Random Thoughts

If you're eating or have any semblance of an appetite and want to keep it, stop reading. Or perhaps you are the sort that can handle it all. Anyway, the following story is a bit disgusting.  The last weekend was the Victoria Day long weekend when Canadians start doing fun summer things like going camping. Never mind that most people don't know that it celebrates the current Sovereign's birthday (and marks Queen Victoria's birthday)... Anyway, the rodeo was in town and along with 3 other friends, I decided to go see it. Or at least the Saloon portion of it. Which is to say that it is a large room (probably a gym or something), with a stage and lots of cheap, disgusting beer. Outside is a lot of carnival type food.  We proceeded to eat and drink while there... and some of us got a bit more tipsy than others. I had my bottle of water confiscated at the door to the Saloon because I suppose the folks who sell water inside the Saloon need to sell me a new bottle of water. A...

My legs hurt. My feet hurt. My back hurts. And I would do it again.  I finished running the second largest 10km race in the world, hosted in Vancouver. The Sun Run is probably the largest race type event in Vancouver, but probably not the most entertaining or the most hard core. I finished my race in 1 hour 03 minutes and 54 seconds. That's 6 minutes, 24 seconds a kilometre.  I placed 14739 (out of 51,419 people), 1657 in my age group (Males between 25 and 29).Technology is an amazing thing. My running, not so much. I really, really, really wanted to finish the race, injury free in under an hour. That was my goal. And I was about 4 minutes short. I am quite disappointed in that result to be honest... but I guess I can always try next year. Or I can sign up for the next race, dubbed the Underwear Affair , a race to raise money for research into stuff below the waist or something. Apparently, lots of folks in their undergarments go out and have a fun 10km race. Not being an ex...

A while back, I made myself a list of things to try and accomplish in the next little while. Well, let's see what I can cross off: Run the Sun Run (this Sunday) Buy a place Learn to ski (well sort of) Not bad. Well honestly, the race isn't until Sunday, the place isn't bought until I have paid for it in June... and I don't know how much I can really ski. But its a start. I am slightly healthier and fitter than I was when I wrote the list, so I suppose that is indeed progress!

Apparently, the correct quote from Field of Dreams is  If you build it, he will come. I haven't seen the film. Nor do I completely understand the context.  I work for a software company. We build software to make education better. Or at least that's the idea. I am back in school once more. It is a bit strange to be back in a classroom now. There are people there who are like 10 years younger than me. Its a bit weird listening to their conversations. Some things don't change. Video games are still the norm for the overweight young adult male. Except it is something called Call of Duty or some such thing. The platform used by the school I am attending is a rival platform to the one my employer builds and sells. We lost this contract a while back. This gives me a good opportunity to get to know this competing system and learn from it. Except... I don't see much use of it in there. The guy teaching my class has the simplest of things for the course. He has like 6 links in...

If you get an email from me asking to wire me money to get an even larger sum out of some Nigerian prince's bank account.... that's probably a scam. But... I am in a large amount of debt. I did something recently. I wouldn't call it silly. I wouldn't call it smart exactly either. Or at least, if I could go back in time and change decisions made in the past, I would have done so. So what have I done? Well, I went and put an offer on a small place. And the sellers accepted. And now, the bank and I own a little place. Well, mostly, the bank owns it. I have to pay them off, a little at a time for a very long time. This is all very exciting for me. And it was quite stressful while the whole process played out. I can't believe I managed to buy a place. But when I look at what I have paid for a few sq.ft of apartment, it does make me feel a bit sad. But such is the reality of the real estate market in Vancouver. It seems to have a mind of its own, forgetting that the res...