long or wrong?

some days i feel like a brown bean...

bon news, bad news...

bad news: i went to the optometrist this week for a much anticipated eye exam. he told me that i was getting very old, my vision will only get worse, and when i get sick of taking off my glasses to see close objects, come back for bifocals. ouch. i forked over ninety bucks to be shot down in flames.

good news: the egyptian opticians did a really good job with my current glasses. they got the prescription spot on according to the doctor.

walk down memory lane...

i had a big bag of old t-shirts to sort out yesterday. THE find of the day? a shirt commemorating the 1978 commonwealth games in edmonton. my friends, it was like finding the holy grail. here's the bonus, it can be yours!!! wow, the first ever BTOG contest with a real prize. submit an essay, 1000 words or less but at least 50 words, expressing to BTOG the emotions you experienced as you watched diane jones-konihowski light the games' flame in commonwealth stadium back in '78. you have till december 19th to make submissions - just in time for xmas. out of town winners will be responsible for postage. good luck.

if there aren't any takers, i'll ebay the sucker. t-shirt memorabilia is sellin' for big bucks these days.

on more of a personal note, i found shirts that i wore for house league sports in junior high!! they still fit!! well, not really. anywho, i loved junior high. these shirts will be the first artifacts in the BTOG museum of natural history.

movie review...

on tuesday night, gina and dave showed up unannounced at my doorstep. i love their spontaneity sometimes. ha. they wanted me to go to the flix with them. the weather was frigid that dark and stormy night but i decided to go with them. it sure beat huddling in front of the puter all night long trying to draw every btu of heat coming off the screen trying to keep warm.

off we went to see the Bourne Ultimatum starring the always hot matt damon. i was in trouble even before i stepped in the theatre. little did know watching the first two movies of the trilogy would have been helpful in understanding the third. dave told me to focus on two words during the movie: amnesia and revenge.

without his advice i would have been totally lost because the the action started about 10 seconds in and kept going, at a million miles per hour, all night long: brilliant chase scenes, fisticuffs, gun play, bad guys posing as good guys, and relentless plot twists. with the occasional flashback, dave's answers to my constant questions that began with "what/who the hell was that...", and the mantra of "amnesia...revenge..." rattling in my brain, i managed to follow along.

my review: Ultimatum was astounding in a flabbergasting way.

my recommendation: go to the library and sign out the Bourne I and II dvds, then watch III again.

global warming...

what would a blog posting be without talking about global warming?

first, congrats to all my aussie friends for voting out their Bush crony of a PM.

second, my take on the current post-kyoto global warming talks in indonesia is this: china and india should call PM Steve-o's bluff and sign on to a pact that calls for mandatory c02 emission targets.

my prediction: PM Steve-o still won't sign on but it'd be fun to watch him squirm for a while.

the hills...

is this tv show for real? it's hot...

public service announcements...

(caution: do not lick metallic poles in sub-zero temperatures, you may be in for a nasty surprise)

for all those who know me, i'm pretty much a night owl. when i'm not partying or out on the town till all hours, i'm watching cool shows like letterman or conan.

suffice to say, the anguish i've suffered because of the writers' strike has been immeasurable.

for the love of god, i hope the repeats come to an end soon.

here's to the writers. studios, show them the money. they're not asking for the moon...

bubba's running tip of the day...

i'm often asked, "bubba, how do you pull off the herculean effort of running in minus 20 Celsius weather?"

good question, my friends.

first, minus 20 Celsius is nothing.

second, dress for the occasion. as with everything in life, it's not the volume but the quality of the clothes you choose that is the salient feature.

wear layers and wear them often.

for example today, for my upper torso, i wore 2 wicking layers comprised of nike "dry fit" material and 1 cotton long sleeve t-shirt. not finished yet... these were sandwiched between a base layer of MEC midweight transport long-sleeved polypropylene t-shirt and an outer windproof nylon jacket.

for the lower body, i wore a base layer of MEC midweight polypropylene long underwear. on top of that, my usually jogging shorts. then finally the gnarliest wrecked sweatpants (complete with strategically place vents) ever.

add mitts and a toque (with a totally breathable lining made of a super secret material), and i'm good to go.

(caveat emptor: the above ensemble is only meant as an anecdotal suggestion. if emulated, beware of any high voltage taser-like static electrical discharge that may occur upon disassemblage. persons with medical histories such as cardiac arrhythmia, and/or psychotic anxiety episodes should consult with a physician before wearing similar clothes and/or embarking on cold weather activities. BTOG is not responsible for any injuries resulting from electrocution or any other contraindications resulting from the above garment suggestions or extreme exercise programmes.)

the 95th grey cup game.

there's only a few minutes until the biggest CFL game of the year. so, for what it's worth, here is my prediction:

heart says winnipeg blue bombers in a squeeker. i like underdogs. i saw enough of this dimdoodle quarterback in the east final. he played ok against what was supposedly the best defence in the league. he could be worse. as for experience, it may be over-hyped. he might have a jeff garcia game. then he might not.

brain says the saskatchewan roughriders will run away with it. that hurt me to write. hopefully, they are off their game.

so, heart + brain = saskatchewan in a squeeker.

just sittin' here eating cheezies and watching the pregame festivities on the tube. they just had a piece on the 55 year history of the CFL on the CBC. hmmm...flashbacks of announcers like don chevrier, ernie afghanistan, ted reynolds, and don whitman. damn, those are really old school guys, eh.

got to get some more snacks.

go stamps go!!!

ps. spent the whole morning at the TNT big boom Supermarket in the ghetto. if you love hanging around a lotta chinese folks, go there girl/boy. no shortage of bruthas/sistas squeezing the oranges this AM, eh.

game update: for a moment there at the end of the game i thought they were going taser the grey cup.

mystery fruit #56

what is this mystery fruit?

what's hot/what's not...

what's hot? backpacks with side pockets made of mesh material. young people like to fill these with colourful nalgene bottles filled with plain water. cool.

what's not? the playlist in my mp3 device. i was driving to the airport when i noticed the sequence of songs emanating from the machine was similar to that of a "soft rock" radio station. ugh. not cool.

rants of the day...

part I.

did you see the videotape of that guy, a polish immigrant, getting tasered at the vancouver airport? brutal. really brutal. although i don't know all the facts of the case, i believe that the whole taser incident could have been averted by the obviously incompetent airport staff/management. i mean there were reports that the man's mother made numerous inquiries to find him. perhaps they could have searched or took her back to the luggage carousels? did they do everything possible to find him? it's a matter of basic customer service in this case. apparently this airport is run like a home depot.

as for the cops, who am i to question what it's like to be on the front lines? police work is tough. they are targets. my solution: get rid of tasers. their efficacy is pretty much a crap shoot. some suspects live. some die. police should just use their guns to subdue suspects.

whatever happened to common sense?

part II.

poor brian mulroney.

i thought we were finished with the guy when he sued us for a couple of a million bucks a couple of years back. yet look at what the cat (in this case, an incarcerated bitter to-be-deported german super entrepreneur/hustler) dragged in.

i agree with our honourable ex-PM. he's name has been and always will be good. now leave him alone. let him fade gracefully back into the wood work, again.

yet steve, the current PM, had the nerve to authorized another pointless, drawn out, expensive make work project for the lawyers association of ottawa to rehash brian mulroney's squeaky clean record.

what a waste...

crap, 1 or more years of poor brian mulroney in the news.

i dunno if i can handle that prospect.

movie review... The Railrodder (NFB)

wherever i go, people ask, "bubba, what movies have most influenced you in life?"

well, i remember, as a wee toddler in elementree school, watching a film about a strange funny looking guy (Buster Keaton) who traveled across this great land of ours aboard a weird looking open railway cart like vehicle.

he'd putted along the railway, from nova scotia to the west coast of BC. hilarity ensued of course. the funny looking guy "lived" aboard, pulling out all sorts of stuff to do that out of a small red box. i loved the segment where he camouflaged the cart for hunting for ducks/geese.

i couldn't help but notice how beautiful the landscape was.

i could do that (traveling and all), i thought. it looked like a lot of fun.

well, since the early viewings of the railrodder in elementree school, i haven't crossed canada yet.

the railrodder did inspire me to embark on some pretty epic journeys though...

get the railrodder dvd at your local calgary public library!

rating: 5 out of 5 overdue fines.

go stamps go...

don't touch the clicker, eh... but try some moisterizer...

deep fried cornmeal and alot of orange dye #72.

it can't get better than this...

before i settle down in front of the vid with a big bag of cheezies, i better make a pre-game prognostication for today's CFL western semifinal in regina.

ok, here it goes...henry burris, the on/off all-universe quarterback of the calgary stampeders, will be on today. we win 31-22.

back to my bag of cheezies.

when spell check goes wrong

figure 1. interesting species of fish/crustacean...

figure 2. i'll have what he's having...

during my travels i inevitably end up in some really bizarre traveler hangouts. the red sea resort town of dahab, egypt is not the least of them. local businesses such as restaurants cater to tourists from all over the world. in an effort to make their establishment more user-friendly, they are good enough to publish their menus in english, much appreciated by mono linguistic oafs like myself. however, sometimes their efforts go wayward as illustrated in the above photos. humorous, unless you actually contract the actual offending items. (photos courtesy of my very good friends sally and richard whom i shared 3 glorious weeks with in dahab. menus courtesy of the staff at the legendary 7 heaven motel and restaurant and grill located in the heart of the sinai. allah wa'akbah my friends. thanx for letting us play backgammon in your midst for 21 straight days while ordering absolutely nothing. my advice boys: get some beef shin on the menu.)

rant of the day...

the neighbourhood 7-11 is closing it's doors.

yup, the midnapore (a community just north of here) sev will be terminated sometime next year.

news of the shutdown brought tears to my eyes. i couldn't believe it. a man works like a dog, breaking his back in a dead end job 24/7, has one thing to look forward to at the end of the day: a giant big ass coca cola slurpee. now da man is denying him the most basic of human rights.

you 'd think it's the sev's parental unit, southland corporation, is at fault. oh no, the land the sev sits upon is owned by evil exxon. its gas station will be transformed into a super mini-mart complete with a tim horton's donut dispensary that will more than likely sell a unsatisfactory "slushy" drink. weak.

how pathetic. if i wanted a donut (i love donuts by the way), i'd walk across the street to a real full-fledged tim hortons outlet.

so, what am i really saying?

damn the man, fight the power and bring back the slurpee...

while i'm at it, damn suburbia...

video of the day...

you thought american football was boring? think again...

it's autumn in them thar woods...part 2.

a blurry silvery plant in fish creek park.

some extreme random deep thoughts:

the diagnosis is in (albeit a internet-based diagnosis). i have trochanteric bursitis (i.e. a sore right hip). i went to the doctor to confirm but was disappointed again. he almost never gives me a diagnosis (even though i was bursting at the seams to reveal the fruits of my internet research). he just handed me a wack of NSAID's (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) and ushered me out of the office pronto. seriously, i described to doc the twinge i've been experiencing in the hip area. he thinks there might be nerve damage. i have to go get a x-ray done.

i find it amusing that one of steve h.'s henchmen is pressuring canadian retailers to lower their prices in light of the strong loonie. ha! ain't gonna work. whether prices come down or not will be driven by supply and demand. canadians, show your displeasure by not buying from gougers. case in point, i haven't bought camera equipment from a canadian vendor for quite some time. it's my duty to buy canadian but when the US price is so low (even when shipping and taxes are included) it's a no brainer as to where to shop. even in the days of the 63 cent loonie i would still save a tonne of money by shopping online. only stipulation is the NikonUSA warranty isn't honoured in canada. it's a major pet peeve of mine but i'll save that rant for another day.

here's a shameless segue. if you need to buy cheap camera/video stuff, consider purchasing from B&H photo and video of NY, NY. they've signed on a sponsor of the BTOG (the bigtubofgoo). ok, the BTOG is a new B&H affiliate. B&H is NOT a sponsor. personally, i order all my camera/video stuff from them. very reliable. very reasonable prices (and dropping fast thanx to the flight of the loonie). go ahead and click away. i know u want to... all proceeds will be rolled into the "buy bubba a beer fund" and spent wisely.

i still haven't figured out the results of the 2007 Calgary election. i can't for the life of me figure out why Pave bronconnier is still the mayor of our rather spread out city.

kudos to alberta premier Ed stelmach. he had the guts to open up the file on oil and gas royalties, not like his weak predecessor. i thought he was revealing his half baked royalty plans tonite on the vid. i wasn't watching but understood the 19 minute tv presentation (which cost taxpayers $124,000 CAD) was short on steak but big on fluff. disappointing. however, i'll be watching/listening carefully tomorrow Ed for the details. don't let us down Ed. show us da money... remember Ed, two words: fair share... you do the right thing and i'll vote for you in the next election...

i feel the shame. i hang my head. shame on me. i went ahead and bought a bike computer. i've quantified the last bastion of unadulterated fun in my life. that's biking. i'm on the slippery slope of electronic quantification and surveillance. what next? procuring a cell phone? nooooooooooooooooooo!!!

i can't figure out facebook. it's not really that fun. the only buzz i get from it is when someone wants to be my "friend". but hell, if you're in my "friend's" list i know you're my friend without facebook. there are people out there who have thousands of "friends". i've got something like 30. does that make me a lesser "friend"? maybe... look, i'm desperate. if you want to be my friend, find me on facebook somehow or leave me a comment. i'll take on all comers. no questions asked.

i didn't know joe sports (a local sports broadcaster) died when i was in africa. that's very sad.

this morning i was biking around in shorts and t-shirt (something like 22 C). tonite there's a raging snowstorm on the canadian tundra. that my friends is a definite SNAFU.

it's autumn in them thar woods...

pretty orange leaves...

my cup of tea...

delicate, fluffy plants...

the gig is up, for now...

9 Oct 2007, 3:19 PM

Distance: 2.15 km
Time: 11:41
Pace: 5:24 min/km
Calories: 181

well, the above nike+ipod data says it all. i gave my ailing right hip two days rest then ran on tuesday. it felt ok for a while then i succumbed to my weakness. how embarassing... the plan now is rest it for at least a week rest then try again. i'm going to lose some endurance but there's no choice.

good news is that i can still ride a bike. i love biking. however, unless you bike at lance armstrong-type speeds and distances you won't get the same workout as running. maybe i should just leave the bike in the highest gear possible. ha!

now i'll have to buy a bike 'puter. yikes.

rant of the day.

they canceled the 2007 Calgary Santa Claus Parade. what the hell? too much construction happenin' downtown was the lame excuse. weak, i say.

why not run the parade down 4th Ave and or 3rd Ave (i'm sure the ho's approve)? nothing being erected or blow'ed up on them streets. am i right?

it just goes to show you what this city's priorities are. work, work, work... the all mighty buck. give it a rest, eh.

now the all the kids have to look forward to is a "party" on olympic plaza. nothing like watching santa traipse around on stage... i'm gonna be so excited the nite before the "party".

bubba's conclusion: to the organizer's of the former parade, screw'em...

happy thanxgiving 2007!!!

this song has been swirling in my head for weeks now. thank you steve jobs for killing me slowly... the consolation is the fact that the singer is the canuckistani version of bjork.

nike+ipod update...

here's the last run:

6 Oct 2007, 3:59 PM

Distance: 8.52 km
Time: 46:09
Pace: 5:24 min/km
Calories: 717

not a bad run. average. two problems: 1) i was 6K from home, and 2) i badly tweaked something in my right hip. i thought i could gut it out but it really hurt. i could not lift the leg.

it feels ok today. i haven't done much but give it rest for a couple of days. i may rest it or cut back tomorrow.

i am weak.

contrary to popular belief, i'm not training for a marathon. well, realistically, i'm not sure if i can get to that distance before snowfall. right now i'm at 14.5 km. that's before my little set back. a half marathon is definitely possible. 3/4 marathon in a month's time. that takes me into november. brrr... if i can run 2 complete 3/4 marathons in november, a full marathon is possible.

even if i did kill myself like that, i'll only run the sundance super marathon. that involves running loops around my neighbourhood and hiring a kid to take care of the drink table set up in the driveway. knowing the kids around here, he/she will hand me a hot coffee.

qtlibrarian update

is anyone tracking her progress to austin, TX? i have. she's a pretty tough cookie. i did not know the bikin' went into the wee hours of the nite...

my favourite quote so far: "I'm so tired I practicially fell asleep in my pancake this afternoon!" i'd probably be napping in my food as well. slobbering on my buns.

i am weak.

rant of the day...

major oil/gas companies in the alberta oilpatch like encana have predictably threatened the peoples of alberta with economic sanctions if royalties were to increase.

my verdict: screw'em. the multinationals, i.e.

have fun qt!!!!

i managed roll out of bed this morning (aside: damn it was cold. how do people get up in the dark, eh?) just in time to hoof it down to CyclePath South to bid qtlibrarian a bon voyage on her quest to raise funds for cancer research, cancer survivors and their fams.

she's very brave because the fundraiser is a marathon bike ride down to the land o'lance, austin TX to be precise.

if you have spare cashola on hand, give it to the cause by clicking here.

here are some pix i took at the party...


back row: cute lil' car, middle row: kick ass lance bike, nice bike rack, eh, front row: qtlibrarian looks pretty good in a uniform, eh?

if qt feels as good as she looks, damn she must be feeling really good.

qt chillin' in the chase van...

qt and groupies...

qt and team...

nothing like being sponsored by good carma...

the big team...

off topic: exciting to see mr. ski (a local celebrity) at the breakfast...