Wednesday, February 28, 2007

DONE DONE DONE

UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE.

go to

riskyventure.blogspot.com

the board is done, thats right DONE.

check it out, make sure to read it all for a full explination

Monday, February 26, 2007

the risk project advances

I have created a new blog...dont worry this is still my main residence.

the blog i am talking about deals entirely on my giant risk board project mentioned earlier.

This was not my idea, that honour goes to co-worker.

so check it out and if you could be so kind, spread the word, tell your freinds, the more people that know about it, the more possibilities of acctually getting it done.

let me know what you think.

http://www.riskyventure.blogspot.com/

update to THIS blog coming soon.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

YAY Pictures, meet my friend

hey, now that i can acctually post pictures to my blog i am going to re-share my friends music page. Please visit her myspace, have a listen and if you like what you hear head over to CDbaby and buy a copy of her cd.


This is my friend.

This is her album cover
This is her myspace


You can buy her Cd Here

and on Itunes.
Please Check it out.
MORE PICTURES TO COME

The PLAN


So i have a new current obsesion.


Because of the game of risk from the weekend, i have decided to go big.
Near the end of the game my girlfriends brother had the 2 smallest countries, iceland and great britain. he also had like 40+ armies on those two places. obviously there was not enough room.


So as we were sitting there, playing risk on my pool table i got to thinking. wouldnt it be great to have a pool table sized risk board?...and the wheels began to turn.
in the last 4 days that idea has evolved a couple of times. The original idea involved a large piece of paper, a overhead projector and transparency paper, and lots of time drawing the map on the wall.
It was decided that, that would take FAR to long and way to much work. it would be much easier to get it profesionally printed. it would also be able to be put on a more durable material, and there-for prevent it from getting wrecked.
the idea has also evolved to include; large dice and little push sticks to move the armies around, like the old world war II era military campaigne rooms....like this one from Uxbridge.

(my first blog, picture, it acctually worked, wholly crap)

picture it, 6 people gathered around a 7x3 foot map of the world, pushing thier armies around in a massive game of risk. perosnally i think it is a wonderfull idea, and most that i have told about it agree.

now the biggest problem comes down to cost.

aside from the time involed in making it on my own the overhead projector version would cost about 30 bucks (for the transperancy sheets and the paper) i think...and thats before trying to get it laminated to protect it, and not even counting all the differant colours of markers or paints i would need....and thats just for the map.

I have no idea how much the professionaly printed version will cost (but i have sent away for an estimate) but it would be faster and MUCH easier and higher quality. so i broke it down a little bit to make comparisons to see how much would be worth spending on it.

50-100 dollars for a concerts =2.5 hours of entertainment

$10.50 plus snacks for 1.5 hours of movie

average new board game costs 30-60 dollars (scene it, dvd trivial pursuit, etc)

tim hortons coffee once a day for a month = about 50 bucks a month.

so really, if i were to play 5 games, each averageing 4 hours, thats 20 hours., if it was a 100 dollar map, that would be like 5 dollars an hour. and the more games i play (which i would plan on) the more cost effective it would become.

the dice, and the sticks could be added to the game over time. the most important part is the map.

I also thought about turning the game into a semi-regular gathering, have it like a poker tournament. say a $10 entry fee. half goes to food and prizes, the other half goes into the pot, which the winner gets to keep. we could even have a trophy that gets passed around. i think that would be very cool.

So i will look into it/work on it over the next little while, i'll let you know if it happens,

in the mean time....UNICORNS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5im0Ssyyus

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

A game of Risk

I love Risk and so rarely get to play, somthing i intend on changing, especially after this weekend.

My girlfriend and her brother came to visit on Sunday. We didnt do to much, sat around, played video games ( i now love guitar hero, but suck at it).

Sunday night we decided to play a game of risk. there was only 3 of us but it was a really great game. noone was eliminated really fast, it was fairly evenly matched throughout.

My girlfriend ended up winning, by the last turn it was obvious that she was going to, but i thought i could prolong it a little while....but man did the dice work against me.

with no hint of exageration at all. there were AT LEAST 50-60 rolls of the dice involved in her final attack every single one of them had at least one 5....and thats at least. i would say 10 of the rolls were tripple 5's, there were multiple 6's, but ALWAYS one 5.

to give you an idea of just how badly she kicked my ass with those dice. at one point she was attacking my Ural from her Afganistan. i had about 20 armies, she had 26...she took Ural with 24 armies...thats right she destroyed my 20 and only lost 2. and this trend continued til she took close to 14 country's.
in the end, the world was over run with soldiers dressed in bright pink fatigues.

It was fun, i loved it and am much looking forward to another game. hopefully with more people.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Make Love the Old Spice way

I've been waiting for this for a while and its now online so i have to link to it, bruce campbell is so awsome..pretty sure this is basically playing on his book "make love the bruce campbell way" hence the title.

pure gold

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Af1OxkFOK18

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Freak On Amy Lee(sh)

just found this, new it was coming, and was looking forward to it so here it is

Amy Lee from Evanescence with the guys from Korn, performing Freak on a Leash unplugged on MTV

Words...failing...me.....awsome

http://youtube.com/watch?v=on-lvCQONxc

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

i LOVE music videos

After yesterdays post i got thinking about great music videos and how much i love music videos. I have a large collection of videos downloaded from many differant era's and bands plus i have a number of bands music videos dvd's. (still think Bryan Adams needs to put one out)

Music video is such a great art form if it is done right. but like all art, there is alot of crap out there too.

some of my fave videos include:

(those who know me may wonder about the lack of Queen videos, i simply cant pick which ones i would want to share...so just bounce over to youtube and watch them all.)


an amazing cover, better than the original (though i like it too) and very moving to think about the conext in JC's life.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go

its just dark and evil and cool
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5ycZLGtYscc

What got me into the band in the first place.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q83rUJoBMOg

a double shot, the original and the cover
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gBdUz_IJ4VA (from the much missed Spitting image)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9KW8DRSvEoQ (created by Todd Mcfarlane)

All done in just one take.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KQonPfZpRLY

this man is a genious, all his videos are great, this one parodies the original best.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=PPimiYS4qXM

famous banned video (but not famous enough) (i have been informed that i should put a NSFW warning for this because near the very end there is a small clip of some bare boobies)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JPm997UbrBs

SO LONG - and he plays three parts, i wont link any of his others, but they are all great.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=UwOA8H5Vaak


okay i could keep going and in fact have many more to post,but if i dont stop now i never will, i will post more eventually. If you sat here and watched all of these i have just succesfully wasted around an hour and 15 minutes of your time, not counting the time it took to load and for you to read this. so get back to work.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

yellow head bobbing cat in office with techno music?

Behold what as a young'n was as close to my favorite music video in the days before Much music and the crap that it breeds.

there be super villains, comic books, animated characters, cheesy acting (though i dont remeber that from as a kid) and people covered in goop
we had this recorded for a long time and i was very upset when the tape wore out/got erased

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YkYkUYehDVQ

and in a flash of brialliance i remebered the name of a song with a super cool, yet messed up music video that when trying to describe it, most people think i am really nuts.

watch this

http://youtube.com/watch?v=RNzgpAyMH_A

and YOU attempt to describe it:...yellow head bobbing cat in office with techno music? my point exactly.

Monday, February 05, 2007

so things DID acctually get better on february second and for the weekend.

First thing Friday morning i found my long M.I.A remote care starter.

At lunch on friday a coworker walked into the office with a new Nintendo Wii system.

i asked where he got it, called the store, they had one left, wouldnt hold it, so i went on lunch drove and managed to buy the last one. its super coool, yeah it cost a good chunk of change, but i was not expecting to get it untill april ish, so thats sweet. its alot of fun.

saturday i just sat around the house and relaxed. then saturday night went to a chapters employee reunion movie night...where in 7 hours we only watched one movie. (*more on that later) we just sat around, ate snacks and chatted about everything, movies, music, work, chapters, customers, employees, etc.

at midnight a couple people left, then CFG, the host and myself stayed up for another 2 hours shooting the proverbial shit.

sunday was another day of notthing, playing video games (new and old), watching TV (macGyver anyone?)

So it was a good relaxed weekend, which i really needed.


as for the movie. it led toi a round about remeberance of the best musical advice, (stick with me here)

we watched Monty Pythons Quest for the holy grail. I like many people love this movie. its quirky, its stuipid, its strange, its funny and random.

but i have always had a peeve with it.

I find the first half is deffinetly the better part of the movie. i think the black knight should have been later in the movie, cause it is my highlight.

however, the ending of the movie has always pissed me off. now i KNOW that its supposed to be funny, the fact that it doesnt end because the king gets arrested by modern time police.

but i always felt ripped off, funny sort of, but i rarely make it to the end of the movie due to despising the ending. i realize the budget for this kind of movie is low but seriously....RIPPED OFF...

back to the reminder, i have always prefered the genious but much forgotton "Life of Brian"
Monty Pythons take on a mesia type character that is just the victim of bad circumstances.
and it has the best ending ever ...any movie that ends with the impending death of the hero to a song called Always look on the Bright side of life, gets an A+ in my school.

and its somthing that i try to live by, and everyone should, but it can be hard sometime,s especially when you have a day like i did on thursday.

for those who have not seen the movie, or could just use a good pick me up. you can view the ending Here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=pCWw6W5NEa8

or just read the lyrics

Here:

http://www.geocities.com/fang_club/Bright_side_of_life.html


"always look on the bright side of life (whistle)"

Friday, February 02, 2007

Strange Compulsions

Okay, so i have some hobbies, some might say more than the average person and they are certainly differant from the average person.

But none of them are FULL TIME hobbies (except reading, listening to music, watching movies and playiong video games)

that is of course unless you group them all together into one mass hobbie

basically

I like to learn to do things others can't.

To date i have taught myself (with some assitance) to

juggle: just regular jugging, notthing fancy, but give me three fairly balanced objects and i can do it.

Contact juggle: this one is a lot less known. have you ever seen Labyrinth? if you havnt whats wrong with you i should slap you with a cod. anyway, at the begining of the movie when david bowie first arrives and offers Sarah a crystal, he does this cool thing where he rolls it along his hands...anyway, yeah i can do that. its pretty sweet

Unicycle: For some reason i always wanted to be able to do this, so a couple years ago i finally got one and now i can ride it.

juggle whilst on said unicycle: this is still very much a new thing, i can do it going only in a straight line and only for a short period...but i can do it.

Rubik's Cube: Back in 2003 i taught myself to solve the rubik's cube. and i can solve it in under 2 minthes 99% of the time.

Tear a Phone Book in Half: This is my most recent endevor and i am pleased to say i am now able to tear HALF of a full sized red deer phone book in half (tear it along the spine, now you have 2 to practice with)

All of these things that I am able to do, i am able to do better than most of the population, but i am by no means GREAT at all of them. basically Jack of all trades, master of none...but its still pretty cool.

things i want to be able to do in the future include: juggling clubs, juggling 5 balls, play guitar/bass, shoot a bow and arrow with acuracy, and improve on my skills in all the other things in this list.

If you have any suggestions of things to learn, let me know and i will consider the attempt.







the craptastic saga that was February 1st continues.

So you've all read the story about my adventures in the ditch.

after i was removed from the ditch i drove approxzimetly 20 more kilometeres to work. then at lunchy i drove to the far north end of red deer to pay for the most expensive 5 feet of my life. and then drove back to work.

i finished out the rest of my crappy work day...and got into my car to go home, relax, then go to the super fun happy time that is the writers workshop with 2 coworkers and the "AW teacher" who is lots of fun, and likly some other familier faces.

HOWEVER

not 2 blocks south of the office...SOMETHING WAS WRONG.

So i pull over at the next available place. get out hey look at that a flat tire and i just drove 3 blocks on my rim...oh what to do..pull out the spare, jack up the car, taker er off, put on the spare...it wont go on this way so it must go that way (oh and by the by..IT WAS COLD ON THE SNOW)

tack the jack down, throw the flat in the trunk..try driving, nope not right....tighten spare, try driving...BAD noises. Run to store (on foot) call some peeps, call my mom. she just got home, wait 30 minutes for her to arive.

She takes one look at it and says..."its on backwards" i say, "it wont go the other way"
we jack it up, take it off, turn it around, sure enough wont go that way. try a few times, nope, try my moms spare, nope not working either. call mechanic friend, says it has to go that way but it wont.

what to do? put it on backwards and drive really slowly to canadian tire.

mechanic takes one look..."wholly crap, thats not right, you have it on backwards."

ask them to take a look at old tire, see if i can avoid buying a new one. 1.5 hours'ish later and its fixed and on thier. Mechanic says, nope no way that spare can go on there.

pay

got to mc-d's for food, cause really hungry..wiat for long time depsite being close to only people in the place. then go home..finally arrive at 9:00.

missed writeres work shop and just want to curl up in my bed and avoid the world for the next month....

if Today (the 2nd) isnt better? i just may do that.

so yeah, February is off to a GREAT start.

aside from car troubles, work has been hell. and everyone is saying i look really tired. i noticed the black bags under my eyes, but i am sleeping enough (i think)

My mother asked if somthing is bother me, but i told her that as far as i know there isnt. but who knows right? anyway it loks like i havent slept in days or i got punched in both eyes. so what ever.

I am officially doing notthing that involves work in any way this weekend.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

So, on my way to work today....I SPENT A HOUR IN THE DITCH

So my day has been rather exciting thus far

wanna hear the story? Okay


So I am driving to work on the highway. I am almost at gasoline alley, just at the turn actually, I had already passed a few vehicles in the ditch from last night.

So am I am coming around the corner I can see two sets of police lights from other more recent accidents. One on the south bound side so I don’t have to worry about it, the other in the left hand lane on the north bound. so I start to slow down...the truck beside me slams on his brakes to slow down....or something and starts to swerve....towards me. So I have to try to avoid him, I loose control on the ice because we were also going around the corner. And I spun out and ended up in the ditch, YAAAAAY....don’t worry I was perfectly fine, didn’t even bump around at all.

so I get out of my car, take a look, no damage...except a mud flap came off. But I am on 3 wheels so there is NO way I am going anywhere.

So I walk a little to a police car up ahead of me, he says a tow truck is on the way for the vehicle up there, so maybe they can just quickly pop me out first,

So I sit in my car waiting, facing south. I turn around din my seat to see if the tow truck has arrived yet (after a while) when I turn back, to face front, all of a sudden there is another vehicle on its side about 100 feet south of me...I missed it...it had happened in about 7 seconds.

Another car crashes into the ditch in front of my eyes, but I think they did it on purpose to help the other people. While I am sitting there a few police cars, ambulance and a fire truck go to the south accident.

Tow truck shows up, pulls the guy out behind me (flips the vehicle over first), mean while traffic is building up because of the new accident,

Finally a tow truck stops and pulls me out. All he had to do was pull me like 5 feet and I think it is going to cost me 75 bucks

of course I am now on the south bound highway, so I have to wait for my windows to defrost all over again, then merge with the backed up traffic, then drive all the way to the pen hold overpass, and then I drove to pen hold and went into the city that way...needless to say I was late this morning


The important thing is I am okay and there is not really any damage to my car, but fuck.

So yeah my was great morning, how was yours


Yay writing worksahop tonight, i really need to do somthing fun...except for my holiday (week off) mots of January has really REALLY sucked