Not Quite In the Loop

New Blog

2010-03-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

I started a new blog today.

Not that I don't like this one, but I thought that perhaps I needed a blog with a theme. Rather than just some random stuff that I put on here for random purposes.

I will likely still post here, just probably not as often.

Here is the new site:

This Is Why I'm Strange

Happy reading

Turkey Shepards Pie

2010-03-13T10:34:00.000-08:00

So,

I tried my first recipe from the book. I was feeling for a "comfort food", so I headed to the Comfort Food section and made the first thing on the list.

It was delicious and I made it as written as to have lots of leftovers. In fact I am going to have the final quarter of it today for lunch. *YUM

A few things I found out about this cookbook:

1. It's nice to think that these meals will take thirty minutes to make, but I am doubtful, this one took me about an hour to do......Then again, I am not Rachael Ray (good call). It likely does take her 30 minutes to whip up this wonderful meal.

2. I might need to consider getting some all purpose flour, whole wheat flour just does not thicken the same.

3. Skipping the egg on the mashed potatoes was my best choice ever :D

4. Although I am not a huge fan of sour cream, I think it is what made the recipe better :D

5. Turkey bacon is delicious. Although If you are going to post that regular bacon is better, I will just have to take your word for it, since I haven't eaten pork for a very very very long time.

In all I am satifisfied with the book. Of course I have only made one thing/have yet to spend up to an hour making something that is disgusting and wanted to toss out the book.

In other news: I decided finally to give up bottled water for Lent........It's a tradition for me to participate non-religiously in Lent every year.

Why bottled water?

For one thing, I spend way too much money on it.........It's more expensive to purchase bottled water than it is to buy gas (which is wrong on a number of levels). For another, North Vancouver has some of the best water in the world, why would I buy water that is less good from some place else when I can get it for free.... Finally, the school just installed some new chilling water fountains, I'm trying to get more people to use them, so maybe they will install more fountains more places in the school.

So far it has been going well. Although I think I lost a water bottle along the way and will have to replace it.... :( . Although I will have to replace it for Peru anyways....... :D

So in summary: The cookbook is good and I didn't eat out ALL WEEK!!!!! and drinking regular water is good too :D, which means in general.....life is pretty good right now.......because all of the above is helping me save money for my Peru adventure....(paying for the Spanish school is coming up which will make my budget pretty tight for the next few months)

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Cookbook

2010-01-30T22:34:00.001-08:00

So,

I got a new cookbook at Chistmastime from a friend. It's called the "Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats - A year of Deliciously Different Dinners (A 30 minute meal cookbook)". I finally had some time to crack it open today and take a look.

I have seen Julie and Julia - So don't think I'm about to spend a year making all of these recipes and blog about it here. I barely have the time to cook, let alone blog about the cooking. I would like to blog about some of the recipes thou. Especially the ones I like a lot.

I think that the goal of said person was to encourage me to abandon my terrible life of take out too often and cook more. Which is something I talk about doing, and do for a few weeks but never follow through on.

But I think this time I might just give it a try. The fact that each recipe should take no more than 30 minutes to make might just be the carrot I need to take this project on. Of course I won't be making one of these every night. All the servings are for FOUR. So I can either make loads of left overs or divide the recipe by 4. Only time will tell what I will do.

The other nifty thing about the book is that it includes a tab on the side: of "I'll try this later" and "It's a keeper". Although I think it is missing the "that was gross, don't cook that again". Which I'm going to add to the recipes I try and don't like. (crosses fingers that there aren't many)

And of course I will be substituting all the ham/pork/pig death products with other meats or tofu.

Hopefully this little project will also encourage me to break out some of my fav. recipes from my year of being a Foods teacher (Yah, you can laugh now :D).

Wish me Luck,

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Heidi Montag: Forever changing the way I think of "A$$ Cheeks"

2010-01-16T17:32:00.000-08:00

So,

I'm writing this to Heidi Montag in response to this article I read not to long ago:

HERE

Dear Heidi Montag,

I know you won't read this and frankly I never thought I would spend that much time thinking about you. But I just wanted to get some things off my chest.

I had a listen to your album today: It's not terrible, but it's not great either. Yes, it's better than Paris Hilton's album and it might even be better than that new Ke$ha album. It does have some catchy night-club tunes. But there is way too much auto-tune used for my taste and it sounds much to overproduced for any independant album that I have heard in recent memory. In addition, you have made one horrible business error for the album. You released the album SHORTLY AFTER Christmas. January. 25th is deemed the worst day of the year because people have to pay their credit cards from Christmas. In a nut shell, people don't have the money to take a risk on a first album right now. Plus, I think people would rather spend money on Haitian relief.

In regard to your plastic surgery: I think you may have Body Dysmorphic Disorder. It is evident to me because you thought that you had a "Jay Leno" chin before (not even close to accurate), you went ahead with the surgeries (both times) against the better judgment of your loved ones and you want to further increase your breast size soon (I see "fail blog" videos of you falling forward in your future). I just wonder when it will stop. It makes me sad that one day I will be watching you on "Dr. Drew's Celebrity Body Image Disorder Rehab". I fear the only thing that will be "as famous as Michael Jackson" will be your deteriorating nose in years to come.

Overall, I think creating a "perfect" image both professionally and personally will actually hinder peoples desire to purchase your album. Which in turn will make it difficult for you to recuperate the money you have spent to date.

I know you will say I don't know what I am talking about, because I can't understand the pressures of Hollywood and life there and you are right. I cannot! But what I do know about Hollywood is you need to be tough to endure and survive and frankly I just don't think you have what it takes. You say you don't care what people say about you, but obviously that is not true or you wouldn't have done all of "this" to appear more "body perfect" and accepted by the industry.

Sorry, but someone had to tell you the truth.

Wishing you the best,

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Hype Machine - the music of 2009

2010-01-09T23:54:00.000-08:00

So,

I have started quite actively using a site called Hype Machine.

So here is a re-cap of what I like a lot from Hype Machine in 2009. (The links take you to blogs with songs)

Florence and the Machine - Lungs
Little Boots - New in Town
We Plants are Happy Plants - Apollo
Adele - Hometown Glory
Passion Pit - Little Secrets
Mumford & Sons - Little Lion Man
Deadmau5 feat. Swire - Ghosts n' Stuff
James Yuill - This Sweet Love

Enjoy!

I highly recommend you check this site out, it's really great as well for mash-ups and remixes. I have given you some links to some of the blogs, but there are so many, I really think you should try a search and see what you get or just click on the Popular tab. I think you will like it.

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Reads of 2009

2010-01-04T18:04:00.001-08:00

I'm taking them off the site today, so before they go here are all my reads of 2009:

In reverse order:

Reads of 2009

The 19th Wife - David Ebershoff
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
A Curse as Dark As Gold - Elizabeth C. Bunce
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac - Gabrielle Zevin
The Carbon Diaries - Saci Lloyd
LA Candy - Lauren Conrad
The Sweet Far Thing - Libba Bray
Rumors - Anna Godberdson
The 10 Pm Question - Kate De Goldi
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
Three Day Road - Joseph Boyden
Adrian Mole: Minor to Major - Sue Townsend
Coraline - Neil Gaiman
The Colour Purple - Alice Walker
Inkheart - Cornelia Funke

The Album's of the Decade Challenge

2009-12-17T21:04:00.000-08:00

S0,

I was challenged to figure out what my favorite albums of each year were and post them. I found this task to be quite difficult, as there were multiple things I could have chosen. In any case here is what I liked the most in any given year. Remember in the past 10 years I was in University, Lived in Northern Manitoba, Southern Alberta, the Kootenays, the Island and finally Vancouver (now).

My Favorite albums of the decade:

2000 - Dandy Warhols - Thirteen Tales of Urban Bohemia
2001 - Jimmy Eat World - Bleed America
2002 - DJ Sammy - Heaven
2003 - ATB - Addicted To Music
2004 - The Dresden Dolls - Self Titled
2005 - Metric - LIve it Out
2006 - We Are Scientists - WIth Love and Squalor
2007 - Iron and Wine - The Shepard's Dog
2008 - Your Vegas - A town and Two Cities
2009 - Mother Mother - Oh my Heart

Honorable mentions:

Sam Roberts - We were Born in a Flame
Stars - Set yourself on Fire
Dashboard Confessional - A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar
Thrice - The Alchemy Index Vol 1-4
The Watchmen - Slowmotion
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Jack's Mannequin - Everything in Transit
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

What I really liked from this year:

Faded Paper Figures - Dynamo
Florence and The Machine - Lungs
Arkells - Jackson Square
Metric - Fantasies
Pheonix - Wolfgang Amadeus Pheonix
Temper Trap - Conditions
Blizen Trapper - Furr
The Waking Eyes - Holding onto Whatever

It makes me wonder what I will be listening to in 2019?

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Week 1

2009-12-11T22:45:00.000-08:00

So,

On the new quest of trying to eat in as regularly as possible. This is what I had for week 1:

Monday: I was craving Quizno's so I made my own. I got that almost baked bread from the grocery store and baked my own mini whole wheat baguette. Cut it open and put ranch dressing as the sauce, turkey cold cuts and emmenthal (Swiss style) cheese on the top, melted it in the toaster oven, applied some yummy veggies (tomatoes, spinach, cucumbers and sprouts) mashed it together and enjoyed. It was way better than Quiznos and because the almost baked bread came in a pack of 4, I will be able to have this again later.

Tuesday: I went with the ever simple - pizza - on whole wheat naan bread I put: salsa for sauce, mushrooms, red pepper, turkey cold cuts and mozzarella cheese. Put it in the oven for a few minutes and enjoyed.

Wednesday: I wasn't very hungry so I just had some cream of mushroom soup from the can and half a bagel with cream cheese and sprouts.

Thursday: I had guests and made a veggie pasta: one box of whole wheat spaghettini, a zucchini chopped, mushrooms sliced, red and yellow pepper, mozzarella cheese and a jar of 4 cheese tomato sauce. All cooked in one pot (pasta first then the sauce, then mixed together with spices). I had enough for 3 people + seconds + left overs for one.

Friday (Aka today): I went out for dinner with some friends at an Indian restaurant near my house.

Saturday: is the staff party, so I will eat there

Sunday: If I don't eat the leftovers, I will likely eat out, I usually do on Sundays........

And that is about it.

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A new Quest

2009-12-06T18:27:00.000-08:00

So,

I have started this new quest. I'm testing out a goal for 2010. Yes, that's right! A goal! As opposed to a New Year's resolution; because we all know how I feel about those....(see Goals for 2009 and read the first paragraph). So anyways. My goal is to eat dinner at home as regularly as possible. So far, I think I have been successful. I'm not the type that packs a lunch. I do regularly eat at the school's cafeteria (it's good and healthy, so don't worry), and I sometimes manage to eat breakfast at home, but I also eat at school because we have to be there so dang early (at 7:45am at the latest, but I try to get there for 7:30am and I'm not a morning person, just so you know...). So dinners it is. I'm not going to avoid social functions because the dinner is out, and I'm not going to rush home on nights when I have to be at work late either, but I am trying to make an active effort to eat things from my fridge and food storage.

Tonight I made a baked Yam. It consists of the following ingredients: a Yam; baked in the microwave, topped with salsa, tuna and melted cheddar. It's very yummy and I am enjoying every minute of it.

I hope to also post what I am making. Perhaps some of you single people out there might enjoy hearing about what I have made. I find it so difficult to cook for one and any recipe suggestions (within reason) will be tried out.

Okay, so that is about it. Wish me luck, I may need it.

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New Music Monday

2009-10-05T23:03:00.000-07:00

So,

I have been listening to a whole bunch of new music lately. I kind of feel like I went through a musical rut after attending the SXSW of 2009. After seeing 37+ sets of the good, the band and the interesting, and standing for basically 5 days straight. I felt like I needed a little break. When the "new" artists hit the radio, I was like "they are totally old news". Thankfully that lame time of my life is over and I can go back to finding new stuff to listen to. I realised that not every good new group goes to that festival.

I was also in a rut because of the new last.fm rules: Reader's Digest version: If you live in Canada you can no longer listen to their radio service for free. You have to subscribe and purchase the rights to listen to the music.

It's not that I disagree, but I like free things, and using this service to find and discover groups was great. I still used the site as a great resource for recommendations, band bio's and upcoming events (no site provides such details all in one place), but now I cannot use the recommendation radio, which was a quintessential part of why I used the website.

A few weeks ago, I discovered Hype Machine. Which is extra cool because the music is on the site because of blogs. Now I can read what others think of the music while listening to it. You can simply listen to a list of the most recent, popular, tweeted songs are. They have a radio broadcast once a week of the most popular songs blogged about and it also lets you look up certain artists. It's too bad I have to use 2 sites to find what I want and what is recommended to me. But that's the way it is sometimes. And as a result I have discovered a bunch of new cool stuff.

Here is a new list of the groups I'm checking out at the moment because of Hype Machine:

You should take a minute and check it out.

Enjoy,

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WANT

2009-10-04T23:31:00.000-07:00

I WANT THIS!

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PS: Thanks to Gearfuse for finding this for me

Thanks to William Harryman on Friendfeed for finding this!

2009-09-20T23:29:00.001-07:00

So,

I'm trying out friendfeed.

Friendfeed helps me combine several of my social networking sites and puts them all together into one; which I find kind of neat. It allows me look at some really cool blogs I don't regularly read, see some nifty pictures and get introduced to some great tunes I haven't ever heard before.

Today in friendfeed, William Harryman posted THIS which I think is pretty much the coolest thing ever.

The only problem I have with it is the lack of windows and I am really uncertain if it is able to support central heating......... Also there is no way in hell you would get me to sleep on that bed.........but really who cares............IT'S A LEGO HOUSE!!!!

:D

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Overboard

2009-09-15T22:18:00.000-07:00

So,

I think people have gone a little overboard with the Kanye West thing. Yes, I said it, A LITTLE OVERBOARD.

He made a little foot in mouth comment on national television. Besides he has done/said way worse things of late and all these quotes have managed to be forgotten........

"George Bush doesn't care about black people, ... They're saying black families are looting and white families are just looking for food...they're giving the (Army) permission to shoot us”

"I'm gonna go down in history as being one of the best music men and businessmen in entertainment ... The people that I'm going to be greater than are Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Clive Davis."

Everyone should give Chris Brown a "break".

Give it a rest people, it's just a music video awards show, he even apologised (TWICE), which for him is unheard of. He didn't kill anyone or anything......yes, I agree, he shouldn't have butted in during her moment........nuff said, get over it...........

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Hey KIDS

2009-09-12T22:04:00.001-07:00

Once again,

I needed to use flickr to upload all the whistler alpine pictures.

So HERE they are

Enjoy!

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Business Time - Whistler Guide Style

2009-09-12T14:27:00.001-07:00

This happened to be the theme song for this years beginner grade 10 Whistler Alpine Camp. Of course the context was entirely different because we could only remember the "It's business, It's business time" part and referred to it/sang this each time we were about to hike. And by us I mean the teacher chaperones and the guides.

Enjoy!

Backpacking Recipe #1: Beef Jerky

2009-08-06T00:28:00.000-07:00

Okkies,

So here it is, the infamous beef jerky recipe everyone has been waiting for.

Supplies

Some type of sealable container that can flip: I have a tupperware marinating tray, but you could use a bowl with seran wrap if you wish, you will just have to flip the pieces in the marinate a few times.

I use a recipe but I modify it slightly.

You will need about 2 lb of meat: I like to use inside round marinating steak. Try to find a marinating steak that has the least amount of fat around it or on it. more meat = better product.
Soy Sauce (1/2 cups worth)
4 tablespoons of brown sugar
1/4 tablespoon of salt
1/4 tablespoon of pepper
4-6 teaspoons of crushed or minced garlic

1. In your marinating tray combine: 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper, 1/4 cup Soy Sauce, 2 tb. Brown sugar and 3 heaping tsp. crushed/minced garlic and mix together.
2. Cut the meat into 1/4 inch thick strips (that's about 6-8mm). Be careful. a strip that is too wide won't dehydrate evenly.
3. place the meat strips in the container. (neatly in rows, one row horizontal, next row vertical etc.
4. spread other 1/4 of soy sauce on top of the meat, sprinkle 2 remaining tb. of brown sugar on the top. (you may also add the rest of the garlic if you wish)
5. Cover tightly and marinate for at least 6 hours but no more than 12. If you have a marinating tray flip the container twice. If you don't uncover and flip over some pieces once or twice during the marination process to insure an even marinate.
6. Place evenly on the food dehydrator. Set dehydrator to 160F and let dry for about 12-14 hours.
7. Dehydration is done when you can snap without breaking the dehydrated meat. Let cool, store in baggies.

Please note that because this recipe includes nothing for preservation besides salt, I recommend you store the meats in the freezer until use. If not you have about 14 days before the stuff goes completely rock hard. We are talking pemmican style here people.

Hope that works for you. Any questions?

PS. If you don't have a dehydrator, you can make it all the same in an oven, but make sure the oven door is open a crack. And be sure you can set your oven to 160F. But to be honest the dehydrator is the way to go. You can pick one up these days for about $75, and that includes the bonus food trays and purchasing a few more shelves.

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Chris Cornell - Billie Jean (Soundcheck)

2009-07-17T01:33:00.001-07:00

I quite like this remake.

Duke of Ed - Needs more Deet

2009-07-13T23:11:00.001-07:00

So,

I learned something today.......Posting pictures to blogger is pretty much a big pain in the A$$. You can't comment on the pictures without them deleting for no reason and then you also can't post that many pictures before it tell you you've reached your limit.

YUCK.......

But I wasn't defeated............

I just started a flickr account.........

You can see the pictures of the Duke of Ed trip HERE if you haven't done so already

Enjoy........

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Auto Tune

2009-06-14T11:31:00.000-07:00

I would like to take a moment to chat with everyone about a little thing called "auto tune".

I understand that the purpose of auto tune is so that people that don't regularly sing in tune may now do so. As an effect, I don't have a problem with it. People have been adding the electric style sound to their voice for years. If you listen closely to Britney Spears' - "Stronger" or you can hear a hint of that electro-modified sound.

It's when rappers claim they can now sing that I have problems. In the industry of music, it's fairly obvious that many people are marketed for a specific purpose. We have enough truly talented artists out there struggling to make it in the industry; therefore, we don't need a rapper claiming he/she can sing. Although I admit it has done wonders for Fergie's voice, which I now prefer under the scope of auto tune.

So many rapping/R and B artists are using it. It's almost the new "in" thing to do. I admit I enjoy really catchy top 40 tunes while driving in the car especially in the morning before work. The music "pumps me up" so to speak. But I'm finding myself turning more to the indie station because I don't want to hear the electronic voices. I would guess that 7 of the 8 songs they play on high rotation feature artists using auto tune. The problem I find most is the auto tune only lets the artist sing about 6 notes. Which in itself isn't a great range and makes the music less interesting. I think I would rather listen to the artist rap over an 80's one-hit-wonder music sample. Which is a whole other genre of dislike I can't even get into today.

I also guess they haven't mastered this for live use because if you hear Sean Kingston's - "Fire Burnin'". You know he uses auto tune for his in studio mix. But if you hear him live.......let's just say it sounds alike a teen trying to sing karaoke after a few wobbley pops.

I guess in the grand scheme of things I just want singers to sing and rappers to rap and then we can use auto tune for it's purpose. As an effect for the voice to use sparingly.

I'm fairly certain that anyone or anything these days can be make into a song. Just listen:

AUTO-TUNE in the NEWS #3

Maybe I could become an R and B star!

Why Twitter is ruining my blog and other things to rant about...

2009-05-18T22:23:00.000-07:00

So,

I'm pretty sure that Twitter is ruining my blogging experience. Before Twitter (BT), I would save up all my little "gems" and post them all at nonsequential times. But now, I don't have to do that because With Twitter (WT), I can just post those little "gems" when they happen. I'm not complaining, I'm just stating that my lack of blog posts is because of what you see on the right -->

Now on to other stuff.

I'm getting a little annoyed the the overuse of the following words:

Word #1:

EPIC:

Which in many ways has replaced the word AWESOME. If I think something is awesome, it doesn't also necessarily mean it is Epic. The definitions of Epic are as follows:

From the google dictionary:

very imposing or impressive; surpassing the ordinary (especially in size or scale)

I don't mind if you use the word, just don't over use it for example, I heard this the other day.

"Nice headband, it's totally epic".

No offence, but a pink head band with a bow is not epic. Unless of course you think that pink headband surpasses any other pink headband you have ever seen EVER........which I don't think it does because later that day I hear you say: That movie was totally epic. People in 20 years are not going to say "Marley and Me" was an epic movie. NOT EVEN CLOSE......

Word #2:

RANDOM:

Yes there are things out there that are random, but seriously, this word is way over used.

Definition:

lacking any definite plan or order or purpose; governed by or depending on chance; "a random choice"; "bombs fell at random"; "random movements"

Incorrect uses of the word random I have heard lately:

"hey look, what a bunch of randoms" - WHAT DOES THAT MEAN??? Does it still make sense if I say "hey look, what a bunch of non sequiturs".

" That was a totally random assignment". Now perhaps it could have been a random assignment, if I had given a trigonometry problem in the music class, but no; it was a music theory assignment, and considering that I teach music and theory is apart of the course; this assignment cannot be random. I planned on giving you this, therefore, not random.

And lastly and of course my favourite:

"OMG look at that random bird in the tree" Now maybe if you saw a penguin or a chicken up in that tree, you could say: "hey what a random bird in the tree" Because as we all know it's quite difficult for chickens and or penguins to get in trees because they can't fly. But other birds that fly being in trees is not particularly random. Not random at all.

In all, I don't mind if people use these words for the definitions that are intended. Just please limit your use of the words to fit the actual description.

Rant over.......

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in other non sequential news:

Check out this website:

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/

You'll be glad you did....

FAIL!

2009-04-16T23:33:00.000-07:00

So,

See if you can spot where my student went wrong:

We had a live rehearsal and concert last night from 6:30pm - 8:15pm.
Students were well informed of this rehearsal/concert well in advance.
One of my students left the rehearsal after only 5 minutes in attendance, never to return.
When questioning him about the previous days events he told me the following information.

He had to leave because he had an orthodontist appointment in West Vancouver at 8:30pm.

If you are having problems detecting the problem with this statement, I will help you out.

1) The concert ended at 8:15. West Vancouver isn't that big; it doesn't take 2 hours to get to your appointment
2) The city of West Vancouver pretty much shuts down after 6pm. No respectable orthodontist is open that late
3) The student in question doesn't have braces.

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About Dang Time: Highlights/Lowlights of SXSW

2009-03-27T22:12:00.001-07:00

So,

It's about dang time that I post a highlight/lowlight reel of my visit to SXSW. Some of this won't make sense to you, some of it will.

Wednesday March 18th.

Canadian Blast

- FREE FOOD AND DRINK (okay that's the only time I'm writing that, it happened allot

- Two Hours Traffic (the Band): I was eating so I didn't pay that much attention, sorry

- Arkells: I would definitely see them again when they come to a city near me, I would watch out for them in a few years, they are at least going to be big Canada style

- BEAST: I know I saw them, but I don't really remember much about them

- Mother Mother: really cool, defers to pick up this disc. Really original and interesting

SESEC Lounge

- Princeton: their drummer didn't show up and they aren't really the type of band to play at a lounge audience seated kinda place, but the band was fun and they did their best. Totally a nerd rock band :D

- Meiko: LOVE HER. It was a lovely little concert and she played some new stuff :D

Random showcase at the Independent

- I figure this venue was a little difficult to find and as a result there weren't that many people there. No matter

- meeting the "hot" firefighter and his friend. Nice gentlemen, It was then I was sad I didn't have a cell with me.

- (some pre-show band I can't remember the name of) - and that is all I have to say about that

- The Aimless Never Miss: I went to see them. Too bad they have too many people in the band with too little to do.

- The Sleepover Disaster: I would check this band out if you like rock and you like an instrumental focus. That said, their drummer needs to have a more pleasant look on his face, he truly looked totally mad the entire performance.

- Lights FM: totally disappointing

- The Happy Hollows: Kick Ass, there lead singer is a total firecracker and she can shred like no other.

- Or, the Whale: I really enjoyed this performance. There were really great live. 4 part harmonies at times, but you have to like folk to appreciate this group.

Thursday March 19th:

- awoke to really sore feet and legs (I can't stress sore enough here, and I was wearing really good shoes)

Sounds Australia House Day Party

- met some really fun ladies from Ohio or someplace. There were really into the music. Which made my bopping around seem normal

- Dappled Cities: Check them out, I promise you will like it

- Andy Bull: lovely, lovely, lovely

- An Horse: fun and totally upbeat

- Lenka: a highlight of the trip. It was a pleasure to see her and her backing band perform. There were excellent.

Sounds of Spain:

- Some band that totally SUCKED, so I left........

- Trade show time - LOTS AND LOTS OF FREE STUFF (I'm the proud owner of several new CD's and Pens and magazines :D and it was the block party, which meant free beverages double :D

Sounds Australia House Showcase

- Closure in Moscow: this band was a little insane. That said, they were the most passionate group I saw perform. The lead singer jumped off the stage at one point stating that the stage wasn't f@#king big enough, but overall, if you really like hard music, I would check them out.

- The Fumes: this band was cool if you are into blues inspired rock

- Birds of Tokyo: very good, I liked them

- Red Riders: Not memorable, sorry

- The Boat People: Highlight of the night

- leave the venue only to walk home with two gentlemen from Austin that I met in the venue. Hardware developers, sound gentlemen.

Friday March 20th:

- although my body is convinced it cannot walk at all any more ever. I get up, go shopping on south congress, buy some delicious cupcakes and then head into town for some more music

Sonicbids Day Party:

- Some country group - needless to say this was a lowlight,

- bail on this party with the cool goody bag

Berlin Music Commission:

- saw a group that was TERRIBLE, left another party, tried an interesting german beer.

- went back to the trade show for round two of free cool stuff.

BAT BAR:

- Shiny Toy Guns - I hit this venue purely to see this group. I had heard rumors that the band was better with there other female singer, and I tend to agree. The other thing that was very annoying about the venue, was it was brodcast live, and I'm pretty sure that most of the people were there to be on TV, not to see the band, which is kinda sad.

Scotland Arts Council Showcase

- Camera Obscura: LOVE

- GlasVegas: I could talk about this performance for about 5-7 more paragraphs, but I will keep it brief 1) they play well as a band together, but their drummer totally blows, and they need a new one that is capable of playing an entire kit, not just a tom, snare and cymbal, seriously it looked pathetic and she messed up a bunch of times. 2) I think the main guy is a little full of himself, cuz there was like a section which included him playing a solo for like ever, all I could think was, "seriously dude, just play a one chord and lets move on to another song".

- Primal Scream: good but I didn't LOVE it, but of course for some reason I had never heard of them, so really what can you expect.

- Met some lovely gentlemen from the Scotland area, and in fact they are in their own band (The Strands) you can check out their music HERE

Saturday March 21st:

- My legs and body hurt so badly I cannot move, I go back to sleep and miss the day party I had intended to see :(

Chop Shop Records Showcase

- The Asteroids Galaxy Tour: I would watch out for this band in the future. They are fun, entertaining, and all around a blast (no pun intended)

- The Little Ones: I would watch for them too in the future, they were all adorable and tried super hard to entertain the audience.

- Anya Marina: Lovely little Russian singer, cute little anthems, I would see her again

- The Republic Tigers: So much better live then on their recordings.

- Youth Group: Good

- Your Vegas: SO AWESOME, I still can't figure out why they aren't mega huge yet.......

so that's about it. As far as my highlights/lowlights go. Hope to go to this thing in two years time if it works out.

SXSW: Part I: Myths and Truths

2009-03-22T18:59:00.000-07:00

So,

Today is Sunday and SXSW: Music is over. I am currently sitting in my hotel room remembering all the truths and myths I heard from the festival.

1. You won't find all the venues: MYTH: I found all my venues and they weren't hard to find either. Perhaps if you have no sense of direction, the venues would be hard to find. But frankly 92% of the venues are all on one street. I could see you getting lost if you didn't plan or use an online map, but here at SXSW not finding a location, kinda sad........

2. Wear good footwear: TRUE: I followed this advice to the best of my ability and my feet still hurt. Why? the answer is simple. It isn't really the walking around that gets you, it's the constant standing in one location. I stood on Wednesday for about 12 hours. That's a long time. That's a really long time. I stand a lot at my job, but this totally took it to another level. My feet/legs/back hurt so much I actually didn't even want to stand on friday. At the day party. I sat down on the ground. This pain well exceeded that time on the KVR re: the bike seat issue......oh and open shoes is a bad idea, esp with jumping people and liquor spillages. EW that was one mistake I won't make again.

3. A Badge is the only way to go: TRUE/MYTH: this really depends who you are. I needed a badge because I was paying for the full meal deal. If you have a place to stay for free or you live close, I can see you take your chances. I met a number of people that just paid per venue. That said, each venue cost them between 8 - 30$ (depending on the night and venue), they couldn't go to any day parties, and they (unlike me) aren't really guaranteed any entrance. If the venue fills up with badgies and wristbandies they are SOL. That said, I I lived in austin, I would likely get the platnium pass: interactive, film and music: hello.........

4. The badge get you lots of "free" stuff: TRUE: okay I know my badge wasn't free but for my badge price I got: tons of free gifts like frisbees and t-shirts and pens, about 20 magazines, 28 CD's to sample new stuff, a pack of guitar strings to try out, free food at every day party I went to and beverages. I hear that in the past this free stuff has been more abound and that this year there wasn't as much, but lets be honest I also got to see a ton of bands. So it was well worth it for me.

5. Get to the venue early: MYTH: everyone said get there early, but I never had a problem getting in to any venue at any time. It might be because I had a badge. Or because there was just one of me. I also had no problem with standing in the front. Which was great for my eyes.

6. earplugs are a must: TRUE: nuff said.

7. Believe the rumors you hear: DEPENDS: If you heard it from a Badgie, usually true; from a wristbandie, parts of it might be true and if you hear it from a random local, no chance in hell. ie: Metallica is playing at Stubb's for a VIP private party: The badgie knows this, the wristbandie thinks he/she can get in and waits outside the venue only to be disapointed, and the common person on the street thinks they will move the concert to the park so everyone can see it. I just went to see Shiny Toy Guns/Camera Obscura/GlasVegas/Primal Scream instead of wasting my time with that business.

Stay tuned for part II: The Recap of my festival experience.

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My SXSW Schedule

2009-03-10T22:32:00.000-07:00

So,

If you are living under a rock somewhere, or haven't been paying attention, you wouldn't know that I'm going to SXSW: Music in about a week. With the time counting down, it was time to pick the events I want to see. Thankfully there was a very helpful site (albeit unnofficial) to help me.

Sched*SXSW

It basically tells about everything scheduled during the festival. Film, Interactive, Music and anything Unofficial stuff too. Which was extremely helpful. The SXSW official webite has a great program called my.sxsw (I'd link it, but without a badge, it's pretty useless), but it of course doesn't tell you about all the unofficial things happening in town.

So here is my working schedule. As I have been informed no matter how optimistic I can be about everything going smoothly; it won't, and lots of things change at the last minute.

Wednesday March 18th:

Vermillion Lies
Amanda Palmer
Shout Out Out Out Out
Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains
Mother Mother
Beast
Two Hours Traffic
Arkells
Meiko
The Aimless Never Miss
Or, The Whale

Thursday March 19th:

Lenka
The Boat People
An Horse
Andy Bull
Birds of Tokyo
Red Riders
Melissa McLelland
The Kin
Good Old War
Kraak & Smaak

Friday March 20th:

The Bloodsugars
Wheat
Razorlight
White Lies
Supersonic
The Moog
Josiah Wordsworth
Big Sam's Funky Nation

Saturday March 21st:

Katie Costello
Gregory Douglass
Melissa Ferrick
Seth Glier
Amy Speace & The Tearjerks
Rachael Sage & The Sequins
Sarah Borges & The Broken Singles
Sara Haze
The Little Ones
The Republic Tigers
Ra Ra Riot
The Hold Steady
Youth Group
Your Vegas

And then on Sunday I'm going to the conference center to see if I can get myself a new to me guitar.

I have over 40 to see there. Wish me luck.

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More SXSW

2009-03-02T00:07:00.000-08:00

So,
SXSW: Music is coming up fast. I am nowhere near prepared. I have a lot of music to listen to, I have a schedule to figure out, decisions to make on who I will see and I still have to figure out how I get an invites to all these RSVP parties everyone keeps talking about. I think by simply having a badge I'm invited but you can never be too sure.

Thank goodness someone posted the SXSW unnofficial listening list. It gives you a sample song from each band that is at this point scheduled to perform. You better have a torrent client for that or you get nothing. Oh and just a note: It's Independant artists, not indie music as a genre; so you are going to get everything from the crappiest crap to the goodiest good. So good luck, cuz theres about 5GB's of stuff total there.

Okay I have to be getting to bed. I have more report cards to write tomorrow.

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It's Lent Time Again

2009-02-24T20:48:00.000-08:00

So,

It is Lent time again and I am a celebrator of Lent. I'm not catholic, but I do celebrate the action of giving up something I like for 40 days. This year I am giving up bread. Now lets be clear; I'm talking about the types of breads that require kneading and yeast. This will include things like toast, garlic bread, sandwich bread, hamburger buns, pizza, cinnamon buns and the like for the next 40 days. I'm not including breads which require leavening to occur with the use of baking soda/powder; that would be just crazy (I would be giving up things like cake and cookies, which would not happen). My main motivation for this choice is because of the "evil cinnamon buns" in our Cafeteria. I pretty much have one every day at recess. (Yes! middle and senior school have recess too!) When they don't have them in the Cafeteria I have been know cranky. They are very tastey and they cost about 2$ each. So I'm going to save myself some money for the next 6 weeks and also save on my starch overload. Which I feel is contributing to my increased lethargy of Janurary/February 09.

I'm not going to lie. This will be hard and not just the regular hard like limiting myself to $20 a month at Starbucks hard, but a bonified difficult task that might include some withdrawl symptoms (watch out!). I'm also hoping that this little anti bread Lent will help me plan better and get me back on the not eating out bandwagon. Because we all know I fell off that a few weeks ago.

Anyways,

I will keep you posted on the process of that. Today I ate my last cinnemon bun and had pizza for dinner. I will let you know how it tastes when I get to eat them again near easter.

As for my Goals of 09:

1. Starbucks Card: Still going strong
2. Books thing: This has been great because I get to know the school library better and I get to chat with new interesting people. The addition benifit of taking books out at our school library is that becaue of my teacher status, I have no due dates on books (waa hoo!!!). I am actually reading somethings that I wouldn't normally because I wouldn't buy that particular book. In addition the librarian stated if there was ever something I really wanted she could order it in for me. (SWEET!)
3. Eating out once a week on school nights: Unfortunatly this has been an Epic Fail. I'm hoping the lent thing will help me get back on the wagon because its a little expensive to eat out regularly. I think if I had a magic dish machine (aka dishwasher) and or washed dishes on a more regular basis and or got home before 9pm at night I might be more sucessful.

Wish me luck folk, I'm going to need it.

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Ra Ra Riot with Cut off your Hands and Telekinesis

2009-02-22T16:49:00.000-08:00

So,

As many of you have figured out, I attended a concert last night. It was once again at Richard's on Richard's. I'm beginning to wonder if they are in fact tearing the building down. They have acts booked at the location until May. Tonight I opted of a position on the balcony. I got their early enough so I could have a good view. But I think that standing below may provide better sound. This is a theory I will have to test more thouroughly in the next little while as I only have 2 concerts to compare thus far; Amanada Palmer (which sounded great from the floor, but I couldn't really see that well) and this one (where I could see great, but the sound was a little loud)

First up was Telekinesis. They are from Seattle. I know this because they announced their names about 4 times during their cheesy conversational piece changes. Their Drum was also the singer, which I found to be really refreshing. I also get the impression that he composes most of the music; As he appears to cue in all the players and be the band leader. I quite liked this group. I hadn't heard of them before and in my experience for bands I haven't heard, to hear at a concert for the first time usually have a 60/40 chance of me liking them (60 = no thanks, 40 = I'd like to hear them again). The band had a punk feel with a little of the DCFC sound. There were sweet vocals mixed with emotional passages and enough diversity for me to want more than just their 30 minute set. The only thing I could say that needed improvement was some of the transitions in the songs. The band lacked confidence in this regard, especially when the leader was out with either drums, vocals or both. In addition, I found the bass a little weak, not only in rhythm keeping but also in intresting passage. I would have liked her to play a little more than just the root of each chord for the entire set. That being said, I am interested to see what this group comes up with in the near future.

Next up was Cut off Your Hands. In some respects, I think a number of people in the audience came to see them perform. I have heard of this band and own two of their songs. Both of which they played at the beginning. After the two songs I knew, the rest of the songs sounded like one song. I'm almost positive they played one of the songs on their album twice. I was a little dissapointed with this group. Unfortunatly, they don't have anything really special about them. They are a New Zealand Rock group and that is about all. If it wasn't for the entertaining flaylings of the lead singer and the entertaining audience members I may have forgotten this performance all together. I'm proud of the lead singer for being so free on stage. I just fear one day his poor little mic stand will collapse and he will go tumbling forward into the audience. I was also confused by his curling up into a ball moment near the end. I wonder if there was space if he would have actually attempted to execute a sommersault. On a more positive note, I really liked the slippers that the base player wore. I also believe he was the most talented of the group.

Next up was Ra Ra Riot. I have been listening to this band since 2006 and I have been waiting to see them live "for like ever". They played about an hour set. I knew ever single song they played and they were even more fantastic live as they were on the disc. There is really something magical about a group you can see perform that you know a) they LOVE what they do, b) they have that "it" factor on stage that helps them work together and show you they LOVE what they do, c) It entertains the pants off you to the point that when they announce their last song you wonder after looking at your watch, that was an hour? NO WAY, d) They are trained, talented and professional musicians. I really enjoyed how at times each instrument kind of becomes percussive and then at other times each instrument has its own melodic qualities. Hearing their creative take on layering was also of interest. Especially their strong ablitiles of incorporating of both a cello and a violin. It was especially cool to hear them explore the rock/instrumental aspect, at times there was long parts of the song they added with no singing. It is very clear this group is on the up and up. I also really like the kind of "nerd rock" thing they have going on. It's totally HAWESOME.

According to my own rules I shouldn't see Ra Ra Riot at SXSW. But I might have to. They were truely that good.

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WOOT

2009-02-18T18:18:00.000-08:00

So,

I don't know why I didn't discover this before. It's called

WOOT

They also have wine.woot and shirt.woot

Basically the premise of the site is to sell one thing super cheap all day (or at least while supplies last)

The only unfortunate thing is I currently don't have a US mail box. BOO, no woot for me........

Where in the world is WOOT CANADA........

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M is a long one

2009-02-09T22:41:00.000-08:00

I heard a lot of really great stuff tonight. Which would have been easier if every band on this list and others had music to listen to on their website or at least a link to myspace/youtube vids/imeem/last.fm/etc. Because honestly if your a music artist of some kind my guess is most people visit your website to hear your music.

I also wish that bands on myspace didn't just select three random styles. "Shoegaze"......what style is that? The bands that listed "Shoegaze" as a style all sounded completely different. COMPLETELY! But I guess it doesn't matter since I didn't like any of them.

Anyways, here is the list of what I liked in Bands that begin with the letter "Emmm":

Malajube
Manana
Manooghi hi
Ida Maria
Anya Marina
Laura Marling
David Martel
The Matches
Dent May and his Magnificent Ukulele
Erin McCarley
Melissa McClellend
Kiernan McMullan
Midnight Youth
Milow
Miniature Tigers
Miracle Forest
Mirah
The Miserable Rich
MOM
Monareta
Mother Mother
Moth!Fight!
Mumford and sons

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I think I'm half way!!!!

Getting Picky "I,J,K,L"

2009-02-07T20:42:00.000-08:00

I

Insute
Inward Eye

J

J*Davey
Jason Reeves

K

Kaka
Kaskade
KeysNKrates
Kraak and Smaak

L

La Carrau
Lady Dottie and the Diamonds
Greg Laswell
Sylvie Lewis
Light FM
Lights
The LIttle ones
Longview
Longwave
Terry Lynn

The list continues..............

Proxy Sites

2009-02-07T19:12:00.000-08:00

Now,

Basically at my place of work we are blocked from using a number of things. We can't use any video streaming or audio streaming sites of any kind (exp. google video). I understand why this is; we have all staff and all the students in grade 6, 10-12 with laptops and we have our computer labs as well as our computers on wheels (COWS). If we were all streaming stuff our network would be HELLA SLOW and useless. Now because of course I think the above rule must not apply to me specifically; I was using a proxy site to bypass said issue. That was until I was caught by our super stealth IT department.

A few nights ago my colleagues were complaining that they couldn't access anything good. This is when I pipe in my opinions about why this is and then I mention my above incident involving Proxy's and the IT department, but there is now a new site that they can use to access the above things.

If you happen to not know anything about IT related issues or even what IT stands for. The best way to handle this situation would be to:

A) Make fun of the person for knowing about some very basic things on the computer, even if they are trying to help you because it makes you feel cool, even if you are not.
B) Smile and Nod
C) Ask for more information about how you can better surf at work
D) Stare at them blankly, pretend to be interested, all the while dreaming about the shopping trip you are going on tomorrow and the deals you will get.

B and D are the most polite
C might be pushing it
But it certainally is not "A"

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Let's add H

2009-02-01T22:36:00.000-08:00

H

Ed Harcourt
Harlem Shakes
Ben Harper and the Relentless7
Hello Seahorse
Hesta Prynn in Civil Shepard
Horse Feathers
The Hours
Human Highway

I have figured that I pretty much have to post something each day if I intend to get this list done in time. It's a crazy huge list. I promise.

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F and G: SXSW music

2009-01-31T19:07:00.000-08:00

Here we go:

F:

Fembots
Melissa Ferrick
fiN
Fol chen
David Fonseca
Karima Francis
Fun

G

The Gala Band
Gentleman Reg
Goldilocks
Robert Gomez
Good Old War
Grand Archives
The Grates
Green River Ordinance
Guillamino

Sorry I didn't find all the links this time. It was just plain taking to long. I would recommend typing the names into google or you can go to the SXSW: music/shows/bands section and look at the list for the links.

Enjoy!
(more to come!)

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Black Cab Sessions

2009-01-31T13:44:00.000-08:00

So......

Every so often a come to discover a new site. Today the site is called "the black cab sessions". Essentially the premise of the website is to showcase different musical groups. The groups agree to be filmed in the back of a cab; they sing one song and they get one take to do it. I highly recommend checking it out. Some of my favourites are: Amanada Palmer, Death Cab for Cutie, Our Broken Garden, Beach House. But to be honest, they are all good in their own way. I especially enjoy the pureness of each groups sound. Its amazing how much better artists sound without ampflication.

You can check out the Black Cab Sessions HERE

Enjoy!

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And lets add E today while we are at it.....

2009-01-27T23:25:00.000-08:00

"E" =

The Electric City
Elemeno P
The Enright House
Esser
Evil Nine Live

I wonder if I am getting picky????

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C and D

2009-01-27T20:13:00.000-08:00

Here's the list for acts in the "C" and "D" category:

"C"

Chanel Campbell
Castledoor
Gavin Castleton
Suzanna Choffel
Choo Choo
Closure in Moscow
The Courteeners
Cousin Cole
Crocodile
The Crystal Method
Cursive
Cut off you Hands

D

Dans Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip
Dark Captain, Light Captain
Dear and the Headlights
Madi Diaz
The Duhks

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SXSW: Letter A and B

2009-01-25T22:05:00.000-08:00

Okay,

So as I have expressed before. There is a ton to stuff I want to see at SXSW. The list so far has about 375 some bands on it. I figure the best way to understand best what I want to see is to do a bunch of research. Decide what I ablsolutely HAVE TO SEE. What I could see and what I want to avoid at all costs.

Here are the bands: I want to see that start with the letters "A" and "B".
(The underlined ones have links)

PS: Its a wide variety of genres:

"A"

Alexisonfire
AnchorSong
Angry vs The Bear
Asakusa Jinta
Asylum Street Spankers
Melissa Auf Der Mar
Au Revoirs Simone
Awkward I

"B"

Volodja Balzalorsky
Barcelona
Beautiful Nubia
Big Sam's Funky Nation
Birds of Tokyo
Black Cherry
Blind Pilot
Blue King Brown
The Boat People
Haley Bonar
Cliff Brown Jr.
The Brunettes

Stay Tuned for the rest of the alphabet. Hope you enjoy these first picks.

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First note (of many) about SXSW

2009-01-17T15:22:00.000-08:00

so,

As many of you know I will be attending the SXSW: Music Conference and Festival this year and I couldn't be more excited. They have started posting the massive list of acts performing. Much to my happiness there is lots too choose from. It feels like I'm getting a live taste of the Rock/Indie playlist I get once every other month.

Here is a first glance look at groups I would like to see:

Angry Vs. The Bear
Alexisonfire
Backseat Goodbye
Blue King Brown
The Courteeners
The Crystal Method
Cut off your Hands
Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobious Pip
Get Cap Wear Cap Fly
Good Old War
The Grates
Harlem Shakes
The Hours
Lights
Dent May and his Magnificent Ukulele
Moneen
Peter Bjorn and John
+/- {Plus/Minus}
Josh Pyke
Ra Ra Riot
Anni Rossi
Sofia Talvik
Your Vegas

Now I think you see my problem. There is too much good stuff to see (Doesn't everyone wish that was their problem?!). Plus, I would like to hear some new and interesting groups that I have not discovered yet. Now I know that I won't be able to see everything I want. It's likely that they end up having two different groups that I want to see playing at the same time in different venues. But this will not stop me from trying see see everything possible. I will keep you posted with other groups that arise that are of interest and other SXSW: Music news

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Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock

2009-01-08T18:17:00.001-08:00

I posted this on my twitter this week, but the post is gone from this site.

Here it is again in case you missed it. This has to be one of my favourite moments from season 2 of "The Big Bang Theory". A show that you should definitely check out if you haven't yet.

Barats and Bereta

2009-01-02T14:57:00.001-08:00

I think this is funny:

Bible In A Minute - barats and bereta

and so is this:

As is this:

You can check out other videos by these guys HERE

Goals for 2009

2009-01-01T13:27:00.000-08:00

So,

As many of you know, I think the concept of the "New Year's Resolution" is quite stupid. Essentially what a New Year's Resolution says to me is that you feel a bit guilty about what you did/didn't do this holiday season and want to make up for it by making some resolutions that are endless or unrealistic in an attempt to justify previous bad behavior.

I myself set "goals". Now I know some of you are thinking...... How in the world are "goals" different from "new year's resolutions"? Well, the answer is quite simple. "Goals" are a bit smaller and they have a defined end.

Here are my goals for 2009:

Try something new. (DONE! I signed myself up for a 5 lesson pack on cross country skate skiing and with it I get an after 3pm pass to Cypress as a bonus, I'm half way to the hill by simply driving to work, so It's a win win.
I'm not going to purchase any new books until I have read all the books I already own. Now this has some rules: If someone gives me a gift card for books, I can buy books, but I can't give someone 20$ send them for a gift card and give it to me (that would be cheating). I can also borrow books (ie. from the library, my friends, my collegues). In addition, I cannot trade in books at a used book store take that credit and purchase books. Although that sounds like an interesting loop hole.
Get X amount of money into my savings by June so I can go to Pam's wedding (Like I would tell you how much money I am saving up........)
The Starbuck's 20$ a month limit is still in effect. And since I can now track my purchases on the website, there will be no cheating.
I will only eat out for dinner once a week on work nights (Term 2 only) This is going to be hard; So I have allowed myself to have roll-over dinners. IE: if I go one full week and don't eat out at all, I could eat out 2 times the next week. This will allow me to stock up for the times of the year that I am at the school alot. This will also stop me from going out and buy food because I'm feeling to lazy to cook. If I can be sucessful, I will extend it into Term 3.

There they are. I will keep you posted on my progress.

Hope everyone is having a great first day of 2009.

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Silhouette Masterpiece Theatre and other Jems

2008-12-31T11:21:00.000-08:00

So,

As many of you know, today is the last day of 2008. If you want a good re-cap of everything I did,saw, heard, you can go check it out in my previous posts.

In other news, ever so often I come across a jem of a website. In this case I have found 3 websites. The first is a blog of a person I now follow on twitter. You can see Mediakik's website/blog HERE.

He lead me to another jem of a site which you can check out HERE. Proving once and for all that bears are godless killing machines. (See sample above).

Oh and this blog: It's called the Fail Blog. It's that stupid kicked in the nutz humor that every teenage boy likes with everything you can find that is an epic fail. You can see it HERE.

Stay tuned for some new goals for 2009. I have some good ones.

As for 2008 goals:

- I made it until Dec. 15th for my 20$ Starbucks a month limit

So close! Dang you report cards

- Final book completion count 41

As this was not a my own goal, I'm feeling really good about that.
I read some fantastic books this year and that was prize enough.

Go Tell It On The Mountain

2008-12-29T15:22:00.001-08:00

I know that christmas is over but I figured I could share this little clip I found.

There are so many things I want to say about this........

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40,41 and a holiday

2008-12-28T15:31:00.000-08:00

So,

It was a good reading week this week for me, as I was on holidays with my family in Ixtapa Mexico. I read: The House of the Scorpion and Rebel Angels. The House of the Scorpion is by far on of the best books I have read all year and likely one of my favourite YA books to date. "Rebel Angels" is book 2 in a series of books about a girl in the 19 century. I enjoyed this book more than the first book of the series (A Great and Terrible Beauty) because it dealt more with the subject matter than the issues of a teenage girl in 19 century London of good breeding. The books themselves are that good kind of fantasy. The kind sans dragons and the like. In my opinion, these are the books girls should be reading rather than waste their time with crappy Twilight and friends. I can't wait for book 3.

On the holiday front; it was a good one. I practically did nothing. Which is exactly what I intended to do. The holiday "almost" went off without a hitch. Although if you ask at the right time there is a funny story in there someplace. The weather was hot (30 - 36C) with chance of cloudy (28-30C) all week long. We all snorkeled, thou it wasn't as good as the Costa Rica experience, we enjoyed the flavour of an all inclusive and then we came home. One week at an all inclusive is long enough for me. As for my next holiday it will have to be full of adventure. I was starting to get bored around day 4. Oh and having Christmas in a hot place is a strange sensation. Especially when they offer an entertainment program called "Hollywood" and I had salmon for dinner.

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39

2008-12-19T16:41:00.000-08:00

I just finished:

The Time Travelers

I really liked this book and can't wait to read the sequel.

On another note:

I'm leaving on a holiday tomorrow. YAY ME!!!
I'm getting out of the freezing and into the warm. YIPPEE!!
Can you sense my excitement?

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37 and 38

2008-12-15T23:08:00.000-08:00

I recently read:

Black Hole

(This has to be the weirdest book I have ever read, EVER)

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

This book was really good, shocking and quite sad, but really good.

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(12 to go, 15 days to do so, totally not going to happen, which is a little sad cuz I'm actually really close)

Creston Gas Bar vs. Fire

2008-12-15T22:53:00.000-08:00

I just heard some late breaking news from Creston.
Well not really late breaking, it happened yesterday. But none the less this will be in my news before it is printed in the local paper. (It only comes out on Thursday).

The Pet Store/Seed and Feed burned down.

In any case it burned for a while. I could just tell you what happened or I could explain it to you in the form of a multiple choice question.

Yes you got it here it is:

You drive into the extra foods parking lot see yellow flagging tape across the pumps and the building adjacent to the pumps (aka the Seed and Feed) is on fire. But you really need gas for your pick - up truck. You:

A: Have the passenger of your car hold up the flagging tape so you can get you car to the pumps, therefore, not only getting gas but having a clear view of those 40 something fire fighters.....

B: Complain loudly that the pumps are closed, rip through the flagging tape anyway and get your Gawd damn gas. To heck with that burnin' building, you got a game of canasta to get back to.

C: Do the math and figure out that someone ripping through the flagging tape at the gas bar is the stupidest bleeping thing you have ever seen in your life and go get gas someplace else.

D: Understand that people ripping through the flagging tape to get to the gas bar during a fire is the stupidest bleeping thing you have ever seen, but remember that this is Creston and the rules of normal people don't apply. Go get gas and a Slurpee elsewhere. Come back and park at the opposite end of the parking lot and enjoy an afternoon of entertainment.

As usual: D is the correct answer, if you were thinking that it was C, you could be correct also, but honestly what else would you have to do that afternoon?

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Last Week

2008-12-14T21:14:00.000-08:00

So,

Last week was a very busy one. In many ways I was thankful that I didn't have a computer because I don't really think I would have had the time to do anything with it.

None the less my week was full of adventure.

Wednesday Dec 10th:

I went to see Amanda Palmer live at Richards on Richards. It was freaking amazing and the best thing I have ever seen and heard thus far. I didn't realise how exciting it can be to see a real group of artists perform and showcase their work. The lighting was perfect, the sound was outstanding, the entertainment value was quite high.

Believe it or not Richards on Richards is a great acoustic venue. It's really a shame they are tearing it down and replacing it with overpriced yuppie condos. That being said, they could have had better bathrooms. The outhouse in the middle of the Nootka Island hike was cleaner, only in this case you didn't have to pack out your own toilet paper.

Up first was Zoe Keating. A phenomenal cello player. She did this cool thing where she recorded herself playing the cello and hitting the cello, then she looped the stuff and played the haunting melodies over top. My students are so getting to hear this on a "New Music Monday".

Next were the Builders and the Butchers. To be honest I wasn't really listening to them. I was distracted by "someone" I ran into at the club and most of my focus was on said individual. Notable points: The lead singer totally cracked me up when he attempted to get the audience to clap on 2 and 4 rather than the 1 and 3 they were trying to do and he looks and acts exactly like one of my current students. So much so that I did a double take only after thinking "what the heck is Kyle doing in here".

Finally Amanda F Palmer hit the stage. The show was an entertainment spectacular if you will. She opened with Astronaut and continued to dazzle us all with her amazing abilities. The Danger Ensemble was there as well and added to the show with their artistic dance interpretations. They acted out scenes for "Coin Operated Boy", which is no about what we all think it is about, so I have been told by AFP herself. Have to Drive; a scene where at the end the dancers fan out into the audience and give 4 lucky people a hug. I WAS ONE of the LUCKY PEOPLE! Guitar Hero, which was obviously lip synced, but I seriously can't figure out how they would have done it other wise. Oh and they did this number where they lip synced "Umbrella". I'm certain that AFP lip syncs that way better than Rhianna herself does; and the Danger ensemble added their own very unique take on the choreography of popular R&B music. There was also an encore where everyone came out for Leeds United and a Billy Joel cover that I would only know if I heard it again. Overall it was a stellar time. I was a little disappointed she didn't play Girl Anachronism or "My Alcoholic Friends", but what can you do, she can't really play everything she does right?

I also thought I would mention that her concert drew the most eclectic mix of people I have ever seen in my life. It made for great people watching.

Thursday Dec. 11:

I got to play percussion at the Junior Schools Christmas Concert. The littlies needed some help, so I helped them keep time. I am an outstanding Cowbell/Tambourine/Crash Cymbal player if I don't say so myself.

Saturday Dec. 13th:

It was Nickolai's birthday and my staff party. Nick and I hit Science World, had a late lunch and briefly explored Granville Island. Then it was off to the staff party. Dinner was delicious and I would like to note that I still hate Karaoke.

All in all it was nice to finally have some social fun time after finishing my report cards and citizenship reports (total word count was just under 15,000 words). Some of my friends figure that I could do my masters on a template bank for band and planning 10. NO THANK YOU!

That was my week in a nutshell I wonder what next week will bring.........;-)

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One week no computer

2008-12-13T00:19:00.001-08:00

It is amazing what can happen in one week when you don't have a computer, yet a lot of exciting things happen to you.

The bad news is that I don't have the time to discuss these things right now, the good news is I will sometime discuss some things over the next few days.

What you have to look forward to:

- comments on the Amanda Palmer Concert
- a new multiple choice question
- a new tally of books read
- a summary of things I did this week/upcoming weekend

It all sounds very interesting doesn't it..........
You can't wait can you?

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Electric Blanket

2008-12-02T22:21:00.001-08:00

This is why I love Amanda Palmer's music so.
I can't wait to see her on the 10th.

PS: There may be a few swear words in this little clip. Watch at your own discretion kids!

No. 36

2008-11-26T23:16:00.000-08:00

I have figured out I'm officially not going to make it. Thou it will not stop me from giving the old college try.

I read:

Schooled by Gordon Korman

It was like Star Girl but for boys.
That's all I got for ya.

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Baby Names

2008-11-25T19:26:00.000-08:00

So,

A friend of mine just posted the nature of celebrity baby naming recently with this little tweet. " Pete Wentz named his firstborn Bronx Mowgli Wentz. I'm calling it now: the next one will be named Soho Aladdin." (Chromefox Twitter 2008) The problem is I think this weird baby naming thing has become an epidemic. Here are some examples of other recent celebrities baby names:

1. Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale: Zuma Nesta Rock Stefani-Rossdale
(In my opinion a combination of their love for free online games, Nestea and a music genre)

2. ABC Soap Star Ingo Rademacher's fiancee, Ehiku, gave birth to their first child, Peanut Kai
(Now apparently Kai means "water" in Hawaiian, so this means their child's name is Peanut Water; that sounds wrong on so many levels)

3. Jenna and Bodhi Elfman: Story Elias

4. For British pop singer Jordan and husband Peter Andre: Princess Tiaami
(The "princess" is not a prefix, that's her first name!)

5. Don't even get me started on all the names of Brad and Angelina's kids........

6. We all remember that Gwenyth Paltrow named her kid Apple

7. Geri Haliwell named hers: Bluebell Madonna

8. "40 Days and 40 Nights" star Shannyn Sossamon named hers: Audio Science

9. Last and definitely my fave: Jermaine Jackson, of Jackson 5 fame named his son: Jermajesty

There are lots of really cool sounding original names out there today that won't cause teasing on the playground, the endless hound of the paps, a continual wedgie in middle school and then social ridicule for the rest of their teen life. I really hope some of these people just outright change their names for their own sake. Really what's wrong with calling your kid Sara or Kaitlyn or Andrew or Kevin?

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If you would like more information about these names and others please visit HERE

Twilight Actor

2008-11-22T22:45:00.000-08:00

So,
A little while ago I attempted to read the book that all tweenage girls have been either squealing about or dissing. This book is called "Twilight". A story of a young girl that falls in love with a vampire. Fortunately around page 50, I put this book down. Many of my friends have fallen victim to this book. Frankly, if I had a list of the books I never finished and don't want to. It would be in the top 3. Anyway, this is not the reason for the post. The real reason I'm posting is to talk about the book's new movie. The actor they have selected is Robert Pattison (of Cedric Diggory fame). In Twilight he looks like this:

I admit, if I was a tween, I might think he looked pretty hot. Unfortunately, In real life he looks like this:

Robert Pattison

Is that even the same person?
It must be, Although this person doesn't look like a tweenage heart throb in the least.
I don't really know if he looks vampireish enough in this picture either. Perhaps in his next role he should to be the crazy psycho. How about a villain in the next batman movie? His signature move would be to shoot death lasers out of his eyes.
Just sayin.

I think all I can conclude from this is, some people just look better in their teenage years. Circa this picture:

Cedric Diggory

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No. 35

2008-11-21T20:06:00.001-08:00

I took a break this week from the YA genre (Although I will be returning to it very soon) to read a book that was recommended to me by one and poo pooed by another.

The Alchemist: Paulo Coelho

When reading it at first I was a little nervous that the book was going to become "The Celestine Prophecy"; A book I hated, and would put on my top 5 most hated books of all time, if I had such a list. Thankfully it wasn't. Although at times the book got a little "hippyish". It was a pleasant read. I also think I learned something.

So it's back to YA for me. Especially now since I came home with some books from the School's book fair. How I love working a school for K-12. It caters to all age of reader.

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PS: I completely get why the one person hated this book and why the other would recommend it. Even though on several occasions I have referred to both these people being very similar in personality.

(15 to go, 41 days to do it, oh no!)

The Monty Python Channel on YouTube

2008-11-19T22:52:00.001-08:00

That's right! Monty Python is on You Tube. WOOT!
Go check it out. You won't be disappointed.

A Comment on Twitter Language

2008-11-14T22:02:00.000-08:00

So,

As you may notice, I really like my micro-blogging. Mostly in the use of Twitter, through the act of posting "Tweets". Twitter has it's own set of explainitory terminology. Which is fine; but frankly I think this whole "Glomm every word together with 'TW' in front of it" is getting a little out of hand. If you head on over to Twittonary aka dictionary to Twitter words, you can browse through a series of letters in the alphabet to better acquaint yourself for some better knowledge and understanding.

For Example:

twadd: to add/follow someone to your Twitter account as a friend.

twead: to read a tweet from a fellow twitterer.

tweetaholism: the continued use of Twitter as an addiction that is difficult to control.

tweetup: when twitterers meet in person- a Twitter meet up.

twis: to dis a fellow twitterer. very bad form.

As you may have guessed it, the list goes on and on into the land of ridiculousness.

This business is starting to remind me a little to much of that Video store I used to go to called "Yo Video". The slogan for the store was "Yo Want It! Yo Got It". And pretty much everything in the store had to do with the world "Yo"

So in the spirit of 'Tw', I have decided to add some of my own Twitter words

Twumb@$$: A non-intelligent twitterer

Twidiculous: Ridiculous Twitter comment or Tweet if you will
Twat: (oh no, I would have to get all NC 17 to fully explain that one........)

I could go on here but I think you get the point. Twitter is just fine how it is. We don't need to learn a new language to use it.

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PS: When I did the spell check "Twumb@$$ didn't register as being a spelling error. HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Short Rant: Your Facebook Wall

2008-11-12T18:09:00.001-08:00

So,

Over the last few weeks it has come to my attention that people can in fact shut down their wall to stop people from commenting on pictures, profile "is" statements and making comments in general. If you have done this by accident, via new facebook and didn't realize it, I forgive you.............Now go change your privacy settings. If you have done this on purpose, and continue to write random crap on everyone elses walls, while not allowing people to write on yours; here are some suggestions/thoughts for you:

1: Perhaps you would like to opt for a regular email service like Yahoo, Hotmail or GMail. All these allow you to maintain good privacy and no one will have to listen to you babble on in public with no way to retaliate.
2: Perhaps there is someone specific you don't want to comment on your wall. PS not everyone has to be your "facebook friend" DELETE THEM or use the BLOCK option.
3: If you don't like people to know about you: DON'T JOIN A NETWORK.
4: If you don't like people to know about you, not even your "facebook" friends, perhaps you should get rid of facebook. There is a delete button in the edit profile link.

Frankly facebook is pointless if you are not willing to communicate.
Just had to get that out there. I can get off my soap box (for now)

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34

2008-11-11T19:15:00.000-08:00

I just read:

A Great And Terrible Beauty by Libra Bray

I liked it. It was a good YA book. I would recommend it if your into something that is a little fantasy, a little turn 19th century, a little mystery, a little girls at boarding schools.

Oh.......and by fantasty I mean fantasy that is dragon free aka good fantasy.

Enjoy!

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(34 down, 16 to go, 50 days to do it)

A few new questions in multiple choice format

2008-11-05T21:40:00.000-08:00

So,

I have begun to like this blogging business in the multiple choice format. It can really help me get some information to you.

Question #1:

If you are incapable of sending a proper text message you should...........

a) call the person instead
b) try texting them again
c) apologize for your blunder
d) request that the person you are incapable of sending a text message to apologize for your incompetence.

Once again I think A, B, or C (or any combination of the three) would do the trick.
I guess some people in this world think differently.

Question #2

If the opportunity arises to steal a piece of buttered bread off of someone, you should:

a) opt for equal parts bread and butter
b) just go for the bread
c) just go for the butter
d) just go for the butter and then wash it down with a tea biscuit

I myself would choose A.
But if your name is Laura, you might opt for C or D.

Some incites into my life right now. Hope you got it.......

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33

2008-10-29T20:03:00.000-07:00

That's right! I'm on a roll again.

I just finished reading:

Luxe - Anna Godbersen

This book was delightfully trashy. It was totally gossip girl set in 1899. Plus from what I can see this book leads into a series. The next one is called Rumors.......ooo la la.............

(17 left to my prize..........i think i can, i think i.......)

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ttyl - 32

2008-10-26T13:41:00.000-07:00

That's actually what the book is called:

ttyl

its a book written in txt msg form

it was kinda cute

althou a little unbelievable that 3 girls that go to the same school and are bffs would mostly discuss their lives on IM and not in person

but whateves

(did you see what I did there? did you see?)

I think my life could be much easier if they allowed me to write in msn language instead of formally, but I know for you older folk, I would spend my day explaining to you what "roflmao" actually means.

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(18 to go!!!!)

31

2008-10-17T22:01:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading:

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

It was pretty good. Except for the fact that the narrator (death) kept ruining all the upcoming parts. I think that although this book is a teen read, most teens are smart enough to handle a little real life. I felt a little ripped off when the actual climax of the book came and I had been anticipating it for over 300 pages. Boo to that........

I'm not going to make it am I?

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For all you Science Nerds out there

2008-10-17T21:57:00.000-07:00

Here Is a site that might interest you:

periodicvideos.com/#

It's basically one video per periodic table element. You learn all about the element (what its for, where you find it etc....)

And the guy in the videos is the quintessential mad scientist if you will (His hair totally cracks me up).

Oh and you might learn something........I did!

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Multiple choice!

2008-10-16T23:57:00.000-07:00

So,

I have never been very good at multiple choice. An example of this would be what happened to me this evening:

Laphandah Habib is:

a) The name of Nickolai's new ultra conservative nigerian - iranian girlfriend
b) A way in which I could be totally had by having the name Lafonda spelled differently.
c) Lap Handa?

I got it wrong.............

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2008-10-11T23:09:00.000-07:00

Hello there

I personally think this little clip is shear brilliance.

It is a music mash-up.

It contains the following songs all in one:

* Rihanna - Disturbia
* Kardinal Offishall Feat. Akon - Dangerous
* Ne-Yo - Closer
* Estelle Feat Kanye West - American Boy
* Pussycat Dolls - When I Grow Up
* Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love
* Danity Kane - Damaged
* Madonna , Timbaland & Justin Timberlake - 4 minutes
* Lupe Fiasco Feat. Matthew Santos - Superstar
* Britney Spears - Gimme More
* Flo-Rida feat. T-Pain - Low

If you want more of this kind of thing from the same artist go to www.djearworm.com

Enjoy!

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30

2008-10-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

So,

I Just read a book it's called:

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

It's a book I have been eyeing for awhile now.
I think I may have liked it more if I was actually in middle school, not teaching middle school. So I would recommend it to you if your about ages 10-13. Or you are really young at heart. That being said, I will probably read the rest of the series.

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Group Rules

2008-10-08T17:17:00.000-07:00

So,

This little jem was sent to me by a friend (who may or may not be attending uni somewhere overseas). He/She has titled this "Group Rules", but frankly I think many of these rules could apply to all meetings, conferences or classes.

Oh and just a quick disclaimer.

The following opinions are those of the writer not the publisher. Please don't write a million comments on my blog about how you think these rules are offensive/rude/cruel etc......frankly its not my work.
And one more thing, some of the original names have been changed to protect the writers identity.

So here they are:

1) Attend meetings or die
2) Do your job or you don't get cake
3) Minutes are stupid and you suck
4) Discriminate at own risk
5) No touching
6) Must wear clothes
7) *.doc NOT *.docx <-- important
8) No slide transitions, they are annoying
9) Keep hands to your self
10) Nagging will not make things go faster, so f*** off
11) Don't ask stupid questions
12) There are no stupid questions
13) Yes there are
14) Don't make things up.
15) If it didn't come from your imagination reference that s***.
16) Redcliff and Cleveland are not good places for team meetings, they are a real long ways away.
17) Goldcoast is also not a good place
18) If the tutor, who will mark the project, suggests something, use it, even if it sucks, it will make him feel important, and get you a better mark
19) Don't sit on the floor it's just unclean.
20) All team members must know where each other lives in case of plagiarism.
21) Don't plagiarise, you don't want to know what happens.
22) never be alone in a closed room with blanker O'blank (lecturer who made all the home movies)
23) all team members must know the group song and motto
24) all disputes will be handled with a game of shotgun
25) if game of shotgun doesn't solve the problem make another group member do it
26) if that group member complains about having to take notes tell him to suck it up and remind him at least were not making him wear a dress like a real secretary.
27) that group member must bring a cake to every meeting. Penalty for not bringing a cake is same as penalty for plagiarism

Group song:
My body is nobodys body but mine, you can have your body, so let me have mine

Group motto:
Shotty not.

That's about all, I hope you enjoyed that.

by: ?????

Taco's

2008-10-06T22:34:00.001-07:00

What a Crazy Absurd Coincidence:

"Bitch Gonna Get a Taco"
(cutewithchris.com ep. 171)

Socially Awkward Commedies

2008-10-04T17:14:00.000-07:00

So,

Lately I have been watching a number of socially awkward comedies.
The newest comedy of this style is called:

Clark and Michael

It is an Internet comedy/mockumentary starting Michael Cera (of Arrested Development fame) and Clark Duke (of Greek fame).

If you like any of the following shows:

The IT Crowd

Arrested Development

Flight of the Conchords

Extras

The Office (UK)

You should like this...... (PS...... skip episode 1)

Enjoy! (those clips should keep you busy for awhile)

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29

2008-10-01T21:36:00.000-07:00

So,
After a long hiatus, due to work and just plain being busy, I finally finished a fantastic book.

The Complete Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi

At first I must admit I was a little skeptical about reading a graphic novel, but I'm a convert. It was really awesome.

Hopefully I can read some books super fast and complete the goal of 50 books this year. Time is running out I must admit, That prize is mighty tempting.

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last FM

2008-09-27T17:07:00.000-07:00

So,

If you haven't already done it yet, I highly recommend you join last.fm.

What is this site you ask?

In my opinion it is sheer brilliance. Basically it works much like pandora's box used to (it was shut down). You can either use the site without signing up or or you can sign up for it too. Basically in the non-signup mode head to the radio link and type in an artist you would like to listen to. It will then give you a wide variety of music they think "sounds like" that particular artist. It will give you the entire song too, not just a 30 second caption. It essentially makes the "genious" option on your itunes seem like a piece of crap.

Your second option is to sign up for their service. If you choose to do this the program can analyse (if you choose) your playlist and give you an even better selection of music it thinks you will like. In addition, when you listen to music in the radio link you can: add the tracks to a favourites list to listen to later, get rid of tracks you hate on the list so they never come up again and you can find out what your friends are listening to.

If you are interested you can check it out HERE.

I think if it wasn't for this site I would never have the opportunity to listen to a large part of what I have in my itunes library now. There is a TON OF STUFF on the site. Seriously check it out!

Oh and if you choose to sign up, add me as a listening buddy: music_girl10000

Enjoy and have a nice day!

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John Mayer: Free Fallen

2008-09-27T12:54:00.001-07:00

I've tried to post this video on this here blog, but for some reason it won't let me.

So if you go here You should get the video of John Mayer's remake of Free Fallen.

It's worth it I promise.

I think this will make up for the previous video I posted.

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Jesus is a Friend of Mine

2008-09-21T18:43:00.001-07:00

Occasionally I post things that my friends find on the internets. This is an example of that.....

THANKS MATT

This video basically made my day!

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And a Little more cowbell now......

2008-09-10T19:36:00.000-07:00

So,

Everyone knows I love "a little more cowbell". Because frankly "there aren't that many songs that feature the cowbell". But now you can make every song have the cowbell and possibly a little more Christopher Walken. Check out this site:

http://www.morecowbell.dj/

Here are some of my fave tracks:

Zelda 64 Pachelbel's Ganon OC ReMix

Hello, Goodbye - The Beatles

It's totally worth it I promise.............

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Vegan Shoes (an observation)

2008-09-06T21:54:00.000-07:00

So,
Today I was in a store on south main. A girl next to me picked up a pair of some pretty funky looking shoes. To which the sales clerk exclaimed, "ooooo those are our vegan shoes". Now, I'm not sure, but I think that the idea is that these shoes she has selected "have not been eating any animal products" (Ann Lerch). In which case..............MY SHOES ARE VEGAN TOO!

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Slytherin House

2008-08-28T18:55:00.001-07:00

As many of you know, my new school uses the house system. A system in which all students and teachers are placed on house teams so they compete for the Mulgrave House cup. Teachers award points to students they feel are doing great things. Every house has a house captain from grade 11 and 12. Conviniently the house colours are as follows: Yellow, Red, Green and Blue. If you would like to learn more about our house system you can do so here.

In Theory each colour represents a different nobel prize winner. I was placed in Michael Smith aka Green House aka Slytherin House. And I'm pretty happy about that. Thank goodness I didn't get placed in Whinston Churchil aka Yellow House aka Hufflepuff.

Michael Smith is also very a very interesting person. "In 1993, Dr. Michael Smith received the Nobel Prize for his development of the technique of site-directed mutagenesis, a technique which allows the DNA sequence of any gene to be altered in a designated manner." (ubc faculty biography) This is pretty freaking cool if you ask me.

But let's be honest, I'm basically working for Hogwart's. Apparently there is a personality that goes along with each house. I'm looking forward to finding out what I have in common with a mutagenisist.......

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Madonna: Fug edition

2008-08-28T00:10:00.000-07:00

As you know, one of the site a greatly appreciate for daily humor is Go Fug Yourself. I find their articles incredibly honest and I agree with most of their opinions. Sometimes they hit the mark perfectly. Today, I saw the following article there:

Fuggy and Fug Tour

Oh my god, Madonna:

WE GET IT. You've REALLY been working out. Your muscles are amazing. You could crush a man's skull with your quads. Every day, you crack walnuts in your arm pits. You have managed to do what Cher could not and actually turned back time. You're now biologically a 24 year old professional male rock climber who just moonlights as a popular pop star (the positioning of the mic is a bit much, by the way). You are a creature unlike any other and will never age, we promise. Now, will you PLEASE PUT ON SOME PANTS?

Brilliant!

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New Job

2008-08-25T17:05:00.000-07:00

I started at my new job today.

Today at work I recieved the following:

A new tablet computer
A wealth of information regarding how to get into the school and use its resources properly
Information regarding my future and retirement savings
A timetable
A lesson on technology (the guy seriously told us to shut off our computers and turn them back on again when we were having problems, and to be sure the computer was charged and plugged in before they came to help us)

And last but not least,

A few very HOT distractions to look at.........
I think this is going to be a really great year.

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25,26,27,28

2008-08-23T15:10:00.000-07:00

okay so when I was away/having issues setting up internet services I read some more books. My original intent was to read all of the chronicles of Narnia. Unfortunately I don't think that is going to happen any time soon. Thou I did read the first three:

The Magician's Nephew

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

The Horse and His Boy

Due to several reason I will not be reading the rest of those books for a little while

Then I read:

The Astonishing life of Octavian Nothing............Part 1: The Pox Party

I liked this book but found it a little disturbing. I'm not certain that I will read the rest of the series when it comes out but we will see. At this point I think I might be able to reach a number very close to 50.

My only question is: Will I win a prize if I win the contest but don't reach 50?

23 and 24

2008-08-03T02:40:00.000-07:00

For the sake of time and the lack of anything really great to say:

23. The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett

24. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer

Needless to say, I liked both books but for different reasons.

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Crocs/Holey's Revisited

2008-07-21T23:15:00.000-07:00

Several months ago, I made some comments on my least favourite shoe: Crocs

But I am here today to recant my position for a limited audience. Although I still think that all people that wear their Crocs for comfort look like they "mugged a dutch clown" (megan, twitter 2008) and they give the wearer the worst tan lines ever. I will admit that Crocs could be adequate footwear for paddling sports such as kayaking and canoeing. I also think they make a nice lightweight alternative for hikers in camp (as they let your feet breath after the long day of walking, yet keep the sand and dirt off your feet). Other than that I stand by my position that they are a terrible form of footwear. It appalls me that the makers of this product are producing "new" styles to reach a different market. Most people don't want a "Mary Jane" dress shoe in fluorescent neon orange rubber. I can just see the people from "what not to wear" tossing those hideous things in a garbage can in years to come.
Just wait......Next thing we know they will be producing Croc high heals......OH NOS.......

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Cathy's Book is no. 22

2008-06-27T21:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I was in Vancouver this week and without a book, so I picked up a cheap teen book. It was funny, I actually laughed out loud. Too bad the ending totally SUCKED. The back informed me it would be very "Veronica Mars-esque. And yes, it was until the last 10 pages. I don't want to ruin it for you but..........Basically the book leads you on to believe that there is something really sketchy/interesting about Victor (Cathy's boyfriend/ex boyfriend). The lead character wanders all about the San Fransisco China town meeting unique characters and picking up clues. But in the end it gets all sci-fi. Which is weird because the rest of the book totally doesn't lead you down that path. It was like I was watching a totally hilarious episode of Veronica Mars (ie season 1 or 2) and all of a sudden during the climax of the plot Lt. Sculley arrives to inform the main character that her boyfriend has special powers.........WTF??????? To be frank, I think the author just wasn't creative enough to provide an adequately exciting conclusion to all the clues.

NOTE TO SELF: DON'T READ CHEAP TEEN BOOKS.

PS I with never get those 3 hours back............

21!!!!!

2008-06-22T16:44:00.000-07:00

I DID IT!

I finally finished ready the entire Harry Potter Boxed Set. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is complete. Although I liked the book, there were some minor problems with it. These being, it's a huge stretch to think Dumbledore is Gay, the book was too long (I personally could have cut out about 300 or so pages, pages that included a return of Harry's emo behavior and the supposed "gay chronicles of Albus Dumbledore") and the whole "19 years later section". But other than that I an enjoyable read.

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Caspar

2008-06-18T21:23:00.000-07:00

So...........

Usually, in a school year I have several moments I choose to share with the general public. I had so many small moments last year, I had to start a quotes board. I chose to evade the quotes list this year for several obvious reasons. But I would like to share one of my favourite moments.

It begins in the last 5 minutes of Global Foods 11:

My students usually stand by the door in preparation to be able to leave early. Thou I have never permitted an early departure. This class is particularly rotund. I have 34 students in this block. Of my 34 students, 2 of them are exchange students. German exchange students to be exact. Caspar has been in Canada all year, Daniel has been in Canada all month. You might expect this comment to come from Daniel, someone who lacks the slang prowess, but no........this is a story about Caspar.

Caspar is at this point also waiting by the door. Across from the door is a small broom closet. Caspar trying to be cute, gets into the closet, closes the door behind him and emerges with a "heeellllloooooo.......". Of course, the rest of the student start to snicker, because Caspar just "came out of the closet".

Being the great teacher I am, I explained, "Caspar.................you basically just said you were gay via slang". You might wonder why I opened this can of worms, but trust me in this class students in the class would have told him exactly what I did, but in a much much much ruder way. To this Caspar exclaims, " I'm not gay............I'm just returning from Narnia!"

We all laughed, hard.............................

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20!

2008-06-11T20:55:00.000-07:00

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

This has to be my favourite book from the series thus far. I hope book 7 is as fantastic. I have begun reading it for the first time.

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19/50

2008-06-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

That's right! I finished another book!

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend

It was a lovely, witty, fantastic book. It reminded me of the voice of Alice I think. This book was highly recommended to me by the person with which I'm having the battle royal of literature. She was right. It's a great book. I completely plan to read more of the books in this series.

On another note. I am down to 3 books at once, which means I'm almost reading like a normal person.

And on yet another note: I finally found a place to live in North Vancouver. For the last 2 weekends I have journeyed over to the land of North to look at suites. It was such a fun time (note serious sarcasm here)! You would think people have a clue about what it should cost to rent something based on the quality.......................but no..............................they have no idea. All I have to do now is figure out what I need to get rid of in the next few weeks. Pawning off on friends time has begun........Let me know what you want.........cuz I have stuff to get rid of...........my new place is a one bedroom in a nice quiet part of town.

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18..............

2008-05-28T22:03:00.000-07:00

I have now finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I seriously wonder if I have read this book before. I thought I had, but upon reading it, I realized that NONE of the information in the book seemed remotely familiar. NONE OF IT! Irregardless, that makes my total 18. I'm beginning to think that I could possibly reach 50 books by the end of this year.

Another one for the "Best" Album Covers Ever

2008-05-18T11:21:00.000-07:00

Really? For Reals William?

Why would Ben Folds arrange this for him.............................why? why? why?

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17

2008-05-18T01:47:00.000-07:00

Now that the musical is finally over, I can resume my reading at an incredible rate, will I reach 50?..........who knows???????

Specials - Scott Westerfeld

The uglies, pretties, specials trilogy was good, I wonder if the 4th book of the trilogy will be as good. I hear it isn't but Im going to read it anyways.

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PS. Im not crazy, there is a forth book, it's called Extras................................

16

2008-05-12T23:51:00.001-07:00

After much hype and anticipation, I read the book "Freakenomics". Unfortunately I didn't really find it as controversial and stunning as I thought it was going to be. Although I did find it pretty interesting and I learned some things about real estate agents, the KKK and naming children.

I don't think Im going to join a book club to discuss it, but in any case, that is book 16..........is it possible for anyone to reach 50, I'm beginning to wonder.

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I GOT THE JOB!

2008-05-11T21:40:00.000-07:00

So,

After a whirlwind week, I can finally announce that I got the job.

What job you ask?

Well, If you didn't know after a great year at my school on a temporary contract, my school district is reconfiguring. The long and the short of that is: there will be no more middle schools, so all the middle school teachers with more seniority can bump other people. And seeing that I have NO seniority, I have unfortunately lost my position to someone else. At least it is someone I really respect and I know that my students are very blessed to have this person next year.
I may possibly been able to keep a position in the district, but because they CUT grade 7 band. I am officially out of a job in this district.

So, I started looking for a job.

And on tuesday I got one.

Now this isn't just any job. It's at an IB school, private, and the students at this point look absolutely fabulous.

Needless to say I'm really excited. I will have to move to Vancouver (not really that sad about not having to ride the ferry unless I really want to).

if you want to check out the school go to:

www.mulgrave.com

You should also be excited for me too!!!!

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15 Yah!

2008-04-29T20:10:00.000-07:00

For about 10 seconds I began to think that I could actually reach 50 by the end of the year. But then I remembered that the number was 50!

So in the mean time:

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
is numbero 15

Take that neigh sayers of the Battle Literature.

It might be awhile until you see another book finished, I'm currently reading 6 books at once. I don't know what quite possessed me to do this, except several books I have been meaning to read from the school library all came in at once. Due to the fact that I'm uncertain of the school to which I will be employed next year, the time is now to read those books. A few of the books are quite the tackle (i.e. Guns, Germs and Steel), but I know I can read them all by the end of the year.

Wish me luck!

Unless of course your name is Ann. If your name is Ann and your my competition for said "battle literature"; now would be a good time to shake in fear.

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14

2008-04-24T23:34:00.000-07:00

This book is now in my top 10 best books ever.

A Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Live the Bible as Literally as Possible
by A.J. Jacobs

It's a long title, but worth every page.

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Welcome to the Procrastination Station!

2008-04-23T20:26:00.000-07:00

So,

I'm at the school right now.........................doing my marks. Marks are due in T minus 12 hours, and I'm about half way finished.

This is NOT GOOD...............................

I think the procrastination station may have gotten the better of me this time, because frankly I'm in real trouble here and I don't know what I'm gonna do.

I don't even have a good excuse, like "I'm sick" or "A seagull crapped on all my marking".

I should really be getting back to it. But here I am posting on my blog.

The problem isn't the course marking, its the entering of the dang marks into the computer. When a course has 4 grades in it each grade is listed separately. So I get to re-imput the same assignment into the computer 4 times. I know you are thinking........................you teach band and foods, how long could that take....................but with that I have 16 different classes to put in.

I'm going to be here all night.

Okay, I'm going now to get back on the marking train.........................

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P.S.
Go check out www.dooce.com . Head down to the third post and watch the video...........basically it is only funny if you know what a bidet is, but it you do..................................it's well worth the 35 seconds it takes to watch it!!!!

Lucky 13

2008-04-13T21:24:00.001-07:00

Pretties - Scott Westerfeld

We missed a very important quote:

2008-04-07T17:15:00.000-07:00

I missed one, I don't know how this was possible. We used it quite often.

Hot like/cold like/cheap like/tastes like................................................borsht!

Yah, pretty funny!

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Costa Rica Trip Quotes

2008-04-05T19:48:00.000-07:00

So here they are!

The Costa Rica quotes are available for your enjoyment. I think you will have no problem figuring out who said what...........
Unfortunately, unlike the KVR quotes, these ones are not nessessarily in chronological order. Ann blames the heat, which might be true. So here they are. Enjoy!

Wanker boy
Security SSSS!!!!!
El Indeciento/La Sportif
What state are you from?
1,745.00 colones to La Fortuna = street cred
Coca Cola Station Ai Yai Yai
Two itineraries
tarting at Fortuna
Kate 1.5 years = h-core
casita/camping
wrong rainforest, chieftain with humidity
mad spanish skills
olas!
bus-boat-jeep
swedish family
soda
typical and tipical
cacique drinks = all the same at happy hour
pickpocket
cigarette on volcano
moose jaw
tired!
i need to lean against my doily
money
Telescopio Gigante!
American Perros
Dogs: Hercules, Hernan Cortez, Don Pedro, Nero, Consuella, Lloyd the Log, Perros
El Lezardo
Huei, Dewie and Lewie go to the Olympics
Gay Dads
L.A. 3rd Wheel with Cartier Lifetime Bracelet
The Tragic Tale of the Likely Failed Proposal to Victoria by Bill, in three acts
failing at spanish
cross-country in one day, El Banjo!!!!!! (not who you think)
Tortilla Flats, yum, but where is la cuenta
Supermercado!
coconut flask
it'll be cheaper in San Jose
pipa and naranja at the "campground"
Brian
hurricane in Monteverde, the casita almost fell off the cliff
"ginger people always block the view"
buying mangy dogs to take home = bad. Note: Ann may steal a kitten.
nighttime jungle walk to villa
activities = no, self-guided tour=yes
cristal
termite chilkoot pass
ants in pringles
lizards on walls
nip slip in front of american school group
true meaning of gringo
"my book says...."
cano island
tico boyfriends
training wheel surfing - we stood up
The Waiting
indicisive lady
"Oh, we met in the Hamptons"
"ooh, I should post that on jailbait's wall"
Nicaraguan Husband
"Its not burning, so its not acid, so I think I'll be okay"
"Why no boyfriend, why no husband, why not mother? Por Que"
Gunshots in the jungle
"There is NO waterfall"
San Jose Fan Boy Emporiums

Well that's "It"
Have any questions????
Feel free to ask away.

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and even dozen!

2008-04-05T11:26:00.000-07:00

I have finally finished:

Truth, Love and A Little Malice

I will post the quotes from the Costa Rica trip as soon as I have them......... someone else has them in her journal and is refusing to relinquish them to me. She says she is too busy to do it because she has some sort of busy job like being a lawyer or something.........excuses, excuses....................................... ;-).

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9,10 and 11 too!

2008-03-29T09:11:00.000-07:00

Over my fantastic holiday to Costa Rica, I managed to read 3 more books; bringing my total to 11. The books I finished are as follows:

Uglies
The Street of a Thousand Blossoms
The Thirteenth Tale.

Stay tuned for some interesting quotes from the trip..........

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8

2008-03-10T21:25:00.000-07:00

A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini

Ann was right; this was an excellent book. I actually had a hard time putting it down.

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