This weblog ends here, now. A new one will carry on. It will step in, fill the old one's shadow. See you on the other side....
Confession Category Archive
*right now*
The age of the information one has access to, and the age of one's assimilation of it. The present, is a separatrix between the past and the future: the line that exists only as the point where memories and dreams...
A cruel trick
(written December 19th, 2006. Forgot to publish until December 31st, 2007) My thoughts as I ride a taxi out of Delhi towards the domestic airport on my way to Bangalore, turn to the chaos, the disorder, the disarray, disrepair, destitute...
2007 in quick review
Started the year in Tokyo, after having travelled from Delhi, Bangalore, Singapore and Bangkok. Ended it in Tokyo, after travelling to London and Paris. Spent a week in Hong Kong setting up a blogging platform for the HKU Journalism department...
Reminder
Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) - Wild World Now that I've lost everything to you You say you wanna start something new And it's breakin' my heart you're leavin' Baby, I'm grievin' But if you wanna leave, take good care...
Patience
This post started while thinking about "who do I look to as role models", which is a whole other post. I'm pretty much an exact 50/50 blend of my father and my mother, in every respect, including temperament. My...
Optimism
Humanity is unsustainable; designed for extinction. The only sustainable solution is the eradication of the most developed (overdeveloped?) societies of humans on this planet. Yes, that means you and me. Since we will not make that decision and take that...
Télépatexto
I just sent an empty text message ("SMS") to someone. It happened because I was thinking the message as I went though the process of creating new message, adding contact... and send. woops. désolé Izo....
A place or a feeling?
Bruno throwing snowballs at me and TyOriginally uploaded by Shawna Nelles. Last night at Laïka, I had a brief conversation with Michael, founder of Ile Sans Fil and good friend, about various things, including how places are not just geographic...
No way
Tomorrow at 3pm I am meeting someone who was instrumental in introducing the Shibuya Kei style of music to North America in the 1990's. If it hadn't been for this, I would never have heard of Pizzicato 5 and my...
Homesick
Me too, oh man, me too. (Today was such a total clusterfuck, I'm crying listing to this.)...
So out of shape
(sorry about posting these... having fun ;) And the course I ran, mapped on GMap Pedometer. (Funny how mapping a jog like that brings the enormity of Tokyo down to a personal, human scale. If my lungs held out,...
this is the time on sprockets vere ve ... pump yoo ahp
After Jan called me a weakling in that heavy german accent that could only remind me of Hans und Franz ("you are litta giwly maan! we are gonna pump j00 up!"), because I said it was too cold to...
"I should blog that"
I think it was sometime in 2002... I hadn't even started this weblog yet, in fact that stuff to me was still just personal websites. (that's all it still is to me, really) On a lark one Sunday afternoon I...
Acht Jahre
Papi passed today 8 years ago. Depending on which metric I use, that's anywhere from 2 to 10 lifetimes ago for me. Sad you couldn't have watched me go through them. Strange coincidence: the only thing I can remember from...
Mémoire courte
Je ne me souviens plus de ce que je croyais. Tant mieux. Beliefs are memories twisted out of shape by desires....
White Day
Dah White Day is a festival that was created by a concentrated marketing effort in Japan. White Day is celebrated in Japan and Korea on March 14, one month after Valentine's Day. On Valentine's Day, women give gifts to men;...
Year of the ... wait what am I?
So year of the pig (or hedgehog or whatever) coming up in the Chinese zodiac, and I forgot what chinese year I am. Quick search and, oh hey cool I was born in a year of the Tiger. It kills...
2 and 4, 1/2 and 1
Two weeks from now I am arriving in Delhi. A month from now, Tokyo. The next 4 weeks are going to fly by in an instant, and then... and then... ? Update Roughly: Montreal -> Narita -> Delhi (4 days)...
A consciousness
(get past the melodrama and the fact that it's an anime / "oh it's cheesy scifi" ;) Just as there are many parts needed to make a human a human there's a remarkable number of things needed to make an...
Platitudes
The MacBook was repaired earlier this week and I am now on it full time. Sadly, it is hotter than the G4 Powerbook it replaces, and noisier (the HDD). It is also markedly faster, so the tradeoff is... acceptable. India...
Everything
(rambling alert!!!) Everything is a node. And every node can be, at once, part of many contexts, and can also, just by being, create many contexts. Every node has many properties. And contexts can add and modify properties of nodes....
Well stated
Lucas Gonze puts into words what most iPod/iTunes users haven't quite become aware of yet: why you need more music from Wired -- The Day the Music Died: I thought at first I had misheard him. "... library of 90,000...
Dream team
Can't really get into why, but I wish, I dream, one day, OMG would it be amazing... to be able to work on projects with Aaron Straup Cope, Michal Migurski and Maciej Ceglowski. There is nothing we couldn't do. (Though...
Royducord
This afternoon, Boris zipped into downtown, to return a pair of heavenly soft flannel black wide-set chalkline pinstripe slacks because, frankly, he just can't get into slacks. Even though they were a size too small, the feeling of nakedness was...
When
life throws you off balance, dance. Someone, somewhere recently placed the notion in my mind that dance, amongst many things, is a voluntary throwing off balance, whose joy and pleasure is derived in playing with this state and the pursuit...
Sofas and the malaise they create
Had I known what kind of a monumentally feel bad day I would have just because I decided to get rid of this sofa today... I woulda carried it out to a beach somewhere myself and burnt it. In 1985,...
Break
An email I just sent to some of my colleagues at GlobalVoicesOnline: Hi gang, In the last 36 or so hours, the site has gone down twice. In both cases, the culprits were simple, yet monumentally stupid oversights on my...
Productive day
Somebody in my network today said: A way to deal with bothersome emotions beyond reason is either reading about human physiology as science, or doing some very basic mundane tasks such as cleaning. I read this after an IRC meeting,...
Work much?
This is what my "Virtual Desktop" pager looks like right now, a more or less busy average Sunday night. That's 3 separate "jobs" open concurrently AND taking care of a task for someone who just pinged me in IM. Normally...
Fall
I had a very strange and in some ways worrisome experience early this morning. I went out last night; a going away party for a filmmaker friend and then some chilling out at Laika. Nothing extravagant or crazy. I did...
glasses
i am rather shocked by how often i need to wipe my glasses clean... it's like, before i had glasses, i used poke myself in the eyes ALL the time. with my greasy fingers... NOT wtf. I don't get it....
Withdrawal
I've been back from Tokyo for 2 months now. Funny, it feels far far longer than that; more like 6 months. I've eaten japanese-style food once. (it was my favorite place. I was so disappointed.) I've not watched a single...
Every day, in the morning*
Lieber Boris, wir haben zwei Fotos von Edi gefunden. Vielleicht sind sie interessant fuer Dich. Lass mal wieder was von Dir hoeren. Der Dutzi (Erhard) war bis heute bei uns, er sagt Du bist haeufig in Japan. Herzliche Gruesse,...
Noise in the background of my head
Here is a "signature of the music I listen to", analysis of my iTunes playlist, based on 60 most listened tracks. Take a peek. Generated by the sparse yet full operational "iTunes Signature Maker" by Jason Freeman. Nicely done. Warning:...
Rewiring
I've long been telling stories about how I seem to be quite aware of many of my thought processes, and often these stories take on computer jargon analogies. Stuff like "the scripts I have running in the background" to make...
10 years on
I just came across this interview with Joi done in 1995. Reading it I am struck by a few things: - 10 years ago Joi was roughly my age. - He saw very very clearly what was going on, on...
Spreading wings
(written on thursday... i think...) This morning I got a handshake for a lease to be signed this weekend for an office which i will take possession of in two weeks. It's 300 square feet, 3 blocks from home...
Good sign
My motor-memory of which way to turn the taps in my shower to regulate water temperature... is gone. Conversely, my motor-memory of how to quickly zig-zag my way up through traffic on The Main... is still full in effect. Thankfully....
Off we go
About to settle into my last night in Tokyo. Three months. In 24 hours I am over the Pacific again, heading back to Montreal. I feel anxious anticipation; I wonder how I will react to diving back into my old...
À propos de rien
Barlow had these lines in a recent email about a friend of his' death: Fighting clinical depression is inevitably a lonely struggle. What could be less conducive to compassion than a disease that make you whine? Laymen and loved ones...
Pummeled
Original by cr2joe. For as long as I can remember now--memory fails when the brain is deprived of oxygen--I've been stuck in an unrelenting onslaught of waves. Each set is unaware of the sets before it, the sets coming...
Thoughts on this morning's train ride
There are 6 billion kinds of people in this world... Fast food slows you down. It is incorrect to say "A was drowned by you and you were drowned by B". More correct would be: "A allowed herself to be...
One of those days
Woke up feeling like cordwood; stiff, dead, stacked up and left to dry. Bad night's sleep. The number of motorcycles and heavy trucks that pass down this supposedly quiet street at 3am is... remarkable. The number of times a night...
Different perspective
(a collage of conversations) So, Boris, where are you from? Montreal, Canada. But I just got here from Tokyo. Oh wow, that's pretty cool. What are you doing in Tokyo? You must have big clients there who can fly you...
Bo Pack
Among the many many lessons I am learning on this trip, one of the most salient, and indeed one that I pretty much knew about, is the fact that I am nowhere near as mobile as one would think,...
Time floating again
It's May 1st. I don't know what day of the week it is. I don't know how long I've been here. I don't know how long I am staying "away". I don't know if I am going to California next...
Reminder to self and others
No one likes it when you wear your heart on your sleeve and lose your head. Pop your heart back in where it belongs and strap your head back on tight. Everything works better that way. ;)...
Gentle brush past my shoulder
This is so close to me it's not even funny. Nokia and Yahoo! add Flickr support in Nokia Nseries Multimedia Computers You can upload your full size photos to Flickr directly from the camera or image Gallery application on your...
Dumb.
Some days, I tell ya. Here's an example of how sometimes, try as I might to do something smartly, I end up in a stupid situation. On my way back to the lab early this morning, I decide to turn...
I am missing something
I'm missing dancing. The long late nights in little cozy sweaty lounge clubs. The breakbeat, rare groove, afro-electro-house. The uninhibited moving, grinning, flirting. Till 4 am. Oh, I will be home soon. Just no set date yet....
Cue music
I had a funny daydream waiting for my chashumen the other day... A medium sized ramen shop in Tokyo. The last bars of "Our house" by Madness are fading out on the radio, Our house, in the middle of our...
Reset
"Air Canada Reservations, how can I help you?" . . o o O O ( ( ( my visa's good till mid June ) ) ) I'm not coming home just yet. I hope you all understand....
End zone
I'm on a fast railroad down my last days here. For the first time in my life, I do NOT look forward to going home. This is going to be tricky....
circadian cycle clusterfuck
Just when I had overcome the jetlag... Between 2am trans-global conference calls between Tokyo, New York, Boston and London; 14 hour time-shift work schedules; and hanging out with Joi: I don't know, as they say, if I am coming or...
fragments
on lies: a necessary and healthy feature of sociality is lying. Lying is a feature, not a bug. The great dream of a utopian society is a system where lies are not necessary; the great nightmare, one where it...
Too much seating
I am doing a giant cleanup of my apartment before I leave so that my house-sitter, Steven, doesn't feel like he's living in my junk, but also it's just a good opportunity to do so, and get rid of a...
Clearing communications
The key to telling a joke that will get you laughs, is telling it the way the audience would (if they knew how). Same goes for clients. If you cannot tell the joke, then perform it. Slapstick. Generally folks don't...
So fast
The last time I marked the anniversary of my father's passing here was 3 years ago. He passed 7 years ago. So fast. Sigh....
Job
- "Hey how's it going?' - "Good good. I'm really tired though. I woke up at 5am, flew to Toronto, had a bunch of great meetings and conversations. I just got back." - "Wow, that a pretty crazy job you...
I forgot something...
My writings here have dropped off for about a year now because I seem to have forgotten something that had previously been a hard won affordance: don't worry too much about what people think of you. If you've been reading...
On the success of weblogs et al
The success of all these things such as weblogs, websyndication, etc, is directly attributable, I think, to one basic fact: weblogs are basic, rudimentary Content Management Systems. At risk of over-simplifying, I say that human intellect, human intelligence itself, in...
Give and take
(to no one in particular, and if nothing else, a reminder to myself) Are you really so rich, not necessarily in possessions, but in knowledge, wisdom and experience, that you truly believe that you can afford to be so cynical,...
Impotence
Well, no election for me... Canada's upcoming federal election is this coming monday. By the time the polls open I'll be sitting on the tarmac on my way to Cambridge for 3 days. "But you could have voted in advance!"...
Where's my head?
It's not that I am going senile or any such thing... it's just that... "my memory space is being flattened, in places, especially recently, by prolonged use of asynchronous text-based tele communication" In other words, I am beginning to suspect...
Self medicating... sort of
I imagine it may possibly be a placebo effect but... I started popping some pills about a week ago and holymoly do I feel better as of yesterday! More energy, able to concentrate, and the winter blaaahs don't seem so...
Accepting
"Have the courage to change what you cannot accept, the strength to accept what you cannot change, and the wisdom to know one from the other." I've long admired this proverb but it never quite sat well with me. I...
time X place
Past The past is a comforting place. It is your old room; a box stuffed with boxes stuffed with memories. It is warm and cozy, everything in it's place; predictable, known. It is stuffy, the window hazed with condensation and...
There's nothing that is in between?
Prologue Just on the border of your waking mind There lies... another time Where darkness & light are one And as you tread the halls of sanity ...
What was I thinking?
Rough day. Long before the time I usually wake up at, I had taken my best friend to the airport as he moved to Tokyo, I dropped off some stuff at my mother's house, I drove by my old high...
A funny thing happened on my way to...
I did a lot of walking yesterday. At 1:15 I visited the apartment I mentioned here previously. Arriving at the address, one of my suspicions was confirmed: it was indeed the same building that an english professor of mine from...
Getting my hopes up
On saturday early afternoon I have an appointment to visit what could very well be my dream apartment. I was not actively searching for a new place, but I came across its listing online and though "this I cannot not...
Good lord, what was that??
It took five days. Five days for the ecosystem that is my mouth to free itself of the violent shock I had inflicted upon it on this Wednesday past. I can now actually move my mouth more or less normally...
They're out
So it took about an hour, 3 got pulled. The 4th apparently wasn't worth the hassle. Amen. The pain killers are doing their job, but I feel like my jaw is wired shut. And oddly I have a headache from...
Construction ahead
Yesterday afternoon, on our way to dim sum in Chinatown, Karl and I drove down Avenue du Parc. At the foot of the mountain, where the street bisects Parc Mont-Royal and Parc Jeanne-Mance, roadwork crews had torn out the sidewalks...
Je dors
La vie est un rêve et je dors. Les moments passent, bons et mauvais, puis je me réveille. Je ne me souviens de rien....
Wisdom
On my way home from my last dentist's appointment I got a phonecall. It was them. The first thing I thought, and in fact said out loud was: "This can't be good..." Before leaving, the dental hygienist insisted on doing...
Short notice
Ok ok. So yeah it's my birthday. 31. This is official notification to all of you, that I will be at Laïka (4040 St-Laurent) from 7pm onwards. Do drop by if you are so inclined. They serve foods, café and...
It snowed on my birthday
Is this uncharacteristically early? I can't remember. I was walking around at 3am again and it was snowing. "Slushing" more like. The kind of snow that melts on contact with the ground. It was quite stormy actually; a transparent snowstorm...
Cold
So I caught a cold. I first felt the scratch in my throat last friday, but it went away and I thought "hrm, ok, good thing that didn't develop." Monday morning it came back and was pronounced. You know when...
Another sign summer is gone
When washing face and hands, I switch from turning on only the cold water tap... to turning on only the hot water tap. Sigh....
gon'dang
Still alive. This server is toasted. Migrating tonight or tomorrow. For those who would know what to make of this: "Stay away from Plesk-based VPS services." Update: Moved, upgraded. Phew. Thanks Joi and Jason. ;) So, in a nutshell, my...
Doing right
Well, Dell, I must say: wow. Wow. So I ordered this 2005FPW 20" TFT monitor from you over three weeks ago. I complained a bit about the fact that the website was essentially useless for tracking the status of my...
Immersive
I spent the most part of the last... dunno, lost track... 6 weeks? working on the University of Southern California's Interactive Media Division's website, which we launched last thursday morning at 5am EST. (I went on a 4 day celebration...
You know when
when the passing of time is only defined by noticing that you need to trim your nails and hair. And do the dishes and laundry. Ew. The tub could use a scrub too....
Tabula rasa
Having had 30 seconds to think about it, I've decided on a course of action for this here "weblog". Tabula rasa it is. This site no longer suits my needs. I've built up a mini Tower of Babel and it's...
Crazy mum...
Email from my mother: Yepeeeeeeeeeeeey , MAUI is great, getting my rental gear now. Was flying business class , now I am spoiled for life :) The next day, an IM while I was away: crazy windsurfing conditions here, need...
Some Soundsystem
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah... yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah... yeah, hey, hey, hey, hey Everybody keeps on talking about it... nobody's getting it done I'm gettin' tired, tired, tired of listening, listening... knowing...
Also a bicycling weekend...
Basically the last 4 days have been wake up, code code code, eat, code code design code, bicycle bicycle eat, design design code, sleep. Most excellent Michael Lenczner has lent me a most craptasic 15 year old stolen-and-repainted-numerous-times mountain bike...
Wordpress weekend
OMG! I can write plugins!!! ... ... ... OMG! I HAVE TO write plugins... ;p Yes, I will be releasing two things:a WP plugin that extracts media file URLs from posts, allowing you to link them with a nifty icon...
Mappin my route
Too cool. My jogging route. 4km each way. 4km uphill, 4km down. Be sure to check out the satellite view too (eventhough there are dang clouds in the way). (PDF for posterity)...
Sophisticated krishnas
The Hare Krishnas from down the street just went by. They seem to have hired a new arranger cause instead of just chanting, they had an accordion and some real bongos and were doing the traditional "hare hare krishna krishna"...
Slow motion cold
I've had a raw sore throat for well over two weeks now, and horking up small wads of mucous from the back of my throat. At first it was just annoying and, in typical fashion, I just bore it and...
It won't end
It won't end until I have run away and hidden myself so far and so deeply, that never will I know that you have left us. For without us, I could not continue. Ça ne finira pas Ça ne finira...
Been busy much?
I rarely talk about work here - and I will soon have a place to do only that - but I figure I should mention some of what's been keeping me busy lately. Summer started with a bang really. On...
Fly, fly away
I retreated from the extreme heat here today to the little air conditioned café down the street. Sitting on the table I installed myself at was today's Globe & Mail. At the bottom of the front page (hah! I almost...
Pour être bien précis
Je ne vous propose pas de partir en affaires avec moi, mais bien que nous allions nos forces de sorte de nous procurer les moyens de vivre confortablement à notre gré, en faisant non seulement ce que nous connaissons et...
It's damn hot
So Karl and I moved from the sweatlodge-like Laika to the air conditioned Java-U on St-Denis where Oblivia was. Logging into the free wifi network I spot something familiar in the URL. "Helloooo... what's this..." I made this! A long...
Where does the night go?
You know how some afternoons just zip by? One minute you just finished lunch and the next it's 4:30... Some nights are like that too. Just a few moments ago I was walking up St-Laurent amid the Thursday night partiers...
Fin
Nous avons eu raison. Quand nous avons dit en début de mars que "les weblogs, c'est fini". Avec un surplus d'attention et de nourissement, l'accroissement rapide et massif eu totallement et complètement transformé l'organisme qu'était le weblog, ainsi que l'environment...
Torrential ninjas
Two days ago, I had this ninja movie, Red Shadow, coming in on BitTorrent at, like, 450k/s ... it was sooooo sweet... I was really pumped. Then at 64% the only seeder disconnected. I thought I was totally gonna flip...
Summer finally pulled up
After two truly miserable weeks that finished off May, and a generally unpleasant spring, summer finally showed up today. Warm, sunny, pleasantly perfumed breeze... green grass and leaves... So I went for my run, only my second this season,...
Bang on
MJ on the "Lifecycle of Bloggers". While I don't for one second believe there is any such thing as "one type of blog/blogger", this sums up very nicely what many many go through. I'm at step 12 myself. Again. Not...
Cross-eyed
I did not share the words that came to me at that moment, watching a car turn a corner, a leaf fall from a tree, a cloud overhead. one of those moments where the smallest event can take on unprecedented...
Memories in dust
This morning I dreamt of a fire. About 12 or 13 years ago, we moved out of my childhood home. The day of the move, I was the first one with all my stuff out, and the first one all...
Yes, Minister
It always seemed rather strange to even myself that I thoroughly enjoyed watching this British political satire situation comedy. The writing was simply superb, the characters equally profoundly witty, when not nit-witted, and the clever pace helped via laughter, one's...
email overload
I mean that in both the sense that I am getting way too much way to fast on way too many different topics / related to way too many projects & tasks, and that my current email "solution" - hah!...
VW Mashup
This is sick, sick as in incredibly-insanely-cool-oh-man-I-want-it-so-bad. Volkswagen Jetta // R32 - Daily progress reports This project as you can see from these first pics is going to be a complete ground up build, I'm starting with a 100% straight...
Coïncidinks
Who woulda thought that one afternoon back in February would produce TWO photographic coincidences? First, Karl and I. Then, Jim and I....
Tokyo: Wed 07:53 AM
A quick email of the above screenshot - with message "One of you has a lifestyle/sleeping problem of some sort... ;)" - later: After reading Jim's entry about what time he actually did wake up at and why: Love...
No more ashes
I've washed out and put away the ashtrays in my apartment. They were needlessly taking up space....
Notification
I stopped by "the bar" quick tonight to drop off something for the owner, a friend of mine. While I sipped the free drink, Albert came over and told me how happy he was and impressed at how I had...
Nobody Knows - Dare Mo Shiranai
Precariously perched, Hope dies. The world is so cold, and chance rarely appears. Stunning and devastating. I cannot say more....
Birthdays in Tokyo
Unless my info is wrong, I have to wish Happy Birthday today to good friend Jim and awesome dude Gen. Considering the time-zone difference, and certain servers holding certain informations being in various places on the planet, I may...
1337
That is the number of unread RSS'd "articles" in my aggregator right now. "Mark all as read" Ahhh, much better....
I took a walk
I took a walk this afternoon, through the Mile End. I had to go to the bank, and I wanted to get some mackerel filets. So I walked. Usually I'd drive, but today I walked. I must thank Steven for...
I'm flying!
Whenever I imagine I can fly, I immediately think "Ok, so, where do i go? How do I get there?" I imagine myself bopping up and down, "zooming in" and "zooming out" until I find where I wanna be. A...
Situating a Google Map picture
I was just flying around over Montreal with Google Map's fun new satellite pictures. My actual neighborhood as well as the one I grew up in are sadly in more blurry sections. However I found this dreary patch of my...
I'm not gullible
It's just that when you don't believe anything, everything becomes plausible/possible. ;) Water on Mars I hate Japan...
Sound familiar?
"Attention Deficit Trait" caused by the technologies of constant interruption: Clive Thompson via Techdirt has a fascinating post on Attention Deficit Trait, a related sydrome to Attention Deficit Disorder, according to Dr. Edward Hallowell. "It has basically the symptoms as...
Winzwhaas?
Jim: Do you know what the best RSS reader for Windows is? Me : ... Me : i haven't even SEEN Windows in... gees... YEARS... Jim: me either Me : hehehehe Jim: never used XP Me : what's that?...
Fight
Artist: The Tragically Hip Album: Road Apples We wake up different, rifle through our dreams Another placid day, ripples at the seams Do you think I bow out cause I think you're right? Or cause I don't wanna fight? So...
On comments
I wasn't going to say anything but just to make it clear: I have switched the default setting on this weblog for "Allow comments" to "None". When I post something that I'd like feedback on, I'll turn comments on for...
Interesting concept...
Oh I really like this idea, alot, in terms of "something to do and a way of doing it". There must be a market for outsourced skunkworks developers. You have an idea, you want a working prototype, who do you...
Non-profit?
I need information about setting up a non-profit organization in Canada. What do I need to do, who do I need to talk to? Any and all info is much appreciated! :) (Too busy to STFW myself just now, asking...
No show
Some of you have asked, and just so everyone else knows: no, unfortunately I am not going to make it to Austin for SxSW this year. Just can't pull it off. No stimulating conversations, no good parties, no beef...
The Choice
The intellect of man is forced to choose perfection of the life, or of the work, And if it take the second must refuse A heavenly mansion, raging in the dark. When all that story's finished, what's the news? In...
Non-Disclosure Agreement
After not even hearing the words for well over 3 years, today I was faced with no less than two prospective NDA's to sign. I haven't yet. Reading over the one I did get sent to me, I am struck...
The Old Man and the Sea
On monday night I went and watched "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou". I went alone. It took until last night for me to fully absorb it and realize that I really liked it. A straight-faced dead-pan comedy adaption of...
Narcissism
A very rare picture of me that I can live with. Thanks Yuki. (Sorry about the desaturation and levels tweak though... my complexion was really bad that week.)...
Screenology
The screen is really messing with my head. I don't mean just the screens of my computer.. I mean "the screen", as the interface to the network and my expanded mind... (Here he goes again...) Two examples. Last night, moblogging...
Did I say that out loud?
I write an inordinate amount of “weblog entries” in my head. Ninety-nine percent of them never make it to the keyboard, let alone get published. A funny side-effect of this is every so often someone will bring up an entry...
Darkness
I've been on a lot of flights, to many places, at all hours of day and night. I've seen mountains, I've seen oceans, Aurora Borealis and the thin line where the sky turns dark. Above the Bering Straight, looking...
Happy birthday
“It's like you're in mourning” he said. “Like you're holding on to her ghost, and somehow feel you are totally satisfied with that.”...
Quick rant
If I read one more weblog entry talking about tags and/or folksonomies, I'll wretch (cow tongue sashimi, too much red wine and a bumpy cab ride through Tokyo not required). If your RSS/Atom feed doesn't contain full entry text, I...
Tokyo > Montreal in under a second
I'm sitting in the Good Day Café, just off Aoyma Itchome/Omotesando (search me how the street names work in this place...) in Harajuku, Tokyo. I spark my NewsReader, go to my folder of Montreal RSS subscriptions... and I am 100%...
I dropped it off
I dropped off my car at the VW dealership. (The passenger side window dropped into the door again and my mechanic said I might as well go to the dealer. This apparently is a VERY common problem for Mark V...
Viennese New Year
Radetzky-Marsch, Op.228 Johann Strauss, Sr. (mp3 ~4.6meg) This is the kind of stuff I imagine was being blared in the house I grew up in during my parents' yearly New Year's Eve parties, though I can't remember. The first few...
Today
Overnight, I moved this site to a new, way faster server. This will allow me to start building on it again. In the move I decided to ditch my photo galleries because, well, I didn't like them and they took...
Confessions of a sensitive cybernaut
I get anxious when people don't answer an email. I worry I've said something wrong, or misplaced a comma or worse, a smiley. I'm always afraid I'm intruding with an IM message. I want to apologize whenever someone logs off...
Can't... sleep...
It is 4:30am, again. I am exhausted. Barely slept last night; late night partying and early start this morning playing tech support. The most relaxing part of my day today was playing ambulance for Karl when the call, er.. Instant...
You know things are bad when
I just tried pushing the screen of my PowerBook back... using the cursor......
My first Sony Walkman
Following a post by Nika, I thought it'd be cool to start a "thing", a "meme" perhaps... whatever. Use the TrackBacks, Luke! To find your first Sony Walkman, check out Pocket Calculator's Vintage Walkman Museum: Sony So, "I'll never forget...
On Levendis
Few people have ever asked me what "levendis" means. Fewer still ever asked why I chose it for, amongst other things, my main Internet domain name. I came across the word Levendis in a short story by one Harlan Ellison,...
As I was saying...
I finally got down to doing some work I've been putting off for weeks. I haven't received an e-mail or IM request in about two hours. Perfect. I decided to quit Mail, then iChat, then Proteus. Ok, I can DO...
Malaise
New environments inflict considerable pain on the perceiver The biologist Otto Lowenstein, is his book on The Senses (Penguin Books,Ltd.), has some most helpful observations on the problems that arise upon any change in sensory mode, such as a...
In a postpostmodern state of mind.
In order to avoid ambiguity, over- or false- interpretation, it is crucial that one properly contextualize every element, in relation to every other element in it's environment. Meaning can only be found in the relationship of each object with each...
Oops
IM from mom this morning: Boris, this morning while [ your sister ] was washing dishes, [ your nephew ] got hold of a lighter and playingly put the matrasse on fire, everything went up very fast, she only could...
Où
Dehors, il fait noir et il commence à pleuvoir. "Où sont mes amis?" je me dis. Je me rattrape aussit√¥t: "Non, plut√¥t, où en suis-je?" Je n'ai pas d'amis. Je n'ai rien. Il y a, sûr que bien, ...
Liberté
La liberté est un fardeau énorme. Une énorme responabilité, envers non juste soi-m√™me, mais autrui, requierant une discipline puisée au fond de son √™tre. Je ne commence qu'à vraiment voir cela. La liberté est une chose terrible à prendre pour...
30
I don't wanna have to shout it out I don't want my hair to fall out I don't wanna be filled with doubt I don't wanna be a good boy scout I don't wanna have to learn to count I...
Process through adaption
Continuing on my current theme of "data management", let me share with you an example from my own experience. I mentioned a few weeks back how overwhelmed I was by the size of my MP3 collection. McLuhanists, and others surely,...
Identites and celebrity
"Madame Hollywood" Felix Da Housecat Everybody wants to be hollywood The fame, the vanity, the glitz, the stories One day I'll become a great big star You know like the big dipper And maybe one day you can visit my...
À la table voisinante
Ce que j'aurais dû dire. "Pardon, mais vous pourriez vous taire s'il vous plaît? "Qu-quoi?!" "Oui, s.v.p. fermez la. Non seulement polluez-vous l'air public de ce restaurant Dim-Sum avec votre voix fade et nasale, et vos aires de mélodrame, mais...
How am I not myself?
- Do I bring my own chains? - We always do... I ‚ô• Huckabees‚òÖ‚òÖ‚òÖ‚òÖ‚òÖ...
Limbo
The months go by as days.The days, are as long as weeks.The nights...the nights they are neverending.
Some of my favorite geeks
have been mightily busy![Apologies to anyone offended by that term...]Aaron finally fixed his "I-roll-my-own-thank-you-very-much" weblog and immediately posted about some of the wikkedly neat stuff he's been toying with over the summer.
In my box
Here I am in my box.My box contains many smaller boxes.These smaller boxes contain memories of me, waiting to be forgotten.Here I am in my box, a memory of me waiting to be remembered.
Rant mode
I am in rant mode.I have 3 weblog entries sitting here in draft status (in ecto, ahem) and they are all meaningless, pointless rants, of no interest even to me.I am treading water in a wading pool. Ridiculous.
Pig
I just essentially inhaled ten sheets of finely sliced imported italian prosciutto. I had intended to *do* something with them...Well, I sure did do something...
What am I listening to?
So following the boss's...... endorsement(?), I've had to figure out a quick way to include last.fm / audioscrobbler data on a webpage...
Memories of perceptions
The first thing that comes into my head, you mean?Guildenstern: No--the first thing you remember.Rosencrantz: Ah.... What's the first thing you remember after all the things you've forgotten?Rosencrantz: Oh, I see.
Just one word: plastics.
I find myself cringing, internally and externally, as did Dustin Hoffman in "The Graduate", when confronted with this bit of advice.Except today it's "marketing", not "plastics", and the advice giver is an older me, and not some ancient neighbor.I cringe at the inherent evil in any such enterprise: pursuing so unnatural an affair, just because you know you can capture and corner a market by making a widget no one else has thought of.Unnatural how?... And just as now we have things that could not be made of anything other than plastic, we now have cultures entirely made up of marketing.
Easily distracted
Macs were big on the agenda the last few days as I prepared and delivered my old G4 PowerMac to my friend Kim, fixed Ms. S's, and reinstalled Panther from scratch on my Powerbook.... With the dishes done, the laundry not done, and the apartment half vacuumed, for some god-unknown reason I attack my MP3 archive.
This should be good
Still wobbly from three days of flu (again...), I am about to leave for my best buddy's wedding.Due to the fact that I could barely see straight the last few days, I am stuck making due with what is left in my closet.Damn. Forgot I threw out all my white shirts...Damn.
Pre Announcement
So I am running late on this little "thing I wanna do" so I am going to make a quick pre-announcement here right now.Basically I am starting a small "Weblog Services" business.
On demand living
Over the last few weeks, a realization has been slowly rising to the surface from the depths of my subconscious. (This is actually an apt portrayal of how generally my mind works, but I am going to share with you this specific one.)
A sharp knife
Tonight, i am recoding the UI on an ecomm storefront I did originally did over 3 years ago. Tables upon tables, font tags, et al; no sign of semantic markup anywhere. I even had tables for 1 pixel high dotted divider lines.
Working
Sleep, work, eat, jog, work, sleep. Thought I'd share quickly a few of the sites I've touched recently (the one's I can and want to show ya, that is...)
iTunes is trying to kill me!
On shuffle, first this (Daft Punk - Face to Face), and then this (Ben Harper - Walk Away). I am on the floor. Ah, phew! Flaming Lips - Do You Realize Do You Realize - that you have the most...
They really got me...
Wirefarm : ∀ chat with Boris Jim and Ado got me, but good. I am SO gullible sometimes....
Pour voir lever le soleil
Le soleil, un rève, est là, a l'Est, juste après l'horizon. Le tempérament accabré du désir, ma monture, s'éforce contre l'unique corde, robuste et solide, qui me retient. Longtemps ai-j'essayé de défaire ce noeud damné. À défaut de volonté suffisamant...
Feeling quite smug
like a bug in a rug... Two white nights working on this here weblog design. IE bugs yet to squash (of course), but whatever. Sorry. I love it. You? Downloaded and watched Miyazaki's "Kaze no tani no Nausicaa (Nausicaa of...
The straight line
Mould Manifesto against Rationalism in Architecture In 1952 I spoke of the civilization of make believe, the one we must shake off, myself, the first of all! I spoke of columns of gray men on the march toward sterility...
IM conversations
Following my previous post, I thought again about all the hilarious IM conversations I have on a daily basis. (Most of the really funny ones being, oddly enough, with two people who have almost the same name... ) I am...
IQ?
"The True IQ Test" (URL removed - it's a marketing stint and after some thought I figured I don't want to encourage 'em.) Congratulations, bopuc! Your IQ score is 127 This number is based on a scientific formula that compares...
Another step
I just took the first step in terminating a business relationship with a client who's been paying my rent for over 3 years. It isn't a question of money (I'll have to replace the income somehow) and it certainly isn't...
Serendipity
I love it. After posting the previous post (about culture democracy blah blah blah) I, of course, went out to have a drink. Ended up staying until closing, but not without having some great conversations with Boris (the only other...
Corruption, culture and democracy
"I think a general government necessary for us, and there is no form of government but what may be a blessing to the people if it is well administered; and believe farther that this is likely to be well...
Party party party party
I am a huge Bran Van 3000 fan. Their music IS Montreal, to me at least. Especially in the summer. For the past week I've had them on heavy rotation in my song lists. However, this song (temporary - 4.5meg...
Mobile
I finally went out and got a cameraphone. Well, it's actually way more than that but anyways. So I have begun "moblogging" like a fiend. You may have noticed. I am sending pics to both my own MT-based MobiLog AND...
So embarrassing...
Here I am, the de facto über geek of my local social network, and I am left ex-communicado ... Just received an SMS from a buddy asking me what the plan is for tonight. Said buddy has never called or...
The Passion of the Keeerist
Warning: The following may be profuse in profanities, obtuse in obscenities and generally not fit for reading by good christians. I do not mean to offend, only to perhaps displace, for a second, faith. A temporary suspension of belief, as...
Rastafarwe
I am wearing this t-shirt by one Geoff McFetridge, at this moment, as a pot of pho bo (vietnamese beef broth) simmers in the kitchen. Roast onions, garlic and ginger under broiler until burnt. Cover beef bones with water...
It's over, it's over, it's ooooooveeeer
"Notre Père, qui est aux Cieux, que ton nom soit sanctifié..." (Our Father, in french) GodDAMN. SEVEN days?! SEVEN DAYS! Seven days of sore joints, of tingling skin, of cold sweats, of confusion and dementia... over! Finally. The hardware issues...
A week wasted
I've been back one week now. I had exactly 36 hours between arriving and falling ill. I've had the flu for 5 days. Yesterday I gave in and went to the "clinic". Normally a flu lasts 2, 3 days max...
Purge
Spring cleaning "au max". Any article of clothing I have had for more than 3 years, and which I have not worn in at least a year, in a bag and off to the Salvation Army. Pantry and fridge will...
Don't believe everything you read
Over breakfast Jim was going through a magazine... - "Oh that's right, you don't like cafés... you wrote about that..." My reply: - "Oh, right, well, err... You know, that thing (this blog) is such an amalgamation of different aspects...
Spending lavishly
Everyone's asking for a blog entry about Tokyo. The title sums it up nicely. A lunch of yakitori in an alleyway counter in Shinjuku the size of my washroom cost about $35. I've been here a week now. Three to...
Avez-vous déja? ça vous arrive?
Ai-je vraiement déja connu l'amour? Ou fut-ce purement le désir fulgurant d'y croire? Je l'ignore, et ce fait me décortique à l'écoeurement. ça vous arrive de vouloir tomber en amour? L'envie de tout oublier, de tout laisser et de vous...
Skewed logic
Nika: I only blog from work. I don't even have a computer at home! Aaron: Hm. Me: If I didn't have a computer at home, I'd kill myself. Silence Maciej: I'd just go out and buy one... Does that...
Time flies
Seems I just got back, but already I am scampering to finalize travel arrangements which have me taking off within a week. Mid-march will be spent in Austin, Texas for SxSW and a few days in Tampa, Florida, visiting the...
Whistling in the dark
For years I have been regularly singing a little song to myself, and sometimes a bit louder for others. To me it speaks of the madness of symbols. To those who hear me sing it, it speaks of the madness...
Baseball
One night about a week before leaving for the ETech Conference/Digital Democracy Teach-In, and just after having spent some time hanging out with the very cool Dean For America gang, I caught "Field of Dreams" playing on late-night television. I...
I think we may have a problem here
It is becoming more and more clear that I may have a bit of a "substance dependance" situation. Over my two weeks in California, I barely drank alcohol and rarely smoked any cigarettes. While at ETech, and again in San...
Skipping stone
I grew up on a four and half acre piece of forest where the Lake of Two Mountains flows into the Rivière Des Prairies. Our immense Tudor style home was on the western tip of Ile Bizard, at the end...
Revisiting ironies
I just got an impulse to drive out to the suburbs where I grew up and visit the private french school I attended for eleven years. It was the kind of business where we wore uniforms, stood when the beloved...
The Merry Blues
Manu Chao Esperanza listen (temporary) So many nights With your shadow in my bed. So many nites Baby you whisper in my head. So many nites Sing along the Merry Blues. So many nites... I told you once. I told...
I lied and the Ville de Montreal are jerkoffs
I ended last night's entry about the whole snowclearing/parking fiasco by stating that by 3am my street had been cleared. This was a lie; a bit of poetic license I exercised to give the story a nice ending. Not to...
Oh I so didn't need this though
After the trek up Mount Royal, I came back to see that the signs were up indicating the snowplows would be clearing the side of the street I was parked on, sometime between 7pm and 7am. So I shoveled...
Lawnmower Man meets the Puppet Master
Part of an e-mail exchange with Aaron: > I WANT what Kevin Warwick is working on! Hrm... Garr... :\ Ah come on, Boris. I know Kevin's all about thinking inside the body but try thinking outside the blog. You want...
And on that note
Cleaned up in here. No more violet. Decided not to drive myself batty with color choices, so grayscale it is, with a touch of red. Four thirty in the morning. Sheesh. Odd, possibly tangential observation. Three hours ago I was...
Ohhhh design
I few years back I worked in an honest-to-goodness (emphasis on the goodness) design firm. Small, cool, fun, good friends, great space... sigh... Back then, I was surrounded by design. Everyday I'd check out the various design websites and the...
Relief from e-mail
For as long as I can remember, I've had my MUA (Mail User Agent... or email client) check my mail every two minutes. Yes, every two minutes. In hindsight, I realise that was insane. So every two minutes I'd go...
Somewhere in Mid-Pacific Timezone
That is where I seem to be right now. I wake up no earlier than noon. I do odd jobs, chores, tasks throughout the day. I cook; soups, roasts.. stuff. Not until around 9pm EST do I feel the clarity...
Identity crisis
This weblog is experiencing a mild idenity crisis. Please stay tuned. We are on top of the situation (and I am well)... Just, bare with us. ;) (Hint: the decision is made: A second blog will be spawned to contain...
Oh... damn... no...
I trashed two backups of my User folder without checking if the Panther Upgrade actually kept all my files and settings. There were indicators that it hadn't; I should have thought of checking. I was hurrying and had had two...
Semi-conscious
In Joi's posting today, he quips:I remember thinking in the dream, "oh, I should blog this... " Judging from the comments, some folks find this strange and funny. I don't find it either. I think it's perfectly natural. Whenever you...
Meanwhile in Tokyo ...
... it's been my birthday for about six hours. :) And I'm sitting here working......
Mother of mercy!
Ka-Pow! The cup of Lavazzo Qualita Oro espresso I just brewed, stove-top stylee, is SO strong... "How strong is it Bopuc?!" Well let me tell you... It's so strong it picked me up by my ankles and, dangling me upside...
Random thoughts
Fall is for opera and classical music on CBC, stone-oven baked pizza and red wine on Laurier, the turning of leaves on Mont Royal, cashmere sweaters and closet-scented scarves. The warmth and glow to stave off the still unaccustomed cold....
So far so good
Adjusting to newfound freedom is going well. Slowly disciplining myself to stay on track. Slowly changing my work environment to stay on track. Tacking care of loose ends to assure financial stability for the next few months. Dentist appointment. Garage...
How do I hate banks? Let me count the ways.
- "So, once I have this US money in my US account, I can simply transfer it to my regular checking account and it will be converted into CND funds?" - "Yes" - "And of course I can do this...
What is my life?
Is my life jet-setting between Tokyo, New York and Montreal? Is my life hacking GUI code? Is my life sipping lattés with hipsters? Having dinners with visionaries? Is my life driving too fast? Is my life drinking too much? Is...
Pffffaaahahahaa
Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology : Scorpio Horoscope Scorpio Horoscope for week of October 9, 2003 You are potentially a genius. Maybe not in the same way that Einstein and Beethoven were, but still: You possess some capacity or set...
"To hell with culture"
To Hell with CultureSir Herbert Read (1893-1968).Leading poet, publisher, educational theorist and social reformer, who was one of the most influential art critics of the twentieth century. Having only read the introduction thus far, I wish to share with you...
You know it's time to go when
So finally had a sit down with my "boss-boss", the guy who founded the company and came for me and pulled me into this job over 3 years ago. My two main responsibilities here were 1- for the R&D department,...
What a rush
Some folks are getting fired for or because of blogging (and some folks are talking about them). I, always one to go against the crowd... just handed in my letter of resignation... for blogging....
What was I thinking?
I had a coffee after dinner... at 9pm... I'mnot going to sleep anytime soon... But I have to be up early tomorrow to move into my cubicle! Sheeeesh....
This how it should be
Sitting in my living room, WiFi to iBook, shared iTunes music library, coffee, smoke, writing. Tomorrow I go back to the office where I will be forced to move from my cubby to a cubicle with 3 other people. How...
Auspicious portends?
Standing on Park Avenue after dinner tonight, watching people walk by, I thought to myself: "Is it really possible... Will I meet the Dalai Lama someday?" A buddhist monk, garbed in orange and ochre, walked by at just that moment,...
More dreams
I've dreamt about this day. I've dreamt about this IRC conversation and the phone-call it sparked. I've dreamt about every minute before it and every minute after it. I've dreamt about the euphoria and anxious anticipation caused by the words...
"My mind is going, Steve..."
"Jetzt wird's haglich" my mother would say. "Now it's getting down to the wire" would be an approximation of the sentiment expressed. I absolutely must get a notebook computer a.s.a.p. Bouncing between the G4 at work and the one...
Archives
I went through a stack of old CD backups of mine. This picture is me circa the age of, ohhh, five maybe? Four? I had totally white hair. Really. I also found the "family christmas web card" I did...
Dry season
Between work work, favor work, pro bono work and fun work, squeezed in with jogging, partying, relaxing and IRC'ing, here is a quick entry to say that life is good. Busy as heck, but good. And it's about to...
In the stars? What?
My horoscope in Metropolis/Japan Today states: SCORPIO Your mind may revel in the many twists and turns it needs to make this week. Friday and Saturday, the influence of the Moon wakes up your spirit. The sleeping gypsy inside you...
Busted...
Ok. You got me. Here's why I'm REALLY going to Japan. 1st International Moblogging Love Hotel Conference :P~...
Float
I've been online since only 1996 or so, but I have never gotten into IRC (Internet Relay Chat)... until this past week. It is total virtual world immersion/time limbo induction. The week gone by seems like a speck of dust...
Single black band
I was just informed that a tattoo of a single black band on one's arm possibly has negative symbolic connotation in Japan, indicating a convict (person who is jailed for a crime). Can anyone verify this for me? How about...
Concentrate dammit!
I know EXACTLY where i want to be. Always have. I just, for the life of me, cannot seem to focus on just how to get there dammit. It's all just *one* step away from me... ever so ever so...
I need to go
I can barely stand it anymore.. or is it just today? I need to find a way that will allow me to be on my way. What will I do? I don't know. Where will i go? Well, let's start...
Edi
Remembering Well sort of. I can't believe I forgot until now... almost midnight and passed the date. My father passed away today four years ago after a heart attack put him in a coma for 3 days. He was a...
A startling realisation
I've always known this inherently of course, which is always the case I suppose. It has however just popped full center in my awareness: I am too physically lazy to write. Be it code or other stuff, I, without fail,...
SxSW
Shall I drive? I must thank the plankers for this outstanding opportunity by sharing with me their good fortune. I'm going to SxSW! Yay!...
Pey-ew
I decided to actually get to work on time today. So I stumbled out of the house, half asleep. I picked my clothes, half asleep. Half asleep, I thought I could wear this t-shirt one... more... day. Wrong. Thankfully, I...
Ok, here's the deal:
I am going to write... something... a book or an attempt of some such thing, entirely online. I've set up a Wiki system and anybody will be allowed to comment, annotate, spell-check (hehehe) the texts. I'm aiming mid-january to begin,...
Now I've done it...
I caved in, plunked down the plastic and now own a 10Gig iPod. It's cute... The interface is... acceptable considering the constraints. I'll have to completely re-jig how I deal with my huge MP3 collection, as well as my contacts...
A dream is a dream is a dream...
and some dreams just can't come true, no matter how badly we want them to....
Pasghetti
I.. um... break my spaghetti in half before cooking it. Linguine, spaghetini, fettucini... If it's long, it's getting cracked. I've had guests go into convulsions over this. So now I ask if/when cooking pasta for a visitor. Is it so...
Boris
Anthony
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