Saturday, February 02, 2008

spring is in the air

it is official: an early spring. despite all the hype, or really non-hype, i don't think i can explain how sorry i feel for willie.


but winter is not over yet, and good thing, because i would feel really sad if our snowman would melt so soon. although spring = nhl playoffs, and those can't seem to come soon enough. because maybe then, just maybe, some teams can pretend to care to play some badass hockey. either way, i would be okay if said team would try tonight, because a good battle of ontario is a good battle of ontario. go sens go!

Friday, February 01, 2008

snow dayzzzzz?

nope.
snow days ≠ getting extra work done


althought perhaps: snow day = getting a little bit of work done. so back to milk quotas, price support systems, numbers, numbers, and more numbers.

emiliani torrini - summerbreeze

Thursday, January 31, 2008

oddity

allright so this video is rather ... odd ... but it made me as happy as the walking trees in lord of the rings made me happy.
gotye - hearts a mess


and to show some people from highschool some love:
first rate people - under duress

"i got a little alfalfa sprout growing, that's not good" just had me bursting out in laughter in the library. i think people might doubt that i am working. right.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

the beginning of the end

no more assigned readings. after reading numbers of books, and countless articles, be it online or from overpriced coursewares ... i have finally finished with those. of course i will still be reading articles and books for my final papers: but no more assigned readings, and no more seminar discussions. i think i am little sad.

vienna teng - recessional
missy higgins - where i stood

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

no exaggeration

as soon as i hear "arctic" winds or "arctic" cold i file it under a mental folder of exaggerations. but i am admitting i have been wrong. it is pretty cold out west these days. and i don't think hot chocolate and marshmallows are going to make it any better this time.

cold - feel it in your heart

Monday, January 28, 2008

choosing life

20 years or 2 decades too long, canada has been suffering from lawlessness. the fact that there is no law, whatsoever, that regulates abortion, not even to a minimal extent has been a concern for 20 years to this day. as today marks the anniversary of the supreme courth decision to decriminalize abortion, there are people that celebrate and those that mourn. i find myself in both camps, because there is the chance to celebrate life, while also mourn the lives that have been lost. these are just some of the words i heard today at a candlelight vigil to mark the anniversary of the decision made by the supreme court of canada.
i can say a lot of things, but a lot of things have been said and will be said, so here i take the opportunity to be silent for 3 million lives that have been lost.
jimmy eat world - gotta be somebody's blues

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

world economy


i've always enjoyed political cartoons. taken from Kal's cartoons at economist.com
as for other interesting articles i would recommend anyone reading the site, seeing that their print copies are so terribly expensive.

a certain something, certain

oddly, i always pick the wrong weekends to go home, which incidentally makes them so right as well. despite horrid driving conditions that i usually encouter (snow this time, fog last time, and ... tornadoes next time?) i am not complaining -> it is always nice to have a sign of winter, when well ... it is winter. and i did venture out in the morning to capture some of the picturesque scenes of winter. and no one, i mean no one, is too old to make snow angels. it did take however a great amount of effort to get a picture taken without the dog running through:
view from my window:
despite all my efforts, i still did not get this picture to rotate quite right. either way i thought it was a nice representation of the canadian winter. afterwards we did make some attempts to play road hockey in the snow, but with all the snow there was a certain lack of visibility of the ball.
now here is to hoping that the snow will remain for at least a month, so that when reading week rolls around a mini-ski trip will involve real snow, rather than the fake stuff.
just last week, i also had the chance to visit dad at the lodge he is staying at, while going through treatments. and just located downtown toronto on jarvis street, we had the chance to go out for dinner at the keg. this particular location is also called the mansion house, and let me tell you know, it is a mansion indeed. the bathrooms are nicer than the average restaurant, and the bar is on a separate floor. and not only that, the service is wonderful, and the food is some of the best i have ever eaten. so, i guess in some sense this can be considered a restaurant review[insert 4 stars].
as for other things: hockey let's say, the ottawa senators are still pretty hot, even though their play is pretty cold. i guess that will make it easier to let some of the guys go when murray makes some nice trade at the trade deadline to make this time a little stronger. gotta love'em though. tonight OTT vs. FLA.
with 3 seminar courses, 1 math course, and grad school applications and deadlines looming over me, i better get back to work. i have a proposal due tomorrow, and frankly i dont think 24 hours will be enough to understand the milk support pricing systems in Canada. but, i am not complaining, just presenting some facts.

i have been wondering about 19th century novels. there always seems to be so much discussion about politics, philosophy and theology in dinner conversations, and i am just wondering if authors like jane austen, or the brontes and them did a lot of research on their topics or that they should be considered philosophers themselves. such as this little excerpt out of North and South:

Nothing like the act of eating for equalising men. Dying is nothing to it. The philosopher does sententiously - the pharisee ostentatiously - the simple-hearted humbly - the poor idiot blindly, as the sparrow falls to the ground; the philosopher and idiot, publican and pharisee, all eat after the same fashion - given an equally good digestion. There's a theory for theory for you!

jon mclaughlin - beautiful disaster

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

morning light

i like hamilton at 7 am. it is busy, yet so peaceful (except for maybe the mile long coffee lines). and now it is 8.30 and i still have half an hour before class. i like it.

sam bisbee (ft. leona naess) - miracle car

Friday, January 11, 2008

"Hey now you're an All Star get your game on, go play ..."

"... only shooting stars break the mold" and yesss ... our shooting stars are represented.

for the NHL All-Star game in Atlanta the East will be looking good. looking real good.

today the final roster was announced, and Ottawa's very own pizza-line (cash-line), or whatever the blog-o-sphere has dubbed them, made it. so together with Paddock as the coach the Ottawa senators are nicely represented. i guess, me voting almost a 100 times for volchenkov was to no avail, but i don't think the league supports crazy. crazy fans that is. but you know, sometimes recognition is due, where recognition is due.

the rest of the line-up is here (which is also where i copied and pasted these pictures from). i have to say, for some odd reason i clearly remember the day that i learned the print screen function on my keyboard, when i was in grade 10, and frankly we have been inseparable ever since.

and from yesterday: gotta be somebody`s blues - jimmy eat world

ps. if someone can explain to me why my keyboard functions change from quotation marks to these: `` or why my question marks become these É that would be nice.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

in hiding

just bought my last textbook from titles, which cost me a whopping 171.99 + tax. but at least the countdown is on: 5 more assignments, 3 more papers, 3 more mid-terms, and 1 more final exam, as well as a whole pile of presentations. the number of days? not counting those just yet.

jupiter sunrise - steal me

" ... but i am not sure how to draw a path to the moonlight" i just love that line!

the verve pipe - the freshman
kelly clarkson - irvine
jimmy eat world - gotta be somebody's blues

Buffalo @ Ottawa with 5: 39 left in the second period. score 1-0 for ottawa.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

"hockey now sleep later"

i mean hockey now, work later. it is only january. first week of school, that should be allowed right?

tonight the hamilton bulldogs took on the binghamton senators for the second time of the season here in hamilton. and of course tonight was extra special because carey price had come home ... well. maybe he does not like to think that. but i am sure some people might.

the game was rather uneventful ... except for two minutes of 5-on-3, which the senators managed to kill off brilliantly. like ... brilliantly. one of the "bad boys" is shown here. i just can't help but think that he looks so terribly innocent.

and some more shots.
good guys:
bad guys: i guess the photo means i don't have to tell you who won the game (in overtime though) but i guess, if these guys are the good guys, except for four nights a year, than i am probably not all that unhappy. but ... laperrier is gone, but d'agostini is in my doghouse now. and considering that the senators have had a lot of injury problems, these guys did pretty good. and i have to admit i am not very good at taking pictures. and so this shot came after the lying flat-on-top-of-each-other moment had passed. but still i think price might have had some colourful words to say to #9. who i would not mind seeing called up anytime in the future.

that's all folks. final score: 3-2. ottawa playing again tomorrow. and saturday. and sunday. and i only have 50 more minutes of class until the weekend. woohoo.
raine maida - yellow brick road

Monday, January 07, 2008

waiting

i have been wanting to put together a nice new years post for a while now, but it is not happening. not yet anyways. but all the things i am hoping for in the new year can be summarized in one word: victory.

in the meantime i am just ploughing away at my last semester, and hoping to document a little bit more of life, as i finally got my own camera. so stay tuned.

Friday, December 21, 2007

horoscope horrors

"you know what you want and aren't afraid to do whatever is in your power to get it. you are a wonderful homemaker"

"you will hear some good news today that may have to do with your recent hard work and success"

"today, you may be taking on far more responsibility than is yours to deal with. try to work at lightening your load"

"try to focus on the positive today and you may find yourself becoming happier with the present situation"

i say horoscope horrors because i am far from taking horoscopes to heart, but it is scary the day that grades come out that my horoscope suggests i will hear good news regarding what i have been working on, or that i am a good homemaker on the day that i spend cleaning the house, or that i know what i want while i was working on a job application for a job that i really want. craz-i-ness!

happy shortest day of the year (i know ... it is still 24 hours long) -> happy winter!

bok van blerk - delaray (below: i am always glad to share a history lesson)



and this commercial is so terribly cute/funny that i had to share it
-soccer kid-

Monday, December 17, 2007

instant coffee and little timbits here and there

funny thing is ... i am instantly happy when matchbox twenty comes on on the radio.

and i have finally a few references lined up for this one job application. who ever knew that job applications and searching for suitable references would be so excruciating.

in the meantime though i am enjoying this snow and glad i can't leave the house to do anything, and just have to stay in and be a little lazy ... although i dont think i can stay away from the library too long, it is just time to read something i actually want to read. and the list of must read books is getting terribly long. in the meantime though: i am doing homework and thinking very hard about possible research topics for my modern japan history seminar, and my economics thesis. any thoughts for the second class?

ps. i hope alfonzo americano (or for short i decided to call him hugo) does not feel like i am cheating on him, now that i am home and using my parents (un)reliable and slow computer, which just happens to have the internet on it. and also ... it was nice to find that my parents had bought a bigger sreen tv so that watching hockey is instantly more enjoyable, but at the same time we lost a channel. so now we are down to 4. i am thinking that trip to the library is becoming very important soon.

Friday, December 14, 2007

world wide web

of all the place i could be writing a post from ... i am at sunnibrook hospital in toronto. the last few weeks have been a rollercoaster, and now i am waiting, waiting, and waiting. i have already read every magazine they have in the lobby, and all the newspapers have my fingerprints on them ... and then i found this little gem, and black box, a computer of all things, with full internet access. so here is where i watched the highlights from last night's game ... and watching heatza scores many goals, while crosby is frustrated with our very own gerbz .. made me smile a little.

the news is not all bad ... dad is going to holland. and when he comes back treatment will begin. it won't be easy, but this place has a positive vibe. which is good, because in the next year i am planning to visit quite a few times. anyhow, i am logging off so my lil brother can play games on this thing, while i go searching or something else to read ... then, off to the airport.

logging off.

music for the trip home: westlife!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

punked out

it is really starting to get to me. i think by the end of tomorrow i cannot see another q, b, z or m.

but as always distractions are abundant. i did come across the definitions for the toronto maple leafs and the ottawa senators on urban dictionary dot com of which the majority have been written by leafs fans; entertaining nonetheless.

josh groban -awake

Sunday, December 09, 2007

red friday

"how good it was for me to suffer pain; So that in all Your statutes You might school me; The perfect law that You, O Lord ordain; Exceeds all earthly riches. Let it rule me!; Your ordinances are my greatest gain; For gold and silver can no longer fool me" (Psalm 119: 27 anglo-genevan psalter, revised version)

i received an e-mail in my inbox today, and as much as it may be a piece of propaganda, it cannot be far from the truth. i have been studying international economic organizations the last few days for an exam coming up tomorrow, and there is a lot to be questioned, but i support the men and women overseas nonetheless.

"You put on your anti war/don't support the troops shirt, and go meet up with your friends. He still fights for your right to wear that shirt""You criticize your government, and say that war never solves anything.He sees the innocent tortured and killed by their own people and remembers why he is fighting. You hear the jokes about the war, and make fun of men like him "


cold - can you feel it in your heart

Saturday, December 08, 2007

exam frenzy

"If I could make these moments endless
If I could stop the winds of change
If we just keep our eyes wide open
Then everything would stay the same"

altogether trying to bolster my spirits, remain hopeful, pray continually, and ... study hard:

exam status [1/3]

just came back from labour economics exam, and am glad to report it went relatively well. it was certainly nice to see the senators logo staring at me everytime i looked up, as some guy in front me had to wear his cap backwards: he is a smart man.

am now preparing for a monday morning exam: 3 essays in 3 hours. yikes.
some things change, but other things remain the same, so exam time has come around and the repeat function on my playlist is put to good use again: listening to josh groban - you're the only one & westlife - love crime: " know that for you to be here without me by your side it's a love crime"

where the first song is so terribly good, and the second one is so terribly catchy.

logging off in 3 ... 2 ... 1

beep.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

numbed

"but every road can hide a corner you can't see ... i am calling out to the only [O]ne"

you're the only place - josh groban


to love somebody - damien rice and ray lamontagne


to leave it behind - the great lake swimmers


no words.