There appears to be some connectivity issues with my hosting. It looks like the database connection wasn?t being made, the main page was slow to load or some weird Internet voodoo was happening. Even trying to save this post caused time outs and trying to access my page through FTP was sketchy.

Regardless, I?m here telling you all that everything will be alright. That is, of course if you are viewing the page in Internet Explorer. The right side bar looks like it has a problem loading, but it works fine in Firefox – so, you?ve been warned. Problems after problems.

Last night I did something I haven?t done in many months, I drove home in silence. I just wasn?t in the mood for music so for the fifty minute drive it was only me providing the entertainment. I won?t go into the details of the conversation I had but it was a nice change.

Jenna and I are planning to spend our fourth anniversary somewhere down south. We haven?t really decided but Mexico, Cuba and Dominican Republic are the places that we?re entertaining. We won?t be booking the trip until July, with the actual departure occurring in November. Wherever we go I?m looking forward to duplicating Corona commercials, seeing a real palm tree and swimming in blue waters.

Yup, that?s all for me.

Another week and another episode of Lost. It was definitely the TV highlight for me this week. I enjoy Thursday’s for TV (Survivor, Apprentice, ER); but now it means the longest amount of time until the next episode of Lost.

Damn local kids and their crazy conspiracy theories.

Last night I finally had the opportunity to watch Napolean Dynamite. As most of you know, Napolean had a fine skill for drawing and preferred to draw a liger. Which was breed for its skills in magic. This reminded me of my own twisted design for a super animal.

Back in High School I learned that Aaron and his family raised llamas and alpacas. One afternoon in a slow Physics class I asked Aaron about the possibilities of breeding the two together to create a llampaca. The plan was to make them the North American equivelant of a cock fighter. Over the years I have eased up on my violent thinking and perhaps could find some other use for them. At the very least, they have a great name and would be a shame for it to go to waste.

What about, when the weather permits the llampacas can become our own personal Taun Taun? Or they can be trained to walk our dogs? Or maybe get the mail for us? If anyone who is willing to fund this experiment and wants to get in on the acion, let me know and we can become filthy rich and famous off of llampacas.

Last night I finished reading Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk. I am not master of literature. Shakespeare bores me, Hemmingway’s deeper meaning went over my head and then put me to sleep and I continued to lose focus while reading Dickens. So take my opinions of Invisible Monsters with a grain of literary salt.

In the four novels from Palahniuk I have read I have come to expect a twist or something out of left field. The prime example would be in Fight Club, and those who are familiar with the book/movie will know what sort of twist I speak of.

Well, up until Invisible Monsters I had placed Lullaby in my number one ranks for Chuck P. books, but last night that all changed. The story was demented and more disturbed than it should have been but the end of the book threw me for a pretzel sized loop. I needed a road map to find my way back to safety, but what a great read. If you want to sample what Palahniuk does best, I would recommend this book to start off with.

Going from a sick, twisted and quick story teller in Chuck P. I have made the transition to John Grisham and started on The Last Juror. Grisham writes about law, spends time developing characters and builds to a stunning climax. The writing styles is quite varied and both make for an entertaining read but I would never put the two in the same category.

I guess that’s about it, read hard!

In the last week I have gained some wisdom and thought it would be
best to share it with you all, as to ensure your 2006 continues to rock.

Everyone buys eggnog over the holidays, but once Auld Lang Syne has
been sung that carton of eggnog gets ignored and pushed further back
into the fridge. The expiry date on the eggnog is only a suggestion.
Unlike it’s milk brethren, eggnog can be consumed far beyond the time
of expiration.

On Tuesday I had some eggnog that was two weeks past its’ expiration
date and it still tasted fine. In my younger days I drank December
eggnog in February and was just as good as ever. So, when cleaning out
the cranberry sauce and dried turkey pieces, look for the eggnog and
treat yourself to a tasty surprise.

Hilary Duff was in town the other day. She never returned any of my phone calls or got in touch like she promised. I guess I can say that she has moved on from our fling, oh well.

If you made it below that image of Hilary there is still more to this post.

I found my “O” in my license plate alphabet search and it came from a personalized plate from Quebec. I don’t care if it isn’t Alberta, I was stuck on this letter for too many days and needed to move on. In a few more letters I think I will be in the same position. I haven’t seen many plates with “Q” in them, so we’ll see how that goes.

I’m nearly done Invisible Monsters and in traditional Palahniuk fashion, it is quite disturbing. Yams, yams and double yams for you all – have a good weekend.

Update: I have made it up to “Q”, and as I predicted, none were to be found on my drive home.

To pass the time on the way to work I have started playing license plate alphabet. At first I would start a new game each time I merged onto the Whitemud. That is, until I stalled on “I”. I went to and from work and there wasn’t an “I” to be found.

I carried the game over to the next day and it wasn’t until I saw a personalized license plate in the West Edmonton Mall parking lot that my quest was over. I had given up hope that I would see a plate that contained “I” in it, because it’s so similar to the number one.

Now, my problem is finding an “O”, which is close to zero. Are there restrictions on which letters you can have in a regular plate? My research on this subject has led me to no real Alberta answers. Here is a listing of letters not used in triple letter combinations, history of Alberta plates here as well as here. I think I will go to the registries tomorrow and ask them about this crazy theory.

Speaking of plates, I saw one that said RED L 1. Being the Star Wars fan I am I thought of X-Wings, epic space battles and R2 units saving the day. The plate could mean something else, but I’m holding onto the idea that the driver is strong with the Force.

In other car related news, on a bright yellow Celica this morning I saw THUG LIFE 2Pac written on the rear window. Yes, my thoughts exactly. To be a gansta thug in Edmonton you need to drive in around in a yellow Toyota or else you won’t get any respect from your hommies down the street. Word!