I should really update this more! Things are incredibly busy at work, but as perks I've been able to do a bunch of travel, including my first trip to Japan, and a week in Montreal. Usually I wind up in Montreal with all-day schedules, and this was the first time that I actually had my evenings free. I got to hop on the Metro and explore a bit of the city. Perhaps most importantly, I now know how to get to Schwartz's on my own, so I can get my authentic Montreal Smoked Meat on.

Also, I now know a really great German restaurant in Tokyo, in addition to a great sushi place in Hamburg. Funny where life takes you.

As Vonnegut says (and I'm sure, if I looked through my history here, I would find that I've quoted it in this blog before): "Curious travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God."

I just got back from a week and change in and around Vancouver. I love the West Coast and I had a great time, but now that I'm home, the time difference is kicking my ass. I thought I'd get off easy because I got to bed late on Sunday and had to wake up early for work, so I was hoping that I'd knock off early last night and wake up back on eastern standard time. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, and it was a really slow, groggy start to the morning, saved only by the fact that I don't have to be in the office today.

I'm sure I'll adjust in a day or so. My system is probably just suffering the first stages of sushi deprivation.

Be careful what you open your big fat stupid fucking mouth and wish for, because you just might get it.

In ten years, I will probably look back on today as the start of something awesome.

Right now... right now feels like a great time for comfort food and loud, angry music.

(Nothing bad, and I'm fine... just a huge change in the wind that I was not expecting.)

Wow, interesting times afoot at work, and I've got a big decision to make. Nothing bad, but definitely major, and it's got my mind absolutely racing. A lot of stuff seems to, these days.

The new Deftones album is amazing. Have I mentioned that? I probably should. This is the first record of theirs that I've ever checked out, so now I suspect that they may have been awesome all along, and I've just missed it. That would be disappointing. Of course, I didn't discover Joy Division until I was nearly 30, so I'm used to being late to the party.

I was wailing on the refresh key with the best of the geeks the other day to get my Apple fix from WWDC. Interested (but not surprised) by the iPhone 4 announcement. My 3GS is still the best thing I've ever bought, I think, and that isn't hyperbole. I love that thing. I'm glad that the shiny new one doesn't have me looking at mine like it's some kind of relic. After all, I knew going into my contract that probably 3 shiny new ones would come out before I had the chance to get another one. So it goes. I sure do like having the intertron with me wherever I go. It makes waiting for the elevator or going through the car wash more fun.

The Rival Schools album is also awesome, although it isn't new. It just happens to be on right now. If you don't know who they are, you should probably go look them up. I'll wait.

...


Told you!

I know, I know, I haven't updated my blog in AGES.

There, that's better.

Wow, I haven't posted a blog post here in over six months. Eep.

This is probably because of me basically switching my ranting over to my Blogger site... which I also haven't been updating all that regularly.

I hope everybody had a great Christmas and New Year. I was born in the snowy wilderness of Way the Fuck North of Here, and have been making the great trek home for many years in some really awful weather. I keep kicking around the idea of moving Christmas to July or something, to find a weekend where there isn't any holiday traffic, pad it out with some vacation days, and make the drive when conditions are good.

However, as much as it seems like a good idea to everybody, it never happens. I can't bring myself to not be "home" at that time of the year, especially since my father died. One of my dogs passed away the same year that my father did, so our family seems so much smaller now, with just my mom, my brother, my dog, and I. It feels more important to make the effort to be together. Rationally, I'm not much for tradition or ceremony, and realize that the effort is important, not the date, but still... every year I make the drive, and every year I'm glad to be home.

Plus, I had a nice chunk of vacation time, and managed to pick dates for both the drive up and the drive back south which offered the best weather and the least traffic, so it was actually one of the best trips I've had, from that perspective.

I had a quiet New Year's Eve, staying in to enjoy my great view of the city. Maybe I'm just getting old, but when I can enjoy every fireworks display in the city from the comfort of my living room, it's tough to justify paying for parking and a cover charge.

I think 2010 is going to be a really, really good year for me. Things are going great at work, my finances are perilously close to being sorted out (if I don't do anything really stupid, I might actually have one of those fancypants "savings accounts" at the end of the year), and I just bought a really, really awesome coat. Plus, I have found true love with my iPhone, so that's good.

I hope it's a really fantastic year for you too!

I've been spending most of my time heading out across the country, visiting the Maritimes and Quebec City for the first time in recent weeks.

I'm not much of a traveller, so it's certainly nice to get to see the country - and the world, as the stamps in my passport will testify - on the company dime.

That said, it's awfully, awfully, awfully nice to know I'm sleeping in my own bed tonight, and I'm looking forward to spending the third consecutive week in the same time zone.

Then I get to pack up and do it all over again. Huzzah!

I'm still around, and checking in from time to time. I just do my online pontificating elsewhere of late.

If the universe unfolds as it should, I will be in the office, at my desk, wading through two weeks' (punctuation ninjas... did I do that right?) worth of email and voice mail backlog, in just under eight hours.

The past two weeks haven't exactly flown by, but it sure doesn't seem like it's been two weeks at this particular moment. The past 48 hours have involved all kinds of housework and manual labour, though, which sure helps keep a weekend from seeming all that restful. Ah well.

For the first time in I-don't-know-how-many-years, I don't dread going back to work. (It's also been I-don't-know-how-many-years since I actually took a proper vacation - usually it was just a day off here and there to pad out a long weekend or move or take care of some errand that couldn't be done outside of business hours.) That feels really nice.

2008 was a real mixed bag, but I'm starting 2009 off by going back to a job I'm looking forward to going back to.
I'm choosing to take that as a promising sign.

Merry Christmas* and Happy New Year, SG!

* - with standard 'or whatever you may celebrate' disclaimer