Don't need to answer junk mail

Big debt? We have answers! Hey, funny coinscidence, so do I!

Another relief that I don't have to seriously consult junk mail in order to address my finances. Not that I ever would, but when you have tuition due in six days, and you do not have adequate amount of cash to do so, you start to get a little worried. I am going to apply for student loan funding, holding out for the Access Grant, and if that works, then I can scale back my hours a bit. If that doesn't work, then I'll ask my dad for a little assistance. But the bulk of it, in the short term, is going on the Visa. Not wise to do so, because I'm just amassing more debt, but desperate times call for plastic measures.

On a lighter note, my manager is going to be out of town for October 31. Hence my AM has the bright idea of dressing up for All Hallow's Eve. Caitlin thought a midevil/renaissance theme would be cool, but my AM has a zanier idea. One word. Drag. Oddly enough, we I heard that, two voices shouted their response in my head. First one was "Heavens, no." I paraphrased it and said it came out, "No." The other was "Hell, YES!" I pretended I didn't hear that.

Career/Swag Day

I find it odd that I view Career Day in two different lights. One, especially this year, it's a great time to network and find out about possible employment oppurtunities. Second, and this had been every year, can be defined in one word. SWAG. And this year, I made a good haul in both departments.
I got some pens from Schlumberger, Total, Blockbuster, Flint Energy, EUB, and Nexen. Six in all, the most I've ever got from a career fair. I would have taken some pamplets as well, but half the time when I got the pen, if it had the website on it, that was usually enough for me anyway. Some of those places actually told me not to bother giving them a resume, just apply online, because that's how their HR operates. All the easier for me! Some places I didn't bother visiting, because I knew that I wasn't going to apply to work with them, such as Enmax.
More swag, and this actually isn't all of it, because I gave one of the bottles of water and two caribeeners to Tammy, one of Cailtin's co-workers. I got a LOT of stuff, but I wasn't just going for swag this year. I was searching for job leads, and I also found those! If you'll notice there is stuff from ATCO Power there. That is a little misleading, because I don't plan to hitch my cart to them, but rather ATCO Electric. ATCO Power has their office in Calgary, while ATCO electric is based out of Edmonton. Fortis and Altalink are also prospects, but those two are again based out of Calgary. The biggest hope I have is with Nexopia. I was able to talk with the founder and owner to get the idea of just what exactly they are looking for. I must say that I was excited with the possibility of working for company such as this. I just have to get an application together and send it off. I know that I have two and a half months until I'm done school, but these things have a habit of sneaking up and bitting you.

Nevertheless, tomorrow's another day, and unless I get some sleep, I'm going to hate it.

The evil four letter f-word

FLAT. One of the four letter f-words I don't like to hear, particularily in regards to my bike tire. That's what I found last night when I went home from work, my rear wheel was flat like Saskatchewan. I only had enough money to make one phone call, since I didn't have the cell phone, and I decided to call Caitlin and tell her that I would be home late. I then had no money to use for the bus or LRT, so I had to walk home. It was raining, but not too bad, yet it still sucked since it took an hour and a half to hoof it.

When I got home at 11pm, I went right to fixing the tire, because I had the meeting tomorrow morning for work, plus I was scheduled to work. Found the hole easily enough, because Caitlin was able to feel it with her hand. I thought that was a little weird, because usually I have to put it under water to find the hole. But that was one step less for me to do, so I was able to get to work patching the hole. The patch took and after I had a pause to have some dinner, I went back to finishing the job, putting the wheel back on the bike. I inflated the wheel, and while I was struggling to but the tire back on... POW! The tire was flat again. Upon inspection, the hole, a very big one and hard to miss, was right beside the patch. The patch held, but the tube was shot. I thought that it was because I sanded the tube too much and compromised it. I had a spare tube, so I put that in, filled the tire, and... POW! My left ear took all the noise from that (owie), and I felt the air rush out along my leg. That was too much of a coincidence, so I carefully removed the tire, followed along the tube, and the hole was of the same style of the previous pop. What the flat was going on? The rim was fine, and the tire...

The tire had a small cut close to the edge. Right where the hole in the tube was. Some 'flat'-tard slashed my tire. I never thought that people did that to bicycles, but it just happened to me. Flat. With no more inner tubes, and a slashed tire, I was in trouble. But Caitlin offered me a bit of hope. I could use her bike. Her bike was fine. Needed a little air in the tires, but that was no trouble since our pump can do both Schrader and Presta valves. Karpoozi (Caitlin's bike, named after the fact that it's green and she wanted to call it "Watermelon" and I thought it was lame. So I suggested "Karpoozi", which is watermelon in Greek, which I thought sounded cooler. Caitlin agreed.) has Presta valves, while Bikey has the common Schrader valves that you find on most vechiles in the automotive industry.

The next morning, I filled the tires, and all was well. Until I started riding. Goodness that bike is small! In order for Caitlin to ride that bike properly, I'm going to have to find a new seat post and handle bar post. Heck, I might just get another frame so that the wheels are bigger! I could ride, but it was difficult. I nearly kneed myself in the chest a couple of times. I can only imagine what it feels like for Caitlin!

At work, I mentioned what happened last night and my unfortunate circumstance. With this, I requested if I would be able to get off early today to aquire the tire and tube needed to fix my bike up. I was sure that I wouldn't, and in the end I was right. However, my AM reminded me of a place close to work that sells bicycle stuff, and surely they would be able to supply my needs. Indeed they did! Crappy Tire or not, they had inner tubes for $6 each, and a new tire for $16. Plus I got some Canadian Tire money! w00t! I was hoping that I could go to RedBike or MEC, but I was in a pinch, and this will work. At least I hope it does, I haven't changed the tire yet. We'll find out soon enough!

Rolling start

I am so glad that I decided to get those books for Comparative Literature when I did. Turns out that one of the assignments is a reading journal for one of the books on the reading list. The only catch, is that you need to submit the journal before it's discussed in class. The first book that we are going to discuss is Left Hand of Darkness, and I could realistically do this, expect that it sounded like the prof wants us to do the journal as we're reading the book. It doesn't matter if I like the book or not, it's just a matter of doing a critique about the book, and my impressions about it. There's a list of things to think about, such as narrative style, thematic issues, opinion about the setting and premise of the novel, and the list goes on. The only challenge would be cranking out the journal before the end of the week.

Surprise surprise, there were a couple more books on the reading list that I didn't know about. Not a huge surprise, because not only have I read the books, I've also seen the movie too! The first two books in the trilogy in five parts, Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

I better head off to bed, because:
a) I'm tired
b) my wife has been imploring me to do so for some time now, and
c) one word, Thunderstorm

Treasure Hunting

When I clean anyplace that I occupy, I should bring an anthropologist or a palientologist. Half the time I find things that I thought I lost months ago. Other things I didn't realize we owned! Thankfully, it only collects dust, not mold. I'm not that much of a slob. Well... Actually let's not go there. Nevertheless, on the first Saturday I've had off of work in months, I cleaned my living room. Partially.

If anyone needs a cure for insomnia, watch Solaris. I don't know about the George Clooney version, but the Russian subtitled version put me to sleep at least three times. I thought the part where Hari drinks liquid oxygen was neat, although disturbing. Then watching the special features, I fell asleep during that too! Now I know why people doze off when they don't understand what's going on. This may explain why so many university students fall asleep in class.

I certainly hope the book isn't quite like the movie was, in terms of atmosphere setting. The movie certainly set an atmosphere, but after awhile, I gave up trying to figure out what direction the movie was going.

Speaking of books, I finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. That was a weird book, yet I'm intrigued how the movie holds up to it. I'll have to watch it with my wife so she can hide my eyes during the boob scenes. Unless I can find it on TV, and then I don't have anything to worry about. Hmmm... Maybe I can find an edited version somewhere. Setting that aside, it really does make you ponder the value of life, and what constitutes being alive. Right now we don't have much of an issue with computer sentience, yet I can't help but think that one day I'm going to get an error message on either an ATM, or my computer, or my PocketPC, or my cell phone, or the Moneris machine at work, or a customer is going to tell us about this error message that simply says, "I hate you." At first we might think that it's a joke the programmer put in to get back at his boss because he had to work one too many weekends, and it might be at first. But when the device actually comes forward and stops working, simply because it hates us all, we won't believe it. Not many believed B1-66ER and that caused decades of problems. A fictional account of course, but it parallels Dick's work.

This also seems to make me think about The Stepford Wives, and how I treat my own wife. Would I do the same thing as those men, have my wife replaced by a robot slave? How could someone even fathom doing that? In retrospect, I wouldn't call them 'men'. A man is the head of household, the patriarch of his family, but when he starts to be a dictator, that is when the title of man is stripped from him and a primal persona takes over. My wife has many names, and one of them is companion. Sometimes she leads and I follow. Other times the roles are reversed. We work together, and together, we make things work. Sounds cheesy, but it's what's kept us together for the past three years. Times have been hard, and we know they will get worse. I'm not a pessimist; I'm a realist. Before we got married I knew we would fall on hard times, all relationships do.

This morning, my beloved wife asked me, "Why do you keep loving me?" It took me awhile to come up with an answer that didn't sound ridiculous, ie. because there's so much of you to love. Finally I came up with the answer, "Because you keep changing". We might not have noticed how much we've changed over the past three years, but we acknowledge that we have. Every day and I love the same person I married, but I also meet a new person. Some who just had a dream or two. When I come home from work, I follow up on what she's done during the day, and sometimes during the day we catch up with each other. We guide and advise each other in decisions that change who we are, and who we will become. We share, we love, we grow.

I could go on, but I have to get some sleep. Plus I need to spend a good quantity of quality time with my queen.

Book =/ Movie

I don't have the proper logic symbol to indicate 'not equal', but I should not have been surprised that after spending three hours of my life watching a Russian movie, subtitled in English, based on a Polish Science Fiction book, that the author of the book hated the movie. Other critics saw the movie and the book as two seperate things. I should have seen that coming, because even with the first movie that I had the opportunity to both read the book and see the movie - Jurassic Park by Michael Critchon - I could blantently see that the two artistic works were similar but different. You can't fit the same amount of material in a two hour movie that you can in a 300 page novel. It's just not possible. And countless other movies have done the same thing, and not just the ones based on novels. Some movies take short stories and run with them such as I, Robot; Bicentennial Man; Minority Report; even that awful movie Johnny Mnemonic. Perhaps I'm a little cornered here looking only at sci-fi, but that's the kind of stuff I have experience with.

To sum up, I have a strong impression that I should read the book. Hence I bought it.

Back in class

Today was a bit of a waste of time in my eyes to go to U of A. First off, my first class was cancelled. I was two minutes late, and I wound up missing the entire thing! I talked with a couple of guys from the class, and they said that the prof is Africa for two weeks, and we have a sub for the moment. The course pack is available, and there was a brief syllabus, but other than that I missed the sub telling everyone that he couldn't write down his email address or his name because there was no pen. Great.

With three hours until my next class, I wandered for about an hour, then I went to drop off my perscription, knowing that it would take some time to fill. Not that it's difficult to find the meds, it's just that I was pretty sure that they would have to double check with the doctor that it was the right meds. I was right. When I went after Economics, I was told that same story that I've heard almost every time I've gone to fill my meds.

I made a stop at the Institute building, and the only class that I would be able to take would be Book of Mormon 1. Again. I find it a little difficult to find the motivation to take an insitute course since I've already graduated from the program, and received my post-grad. I know that I need spiritual studies to compliment my secular studies, but that's another kettle of fish altogether. I also realized that there are a lot of people that I've been out of touch with over the summer, and it was good to see everyone again!

I am so glad I decided to take Econ 204 as one of my last courses. First and foremost, 99% of the people in the class are first years. Heh heh. I'm going to mop the floor with these guys! Second of all, the course is not designed to add another 15 hours a week of work on the already huge work load of engineers. Hence there are no assignments, and all exam material is taken from the notes. The only catch, is that you have to show up in class, and take notes, because there is nothing posted online. All the same, hee hee hee. Swish! SO glad I'm taking this course when I am!

And on a less serious note, I got a view of the character designs for the new Transformers movie. All I can say, is that they are much different from what I remember, but they do have a slick look to them.

I've also revamped the links bar on the site. The blog where I got these pics is now listed there, as well as some more of my favourite webcomics.

BRILLIANT

Foolish me forgot how web-based entry windows work. And I also forgot that if you have more than one account it will log you out of one, and into the other. I now realize that if you are doing a blog entry, FINISH IT BEFORE YOU GO ABOUT DOING ANY OTHER MULTITAKING!!!

I just lost an entry because of that error, so I'll try to get it spit out again, quickly.

I was in charge of the store today, and I will tomorrow. I think it sucks because I had to miss church, and I will be working on a holiday. Hope that won't happen next month, because Thanksgiving is the same day as my birthday. This holiday/birthday scheduling won't happen again until 2017, which is eleven years from now. My dad has the day off, and wants Cailtin and I to visit. Another reason that I probably won't show up at work on October 9, even if I'm scheduled.

I also talked to my dad about the fact that I don't have enough money for tuition, and he said that he could cover what I come short. I hope I don't have to ask for much, but rent is going up, and my hours are going down. Not a good combo.

Caitlin and I saved some money when we went swimming at Grant MacEwan Saturday. We showed up 30 minutes before close, so we were let in for one admission from our 10-visit pass instead of the usual two. w00t!

I think things are going to turn out okay.

No such thing as an average day

After all the freaking out with the lost merchendise, there was a calm in the storm. My AM prevented an act of credit card fraud, and that instantly raised morale! We got an notice from the District Loss Prevention manager with a decription of someone with a stolen card. I didn't think much of it until I noticed my AM march into the back room with a very determined look on her face. I did a bit of a double take when I saw a person matching the description in the store. I was helping a customer at the time, and I did my best to keep on with that. My first manager once told me, "The customer is the focus", and that was never more true than at that moment. Caitlin later told me that acting like nothing unusual was going on was the best thing I could have done. I agreed to stay until the dust settled, but that was around 8:30pm, so I just stayed until close. Crazy day!

Less than a week before classes start again! OIE! I'm quite sure that I'm not going to finish the books that I bought last month, but I have read two. Mind you, I didn't buy Calculating God, but I read it all the same. I also renewed it in case I need to reference to it within the first week of classes. Who am I kidding? I should just return it, and then buy it. Caitlin wants to buy it, and I don't blame her. I could see her reading that one at least five times. I got a copy of "Solaris" from the library the other day, and it's not the book. The library doesn't have a copy of the George Clooney version, but rather they have a 2-disc edition of the Russian version, with English subtitles. Wow. It is tough to watch. Not gory or disturbing, just long, quiet, artistic, and difficult to follow, since it's in Russian. Unless you're following along with the subtitles, you are VERY lost. Almost like reading an abridged version of the book. I also read one of the short stories in the William Gibson collection I bought. I wanted to read Johnny Mnemonic because I heard that the movie sucked, and I wanted to see if this was a matter of Hollywood taking a good idea and putting it through the mill. I'm not sure what conclusions to draw, because I read the story rather quickly, and from what I read from Rotten Tomatoes, it was only "loosely based" on the story anyway. The story is still pretty freaky, and I also seem to remember that it was shot in Montreal. A gritty, dirty, and scary future looks a lot like downtown Montreal... Hmmm... I think the future just happened.

Well, there's a staff meeting tomorrow at nine, and Caitlin has been telling me to get to bed for 20 minutes straight now. Tah tah.