FRIDAY FOLLIES

I've been around the world and back today... well, not really, but it sure feels like it.

My day ended at 2pm and I needed to go back to my parents' place to get some text books and a few other items. Using public transit, I managed to get back to Port Moody by 4pm. I managed to find everything I needed. My father was going to meet my mom after work, so I caught a ride with him down to Chinatown.

We all met up at Pho Van, my favourite Vietnamese restaurant in Vancouver. I'm tempted to call it the best pho joint in the city, but Nate Wawruck swears the best place is on 21st and Main. So until I try that place out, I can only say Pho Van is my favourite. And oh man, is it good at Pho Van. Of all the pho I've tried in my entire life, I have not sampled a better bowl than the ones they serve at Pho Van. The broth is so aromatic, it borders on being intoxicating. When you finally sip a tiny bit of it from your spoon, the richness of it nearly overwhelms you. The goodness doesn't end there. Pho van uses only the finest cuts of beef for their pho. Their bowls of pho tai are world-class. The beef almost melts in your mouth. All their other dishes are just as good. To top it off, they have a big screen TV in the dining area and they play DVD movies all the time. A movie and some pho, how could you go wrong? So, if you're ever in the neighbourhood of 633 Main St., look for Pho Van on the second floor!

Well, after having a bowl of pho tai, I was content to just sit there, but I had to take leave of my parents and headed downtown. While there, I purchased some school supplies. After I was done, I got on a #4 bus to UBC. As I got on, the driver said, "Don't put your money in, the machine's broken, just get on..."

Sweet, two dollars saved! This is how millionaires start their fortunes. After an uneventful ride home, here I am.

From UBC to Port Moody, to dowtown, and back to UBC, all in half a day.

Now, I'll leave you with a link to try. Over the holidays, I was bored one night and wound up at the Nokia web site. I found their ring tones section which is weird since my phone can't even load new tones. I spent almost an hour listening to all the various tones. I just had to know what Ghostbusters sounded like on a cell phone. Go take a listen for yourself (Real Player required).

0 Comments

ARRESTING PHOTOS



UPDATE: It appears they've taken a whole bunch of their old photos off the Internet. Sorry. It happened just shortly after I wrote this post. Coincidence, or not?

Are you ever bored surfing the Internet? Looking for something new? Sure you are. I got this link off of Paul Katcher, but I thought I'd share it with you.

It's the web site for a company called Spirit World Productions. They organize themed parties in Las Vegas and other areas. Some of their previous parties include The Rubber Rodeo, The Naughty Schoolgirl, and Sorority Sex Kittens. The above photo was taken from one of their Halloween parties.

They must have a genius in their marketing department because they take a million photos from each of their parties, and they have the savvy to put them on the Internet. I assure you, going through these photos is worth your time. A slight warning, for the most part there is no nudity, but I think I may have seen half a nipple in one photo... lol. Oh, and on the main page, there's a loud and annoying background music track that plays which essentially betrays you to your co-workers, signaling that yes, indeed, you are not working. But who cares, it's pictures of hot chicks at parties, what else are you going to do at work?

0 Comments

RUN-INS

Part of the problem of returning to school after many years is that you don't know anyone on campus anymore, well at least you think you don't.

Today, I was had pleasant surprise of running into two people I knew. First up was Sean Walsh. I had just finished up my discrete math class when in comes Sean for his database class. I knew Sean was at UBC, but the place is so big, I think we've only seen each other twice on campus all year. Sean and I also worked in the QA department at EA. We talked shop for a while, discussing the various classes we were taking. It was nice seeing a friendly face.

From there, I was on my way to the Com Sci building when I ran into King-Wei Hor. That was a total surprise. I didn't even think he was in school anymore. King is the only person I know who holds two Bachelor's degrees. He did his first one in Science (pharmacology I think... or biology... whatever) and his second was in Electrical Engineering. He started his engineering degree only four months after he finished his first degree. He was at UBC for eight straight years. King finally left UBC last spring. I did not expect to see him on campus. King has decided to come back as an unclassified student to do some grad courses in Electrical Engineering. He can't just stay away from this place! King said he's thinking about coming back for a Master's degree. Of all the people I know, I'm certain King would be an ideal grad student, he's one of the smartest people I've met.

We talked at length about computer science and electrical engineering courses, returning to school, and how we were both approaching 30 and still at school. I hadn't seen King since Dave Shu's stag. I'm looking forward to seeing King on campus this term.

So, for sure I don't run into someone I recognize every 100 m on campus like I did before, but it's reassuring to know there are still a few friendly faces at UBC.

0 Comments

THIS SLEEP THING

It's only Tuesday! Holy crap this week is dragging on. I can't wait until I get back into a routine and the days start flying by.

So, I got up at 8am today. Yesterday, it was 9am. Tomorrow it'll be 9am again. I'm missing my unbounded bedtimes from last term. I'm a nocturnal person by nature and this new schedule is not agreeing with me. It's ok now because I have no work to do, but I'm expecting more difficulties later.

Hey, in other news, did anyone watch that Joe Millionaire show on Fox? I could only watch half of it before I couldn't stand it any more. I think I'll watch the last episode. I bet the girl says she'll stay with him irregardless of his wealth, but once the cameras are off, she'll split as soon as she can.

By the way, if you think that Evan guy is only capable of doing construction work, you're wrong. As first discovered by The Smoking Gun and reported by Entertainment Weekly, Evan Marriott has previously done some modelling... of men's thong underwear. "Joe Millionaire" it seems did some photo work for a company called California Muscle which sells men's "fantasy and body wear". Our faux-millionaire can be seen modelling exciting items such as the Arabian Boxer and the battle-inspired Gladiator Brief. Warning, there's no nudity, but if there's even a sliver of homophobia in you, you probably won't want to click on those links. Ha ha ha...

Ok, I'm tired as hell, so I'm going to nap.

0 Comments

A NEW TERM

With great sadness, my holidays ended today when I had to get up at 9am to go to my first class.

I had about 26 days off for my Christmas holiday. It was my longest holiday ever in my entire life. When you're in kindergarten to grade 12, you get maybe two weeks usually. When I was in undergrad, I had a million courses, so my exams were usually spread over the entire month of December. Most of the time, I'd be left with less than two weeks. This year, however, I had 26 long days.

What did I do with this time? I mainly pissed it away. I managed to see only two movies. I watched two DVDs, both of which were for movies I had already seen (though the bonus material was pretty cool). I think I saw some of my friends about three or four times. I did manage to squeeze in 8-9 weeks of four TV shows into three days. I finished one video game and started another. What I did most was staying up really late, sleeping in, and eating.

I wish I had done a little more with my time, after all, it was 26 days! At least I'm rested now.

I am now appreciating how great my last semester was in terms of scheduling. On Sundays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, I could go to be as late as I wanted to. Also, I only had one lab and no tutorials to attend. This term, I can only sleep in for one day of the week, and I have to be up by 9am on most days. In addition, I have two labs and three tutorials this term. I'm taking the same number of courses this term, but I'm certainly in class a lot more now.

I finally got my mark back for my fuzzy logic control course. Remember how I predicted doom and gloom for my mark? I'm not sure how it happened, but I managed to eek out a 81% or an A- in that class. I'm surprised as hell. I did the calculations and I received a mark of 80% on my final project, which was worth 50% of the mark. How did that happen? I thought my project was crap. It was four days of what I thought was sub-standard work. Now, that I think about it, that course was kinda cool. Ha ha ha... the prof was gone for the equivalent of a month, we didn't do any work until the end, we didn't have any assignments to hand in, there were no labs or tutorials, he marked the mid-term very leniently, and I got an A- for basically doing four days of work (over an entire term!). It wouldn't be that bad if all my courses were like that. I bet, though, I wouldn't be saying that if I didn't get an A-.

Let's hope this new term will be as good as the last!

0 Comments