Phendrana Drifts

I added this advertisement thing on the side of my blog, where by other people who signed up for the BlogSnob service will be advertised here, and I get advertised there. Makes me seem a bit like an exhibitionist though. I have yet to advertise or get people to come to my blog (well, except my e-mail signature line contains a link, but that is it) and now I am kind of inviting random people to come here. But that is ok. I should be more interesting when I write then. Hmm...

But the unforeseen bonus is that I have a random blog link on my page (Blogger has one of those too, which I nearly added to my site when I did the redesign awhile back). It is of course hit and miss, but that is more than ok.

Colin Powell - Secretary of State
Right wing appologist - You like the idea of diplomacy, you just don't have the courage to defend it! You often find yourself bullied by more hawkish characters and avoid disagreement.

What member of the Bush Administration are you?
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Sounds pretty accurate.

Umm... what would one do with this? Is it really popular? And if so, would Chapters (big Canadian bookstore) make money selling lifesize Paul Martins online?

Oh, and Dances with Wolves was still good, but has nothing on who should have won best picture in 1990, Goodfellas.

It is difficult to comment completely yet, but I will say this, they took a long movie and made it longer. We are taking a break, but the movie still has an hour left.

I am about to go watch Dances with Wolves for the first time in ten years. I wonder what will be different, now that I have a history degree and what not. I will also be fixing my Pokemon deck (hey, can't do only one thing at a time). If the movie is profound enough, I will blog on it later. Oh, and I'm going out on Wednesday night. I'm quite excited to go out with Allie again, it has been awhile (odd how having kids home all day in the summer will do that to a couple).

Allie just finished the blogathon, and wow is she tired. I am tired too, but I got to sleep from 4:00 until 7:00.

I have not always agreed with what Mr. Tony Blair has been saying or doing recently, but one quote from his recent speech to the United States Congress I thought was rather poignant:

"As Britain knows, all predominant power seems for a time invincible, but, in fact, it is transient. The question is: What do you leave behind?"

It is a question that I hope the Bush administration and more importantly the American people are asking themselves. As it stands right now, the record is not too great. Their rise to preeminence was all but saving western civilization from self-annhilation in the Second World War but since then their legacy has been, well far from the British standard from the 18th and 19th century. I am often wrong (just ask Allie) but I worry that the methods in which the United States is choosing to influence other nations is not positive (well, I am still happy with the jobs done in Japan and Germany, but other than that). Mao may have been right in saying political power came from the barrel of a gun but I am not sure democracy does. A democratic regime takes effort, time, understanding and most importantly resources, things which the United States seems reluctant to put into Afghanistan and now Iraq. As the American administration sits in their office planning their next campaign, I hope they remember the after-war costs as well. Since 1945 the United States has demonstrated time and time again they can kick the shit out of any nation on Earth, be it Vietnam, Russia or Iraq - but it is how they have dealt with military victory that has been an absolute disaster.

People have asked what I think the United States should do. I'm not sure why I am being asked, but since they asked - if the United States is going to engage in violent military conflict (and this is a if, because I don't think they have to as often as they do) they should be prepared to end it. The cost of peace far exceeds that to wage war and it takes billions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of personnel and a sensitivity to what they are doing. Regardless of whether the United States is right or wrong in going to war, there is undoubtedly a right way to finish the war you have started. And so far, the plan in Iraq is not it.

You are: A Democrat
How many times do we have to explain? Despite bringing about the lowest unemployment rate in modern times, the lowest unemployment rate in modern times, the lowest inflation for 30 years, the highest home ownership in the country's history and dropping crime rates, he once got a blow job and is therefore the embodiment of all evil.

Threat rating: High. The Bush administration is concerned that it may not get a second term. Therefore, we are going to change the rules so that each Democrat vote only counts as 0.2 votes because Democrat is a shorter word than Republican.

What threat to the Bush administration are you?
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Are you sure they are dead? I mean, that will show Osama Bin Laden, piss off the United States and you will pay. We will kill people you have never met or even like.

But seriously, they are horrible people who I am more than OK seeing dead. Too bad the Iraqis didn't get the chance to try and hang them themselves.

If you have ever read a video game review, then you would likely get a kick out of this... Real Life: The Full Review. Too funny.

My cat has begun biting people. Well, not people, just Allie and I. And it isn't with malice, she seems to be just trying to get our attention. She bites you on your elbow while you are at the computer. At first it was kind of cute and all, but now she is doing it hard enough to make you angry. We don't have a squirt bottle, but we have decided to yell her name angrily at her when she does...

(she is actually preparing a strike as I type this...)

... and if that doesn't work, we will buy a squirt bottle. But what would possess a five year old cat to just begin biting people? Nothing has changed in her life recently. Her food is good, she has grown a little overweight (her weight is a constant struggle) and she seems quite happy.

I also added a few features on my blog template, take a look! Got to run to work.

There is craziness going on in Strathmore, which is just a few minutes from Calgary. I'm not sure the running of the bulls is the Spanish tradition we should be importing.

It was such a hot day here in Calgary. My clothes were so sticky when I got home from work. I walked to and from work again today, which is more and more becoming a habit, and I think a good one. Probably would be faster with bulls chasing me though.

It is accomplished. The Dark Lord, Darth Malak is dead. The light side of the Force has triumphed. After only 35 hours of playing. I wonder what the dark side ending looks like. I'll be right back...

The Dark Lord of the Sith must be defeated. Sleep is for the weak.

Can't talk. Playing Knights of the Old Republic. View progress.

Carol Shields has passed away. I confess I only read The Stone Diaries, but am sad all the same.

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear Wesley
Happy birthday to you

Look to the left... the archives are back! I feel so smart when I fix my web page. Also, those of you visiting this page in Mozilla and Opera, check out the background, it doesn't move any more!

Thanks for dinner last night Grandma and Grandpa (on the chance that my Grandma might be reading this...). You guys are the greatest.

Umm... where did the Yukon and Prince Edward Island go? I mean, a Canadian tourist map without Prince Edward Island? Toby and I have been there, and it is one of the best attractions to sell potential tourists on. No PEI?

"A magazine published by the Canadian Tourism Commission to attract tourists contains maps that have wiped Prince Edward Island and Yukon off the face of the country."

IGN's Knights of the Old Republic Review is in 9.5!!! Oh, a good Star Wars game coming soon to my xBox. Only, what, one, two or three more days. I am giddy.

I was watching the Ridley Scott movie Gladiator tonight - great movie in my opinion, not in everyone's though (like Quynn) - and I was thinking about the scene where Russell Crowe's character Maximus was in the arena screaming sardonically at the fans after a particularly bloody kill "Are you not entertained?". The arena was silent. "Are you not entertained?" he protests again. I thought of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit, an anthem for my generation, and the great lyric contained within it "Here we are now, entertain us." Interesting... are we being entertained, and are we asking for it, no, demanding it. So as this goes through my mind, Maximus repeats his demand once more and of course the arena's audience roars in approval - not the response Maximus was hoping for, but certainly seemed to answer my thoughts. Of course the movie was made before September 11, but then again, so was Wag the Dog for that matter. Am I asking for the violence in the world for entertainment?

Revision: Quynn does not dislike Gladiator. He might feel it is historically inaccurate. He does dislike Braveheart however. And I would certainly agree Braveheart is historically inacccurate.

A day of doing nothing. That makes me happy. Played some Axis and Allies and chess (won at Axis and Allies, got freaking schooled at chess), a tiny bit of animal crossing, a little window shopping. We all need more days like this. But there was also hail. Hail isn't so much fun.

In better news, I got into a class I was desperately hoping to get into - comics and graphic novels in a library setting... ah, goodness. Manga, but as an academic.

I should buy Allie a digital camera. There is a lot I should buy Allie, and I'm not sure where she would argue the camera fits on the list, but I see how she looks at photoblogs and the like. She is jealous. Now, where did I leave that $600 bill... was it in my jeans when I washed them???

Still not working... sigh. I wish I hadn't tried to fool around with it. Alas...

So there it was, working for a couple of hours at least, and now my domain is back to being pointed at the wrong host. Sigh. I wonder what I am doing wrong?

Blogs doing some good in this Wired article: Bloggers Opening Western Eyes. And how about Ken Daneyko retiring? I hope when I make the NHL I stay with one team my whole career (the joke of course is that I'm not making the NHL in the 2004 draft. Or the 2005. In fact, the default creat-a-player in NHL 2003 is younger than I am, born in 1982.

So really, not everything is working because my archives are gone (but not forgotten, yet...) and I still have a bit of editing to do on my template as well. But seriously, this makes me happy!

So, unless I am much mistaken, this is working! Yay me! Well, not everything is working, still some e-mail issues to go through before I can have a phendrana.ca e-mail account working like nobody's business and a few other things, but the reality is, if you can see this post, then this is working like gangbusters and everyone who reads me often can change their links and bookmarks!

So again, another post that only I can see for a period of time. But when you do get a chance to see this, be sure to visit Allie's post regarding the Blogathon later this month. What else can we talk about here today... Knights of the Old Republic, the first video game release I've been excited about since the new Legend of Zelda, is coming out next week. I can't wait to pick it up... and Wes' birthday is next week too! So many good things.

Oh, Knights of the Old Republic, Tuesday seems so far away.

No one will be able to see this for a day or so (I'm not giving up on phendrana.ca yet...) but I want to share it anyway - LT Smash (American soldier serving in Iraq, neat blog) has many interesting posts, this being one of them. So many questions, I don't know where to even start answering them.

Blogger seems screwed... but I was fiddling with it quite a bit. Maybe it's me?

Hmm. Maybe this moving the blog thing wasn't so brilliant. Or at least doing it without paying for the hosting.

My blog is moving! Well, mostly. For the next while go to www.phendrana.ca to see my blog!

Because spokeydokey.com's web mistress did it, I thought I would download Mozilla and you know what? My page looks like ass in it. Well, not ass, but my girl background isn't supposed to tile, but rather stay stationary on the page. Boo. My web mastery skills are foiled again. Must work harder. I wonder if I can make her work in both Netscape-like browsers and Internet Explorer.

Raining here in Calgary. My weather button claims it is raining in Edmonton too.

This just in - Duncan's CT scan proclaimed Duncan's head to be... NORMAL! Which means I am just crazy without explaination. And I have some headaches.

You're Nova Scotia. People have spread rumours about you and you have suffered from stereotyping. Few people take the time out to get to know the real you. You hate labels. You are patriotic and loyal.

What Canadian Province Are You?
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I can deal with being Nova Scotia. I rather like Halifax. It is pleasant, laid back, foggy and not open on Sundays. Like me.

Chris Drury is leaving Calgary... sigh. I wish I lived in Denver right now. Selanne and Kariya? Together again? Imagine, either Teemu and Paul will play on the Av's second line... or Forsberg and Hejduk on the second line. The next time Colorado plays Calgary I will again get to make the comment "Look, Colorado's bench is filled players who will one day be in the Hockey Hall of Fame, and Calgary has several players who might visit the Hockey Hall of Fame one day." Sigh.

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