You scored as Buddhist. You are a Buddhist. You basically get lost in the sea of conflicting ideas as your mind hasn't been developed to discern truth from halftruth. You entertain many philosophical ideas that don't apply to your daily life or actually fulfill you in any way. Maybe you didn't have a strong background of faith and morality growing up, which is why you have basically no convictions whatsoever. Follow your heart, it will guide you to the obvious truth and its simplicity will astonish you. Tarot cards, astrology, and witchcraft will be a temptation for you. Be careful. Buddhist 75% Anarchist 60% Christian 55% Jewish 50% Catholic 40% Cult 35% Religion created with QuizFarm.com

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I took this test because I saw it on Jordan's blog, and I have a terrible weakness in that, if I see an online test, I can't help but do it. I'm not overly surprised at the result, I always score Buddhist on these things.

Although, I'm not entirely sure "Anarchist" is a religious view. Nihilist maybe, anarchist no.

Alternate Dimensions Don't Count!

And, with the exchange of money for goods and services, my life-long dream (first made public on August 14th) of owning The Undergrads on DVD has come true!

It cost me $20 from Daryl Plumridge.

I'm watching it now, and, even though I've seen every episode several dozen times, it's so many times better when it's officially yours. Oh, the joy.

Anyway, I really have nothing better to say, I think the magnitude of Undergrads on DVD speaks for itself, so you know what I'm talking about.

The Last Co-op Class

Today was my final hour of co-op class (an announcement that I apparently slept through last week...). The only reason I was even aware of it was the abundance of balloons and streamers as I walked into the room.

What truly shocked me about co-op class was the fact that, even after all these mind-numbing, don't-wear-pyjamas-to-your-interview weeks, some people will still need to take the final test multiple times.

The people, for example, who think that they will not have to commute or relocate to find a co-op job. The people who think the staff in the co-op department will be of any use whatsoever (they made it very clear throughout the semester that everything is up to us). The people who don't realize that they will have to reconfigure their entire lives, nay, their very DNA to succeed in their co-op placements.

One of the questions on the final test, for example, goes a little something like: "The responsibilities of your co-op job must come before other job, social, and personal responsibilities."

Employee: "How about eating? Can I eat?"
Co-op: "Yes, but not at work."
Employee: "What about lunch hour?"
Co-op: "You're a co-op student, you don't get one."
Employee: "But...the last question said we wouldn't be treated differently than other employees."
Co-op: "Ha."

With the way the semesters are broken up, co-op amounts to little more than working for four months, being unemployed for another four, and then pulling your hair out trying to find another job in the last two weeks of your four months of atrophy.

I shouldn't complain, though, this is a fairly helpful tool. I just need to keep in mind that I am older than the other people in my class. Here I am, having worked since I was 15, and, even if the people in my class have done the same, they're only just turning 18 and 19. These are the people that, understandably, need a little prodding.

The important part, though, is that co-op is over, so I just need to get 100 on the stupid final test, and spend four months not looking for work! Hurray!

Ashlee Simpson

I'll admit, I have a weakness, I like The Newlyweds (I also like Hilary Duff, but I've been told not to admit that as openly). Now, this post is not about Jessica, but rather, Ashlee Simpson.

How did this girl get a show? I mean this in two ways:

1) You can't just get a show because your last name is Simpson! I know she's Jessica's sister and all and MTV is really bad for recycling things, but, come on. She hasn't even done anything yet!

2) The girl is really, really, really dislikeable. She's egotistical, she's whiny, she's not overly talented, she hangs around with vapid guys, she gets really jealous. The difference between her and her sister? Ashlee takes herself seriously!

I can't believe I just posted this.

The Old Navy Kid

Does anyone else want to slap the kid in the new Old Navy ads?

A New Look?

I've been considering a new look for my blog recently. I feel it's important to include you all in my decisions, so please, let me know. Is this blog reaching its maximum funkiness?

Who are you? Who who? Who who?

I have a rather large marketing assignment due in just over 12 hours. I really should be trying to finish it so I have less to do tomorrow.

What am I doing? Watching CSI and reading Penny Arcade comics.

The Santa Claus Parade

The Santa Claus Parade is on in town today, and, as a result, the roads are packed. I remember last year when I had to take my sister to work, which is probably about a kilometre and a half from our house. Took us 25 minutes.

But, this post is not about screwing with the roads. Rather, it's about the weather.

While waiting in line at the bank yesterday, someone commented that the weather was supposed to be nice this weekend, which must really suck for the Santa Claus Parade, since it's much better when it's cold.

No. No it's not.

I have been in the Santa Claus Parade. When you're on a float for four hours, there is nothing you want more than a volcanic eruption right underneath you. That is how cold it is. Your costume is wearing you for warmth.

In my opinion, it should be run in June. I mean, think about it: they run it more than a month before Christmas as it is, what's another five? The explanation's easy: Santa needs extra time to work on all the presents. Is it really all that hard? No, I think not.

And, for the record, I was a robot. A cold robot.

Sweet

Check it out. We're #2! We're #2!

Blockbuster still sucks

Do you know what the big advantage of direct deposit is? Directly deposited funds do not have a hold put on them. Cheques, on the other hand, do.

So, now, I need to wait until the end of the week to pay off my credit card, and, to top it off, since I tried to pay it off early but there was not enough money in my account, there is now a hold on my account. Not really a huge deal except for the fact that my mutual funds account attempted to directly debit money from my account as it has every month for the past three years or so, and got an NSF charge.

What's the big deal with that? Now, instead of having an extra $40 invested in my mutual fund account, I'm out this month's $40, plus I'll have $25 deducted from the account. Sweet!

Thank you very god damned much, Blockbuster. Was it really that hard to do a direct deposit? Really? I didn't quit that long ago.

Blocktronic Arts

In my random wanderings today, I came across a LiveJournal by the spouse of an Electronic Arts employees. I've added it to my links for people who come here and don't see this entry, but you really have to read this journal. I wonder if Viacom ever owned these guys...

The value of a job

The PC Game Half-Life 2 is being released on Tuesday, and Valve, the creators, are being comicly militant about the street-date. Somehow, they have managed to tap into some metaphysical realm where they are able to punish street-date violators by syphoning their immortal souls. Of course, I jest. They'll just break your legs.

Anyway, the real humour of this post comes from the (actual) fact that three EB Games managers were fired this past week for selling the game early. Fired. And the brilliance of the firings is that, until Tuesday, the game is basically a shiny plastic tree ornament. When you install the game, you have to log onto Valve's website, and verify that you actually bought the game, and it's not just stolen. So, up until Tuesday, anyone who tries to verify the game's authenticity gets laughed at.

Plus, of course, the soul reaving.

Last Pay/Bring Down the Empire

I finally got all of my vacation pay from Blockbuster! Hurrah! Of course, my request for direct deposit was thwarted by Blockbuster's near superhuman ability to lose their employee's direct deposit information (ask Carley. Or Nash. Or Dave. Or Nancy. Hell, Carley still gets her cheques sent to the wrong store.)

Luckily, when I went to see Carley on Saturday, Andrew had smuggled my cheque out of the store for me. And Carley checked to make sure it was right. Boo-yeah, even when I'm not aware of it, I have Blockbuster spies working around the clock for me.

Anyhoo, after pulling teeth and performing several root canals with Scott from HR, I finally convinced him to check with payroll, and, lo and behold, they still owed me eight vacation days. Well, what do you know? According to Phil in payroll, it was my quitting that ultimately resulted in the mix-up (oh, how sorry I am), and he just "doesn't know" how the system "missed it".

But, all complaints aside, I now have an extra few hundred bucks lying around for Christmas. No Pretend Christmas this year!

Now, of course, I am torn. I now have my money, and should have no fear about Blockbuster screwing me should I complain to someone (although I doubt I'll ever see my folding chair). However, I can't imagine what it would accomplish if I should, say, e-mail Dave Stewart and tell him how Ms. Elisa Torres is basically pushing employees out of store 95513, and how Ms. Kelly McLaren borrows the employees they do have left because she won't hire any new people at store 07376.

Hmmm...decisions, decisions.

The DNRC

I am, and have been for many years, a member of Dogbert's New Ruling Class. When Dogbert takes over the world, he will enslave all of humanity, save for the 460,000 or so members of the DNRC. Bow to me!

Anyhoo, I'm here to protect you all from the torments that are undoubtedly coming your way, so please, join the DNRC.

To join, simply go here, and for a quick sample of what you'll get, you can view the DNRC newsletter here.

I, for one, will definitely be voting in the third annual Weasel Poll. And enslaving mankind. All in a day's work.

It's Remembrance Day. I don't really know what exactly to say, but I can say that my grampa fought for the British during the Second World War in Burma. He didn't like talking about the war at all, as I'm sure a good number of veterans do not.

So, let's remember those that fell, and respect those that are left.

Be ironic for the day! Sign this petition!

Damn you, Bill Gates

Halo 2 launced on Tuesday (unless you were at the Zellers at Centrepoint Mall in Toronto, who launched the game Monday morning, only to have Microsoft launch its anti-street date violation missiles and now there's a big hole at the corner of Yonge and Steeles).

I was lucky enough to be working when EB Games opened its doors at 12:01 AM so that hordes of red-eyed males could be among the first to get their hands on the highly anticipated game. Yep, just them, and two million of their closest friends.

Now, we weren't exactly sure what to expect as we called the over 300 customers who had pre-ordered the game. As most of them were kids and the game is rated 'M', we didn't figure many would be able to convince their parents of the merits of waiting outside in November weather to get a $60 game.

Well, convince they did, as we sold over 130 copies of the game, and did nearly $10,000 in sales. From midnight to 1:30. An hour and a half.

As far as I'm concerned, Bill Gates can go to hell. And he can be escorted there by the people who, without a hint of humour, asked, "Do you have any extra Halo 2's?" Yeah. Right. Go to hell.

I missed that

I'd forgotten how great it is to have someone rest their head on your shoulder during a movie. With school and work and everything, Carley and I have not been able to spend nearly enough time together where we're not worrying about homework, or tests, or our next shifts.

So, it was really great to be able to watch a movie and have a great night away from everything. I missed that.

The Incredibles

For the first time in over a month, I actually got to see a decent movie in theatres. And what a good one to break the drought with.

Now, first off, anything with Jason Lee and Samuel L. Jackson in it pretty well guarantees that it'll be excellent, and it didn't disappoint.

The Incredibles is the latest offering from Disney/Pixar - the wonderful, wonderful people who brought us Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc. and many, many funny short features. It's still got a kid movie heart, but this particular one is definitely aimed a little more at an adult audience. It could be a sign of Disney/Pixar moving from the family-friendly comedy to the family-friendly dramedy.

The story revolves around a family of superheroes, who - along with all the world's other superheroes - have been ostracized and forced to live "normal" lives. Mr. Incredible is tempted back into duty by one final mission that, ultimately, results in his capture from a maniacal inventor named Syndrome (a really cool name, by the way).

The rest of the family - Incredible's wife, Elastigirl, along with their kids, Dash and Violet - come to his rescue, and then it's back to (it looks like) New York to team up with Frozone (basically, Shaft crossed with Iceman from the X-Men) to destroy Syndrome's robotic human crushing machine.

It was definitely a very enjoyable movie, even if it did quite candidly point out that the evil inventor was trying to kill the protagonists. That's where the "aimed at adults" part comes in. That, and the baby turns into a demon of some sort right at the end. Yeeeeeeeah.

I'm glad we (me, Carley, Andrew, Morgan, Ben, Nancy, and Jordan) saw it.

to: usofa@americarocks.com
from: canada@hotmail.com
subject: No way
date: November 3, 2004, 02:42:04 PM

America,

You've got to be kidding me! We're talking about the same George W. Bush, right? I mean, you didn't want him to be President the first time, what changed? Kerry was no scream in hell, but come on!

Well, there's nothing anybody can do now. Let's just hope he doesn't decide to change the Constitution; you don't need another four years of him. You know you're always welcome up here, just call before you come, and we'll make up the spare province.

Good luck,

Canada

to: usofa@americarocks.com
from: canada@hotmail.com
subject: (no subject)
date: November 3, 2004, 06:18:32 AM

America,

You guys suck.

Canada

to: usofa@americarocks.com
from: canada@hotmail.com
subject: Hey!
date: November 3, 2004, 06:15:14 AM

Dear America,

Hey, how's it going? We haven't talked in a while, so I just thought I'd drop you a line, see how you're doing.

I haven't had a chance to read the paper yet, how'd the election go? I know everyone kinda figured Kerry had it wrapped up, but you never know about Bush.

Anyway, I stayed up way too late last night, Comedy was playing Jon Stewart's election coverage all night long, and you really just can't get enough of that guy. Everyone else was boring since they didn't want to blow it like they did last time, so I turned them off before I really saw anything, but the race seemed to be in a pretty dead heat. I'm sure everything went well.

Just got the newspaper delivered, so I guess I'll find out soon. Better let you go, I'm sure you guys are all celebrating the results.

Talk to you later.

All the best,

Canada

Ohio - The new Florida

So, who actually thought the election would be over in just one election "day"? I stayed up until 2 AM last night to find out whether Bush or Kerry would carry Ohio, only to have CNN joyfully announce that it was "too close to call" (that's said in a spooky ghost voice, by the way).

Now, it's going to take until November 13th to even start counting the provisional ballots, we're in for a long haul again. As it stands now, Bush leads Kerry by two electoral votes, 254-252. There are three states left to be tallied - New Mexico (5 votes), Iowa (7 votes), and Ohio (20 votes). 270 electoral votes gets you into the White House, so, basically, whoever carried Ohio wins.

New Hampshire is also the only state this year to switch allegiances, as its four electoral votes went Kerry's way this time, after going to Bush in 2000. And still, somehow, Bush is ahead.

And there is your election wrap-up.

Now, the Kerry campaign was feeling very positive going into election day because of the millions of new voters who had registered, because all those new voters were expected to vote Democrat. They looked in every nook and cranny and turned over every rock. It would appear though that they should have left some of those rocks unturned, since apparently that's where people have been living for the last four years!

Bush leads the popular vote by a margin of about 3.5 million votes. He lost the popular vote in 2000 by about 500,000. So, let me get this straight:

• He's not as popular as the other guy, but manages to steal the victory in Florida.
• He attacks Afghanistan after 9/11 to get Osama bin Laden, who ultimately escapes.
• He then attacks Iraq. For fun.
• The deficit is at a record high.
• Unemployment is up.
• His approval rating is barely 50%.
• The literacy must be terrible if that many people mistook "Bush, George W." for "Kerry, John"

And all of this equals his support being increased to a 3.5 million vote win? You've got to be kidding me. Maybe when they're recounting the votes, they should check how many times Mary Poppins and Peter Pan voted. Or, for that matter, how many George Bushes voted.

But don't worry, it'll all be over in a week and a half if there's any justice in the world. Which apparently there isn't. Crap. This is going to take forever.

Poor Wolf

For some reason, CNN's Wolf Blitzer does not get to sit down during his election coverage. There's a table, three chairs, and Wolf just stands and looms over his other three co-hosts. I guess all those TVs blew the set budget.

Your Election Day Headquarters

Whoa. America just woke up. CNN's electoral vote scorecard had, at 10:57, Bush 194-Kerry 112. Now, at 11:01, it's Bush 197-Kerry 188.

Election coverage

Where will I be tuned for election coverage? Simple. CTV @ 10 PM.

Wee-haw

Up until a few minutes ago, I was unaware that the term GOP when referring to the Republican Party means "Grand Old Party". That's right. Nothing like...oh..."Government of the People". Nah. "Grand Old Party". One word and an extra 'd' from a platform for country music.

Some sources, like the Wall Street Journal (heard of it?), no longer use "GOP" to describe the party, because most people do not know what it means. Well, you know, that and the fact that it's a stupid name.

Which makes me wonder, if something as important as a major American political party (albeit the Ree-publicans) can be shortened to a goofy acronym, why can't everything else? Hell, the election itself might as well be shortened to BHC ("Best Hair Contest").