Monthly Archive: November 2008

Hunting for cheesecake

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Sat. November 22, 2008

I mentioned earlier in a tweet that I text messaged in from Loblaws that President’s Choice somehow has this power over me. Ah, but it’s not just me–the company has seduced a load of consumers. Seriously. Galen Weston either has this weird ju-ju thing where he hypnotizes people that see his commercials into buying these things.

For example, there’s this one commercial he’s in that talks about this dulce de leche cheesecake that PC has introduced. At the end of the commercial he jokes around about how viewers should go out to buy it that very instant. When I first saw it, I scoffed at how such a plea just wouldn’t work on the average consumer. And yet, today, there I was circling the pie and dessert area looking for a box of that cheesecake. Sadly, I couldn’t find it anywhere. I stepped aside momentarily and observed many other shoppers circling the area, probably looking for the same thing. Yes, as much as PC’s key lime pie (really good) and other cheesecakes are tasty, it’s that dulce de leche cheesecake that we were all looking for. I’m not kidding. In the span of just a few minutes I can think of five or six people hunting for cheesecake and walking away disappointed.

That’s some powerful advertising. Thing is, this brand in particular seems to have a good reputation for innovative products. So when something like these cheesecake gets airtime, people assume it’s going to be fantastic. I don’t really want to admit it, but that assumption is probably right; the reputation is there for a reason. I swear, I’ll get a hand on some of that dulce de leche cheesecake one day. Just you wait.

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Anti-socially yours

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Fri. November 21, 2008

I’m not sure what’s been up with me, but I’ve been particularly anti-social as of late. I wouldn’t have really noticed all that much, except that a colleague came up to my desk to obliquely point it out. He made an effort to greet me at which I just smiled politely. He told me that I’ve been quiet lately, remaining at my desk and keeping to myself. I hadn’t really considered that I’d been too introverted these past few weeks, but now that I think about it, why wouldn’t I be? We just had this big code release where I was most useful in a focused state. It was the only way that I could have fixed the amount of bugs that I was able to fix, know what I mean? I guess it’s just taking me a while to get out of that state. Although, it needs to be recognized that it’s not like I’m entirely outgoing either; I’d like to think that I have a good balance.

I realize though that I have to be more mindful of how this affects my interactions with various people in the workplace.

For example, as my project manager’s birthday draws near, he decided to have a week of events, beginning with a game of pool and poker after work today. Truth be told, I don’t think I was in any condition to join in the festivities. All afternoon I was yawning uncontrollable and felt quite bleary-eyed. I just wasn’t in the mood to socialize and drink beer. So, I just kind of bowed out and left work. Now, my PM did say that he was having a full week of stuff, so there will be other opportunities to show that I’m part of the team. Still, I admit to feeling a little bit guilty while nodding off on the subway. Still, why should I be “on” all the time, know what I mean?

Shit, I’m over-thinking again.

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A rendition of Blue Danube

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Thu. November 20, 2008

I need to preface this video with a bit of an explanation because, really, there *is* a train of thought that led me to post it here.

I was surfing around some random blogs at work (yeah yeah, I know) and came across a post by Muse @ I’m the Dot about her visiting a website about flatulence that amused and educated her. Edutainment at its best, I suppose.

I posted a comment there saying that she should look up this Frenchman named Joseph Pujol that lived in the late 19th/early 20th century. He learnt at an early point in his life that he had great control over his sphincter and had an easy time with air intake. What started out as a parlour trick for his peers developed into a full-fledged act. The act involved musical instruments, sound-effect imitations, blowing out candles from a distance, etc. That’s right, he became a professional fartiste. His stage name? Le Pétomane. You could crudely translate that into English as “the farting maniac.”

Side note: how the heck do I know about this guy? I think there was a mini-documentary on the guy that I saw long ago on Discovery Channel. Yes, my mind is a a reservoir of useless info.

Anyway, thinking about the farting maniac made me wonder if there were any professional farters in existence in this day and age. Then, I suddenly remembered, “Yes! There is!” I remembered back years ago to when Howard Stern had a TV show. I didn’t watch the show, but upon flipping channels I’ve caught a few segments now and then. One of the segments involved this guy from the UK named Mr. Methane. Yes, professional farters do still exist. I looked him up on YouTube and came across this video.

I swear, I don’t want to come off as the blogger that constantly talks about toilet humour. That being said, I can’t deny the fact that I actually have a blogging tag flatulence. I suppose this post isn’t going to help my case in any way, but this video needs to be shared.

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A blanket of white under foot

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Wed. November 19, 2008

Unless my mind’s gone hazy, today’s been the first day this season that there’s been enough of an accumulation of snow for it to really make a difference on the ground. It’s beautiful stuff. When I left work and walked to the streetcar stop, I saw a long queue of people waiting in line. At that point, despite the wind, despite the falling snow, despite the biting chill, I decided to make the trek to the station on foot.

I’m not sure everyone understands why I’m willing to walk like that in this weather. At lunch when I want to wander around for the sake of wandering I often ask if any of my colleagues want to come along. With the onset of the cold weather, the response is inevitably “it’s too cold to walk!” Bah! Since I tend to overheat, the cold weather keeps me balanced. My jacket it usually undone; my torso can handle it. My fingers are really the only parts that really need to be covered, so as long as I have a pair of gloves I’m good to go.

However, no, the cold weather isn’t the only reason I like walking for a half hour after work. I consider walking where there’s a lot of activity as a good way to reconnect with the city. It’s a reminder to myself that I’m one of many. I’m part of it all. I belong. After stressing out at work, being in open air allows me to unwind.

That’s not to say that I avoid the streetcar all the time; some days I just need to get going. When I walk though, it’s sort of like an act of defiance. I don’t need to be held down by schedules. Weather won’t prevent me from walking. Hell, if I have an umbrella I’m happy enough to walk in the rain. I don’t need to listen to the people that say that normal people would take the streetcar up.

I guess that just makes me eccentric.

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Running log: 2008/11/18

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Tue. November 18, 2008

Geez, man. Like my tweet says, I’m ready to throw my running shoes at the wall. I’ve already written about how the shoes have been giving me grief. I’ve just put up with it though. Today though, during today’s 4K run, I was pushed to my breaking point. At the start, I was running rather fast. I was feeling good enough to keep it up though. My breathing was even and I wasn’t too fatigued. As time passed though, I felt myself slowing down little by little. I was really feeling achiness in my lower shins, close to my ankles. Close to the end the discomfort was really pronounced. I was in a horrible mood and wanted to just block everyone out. That was plain miserable.

See, I know the types of discomfort that I can put up with. I can tell when it’s something that I can work through. This discomfort? Totally avoidable. With my old shoes I didn’t reach these levels of soreness. And hell, this is only on a short 4K jaunt. How am I going to fare on the longer runs? With these current shoes the results are just going to be painful.

When I got back to store, I spoke with the staff and they took a look at how I walked in my shoes. They told me that the shoes weren’t supporting me at all–I was pronating severely in them. Well, what the hell were the staff at the other running store looking at when they were watching my feet? Anyway, they put me in a pair of Asics Gel-Foundation 8 to try out. This series of shoe can be categorized as being “motion control” because of their high amount of stability. When I wore them I felt them keeping my feet from rolling inward. They felt awkward, but comfortably so. It’s the kind of thing that my feet just need to get used to because before they were never really “corrected” to that extent. Anyway, I’m going to give the shoes a good testing on the treadmill. I swear, if there’s even any mild unnatural discomfort I’m sending them back. I refuse to let this go on forever.

I hope pair #5 finally works for me.

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Ocean motion caught on camera

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Mon. November 17, 2008

Footage of a whale shark taking a dump.

Ocean motion caught on camera

Go on. You know you’re curious.

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Running log: 2008/11/16

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Sun. November 16, 2008

With all of this cold weather coming up, I figured that I’d prepare myself by picking up a pair of running tights. Yeah: Jason in spandex. While I was in the store I also tried on a pair of compression shorts and decided to go with both. Thing about the shorts is that I think it might have been a little too snug. The tag says though that it’s supposed to be tight anyway, so I just went with it. I was kind of apprehensive about wearing either but this morning I set all of that aside. This morning I tried out the shorts, and yeah, they really did grip my thighs like mad. I think I looked like one of those hardcore sports peeps. I wore pants over them though because of the cold weather. More than anything though, I wanted to see if they’d have any effect on how I ran.

We were scheduled for 7K this morning. As I went out, I felt that I was running a little bit faster. I didn’t want to attribute it to the shorts right away though because I suspected that I might just have been a little fast out of the gate. Over time though, I kept it up. I still slowed down a little bit because the route has this general incline for the first few kilometres. According to my Garmin though, I ran the route about 10 seconds faster per kilometre than my usual pace on these long Sunday runs. Maybe it was in my mind, but the fact that less vibration was being allowed seemed to mean that there was less bearing down with every step. I didn’t feel the amount of fatigue that I was accustomed to feeling. Sure, my shins were still kind of tight, but I didn’t expect the shorts to solve that at all. I’ve got big quads/hamstrings so I think I’m really benefiting from keeping things in place. I’m convinced! I will buy a few more pairs over time. I’m going to give the tights a chance this week. Hopefully they’ll have the same effect. Spaaaaaaandex.

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Green tea mousse cake

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Sat. November 15, 2008

I’m finally getting around to posting pictures of that cake that Yuki and Raien gave me last weekend. Raien got the green tea mousse cake from Queen’s Patisserie up in Markham. The cake was really nice to look at and tasted great. I think next time I’m in need of a cake I’m going to head there to see what they have to offer. Online there seems to be some buzz over their chestnut cake. It sounds awesome.

Anyway, I just wanted to talk about the pictures a little bit. Earlier that night while Jenelle was hanging out we were joking about the two-finger peace pose that we characterized as being quite FOB. Having just come from China, Jenelle explained to me that there are other poses as well. Apparently, there are one-finger, three-finger, and four-finger variations. So, later that night when we were posing with the cake we jokingly tried to look as “fresh off the boat” as we could. It seems though the joke’s on us because the poses seem to work on us really well.

This night was when I asked the girls about my facial hair. I wanted their honest opinion. They basically told me that it looked way too messy. And now, looking at the pics, I would agree. See, over that last month I decided to let it just grow rampant. By that point it was just a bit too long. From that point on I was really itching to get home and shave, but before I could do that these pictures were taken. I suppose I don’t mind too much, but man, I wish I’d put some effort into grooming it properly.

When I got home, I just took a razor to it all and just cleaned it all up. God, I really felt better after that. A day or two later though, I really started missing the facial hair–I kind of felt a bit too bare without it. So, all right, I’m now letting it grow out again. This time though, I’m going to spend the effort cleaning it up and making it all look presentable. I’m only going to let the part under the chin get to stubble length and nothing more. The upper lip part will be trimmed now and then to prevent it from dipping below the corner of my mouth. I’m sure if I do it right I’ll look less like a douche and more like some variety of urban professional. At least, that’s the hope.

Caaaaaaaaake.

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