I have uploaded the photos from last night's office party. The first couple are actually from the office. Our team was delivering a milestone yesterday so we had to wait for the green light to head off to the party.

I'm trying something new with these set of photos. Rather than hosting them on my server, I've uploaded them to Kodak's site. I rather like their interface for viewing photos on-line. You can add photo titles, leave comments, and view as a slideshow among other things.

You may view the gallery here. No need to sign in, just click on Nigel's smiling face to begin.

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Tomorrow is the office Christmas party. We're taking over Chivana located on W. 4th Ave. I've never been but the web site makes the place look promising. It's not an open bar but everyone gets two free drinks. Since we're a company that makes video games you can be sure two drinks will be more than enough for some to get 'faced. We've been told we can eat until we can't eat no more so at least no one will go hungry. The company has also hired a "band" for the evening. 8 Bit Weapon plays tunes from retro video games platforms such as the Gameboy, C64, and Atari 2600. 8BW used to be comprised of a guy and a girl but the girl left, so now it's just a guy. I can't wait until the guys awkwardly line up on one side of restaurant to perhaps ask the girls on the other to dance.

Actually, a lot of the guys at work are married or have girlfriends so it'll be interesting to see their partners. Some dudes have adorable children too so at least I know have someone to talk to during the party. Though one guy explicitly stated he wouldn't be bringing his girlfriend since he didn't want her to meet us. Funny.

This will be my third office that I've experienced Christmas parties with. The first was with Cypress Solutions. Despite being a horrible company to work for, they actually had a very classy party. The second was with a small local company called Electronic Arts Canada. The EA party occurred during a "lean" year so it was held in the EA cafeteria. The year before I got there, the party happened atop Mount Seymour and they hired Matt Good to play. As luck would have it, EA is having their party tomorrow as well. They'll be at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Rumour has it if our two groups meet downtown, there will be a slapfight (not in the face) of massive proportions.

I'll bringing my camera tomorrow to capture some of the merriment. I'm hoping some people get plastered and do some crazy things. Fingers crosssed.

Before the party though, our office's charity raffle will take place. All the money will go towards the Children's Hospital Charity. Prizes include a PSP, board games, a few video games, a spa treatment, and some other stuff. I bought five tickets but I found out today that in total 314 tickets have been sold. The good thing is that you can only win one prize, so if you bought 100 tickets and win a book, all your 100 tickets become invalid. So my odds are slightly better than 5/314... I think.

Ok, I'm off to hear what Jonny Stewart has to say tonight.

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If you're reading this, then that means my web and e-mail server got rebooted and things are back to normal over at the offices of erwintang.com. On a positive note, this is the longest period in quite a while that my server has been up without a crash.

Ok, so here's to a more entertaining post tomorrow.

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I was late for work by 20 minutes today. Traffic was backed up on Hastings. Usually when that happens I'm always positive that the cause is something to do with traffic that's trying to get on the Second Narrows bridge. I also know that whatever is the problem is, the bus will be clear of it beyond the PNE.

So we're easing along until we get to the turnoff for the bridge where I'm sure to see what the fuss is about. We get to the turnoff and there it is. A long articulated bus is stopped in the lane for the bridge. It's hazards are on and I can see transit supervisors milling about the bus. There are no police nor ambulances around. As we move forward, I can see a white sedan is right up against the front of the bus but perpendicular to it. It looks like the bus t-boned the sedan. The damage is not too serious looking but it's obvious both doors have crumpled in.

Now heres's the weird part. On the sidewalk, talking to one of the transit supervisors is former MP, former mayor of Coquitlam, and now city councillor of Coquitlam, Lou Sekora. If you're from tri-cities boonies area, you know this man has been in local politics for well over two decades.

Was he the driver of the white sedan? Did he witness the accident? Did he feel like he just had to get involved? I don't know. It was however, the oddest thing I saw today.

Change of subject, but if you're a fan of the local hockey team, there's an excellent set of pictures from the Canucks' road trip down to Cali from a few weeks ago. It's interesting to see them check e-mail, lounge around the pool, walk on the beach, try on cowboy boots, and eat meals on a tiny airplane tray. Check it out here.

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Hey, you ever watch commercials? Yeah, I try to avoid them too. Sometimes the commercials are entertaining. Sometimes the music in them are the most memorable things about them.

Two commercials have been driving me crazy with their music. The first is this Lexus commercial. The commercial itself is pretty standard for a car commercial but the music kinda catchy. Some people over at Adtunes discovered the music was made exclusively for the commercial, so you can't download buy it. The best someone did was make the commercial available on-line. You can see and hear it here (.mpg).

The second ad is this kick-ass PSP commercial that they show before the movie starts in Silvercity theatres. For years, hardware and software developers having been trying their best to expand gaming beyond the hardcore geek consumer. This commercial tries to bridge the gap. It shows the PSP spinning around and emphasizes that you can watch movies, listen to music, view photos, surf the Internet as well as play games. It's high on style and I can see it appealing to people who aren't traditional gamers. The music in it is pretty cool as well. The song is Comforting Sounds from a group named Mew. The commercial takes a small sample of the song from around 3:33 to about a minute later. Unfortunately, the commercial is not available for download (that I can find). The only thing I can offer is the song itself which can be heard here (Windows Media Player required).

I hope I win the PSP at the company holiday raffle!

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Hey, did you know that I was suffering from food poisoning on Friday? Yep, it was fun times I tell ya. This is exactly the type of stuff you come to this blog to read up on.

It started even before I got up on Friday morning, when there were rumblings "down there". I ignored them at first but when I arose and my feet hit the empty cans of Coors around my bed, I knew something was amiss. I quickly made my way to the bathroom where unspeakable things transpired.

Actually, at this point I didn't think it was food poisoning. I felt much better afterwards and went about my business of getting ready for the long ride in from the boonies. I'm not sure how it happened but I survived the whole trip to the office without incident. There was one point, however, on the bus where I felt a slight twinge but it soon passed.

No sooner had I logged on to my computer that things began to take a turn south. I began to feel extremely uneasy. Minutes later, I knew I had to take care of more business. I headed to "Vader's personal chamber" or also known as my private bathroom located in my office building. What followed was a tale of personal struggle, fit for a made-for-TV movie. After I was done, I could not help but walk unevenly back to my cubicle. I felt weak and this is no lie, I was actually dizzy. It was at this point I realized this was most likely food poisoning.

The possible culprits at this point numbered two. The first was a grilled cheese sandwich I made the evening before. The other was dinner which was prepared by my parents. I surmised it was something from dinner since my grilled cheese was prepared with fresh bread and cheese. Remember, it was my own mother that caused the worst case of food poisoning I've ever had just over a year ago.

Weakened, I returned to my desk to slowly sip hot water. I managed to get through the morning but lunch was another trial. We had a going-away lunch for a co-worker which thankfully was right next door at Accents. Everyone had appetizers and a main course. After eating my delicious bliny crepes, I was feeling ok but then that all changed. Oh boy, were there some rumblings going on. It was really touch and go for a bit but it subsided and I was alright to eat the main course of pan-seared scallops with a wonderful seafood risotto.

Not ten minutes after returning from lunch, I realized things weren't alright after all and it was off to the races again. I stumbled back to my desk and it was at this point I began thinking I might need to go home early. I stopped drinking and eating after this and just tried to concentrate on my work.

I got the ok to leave early but I had to be sure I was going to be able to make it through the 1.5 hour transit time back to the boonies. I stayed until 5:30pm before "emptying out the tank" one last time and I made a dash for transit.

Luckily, the journey home was uneventful. When I arrived home I began to feel hungry, which I took to be a good sign. I should have just eaten soup and crackers but I'm not that smart so I ordered chicken wings and a garden salad. They were damn good.

I suffered no ill effects from dinner and other than enough gas to fill the Hindenburg, I was alright for the rest of the evening. I've been more or less good since then. What a day though.

Keep it solid folks.

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Alec Baldwin returned to SNL to host the show for his 12th time. Only Steve Martin remains ahead of him with 13 shows under his belt.

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