2K11 24/7

The 2K11 24/7 CCCVI: The Wallet Part II — The Evil That Men Do

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The 2K11 24/7 CCCV: The Wallet Part I — Do the Right Thing

I'm pretty sure that I'd benefit from a society that didn't need wallets. For me, it's an unnatural extension of my body that carries so many of the things I need to function "normally" in this society — so unnatural to me that I misplace it far too often.

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The 2K11 24/7 CCLIV: Don’t Argue With Fools

"A wise man told me don't argue with fools
Cause people from a distance can't tell who is who"
--Jay-Z, "Takeover"

Reading this blog, you might be led to believe that I'm an idealist. I write of a world that I can only dream of where we all get along and know how to behave. Where the problems of the world are solved collaboratively because we all realize that we have a united stake in bettering our world.

But you’d be wrong — I’m a realist. I’m completely aware that some people are NOT worth our time. You CAN’T win every battle. You WILL have crappy days. The world as it stands right now has its wonders and great moments, but largely, it’s REALLY messed up! Sometimes, it’s just not even worth it.

Like the time I almost got in a fight earlier this year.

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The 2K11 24/7 CXCVII: The Eagle That Wasn't Meant to Fly

Sometimes things don't work out quite as expected. Today I'm hosting a party, but beforehand, it involved weeding, buying booze and other household tasks that preoccupied me from getting a blog post done. So here I am, scrambling after the start of the party (well, officially speaking), cranking one out. Et voila — the story of what went down when Sarah and I were trapped in Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris! Enjoy, and tomorrow we'll get back to our regularly scheduled programming :)

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The Goodwill of Yon Storeclerk and Loving Thy Neighbour

Making money from board games

Yesterday's post got a number of comments from various friends, some of the notable ones being:

The 2010 20K: Day 50 - Sleep is for the smart

"Sleep is for the weak" - I've often heard this and lived by it for many years of the life I've lived so far. SO not true, as yesterday proved to me - sleep is really good to get, and as you get older (I know, I know - I'm only 26...), it's something you come to appreciate a whole lot more. Yesterday was a good example - me, feeling tired as hell, decided to take a trip to the nearby mall after work to get some jeans, since all of mine are either too baggy, ripped in the wrong places or just not my style anymore. So all was well until I needed to get my butt home - ONLY TO NOT BE ABLE TO FIND MY SUBWAY PASS.

Well this was a problem. With the fact that I already pay $111 monthly for the pass, I wasn't too keen on paying extra fare in order to correct my mistake. But my mistake it was, so extra fare I did pay.

$20 and one spent token later, I eventually made my way home, and emptied my bag of the day's contents. And what was at the very bottom? That's right. My April subway pass. Joy: Finding it. Not so joyous: Having bought tokens that I didn't need!

Do I chalk it up to fatigue or am I just the idiotic victim of my own disorganization? I leave that to you to deci...

Nah, here. Let's see what the magic poll says!

However, I did not write this just to whine and complain - I do come bearing gifts! Simple ones, but I hope they help some of my readers out there. I tend to skim through the main free papers in town day to day, and they're full of tons of info. The problem, though, is that they're placed in locations that're more convenient for commuters to grab and read while on the go - but the people who're looking for work tend to be home, trying to figure out the next steps that they need to take so that they can find another job. I've been there - I know that going outside wasn't a priority - in fact, it often took quite the effort JUST to get out there if the motivation wasn't there on a given day. So I'm going to try and get some of this material to the people who can actually use them. Today's material will focus on using the web as a means to find that next job!

Using the Web to Find Work

The PDF article's source: t.o.night newspaper (who've finally started getting their articles online!)

http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/learn/article/501010--take-your-job-search-to-the-internet

And for those of y'all who ARE working - are you using that money wisely? Alison Griffiths just might disagree with you. In fact, I could likely take some pointers, but that's not what this blog is about, is it ;)

http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/comment/article/501220--what-exactly-are-we-spending-our-money-on

Anyway, thanks for reading yet another of these fantabulous posts. Coming up soon:

• My very first sponsored post - yes, I will write posts for money! Watch me do it!
• The video post of Doomz! What's he up to and what does it look like?
• My move from PC to Mac and how the heck it affects what I do!

The 2010 20K Running Total = $192.14

Until next time, mi lectors!

--case p.

The 2010 20K: Day 44 - The Costs of Doing Business

A certain poll informs me that one of the things my readers would like to see is more interesting stories...

...so ask and ye shall receive - I've got one for you.

Sometimes a business deal just doesn't go how you think it will. I'm posting this because I anticipate that there may be some stories sent around that paint a situation in hues that may not be entirely accurate. If the parties involved happen to come across this, I hope this will provide a better understanding of what went down.

The 2010 20K: Day 15 - Sometimes the Odds are Against You

http://www.geist.com/contest/6th-annual-geist-literal-literary-postcard-story-contest

Oy, what a day. So I tried to enter this contest which needed to have its entries postmarked today, key word being TRIED. Let me tell you alllll about it.

So yesterday, I bought a postcard to enter this contest over at Midoco - which is likely my favourite art store in the city. (You'll often find me there fawning over their Copic Markers - some of the most coveted and overpriced art supplies known to humankind.) It's pretty cool - it's one of C.M. Coolidge's pieces where he painted dogs doing human things (you know the most famous one where they're all playing cards) - this one in particular is called The Reunion:

Source: http://ibdennis.com/reunion.html

So, awesome. I ended up writing a story on it, called "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie", which you'll find attached to this post. Here's what my schedule today looked like:

• 9:30 - 6:15 work
• 6:15 - 6:55 travel to Sarah's, which took 20 minutes more than usual due to delays and our ever-reliable TTC subway system with which Toronto is graced [/sarcasm]
• 6:55 - 8:15 work on developing "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie", pretty much from scratch - I only had the concept of what I wanted the story to be about, and then I just started writing from there
• 8:15: head out to go find the nearest post office - the one around the corner had closed up shop some weeks ago; so the next closest one according to the Canada Post website was a Shoppers Drug Mart by Pape subway station
• 8:35: arrive at the Shoppers only to realize that they NO LONGER HAVE A POST OFFICE. Talk to the guys at the store to find out where the closest post office is, confirming on my BlackBerry...
• 8:45: After a bit of a walk, arrive at Postables, only to find that it closed at 7 pm
• 8:46: Call Sarah to let her know I'll be going to the Shoppers near Spadina station, as I distinctly recall it closing at 10 pm back when she lived close to there - she offers to look it up to make sure
• 8:47: Realize that my stupid BlackBerry needs a new battery as it doesn't seem to be able to hold a charge and died mid-conversation (I'd charged it up at work)
• 9:02: Arrive at the Shoppers near Spadina, only to find out that it closed at 9

So, to my chagrin, the story was never sent. My chances at a $250 prize shot! But perhaps this is divine intervention - God telling me not to spend the $20 entry fee unless I'm damn sure that I'm sending my top quality stuff in. Oh well, at least it made for a good story. So here I sit, listening to Shalamar, typing this up in order to vent and get it out of my system. Canada Post and I need to have some WORDS. This isn't the first time they've led me astray!!!

Anyway, this weekend will be filled with sketching, working on updating my resume and portfolio, and just figuring out what opportunities lay before me. I've far from forgotten that the Threadless 2K10 challenge's deadline is around the corner, and that I need to get something on paper - IMMEDIATELY!

Hope the rest of y'all have had a far more restful evening than I have.

The 2010 20K Running Total = $62.20
The Google Adsense Running Total = $26.55 (thanks so much! please keep clicking ads at http://doomsdayblaze.livejournal.com! It's thoroughly appreciated!)
There's also the option of donating to PayPal by clicking here: Donate

And that's about it! Please let me know what you think of the short story :)

T-t-t-that's all, folks!!!

--case p.

Battle of the Bands Megapost - Everything you wanted to know and MORE!!!

After weeks of basking in the awesomeness of the event, I think I've finally calmed down enough to take a crack at writing a much-needed entry on the
2009 OPS Battle of the Bands. It was a great event - I haven't heard the official numbers on what the attendance was like as of yet, but I think the
two charities that were being supported by the event - United Way and Ryan's Well - fully appreciated our efforts and that there were a number of winners
that came out from it. But there was a long path that needed to be travelled first before we got there!

*CASEY PALMER: A CALAMITY*

The first question to ask is how I got in a band in the first place! I come from a history of being in choirs and messing around with music, but it's not something I generally advertise, because well, I don't spend enough time at it to be awesome. But it went a little something like this:

My team and I were out at lunch at a place we've nicknamed Lim's Garden. It was probably the first or second week that I'd been with the team, and my boss, Paul, was making an attempt at singing a Jason Mraz song to the team so that we'd all know what he was talking about. After numerous attempts, I helped him out with my rendition of the song, whereupon everyone recognized it immediately. Paul stared at me intently, and the only other words I heard at that moment was from a teammate at the table - "Looks like we just got ourselves a new band member!"

*A PHENOM IN THE MAKING: PRACTICES*

If you're going to perform in front of a bunch of important people, including the Secretary of the Cabinet (you know, the highest-ranking public servant in the province...), you're going to have to make sure that you're on your A-game! So practice was definitely needed. I started getting the invites to hit up my boss' place after work on Thursdays for practice, but I was always busy for a while. Whether it was wrapping up my summer Ultimate Frisbee league, attending a friend's birthday party or whatever, I remember that I didn't end up making it for a practice until late September.

In the beginning, I remember the group being a lot smaller and the nature of the practices far different. We spent some time feeling out the songs we
would potentially perform and had random jam sessions of songs such as Bob Marley and the Wailers' "Waiting in Vain" or The Police's "Message in a
Bottle". I think we had a bunch of random people at first as well. In time, the people who would make up The Calamities that would perform at BotB started coming by while Paul took a three week vacation in India. (I'm still jealous.)

At one point, our setlist included Van Morrison's "Brown-Eyed Girl" and Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive", but those were scrapped - one for being too campy (and the band's outright refusal to do a ska version of "Brown-Eyed Girl" despite a very insistent Paul) and the other for previously having been performed by the Calamities.

With an ever-changing setlist (and practice attendee list to match) and tensions rising with incorrect lyrics and unwanted instrumental mishaps, one may have worried at a point that the Calamities might not have pulled it off. But as the weeks passed, with extra practices and refocused vigor, we came to a point where our sound was clear and our cues to remember. It was just about time to perform.

*THE OUTFIT*

So a special event needs a special outfit! Originally, I had no idea of what I'd wear for this, but our lovely vocalists Carny and Emily were quick to come up with a set of criteria about a month before the battle:

Blue or black

Yeah, those were pretty much the rules. But for the vocalists, they came up with an EXTRA rule:

Sequined.

What man owns anything with sequins these days??? Those went out with disco BEFORE I was born! But I'm a team player, so with the rules iin mind, I set out to find something wearable in Toronto. All I could come up with was a sequined hat from Malabar. I'm not the type to put just anything on my head, so no - the hat wasn't happening. I called up numerous costume shops and scoured their websites, but it didn't look like I'd find was I was looking for in Toronto.

When all hope seemed lost, in the midst of one of the singers' (many) email conversations on how we planned for things to do at the battle, they sent a couple of links for companies who sell sequined vests in the US:

http://www.sixstaruniforms.com/Merchant/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=UV&Category_Code=VEST_SEQUINS

http://www.everythingsequin.com/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=40&gclid=COiGiPvDl54CFQ_xDAodOUiFlg

(and sequined hats for good measure): http://store.malabar.net/product_info.php?products_id=3250

So a good week and a half prior to the battle, the vest was ordered (at $25 US for the vest, with another $22 on top for international shipping - the things I do for The Calamities, eh?) with a note attached reading: PLEASE get this to me by December 3rd, as I have an event then that I need this vest for! Thanks! So all was well, since yanno - New York is pretty close, and on the site, it said they'd take 5 days to ship it. Easy peasy, right?

Oh so wrong. Let's take a look at a few things.

*There was an EXTRA clause on the site. In addition to the 3-5 business days it would take them to SHIP the vest, they allotted another 3-5 business days on TOP of that to actually PACKAGE it. I don't quite know why they needed so much leeway, but eh
*Customs can be a pain in the butt - had the vest been made of any explosive materials, it probably wouldn't have made it on time
*I was having the vest shipped to my workplace, and since we're on the 8th floor, I didn't quite know where the vest would be shipped to: The post office in the basement? Straight to my floor?

So I was happy that I'd have an awesome vest, but anxious to get it on time, or else I'd have paid all that money for nothing. Here's a look at what the schedule went like for getting the vest in:

	Delivered Abroad, December 03, 2009, 2:51 pm, CANADA
	At Foreign Delivery Unit, December 03, 2009, 8:04 am, CANADA
	Out of Foreign Customs, December 01, 2009, 4:02 pm, CANADA
	Into Foreign Customs, December 01, 2009, 1:36 pm, CANADA
	Arrived Abroad, December 01, 2009, 1:36 pm, CANADA
	International Dispatch, November 28, 2009, 6:21 pm, ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS)
	Arrival
	Electronic Shipping Info Received, November 23, 2009

So as you can see above, it was a pretty close call. I was happy on the 23rd when they received word that they were getting the vest, but a little pissed that it took all the way until the 28th for them to actually SEND it. I started biting my nails a little by December 1st when it made its way through customs, but without any word of where the heck it was going after that. Things really hit the fan on the day of the Battle, with it being at the Foreign Delivery Unit in the morning. The day went a little like this:

• Get in to work
• See the vest is at the FDU
• Call USPS to see where the vest is - they say it's at the FDU and to call Canada Post to check
• Call Canada Post, who say that the vest WAS at the FDU, but is now in transit
• Check with the post office downstairs to see if the vest would come there, but they tell me if it did it wouldn't be until 5 PM or maybe even the next morning. Well THAT won't work
• Go back to the office - coworker calls USPS to give them a piece of her mind on the matter, they blame the company shipping the vest
• We call the company to give them a piece of our mind and see what we can do about getting a refund
• Go to dim sum for lunch, crestfallen
• Go back to the office, find out that we have an office mailbox down there and one of the admin assistants have a key
• Head downstairs to see if it's in the office mailbox
• See a guy with a USPS box going in the OTHER elevator as we exit.
• Me: "...nahhh, it... CRAP."
• Coworker and admin assistant go to check the office mailbox, I chase the guy upstairs on the other elevator
• Return to office to see coworker signing for vest
• Get box
• Tear it open
• You get: SHINY ROYAL BLUE VEST!!!!

(Source: http://www.sixstaruniforms.com/Merchant/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=UV&Product_Code=SQ-189-ROYAL-BLUE)

So it was an epic battle of patience and running around, but in the end it turned out okay. I was getting ready to head out, and my coworker asked something along the lines of "you're not wearing THAT under the vest, are you???" So then I found myself being forced to go to H&M to buy a black shirt to wear under the vest - and while at the cash register, I saw they were selling fedoras. FOR FIVE BUCKS. Yeah, there wasn't even a moment's hesitation there. My outfit was complete. I was ready to go duke it out with five other bands and see what they were bringing to the table!

*THE BATTLE*

The event itself was an ever-changing test run. We didn't really have time to do a soundcheck, since:

1. A lot of the needed musicians didn't turn up on time
2. The architecture of the building led to some interesting reverbations when you didn't want them
3. Equipment not quite working the way you wanted it to

As a result of these and other factors, we were left with no stage monitors and low microphone volume. Thus, you couldn't hear yourself sing, you couldn't hear the OTHER vocalists sing and you had to try and get those notes out. (Yes, this is my excuse for why I sound like I'm shouting through all the videos.) I still had fun though - our bands really came together in the end and I look forward to any future times we can come together and jam! I'm already thinking about potential songs for next year :)

*THE AFTERMATH*

In the end, I'm glad to have been a Calamity in this event. It was fun, it was energetic, and we were raising money for a good cause! (And we won the People's Choice Award for the second year running as a sidebar!) I'm hoping that we'll have another gig coming up in early 2010 so that everyone who missed the first one can see what the Calamities are all about! We even wound up on the internal website for our organization's newsletter, which was pretty cool:

I've posted most of these before, but for those of you who missed the event here's a ton of videos and clips to show what the event was all about!

Heatwave (Part 1)

Heatwave (Part 2)

Superstition

Solsbury Hill

Could You Be Loved

Gimme Some Lovin

Photos and More Video Clips:

Seeya next time!

--case p.