not to rain on your parade, Par, but someone on CBC radio did the same postal service experiment in Canada, except they included stamps on all items... and all items were dropped anonymously in mail boxes... He even went to lengths to record (sound) his mailing of each item. There was a can of Chunky soup, a pair of sneakers (only one received), um... a hammer, a feather duster, a pot... the similarities are rather overwhelming (except he received way more of the items than this crew did, and none of them were inspected by the food and drug people). I can't remember which program it was through now either.... something like DNTO, Tapestry or another Saturday/Sunday afternoon show. It was rather silly to listen to, but entertaining all the same. Maybe the show with Promo Girl... I remember her being involved (like having to pick up the mail or something like that)...

email me a copy eh?

Oi. Reading your own report over and over again sucks. On the bright side, I might be sitting on the cure for insomnia here. w00t.

Postal Experiments:

Helium balloon: The balloon was attached to a weight. The address was written on the balloon with magic marker; no postage was affixed. Our operative argued strongly that he should be charged a negative postage and refunded the postal fees, because the transport airplane would actually be lighter as a result of our postal item. This line of reasoning merely received a laugh from the clerk. The balloon was refused; reasons given: transportation of helium, not wrapped.

Well, Al, I'm glad we could surpass your expectations.

So... We're rich! We're rich! We're rich! We're rich! We're rich! We're rich! We're rich! We're rich!

Ahem. What's most interesting about that article isn't so much that Alberta has a record surplus this year (I mean, we've all seen the price of oil; it'd be difficult not to expect a huge windfall from that.) No, the juicy bit is that, for years, oil companies have been investing in the oilsands project and have been able to count that investment against royalties. Basically, investment lets them reduce their royalty payments to the province. With oil so high, though, they're making so much money that they're running out of credit.

All that basically means that the province isn't just making more money because of the price, but will be making even more because they'll be able to collect full royalties and corporate taxes.

Maybe now we'll build that Scrooge McDuck-style swimming pool...

(That reminds me. I keep forgetting to post Lewis Black's brilliant rich-guy one-up-manship(.avi))

Sad news, Moog fans

Synth pioneer Dr. Robert Moog dies at 71

Well I don't really like to be totally caught off guard, but I was. I wasn't expecting so many people to show up and all those presents you guys got me. I have to thank my sister who somehow let this all slip past me. Man! I thought I was sneaky, well the bar has been raised. So I would like to thank everyone who showed up and for those of you who didn't I could keenly feel your spirits with us. So thanks for the presents and for being there!

so...yeah, happy birthday Albert and Eric, hope you enjoyed your days.


I went to my first full-on wedding of two friends (yeah, Beck and Keri, yours doesn't count because you eloped!). It was actually a very awesome experience. Trish looked beautiful, and Scott looked just fabulous, and together, they were so happy, I couldn't imagine a better pairing if I tried. And then, we (all the friends) went off to BPs to while away the afternoon, which was also great (haven't seen some of them since last fall), and then to the reception/huge party at the community hall down a gravel road... so much fun, so much free alcohol, so much dancing, and stories, and hugs, and smiles. oh, it was wonderful. And I camped out at the hall (tough to do with the dance still going on, but somehow I managed), and hung out with some of them in the morning as well. haha! Jeff (one of the friends) said that they (him and his gf) figured I was the best bet for the next wedding (because we all were enjoying seeing everyone again... and wanted more weddings) hmm, perhaps I should start working on that... :) but anyway, no use musing about friends y'all don't know about... all in all, though wonderful experience. I didn't expect to cry, but I did, and I haven't felt so happy in quite a while. it was truly fabulous.

I can't believe, though, how much of the wedding was done by themselves or their families. The flowers were all grown at a couple of aunts' houses, the hall was decorated by the couple and friends, the invitations done by the sister of the bride, the chocolates given away as favours were made by another aunt, the butterfly doilies (oh my goodness, 2 per table, with about 30 tables) were all crocheted by the bride's mom and were going to be made into a table cloth afterwards, the food was catered by the bride's mom, an uncle made all the wine (sooo goood!), and the list goes on. I can't imagine. really, it was phenomenal... and so not going to happen if I ever have a big event like that. it'll be hired catering (or pot-luck) all the way! not to mention no doilies, holy shit. you should've seen them...

anyway, I'm done now. only a week and a half left. Woo hoo! enjoy the rest of your summer, I'm sure I'll drag whatever miserable fall weather we're to have with me as I drive East.

Well I got tagged by Beck so I'm doing a little crossover thingy between the blog and this board and putting down some answers.

10 Years ago today

Just turned 14 years old. I think I had a party, Eric couldn't make it because he had to see his grandparents in Vancouver. The people who came were Tay, Andy, and Mai Rao. Man haven't seen that guy in forever. I was pretty much the same as I am now, I think... A little bit taller and about 1 university degree smarter but pretty much the same.

5 Years ago today

Graduated from Ainlay and was convinced I wasn't going to see any of my friends ever again. Didn't have a birthday party... Was more worried about getting into engineering. At the time this was my ultimate goal, I thought if I got in everything would go smoothly from there. A few days later I found out I was accepted into the faculty of engineering. Best day of my life at that point.

1 year ago today

Was out at Eric's birthday party at CoCo Dee. Had a 10 ounce medium rare peppercorn steak. Probally the best steak I'll ever have. Met some random people I will probally never see again and basically just tried not to be weird or nothing. When my friends started saying happy belated birthday to me all these random people started looking at me weird. Guess they felt guilty for not knowing. I live for moments like this.

Yesterday

Worked at my machining job. Didn't really do anything, but Doug the company's main customer decided to give me the position of quality assurance head for my company. I got a little table and one dial caliper, bet this would look good on a resume.

Today

Going to Par's party and recieved a Virtual On Cypher model for my birthday present. I really wanted this model for a long time and now I finally have it. Man I hope this helps with mecha poses in my drawings.

Tomorrow

Nothing much just goofing off and working on my resume. Pretty boring Sunday.

5 Snacks I enjoy

Wings, cookies, ice cream, those Conjack jellies you can't get anymore because some little kids choked on them, and dried mango

5 things I would do with $100,000,000

Buy a Acura RSX type S (I could now afford to pay for the premium gas this car would need to run efficiently), Buy a house, Give some money to my immediate family, Give some money to charity, and share the wealth with my friends. I would still get a job though, I would probally be bored to tears if I just goofed around all day.

5 locations I would like to runaway to

Japan, Hong Kong, Ibizia, Hawaii and France

5 bad habits I have

Being paranoid about random people I meet, overthinking things, Swearing for no good reason, Inferiority complex, Superiority complex

Things I like doing

Hanging out with friends, Practising Kung-Fu, Drawing mechs, Looking up specs on random things (cars, mechs, stuff), procrastinating

5 Things I would never wear

Overly bright colours, Anything red, cowboy boots, hats, super tight jeans

5 TV Shows I like

Simpsons, Family Guy, Veronica Mars, Dr. Who, Futurama

5 movies I like

Versus, Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Adventures of Baron Muchasen, Red Violin and Storm Riders

5 famous people I like to meet

John Ringo, Robert A Heinlein, Hajime Katoki, Hung Hee Gung, Albert Einstein

5 people to tag

Any random person who reads this.

'appy birfday to the August kids!

So who out there wants to check out the Fringe tomorrow? An old drama colleague of mine has a show going on at 5:30, so we can go to that and head over to Chianti afterward. If you're into that, post here or look me up on MSN.