The Empire Strikes Back

So I still have my laptop for another...12 hours. So what better way to use it than write a blog post, and watch episodes of Heroes and Chuck? =P (alternatively I could be doing the programming I need to do, but I'm bored of that).

So I've padded up my extremely oversized box with 2 other boxes cut up and folded up, as well as a bit of tissue paper - left over from when the guys (I get to call them 'the guys' now =P) stuff the paper all over Cal's room. This is what my wonderful contraption looks like:


The laptop sits in the middle, so it doesn't touch any of the side, and the whole thing only moves a little bit when you shake it - maybe 5 mm or something. Hopefully it'll be pretty safe as it travels accross the country.

I was going to take in the laptop in this afternoon, but it turns out Fed Ex wasn't going to turn up to pick it up until tomorrow anyway, so I thought I'd hang onto it for another night.

Anyhow, I've had a whole long weekend since my last post, which I've wasted away. It was actually nice to do so, but not so good for my work.

Saturday I slept in, and then watch the end of Bioshock being played (which is an awesome game - the ending is a little abrupt, but most of the story is pretty awesome), and the start of Half-Life 2, which was also pretty good. The whole college was completely empty - everyone had gone home for the weekend. There were perhaps 6 or 7 people left per floor..

Saturday night I tried to do some work, and failed miserably. Sunday I went to a memorial service, given that it was Remembrance Day and all. The service was a little less polished than I expected it. They had the whole marching people in and stuff, but they didn't really march in time, and the people doing the gun routine looked really awkward. Then one of the speakers (non-native), got everyone who had served the country to stand up so we could applaud them - quite honestly the most patronising and awful moments I've ever had in any service.

Then the trumpeter messed up the Last Post (missed a couple of notes that weren't even that high). He's doing his masters in music, and his tone was really nice, but I reckon he was hungover or something...

The placing of the wreaths was probably the only decent part of the service, in particular the older servicemen, who you could tell it really meant something to. The others, (a couple of boy scouts and girl guides included, as well as a couple of UBC people) all seemed to do it rather mechanically.

Since then, I haven't done a lot. Sunday night was even worse than Saturday night. Even more people had left, so I stayed in my room and did a little bit of work. Today I've pretty much just sat on my computer and looked up Zune 80 reviews (the new Zune). It looks pretty good, and I'll probably pick one up. You can even get free custom engraving if you want - although that's an online order thing.

And that's it. Pretty much the end of my postings for a week. I was hoping to get my laptop back on Friday, but I don't like my chances anymore. It's not going to get there until Wednesday, which means that they'll have about 24 hours to fix it and send it out again for me to get it back by Friday. Sad =(

So I'll talk to you people later. I might be online a little bit from the labs. We'll see.

Bye =)