I think it's been over two months since I've ventured downtown. Tonight, I changed that by starting my holiday shopping. As soon as my bus made it over the Granville St. bridge, I saw an attractive girl wearing a mini-skirt and white thigh-high boots by a bus stop. I took that as a good omen.

The crowds were extremely light and I easily purchased two gifts before it was even 6:30pm. I needed to eat, so I decided to go to my favourite pho place, Pho Van on Main Street. When I got there, I ordered a large pho tai. The steaming bowl of noodles that soon got to my table was intoxicating. My pho consumption has been quite light this term, something that I hope to rectify next term. It was as good as ever. The thinly sliced, slightly raw pieces of beef almost melted in my mouth. Oh delicious pho, I suckle at your brothy, sweet teat once again.

By this time, it had started to rain quite heavily and stupidly, I had not brought along an umbrella. Knowing it was about quitting time, I crossed the street to where my mother works. I was hoping that my Mom was still at work and perhaps I could borrow a brolly from her. As luck would have it, my Mom was still there along with my Dad. They were going to eat some dinner before heading out to play some mah jong. They were pleasantly surprised to see me. When I told them why I was there, they insisted I was join them for dinner next door at this Hong Kong style cafe. As I sat there watching them eat, they asked me questions about the exciting life that I lead. With dinner finished, I was loaned an umbrella and driven back downtown so I could continue shopping.

If there was post-dinner shopping crowd, I never saw it. I think in this Internet age, the days of jam-packed malls might be behind us. I went to a few different stores, looking for both myself and my family. I didn't find any more gifts, but I did buy a pair of jeans from Old Navy. That place is great for cheap essentials, things like undershirts, socks, and underwear.

After that, I'd had enough, so I went back home. Tomorrow, I am going back downtown in an attempt to get some smaller items. Is everyone else done their shopping?

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SJC resident Tyson, explains to us the real meaning behind the movie Top Gun.

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So the plan tonight was to play the last organized game of hockey before the holidays. I get changed and grab my hockey gear and head off to SJC at 10pm. I get there and see a lot of people in the social lounge. Adam comes outside to greet me. For a guy that supposed to be playing hockey it seems weird that he's dressed in a sweater, khakis, and moccasins. He tells me that hockey doesn't look like it's going to happen.

I look inside the social lounge and everyone is watching the extended version of The Return of the King. Eh, no big deal, we'll just start play again in the new year. I go inside and watch about half an hour of the movie. I figure I'll leave and go back and clean up my place. While I'm watching the movie, Eddy, Chiming, and Woba come up to me.

"We're gonna go drink some beers at Koerner's."

I join them at the pub. It's pretty dead in there. No girls to speak of. We have a few beers and talk about SJC life in general. It's a good time to be had by all. Pretty soon, we all get hungry. The decision is made to go to McDonald's. I'm still carrying my hockey stick at this point. We make our way over to McDonald's. The place is packed with guys, not a single girl is there. Something about the late hour and desire for fast food has brought out the guys. Meanwhile, the girls and their clean arteries are safe at home.

We consume our grease and talk more about SJC, the future, the past, and why impicit integration doesn't work with large time steps. I notice some interesting fellas in the restaurant. There's two old guys in the corner who seem to be emanating some serious BO. One guy walks in with a 7-11 bag full of muffins and pastries. He doesn't order anything, just sits down to the table next to us and starts eating.

Then it's time to leave and the nice guys are nice enough to walk me home. I wonder if I'll go shopping tomorrow...

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I have finally finished Half-Life 2. It is quite simply an awesome game. The sequel to one of the most influential titles in the gaming history, HL2 is the best first-person shooter I have ever played.

From a visual standpoint, the game is amazing to look at. The finest of details are rendered. I caught myself staring at the rotating metal blades of a windmill as it caught the rays of sunlight from above. Others may coo at the graphics in Doom 3, but the scenes in HL2 are a beauty to behold. The fact that it's playable on machines that are nearly three years old is a testament to the engineering skill of the developers.

Thing that I liked the most is the inclusion of real-time physics in the gameplay. Objects now have representative mass and material properties. Nearly anything in the game world can be picked up, shoved, moved, thrown, or dropped. Gone are the days where your tank-destroying missile launcher wouldn't even move an office chair an inch.

The ability to pick-up and move items in the game world in a huge forward step in gameplay. How many times have you entered a room full of ammo and medkits, only to discover you were carrying the maximum allowed items already? This is not a problem in HL2. You can simply pick-up said items and bring them with you. Or, toss them down the hall with the gravity gun.

New strategies are now possible with HL2. Pinned down by enemy fire? You can now grab a desk and use it as cover as you make your way across a room. The ability to move furniture now allows you to barricade doorways and create choke points. In one particular level, I was able to block four doorways which I had to defend with filing cabinets and desks. It challenged me to find better ways to solve the problems presented. Any game that does that is a worthy experience to me.

Now, I've heard some grumbling on the Internets about the ending to this game. Yes, some of you may not agree with how it ended. Before you continue your grumbling though, I recommend you take a look at this site. It will provide you some information that hopefully will put the ending in context to the larger story at hand.

If you're even the most casual PC gamer, you can do no wrong by picking up a copy of Half-Life 2. And oh, just for you Frank, here's a picture of Morgan Freeman as the hero of Half-Life 2.

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Who knew getting just five hours of sleep in the last 24 hours would make me feel this tired? I'm going to lie down soon.

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I've been staying up extra late the last few days trying to get this project done for a class. For a guy that usually stays up until 3am anyways, "extra late" means I've been going to bed when some people are just getting up. I think I was up until 6am yesterday morning.

When I awoke at around 2pm, I made a promise to start going to bed earlier, since 2pm is an unreasonable time to be getting up, at least to me.

Well, it's nearly 3am and a idea just popped into my head. I rarely eat breakfast because of my late start to the day. What's even more rare for me? Going out for breakfast. By the time I wake up and get all dolled up to go outside, I'm lucky if places are still serving lunch.

So, here's my idea. I stay up and go to McDonald's and show up there right at 6am on the dot. Six 0'clock is when they open. When I get there, I'm gonna order me up some "Sausage, Egg & Cheese McGriddles". They bake the maple syrup right into the griddle cakes! Thirty-two grams of fat to end the "day" before I go home and sleep off the fat sweats.

The idea of eating breakfast before going to bed is not something new though. My former neighbour down the hall at SJC, Matt, pioneered the process. He would work on his thesis until it was time for breakfast, go eat, and then go to bed. Hey, it can't all be that bad since they call him Dr. Matt now.

I'm not fully committed at this point yet, since in the next three hours, fatigue might set in and I just might go to sleep. Not that would be a bad thing either.

Will Erwin go out for breakfast? Or will he be drooling onto his pillow at 6am? Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion!

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