Random Ramblings

The latest on the job situation (as of Tuesday) is that my boss-to-be is finalizing the job description and work contract, getting final approvals from the Board, and hopefully I'll be able to start next Monday. This would be nice, given that this is my fourth week of not working and I'm starting to go stir crazy.

Gaming has been good, and probably the one thing that's been keeping me socially engaged recently. Thank God for the creativity involved in pretending to be someone else.

My weight's crept up a bit, but I don't want to start undertaking anything major until I start working again. No point in starting an exercise routine only to stop after a single week because you don't have time anymore. I've been doing a fair amount of walking, but my shoe has been causing my right foot and leg to act up. I really should buy a new pair of shoes... when I have money.

Speaking of "when I have money," I've got a list of things I'd like to buy after I'm employed again. I refuse to buy anything now while I'm still unemployed, just in case things fall through. But there's some kitchen stuff I'd like to buy, and I'm also seriously considering getting an iphone. Can anyone recommend some wicked apps?

I've also been doing a decent amount of cooking and baking, though I haven't written about it much. I made a really awesome soup a few weeks ago, and I improved a plum crumble and some banana muffins earlier this week. (Note: This may also be why my weight is creeping up. *grin*)

Anyway, that's it for my life at the moment. I'm very anxious to have a signed job contract, but hopefully that'll all work itself out by next week. For now... groceries, so that I may cook for my game on Saturday. It's what keeps me going.

A few weeks ago, I got a cheque from the government for my GST returns. It was for around $30. Yay. Due to a number of readjustments to my returns, I got a form in the mail a few days ago informing me that now I owe them about $6. They couldn't have just given me a cheque for $24 instead, and called it even?

Now I'm trying to figure out how the heck to pay it, and bashing my head against the government website. I go to the website on the form, only to be presented with a list of what I want to pay: personal income taxes, business GST, etc. The problem is that while this is a personal income tax thing, the header at the top of the page says "Goods and Services Tax / Harmonized Sales Tax Credit Notice." So I have no idea. Then there's another page: Is this balance/arrears adjustment, installment payment, or something else? There is no hint of this on the form itself. Finally, when I get to the point of actually entering the amount I want to pay, it doesn't actually give me a balance owing or anything, so I have no idea whether it'll go to the wrong department because I clicked the wrong thing somewhere.

I think I'll just stand in line at the bank for 15 minutes. I'm that frustrated.

All this for $6, too.

Grumble.

Somehow my "I've just got to pick up milk and yogurt" grocery run turned into a $45 order. I'm not entirely certain how this happened. I blame cheese. And frozen tortellini.

On the other hand, emmental on still-warm ciabatta bread? Glorious. 100% glorious.

...I finally bought a chequebook. No, I never got one when I opened the account, because the checking account was an automatic upgrade from a child account I had at the same bank.

Frankly, I need less than 10 cheques a year, so it seemed kind of like a waste. However, now that I might soon need to pay rent by cheque, I figured it might be prudent to actually have cheques to pay with.

Cost me something like $30 for 50 cheques, but at least they'll last me years. (Unless I switch bank branches, of course.)

So how did my one-year anniversary at the company feel? Pretty much just like any other day, really. As far as the company is concerned, my one-year anniversary will be in mid-September, because that's when I started working full time. So today I just worked on files, much as I do any day. At least it was stuff that I like and one of the few shows I actually watch outside of work.

A few other random tidbits:
- I was annoyed at the number on the scale this morning, and am determined to be good for a few days to get the number back down to where it should be.

- I was also annoyed that my Opus card (ie: bus pass) seems to be dying a slow death. Today, for the second time, it refused to register in the turnstiles. I might need to buy a new card just to avoid this frustration.

- Tonight's Mastermind call was quite small, but quite good. We talked about money and business a lot. I've gotta find me some way to make money while getting my free time back.

- I realized today that between my bonus check and the way the weeks work out, I'm actually getting the equivalent of 4 paychecks in April. Sweet!

1. Simple vanilla glazed scones -- nothing of mind-shattering importance here, just a tasty-looking scone recipe. Anything with vanilla automatically gets extra points in my book.

2. Paying your bills with micro-businesses -- a different take on supporting yourself: instead of one job to pay all the bills, try a bunch of different "micro-businesses" (like mowing lawns or driving schoolbuses) to each cover one or two different bills.

3. Make sure your Facebook profile doesn't lose you a job -- a friendly warning to be sure that you've set your Facebook privacy settings so that you don't alienate potential future employers (or your current one).

4. Everything's amazing, nobody's happy (5-minute video) -- Conan O'Brien interviews comedian Louis CK, and it's hilarious. He talks about how technology is fantastic now, but we've all become desensitized to it.

5. How Twitter's spectacular growth is being driven by unexpected uses (TED talk video by Evan Williams) -- this talk is given by one of the founders of Twitter. No, I'm still not on Twitter, but it's interesting to see what the hype is about. (Special bonus: after the talk is over, they do a real-time search on Twitter to see what people were saying about it as he was speaking. Whoa.)

6. Automobile history board game (picture) -- the history of the automobile in America, in board game format. Nifty.

7. Penn and Teller get hippies to sign water-banning petition (3-minute video) -- yes, it might be a little cliched, but it still drives home the message: be careful what you're signing, or you might find out that the petition against "dihydrogen monoxide" will leave you high and dry.

My goodness, it's been a while! I've actually had the links ready for over a week, but haven't gotten the chance to post. So here's a super-duper grab bag post to get myself caught up!

1. How to feel like The Incredible Hulk in 2009 (17-minute video) -- a video of Tim Ferriss talking at the Entertainment Gathering, talking about how he manages to learn things very quickly by questioning "obvious" guidelines. Typical Ferriss. (@ The Four-Hour Work Week)

2. 33 inspirational YouTube videos conveying genuine life lessons (videos) -- pretty much exactly what it sounds like. I was surprised how many of these I hadn't seen before, and how many I had.

3. 44 ways to make your 2009 awesome -- a long list of potential goals you can have for the new year, if you don't have one already. Some are kind of nifty. (@ Master Your Card)

4. 11 ways to expand your mind and recover from brain rot -- again, a list of stuff you can do when "brain rot" sets in. A lot of overlap with the previous list. (@ Zen Habits)

5. Boulevard of Broken Dreams / Wonderwall remix (4.5-minute video) -- I heard this playing in a mall a while ago and absolutely had to find it online. Very nice remix.

6. A mother's gifts -- a little parable that teaches some steps for living in hard times. (@ The Simple Dollar)

7. How to cut out home heating oil, Japanese style -- an interesting take on how the Japanese live during the winter. Hint: they don't heat their whole homes. (@ No Impact Man)

8. Antikythera machine (3-minute video) -- a reproduction of an ancient Greek computer! How cool! (@ The Long Now)

9. Livescribe -- I really wish this had existed back when I was a student. It's a pen / audio recorder that synchs into your computer, so that you can play the audio from when you wrote something. Very cool concept.

10. "Star Wars" a cappella tribute to John Williams (4-minute video, hat tip to Ernst) -- four-part harmony about Star Wars, using soundtrack songs from other John Williams movies. Also very cool.

11. Africa in perspective (picture) -- how big is Africa? Really big!

12. I'm an idiot (xkcd comic) -- man, have I been here before. Well, not quite.

1. Lifestyle design for the rest of us -- an interesting look at "lifestyle design," showing that it doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing experience, as the 4 Hour Workweek might have you believe. (@ Pick the Brain)

2. A bunch of rocks (xkcd comic) -- just a cute comic. Be sure to read all the way to the bottom.

3. You "auto" watch (1 minute video) -- the PhD in cake making goes to... these guys. Trust me. If you really like it, check out the 5-minute video. (@ Cake Wrecks)

4. The clock of the long now and where to put it (TED talk video) -- an inspiring and beautiful talk based around the idea of finding a home for the "clock of the long now," which is meant to last 10,000 years.

5. Christmas inspiration from a stick and a cardboard box -- did you know that the stick has just been inducted into the toy hall of fame? Yeah, me neither. (@ The Simple Dollar)

6. Expect change -- a fast but poignant read. Pop quiz: if you were to invest your monumental wealth (just go with me on this one) in a highly secure industry, one that would ensure your grandchildren would be as rich as you, what would it be? (@ Productivity 501)

7. Bookkeeping and you: personal finance propaganda from 1947 (10-minute video) -- here's a blast from the past: an instructional video from the '40s. Just good, clean fun. Oh, and misogyny. (@ Get Rich Slowly)

1. 7 of the Smallest Hotels and Hotel Rooms in the World: From Pipe Rooms to Capsule Hotels -- I wrote a while ago on Tumbleweed Houses, which are teeny-tiny homes, many of which can fit in a parking space. It was only a matter of time before the idea caught on in the travel industry. This goes beyond Japanese capsule hotels, people.

2. Dark roasted blend: creative ads, issue 11 (pictures) -- I usually don't post stuff this commercial, but these ads are really awesome. Very innovative, and you don't even need to buy what they're selling!

3. Dave Effers in 4 minutes (5-minute TED talk video) -- I want to do what this guy is doing. Seriously. Anyone want to start one in Montreal?

4. Protect your rights: How to deal with the police if you get pulled over (4-minute video plus more) -- I'm not sure if all the laws are the same in the States and Canada, but this is an interesting little video (prepared by lawyers, caveat emptor). The gist: don't panic, say as little as possible, and don't let them search your car.

5. Earning regular income from stock investing via dividends -- an interesting strategy when the market is down: invest for the dividends, and forget about how much you can sell the stock for. If you continue to get dividends, it doesn't matter what the stock price is.

6. Amazing Star Wars origami made from dollar bills (pictures) -- to expand on the theme from the last Grab Bag, I present to you Star Wars and Star Trek dollar-bill origami. Have at.

7. Ask Dr. Oz: 12 medical mysteries, solved in seconds -- he actually answers a few of the questions that have been tickling the back of my mind lately. I'd be interested in hearing what the med students on my friends' list have to say about this article.

I've actually had these sitting on my computer for a week, but just haven't had a chance to post them.

1. Will video games become better than life (TED talk video) -- I grew up on science fiction, so it seems perfectly logical to me that one day video-game life will be at least on par with life-life. This video has some really cool stuff about how far we've come in the last 20 years.

2. Become a Morse code expert -- not that I'm planning on learning Morse code any time soon, but it seems nifty.

3. Metro party (14-minute video) -- just an amateur video of the metro party I was at last Halloween. I feature a lot: I'm the short one in the white shirt with the ponytail. Watch for Ian in a French maid's outfit.

4. How to know exactly what to say after you kill the bad guy (3-minute video) -- you're not really a hero until you've mastered the one-liner. One Liner Services can help. A parody video that'll be funny to most people who watch action movies or read comic books.

5. The eyeballing game -- how good are you at eyeballing angles, parallel lines, and circle centres? Here's your chance to find out! A fun little online game that's good for one repetition, anyway.

6. Music using only sounds from Windows XP and 98 -- this just proves to me that some people have WAY too much time on their hands. The first half is the music, the second half is how it's made. It's phenomenal. And scary, in a "how long did this TAKE" kind of way.

7. What does it mean to be rich? -- A high net worth? A high income? A certain lifestyle? Interesting questions found here, though not many answers. (I'm too lazy to read through the comments.)