And To Close Out The Month...

Time to finish off August with a bang. Guess where I'll be going tomorrow and Thursday. Here's a hint



That, of course, is the Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point. I haven't been to CP in about 7 years, so I'm looking forward to riding the Top Thrill Dragster and the Millenium Force for the first time ever. I'm leaving early tomorrow morning with Joel, Marty, and Pam and coming back late Thursday night. This'll also be the first time I've spent 2 whole days at a park. Sweet.

In other news, we could still use some bodies for our parking study next Thursday and Saturday. So, if you want to, send me an email at mbrouwer(at)ptsl.com.

Oh, and how do you like my new addition to the right?

Does Anyone Need Some Money?

At work, we have a job that requires some temporary staffing. If you or someone you know needs or wants some extra money and is available to be in Waterloo on Thursday, September 7 or Saturday, September 9 (or both), let me know by emailing my work address...

mbrouwer(at)ptsl.com

What the job entails is counting the number of vehicles parked in Uptown Waterloo. It'll be an all-day job, and it'll require a lot of walking. We'll be surveying from 8am until 8pm (there'll be breaks though). Our rate of pay is $15 per hour.

If you're interested or want more information email me at

mbrouwer(at)ptsl.com (of course, replace the (at) with an @)

Why Won't You Die?

So, with the Trebuchet/Poker weekend coming up, I thought I'd prepare my digital camera by making sure I have enough battery power. So, I'm trying to drain the set of batteries that are in the camera now so I can recharge them... the problem is they just won't die! I've been taking pictures and videos and more videos but they're still going strong.

By the way, does anyone know if you actually have to have dead NiMH AA batteries before you can properly recharge them, or can you just pop them in the recharger whenever and not worry about them losing overall life?

Baltimore Weekend

Adventure 2 of August 2006 was a trip to Baltimore with Jim (aka my boss), his brother Mark (aka the skip of my curling team), and his buddy Tim. See the plan was to go catch a baseball game while the Blue Jays were in town. Well, we held up our end of the bargain by driving 11 hours on Friday, but unfortunately the Jays didn't and apparently forgot to show up. They lost 15-0. It was bad... real bad. It was 7-0 after the first, so the rest of the game really didn't matter. But visiting Baltimore was cool. It was nicer than I thought, but we only stayed in and around the harbour area of downtown, which was nicely revitalized.

Another good thing to come out of the trip is that, now counting Maryland, I have visited 20 states in total.

I Call It: Midnight At Matt's

Here's the view of Westmount and Erb from my balcony at 11:51pm. I think it turned out pretty good.

I've Been Vacationing In Far-Off Lands

I'm back from a one week life hiatus. I had a good week of notworking, but now I'm back at it. Highlights of the past week included:

• Wining the lottery - Those instant scratch cards I get every year finally paid off. $35 baby!
• Notworking - Did I mention notworking?
• Dentist and Optometrist - On the downside, both these things cost me money now since I have no health insurance... but on the upside, my teeth are wonderful and I'm getting a new pair of glasses. Stylin'!
• Birthday presents - New DS games and stuff for my new bed that I recently bought. New bed? That's right ladies... new bed.
• The Beach - Oh yeah... the beach. It seems that I actually got something that resembles a tan for the first time since being in university. It's not much, but I'll take it.

And so, now I'm back to my normal routine... writing a blog entry when I should be working. Shame on me.

It's Annual "Don't Work For A Week" Week

With the approaching of the August long weekend, so too approaches my annual summer vacation. What will you all do for a whole week without me posting stuff? What do you mean, "it doesn't matter"? What do you mean that my posting frequency has been lacking as of late? Hmmm... I suppose you have a point there.

Emissions Testing? No Thanks!

So, with the anniversay of my birthday fast approaching, the annual hassel of renewing my licence plates must be done. This being 2006 (an even year), I knew I had to get my Jeep e-tested (being an odd year, 2003). Now I've been putting this off for weeks now, until this morning when I realized there wasn't much time left to get it done. So, I frantically pull out my renewal paperwork and planned to get an appointment to get in for a test so I could renew before next Wednesday. Then I actually read the information sheet that comes with your licence renewal application, and lo-and-behold, the regulations for e-tests have been changed. Now you don't have to get tested until your vehicle is 5 years old. And so I checked on my fingers... 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006... yep, my car is only 3 years old. Sweet deal! No e-test for me, thanks. Not that I was worried. It's a good thing they don't test for fuel efficiency though.

I Got A New Low-Flow Toilet, And I'm Feelin' Fine

So, I came back Sunday night from a weekend away to find my bathroom with a very wet floor. It seems that water was dripping from the tank of my toilet. Today, someone finally got around to looking at it, and it was determined that a crack had formed and I would need a new one. Luckily the building plumber had a new toilet on hand and was able to install it. An not only is it a new toilet... it's a new low-flow toilet. Firstly, it's tank is a bit smaller, and secondly, it only uses half that tank each flush. The beauty is that if I'm having a shall we say, "high-flow" day, then all I have to do is hold down the handle to use the rest of the tank. Brilliant!

The drawback is now my bathroom smells like a sewer. I guess it's time to get out the Pinesol.

Peca in Toronto?

So, a day after Lindros leaving to go to Dallas, the word on the street is that Michael Peca has signed a deal with the Leafs to play next season. That's good and all... he's a good player. I'm just interested in seeing him on the same team with Tucker. That is all.