mike the mountain

Which rides do you like best?

I like to spin, and I like to fly. Rollercoasters are fun enough, never been crazy about the big Drop of Doom style towers, but any ride that spins really fast is my first choice! Gimme the teacups where you get to turn the wheel in the middle and spin yourself… I can get that sucker going so fast it’s trying to go into orbit! Polar Express was always my favourite ride at the fair (Klondike Days in Edmonton, Stampede in Calagary, CNE in Toronto, etc.). And anything that gives you the sensation of flying (not falling), like the swings, or the zero-gravity spinners, or things like that.

I wonder why that is… why one style of motion is a thrill and a rush and lots of fun, and another style of motion is more of a painful endurance. I’ve been desperate to go sky-diving my whole life, yet I have zero desire to try bungee jumping. Maybe there’s something to do with the whole “flying vs. falling” thing. As a kid (like many others I imagine) I always dreamed of being able to fly like Superman. My favourite part of skiing was finding the biggest jumps I could go off, hiking for hours just for those few brief seconds of flight.

Superhero fantasy? Control issues? Who knows. I’m just going to stand in the corner with my arms out and spin till I fall down. Always a classic.

Star Trek: New Voyages
Machine Gun vs. Katana
Shark vs. Octopus, or Why I’m Never Going Swimming Again (warning: crappy RealPlayer plugin required)

“Offense gets the glory, but defense wins the game.”

True, but it’s bullshit.

True, because, well, it’s true. Offense DOES get all the glory. Style, show, aggressive, exciting. That’s what everyone wants to see. And defense DOES win the game. Safety, security, protection. Boring.

Bullshit, because when people say that to you, they are insinuating that they want you to play defense. Every coach I’ve ever had stressed that you need to focus on your defense, so that’s what I did. No one could get past me. When I was at the height of my basketball skills, I was blocking guys with 8 inches or more on me. I’m 6′ 4″, I toured Europe crushing 7 footers like they were children. But I was never the hero, never the MVP, never the captain, hell I was a benchwarmer in high-school even though not one of the hot-shot starters could get past me. But they could score, and that’s what REALLY counts in people’s minds.

Everyone pays lip service to what they they think they SHOULD think is most important, but we all know what they really want.

This applies to everything in life. Everyone says they want one thing, the thing they know they are supposed to want/need/desire. But it’s all bullshit. If you doubt me at all, just ask every “nice, funny” guy that sat home alone on a Saturday night while the girl of his dreams was in the back seat of the “bad boy’s” car. But don’t worry, come Monday she’ll be telling everyone how she just wants to find a “nice” boy…

Hmm. I had planned on expanding on this further, but it’s putting me in a really crappy mood, and that’s just no good for a beautiful Friday afternoon. To be continued.

57 Optical Illusions and Visual Phemonena
A Really, Really, Really Good Introduction to XML

Can you find the face?

1930 DeMoulin Brothers Fraternal Supply Catalog (Wow, I guess all those horror stories about Fraternity pranks really did happen back then!)
September 15: Talk Like A Pirate Day!
Sin In Linen: Punk Rock Bedsheets

Ikea instructions in Hell:

If you stare at the little black cross in the center of this ring of blinking purple dots, the dots will turn green and eventually disappear. But if you stare at the purple dots themselves, you’ll see that they only blink off momentarily and are never green.

I was going to write about my adventures getting out of my office parking lot last Friday during the rainstorm, offroading, climbing hills, pushing over guardrails, but the mess down south kinda makes our little sprinkle seem not as significant.

Oh well, good luck to everone in New Orleans (I haven’t done Mardi Gras yet, so I really hope the place isn’t too trashed when you get back!!).

Pictures of Finch Avenue in Toronto. Click here to see the whole series.

All respect to President’s Choice Financial Insurance.

I recently noticed that my vehicle registration expired in July. I’ve been in Toronto for over a year now, I think technically you have 30 days to update your insurance and reg. So yeah, I’ve been driving illegally, facing potentially thousands of dollars in fines.

So yesterday I go on a mad scramble to try and get insurance, never the most efficient or fast paced industry from the consumer standpoint. Best case scenario I’m faced with is 2-3 weeks while everyone gets their info from other provincial agencies and competing companies. I figured I’d have to rent a car for a few weeks, not like I have a ton of cash to throw around but I didn’t have much of a choice. Then PC Financial and my dear friend Alvin came to the rescue. Not only was Alvin able to hook me up over the phone, effective TODAY, but he even offered coverage at nearly a GRAND cheaper than any other quote I’ve received! Going to get my new plates over lunch, and we’re good to go.

It’s a rare and wonderful treat to deal with someone competent, positive, and helpful in this kind of situation, and I figured the best I could do to return the kindness would be to spread the word, so yeah, if you’re looking for insurance, give ‘em a call (ask for Alvin).

I know, I know, corporate PR BS, but hey, dude helped me out, end of story. Sometimes it’s nice to have something nice to say about a big financial institution.

“Come, let us hasten to a higher plane
Where dyads tread the fairy fields of Venn,
Their indices bedecked from one to n
Commingled in an endless Markov chain!” ~lem, love, & tensor algebra

Picking Up Girls Made Easy
Internet Advertiser Wakeup Day
Toronto Gas Prices
Niagara Falls Beluga Cam

ed2go Online Courses
50 Mac Gems
Quicktime Fullscreen for Free
Make Your Own Beastie Boys Song
4G iPod Linux Installer
The $500 Mythbox Project

“Nothing in the world is the way it ought to be… It’s harsh, and cruel. But that’s why there’s us… It doesn’t matter where we come from, what we’ve done or suffered, or even if we make a difference. We live as though the world was what it should be, to show it what it could be.”

It’s a shame that the source of the above quote will cause it’s message to be dismissed as geeky fandom. It really is one of the best life philosophies I have ever heard, and one that I try to apply to any moral or ethical issues I face. Live as though the world was as it SHOULD be, not as it is. Yeah, life sucks most of the time for most of the people. But it’s so nice, once in a while, to pretend that it doesn’t, to pretend that people really are good and honest, and to act as if everything was the way it’s supposed to be. Sure it’s meant that someone has tried to mug me when I took my wallet out to give him some spare change (don’t worry, he lost). And yes, I’ve had the snot kicked out of me when I tried to break up what looked like an unfair fight. I’ve been cheated, hurt, and betrayed… we all have. The point it that when we look back on the decisions we make, I would much rather know that I acted with the best and most honourable intentions, and I am willing to take the consequences.

If you saw a young girl screaming for her life, being dragged down a back alley about to be raped, would you feel better if you walked away, unharmed, or would you spend the rest of your life feeling sick and guilty, wishing you had tried to help? I know I’d rather risk being seriously injured or even killed trying to save someone, then live safe as a coward. But hey, hopefully none of us will ever have to make that extreme a choice, right?

Can You Spot The Real Scientist?
Trampoline Hall
Torontoist Mixtape: Left-Handed Scissors and Sushi
How to install OS X natively on your PC
Water Balloon Bazooka
Bios Urn (If I ever die, I kind of like this idea)
NES Controller TV Remote
WordPress + Google = Killer Blog Backup Automator
How To Make Perfect Steamed Rice

I’m curious, in the beginning stages of a romantic relationship, what “anniversaries” are most important to celebrate. I’m mostly interested in the female perspective, since, well, I’m a guy, so I know what I think. I think.

So, ladies, is the “one month” still worth mentioning or doing something for? And is it one month from what? The first time you met? First date? First kiss? First… intimate experience? (What if they’re all the same day? You studmuffin, you…)

And what’s appropriate? Flowers? Always a failsafe, if somewhat unoriginal. Too soon for something expensive (besides, I’m broke as usual). I’d love to make her dinner, but she I won’t be seeing her that evening (assuming I go with “One Month From First Date”, which is Monday, not “…First Met”, which was yesterday). Maybe I’ll try to sneak a little stuffed animal with a note in to her place this weekend when I visit. Yeah, that’s cool.

Dude, you know it’s getting serious when I’m stressing about this. This girl is amazing, and I don’t think she reads this site yet, so I can actually talk about stuff like this without blowing the suprise (for now anyway)! Wish me luck, and if I’m not back by tomorrow be really really happy for me!!

Delicious Library
The Universal Packing List
Sugar in the Gourd: Old-Time, All The Time
Logogle
Tools and Utilities for Filmmakers
SimpleViewer
I Drew This
Torontoist: Mixtape: This Ain’t Radio (Thank God)
YourEmblem
How To Use Google Maps EZ
Math, Physics, and Engineering Applets
Hayseed Dixie: I Believe In A Thing Called Love
Party-Keller: All 1994 mp3 mix (download)
OS X Password Manager Roundup

This may be the single greatest webcomic panel I have ever seen.

Airborne Cats
1970s Spanish Adult Movie Posters
Over 100 Quick and Easy Healthy Foods
Molly O’Poverty’s Guide to (Mostly) Free Music
Odeo: Play, Download, and Create Podcasts
200 Amazing Secrets **WARNING!! Some of these are complete BS! Still a fun read though.
Make Fire From Water
Chocolype Now

Good call Tony:

whats yr soul?

its the picture you have in your head of you as a little kid

its the good part of you that will get compared to the adult part of you to see how it matches up

if youre ever lost think about that little picture or that elementary school picture of you with your chipped front tooth or fucked up hair and say

am i living up to the hopes and dreams of that excellent kid

or have i sold out to the fears of society and become a tool

and echo of a fat guy in a little coat.

i have sold out in many ways but my ultimate goal is to be the man that that little kid wanted to be when he grows up.
~www.tonypierce.com/blog

um, well, I touched a boobie once, so I like to think that that child would be very very proud of me.

macosxhints: Emulate Gmail’s conversations in Mail.app
macosxhints: Create hidden yet easy-to-access folders
macosxhints: Colorize emails by contact group in Mail.app
macosxhints: Make 24-hour time work in iCal

Got the iPAQ. Very happy. Geekgasm.

Now I just have to figure out how to coordinate my office Thinkpad and associated Outlook calendar/task list/contacts with my iBook and three iCal calendars and a “personal” address book, neither of which I want to be loaded to the other computer, but all of which I want synced and categorized on the little info-nexus. Could be interesting.

~OpenVision.tv
~Telus Blocks Consumer Access to Labour Union Web Site and Filters an Additional 766 Unrelated Sites
~Chowhound’s Toronto Message Board
~Image to Text or Ascii
~MacTips.org
~Lagoon Nebula
~Extending the iTrip’s range
~Arbitrary Violence: Instrumental Hip-Hop
~Arbitrary Violence: Musical Chairs

OK, I’ve already screwed up one appointment, I NEED to get myself a PDA. I live by a daytimer, and I’m way too much of a geek to not have my gadget fix. So I have decided to go for a all-in-one “smart phone”, or combo cell phone/PDA. I’m gonna stick with Rogers for now unfortunately, mainly out of convenience, but also because they do have the strongest data service reputation at the moment. Here are the options I’m considering:

-palmOne Treo 600: Dependable, Palm interface is way behind in the tech, but far more stable than Windows Mobile. Half the price of the latest and greatest 650, 99% identical functionality. Better Mac support.
-HP iPAQ h6325: New hotness. Full PocketPC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cell phone. Frickin’ expensive, no tactile buttons for touch dialing, less durable. Most powerful/functional of the bunch.
-Audiovox SMT5600: Other extreme from the iPAQ, great cell phone with PocketPC functionality. Normal size cell phone, convenient, but no qwerty keyboard or big PDA screen.

I’m not interested in a Blackberry; in my mind all it does well is corporate e-mail, which my company is not currently willing to support, so all I’ve got is a mediocre phone, proprietary software, and no camera. Yesterday I was ready to buy the iPAQ, but I couldn’t find it in any of the stores around me! Same deal with the Audiovox. I’m sure I could track down the Treo, but I don’t want to make a decision until I’ve actually seen and played with all three. Any thoughts out there?

Joey the Accordian Guy vs Quickboys Moving
MenuCalendarClock
What’s on my Treo 650?
Time Management With PDAs
How To Reinstall Windows Without Losing Your Data (I love my Mac, I love my Mac, I love my Mac)
Using rsync to sync iTunes on two computers
Blue Coconut: iTunes Sharing App