It should be pretty evident at this point, but I don’t have a whole lot of time or inspiration to update this blog. I have been remiss in my obligation to continue updating it,a nd for that, I apologize.  That said, Anyone reading this should probably check out my twitter feed.  I post to it several times a day – it’s far more active, and far better suited to my lifestyle.   Check it out.

So it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do, but the release of fallout 3 on tuesday gave me the inspiration I needed. vault boy:

so, I flew around town last night, threw together the items I needed, and here’s the end result:

I’m pleased with the result.  What do you think?

Perhaps this room should take a moment to collect itself and calm back down.

I’m sick of my hair. Seriously. Girls often feel it and comment on how soft and silky it is, but let me tell you, you do not want my hair. It’s extremely fine, and extremely dense, but wholly impossible to style. Akin to Tim’s post on the LoadingReadyRun forums, I’ve gone most of my life getting 10$ Caesar cuts from a local barber. They’re not the most stylish cuts, but they’re short, low maintenance, and can be styled if neccessary. I’ve been wanting to get a little more adventurous with my hair though lately, so I went and hot a pricey cut from a stylist, along with some product (structuring lotion and styling paste) and made an attempt at styling. I dunno, maybe I’m stylistically inept, but I cannot make it do anything I’m happy with. If I fauxhawk it, it ends up flopping over to one side or pulling a tintin, and if I style it down then I end up with the same Caesar I could have gotten for 12$. Suggestions, anyone?

I’ve been a hockey referee for several years now, and if there’s one thing I’ve come to count on, it’s that the pre-season is always a bit of a gong show. Two weeks in a row now, I’ve shown up at the rink for a game that had been canceled, and no one bothered to let the officials association know. Today it happened to be for a game at 7am. I got up at 5:30, was at the rink by 6:20, and when I went to step on the ice at 6:55, watched as only one team hit the ice. Time for a Starbucks trip. It’s going to be a long day.

Well, against my better judgement, I decided to go see lakeview terrace, that domestic dispute movie with Samuel L. Jackson. I certainly don’t expect a whole lot, but I might get my money’s worth out of it. In a really unfortunate omen though, they gave me diet coke instead of regular. My night is ruined. :\

I cannot stop yawning.  At all.  I’ve been at work since 8:30 this morning, and been fine all day, but sddenly it’s 3PM and I feel like I’ve been up for days.  I’ve petitioned my manager for a hammock under my desk and a mandated daily naptime before, but so far I haven’t seen anything come of it.

To be fair, I didn’t sleep very well last night, I had fallen asleep during the evening waiting for my laundry to dry, and had a solid nap.  So there’s little doubt it was that, coupled with some things that have been weighing heavily on my mind of late, which kept me up half the night.   i don’t think that’s why I’m tired though, it happens like clockwork, 3pm every day, I’m ready to keel over and die. 

It probably has something to do with blood sugar, or the timing of my lunch break, or some such thing, I dunno.  Regardless, I’m going to get a coffee.

If you happen to be on my Facebook or MSN friends lists, you may have seen my user status.  My iPhone is no more.  It had a beautiful life – one which was cut unfairly short.  The story of the death of my iPhone is truly a tale of woe.  Let me start at the beginning.

I got my iPhone the day it came out, July 11, 2008.  I loved how slick and pretty it looked, and knew I would want to keep it that way.  However, none of the protective cases carried by Rogers seems satisfactory.  They had rubberized ones, that covered up the prettiness of it, those wouldn’t do.  They had leather ones, but those fit too tight, and made the phone difficult to get at.  Plus, I worried that if a small rock or piece of dirt got inside, the pressure of the case against the phone might cause the offending dirt to scratch the screen.  In the end, I decided to keep my phone in my pocket, and be very careful to keep it safe and clean.

in the middle of August, I made a trip to Vancouver, to see Radiohead in concert.  During this trip, James, Graham, and I made a trip to the Apple store at Pacific Centre.  As I browsed the cases I saw it.  the case of my dreams.  Leather casing, elastic strapping, to make phone easy to remove, but still securely held, a screen protector to ensure that the screen would remain safe from all of life’s little mishaps, cleaning cloth, and a belt clip that was adaptible with over 25 different clips available for purchase, to allow for all one’s clipping needs.  All for the very reasonable price of $24.99.  I was in love. I bought it on the spot, and my phone found its new place on my belt moments later.

I should have known trouble was brewing that evening.  I ghad been wearing my case all day, and after riding the ferry back to Victoria, had to return to my car before docking.  I drive a car that sits quite low to the ground, that requires one to bend a little more than normal to get in.  As I sat down, disaster struck – the clip broke completely off my iPhone case, and I watched as the phone dropped to the steel floor of the car deck.  I picked it up, and inspected the damage – the case was broken, but the phone was fine – and the case could be fixed.  I chalked it up to a learning experience, and the next day, used a significant amount of Krazy Glue to re-attach the clip to the case.  When all was said and done, the clip was fastened more securely than it was in the first place. The clip was never coming off again.

This is how things continued for the following month. my iPhone rode around on my belt, sitting happily and securely in its case, protected from all the dangers of the world.

Sunday, September 7th, 2008.  1:55 AM.  The day will live infamy.  It had been a great night.  It was Duncan’s birthday and we were out that the Strath, for a night of drinks and dancing.  My iPhone joined us for the fun, and,  nestled securely in its case, watched, as we shared rounds of shots and good times on the dance floor.  The night began winding down, and we decided that we ought to go find ourselves some pizza at a local late night pizza joint, frequented by those people who stumble into the cold night air, as the clubs shut their doors.   As we walked to the pizza place, I was challenged by another member of our group to a race.  Who could make it to the next intersection first?  Clearly I could, so I accepted, and began to run.  I failed to realize, however, that my iPhone was feeling the effects of this night of excess more than I was, and wanted no part in any such endeavour.  On the second foot-fall it unhooked itself from my belt, and sailed through the air towards the street below.  It landed, and used the force of the impact to free itself from the confines of its case. I watched in horror, as it skidded, screen-down, fifteen feet, coming to rest at the base of a lamp post.  I ran to its side, and picked it up, holding it gingerly, so as not to worsen it’s injuries.  The chrome rim of the screen had several scuff marks, and the screen protector was dinged and gashed, but the phone seemed mostly ok.  I tried to wake it, by pressing the home button, and reeled in horror at the site that presented itself.  Vertical lines, in rainbow colours. “NO!” I turned it off, and back on.  More brightly coloured vertical lines.  My iPhone was no more.  I turned it off, and placed it back in its case. Upon returning home, I lay it to rest in it’s usual spot, atop my PC tower.

So long, iPhone, we barely knew ye.

R.I.P.

Matt’s iPhone, July 11, 2008 – Sept 7, 2008

“A screen so vibrant, the world could not bear to keep it”

For me, every day begins the same way. I drag my sorry ass out of bed, spend an inordinate amount of time trying (and failing) to wake up in the shower, brush my teeth, dress, and leave. On my way to work I hit Starbucks. Without the aid of my green-apron-wearing overlords, I’d never make it to lunch. Then, of course, at 3:30 every afternoon, the draggies set in, and it’s time for another cup. This wouldn’t be the end of the world if I could just drink coffee black; but that would be too easy. No, I’m a sucker for the espresso drinks. An iced venti non-fat, no-whip mocha is my poison. It’s reasonably low in calories, but still manages to include three (or more!) shots of espresso. Sensing that I was making too much headway on my weight-loss though, Starbucks introduced the blended lemonade this summer, and then informed me that I could add raspberry syrup to it, creating what might be described as a fruit-flavored mouth-gasm, without a hint of hyperbole. I don’t have the will power to stand against someting like that. Suffice to say I’ve spent more at starbucks this week than I have on parking… And I drove to work every day.

It was pretty much a given that I was going to have a tough time keeping this blog up to date. Posting something to the Internet usually requires that it posesses some entertaining quality, and quite frankly, I’m not funny. What is funny, though, is this picture I shot on the clipper. At least they aren’t ashamed of their hot water.