brandonelliot.com

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Been a while…

Been so busy with my regular website, new website www.bEscapes.com, traveling the world and of course working the blog has gone to the waste side. I also created a feature on my website called Pic(k) Of The Day which is like my own version of a blog..more of a photo blog…

Update: just looked and it’s been a year almost to the day of my last entry! How crazy weird is that…

N. America’s “ine” addiction!

Just watching the news tonight and hearing the American’s raging at the rising cost of fuel - which albeit it is higher than normal ($3.30/gal). But then again what is “normal”…last year’s price? Year before? 5 years ago? Here in Canada we’re paying are averaging $4.15USD a gallon today and it’s sure to rise much higher with the price gouging “summer driving season”. But I digress…governments spend zillions of dollars on fighting and battling illegal drugs but it seems our real drugs all end in “ine” - caffeine, gasoline and nicotine! I’m sure if there was a study done on our dependence and negative impact these drugs have on the world it would show it’s far more detrimental.

Flip

Not idea where it came from or how it evolved…but recently found myself using my new fav expression “Catch you on the flip side”. And the beauty of it is, it can be used so many different ways and scenarios. Just said it one night to a friend instead of saying goodnight and thought it was catchy. Anywho, feel free to use - just remember where it came from

WTF!

Who’d a thought? Not this cowboy…wow! What a surprise I got when I pulled out my keys and discovered I only had half a key! I’d never heard of a key breaking before, esp in an ignition. Yup - that’s right..darn thing broke in their. And to top it off I was on a ferry coming back from the island (Vancouver Island). Of all places - so it made for an interesting experience, firstly “slim jimming” my door to get inside. However, I was able to match the broken key with the tip inside the ignition so I didn’t have to get towed off the ferry (would have been very embarrassing)!

After I was able to get to locksmith - they mentioned to “lube” all your locks every time you change your cars oil! So there’s your lesson of the day - don’t forget to lube your locks, and also have a look at your keys every so often checking for cracks or stress marks.

L. Camacho

Too funny - was driving down in Seattle on one of my many and frequent shopping visits to Sea-town (Seattle). Happened to pull up behind this van and just thought the bumper sticker was too funny not to shoot - so pulled out the Mistress (name for my small digicam) and shot away…. enjoy!

Shame on you!

I recently switched over from using a regular cell phone to one of the new “smartphones” out there (like a Blackberry but better ;)). Each carrier (mine is Bell Canada) has a smartphone in its coffer to help attract new customers or upgrade current ones (like this sucker). Not only do you know require a voice plan, but if you really want to use these new “smartphones” to their full potential you also need a data plan (another $x). Of course these new smartphones are top of the line in terms of what they are capable of doing (full html web browser, video phone, 6x zoom 1.3MP camera, email, QWERTY keyboard, Windows Media player (to watch movies, play MP3’s) etc.) One of the reasons (among many) for upgrading to this phone was to be able to send video clips or pictures via sms (text messaging) to other friends/family etc. essentially in real time. As I learned out after buying the phone, signing up for the package etc. is that Bell Mobility of Canada has disabled the picture/video text messaging (also known as MMS) feature on their phones. Why you ask, well it’s my understanding it’s a money grab on their part. In order to now send a picture/video to someone else you have to email it. WTF is the purpose of that when 9/10 people want to send a picture/video to someone as the event happened, etc. Well you see (if you read between the lines) is that a MMS costs 50-75 cents to send whereas sending the same image or video (which can get big) now have to be sent via email which it turn uses your data rate plan (which is $25 4mb). So if you take a long video or a big picture it could end up costing you upwards of $25+ to send it via email. Even a small pic, will cost you more than the 50-75 cents it would cost you to send it via MMS.

Had the ability to send MMS from the phone not been a feature from Motorola (I have the Moto Q) then my above diatribe would be non-existent. But, I know for a fact (friend has Moto Q on a different network) that the phone has the ability built it (heck I can even see it as a menu item, but greyed out) makes me angry beyond belief as it’s the most obvious money grab out there!

Shame on you Bell Canada for obvious and direct manipulation of your customers!

Gettin’ on…

As much as I wish I could still retain my wisdom level and rewind to maybe 5yrs ago…we all realize this isn’t going to happen. After going for coffee with a past gf tonight it really hit me how old i’m getting. Ouch…maybe it’s because I still feel/wish I was about 25. Adding to the “getting old” sentiment is when when friends (old and new) are getting married and having children. Wow - i can’t see (if at all) myself in those shoes for many many years at least…i guess time will only tell.

Thx for the tea and convo lil’ Yasmin and Mo!

Fall…

A lovely fall morning on my way to work…

(click to enlarge)

What’s that smell…

What a gong show day shopping…nothing like getting up at 7am on a Saturday to drive 2hrs south in to the States to go shopping all day! :S But I’ll be the first to admit that going with 3 awesome ladies defo made the day even better. It could have also been the “40” (40oz , 1/2gallon ) of duty free we bought. Unfortunately I couldn’t start drinking vodka slurpees at the border like a couple of the gals did (as I was the driver)…but I did manage to catch up once we arrived at our shopping Mecca! And to boot it was about 18C (65F) out all day which was the perfect weather as it was an outdoor/open mall. So after spending copious amounts of money, nearly polishing off the 40 and seven straight hours of shopping it was time to head up to Bellis Fair for the girls to hit up Victoria’s Secret (Mmmmmm) as us “Northerners” aren’t privileged to have it…and out for dins!

All n’all it turned out to be just over a 12hr shopping day with waaay too many hilar memories. I’ll share one of them as the others shouldn’t be repeated in public. We were at the duty free store getting our allotted “40’s” (40oz or ½ gallon, waaay cheaper at Duty Free than in the liquor stores) a lady in line was a little lost (apparently) and asked if we were in “Cun-ahhh-da”. All 4 of us looked at each other not quite sure what to do as it didn’t think she could possibly be serious as it’s pronounced “Cana-da”. I mean, seriously, it’s not a difficult word to say. No offence to all my American friends but it was absolutely sidesplitting and just goes to show how little the Americans now about us compared to what we know about them.

So after spending way too much money after 7hrs of shopping, drinking and howling….that smell is my Visa card melting….

Most memorable words from the day:

· Sateen

· Garter socks

· “Cun-ahh-da”

“The Mod-Squad”