Another overdue update.

[lance_sibley]

We'll start with Wednesday, and get the bowling report out of the way. We did not have a good night - personally, my scores were 146, 121 and 159 - all three games below my average.

One of the weird things about the playoffs is that you don't stay on one lane all night - you change lanes for the second game, and again for the third. Because different pairs of lanes have different oil conditions, the ball behaves differently and you have to adjust. In the second game, it took me six frames to figure out that if I threw the ball down the middle, it wouldn't hook. Before that, it was veering wildly off to the left instead of coming into the middle.

Alas, my teammates also had a rough night - they each only had one good game. So we're not last going into the second week, but we're a good 300 pins out of first. (We're actually in competition against every other team in the consolation round, not just the team we're sharing a set of lanes with. And all we have to do is get into the top half to advance to the final.)

Oh, and just so that nobody will ask the inevitable question... since I'd gotten there early, and one of John's teammates usually arrives early, I decided to ask her if she knew whether or not he was seeing someone. Her response was, "I don't think so... if he is, it's not serious." There was a "small world" aspect to the conversation as well - I happened to say that part of the reason I've been hesitating is because I don't have much time to socialize these days. I specifically mentioned that I haven't even been to the bridge club in several months. She said, "Oh, you play bridge? Do you know of the Kate Buckman Studio?" Know it? I'm a member there. "Do you know Barbara Seagram?" Know her? I've known her for over ten years. She once offered me a part-time job as a game director, but I wasn't really all that interested. Anyway, it turns out that John's teammate works for Barbara's publisher, and designs her bridge books. As I said... small world.

Backing up to Wednesday afternoon, I had a call from a headhunter regarding a 16-month contract position out in Mississauga. I asked him for a day to consider it, and then I spent most of Thursday trying to navigate the Mississauga Transit website to determine how I would get out there. Unfortunately, their trip planner page needs work - it has a set of drop-down menus, where you can enter your starting location, your ending location and the time of day. Locations can be entered as landmarks, addresses, intersections, or stop numbers. However, the drop-down would just say "loading landmarks" (or whatever I was entering), and sit there for ten minutes. It was timing out, but not coming back and telling me. When it did come back, it was only displaying ten results; I'd have to click on "show more" and then wait another 10 minutes.

Eventually, after about three hours of messing about, I found a couple of ways to get there, but the fastest would take me about an hour and 15 minutes from Islington station (which is about 45 minutes from my apartment). Most of the possible routes (including taking the GO bus out to Mississauga and Mississauga Transit from there) assume that people live in Mississauga and work in Toronto, and so they don't run in the opposite direction in the mornings. I called the headhunter back and told him that it would be tricky, but I would be willing to go for an interview to see how long it really takes. He asked how many years of experience I have with DB2, and I told him, and then he asked, "And how many years as a DBA?"

Excuse me? This is a DBA position? He never mentioned that until that particular moment... so I spent three hours trying to figure out how to get to a job for which I was completely unqualified. (As a developer, I'm an expert with DB2... but I have no credentials to do a DBA job.)

Fortunately, he took full responsibility for not having previously told me that it was a DBA job, and apologized.

The funny thing about it was that this headhunter's office is at 40 Holly Street. What's the significance of this, you may ask? Well, here's how to get there from my place:





My apartment building is actually the white one below and to the left of the green car icon. So all I would have to do is walk out the back door of my building, across the courtyard, down the steps and across the street.

We could probably conduct the interview by Semaphore, or tin cans and string. I'm just glad he hadn't phoned first thing in the morning and woken me up... I wouldn't have wanted him to look across and see me standing in my living room naked, on the phone with him. That could negatively impact my employment potential.

I also had another call from another headhunter, for pretty much the same job I held at Manulife. It's amazing how many headhunters are calling me based on my online resume about the job I was fired from. I guess I was a pretty good fit there despite my manager being a twit.

Then, last night, I went out to the First Thursday pubnight. I had some Gaylaxicon stuff for our treasurer, but she wasn't there, as she (and her husband) are still recovering from Ad Astra. However, it wasn't a complete loss... mvt treated me to gelato afterwards at a lovely little shop about a 20 minute walk from my place. They give you four scoops with the large cup; I had pistachio, lemon, hazelnut and Twix (yeah, I know, that's mostly just hazelnut too... but it had chunks of chocolate in it). It was delicious.

Today, I mostly read and sent email. I had a visit from Michael W. around 8, dropping some stuff off - I'd been expecting him at 6:30, so I hadn't had dinner yet, and so I'm about two hours behind, and there's some stuff that I had intended to get done today for Gaylaxicon that I still haven't gotten to. On the other hand, I've gotten lots of other stuff done today, so that's good.

I have a complaint for the people at Showcase. They're advertising a new series, a comedy about a bunch of young lawyers, called Billable Hours. It stars Fabrizio Filippo, so naturally I have to watch it. The problem is that it airs Sundays at 9:30pm, smack in the middle of Desperate Housewives. Dang it all, not counting hockey and baseball games, I watch three hours of television per week - four when Doctor Who is on - and they have to put a show starring Fab on opposite one of my other shows? Someone at Showcase needs to be slapped.

I should probably try to get to sleep at a somewhat-decent hour tonight, as I have a Gaylaxicon concom meeting tomorrow, and then two TT meetings on Sunday that mean I will have to be awake and alert at the crack of dawn, as opposed to falling asleep at the crack of dawn...

Assorted memeage
Tagged by assetic, I think it was... I think I've done this before, but I tried picking some new weird things.

The Game:
Each player of this game starts with the "6 weird habits/things about yourself" and people who get tagged need to write a blog of their 6 weird habits/things, as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names.

1. First thing in the morning when I get up, I start brushing my teeth and then check my email at the same time. Naked.


2. I eat peanut butter right out of the jar with a spoon.


3. When walking up or down stairs, I have to end on my left foot.


4. I take my PDA with me to the bathroom and play solitaire when I'm on the toilet. Unless I haven't read the paper yet, in which case I take the newspaper (though that's not as strange).


5. I can't stand to have my belly button touched. (That falls under the "weird things" distinction rather than the "weird habits," I know.)


6. I have a rather large stuffed animal collection which includes, among others, 27 bunnies, 14 bears, 4 lions, 2 tigers, a sheep, an alligator, 3 cats, 10 dogs, 4 beavers, a seal, an elephant, 3 sharks, a panda, 2 koalas, a dragon, a dinosaur, a moose, a penguin, a kangaroo, 2 mice, a raccoon, 4 fish, a squirrel, 2 nondescript furballs I call "bips," another nondescript furball I call a "snowball," and a Cthulhu. And those are just the ones I spotted when I walked into the bedroom just now. Some of them may be playing hide-and-seek. (The distressing thing is that I can't remember all their names. :( )

Tagging: ozreison, mencc1701, lizblackdog, seandc, mzrowan and kanecool.

boywhocantsayno's LiveJournal popularity rating is 4.31/10. boywhocantsayno is more popular than 98.9% of all LiveJournal users. boywhocantsayno is more popular than 85.5% of their mutual friends. How popular are you? LJ Popularity created by thehumangame.

what decade does your personality live in?


quiz brought to you by lady interference, ltd


The Wikipedia Birthday game, gakked from many people. Go to Wikipedia, look up your birthday, leaving off the year. Pick three events, two births, and one death and post them here.

I couldn't restrict myself to just three - lots of interesting stuff has happened on my birthday.

Events

• 490 BC - the Battle of Marathon, in which Athens defeated an invasion army of Persians, may have been fought on this date in the proleptic Julian calendar.


• 1099 - The First Crusade concluded with a decisive victory in the Battle of Ascalon over Fatimid forces under Al-Afdal Shahanshah.


• 1851 - Isaac Singer granted a patent for his sewing machine


• 1877 - Asaph Hall discovers Deimos


• 1883 - The last quagga dies at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam


• 1898 - Armistice ends the Spanish-American War


• 1898 - The Hawaiian flag is lowered from Iolani Palace in an elaborate annexation ceremony and replaced with the American flag to signify the transfer of sovereignty from the Republic of Hawaii to the United States.


• 1908 - First Model T Ford built


• 1914 - World War I - Britain declares war on Austria-Hungary; British Empire countries automatically included.


• 1953 - Nuclear testing: The Soviet atomic bomb project proceeded with the detonation of Joe 4, the first Soviet thermonuclear weapon.


• 1960 - Echo I, the first communications satellite, launched


• 1985 - Japan Airlines Flight 123, a Boeing 747 jumbo jet, crashes into Mount Ogura in Gunma Prefecture Japan killing 520 in the world's worst single-plane air disaster. Four people miraculously survive.


• 1990 - Sue, the most complete skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex, was discovered near Faith, South Dakota.


• 1992 - Canada, Mexico and the United States announce completion of negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Births

• 1503 - Christian III of Denmark and Norway (d. 1559)


• 1762 - King George IV of the United Kingdom (d. 1830)


• 1881 - Cecil B. DeMille, American director (d. 1959)


• 1911 - Jane Wyatt, American actress


• 1925 - Norris McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records (d. 2004)


• 1925 - Ross McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records (d. 1975)


• 1931 - William Goldman, American screenwriter


• 1949 - Mark Knopfler, British guitarist


• 1956 - Bruce Greenwood, Canadian actor


• 1962 - Miss Cleo, American psychic

Deaths

• 30 BC - Cleopatra (b. 69 BC)


• 875 - Louis II Holy Roman Emperor (b. 825)


• 1484 - Pope Sixtus IV (b. 1414)


• 1689 - Pope Innocent XI (b. 1611)


• 1964 - Ian Fleming, English novelist (b. 1908)


• 1982 - Henry Fonda, American actor (b. 1905)


• 1992 - John Cage, American composer (b. 1912)

Comments

[hoskie.livejournal.com]

You think spending three hours trying to figure out public transit in the comfort of your own home is bad? Read my latest entry... then you will know TRUE pain. *laughs*

I wouldn't have wanted him to look across and see me standing in my living room naked, on the phone with him. That could negatively impact my employment potential.
*giggle fit*

The distressing thing is that I can't remember all their names. :(
It gets to be that way when you have so many... :/

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

You think spending three hours trying to figure out public transit in the comfort of your own home is bad? Read my latest entry... then you will know TRUE pain. *laughs*

Read, and commented. You have my sympathy. I had to go up that way for a job interview a month or so ago.

It gets to be that way when you have so many... :/

The weird thing is that occasionally, they'll come back to me out of the blue. I really should write them down. Right now, the fact that I can't remember the name of one of my little purple bunnies is bothering me, and the more I think about it, the harder it gets to think of what it might be.

[hoskie.livejournal.com]

I really should write them down.
That's actually a very good idea! I'm totally anal retentive, I wonder why I haven't done that yet? :P

[summ3r-daze.livejournal.com]

We could probably conduct the interview by Semaphore, or tin cans and string. I'm just glad he hadn't phoned first thing in the morning and woken me up... I wouldn't have wanted him to look across and see me standing in my living room naked, on the phone with him. That could negatively impact my employment potential.

TMI TMI TMI TMI!!!
inappropriate images in my brain!

[avt-tor.livejournal.com]

However, it wasn't a complete loss... [info]mvt treated me to gelato afterwards at a lovely little shop about a 20 minute walk from my place.

The world is very small. :) Glad she had good company.


I take my PDA with me to the bathroom and play solitaire when I'm on the toilet.

Texas Hold 'Em.


Unless I haven't read the paper yet, in which case I take the newspaper (though that's not as strange).

You get news on paper? How quaint. That is not less strange, IMO.