Three weeks with a Kindle.

I've had an Amazon Kindle, latest generation, for about three weeks. What is a Kindle, you ask? It's an e-Ink reader which means it mimics paper and ink pretty well. A very cool thing about e-Ink is that the reader only uses power when you turn a page or move the cursor. So when you're reading, no power. That means you can use a Kindle for like three weeks without charging it.

I have to say reading on the Kindle is easy on the eyes. Yes, it takes like half a second for the page to refresh, but if you time it just right you can hit the page turn button when you have two lines left and by the time you're done reading and at the top of the page, the refresh has happened.

It's also light enough to hold in one hand, either sitting or lying down. It's not a shiny or slippery plastic so fingerprints don't show up and it's easy to read on the train while keeping one hand on the pole.

So that's great. You can also buy books through Amazon.com and it's not a bad selection. What does get me is the price for books. There are eBooks priced at $10 when the paperback is $15. Now, why would I pay $10 for an eBook that I can't loan, can't back up (because of the DRM), and can be yanked back by Amazon at any time? So either, they up the features of a book when you pay $10 or somehow discount it. You know what would be awesome? A Netflix for books.

Well, what about the library you ask? Good question. The Calgary Public Library has a sizeable eBook collection and it's available in the popular .epub format. Unfortunately, to read these books on my Kindle, I download the eBook, strip the DRM, convert it into the correct format, and then put it onto my Kindle. This process involves a PC and a Mac, and emailing myself the books. Not ideal, but it's a ready source of free books that I will read once.

You can also leave notes in the text for yourself with the keyboard or bookmarks where you left off.

My only other major complaint is the file directory system. When you plug the Kindle into your computer (and it's not synced to your computer which is nice, unlike iPhones and iPods) the file structure opens and you place your books in the documents folder. Unfortunately, that folder system does not show up on your Kindle. If you want any sort of organization to your Kindle and don't want to scroll through your books, you make collections. Except there is no quick way to add them to collections. You have to physically go to each book and add it to the relevant collection. Lame.

I love my Kindle and would recommend it for those interested in reading books electronically. When I'm reading with it, I feel like I live in the FUTURE. Seriously, I named my Kindle PADD. The e-Ink is great, the form factor comfy, and the selection of books is good. But here's a caveat. If you want to read eBooks from the library, get a reader that handles them. The Kobo, Nook, and Sony eReaders all can. But they do offer a subpar experience. I've seen the Kobo and Sony eReader and I'm glad I went with a Kindle.

Last, you can now gift Kindle books. Hint hint.

10 years ago...

Amongst the election hubbub in September, I forgot to note an important occasion.

I've known Daorcey for 10 years.

I know, round numbers are a big deal to our brains when it could easily be 12 or 6 that are big deal numbers had we evolved to have just 12 or 6 digits. Anyways, yes, 10 years. And I can tell you exactly the first time I met Daorcey.

It was Sept. 6 on the pages of the Gauntlet sports section in Adobe PageMaker, probably very late. Exact, eh? I think I can even picture where the computer was.

I was laying out this story and I asked Jan, the co-EIC at the time, who was this Day-orcey kid? I mean, his name's all funny and he's from Edmonton. The piece is well written, but he's kinda odd. She explained he had written for the Gateway but was coming to Calgary to do his degree.

If you click on the story, you can see the illustration and this is going to sound really odd. I thought for about two weeks that's what Daorcey looked like.

So that's how I met Daorcey for the first time.

We ate LA: Good Stuff

Umm... so it's been a while since we posted. I blame The Review Crew, but it might also be fair to blame a bit of laziness. Either way, I'm sure you've been wondering about that cliffhanger we dropped on you with the last post: what was that good food they ate in LA?

It's notable that our trip to E3 was filled with either horrific or boring food not worth mentioning. Sad, really. But I guess that's what you get when you spend the vast majority of your time in convention halls. To stave off malnutrition, we were treated to Cliff Bars by the lovely ladies of the media room. Those little bars were nice at first, but even free food becomes less enjoyable as you eat it for more than one meal a day.

But let's get back to the tasties.

Two days sit in my memory as the most flavourful. The first was our only free day as we walked down Melrose Avenue. Our goal was to see Darth Vader helmets, but we ended up doing a rather full day of shopping and walking in the LA heat.

As the hours passed, we realized it was get fed or get cranky time, so we decided to search out some chips and salsa and perhaps a drink. A store clerk recommended a place eight blocks back toward where we came, so we turned around to make our way up the other side of the street.

And that's when we saw the fruit stand.

Well, not really a fruit stand in the "BC Cherries" sense of it. Rather, it was more like a cart with a bunch of fresh fruit and veggies. As we walked past, a couple came up to the cart's owner and asked for a regular bag. And in a flourish of knifery, the owner chopped up a whole bunch of stuff, put it in a bag, added fresh lemon and lime and a few dashes of chili spice.

When you see something like that, how can you not get it yourself. So we ordered the same thing (orange, coconut, watermelon, apple and a few other things I can't seem to recall). It was just the right amount of sweetness, spice and sour. Ridiculously tasty and refreshing.

A "regular" sized bag of fruit.

(Since we've come back to Calgary, we've tried to recreate this masterpiece. We've not been completely successful yet, but a new chili spice was just given to use today. Perhaps this is the detail we've been missing.)

So while we're scarfing down a full bag o' spicy fruit, we look just half a block down the street and see something we've NEVER seen before: a Korean BBQ taco truck.

Intrigued, we move closer to the truck with our bag of fruit. Not only was this truck the home of the never-before-discovered kimchi tacos, but it was also the maker of vegetarian-friendly tofu kimchi taco. I don't care if I have a massive bag of fruit in my hand, this taco is about to be consumed!

And, yes, it was awesome.

It's possible we were getting a little full by now. The fruit and tacos were digesting as we moved further up the street. And then we came upon that Mexican restaurant that was our original destination. Well, maybe we'll just pop in for a quick visit.


An hour later, we'd consumed more than our fair share of some excellent homemade salsas and guacamole. As we nibbled away, we watched the foot traffic travel in front of us on the street. It was a pretty great ending to our mini-marathon of food.

Two days later, we found ourselves with an evening partially free enough to let us go out for a nice dinner. A quick Yelp search from the convention centre turned up Beverly Soon Tofu Restaurant. Because of this experience, I will never doubt the value of Yelp as a restaurant recommendation engine.

Sure, our half-hour walk to the restaurant into Little Korea was a bit, um, unsettling as the sun set and the streets became not so busy, but once we found Beverly Soon Tofu, we realized the sketchy trip was worth it. If you ever get a chance to get there yourself, I strongly recommend it.

Since we had no idea what to order, we asked the friend waitress to help us out with my vegetarian needs in mind. The result was a cheap meal that had us filled to the brim with flavourful appetizers (all of our appetizers--which were included in the meal--are in the photo at the top of this post) and main courses including the following:

Tofu "steak"

Tofu Soon

Tofu appetizer

Kimchi

Yeah, that was a pretty tasty trip.

We ate LA: Bad stuff

I had two meals I had to eat while in LA.

1. A Double Down. It's KFC sandwich that has two fried chicken filets instead of a bun. Inside are four different types of cheese, a sauce of unknown provenance, and some bacon.

2. A pancake layered with cheesecake. At IHOP you can have a pancake-cheesecake-pancake creation or a pancake stack with the cheescake embedded in the pancake.

We achieved both and were poorer for it.

IHOP Pancakes

I didn't have high hopes other than to be full and slightly grossed out. Mission accomplished.

This is what it should look like. It's "close". Also we opted to go for four pancakes instead of the two. Even with the extra pancakes it was only $6. The taste? Well, the cheesecake adds a creamy heavy flavour. None of us who were brave enough to order this were able to finish. Also, I don't think we ate again until dinner.


The Double Down

Our last full meal in LA we went to KFC for the infamous Double Down. Sadly, it didn't live up to the hype. I didn't even finish mine as it's just a bunch of chicken breast with some stuff in the middle. One of group ended up eating my half in addition to his full one. He later paid for it in the bathroom.

Daorcey didn't have many options at KFC. He settled for two corn cobettes and a bowl of coleslaw.

Our next post will detail the good food we actually ate.

Five years in the adventures of two geeks

Wow, that went by quickly.

Five years ago this morning, Arone and I were running around Canmore picking up flowers, putting up directional signs, and being mistaken for groom and groom (yup, that was awkward). We stopped in at the spa where the girls were getting their hair and makeup done so Arone (not me, 'cause, you know, that would be against "tradition") could drop off my surprise gift of a diamond necklace to Natalie. Upon doing so, Arone was mistaken as Natalie's fiance (also awkward). That was an interesting day with a few stories that could be told years later. Maybe that's for another post.

So, a half-decade has passed--what are my thoughts on being married for that time?

Twelve years ago, I was standing by myself in the gardens of Versailles. It was a cold spring day and the full garden wasn't in bloom, but some of the flowers were out. Despite doing that trip with a school group, I had spent a lot of time on my own getting lost and exploring. This was one of those times.

I wasn't feeling particularly lonely (I actually don't mind being alone), but I do recall that I was suddenly struck by the urge to share this experience. This didn't mean I was to return to Canada intent upon finding a partner, but it was a moment when I realized an important requirement for future relationships: sharing is good.

Since that time, we've been to Versailles together. But, we've also been to other places and had shared experiences we'd never expected. From a Canadian cemetery in Belgium to a gamer-filled conference hall in Seattle to an ancient forest on Vancouver Island to a Viking settlement in Sweden. All ridiculously cool experiences made even more unique and important to us because they are shared.


It's been five-plus years of experiences that make this adventure a great one. But it's not just travel that I cherish. It's the shared experiences of daily life: playing video games, reading our iPhones in bed, and even writing together are important. Our recent hobby of writing about games and gadgets with The Review Crew has been a lot of fun. Of course, the trips to Vegas and LA were cool, but even just writing beside each other on our computers at home or on separate laptops from the comfort of a hotel room is unique experience I wouldn't want to give up.


In five years, we've grown together through our experiences that we've had as a couple. I guess this is a predictable process, but it's something you tend not to consider while it's happening.

It's an odd experience to reflect on five years. Time has moved quickly, yet there's been a definite progression in our relationship. We continue to learn more about each other as we grow individually and as a married unit.

I can definitely say that life together has only become better the more time passes. We first came together as friends and now we continue along as even better friends. I've often joked about how being married is just like an extended sleep over with late nights, movies, video games, good food, and hanging out with friends.

It's more than that, of course, but it's still a good, fun time nonetheless.

Happy Canada Day

Living in China for three months was obviously a cool experience for a variety of reasons. One of them was I looked like everyone else pretty much--minus my toque and bike helmet.

But I felt like I was missing something--it wasn't homesickness--and I couldn't put my finger on it. It wasn't until I flew back and was chilling in Vancouver for our Calgary flight. I saw an Indian-Canadian couple. The woman was dressed in a sari and the man had a brightly-coloured turban. When I saw them, that's when it clicked. I missed seeing the faces of Canadians.

It's something Douglas Coupland wrote in his first Souvenir of Canada. He went to Scotland to a little town where pratically anyone could have been his relative which he found creepy.

"And this is the point where being Canadian really hits home, because what you want, and what you're missing, is the variety of people you see in Canada... I know we're all supposed to love being multicultural and all of that, and we all know how that works and how to play the game and talk the talk--but to crave it and feel deprived without it is another sensation altogether. It's one of those things that lumps your throat and makes you realize that things will probably work out in the end."

And then we watched hockey playoffs and drank beer.

So, happy Canada Day. I'm extremely glad my parents decided to move to Canada.

Darth Vader and salsa in the City of Angels

Hi from LA!

We got in late last night but that didn't stop us from staying up even later. Our hotel is right beside a neat open-air bar that had live independent bands playing well into the early morning.

So, needless to say, I'm glad we had a free day today. We slept in and then wandered outside. We found that we're close to a downtown market so we had a late breakfast of tacos... yeah, the Mexican food is a theme today.

Then we hopped a bus to Melrose Avenue and Orange Street half an hour away to go see an art exhibition called The Vader Project (explained in more detail below). After that, it was a great day of shopping, walking and people watching. We purchased some fresh fruit (garnished with chili spice and lime) and our first kimchi tacos. At the end of the afternoon, we snagged a patio table at a Mexican restaurant and ate fresh salsa and quacamole. Yes, it's been good.

So, while Natalie naps, I've decided to update the blog(s). Below is what I've just posted on The Review Crew, but I figured it was so awesome I should post it here too.

Dark Art: A Trip To The Vader Project

There are a few things you could do in LA during your free day before E3. But in between theme parks and celeb-seeking, might I suggest a trip to The Vader Project to see 100 artist interpretations of the classic black dome of the Sith?

Running now until June 20, this exhibition is the public's free glimpse at all the works of art before they are sold by Freeman's Auction House in Philadelphia on July 10.

We spent over half an hour touring the Darth busts in the one-room makeshift gallery at 6812 Melrose Avenue. It was fascinating to see each artist express their different takes on the well-known helmet. Some went for decorative high art while others opted to explore the humour of having the chosen one's head to do what they will. Helmets ranged from beautiful to frightening to ridiculous.

Currently, each helmet is priced at $3,000 - $5,000 in advance of the auction next month. Whether they'll go for that much is yet to be seen.

Freeman's is also selling a catalog of all the helmets for $4o. From a quick flip through, it's a high quality book that would make a good addition to your coffee table (if your coffee table is the kind that has a Salacious Crumb action figure within a 2 meter radius). It had great pull-page photos of each helmet with a series of detail shots and alternate angles so you can really get the full view of each artifact. You can purchase it on their website (link below), at the exhibition or at many of the nerdier shops along Melrose.

















[The Vader Project]

Where I won't make an obvious horrible pun

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is an Internet-only musical created by Joss Whedon during the writers' strike. Here's a link to the first part. Altogether it's about 40 minutes and great for lunch hour entertainment.

We went to the world-premier of the first professional mounting of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I guess there's been a smattering of high school productions but this was the first one that was properly licensed. The creator had to phone Joss Whedon to get the deal going and in fact they didn't have anything set up for stage licensing so they had to whip something up.

Was it good?

There were very good things. They did a great job casting the singing part of the roles. Even the background singers like Hammer's fanboys were solid.

The actor who plays Dr. Horrible has a great voice, easily the best in the cast. My favourite songs, Everything You Ever and Brand New Day, from the musical are Dr. Horrible songs and he did them justice. In fact the last scene of Dr. Horrible sitting in front of his webcam was executed very well and was a good piece of stagecraft.

But there were a few questionable things.

The set is simple and I think there wasn't enough money because there was a huge cast to pay. There were even choreographers, two of them! And this is a minor complaint but the set could have used another coat of paint. I know we saw the play at the end of its run but there chips on a lot of the painted props. Also, the lighting was strange especially on the Bad Horse chorus. The actors would peek around the walls of the set but weren't lit at all so it was difficult to see.

My one major beef was with the actor who plays Captain Hammer. He is just too unlikeable. He comes off creepy when the character is meant to be just this endearing side of smarmy. You should be able to see why Penny would like him. In fact, he ruined "the hammer is my..." by pitching it to the audience and not Dr. Horrible.

I'm not complaining about the $44 ticket. It was enjoyable and Whedon gets a cut. Hopefully he'll realize that people still love this musical and that he should start on a sequel soon.

We are BW

Life in an office is monotonous. It doesn't take much to liven it up. Whether it's a cube wrap, finding a box you fit in, or even free donuts, you take what you can get.

But when a video such as this drops into your lap, the day is looking pretty much up.

A former co-worker sent this video with no further information denoting its provenance. All of us at the office are immensely entertained by this video. We're not sure why things appear backwards or who made this.

I'm hoping we get a bunch of corporate shirts with the BW logo done with hands.

Rap with me now:
We are BW
Wear Yellow Work Safe BW
We Take care of you BW
Full Warranty service BW

Nom nom nom: Bacon chocolate bar

I have a rep at the office. I am the nerdy, video game playin' girl who loves bacon. I don't mind it and in fact I embrace it. I readily tell people that I'm taking a day off to play an anticipated video game. A few years ago I wouldn't have but most of the engineers I work with like video games, even playing themselves when they have time.

So, yes back to bacon. A friend went for training down in Lincolnshire (or the Shire as we like to call it, sadly there are no hobbits). He came back with this, Mo's Bacon Bar. I guess my eyes lit up when I saw it.

I didn't eat the whole thing, sharing it with office mates and later at an America's Next Top Model viewing party. People weren't enthusiastic about it.

Me?

It's not bad. It's very comparable to salty chocolate which enhances the "chocolatiness". The bar doesn't have a strip of bacon in it but rather specks of bacon and bacon salt spread about. I have to say it makes me savour the chocolate rather than nom my way through it.

Happy birthday sister, she who shares 50% of my DNA

I have a tradition for people's birthdays. Well mostly for my sister. I make e-cards and usually it's a last minute thing and typically involves an inside joke. One co-worker, the one whose cube we wrapped, was turning 26 this year, the age referenced in this Patton Oswalt skit. I made him a card that included the quote about a 26-year-old not getting any presents and instead should go to work. Really, it was funny at the time.

For my sister, I typically whip up something that's Doctor Who related. I think last year also involved a Dalek. She liked this year's card so I thought I'd share it here.

In this episode of Doctor Who, the Daleks--the Doctor's arch enemy--have returned to Earth during WWII. Typically, they're all about exterminating their enemies but this time they're helping humans, even offering to get them tea. So watch the quick clip below and then you'll see where her card comes from.

Honest, I do work.

I guess Dean is Daorcey's grandfather

We got a new iMac. It's great to be back in the Mac environment. If only it would let me properly load Windows 7.

Anyways, I wanted to post all the kitty pictures I've taken in the Beltline. Instead of boringly emailing all my photos from my iPhone to myself, I decide to import the photos into iPhoto.

A very cool feature in iPhoto is that it recognize faces of people. Seeing as Daorcey shows up in 4/5 of my photos, I figure it would pull all his photos right up.

Sorta.

Two outta three aren't bad, right? And Dean is Daorcey's grandfather so I can't be angry at the Mac for thinking they're the same person. I mean, it's so hard to tell all these white people apart.

"You should save this": Mac and Cheese Pizza

My brother and I have been known to appreciate food from time to time. And, for some reason, we were talking about the perfect carb-load that might just be oh-so-tasty: The Mac and Cheese Pizza. I'm not sure if this already exists, but we needed to discuss how best to make it. We still haven't produced it, but I wanted to share the conversation with you...

Daorcey says:
there was a discussion the other day about mac and cheese pizza. Can it be done?

QA Monkey says:
I suppose it could be done. The problem with putting it onto a pizza is that you need to worry about cooking time. Too long, and you overcook the pasta, making it a dry pizza. Too little, and you just have dough with mac and cheese on top.

The trick is in the toppings, and the cooking time.

For a tofu dog, it is much more simplified, because you are using it like a condiment.

Daorcey says:
ooo! it could be just like baked pasta, I bet... I'd suggest pre cooking the crust (half way), then putting on the mac and cheese, sprinkle on more cheese and then bake until melted.

OMG

QA Monkey says:
I would suggest an alfredo-based sauce for the pizza, as opposed to tomato. Tomato would be too overpowering, while alfredo is saucy and garlicy enough to provide a suitable lubricant.

However, you should still add fresh diced tomatoes, and possibly even some basil, to the final product.

For the break in the monotonous cheese flavour, and to make it really pop.

Daorcey says:
this will happen, I guarantee it.

QA Monkey says:
You should save this conversation for next time we come down, so we can remember these ideas.


Consider it saved.

Henry Hudson would be ashamed

We went back to Hudsons because it was finally time to use the food coupon we received the first time we were there. Hooray! It may be the last time we go there even though we still have another $20 off coupon.

Tuesday is East Coast night which means $4 Keiths (a miserable IPA) and 25 cent butterfly shrimp. We order 2 Keiths and 20 shrimp and put in an order for Cesar salad and a buffalo/cheddar/bacon burger.

The good: The butterfly shrimp are great. Crispy batter and the spicy chili dipping sauce is a good choice. Also, $4 for a bottle of Keiths is not a bad deal--even if it's a bad IPA. Normally I hate drinking IPAs because of the hoppy taste. But there is barely any in Keiths, so good beer for me, terrible beer for IPA lovers.

The bad: Everything else.

It took a long time for our non-shrimp food to show up. Hudsons was full but not crazy busy so I'm not sure why the delay. Perhaps they're still working out the kinks in the system? Daorcey's salad was meh but he had little choice on the menu (it was either that, nachos or fish and chips). My burger? Remember how excited I was in the previous post that they had buffalo burgers in addition to the beef? My buffalo burger patty was as tasteless as making Hitler jokes while visiting Aushwitz. There was no flavour in the patty and the bacon was so-so. How can a restaurant mess up bacon?

We're probably not going back, unless it's for $20 worth of butterfly shrimp on Tuesday.

Release the Kraken!

My father shared some important things with me growing up: learning how to deal with fractions, several concepts in physics, and the sheer goodness of schlocky movies. I come from a family where we have fond memories of Wrath of Khan, the entire series of the Planet of the Apes movies (we've seen them all), and Clash of the Titans.

I can't really remember the story of the original Clash of the Titans. I know of the important set pieces like the Medusa fight and the whole solve-a-riddle-to-win-the-hand-of-the-princess scenario. The plot is jumbled up in my mind, but I imagine a lot of our favourite childhood memories are like that. We only remember snatches of good things. Anyways, I was fond of the Ray Harryhausen effects (staccato skeletons and that creepy Medusa) and the fact the movie has the immortal line "Release the Kraken!"

So it was with great nostalgia that my sister, Daorcey and I headed to the theatres to see the remake of the movie. Daorcey hadn't seen the original--a shocking knowledge gap--while my sister was young enough to remember the movie but not the finer details.

The movie isn't bad, but not bad enough to become a cult classic. Neither is it good enough to pass as superior action movie. Sam Worthington, an actor who is bland enough to be in two other recent blockbusters (Avatar and Terminator 4), is passable as Perseus. (For some reason, he seems to be doing a weak Jason Statham impression for this film.) It's the others around him that are much better.

There's the guy who played the villian in Casino Royale (Mads Mikkelsen) and, unfortunately, he's much more interesting than Worthington. There's the guy who looks like Bill Bailey, and has a faint copy of his humour, that provides all the decent comic relief. Finally, Liam Neeson steps into Sir Laurence Olivier's shoes as Zeus. Neeson gets to wear a shiny suit of armour (no togas here) and gets to say THE LINE. He does it well and matches my memories enough that my sister and I chuckle out of fond remembrance.

This remake wasn't a Episode I atrocity--although I suspect there won't be another movie in my lifetime that achieves that level of awful... unless they make either a She-Ra or Jem movie (for which I would be first in line to see even though I know it'll be aweful). But, the movie was just good enough to convince me that the original is a movie worth showing to Daorcey. If only for the opportunity to giggle at Olivier slumming it and yelling "Release the Kraken!"

Hudsons, a bar full of Canadian kitsch

We just enjoyed a pint or two at Hudsons, former home of Husky House and Gerry's. First, let's have a moment of silence for that location. Some of us have fond memories of that place, others... well I don't want to dwell on it.

Now, there's a brand new wooden bar at the corner of 5 St and 12 Ave--you can still smell the saw dust in the air. Hudsons is an Edmonton institution. Or at least, that's the only city I've ever seen a Hudsons. It's a generic bar/club that has kitsch on the walls. It tries to replicate the feeling of pubs in the UK. Pubs that have seen a few decades and as a result have collected a load of crap to display.

However, those bars in the UK have history on their side. One of our favourite pubs that we discovered in London was a bar that Christopher Wren built for his employees. It was just after the fire in 1666 and the workers were rebuilding St. James but thanks to the fire there was nowhere to drink. Wren, the smart man that he was, built a bar to keep his employees happy. Flash forward to today where patrons can drink at the very same bar a stonemason wetted his whistle after a hard day's work.

So back to Hudsons. Obviously, no history so it'll have to rely on other features to sell it. I have to say, if you want to watch an important sporting event, my choice will be Hudsons. There are many screens there. I think half the lighting was from the glow of the LCD screens. Also, the burger menu features a choice of bison or beef. Awesome. Sorry, vegetarians, there isn't much on the menu for you.

The last interesting feature is the crap on the walls. Most bars in Calgary go for the faux Irish feel. So you'll see farm equipment, milk jugs, and other Irish-y things on the wall. I'm sure it's "similar" to the real pubs in Ireland. In Hudsons, you've got Canadian stuff on the walls. Mostly pictures, like Terry Fox, guys working on the rigs, hockey, moose, etc. But some lobster traps and snowshoes too. So I get they're going for a Canada aesthetic but the bar feels like it was a generic bar that could have gone Irish or Canadian had it been filled with different stuff.

The beer selection is alright. They do have two house beers that are brewed by Big Rock. We had the Beaver Tail Ale that was basically a watered down version of Big Rock's Traditional Ale.

We didn't try the food but thanks to some $20 coupons, I'm sure that will be in our future. But I don't think this will be our new watering spot. It just feels generic, even with its interesting Canadian knick knacks.

Getting to know the neighbour

We've lived in our condo for nearly three years. And, despite being in a building of 41 suites, we rarely hear our neighbours. I attribute this to both the concrete construction and that we share our half of the floor with only one neighbour (they're across the hallway). We don't hear conversations, TV, or parties. And no one has ever told us to turn down the Rock Band or that Natalie needs to stop swearing at her Halo squad mates. Yup, it's been pretty nice and quiet.

Until the other night.

Let me set the scene for you: It's 3 am on a Tuesday morning. We're sleeping with dreams of sugar plums, Assassin's Creed, and whatnot. And then, suddenly: laughing.

And not just far away laughing, but laughing like it's right there in the next room. The laughter of people sharing a somewhat tense moment leavened by alcohol and fatigue. Laughter that may not be genuine, but does the trick nonetheless. And then it stops.

"I just don't think you appreciate me..."

"Sure I do, baby. I..."

And I'm riveted.

I mean, I've NEVER heard my neighbours before, yet somehow I'm hearing conversations. Sure, I'm not hearing full conversations, but I can clearly make out key words and phrases and that's fascinating. Drama that I didn't know could be shared with me is about to occur!

After a while the conversation starts to disappear. All I can get now is a sense of tone. An argument seems to be happening. She seems upset. He seems frustrated with her somehow. And, after a few more minutes of this, I'm actually rethinking the excitement of my new discovery of being able to hear this particular neighbour. The fascination wains as the conversation disappears and I start to drift back to sleep.

And that's when things started to get coital.

I'm back to being wide awake. Not because I'm interested in the "dialogue", but because this girl is really loud. She's totally rocking the airwaves and he's doing his best to keep up.

Fortunately, after five to ten minutes, the two-person party concluded. But, of course, I'm wide awake again.

You try drifting back to sleep after two people aggressively get it on right next door. It's not easy. And sleep was made even more difficult as the conversation started back up again.

"...the look on his face when..."

"Hehe! you know I always loved..."

The laughter is back. It sounds more fluid. Drunker maybe? Endorphins likely.

And then the sex again.

We're pushing into 4 am as she moves into her second crescendo of the evening. I'm starting to realize that I've been up for one hour because of these two, and I'm beginning to get a little bitter about the situation. Not so much because I'm being kept awake, but more because I'm being kept awake by someone else's sex which is decidedly less interesting than a dramatic conversation.

They finish for a second time.

This time around, the conversation seems less congenial. He seems agitated about something and she's giving off a similar vibe.

"I bet you couldn't..."

"Whatever. I'm really busy.... back at the office..."

"Oh, come on... it's not that late..."

OK. Now I'm confused. It's getting to be, like, 4:30 am. What kind of guy is talking about the office at 4:30 am? What kind of girl thinks that 4:30 am isn't that late? When did I get so old and crotchety? How come I haven't heard these people before? Why am I not asleep?

"Look," he says very clearly, "the guys need me at the office. I should go."

"...but just a bit longer... come on..."

And then they did it, loudly and angrily, one last time. And this time around, no one seemed really happy about it. And while I'm really tired by now, the drama had been upped and I was hooked.

Now it's 4:45 am and the escapades of the neighbouring suite have come to a close. But the climax of the evening is just around the corner.

"Look, I really have to go... the office..."

"No... please... stay... if you don't..."

"What?"

He had asked the question. I had been straining to hear the original statement myself. What had she proposed? Was his question rhetorical or had he not heard her either? Maybe we were both having a hard time hearing her.

"So that's it then?" he asked. "We're breaking up?"

WHAT?! How could they be breaking up? They'd just spent the last two hours destroying my sleep pattern and now they were breaking up? To tell you the truth, I felt a little used.

"Fine. I have to go anyway... the office..."

"No don't... I didn't mean..."

"No, I have to go."

A door closes. Another door slams. And now I can hear the familiar soft rumble of the elevator being called to a higher floor. And he's gone.

"I'm SORRY. I'm sorry..."

And that's it. All I can hear now are her sobs. She repeats her apology to the wall, her pillow, and me. And then she cries. At first loudly and then softer as she falls asleep.

But I'm still wide awake. Shocked at the drama. Emotionally drained by the experience.

It was 5 am. I haven't heard her since and I hope I never connect a face to the voice.

My new obssession

A couple of weeks ago, we were up in Edmonton visiting Daorcey's grandparents. Because they contributed 1/8 of their genes to Daorcey, we ended up talking about food. Specifically, Cream of Wheat.

I guess that, growing up, Daorcey ate Cream of Wheat quite a bit for breakfast (Daorcey's Note: Not ALL the time... jeeze). I had never eaten it.

We get back to Calgary and we buy a box of Cream of Wheat. What do I discover? Holy crap, this stuff is good! Why didn't anyone tell me? We I have finished the box and am now on to my second. It's really good when you cook it with milk and add some honey. And look! It's a good source of iron. I love iron.

Even though I finished dinner, I'm still thinking of cooking up a bowl for dessert. At least it's mildly healthy, right?

Still carless, still happy

Well guys, it's been one revolution around the Sun without a car, and life is still good.

Last year, we sold the Echo to Arone and Kristi. We were sad to see her drive away to the cold city of Edmonton, but she had to go.

Prior to sending Echo away, we did a trial-run of not using her but still having her close. What we found was that, when we did want to use a car (fewer than five times, I think), the Echo was never very healthy. I guess, to keep a car at its best, you have to drive it more than once every three months. The sediment in the gasoline and oil settles and then gets churned up when you turn it over. So, it made more sense to get rid of it altogether than just keep it handy "just in case".

So in the past year since Echo left, not much has changed. I did have to give up floor hockey, but not because people got tired of picking me up or the cost of renting the co-op car. The team actually disbanded... and I don't think it was the car's fault.

We do use a carshare from time to time, and I used it quite a bit for going to floor hockey. Now that I don't use it for hockey, I find I don't miss worrying about getting the carshare car back before my reservation ends.

We certainly don't visit Edmonton any less. In fact, we may have been visiting even more lately. We rent a car to go up for the weekend and that only costs about $20-$30 per day (insurance is covered by our Visa).

We do find that we put off some errands so we can rent a car for a day and then run around town getting those errands done. So, those days aren't too restful, but we survive.

Probably the biggest sign of how comfortable I am with our car-less lifestyle was during my business trip to Lincolnshire, a suburb outside of Chicago. When my department boss phoned me to inform me that I was going (I had to write a manual) she said I had to rent a car. I asked if there was public transit, she paused and said no.

And she didn't lie. To be fair, Lincolnshire is a suburb and I saw mainly the business park... but there were no sidewalks--not a pedestrian/public transit-friendly town.

So I buck up and rent a car. My second day there I had already tired of driving around to get to dinner or lunch.

I guess I'm a bit spoiled with regards to where I work in Calgary. There's the delightfully named Short Pants Plaza next to my work and it has a Subway, a shawarma place, a Jamaican place, and a Filipino place that specializes in digestive troubles. So if I don't bring a lunch, I just pop over next door. No such luck on my business trip. I had to get in the car and become irrationally frustrated that I had to drive to pick up lunch. I had to drive 10 minutes to some bagel place and the entire time I'm fuming.

I didn't have a problem with driving but I enjoy not driving. I like looking out the window during my 20-minute LRT ride. I like reading the Globe and Mail online or observing my fellow passengers.

I'm glad we were able to take the plunge and get rid of our car.

Don't bother calling me at work on Wednesday

So, my review of Mass Effect 2 will be up the same time this post goes live. You can read the review (which is good because it bumps up the page views) and I basically say it's an awesome, awesome game. I've been hearing about this game from Arone (you'll recognize him from the game's QA credits) for about a year and every tidbit I've heard was really exciting.

The last time he and I spoke (before I had finished the game) Arone said this is the first game he's looking forward to play after it's published and I honestly didn't believe him. The man has spent countless hours testing this game and he still wants to play it? When we went to CES, we spent an hour talking to Jesse, an associate producer on the game. He confessed he was on his fourth playthrough. Again: really?

After 22 hours, I can say these guys are right. I booked this Wednesday off and Daorcey was skeptical that I would want to play the game for 12 hours more. I'm even more excited for Wednesday even after all the hours I've put in for the review.

We, meaning all Canadians, should be proud that we have such a great game development studio in Canada--even if it's in Edmonton. (Cheap shot, I know.) BioWare could have just made the same game with new areas and some new guns, but they didn't. Daorcey and I could go on and on about the things that bugged us. I practically nagged Arone to fix one minor detail (which fought for and it did get changed--awesome). And they fixed pretty much everything that was wrong with the first game. How's that for customer service? It's an odd feeling to beat a game and feel pride in your country rather than thinking how awesome it was (which it was too).

For those that gripe that Canada doesn't make kick ass action games, they should play Mass Effect 1 and 2. There is so much action and story, that it's much better than most Hollywood movies.

Anyways, since my review says that in about 1900 words plus a bunch of photos, here is a tidbit I couldn't put in the review because it didn't apply (for now).

In my brief time with the game, I found some Canadiana. I'm sure I'll find more soon.

• On a prison planet, I encountered a prisoner in a cell. Talked to him and nothing amazing happened. Go onto the next cell and there's another prisoner and no dialogue happens there. But I notice the prisoner's designation--Prisoner 403. Thinking there's something to this I go back to the previous prisoner and he's Prisoner 780. Yeah, they used the Alberta area codes.
• There's a set of armor called Blood Dragon. The description of the armor says it's based on the armor of the Edmonton Blood Dragons team. Whether it's hockey or football, it's unclear. Cute.

The last night in Vegas

Edit: The photos have been added.

There are photos to go with this post but they are trapped on my phone and the wireless at the airport is not playing nice. Check back tomorrow for some snaps.

We decided to head out to Freemont St where old Vegas lives. We liked it much better as drinks were slightly cheaper and we got to gamble with nickels.

Daorcey enjoying a drink. It was pina colada.

Our first stop was Mermaids where they have a free money draw every 30 mins. We didn't win at all. Then gambled with nickels. When you win, you can have the coins rain down in a bucket! That's Vegas. Of course your hands are grimy.

The coins!

Mermaids also had deep fried Oreos which were just okay. We were looking for deep fried twinkies but they were out.

Then we watched the light show which was inexplicably a five-minute ad for Kiss. Deeply cheesy.

Daorcey is entranced by the Kiss light show.

Then we went to the Golden Gate Casino. Played $5 blackjack where I won $2.50. Golden Gate Casino is also the home of $2 shrimp cocktails so the boys (we were hanging out with 2 fellows from Montreal) each bought one. After that delicious treat it was back out on the street where we met the owner of the Golden Gate Casino. Or so his business card said. Also, the dealers in the Golden Gate Casino that are female and young are made to dance every 2 hours in the evening.

While waiting to decide what to do next, we saw a guy run by, quickly followed by security personnel. The security personnel were then followed by a crowd of civilians. Lastly, a girl from Mermaids (dressed in a garish neon green and yellow pantsuit) ran by.

This guy wasn't involved in any shenanigans. He was just being sculpted in clay... posed like that.

We finished the night at the Golden Nugget where one of the Montreal journalists won $100 on a big slot machine. It was huge this slot machine. It took two hands to pull the lever and it dropped massive $1 coins. It was a poetic end to our week in Vegas as we had hung out with the journo pretty much every night and he decided he would only play large slot machines, and there were quite a few.

So now, we're sitting in the Vegas airport and I have to say I'm ready to go home to my bed and vegetables.

Vegas, day 2

It's about 9 pm. I'm sitting in one of our hotel rooms and the room is filled with music and laptop typing.

We just finished our first CES event. It was CES Unveiled and it was filled with people. So many people hovering over the coolest gadgets.

But there was food, although we did not touch the free sushi. And there were free drinks. We had rum and cokes in the style of Cuba. Rum, rum, rum and a splash of Coke for colour.

There were some cool gadgets. There was a UK gadget that promised to stop all spam calls.

Daorcey was particularly enamoured with an analog Duck Hunt. Sadly, there isn't a dog to taunt your bad aim.

Tomorrow is a full day of press conferences. We'll see what comes.

This photo we took was a hovercraft that was more impressive when you realized it was part of a VR game. On your iPhone you would see this hovercraft surrounded by enemies which you had to blast away. If you convinced a couple other friends to spend money on this foolish thing, you could also battle them. It's an upgraded Pokemon I guess.

On an unrelated note, we stopped by O'Sheas, a divey casino. Mike told us that during the day they have an angry midget berating tourists but at night there's nothing. Inside O'Sheas is a beer pong area. They also run beer pong tournaments. I feel old but I felt concerned that these ping pong balls are in dirty hands, on dirty floors, and then thrown into beer which is then consumed. Gross, gross. Ah, Vegas.