This looks as bad as I feel (though I'm not quite this cute):


I was so cold last night I couldn't stop shaking. After 20 minutes of not being able to get warm, I had to pull the other quilt over me and eventually I did fall asleep thanks, in part, to the best drugs. Ever.

I'm at work but I'm going to try to leave early. I'm freezing (although I'm wearing tights under my pants and a long sleeved shirt) and my back is sore and I'm occasionally getting shaky again. Ugh. I feel gross. Hopefully the drugs I took this morning will kick in soon.

...and a new blogging lifestyle. The conference on Saturday really changed my outlook on blogging and "why we blog" (the big question of the weekend) and I must say, I feel enlightened. Not bad for a day of geek talk.

Trivialities aside, I have something interesting to share. I was across the street at lunch and somehow I ended up discussing school with a young guy who's in first year at SFU, one of the local universities. He's talking about how he doesn't really go to school because he doesn't like his classes, his profs, the TA's etc.

CRY ME A FREAKIN' RIVER!

I tried to tell him to take advantage of it, especially since his parents are paying for school. The entire conversation had me thinking about how kids could be so stupid. Seriously. If I had someone paying for me to go to school, paying for my accommodation and my food, I'd be there full time until I was done. Do kids really think they can get anywhere other than a menial low paying job without education? I just don't understand it. I felt like slapping him one and yelling "Wake up dude! You've got it made!" but I refrained myself - barely.

I missed updating on Friday and there was outcry *grin* from the crowds. People missed KFF. So today I give you a special Monday installment of KFF. Enjoy:


A party (and Oscar) update/discussion will be forthcoming shortly!

Please provide the date of your death.

from an IRS letter

As anyone who comes by here with any frequency knows, I'm a bit of a movie nut so it's not a huge surprise that I'm having an Oscar party to celebrate the big event. Now, this isn't our first party but it's certainly our biggest so far and because of the size of our place, D and I have had to do some readjusting to try to fit in all 12 guests.

The place looks like a bit of a mess but we've got it all set up and wow, it's a sweeeeeeet set-up. Check it out:


This is our TV for the night and yes, that's the wall.

So I bet you're wondering how big the sucker is right? Funny you should ask...here's a picture of it in contrast to our window. We all know how high standard windows are:


That's 83" of TV screen goodness. Wow. if only we could keep this set-up all the time. Who'd need a movie theater?

And the little tool which is key to this wonderful set-up.


And because we have about a dozen people coming by and we don't really have tons of room, we've turned our regular living room into the "overflow" room and moved things around to add an extra chair. I have a feeling this may turn into the make out room, especially after I add the door decoration....


I'll be back tomorrow with a recap of the Oscars and LOTS more pictures from the event! I wish you all good luck with your Oscar pools and can't wait to hear what everyone thought of the event!

And don't forget to check out this post's totally awesome and appropriate track. It was quite the find!

So I made the trip out to UBC on a sleeting Saturday morning. It included a 6:30 AM wake up call (on a day off!) but it was well worth the effort. Fun, entertaining, insightful and above all, informative. I'm really looking forward to next year's conference. Scheming already. World domination is SOOOO close! *mwahahaha*

A bunch of online resources are available for anyone interested in blogging on any level:

• Check out the Northern Voice site for all of the info on the 2 day conference (including the non-conference which happened on Friday called Moosecamp).

• Cool pictures (who doesn't love those???) from the days of events are available here thanks to the apparent hundreds of cameras (some of which appeared out of no where).


• Check out the aggregated content of every Norther Voice participants. Dale set this sucker up and it ROCKS.

Ok. This is disconcerting. This morning, I stumbled onto Conservapedia. Confused? So was I. Looks like Wikipedia but the content is slightly off kilter. And then I found this in their about page:

Tired of the LIBERAL BIAS every time you search on Google and a Wikipedia page appears? Now it's time for the Conservatives to get our voice out on the internet!

Conservapedia began in November 2006, as the class project for a World History class of 58 advanced homeschooled and college-bound students meeting in New Jersey.

Conservapedia has since grown enormously, including contributors nationwide. Conservapedia already has over one-half the number of entries as the Oxford Dictionary of World History. Conservapedia is rapidly becoming one of the largest and most reliable online educational resources of its kind.

Hmmmmm yeah. To make matters worse, this was on the front page today:

Did you know that faith is a uniquely Christian concept? Add to the explanation of what it means, and how it does not exist on other religions.

Sad. Sad indeed. It's true, we can make decisions as to where we get our information but the fact that some people only use this as reference is much like people only watching Fox News for their news. How unbiased and accurate is that?

In other news, my tooth is still sore from Sunday's procedure. We were trying to avoid a root canal but I don't think that's going to happen. It aches. Constantly. And Saturday I'm heading to a blogging conference called Northern Voice! I'm really excited. Looks like it's going to be awesome!

I'm off now. Lots of work to do but I encourage you to enjoy today's song. It's a good one.

Yesterday we discussed a few arguments from creation and then this morning, I read this entry which really made a lot of sense to me and I must say, I'm somewhat torn by this 'Dr.' Ross debate. On the one hand I can appreciate the fact that Ross did the work and obviously defended his case well yet on the other hand I can also see the truth in the argument that he lied his way through his thesis. Now, having yet to do mine, I can't really speak from experience but I would venture to assume that if you're putting that much of your life into something (your thesis), it's going to be something you fully believe in and have a vested interest in. The simple fact that Ross completed his thesis on something that he doesn't believe to be true seems wrong in some way. More than anything, it seems like a cop out. To me at least, it seems like he should have done his thesis on something he actually believes in like trying to find scientific proof for the belief that the world is 6,000 years old. I don't know, that's just me.

I've found all of this recent talk of creationism and Intelligent Design interesting. It seems to be a re-emerging theme in a number of my classes this semester and I must say, it's one of the few things that has really sparked my interest to the point that I've done some additional reading on the subject. This whole idea of how we got here and if we serve a purpose is one that really gets my wheels turning.

But enough of that. It's Wednesday and to celebrate hump day, and in lieu of a stupid thing today, I figured I'd share this with you. It's a video of one of my favorite performers. I've seen her live a few times and she's always fantastic. What I like best about this video is that they've captured her introduction to the song which is excellent for non-Portuguese speakers. Let me know what you think.

It actually hasn't been so bad so far this week, just really busy. I'm suffering from a bit of a cold, lack of sleep from Saturday to Sunday really hit me hard on Sunday afternoon and then, to boot, we had a friend over until very late on Sunday which means I lost some more sleep. I'm starting to catch up again but tonight doesn't look good; I still have lots of reading to finish for class tomorrow.

I mentioned on Friday that I was going to post something a little more meaningful but I haven't been able to formulate anything yet. I will post about it later this week.

For the time being, here's today's stupid thing, brought to you by, go figure, Bush.

On Sister, Daughter, Sister, Daughter

One of the most meaningful things that's happened to me since I've been the governor - the president - governor - president. Oops. Ex-governor.

President George W. Bush

Today's song is in celebration of the trailer which totally made my week. It was going badly until I saw THIS yesterday afternoon:

NOW TELL ME THAT DIDN'T GET YOU PUMPED!?!?!?! AWESOMNESS!

Got me totally pumped for the rest of the afternoon and today, so far at least, has been a great day. Can't wait to get out of here for the weekend! Lots to do but all good, fun stuff with friends so I'm getting pretty excited and considering how badly my week went, this is a nice change.

After I ponder things a bit more, I'm going to post a little something about a movie I saw yesterday in class. It's another of the reasons why my day is going so well.

WOOO. Quite the multimedia post! First the song, then the trailer and now the KFF!! This one goes out to my blog bug Wiccachicky who shares my love of Keanu:


Yeah....pretty good.

And today, I have no stupid things because it's just too stupid and unfunny, so instead, you get a bad joke:

A man joins a big corporate empire as a trainee.
On his very first day of work, he dials the pantry and shouts into the phone - "Get me a coffee, quickly!"

The voice from the other side responded, "You fool you've dialed the wrong extension! Do you know who you're talking to, dumbo?"

"No," replied the trainee.
"It's the CEO of the company, you fool!"

The trainee shouts back, "And do YOU know who YOU are talking to, you fool?!"
"No." replied the CEO indignantly.

"Good!" replied the trainee, and puts down the phone.

Have a great weekend everyone!

No song right now. The site I use to post my music is currently down for maintenance. :(

I think things are nearly back to normal. I've cleared a wack of paperwork from my desk, the weather is looking pretty decent, I managed to finish my paper for tonight's class and most importantly, I felt refreshed when I got out of bed this morning.

I was going to pass on tonight's class but the prof opted not to give us an email address so, unfortunately, I'm going to have to show my face, even if only to hand in my paper. I'm not looking forward to today's discussion on Psychology for 2 reasons: 1) I'm not a big fan of psychology and 2) I've had the prof who is doing the presentation and he's a nice guy and all but his lectures usually consist of regurgitating the textbook word for word. I may get a little queasy in class...

Weekend is shaping up to be a good one. Lots to do on Saturday but Sunday is going to be nice and quiet with D and I spending our day together in lieu of me having class last night.

Well I hope everyone is having a good week and here's today's stupid thing:

ON PROBLEMS, DEFINITIONAL

Tech-Support Staffer: Type http://...
Caller: It didn't work.
Tech Support: Ok, read me the address you typed.
Caller:H-T-T-P-C-O-L-O-N-
Tech Support: No, no. Colon. On the keyboard.
Caller: What?
Tech Support: Do you know what a colon is?
Caller: Of course I do. I'm a doctor.

Yesterday was such a crappy day that I even forgot to post the stupidest thing for the day. Thankfully, today is going a little better (not by much) but hopefully by the time 5pm rolls around, things will be A OK. Swamped at work. A bunch of reviews to write. Ugh. I need more time!

On OK, We Won't Anymore

Warning on a bottle of hair coloring:

DO NOT USE AS ICE CREAM TOPPING.

The weekend was going well until a couple of events that unfolded on my way home from the movies on Sunday night. Needless to say I must have had "trouble" written on my forehead. Nearly got into a fight with a drunk girl on the Skytrain platform and then as I'm waiting for the bus some woman starts talking to me about smoking. By that point, I could have knocked her one. I don't consider myself a violent person but occasionally, I do lose my temper. By the time I got home, I was nearly ready to call it a day. Thankfully, after dinner and a shower, I was feeling a little more like myself.

This morning, the boss lady didn't seem quite 100% on the phone and for whatever reason, that's put me in another mood. Ugh. I can't wait for the day to be over.

Hope everyone's having a better Monday than I am.

Today's song is one of my favorites for this day of the week. I try to make a point of listening to it on Friday mornings. Gets me pumped for the weekend!

It's been a week full of interesting classes but perhaps one of the best was last night's discussion on intelligent design. I've been so smitten by this idea that I'm actively searching for more information on the subject. I may even venture into text book territory. Some of the arguments are very compelling while others just make me shake my head. Definitely something to ponder with a little extra reading.

I jumped into a Skype voice chat yesterday and wow, was it ever cool. Can't wait to do that again.

And that's kind of it I guess. I'm happy the week is almost over and I'll be hysterically happy when 5pm rolls around tonight. It's going to be a great weekend and I can't wait for it to start!

Today's KFF is a more serious picture. Love it.

And to finish off the week, today's stupid thing:

On And If You Want a Ride On The Ferris Wheel, You Go To The Butcher Shop

Game show host Peter Marshall: What do you like if you're a carnivore?

Woman: Um, I go to carnivals.

Have a great weekend everyone!

It's been a bit crazy around here but things are finally starting to settle back to normal. I was going to post yesterday after class but I decided to crash in front of the TV to catch Nelly Furtado on CSI:NY. FIRST time I've ever seen the show and only because she was in it. I wonder how many other people did that? To boot, she wasn't that bad. Way to go Nelly. Local Victoria girl and Portuguese to boot!

I wrote my translation exam yesterday and wow, I actually used the full two hours. The translations themselves weren't bad but the forming of coherent sentences for the discussion portion proved a little difficult after a crazy day at work. However, I think I managed well. I guess I'll have to wait until next week to find out for sure!

I discovered a new drink yesterday. It's called "London Fog" and it's earl grey tea, steamed milk and vanilla. YUM. Seriously. It's awesome. Almost better than coffee. I NEVER imagined anything that good could exist.

You'll notice that I added a little something to the top of the post. It's a new feature I'm calling "SotD" for Song of the Day. I'll add it to the top of the post every day so that if you want, you can listen to some FANTASTIC music, picked by me, while you're reading the post. Fun eh? Yeah. I knew you'd love it.

Last but certainly not least, here is today's stupid thing. And I've been holding on to this one since Sunday. It's THAT good.

On Those All Too Frequent Once-In-A-Lifetime Moments

You only get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so many times.

Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Ike Tayler, after being chosen to start in an exhibition game

Well boys and girls it's been an interesting couple of days. I had a dentist appointment on Saturday which turned into a two day affair after the dentists discovered a "hidden" cavity that required a root canal.

Dentist: Don't you feel any pain?
Me: No. Nothing.
Dentist: I don't understand it. You should be in excruciating pain. I mean, so much pain that you shouldn't be able to function.
Me: I guess I have a heightened tolerance to pain (total BS - I'm usually pretty teary when it comes to my teeth).
Dentist: Do you mind if I use your file as a case study for the Board of Dental Practitioners?
Me: Do I get a discount? :)
Dentist: I'm sure we can arrange something.

So there you have it. Turns out that what looked like a typical filling in the XRays had somehow managed to turn into a root canal. It started at the back of the tooth and bore it's way through nicking the root on the way - hence the excruciating pain I should be feeling. Needless to say, I returned for round 2 on Sunday which caused me to have to cancel the movie event. Oh well, I don't we were missing much.

My mouth was still sore yesterday and today it seems a bit better though it's still a bit sore back there. I can't wait until all of this dental work is taken care of. Just a few more appointments to go!

It's been a crazy couple of days at the office here and I didn't manage to get anything done yesterday, including filing that I had to leave behind on Friday. Things appear to be slowing down a little which is nice. I could use the breathing time.

I'll leave you know with something really stupid. Actually, this is a bit of a joke with a few of the writers I know who joke that the suicide (NOT funny) rate of literary agents must have doubled when J.K. Rowling hit the big time. It's rumored that she took her work to 0ver 20 agents before someone finally decided to giver her a shot. And an agent make what...10%? Yeah. That's a big hit.

On Editor's Advice, Bad

You'll never make any money out of children's books, Jo. Keep your real job.

Bloomsbury Books editor to Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling, after purchasing Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (for $1,910) in 1996.

I soooooooo don't want to be here. It's a beautiful day outside. It's Friday and I'm swamped with work up to my eyeballs. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I just want a few minutes to breathe, do some blog reading and maybe leave early (yeah right!). Lots to do this weekend including a paper, some reading, dentist appointment, movie outing and not to mention work on the new site. Ugh. Thinking about it is making me tired.

I was feeling all lame and kinda depressed and then I found the BEST thing ever online. I can't share it because it's simply too delicious to share but let me tell you, it put a HUGE smile on my face and made me all dreamy and stuff. Double ugh. I like the feeling but why can't it be about someone I can ACTUALLY meet? Yeah, I know you all know who I'm talking about but eh.

So today's KFF is FANTASTICO and expanded my already smiley face a little more.

And to finish off a hectic week, here's a little something stupid that some insane old men did:

On Mistake Identity Problems, All Too Typical

Mario Orsini, 73, faces assault charges for shooting and wounding his brother, Donato, 66, after mistaking him for a woodchuck, police said.

from a USA Today story

I even laughed again when I wrote it. WTF? How do you mistake a full grown man for a woodchuck????????!?!?!?!!

Have a great weekend everyone!

For some reason I feel like I've been a bad Marina. I'm not sure why but it's like I'm forgetting something really important that's going to hit me square in the forehead. I've looked at my calendar and checked everything I could think of but I'm still feeling like something isn't quite "on". Maybe it's just lack of sleep. I stayed up WAY past my bedtime working on Top Secret Assignment #1. It's mostly done, just needs a few adjustments which I can worry about next week.

Other than this project and the website update, I haven't managed to do too much else. I did finish reading Perfume: The Story of a Murderer and wow, it was interesting. And I had thought the movie was a bit on the strange side...

The podcast was iTunes approved this morning. I'm actually not that thrilled at going this route but, I don't have a choice considering everyone and their mother uses iTunes. I'll have to edit the post tonight.

Alright, that's it for now. I have a bunch of reading to do and some actual office work too so I better hop to it.

On Gee, I Guess You Can Take It With You!

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Provides you with all the electrical, telephone and computer requirements you'll need when traveling to hell.

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Good to know that I can make use of my electronics in Hell...