Microsoft Employee Fired Over a Blog..

eclecticism

So this guy was fired because he posted a picture of several Apple G5s being shipped to the Microsoft Campus in Redmond. Big deal. If the intent is to stop the spread of this 'news', then the management made a big big mistake. The news is now all over the world (even /.ed), and there is no going back.

Unless they want the world to know that Microsoft likes Apple G5s, then that's another story.

How to Date a Geek

I think all girls should read this.. ahem :)

MSN Dating & Personals - Loving your geek, tolerating his hobbies

It's so true.. so very true!

Disappointment

I originally didn't want to post this, thinking it might reflect bad on me. However, this is *MY* space. I want to remember that I was here at one point in life.

On the night of my birthday, I felt a little restless knowing that I'm supposed to be out celebrating my annual 'day of aging'. Yet I was studying for my GRE at home. Decided that I need to live a little tonight, I called up my friends in town to have a small celebration while studying at a coffee shop. I thought, that's gotta spice up my evening a bit.

So I bought three pieces of my favourite chestnut cake, brought a candle, and prepare to have the smallest birthday celebration ever. Two friends were supposed to join me, but I ended up eating two pieces of cake and blowing out the candle with only a friend.. who went out and asked the smokers outside Tim Horton's to light up the candle for me. (must have been embarrassing, thanks dude)

I can't say I'm not a bit disappointed.. but I guess it starts the year with a bit of bitterness. Perhaps it's a rite of passage.. time for me to move on from worrying about petty little things like this to bigger things.

Happy Birthday to me!

Today also marks the second anniversary of this weblog. Looking back to a year ago when I made a statement that I need to pick myself up. Funny, because it seems that I have gone around in a full circle and landed in the exact same spot as last year, if not worse. I have grown, oh yes I have, in terms of 'reality checks' and what not. I learned more about the 'dark side' of human beings, the 'deception and lies' that some of my so-called 'friends' make up, and even witnessed betrayal of trust and loyalty. One of my old friends from high school was right when she told me, "What goes around comes around".. I guess it's my turn now. Retribution - how appropriate at this moment.

There is also this I wrote on my birthday last year also. The phone call I got last year from that person, no longer recurred this year. (perhaps our 'relationship' was much better in previous year than it is currently) Instead, I had some real friends who traveled distance (and I really mean traveled) to wish me happy birthday last night over dinner, and for this, I am truly appreciative. Some friends even made an effort to call me, even if they are half way across the country.

And then, there is the special someone who have always remained by my side, who probably had been thinking about today since a year ago :P I don't think I would be here today without the support I received from her.

I have another 15 hours to enjoy *MY* day - and I'm not going to waste a second of it. :)

Conquer the tower.. maybe.

Today I went to 'conquer the tower' - the CN tower that is. I participated in the stair climb today, and it was more waiting than climbing. I blame it on the poor organization of the event (or just the abundance of morals in some of the people I was with, since we could have.. ahem.. "enhanced our position in the line up" but it violated somebody's moral standards.. grr).. overall it was fun. I think the best part was having lunch after the event (at 3pm, mind you). That was probably one of the better meals I had! Just the thought of food made me salivate.

It also feels good that I gave something back to the community - I miss this feeling of charity, of generosity.

Wish List

Just a quick note that I have added my Amazon.ca Wish List on the bar to the left (at the bottom, after all the blogs I read regularly). I don't really expect anybody to buy me anything, but I feel that it might give you a better glimpse into who I really am..

Self-Contraint

I find that I need to learn more about self-contraint.. It seems that I lack a little in this department of 'personal development'. Regardless of what I am doing, I am always heavily 'tempted' to deviate from the set plan. For example, if I'm studying, and it's 11:30am, I feel the need to worry about what to have for lunch. Or if I'm in a heated argument with a friend, I would use all possible knowledge to try and prove my point, without having any regards whether those 'proofs' are appropriate in the particular situation.

Perhaps it is part of my personality that I am straight-forward, say what I mean, and mean what I say. I have to be careful though - as this could get me into a lot of trouble.

Maybe it's better if I keep my mouth shut at times.

Amber Alert

Ontario put on its third ever Amber Alert yesterday after a 9-year-old girl had suspected to been snatched from her own home between Sunday night and Monday morning. Click here for the news article in today's Toronto Star.

I hope she's okay.. it saddens me to hear stories like these. I wish I could do something to help!

Opportunity

Another quote for you.. "If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door." - Milton Berle

I despise people who believe in pure luck, and believes that if the opportunity is to come, it will show up eventually. These people are blinded by believing in fate. I feel that opportunities are earned, and not granted. If opportunity comes, it is because I have already planted the seed for it somewhere down the line. My fate is that I worked hard to create myself the opportunity, instead of sitting around waiting for it to happen.

Go on, build yourself a door. Opportunities will come knocking.

Where did the weekend go!?

I didn't even begin to enjoy the weekend yet, and I find myself back at work already. I went karaoking with some friends (becoming a weekly activity now), killing our eardrums with slightly-off-pitched tones. Other than that, I cannot honestly say I did anything that was remotely productive.

Need to start writing down things I absolutely must do. Ever since losing my PDA, I haven't been able to pull myself together. Am I growing so old that my memory is failing me, or am I just relying on technology too much?

Back to my trusty paper and pen (more like trusty electrons).. let's write down what I need to do.

Find a place to live next term (yes, this time I cannot rely on Evelyn)

Scam money from the government.. ahem, I mean, apply for OSAP (*laugh* x 1000)

Try to scam more money from the school (*laugh* x 100000000)

Clean up my room/house/dump I call home

This is almost as sad as my "New Years Resolution"..

Funny Quote

I read this while riding the elevator to the 54th floor for a meeting today..

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside a dog, it is too dark to read." - Groucho Marx

Think about it. :)

CNEWS Weird News - Slang crosses up GM

CNEWS Weird News - Slang crosses up GM

Sorry, one more article. :) Hehehe.. I'm on a roll today. Imagine driving one of these, and somebody asks you what you drive. What do you tell them? "Uh, I drive the GM 'Masturbator'.."

TheStar.com - Traffic swamps music service

TheStar.com - Traffic swamps music service

It must be the same people who programmed the University of Waterloo online systems.. :D I remember the day that the web-based ACCESS was launched, it crashed within hours of the first posting of co-op jobs. Also, the day when the rankings came out.. ACCESS crashed also. Oh and who can forget QUEST, the online student information system that allows us to view our marks and register for courses? QUEST goes down more often than .. .

C'mon people, you'd think that by now you would have figured out that scalability is very important in a large-scale implementation of software.

TheStar.com - 2 teens arrested in flying rock attack

TheStar.com - 2 teens arrested in flying rock attack

Why do people do things like this? It's not even a directed attack - random acts of destruction?! I still can't understand the motive behind this.

At the end of the article they mentioned Michael Vytlingam - a classmate of mine in high school. Bumped into him a couple times at house parties throughout my high school years.. We didn't have much in common (me = nerd; him = cool guy who drives a nice car and gets all the girls), so I didn't really know him on a very personal level. I still remember lending him my homework to copy in Grade 10..

Just Like the Good Ol' Times..

Although there were no drunkenness this weekend (think I might be getting too old for that now), I felt really happy hanging out with some old friends. Meeting up with Jason and Esther again was tr�s cool, as we caught up on our lives since we met last year. Funny how we can just pick up where we left off, without missing a beat. Esther dressed up (!!) and didn't look like a punk kid anymore - I guess university changes people.

Hung out with the boys on Monday night (Adrian, Chris, Kevin, and Jason).. ate at Le Biftheque (some amazing steak, IMHO), and then chilled at D&B for a couple of hours. Settled some old scores (hope you enjoyed your dinner and your drinks, Adrian), and ready to start some new ones (hockey pool, here I come).

Reminds me of the good ol' days when I didn't have this many responsibilities and lived carefree..

FIFA World Cup Football

Not that I supposed Canada should win (the United States DO have a better team), but it was really nice when the score was tied 1-1 after the first half. Knowing that we did stand a chance in defeating the winner from the last World Cup, makes me proud that Canadians don't give up very easily after being defeated in the first game against Germany.

It was a cool afternoon, chilling with Adrian and Chris at the Ballroom. We drank, eat, watched the game - no pretence, no 'I-think-you're-fake' conversations, and definitely none of the backstabbing that I have grown accustomed to.

Long Weekend

FINALLY! It's been too long since I've had an extra day off, and I am definitely going to capitalize on that. Two visitors are arriving in Toronto this weekend: Adrian, who just started graduate school in Halifax; And Jason, my buddy from Vancouver I met during my trip to Taiwan several years back. This should be an interesting weekend :)

Met up with Adrian after he arrived, chilled at a snooker hall with some friends.. somethings never change (ie. Adrian is still as mouthy as ever). It feels good though, knowing that there's something in life you can count on, even when all hell breaks lose.

Anxiety

Been feeling really anxious lately - no particular reason either. Just feels like everything is falling apart and I can do nothing but sit here and watch it crumble. You ask, well then, why don't you do something about it?

I am. Perhaps I need to put a little more effort into it.

The Weekend

The weekend was fun, as I was hanging out with friends but yet had some time to myself to wind down a busy and hectic week. Very briefly, I had dinner with some lovely ladies on Friday night, sang my hearts out with some friends, had dinner and drinks, and relaxed at home.

I've been noticing the trend about the type of activities I do, as to what constitutes 'fun' for me. In my younger years (making me sound so old now), what defined 'fun' was the number of people came out to the gathering, and whether the activity was exciting or not. I'm talking about doing stupid things even, running around in a park at 2am because we were too drunk to do anything else.

Now that I've aged, I enjoy the finer things in life. Food - I'm talking about GOOD food, like gourmet food. Or even an hour or two, sitting down with a couple of drinks and talking to friends about everything under the sun. That may sound a bit snobby, but you can take away the martinis, take away the lounge atmosphere too. What defines 'fun' now is the fact that I have a few friends that would sit around and share their thoughts, and sometimes even have heated arguments. (we can't possibly agree on EVERYTHING)

Perhaps I have grown older so I cannot justify getting plastered and running around, acting like a teenager anymore. Or perhaps I have finally discovered why I always felt like there was a void in my life, everytime I go home after an outing with 16 of my 'poss�'s back when I was in high school.

Evelyn told me before.. "It's not the quantity of friends you have, but the quality. I'd rather have one true friend than thirty so-called friends. They are more like acquaintances." I should listen to her more often. :)

Election Day

** Note ** I have decided to delay the publishing of this blog, so that the election results would be old news. This is purely my own personal opinion, and have no reflection to any political affiliation.

I voted today. Yes, for the first time in my life. Since becoming eligible to vote, I had missed three elections (one provincial, one municipal, and one federal). My rationale for not voting (translation: excuse) is that I didn't know enough about the issues to make an educated judgment. Fair enough. Now that I'm much older and wiser (some of you will dispute the latter part), I feel that I have seen enough in the politics to make an informed decision.

Some people have told me that I may not know the issues deep enough to cast my 'educated vote', or that I am too naive and simplifying my ideas too much. My response to that is, well, tough. The fact that the government trusts us young people to vote, shows that our thoughts and ideas matter. Surely I may be naive, but there are issues that I feel strongly about, issues that perhaps nobody else cares about. In a democratic society, we should vote based on our own opinion on the issues, and not follow what the rest of the society defines as "Key Issues of This Election".

I care about education in this province, especially the funding that is given to schools (not just universities). Yes, it is because I am a student and I care about my tuition going up 15% every year, while the quality of teaching and resources diminish rapidly. I want my government to represent me, not Joe Doe down the street. Selfish, you say; I say that's exactly how democracy is intended - if it works for me, and it works for more than 50% of the population, then that's the way it should be done. In the unfortunate case that I am in a minority group, that's just too bad for me.

As I cast my ballot, I felt a sense of empowerment rushed to me. I am participating in a democratic process - I am making the system work for me. I am exercising my right as a citizen of a country that believes in democracy. In the end, my vote didn't matter (yes it really didn't), but I felt damn good about what I have done today.

Revisiting..

Sometimes I just want to pick each part of my life apart, and re-examine the old wounds and glory that came with it. Revisiting previous parts of my life, recognizing what failed and what worked, and maybe fix what is broken. When I end up doing this, I get greatly depressed. Not because of the number of failures I have encountered in life, but the fact that I repeat history every couple of years. It occurs in a pattern, even though the exact events that occur are not necessarily the same, the outcome is strikingly similar - I get totally depressed and it simply adds to the cynicism I already possess for the world.

Why Do Men Cheat?

Top 10 Reasons Why Men Cheat

This is a pretty good read actually, and it sounds very reasonable to me. (but understanding does not equate to condoning the act) In my opinion, cheating boils down to an escape - trying to escape from the current situation by not dealing with the problem directly. Many people fear facing the problem, and so they seek temporary solutions..

Toddler survives three weeks alone on ketchup, dry pasta

CNN.com - Toddler survives three weeks alone on ketchup, dry pasta

Many people must have heard this today in the news.. some people just aren't fit to be parents. That kid is damn smart though. Just goes to show you that when it comes to survival, it's the basic instincts that matters most.

Wait a second, I've been living off that crap for the past four years too. :P The kid had it easy, I don't even have ketchup at home!