Back At Work

Well, my vacation is over and I'm back at work again. It was a good seeing Jamie and Rich again, not so good seeing over a foot of snow in one day. Luckily the weather cleared up for our trip back over the Coquihala, most likely because Tara and I each bought chains for our car. Fate probably looked at that and decided we were no fun and moved onto some other poor sap.

My second Wiimote (actually part of Tara's Christmas present) finally showed up in the mail while we were away. My order had gotten messed up last time and they shipped me a Nunchuk and classic controller. A quick email to their customer service and a couple days later I received notice that the Wiimote had been placed in the mail and to keep the erroneously shipped classic controller. I celebrated by downloading Street Fighter II for Virtual Console and playing it until the wee hours of the night/morning.

One day I'll get off my lazy ass and finally post a bunch of pictures. We've got some of Jamie and Rich (along with the rest of the gang) from the vacation along with a bunch of pictures of our trip to Saskatchewan that I promised so long ago.

But for now I'm going to go play with my Wii some more. Zelda and Hyrule are still in peril!

Wow

So during the storms here the roof of BC Place Stadium collapsed (it was cloth, held up by air pressure). Someone was lucky enough to film it happening:

Sweet Cracker Sandwich, I Can See!

We got our replacement TV today, so we can watch CSI (and pretty much everything else) in glorious HD again! Our PVR was set to record our favourite programs so we pretty much haven't really missed anything, we just have a crapload of stuff to go through now to get caught up.

Now I just have to move my Wii back downstairs so I can play in widescreen progressive scan again :)

FutureShop's insurance department is also freaking awesome. Booked an appointment, walked in, they had all the paperwork done, we just picked up a gift card for the replacement cost of the TV (they didn't have it in stock at the Broadway location, so we had to go to Kingsway to get it) and the replacement remote. I think it took longer to actually purchase the TV than it did to handle the insurance claim. So two thumbs up for Al at Reclaim (name of the insurance department)!

Oh, I got that "sweet cracker sandwich" thing from the comic strip "Get Fuzzy". The cat in it (Bucky, whom we name our cat after) used that and for some reason I find it hilarious.

Amazing Informational Video

Is It New Years Yet?

Woo, I'm back in Vancouver. Tara's still visiting her dad and sorting some stuff out, but they'll be down here before the weekend (hopefully tomorrow sometime). Surprisingly, the drive to and from Lloydminster wasn't too bad. Almost no snow (there was a bit heading into Jasper on the way that was gone when we came back) and light traffic. I guess people tend not to travel on Boxing Day and on whatever day it was when we came back. Overall, the trip was good, aside from the 3000km or so I put on the car in about a week.

Christmas was about as good as it was going to get. I got a remote control Zamboni (pics forthcoming since Tara still has the camera), a subscription to Jugheads Double Digest (sweet) and a bunch of other stuff. Apparently I may still have another present bar fridge for my desk at work still on the way, but it's gotta wait for Tara to get back.

Our townhouse was not broken into over the break, which made me happy, and my extra Wii controller/nunchuk came in the mail and was waiting for me at the post office. And to top it all off, the Canucks beat the Flames tonight, their fourth straight win and third straight against Calgary. Awesome. Nothing makes me happier than seeing Kiprusoff get scored on, except maybe seeing the Leafs lose. Iginla was also held pointless in the game, warranting a victory beer after the game.

So we're slowly moving past Tara's moms death, me more so than her, though, because she's still taking care of her stepdad. She'll be able to get back to her routine soon enough since he's going out to visit an old friend on Vancouver Island. I think that's going to help him lots, which is good.

Also, we should get our replacement TV this week. Then I can hook my Wii back up and start playing Zelda again, dammit (when Tara's not playing Rayman or Monkey Ball, that is)!

So look for pics of the trip in the coming days!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, everyone!

We're back visiting Tara's step dad and sister right now. It's been stressful (really, I was expecting it to be) but I think Tara and her family are going to be alright, it may just take awhile. We haven't been getting much sleep because Tara's having trouble falling asleep and her step dad wakes up really early and we don't want to leave him alone right now.

We're going to be driving him to Lloydminster on Boxing Day so he can be with his sons (it's like a 15 hour drive, over 1000km). We both think he's going to start getting much better once we get there. It's going to be a long drive (going through the Rockies in winter should be fun) and we're pretty much going to be turning around and coming back as soon as we get there since I have to be at work January 2nd, but I completely think it's the best thing to do. I'm not worried about the drive at all, at least.

Rich and Jamie, thanks for calling. Tara really appreciated it and we're looking forward to seeing you in January. I got an email from Nintendo and my second Wiimote had shipped, so it's probably in our mailbox right now and we'll be getting our new TV pretty much as soon as we get back!

Apparently I've Been Tagged!

I've been hit! So, six (6) things that are odd about me... Hmm, let me see.

1. I am ridiculously anal about formatting source code at work. It drives me batty when code blocks/braces don't line up nicely, so much so that I'll reformat the code so things look all pretty. On the plus side, people don't hate maintaining my code. My old boss used to find it hilarious.
2. I have really good hearing (I can hear our cat creeping up the stairs at night when he's hunting for exposed extremities), but I sometimes have trouble listening to people talking. Like there's too much background noise or something. Not all the time, though.
3. One of my teeth is smaller than the rest and grew in sideways. My dentist thinks I should leave it the way it is. She says it's a good luck charm. I also play with it with my tongue when I'm thinking, kinda like stroking a beard thoughtfully.
4. I'm a really shy person at heart. All through high school I had a hard time making friends because of my inability to talk to people. At my last job I worked from home and started to get quite antisocial. I'd avoid hanging out in large groups and any situation where I might have to talk to someone. Thankfully, I got laid off and I got a job at a huge corporation so I have to talk to people all the time. I still have trouble initiating conversation unless it's with someone I know quite well, but I've gotten much better in the last year and a half.
5. For some reason, one rule that has always stuck with me, all the way from elementary school, is that you shouldn't start multiple sentences in a row with the same word. I can't for the life of me remember when I was taught that, but I'll go out of my way to rework and reword entire paragraphs to avoid that. It makes writing technical briefs at work really fun.
6. I may be mildly OCD. I always brush my teeth the same way in the morning, running through my mental checklist to ensure that I got all the different areas. At the mall, I'll park in the same area so I won't lose my car. I'll take the same way to a place, regardless of whether or not Tara finds a more efficient/quicker way to go. It actually makes me upset when I break those routines.

I've got more stuff, but the requirement was for only 6 things, so that's all you get! It appears that I've run out of people to tag... I'll hold onto the opportunity for awhile until I find an unsuspecting victim.

Oh, and you know that Twisted Sister video down below there? I got the album. They made an entire Christmas album, the whole thing is available to listen to on their site. It's 100% pure awesome.