I'm usually wary of movie promotions done over the Internet. More often than not, it's just a way to get your e-mail address so they can spam you later on.

I have, however, been participating in one particular Mission: Impossible 3 contest. Yes, I know it stars Tom Cruise. We all know how weird that dude became the last couple of months but, the trailer for the movie does look damn good.

So what's this contest? It involves an Internet scavenger hunt. You sign up for an account and every Monday, you're given a new clue. Armed with this clue, you have to search the Internet looking for the Mission Impossible badge to click on. Once you find it, you're time is clocked and points awarded. Points are awarded for speed, among other things. For our US readers, this can translate into prizes won.

It's actually kinda fun and challenging to figure out where you're supposed to point your browser based on the first clue. You can still sign up now. Time doesn't start until the clue is revealed to you, so it's possible for someone to do six missions all today and catch up to everyone else. You can give it a try here. It's worth the sign-up!

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Over at official NBA web site, they're having a little online contest to determine the favourite NBA dance team. It's setup like the March Madness tournament with teams facing off in successive rounds until the final matchup. Voters are supposed to exercise due dilligence and pour over photos from each dance team and then vote.

Normally, I wouldn't link to something like this but if you've been reading this site for several years, it will seem somewhat familiar. Click on the image above if you like female team morale boosters!

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I'm going to comment on a few different things here. The first is that this domain expires next Friday. I better renew it before I forget. Odds are that I'll leave it for a few more days before I go to do that.

The Flying Swan Cafe is a pretty decent place for food. An extensive menu, coupled by reasonable prices makes it a good place for lunch. Where else can you get breakfast, burgers, Chinese food and much more?

In last two episodes of 24, they've killed off a lot of important characters. One guy I didn't mind because he deserved it. The last guy at the end of Monday's episode though was a decent character. He saved Jack's life more than a few times. There aren't that many more characters left to kill now.

And in the ever popular trend of self-diagnosing using the Internet, I'm pretty sure I have what's called delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS). For as long as I can remember, my body has commanded me to stay up late and sleep in until early afternoon. I was not aware there was a disorder to describe it. Apparently you can treat it. The question is, do I want to? The only reason to is to conform to the rest of society. If I get my eight hours, I'm just as awake as anyone else. DSPS isn't life threatening nor does it cause direct harm to me. Well, at least I know the name for it now. All this time, I've been calling it Harvey.

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I'm sure some of you are aware that a large portion of Vancouver was without power tonight. I was caught in the blackout as well. I had just left work around 8:40pm and was waiting for the bus at 4th and Fir. All of a sudden the street lights went out as did the lights in the surrounding buildings. The only lights were from the headlights of passing vehicles.

I knew my bus was coming at 8:47pm but I forgot if it was an electric trolley or a diesel. I also forgot if the trolleys were on a separate electrical source than the business/residential customers. Not wanting to risk it, I decided to hoof it up to the bigger bus stop on Granville and 5th. I knew that stop had diesels for sure and maybe walking just one block up would be the difference. As I walked into that little park by the foot of the bridge, I could see that it was lights out for several blocks in every direction. Downtown was still twinkling though. To reach the right stop, I had to cross Granville, so I decided to use the underpass. That was not to be. As I got to the underpass, it was pitch black and I was afraid there might be giant spiders in there. It was clear navigating the underpass was not an option. I started to walk up Granville on the wrong side of where I needed to be. All of Granville was dark, except strangely enough, the Starbucks was still serving up coffee in their lit up store. I was waiting for a chance to cross the four lanes of Granville in the dark. There wasn't a break in traffic, so I thought I'd have a better chance to cross higher up the street.

I got to the intersection at 6th where I waited with a cyclist. We both watched waves and waves of cars go by us.

"This is gonna be fun."

As he nodded, the traffic stopped as they suddenly obeyed the four way stop rule to let a vehicle cross Granville. We sprinted across along with the car. A trolley had just passed us and was still waiting across the street as I got there. I ran aboard to find that the trolley still had power.

The bus trundled across the darkened bridge, leaving behind what I thought for certain was the beginning of the zombie invasion. The lights were bright and alive as soon as we got downtown. I'm not even sure the patrons of the Cecil even were aware of what was going on outside. Though, I guess you could say that about Cecil patrons at any time.

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I was downtown Saturday night when I walked by Smallville actress Allison Mack. She was with what seemed like her boyfriend. The dude had his arm around her. If you're wondering how good looking you need to be to date an actress, he wasn't a male model type at all. I'm guessing then he probably has a huge personality and/or bank account.

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