Grazing Rites

The last time I really got into a game before this year was probably Warcraft 3. Sure I’ve played bits of games like Double Dash but nothing had me hooked like that games of old: Magic of Scheherazade, Deja Vu, Super Mario World, Final Fantasy 3, The Secret Of Mana, Doom 2, TIE Fighter, SimCity, Warcraft, C&C, Duke 3D, Starfleet Academy, Starcraft, and of course the giant: BOTF.

I always wondered if and when I’d be drawn back into that world. I once designed a map for Warcraft 2 that took 48 hours of straight multiplay to complete. Time spent playing BOTF is probably best expressed in months if not years of cumulative time. Somehow I always knew it would be franchises that would bring me back. At least 3 years since my last serious go at gaming it began.

It started with the PS2 I got for Christmas (thanks mom) and my ebay quest to get the last Star Trek game ever released: Shattered Universe. Then the 24 game came out followed by news of the first original side-scrolling Mario to come out in 15 years. I beat Shattered Universe on 2 difficulty modes. I got annoyed when my friend couldn’t keep up with my progress in 24: The Game. The new Mario jumped the DS to the top of my wish list (thanks again mom).

Then came the news: 3 new Star Trek games soon to be released. I crossed the border to get the first one on PS2. I joined the software developer’s message board shortly thereafter. I began posting and checking daily for reports of the second game on DS hitting the shelves. Then the system specs for the third and ultimate game on the PC was released…

I met the minimum requirements but just barely. I started the year off with a Celeron 800 for God’s sake so my shame was great, although in my defense it had a massive HD and a powerful video card and frankly keeping the Celeron 800 finely tuned and supported by strong peripherals enough to last into 2006 was no small feat - it did decently against less well configured machines twice it’s speed and half it’s age.

I got a better video card on Boxing Day and due in part to some issues with my ex I upgraded the machine (everything but the video card for the most part) in the spring. But the thing is all of the upgrades I’ve done over the last 3 or more years was with an eye to digital video editing and playback. A powerhouse video card with capture and TV out is really all that takes.

Gaming on the other hand takes much more and often different things. For example, and keep in mind I’ve been out of the game for awhile, back in the day no serious gamer would be caught dead with an ATI video card but if want digital video editing and output it’s the only real game in town.

So here I am, mid Gray Mode with a vacation on the horizon and a kid on the way and a machine that, despite having been recently upgraded, may not cut it for Legacy. Obviously I’ll wait until the game comes out and I see it’s performance before I make any decisions but if it lags do I just upgrade the RAM and hope it does the trick? Anything more than that and I need to evaluate simply getting a whole new machine again.

2 new computers in 1 year? Moore’s Law aside that’s insane even when I’m making good money, which I’m not right now. I haven’t even put this machine through any serious work yet (gaming, rendering, etc). I suppose if it comes down to it I could justify it somewhat by calling my old computer the girlfriend’s when we move in together but then there’s the issue of monitors…

So pray with me that Legacy runs great, or a RAM upgrade is all I need, or perhaps in an almost-worst-case that I can somehow just upgrade the chip.

Burton was right, the Galaxy class doesn’t handle quite as well as the Constitution class but the firepower is impressive. The Defiant has Klingon-style targeting in that you have to manually aim but the pulse cannons are so powerful you don’t mind. This doesn’t quite line up with cannon as the pulse cannons are forward-only with regular phasers covering the rest of the firing radius but I think this is one of those compromises against cannon that make the game more fun.

In the first DS9 mission you’re told to stay cloaked and avoid patrols, instead I just challenged every ship I saw, destroying them AND their reinforcements. TNG & DS9 both do fine jobs sticking to cannon.

This is where things start to get fun. For one thing you don’t have any firing blind spots so you can concentrate on keeping your strongest shields to the enemy and continuing to fire the whole time. The firepower is much improved as is the handling which makes for more enjoyable game play. Even the scanning for warp emissions level is more fun.

The game however did freeze on me at one point requiring me to restart.

You also command a Klingon ship for a while which I found more difficult as you have to aim disruptors manually.

The plot doesn’t go against cannon until the last mission and even the sound effects are better, I feel like I’m in ‘In A Mirror, Darkly’.

While the middle part of the last mission is fun the beginning and end bother me somewhat. Other than the gross ignorance of the end of The Wrath Of Khan, the invented ‘warp gates’ don’t make any sense at all. Even if there was such a thing in the Star Trek universe why would they go to Genesis, the forbidden planet, of all places? Where do the second set of gates go, the Talos star group? (for the non-geeks: going there is the only death penalty on the books)

Now if these warp gates were, I don’t know, fun rather than annoying and tedious I might overlook the continuity issues but they’re not.

First a road trip, then Encounters, then Torchwood, then a preview of Day 6, Fright Nights, and episode 3 announced for the American Thanksgiving. So many things I’ve been waiting for for so long all coming at once, there simply are not enough hours in the day.

And before long there’ll be the Canucks game, the PSB concert in Seattle, American midterm elections, The Experience in Vegas, Tactical Assault, Legacy, Christmas, New Years, Day 6, Doctor Who, new trek novels, BNL, the Transformers movie, and episode 4.

I feel like I’ve just ended an entertainment diet and the dessert showed up in a mack truck…as part of a convoy.

Longer range I’m also looking forward to the next Star Trek movie and MMPOG.

You may wonder why I omit the birth of my child, the reason is simple, I refuse to classify that as entertainment.

Oh and some preliminary discussions have begun regarding an Edmonton road trip with the crew from the last Seattle adventure.

I’ll be honest with you, the play control for this game isn’t the greatest. It’s not intuitive, difficult to control, and hard on the hands however I don’t think it fair to judge the game by this as I find it the case with almost all PS2 games. Frankly I’m not a fan of the duo joysticks.

The plot for the Enterprise Era missions doesn’t match the show when it really easily could have. The missions have several linear objectives which makes me wish each mission was a chapter with each goal a level to play rather than long multi-faceted missions. The thinly-veiled training mission for example is far too long with unreasonable expectations for completion.

The entire game is narrated by William Shatner and thus far he’s phoning it in. Even the music seems to be not quite there, although the title sequence and cut scenes are pretty good. At times I seriously wonder how rushed production of this game was; it was the last to be announced but the first to be released after all.

The graphics are good but not great and some distinction between warp drive and impulse would be nice as would an overall level map. More control over viewing angles would make game play much easier.

All that having been said these levels all have very fun components and it’s great seeing the NX-01 and Xindi ships in a game finally. I suspect I will become a big fan of the co-op mode once I get a chance to try it. Not enough games have co-op modes.

The last level in this era is the dessert, you’re pretty much free to let loose and kick some ass.

Burton snores like chainsaw. At 11:30pm I was tired and wanted to go to sleep but Burton wanted to play trivia for half an hour. Once midnight strikes he’s dead asleep and clear-cutting a mid-size forest. Concerned about overly friendly shady guy I didn’t want to put earplugs in but at 1am I could take it no longer.

The thing is he’s loud enough to still be heard through cheap earplugs and I didn’t bring the good kind. I finally nod off shortly after 1:30am. At 2am I’m woken up from a dream about my ex to Burton’s phone ringing. He’s sleeping right through it so I pick up the phone and it’s a text message from Kam in the next room who felt the need to tell Burton he was going to sleep.

I replied and told him Burton’s been asleep for 2 hours and he’s keeping me up with his snoring. Kam replies that he thinks it’s funny. Sometime after 4am I finally get back to sleep.

About 4 hours later we get up and start our day. We go to Ross where I go on a Kenneth Cole shopping spree. I get 2 belts and a dress shirt for $40 USD. To put that in perspective for the unaware the shirt alone would normally have cost at least $80 CDN.

After that we go to several stores I’m not really interested in but I find the subdued lighting in Hollister to be just about the coolest thing ever. I do get a chance to run in and pick up my game though, for $20, which makes me very happy. Burton, Kam, and Ray take to talking like mentally handicapped people and despite dirty looks from attractive women there’s nothing I can do to convince them to stop.

I know it’s not exactly my backyard but I can’t help but feel profoundly embarrassed and just a little disappointed.

It gets crazy hot out and I have to strip down to a t-shirt as we go to The Cheesecake Factory which has to be just about the coolest place to eat in all of Washington state. I will save the details for I don’t want to ruin the surprise.

Issac joins us and we have a great meal, I’m feeling generous so I cover the $100+ USD bill. Despite their inane chatter mocking the disadvantaged and endless clothes shopping I really am glad that they’re there and that I came. After dinner some more clothes shopping and we walk around a closed Pike Place Market. Ray reveals to us that he has to work at 10pm so we book it back. Along the way is the ubiquitous rousing rendition of Stop.

After dropping Ray off at work Burton took me to the Krispy Kreme. Overall a pretty good trip, hopefully we’ll get the chance for another soon.

The PT Cruiser looks much nicer on the inside.

We had a lot of fun getting to Everett, the CD I made for the trip was a big hit and after stopping for Izzy’s we switched over to Burton’s laptop and my mp3 CDs. At Izzy’s there was this rather attractive waitress who kept checking us out.

At the hotel there was this shady Caucasian guy at the check-in that creeped us all out, asking questions about where we were from. In retrospect I probably shouldn’t have paid in cash but Burton was walking around with his laptop under his arm so that probably didn’t help. We took extra precautions to guard our rooms just in case.

If you want to skip my rambling and go straight to the video at the end you have my leave to do so.

A little over 5 years has passed and I thought it worthwhile to reflect on the most mis-appropriated event of our generation. Some call it the defining moment but that’s open to debate. The initial aftermath brought down boundaries and exposed the true nature and strength of character of many people but it has since been used to justify unspeakable injustices.

The challenge of living in a post 9/11 world has not been met by the US in my opinion. The challenge is for civilization to rise above the knee-jerk reaction and while nations such as Canada and the UK have done tremendously in maintaining their strength of character the US has slipped into an abyss of racism, fear, and abuse. Katrina, a second term for Bush, Iraq, NSA wiretaps, Gitmo, the list goes on.

Getting back to the actual event, everyone asks where you were when it happened and the fact is I slept through the biggest event of the decade. As an honours student in PoliSci many friends and family alike turned to me to put it in perspective. When it happened I was asleep. The phone rang and it was my ex saying someone had tried to attack the US.

“Tried?” I said. “Call me back when they succeed, I’m sleeping” and I hung up. My mom came into my room a few minutes later talking about someone crashing a plane in the states. “People don’t generally crash planes, the planes tend to crash themselves. Let me know if they, I don’t know, crash into something interesting, otherwise I’m sleeping” I said and my mom closed the door.

A few minutes later the door opened and the phone rang again. I ignored the phone, turning the ringer off. “What’s the World Trade Centre?” asked my mom.

“It’s in New York, big building of international commerce” I mumbled from my pillow “I’m sleeping“.

“I think they hit it with a plane” she said.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” I mumbled “you probably misunderstood or they got it wrong, check CNN, I’m sleeping”

“But I’m watching CNN” she replied.

“Well it was probably an accident. Let me know if the building falls or something important is hit, I’m sleeping” and buried my head in my pillows.

“Is the Pentagon important?”

“I’m up!” instantly awake I grabbed my map of the Pentagon (don’t ask) and ran to the living room.

A couple hours later I was getting ready to leave for school. “Are you sure you should go?” my mom asked.

“So long as transit is running and the school is open then I’m going. If not I’ll be back. Don’t you see? This is the first test,” I wasn’t talking about school but rather thinking of something Joseph Sisko once said, “and I’ll be damned if I’ll let this change the way I live my life”

“But what if something else happens? What if we’re at war?” she asked.

“I’ve got my cell phone so you can reach me if anything happens but I’ll tell you what, help me find that old Walkman with the radio and some batteries and I’ll take it with me, that way I’ll know as soon as possible what happens next”

As we searched for that old Walkman I knew that one day I’d tell the story and something told me it would be the JFK Assassination of my time.

Everything was switched over to CNN. Every channel, every radio station. It was hours before you could get any Canadian perspective and a solid day and a half before you could get any local news, even traffic reports.

I remember riding a full skytrain, no one was talking and everyone had a radio. I switched my Walkman off to save batteries when I realized a train full of earbuds all on the same station was loud enough to hear clearly. I made eye contact with every person on that train. I didn’t see fear in a single pair of eyes, even the shock had begun to wear off, but rather I could tell every one of them saw the importance in making an effort to understand what happened in more than emotional terms. A grim determination to understand and not let it change their lives, for knowledge and intellect trump fear every time. It made me proud to be with them out in the world that day, and proud to be Canadian, for not one person I saw on the streets that day looked afraid.

Years later when the London Underground was attacked I thought back to that moment and wished I could have stood shoulder to shoulder with my English brethren riding the tube the very next day as I knew they would. And when I visited Churchill’s underground museum months before the underground attacks I remember a picture I saw of a boarded up store front during the World War II London bombings that read “the only things dropping faster than German bombs are our prices!” capitalism run amuck or grim determination and strength in the face of chaos and fear? I leave it to you to decide.

At school all I had that day was a graduate-level honours seminar. We abandoned the topic the outline called for and instead discussed the events. Within 15 minutes the biggest guy in the room, a football player, broke down into hysterics, sobbing uncontrollably and yelling “we’re all gonna die! It’s world war 3!” and he was an educated man, physically strong, and not prone to outbursts.

We all tried to calm him down and explain the reality of the situation to him. I took out my Walkman and another student used it to monitor CNN to make sure we were all kept up-to-date. The panicking guy calmed down and we academically discussed the events. At one point someone turned to the professor and asked “do we get out early today?”

He replied, “what do you think this is, the Stanley Cup playoffs? Let’s keep this in perspective here.” The professor was a rabid Canucks fan and class always got out early on game night, but not that day. Something about that made me proud. Reminded me of Churchill when asked about cutting funding for the arts during wartime saying “my god man, what do you think we’re fighting FOR?”

For me 9/11 was about rationality and intelligence rising above the fear. It was about my stiff-upper-lip English heritage. It was about not jumping to conclusions, not letting others tell you how to live and defending what you believe in and who you are from the vulgarities and poor decisions born of fear. It was about not letting fear change you.

I’d like to encourage each and every person who reads this to view the following clip on youtube and remember, 9/11 was not about whatever Osama Bin Laden or George Bush tell you it was about for they both wish to use the event as a tool to convince you of something. Decide for yourself what it means to you. For me it was a test of character. Do you let it change you into a fearful, hateful, prejudicial person or does it make you feel closer to your fellow man and make your petty differences seem unimportant? Can it be a fire from which a better social consciousness is forged or a tool to oppress, control, and frighten? I say we choose for ourselves, as we always have.

Jon…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwnMn08pED4

http://www.24trailer.com

I don’t know how I manage to avoid soiling myself.

I’m happily eating at my regular haunt, Subway, when a pregnant woman enters and sits down without ordering anything. She takes out her cell phone and spends the next 20 minutes loudly placing calls. And thus I am again held hostage to loud pregnant drama.

She’s very happy you see. Her younger brother just hit rock bottom and she’s ecstatic. It seems he’s addicted to crack. The father of her unborn child got him hooked on the stuff. The story goes that he went to the safe injection site and overdosed. She couldn’t be happier. Upon waking in the hospital and losing $14,000 worth of drugs he was supposed to deliver he’s decided to get into a treatment program.

She can’t wait to tell all her friends the ‘good’ news. He’s afraid for his life and she wants to take him to something called ‘Meeting’ to celebrate. Throughout all of this I’m so disgusted I have trouble eating, much less keeping it down. This isn’t NYC or LA or Vegas or Detroit, it’s a peace-loving Canadian city or so I thought.

Why do the worst examples of expecting mothers feel drawn to parade themselves and their wretched lives before me? Perhaps it’s God’s way of telling me not to bemoan the loss of freedom because things could be much, much worse.

Getting back to our expecting drama queen she finally begins to shed some light on why she’s so happy about recent developments. Turns out in order to get protection from the gang that’s likely going to want to kill him for losing their drugs her brother is going to have to work with the police to bring down the gang and it’s the pregnant woman’s hope that in doing so they’ll find the father of her unborn child as she hasn’t seen him in months.

Praise Jesus.

I was watching a stand-up comedian on TV when he opens with “There’s only one group of people that it’s safe to make fun of“. Naturally I immediately think of the Amish and Nihilists. Unfortunately he chooses Caucasian males and I change the channel but it got me to thinking, as a species are we just naturally prone to discriminate? Is an us versus them mentality genetic?

Look at the popularity of comedians who do racial comedy. Or just think about hockey fans. Maybe it’s not that we’re inherently evil or abusive, we might just be competitive.

We seem to have a need, or at the very least a tendency, to organize into groups (races, teams, nations, gangs), identify other yet similar groups (with whom we have more in common than not), and seek to crush, defeat, or humiliate them to prove our superiority and make us feel better about who we are. Sometimes I wonder if it’s the only source of pride we ever feel but then I remember golf.

The point is, if this is a natural vice we should find safe, responsible, and unhurtful ways to get it out of our systems. So I propose we put all of our hate and hyper competitive-ness into slagging the Amish on the Internet and Nihilists everywhere.

Think about it, the Amish will never know because in finding out about it they would cease to be Amish and the Nihilists just wouldn’t care and if for some reason they did they would likewise cease to be Nihilists. I’ll get the ball rolling…

Separate schools for Nihilists! Amish people suck!

There, doesn’t that feel better?

If that’s not enough to sate your blood lust you could always turn on fictional groups. Personally I have a genuine hatred for hobbits and I’ve never been too fond of Leprechauns.

So after taking some NeoCitran and watching the shows I do a quick channel surf before shutting off the TV when I see part of Playland and a couple semi-familiar actors, a lure I can’t refuse. Eventually the plot draws me away from the game of figuring out where exactly they are and what year it is.

Two plot lines were of particular note. The first a girl who’s slept with most of her boyfriend’s friends. Generally because she was lonely but on occasion to prove she wasn’t fat - I guess Dawna wasn’t the first person to use those lines…perhaps it almost brings those motivations from the field of excuses and into the realm of reasons, thankfully it doesn’t matter as that messed up time is behind me.

The second plot line to get my attention involved the same characters. Upon discovery that she’s pregnant they enter into a suicide pact that involves jumping off the top of the roller coaster. In the end she reveals that she’s miscarried and doesn’t want them to go through with it. He jumps.

The moral as I see it is that sex can mess up your life if you lose sight of what’s important because in the end what you need most is someone to hold your hand during the scary parts…like when you’re sick and medicated late at night pondering the meaning of life.

Apparently I was one of over 1 million Canadians who tuned in to the first episode of the new season of the Mercer Report and let me tell you he’d give Stewart a run for his money.

One segment that caught my attention, and that of the real news media, was his bit with Liberal leader candidate Bob Rae. Now admittedly I haven’t been following the race very closely, not being a member of the Liberal party I didn’t really see the point. If I had to vote I already would have been leaning towards Rae as apparently Ignatieff has barely spent any time in the country of late.

I was annoyed that Ignatieff was taking a hit for being educated. What does it say about a country/party that an education can be a liability? But this was not enough to cause me to support him blindly.

Bob Rae was a former NDP Premier which is a positive point in my books although I admit to my ignorance of his specific record. So if I was lukewarm in my support his appearance on RMR sealed the deal. He was funny, passionate, and well reasoned - he reminded me of Clinton. He made some excellent points on matters of both philosophy and policy and in a humble manner.

Of course all the mainstream media can talk about is how he got naked and went skinny dipping with Rick at the end.

I’ve done my research and come to the indisputable conclusion that it is time for an entire race to be eliminated. A group that has frankly added nothing of substance to the world, that holds the rest of the superior races back. I’ve held my tongue for fear of what people would think of me but I’m tired of keeping my true feelings hidden, it is long past time that we begin the cleansing.

I have identified an inferior species that serves no useful purpose and as far as I can tell can be eliminated without consequence.

That’s right, I’m talking about fleas.

You see I’ve recently become an expert on the little buggers as I had a bit of an infestation due to a friend who had an outdoor cat coming to visit. It seems like the worst of it has passed but that does not negate my point.

In the food chain fleas are non-symbiotic parasites which means they do not kill anything nor do they serve a useful purpose in feeding, they do not remove toxins or help keep another species population in check for example. As well their only natural predators are beetles and ants who themselves have an ample food supply. They could completely disappear from the ecosystem and no one would notice.

They’ve done quite well for themselves really, evolving into a creature that is rather difficult to kill. You either need to crush it between your nails (the only part of your body hard enough to break their shells), drown them, or use a pesticide of some kind. Not only that but they can go an entire year without feeding and even most pesticides don’t kill their eggs. So I reluctantly tip my hat to their natural selection accomplishments, now let’s give them their walking papers.

What about bio-diversity? Don’t we have enough species being killed off? What if they serve an as-yet-undiscovered purpose?

I’m willing to risk it.

As a compromise we can perhaps preserve a small colony of fleas, a museum of an extinct species as it were. Or we can cryogenically freeze a pair, store a DNA sample, or just map their DNA if we need them in the future, say to defeat some aliens in a War Of The Worlds type scenario. Other than that, I say let the eradication begin.

I suggest we begin quietly, so the flea armies don’t mobilize. Pick an arbitrary country to test our methods, say Poland. They’re as good a place as any. Then once we’ve cleansed Poland we have a quick attack on the fleas bases, armies, and civilian populations in several European countries at once. After this ‘blitz’ secures those areas we can begin constructing facilities in which we can exterminate the fleas away from other species that might be effected by the biological weapons we’ll need to employ. We can euphemistically refer to these places as ‘camps’ to maintain a positive public relations campaign. Once Europe is secure we can advance on Africa and North America and eventually purge the entire planet of the menace!

What?

Another dreary day working an event I wouldn’t want to attend and I end up posted in the parkade with a new security guy. After witnessing a near-collision with a slow-moving car and a parked car we get to talking and he makes the observation that “apathy drives the world“. I asked him what he meant and he says “well you’re afraid of honking your horn for getting shot“. This did little to clarify his statement but he had to go to a different post before I could inquire further.

How can apathy drive the world? How can not caring push anything forward? Or did he mean it literally, that there are apathetic people driving cars the world over? Perhaps he was trying to say collisions occur because people don’t care. If people don’t care why is road rage a problem? Or maybe they only care about themselves. But then wouldn’t it be selfishness driving the world? Isn’t that the fundamental principal behind capitalism?

His follow-up comment about getting shot would more suggest fear drives the world.

A strong case could definitely be made that fear drives the world. Economic activity driven by a fear of being poor. Fear certainly plays a big role in American politics lately. Fear also holds us back, keeps us from taking risks, both rightly and wrongly. Fear can protect us and limit us.

I think in the end I have no idea what he meant. It could just be one of those things cynics say. I guess I could find him and ask but I’m too apathetic.

And that’s The Wørd.

People often wonder why I have a picture of myself and Calvin on my desk at work. In point of fact it’s been on my desk ever since I had a desk at work that I could call my own, going back to the provincial election, and there’s a very good reason for it. It serves an important purpose, a constant reminder.

The picture is from the year I worked in our headquarters. It was the first year that I had any real authority or access in the organization. It was the first time that I was in a position to fight the fights that needed fighting, to stand up for what I believed in, and to make a difference for the entire department.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not like things weren’t already great. It was an awesome job, a great bunch of people following common goals with strong procedures but there was room for improvement. Which brings us to the other half of the picture, Calvin.

In the years leading up to my post in HQ we would often have long chats about work. There was the usual stuff like what it was like working with an NBA cheerleader and the girl that had a crush on him but we also covered more substantive ground like what we would do if we were supervisors. Policies and procedures we would change, things we’d try, and most importantly how we would only make changes that benefited everyone and always keep the new guy in mind.

We wanted to contribute as much as we could, participate in and defend the traditions but make improvements for the future. How to make the family closer and the work easier and more productive.

When I was promoted to HQ, and later a supervisor Carrie, a supervisor I had a HUGE crush on, had the same reaction “What took them so long and thank god“. She even said that when I became Assistant Manager over her. I think she said that because she knew my focus was making things better for everyone.

In short if I’m not staying true to the ideals of those guys in the picture and fighting to maintain or improve the same opportunities I was given then I’ve strayed from the path.

To a limited extent I set my own hours at work. So when a bout of insomnia puts the kybosh on my 9-5 day switching to an 11-3 day isn’t a big deal when my only commitment is a meeting at 2pm. However recently that was not the case.

As I sat down on the bus I heard a rip. Sure enough it was my pants. A small tear on a seam, hardly noticeable if you’re sitting down I figured some strategic holding of a clipboard would get me through the abbreviated day.

I arrived at work early thinking if my meeting ends early I could justify sneaking away early. Within seconds of replying to my first e-mail the phone rings. It’s my boss. That presentation I’ve been waiting to give the CEO since February is a go for today after the meeting. I was supposed to have at least a day’s warning to prepare but whatever, I come from Ops so curve balls are common place.

I go searching for a needle and thread. My pants are green, the closest colour thread on-hand is gray. A little creative repair work and the pants look good as new, well enough to last out the day at least. Then I prepare for my presentation.

The CEO agrees with my top picks and helps come up with a creative and less expensive method to make it happen. It’s not in the bag yet, some work still needs to be done before I get the final okay but his instincts and wishes are completely in line with mine. In fact he went searching 4 years ago for something just like what I presented but didn’t have as much luck.

To give you an idea how awesome our CEO is he said to me early on in the presentation “just show me the options you believe in, I don’t want to waste your time and I’m not going to go with something over your objections“.

If all goes well (and with the CEO in your corner how could it not?), not only will I have circumvented a bad unpopular decision but I also would have secured what even the CEO calls “perfect ops equipment“.

I’m not saying they’ll throw a parade but to many I think I’ll be a hero. And all this on 3 hours sleep with barely any warning and ripped pants. Not to oversell myself but I honestly believe this will prove to everyone that not only can I do this job well but I can improve things for my old comrades in arms in Operations proving that improving conditions for the team is still and always has been my central goal.

If I can’t make things better, make a difference, for someone else then I have no business in the job. Thankfully I think I do the picture on my desk proud.

(Some housekeeping issues: The queue has been purged and I was poised to return to blogging in real time again…but I got sick so posts are running a couple days behind again. Also due to some complaints received during the playoffs I will not be blogging about hockey until further notice.)

Thus far the award for best reaction to the news has to go to Patti. I sincerely thought she was about to do a cartwheel. Smiles, clapping, hopping, hugs and the best part? I barely had to say a word…

Patti: What’s up?
Me: Well…
Patti: You’re moving in with your new girlfriend?
Me: Well yes but-
Patti: You’re getting married!
Me: No but-
Patti: Oh my god! Congratulations!

The runner up thus far is Amy’s feigned jaw drop.

I probably take the prize for worst reaction - it’s still pending. A month of shock, a bout of hysteria over telling my mom, and selfish sequestered me time…let’s keep all this to ourselves (i.e. don’t tell my kid) shall we?

There had been some debate as to my hours at work for the month of October, last I heard from my boss, despite only being budgeted for 2 days it would be anywhere from 3 to 5 days a week. Personally I was hoping for 4 days as I would get a bit more time off than I’ve had lately but still pulling in some decent cash. Well the final decision came down today: 2 days a week.

Now had we just stuck with the budget without all the waiting and suspense I wouldn’t have given it a second thought but this mini roller coaster has me questioning their motivations.

And of course there’s the issue of finances as this more than cuts my income in half. I mean, it’s not like I’m even in the same time zone as destitute or even debt and I do minimalist rather well but it does make me a little anxious. If it weren’t for serious potential financial responsibilities on the horizon I probably wouldn’t be concerned.

Putting this all in perspective I’m still far better off than I was this time last year, I’ve already earned more this year at 2 out of 3 jobs than all of last year and I have all 3 jobs throughout the winter where last year I only had 2. However I did get a serious cash injection over the Halloween event which I won’t be getting this year. Methinks this is what let me be talked into working the floor last Christmas.

I probably shouldn’t worry, I have banked hours to collect on and they’ve already tacked on an extra half-day to this week. I just need to kick it into gray mode, enjoy my time off, and have a little faith. It’s better than working the sales floor after all. Besides before long I’ll be busy again and wishing I had more free time, all it takes is an election.

I think I just wet myself…
http://www.startrekofgodsandmen.com/trailer_links.html

*checks* Okay I didn’t…but it was a near thing.

Star Trek: Of Gods And Men is set for a Christmas release.

Meanwhile in gaming news Bethesda Softworks is shipping it’s first Star Trek game, Star Trek: Encounters for PlayStation 2, and has announced release dates for Star Trek: Legacy and Star Trek: Tactical Assault. They will ship Tactical Assault for the Nintendo DS on October 24th and Legacy for Windows on November 7th.

*laughs maniacally*

Hmmm…kinda sound like Daffy Duck when I do that.

Why do pregnant women rub their belly? I’ve noticed some tend to do this even before they begin to show. I mean, there must be some reason behind it or is it entirely subconscious? Does the zygote sense this somehow? Is it soothing? Does it generate some kind of positive, comforting, or stimulating vibration within the womb? Is it like petting a cat? Is it for luck?

Or, at the risk of becoming unpopular, is it a subtle way of reminding people you’re pregnant? You might think this an odd thing to ponder but as I was riding the bus home the other day this lady (and I use the term loosely) seemed to want everyone to know.

She was sitting at the back of the bus talking so loudly that you couldn’t help but overhear. I, for example, sitting in the middle of the bus listening to music, heard every word. First she frets about being $30 short for rent. Then she complains loudly that her boyfriend is in a crack-induced haze so he can’t come out and party tonight.

A fellow passenger, about my age, made the mistake of turning around and asking her to speak more quietly.

Her response?

“You were checking out my ass when I got on the bus. You were listening in on our conversation and thought I was hot so you turned around to check me out but, oops, I’m pregnant”

I felt very sorry for the fellow so I turned around and said “no, you’re loud” as I shared a commiserating look with the guy he turned a lighter shade of red.

She came back with “whatever, you wanted me too until you found out I was pregnant” she turned to her friend and continued complaining loudly about how “everyone wants my ass, I have the hottest ass“.

I wish it had ended there.

She followed me onto the skytrain. Fearing public humiliation might be in the offing I kept an eye on her reflection. She would stare at someone and keep rubbing her belly until they, either intentionally or not, glanced in her direction and she would yell “ya, I’m pregnant“.

With every rub of her belly I wanted to strangle her. You know, between the tears I’d be weeping for humanity.

Not too long ago former US President Bill Clinton was lambasted by the mainstream media for his direct and forceful responses to some ill-conceived questions posed by a right-leaning reporter. I find it disappointing, although not entirely surprising, that Clinton was viewed as the bad guy rather than the uninformed out-of-line reporter.

When did defending yourself when being irrationally attacked equate to being ‘combative’? If someone insults you, disrespects you, makes untrue statements on issues of fact and in the process fails to do his job and in so doing brings shame to his profession I think it would be irresponsible and a disservice to the public discourse to let the windbag and his comments go unchallenged.

Letting a falsehood stand unopposed is a tacit form of lying after all. The fact is the question was combative, you don’t blame the person who picks up the gauntlet for picking the fight, you blame the guy who needlessly threw it down.

Frankly it was incredibly refreshing to see someone speaking with passion that was not faux (like Bush’s poor attempts at acting). It was quite striking as it illustrated how long it’s been since someone in the public eye has been passionate about their ideas rather than merely critical of the enemy’s.

It reminded me of when they took the leash off of Gore and of course future President John McCain (his official title as far as I’m concerned). We need people like this to step forward if we’re to have any hope of surviving current global conflicts and environmental challenges.

I miss Clinton. Straightforward, detailed, honest (on matters of substance), intelligent, informed, well-reasoned, calming, and confident. The only one of those qualities Bush shares is ’straightforward’ but when they say it about him they mean ’simple’ as in not complicated. You know, retarded.

Since I’m making comparisons between Clinton and Bush let’s put their presidencies in perspective. In fact, I can do it with a simple question. Imagine 2 things happened tomorrow: 1) The insurgents in Iraq unilaterally across the nation, unanimously and unconditionally surrender 2) Someone levels sexual harassment charges against the president. Which of those two stories would get the front page?

Oh, and Fox News doesn’t count.

The truly sad fact is I don’t really know which story would take precedence in today’s climate. A brutal unnecessary war over and thousands of potentially lost lives saved from a prolonged conflict …or sex? Despite the Republicans best efforts during the Clinton administration the Iraq story would likely get the front page (although the circumstances surrounding it never would have happened in the first place). But after the steep and steady decline of intelligent discourse in the US the question becomes murky. What’s worse, what do you think Bush would think the important story would be?

When I compare what is to what was, I am profoundly saddened and frightened not to mention disappointed in humanity for letting it occur, 9/11 be damned.

Thinking about Bush I am reminded of a quote from a Star Trek episode…
Picard: We think we have come so far… the torture of heretics and the burning of witches is ancient history… and then… before you can blink an eye… it threatens to start all over again.
Worf: I believed her… I helped her… I didn’t see what she was.
Picard: Villains who wear black hats are easy to spot. Those who clothe themselves in good deeds are well camouflaged.
Worf: I think… after yesterday… people will not be as ready to trust her.
Picard: Maybe. But it won’t stop her. She — or someone like her — will always be with us… waiting for the right climate in which to flourish… spreading disease in the name of liberty. Vigilance, Mr. Worf. That is the price we must continually pay.

Shortly after my child is born (a phrase I still haven’t quite gotten comfortable with) I’m going to spend a day with my mom. First we’re going to the bank to fill out the thus-far-neglected ‘beneficiary’ part of my accounts. Then we’re going to pick up a couple legal will kits and do our best to write a couple wills that in no way resemble Swiss cheese.

I plan to see if there’s a place where I can specify music I wanted played at my funeral. Specifically I’ve know for over 10 years now that I want Hootie’s ‘Not Even The Trees’ played as my ‘moment of silence’ but I’ve recently considered that I’d like Toad The Wet Sprocket’s ‘Pray Your Gods’ as the follow-up, the walking out music…

In case the will doesn’t allow for this I’d like this blog entry to be considered an expression of my wishes on the matter.

Now just because I want my affairs in order doesn’t mean I’m contemplating suicide, I’ve always said homicide would be much more fun. Suicide is selfish, murder-suicide on the other hand is a family activity.

Note: the last paragraph is a tongue-in-cheek attempt at dark humour, not an actual statement of intent. However if any intervention you consider planning involves fruity alcoholic beverages I might be willing to play along.