Monday, July 7, 2008

The Book of Tim Video: Chapter 1

For Sam

This post is dedicated to Samwise Ginter. ENJOY!



Until next time keep fit and have fun!

-
--Tim

Sunday, July 6, 2008

I'm Still Here..

Hey Everyone!

I know it's been about a month since I posted anything but I have been really busy with work and still getting setup here in Edmonton. It's been a really great first month and I am really looking forward to the next year.

The new Residence Manager started about three weeks ago so we have been busy planning staff training, move-in, and orientation. It's been hectic and sometimes very overwhelming but it's been great a experience thus far.

This past weekend I have just been prepping to go to the OACUHO Training Institute at Carleton University in Ottawa. I am pretty pumped as it will be my first professional conference so it should be an excellent learning experience. Ang will be there too so I am looking forward to hanging out and having a great time.

Today was rainy all day long and we have had two thunderstorms. I have been told that this is the most rain people have seen in Edmonton in a long time.


This is the view from the living room of my apartment. The weird towers are the main MacEwan campus and you can see the parkade in the bottom left hand corner and the Robbins Heath Centre on the right bottom corner. The rest is obviously downtown Edmonton. It's a pretty sweet view and it's nice to be right downtown.

This evening I walked to Subway with two of the summer rez staff as has become a habit of late. Kristy felt the need to document my brownie which was delicious and here is her abstract art on the subject:


Nothing says delicious like factory produced low fat brownies from some industrial park in New Jersey. Yesterday when we there though I noticed that Subway has started serving a Lobster sandwhich which looks a lot like the one they were serving in Nova Scotia when I was there. There is however one major difference. See if you notice the prices:


Yeah you are reading it right. 16.98$ for a footlong and 30.98$ for a footlong with double the lobster meat. Let me just make that clear. THIRTY FRAKING DOLLARS! When I was in Nova Scotia Lobster was 10.99$ a pound and I am sorry...you are not going to find quality fresh lobster in a Subway sandwhich. It's going to be again some bag lobster from some lobster farm in the States. I think the fact that Subway is actually trying to sell a sub for 30$ is going to find themselves with a lot of lobster on their hands when this promotion is over. I love how the ad says Get Trapped by the Taste. Yes let us get trapped by the taste...and the the soul sucking morgage we will need to take out on all our houses in order to afford the frakin thing. I am fairly confident I could make myself a full out lobster dinner for less than that. Silly Rabbits!
Anyways...in other news I am pleased to announce that the Book of Tim is transforming. Much like an Autobot the Book of Tim is coming into the 20th century and becoming a video blog. I still will post written entries every now and then but I am excited to share my beautiful face with the world!
My first video post will go up tonight and I am hoping to make a post each day of the conference about something new and exciting I have learned or done that day. Get ready like a Brian Adams song!
Until next time, keep fit and have fun!
-
--Tim

Monday, June 9, 2008

Training Theme 2008?

Hey Everyone,



So I came up with this last night while I was trying to fall asleep. Thoughts? Comments? Concerns? Basically the theme would run year long, would encompass all elements of the job including review, programming, training, etc. etc. and the winner would recieve something significant like an iPod Touch or maybe a free class or something. I dunno. But anyways..here it is:

Until next time, keep fit and have fun!

-

--Timbo

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Question of the Week: Time Between Courses

Hey Everyone,

So question of the week time:

If you were eating dinner and only after having your app for a few minutes the wait staff brought you your main course what would you?

A) Tweak and tell them to take it away until you are ready
B) Smile and say "thanks"
C) Other aka Insert your own Answer

Discuss!

And until next time, keep fit and have fun!
-
--Timbo

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Things that Really Get in My Craw: Chapter 1

Hey Everyone,

So I fought the desire to post about this but I have decided in the end that I would do it anyways. A few days ago http://www.trekmovie.com/ posted pictures of a new cake that Ace of Cakes which airs on the Food Network would be featuring a Star Trek themed cake in one of next season's episodes:


Pretty sweet huh? I will be all about having this cake at my birthday (hint! hint!). Anyways it appears said sweet treat has caused quite the stir. When the article was published it elicited a number of responses one of which was the following:

"THIS IS A DISASTER I CAN’T BELIEVE THEY PUT SCOTTY IN THE NAVIGATOR’S POSITION I CAN’T BELIEVE THESE PEOPLE ARE SO CLUELESS ABOUT THE BASICS OF STAR TREK THIS IS A DISASTER"

Now clearly the poster was joking but at first a few people, thought he was serious and responded in kind:

“Ugh Sean you make us look all INSANE! It’s a cake…nothing more…it’s not meant to be canon. Just relax dude. Who gives a frak if the small little cake people are not sitting in the right chair. Lords of Kobol protect us all! If anyone saw the G4 Star Trek ads they ran then we all know that Spock doesn’t have a sanctuary where Scotty DJs.”

I have NO IDEA who would respond like that…but whatevs. At any rate it seems that a number of websites have picked up on the small little post that could and have generated a number of articles:

io9.com: Star Trek Cake Upsets Nerds

LA Times: Star Trek cake sours on some Trekkies

FoodNetworkAddict.com: Nerd Alert: An Ace of Cakes Star Trek Slip Up

GrinningSkull.com: Nerds Up In Arms!

I think the titles of the articles really do speak for themselves but in case they don’t…what I love about this whole thing is that the economy can be recession, wars in various country, a genocide happening and nobody seems to give a frak or even know what Darfur is, and yet something as small and as completely unimportant as someone making a tongue in cheek joke like this gets top coverage and that is what really gets in my craw.

Until next time, keep fit and have fun.
-
--Timbo!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Wander my Friends

Hey Everyone,

So check out this link:

http://www.spinsimple.com/macewanresidence/student/lobby.html

This is my new pad. I will be starting this coming Monday June the 2nd and basically will be chillin here for the next while. I've never lived in Alberta before so it will be an experience for sure. From my research (aka what I looked up on Wikipedia last night) the city seems to be pretty vibrant with culture and my mother is encouraging me to learn to ski. Think I will pass on that one but I am thinking of learning the guitar...along with...driving...don't judge!

Anyways, once I have my new contact info I will pass that info along via an e-mail. I considered putting it on here but then my brain clicked back in so not so much.

So that's my news. The building has reserved guest rooms so if anyone is coming out that way in the near future drop me a line!

Until next time, keep fit and have fun.
-
--Timbo

Monday, May 26, 2008

All of This Has Happened Before and All of This Will Happen Again

Hey Everyone,

So a big part of the New Book of Tim will be my undying obsession with Battlestar Galactica and for those of you not down with the lingo, the title of this post is a major thread that runs through the series. Actually it is a major philosophical idea that the universe has a finite number of outcomes that can occur and that when we have gone through all of the outcomes we come back to the first one again. At any rate, I am a true believer in this idea...especially if we don't learn from the first time round.

Having said that, I am really excited to announce that I was offered a position at a school today and I couldn’t be happier! I can't get into the details at this point but I am obviously very excited. I will post more details when I can and some festivities will be happening in the near future for sure so keep checking back for the deets.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me in the last several months and given me the swift kicks that I really needed. I can't thank Sam and Rachel and Lia enough for coming along on this journey with me and I really have learned what it means to be a true friend. So that's it for now cats and kittens...more details to follow!

Until next time, keep fit and have fun!

-
--Timbo

Sunday, May 25, 2008

The Shape of Things to Come...

Hey everyone!

I know it's been well over a year since this blog has existed and that my entire audience has probably retired and gone off to do...well...whatever one does when they don't have my opinions to read anymore. At any rate, the other night I decided that it was time to re-launch the little blog that could. Back in the glory days of 2005/2006 elections were live blogged, professors were compared to B-List actors, things that drove me nuts were awarded for doing so, and every minute detail of my last year at Western was splayed forth on the world wild web for all those who cared to know the details.

In the time since those hallowed days much has changed and I would like to think my perspective on the world has aged like a fine bottle of wine. Gone forever are the wild days of ranting about things that annoy me. You won’t see a post here about how I hate this or that anymore…well…you might…but my language will be much more appropriate. I will continue to document the minute details of my life but with much less negativity. I am looking at this I suppose as a forum for discourse where my friends and others can comment on my thoughts and experiences. Some regular features you will see back include The Question of the Moment, People who Look Like B-List Celebrities, The Politics of Politics, and in a much more mature fashion and in a tribute to my Minion Lia: You Know What Really Sticks in my Craw.

Some new features I will be launching include Frak This: Battlestar Galactica from a Geeks Perspective, Adventures in Mediocre Cooking, AMC vs. Cineplex: An On-Going Saga, and various other subjects as they come to me. In the end however, you can be guaranteed that I will continue to be honest, current, and hopefully funny. I will write what comes to my mind and I want to raise the level of debate. I want to get people thinking and talking and I want to be able to expand my mind as well. I also am not opposed to the idea of other people contributing as well. If you think you could provide a regular feature to The Book of Tim feel free to send me an e-mail and we can discuss the deets.

Just as a warning to the wise though, if anyone chooses to post a comment these rules will apply:
A) If you flame me I will probably ignore you and for the purposes of keeping this thing professional and will probably delete it.

B) It’s fine to comment anonymously, but I also think people should stand by their words. It just invalidates the comment if there is no one there to back up the thought.

C) I encourage debates because I think the world is a better place when people give their opinion but insulting me doesn’t accomplish anything other than demonstrate your character and I can guarantee you that you will not get the reaction you are hoping for.

Finally, I hope the Book of Tim will be around of awhile. I really enjoyed writing and I know all of my friends loved the random shout-outs…especially Shelley! So to that end, I welcome you all back, bring your friends, and let’s… party!

Until next time, keep fit and have fun!
-
--Tim