I love Music. I must listen to it 12 of the 18 hours that I am up in a day.
I recently started playing the violin and I am not very good but I am learning how to read notes. It’s quite difficult to remember. As I learn these notes I can’t help but to continue to have more respect and admiration for those that play and stay committed to any instrument.

When I love Music

At work
I love Dave Matthews Band and Johnny Cash. My tempo is more relaxed. After lunch however when I need a quick pick me up I throw on some NWA, Eminem and Nirvana.

Driving
The News usually dominates my radio as I drive to and from work. When I am driving out of town I enjoy System of a Down but I have chose to listen to softer music as of late because it got me a speeding ticket last time I cranked it.

At Home
For those that know me, I spend a lot of time on my computer at home. So while I am working from home I love a variety of music. I’m not shy to listen to anything. Techno, Rap, Country, Ska, Punk, Rock, etc.
When I clean the house (which is a lot because I live with 4 guys) I always listen to Damien Rice. Man, that guy can sing.

Working out.
Eminem and Jay-z are my all time favorite rappers. Anything by them gets me so pumped. Recently I have been listening to a lot more techno. Fat Boy Slim has some awesome mixes.

Last Sunday night I came home from Toronto brining with me: Norwalk. A night of no sleep, puking and not being able to walk around was the outcome of our time together.
Since that time, Nathan, Darryl and john (all of my roommates) have been visited by it.
Nathan got sick with it last week, traveled to Hamilton (while sick) and his fiancé got it.
Last night, Ethan, Joe’s kid, got really sick. I don’t know if that is Norwalk or not, but I have my suspicions.

This is a picture of Darryl puking this morning. He is at home right now trying to sleep it off.

I just want to know if anyone else got it that has been in contact with our house or with us.

What is NORWALK:
The Norwalk virus causes viral gastroenteritis, also known as acute non-bacterial gastroenteritis or food poisoning. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, low-grade fever, chills, anorexia, headache and fatigue. The virus is transmitted by fecal-oral contamination through water and food vehicles, and by person-to-person transmission. Pollution of shellfish waters and poor personal hygiene are common contributors.

There is a HUGE struggle in the DVD world today. New technologies are fast upon us and the days of a “regular” DVD are over.
The new technology in debate is HD-DVD or BlueRay DVD.

The stakes are high as the consuming market will be purchasing either Blue Ray DVD or HD-DVD players. You older people might recall the battle back in the 80s. It was between Beta or VHS. Even though Beta was better than VHS, VHS came out on top.

Like BlueRay, Beta was produced and developed by SONY. Sony lost out HUGE when Beta lost the battle and a second lose with BlueRay would be horrendous.

BlueRay is a more expensive DVD but makes up with the fact it is almost 3 times the size capacity of HD-DVD.

So who decides what standard wins and what standard doesn’t?

Indirectly, Porn.

As much as we dont want to admit it, porn dominates the viewing audience. People are either buying it on DVD or they are downloading it. Consumers want to fit more on DVDs, whether that be computer file storage or Movie hour time. People want more.

If you will recall, it was the Porn industry that handed Beta its marching orders last time around because Beta wasn’t willing to work with the Porn industry to produce its films for distribution. VHS, who was being dominated by Beta at the time, stepped up and got “into bed” with the porn industry.

BLueRay is already causing trouble a second time around for the porn industry. Will this be another step in the wrong direction? I guess only Porn will tell.

I cant believe some of this stuff!

Last night I got into a discussion with a good friend of mine: Darryl. The argument (I mean discussion) stemmed into a lot of streams but I will focus on only a few.

When I first meet people I am eager to get to know them, weigh them up and get a feel for them. A lot of people take me the wrong way when they first meet me and my closest friends always admit “Ron, I didn’t know how to take you when I first met you, I thought you were on the obnoxious side.” They say I am one of those “I love you or hate you” kind of people.”

I have been known to be a judgmental person. To which I will admit, does exist
My judgmental persona doesn’t usually flow about a person as a whole but more so in the actions that flow from your character. Most of my closest friends, whom I love dearly, have certain characteristics that I can’t handle and they know it, because I am vocal about it.

I have been known from time to time to rant and when I do its extreme. These rants aren’t personal attacks on a person, like I just stated, but more of about popular traits that our common to our society. Ex – People that watch TV every night and complain about being over weight. I myself have many traits that I can’t handle about me. I am tormented with them. For instance my advice on eating properly and pointing out those that don’t. Find me 10 minutes later and I will be scarfing down a Big Mac with no remorse.

The rant that I was going on about yesterday was the 21st century 20 something year old mentality of lazy young adults. You know the people I’m talking about. These people who own the latest gadgets, sweetest ride, spend their money like no-ones business and live at home sponging off Mom and Dad. Then they have the balls to come to me and be like “Ron, check out my new this, lets go for a ride in my new car, lets go here for the weekend and do that.” Oh I’m sorry; I can’t appreciate your new crap right now because I’m too busy making dinner and paying my bills for the month.

Note to parents: if your kid has a nicer ride and goes on nicer vacations that you – its time you sent them packing.

I don’t know what it is with the people my age. They don’t cook for themselves unless it can be cooked for 3 minutes in the microwave, don’t pay rent, don’t “pitch” in at home and have the ambition of a rock. Yet I’m the bad guy for bringing it up.

I have nothing wrong with parents helping their kids out, paying for school, helping them with a first car, down payment on a house, allowing them to “get ahead” a little, but seriously, some parents need to stop babying their kids and let them become adults.
My parents tell me what it was like for them starting out; no money, renting, not knowing where the next meal was coming from and still raising a family. Times are ruff when you start out, there is a reason for that. Now its as though parents don’t want their kids to travel down and experience the very things that made them who they are today.

Today my sister and I traveled to downtown Toronto. Her and I had an educational day. We traveled to parks and historical sites and read all the statues and monuments we could find. We went to the house where the founder of the dominion bank (TD) lived. The house is now a furniture store. I saw a chair I really liked there but I left my $4000 in my other wallet and couldn’t buy it today. Hopefully next time I will remember my flow.

I love finding out interesting facts about cities. If you look close enough in any city there is historical artifacts all over that tell the cities story. Realizing that, I think about Toronto in the present and what story it will leave for when tourists visit 200 years from now.

One image that stuck out to me was the amount of homeless people on the streets. I found humour in the the image of a homeless man freezing to death right out side the BMO. The BMO being the richest building in downtown Toronto. It pained me to see these homeless in that state but don’t worry everyone, that pain was short lived as I convinced myself quickly that all the homeless people are just acting and that they live pretty well for themselves. Or that most homeless people chose that life style and that they are happy doing it, ca’mon people, if they didn’t want to be homeless, they wouldn’t have to be.

You think of all the incentives and the attempts good hearted people make to help the homeless and marginalized yet you continue to see more of it. With all of those kind attempts, there is a bigger and sadder reality and unless we deal with that, there will always be homeless and marginalized people. The sad reality is that the system we have created for ourselves where we consume and put pressure on ourselves and others to succeed and do and be better has created this ugly life for people. Our attempts at trying to reach to the top has blinded us to the people who get trampled on in our pursuit.