I’m pretty bad at keeping resolutions, so unlike other years I don’t think I’ll be making a specific list this year.  Doesn’t mean I don’t have goals for this year, but I think the key is to keep in motion and stay active. It’s just too easy to get bogged down with this so called “life”, that we end up procrastinating and delaying our passions.

The only thing I’ll consciously attempt to do differently this year, is basically what Jim Carrey’s character does in Yes Man.  I know how silly that sounds but sometimes I find myself just using “being tired” as that tiny bit of reason to not do something.  I’m obviously not going to be saying yes to everything, but that tiny simple word is such a powerful catalyst for encountering new things, giving yourself those pleasant surprises and of course getting things done.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover

- Mark Twain

It’s become so easy to find a comfortable routine and find reasons to say no.  2010 is going to be the year of Yes.

2009 wasn’t a bad year by any means. I rung in 2009 with eating a giant pork butt at Momofuku Ssam bar, got a great new job that provided far more stability and got to get back to Vancouver a ton more times.  It did feel like I didn’t quite accomplish or learn as much as I had wanted to though.

So with the new year, hopefully comes making more time for picking up new things and just expanding and living out every ounce possible.

All the best everyone with another year!

One thing I miss immediately after stepping foot into my parents’ home? Heat and hot water. WTF?! Other than that..ready to get some eggnog!

For those of you interested in transit and trains and what not, the building of the Dubai Metro is absolutely amazing. In just 4 years they built and completed the main line. Compare this to the long awaited second avenue subway line in New York City.

Did I mention it is a fully automated line?  What saddens me is that once the green line opens which adds another 20 km of track, Vancouver will no longer hold the title of World’s Longest Automated Metro Line ousted by just 3km.  Check out this awesome time-lapse video of the Dubai Metro:

Here’s the original:

The modified version is after the fold.

Completely traumatizing. Every time it comes on I have to flip the channel. Blech. Normally I’m supportive of fellow Canadians, but not in this case. Go back to doing different work.

“Women would be amazed if they knew what men desire about them. Yes, of course, they want to see women naked and supine and melting, but male desire is far more readily stimulated by what the oblique glance discovers: the parted lips, the micron of eyelash which the mascara brush missed, the changing angle and shadow of cleavage, the bra-strap alternately displayed and covered up, the ripe-camembert plumpness at the edge of hips. There is, inside every adult man, a relentless Peeping Tom, a perennial 14-year-old boy, still amazed by the phenomenon of women on display, flagging their sexuality, their availability, with every square inch of visible flesh, clothing, make-up and curve.

We desire the personality that we discern in the walk, the clothes, the laugh… We look, and sigh, and wish to do certain things to her, first urgently, then luxuriantly, and keep doing it indefinitely; but we also hunger to have her do certain things to us, unimaginable though it may seem—we want her to want us. We don’t just want her surrender, like a slave captured in battle; we want her approbation, her adoration; we want to enchant her to desire us back. For, no matter how humble we feel before the dizzying fact of female beauty, men are just as narcissistic as women.”

- John Walsh

That about sums it up. Desire: What realy turns us on?

I set upon the task of trying to figure out whether or not I would be able to get back on a lower priced plan.  You know seeing as we’re in a recession and all.  I thought I was going to be up for a lengthy and annoying battle with them trying to negotiate something, either that or forced to cancel my service if they weren’t willing to budge.

Surprise surprise, who knew their customer service was so polite and willing to help. I certainly wouldn’t have imagined it after having read some other people’s horror stories.  Perhaps they’re feeling the pinch of the economy as well and are doing what they can to hold on to their customers.

I dial in and was surprised there was no wait to reach an agent. A friendly woman by the name of Pamela comes on and I quickly explain I can no longer afford my plan and ask if there are any promotions available.  I tell her how I see there are plenty for new customers and inquire about any for existing.  She puts me on hold to check on a few things and returns to offer me the same introductory rate I had for my first 6 months for an entire year.  I accept. She makes the switch. Voila! All in all I’m on a cheaper plan and it only took 5 minutes of my time.

Kudos to Time Warner!

That video was sent around quite a bit and despite the misfortune of that reporter breaking her ribs it became one of the more humorous videos sent around in awhile.  Well it just keeps on going with the spoofs.  There was the SNL Scarlett Johansson skit and just the other week Family Guy took a go at it too.

Too funny. Check them out after the fold.

The original clip.

SNL Skit

And Family Guy

This is pretty much the every once in awhile “I’m alive!” posting that I make when I haven’t posted in awhile.

Let’s see now? I’ve had a few visitors and I’ve flown back and forth from Vancouver, New York, Puerto Rico and am looking at another upcoming round to Denver, Montreal, Vancouver, Las Vegas, and St Louis.

I’m trying to get back in the habit of posting more. I guess this is my attempt. Really!

Work hopefully will continue at a pace that works ok with traveling. Sometimes it feels a little guilty trying to get away somewhere.

Anyways. That’s it for now.

It’s been seven years now and it is still a moment in time of which the full impact has yet to be seen.

It has united a city and country beyond the normal efforts to unify divided people.

It has instigated its own war. The War on Terror.

There are long lasting effects and short lived assistance to those who were impacted directly. Debates and fights for their rights.

They are wanting to implement these events into school curriculum.

The thing is, they are trying to teach the history of the attacks on the World Trade Center when there are still ongoing parts to that history.

The impact is undeniable. It is certainly the defining moment for this generation. I remember exactly where I was, what I was doing and how I felt. This story is the same for many others.

Other’s have compared it to being the Kennedy assassination of our generation. Or Pearl Harbor for the generation before that. Then I started thinking. How does it feel for someone like my Grandmother, who’s lived through so many “defining” events in her life.

There’s World War II of which she vividly remembers the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, Pearl Harbor, The Vietnam War, The Assassination of John F Kennedy, The Gulf War and now the terrorist attacks on September 11th.

Then I wondered how it must feel for those who had lost family members and friends on September 11th. What will it be like for our generation? How many of these defining events will we experience in our lives.

For me I hope that this is it for defining moments.

Kim Jo Han is a Korean R&B pop singer and in this clip he’s performing Brian McKnight’s “One Last Cry”.  It’s about 5:40 of your life, but I do think it’s well worth the time to see why you should probably not mess with someone else’ song.

Brian’s vocal dexterity and range blows away Kim Jo Han as soon as he opens his mouth it’s rather amusing.

Video after the jump