Webster's Falls

Bon Echo 2007

It'd be interesting...

... to see how much the skyline changes every year.



... to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women.

Slap the chains on...

I'm SO ready to be a corporate slave.

I just came home from a 3-day corporate offsite event at Blue Mountain. Tons of fun - I mean, how could it not be? Free food, free drinks.

Last night, I drank my age. From 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm, I had 8 scotches (=8). Over a dinner of salmon and roast beef, I had a Canadian, followed by a coffee with Liqueur (=9). After dinner, I had 12 more scotches, until the bar closed at 11:00 pm (=21), at which point, the party moved to one of my colleague's suites. There, I proceeded to have 6 ryes (=27). So really, I drank more than my age. Went to bed at 3:00 am, got 4 hours of sleep. I still made it to the 8:00 am breakfast, and the 8:30 am meeting, before stepping out for a few minutes to lose my breakfast in the bathroom. Oh well. It was still fun as hell.

busy busy busy

*chuckle

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=231

I'm so busy nowadays... Hopefully, once all these army weekends have blown over, I'll have a little more time.

Easter 2008 Cancelled

Update Part 4

I can totally associate with people who complain that they don't use their gym membership nearly enough. I think I've used the gym for maybe... 3 hrs 30 minutes total in 1 and a half months. Course, I got the first month free, but I still don't feel like I'm taking full advantage of my membership. The problem is that I go to sleep too late and can't wake up early enough to go before work. I pretty much have to wake up at 6am to have enough time so that I'm not rushed. Means I have to go to bed at 11pm... which is a hard thing for me to do. I'm too young to sleep at 11.

So many of my mom's Orchids are in bloom. About time to prune the Jasmine too, before I boot it outside for the warm months.

Click to Enlarge

Update Part 3

So this update is about my maternal Grandfather. He's visiting for 5 weeks because his wife, my evil step-grandmother, took a vacation to Hong Kong. She can't take care of him (because she doesn't want to bring him to Hong Kong with her), so she sent him to Toronto. By 'sent,' I mean, told us he's coming, and assumed we'd buy him airfare (which we did).

He's cute, like koala bear cute. He does this thing where he looks at you, half surprised, half stunned, smiling slightly. Unfortunately, behind that cute stunned look is the truth that he is honestly stunned. The guy's pretty senile.

One of my Mom's pet peeves with her dad is the fact that he believes he lives in Hong Kong. That'd be cool except that he's been living in Vancouver for the last 20 odd years. Funnily enough, he also knows that he lives in Vancouver. So, how does he rationalize this in his head? Well, it's simple really. Vancouver must be a part of Hong Kong. So, he's constantly asking us what the exchange rate is. Cdn dollars are actually Hong Kong dollars, and he needs to exchange those for Cdn dollars. When we try to explain to him that Vancouver and Toronto are actually both in Canada, and both very far from Hong Kong, he doesn't belive us. Refuses also to believe the atlases of the world, which we show him.

My step-grandmother is one of those loud-mouthed obnoxious middle aged Hong Kong ladies you see at the market all the time. She's a gold-digger. Complete waste of space. It was my Grandfather's birthday last weekend. She didn't even call. Must be having too much fun in HK with my Grandad's money. I'll waste no more space on that topic.

Update Part 2

So, I'm sure most of you know that I did something bad to my MCL. All I can say is that physio really really works. After my 40 minute physio session, there was absolutely no pain in my knee. It was almost as if my injury never happened. I should have gone for physio earlier if I knew how super effective it was.

I've got a lot of my mobility back, some power, but not enough for King's Court just yet. I think physio will turn out to be something that makes me stronger than before my injury. Stronger, not just in a physical sense, but also in balance and coordination.

Another bunch of my mom's orchids are in bloom. More to come.

Barb Leslie Rutherford - Mother and Soul Mate
By her husband

Barb was my personal discovery, a settling force in my life - that endeared her to my father and most certainly calmed the worry of my mother for her eldest son that I’m sure – like all mothers – was on her mind at her passing.

It was a summer eve in 1978 when I met my Barb – 10 girls had swept into the local dance hall in Collingwood.

I was there promoting a sport resort – fresh from the brief, yet “scatteringly” life I led in Europe – in wide tan cords – tucked into my Bally boots – a white shirt and narrow tie with a green wool sweater draped around my shoulders ---

NOT your average dress for Collingwood at the time, I approached the table of girls.

I saw Barb – laughing – one of the group – not the party animal of the pack – but one of those people that have an inner sweetness that friends and strangers gravitate to – she had this Farrah Fawcett hair and beautiful brown eyes – and like all others, I was attracted to her. I asked her to dance – tossed my sweater to one of the girls so I had a reason to go back to Barb’s table.

And from that point on, we’ve been dancing together for 29 years.
One does not look out or within,
One does not look side to side,
Nor forward to back to figure how such a thing of beauty came into my life.

But rather one is urged when seeking a soul mate to look up – for there the stars shine – for there in the heavens if you’re lucky – you’ll gaze upon your own personal shooting star leaving a trail of beauty along her path – my star was Barb.

Regardless of one’s spiritual or religious convictions there are core tenets to human behavior that have been handed to us over the eons of civilization that are common to man.

- Success is more than making money
- Life is hard – not always fair
- Life can be fun
- We live by choice
- Attitude is choice
- Being thankful is a habit
- Good people build their lives on a foundation of respect
- Honesty is the best policy
- Kind words cost little but accomplish much
- It’s okay to fail – but not to wallow
- Life is simple when you know what’s essential,

These tenets are but trail markers, fundamental truisms put on life’s path by Sages, Prophets, and the Son of God to guide each one of us in our efforts to achieve a personal sense of goodness and fulfillment. The path isn’t new but cut deep and rutted by generations before – I learned many of these tenets from my parents – but I learned much from my wife on how to apply them – for her wealth was great and measured by the outpouring of loss by all those who have been touched by her.

For me Barb personified wisdom – a wise and loving counselor to her family – a counselor to me in business and in the business of life together.

She was hardworking, dedicated to her sons and husband – a woman of inexhaustible energy.

She enjoyed happy and humorous circumstances and from her – joy radiated to others.

She found strength in humility and was truly blessed for her ability to touch other people – fried or new acquaintance – rich and poor, and take a true, genuine and abiding interest in their needs.

My shooting star was a wife of noble character – an honor for me to have been her husband, to share her life and to give her children.

How does one fill a vacuum created by the loss of such a genuine person – you do through memories of laughter, to live her tenets and complete common dreams.

To become your own star, so that one day – at God’s choosing – he will see fit to allow me to dance in the heavens with my Barb again.

-Forbes Rutherford
In Memoriam,
Barbara Leslie Rutherford,
January 26, 1955 – March 18, 2007

Belated Update Part 1

I meant to post a lot earlier, but I've been pretty busy at work. A lot's happened recently, but because I know some of you have short short short attention spans, I'll have to spread the news out over a week or so.

So, for those of you who don't know, the Black 2-Door '03 Civic is gone. I smashed it into a pole a few weeks ago, and even though I was able to drive away from that one, the frame got a little bent out of shape. By 'a little,' I mean, the tires were rubbing up against the front panels. Airbags deployed, windshield cracked, Damage to the hood, the two front panels, the bumper, a headlight, the grill, and the frame got a little bent out of shape.

But don't worry. I'm okay. I'm okay in more than that sense too. Shit happens in three's right? I got a parking ticket, I fucked up my knee, and I smashed the car. There - that's three.

So, I drove a Hyundai Elantra around for a few weeks, and my family just bought a new car. By 'my family,' I mean me. Yes, it was quite a financial blow, or rather, it will be when I start paying the new insurance rate. Please allow me to introduce the newest member of the family: Blue 4-Door Honda Civic '06. Took it out for a spin last night, and I'm pretty impressed. It's better than the old one in just about all respects. At first, I was displeased with the digital speedometer and display, but after about 15 minutes, I really started to appreciate it. It's still got that 'new car smell' and feel too, even though it's second-hand.

Anyway, that's about it for now.

Next update: My knee.

iTunes

It's a love-hate relationship. I really like iTunes. I like the layout, the unobstructive user-friendliness, I even like iTunes Store, Free Podcasts and it's intimate relationship to my iPod. Mainly, the library and the interface really appeal to me. I guess it also helps that I can no longer update my Media Player due to that Windows Genuine itch that I can't quite scratch.

Unfortunately, when I play music on iTunes, there's a crackling/skipping in the sound that isn't there when I use Windows Media Player or any other player. So What The HELL? Apparently, some other PC users have the same issues with the latest release of iTunes, and the fixes that work for some of them don't work for me. It's too bad I guess...

As a player, iTunes serves my music needs so much better than Media Player, except that I can't enjoy my music.

*picture removed because it messed with my blog's format*

Create your own visited countries map

As you can see, I'm not as accomplished as Irene. I'll get there though... like when I'm 80 or something.

-d

My new iPod

Thanks Jess.

Should have taken off...

Yeah. What the title says. I should have left the country last week, as most of my plans kinda fell through - and those were the only things holding me back. Let's take a look at what helped make my decision to stay.

The dinner - I could have hosted that on a subsequent weekend.

Multisport - we lost, so it's not like I would have been missed.

Work at Main Drug Mart was optional. I'll work now that I know I'm stuck here at home and I've got nothing better to do.

The networking night fell apart after the snow-fall, but that was planned last-minute too. Fuck, if that night wasn't a total waste of time.

Spinning with Mr. G was good, but again, could have been done on another day.

Tonight's festivities have fallen through, despite long-standing plans.

I could have memo'ed ahead of time and skipped army on Friday, and arrived some time on Saturday.

So what the hell am I doing in Toronto? I could be on a cruise in the Bahamas, boozing and smoking in the Dom. Rep., or even Cuba again. Instead, I'm gonna work at MDM tonight, make some cash, and spend myself back to contentedness. On a good note, I've been working out so much (out of boredom) that I've lost some flab and gained another 2 lbs. Whatever.

So apparently, a lot of flower shops took a beating yesterday because the supply of fresh flowers was unable to move out of distribution centres due to the unavailability of trucks getting held back by the inclement weather.

Bored and Annoyed,

-d

Like Charlie

I was invited on a tour of the Cadbury Chocolate Factory on Gladstone Ave. (Dufferin and College, downtown). It was everything I hoped and more. As soon as you walk through the doors, the smell of chocolate just hits you.

I came away with a loot bag FULL of stuff, including fresh Caramilk bars right off the line. Plus, I know, first hand, what the Caramilk secret is now. I watched those suckers being made.

I think I'm gonna love this job.

Dinner's on me next weekend.

As promised, I will try to arrange a dinner next weekend (Feb 10/11). Originally planned out of spite, from the Tremblant plans falling through, I've decided instead to make it a celebration.

Yesterday, I received my contract from Cadbury Adams Canada Inc. for a 6 month full-time job in their Regulatory Affairs department. I'll be working with Marketing to ensure label compliance. It's entry level, in the foods industry rather than drugs, but I still see the potential for a good future. Hopefully, I'll be such a pornstar that they'll offer me a full-time indeterminate position when my contract is up. I start on Feb 19.

Anyway, I've learned some lessons about the job hunt in the last month-and-a-half.

I sent out approximately 30-35 resumes and applications. Maybe about a third of those were cold, the rest were in response to postings. Out of those 30-35, I got 2 interviews, one of which resulted in this job offer. So, that's about a 6% response rate, 3% success rate. I remember my Dad telling me that when he was job hunting, he sent out 40 resumes, got maybe a 10% response rate and a 3% success rate. So really, during the process of job hunting, while the rate of return seems discouraging, perseverance seems to pay off.

The Cadbury job was referred to me by Leslie Yang - you all remember Leslie from Haig, right? Anyway, I honestly believe that if I didn't have her help, I wouldn't even have warranted an interview. So, like the Career Centre at U of T says, networking is critical in finding a job. We have friends in all different kinds of industries, who have working siblings and friends. Towards the end, I even thought about Facebook - after all, it originally started as a networking tool for university grads. In retrospect, I would say that more of my effort should have been focused on networking rather than responding to published ads and postings.

While preparing for my interview, I explored a lot of the kinds of questions that managers like to ask. I mean, we all know the typical ones and how to answer, but I was more interested in the WHY behind the question. Why would a manager ask a particular question, and what does my answer tell them? For the longest time, those damn behavioural questions stumped me. I thought they were the stupidest things ever. As I researched interview techniques and stuff like that, I came to realize that those questions are designed to establish if a certain behaviour is normal for you. By that, I mean given a difficult situation, how could you be expected to react? The key here is specificity. The rationale is if you can come up with a specific and recent response, it's something that you know how to deal with, because you deal with it regularly. The only issue I take with behavioural questions now is that I feel they're only effective if the candidate has some solid work experience. Without daily interaction with co-workers or team-mates, the opportunity to come across difficult and relevant situations is rare. Basically, what I'm saying is that they're great tools for interviewers, but only if the interviewee has work experience. Asking behavioural questions to undergrads or high school students is still stupid, in my opinion (U of T Faculty of Pharmacy, I'm talking to YOU).

Anyway, I learned a lot, and I think those three points were the highlight of my experience in the last little while. Besides that stuff, I learned quite a bit about cover letters and resumes, and I compiled a list of potential interview questions, and general pointers on how to answer them. So, if anybody needs help in their job hunt, feel free to hit me up.

Vanilla

This plant sprouted something like a hundred of these flowers. Makes the whole room smell like sweet vanilla.

We Will Rock You

Is anybody interested in going with me to see this show, We Will Rock You?

It's like $70-90 per ticket, and the show starts in late March. Anyone interested? I'd like to get some half-decent seats, but it appears that we're doomed to sit in the wings on the floor or in the mezzanine. I'm cool with that.

Just email/msn me or leave a comment if you're interested, or if you can get me some kind of deal. I'll organize this one if there's anyone out there that'll go with me.

-d