No Man's Land

Leave ...

2007-07-21T21:38:00.000-04:00

Now I understand why G and Dr. Jones stopped writing.
I also take a leave from the blog ... till things fall in order.

65. Bone & Skin

2007-07-14T23:52:00.000-04:00

I over heard this in the barber shop ...

A massive ~2m tall ~250kg weight lady was saying that her dad has been doing exercises lately and has lost a lot of weight ... to quote her directly "he is only bone & skin".

If she could have read my mind she would have heard ... compare to you mam we are all bone & skin.

64. The Day!

2007-07-07T19:30:00.000-04:00

Photos will be added shortly!

63. Art of War (Sun Zhu)

2007-06-30T12:34:00.000-04:00

When Luiz Felipe Scolari was coach of Brazil, he gave each of his players a copy of Sun Tzu's The Art of War, a 2500-year-old Chinese text on military ...

Sun-tzu's The Art of War has led military strategists, economists, politicians and other leaders for more than 2,000 years, and has been translated numerous times.

I wonder ... what my girl will tell me if I tell her I was reading the Art of War before our wedding.

62 . Patience

2007-06-23T19:24:00.000-04:00

Waiting is killing me these days ...
It was the Pride Weekend this weekend ... I did not go to the parade ... But I did something equally gay ... I washed all the window glasses ... something which I had not done in the last 15 years.

61. Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars

2007-06-16T21:57:00.000-04:00

We'll do it all ... Everything ... On our own
We don't need ... Anything ... Or anyone
If I lay here ... If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and ... just forget the world?

I don't quite know ... How to say ... How I feel
Those three words ... Are said too much ... They're not enough
If I lay here ... If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and ... just forget the world?

Forget what we're told ... Before we get too old
Show me a garden ... that's bursting into life
Let's waste time ... Chasing cars ... Around our heads
I need your grace ... To remind me ... To find my own
If I lay here ... If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and ... just forget the world?

Forget what we're told ... Before we get too old
Show me a garden ... that's bursting into life
All that I am ... All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes ... They're all I can see
I don't know where ... Confused about how as well
Just know that these things ... Will never change for us at all
If I lay here ... If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and ... just forget the world?

PS: My favorite line as a lazy lover is ... If I lay here ... If I just lay here ... Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

60. Funny shopping list ...

2007-06-09T19:28:00.000-04:00

Too lazy to scan it ... but my shopping receipt read like this:

SONY CD-R, TROJAN LUB, SS THICK WW (it's not what you think!), MINI CARROTS (who knows what you think!), WNK DEC NGT (it's not what you think!), DE-CREASE (it's not what you think!), 4PK T/LIGHT (I don't remember this one!)

59. Still Kicking ...

2007-06-02T09:04:00.000-04:00

... had to work today.

58. Noise pollution ...

2007-05-26T22:41:00.000-04:00

There is nothing worse than having your cubical next to division's secretary ... who spends the whole day speaking trash with other chix ... the picture shown is for illustrative purpose ... actual packages are ugly and fat

57. Nostalgia strikes ...

2007-05-19T23:08:00.000-04:00

The smell of pesticides always reminds me of the taste of cherry ... which I have missed for the last 5, 6 years ...

56. SCI-FI literacy journey ...

2007-05-12T09:58:00.000-04:00

My journey started with Jool Vern, then Isaak Asimov (Robot laws) and I guess I stopped with Arthur C. Clarke ...

Last night in a moment of drunkenness it came to my mind that like the tripods in Rendezvous with Rama I am a trinity fan ... three type of teas ... three type of coffees ... three type of liquors ... three type of spices ... three type of shampoos ...

I'm loosing it ...

55. Margarita ...

2007-05-05T19:16:00.000-04:00

Summer has not arrived yet ... but the Margarita season has started for sure.

I passed out on the balcony after 1 maybe 2 maybe 3 maybe 4 maybe 5 maybe 6 (I think I stopped at 6) shots of tequila ... and found myself shivering on the armchair 3 hours later ... the next day till afternoon ... felt like someone has hammered the left side of my forehead (from memoir's of an old man).

54. Salesman ...

2007-04-28T12:42:00.000-04:00

I complained to my boss and he increased my salary and promised that my work load will decrease.

There is a saying in Persian that a good perfume should smell good and sell itself, no matter what the salesman is telling you ...

Well in real life that's not going to work ... instead they use a celebrity for tv-add and send Barenaked Ladies to shopping centres to force men to buy a perfume ...

Moral of story: you should shout for your own right ... silence means you are satisfied.

53. Scale ...

2007-04-21T20:56:00.000-04:00

As an engineer I have learned 3 things among other stuff:
1. always look for a pattern
2. there is always something not working
3. make the best of the available data

I was wondering why they change kg to lbs scale in the gym every now and then ... I initially thought it has got to do with the days (odd/even) ... then one day I noticed that the scale has changed during the day ... and I thought when it breaks down they replace it ... but once the change was done in less than 10 minutes ...

It took me a whole fucking year ... to realise the scale dial has to sides and you can flip it and read the dial in lbs as well as kg ... I'm loosing it

52. Just 4 BDJ

2007-04-14T13:07:00.000-04:00

We were always surprised and couldn't believe what we were hearing when our boss used to complain about his trips ... being told similar stuff by my boss made me draw these conclusion:

A rat doesn't dare to complain about his dull office, boring job and crap weather
But a pig complains about his long holidays, too much drinking and sands in his sandals ...

PS: 52 posts ... blogs anniversary ... not sure being -really rather than virtually- married leaves me enough time to keep up with writing.

51. Pam ...

2007-04-07T15:40:00.000-04:00

Combination of elements I have mentioned in earlier posts made me see Borat against my believe that ... you should not laugh at other nation's customs ... though it's a fiction ... still humiliating a country to make people laugh is not a decent way to make money ... but is there any decent way to make money ...

And some scenes were totally Jack Ass style and ridicule rather than humor ...

Anyway me and Borat have something in common ... apart from being hairy ... I was like him so happy to find out that the most famous Canadian celebrity is Pamela Anderson according to my Lonely Plant guide ... it seems Canadians are in love with silicon valley too ...

Now that I am on movies ... let me confess that ... I also watched a screen-camed copy of Bearfest that was horrible as the recorder zipped up his jacket -not to get caught- whenever any one was walking in the screen.

PS1: My 10$ lottery ticket won 5$ ... what I should I call this good luck or bad luck ... the Jackpot was 38Million ... I used my prize money to buy some Irish equipments ... potato peeler and potato masher

PS2: Bad towing (80 dollars) increased my car's repair cost from 10 to 330 dollars ... tow truck invoice says they are not responsible for any damage ... what a Good Friday ... and I won't have my car for a while.

50. The Declaration of Independence ...

2007-03-31T22:10:00.000-04:00

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are:

- Life,

- Liberty, and

- The pursuit of Happyness

It sounds so gay ... as Google image search agrees ... why all men and not all people

Anyway I didn't like the movie (60 out of 100) ... the reasons I watched it in the first place were only boredom and fast download on Electronic-Donkey

The only line I liked from the movie was that ... we have the right to pursue happiness but not the right to have happiness itself.

49. Norouz ...

2007-03-24T23:41:00.000-04:00

Ahourmazda finished the creation of the universe on the first day of spring ... Norouz ... and life started on earth ...

Grasses started sprouting, rivers started running and buds started blooming ...

The soul was created and the heart was struck with the bow of love on Norouz ... and the sun rised for the first time ... marking the start of the universe ... and my BD.

48. Remember the Legend ...

2007-03-17T21:01:00.000-04:00

It was March 2007 ... this is how the legend starts ... I'm so ****ing ****ed up by some people these ****ing days and they keep ****ing me over and over ... As I stand and look back at my life (1/3 of it, if not less) ... I see that there has always been someone abusing my good nature ...

But you never know ... someday in future ... 10 years, 10 months, or 10 days from now ... if not never ... that coin might flip to the other side ... or ... that apple might make another turn (if you are Newtonian) ... That day ... I'll **** those guys in a way that they will write in history books and generation after generation they'll pass the pay back legend to their ****ing descendants ...

And if that day never came ... well **** them all ... I keep drinking and won't give a **** about them and their miserable being ... cause people who are ignorant and are not aware of their ignorance, are in complex ignorance state and there is no way out of that kind of ignorance.

It snowed the entire night ... where is the spring.

47. Amigos - PTY

2007-03-10T17:27:00.000-05:00

Congrats guys! I'm so upset I couldn't make it!

Create your own visited countries map.

46. Winter weather, Charlie's Angels & Home

2007-03-03T15:38:00.000-05:00

I'm not a fan of cold weather ... leaving a side working in it...
Ten years ago ... I would have not gone to work if it was raining and my brother had took the car (the luxury I could afford when my parents were paying the rent) ... but living in the Isle for couple of years and having the bike as main means of transport-unless F/M/E were around-made me used to the feeling of having soaked waterproofs on ... Nowadays that I am closer to the North Pole, the concept of cold has totally changed its definition in my tiny nutshell, especially after working for two weeks in open field at the centre of storm, while most of the people even didn't go to office those days as there was a weather alert …

Some of the lessons I have learned this winter are:
1. New weatherman terminologies: blowing snow, heavy snow and freezing rain
2. For an employee, it doesn't matter what the weather is, if you have to be on a job … you can only leave earlier to be there on time, so there is no point of following the weather network channel all the time … I think I have to reach my dad’s age to become a fan of that channel
3. Wind chill is a killer especially when humidity is so high … it's like ice needles pushed against your skin ... believe me it makes you cry ...
4. Keep mobile/cell (depending on your continent you might prefer one of these terms) phones close to your heart … and that’s not because you don’t want to miss phone calls from your sweethearts … but because the battery dies in cold in less than an hour … unfortunately that happened to me on Valentine’s day … and I’m still begging for the forgiveness
5. Sensitive teeth, hot coffee and chill weather don’t mix … now I understand why my uncle always asks me about brushing my teeth
6. The weather updates usually announce the guaranteed highs (temperature) of the day ... don’t be fooled by this because it could be much colder during the entire day
7. There is no point of leaving gloves in the car’s glove compartment (Oxford dictionary should change this term for its cross Atlantic editions) … because they would be as cold as the steering wheel
8. White winter ... every day your cloths and car are covered in brine and sand ... that's why its a white winter and it doesn't matter if its snowing or not
9. How to dress for -30oC:
-feet/hands: 3 winter socks + winter boots with insulation/woolen glove + plastic glove
-head/neck/eyes: hoodies + woollen hat + waterproof hat +hard hat+ woollen tube to protect neck/nose + protective glasses … the tears turn into ice on eyelashes as well as the running nose as it hits a surface
-legs: 2 thermal underwear + jean+ overall +waterproof
-torso: 2 thermal underwear + sweater + hoodies + overall + another sweater + insulated waterproof

Yes ... the mobility would be as limited as having a space suit on ... and still if you saw me jumping up and down or throwing punches in the air … it's not because I have won a lottery or I'm practicing for the fight club ... but it is because it's bloody cold. PS1: This photo was taken at 3:00pm ... compare it with earlier posts in February to see how bad was the visibility today. PS2: If one day, like all non-native residents, I wanted to pick a name, it would be Frozen ****s ,(C) belongs to F.

... Not a Charlie's fan or any of his angels (well maybe Cameron) ... and that's not because of his train collection or talking to plants ... But its ridicules that media mocks him about his justified comments about a junk-food chain.

And suddenly I miss home, couple of links: Faces of Iran, Inside Iran, Iranians, Throughout

45. VISTA & YA

2007-02-24T12:31:00.000-05:00

VISTA is out ... so exciting ... oooo ... come on guys ... get a life ... there is nothing exciting about Billy getting richer ...

I haven't gone back to drinking wine from the bottle ... yet ... but ... again I'm in a period that I can only swallow my sorrows - no apparent reason - with a hard long drink ...

Ya ... subtitled: yes in Swedish ... What a crap add ... I guess its Herbal Essences ... maybe they assume people are so ignorant that need translation for sounds too

44. Brain, Killers & Valentine

2007-02-17T19:52:00.000-05:00

I. Brain Left overs ...

I am a bit absent minded these days ... Pressing the level I'm at, rather than my stop, in the elevator ... Starring at the green light, waiting for it to become greener, on the traffic stop ...
Drinking a mug of hot water without any teabag in it, assuming that's how green tea tastes ...
I don't know ... maybe its the low temperature which has limited my brain's relatively normal functions.

II. Killers ...

Love Killers ... they well deserved all their BRIT awards

III. St Valentine ...

I am so happy & excited that I got my great Valentine's Day gift on time ... and I'm going to carry it with me all the time till I see SR again ... Thanks SR, you are the best ... And I feel sorry & guilty that she has not received hers yet.

43. Without music ...

2007-02-10T23:08:00.000-05:00

Without music ... life would be a mistake-Nietzsche

42. Canadian WildLife Service in Ottawa ...

2007-02-03T23:36:00.000-05:00

A year has passed ... I'm either on coffee or alcohol ... what are you on?

41. Telephone ...

2007-01-27T09:32:00.000-05:00

I can prove that Graham Bell (who also immigrated to Canada) was single and unemployed at the time of his big invention ... cause he didn't have a clue ... how valuable it is to be detached/disconnected from everything/everyone once in a while and have moment of peace just for himself.

40. the WINTER ...

2007-01-20T18:19:00.000-05:00

I know I have said this before ... but it seems the WINTER is finally here ... and is scary!

PS: Im giving the Blog a new look.

39. SOTON ...

2007-01-13T21:36:00.000-05:00

I have spent a 4 good years of my life in Southampton ...

A town with many surprises ... where sharing a pint was such an easy task ...

I guess Southampton is still my home town in my unconscious thoughts ...

Last week that I was flying from Amsterdam to Toronto, in my dreams I was getting off the bus in the unilink stop on the Highfield campus ... good old days

38. OLD me ...

2007-01-06T10:17:00.000-05:00

I leave my empty plastic bag on the drier machine ...

That's actually my mark for retrieving the dried cloths ... rather than trying to remember the number on the drier machine ...

I spent a good 30 minutes staring at someone else' cloths being dried last weekend ... as someone had moved the plastic bag ... I'm getting OLD

37. Christmas parties ...

2006-12-30T09:07:00.000-05:00

Take one ... it was 1 minute walk from my house ... but the drinks were expensive and there wasn't someone who would drink along

Take two ... free drinks but it was an hour drive back ... so I had only 4 bears

Take three ... in my building and i had to work that day ... the best chance to meet some interesting people and i missed it ... damn ... but when I saw the photos of the party on the notice broad I was glad I didn't go ... average age was +80 ... no wonder its always quite in my building ...

The fish is still thirsty ...

36. Best wishes ...

2006-12-23T21:42:00.000-05:00

As I should be far away from keyboard in the next couple of weeks ... I take this chance to wish you all best wishes for 2007 ... enjoy the holidays.

35. Person of the Year 2006

2006-12-16T21:24:00.000-05:00

Person of the Year 2006: Me ... Yes, me.

I control the Information Age ... Welcome to my world.

34. Bitter ... Sweet

2006-12-09T21:07:00.000-05:00

I had some of my relatives over for couple of nights ...

Due to the time difference, they were awake most of the nights ...

On the first night, I noticed that a through search inside the kitchen cabinets is being conducted ... but I was so tired to get up and instead I hid under the duvet till the search stopped ...The next morning the first question they asked me was: where is your sugar? I told them I never do sugar. They asked: how I take my coffee then? and I replied just with milk. That's bitter they said ...

Anyway they left me a big packet of sugar ... which I hope it doesn't turn into a cube.

PS: Weather has been nice to me ... as there is no snow and its still above zero

33. White blanket ...

2006-12-02T11:24:00.000-05:00

And I guess its going to be white from now onwards ... lets see when this white blanket disappears.

32. 8:00am Eastern time 26th November 2006

2006-11-25T09:33:00.000-05:00

I do, did, done!

31. Airplane ...

2006-11-18T09:05:00.000-05:00

As a result of having this frequent view from my window ... and more serious reasons ... I'm traveling this long distance back home in less than 3 months

30. Peephole ...

2006-11-11T08:56:00.000-05:00

When there is a significant height difference between the couples ... and they're both eager to see who is knocking on the door

PS: I live couple of doors away from them

29. Those were the days my friend ...

2006-11-04T21:49:00.000-05:00

6 years ago (Living with my parents):
It was raining heavily when I woke up ... and I though it might stop if I sleep more ... another 15 mins, another 1/2 hour, another 3 hours ... the rain didn't stop and eventually I got up and went to work ...

My giant boss was extremely pissed off & running around the office like a maniac when I got in ... he yelled where I have been the whole morning ... I replied I though the rain might stop if Ill sleep more ... My answer was so blunt ... that he shook his head and left the room without saying a single word ...

Now (Living on my own):
Rain, snow, cold, wind ... you name it ...
I wake up, put on loads of layers, and head out to the wilder ...
I call my tiny boss and report on the progress of work when I get to the site ...

Those were the days ...

28. Site work ...

2006-10-28T23:16:00.000-04:00

Two socks ...
Four layers under my rain coat ...

And it was still cold ... when is the summer coming back.

27. GYM card ...

2006-10-21T11:09:00.000-04:00

I think ... where there is a store/shop on the main stress and there are items on its display ... people should understand that it is selling something ... not in Canada apparently ...

In this country ... you have to tell people what is sold in that store ... and you have a long list of shops called: Business depot, Home depot, Office depot, Fitness depot, Liquor store, Beer store, Super store ... and you can guess that Liquor store would be my favorite.

Couple of months ago ... I lost my gym membership card ... it was one of those days that I had to go to different stores to get different things ... and I thought it has fallen out of my pocket at one of these stores.

On my next visit to the gym ... I put a sad face on and told them I have lost my wallet, which wasn't true as I had only lost their card ... but they still charged me for the replacement.

Last night that I was looking for a Liquor-store bag to take a bottle of wine to a dinner party ... I found the membership card in the bag ... and I bet the retard who is sitting in the gym front desk would not give my money back if I tell him I have found the lost card.

26. Snow ...

2006-10-14T16:19:00.000-04:00

Unbelievable ... it didn't stay on the ground but it snowed on the second week of October in TO ... amazingly scary and cold ...

25. The confused Doc ...

2006-10-07T09:02:00.000-04:00

As B was working on Saturday and no one else was offering a lift, I had to get a taxi to the airport ...

With my poor speaking and the taxi-center's poor comprehension ... I ended up with a cab in front of my door step an hour earlier ... as I gave up trying to make the guy understand there is a difference between:

"No, I want a cab in an hour time", and
"So, you don't want the cab"

When I heard him speaking on his phone ... I realised he is Russian ... it turned out that he was from Azerbaijan ... he knew good Russian/Turkish (which he preferred to call Azari) and a bit of Persian/English ... that explained why we couldn't communicate.

As our broken conversation carried on ... he simply said "I'm not happy here, I used to be a Dentist back in my country, I have not been able to work in my own field after being here for 11 years" ... I felt sympathetic for him but in the same time I became motivated to pursuit my goals and continue to swim against the current.

24. Who wants to be a Millionaire ...

2006-09-30T05:10:00.000-04:00

Many nationalities have moved to North America in various stages of history in search of a better life ... although their life-style may somehow be better here than their homelands ... they have to work very hard and long to pay the expenses of a moderate life-style.

Soon they realise that their only asset, time, is limited ... and no matter how much they work their life-style can not go above a certain level ... as a result they count on their chance/luck to win lottery (less than 1 in 1,000,000) and buy lotto tickets daily ... what a sad ending.

23. Up and down ...

2006-09-23T04:56:00.000-04:00

She went up and I went down on Monday 17th of September ...

22. Amsterdam ...

2006-09-16T20:50:00.000-04:00

I liked many things about Amsterdam ...
Now Ill add to that list ... WIFI ...
There is nothing more entertaining than having (of course you pay for it) a wireless Internet connection to kill 11 hours of time I had to wait for the connection flight ... as I could not exit the terminal ...

21. Shoot ...

2006-09-09T20:46:00.000-04:00

This is the second post about old people ... I don't know why? maybe I fancy old birds, maybe I'm getting old, ...

Last night ... I saw an old lady on my floor coming out of her apartment with a small bag ... I gave her a smile and she nodded back ... as I was unlocking my apartment's door ... I noticed that she didn't stop in front of the lift ... I became more curious to see what is she up to ...

The result ... I found out my building has a garbage shoot (after 3 months) and there is no need to take the bags every morning downstairs ...

20. B612 ...

2006-09-02T20:02:00.000-04:00

I was trying to meet up with a classmate from 1999, which I knew he was living here.
For almost 3 months, we exchanged emails and phone calls, but always had conflicting plans and were not able to meet up.

Until one evening when I was walking down Yonge street I saw a familiar face with a coffee in his hand and we just walked into each other.

It is an amazing world and sometimes its even smaller than B612 for the Prince.

19. Sensitive or sensible ...

2006-08-26T16:12:00.000-04:00

When I first got to Canland I was staying in a guest house ...
After the first couple of weeks the landlord asked me to change my room and go to a basement bachelor, which seemed good, as I would have my own kitchen/service ...

But it turned out to be a nightmare ... the smell of neighbors cooking, the noise of people walking upstairs, as well as the screaming washing machine and central heating was unbearable ...

One day that I was so mad with all these nuisance ... I called the landlord and told him I cant take it any more ... he showed up with an air refreshener and him and his partner tried to convince me that I'm too sensitive and they cant hear any thing.

Sensitive or sensible ... I knew I had to move quickly and I did. I saw one of the other guest in that house in gym couple of nights ago, which made me jot these lines.

18. Laundry room romance scene ...

2006-08-19T15:51:00.000-04:00

One of the agents who showed me apartments told me that she actually knew people who put on their best cloth to pickup their laundry as romance blossoms in that confinement.

Yesterday ... I saw a couple setting a date in the laundry room ... so it is true ... but not exciting as the couple were part of the contemporary history.

In their conversation ... that the old lady told the old guy not to come to her apartment after 9:35 as she falls sleep that time.

I felt so bad ... as some nights that I get back from work I sit in front of my TV till I fall sleep too.
I should find a cure of laziness as gym or alcohol have not helped.

17. Caribana ...

2006-08-12T11:41:00.000-04:00

I guess the reason that I don't like these type of festivals is that I don't know how to dance myself and worse I don't appreciate a good dance.
My dancing skills ...
before 5 pints = slightly better than a robot
after 5 pints = exactly like a corp

By the way, according to a new study, the top 3 all time best table dancers were:
G from Tuscany ... M from Cornwall ... and T from Finland.

But the Caribbean festival seemed a good excuse to head down to downtown and so I did with B.

16. Niagara ...

2006-08-05T09:11:00.000-04:00

I apologize for the quality of the photo as I don't have enough zoom on my camera.
I found this quite funny, the shower has three positions: 1. spray, 2. massage, and 3. ...

The last position is called NIAGARA ... another sign to be sure I'm in Canada when I get out of the bed every morning.

15. The View ...

2006-07-29T19:50:00.000-04:00

Many have told me that I am paying more than what the place is worth, because of its location.

When I moved into the apartment ... the first thing that I bought was an armchair to put in the balcony ... and I spent the first couple of nights drinking on the balcony as there was nothing else to do.

Things have changed and that the apartment is less empty now ... but I still spent many nights on the armchair. Why? I simply adore the open view from the window ...

The downside of it is that I keep loosing my socks, which I have left on the drier in the balcony.

14. Toronto or Munich ...

2006-07-22T18:23:00.000-04:00

A long list of interconnected parameters made me to go to work the day Germany trashed IKEA. The job was messy that day, forcing us to use masks and gloves.
Of course, the contractors only wanted -but never used- the required protection.

This was my view that day in Toronto ...

Which could have been this instead, if I was in Munich ...

Bad or good, we will face the consequences of the decisions we had made in the past.

13. Tall Iranians ...

2006-07-15T13:18:00.000-04:00

Luiz Felipe Scolari:
I liked the Iranian team.
They have very good players.
They are physically very strong and very tall.

There is a difference between being able to jump and being tall:

Iranian player height: 167 cm
Portuguese player height: 184 cm

Unfortunately being tall is not enough to win a match ... I get back to my booze ... its time to let go.

12. The Phoenix Arises ...

2006-07-08T20:53:00.000-04:00

No matter what team you support in this world cup ...
No matter who is your favorite fan ...

No matter how much you know (or agree with me) about the level of Argentina and Serbia's football ...
Just remember that trashing Serbia 6-0 is a significant achievement ...
The Phoenix might have been already arisen from ashes!

Do you agree Juan?!

11. Where I work ...

2006-07-01T22:01:00.000-04:00

I was asked by many how my job is different from my studies.
Sneaking through Dr. Jones's web page, gave me this idea to use this link to answer your question.

The picture above shows my old school ... the below picture is of the place I am working now ... the comparison up to you.

10. Trainspotting ...

2006-06-24T20:40:00.000-04:00

Choose life.
Choose a job.
Choose a starter home.
Choose dental insurance, leisure wear and matching luggage.
Choose your future.

But why would anyone want to do a thing like that?

... Trainspotting ... a great movie

9. Football is not a sport, its a religion ...

2006-06-17T20:55:00.000-04:00

No matter what race, color, sex, nation or age you are ... If you don't appreciate this greatest sport event ... World cup ... your body suffers from adrenaline deficiency.

Even if you walk off the pitch with your tails between your legs ... you can not ignore the glory of these days.

Irony ... I swallowed my sorrows with 6 packs of Corona.

8. Married furniture ...

2006-06-10T18:38:00.000-04:00

I love these lines from Seinfeld ... Elaine lines were exactly mine at many occasions:

... Because I hate being at a table alone, with a married couple.
... Talking about their married friends, and their married furniture.
... They're always trying to make me feel like their life is so much better.
... You know, I have a very exciting life.
... It's very exciting.

7. Vending machines ...

2006-06-03T22:42:00.000-04:00

IMPORTANT: this post doesn't mean I spent most of my time in the wash room ... but maybe it means my brain reaches its peak of activity in that confinement ... and honestly I have not taken this photo.

They put these vending machines (or whatever they call them) in rest rooms every where ... you name it ... bars, restaurants, airports, subways(=metro=tube=under ground), train stations ...

But why not in the WC in companies/universities ... as I'm quite sure (at least in my experience), you have a higher chance of getting down to business with some one who you meet on daily bases ... rather than someone you meet in a rush on a platform or a gate ... unless you believe in junk Hollywood movies ... which in that case don't come back to read my scribbles any more.

All rights of this intellectual property are reserved ... unless you used to work in the University of Nottingham.

6. Down town Toronto ...

2006-05-27T22:13:00.000-04:00

One of my predictable photo-shots from sky scrapers (Lord: not scarpers) in down town(=city center) TO.

My fingers were locked and couldn't click on the camera shutter ... for couple of weeks ... as I had to change my allowable threshold for an acceptable shot in a new town like TO.

From now on ... Ill try to be more generous when it comes to clicking.

5. 100 days of solitude ...

2006-05-20T21:58:00.000-04:00

I celebrated my 100 days of solitude ... by having a TETLEYS ... with my book + camera + mp3 player in down town TO ... as there is nothing as good as a decent ale in a hot sunny day.

Couple of days later ... on a radio station ... they were saying how good it is to have screw caps or tetra packs instead of corks for wine bottles.

As far as I know from my picky wine expert EU friends ... that alcoholic liquid ... can not be called wine any more.

4. The soil profiling TEAM ...

2006-05-13T22:59:00.000-04:00

In my youth ... I spent some days with a TEAM of nice people soil profiling in London (not in Ontario) ...

Thanks to Wright Brothers ... the team members now live in 3 different continents ...

The experince of those couple of days has been the most useful knowledge I have used so far in the new job.

3. Why I Log ...

2006-05-06T22:25:00.000-04:00

The initial idea of writing a Blog ... if I can keep it up ... was initiated by the Lord.

Although, I spent a good hour exploring it and writing my first post, I lost the reason/need for writing ... and the why question bothered me for a while.

I became even more disappointed when I saw the reasons people have listed for their writing.

After days of wondering, I came up with these answers ...

I write to ... keep in touch with many friends I think I have in various galaxies ...
I write to ... record my strangle of thoughts ...
I write to ... release/share my good/bad/ugly moments ...

Also bare in mind that I don't write ... to impress, make you laugh or to make my voice heard ... as according to 2 honest persons I stopped doing these at 1976.

PS: This photo was taken in Bath by a French photographer ... if you have been to UK but haven't been to Bath ... I am sorry for you ... as you you have missed a beautiful city.

2. More than the last 5 years ...

2006-04-29T10:18:00.000-04:00

Last week, in total, I have driven the GOLF around 600km to & back from the office/site ... an hour and 15min each way ... which is more than the driving I had done in the last 5 years.

Although I was stuck in a box like George at my first day at work pretending I know what I am doing ... they made sure to make the best use of me ... by sending me on a drilling rig for 10 hours non-stop job the rest of the week.

The chilly mornings on construction site made me realize ... how lucky I am that I didn't start working back in February.

1. Lazy days R in the Past ...

2006-04-22T10:39:00.000-04:00

This is the view of Victoria Park-Eglington from my room.

I have spent many days looking outside this window ... wondering ... what will come next.

It took me around 82 days, but, finally most of the things are sorted ... and now I look forward to start the new job ... it should be interesting.