Runaway Future

I don’t have too much to say, but then again I feel obligated to post.

The talk at the NSCC went very well. If nothing else, I tried to focus on one thing: If you want to be a _________, there’s a lot more you can do then just go to class. It’s such a simple lesson and it fits pretty much any profession. Like I want to be a journalist, so I write about everything, I keep a blog to develop my writing style, keep track of world events, yadda yadda yadda. It just always bugs me (especially in our class, especially at the beginning), when there were like all these students (most of them who didn’t successfully complete the program), saying they wanted to make video games, but thought that just by learning C++ and COBOL, EA would hire them. No! Look into vectors, DirectX, graphics, artificial intelligence, collision detection. There’s so much more you can do. Class is like six hours a day, where does the other 18 go?

Meanwhile, my week from hell at work, ended with just a murmur. I figured out how to solve an issue that someone came to me with in June. And as a result, I will be programming again. Programming! First time since the RCMP work term, I’ll be writing code. I’m actually excited. I’ll be rusty, but I’m excited.

Also looking forward to the Cape Breton trip more and more. Four days in Cape Breton, should be interesting. I miss the CSI season premiere, the Mooseheads home opener and my dad’s birthday. But I make up for all that with my dad’s kick ass birthday present. Also, the hotel’s will be having wireless internet, so I’ll be in semi-touch from there I hope. I think it would be neat to have a “Sport Fair” blog on the website, but I know no one else would understand the appeal or support it, so I won’t waste time trying to sell it to the higher-ups, at least not for now.

I’ve signed up to comment over at Matt Good’s blog, which could be interesting. Like debating with Chris (sadly stopped now that Chris no longer uses MSN…seriously dude, wtf?). Oh and In a Coma comes out on Tuesday, soon enough to grab it before Sport Fair.
Oh and I’ll come home from Sport Fair in enough time for Word on the Street on Sunday.
Oh and October 5th, Alexander Keith’s birthday might rock the cashbah with a free concert, Trews and Joel Plaskett Emergency, followed by drinking celebrations. It’s a Wednesday. Oh.

Best use of cats ever.

I need to get this post done and then get on to work. I need to release everything in order to proceed.

Today was a shit day.
I knew it was going to be, at least a bit, because there was so much to do. HF Article, NSCC talking, going away party. My horoscope in the Globe and Mail told me it wouldn’t be as bad as I thought, and everything would work out, like always. Odd.

Then the office’s website goes down and email gets all messed up.
Turns out some DNS entries that were supposed to be done by Aliant on the weekend (and I asked about on Monday) were then pushed through today, thus taking everything offline until tommorrow morning. 24 hours of downtime and they don’t even warn me about it. Slick.

Spent the rest of the day running around. Not doing a lot, and yet doing so much. Tommorrow will be interesting as well. I did graphic design on a Mac. Right.

Had a phone call on my cell from someone I applied to four months ago when I was still on the job search. Asking me to come in and interview, after four months. Strangely enough, I considered it. It hit me on a bad day, timing was nuts. Anyway, I called back and declined. For all who care, Servercop is hiring.

Anyway, the going away party was cancelled. Thankfully. Now just need to prepare for NSCC tommorrow and write this damn article. If I was a real sports journalist, I would be in Yarmouth.

Dear Australia,
You saved my day.

In the world of magic, the trick is not what is visible to the audience, but what they perceive. By knowing where and when to look, you can easily see the dove come out of the jacket, the card come out of the sleeve and the ball come out of the pocket. The trick is to distract the audiences attention away from that. That’s where the waving of hands and ‘abra-ca-dabra’, and on larger tricks, the lovely assistant in the bright, but minimal clothing, all come into play. To keep everyone looking elsewhere, while the real slight of hand is taking place.
It seems the US federal government are big Harry Blackstone fans. While all attention is in Louisiana for the hurricane and ensuing disaster (Michael Brown just retired to return to Horse Judging), the Pentagon has forwarded an interesting policy change onto Donald Rumsfeld. It is in fact the first change of nuclar weapon policy by the world’s last remaining super power in something like 10 years.
Basically it allows for nuclear weapons to come into the game a lot earlier then before, including to destroy biological or chemical weapons or even a preemptive strike. Going nuclear is now an option, as opposed to just being that card in the back pocket.
So a bit of sleight of hand, “everyone watch the Superdome”, a big bang and God help us all. Their timing is, as always, impeccable.
Washington Post

…

Anywho, I’m writing from work, a definite no no.I have work to do, then a going-away party that covers my supper hour, then I have to write an article for HF tonight, and prepare to speak to the NSCC kids tommorrow.
I’m lazy, my shirt and pants are all wrinkled because I hate my iron and I think I’m getting a cold, probably because I don’t sleep at night.
Whine.
Bitch.
Complain.

I watched the Terry Fox TV movie tonight on CTV. Done well. It’s fueling my desire to do the run next sunday. There was a couple of pledge sheets at work on Friday, so I’ll see if we’re putting a team in.
Here’s the Toronto Star’s Archive on Terry Fox. Link
Leslie Scrivener was the one who wrote the book that I read back in Grade 5. Next step is tracking down the book.

I bought the McKeen’s Hockey Pool Yearbook and the Sporting News Hockey preview. I also have the Hockey News Yearbook on the way.
And then I had a revelation. I already planned on not renewing my Hockey News subscription because it’s crap writing and I can find updates sooner and more accurately on my own with my own sources and research. But then I was reading the masthead for McKeen’s: George Bachul, ex writer at Hockey’s Future, Evgeny Belashchenko, writer at Hockey’s Future, Mikko Vuori, writer for Jatkoaika, Max Giese, a 15 year old kid who posts on the HFBoards. I mean seriously, not to discredit my peers, but what’s the point in dishing out the cash? Somewhere in the past three years, my knowledge has equaled or exceeded the standard media. Could it really be true that the hockey media world is so small? Bob McKenzie and Gord Miller frequent HFBoards, so does Kevin Paul Dupont and numerous others. Then there’s stuff like Eklund. Or Peter Baptista, a former HF writer who’s now an agent. I mean seriously, what the hell? I should have applied for the GM job in Anaheim apparently.
Just the shock of it makes sports writing less appealing. It’s not a big mysterious world, it’s like a bunch of guys sitting on a beer cooler shooting the shit. Soooo political journalist perhaps?

So today wasn’t too bad in rolling out the tired imagery from four years ago. Thank God.

Meanwhile, in New Orleans, there’s finally a smoking gun in the blame game. Everyone was saying who’s fault the inaction was. This White House release puts it in the Federal Government’s hand, by declaring a State of Emergency before the disaster.
Or does it?
Looking further at the parishes listed, it’s all the ones on the interior of Louisiana. No mention of the parishes on the coast or the parishes adjoining the parishes on the coast. Here’s a graphic and further explanation to make it easier: Link.
What does this all mean? Washing your hands of blame if everything goes bad, but looking prepared before the game? Seriously, what the hell? Could a federal government be so cavalier with people’s life?

Ok, so I’ve been watching a lot of TV. I really enjoyed the War at Home. But for some reason, American Dad now has a warning in front of it? Like the standard warning for violence and viewer discretion. It’s a cartoon?

Finally, I’m looking for some new blogs to browse. Some of those on the right are getting stale or just stupid. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Oh and check this out: New Sigur Ros video.