"we have the answers ... but what are the questions"

i am pondering the all canadian question: to bring a hockey stick or not to bring a hockey stick?

full moon - black ghosts

"i've got nothing else to do, but waste this lazy afternoon"

i really wish that was true.

1 more final. 1 more paper. 1 more week. many more late nights, coffees and coffees.

"en dan zeg jij, dat je eenzaam bent"

I have been studying all day long, but the only article/exchange I read today was a good one.

"My hope is that we all seek to create a world where every life is seen as precious and where those who feel lost and lonely find themselves because they have been found" ~ Jean Vanier

op straat - guus meeuwis

"how do we sleep when our beds are burning"

this quote comes from the lyrics for the song "beds are burning" because i want to make a political post, and thought of the australian minister who quoted part of this song during question period in the australian parliament.

the department of finance has put together a nice little (that should say, long) statement on the state of the economy:
2008 economic statement.
(in case you are not bombarded with finals, and have not seen it yet, and are slightly interested ... )

i have been following the financial crisis and the government's response, as much as school lets me devote time to extra-curricular activities (which in this case is anything that is not studying). and for my study breaks i read the comments people make to headlines in the globe and mail regarding the government's response, and plans for the future. (no multi-billion dollar bailout for us). and i will applaud some of the comments, but many times i am outraged or utterly confused at some of the things people say, think, and suggest. i mean, even though textbooks rarely spew the truth, it might be good to catch up on some political science, public choice, and economic literature for some people.

12:48 am. bed time.

ps. sens win! sens win! sens win! sens win! sens win! sens win! sens win!

"take me back in time"

Leafs-SENS tonight.

i have seen the posters across campus, and i am really wishing i did not have a HUGE final on monday.

i am also wishing i could travel back in time, to the good, old barclay days. so we could eat pizza, drink beer, and throw hockey smalk talk back and forth.

instead: producer theory.

guus meeuwis - toen ik je zag

"laat me in mijn dromen geloven"

i used to love this song so much. listening to it again, paired with such a fabulous performance, just gives me goose bumps. if you have time, or need something to listen to while studying ... i recommend you look up some of the other songs from the symphonica in rosso concert (i am betting rosso means red ...). it is all dutch though.

"boots with the fur"

actually without the fur ...

... but after spending my morning downtown ottawa, catching bus to bus to bus, and waiting among endless puddles, i realized my leaking shoes are not going to get me through an Ottawa winter. so i splurged, and got some real boots. where real means, no pom poms. i will never wear pom poms.

bring on the freeze! figuratively. because i would not object to a mild winter.

on another note, one more week and i will never have to take a microeconomics course again!


guus meeuwis - tranen gelachen

"finding out along the way"

i could really go for lemon cheesecake frozen yogurt in a waffle cone from TCBY right about now. too bad there is not one right around the corner from here ...

bad company - ready for love (from this week's supernatural episode)

"lift up your head, wednesday"

we did not win the dodgeball championship, and instead of moving on in the playoffs had the chance to play trivia instead. there as a team, we won a free pitcher of beer, and a gift certificate, for which we bought more beer. i say that makes us champions anyways. and we can conclude we will always be students first, and athletes second.

on call - kings of leon

the next few weeks are going to be not pretty at all. and after reading this (from Drazen's book "Political Economy in Macroeconomics") i am thinking: how about it ... eh?

straight out of the history books

it is funny how i am thinking in terms of facebook statuses (status'?)

thus,

gesiena cannot believe that she just came across this song ....

sum of sums

again i will have to post a post of many posts to sum up the many sums of random thoughts i have accumulated over the last week, and have remembered today.

***

i love the show de lama's. it is so gut-wrenchingly funny. i say that, because that show makes me hurt from laughter. i am just looking up the meaning of gut-wrenching, and i am finding it might not really be the right word for this context. but i am choosing to keep it. i am also finding myself wanting to do some improv right now. just like we used to do in barclay for birthday parties.

***

i love sinterklaas. i love pepernoten and chocolate letters. just love it.

***

Jan Vayne and Armin van Buuren


***

I have also been revisiting some of my favourite childhood television shows: o.a. alfred j. kwak, peppi en kokki and pingu:


***

three losses in a row? that had better end tonight.

***

Serbian abortionist becomes pro-life activist

***

radiohead - on call

wednesday meddlings

i have finally made peace with a change in schedule and a change in my education timeline. i have also organized a schedule for the next few weeks to help me make it through. in the meantime i am counting down to christmas ... but the christmas music can wait a little longer, as for the snow and the cold weather.

although i have been finding it a PITA already, I would encourage everyone to vote for the NHL All Star Team. and even if you dont care to vote, the 14 day subscription to XM radio alone is worth it ... seriously. and then once you are on the site you might as well vote for all the senators candidates!

i am off to dodgeball. the last game of the regular season. and i vowed to catch every single ball. even though that is aiming a little high, with other people aiming really low. if you know what i mean ;-) bad pun ... i know!

and for a random note: if i were to make a roadmix today,
nice dream - radiohead
on call - kings of leon
use somebody - kings of leon
rest my chemistry - interpol
somehow - jason collett
danko/manuel - driveby truckers
decode - paramore
would have to appear on it.

to drop or not to drop?

DROP.

in all of highschool, and all of my undergraduate degree I have never dropped a course. ever.

now, after spending a few weeks in indecision i have decided about 40 minutes before the deadline to drop a course i have spend hours studying for, and even more than hours slaving over an assignment for. it is not that i was failing it, or hating it (not that i would ever post my mid-term grade on the fridge though), but simply a matter of logistics and stress levels. you see, the failing and hating is really directed to a couple of core courses that i simply cannot fail. but i might. thus, after hours upon hours of debate, my mom helped me decide to drop it. thanks mom!

now, since i can't help but feel a little bit like a failure, i need to blog about it, simply to deal with it. and since you are reading this right now, i can't help but share it with you. now, i know most people just drop it, and don't worry about taking an extra semester to finish ... i do. even though i will probably one of the youngest to graduate with my class anyways.

i could probably go on for quite a bit about the program, my frustrations and my failures, but i am going to reserve some of those for the letter i will be writing to the dean/administrator/head person of the program. now, on to finishing an assignment over the weekend.

on a happy note: i finally got my hair cut. fisher knows how to score again. the US presidential elections are over. and it is weekend! and it is good that i made a decision. i think it is much easier to live with a decision than to continually think about having to make it, because there is never enough 40 minute walks home from school to help me.

somehow - jason collett
"and what's worse, i always thought you were stronger"

Existence of God - Ravi Zacharias Lecture

It is definitely worth your time to watch the entire lecture. As a point of reference I have added some links to some of the material he speaks of during his lecture.

• The Parable of the Madman (1882)
• Below is a transcript of the discussion between a student at Nottingham and Ravi Zacharias about evil and morality.

Student: There is too much evil in this world; therefore, there cannot be a God!
Speaker: Would you mind if I asked you something? You said, “God cannot exist because there is too much evil.” If there is such a thing as evil, aren’t you assuming that there is such a thing as good?
Student: I guess so.
Speaker: If there is such a thing as good, you must affirm a moral law on the basis of which to differentiate between good and evil.
Speaker: In a debate between the philosopher Frederick Copleston and the atheist Bertrand Russell, Copleston said, “Mr. Russell, you do believe in good and bad, don’t you?” Russell answered, “Yes, I do.” “How do you differentiate between good and bad?” challenged Copleston. Russell shrugged his shoulders and said, “On the basis of feeling – what else?” I must confess, Mr. Copleston was a kindlier gentleman than many others. The appropriate “logical kill” for the moment would have been, “Mr. Russell, in some cultures they love their neighbors; in other cultures they eat them, both on the basis of feeling. Do you have any preference?”
Speaker: When you say there is evil, aren’t you admitting there is good? When you accept the existence of goodness, you must affirm a moral law on the basis of which to differentiate between good and evil. But when you admit to a moral law, you must posit a moral lawgiver. That, however, is
who you are trying to disprove and not prove. For if there is no moral lawgiver, there is no moral law. If there is no moral law, there is no good. If there is no good, there is no evil. What, then, is your question?
Student: What, then, am I asking you?

• Bertrand Russell
• King Crimson-Epitaph - "knowledge is a deadly friend, if no one sets the rules"
• John Wisdom - Parable of the Invisible Gardener
• Anthony Flew: 'Once upon a time two explorers came upon a clearing in the jungle. In the clearing were growing many flowers and many weeds. One explorer says, 'Some gardener must tend this plot'. The other disagrees, 'There is no gardener'. So they pitch their tents and set a watch. No gardener is ever seen. 'But perhaps he is an invisible gardener'. So they set up a barbed-wire fence. They electrify it. They patrol with bloodhounds. 1(For they remember how H. G. Wells's Tbe Invisible Man could be both smelt and touched though he could not be seen.) But no shrieks ever suggest that some intruder has received a shock. No movements of the wire ever betray an invisible climber. The bloodhounds never give cry. Yet still the Believer is not convinced. 'But there is a gardener, invisible, intangible, insensible to electric shocks, a gardener who has no scent and makes no sound, a gardener who comes secretly to look after the garden which he loves'. At last the Sceptic despairs, 'But what remains of your original assertion? just how does what you call an invisible, intangible, eternally elusive gardener differ from an imaginary gardener or even from no gardener at all? 2 "
• Francis Collins - director of the Human Genome Project. Below is an image of the Rose Window and DNA.

• The article in USA Today about a study on the existence of evil. Although I am not 100 percent sure this is the article he is speaking of, it does make for an interesting read.
• 10 million Indian girls eradicated.
• Article in the Houston Chronicle. "Boy, 11, fights for funeral for stillborn sister"
• "But purer, and higher, and greater will be, Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see" - lyrics of To God be the Glory. Note that this website also provides the sheet music for this song.
• "Search for four absolutes: evil, justice, love and forgiveness. Do you know of one event in the world where these four converged? they converged on the cross of Jesus Christ. Evil was seen for what it was. Justice was made out by a righteous and a holy God. Love was displayed unparalleled, to a point where he looks at a young man and says to him "take of her" she is now your mother. A cosmic drama was unfolding, and he cared for one woman who had so cared for him and nurtured him. Forgiveness, that He is willing to wipe your slate clean"

about time if you ask me ...

... you will now be charged for using a handheld device while driving
i really think that it was about time.

ta.

miscellaneous political commentary

i really regret needing to spend so much time on school, such that i really have not had much of a chance to follow either canadian or american politics. with regards to the latter however, i wanted to share this video. whatever anyone says or thinks about john mccain, i find his story around minute 7 very interesting.

"let me hit you with some knowledge"

it is friday at last.

this certainly felt like the longest week. and it is only the beginning of a very long weekend. and not that kind of long weekend, sadly. i have a microeconomic theory midterm on monday, and trust me: not fun. depressing to say the least. depressing seems to be a good word to describe the mood, i say this because i was just reading the financial post, and just finished listening to the ottawa-anaheim game. you can easily infer the connections there.

anyways, even though this was a pretty good week, with visitors, dodgeball, coldplay etc. i will conclude it by quoting dickens, "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times ... "

now for some happy reading i will direct you to http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/

and in preparation for tomorrow, i will say GO SENS GO. first game of the season against the leafs, usually i had a party planned for that evening months before ... but this year i will spend it in the halls of a dusty library, studying. i wanted to quote the textbook for a second, because you'll see how frustrating studying microeconomics is, "from this point on, we shall simply assume that x(p,y) is differentiable whenever we need it to be" ehh .... okay?

the grace - neverending white lights (because while i played this song the sens scored twice in an attempted comeback)

Viva la Vida

certainly between mid-terms and assignments worry, stress and frustration takes a hold of life, so what better than to forget it all with 13,000 other people, and an amazing band? so, here are some pictures from last night's show at scotiabank place. and just being at scotiabank place pumps me up pretty good. when's the next game?



after six hours the video i had meant to post, still has not finished uploading ... i put some up on facebook though!

"just because i am losing, doesn't mean i am lost, doesn't mean i'll stop ..."

http://www.oxfam.ca/

what are we thinking?

i did not kill it. it killed me.

the econometrics mid-term that is. now, what's next? more midterms and exams.

at least it is a game night ...

21:48 UPDATE: 6-3 Sens over the desert cats (picture from TSN.ca):

feels like summer ...

....

for one, because it actually feels like summer (unless you were so unfortunate to be in regina with thanksgiving)

for two, because there is such a long time between senators hockey games. thank you not nhl for this schedule.


jack savoretti - dreamers


back to my studies. today's topic: logrolling.

PRO-CRASTI-NATION

i am officially glued with my eyes to the elections tracker on cbc.ca. how the cbc can report members elected with less than half of the polls in is beyond me ... but i'll gladly follow. to the demise of my great plan to finish my taxation assignment.



like i said many times before, there is an interesting relationship between the number of posts i crank out in a week, and the number of assignments/tests i have due. maybe i should write a regression to specify it exactly.

brian mcfadden - real to me

happy belated thanksgiving

it is election night, but all i am going to post about is hockey moments from the weekend:

owen sound attack versus barrie colts (4-2). i think my oma would have loved to see this game for reasons below:




and ottawa senators versus detroit red wings (2-3)

note here:
1. minute 2.15 ish.
2. note not the end of the game
3. and may i just say how handsome picard is?

jet - are you gonna be my girl (not because i particularly like this song, but every time the owen sound attack players hit the ice they play this song ... for reasons i am not sure of)

gone south

that is where my plan for a productive day/evening has gone ...

in the meantime, my housies are watching north and south and it is so tempting move a room over and watch, because as you may know it is one of my favourite films. just as it is tempting to listen to the first hockey game since the games in Europe last weekend ... and ... well there are plenty of things i can think that i'd rather be doing than this taxation assignment. but we have all heard there are two things we can be certain of: death and taxes. so i am afraid that that subject won't be going anywhere ....

great lake swimmers - your rocky spine

game theory

after about the longest day yesterday .... which did at some point feature a kickass dodgeball game, which our team decisively won, and ended with marking at 1 in the morning ... there is tons of stuff for me to catch up on today. like a taxation assignment, and a public choice problem set. for the latter we refer to joseph conrad's typhoon (which does have online copy here).
in case you'd like to read the story, without me spoiling some of the story you should stop reading now.

so, basically what happens, or so i've heard, because i have not read it myself, Captain MacWhirr is on boat with a number of Chinese workers who are returning home from months of work overseas. they have all given him their earnings for safekeeping, the amounts of which he has carefully entered on a ledger. now, guessing from the title, they get hit by a typhoon. miraculously the workers and captain survive, the money is safe, but the ledger which stated who owned what, is missing. the Captain being an honest man wants to return the money to its rightful owner. but how?

there is some nice game theory for you. i am going to find a solution. i have to.

ps. 1 more day till i go home!
ps2. they are done with roof renos, so no more tar smell!

neverending white lights - distance

hate to say it: but i told you so

i was just reading the toronto star before going to bed, and i am reading with interest ... economists are forewarning worse than a recession, and stock markets are plummeting.

i can't help but think back to my history seminar class, where the discussion about the US sub-prime mortgage market led to Canada. some adamantly claimed it would never affect Canada. being the only economics student in the room the professor turned to me (as he had a habit of doing, much to my .... frustration) for my opinion. surely i must have some opinion or insight? well, put on the spot and turning red as beet, i forewarned a recession. and surely it has come.

i guess in this case i hate to be right.

now, while i am on the topic ... i find it kind of funny that when elections come around, all of the sudden everyone is an expert on the economy. well, i hate to say it, but when economists hardly understand it, it is likely you don't either. or maybe i am just speaking for myself?

UPDATE

worst things beautiful - ours

debate or debate?

debate.

I am currently streaming both debates, the Canadian Leader's Debate via CBC, and the US Vice Presidents Debate via CNN.

Now, over the last few weeks it has been easy to wonder: which election has been the bigger joke? Well, judging from the debate: I probably switched over to the American debate full time when the Canadians started talking about which health clinics they go to. I did not do it quite intently, it was just a minor decision between which to mute, and frankly the Canadians were not really engaging in a good debate.

I find it rather easy for the opposition to attack conservative policies, by pulling out idealistic ideas that are found in political science, philosophy, and economics textbooks. I'd rather like to see some more concreteness on how any of these ideas actually can be achieved. Emphasis on actually. Dion said something to the effects of "we support tax cuts for everyone," no kidding. Too bad, we also want to commit to more jobs, more programs, extended health care, better infrastructure and so on, and that all those things need to be paid for, by oil companies? Maybe it is because I am studying economics I tend to overthink the policies presented, but I can only imagine what anyone without any training in economic or public policy must think. It sounds so easy for politicians to crank out some statistics, calculate possible or potential tax bases etc. but dear oh dear. That is not easy. So yeah, I am a bit skeptical.
At the end Steve P., the facilitator, suggested that the Canadian debate was much better than that of the Americans. I am going to have to disagree.
I can appreciate the civility between the two candidates in the American debate. I can appreciate their controlled emotion and their appeal to American peoples. I even got a little teary-eyed when mr. biden talked about losing his wife. And overall, the debate was more organized, the questions more straigtforward and easier to follow when there aren't people talking through each other, raising their voices, and pulling eyebrows the whole time.

Since I have a microeconomic theory assignment due on monday, I better get back to school work. I just had to note down my quick impressions. But I do have to say this, it is an interesting time to learn more about economics and politics. Especially with the sub-prime mortgage market crisis in the US, the billion dollar bail-out plan, and panic on Bay Street. Interesting stuff. And I change my opinion on these matters on a daily basis ... and as a history students also, I am already wondering what the history textbooks in 50 years will say.

for some good measure:
Rob Thomas - All that I am
Go SENS Go!

"ik begrijp veel, maar daar snap ik niks van" - bassie

i blame my brother for showing me this Dutch commercial, because then I spend a couple of hours looking at videos of my childhood heroes on the net.

bert en ernie:

bassie en adriaan:

mumble jumble

phewww ... this day is almost over.

since i woke up late for classes, had to run out the door, and parked in the wrong parking lot, i was convinced this was going to be the third day in a row of a string of bad luck. but then, when i got back to the car, the parking meter attendant officer dude, was just a couple of cars away from me, which being two hours late was pretty lucky for me. so the tides had turned ... ?

not really, as I just went to school, pretty sure wednesday night being dodgeball night ... but alas it is raptors basketball camp. so I checked the intermural schedule, and check! no game tonight. so I forked over some cash for a parking pass ... for nothing. so, after trying to get a peek of the toronto raptors, without any luck, I opted for a jog along the river instead. that was nice I guess.

the extra time I could use to apply for jobs though ... it is ultra convenient to have assignments, job applications and social events all planned for the same weekend :)

augustana - twenty years

3 more days until official hockey starts! can I say GO SENS GO?

expanded family

while i have a ginormous econometrics assignment hanging over my head ... i do have the time to introduce you to my new friend, 'booh' he was a birthday gift from one of my new, and superbly awesome friends here in ottawa. i will take good care of him, and make sure that he will be an avid sens fan, which i am sure he will just learn from me by osmosis.

this weekend another friend made a comment about how people, in general, have a tendency to want to rush life (ie. can not wait for the weekend, can not wait to turn 19, to graduate from school etc.), and i have to agree with her. as such, i am now going to enjoy the next few hours before i go to bed .... sweet dreams!

and then you - greg laswell

a little bit wiser

"let’s go far away

see this world that God has made

and know our hearts are in his hand

this lovely one who counts the sands"

i have been playing this song a few times over, the last few days, because it is so simple, but poetic and well ... so good! since i have exhausted my playlist over the summer, and the first few weeks of school i am so excited to have full access to the internet and find new music to love. i also like downloading textbooks, which the bookstore so inconveniently does not carry, so i can study econometrics via the pc. it is econometrics that is creating a bit of a dark cloud, and a bit of rain over my birthday, but i guess signing up to do a master's degree means you are relinquishing your freedom of choice. so i won't be able to choose to take the day off tomorrow. and now that i am officially a bit wiser, i might be able to finish the assignment?

i better. when i have some more time i will actually fix my header. and my facebook wall. and install a curtain rod. and ...

since i don't actually have a lot of news. and i also am a little tired from the party we had tonight ... i might just call it a night. well, since it is night, that is not anything original, but you know, it is about time to hit the hay. sweet dreams!

matthew perryman jones - meghan's song

dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge

after an interesting night of playing dodgeball, for the first time, and well .... dodging for the most part, i am watching late night episodes of shortland street. i have no idea why, although i am thinking this long and difficult econometrics assignment may have something to do with it. and i have a pile of marking to finish over the weekend. i think i might have to skip on my own birthday.

and i better catch a few zzzzz's

robbie seay band - shine your light on us

smoke signals

hello!

i am still alive! once i get intertubes installed, or a wireless version without tubes, i will make a greater effort to update regularly. of course by that time, i will be officially busy times two. but it'll be okay.

since i am in the habit of listing a song i currently listen to at the end of my posts:
theo tams - sing

before september ends

on facebook i may have uttered a deep hatred for matrices. well, i want to take it back, and replace with a similar feeling towards differential equations.

18 more days until hockey unofficially starts. with a game against the rangers. more officially, hockey does not start for more than a month. enough time for me to get settled, and have found a really good bar to watch the game at. especially since i am pretty sure we won't be able to afford cable/satellite for any time soon.

also, 25 more days until my birthday!

and that is all i have to mention, especially because after a weekend of studying, and some more studying i don't have very many exciting stories to tell. although, i did go to manotick on saturday: such a lovely little town.

stealing cinderella - chuck wicks
and yay to september and the beginning of new television seasons.

convergence of the old and new ...

a country girl no more:

let me start off with some w(h)ine and dine:

so, Ottawa is where i am at these days. i know the city much better than i currently think i should, or than i really wished to have known at this point. basically i have been taking the long route (in other words the lost route) to get to school in the mornings. since i am living just outside of the city on, believe it or not, a farm i have been driving to school so far. and let's just say that i am uber glad to be anal about getting to places on time, because it means that if i get terribly lost, i might still make it to class on time. now, as for people in owen sound: you should know that when you are told in driver's ed that "if you can drive in owen sound, you can drive anywhere" it means only one thing: the instructor is from wiarton. then, hamiltonians, you may think that getting around in hamilton, the city of the one-way street is frustrating ... you might want to visit toronto or "pot-hole city" but in all seriousness, i think the prize for worst driving conditions should go to ottawa, which not only has pothole, after pothole, it seems that its roads don't even connect to each other. well, and for those who know ottawa quite well i am talking baseline/riverside/prince of whales/bronson area ....

anyways, that is the extent of my frustration. other than that, i am just hanging out in class and in the library for the coming few weeks. i have already handed in an assignment and am getting ready for an exam. in the meantime i am getting to know lots of new people, and finding new cafes on a daily basis. also, i am spending sometime doing nothing at all, and rereading tons of economics materials -> theory that is.

i can't help but try to compare between mac and carleton, almost constantly. for example, i can't believe that carleton only has one library. while i also can't believe how handy it is that everywhere there is plugs for computers and such in cafeterias etc. anyways, apparently mac and carleton are the only two universities in canada where you can get free transcripts: no wonder i had to come here. although, i will have to save my bus pass rant for another day.

i have also observed that i really feel like a tourist, and feel like i should take a picture when a bus passes by with ginormous ottawa senators advertising; when i remember that i will be seeing that bus everyday, and that well, everyone is a sens fan here. (except for my one roommate, and another large group of .... well [insert comment here])

i am calling it a day; i will be trying to find this apartment building that i will be living at later, with an actual address, which should make it much easier. otherwise, i might do what i have been getting pretty good at: drive around searching, doing u-turns etc.

back to my assignment ....

thursday's mutterings

time flies ... especially when you have a pile of files sitting on your desk that you need to finish before the end of the summer; and you know you will never get through them. i have noted this ability to always get my paper stuck in the holepunch ... i also walked into the door today, and managed to screw up all my printing. another reason why i know i was supposed to be born blond.

as for the olympics; i am still doing some moaning and groaning about the time difference. i love to watch most of the events (with the exception of boxing); and have been getting my cheer on. of course, if i was canadian i would have given up a while back; but i am not, so it has been considerably more fun. i have even been getting my anti-cheer on. the united states was always on my blacklist; but just as the rest of the world i have a tiny little crush on michael phelps, and have chosen the chinese to be on top of my blacklist instead. certainly they have built some really nice facilities; but come on, a 7 year old girl who is not pretty enough to appear on tv? seriously, who has got a good image now?

anyways, as i have to make daily decisions between watching the olympics, or Reba and Hope and Faith on CMT, i am plugging along pretty great, and looking back wondering where oh where the summer went.

i know. it went. it went. why would it went?

6.5 more days of work.

08 08 08

i am not sure if i am liking this whole olympics business in china. i had to miss the opening ceremony because of work at 8.30. and i love watching the opening ceremony. i believe that the olympics should be a two week international holiday.

in the meantime, i am extremely busy with getting packed up and ready to go to ottawa, while still working, and living the country life. with all that i am going to schedule in some studytime, the olympics, maybe some blogging about said olympics, shopping for wedding presents, parties, and i am going to marineland for a day.

and only this morning i realized what TGIF (which the finance lady puts in her e-mails at work) stands for. i am feeling a little bit blond right now.

Cheers to Friday.
Happy Birthday to Brett!

wednesday funny

it is the middle of the week; and i thought i better share some comic relief to deal with, well, the wednesday blues.

this is from this week's edition of the Ontario Farmer (its tailender column):

How to Properly Place NEW EMPLOYEES:
1. Put 400 bricks in a closed room.
2. Put your new hires in the room and close the door.
3. Leave them
alone and come back after 6 hours.
4. Then analyze the situation:

a. If they are counting the bricks, put them in the Accounting
Department.

b. If they are recounting them, put them in Auditing.

c. If they have messed up the whole place with the bricks, put them in
Engineering.

d. If they are arranging the bricks in some strange order, put them in
Planning.

e. If they are throwing the bricks at each other, put them in Operations.

f. If they are sleeping, put them in Security.

g. If they have broken the bricks into pieces, put them in Information
Technology

h. If they are sitting idle, put them in Human Resources.

i. If they say they have tried different combinations, they are looking for
more, yet not a brick has been moved, put them in Sales.

j. If they have already left for the day, put them in Marketing.

k. If they are staring out of the window, put them in Strategic Planning.

l. If they are talking to each other, and not a single brick has been moved,
congratulate them and put them in Top Management.

m. Finally, if they have surrounded themselves with bricks in such a
way
that they can neither be seen nor heard from, put them in Congress.

i am eating lunch now, and just wanted to say that ranch dressing is highly overrated.

baby, one more time

i just came across this quote that i had written down. i have no idea where i got it from, but i thought it was pretty interesting:

i believe that one ought to have as much market efficiency as one needs,
because everything that we value in human life is within the realm of
inefficiency - love, family attachment, community, culture, old habits,
comfortable old shoes

---edward luttwak

here and now

where, o where have you gone my sweet summer? with only 22 more days of work, and school in a month, i can't help but wonder what happened to the summer. i have not even spend a day at the beach yet!?! doc walker at holstein rodeo
holstein rodeo - bull riding
it was raining all afternoon ... but that did not stop anyone (from splashing us with mud that is ...)
corb lund and drummer at hamilton place

certainly corb did not disappoint with his rendition of the hockey song, and a 4th verse:

oh goodness me, fox tv where did you get your sight, can't you
keep track, the puck is black, thats why the ice is white. And that big red
glare you see up there, well we've seen that for years, for goodness sakes, all
it takes it a couple dozen beers"!!

chris daughtry - what about now

norah jones - the story

this last song from my blueberry nights is just fabulous, just as the film actually. i have never been a fan of jude law, but this film did not disappoint. together with my earlier post about stopless, i have to say i am glad my movie night fell through (that is the theatre was all sold out by the time we arrived), so that we had the chance to rent these films. i like!

once a nerd, always a nerd- i was pretty stoked today when i discovered the data analysis toolpack on excel. call it nerdy if you will, but it will save me a lot of time: it is just so cool! teehee!

anyways, see you at the baseball game!

exactly what i was wondering: winning or losing?

just over my lunch hour today i was doing some online reading, and came across this article, which basically answered some of my recent questions about the war on terror. it coincides with a conversation i had yesterday as we were watching stoploss, which addressed the issue, well as you can guess of America's stop-loss policy. it was basically a comment my mom made about how there were already so many movies out about the war in iraq, and the war on terror. well, it has been longer than ww1 or ww2. basically, i realized, that we are just plugging along, while there is still a war going on. sure, we remember our fallen soldiers as another CBC segment on the war is on, but really the distance is not only one in terms of kilometres and culture, but even more so in our minds. hardly ever do we hear anything concrete. actually no, let me rephrase: never do we hear anything concrete. and as much as technology supposedly makes the world smaller, imo, there has never been a time where the world has been so disconnected.

anyways, just thought i'd pass on the link.

workly wisdom

everyday at work there is a new quote posted on the company extranet. just thought i'd share:

"Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But choose them as your guides, and follow them until you reach your destiny."Carl Schurz

sunday best

in beeld

since we were driving for 7 hours straight, i turned to my camera to keep myself entertained. the one good thing that comes out of not stopping for so long, is the strength of our bladders, such that i am convinced we are more than ready for a road trip across canada.

while i take the next few days to fret over getting pictures loaded, i might as well give a basic summary of the trip, which pretty much involved hitting every possible red light.

this was taken at rockford, rather close to home, but yet again we hit the red light.

augustana - stars and boulevards

when it is all said and done

again, it certainly has been a while.

and again, a lot has happened. i am no longer unemployed. the red wings won the stanley cup. holland performed brilliantly, and then when it mattered most, completely unbrilliant. so now that i will be ridding the house of all the flags, i am going to prepare a little statement for everyone at work as to why i wont be driving around with my flags anymore.

:(

since my last update, i have also graduated. and have gone to see my new school in ottawa. if i could calculate my feelings in to percentages, i would probably say i am 40 per cent excited, and 60 per cent scared. little chicken that i am.

i also have tons of pictures to add, but since i am both lazy and busy, and alogether tired of this supposedly high-speed internet, i will do that at a later time.

till then.

long time no see

it certainly has been a while. and seeing that i have previously established a distinct pattern of blogging a lot when i am busy, and not very much when i am not so busy, it can be concluded that i have not been very busy. well, i have kept busy, but not really. the next few weeks look promising though, as there will be tons of visitors from holland, and much fun to be had.

ps. go red wings
ps. HUP holland HUP!

Ottawa: here I come!

goodbye Hamilton. hello Ottawa.
dear Ottawa though, you will have to wait about 4 months before I will grace you with my presence, as I will be making a pitstop in Owen Sound.

can I just say how excited I am?
also about how excited I am that I found a copy of Boyzone - by request for only a few dollars, same as Matchbox 20?

:-)

all i want to do ...

.... is laundry.

why?

because i know i have to study. and i can think of a million things i'd rather do.
coffee count: 3

augustana - stars and boulevards

"do you not know, have you not heard ..."

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?

... He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

... the LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall:
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles: they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

from Isaiah 40 (NIV)

What is it good for? Absolutely nothi...: eh. This one is for the memories

We may have tried hard ... to no avail. Or we may have been in a losing battle from the beginning. No matter how you look at it, it has been producing some embarrassment. Especially for the fans, who really cannot control anything, but how loud they are in the building. And CBC announcers being drowned out by the boos and cheers, taunts and praises, is sufficient evidence that the fans, have not failed our team. The other way around, is subject to enough debate as it is. But for how much it is worth, the senators produced some memorable moments, while the team of flightless birds, well, will be moving on, without any flash. So, this is why the series was not all bad:

5. the Gary Roberts pillow factor.

4. the anthem sung at SBP

3. the a-train putting the flight in flightless bird: hit on Crosby

2. Gerber save after Volchenkov gets puck in the face.

1. game 2, when the senators were down 3 goals, and caught up. the silence in pittsburgh and surrounding area, was definitely worth hearing. even though it did not last nearly long enough. this was also the game where we finally scored. yay!

goodbye 2007-8 season: hello, next year.

ensemble of ones

1 more exam

1 huge decision

1 more game?

Series: 0 - 3

foo fighters - home

|cc| mission control

still my superstars

0 - 2

please don't make me sing linkin park in the end ever again. please?

on another note: i am officially done classes. assignments. essays. tests. only one more exam, and hasta la vista 'too bad we never made too good of friends' mcmaster. now, there is only the future to (worry about) look forward to. and a calculus exam.

coffee and donuts

who needs energy drinks when you can just get yourself a good old-fashioned sugar high?

lupe fiasco (ft. matthew santos) - superstar

spring is here!

between the bushes i was able to take a snapshot of this beautiful creature on my walk to school this morning :)

matthew ryan - jane i still feel the same

4 more hours of econ classes, 2 more hours of calculus, and 1 more hour of history. one more presentation, one more essay, one more assignment, and one more final exam. wow!

and can i just say how much i am going to miss my history seminar class entitled the north american city. i know so much more about hamilton than i would ever really care to, but i also feel so much more enlightened about cities, space and its people.

surprises

i am listening to a mars volta song ... and i actually like it.

and the ninjas have been defeated. my army of cowboys and bunnies has redefined glory. (well that remains to be seen as i may not have written a very good paper on japan).


toothpastefordinner.com

my tune

i guess the credit is at the bottom of this picture, as i was far too lazy to edit it out.

change is not enough

Glance at the sun.

See the moon and the stars.

Gaze at the beauty of earth’s greenings.

Now, think.

-Hildegard von Bingen-

two more weeks: monsters and jelly beans. no, chocolate. because chocolate is on sale.

"you are now in 3 dimensional space, congratulations" (this falls under the category of interesting statements made by mac educators, kind of like when the phrase "sexy topic" was used to announce taxation)
woohoo! me and my wonderfully advanced ability to visualize things are so excited. i am glad however to spend some time in calculus covering topics which i have studied for three years in economics. maybe one tiny thing in this course is going to be working out for me. unlike integration for example (created by sherry):
between now and tomorrow, i am going to be cranking out a paper. i can do it! i have to.

falling leafs [5] - sens with less [4]

well that was painful. entertaining. but terribly painful. i am pretty sure that the bad guys will not forget this affair as they look upon their bruises caused by a ride on the a-train. i like to blame the referees. and the giveaways.

still, another sad face in my agenda. le sigh.

can i tell you how much i like the powerwise commercial? it does not come close to the miller commercial, but it is so cute.

augustana - stars and boulevards

titleless

a couple of weeks ago i was on the bus and could not find one of my gloves. i thought i had lost it somewhere between waiting for the bus and getting on the bus. and surely the other day, a very rainy day (i might add), and a couple of weeks later it was just lying there, all wet and lonely on the curb in front of shoppers drug mart. and for some reason i felt so sad for it. like i was choosing to keep it lying there, so lonely and cold, after it had kept me so warm for much of the winter. now, i know that it is somewhat silly beyond belief, but i have been thinking about going back there and picking it up. i guess in some sense, someone swedish should appear on my screen and tell me "it is because you are crazy, it has no feelings." and if not that, this might just appear on your screen. thanks anna.

and can i impart to you how excited i am to receive a copy of the bbc drama north and south in the mail today? teehee.

keane - try again

the countdown is on ...

1 major seminar paper done, 2 more to go
1 major seminar presentation done, 2 more to go
no more midterms, ever.
2 more assignments.
1 more final exam.

perhaps the thought of having to carry all my books to the library and begging them to let me renew one more time is clouding over my happiness of almost finishing. for now anyways.

matt costa - these arms

that makes me most of us

"there are moments in our lives when we find ourselves at a crossroads. the choices we make in those moments can define the rest of our days. of course, when faced with the unknown, most of us prefer to turn around and go back."

mumbles and rumbles: far away

i have been cheating on school with ross copperman. kind of like a ross copperman affair. i think i am in love with sweet melodies and poetic lyrics.

in the meantime: home this weekend. monday presentation and a midterm. followed by tuesday with a major, major paper due. and all i can think about is dad's surgery, and am asking everyone to pray for him and the doctors.

"change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like a stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass" steinbeck.

for blue skies - strays don't sleep

still procrastinating

a night sky by keane for warchild

aching

after this last snowstorm i am officially giving up on shoveling snow. i now have this excruciating pain in my back that makes painkillers my best friend, and leaves me unable to sit anywhere other than the couch (although i can't complain about being confined to the couch it is less than ideal). after having given it some thought i realized that i can neither expect any of my housemates to endure such pains, so maybe i should start googling for a mailorder husband from russia.

or you know ... we could just have no more snow for this season.

here is to hoping that this week >>>> last week

fine frenzy - ashes and wine

procrastinating

shadows by frozen flames. the day that i find their song "right here with you" i will pass it along. because when i do, that will make my day. in the meantime here is a preview of the band.

human after all

i am officially suffering from a case of the flu, aggrevated by the winter blues, insomnia, worry, and a tremendously heavy workload. i am hoping that admitting it is the first step to my recovery.

cue the music:

"everybody hurts some time" REM

"is there a chance, a fragment of light at the end of the tunnel, a reason to fight" a fine frenzy

"just trying to find my way the best that i know how" lifehouse

"when you try your best but you don't succeed, when you get what you want but not what you need, when you feel so tired but you can't sleep, stuck in reverse. and the tears come streaming down your face ..." coldplay

thanks for listening.

warning: not at all sensible.

allright mcmaster, if you are not going to call it a rain day. or a puddle day. at least warn students to wear their bathing suits to school, so they can swim to class. or you know, do something about the pathways/drainage/roads.

just so you know for next time.

and hamilton? don't even let me get started on you.

to forget and not to forget [2]

surely i am awake while the rest of the house is still vast asleep. so while i am waiting, i thought i'd make this post, which i had been meaning to put together for a while.

in memory of our dear beloved beta fish, who were with us for a time far too short

hero (dr. shakes)

alfonzo (alfie jr.)

i will especially remember how you were there for the whole season, and the playoffs. had there been a stanley cup win i am confident alfredsson would have acknowledged you in his thank you speech.

cody

keane - try again

at sea

the first verse has been on my mind all week, and after looking it up again, i am thankful that the next verse offers some answers.
hymn 48 - wer nur den lieben Gott

will anxious care or bitter sighing
at any time give true relief?
and what avails us our decrying
each morning's evil, trouble, grief?
we only add to grief and stress
by discontent and bitterness.

be still! what God in His good pleasure
to you in wisdom may impart
is given you in perfect measure;
thus be content within your heart.
to Him who chose us for His own
our needs and wants are surely known.

the inconvenient truth

the ottawa senators are officially missing in action.

ugh.

ps. i understand any readership might not really care, but as the title suggests: it is the inconvenient truth

EDIT: paddock has been fired.

embarrassment a l'hockey

after listening to fall for you by the whitlams, i took the liberty to write my own message to my beloved ottawa senators:

i'll follow you

when i get on and shake my pride

i'll cheer for you

you can do better than you were tonight

---

be strong and you'll get strength back

feed the fire and you'll get passion back

---

you can do better than you were tonight

if you could only see

alone, but not lonely.

me and bruce are watching hnic on mute, while for music i do what i always do: press play and repeat. at least being alone lets me sing my little heart out w/o the embarrassment factor

sens win. leafs win. canadiens lose. and canucks are battling it out with the red wings. together with a rickard's red, it is just an ordinary saturday night in canada.

matchbox twenty exile tour @ acc

city-scapes

mute mathalanis morissette
and ... matchbox twenty
rob thomas

matchbox twenty - i'll believe you when

eclipse

i hear eclipse and right away associate it with westlife's cover of total eclipse of the heart, but in the real world, an eclipse is something as special. this lunar eclipse, that will not happen again until december 2010, was a bit of a disappointment, as much as my ability to capture it was. but maybe by 2010 i will have perfected my photo-taking skills, or even better by that time i may own a really nice camera, and a telescope. who knows?

so long.

i've got my sunglasses

view from this morning's drive

a tuesday afternoon stroll

sydenham river

my return was delayed by a day as i had disappeared into a winter wonderland. however frustrsating the driving is in snow, the sheer beauty of it all makes it surely worth it.

of course i did take my camera along to try and take some snapshots of my adventures. but with my luck the batteries died when i was at inglis falls. and so i did not have the chance to capture my brother's friend jumping up into a tree only to fall backwards with the tree in his arms. but i can assure you that it was the one of the funniest things i have seen so far this year.
as for hockey: we got our satellite installed right on time for me to watch a devils beating of the senators. of course all of that was forgotten, when the senators finally registered a win on tuesday night. of course i am grieved by that fact that sportsnet east did not let me watch the game. as for other hockey: i did get to watch my brother's hockey practice, which is very entertaining, especially since some of the children have a skating ability that resembles mine. but, i did catch the winning breakaway goal on video, so it can go somewhere in the family files.

that is all for now, i think i will post a sign at the front door, warning: cleaning frenzy ahead, because this house could use some cleaning.

2 days until Matchbox Twenty :-)

must see

happy valentine's day

credit to xkcd.com
credit to xkcd.com

interestingly, this approach does not always work as well for me either. i think i need to order a cartoon titled "death by integration," kind of like a sequel to "death by summation." so, following from an earlier post, even if calculus sucks, and hockey sucks, there is always love.

and how do economists look at this? see for yourself.

justin nozuka - after tonight

to forget and not to forget

allright so after a fun-packed weekend, i want to forget about the monday that followed it. although forgetting calculus will result in instant failure, it might be good to forget about it for a minute: and what better to do than read up on hockey. so just remembring:

- pizza line delivers pizza
- spezza scores his first career hat trick


- and stillman and commodore come to ottawa

see, even if calculus sucks: life never does.

body rockers - i like the way you move

rained out

i just want to share how sad i am that our road hockey tournament got rained out

so now, i am just waiting for the games to begin, because i am not sure how much more of ron mclean i can handle.

citizens of contrary knowledge - house of cards

funnel cake, roller coasters and integrals

between studying for an upcoming calculus mid-term i am listening to the senators vs. panthers and am thinking about roller coasters and funnel cakes. maybe because this game for a sens fan is like stepping on a roller coaster after you have eaten a little too much funnel cake. you're going up and down not sure whether to open your eyes or just close them, because you might miss some scenic sights, but the chance of bugs in your eyes is too great, and the anticipation of going full circle with a stomach full of funnel cake is simply dangerous. it is better to just close your eyes and hope that you don't throw up over the handsome ride attendant when the ride is over. after all, you can't really trust your stomach. (23 seconds left, eyes closed).

allright, so maybe a little far fetched, but i am sure my mind has taken me stranger places.

i think calculus might have something to do with it. after all, it is one of the world's greater evils.

aside from this, i saw a trailer on a new documentary called the "demographic winter" which brings to light the concerns of declining birth rates. i am especially interested in this, because someone in a discussion after the screening of the 11th hour suggested Canada should adopt a one child policy. i should have told him he was crazy. in a most broad sense, i really believe that in building stronger families, and encouraging people's sense of place, belonging and purpose we would be able to solve a lol of social, environmental and economic problems. here again, i think as a student of economics, there is a lot to be aspiring to, and new opportunities for change will arise. and i am very exicted about that :-)

mute math - noticed

UPDATE: 4-5 sens win at last. heatley: welcome back.

golden delicious and sparkling

vitamin A puts that sparkle in your eyes.

i don't know if i am disappointed or not. i think i will just refuse to believe that that is all.

NAGFLATION,
n.: "the incessant gloom-and-doom predictions from economic
analysts who feel compelled to issue updates even if nothing has changed."

from invented words of the week, courtesy of the toronto star.

frou frou - let go

lollipops and rainbows

today is the day of superbowl XLII, and currently the patriots are leading the giants 7-3. i have to admit i have no idea what that means, if that is a comfortable winning margin or not, but it looks interesting. also interesting because it is so true: from urban dictionary dot com

Person 1: Who do you think will win the Superbowl?

Person 2: What's that? Oh, those men running in between the commercials?

either way football is much more interesting than UFC fighting, which apparently does attract many male fans that enjoy watching muscled and slippery men. and also much more interesting than another sports debacle that may have occurred the other night.

after some intense searching, or googling/dogpiling/yahooing if you will, i could only find one article of interest about theories of optimism. this article, based on a questionnaire suggests that optimism and pessimism are postively and negatively (respectively) related to religiosity and superstition, and are not at all related to the illusion of control. now, this is completely relevant to the idea that superstition takes hold in the NHL and that a fanbase cannot feel optismistic or
pessimistic on the basis of any control, because the entity that is supposed to extend some level of control is out of control. yeah, i know. basically i would like to offer the argument that the NHL officiating sucks. and that it in itself needs not be argued. it is more like common knowledge. like the norm. or more like hearsay. no, actually like the obvious. so no wonder fans base their
feelings of optimism or pessimism on religion or superstition, and that their team has been grappled by some sort of a curse. and i feel like it has to do with alfredsson. and i don't like it.
but to conclude: nhl officiating can't make a game. but it can break it. and that is an injustice and needless frustration for the blue-collar hockey fan.

wow. that was as much ranting i can do in a semi-public setting. and i think that the fact that i dreamt that cliff fletcher died in our house has something to do with it [insert shivers]. so not everything is rosemary and sunshine. lollipops and rainbows. but you know, that makes life interesting.

superbowl update: nothing happened ... yet.

superbowl update 2: the giants have taken a lead, but the patriots are getting really close. and i am unwillingly becoming nervous. 2:49 left.
delirious? - investigate