Facebook.. Friends Redefined.

Hmm..
How can I put this lightly..
HOLY SHIT!
Watch out, if you haven't heard about it already, you will. Facebook. It's a massive friend network instabloggy database kinda thing. I finally succombed after recieving a bunch of friend requests over the last few weeks. I stayed up late last night exploring the site, and stand beside myself in disbelief as to the amount of information out there, and the information people put voluntarily on the internet. In it's basic form, this site puts the Kevin Bacon "six degrees of separation" theory to a rigorous test. It's a tangled web of relational connections. Do you want to know why John is friends with Larry? Or where Jim met Leanne? How about if Leanne ever met up with John or Larry with Jim? Facebook will tell you. And, it'll throw in a shit load of other information, so much as a matter of fact, you'll wonder what the hell happened to the night as you sift through it all. I didn't go to bed until 2:00am this morning, I was on Facebook the whole time. Welcome to the next addiction. Another anti-christ is born. (Don't all CRC'rs see any addiction as the anti-christ?) Being in IT Security I do cringe at a few things. Here are the things I would watch out for:

1. DO NOT give the system your email address and password. It's just a BAD idea to do this. NEVER NEVER NEVER give ANY system your email address and password. I don't care how many times they say "this information will never be given out" etc.. bad idea. You can manually look for friends rather than having it "look through your email" for your friends. Besides, what it will do is attempt to email everyone of your friends telling them you are on facebook and want to be their friends.

2. Everything you post will be visible to EVERYONE. Privacy is NOT enabled by default. This means any personal information you enter in here can be and will be used as marketing information to target you to things like junkmail, junk phone calls..etc.. Companies are literally FROTHING at the mouths for all the information they can gleam from facebook. Do not put your home phone / cell phone / address in here. Cities are OK, and only very general information.

3. Don't believe everything you see. For example: Facebook says, Dan V and I dated, had a relationship, broke up and got back together and it was SUPERB, Julie S and I used to date and now it's complicated, Darlene and I took a Jungle Survival course together, Jen and I met when she served me pie at a restaurant.. etc.. My point in doing this is, what business is it of others how you know someone? I'm breaking that chain, (and maybe starting a few juicy rumours in the process!! Also.. I can be anyone I want in Facebook. I can open up an account using someone else's information, and become that person. The rub? THEY CAN'T DO A THING ABOUT IT. There is no control. You can't say to anyone, hey.. that's not me, delete that account. It won't happen. There are millions of people using this, and the government is not stepping in to help poor little you who's identity was stolen. All you need is an email address. That's it. An email address. ANYONE can get one at gmail or hotmail. As a matter of fact, I'm going to do this. I'm gonna emulate someone.. Hmmm... who should it be..

4. Facebook is all about "friends" remember. And some people consider the amount of friends you have as a score of some sort. Unless you're an 80 year old woman living with hundreds of cats, there is no way someone can have hundreds of friends. A friend of a friend is NOT a friend, and just because you went to school with someone 22 years ago, doesn't make that a friend either. No, a friend is someone you can phone up and ask you to move, or set up a playground.. (say this saturday at 4:00pm?) Or have icecream with, guilt free.. or go all in at a poker game with them, and reraise them a smile. /damn.. that was cheezy, that smile thing. (note to self, edit that)

I would say go ahead and use this site, after all that it's still kinda cool hooking up with old buddies etc.. BUT, if you attempt to add me as a friend, be prepared to get a screwed up reason how I know you.

www.facebook.com

See you online.

Post Secret

In my brave travels through the abyss of the internet, I came across a blog. This blog is unlike anything I have ever seen. A brilliant idea. It's called Post Secret. The basic premise of the blog is posting a secret about yourself which has never been spoken to anyone. In order to do this however, you must mail a post card to the blog owner with your secret clearly displayed on the front. You can tape text to it, write on it, or draw on it. It's unreal what people send in, and every sunday new secrets come out. The restriction of mailing in a real post card is what makes this site work. The creativity on some of these cards is truely amazing. I urge you to take a look. Click Here

Here's an example:

Oh the boring things I do..

A little insight to my daily activities.

Today I built a Linux server, more specifically, a debian variant Linux server called "Ubuntu Server (Fiesty Fawn)". On this server i put a website.. a secure one. You can check it out if you like, it's at https://securetimes.sublime.ca There's not much there right now, except for a hidden directory in /html called /private of which you need a username and password to gain entrance. The whole point of this server creation is to test out our security team. Inside this private folder is a $100 gift certificate for Best Buy. The first person to access this file wins the hacking challenge and is awarded the gift cert. The contest will be starting in about a month, so I think I'm gonna spruce it up a bit and build a story around it, a story about a spy who uses the web to transmit his illegally obtained information. These are boring things I do.. :)

Do you feel lucky? Huh shrimp? Do ya?

This is crazy.. watch video..



Yea.. no kidding. This is real. If you don't believe me, check out the links below:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/10/1003_SnappingShrimp.html
or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistol_shrimp

Cartoon..

MP3 of the Week

Gonna start something new.. an mp3 of the week.

Every friday I'll upload a new mp3 which you can, readers of my blog, d o w n l o a d and jack into your ipods for your listening pleasure. You will have to actually purchase the album if you enjoy the song though. ;-)

Ok, this week's mp3 falls under the ever so popular anti-war theme going on right now with most popular bands. This track quotes Jean-Paul Sartre "when the rich wage war, it's the poor who die" and this becomes the theme. This is track seven on the new Linkin Park album Minutes to Midnight. The track is called "Hands Held High".

Lyric Warning: A few F bombs.. but how can you talk about war without a few bombs?

The Lyrics:

Turn my mic up louder, I got to say something.Lightweight step it aside, when we comin'.Feel it in your chest, the syllables get pumping.People on the street, they panic and start running.Words on loose leaf sheet complete coming.I jump on my mind, I summon the rhyme of dumping.Healing the blind, I promise to let the sun in.Sick of the dark ways, we march to the drumming.Jump when they tell us they want to see jumping.**** that, I want to see some fist pumping.Risk something.Take back what's yours.Say something that you know they might attack you forCause I'm sick of being treated like I have before.Like i'm stupid standing for what I'm standing for.Like this war's really just a different brand of war.Like it doesn't cater to rich and abandon poorLike they understand you in the back of the jet,When you can't put gas in your tank,These ****ers are laughing their wayTo the bank and cashing a checkAsking you to have compassion and have some respectFor a leader so nervous in an obvious wayStuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replayAnd the rest of the world watching at the end of the dayIn their living room laughing like, "What did he say?"Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, AmenIn my living room watching,But I am not laughing.'Cause when it gets tense,I know what might happen.The world is cold, and bold men take action.Have to react to get blown into fractions.10 years old is something to see,Another kid my age drugged under a G,Taken and bound and found later under a tree,I wonder if he thought, "The next one could be me."Do you see?The soldiers that are out today.That brush the dust with bulletproof vests away.It's ironic.At times like this you pray,But a bomb blew the mosque up yesterday.There's bombs in the buses, bikes, roads,Inside your market, your shops, your clothes,My dad, he's got a lot of fear I know,But enough pride inside not to let that show.My brother had a book he would hold with pride,A little red cover with a broken spine.In the back he hand wrote a quote inside,"When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die."Meanwhile, the leader just talks awayStuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replayAnd the rest of the world watching at the end of the dayBoth scared and angry like, "What did he say?"Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen.With hands held high into a sky so blue,The ocean opens up to swallow you. (x6)

I have never..

..looked so forward to a freakin television show as I do now. TONIGHT.. LOST SEASON THREE 2 hour FINALE! Come over for the high def version.. you know you want to!
- My Theories.. (may contain spoilers to those who have not watched season three yet)

• Charlie is finally gonna die brutha
• Irritating Rose and her annoying husband.. gonzo.. gonna bite it in the battle.
• "The Looking Glass" refers to the sequel of Alice in Wonderland where there is mirroring and time shifting. Also why the logo for the looking glass station is a rabbit..
• Alex is pregnant... this is almost a guarantee, due to the fact in the last episode she is seen killing a rabbit. (Am I the only one who notices these things?)
• Mr Negativity aka Jack MIGHT .. might.. be killed in endgame battle with Ben, hopefully anyway.. he's about as annoying and irritating as Rose and her husband.
• Ben is not going anywhere. He makes the show.. the perfect villian.
• As much as I don't want to see their faces anymore, I think Michael and his psycho son are coming back.. If he does, I kinda hope he dies for his back handed betrayal of his people.
• I think smokey is going to participate in the battle.. siding with the losties.
• Patchy, aka Mikail, is gonna die at the mighty hands of DESMOND

So lots of death and mayhem. Gonna be good.. ooo yea.. gonna be good.

Poker.. A Few Thoughts..

In light of last nights inpromptu get together:

There seemed to be an overwhelming feeling of guilt for playing a game of poker on a monday night after the big tourney night on friday. Why do we feel this way? It is any different than going out for a beer with a bunch of guys where all our money goes to the bar, and our bellies get stuffed with obligatory pints and greasy foods? Instead, we get together for a beer in a friends garage and eat yellow peppers, italian roma tomatoes. cucumbers and wash it down with an apple cider. Obviously the better choice. Now, a bunch of guys getting together to eat veggies and have a beer or cider, and there happens to be a poker table loaded with cards and chips. What better way to spend time? Time with good food, good people and a good game. This, in my opinion, is the best way for guys to spend together.

Think about this --> pool halls and golf courses. Guys don't like much to just sit around and gab, we need to be doing something. Some kind of competition. The problem with Pool Halls and Golf Courses, they all require a lot of skill and a lot of practice. Poker on the other hand, is a unique hybrid of skill and luck. It takes very little skill and time to learn how to play, a total rookie can sweep a 20 man tourney, beacuse he's getting "good cards" or "getting lucky" and yet the skill part of the game is a tantalizing potpurree of calculating odds, reading players, manipulation, getting into the heads of players, and mastering the meta game. Poker is an intimate game. The feeling of sitting at a table with stacks of chips in front of you is empowering, and winning a tourney is gigantic! you've out-smarted, out-played and out-drew everyone there. It's the reason you came.

Yea there's a time for pool halls or golf. But for cost and convienience, poker can't be beat.

These are my thoughts. I'd like to hear yours. Click on the comments line below this message and let me know you think. If you don't have a blogger account, just click anonymous when posting, but throw your name in the comment somewhere.

Amazing thing...

So I'm sitting here in chinook mall waiting for sears to open, and there is a whole bunch of people waiting as well.  My thoughts were that they were waiting for the sears to open as well.  But they were not.  They were all waiting for this small kiosk to open up in front of sears, the royal lepage kiosk with the new home listings.. Crazy.  A flurry of pens and papers and cell phone calls in within five minutes they were gone.  I think home prices in calgary are gonna get even crazier.

Welcome to Poker with Ray

Like a friggen pro, Ray walks over the poker tables, kicking the teeth out of his competition with a second place and a first place win, knockin yours truly out with a third place win.  I don't think I've seen him play better proving to be the one to be knocked out in future bouts.  I do however take credit for teaching him all he knows about the game, kinda like what I did with fly fishing... Ray, its a proud moment in my life to be taken down by a student, such as it was the day you caught more fish than me. You are on your own now, I have to let you go... Be all the player and fisher you can be, and one day... One day you might be able to teach me something.  Just remember, when you walk into my dojo, I will always be the sensay, and you the grasshopper. 


--sent with the almighty blackberry--

The Waiter.. Chapter One

I started to write a story, just as an excercise to see what would come out without any planning, plotting, character development or anything like that. Just typing.. in one sitting. What came out was this:



The Waiter - Chapter One



I am here, I am waiting. I didn’t choose the place, or the time, but I am here, waiting. At least the bitter coldness of February is temporarily subdued, and the subtle warmth of the winter sun is becoming noticeable on my black wool jacket. I tuck my hands in my coat pocket and shrug my shoulders in an effort to block any cold entering the opening between my jacket and my chin. Why would he choose this place? A few others are around, the homeless types. They must have slept here during the night. Drug and alcohol addicts, some sitting, some lying down, all of them barely living. They have blank stares, starring at the rotting leaves on the ground. In this park the leaves aren’t cleaned up, they are left to rot. No one cares about this park. Why would they? It’s where you come to decompose. It stinks of expiration. I don’t feel sorry for these people, I can’t. I want to, but I can’t. Why the hell would he choose this place? A café would have sufficed. I could sure use a coffee. There is a great café not five minutes from here. The coffee is always fresh, and they use real cream, so thick it’s almost whipped. They even bake their own muffins. Blueberry bran muffins, right out of the oven, served with butter, real butter, not that fake margarine shit. I bet anyone of these destitute freaks would kill for one of those muffins. If I had a watch I’d look at it. I’m sure I got the time right. 9:00am. When I walked by the steam clock it was 8:45am, that was about a quarter hour ago. He’ll be here any moment now. I hate waiting. Waiting makes you think. Thinking makes you feel. Feeling brings guilt. I don’t feel, I can’t feel. Feelings are for the weak.. and guilt is for the dead. If I felt guilt, I’d be dead. Where is he? I hate waiting.

Oatmeal.. the benefits

I've been oatmealing now for two weeks. Oatmeal in the morning, that's the deal. (save for weekends, I think that's fair)
How do I feel different? VERY Interesting things have been happening to me as a result of Ray's Oatmeal challenge.

So.. The Top 10 Changes Oatmeal Has Made To My Life Thus Far

Number Ten
Colors are becoming more brilliant. I don't know if this is just a coincidence, but I'm starting to notice green grass, colorful blooms in the trees, and bright yellow and red tulips have somehow appeared in the back yard.

Number Nine
It's staying light longer. I was noticing this the other day when I was at Mike and Cathy's for dinner. It was 10pm and still appeared quite light out. Nice. I like! Do you like?

Number Eight
Gave me a reason to blog again..

Number Seven
My KIDS have become smarter, and inquisitive. "Dad, what is that you're eating?" "It's Oatmeal" "That doesn't look so good, it looks bruised" "That's the blueberries" "It looks gross" "It's actually not that bad" "You're lying to us" "Want to try some?" "Yea, I want to try that like I want to try mixing barium hydroxide octahydrate crystals with dry ammonium chloride.. no thanks Dad."

Number Six
Allowing me to come the undenial conclusion that Jacob is actually a time spliced version of JOHN LOCKE. Yea, that's right.. Jacob = John. If you don't know what i'm talking about, watch Lost. Learn Lost. Love Lost.

Number Five
Somehow, due to the consumption of oatmeal, and through the phenomenon known as "Transference" I was able to make Leo addicted to something. Ask her if your interested. We might need to do an intervention, followed by a few episodes of oh, I dunno, GREY'S ANATOMY? (Interesting note about the show: the creator once studied to be a monk, and after his six months vow of silence, came to the realization that all of his follow monks were gay, which made him decide it wasn't for him. An Anagram of "GREYS ANATOMY" is "GAY MONASTERY")

Number Four
I became an anagram machine. I can find hidden messages in almost anything you throw at me. For example.. an anagram of OATMEAL is "EAT LOAM" and if you think "UNFIT ANABOLITIC BIOLOGISM " is just a fluke that it's anagram is "SUBLIMATION BLOGIFICATION" you'd be wrong, way wrong my friend. Don't underestimate the anagram machine. I rock the khasba, over and over, and then.. when I'm done.. i'll rock it again.

Number Three
I don't wear sunglasses as much as I used to. Mostly due to the fact that I forgot where I put mine.

Number Two
Figured out what a "Khasba" is, you know from the song, Rock the Khasba? Well turns out it's actually spelled "Casbah" and it's a castle or palace in northern Africa. Who woulda thought.
"Now over at the temple Oh! they really pack em in. The in crowd say its cool to dig this chanting thing. But as the wind changed direction, the temple band took five. The crowd caught a wiff of that crazy casbah jive"

AND THE NUMBER ONE CHANGE OATMEAL HAS MADE TO MY LIFE..
Made food tastes better, way better.. well.. compared to oatmeal.

Two hunters..

Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy takes out his phone and calls the emergency services.
He gasps: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says: "Calm down, I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a gunshot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says: "OK, now what?"

---

In Oct 2002, after 40,000 entries from 70 countries and 2 million ratings, the above joke was considered to be the official world's funniest joke.

I gotta have more cowbell..

What do you think the chances are of this:

Last night, we're playin' a little poker with the boys, and for some reason Ray mentions something about the SNL skit of 2000 called "I gotta have more cowbell". I've never seen it so I am not participatory in the laughter which follows. Then Dan, gets out his cell phone and tells us we have to listen to something, and it's a voicemail recording of his brother in law from earlier that day saying, "DAN, I gotta have more cowbell" ok... as if that's not freaky enough.. it goes on.

Matt (who was at the game) emails me this morning saying,

"I am listening to "more cowbell song " in a supplier right now. Crazy world man!"

okay that's just creepy. Then this...

I'm surfing the web at work this morning, NOT anything related to "cow bell" or SNL, and I come across a website with a sponser.. the sponser's banner said.. Gotta Have More CowBell TSHIRTS (click here if you don't believe me)

Two occurances... coincidence.. Three occurances.. Something's going on here but FOUR??? Undeniably out of world system sending a message, warning perhaps. So of course I have to analyze the phrase "I GOTTA HAVE MORE COWBELL"

Now.. what you are about to see will surprise the hell out of you. Cause it's undeniably true. I solved the puzzle. If you take all the 21 letters from the phrase "I GOTTA HAVE MORE COWBELL" and re-arrange them, not adding any letters or taking any away (an anagram).. you get... this..

ready? (this is some kinda crazy)

I GOTTA HAVE MORE COWBELL

converts to

OATMEAL BLOC OVERWEIGHT

Please! Count the letters! Prove me wrong! it's a direct anagram!

THANK YOU UNIVERSE FOR PROVIDING ME WITH THIS MESSAGE, I SHALL CONTINUE ON WITH THE OATMEAL CHALLENGE

The Sandwich Terrorist

If there is one thing for certain here in Calgary, it's this: If you don't like your job, you can get a new one. Yes, that's right; you can work where ever you want. Ok, what does this mean? This means that if for whatever reason you don't LIKE YOUR JOB, feel free to throw in the towel and find something which MAKES YOU HAPPY.

I decided to allow Subway to appease my light appetite for lunch today. I ordered a six inch seafood sub. (Hey Alex, the 12" sub called, he's wondering what happened.. friggen oatmeal happened, with blueberries...tell him I'll call him back in two months.)

The worker, err.. "sandwich artist" who prepared my sub did not like her job. She was not happy, and she decided to be not happy to my sub. You know how they nicely lay the cheese slightly over lapping, careful to cover the whole sub? Not angry lady.. no... she throws two pieces of cheese in the middle of the sub. I say.. "you think you can spread those out a little" while doing the open-the-tent-door action with my hands. She took great offense to this and the rest of the veggies went on with a violent release of deep-seeded suppressed religious petulance. Then in a surprise attack mustard was blown all over it with a terroristic blast. I didn't even ask for mustard, but I knew I wasn't in control anymore. It was then wrapped in a C4 napkin and thrown into the bag, timer set to zero. It's not my sub's fault you don't like your job, and it certainly isn't mine. Why, for the love of everything sacred, are you working there?? Why don't you try next door maybe at the Pianni's Pizza.. or perhaps at the ONE POINT TWO MILLION OTHER JOB OPENINGS IN CALGARY??!? THAT WAS NOT A SUB YOU MADE ME, THAT WAS A PLASTIC BAG FULL OF SUICIDE SEAFOOD EXPLOSION! I didn't make a stink about this, I was with co workers and had to maintain my sense of professionalism. I ate it anyway.. but there is something to be said about presentation. Picture a sandwich, all nice and cut nicely.. mmm yummy.. now picture that sub smashed and smeared up on a window.. same ingredients, not so yummy, no..not so yummy at all. All cause someone doesn't like the job. Get a paper, pick up a phone..get a new job.

Knock knock..

Who's there?
A Man..
A Man who?
A man who decided he didn't like the color he was, so he painted himself purple with paint, thinking he might be more accepted. He was more accepted, and people liked him, and he learned to like people again, and everyone was happy. Only..... it wasn't a man, it was a bowl of oatmeal, and it wasn't paint.. it was blueberries.

where is paris hilton? Pictures of paris hilton in jail. I would like to see that.

A slight discoloration

Blue berries make the oatmeal purple.

five days out of five days.

Oatmeal??

I have been challenged by my brother to eat a bowl of oatmeal every morning for sixty days. I took the challenge. I am on day four. 56 to go.. easy challenge.

I should challenge Ray to sixty days of not using the F word. I have the better odds.

My life as I know it.... Is over

I just ordered a large coffee with two milk and two sweetener. What the heck... is the matter... with me... Oatmeal. More later.