Jen the Hermit

Yes, I am a hermit. Okay, not exactly, but I will be one up until I leave for Europe. I'm a little disappointed with myself for the fact that I have no self-control when it comes to impulse purchases. And it's not like these impulse purchases are cheap either. Well, what am I talking about? I will tell you...

Friday, August 13, 2010 (Of course it was Friday the 13th!) - Sometime in the morning a couple of guys from work wanted to go to Steve's Music Store to look for a drum box. Me being who I am, I decided to go "for a walk". After they were in the drum room, I made my way down to the acoustic room to look for a guitar for another co-worker just to check if it was still there... it wasn't. No one bought a drum box or anything, so we made our way back to work. Maybe 40 minutes later, it was lunchtime and myself and another co-worker (the one who was looking for a guitar) decided to make a trip back to Steve's. It turns out that we both ended up buying guitars. He got this sweet Fender Strat acoustic/electric. I got this travel size guitar, which is an acoustic/electric guitar. I named him Rocky.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010 - I've been debating getting a new laptop for a while now because my laptop is a piece of shit and doesn't like to work properly. Honestly, it's plugged in, but it doesn't charge anymore. I figured that it was time for something new. It wasn't my plan to buy a new one today though... My plan was to go watch Inception at the Scotiabank Theatre, which is right by work and then head home. Since the movie didn't start until 6:10pm and I finished work at 5, I thought that I should just go to Best Buy and inquire about a Macbook Pro and figure out my finances. Clearly that didn't happen. I bought a damn 15.4 Macbook Pro. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?! Anyway, I didn't leave Best Buy early enough to catch Inception so I just went home.

So, if I refuse to go anywhere, it's because I'm broke like a joke and I'm going hide my debit card from myself until it's safe to use again.

Goodnight!

Band T-Shirts

Okay, it's a Saturday afternoon and I am in my room folding laundry... It's what the cool people do on Saturday afternoons after all! Forget the great outdoors. Anyway, as I am folding my clothes, I came across my Black Keys t-shirt and it got me thinking. Why don't more bands have female t-shirts? Not all of their fans and merch purchasers are male you know. This Black Keys shirt is a Youth Large (because they didn't have extra small in the MEN'S adult or any shirts for women) and on the inside it says slim fit. Well let me tell you, this shirt is not slim fitting. It is small around my shoulders because my shoulders are quite broad for my body type, but the rest of the shirt is big. Don't get me wrong. I have a few shirts that do fit me quite nicely, but there have been times when I had to resort to getting youth shirts. That's another thing. Why do bands have youth shirts, especially if they're playing at a 19+ venue? Makes no sense to me. And youth shits, they don't fit the same as women shirts.

This is a message to bands: Please come prepared with nice merch for males and females! Thank you.

People Say...

#1
GUY: "You're a really bad hand holder"
GIRL: "No I'm not!" *in a whiney voice*

#2
GUY: *Walking by Could 9 on Queen Street* "I should really use a vaporizer"

The Formula was WRONG!

Oh World Cup soccer. I remember when I didn't give a shit about this time of year. Well, it's not exactly like that. It's not that I didn't care; I did care a little hoping that certain teams didn't win the cup. I usually cheered for Germany to win.

This year it's a little different. Working where I work, we have pools for everything that goes on (Grammys, Oscars, hockey, World Cup). It makes things fun and interesting. If you can recall, I actually won the hockey pool! World Cup pool, not so much. Well, I'm maybe 3rd or 4th right now. Anyway, I went into this having two teams that I was going to cheer for: #1 Netherlands, and #2 Germany. I actually believed since the quarter finals that it would be a Netherlands and Germany final, with Germany winning it all (yes, even though they are my #2 team). As things turned out today, Germany is not going into the finals. The formula was wrong!

What formula you ask? Well, I've heard about this before that there's a formula that will determine who would win the World Cup. According to this formula, it was supposed to be Germany's turn. I actually found this in the Metro paper this morning, and here it is... I don't know who came up with this by the way.

1. Brazil won the W.C. in 1970 and again in 1994. 1994+1970 = 3,964
2. Argentina won the W.C. in 1978 and in 1986. 1986+1978 = 3,964
3. Germany won the W.C. in 1974 and 1990. 1974+1990 = 3,964
4. Therefore, if you want to figure out who will win the cup this year (clearly NOT right) you subtract 3,964 and 2010... 3,964-2010 = 1954. In 1954, Germany won the cup. INTERESTING!

I'm actually kind of glad that Spain won the game today because I think that they will be hard to beat in the finals, but somehow easier to beat than Germany. Let me just say that it is so awesome that a team that has never won the cup before will win this year. This is Spain's first time in the W.C. final, and Netherlands' third time. You know what they say, 3rd time's a charm!

GO ORANJE!

Are You Neurotic?

I went to the book store today and picked up this book, "I'm a Neurotic (and so are you)" by Lianna Kong and read it all on my bus ride home. It got me thinking to myself, what makes me neurotic/OCD. Here are some things that I can think of:

- I can't have any of my clothes on the floor. I guarantee that if anyone walks into my room, there will not be any article of clothing on my floor. You'll find paper, books, bags, and even tissue, but no clothes. If there are clothes, then they're not mine.

- I hate socks. The first thing I do when I come home is take off my shoes and then socks. This happens at other people's homes too.

- When I pump gas, the price has to be an even number. ie: It has to be $34.20, not $34.22. I'd prefer if it were a solid $34.00 though.

- When I go online, I have to visit my sites in order: Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, YouTube, and then my emails.

- All of my hangers in my closet need to be hanging the same way. My shirts on the hangers are all facing the same direction too.

- I won't get out of bed in the morning unless it's on every 5 on the minute. ie: I will only get up at 6:40am or 6:45am. I will not get up at 6:46am. I will wait until 6:50am. On weekends it doesn't bother me if I get up at any time. Only during the work week. It will mess up my universe. Okay, it won't mess it up completely, but maybe a little.

- I get really annoyed if the toilet paper roll is underneath. It should be on top!

- I will not leave the house if my bed isn't made. The rest of my room may be a mess, but my bed has to be neatly done.

I'm all out of ideas...

RIOT!

So I've been sitting at home all day watching the news about the G20 and the protests that have been happening since 1 this afternoon. Normally I don't give a shit about protests and anything political, but honestly, the destruction of the city has got to stop.

What's the point of destroying police cruisers anyway? Those can be replaced. Why did they smash windows all over the city? (They even smashed windows of a Tim Hortons!!!!!) What does that prove? As I write this, I'm watching everything happen on TV. Those protesters who burn the police cars are fucking cowards. They see three bus loads of police officers come, and they start running away. These people can't be from the city of Toronto. If they are in fact from Toronto, then they are idiots and should just fucking leave. They are destroying a beautiful city.

Let me state, I'm not for the G20 meeting here. In fact, I think that it is extremely stupid to hold something like this in Canada's largest and busiest city. It's stopping the way of life for a lot of people and costing a lot of money. I wonder what I'm going to see on my way to work on Monday. What will Queen Street look like? Only time will tell.

MSN Messenger?

What ever happened to MSN? Well, I'm sure that people still use it but I don't anymore. I remember maybe 3 or 4 years ago, I couldn't live without it. I needed that instant connection to people when I was bored. Now when I sign on, I find it boring that I just automatically sign out. What has happened? Could it be the growing use of Facebook? Could it be that I'm actually growing up and see that there's actually life outside of the Internet? As I say that, here I am writing this on a blog that no one really reads. Anyway, why isn't MSN as "hip" as it was before? Anyone have answers for me?

I won the money! The money is mine!

I forgot to update... I won the hockey pool at work! Now I'm in the World Cup Soccer pool. I'm just your everyday gambler now, aren't I? Okay, I'm not. I'm going to do terrible in the soccer pool.

California Dreamin'

Today is June 1st. Do you know what that means? Well, let me tell you. I'm going to California! See ya'll in a week! Maybe I'll actually get around to updating the photo blog when I'm back.

P00F!

The "Scenic" Route part 3

I had a 3 hour commute home today. It was less than fun, but not bad. Okay, well not all good, but not all bad. Here it is. I took notes on my phone since I did have 3 hours. Oh, and let me also state that I was wearing shoes (flats) that are too small for me. Okay, and we go...

• Left work at 4:40pm to get a head start on commuter's traffic
• Got on a non-air conditioned subway at Osgoode station to St. George
• There's a "mechanical problem" aka smell of smoke on track level at Dundas West station and all of the trains are out of service from Christie station.
• Approximately at 5:10pm get on packed Christie station platform and struggle to make my way outside
• Walk to Ossington station and got on a bus. Good thing it was air conditioned. I was hot and sweaty.
• Got off at Queen and Ossington and walked to 3 streetcar stops... I have my reasons
  
• After three streetcars drove by, I finally got on and went to Long Branch station and arrived at 6:23pm
• At Long Branch station the Mississauga bus on Dixie takes off as I'm walking towards it. FML
• Change of plan. The Lakeshore bus to Clarkson arrives. I decide to take that route instead and transfer at Clarkson. I didn't want to wait 15 minutes for the Dixie bus. It's 6:38pm
  
• Thank goodness for air conditioned buses. Why were the windows open?
• Of course, there is construction on Lakeshore and the bus driver was driving slower than I like or I'm used to.
• Arrived at Port Credit station at 6:51pm and sat there for 3 minutes.
• Arrived at Clarkson station at 7:08pm. The 45 bus was behind the bus that I was on so there's no way that I would miss it going home.
• Finally on my last mode of public transportation for the day. On the 45 going home at 7:10pm
• In my house at 7:41pm.

All of this is true. And the best part was, the train problems cleared at about 5:20pm. FANTASTIC! At the same time, I probably would've been crammed into a hot, stinky, and sweaty subway car and would have to wait a long time before I actually got on. So, was the scenic route worth it? Maybe, I don't know. I'll find out tomorrow.

The "Scenic" Route part 2

I love long weekends! It's a much needed day off, especially in the hot weather. Anyway, on the way home from being in St. Catharines, I knew that there would be a lot of traffic since it was the long weekend and there were many people coming home from the States. I've done the drive on the QEW so many times and even when it's not a holiday, there's traffic.

I decided that I would not take the highway all the way home because I wanted to avoid traffic. With this, I ended up driving all the way through downtown Burlington and most of Oakville on Lakeshore. I don't know what it is, but people don't like to go past the speed limit there. It was a little irritating, especially since I just wanted to get home, but it was also really scenic. I liked driving by the lake and seeing houses that I can't ever afford. Therefore, it was a scenic route. It took me about an hour and 20 minutes to get home, which isn't too bad.

Ahhhh traveling. The Scenic Route part 3 coming soon. I mean, really soon.

FAILED

I completely failed the May challenge of going to the gym at least twice a week. Let me state that I haven't been the the gym at all this month. In my defense, I've been pretty busy...I guess lazy too. Today I spent my lunch break basking in the sun and getting some vitamin D. At least I went back to work not feeling tired.

There are only two more weeks until I'm off and enjoying the California sun. Those two weeks can't come any faster!

Now in hockey pool news, I am in first place again! For how long though, I don't know. Tonight is the crucial game 7 in the semi-finals in the Eastern Conference. I have a player from Boston, and three from Philly. Clearly I need Philly to win for the sake of the pool, but I want Boston to win for the sake of the game. How awesome would it be with an original 6 final? When did I become such a hockey freak?

Anyway, this blog is boring. I'm going to eat now.

Round 1: DONE!

So the first round of the NHL Playoffs are done, and I stand in 3rd place. I'm telling you, these standings are all over the place! So last night was the upset of the WHOLE series when Montreal, the 8th seed knocked out the 1st seed, Washington. Now, most people in the work pool loaded up their picks with Washington players and some people only have 4 players left for the rest of the playoffs! Luckily for me, I didn't choose any Washington players, so all of my picks are still in. Again, anything can happen. We'll just wait and see.

In other news, I totally gave up on the April challenge. I was pretty damn close too! I just needed SOMETHING go to with my lunch, so I went to a restaurant and got some Vietnamese spring rolls. They were delicious and totally worth it.

I have my May challenge set. I'm going to go to the gym AT LEAST twice a week. I've been really lazy and I think that I should do this.

The "Scenic" Route

Yesterday after work I decided to take the "scenic" route home. This was not the most intelligent idea I've had because it took two and a half hours to get home. At least I cured my curiosity. What is the scenic route you ask? Well, I took the streetcar from Queen and St. Patrick all the way to Long Branch. (It's much more scenic than the subway because I don't really get to see the light of day). I think that this took ultra long because it was rush hour, and I didn't realize how far Long Branch really was. So the streetcar ride took about an hour of my time. When I got to Long Branch, I transferred onto Mississauga Transit and took the 5 Dixie bus to Eastgate, where I caught the 109 for the rest of the way home. Needless to say, I started my commute at 5, and got home at 7:30pm. I will not be taking this way again unless there is some kind of problem on the subway.

In other news, I got my laptop back! No more Windows Vista for me. I'm back to XP, and it feels great! I still have to add my music to it and get my Adobe CS4 back, and everything will be fine.

In case you were wondering what's happening in the hockey pool, well I am falling down... fast! I am now in 8th place. I guess that it's still first round, but I think I'll be screwed by the time the second round starts. I think I should've chosen Crosby. If I did, I'd be in first again. Oh well. It's just a game. Is it bad that I'm having dreams about the pool?

NHL Pool

At work, there are about 30 people in the hockey pool. It's actually kind of tough because right now (and all weekend) I sit in first place, with a 3 point lead. Anything can happen. It turns out that most of my points came from the Flyers. With that, I need New Jersey to lose and Philly to move ahead. As much as I want a Chicago and Washington final, I think it would be even better with some kind of upset with (I can't believe I am going to say this...) Montreal defeating Washington and Ottawa defeating Pittsburgh in the first round. It seems that most people at work chose Ovechkin and Crosby as their players, which is a smart move because they are the high scorers and get assists. BUT, if they get put out in the first or second round, I have a chance to really clean up!

What am I going to do with my winnings? (there's over $100 in the pool) I am going to buy everyone lunch! Well, get it brought in from a restaurant that was in front of our old building. Hopefully I can feed everyone... IF I WIN!

Exception #2

Since my computer is super slow and I'm trying to rip a CD into iTunes, I figure that I should just make use of my time and update on the challenge.

So last night it was Astrid's class' screenings of their films. I knew that I would have to use an exception to eat because I was NOT going to go home to Mississauga and then head back downtown. We went and ate at Duff's, a good wing place in Toronto. Now, their wings are not like Wild Wing where they have a large variety of flavours. They have the basics, but it was very delicious. And unlike Wild Wing, when they say that their medium is spicier than most medium flavour wings, they're not lying. I find that Wild Wing's hot wings taste like a medium. Sauce fail.

Today at work, I actually didn't bring a lunch because I got taken out for lunch. YAY! We went to Jack Astors and I had a garden salad to start, burger and fries, and then the world's smallest brownie for dessert. And then when I got home, Chris ordered pizza. Today was working out for me.

In completely different news, I'm inspired. That is all.

Exception 1

I think that I've been doing pretty well with the "April Challenge". I have used my first exception yesterday. I went to the Jays home opener, so I really didn't have a choice but to buy food. Well, it was either buy food or starve. I didn't want to starve. After an hour of walking downtown Toronto trying to find somewhere we landed at Swiss Chalet (of course!)

Today I have pasta AGAIN. SURPRISED?

Now, change of subject. Hockey pool! Will I win? Probably not.

April Challenge: Day 6

I'm totally a one-trick pony. Guess what I brought in for lunch again today? Yes, pasta that needed Tabasco and cake that my mom made. This is what last minute does. And once again, I'm starving as I write this, and I will run into my kitchen as soon as I get home. That will be in about 2 hours and 10 minutes. Shit.

April Challenge: Day 5

Since it's April 5th, this would make it the 5th day of the challenge. I forgot to write this earlier, so I'm doing it now. So for the past five days, I haven't bought any meals. I did make a trip to the grocery store, but that doesn't count.

Today, I had some angel cake... this didn't fill me up at all! And pasta for lunch. As I was in a rush this morning, I didn't see how much I had actually packed for myself, and of course it wasn't enough. As I'm typing this, I am making myself even more hungry. It's almost home time, and I'm going to stuff my face with some home-cooked food!

3 exceptions still available.

Believe it or not...

RX Bandits tweeted me!!!

Incase you're wondering, I am typing this on my desktop computer! That's right, it's fixed. I had to make a trip to Best Buy to get a power supply. The computer is still painfully slow, but at least it works.

Happy Easter! Tomorrow, I will update on the whole April challenge. Enjoy the beautiful day. I'm going to play guitar outside. PEACE!

Technology Fail Continues

Just to show how much the technology around me has been failing, I tried to start writing this through my iPhone. It didn't work. It just ended up being a blank post. So now, I'm posting this on my brother's dying laptop. Really, it's dying. I have to monitor the heat of the hard drive or else it will crash.

So now I will continue with things that are breaking. While I was listening to my iPod on my way to work this morning, the right side on my headphones kept cutting out, and then eventually stopped working. I decided that I should go buy new headphones at lunch. I really didn't want to because I loved the ones I had. They lasted me six years with absolutely no problems at all. So I went over to HMV and spent $60 on a new set of headphones. When I got back to work, I went to test them out with my iPod. It turns out that it wasn't my headphones that were broken, it was my fucking iPod! Honestly, how much more can technology hate me? I can't even put music on my phone!

My things that are fucked up:

• Desktop computer - We had a brownout, so the power shut off for a second. The computer didn't turn back on. I have to get a power supply now. I JUST got it switched not even a year ago.
  
• iTunes on my laptop - I posted about this already. I just wanted to download a free song, and that required me to upgrade iTunes. It didn't work after that.
• Adobe CS4 Web Premium - Same problem as iTunes, except it just wouldn't open and gave me an error.
• Laptop - I'm getting it formatted now and downgraded to XP. I am without it for a week.
• iPod - I just explained the story above.

I just think it's stupid, considering the work I do. Bullshit I say, bullshit!

March Challenge

This month, Myla and I had the "March Challenge", which is where we made a friendly, competitive bet that neither one of us would drink pop for the month. We both successfully completed this "challenge". I know that the month isn't technically over yet, but today's the last day. I probably won't even go back to drinking pop now. Maybe once a month, if that.

The "April Challenge" is a lot harder than giving up pop. We are not allowed to buy any food from outside. This means bringing lunch to work, and eating dinner at home. The good thing about this is that I'll be saving a lot of money... hopefully! We also have three exceptions where we're allowed to break the rules. I will be posting my progress here everyday!

YAY for challenges!

Nope, It's Not Fixed.

So I thought that I fixed my iTunes, but I didn't. And other good news, my entire Adobe CS4 Suite decided not to work either. FANTASTIC! It's time to format the computer. Soon, anyway.

iTunes FIXED!

Last night it took me 3 hours to fix my iTunes, but I did it! Now, all I have to do is figure out how to put music on my phone. I'm sure it's not hard, but I'm not very smart... it just wouldn't sync! Technologically challenged.

My Universe = Messed Up!

Has this ever happened to you?
You forget one thing at home that is crucial to your everyday routine and life and then your whole day gets entirely messed up. Let me tell you, it's not fun.

Yesterday before leaving my house for work, I switched bags back to my normal one. As I was in a rush to leave, I forgot the important iPod at home. I don't mind if I leave my phone at home for the day, but a day of commuting without music just ruins EVERYTHING. Okay, I know that I sound a little dramatic. Luckily when I got into work, someone had returned 5 of my CDs, so I had something to listen to throughout the day. This made me think, "I should probably put some music on my iPhone since it does have an iPod in it." The thing about that, when I got home and was about to add music to my phone, iTunes decided to be an asshole and not work anymore. I spent the entire night uninstalling and installing iTunes maybe 6-7 times without success. Is that normal?

Also, throughout the day, so many things were messing up at work. Our website was down for a couple of hours and we had an important news story that had to go up. When the site eventually started to work, everything was working EXCEPT for the news page. Really? There were other examples of my messed up day, but I think that's enough. Here's to hoping today is better. This happened all because of a stupid iPod. DAMN YOU!

How Old Do I Look?

On Friday night I was at a work function. Well it was the CHUM FM FanFest, so it's pretty much a work function that served free booze. I'm not one who drinks a lot, but I was going to take advantage of this. So the CHUM FM FanFest was a 19+ event. I was standing at the bar about to get my second drink and here's what happened...

Security: Can I See your ID?
Me: I have to get it, it's in coat check.
Security: You're going to have to get it.

I walk to coat check to get my ID and the girl working there gives me a funny look when I told her that I needed to get my ID. I walked back into the room and gave the security guard what he needed.

Me: Here it is
Security: *After looking at it quickly* YOU WERE BORN IN '84?!?!?!? I'm so sorry you look really young.
Me: Yeah. I get that all the time
Security: Well it's a compliment

I grab my drink and go back to some work peeps. I told them what happened and here was the general reaction.

Everyone: WHAT?!?!?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
Tom: Well, you could pass as a 15 year old.
Me: :(

It's Over! Vancouver 2010

17 days later and the Olympics are over. It's kind of sad to see it end. I think that Canadians have a lot to be proud of. I know that in my last post I was all upset with the whole Own The Podium thing because of such high expectations. After that rant, I watched the rest of the Olympics with low expectations and it worked! With the men's Canadian hockey team, I pretty much said "oh shit!" when I found out that they were playing Russia in the quarter finals because I knew how stacked the team was. The Canadian team blew them out of the water! Then yesterday afternoon came, and they captured the gold medal beating the USA team in overtime. I even chanted "Luuuuuuuuuu" when I was watching the game. It has to be the most memorable part of the Olympics. Later last night, I drove around Streetsville. There was a big celebration in the streets. It was a lot of fun.

On Saturday afternoon, the men's long track speed skating pursuit team proved everyone wrong. They weren't expected to win a gold medal. After watching Denny skate in his individual events the week before and not living up to the expectations of Own the Podium, his coach, and himself I really hoped that he wouldn't go home empty handed. Once again with my low expectations and high hopes and cheers, Denny and his team (I don't know their first names: Markowski and Giroux) held on and showed everyone that they know how to skate and brought home Canada's 12th gold medal of the games. (Congratulations Denny and team! I'm so proud of you and you guys deserved the win!)

I was actually at Blue Mountain when I watched this race. John (Denny's cousin) and I decided to take a food break around the time the races were supposed to begin. While eating nervously and waiting, Jayce Jay Anderson, Canadian alpine snowboarder, was snowboarding and racing his way to the finals. Before they showed his gold medal win, the speed skating came back on TV, and there was team Canada vs. team USA skating for the gold. It was intense watching with the other people in the pub. After 3 minutes and 41 seconds, team Canada captured the gold, and everyone in the pub was cheering and chanting "CA-NA-DA! CA-NA-DA!" It had to be one of the proudest moments. Soon after, we headed outside to get back onto the hills, then there was a loud cheer. It turns out that Jayce Jay Anderson had also won a gold medal in snowboarding. It truly was a golden day also with the men's curling team capturing the gold medal.

Now it's all over. It's time to get back to reality and my regular TV schedule and sleep patterns.

Vancouver 2010!

Own the Podium?

Earlier today I wrote this tweet: "I don't blame D. Morrison for his comments. I'm not saying this because I'm biased either, I've been thinking the same thing."

I still definitely agree with his comments about Own the Podium. If Canada wants their athletes to succeed and do the best that they can, why can't they train with whomever they want? Shani Davis is an American speed skater who pretty much owns the ice/oval. Before the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Own the Podium pretty much gave Davis the boot and told him he can't train in Calgary and with Denny Morrison, who is his training partner, friend and rival. When they trained together, they pushed each other and taught one another. When the Turin Olympics came, Denny didn't do well at all, and Shani got his gold medal. It looks like history repeated itself this year.

Yeah, they've both been on the World Cup circuit and Denny has won medals and excelled, but that was without the pressure from Own the Podium telling him "YOU BETTER WIN FOR YOUR COUNTRY!"

Denny spoke out about Own the Podium, and now people are pretty much giving him shit for it. Why can't an athlete speak out in frustration and say what's on his/her mind? Yesterday, he apologized for his comments, and I don't really think he needed to. It's a matter of opinion. HIS opinion. If you're a competitive athlete and been in a similar situation (not necessarily Olympics or anything at a national level, you'd understand.)

Another example of this is when Melissa Holingsworth, the skeleton sled girl (for lack of a better word), came in 5th place, she was all in tears and apologizing to the country. Why would someone have to apologize to the country? It's because of Own the Podium. She was a favourite to win a medal, and she didn't. There is too much expectation set for the Olympic athletes. Why can't they just fly under the radar and relax? She felt like she let the country down. No one should be let down from her 5th place finish. Everyone should be happy at her achievements and the fact that she did fairly well.

Look at the men's hockey team... They're expected to win gold this year to redeem themselves from 2006. Again, all of that pressure is there. Now they're going to have to play against Germany to get into the quarter finals, which is against Russia. I honestly think it's going to be a struggle and a big challenge for Team Canada in hockey.

I am not a pessimist, and I am a big supporter of the Olympics and Canada. I want all of our athletes to do well. If they don't get a medal, not a big deal. They did the best that they could.

[/end rant]

Who wants to see my little jumps?

Today John, Chris, and myself went to Talisman to get more boarding into our lives. While snowboarding, I made attemps to do little jumps. This video is one that my brother took. Right after going down a black diamond hill (I suck by the way, I'm not very good at the steep parts... but I finally know what my problem is and what I need to fix/work on.) I cut through the very tiny bunny hill and did my little "jumps". Enjoy, and laugh all you want, it's pretty funny.

Why I Love Snowboarding...

I've been in love with snowboarding for 2 years now. I know, I'm definitely still a n00b. It's a great way to stay in shape in the winter time and it's just plain fun. Who cares about getting hurt, because you just get over it and hop back on your board and shred.

After watching the men and women's snowboarding halfpipe at the Olympics, I now have another reason as to why I love the sport: It's because of the professional atheletes! They have such class and aren't sore losers like in other sports that I've seen. If they mess up on their run, they don't pout. A lot of them say. "oh well, next time!" and they keep on smiling. I think that's a great attitude. (I wish I had their attitude when I competed in individual sports...) Sure deep down there's some disappointment, but life goes on. At least, that's the vibe that I got from watching it on TV.

By the way, do you know how much core strength a snowboarder has, especially the ones doing the pipe? GEEZE! I wish I had their strength and talent, and artistic ability!

2010 Vanvouver Olympics!

First of all, the tragedy that happened earlier today with the Georgian luger is extremely sad, and I give the Georgian team kudos for continuing to march in the opening ceremonies and be in the Olympics.

There is just a few more minutes before the Olympics opening ceremonies begin. I can't even say how excited I am for them. This is Canada's chance to step up. When Canada wins the first gold medal, I know that it's going to be a HUGE moment for everyone in the country.

I'm going to be cheering for everyone, but my biggest cheers will go to Denny Morrison. Denny is John's first cousin, and he is a long track speed skater. He will be competing in 4 events. He is actually a favourite for the 1000m and 1500m. So good luck Denny!

GO CANADA GO! Let the games begin!

February 14th is NOT VDAY

To me, February 14th is Weezer t-shirt day. What will I be doing on this day while others are having a romantic dinner or enjoying themselves at the John Mayer concert? Well, I'll be showing the snow some love... by that I mean that I'm going snowboarding. Do you know what I'll be wearing? My Weezer hoodie!

BOOOORRINGG!

I was just reading through my blogs, and I noticed that I'm a really boring blogger. What can I do to make things more interesting?

- J

jen-ventures

I know that I can hardly update my 3 blogs, but I am starting ANOTHER one. This one has to do with my trips and adventures. I don't really go on many trips, so I don't have to feel bad if I don't update. I haven't posted anything yet, but here's the name of it: Jenventures.

Anyway, when I do start posting on it, it will include my BC trip, Tremblant, and the upcoming California trip.

Speaking of Tremblant, this is a note to skiers. When getting off the chairlift and if there's a snowboarder next to you, DO NOT put your ski pole on the person's snowboard when getting off... More on that story later.

Who hates the iPad?

Hitler does! Watch.

"Promo" Shot

As a part of my job, I post entertainment news. While I do that, I find images to go with the story. While I was searching one for Ellen DeGeneres and Simon Cowell together, this is one that I found. It turns out that this is THE "Promo" shot for American Idol.

In my opinion, whoever put this together didn't do a fantastic job. I mean, Everyone was photoshopped into the graphic. Ellen is not even the same "shade" as in saturation, and one of Simon's arms looks funny like it wasn't cut out properly. So why didn't they just all get together and take a REAL promo shot?
(Click on photo to enlarge)

What To Do?

So what does one do when the company website goes down, and your job revolves around doing work online? I blog about nothing. I'm full from food consumed earlier, and yet I'm eating a slice of delicious pizza from Pizzaiolo and sitting on my desk watching Weezer's video on TV for "If You're Wondering If I want You To (I Want You To)". I have to sit on my desk to watch. There are big cabinets blocking my view of the TV.

I'm also on a bit of a sugar high. (I almost spelt sugar as shugar...)

Oh look, the site's back up! Back to work.

The Typical Day That Wasn't

I was going to write a super long blog about my commute home, but I'm not going too. Let's just say that I left work at 4:50pm yesterday, and got home at 8:10pm. This consisted of TTC waiting, GO Train waiting, back to TTC waiting, and then slow Mississauga Transit driving. Not fun.

RE: Last Blog Post

I think I spoke too soon...
Something that would make my year might not happen. It's because of how different people are from each other. I know what makes my life and me happy. Take ONE of those away, then it ruins the whole vibe. That's all I have to say.

You say you want a RESOLUTION

I don't really make New Years resolutions ever. Well, probably not since elementary school. I'm pretty sure that I've never kept them either. So I'm not here to write down any resolution for this year because I don't have any.

I do want to say that 2009 was super sick, and I'm going to do what I can to make this year even better. So far, it's off to a good start. I guess it could be kind of early to say that it's been good because it's only the 4th day in the year.

So far I was able to start the year off with snowboarding at Blue Mountain. I've never been there before, so that was a treat. I'll be going back on Sunday. Up next, I'm going to B.C. the following weekend for a week, and then going to Mont Tremblant the weekend after I get back from B.C. It's going to be an exciting month.

Then in June, the plan is for me to go back to California for my cousin's wedding. I haven't been back there in 8.5 years, so it should be good. I'm really excited for the upcoming events.

Of course, there are the live music acts coming up as well. So far three are lined up, but I have a feeling that I'll be going to a lot more shows.

I think that this year will be great. I don't want to hype up everything, because the year could totally suck. I won't let it happen.

All the best for 2010!

- J