Changingbooth

2012-02-04T20:51:00.000-08:00

hmm so i've got this thing now with watches... i bought this casio off ebay because it reminded me of the omega down below. because i dont have 3 thousand something lying around i spent $70 picking up this bad boy! woot.

h-

I plan on adding a dark tan leather strap with a crocodile pattern to it, with a deploymest clasp. something that looks like this.. i haven't found the right one on ebay or amazon. i'd really like to get it somewhere nearby, but i guess i'll place an order for a 20mm strap and clasp sometime this week. shouldn't be more than $50 combined.

i'm gonna try to take more photos with my canon s90 cause carmen and i have a photo frame project. i think it's like 9 picture frames set up in a 3 x 3 box and we'll put photos of friends family and the city in it. we'll keep it black and white. i think the camera will be up for it.. i took the top photo with it... not as clear as i thought though a little too much noise for my liking.. mm maybe i'll need something with a bigger sensor.. blah but that stuff costs $$.

anyways...
later days!

ninja edit, heres one more haha

Gonna save for this :d

2012-01-07T04:15:00.000-08:00

i figured out which watch i'm going to save up for now. i've had a weird fascination in the past few months trying to figure out which is the right watch for me. I dont want something to blingy... that's what the rolex is for :D i want something low key, with a stylish sophistication. Nothing outrageously over the top like you see most people are wearing on the wrists nowadays that are just huge blingy crazy.

The watch i'm going to save up for is the Omega Speedmaster Professional "Moonwatch".

and doesn't really give off a pretentious vibe I see in most high end watches (i think the price range is probably like $3400-$4400 for the clear back). known for being NASA certified and used during the Apollo missions, back in the 60s-70s, and it's use in james bond films haha. the modern version we see omega selling these days has an updated wind-up movement with a different set of crystals that we used to see back in the day when this watch first came out

i'm not really too familiar with the movement inside the watch... i mentioned this watch to Vedran and he has a really nice fake that his girlfriend at the time got for him in asia. i'm really disappointed i didn't discover this watch sooner, or else I would of gone looking for this watch too feed my need haha.. i'll just buy a real one sometime next year I guess :)

I see a lot of watch collectors obssess about the movements of their timepieces... i dont really understand that fascination in time keeping.. it would be interesting if you could see the movement through crystal lenses, but you normally can't unless you buy a crazy turbillon watch which is pretty much a piece of art. i think the speedmaster is pretty customizable as there are 18 different models for the moonwatch.. one of the models comes with a plastic crystal (wtf) backing which shows the movement..

I can't really explain why I want this watch, other than i'm drawn to it's simple design yet.. i dont know, whats the difference between this $3000 something dollar watch and a $100 something seiko.. other than the speedmaster would still work on the moon. haha..

anyways i think the face is like 4.3cm's or something which would make it roughly the same size as the rolex which would be purrrfect.. there's a couple of different styles with a leather strap.. i think i'll just buy a strap and clasp but go with the stainless steel chain, that way i can swap it out if I ever feel like changing the style for a special occaision.. or if i'm wearing a jean shirt which i find myself love wearing nowadays..

Later days!

Secrets

2012-01-04T01:47:00.000-08:00

Lots of lies and secrets being thrown around right now. I'm not liking it.

Day 3

2011-12-17T16:31:00.001-08:00

gonna keep this one pretty short.

I made friends with this guy named nate in the main pool yesterday. It was me him and carmen in the pool as the monsoon started rolling in and a little bit of rain wasn't going to stop me from getting my swim-on.

nate was really nice, we talked about life in paris (where he lives), and how it was a big change from when he lived in Minnesota. Apparently french hospitality doesn't extend past to outsiders. For example, people who work with each other rarely go out for drinks outside of work for happy hour. Also no one knows each others neighbours.. everyone just keeps to themselves. Another not very publicized fact was the amount of rain in Paris. He tells me all it does is rain there, so the typhoon didn't bother either of us.

His wife looked parisian and had that kind of french attitude haha, but he still invited us over to his tree top canopy villa at the verrrry top of the hotel. baller.. hopefully i bump into him again, it was really fun talking to him.

Carmen and I ended up going around to d'Mall again and it was much more fun. I ended up eating garlic rice and calamari with ink sauce (my lips were all black by the end of the meal). Carmen had this delicious fish in chips, with bread batter and oh my it was very delicious. The mix of the salty garlicy dish with her dryer crispy fish was a very good combo. I ended up eating a lot of hers too which i feel bad.. haha there was some awkward parts where I didn't even know I was eating so much of her dish. poor carmie thought i didn't like my own.. bah they were just so good together. oh well :)

we spent some more time shopping around and bought a bottle of Moet Champagne for like $2200 pesos.. so like $45? ish~ pretty good deal haha..

we ended up bringing back the moet to the room and a bunch of junk food (like these cheese twists, chrispy m&m's and cup noodles) and eating and getting really drunk..

Today we try and find some traditional Philippino dishes and go try out that fine dining italian resteraunt on the resort. That's gonna be expensive :x whatever i'm excited to see what kind of food they're offering, and fine dining with carmen is one of my favourite things to do.

bonus picture

Later Days

The Chi Experience

2011-12-16T16:46:00.000-08:00

Day 2 at boracay was more relaxed. To be honest I really had no idea what kind of experience it would be. In my mind I was thinking more of what Mexico was like during the all-inclusive resort. With Mexico it was more an excess of anything. You want beer? Sure no problem here’s a case. Food? Hell yeah, here’s a 24/7 buffet. The experience I went through, I realized the Shangri-La Boracay Hotel is more like an excess of luxury.

I started the day off in the gym at 6am. After passing out, I quickly shotgunned a bottle of water and made my way to the gym. It was a really odd experience.. if you’ve ever done Bikhrams Yoga before, they stick you in this little room like a sauna and you sweat your ass off while you’re doing Yoga posses (I’m sure there more to it..). The only difference between this gym and Bikhrams was that all the doors were open. After about 45 minutes I decided to head back towards the room. Turns out there’s a Korean wedding being held this weekend. Carmen and I noticed there was an excess of Korean people in the hotel and was like what the… very odd… you just don’t think Korean people would hang out in the Philippines a lot. I came back into the hotel room to find Carmen still sleeping away, so I fucked around on the computer a bit, until my stomach started growling. I couldn’t take it anymore so I ordered in room dining..

Breakfast was $40 I think.. fricken worth it. A part of me is thinking “what the hell, this the Philippines… I pay $40 for breakfast in Vancouver!”, but at the same time I remember we’re in the Shangri-La.. oh well good thing I saved up a lot.
After breakfast we take a shuttle into town. On the way there Carmen gave a face like D: “damn so ghetto” look… it’s really surprising the difference 0.5km out of the resort can make… I felt really lucky.. we ended up going into this street market area called d’Mall. There were a lot of shops that lead down towards the beach, and a bunch of little restaurants lining the beach. We ended up eating at this place called Epic which separated Site 1 beach and Site 2 beach. The different sites kind of separate the areas… so Site 1 has all the nicer hotels and Site 2 the lower ones, and it goes down all the way to Site 3.

Luckily Shangri-La Boracay is located past Site 1 on their own private beach. Haha.. we walked around and did a bit of shopping but honestly not very much stuff to buy. I ended up buying a pair of flipflops for $10 but they were womens billabong ones cause none of the mens flipflops would fit me properly  WHATEVS I DON’T CARE THERES HEARTS ALL OVER THEM.

We came back and met the Chief Concierge who hooked us up with a complementary speedboat ride to the resort and back, and we were trying to book para-sailing and the scuba sea-walk. He told us there was a typhoon coming, so we should just try again tomorrow to see how the weather was like..

Typhon you say… hmm.. I guess we should just go check out the Chi spa. I gotta say, HOLY SHIT, I’ve never been so relaxed before.

We paid for a 45minute head and shoulder treatment. I got my but rubbed a bit and all the other parts gone over with the massage… I didn’t realize how fast 45 minutes goes by when you’re in total and utter bliss… Carmen and I were in the same room while we were getting our massages.. she told me afterwards “I heard you snoring -_-.. you didn’t like it did you?” and I was like “haha no.. that was me going AHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhh” while he was working on my back.
Gotta find some time to go back there before we leave and do a foot and hand treatment o god yes. /megusta.

For dinner we went to this clifftop resteraunt in the hotel, which was beside these cabana’s that overlooked the cliff. The cabana’s were basically platforms with a bunch of cushions on them overlooking the sea. Because of the typhoon though, they didn’t want anyone down there. So with sad faces we sat at the bar.. We saw some other people going, psht it’s not raining right now fuck that shit and went down there anyways. We were like -_- damnit… the fuck, and went in to the resteraunt for dinner. Man I was so full… I think half way through the dinner I just wanted to go nap. Haha, but I knew we had to take advantage of everything as we don’t have too too much time here.

Halfway through dinner the lights went out. Like total pitch black, and everyone was WTF. The waiter told us the Shangri-La uses the most electricity on the entire island. It takes 10 seconds for the back-up generators to go up… At the end of dinner, the Food and Beverage Manager came out and told us we get a friends and family discount (thanks to Carmen) so we saved some money on that  I have to say the lobster we ate was the most delicious I’ve ever eaten 
We went out to the bar for more drinks and dancing, and Carmen fell in love with the philippino singer at the bar who sounded like james blunt. I got a bit jelly but that’s ok haha -_- whatever screw that guy. His voice is devine though, motherfucker.
Anyways its time to start day 3,
Later Days!

Gonna get so FAT

2011-12-15T15:18:00.000-08:00

too many haters on facebook, so i'll just blog from good ol' changing booth about vacation times :)

I woke up in vancouver at about 6:00am because dad needed to drive me to the airport before he went to work. That left me with about 6 hours to burn before my flight takes off at 1pm in the afternoon. I ended up making friends with a lady named Jen who works as a dishwasher @ the whitespot for $10/hr. She had to commute all the way to surrey so she was an hour early for her shift. She hates it, and one day she's going to save up for her own van and start a cleaning buisness. Hopefully she gets the job cleaning at VIA rail, that way she can actually have a chance to see something and not be stuck in the city all the time. I hope Jen gets a break soon. She looks like she's mid 40's and has a crooked nose and wart on her face like a witch. Really nice though, I shared my ipod charger for her so she could watch youtube on her ipod touch.

I ended up checking in at 930 when the ticket booths opened. I met another person named Edmond, who stayed in Vancouver for about a year studying English @ douglas college. It was his first time flying by himself, as I assume his parents helped him at ICN (Icheon international airport?) to fly over here. I showed him how to use the electronic e-ticket machines and we both waited in like until 9:45 to check our bags. We were first in line, and by the time we got checked in, there was about 20 people waiting in line behind us. Unfortunately, his checked bags were overweight, and he had to go pay some more money. I never ended up seeing him at the gates when I boarded the plane. I really hope he got there in time, as it would suck if his shit got flown over and he missed his flight..

the flight to korea was pretty uneventful. I flew with Korea Air and I gotta say, the service was really really good. I was surprised they kept giving me free booze and wine the whole trip haha. I made myself a bibibap for lunch and ate some beef dish for dinner. I got a chance to read 3/4 through American Psycho, giving me some awkward boners at certain points. That booked is fucked up, ill have to find some time to finish it on this trip lolol.

Landed in Seoul pretty much on time, and walked around the airport a little bit. LOTTTS of high end shops, and lots of really good looking people. I started to imagine which girls had plastic surgery done, because everyone there looks so plastic. I ended up eating this tuna kimchi soup with rice @ the food court, and drank an asahi. The whole thing cost me $15 which made me go :(

I had a chance to check my mail, and turns out carmen was running late, and her checked baggage was overweight too. She made last call for boarding and was waiting somewhere in china, before being flown to Manila. She was afraid she'd have to stay in Manila for a long time, as one of her transfers was changed. so instead of an hour wait for me it might be 4-5 hour wait in the airport.

Flying from Korea to Manila was uneventful, and i passed in and out a couple of times and watched a few movies. We finally landed and I had to make it through immigration and pick up my luggage. As I walked towards the carosel I saw a really really good looking girl on the other side of customs. Turns out it was carmie and i was like daaayum gonna hit that later woo woo in my head. ahhaha ANYWAYS, it took another 30 minutes for my bag to finally pop out as I assume my bag was at the VERY VERY back seeing as I was the first one to check my shit @ vancouver.

I pass through customs and drop my stuff and Carmen and I hold each other for a few minutes :) it was one of the best hugs i've ever had. We made our way to the free shuttle service to connect to terminal 3 in Manila international. It took probably 15 minutes to get there, and we stopped by terminal 2 and 4 before our stop. Terminal 2 was really nice, but terminal 4 was a peice of shiiit. it was so sketchy lol.. when we arrived to terminal 3 it was much better.

IT was about 12:30am local time and we had to get some rest. I watched our stuff for most of it while carmen curled up on my lap and snoozed.. I think i've been awake for close to 34 hours now and I'm not sure why i'm not sleepy... we end up going upstairs to go check our luggage and it's 5am. There are like 300 people in line. I wly as like.. what. the. fuck.

it took about 45 minutes of navigating to finally reach the check in booth, and we managed to pay $80 to get carmens really big bag checked in. I'm really glad because we were initially going to keep it at a luggage storage facility in the terminal, and it would be such a pain in the ass to go get it and stuff. I'd rather pay... Carmen said her mom's saying of "If it's a problem that money can solve, it's not a problem". I like that saying, although you need money or else your fucked haha :)

We fly towards caticlan in a crazy bi-propeller plane. We land and walk over to the small terminal in Boracay and we see two guys dressed in red gowns with a black sign with gold words saying "Shangri-La". They welcome us and gather our bags and shuttle us off to the staging area of the dock. Walking into the staging area was kinda like 'woah this is pretty sweet'. they served us juice and told us to sit on these big lounge chairs while they got the speed boat ready.

i've got some video of the speed boat ride, it was pretty fricken sweet. the wake from the speedboat (cause it was going so fast) would make such big waves, pretty much owning all the little sail boats and dingies that we passed.

We arrive to the Shangri-la and explored and ate and napped by the beach and the pool for a little bit, and we decided not to do too much as I was pretty fucked in the head at this point. I started feeling really dizzy and hazy and needed to sleep ASAP.
sleeping at night was pretty bad and had to take some tylenols.. i woke up this morning feeling much better. I think i slept for a solid 8 hours and fit in a 2 hour nap here and there. Can't wait to go exploring today and buy some cheap tanktops and shorts. Can't wait to eat a of yummy food.

Hopefully i'll have some more interesting things to write later.

Later Days

2011-12-06T11:57:00.001-08:00

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”
Robert Heinlein via Lazarus Long, Time Enough For Love

2011-12-02T00:06:00.000-08:00

posted this up on the sofakings forums to help some buddies out on finding more places to shop online... i'm pretty sure i've got some stuff wrong on there but i wrote it in like 5 minutes ha. have a read. You fashionable people out there, help me find some info to help myself and my friends (that are boys) take better care of themselves in the comments. :)

Later days

Howdy folks,

Welcome to the internet. You might recognize me in such films like Windows ME and CS 1.6. This weeks episode goes over online shopping tips that i've picked up over the years.

Let me share with you guys the jewel of online shopping called

http://www.asos.com

some things to note here, asos is based out in the UK but they offer FREE WORLD WIDE SHIPPING. the only kicker is you will get NAILED by customs if you order more then 1 item. It's really hit or miss with getting dinged on customs. I've ordered 10 seperate items in one go before and nothing was hit with custom fees. On another occaision only ordering 4 items I racked up a $70 net customs bill. You win some you lose some. I'd start off slow and just order one item and you can build up from there.

The great thing about shopping online is that you get to see a lot of brands you don't normally see in stores around town like

-superdry
-gstar
-diesel
-jack&jones (they're starting to show up in j2 stores and boysco but are ridiculously overpriced).

another nice thing about this online store is that there is a WIDE variety of clothing options here. We're all growing up and are developing more sophisticated styles, so if your interested in widening your fashion pallet, have a browse through their sale sections.

asos has their own clothing brand too, which is comparable to H&M. A real thing you see on this website that you don't normally see on others, is that on some of the clothes, it will tell you what size the model is wearing, just in case your unsure. Also if you don't know how it will look in real life, most (if not all) clothes on here have a video of the model going down a runway to see how the piece of clothing fits.

tldr: http://www.asos.com UK based, free shipping, custom fees only orders over 1 item, lots of sales, cheaper brands ($) like H&M type clothing to higher end ($$$$) like J.Lindeberg, Paul Smith, and Alexander McQueen

Next weeks episode is we'll look at different styles of pants (NOT JEANS) that can be worn casually or in a more professional environment, and other blogs that you can use to influence your wardrobe. As hockey players we have bigger seats (larger legs, and butt muscles), so it might be bothersome finding that clean fit we try to achieve.

Feel free to post in this thread, I know Andy does a lot of shopping online, to ask questions or add content.
i'm contemplating x-posting this onto my blog @ http://www.changingbooth.blogspot.com hmmmmm mehmeh

Empty

2011-11-21T22:18:00.001-08:00

Needs Carmen. Home isn't complete without her :(

Later days

QWERTY still #1

2011-11-15T01:49:00.000-08:00

I've had the iphone 4 for about a year and a half now. As much as I love the ability to jailbreak it, and it's beautiful camera, it has it's quirks here and there.

As a phone itself, it's okay as the antenna isn't the strongest out there. Apparently it's fixed in the new iphone 4s. The new Siri option for the new iphone 4s which at first seems very handy, is still a bit awkward. With legislation going towards a cellphone-less future in cars, hands-free options become more valuable.

But at the end of the day, the iphone 4 keyboard just doesn't cut it in the messaging department. As much as I hate to say it, i'm missing Blackberry's beautiful qwerty keyboard, and fantastic word prediction algorithms. I find myself each day finding typing a hassle, especially when we want to type properly. autocorrect is still a bitch.

i'm not sure if it's just because I dont want to upgrade (and lose my ability to jail/break and have an unlocked world phone), and they might of fixed this issue with a later version.

i'm honestly thinking of making the switch back just for the QWERTY physical keyboard. i've seen the new blackberry bold 9900 that matt lee has and *whiiiiistle* is she a beaut! i haven't been able to play with the software or web-browser, but to be honest, all the browsing i do is using the map, reading anime, and uploading photos.

I think it's time to change up my phone next year, and as much as the iphone has been great for me, at the end of the day their touchscreen keyboard can't replace the feel and speed of a blackberry qwerty.

Especially with a new 2.2" touchscreen, you get the best of both worlds, in a sexy sleek device.

Later Days,
Jay

2011-11-10T21:48:00.000-08:00

i fucking hate report writing. piece of shit course.

25 page report or comparing and contrasting a single project on how it can become more sustainable? are fucking kidding meee, it should only be like 3 pages lonnng. what the fuuuck.

woo woo

2011-10-24T16:42:00.001-07:00

so road to work today. new leathers feel great and keep me nice and warm in 7 degree weather. placed the gopro in front of the bike facing me. have to fiddle with the exposure settings, but here's some screenshots of the video on my commute to work.

I'll try and get some more footage on the gopro and play with Adobe Premier Pro a little bit so I can get efficient at it. I want to make a sweet vacation movie that carmen and I can look back at when we're feeling down haha

How to fix your face after getting hit with a puck.

2011-10-22T23:24:00.000-07:00

> Step 1) don't tell Carmen, after half a year of her telling you to buy a cage.
> Step 2) cover gash with hockey tape and paper towel
> Step 3) clean cut in shower by running water through it. No scrubbing to prevent tearing more skin tissue.
> Step 4) apply polysporin and attach first butterfly strip an close the wound.
> Step 5) add more butterfly strips until satisfied with closed wound.
> Step 6) ???????
> Step 7) profit with some johnnie walker.
> Step 8) post it on your blog so Carmen can read it in a few days so she doesn't worry too much as by then I'd have gone out and bought a proper face cage.
>
> Disclaimer: pull your wound and see if it tears easily. If the cut is deep you should go see a doctor within 8 hours of opening the wound to prevent major scarring. In my case the gash wasn't deep enough to warrant stitches. Plus it barely bled.
>
> Second disclaimer: don't take this as an actual advice if you bust Ur face open. Lol

2011-10-19T12:29:00.000-07:00

Ah shit cats outta the bag. I guess it went to my mobile blogger account instead... I was planning on forwarding that invoice to my email for when I picked up my stuff in point Roberts. Haha and yes I still use that email :P

Everything fits perfect. The jackets a bit big but that's so I can layer underneath for the weather ATM. Thinking of riding to work right now hmmm maybe next time.

FW: Invoice from Sportbike Track Gear

2011-10-19T07:16:00.001-07:00

> From: andrew@sportbiketrackgear.com
> To: s2upid@hotmail.com
> Subject: Invoice from Sportbike Track Gear
> Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2011 10:57:52 -0400
>
> ***SHIPS TODAY***
>
>
>
>
> Dear Jesus Lu :
>
> Your invoice is attached. Please give us a call if you have any questions.
>
> Thank you for your business - we appreciate it very much.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Sportbike Track Gear
> 888-784-4327

2011-10-08T01:46:00.002-07:00

wow

2011-09-22T09:55:00.000-07:00

Random picture of the new car on site

2011-09-16T18:25:00.001-07:00

Live at Wembley 1986

2011-09-05T19:37:00.001-07:00

only like 2-3 of the songs unfortunately haha :) still cool to watch!

Benching

2011-08-30T14:34:00.000-07:00

Part 2
And this is what the benching looks like inside the manhole. In this case the picture is of the proposed manhole.

Sanitary manhole

2011-08-30T14:32:00.000-07:00

So sanitary mains don't have bends. The only time you see them bend is if they go through a junction, I.e a manhole. If you want to connect to an existing manhole you gotta drill a new hole and create a new benching (basically a swallow kind of thing which is indented at the bottom which directs the flow).

Anyways this picture shows the guy coring through an existing manhole and connecting to the proposed one.

Rocks

2011-08-30T14:23:00.000-07:00

Soooo been sittin in the shade for most of the afternoon watching these guys wait for the coretech guy to come and drill some holes in the sanitary manhole. Took a picture of my feet and it turned up pretty nice. It's not Facebook worthy so it goes on my blog :P

Vedran is back from Europe and he's gonna come out on Friday with me when Carmen goes and celebrates her coworkers birthday. Can't wait to hear his stories of debauchery :)

2011-08-28T21:27:00.001-07:00

good quotes deserve to be reposted

"nobody will ever love you quite the way you want them to. You just have to let them do their best."

yum

2011-08-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

so i went to go look at a motorcycle this afternoon in Surrey from a Craigslist/BCSB seller and it went pretty good.

he's asking for $5300, he paid $5600 when he got it back in 2009.. with 27,000km.. it's a 2003 GSXR 1000, and it's about $800 too expensive. I saw some oil leakage/weaping from the cylinder blocks, and abunch of gunk on the bottom of the fairing (which leads me to believe it's losing a lot of oil). the wiring was split on one of the harnesses connecting to the rear lights that i noticed, but other than that this bike was fucking mint. Fairings we're absolutely perfect, and it was a special race edition, which explains all the stickers.

I told him i'd want my mechanic to view it etc etc, and i'd get back to him tonight.

I'm probably just going to text him and say the price range isn't what i'm looking for, and the oil weaping around the engine is a bit of a concern for me, and good luck with the sale. if he wants to let it go for $4500 feel free to contact me.

oh baby

2011-08-25T01:14:00.000-07:00

something about this bike just makes me go crazy. it's just like.. "YES..."

$38k. /drool

follow the picture for more bike pr0n

Beauty

2011-08-22T17:26:00.000-07:00

repoooost, but so good :)

UNnnnNNNFFF

2011-08-18T16:28:00.000-07:00

SO GOOD.

From the Japanese shop House Rockers, based in Japan. The bike has been thoroughly upgraded, with performance to match the no-nonsense stance. The motor has been rebuilt with a Wiseco 836cc engine kit, a polished and ported head, and big valves. The cam and crank are both forged race items, and the carbs are Yoshimura-tweaked Mikuni TMRs. A nine-inch oil cooler takes the heat away, and the stainless steel exhaust is simply a work of art. There’s aluminium all over the place—including the oil and fuel tanks, battery box and side covers. The frame has been heavily reinforced, and House Rockers has also upgraded the suspension with Kayaba components at the front and Öhlins at the back. The cost? Around US$38,000.

Fuck there's something about that stance that kicks ass... man so cool

2011-08-03T14:11:00.001-07:00

Fitness regime starts tomorrow! No more wonton noodle soup or pop. Healthy veggies and sammiches and cut out fried foods with a double dose of excersize!

2011-08-02T22:55:00.000-07:00

i absolutely give up. this is ridiculous. the front panel speakers wont work, but the mic works. the back panel speakers work but the mic wont work.

tried 3 different drivers, 1 of them came with the fucking motherboard!

fuck ECS, never buying it again. argh, so stupid too, should of just picked my own parts. I know i shouldn't hate on this but I trusted vedran to look into this shit when he bought the parts. it's fucked though because he's got the same motherboard and processor and from what I understand all this shit is fine. the parts i picked for travis' computer and when i put it together works fine too. fucking fuck fuck.

fuck.

im tempted to just burn $300 and get a new motherboard and processor. fuck

2011-08-02T21:58:00.001-07:00

damn. crashing more than ever now. gonna have to return this asus stuff

Sound Cards

2011-08-02T19:22:00.000-07:00

Fucking it's so frustrating sometimes.. for the past year and a half this sound card has been giving me grief. for a $100 card you'd expect it to be pretty good right?

I swore i'd never but another ASUS sound card ever again (the model in question was the ASUS Xonar DX 7.1).

Anyways there was a 4 month period where I took it out on the desktop and it was running smooth as butter.. I realized though my microphone input wasn't working and playing video games wasn't as enjoyable when you can't trash talk or tell your buddies what the plan is.

I went and picked up another ASUS sound card.. this time a cheapo ASUS GX (for like $30). I realized I didn't plug in the front audio jacks and cleaned up all the wires in the case. I'll keep the other sound card for safe keeping if someone needs one.. i have no idea why it doesnt work :( sigh hopefully this fixes the issues.

Later Days

woot

2011-08-01T23:50:00.000-07:00

played a round of golf this morning with Marco and 2 of his buddies. The first two shots went straight into the pond. I was so emberassed.. i think I shot an 8 in the first hole.. I was just about to give up haha but Marco told me to keep my head up and I probably just need to warm up... hopefully.

Anyways on the second hole i took the big dog out and hammered it down the fairway. I ended up shooting a 55 in the front 9 and then a 44 in the back 9, shooting a 99 overall. phew.. still not bad for the first round of the season.. putting needs some work though.

Marco is going to sell me his old nike bag for $30, because mine is broken :(. He got a set of custom Taylormade Iron set for like $500... they're usually like a $1000 bucks haha gezz.. that guy sure can find deals. He wants a matching golf bag to go with it. Too bad he's selling his clubs to his other friend or else i'd take em. my $80 craigslist set is good enough for me :) his putter is sexy though.

Speaking of deals he told me about the RBC rewards points and that they put the Samsung Galaxy 10.1" tablet for 16,000 points. I think they fucked up because the ipod nano is going for like 23,000 points, and the samsung galaxy tab is pretty new and is going for like $500. So i picked one up, with an ipad dock.. which was 10,000 points.. maybe i should of gotten 2 galaxy tabs and just sold the other one.. damnit wasted points now.. doh

New whip

2011-08-01T23:37:00.000-07:00

My new car :)

2011 Honda Accord Coupe EXL.. my inner ricer wants to get some coilovers to lower it down an inch or two, and get some 19" rims on there.. i photoshopped this picture with some VOLK Te37's on them and I think it'll look real clean with it :) maybe sometime next year i'll put em on.

feels good

2011-08-01T20:55:00.001-07:00

to be rid of the neon :)

i watched tron with yannie and will at brandons house a few days ago, and there's this part in the film where Sam the main character goes into his dad's old office which is an abandoned arcade. He walks over and uncovers the jukebox and turns it on playing this awesome song..

anyways got it on my ipod and blasted off a few minutes ago in the new car and just felt awesome with the sunroof open and the speakers just blasting. haha, time to get an awesome playlist going with this song at #1.

2011-05-24T00:36:00.001-07:00

complacency isn't rewarding, risk and positive change is rewarding

2011-05-03T00:04:00.001-07:00

omg so hungry.. i want..

tweaked my back like 10 minutes into the my hockey game.. played the whole way through and scored a goal.. god damn it hurts to sit. gonna lie down and hope it's okay tomorrow morning ~_~

2011-04-19T12:23:00.001-07:00

omg want

Handsome nerd t-shirts

De ja Vu

2011-04-17T22:44:00.001-07:00

Full moon outside. Walked towards to back yard and noticed mary's front porch light was left on. It's never left on. Gave me a kinda eerie feeling.

Pure Sex

2011-04-14T10:56:00.000-07:00

Oh boy oh boy i'd love to get my hands on a bike like this.

Kawasaki Clubman w800tr custom by LSL (modified Kawasaki w800).

Wallpaper

2011-04-14T10:25:00.001-07:00

new wallpaper to put up later. wouldn't mind having a print of this one day to hang up in my own place haha, i really like it.

Artist: Leonid Afremov

http://leonidafremov.deviantart.com/gallery/

Models

2011-04-14T01:00:00.000-07:00

maaaan these pictures makes me want to build models again. so cool :|

of course i wouldn't have the patience or skill to do anything quite like this right away.. man too cool

2011-04-14T00:46:00.000-07:00

haha these guys are fun to watch sing

Ready!

2011-04-09T18:20:00.000-07:00

Out to dinner with the family.

I CANT READ YOUR MIND

2011-04-09T01:00:00.001-07:00

Communication is the foundation of any successful relationship.
Communication is the foundation of any successful relationship.
Communication is the foundation of any successful relationship.
Communication is the foundation of any successful relationship.
Communication is the foundation of any successful relationship.
Communication is the foundation of any successful relationship.
Communication is the foundation of any successful relationship.
Communication is the foundation of any successful relationship.
Communication is the foundation of any successful relationship.

2011-03-30T14:01:00.000-07:00

pfft. never going to get those hours back.

Thought of You

2011-03-21T22:09:00.000-07:00

Watching things like this makes me want to draw/sketch more :)

Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.

Love

2011-03-21T13:28:00.001-07:00

Love is not a feeling, but a choice. You choose to interact with someone. You chose to get to know them, to be open. You chose to trust, to be trustworthy. You choose to make heroic efforts for the sole happiness of another person, or apathy. You chose to help, or to hurt. You choose whether to be together, or apart. You chose to love someone, or not.
Yes, feeling is not an inconsequential part of a relationship. There are moments when you feel your heart race, purely because of that person. There are times when you feel never interacting again, for all eternity, would be too soon. There are times when you feel nothing. Yet in those moments of happiness, or hate, or oblivion, you can still chose to love.

-luckstruckhavoc

Note to future self:

2011-03-14T10:56:00.000-07:00

Invest in construction companies in the case of mother nature taking it's wrath out on vancouver (and hopefuly I survive)....

i.e. japan auto industry stocks drop (range of 3-9%), tens of thousands of units of lost vehicles (new)... and construction companies up 37.2%.

shieet.

autoblog article

2011-03-13T17:18:00.001-07:00

Not bad

2011-03-05T21:16:00.000-08:00

For a $20 show :D

2011-03-05T19:19:00.000-08:00

At venue fucking wasted

Andys bday night

2011-03-05T17:03:00.000-08:00

Start the night off right!

Toyota FT86 II Concept

2011-03-01T09:29:00.000-08:00

So the second iteration of toyota's rear-wheel-drive sports coupe was revealed earlier this morning in Geneva.

This was the only angle that didn't make me go

I feel pretty disappointed.. i've been lusting after this vehicle ever since I heard it was coming out. It's just something about the past supra's and celica's that make me go MMMMMMMMMM Toyota, wishing them come out with something sporty and sexy.

The thing that really irks me about this concept is the god damn LED fog lights on the nose.. i know that will never ever make it to production (because they're shoting for sub $25k base right? probably gonna be $30k in canada pfft bullshit..)

I hope the final product design is a mix between bat-mobile up above, and the FT86 I Concept. An artist rendition below (taken from ft86club.com
)

as for now.. Subaru is also designing their own rear-wheel drive sports coupe in conjunction with Toyota's (Subaru is responsible for the engine)... no word on what it's supposed to look like, but here's another artist's rendition below.

Here's a comment I really agreed with on ft86club...

It has weird proportion, but acceptable. Just don't change it anymore when it hit the market. If they want to change, they should make it more conventional. Style is meh now.

Anyways the car is still about 2 years away (my guess is the end of 2012, with a production model release at the 2012 tokyo auto show in January).

Press pictures below.

Follow the discussion on the forums.

Dolce and Gabbana Mens 2011 Fall Collection

2011-02-23T22:44:00.000-08:00

so jumped over to style.com and checked out the collection. I've gotta say first, I have no idea what i'm talking about, but I absolutely dig what the models were wearing.

I think this is one of my favourite shots of the collection, which sums up a lot of the designs seen in the entire show.

I'm not going to try to analyze any of this because I don't really know what to say, other than I think the suspenders are cool as hell, I love how the pants fit loose at the top and slim-down, with the large shiny dress shoes (what do you call those? clunkers? hahaha bleh), with a great looking hat to top it off ;)

the white cuffs and over exposed forearms strike me the most, and is what I love the most about the photo below.

Take a look at the rest of the 2011 fall collection here

edit: spent the last bit of my night taking a look through Moschino, Marc Jacobs, Giorgio Armani and Missoni's 2011 fall collection, and I still have to say Dolce and Gabanna's collection is my favourite by far.

edit2: I just realised D&G and Dolce and Gabbana are different? hmmm D&G must be the ready to wear line and Dolce and Gabbana must be the couture line.

See D&G's 2011 fall collection here. Damn that's colourful.. like the hightops and graphic tees. Reminds me of those old comic books where it reprints in dots.

bah

2011-02-22T22:42:00.001-08:00

haha i think if I end up getting a pair of boots from asos.com i'm oing to grab this sweater too..

can't get enough of superdry :\

edit: SHIiiiiiit. i feel like i need to buy new clothes now. damnit. time to do some shopping. hmmhmmm.. i want to wear more shirts. like dress shirt kinda things. and more vnecks, and lighter materials (makes me think of spring and hot summers for some reason). lalala.. boop bleh.

i just went through gstar website and browsed the crooks and castles to hmm..

2am over here, better go to bed :\

boots

2011-02-22T22:29:00.000-08:00

sooo shopping in toronto sucks, it's basically all the same shops as Vancouver.

So online it is...trying to find some rugged leather boots from asos, here's a couple that caught my eye. (click photo for link).

i really like these ones.. I wonder if a size 7 UK would fit me.. i'll have to take a look at my white superdry canvas shoes i have at home and see what size they are. I really like how the sole is destressed, but the leather doesnt look really beat up like other Gstar boots i've seen.

Next up, a boot from G-Star. Not much here other than the cool look strap that goes behind the heel of the shoe. Really like the texture of the leather, and looks clean.

Another boot from G-star. "Cinch Wahed Suede Boot", really like the heel and toe, and overall shape of the boot. Honestly really really like this one, with only UK10 left, probably way too big for my 8-8.5US size feet.

Having loads of fun with Deena and Ray this week.

Later Days

2011-02-19T14:42:00.000-08:00

Test my email app fucking is on the fritz

Lol

2011-02-19T05:24:00.000-08:00

Fucking security guard stops me at this check point. "Toronto?" ..... "yeah". "turn around 1 minute that way take a left. Starbucks."

Ok.... Lol I don't want fukin Starbucks old man. Sat down confused and then he's like lol there's nothing here yet. What a donkey. I'm gonna try to get past this goon.

edit: so go up to the "check point" so weird.. they've posted the wrong gate number on the boarding pass. i'm going by the flight number which is WS586 (to toronto.) on my boarding pass it says Gate 52, but i'm currently sitting at gate 50. Anyways security guard was more helpful tha anything. He's since moved the checkpoint blockade thing away, so i'm watching my fellow passangers take a long long walk down to gate 52 only to realize it's the wrong gate # and walk back.

Gonna be listening to Enders Shadow on my iphone after a bit of browsing on reddit. Man this laptop with 82% charge only has 52min of battery. What a funk.

I should install skype now. My skype username is s2upid.j2 (so obscure and hard to remember bah).

edit #2: update done. skype installed. Time to read some reddit and get some shuteye. ended up pulling an all nighter ha.

Empty

2011-02-19T05:18:00.000-08:00

5:17am empty terminal. Passed all gates

2011-02-18T19:43:00.000-08:00

You can't tell from this pic but the moon is crazy big right now. Must be the depth of perception or some crap like that.

Toronto tomorrow funnnn

Sleeves

2011-02-09T23:16:00.001-08:00

lol i've just learned not to roll up my sleeves.... kinda sorta.

65 things

2011-02-08T16:23:00.000-08:00

65 things a man should know about style

If you can slip two fingers between your neck and the buttoned collar of a new dress shirt, the shirt will fit comfortably after laundering.

The shirt placket, the belt buckle, and the trouser fly should all line up.

Speaking of belt buckles, the point of your tie should never fall below it.

Rent no clothing.

Ninety-dollar shoes last half as long as $180 shoes, but $360 shoes will last you your whole life.

Three-hundred-sixty-dollar shoes will not last your whole life if you break their backs by refusing to use a shoehorn.

Three-hundred-sixty-dollar shoes without a shine can look like $90 shoes.
Women notice shoes.

They also notice nose hair; so should you.

Good shoes and a good haircut matter more than a great suit.

Neckties decorated with cartoon characters, golf tees, or the paintings of dead rock musicians coordinate with nothing.

It is never acceptable to loosen your tie, except during the process of its removal.

You are in your car an hour each day; you are in your clothes from morning to night. Spend accordingly.

The seat-belt shoulder strap goes under your necktie.

You can't wear a bow tie with anything other than a tuxedo if you're under forty-five or not a famous novelist or not a total geek, professor.

Very few people want to see you in compression shorts, and those who do might not be your target audience.

Likewise tight, black leather pants, Mr. Bon Jovi.

A $250 shirt will look like a $25 shirt if it is professionally laundered instead of hand washed.

Still, you will be happiest if you regard dress shirts as disposable.

By the way, this blue-shirt craze is getting really tiresome.

Buy the lightest-weight tuxedo you can find, because dancing and drinking and scantily clad women cause formal affairs to become overheated.

One ring, maximum. On a finger. Not from college. Not from high school. Silver or platinum, not gold.

On airplane trips, briefs are more comfortable than boxers, as contents may shift during takeoff and landing.

There are no bargains.

A man in a good suit and tie looks chic; a man in a good suit without a tie looks more chic.

A man who uses the word chic had better be kidding around.

A man in a suit without a tie can wear loafers; a man in a suit with a tie cannot.

Ed Bradley doesn't look as good with that earring as he thinks he does.

Jack Nicholson can wear two-tone spectator shoes only because he is Jack Nicholson.

It is far better to arrive at an event overdressed than underdressed: People will think you've got somewhere more important to go afterward.

Cheap cashmere is less soft and more fragile than expensive wool.

A T-shirt that shows through a dress shirt is the male equivalent of visible panty lines.

Do not wear button-down collars with double-breasted suits.

Do not unbutton double-breasted suits, Letterman notwithstanding.

The only thing worse than wearing socks that don't cover one's calves is wearing patterned socks that don't cover one's calves.

If you lose one cuff link, remove the remaining orphan; this will make it look as if you have insouciant personal style and omitted them on purpose.

Keep a lint roller in your office. And in your car.

A good suit treated well shouldn't be dry-cleaned more than twice a season; a good tuxedo treated well should never be dry-cleaned.
Unless you're a quarterback, never wear anything with your name and/or number on it.

Jeans should never meet an iron.

What you find at an outlet store is what other people refused to buy or what a company thinks you will buy because you're the kind of person who shops at an outlet store.

Khakis religiously worn on Fridays are no less a uniform than a business suit worn the prior four days.

Nonetheless, you can never have too many khakis. Or white heavyweight-cotton T-shirts or canvas tennis shoes. For Saturday.
Numbers to remember: one half inch of shirt cuff; one and a half inches of trouser cuff; two inches more belt than inches on your waist.

Your belt and shoes should match in color, if not in material.

Speaking of color, there is little use for pink, peach, or teal.

It's not the name on the label or the numbers on the credit-card statement but how good you look in it.

Even Al Gore shouldn't wear a watch with a built-in calculator.

Like cars and stereo equipment, clothes are not really 'invest-ments,' because they cannot appreciate. They're clothes.

It's more important in a man's daily life to have a good tailor than a good doctor.

Clothing salesmen can change your life in a good way, but not many of them.

Two elements of style that will last longer than any man who is smart enough to own them: a sterling belt buckle from Tiffany and simple cuff links.

A restaurant meal tastes better when you're wearing a suit coat.

Band-collar shirts make you look either stupid or like a priest or like a stupid priest.

Whether a tie is too fat or too skinny should be decided by you, on a tie-by-tie basis.

When in doubt, ask a woman.

Know that she will often be wrong, too, and that ultimately a man is alone in a vast sea of indecision that he must ply.

Never trust a fashion magazine. CelebrityTrendZ is not a fashion magazine. CelebrityTrendZ likes you very much and is only trying to help.

Cigars are never stylish in mixed company.

If you hang your jacket on a chair and then sit on the chair and lean back, your jacket will look as if you had hung it on a chair and then sat on the chair and leaned back.

Drape your scarf on that chair and you're going to lose it, and we are not your mother.

A black knit tie coordinates with jeans and a blazer as well as it does with a French-cuffed shirt and a custom-made suit.
Levi's.

Deep in the heart of the Middle West, some people are actually wearing those baggy, printed workout pants again, and you owe God your deepest thanks that you have the presence of mind to not be among them.

The most important thing about selecting a hotel is the ability of the staff to press a shirt instantly, anytime, day or night.
First suit: navy solid. Second suit: gray solid. Third suit: navy pinstripe. Fourth suit: gray chalk stripe. Fifth suit: black. Sixth suit: You need no sixth suit.

To have absolute style is to break absolute rules - sometimes even these.

There is no foot pain so severe, no dress shoe so fragile, no commute so arduous, as to justify the sartorial holocaust that is wearing sneakers with a suit.

Unless you have a harelip or happen to be Wilford Brimley, you look exactly half as attractive with a mustache. (I disagree with this one! - Nick)

Background Information on Egypt

2011-02-03T23:32:00.000-08:00

By Noor-Aiman Khan, PhD
Department of History
Colgate University

Egypt has about 80 million people and is the most populated Arab country. It is the
second-most populated African country. The per capita income is about $5,500, but the
income gap is very large, with the vast majority of people living on about $5 a day. It is a net exporter of petroleum, but not a major one. Many Egyptians work in the petro states or the West and send money back for their families. The three largest sources of hard currency in Egypt are tourism, the Suez Canal, and remittances from abroad. The literacy rate is between 60–70%, pretty good for Africa. About 85–87% of Egyptians are Sunni Muslim and 10–12% are Coptic Christian. Egypt receives 1.3 billion in military aid from the United States.

Despite being technically independent since 1922, Egypt has never experienced a real
democracy. It was under British colonial control until the Free Officers Revolution in 1952. Since Nasser and the Free Officers were pretty popular, the time is often looked back on nostalgically, especially by the lower classes, but it was a military government.

Since Nasser’s death in 1970, Egypt was ruled by Anwar Sadat until he was assassinated in 1981, and since then, by M. Hosni Mubarak. Upon coming to power, Mubarak instatedan Emergency Law, which suspended many constitutional protections and basically gavethe state complete jurisdiction for anything falling under the category “security.

Presently, there are no guaranteed rights to privacy, free speech, assembly, press, or even a trial. Although there are a number of members of the judiciary who have tried to maintain its independence from the state, they are regularly thwarted and often removed or worse.

The political party that controls the country is the National Democratic Party. Other
parties are allowed but kept weak; the Muslim Brotherhood is technically banned but still the biggest party in opposition. When the elections are relatively free, they carry about 20% of the votes. There are periodic “elections” for a parliament that has no real power, and Mubarak, now 82 years old, is “re-elected” regularly with more than 90% of the vote. Recently, it has been clear that he expects his son Gamal to be “elected” to succeed him, although there has always been a chance that another military strongman will take over.(Gamal is not from the military.) Among the major contenders are Omar Suleiman, who was just named vice president; Ahmed Shafiq, who has just been made prime minister, and Sami Annan, the Army Chief of Staff, who recently visited the United States.

Why are Egyptians in the streets protesting?
First of all, they want a real democracy. No one is fooled by the “elections” that just play musical chairs with the people already in power. They want real choices. Yes, many want the choice to vote for the Muslim Brotherhood. But that has not been the major theme in these protests, and in fact has been less important than anyone expected. The real issue is that the people want fair and free elections with all choices on the table. They want what most Americans want here.

Protesters also oppose the use of torture by the police, whose actions are protected by the Emergency Law. Abuse by police has become endemic to the point that no one expects not to be tortured if arrested. And the reasons for arrest can be as simple as not moving quickly enough out of the way of a police officer. People disappear and die in police custody on a regular basis, and if the “arrest” is for a supposed “political crime,” there is very little the family or even lawyers can do. It is estimated that there are close to 10,000political prisoners in Egypt at any given time. See “We are all Kahled Said” on Facebook for more on the issue of torture in Egypt.

Thirdly, protesters oppose corruption. It is almost impossible to get anything done in Egypt without knowing someone or bribing someone. This is prevalent at every level of society. You need to bribe government officials to run a business, get a permit for anything, avoid a trumped up fine, get or keep a public sector job, or even get a driver's license in fewer than five visits. Education is supposedly free, but government schools are so bad that only the most desperate will send their children. For example, the average class size of a 7th grade Arabic-language class in a public school in Cairo (according to my sister-in-law, who is a teacher) is about 70 students. The only way to pass the national tests is to hire private tutors. Health care is also expensive and corrupt. You literally have to budget about 25% of hospital costs for an operation for “tips” so that nurses and doctors will help you. Private care is better, but no less corrupt. Neither nurses nor teachers are paid a living wage, so it can be said that without the supplemental income from tutoring, tips, or bribes, they might be better off begging in the streets. (Fact: a high
school teacher’s salary after 10 years of experience is about 400 LE/month in Cairo, plus about another 1500 LE twice a year as a bonus after the testing season. The salary doesn’t go far, as a kilogram of beef is about 60LE today. Roundtrip fare using overcrowded public transport from a slum to work might run as low as 20 LE/month.

Living conditions are deplorable. If one is lucky enough to afford to buy a flat, the first thing to do is check the plumbing. Usually, it is so bad it has to be torn out and reinstalled — and this is in the case of a new building. (Everyone knows the plumbing installed by the contractor will be defective; it would be cheaper to not have it in the first place, but someone had to do that work in order for someone else to get their cut from the financing agency in the government.) To install a new pipe the flat owner must pay at least three different people bribes to get the paperwork to do it “legally.” Oh, and make sure to have the forms in triplicate; someone will demand an original “to check” and then there will be a fee to pay to get it back. Buildings literally fall down in Egypt all the time — How can quality codes be enforced with this kind of corruption? The list goes on.

Connected to the corruption is the bureaucratic inefficiency. It takes hours just to pay an electric or phone bill. Getting a copy of a birth certificate will require a full day off of work, trekking to multiple offices, plus the bribes. And the bureaucracy can’t be avoided, because everything needs government pieces of paper. (Then there’s the Eagle Stamp, which some call the “vulture stamp,” held by only one trusted flunky per government office.)

A personal example: For my Egyptian driver's license I needed to go to the Interior
Ministry to get a stamped copy of my marriage certificate to prove I was Egyptian
(though I am married to the Egyptian whose name is on my Egyptian passport, which I
had.) Next I went to the Foreign Affairs Ministry to get them to translate the marriage certificate, and then to another office to get it stamped. Then I had to bribe someone to say I had driven a stick shift for the test, because my own car was an automatic. Then I was told I couldn't put my degree on the license (occupation is listed on these things) because it was from the United States. Despite having a Fulbright to Cairo University and all the documentation from the Bi-National Commission, I was supposed to take my degree to the Ministry of Education to get it endorsed, and then do another set of acrobatics. I decided it was easier to be listed as “uneducated” on the license.

Another example: My sister-in-law was born on Feb. 4, but the certificate of passing high school has a mark on it so it looks like Feb. 14. After weeks of going between various government offices to get this fixed so that her college degree would be registered correctly, we finally gave up. We made a mark in front of the 4 on her birth certificate and enrollment paper. So now her birth date is the 14th. It’s easier to forge than to correct a government mistake. Imagine this kind of rigmarole for every bit of paperwork. The rich pay poor people to stand in line for them!

Finally, the protesters are fed up with poverty. Prices have risen over 12% in the past few months, but food has risen the fastest. Meat has gone up 23%, sugar about 30% and tomatoes even more. In a country where most of the population spends about 50% of its income on food, this has been devastating. People can’t put food on their family, as “W” would say. Yes, things are tough everywhere, but they are very bad in Egypt, and the government is spending billions on weapons and the security apparatus which protects them from the people more than it protects Egypt from any external threat. Plus, the fat cats in government and their “private sector” cronies are very visibly flaunting their illgotten gains. The gap between the rich and the overwhelming majority of poor is huge, but now the middle class is shrinking quickly — sliding down, not going up. There are thousands of luxury housing units going up all over Cairo while the majority of the people are packed like sardines in tiny apartments with deteriorating infrastructure. “Let them eat cake” is the government’s attitude.

If all the above sounds exhausting, it is. Living like this has led to a sense of desperation and humiliation for the Egyptians. The people really believe that their kids have little chance of having decent lives in their own country. Common people feel they are denied basic dignity, they have to “yes massa” every time they deal with any representative of the government, or anyone with marginally more power in this corrupt system than they have. It is soul-destroying. I wept when I saw the crowds refuse to back down from the security services. So did almost every other Egyptian I know, including those —like me— who were not born to Egypt but fell in love with it and its amazingly generous, kind, and — it turns out— brave people.

So who do the Egyptians want in charge?
Good question: why don't we let them vote on it? Realistically, it will take at least a few months to arrange for free elections. Until then, Egyptians will accept a transitional government they trust to turn over power to a new elected civilian government. They might even trust the military to do it, but I don't think so. The two most-trusted people by the masses are probably Mohamad al-Baradei, the former head of the IAEA, and Amr Moussa, the head of the Arab League. Amr Mousa is very popular; al-Baradei is more well-known abroad. Maybe another figure will appear. Opposition leaders such as Ayman Nour would probably not want the job, as they would want to run for Parliament.

Could elections be held fairly?
I don’t know. Egypt does have some reliable figures in the judiciary, but I personally would prefer international observers. Would the Egyptian masses? Again, I don't know. Most Egyptians I know distrust international organizations and are very leery of threats to their country's sovereignty, perhaps for good reason.

What should the U.S. and other governments do?
Support democracy. The people are actually quite clear. It’s time to stop supporting
dictators who are not more reliable than a free people. And it’s time we stopped thinking our foreign policy and economic concerns should be more important to other countries than their own. As for the economic aid, that’s for U.S. interests —the freely elected leaders of the U.S. can decide what to do about that. But, we can’t buy Egypt anymore.

Comfortable

2011-02-03T11:22:00.000-08:00

now that i'm more motivated here at work, things are going smoothly...

maybe a little too smoothly.. i'm feeling way too comfortable and I don't want to just sit and stagnate my development professionally.

i'll have to use this as motivation for myself to start kicking more ass and taking names.

KEEP THINGS EDGY. AMIRITE?

lol anyways thanks to vedran for the pep talk.

Later Days

2011-01-30T19:59:00.001-08:00

sigh at work still. bah.

2011-01-29T00:31:00.000-08:00

Empty train on the way home...

2011-01-27T17:23:00.000-08:00

Hehe lex was so ugly 2 months ago

2011-01-27T17:20:00.000-08:00

Looking through my photos while waiting for a haircut. I like this picture ^_^

2011-01-27T17:19:00.000-08:00

TP'd chris' office and put a blow up doll for his birthday. Also put

2011-01-20T17:18:00.000-08:00

Vedran fucked with my mouse pretty good so I fucke with his keyboard when he went home.

Vedran sux

Fuck telephone help centers

2011-01-19T11:25:00.001-08:00

jesus christ.. spent the last 20 minutes trying to get an appointment at my local branch about opening a direct investment account.

1st guy transfers me to their phone department i'm like no i want to be in front of someone

2nd lady does the same thing

3rd lady i'm like excuse me, I don't want to be transfered I want to make an appointment in my branch. Can you do this for me?

she's like oh i'm sorry you shouldn't have been transfered around like that, here bla bla bla.

she gives me a time and date, and i give her my phone # and right at the end my phone cuts out.

/rage. so i'm unsure if she booked it for me or not...

i'm just gonna show up at 1pm tmr lmao.

Later Days

find of the day

2011-01-17T12:50:00.000-08:00

And I thought chemistry wasn't very intersting :o

2011-01-16T14:32:00.000-08:00

Hot pot 2 nights in a row!

I bought my tickets to Toronto ... Should be fun! I got a new jacket and a fuzzy hat as a present <3

I'll post up pics in a bit.

Holy fuck this hot pot is so spicy.

Car Negotiations

2011-01-15T12:17:00.001-08:00

soo i was reading this online on bcsb and i'd post it up here for future reference when i'm purchasing my car :)

Do not accept the line that there is NO money to be made by the dealer on new cars.

That is an absolute load of crap... no business operates on a 5 or 10% margin.

If there are any incentives from manufacturer, those need to be taken off the final negotiated price, not off the msrp.

If you are not getting 4 figures off the msrp price and end up paying doc fees and the like, you are not a good negotiator.

Never pay cash on a new car, always take the longest term financing in their office... and pay the loan out a week later if you like.

Don't pay any attention to free ipods, tv's or bbq's. If they are throwing that in, great, but focus on negotiating the price of the car and nothing else.

Do not sit around for hours in a showroom haggling with managers back and forth. Tell them you have 20 minutes to make a deal and if it's not done then you are walking out and won't be back. Make your initial offer low, if they tell you they are insulted or it's not even possible. If they aren't insulted or telling you there is no fucking way, you have offered too much as a starting point.

Too many people buckle to the "we don't make much money on a new car" and end up with either nothing off, or free floor mats or some bogus deal like that.

When you re offer, go in small increments, not big amounts... and NEVER write a deal for a car for anything other than XXX value for car + tax. No levies, no fees, no this or that. x FOR CAR plus tax. Let them back it out and figure it out, they are experts at it, trust me. They may come back with each offer with XX price plus tax plus doc fee. Immediately cross it off, after it goes back to the manager 3 or 4 times, they will get that you aren't caving on that. I've looked the sales guy in the face before and said "I'm not paying those fees no matter what. Tell your manager if he sends it back with fees one more time I'm out of here". Never had it come back with fees after that.

If you are reasonable and firm, you will get a fair deal. I find the car that I want and then I just randomly walk into ANY dealer that has that car, and tell them I'll buy the car in 15 or 20 minutes of their time if the deal is right. Never give a deposit, it is not necessary. Just ask to see the manager, tell him you will buy the car today if they accept one of your offers, and shake on it, that is always good enough.

And pay as much deposit when you are able to with your visa that has points on it, so you get dough towards your vacation points or whatever. They will all accept $2000 from my experience, some as much as $5000 on a new car

Figure out what it will cost you to buy it out of the USA and use that as your barometer for how good the deal is. If you can't get it for an equal price, tell them you are going to buy it new out of the states and head for their door. See what happens. They may let you walk, their loyalty department may call you with a special incentive.

My friend had the same deal with Mazda 2 weeks ago on a loaded crossover vehicle. He walked when they told him they couldn't do anymore off the price. Next day mazda loyalty at their head office called him and offered an additional $2000 corporate incentive off the vehicle to get him into a new mazda. He was thousands off the msrp before that.

Car sales is not very good right now, if you don't get the deal today, they'll be calling you to come back again. I have personally never gone back, if I leave, I am out of the deal, and I make that very clear with them if they aren't prepared to take my final offer.

And last but not least, be prepared to NOT buy that vehicle if the deal isn't right... and go buy something else. Just don't get sucked into dealers that own multiple dealerships. For example, West Coast owns like 6 dealerships in my area. If you say, "I'm gonna go over to Ford"... they will just call over or send an e-mail, and the other dealer already knows the situation and your negotiating situation. So hit dealers that aren't owned by the same business owners.

post #2 in response to: Why you dont want to buy a car with cash

Some good examples.

In the case of 0% financing, cash will get a better deal because they can back out the cost of finance from the vehicle cost. That is about the only example where it is true. But you have to realize that 0% financing doesn't contribute profit on the vehicle sale to the dealer.

Take the $2000 incentive. Here is how it works at most dealers.

"Sir, the car is $22,000", our promotions are $2000 cash incentive and 2.9% for 3 years, 3.9% for 4 years, 4.9 for 5 and so forth to 7 years".

The average person sits down and says, okay, "I want a cash deal". Which instantly reduces dealer profit on the car. You are telling them, "you aren't making any money on me from financing".

Let's look at a scenario for a $22,000 car you are going to offer $1000 less on. They have a $2000 cash incentive offered. This is what it may look like;

$22,000
- 2,000
---------
$20,000
You offer $19,000 CASH and they accept. You pay $19,000

You offer is accepted at $19,000 based on the dealer making x amount of profit on your cash deal.

What your deal should look like is this;

$22,000
offer of $21,000 *not net of incentives* (put that on your offer)
financing to be approved at 5.9% for 5 years. You pay $19,000 (net of rebate).
The dealer makes money on the financing and has accepted the deal.

My point in that exercise above is to show you which one is more profitable to the dealer. The second scenario is. You say, but Bandito, you still paid $19,000 in both scenario's.

The answer is, you won't. In the second scenario, you will be able to negotiate a lower price with the dealer making the same profit. They might operate on a margin of X on each car sale, and when they get paid money from financing, they have more room to lower the negotiated price of the vehicle to maintain that magic margin number they have pegged for the operation. If by signing you up to financing for 7 years at 5.9%, they may get $1500 from the finance arm for doing that deal. That means your actual negotiated price can be $1500 less for them to maintain the minimum margin they are willing to part with a vehicle at.

So if you have cash and no need to borrow, you can see that your best deal is taking financing, loading dealer profit with it, and then paying the finance out a week later.

Follow me?

And always negotiate vehicle price before deduction of the incentive. They will want to take it off the topline msrp and then when you negotiate tell you they have "already given you $2000 off!". Psychologically that is their tune. Always say that you want to negotiate price prior to application of incentives, and if there isn't 0% financing, and you need to finance it on whatever the juciest interest and longest term is.. even when your intention is to pay it out with your own cash 2 days later.

Sorry if I'm babbling. I really enjoy the car buying process... and I have got quite a bit of insight into the industry over the last 10 years as one of my kids friends dad is a general manager for a large car dealership... and we often get together for dinner and drinks and I've heard lots about how the business models operate.

Lol fuck

2011-01-14T21:09:00.001-08:00

I just remembered why I hate the foggy dew. Rednecks and woops waiting in line for 20 minutes and it's 9:08pm.

Fuck. This. Shit.

Stupid chong.

Tune in 2 weeks when I make a post again for floras going away night.

Later daaays

^_^

2011-01-13T23:41:00.000-08:00

So Le is chillin with me for tonight :) he's so fluffy again.

I got my mezzi laptop case. IRS huuuuge, but all my laptop stuff could barely fit in it. But made it work.

Also attached my Xmas present from my only and most awesome friend in Singapore! I can't wait to get some time to read some captain america :) thanks Laura!

I wonder what kind of dares are in the truth or dare pack of cards hmmm. I'll have to do a review of that sometime in the future...

Haaaaa its Friday tmr!!! Can't wait to relax this weekend ^_^

Later Days

Snow!

2011-01-11T22:35:00.001-08:00

Snow!

2011-01-11T22:35:00.000-08:00

Snow!

2011-01-11T19:53:00.000-08:00

I wonder what's in it :o

2011-01-11T19:24:00.001-08:00

ugh what a long day. im gonna relax and play some starcraft 2 at brandons house... RAwrrr Kenny Shimokura go into Master Class.. im so jelly.. he plays a lot though.. but our skill level is pretty much the same :( sigh sigh.. only in diamond.. i'll have to keep working on it though bah.

in other news i got a certain delivery note left at the door for me.. im going to pick up a package at the post office on my way to Brandon's. My guess is it's a present from a super awesome pen pal from Singapore *crosses fingers*.

Also I got an email from the mezzi about the laptop case. He figures that i should go for the XXT model ($10) cause it's slightly bigger and it should fit all my accessories and shit. So i put in the order and it should be shipping to the office in a week or two. woohoo.

Later days

2011-01-11T14:30:00.000-08:00

This picture reminds me of lex for some reason hmm.

click the link for more pics!

laptop cases

2011-01-11T01:01:00.001-08:00

hmm so i think it's time to get a proper laptop case for the beastie.

i was looking at a Mezzi aluminum laptop case hehehe... i didn't want a flashy silver one that you see on those spy shows, but they've got these really nice black aluminum ones.

I sent the company an email asking if my laptop would fit.. the power supply for this thing is huge and I don't think it'll fit.. worth a shot anyways.

Mezzi aluminum laptop case

I think it looks pretty snazzy haha :o

2011-01-10T09:45:00.001-08:00

A miserable person neither forgives nor forgets.
A foolish person forgives and forgets.
A crazy person forgets but does not forgive.
A wise person forgives but does not forget.

2011-01-07T13:35:00.000-08:00

2011-01-05T22:12:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of update. I've been feeling shitty all day and puking all night. Here's what I wore today... A shot mix of Canada clothes (unfortunately you can't see much due to the scarf) to celebrate the gold medal game for the world juniors.

Andy predicted both games which came true. I told him to call out 7 numbers so I can buy lotto tickets. Unfortunately shoppers didn't have any and I started feeling really shitty so I did t stick around to find a kiosk where I can pick numbers for the next draw.

I'm gonna go curl up in a ball now.

Layer days.

2011-01-04T10:37:00.000-08:00

My winter time bicycling gear.

Big glasses, hoop scarf thingy, and three layers of sweaters and shirts.

Oh yeah an can't forget about the wind blown Smurf hair.

2011-01-04T10:34:00.000-08:00

It's so crappy looking out today. Apparently it's supposed to snow. Here's a photo I snapped yesterday while loitering at the ferry terminal village.

I helped a couple of tourist take some photos of themselves before snapping one for myself :)

What are You Wearing Today?

2011-01-04T10:29:00.001-08:00

alrighty folks,

I'm going to start a Wednesday What are you Wearing Today thingy majig. Just for shits.

It probably won't last very long because I don't have a lot of clothes to rifle through, but it should be fun while it lasts. Hopefully some of the lurkers can pipe in and share too.

upload photos via http://www.imgur.com and post up in the comments when you see the post.

Later Days

Lazy

2011-01-02T14:14:00.001-08:00

playing around with some widgets and skins for my lappy top.

here's what I have so far, been a lazy afternoon.. it's so nice and crisp and cold outside. Wish I had like a electric heated vest so I can get out on the motorcycle, but without one it's just way too cold outside.

Later Days :)

2011-01-02T13:31:00.002-08:00

http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/

some amazing street photography from an unknown artist who amassed about 100,000+ negatives over the years. She's passed away now but there's some people working hard to share her collection with others.

anyways great stuff here.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T13:38:00.000-08:00

Happy new year everyone!

fresh starts eh? ... well spending the day hung over isn't the best way to do the new year so I spent a few minutes on craigslist looking at cars i'd like to buy one day..

I found this puppy here.. there's something about the alpine white exterior and red interior that makes me go Oooooo. I feel like i've been slacking a lot at work and well.. that's gonna change.. fuck it! 110%!! One day i'd like to have a nice car like this. It's probably not gonna happen anytime soon but i'd love to have this.

2008 335i Premium package on sale right now for $41,000. ooo.. one day one day.. save up for my own place first.. hopefully premium gas won't be $2/litre before the time I can afford this car. I think i'll invest in a home first before any toys like this.. but damn is this sexy.

2010-12-29T12:40:00.000-08:00

Fucking sound isn't working on my comp.

2010-12-28T10:16:00.000-08:00

Safe to say it's not the ram. Just posting this up cause it's easier to host trough blogger and link the forum where I'm troubleshooting my computer with friends.

2010-12-27T21:43:00.000-08:00

Blah stupid comp is messed. Memory test for 3 hours. No fails. Start Starcraft let it sit in the lobby for a few minutes and it crashes again lmao. God damnit.

2010-12-23T09:37:00.000-08:00

Lmao

2010-12-23T09:09:00.000-08:00

Lol oh god what the hell.

2010-12-23T02:08:00.000-08:00

Gonna puke lol

2010-12-23T01:33:00.000-08:00

Patron is over rated the bottle on the left tastes so much better

2010-12-22T22:45:00.000-08:00

Secret Santa gift from jono!

Lolol I asked for scratch and win tickets and didn't get any :(. Lolol

2010-12-21T23:17:00.001-08:00

holy crap cuteness overload. i developed a nosebleed from a ruptured cuteness vessel in my brain after seeing this picture.

d'awwwww