When a man has a cold

I'm sitting here, at chuckling at myself as I think back on the pity train I rode thorought the past week.

Amazing things popped in to my head.
"God, I can't believe I'm at work."
"Geez my bones feel like they're going to creak.."
"I'm so stiff all over I'm afraid I'll snap a limb if i move it."
"My coworkers must be jerks.. can't they tell I'm sick? Why are they expecting me to work?"

In case you haven't guessed it - I had a cold.

And being a typical guy, I spent the week moping... weeping for myself in my weakened state. I know we men behave like the world owes us something because we are the only people in world to ever be sick. I mean, really... did you read the definition for a common cold?

"an acute contagious disease of the upper respiratory tract that ...."

Now of course after I read this I relax in the knowledge of what's happening to my body....
"OH MY GOD! I'M DYING!!!!! This is ACUTE.... What the hell does ACUTE mean?! I deserve a telethon or something."

Well I decided, after finishing a coughing fit (awwwhhhhh) to read on when I see this other definition:

"a mild viral infection involving the nose and respiratory "

"Oh... OK. .. I suppose that puts it in to perspective.... Ummm.. I ghuess I"ve been over reacting a bit. OK - I'll just have a nap."

My only question after being under the weather for a wek is this:
Why would I, who lives alone, mope around my apartment.. dragging my pathetic ass from my bedroom, to the bathroom and back to bed all day Saturday even bother gong through the theatrics when there's no one to witness it?

I really gotta work on my tactics.

bonk bonk bonk

I was getting a coffee today and as I was waiting in line, I heard this bonk bonk bonk sound from behind the corner.
This drew my attention towards the two guys working the counter. I followed their eyes and saw the two guys were watching a pretty good looking chick walking up the stairs. This made me smile.

Now I'm at the counter and as I'm waiting for my coffee I hear the bonk bonk bonk. This time I see it's one of the guys gently kicking a cupboard door to get his colleagues attention. I turn to look behind me and see possibly the most horribly dressed eccentric lady I have ever noticed. Picture Cruella Deville meets this guy.
I'm ashamed to admit that after my shock I had a slight chuckle... or smirk.... or maybe a muffled guffaw? No, it was definitely a chuckle.

I then thought to myself:
'These guys must see all types of people. One hottie, one poor soul oblivious to what they are wearing. I suppose I'd keep an eye out for anyone who's cute or strange in some way."

Anyway, I paid for my coffee and as I took three steps away... bonk bonk bonk.


????

In Keeping with a theme of US Government

I was going to see who to phone at this magazine after realizing I was billed for my subscription but have yet to receive a copy yet... then I got sidetracked by this, which lead me to the original article (see title link).

Just read snippets and heading out the door - I'll check out the rest later, and stew, and gripe...;)

My obnoxious rant on the world 'situation'

Below is what I originally going to post as a reply / comment to a posting on Rawbeans blog. It's regarding the war in Iraq and people's frustration with GW, and the war in Iraq, etc. I decided to post here since, I figure a huge long winded comment on someone else's' blog would be against blog etiquette.

*********************************

WOW!Pardon my candor, but many of these comments actually kinda pissed me off in one way or another.

Afghanistan - Sorry, but though I think most Canadians like to assume Canadian soldiers only ever go places wearing the UN's powder blue, Canada originally went to Afghanistan as an invasion force. We were willing participants in an invasion to oust the Taliban who was sheltering Al-Qaida and Bin Laden. Canadian troops captured Afghani's and even handed them over to the U.S. to be shipped to Guantanamo. The reason it's in the news now is because of effective attacks against our troops (which I feel has to do with the fact too few resources are there).
I've had a couple people tell me Canada is currently in Afghanistan as a peacekeeping force. But neither this UN page nor this Cdn Dept of Defense page (note: updated in 2003) indicate any current peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. This CBC article and this timeline from CTV seem to sum up Canada's involvement pretty well. I found 1 article on the CTV site refer to Canadian troops in a 'peacekeeping role', but the multinational force (ISAF) referred to in the article is NATO led, not UN led. I do believe that makes a difference, especially there aren't any Mid-East nations in NATO.

Ousting dictators - Big Ben, getting rid of despots and protecting the innocent of the world is a fine and noble goal (it really is, not kidding here), but one can't bully the world in to doing it with you. This especially since the U.S. and FRANCE (how about them Freedom Fries?), along with 3 other world powers on the U.N. Security Council couldn't figure out any means of saving lives in Rwanda?
Maybe U.S. opposition to Rwanda had to do with the fact Ewen MacGregor, or Josh Hartnett had such a tough go in Somalia?
So to answer your question about civilized nations allowing dictators to rule? I suppose it depends on many considerations.. and in this case, the fact THIS dictator and abuser of human rights happens to sit on an oil barrel means NOW is the time to be a humanitarian. YES - Saddam is evil and wrong - but is marching in to a country swinging around your tanks guns the best way to handle ALL situations? CAN the civilized world suppress ALL dictators? Are there THAT MANY soldiers in the world?Sending people with the possibility of a good life back home, to the homeland of a ppl who've seen war and endured it first hand (Iraq has seen the Iran / Iraq war, and the first U.S. invasion as well) may not work out as well as you may first hope.
The U.N. is as flawed as any other organization, but the U.S. is just as guilty as the rest of the council for the U.N. being in it's current state, instead of just riding off and doing as it pleases.

WMD's - I'm torn on whether Saddam having WMD's or the UN inspectors being competent is really relevant. Why be part of an organization, wait for it's blessing after it hears a report on WMD's , and then decide "I don't like your answer.... I'm gonna invade anyway."?
the U.S. demonstrated to the U.N. that the USSR was setting up nuclear weapons on Cuba back in 1962. Is Saddam that much smarter than the UN, the US, the CIA, than Castro? I figure Saddam, had or even has bad stuff. Likely even stuff he promised not to have, but it's all relative. and if the U.N. decides there's not enough there to warrant an invasion.. you may want to try playing by the rules the rest of the world has agreed to.

Trib - sounds like you served (or still do). Good on you. I was going to join the reserves up here, but backed out after realizing swearing meant I promised to do what I was told to do by a bunch of politicians. I still haven't decided if I regret that decision or not. I feel like I should be 'earning' my citizenship and my right to vote. I suppose there should be a different means / place of doing that. Either way - seems like you found your way of doing it, for your vote, and good on you.

Sorry all for being pompous and heavy handed in my opinions on things, but I was feeling frustrated as I read what seems like opinions based on news 'snippets' and 20 second sound bites. I don't feel I know everything in the world... but hey - finding the above links reminded me Canada has troops in Haiti as well Afghanistan. there's a bunch of other stuff going on in the world and hopefully if we all try finding different sources, our leaders may start looking at those other issues as well. Hell - Maybe GW would have to crack google maps to see what else there is in the world?

Spring MELEE Show

hello everyone, just wanted to post our next show. It's our spring MELEE show, a '30 man' show, there will be about a piece or two from various artists of all talents. It's not an Albert Hub show, but the artists from the hub are running it. This will be our appetizer to our later Erotic show at the Empire. Yeah I know, these aren't the usual artist venues but were going to give a try anyways. We want to have a younger crowd exposed to the work. Please check back with the hub site often as it will revamp soon, my site will be revamped as well - i'll keep you guys in check for that.

Rodrigo

www.rodrigopradel.com
www.thealberthub.com

Me? A nerd?.. Well,I ain't denying it....

Well folks.. lets all put March 23rd on our calendars... ..

Why?! Because that's the estimated delivery date for my new computer.

I work as a computer tech by day, and my personal home computer has been around for nearly 10 years. In those 10 years she's repaired, coaxed, and cajoled in to providing me more than I could have asked. She's entitled to retirement, and I'm entitled to have to listen to a 'jet engine' cooling system whine in to life as I check my email..

So my solution comes from Dell.ca. I spent more $$$ than I really should have... but hey, I'll only live once.

Sorry to do this to you but... here's the machine I'm getting.

Dimension 9150
Pentium® D Processor 830 with Dual Core Technology (3GHz, 800FSB)

Operating System
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 (English)

Memory
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 4DIMMs

Keyboard
Dell Wireless Keyboard and Optical Mouse

Monitors
20 inch UltraSharp™ 2005FPW Widescreen Digital Flat Panel

Video Cards
256MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon X600 SE HyperMemory

Hard Drives
320GB Performance RAID 0 (2 x 160GB SATA HDDs)

Floppy Drive and Media Reader
13 in 1 Media Card Reader

Mouse
Mouse included in Dell Wireless Package

Network Interface
Integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet

Modem
56K PCI Telephony Modem

CD or DVD Drive
Dual Drives: 16x DVD-ROM Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/dbl layer write capability

Sound Card
Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy® ADVANCED HD Audio

Speakers
Dell A215 Speakers

IEEE 1394 Adapter

Dual Monitor Support
DVI-VGA Adapter to connect 2 CRT Monitors to dual capable Video Card

Media Center Enhancements
Single TV Tuner with Remote Control

If you're wondering what the link from my title is - that's the Purolator tracking of my computer. One will be my monitor.. and the other will be my computer.

Chaimail

Well, we've all got a friend (or friends) that dutifully forwards any email to 10 other people for various reasons:

• For good luck
• To share God's love
• To make a dying child's wish come true
• For 20 years of good health
• many, many other

I never forward these emails. They're usually all hoaxes and fill up your mailboxes when you've got other things to find and read.

Well, I received one of those emails today, and decided to read this one, mostly since I hadn't received one from Guffaw before. Well, it's one of those Disneyesque heartwarmers, and I figure it's kind of a nice story to share. But I will not email it.

---------------------------------------------

One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw
a kid from my class was walking home from school.

His name was Kyle.

It looked like he was carrying all of his books.

I thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring home all
his books on a Friday?

He must really be a nerd."

I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football
game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders
and went on.

As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running
toward him.

They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his
arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt.

His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the
grass about ten feet from him.

He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his
eyes my heart went out to him.
So, I jogged over to him and as he crawled around
looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye.

As I handed him his glasses, I said, "Those guys are
jerks.

They really should get lives.

" He looked at me and said, "Hey thanks!"

There was a big smile on his face.

It was one of those smiles that showed real
gratitude.

I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where
he lived.

As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him
why I had never seen him before.

He said he had gone to private school before now.

I would have never hung out with a private school kid
before.

We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his
books.

He turned out to be a pretty cool kid.

I asked him if he wanted to play a little football
with my friends.

He said yes.

We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know
Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.

Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge
stack of books again.

I stopped him and said, "Boy, you are gonna really
build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!"

He just laughed and handed me half the books.

Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best
friends.

When we were seniors, we began to think about
college.

Kyle decided on Georgetown, and I was going to Duke.

I knew that we would always be friends, that the
miles would never be a problem.

He was going to be a doctor, and I was going for
business on a football scholarship.

Kyle was valedictorian of our class.

I teased him all the time about being a nerd.

He had to prepare a speech for graduation.
I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and
speak

Graduation day, I saw Kyle.

He looked great.

He was one of those guys that really found himself
during high school.

He filled out and actually looked good in glasses.

He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved
him.

Boy, sometimes I was jealous.

Today was one of those days

I could see that he was nervous about his speech.

So, I smacked him on the back and said, "Hey, big
guy, you'll be great!"

He looked at me with one of those looks (the really
grateful one) and smiled.

"Thanks," he said.

As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and
began

"Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you
make it through those tough years.

Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a
coach... but mostly your friends...

I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to
someone is the best gift you can give them.

I am going to tell you a story."

I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told
the story of the first day we met.

He had planned to kill himself over the weekend.

He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his
Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home.

He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile.

"Thankfully, I was saved.

My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable."

I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this
handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment.

I saw his Mom and dad looking at me and smiling that
same grateful smile.

Not until that moment did I realize it's depth.

Never underestimate the power of your actions.

With one small gesture you can change a person's life

For better or for worse.

God puts us all in each other's lives to impact one
another in some way.

Look for God in others.
-----------------------------------

Well, that's the story, and I kept to my rule of not forwarding chainmail.
Do me a favour though, if this story got to you in some way, forward my blog to 10 of your friends and you may enjoy 10 years of good fortune.. Boowoohahahahahaaaaaa!

Not Bitter-Sweet... Just not 'As Sweet'

If you're reading this you likely saw my post from Tuesday about our big game against Trogdor.

For me, the excitement was finally, after 4 or 5 years of playing this game, I'm on a league team that is winning, AND has the chance to move in to the 'A' division.
I also have played with and against several of the members of Trogdor, and wanted to use them as a measuring stick for how well we've improved.

The result of tonight's match:
Johnny Chimpo 15
Trogdor 10.

Now why this isn't as sweet a victory as I had hoped.
Firstly, Trogdor is probably the nicest bunch of folks around. For a team named after a peasant stomping dragon, they sure are a good bunch. Regardless which team you're on, a good play was congratulated. There were jokes being shared on the field, and everyone was very spirited about foul and line calls (i.e. no arguments or rolled eyes when a foul was called).
Normally I find I have a somewhat guilty pleasure in enjoying a bit of 'poop disturbance' on the field. I never want to see an argument, or unfair play - but when there's a bit of tension because of frustration (on either team), I find the game seems more important to win, cuz you want to 'stick it to the other guy...' I know this isn't a healthy sense of competition, but it's true... AND I do make fair calls and play.

So all in all, playing a good bunch of folks (who are good at the game too) feels good just to play. And that's what was most fun tonight. As for the sweet taste of victory... It's actually kind of unfortunate we played the division crossover game against Trogdor and not some team of jerks, who treated us like vermin underdogs.

The other thing that makes me consider this slightly 'less sweet' than it normally would. I think they outplayed us a good 50 - 60% of the game. I'm thinking back and wondering how exactly we out-scored them by 5? I thought on a few occasions they were running us down with their handling (though we must have had decent coverage because they spent A LOT of time swinging the disc. Our offense was really quite brutal. At times our cutters (receivers) seemed like statues, and our handler (thrower) would be forced to make a hail mary pass that would sometimes work out in our favour. Mind you, I'm always hard on myself and my team. Maybe our win was more deserved than I feel.

so all in all, how do I feel about tonight?
A hard fought 'Disney-esque' win against a team of jerks and cheaters would have me beaming (and likely even gloating) for a couple days. As it is now - I'm glad we've moved up a division, as it was a goal for us.

For those dying to know my concern of the day "should I always offer?" - I'll finish that tomorrow.

Should you ALWAYS offer ?

Tonight's blog will cover the following:

I'm about to eat some choclat. I turn to my coworker and ask if she'd like a piece. She replies by saying "No thank you I'm trying to watch what I eat. Though I would love some."

Should I recind my offer out of respect for her goal or better nutrition?

I'll return to this and add more detail tonight.

Clash of the Bloggers

I've mentioned a couple of times that I play ultimate frisbee. Currently my team Johnny Chimpo is readying to play to move up from 'B' division to 'A' division in our local indoor league. this is pretty nice, considering most of us formed originally last summer on a 'D' divison team that struggled to score a single point.

So why am I rambling on about ultimate frisbee and my indoor team? It just so happens our upcoming game is against a fellow blogger; Druski and his team Trogdor the Burninator. Druski made mention of it in his blog, and I felt compelled to also comment on the upcoming match up here.

Johnny Chimpo and their mixed squad of vetran players and rookies take on Trogdor.

Johnny Chimpo, whose crime of innocence was the transport of 'Freedom Grass' has worked it's way from an 0-5 record in 'B/C' division to now boast a 4-0-1 record to earn the right to challenge Trogdor for the final spot in 'A' divison.

Trogdor thrives on peasant stomping, village burninating and other such gruesome tasks. Trogdor has been able to cling to their position in 'A' division, but they have yet to meet the sly little chimp whose worked his way up from the basement.

Will Trogdor be able to stomp yet another up and comer in to submission?

Will Johnny Chimpo defeat Trogdor and force his burninating ways to go up in smoke?

Stay tuned...

Do you measure up? I think so.

I'm walking around the corner at a clients today, and look to see the top off the head of Twin*.
Yes, she was sitting at her chair, but even seated, I was surprised to notice top of her monitor sits higher than the top of her head.
This didn't upset me or anything... it's just one of those things you don't really notice the first 50 times you see the person, like when your wife or girlfriend gets a haircut.
So I ask Twin if her chair might be too low. she replied no, that when seated her knees are at a right angle.

"You know I'm only 5'3"!"
This statement is what caught my attention.
"You are 5'3", not only 5'3"; is how I replied.

She gave a polite smile, and laughed off the predicatble short joke I made later in the day via email. But I got thinking. Nearly all the women I know have told me how tall they are. Don't thinrk I remember every one's height - but I'm pretty certain most have told me how tall they are. I know how tall some of the guys I know are, but that usually comes up in the context of sports.
"I'll kick you butt in the high jump, I'm 6'2" and you're only 5'11". Don't wast your time you worthless sack of excrement." My friends and I can be a little competitive.

So, what is this pre-occupation women seem to have with their height? I could not by any means suggest how much any woman weighs. I have absolutely no point of reference, since to my recollection, NOT ONE woman has volunteered to tell me her weight.

Reasons I can think of to tell people precisely how tall you are.

• You're telling the story of why you couldn't be a barber because you were too short at the 'International Barber College NBA Campus'.
• You're 4 yrs old and want to ride the Tea Cups.
• You're dealing with an architect to build your own 100% customized dream home. (Imagine being 5'3" and some moron installs a 5'2" door frame?)
• You're phoning the police to clarify their 'Wanted Dead or Alive' posters are wrong. "Why yes I'm am medium build, armed and dangerous, but I'm actuall 4 inches taller than you think!"

Anyway - I just thought I'd ask the question. I suppose this ties in to the whole need for 4 inch stiletto heels while grocery shopping at Super Store (see previous post).

I also thought I'd share the above link and this bit of information. Some of the 'shorter than average' celebs are FREAKING HOT!

BTW - Didn't Soleil Moon Frye play Winnie Cooper? If so, then just how short is Fred Savage. What a short little LOSER! j/k

* denotes Twin sister of 'Talks with her Hands'. Though they both claim to be unrelated, they are identical twins... there's a happy milkman out there somewhere.

Wow - Almost 2 weeks?!

Hey All!
I dunno what's happened since last post.... I haven't been thinking too much about things I suppose... kind of in a dze, etc.

Here' a cheesy recap of things popping in to my head right now. Perhaps I'll look back and use some of these for future posts.

• People shold start reading Druski's stuff. Yeah, he can be a touch long winded at times but there be some gold in dat dare blog. - Hey Druski, how about a post on odd and obscure observer rulings in ultimate? :)
• Is it wrong and childish to snicker when a woman turns to you and says "I'm engrossed in my Harry Potter." (btw - yes she was describing her love for one of the books)
• My blog readership seems kinda low. I think I'll start randomly adding words to make it appear more often in search engine results. (horny)
• Did you know Vin Diesel was in Saving Private Ryan> How would Vin Diesel look with a full head of hair? - Rawbean, I thik your artisitc talents are up to the challenge.
• My dirty cap? Should I clean it? (XXX Cheerleaders.com)
• I'm watching Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. If I was holed up in Helms Deep and saw that army approaching... that'd kinda suck.
• Wouldn't it be cool if you take jousting a phys-ed unit in high school?

And here's a quick little story:
After our game Sunday (we won our closest game yet) I was aching to go for a post-game beer and pizza. There's a Boston Pizza nearby, so I figure I'll suggest wew go. There are only 4 of us interested in going, as everyone else is heading home for the night. I'm the only guy in this group of four. Fortunately the Golf Dome (where we play ultimate indoors) has in house microphones, and I obtained a transcript of our conversation:

HUMA: Hey! Let's hit BP (Boston Pizza)!

BETTY: Casper wanted us to call him at 'Bar-I'.

PUNKY B: I dunno, I don't feel like going to 'Bar-I'.

TALKS WITH HER HANDS: I'm going to walk over and talk to those other people (gestures wildly with her hands towards a couple tossing around the disc, I had to duck to avoid being struck by said gesture)

BETYY: (oblivious to my near miss, and the departure of TALKS WITH HER HANDS)Gee, I can't think of anywhere else to go.

HUMA: How about BP? I could use some 'zaa right now.

PUNKY B: Hey! Is Chimpo (our ultimate team) forming a team for this summer?

HUMA (team captain): I'm planning on it. I'm just figuring out what nights people are available to play.

BETTY: I don't know. I guess it depends on what night of the week each of us can play.

HUMA: (pinches his own arm to make sure he's not a ghost or something)

PUNKY B: Good, because I'd like to play.

TALKS WITH HER HANDS: Hey! Let's get out of here. How about Boston Pizza? (she gestures 'pizza' by making a cricular motion with hands)

BETTY: Sounds good. Let's go.

PUNKY B: Sure, I'm in. Huma, you coming.

HUMA: (looks up from his self inspection and sees all three ladies looking at him expectantly for an answer) Uhhh - sure. BP sounds good.

The lesson: Just wait for the ladies to get things planned at their own pace.