I'm In Canada, Eh?

So I took a little trip out to Vancouver, Canada to visit some friends we met in Cabo.


It's a great place, kind of like a mix between San Diego and San Francisco (without the smog). It's really cold by California standards though, it's 43 degrees right now. BRRRRRR It's weird seeing my own breath!
We're staying right in downtown so everything is within walking/stumbling distance.


Last night we went to a sweet sushi place called Tsunami Sushi. You just pick plates off of boats floating around the sushi bar and each plate type has a value. We had a few drinks and I impressed my friends with my sweet table tricks and origami skills, then walked around downtown and went to another bar before calling it a night.


Today so far, we walked through downtown to the harbor, bought a day pass for the Transitlink and rode the bus and trains to the Canucks stadium, visited Science World and saw an IMAX movie. Now we're back for a short break and trying to figure out what to do tonight. Perhaps dinner at the Top of Vancouver Revolving Restaurant and of course more bar hopping. That's what I'm talking aboot.

Saturday

12PM - Wake up after catching up on missed sleep all week due to the Tuesday night "dinner" party (Note to self: Dinner parties aren't supposed to include tequila)

3PM - Lunch at all you can eat Asia Seafood Buffet with Luke & Mikael (such a variety of food I went 3 times in one week!)

4PM - Visit Weins Winery were Elizabeth works. Too bad she was bar tending a wedding (I think they spelled "Wines" wrong)

5PM - Get together at my parents house for some pool and drinks (I was still stuffed from the buffet, otherwise I would have had some appetizers)

7PM - Dinner and conversation with Michelle (We both came to the conclusion that ignorance truly is bliss. It's a darn shame we're not ignorant.)

8PM - Meet up at Desiree's house (We made fun of Leah and Desi's dog, Einstein)

9PM - Go to get together with everyone at John Edwards' house (Show them what LOLCATS are all about)

12AM - Get a group together to go to an old school bar called ETs (Listened to drunk karaoke and people watched)

1:30AM - Close down ETs. (As designated driver, get friends home nice and safe)

Now don't go assuming my days/weekends are always this packed. Most of my days are pretty mellow. This one just happened to be particularly busy which is why I considered it blogworthy.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Well, I guess it's been a whole year since my last change of look. Previously I was sporting the long hair, beer hat, casual look. So now to experience the other end of the spectrum, I'm doing a year of suits. I also cut my hair short so it's easier to manage and fits better with the clean cut look of a suit.


Why the change? A few reasons:

1. I think it will be fun. I'll get to see how people react to it versus my previous casual look. I'm sure it will all be positive, as it has been so far.

2. Up until the 50's, people wore suits all the time, it was a time of class and respect, nowadays people try to look as crappy as possible, just turn on MTV. If you're in a big city like New York or San Francisco seeing people in suits is still quite common.

3. It's all part of my not following the crowd mentality. It's hard enough keeping myself from becoming "institutionalized" while working for the government. I need to test my boundaries so I know I'm not a mindless drone. And I'm not one of those people that HAS to be an individual and let everyone know about it (otherwise I'd get an Asian character tattoo like the rest of those "individuals"). In fact I prefer to blend in, which is why I'm keeping my suit plain and simple, black & white. I just want to do what makes sense to me. I thought about changing my look to be more efficient, and a suit with a white button up shirt everyday equals no stress on deciding what I'm going to wear or if it matches, and it looks damn good.

One may ask if I have noticed any differences with my new look, and the answer is yes. So far I'm into my 2nd week of "suiting up" and aside from everyone commenting on how I look nice (both people that have seen my previous look and those that have not). I have also noticed that it seems to give me automatic credibility. For example at the bank when I deposit my roommates rent checks each month the teller usually looks at each check (I'm guessing she looks at the amount and to make sure they're signed), this month I handed the teller my checks, she looked at the deposit slip, typed a few things into the computer and handed me a receipt, super quick. I was also hoping it would make me look older and more mature, but I still get carded for drinks. I'll just blame that on the sunscreen I wear everyday keeping me looking young. ;)

Someone Donated to Ron Paul

I showed my support to the Ron Paul Revolution by donating to his campaign. Helping to make campaign history by being a part of the highest 1 day donation of any of the current presidential candidates. Over 3.8 Million!

I support Ron Paul because he stands for the constitution, has a consistent voting record and has been against the unjustified and undeclared war in Iraq since day one. Instead of throwing more money at the war so as not to have to admit failure like our current president, he would bring our troops home. He, much like our founding fathers, does not see the role of government as one of policing the world and getting into nation building.

Brief Overview of Congressman Paul’s Record:

He has never voted to raise taxes.
He has never voted for an unbalanced budget.
He has never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership.
He has never voted to raise congressional pay.
He has never taken a government-paid junket.
He has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch.

He voted against the Patriot Act.
He voted against regulating the Internet.
He voted against the Iraq war.

He does not participate in the lucrative congressional pension program.
He returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year.

Congressman Paul introduces numerous pieces of substantive legislation each year, probably more than any single member of Congress.

To learn more about Ron Paul or donate click here or watch any of his videos on YouTube.

Week in Review

So let's see, this past week (which includes as far back as the previous Friday) has been somewhat of a roller coaster. Fast on some days, slow on others.

There was the volunteering at the evacuation shelters from 6PM to 6AM on Friday and Sunday nights. Friday I was at the Temecula Valley High School, while Sunday I manned the Community Recreation Center, before going straight to work for another 9 hours. I must say those shelters were like 4 star resorts, every meal was from a chain restaurant, Circuit City brought in flat screen TVs for entertainment, they even had people come in and give massages. I'm surprised anyone even returned home. But working 24+ hours was not exactly the smartest thing I could have done, as I wore down my immune system quite a bit and ended up with shingles. But thankfully the pain and red spots appear to have subsided.

Then of course midweek, there was Halloween. And what Halloween is complete without me being someone/something from internet pop culture (remember last year?). This year I was one of the guys from the Saturday Night Live music video D*** in a Box. If you never saw the music video you can see it here. The credit actually goes to Mikael, for the idea and costume, but unfortunately he had to work early so he lent it to me.


This year we took a huge party bus down to Gas Lamp in San Diego.



Everyone had a blast and surprisingly no one was left behind, resulting in another great Halloween!

And finally, woohoo for Daylight Saving Time! I get to "fall back" on an extra hour of sleep!