This post was going to be about how the day is “looking up”, because I’m soon going to get some pie from a very nice girl.

Then I thought, I should actually look up and see what’s there, besides the ceiling. And when I looked up, what I saw was a half-finished project. My floating aquarium. (If you’ve been here you know what I’m talking about. The rest of you may know someday.) Then I thought about other half-finished projects, like Mikey and Jose’s wedding video, and a bunch of computer programming projects, and some other video editing things. And then there’s the projects that haven’t even made it off paper, like the short film, the movie, the music video, my plan to take over the World. Then there’s the projects that I am currently working on, which are threatening to overwhelm my already under-slept, under-fed, over-stressed brain.

But in the end, there’s always pie.

I was going to write about political stuff today. People shooting each other and blowing each other up, and how silly it all is. But I sort of lost my motivation. There’s nothing new to say about it. Some of us find all this violence inherently rediculous, and wonder why everyone still goes about doing it. But talking about it doesn’t seem to help. The only people who are in a position to have much of an influence on the situations seem to have closed their minds to any alternative ideas, and are pushing ahead with an agenda that can only promote and sustain this destruction. What can a lowly citizen with no power or influence do other than publicly protest the actions of the powerful? And what good does that protesting do if the powerful have decided they are going to carry on even if 100% of the populace is against them? The populace seems to apathetic and self-centered for any sort of revolution. It can all get very depressing sometimes…

I’ve been doing a lot of things over the past few weeks, and I feel like I’m in desperate need of a vacation. I have to hop over to the store to e-mail some files to Andrew Simon, but other than that I think I’d like to do nothing today. If anyone else wants to do nothing too, give me a call.

Tomorrow there will be no tv night here again. Sorry guys! There will, however, be one at the Robs’ house. I don’t have details, so get ahold of them.

Don’t forget to check out the Daily Links. I update them every day, and there’s lots of neat stuff there. Have a good weekend everyone!

Today I’m doing some work on Internet related things. The first task is a forum for the Bluewater school board teachers. Apparently the school board can be a bit controlling about the content on their official teacher’s forum. Apparently not allowed are putting down or arguing about the school board, the curiculum, or any other official edicts from above. I hope this doesn’t land me in jail for supporting terrorism or something like that.

Secondly, I am supposed to be working on the webpage for The Green Guild (Andrew Simon’s umbrella organization that is responsible for the new store and The Seed publication) but we’ve run into some technical difficulties. Namely, the FTP info I need to access the server the stuff is hosted on doesn’t seem to be working for me, and we haven’t figured out why yet. So I’m stuck with a lot of work to do, but an inability to do it right now.

FYI, this Saturday is Buy Nothing Day!

On November 24th and 25th – the busiest days in the American retail calendar and the unofficial start of the international Christmas-shopping season – thousands of activists and concerned citizens in 65 countries will take a 24-hour consumer detox as part of the 14th annual Buy Nothing Day, a global phenomenon that originated in Vancouver, Canada.

(Read More…)

Devon is making fun fur pants out of a tiger! Well… it looks like a tiger. It might be artificial. She’s also making a tail to attach to the pants. AND, get this: tiger fun fur bunny ears!…? You see, recently the infamous PureRave website has gone down, and Devon’s going into serious withdrawl. Devon needs your help! An intervention even. If she doesn’t get her PureRave back soon, who knows what will happen? Already the children are dancing around the house yelling “I want to rave! I want to rave!” Well, the one who can talk is. But you can see in the other ones’ eyes that he’s suffering too. On Sunday Devon was sorting out her beads, then spilled some on the floor, and I swear she did it so she could sort them out again! It’s so sad. Please, send money! She needs help, and fast! No one should ever have to suffer like this.

Monday has come at last, and despite my promise, I’m left with nothing of interest to write about. Things I did today aren’t very exciting. Moved a rediculously heavy desk, along with a couple of computers, to the store. Now I can kill time by playing solitaire! The heat’s fixed, but it still feels cold. One more day working there until Andrew Simon returns, hoorah! Come visit tomorrow, as it will be my last day. Bring coffee? Oh, Jamie brought me food in cans just now. Yay for not starving. Thanks Jamie!

PS. Dad, if you’re reading this, could you bring that TV Tuner card on wednesday?

I’m on vacation. No TV Night. Sorry guys! Back monday.

Imagine if suddenly the television announced that they would be playing nothing but commercials for the next two hours. Only, they’d all be christmas-themed commercials. Annoying christmas music, decorations, but product advertisements all the same. Imagine though, that you had to take your tv outside and stand in the cold for two hours while you watched every last commercial. Would you do it if they offered you free candy? Sitting in the store this morning watching the annual Santa Clause Parade wander slowly down 2nd Ave, that is pretty much the impression I got of it. Oh, also there were balloons.

In case anyone still plays, dys4ik has kindly fixed LotGD for me.

Santa Clause Parade tomorrow! (saturday) Is anyone going? If so, when you’re done, drop by the store and come aleviate my boredom! Bring mittens!

In server news, everything’s working except Legend of the Green Dragon, and the webcam. I’ll try to fix them soon, but as I’m working every day, it may take a bit. Sorry!

I’m spending another exciting day at the store today. If you’re in the downtown area please come visit! It’s 101 10th St E. right beside Dave’s Music & More (which is right beside Mr. Sub). Visitors are great! And I’m behind schedule so now I should start hurrying.

It looks like everything got moved properly. There may be a few small issues yet (like no LotGD, and also I can’t seem to access my e-mail properly yet). Don’t cry, I’ll get those fixed as soon as possible! (EDIT: It looks like my e-mail is working now)

I’ll be working at the store today through Tuesday (minus Sunday), from 11am to 7pm. If you’re wandering around downtown and bored, come check the place out. It’s 101 10th St. E, right next to David Fromager’s Music and More. Also, bring food! I don’t have a lunch. :’(

We’re moving servers RIGHT NOW! If everything goes smoothly, we’ll be back in business very soon. It may take up to three days for the domain name to switch over to the new server. I will make a post there as soon as it’s finished. We apologize for the inconvinience!

The Management

EDIT: Apparently the LAST thing we’ll do is copy the database over, so there may still be some activity over the next few days.. I don’t know what’s going on! It will all be resolved eventually though.

Tuesday November 14th, 2006 - 7:05pm
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
@ The Owen Sound Galaxy Cinemas
Meet @ Jon’s: 6:00pm or the Theatre: 7:00pm

Tonight (Sunday November 12, 2006) I’ll be hosting the “It’s been a while since there’s been a party at Jon’s house” TV Night! Bring your friends, snacks, drinks, or whatever.

Start time will be 7:00pm. We’ll finish when I get sick of you all, but no earlier than 10:00pm. And for god’s sake, no talking during the shows! It’s going to be fun. Hooray!

When I overhauled my weblog a few weeks ago, I added a section called “Daily Links“, where I’ll be putting whatever interesting websites I happen to wander to each day. Some of them are informative, some funny, some just interesting. You can access them any time by clicking the button under my picture on the sidebar. Feel free to e-mail me any links that you think I should look at and add to my list.

Is anyone still reading this stuff? I don’t have a traffic counter, so you’re going to have to make your presence known manually. Please comment to let me know you’re here!

Having the last building rescinded on was only a minor setback. Andrew found another one, close to my house, and has already paid for the first two months and got the keys! So we’re going to be moving fast on getting that set up I expect. Also, the technical team has finally met up and we’re currently getting some domains registered and will set up a forum for people working on the project. Some artwork from GlobalAware is on the way, which will be sold from the store very soon. Expect some sort of exciting Grand Opening event in the near future.

Note to self (and others): Drinking cappuccino at two in the morning, no matter how delicious it seems, is a very bad idea if you expect any sleep that night.

On a completely unrelated note, I may not make it to the Coffee House now. Depends on if I can get a nap before or not.

Here’s what’s going on in Owen Sound for the next few evenings, according to the Middle of Nowhere Forum.

There will be a coffeehouse on Thursday November 9th at the Downtown Bookstore. It will be from 6:30 - 10 (unless Roisin tells me otherwise!). Come and bring your friends and family and instruments. PM or email me if you would like to play or know someone who would like to play. There will probably be some open mic time available, but I would prefer to know in advance if people want to play.

Friday November 10: Good news everyone! Pi Day will be at Alpha House. Everyone should show up to pay homage to this wonderful yet irrational number…By eating pastries filled with various yumminess.

Saturday November 11
Thinking and Feeling Music
with Richard Laviolette, Ghost Bees, and Lauren Best (that’s me, kids).

Doors at 6:30PM

$5.00 in advance $7.00 at the door.

The venue is intimate, so tickets are limited. Get yours early!

Tickets Available at The GoogolPlex
(Googol, The Frog Pond, and The Cave Bookstore)

Venue:
Mudtown Pottery Shop and Studio
1835 3rd Ave East
Owen Sound
(the former Scout Hall, across from the Bayshore Arena)

I won’t be at the event Saturday evening as I have a previous commitment, but it looks good, so go support our local music scene! I will most likely show up for the first two events. I hope to see most of you there!

          

Donald Rumsfeld has resigned as Secretary of Defence. This directly contradicts what Bush said a few days ago. Bush described Rumsfeld as “a patriot who served this country with honour and distinction,” though there are more than a few who might disagree. His successor, Robert Gates, was director of the CIA from 1991 to 1993 under the presidency of George H. W. Bush. We have two years to see if he’ll manage any better, though it’s hard to imagine anything worse. It’s apparent that the Bush administration is finally admitting to the disaster that is Iraq, but will they be able to fix it before their time is up? Will anyone be able to fix it??

Democrats captured more than enough Republican-held districts Tuesday to win control of the House after a dozen years out of power as voters demonstrated their disenchantment with a war, a president and scandals on Capitol Hill….

(Read the Whole Article)

But will it really make any difference?

I managed to get sick somewhere between Toronto and here. I passed out a few minutes after getting home last night. Sorry guys who I missed at Karaoke. I wouldn’t have lasted there though. I felt a tiny bit better when I woke up this morning, but not by enough for me to do anything useful.

Borat’s not at the theatre yet, but I’ve heard that someone called and it IS indeed coming eventually. We may have to organize some sort of group event to go see it.

I’m at an Internet cafe on Bloor St, where they sell Internet like crack. I paid $1.50 for an hour, which is not unreasonable, but then you get hooked. I ended up buying another half hour. I might end up here all night, and broke! Last night I raved. It was alright. Unfortunately I was misinformed about the time Lady Bass was playing, so I missed her set entirely. I was also disturbed to discover that I actually knew most of the lyrics to most of the songs during the Happy Hardcore set I sat through. Devon was uber-rave-cool and hanging out with the dj’s. Hooray! It wasn’t the best rave ever, and I’m glad it was only $10, but it was alright. Also, they had the laser!

This afternoon I got a neat comfy sweater from Value Village. The wankers didn’t have any good hoodies though. In fact, they only had two hoodies, both of which were too small. Tonight I’m going pub-hopping with James. That should be better. I expect some fantastic conversation. Tomorrow, supper with the siblings at my brother’s new house. Sunday night, first TV night in Toronto. I hope you can all make it!

Apparently my time is up, and I want to break the habbit before I get stuck on here forever. SO, have a great weekend y’all, and I’ll see you monday-ish. Bye!

I’m getting on a bus at 6:45am tomorrow (friday) morning and heading to Toronto where I will be visiting some people. I’ll be back Monday, hopefully in time to go to Karaoke. There may or may not be updates here during that time, depending on Internet availability. Have a great weekend everyone!

This Thursday, November the 2nd, we will be having our Third Official Guys Night. We’re starting around 8:00pm 10:00pm @ my Rob’s house. There will be all sorts of exciting entertainment, and also there might even be pizza. You must supply your own alcohol.

If you’re interested in coming please phone meRobert (MSN will also do, but Ihe might be slow in responding) and don’t just show up, ok? Good! Oh, and ABSOLUTELY NO GIRLS!!*

*Tonight only! They are more than welcome at all other times.

…
In the Eighties most of the tablets in circulation contained pure MDMA. Today nearly half of all tablets on sale contain no MDMA at all, and those that do have had the dosage reduced to such a level that some clubbers routinely take four or five tablets each night..
…
‘Whereas 10 years ago you would be paying £20 a pill in a club, today you can buy one for as little as £2.50,’ Jimmy says.

Jimmy might not know it but these days he is effectively a salesman for the Triads, the Chinese gangs which have all but cornered the market in the production of the raw materials needed to make ecstasy and cleverly exploited China’s burgeoning trade relationships with other countries to distribute the chemicals around the world.
…
The factories are often backed by Israeli- and Russian-organised crime syndicates who then ship the finished product on to Eastern Europe, Asia and North America.
…
(Read the whole article)

Andrew Simon dropped by to visit tonight with some bad news. Having already been practically guaranteed the rental of the store, and given a date to move in and all, the lady who owns it today decided that she no longer felt she could rent it out to him. The reasons cited seemed to be basically rooted in mistrust of his young age. Andrew has a very cohesive business plan, and offered to make concessions, or sign a contract, and give the lady final control over what sorts of activities took place there, but to no avail. We’re looking into other possibilities downtown, but this happening is a bit of a downer. I’m sure this won’t affect support for the project, but it certainly puts some pressure on, as there is merchandise already on the way to be sold, and events that had been planned for the grand opening. It’s not entirely clear what the major motivating factor behind her decision to change her mind is, but I encouraged Andrew to get to the bottom of this, and to keep trying other avenues. I’m hopeful that we’ll find something soon enough.

Tonight is the night where most of the local pubs here in OS hold their open mic jam nights. Is anyone interested in hitting up some of those tonight with me? I might even bring my guitar. And if I feel extra confident, I might even play! Come on out! It will be fun! *

* I make no guarantees as to the accuracy of that statement. Join us at your own risk.

EDIT: We watched Family Guy at the Robs instead.

I’ve uploaded the WebCam picture archives for August to October 2006. Check out all the fun we had!

I’m fixing up a few things on here. Some of the links and buttons may not work quite right yet. I’ll be done real soon hopefully, and it will all be very exciting! I’ll post all about every fancy new feature and what they do when I am finished. Also, I plan to catch up on the Worst Webcomic Ever scanning and postings real soon.