Future WishList item: Ambient Orb

this is so cool

went to another cRaptors game today - the good seats from my bro-in-law, ed - too bad they stunk the place out once again scoring only 62 vs. the Bucks' 82... VC did have a sick alley-oop reverse dunk which was the only hilite i guess (i also walked by some of the Dance Pak on my way to the restroom who were just walking around the concourse - most were hot, had good height (close to mine) but i think they were wearing too much makeup). at this point in the season had TO won, they'd be 4th in the East!

had a crazy saturday... at 3pm my family drove up to brampton for an italian buffet place called Venezia - we were invited to celebrate my cousin's: 1) graduation, 2) birthday, and biggest of all 3) bon voyage to Australia for a year or so. we got there before the suggested 4pm time and as usual, people showed up late and the actual 'surprise' didn't happen until 5:30pm... the food was all right - i mean, it's pasta and what not, so 2 plates full of food was enough for just about everybody - but of course we all made room for the desserts! my dad's cousin invited my immediate family for tea & coffee at her place nearby and that's when it got really interesting... (it's now 8pm). my dad rode with chris while i followed her to the house in brampton and we were on this side street approaching an empty 3-way stop sign (a T-intersection). little did we know that my sister's rolling stop caused some car in the perpendicular street to suddenly speed through the intersection and hunt her down while i was about to 'roll' as well. it was a brampton police cruiser who finally turned on his lights and flashing cherries to pull over my sister for not making a complete stop. of course everyone riding with me was surprised and appalled at how this cop reacted - it was if my sister had just committed a drive-by shooting in the neighbourhood. well, he was going to write up a ticket for not stopping (but we as witnesses following her would say that she did stop) but since this was her 1st offense, she got off w/ just a warning...

it's been a while but past few days have been so-so other than for my B-day that went down on saturday! received some gift cards/money/clothes - y'know the usual. went to sushi hut w/ parents and sisters & their husbands for some good sushi and shrimp tempura for lunch - too bad the lunch buffet is as much as dinner buffet (19.99!); later on went out with the usual suspects for a free meal on Casey's but we had a few drinks and laughs so it was good ... tonight i went to the Raptors game hoping they'd defeat the 76ers who were w/o AI, Big Dog, and DC. didn't think those expectations were going to be too high! the sprite zone was loud & filled with annoying kids - but i was with tanya, simon, and his friends so we did a little catching up and talked some b-ball so it was a good time, just with a poor result this time around

edit: forgot to mention during the bball game that we were on the 'jumbo' screen in the ACC! (in the b/g of course - some fans were waving flags below us)

w/e recap: thanks to restie for letting martin & i know that he couldn't meet us @ the movies on time... at least he brought his ps2 so we can hone our lack of nba2k4 skills. sunday i spent driving from west hill to hurontario to derry rd with relatives in our desperately-needs-a-carwash van. saw & actually held my cousin karen's barely month-old daughter, marina (her 3rd, wow)!

finally the 401E express lanes after the airport are now 3 lanes!

bought gas @ 61.6 today... woohoo

what a busy, crazy, windy Friday that was! ok i added gas in the tank to fill it this morning ($30) and TGIF was going well... work is getting more intense i think with "PM" getting closer to its deadline (40 days away!) - just watch for www.agf.com in the new year

so @ work we went to Pho99 over at hurontario & eglinton ave - a nice vietnamese restaurant with great fruit shakes. this is what began the purging of the fuel of my van no question. it comes with being the only team member being in the 7-passenger territory. anyways, i left work just after 5 and headed over to college st. to meet up w/ sandy to pick up some Portugese chicken. that was an adventure - we went straight to my uncle's instead of stopping @ home

yeah i'll admit it's nice to see relatives you haven't seen in a long time and having them react to how different or similar you are since you've last talked - good food and good company - nice combo always

my dad & i left the party so he could meet his appointment @ scar. gen. [H] - we went thru emergency b/c that was the only entrance open and they had hand sanitizer & face masks out in front - wow, sars souvenirs!

i went back to the party a couple hrs later and myself and all the young couples went out to a pub for some drinks - good times!

total: 180+ km!

aight i joined the gym as of yesterday & went today @ 8:30am; had a quick fitness assessment done before i started and worked out for <45 mins... the gym is very compact with all-new equipment but being 'crowded' wasn't a problem as i was the only one there at that time

my BMI was good but on the high end of 'normal' - must explain why i should also do more cardio and weights to trim excess fat! also of note, at the end of the assessment my BP was higher than it should be - i'm hoping it was from the morning drive in and not really health related - i'll have to re-evaluate my diet then

another work week gone by and another $60 put in for gas ($40 on monday morning - the fuel light came on - and with 5/8ths of the tank gone $20 on friday morning - only reached 7/8ths after putting)... yeah it's nice that gas is hovering in the 60s (50s would be better like the old days) but $60 is TOO MUCH to be spending on fuel each week!

i checked out my workplace's gym and i'll be joining it on monday - the brand new equip looks great but it's tight on space, so we get what we pay $25/mth for it seems

another hallowe'en and leftover chocolates once again - i'll take some to work so we won't be eating it all; and just great, a Krispy Kreme restaurant opened up right at STC and Sam's Club didn't open anywhere near Scarboro... watched some b-ball (crazy comeback by the raptors again!) and some tv shows from this week... no surprise, looks like saturday's going to be the usual