it's dark out at 4 AM...

mystery national park pic #1

i was over at my bro's house at 5 am this morning supervising the LB and LG. damn, it's dark that time of day. i had to supervise their pre-school preps while their folks made a quickie trip to vancouver.

while waiting for them to wake up, i watched the hdtv version of last night's late night with david letterman. damn, that hdtv was so hot. dave was so wrinkly. he was so much funnier on hd.

shock jock howard stern was dave's only guest. he was really wrinkly as well. ya know if you took tom phillips, dyed his hair black, removed his glasses, he'd looked exactly like howard stern.

howard was tirelessly flogging his new radio show on sirius, a new outer space-based satellite delivered radio network. i think he talked about that the last time he was a guest on the show. i'm all for non-censorship, freedom of speech and all that crap that the FCC seems to object to. i'm not sure if alot of people are willing to fork out 12 bucks per month to listen to radio. i guess if you're into howard stern and his outrageous act, it's worth it.

howard likened the potential of satellite radio to water. i.e. who would of foreseen the day where people would buy bottled versions of water? i like the stuff that comes out of the tap myself...

damn that hdtv was sharp. i don't understand why you have to pay extra for it, especially if it's suppose to be the tv format of the future. how's that going to aid in the conversion of viewers of "standard" tv?

other news...

i was riding my bike to my friend bob's house. my right mitt fell out of my jacket pocket somewhere along the way. my right hand froze solid on the way home...

i was on my regular running route the other day. a gaggle of geese flew unusually low overhead, perhaps 50 feet. i thought it was fascinating. the sounds which proceeded them was a mixture of muffled flapping of their wings, a whining noise reminiscent of high tension wire buzz, random honking, and a swoosh that you usually associate with a baseball pop-fly zooming overhead. that was cool...

once again, i'm befuddled over the fuss about the newest harry potter film opening today. perhaps i should read the books one day. it's suppose to be scary, i heard. LG and LB don't like scary movies...

lastly, george takei a.k.a. mr. sulu of star trek fame is gay... nothing wrong with that, eh.

there are so many more important things dude...

i thought i'd wait a few days after the game...

i'm ok now.

there's more important things in life. hugging love ones. watching LG and LB grow up to be brilliant human beings. watching the sunrise. bike riding. taking pics with my Nikon D70. watching movies on dvd. watching beavers in fish creek. helping little old ladies cross the street. reading "pillars of the earth"by ken follett. being awakened by the frigid prairie winds as i run. talking to LS about the latest Nike innovation over the phone. taking time to pet the local rabbit who hangs out in the yard. returning a glove that just happened to fall out of a lady's pocket. dropping a loonie into a downtown beggar's hat. playing catch with LB. shovelling an elderly neighbour's walk. chugging coca colas with soapydave. donating money to earthquake victims. sipping freshly made chai while the sun's rays drench my face. listening to canada geese as they fly south.

yes, they gave away the semi-final game...

yes, it hurt. friends don't hurt each other...

good grief, there are millions of people dying of aids, starvation, oppressed by dictators, subjugated to the terror of war.

damn those edmonton eskimos.

revised prognostications:

west final: bc lions 24 edmonton 21.

east final: T.O. 42 montreal 21.

the 2005 Grey Cup Champions: T.O. overwhelming B.C. 35 to 7.

i'll be watching with great interest but if that CBC yellow first down stripe is either crooked or moves with the camera i'm going bike riding...

things i never knew...

it's amazing what my brother's company, enersul, does. for years, i knew they did stuff with sulfur. i thought they made match sticks.

little did i know they are at the forefront of forming elemental sulfur from sources like sour gas. they have the patent on forming sulfur into lil' spherical pellets. when enersul-brand sulfur pellets run off the conveyor belt to form piles on the ground or in a container ship, the piles are shorter in height compared to similar masses of cheap, imitation, run-of-the-mill of pellets. apparently, this is due to the rolling properties of the enersul pellets.

moreover, in the formation process (liken to the genesis of hail in cumulo-nimbus clouds), the enersul sulfur pellets are desiccated and have less moisture content than those of the competition.

so, there you go... shorter piles and reduced moisture content of enersul sulfur mean big bucks.

funny what you can make a living at...

i thought that was fascinating. if you don't know what your sibling(s) do(es), ask today. i think you'll be surprised.

pet peeves...

the opposition parties of the parliament of canada are the biggest wusses in the universe. bring forth the vote of confidence today!!!

i watch CFL football on tv whenever i can. TSN coverage is ok except for the fact that they are totally incompetent with the graphic (a yellow line) that runs across the screen marking the yardage for a first down. sometimes the line is crooked or moves as the camera tracks the action. what the hell? how complicated could that technology be?

i still think football broadcasts are much better without commentary. hockey for that matter...

i hate it when people criticize football players for "excessively" celebrating touchdowns.

we want our money back. click here.

mystery solved...

not so mysterious machine photo #6
congratulations go out to len... see previous entry...

you're getting close soapydave...

mystery machine photo #5.

dial-y thing...

mystery machine photo #4

dull grey metal...

mystery machine photo #3

a ring a ding dong dandy...

mystery machine photo #2

no chancy mr. dancey

mystery machine photo #1.

how about them stamps, eh? i'm thinking of buying a safeway endzone ticket for the semi-final game vs. the eskimos next weekend.

my cfl playoff predictions: in the west, stamps will win next week, drubbing the esks 35-17. they will beat the bc lions the following week by a score of 32-30. in the east, the roughriders will squeak one out in montreal (24-21). they'll then beat the defending champs T.O. 14-7.

my grey cup prediction: stamps 42 roughriders 23.

i'll review my prognostications next week.

there's a 4 way tie for canada's new national animal. a single vote for each of the following: kitten, wolverine, mink and muskrat. i know less than 10 people read this awful blog but can someone break the tie? all of these are excellent choices...

heroin is bad...muffins are good...

a little taste of afghanistan...

my bro goes to some of the hottest spots on earth on some of his biz trips.

as i write, he's in northern bc sampling chinese restaurant food. apparently, the lost 13th chinese tribe found it's way to chetwynd.

i got this email from my bro yesterday asking whether in my opinion he was seen as competitive.

well, everyone's competitive i told him. it's human nature to out do one another.

however, idiots like me take it to the extreme. case in point, there's this internet hockey pool i'm partaking in. it involves selecting a finite group of nhl players. the 'puter keeps track of how many goals, assists, etc. the group scores each week and compares these totals in a head to head battle with other teams in the pool. ok, blah, blah, blah...

anyway, i find my self obsessed with this game, huddling around the 'puter nightly to see how my "team" is doing, analysing every little detail of the performances of hundreds of hockey player in the nhl.

to carry it even further, i'm listening to radio broadcasts of teams like the mighty ducks, the nashville whatevers. normally, i don't give a rat's ass about these far-flung teams.

every sunday night i'm racked with indecision about who or who not to include on the team.

what's happening to me...?