XBOX Live up and running and a Murder Mystery

Yesterday I got my new Internet and Cable hooked up and immediately joined XBOX Live. I ended up playing Call OF Duty for over 3 hours with Fukake, Yipz, AvoidableHill, AvoidableRichie, Cleave and Lil Fukake. It ended up being awesome, as I expected. So anyone wanting to play either COD or NHL online add me - AvoidableSpi - and I would be happy to beat you at the game of your choice. And by game of your choice I mean choice of the two games i currently have.

Tonight I am excited to be attending my first Murder Mystery dinner. I am not sure what to expect but I am hoping I get the role of murderer. I will make sure to update you all tomorrow on how it was.

Sorry for the briefness of the post, missed work yesterday so I have alot of work to catch up on today. Weekend posts will have more substance.

Thanks for taking the time.

Weekend Update

In my last post I discussed how Friday was such a good day, well it carried over into the weekend.

SATURDAY

Saturday started with a 7:30 am wake up call. I had to be in Chilliwack at 10. Chilliwack is about an hour and a half drive from where I live. Normally I would be upset about having to be up so early on a weekend, but since I knew I was going to be driving far I was in a good mood. I like long drives, just throw on some music and drive. The music on the radio that morning was perfect. Anytime I switched stations there was another good song on. It seemed like I could not miss. I did not have to throw my ipod on at anytime for back-up, which was awesome.
Also helping was the fact it was a Saturday. Anyone who lives in this area knows how bad traffic can be on any given day, especially rush hour during the week. I hit the highway very quickly and started the trek. It was sunny, cool and honestly perfect driving weather. Once I got past Langley, which is about the halfway point of my trip, I realized just how beautiful that area of our Province is. There are not many buildings, but there are scattered farms, beautiful mountains and an overall peacefulness. For those who need a day of relaxation, I recommend jumping in your car by yourself and driving out to Chilliwack. Not only is the drive very relaxing, but the town itself is great. Smaller town that has a main downtown strip, in love with the Chilliwack Bruins (local hockey team) and very cheerful people.
After Chilliwack I headed to Abbotsford to meet up with Taks and Heater for lunch. We hit Old Spaghetti Factory, which was pretty good. It was my first time and I was happy. One thing I absolutely love doing is talking hockey and Taks is one of the best at it. I can talk hockey all day, but when someone who has worked in the game and understands it reciprocates it makes it so much more fun. We talked hockey for a couple of hours before I headed home.
When I took a short nap before watching the Canucks beat the Chicago Blackhawks 7-3. I could go on about this game, but I do not want to bore you. Let's just say they got some bounces and played a solid game.
Lastly on Saturday was Board Game night at Rambo's house. Rambo is like a brother to me. Him and Bou-Bou are actual cousins, and although I call them both my cousins because I have known them forever, I really consider them both like brothers. Rambo is engaged to Taters, who I graduated High School with. Anyway, I headed over there to win, as always. I am super competitive and hate losing. When I arrived they had just finished setting up Cranium, which is one of the best games in the world. I was lucky enough to be placed on a team with Sunita, Melissa and Amanda. We were team "Killer Bees" due to our guy being yellow. Needless to say we destroyed the competition with some unreal teamwork. Once the thrashing was completed we moved on to the traditional Men vs. Women game of Guesstures, which is basically charades. This was the first time in the three times I have played the men lost. Don't want to talk about it anymore. I am still upset. On a side note, playing board games for drinks is awesome, it is the new cool. I went home around 1:00 as I had to be up at 7:30 again for another weekend day of work.

SUNDAY

Another early wake up call. I headed into the office to grab some information for the work I was doing that morning, only to find the printer was not working. Luckily Bails, my co-worker, is smarter than me and figured out we could photocopy what we had instead of printing it. After work I met up with Fukake and AvoidableHill. We drove around, checked out a few places. then ended up back at AvoidableHills house to play some video games and watch the Grammys. I ended up heading home around 7:30 that night and went straight to bed. I watched the Grammys in bed then went to sleep around 11. Pretty uneventful Sunday but isn't that what Sundays are for? It was nice to be in bed early and get some much needed sleep. My consecutive work day streak is now at 16. I will be up to 18 before I get 1 day off, followed by another 16 or so in a row. My 1 day off will be this upcoming Thursday where Telus is coming over to install my Internet and new telusTV. Once my Internet is set-up I will be on xbox live, which I cannot wait for, and give you all my handle so you can add me and I can beat you.

Thanks for taking the time.

I Heart Twitter, Friday was a great day

THURSDAY

On Thursday I signed up for Twitter. I love it. I am addicted to it. I am on it all the time.

Twitter is a site where you basically update what you are doing. For example, right now on my twitter page it could say "AvoidableSpi is blogging" or something like that. It is essentially like constantly updating your facebook status.

Not only can you update it online, but you can update it through your web browser on your phone, through text, or a program called twitterberry, which is a twitter application for blackberrys. I have had some issues with twitterberry and have not been able to install it yet, but am working on it. AvoidableHill has it and he likes it, so I will take his word and recommend it.

I am constantly updating and checking others updates to see what they are up to. Your twitter home page is a list of all the people you are following and updates you on their status. You can follow anyone you would like that has twitter, and when they update, it updates your home page. Not only am I following friends like AvoidableHill and Jujugi, but also celebrities. Regular celebrity updaters are John Mayer, Lance Armstrong, Talib Kweli, Quest Love, Shaquille O'Neal, amongst many others.

I recommend checking it out at http://www.twitter.com/ and seeing how you like it. If you sign up make sure to follow me. My handle is AvoidableSpi.

FRIDAY

Friday started off OK, I wasn't feeling well at all, but ended up being a great day.

I had a couple of errands to run before I went home and relaxed. I knew I had a full weekend of work ahead of me so I needed to relax as much as possible. My first errand was heading to Lougheed mall. After eating lunch (and discussing twitter non-stop) with AvoidableHill and Jujugi we went to the mall so I could get some pants hemmed and trade in some old video games. I dropped off my pants and headed to EB.

I had 8 old games to trade in and honestly was going to be happy if all 8 games netted me Call of Duty:World at War. All of my friends play this game online against each other so I was the odd man out. Anyway, I was trading in games with some value (Madden '09, Fight Night Round 3, Assassins Creed), but also trading in some really bad games (Amped 3, NHL '07) and I even had Gears of War with no case, just the disc itself. When all was said and done I ended up with $130 in store credit! This was more than double what I was expecting so needless to say I was ecstatic. Not only did I end up with Call of Duty, but I also got a one year xbox live membership AND still have $10 in EB credit left. I will be online Thursday (my new Internet is getting set up) and my handle will be AvoidableSpi. Feel free to add me.

I then headed downtown with AvoidableHill to meet up with Fukake and his gf Housekeeping who was getting her hair done. Nickname Housekeeping is a great story by the way, but I will save it for another time. We walked around Gastown for a short time, got some coffee, and ended up at Livestock where I bought these beauties:

We headed back into Burnaby as I had to grab my hockey gear. Had a game at 930. Grabbed it, went to the game which we won 6-4. Hung out at Reno's house for a bit after with Yipz, Doggy, Stetz and Reno then went home to get some sleep before I had to be up at 730 the next day.

Next blog: weekend update-the 'Wack, Abbotsford, Canucks win big, Board Game Party and whatever happens today.

Thanks for taking the time.

Breaking News - Celebration of Light Finished

Quick Post:

The Celebration of Light is officially over. The staple of summer nights at English Bay for the past 18 years has been cancelled due to lack of funding. The Vancouver Sun reports:

The HSBC Celebration of Light, the summer fireworks festival that has attracted thousands of people to Vancouver, will not proceed this year due to a lack of funding.
The Vancouver Fireworks Festival society said Wednesday in a press release that the not-for-profit society has been unable to retain and add enough sponsorship to meet the event's $4 million budget.
"It has been an exceptional 18-year event -- the largest of its kind in the world -- and it is a credit to our many exceptional sponsors that we kept the event going year after year. However, the current financial situation makes it impossible for us to continue."
With about 350,000 spectators per night for each of the four nights of the show, the event had an economic impact of over $37 million annually in direct visitor spending, the society said.

You can view the full article here: http://www.vancouversun.com/Vancouver+fireworks+festival+comes/1252921/story.html

Slumdog Millionaire & Canucks Finally Win

On Monday night I went and checked out Slumdog Millionaire with a friend. Obviously the hype around this movie was massive as it basically swept the Golden Globes and will probably do the same at the Oscars. I was pretty skeptical going into the movie, but that was quickly changed. There is one scene in the beginning of the movie that really captured me. The kids are playing Cricket on an air strip and get chased by the cops through their town, or "slum". The combination of the cinematography and music totally grabbed me and for the next 2 hours I was enthralled. I don't want to give anything from the movie away so all I will say is I recommend this movie to everyone, will probably watch it again soon, and now firmly believe it has warranted all hype given to it.
Last night the Canucks finally pulled out a win. It had been a long stretch of 8 straight losses, 9 straight at home, but they pulled one out. It took a shorthanded goal with less than 2 minutes left to do it, but they did what they had to do to win. A few things I noticed from last night:

1. They battled through adversity. The true sign of a team is when the going gets tough, they find a way to battle through it. Over this stretch they did not play well, got no bounces, and could not win to save their lives. Last night it was different. When they went up 2-0 there was a feeling of relief, they had a lead and with Luongo in net it was going to stay that way. Then in a matter of less than 40 seconds it had vanished and the game was tied 2-2. The mere fact that they continued to play their game and get some chances was a true sign of the character this team has been lacking. Then we finally got a bounce. Mats Sundin on a wraparound banks it in off Cam Ward. Once again they lose the lead but continue to battle and it pays off with Burrows netting the winner.
2. They got a couple of bounces. In hockey it seems like one bounce can change the landscape of an entire game. When you have puck luck, you get the bounces, when you don't, you don't. Simple enough. I am a firm believer in making your own luck, especially on the ice, but there are times when things just go your way. This happened last night and I remember three specific points that in my opinion turned the tide of the game.

• No Goal. Carolina thought they had taken the lead when the goal was disallowed AND the Canucks were given the power play on a goalie interference call to Ryan Bayda. This is a call that can truly go either way as some can say he tripped Luongo, while you could also argue he was pushed in. Either way the call went in the Canucks favour and turned the tide of the game.
• Sundins' Goal. Once again a key time. Carolina had tied the game at 2 and due to the current losing streak and the way the team had been playing it felt like another one was thrown away. Then Sundin, who had his strongest game of the season thus far, took the puck around the net and threw it in front. It was a very lucky bounce as it hit Cam Wards left pad, which was his back pad at the time, and bounced in. Three or four games ago that puck slides right through the crease and out the other side.
• Pitkanens Pinch. Joni Pitkanen had been playing an unreal game. He is the type of defensemen the Canucks need. A true offensive player with amazing speed, a great first pass, and really good vision. He was all over the ice last night and at some points looked like he was playing left wing. Pitkanen, along with Joe Corvo, are shaky in their own zone but provide so much offense it is a trade off many teams would gladly take, except the Oilers. With the Canucks shorthanded and less than 2 minutes left Carolina was controlling. They were set up in the offensive zone when Pitkanen fed a cross ice pass to Anton Babchuk who was at the top of the left circle. The one timer missed the net and rang around the boards. It is easy to look at a play and asses, I understand, but I believe Pitkanen made a terrible read on the play. His defensive partner had taken the shot at the left face off circle, meaning he was already out of position should the play go the other way. Pitkanen should have also read looked at the situation. Tie game, power play, less than 2 minutes left. At that juncture of the game he should step back, make the safe play, and wait to attack again. He didn't. He was flat footed and tried to jump into the play when Kesler easily pushed it by him and the rest, as they say, is history. I know Kesler is fast and any other player would not have beat Pitkanen to the puck, but that is another reason he should have backed off and made the smart play. Either way the Canucks got a bounce and went on to win the game.

Big victory, catapulted the team from 11th to 7th in the West as Edmonton, Clumbus and Phoenix all lost. With teams 5 through 11 only seperated by 4 points we all know it will be a dog fight for the final 4 spots in the playoffs. Big win, much needed, and now looking at the positive, the Canucks have points in 4 of their last 5.

Thanks for reading.

Back for the 5th time.....weekend update

So here we go again. For the millionth time since I started this blog I am going to try and post again. I originally started this blog a few years ago when I moved to San Diego with the two Andrews (Bou and Rice) to keep people in Vancouver up to speed on my trip. Then it became just a random update blog, which worked out OK for a little while, but I failed to keep it going. Recently I have had private discussions with a few of my friends on various topics, but one thing that continuously came up was the way we do things. It seems that no matter what we do, everyone in our circle wants to be there. Let me side track for a quick second and tell you our circle runs about 20 deep in total, but normally ranges from 8-24, maybe more. Doing anything in a group this size is challenging. Organizing it all takes patience and a level head, two things I do not consider myself to be strong in. Luckily we have AvoidableHill (his xbox live name for those who want to add him and beat him at NHL or Call of Duty)

Back on track. The reason everyone wants to be there is because there is usually one moment every time we do something that an inside joke comes about. Whether it be a stupid redneck laugh, Shitle Tot, Why so dressed up?, wut doing or anything else, we play it out like there is no tomorrow. If you do not know the origin, it is not as funny, but everyone is quick to learn and jump on board. Every group of friends does it, has their inside jokes that they use for ever. With us however, it has become THE reason to go out. My close friend said it best: "everyone wants to hang out every night because they don't want to miss the shit we do. When they hear about it and all of the stories they get pissed." It is not a direct quote but it was something along those lines. So, without further rambling, I bring you the weekend update. This will hopefully give people a little more of an inside view as to what we do. For now I will not use real names because I have not cleared it with anyone.

FRIDAY - HAPPY BDAY HEEMBO & MANBAOBAO

I got off work at 5 and headed home for a somewhat busy night. My friends Heembo and Manbaobao were celebrating their birthdays together at an Indian restaurant. Also, a co-worker had her party at Caprice which I was to attend after the dinner. We arrived at the restaurant, 24 of us in tow, and were sat in the back at three different tables, 8 per table. The food was good, as was the atmosphere, but what I really enjoyed was catching up with people I have not seen in a while. Once the marathon was over (we arrived at 9 and did not leave until 11:30 or so) we headed downtown to a place called Johnny Fox's. This was perfect for me because Caprice was half a block away so I could go to my friends party. Much to my dismay there was a massive line, as always, and I decided to not wait and head back to Fox's. Not much else to report, a pretty solid night, I went to bed happy.

SATURDAY - WORK, RAMBO, UFC, CANUCKS, VIDEO GAMES

Saturday was a busy day for me. I woke up and headed straight out to White Rock where I was doing some work for a few hours. I got lost a few times on the way (thanks Google Maps, not the best, true THAT, double true) but ended up there only a few minutes late. I worked from 1-4 then headed to Cleves' house to watch UFC. When I arrived they had just started Rambo which turned out to be a better movie than I expected. I am a Stallone fan, and am glad he realized the two roles he does best are Rocky and Rambo. It finished at a perfect time as everyone started arriving to watch St.Pierre beat BJ Penn. St.Pierre worked his game plan to perfection and picked apart BJ earning a fourth round victory. At this point I would like to thank Fukake for his $20. The best part of the evening was when Joe Rogan went to interview a nervous Thiago Alves. He was discussing being the number one contender and his apparent title shot when he said "I am very excited for my Shitle Tot"......a new phrase is born. After the fight a few of us hung around and played some video games til about 3am and headed home. Jungo and I are unbeatable at NHL and are the 5 Diamond Dynasty. I think we will enter a tournament....

SUNDAY - WORK AND SUPER BOWL

I had to get up at 8am on Sunday to get ready for work. I was heading down to the Spring Festival (Chinese New Years Parade) as our company was in the parade. Although it was raining, cold, damp and miserable, I had a great time. We have a pretty tight group at work, but this brought the ones that attended much closer. It took alot of energy to not only stay positive for the people in attendance, but also to try and stay warm. It made it much easier when you look into the crowd of people lining the streets and think about them having to do the same just to see a parade. Makes being in it that much more special. Once it was over I could not get home fast enough, change out of my soaked clothes, grab some beers and head to Fukakes house for the Super Bowl. The game was good, even though I lost $20. Fukake was really dressed up and I did not know why. If i was hosting I would have been in sweats and a tee, but he was dressed. Why so dressed up Fukake? Why so dressed up? After hanging out for a short time I headed out for coffee with Sunny (sorry I could not think of a better nickname haha) We hung out for 2 hours or so and that was it. I headed home, Team America was on TV. Perfect way to end the week.

Thanks for reading this, especially if you got through the whole thing. Sorry I did not have any crazy stories to tell but it was a relatively tame weekend for me. Once again I am going to try and update as often as possible as long as I have something interesting to say. Thanks again, catch you soon.

Risk

Sorry for the delay between posts, to be honest, there just hasn't been anything "write worthy."

Risk. The game of the devil. Not only does it take an hour to learn how to play, it takes an hour to set-up, then like 80 hours to play. Ok not that long but you catch my drift. On Saturday night me and some friends decided to play. Here is how it broke down:
There were 3 teams. Jon and Fu were together, Hilmi and Kaito were together, although Kaito left early and Hilmi then teamed up with Green Eagle Manny and some consultation from Yip, who had played the game before. Finally, I was on a team with Leo Fu.
For those who have not played Risk, it is actually a very fun game. Intense, Strategic, and a real Friendship Breaker. At the beginning it looked like Hilmi and team had it won, until the battle of all battles went down. it was truly epic. it was like the Spartans taking on Xerxes and his army. It was Hilmi's 40 red plastic toys against Fu and Jons 30 plastic toys. Hilmi was attacking and if he won this battle would control majority of the board and ease his way to victory. However, those plans were not to be. Jon and Fu game up with a mega defense and took the battle, along with the rest of the board about 2 hours later. Damn Megatrons.
All in all i had alot of fun, although my stomach hurt from the Pepsi and chips with cheese. Miyuki was there to exchange all of our men for us, and pipe in with some strategic help. We had so much fun it is something we might do more often, only next time we will start earlier so we don't play til 4:30 in the morning.
Anyway that's it for now, but i will be back soon as i am apartment and car hunting and will keep y'all updated with how i do.

thank you WWTDD, you helped me find the girl of my dreams

I am at work and busy but I had to post this. Part of my morning ritual is going to www.wwtdd.com. Guy is funny. Today I look and happen to find quite possibly one of the funniest videos I have ever seen. If you have 4 minutes to spare, and love good singing, do yourself a favour and watch this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfnCmv9eV1U