

This is going to sound ridiculous, but I really did feel like I said goodbye to an old friend. For 9 years I was responsible for every change done to that website.

My duties have been passed on to an extremely competent co-worker (sorry,ex-coworker now!), and at the end of the day it felt like I was essentially talking to her about the site as if it were a family pet.

You can post the entire folder. That way, the pages with no changes don't feel left out.
He gets cranky if you don't put all the images in the same folder.
Use underscores in the file names. He doesn't like it when you use spaces...

Sigh. Ridiculous, I know.

In reality, I was at this job for nearly a decade. I met my wife there, and together we've started a family.

I owe where I am today to that company.

My last day was rough, and I'm not ashamed to admit that my eyes did get teary while saying my goodbyes. It's the people I'll miss the most. When I first met them, I was a fully follicled, pleather pant wearing young pup who spent his weekends playing in a rock band.

Nearly a decade later, my weekend is going to consist of going to the zoo with my wife and two year old daughter, and maybe some gardening.

To say that they've seen me grow up is an understatement.

I know I'll keep in touch with many of them. I'm just going to miss that daily interaction, and being a part of a fantastic team environment with them.

So long, old website. So long, old job. Thanks for a great 9 years. And from the bottom of my heart, thanks for the great friends, and lovely soul mate.

Now, to start prepping for my next adventure at a new job! What an exciting time!

Currently playing: Harlequin - Superstitious Feeling
Currently colouring: The Chronicles of Conan Volume 20: Night of the Wolf!
Proudly in my fifth Cola free year!

Winnipeg to find out soon if Coyotes are coming back to town

The Doomsday Clock, established in 1947, symbolizes mankind's proximity to global disaster. Nuclear war. Climate change. Grey goo. You name it. The closer the minute hand is to midnight, the closer the end of the world.

Using that same analogy, the minute hand on the Jets Return Clock has got to be as far closer to midnight than it has ever been.

Just seeing the main story on this afternoon's TSN website sent chills down my spine...

Winnipeg to find out soon if Coyotes are coming back to town
Wow.

I never thought I would see the day where the realistic possibility of the Jets' return would be front page news. Sure, we've seen headlines and unsubstantiated rumours appear front and center, but this... the pieces just seem to be falling in to place to give Winnipeg it's best shot yet.

Fellow Winnipeggers, we can do this! We can have household name athletes like Alexander Ovechkin, Jonathan Toews, the Sedin Twins, and (ugh) Cindy Crosby playing in front of us.

We can be the feel good story in sports! We can be the city that loaned a desert it's beloved hockey team for a decade and a half, and then brought them back home!

I'm sick and tired of the attitude of some in this great city who want to put down every idea of progress and forward momentum. No Jets. No new arena. No Ikea. Nothing, until all the potholes are fixed.

I realize that Winnipeg rumours may be being used as bargaining chips by the NHL to threaten those few trying to keep the team in Phoenix to get a deal done. So be it.

But if we don't set our sights high, we're never going to move forward.

Strangely enough, I'm reminded of a sign I saw someone holding during one of the final Winnipeg Jets games back in '96 that simply read "Phoenix, take care of our boys". Contrary to what the average red-blooded beer swilling Canadian will tell you, there are real hockey fans down there.

I know what it's like to lose a beloved hockey team, and Phoenix, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. If they Jets return, my heart will go out to you.

Currently playing: Iron Maiden - 2 Minutes to Midnight
Currently colouring: a yet-to-be-solicited project from Dark Horse Comics!
Proudly in my fifth Cola free year!

U Can't Touch This (Phone)!

Some external circumstances have forced me to downgrade my cel phone. I'm now using a cameraless Motorola 120e, with a beautiful monochrome screen!

When I took it in to the MTS Store to get it set up, the woman helping me was giggling uncontrollably. I sheepishly admitted that I'd had the phone since around 2006, so it's pretty much an antique.

She raised an eyebrow in reply, and told me that she was laughing because this was the same model and her FIRST cel phone, which she got nearly a decade ago.

Great. So even when I THOUGHT I was hip and cool with my new cel phone in 2006, I was out of fashion!

Anyhow, the contacts in the phone's charger are a little loose, and getting it to charge is a bit of a hassle. Once charging, if you so much as tap the floor that the table with the charging phone sits on, it just stops charging.

Bummer.

To make sure that Cat didn't bump or move the phone when she got up the next morning, I enlisted the talents of everyone's favourite rapper, MC Hammer, to make sure she got the message.


The Motorola 120e was probably around when U Can't Touch This was first popular!

In hindsight, I think Hammer was still wearing Steve Urkel glasses at this point in his career, so I goofed a bit giving him sunglasses.

Currently playing: Jay Z - 99 Problems
Currently colouring: a yet-to-be-solicited project from Dark Horse Comics!
Proudly in my fourth Cola free year!