For those that think that it 'always' rains in Vancouver, this is now the third driest summer on record.

Since summer doesn't officially end for another three weeks, you'll still have some time to enjoy this.

"Do not fade, do not wither, do not grow old."

Saw Orlando last night. I quite enjoyed it. It was part history lesson, part out-of-body experience, an element of 'time travel' and it certainly provides a new angle to looking at both sides of an issue. I thought the 'party on ice' was breathtaking, this coming from someone who has skated since before I can remember. Throw in some fabulous costumes (and wigs), Tilda Swinton, Quentin Crisp as a 'old queen' and Jimmy Sommerville to cap things off. File this under pleasant surprises.

Here are my responses to this week's Friday Five.

1. What's your favorite piece of clothing that you currently own?

A ballcap I got from a street market in Shanghai. It started with a slightly battered look to it, which was the 'in style' and has weathered very nicely.

2. What piece of clothing do you most want to acquire?

I have been coveting this navy blue Hermes tie that has yellow duckies on it. I couldn't provide a link as it doesn't appear in their current collection.

3. What piece of clothing can you not bring yourself to get rid of? Why?

A pair of jeans that I have not worn in years. Why? Because I will get back into them one day *wink*.

4. What piece of clothing do you look your best in?

My Hugo Boss slacks fit, fall, sit and everything else just right.

5. What has been your biggest fashion accident?

I arrived at work one day without a belt. Promptly sent myself home to remedy that fiasco.

Onesome: Double - If you could have a clone of yourself, what thing would you most want that clone to do so you don't have to?

My clone would work and I would play all day.

Twosome: Bubble - Anyone you know live life in a bubble? Who? And do you wish they'd snap back to reality?

My first niece* lived in sort of a bubble her first year or so. The lives of my brother and his wife suddenly centered around her and their resulting actions were almost slave-like in order to accomodate and cater to their newborn's every whim. I'm glad to report, though, that the arrival of their second child (another niece for me) snapped the bubble that had been created for the first child.

* Caitlin, yesterday was your 4th brithday. Blue and Magenta said to say, "Happy birthday!"

Threesome: Bubblegum - Willy Wonka talks about chewing gum to be a nasty habit. What's your worst habit? Do you wish you could give it up?

This one's a 'give me'. I'm a smoker and yes, I wish I could give up this nasty, evil habit.

What took ya so long? I still remember when my family got that Sony Betamax, thinking how ahead of the curve we were then. All told, it probably spent more time in the basement alongside the rest of the 'near famous' gadgets we picked up along the way ... pizza maker, sandwich maker, ice cream maker and the numerous 'all you'll ever need' food processors. Ironically, though, the sturdy case it arrived in now transports my vcr when needed.

This Madonna tidbit from across the pond, in Ananova.

(Adriano) Giannini told the Sunday Express: "It didn't come easy for me to slap a woman, especially someone I had grown up listening to. When I first slapped her, she thought it wasn't violent enough and told me to hit her harder."

"On another occasion, I was asked to humiliate her by making her bark like a dog. It got a bit masochistic but she's good. She's very professional."

M'kay, no surprise there.

I am 'excited' about ...

• setting up my imood account and having the indicator display properly on my blog
  
• my upcoming trip to Las Vegas
  
• having an all access pass to the PGA stop this week

I am disappointed about ...

• not bumping into Sir Elton John at the Virgin Megastore yesterday
  
• not running into Armistead Maupin last weekend at a local bar

More excited than disappointed overall.

I love my Palm Vx pda, but as Palm tries to desperately maintain it's Nasdaq listing, an admission this week which could hamper those prospects. Hang in there, I want an M515 for Christmas.

No update on the commenting thing as of now, but word has it the folks are working on it. In the meantime, I think I will tinker a bit, my previous post notwithstanding. :P

Blog Rambling
I'm using this post to ramble a bit about what this blog means to me and where I see it going. It's been almost two weeks now since I started my Scribble Pad and in general, I'm quite pleased with my efforts to date. Oh, I got caught up the the whirlwind excitement of it all ... looking for a template that would be what I had envisioned, setting up the 'high' profile links, surfing for the right goodies, buttons, gadgets ... installing a commenting system ... a stats counter ... creating a folder of blogs to watch ... surfing for quizzes, polls and other net oddities. I can see how one can get caught up in the 'star' aspect of it all and I have, admittedly, gone to my blog just to check for comments and to check out the hit anaylzer. Have I brushed up on my html, yes. Have I been a little more critical in watching, reading and observing life in general, yes. Have I stepped outside of my comfort zone online, venturing to sites previously not bookmarked, yes. Do I want my blog to end up here? No. Do I want linkbacks? No, well they would be nice I guess but unimportant in my overall blog scheme. Do I want to be the best blog, the worst blog? No and No. I just want this blog to be for me, about me, for the most part. Yes, confirmation and validation is fine along the way, but ultimately, this is something for me. A chronology of my life, my thoughts, my rants and some of the mundane things that are my life. This is something that won't get lost in a box in the next move. I won't set parameters on which topics I will and will not post about, nor promise to be like clockwork on anything else. Is this starting to sound like Baz Luhrmann? It wasn't meant to be. My blog is just developing and I hope that that development both documents and mirrors my personal development in this journey we call life.

The commenting feature on my blog will be temporarily out of service. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the Netcomments folks, Jonty in particular, will be able to find a cost effective solution in the next few days.

Use e-mail for fan mail and other pressing concerns, heh.

I do not like green eggs and SPAM

I guess we could call this poetic justice. I could never quite figure haiku out, but if this works I'll dig out those college texts.

To those that know me ... does this surprise you?





You are Schroeder. You are brilliant, ambitious, and brooding; you tackle tasks with extreme focus. People don't always interest you as much as other pursuits, though, so you can come off as aloof.
Which Peanuts Character Are You Quiz

Here's my Friday Five for this week, officially.

1. What is your current occupation? Is this what you chose to be doing at this point in your life? Why or why not?

The expensive piece of paper says that I'm a Chartered Accountant. The American equivalent would be a CPA. This is what I chose to study at school, and although I haven't spent my entire career in accoutning/finance, I am currently back in this industry.

2. If time/talent/money were no object, what would your dream occupation be?

I think I would like Mr. Roarke's job for a few years, granting wishes and making fantasies come true on my own private island.

3. What did/do your parents do for a living? Has this had any influence on your career choices?

Both of my parents are retired now. Dad worked most of his life in a shingle mill and Mom worked for Canada Post. Not really, no.

4. Have you ever had to choose between having a career and having a family?

Nope.

5. In your opinion, what is the easiest job in the world? What is the hardest? Why?

I've always thought that professional golfers have had a fairly easy ride. Hitting a ball with a stick and walking lush fairways week in and week out, how tough is that? Now, medical professionals OTOH, have both high stress and the unenviable task of having to deliver bad news from time to time.

Well, since school really is just around the corner in these parts, I'm listing some highlights from Beloit College's Class of 2005 Mindset List.

• Most students starting college this fall were born in 1983.
  
• The British Royal family has always behaved badly.
  
• They were born the same year as the PC and the Mac.
  
• They have probably never used carbon paper and do not know what cc and bcc mean.
  
• Major newspapers have always been printed in color.
  
• They are the first generation to prefer tanning indoors.
  
• They have never known exactly what to call the rock star formerly and presently known as Prince.

This week's Thursday Threesome. Back to school, already?

Onesome: Small - Is it a small world? In how many miles of space do you live your life?

I've lived and worked in three different countries, but ultimately family and friends were only a click or a phone call away. Once settled, I rarely find myself travelling outside of a 50 miles radius of my home.

Twosome: Spiral - Ever felt as if you were on a downward spiral? How did you pull out of it?

I've had down periods, but probably nothing that would be classified as a spiral. I'm usually optimistic or maybe just oblivious.

Threesome: Notebook - Notebooks and pens and crayons and glue...when you think about school supplies, what do you most remember?

And I have a 'thing' for stationery, only now it's called 'office supplies'. Finger painting and colored construction paper.

A new D.A. is in the house. I'm a big fan of L&O and am sorry to see Dianne Wiest leaving. I'm not sure of the circumstances behind her decision to leave but hopefully it wasn't one of creative differences. Nora had potential but I don't think she was developed to the extent that the L&O fans have come to expect.

Check this out. The Mirror Project. There's probably a picture or two sitting in that 'junk' drawer that would qualify. I will be reserving a couple of exposures in my next roll, possibly even the Las Vegas trip, for a submission.

Smiles everyone

Nothing too important today, just some tinkering to bring to a close the first full week of this blog ... kinda like the spit Mom used to use to keep my hair in place.

Hopefully, that Y! chat button is working now. I'm gonna pretend that I didn't see that the Blog Chalking site has been updated or revised, for now anyway.

Blog Chalking: Google! DayPop! This is my blogchalk: English, Canada, British Columbia, Vancouver, SFCanuck, Male, 36-40!

Sunday Driver (Where did the day go? I completed this on Sunday, honest, but I guess I didn't hit the right buttons.)

1. What is one of your favorite childhood memories?

It was the Christmas that I was on my favourite aunt's gift list as a solo recipient. My mother and her siblings had devised a fairly elaborate gift giving scheme to take into account the varying number of offspring in each of their families. I have two brothers and way it worked out each year was that each of us would receive one gift and that there would be a gift that the three of us would share. For the life of me, I can't actually remember what I got that year, but I do remember the anticipation in the weeks leading up to that Christmas Eve's gift exchange.

2. What is the source or significance of your given name? Is this the name by which you were called, or did your family have a "pet name" for you?

I've never actually found out about the significance of my given anglo name, which was not used formally until I started college. Prior to grade school, I was usually referred to or called by, the last part (third of three - the first being the family name, the second a portion of my father's name) of my chinese name, which was chosen by my paternal grandfather according to tradition. If I ever heard the entire chinese name, it usually meant big trouble. In the family, it's now the familiar short form of my given anglo name.

3. Other than your parents, which adults figured prominently in your childhood?

First grade teacher - Mrs. Phillips ... for the simple things.
Third grade teacher - Miss Martell ... for establishing a sense of style.
Fourth grade teacher - Mr. McGuiness ... for fostering intrigue.

4. Which childhood toy was the hardest for you to give up?

My receiving blanket which became a security blanket over the years.

5. How are you still childlike?

"Does not play well with others."

Big Bucks, No Whammies

I'm booked for a mid-September trip to Las Vegas, more on this to follow. Woo hoo.

I noticed that my Y! chat button is not functioning properly so I've taken it offline temporarily while I sort it out. Heh, it was indicating that I was online all the time ... uh, not quite.

I've been filing away some records I just got back from the taxation auditors, yea I was audited. But, good news, I got a clean bill of health. Which got me to thinking about Enron and it's 'creative accounting' fiasco. Admittedly, there is an element of creative accounting on my part, whether it be in my own personal or client files, but that's the beauty of existing in a self-regulated industry. Broadly based principles, some guidelines open to interpretation and the exercise of 'professional' judgement'. Being in this industry as long as I have been, one can start, or should start to sense, how far that envelope can be pushed. In Enron's case, I think the envelope was pushed right off the desk and sailed on out the window. How though? Corporate greed -- money being the root of all evil? Defense mechanism or survival instinct from the Enron brass -- people are watching, sweep everything under the carpet? Chaos theory -- a tiny change in initial conditions and omigod?

Mark Simpson in an article at Salon.com 'outs' David Beckham as a get this, Metrosexual. These lines cracked me up ...

" ... he sucks corporate cock with no gag reflex."

" ... while Beckham is now officially a gay icon, he's probably someone that gays would rather be than fuck ... "

"He (Eminem) bitches and moans about all the attention he gets, but succeeds in turning that bitching and moaning into another album."

Oh and that line about Spiderman swinging around is classic. Now, back to our regular programming.

As a relative newcomer, hmm this is day three, I was so looking forward to posting my first Friday Five. I get to the site only to learn that it is on hiatus this week. Oh well, best wishes to them as they take care of their personal business. As for this blog, hmm what would MacGyver do? Probably improvise something with a rock, some lint, and a day old newspaper. To coincide with my initiation, I went and dredged up the first Friday Five I could find in their archives.

1. Where were you born (city or state or just country)?

A suburb of Vancouver, Canada.

2. What is your favorite number?

2.

3. Vanilla or chocolate?

Vanilla.

4. What section of a bookstore would I find you in?

The best sellers, biographies, games, personal investing and bargains in that order.

5. What kind of mattress do you have on your bed? soft? firm? water?

It's a firm Sealy pillow-top.

Here's my Thursday Threesome. I'll get the hang of this eventually.

Onesome: Here - When you are in, where do you hang out? Not your favorite room necessarily, but where you always seem to end up.

I'll have to go with my desk, which is where my computer sits and where I can be within reach of most of the tools and gadgets I use to get my 'stuff' done.

Twosome: There - When you go out somewhere to relax, where do you head off to?

Any coffee shop that bakes on their own premises, if not for the coffee, then for the aroma of fresh baked bread.

Threesome: Everywhere - If you could choose, where would you like to be able to go for a week to relax?

Phuket, Thailand, where I once felt the sand beneath my feet and the ocean breeze in my face.

Stop pawing me!

Let us now pause to contemplate the mistakes made by Anne & Ellen and Billy Bob & Angelina so that we might learn from them: Whether you're gay or straight, necking in front of the president of the United States during the infatuation stage, getting someone's name tattooed on your ass or arm during the infatuation stage and blathering on and on to Oprah during the infatuation stage does NOT prove that your love is real and deep and everlasting. What it proves is that you are shallow and stupid and soon to be single.

-- Dan Savage, Savage Love

Cautious words to JLo and Ben ... knock it off.

Am I a geek?

On and off all day today, I have been tinkering, adjusting, moving, slashing and trying to fine tune the look of this blog. Am I being a little too obsessed? Or merely tumbling headlong into 'geekdom'. Because I really was starting to scare myself, I took the test below. It turns out, I'm not even close. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

I am a Poser (geek)


Take the geek test at innergeek.us

Another thanks to H. for dropping me my first comment, even before I had finished setting the whole commenting thing up. I'm glad to see it works.

This is starting to take on a life of it's own, which I guess is alright. It's been under 24 hours since my weblog was brought into existence. I have already tinkered with the first template that I chose and then changed it altogether. But, I should give credit to that person, Martijn ten Napel. Thanks, Martijn, I inaugurated my weblog with your 'Simple Serif' template. Moving right along now, I've adopted another template that is more along the lines of what I was hoping my weblog would look like. This one was created by Helquin. I beg forgiveness in advance in the likely event that I mangle your masterpiece while I attempt to tinker with it. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, don't touch the archives, lord knows where you will end up. :)

In the beginning ...

Ok, I've registered and starting what I hope to be is the first post to my very own blog :) In all honesty, I have no idea how this is gonna turn out, but I can say that I do have a few ideas about how I'd like it to eventually evolve. I'm not completely foreign to this online biz, but it's been awhile :P My first attempt at getting myself noticed on the world wide web was this web page I created to let the masses get to know me a little better. That would be here.

I just about fell off my chair ... it actually worked. I think I might have known a bit more about html (blah) back when I did my page, but since then, I've basically faked it. How am I doing? :) Ok, is there a bio thing to fill out? I'll get back to you on that after I check out the rest of the features. Over and out.