The Mriswith's Cave

I swear this almost made me pee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo-gGes6qig

Poor Planner - Meant to post this days ago, but crazy work schedule got in the way. I'll be seeing Transformers 2 today at the Scotiabank Theatre Toronto Imax for the 5:20 pm showing. Probably be doing something after for dinner. All who want to show up are welcome.

Bailer - In an attempt to save money, I think I'll be passing on Polaris this year. Sucky considering Michael Hogan is going to be there but possibly necessary. New cars and weddings are expensive.

Hero - So I saved a baby on Thursday. I was on the bench for that specific inning of our company softball team and I was entertaining the one year old kid in his stroller with my back to the field. Suddenly I hear someone call out "Sunil, look out!" I turned at saw everyone looking towards me. I looked around but couldn't see where the ball had gone so I assumed the worst and shielded the stroller. Good thing too. Based on where I got hit in the back, had I not been there, the kid would have taken it in the face. Got a free beer out of the deal.

Legend of the Seeker is put forth as the television adaptation of the novel series Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind. Were one who has read the books to watch the entire series as I have would understand what a truly generous statement that sentence is. I can only believe that the writers based the episodes on the book jacket given the divergence from pretty much anything that happened in the books. However, all of that aside, being different from the books is not a bad thing if the end product is good. I'm sure the title of my post indicates how I feel about the show. Seriously, the last episode ended with time travel! TIME TRAVEL!!! And finally to make matters worse, there will be a season 2.

The television adaptation of Song of Ice and Fire better not suck is all I can say.

That's my age now! Friday night outing and Saturday night party were each a blast. My friends are awesome. As was the Duck of Doom card cake (picture soon). Works well to counter the lows May has dished out to me like the car and Eleryth's placement woes.

What are people's long weekend plans? Mine have changed significantly putting me in Kingston. If people are around, we should Last Night on Earth. It accommodates 2 to 6 players so let me know.

Shocking but true, I'm posting for a second time in under a week. However, this is warranted. The Malibu is unusable because the timing belt is shot. This upsets me since my plan only required the car to make it another year and a bit. Once Eleryth was graduated, we would know where we were going to live. If it was nearby, then I could purchase our next vehicle here. If it was far away, I would wait until I moved out there before purchasing a vehicle.

Instead I'm left with the following options:

1. Pay the $1500 to replace the belt.
2. Buy a dirt cheap beater car.
3. Invest in a good used car.
4. Snap and buy a brand new car.
5. Bus pass for a year.

The problem with solution 1 is that the price above does not include other parts of the engine that may have been damaged because of the timing belt going. Solutions 3 and 4 will require a hard decision in the case that we do end up far away. And while solutions 2 and 5 are cheap, they would probably be detrimental to my mental health.

Anyone out there have an opinion?

Not sure when it happened but I've managed to lose pretty much all sense of time. Each day seems to blur into the next. As a result, I only recently really realized that my birthday is in a week and a half (and that I should really do my taxes). Anyway, with the 13th being a Wednesday and the weekend following it being the long weekend, next weekend becomes the most viable time. Thus what little semblance of a plan I have is:

• Friday, May 8: go to some places in downtown Kingston and get some drink on with whoever is around.
• Saturday, May 9: have people over to my apartment around 7:00 in standard fashion for movies and video games.

Yes, I realize these plans are weak and late but what can you do. I'm too used to Erica taking care of things like this. Let me know if you're interested in coming to either or both. If you'd like to crash at my place, I have the space so there's no problem there.

So I returned from Japan and was given little time to rest before going off to Brampton to look at possible reception venues with my dad. Was that ever fun. Then it was back to work for one day before heading back to Toronto for four days of Java programming training. I'm only now getting back into a normal routine and cleaning up stuff that should have been taken care of long ago (like the dead poinsettia and Christmas tree).

Also, Watchmen comes out Friday. The trailers really make me want to see it in an IMAX. This would require visiting the GTA though which might be a far drive for just a movie. But it would awesome.

( 2008 Questionnaire )

( 2009 Resolutions )

List the first ten series that come to mind. Your friends will comment with the character from each series that they think resemble the most. (Remember this is who I'm most like, NOT who my favorite is) You don't have to explain why I'm that character either.

1. Heroes
2. Rome
3. Xmen
4. Naruto
5. Song of Ice and Fire
6. Arrested Development
7. Family Guy
8. Firefly/Serenity
9. Star Wars
10. Justice League

And apparently...

George R.R. Martin has a LiveJournal! (I assume it's legit because it's linked from his official website)

Wow. The inconsistencies so far bother me of course, but I've always taken them in stride. The last episode have taken it to a whole new level.

In the book, when Kahlan's mother died, her father killed himself. She is then raised by the Confessors and Wizards of Ayndindril.

In the show, when Kahlan's mother died, her father kidnaps this children and forces them through the threat of violence to use their powers on people. After an unspecified amount of time, Kahlan is rescued from her father and left to be raised with the Sisters of the Light!

In the book, the Sisters of the Light live in the Palace of Prophets in the Old World which is separated from the New World with magical barrier.

In the show, the Sisters of the Light live in a valley protected from ALL evil by wall that moves when you say the command word. It's a happy place and no one wears collars.

This episode pretty much make all of the major plot events of the second book impossible. I'll for making up stuff to fill out an episode, but don't take things that exist in the book and completely change who they are.

I really hope the Song of Ice and Fire series does a better job. Assuming the pilot gets picked up.
http://www.cinemablend.com/television/HBO-Orders-Song-Of-Ice-and-Fire-Pilot-13371.html

Is anyone coming over Sunday? I've had zero feedback. Let me know please.

Didn't actually get to finish a match today. Played four games of one match which requires a final game to determine the winner and started another with Kibosh, but we only got one game in (which he won). Not sure when my next chance to play squash will be.

As of 11:48 AM EST, I'm a Sun Certified Programmer of the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition 6.0! Booyah! Granted, I only exceeded the passing mark by 5%, but the way I see it, it's not like I'm trying to get on the honour roll. The pass is all any employer will ever care about. Now the plan is get another one under my belt before my performance review in February. If I do, I'm guaranteed an extra raise on top of whatever performance based raise I would be getting.

The squash streak has extended to three days with last night's defeat of Kibosh. He wants a rematch after work tonight. Will our hero prevail yet again? Tune in next time!

Day 2 of squash winning streak. Take that lady who probably has a decade or more on me! Both wins were in game five (a match is best of five games) so the new goal is to win in four.

And it looks like my current work phone, the 7100i, will be replaced with a Blackberry Storm. Yay touchscreen!

With my Java test on Thursday, I figure a good way to unwind would be to have people over Sunday to for games. If you're in Kingston on Sunday and feel like playing Munchkin or whatever, let me know.

Also, 1 episode of Legend of the Seeker = 1 fact from Wizard's First Rule preceeded by a rehashed episode of Hercules plus a number of gross inconsistencies with Wizard's First Rule. I think it's great that the Mother Confessor, the ultimate authority in the Midlands, capable of dethroning kings, one of the most hunted women by the bad guy, is taking the time out of her busy schedule to resolve such pressing problems as which of two hunters should get to keep the antlers from a deer they killed!

Took the battery back to Costco and they were nice enough to honour the warranty even though the battery was purchased by Erica and I didn't have her card. The annoying bit is that instead of giving me a replacement, they gave me a refund for the price paid and said I had to go buy a new one. This would be fine except for the fact that the price of the battery went up $20 since last year and I ended up having to pay the difference. Don't get me wrong, $20 is a small price to pay to have a working vehicle again but come on.

In other news, the big move was today. The developers in the IT group are now in the new office space one block away on our temporary tables. Of the four of us, I'm the only one not still on probation so that makes me the guy in charge. :)

So the car battery is dead again. I can't recall exactly when it died last but I do remember it getting a brand new battery and alternator when it did. Considering the season, I have way better things to spend my money on than that money pit of a car.

Does anyone know what could be causing the car to eat batteries? I know I didn't leave the lights on because I checked when I was done there.

Stupid car.

Naruto: Asuma-sensei NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Smallville: Finishing the seven seasons I downloaded is probably the closest I'll come to knowing what kicking a drug addiction is like. I don't know if I liked the show but I was compelled to finish it.

Winter vacation: Want to do something/go somewhere but having trouble figuring out what.

Anyway, back to studying for my Java certification test.