That's a Wrap!

Well, my presents are bought, wrapped, and ready to go! Christmas vacation begins in a few hours for me. I couldn't be looking more forward to the time off than I am this year. I'ma gonna savour the time of not working. It's been a long time coming. Merry Christmas everyone! 

Youth - A CD Review

Ok, so I haven't had much to post about lately, and it's shown in the dropoff in hits here lately. So, I'm in a frenzy as to not lose my web-popularity, here's a CD review.

I picked up Collective Soul's latest CD, entitled "Youth" about a week ago. First, a little background. Collective Soul.... one of my favourite bands. I have all their CD's and been to two concerts. Now, their last CD was released about four years ago, and since that time they left their label and went the independent route with their own label. But anyway, it had been a while since they released anything new, so to say i eagerly awaited this CD was an understatement.

Anyway, you may have heard their single "Counting the Days" on the radio. It's definately one of the more rock-like tracks on the CD. I like the song. It doesn't grab me like some of their earlier hits, but still decent enough. Putting the CD in for the first time, you'll hear the opening track, "Better Now". At first I hear it, and though "ugh... not really diggin' this". But I find that for me to like something I have to listen a few times, and lo and behold, after a few times, I discovered that I really liked the richness of the chorus of that song. So, now I, in fact, am diggin' it.

To keep it short, I'll jump to the song that I really, really liked right off the bat. And that is the fifth track, "Him". It's short (only 2:38), which is too bad, because I could have really used more of this song. It's a little more mellow and simplistic and somthing about it just strikes a chord with me. Another song I like is "Under Heaven's Skies".

All in all, I'm happy with my purchase. It's not the best album of theirs (in my opinion, that's "Dosage"), but it's far from being a bad album. I read a review of this album somewhere on the internet that discribed it as "A Collective Soul album for people who don't like Collective Soul", while saying it was one of their best (I think it was on allmusic.com). That weird because I definately like Collective Soul, and this album.

Just when you thought it was over...

So, yesterday I wrote an exam. You say, "an exam? But Matt, you graduated school over a year ago!" And I say, "I know, just let me finish and I'll explain". The exam was the Professional Pracice Exam for PEO (Professional Engineers Ontario). To be a fully licenced professional engineer in Ontario, you have to have four years of relevant experience after you graduate, and pass this exam. So anyway, it's divied into two halves, ethics and law. I did pretty good on ethics... law, on the other hand, could go either way. Which is surprising because I had a law class in University, but not an ethics class. But seriously I can't imagine a more boring topic than Law. It is truly awful. The worst part of this whole thing is that I won't find out until February if I passed or not. They certainly take their sweet time. All in all, that's two weeks of doing nothing fun and studying that I'd like to forget.

Meet Max and Molly

So, my parents got a couple of new kittens this past week. Without further ado, here they are...

This shorter haired one is Max...

And the smaller, longer haired one is Molly. Max is more of your typical kitten, gettin' in trouble and stuff, while Molly is more of the "I'll sleep in whatever position you put me" variety. 

Mystery 3

Ok, I don't have another mystery photo. But I have an equally mysterious question...

Why?

Mystery 2 Solved!

Mystery photo 2 is, of course, the Heineken Brewery in Amsterdam! Every bottle of Heineken bears my last name (with an i and j tacked onto the end). So, for being the closest guess, Dan, er I mean, Jooje wins this round! That's one smart cat, er I mean, smartass cat. Ok, I'm done with mystery photos for now. 

Mystery Photo 2!

Just because I can't think of anything else to write... Here's the second mystery photo in a series of one. Can you guess what and where this is? It's got the word Brouwer in it... it's got to be good! 

Mystery Solved!

The answer, of course, is that the mystery picture was a close up of Paul Tracy's Champ Car that he raced at the Australian Lexmark Indy 300 that clinched him the championship in 2003. I'm pleased to see that everyone was on the right track with the Indy references (like Molson Indy and Lexmark Indy, not the bad Indy). But why would I put up a picture of that, beside being a big Champ Car freak? Well, this race was right after the new anti-tobacco advertising law came into effect in Canada, so Player's couldn't put thier logo on the car for the last two races of the season... so as a way of saying thanks to thier fans, Player's put the name of thier fans (ones who signed up on thier website) on the car instead of thier now-illegal logo. Look closely at the mystery photo... three rows beneath the fat lady... you'll see a familiar name. That's right... my name was on Paul Tracy's championship winning Champ Car. Quite a thrill for someone like me. 

Guess the Mystery Photo!

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? 

Cracked up to be?

So, as most of you know, I work from home. Pretty sweet deal, you may say. I would, of course, agree. However, it's not all it's cracked up to be. Sure, I get to sleep in right up until the time I have to be at work... Sure, I get to work in my pajamas... Sure, I got a sweet computer setup from my company. But there are some days that working like this really remind me of being in school. Except that there's no classes, just a never ending supply of homework. And that's the point I'm getting at... there's always something to do... and even though I may be at home, that means, I'm also always at work at the same time. So, if I tend to goof off during the day (which tends to happen from *ahem* time to time), I feel like I should be working in the evenings. And if I don't, I always have the nagging feeling in the back of my head saying "you have work to do". Therefore, I can never leave stuff "at the office" like normal folk do at 5:00 everyday. Now, of course, it may be different if I actually had things to do in the evening, and I could go somewhere and forget about work, but that's more of an exception than a rule.

And another thing... I made the mistake of going to the mall on Saturday afternoon. That was stupid. It was like it was the official opening weekend of Christmas shopping season. It was Santa's first day and Christmas music was being played in the mall. Not even halfway through November! Forget that!

hmmm... I guess I was overly negative today. sorry. I told myself that this blog wouldn't be anything serious and I wouldn't write real thoughts in it. Guess I blew that one. But I just had some things to get off my chest.

For they looked in the future and what did they see

Well, it's been a while since I posted. I don't really have anything to say today, I just thought I'd post something anyway. Aren't you excited?

NHL All-Star Game Cancelled

So, they've cancelled the all-star game now, eh? I'm not saying this is a surprise... it's not. It'd be a surprise if they actually played next season. But do you want to know the worst thing about this is? That means that the next available All-Star game will be held in Atlanta to make up for this lost one. AT-FREAKIN-LANTA!?!?!!? I'll admit, it probably is good for the hockey fans in Atlanta. Seriously, I hope they both have a great time.

There's nothing on TV!

Stupid TV! There's nothing on! Seems that there's some country having an election of some sort. Pfft.

Won't you join our Tea Party?

Ok, so I went to the Tea Party concert last night in Hamilton with my friends Jill and Jay (Jill also being a co-worker of mine). I gotta say that they put on an awesome show, but then again I really like thier music. I have thier new CD, and I think it is good. I saw them once before in Sarnia a couple summers ago, but this was different as they were playing in an actual theatre, which was good for the presentation and sound. Plus it really eliminated the drunken rednecks who went to the one in Sarnia just because it was also Ribfest. Although, I do like ribs....

On another note, go check out Man vs. Basement: Part II -- basement fights back, man calls for backup on Dan's blog. Amazingly enough, I contributed to the construction of a not-so-bad looking piece of practical furniture. Amazing!

Matt Wins the Stanley Cup!

Why not? Nobody else will win it this year.



Well, I suppose I didn't win it... But I did stand beside it on my trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame with Dan. Yep, Dan and I went to the happiest place on earth while the ladies wasted their time shopping. Good deal. Here are some other pictures.





The only drawback was that I didn't get to destroy the "lucky loonie". I hate that coin! Seriously, it was a good idea the first time, but now there's a lucky loonie for everything Canada is involved with. It's ridiculous! The mystique has been totally destroyed by everyone wanting to copy a good idea.

And another thing...

I just finished watching the first episode of CBC's "The Greatest Canadian". Actually, I just caught the last 15 nominees... But the point is that I was sorely disappointed to see that I hadn't been nominated. Like, seriously, come on people! Where were ya? Anyway, I still have to decide which of the top ten I'm going to vote for... At the moment I'm leaning towards Sir Frederick Banting, but we'll see.

Oktoberfest!

Well, I went to my first Oktoberfest last night. I've lived in Waterloo for how many years? Seven? And this is my first one? That's sad, I know. But it was a whole lotta fun. I think there was beer, I can't seem to remember. I sure rolled out the barrel of fun, though!

It's Stupid O'Clock

I've decided that time shouldn't exist before 7:30am. Seriously, if the sun isn't stupid enough to get up at 5:30, then why should I? Either that or working at home has made me soft.

The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round...

"Excuse me... I'm doing a ridership survey for Grand River Transit. We're looking for information about where you're coming from and going to, what routes you take, and how often you take them. Would you like to fill one out for us?"

Try saying that about, oh, 150 times over the course of riding the bus for 12 hours. That's what I did today. My mind is numb. I have to do it tomorrow and Thursday, as well as one day next week too. Isn't life fun? Time to go cry in the fetal position in the corner.

Going to the Zoo....

Yesterday, Nory, Robin and I went on a tour of the Toronto Zoo with Zoo Expert/Teacher, Jen. This is a picture of Stripes the Giraffe. Notice the lack of stripes on Stripes. It was a really great way to spend the afternoon, made even better thanks to Jen's knowledge of practically everything there. 

One Hundred Four

104... that's what I scored today golfing at Savannah Golf Links in Cambridge. Not terribly bad relative to what I usually score. It's 3 off my best 18 hole score of 101. But what do I have to do to break 100? Ugh, golf is an expensive way to frustrate yourself.

But anyway, the reason I was golfing was because it's my 1 year anniversary of working at PTSL. It's crazy, I've been a real person for a whole year now.

It's Picture Time!

This is a picture of me... at least I hope... i'm just trying this out right now. I'm sexy. 

Not Another Freakin' Blog!

Just because I like to follow the crowd of what is cool, I've started a blog. I expect everyone to be enraptured by stories of how I spend 22 hours a day in my bedroom.