When I left work this evening I got into an elevator which just happened to have Rory Armes and Frank Gibeau in it. Rory is the studio head for Black Box and Frank is the President of the EA Games label. Both are influential members of the games industry and to boot nice guys. I've obviously had more interaction with Rory as he's my studio head but the few times I've heard Frank speak in person, he's left with me a good impression as a sensible, down-to-earth type of executive.

I noticed Frank wore an ID badge even though he's based out of California. I wonder if he has some uber-pass which allows him access to every single EA Games studio, the list, at which this point would span three continents. Anyways, both execs got into a late-model, all-black BMW with a driver who whisked them away to who knows where.

Keeping with the EA theme, I'd like to congratulate EA Montreal for shipping Army of Two. I think a lot of the public were either hoping or steeling themselves for a mediocre game but EA Montreal delivered a solid new IP title. I played a few hours of online co-op tonight and it's definitely a lot of fun.

Transitioning to slightly less EA-related news, please be advised I am "temporarily" blocked from accessing my et.com e-mail address while I'm at work. For some reason, stupid Websense blocked my webmail server starting about one week ago. Here's the neat thing, people who have much more power than I do are trying to get this block removed for me. I guess the lesson to be learned here is that if you do your job well and keep everyone happy, people will bend some rules for you.

Last but not least, I do realize the archive you see to the right is woefully out of date. I'm missing several weeks posts which do exist but don't have links to them. The correct solution is to find out why Blogger isn't publishing my archive anymore. The more fun solution is for me to write a simple C# application which automates the writing of the archive file for me. I'm a bit of a C# newbie but I think it'll be a fun project to do. Until I get it written, please bear with me.

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In a previous post, I detailed the less than pleasant experience I had with a Joeys restaurant on Burrard. I left feedback on their web site. In response, I was contacted by both e-mail and phone by Joeys representatives.

Today, I was finally able to speak to the regional manager of Joeys via telephone. Kent was very eager to address the concerns I brought up in my feedback. He was sincerely disappointed in the experience I had. I was told that he had personally spoken to the people working that night about what happened. He also said that my feedback was given to every single person who worked at the restaurant. Man, I hope that was done anonymously.

It was a fairly long conversation but in the end, he asked me if I would give Joeys another chance. To that end, he indicated that such a visit would be on the house. Now here's where it gets interesting. He wants me to let him know when I'll be dropping by so that he can meet me personally and ensure that I receive the best experience possible. Kent said that he wants to shake my hand and place a face with the name.

I said to him that was quite generous but I hoped that even if I didn't tell him I was coming in, any subsequent visit would be better than the first. My point was that I was concerned that because he knew I was coming in I might get preferential treatment which would be over and above what an average diner would get. He responded by saying that he hoped that there would be no difference at all if I came back time and again.

I told him I couldn't commit to anything yet but I'd be in touch if I were ready to return. He said that was fine. So I left it at that.

Now I already know what my sister is thinking. She's probably thinking this thing smells like a mob hit from a country mile away. "Shake my hand"? "Place face with a name"? I haven't seen Casino or Goodfellas but she'll likely tell me I'm gonna get whacked for sure. I think that's unlikely but hey, I'm opening myself up to getting my food spat on (not that I think that's gonna happen).

I'm still unsure if I'll take them up on their offer. On one hand, I should just go back to Earl's restaurants. They've never really given me any reason to dislike their food or service. On the other hand, Kent did seem really sincere and apologetic about the whole thing, and hey, free dinner.

Maybe in a few weeks I'll take him up on his offer but for now, I am not rushing to go back.

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So I found out today an acquaintance of mine bought an apartment in downtown Edmonton. It looks really nice and modern though not new. Purchase price was about $170K. She only had to put $10K down. It'd be impossible to buy the same apartment in Vancouver for the same amount of money.

It looks like I could buy an apartment... but only if I wanted to live in Edmonton. That would only happen if did an internal transfer to Bioware. It looks like I won't be buying anytime soon.

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A few days ago, I found this great article on mysteries of the body. I personally suffer from the "Hypnic Jerk" myself.

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In the last five days, I've had experiences at two different restaurants that were the polar opposites of each other. I'll start off with the bad.

On Wednesday night, I had dinner with my good friend Ron. We usually eat at Earl's locations and we're usually not disappointed with them. Ok, one time Ron wasn't entirely satisfied with his food but it wasn't anything major.

In the spirit of trying something new, we decided to patronize one of the Joeys restaurants, this one located near Burrard and Robson. It's kinda cut in the same mold as Earl's restaurants, so I wasn't expecting anything different. Anyways, we were seated quickly but that was one of the few positives that night. Though our waiter had intimate knowledge of the menu, we waited for about half an hour for our food. We only got an update on our orders about twenty-five minutes into the wait. Even then, it was an odd explanation. Some guy, not our waiter, came to our table and said that there was a mixup of some sort and they weren't sure if our food was hot enough. What? What kind of reason is that for a half hour wait? We were asked if we wanted any salads or soups in the meantime, but it was made clear to us that said salads and soups weren't going to be complimentary. We declined.

While we again waited, I ordered a second gin and tonic. It came back tasting like crap. I know gin ain't the best tasting alcohol out there but this was very unpleasant. Finally, our food came and as hungry as I was, my entree was a disappointment. I ordered the lobster ravioli. The pasta was super chunky and thick, making the lobster meat lost in the mix. The cream sauce in the dish was so heavy and overpowering that in the end, they could have stuffed the pasta with cardboard and it would have been hard to know.

I wound up paying the bill and I tipped a big fat dollar. I know it wasn't the waiter's fault for most of this but I just didn't feel like paying for something I wasn't satisfied with.

In sharp contrast to that meal was the birthday dinner my family had for my sister on Saturday night. We went to the new Boathouse location in Port Moody. Now, I've not dined out much in the PoMo area but this restaurant is probably the finest eatery in this sleepy suburb. With a waterfront view that stretches nearly the entire length of huge restaurant and high ceilings, it's hard to believe you're actually in Port Moody. We were in the fine care of Angie our server that night. She spied an unopened b-day card which was still in the envelope and asked us if it was someone's birthday. Based on our answer, she made sure my sister had a nice surprise later on.

The food was of amazing quality at the Boathouse. I had a sirloin steak with a skewer of lobster meat and some scallops, all of which was prepared to high levels of tastiness. Strangely enough, my mother decided to order the lobster ravioli without any knowledge of my Joey's meal. I had to sample some. The pasta was much thinner and the cream sauce was much lighter, allowing the lobster to really shine through. During our meal, the chef actually came to our table to check up on individual items. Then the manager came by to see if we needed anything else.

I left the restaurant with a great impression of the place and would like to return again to sample some of the other items on the menu.

As a response to my less than ideal meal at Joeys, I left feedback on their web site. It took a day for them to respond, first by their marketing manager via e-mail and then a phone call from the general manager at the Burrard location. I called him back but our schedules didn't match up. He took the weekend off, so I'll be trying him again on Monday.

My sister warned me not to go to the restaurant during "off hours" to discuss what transpired because she thinks I'll get whacked. In light of this, I'll keep to phone calls for now. I'll let you know how it goes.

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