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I went to a Rogers store last week to find out what it would take to get an iPhone. Yes, I've been tempted by the fruit of others. It's funny, really -- I've always wanted a phone-PDA-camera-mp3 player, but when the iPhone, a seemingly ultimate all-in-one came out, I was STILL not ready to commit to it. Other than that, nothing is really prompting me to upgrade except that the $30/6 GB/month offer ends September 30th. Anyway, so I went to the store and apparently I have to pay a penalty above the regular price! What rot was that, I wondered? It seems that if you spend less than some number (I'm guessing $30) a month, then you fall into a "beggar's tier" (my term), in which you're not considered a very good customer and thus must pay extra to upgrade your hardware! I ranted to the Rogers store rep about this, who agreed that it was a bit draconian (I would add capricious and arbitrary) and that I might be able talk to Rogers sales to get them to give me...

Just a quick update from work. Weekend, frustrating because of the Gardiner closure, made worse by the lack of parking in the downtown area and then just nigh unbearable by that damn The Score closing the intersection of King and Spadina. Yargh, an unhappy, a most unhappy camper. I'm going to try to write this entry without going back and editing/censoring myself, so excuse the spelling and such. Oooh, I almost deleted what I just said because it was so boring. Anyway... Saturday, instead of going to a dental appointment and getting my car looked at and dropping into Future Shop to see if XBox 360's were on sale, I played Team Fortress 2! Like, all day. And I have been playing pretty much nearly every hour since then, at home. Perhaps it's better that I stay at work, where the temptation to play games is not nearly so high. Oh right, I cut my hair the other day. Twenty-three centimeters, according to the salon. I was tempted to keep it, perhaps use it as a brush or the lik...

Two Korean films. First, I mistakenly saw Seven Days . I say mistakenly because I do not know why I got it -- I'm not a fan of grisly murder mysteries (aside from perhaps the fantastic Memories of Murder ). I guess I figured that because it was so popular it might be worth watching. It actually builds up well enough, but when you start to realize what's going on and who's behind what, well, it simply doesn't meet expectations. Speaking of expectations, how about that The Good, The Bad, the Weird ? The action scenes? Woo-eee, man they are smoking! But what was all that junk in the middle? And by junk I do mean all those pointless plot bits. Seriously, we GET IT -- there's a treasure and everyone wants the map! It would've been nicer if the backstory was more coherent/relevant, but to have all that unnecessary running around was a bit much. And the opium house? What was all that about? Anyway, some great action (the opening 30 minutes or so pretty much...

I have, thanks to the generosity of a co-worker and friend, been able to see no less than four TIFF films thus far. Ghost Town , the new Ricky Gervais romantic comedy of a jerk who can see ghosts, a kind of Sixth Sense, only replace the scary bits and whispering with Gervais' signature awkwardness. He was actually at the showing (no pictures, sorry), but he didn't speak. Also there was the director, an editor, as well as Kinnear and Kristen Wiig, who was wearing this great electric blue dress with lacy black stockings. Oh, the movie was mildly good. It's a romantic comedy, has a "feel-good" message. Detroit Metal City , a story of a country boy moving to the city in the hopes of becoming a "trendy" pop music star. Instead, he finds himself as the lead singer of a death metal band Detroit Metal City. Eh, it was fun and all but I often find with these Japanese films that for all their quirkiness there's an equal amount of lulls and missed joke...

While I love tabbed browsing, I simply cannot stand the default behavior of browsers that place a little Close button on the tab. What rot is that? Right, when I click a tab I don't want there to be a chance that I can hit this button and have the exact opposite of what I want to happen -- the tab I want to see is gone and closed, with no Undo other than to hunt for it in the History or from the page it was spawned. Who thought this was a good idea? Me, I remove those buttons (when the option is available) and use middle-click to close tabs. Feeling better today, but mouth dry and gross. Plans for weekend.. eh, nothing.

Sick with a strange flu-like malaise. I was up at 4 AM, my throat a channel of broken glass. Slept most of the day away. Am somewhat better now, but still out of sorts with grogginess. I did go for a bike ride, the weather being excellent for that. I went to KW to hang out with Growli this past long weekend. Played hours of Rainbow Six Vegas 2, which is a lot of fun for two people working cooperatively. I still find 1st-person shooters on consoles a claustrophobic experience, like driving a very slow vehicle. The storming of rooms and setting up zones was otherwise quite rewarding. We also went to Phil's Grandson on Sunday night, which I'm pretty sure is the very last time I ever go down there, that dank, sewer-like club. Ever foreboding, ever unrewarding. Oh hey, did you get a chance to try Google's new Chrome browser ? It's neat how they can just throw together a bunch of different engines and make something fairly decent. I would make it my primary br...

Well, it's been over a week since my Vipassana experience . Adequate time to analyze my state of mind and mood. Simply, I only feel slightly different. See, I've been, of late before the retreat, constantly trying to calm my temper down which flares frequently at work. Not because of the work itself (not lately anyway, now that I have a pretty good grip on what I'm doing) but rather due to the after hour gaming sessions, usually xbox gaming and StarCraft . Not in a terribly serious way, but enough that afterwards I had to pause and ruefully reflect on how I felt. And it happened again today! Oh dear. So, perhaps thinking 10 days of meditation would help is a bit much. But again, am I different? I think yes, very slightly so. My perspective is clearer, I think. I am more inclined to believe the meditation did some good, which is practically the same as it being true, no? I'm afraid I haven't been keeping up with the mediation itself. I did fix my egg...