The Weirdness Factor

Did somebody say ads?

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:30:00 +0000

Somebody left me a weird message on Blog Catalog saying they had visited my site and clicked on my ads. What Ads?! I don’t have any ads on my site. That picture of a pill is meant to be a joke. I don’t think the person even visited my site because if they did they would notice no ads unlike the millions of other blogs out there that are cluttered with them. It is a little bit depressing to think people are leaving me comments about my blog without actually having visited it.

Why I hardly posted this past month

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:44:00 +0000

This past month I only posted once because it is hard to compose a blog post when you are feeling wooly minded from the lack of sleep due to insomnia. I just started getting back into a normal sleep pattern and then wham the time change occurs which kind of threw me off. Thank goodness it is cold out which makes it easier to sleep at night the only downside is I want to eat more during the day!

During this month of insomnia, I played Facebook games heavily. I noticed after a while of playing them I started getting very annoyed with some of the games. A lot of the games hamper a user’s progression by demanding they have so many friends playing or pay real money to advance past a certain point in the game. I neither have the money nor can I beg enough friends to join me in playing some of these games. First they get you hooked on a game than they throw road blocks in your way by stipulating you have to have so many friends playing the game before you can expand your lot, complete certain quests or win in fights.

The only way around this is to pay real money to buy more fictional friends or an expansion on your lot. I think the friend’s stipulation should be thrown out and the paying of real money should be for only really cool looking cosmetic items that enhance your characters looks or place or an item with an extra special ability. Having to fork over money or cajole enough friends into playing should not be integral in playing the game to the end. I just deleted some games because I hit a dead end. I couldn’t go any further because I didn’t have enough friends and I don’t have money to be forking over for fictional friends and virtual real estate. Maybe it is just as well since I have already sunk too much time and effort into playing them when I could be doing more productive things with my time.

Boom dee yada boom dee yada

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:18:00 +0000

I Love xkcd from NoamR on Vimeo.

Catchy Tune!

D’OH! H1N1 vaccination spectacle

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:46:00 +0000

It doesn’t look like I will be getting the H1N1 vaccine any time soon. With there being less then 10 million vaccines on hand so far and approximately 33 million people in the whole country to vaccinate the odds don’t look good that everybody will be vaccinated in time for it to be effective this flu season. Initially it was said there was enough on hand to vaccinate everyone but then the government changed their tune real quick when they realized they didn’t have enough vaccine on hand. This was after flu clinics for the vulnerable were announced to the general public and the media scared people into wanting to get it. Now you got healthy adults pushing in front of the very young and the frail to get their shot first even though they are not in the high risk group. Even worse the clinics are relying on the honour system that people will tell the truth about their health status which is probably not going to happen very often especially when the vaccine is in short supply but high in demand.

It seems every day this H1N1 vaccination spectacle gets worse. The government goofed up big time. Anybody who has the stamina to stand out in the cold pouring rain for five hours to get their flu shot is probably not in the high risk category to begin with. I think the vaccination of the high risk groups could have been handled better than this. It is ridicules to expect people with poor health to stand in line for five hours in the cold pouring rain. Have some heart people! Could you stand for that length of time if you were using your walker or feeling ill to begin with?

Happy Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:42:00 +0000

Trouble sleeping

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:15:00 +0000

Ug! The past 4 nights I have been waking up in the middle of the night and having trouble falling back to sleep. By the time I do fall back to sleep, it is time to get up! I blame my sleep problems on the weather. One night the temperature dips down to 10 celsius the next night it 16 celsius. The temperature is yo-yoing up and down. One day it is hot and I can wear shorts and the next day it is cold like it was the end of October instead of the end of September. I just wish the temperature would stay cold. My poor body can’t get used to the fluctuating temperature. When I am trying to sleep I am either too warm or too cold. The covers go on and the covers go off. Flip the pillow over to the cool side and five minutes later flip it again. My brain is so tired from the lack of sleep writing this post is a chore.

The growing Nouveau Poor

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:47:00 +0000

This video is hilarious and fits right in with the times. While there is nothing funny about being poor it is hilarious to put a funny spin on upper class snobbery. Imagine if poor people were as snobby as some rich people.

Happy Labour Day everyone who has to work for a living!

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:49:00 +0000

40 Hour Week by Alabama

Even though this song is American themed and from 1985 it is still relevant today for working people all over the world. People who do the real work such as house keeping, construction, farming, mining, truck driving, sales clerk, warehouse work, assembly line work, secretarial, accounting, fire fighter, policing, teaching, nursing, etc. These are the people that keep our society humming. They do real work unlike some fat cat CEOs who sit on their ass doing not much other than think up new ways of sticking it to the ordinary working Joe and Jane in North America by cutting back their wages, downsizing, outsourcing their jobs and hiring people to work for less than minimum wage. The ordinary working person is the big loser in this global economy. The ones that are benefiting the most are the wealthy few at the expense of the rest of the planet.

A new expansion pack coming!

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 20:34:00 +0000

This looks interesting. I love stuff on Egypt's history so this should be a cool expansion pack. They didn’t show what they will do for China or France. Anyways it is too bad it is only three countries. How about adding Mexico and Brazil or would that make the expansion pack too big if they added extra countries?

Hands of time

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 15:38:00 +0000

If Today Was Your Last Day - Nickelback

This song has been going through my head a lot recently. I think this song is so true. Time is really short and we don’t know how long we have on this earth to live so we really should make the best use of the time we have been given because we never know when our number is up. Just recently I heard about two acquaintances that have died from cancer and a brain aneurism and another person I know most likely has cancer though it hasn’t been officially confirmed. It made me realize how quickly you can go. One minute you’re here eating an ice cream cone and the next you are struck down with a brain aneurism. You should never take anything for granted and enjoy what you have now because you don’t know if you will have it tomorrow.

Wasting my time

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 15:04:00 +0000

Wow! I haven’t posted in a month. Not a record for me or anything since I have been known to do it with previous blogs too but still. I just decided to take a break from blogging even though I don’t blog frequently enough even when I do blog. The weather has been nice and I have been preoccupied with work and playing games on Facebook. Facebook is a nice time waster with lots of games to suck away your time. I’ll probably get bored soon enough and go unto the next thing to waste my time. It seems to be a fact of life with me that I waste my time and time seems to go by quickly when I am not at work. I only wish time would go by quickly at work so I would get the hell out of there sooner. It seems when I am having fun, time goes by quickly and when I am having a miserable time it goes by slowly. There is nothing like watching the clock where a minute seems like an eternity.

Twitter and Facebook attacked!

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:11:00 +0000

Twitter, Facebook attack targeted one user
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10305200-245.html

No wonder I was having such a miserable time using Facebook yesterday morning. Everything was so slow and applications kept timing out. Now I know the reason why. It is rather chilling to think there are people out there that are trying to silence others by using Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks. It will probably only get worse as conflicts around the world heat up and spill over on to the internet.

Hardcover books versus Paperbacks

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:35:00 +0000

I visited the local book store today and it got me to thinking about hardcover books. Why do publishers release the hardcover version first over the paperback version? Hardcover is not very popular with a lot of people. Hardcover is heavier and less portable than a paperback plus hardcover books cost twice as much as paperbacks. Why would I want to pay 20 something dollars for a book that I will only read once and can’t even trade in at a used book store because they don’t take hardcover? I can see buying hardcover books if it is non fiction and is going to sit on my book shelve for future reference. I would definitely want something more studier than a paperback for a reference book but for works of fiction I couldn’t care less since I only read it once. I can see libraries liking hardcover books because they will stand up to repeat use from patrons. I just can’t see why new works of fiction have to be released in hardcover first. It is annoying to have to wait longer for a new work of fiction to be released in paperback. Who are on earth buys those hardcover books I would really like to know. Obviously money is no problem for them if they can afford to pay $19.99 for the latest thriller.

What an entrance!

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 14:59:00 +0000

If I ever have a wedding, I think I will do something fun like this. This has got to be one of the most creative wedding entrances I have ever seen. :-)

Summer blahs

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:14:00 +0000

Summer has so far been rotten. Everybody it seems is going on strike. There is very little work to be had and the weather has been lousy. It is has been cool and cloudy with what seems like lots of rainy days. It feels more like spring than summer. July is supposed to be a hot month not a cool month. There isn’t any sign of this cool wet weather pattern ending any time soon. This summer is a total write off for me.

Barfing up rainbows and the power of magical thinking

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:49:00 +0000

I get tired of people saying you can be anything you want to be if you put your mind to it. Can I be a mathematician even though I struggled to comprehend algebra and math was my worst subject next to music in school? Can I be the next Canadian idol even though I can’t carry a tune to save my life and I am too old to qualify for the show? People who go around saying that annoying cliché are basically telling people to ignore reality. Let’s live in never never land where no one grows up and there is a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow. It’s fine to think positively and hope for the best but there is fine line between thinking positively and being off in la la land and ignoring reality. I know people mean well when they tell some young person that they can be anything they want to be but what about encouraging young people to be realistic. Maybe then I wouldn’t see so many young people who can’t carry a tune trying out for Canadian idol and making fools of themselves. At sixteen I think most intelligent people have figured out by then whether they can carry a tune or not.

Awwww Cute!

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:31:00 +0000

Warning cute kitten video!

Free Labour

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:22:00 +0000

I wrote the following response to a post at Cryptogon.com called And Now… Desperate People to Work for Free

The post was about how unemployed people in the States were now working for free in hopes of getting hired on at the company, covering an employment gap on their resume or keeping their job. I found it upsetting to think there are people out there that think it is a good idea to work free for a for profit company. Basically they are saying their labour is worth $0. As for people who feel they have no choice but to work for free to keep their job I will say this your job is not guaranteed if you do work for free for a month. You could still be fired or let go any time. There is no job security anymore and you won’t be rewarded for making any sacrifices. You are considered an expense that they grudgingly fork over money to and would dearly love to find a way of having the job done with out having to pay you to do it.

This working for free is an awful development in the labour market. People are being taken advantage of and are being scared into working for nothing. They figure that if they don’t work for free to cover the employment gaps in their resume the other guy will but what they don’t realize is they are signaling to future employers that their labour is worth very little. They are debasing their labour value. You certainly are not going to command a good wage if you worked for no money previously. Why should a future employer pay you a good wage when you clearly demonstrated you’re quite willing to work for nothing? You clearly are not hot stuff if nobody will pay you for your labour. That is the wrong message to be sending to future employers. Get off your knees and quit groveling for a job. Have some self respect people. If you don’t respect yourself nobody else will either.

Why do I care so much about this issue? It is because a person working for nothing undercuts the rest of us who would like to get paid decently for our labour. Why hire somebody who demands to be paid a fair wage when there are desperate souls out there willing to do it for free under some misguided notion that if they do a good job they will be hired on at some future date? Employers are fine with the free labour why would they want to start paying the person?

Visual Deal Breakers

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:37:00 +0000

After reading the following article Dating Tips: Visual Deal-Breakers for Daters I felt inspired to come up with my own list of deal breakers. Here is a list of things that turn a woman off a guy from the very beginning before he even opens his mouth and says anything.

Visual No-No’s

The big deal breaker for any woman is a man going around smelly and dirty. Poor hygiene is a big no-no. Clean clothing should be put on everyday. Teeth should be brushed after every meal. Guys should shower at least once a day or more with a nice smelling shower gel and use a nice smelling deodorant and aftershave. If a guy isn’t sure what smells nice he should bring along a female when he shops for his hygiene products and ask her expert opinion on what smells nice. Most women have a keener sense of smell than men do. Guys should remember that the next time they try and skip having a shower because they find it a chore.

Another turn off is a guy who goes around wearing a baseball cap all the time. You guys look all alike when you wear them. Baseball caps are sporty not sexy.

Mismatched clothing makes a guy look dorky. If a guy has no fashion sense he should bring along a person who has fashion sense when he shops for clothing .Women don’t want to see a guy in florescent pink swimming trunks. Socks and sandals are not a good combination. Avoid T-shirts with vulgar sayings on them. Clothing should fit properly and not be too big or too small.

Guys should shave daily and get their hair cut at least once a month. A poorly groomed guy is a turn off.

Guys should keep their weight under control and work out to stay in shape. Women like a guy with a good figure. Healthy is sexy! Out of shape is not.

Too many tattoos and body piercings

Hair not combed

Wearing wrinkled clothing. Iron my good man!

Dandruff. Is it snowing outside?

Sunburned skin. Ouch! Use sunscreen the next time your outside!

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince movie review

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:54:00 +0000

I saw the new Harry Potter movie yesterday at 11:30 am! I couldn’t get over the crowd there at the movie theatre for such an early showing. Usually the movie theatre is almost empty at 11:30 am in the middle of the work week. There wasn't just children there with their parents but also adults came to see it in groups too. I guess I am not the only adult around that is a Harry Potter fan.

Anyways the movie was pretty good though for some unknown reason I like some of the previous Harry Potter movies better than this new one. Some people say the movie didn’t quite follow the book though I never noticed any plot changes because it has been a few years since I read Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I don’t exactly remember how the story went anyways. I think I might have to reread the book or the whole serious my memory is that bad.

Over all I give the Harry Potter movie four stars out of five.

Eau du B.O.

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:20:00 +0000

What is with people these days and hygiene? I smell ever so many people and believe me they don’t smell too nice. I am shocked by the lack of good hygiene. It is has gotten worse over the years. People twenty years ago took more pride in their appearance and how the smell than they do now. People are going around smelling of B.O. and their hair looks greasy and uncombed. It is both men and women who seem to be guilty of it.

What is even worse is they always insist on sitting directly in front or behind or beside me so I get a strong whiff of their B.O. The bus could be almost empty and they just have to plunk their stinky selves right near me. I must send out some unconscious message to these people telling them to bless me with eau du B.O. Really if you smell badly stay the hell away from me!

Tweet ! Tweet! like you mean it

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:12:00 +0000

This video pokes fun at some tweeters and the stupid stuff they tweet.

Information over load

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:03:00 +0000

I’ve been surfing the internet looking at the wealth of information online. I could spend all day looking at information on various topics. I would imagine some people’s eyes remain transfixed on their computer screen all day and rarely do they get off their butt to do something else. Sometimes I feel like I have information over load. I am like that Kelly Bundy character in Married with Children where Bud tries to help her pass a test. He pores information into her shot glass of a brain and some important and basic information is lost in order for her to pass the test. She may know who the first president of the United States was but she forgot how to open the door. Some days I feel just like that when I read too much but I have never forgotten how to open a door! Thank goodness my memory is better than Kelly’s!

Catchy Tune

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:27:00 +0000

Bored! Bored! Bored!

noreply@blogger.com (Sapphire) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:51:00 +0000

I am bored bored bored. I haven’t posted lately because there is nothing to post about. People are still going on about Michael Jackson. Let him rest in peace people! The garbage strike in Toronto is going into its 18th day I think. I am so sick of hearing about the garbage strike. Settle already people! It looks like this strike could go on all summer. Just great NOT! The weather outside is cool and doesn’t feel like July. July is supposed to be hot and sunny not cloudy and cool. I hear we are going to have more of the same cool and wet weather for fall and winter. When will we ever break out of this weather pattern of too much precipitation?

Lately I’ve been trying to psych myself up to do some sketching but I can’t seem to psych myself up to do much of anything. It is a miracle I am even posting. I don’t know how people find so much to post about.