IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

August...no updates.
September...no updates.
October...no updates.

Who would have thunk it? I'm not really surprised because I don't have time to update this site much. But if I don't take the time, when will I have the time to update it? So here's a quick update of the last 3 months.

• Dr. Zoidberg didn't die. He's looking really good. He even got some fake seaweed of some sort added in his aquarium recently. Correction on the aquarium...it's actually a vase, but he doesn't know that and what he doesn't know won't hurt him.
• Went to Quebec City twice this summer. I LOVE the old Quebec. It's so cool.
• Didn't buy a Lexus afte rall...but it has been added to my X-Mas list! :P I actually have my truck back. I was finally able to get it registered over here. What's funny is after I got my gas guzzling truck back, the price of gas went down to "normal" prices. I guess I'll hold on to my truck for a while still until I can't afford a fill up again.
• Still listening to Jason Mraz. Haven't really discovered anything else recently, except Hot Hot Heat. I can tell you that I am really annoyed of hearing Nickleback on the radio, TV and pretty much everywhere. I have never, and I mean never, heard any other band that is as over played as they are. I should start a petition so radio stations stops playing their songs because I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. Anyways, all their songs sound the same.
• Bought a DVD burner recently. Nuff said.
• Work keeps my really busy. Went to Toronto for a meeting/training last month. Gong to some inn in 2 weeks for some symposium that we are coordinating. I know it's going to be all work and no play from what I am seeing lately. Too many things to do and so little time. I've been updating the website of this symposium for the past 2 weeks and there are so many things to keep track of.
• Bought a new dinning table with chairs last weekend.
• Joined a gym in September. You wouldn't believe how buff I am now. If you compare me with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (back in his earlier days), he's got nothing on me!
• Went to a haunted hay ride and a haunted barn before Halloween. I found it quite funny.
• On Halloween night, we went on a ghost tour of Fort George. We had gone once this summer so it wasn't really frightening, but it was still cool.
• We've been having problems with our phone recently. On 4 occasions, we've had no dial tone in the past 4 months. It has happened again tonight. It probably has happened more on other occasions also but we never found out since we never use our phone.

Short but sweet. If something meaningful happens, you might get another update.

Over 1 month and no updates. It’s not all that surprising since it’s summer and work has kept me busy. It seems like this is going to be my first and only update for July. I’m really busy at work, but I love it. It’s nice to be able to work in your field of studies. I guess my college tuition wasn’t wasted after all.

I might as well list off what’s been going on lately:

• Got a new tattoo last weekend. I got it done on my left foot this time around since my other one is on my right foot. Here’s a small picture and a larger one.
  
• Dr. Zoidberg isn’t too lively lately. I think he might pass away any day now unfortunately.
  
• Leaving tomorrow night for Quebec. Going to spend the long weekend at a cottage over there. Seems like I’ll manage to get away from work for a day, but it might bite me in the ass when I get back since I’ll have tons of stuff to do. For the past two weeks, I’ve been working with Quark on Mac OS X, inserting text into a Spanish document, which is a manual for water pumps. It’s long and tedious, but I’m not complaining.
  
• Looking to purchase a used Lexus…preferably the IS 300 or RX 300 model.
  
• Been listening to the new Jason Mraz album. It’s excellent, just like his previous stuff was.
  
• Watched War of the Worlds...it was excellent.
  
• It’s been crazy hot over here all summer. The average temperature has been 30 degrees Celsius plus humidity, which has been over 40 degrees on numerous occasions. The AC we bought was well worth the 100 bucks.

That’s about it for now since I’m short on time. Let’s hope I can find the time to update again in another month or so.

Long and behold, it’s been more than two weeks since my last update. A few things have happened since then. First off, I started my new job last Monday and I can say I enjoyed my first week at work. It’s nice to be able to have a job that’s related to your field of studies. The staff is very friendly and it’s a positive environment to work in. In my short time there, I’ve already learned a few things, notably with Quark. I can honestly say my first week at work was enjoyable.

Before I started my new job, I figured I would get things in order with my truck. It had to pass a safety test, pass the emissions test, get it registered over here and also get the plates for it. Since my truck was labeled “rebuilt” (from being in a wreck and getting fixed up afterwards), it had to pass a structural inspection. When I called around to find out the prices, the garages told me the same thing; since it’s an out of province vehicle that is labeled “rebuilt”, I needed a lot of documentation to get the structural inspection done. They needed the insurance appraisal, before and after pictures, the VIN numbers of the parts that were replaced just to name a few. Of course, I wasn’t able to find the documentation they were looking for. I came to the conclusion that since I wouldn’t be able to register my truck over here, I would have to bring it back home and sell it there.

So I left early Tuesday morning and headed back home. It took me about 17 hours to drive home. It was the longest drive of my life. On Wednesday morning, I went to a few car dealerships to look for cars. I didn’t really see anything that I liked. I also went to see a few friends and family members to say hello quickly. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see everyone I wanted to. On Thursday, I signed over the registration to my dad (so he can sell the truck back home) and flew back home in the afternoon since I was starting my new job the following Monday. After everything was said and done, I didn’t even stay home 48 hours. It was short, but sweet.

On the flight home, I kept thinking about the situation with my truck. Maybe I was misunderstood or maybe I misunderstood the people I had spoken to and I would have been able to register my truck after all. I figured I would look into it again because if I didn’t, it would bug me for a long time. On Friday morning, I called the agency that looks into these matters and I was informed the garages always get mixed up with a situation like mine. If a vehicle is already registered in another province, you don’t need to provide all the documentation that the garages request. The only thing that is needed is the registration. So after driving 17 hours and spending a total of $400 for gas and a plane ticket, I found out that I could have kept my truck. I felt so stupid and I would have kicked myself in the ass if I could.

After having a lot of time to think about it, I think it might be for the best. I wasn’t using my truck for what it was meant to be used for. I no longer needed all that cargo room and the 4X4 wasn’t necessary over here since the winters aren’t as harsh as they are in the Maritimes. Honestly, it was nice having the truck because it bailed me out a few times, like when I needed to transport big items. Also, I was really glad I had it when we moved out here because we were able to rent a trailer instead of renting a big moving van. Now that I’ve had time to think about it, I believe I’m finally OK with the thought of selling my truck and getting something else. It served me well and it’s time to move on. “Change is good” I say!

That being said, the girlfriend and I went out to test drive a few cars today. I tried out the Mazda 3 Sport, the Toyota Matrix and the Mini Cooper. My boss used to drive a Mini and he said I should check it out. The Mini was really fun to drive, but I don’t think it would be too practical for us. It was surprisingly big inside, but there wasn’t much cargo room. I’m still keeping my options open for the time being, but I think I might have to get something soon because only having one car and having two people working in different cities isn’t an easy thing to coordinate. If I were a millionaire, I wouldn’t have such a hard time making up my mind about which car to pick. I wouldn’t have to worry about the monthly payments being too high for my means, but I guess debt is a part of life.

About the fish, we decided to call him Dr. Zoidberg. He seems to enjoy it swimming around in his bowl. I have to assume that he likes it because he hasn’t complained about it and also, he hasn’t died. I hope Dr. Zoidberg would tell me if he’s unhappy or bored.

We also tried to purchase an air conditioner last weekend because the heat was unbearable, but there were almost none to be found in store. The only ones that were left were expensive and we couldn’t spend that much money on an air conditioner at this time. Thankfully, the heat wave is over and we’re able to sleep normally these days. If we happen to see an air conditioner on sale soon and it’s within our budget, I believe we would purchase it because I’m sure there will be other heat waves this summer.

Well, I mentioned all that was worth mentioning. Knowing me, it’ll probably be another 2 weeks before I’m able to update this site again. Stay sweet!

It's been a bit more than 2 weeks since my last update and only a few things have happened that’s worth mentioning.

First off, I’ve received two checks from EI. The first one wasn’t much, but every little bit helps. When I received my first check, the amount was only for one week and I was under the impression it was for a two week period. I was quite disappointed because I thought I was going to be strapped for cash all summer. When I received my next check two weeks later, it was double the amount I had received on my first check, so it was quite a relief. At least I’ll be able to stay afloat this summer and not dip into my savings or build up too much of a debt.

The living room has been painted and the furniture repositioned. I really like the color we picked out. It’s called “Cranberry Zing” and it’s exactly what we wanted. It was the perfect match for our existing furniture and we bought a few other pieces at IKEA to complement it. I don’t think we could have a better looking living room for the budget we were on.

I have to admit, I didn’t have much to do with the painting of the living room. I tried it out and I wasn’t really good with the roller. The girlfriend did most of the work and she did a superb job. I mostly put tape on the baseboards and ceilings, patched up all the holes (and there were a lot) and then sanded them and last but not least, I painted the walls with a brush near the baseboards and the tight corners. After this painting experience, I’ve come to realize I wasn’t a painter in my previous life!

Parts of the kitchen have also been painted. Once we remove the wallpaper, we’ll be able to finishing painting the kitchen. We also plan on painting the bedroom and bathroom, but that will have to wait until the wallpaper is removed from those rooms also.

Last week, my parents came to visit for a few days. We went to the Falls and saw the Victoria Day fireworks. We went shopping a little bit and mostly showed them what was around here. On the night before my parents left, we were driving around and we stopped at one of the many scenic lookouts that are around here. When we pulled in, there were 6 raccoons roaming around. They weren’t scared at all since one came up to me and tried to take my camera bag. It was cool to see raccoons so up close and personal. It seems like they have it made. They just wait around for people to come up and feed them because they are cute. I have to admit, if I would have had food in the car, I would have given it to them. Of course, they would have had to work for the food as I would have made them dance in front of the camera.

It's too bad I wasn't able to do more with my parents. It seems like there is always too many things to see and do and there isn't enough time. We didn't even have enough time to go to the casino together. I guess my parents will have an excuse for coming back down someday.

By the way, thanks dad for helping me install that light.

Now, on to the item that’s most worth mentioning: it seems I have found employment. Like Dr. Zoidberg would say, “Hooray!”. Once again, I have to thank Hélène for giving me a hand in my job hunt and landing me a job. When I first got here, I went to a job placement agency for francophone people and she landed me my job with the government. When my seasonal job ended, I contacted her again to tell her I was looking for work. She told me of this job, I forwarded her my resume and I got an interview because of it. Funny thing is, she works there too now.

I should be starting my new job in a few weeks. I’m very excited since the work is related to everything I studied in college. I’ll finally be able to use all of my skills. Hooray!

Last but not least, we got a fish recently. It’s a red male beta fish. I’ve never owned a fish before so this is a new experience for me. We put him somewhere so that he’s out of reach of the cat. Our cat probably wouldn’t eat him, but I’m sure he would like to play with him if he could. We still haven’t given a name to our fish yet. If you have any ideas, send them to my e-mail (alienmario 'at' kfoo.net) or via MSN Messenger.

So, that’s pretty much everything that has happened to me in the past two weeks. Hopefully it won’t take me another two weeks to update this site.

Stay sweet!

Recently, we’ve been bringing our cat outside often because the weather is starting to be nice. He really enjoys being outside. He’ll smell everything, chase insects, roll around on the ground and eat our plants and flowers (which he is not supposed to do, but that’s beside the point). Unfortunately, there is a small drawback to bringing him outside; unwanted attention.

Ever since we started to bring him outside, numerous other cats have started to visit our property and our cat doesn’t appreciate it because he is very territorial. Every time he notices that there is another cat around (whether our cat is inside or outside), he gets angry and agitated. When the fight or flight response mechanism kicks in, our cat chooses the fight option. Thankfully, our cat hasn’t been able to attack another feline yet. When he has been outside and another cat comes along, we have been able to scare it away and when our cat is inside, he isn’t able to reach it. If he were to attack another cat, I’m sure he would kick its ass and lay the smack down. I know this by experience because he plays rough with me and he’ll frequently hurt me.

The other part of the unwanted attention comes from kids. Up to date, a few kids have come over and try to pet our cat. That’s a big “no no” with our cat. He is independent, only wants attention when he asks for it and does what he feels like when he wants to. So when the kids try to pet him, most of the times he doesn’t want to be caressed so I’m afraid the fight response mechanism will kick in and he’ll attack.

The last thing I want is a lawsuit from parents because their kids were too stupid to leave strange animals alone and got bitten or scratched because of it. When I was a kid, I knew better than to approach a strange animal. Even if you got scratched or bitten, you sucked it up. Lawsuits were unheard of back then, but these are the times we live in. On a side note, I’m surprised that someone hasn’t yet laid a lawsuit against an elevator farter on the basis of mental anguish. My guess is there will be such a lawsuit very shortly because almost everything else has been tried already. Anyhoo, that’s a rant for another time. Back to the regular scheduled programming.

So when we bring our cat outside, we always watch him in case some kid comes out of nowhere and wishes to pet him. It doesn’t seem to deter the kids even if we warn them that our cat doesn’t like to be caressed and that he is an angry cat. They always think they know better. They all say “Kitty likes me”, “Kitty doesn’t bite” and “Kitty likes to be petted” as if they think they’re a cat whisperer. To the contrary, it’s quite the total opposite. Our cat hates you, he does bite and he has an extreme dislike of being caressed. So leave him alone!

Talking about “kids coming out of nowhere” brings me to another topic I want to rant about. It seems like parents aren’t watching their kids now a days. On numerous occasions, a kid will suddenly show up on our walkway alone. No parent around. If you want to leave your kid play in the front yard, watch him! Jeebus, is that so hard?!? If you don’t want to watch him, stick him in your fenced off back yard. I don’t want to be responsible to watch your child!

Here’s another example. Last Tuesday at around supper time, I was in town finishing my To Do list and I called home to see if I had to stop and pick up something for supper. My girlfriend was just getting home from work and had just walked into apartment. We talked for about 1 minute and she said there was a little girl in our walkway just now and she looked lost. My girlfriend went to see what was going on so we hung up. When I got home about 10 minutes later, the little girl was still there. The cat was outside on his leash and my girlfriend was also outside watching them (so that our cat wouldn’t attack the little girl). Anyhoo, after 5-10 minutes of gibberish and ramblings from the little girl, I picked up the cat and told her it was time for his supper and brought him inside. My girlfriend told her to come back another time.

My girlfriend filled in the blanks for me afterwards. Once we hung up, she asked the little girl if she was lost. She said no. It seems she was looking to play with the little boy next door and he wasn’t there. I guess she saw my girlfriend coming home from work and came to our apartment. After that, she asked if she could come inside. My girlfriend told her they would stay outside for a bit. At that point, the little girl saw our cat through the door and of course, she wanted to go inside to pet him. At that point, my girlfriend brought our cat outside because the little girl was insisting to go inside.

My girlfriend then asked the little girl if her parents knew where she was. She said her Nana knew she was here. My girlfriend suggested she go see her Nana. Off she went to see Nana but unfortunately, she returned. The little girl said that her Nana said it was OK to be there (our apartment) as long as they know where she is. First of all, what parent or guardian says to a 5 year old child that’s it’s OK to be at an unknown adult’s apartment where no children live?!?!

I arrived shortly after and the rest went down as I described it earlier. I hoped that would be the end of it, but it wouldn’t be so. Yesterday, shortly before supper time, I was washing the dishes (I know, quite a surprise isn’t it?) and waiting for my girlfriend to come home. The cat was at the screen door and looking outside like he always does. I heard him make noise and then heard a knock at the door. Guess who was there? But of course, it was the little girl. I pretended I didn’t hear and continued washing the dishes. She then rang the door bell. From behind the door, I asked her if she was looking for someone. She simply said “no” and that she wanted to pet the cat. I told her I was busy. She wanted me to put him on his leash and bring him outside. I told her that our cat doesn’t go outside unless we are there and I couldn’t go outside with him at that time because I was busy. She insisted again to put him on his leash so he could go outside. I told her firmly that I was busy and that he wasn’t going outside for the time being. I returned to finish washing the dishes and she left.

I hope she finally got the hint. Even thought I’m unemployed for the time being, it doesn’t mean I have nothing better to do with my time than to baby sit other peoples kids that I don’t even know for that matter.

Where are the parents? Do they let their kids run in the streets freely without keeping an eye on them? With all the horrible stories that are on the news now a days with children being kidnapped, molested and even murdered, isn’t that motivation enough to watch your child and know what they are up to? Also, it seems like the kids aren’t very shy.

When I was younger, I did go play at my cousin’s house which was just a few houses down, but never did I go alone to a neighbor’s house (who I didn’t know), strike up a conversation, try to pet their animals and want to enter their home.

I hope this is the end of kids coming to our apartment. If I feel like sitting outside on our porch this summer, I expect to have some privacy and not have some kid come and bother me every time they want to pet our cat.

So children, take the hint, don’t come to my apartment, don’t bother us and don’t bother our cat because he hates you and so do I.

Stay sweet!

I've been unemployed for 2 weeks now and I haven’t done much with my time off. I've applied for about half-a-dozen jobs but haven't heard anything yet. At least my IE application has been accepted, so I'll have a little money coming in. It'll keep me from going on the street corner and prostituting myself.

I was thinking of maybe painting the apartment so it would keep me occupied for a bit. It would give me something to do and also, it would get rid of that ugly wallpaper. It would be a big job, but I got nothing else do to so it seems like it would be a win-win situation. Picking the colors might not be an easy task. I’ve always wanted an orange room!

We are finally supposed to have nice weather this weekend. It’s been raining for almost 2 weeks over here and it was getting depressing. Although rain and cold didn’t stop me from BBQing, it was a pain to have to wear a skidoo suit just so I could flip a few burgers. I might be able to wear shorts and sandals all weekend! What a treat!

Stay sweet!

On February 18th, I had posted that I probably wouldn't see a Jason Mraz show anytime soon. Ever since I first heard him, I've wanted to see his live shows. I figured he would never come to small town Moncton but once I moved to Ontario, I thought there might be a better chance he would come around. Still, I didn't expect the opportunity would come up anything soon. Seems like I was wrong, and that's a good thing! He was playing last night at a university not too far from here, so the girlfriend and I went. She actually bought the tickets for me as an early birthday gift. I wasn't even aware he was playing. It's a good thing (I sound like Martha Stewart here) my girlfriend heard the ad on the radio because I didn't hear about it until she told me. I hadn't been on Mraz's website for a while, so I was totally unaware of his touring stops. So anyways, I was totally clueless that he was coming around here and I'm just grateful the girlfriend heard it on the radio! Thank you blonde! You're the best!

I knew it was going to be cool birthday gift, but now I can officially say it's the best birthday gift I ever received! It's even better than the bike or baseball glove I got when I was a kid. If I would have this birthday gift each year, I would be the happiest man on earth each time my birthday comes around. The only problem is that the girlfriend will have a hard time to top this gift next year. ;)

The show was excellent! He had the full band (instead of the acoustic show with Toca) and they rocked. I really enjoyed it and I can't wait to see another of his shows (he's coming to Toronto with Alanis Morissette...hint hint). I was able to find a few pictures of the show online. Here they are:

• picture 1
• picture 2
• picture 3
• picture 4

On to other things now. As you can see from my countdown, I am currently unemployed. I applied for EI and looking for jobs now. The worst that can happen is that I'm going to be unemployed for the summer since I have my seasonal job back once October comes around. The thing is it could be a long summer if I'm out of work. With not much money coming in, having no friends around here and having nothing to do with my days, I'm running the risk of being bored. Last summer wasn't as bad during the strike since I had quite a few friends from work who lived close by so we would get together and talk and play "washers". I was only on the picket lines so I would have things to do. Unfortunately, that won't be the case over here. Sure, I've made friends at work, but that's just it, they are going to be at work this summer. I won't be able to go mountain biking since I didn't bring my bike to Ontario. If I end up being unemployed all summer, I hope I'll be able to build or update a few websites for businesses around here to keep me occupied and bring in money.

Anyhoo, I'm off to listen to some Jason Mraz. Stay sweet.

Like Robert Duvall said in Apocalypse Now "I love the smell of propane and charcoal in the morning"...or something like that. As a matter of fact, I like it in the afternoon and evening too. It was another weekend spent BBQing, which is fine by me. If the weather can continue to be nice, I'll keep on BBQing for quite a while.

We went to the Good Food Festival this weekend. It was kind of like a buffet in there. We got tons of free samples, tasted a few thousand products and we even attended a seminar on how to have a cheese party. It was quite enjoyable, but I found that there were too many people. You couldn't walk without bumping into someone and there were quite a few urban hillbillies that would cut in line in front of you while you were waiting to get a free sample or taste something. All in all, it was enjoyable.

We put the leash on our cat and brought him outside often this weekend since it was nice. He hadn't been outside since we got to Ontario, so he enjoyed it. He was able to chew on plants, sit in the sun, rub up against trees and jump in the brushes. He even chased a fly or two. Unfortunately, he chased a bee or a wasp (something that stings anyways) into the brushes and when he came out, he was shaking his paw because he got stung! He shook his paw for a few minutes and licked it. We checked out his paw to see if the stinger was still there, but we weren't able to find anything. It swelled up a bit, but everything went back to normal after a few hours. Crazy sonofabitch! Worst thing is he probably won't learn his lesson.

This is my last week of work. I should be ending on Friday, but I heard something last week that it might get extended again. I find that hard to believe since the season is pretty much over. There's not much for myself and my coworkers to do these days except scan some documents, and we are only doing so because we would be doing almost nothing if it wasn't for that.

There is a new version of MSN Messenger out. I have it installed and noticed a few changes and added features, but nothing major to get excited about. I also updated Messenger Plus! after I installed MSN Messenger 7. I like the “Personalized Status” feature that you can preset a bunch of them so you don’t need to retype your status everytime you make a change.

That’s it, that’s all. I’m off to BBQ some chickan!

Stay sweet.

I haven’t updated in more than 2 weeks now, but nothing exciting has happened really and not much has changed. Here’s what’s worth mentioning:

• Found out recently that my contract has been extended by one week. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing. Countdown had been updated to reflect the extension.
• Watched The Ring 2 a while back. It was ok, but not as good as the first one.
• Almost bought tickets to go home at the end of the month, but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen because there are some conflicts.
• Been BBQing for a week straight! Up to date, we’ve made hamburgers, sausages, shrimps, bacon wrapped asparagus, potatoes, bruchetta, chicken, steak and pepper steak. We will soon be eating pork also.
• I’ve had an urge to buy something for a while now, like a hard drive or a laptop, but I can’t get myself to spend the money to purchase it. It doesn’t help to know I’m going to be unemployed soon.
• Bought a new garbage can because a racoon kept getting in the other one. Hopefully, he won't be able to get into this one.
• Told off quite a few marketers who called and tried to sell me something or get me to make a donation. One guy actually wanted me to make a $300 donation! Anyhoo, if you have the same problems, fill out this form.
• Configured my MSN Messenger account so I can receive text messages on my cell phone. This is a warning to you folks out there: DON'T SEND ME SPAM TXT MESSAGES ON MY CELL!
• The girlfriend planted some tomatoes and cucumbers and they are growing well. Yummy cucumbers!

Stay sweet.

There's been some buzz around here in the past week about a movie that will be coming out soon. Usually, when there's buzz surrounding a movie, it's positive, but it's not the case in this matter.

Deadly is the story about the murders that Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka committed. Most Ontarians are against this movie coming out because they say it's inhuman for someone wanting to profit from this tragedy. I agree that it's terrible to profit from such events, but it's not the first time it has happened, and it shall not be the last either. Other movies come to mind that are based on true events and have profited from them. Here are a few:

• Monster
• Alive
• Summer of Sam
• Schindler's List
• Helter Skelter

Other arguments have come up saying that if people want to know more about the case, they should do so with the books that have been released and read up on it instead of watching the movie. Why didn't people make such an uproar when the books came out in that case? Just because there are a lot more people that watch movies compared to those who read books, it doesn't mean that it can be censored. Or maybe they didn't want to anger the bookworm by telling him he shouldn't be reading such and such book. We all know how scary bookworms can be when they get made. Here are some of the books in question:

• Invisible Darkness: The Horrifying Case Of Paul Bernardo And Karla Homolka
• Karla: A Pact With the Devil
• Lethal Marriage
• Lethal Marriage (updated Edition): The Uncensored Truth Behind the Crimes of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka
• Deadly Innocence

Another argument I've heard is that it's too soon and that the wounds are still fresh. What about Bowling for Columbine or Fahrenheit 9/11? It seems to me that those incidents happened only a few years ago and to my recollection, there wasn't a big backlash to the point they wanted to ban the movie.

I can see how the families of those involved don't want to see the movie come out because it opens old wounds and that it is a disregard to them by profiting from their pain, but it was the same case for the movies listed above and they still came out and some of them were quite successful and were even critically acclaimed. If it's so wrong to profit from the Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka movie, why wasn't it so wrong to profit from Monster?

The whole thing boils down to Ontarians (Mostly Torontonians) wanting the movie banned because the events happened in their province and for a lot of them, close to their neighborhood. I can understand why they are so disgusted with this yet unreleased movie, but what they are trying to do is implement censorship. I, for one, am against censorship. I feel like I should be able to read, view and enjoy in what I choose as long as it's not against the law.

The goverment has even gotten involved and suggested we boycott the movie. "I don't think that legally we can prevent that movie from being shown in Ontario," Mr. McGuinty said. "I certainly will not be viewing that movie and I guess my advice, and my encouragement to Ontarians, is that they would do the same." The Consumer Minister, Jim Watson, even suggested that film distributors in Canada not show the movie in their theatres. Censorship by companies is bad enough, but censorship by the goverment is even worst. I'm not saying that I would view the movie, but I like having the choice to do so. Just like in the Matrix, give them a choice and they will be content. It has been reported that one film distributor has said that they "are not in the business of censorship". I applaud you. <<golf clap>>

In the end, the only thing I can say is if you disapprove of this movie coming out, don't support it by viewing it.

Here are some news articles related to the upcoming movie:

• Victims' families angered by new Bernardo movie
• Bernardo movie to be released when Homolka is
• Movie About Bernardo/Homolka Stirs Controversy
• Lawyer seeks advance look at Bernardo movie
• McGuinty urges Bernardo movie boycott
• Public urged to boycott Bernardo film

On a side note, I guess the guy who will be the next Superman has a small part in the Deadly movie.

Stay sweet.

I received a response from Rogers a few days after I sent off my letter. Here it is (with personal info edited out):

It looks like a standard response because they say "We will forward this comment to our telemarketing group to see that you are taken off the their calling list." and I never listed my telephone number in the letter I sent them. They only means they had to contact me in reply to my letter was via e-mail. Anyhoo, I don't think anyone could have filled out that form any quicker than me. I better not hear from them again. They have now been inscribed on my "Blacklist".

Stay sweet.

Ever since I've been in Ontario, telemarketers have called me more often than my mom. Here is a letter I wrote to Rogers this evening because of an experience I've with them:

I'm only expecting a standard reply from them stating they have received my e-mail. If I happen to hear something more from, I'll post it here.

Stay sweet.

Happy birthday sister! Minou wishes you a happy birthday too!

Stay sweet!

I was involved with something last night that I hope never happens to me again. The girlfriend and I were going to run a few errands in town last evening. She was driving and we took a busy city street to get to our destination. We were in the right lane of a 4-lane street and the car in front of us slowed down suddenly and eventually came to a complete stop. He didn’t have his signal lights on or anything; he just stopped in the middle of nowhere. After a few seconds, he switched to the left lane because it seemed like he wanted to avoid something. Once the car switched lanes, unfortunately, we were able to see what he wanted to avoid. A cat had been hit and he was lying on the pavement. I don’t think that the person who was driving the car in front was the one who hit the cat, but it seems like the cat had been hit shortly before. The poor cat couldn’t move and he was having convulsions. I didn’t want anyone to run over him again so I got out to move him to the side of the road. Once I knelt down next to him, I noticed there was a lot of blood. By the time I picked him up, he had passed away already. I hope that he didn’t have to suffer too long. What made it even worst for us was that he looks a bit like our cat.

I take that street to go to back and forth from work everyday and I noticed that he was still on the side of the road this morning. On my way home from work this afternoon, he was no longer there so I’m hoping someone gave him a proper burial.

There’s some whacked out stuff happening around here lately. One guy was looking for his 15 minutes of fame and another wanted to punish his wife. My guess is that they all work for Canada Post and they went postal.

Stay sweet!