It was definitely a day where people should have stayed indoors. It was raining, and windy, but I decided to go out anyway. When I returned home, my parents were stranded outside the house; I locked the storm door before I left not knowing they would return this early. I was supposed to pick them up from the airport later this evening.

My friend K., my sister and I went to the Princess II theatre in Old Strathcona to see a matinée movie, after a quick browse through Greenwoods and HUB Cigar & Newstand. The Corporation is a 145-minute documentary on multi-national corporations that exist for one motive only, and that is money. According to the movie, a corporation shows all of the symptoms of a psychopath, as diagnosed using the DSM-IV manual. These include things such as inability to form long-term relationships (when cheap labour gets too expensive, they look to other desperate countries whose only asset is manual labour) and do not accept responsibility for anything (ecological disasters, the general welfare of its workers, etc.) It even showed how IBM was related to the holocaust (victims' information was stored on punch cards, and the machines to read these were programmed by IBM, even at Dachau, the concentration camp). Kathie Lee Gifford, who didn't know that children making handbags with her brand name on it earned virtually nothing, brought media attention to the sweatshop issue, but today, Wal-Mart is still paying them about 3 cents per hour. Other topics include biotechnology and patenting genes, the privatization of water, and overzealous media giants.

The best part was Michael Moore talking about how he is able to talk about greedy corporations publicly in a movie, but the film company will still distribute it because they know that people will pay to watch this documentary, and that will translate into profit for the company. He also says the company also knows that people won't do a thing to change anything either, so the negative publicity probably wouldn't do any harm to their business.

So get up and do something. Stand up to these conglomerates who will leave the Earth in a mess. Is this what you want for your children and grand-children?

Overall, it's a great movie. I highly recommend it, especially if you are into sociological issues (like I am). Oh yeah, did you know that AOL Time Warner owns the rights to the "Happy Birthday" song, and you would have to pay a royalty in the tens of thousands of dollars if you include it in your movie?

Today people are taking over the 18th floor at Century Place, and since I am a temporary staff member, I was moved into a cubicle with no window, located in a more open space (= more traffic); a longer walk to the elevators, stairs and elevator; and a smaller desk. I guess there was no asbestos problem after all. The peace and quiet on the 18th will be gone next week.

I went to the University to purchase a bus pass and get some lunch today. It was the first time in about a month since I was last there. The pizza place appears to be popular, I saw quite a few people eating pizza throughout the mall, and there was a lineup.

Coyote Ugly was on TV last night. So I watched it with my sister. Nothing like free entertainment, eh?

Parents are returning home from Hong Kong on Sunday evening. Just when I was getting used to having (almost) the whole house to myself.

I went to the Sport Mart at Bonnie Doon Shopping Centre this morning to have a look at their inline skates. I tried on a pair of Ultra Wheels HY3, and they were enough for my needs, so I bought them. I actually wanted the HY5, but the closest Sport Mart that had them (in my size) was in B.C. I got a free 3-piece protective gear set with my skates (because they did not have anymore 2-piece ones in stock). That's good, because now I don't have to buy wristguards either. The colour of the personal protective equipment was orange, which just happens to be the same colour as my skates (as the salesgirl noted). The wristguards are probably the most important piece of protection (more than the elbow and knee pads), she said. Well, it doesn't matter, because I'll probably be using them as secondary brakes.

I practised my skating technique inside my house for a bit, and will hit the streets of Edmonton once I purchase a new helmet from MEC sometime tomorrow.

I wish I had a pair of inline skates so I could zip around. I've always wanted a pair, but never got around to getting them. We will see this year. I would also need to buy some safety gear as well.

Work is getting progressively exciting. Another day of identifying software and then mapping them to the appropriate licenses and the database entry. Your tax dollars at work. After work, I waited at the bus stop for 15 minutes before realizing the bus run I was waiting for did not exist anymore, but I'm too cool to pick up one of those timetables from the front of the bus and keep it in my pocket.

Nobody at work is talking about hockey or the Flames. I think it's because the IT branch is more interested in the latest version of Roxio Easy Media Creator (formerly known as Adaptec Easy CD Creator, until they changed the company name, and the ability to burn DVDs as well as CDs was included) is. Any computer user knows that it's a candy-coated useless piece of software. In fact, one of the first things I did when I got my new computer (a few years ago) was uninstall Easy CD Creator.

The people at IT also lock down all corporate computers so that nobody can run any external programs. My computer, for example, runs the antivirus scanner automatically every two minutes! And there's no way I can stop it. The links to the network drives are already broken, and I haven't used them. (The network drive mapping function is disabled on my account.) I cannot get updated versions of the software, because that would be running an executable. My co-workers are annoyed at the IT Help Desk because I can't do my work if I cannot run the updated files. And the IT Help Desk (separate from my department) is probably annoyed at me for calling them all the time, but hey, I didn't give myself the restricted access. I can't even change my password, and I had to read it out loud over the phone when the IT guy was on my computer and I was working at another workstation. Just don't send anything too personal to king.luu@[edmonton.ca]...

Anyway, congratulations to the Calgary Flames for being Canada's Team. Go Flames Go!

My next assignment for the City of Edmonton is in the IT department. The vast majority of the staff have abandoned the 18th floor at Century Place, taking up the newly-renovated 17th floor. This means that my office space is located on the 18th. My supervisor mentioned something about cleaning up the asbestos on this floor, but I wouldn't know.

I get to use a corporate-owned cell phone, which is the only phone I have access to at work. In case you don't know me, I've never used a cell phone. Until yesterday. Still not sold on the idea of having one. Why make yourself more accessible to others when you don't have to?

The computer they gave me was pretty crappy, because they didn't give me all the access I was supposed to have, so I had to work on the 17th. The good news is that I actually have Internet and e-mail at work, unlike at Community Services. Today somebody came to fix it up and it's fine now. I bet when he's gone, it won't work properly anymore.

I'm supposed to track every piece of software the City owns and compile it into the main database. Since they have two databases and a multitude of spreadsheets (and sheets of paper), it's not as easy as it sounds. The database is a MS Access/Oracle thing, and it's not as reliable as it should be. So this assignment might take me the whole six weeks I am there.

Whenever my parents go away on vacation, my sister and I usually take a break from rice (and other chinese stuff) and eat whatever cooks the fastest. This includes items such as macaroni-and-cheese, pasta and sauce, instant ramen (noodles) -- boil water and you're off. Pizza -- not delivery, but from the deli or from the freezer; and Pizza Pops (microwave for 3 minutes).

This morning, I finally finished Mineweeper in expert mode! At 387 seconds, it's not exactly the best time. But I'm glad to have finished it at least once.

My sister was nice enough to buy me a new water bottle to replace the one that was stolen from me while I was at Riverbend. This one is green with a black lid.

I found my scientific calculator as well, so all in all, this is a good week for me. I thought somebody had stolen it from me at Riverbend. (I usually brought it to school in case some student forgot his or hers on the day of a quiz or exam, a practice I learned from my EDSE 352 instructor, Sherry Olson.) There was always a student who forgot to bring one.

Yesterday was my last day at the community services department for a while. I did a lot of photocopying and data entry (community league grants). After keying in numbers in front of the computer screen for six hours, I went home and watched TV all evening.

I also tried Quizno's Bourbon Chicken Flatbread (a low carb selection). Cost: $6.73. Very hot, but packed with chicken strips and a sweet sauce. Comes with a jalapeno pepper, which I promptly discarded. The sandwich was hot enough without it. I ate the whole thing in less than five minutes. The flatbread was an $.80 upgrade, one that I will not opt for next time. Note: This was not a personal attempt to follow the Dr. Atkins diet.

What's new since last post?

- at work, entering information from these huge binders full of papers into the electronic database. The binders are thirteen years old, and the back room is full of them.
- started reading The Great Gatsby (second attempt; I couldn't get comfortable with it the last time I tried. And, as I found out today, it's actually a really good book)
- my sister finally got a job offer for the summer, only a couple of weeks later than she expected; during this period, she did absolutely nothing at home except for watch TV (well, what would you do if you were home alone and don't like to do chores? Wait for someone else to do it.)
- learned how to read NMR and IR spectrums properly, something I glossed over in organic chemistry five years ago and still somehow managed to pass the course(s)

You know something's wrong when it's warmer in Yellowknife than in Edmonton. At least we didn't get a blizzard, like my fellow friends 294 km to the south. Well, at least they have the Flames to keep warm.

Today was my second day at work (City of Edmonton Community Services, Revillon Building). I did some word processing, and assembling stuff into binders. I made labels for the binders. Everything is neat and tidy.

I bought a book today from Coles at Mill Woods Town Centre. I've heard good things about Eats, shoots and leaves (by the British author Lynne Truss). One of my pet peeves is people misusing "it's" and "its". I think it will be a good read, but I've still got a bunch of books that I haven't even tried to peel open yet.

As well, I tried a double chocolate chip blended crème frappucino from Starbucks. Perfect for today's weather. I'm hooked, but I have to limit myself to maybe one a month, because $5.14 for a coffee is pretty expensive.

Insomnia has hit me. I woke up at 1:30 a.m. and haven't been able to sleep since. I did catch a quick nap on the bus rides to and from work. Thankfully I didn't miss my stop in either case.

I hate Minesweeper.

I have played Minesweeper for the last two hours, and still haven't won a game in Expert mode yet. My fingers are gradually suffering from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS), and I have nothing to show for it.

I hate Windows XP.

It is full of bugs and there a worm going around, infecting computers around the world. In preparation for my future Windows-free computer, I have installed a new theme that makes my desktop look like a Macintosh OS X. It looks kind of cute. But I am not intent on getting a Mac anytime soon; too expensive. My next computer will run Linux. No more Windows + Office + Internet Explorer + Windows Media Player bloatware. I've practically stopped using the latter two, and almost Office as well.

My house is a mess. I am a packrat, especially with my high school and university notes. I just can't bear to throw them away, since I spent lots of time creating them (by listening in class and copying stuff down). They might also make a good resource for my lessons in the future. I also paid to take these courses (or did I pay for the credit? Good question). Until I have a good set of notes for each high school course, these piles of paper will stay in my room, stored in two boxes, and under the bed as well. Maybe TLC's Clean Sweep crew can pay my house a visit, I could surely use them.

Now what about those 30+ page Microbiology 450 lab reports? I spent a fortune printing them out, and loads of time writing them up! But of course, they're essentially useless now. Maybe I can sell them to one of the ten students registered in the course for next year.

I went to my friend C's house yesterday. She was holding a party for those who graduated this year from university or college. I think there's only one person there who is actually graduating; the rest of us either graduated last year or still have one year to go (I fit under both categories).

People I haven't seen since 1996 or thereabouts were in attendance. There were a few people I see from time to time on campus, so they were recognizable by me. It was a good reunion, although I didn't drink (what a surprise!), and was the first to leave because I had to take the bus home. Some of them brought their old notes from courses they despised and threw them into the bonfire (outside, of course). I should have brought my MICRB 343/345, GENET 301 and EDPY 301 notes for this lovely occasion.