Tonight: Total Lunar Eclipse

Check it out. Tonight, there'll be a total lunar eclipse. The moon will be dark starting at 10:01 tonight and will start to light back up at 10:51. It's supposed to be a partly cloudy night, so it should be easily visible. The next total eclipse of the moon won't happen again until December 21, 2010, so enjoy it!

Deliberatly Losing

There's nothing like intentionally buying a technology that will not be around for long.

Yesterday I bought myself an HD-DVD player.

Yes, I was fully aware that Blu-Ray is the winner of the format war and that I'm ending up with this generation's version of a Betamax player. But bear with my reasons. Firstly, it's not going to take up extra inputs on my TV. I bought the HD-DVD attachment for my XBox 360, and I'm not going to be disconnecting that any time soon. Secondly, it recently came down in price... $70 down. Throw in the fact that I get 6 free movies with the purchase and an XBox 360 Universal Remote (which I really wanted to make watching movies easier), I think I'm not coming out behind with this. That, and I hope that there'll soon be an HD-DVD disc firesale. I already got my favourite movie from last year, Hot Fuzz, and I'm hoping to pick up the HD-DVD version of Serenity.

Sure, one day I'll get a Blu-Ray player, whether is be a PS3 or a standalone player (or, if I'm lucky, an Blu-Ray attachment for my 360). But for now, this is good. I rented "The Kingdom" in HD-DVD last night. So, I'm already getting use out of it.

0 Days Since Last Asked For My ID

Just because I think it's awesome... Today I got I.D.ed at the Beer Store. The girl saw my licence and just laughed. I was older than her.

For those keeping score at home, this is the second time in just under 2 months that I've been asked to prove I'm old enough to purchase alcohol. The last, of course, being on December 22nd at the Duty Free store. Not that I'm keeping track or anything.

Co-op Student Pays Off!

This just in... it pays to have a co-op student at work. Today she earned her entire term's worth of pay in one day. Because today she informed me that there is now Karaoke on Rogers On Demand. Holy crap, that just made my day forever.

Baby, baby, it looks like it gonna hail...

Never Try Anything New

Last night was Monday night... and you know what that means! That's right, it's weekly grocery shopping night. This week, because I was already out, and it was closer, I went to Sobey's instead of my usual Zehrs. I thought it might be good to check out a different selection, etc, but what I found was that I couldn't find any of the things that I usually buy. So, I wandered around the store, looking lost and ended up with enough items that I could still go through the express line. So, today's lesson is to never try anything new and always stick to your routine.

Week (or so) In Review

I haven't been posting much lately, but things have been happening, so this'll basically be 3 posts for the price of 1!

I got back from my cruise last week. I was another great time. This year we were on the ms Westerdam. It was, for the most part, the same ship as we went on last year, as they're both of the same class, so I knew my way around right off the bat (a good thing). This year, our stops included Half Moon Cay (Little San Salvador Island), San Juan, St. Thomas/St. John, and Nassau. The highlight this year was the Bioluminescent Bay Kayak excursion, in which we kayaked into a bay at night and saw how when the water was disturbed, it glowed. Way cool. And by the end, I had only gained 1.6lbs despite eating whatever and whenever I wanted... but of course, I was much more active while on the trip.

My second mini-post is to say that I went to the Winter Classic game in Buffalo on New Year's Day. It was the bachelor party activity for Marty. We had tickets up in the third level, so the play was quite far away, but you could still see the action. We tailgated before the game, and made Marty do ridiculous things. He was a really good sport about it... in fact, I think he enjoyed it a little too much. The crowd was really awesome and everyone was into the game. Unfortunately, the snow created frequent stop in play as they had to clear and/or fix the ice. But in the end, Crosby won the game in a shootout, so it was everything the NHL could have wanted.

And following that, yesterday Marty got married to Felicity. I was fortunate enough to be asked to be a groomsman (which marks my fifth time being in a wedding party). It was a lot of fun, and I got to meet a few new people. Congratulations to them, if they read this.

I can't promise more frequent updates... I'll try, but no promises.

This Had Better Be The Best Internet Ever, Part 2

Yep, once again I got suckered into paying .75c per minute to use the hideously slow internet connection on the ms Westerdam. But anyway...

Merry Christmas from where it's sunny and warm and where Weight Watchers plans go to die. And I mean die with a vengeance. The food is riduculously plentiful aboard... and so, so good.

Yesterday we were on the island of Half Moon Cay (officially Little San Salvador Island). Tomorrow, we're in San Juan, where I'm taking a bioluminescent kayak trip at night, where there are fish or something that glow. I'll take some good pictures. Today is a whole day "at sea", which mean there's way to much to do here. Today, I took a mixology class to learn new types of martinis.

The sea is pretty rough today, which I kind of like. It slowly rocks back and forth. So you walk like you're drunk, even if you're not... if you are, you'll probably walk straight.

The temperature today was about 28 and sunny. I hope it got stupidly cold back home. Merry Christmas, everyone.

Video Blog?

Matt Brouwer, P.Eng.

Today I got notification that my application for Professional Engineer status has been approved! Now I can stamp your passport applications... oh wait, they got rid of that rule. Well, at least I can legally call myself an Engineer now, well... at least I can when my "first invoice is paid and processed".

Anyway, this is a pretty big deal for me. I have the P.Eng designation now, and I don't have to do anything more to keep it (except for paying the man)... no more exams or experience summaries, etc. I'm in the clear... unless I end up in the blue pages.

I'm Weight Watching (Again)

You may or may not have been aware that about 2 and a half years ago, I tried out Weight Watchers Online. For a few months it went really well and I lost 45 pounds. However, I lost the will power and over time I eventually gained it all back. There were a couple of false restarts in between there where I'd lose a couple pounds over a couple weeks, but I never stuck with it. This time, however, it's going to be different. Why will it be different? First of all, I'm actually going to the Weight Watchers meetings instead of just doing it online. Second, I'm going with a friend this time. That's two more layers of accountability that I didn't have last time. Also, last time I didn't make it "public" that I was doing the program... whether that was out of embarrassment or as a safety net in case it didn't work, I don't know... probably a little bit of both.

This time, I'm doing the exact opposite... I'm letting anyone know who'll listen. Why would I do that? It's not so much for your information, as it is me removing that "at least if I fail no one will know" safety net. This time, failure is not an option... I really can't keep on going like I had been.

So, I've been going now for 10 weeks. So far, so good... I've been keeping track of my progress... have a look....

Now, of course, December has just started, so the next month is going to be a real struggle for me to keep up the pace. What with all the Christmas parties and cruises I'll be attending. So, come January, if I'm the same weight as I am now, I'll consider that success and I'll get back on it hard then.