When 30 years is enough...

So a friend of mine turned 30 today. This is a significant milestone, worthy of celibration, indeed inibreation. Inibreation was accomplished and dancing ensued. Ah, so tough to want to toss these words about. Our lad had a good time though and I think many in our party did as well. Some things occurred to me during my drunk ponderings. One, it is absurd that we live the lives we live. We seem to mostly live to escape living. We would like to be our drunk selves more often that not, but yet realize that our drunk selves could not function in the "real world" and so consign ourselves to days of half hearted effort. We live for the week-ends at this point, a mere couple of days to obliterate the week. What are our professional accomplishments besides our personal ones? Most would like to believe that their professional deeds are noticed, but likelyh those are not. Mostly when one reflects on a life it is the lives of others that have been touched that matter. And still, do not millions die after living obscure lives that are uterly meaningless to the common man? But yet in the meaningless of those lives the lives of the few distinguished give the rest of humanity hope. Interesting none the less.

It occurs to me during these drunk episodes that what I would most like to do is:
1) write
2) travel to a) africa b) south america c) australia d) india/China
3) instruct some kind of cross country skiing clinic

I have resigned myself to the fact that I am no genius engineer. I am okay, perhaps competent at best. Mostly I have been too drunk and disturbed to amount to much. I would like to make some contribution and some impact before I leave. Hopefully that is many years into the furter (the latter).

This summer I would like to activate the "paddles up yo" travel adventure co from its dormant place. Time to get to those canoe trips I otherwise would not take. I've resigned myself to the fact that I might only be able to do a small subset of the trips I would like to do. No time like the present to start.

Booya. A girl would be nice too, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Sayonara

Gold Digger

Went to simulation of optical fiber course today. Riveting. NOT. But hey, I'm in, so what am I going to do? At least I can bone up on my Matlab skills.

Gotta love this song...

[Jamie Foxx]She take my money, well I'm in needYeah she's a triflin friend indeedOh she's a gold digger way over townThat digs on me[Chorus:](can you feel me ma)Now I aint sayin she a gold digger (Well I'm in Need)But she aint messin wit no broke niggaz(can you feel me ma)Now I aint sayin she a gold digger (When I'm in Need)but she aint messin wit no broke niggaz(i gotta WEED)get down girl go head get down (all yall need)get down girl go head get down (all yall need)get down girl go head get down (all yall need)get down girl go head[Verse 1:]Cutie the bombMet her at a beauty salonWith a baby louis vuittonUnder her underarmShe said I can tell you rockI can tell by ya charmFar as girls you got a flockI can tell by ya charm and ya armbut I'm lookin for the onehave you seen herMy psychic told me she'll have a ass like SerenaTrina, Jennifer Lopez, four kidsAn I gotta take all they bad ass to show-bizOk get ya kids but then they got their friendsI Pulled up in the Benz, they all got up inWe all went to din and then I had to payIf you fuckin with this girl then you betta be paidYou know whyIt take too much to touch herFrom what I heard she got a baby by BustaMy best friend say she use to fuck wit UsherI dont care what none of ya'll say I still love her[Chorus:](can you feel me ma)Now I aint sayin she a gold digger (Well I'm in Need)But she aint messin wit no broke niggaz(can you feel me ma)Now I aint sayin she a gold digger (When I'm in Need)but she aint messin wit no broke niggaz(on yo knees)get down girl go head get down (all yall need)get down girl go head get down (all yall need)get down girl go head get down (all yall need)get down girl go head[Verse 2:]18 years, 18 yearsShe got one of yo kids got you for 18 yearsI know somebody payin child support for one of his kidsHis baby momma's car's crib is bigger than hisYou will see him on TV Any Given SundayWin the Superbowl and drive off in a HyundaiShe was spose to buy ya shorty TYCO with ya moneyShe went to the doctor got lipo with ya moneyShe walkin around lookin like Michael with ya moneyShould of got that insured, GEICO for ya moneeey( your money)If you aint no punk holla We Want PrenuptWE WANT PRENUPT!, YeaahIt's something that you need to haveCause when she leave yo ass she gone leave with half18 years, 18 yearsAnd on the 18th birthday he found out it wasn't his[Chorus:](can you feel me ma)Now I aint sayin she a gold digger (Well I'm in Need)But she aint messin wit no broke niggaz(can you feel me ma)Now I aint sayin she a gold digger (When I'm in Need)but she aint messin wit no broke niggaz(i gotta leave)get down girl go head get down (all yall need)get down girl go head get down (all yall need)get down girl go head get down (all yall need)get down girl go head[Verse 3:]Now I aint sayin you a gold digger you got needsY'all wanna do the smoke but he can't buy weedYou go out to eat and he cant pay yall cant leaveThere's dishes in the back, he gotta roll up his sleevesBut while yall washin watch himHe gone make it into a Benz out of that DatsunHe got that ambition baby look in his eyesThis week he moppin floorz next week it's the friersSo, stick by his sideI know his dude's ballin but yea thats niceAnd they gone keep callin and tryinBut you stay right girlBut when you get on he leave yo ass for a white girlGet down girl go head get downGet down girl go head get downget down girl go head get down[she take my money]Let me here that back

Cuba...

Cuba pictures.


Sunset at Veradero beach.










Old Havana square.










Street scene Havana

Back at work

Well, back to the batcave today. I'm uninspired at work, but still working. I suppose a job that pays well is to be desired, however dull the job may be. It's hard to be objective when one is mired in one's own stew.

I'd like to dissert on the topic of helping those kids who need help and are least likely to get it. Yes teachers of the world, I'm talking about those kids who get good grades, but appear not to be in it. By not in it, I mean not paying attention, not enthused, not participating in anything else, and not not talking to others. These are the lost souls, the ones who are likely pretty smart, but who've emotionally lost their way. Most times they are so shy the do not know what to do with themselves... If you want to help someone who can genuinely make a contribution to society, pick one of these kids and talk to them. There are likely issues burried below the silence.

So the Canadian election looms. I admit, I've not been following this campaign much. I'm interested in the outcome. I'd like to see the Liberals tossed out. The sponsorship scandal was too much corruption for my liking. My theory is that once a party has been in power for 8 year, that's enough. It's just enough time to get all sorts of party cronies well established in the civil service. Once the boys are in there, then the corruption takes hold. Of course, I don't have a leg to stand on here, this is just conjecture. Still, the current Liberal party has been in office since 1992 for crying out loud. That is wayyyyy too long. Time to make changes. My vote is going Green party I think. Gotta read up on their platform a bit, but I think I'm interested.

A Land of Freedom and Opportunity

I just returned from Cuba. I was quite happy with the trip. Cuba was better than I expected. The beach at Veradero is made of beautiful white sand. The sand has a soft powdery texture which I'd never experienced before. Largely the weather was good. There were a couple of days with a little bit of cloud cover. Mostly the skies were blue and the weather was warm. I spent my days at the beach, because let's be frank, you can spend time at a pool in Canada. I read a decent John LeCarre book called absolute friends while at the beach. Simple reading. Makes me realize how slow I read now. A long time ago I could have read that book in a couple of days. I guess 20 years of depression will do that to you. Anyway, the hotel was magnificent. The place was new, and therefore it was very clean. The buffet food was really good, enjoyed it immensely. The wait staff were pretty attentive, but there were a few meals where I didn't get a drink. When I compared notes with a few travellers who stayed at different hotels it was obvious that my hotel was both a decent deal and quite good overall. The party scene for singles was not great, but there were still at least a dozen people willing to go out each night. I kind of latched onto a couple from Ottawa and made further inroads with people through them. Kind of my typical pattern I guess. Two nights I was absolutely trashed, probably not the best idea given my mental state. But hey, I was on vacation and I needed to have a last hurrah. One day I went to Havana. Very interesting place. I liked the architecture. The tour stopped at some museums, but city museums are not the most interesting. At night I took in the world famous Tropicana show. It was quite spectacular, although the seats for our tour group were poor (located at the edge of the stage). The tour day in Havana was loooong though. It was something like 2:30 in the morning before I arrived back at my hotel. All in all it was a good trip. I probably should have taken it easier on the partying, because I'm not as rested as I should be, but whatever. You only live once. It would have been more fun to do some of this stuff when I was younger.