One Week of Unemployment

Yesterday marked my first full week as one of Canada’s 8% with nowhere to go and nothing to do. I have treated this week as a vacation (not having had a chance to take one last year) and done all kind of neglected household chores, rearranging my room so it can double as a home office, taking my bike out for rides and napping a lot. Now I’m feeling a good deal more rested, and can get on with the work of programming Peekabooty and sharpening my tech skills. I’ll probably do this for two to four months, depending on how long my stash of money can carry me.

Negotiations

While working for the company, the laptop assigned to me became my primary machine and I gave my old, slow laptop to my sister so that she could use it for word processing. I sent an e-mail to my former bosses, asking if my laptop could be thrown in as part of my severance package. They were moving away from laptops to desktop boxes for both development and testing, and I thought they might be able to swing it for me, given my long and good service record. They said “no”, owing to the cost, but offered to sell if to me for its “replacement price” of US$2151 — almost CAD$3500 (it’s a Toshiba Satellite Pro 4360, PIII 700, 64MB built-in + 256MB + 64 MB, 12GB hard drive, DVD, 14′ display). The damn thing’s depreciated one year already, and you can get a newer, faster laptop for that price! What a total crock of shit.

Looks like I have a date with Factory Direct Computer Outlet very soon.

Good thing I made off with one of their staplers. That’ll show ’em.

Pogeypalooza

If you’re in the Toronto area, you are cordially invited to my “I got fired” party, which I’ve dubbed Pogeypalooza — “pogey” being a Canadian term for unemployment insurance. It takes place this Saturday, January 19th at my house, in Toronto’s Queen/Spadina area. You can come early (say, around six-ish) if you want to throw something on the barbecue, or later in the evening if you just want to have drink. If you need more details, e-mail me.

Please note that if you are the VP R&D, CFO or Business Admin from the company that just let me go, you will be shot and turned into urinal mints if you even breathe on my property.

Kick Ass Karaoke / NASA

Last night was the Wednesday closest to the middle of the month, so I slung on the squeezebox and went with Rob to Kick Ass Karaoke at the Bovine Sex Club. The room was on the empty side near the beginning, owing to the crummy weather, but after midnight, the place filled up to its usual jam-packed state. I performed George Michael’s Freedom ’90 and AC/DC’s You Shook Me All Night Long and backed up Will on Hey Jude.

I left the Bovine at about 2:00 a.m. and noticed that the dance club across the street, NASA, was still busy. I decided to take a peek inside.

I ran into Irving, one of the Chicks Dig It organizers, who said hello and talked with me for a few minutes. While on the dance floor, some girl in a long black dress asked me why I didn’t show up earlier, gave me a big hug (all the while, I’m wondering who is this person?) and then took off (have I mentioned how much I love this instrument?) I danced for a bit, and I was stepping out to go home, a guy by the name of Adam stopped me. He said he saw me playing at the last Chicks Dig It and asked if I would show up at a Tuesday event at Temple Bar called Puerta Latina. It’s a Latin music night, featuring a DJ and live musicians playing over the tracks. They have a guy on tablas and some percussionists, and he thought an accordion would be a perfect addition. I guess that means I have plans for Tuesday night.

The Lindi gig…

…is two weeks away. I should get in some practice before the next rehearsal.

Interesting Link of the Day

A bear that shits prime numbers. For the non-mathematically inclined, a prime number is a natural number (any whole number from 1 and up) that is greater than one and evenly divisible only by 1 and itself. The first few prime numbers are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, and 13 (by definition, 1 is not a prime number). For those of you who don’t like the “s-word”, there’s the prime number pooping bear as well. Bears are cute animals and prime numbers have all kinds of useful applications, and finally the two have come together. Enjoy!