Jeffrey Munro

So I have now been living in Edmonton, Alberta for about 2 weeks now so here are some thoughts. The weather is starting to get a little cooler here now so I am going to have to get some money together and do some shopping if I want any hope of staying warm this winter. Apparently they have pretty cold winters here.

We moved into our apartment on our second day after spending the night in the airport. We only ended up getting a one bedroom apartment but considering we didn’t have all that much stuff to put in it its alright for now. We hope to upgrade to a two bedroom high rise once we get a little more established.

Andrew and I both started working only a couple of days after our arrival and the hours have been fairly long (10-13 hours per day) but the workload should slowly become less and less once we are able to catch up with the work that wasn’t complete the previous two weeks (workers quit). 

I have been posting photos to flickr and you can find all the ones from Edmonton in this set.

Also, check out this song by Bubba Sparxxx called Comin Round (mp3)

Collard and I left Ontario at 7:40pm last night and have made our arrival here at Edmonton International at 11:10pm, WE HAVE ARRIVE!!!! 

I must say I am pretty pumped now that I am here and the ‘getting there’ aspect of the whole adventure is now over. The flight went by fairly quick as I was able to get about an hour and a half of sleep about half way through the flight. I’m a pretty big fan of WestJet now (this was my first time flying with them) because of the excellent service that we received and the fact that they have televisions for every single seat (cable tv, pay-per-view etc…). We are stuck chilling out in the airport for the night as we are only getting a look at our apartment in the morning. It’s not to bad though since I was able to snag an free open-wireless spot here in the terminal (thanks Bell).

Now that we have arrived we can start planning out what our plan of attack will be. Tomorrow we are checking out the apartment and hopefully doing a little shopping (food, misc. apartment items). I have been in contact with a nice guy from Edmonton through craigslist who will most likely be hooking us up with two Ikea desks for $75/each, a pretty big steal if you ask me.

I have posted a couple of photos to my flickr account so check those out if thats what interests you. Thats about it for now though. I have no idea when I will be able to get back online after we leave the airport but hopefully it won’t be more than a couple of days.

In the last little while I have been doing research on western and traditional buddhism and it’s teachings. The Dalai Lama is seen as a spirtual leader for the exiled people of Tibet as well as a global spokesperson for spreading Buddhism across the world. Some call it a religion but I wouldn’t be so mean. I find it more of a way of life and a step that everyone should take atleast once in their life to determine if it is right for them. Here is a documentary about his holiness the Dalai Lama.

From a childhood in “Shangri-La” to a life in exile, BIOGRAPHY presents the riveting, life-affirming journey of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

One of the world’s most admired men, he is the spiritual and secular leader of a nation that exists only as a “Lost Kingdom.” Born Tenzin Gyatso, he is the 14th man recognized by his people as Buddha’s reincarnation and honored with the title he is known by worldwide: His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Yet, for a man so widely respected, His Holiness has been living in exile since 1959, after a failed rebellion against the occupying Chinese forced him to flee his nation.

Highlighting key footage from the Dalai Lama’s life–including his acceptance of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize–this enlightening program features interviews with Chinese scholars, Tibet activists such as actor Richard Gere, and His Holiness himself to chronicle in great detail the ongoing struggle to free Tibet.

Most of the time when we see photos of beautiful places on Earth they are places we can recognize (geographically) or relate to in some way or another (mountains, waterfalls). The same could not be said for some of the places outlined in Dark Roasted Blends article on alien looking locations here on earth, including its isolated islands and smiling trees.

In the hopes of saving metal music (could we do without? I think so.) the ever popular Metallica is looking to win fans over with their new album, Death Magnetic, after failing miserably with their last album, St-Anger. As many of you know Metallica is not very well liked on the internet as they have had an on-going (although failing) battle with online piracy for many years now. St-Anger was actually released five days prior to the official launch because the album was leaked over P2P.

Now comes 2008 and not to much as change. New album, new leak. A lot of the same game. You can probably enjoy the album if you click here. I have yet to listen to the whole album so I can’t really give my opinion on it but I’m sure you can get a good idea from here.

You’ve seen Safari, Firefox and Internet Explorer (and maybe some of you Opera) but you have not experienced the web until you’ve used Google’s new weapon into the browser war, Google Chrome. Quite possibly the easiest, simplest, fastest and most elegant browser I have ever used. It has been a while in the making but it has finally arrived. I’m afraid to see what this will do to firefox’s market share as many firefox users only want the best and will make the move quite willing to get it. The plug-ins are one of the major things I have missed so far but I’m sure Google will provide there own solution to this problem. You can download it now (free) here.

So I figured that since I won’t be in the GTA area for this school year I better change up the header to reflect my where abouts. Since I am not 100% sure as to where my travels will take me I have decided to simply use a magnificent photo of our planet Earth for the time being. It seems to do a good job at portraying the direction I currently find myself going in. A direction that is accepting and understanding of all areas and walks of life as well as not tied down to the physical environment I find myself in.

Well after about two weeks of trying to find fairly affordable rent in Fort McMurray I think my search has come to an end but with little success. The quotes I received from three different companies who own complexs in the city ranged from $2500 - $4000 for a 2 bedroom apartment. WTF is that eh. I found it pretty wild as well. So instead of Fort Mac I am now leaning towards either Edmonton, Calgary or Saskatoon. Edmonton would be my city of choice but I have to come to an agreement with my buds before I can make any final preperations.

Everyday now in Glengarry seems like an eternity so the sooner I am able to make my departure the better.

In other news, what the hell was McCain thinking choosing Palin as his VP? My God. I’m beginning to think he is as dumb as we thought he was (or maybe its because he’s old and really has little to do with the decisions his campaign makes for him). Well either way she has already found herself in some trouble; her child is 17 years old and about to have her first child, her husband causes some conflict of interests as a former BP employee and she has a terrible track record from her home state, Alaska.

A new type of intersection has been implemented at Yonge and Dundas called a scramble intersection. Instead of just having two sides of the street for pedestrians to cross on it stops all traffic and allows people to ’scramble’ across the entire intersection so that they are able  to skip the waiting and make their way right across. This system has been used in cities with high pedestrian density for some time now but was only just implemented in Toronto.

Yonge & Dundas Scramble - Toronto, Ontario

Scramble from Sam Javanrouh on Vimeo.

Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, Japan

So just a little post today to let everyone know about a new artist I found today called Bearbot. You can listen to most of his remixes @ TheSixtyOne.com for free (as well as download). The titles of most of his songs might not ring any bells at first but check some of them out and you definitely will recognize some of the songs he’s mixed.

Bearbot - Technolocrips

Last week shift at the park for the rest of my life and I couldn’t feel better about it. Although its a night shift and pretty much nothing happens after 4pm it’s still going to be nice to see this one go by.

I have started planning out my western adventure a little more (employment, shelter etc…) and it looks like its going to be a pretty kick ass time. I’ve had a little bit of negative feedback whenever I tell people that I’m taking a year off school and heading out west but it doesn’t really phase me. I find the people that are giving me this feedback are the ones who are locked into the 1. go to elementary school 2. go to high school 3. go to university/college 4. get a job 5. retire after 25 years 6. die kind of mentality and I feel for them, I really do. It is just something that I’ve realized isn’t for me at all and if there is any hope of me finding true happiness in this already fucked up world it’s not that path.

I’m thinking a re-design of the website is in order as well, or maybe just a new header photo, as I won’t be finding myself in the Toronto area for sometime now. I’m going to try and brainstorm some ideas but if you have any please throw me an email or comment.

So turns out the yes my ‘boss’ is rather ridicolous and there has been no other mention of my supposed ‘firing’ since my last post. The meeting which I had with my real boss was more of a discussion on how things have been going thus far and what types of concerns / complaints I may want to voice about the whole situation. I believe I made my points clear although I would have been able to mention a couple of other things if I would have realized the nature of the conversation that I would have been having. It is now in the past and I only have three more shifts left at the park so it will simply be a little spec in the past in a couple of weeks.

I have officially made the decision (and sent the e-mail) to inform UOIT that I will not be returning for the 2008-2009 school year but instead am taking a year off and will be returning the following year. I have not yet received an e-mail back from them so if anyone from UOIT is reading this please let me know the procedure to do so (I e-mailed the registrar’s office).

Instead of returning back to university this coming September I have decided to take a year off and take a stab at seeing a little more of this world. I have travelled in the past but have not called any other place home aside from Ontario. The west seems to be calling a lot of people’s name lately and with all the opportunity out there I may also find myself following that calling. There is nothing set in stone just yet but hopefully the rest of 2008 and 2009 will give me the opportunity to travel, see and experience the world, meet new people and help in giving me a better definition in what our role is in the whole scheme of things.

Here is a video entitled “Who Am I?” featuring the voice of the great philosopher Alan Watts.