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Sad Moment - Thinking You Found Your Lost Dog

Mike — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:46:23 +0000

Oh, it really sucks to follow up a happy moment with something that is sad. Unfortunately, that is what has happened to me and I feel a need to share. As some of you know, I used to have a bulldog named Chubbs with an ex-girlfriend. The relationship between us didn’t work out and sadly I lost all claim to the dog. I haven’t posted anything about the guy since because I really have no idea what’s going on with him. It does make me sad because I loved Chubbs more than anything. I think about him all the time and it breaks my heart. At the very least I can take comfort in knowing that he is very well loved and taken care of. My ex loves him completely and will always provide the best for him. The sad moment today came when someone contacted me thinking that Chubbs was actually their stolen dog named Chubby. This person originally posted a comment on a YouTube video of Chubbs. Then they followed up by emailing me a few times claiming that he is their dog. After a few ranting emails the person finally sent one last apology email. They realized that it couldn’t have been their dog. They got worked up thinking that they finally found Chubby. They apologized for everything they said. I wont post the emails on here because they are quite personal and I don’t want to be cruel. Losing a dog is a heart breaking experience. I can’t even imagine what having a dog stolen would feel like. My heart goes out to anyone who has had a dog stolen. I wish you all the luck in finding your beloved pets. For the last time - here are some pics of Chubbs. You can see why losing such a beauty can drive you a little crazy!

Simple Happy Moment - Polite Wrong Number Phone Calls

Mike — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:07:00 +0000

I often use this site as a forum for me to bitch about anything that pisses me off. I am trying to be more positive though, and send some love back to the universe. Let me start off by bitching though. I hate when people accidentally dial your number and then hang up when you answer. Would it have been too hard to just explain that you made a mistake? Equally annoying is when you accidentally dial the wrong number and the person on the other end gets pissy with you. Seriously, was the 4 seconds of time really such an inconvenience? This morning someone called me by mistake. I explained that I think they had the wrong number. They apologized genuinely and then asked to confirm that I am not the number they were trying to dial. I figured out the digits that got mixed up for the guy. He said thank you and wished me a great day. I did the same and our moment was over. It only lasted about 30 seconds but it really was awesome. It was nice to see that some people are still a little old fashioned when it comes to courtesy. It is simple, but it made me happy. Maybe we do have a chance of surviving each other.

SMBC - Pick Up Line

Mike — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:25:12 +0000

Being single, I can appreciate how hard it is to meet people some times. Let’s face it, there is a lot of competition in the city. It really can come down to that first impression. That first pick up line you get out might be a “make or break” moment. It’s just unfortunate we have to be so crafty with our language in order to get some attention. I long for simpler times. Here is a quick look back at early man in the process of a pick up. They really knew how to rock a pick up line!

Missed Connections

Mike — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:37:57 +0000

Anytime I need anything I turn to Craigslist. An awesome site where you can find pretty much anything from an apartment to a job. Hell, you can even find dates and hookers! Today I clicked on the “missed connections” link and was amazingly shocked at what I found. This section is a combination of sad and awesome. Sad because it is about all those little moments between two people that never develop. What could have happened if maybe one person said something? Maybe it could have lead to something great. Even though this whole section can be a little depressing, I also find it a bit poetic and romantic. Here are a couple of the posts I enjoyed:

Me – Monochrome. All black, skin-tight jeans and t-shirt. Long, straight black hair and pale skin. Dark, dark eyes like oil.
You – Medium build, regular height, Caucasian, brown eyes, brown hair. You were wearing jeans and a black pea coat.
I caught a glimpse of your big brown eyes. You looked like you could use me.

Stop being so damn cute.
with your glasses,
mouth habit
and blue jean jacket.
Hey, I know nothing will/can ever come out of this,
But I’ve noticed the way you look at me…
Stare at me for a reaction…
You should stop that - people notice.
I secretly have the hots for you - and you won’t ever know

In every glance there you were, smirking something fierce. You must know I’m crushing.
I don’t really know who you are, but I want to hold the glimmer from your eyes in my day dreams in hopes that they can float off into forever, secretly embraced and openly reveled in.
You’re going to be my unspoiled joy for as long as I can have you.
Thanks, cute stuff!

This weird unspoken situation between us has been carrying on for some time now.
It has been weeks since the last time I saw you and I still can’t get you out of my head.
I think about you every day and I’m not even sure if you know my name.
I’m lame and you probably think you’re too old for me or something.
I still think you’re awesome and I hope we meet someday under different circumstances.
I want to make you feel amazing.

Create Your Own Virus

Mike — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:00:17 +0000

I now consider myself to be officially over the H1N1 bug that pimp-slapped me last week! I still have a slight cough, but that fades away by the hour. I am back to doing physical work and am having no problems. All the H1N1 panic is pretty interesting actually. It reminded me of a flash game I played last year called Pandemic. I looked it up and now there is Pandemic 2! This is a fun little game that lets you design your own virus, bacteria or parasite. As your disease progresses you get evolution points. You can use these points to increase the symptoms of your germ, making it more deadly but also more noticeable. You can increase it’s resistance to drugs and environment. Hell, you can even adapt how it is spread! Your view is of a world map and you can see countries react to the disease by shutting down airports and even hospitals. At some point the world will try to create a vaccine to counter your efforts, but depending on how resistant to drugs your disease is, it may not work. All in all it’s a fun little strategy game that has some relevance with the news lately. Click here to play:

Pandemic 2

SMBC: Good News

Mike — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:43:52 +0000

Holy crap have I been busy lately! If I haven’t been at work or at school I have been sleeping. This last week where I battled the flu allowed me to sleep more than usual. Since I really have nothing to talk about after a 12 hour school day I will give you something that has nothing to do with anything. Here is a convergence of good news - as expressed by an SMBC comic.

Slutty Girls In Slutty Costumes: A Tribute

Mike — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:32:09 +0000

Gotta love Halloween. Instead of me talking about the greatness of slutty costumes, I will let Cracked take care of it for me. They put together this little tribute to all the costumes we probably saw last night. Enjoy!

Slutty Girls in Slutty Halloween Costumes: A Tribute — powered by Cracked.com

Fighting The Flu

Mike — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:13:38 +0000

My longtime readers know all about my theories when it comes to battling a cold or flu. For the rest of you - shame on you for only coming to my blog now! Where were you when I needed you?! Since I am a nice guy, I will restate my theories. With the news all about H1N1 I should remind you that getting the vaccine might be a good idea. My remedies are only meant to help ease symptoms. If you actually use my advice and think I resemble a doctor in any way then you really have the IQ of an eggplant. Anyways, the first thing I suggest is cayenne pepper. Yup! It’s that simple. One of the first symptoms that strikes me down is a sore throat. You mix a healthy amount of cayenne pepper into some hot water and slowly drink. If you can’t handle spice then this remedy is really going to slap you around! Keep drinking the solution for as long as you have symptoms. Be ready for some slight pain then next day when sitting on the toilet. Remedy number one is certainly a manly way of handling a flu. My remedy number two is like the Chuck Norris of flu remedies. It is equally simple: BOOZE! That’s right princess, drag your sorry ass out of bed and get thee to a bar! Consume as much booze as possible. Cold beer is soothing and should help numb your throat. Brandy is warming and makes you feel like you have a blanket around you. Tequila…well…that shit will just mess you up! A lot of you will question my sanity on drinking while sick. I really do try to use some science to justify it. Our body (including our blood) plays the host to a virus. That virus comes in and multiplies and treats itself to everything our body has. Our body is such a nice host that it lets itself get walked all over. Enter the booze! When we drink enough we are actually introducing something toxic into our bodies. We get hammered and our blood alcohol level spikes to a point where we are no longer a nice host. The virus doesn’t like playing here and he dies. We poison the bastard! We will suffer one helluva hangover but at least we got rid of the virus. A nice benefit to this is that you don’t seem to notice your symptoms when you are drunk!

*Go ahead - get drunk and eat spicy food!

Home Network Renovation

Mike — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:08:57 +0000

Sometimes lost is the fact that I am, by training and experience, a bit of a computer geek. I spent years doing tech support and many more years tinkering at home. I know I spend a lot of time talking about either finance or firefighting or drinking. Before any of that, I was a computer geek. Well…the booze and computers may be tied. Anyways, I really haven’t done anything with my geek background in a long time. Today I got a chance to satisfy that itch. We recently got a new wireless modem/router device from Bell for our internet connection at home. This made my separate Linksys router (running DD-WRT firmware, of course) useless. One problem with my old setup was getting a strong signal up to the top floor of my house. I currently have the router down in the basement - which allows me to hook up via network cable to my xbox. I previously added a couple of high gain antennas into the mix to help solve my signal issues. This gave me pretty good speed but the signal would still drop off every once in a while upstairs, knocking off any wireless clients. Having freed up my router from it’s previous assignment, I was now able to make use of it in another capacity. I geeked out for a while and set it up as a repeater bridge. DD-WRT v24 has this functionality built right in. It takes a little bit of setup and network know-how if you, like me, refuse to follow instructions. With my tinkering complete I was able to place that old router (now my repeater) in the living room on the main floor of the house. This allows me to connect to my upstairs computers by passing through that device. That repeater does not need to be plugged in to any other cables. It is hidden, on it’s own, quietly allowing communication to pass through it between my upstairs and downstairs. WOOO HOOO! I know this may not seem like a big deal, but it is to me! I have always been bothered by that signal issue and I just never got around to doing anything about it. Now I have awesome signal strength at every corner of my house. How many firefighters can do that?!

*My new Bell modem/router combo device

*My old router that now serves as a repeater

A Weekend Wedding

Mike — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:40:07 +0000

As I mentioned at the end of last week I was out of town at a wedding this weekend. It wasn’t terribly far, about 3 hours drive north-west of Toronto. The ceremony started at 3pm on Saturday, so three buddies and myself only left the city in the late morning. We may have timed things a little closley though. It didn’t help that we stopped for McDonald’s for a solid 20 minutes. By the time we checked into the hotel we only had about 15 minutes to change and be at the church! Through either magic, or a rip in the space-time continuum, all four boys got suited up in 3 minutes! We made it to the church just in time. After that we got relaxed for a short while and made our way to the reception. Things start to get blurry at that point. We did our best to take down as much booze as possible. The drive home was a pain in the ass! 3 hours of driving when you are hungover to hell and driving with a gassy friend. One cool thing was seeing a wind farm while driving north of the city. Spread out over a massive distance were about 50 large wind mills. It looked like only a small percentage were actually turned on though. I wonder if they fire up the other ones when demand is high on the grid? Definitely something for me to look into when my brain recovers from the damage I did. Here are some pics of events as they transpired for me.

*My “date” and I after arriving shortly before the wedding starts

*Me, looking at something…I have no idea what that something is though!

*Standing still, drinking a beer and I still manage to rock a twirl

*I get intense when dancing with the older ladies at weddings

*The PAINFUL drive home the following morning

*A small sample of the wind mills we saw. They were everywhere!