Pioneer on the Internet – Sean Gursky

I had plans, like so many plans. It was going to be productive today and take care of business. Play guitar, reformat computers, read a book and watch Spinal Tap. It would have been a grand day off, except, something happened.

Last night Jenna and I had a movie date along with Kelly and Gord, hosted in his basement. The movie was a favorite of the three, but it was in my honor that we watched Moulin Rouge (which was quite entertaining) but shortly after the movie the discussion turned to Lost. I haven’t seen a single episode of this but everyone who has seen it, loves it. So Gord hooked me up with the first twelve episodes. Just for me to get a taste. Just a small taste to get a feel for it. Perhaps watch the first twelve slowly. Take your time Sean, pace yourself and enjoy the ride.

I thought What could it hurt? if I started on the first few episodes without Jenna. Twelve hours later and I have watched eleven episodes. That is nearly eight hours of Lost time and I’m thirsty for more. I did watch Spinal Tap, only because I wanted to check one thing off my list for the day. Gord even joined me on IM for episode four, Walkabout, to chat and get my reactions to things. He came online again later, and I was still at it.

I have one episode left on the disc and then I’m out of my stash. Just like a good dealer, Gord will have me coming back for more as I need to know what happens next. It’s like a drug. Yes, this is my TV IV and it’s running wide open to help my fix.

Update: It’s Thursday morning’and I just finished the last episode on the DVD”

CurlTV is taking over the airwaves. CurlTV is the brain child of my work, Statusfirm (the new Statusfirm site should be up within a week or so) and have spent most of my time working on CurlTV related tasks. With former CTV news guru Peter Akman (or as he is affectionately known: Pakman) taking controls of the program tune in to Sportsnet and see what this on demand Internet sports channel is all about.

Did I do anything for this TV show or the website? Short answer: No. Long and technical answer: Yes, but nothing you would be able to see anyway. You only know that my role exists when there is a problem. Say you’re unable to view a video, in a few weeks time that will be my sole responsibility. When the live scores are updated for the CurlTV.com broadcasted game, I created the update pages’so, I guess back to the short answer: No. But I am still going to promote all of this craziness. Check it out and tell your friends you saw me on the teevee’or probably not, but maybe

As you may have noticed the amount of posting on here has dropped a fair bit in the last few days. Let’s recap that then. On Tuesday I was unable to be intoxicated before the sunset, because the sun decided to make a run for the horizon earlier than expected, I mean it was dark at 5:30PM! So I was a few hours behind schedule but I like to think I was close enough. To make up for it I was awake before sunrise on Wednesday morning to drive Gord into work.

Poor guy, he has to work after a night of drinking and running on little sleep. It was worth it as it was a great time with Gord, we drank, ate pizza and played Star Wars: BF2 on XBOX Live for a few hours and it was such an awesome game. I pretty much enjoy any Star Wars game and once I got the controls figured out on this one I was able to fend for myself. Being able to whoop ass with Vader, Emperor and Obi-Wan made it so much better. Gord enjoyed his time as Emperor when he unleashed his own version of Hell with his Force Lightning. Hey, did this post get really geeky all of a sudden? I think so, let’s change gears then.

The Jetta also arrived in town as well. I picked it up on Wednesday and each time I get behind the wheel I love it a little bit more as I find a few more neat things about it. What good is my description if you can’t see the car? Well have a gander below and click on them for the larger images. I have enjoyed the thrill of having my seat heated while I drive to work. Now that is luxury!

In an effort to maintain Internet harmony, I am hanging with Gord tonight. We will sit around a table in a dark smoke-filled room and discuss world politics, the economy and the price of tea in Guatemala. By sitting down together we will ensure that the Internet will survive a few more days thanks to our efforts.

In reality we’re going to eat poorly and drink. It will start off with my first trip to Garage Burger Bar, and then we will take our mighty team of two to Sherwood Park and try to be intoxicated before the sun dips below the horizon. Little Caesers and their $5 hot “n readies will fuel our hunger and we will kick it old school with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle emulator on Gord’s pimped out XBOX. It’s a Tuesday, and for no better reason than it being a Tuesday we’re going to paint the town blue or maybe even yellow.

We also need some time to prepare for Boys Night “05, because it’s been eleven months since the last time we have done this we may be a little rusty so this is kind of like our Olympic Trials for next month’s big event.

Learn more about the battle here and join your comrades in our fight against the flyer revolution.

Last night to celebrate our third year anniversary I took Jenna out to Lux Steakhouse and without a doubt it was the best meal of my life. I have eaten a lot of good food in my day but last night was epic. In a no holds barred feast I enjoyed a 9 oz. $30 fillet mignon and Jenna and I split $12 lobster macaroni and cheese. I have been to the Keg a few times and always left pleased but Lux beat it hands down.

I also judge restaurants by their bathrooms and Lux one that battle too. There were ice cubs in the urinal. At first I was disturbed but soon found immense pleasure in this. If you can afford it, I would highly recommend it. The rest of the anniversary was grand too but that steak was divine”

In my last post I mentioned I have had a few mis-adventures using public transportation. My concern (or fear if you will) started when Mother and I went to Montreal back when I was in Junior High School. Our plan was to go to the Museum of Civilization from our hotel via the buses. I was on watch duty and if I saw the Museum, pull the chord and we’d get off at the next stop.

I never saw the Museum. And once we had been on the bus for an hour it became apparent that the museum was not where we were. The plus side of this was that we were able to get a nice country side ride through the rural scene. But when we had to figure out how to get back with a French speaking bus driver I was a little concerned. In the end we were able to get back in the right direction and actually go to the Museum, almost two hours later than expected.

Since then I have always been a little hesitant of buses and their train brethren. When I started dating Jenna I didn’t have access to a vehicle so I would bus over to the University campus and then bus back to NAIT. On our first date the bus I arrived on (#140?) stopped running almost an hour earlier. So I took the LRT to Rexall Place (then known as Skyreach) and waited for the #109 (or #9?) to appear on 118th Ave. It didn’t, and I waited for over thirty minutes. I decided to walk the thirty-plus blocks back to my apartment and not once did a #109 / #9 bus go by me.

Every date after that when I was making my way back to NAIT posed a challenge. The next time I took the LRT to Corona, then caught a bus that took me somewhere else and was hopefully close to home. This route was given to me by Nora. The other time I took the LRT to Northlands and walked to NAIT. I did a lot of walking back then when I was unable to navigate the late night labyrinth. After that I was able to use a vehicle and never had a problem with ETS but I am still uncertain of taking it. Especially if I have to go alone because I always think back to Montreal. It’s like my bad experience with E.T., I just can’t shake that initial fear no matter how much time has passed, perhaps that will be for another day as well.

When I went to Vancouver in April and August this year I had to rely on public transportation a few times and based on my prior experience I was very worried, especially when you consider there are different zones and multiple ways to get around (SeaBus, SkyTrain and regular buses). But once I did some research I had no problems at all. The system is great over there with clear routes and on some stops the ETA for the next route arrival.

In fact I found it easier to use than Edmonton’s and would gladly take public transportation in Vancouver but would look for alternate options if I had to do so in Edmonton. Thanks to Corine I have seen the bus map she uses in Japan and the ETS doesn’t seem that bad at all but I would probably still end up riding one line all the way until the end never seeing my stop. So there you have it, those are the public transportations woes of a small town boy trying to get around in big city Edmonton.

Update: I used the more” link for this post because it was kind of long’and I wanted to see how it turned out. If the margins were wider on this theme then it may not be an issue. But seeing as I like to write a lot maybe it’s a user problem.

Today is the 18th. For most people it means that the most recent installment of the Harry Potter movies is released. November 18th is a pretty special day, a few interesting things went down on this day in history. In 1307 William Tell shot an apple off of his son?s head. Ontario passed a law making seatbelts mandatory and lowered the speed limit to conserve energy?that was thirty years ago and oddly enough I don?t think either are followed that closely these days. And in 1883 standard time zones were established by railroads in US and Canada.

Interestingly enough, there is some Harry Potter history tied in with 11/18. Did you know that it was 18 years ago that 31 people died at the King?s Cross station because of a fire? No mention on which platform it was, but I think 9 3/4 survived. Of course there is one bit of trivia you won?t find online about November 18th, it marks the day that Jenna and I went on our first date.

We were setup by a mutual friend (I went to High School with Nora, and Jenna was in Nursing with her at the U of A), and around the end of October we started talking over email and eventually progressed to phone calls. After a few more phone calls the date was set where we would actually meet, because up until then we hadn?t seen what the other looked like.

After a bus incident (I am still uncertain of buses in Edmonton and Montreal, more on that another day) and walking by each other once we had some hot chocolate on campus and then walked to Emily Murphy Park where we got to know each other more. We became acquainted with the couches in Education and the taste of campus food from Wendy?s. After a few more transit experiences and exploring of the campus hallways in the evening we were a couple. Fast forward three years later and what started out as a quasi-blind date is going better than I could have imagined.

So, this is for you dear – thanks for the laughter, the great memories and being my best friend. Love ya!

I have finally figured it out. I now know why I’m in love with Gwen Stefani’s What Are You Watching For. Of course I didn’t figure it out until I got hooked on Madonna’s Hung Up. What is the common key that is my Kryptonite? The answer is simple: a clock! Yes, the basic tick-tock of the clock pulls me in and drugs me while I enjoy their songs. It could be that they are both really great songs, or have an amazing backing track, but I think it’s the clock. It has to be.

At least I am getting hooked on a new song, rather than Lady Stefani’s who had released that single sometime in 2004. And, I must confess (because that’s the theme of this post), I listened to all of Madonna’s new record on the way into work today and I will listen to it on the way home because it’s just that good.

If you listen carefully you can hear the Music Fairy come and take my manhood away while I listen to Confessions once more. The Velvet Mafia must have some sort of stake in this too”

A few weeks back I talked about the hierarchy of organization in our house. Well in the last week there has been some dramatic improvements and it seems that hierarchy is about to be reworked. Once we removed the fridge it was down to business for Dad who got a start on cleaning up the mess.

Let’s break it down and do some math on this.

We went through one of these in the week, filled three of these and in the end gave me this. That’s right folks, you are looking at two exposed walls in our basement, something that we have only dreamed of. Due to some crazy health and safety regulations I’m unable to show you any before pictures of the basement – I think seeing the mess would have turned you to stone or something, but you can knock yourselves out by looking at some more pictures of the trailer and the newly cleaned out basement.

Trailer 1, Trailer 3, Trailer 4, Trailer 5, Basement 2, Basement 3

It’s amazing what you can find in the basement. In Basement 2 the brown box standing on its end to the right; that’s vintage Louis Vuitton dated about thirty years back. We also have an old one-armed bandit that Dad picked up for cheap probably around the same era.

We have a lot of stuff but some of it is pretty neat. There is an unopened vintage Coke bottle downstairs (that I almost broke), which would probably go nicely in the old Coca-Cola cooler we have as well. Although I think in order to get neat stuff, you need to have a pretty high quota of junk.

I have been playing a lot of NHL97 on Sega the last few days and it’s a blast. The scrolling-image problem only seemed to occur on the 65″ TV as it doesn’t happen on the Wega in my room. I am still terrible at Mortal Kombat, there was a time I knew the finishing moves (or any special moves for that matter) for most of the players but now I just hit the pad and hope for the best.