It's good to put up new wallpaper every once in a while....

Seriously, best Halle Berry pic ever!

Man, I'm looking forward to the pick me up I get every day when I sit down to work at my computer.

Pick me up? Sorry 'bout that...

Presenting

I kinda-sorta-kinda have my schedule now for next semester, which doesn't start until early April. Most likely, of course, the schedule we get just prior to the beginning of the semester in April will be completely different than the one I saw on Tuesday. I don't have my official schedule yet because of an issue with my student loans for April.

I haven't applied for it yet.

I figure I still have 6-7 weeks and they only take a few days to process, but these guys at the school tend to panic about it and they make you do it in advance so they know they're getting their money ASAP.

Making me wait in line for 45 minutes to give me that information is not a good thing either. Wasn't my only bad news of the week, though. I also found out on Monday that the big presentation I'd been told a week earlier was "at the end of the semester" is actually on Tuesday, February 21. That's a whole month before the semester ends...

Oh, and out of everyone in my program... I'm going first. Yep, #1 of 25 people. I get to present to a couple Deans, a number of faculty and a few representatives in the industry and prove that I have enough potential to continue in the program and show promise towards graduating in September.

If only I had another month...

I've set up a shortish powerpoint presentation where I go into details about me, my work and what my plans are after graduating. I don't feel like I have much, but then I think about my "classmates" and realize I'm much better off than most of them. Most don't even have all their previous projects anymore. Not only do I have those, but I have some extras kicking around as well. I made some corrections based on the critiques I got from the instructors.

The other information tidbit I discovered this past week was what happens after we do our presentations. The Deans and faculty sit down and discuss each of us and where they see us fitting in to a specific course that starts next semester and finishes when we graduate in September. We'll all be in the same class together for the 6-month spread. Essentially, they split us into 2 groups: the "have's" and "have-not's," ensuring that all the "have's" look extremely good and build off one another and the "have-not's" may not cope so well. Basically, it's a 6-month group project. And right now I'm scared silly that one of the people in the meeting will look at my work and say "NOT" and them I'm screwed.

Being in the "have-not's" means that my idea will be 99% likely to be accepted and I'll essentially lead the class for 6 months. I'll lead 10-15 losers who don't want to do anything and will slack off at every opportunity, leaving me to either do the work myself or just get stressed beyond reason because no one else is interested in graduating and getting a career out of what we're doing.

But these people (the Deans and faculty) aren't used to someone with a college education and an ability to argue a point home. You want me in the have-nots? Well, get ready for an absolute shit-kicking because it won't happen. I'm in the Have's because I have the experience to pull their asses out of the fire when (not if) they get into the thick of it.

It's just like what people hated about me at my last job. No, I wasn't trying to make people look bad because I could anticipate where people would fail. I was just planning in advance so if someone dropped the ball, we could move on without too much interruption. Having 10-15 people who could potentially drop the ball and lose it along the way is not going to mesh well with my personality. Put me with 10-15 people who could lose the ball and see others be prepared to pick it up and run with it.... that's where I want to be.

And dammit, I'll be fighting for that on Tuesday afternoon.

Desperately needing that digital camera...

Okay, dammit. Enough's enough.

I need a damn digital camera ASAP. There are way too many things happening that become "photo moments" that I've now friggin' missed!

1. The murder of 2000+ crows that flies over the campus every Wednesday at 5 --except last Wednesday when I had borrowed a friggin' camera!
2. The men at work... lying down on the grass rubbing a dog's belly.
3. The old lady with the big ass red feathered hat.
4. My carpool buddy hitting his head --again.
5. My sign saying "I want sausage on my pizza!"
6. THIS on my regular commute. Yeah, Great Big Sea's (Mad, you don't know 'em most likely, but I think you'd like 'em) tour bus crashed on my regular commute route.

And I STILL don't have that friggin' camera!!!

Sports Shorts

I'm keeping this post short because I'm... not in a thinking mood at the moment.

Perfect time for blogging, eh?

Anyway, as is tradition, the Olympics are on and taking up a good chunk of my time. No evening news. I even skipped 2 Canucks hockey games. All in order to cheer for my country. But I have a few problems:

1. I don't care if the Canadian women's hockey team has out-scored their opponents 28-0. They have standings based on a goal differential (goal for vs. goals against), so they need to obliterate their competition before facing their biggest opponent: Team USA. After 2 games, I'm already looking forward to next Sunday's gold medal final.
2. And from there, let's talk gold medals. 2 years ago, 4 years ago, 6 years ago, even 8 years ago, you would've heard me talk all about how important it is for Canadian athletes to just "show up." Y'know, show up and have fun and represent their country to the best of their abilities. Well, with the winter olympics being a better Canadian showing than the summer games ever are, AND couple with the 2010 games right here in Vancouver, I've changed my tune a bit with the current winter games in Turin/Torino.
I want to see Canadians win and defend those titles in 2010.
But I'm not seeing it happen so far. A gold medal favorite in speed skating wins a bronze. A gold medal favorite in cross country skiing makes the "top 10." The best a Canadian snowboarder can do in the half-pipe is 11th. Snowboarding! Half the frickin' country snowboards!! (the other half skis, but we haven't gotten to those sports yet). Otherwise, Canadians are placing in the top 40 or 50 and sometimes top 20. I don't want to see that this time around. Nagano in '98? Fine. Salt Lake City in '02? Alright, I guess. Torino in '06? No way. Vancouver in 2010? How big a failure will these games be if Canadians can't even place in some events?

Seriously. Look at the Australians in 2000 in Sydney. They rocked! Look at Los Angeles in 1984. Hello? Did another country besides the U.S. even win a medal that year?

OK, that's my rants.

Yes, I'm well aware that we're maybe 30 minutes from Day #3.

BUT.

Canada has 2 medals out of 36 handed out so far. Not. Good. Enough. Not this time around.

Blocked!

OK, some of the people on my MSN are really getting annoying. Within 30 seconds of logging in tonight (the first time all weekend, I might add), I had 2 classmates hounding me for information.

Shaddup already!

Seriously, am I the only guy who knows how to keep a schedule?

What's worse is they're asking for info on the homework for the class I missed due to illness last week. Which means: They're of no help to me.

It's difficult to go through a hefty list of people and start blocking them all. So, I do the next best thing:

I log off.

Sorry for not continuing to talk there, Dreama ;)

Revenge Part II - (um) Son of Revenge

So, I had my deposition on Friday last week. Spent 90 minutes telling a few people about how incompetent Drama Queen was when we worked in the same department. And I did make a list beforehand of the various "effed-up" things she had done when we did work together.

So much fun bringing up those memories.

Anyways, it's done and I've done my bit. I was asked if I felt hostile towards her because she had me fired. My answer was 'NO,' because I've never thought of it that way. she had nothing to do with my leaving and I'd brought along a letter from the VP in human resources accepting my resignation. And, I stated, if she had claimed to be the reason behind my so-called 'firing,' then she'd have a lot to answer for with other people in the office who knew I submitted a resignation! kind of... incompetent, wouldn't you say?

Hostile. Like I think anything of her at all.

To top off the week, my old boss (from Hell!) had his name in the newspaper the other day. After an event had occurred at work, his name was being dragged through the mud (LOL) and someone wrote a letter to the editor claiming maybe it was time for him to leave his job.

Not too many people get to see their ex-boss' name written in a newspaper unless something bad has happened. Well, this is bad, but not bad enough for him to be fired.

But glad someone out there thinks it!

Hehe.

Just Call Me "Gentle Love Master"

Oh yeah, baby...

The Gentleman Deliberate Gentle Love Master (DGLMm) Steady & mature. You are The Gentleman. For anyone looking for an even-keeled, considerate lover, you're their man. You're sophisticated. You know what you want both in a relationship and outside of it. You have a substantial romantic side, and you're experienced enough sexually to handle yourself in that arena, too. Your future relationships will be long-lasting; you're classic "marrying material," a prize in the eyes of many. It's possible that behind it all, you're a bit of a male slut. Your best friends know that in relationships you're fundamentally sex-driven. You're a safe, reliable guy, who does get laid. In a lot of ways, you're like a well-worn, comfortable pair of socks. Did you ever jack off into one of those? All the time. Your exact opposite: The Last Man on Earth Random Brutal Sex Dreamer Your ideal mate is NOT a nut-job. She is giving and loving, like you, but also experienced. Avoid the The Battleaxe at all fucking costs. CONSIDER: The Maid of Honor, someone just like you. Link: The 32-Type Dating Test by OkCupid - Free Online Dating

Caution Ahead: BARF..

Seriously, that's what was on the road warning sign coming home today.

It was supposed to say 'BARE' (although only in the town we were passing through would anyone need caution for BARE roads), but a couple of the bulbs were out in the bottom of the 'E' and it looked like an 'F' instead.

BARF ahead.

Well, damn, if it didn't turn out to be true. My son & daughter are both sick and throwing up left and right. They're both sleeping off another round of vomit as I type this, but the barf caution on the highway actually prepared me for the plethora of puke that has turned my "restful evening" in queasy quality time with my kids.

I hate the smell of vomit. And I'm getting a double-dose of it tonight!

I warned you in the title there'd be barf ahead.

The Handyman Can

I once nearly broke my nose while splitting firewood.

I know, it sounds stupid, but it was even more stupid to:
a) be there.
b) be on the receiving end of the blow.

I didn't break my nose, though, but it bled profusely and I'm pretty sure I dinged up the cartilage a bit. What happened was I was using a splitter on a piece of wood. The splitter gets whacked by a a sledge hammer and wedges down and through the piece of wood, splitting it into smaller, more manageable pieces for my woodstove. Only this time the splitter got stuck part way down. Now I can't remember (duh. got hit in the face by a flying log) exactly what happened next, but I think I leaned the wood against another log and whacked the splitter from the side. Only when I did that, the piece literally exploded and a rather large piece flew up and hit me in the face.

Fortunately, my neighbours missed this little incident, but they've been witness to enough of my accidents that I'm sure when they see me walk outside they pull out their lawnchairs and sit for a spell for cheap entertainment.

Wanna know what I mean?

*I once broke the sideview mirror on my car... with my forehead.

It was the day of my high school reunion and I was preoccupied with the event and was quickly cleaning the lines down the side of my car when... WHAMMO! I ran straight into the mirror. I cracked the mirror, but only scratched up my forehead, making it look like I should still be using Oxyclean to clear up the skin.

*I lost the wheel to my lawnmower... while mowing the lawn.

Sure, it was an old lawnmower, so it's only logical that the wheel would fall off eventually. It was just too bad it happened as I was pushing the mower. Because I kept pushing after the wheel fell off and the dirt started spraying in a 10-foot-high arc across my yard.

*I've accidently set my lawnmower on fire... on 3 seperate occasions.

Let this be a lesson to you. Just because the gas is in the tank, if you flip the lawnmower on its' side to clean out clumped, wet grass, then it's going to leak and get into the engine. And the next time you start it up... yeah, it catches on fire.

*I nearly cut the tip of my right index finger off... while putting together a bathroom cabinet.

Yep, you know the most important tool to use when making a cabinet is a knife. The rubbery-plastic trim was difficult to cut because it moved under the pressure of the knife. So, me being the smart one, I put my finger on the other side of the trim. That knife went through the trim like butter! And my poor finger on the other side? Let's just say the blade was in so deep I actually had to force it back out of my finger.

OK, I'm pretty sure that's everything. There's probably a few more that I've forgotten about, but I think this sums up my skills as a handyman.

Stop laughing.

Almost Weepy

I've never been a big fan of 'a capella' music, but The Blanks performed 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' Tuesday on one of the episodes of Scrubs. It was based on the rendition of Israel Kamakawiwo'ole who did an amazingly beautiful job of singing the song before he died.

Yeah, I might've heard his music once before he died 10 years ago, but something about the way he sang this one, to me, felt like he knew the afterlife would treat him very well indeed.If you get a chance to hear it, I'm sure you'll agree --and it may pull you out of a funk if you're in it.

I like getting out of funks. And, yeah, it choked me up.

"When I was a fetus, I loved dill pickle ice cream"

[the post below is transcribed from an article that appeared in the Vancouver Province newspaper on January 22, 2006, written by Dr. Dave Hepburn. I appreciate his approach to the whole abortion issue and thought I'd share it here. Please note: I am not sharing my personal opinion on abortion, nor do I want to hear anyone else's. It's your opinion and matters to you. I DON'T CARE.]

"I recently attended a conference of the Canadian Physicians for Life because... well I'm Canadian, I enjoy Life and I play a Physician on Thursdays between 9 and 11.

I was impressed with the dignity, concern and thoughtfulness that was evident at the conference, at least prior to my arrival.

For some doctors, the issue of abortion is simple. Their response to this ethical dilemma is to send every girl who believes she wants an abortion to the local abortionist and let them work it out. Easy case. Others wrestle with each case individually and set up a counselling process. Others still are uncomfortable being involved in the abortion process for any reason other than the most dire. It is in that latter pool that I have come to swim and possibly drown.

Given the back and forth form assorted lobby groups, it may be difficult to develop an informed opinion on this sensitive issue but, given the unexpectedness with which your opinion may be required, it is important that you form your own opinion, and that it be exactly the same as mine.

Q: Shouldn't, as Morgenthaler says, every child be a wanted child?
A: Every child is wanted. Every pregnancy is not. Thousands of couples spend thousands of dollars to adopt thousands of children from East Yaopingyanski. Doctors constantly receive requests from those who would love the opportunity to raise a child. Every child is wanted... by someone.

Q: What about a woman's right to do with her body as she pleases?
A: It is against the law for a woman to sell her body or do certain things to or with it. But a growing fetus is, in fact, not her body. It has its own distinct DNA, it has its own genomic character. An appendix or a toenail is part of our body but a fetus is a distinct society. My mother like rutabaga and tofu but as a young fetus (don't we all miss those halcyon days) I rejected that stuff being rammed through my belly button and made it known I needed dill pickle ice cream and peanut buster parfaits with ketchup. We were and are different, genomically and gastronomically speaking.

Q: But a fetus is not a fully developed human being.
A: Fetus is from the Latin for "young child." After 12 weeks, nothing new develops in a fetus. It has everything in place; from there it simply matures. Two-year-olds are no less human than the more developed five-year-olds. They are just meaner.

Q: But being pregnant can be an inconvenience that causes stretch marks, and personally I just spent thousand for implants so it isn't a good time for me to...
A: Listen, Q, I remember you before implants, when you were just a little q. You were OK, er... ok. But yes, this is among the many reasons we hear why a woman wants an abortion.

Q: What is a partial birth abortion?
A: I would suggest that if you want to know how you really feel about abortion, go to any website that describes partial birth abortion. If that doesn't put goosebumps on your goosebumps, then nothing in this column will make any difference to you.

As many doctors wrestle with our stewardship to the expectant mother, I can't help but be concerned with the lack of concern for the unborn child that has too often turned an ethical decision into a mere gynecological inconvenience. What's the answer? I don't know --but I suspect it must involve dill pickle ice cream."

99-Minute email message

Got an email from Sex Caffeine today. The first one since September. She wanted an update on how things are going.

And I unloaded with a 99-minute email message.

Serves her right for not sending me a message in 4 months.

Y'know, I'd love to get together with her for coffee and I know that I'd probably just set myself up for a whole new heap o' trouble. But I really miss her. I miss other people from work too, but save for a few days, my time working with SC was my happiest time there.

Think about it. For an entire year, we palled around, talked, and had a whole ton of fun. Then, for a few days, she got really defensive because she was leaving. And once she finally returned, things remained a roller coaster (even when we started working out together). It was high stress for both of us and I was going through Hell at home too.

she was good for me back then. But I have to remember to leave it in the past. That was the whole point when I went to her wedding was to let her know that we've both moved on and for both of us it's for the better.

But it still took me 99 minutes to write that email.

Teacher Rant

So, our school has thing about doing teacher evaluations just a few weeks after class starts.

Sounds a little stupid, right?

I thought as much until last semester when we had an absolutely horrible Tuesday instructor and we got him fired at an early stage so there was still hope for us to learn something in the class.

I still hate Tuesday classes.

This semester, our Tuesday class is kinda slow. No, not kinda. It's really slow. And I don't necessarily think it's the teacher's fault. The problem is that he has to teach at the pace for the slowest one amongst us.

Still, people complained that class was going too slow on the evaluations. This morning, we got the teacher seeking revenge for all the "wrongs" we put down on those sheets.

Well, I got a little pissed.

Yes, fine. We're complaining about class going slow. Our first project (not a group project!!) has been delayed 3 weeks (in an 11-week semester) because of the slower learners.

Yes, fine. You, Mr. Teacher, can't figure out how they passed their prerequisite class and not know the basics needed for this one (kind of explains why things are going slow, yes?).

Yes, fine. There's people there that should've been kicked from the program a long, long time ago.

But don't bitch at us about it. Talk to the Deans and figure out why they're letting people pass and continue on in the program when basic skills are lacking and/or missing. We're complaining, but we only pay the tuition and take the courses, so our opinion doesn't matter.

There's still a dozen of us in the classroom that feel things are progressing too slowly. There are 3 or 4 who just don't get it.

Let them fall behind.

Let them fail.

We'll all be better off for it.

My doctor told me a while back that this is exactly like going to med school. We're working long, hard hours to achieve our best and it will only be the best people who make it.

If we make mistakes, however, no one dies. But couldn't they bloody well fail and drop out?

Please?

Go Team... (Just Go)

I realize it's considered an important part of school, but I'm a so sick of group projects!

Way back when I started this blog, I mentioned that there must be some natural law that says there HAS to be some annoying pain-in-the-ass neighbor on every block.

Well, let me add that with every work group, there's gotta be at least one person who sees everyone else working and thinks 'Hey, why do I have to do anything on this?' Or, the even worse person: 'Psssshhh! Good enough. I don't need to see what everyone else is working on right now!"

3 groups going at the moment.

THREE.

In one group, one guy lost all the flow charts and diagrams we'd spent 3 hours putting together. So, when [ahem] the rest of us sat down to put together the good copy, we had to start from scratch.

Then, in my major project group, we had this guy who was begging we change our minds and refocus. Since we're still getting most things organized, we felt it was an okay time to refocus. We did. And 2 days later he drops out of our group. Idiot.

In my third group, we needed to write out a number of "job postings." 5 of us in the group, 2 focused on our 'vision' and 'benefits' and the other 3 tackled the 12 postings. Well, apparently only 2 of us have ever looked at a job description before. This guy writes out the job requirements for a manager:
"must have manager skills."

Seriously.

OK, I've been trying to hold a resolution in 2006 to cut down on the swearing. I don't do that much as it is, but these groups....

These groups....

There are some really fucking stupid people getting in my way!!

27 Days Later

28 days of rain. That's the record. Today is day #28.

But to start, here's a good quote I heard today:

"After this much rain, people should be complaining, but we're so close to tying and breaking the record, sunny weather now just makes it all seem like a waste of time."

Good quote, eh? It's true that the weather was the talk just about everywhere you went. Hey, rain! SO close to the record!! A record from 1953.

Frig. 27 days of rain. And today? Nothing. The official rainfall check was at 10pm.

Nothing.

But the rain just started again, so January 16th is day #1 of another attempt at the record.

This really would've sucked if it were snow.

2 down...

...2 to go.

I have 2 more meetings to go and all my church responsibilities are at an end. Phew! Tuesday night was a finance meeting (I'm head of the board of finance) and last night was a different board meeting where I report on the latest finance things. Some are a little peeved that we've had to make cuts for 2006, but we don't have a choice. In fact, for a non-profit group, we should probably cut like crazy to try and balance our budget instead of continuously trying to meet a budget which has proven to be above the amount of donations coming in.

So, last night when they started complaining about the budget cuts, I asked them if I should balance our budget --and cut another $50,000. It got quiet fast.

I have one more meeting on Monday, with the executive board (where I have a letter of complaint about overspending in 2 areas) and finally a meeting on February 4 where the budget is ratified.

And then all my responsibilities go out the window --around the same time someoneelse is giving a speech on the crisis of leadership amongst the congregation. :D

Thirteen

I love Friday the 13th!

I can't say it's always been a great day for me, but even Friday the 13th's where nothing happens are okay by me. Why? Because when things happen for me, they're usually bad.

I know I've been hired for jobs on the 13th, I've also started dating girls on the 13th and more than likely had sex on more than one Friday the 13th.

Today's pretty much a 'nothing' day as I'm back into childcare mode. I even have very little homework as my Wednesday night overnighter took care of most of it already.

And it's Noon and I haven't argued with my kids about anything yet. Sweet!

I'd say I wish there were more Friday the 13ths, but I'm sure they'd start to go to poop on me.

Some things...

...never change.

Whilst taking a break from work this... morning... (yeah, like an hour ago), I came across a name from my past. Nope, not mentioning his name here, but I'd come across his blog which is a play on his name.

He's currently attending university in Scotland, taking economic history.

If you'd asked me 'lo those many years ago when we were in high school if I could see him getting his Master's in economic history in Scotland, the answer is YES.

Oh good Lord, yes.

Hell, I could've predicted that in elementary school and we only had 1 year together there! It's so him.

But ask him all those years ago if he could see me working in a university athletics department. Ask him if he could see me, today, writing a "journal" in a computer lab at 2 in the morning while 2 guys beside me (seriously) play a hockey game on the computer. While 2 others play a 5th consecutive hour of Unreal Tournament.

And one other guy studies --sort of.

Y'know, with only 8 and-a-half months to go, I'm starting to look at these people and question whether I ever want to work with them in the future. The near future.

One guy? Yes. The others? Never. Never ever ever.

Stupid kids.

This Guy....

...which is the answer to: "Who has 2 thumbs and is pooped beyond belief?"

It's pretty sad to think that I leave for school tomorrow morning and don't come home until 3 the next afternoon. LONG DAY pretty much sums it up. I have my sleeping bag ready for the car and this time I must also remember:
1 - a change of clothes
2 - a pillow (as my jacket did not make a good substitute)

If last Wednesday's "overnighter" was any indication, I should expect a maximum of 4 hours' sleep tomorrow night. Which means aside from tonight's sleep will give me 5 hours' sleep this week.

Yeah, last night was a bad night. It took me 'til 1 to fall asleep and then my son started crying again and my wife just brought him into our room to sleep. That means in less than an hour, I was out to the living room to sleep on the couch and finally fell asleep just prior to the alarm clock going off at 4:45am.

It's a little early to get going for school, but I got up anyway, headed out the door before 6am. It still took me over 90 minutes to get there....

Oh, and 3 hours to get home this afternoon (I should've had a bite to eat before I left --I had a sandwich for breakfast at 5am and a chicken dinner at 6:30pm), which seriously sucked.

Although the temperature's been quite mild, it's been raining for 23 days in a row. Sure, there's been breaks from the rain, but the breaks consist of showers and your usual downpour....

I'm procrastinating already and it's only week #2...

Stolen Moment

Stealing this from Mad (again).... sorry, sweety. ;)

1. What did you do in 2005 that you’d never done before? Actually put my skills in art to good use

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? See a previous post. I didn't do too badly. I'll, uh, think up some soon.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? 2 friends had babes in 2005. One girl and one boy. BOTH adorabl.

4. Did anyone close to you die? Not anyone close.... my first boss (at the last place I worked, 7 years before the office From Hell) lost his wife in January, though.

5. What countries did you visit? Well, if the U.S. counts when it's less than 20 miles away, then yes. :D

6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005? A career.

7. What date from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? April 4, 2005 -- The day I went back to school.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Probably making it through half of my diploma program and maintaining a very high GPA while doing it.

9. What was your biggest failure? Not finding the proper balance between homework, making money, and family.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Illness? Yes. Injury? Thankfully, no. I usually crash after a semester's over because I've burned myself out in the final week. Oh wait, does crazy gluing yor fingers together count? I did that like 6 or 7 times...

11. What was the best thing you bought? A new 80GB portable hard-drive for school. Coo-L.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration? Mine, bleh!! :p

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed? The pinheads one semester behind us. Noisy little losers.

14. Where did most of your money go? Tuition and car payments. Actually, I guess since I'm on a student loan, it was car payments and mortgage.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Seeing Sex Caffeine again.. even if it was at her wedding.

16. What song will always remind you of 2005? Anna's Nalick's 'Breathe.' Probably the best song of 2005 and good suggestion too (just breathe).

17. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder? Happier, 'cuz I feel like I'm accomplishing something.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? I actually miss exercising... I felt much better about myself after hefty workout.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? F-ing around on the computer.

20. How did you spend Christmas? All over --it's become tradition.

21. How [did] you spend New Year’s? Watched 'War of the Worlds' with my wife, then stayed up to raise a glass of wine at midnight (she didn't make it again).

22. Did you fall in love in 2005? Already in love, so I STAYED in love. :D

23. How many one-night stands? None.

24. What was your favorite TV program? Hm. My normal reality shows weren't much fun this time around. Drawn Together was a good surprise. House, Daily Show, Grey's Anatomy, Nip/Tuck, Stacked, and Battlestar Galactica were all quite enjoyable. OH! And how could I forget the Canadian content? Rick Mercer Report & Corner Gas have kept me laughing constantly!

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I don't know if I hate him, but he's very difficult to tolerate.

26. What was the best book you read? The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery? Anna Nalick or James Blunt.

28. What did you want and get? A Peter Gabriel DVD --cuz I bought it for myself!

29. What was your favorite CD of this year? Hm. Didn't buy one this year.

30. What was your favorite film of this year? Chronicles of Narnia. At home, I'd have to say 'Euro Trip' 'cuz I watched it like 15 times.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? Drew a naked guy --dammit. (I was in class if you must know...)

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? To be working already and no longer have to make my way through school.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005? Extra-deoderant, and carry at all times. Some classes were frickin' hot and I'd perspire something fierce!!

34. What kept you sane? Sleep --when and if I got it.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Jessica Alba --droolicious!!

36. What political issue stirred you the most? Our upcoming federal election (and last year's as well ;) )

37. Whom do you miss? Sex Caffeine.

38. Who was the best new person that you met? H. She's the leather-clad hottie who got me to Sex Caffeine's wedding on time.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005: My work is better when I receive feedback.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
I'm partial to Rhett Miller's 'Our Love' (which i'm sure I used as a post title at some point in 2005):

"She is a living fire she is a reason to live
She is killing me burning only for him
I'll spend my whole life loving her my heart exploding words
Our love surpassed our love so fast
Our love's all wrong our love goes on and on
Our love became our love by name when I wrote it to you in a song"
Our love goes on and on