Andrea, Trina and LB came over yesternight, and we went to Pho for some food (even though I've already eaten dinner), where I got a small #8. Yeah, I know, small, but I already ate a chicken breast (mmm, breast) and some chips and such. Then we rented a movie -- Tomcats -- and watched it at my place. We also got a free voucher for A Knight's Tale because it was their "guaranteed" movie, and they didn't have any in stock.

Oh yeah, went to a party at Matt's on Friday. Pretty messed up.

Bomber is going to be the end of me someday. I gotta stop going there so much (that'll happen anytime soon).

Bell is so slow right now it's incredible, it's taken about 10 minutes to get my mail. I am none too impressed.

So I have some crazy roommates (well, not so much crazy as studious). I swear, I don't know how they do it. Kristy is obsessed with work all the time, and Mel goes to study almost every night. If I did that ... who am I kidding, there's no way I'd be able to do that. I'm just not hardcore enough.

Last night we had Curry in a Hurry. The curry was pretty good, but I'm definitely getting "hot" next time. My medium did not taste like medium. In fact, it didn't even taste spicy (other than the curry). And Nat and Matt said that my blog is pretty interesting from time to time, which I'm quite proud of, since I didn't think that anyone actually reads this thing but myself.

Monday's quote of the day: "stop coming" -- Laura
(just put your mind in the gutter and think about it)

"Some of the rhetoric seems to say that a military response alone is going to be the solution. Violence typically doesn't work. Violence typically creates the fertile ground for very, very angry and bitter people to come along and commit other acts. I'm a little concerned that the talk of revenge and retaliation will, if history is a guide here, create more people who have an axe to grind with one or more of the parties and it will not result in a peaceful and just solution for all. So that kind of revenge and retaliatory language is something that I think is misguided."
--Lowell Ewert as interviewed by Imprint in this article.

Well, that made an interesting weekend.

Friday night: Ben came down from G-Town, whilst Andr�a and Sharon came from the T-dot. So Phil's it was, and indeed it was. So after some drunken pool and foos games, we made it to Mel's Diner (my first time there in about 6 weeks), and just like every time before, it proved to be quite satisfying.

Saturday morning: woke up early because the parents were coming to pick me up. Did some cleaning around the house, and got dressed. Parents came at around noon, and we went to Zehrs to get some pictures put on CD (they only put about half of my over 400 pictures onto CD, and I wasn't too impressed).

Saturday afternoon: we picked up Simona from her house, and drove to her sister's place (a mansion broken into some apartments). We then proceeded to Simona's hair appointment (which lasted more than an hour and a half, and almost cost her $90) to get her hair done while Erica and I walked around down town (there's not much of a down town). After the exciting haircut, we proceeded back to Erica's place, at which time her brother Frank, cousin Andrew, friend Andrea, and other friend Jim all showed up. We did some drink drink, and headed to a barbecue.

Saturday night: we did some more drinking at the barbecue, along with a bit of food. Then we all decided it was time to go to the beer festival (oh, did I mention that this was the point of the whole night?). But once we got there, a huge line up formed right before our astonished eyes, to which we promptly answered: we can't wait this long. So off we went to a bar. At this time, Andrea wasn't feeling too well, so I brought her back to Erica's place, did a little fooling around, she went to bed, I went back to the bar, drank some more, and eventually went home. Now when I got to my parents' place, I couldn't remember which door they were (I've only entered from the garage before, which was at the other side of the building). So I proceeded to try every door with the key, and finally got in.

Sunday morning: woke up early again because we had to out of the house by 10 (there was an open house), and boy was that rough -- trying to pretend that I'm not hung over in front of my parents. I will never drink again ... maybe I'll just wait a couple of days.

Sunday's quote of the day: "Ming, are you hung?" -- Heather

Sunday afternoon: went shopping for jeans with Lauren. We both bought more than just jeans. I will never spend money again. Then we had a little barbecue (steak and eggs) with Kevin and Nat at Lauren's. I had a lot of meat.

Monday morning: back at work.

Here are some quotes from Bush's speech Thursday night:
"Deliver to United States authorities all the leaders of al Qaeda who hide in your land, close immediately and permanently every terrorist camp in Afghanistan, and hand over every terrorist, and every person in their support structure, to appropriate authorities."
AND
"These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion, the Taliban must act and act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists, or they will share their fate."

These are pretty strong words, it's like he wants to start the next world war (he also said that every country in the world must decide: "either you are with us or you are with the terrorists"). I'd like to see bin Laden stand trial on a world court (mainly because there wouldn't be an impartial jury in the US), with all the "evidence" that the US has on him. And also the part about handing over the terrorists, I suggest that the US hand over the CIA agents who trained bin Laden to Afghanistan, and they can hand bin Laden over to the US. I am wondering what is worse: the terrorists themselves, or the ones who train them? Because in US law, the mastermind is just as guilty as the assasin when a murder is committed. I think this declaration of war is just a veneer, or a fa�ade, put on by the American government to try to convince the world of its dominating stature, that they're not as vulnerable as they seem. It's just a pity that they need a war to show it.
I thought they would have learned by now that you can't fight violence with violence. But I guess that's always been the way Man has dealt with things, and always will be.

I'm so tired. I went to the Bomber last night, and didn't get home til late (like 2:30), and I guess it didn't help that I also went to Louie's the night before last. I've got to stop this madness. But other than this, I've really got nothing else to blog, it's just that I'm bored out of my mind here at work. My supervisor is not here, and the stuff I'm supposed to compile is not ready yet, so I'm stuck. Maybe I'll do some reading of specification documents, that'll cheer me up.

It seems that the civil liberties and freedoms America used to stand for is about to go down the drain, now that GWB has carte blanche on retaliation and the FBI is pushing ahead for carnivore to be installed everywhere. An article about it on slashdot.
Just remember what Benjamin Franklin said: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety".

All this talk of WAR from George W is a little disconcerting. We all know that his father used a war to revitalize the American economy, is he trying to do the same now?
It just got me into thinking, in the US, and in any other civilized nation, when someone is accused of a crime, they are always assumed innocent until proven guilty, and most of the time they are under protection from harm if required. In this case however, everyone has already assumed that Osama bin Laden is guilty - not that I'm saying he's not - but the US government has not had any piece of solid evidence tying him to any of the terrorist attacks that he's accused of. I find that very hypocritical of the US, when they can treat convicted criminals with this so called "justice", but not someone whom they trained, and have no evidence against.

Just saw the site of Geonova, a Swiss company that makes 3-D geographical webpages. They have this 3-D model of Switzerland down to a 25 m resolution, and once you click on a town or tourist area, it brings up the appropriate webpages for you to look at. Good idea for travellers, if they can get more countries.

I think I've finally got my room in order. It's no longer just a big mess. I've got my bed, desks, book shelf, etc ... Even some posters.

A piece of writing by Michael Moore found on Matt's site. Interesting commentary, not on the incident directly, but America's involvement towards it.

I've been reading a very interesting discussion at slashdot. It's regarding the US foreign policy against Palestine and Iraq, and there are many thoughtful comments, and some bull. The following are some quotes:

"When we go to prosecute a murder, we look
for intent. I find it funny that very
little media has given us a detailed
background of the history and possible
motivations of the terrorists. This was
obviously not a spur-of-the-moment thing.
It took determination, planning, willing
to give up one's life. I would like to see
less talk of War and more of Why.

In short, I've listened to CSPAN all day
today and yesterday. Lots of talk of
war, getting retribution, but no analysis
of what part we have played in this story. "

and

"Because if they were to do this, they would have to admit a number of things which would undermine the message they are trying to send, such as:
1. Osama bin Laden, the current prime scapegoat, was originally supported by the CIA to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. Most of bin Laden's associates, as well as the others associated with the Taliban regime, were trained and financed by the CIA.
2. If it was bin Laden, the bombing was in response to such things as: the bombing and sanctions against Iraq which may have killed clost to a million innocent civillians, the continued oppression of Palestinian civillians by Israel (recent death toll in the thousands, at least), and the destruction of a Sudanese pharmacutical plant by American cruise missiles, death toll unknown because a UN investigation was blocked by the US, but it was the primary source of vaccines and antibiotics for almost all of Central Africa, so it is possible the death toll is in the ten thousands. It would be difficult to acknowledge these things while at the same time clamoring for retribution against Afghanistan, Iraq, etc., because it would be clear that the attack on america itself was a similar act of desparate retribution. "

I guess part of the message is that the American government has bullied many smaller, less powerful countries to bend to their ways, and the American people have, for the most part, turned a blind eye. Now, with this tragedy in the US, where many people have experienced what it's like to lose someone for no good reason, and many others have seen the face of death and lived to tell about the horror, maybe the main focus of the American government, and its people shouldn't be retaliation, but to look closer at their ways, and how they can change themselves. The fact of the matter is, no matter how tight security will be, no matter how many terrorists are killed over this, if the US doesn't change their ways, things like this will happen in the future. People don't need guns or knives to hijack planes, all they need is someone with the will and determination to sacrifice themself.

Well, that was an interesting past couple of days. Four plane crashes, 10 000 dead people, and a couple of 110 story buildings gone from the NYC skyline. Sounds like a Schwarzenegger plot doesn't it. It's all a bit surreal, albeit even more for the people who live and work in New York, but it does bring up an interesting question. What caused all this to happen? Is it just a senseless terrist attack, or is it a retaliatory action /warning from some political/religious/militant group? Now that the symbol of American capitalism is gone, it gives everyone some time to reflect and remember the prime of its days. Personally, I thought it was pretty incredible to be standing atop the roof and gaze at the multitude of skyscrapers in NY dwarfed by the twin towers, even though I was only 11 at the time. But death does bring something to all of us. It makes us happy to be alive. I don't care for the people who are crying over their loved ones who perished in the incident. Tragic, it is, but for most of us, we probably don't know anyone who died (well, maybe a couple through the six degrees of separation), so for us to grieve is senseless, even a mokery to people who actually did lose relatives, husbands, wives, sons and daughters at the scene, because we can't possibly know how they feel, or what their reaction is, or how anxious and nervous they were when they first heard the news. All we can really say is, wow, a lot of people died, what a tragedy, shed a few tears for the anonymous multides of people a couple of days ago we would have called "rich, good-for-nothing sons of bitches", and move on. Personally, I think we should look on the bright side, and be happy that the plane didn't crash here, and life CAN go on relatively normal without (m)any disruptions. And we should also take this time to see how death actually allows us to live, without taking the ability to live for granted. That's what I think the most important lesson here is. Not the political conflicts between the US government and whoever did this deed, not the fundamentalist ideas of some terrist groups, not even the lack of security measures at North American airports; but simply the fact that it's great to be alive, and that's all we can ever ask for.

Canada, land of Beer and Beavers. It's good to be back. I started my first day of work today. Thought that I'd get in nice and early, but somethings are just not meant to be. First of all, my bike broke on the way to work (well, maybe not broke, but it's on its second last leg). I still managed to get to work just after 8 (which is damn early), but the receptionist was not there yet. So I followed some guy around, trying to find my cube and stuff. After I finally got my stuff, my password didn't work. Surprise surprise. But now everything's dandy, and I have a lot of reading to do, among other stuff. And I've also got to sign up for stats sometime today. That's gonna take some work.

So I got back Friday night, and no one was home. I figured that they all went to Phil's (and they did), but I was too tired and lazy to go myself. Nevertheless, they didn't forget to wake me up when they came home all intoxicated and such. Also went home (Guelph that is) on Saturday, saw the parents, got some food, you know, stuff like that. Also found out that my parents are going to be living in the suburbia of suburbias. Apparently adjacent houses cannot have the same style, same brick colour, or the same roof colour. That's rough.

Sunday I bought a futon, nice and double, so I have some space to roll around on. I spent about an hour assembling it, only to find out that I put everything together backwards. So later that night, I spent another hour taking everything apart again, and putting everything together again. Me and my perfectionist ideals. I gotta stop that sometime.

Well, back in Amsterdam again. Man am I ever tired. I've been travelling since about 10 in the morning yesterday. I went from St. Gallen to Zurich, and then from there straight to Basel, in which I had a 10 hour wait. So I walked around town a bit, but didn't really do much. I spent 6.40 Francs on a Time magazine (yes, that's right, 6.40), which was the cheapest English magazine they had. And I finished it, in one day. I mean, who finishes a Time magazine, cover to cover in one bloody day? Just to show you how bored I was.
Amsterdam is a little more exciting, but seeing I don't have much money left, I can only look and not buy. It's a shame, I know. I did, however, go to the Heineken Brewery for a tour today, along with some free samples. The last time we couldn't get in because it was closed, well now I'm back. It was a pretty cool setup, but I think it would be even more interesting to view an actual working factory rather than a retired one.

Can't wait til I get home, I'm so tired right now. Also found out that the parents are now building a new house, which should be exciting. I just want to sleep.

Success, was our stay in Rome. Last night we joined a night tour around ancient Rome, which hit up the Piazza Novana, Pantheon, Roman Forum, Coloseum, etc. It was very interesting to listen to a tour guide actually telling us about the history of the sites rather than just looking at it ourselves and saying, "hey, that looks pretty cool".
This morning we went back to the Coloseum and took some pictures as well as looking inside, and also to the Pantheon and the Spanish Steps. In the afternoon we went on another tour, but this time, inside the Vatican. It's amazing in there, considering they're probably the smallest nation in the world (at 1 square km), and they only have about 200 citizens. But the history of the place, and how it all intertwines with the Romans is truly mindboggling. I'd love to say more, but I have to go, our train leaves in about an hour, and we still have some stuff to do yet. Maybe I'll write more on it later.

Well, we finally arrived in Rome this morning, after an interesting turn of events. Kev said that our train left at 6:55 in the morning, so we got up early, got ready, and arrived at the station with plenty of time to spare. So we look up at the schedules, and there's no train that leaves for Rome at 6:55. We take out the reservation, and it turns out that he book it, get this, on the wrong day. Well, we rush over to the ticketing office, and ask about reservations for other trains. The guy at the counter says we don't actually need a reservation for the train leaving at 6:40. So we hop on the train, and off we go. Little did we know, that this devil of a train stopped at every little station on the way, making our journey a gruelling 3 and a half hours instead of 1 and a half. Such is life.
We plan on taking a night tour this afternoon which hits up ancient Rome, and another tour tomorrow for the Vatican. Then we're done our trip!! Scary thought.

And what a day trip it was. We hit up about 4 towns today, yes, all in one day. We started off nice and early (I think around 8), and took the first train we saw to Pisa. Once there, we hopped on a bus to the Leaning Tower, snapped some pictures, and took the bus back to the station. One hour, done deal. Next off, Riomaggiore, the first of five towns of Cinque Terre. As soon as we jumped off the train, we knew we were in for a treat. The view was spectacular, I can't even begin to describe it here, the crystal blue sea, the fluffy white clouds, the coast, the mountains, the little houses, wow. So we started our hike along the sea coast, about half way up the mountain, and just awed by the beauty. The relentless sea dashing up against the jagged rocks, forming them into what they are now, all round and slippery. It's kinda like a metaphore for life, like when we first start off, we don't know how to treat people, we're getting in trouble all the time; but as we get older, and have more experiences good and bad, fun and terrifying, we become more rounded, just like the rocks along the sea coast (sorry for that bit of blabble). So anyways, we walked along the sea shore (she sells sea shells down by the sea shore) until we arrived at the third town (actually a bit past it), and that's when we decided to head back. So we got some eats and some postcards at the town whose name I do not know. Soon the storms were a brewing, so again, we hopped on another train, and started our journey home (well, back to Florence anyways). Yeah, so all that in a day. How much more excitement can a couple of guys have?
Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we're off to Rome, time to see the Vatican and some other sites. Then it's almost home time.