Cause I let you down my friend, but I'll never let you down again

This is another random post. Once again my mind is everywhere as if it's a car driving down the street at 200 miles/hour. 

I've been watching a lot of movies lately. The past few week I went through the following: -Futurama -Get Smart -The Sharp End -Russell Peters -Quantum of Solace -Wanted

The Sharp End trailer, great movie!

I don't know if it's because the lack of decent TV programs to watch (I only get 28 channels only ~10 watchable ones), the crappy Vancouver weather, or that I have nothing to do. In some way it's kinda nice to catch up on some of the movies I haven't watched but deep inside I just want to play outside and take pictures... why wouldn't it snow? A few tele turns down the slope and maybe a few tele-face-plants into fresh powder. Is that too much to ask Snow God? Maybe Snow God is angry at us for driving too much? I signed up on Wordpress today and played in the sandbox like a little kid. The Wordpress themes are way more professional looking than Blogger's but somehow I feel constrained. To use the "advanced" features (CCS) one would have to pay. Being the cheap bastard I am, I realy don't want to pay. So the option is stick with "old" blogger (I haven't switch over to the new layout) or jump the ship and move over to Wordpress. I guess only time will tell... Last night I was talking to Stacy on G-talk (aka the ex-wife. Ok I think this inside joke needs to die) and somehow the conversation stumbled upon the topic of love interests. You see there is this girl I was interested in and made several attempts for a casual date/coffee/whatever you call it. Anyway, she seemed to be always busy and never really replied my messages despite making myself pretty clear that I'm interested. Eventually I got fed up and decided that she's not worth my time. "She's not worth your time," Stacy wrote as I told her about they story.

Funny cuz that's exactly what Lorraine said too...

"So tell me the top 5 traits you're looking for." "Outdoorsy is a must, or at least have an appreciation for the outdoors." "And she must be sarcastic and not afraid to be goofy. I mean look at our circle of friends. We're all fucking goof-balls." "Touche." This morning I helped Stacy moving to her place in Kits. It's a really nice 1 bedroom place. Funny that I've seen her place already considering that she hasn't yet seen my apartment since I moved in back in May. I seriously need to lock myself in a cave, away from the civilization for a while, just to prevent myself from spending money on goodies. I made a few big purchases the last two months - an outdoor down jacket, winter outdoor gear, and a MacBook Pro. Today I went to MEC and purchased myself this. Yes I bought a $420 avalanche beacon. It was painful giving the cashier my Visa card and singing the receipt. MEC rents out beacons at $35/week. I better head out a lot this winter season to justify this insane purchase... Oh I've decided to give Twitter another try after reading Tyler's recent post. You can find me at http://twitter.com/tawcan (it's not that hard to figure out isn't it?) Time to make myself dinner and maybe watch another movie. Ha!

Love

Shockingly this post has nothing to do with me falling in love with a girl. Tonight I'm going to blog about my love for food, more specifically, my love of making my own meal. I can't remember when was the first time I made a meal on my own, I was probably in my teen (or maybe younger) and the ingredients most likely involved eggs and some sort of ground up meat. It probably didn't taste too good but I probably didn't really care. Unlike some bachelors living on their own, I do enjoy cooking. In fact I love it. This particular love probably came from my mom since my dad isn't exactly the best cook out there. After a long day of work, I find cooking to be one of the best relaxation methods. On the way home from work I often think about what I have in the fridge and what kind of yummy goodies I can make that night. Since I live pretty close to the grocery store (~1.2 km) I often go there on a nightly basis just to pick up the necessary ingredients to make what I want. I find it quite rewarding eating something I make, not to mention I can save a bit of money too. Sure sometimes I get a bit lazy and just want to eat out, but that doesn't happen all that often (but in my roommate Mike's case..more like 6 out of 7 days. I swear 90% of the stuff in the fridge/freezer are mine). 

Some people might argue that it's very hard to cook a meal for one person. They might also argue that if you cook you'd have to make multiple portions of food, meaning you'd have to eat the same food for days. Therefore, they conclude, you should just give up on cooking and eat out. I used to agree to these statements but over the years I've figured out a thing or two. I can whip out a hearty meal in between 30 minutes to an hour. I usually make enough food such that it's good for 3-4 meals in total. I'd eat one portion and pack the rest for lunches or dinners. I'd typically cook again the next day and pack some more. Now I have 2 sets of food to rotate throughout the week. If I cook again for the 3rd time of the week, I'd have 3 sets of meals to rotate. In my opinion, it works like wonder. From time to time I'd splurge and make myself one fantastic meal that'd leave no leftovers. This usually means a steak dinner, a piece of grilled salmon, or some sort of yummy meat dish. And my elaborated cooking process usually involves both the stove and the oven, meaning cleaning can be a really pain in the ass. But I don't mind. To me cleaning up is a part of the enjoyment for making your own meal.

Tonight while driving home from work I remembered that I had some mushrooms in the fridge. I walked to Save-On-Foods, wandered around, and decided that I'd use the mushrooms and make some Swedish meatballs without following any recipes. I bought some extra lean ground beef, eggs, a green pepper, couple tomatoes, and some fresh parsley. About an hour later I was eating my own version of Swedish meatball pasta (or maybe I should call it Monkeyish meatball pasta?). Another successful experimental meal in the book. : )

Bang bang kaboom kaboom #2

Continuing with the previous post..

Today I went into work's shipping department and checked out how much it'd cost me to ship the lens. It turned out to be $10 so I bit the nail and shipped it out. I thought about going with the store but decided against it. Why? Well...

1. If I ship it myself I can actually phone up Canon and track the repair progress myself
2. Turn around time is much shorter. Probably around 1 week to 1.5 weeks? It'd certainly be nice to get the lens back before xmas. At my current rate of picture taking (~30/day) I need my lens!

For now though I'm stuck with my 50mm prime lens. Well I suppose it's better than having no lens at all.
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The VOC has a weekly newsletter that informs ppl about the previous trips as well as upcoming trips. Conrad, the mail list editor usually puts in some funnies at the end of each email. This was from last week:

The inherent hotness of hotspring trips:
While I am no expert, I'd have to say that any hotsprings trip is, well, hot. First of all, the water is hot. This is clearly 'hot'. Sometimes it's even too hot. Would this make it less hot? Second, there is a lot of nakedness. While nakedness in the pursuit of water falls into the 'politically correct nakedness that is natural and beautiful and nothing to get all hot and bothered about' category, this can't entirely stamp out a certain inherent hotness to nakedness. Third, the last hotsprings trip had chocolate fondue. Can't cool that.

Unfortunately, not all Hot trips go to hot locations. Some of the hottest trips end up in the coldest locations. This week's question comes from Shivers:

Lying in my sleeping bag, sometimes I get awfully cold. I start to loose feeling in my toes, and my teeth start clinking. I don't know if I'll make it through the night. Even a hot trip can land you in a cold position. I'm sharing the tent with my driver, a scruffy looking fellow who I met this morning. Doesn't talk much, and I'm not quite sure of his name. Roy? – no, Ed? Unfortunately he's not the charming boy that smiles whenever we meet. I need to get through this night so I can see him tomorrow. How do I ask Ed to spoon me?

-Shivers

Apparently after reading this Laura & Sophia decided to send the following email to Ms. Manner:

Dear Ms Manners -

As we both know, the key to a successful trip is all in the planning ahead. Keeping that in mind, here is some advice for Shivers. Shivers, to avoid the awkward, "Can we spoon?" scenario, I do suggest you plan ahead well before your car group leaves Vancouver. Firstly, you want to sign up for the car group with Monkey in it and then mention to Monkey that you don't have a tent. This should secure yourself a spot in Monkey's tent. From here, it is easy. Before your toes go numb, roll close to Monkey, concave your body, and let the heat transfer begin with the VOC's official spooner. Don't feel awkward. You aren't the first to spoon with Monkey, nor will you be the last. Some would even say, spooning with Monkey is a right of passage for all VOC females.

Now, if you are planning on going on some trips that Monkey is not going on, I do suggest buying a warmer sleeping bag or nesting the ones you own!

Laura forwarded me this email today and I had a pretty good laugh about it (it's funny b/c when I met Laura & Sophia on separate trips they were both very cold at night so we ended up spooning as per their requests). Not too sure if it'll make it onto the weekly newsletter though...

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In case you're wondering why I probably won't be heading out to ski this weekend:

BC South Coast Avalanche Forecast

LOW avi danger in all zones - alpine, treeline, below treeline.

I got a kick from the following:
-Confidence: Fair. Many areas in the region do not have enough snow to produce avalanches; however, there is still a lack of good information to base this forecast on.

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Here's you have it folks, just another crazy day in Monkey's life. :D

Bang bang kaboom kaboom!!!

Due to prior arrangements I spent the weekend in Vancouver. I'm quite glad I did though, it'd have sucked to head out to the backcountry trying to ski since it rained all weekend!

After my Friday night photography class it was pissing rain and I was too lazy to go anywhere. So I watched Get Smart on my newly purchased MacBook Pro. Watching this movie further confirmed my crush on Anne Hathaway. I think I'll continue drooling over her.

On Sat I met up with Lorraine & Jen at Cafe Luxy for brunch. You see, the three of us used to live together in a basement suite in Kits from 2005-2006. I've met up with the two ladies separately on several occasions, but due to various reasons, the three of us have yet to meet up together since we moved out. Not seeing each other for over 2.5 years, it's kinda funny we were cracking sarcastic jokes left, right & centre as soon as we sat down. It was as if we were still living together. We all have embarked on our own life journeys since moving out but it's comforting to know that the friendship will always be there. Such awesome event needs to be organized more often.

Me & Lorraine

After the brunch I wandered around town... going to Chapters to get my monthly dose of magazine reading done. I came back to the apartment around 4 pm, preparing to tidy it up for the Movember party later that night. To my pleasant surprise, Mike had already cleaned most of the apartment, leaving me with only the kitchen to clean. The Movember party itself was pretty ridiculous. The idea of the party is as follows:

-Grow a mustache for the month of November
-Gather at a month end party
-Get the girls to come up with different categories and decide on the winner.

I managed to get 10 of my guy friends to do this ridiculous task. Only about 3 of us hada  respectful stache growth. The rest of us had really patchy facial hairs that some puberty-hormone-filled high school kid can easily beat us...

The ladies got into the spirit too!

Ok everyone stroke your mo!

8 girls on my bed. This wasn't my idea...I swear, it was Greta's

Peter accepting "Most pre-pubescent" award

Guys having a pretty good laugh about this

Don't let your kids go near these guys

Sachi, Sarah, Greta & Sophia getting into the spirit

Agathe showing off her awesome stache

For more pics go here

Since Ian was having a birthday party involving 2 kegs at his place we moved our party over around 11 pm. I managed to drag my sleepy ass back home around 2:30 AM....

Right now if you're still reading, you're probably wondering what the title of the post has anything to do with the post...well it does. You see, I found out that my Canon 18- 55 mm IS lens went kaboom on me. The auto focus will only turn one way but not the other... making it almost impossible to take any pictures. Sure I could use manual focus but it's really a pain in the ass to do on such lens due to the crappy front focus ring element. Yes I still managed to take some good pics at the Movember party but some pictures were not-sharp due to miss focus. Since the camera & lens are still under warranty I went to Black's Photo yesterday to inquire about repair. Black's could send the lens to Canon for me but it'd take 6 weeks. I gave Canon a call this morning and found out the repair time to be about 15 business days. Taking shipping time into account, it'd probably take 4 to 4.5 weeks if I ship the lens myself.

So the question is.... what should I do?
1. Get Black's to send the lens for me and go zoom lens-less for 6 weeks.
2. Fork out $20+ and send the lens myself. I'll probably be zoom lens-less for 4-5 weeks.

Seeing that I have a hefty Visa bill to pay for this month I'll probably go with option one. I do have a 50 mm prime lens that I can use but it'd suck not to have a zoom lens to use over the holidays. ARRRRR!!!

Every Day Is Exactly The Same

I believe I can see the future
Cause I repeat the same routine
I think I used to have a purpose
Then again
That might have been a dream

I think I used to have a voice
Now I never make a sound
And I just do what i've been told
I really don't want
Them to come around

Oh no

Every day is exactly the same
Every day is exactly the same
There is no Love here
And there is no pain
Every day is exactly the same

I can feel their eyes are watching
Incase I lose myself again
Sometimes I think i'm happy here
Sometimes
Yet I still pretend

I can't remember how this got started
But I can tell you
Exactly
How it will end

Every day is exactly the same
Every day is exactly the same
There is no Love here
And there is no pain
Every day is exactly the same

I'm writing on a little piece of paper
I'm hopeing someday I might find
Well i'll hide it behind something
They wont look behind

I am still inside
A little bit comes bleeding through
I wish this could've been any other way
But I just don't know
I don't know
What else I can do

Every day is exactly the same
Every day is exactly the same
There is no Love here
And there is no pain
Every day is exactly the same

Every day is exactly the same
Every day is exactly the same
There is no Love here
And there is no pain
Every day is exactly the same

Just another regular Monkey night

Colin's going to South Africa for 2 weeks so tonight we had a small gathering at his place. Half of the gathering time was spent dressing up in ridiculous outfits and half of the time was spent ordering items <$100 off MEC's website.

Anne & Colin

Greta, Anne, Colin & Evan posing

Rrrrr the pirate doesn't like legs Rrrr

The gym is this way!

(Clearly Anne was having too much fun dressing up)

Thanks to my stupidity I only wore a long sleeve shirt and a fleece jacket as my top layer. I nearly froze my nuts off biking home from Colin's place back to my place... approximately a 1.2 km ride.

Totally off topic... Blogrolling functions has been down for over a month now. Hopefully everything will come back online soon so I can add some more links.