my latest disappointment in movies.

lately, the movies that i've been going to have been disappointing. in general, they were alright and they were entertaining but a certain element was missing.

i usually go into movies expecting a certain something to happen. it can be a certain plot element, a character to appear, or a certain phrase to be said. a good example was hulk. i was expecting 2 things, a cameo from lou ferrigno and the hulk to say, "HULK SMASH!" i'm disappointed to say that the latter wasn't anywhere in the movie.

last night, i saw pirates of the caribbean. my expectations were low. i just really wanted to turn off my brain and enjoy a movie, no matter how much i kept flashing back to that horrible disney ride. it wasn't too bad, a little longer that what i would've wanted but still entertaining. sadly, the one expectation that i had didn't get fulfilled.

i just really wanted johnny depp to say "ARRR!" was that so much to ask?

nervous...

see, i have a final exam this week. its a writing exam, it requires that i write 2 essays. i'm very nervous.

not because of the exam mind you. i've been writing on this website for a while and regardless of bad spelling and grammar i think i can make swing the writing part of it. i'm nervous about the actual writing. i'm scared to pickup a pen and actually write on paper. my handwriting is terrible since i've been using a palm and a stylus to take meager notes, i don't even think i can write the letter 'x' without using graffiti. most things i write i type out in the computer with a keyboard. i don't think i even own a pencil (watch out office supplies).

i'm dead! the teacher will read my exam paper, throw it into the trash bin and mark me with a big fat 0 for illegibility.

again! please, not again. aka shaw still sucks!

yes folks, just when i thought it was all going to be over. its not. my cable isn't repaired yet. it's almost like a bad rerun of perfect strangers if you think about it. this time around tho, no one could do anything about it.

so the cable guy came to the house. i politely explain the situation. telling him about the rewire that needs to happen. how a new line has to be put in through to the living room directly from the cable box so i get better reception. he proceeded to ignore me and inspect every little nook and cranny of the house anyway. he even managed to look at the roof (the house used to have satellite). why? i'm still not quite sure.

after 20 minutes up and down ladders, in and out of the house, connect this and to that; he concluded the exact same thing that i was telling him from the start. it needed a rewire because the cable reception was terrible. the clincher was when i asked if he would be able to do it. he said no. explaining how it would take an hour and fifteen minutes for a rewire, drill and install of new cable and it was an hour to quitting time. he needed to get himself a beer he said. it had been a long day of installing and dealing with mouthy customers. i even offered to buy the beer if he'd fix it, continuing to explain how the problem has been dragging on for months on end. i even said that hasan said that it wouldn't be a problem. the only thing he said to that was "your friend hasan doesn't know much." which i highly doubt since hasan has been the only one that has managed to explain everything to me without making me feel stupid.

my sob story fell on deaf ears. his exact words were "i would like to do it, but i just don't have time." which seems to be the cry of union workers everywhere these days. i even begged to have a booster put in as a temporary solution. nope, can't even do that.

so there was nothing i could do. i took down his tech number, because he refused to tell me his name (probably because of the frustration that i was starting to show). he also began to call the support line to book my next appointment to do what i've been waiting 6 months to get done.

no point in being pissed off. i started to make small talk while he was on hold (how ironic, i've been on hold with that same tech support line many times). he explained how people have been getting laid off left and right. i sympathized with him, i tried to identify with him. i suppose something happened and he actually felt that i was planning on picketing with him if they striked or something. he agreed to run a line from a cable outlet to the living room as a temporary solution.

he made my appointment, i have to take a day off next week to accomodate their schedule and i'm tripping over coaxel cables in my living room. but hey, now i can watch ballistics ecks vs sever.

shaw sucks!

i hate shaw! if anyone wants lessons on how to enforce a weak business model; go to them!

i'm not going to go into a rant about their dumb tech support who thought i lived in the yukon and sent the cable guy to the wrong house 15 blocks away. this is more about their priorities.

i don't want to pause, rewind and fast forward my pay-per-view movies over their website. i don't want to watch ballistics ecks vs sever. i don't want to 'click here' so you can try and promote a pay-per-view event that was already finished the first day the advertisement ran.

i just want tivo to work in canada. that is all.

update: hasan rocks my world. he's going to fix everything! he's kinda like a knight in shining armor with coaxel cables.

pet peeve number 1209312073

let me clarify something, although my actual name is richard. i prefer to go by ritchie. let me clarify this to some people. there is a concept called a nickname. a nickname is basically a name that a person would prefer to go by. a moniker if you will.

now, when a nickname for a person exists they would prefer that you call them by that name and not their normal name. i'm sure if you called 50 cent by his real name: curtis; you'd get shot enough times to make you resemble a collander.

its not really that hard. ritchie instead of richard.

not that anyone cares or anything...

i was watching canadian idol (you know, its like american idol only with freakier looking contestants and judges) tonight. in all seriousness, its actually quite entertaining. here's a quick recap.

judge 1 (the one that looks like a fatter version of john ritter): you know, after hearing you sing it really touched me. but then again, i'm only here because they wanted 4 judges so they're not completely copying american idol. but hey you're good. really. no joke, but my opinion doesn't really matter. i'm just filler.

judge 2 (sass jordan): it was good. you really emoted and sang your heart out. (but then again, i'm canada's answer to paula abdul. its too bad they couldn't get rita mcneal.)

judge 3 (token black guy): yo dawg! oh whoops is that saying taken aready? but really its good dawg, oh shoot sorry. i mean you really nailed it. what do you think simo... er... zack? bling bling!

judge 4 (meanie annoying judge): you know you suck. no really. you suck. like i know you're probably really good in your little hometown but seriously you suck. did i mention that i'm not a complete copy of simon from american idol? oh man, shoot. i'm not really like him, no. hold up. actually, you were really good....you suck!

granny bait.

i've officially turned into the office jail bait... well no not really but still. it all started when i bought my new phone a few weeks ago. i decided to sell my old phone to get some cash back on the new one. my old phone, as everyone probably knows, was hacked to heck. instead of the regular rogers at&t on the top, it said "ritchie rocks!"

no biggie, i thought. i could switch it to any text the person wants.

well, she's buying the phone for her mother and said that she'll check with me to which text her mother would want. considering that this lady is probably twice my age, her mother would have to be in her late 80's... at the very least! her mother apprently got back to her today and said that she wanted to keep it because she wants everyone to think that she has a boyfriend.... ewww!

environments

it's a well known fact that animals adapt to their environment. take zoo animals for example, if you put an animal into a cage and spoon feed it everyday that animal won't learn how to hunt. of course, if you put a person into a work system that spoon feeds them... well, you get the picture.

my challenge aka... nerd post!

so the big challenge is getting everything sync'ed together. i have a palm and a new phone. i also have 4 computers (1 work, 2 desktops (xp and freebsd) and a laptop). each item has it's own calendar, to-do list and contact mgmt.

the challenge is to get everything working together. meaning, everything shows everywhere. my to-do list item to buy more crack cocaine groceries is available on all the 4 computers as well as my palm (the phone, i'll be happy with just the contacts).

i've already bought a sync cable for my work computer. it has a few issues but it works. i don't want to spend another 30 dollars on another usb sync cable for the palm so that's not an option. it seems to me that my only option is a usb infrared adaptor for the computer. this will give me palm and phone sync'ing capabilities as well as the ability to move it easily to the laptop.

unless someone else out there has any other ideas.