Samurai1974's Xanga

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:30:08 GMT

In a bizarre twist of fate (because that's what I'm sure it is.... Fate telling me "Oh yah!?? Fuck you!") it seems that only 50+yo want to check me out on "dating service" sites!

Why can't the 20yo hotties check me out?!?

Oh yah, because I'm 35, checking out 20yo's. Turnabout is fair play I guess.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 03:49:28 GMT

(does anybody even read this thing anymore....? Maybe if I typed something more often.....)

Lately I've been feeling more and more..... restless....(?).... with Whitehorse. Or maybe my life in general.... not sure yet. Maybe it's because winter is coming again that I feel this way. Again, not sure. I'm just.... pretty bored with everything right now. I go to work, and I'm bored. I come home, and I'm bored. Nothing really grabs my attention anymore, y'know? I try *very* hard to ignore the fact that I live in a bubble that's less than 10km in diameter.......

I've been trying to figure out if it's my job. That's one possibility. There really is nothing fun about it anymore. I feel like I'm not useful. I feel I have nothing left to leanr. And I feel that I am unable to effect any lasting changes of any improvement on the company, if that makes any sense.... I try, but lately most of my ideas seem to be ignored, and I am getting angry again. I see the business not following procedures or prootocols, even though management seems to think they are. And this sloppy running of the business goes right from the top down. All I want is for everyone to DO THEIR JOBS and FOLLOW THE RULES. Which might sound like an odd statement coming from me. I've always followed the rules. I've also challenged them when I think they need to be. I don't have a problem with that; if other people challenge rules. But the business still needs to function while that's happening, right?

Is that really so much to ask for? A business that runs properly...? Especially one that is Government?

~sigh~

Another possibility for my state of mind is that I am getting to the point where I am "done with Whitehorse". Currently, my main reason for staying here is the cash. Simply put, I can't get these wages anywhere else in Canada. If I wish to become financially stable and beyond.... I have to stay here. For at least another two years.

I've applied on that Functional Analyst position that fell off the boks a few months ago. Apparently they have now found the money to support it again. So, I've applied. In short (if I get it) I will be in charge of training and implementation of a new database, as well as suggesting improvements to it. It is my hope that this position will give me new life, so to speak. I desperately want something to be interested in again.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 02:50:51 GMT

So again I'm behind the curve, and have finally decided to sit down and watch "Mamma Mia!"

I love it. But of course! It's a musical!

Even those people who can't sing in the movie.... still do pretty damn good. Except for Pierce Brosnan. He looks like he must scream every bit in order to get anything out. But maybe that's his "passionate" voice...

Meryl Streep is awesome. Like she is in every movie.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 05:54:42 GMT

What a busy last few weeks!

1) My friend Kat purchased a home, and we've been up there on and off for the past week cleaning and painting. The worst was the sanding of the walls. We didn't use a block on a stick.... we used an orbital sander. My shoulders have finally stopped screaming. However, the painting continues...

2) I've been creating Peace Officer identification for everyone at work. I got caught up in some semantics tho... I asked myself "What exactly makes a Driver's Licence (for example) "Government Photo Identification". Like really.... what legislation anywhere speaks to the creation of IDs. I'll tell you: NOT A ONE! I even stumped the lawyers with this question. Nobody could give me a satisfactory answer. It's pretty much "Whatever the Government tells us is ID *is* ID. Huh. So, I'm going ahead with making it. I guess as long as everyone above me signs off on it, I'm not the one ending up in shit, right? Anyways, I've been at it for 2 weeks and I think I finally have a design that everyone will agree on. Now comes the hard part: Getting everyone to sit still for 5 minutes so I can nail them down for a picture. The Super had decreed that everyone must submit to a photo.... yet somehow people still have the impression that it's an optional thing. Sometimes I really hate my coworkers.

3) My friend Sharon gave me a copy of her hard drive to try to sort out. Somehow over the past 5 years, and previous "techs" who tried to help her.... about 6 copies of her profile were created and nested within each other. There were sometimes 6 copies of the same photo. So, to make a long story short, I took 8200 photos in 1500 (yes, that fifteen hundred) folders, and after painstakingly "washing" the list through Notepad, Excel, Access, and then back through Notepad.... I ended up with 3600 photos in 137 folders. It only took me 3 weeks to finally come up with a semi-automated solution...lol. Fun, eh? The good news is, now I know exactly how to do it again, so if I ever run into the same problem, it should only take a few hours.

And that's what I've been up to.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 05:11:15 GMT

A guy recently emailed me on Gay.com saying he was thinking of moving up here, and asked me to tell him about Whitehorse. Here's my reply:

These are all excellent questions, and ones that I wish I had asked first...lol. Don't get me wrong, I love it here, but there are some surprises, both good and bad. I'll prolly type more info than you need, so I'll apologise in advance:
Rental Housing: I've heard it's not that good, however I've lived in the same apartment since I moved here 5 years ago (from Oshawa) so I'm not very knowledgeable on the subject anymore. Umm.... not sure if there's any websites about it, but Googling Whitehorse and Rental should be a good start.
1BR Apt: Rent here is RIDICULOUSLY cheap, when comparing similar places in Toronto, and even in Oshawa. I have a two bedroom and it was $700 a month when I first got it. A similarly spaced apt in Oshawa cost me $1100. However, I believe everyone else in the building is paying about $850 right now, but the landlord says she likes me and hasn't raised my rent beyond th $25 last year. Expect to pay between $650 and $900 for a 1 bedroom.
Condos: A lot have gone up in the past few years. If you are able to, I am told that this would be a better option than renting. I'm considering it, but haven't got the means quite yet.
Utilities: Water is free. It comes from the Yukon River and is minimally treated, since everything's still pretty "natural" and untainted by pollution here. It tastes wonderful, no chlorine or any other of the chemicals I've tasted in Toronto....lol. Electricity (for me) is about $50/month in the summer, and upwards of $130 in the winter. Phone about $45, internet between $45 and $80 (depending on what package you choose). Cable, not sure, haven't had it since 4 years ago.
Fruits and Veggies: Food in general is more expensive, as it has to be trucked up from down south. Actually, it's a lot more expensive... I recall visiting Toronto last summer and buying the groceries at Superstore, and for the same amount of money, I got about twice the product. But, the selection is the same. Sometimes in the winter, the trucks fall off the road (no, seriously) on the way up here, and we go without some things for a few days.
Weather:
Summer: Next-to-perpetual sunlight. June 21st, sunrise at 3:30am-ish, sunset around 2:00am-ish. Never fully dark between mid-May and mid-August. Temperature as high as 35° and as low as 5° at night. Any combination in between. We had snow one day in June last year. It seems to be a five-year cycle from what I've seen so far, when it comes to overall conditions. Super hot one year, then a little crappier the next and so on. Last year sucked. We had like 2 weeks of sunshine, and the rest of the time is rained and was cloudy.
Winter. Next-to-perpetual darkness. Dec 21st, sunrise at 10:30am, sunset around 3:30pm. Grey and depressing from mid-Sept to about mid-April. Your body actually suffers from lack of sunlight, and everyone is depressed. Buy some Vitamin D or go tanning. Seriously. Temps, doesn't matter day or night, you could get anything. The lowest I've experienced is -48°. Very rarely above -20°C during the day. Some days calm, more often winds from hell. But... NO HUMIDITY. In summer or winter. Makes winter more "bitter", but less kill-me-I'm-chilled-to-the-bone. The jacket I bought up here that works great (as in I had only a t-shirt on under it and felt warm), failed miserably in Toronto. All due to humidity. Snowfall is weird due to the extreme cold and lack of humidity. Apparently snow isn't formed below -25° so it all happens at the beginning and end of winter when the temps are transitional.
Cars new and used: Tons. People apparently like buying new cars up here. There are 7 major dealers in town (Ford, GM, Toyota, Honda, Kia, Subaru and Nissan) and GM alone has about a hundred used cars on the lot at any given time. New cars are generally about $1000 more expensive here, again due to shipping. Used cars are used cars wherever they are. Here's a link to the Ford dealership's online inventory (GM doesn't seem to have one...) http://apps.dealerconnection.com/dealers/whitehorse/usedvehicles?lang=en
Driving: Summer is great. 'nuff said. Winter, it gets a little hairy. Snow buildup on the road sometimes gets as thick as 6" before they plow. Black ice is everywhere, especially after they plow. Snow tires are recommended, however I've survived so far without them... You will notice a distinct lack of guardrails on the roads. Everywhere. It's nuts. There are sometimes literally 200 foot dropoffs in some places, and no guardrails. But, you get used to it, and you learn to drive carefully. Oh yes, I have to tell you this: Square Tires. It gets so cold at night, that the flat spot on the bottom of your tires (from having it parked all night) doesn't go away when you start driving. It takes about 1km before they gets pushed back into a round shape. Block heaters are not enough. You NEED a battery blanket, or an oil pan heater.
Employment: Everyone in every position in every company is paid WAY better up here. Tim Horton's starts at $12.50/hr. And even though supplies are more expensive here, you still walk away with more. The best jobs are with the Territorial Gov't and the Feds. Most employers, after you've been there 2 years, give you what's called a "Yukon Bonus", which is where they hand you anywhere between $1000 and $2000 per year for the purposes of taking a vacation. "Escaping" Whitehorse once a year (never more than two) is ESSENTIAL to surviving up here.
Taxes: Typical, but some perks. Firstly, rent paid is irrelevant, and does not get claimed anywhere. But... that's because we get a credit of $7.50 per day for living up here. If you live alone, its $15 per day, which comes out to about $5475. You also get to deduct the costs of your trips "out" to places down south. Kinda a thank you from the Gov't for being so kind as to populate the North...lol
I'm not sure what else to tell you. During the winter, I hate it here. HATE IT to the point of saying "fuck it, I'm outta here." But then I look up and see a mountain next door, or the Northern Lights, or stop and listen to the absolute silence and think "Crap. I do love it here. Crap!" Sounds romantic, but it's the truth. During the summer it's just great. If you are someone who likes hiking, canoeing, kayaking, or anything "outdoorsy"... this is the place. I'm not overly active myself, but every day I tell myself I should be...lol.
Anyhow, I guess that's enough info-overload for now. Lemme know if there's anything else I can tell you about, and I'll be happy to. Check out Whitehorse on GoogleEarth. The pics are from 2006, but not much has changed. Like I said, I love it here, and I know if I ever did move down south again, I would surely miss this place.
Enjoy!
Steven

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:35:41 GMT

I often wonder why don't Canadian multi-multi-millionaires invest in the 6/49, or Super 7 or something like that?

Here's some math: The odds of winning the 6/49 are 1 in 13,983,816. This is the number of all possible combinations of 6 numbers between 1 and 49. If you wanted to be guaranteed to win, you would have to buy 13,983,816 tickets, in other words, spend $27,967,632.

So what if the jackpot is like, say, $30 million or higher? Wouldn't it be worth your effort to spend the $28 million in order to guaranteed to win it back, plus an extra $2 million or more (depending on the jackpot)??!?!

However, I suppose there is always a chance that someone else will also have all the numbers, in which case you'd have to share the pot.... and that could mean you'd lose money unless the pot was like $60 million. And I suppose I have my answer to why Canadian multi-multi-millionaires don't do this sort of thing. Something tells me that if I ever had that much money.... I wouldn't have it for very long.

I remember when 6/49 tickets were only $1. This investment opportunity would have been much better back then.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:01:03 GMT

I noticed something the other day on a website I love dearly: The Dead People Server. This site is essentially a running obituary for "people of interest" that are now dead. It also has a section called "Not Dead Yet" which I find amusing.

However, she's got something on there that kinda bugs me. And firstly let me say that it's a phrase a lot of people use, so I have nothing against the site's author personally or in particular. Her's is the website I just happened to notice it on most recently and the blogging bug struck me. So here's the entry:

Michael Jackson (singer/songwriter) -- Dead. Cardiac arrest. Died June 25, 2009. Born August 29, 1958. Wildly eccentric performer, youngest member of the Jackson 5, major pop icon of the '80s ("Thriller", "Billie Jean"), married briefly to Lisa Marie Presley, acquitted child molester.

Secondly I'd like to make this clear: This post is not a "defend Michael Jackson" thing either, like so many other people do.

The problem I have is with the phrase "acquitted child molester". I have a problem with it because it leaves the bad taste in your mouth that says "he definitely was a child molester, but the official word is that he was acquitted". The sentence labels him as a child molester, rather than labeling him as "acquitted", which really is the most important part, right?

Acquitted: A decision by a judge that a person accused of a crime is discharged of it, found not guilty.

If the Dead People Server author had used the phrase "was accused of child molestation, but in the end was acquitted", it would leave you with the more accurate (and less damning) taste in your mouth of "He what?!??! Oh, wait, he was acquitted, so its ok now!"

I guess I'm just annoyed at what some people will carry away from something, while forgetting the whole "not guilty" part. (However, in defence of the author, she generally is very spot-on with all of her commentaries, so perhaps I'm the one missing the point...?)

Do I think Michael Jackson "molested" children? Definitely NOT. If in fact he did have sleepovers with children actually in his bed... sure, that's super-weird and wrong-on-so-many-levels (mostly due to heebie-jeebie feeling of the *potential* of what could be happening in that bedroom) but it doesn't make him a molester. It just makes him odd. Which we all pegged him for anyway.

Ok, I realise I've just negated my "Secondly..." point up above...lol. I guess I am defending MJ. But I still think he's a weirdo (see sleepovers, dangling babies, and face masks on kids).

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:26:27 GMT

Wow, and I thought it was only bad up here: http://atlantis2.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=3533816n

So life goes on at the jail, but it's a little different than usual. See, I'm off my meds, and it's a little interesting. The "old Steven" is back somewhat. Mostly I'm referring to the sees-injustice-everywhere-at-the-workplace-and-can't-keep-my-mouth-shut-about-it kind...lol. It's like the Union Energy days all over again. But still, as then, I think "I'm right"...

So, once again I am faced with the situation where I must try to keep my mouth shut in order to jump through the hoops of corporate society lest I become again "the necessary evil"...

Not much new other than that. The Yukon is still the Yukon, and I'm still in a love/hate relationship with it...

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Sat, 30 May 2009 23:42:28 GMT

The Spring Cleaning bug has bitten me, and I'm all over my house today. I just finished cleaning the kitchen. Now, that might not sound like such a big deal... but I don't think I've mopped the floor since Anoita lived here...lol (That was about 3 years ago) It's not like I was wallowing in my own filth, it was just cluttered, y'know. The contents of my old car's trunk, left-over stuff in a box from when Jay lived here, and a bunch of just crap.

It's all gone now.

I was planning on using my kitchen table as a computer workbench. I bring enough tech home to play with, and I need a better place than on my living room floor (which is currently strewn with tools, gutted computers, etc etc etc) I'm sure if Duane had been staying here, my house would be more in order... but he hasn't been, so I figure I'd better do it myself!

However, now I think that I'll have to make my workbench the other half of my computer desk. Often I require my computer to research things while working on other people's stuff. Plus there's power and internet right there. So, we'll see.

Next: The Living Room!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Wed, 27 May 2009 05:36:22 GMT

Not much new going on to report, although I turn 35 in a few days. Things have been pretty quiet around here, but I've been trying to make the most of the weekends this summer. Two out of the two weekends I've been back I've forced myself to "do something". So far that's taken the form of yardwork at John's and at another friends'. Now... I *want* to do something every weekend! I expect it. God forbid if I just sit around.... yikes.