Nobody reads blogs anymore...

And that's okay, I never maintained this blog for readership. But I just don't need to express myself this way anymore.

I'm finally over what started it all...

Thanks.

Until the next existential crisis, time to live, and die...

Another busy season in the bush

Been busy, working in an isolated fly-in camp...Not much, and too much to report, but the season is going very well and I still have quite a lot to go.

Will post pictures and longer posts when I'll have time, probably meaning after the season...

Harper's words and Dion's reaction

Here's Prime Minister Stephen Harper allocution to the nation.

And here's Coalition Leader Stéphane Dion pre-recorded, but delayed reaction. (Warning: It hurts, on many levels)

I've read that the Liberals are pissed. An angry, anonymous Liberal said "Dion looked like the opposition leader of Zimbabwe".

"Someone should be fired, full stop" said Liberal blogger Warren Kinsella.

Or maybe someone should just resign...

Bloggin' Nothin'

You know, there's an upcoming election for me...again! Québec's Premier, Jean Charest just threw us a provincial election. Nothing too interesting on this front for now.

So I figured I'd talk a little about my personal life, since it's been a while.

The problem is that it might have been a while, but there hasn't been a lot...

So, just got out of between a rock and a hard place. Or actually, I've kept people there with me. I basically held other people's feeling in hostage.

Now I feel like my life's all over the place, with no clear focus...and no, I don't want to be clearer, for now.

But I think I owe apologies to my past and present. As for the future, let's wait and see...But fingers crossed, there's a bright and shiny one there. Just hope I didn't affect such a future already with the consequences of recent past choices.

Wouldn't be a first, I just hope I already have seen the last...

Cryptic, eh?

Nah, people will read what they need there...

Life...Na-Na-Nanana!

Hey reader, did I tell you about my life, nowadays?

No?

Weird, I'm sure I did...Oh well, it's probably because I have none. It consists mostly of sleeping at really weird hours, doing nothing, procrastinating, getting to bed at even weirder hours because I'm doing nothing, but I don't want to go to bed yet as I have been procrastinating and unproductive. Then, I read on politics, visit the same 5 websites, revisit the same 5 websites to see if there's anything new (turns out, there's nothing new, the world seems to stop moving when you stop moving...Or maybe it's just that visiting the same website every 20 minutes doesn't give quite a lot of time for the webmasters to update their content, mostly when the subjects treated are limited or heavily specialized)

Huh... where was I? Right, in my room, doing nothing.



I do things though. Saturday, I went to see the Montreal Canadiens' last pre-season game. They lost 3-0, they didn't push it to avoid injuries, quite boring.

I also go for a few drinks once in a while, but my favourite neighbourhood bar, La Promenade just closed down as it has been bought by a trendy bar owner from the Plateau Mont-Royal to get it a little hipper. I hate how they are slowly "gentryfying" my neighbourhood. I fled the Plateau for that exact reason 7 years ago and now, just like a bad Zombie movie (where the Zombies would wear stylish thickly-rimmed glasses and palestinian scarves, thinking they reached the ultimate of cool despite not being able to sustain a conversation for more than 5 minutes, spending their school loans on expensive beers and hit the food bank to save a few bucks), it keeps coming back to kill me, slowly, softly, fashionably. (Yep, I'm judging...)

Granted, Chez Baptiste is not the most bourgeois of establishments, but it does have that "Plateau" feel (nothing against the Plateau itself, it's just that some people made it a parody of itself), with foosball tables instead of pool tables, slightly more expensive beers and cluttering the place with a shitload of busy tables. I do appreciate high quality beers, but I already have a pub for such drinks, with the best terrasse(patio) in town and I don't like my next door tavern to be full of people full of themselves screaming while holding metal rods...

But hey, back on doin' nothin'.

So, there's actually a few things I ought to be doing. First, I should write back to my treeplanting regional manager to send him my non-production day hours, as it's basically worth $2,500 and it should have been paid a month ago by now. But the fact it hasn't is completely my fault (And Microsoft's fault, as my new computer didn't come with Office and I couldn't open my boss' Word document. Also, I love to blame Microsoft for random stuff, I mean, they kind of replaced God, right? Oh, no, wrong, that's Apple that does the religious sect stuff...My bad!)

Funny story. This morning I was too lazy to get out of bed but I wanted to visit the 5 websites, so I extended my arm to my table and dragged the laptop in bed, forgetting that my iPod and my camera were attached to it. Both fell off the table, which stands higher than the usual table. I was quite disappointed to see that my iPod was not broken and my camera was slightly broken. In the iPod's case, because I can't wait to dump this fucking Apple product in the recycling bin and get another company's mp3 player, but I was still relieved I wouldn't have to spend money just yet, and in the camera's case because it's such a solid and efficient camera, despite getting slightly outdated, that I'd never expected I'd break the little battery cap thingy. Nothing some scotch tape wouldn't repair, but I really did expect the expensive, disposable, unreliable and fragile piece of crap that is an iPod to break first.

Did I ever tell you how much those things cost to replace batteries, hard drives and earphone jacks? Oh, I hear you, "might as well buy a new one!"

Sure, that's what they actually say and do, they'd rather replace than repair. But aside from the fact that a battery or earphone jack should be cheaper than a brand new iPod, they know that their shit is so cheaply built that it costs nothing to replace it, and the only reason they can overprice such pesky things is because they market them very, very well to naive young kids with money to waste since they can't drink yet. I was caught too...

If objects could be douchebags, they'd be iPods.

Funny how I'm actually not pissed, but reading this post, it looks like I am. Actually, I'm in a really good mood (Doing nothing remains awesome, mostly when you can rub it in your friend's faces) and I have great people around. Won't say much on that side though. Besides, shitty stuff makes for funnier stories!

Oh well, back to bed, it's noon soon.

Big Brother

I love calling the government. I had to make sure my name was on the electoral district list as I was living in a different one in the last federal election. It was quite the adventure.

First, I called Elections Canada and I was greeted by a wonderful IVR (Interactive Voice Recognition) system. Don't get me wrong, I have worked with those systems for years and I have no problem using it as they are usually faster when it comes to basic operations or information requests. The problem with that one was that it actually didn't recognize my voice. Now, I do have the pretention to think I speak decently well in both french and english, but the IVR system made me doubt myself.

After many attempts that would invariably send me back to the main menu after every swear word, I was told by the IVR that I needed to call my local office. After trying to get a local phone number with the directory assistance (They said they usually get a number during an election, but not this year...), I called back my new friend, IVee, and finally got to speak to an agent that recognized that they had a lot of comments on the limitations, to be polite, of their IVR system. He also understood every word I said, which is pretty cool! But he told me I didn't call the right place as I had to call my local elections office.

Back to step one. "Wait, do you have the number?"

"Sure, what's your postal code."

I gave him my postal code, he gave me a number. I called that number.

Wrong number. "This is the office for the Hochelaga district, your postal code tells me you are in Rosemont-Petite Patrie."

"Yep, I knew that, do you have the number?"

"No, sorry."

Calling IVee back. "For French..."

"French"

"To..."

"Elector's card"

"If you..."

"Register"

Speaking to a human being again, I explain that I need the number for Rosemont-Petite Patrie.

"What's your postal code"

I gave him my postal code.

"Oh, well, we don't have any listings, that's probably why you were referred to the wrong number before."

"You refer people to wrong numbers when you don't find them?"

"Well, not really, it was probably an educated guess..."

"Educated, eh?"

Then, he gave me a number. I called that number.

"Hi, I want to make sure I'm on the list."

"Were you on the list in the previous election?"

"Yes, in a different district."

"Well, you'll have to show up at our office to make the changes, we can't do them by phone."

"I guess I can do that on election day?"

"Yes, but I hope not everybody will do that, could be long"

"Oh well, with the participation rate, shouldn't be too much of an issue..."

Then, I had to call a provincial medicine insurance plan for some athlete's foot medication reimbursement, as I'm currently eligible, being unemployed (but not on unemployment benefits, I want to add). Here's another IVR:

"Please know the exact date when you became eligible for our plan"

I hung up...enough shit for a day.

P.S.: Bonne fête Stéphane!

Busy But Alive

Working hard, slept in only two beds in a month and today was the first actual day off I've had (And I've been forgotten in Rocky Mountain House as the cook took my truck to go get the food order and left for camp, so no one picked me up and I'm still sitting in the hotel lobby...Awesome!)

The Saskatchewan contract lasted three weeks and was quite difficult on everybody, but we now moved onto the beautiful Rocky Mountain House area for our spring contract there. We planted about half of the prescribed trees in the shift that ended yesterday. Been working a lot, with not much rest, but it is less demanding physically and emotionally than last year and I have had a few very easy days (including heli slinging duty which mean 10% work and 90% wait). Also, we started with three crews and are now down to two since a crew left to plant oilfields in northern Alberta. We still have two tree deliverers, and delivering one crew is not a difficult job most of the time. Mostly when you're used to deliver three crews alone. We might lose another crew in a week or so, so I'll be delivering one crew plus additional planters from Ontario as their spring season ends. Then, towards the end of our summer contracts, all the original crews should be back together for the final stretch.

I've been writing daily entries about the season so far, but I won't post them until the season ends as I have nop time and internet fares are prohibitive.

Until then, keep pounding!

time to go wait...

Getting There...

So I'm at work and I'm bored. I'm also slightly pissed at the Montreal Canadiens.

I've been asked, for the last few weeks, to do follow-ups and supervisor calls to angry/unsatisfied/abusive/plain crazy customers. So I dont walk the floor, helping/assisting fellow agents anymore, I simply sit at my desk, looking into problematic accounts, resolving situations and calling the customers to inform them or to let them vent about their expectations versus what we actually offer and what they have accepted upon agreeing to the Terms and Conditions of Service (My usual approach is to press mute and wait. When they're done complaining/yelling, I wait one more second, as it makes them uneasy. Then I explain everything with a really calm, quiet voice. Usually works everytime!)

Sometimes it sucks, as the customer is actually right and there's nothing I can do, other times, the customer is either an arrogant douchebag who tought he could circumvent the information given by the agent who took the call and get preferential treatment or unjustified credits (usually through lies or self-important crap like "I built the Surrey Sports Complex!") or a customer who was given the wrong information by the first agent. But most of the time, I resolve the problem. I'm actually quite good at what I do. I don't like it, but I'm good.

So good that it takes me an hour to do all the daily scheduled follow-ups (Might also be that there isn't that much to do). My multiple bosses don't seem to realize that yet (Good luck! I have only two days to go and I'm calling off tomorrow), so I enjoy the rest of the day browsing the web, reading, writing or simply doing fucking nothing, waiting for the clock to get to the point where I punch-out.

But damn, I can't wait to get out and go back to my tree-hugging, $60,000-worth truck-idling, shitloads-paying tree-planting job! In a few days I'm off to exciting Edmonton, Alberta for some yard work before getting to inappropriately-named Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan (probably an old Hudson's Bay trading post) to start the season and really bust my ass.

Until then, I'll sit on it.

Also, maybe, I'll pay a visit to my dentist, book a flight out west, send a few documents to the treeplanting company's offices, pay a fine, get some supplies, try to sleep and see family and friends.

Maybe.

RE: I Will Tell You...yeah...

Oops

Well, I always disliked fans who would be too confident, selling the skin of the bear before killing it. I have been arrogant, and I look somewhat dumb today, mostly since it's coupled with bitter disappointment.

But I don't care, I spent the afternoon in a park, hungover, enjoying snacks and sun with a amazing girl.

So yeah, fuck it, life is good!

And we'll win the next one!

Rooted Lives

I'm slowly getting in treeplanting mode and I found this interesting video. I usually post this kind of stuff on my planting blog, but this desserves a little more attention.

Below is a trailer for Rooted Lives, a documentary directed by Erika Drushka, depicting the lives of three British-Columbia career treeplanters, known in the business as "lifers".

Here's the website, a better-quality Quicktime version of the video is available here.



Tupperfan's Guide to Useless Knowledge: B-C's treeplanting season can start as early as February on the Pacific Coast (highly rainy at that time of the year) and last over 6 months, thus earning the workers wage highly sufficient to not work for the rest of the year if they want to, allowing them to pursue any personal interests and venue, ranging from arts to travelling, passing by full-time parenting. (Some treeplanting outfits gathering to veterans and lifers will even offer children daycare services)

50 Years of Plastic Bricks

Another item too good to be missed...

The LEGO plastic brick celebrated its 50 years yesterday. It was on January 28th 1958, that Godtfred Kirk Christiansen (son of the LEGO company founder) was granted the patent for the stud-and-tube design of the automatic binding brick. World happiness ensues.



Medias around the world marked the occasion. For instance, Google (whose creators once used LEGO bricks as casings for their hard-drives) had a LEGO-made logo:



For the last 50 years, LEGO bricks have been used by kids of any age for creations as diverse as their backgrounds and ideas. From children's multi-coloured houses to "corporate workshops" passing, of course, by visual arts:



And here's Michel Gondry's award-wining White Stripes videoclip, Fell in Love with a Girl:

(click on image to watch)


So, happy birthday, multinational's patent! It seems that the anniversary of an inanimate, celebrated icon of mass-consumerism and globalization is indeed worth more of my time than very basic human problems!

Time to go play with my bricks...


Tupperfan's Guide to Useless Knowledge: LEGO is the second largest tire manufacturer in the world!

Waking Up...

You want to leave, because you'd really love to stay.
In her eyes, bright lights are reflected and you can't see any further.
You get out, you need to, so tired of trying to be interesting.
She runs down the stairs asking for a hug.

You'd like to say no, because you're so hard to get, distant and cool,
You almost say no, trying to be funny, being only silly,
You want to say no, because you really don't know what to do,
You're afraid to do too much.

Later, when the embrace ends and you rush out, while thinking of rushing in,
You're afraid you didn't do enough.

Sporting a dumb grin, you fly back home.
You're exhausted, but you won't find solace in sleep,
Nor in cheap words written thousands of times.
All those feelings, good and bad, you thought you lost a while ago.
It pisses you off to be so human,
But she's not a goddess, just a woman at the gates of heaven.

Good things are happening...

Tourista!

So it's been a while, again. But I've been busy and the internet connection at the staff accom is frustrating, to be polite. Here's a few pictures from my first weeks back in Banff. I'll stick to a few scenic pictures for now, next post should be about my efforts to reinvigorate my staff accomodation house, the good old 426 cougar!


Me at Lake Bow


Lake Louise's vista


J-P and Stéphane on top of Tunnel Mountain


Stéphane, P-A and J-P by the Bow river, accross from the hordes of tourists


P-A and J-P overlooking the Bow rapids and the tourists by the Banff Springs Hotel.


Lake Louise, recreating a picture taken by my brother two years ago


Moontains...


A John-John picture(Long story short, a few years ago, we found a picture of a japanese family called the John-Johns who would stand like this) with Sophie, Stef, Cyn and me)

Tabarnak!

For your information, the title is a classic Québec swear...

Yesterday morning, after my night shift, I went to take my Class-4 (taxi and minibus) driving license test, in Laval, a suburb city, as the SAAQ (The government office responsible of everything related to cars...) branch is less busy than the one on the island of Montréal.

So I got there by bus, as my brother needed the car to get to work. I wrote my test, then I anxiously watched the examinator correct it. Let just say I have a tendancy to rely on my intelligence/logic/sheer luck to get away with anything, including University exams, without studying much. This time was no exception as I never read anything about taxi/minibus specifics. It was a mistake.

But I passed nevertheless, and I got my licence! Happily, I got back to the bus stop (three metro stations will desserve Laval soon, opening at the end of the month, including one right in front of where I was) and then learned that the Laval transit employees were on strike (I learned later they went on strike to protest a blown tire)!

You don't want to be stuck in Laval, where parking lots take at least half of the size of the island (Laval, like Montréal is an island), which probably helps you imagine what it looks like...

So a few frustrated users got together and we shared a taxi to the closest Montréal metro station. Our cab driver was a caricature of the typical driver with an opinion on everything but no actual knowledge of what he's talking about. There's a TV show in Québec that plays on the stereotype, I thought it was exagerated...I was wrong! The taxi ride cost me as much as a bus ride, but only half the time.

Back in town, I decided to finally go get my iPod, who has been at the repair shop since I dropped it in the toilet on Halloween night. They didn't have a replacement harddrive for my model and they were apparently really hard to find, and they finally called me last week to tell me it was ready.

So I got there and asked for a rebate, which was abruptly refused. You should see the place, it's a really thin building, so the small piece makes for the whole width of the building. The repairshop is located over the store, so the guy looks down to me from the third floor (I'm on the second, there's an ice cream place on the first) and basically yells at me. I've been in the customer services long enough to know that it should be the other ay around, and despite understanding why I need to pay that much for replacing an 30gb video iPod, the point I was trying to make was that they should have at least called me once in a while to update me on the status (I'm not saying every week, but say, at least every two months!)

He finally relented and gave me an appreciable rebate.

I got home relatively late in the afternoon, which didn't make for a long sleep before work(it didn't improve today, as I did a cleaning contract this morning and I'm still up at 2PM), but a potentially shitty day turned down being quite satisfying!

Time to go get desperately needed sleep!

I'm Lovin' It!

My upstairs neighbours are pissing me off: They listen to fucking techno music (I sometimes love to imagine them dancing in underwear to the rythms with lightsticks in their hands...) and they always leave their outside light open (our doors are on the same level), reflecting in my bedroom, through my shitty bamboo blinds (I had a big bamboo phase when I moved, as the girl working at the asian-themed store was cute as hell!) and right in my unsleeping face. It means I'll get upset, then enraged and won't end up sleeping until it's so sunny outside the light is not annoying me anymore.

But I'm also pissed for a lot of other reasons: My friend J-S is moving to a new appartment and he asked me to help him move on Saturday. He also asked me to bring my powertools and help him take down his bed and massive desk, as manual tasks, if it doesn't involve a video game console, are unknown to him. I don't have a powertool, so I went to my dad's house to steal his. While I was there, I dropped a my brother's tax documents and a few other items, and I forgot to bring the fucking drill I already forgot last weekend.

But of course, I had to realize this when I got back home, while my bro's laughing his ass off...

So I got back, another 50 minutes back and forth, this time with the damn power tool, a new speed record for a 1994 Pontiac Sunbird and a new appreciation for high gas prices...

Keeping on with the "good times" topic: In December, I wrote a post about my ambivalent feelings towards a resurgescent friendship with my ex-girlfriend. I decided, despite the tone of the post, to try it out and it went pretty well. We even chatted on the phone and it was fun, there was no awkwardness or heavy, past-related shit.

But tonight, she ended up reading my blog, digging quite far and finding some pretty nasty stuff (I'm still amazed at how quickly she found everything relevant to her, browsing through plenty of unrelated posts). Some of it I didn't even remember writing (A July 2005 post!), most stuff I don't even believe anymore(like that same July 2005 post...) or that I kept despite not being to fond of (like my doubtful comments on her wedding).

Here's the obvious: This blog is highly emotional, at least to my standards. I'm getting rid of bad vibes, talking about useless or very important things from my perspective, and it makes me feel better. But she made me realize it sometimes was at the expanses of others. Despite expressing myself and engaging nobody else than me in what remains highly subjective posts, I did go too far!

I have been quite irresponsible, as I used full names and described quite intimate moments and very biased assumptions. I just realized how shitty it could be if a friend or family of hers would have landed here after "googling" her name...

So, I did something I never did, I erased two posts and I edited others.

A blog is not a personal journal. If you want to expose your personal life, so be it, but you have to be cautious when it involves other people. I told her I didn't think she'd ever read my blog (she told me years ago she wouldn't never do so again), but it's not an excuse.

I still won't censor myself, I never did. But yes, I'll make sure I don't get others in my troubles.

At least, after a night of being my old self, making others sad and apologizing profusely, I can say I learned something, and that's the sole great part (That and apparently thriving in shit)!

Ironic how I keep doing stuff that will, years later, end up hurting the same person, no matter how I manage to do so. I don't find any comfort in realizing some things never change!

A proof I was not the right one for her. But I'll be happy to remain friends, if it's possible.

Time to get over it!

P.S: It's 3:23 AM, one of the neighbours just knocked on his damn door for what felt like an unreasonable amount of time, lit the light and ran through the stairs, hitting their 25 pairs of shoes, echoing in my room like the cardboard walls weren't even there! Fuming, images of my fist through their wall or floor makes me feel better while I sip my brother's table wine...Good times!