New Beginnings

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Featured Image I realized recently that it's been almost a full year since I wrote anything on this website. I have tried at various times over the last year to sit down and write, but the words just wouldn't come. But tonight I thought it was probably best to blow the layer of dust off and finally write an update. And the main update is this: last year my heart broke. As many people know I was in a pretty serious relationship; it unfortunately ended almost a year ago today. As an engineer, I'm trained to solve problems, often difficult ones. But despite my best efforts, I was unable to fix our relationship ...

Full Circle

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I'm a big fan of naps. In the summer, I love nothing more than passing out on the couch with a book, and sleeping passively with the sound of a lawnmower churning off somewhere in the distance. In the winter, I sometimes turn the fireplace on in the early evening and close my eyes on the couch. I don't sleep long usually. 30 minutes sometimes, maybe an hour. Usually just long enough for the world to slowly dissolve into a dream. And in that brief moment when I wake up, sometimes it briefly feels like I'm in another place, or another time in my life. I'm often reminded how the smell of fresh grass ...

Picking Up The Bill On The First Date

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This is always a really great topic to bring up at the table after everyone has been drinking for hours. I obviously have my own opinions on this subject, but I thought it would be a fun one to bring out here. Given that a lot of people nowadays use Lavalife or one of the many other varieties of online dating services, what is the general opinion with regards to the guy picking up the bill on the first date? If you're a guy, is that cool with you? If you're a girl, would you pay your own portion? I know lots of girls who would openly admit they wouldn't go out on a second date without the guy ...

Come On Steve, Show Canada Some Love

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Yesterday Apple released their long-waited for SDK for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. What this means is that if you're interested in developing applications for the iPhone, you can simply download the SDK and get cracking. That is, unless you live in Canada. That's right, Steve Jobs has limited real development to people with valid US addresses. And even then, it's an application process that costs a minimum of $99 to be a part of. I realize Canada is a really small demographic compared to the United States, but we're not *that* small, and there really are some bright people up here. I had ...

Americans Suck At Sex

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I just read the results of an interesting study done down south. Apparently americans spend approximately three hours per week grooming themselves and looking good, but less than an hour (per week people) on foreplay and intercourse. So it appears the collective mass would rather look good in bed than be good in bed. Here's a couple of paragraphs from the write-up. Americans spend nearly three hours every week grooming themselves, but less than one hour on foreplay and sexual intercourse. It's no wonder that only 46% of us describe our love lives as exciting, or existent for that matter. On ...

The End Of A Very Long Day

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Today was a long, dreary day. I didn't get home until around 9:30pm, and barely had enough strength to pound back some left-over lasagna. I was really looking forward to sitting back and watching heroes tonight, but mininova was down and my internet connection turned out to be pretty flaky. Today was officially full of fail. I've not been feeling myself lately, and I don't really know why. Maybe it's the weather, maybe it's because I'm still battling an infection, maybe it's lots of things, but I find myself pretty bummed out the last few days. One thing that's been bothering me lately is that ...

When To Let Go

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So, something happened tonight that kind of irked me a bit. It was completely offset by the fact that I went out and did a pile of Christmas shopping, but all the same. When I was 17, I was at a summer party in Chilliwack at this guy Geoff's house. Of course, being in a small town, we were all drinking our faces off at that point. Thankfully, most parties back then were in houses and everyone just spent the night, so for the most part we were all safe. Anyways, in walked these two girls, one of which completely caught my eye. I spent a bit of time talking to her and her friend, and ended up leaving ...

Diamonds are not forever

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digg_url = 'http://digg.com/people/The_Dupe_Of_The_Century_Diamond_Engagement_Rings'; While sitting on the couch tonight waiting patiently for my groceries to magically unload themselves into the cupboards, I stumbled upon a very interesting article on the dupe of the century -- diamond engagement rings. I encourage everyone to read that article. Before I get into it, I'm going to state, for the record, that my ex-girlfriend and I fought over this topic on more than a few occasions. You see, about four months into the relationship, I started noticing a lot of wedding material around her house ...

Valentine's Day Wrap-up

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Well, this day is finally over, so I can write about it. I cracked a bottle of wine at 6:30pm and started going through some old photos for something to do. I decided about mid way through that I would use the opportunity to try out some wines that I've been meaning to check out for a while. At around 10pm Tiffany strolled by and helped me on the drinking front. It was a pretty decent evening. I gotta get to bed for a 9am conference call tomorrow, but here are a few photos from today. ...

Valentine's Day

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I just looked at my computer clock and realized that today is Valentine's day, and here I am, on my couch in the dark, alone. I talked with my ex-girlfriend briefly on the phone tonight, asked how she was doing, what she was up to, the same old same old. We were trying to figure out a time to get together for dinner, and she said that Wednesday night was obviously out. And even though I wanted to ask, I didn't. Because really, who wants to know what their ex is doing for Valentine's day? So, what do I plan to do? I'm not really sure, but I imagine it's going to involve some liquor down at a local ...