The Biggest Loser

When there’s something to be said about fast-food industry, everyone condemns McDonald’s but the recent report shows that Burger King is the worst chain food giant with an average of more than 26% of saturated fat in its food. The Government asked the said restaurants to voluntarily cut the saturated fat, almost 6 months ago and if they don’t obey, mandatory laws will be put in effect.
I got familiar with Burger King through Ali G. He’s a big fan. When we were doing renovation for his old house in Okotoks, we used to go to a Burger King drive thru, grab a Whopper and drive to his house. Then here in British Columbia whenever I'm in rush, I sneak in a King restaurant and spoil(!) myself with a burger, a Putin or a pie. The other day I was in Tim Horton’s for a soup and coffee. The bastards just raised the prices again. Now it’s $1.55 for a damn cup of coffee and the soup, damn! I always liked their Chili with a whole wheat bun but after I noticed that it’s made a long time ago and kept in a plastic bag and they just warm it up here, decided not to have it anymore.
Now just with a few days left until Christmas, I’m here down to the last Pennies in my account, aching all aver as a result of a damn cold, having plenty to do in the damn house, while A. J. is away, thinking of nothing but finding a way to get rid of this stupid life!

After all the biggest looser is me, not Burger King as it was said in the news last night because they have made millions so far, are making at the moment and will make more in future to infinity and beyond. I'm the looser because I’ve lost the best years of my life without gaining much.

(Photo: Women protest in front of a Burger King, not to show their dislike of fat, but for the cattle which are being slaughtered every day to become patty! What they eat themselves, that's what I would like to now!)

Flashback (14): Noah

It’s only work and work these days and nothing else. People are getting ready for Christmas. The good thing is work is not that much because first of all most of the things have been done. And secondly A. J. is on a trip so I start whenever I want and work on my pace. So I thought it’s better to write about one of my buddies back to the first months of life in Canada.
There was a nice and handsome Hispanic guy from Nicaragua or El Salvador called Noah. He could have been more than 5 years younger than me. I, in the beginning, thought that he was Canadian because of his blue eyes but that happened only because I was new. You can tell who’s who after awhile regardless of the colour of the eyes or anything else. So we used to hang out a bit in the beginning. He was a hard-working guy so he got promoted to a level 2 job while I went on light duty as a result of an injury!
He asked me once to be his roommate in High River. He said that it was a nice small town with everything but I was not interested because I was attending an Advanced ESL course in the U of C. That was the beginning of our separation as buddies. I invited him to my home town and he accepted although that was just me in the beginning, trying to make conversation with everyone. Then one day I lent him a toonie. The other day I saw him in the cafeteria having his breakfast without saying a word about the money he had borrowed. He was just simply gazing at me and I didn’t like that. I asked him how he could have his breakfast while he still owes me and pretends nothing had happened and left. He showed in front of me in a few minutes with a bunch of quarters. Gave them to me and left. And that was the end of it. I saw him a while after that, leaving the floor. That was his last day. I guess he had paid off his used car which cost him a little more than $8000 and simply quit. That was also the last time I saw him and I guess he only worked there for one year or so. That’s how I used to ruin relationships! Sometimes for a toonie, some other times for whatever I must not say. The second one mostly happens with women! But I’m way better than the beginning now but the problem now is I don’t see as many girls as I used to!

New Mercedes Project

Sonia just got back from her six month training program in Mercedes Benz in Stuttgart and told us a bit about the great experience she was having over there. She has been to mostly all European countries during the period and had lots of fun.
But the interesting thing is the project that she was working on as part of an international student team. This is a camera for 500-S models, the most expensive car ever, almost $300,000! Basically how it works is it’s going to have two night vision cameras. The first one scans and finds any object in front and shows in the monitor. The second one finds any live object based on infra-red technology and sends it to the monitor as well. The amount of time that it takes to have the data gathered from the road, process it and have it seen by the driver doesn’t make it possible to scan more than 150 m in front. Otherwise the data transformation would be so slow that it’s not helping. This is one problem that should be resolved.
The other one is to have these two distinguishing and reporting devices working together simultaneously so the driver can see what’s happening in the road without looking through the windshield. The monitor’s his or her concern. The driver will see whatever is in front of the vehicle, the distance, the size and everything. The infra-red camera is supplied by the US military, currently used in some tanks. The project is due by 2012 but Sonia stated that she has no intention to go back. I have never been a fan of cars, specially the luxury ones because I always try to live the true life. I know I can’t afford it so I don’t dream about it and cover my walls with the photos! But I had a quick look at its website and I was impressed. Obviously such an extravagant car like that must have an extraordinary website. The technology is attractive to me though. The way the human’s mind works and create amazing features for life. I hope I can get rid of shit that I’m floating on at the moment and get to something thoughtful soon.

Beautiful Shootout

It has been a long time that I have not watched a full game of NHL. In fact I never did. It always seems tiring while at the same time interesting and exciting. The problem is not NHL or anything. The problem is in me. That, actually, prevents me from focusing on anything.
So when I turned the TV on today and Hockey Night in Canada was on, I couldn’t watch even one single period and switched continuously from CBC and the other stations. Vancouver was playing in Edmonton. The game finally was even in regulation and OT. Thus based on the new NHL rule (New in last 2 or 3 seasons obviously!) the teams started the shootout and that’s where I started watching!
None of the main net minder of the teams were playing tonight, Luongo is injured and Roloson was out for whatever reason and Garon was taking care of the net. The teams were still even in shootout and then Shawn Horcoff scored a very beautiful shot. Then that was the Vancouver guy who lost his chance over Garon. Pisani was the last one who skated in rink and that was against Sanford. Luango’s injury has given Sanford a chance to star but Pisani passed the puck between the legs of him and scored the game winning. That made Sanford so upset which not only made him to push the puck out after it passed the score line but also broke his stick while leaving the rink!

(Photo: This alternative logo of Edmonton Oilers is my favorite one)

First or Second?

I have no intention to make this blog a news media but would like to write about the ones that I follow and find them interesting. The Jury in New Westminster, B. C., delivered the verdict of Robert William Pickton yesterday and he was found guilty of second degree murder on 6 counts.
Regardless of the fact that I’m not familiar with judicial terms, no one in the news and interviews gave a clear explanation of these two different charges: First degree and second degree murder. It’s been only said that there’s not much difference and Pickton will spend the rest of his life in jail with almost no chance of parole. It’s not clear if there will be another trial for the other missing women but the families of victims are saying that they are waiting for justice. CBC had a full coverage last night and that was so sad. I also bought The Vancouver Sun today and read some of the victims’ biographies which made me sadder. Most of them were the kids of foster parents and left the family in early ages, for example 16 and 18 and ended up in Vancouver Downtown East-side, the most notorious neighbourhood in Canada where drug and alcohol addiction and prostitution is the first thing you notice. I felt extremely depressed and lonely after reading the bios and trial coverage. Imagine someone who has her childhood with a foster family, which is not really lovely, or may be loveless and then ends up in the streets where predators like Pickton and others are roaming around.
That bad feeling was doubled when I didn’t receive any mail from F. F., the girl that I’m getting addicted to it. I thought and thought and thought and concluded nothing! The Tough Guys is being turned to the totally fucked up guy! But then I gained power and felt a little better. That should be posted under another title.

(Photo: Pickton Farm in Port Coquitlam, BC at the time when police started searching any evidence that might lead to the answer. It's said now that the government of B. C. is going to sell the farm to pay the cost of trial. It's a big lot which might attract the construction companies but the question is who wants to live in a property where tens of innocent young women have been brutally murdered and their remains are still there? I'd like to go there to see what's left. It's not too far from Coquitlam Centre where I've been to a few times to shop)

Capitalism Finally Digs Himself in (2): Economic Slump in the US

Alphonse called me today in afternoon, returning my e-mail. I had written to him that I had to cancel my ticket to Boston and could not see him and that made him upset. He’s doing well and planning to buy a house next year and also a brand new car. It has been less than 2 years since he started a job in a small company but he thinks that it’s the time to enjoy life.
What he has in his mind and his plans and thoughts are all his. I learn what I need to. The important and interesting thing is the short version he delivered regarding what just happened in the US and affected Canada and the entire world. I’ve already written about that but not the cause, which is interesting. I have neither money nor a plan to buy a house. I don’t even think of buying an apartment. I actually did a few times but then changed my mind. I will never do think of that again unless I’m sure that it’s vital and I can mentally afford it, which means having a secure job.
Anyhow what happened in the US is there are two different, I think, major types of mortgage and that’s one with a fixed rate and the other one with a changeable rate. The second one was pushed up somehow by the US banks and that sent many people into a big trouble because having a certain salary, people would not be able to pay their monthly payment. So many claim bankruptcies and the bank got the house from them and put in the market, in an action type. That made the things even worse because the market is so slow as a result of high mortgage rate. The chain of events got to almost everything. Even the American dollar got so weak that you could get $1.1 of it for every single Canadian you earned. The dollar has returned to about where it was more than 2 months ago. It’s $0.98 for each American dollar. I don’t know how it happened but I know that many tried to take advantage of this slump by cross-border shopping and there was stupid news about the assholes who drive all the way to fucking Buffalo in NY or any other close-to-border city and town to spend their fucking easy-to-make money on stupid things like cloths, shoes and other types of shit. There were also news of people who drove all the way Texas and the other states to but a vehicle and the very good thing is those assholes cannot register the cars and drive them due to certain Canadian regulation. So this is what happens to a fucking consuming-capitalism society. People get screwed over and over and the funny thing is these assholes never learn from the stupid mistake the make because they like their American Way of Life!
I have to ask Alfa the current situation in the US. May be he knows what has happened and why the dollar went back to where it was before. I might go to the RBC branch in Georgia Street, in Downtown Vancouver and talk to one of the mortgage specialist of banker. Just to see what’s happening and also see the Downtown. I’ll write about that if I go.

(Photo: Measuring slump assist in determining the status of concrete but I wasn't talking about this type of slump!)

Flashback (13): The Nest

I didn’t have time to post this funny interesting fight between A. J. and a guy called Ron shortly after I arrived in B. C. He used to do kitchen cabinets for A. J. and all of a sudden he stopped answering A. J.’s phone calls. That drove A. J. crazy because two houses had been almost finished and cabinets were left. He tried to reach him in any possible way and finally one day got a plan.
One of his other trades called Dr. H. gave Ron a ring and told him that he needed his help with his kitchen. They made an appointment and that revealed Ron’s nest. So four of us, me, A. J., his former partner and his son got to his place from the back door and Dr. H. rang his door from the front. As soon as he opened the door for the doc., we knocked at his back door. He opened the door and A. J. stormed in! His partner got in after him and I stayed out! I knew that if anything happens he could complain and says we got to his property with no permission and that would be a hard kick in the ass for all of us. Dr. H. appeared right after he said that he was with a customer but when he saw him he understood that he had gotten tricked!
A. J. was about to get in to a fist fight with him but his illiteracy prevented him to say something really harsh to Ron! His partner separated them while Dr. H. was trying to cool him down. Ron was calm and asked us to leave his workshop. He said he would call the RCMP if we didn’t. I was still at the door and then sneaked in very smoothly. A. J. looked very funny at the moment: wide open eyes behind the glasses, not-shaved, tired face, and his chest was going up and down as a result of anger. He barely was able to say anything but a You Know... (!) That’s what most of the stupid scum who cannot speak properly after years, say! Nevertheless he said he would not go anywhere until Ron says what he would do and added that he would wait for the cops.
The former partner started talking to Ron to see what was wrong and why he didn’t want to finish the job he already had started. Ron simply said that he didn’t have any interest and would not do anything. We all left after A. J. had a relief through finding Ron and mumbling a few words! He got nothing more and had to hire someone else afterwards!

Heavy Snowfall

I'm so tired that I can't even sit. Worked like an animal with that piece of crap, A. J. in the last 3 days. I had a little fight with him last night for the first time. I don't want to write about that.
All I want to write about is the heavy snowfall in the town and area. Unfortunately I couldn't go out and enjoy but may be in near future. People were having fun with their snowmobiles, roaming around smoothly. Both the van and A. J.'s car had a problem in the street, specially the cargo van.

(Photo: A neighbor is driving around his friend's snowmobile in the snowy afternoon of today)