I was on Stop Podcasting Yourself!

Well, sorta. This week's episode of Stop Podcasting Yourself (#251 with Mark Little) features Graham Clark reading my Hobbit overheard. Pretty great? Absolutely! You can listen to it right here



and you can see the episode's blog recap by clicking here.

Links to goodness

A webcomic I love, A Softer World, is produced by Joey Comeau (the writing) and Emily Horne (the photos and design). In 2011, Comeau published a collection of short stories, The Girl who Couldn't Come. He's posted some of the short stories online and my favourite of the ones listed is "This is Math". The end.

Hi, hi5!

On April 25 I got an email from hi5 (remember that site?) with a subject line of "[my first name], open this email for 12 people you should meet :)‏"

I opened the email and there was this:

Some notes: There are 24 spots there, not 12. Two are "no photo" and one is simply white space. Two are entire families, one of which - the Simpsons! - is animated (does hi5 know my wife is Portuguese?!). Is hi5 telling me that only 12 of the people are ones I should meet, and that the rest I shouldn't meet? And that my life depends on meeting the correct ones?

The second-from-top-and-second-from-left image is a moving GIF of a female with a bottle in each hand dancing/stumbling along a hallway:

On June 4 I received another email from hi5. [my first name], open this email for 12 people you should meet :)

I opened, and this:

I have no notes for this one, other than that again ain't 12. Images too small? Clickie to make biggie.

This time to Tempe!

Another month, another flight. I received the following email on March 28, 2012.

From: American Airlines (official-no1359@aa.com)
Subject: Your Order#57231 has been completed‏‏

Dear Customer,

FLIGHT NUMBER AB64223
ELECTRONIC 45737476
DATE & TIME / APRIL 25, 2012, 10:53 PM
ARRIVING / Tempe
TOTAL PRICE / 480.80$

Your bought ticket is attached to the letter as a scan document.
You can print your ticket.

Thank you
American Airlines.

I'm leaving on an AA jet plane!

But not really. I've recently received two emails from American Airlines, which I am going to share with you here.

Email 1, received on January 2, 2012

From: American Airlines (manager.id82026@aa.com)
Subject: Your Order#8753799‏

Dear Customer,

FLIGHT NUMBER AA681
ELECTRONIC 911853618
DATE & TIME / JANUARY 18, 2012, 10:33 AM
ARRIVING / Pittsburgh
TOTAL PRICE / 317.12 USD

Your bought ticket is attached to the letter as a scan document.
To use your ticket you should print it.

Thank you for using our airline company services.
American Airlines.

Email 2, received on February 12, 2012

From: American Airlines (helping-no.694@aa.com)
Subject: Order268685449

Dear Customer,

FLIGHT NUMBER AA249
ELECTRONIC 6246803
DATE & TIME / FEBRUARY 16, 2012, 07:25 AM
ARRIVING / Louisville
TOTAL PRICE / 278.11 USD

Your bought ticket is attached to the letter as a scan document.
You can print your ticket.

Thank you for your attention.
American Airlines.

Did you notice that there were two different email addresses for where the American Airlines emails came from? And yes, both emails came with attachments, and I opened them both. Kidding.

Mariah Carey "All I Want For Christmas Is You" (Dancing With An iPod In Public)

Merry Christmas!

C'mon, dude. Make yourself seen.

6:15 p.m. today. Dark. Eastbound on Hastings Street in Burnaby. Dark. A guy riding a bike in the curb lane. Dark. He's wearing black clothing. Dark. No lights or reflectors. Dark. No helmet. Dark. Idiot.

(The Customer Is) Not Always Right

Two stories I enjoyed from notalwaysright.com:

• Fighting Ignorance With Ignorance
• Friends In Unusual Places

Vancouver SkyTrain Map, Mario-Style

From Dave's Geeky Ideas. Click the image to enlarge it.

No higher than 23°C all week

An upside to this Lower Mainland summer: being able to go for a comfortable mid-afternoon one-hour-and-twenty-minute run next to Coquitlam River.

A downside to this Lower Mainland summer: not having any urge whatsoever to go tubing on said river.

Two weeks ago Biscotti was driving about two blocks away from our house when she had to swerve to avoid a black bear that ran across the road and into the woods. A few days later I was home alone and out the window I saw what looked like a big dog walking along the sidewalk across the street. I quickly realized that it was much larger than any dog I'd seen around here, and no owner had yet come into view, so up from the couch and away to the window I flew like a flash. It was a bear. It was definitely a big black bear. Biscotti says that the bear she saw was smallish, probably a cub, but the one I saw was quite large - yes, bigger than a breadbox - so we had to have seen different bears.