Tha Word... According to Duffman!

New Years

2011-12-30T21:48:00.001-05:00

New Year's is a little extra special for me. I guess it's because it's my birthday. That's probably why I've never really bought into the hype of New Years Eve.

I'd rather focus on the fact that people all over the world celebrate my birthday (an international holiday). Ha ha.

I've also never really been into making resolutions either. Okay, I've never really kept any of my resolutions.

We call them resolutions... goals... whatever... but this year I have 2 of them:

1) Get & Stay Physical - Yeah, I know! Everyone says that. But with a new baby girl I want to healthy enough to enjoy life with her for many years to come. Plus, this year I have a motivation: Geocaching. The hard is going to be the same as it always is: finding time in the daily grind to do it.

2) Fellowship - Between visiting family at least once a month, having a new baby, & sometimes just not feeling well we've missed a lot of Sundays at church and Small Group on Tuesdays all together the past 6 months. This can't go on. We need to find a way to get connected again to our faith community.

New App!!!

2011-12-12T22:08:00.001-05:00

So I'm trying out the new Blogger app on my iPod Touch. Typical Google product, it's fairly intuitive and actually has a similar interface to the G+ app.

So far I have 3 suggestions:

1) The switching between blogs should be the main screen not a setting under options.

2) Labels should should be a drop menu of previous labels sorted by most frequently used.

3) It took you long enough. Really? Your just launching an Apple app now?

Mucky Yucky Fun! (Geocache)

2011-12-07T14:02:00.001-05:00

Today I decided to tackle a geocache that is within walking distance from my work. I really need to get motivated with going out for walks/geocaches and I think this cache is going to do the trick.

From reading the logs previously I knew this cache was in rough shape. A lot of people have mentioned that the container is cracked and that the log is soaked. Since the Cache Owner (CO) hasn't been out to fix it in some time I had planned to throw together a replacement container at work. But with some very pathetic options I decided it best to check the cache out first and then buy a suitable container.

So I grabbed a pencil, some sheets of lined paper, a grocery bag (didn't have any Ziplocs), my iPhone (with Geocaching.com app) and my my iPod. Jamming out to some tunes I made my way to and down the path that led towards the cache. But once I reached the end of the path it looked like I was going to have to cross creek 6 feet across and 2 or 3 deep. I knew it was wet & muddy out but I wasn't prepared for THIS!

I took a minute to boot up the iPhone app and see where I was in relation to GZ and spotted thinner and more shallow end of the creek to cross. It took some balancing on rocks and ducking under some branches but I made it across safe, sound, and DRY!

About 10-12 feet from the creek I met up with the original path and continued towards GZ. When I got to GZ I knew I had to push past a couple trees to get to the search area. Despite being an overcast day the view was still quite nice. I had to wiggle around a ledge. But once on the ledge the cache was easy to spot.

I pulled it the lock-n-lock out from the rocks it was half hidden under to find the other cachers had not been exaggerating. It was busted up good: cracks in the lid, a hole in the bottom and (of course) a soaked log book. I took out my paper and logged the find on them. I was going to put the paper inside the grocery bag to keep it dry but there was a toy inside a plastic bag. SWEEEET!

The walk back to work was much nicer because after crossing the creek I had noticed another path that seemed to lead back to the road without crossing ANY water. Although I emerged with muddy boots and mucked up the back of my pants with mud spatter I'd have to say this has been my best caching experience yet.

Along with logging the cache I messaged the owner about helping out with container AND log maintenance. My plan is to 'adopt' the cache. This way I'll have a reason to get out for walks on my lunch hour more often.

(#14)

Maps

2011-11-07T12:03:00.001-05:00

Up until a few months ago I only ever used Yahoo, MapQuest, & Google for my mapping needs. In fact, I got rid of all my old paper maps years ago. Why bother when you can just download the map you need & print it off? And with smart phones now you have the maps with you. That's one of the main reasons I never bought a GPS unit for my car. I figure why bother whn I have a map function built into my iPhone?

But ever since buying my Garmin eTrex Legend GPS for going geocaching I've realized there are many more map options out there for different purposes. The Geocaching.com website and iPhone app have different options for different types of maps.

Street Maps
Just what you think they'd be: maps of streets. However, different websites provide different details and different levels of accuracy. I find Yahoo & MapQuest to be more accurate with where an address is located on a street. But I find Google has more recently created streets. This time the Geocaching website & app chose to use Bing, Google and OpenStreetMap.org (OSM). OSM is an open source mapping system.

Sateliette Maps
Sateliette maps are actual images of the area taken at different levels of magnification. Depending on the website or service you use depends on how recent the images are and their level of magnification. The Geocaching website and app use Bing, Google, & Google Hybrid (Google Street Maps overlaying the satelitte images). Since I don't need extreme detail or recent images I use these free versions too.

Topographic Maps
When hiking, camping, or doing anything outdoors it's always helpful to know ahead of time a lay of the land. You need to know when there are sudden or gradual changes in elevation or the type of terrain you'll be going through. Topographic maps use lines to show you changes in elevation. So the closer together the lines the steeper the terrain. This time the website and app use OpenCycleMap.org (OCM). OCM is also an open source mapping website. However, this one is geared (hahaha!) towards cyclists because with topographic maps they can know how many hills are on their planned route, how big they are and how steep they are. Of course, it also comes in handy for hikers and geocachers.

So far I've been talking about free mapping solutions. However, there are many proprietary mapping solutions too. A perfect example of this are maps for GPS units. Most GPS units come preloaded with a set of basic maps. Depending on the manufacturer, model, and purpose you can upgrade your maps for free or for a fee.

Well the base map on my Garmin eTrex legend unit is basic. I mean so basic it only shows MAJOR highways. I looked up the cost of the highway maps for the Garmin maps North America and they are being sold for about $100. That's more than I even paid for my GPS unit. So I started looking up ways I could upgrade my maps for free.

In my searching I came across a page on the OSM wiki page about creating your own maps in Garmin format from OSM exports. I was able to download the image tiles I wanted (thanks to OSM user computerteddy). Then using the command line program CGSMapper SendMap Pro I was able to create a Garmin compatible IMG file.

But when I tried to use the SendMap tool to actually send it to my GPS unit it wouldn't work! I think it's because the tool is looking for a USB connection instead of a Serial connection (which is what my unit uses). So I'm going to dig out my USB-Serial converter to see if that works. I also noticed that one of the pages mentioned that I need to change the connection mode my GPS is using. But there is no USB or Serial mode! Grrrr!!

Anyone know what I'm missing? Or is this just an impossibility with my model of GPS unit?

Prospecting For Geocaches

2011-10-11T13:44:00.005-04:00

Yesterday was Thanksgiving in Canada and since we had already done Thanksgiving dinner with the in-laws on Saturday (leftovers on Sunday) we took Monday for just family time.

The offspring slept in a little bit, so we got to sleep in a little bit for the first time in a long time. We had the whole with nothing to do so the night before we had planned to go geocaching at a local park. We would get as many caches as we could in the park before the little one needed to a break and then we'd stop and have a picnic.

So I loaded up a dozen or so caches in my iPod Touch and GPSr and we headed off to Prospect Park. It's a local park with an indoor gymnasium, 2 baseball diamonds, a splashpad, tennis courts, a leash park, and the site of the Acton Fall Fair all on a peninsula that juts out into a small lake. the terrain to & from each cache was fairly tame and mostly a gravel path. But there was still some adventure. All in all we wound up being 3 for 3 for the day.

Prospect Park during the Acton Fall Fair

Incredible Acton - Prospect Park (GC32VB9) was the first find of the day. Up until now all my finds have been micro/small urban caches. This cache actually offered little bit of a challenge terrain-wise. While searching at ground zero I had to be careful not fall off the sloping hill into the water. The log container was a little chincy but the cache itself was well hid. Once I read the hint I saw it right away.

Interesting Acton 1 (GC2T8D8) was the second find of the day. As the name suggests this cache is part of a series of places in Acton (my hometown) the cache owners find interesting. Again it was very easy to get to. I just had to hop back on the trail and keep walking. As I approached GZ I was fairly certain I knew where the cache was but as I got closer I started to doubt myself. I check the hint on my iPod and my initial instincts were right. As I filled out the log and carefully replaced the cache in it's hiding spot my wife checked on the youngin' who was passed out in the stroller. SWEET! I can keep pushing on for the 3rd cache in this park before breaking for lunch.

Interesting Acton 2 (GC2TCP1) was the third and final find of the day. The crazy thing is that despite being the lowest terrain & difficulty level of all 3 caches it proved to require the most effort to find. It was easy enough to get to the cache but we had about half a kilometer of backtracking to get to GZ. Then, despite being in a relatively open field with on 2 or 3 trees that stood 3 metres high my GPSr started jumping all over the place. Ugh! So I give it a minute and try walking in a straight line hoping it will even out to no avail. Stumped again I resorted to reading the hint. It still meant checking 3 spots about 20 feet from each other. On the way back to the 3rd spot my GPSr evened out again and declared THIS spot to be the winner. But I had already searched here. Or so I thought. Because I stick my hand into the hiding spot again to find my fingers to come across a well hidden micro.

We then found a nice picnic table in the shade of a tree beside the splash pad and sat down to have lunch: PB & J sandwiches, chunks of honeydew melon & pineapple, with Dr Pepper to drink. While the wife packed up the containers I logged the finds with my iPhone thanking the owners for a day of "'prospectin' for caches". Before leaving we got some cute pictures of us with the little one in a Bumbo Chair and a few on the ground in the leaves.

A Bumbo Chair helps a baby sit up straight without falling over

I learnt a few things on this caching trip:
1. I think I have a better idea of how people hide caches.
2. I also learnt that I need to be patient and trust my gut. I think my first (non-urban micro) cache find without using a hint will feel good.
3. I'm also excited about finding caches in more natural settings.
4. I forgot the level of awesomeness that is a PB & J sandwich.

Geocaching

2011-09-23T12:11:00.001-04:00

First off I'd like to says sorry for the barrage of posts a short while ago. As I was writing Join The Hunt I came across a few draft posts that needed to still be published.

GEOCACHE UPDATE:

So I finally got my mitts on the eTrex Legend I was looking to buy. For the first time in a long time I actually read the instruction manual for a piece of technology. Normally I just let'er rip and figure it out as I go. The only time I normally crack open a manual is to read up on a very specific function. Don't get me wrong TRIED to do that. But I'm not at all familiar with GPS technology and the interface on this basic unit isn't as intuitive I've become accustomed to with my iPod Touch and iPhone.

Aside from the interface, the fist thing I noticed was the lacking detail of the maps. Small details like MAJOR HIGHWAYS!!! I guess most of what you pay for when you buy a GPS unit for your car is the maps and waypoints included in it. But before it was discontinued this unit sold for over $150. So right now I'm trying to find a way to avoid spending $100+ on street & topographic maps from Garmin.

I've placed a link to my stats from Geocaching.com on the side of the blog so you can follow my progress. I changed my username from Ry3guy to Tha Duh Feez since the ultimate goal of this new hobby is to be more physically active with the wife and daughter.

I've logged 3 finds so far with only my first hunt being a DNF. The stats bar only says I've found 2 because one needs maintenance (a Ziploc bag for the log) badly! I'll relog it when I add the Ziploc baggy.

My 1st find ever was with the family at the main intersection of Acton. I totally cheated. While I was waiting to get my eTrex I bought the Geocaching.com iPhone app. It lets you lots of stuff. Even some things only a premium membership can do on the website. It lets you access the description of the cache, read the hint, use 3 map features (topographic, street, & satellite), log a find, view/take photos, and save it all for offline use. Well I used the description & hint to find the exact location of the cache.

My 2nd cache I looked at the pictures. Total spoiler! It's my own fault though because the iPhone app warns you pictures can contain spoilers. I still count it as a cool find though because of the type of cache container.

My 3rd cache was my first cache find using my eTrex unit. I knew the general location of the cache because I had already looked it up on the iPhone but didn't read the hint or look at any photos. So I turned on my eTrex and added a new waypoint and selected GoTo. It took me a couple minutes to select the options I wanted on my screen (bearing & distance). When I started walking around ground zero the bearing indicator started acting like a compass near a magnet. I realized that's what it means it says 'accurate to 17ft'. I eventually found the cache (thanks to learning from my first DNF). My stupid pen wouldn't work so I took a pic of the log and uploaded it with my log as proof of the find.

I'm meeting up with my wife & daughter after work to go hang out with friends. But I'm trying to think of ways I could sneak out and get in another cache!

A Bone To Pick

2011-09-09T12:26:00.000-04:00

(Originally written right after the recent federal election)

Now that the election is settled I have a bone to pick. Mainly with the anti-Harper camp. But before I get into it, let me be clear that this isn't an attempt at gloating. I simply want to vent my frustration.

Let me start with full disclosure. I voted for the Conservatives and probably will for the rest of my life. That being said, I'm not a huge Stephen Harper fan and Jack Layton had some really interesting things to say.

I don't like the way Stephen Harper seems to make sweeping decisions and avoids any sort of accountability for his actions.

I liked some of the ideas that Jack had for government, like abolishing the Senate.

It was Elizabeth May's desire to have a more polite and professional atmosphere in the House of Commons. This would include the abolishment of smear campaigns.

(Here is where my vent comes in.)

As soon as an election was called there was a mad flurry of activity online. Especially amongst social networks. People began picking their sides and promoting their own agenda.

However, I was taken aback by the cruel and hateful stances people took against the Conservatives, specifically Stephen Harper. There were reports of the Conservatives hiring people and/or employing bots to search out any non-conservative blog, article, tweet, or Facebook status and hijack it. I personally saw numerous people resort to name calling: robot, dictator, evil, etc. I was personally attacked as being one of these alleged Conservative puppets when I encouraged people (especially young people) to get out and vote (a traditionally NON-Conservative demographic).

Looking back I find it rather ironic. Liberals often accuse Conservatives of being hateful (or at least discriminatory) of visible minorities. But this time around it was the liberals who were prejudiced and hateful in their speech & actions.

Fire Alarms SUCK!

2011-09-09T12:19:00.001-04:00

Okay, so maybe they don't totally suck. Yes they are there to give us a chance to escape in case of a fire. But you have to remember to change the batteries every 6 months.

But because my condo used to be an apartment building they need to inspect the units once a year to make sure they meet the fire code. This basically means checking to make sure your smoke alarm works. But it also means taking the day off work and waiting around all day for them to come to your unit. Usually I just use it as a day to catch up on some much needed video gaming.

Last night though the building fire alarm went off. Thankfully I hadn't quite gone to bed yet. Because if I had I probably wouldn't have heard it.

So I go in a dash. I wake up the wife and tell her whats happening. We both quickly throw on some clothes to go outside in. We grab the baby, her car seat, a diaper bag, a full bottle, and my wallet. But when we get out in the hallways the only thing we see are other tenants.

No smoke. No fire. Just people.

Thankfully the alarm had been turned off by this point. But what is going on?

When I heard the Super was in the basement looking into I went down to ask him because for some reason everyone else was just standing there wondering what to do. So I went down to ask the Super and he said he didn't know what happened. All he knows is that something tripped the alarm but there was no fire and none of the fire alarm switches had been pulled.

So after reaching my target heart we had fun feeding our hungry baby and then going to bed.

Join The Hunt

2011-09-09T12:18:00.001-04:00

So, I've been looking for something physical to do because I want to be able to be fit enough to play sports with my daughter when she's old enough. I don't want to be that father always telling his kid to slow down (well... until she starts learning to drive).

But I've been coming up dry. I was going to start going for walks before work but I never get there in time or I'm exhausted from not sleeping with my CPAP machine. Then I thought we could start going for walks as a family at night before my daughter goes to bed. Again, it just never seems to work out. Either we are out late at some one else's house or the routine of life just gets in the way.

The other day I was reading my buddies blog. You see my buddy Dave is into geocaching. It basically involves using GPS technology to find hidden treasures (caches). In fact, most of his blog posts have something related to it. He even incorporates it into business trips & vacations. But what I finally realized this time was that he often takes his wife, son, and dog with him.

It got me thinking (yeah... that's kinda dangerous), why don't I do that with my family? My wife loves road trips and used to like going hiking all the time. The best part is that it's goal oriented! I won't just be going for a walk for the sake of going for a walk. I'll be going for a walk to put another notch in my cache belt (not to be confused with a cash/money belt).

So after searching Best Buy, FutureShop, Canadian Tire, Sport Check, & Tiger Direct I found even the cheapest Garmin eTrex for $179 (+extra for maps). Umm, NO! Kijiji to the rescue! I found a step up from the basic Garmin eTrex model almost new for $60. It's been up for a couple weeks so I sent an email offering $50. (See below)

Let's hope I get it. Too bad buying size 15 hockey skates wasn't this easy!

Curried Honey Chicken Casserole

2011-09-01T15:34:00.000-04:00

Okay, so a friend is laid up for a few days and I offered to bring over some food show she wouldn't have to cook. However, she doesn't eat pork or beef and is lactose intolerant (even though she's a very tolerant person). So I figured I'd look up a chicken / rice dish. But they all seemed rather bland and I wanted to try something with the lean ground chicken I found at Food Basics recently ($10 for 4 lbs!!!).

So off to Google I went with my search recipe "ground chicken" rice -milk -cream. But for some reason all the recipes were for chicken breasts. But I found a cool recipe for a honey curry rice. So I took that and modified it to a salsa chicken casserole I knew of.

I'll let you know how it turns out:

1 tsp curry powder
1 tbsp mustard
2-3 tbsp honey
2 tbsp of olive oil
2 tsp of salt
2 tbsp of minced garlic
1 shredded carrot
3 onions finely chopped
2 tomatoes finely chopped
1/2 cup of salsa
2 cups of rice
4 cups of water
1 lb of lean ground chicken

-Cook onion & garlic on medium heat until soft.
-Add garlic, olive oil, honey, curry powder, & shredded carrot and stir for 1-2 mins on medium heat.
-Add water & salt and boil uncovered

-Cook lean ground chicken in a pan
-Drain pan then add 2 finely chopped onions and cook until soft
-Add oregano and montreal steak spice

-Combine rice & chicken mixtures into casserole dish
-Cover with 1/2 cup of salsa, finely chopped tomatoes, and bake at 375 F for 20 mins

The Illusion of Control

2011-08-11T15:31:00.000-04:00

Have you ever heard of the Serenity Prayer? It's popular amongst 12 step programs. It goes something along the lines of:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference

So often in life we find ourselves frustrated because life just isn't going the way we want it to go. Sometimes it just seems no matter how hard we work to control things they never seem to turn out just right. And that's the problem really.

Sure change is inevitable, but that doesn't mean we can control it. When you break it down. I mean REALLY break it down we can't control most things in life. You can't control the colour of skin you were born with or the language you were taught as a child. You couldn't control the continent or country you were born in or the type of family you were born into.

Parents raise their children, teaching them right from wrong, in hopes that they will "do what's right" (in other words: what they want). But in the end you have to give your children up and hope you raised them right.

Although we may try to, we can control what happens tomorrow. Meterologists try to predict the weather and investors try to predict the stock market but in the end it's really just a crap shoot. Try as hard as we can't control our bodies aging.

We certainly can't control so-called "Acts of God" where you get struck by lightning, your car is hit by a meteor, or your house is destroyed by a tornado.

In fact, I would argue the ONLY thing we CAN control is how we react to the world around us. We can't control how we got here. We can't control what happens next. All we can control are our own actions here and now.

Google Plus (& Minuses)

2011-07-29T10:14:00.001-04:00

So I've got a friend who works for Google and was able to get a Google+ invitation early on. It took about a week for it to actually work but once it did I was excited to get going. I LOVED the idea of circles. Facebook has the ability to group people acciording to how you know them. But it's a confsuing process.

Besides, I'm somewhat of a Google evangelist. I'm forever hearing stories about people losing all their contacts after flushing/losing their phone or losing documents or pictures due to hard drive failures. So I tell them, get a Gmail account and sync your phone with your contacts. That way if you lose your phone you still have all your contacts and by just changing your password can prevent whoever has your phone from accessing them. Or use Google Docs & Picasa to store your documents & photos. You can pick & choose who you want to share them with too!

So when I heard that G+ not only had circles but I can link it up to my other Google products it seemed like a happy marriage. Hopefully it's just a matter of time but it's not quite a Google paradise.

Circles
Pluses - Like I said before, G+ makes managing & organizing your friends easy. It suggests people who you already know and you just drag & drop them into the right circle. You can new circles or rename existing ones to account for virtually any group. Just like Facebook's "Friend Finder" you can import contacts from other email services like Yahoo or Hotmail. If you want to make a full break from FB you can export your friends to Yahoo and then connect Yahoo to your G+ account. It's a little convoluted. But it works (or so I'm told).
Minuses - It seemed like a no brainer to me that G+ would automatically (or at least give me the option) import my Gmail contacts. So now I need to find out which contacts it didn't find, export them from Gmail in a CSV, and then import them into G+. You also have to be careful you don't double up on people you have mutiple email addresses for. It's easy enough to correct (just open the circle, highlight the duplicates, and click delete). It's just a hassle.

Photos
Pluses - Google makes it really easy to manage your pics and who gets to see them. First off you can link up your Picasa account or photos from your mobile device. The best part is that by default no one can see them. You have to choose to share them with people.
Minuses - The mobile phone photo interface with the iPhone is sloppy. The photos don't automatically get uploaded to G+. Your "from your phone" album takes FOREVER to refresh. Perhaps this is just because they were in a rush to get the iPhone app out. It's easier to just update the app later on.

Stream
Pluses - Your feed isn't full of spam about Mafia Wars, Farmville, or other stupid social games. I also find that sharing links, video, & photos is really smooth.
Minuses - I don't like that a new comment makes a post jump to the top of your stream. So if you comment on a post of someone really popular (ie: Larry Page, CEO of Google) their posts will forever be at the top of your stream.

My final beef is that G+ connects with only a limited number of other Google products. I already gave the example of Gmail contacts. But seeing as your public profile acts as a sort of microblog it would make sense to be able to connect with Blogger. Or at least make work-arounds better.

Here is my G+ to Blogger hack:

Log into you Blogger account and set it up for 'email posting'

Log into Gmail contacts, add the address (give it an actual name like Blog) to a group, then export the group as a CSV file

Log into G+, click on the Circles button up top, then click Upload address book, and import the CSV file you just exported from Gmail.

Search for the address by name you saved it as and then drag & drop it into a new circle by itself called Blog.
When you want to post to your blog simply select that circle under posting options. It might ask you if you are sure you want to email the post to the person. Of course say yes. Now when it shows up on your blog it will be formatted like a post on your Google profile. But it works!

The major drawback to this is that when I did it on my iPhone (app & Safari) the post didn't go through to Blogger.

Read the original post at: http://thaword.blogspot.com/2011/07/google-plus-minuses.html

Incoming !!!

2011-05-27T09:55:00.000-04:00

The other day I was watching an episode of M*A*S*H* where B.J. Hunnicutt was pulling pranks. There was one part where got discovered but got the person to yell "AIR RAID!!!!!" and Frank Burns ran out of his tent screaming like a girl and fell into a pit filled with water.

Well being an expectant father (any day/week now) at times feels similar. Just like people in the middle of a war I walk around all day with that anxious feeling in my stomach telling me to be ready because any second now something could happen! Plus everyone keeps warning me. Saying things like "Your life is going change", "You're never going to sleep again", or "Your world is going to turn upside-down". It's akin to people running up to me yelling "AIR RAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID!"

Now the important way this ISN'T like a war is the fact that it's GREAT thing and I can't wait. Now anyone who knows me knows that I am probably one of the most laid back guys you'll ever meet. Not much really gets under my skin. Or at least not for very long. But hearing people say stuff like this over & over again is disconcerning.

Kind of like our wedding day. I was a little nervous but overall I was doing good. That is, until I got to the hall. People kept coming up to saying "Are you doing ok?", "Are you alright?". After at least 20 people in what felt like 5 minutes asked me if I was ok I was starting to doubt myself and wonder "Am I ok?". So when it came to get things underway and I was standing up at the front apparently I had that "deer in headlights" look in my eyes. It wasn't until Christine was standing right beside, took my hand and whispered "Are you ok?" that I was calm once again.

That's why I'm not nervous about the craziness of labour or worried about having my world & sleep schedule thrown into chaos. I know that through everything we will be doing it together and we'll be ok.

But in the meantime.........

INCOMINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG *dives for cover*

If You Build It...

2011-05-17T23:34:00.000-04:00

...well then it's built!

So those who know me know that I'm normally a bit of a procrastinator. But in the past few months, in getting ready for the baby I've gotten much better at tackling projects. The crib, dresser, shelf, & night stand all got brought up from the car quickly AND put together almost right away. PLUS, I painted the nursery without being nagged... er... gently reminded by the wife.

Now I needed to buy a new computer cart because we needed a different setup. You see the old computer desk was in what is now the nursery. So we had to get rid of it. When we got a refurbished computer a while ago I set it up on the counter of the breakfast nook attached to our kitchen. Friends of ours keep their Mac in the same spot & it works great for them.

However, computer work areas accumulate stuff. Add a huge tower and a printer and now we really don't have a breakfast nook at all. The problem reached it's breaking point with the baby on the way. We don't want wires hanging down and easy to grab by little hands.

But where to put it? We don't have room for a desk in our bedroom. And doing wireless keyboards, mice, & monitor would awkward expensive and just be one more hassle when it doesn't work right (which you KNOW is going to happen. Then genius struck: a computer cart! Of course I can't find any decent ones locally.

To The Cloud !!!
Away I went on the internet searching high & low for a cart that will hold everything (tower, printer, monitor, keyboard, & mouse), be portable, compact, & NOT cost a fortune. Eventually I found the Safco MUV adjustable height computer workstation.

Well it arrived today! I unpacked it and put it together (90%) when I got home in about 1 hour. All that's left is to put the shelves on the support beams. They will only be secured by double-sided sticky foam .. things (kinda cheap) so I want to make sure the shelves are EXACTLY centre. Which strikes me as odd. The whole thing is VERY sturdy. Then they go and cheap out on attaching 2 of the shelves? What would it cost to add a couple more drill holes and some bolts?

Oh well, here is the online ad & the (mostly) finished product:

Why church?

2011-05-06T12:17:00.000-04:00

A short time ago I asked my friends on Facebook "If you go to church, WHY do you go?". Most people got it right. You see church isn't about getting your spiritual time card stamped. At least it shouldn't be about that. It's about worshipping God and fellowshipping with other believers.

I call words like 'church', 'worship' & 'fellowship' Christianese because sometimes it seems like Christians speak a different language than the rest of the world.

Worship, when you break it down, means you are recognizing God's worth. For Christians this can be done many ways: studying the Bible, prayer, singing songs of praise, acts of love or obedience. It should be part of our everyday lives but especially important when we gather together.

Fellowship is simply what happens when a community of Christians gather together. It's social interaction and the building of relationships.

A Church is not a building. A Church is a group of Christians who gather together for worship & fellowship.

Recently I've been reading this book called 'Crazy Love' by Francis Chan. It's a great book that really tears away all the other junk we try to add on top of the Bible and reminds us that it is really about this crazy kind of love.

It has really got me to thinking about Sunday mornings. The more I think about it the less I see Sunday mornings reflecting the reasons why we are SUPPOSED to gather as a church.

Here is a break-down of how your average Sunday morning goes:
- Get your seat
- Announcements
- Prayer and singing hymns/worship songs
- Bible reading
- Sermon
- More singing of hymns/worship songs
- Some sort of coffee/tea social time

I just find way too much focus is put on the sermon. Preaching is good and it serves a purpose. But most Sunday mornings are structured to make it seem like the main purpose of being there.

To be truthful, preaching is a very ineffective way of teaching. It's usually 1-way communication with the preacher talking at/to people. What about all those people who don't learn just by listening? Many people need to write things down or read it to REALLY grasp it. The biggest problem is that the people in the pews/chairs all have different levels of knowledge. I call it the shotgun method. Because you just spray a wide shot of knowledge and hope that some of it took effect.

Besides, this isn't the example we see set by Jesus or the Apostles of the early church.

Jesus taught in parables so as to conceal the message from those who don't REALLY believe.
Today preachers make their sermons simple so that it's easy for everyone to understand.

The Apostles would share the salvation offered by Jesus in a public place.
Today we share the same message to people who come to us on Sunday morning.

The early church gathered together daily to eat and live life together.
Today we meet 1 or 2 times a week and complain that it takes up too much of our time.

The early church was known for how they showed love.
Today we are know being judgemental hypocrites.

I think it's time to change.

Found Tungsten Ring

2011-04-08T14:19:00.000-04:00

I'm hoping Google bot crawls my blog. In a downtown Toronto Green P parking garage across the street from St Michaels Hospital I found a black tungsten ring (picture to be added to the post later). Inside it has an inscription:

120808 (heart) VY

It also has heart inside a circle with a 2 beside it.

If it's yours then please leave a comment.

How I Save $$$ on my utilities

2011-03-31T11:41:00.001-04:00

After getting married my wife and I each had a cell phone but no home phone. It worked for the most part. We could always get in touch with our friends & family. Well, except when they were long distance. We had to do the old trick of call them, hang up, and have them call you back.

Plus, my wifes cell was with Bell Mobility and the bills were ridiculous! She had the absolutely cheapest plan we could find, made maybe 6 or 7 calls a month and about the same amount of texts and her bill vaired from $60 to upwards of $80. We needed to get rid of it!

Here is what we did:

We cancelled her cellphone with Bell (avg $70/mth)

We switched our Lite Plus cable internet with Cogeco (approx. $30/mth) to the basic analog cable tv package.

We then signed up for the Ultimate/Ultimate Cable plan with Distributel. We get unlimited DSL internet at about 5Mbps & a home phone with all the regular features. For an extra $10 we added unlimited long distance for Canada/US and $2 more to get the same plan on my cell phone. The package comes out to $75/mth ($65/mth for the 1st year).

With my cell phone @ Telus we upgraded to the iPhone 3G 8GB for $100 & a 3 year contract. We got the basic data plan with the My 5 Favs option ($55/mth).

The way long distance on the cell works with Distributel is they have a ton of access numbers. Your phone number is given access to the system. You call the access number for your area. After a quick moment you hear the dial tone. Then you dial the number you want you call without the 1. You will hear an automated voice say "Distributel" and then you will get connected to the call and hear the line ringing on the other end.

You will have to let your friends & family know that when they see Distributel on the ident-i-call that it's just you and not telemarketer. The biggest is hassle is having to remember phone numbers and dial them in manually.

My solution was the iPhone app IsaDial. It's meant for using calling cards because they also have access numbers. I programmed a few different access numbers as a 'profile'. When I want to make a call I launch IsaDial instead of Contacts. It asks me which profile I want to use. Then it takes me to my contacts. I choose the person and number I want to call. The program calls the access number, waits a few moments, and then dials the number I wanted.

So for the cost of one less cell phone we now have cable tv, high speed DSL internet, a home phone with unlimited long distance in US & Canada and a cell phone with the same plan. Sure it costed me $100 to upgrade to an iPhone. But my monthly plan was actully $10-15 cheaper per month on the iPhone. So the upgrade paid for itself after 10 months.

Give May a chance

2011-03-30T09:45:00.000-04:00

Ok, so it's been a while since my last post. And yes, I normally don't get up on my soapbox in relation to politics. But I think this is an issue that needs some attention. More accurately some reason.

The issue: Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada, has not been invited to the televised leadership debates that will happen as a result of the upcoming election.

The media consortium (CBC, Radio-Canada, CTV, Global and TVA) that host the debate based this decision on the fact that the Green party doesn't hold a single seat in the House of Commons.

However, in the 2008 election the same thing was true of the Green Party then. When the Canadian public spoke up to say the Green Party should be included, Prime Minister Stephen Harper threatened to not attend the debate. Eventually the media consortium, and Stephen Harper, succumed to public pressure and Elizabeth May was permitted to attend.

By the end of the debate she was the obvious winner. She gave strong solid answers to the questions posed while poking holes in the other leaders credibility and policies.

In an effort of full disclosure I would describe myself as holding conservative right-wing ideals. That being said, I'm often embarrassed by the actions of our Conservative Prime Minister. He wants all the power and none of the accountability.

Personally, I think Elizabeth May should be included in the national leadership debates. She has a solid platform, answers direct questions with direct answers, and keeps the other leaders on their toes. Put all that aside though. This is a leadership debate for national parties. The criteria for admittance should be that you are the leader of a national party that has at least 1 seat in the House of Commons or has enough registered candidates to form a government if elected.

That's my 2 cents (approximately 3 cents US) *steps down from soapbox*

Dare To Love

2011-01-14T11:13:00.000-05:00

The past couple years my former church, Grace Community Church, has been organizing a couples retreat in Niagara Falls, ON. They have extended the offer to their daughter church in Milton, Village Community Church, and us to join them!

This years theme is Dare To Love. It's modelled after the book called The Love Dare used in the movie Fireproof and challeneges wives & husbands to love each other in real ways. The retreat starts February 4th at 6pm and finishes on Saturday February 5th at 4pm.

Packages
Each package includes access to the 2 main seminars & 2 optional breakout sessions (@ Fallsview), deluxe buffett breakfast for two, parking (@ Courtyard), and shuttle service between the two hotels, and a room at the Courtyard Marriott

$135 per couple - Basic Package - Room with 2 Queen sized beds
$155 per couple - King Package - Room with 1 King sized bed and a jacuzzi whirlpool tub
$175 per couple - Jr. Presidential Package - Room with 1 King sized bed, jacuzzi whirlpool tub, fireplace, and larger more luxurious room

Registration
The deadline is January 30th. Please register ASAP so the hotel can prepare for numbers. A $50 desposit will reserve a spot for you. Please make cheques payable to Grace Community Church. Babies are welcome in the sessions as long as they do not create a distraction.

Schedule
Friday, February 4th
2:00 PM - Early check-in at Courtyard for those attending 3:00 seminar (no shuttle service)
3:00 PM - Electives at the Fallsview
6:00 PM - Shuttle between Courtyard & Fallsview begin
7:00 PM - First General session at Fallsview

Saturday, February 5th
10:00 AM - Shuttles between Courtyard & Fallsview begin
11:00 AM - Ellectives at the Fallsview
NOON - Lunch break (many local restaurants to choose from)
2:00 PM - Final general session at Fallsview
3:45 pm - Shuttles between Fallsview and Courtyard begin

About Grace
Grace Community Church is an evangelical church. It was planted in 1998 by Grace Brethren Canada, a church planting organization created by the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. They planted the Village Community Church in Milton in 2006, Community of Hope in Surrey, BC in 2007, and soon Grasslands Church in Medicine Hat, AB in the fall of 2011.

Words Are Cheap

2011-01-13T08:06:00.000-05:00

So I've been toying with this idea for a piece for a while. The idea is that we are all hypocrites. Our word is worthless and actions speak louder than words. You can even see it in expressions like "a picture is worth a thousand words". Instead of celebrating the creativity of language shown by poets, authors, teachers, storytellers and comedians we treat actors, directors, and sports stars as the celebrities. The whole thing is a mirage, all image with no substance.

So here is a couple lines I threw down when the idea first came to mind:

Words Are Cheap:

Word is bond or so we say. Until circumstances get in the way.
They say one picture is worth a thousand words. And we watch TV shows
and movies with thousands of thousands of frames in high definition
widescreen.
So it's no wonder that words are cheap.
Movies are staffed, under production, and being marketed without a script.

I know it's still in the early stages. I thought maybe I would share how I go through the process of writing.

Truth

2010-12-08T09:58:00.000-05:00

No... this isn't another post in my fabled "I Believe" series. I say fabled because they must seem like a fable or myth since I've only written 2 so far. But this is just a poem I wrote in response to a piece I read by a person who thought the truth had to be black & white and they didn't understand how that can work in a world greys.

Deception is in perception,
Because it's all how you see it.

To see truth we must REMOVE the filters
And change our focus to reveal it.

The lie is that we live in a digital world
The truth is we are an analog of possibilities

It isn't right to use black & white
To determine wrong & right.

The truth remains true to itself
Rich, vibrant, & bright.

So be careful.

In this technicolor world don't be
Blinded by the light.

I Believe... in Truth

2010-11-09T17:21:00.000-05:00

John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

I understand that some people find Jesus/Christianity to be exclusive by claiming to be the only way to heaven. But each religion believes that it is right and by default makes nonbelievers wrong. For this reason, I think that saying 'all paths lead to God' is being intellectually dishonest/ignorant. That being said, at the opposite end of the spectrum we have people going around saying "Believe or die", which is just plain wrong.

The argument most people make is that it's a matter of perspective. That heaven/salvation/paradise is at the top of a hill and each religion is approaching the hill from a different angle. But when you compare the primary tenants of most religions you will see that we are really talking about different hills.

The problem is that truth has been hijacked. It's been hijacked by this concept of ME. It's definition has been twisted and perverted so that one can make ANYTHING true. The idea is that what I believe about God is true and what a Muslim believes about God is true and what a Jew believes about God is true... and so on and so on for all religions. But how can they all be true if they don't agree?

The answer is that we make truth relative. If truth is simply based upon your own perspective then we can all be right! We can all be true. But that's a LIE! Sure, truth looks different based upon your persepctive. But that doesn't mean truth IS different depending on your perspective. It means your perspective makes truth APPEAR to be different.

Have you ever gone back to a house or school from your childhood? Everything seems so much smaller than you remember it. The house or school didn't shrink from old age. You grew so your perspective changed.

Truth is true absolutely. We try to define and mould it with our own biased persepctives. If we want to try to have a clearer view of what is true then we need to do a couple things. The first thing we need to do is recognize our biases and let go of them. Like getting a new pair of glasses, we need to change the way we see the world as a whole.

Next we need to compare. We each have two eyes. Our brain takes the image from both eyes and blends them together to get a more focused view. When evaluating the truth we need to get as many different points of view about a single issue and compare them for similarities. That's why in court we take into account the testimony of 2 or 3 witnesses before accepting something as fact.

So truth is real and can be known, but it may not always be discernable. Because if God created all things (including time), then God exists outside of time. So how could my limited human brain living a linear life possibly fathom some of the truths known by God, who isn't limited by time or mind?

Finally...

2010-10-01T17:54:00.000-04:00

I got a new monitor (& keyboard) for our NEW (refurbished) HP Tower. It's been out of commission for a while. And it always seemed like more important / expensive things came first.

You know, things like weddings, wedding presents, car repairs, buying a new car, and a summer vacation. Since I had some free time after work today I grabbed a monitor (& keyboard) hooked it up and booted up the HP.

It's working GREAT! Much faster than this piece of junk IBM ThinkPad I'm typing on right now. The ONLY reason I'm still using it as I type is because of the oodles & oodles of updates the HP is currently enduring.

OH! Looks like a few just finished up. Time to reboot and then update the iPods. w00t w00t

I Believe ... in God

2010-09-15T19:20:00.002-04:00

I believe in God.

But I was once an atheist. Well, technically, I was an agnostic with atheistic tendencies. What I mean by agnostic, is that I believed there was no way to know for sure whether or not a god, goddess, gods, or goddesses exist. So I figured, if there is no way to know for certain, that the odds were slightly in my favour for not believing.

As my life went on that paradigm was consistently challenged by the reality I was facing. The first crack in the foundation was the lack of purpose, and not just my own. If there was no God then there was no purpose to my life, your life, or anything. As I followed the logical implications of atheism, to things like purpose and morality, life became very depressing. If life lacks purpose then why bother continuing to exist Needless to say, I sunk into a heavy depression about this time.

However, I refused believe that the universe was some giant cosmic mistake. It didn't feel right and it didn't match with what I saw in the world. I saw purpose and design behind everything I saw. First with technology like computers, cars, and bridges. Then I saw it with society in things like families. Finally I saw it with nature in things like seasons, the food chain, and the movement of planets and stars. Sure there is disorder, chaos, death, and suffering in the world. But beneath the surface there is large scale order and design.

So I realized, if the world was created with a purpose and design, then perhaps so do I. And if I was created with a purpose and design, then I have a creator: God.

Word of the day...

2010-09-15T19:18:00.000-04:00

CHRSITIANOPHOBE

Christian - A word that describes a person who believes in the deity and ascribes to the teachings of the CHRIST (of Latin Christus or Greek Christos origin. Originally translated from Hebrew Messiah or Mashia meaning 'annointed').

PHOBE - A suffix from of the word PHOBIA of Greek origin. Meaning a person who suffers a specific persistent, abnormal, and/or irrational fear of the preceding word.

So a Christianophobe is a person with an irrational fear or aversion to Christians.

National Poetry Month

2010-09-15T19:17:00.000-04:00

For the uninformed, April is National Poetry Month. The idea being that

First up we have the old stoggy crew,
Focused on dictating to me & you.

But even before keyboards, pens, quills, and chisels we had a voice.

Would the real poets please stand up?

Now we have those who use the spoken word,
To espouse on things they've lived & heard.

But before rants, activisim, politics, and religion we had words.

Would the real poets please stand up?

It doesn't matter if you write on pages or rock stages,
Self-expression is beyond genres and outlasts the ages.

Now they call it freedom of speech, but watch what you say.

Would the real poets please stand up?

Please! Stand up and fight haters and their foul nonsense,
Like my man Made Wade who's stomping out ignorance.

But just because you have an opposing view
Doesn't mean I need to or ever hated on you.

Enough of this junk about who is or isn't legit.
Let's just battle, shake hands, and get over it.

I Believe

2010-09-02T16:58:00.001-04:00

I'm thinking of starting a new series called "I Believe". In my last post on Atheism I got ALOT of response. But there was some confusion over terms and definitions. I think this is due to the fact that my beliefs don't fit into the mold most people think of a Christian. So, I figured it would be a good idea to explain myself. To explain what I believe and why. For that reason I will NOT be allowing comments on these posts.

This isn't an attempt to bury my head in the sand while blasting my views from the soapbox. I love honest discussion. But in an honest and fruitful discussion you need to understand where the other person is coming from. And that what this series is about. Letting you know where I'm coming from. Agree, disagree, whatever. I just don't want this to become some sort of horrendous debate.

That being said, I may say some things that come across mean-hearted or antagonistic. Please don't take it that way. I'm just saying what's on my heart and mind. I'm not trying to attack you personally or the views you hold to be true. I'm simply going to be explaining why I don't hold them to be true.

Atheism is a religion

2010-08-27T08:31:00.000-04:00

The other day a friend on Facebook posted an article from the Ottawa Citizen titled "Atheists have a place in discussions on faith". The article basically says that atheists are unfairly being excluded from discussions of faith despite the fact that they would have unique perspectives on the issues at hand.

The author contradicts himself. In one paragraph he encourages "a messy process that may at times appear to engender disrespect" and then in the next paragraph says that "The idea that atheists are arrogant or shrill needs to be put into some perspective", implying that atheists are unfairly portrayed as screaming idiots. Which is it? Do you want be invited to a panel only to say everyone else on the panel is wrong? Or do you want to engage in discussion with other faiths by offering your own unique perspective?

Personally I would welcome an honest and professional discussion on faith by inviting atheists along because, whether atheists like it or not, Atheism is a religion. But what is religion? Simply put, religion is a set of beliefs (world-view) origin, nature, and purpose of the universe. Isn't that what Atheism is? It's a belief that the universe began with a big bang from which all things evolved, the universe changes over time through undirected processes like natural selection and survival of the fittest, and since the universe is just a gigantic accident then there is no purpose.

As such, atheism should be subject to the same rules as other religions. If they want to teach their religious views then they are free to do it in a school not subsidized by tax dollars. Teachers in public schools will be forbidden to teach atheistic material in the science, math, or other classrooms other than a religion class. They can form atheist organizations and get tax deductions for making donations just like any other church organization.

Perhaps then, they will think twice before claiming that Intelligent Design isn't real science just because the objective, observable, and repeatable experiments have metaphysical implications. At least I hope it would. Because let's face it, a belief in a lack of a metaphysical existence still has metaphysical implications.

The Ultimate Gadget Holster

2010-08-21T23:43:00.000-04:00

So anyone who knows me knows I'm a bit of a geek. Ok ok, a BIG geek. Like any good geek I like gadgets.

But you can only carry around so much stuff in your pockets. Even your average guy has a wallet, a cellphone, a set of keys, and prolly some change. If you have a wife or girlfriend there is a whole extra set. I know, women are supposed to carry purses. But it's a lie. They buy them, put stuff in them, but make their boyfriends & husbands carry them.

So I've been trying to convince my wife for some time now that I need something to carry all this stuff. Not a purse but a man bag. But no matter where I go I can't find anything that would work. It's either a purse or a cheesy looking hip pouch or a mini backpack that doesn't fit over my shoulder. But finally I've found something that will not only work but looks kinda cool too!

It's called a tek holster. A leather holster that fits over your shoulder like a 80's TV cop but pouches that attach to it that fit cameras, phones, or iPods instead.

You buy the holster itself and then you get the attachments

It's perfect for every occupation

Check it out for yourself at www.tekholster.com. There are fancier more urban ones out there or knockoffs on geek sites. But I like these the best. Girls will even like'em cuz they can get them in pink.

Am I A Racist?

2010-06-23T09:21:00.015-04:00

To answer the question plainly: I'd like to hope not. I certainly try not to be. I'm far from perfect and I'm positively certain I've said and done things that are racist. But the important part is that I make efforts to avoid doing the same in the future.

I find that most racism is rooted in ignorance. The more you know about a person or group of persons the less likely you are to make ill informed generalizations about them. Or worse, believe and act on them. Personally, I like learning about different cultures and religions. It's helps me to understand people better and the motives behind their actions and words.

I think we've all fallen short of being understanding and sensitive to each others cultures, religions, and skin colours. I've even experienced reverse racism, where people who have had to endure racism turn around and do the exact same thing to me. In the spoken word scene I've seen ALOT of this reverse hatred. Women who've been abused by a man hating on ALL men. Visual minorities who are marginalized by society that gives preferential treatment to white males then hating on ALL white males. And then people who have been unjustly treated by a person in some form of authority now hating on ALL authority figures.

"The Man" is a term used to describe all those groups. Now, AS a white male, I don't ,can't, and have no way to fully understand depth to which being helplessly raped by a man I trust, being deemed a secondary citizen just because of my sex, religion, or skin colour, or being traded, hated, & killed because of the colour of my skin would affect someone. But just because I fit the "general description" of the person(s) who violated you doesn't give you the right to violate or hate on me. I did what any other slammer would do, I wrote a spoken word piece about it called Punctuated Hate For The Man.

But even still some people get it twisted. Calling people racist when they don't seem to even know what the word means. Just making sweeping generalizations because the person fits the general description of "the man". Calling someone racist for speaking out AGAINST ignorance. Saying someone is trying to control them by simply voicing their opinion. Calling somone ignorant of slavery while acting as if it has only ever happened to black people. Saying they are being oppressed, assaulted, and violated just because it happens to be a white person who disagrees with them. Who is REALLY the racist?

If voicing your disagreement with someones views in a private respectful way and then being motivated by those views to take a stand against ignorance makes me a racist, then please PLEASE call me one too and I will wear the title proudly.

Flag Etiquette

2010-06-17T10:04:00.006-04:00

"World Cup Flags" Haiku

Car window flags plus
Ignorant soccer fans
Poor flag ettiquette

I'll admit I'm not much of a soccer (football) fan. It involves lots of running (which I'm OBVIOUSLY not into) and is largely a scoreless game. In fact, I'm not much into sports on a whole. I do enjoy watching football (live or televised, NFL or CFL) and hockey (as long as I'm actually THERE), but I don't schedule my life around it nor do I make it a priority.

But I do understand the passion many fans have for their teams. Sometimes to an extreme, like football fans in December painting letters on their torso while attending an outdoor game. So when it comes a competition like World Cup soccer the emotions are even higher. Not only are they excited about their team, but now their national pride is on the line too.

Let's face it, the World Cup is truly a global event, with so many countries competing and watching. It's understandable that World Cup is a big deal to many Canadians since we are a very multicultural society. People are changing their lives so they can watch their favourite games. The city has changed the liqour laws to accommodate fans. I've seen many people take time off work, come in early, & stay late so they can watch a game. My wife, who works in child care, sees entire families wearing the jersey of their favourite team and/or country of origin/heritage. Look around any parking lot these days and you would think we are being invaded by foreign dignitaries. What with all the flags on peoples cars.

But here is my problem, there is a proper etiquette when it comes to flying flags in Canada. In fact, many countries make flag etiquette a law. The basic rules are that if you want to fly the flag of another country you must also fly the flag of the country you are in and fly it in a position of honour (highest or on the left).

It's a simple thing to do & most Canadians are proud to fly their flag. I know this because every Canada Day I see the Canadian car flags all over the place. So what does it take to pull it out a little early? Or buy one from the guy selling them out of the back of his van at the side of the road or in the parking lot? Especially when we've already spent so much on jerseys, parties, drinks, and even time off from work.

Now this is just etiquette. There is no flag law in Canada. Even in the U.S., where flag etiquette IS the law, there is no penalty for failure to comply with it. Demanding or forcing people to abide by it would be both silly and unconstitutional (violating the right to free speech). But it really just boils down to a matter of respect that requires a bare minimum of effort and cost.

So family, friends, & soccer fans,
If you're flying the flag of another country please also fly the Canadian flag.
Because, let's face it, being polite is the Canadian thing to do!

Anything Goes, Came, & Went

2010-05-18T14:37:00.005-04:00

So this past Saturday I went to the Toronto Poetry Slam (TPS) for a change. It's not often I can make it down because it goes late into the night, then I still have to drive home afterward, and then try to wake up for church the next day.

But I like making it out for the Anything Goes Slam. It gives me a chance to do some covers which I have memorized a little bit better than my own stuff. That and you never know what to expect. In years past there has full frontal male nudity, chicken suits, and a slam within a slam. Not to mention some AWESOME covers!

The day of, I wasn't sure we'd actually go. My wife felt a cold coming on Friday night and by Saturday it was full fledged. But being a truly loving wife, who knew how long I've wanting to go to TPS, she went anyway.

We met up with my brother-in-law before hand. He lives a stones throw from Kipling station. So we met up, went out for dinner, then took the subway downtown. He's a maintenance engineer for a large building downtown. So he took us in for a tour. I would be LOST amongst the hundreds of pipes, valves, & gauges. The really cool part was when he took us up to the rooftop. AWESOME view!

We were @ the Drake supremely early. But we bumped into people as they were heading in to set up. So it gave me a chance to introduce my wife & her brother to Jillian Christmas & Dave Silverberg. We didn't realize there was a lineup going on inside until we went inside 10 minutes before the doors were supposed to open. So we barely got chairs to sit on (evil, EVIL, fold-up wooden chairs). I'd love to just bring my own camping chair sometime! LOL

So I signed up early and I was a little bummed and slightly relieved at the same time. I was bummed because I had hoped to see more familiar poets. However, I was slightly relieved because I thought this would mean easier to get to the 2nd round. Boy was I fooled.

I think I was 3rd or 4th last. Silverberg, Crouton and maybe someone else went after me. I had been planning to do a couple Old School Hip Hop covers the 1st 2 rounds. And if a miracle happened and I made it to the 3rd round I was going to drop my Peace piece. But as it turns out the judges hip hopped out by the time I took the stage. There was this animated rapper from the M dot who did alright and then there was Tripp's trippy... I don't know what it was. But it seemed like it was supposed to be hip hop. My downfall was I don't have breath control. And you need it to pull of Young MC. I prolly should have led with my 2nd round option, Krs-One's By All Means Neccesary. Oh well.

The feature was very talented. But it felt... a lil awkward. Almost like her style isn't an exact fit for a slam. Especially the Anything Goes Slam. She was accompanied by a flautist (someone super dope on the flute). My problem was I kept hoping he'd start doing beat-boxing at the same time like that guy on Youtube, even during his 5 min solo of Lollipop.

Sadly, I didn't make it to the 2nd round. So since I really only wanted to hear 2 of 6 who made it and my wife wasn't feeling well I left during the intermission.

I'm always asking myself what my goal is in doing poetry slams. Am I trying to win for the money or the fame? Do I want to get a feature slot someday? Do I want to get published? Even self-published? Is it just anexcuse to get out of the house once or twice a month? Is it because I get to rub shoulders with other creative people? Or is it because I just like writing and sharing what I write with others?

God only REALLY knows.

But this Thursday I have the Burlington Poetry Slam at the Black Bull Pub (Guelph Line jus North of the 403/QEW) at 8pm. Extra special because it is my last and final chance to qualify for the Burlington Slam Team going to Ottawa for nationals in October (again... is this something I want and can dedicate to?).

Then, the following Friday night a friend from church hosts a coffee house @ her house (parents house really) and I'm going to introduce the normally musical open mic to some sopken word. We'll see how it goes. because if I really want to keep doing this spoken word thing... it's going to need to be more local if I want to see it bloom while being a good family man at the same time.

Hearts

2010-03-08T09:20:00.007-05:00

This poem is dedicated to a friend who has recently had their heart broken.

Hearts are chunks of perfect beauty we all carry within us. These little sparks are proof positive of a blissful joy beyond understanding. So powerful it trancends our earthly senses and points to a metaphyscial reality that rings true in our souls. Though unseen, we do catch glimpeses of it's effects in our lives.

Like a new born baby, young hearts have a pure glow to them you can actually smell. They exude syrupyness without leaving that sickly sweet sting on your tongue. A naive innocence so absolute we pass laws to make destroying such a wonderous thing the most heinous crime.

But hearts are made to be broken. Like any good thing they must come to an end. Fixing a broken heart is a dirty job to be sure. It can seem impossibly daunting when you see the countless twisted shards strewn across the floor like shrapnel. Your hands are sure to get bloody with the sharp edges of raw emotions cutting into your fingers. You'll suffer setbacks of missing pieces. Even when you finally finish the puzzle and the pieces back together you'll see veins running through a once clear and seamless surface like cancerous fingers gripping your heart and refusing to let go.

Here is the part where so many of us go wrong. In the name of safety and a misled effort to avoid the same tragedy again we lock our heart away in a dungeon. Caged up like a criminal, as if to say it was at fault. Too open, too accepting, too trusting. Instead what we should do is cast open the doors and let the light shine through us.

Sure it won't shine the same. But that simple shimmer is replaced by a full spectrum of hues and brightness. Those white veins turn into twisiting pillars of light. Tiny inflections in them make the light dance in new and wonderous ways.

Hearts are made to be broken.

Oh No Canada!

2010-03-05T11:14:00.004-05:00

In the throne speech of March 3rd, 2010 the government said "Our Government will also ask Parliament to examine the original gender-neutral English wording of the national anthem."

I'm sorry. What? Yes folks, apparently our National Anthem is sexist by using the phrase "in all thy sons command." Is this really a priority? Even for extremist femenists, they must have more pressing issues at hand? Like maybe, equal pay for women doing the same job as a man? No, we need to bastardize our National Anthem first!

To me, it's an Old English word similar to the other ones used in the song that can in essence mean "sons & daughters". Or perhaps, it's because the song was written at the turn of the previous century when it was our sons we commanded into battle. But the government claims that the original version was gender neutral ("thou dost in us command").

To me it looks like the government didn't read their own website. O Canada was originally written and composed in French, and subsequently translated into English, with entirely different lyrics aside from the title. Numerous variations of translations followed. Our current national anthem is based upon a poem by the Honourable Robert Stanley Weir. The poem had 4 main stanzas (or verses) and a refrain. It's the 1st main stanza upon which our national anthem was built

O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love thou dost in us command.
We see thee rising fair, dear land,
The True North, strong and free;
And stand on guard, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.

But if we are going to revisit the lyrics we should look at ALL of them. The first thing we'll have to get rid of is the line about "native land" seeing as we stole most of it from them. Next would be the line about God. Because if our children can't talk to God in schools (public prayer) then we shouldn't talk about God. And calling ourselves the "True North" might offend other Northern nations like Russia & the Netherlands. And speaking of freedom would be unfair and innacurate when refering to prisoners. Finally, we need to modernize the language. Lose the 'thee''s and 'thou''s for something like "Yo Canada."

We'll be left with nothing but glowing hearts guarding nothing but our political correctness, and perhaps hockey. Whichs make me wonder, aside from hockey games, when do most Canadians attempt to even hum along (since we long ago forgot the words when they made it 1/2 in french or we finished high school)? At this point I think most Canadians are more familiar with the Hockey Night In Canada theme song. Of course, they screwed with that too.

Which is just more proof that if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Oh when the Saints...

2010-02-08T09:00:00.003-05:00

So last night I watched the Superbowl. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a sports guy. I'd LOVE to spend my Sundays lounging around watching football. It's just not that important to me. I do on occassion like to watch a hockey game (OHL) or football game (CFL) if I'm there in person.

The one major exception to this rule is of course the Superbowl. Mainly because it's usually the PERFECT excuse for a guys night out. I've been to some odd parties before. LOL like the time I had been talking to this girl from Hamilton over the internet. She invited me to the Superbowl party put on by her church. I dragged my buddy Mark with me and won a football with a built in pump (which I still have BTW).

Now my buddy Mark is the sports nut or 'Commish' as he likes to be called by his fanatsy football cohorts. So I can usually count on him planning some sort of Superbowl party. Well this new year has been crazy busy so we never wound up connecting in time to figure out what the plan was. So this Sunday my wife made chilli in the slow cooker and I was blessed with an afternoon of pre-game analysis and the game itself.

I was excited because this year I had an actual favourite. I had been rooting for the Saints since the beginning of the season. After all they had suffered from as a result of hurricane Katrina both the city and the team had to rebuild from the ground up. It seemed like, for the team at least, this was their chance to rise up.

Everytime people asked who I was pulling for through the season I'd say "I'm a Titans fan (don't ask why.. I just am) but I'd really like to see the Saints go all the way. Most often I got chuckles. Then something along the lines of "they are a good team. there are just so many BETTER teams. they'll never make it.

So when I heard that they finally made it to the big show I was excited, momentarily. I saw momentarily because i then heard they were up against Peyton Manning & the Colts. A formidable team to say the least.

In the end, I like how Coach from NBC worded it "My head says the Colts, but my heart says the Saints" That's what it came down to... a game of heart. the Colts were strong. But they played a typical football game straegy figuring tried & true would get them through. But the Saints had heart. They didn't have anything to lose. They have already made it this far. So they played a riskier game. Sure it cost them a few penalties (whether from nerves or being risky I'm not sure) but it also landed them a few big plays.

Like when they went for 4th & goal. If they made it GREAT... if they didn't (& they didn't) then the Colts have really bad field position on turn over. Or the interception for a touchdown. Or going for the 2 point conversion. New Orleans made big plays and made them count.

So call me a bandwagoner or call me a sports noob... but just be sure to remember I was right:

GO SAINTS GO !!!

Update

2010-02-03T14:33:00.002-05:00

I've had other blogs in the past that I used for venting and posting updates on my life. I never really updated them on a regular basis (not that I post here very often). Now with Facebook I find that blog posts, emails, and the such are falling by the wayside.

So here is where I'm at...

I know I have some good solid pieces so far. I just need to memorize them so I can start 'performing' them. My problem is that I suck at setting time aside to practice. I don't want to practice where anyone can actually hear or see me. And when I do I feel like a total knob. So until I get in some SERIOUS practice I don't see myself placing much better at poetry slams.

I REALLY want to put out a chapbook. I don't really care if I'm 'ready for it' as a writer. I think it will (at the very least) give me credibility in my own mind as a writer. As of right now I'm looking for an artist / graphic artist. I had someone lined up who wanted to do it for free! But they never got back to me.

Writers block. It's weird because I have lots of things I have ideas about or opinions on but when I try to write the thoughts just can't come together. I think I might just have to start writing random posts on here about whatever is going on in my mind because writing is writing.

So I will definitely....most likely....probably....maybe....possibly be posting here more often. Maybe I'll start tomorrow?

CALLING ALL GEEKS: Remote Help

2010-01-29T20:55:00.003-05:00

Okay geeks, I need your help.

Here is the deal:
My mom wants me to have remote access to her computer so I don't have to drive 2 hours every time she has a problem. I thought while I was at it I'd set it up on my sisters computer (same router) too.

I set it up using RealVNC for remote connections and dnydns.com to broadcast the IP address of the router.

The problem is I can make it work with 1 computer (1 server & 1 dns account) but with 2 computers acting as VNC servers listening on different ports, broadcasting IP on 2 different DNS accounts it won't work for either of them.

Is there any way I can get both computers to accept VNC remote connections?

P.S. All machines are running XP

Now Serving...

2009-12-22T10:44:00.002-05:00

So I've missed a few days of my challenge. But I'm not giving up. I'll admit that I'm struggling to feel inspired. However, I'm going to continue to press on.

Yesterday

Like an old black & white family photo
Like an over-used ink cartridge
Like a high school t-shirt
Like a well worn favourite vinyl record
Like a 2nd hand Barney video cassette
Like acid washed jeans from the 80's
Like the last scene of an epic movie
Like using a tea bag the second time
Like the hood of an old forgotten Chevy
Like a black shirt after 50 washes
Like a Michael Jordan jump shot
Like prayers after September 11th
Like the faith of most my friends
Like remembering a dream the next day

...it is fading.

Stupid is stupid does

2009-12-16T08:13:00.003-05:00

Bike thief get 30 months

So this morning I was browsing through Google News and came across this article in the Toronto Star. Apparently this man, possibly one of Toronto's most notorious bike thiefs, was charged and got 30 months. However, there are a number of finer points that make me wanna scream WTF???

This man paid people money or crack cocaine to steal bikes for him. So he created (or at least encourage) other criminal elements into society other than his own.

Over 3,000 bicycles, believed to have been stolen, were found in his possesion. Owners have claimed almost 600 of them. However, he was only charged with 58 to keep the case manageable and only wound up pleading guilty to 10 counts of possession of stolen property under $5,000.

I'm sorry, but that's pathetic. He should have been charged with conspiracy and then charged with theft as well as possesion.

Ha... Possession. That's another funny one. Along with the thousands of bikes found in his possession police also found 7 Kg of marijuana and several ounces of cocaine. You may not be aware of this but that is a FAR cry from "personal use". He SHOULD have been charged with possession with the intent to sell.

All this and the man is (to quote his lawyer) "understandably frustrated by how long the process has taken" for charges that were laid in July 2008. 1 1/2 years? In Canada? That's a FAST trial.

I think the REAL kicker is the fact that this man isn't even a Canadian citizen. According to his lawyer, this fact was taken into consideration during sentencing. Only one problem, it was taken into consideration so as NOT to affect his immigration status.

WHAT ?!?!?! So the system bends over backwards for a criminal who isn't even a Canadian citizen while others who have lived here their whole lives get racked over the coals?

I'll admit that I'm in favour stronger and harsher punishments for criminals. And that was what initially got under my skin about this article. But what caused to blog about it was that on top of being a gross miscarriage of justice, this sentence essentially rewards criminals from other countries. We're basically telling criminals to come Canada and we will let you off easy AND let you stay just because you're NOT Canadian.

It's like Forrest Gump said "Stupid is stupid does". And the Canadian legal system in this case has plain done stupid.

Another Monday Missed

2009-12-15T15:45:00.001-05:00

Although my thoughts
Blend together, I'm able to
Concentrate on the
Dialogue written on the page.
Each rhyme is
Frozen in time.
Giving rise to the
Hope that when finally
It's my turn, I'll
Just let the mic burn.
Killing all the
Lame MC's with flames.
Making sure that
Never before
Or ever again you
Put the emphasis on
Quality over quantity.
Rather, you
Should reveal the
Truth of the matter and
Unfurl your
Verbs from nouns.
When will you end those
Xenophobic ways?
Your zen is
Zeal of yore.

December 11th

2009-12-11T16:11:00.007-05:00

In Gaelic my name means little king. Though I am ANYTHING but little I was once a king. For a few short years I had my very own kingdom. I was the lord of the night.

I'd like to think I was a good and righteous king. Probably because I didn't feel like royalty at the time. I felt more like a wandering vagabond on a spiritual pilgrimage to a place I hadn't yet found. So for a time I remained.

My favourite part of being king was to tour the land. I would aimlessly visit every acre and wood, every hamlet and rampart, every port and bridge.

Each evening I would stroll by trees and homes. In the silence of the night I could the heart of the land speak to me. It would speak lovingly of how it spent the day. How children ran and played among its fields. How farmers would sing praises of the earth while they tended to their fields as long as the sun shone. How most people went about their daily business unaware of the beauty that surrounded them.

These stories weaved their way into the pattern of my heart. Into my heart where I now keep those memories safe. It was those stories that made me love my kingdom and truly desire the best for it.

There can be great peace found in quiet reflective solitude. For some it's meditation upon enlightenment. For others it's prayer to the divine. For others it means journaling the journey of their spirit, heart, and soul manafested in a physical life. For me it was the silent reflection found during strolls through the park alone at night. The time when, myself and all of creation, were quiet enough to hear the soft gentle whisper of the creator.

I may no longer be a king, but I still feel royal. I may not always have God's voice in my ear, but I will forever know what it sounds like. I may no longer be able to enjoy the quite stillness of midnight treks through the park, but the power of their memory lives on.

December 10th - #8

2009-12-10T21:58:00.003-05:00

Image by Jennifer Lauck

Tonight I'm gonna kill the devil. That's right. You heard me. I'm
going to cut him down where he stands.

No more of this cat & mouse game of running around in circles.

But if I'm really going to do it it's going to mean some sacrifice.
It's going to cost me. BIG

You see, I need to give up everything. No more doing what I want to
do just because I want to. Whenever I want to.

It's all or nothing. It's victory by all means necessary.

So I'd suggest you take some serious cover.

Cuz it's war

December 9th - Oops

2009-12-09T22:05:00.003-05:00

So I missed my first day of the challenge yesterday. The today I found myself in the crunch again. So, today is Haiku day.

Haiku #3

Excavating bones
Like finding lifes purpose means
Digging for the truth

Haiku #4

One's gone forever
The other is yet to come
So start living now

#5 - Love Professed

2009-12-07T11:25:00.009-05:00

A sea is storming inside of me.

Rather than the flutter of butterfly wings,
My stomach is more like a cacophony of seagulls.

My heart is pounding against my chest
With the irregular beat
Of wings upon wings,
Of birds upon birds,
Endlessly buffeting against each other.

The waves are crashing all around me.

You see I had a plan
And before that plan I had a plan.
Plans with specific steps to take,
Critical decisions to make,
And a map with markings to follow.

I had a plan a and a plan b,
But now I see they're pointless.
Like trying to nail jello to the wall
They fall apart.

I'm surrounded by an endless range
Of white capped mountainous waves.

My attempts to control a world with you in it are brushed aside,
As if to fate my plans, my master blueprints, were mere dust in the wind.
So I embrace it.

I open my sails to the full force gale winds of the perfect storm.
The precious cargo of my love MUST reach it's destination at port.
So I risk it.

The deafening roar
Of crashing waves,
Pouring rain,
And creaking wood
Fill my ears.

Then,
Like a brilliant diamond in the sand
Hope shines through the darkness.

LIGHT!

A lighthouse.
OUR lighthouse.
Warning me of the rocky beaches that surround you.
Yet calling me, beckoning me, to your safe harbour.

Alas,
With the calming lap of the water against my hull to steady my heart,
With the solid shore beneath my feet to steady my soul,
I have the resolve

To pull out the ring,
Get down on one knee,
And offer you my love.

Number... I lost count already?

2009-12-04T21:57:00.004-05:00

Frozen.
No eyes... no mouth... no face...
Yet it mocks me, taunts me, to do my worst.
So why am I gripped by fear by the mere presence of this faceless monster?
It's not as if one mistake will forever be marked in stone.
But it's blank emotionless stare wears me down.

After an eternity of seconds I reach for my sword.
Mercilessly I swing full force at my foe.
I stand back for a moment to admire the damage I had dealt.
But just a moment, nothing more.

I dare not give the fear a foothold. So I twirl about in a mad dance. A blurry flurry of slashes, parries, and thrusts. Each time the blade finding its mark. With the enemy mortally wounded I finish him with one final stab.

Slowly I take in the marvel of my work. The madness of my movements seems to have had a greater plan. The slices in his flesh seem to form runes of strange design and his blood, black as ink, spells out the words of...

a poem.

December Poem #3 - Respect Due

2009-12-03T08:32:00.003-05:00

I'm first again? huh... wuhtevea man.

I'm always coming in first because I refuse to be last.
Respecting who came before by giving daps to the past.

But nowadays seems every time I throw down on the stage,
Some new sucka steps up to read rhymes off the page.

I ain't hating though, cuz I do that too.
But I can tell from his swagger this kid is a fool.

Talkin 'bout how he's got a new style. You know what you sound like?
KRS Cool J Biggie Tupac One. Yelling on the mic like your name is Run.

You talk a big game bout being a hardcore rhymer,
But can't quote the teacher or the philosopher.

You might think very deeply of yourself, but I think not.
Remedial class is in session because you missed a spot.

Now here's a little story I got to tell,
About 3 bad brothers you need to know well.

It all started with sucker mc's trying to walk this way.
But this Run's house son, not Kid 'N Plays.

Ladies love this next brother who claims to be hard,
See you gotta be bigger & deffer on Farmers Boulevard.

Now, last but not least, this man ain't no joke.
Rakim is paid in full with rhymes that smoke.

Now you ain't gotta like me. I don't like you.
But one thing is for sure:
Respect due.

2009-12-02T21:38:00.003-05:00

It's that time again. When the cold bites at my fingers and toes. I get nothing but blank stares as I light a smoke to at least fill my breath with some warmth. I'll make it.

In a few months though, I'll be cursing my own name. Why didn't I take the road South? Or why did I leave it all behind? These and a million other doubt will keep my company under the highway as I wrap the blanket of bourbon around my body snugly. I'll make it.

Ten years now these streets have been my home. Day in and day out they are all the same: struggling to hustle some dough. But eventually even an old soldier like me find himself struggling to keep up the fight. Don't worry about me. I'll make it.

It's being alone in the still of night that seems to take a part of your soul away with the break of each dawn. I might be a shell of what you knew. But at least I'm not wearing a mask like you. I'll make it.

It's getting dark now. I'm tired and ready to sleep. The scars on my arms and feet keep me warm. It as if I was 6 again, falling asleep in front of the fire.

And with that thought I drift off...

December Poem #1

2009-12-01T08:23:00.007-05:00

Fresh.
Freshly fallen.
Freshly fallen snow. It's like the majesty of heaven laid out before us. A carpet of whiteness so pure as if to declare the coming of royalty. But not the vain kings & queens of ages past. Ones who clothed themselves in the richness of burgandy and velvet.

No, this is the Prince of Love. And so, he brings the light of life. So brightly blinding the world it covers seems somehow dim and drab by comparison.

Freshly fallen snow. Like angels on high they fill the sky. Slowly they dance through the black night air with the grace and elegance of little ballarinas.
Each flake a masterpiece of beauty.
Each flake a different story.

Each flake.
Each flake falls.
Each flake falls to the ground. The stories build upon each other into epic adventures of sledding down hills and then hot chocolate with marshamllows. The beauty grows until it seems the angels are making themselves in the snow! Each flake falls to the ground perfectly like each stoke of a master artisans brush across canvas.

All this... in each flake of freshly fallen snow.

December Poetry Challenge

2009-12-01T08:10:00.003-05:00

So, a couple of my poet friends (Matthew & Alex) have put forth a challenge: to write something new for EVERY day of December and post it on their blogs.

Knowing it can only help me become a better writer I decided to accept the challenge based upon the proviso that I will be doing weekdays only.

Even that is quite scary. I'm not very good at making time for myself to write. but if my school years taught me anything... I either give up way too early... or the pressure makes me work better.

Please... PLEASE pray it's the latter.

What's The Point

2009-11-21T18:27:00.001-05:00

Enough! I've had it! I'm so sick of myself. I'm nothing but another hypocirtical bullshit poser. You think I'm crazy don't ya? Calling myself out like this... out in front of all of you. But I can't do it anymore. I can't pretend to be frustrated and upset when I really don't give a shit.

Kids are starving in Africa? But what are we going to do? What are we REALLY going to do? Let's hold a benefit concert that costs 2/3 of what we raise, give only until our charitable tax benefit maxes out, and buy food to send overseas that is stolen by war lords before it even reaches the people in need. It makes the most optimistic optimist want to stand up and scream What's the FUCKING point?

The points are not the point, poetry is the point.
Then it must be poetic justice how pointless life seems.

Maybe it's money. Will it set me free!
First off, money won't grow on a tree.

There's no such thing as a free lunch, honey.
Even if there was, the time it takes costs money.

What if lightnning strikes twice and you win the lottery?
You get a car and a house, with a yard, and a tree.
But lotto tickets cost a dollar, sometimes even two or three.

Taken from your paycheque is income tax. The cost to make a living.
When you die there's probate tax. That's right, a tax on your giving.

When you live your life just to make money,
I don't see how you can call it "making a living"
When you die it's gone and can't go with you,
All that effort waisted on houses, cars, or bling.

Maybe it's fame?

Sure! Let's get a call back for the pilot of a brand new prime time syndicated sitcom series.
Only to have our surreal life cancelled for low ratings during sweeps.

As we hold on to reality by a string let's wind it up tight and pluck our luck with a pick.
We'll snort coke up our nose to feel like the real thing.
But we can't beat the fact that peppy and positive thinking,
Won't make this next generation what it's cracked up to be.

While driving under the influence of the lies we crash into a wall.
Truth & innocense? There were in the back seat.
But they didn't die on the scene.
No, they died years ago
When you pulled the plug on life support & let it go.

Turn to the drink! Aye that's the rub! Go out for a pint of ale down at the pub.
Or maybe some whiskey? Scotch, Irish, Bourbon or Rye.
But sonner or later the ale will fail, and your kidney will die.

Lasting 40 days in the clinic is your goal,
You check yourself in to rehabilitate your soul.
But it's a revolving door instead of a one way street,
And you can't help but feel beat.

This is just poem. Words made with ink.
But I hope it makes you take time to stop & think...
What's the point?

Prayer For Peace

2009-11-21T18:26:00.001-05:00

Shalom

A traditional Jewish greeting
Which, in Hebrew, means peace or completeness
And for each of you here it's my deepest wish

For Jews use it as a greeting because it is was they want most.
To be free from war. The holy scriptures of Judaism: The Law & the Prophets chronicles a history of war, occupation, and exile.
Whether it was the Roman Empire occupying their homeland, persecution by Christians during the crusades or the genocide of the holocaust... they certainly have reason to desire it. So how do bombs and guns achieve it?

More than a desire or a wish it's a prayer. Prayers for peace ring out around the world but fall on deaf ears. Deafened by greed, ignorance, hate... worst of all.. indifference. Whether it's the war in Afghanistan, civil war in Somalia, the war on drugs, or gang wars.

The world knows little of what it means to live in peace.

Peace be with you

A traditional Christian greeting.
Used by Jesus himself to greet his disciples after raising from the dead.
Once again, more than a trite greeting it was a mission. In a time when professing to be a follower of Jesus meant you could be fed to lions or used as a human torch it would be easy to go on the attack. In a world of hate and jealously (especially amongst the relious elite) we were challenged to be agents of change. Like a lighthouse shining out to warn the ships on the sea Christians are called to be ambassadors of peace. When was the last time you spoke with a so-called Christian and you left with even a semblance of peace?

Whether it's being lonely in a room full of friends, living in poverty in a rich nation like Canada, or abused by the hands of man who should have been protecting you we rarely catch even a glimpse of peace in our lives, let alone experience it.

As-Salamu Alaykum

A traditional Muslim greeting
Which, in Arabic, means "peace be upon you"
We ALL struggle for peace. In fact, Mohammed himself said that the Greater Jihad is the inner struggle we face against ourselves. The fact that we struggle to what is right even when we know what it is.

Couldn't we all use a little more peace?

KRS-One once said that "whether peace by war or peace by peace the reality of peace is scary." I think he was right. Despite being our greatest hope and what we strive to achieve it's the last thing we DO.

Martin Luther King had a dream. The time has come to make it a reality. To put aside our tears and fears. Forgive the debt of vengance owed to you and instead be an ambassador of peace. Experience a little bit of heaven here & now.

So no matter how you say it: Shalom, As-Salamu Alaykum, or whatever... My prayer, for you and for me, is for peace.

I my secret addiction is...

2009-08-10T08:21:00.000-04:00

.. watching Big Brother with my wife.

Now, don't judge me! I never used to watch these reality shows. But it's one of her favourite shows and there isn't really much on TV during the summer. So when we first started dating I started watching it. Each season I get more & more into it; guessing who is going to be HoH, who are they going to put up for eviction, who will win the PoV, will they use it, & how will people vote. Then there is all the drama, scheming & double crossing.

2 things are always a constant:
1. The person I want to win always gets backdoored.
2. The person I despise the most makes it to the final 2.

That being said this year is driving me nuts. It's being ran by Jessie/Natalie. They are pulling everybodies strings. And the only person who noticed it was Casey. Next thing you know Casey is gone. It seems like Russell may have been the only one to notice this. So he put Ronnie on the block. Unfortunately this put a wedge between him and the Jessie/Natalie/Chima/Ronnie camp. But really? How long can that crew last before the trust starts to crumble?

Sure Russell is more paranoid than a teenager smoking pot for the 1st time. But he has reason to be. Russell is a competitor and this makes him a target. He also has an explosive personality. He has to know that he has big huge targets on his back. And it's getting to the point in the game where weird stuff starts happening.

Russell made an alliance with Jeff not to put him & Jordan on the block. He kept his word by putting Ronnie & Lydia on the block. This put a bit of a rift between him and the Jessie/Natalie/Chima crew. But it helped him establish trust with the rest of the house guests. During that week Michele was the swing vote in the middle. She had all the power and did the right thing by putting 'sour grapes' Ronnie out of the house.

This week Chima won HoH and put Russell and Lydia up on the block. I think Jessie/Natalie/Chima are going to try to make Russell think he's safe and then backdoor him at the end. If he wins POV they boot off Lydia (who won't win because she doesn't EVER compete). They might not be rid of Russell but they'll have enough voting power that it doesn't matter if he's not on their side.

The awesome part is that Jeff has the Coup D'etat power. This means that right before this weeks vote he can replace 1 or 2 of the people on the block. Kinda like a secret HoH. He laid low this week because it made sense. Everyone wanted Ronnie gone and it weakened the Jessie/Natalie/Chima/Russell/Ronnie group. But he has to realize that without winning any competition puts him & Jordan at risk of going home. His his best allie would be Russell. His biggest threat is Jessie/Natalie/Chima.

Jeff should quietly try to raise support that whoever wins HoH next week put Jessie & Natalie on the block and vote Jessie out. Then when the eviction ceremony happens put them up and say "Let's fast forward a week". He should be able to get Russell without a problem and he has Jordan's support no matter what. So he only needs 1 more vote to get rid of Jessie. Lydia might be an issue because she would want to vote for Natalie. Kevin would play smart though.

With Jessie gone the house will be a level playing field. Natalie & Chima will no longer be able to ride on Jessie's coattails. The real powers will be with the Russell & Jeff (plus Jordan) team. Michele will always be an unknown. She's smart and is a proven PoV winner but she lacks the social skills to form any REAL alliance.

So I'd like to see Jessie & Natalie go up and Jessie go home. After that I like to see it go like this Natalie, Chima, Michele, Kevin, Lydia, Jordan, Jeff, with Russell winning it.

Natalie is weak but she is a schemer. Chima is two faced yet easily believed by most people. Michele being an unknown is too much of a risk. Kevin is a relatively weak player. Lydia seems to have given up her spirit is broken more & more each time she goes on the block. Jordan because she is as dumb as a brick. Jeff because he's a nice guy but not as compatitive as Russell.

Since I want Russell to win and Jessie to be gone then in all likelyhood they will end up at the final 2. I think Jeff's strategy is to lay low. So as much as it pains me to say it, Jeff likely won't use his 'wizard' power. In the end his lay low strategy will be his downfall because people don't think you earned it.

Life, Metered Verse, and Everything

2009-07-24T15:44:00.000-04:00

So lately I've been thinking of putting my poetry (both page & stage) into a formal chapbook. I made my first extremely limited chapbook (only 1 issued) a few months ago. Basically I got tired of carrying my poems to poetry slams as a bunch of loose pages in my back pocket. A friend of mine made his own chapbook and it inspired me to do the same. So I made a couple copies of my poetry collection to date and gave it to my mom and wife.

I've been very honoured to actually have people tell me they have a favourite poem. I've even had someone request a piece. The main thing holding me back from making my own actual chapbook (for sale & everything) is that my poetry doesn't really have a theme to it. I can group them a little bit. But not enough for each group to have it's own chapbook.

When I mentioned this on my FaceBook status a few days ago I got some suggestions. But today (out of nowhere) I got inspired. As a fan of Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series I've decided to call my chapbook "Life, Metered Verse, and Everything". I hope to get some help with some graphics. Maybe something to go along with the Green Smiley face on one of the Hitchhiker books.

Google Chrome OS? Why bother?

2009-07-10T14:45:00.001-04:00

So accroding to the official Google blog the company is going to be doing what we have all suspected they'd be doing for some time: taking on Microsoft head-to-head. Basically they are going to use a Linux base to run their plethora of cloud computing services.

But my question is "Why bother?". Sure, Google offers LOTS of great products. In fact, I use them regualry and have a personalized iGoogle homepage. I love being able to take my bookmarks, documents, and email with me wherever I go. I can even look up my own web history in case I forgot to bookmark the page.

But many people DON'T like Google. Mainly because they track and monetize user activity. How much will they track with their own OS? Will they track keystrokes? It's getting a little scary if you ask me.

The funny part is there is already an OS that already does this without all the risk: Good OS. Since it's Linux based you don't have to worry about Microsoft and all the viruses, worms, and trojans associated with it. Desktop icons for all of Googles great gadgets are preloaded in a very intuitive manner. Best of all, it runs Firefox instead of Chrome. So it keeps Googles' user activity tracking at more of an arms length.

So keep your money from corporate Microsoft and your data from the prying eyes of big brother Google and get a Good Operating System. because free is ALWAYS good!

Fact or Fiction ???

2009-06-14T18:47:00.005-04:00

So I'm sure by now you've at least HEARD of the Angels & Demons movie "based" on the novel by Dan Brown.

I say "based" because it varies from the book GREATLY. As a spoken word poet I understand very well that in making movies books don't always translate well to the screen. So script writers and directors tend to take a bit of artistic license.

But I think they went a little too far. Don't get me wrong. The basic premise is still there: Illuminati threaten to destroy the Roamn Catholic church and Vatican City with an anitmatter explosion. But they departed greatly from the tone of the book.

I'm not what one would call a fan of the Roman Catholic church (that's Catholic with a capital c). I don't agree with much of the doctrine and antiquated traditions. On the flipside I'm not an enemy. They do enough damage to their own image without me or anyone else adding to it. But that's exactly what Ron Howard did.

In the book, the church tried a new strategy: openess & honesty. However, they portrayed them in the same light as the "Da Vinci Code" had created: covering up a conspiracy. What's worse was the subplot in relation to the Cardinal chosen to run conclave. In the book, he would have been one of the preferred if he hadn't been so old. He was portrayed as man who wasn't at ALL concerned with politics. Instead he was determined to serve the church in any way he could. He was authoritative yet very respectful of the carmelengo. The movie painted him more like a power hunger politician.

Now the novel IS a work of fiction. LOL A fact I often remind "Da Vinci Code" conspiricists. That's the truth. It's a fact. So why take the fact and turn it into fiction? It seems the only reason they did it was to sell movies. I mean, that's what made the Da Vinci Code such a big hit wasn't it?

So in conclusion:

FACTS:
- Angels & Demons (book & movie) is a work of fiction
- The book kept you riveted and was inspiring
- The movie tries to capitalize on the Da Vinci Code
- I falls FAR short of the book and the other hit movie

My new word

2009-05-01T15:43:00.000-04:00

For the past few weeks this issue has been boiling & festering inside my heart... my mind... my soul. I desperately want to write a poem on it. But I have no idea how to give it voice. I want it to hit hard and strike a nerve. But the idea isn't to offend but shed some light on the issue.

Basically I was at a Slam where a number of the female performers spoke to the issue of abuse. Sure the topic is uncomfortable to listen to, but I imagine enduring it is infinitely MORE uncomfortable. This issue (sorry Truth)... this problem does need a voice. And I commend the women who were brave enough to give it a voice.

However, I felt they were kind of "preaching to the choir" though. Most of the people there were women or (speaking for myself here) men who abhor such actions. Sure it's therapeutic to get things off one's chest. But how has the world changed? Have you inspired change? The speakers were full of passion and on the attack. No doubt hoping to reverse the role their abuser assumed over them while on stage. As one of the few males in the room I couldn't help but feel like they were placing the blame on me as well.

The fact that I internalized their words emotionally is the sign of a great poet. But one poem.... One poet hit me the hardest. She spoke of brother. A brother who wanted to protect her from the hurt in the world. A brother, who in his zeal to protect, became a source of fear. the night finished with a first time poet winning top honours. At the end of her 2nd piece she in effect sounded the call for answer.

Sadly, I don't know how to answer. I'm expected to be the solution while I carry the blame for the problem. It's true I will never truly understand how that cocktail of fear, pain, and hate feels. So how can you expect me to have the antidote?

So let my frustration be expressed in words. I am a Masculinist. I think men need to stand up for their rights. Not to take away what doesn't belong. Rather the right to do right instead of wrong. Not rights for the sake of claiming them. Not claiming them of the sake of nameing them.

Like our right to honour. Not to be honourED but to be honourING. To honour our women.

What are we to do? Our fathers were muted when hedonistic liberalism took centre stage. And now you wonder why rage is all the rage in our present age.

Instead of loud noisey words let me speak to you in the strong but subtleness of silent actions and this white ribbon on my sleeve for the rest of you.

Truth vs truth

2009-03-31T18:49:00.003-04:00

Who owns the truth? So often I find people say things like "That might be true for you but it's not true for me?" I'm sorry but truth is truth no matter who percieves it. We can't all be right. Is your truth more true than mine? If my truth is killing you and yours is staying alive then whose truth is.... well.. true?

We can't ALL be right. I mean we all want to be right. But for some reason we try to make believe as if we can all be right, and it's all okay, and we all live happily after.

When the TRUTH is... most of us don't. So this new age hollywood ending that all paths lead to God/Goddess/Paradise/Heaven/or whatever is simply false. We're simply deluding ourselves in hopes to ignore the stalemate we found ourselves at before.

For years, decades, centuries, even millenia we've been at odds (okay war!) over who is right. If we want to be mature about it we must simply agree to disagree.

The problem is people's perceptions. We can't help but be biased by our own opinions and observations. So much so that we stop looking at what is REALLY happening and simply try to force it into our preconceived ideas of the world and fit them into that. Christianity, Islam, Athiests... we've all done it.

We then claim that the conclusions we've come to via our biased perception of the world are the truth. And when we all come together to discuss out conclusions we a re shocked & dismayed that other people don't have the same conclusions. So we play polite and say that it's your truth and this is my truth. And we can both have our own truth without having to totally denounces the others persons perceptions as false... well at least to their face.

Instead of looking at the world through your the lenses of bias perhaps you should take off you glasses and try an unfettered view. Instead of looking for a truth that fits what you believe why not simply decide to believe what is TRUTH.

Truth, REAL truth, is always true. It doens't need me or you to declare it so (or even denounce it as such). So let's NOT all hold hands and sing "Koom-Bye-Yah", let's NOT all agree, let's NOT all be friends. We don't need to get along perse. But come on, we don't need to go to war for it either.

No Pain, No Gain

2009-03-09T11:53:00.000-04:00

So recently my wife & I joined a local gym. We're tired of being tired and recognized that we desperately need to shape up our shape. I've worked my way up to 3 times a week 45 mins per visit over 3 weeks. I've mostly just done the treadmill. We went in the pool a couple times to do laps. And once I did a recumbant bike. Mind you I only lasted 10 minutes on it because sitting on it was SOO awkward. It felt like I was going to slide off the seat so I was tense the whole time. Then I had to always keep track of my knees so i didn't bang them on the handles.

Things have been going well so far. I've noticed having a little more energy and my shirts don't feel QUITE so tight. But yesterday we finally did our fitness assessment. OUCH!!! The excercises weren't that bad. But today my chest is so sore from doing the pushups. I guess that's why I signed us up for 6 Personal Trainer Sessions (+2 more for free) because we... sorry... I need the help getting there.

Perhaps the craziest part of this whole deal is the fact that our first session is tonight. I'm sooo going to be hurting. So don't be surprised if I can't lift my arms to type and log into facebook, email, or blog for that matter.

"Feel The Burn !!!!"

My 1st Slam win !!!

2009-02-26T09:09:00.000-05:00

So last night I went to the 3rd ever Semantix Guelph Poetry Slam! It's nice having a slam so close to home. It's a little unique from other slams I've been to in a few ways. First, there is no open mic. Normally there are a few slots for people not interested in competing or being scored for their creation and performance of it. Second, there is only 1 round. So there isn't a lot of strategizing. You have to come out the gate swinging if you want to win. Third, there are only 3 judges and all their scores count. So if someones friend is a judge that means you can get a higher score without actually earning it.

It's unique in a good way though. It's a quick & dirty, wham, bam, thank you ma'am way of doing it. There's no messing around it's just down to business! Not to mention that the venue itself is pretty dope.

Getting to win was a good feeling. I'd like to thank Livingston though. Originally I was planning to do another piece, but her comments on Facebook about the poem I performed at the Burlington Slam ("Punctuated Hate For The Man") made me decide to switch poems. Good thing too. All 3 judges gave me a 9.something. So I knew right away that I won. After Dave Silverberg's feature performance (I love the Egg Nog poem even more now) they called on stage to give me the prize... a medium pizza w/ 3 toppings for Toppers Pizza & a book of poetry by Saul Williams called "The Dead Emcee Scrolls". OH.. and Dave gave me a pack of Pop Rocks I'm eating right now!!

Since Guelph tapes all the performances I will be able to share the actual performance with you soon via YouTube. In the meantime you can find me on cloud nine!

Peace!

How To Win A Poetry Slam

2009-02-20T13:23:00.000-05:00

A: Don't care about winning.

Okay, so it's slightly oversimplified. More & more I'm realizing that it's the community that poetry slams such a draw. Last night at the Burlington Slam Project there were only 4 slammers (myself included). So I thought that, despite the fact that both of the pieces were new and going to be read off the page, I might have a slim chance of winning my first slam. The first poem I did was called "Puntuated Hate For The Man". With it I sang in a performance for the first time. I got my first 10 at a slam (mind you it was my wife who gave me the score). The poem I did for the second round is a very new piece called "Why Do I Do What I Do". In this poem I ponder out loud why I try to write & perform poetry. Near the end I get humble by asking not to get a score above 4 before asking for no scores. I close the piece by asking for the audiences heart instead. Because "I Do What I Do" in order to share my heart with them.

In the end my total score was 52.3. I was just .9 points behind the winner, Yogi, who got 53.2 points. Upon reflection I think I should have done one of my more polished pieces (Double Double) and go for a higher score with more performance. But it probably wouldn't have been enough. Yogi had an amazing second round score with a poem about his hands.

All of this, belive it or not, leads me back to my original reason for this post: How To Win A Poetry Slam. Even though I want to win a slam, my original answer does make sense. It's about focus. Slowly but surely my focus is shifting. A little less on winning the slam (& of course the prize money) and a little more on improving my poetry and relationships with other poets.

Slam Nation

2009-02-18T21:06:00.003-05:00

So just the other day I finally got my Slam Nation DVD in the mail. I watched it... of course. I thought the filming would have been of a slightly higher calibre.

It was nice to finally see the man behind the name of Marc Smith, the Slam Papi. Despite the fact that he 'said' he was open to slam being an evolving art form he seemed to work hard at remaining at the helm. Although the meetings were democratic in nature it seemed to me like he played his 'founding father' card in order to direct the vote towards his preference.

Don't get it twisted. I don't think I like Taylor Mali's personality. He is WAY too into himself. I DO like his poetry. Moreover, I agree with his strategy. Why can't you switch up who goes when & does what? In a competition it only makes sense to make your best play when the game is on the line.

I think Slam is big enough for both competitors & purists. So why were the purists so seriously confused? It might not be cut throat competition but it IS a competition. Each poem is scored and the highest score wins.

So when Saul Williams, Marc Smith, and others got all in a snit about people being strategic about a competition I found it laughable. Perhaps it's even MORE laughable that he later became the head of PSi (Poetry Slam Inc), the governing body of the National Poetry Slam competition.

I did like Beau Sia (sp?). The guy was intense and funny. I guess my favourite reveals my bias though... the Vancouver team. I've actually had occasion to meet Alexandra Oliver (AKA the home-wrecker).

I guess my question is... why is it that only the slick production of HBO's Def Poetry show does a decent job at capturing great poets perfroming great poems with great video & audio?

Why Do I Do What I Do?

2009-01-30T07:28:00.000-05:00

Why is it the more I try to change the more things stay the same?
Why do all the poems I try to write sound so trite and lame?

Please tell me why. Cuz I don't have a clue.
Why, oh why, do I do what I do?

-----------------------------

Really? Why do I do what I do? Why do I do everything that I do?

Why is it I can think deeply on a plethora of topics...
Why is it that can love & appreciate the skill and cleverness of dope lyrics...
Why is it I can take your average song & make it better...

But when it comes to writing my own song/rap/poem I struggle to put two lines together?
Why do I always seem to have start off with someone elses idea & flow?
And then I just change the words to "make it" my own. I don't know!

It seems like the only times I write anything worth reading or repeating
Are the rare times the words seem to pour out from within.
It's like a fountain deep within my soul.
I can't even the fathom the fathoms of it's depth.

And then it's GONE !!!

In the blink of an eye...
Quick as a jackrabbit...

...It up and vanishes like a fart in the wind.

I dig deep to again find the source.
But it eludes me like peace in the middle east.

But I keep digging until my body is tired and aches
Exhausted and still finding nothing I collapse.
Was the torrent of a river just a mental mistake?
Was it really real? Or did my grip on reality temporaily lapse?

Why did I have to go so far? Push myself to the brink?
My words stand before me in black & white, paper & ink.
The testify to the truth, that the spring buried deep in my soul,
Won't ever run dry, and the fiery passion can't grow cold.

But it's only when I'm broken that I can be truly made whole.
Liquid lava of love flows out from within to fill the hole.

When the truth DOES come out...
When I share it from a stage...
When I try to get you to measure... my love.

My love for the words
My love for the truth
When you try to measure my love in numbers of course you won't get it.

So don't throw up 10's or 9's the next time pour my soul into a microphone so it doesn't go to my head.
Don't throw up 8's or 7's the next you see my heart beating on the floor because it's not deep enough to hold it.
In fact don't give me any numbers... Instead give me your heart in return.

Why do what I do?
It's not for the numbers,
But so I can share my heart with you.

Loz: Wind Waker

2009-01-06T11:53:00.001-05:00

So the weirdest thing happened just before Christmas. I was talking with some of the boys from the junior high group at church near the end of the first service on Sunday morning. I happened to mention that I only had a Nintendo 64 game system. They were of course flabbergasted. Most of them now have Playstation 3's or Xbox 360's while I'm still 2 generations back. In fact, one of the boys said that he has a Nintendo GameCube and a bunch of games for it that isn't going to play anymore because he just got a Playstation 3. In fact his mother had been bugging him to find a friend to give it to or she was going to throw it out in the trash.

Lo & behold, when I came out of the second service there he & his mother stood with a big bag and handed it to me. His mother said "Here you go, have a belated wedding gift" I was elated by this gift. I'm not so sure about my wife though.

Anyways, over the past month or so I've been playing the game Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. It's a pretty cool game. The controls are a little awkward at times. But overall it's a great game. After 2 or 3 plays I was able to quickly get the first 3 orbs and the master sword. I know I'm supposed to go on to the fortress to fight Ganon the 1st time. But right now I'm doing as much exploring, puzzle solving, and trading I can until I can't do anymore.

The hardest process is getting the specifics of each region on the map. I still only have 75% of the board mapped. I'm anxious to play the rest of the Zelda games for GameCube.

Now here is my main beef with gaming systems. I love to play video games. But being an adult who has many interests I can't justify spending hundreds of dollars on a system and then $40 to $60 per game when I really only want to play once every week or so and only 2 or 3 games until the next generation is out. This is what happened with N64 in my years at the end of high school & before college. I bought the system just because I wanted to play Zelda. It turned out to be an awesome game. But that's the only game I had. They only came out with one other Zelda game for 64. And I heard from many people that it wasn't very good. Plus !! I'd have buy a $40 memory expansion slot in order to play it. yeah RIGHT!

Dr. Horrible

2009-01-05T09:32:00.001-05:00

Friend's turned me onto Dr Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog a month ago. They played the whole thing for us on the tv from their iPhone. It was awesome. And I'm SOOOOOOOOOOO not a musical kind of guy. But Neil Patrick Harris playing a singing evil mad scientist who posts video blogs about his plots, well what's NOT to love?

Well I finally bought the soundtrack from iTunes a few days ago. It's been on constant rotation in my iPod since. I'm seriously thinking of buying the DVD from Amazon. Apparently it has a whole new set of songs as the commentary audio track.

Be sure to check the linked picture above for the official website. You can buy the full soundtrack or video through iTunes or Amazon. Be sure to check it out! It's awesome... so they say !!

A Christian Christmas?

2008-12-04T11:23:00.002-05:00

Isn't that redundant? I mean, Christmas (from Christ Mass) is a Christian holiday. Isn't it?

I don't know anymore. Christmas is supposed to be about the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem as the promised messiah sent by God to save the world. The overriding concept is that Jesus allowed himself to be limited by human flesh in order to give hope to all mankind. It's not about GETTING gifts but rather GIVING them.

In so-called Christian nations like the United States & Canada even secular people recognize that Christmas is more about commercialism & and consumerism than peace & joy. Jesus has been supplanted with Santa Claus.

So much so that major retailers make their employees say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas for fear of somehow offending someone? Just a few years ago city hall took down their Christmas tree for fear it would offend non-Christians. Surprisingly it was Muslim's who finally told the city to stop being so ridiculous.

Some Christians simply abstain from Christmas, claiming it was never a Christian holiday to begin with. We don't know exactly what year Jesus was born, let alone what month or day. So December 25th (or January 7th) is just as likely Jesus' birthday as much as any other day of the year. Actually, since our present calendar system didn't exist in Jesus' time it is impossible.

In truth, Christmas was originally a pagan holiday. It was modified to make it easier for Christians to digest. So many conservative/legalistic Christians refuse to celebrate Christmas claiming that it is really a pagan holiday.

I think they're both wrong! And they’re both right! Yes, the western world has made it all about the THINGS. But that doesn't mean you have to be that way too. Make it a season of giving again:
- Do a food drive with your church
- Have your small group sponsor a family in need
- Get involved with Operation Christmas Child
- Volunteer at a soup kitchen
- Collect coats and hand them out to the homeless

Regardless of where, when, and how Christmas was started it's what we do NOW that makes it what it is. The Bible says to do everything as if we do it for the Lord. If we celebrate Christmas by celebrating Christ's birth , life, and mission then I don't think God will hold it against you that hundreds of years ago OTHER people venerated the sun on this day.

The truth is in the message of the Bible, the reason Jesus died for us, and the personality of God. And that is redemption. God took murderers like Moses and Paul and used them to accomplish great things. God took the cross, a symbol of shameful and painful death, and turned it into a symbol of everlasting life.

God wants this to be the BEST Christmas for you ever! Will you let him? Well then you have to give it back to Him. Give up the presents, turkey dinner, and family visits. Instead give someone else some of YOU! I guarantee you'll be overflowing with the Christmas Spirit!

B(lessing)'s up!

Ignorance Has A Name

2008-12-01T12:03:00.000-05:00

And right now it's "Obama is a muslim". It befuddles me how people can get the truth SO twisted! It's right there for you. All you have to do is look for it.

Recently I heard people mention that they are worried about the next president of the US because he's a muslim. As a Chrstian, like any other group of people, you would want someone in power who reflects your own values, morals, and religion. So it wasn't the fact that they obviously preferred a Christian leader over a Muslim one that took me by surprise. It's the fact President-elect Obama ISN'T a Muslim.

"His name is Barrack Hussein Obama! Of course he's Muslim" was essentially what I heard. The scariest thing I saw recently was "The only difference between Obama & Osama is BS!" How can people of reasonable intelligence be so obtusely ignorant?

You have an opinion on Obama? AWESOME! But CHECK YOUR FACTS!!! The man got heat for racially charged statements made by the pastor of his church in Chicago during the primaries. So much heat that he had to publically leave the church for another more moderate non-denominational church.

Just because the man's father was born into a Muslim family (a confirmed athiest by the time he was in college) doesn't make Barrack Obama Jr. a Muslim. Conversely, just because he goes to church and prosesses to be a Christian doesn't mean he has biblical values and morals. During his interview for Rick Warren's nationally televised 'Civil Forum' on faith & politics made statements about abortion that don't correllate with the accepted Christian view.

It scares me when people latch on to things that are obviously untrue. Something they find shocking and don't spend the time to find the truth for themselves instead of just taking someone else's word for it. It reminds me of 2 Peter 3:5 "For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water"

Welcome To The Good Life

2008-11-21T11:03:00.002-05:00

Honestly, I know married life is no picnic. But that doesn't make it any less awesome. I love the fact that we have a future together. That by facing it together as a team so many more things are available to us.

It would be VERY nice if making the condo a more livable space with everything in it's proper place and NOT stacked on the bed & in the closet of the spare room.

All in good time!

Oh! And if you're interested in some wedding pictures be sure to check out our webpage: The.Duffyz

All I Want For Christmas Is...

2008-11-18T08:16:00.003-05:00

I know. Christmas isn't about 'GETTING STUFF'. I know more than most how true it is that it's better to give than to recieve. But let's face it. We no longer live in a Christian nation but rather a consumer nation. People are more interested in things than the truth.

Also, even if it's better to give to someone else than to recieve a present yourself doesn't mean you don't want to recieve some awesome presents.

Finally, if I write them all down I can't forget them myself! So here we go... my top ten list:

#1 - Russell Peter's new 'Red, White, and Brown' CD/DVD combo - Russell Peters is a super funny comedian. There is a ton of his stuff on Youtube so you can check him out yourself.

#2 - Red vs Blue: The Bloodgulch Chronicles Complete Box Set - This is a kewl show made using the Halo video & voiceovers to create a hilarious show. Also worth a peek on Youtube. The site lets you download low res versions a few episodes at a time. But the full set in HD is WAY better!

#3 - Slam Nation - A DVD chronicalling the 2005 National Poetry Slam competition. It pits Saul Williams against Taylor Mali. Bucketloads of hot sauced word awesomeness!

#4 - Brisingr by Christopher Paolini - It's the 3rd book of the Inheritance Cycle, an adventure series about dragons, elves, dwarves, & magic. The books are well written and really draw you in.

#5 - His Story My Shoes by Precise - A christian hop hop artist from the Shaolin Projects of Staten Island (same area as the Wu-Tang Clan). His flow and rhymes skills are outstanding and outmatched only by his passion to follow Jesus.

#6 - Season 1 of Lost on DVD - For those who don't know it's a dramatic serial about a bunch of people who plane crashed on this island in the south Pacific where they find abandoned scientific facilities, strange people who live there, voices whispering in the jungle, and a monster made of smoke.

#7 - Season 3 of Lost on DVD - Since I already have Season 2 and Season 4 hasn't come out yet!

#8 - Listener & Dust - Just In Time For Christmas - Another awesome Christian hip hop CD

#9 - Beat Rabbi & Deepspace5 - DeepSpace5oul - A hip hop worship CD by a crew of amazingly talented Chritian hip hop artists.

#10 - Realistikk - The Real - This female MC holds it down with tight rhymes & flow, deep topics, but with an edge to it. Be sure to cop be 1st disc 'Secular Stress' if you can.

The Joys of Planning A Wedding

2008-10-20T11:42:00.002-04:00

Well it's down to the final count. Only five more days until the wedding! Thankfully everything is pretty much done. We had all the big stuff like picking a date & location done early on. Most of the other major details fell into place as well. Most of the effort has been on the details. Things like the invitations and programs being printed and made just the way you want them. Right now the few details remaining are just juggling the timing of the wedding day, writing our thank you speech, being prepared to go away on our honeymoon for 2 weeks, and how to be organized when we get back.

This last week and past week or so have very much been a blur. Things are going so fast and we've been so busy. It feels like life is on fast forward right now with most of our time (aside from work & sleep) is being taken up by the wedding plans. As distracting as it is being this busy I really think it's better this way. I think if there wasn't stuff going on and being in constant thought & motion about the wedding that I would be a ball of nerves.

As Christine & I have been talking about our wedding day & how fast it seems to be approaching I'm rather glad that I'm not the only one who is all done with details. We both are anxious and can hardly wait. But we're not sure what we are more excited about: The ceremony & reception or the 2 week honeymoon/vacation afterwards? Like if we could somehow hit fast forward and be getting married life would be infinitley easier.

BTW, don't expect a TON of posts while on our honeymoon or when we first get back. But I plan to put up a thing or 2 and maybe make a small update to our google webpage http://the.duffyz.googlepages.com

Creation vs Evolution - The Debate Rages On

2008-09-26T09:05:00.000-04:00

Surprisingly, it seems that the teams have switched sides: A prominent scientist calls for creation to be welcomed into the science classroom while the Church of England claims creationism & Darwinism are compatible and offered an apology to Darwin for judging him too quickly.

Last week I was surprised to read an article that Michael Reiss, professor of science education at the Institute of Education, University of London, and director of education at the Royal Society (an old and respected scientific institution), had said that Creationism DOES have a place in the science classroom. Now, He is far from proponent of creationism, intelligent design, or anything other that evolution. Rather he feels that open discussion with students who do believe in origins other than evolution is an approach that a science teacher can hope to at least ensure the students understand the evolutionary position. A rather open minded approach for a proponent of evolution.

However, just a week later a Rev. Dr. Malcolm Brown posts articles on the birthday of Charles Darwin celebrating his life and contribution to science and the theory of evolution. All of this on the official Church of England website. Now I know the Anglican church is FAR from evangelical in it's beliefs and practices. But when did the Christian & scientific communities trade places on this issue? While I found Professor Reiss comments to be open minded, honest, and encouraging I find Dr Brown's writing be ignorant fluff more interested in public relations than the pursuit of truth.

He claims:
Whilst it is not difficult to see why evolutionary thinking was offensive at the time, on reflection it is not such an earth-shattering idea. Yes, Christians believe that God became incarnate as a human being in the person of Jesus and thereby demonstrated God’s especial love for humanity. But how can that special relationship be undermined just because we develop a different understanding of the processes by which humanity came to be?

I guess on the surface the concepts seem very compatible. However the biblical & evolutionary worldviews are polar opposites. The bible tells us that God created a perfect world, as a result of mankind sin death entered the world, and now we need to be saved by Jesus. Evolution says that the universe and everything in it created itself through countless generations of things living & dieing they improved through random chance, natural selection, and survival of the fittest. So if you accept evolution as true then death existed long before mankind and isn't a result of our sinful nature, and if you don't have a sinful nature then you don't need Jesus as yopur personal saviour.

The doctor also claims that the theory of evolution has been missaplied to creat the concept moral progress. The basic premise being that, if humans are continuing to evolve physically then the same must be true socially & morally. He then says this misconception of moral progress was the basis for racism or Nazism. He said that Darwins theory on physical evolution was hijacked to create a "social Darwinism". In reality, the concept of physical evolution has social implications. It doesn't have to be hijacked or misapplied (whichever term you prefer) in order to have logical implications on social thought & structure.

The basic concept of evolution is that through natural selection and survival of the fittest a species changes over time (for the good). In other words, animals with weaker traits for survival and reproduction are weeded out of the gene pool while animals with stronger or new more benficial traits garner prominence simply by the fact that they are the ones that live & live longer. Logic therefore dictates that if the species homo sapien sapien (humans) are evolving too then the same must be true about them. By that logic, humans with weaker physical traits are inferior to those with stronger traits. So if someone kills a person with triats deemed to be inferior then that person is simply giving mother nature a helping hand and is actually helping the human race to be better & stronger. This was of course the justification for the slaughter of native americans, slaves and segregation in America, and of course the holocaust.

I wholeheartedly disagree with the biology professor at the univeristy in Kansas, whom he quoted as saying "The kids (who believe evolution to be heresy) know that if they want a good job they need a degree, and if they want a degree they have to work with evolution theory. Creationism is for church, as far as they’re concerned. Here, they’re Darwinists". Honestly, I don't have to believe the world is flat in order to learn that people thought that way, so I don't have to believe in Darwin's conclusions just because it's part of the curriculum. Thankfully the doctor disagrees with the professor as well.

However he does want a rapproachment between Christianity and Darwinism as a matter of integrity. Yes, as Christians we are called to live with integrity. Yes, as Christians we are called to, in love, give people the benefit of the doubt. But first and foremost we called to put our faith in God and His word. When something disagrees with God & His word then we have the freedom, nay, the obligation to rebuke it and disenfranchise ourselves from it. Sadly most Christian churches, groups, and organizations are doing the exact opposite. It's the doctor unknowingly already has his wish.

Since God is the author & creator of all things and truth, good science being the pursuit of truth, then there is one statement he made that I can embrace without question: "Good religion needs to work constructively with good science – and I dare to suggest that the opposite may be true as well."

Olympic Politics

2008-08-25T10:14:00.003-04:00

I felt it was important to wait until the Olympics had come to a close before commenting on this issue. So here it is:

In response to criticism of why China got the Olympics, despite its horrible record on human rights, I heard one response say that made me think for a day or 2 before dismissing it. The argument was that the Olympics isn't a forum for politics or politcal agendas. Rather, it has always been, and continues to be, a place where people can set aside cultural and political differences (like wars) and compete against each other in the arena of sports.

When the Olympics was first played and perhaps even when the modern version first began it met or came close to achieving this altruistic goal. But now the Olympics is ENTIRELY about politics.

The people who decide which city/nation will get to host the Olympics have been revealed as nothing but opprotunistic pilferers. They accept numerous gifts and benefits in exchange for their endorsement.

Those who actually base their opinion on proper reasons it usually boils down to infrastructure. The Olympics is SO huge that the city needs to be able to accommodate the influx of hundreds of thousands of athletes and visitors from many different countries, speaking many different languages. It requires action on behalf of the city, provincial, & federal governments (politics) to make sure the infrastructure is there and can handle it.

Then there is the most obvious element of the athletes themselves. Training at the level of an Olympic athelete is an extremely expensive endeavour. Corporate sponsorship can help. But it can only go so far. And seriously, isn't the Olympics supposed to be an amateur competition? Without sustained political pressure for athletic funding & support then a country can't put together a competitively relevant program.

So with all the politics that are invloved in the Olympics, I think it's perfectly fair and relevant to discuss a countries record on human rights issues when determining a city/countries suitability (or lack thereof) as a host city.

Points Are Not The Point

2008-08-22T13:25:00.002-04:00

Well, last night I competed at the 2nd Burlington Slam Project. I started off with my new piece "What's The Point?". I only got 25 points I think. An average score of about 8.3, which is okay. But I'd like get some more 9's.

Again I was in last place the second round so I was the last slammer to take the mic. Which normally just means you're nervous all the way until the end. But the band downstiars always seems to start before we are done. This made it a little tough to do a soft touching reading of what I called "The Christmas Love Poem" (the poem I wrote for my then girlfriend and now fiance for a Christmas present). That being said everyone went "AWWW" when I was done. LOL Especially when I kissed my fiance before taking my seat. The judges gave me a 26 point something, which is an average of 8.8 points.

I know they say that "the points are not the point, the poetry is the point". And it's true. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't be nice to place a LIIIIIIITTLE higher than last place each time or maybe even when it!

Come on though, I've only done this three times! I've just started doing this as a hobby. I'm going up against people who have been doing this a LOT longer and have their peieces much more practised and honed. Most of them have their own book, or cd, or have featured at an event! So it's not that I'm epecting to be there already. But like I said, it'd nice to get just a little bit closer.

I know that the biggest thing that's holding me back is MEMORIZATION! Everyone loves my pieces. And NO! not just my fiance, friends, & family saying so (though they do and seem genuinely surprised when I get low scores). All the poets and performers I look up to and admire have approached me and said so. I've even had a few say that I have "presence" on stage and that it would come across so much more if I was able to get off the page.

So when it comes down to me getting higher scores and possibly winning or getting accolades and compliments from other poets, I prefer the latter! However, I'd also like to be complimented on my stage presence too. So it's a good that the wedding planning, day & honeymoon are going to keep me too busy for another slam in the next couple months. That way, the next time I hit the mic for a poetry slam, I'll have the pieces down pat.

I'm A REAL Writer

2008-08-08T15:45:00.000-04:00

They say that a true writer/poet is never finished editing their work. We are our own worst critics and won't statisfied until it's absolutely perfect. I guess this means I've arrived.

I sat down to write a new poem today. And I did! However, I borrowed part of it from an old poem and reworked it to fit. Then I went to another poem I had been hoping was mostly finished wound up adding a little tongue-in-cheek introduction to explain it a bit more.

Paris Hilton for President ???

2008-08-06T13:42:00.002-04:00

This one is TOO funny! So John McCain, the 2008 deomcratic presidential candidate, recently put out a tv ad attacking Barack Obama, the 2008 republican presidential candidate. The ad depicts Obama as just another shallow celebrity, like Paris Hilton & Britney Spears, in an attempt to question his ability and depth as a leader.

Really, it was just a matter of time before the mud slinging began. I don't know who threw the first punch, but it doesn't matter. The fact is both candidates always end up with mud on their hands & face. What makes all this noteworthy for my blog is this... that Paris Hilton is the one who has come out on top.

Turns out Paris Hilton made her own "ad" and posted it online. She uses her dumb blond celebrity fame to make fun of the attack ad. The most startling part of the video is that when she starts discussing Energy policy... she makes sense!!! In fact, she makes more sense than the 2 candidates. Using CLASSIC Paris Hilton venacular the video ends with her saying, "I'm Paris Hilton, and I approve this ad because it's Hot!"

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

BSP site is up and running

2008-07-31T16:36:00.003-04:00

Tomy & Selina have have been working hard for sure. The first event was a hit and they we already promoting next months event! I'm sure that the quality of the flyers is only going to add to the greatness.

The most impressive part is the grassroots push they are giving it. They've already created a YouTube account and uploaded the open micers, Gypsy Eyes (the feature), and the 1st round slammers, with 2nd round poems to come.

Now I'm surprised that I missed the launch of the Burlington Slam Project's website when it was posted on the SLAMtario blog.

BIG things are going to happen. So get in on the ground floor and come out to the next slam: 8pm Thursday August 21st @ The Dickens Pub (upstairs).

The Renaissance

2008-07-28T12:56:00.001-04:00

This poem is a modernized version of the Gil Scott-Heron piece "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". Only, instead of a revolution I want a rebirth, a renaissance, of creativity & excellence in art, music, & poetry. Fittingly it was the other poem I performed at the very 1st Burlington Slam Project.

The Renaissance

The renaissance will not be televised
You will not be able to see it on cable.
You will not see it on ITunes, TiVo, or Youtube.
You will not be able to see SuperBowl commercials,
Or half-time wardrobe malfunctions due to a 2 second delay.
Because the renaissance will not be televised.

The renaissance will not be compromised.
The renaissance will not be available on Blu-Ray-DVD
Encrypted high def with an FBI copyright warning.
The renaissance will not be sound bites of Bush
Declaring "war on terror" & "evil-doers" like Saddam
Hussein, Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda only to be
Stuck in Iraq years later with no exit strategy.
The renaissance will not be compromised.

The renaissance will not have its world premiere at the
Grauman's Chinese Theater and will not star Beyonce,
Lindsay Lohan, or Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn.
The renaissance will not give you another face lift.
The renaissance will not get rid of wrinkles.
The renaissance will not make you look ten years
younger, because the renaissance will not be advertised, brother.

There will be no color-coded terrorism threat advisory scale,
United States Department of Homeland Security, or
Emergancy Readiness kits with duct tape in them.
The NSA will not be able to get warrantless wiretaps
For KEYWORDS like "bomb" or "jihad"
The renaissance will not be terrorized.

There will be no footage of pigs beating down
Rodney King on instant replay.
There will be no footage of brothers beating
Reginald Denny on instant replay.
There will be no coverage of Rev. Al Sharpton
Eulogizing James Brown at the Apollo theater
There will be no LAPD car chase of O. J.
Simpson riding in a White GMC Bronco,
Going 40 miles an hour down the LA Freeway,
Wearing black Isotoner gloves he had been saving
For just the proper occasion.

Survivor, American Idol, and Big Brother,
Will no longer be so damned relevant, and
No one will not care if Britney finally got back
Custody of her 2 kids because people
will be in the street looking for a brighter day.
The renaissance will not be commercialized.

There will be no video blogs or highlights on
Entertainment Tonight of Paris Hilton going to jail
For D.U.I. or Miley Cyrus going platinum.
The theme song will not be remixed by Bad Boy,
Jermaine Dupri, nor sung by Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls,
Kanye West, Soulja Boy, or Black Eyed Peas.
The renaissance will not be glamourized.

The renaissance will not be right back after an Email
From EBay, ECommerce, ETrade, or EHarmony.
You will not have to worry about Anthrax in your
mail, a bomb on your plane, or water in your carry on.
The renaissance will not go better with rhymes
The renaissance will not be longer than 3 minutes and 10 seconds
The renaissance WILL be found here at the Drake.
The renaissance will not be televised, compromised, advertised
Terrorized, commercialized, or glamourized.
The renaissance will be no cover brothers;
The renaissance will be live.

Two Large Double-Doubles

2008-07-28T10:46:00.002-04:00

Thanks to Burlington Slam Project one of my very first Poetry Slam performances is now on YouTube. As if pictures of myself weren't bad enough, I now have to suffer through watching myself butcher my own poem. If anything... I need to PRACTICE. Here it is:

Two Large Double-Doubles:

Well I felt the need to "roll up the rim"
So I headed right away to see Horny Tim
I pull up quick onto the scene
Ready for my next hit of caffeine

For a fresh cup I "always got time"
Oh wait... it's my turn in line.
I said "Large Double-Double and make it 2"
He said "Sorry man I ain't hearing you?"

2 large coffees double cream & sugar
Say that’s all that I want to order
Just 2 large coffees double-double
Said that's all that I want.

He said "Sorry sir, can you repeat that?"
FILL TWO LARGE CUPS WITH COFFEE THAT'S BLACK
Into the drive-thru mic I said in a scream
THEN TO EACH ONE ADD TWO SUGARS & CREAM

"Let me repeat that back to you, please
Breakfast sandwich, with bacon & cheese
And a caramel iced cap with a mint shot too,
Is there anything else I can get for you?

2 large coffees double cream & sugar
Say that’s all that I want to order
Just 2 large coffees double-double
Said that's all that I want.

Listen, all I want is my two coffees
A dozen times I've asked you, "Please!"
Really bro I ain’t getting older
See I know my drink be getting colder

By this time I'd had about enough
So I put the car in gear and just drove up
All this drama to get 2 coffees in a cup?
Give me a tray with two cardboard cups of...

2 large coffees double cream & sugar
Say that’s all that I want to order
Just 2 large coffees double-double
Said that's all that I want.

Now I ain’t had a coffee yet today
So I gave him the money and drove away
I popped back the lid and I’m about to take
Just a big old swig and I can’t wait

Where’s the java I’m supposed to have
Where’s the mocha I’m supposed to grab
I can feel my blood pressure going up,
MAN!!! There's nothing in the cup!!!

BSP Recap

2008-07-25T11:59:00.002-04:00

In a word? HOTNESS !!!

The room itself for one. It was the upstairs room of the Dickens Pub in Burlington. It wasn't very big. Maybe a bit bigger than your average livingroom. But the air conditioning in the room wasn't working and the room was jam packed (4 or 5 people even had to stand!).

The poets were hot too! There was an awesome cross-section in both age and styles. Both Truth Is... and Yogi (from the Toronto Poetry Slam team) made it out. Soulfistikato & Dane-Ger-Us were there to support the fam and join on a couple pieces with the feature: Vagabond Retinas (AKA Gypsy Eyes). There were a couple older gentlemen in the back who rocked the Open Mic and I was plesently surprised by Tom's poem "Everyone I've Ever Known". The was a tall woman who went by Livingston who did some very musical pieces with great showmanship. A.O. did a great deadpan delivery of a limerick style poem about being the "other woman". LOL It was like Lilith Crane from Cheers telling dirty jokes.

I was picked to go third and did my Tim Hortons' 'Double Double' piece. It's all about what happens when a drive thru experience goes horribly wrong. The crowd enjoyed it. Christine even said that the other poets were laughing. Unfortunately, the judges didn't score me very well. I thought for sure I was out of contention.

But since there were so few slammers they decided to do 2 rounds for everybody. This time though the order was the highest score first and the lowest score last (which was me by the way). For my second piece I did 'The Renaissance', a remake of Gil Scott-Herons famous poem 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised'. Even though I lost my place once and the band was already playing downstairs I hit this one! I was able to do it with much more expression and conviction. The crowd clapped and the judges redeemed themselves with MUCH better scores. The 2 old guys in the back loved it so much that they both tried to shake my hand at the same time.

Well.. go to go. Maybe I'll be able to finish the rest of the review later this weekend.

PEACE!

Burlington Slam Project

2008-07-18T16:43:00.004-04:00

So everything is coming together for next Thrusday night at the Dickens pub in Burlington. It's going to be the very first Burlington Poetry Slam. It's being put on by Tomy "Bam Bam" Bewick.

Tomy has been a staple in the Toronto Poetry Slam / Spoken Word scene for the past 4 or 5 years. After numerous moves throughout the GTA and always making downtown for events Tomy finally decided to start something for his own hood.

Eventhough Burlington isn't "technically" in the Halton Region it's still a heck of alot closer to Acton than downtown T.O.

This will be my 2nd Poetry Slam appearance. This time no covers are allowed so I have to do my own stuff, which (to be honest) is a little frightening. But I'm prepared to make it all the way to the 3rd round with 3 poems. 2 of them I had ready for last slam and 1 brand new one (just finished today).

Almost everyday a new idea for a poem pops into my head. The hard part for me is putting pen to paper (okay, finger to keyboard) and actually writing it. The idea for this poem came from an underground Christian Hip Hop group called DeepSpace5. On the track "Stick This In Your Ear" an emcee called The Listener does a verse where he actually speaks the formatting.

And since Googlebot is likely the only person reading this blog right now I'll post it here, before the competition, so you can see what I mean:

Punctuated Hate For The Man

I don't understand how you can hate me question mark
You don't even know me exclamation mark
I know who I am period
You know who you are period
But when it comes to knowing
All caps bold me you have a question mark

New paragraph tab Ignorance Causes Emotional Turmoil semi-colon
It apostrophe s impossible for me to present my quotation self
In a way that you will italics understand period
Am I the bold sex that is raping your soul question mark
Am I the bold class suppressing your mind question mark
Am I the bold race enslaving your body question mark

New paragraph tab Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everybody semi-colon
I have a solution to your problem
Ampersand head dash ache comma
It will keep your quotation foundation from crumbling period
Instead of seeing me through lenses of hate comma
Listen close to my raw unfiltered truth exclamation mark

You ampersand I aren't that different period
We both have a soul parentheses spirit that comes from the divine period
Divinely inspired knowledge says we should quotation Love God
Comma ampersand love people instead of harbouring hate for our brother PERIOD

My Brain Hurts !!!

2008-07-11T16:02:00.000-04:00

Do you remember back in school when after having the summer off from any REAL learning the first week or so back was awkward? Your brain hurt a little because it was being made to exercise again after being a couch potato all summer long. Well today my brain is hurting.

You work right now is slow. DEADLY slow. I don't have to worry about losing my job (one of the benefits of a government union job). But I'm seriously getting stir crazy. Everyday is struggle to keep busy doing something. And the few times i actually have work I feel so unbelievably lazy and bored because I'm so used to doing barely nothing.

Most days are spent surfing Wikipedia reading about different topics that interest me. The past few months I've also trying to learn a bit of American Sign Language and write poetry. I figure I need to stimulate the creative portion of my brain before disappears due to atrophy.

But every time I try to get going it feels like I'm trying to run through mud with snow shows on. It just doesn't work. But at least it keeps me busy. Well today I read a vast majority of the posts of this blog ran by a woman who got some sort of grant to travel the world documenting slam poetry.

It was very interesting. However, my mind is now NUMB! Blarg! Someone hand me an ADVIL!!!!

Is 'Gangsta Rap' to blame?

2008-07-09T10:49:00.000-04:00

So today on one of the discussion boards I follow a person posted hip hop song(poem) that criticized mainstream hip hop for glorifying and selling violence, drugs, and other reprehensible behaviour. It was an excellent (and far too rare) piece of using hip hop to critique hip hop.

I was however equally surprised by another users comments. This person said they didn't understand. They couldn't understand why someone would criticize hip hop for doing exactly what it has always done. He went on to say that at least Gangsta Rap is being on honest about the fact that it's "All About The Benjamins". He even implied that this is simply what the public is demanding.

I'm sorry. I guess I can understand someone being ignorant about the history of hip hop music (it did exist prior to 1992). But can someone really be THAT clueless about how coporate america and the media work? Do they REALLY think that the public is DEMANDING more sex, drugs, and immoral behaviour in their entertainment and advertising? That's simply what they are being fed!

So is Gangsta Rap REALLY to blame for societies woes? Or is it simply an easy scape goat? The truth is that Gangsta Rap is simply ONE of the vehicles coporations use to sell their products and consumerism to the masses. If Gangsta Rap wasn't being pimped to promote sex, drugs, and money then something else would be.

Gangsta Rap is simply a sympton fo the REAl American Family Values: Profit by any means neccessry!

What's NEXT?

2008-06-19T15:27:00.006-04:00

After becoming a follower of Jesus (AKA Christian) I felt conflicted about music. I LOVED hip hop music. But so much of the music at the time wasn't very inspiring. I stumbled across the Kirk Franklin video for Revolution on CTS (www.ctstv.com). It was more "Gospel" than I really liked but it made me wonder if there was Christian Hip Hop music out there. I visited the local Christian bookstore and looked in there small contemporary music section.

Finally after digging through a discount basket I found a CD called "Coalition: the Hip-Hop Alliance". It was a compilation of various Christian Hip Hop artists. I LOVED it. I found every website listed on the cd sleeve and began earnestly searching the internet for other Christian Hip Hop artists. I quickly came across DJ Maj's Wax Museum Mixtape tracks and some classic Tunnel Rats tracks.

The Christian hip hop section of my favorites was quickly getting VERY big. It was then I realized that if I had this passion for both Hip Hop music and Jesus then others would or have had it too. But what if they aren't as good at finding things online as me? So I started a free website with Freewebs.com to host the hyperlinks I had collected to various Christian Hip Hop related sites. While MP3.com was still a free site I had a link for almost every artist. Evetually I bought my own domain name with pages for MC's, Dj's, Break dancers, & Graffiti artists giving special mention to any Canadian artists. I even had the dream of eventually making it a professional looking site and possibly even being a distribution site for Christian Hip Hop to Canada.

But in the years that followed I got busy with other things in life. First it was a girlfriend, then college, then leading youth group, and now my fiance (& the associated wedding). The updates that I've made over the years have mostly been cleaning up broken links. But in the past 3 years I've even given up on that. Now there are MANY other great Christian hip hop sites out there. Most artists promote themselves online with a Myspace page or Soundclick account. The artists signed to "major" Christian hip hop albums have their own websites. The more popular underground artists have their own site & store. The fan sites have interviews, upcoming album release dates, forums, and music videos.

So what do I do? Obviously trying to revamp the website now would be silly! there are so many other website of high caliber. But do I just GIVE UP on my passion? Am I to be simply reserved to buy a few CD's here there after being so on fire just a few years ago? For whatever reason, just like in the secular world, hip hop culture is forced to the outside and deemed uncool by the mainstream Chritian culture despite the fact that it relies upon hip hop culture to tell them what IS cool.

So... What's NEXT?

Floppy Disk Art

2008-06-12T20:45:00.003-04:00

So today at work I'm cleaning off my desk and I come across a stack of floppies. First I check to see if there is anything on them I need before formatting them. Then I realize that I am NEVER going to use these again. Floppy disks useless. 1.44 MB is nothing!!! My address book file is bigger than that. And if I need something saved I can use a CD, DVD, or a flash drive.
So I'm sitting there staring at a stack of almost 20 floppies thinking to myself "There's gotta be something I can do with these other than just chuck'em". I figure someone out there has to have come with some sort of use for these other than chessy lookin' coasters.

So I spent the rest of the day surfing Google. Most of them were pretty lame: a notepad, a pencil holder, a photocube, and the worst of all... a bag made entriely of floppies. The best one I found was called Disk Combobulation. But I think my boss might get suspicious if I started trying to make that LOL.

I DID find out how to make a couple mini Star Trek ship models. I made the Enterprise (A I think) and a Klingon Bird of Prey. I'm also going to make a mobile of stapling the actual floppy part of the disks together.

If you have any cool ideas on how to use the ACTUAL floppy disk (and not just the slider) PLEASE let me know!

Honeymoon in ???

2008-06-06T08:26:00.000-04:00

OY VEY !!! Will this honeymoon issue ever come to an end? Just when I thought it was all said & done it turns out that the NYC timeshares are EXTREMELY popular and none of them are currently up for trading. So we had to pick a few more options as backup. Here they are in order of preference:

B. White Point Beach Resort, White Point, NS

C. Horseshoe Resort in Barrie, ON

D. Kaatskill Mountain Club, Hunter, NY

These are really cool options! But I'd REALLY like to go to the Big Apple.

4 8 15 16 23 42

2008-06-06T08:16:00.004-04:00

Lately I've had a horrible case of writers block. I have ideas coming out the wazoo. But when it comes to putting them in the form of a poem I struggle. So I started surfing for stuff about Lost to distract my mind and give me something LOST related to talk about until the next ARG gets going. So I thought I'd write a poem with a LOST twist. The idea being that the numbers of words in each stanza would equal each of the Lost Numbers. Then I decided to insert different lost words, phrases, episode titles, etc into the poem. Finally, when I posted it online I decided to link each LOST word to its page on Lostpedia. So here it is...

I feel so LOST.

The DHARMA of my karma is long gone.

I was once a MAN OF FAITH, but now WHISPERS make me doubt the truth

And OTHERS have kidnapped my heart. So now hatred and loneliness are my CONSTANT in life.

Death looming over me with OCEANIC weight like nightmares of faceless MONSTERs whose footsteps EKO after me in endless pursuit but never strike.

When THE ISLAND of my discontent washed up on shore I took a oneway trip THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS. Now left has become right, and right is all wrong. So DON'T TELL ME WHAT I CAN'T DO because you don't know JACK!

Honeymoon in NYC !!!

2008-06-02T15:19:00.000-04:00

For the most part the wedding planning has been smooth sailing. There was initial change of plan from having it in Milton to Cobourg. But that made sense. It was a whole lot cheaper there and it makes it easier for Christine's grandparents to make it. After deciding to have it in Cobourg everything else was very easy. The date wound up being the 25th (because the 18th was a HUGE soccer tournament). We decided to have the ceremony & reception at a local community centre which is also doing the catering and bar. A local store is taking care of decorations & flowers. We have a local DJ booked. Most impressive is the fact that Christine's cousins & their parents have decided to pay for the photographer as our wedding present.

Oddly enough, the decision that has been the source of the most debate and flip floping has been the honeymoon plans. We limited our ideas to Canada (due to passport issues.. don't ask). Initially we were thinking of going to Cape Breton in Nova Scotia and staying in a Bed & Breakfast. With the cost of gas only going up and B&B's not being cheap it was quickly becoming unrealistic.

We tried looking at other places to do a B&B. Stratford would have been nice but to do anything, like see a play, would have costed a fortune and didn't offer enough variety of things to do. Next on the list of possibilities was the 1000 islands. This seemed like a better idea. It offered boat tours and locals spas. However, we couldn't find a place to stay that fit what we were looking for.

Then we were offered to stay in a 2 week stay with a timeshare for free. So we searched the site and found 2 locations in Ontario in or near Barrie. The problem was that we wouldn't REALLY be getting away. We would end up doing things we can do ANYTIME! Then we opened our search to Quebec. Only 1 major downfall: Neither one of speaks French! LOL.

Suddenly it occured to me... What about New York or Michigan? We could drive across to the states, not have to worry about passports, and still spend more of our money and things to do and see rather than travel. Then I saw that they had places in New York City. Then I looked closer... One of them is The Manhattan Club, a posh hotel in downtown Manhattan just 2 blocks from Central Park!

There are TONS of things to do in NYC. Come on, they even call it the 'City That Never Sleeps'. We could do touristy things like visit the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, or Ground Zero. We could check out a play on, off, or off-off Broadway. We could check out all the cool stuff in and around Central Park. We could visit and get pictures in places like Time Square. We could even go see TV shows like David Letterman.

I've even found cheap bus tickets to New York and back for about $60. Not each, that's for the 2 of us. It's going to cost us more for an unlimited 2 week transit pass!

Right now the owner of the time share is checking the availability dates. Pray... PLEASE PRAY that the dates right after our wedding are available. I really hope that they are (since it IS a hotel). This would a really awesome and totally unforgetable honeymoon if it works out. LOL Not to mention the fact that deciding it would FINALLY be done and we could start the fun part of deciding what we are going to do instead.

Did the season finale leave you LOST?

2008-05-30T10:14:00.001-04:00

I'm very much a LOSTIE. I watch every episode, discuss question about the plot, and read Lostpedia almost daily. I've even added the 1st 3 seasons to my wedding gift registry. If you're a LOST fan too then you watched this weeks 2 hr season finale and have a whole host of questions.

After watching the show so far I have a few theories. The island, Jacob, Christian Sheppard and now Claire are all the same. They try to keep the island secret and carry out it's will. I think the island is a representation or manifestion of God's will on earth. Just like in the Bible, God had a chosen people the island has a chosen people (the Others).

Just like Jacob of the Bible was a man of faith the Jacob of the represents faith. Those who follow Jacob (Ben, The Others, & now Locke) do so by faith. Whereas those live by science (Jack, Widmore, Dharma Initiative) try to control things. The DI used stations to control the islands natural properties (Swan & Orchid stations). Usually with dire results (ie: the purge).

Just like God, the island offers people redemption. Or more specifically to choice at seeking redemption. Those who fail intially but then redeem themselves through actions are taken/die (Eko, Charlie, Michael). But those who follow the quiet voice of God inside all of us from an early age are given the chance to accept their fate and used as instruments of the island.

How do the ancient things on the island (statue, the temple, smoke monster, the orchid wheel) fit in with the outside forces (Hanso, Widmore, Paik, DI)? I think that's what the next 2 seasons will be about. In the end, ALOT of the small questions will go unanswered (at least by the TV show.. the producers may fill in the gaps through podcasts). It will answer major questions about the island, the numbers, the DI, the others, and why Oceanic 815?

All the world's a stage

2008-05-27T14:28:00.004-04:00

I've taken part in a few small open mics before but this Sunday night was my first time to sign up and take the stage at a poetry slam. I had been to the Toronto Poetry Slam (TPS) once before in February. Their website had recommended going at least once before you sign up for the slam itself. I dragged Christine, my then girlfriend, and a few friends. We ALL had a blast. The feature was a guy from South Carolina and blew us away with 20 minutes of straight performing, alot of which I suspect was improv.

During the time that followed I started writing poems again for the first time since high school. I had even written a poem for Christine as a Christmas present. I also signed up for and began participating in the TPS online forum. I quickly became a very active member posting comments, asking for critique of my poems, and letting it be known I'd be showing up for the first slam after the finals: Sunday May 25th, The annual "Anything Goes Slam". Where the only rule still in effect is the time limit/penalty.

Christine, my now fiance, 3 of our friends, and my mother showed up early to get good seats because there was a lot of anticipated interest in this slam. When the host announced the sign-up the massive line formed out of nowhere. I spoke with and met a few poets who were on the forums as well as the host himself. But to be honest I was worried I wasn't going to make it through the lottery with so many people signing up.

You see they only let 12 people in for the 1st round, top 6 make it to the 2nd round, and the top 3 make it to the finals. But the host broke the rules too! He let all 15 peeps into the 1st round. PHEW !!! I made it. But something even crazier happened... I made it to the 2nd round! The top 6 of 15 ?? Not bad for a 1st timer I'd say.

I didn't end up making past the 2nd round but that's TOTALLY cool. I got to get on stage, do 2 pieces, make people laugh, and (best of all) my mom & fiance were there to support me. Plus the fact that Elyse, the girl who won, deserved to win hands down. Not to mention the fact that I didn't have my 3rd poem well rehearsed yet.

I'm going back again for sure. In fact, I'd love to make it back for the June one and find some other open mics. But the next month is going to be CRAZY busy and I'm TRYING to save money for the wedding in the fall. I guess I should use this time to write more material.

Classic SNES Game Remade !!

2007-05-30T20:55:00.001-04:00

I was blown away to find this game Legend of Zelda: Parallel Worlds. Okay... so it's really just a hack of Zelda: A Link To The Past. But it's really a whole new game. Which by the way, is nearly impossible without watching some helpful walkthroughs on YouTube. You DO have to download a program to install the hack to an original copy of the ROM. But it's well worth it.