As reported earlier... Oasis

I saw Oasis at GM Place last night. They were awesome as usual.

Oasis are not a band that I would tell everyone to go and see just for the show. But if you're a fan of their music, even in a small way, then you should go and see them. It's rare that you see *everyone* in the audience singing along to every word. It happens with Billy Joel, but Oasis fans nail it every time.

They played all the favourites and 4 new songs. The new songs sounded good too.

Well worth the ticket price and GM Place is a great venue too.

Very kewl.

Soon.

New job required...

Yes, the company I work for has laid me off. Actually, me and a bunch of other people.

They're reorganizing and a lot of us had to go. I am not mad, or upset with them at all. I completely understand.

All I am in fact is sad. I have really enjoyed my relatively short stay here (been here since December '07) and really enjoy my job and the people I work with.

They've been pretty much the only company that treats it's employees as adults, and I shall miss that most I think.

We've all been given three months working notice and the company has said that we can use as much time as we need to find other jobs. Our HR department has started 'reverse recruiting' so they're all working to try and get us hired by other companies. They're sending around postings and contact information for all kinds of other companies.

They're treating us all very well (why does that sound like a message from a hostage?).

But I still have to find another job. Sigh.

Later.

Pemberton Festival

This weekend I'm going to the first Pemberton Festival. Ever.

It's being held at Pemberton in British Columbia, which is apparently 40 minutes north of Whistler.

There are dozens of bands playing there, a few of which are The Tragically Hip, Jay-Z, Nine Inch Nails and Coldplay. I have nothing against Coldplay but think it's strange that they are headlining. The festival starts on Friday afternoon and ends on Sunday night.

I totally understand that the organizers want to have a safe event and want to curb any violence and things like that, but the rules they've put in place seem a little strict. Bands will play from around 4PM to around 10:30PM each day. And alcohol sales stop at 10PM. Quiet time at the campsite is from 3AM to 7AM. What I don't understand is what do the organizers expect people to do after the bands have finished until 3AM?

Anyway, I'm going with three friends and we're all camping, Thursday through Sunday is a long camping trip for me. Four nights of being bloody uncomfortable, damp and possibly cold. Four nights of little or no sleep. Four nights of no creature comforts. Four nights of no computer. And last but not least, four nights of being away from my lovely wife and kids.

Pictures (and more) to follow.

Rush

Went to see Rush at GM Place on Thursday night.

What a show that was! Absolutely spectacular. Rush always put on such a great show.

Sure, they're a little predictable, there's always a drum solo, always a few instrumentals and always a few medleys of various songs. But I think it's the predictability that people have come to love about Rush shows.

My only mistake was getting floor seats. I thought it would be the cool thing to do, but nope. Stood up all through the show (it was more than 3 hours long with the intermission) and was constantly straining to see everything and not just watch the huge monitors behind them.

But the sound was great (take note The Cure) and the show was perfect. A great mix of old and new. The boys looked great, and like they were really enjoying themselves (take note The Cure). Geddy seemed genuinely interested in talking to the crowd (again... The Cure).

Everyone should go to a Rush show, even if you're not a huge fan. As long as you don't dislike them, you'll have a great time.

Later dudes.

The Cure

Went to see The Cure at GM Place in Vancouver last night.

This was the fifth time I'd seen them and was by far the worst of the five.

I've listened to The Cure for almost 30 years. My first album was The Head on the Door and I bought it in the 70's.

For me the Cure have always been a 5 piece band, and for this tour they are a 4 piece, maybe it's just me, but you can't remove an instrument from a band and expect no-one to notice, or expect to replace the sound with a guitar. They removed the keyboards (I'm not a huge fan of keyboards) and they tried to back fill some of the keyboard sound with a guitar, which just sounded trashy.

The guitarist Porl came out with a shaved and tattooed head (I don't believe the tattoos were real personally) and dressed in tight PVC with huge platform boots on that were purple and lit up. Didn't fit with The Cure's overall look at all.

The sound was lousy at time I couldn't hear the lyrics or Smith's guitar at all.

It was a lousy show in my opinion. Will I go and see them again? Sure, but I won't look forward to it nearly as much next time. They have a new album due out at the end of the year, but without keyboards, it might be good, but it won't be The Cure.

Sorry Cure fans everywhere, but you should have seen then ten years ago.

More soon.

Well Birthday week is gone for another year

A big thanks to all my friends who took me out and paid for everything as a part of my Birthday celebration.

I had a great time. We went to the Yaletown Brewpub and it was a good night.

Now on with the rest of Birthday month!

More to come.

Birthday week is finally here!

If you know me, then you also know that my birthday is right around the corner.

So I mark today as the official start of birthday week. May 1 was the official start of birthday month. People often ask why I remind my friends so much that my birthday is approaching. I tell them that I do it for them. It's a completely selfless act. If they forgot I'd be mad at them and they would not get the benefit of my wit and humour, so by reminding them, they don't forget and I don't get mad or disappointed. So it's a win for them really. Simple.

In other news. I now have a ticket for the Oasis show at GM Place in late August. We also have a baby due in very early September. So I hope that the two don't conflict, because you just know which event I'll be at, right?

More news, I'm going to Pemberton Festival in late July. It's a three day outdoor festival in, you guessed it, Pemberton British Columbia. Which is just a bit north of Whistler. Check out the site for all the details but three days, dozens of bands including The Tragically Hip, Nine Inch Nails, Coldplay and lots more. We'll be camping for the whole thing and it should be a riot. Jay Z is headlining too, and apparently he puts on a really good show, so although I'm not a fan at all, I'm looking forward to seeing him/them, whatever.

With the layoffs at work, particularly on the floor I'm on, it's like a ghost town. Someone said that on the east side of the floor they saw a tumbleweed! While I can't confirm or deny that sighting, I wouldn't be surprised. No idea what, if anything is happening with the team that I'm on, but time will tell I supposed.

More later.

New Mac for the MUG

The MUG that I'm President of, finally decided to buy a new computer and more importantly what type to buy.

We decided to get a MacBook Pro and I picked it up last weekend. 

Got to unpack it and build it out on Sunday and did the now standard 'unboxing' ceremony complete with pictures. 

The pictures are here:  http://gallery.mac.com/applesbc#100008 .

 It sure is a nice machine though. I really like the new touch gestures on the larger trackpad. True that I haven't used them much yet, but we'll get used to them eventually.

This all means that we can now keep all the club documents in one place and have a decent machine for people to give presentations on, rather than limiting our presenters to those that have their own laptop, which is what has happened in the past.

More later.

It moved!

People that know me also know that we're pregnant. Expecting on September 2.

Anyway, last night I experienced the baby move! One of those monumental moments in any parents life.

Amazing.

More soon.

Ahh, Friday

Well today was supposed to be another 'layoff day', but it seems that the communication lines got crossed somehow. It didn't happen anyway.

It turns out that the heads of my company are meeting in one of our overseas offices and are determining what the company is going to look like going forward. We already know that whatever it looks like, it doesn't include the video editors and other post-production people that have already been let go (what do you mean, you haven't been following along?). But it waits to be seen as to what the rest of it looks like.

Am I worried? Yeah, a bit. Someone told me the other day that you shouldn't worry about the things you cannot change. And that you shouldn't worry about the other things either. So I'm trying to live by that right now.

Anyway, it's Friday. Went for a one beer lunch with my boss and a couple of his peers which turned into a three beer lunch. And beer time in the office is due to start in about an hour. And I'm leaving at 4 today to meet some friends for drinks. So it's kindof like a beer Friday for me.

More later.

Score one for our team!

I'm a Macintosh Administrator by trade. And I love it when I convince someone to switch.

This morning I was talking to one of our Project Managers, who was telling me the problems he was having with his StinkPad. I told him that he should switch to a Mac. He said that he would love to, but that the budget for his group wouldn't allow it. Well with the layoffs we've had lately, I just happen to have 5 Mac laptops sitting in my desk, depreciating and gathering dust, so I told him he could have one. I like how I'm so free with the company's money?

He checked with his Manager, and she said 'go for it'.

So I'm building it for him right now. Sweet.

Another good thing about this is that his Manager is having problems with her StinkPad too (umm, isn't everyone?), so he's put himself in the position of 'pilot' for Macs in the PM office. So when they all see how trouble-free it is, we'll be rolling more out, you can take that to the bank.

Check one more off the list Redmond.

More later.

Shutdown Day 2008

The second annual Shutdown Day is happening May 3 of this year. I honestly didn't know that there was a first annual, but whatever.

Anyway, I've signed up, and will shutdown my computer for the day. 

Problem is, it's Saturday so it's going to be tough. I've always got lots to do around the house anyway so I'll get over it. It's a strange feeling though, having no computer for the day. Just goes to show how much we've come to depend on them.

More soon.

What the hell is going on?

Yes, this all looks a bit odd doesn't i?

It's been a long time since I posted to blogger, since then I've been working with Wordpress at my own site (but not very much) and have realised that I really don't like how the wordpress editor doesn't work with Safari. So, given that I'm not changing from what I think is the best brower, period, my blog location had to change instead.

So here we are. I've included some of my more recent posts, but not everything.

More soon.

A good day? Maybe...

Some of my friends got let go from work today. We (actually, I, now) work (or worked) for a media company in downtown Vancouver. The company is ‘restructuring’ and ‘getting back to core values’ and this meant that the video editors that have been there for a long time, were no longer required.

I understand that it’s just business and as such I fully support the company. I agree that we should re-align ourselves with the core values and that in that case, these unfortunate people were surplus to requirements. But I feel so bad for them.

I guess I wouldn’t feel as bad if I too had been let go (yeah, no kidding, I’d just be worried sick about making mortgage payments) but I do feel really bad. But here I am anyway, still ‘with job’ and with job that I love too I might add.

Well, when I say here I am, I’m not actually working right now, I’m at my MUG. For those that don’t read this trash normally, I’m the President of the Vancouver Macintosh User Group (MUG). And tonight (actually, as I type this), we’re being treated to a great presentation from a member of the MAC BU which is the Macintosh Business Unit at Microsoft.

I like how Microsoft and Apple are able to still work together given there vast differences and the (in my opinion) very funny and pointed Mac vs PC ads currently running on TV. They try really hard to make Office look good and work really well on the Mac. And they’ve almost got it. They went through a lot of changes to Office for this new version and for the most part it’s great. Word takes a long time to load for me, but apparently this is a known issue and is being addressed by MS. So stay current with your patches.

Saw Sarah Silverman a few weeks ago, it was great to see her. I’m a huge fan of her comedy. The only disappointment I had with the show was that I had heard or seen more than half of the material that she did that night.

I’m going to see Rush and The Cure in May too. And now Oasis had added Vancouver dates in August. Tickets are expensive! But that’s not stopping me.

I’m buying a new computer from the MUG on the weekend. We’ve decided on a nice, shiny new 15″ MacBook Pro. So I’m going to have an ‘unboxing’ ceremony, complete with pictures which I’ll put up on the MUG web. I’ve unboxed a few Mac’s now and have never taken pictures, everyone should have at least one unboxing. Sounds rude, but it’s not. Well, it is if you want it to be anyway.

Tonight is also the big draw at the MUG. We’re raffling off $1500 in Apple hardware the winners choice). I have $200 in tickets and am going to buy a BlackBook if I win it. The BlackBook is for my Daughter in Calgary. She runs a PC right now and nobody deserves that!

More soon.

President again

At the last meeting of ApplesBC (the Vancouver Macintosh User Group), we had our AGM. At the AGM the existing Executive resigns and is either voted back in or new members are voted in in their place(s).

As President for the 2007 / 2008 season, I decided to resign as such and to volunteer for the position of Webmaster instead. But we already had a webmaster.

So today we had our first Executive meeting for this season. As past President, and since nobody else had volunteered for President, I had to attend. I had given a lot of thought to what I’d like to do for the club. I learned that I enjoy running the meetings and although I wanted input into the website I didn’t really want to be the guy that did all the work. So I had decided that as long as our current webmaster was willing to work with me and take direction from me, that I would return as President for the next year.

This morning at the meeting, I presented this thought and it was unanimously accepted amongst the Executive.

So I’m President again. Some would say I am a sucker for punishment and sometimes I would agree. But I really want to keep this club going and I felt that while nobody else volunteered for the Presidential position and given that I actually enjoy some of the duties of President and given that there are new Executive members that are going to take some of the load off me, I am happy with my decision and the decision of the Executive.

More later.

Upcoming 'cultural' events

Well, some would call it culture.

I'm going to see Sarah Silverman at the end of March. Then The Cure in late May then Rush in later May.

Never had so many events going on at the same time.

Of course my Credit Card is feeling the strain, tickets are not cheap. Neither is going away for a long weekend though I guess.

Been a huge Cure fan for a long, long time. I'll almost be the oldest person there, but I so don't care. I've seen them 4 times now I think? And each one has been better than the last.

I've seen Rush a couple of times too. The last time was in Vancouver when they put on a 3 hour show! It was fantastic. And I've not seen Sarah Silverman before, but I'm such a fan of hers. I think her type of humour is what we need right now. We need people to stop taking themselves so seriously and being easily offended. I'm not advocating racism, but I am advocating a sense of humour which involves the ability to laugh at ourselves.

More later.

Big White Ski Resort

I took a few friends to Big White Ski Resort last weekend.

We had a great time skiing and snowboarding and sampling the many different food and beverage offerings. We sampled many more beverage offerings than food of course.

One of the highlights of the weekend though was seeing my friend Paul perform with his band The Hip Replacements. As you might gather, they are a Tragically Hip cover band and played all our favourites. They were playing at Rakkels on the Ridge, a popular ski bar at Big White on both Friday and Saturday nights.

We went and watched them on both nights as we had so much fun.

Anyway, here are some pictures from my Flickr page.

More later.

Macbook woes

Well well well.

On Tuesday night I was happily mac-cing away on my 3 week old Macbook.
Imagine my surprise when I flipped the lid open on Wednesday morning to find rainbow coloured lines running from top to bottom of the display!
I restarted the machine and the screen was blank. A grey colour, lit up, but blank.

Video Ram failure.

Took it back to Future Shop where I was initially told that the 14-day period for returns of exchanges had passed. They turned out to be excellent though as they allowed me to exchange my broken Macbook for some extra cash for a brand new Macbook Pro!

Yummy!

So all is well, thanks Future Shop for great service.

So, now I'm running a Macbook Pro instead. Haven't had much time to use it yet as I spent last night loading it up again, but the display is fantastic. I also like how they have split the USB ports up so there's one on the left and one on the right. They also included a DVI to VGA connector. Ahh the little things make such a difference!

I was a little concerned about the relative small size of the display on the first Mac I got, and the display on the Pro has chased all those concerns away. At just over 15 inches it's all I could possibly want.

Apple keynote

Just watching the Apple keynote from WWDC this week.

Lots of cool stuff coming in Leopard methinks?

Gotta love the Mac...