LeeMobile

Needs More Weekend

I never would’ve thought that my summer would be this crazy busy.  I guess I’m not busy from anything like work or anything like that, but just from doing “stuff” all the time.  I really need a weekend from the weekend.

Friday my girlfriend and I were over at Anne-Marie’s until late making and eating sushi.  This whole cooking business has been fun lately for me, so I asked her if she could teach me how to make her wonderful sushi rolls.  The whole process itself requires a bit of work, but the end result was gorgeous and delicious.  We made some salmon and tuna nigiri as well as spicy salmon, spicy tuna, California, and veggie sushi rolls.  Wasabi-tastic!

Saturday we went to the Ultimate skills clinic being held by the Ottawa-Carlton Ultimate Association.  A bunch of our team-mates, which makes me smile.  I haven’t had this much fun playing a sport before, and the fact that a few of my fellow team-mates are focused on improving with the team makes me even more gung-ho about it.  The four hour clinic only cost us $10, and we learned a ton of things.   It was very well organized and informative.

We were supposed to watch the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie with some friends that night, but it was sold out.  This actually turned out to be a good thing, as instead my girlfriend and I hung out with her friends, a fun gay couple of hers.  It ended up being a really fun night.  We bought a bunch of snacks, rented a movie, and got absolutely stoned at her place.  Whatever you do, don’t watch The Matador.  Even high, the movie was terrible.  What was fun though, was watching her 100 lb gay friend laugh hysterically for 5 minutes from the small toke he had.  I’ve never seen anyone react that way to pot before.  “I’m speaking to God right now!!!!!!  BAHAHAHAHHAH”

Sunday we woke up pretty late, and pretty drained from the previous night’s shenanigans.  We did some errands and I got a chance to pick up a pair of cleats for Ultimate.  After a short power nap and a quick dinner we were at Britannia Bay playing some fun beach volleyball for a few hours, a nice way to end the weekend.

Yesterday, Monday, we had another game of Ultimate.  Our team keeps on improving, and much more noticeably so for those who went to the clinic.  The difference in level of play was tremendous, and although we were a much improved team we couldn’t pull for a win.  We screwed up the lines at first, and so one line ended up being too strong while the other line was too weak.  After a bit of a mix it was better, but we still couldn’t pull through.  Hopefully after a practice or two we can get all of our team-mates on the same page so that we can fill in what we learned at the clinic to those who missed it.

Only one month left until I leave Ottawa… Summer is way too short.

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Ultimate Power Supply Woes

Yesterday was our second game of Ultimate this season, and again we lost.  This time we narrowed the gap as the final score was 13-9.

I again was able to wring out another bucket of sweat after running in the insane humid heat for an hour.  We had two new players on our team, Frank and Mel, who just had their very first game of Ultimate.  Our opponents were a lot tougher than our previous ones, and we have improved our game in a lot of ways.  Though there’s a lot to be desired.

This upcoming Saturday a few of us are going to an Ultimate skills clinic.  For a cheap $10 we get four hours of instructions on the basics to the game, and I think it’ll improve a lot of our skills individually.

After a week without biking to work (due to all the late nights at Bluesfest last week) I wasn’t able to keep my endurance up throughout the entire match.  Next game will hopefully be a different story.  The fun and addiction of the game is still strong however.

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Sudip asked me today to help fix his ailing computer.  This morning he tried to turn it on and nothing happened.  No spinning fans, no beep, and not even a small flicker of the LED light.  I diagnosed the problem as a power supply failure, since a failed motherboard would still allow for the power supply fan to spin up.  It’d be a quick fix and I don’t mind helping him out since he’s such a noob with computers.  :-p

We dropped by a local computer parts store to pick up what seemed to be a decent power supply.  It had a huge slow rotating fan and a spiffy blue LED light to boot.  The cost was decent and the guy at the store recommended it.

So we went back to Sudip’s place, popped out the old supply and installed the new one.  We plug in the power cord into the wall socket, hit the power switch, and I look up at the monitor to happily see his computer boot up.  Just that instant though, Sudip yells out “What the F#@!?”

It smells like burning and I look down to see a huge column of smoke coming from his machine.  I quickly tell him to shut it down.  The smoke is suffocating.  We gave it a few moments to dissipate and I dig around the wires to see what’s going on.  The cables feel hot, and after a little dig I find his power cord to his floppy disk drive has melted.  There’re chunks of melted power cord plastic everywhere, and the power socket to his disk drive has fused together from the heat.  Scary stuff.

We return to the store, and after some terrible customer service they give us a replacement supply but won’t budge when we ask they replace our floppy disk drive that their product has scorched.  “This ain’t future shop” the retail guy says.

We plug in the new supply, cross our fingers, and flip the switch.  No fire.  All is good.  Installing new power supplies into systems from now on will probably give me the heebeejeebees.

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Tonight was my first time playing in a fun session of online poker in awhile.  I played once last week for about 10 minutes before losing the drive to play.  Well, I didn’t lose the drive to play I just didn’t have the mindset to play at all.  Today was different though, and I fired up my good old PartyPoker account and opened up two tables.

I played for about half an hour and made about $20.  By then I got tired and the fear of losing what I had won started to sink in.  I’ve always had this nagging fear of “quitting while you’re ahead” and being that I’m reintroducing myself to the game, I left.  Simply playing scared leads to bad play.  And while I was sitting at a table where I was cleaning up, playing poorly from fear would eventually make me lose.

I guess it’s one hurdle I have to get over again… and boy am I rusty.

I’m glad to have played though, and I got that same old rush from poker again.  When I’m back in school again in September I’ll probably start playing seriously again.

What’s different is that this time around I played 6-max instead of the regular 10 handed ring game.  With only 5 other players at the table this means that I can be more aware of how they play, but it also means that I have to play more agressively to win my pots.  I never played 6-max often, and I never mastered it… though starting over again I’m coming to realize that it’s the game to play if I want to get back into it as that’s where all the action (bling bling) is.

I know I said that I would play poker part time in school, and that idea completely flopped last winter semester.  Though this upcoming fall hopefully will be a little different.

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Metric, Chinatown, and a Cooking Adventure

Friday Wei was nice enough to have me over for a tasty steak BBQ dinner. It was fun to chill with him as I haven’t seen him much this summer at all. Dinner was followed by a few rounds of Street Fighter on his Super Nintendo. Talk about bringing back childhood nostalgia.

Afterwards my girlfriend and I went over to Bluesfest to check out Metric! She really wanted to see the Riannha show. I have no idea who Riannha is other than she’s some young pop princess that came out with some top 40 pop songs. Not for me, no thanks… I find it really strange that she’s performing at a blues festival of all places.

Seeing Metric live this time around was a lot different than at Coachella. The venue was packed like it was at Coachella (probably the most packed that I had seen all week at Bluesfest), but at the same time the crowd wasn’t as energetic as the crowd in California. The stage kept on having sound difficulties and without the energy of the crowd it wasn’t as engaging. The show didn’t seem as smooth as it could have for the first half, but the second half the sound problems seemed to have been fixed and the band seemed to pick up more energy.

They played a wicked encore that lasted pretty long with some really good guitar and keyboard solos. The main singer mentioned something about supporting bands that weren’t commercially prepackaged and marketed, and I thought that was an appropriate statement considering Riannha was performing a few stages over.

I’m glad I came out for the show. It was a bit different for my girlfriend though, as she’s not so used to what she calls “alternative” music.

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Saturday we decided to avoid mountain biking in a 30+ degree weather. It was brutally hot, and to tackle the hills that day would’ve been suicide. Even the golfers couldn’t handle being outside (her house overlooks a golf course).

So instead I took her to Chinatown to do some grocery shopping. She’s never been, and watching her expression as she walked into the store (and the wall of Chinatown-grocery-store-seafood-nastiness-smell) was priceless. Eventually she got used to the smell, but the sight of a whole chicken was still unsettling for her as that was foreign for her too. No, this isn’t a whole chicken that you’d normally see in the supermarket; these are chickens that are plucked and left to be sold whole… feet, head, et al. The sight of the super-phallic ox-tails was pretty gross too even for me. I’m glad she didn’t see the pigs feet and ears sold a few buckets over.

It was an adventure for her though, and I’m glad she found all the different foods fascinating. She bought a few cakes at the bakery there, and that was definitely something she didn’t shy away from. While she was exploring I managed to pick up the ingredients needed for dinner. She’s been wondering what Vietnamese food is like, and so I phoned mom for recipes of my favorite meals growing up. There’re things like Pho that you can have in restaurants, but that’s not all that there is to Vietnamese food. There’s a lot that isn’t readily available in restaurants and so it was nice to share something from my own culture with her.

After the grocery store I showed her the wonder that is bubble tea. She too had never had it before, but she loved it. It’s fun to share new things with her, and I can’t wait to show her the Rockies at the end of August. Yes, she’s flying back with me to Alberta when I’m done here. She’s never seen the Rockies before, and she loves the outdoors and is really active so it works out wonderfully. It should be a pretty awesome trip. There’s no feeling like standing on the peak of a huge-ass mountain, and it’s something I want to share with her.

For dinner I made some “Banh Xeo”. I can only describe it as a stuffed curry pancakes. I stuffed it with shrimp, green onions, sprouts, and tofu.  It’s eaten wrapped in mint and lettuce leaf and dipped in fish sauce.  It’s delicious and very fresh tasting.  She loved it, and I was surprised at how it turned out considering it was my first time making it.

I’ve been cooking a few meals lately for us, and it turns out that I have a knack for cooking. I’m still a super beginner at it, but I’ve done fairly well. To be honest, I actually enjoy cooking quite a bit. It also helps that her kitchen has massive marble counter-space and space age appliances and tools. But even cooking in Frank’s kitchen here too is pretty fun.

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I just found out a few days agao that Syd Barrett, one of the founding members of Pink Floyd, just passed away.  I guess this news is noteworthy to me, because their music meant so much to me while growing up and it still means a lot.  Shine on you crazy diamond!

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SAM! SAM! SAM! SAM!!!

I just got back from a wonderful evening at the main Bluesfest stage. Tonight was Sam Roberts… and it was absolutely surreal.

Surreal because it poured on us and I loved it. In the flashing stage lights you could see the glistening of a million drops of rain mixing in with the thick plumes of pot smoke filling the air. They put on an amazing show with the lead singer singing his lungs out and his band just spot on with energy. I haven’t had many “omg this music is so beautiful moments” but I definitely had those tonight. There was just so much spontaneity and energy in their music that it melded together like a fine jazz band… except in bluesy rock form.

I haven’t heard any of their new stuff, but I MUST get my hands on their latest album. Their last song was a spacey Pink Floyd-esque song with psychadelic stage lighting and guitar riffs. The song went on for at least more than 10 minutes, with many of those minutes spent in guitar solo bliss and the band just absolutely rocking on in the climax. I swear, they sound like a newer version of Pink Floyd!

Again so glad that I invested on the week long pass… and more so that I’ve found someone who enjoys going out and checking out these events as much as I do.

Note: talk about hotboxing the outdoors!

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We had our very first game of Ultimate Frisbee this season and I’m hooked. I think our team did pretty well for our first game, and considering that for many of us it was our first time playing ever.

We lost 18-10, but the score doesn’t tell the story of how we dominated the second half. The first half we were completely clueless as to what to do and the strategy of the game, but we picked it up pretty quickly. We outscored and outran our opponents after half-time, which I think is commendable as the opposition had played together before (and they were also decked out in their custom team uniforms).

I’m also really happy that my cardio, endurance, and stamina have moved up a notch this summer. This is probably mostly due to all the cycling, and it’s very noticeable. If I was playing something like this in April I would’ve gotten destroyed by half time. It doesn’t help the fact that I had to change shirts mid game because of the river of sweat pouring out of me… but as long as I don’t gas out I don’t mind.

Now all we gotta do is practice on our passing. Damn you little disc!

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Bluesfest and the Wearing Down of LeeMobile

So I’m starting to get worn down by my significant other.  We’re essentially “joined at the hip” around the clock, and if she wasn’t so damned active and energetic I wouldn’t be as drained.

But it’s all a good thing, it helps lazy guys like me get out and do stuff.  She absolutely despises sitting in front of the TV, so it’s great that we avoid the tube completely altogether.  There’s definitely no ho-humness in this relationship.  We’re just out and about all the time, exploring and doing as much as we can.  I love it.

It also means I have less time to sit down and blog anything meaningful, but it’s not like I have anything meaningful to say to begin with other than my absolute geek love for MMA and my discoveries with Linux.

I haven’t been this worn down in a very long time, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.

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Bluesfest has started!  We were able to get our week long passes, and I’ve been having a blast.

We saw Great Big Sea on Friday night, and they put on a wicked show.  They even played a medley of all sorts of songs… including a wicked rendition of “Sweet Dreams”.  The night ended with a stroll on a beautiful summer night on the canal followed by a beaver tail lathered in hazelnut chocolate.  Mmmm…

Last night we saw Bonnie Raitt.  She put on the best Blues show I’ve seen, and she finished her encore with Keb’ Mo’ on the stage playing along.  Tomorrow will be Sam Roberts and Tuesday will be Blue Rodeo.

My weeklong pass cost me $110, but it’s probably the best investment I’ve made this summer.

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Yesterday I took Wei out to the Gatineau hills for some mountain biking it.  This time around it was a lot easier on my legs, as I feel that I’ve gained a lot more strength in my legs.  Handling the technical parts of the trail was a lot easier this time around too, as I can power over a lot of the rocks.

We couldn’t increase the distance we tackled this time around because we know it’d just kill Wei, but it was still nice to be out there.  This coming week I’m going again and will probably do a crazy long loop that most likely will kill me.  It’s gonna be fantastic.

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Vim for VI IMproved

The Mundane:My bike into work has become easier and easier, and after Saturday’s intense mountain biking ride in the hills my quads can handle the commute to work with ease. The hills that were once killer now pale in comparison to the steep inclines I faced on Saturday.

However, I got suckered into subbing for Wei in his basketball rec league yesterday. I haven’t played basketball in over 2 years, but I fit right into our team of beginners. I have never sweat so hard in a very long time and by the end of the game I could wring out a few glasses of water from my t-shirt. Basketball is a lot more intense than from what I remembered. I had an amazingly fun time playing though, despite the fact that our team got steam rolled.

I’m almost 5′8 and I was the tallest player on our team. It’s a mixed league, and we have 3 guys and 3 girls. Our opponents: 5 guys and a 6 foot tall chick. Every player on the other team except 1 was at least 6 feet tall, and they all were really good at basketball. I think Wei’s team was put in the wrong pool/league because we got absolutely destroyed. Final score: 56-17… and we were playing a point per basket.

I’m happy to say that I haven’t felt this active in many summers. I can definitely feel my cardio improving quite a lot, and my endurance is really starting to increase.

I had fun nontheless. This morning I woke up with my legs dead tired, stiff, and sore. I guess this is a good thing; no pain no gain. My legs are gonna be stacked for this Saturday’s extended mountain biking ride. However, being that they haven’t recovered they got even more worked out today at Ultimate Frisbee practice.

Why did I sign up for Ultimate Frisbee again? Oh yes, because I’m a masochist.

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I’ve decided to hit up Bluesfest and buy the all week pass. There’s a show almost every day of the week, so this week will be a musical buffet of all sorts. I can’t wait.

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So my new project is solely Unix based. What’s really annoying though is that the Solaris servers we use have a really poor user interface.

So instead of using the crappy interface made in the 90’s, I interact with the servers purely through the use of the command terminal (essentially similar to a DOS prompt). This is great and all, but what happens when you have to edit a text file from the shell?

You use something called VI (Visual) or it’s evolved incarnation Vim (as in VI Improved). The only problem is that VI is really unintuitive to the beginner user. It’s nothing like Word or Notepad for text editing because there is no mouse, and to boot there’re thousands of commands when hitting the keys. It’s completely daunting and intimidating for a beginner user, and so it turns off most users…such as myself.

My first encounter with VI was in the Computing Science University labs, where I noticed my friend was programming in a shell instead of using a graphical interface like notepad. The keys he was hitting were all weird. To move up he didn’t use the up arrow on the keyboard, and instead he pressed ‘k’, down was ‘j’ and left and right was ‘h’ and ‘l’. Why learn something new when I had a nice notepad-esque text editor… especially something so unintuitive.

However, now that I’m forced to learn how to use VI I don’t think I can turn back. In fact, I’ve installed the Windows version of Vim on my workstation.

Why? No, it’s not because I’m a masochist. It’s because VI and VIM are a lot more efficient and intuitive once you get the hang of it. It took me 90 minutes to walk through the tutorial and practice to use the editor. This sounds weird, because it takes 3 seconds to learn how to use notepad. But upon learning how to use it, I’m completely sold.

All the commands that you would normally use in a text editor are placed effectively in VIM. Need to do a search? Hit the ‘/’ and type in the keyword you want to search. Need to scroll down 4 pages? You can do that in 2 keystrokes by hitting 4 Ctrl N.

Need to shift 5 words right? Hit 5w. Need to scroll to line 455? Press 455 G. Simple, quick, and effective. Now all I have to do is use VIM for the next little while so that it becomes second nature and my geek points will increase.

Give it a try! It’s free and open source.

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Canada Day Weekend

I had a wicked Canada Day weekend, full of blood, booze, and golf.  Yes, a strange combination.

Saturday started off with some mountain biking in the Gatineau Hills, about 20 kilometres into Quebec.  We rented some mountain bikes from the bike shop there (as my hybrid would get torn apart on those trails) and I got my first introduction into mountain biking.

The trails are rated just like downhill skiing trails, with green, blue, and black diamond ratings.  We did a blue trail and I had an amazing time on it.  The uphills are a great cardio workout and the downhills are intense and pump you with adrenaline.  The trail we rode wasn’t too technical, but there were some really tricky rocky sections that were demanding.  Ripping downhill and feeling the rough terrain beneath the wheels is quite something, all while hopping over or avoiding the big chunks of rock along the way.  I’m hooked and will be out on the hills again next weekend.

Unfortunately the friend I was with took a huge spill at the very end of our ride.  In the last possible section she could’ve gotten hurt, she slammed into a hidden ditch driving her bike into the hole with her flying over her handlebars.

Her arm had swollen up so much that it first looked like she had snapped her forearm and that the bone was sticking out.  The pure shock and adrenaline to her system made her feel pretty sick.  She was very lucky in that she didn’t break any bones, but at the same time she got banged up very badly.

Anyways, after getting cleaned up and putting my m4d medic skillz to work, we went to the Canada Day festivities downtown.  Some food and drink was had and all was merry.  We stayed until the fireworks show had ended.  The fireworks this year have been the best I’ve ever seen, and we had found the perfect spot to view them (behind the Supreme Court).

I spent Monday golfing all day.  No best ball this time, but this time I also had a full night’s sleep and my game was really good.  I didn’t keep score of my game, but it must’ve been something ridiculous like 50 over par.  I had fun regardless and I showed improvement, which is all that matters.  There were a few holes where I made some really good drives… I can feel the Zen in the golf clubs already.  Om.

I also had a huge BBQ dinner at a friend’s place before heading out to what should’ve been Ultimate Frisbee practice.  Unfortunately a storm rolled in and practice was cancelled.  Yes, I’ve joined an Ultimate Frisbee team for a recreational league.  Given how slow I am and how I’ve never played Ultimate before, it should be a gong show.  But I’ve got a feeling everyone else on my team will be just as terrible, so it should be a grand time.

So instead, I went for a long stroll down the canal with my significant other.  It was a great way to wind down an action packed weekend and it will be a Canada Day Weekend that I won’t forget.

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