Daft Charleston!

I just love reading Ctrl-Alt-Del, not only because of the comic, but because the author is hilarious in his blog. And when he gets tired - this is what follows:




What can I say - +50 Humor.

Setting Goals and Having Fun

Once upon a time, I was overheard muttering the following words:

"I hate Blogging.... I always forget to post regularly..."

Clearly, I was not overstating reality, or writing a large work of fiction when I uttered those words - they are simply true.

So this will be a general update and dump of my mind and emotions right now... so if you had expected something serious (or something in Swedish.. sorry Mom), please stop reading. I've been pretty casual and my mind I think have been cluttered up with too much relaxation to have been able to spawn a generally serious thought....

#Begin Dump/Mental Enema

Unemployment and Opportunistic Employers

Wow... yea this is one beef I've been wanting to squeeze out for a long time, but thought I'd be civil about it and give people opportunity to correct them self. But after pouring 4+ years of my life into something I did not fully believe in myself, I find it lacking that there is people out there in the world that think they can control things by screaming and belittle people around them.

I'm also sad to say I wish the former employer had never gone through with the sale of the company, and especially to someone who clearly had no clue about the important thing in the industry. Or if they did, they did not bother to follow what decent people would think they should care of anyway...

Am I vague enough for lawyers and anyone seriously reading this in the hopes of squash any claim to my potential 3k-4k of (in my opinion) missing severance? Well... I've moved on. So I hope both the CEO and the CFO can go about their master plan* of closing down the Montreal office and getting rid of the front people that actually make sure that there is any money at all going into the company. Oops... was that my outside voice?? Well.. guess Normes du Travail don't read my blog, so they should be safe.

(* No actual knowledge of any master plan exist - I just go on my observation and what I've seen of the action of the two. )


Opening My Own Business

I have to say that it's always been my dream to create something of my own, or run something for myself... something that depends on me alone (or as the boss) and to be able to set my own hours. What is getting painfully clear to me at this moment on, is that I will never be able to do this from within Quebec.

"But you can cater to Anglophones only..." or "Then why not move out from the province, silly?" are both things I've told myself could work.. but I'm a realist at heart, something some people seem to not understand. Realist, and a Swede. If I cant do something, fine.. let me wallow in my misery and after that find something else to pine about. Just dont make me pissed, cause we all know that the Angry Swede(tm) is a mighty force, only standing second to the mighty Mother Nature... (or an annoyed wife that wont take more bitching about how everyone should learn English so I can service them with my awesome company, despite region).


Job Opportunities

In my whole life, I've had the great (mis)fortune of always applying to one place and getting it. If I've applied to several opportunities, the first one would always be the one that first contacted me and ended up giving an offer I could either not resist, or was enough to figure "I can live on that" and see what happens.

When I came to Canada, it was pretty much the same... I was doing my hunting before hand, initiated my profile on the job search sites and was getting calls directly after, with the first company that was fast enough to make an offer be the one I got into. At the same time, informing everyone else that called that I was "off the market, since I already accepted an offer".

Now recently, I started hunting again... and my predictable pattern of behavior shattered when I applied for two jobs at the same time. You see - I was having some problems with sending my CV through my mail, and ended up writing both letter to two companies at the same time, sending it off at virtually the same time as well.

Some might at this point ask.. "So?", and would probbaly kill me when I mentioned that again, one company was fast in all the interviews and scouring through my history and references, and offered me a pretty nice position. I'm sure I would have had no problems at all in that new and exciting field... but at the same time I was having interviews with the second company. This second company took their time, and did not have an actual interview until two days after I got my offer... at which point I had to accept or turn down the first offer.

At this point, there are moments where I'm beating myself to a pulp for not going with the sure thing I had firm on paper. But after that interview with the second company, I was faced with the problem of either accepting a lesser paid job I had in my hand, or one that paid up to 25% more and required travel.

People kept telling me to take the job anyway, keep silent about the continuing process with the second job and then leave if I got it... but thats not me. That has never been me and I refuse to believe I might end up like that in the future. Not this Swede!

So there.. if I don't get this second job, I will go out and burn $300 I don't have on strong alcohol and really be hammered. T & G, feel free to drag me out and make sure the shots keep coming if that happens!



Depressed or Lonely?

I think the hardest part of getting laid off was coming to the realization that I don't have a social life and I'm a miserable fat guy, too depending on a computer to feel alive. My limited social life have always been work, or in the off chance I had friends nearby, the geeky friends I played various games with in a social setting.

So - should I be depressed or just feel lonely? Not very appealing options, eh? (<-- Blatant Canadian thing.) Bah! I'll just ignore myself and go frag some Spetznats Infantry or Tanks as an SAS Apache Heli Ace Pilot on my favorite Ghost Town server.


Movie Trailers that Rock

Well... what can I say. The Iron Man trailer is really making me want to fast forward to May 2, 2008.


#End Dump/Mental Enema


Well.. that was sufficiently depressing, wasn't it? :)

A lesson to learn: The Division Bell is mighty powerful very, very late at night and might make you write things you normally should not dump into blogs.

Best Part In Cinema...

... is without a doubt the new trailers you get to see.

Like the following movie, which I'm pretty convinced will hook both me AND my daughter on an epic adventure that is not something we have yet written. Or at the least it's not Tolkien. :)

The Golden Compass:



And yes - I DO know my daughter is only almost 5.
She watches Yu-gi-oh and Di-Gata, something much more perverse and mind controlling than any movie violence.

You think I'm wrong? You think it's just a nice and neat kid show that animators create for their own fun and story and no one is having an hidden agenda? Think again.

At least action and movie violence is extreme enough not to be taken (in 99.999% of the cases) serious enough.

Frustration, Ranting and General Tidbits

So I've gotten to the point where I have several things to vent about... but nothing that really deserves it's own entry.

So here goes:

#[Begin Rant A]

What is WRONG with Unions and Syndications here in Quebec? Have they created a system in which would automatically cause a strike every two years? Have anyone ever heard of planning ahead and starting a long time a head of the looming strike deadline?

Honestly, I think Quebecers just love to mess around with people and tosses out strike notice left and right, just because they can. PLAN IN ADVANCE! *mutters about silly people*

#[End Rant A]

#[Begin Rant B]

How can the world have such talented writers that can torment an entire population of Heroes fans and still revolve around the sun. Do we REALLY have to wait to October (or worse, January 2008! *gasps*) before Heroes start again?

It almost seem unfair that Heroes have all the good ones and Lost have lost so many things that made it a promising Series. Yes - I'm a Lost Basher! :)

#[End Rant B]

#[Begin Rant C]

Why is people always making a garden out of a flower (is that a saying?), or cant see the tree for the forest (or is that one backwards)?
Why cant people think before they jump, or ask before they assume? Investigate before they ignore? Or be quiet when others want to say something?
Why cant people stop using the word "cant" and start using the word "can, with some time"?

#[End Rant C]

Oh well... cant really remember all the rest i needed to rant about - I just know it was good and frustrating at the time.

Taxi – The Weird Traveling

I’ve been thinking a lot on what it might take for a person to become a taxi driver. Clearly it never requires directional skills or knowledge of the city – no, that seems to be an extra perk you might pay extra for. And you’ll pay even more if the driver actually knows his way around.

Cynical, am I?

Let’s see – Whenever I am REALLY late and I feel I have enough of my spending money to burn on Taxi, there are some facts that always seems to happen.

• I ALWAYS get a black guy who barely can speak. Sign language ftw!
• They NEVER know where Cavendish is, so backtracking skills are essential (Cavendish -> Thimmens -> Marcel Laurent -> Henri Bourassa)
• If no directions are given, you KNOW he’s either following the busiest bus route, or decides to brave the 40.
• It will always cost 20% more than you think.

I do have to admit that there are good drivers around, decent people with decent lives, holding decent conversations… and some even get you from point A to point B in the fastest way possible. Imagine that!

Famous rides I’ll never forget:

• Taxi from Cote Vertu Mall where I seemed to have been picked up before the guy was to make his last deposit before the bank closed. It seemed like a life or death thing, and God knows death was a HUGE factor. The entire trip took less than 9 minutes – something normally going on 20 – 25. Halfway he was wondering if I had a problem with speeds, since he was in a hurry. “Hell No, as long as I am alive when we get there” was my response. He laughed and thought I was joking. I was not.

• The newly minted driver who had never been in St-Laurent and picked me up at the Metro, to go to a friend of mine living (it turned out) about 10 min walking distance from the metro. Had I known that then, I would have saved about 30 min off the trip, and tons of $$$.

• The old man who was a pro taxi driver (clearly, cause he was very friendly and had a infectious smile that made you think “I got to tip” even before he started driving) that missed the turn to get to Marcel Laurent, and the 2 following exits, before going around in the wrong place, trying to get his bearing. Granted, he did stop the meter after realizing his problems and we still arrived without problems, but still… I gave a large tip.

In the end, I probably think that being a taxi driver is amongst the high end jobs available for people. Where else can you see the sights of a city for free, get to meet people on a daily basis and get money for simply being friendly? Although you have lots of dead time and you run the risk of being robbed and stuff… I can still see why so many people want to be drivers.

Life is Hard?

Last night I was busy doing absolutely nothing in front of the TV, watching TLC as always, when the story of Abby and Brittany Hensel was aired.

For those that don't know these two girls, I can start off by saying that they are conjoined twins, and they are both amazing!

I cant (and I'm pretty much thinking not many people can) think of how hard it must have been for these girls to grow up... and to discover that they are pretty much unique in most things. It's awesome to see that they don't really mind people asking them questions, discovering that they are in fact two real people stuck together and that they dont like the same things, clothes, food and (I'm pretty sure) boys.

And then people, in full control of their body, complain that life is hard? Really?

Life is what Life is.

Life and It's Inevitable Doom...

Well.... with a title like that, what else can be said...

First, I'd like to say that thanks to Sizel (http://www.lunarstorm.se/Sizel), I am yet again blogging. I'll probably fail at it eventually, like I have in the past... but until then - Wohoo! Blogging!