woxy is back!!

so i just noticed today that woxy is back and well… so am i!  here’s a brief timeline (thanks to The Enquirer):

October 1998: Oxford’s WOXY-FM (97.7) begins streaming audio on www.WOXY.com.
May 2004: WOXY.com ceases operation after Doug and Linda Balogh sell WOXY-FM for $5.6 million.
July 2004: WOXY.com returns as an Internet-only radio station from Longworth Hall.
February 2005: Named “Internet radio station of the year” by the international Plug Independent Music Awards.
February 2006: Asks listeners to pay $9.95 for audio stream access.
Sept. 15, 2006: Shuts down from lack of funds.
Oct. 10, 2006: Resumes broadcasting at 10:10 a.m.

ohh btw.. i was totally obsessed with woxy.com until they betrayed me by sticking a hook into my free-loving musical heart.. and then had the nerve to ask for ten bucks a month… grrr…(shit… i hung up posters for them… damn it!!)

anyways… here’s to woxy’s return and proof that music wants to be free!

hope they don’t screw up again!… and can’t wait for the return of the higher quality streams!

woot!

opportunity cost

i guess we all know that a continual ascension must lead to a point where it can no longer be sustained… however, it’s this level that we all strive to reach.. it’s this point that makes it all worth while and causes us do anything to protect it… but reaching this high spot usually just results in the start of a new low… a low that seems so low compared to the pinnacle you were just on…

to prevent this, i have always thought it was better to end something before it climaxed… intentional and definitive action can ensure nearly complete control over an outcome… unfortunately, this logical approach does not allow you to ever hit the absolute highest point… all it does, is protect you from hitting the lowest… in other words, it simply makes a great survival and proactive defense mechanism… however… can produce undesirable results during the best of times… during the discovery of great uncharted territories… in the places and situations that seem surreal and tend to excite… and it’s all these important experiences that suffer from this knee-jerk defensive reaction which can cause a premature retreat from your voyage…

i guess it’s still important not to jump off the edge… especially when there is still so much of the mountain to explore… but then again.. how else can i expect to use these wings i’ve grown and soar above the clouds…

thank you.

so today i received a little thank you postcard from starbucks.. and i am a little torn on how to feel about it…

And, here’s what the postcard said:

Because you’re a loyal auto-reload customer, we’re giving you a little gift: $15 loaded onto your Starbucks Card by August 23, 2006.

Use the $15 to treat yourself to that indulgent beverage you’ve always wanted to try, our latest musical offering or anything else you enjoy at Startbucks.

The choice is yours. Thank you and enjoy.

Your friends at Starbucks.

P.S. This amount will be loaded onto your Starbucks Card ending in 8529.

ok.. so on the surface, this is great… i open my mail box… and get told that i got $15 for free just for using a service that is absolutely the easiest, fastest and most convenient payment method around… also, just being acknowledged (albeit computer-generated) as a customer and rewarded for it… it’s this kind of stuff i am a sucker for (seriously, when was the last time ANY company gave you $15?)… which leads into why i am torn… since i know so many reasons why i should not—- naaa… no need to balance my argument… let’s leave this one open for debate… why should i feel fooled / hate starbucks?

opportunity

well… my mom left the city earlier this week and i have just finally regained my freedom over my surroundings… it’s not that she was really in my way.. but it just didn’t feel right with me living my life, with her ‘living in my life behind the scenes’…

anyways, things seem to be going well… work is busy… and only a little frustrating at times… but alison has been really cool.. so that helps… also, i’ve been hanging out with steph a bunch… which is interesting in all those fun ways that only occur when first getting to know someone new… ohh and flickr, i’ve been hooked ever since i broke-down and went pro… so be sure to check out my life… photographed sometime…

and for you central-canada based readers/vancouver apartment burglars… i’ll be back in ontario in a few weeks for jordan’s wedding… so hope to see/accommodate you then… (or maybe in october… which will be a longer, thanksgiving/dan’s wedding trip home)…

happy summer all!

true story.

so over the last month.. i have been all over the place.. first starting in chicago… where i attended a conference and overall had a great time… many exciting things happened like:

• meeting my real life next door neighbour from vancouver – true story.
• bar hopping and being silly with dan and jordan – thanks dudes.
• eating chicago-style pizza, great steak, and of course conference food.

from chicago i moved on to ontario.. where some activities included:

• killing the bottle of cognac i got at duty-free at my dad’s with janet
• reuniting with many of my old coworkers from western (andrei, andrew, chan, diane, jeff, michelle, nick)
• bbqing chicken, corn and potatoes in allison’s backyard
• meeting crissy (my only and awesome longtime internet pal) while enjoying dan and matt’s jam session… ohh and canoeing on uncle rick’s pond
• boating in the rain and many attempts at water skiing with andrei, his brother, and allison
• attending a blue jays vs yankees game with my mom and dan
• hanging out in the backwoods of scarborough with dan and leif
• getting lost in the niagara region, while wine tasting and stopping for a break in the park at the falls
• seeing and critiquing my dad’s new house with my sister
• eating hot wings and playing with remote controlled fans with kelly
• enjoying the ultimate feast at red lobster with my mom, sister and allison
• chatting and playing devils advocate with lindsey until the early am
• drinking with jason and allison on a roof top patio.
• losing at everything at jordan and lauren’s stag ‘n doe, except for the ‘guess the number of kisses’ that i co-won with phearum
• cruising around taking photos with jeff and jenn

ohh and since i have been back home…

• andrew and my mom have been sharing my living room – thanks steph for the air mattress. you’re the ….est!
• partied at my neighbour’s and went to honey with andrew, cameron and lauren.
• took a coop car in for tire repairs
• went apartment hunting with/for andrew
• developed a theory on the break-in that happened 2 doors over
• went to playland with cameron and kicked his ass at mini-putt

anyways.. there is so much more that i have not included… but hopefully, years from now.. this will be sufficient to remember the best parts of july 2006!!

technology and guise of security

ohhh… i love the joys and the hassles of having a crappy voip provider… mind you i can finally get my voicemail sent to my email, which is nice… however, it doesn’t seem to be quite that reliable… kuz today once i returned from a short afternoon trip to the usa… [which we just happened to get searched and detained by the ohh so ‘friendly’ (and confused) US border patrol… what? people don’t goto the usa just for krispy kream donuts? hahah, suckers] i had at least 6 emails with attempts at leaving an intentional and entire voicemail… however, all were cut short except this one that actually worked – it made me laugh quite a few times… and thought i’d share… hahah… thanks dan!

exodus 8:2

a brief hiatus from documenting and publicizing personal reflection especially after subjectively earning the stature of a trusted and reliable source of persistent and intimate analysis may wrongly suggest a crude disregard for it’s extrinsic value and may undeniably require a re-embarkment initiated with, no other than, an exceedingly long and possibly incomprehensible introductory sentence to validate and then discharge it. — damn!! it looks gorgeous outside today and I can’t wait until I finish this post, and get out there.

today, my vehicle of choice is a 2005 silver toyota prius, which I am quite excited to drive, since this will be my first hybrid experience and ever since I joined vancouver’s co-operative auto network the curiosity of how this thing operates and performs has been perpetually on my mind. also, and arguably more importantly, booking the car for just a few hours, gives me just enough of a kick in the ass, to get dressed, and leave the apartment before i end up watching magnolia again, or worse (given the nice weather out there)… continue to give into the unyielding allure of the world wide web and a maladjusted desire to sing aimee mann songs/covers (particularly one, wise up and save me) while surfing it.

anyways, that’s all for now, but i’ll leave you with the tagline from magnolia, since that somehow unintentionally became the dominant theme of this entry… here’s the instructions… read it once.. pause… and then read it again… but the second time, read it slowly and act it out… and ‘everything’ should become clear.

things fall down. people look up. and when it rains, it pours.

ps. maybe i’m just a freak, but it gives me goosebumps every time. hahaha…. cheers!

bright eyes

without much hesitation (damn you ticketmaster), last night i kicked off this year’s outdoor concert season with a short and sweet bright eyes show… the concert was at the malkin bowl in stanley park, which is a nice and cozy outdoor venue, well at least when compared to the old molson park in barrie ontario… anyways, i enjoyed the show… and just wanted to share… now only if i could remember that one line, in that one song, that made me think to myself “damn that’s a good line”… efff, i knew i should have voice memo’d it…

like a million bucks!

ahhh.. saturday morning afternoon after an evening out at the cellar with my old roomie… and all that remains is the gut rot i am enduring caused by the unnecessary mcdonalds and all that guinness (and red wine) i was consuming… so, in an effort to combat this hardship, i have made myself a caffè americano that i am drinking out of my shiny new travel mug which so far is working out quite well… it has a 360° drinking lid, which lets me drink from anywhere around the lid (just like you would from a normal non-travel mug) as well as, double wall insulation and a guaranteed leak-proof design… anyways, we’ll see how it holds up during my daily commute, when i am lugging around at least 15″ of powerbook, while listening to my ipod, trying to fold up my umbrella, so i can cram myself onto a bus with 120 other wet people, right before i whip out a book to read, while i sip on my preferred hot beverage of the morning and avoid spilling it on myself or others… haha.. we’ll see! anyways… the gut rot is almost gone now… just need to make myself some breakfast to close the deal, and let the day begin!

what’s next

i feel rather lost sitting here without a defined goal in mind. wait let me rephrase that… i feel rather lost sitting here without a defined strategy on how to achieve my long-term goals in the most pleasant and efficient way in mind… (ie. a wife, kids, house, waterfront cottage, boat, a need for car(s), power tools, an important career, etc…)

right now, i am simply going with the flow.. and basically that means every weekday i rudely awake from my quite entertaining dreams, have a shower, grab a coffee, jump on at least one bus and eventually end up at my designated work area… but amongst all this routine i also experience a few pleasant surprises… and it’s these small phenomena that remind me of how awesome it is to be me and what life is all about! but at work, you see… i have no idea what the next step is… and as time goes on i find myself getting trapped doing mundane tasks that any well-trained monkey could do while smoking a fine imported cigar.

but yeah.. the work stuff will be easy to figure out.. i just need to sit down and think about what’s next, what i need to do to successfully accomplish this, flag these as goals, and start to work towards them (while somehow shifting the banal tasks away from me)… i don’t really anticipate much opposition from above… however, there always could be…

now on to the wife and kids… and well the kids part can be easy and fun… but must wait until i can find someone who i can totally count on and who can complement me in nearly every way. this is going to be a tough one… since this perfect person is no where to be found.. wait there she is… no.. that was just a warm breeze…

now you know, it’s not so bad having the leisure to simply ignore planning for the future or how i am going to pay for rent, etc… but it just seems so foreign to me not to already have a short-term strategy implemented to maximize my long-term potential. hmmm… maybe it’s about time i find a mentor (or possibly a therapist – thanks for the suggestion leona, haha)… because i’m sick of figuring everything out on my own…

2006-06-03 14:35 UPDATE: ohh neat.. i guess the planets (rather their transits) do control my life… check out my horoscope!