Tag: Zaal

Posted on

BlackJack: Or How I’m Proving I’m Not My Father

Sly and I have made an annual trip to Vegas during the Xmas break. It’s turned into a bit of a tradition and I’ll tell you why (in no particular order):

  • Inexpensive
  • Endless entertainment options
  • World Class dining establishments
  • No snow
  • No (family) drama

After our first trip we really understood how Vegas could answer the holiday blues for us. When it came time to decide our vacation the next Xmas break, it was a very easy decision to make. So we went again. And it was glorious.

We ate at Burgr, had a champagne brunch (bring on the pitcher of mimosa!!!) , and saw Zarkana, another of the incomparable Cirque de Soleil shows. We visited the Mob Museum, wandered around Fremont Street and did some shopping at the North and South Premium Outlets! Our hotel last year was the MGM Grand and our room was so fantastic, we’ll be using them for our hotel again due to the amenities and the proximity to the theatre we attend to see a movie or two. (Last year we managed to get into a preview of Into the Woods! So cool!). See the gallery below for some pictures.

You’ll notice something from the list of activities above: no gambling in a city where gambling is one of the main draws. Not to say we didn’t gamble! Sly and I spent a bit of time at a Walking Dead slot machine and had a great time. We even ended up coming out significantly ahead due to a lucky spin. But that was it, nothing else. No poker, no blackjack, no roulette.

As you may or may not know, my Father was a gambler. Even worse, he was a gambler that didn’t know when to quit and, I realize now, didn’t understand that gambling to excess is like anything else: damaging to yourself and those around you. Eventually he lost something of value beyond a few restaurants and money: he lost his family.

Continue reading “BlackJack: Or How I’m Proving I’m Not My Father”

Posted on

“Nah, I don’t believe in it.”

So… tipping.  I’d like to talk about it a bit. Though I don’t consider myself Mr. Pink, it takes a bit to make me want to tip more than 15%. I’ve also been known to express my distaste with a particular server’s attentiveness with a zero % tip. Yes, it happens but not very often. I’ll leave it to Mr. Pink to explain one point of view on this topic.

Yeah.. so I’m no Mr. Pink, I’m starting to feel a little worn out about dealing with tipping. Then I get to hear the ‘etiquette expert’ below natter on about ’20 being the new 15′,  I just want everyone to move over to the European/Australian system. Let’s listen to these rocket surgeons.

Now I have been, recently, tipping strictly at 20% but this has been some very great service in restaurants that Sly and I frequent because we love the food and the service but that has been my choice and I know that I don’t have to tip that much if I don’t want to. Now they want to make 20% the defacto value for tipping in all scenarios? AND….

You want me to tip the person that pours my coffee? Seriously?  What about the guy at McDonald’s? Do they deserve 20% because they gathered my order and put it on a tray/in a bag? Fuck that.

Look, I know people have it tough in the service industry. I know this.  I’ve spent many summers living on my tips while working in restaurants.  I have family that have spent most of their adult life owning/working in restaurants.  But the expectation is now that I have to pay 1/5th of my total bill towards paying the server, by default?

Sorry, not going to happen. You want 20% you best work for it. I don’t want you average service.  That’s just going to get you 15% at best. I want your attention every time I make eye contact with you.  I want my water filled. If I’m drinking a soft drink or something similar, there’s no reason for me to see the bottom of my glass.  My food best arrive on plates that aren’t too hot, which usually indicates an inordinate amount of time under a heat lamp. Bottom line is I want the best possible dining experience ever and if you can’t offer that extraordinary level of service, please don’t expect an extraordinary tip!

Course if you can’t manage that and still expect your patrons to pay you what you think you deserve, maybe it’s time for an occupation change?

Posted on

“Fortune and Glory, kid; Fortune and Glory”

Found out over the weekend that Disney plans on opening an Indiana Jones themed restaurant and bar in Downtown Disney. OMG!

Indiana Jones is probably one of my favorite franchises and the thought of being able to have a meal and a drink in this type of themed facility excites me to no end. I’m hoping for a level of authenticity without so much… ‘polish’.

Disney has several areas that could be considered ‘authentic’. The first that comes to mind is the area of the Animal Kingdom that they call Africa. There’s a little village in there with some neat shops, a bar and a restaurant that simply makes me feel like I’m sitting in a bar, having an African beer in the middle of the Congo.  That’s the sort of thing I’m hoping for.

When Sly and I started vacationing at Disney, it was almost exclusively for her. Then slowly but surely there were more and more things that I am in and wanted to see.  Star Wars was huge. When Disney bought the Marvel Studios means that there will be something occurring in that vein in the future. And now this.

I can only hope they do it right. I have confidence in the Imagineers and their love of the material. And I can hardly wait till I get a chance to tip my Poet’s Hat back on my head and enjoy a shot of whiskey.  🙂

Posted on

A Great Change

Since the election on the 5th of May, I have had the great fortune (/sarcasm) of reading comment after comment on social media of all types about how the new NDP government is going to run the province of Alberta into the ground, jibes at the average age of an MLA dropping by 15 years, and how Alberta has now turned into a union-loving, dope smoking, everyone gets welfare sort of province.

Now I won’t say that these comments are completely wrong; on the contrary. I’m pretty sure we’re in for a very bumpy ride over the next eighteen months. But it seems as those making the most noise are those that didn’t want the change that they’d been espousing over the past several years. I would suggest that perhaps winds of change that whipped through Alberta a few weeks ago were not simply an angry electorate.

No, I’d go so far in saying that what we’ve seen is not just a matter of the people screaming “Anyone but the fucking Tories!!!” because that’s not it.  I believe the people are angry about how they’ve been treated for the past 20 years.

Don’t get me wrong: I appreciate Ralph and what he did for the province during the 90’s, and as Calgary’s mayor in the 80’s. He was a flawed leader but he lead and did not follow.  He made up his mind and went with it basing his decisions on his party’s politics and what he thought was best for the province.

I can’t say that watching Steady Eddie, Ridiculous Redford and Pretentious Prentice gave me the same fundamental optimism that the decisions being made in Edmonton were good for the province! Maybe it’s politics in general these days but all I saw were politicians posturing, arguing (NOT debating), and getting their snouts deeply embedded in the trough.

If the Notley (how long until the right-leaning press starts calling her ‘Naughty Notley’) crew can’t figure out how to appease the population of Alberta, this could very well be a short-lived NDP government and I think that’s a shame. Though I don’t hold the same political beliefs as the New Democrats, I believe that they are going to attempt to do one thing and one thing only: do better than their predecessors.

Not a terribly difficult feat but due to the inexperience that we see in the new MLA lists, it will be a challenge. Let’s hope they can rise to it and show the population of Alberta that they can do what we’ve asked of them.

To show us a different way of governing a province.

Posted on

Bibliotheque!

I’ve recently had the most amazing epiphany… there is a place you can borrow books, for several weeks, read them and return them. At no cost. I’m serious.

Alright, probably slightly hyperbolic but I’m still amazed at the ignorance I seem to have been in about this topic. Even more exciting is going online to view the library catalog, put your name on a wait list for a title (really want to read The Martian before I see the movie) and then give comments and the like to the “community” that is growing around the library website.

Probably one of the most interesting functions is that they have integrated notifications into their service. Say you’ve put yourself on the wait list for a particular book, like The Martian (which at time of this writing I’m 27th in line for one of twelve copies. Read faster people!). When the book becomes available to you they will send an email to you letting you know that you can pick it up. Additionally, they will transport books from any site in Calgary to any other site in the city for you before you’re notified! I also have two preferred library locations: one by my house the other by my work. I can choose to have the book delivered to one or the other branch depending on if I want to pick the book up after work or if I feel like going for a walk on the weekend to my home branch.

They also have e-resources available and, if you install the Overdrive application (link to the Android version), you can listen to audio books or read digital versions of books right on your mobile device.

Such a great ideas and they really make me enjoy the process of getting a book from the library. I’ll be reading more in the near future in light of how easy the process has become.  If you’re interested in getting a library card, citizens of Calgary can register for your library card here. It’s free and is completed online; once you visit a branch for the first time they will prove your identity via a piece of government ID and issue you a hard copy card. From there you’re free and clear to borrow.

Do it; reading is good for your mind and body.

Posted on

Repetition

I’ve spent just about the last year at the RADLab working in a project management capacity… Or at least attempting to. Not only have I been trying to improve my skill base as I go but I’ve started taking an Applied Project Management certificate course through work. It’s a long program and will take me the better part of a year to get through it all but I believe it will be worth it in the long run.

Ah yes, the long run. What is that, exactly? Or, more accurately, WHEN is that? I’ve already spent a good part of my life doing nothing and when I finally get off my ass and select something I wanted to do with my life, I get shuffled off into an area I really didn’t have much interest in. I think this is the point where I digress….

Sly often says that she thinks I’ll never be truly happy; that I’ll move through life always thinking that it should be better. That I should be making more money, getting more time off or receiving more perks from my work. She’s right but I don’t apologize for that.

Is it not the true meaning of ambition to want better for yourself and the people you love? Yes, perhaps my childhood has caused an echo into the present that causes me to make sure Sly and I don’t have to struggle as much as my Mom did. I want Sly to have the things that she desires without being fearful that acquiring them would cause us financial hardship. Or set us back too terribly far.

Which gets me back to the reason of this post: repetition. How many times do I need to feel the same thing over again before I do something to either change my circumstances or change my mind? Which is easier?  Which would lead to a more fulfilling existence?  My work feels really tough and that’s mostly because it challenges me. There’s never been a time in the past when I liked to ‘coast’, sometimes going so far as to create challenges within the work space I’m in if it gets too easy or requesting more responsibility.

Facebook is the place where people go to humble-brag about their lives (whether that’s posting pictures of some amazing trip they are taking or posting pictures of their spawn) but it also sometimes inspires me. So many memes being posted, so many inspirational posters of cats with the caption “Hang in There!” that I just want to barf until I realize one thing: I’m not the only person out there disheartened, disillusioned, disenfranchised (That last one might be untrue but I’m not positive yet) by his/her life in its current state.

Everyone wants a better life but only a few realize that change is a necessity if you wish to continue moving forward in your life; if you choose it; if you welcome it.  Change can be scary and it can be the most liberating thing you’ll ever experience but you have to embrace it. Embrace the change you want to be.

So that’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to embrace the change that’s occurring in my life and enjoy the ride while making slight corrections to my direction. I think it’s for the best, mentally and physically.

We’ll see.

Posted on

One Month Anniversary

I’ve worked at SAIT as a full employee (not contract wages) for the past month. In that time I’ve had opportunity to have one day in Edmonton, expenses and salary paid, for the ASTEK awards (second place 🙁 ), one flex day (which is a day off with pay) and one sick day, also paid.

Is this what the real world is like?  Full of perks and benefits that a lot of people don’t get to take advantage of?  I could probably get used to this.

Also, after going over the annual bank statements, it also appears that one of the more challenging times during the year was two weeks after the Xmas break where the income was almost non-existent due to the two-week hold back on reporting wages and actually getting paid for them.   Not working for almost two weeks will do that to a person. 😉

I don’t think I’ve ever had a job that paid me for time off nor have I ever been in a place where I wasn’t actually having to wait for pay for the work I’ve done.  At least two weeks, anyways.

It feels good and I really appreciate being able to experience this with Sly and take that “next adult step”.  I know it probably sounds odd but this isn’t something I ever really considered as important and,  until I’ve given it more thought,  it may turn out that it isn’t .  But I know that with Xmas holidays this year,  there will be no break in my pay;  I’ll still get the same amount, every two weeks as expected without pause.  So, in effect, I’m being paid while in Las Vegas.  I guess that means blowing a couple of bills in the slots or at the tables won’t make me feel as guilty.

Oh Happy Day! 🙂

Posted on

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Today I got a reminder as to why I love programming.  It boils down to the computer doing exactly what you tell it to do.

I’ve used C to further develop an application for reading UHF RFID tags on a custom display and relaying that information to a web server running on an embedded device for processing.  I was troubleshooting a particular problem and, upon discovery of the PEBCAK** issue, I started laughing.  The application simply wasn’t doing anything at all other than displaying some debug output.

I had introduced an error in my code that kept the application from doing anything at all useful for as long as the application was running and it was all my fault.  The code that I’d written was doing exactly as I asked it to and it was me, the human in the equation, that had screwed up.

There’s two sides to that coin as the results of creating a working application that does real work for a client is a real badge of pride because it’s you, the programmer, that did the work and created the logic to get it working that way.

This is distinctly different from project management where you can only create the plan; you then need other humans to execute that plan.

If I have properly described my passion for programming, it’s probably readily apparent why project management doesn’t blow my skirt up but I’m spending time developing algorithms that might help in allowing logic to reign through out my project plans.  Maybe sometime I’ll be just has happy watching a project schedule unfold as I am while writing code for a compiler to chew on.

**Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard

Posted on

Kudos to Sly

Only a few people in my immediate circle know this but I think it’s about time it got some attention: Sly has lost almost 44 pounds over the past few months simply by changing a few behaviors and spending time working out.

That’s it.

No amazing diet, no need to purchase meals from some “club”.  Just honest to goodness willpower and a consistency in decision making.

Probably more important, she’s been so quiet about it.  It’s not something that she has been advertising and she might be a little bit mad at me for posting this here.

I probably don’t do enough to recognize the amazing lady my wife has become.  Hopefully she’ll get a chance to read this and understand that she’s been able to illustrate a real strength and she should be proud, as I am, that she’s done this.  A real strength that, if I attempted similar activities, might not be nearly as resilient.

Congrats, babe.  You really have earned it.