tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67098214998302384632024-03-12T22:56:59.000-04:00amcintosh.netRants and info from AndrewAndrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.comBlogger198125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-83408512182430456702012-03-26T21:48:00.005-04:002012-04-06T15:17:31.404-04:00Here There Be (Complexly Desgined) Dragons<span><span style="font-size: 100%;">Today I saw a tweet to a blog post: </span></span><a href="http://www.billthelizard.com/2008/12/books-programmers-dont-really-read.html" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Books Programmers Don't Really Read</a><span><span style="font-size: 100%;">.</span></span><br /><br /><span><span style="font-size: 100%;">The post itself is from 2008, but I found it quite coincidental that I saw it tweeted today for two reasons:</span></span><br /><ol><li style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">I own a copy of CLRS Introduction to Algorithms as UofT did indeed use it as the textbook. The post is quite correct that I've haven't read "more than a few selected chapters." The coincidence comes from the fact that I was actually reorganizing my book shelf the other night and pulled this one out thinking, "I should actually go through this book sometime soon."</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; ">The second coincidence for me was that just last night I was talking to my dad about the Dragon Book. We were discussing interviews and he was telling me about his last one (over 15 years ago) for his current compiler job (working on the optimizer specifically). During his interview was asked if he was familiar with the Green Dragon Book and he responded that he was, and though he had never read it, he owned a copy of the Red Dragon Book and had read it several times (and he actually had). </span></li></ol><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Anyway, long story short: Good blog post on programming books which I found very coincidental for me as I just randomly interacted with two of them less than 24 hours prior.</div>Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-3319219150316874362010-10-27T21:39:00.005-04:002010-10-27T22:01:02.246-04:00Announcement<div style="text-align: left;">This is an awesome baby outfit that I picked up from <a href="http://www.jinx.com/minigeeks/baby/video_games/level_1_human_creeper.html?catid=1&cs=19&csd=baby">Jinx</a> a few years ago:</div><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/TMjVaBagqjI/AAAAAAAACRg/ZUBkWA4AsrY/s1600/461p_0c_ZoomB.jpg"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/TMjVaBagqjI/AAAAAAAACRg/ZUBkWA4AsrY/s320/461p_0c_ZoomB.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5532906785257597490" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 119px; " /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/TMjVZ_cyVoI/AAAAAAAACRY/QMJVLvasxFM/s1600/461p_0c_2b.jpg"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/TMjVZ_cyVoI/AAAAAAAACRY/QMJVLvasxFM/s320/461p_0c_2b.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5532906784730273410" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px; " /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/TMjVZ_cyVoI/AAAAAAAACRY/QMJVLvasxFM/s1600/461p_0c_2b.jpg"></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/TMjVZ_cyVoI/AAAAAAAACRY/QMJVLvasxFM/s1600/461p_0c_2b.jpg"></a></div><div>D&D woot! Anyway, back when I bought it I had no kids, but I figured I would someday and didn't want to miss this. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Well, my announcement is that I'm now a daddy and this will be put to use sooner than later!</b></div><div><br /></div><div>So, ya, I haven't posted for 6 months. Part of this was the whole baby/pregnancy thing. Part was that I had been slowing down in posting prior to that. Part was also a few other activities I was involved in.</div><div><br /></div><div>So I plan to start posting again, or at least try to.</div><div><br /></div><div>What's been going on the past while?</div><div><ol><li>Had a baby</li><li>Got hired by my company full time (rather than contract)</li><li>Fired up a website, <a href="http://fmycatslife.com">FMyCatsLife</a>, which is a semi-spoof/content specific version of the excellent <a href="http://fmylife.com">FMyLife</a></li><li>Done numerous computer replacements and upgrades at home</li><li>Played a fair bit of Team Fortress 2</li><li>Life in general</li></ol></div><div>So, that's where things are. Sorry, no pictures or details of the little one here yet. I'm still trying to figure out where I stand on posting about her, and since you can never truly remove something from the internet, I'd rather take it slow. Those who know me well have probably seen her on facebook.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Note about the baby outfit:</i></div><div><i>The AC is technically wrong. They list it as 6 because on the Base AC 10 minus 4 from the Dex of 3. However, they forgot size bonuses. Since babies are clearly small creatures, by D&D 3.5 rules, they get a +1 size modifier to AC, which would make it an AC 7.</i></div>Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-23278199325408939622010-04-22T22:10:00.004-04:002010-04-26T08:07:47.117-04:00D&D Encounters Session 6Last night was the 6<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">th</span> session of D&D: Encounters. It was short, very short. Why you ask? Because we managed to eradicate the monsters in very short order.<div>We were a man short for the evening, so the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">DM</span> removed one of the monsters from the fight. What was left were 3 artillery demons and 2 others demons. Didn't really get to find out what the other two were as they died very quickly. The flying artillery monsters opened up combat with some recharge encounter powers which let them fire off 3 shots. The combine 9 attacks put three of us seriously low on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">hitpoints</span>, thus on the cleric's turn he fired off a daily power to give us all resistance 5, healed me back up to full, and gave the monk a much needed save (he blew an action point to do all this). The monk then charged in and let loose a daily targeting the two non-artillery demons. He rolled two 20s, and the double <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">crit</span> removed both from the map. I ran up two one of the remaining three and missed, but our P<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">sion</span> at the back opened up on one of the last three, which were apparently vulnerable to his psychic attack and was bloodied. Action point and repeat. They fired again, but only one was able to recharge the triple-shot power. The cleric then healed the monk, who delayed until after the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Psion</span> went again, scoring a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">crit</span> and killing one demon. Then the monk went a finished the others off. It was all over and I only got one action, but what a fight to witness.</div><div><br /></div><div>Oh, and to plug once more, the monk in our party has a (more detailed) post on the encounter on <a href="http://dungeonsmaster.com/2010/04/dd-encounters-week-6/">dungeonsmaster.com</a>.</div>Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-11616826789087029592010-04-15T21:01:00.001-04:002010-04-25T22:24:51.257-04:00D&D: Encounters<div><blockquote></blockquote>I've been playing in a weekly Dungeons and Dragons game at my local gaming store. This is an initiative run by <a href="http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Default.aspx">Wizards of the Coast</a> called <a href="http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Event.aspx?x=dnd/4new/event/dndencounters">D&D: Encounters</a>. The program is an adventure, broken into 12 encounter sessions run once a week, and it's pretty cool. The encounters are run by DMs at local gaming stores and are targeted at 1-2 hour sessions (usually closer to 1). The program is scheduled to have several series (turnout has been great), but the first is called Encounters: Undermountain, with an adventure set in the Forgotten Realms called Halaster's Lost Apprentice.</div><div><br /></div><div>I am really enjoying this. First off, my own DM is still running us through D&D 3rd edition (3.5 actually), as he is not a fan of 4th Ed. This is fine for me, as I love 3.5 and would not want to give it up for 4th. D&D 3.5 has a lot going for it that 4th isn't is good at. However, the opposite is also very true, and I equally wouldn't want to refrain from the joy of 4th edition D&D in favour of 3.5 either. So encounters gives me a nice way of having my cake and eating it too.</div><div><br /></div><div>But beyond all of that, the Encounters program has been very awesome. The people I've played with have all been great, the two DMs I've sat with have been really solid, and the adventure itself is fun and nicely written for an event like this, with a fair bit of variety and some really interesting encounters.</div><div><br /></div><div>I've mostly been at the same table with one DM and a slightly changing week to week, but mostly constant, group of players. They've been fun and funny (our Paladin's dry sense of humour constantly cracks me up) and our DM puts on an excellent show, so here I'm just going to plug a few things for them.</div><div><br />One of our players, playing a monk, is one of the writers of <a href="http://dungeonsmaster.com/">dungeonsmaster.com</a>, and has had a and has had <a href="http://dungeonsmaster.com/2010/04/dd-encounters-week-5/">a few posts on our sessions</a>.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Our DM <a href="http://www.shatteredsea.blogspot.com/">has a blog on his regular campaign</a> and has also posted about Encounters. Further still, he podcasts his gaming sessions (<a href="http://www.archive.org/download/SSDDE0005-Undermountian1-5/SsDdEncounters_Undermountian1-5.mp3">including our encounters nights</a>) which are available on iTunes. It's really fun to here yourself playing in a live-play podcast. Thanks!</div>Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-84354703980094143722010-04-13T22:09:00.009-04:002010-04-14T10:37:53.203-04:00Opera MiniOpera Mini was release for the iPhone/<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">iPod</span> Touch today!<br /><br />I've been fairly excited to see this since it was <a href="http://www.opera.com/press/releases/2010/02/10/">announced two months ago</a> and <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5498694/opera-mini-for-iphone-makes-browsing-on-the-edge-actually-kind-of-great">received some </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S8U9QSvFcYI/AAAAAAAACPg/5woF090lkVY/s1600/Opera-Mini-thumbs.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S8U9QSvFcYI/AAAAAAAACPg/5woF090lkVY/s200/Opera-Mini-thumbs.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459837473373122946" border="0" /></a><a href="http://gizmodo.com/5498694/opera-mini-for-iphone-makes-browsing-on-the-edge-actually-kind-of-great">good reviews</a>. While I've been fairly happy with my touch, I don't mind seeing improvements to web browsing, particularly anything that might improve those long, image heavy, blog-like sites that take two minutes to load on Mobile Safari.<br /><br />So, I downloaded Opera Mini today and I'm pretty happy with it. It's fast, very fast, which of course is because of everything actually being processed on Opera's servers and sent to me compressed (<a href="http://lifehacker.com/5516038/browser-speed-tests-iphones-mobile-safari-vs-opera-mini">here's <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Lifehacker's</span> speed test post</a>). I also really love the tabbed browsing, which Safari doesn't really do right. These tabs are speedier and have a nice screen preview without having to navigate away from your page and have <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S8U9QFh9rcI/AAAAAAAACPY/69YPp2J2brw/s1600/Opera-Mini-speeddial.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S8U9QFh9rcI/AAAAAAAACPY/69YPp2J2brw/s200/Opera-Mini-speeddial.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459837469828427202" border="0" /></a>Safari reload everything. Very nice. The speed dial home page is also a plus; it just makes bookmarks a tad easier. Oh, and the ability to 'find in page' is, well, basic, and should have been in Safari for a long time now.<br /><br />There are some problems though. First, I did notice the occasional page rendering incorrectly, with either things not quite loading, or the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">css</span> messing up. I mostly noticed this with blogs heavy on images, which unfortunately was where I was hoping Opera to shine for me. Hopefully they can work a few of the kinks out of their rendering. Regular Opera is a seriously solid browser, so I know they can do this (that being said, regular Safari is no slouch either). There's also the fact that since all of your traffic is rendered on Opera's servers and then sent to you, there's really no such thing as end-to-end encryption and everything your send is really sent through Opera. I'm not particularly paranoid, but I probably won't do online banking on Opera or anything.<br /><br />Am I replacing Safari with this? No (actually, I can't as Safari is still the default), but I'm definitely going to use them in tandem and we'll see how it goes.<br /><br />EDIT: Two things I've noticed. <br />First, Opera wasn't working at my office until I changed the connection option in Advanced settings to 'http' from 'socket' (firewall of course). <br />Second, locationally targeted ads all think I'm in San Jose (assuming that's where Opera's North American servers are). <br /><br />Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-63699162078967525192010-04-13T21:19:00.004-04:002010-04-13T23:48:04.819-04:00Starcraft Cheating WoesGaming news from Korea.<br /><br />I've posted a bit about the <a href="http://blog.amcintosh.net/2008/11/starcraft-in-korea.html">Korean Starcraft obsession a few times in the past</a>. Well, there's a bit of commotion going on in the Korean "e-sport" world with <a href="http://www.gamepron.com/news/2010/04/12/starcraft-cheating-scandal-rocks-korea/">a scandal involving some of the top players, coaches, and organizers</a>. There has apparently been an illegal gambling ring going on with players throwing matches and leaking team information. Better yet, it's been known about for a while by organizers who tried to quietly take care of it.<br /><br />This nicely illustrates how serious a thing Starcraft is in Korea.<br /><br />In other Korean gaming news, the <a href="http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20100412000752">government is planning to impose a nightly ban on online games</a> to fight the, "rising problem of video game addiction", and have students actually get some sleep. The plan is to ban 19 MMORPGs from 12am-6am each night as well as throttle games for for users online for a lengthy period of time.<br /><br />I haven't yet found much on how these two things will be done technologically, or better still, how they're going to be able to tell the difference between teenagers and adults, but I'm thinking it's unlikely this will put any serious dampener on things.<br /><br />Besides all of that, there's also the usual debate on whether "gaming addiction" actually exists, and if so, what should be done, but I'm not getting into that here and now.Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-37288962042823454362010-03-19T15:49:00.000-04:002010-03-26T15:56:47.705-04:00Is That Even Really CoffeeI've been visiting McDonald's a bit more lately for reasons I'll not go into right now.<br />And I've been noticing things.<br /><br />First, McDonald's has been giving away coffee for free in the mornings for the past few weeks, as a promotion of their new coffee. What I've been noticing are the number of people who take this free coffee yet clearly are not regular coffee drinkers.<br /><br />Many are like, "Oh? It's free? Wow, well I guess I'll take one then." Which I suppose means that the promotion is working, as these people clearly wouldn't have tried it otherwise.<br /><br />The other thing, most of these people seem to be ordering triple-triple (3 x sugar, 3 x milk/cream), so my guess is that they don't particularly like coffee to begin with.<br /><br />I've also seen <span style="font-weight: bold;">a lot</span> of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">highschool</span> students ordering free coffee, and I'm pretty sure almost all of these are not regular coffee drinkers. Every <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">highschooler</span> I've seen order one has gone triple-triple, except one, who ordered, "five-and-five." The staff worker looked at him and replied, "Seriously??" and rolled her eyes. Five-and-five? Is there any actual coffee in that?Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-90413740532973673862010-03-15T19:58:00.002-04:002010-03-15T20:03:33.786-04:00Stuff On The StreetSpring time is here. Spring cleaning is a time of finding stuff on the street put out for garbage!<br />I love seeing amusing things left on the side of the road. I like to snap a picture when I can.<br /><br />This is a chesterfield from down the street:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S57KgkcIPMI/AAAAAAAACNI/Q4P7w0T5Ips/s1600-h/CIMG2979.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S57KgkcIPMI/AAAAAAAACNI/Q4P7w0T5Ips/s320/CIMG2979.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449015260051160258" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S57KhNlLl6I/AAAAAAAACNQ/ZWsmIqHm4Cw/s1600-h/CIMG2981.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S57KhNlLl6I/AAAAAAAACNQ/ZWsmIqHm4Cw/s320/CIMG2981.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449015271094982562" border="0" /></a>Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-54011266073507356632010-02-26T10:47:00.007-05:002010-03-15T19:58:00.845-04:00PoppyIt occurred to me after posting about Luna that I never had an introduction of Poppy. Poppy came to Canada from Korea with my wife's return about a week after <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Toki</span> arrived. With her getting back and the wedding plans and all, I never actually posted anything about Poppy. Sorry Poppy.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S57JXVnMVKI/AAAAAAAACNA/5hTPJTYmPIs/s1600-h/CIMG0915.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S57JXVnMVKI/AAAAAAAACNA/5hTPJTYmPIs/s320/CIMG0915.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449014001940583586" border="0" /></a>Poppy has had a pretty rough life so here's the story.<br /><br />Poppy (back then known as <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Tweety</span>) was found abandoned by the side of the road in Korea at 6 months. A volunteer with an animal rescue site there took her in and put her up on the site. She was adopted by a foreign English teacher who took care of her for the next 4 months but unfortunately was fired from her job and had to go back to the United States. Unable to afford to take Poppy with her, Poppy was again posted on the rescue site. Added to this, the owner had decided to keep Poppy inside for those 4 months because of her fear of strangers and noises. With little exposure to the world during her formative year, she was even more nervous of everything.<br /><br />Poppy didn't get adopted before her owner had to leave, so she took Poppy to a local veterinarian and asked them to find her a home, telling the shelter that she had just found Poppy on the street. In Korea, by law animals must be held for only 10 days before being euthanized. The volunteers from the rescue site were able to find out where Poppy was located on the 10<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">th</span> day. So Poppy was placed in foster care but needed to find a new home because her foster family was also moving back to United States in a couple of months. That's where my wife stepped in.<br /><br />She took her in and had her for about 3 months before they both came back to Canada. She was still a bit of a wreck when she got here, but she's really came a long way in that time. Starting from being so afraid of the outside that she would pee while being carried out of the apartment at night, she now absolutely loves going out for walks. She was initially very afraid everyone but within a few weeks she settled down with me and over the past few months she's opened up to our friends when they're over, excited to see them, friends, loving, and not hiding out of sight. She's such a sweet heart and loves nothing more than to sit on my, or my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">wife's</span>, lap and be near us.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S57JW7Omu3I/AAAAAAAACM4/wqJaCf11bck/s1600-h/CIMG0913.JPG"><br /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S57JWud-5aI/AAAAAAAACMw/2T9m_qqauKY/s1600-h/CIMG0904.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S57JWud-5aI/AAAAAAAACMw/2T9m_qqauKY/s320/CIMG0904.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449013991432971682" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S57JW7Omu3I/AAAAAAAACM4/wqJaCf11bck/s1600-h/CIMG0913.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S57JW7Omu3I/AAAAAAAACM4/wqJaCf11bck/s320/CIMG0913.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449013994858134386" border="0" /></a>Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-47538720895733959672010-02-18T19:37:00.007-05:002010-02-26T10:45:41.124-05:00Introducing LunaHere is the latest member of our family, Luna.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S33iKMAposI/AAAAAAAACMo/Pvr_YA8KDTw/s1600-h/CIMG3092+%28Small%29.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S33iKMAposI/AAAAAAAACMo/Pvr_YA8KDTw/s320/CIMG3092+%28Small%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439752589583950530" border="0" /></a><br />She was seized from a puppy mill in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Drummondville</span>, Quebec where she had a tough life and not much contact with people, but we picked her up from <a href="http://www.toronto.ca/animal_services/index.htm">Toronto Animal Services</a> and she's come a long way in only a week! She's really starting to warm to us, walks well, is getting house trained (though the cold winter weather doesn't help that), and is starting to play with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Toki</span> and Poppy, our other dogs. Plus, she's a cutie.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S33hZD6HQoI/AAAAAAAACL4/HY8J93VqV24/s1600-h/CIMG3084+%28Small%29.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 113px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S33hZD6HQoI/AAAAAAAACL4/HY8J93VqV24/s200/CIMG3084+%28Small%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439751745595458178" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S33hYhJmuOI/AAAAAAAACLo/xbzTyJqAmcA/s1600-h/CIMG3081+%28Small%29.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S33hYhJmuOI/AAAAAAAACLo/xbzTyJqAmcA/s200/CIMG3081+%28Small%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439751736265193698" border="0" /></a><br />Adorable!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S33hYztp9AI/AAAAAAAACLw/ApQMZLvihOU/s1600-h/CIMG3082+%28Small%29.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S33hYztp9AI/AAAAAAAACLw/ApQMZLvihOU/s200/CIMG3082+%28Small%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439751741248238594" border="0" /></a><br />This is her first time watching TV, she was enthralled.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S33hiR-WCcI/AAAAAAAACMQ/OMHoKXPppYo/s1600-h/CIMG3087+%28Small%29.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 187px; height: 141px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S33hiR-WCcI/AAAAAAAACMQ/OMHoKXPppYo/s200/CIMG3087+%28Small%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439751903990122946" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S33hiNB3nsI/AAAAAAAACMI/q52NJSa_0dc/s1600-h/CIMG3086+%28Small%29.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 188px; height: 141px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S33hiNB3nsI/AAAAAAAACMI/q52NJSa_0dc/s200/CIMG3086+%28Small%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439751902662729410" border="0" /></a><br />Sleeping with the pack.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S33hia3tE0I/AAAAAAAACMY/UeNuBKd9SKs/s1600-h/CIMG3088+%28Small%29.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S33hia3tE0I/AAAAAAAACMY/UeNuBKd9SKs/s200/CIMG3088+%28Small%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439751906378191682" border="0" /></a><br />Trying on her newly knitted sweater.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">EDIT: Forgot to talk about names. We debated a long time over what to name her. Took us most for the week to decide. Contenders were: Kiwi, Roxy, Peanut, Chickpea, and others. We eventually decided on Luna because: 1) She's french. 2) Her slight off-white coat looks very moon-like. There you have it.<br /></div></div>Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-39331734164832502702010-02-15T12:49:00.003-05:002010-02-15T12:59:14.952-05:00Overheard at McDonald'sWhile <a href="http://blog.amcintosh.net/2010/02/mcdonalds-cure.html">on the topic of McDonald's</a>, I was there the other day and it was fairly clear most of the staff was new and under training. These were two of the conversations going on as I stood there (remember, this McDonald's is inside the subway station).<div></div><blockquote><div>Woman: Where's the washroom?</div><div>Supervisor: Right in the room you got changed.</div><div>Woman: Shh. Ya right.</div><div>Supervisor: No it is, there's a stall in the room.</div><div>Woman: Oh my gosh, seriously? This place is so tiny.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Supervisor: Now, you have to start a new pot as soon as the old one gets down to here.</div><div>Man: Ok</div><div>Supervisor: The thing about this store is that it's all about the coffee. You run out of coffee, you die.</div><div>Man: Ok.</div><div>Supervisor: I mean literally die, because the store is so full of customers wanting coffee.</div><div></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>Ha! Literally die.</div><div>That is all.</div>Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-33966296526344594602010-02-15T12:34:00.003-05:002010-02-15T12:48:56.801-05:00McDonald's CureLet's talk McDonald's for a second. Specifically my secret hangover cure.<div><br /></div><div>There's a twenty-four hour McDonald's in the subway station near my place. I don't go there too often, which is good because too much it quite obviously horrible for you, but I will say that it is the best and most convenient pre-emptive hangover cure. The junior chicken sandwich: Fairly small, Only $1.39 + tax, Available, And it prevents hangovers. </div><div><br /></div><div>If I have one at the end of a party night, I never feel hungover the next day. Since the place is inside the station, it's super convenient, and beyond that, the sandwich is under $1.50, for anyone who blew all their cash for the night can probably still get one with bar change in their pocket.</div><div><br /></div><div>Of course the best way to prevent a hangover is to not get trashed, but if you do, McDonald's. The other solution I like, which is fairly convenient downtown is the street-meat hotdog. But McDonald's is number one. I don't know, maybe it's the grease. </div><div><br /></div>Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-33246187135975532192010-02-02T15:31:00.002-05:002010-02-02T15:37:43.308-05:00Groundhog Day 2010Results:<br /><br />Balzac Billy - Early Spring<br />General Beauregard Lee - Early Spring<br />Malverne Mel - 6 more weeks of winter<br />Punxsutawney Phil - 6 more weeks of winter<br />Sir Walter Wally - Early Spring<br />Staten Island Chuck - Early Spring<br />Wiarton Willie - 6 more weeks of winter<br /><br />4 to 3 for early spring. I'd say so, considering that with the ridiculously warm weather in Toronto, I'm still not sure winter ever really started.<br /><br /><a href="http://blog.amcintosh.net/2009/02/groundhog-day-2009.html"><span style="font-size:85%;">My posting of last years results.</span></a>Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-61649222405660685682010-01-15T16:32:00.000-05:002010-01-23T16:45:30.321-05:00Two Year AniversaryThe fact that I've actually kept up posting for two years amazes me. There are off months to be sure, but I really enjoy sharing whatever to whoever happens to read this.<br /><br />To quote my <a href="http://blog.amcintosh.net/2008/01/introduction.html">original introduction</a>:<br /><blockquote>I do not have vast or far reaching plan for this blog or any specific topic or theme. This will simply be a place where I will post news, things that amuse me, various pictures, etc.<br /><br />I suspect that no one will really read this, but if you do, feel free to leave a comment so I know that there's someone out there.</blockquote>It is true, this is one of those personal blogs about my life, thoughts, etc.. It does not have a focus, but I hope if you are reading this that you are actually enjoying yourself. Or something. Regardless, feel free to comment.<br /><br /><a href="http://blog.amcintosh.net/2009/01/one-year-aniversary.html">Last year</a> I shot out the stats that I had had <span class="primary_value">"1214 visitors in the past year with a bounce rate of 68%." Well this past year it looks like 2159 visitors with a 76% bounce. So I apparently have more random people finding me but have fewer actually reading much. But for my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">blog's</span> purpose, I'm cool with that.<br /><br />I will point out the <a href="http://blog.amcintosh.net/search/label/Korean%20Adventure">Korean Adventure posts</a> (which I'm fairly proud of), describing my first trip to Korea. There is also the truncated, unfinished, </span><a href="http://blog.amcintosh.net/search/label/Korean%20Adventure%202">My Korean Adventure 2 / Japanese Adventure</a>, which you may one day be able to read in it's entirety.<br /><br />Anyhow, a good day to you.Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-70358229284677326972009-12-31T16:15:00.003-05:002009-12-31T16:21:02.282-05:00New Years EveGoodbye 2009. In fact, goodbye to the 00's. Some have taken to calling them "the aughts", but I prefer "the ohs".<br /><br />One of the more interesting features of the end of this year, is that every publication is putting out "best of" and "worst of" listings of the past 10 years rather than just the past year. As usual, most of these are crappy fluff pieces that aren't really worth the time, but I've definitely come across a few interesting ones and it's interesting to look back to 1999 and see how much things have changed.Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-77279401192374241212009-12-31T15:46:00.007-05:002010-02-03T22:12:46.093-05:00Big AND Ugly<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Wherein I angrily bash the uselessness which is the ROM Crystal.</span></span><br /><br />I really hate the ROM Crystal. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal is the ridiculous extension to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Ontario_Museum">Royal Ontario Museum</a>. I've hated it since it opened. Actually, I hated it before that, both during construction and when I first saw the design, scrawled on a napkin by the architect!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S2o7H1Zs5RI/AAAAAAAACK0/K0ccxUI4cO0/s1600-h/rom.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/S2o7H1Zs5RI/AAAAAAAACK0/K0ccxUI4cO0/s320/rom.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434220906155926802" border="0" /></a><br />So, I've found it highly amusing and vindicating that the world has begun to catch on to this building. In November, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/VirtualTourist.com">Virtual Tourist</a> placed it in the <a href="http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/11/20/rom-crystal-named-one-of-world-s-ugliest-buildings.aspx">top 10 ugliest buildings in the world</a>. This got a nice follow up a few days ago when the Washington Post placed it as the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/24/AR2009122400116.html">worst architecture of the decade</a>.<br /><blockquote>"Daniel Libeskind's addition to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto surpasses the ugliness of bland functional buildings by being both ugly and useless. His aluminum-and-glass-clad crystalline forms grow out of the building's original 1914 structure, and from the street it's dramatic. But go inside and you need a map to move around its irrational and baffling dead spaces." </blockquote>Awesome. I personally hate it mostly because it's hideous, but there are other roots to my dislike. For one, I also find it a horrible waste of space as the interior is filled with odd angles and sloped walls that must make placing out an exhibit an incredible headache. I also think it goes very poorly with the rest of the century-old building, not looking like an organic structure growing out of the old brick, as I've heard some ridiculously describe it, but more like a crumpled piece of tinfoil thrown over top.<br /><br />A lot of my friends though liked it, or at least, liked it in the beginning. During construction I would complain about the ugliness of it, and those friends would either tell me how nice it would look when completed, or that they were happy for a building that just looked "different". Most of them came round to my way of thinking by the time it opened, and most of those who didn't have slowly found their way into my camp. "Different" can be good, but butt-ugly rarely is.<br /><br />Many have commented that they expected the "crystal" to actually be made up of glass and were upset to discover the aluminum monstrosity that was given to us (<a href="http://www.blogto.com/arts/2009/12/washington_post_singles_out_rom_as_worst_of_the_decade_in_architecture/">comments to this blogTO post show many examples</a>). Apparently the original design called for that, as this <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/archives/article792700.ece">Globe and Mail</a> article from the time of the crystal's opening indicates:<br /><blockquote>"Had it been clad in glass with the cacophony of steel beams exposed to the public, the museum would clearly represent an astonishing triumph.<br />.....................<br />But glass is an expensive and unreliable cladding to use as a roof in any Canadian city. And steel beams are not absolutely fire-resistant. None of this was fully appreciated when Libeskind submitted 11 drawings on ROM napkins of a glass, crystalline addition for the invited design competition."<br /></blockquote>I was not one of those surprised by the lack of glass. I also don't lament that we could have had a nice looking glass building but were instead given this. Firstly I think that a glass crystal would have looked almost equally as dumb, but I also feel that if the original plan really did call for glass, it just further show cases the stupidity of the design!<br /><br />MUSEUMS HAVE THINGS IN THEM THAT SHOULD NOT BE CONSTANTLY EXPOSED TO DIRECT SUNLIGHT!<br /><br />Any building design that in no way works for the purpose of that build is useless, regardless of whether the design looks good or not (which in this case it doesn't!). That and the fact that the shape and design of it required contractors to go to great lengths to <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/article759176.ece">build it to withstand Toronto weather</a>, and your left with something both ugly AND functionally stupid.<br /><br />Oh yes, and it also <a href="http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/toronto/story.html?id=1cc22cd7-8d82-45c4-b042-137824ad5a6d">breaks city bylaws for encroachment into public space</a>. Congratulations.<br /><br />Wait, and did that quote just say something about napkins? Yes it did.<br /><blockquote>"when Libeskind submitted 11 drawings on ROM napkins of a glass, crystalline addition for the invited design competition."</blockquote> I saw the napkins on display at the ROM when they were advertising their soon to be started expansion. I was unimpressed and bewildered. He handed them his design scrawled on napkins and they accepted that?! Who the hell is he? And who the hell are these people who went with his idea? Lame.<br /><br />So, as you can see, I passionately hate this building. Don't get me wrong. I love the ROM itself. I like the exhibits. I love to go there. But every time I look at this thing I cringe and I'm happy that I'm not the only one.Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-61270155563009102972009-12-13T11:11:00.002-05:002009-12-13T12:51:46.348-05:00ExamsMy wife has tests and exams this week, but is luckily done school after that! <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Good luck</span> and I hope you study hard and rock them all!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SyUSi4Boc-I/AAAAAAAACF4/o2WzxH28kl0/s1600-h/give-peas-a-chance.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SyUSi4Boc-I/AAAAAAAACF4/o2WzxH28kl0/s400/give-peas-a-chance.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414754517346972642" border="0" /> </a>Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-31396411789269873752009-12-10T16:37:00.004-05:002009-12-10T23:04:19.660-05:00More Band Names<div>More <a href="http://blog.amcintosh.net/search/label/Band%20Names">meeting room band names</a>!</div><div><div><ul><li>EMR Outputs</li><li>The Endless Contract</li><li>Standardization of Terms</li></ul><div>I have to say, these ones are pretty weak, but it's all I've got.</div></div></div>Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-66360327779550394902009-12-06T22:58:00.004-05:002009-12-13T11:13:56.159-05:00A Man Who Loves His JobAt a club last night. Weird music night. My wife made a request. The DJ:<div><blockquote>"Oh ya. I need to play this shit a while longer, but I'll play that. Don't tell anyone that I'm going to play it...(quietly) but I'll totally play it"</blockquote></div><div>And it was awesome when it came on.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0UjsXo9l6I8&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0UjsXo9l6I8&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object></div>Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-35864030517908539642009-12-01T21:01:00.005-05:002009-12-06T22:50:10.102-05:00Hockey Night In Russia!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SxXLCRMYSKI/AAAAAAAACFY/5pL_BklKAWo/s1600/CIMG2968.JPG"></a><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SxXLCRMYSKI/AAAAAAAACFY/5pL_BklKAWo/s1600/CIMG2968.JPG"></a><div>Last night was hockey night! </div><div><br /></div><div>A few of my friends are in a hockey league and had a game last night at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Ricoh</span> Coliseum. Their team is the Brew Masters and they were playing their first game against the Red Army. This is a rather intimidating team appearance-wise as they have several fairly large players and wear uniforms reading C.C.C.P., complete with hammer and sickle. To talk our boys (and girl) up, my wife put her awesome creative skills to use making inspirational posters. The common theme was the defeat of communist icons, suck as a Godzilla attack on Moscow, Stalin frozen in ice, and the destruction of the Berlin Wall. </div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SxXK2Qq7EaI/AAAAAAAACFI/9kKmwj1LxXw/s1600/daniel.jpg"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SxXK2Qq7EaI/AAAAAAAACFI/9kKmwj1LxXw/s320/daniel.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410453560892264866" style="cursor: pointer; width: 318px; height: 197px;" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SxXK2__n67I/AAAAAAAACFQ/kkNW29JRRxk/s1600/booms.jpg"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SxXK2__n67I/AAAAAAAACFQ/kkNW29JRRxk/s320/booms.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410453573595556786" style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 196px;" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SxXK10X_kpI/AAAAAAAACFA/-U8febB2E6Q/s1600/CIMG2976.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SxXK10X_kpI/AAAAAAAACFA/-U8febB2E6Q/s320/CIMG2976.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410453553296675474" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /></div><div>We taped these up on the boards and cheered on the Brew Masters. After a dominating first and second period, the Red Army got their second wind and managed to win the game (2/3 of their goals in the 3rd), but I still feel they were unnerved by the posters. We also used shouts like, "Communism only works in theory!" and, "You'll go bankrupt before you win!". Ya, that's right.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SxXLCRMYSKI/AAAAAAAACFY/5pL_BklKAWo/s1600/CIMG2968.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 143px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SxXLCRMYSKI/AAAAAAAACFY/5pL_BklKAWo/s200/CIMG2968.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410453767191021730" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SxXLDjPgiLI/AAAAAAAACFw/fL3FcRjNYfA/s1600/CIMG2978.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 143px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SxXLDjPgiLI/AAAAAAAACFw/fL3FcRjNYfA/s200/CIMG2978.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410453789215852722" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SxXLC9oTJpI/AAAAAAAACFg/kZ15cLkkVN0/s1600/CIMG2970.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 122px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SxXLC9oTJpI/AAAAAAAACFg/kZ15cLkkVN0/s200/CIMG2970.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410453779119285906" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SxXLDJCioWI/AAAAAAAACFo/U4d1tHclQbQ/s1600/CIMG2973.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 142px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SxXLDJCioWI/AAAAAAAACFo/U4d1tHclQbQ/s200/CIMG2973.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410453782182142306" border="0" /></a><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SxXLCRMYSKI/AAAAAAAACFY/5pL_BklKAWo/s1600/CIMG2968.JPG"><br /></a></div><div>One of the refs loved the posters and wanted to take pictures. </div></div>Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-79537126095504087062009-11-24T20:31:00.013-05:002009-11-24T21:25:36.992-05:00Paris Bits And PiecesHere are a few bits and pieces (10 of them) from our Paris trip:<br /><br />1. At MacDonald's in Paris you can get beer with your combos! They have cans of 1664. Also, the offer "Deluxe <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Potato</span>" Wedges! as an optional substitute to regular fires. Oh, and the <span class="gphoto-photocaption-caption">quarter <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">pounder</span> is called the Royal.</span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKuwO1qzI/AAAAAAAACD8/pOu0x4i60xE/s1600/CIMG2804.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 142px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKuwO1qzI/AAAAAAAACD8/pOu0x4i60xE/s200/CIMG2804.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407849788390878002" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKurazd4I/AAAAAAAACD0/oBGO1vC1eb8/s1600/CIMG2805.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 143px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKurazd4I/AAAAAAAACD0/oBGO1vC1eb8/s200/CIMG2805.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407849787098888066" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />2. At the modern art exhibit in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Pompidou</span> Centre we saw a braille edition of Playboy. I guess some people do read it for the articles.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKmCDsdBI/AAAAAAAACDc/Be9FKI9_bTg/s1600/CIMG2598.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 142px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKmCDsdBI/AAAAAAAACDc/Be9FKI9_bTg/s200/CIMG2598.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407849638557152274" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKvFGVpSI/AAAAAAAACEE/c9Aktgk-sj0/s1600/CIMG2599.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 142px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKvFGVpSI/AAAAAAAACEE/c9Aktgk-sj0/s200/CIMG2599.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407849793992369442" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />3. A painting of Zombie Jesus at the Louvre!<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKlzv5RZI/AAAAAAAACDU/5VYC_rJEpmc/s1600/CIMG2452.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKlzv5RZI/AAAAAAAACDU/5VYC_rJEpmc/s200/CIMG2452.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407849634716009874" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div>4. We walked past this <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">truly</span> ginormous door on the street.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKk6Dt1YI/AAAAAAAACC8/vKKuEUrfx6A/s1600/CIMG2391.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKk6Dt1YI/AAAAAAAACC8/vKKuEUrfx6A/s200/CIMG2391.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407849619229889922" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />5. There are a lot of carefully manicured trees everywhere. And a lot of them are shaped into cubes<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKlIyUQcI/AAAAAAAACDE/OETVoYQjrw8/s1600/CIMG2430.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 143px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKlIyUQcI/AAAAAAAACDE/OETVoYQjrw8/s200/CIMG2430.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407849623183442370" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyRLH2UsQI/AAAAAAAACE4/uD7M1fMvjjY/s1600/CIMG2243.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 142px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyRLH2UsQI/AAAAAAAACE4/uD7M1fMvjjY/s200/CIMG2243.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407856872836608258" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />6. Doorman dressed in RCMP uniform outside of <a href="http://www.lecrazyhorseparis.com/">Crazy Horse</a>.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKltgbwEI/AAAAAAAACDM/HR0dKT88Q74/s1600/CIMG2440.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKltgbwEI/AAAAAAAACDM/HR0dKT88Q74/s200/CIMG2440.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407849633040547906" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />7. OS Ad wars on the Metro!<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKbVtJdZI/AAAAAAAACC0/OlMl4C1sQz8/s1600/CIMG2171.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKbVtJdZI/AAAAAAAACC0/OlMl4C1sQz8/s200/CIMG2171.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407849454852732306" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">8. The courtesy computers at the hotels had these crazy, French, barely usable Mac keyboards that messed up my typing the whole week. It makes sense to have special characters be the number row default, requiring you to shift to get numbers. I mean, French uses a lot of special characters compared to English, and there's always the side number pad. But why no qwerty? Look where the 'M' is! And why is the period the shift of the semi-colon key?! Weirdness.<br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKagiZ6fI/AAAAAAAACCc/XSaTcPX-6ts/s1600/CIMG2144.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 142px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKagiZ6fI/AAAAAAAACCc/XSaTcPX-6ts/s200/CIMG2144.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407849440580594162" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKaLA3nCI/AAAAAAAACCU/OeFqJmA_daM/s1600/CIMG2143.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 142px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKaLA3nCI/AAAAAAAACCU/OeFqJmA_daM/s200/CIMG2143.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407849434802789410" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">9. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Softdrinks</span>. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Fanta</span> without bubbles?! And "Cowboy" and "Indian" flavoured <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Orangina</span>?<br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKa0dl21I/AAAAAAAACCk/6cSzRsJmvDI/s1600/CIMG2161.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 134px; height: 171px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKa0dl21I/AAAAAAAACCk/6cSzRsJmvDI/s200/CIMG2161.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407849445929114450" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKbN_3ZYI/AAAAAAAACCs/oTHD5aPU270/s1600/CIMG2163.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 231px; height: 171px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKbN_3ZYI/AAAAAAAACCs/oTHD5aPU270/s200/CIMG2163.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407849452783756674" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />10. Halloween is apparently not big there. But we brought costumes anyway. There was a club that offered free entry with a costume. French people get seriously drunk. There were girls passing out in the middle of the dance floor and a girl sitting on the floor of the washroom. Also, all up and down the streets we saw more and more evidence of seriously trashed young people. It was like spring break of Frosh week or something, except it was just a Saturday night in October! They party hard...harder than they can handle.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKuSpgXjI/AAAAAAAACDs/BoJygczZgyw/s1600/CIMG2942.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKuSpgXjI/AAAAAAAACDs/BoJygczZgyw/s200/CIMG2942.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407849780449664562" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKuFQOYII/AAAAAAAACDk/phhDfLlCeLE/s1600/CIMG2944.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKuFQOYII/AAAAAAAACDk/phhDfLlCeLE/s200/CIMG2944.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407849776853966978" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyK1qeEphI/AAAAAAAACEM/X3YL97I_SHA/s1600/CIMG2945.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 113px; height: 151px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyK1qeEphI/AAAAAAAACEM/X3YL97I_SHA/s200/CIMG2945.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407849907103245842" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyK10GRxxI/AAAAAAAACEU/h89s5jwQ9kw/s1600/CIMG2946.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 202px; height: 151px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyK10GRxxI/AAAAAAAACEU/h89s5jwQ9kw/s200/CIMG2946.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407849909687797522" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyK2JlhMII/AAAAAAAACEc/I3U3pQXAZPw/s1600/CIMG2947.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 202px; height: 151px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyK2JlhMII/AAAAAAAACEc/I3U3pQXAZPw/s200/CIMG2947.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407849915455975554" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyK2XXpawI/AAAAAAAACEk/G24ef_kc81o/s1600/CIMG2948.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 114px; height: 151px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyK2XXpawI/AAAAAAAACEk/G24ef_kc81o/s200/CIMG2948.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407849919155890946" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />There you have it.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyKuFQOYII/AAAAAAAACDk/phhDfLlCeLE/s1600/CIMG2944.JPG"></a>Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-84961952556059987202009-11-24T19:51:00.009-05:002009-11-24T20:30:18.021-05:00Posing at MuseumsWhile travelling around the various museums in Paris, we started to have a little fun with things. We really loved the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">L'Orangerie</span> Museum, which houses some of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Lilies">Monet's Water Lilies</a>. Beautiful!<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyBi5dERRI/AAAAAAAACAk/gulmUAJViiM/s1600/CIMG2627.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 142px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyBi5dERRI/AAAAAAAACAk/gulmUAJViiM/s200/CIMG2627.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407839689103394066" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyBhvqtPpI/AAAAAAAACAM/CVBK_3b1xcY/s1600/CIMG2618.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 142px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyBhvqtPpI/AAAAAAAACAM/CVBK_3b1xcY/s200/CIMG2618.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407839669296381586" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyBiQgihyI/AAAAAAAACAc/EUffXAMbBNg/s1600/CIMG2624.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 142px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyBiQgihyI/AAAAAAAACAc/EUffXAMbBNg/s200/CIMG2624.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407839678112106274" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyBh3yDRyI/AAAAAAAACAU/QkkoltVY9vM/s1600/CIMG2620.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 142px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyBh3yDRyI/AAAAAAAACAU/QkkoltVY9vM/s200/CIMG2620.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407839671474669346" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />Anyhow, my wife took a few photos of me with them and suggested I pose:<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyCRjuAilI/AAAAAAAACBE/O83Z7tugHHo/s1600/CIMG2621.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyCRjuAilI/AAAAAAAACBE/O83Z7tugHHo/s200/CIMG2621.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407840490722724434" border="0" /></a><br />She told me to be a frog.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyCSFDRg_I/AAAAAAAACBU/JeLTmYpKn1E/s1600/CIMG2626.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyCSFDRg_I/AAAAAAAACBU/JeLTmYpKn1E/s200/CIMG2626.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407840499670287346" border="0" /></a><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>She asked me to climb the tree.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyCR_f-k8I/AAAAAAAACBM/hIaECVapMa0/s1600/CIMG2625.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyCR_f-k8I/AAAAAAAACBM/hIaECVapMa0/s200/CIMG2625.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407840498180068290" border="0" /></a><br />She suggested I go for a swim.<br /></div><br />We may have gotten a few strange looks. Later we hit the Rodin Museum and decided to emulate a few of the sculptures:<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyGXFxjiYI/AAAAAAAACB0/2RaBs-XIc2g/s1600/CIMG2792.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 145px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyGXFxjiYI/AAAAAAAACB0/2RaBs-XIc2g/s200/CIMG2792.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407844983810263426" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyGWuPvgfI/AAAAAAAACBs/bAL2Jq7PriI/s1600/CIMG2790.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 145px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyGWuPvgfI/AAAAAAAACBs/bAL2Jq7PriI/s200/CIMG2790.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407844977494426098" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyGWE68AWI/AAAAAAAACBc/KWoQlBfgtZE/s1600/CIMG2787.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 128px; height: 171px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyGWE68AWI/AAAAAAAACBc/KWoQlBfgtZE/s200/CIMG2787.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407844966401311074" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyGWZ_URVI/AAAAAAAACBk/K-fVioj7C7g/s1600/CIMG2789.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 233px; height: 171px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyGWZ_URVI/AAAAAAAACBk/K-fVioj7C7g/s200/CIMG2789.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407844972056823122" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />We definitely got stares here. And a little bit of cut-eye. I guess people thought we were mocking the art, but we were connecting with it.<br /><br />And finally me inside the Arc <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">de</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Triomphe</span>:<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyGXSF4DCI/AAAAAAAACB8/XzIHi7b2izk/s1600/CIMG2807.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyGXSF4DCI/AAAAAAAACB8/XzIHi7b2izk/s200/CIMG2807.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407844987116719138" border="0" /></a><br /></div>Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-41620124114227452312009-11-24T18:23:00.010-05:002009-11-24T20:27:38.059-05:00One Month (Plus Honeymoon!)I've been married for one month today! People keep asking me how it's been and how different things are now. Well, it's been great, and it hasn't really been different. I mean, we've been living together for a few years now and planned to married quite a few years ago, so none of this is a shock or surprise. There are little differences like having a ring on my finger (never worn rings often before), but that doesn't really change our relationship. But, it's been amazing!<br /><br />The honeymoon in Paris was amazing. It was nice to relax together after the months of wedding planning coupled with work/school. We really enjoyed Paris. It's a beautiful city. The architecture is so nice, and such a difference from Toronto. I had read about the city style and layout, particularly Haussmann's redesign in my 19th century history class, so it was nice to actually see the sites.<br /><br />We stayed at Novotel Paris, which was only a 15 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower. It was near two Metro stations and we really had no issues getting anywhere we wanted quickly.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx82V-jcGI/AAAAAAAAB-c/gsxATuwC2_U/s1600/CIMG2152.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 143px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx82V-jcGI/AAAAAAAAB-c/gsxATuwC2_U/s200/CIMG2152.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407834525619417186" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx828buxPI/AAAAAAAAB-k/Kd5rpjlgGMw/s1600/CIMG2153.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 189px; height: 143px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx828buxPI/AAAAAAAAB-k/Kd5rpjlgGMw/s200/CIMG2153.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407834535942341874" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div>We had a few relaxing days, and a few jam-packed days. We packed A LOT into those days. Places we went:<br /><ul><li>Disneyland Paris</li><li>Eiffel Tower</li><li>Louvre</li><li>Arc de Triomphe</li><li>Crazy Horse</li><li>Notre Dame</li><li>Pompidou Centre</li><li>Basilique du Sacre-Coeur</li><li>Tuileries Garden</li><li>L'Orangerie Museum</li><li>Église de la Madeleine</li><li>Versailles </li><li>Musee d'Orsay</li><li>The War Museum</li><li>Rodin Museum</li><li>Salvador Dali Museum</li><li>Museum of Wine</li><li>And a Spongebob Squarepants art exhibit<br /></li></ul>Here are a couple of photos. I have a few albums online of all the rest (we took a lot of photos), so just pop me an email for the link if you'd like to see them.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx9AePLACI/AAAAAAAAB_M/FIS52vavYzI/s1600/CIMG2484.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx9AePLACI/AAAAAAAAB_M/FIS52vavYzI/s200/CIMG2484.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407834699635294242" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx9AALZt6I/AAAAAAAAB_E/LrfHWNjW7Us/s1600/CIMG2458.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 113px; height: 151px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx9AALZt6I/AAAAAAAAB_E/LrfHWNjW7Us/s200/CIMG2458.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407834691566417826" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx9Al49eXI/AAAAAAAAB_U/NJtAJnvnQvI/s1600/CIMG2553.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx9Al49eXI/AAAAAAAAB_U/NJtAJnvnQvI/s200/CIMG2553.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407834701689616754" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx9BFHL0pI/AAAAAAAAB_c/raBpoBatg40/s1600/CIMG2561.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 113px; height: 151px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx9BFHL0pI/AAAAAAAAB_c/raBpoBatg40/s200/CIMG2561.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407834710070776466" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx838gNy7I/AAAAAAAAB-8/pFPtqJl5Uo4/s1600/CIMG2411.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 142px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx838gNy7I/AAAAAAAAB-8/pFPtqJl5Uo4/s200/CIMG2411.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407834553141021618" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx9IqxpumI/AAAAAAAAB_0/IzI0khnGMhM/s1600/CIMG2835.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 142px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx9IqxpumI/AAAAAAAAB_0/IzI0khnGMhM/s200/CIMG2835.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407834840440093282" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx9BodfohI/AAAAAAAAB_k/FCJC1Lwj0_A/s1600/CIMG2659.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx9BodfohI/AAAAAAAAB_k/FCJC1Lwj0_A/s200/CIMG2659.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407834719559590418" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx9Ie9__dI/AAAAAAAAB_s/lWtJd5A7qgg/s1600/CIMG2663.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 114px; height: 151px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx9Ie9__dI/AAAAAAAAB_s/lWtJd5A7qgg/s200/CIMG2663.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407834837270658514" border="0" /></a><br /><span class="gphoto-photocaption-caption">The only way to pose in front of a huge golden gate.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyHfSI0UyI/AAAAAAAACCE/rj4ehN0UY2w/s1600/CIMG2631.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 142px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyHfSI0UyI/AAAAAAAACCE/rj4ehN0UY2w/s200/CIMG2631.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407846224079639330" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyHf8W5dbI/AAAAAAAACCM/fJXB6AX8sxM/s1600/CIMG2635.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 142px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SwyHf8W5dbI/AAAAAAAACCM/fJXB6AX8sxM/s200/CIMG2635.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407846235412985266" border="0" /></a><br />Church of Mary Magdalene is done up like a ancient Greek temple. Complete with pedimental sculpture. Jesus looks pretty fierce.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx83WIQBvI/AAAAAAAAB-0/FfWZN0-EpaE/s1600/CIMG2189.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 143px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx83WIQBvI/AAAAAAAAB-0/FfWZN0-EpaE/s200/CIMG2189.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407834542839957234" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx83Mm0IfI/AAAAAAAAB-s/bPxwhehp0I8/s1600/CIMG2184.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 143px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx83Mm0IfI/AAAAAAAAB-s/bPxwhehp0I8/s200/CIMG2184.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407834540283798002" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx9I5jyxXI/AAAAAAAAB_8/FUUGbRDZ4xg/s1600/CIMG2919.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 127px; height: 160px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx9I5jyxXI/AAAAAAAAB_8/FUUGbRDZ4xg/s200/CIMG2919.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407834844408497522" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx9JD8AYLI/AAAAAAAACAE/V9ZXSiCwfY4/s1600/CIMG2926.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 160px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/Swx9JD8AYLI/AAAAAAAACAE/V9ZXSiCwfY4/s200/CIMG2926.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407834847194407090" border="0" /></a><br /></div>Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-34208883860945660222009-11-16T13:15:00.005-05:002009-12-23T10:08:40.949-05:002009 Santa Claus ParadeThe Santa Claus parade was yesterday! <div><br /></div><div>This year I was given a Skunk costume. My wife was one of the Greeter Clowns in the section (and looked super cute doing it!). The skunks are a big hit with the crowds. Lots of spectators yell Pee-ew and such at us, and we have fun pretending to spray them and stuff. My co-skunks this year got really into it. Perhaps a little too much. They would run up to all the police officers along the route and dance around them and stuff, but they were a little over the top at times and some of the cops were not so amused. One of the skunks also nearly fell onto spectators while pretending to spray the crowd. </div><div><br /></div><div>Anyhow, thanks to the wonders of the internets (google and flickr!), I've found a couple <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeboon/4106848487/">pictures of the parade with us in them</a>. The first is a shot of the skunks and clowns. I'm the skunk on the far right, and my wife is the clown just behind (not sure why we're both looking at the ground). </div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SzIyQ9HXYKI/AAAAAAAACHg/hgxtFpo8oZo/s1600-h/4106848487_71beacd50c.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SzIyQ9HXYKI/AAAAAAAACHg/hgxtFpo8oZo/s320/4106848487_71beacd50c.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418448568544878754" border="0" /></a></div><div>The second is a <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcl_digitalcreations/4108361644/">very nice closeup of me</a>. </div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SzIyRYcC3UI/AAAAAAAACHo/4L-j5KGGhIk/s1600-h/4108361644_87a1450629.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SzIyRYcC3UI/AAAAAAAACHo/4L-j5KGGhIk/s320/4108361644_87a1450629.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418448575879372098" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SzIyQ9HXYKI/AAAAAAAACHg/hgxtFpo8oZo/s1600-h/4106848487_71beacd50c.jpg"><br /></a></div><div>Thanks to both these people who posted to flickr. It's always nice to see yourself in the parade.<br /><br />UPDATE: I found two more photos of me. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/25882807@N07/4108693768/">Skunks with attitude</a>! And <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/25882807@N07/4108693912/">this</a>.<br /></div>Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709821499830238463.post-51229617876316120742009-11-12T14:12:00.001-05:002009-11-12T14:59:15.838-05:00Toronto's 175thToronto is <a href="http://www.680news.com/news/headlines/more.jsp?content=20091112_115017_7024">releasing a stamp</a> to commemorate its 175 years as a city! They'll be given out for free at the Cavalcade of Lights and at Toronto Museums in late November and early December. I think this is pretty cool. The stamp also looks pretty awesome. I want one.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SvxeRRr4H7I/AAAAAAAAB9U/fIUgAz34ENE/s1600-h/175stamp_highres.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 317px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CKWKmc7v5PQ/SvxeRRr4H7I/AAAAAAAAB9U/fIUgAz34ENE/s400/175stamp_highres.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403297303835975602" border="0" /></a> Happy birthday Toronto!Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00570626384208813842noreply@blogger.com0