I was watching Ellen the other day and noticed her interviewing this adorable little boy. So I decided to keep it on the channel and see what amazing feat that this child could accomplish (since is usually the case when children are on daytime talk shows). It turns out Wayne “Pretty Boy Bam Bam” Lawrence is a boxer. A damn good one, in fact. I wish I had that kid’s stamina and technique when it comes to my muay Thai. :D Check out this clip from Ellen:
Here’s a link to his official site which also has a listing of all his videos on YouTube: prettyboybambam.com
While I was searching online for some type of adaptor that can allow me to hook up a coaxial cable to my new laptop, I noticed that the laptop I bought a couple weeks ago was on sale for $999. I initially thought I had left my reciept for my laptop at home back in Toronto, but this morning I took a look in my wallet and saw it in one of the side pockets! Happy that I’ll end up saving $150, I headed to the local Kingston Future Shop.
Now I was a bit worried about trying to take advantage of Future Shop’s price guarantee since technically I was on the 15th day of my laptop purchase, but it wasn’t a problem when the associate rang in the transaction. :)
Here comes the good part: turns out my HP Pavilion laptop was actually cheaper in-store than it was on the website! It was coming up as $899. That means I saved $250 off my original purchase price. Not too bad, for a pretty cool laptop. :) After seeing the good news on my receipt, I went to some of the surrounding shops and spent more money I didn’t have (I got the laptop on credit :P ). I did purchase a really cute LeSportsac bag at Winners and some more supplies for school from Staples. :)
Oh, and if anyone knows where I can purchase an adaptor for DVI/HDMI to coaxial cable (or if such a thing exists) so that I can record my soap operas on my computer at home while I’m in class, please let me know. :D
Tonight a group of us from the Bachelor of Education program here at Queen’s met up for dinner at The Grizzly Grill. I was famished since I hadn’t ate anything since noon, and it was almost 8pm. Looking at the diverse menu I was stuck as what I would get as an appetizer (I decided on an Alberta Prime Rib for my main course, since I just got on the medium-rare train). Initially I was going to order the crab & spinach dip. But once our waitress came around I thought to myself, why not try something different? So at the last minute I ordered the Louisiana Alligator (spicy, grilled skewer with Cajun aïoli and tomato corn salsa).
I have to say… alligator isn’t that bad. It looked like chicken, but tasted more like a miraculous combination of pork and chicken. Looks tender to the eyes (was probably due to whatever animal the alligator ate :P), but has a chewy texture… a bit like beef . An interesting experience and I’m glad I took a chance and tried something different, because it was rather tasty. But it’s not like I’ll be ordering this every time I go out… I’ll rather stick with my ‘normal’ meats of chicken, pork, beef and fish. :D
The dinner was a positive mark to the official day one of classes. Got to meet some new people, which is always a plus. I’m going to have to get used to the actual class structure though, since last week was so busy. “Welcome Week” comprised of orientation classes, workshops and presentations. Then after the ‘school day’ we would attend nightly activites including a BBQ, wine & cheese night, boat cruise of the Thousand Islands, and visiting a local pub. I’m glad the early mornings and late nights are over though, so now I can start getting into a proper routine.
Today’s classes were interesting: a couple of lectures (that I tried to stay awake for, even though I started classes at 11am), and my technological studies curriculum class. The tech class was so much fun! We had to design a couple of small frames/structures from wooden sticks, so we got to work with saws, glue, scissors, rulers, clamps, and sand paper… felt like I was in grade nine shop class again (well, actually that’s what the project was for: a typical grade nine project that we would eventually teach in the future)! Ah… there’s nothing like peeling dried, white glue off your hands. :P
Kingston, so far is pretty nice. The buses on the other hand could run more frequently, but I think I’m getting used to it. Four more weeks and I’m back in Toronto for my practicum. :D
Well, I officially have one more full day before I head off to Kingston for the next month for teacher’s college. My room looks like a tornado hit it with all the clothes strewn around! Packing can be stressful, especially if you keep on thinking that you’re going to forget something.
I got the biggest stress off of my chest on Thursday: I got myself a laptop for school, because God knows I’ll be hopeless without it. I initially wanted to invest in a MacBook Pro. But after careful consideration I thought that all that money the package would cost me was a bit too rich for my blood. The MacBook Pro is currently retailing at $2300 at the Apple Store (after my student discount), and they also have a free iPod ($419 for the Touch I wanted) + free Canon printer (about $100) promotion. Plus, I wanted to jump on the Adobe Creative Suite software promotion ($449 for Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, InDesign and Fireworks), get Apple Care ($279 for students) “just in case” and up the RAM in the computer to 4GB. So before all the mail-in-rebates I was looking at close to $4500. Did I really want to max out my credit cards and I haven’t even paid my tuition for school yet? Especially since there are rumours that there’s going to be a huge MacBook Pro update in the fall? No. So I went to Future Shop and bought a PC.
And a sexy PC laptop it is. Not as sleek as the MBP, but boy is this thing shiny! I went with HP, since I’ve had positive experiences with them in the past (all three of my last computers were HPs). I got the Hewlett Packard Pavilion DV9934CA. I wanted to stay away from the 17″ laptops since they were “too big” for all the travelling back and forth I’ll be doing, but this model had the best specs for the best price ($1149).
320GB hard drive
2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 processor
4GB RAM
8X DVD+/-R/RW DL with LightScribe
17″ screen
Integrated Webcam
Integrated WiFi and Bluetooth
NVIDIA GeForce 8400M graphic video card with 256 dedicated memory
Lots of inputs including HDMI, SD, S-video, and 4 USBs
Not bad if I do say so myself. This is the first laptop I ever owned. So now I can look cool and head to Starbucks, sit down and publicly write on my laptop like the rest of people! It’s also the first time I’ll be using Windows Vista. At first I was kind of wary because of all the issues I’ve heard of others having with it, but it’s not too bad so far (but all those “are you sure” security authorization questions get kind of annoying after a while). It took about 2 hours so set up and create the Windows Vista recovery discs and a charge lasts about 2.5 hours. The video quality is great though… watching Flash Point on the 17″ screen looked great.
Future Shop was having a printer promotion as well, so I got a new HP printer/scanner/copier for $10 with the purchase of my laptop (anyone want to buy an older 990cxi printer? :D ) I stood my ground and stayed away from the $300 product service plan (those commission-based associates can be very pushy). Now all I need is to find a case/sleeve that fits it right (I think I’ll be creative and make my own). I just wish it would fit comfortably in the new Enyce bag I bought at Winners a couple days ago!
It’s that time of year again. The Canadian National Exhibition opened last Friday, and I finally made my way down there yesterday. Great crowd (esp. because of the Canada vs. Jamaica soccer/football game at BMO Field). Of course my first stop was the Food Building, since I was starving. Had a potato roti (no, I couldn’t afford the one with meat… lol), shared some fries & gravy with my friend and then we rolled out of there after we overate.
It’s a good thing the Olympic Exhibits are right outside the food building. After seeing some awesome trampoline work by some athletes, my friend and I tried wheelchair basketball which was a cool experience (check out my form :P ).
Then it was off to shop in the warehouse outlets housed in the Direct Energy Centre… got myself some nice deals at Stitches (can’t go wrong with $2.50 for a graphic T-shirt).
We missed a part of the Grand Illusion & Escape Artist show (featuring Kevin Ridgeway and Kristen Johnson), but we did manage to see her get submerged into a tank of water and escape from locked chains which was cool.
As the sun went down, we managed to sneak in a bit of the game by watching the giant screen just outside BMO Field (ended up in a tie game). Then it was time to call it a day.
I’ll probably be going again next week to get more Tiny Tom donuts. :D
