Battlestar Galactica is back baby!

Season 2 continues! The bad thing about now following the show as the episodes air is that the cliffhangers actually leave me hanging. New episodes aren't just a double-click away anymore! I have to wait a WHOLE week for another episode!

Day 1: The seeds have been planted

So far, not much activity to report. This is almost as fun as watching grass grow... wait a second...

Shopping by myself

I hate shopping.

The only thing worse than shopping is shopping for clothing.

The fact that I went clothes shopping by myself today will blow the mind of some of my readers. Before you start shitting yourself, it wasn't so much clothes shopping as jacket shopping and it was at a relatively Vincent friendly store, MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-op for those out of the loop). Functional shopping I can do.

In preparation for skiing/snowboarding which is starting next week, I decided that I needed a new shell, something that was actually waterproof and windproof, which I can not only use for skiing/snowboarding, but also general wear especially in the rain because I don't have rain gear b/c I'd rather not be outside in the rain (dragon boating in the rain and my experience in Disneyland made me realize that I don't have any rain gear). I also realized when I was in Winnipeg that I didn't have any suitable clothing (long underwear, dry fit stuff, etc.) to wear during skiing as like everything I own is cotton, which is the worst thing you can wear. In the past month I've like dropped $400 at MEC :s.

Not your typical board games

I used to equivilate board games with Monopoly, Sorry, snakes and ladder, Payday, Risk, etc. requiring a lot of mindless dice rolling and luck. My view has since changed dramatically over say the past year or so. It all started when Rostecki introduced me to Settlers of Catan. Totally blew my mind as to what a board game can be. Like nothing I had played before and I really enjoyed it. A board game that you can play right to the end with it being exciting and actually making you think and require strategy? Who woulda thunk?!? I like it so much that I eventually got a board myself.

Then along came Carcassonne, Blockus, Ticket to Ride, Munchkin, and others. Some of which Rostecki introduced me to (in his numerous trips to TO) and some that I played at Microsoft.

Friday night I went to this board game night thing that Gadi organizes. Only a small handful showed up b/c of the holidays, but it was fun. Played Torres (build using little castle pieces and move "knights") and St. Petersburg (card game where you buy workers, buildings, and aristocrats), both of which were quite enjoyable. The thing that really hits me is that all these modern games are like radically different from each other, as opposed to what I refer to as classical American dice rolling crap. I say "American" because these modern games all tend to be German. Apparently the Germans are totally into board games right now and they're coming out with amazing games. These games are more than just luck, which I find is the biggest factor in many of the older games. Luck is evident in like all games, but it plays less of a role than in the previously mentioned type of games. These modern games tend to be however, less predictable, but because of strategy, cunningness, evil motivations, and revenge. The tables can turn quite quickly and others can screw you over and kick the shit out of you like the Canadian World Junior hockey team (GOLD BABY!!!) Games like Monopoly and Risk, if you've got a sizeable lead, it's basically just a formality to eventually wipe out the smaller players and it becomes mindlessly monotomous, not so with these newer games.

If you've only ever played old board games, I highly recommend you try some of these newer games. You can play Settlers online. MSN games has a pretty good version, which is also playable through MSN messenger.

Korean food, oh how I've missed you!

I finally satiated my Korean food craving that I've had since I left Toronto in August. Specifically, I wanted chicken noodle soup from Seoul Restaurant on Bloor. It's not what you'd typically think of as chicken noodle soup. It's more noodle than soup (think like instant noodle kinda thing, but a million times better). I beleive that the noodles are made from scratch at the restaurant and they resemble a thicker, chewier version of linguini (flat long pasta strands). Absolutely amazing! The texture, chewiness, and taste are like nothing else! I also quite enjoy the slices of potatoes, not too hard, not too soft. The mushroom slices add a nice touch as well. I'm not sure how "Korean" this dish is, especially this particular preparation, though I've seen it in several restaurants, but I love it.

As a side note, I went today only because I was able to rollerblade there! Yes! I rollerbladed outside on the street in Canada in January! Global warming at its best!!! It's actually pretty ridiculous. It's stupid warm. Not only is it not white outside, but it's actually GREEN!!! The grass is still green!!! Anyways, blading to Korean town (yes, there's actually a Korean town here) is much preferable than walking. The restaurant is rollerblade friendly in that they don't kick you out for wearing rollerblades, which is awesome. Also the first time I went to a restaurant and ate by myself (fast food doesn't count). Ya, and I was still in my volleyball clothes, but I didn't care b/c I got to satisfy my craving :p

I've been wanting to go back to Seoul (the one that's actually in Korea) ever since I was there for vacation a long time ago for the sole reason of the red bean fishes! At least back then, street vendors would make this baked pastry/cake type thing with red bean inside and the whole thing was in the shape of a fish. I love red bean. I was going to make a big pot today, but I was too lazy. I'll probably do it this weekend. If you don't know what I mean by red bean, you're totally missing out. It's an asian dessert thing which is literally red beans and sugar. The typical chinese form is like a soup (basically sugar water), but also found in drink form (red bean ice), popsicles (amazing!), bubble tea (usually fake poweder stuff), and in a paste, which is used in a variety of ways, one of which is the red bean fishes. Amazing stuff. Beans, beans, the magical fruit, the more you eat, the more you toot! I'm getting off topic. Anyways, I've had some variants of the red bean fishes here, but they don't taste as good as in Korea. Tough to beat street vendors :p. I would eat like a couple every day in Korea. Fun to watch them make it too. Made using a cool little contraption.

Scrubs is back and I'm lovin' it!

Read the title. There's no info here.

The pleasant touch of a volleyball

Finally got to play volleyball today!!! 24 hours after landing in Toronto nonetheless :D. I haven't played for like a month!!! I've been itching to play for sometime now.

For some reason, I couldn't find any beach volleyball in Mexico and water "volleyball" on the cruise wasn't volleyball.

Pretty good volleyball too. 3's. I would have preferred 6's, but at least everyone was solid. John, Edwin, Monica, Ross, and Eric. The last 3 I had never seen b4. I have to say that my hitting is definitely improving and is getting quite consistent now. 4 hours of volleyball tomorrow :D

This semester is gonna be great. Volleyball Mon. - Thurs. and skiing/snowboarding Fri. Mon. is co-ed intramurals, Tues. is men's, Wed. is GSU league, Thurs. is Pub Group. I'll go to school somewhere inbetween :p.

Escaped, but without my dignity

Executive summary:
I was flying Delta Airlines from Los Angeles to Toronto. Unbeknownst to me, it was actually operated by El Al Israel Airlines... and the flight was continuing onto Tel Aviv. Worst airport experience ever. Got treated like a terrorist. Baggage and carry-on were searched without me present. They confiscated my carry-on until I got to the gate.

In searching my checked-in baggage behind my back, they carefully examined like every single item inside. They physically took apart my electric razor and my brand new wireless router, which was still in it's original box. Both were broken in the process. The router sustained a significant amount of damage when they pried it open. Worst of all, my warranty is now voided because they opened it up!

Apparently you're considered a terrorist when you're a single Chinese guy flying on El Al Israel. Ya, I haven't heard of that airline either. I think it was a pure miracle that I didn't have a full cavity search.

Update (after settling in and showering):
Just for the record, I have nothing against Israelis, people that practice Judaism, or those who speak Hebrew. I have several good friends are Jews.

It all started at Delta Airlines. That's what Expedia.ca told me was the airline of my flight. After waiting in line for half an hour (with only 3 people ahead of me the whole time), I was told that my flight was operated by a 3rd party and I had to walk to the other terminal to "El Al Israel". I was like, fine, just tell me where it is, because, you know, I'm totally comfortable with flying on foreign airlines I've never heard of.

It's only about a 5 min. walk, but I get there. The first sign of trouble was 2 fully armed guards. Big gun across the shoulder plus at least one handgun. I've seen more guns on this vacation than I have in all my life in Canada. I'm like, ok, whatever, I'm not a terrorist and I'm good at keeping my mouth shut, they won't shoot me.

Two lines. One for Tel Aviv. One for Toronto. Apparently my flight is to Tel Aviv with a stop over in Toronto. No line up for Toronto, that's all I care about. Big bald intimidating guy barks for my ticket and passport. I hand them over not wanting to get eaten. He takes them and disappears into the back. I'm just standing there like, wtf? some guy just ran off with my ticket and passport!!! He eventually comes back and is cross referencing with a printout of the passenger list and he affixes stickers to my passport, my suitcase, and my carry ons. All the while I'm just hearing Hebrew being spoken between him and the other people working there. And I'm just twidling my thumbs hoping not to get shot or throw into the backroom.

The check-in counter lady was nice and handled my paper work quickly. My suitcase was 25 kg! Yes! Then she tells me to go to the baggage screening area. At this point, I'm quite well aware that I've been labelled as a security threat. Why is a Chinese guy flying by himself on a plane full of Jews? Beats me, ask Expedia.ca.

I'm also blaming the incompetant customs people. When I came back from Seattle, the guy didn't even look at my visa stuff and left my I-94 stub in my passport. Then, when coming back from the cruise, that guy stamped my passport saying that I was there on J-1 visa, after seeing that stub, but I shouldn't have been b/c that expired back in Nov. The El Al people obviously saw it b/c when I looked at my passport, they had ripped out the I-94 stub from my passport. That might have added to my turmoil.

So, now I'm sitting in the screening area with some old Israelis who can barely walk and are obviously threats to security. My passport now has an extra red dot sticker! Red, that's obviously a good sign. I've also now noticed a cute girl working for El Al so that two good things going for me now. Again, all I hear is Hebrew being spoken between people and I remain quiet and try to appear innocent.

I'm comforted by the fact that I see how they carefully handle peoples' luggage as I watch them crush some gift boxes inside one of the suitcases they are trying to close up. I'm now told that they will check my carry ons and that they will be waiting at the gate for me. This is a strange concept to me as I thought that's what the metal detectors and security check were for. Again, I was like, I don't want any trouble, so whatever.

I now find myself in the backroom. I'm sat down and asked to remove my shoes. The girl takes my shoes away and disappears. I'm just hoping at this point that I can keep the rest of my clothes on unless the cute one is doing the examination. After a few minutes my shoes are returned to me and I'm told to go to the gate. So, off I go without my carry ons. Trusting all my possessions, especially PoBo, with these perversely paranoid people.

The security line-up is long and I'm noticing a lot of cute Jews in line. I make it to the gate only about 15 min. before departure. The gate area is heavily guarded by security and looks more like a pig pen as people are walled off in this little corner, not allowed to go to the other areas of the airport once inside. I'm shuffled quickly inside by one of the security people. Surprisingly they have their own metal detector and explosives inspection machine thingy. Apparently they don't trust the airport security.

I find myself removing my shoes for the 3rd time (fortunately for them my feet don't stink too bad) and walking through yet another metal detector. This time, quite awkward as I'm doing this in front of all the people waiting for the plane. The guy also swabs all my stuff to check for remnants of explosives. I finally convince them that I'm clean. Apparenly the Canadian flag on my backpack wasn't enough to convince them initially.

I manage to get my carry ons back, which have obviously been throughly searched as their contents have been completely rearranged. I searched for quite a while before I was able to find my iPod.

The flight was fine. Plane was a little on the old side. Rows sat 2-3-2. I sat in the aisle in the middle section beside two old ladies and in front of a crying kid. Food was decent. Chicken with rice, the kicker being that my soul was set at ease knowing that it was Kosher.

Upon arrival in Toronto, we were told that everyone had to disembark. Those continuing onto Tel Aviv were to go to the lounge, which is Hebrew for holding cell. I was never so anxious to get off a plane and away from the airline.

The real fun was when I got home to check the damage that they did. They completely rearranged the contents of my suitcase and checked like EVERYTHING. It looks like my razer doesn't work anymore. They put it right near the edge of my suitcase and it got banged up a bit and now it doesn't work. Brian's lens seems to be in good shape though one of the caps fell off. My Mickey ears are in good shape!

The worst was the router. I plug it in and the wireless is acting up. It was working in LA perfectly fine. Eventually I begin examining it physically. I see huge marks along the edges obviously because it was pried open. Then I see that in fact they opened up the router (which was in its box) and by doing so they voided the warranty on my brand new router!!!! (the warning sticker was broken) THAT'S FUCKING RETARDED!!!! Who cracks open routers!!!! The only reason I noticed was because they didn't put it back together properly - one of the reset buttons was constantly being pressed. Who knows what they did to PoBo!!!!

*Sigh* Remind me to never fly El Al again. Or least not to carry anything that can be broken. At least I didn't have to take off more than my shoes and didn't get shot.


Update: Response from El Al

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Universal Studios

Universal Studios was a blast! There was a lot of new stuff since we last went and it was pretty different than the one in Flordia. The Studio Tours was pretty cool - they put us in a little train-shuttle thingy and we got to see a lot of the Universal Studios sets. We drove right through Wysteria Lane (aka Desperate Housewives)! The whole street was there. The houses looked a little fake and the lawns were absolutely tiny! There was only like a few feet of grass. Not sure how the gardener had work to do :p. We also saw the set of War of the Worlds where the plane crashed. That was really cool, complete mess and looked quite realistic. Too bad the movie sucked shit.

We hit the classic, Back to the Future, which is always great. Be cried!!!! She was scared of the dinosaur! Which was on the big movie screen! She's 26....

The Mummy ride was pretty cool. There was a sudden drop to start the "real" part of the ride and that's when they took the ride photo. It turned out pretty good. Mich was grabbing Caz's arm like crazy and hiding. She tried to act all cool after. I liked the part where the car went in reverse.

After we finished the lower level production, we tried to rush to the T2 ride, but there were A LOT of stairs. Something like 4 or 5 long esculators, each higher than just a single story. Luke and I ran up the whole thing and did it in 3 min. My legs seriously weren't working after that. Luke ralphed.

The 3D movie "rides" were both really good - T2 and Shrek (which was really well done, original voices and everything and pretty good story line). T2 had real actors that kinda jumped in and out of the movie and tried to be Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, and the kid.

We also saw the Backdraft, Special Effects, Animal Planet Live (which was ok, but not long enough and didn't do much that I hadn't seen in other animal shows), and Waterworld (which was different than I remembered) shows, all of which were good.

14 people in an amusement park is just crazy! Uncle Dennis was totally the kid!

We also figured out how the order of the kids by age (/ means same age, * means married in or significant other): Andrew, Russell, Linda*, Tracy, Caroline*/Luke*, Belinda, Michelle/Me, Kelly

We hit Chinatown for dinner, which was pretty good. We ordered A LOT of food and I was surprised that we packed it all down. Dad won the fight for the bill tonight. Luke had gone off after Universal Studios to meet up with some friends of his that he knew from when he lived in LA before. We went to Korean town after to try and find the elusive golf store that the guys heard of from Luke. We ended up in another sports store that was still open and got some random stuff. I got the Wilson volleyball from Castaway!!! I've been meaning to get that for a while :)

We walked up and down Rodeo drive (where all the expensive shops are) after, which was kinda nice b/c it was completely deserted at 10 pm on a Friday night. The coolest thing was that the street lamps were full out chandeliers !!!! They were enclosed in glass or plastic boxes to prevent theft and damage.

Called it a relatively early and quiet night as we're starting the cruise tomorrow! Starting then I'm unlikely to be online. Until then, talk amongst yourselves :p

Live from LA, it's Thursday night blogging!!!

This blog is now coming from it's 4th different city! The thing I noticed the most landing in LA was the obscene amount of smog. It was rather gross to actually see it in the air... Fortunately, no black stuff spewing from my nose yet.

Met up with the family from Australia for some Mexican dinner at El Coyotes. Amazing seeing them again. Always a great time. It's too bad I don't get to see these cousins more often. The frozen blended fruit margaritas were not as good as the place in Toronto. They were rather on the strong side...

Tomorrow is Universal Studios. Should be a blast in our group of 14 :D

An awesome year of travel

Winnipeg -> Toronto -> Collingwood -> Toronto -> Snowbird, Utah -> Toronto -> Winnipeg -> Toronto -> San Diego -> Toronto -> Seattle -> Toronto -> Winnipeg -> LA -> Mexico -> LA

I'm just completing the last leg of this incredible year of travel. I'm leaving in a couple of hours, so don't expect many (if any) updates until next year as I'll have better things to do on a boat in a tropical climate. In the meantime, you guys can just talk amongst yourselves in the comments of this post.

Movie on a big screen TV + Settlers

Finally saw Chris's big screeen TV. Fantastic Four wasn't particularly fantastic aside from Ms. Alba. Settlers after was quite a bit quicker, which helped with only 4 people and everyone had played at least once, but was still rather slow paced.

Semi-annual Engineering Dinner

Monday: 9 iron rings (well, 8 since a certain someone whose names stars with "K" and ends with "wan") + indian buffet!

Numbers swelled to 13 due to significant others and the infamous pharmacist-turned-engineer-turned-internet pharmacist.

Settlers at Rob's afterward with a subset of the group (not that Rob, the other one, but the original was there too, it's all very confusing, uniqueness in names should be enforced like online, so then you'd get Rob3847 and Rob68473, or they can be referred to by their last names only). I so would've won if it wasn't for Florence!!! She screwed me over like a blind man's dog attacking its owner! Yes, you Florence! I know you're reading this! Words to the wise, 6 player Settlers with two newbies takes FOREVER. It was like 2 hours long! Just roll the damn dice!

Happy Boxing Day!

As yesterday was Christmas (yes, it was Christmas!), it must mean that today is Boxing day, which seemed right as I went out and bought a new wireless router to replace my busted one in Toronto.

It was a predictably white Christmas with some snow banks as high as me! Even Santa knew it was Christmas last night as he had come down the chimmney and filled our stockings!

Didn't get anything spectacular this year, likely because I couldn't think of anything that I wanted. It's basically gotten to the point that anything I want within the price range of family Christmas presents, I'll just go out and buy. The things I want most are not materialistic and those that are (car, house, yacht, private jet, an island, trip to space and/or the moon), they're not for now and are out of the price range.

Steve, you need to see a psychologist

For those of you who haven't seen Steve Ballmer at a convention as a speaker, here's a treat for you. He's the CEO of Microsoft and one of the richest men in the world, so he should be respected. However, he may be mentally unstable. These videos are hilarious, but also edge a little on the scary side.


Steve Ballmer Monkey Dance



Steve Ballmer Loves Developers


Has he always been this insane? Apparently so. Here's one I haven't seen until I searched for these videos again:


Steve Ballmer Sells Windows 1.0 TV Ad


He doesn't disappoint in real life. I got a good show at the company meeting back in October. His intro song was "Eye of the Tiger" and the second I heard the song I knew who was coming up next :). I got the whole running around stage and screaming dance, plus the crouched over football stance, sweat stains, and loud proclaimations of "I HAVE THE EYE OF THE TIGER!!!11!ONE!!", "DO YOU HAVE THE EYE OF THE TIGER??!!?!", and "I *huff huff* LOVE *huff huff* THIS *huff huff* COMPANY!!!!11ONE1!!. All very amusing, but again, scary at the same time.

He does have one thing going for him. He's very enthusiastic and passionate. Though I can't imagine what's it's like being in a board room meeting with the alpha male gorilla from Microsoft. I'd bring a taser.

Annual Christmas Potluck

Tonight marked Lindsay's annual Christmas potluck! The highlight is always the tacky gift exchange where it takes forever to decide who gets what present. In the last "turn", I had my gift stolen repeatedly and had every single present at some point. I ended up with Rob's, as people tend to avoid his gifts because of his track record of glass vegetables and frog boxing pens. I got a small pillow that says "2 Sexy". It's almost practical and it totally fits me :p. Good present for me b/c it's small and light, 2 key things for fitting in my suitcase.

Miraculously enough, by some balance in the universe, Rob got what turned out to be Nusraat's gift, and even jokingly said "this better not be bath stuff", and got bath stuff :p. It looks to be a re-gift. There should be ground rules that presents should be unisex. Nusraat, you should know better! I know you read this. You heard me. The finger is pointing at you.

Cranium ended up being a marathon, but fun. We were close to finishing, but didn't b/c the teams kinda fell apart with Mohammad having what seems to be an allergic reaction to Lindsay's cats.

Last time this year, everyone was unmarried and almost everyone was living at home. One year later, we've got two married couples. The party's not appropriate for kids, so if things keep moving at this pace, we might have to pare down the group next year. *Points at the wives* have your pet spayed or neutered!

The gang of 4 is all messed up

This is what happens when one of us gets married! The whole group starts to get fractured! With Cutts out in Nevada with his wife and missing from the equation, we were left with the remaining 3 for lunch today. Hadn't seen Kives and his gf since Cutts's wedding and strangely enough, hadn't seen Cannons since the summer even though he lives just a few blocks away in Toronto, though Seattle had something to do about that. Looks like Meghan (Megan?) passed the Cannons test, so she's out in the clear. Now Kives is off to his regular Hawaii winter trip tomorrow and I'm off a few days after, leaving Cannons by himself here. Weird.

It's likely we'll be having a reunion of sorts in Feb. when Kives comes to T.O. for one of his random, spontaneous trips where the first thing I know about the trip is when he's already in town :p

Words to the wise

Pushing a shopping cart in an unshoveled parking lot isn't much fun.

WHAT?? I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE MUSIC!!

JUST CAME BACK FROM THE BAR, WHICH IS WINNIPEG'S WAY OF SAYING CLUB. Sorry, I'm kinda deaf right now. At least I don't reek of smoke, courtesy of the smoking ban. I went with the bloggin' boys + Lindsay, no not that one, the other Lindsay, NO, the OTHER one... YES! We also met up with some swing dance people there. Good times at Coyote's, of which a more proper name might be Cougar's, but it wasn't too bad tonight, guess enough students were done exams. Rob, you said you were gonna get totally smashed. I'm highly disappointed in you.

That's the other thing, cover was only $4 and beers were only $4 as well, being in Toronto too long has skewed my view of prices... The line-up was decently short as well (like a 15 wait), which was nice b/c it was pretty damn cold outside. My toes were freezing! Those shoes may have been made for dancing, but sure weren't insulated and made for cold weather! And we didn't even get passed through a metal detector or get frisked and when there was this loud noise inside the bar, it was a balloon popping, not a gun shot!

Prior to the bar, we were playing some Carcassonne, adding Chris into the mix, who ditched us for his gf after. Fun quick game. Next time we play Settlers.

Complaining works

The DSL here has been rather flaky ever since I got back here. I blame Florence. I determined that it was MTS's fault as the "DSL" light on the modem was flashing red and green and wasn't able to establish a good connection with the what-ever-ma-call-it. I finally got fed up enough to call to complain. The guy was nice and I guess I showed enough intelligence to not warrant the usual "are the wires plugged in" questions, so that was nice. Anyways, they checked things on their side and a guy called me back in a couple minutes saying that they "changed my profile" and surprisingly enough, it was working. Not sure what "profile" they had me under before, but whatever, it's working now. Florence if you're reading this, please provide some insight.