Looks like the 'quota time' issue has been resolved. Here is how the story went down, told in detail cause, let's face it, I find it incredibly funny and still am shaking my head at how it went down.
It started by me asking the IT guy about the quota time message that I am receiving. He looked at me blankly and said "what is quota time?". This answer gets the response of "I don't know, you tell me" from me to him. He has no clue so he gives me 4 email addresses to contact telling them what I am doing, what sites I am going to and also to send a screen print to them. Of course I look at him with my confused face and go 'what is a screen print? I am computer unfriendly here. If it isn't an icon to click, I have no clue how to do it'. He then goes into detail about pressing this button, control G, pressing that button, doing the hocky pocky with my tongue stuck out slightly to the left and then pressing another button while turning myself around (hey, that is what all your computer jargon talk sounds like to a technology caveman like myself*G*) The only thing I could do was just write an email describing the message I kept getting and sending the links that I was trying to go to.
After 3 days I got a response from one of the guys suggesting that perhaps I was using a misconfigured machine since the quota time is something that they only use in their mining camps in Ghana for their internet access. He then directed the IT guy to take a look into the matter and see about issues with the proxy. The next response I got was from the IT guy asking me to bring him my laptop so that he could take a look at it.
I was not too thrilled at bringing him my laptop considering we find it no real coincidence that only 24 hours after he arrives in camp the whole internet system crashes on a regular basis. I went to three other public computers in camp and found that it had the same issue. So when he came to me later and told me to find him after my shift with laptop and he would look at it I told him that I had tried other computers and they all had the same issue. He said it didn't matter and he would have to take a look at my laptop sooner or later.
Now I am no computer genius or anything but something just doesn't seem right about that. I mean, if I turn on my tap and the water coming out of the tap is red and I go next door and the water is red and I go down the block and the water is red. When I call the plumber to have him look at the problem, why exactly would he need to go to every single tap to see if the plumbing is correct? Wouldn't it be a logical conclusion to go to the main water supply to check before going to fix every single persons tap and say "yep, looks like you all have the same problem"? But, like I said, I ain't no computer genius.
I took my laptop to work for two days and he finally came by (well, actually he was on his way to do something else, saw my laptop and stood around for 5 minutes to see what he could do). We turned on the laptop and found that there was no internet connection in the back kitchen, which he found odd considering we are only 20 feet away from a server hub or something. So he just walked off and said he would get back to it later.
Finally last night he was going through the food line and he said the problem was fixed and resolved. It seems that the main computer downloads patches and updates on a regular basis to fix problems on the system. Supposedly they get bombarded with these updates and patches so much that things sometimes aren't looked at but just loaded in. Apparently this update came in and was loaded into the system without them checking into it and it had listed blogs and personal sites as questionable stuff and was put on the quota time list. They found the problem and had it removed. End result is that I can now go to the blog sites for unlimited amounts of time AND it re-enforced my belief in the saying that 'if architects built houses the way programmers build computers, civilization would have crumbled at the first woodpecker'.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
out of the cabins..
Guess the stupidity of camp computer internet usage has taken a new turn. Seems that all blog entries are now considered banned BUT we can use ‘quota time’ in which we have 6 ten minute blocks that we can use to view the blog entry type web pages. So guess that means that I can only post 5 more entries between now and June 16th, since I already used up ten minutes of my quota time already in the morning without realizing it or what it meant. So guess that is a good thing cause now I can just keep a word document going of all the stupid little things that are happening around here in camp and then on a specific day I use some quota time and just cut and paste all the goings on in one go. That way people can read at their leisure, assuming someone actually reads these bitter ramblings still, and know that at a certain day there will be more to peruse and read.
Anyways, here is the story I like to call ‘cabins suck’. I woke up in the morning and again looked at a chilly room with the prospect of walking across a cold floor to get my clothes so that I could get dressed to walk outside to the main camp to take a shower. Not exactly a way to get me in the best of moods first thing in the morning. I get dressed and grab my backpack with my towel and toiletries in it and open my door to a nice light layering of frost on the gravel road and steps of the cabin. Think it had to be in the -5’C range or so, but just guessing since I had no thermometer but I did notice that I could see my breath as I walked towards the camp.
Got to the camp and found a shower halfway into the camp and then went to the dining hall to eat breakfast. Since I usually call the Mrs at 7:15am while she walks to work figure I time my mornings so I get up, shower and dress, eat breakfast and then call her before returning to the cabin. No sense in showering, returning to the cabin for 15 minutes and then walking back to talk to her and then walking back to the cabin before shift starts.
Today, however, I added a little bit of extra movement since I heard that we had gotten wireless up and running again. I was disappointed last night that when I got to the cabin I could not connect with the internet because, according to the diagnosis thingee, I was ‘too far from the server/hub. Try moving closer or getting another hub to put closer to your computer’. So in the morning after breakfast I went to the rec area and started up my laptop. I got perfect wireless access and managed to browse through the comics I had missed in the last couple days.
So I was walking to the phones to call the Mrs when Radio walks by then the fun began. Here is how it went down:
(R)adio : “How was the cabin last night?” in his usual gruff voice
(M)e : *not happy with the cabins in the least so response is overly sarcastic and bitter* “oh great, I really love the cold walk to the camp to shower and the added treat of no internet makes it even so much more special. Thanks for putting me there”.
R: “what do you mean no internet? There is internet in the cabins”
M : “No, Sheldon didn’t get internet at all yesterday, last night I had nothing, this morning I had nothing and I came to the main camp and I get it like a breeze. I am apparently too far from the main hub to get any internet. So not much out there to keep me happy”
R: *in an increasingly angry voice* “don’t complain” *starts to go to the office*
At this point I see a phone is free and I drop the discussion since I want to get to the phone to call the Mrs before someone takes the phone.
I left the conversation at that but later I heard that the 1st cook heard about our ‘discussion’ and that he thinks it could have been handled a little more diplomatically. My dishwasher partner also came up to me and said that apparently Radio told him that if I keep complaining about the cabin Radio was going to send me home on the next plane. My only response to my partner was “he is welcome to send me home anytime he wants. My first stop when I get off the plane is to go directly to a lawyer and start looking at a wrongful dismissal suit and see how much money I can get from them”. Figure since I have never been late for a shift, never missed a plane, attended all the stupid meetings/courses they told me to, took on duties of other people without complaints and have never had a single filed complaint on my permanent record with the company to all of a sudden be dismissed from the company over a living arrangement might seem a little suspicious under the legal term of ‘rightful dismissal’.
About 45 minutes later, Radio walks by and calls me to the office. I am literally balled out for barking at him in public cause apparently when I bark in public his ‘back goes up and fights happen’ but if I mention in private ‘things get done’. I just look at him knowing that if I open my mouth I am gonna start to say things and fight back so I just look at him and wait to see how it is going to play out. He finally tells me to move to a room in the main camp and I am not to think that I ‘won’ and if he hears me beaking in the kitchen about how I won and ‘wore him down’ then I will find myself on the first plane ride out of camp. I tactfully didn’t respond to that one but just confirmed the room number and walked out the door.
I instantly went to the cabin, packed my bags and went to my new room. Guess they didn’t tell the guy that was in the room that he had to be out by 7:30am because he was still in the bed when I got there. Thankfully that was only for the morning since when I went back around 2pm the room was empty and cleaned. So now here I sit in the main camp with wireless (not sure how long since it does go down on a regular basis with the IT guy in camp), laundry room only two doors down and one bathroom with two showers only three doors down and another bathroom of 5 showers is about half a hallway down. It is farther away from the bathrooms than my old permanent room was but it is WAAAAY closer to those amenities than the stupid cabin was.
One final thing about the whole cabin issue that happened was during supper Radio was talking to the 1st and 2nd cook when Radio waves me over and says “come here quick”. I go over thinking they have seen one of the new girls in camp and are going to make some perverted comment or something about her. When I get there Radio says “cause you were complaining so much about the cabins, all the cabins are now getting landline internet access to them. You want to move back?” I could see the 1st and 2nd cook smiling and Radio was obviously baiting me to beg him to go back. I played along and in my best pleading and begging voice went “landline? Seriously? Oh please can I move back. I definitely want to go back”. The 1st cook looked at me confused and Radio went “seriously?” I dropped the pleading and answered him back sarcastically “hell no, the cabins are a freaking joke. It is stupid to walk from the cabin to the main camp at 6am watching for bears over your shoulder. I would never want to move there again” and I walked away. Last they said about that was at the end of the shift when Radio was leaving he called to the 1st cook and said “have a good night and try not to get eaten by bears on your way to the cabin”. Really lame on his part I think.
So now I sit in my room with internet, TV, cupboards and cabinets. Now just have to get groceries and we are good.
Anyways, here is the story I like to call ‘cabins suck’. I woke up in the morning and again looked at a chilly room with the prospect of walking across a cold floor to get my clothes so that I could get dressed to walk outside to the main camp to take a shower. Not exactly a way to get me in the best of moods first thing in the morning. I get dressed and grab my backpack with my towel and toiletries in it and open my door to a nice light layering of frost on the gravel road and steps of the cabin. Think it had to be in the -5’C range or so, but just guessing since I had no thermometer but I did notice that I could see my breath as I walked towards the camp.
Got to the camp and found a shower halfway into the camp and then went to the dining hall to eat breakfast. Since I usually call the Mrs at 7:15am while she walks to work figure I time my mornings so I get up, shower and dress, eat breakfast and then call her before returning to the cabin. No sense in showering, returning to the cabin for 15 minutes and then walking back to talk to her and then walking back to the cabin before shift starts.
Today, however, I added a little bit of extra movement since I heard that we had gotten wireless up and running again. I was disappointed last night that when I got to the cabin I could not connect with the internet because, according to the diagnosis thingee, I was ‘too far from the server/hub. Try moving closer or getting another hub to put closer to your computer’. So in the morning after breakfast I went to the rec area and started up my laptop. I got perfect wireless access and managed to browse through the comics I had missed in the last couple days.
So I was walking to the phones to call the Mrs when Radio walks by then the fun began. Here is how it went down:
(R)adio : “How was the cabin last night?” in his usual gruff voice
(M)e : *not happy with the cabins in the least so response is overly sarcastic and bitter* “oh great, I really love the cold walk to the camp to shower and the added treat of no internet makes it even so much more special. Thanks for putting me there”.
R: “what do you mean no internet? There is internet in the cabins”
M : “No, Sheldon didn’t get internet at all yesterday, last night I had nothing, this morning I had nothing and I came to the main camp and I get it like a breeze. I am apparently too far from the main hub to get any internet. So not much out there to keep me happy”
R: *in an increasingly angry voice* “don’t complain” *starts to go to the office*
At this point I see a phone is free and I drop the discussion since I want to get to the phone to call the Mrs before someone takes the phone.
I left the conversation at that but later I heard that the 1st cook heard about our ‘discussion’ and that he thinks it could have been handled a little more diplomatically. My dishwasher partner also came up to me and said that apparently Radio told him that if I keep complaining about the cabin Radio was going to send me home on the next plane. My only response to my partner was “he is welcome to send me home anytime he wants. My first stop when I get off the plane is to go directly to a lawyer and start looking at a wrongful dismissal suit and see how much money I can get from them”. Figure since I have never been late for a shift, never missed a plane, attended all the stupid meetings/courses they told me to, took on duties of other people without complaints and have never had a single filed complaint on my permanent record with the company to all of a sudden be dismissed from the company over a living arrangement might seem a little suspicious under the legal term of ‘rightful dismissal’.
About 45 minutes later, Radio walks by and calls me to the office. I am literally balled out for barking at him in public cause apparently when I bark in public his ‘back goes up and fights happen’ but if I mention in private ‘things get done’. I just look at him knowing that if I open my mouth I am gonna start to say things and fight back so I just look at him and wait to see how it is going to play out. He finally tells me to move to a room in the main camp and I am not to think that I ‘won’ and if he hears me beaking in the kitchen about how I won and ‘wore him down’ then I will find myself on the first plane ride out of camp. I tactfully didn’t respond to that one but just confirmed the room number and walked out the door.
I instantly went to the cabin, packed my bags and went to my new room. Guess they didn’t tell the guy that was in the room that he had to be out by 7:30am because he was still in the bed when I got there. Thankfully that was only for the morning since when I went back around 2pm the room was empty and cleaned. So now here I sit in the main camp with wireless (not sure how long since it does go down on a regular basis with the IT guy in camp), laundry room only two doors down and one bathroom with two showers only three doors down and another bathroom of 5 showers is about half a hallway down. It is farther away from the bathrooms than my old permanent room was but it is WAAAAY closer to those amenities than the stupid cabin was.
One final thing about the whole cabin issue that happened was during supper Radio was talking to the 1st and 2nd cook when Radio waves me over and says “come here quick”. I go over thinking they have seen one of the new girls in camp and are going to make some perverted comment or something about her. When I get there Radio says “cause you were complaining so much about the cabins, all the cabins are now getting landline internet access to them. You want to move back?” I could see the 1st and 2nd cook smiling and Radio was obviously baiting me to beg him to go back. I played along and in my best pleading and begging voice went “landline? Seriously? Oh please can I move back. I definitely want to go back”. The 1st cook looked at me confused and Radio went “seriously?” I dropped the pleading and answered him back sarcastically “hell no, the cabins are a freaking joke. It is stupid to walk from the cabin to the main camp at 6am watching for bears over your shoulder. I would never want to move there again” and I walked away. Last they said about that was at the end of the shift when Radio was leaving he called to the 1st cook and said “have a good night and try not to get eaten by bears on your way to the cabin”. Really lame on his part I think.
So now I sit in my room with internet, TV, cupboards and cabinets. Now just have to get groceries and we are good.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
back in camp and in a cabin
So I made it back in camp. Basically the highlights of the past 36 hours were getting up at 5am to get to the airport for my 8am flight to YK to catch my 9:35am flight to Cambridge Bay to get our noon flight to Kugluktuk to get our 3pm flight to camp. After all that flying around I mentioned to Radio that I wanted to thank the company for giving us a chance to have an arctic flight tour of the surrounding area. Most companies would have just landed their employees in YK and then had them take the hour and 45 minute flight directly to camp to start work. Our company, however, feels that all employees deserve a tour of the world so we did our hour and twenty to Cambridge Bay to do our hour flight to Kugluktuk to then do our 30 minute flight to camp. Arent they just a nice company....no efficient or money saving, but definitely a nice company.
Got to camp and found out that I was moved to being a dishwasher for 2 weeks and then will be moved to night shift (breakfast cook) for 2 weeks. Though will believe the 2 weeks night shift position when they actually put me on it. Dishwasher is a great job. No worries, no stress, no responsibilities. Just take a dirty dish, wash it and put it away. Even better, there are two of us in the dishpit. Finally I get a helper as the dishwasher whereas the 2nd cook has no helper.
Also found out that I have been moved from the main camp to one of the cabins that were recently built. We have only 168 beds in camp, plus the 50 man D-wing camp, and we have more employees than beds. They are actually putting some people in a hotel in Cambridge Bay and flying them daily from Cambridge Bay to the camp for the day and then flying them back to Cam Bay in the evening after their shift. So to meet the need for more rooms they have build cabins A through F in the back area of the camp. They are located about 20 feet away from the main camp with no hallways or anything linking them. So you walk out of the cabin and walk your 20 feet across a dirt/mud/gravel roadway to get to the camp. Makes the 2am bathroom break run even more enjoyable than just stumbling down an empty hallway. Also have to walk from the cabin to the camp to shower in the morning. Right now it isnt too bad since it is only -7'C but once it hits the winter and -45'C with blowing snow they had better come up with a better solution to the bed shortage problem.
When I first got in and found out I was in a cabin, Radio was trying to up sell it so that I didnt complain about being put outside. I was told that the cabins have their own internet hub/server and the wireless was faster and more reliable, it was really quiet and calm out there and there was lots of room in the cabin and wasnt as cramped as the rooms in camp. Later I found out that he should have been a real estate agent with the spin he put on the rooms.
1) there is no wireless internet in the cabins because the IT that shut down the wireless last rotation in camp is back and by sheer coincidence the wireless went down 3 days ago, the same time he came back to camp. After asking what the deal with that was we got the story that they are trying to track one person who is downloading music/movies and they want to catch them and make an example of them. Apparently to do this they have to shut down the entire wireless to the camp to get him. Personally I am leaning more to the side that the IT guy has no freaking clue what the heck he is doing and just making up excuses to cover up his own incompetance.
2) the cabin is really quiet and calm...well, except for when the trucks drive down the main road between the camp and the cabins and then reverse to get in a parking stall and you get the loud BEEP BEEP BEEP of the warning alarm that they are backing up. They did this twice last night before I finally drifted off to sleep and was so tired that chances are they continued all night long but I was too tired to wake up and notice. Might be different in a few days when I get back to some good sleep.
3) there is loads of room in the cabin...however, that is pretty much all there is in the cabin. We only have two beds (I share it with a night shift worker so we arent in the same room sleeping at the same time) and two shelves about chair height so that you can sit in a chair and use it as a desk, a 16" flat screen TV screwed into the wall that can be moved left or right depending on which person in bed wants to watch TV and an AC/heating unit to help keep the cabin warm/cool. That is all that is in the cabin. We have no cabinets, cupboards, dresser, medicine cabinet, towel rack...nothing. When asked were I was to put my clothes I was told "Quit your whining, we have cupboards and cabinets on order. They will be here by the end of the week". Of course after hearing that I told Radio "that sounds like camp talk for 'it is gonna be here in 2 to 3 months'". Later I found out from the 1st, who has been here for 2 weeks already, that they have been saying that since he came into camp 2 weeks ago. So I went and grabbed about 6 milk crates and created the single guy/bachelor/trailer trash solution to the problem. I have 5 milk crates duct taped together one on top of the other making a sort of make shift shelving unit cupboard. got my clothes and medicine all piled up in them. Also there is no carpet out there either. Nothing like waking up at 6:30am and looking at a cold floor and knowing that after you get out of bed and walk across that cold floor to grab your jacket that you then get to get dressed and walk outside in the morning chill to go and shower.
After telling Radio all this and giving him a hard time he tried to make it better by saying that we are all getting 28" TVs in the cabin. Told him that it would be a great thing if we got channels different than the preset ones since all we seem to get now are sports channels, car racing channels and newfie TV station channels. Not a whole lot going on those channels to interest me.
So yeah, that is what is happening in camp. On a funny note, the lady that brought us the "I finded it" from last turn around had another great one. She came up to me taking the last mouthful of water from a glass, smacked her lips and looked at me while holding the glass out and said "this water tastes funny". Of course I looked at her and asked "so, are you saying that it tastes Jerry Lewis funny or Tom Greene funny?" She seemed to think about this for a moment and said "yeah...tastes like that." I made sure and said "so Jerry Lewis funny?" and she nodded and said "yep, Jerry Lewis funny". I was trying not to smile and watched for her reaction and I swear she was dead serious about the whole thing. So I had to tell Radio that she thought the water tasted Jerry Lewis funny. I have no idea if she is meaning to be funny like that or if it is all an accident.
Got to camp and found out that I was moved to being a dishwasher for 2 weeks and then will be moved to night shift (breakfast cook) for 2 weeks. Though will believe the 2 weeks night shift position when they actually put me on it. Dishwasher is a great job. No worries, no stress, no responsibilities. Just take a dirty dish, wash it and put it away. Even better, there are two of us in the dishpit. Finally I get a helper as the dishwasher whereas the 2nd cook has no helper.
Also found out that I have been moved from the main camp to one of the cabins that were recently built. We have only 168 beds in camp, plus the 50 man D-wing camp, and we have more employees than beds. They are actually putting some people in a hotel in Cambridge Bay and flying them daily from Cambridge Bay to the camp for the day and then flying them back to Cam Bay in the evening after their shift. So to meet the need for more rooms they have build cabins A through F in the back area of the camp. They are located about 20 feet away from the main camp with no hallways or anything linking them. So you walk out of the cabin and walk your 20 feet across a dirt/mud/gravel roadway to get to the camp. Makes the 2am bathroom break run even more enjoyable than just stumbling down an empty hallway. Also have to walk from the cabin to the camp to shower in the morning. Right now it isnt too bad since it is only -7'C but once it hits the winter and -45'C with blowing snow they had better come up with a better solution to the bed shortage problem.
When I first got in and found out I was in a cabin, Radio was trying to up sell it so that I didnt complain about being put outside. I was told that the cabins have their own internet hub/server and the wireless was faster and more reliable, it was really quiet and calm out there and there was lots of room in the cabin and wasnt as cramped as the rooms in camp. Later I found out that he should have been a real estate agent with the spin he put on the rooms.
1) there is no wireless internet in the cabins because the IT that shut down the wireless last rotation in camp is back and by sheer coincidence the wireless went down 3 days ago, the same time he came back to camp. After asking what the deal with that was we got the story that they are trying to track one person who is downloading music/movies and they want to catch them and make an example of them. Apparently to do this they have to shut down the entire wireless to the camp to get him. Personally I am leaning more to the side that the IT guy has no freaking clue what the heck he is doing and just making up excuses to cover up his own incompetance.
2) the cabin is really quiet and calm...well, except for when the trucks drive down the main road between the camp and the cabins and then reverse to get in a parking stall and you get the loud BEEP BEEP BEEP of the warning alarm that they are backing up. They did this twice last night before I finally drifted off to sleep and was so tired that chances are they continued all night long but I was too tired to wake up and notice. Might be different in a few days when I get back to some good sleep.
3) there is loads of room in the cabin...however, that is pretty much all there is in the cabin. We only have two beds (I share it with a night shift worker so we arent in the same room sleeping at the same time) and two shelves about chair height so that you can sit in a chair and use it as a desk, a 16" flat screen TV screwed into the wall that can be moved left or right depending on which person in bed wants to watch TV and an AC/heating unit to help keep the cabin warm/cool. That is all that is in the cabin. We have no cabinets, cupboards, dresser, medicine cabinet, towel rack...nothing. When asked were I was to put my clothes I was told "Quit your whining, we have cupboards and cabinets on order. They will be here by the end of the week". Of course after hearing that I told Radio "that sounds like camp talk for 'it is gonna be here in 2 to 3 months'". Later I found out from the 1st, who has been here for 2 weeks already, that they have been saying that since he came into camp 2 weeks ago. So I went and grabbed about 6 milk crates and created the single guy/bachelor/trailer trash solution to the problem. I have 5 milk crates duct taped together one on top of the other making a sort of make shift shelving unit cupboard. got my clothes and medicine all piled up in them. Also there is no carpet out there either. Nothing like waking up at 6:30am and looking at a cold floor and knowing that after you get out of bed and walk across that cold floor to grab your jacket that you then get to get dressed and walk outside in the morning chill to go and shower.
After telling Radio all this and giving him a hard time he tried to make it better by saying that we are all getting 28" TVs in the cabin. Told him that it would be a great thing if we got channels different than the preset ones since all we seem to get now are sports channels, car racing channels and newfie TV station channels. Not a whole lot going on those channels to interest me.
So yeah, that is what is happening in camp. On a funny note, the lady that brought us the "I finded it" from last turn around had another great one. She came up to me taking the last mouthful of water from a glass, smacked her lips and looked at me while holding the glass out and said "this water tastes funny". Of course I looked at her and asked "so, are you saying that it tastes Jerry Lewis funny or Tom Greene funny?" She seemed to think about this for a moment and said "yeah...tastes like that." I made sure and said "so Jerry Lewis funny?" and she nodded and said "yep, Jerry Lewis funny". I was trying not to smile and watched for her reaction and I swear she was dead serious about the whole thing. So I had to tell Radio that she thought the water tasted Jerry Lewis funny. I have no idea if she is meaning to be funny like that or if it is all an accident.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Eddie Izzard
A couple of days ago the Mrs mentioned to me that Eddie Izzard was going to be in Edmonton and she asked if I wanted to go. Of course I wanted to take up the opportunity to go and see this guy live. I have one of his routines on my computer to listen to (which I do a couple of times a month) and I have watched about 3 of his other routines as well. I personally think him to be a comic genius. If you haven't heard of him or seen his comic routine, here is a little taste of what his typical routine is like.
He likes to go off on wild tangents, portray conversations were he talks both sides of the conversation and just general wacky stuff. He is sort of like that person that men go drinking with where after a couple of beers he starts talking crap out of the side of his face about things that he has no clue what he is talking about, and it is definitely obvious that he has no freaking idea what he is talking about, but yet no one stops him or says anything cause he is just sounding so freaking funny that you have to let him go with with it. I think that is what I like about him, just his constant tangents and crazy ideas that he talks about. That and his way of taking a 4 minute talking routine that eventually leads up to a pun of a joke as the punchline.
One thing that was mentioned last night at the show that was really funny was that he was talking about how he wanted to get into the SAS in the UK but because he is a transvestite and wearing make-up they didn't want him. He then said "I am sure that Canada has something like that as well. An elite form of soldiers that people try to enlist in". The crowd went deathly silent and then an instant later everyone burst out laughing at this thought. I was laughing just as hard and I think the Mrs was giving a polite laugh to go with the crowd as well. I tried to think of what sort of forces that we have in Canada and all I could think of is the army and general military. I mean you see movies from US about Delta Force or the Marines or even the Navy SEALS. I don't think I have ever heard of the elite form of military Canadians known as the Woodland Beavers or Fighting Geese.
Anyways, the show in my mind was a hilarious experience and worth the money. The Mrs said she was getting tired and the first half was hilarious and great but during the 2nd half she started to fall asleep and was getting grumpy. I definitely hope that I am in town again if Eddie Izzard decides to come through again.
He likes to go off on wild tangents, portray conversations were he talks both sides of the conversation and just general wacky stuff. He is sort of like that person that men go drinking with where after a couple of beers he starts talking crap out of the side of his face about things that he has no clue what he is talking about, and it is definitely obvious that he has no freaking idea what he is talking about, but yet no one stops him or says anything cause he is just sounding so freaking funny that you have to let him go with with it. I think that is what I like about him, just his constant tangents and crazy ideas that he talks about. That and his way of taking a 4 minute talking routine that eventually leads up to a pun of a joke as the punchline.
One thing that was mentioned last night at the show that was really funny was that he was talking about how he wanted to get into the SAS in the UK but because he is a transvestite and wearing make-up they didn't want him. He then said "I am sure that Canada has something like that as well. An elite form of soldiers that people try to enlist in". The crowd went deathly silent and then an instant later everyone burst out laughing at this thought. I was laughing just as hard and I think the Mrs was giving a polite laugh to go with the crowd as well. I tried to think of what sort of forces that we have in Canada and all I could think of is the army and general military. I mean you see movies from US about Delta Force or the Marines or even the Navy SEALS. I don't think I have ever heard of the elite form of military Canadians known as the Woodland Beavers or Fighting Geese.
Anyways, the show in my mind was a hilarious experience and worth the money. The Mrs said she was getting tired and the first half was hilarious and great but during the 2nd half she started to fall asleep and was getting grumpy. I definitely hope that I am in town again if Eddie Izzard decides to come through again.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
people wearing stuff in Edmonton
One good thing I do like about being in Edmonton during the summer is that the parkas and winter coats are put away and people start to wear less and less. I find that it really isnt the guys that are wearing less but the women certainly do. I wont go and tell you about all the half dressed ladies that I have seen on my week and a half out so far but I do have three cases that I saw that are particularly amusing.
I was going to WEM on the bus and this young woman (probably mid thirties) got on and sat at the front of the bus. She had on a mid thigh length dress that was sort of puffed out (think the 1970's poodle skirts but black and no poodle on it) and a sort of corset type outfit that really pushed her....well....yeah, you know...up to her chin. She was dolled up to the nines and had the legs and body to pull off her outfit no doubt. I was sitting half way back on the bus right in front of the back doors. There was this guy that was standing in the entrance to the back doors and leaning on the plexiglass divider from the seats to the doors. He was singing and I thought it was sort of weird that he wasn't sitting down since there were a few seats available. I then looked ahead and back at his face and ahead again and then it dawned on me. From where he was standing he had a perfect angle to watch this lady all the way to WEM. After we got off the bus and I was walking towards the entrance to the mall I caught up to her and the guy walking towards the mall. He was a decent distance away walking slightly behind her so that I could tell they didnt know each other but he wasnt close enough to make her uncomfortable by a strangers precense but he wasnt far enough away that she could definitely ignore him. He kept trying to lean in and start up a conversation but she kept ignoring him. After the entire car park he finally gave up his tough boy swagger, put his sunglasses that he was twirling so dashingly and walked away with his hands in his pockets. I followed her for about a minute cause I found it fascinating how men and women alike gave her the complete once over from head to toe as she walked back. Even an older man (white hair and I would say in his 70's) slowed down his walk (which was pretty slow to begin with) to give her the complete up and down.
Then there was the time that I was on the bus and having a chat with this lady with a strong polish accent about hot dog vendors on Jasper ave and what is the best place to set up shop to make the highest profits. We came to a stop and in mid sentence she looked out the window at the people waiting to get on the bus. One lady was at best 'slightly' overweight but she had on an extremely tight top that was extremely low cut and her cups were definitely flowing overth. The lady I was talking to stopped her sentence while she looked at this lady in shock and then turned back towards me and with a wave of disgust in the other ladies direction said 'trash' in such a old world type gutteral growl that I almost burst out laughing. It was definitely amusing.
The final incident I remember I can't really decide if it is sort of different cultures merging and melding or two cultures colliding. I am sure if my life were a movie than this moment would be one of those moments where film students alike would sit back and look at the scene and bring up many different symbolic ideas about what the whole thing would mean. I was walking down the street and I could hear fast footsteps coming up behind me. Being the paranoid person I am while walking I had to look and see who it was. It was a middle aged woman that was out for a midday exercise power walk. She had her iPod music blasting in her headphones and the water bottle strapped to the small of her back so it was definitely exercise time. What she also had on was a lot of clothing. Full length work out pants down to her shoes, full body work out material top that was almost a turtle neck and a tudong scarf wrapped around her head and tucked into the top she was wearing. The only skin I could see on her was her full face and her hands below the wrists. The thing that also got me was that her entire outfit was black. I found it warm being out in jeans and a t-shirt with no jacket but to be in a full body work out outfit in the sun would have been blazing hot. I am guessing from the tudong that she was muslim.
We had to stop at a stop light and she stood beside me just doing the pace walking in place to keep her body going. When the walk sign came on we both started to cross and I noticed coming towards us was a tall caucasian woman doing her midday run. This lady was dressed in very short and tight spandex running shorts and a very short and tight tube top with shoes on. I definitely saw more flesh than clothing on this lady.
So that was the scene, caucasian woman wearing next to nothing passing by a muslim lady wearing pretty much a full body outfit, both jogging and passing each other in the middle of the street with me looking at them and marvelling at the different cultures/personalities in the world today. Now tell me that a film student would not have a field day picking symbolism out of that whole scene.
I was going to WEM on the bus and this young woman (probably mid thirties) got on and sat at the front of the bus. She had on a mid thigh length dress that was sort of puffed out (think the 1970's poodle skirts but black and no poodle on it) and a sort of corset type outfit that really pushed her....well....yeah, you know...up to her chin. She was dolled up to the nines and had the legs and body to pull off her outfit no doubt. I was sitting half way back on the bus right in front of the back doors. There was this guy that was standing in the entrance to the back doors and leaning on the plexiglass divider from the seats to the doors. He was singing and I thought it was sort of weird that he wasn't sitting down since there were a few seats available. I then looked ahead and back at his face and ahead again and then it dawned on me. From where he was standing he had a perfect angle to watch this lady all the way to WEM. After we got off the bus and I was walking towards the entrance to the mall I caught up to her and the guy walking towards the mall. He was a decent distance away walking slightly behind her so that I could tell they didnt know each other but he wasnt close enough to make her uncomfortable by a strangers precense but he wasnt far enough away that she could definitely ignore him. He kept trying to lean in and start up a conversation but she kept ignoring him. After the entire car park he finally gave up his tough boy swagger, put his sunglasses that he was twirling so dashingly and walked away with his hands in his pockets. I followed her for about a minute cause I found it fascinating how men and women alike gave her the complete once over from head to toe as she walked back. Even an older man (white hair and I would say in his 70's) slowed down his walk (which was pretty slow to begin with) to give her the complete up and down.
Then there was the time that I was on the bus and having a chat with this lady with a strong polish accent about hot dog vendors on Jasper ave and what is the best place to set up shop to make the highest profits. We came to a stop and in mid sentence she looked out the window at the people waiting to get on the bus. One lady was at best 'slightly' overweight but she had on an extremely tight top that was extremely low cut and her cups were definitely flowing overth. The lady I was talking to stopped her sentence while she looked at this lady in shock and then turned back towards me and with a wave of disgust in the other ladies direction said 'trash' in such a old world type gutteral growl that I almost burst out laughing. It was definitely amusing.
The final incident I remember I can't really decide if it is sort of different cultures merging and melding or two cultures colliding. I am sure if my life were a movie than this moment would be one of those moments where film students alike would sit back and look at the scene and bring up many different symbolic ideas about what the whole thing would mean. I was walking down the street and I could hear fast footsteps coming up behind me. Being the paranoid person I am while walking I had to look and see who it was. It was a middle aged woman that was out for a midday exercise power walk. She had her iPod music blasting in her headphones and the water bottle strapped to the small of her back so it was definitely exercise time. What she also had on was a lot of clothing. Full length work out pants down to her shoes, full body work out material top that was almost a turtle neck and a tudong scarf wrapped around her head and tucked into the top she was wearing. The only skin I could see on her was her full face and her hands below the wrists. The thing that also got me was that her entire outfit was black. I found it warm being out in jeans and a t-shirt with no jacket but to be in a full body work out outfit in the sun would have been blazing hot. I am guessing from the tudong that she was muslim.
We had to stop at a stop light and she stood beside me just doing the pace walking in place to keep her body going. When the walk sign came on we both started to cross and I noticed coming towards us was a tall caucasian woman doing her midday run. This lady was dressed in very short and tight spandex running shorts and a very short and tight tube top with shoes on. I definitely saw more flesh than clothing on this lady.
So that was the scene, caucasian woman wearing next to nothing passing by a muslim lady wearing pretty much a full body outfit, both jogging and passing each other in the middle of the street with me looking at them and marvelling at the different cultures/personalities in the world today. Now tell me that a film student would not have a field day picking symbolism out of that whole scene.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
idiots in Edmonton, and they walk amongst us
"I am not saying I agree with capital punishment for stupidity, all I am saying is lets take the warning labels off things and let nature take its course"
Saw that line in my search for quotes to write on the 'thought of the day' board in camp. Funny thing is that knowing how the people in camp are natural selection would take about 90% of them but only 5% would actually think they would be weeded out. Yep, that's right, almost time for me to head back to the land of no common sense. Got my ticket to fly in a few days. On the up side it has been deemed warm enough not to wear winter gear. Which means that I can actually fly in just a nice jacket and shoes without having to wear my -45'C full body snow suit in +5'C weather.
Another thing happened that made me think of that quote while walking the streets. I am amazed at how many people just walk against the light and jaywalk. I know I have done it a few times but that has only been on deserted side streets that you can see no cars coming for about 4 blocks away, and even then I feel guilty and nervous and quickly walk across the street. I often joked with a few friends from college that jaywalked that I must have been road kill in my past life cause I am always nervous walking across a street that is not controlled by lights or signs. I just shake my head at people that walk on the red handed 'no walk' sign at cross walks while cars sit there while they have the green waiting for these idiots to walk. One lady was a middle aged native woman that decided she had to cross the street she had been pacing up and down for about 5 minutes (I watched her as I waited for the bus) and then just walked out into traffic and tried to cross Stony Plain Road. It wasn't a quick walk either it was more a '3am stagger down the hallway, half asleep to the bathroom' kind of stroll. I just loved the way that cars slammed on their brakes to stop for this lady staggering but no horns were blown, no swears were yelled and no birds were flipped at her. Instead they all just waited patiently for her to stagger across before continuing on their way.
Again it happened yesterday while walking down to the library. Came to an intersection and we had the "don't walk" sign. Of course I am standing there waiting cause there is traffic. A late teens or early twenties Caucasian male walks from behind me and just starts to cross the street. No cars were on the street he was walking on until he got halfway across when a lady on her cell phone driving a big truck like vehicle drove up and then braked for him. Again, no honks from the car and the guy didn't even look startled and apologize for walking against the light. He just kept walking with his head low and the lady stopped her vehicle and kept talking on the phone while she sat there looking at her green light slowly getting ready to turn to yellow.
Just saying, natural selection might be a cure here for some of the worlds problems.
Saw that line in my search for quotes to write on the 'thought of the day' board in camp. Funny thing is that knowing how the people in camp are natural selection would take about 90% of them but only 5% would actually think they would be weeded out. Yep, that's right, almost time for me to head back to the land of no common sense. Got my ticket to fly in a few days. On the up side it has been deemed warm enough not to wear winter gear. Which means that I can actually fly in just a nice jacket and shoes without having to wear my -45'C full body snow suit in +5'C weather.
Another thing happened that made me think of that quote while walking the streets. I am amazed at how many people just walk against the light and jaywalk. I know I have done it a few times but that has only been on deserted side streets that you can see no cars coming for about 4 blocks away, and even then I feel guilty and nervous and quickly walk across the street. I often joked with a few friends from college that jaywalked that I must have been road kill in my past life cause I am always nervous walking across a street that is not controlled by lights or signs. I just shake my head at people that walk on the red handed 'no walk' sign at cross walks while cars sit there while they have the green waiting for these idiots to walk. One lady was a middle aged native woman that decided she had to cross the street she had been pacing up and down for about 5 minutes (I watched her as I waited for the bus) and then just walked out into traffic and tried to cross Stony Plain Road. It wasn't a quick walk either it was more a '3am stagger down the hallway, half asleep to the bathroom' kind of stroll. I just loved the way that cars slammed on their brakes to stop for this lady staggering but no horns were blown, no swears were yelled and no birds were flipped at her. Instead they all just waited patiently for her to stagger across before continuing on their way.
Again it happened yesterday while walking down to the library. Came to an intersection and we had the "don't walk" sign. Of course I am standing there waiting cause there is traffic. A late teens or early twenties Caucasian male walks from behind me and just starts to cross the street. No cars were on the street he was walking on until he got halfway across when a lady on her cell phone driving a big truck like vehicle drove up and then braked for him. Again, no honks from the car and the guy didn't even look startled and apologize for walking against the light. He just kept walking with his head low and the lady stopped her vehicle and kept talking on the phone while she sat there looking at her green light slowly getting ready to turn to yellow.
Just saying, natural selection might be a cure here for some of the worlds problems.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
one week down, one more to go
half way through my weeks out of freedom. what have I been up to...let's see.
We went and saw Iron man 2. Not exactly a bad movie but then again nothing compared to the first one. I have the same complaint (I know, me with a complaint about a movie...shocking :) ) about this movie as I did with the Spider-man sequels. There are movies that are action and explosions and then there are movies that are character development and all. I mean, I don't want to see the female character from Under The Tuscan Sun pick up a bazooka and assault rifle and take out a Russian tank and 3000 armed soldiers, just as I don't want to hear about Tony Stark whining about his life's choices and how he is slowly sinking into depression. Alright, so he is slowly being poisoned by his suit and is gonna die soon but that is no reason to actually show it. I just thought that they had enough cheesy depression acting to kind of kill the mood of the movie, but they also had enough explosions and all to make me sit through the whole movie and just hope that they went quickly through the cheese. Though they have made enough allusions to sequels such as Iron Man 3 as well as a whole new string of Avenger movies.
We went to dinner theatre at Jubilation's with a A and V. It was Law and Order and we all agreed that it had to be one of the better shows that they had put on. There was a lot more singing than the others and they were all songs that we enjoyed. There characters were great, especially the Donny Do-Wright character that had really over the top acting (which was a selling point for me) and an apparently really 'hot bod' (which was a selling point for the Mrs). Guess this means I am gonna have to start working out in the gym more often. :-) The food was great, though I always go for the prime rib so have no real comparison here but the soup, salad and dessert were far better than the others we have had.
We had dinner with a couple friends at Guru restaurant (http://www.gururestaurant.ca/) which was overall amazing. I am not a big fan on the whole curry scene but these dishes were great. Enough spices to enhance the flavour of the ingredients in the dish but not enough to assault your taste buds with spice and grit. I would go into detail on the items that we had but I really honestly don't know what we ate. All I remember is that we had a goat meat dish, which one of our friends insisted we not even put the dish near her since she wanted nothing to do with it, and we had naan bread which was soft, warm and out of this world. We had 4 different appetizers shared amongst us all and we all agreed that the shrimp pakora (shrimp lightly battered in chick pea and browned) was amazing. Shrimp cooked to perfection and amazingly tasty. We had about 7 different main courses (all ordered and then put in the centre and we all dipped into them) two different rice dishes (saffron rice and coconut rice, with real coconut in the mix) and three desserts. I had the apple dessert which was less than impressive since it was basically just apple rings battered and then deep fried with a simple sugar syrup on it. No real flair or fanciness to it and definitely a weak finishers following the amazing flavours we had already tried. All and all it was a great feast though slightly pricey on the end of it all but worth it.
The Mrs and I went to The Double D lounge and grill on Stony Plain road. The whole story basically went that we were buying a new vacuum and happened to notice that across the street from the vacuum store there was a place called Double D Lounge and Grill. Of course, me being a man made a comment of how that is one place that we have to try. So from then on, every time we passed by the place the Mrs kept asking me if I wanted to go in and try. We were both wondering if the place was named cause the place was a sort of knock off of Hooters where all the waitresses had to be DD cups or what. So finally a couple days ago I had picked up the Mrs from work (she works about 7 blocks from the place) and we were hungry cause it was lunch time so we both thought it a good idea to give it a try and see what it was like.
After walking in and sitting down the first thing the Mrs says is that it is kind of dodgy. I wouldn't say that I agreed completely but it definitely was not the finest decorated establishment. It looked like every other lower end bar that I had been in in my life. Pool table, dart board, typical bar tables and computer printed notices hanging from the walls promoting up coming specials or events in the bar. It even had the added touch of having a couple patrons sitting on bar stools or chairs talking to the bar server like Norm and Cliff would have bantered with Carla from Cheers. We got our menus and ordered a philly cheese steak for myself and the Mrs had the chicken club sandwich with onion rings. It is really amazing how good food can change a person's opinion of a place. The chicken club was good, the onion rings were just the way I like them (battered and deep fried...none of this A&W breaded and baked for the healthy person crap.) and the philly cheese was moist and delicious and it came with a big order of home cut fries. For the price and the serving size of the food it was definitely worth it. Service was kind of slow and I had to take the menus up and order from the bar as well as take our plates to the front bar to ask for take away cause the bartender was too busy chatting with friends and taking inventory of the liquor on the back bar, but we figure you don't go to a place like that for fast service on food. I have no idea what the place would be like for night life entertainment or what it turns in to at night, but for a nice lunch if you are down around 15203 Stony Plain Road in Edmonton then it might be worth your while to give it a look at.
I also asked before walking out the door about the name of the place. It is named for the two owners whose both names begin with D's. I don't think there was a woman in the whole place (patrons and workers) that was a D or higher. So, yeah, mystery solved and good lunch to boot.
Other than that, just basically have been hanging out around the house sick with a cold. I have had a cold from camp for the last 3 weeks and I get out of camp and start to get better but then manage to start to catch the cold the Mrs has had for the last 2 and a half weeks that she got from the kids. I used to have just a stuffed up nose and head but now I have a stuffed up runny nose and sore, dry, scratchy throat. Hoping that I can get rid of it before flying back on the 19th.
Plans for the next couple days are dinner at a friends place, The Gage Cup roller derby tournament (http://www.evillederby.com/), and movies (Losers, new Robin Hood, DVDs at home). So far cooking at home has been a total bust and all. All I have made has been a pasta like concoction and lamb shanks with the bone off and I tried to make a mint wine sauce to go with it. Not really my best work and all. Definitely need more practice on items and all. So far I have yet to make a meal that I can hold my head high and say "yep, I done that!"
Oh, bad grammar, that reminds me of an incident in camp that had the 1st cook and myself laughing and mocking for a few days. Some cause it was a funny thing and also cause we had been in camp for a long time, run ragged and just were going loopy. The housekeeper came to the back of the kitchen and was looking around for her breakfast. Apparently the breakfast cook had made her an omelet and said he put it in the fridge for her and she went looking for it. She couldn't find it so she walked away unhappy. Finally the breakfast cook came in after his morning workout and I said the housekeeper couldn't find her breakfast. So he went out and got it for her. Apparently he meant the fridges out in the dining room for the public not the fridge in the back that we keep our produce and meats in. I saw her about 20 minutes later when her break was ending and asked if she got her breakfast. She looked at me and said "Yep, I finded it". I looked at her and in my usual response of repeating bad grammar in the hopes that the person would pick up on it and repeat it correctly I asked "so you finded it easily?" and got the response "yep, I finded it in the front fridge..silly me" and she walked away. I told this to the 1st cook and he just laughed. After that we kept asking each other "did you finded the salt that you were looking for?" or "I had to make chicken wings for tomorrow, I dided it". Little stupid things that you do in isolation to help the days go by quicker.
We went and saw Iron man 2. Not exactly a bad movie but then again nothing compared to the first one. I have the same complaint (I know, me with a complaint about a movie...shocking :) ) about this movie as I did with the Spider-man sequels. There are movies that are action and explosions and then there are movies that are character development and all. I mean, I don't want to see the female character from Under The Tuscan Sun pick up a bazooka and assault rifle and take out a Russian tank and 3000 armed soldiers, just as I don't want to hear about Tony Stark whining about his life's choices and how he is slowly sinking into depression. Alright, so he is slowly being poisoned by his suit and is gonna die soon but that is no reason to actually show it. I just thought that they had enough cheesy depression acting to kind of kill the mood of the movie, but they also had enough explosions and all to make me sit through the whole movie and just hope that they went quickly through the cheese. Though they have made enough allusions to sequels such as Iron Man 3 as well as a whole new string of Avenger movies.
We went to dinner theatre at Jubilation's with a A and V. It was Law and Order and we all agreed that it had to be one of the better shows that they had put on. There was a lot more singing than the others and they were all songs that we enjoyed. There characters were great, especially the Donny Do-Wright character that had really over the top acting (which was a selling point for me) and an apparently really 'hot bod' (which was a selling point for the Mrs). Guess this means I am gonna have to start working out in the gym more often. :-) The food was great, though I always go for the prime rib so have no real comparison here but the soup, salad and dessert were far better than the others we have had.
We had dinner with a couple friends at Guru restaurant (http://www.gururestaurant.ca/) which was overall amazing. I am not a big fan on the whole curry scene but these dishes were great. Enough spices to enhance the flavour of the ingredients in the dish but not enough to assault your taste buds with spice and grit. I would go into detail on the items that we had but I really honestly don't know what we ate. All I remember is that we had a goat meat dish, which one of our friends insisted we not even put the dish near her since she wanted nothing to do with it, and we had naan bread which was soft, warm and out of this world. We had 4 different appetizers shared amongst us all and we all agreed that the shrimp pakora (shrimp lightly battered in chick pea and browned) was amazing. Shrimp cooked to perfection and amazingly tasty. We had about 7 different main courses (all ordered and then put in the centre and we all dipped into them) two different rice dishes (saffron rice and coconut rice, with real coconut in the mix) and three desserts. I had the apple dessert which was less than impressive since it was basically just apple rings battered and then deep fried with a simple sugar syrup on it. No real flair or fanciness to it and definitely a weak finishers following the amazing flavours we had already tried. All and all it was a great feast though slightly pricey on the end of it all but worth it.
The Mrs and I went to The Double D lounge and grill on Stony Plain road. The whole story basically went that we were buying a new vacuum and happened to notice that across the street from the vacuum store there was a place called Double D Lounge and Grill. Of course, me being a man made a comment of how that is one place that we have to try. So from then on, every time we passed by the place the Mrs kept asking me if I wanted to go in and try. We were both wondering if the place was named cause the place was a sort of knock off of Hooters where all the waitresses had to be DD cups or what. So finally a couple days ago I had picked up the Mrs from work (she works about 7 blocks from the place) and we were hungry cause it was lunch time so we both thought it a good idea to give it a try and see what it was like.
After walking in and sitting down the first thing the Mrs says is that it is kind of dodgy. I wouldn't say that I agreed completely but it definitely was not the finest decorated establishment. It looked like every other lower end bar that I had been in in my life. Pool table, dart board, typical bar tables and computer printed notices hanging from the walls promoting up coming specials or events in the bar. It even had the added touch of having a couple patrons sitting on bar stools or chairs talking to the bar server like Norm and Cliff would have bantered with Carla from Cheers. We got our menus and ordered a philly cheese steak for myself and the Mrs had the chicken club sandwich with onion rings. It is really amazing how good food can change a person's opinion of a place. The chicken club was good, the onion rings were just the way I like them (battered and deep fried...none of this A&W breaded and baked for the healthy person crap.) and the philly cheese was moist and delicious and it came with a big order of home cut fries. For the price and the serving size of the food it was definitely worth it. Service was kind of slow and I had to take the menus up and order from the bar as well as take our plates to the front bar to ask for take away cause the bartender was too busy chatting with friends and taking inventory of the liquor on the back bar, but we figure you don't go to a place like that for fast service on food. I have no idea what the place would be like for night life entertainment or what it turns in to at night, but for a nice lunch if you are down around 15203 Stony Plain Road in Edmonton then it might be worth your while to give it a look at.
I also asked before walking out the door about the name of the place. It is named for the two owners whose both names begin with D's. I don't think there was a woman in the whole place (patrons and workers) that was a D or higher. So, yeah, mystery solved and good lunch to boot.
Other than that, just basically have been hanging out around the house sick with a cold. I have had a cold from camp for the last 3 weeks and I get out of camp and start to get better but then manage to start to catch the cold the Mrs has had for the last 2 and a half weeks that she got from the kids. I used to have just a stuffed up nose and head but now I have a stuffed up runny nose and sore, dry, scratchy throat. Hoping that I can get rid of it before flying back on the 19th.
Plans for the next couple days are dinner at a friends place, The Gage Cup roller derby tournament (http://www.evillederby.com/), and movies (Losers, new Robin Hood, DVDs at home). So far cooking at home has been a total bust and all. All I have made has been a pasta like concoction and lamb shanks with the bone off and I tried to make a mint wine sauce to go with it. Not really my best work and all. Definitely need more practice on items and all. So far I have yet to make a meal that I can hold my head high and say "yep, I done that!"
Oh, bad grammar, that reminds me of an incident in camp that had the 1st cook and myself laughing and mocking for a few days. Some cause it was a funny thing and also cause we had been in camp for a long time, run ragged and just were going loopy. The housekeeper came to the back of the kitchen and was looking around for her breakfast. Apparently the breakfast cook had made her an omelet and said he put it in the fridge for her and she went looking for it. She couldn't find it so she walked away unhappy. Finally the breakfast cook came in after his morning workout and I said the housekeeper couldn't find her breakfast. So he went out and got it for her. Apparently he meant the fridges out in the dining room for the public not the fridge in the back that we keep our produce and meats in. I saw her about 20 minutes later when her break was ending and asked if she got her breakfast. She looked at me and said "Yep, I finded it". I looked at her and in my usual response of repeating bad grammar in the hopes that the person would pick up on it and repeat it correctly I asked "so you finded it easily?" and got the response "yep, I finded it in the front fridge..silly me" and she walked away. I told this to the 1st cook and he just laughed. After that we kept asking each other "did you finded the salt that you were looking for?" or "I had to make chicken wings for tomorrow, I dided it". Little stupid things that you do in isolation to help the days go by quicker.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
internet down and out of camp
FINALLY, internet....I cant believe it has been nearly 2 weeks since I was able to access the internet for more than 15 minutes without being hummed at. Ok, what happened...Seems there are two schools of thought as to what was happening out in camp. One theory was that the IT guy came in, wrote some code in the whole internet server computer thing-a-ma-giggy and the whole thing crashed. He then couldn't figure out where he wrote the code to erase it and was spending days trying to figure it out. There is also the theory that the wireless internet was being overloaded up in camp because people were coming in with their iPhones and logging on with Mac file share systems or just downloading music and movies by the handful while using Skype and all those other VoIP (Voice Over IP) software to talk to their families at home for free. Supposedly that was spiking the internet usage and if it went over a certain number point the system would shut down and have to be reset. So when the problem was sent to head office in Denver there were two choices:
1) give permission to put in effect a virus software program that would basically attach itself to any laptop or computer that used banned software (VoIP or other shareware programs) that would effectively freeze the whole system and the owner would then have to take the computer to the IT guy and say "I used a banned software" to have it removed. This would have probably taken about 2 to 3 days to implement and maybe a couple days to tell people what was happening and let them know that they were serious.
OR
2) do absolutely nothing and put it to a committee report in Denver and let people in another country make a decision after talking about it as to what to do. This will take about a month or so.
what do they decide? number 2 of course. I was putting in internet report problem forms once a day for 2 weeks straight. The other cook was doing that as well though he was making up some rather good reports. Like how he was disappointed he wasn't able to access the internet cause he had a pregnant wife that was about to give birth and he would have liked to have been able to check his email to find out if he was a dad (somewhat true since his sister is pregnant and he might be an uncle, or an aunt if it is a girl*G*, sometime in the very near future). Last I heard when the IT guy left last week was that the head IT guy from Denver was coming up to make a final decision on what to do about the whole internet thing. Luckily he goes up on May 14th so when I go in on May 19th I might have internet again in the rooms.
The whole 4 weeks were relatively typical. I did get a chance to bake for about 3 nights because Big D's cousin passed away and she had to go out 4 days early and the replacement baker wasn't able to make it in till that Friday. so I got to change from day shift to nights for 3 shifts to bake and then go to day shift again. Baking wasn't that bad. I thought I did fairly well though I did have a few problems, as to be expected. Took me some time to get used to how to bake the cookies. They are frozen ones that just have to be put on the sheet pan and baked but the timing has to be right. You go too long and they come out rock hard and people in camp like soft cookies. Of course, they don't tell me the timing and there are no instructions on the case, all I get is after two times coming out with hard cookies Radio comes up to me before shift and says "try not to burn the cookies again, dips*%t". Of course, after having shifted from day shift to nights for a short time and being sick my respectful answer was "two freaking days, no instructions and you want perfect baking? back off and go to bed". Yeah, don't think he was too happy with that response but when you are short staffed in camp and feeding nearly 200 people you really don't push people to the point that they quit*G*.
Flight out was interesting. Instead of flying straight from camp to YK to Edmonton like normal we got put on the northern milk run. We flew to Cambridge Bay then to Kugluktuk then to YK then to Edmonton. Camp to YK is only and hour and a half flight, the milk run took us from 12:45 to 5:30pm. Though one bit of fun excitement was when we were in Kug. We deplaned cause we had 20 minutes and I had to use the washroom but left my backpack on the plane. Just before boarding two guys went to the gate and had their tickets taken and started heading out the door. I was sitting just in front of the door so I got to see what was happening on the inside away from everyone else. One of the guys stood there and put out his hands and the other pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his back pocket and put them on the guy. They then walked out of the plane. When I asked the 1st cook if he saw that and then told him what I saw the 1st cook said that he heard someone mention at the ticket counter that there would be an RCMP office and prisoner flying south on the plane. When I re boarded the plane I got on in time to see the flight attendant carrying my backpack to the front of the plane. The prisoner had to take my seat because it was in the rear of the plane by the window. Best place to put a prisoner since no one can sit behind the officer and no one is beside the prisoner as a potential hostage or accomplice to escape. I had to be moved but thought it was interesting to be transporting a prisoner on a commercial flight. Though made me wonder if he got his free beverage and meal and if he did, was he allowed to go uncuffed to eat it.
So that is basically the story of the last couple weeks. Now am out of camp for two weeks before heading back on May 19th to two weeks day shift as 2nd cook and then 2 weeks breakfast cook. At least hopefully that is the plan. Either which way, gonna just enjoy my time at home with the furballs the the Mrs.
1) give permission to put in effect a virus software program that would basically attach itself to any laptop or computer that used banned software (VoIP or other shareware programs) that would effectively freeze the whole system and the owner would then have to take the computer to the IT guy and say "I used a banned software" to have it removed. This would have probably taken about 2 to 3 days to implement and maybe a couple days to tell people what was happening and let them know that they were serious.
OR
2) do absolutely nothing and put it to a committee report in Denver and let people in another country make a decision after talking about it as to what to do. This will take about a month or so.
what do they decide? number 2 of course. I was putting in internet report problem forms once a day for 2 weeks straight. The other cook was doing that as well though he was making up some rather good reports. Like how he was disappointed he wasn't able to access the internet cause he had a pregnant wife that was about to give birth and he would have liked to have been able to check his email to find out if he was a dad (somewhat true since his sister is pregnant and he might be an uncle, or an aunt if it is a girl*G*, sometime in the very near future). Last I heard when the IT guy left last week was that the head IT guy from Denver was coming up to make a final decision on what to do about the whole internet thing. Luckily he goes up on May 14th so when I go in on May 19th I might have internet again in the rooms.
The whole 4 weeks were relatively typical. I did get a chance to bake for about 3 nights because Big D's cousin passed away and she had to go out 4 days early and the replacement baker wasn't able to make it in till that Friday. so I got to change from day shift to nights for 3 shifts to bake and then go to day shift again. Baking wasn't that bad. I thought I did fairly well though I did have a few problems, as to be expected. Took me some time to get used to how to bake the cookies. They are frozen ones that just have to be put on the sheet pan and baked but the timing has to be right. You go too long and they come out rock hard and people in camp like soft cookies. Of course, they don't tell me the timing and there are no instructions on the case, all I get is after two times coming out with hard cookies Radio comes up to me before shift and says "try not to burn the cookies again, dips*%t". Of course, after having shifted from day shift to nights for a short time and being sick my respectful answer was "two freaking days, no instructions and you want perfect baking? back off and go to bed". Yeah, don't think he was too happy with that response but when you are short staffed in camp and feeding nearly 200 people you really don't push people to the point that they quit*G*.
Flight out was interesting. Instead of flying straight from camp to YK to Edmonton like normal we got put on the northern milk run. We flew to Cambridge Bay then to Kugluktuk then to YK then to Edmonton. Camp to YK is only and hour and a half flight, the milk run took us from 12:45 to 5:30pm. Though one bit of fun excitement was when we were in Kug. We deplaned cause we had 20 minutes and I had to use the washroom but left my backpack on the plane. Just before boarding two guys went to the gate and had their tickets taken and started heading out the door. I was sitting just in front of the door so I got to see what was happening on the inside away from everyone else. One of the guys stood there and put out his hands and the other pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his back pocket and put them on the guy. They then walked out of the plane. When I asked the 1st cook if he saw that and then told him what I saw the 1st cook said that he heard someone mention at the ticket counter that there would be an RCMP office and prisoner flying south on the plane. When I re boarded the plane I got on in time to see the flight attendant carrying my backpack to the front of the plane. The prisoner had to take my seat because it was in the rear of the plane by the window. Best place to put a prisoner since no one can sit behind the officer and no one is beside the prisoner as a potential hostage or accomplice to escape. I had to be moved but thought it was interesting to be transporting a prisoner on a commercial flight. Though made me wonder if he got his free beverage and meal and if he did, was he allowed to go uncuffed to eat it.
So that is basically the story of the last couple weeks. Now am out of camp for two weeks before heading back on May 19th to two weeks day shift as 2nd cook and then 2 weeks breakfast cook. At least hopefully that is the plan. Either which way, gonna just enjoy my time at home with the furballs the the Mrs.
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