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Well, I'm caught up on A Game of Thrones. I was not all that into the show for the first three seasons, which is strange -- you'd think I'd be all over something full of swords and magic and intrigue. But no, it wasn't until the fourth season that I started to get that "just one more episode" feeling. It's difficult to say exactly what the show lacked for me. Not enough relatable characters? I did come to enjoy the Tyrion Lannister and Arya Stark stories, and I liked the idea of Sansa developing into something other than a pouting ingénue. Over in Essos, I couldn't get past the idea of Daenerys freeing slaves by merely talking to them, as if one could change a person's core belief with only reason. Were that the world was so easily fixed! And, on a nitpick scale, how is she feeding her army? Where are the trains of supply wagons? I've now moved onto Breaking Bad, and I have greatly enjoyed my time with it thus far, some five episodes in. I...

I spent the day at home, having to wait to get my heat-pump serviced (again) -- this time it seems it needed a flushing out, by which I suppose it was clogged in some capacity. A novel thing, working from home: cats at my feet, a large pot of coffee within reach, dressed in my most comfortable of attires. I rather enjoyed it, and got to try out the local Sky Blue Sky sandwich shop; excellent chowder! Earlier this week I did one of my spur-of-the-moment rides across the city, from downtown to the beaches and back home, a circuitous route, some 20 km, navigating by will alone, without a destination or goal other than to feel the city pass by, to push my legs and lungs. Such glorious weather, I could not deny its call to enjoy it. I have been keeping up with karate. Mostly keeping up, there being only the one class a week right now. I would like to say that I've been keeping up with my workouts as well, but that would be a blatant lie; I go through phases of regular and not at all...

How have I been? Well and not well. Well enough. Yesterday some friends and I attended UFC 129 , in Toronto. Entertaining! Quite a few knockouts, lots of action, with only the title card (GSP vs Jake Shields) being a bit of a confusing disappointment. GSP won, but not in a glorious or interesting fashion. And Jake Shields seemed a bit too shy for someone challenging for a title. Fifty-five thousand people smushed into the SkyDome/Rogers Centre, and our seats, being of the 500-level variety, allowed us to take them all in. Ah, the drunken UFC fan was out in full force that day! Before the event, we had a mediocre Korean BBQ experience at the Korean Grill House near Yonge and Gerrard. Friday I went and saw Grinders with Loopy, a HotDocs documentary at The Isabel Bader Theatre. I knew that some people used poker as a source of income, but I'd no idea of the underground poker culture, or its place in Toronto! Geez I guess I hardly know this city at all. The film was preceded by a ve...

Ok, I did mean to update earlier but I've been... preoccupied of late. Well, my video card slowly dying is part of the excuse to be sure. I only realized today that it's actually over two years old! Seems like I only got it last year. Have I been playing games on it for that long?? It's a tiresome bore, I'll tell you. And I'm somewhat torn on what to "upgrade" to -- I bought my Sapphire ATI HD 4870 x2 2GB for $580, and it's now worth $300 new, which is actually about what I would like to spend, money not flowing as easily as it once did for me. I'll have to bite the bullet soon enough, there being a stack of games (Civ 5, Dead Rising 2, StarCraft 2, Fallout New Vegas) beckoning me to return. So Toronto voted in Rob Ford! What rot, what rot. I'm sure most of you are by now aware of the "amalgamation gap", the stark difference in voting attitudes between downtown Toronto and the suburbs. I mean, on some subconscious level I suppose I kn...

How was your Easter weekend? I spent mine in the Muskoka area , enjoying a strangely quiet long weekend with good weather; nary a mosquito to be seen. Some rain but mostly mild, sometimes even hot, weather. Falls near Bracebridge The relative emptiness was due to the earliness of the season, as I'm told that people wait until May before making the drive up. As such the roads and towns were open to stress-free exploration; my favourite kind of roadtrip! Along with those trip photos , I also posted the housewarming pictures , which, if you haven't been to my place yet, should give you a better idea of what my place looks like. The party itself went well enough -- lots of people showed up, but less than I'd accounted for. Certainly my fears of running out of food were unrealized. And I was disappointed that only two of my coworkers made an appearance. Anyway, thanks to y'all who showed up! Oddly enough I thought that I'd have a lot to write about but, s...

So, like, what's the word, boyos? Tired of writing, that's the problem. No, gosh, what an awful start. I was thinking of putting down some thoughts on the recent Michael Bryant cycling incident , now that some more details have been leaked. The cyclist had left his girlfriend/ex-girlfriend's apartment less than an hour earlier, with police called in to handle the domestic disturbance. He was also possibly drunk, and may still have been drunk and upset at the time of the incident. Bryant or his wife, the passenger, made a 911 call during the incident. The cyclist likely died of injuries received while hanging on to the side of the car, although it's possible that he was also run over at some point. What I wanted to say is that the situation is not that black and white. People panic in high stress situations, especially if they're not used to it. Perhaps Bryant's flight instinct kicked in, wanting to protect his wife from a belligerent stranger. Maybe ...

Blargh, i guess the reach of my laziness know no bounds. Since my last post I attended Toronto The Good and finished my bicycle maintenance course. Am reading up on condos, haven't actually looked at anything yet. Did some volunteer training for ooch , my stint is coming up in July. Hmm yeah, basically, not doing any productive work (which I consider to be 2profiles and hwan.com) and spending a whole heck of a lot of time goofing around. Not 100% true of course. My bicycle has received some much needed care and is riding fairly smoothly. I did manage to get yet another flat. One more and I'll replace the tire, which apparently is a cheap piece of rubber not too far removed from garbage. I straightened up the head piece, finding the quill to be quite the rusty hunk of metal . Bottom bracket axle needs changing. Replaced the brakes with a set that are hardly any better. Cleaned and re-greased the rear axle. Ok, but seriously now, why is there so much road constru...

Bicycle class yesterday. Need to get a new chain and new brake cables, will want to tune-up the latter, install the former next class. Lots of characters. Story-filled old men, quiet young dudes, shady fellows. It's quite entertaining though I do find all the stories tiresome. Not the teacher though; I find him quite the sage. Funny, I keep thinking I'll have something to say but I'm afraid I don't. No real tales to tell. OH I've been getting into the Yeah Yeah Yeahs . Love the lead singer's voice, reminds me of Siouxsie Sioux. Zero, Maps, all the tracks are really right up my alley. I saw them play on last weeks Saturday Night Live and was impressed. Also I might start getting into Glass Candy as I am fairly in love with their version of Computer Love . Yeah sorry, can't think of anything else worth mentioning right now. Mayhaps after the weekend?

So it turns out that having a hole in a bicycle tire tread causes the inner tube to explode when inflated. Two inner tubes later, I've replaced both the front and back treads and my bike feels very different. The new treads are tacky and stick amazingly to the road; almost too well as they kick up a lot of gravel, making a disheartening sound as the stones grind against the rain fenders. My attempt to clean the chain has resulted in a clunky ride -- the internals of the rear axle no longer spins freely. Not that I remember it doing so but it does dwell on my mind now. I bought some MOO minicards and while I don't have much excuse to give them out I do find them fun to have. I'll need to remember next time however that they really do have very limited real estate for pictures as they managed to crop out the edges of the ones I'd uploaded. I also got that little keychain dispenser which is larger than I'd imagined but still quite neat. Quiet weekend thus far. ...

Wow, I'm taken aback by the vitriol that many critics are throwing at Watchmen , notably those on Rottentomatoes . Seriously, 43% on the tomatometer? Ouch. I enjoyed the film enough that I picked up a copy of the comic, something I'd always wanted to own but just never really had enough interest or reason to do so. I found it for half price, this latest reprint (the 22nd?) likely causing Alan Moore to spin in his grave, poor fellow. Still, from where does all this hate for the movie come from? I admit that it's not everyone's cup of tea but it's easily more entertaining than 90% of the junk out there. I don't watch that junk but I'm certain of the validity of my statement. Bicycle season! And with it comes.. flat tires. My ride home from Koreatown somehow earned me a flat tire. I went to buy some wrenches today, but I got the wrong size. Perhaps the time to replace the tread is nigh.

Why is it that my computer speakers warn me when a cellphone is about to ring? Seriously cellphones, come on. Well the nicer weather means more bike riding, which in turn means more bicycle-related incidents. Hopefully these, my injured wrist and sore shoulder, will remind me to be wary of those treacherous streetcar tracks. But it was well worth the ride out to the Leslie Street Spit . I enjoyed listening to the water-worn bricks being tossed against the shore, like so many pieces of Lego. I took some shelter from the brisk wind behind a boulder to enjoy a sandwich. I also made a trip to the Value Village in the area, where I picked up a couple sweaters for future rides. I would enjoy used clothing stores more if they weren't so impossibly dusty all the time. Small price to pay I suppose for equally small literal prices.

I got into an accident this morning while riding my bicycle. I was going to say, "I was hit by a car," but the way it happened I did most of the hitting. It was on Queen, just a few minutes from my apartment, as I was going east towards work. A car in the opposite lane was inching forward into my lane to make a left turn into a parking lot that was coming up on my right. I slowed down, but the car kept going right into me and I couldn't stop in time, and swerving to avoid was not an option at that point, in the sense that no matter what I did I still was going to make contact. I recall yelling something and looking down as I watched my front tire make strike the right front side of the car, a silver Toyota Echo. The car must've seen me at the last moment because luckily it swerved to its left, missing the parking lot entrance and ending up on the sidewalk, facing east, narrowly avoiding a parking meter, one of those printing ones with the solar panel on top. I didn...