chocolate and nuts

Hey - wassup? It's been a while.

I've felt like writing for a little bit. Getting back into the habit I guess.

Two weeks ago I went to Toronto. By car. From Montreal. And a truly insignificant event was the cause of great happiness. And then I thought of my old defunct blog.

On the 401 West to Toronto, I was listening to Ken Follet's "Pillars of the Earth" audiobook when I stopped in one of those highway rest stops. The toilets were clean. But that was not the only source of happiness.

I had lots of carrots in the car and wanted something sweet to eat with my coffee. There were 20 vending machines and a Tim Hortons' and some other fast food franchises. I went to the vending machines and spotted a Sniker's bar that was on the edge of the vending machine spiral dispenser.

It was a chance to experience one of those rare moments where you can win over a vending machine. I was thinking of the last Snikers bar customer who had left the chocolaty prize frustratingly close to the dispenser precipice. Had he run out of money? He couldn't afford another 1.50$? Did he turn away in disgust, before kicking the machine twice...

Whatever had happened before... that chocolate bar needed more than a kick to fall. It needed 1.50$. And I had it!!! So, I took out the coins, jangled them into the machine and pressed A8 on the keypad. The spiral turned, immediately releasing the first Snikers bar. The spiral kept turning and released the second Snikers bar.

I had gotten 2 Snikers bars for the price of 1. All those peanuts and caramel! I can't explain why, but I was SO happy, I remembered thinking to myself "This is DEFINITELY a 10 out of 10".

How did getting 2 chocolate bars from a vending machine on the 401 made me so happy? I don't know, but they were delicious.

I think it might be one of those odd moments you remember for a long time.

Daily Happiness Index: 8/10 (20 days without a day off, but making money and looking forward to my snowboard trip)

Moving like a hurricane

So Zach and I went to the new office space at night to put up some walls, set-up the studio, plaster, paint, and even did some electricity. I was sick for the first week, sneezing, coughing, fever, etc. but still soldiered on to get the place finished.

We moved everyting last weekend (by that time, Zach was sick). With help from Dan, Darren and Nic we moved everything in 2 truckloads... Yep, 2 cube truckloads of gear, furniture, supllies and other stuff out of my house and into the new space. The house looks like it was hit by a burglary hurricane.

So now, I have no more computer at home... and I was 4 day without internet!!! It's really crazy how addicted you can become to internet. Withdrawl was difficult the first 2 days, but after that... it was like, uh, whatever, I guess I'll just read the newspaper!

Having said that... I still want to get a computer for my house... because my boss won't be happy if I blog from work!

Daily Hapiness Index: 9/10 (it's a beautiful day! ...and really exciting to go to work and open the door to your own office space)

a big change!

As most people know... I've been working from home for a while now. I havn't been employed regularly at an office or work space since August 2003!

And so, this week Zephyr DVD is moving from it's Verdun roots and transplanting itself right in the heart of the plateau, on St-Laurent just South of Mont-Royal.

Last year, I was pondering the life at the home office, hoping I would soon be able to have my own office space. Now that this time has arrived, I'm feeling nostalgic and slightly apprehensive!

- What about my incredible lunches?
- What about getting up 20 minutes before work?
- What about the commute all the way to Plateau Land and NO PARKING ANYWHERE!
- What about Zoom (my cat)- won't she be lonely??
- What about the rent the business is paying me? How will I pay for the house?

It's funny how you get used to certain situations. My coping strategy for working from home: get out of the house at night. It worked pretty well.

All things considered... I'm VERY excited about having my own office!!! It seems like the move will really make things official, not just some guy with a bunch of computers and a Betacam deck working from his house...

Daily Happiness Index: 8/10 (time for office renovations!!)

Baby Julia

Yup. I'm an uncle. It's my first time. It feels a bit weird.

The whole family headed down to New York City to see my bother and Marina and their premature newborn baby Julia Hanneman. She was supposed to get out of the hospital the weekend we got there but her checkout from the Rosevelt hospital was delayed a few days because her heart would slow down sometimes when she ate.

She's out of the hospital now and went on her first stroll on the streets of New York. She probably won't grow up in New York, so it will be fun in a few years time when she Googles her name and finds a baby video of herself in the Big City.

So here's the video of Baby Julia, with an intro by my sister, so if you want to skip straight to the baby, ffw about a minute.

Click To Play

Daily Hapiness Index: 7/10 (teaching editing workshops all weekend... didn't get a chance to enjoy the outdoors!!)

trans-branded bunny

I have a new roomate, for a month. His name is Lutzi and he's a German-speaking Swiss (who can also speak English and understand French).

He went to buy some batteries and came back from the store totally confused "vat iz diss? You have Energizer Bunny? Ve have de Duracell Bunny!"

And sure enough... in North America, when we see a pink bunny hitting a drum we automatically associate it to Energizer Batteries. In Europe, if you see a pink bunny you're thinking about Duracell batteries.

Wikipedia tells me that the Duracell bunny predates the Energizer bunny, and that Engergizer used their bunny to parody Duracell's bunny.

So next time I go to Europe, I'm bringing over an Energizer bunny and organizing a drumming contest to see who wins!

Daily Happiness Index: 8/10 (it's Friday, it's Spring)

favorite music video of the week

Construction Worker
by The Golden Dogs
director: Arno Salters

get the a better version of the video here (it's worth it)



Daily Happiness Index: 9/10 (probably last great snowbording session this season)

multi-tasking relashionships

Well, it's almost been a month since my last blog entry...

I said almost a year ago that internet dating didn't work so well... but I continued, periodically, to keep my options open and finally wrote a new Lavalife profile.

And I met someone, and I went to Peru, and she went to California and Mexico, and I was pushing for another date, and she always had great excuses for not meeting until one day she said she was seeing someone else. That was the best excuse.

Anyways, she was playing the field, keeping her options open, and when I was in Peru, the other guy got the upper hand. She strung me along for more than a month, and all the while, I closed my other romantic options.

So, I guess that's how things go nowadays. Keep your options open, more choice = more opportunity and ultimately, better chances to find the right person.

As a reaction to this unfortunate turn of events, I decided to post an ad on CraigList. I wrote a clever ad. CraigList's personals seem to be populated with sexophiles, losers and assholes, so writing a decent blurb can get you lots of attention. I got many replies (about 20) and was caught in a web of communication where I had to remember details about everyone: does she have a cat or is she the one who hates pictures of sad clowns?

All my free internet time outside of work was completely usurped by trying to reply to these e-mails. Ultimately, it became too much work to reply to everybody. The first stages of romantic e-mail correspondance consist of flirty small talk, and that takes lots of energy. I'm not a big fan of small talk, but it's necessary.

And so... I didn't write any conclusion e-mail to the women I stopped communicating with, like: "Thank you for your interest. Sorry I'm too lazy to write back."

I wanted to be nice to everyone, but I just ended up feeling like an asshole. I guess that's the nature of internet romance : ephemeral, disposable and opportunistic.

On the plus side, I did narrow the list down to a very manageable size and hopefully something positive will come out of all that typing.

Now, more time for blogging.

Daily Hapiness Index: 7/10 (I'm an uncle!!! Went to visit niece and brother in NYC last weekend)