After massive promotional efforts, The Mike Bullard Show was axed by Global TV after lacking viewership. It's about time, really. At first, I supported the show, being Canadian and all. But let's face it, Mike Bullard's not a very funny guy, he doesn't have good writing, and he can't deliver his lines to make them work. Canadian or not, the show's end was a long time coming, and it's probably better to kill it now than to make people like me put in effort to avoid his show as I channel surf.

Woohoo! My last exam for this degree is OVER as of last night at 6:45pm.

For SFU Engineering Alumni:

Most of you know that the ENSC program changed a year or two ago such that there is now an Honors program and a non-Honors engineering program. The Honors program requires a thesis defense and a certain academic standing at graduation. The Non-Honors students don't need to fulfill those requirements. Hence, retroactively, all past students are B.A.Sc. Honors.

If you care to do it, you can have a new degree parchment created for yourself with the updated designation. Here's how:

1) You can go to SFU's Academic Resources counter and request it.
2) You can fax the following information to 604-291-4969:
REPLACEMENT PARCHMENT
Your name
Your student number
Whether you want to pick it up or mail it (address)

Credit Card #
Name on credit card
Expiry date
Signature

The cost is $21.50 (CAD) and processing time is approximately 5 business days.

Furthermore, if you had a 3.5 or above GPA, you are a Honors First Class graduate -- otherwise, just Honors.

If you have any questions, you can call Judy at 604-291-3206.

This has been a public service announcement.

It's just disgusting. Sometimes things can get out of hand and get real ugly, real fast. Vancouver Canucks star forward Todd Bertuzzi committed a nasty act on Colorado Avalanche's Steve Moore, who had a somewhat questionable hit on Markus Naslund two meetings ago. I was going to link to a video, but that link doesn't seem to be working anymore. Anyway, already down 8-2 on an already hideous hockey game, Big Bert grabbed Moore's jersey as they were skating down the ice and clocked him in the side of the head with a big right-hander. Moore's body seemed to slump right after, and I think Bert was trying to get on him after the punch. Moore's head tilted down, and his body followed suit, with Bertuzzi coming down on top of him from behind. Moore goes head-first into the ice, with most of Bert's weight on top; probably made worse by having another Avalanche player jump on Bertuzzi giving him a few shots. Blood spilled from Moore's head as he lay there unconscious and motionless. Then the medical staff poured onto the ice, and eventually wheeled him away on a stretcher. It was a sick thing to watch.

Bertuzzi's suspended indefinitely until the league gets a chance to review the event, and he's also being investigated by Vancouver RCMP for criminal assault. I hope he gets it. I know he didn't intend to do that much damage, but even a cheap-ass sucker punch from behind (when you're that big and that strong) is uncalled for. That shit's just not right. Anyway, he gets his NHL hearing on Wednesday.

Moore, on the other hand, is staying at the Vancouver General Hospital after suffering a concussion, 2 cracked vertebrae, and a broken jaw. I already felt sorry for him before this happened, because he was the target of the Vancouver bench since two games ago. I didn't even think the hit on Nazzy was really intentional, even though Naslund did miss 3 games with a concussion. Each shift he was on the ice, he had challenges. Takes the game to a whole new level, does it. Anyway, I hope he's able to recover quickly, and won't have to end his career this way.

[ more canucks articles ]

I've been dreaming a lot lately. Basically, dreams every night. I wonder what they mean. They aren't weird cryptic dreams of floating elephants, of falling, or of being chased. They situational. They involve people I know, or sometimes people I don't. Occasionally there are social gatherings, other times just other events or activities. The fact that I'm dreaming means that I haven't had a good deep sleep in some time, which is a little frustrating, because I know I'm tossing and turning through the night. I wonder if they are signals of the things my subconscious believes lacking in my life -- things my conscious mind aren't admitting to. Maybe it's time to take some drugs.

I went for an eye exam today, and decided to visit a new optometrist. Since it was my first visit there, I had a dilation done, which involved putting some drops in my eyes to relax the pupils, so that the optometrist could get a better look into my eye. Essentially, when your pupils are dilated, they are more or less in the state that they will be when you're 55 years old. It takes a while for the drops to take effect, and I was told I would have blurring and sensitivity to light. After 10 minutes, I didn't feel much different... until I noticed I couldn't read close up! I couldn't focus on letters closer than about 15 inches from my face. Totally trippy!! But it's different, farsightedness and nearsightedness. Nearsightedness has far objects blurred. Farsightedness doesn't blur close objects, but you can't focus properly on them. I guess I'll have something to look forward to when I'm older. Bifocals or reading glasses.

Now THIS is the most lop-sided highschool basketball game I've ever heard of. 96-point differential. Ouch. I thought school sports was supposed to be as much for fun as for competition.

Vancouver Sun, March 4th, 2004
==========================

BROOKSWOOD 113 CALEDONIA 17

The No. 1-seeded Brookswood Bobcats of Langley established a tournament single-game scoring record with their victory over the No. 16-seeded Caledonia Kermodes of Terrace. The Bobcats connected on 51.2 per cent of their field goal shots and were 47.1 per cent from the three-point range as they eclipsed the scoring record of 104 points, set by the New Westminster Hyacks on March 4, 1987. Brookswood's Grade 12 post Danica Boyce led the scoring parade with a game-high 23 points despite playing only 18 minutes as head coach Scott Reeves went with his bench players most of the second half. Boyce was joined in double scoring figures by six teammates -- Candace Morisset (13), Kendra Carrie (12), Sasha McKinnon (11), Kelsey Adrian (11), Niki McKay (11) and Tara Watts (10).

Vancouver weather is ridiculous. Yesterday, the sky was clear, the sun was out, and Vancouver was looking much like the pictures I look of SFU two days ago. Today, it was raining and dark. Up at SFU, it was foggy and there was a little bit of snow on the grass. Silliness.

I think the best way to live without regret is to not make any bad decisions. What do you mean, "it's not that easy"? Good decisions are made by taking a step back, thinking about the options carefully, and not letting your feelings get too much in the way. Small things are the least to worry about. You can make a bad decision there and not care about the consequences. I've made some bad stock purchases in my life, and those sucked. But I'll live and they don't affect me now. Small. Life decisions aren't so forgiving. How do you pick between your wants and needs when they conflict? Even more confusing are your needs and must haves. To me, there is always the obvious right choice and then the other choice, which is staged by sentiments and feelings. But with enough persuasion, your feelings will learn to accept the "right choice". Or not. But then again, I'm a cold person whose decisions are driven by my brain and not my heart. I don't care about the wishy-washy part.

Tim Horton's versus Krispy Kreme: The Hole Story on Donuts

Everything reminds me of Krispy Kreme donuts after wolfing down as many as I did, from the smell of the Chinese medicine on my friend's injured ankle (smells like the maple dip) to the Jones Cream Soda (which tasted like the original glaze). Sigh...