August 2007

“I have no reason to leave… Life outside this apartment is meaningless. Life inside the apartment is meaningless… But my pyjamas are here…”
–Larry Appleton, Perfect Strangers, Season 6, episode 3.

Chief executive officers of big U.S. companies earned roughly as much each day last year as the average American production worker did in 12 months

Read the rest, here.

I have finally decided on the Christmas gifts I’m making for my nearests and dearests this year.

Yeah, I know. It’s August.

K actually inspired me when she mentioned her own Christmas-related project on WNET a few days ago. I’m not making anything related to what she’s doing but the fact that she’s working on these things already made me realize that if I started very soon I could make attempt this project and potentially have it finished by December.

Assuming I start now, some people’s item will be finished sooner than others’ and, well, then we run into a HUGE problem. Or two, actually.

The first problem is my concern that I’ll only get a few of these things made and then Christmas will roll around and SOME friends will get this super-neat gift and others will not. I thought I could prioritize the gifts but then I realized that since I’m only making them for a FEW people, there’s really no fat to trim from that chunk o’ meat.

The second problem is that I find it REALLY difficult to keep anything a surprise for that long. Once the first one is finished I’m totally going to want to give it to someone. At the very least, I’ll start hinting about it in such a way as to cause the other person to ultimately guess what it is. Then I’ll sulk about how the surprise is no longer a surprise.

So what I’m saying here, in case you’re having problems following along, is that I’m going to start making Christmas presents NOW and some people will probably get them in September. The rest of the people will be lucky to get them by 2010 because, let’s face it, I’ve got the attention span and dedication of a drunken gnat.

I’m swiping wifi from the neighbours … Ours is on the fritz so to speak. What will I do when they move away in a few days?!

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Your assignment in the coming week is simple but tricky: Take devalued ideas or trivial objects or demeaning words, and transform them into things that are fun, interesting, or useful. Here are some precedents to inspire you: what the punk movement did when it made safety pins into earrings; what gays did when they mutated the insulting term “queer” into a word of power; what the resourceful TV hero MacGyver did when he put powdered make-up into a confetti cannon and shot it at evil CIA operatives, temporarily blinding them and allowing him to escape.

(Freewill Astrology.)

I already added a link in my sidebar, but thought I should mention it here… SYLVAIN HAS A BLOG!!!

I had something to drop off at Andrew’s house this afternoon – a place I’ve never been! – so I called to get his exact street address. His wife told me that there was a closed road nearby and that getting to their driveway might be difficult – but I assured her that I’d be just fine with my trusty GPS and her address.

Tapping in the street address was easy enough, and I followed that by noting that there was a road closure on a specific street. The GPS accepted that, recalculated and then gave me the revised route.

And I made it to Andrew’s house easy-peasy. No wrong-turns, no problems, no issues at all.

After unloading the car, I hit the “navigate home” button and.. back home again!

Holy crap, this GPS thing might be the best invention EVER for someone like me. No stress whatsoever, no squinting at a sheet of paper (or pulling over to consult a map) – just get in the car, tap the address, and GO.

God Bless Technology.

Michael Cook is a writer, photographer, and urban explorer based in Toronto, where he also runs a website called Vanishing Point. Despite its subject matter, however, Vanishing Point is more than just another website about urban exploration. Cook’s accounts of his journeys into the subterranean civic infrastructure of Canada and northern New York State – and into those regions’ warehouses, factories, and crumbling hospitals – often include plans, elevations, and the odd historical photograph showing the sites under construction.

Read an interview with Michael Cook HERE and see some wickedly beautiful pictures, too. Or visit his blog here.

A few days ago (a week, maybe?) I felt really unwell.

I had, as noted here on the ol’ blog, a rather unhappy tummy that was causing me much angst and pain. After the BIG symptoms went away (nausea, upset gut, slush-guts and headaches) I just felt wobbly and not-quite-right.

Even yesterday my gut was feeling moderately unhappy – I’ve been eating carefully and avoiding certain foods.

I was hoping – begging, really – that the whole thing wasn’t being caused by a flare-up of my otherwise reasonably well-behaved ulcer.

On reading the CBC’s list of recalls and advisories today, I noted that the Mastro brand of salami was being recalled due to a suspicion of salmonella.

And that, my friends, answers all my questions about the upset gut.

The previous day, I had eaten three slices of said salami before giving up due to a “strange taste”. I, uh, fed the rest to the dogs. Clearly they have stronger guts than I do – neither one of them has blinked an eye in the face of those cooties.

While I could be upset by the salmonella in my belly, I’m just too friggin’ happy that it’s not my ulcer. I mean, REALLY HAPPY.

Never in the history of my existence have I been happier to have salmonella.

UFC last night was most excellent – Melle, Andrew, Dan, Coffee and me, all giddily shouting and eating chips and drinking beer and smoking weed and otherwise being rowdy while a bunch of hot sweaty men rolled around in a ring and made each other bloody.

WHAT MORE COULD A PERSON ASK FOR IN AN EVENING?