The ChickenBall has a new home!

And it’s here – http://chickenball.wontoncorp.com/. Bookmark this exact link because it takes you to my WordPress installation, which is temporary because I plan to move my blog to a full-fledged CMS. While WP has grown awesomely over the past few months and added a slew of great features, I find that a CMS will provide a veteran user like myself the true flexibility that is needed to run any kind of website. That, and I’m a geek. Specifically, a website geek.

Read the rest of this post here. NSFW after the jump.

I think I might have super powers.

This may sound silly, but something happened last night that I currently have no explanation for. I slept a bit early last night, hoping to catch up on sleep that I lost during the long weekend, which was also further stretched from the long drive back and stress at work upon my return. While sleeping, I remember having a dream – the details are gone now, but I was doing something with my hands, and I remember there being electricity or power of some type. All of a sudden, I was awakened from sleep by loud crackling, static, and booming coming from the bookshelf speakers and subwoofer in my room. As soon as the noise stopped, I heard the clothes dryer downstairs buzz. When I went over to the receiver that my speakers were plugged into, it was in protection mode, which indicates a power surge. However, when I checked on the computers, they were still running fine and the surge protector showed no indication of a power surge. I even went downstairs to check on all the other electronics and everything seemed to be fine. I didn’t bother to check the dryer, but that was because I knew that my parents were doing laundry.

Also, now that I think about it, I didn’t hear any indication outside of a storm of any type. So, how would a surge like that happen? It’s unexplainable.

That’s how I came to the conclusion that I might have super powers.

Well, I’m sure that there’s actually a logical and coincidental explanation for this, but it’s nice to dream once in a while. Also, because it took me a while to go back to sleep, I am still tired today. Darn it.

The Good Witch is actually bad. Naughty, rather.

AM likes to watch corny family flicks like Spy Kids and Lizzie McGuire. She’s well in touch with her kid side. I occasionally enjoy those kind of movies, depending on my mood. Sometimes, I like to kick back with action movies like War, which I’d just seen on Saturday night. By the way, it was a pretty good movie – the action was a touch more violent than other Jet Li movies, but the storyline more than made up for it with a shocker ending. Movie score by Brian Tyler also helped. Anyway, I digress.

Eugene was watching hockey at the restaurant last night, but AM would have none of that crap (sorry, but I’m Canadian and NOT a hockey fan – figure that out). So, she changed channels to the W Channel, and a made-for-TV family movie was playing called The Good Witch – a Canadian movie starring Chris Potter (he played Peter Caine from Kung Fu: The Legend Continues) and the yummy Catherine Bell (Army Wives) that has been reviewed as Chocolat for the family with an air of mystery. It was a somewhat interesting movie that became even more interesting after the first commercial break. The W Channel displayed the following message on the TV:

The following program contains nudity, sexual content, course language, and is intended for mature audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.

There was that scene by the fireplace where the two lead characters were getting cozy when I thought that there might be some nudity, sexual content, and course language, but I was mistaken. Scene crossfade. Darn it.

When the movie was over and I was left with nothing but a warm fuzzy feeling in my heart, I assumed that whoever put that rating message on there probably did so by accident and most likely got fired, or did it on purpose and was quitting.

Catherine Bell is like a well-aged wine. A wine that you think is a hot MILF. Never mind, that made no sense. She’s hot, deal with it.

The movie was actually pretty good, and you’re left with a sense of mystery even at the ending. Apparently, according to Catherine’s official website, a sequel to The Good Witch is in the works.

I finish this blog entry with the following piece of advice – according to the W Channel, family movies now contain nudity, sexual content, and course language. Viewer discretion is advised. Maybe.

Amazon screwed Canada over. Stuff about my budget.

I used to order stuff from Amazon.com. Even with the inflated dollar a couple years back, it was still a better deal than buying from Amazon.ca. Music for $10, movies for $15, it was a steal! Video games used to be a part of that deal, but then Amazon.com stopped shipping to Canada. I always thought it was kind of strange that they would do that. Oh, well, at least movies and music were still available, and you can take advantage of the Super Saver Shipping, which is free. Ever since the Canadian dollar has been on par with the US dollar, it’s never been a better time to buy from the neighbor across the border. Until now.

Enchanted came out on DVD and Blu-Ray last week, and I made the decision to buy the Blu-Ray version – after all, the movie surpassed my expectations and I need more Blu-Ray movies in my collection. Unfortunately, Blu-Ray movies cost as much as DVDs did back in 1999. It’s ridiculous! So, I checked Amazon.com and found it for $24. While it’s only cheaper by $6, it’s about the same price as new DVDs in Canada. So, I added it to my cart, and Super Saver Shipping only takes effect on orders over $30. No big deal, I’ll just add a book I’ve always wanted – did it, went to Checkout, and lo and behold – Super Saver Shipping is not available to Canada anymore. Holy crap, somebody take a shotgun and shoot these mofos. Now, if I add shipping to the order, I’m right back where I started and I may as well buy the movie from downtown. So, I did. Eat monkey dung, Amazon.com!

So, Esmond’s been pining away for that Frostmourne sword replica that Blizzard released recently. For all you non-gamers out there, Frostmourne is the sword that Prince Arthas used in WarCraft III and World of WarCraft. However, the replica costs $379. Yowza. Anyway, Mom was going to go thirders on it (as opposed to halfers), so I decided to pitch in my third and let Esmond cover the rest when he gets back from Winnipeg – which is the end of next month, I should add! So, I preordered that bizzatch.

Gadget time. I went to Staples to get some extra goodies, now that I have a Staples card (and 6 months of no payments or interest – it helps to be on a budget). I ended up getting the Microsoft Sidewinder Mouse, an XBox 360 Wireless Controller for Windows, an 80 GB iPod Classic, and a second Acer X223w 22″ widescreen LCD monitor. Yes, a second one. Why? Because I’m going dual-screen, baby! Haven’t quite figured out how I want to set it up, but I was kind of hoping to stack them, instead of the traditional horizontal configuration. Sounds cool, eh?

As for the new iPod, I wanted to upgrade because: (a) I need more disk space, (b) I hate the iPod Touch, and (c) Esmond gets an upgrade to a 30 GB iPod. I swear, a lot of my buying decisions are Esmond-centric, because I keep thinking about what other gadget of mine Esmond would get. Although I don’t really need one, I’m getting a new cell phone in May when my contract expires so that he can have my Moto Q.

“Okay, wait a tick,” you’re probably asking. “How the hell can you afford to buy so much crap when you’re on a budget? Is it really a budget at all?”

The answer is yes to both of your questions. I know that makes no sense, but that’s okay. The budget plan I’m on is simply two budgets: my job at Vale Inco earns me the most income. That income is roughly $2600 a month. Some of it goes into minor bills, like cell phone, internet, 900 number phone sex, and car insurance. The rest goes into the major loans, like RRSPs, a consolidation loan, and a car loan. I work at my parents’ restaurant after work, including weekends and excluding Mondays (because Garfield HATES Mondays). I also fix computers on the side (though I haven’t been getting paid for that recently). Since I don’t get a salary, I have to guesstimate my income, so I set it to $1250 a month. This money goes into all my non-essential bills and spending money. For some strange reason, food falls into this category, but that’s mainly because I mooch off the restaurant and rarely ever need to buy groceries. So, with $1250 a month to play with, and no rent to pay, you can see why I can afford stuff. The only drawback – I live with my parents and I work way too much. A small price to pay, until I start burning out.

Megan is moving to Winnipeg. I helped her pack up last weekend, and will probably get the rest done tomorrow. If not, there’s always next weekend. Either way, she’s damn lucky to be getting out of this town. I guess it helps to be frugal, but I can’t give up my toys. I think that if I ever move to Winnipeg, I’ll probably still be working two jobs, budgeting like crazy, starting a 900 number phone sex service, or going into another career.

Women (or Who cares about me? Let me see the Mindy Main pictures!)

Work is doing okay now. I’m very busy there, and maybe even a bit stressed, but at least my job is out of the danger zone. I’m like that song on Guitar Hero that you’re sucking at and you’re in the red, but you’re hanging in there enough to not lose.

So, I was having girl troubles this past month, but I think I’ll be okay now. I actually have no idea what I was thinking by asking this girl out – she was already involved, but I figure that I should take the chance. I got shot down gently, I guess, but it didn’t really affect me too much. I think. Maybe I’m still suffering from my first big breakup almost nine years ago, and maybe I still have some major emotional (or lack thereof) hurdles to jump over, but whatever. I’m in my comfort zone right now, and working 13 hour days to keep my mind off of it is fine. My lady boss had mentioned that she was glad I wasn’t involved with anybody so that I could focus 100% of my attention on work. While my intention was to focus 100% of my attention on work so that my focus on girls would be at 0% (except for the whole tits and ass admiration thingy), it still bothered me to hear it coming from somebody else. Maybe those words screwed me up, but that’s okay. My focus is almost back, so I should be okay for now.

Hopefully, my friends will understand why I’ve come to be known as a wife flirter, as I like to flirt with wives and involved girls because I know that nothing will come of it. Unless the girl is a cheater, but the nothing comes from my high moral standards.

The odd fling would be nice, though, but I’m not good at putting myself out there, skirt chasing and stuff.

I’ve made it very easy for girls not to be interested in me. I give out no signals, and furthermore, if they actually manage to get me to go out with them, all my hobbies and lack of free time should scare them off. It’s perfect! Muahahaha.

Maybe I am pathetic, but… look at Mindy Main to distract you from that fact!

NSFW after the jump.

Getting pushed around.

This week at work has been pretty rough. Now, I’m not really built for physical labor, but I try my best when the need arises. I certainly did my fair share of power lifting boxed big screen TVs when I worked at RadioShack, so I’m used to that sort of work. I’ve also done cabling before – it’s not the type of job I would ever do for fun because it wreaks havoc on my fingers, but I can do it.

On Sunday, I worked overtime to reorganize all the cabling behind the server racks. It was a long and tiresome job, but I got three out of the five racks done, so yay! However, after I got all my morning tasks done on Monday, I ended up tidying and reorganizing the core room, and then I volunteered to get the storage and AC room reorganized as well. Lots of work, lots of physical labor.

What kind of server admin am I, anyway?

Tuesday saw a lot of running around the plant site. It was also the first time I had a problem with the “nice” lady boss. Apparently, she somehow misunderstood me that I didn’t want to work on a particular task, even though I didn’t give any indication otherwise. I only found this out by chance.

Anyway, a quick e-mail saying that the job was done fixed that (I hope), but I am sure getting sick of people thinking that I am lazy or unenthusiastic about my job. So, I decided to put together some journal notes about every task I do daily as proof that I am working should the situation ever escalate to a point where I might lose my job. Apparently, it looks as though I am going to be pushed around at every place I work for the rest of my life. Well, so be it. I am going to work harder than ever so that I’ll make all the standard working people here look bad. When the big bosses see how hard I work, there will be no chance to survive make your time. These petty people kept putting me in the spotlight and pushing my back up against the wall. Even the most timid animal will fight back if you corner it, and I am fighting back the best way I know how – by being as hard working as I can be. I’m not going to rat people out for not doing their jobs – I refuse to lower myself to their level – but I won’t help them if they get into trouble. I used to be a nice guy, but Inco changed me. I used to give everybody the benefit of the doubt, but now I know the meaning of “keep your friends close and your enemies closer”. Now, every person I meet is a potential enemy. I can’t trust anybody anymore.

It’s bumpy out there!

After a busy morning, I took the afternoon off from work today. Why? Because I’ve accumulated so much banked time that I’m about to go over the 40 hour limit this Sunday. So, after our usual lunch at the Chef with the boys (WINGIES!!), I went to the post office to get Rock Band.

That’s right, I got Rock Band!! It actually arrived yesterday, but I wasn’t home yesterday when they delivered it, and Eugene didn’t tell me that I had a pick-up card, otherwise I could’ve picked it up yesterday. However, I don’t think it would have mattered since I wouldn’t have been able to play it last night anyway.

So, while I grabbed Rock Band, the post office found two more parcels (for Eugene), and I had to pay for one of them – $31.25. Eugene is notorious for either not paying me back in a timely manner or not paying me back at all. So, anyway, I had to drive around to the back of Canada Post to get all the parcels (since the only public parking available is across the street at Canadian Tire). When I got home, it took me about an hour to unpack everything, set up the drums, and plug everything in. I played until I had to go to the restaurant. I missed having time-off – I almost forgot what it felt like.

The restaurant was not that busy tonight, which is very unusual for a Friday. However, several of the minor and residential streets were very bumpy after that huge snowstorm we had last week, followed by a sudden drop in temperature to below 40 degrees Celsius, which hardened all the snow-filled streets with tire tracks from having been driven over many times. As a result, the driving experience for a couple days was very similar to off-road driving. However, I’m taking baby steps with my Matrix because I don’t want to replace the suspension this spring, warranty or not. Having no car is shitty, and I don’t even know when my Altima is coming back.

Unfortunately, I had a delivery to the north industrial area, and they gave us a rough approximation of the street address (as in, it’s on this street, but I don’t know the street number). I drove around in circles (slowly, because of the bumpiness) for almost half an hour because I couldn’t find the damn place. There were a lot of unmarked buildings, and I even got out and checked each door to see if they were open (the customer said to walk right in). After a while, I got so frustrated because their phone line was busy and Dad was insisting on meeting me there to find the place when I saw a back road leading to another hidden street behind that I never even knew about. All my life in Thompson, and I’ve never been on the street. Crazy.

RACISM WARNING AHEAD!

<RACISM>When I got there, the aboriginal kids who were working there heard my plight, but took no heed and proceeded to wait as I gave them every last penny of change. No tip. WTF!! Unsympathetic jerks!!</RACISM>

Okay, there was no racism after all. But I could’ve said something! Unfortunately, the actual aboriginal friends I have would be insulted as well, and I don’t want to do that because they are good people who don’t make their entire race look bad like some others I know of (pointing fingers at those cheap tippers barely out of their training pants). Hmm, that could have been racism, but I was actually insulting that one guy, so that’s still politically correct. Darn.

Stupid chinks. Ahh, there we go. ^_^

Not so live.

Well, everything is all setup with the website. I purchased two domains – one for the WP and one for the network. The WP domain already points to my web host, but the site is not live yet. Soon, hopefully.

Oh, that’s pretty much it for updates.

It’s the WP!

I got a little side-project going on with the WP – I was asked by Dad to change the prices on the menu. Unfortunately, I have no idea where I placed the original document that had the menu inputted. After having multiple boxes with different OSes over the years, my personal folder got separated and distributed across boxes, but I digress. I ended up recreating the document, but I was too lazy to match the fonts from the original, so I just used better looking fonts. The prices were rehashed as well, and I even fixed some spelling/grammar errors.

I think I’ve been watching Restaurant Makeover too much, and while we are far from needing a makeover, I wanted to redesign our menu, at the very least. Helping the customers along would be great – giving more information about their items and even including a bit of that urban wit that seems to be cropping up in restaurant menus lately. However, in the end, the menu actually became bigger, even though I grouped things together, but due to the hefty descriptions, it became such an eyesore. I copied the worksheet and removed all the descriptions save for the main headings. Then, I thought to myself, ‘Hey, me. Aren’t we already at the digital age? I know I tried it before and failed, but why don’t I make a website?’ I could toss the URL on the paper menu and say that the full menu is there. I can also print out the full menu in color and paste the pages on the front window for advertising. We could even change our ad in the phonebook to reflect our URL. Heck, I could make a Facebook group to link customers together. What a genius idea! Go, me!

I spent all night trying to get a domain name. It was painful. I wanted to register with GoDaddy, but it said my username was taken, which is BS, because nobody else would likely have the same username as mine – it’s pretty unique. After much (wasted) research, I found out that I had registered some old domains with my username on Ace of Space hosting, which then got gobbled up by HostUtopia, which then got affiliated with Wild West Domains, which is a sub-company of GoDaddy. As a result, my username became reserved on GoDaddy, but inactive, which is why I couldn’t login or register. Phooey. I just made a new account, but didn’t get a chance to register the domain. I might even register two. I’m thinking of consolidating the network at home from multiple workgroups to one domain, which would be the second domain I’d register, and then perhaps I could set up VPN or CAG even. Muahaha.

Nothing else has happened yet, I’m now at work. More updates later.

Buried alive by snow.

It snowed two nights ago. No big deal, right?

WRONG!! (Kevin Spacey style)

I woke up yesterday morning to tons of snow and massive wind. I had to shovel the driveway before we could leave for work. When I got to work, I parked the car, which promptly got stuck. Later on, at lunch time, I spent 15 minutes shoveling away the snow drift that buried my car alive. And the wind was blowing the snow back into my face. Oh, and when I got out of the parking stall, I got stuck, but I rocked myself out. I quickly drove to the shops to do a tape swap, and it was nicely grated on the roads. However, between the refinery and the shops, there was an amazing wind tunnel effect going on that was blowing the snow off the rooftops in such a way that it was making a super foggy, Silent Hill-like atmosphere. I seriously couldn’t see two feet in front of me! Even the buildings were barely visible!

After a quick lunch, I went to the Vale Inco open house to help set up laptops with LCD TV units. However, the units (and one laptop) hadn’t arrived! I basically helped to do some grunt work while waiting for everything to arrive. I was there for two hours in total, so that took a chunk out of my day. Went back to work, drove through the parking lot – forget about it! I went back into the plant and parked in there – at least I wouldn’t have to dig myself out or get stuck – again.

WRONG!! (Kevin Spacey style)

I got stuck backing out of the stall because the loaders grated the road perpendicularly behind me, which left a man-made snow drift. Luckily, I didn’t need to break out the shovel because a guy saw me get stuck and helped push me out.

I went to the Book Nook to pick up some comics, but the shop was closed. I got stuck on the way out, though, but with a little bit of rocking, I was well on my way to the WP. However, road conditions were so terrible that I couldn’t possibly do deliveries without getting stuck, so I parked my car in the back. We usually park sideways against the building because the idiots who visit the neighboring Boys & Girls Club building don’t realize that the entire parking space is ours. However, my car is so compact that I parked it sideways so that I could plug my car in, and the B&G van would still be able to get out. Fun!

The service roads and parking lots were all grated last night at work, so getting stuck is no longer an issue today. While the wind is calm and the sun is shining, that wind tunnel with the snowy fog is still going strong.

Anyway, I hope the Nook is open today, because I need stuff to read. Also, I tracked my Rock Band, and it’s currently on the way. I’m crossing my fingers for the weekend!!