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The rarely updated blog of Joel Dixon
Viewing blogs posted in 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
The Little Things
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 25/10/2007 09:47:18Updated by Joel Dixon at 14/07/2008 23:59:01
I've already blogged about some big differences between Australia and Canada - such as travel, customer service and language. But quite often I'm struck by some of the small differences that aren't much when looked at one-by-one - but they certainly add up.
Some things I didn't notice when I first wrote about differences in traveling are longboards and crosswalks. The number of people getting around on longboards is staggering - I'll see one at least every few weeks. Obviously this isn't a very high number - but considering I've never seen a longboard in use in all my years in Australia - it's pretty striking. Another potentially striking difference (HU HU - you'll see) is the cross walks over here - they are so dangerous. In the middle of the city, on a main road they have random cross walks setup. They have no traffic lights, the crossing lane marks are very faded (and they don't all have zebra marks), some are directly after blind turns and the only indication that they are coming is a small sign on the side of the road. I've already had the car I was traveling in screech to a halt a few times when a pedestrian comes out of nowhere.
A longboard
One of the crosswalk signs that you won't notice driving around Edmonton
It's also been weird for me to live in a place that doesn't value water above gold. Because of Canada's geography, water is an abundant resource and there's no real need to be a water saver. Water features and fountains are in common (and not drained), I've yet to hear the term "Wally" and they don't even have a "half-flush" button on the toilets.
While not related to water (but still important to the environmentally conscience) - plastic bags are handed out like candy here and I've even been asked if I want my items double bagged from time to time. I did however buy re-usable cloth bags - the Australian in me feels like a criminal whenever I'm given a plastic bag!
While they may be wasting water and plastic here, they seem to be doing the right thing about power saving. Almost all of the lights at work are operated on a timing switch, and power saving propaganda is frequently advertised on TV. I do remember some power saving going on at home - but it's nothing like Canada (in my experience so far).
The cool breeze of this energy-efficient fan almost makes up for the exertion you feel from powering it all day
Something that I had noticed a lot in North American sitcoms and school dramas was hand towel distributors. You can't just pull the paper out of the dispenser - you have to either hand-crank it, flick some switch repeatedly or press some button. I'm going to take a complete guess and suggest that this is to prevent somebody stealing the paper towel without supplying great annoyance (or to stop the kids from messing with it). It's taken a bit of getting used to - and I'll feel no great loss when I get back home!
You can see the small handle on the right hand side of this paper towel dispenser
There's also even smaller things that are different - such as stamps costing $1.10 here. Also, people have really embraced bluetooth headsets more than in Australia. It's appears people aren't ridiculed for this as much as they should - I've been playing my part - and usage is somewhat frequent.
But the biggest little difference that I've encountered here - is that everyone (about 5 or 10 people) that I have said "Maccas" to have no idea what I'm talking about. Even when I'm discussing fast food restaurants and say something like "Yeah, I really like Maccas nuggets" it's met with "Maccas?" (it's McDonalds if anyone from Canada's reading this
). They use Mickey D's (which I thought was more American) or just plain McDonald's. Thinking about it, if it followed the typical Australian nickname generation algorithm it should probably be shortened to Macco's (Jonno, Richo, Dicko etc). A quick look on Wikipedia lends a few more nicknames:The UK seem to be a cross between here and North America with "Macky D's", but "de Mac" is where I want to be eating!
Hmmm, (fast) food for thought
# Posted in the Travel section and tagged as: Edmonton
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Top 5 non-Hollywood movie endings
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 24/10/2007 11:08:25I was watching Without a Paddle the other day (I'm a Seth Green fan) and it wasn't too bad. But throughout the film, no matter how dim the future looked for the main characters, I knew it was all going to work out OK. A lot of movies coming out of Hollywood seem to spend most of the time trying desperately to fool you into thinking the story will end in a disaster, then do a spectacular switch-a-roo at the end.
I'm also reminded of the time I watched Pirates of the Caribbean with Bell, I was really enjoying the movie until they pulled a complete Disney ending and everyone was happy (except for the bad characters). It's made me think back to the movies I've enjoyed because of an unexpectedly sad or weird ending.
The death of the main character isn't enough for me, as they can be quite common especially in mafia / crime movies. There are also a lot of movies where the main character does die at the end, but everyone learns a life lesson and the world is a better place. Movies with a moral to the story don't count no matter how tragic (think Romeo and Juliet). I'm after the unexpected, coming-out-of-nowhere and for no good reason endings which aren't just a logical progression of the storyline.
We need these unexpected tragic endings from time to time, to keep us honest. If there is the real threat that all of the characters contract rabies and die from a freak electric can-opener accident - you are more invested while watching the film.
I will note that I am probably missing out on many other great non-Hollywood movie endings. There's many movies I've never watched (which I'm currently rectifying), so some killer endings are probably missing. If you know of any - please comment to this entry and let me know - I would be very interested.
Here are my personal top 5 non-Hollywoodland movie endings:
Bambi didn't make the final list - as I don't remember anything about the actual movie (including the ending). It does however get a honorable mention because I can still remember that I was extremely upset by the movie at the time. After checking out a synopsis on the Internet I can confirm - yeah, that would have upset me.
A great movie that makes you think, and definitely needs to be watched twice. Guy Pearce plays a man with a weird form of amnesia in which his brain is unable to store new memories. For assistance he leaves himself a series of notes and has a number of tattoos on his body with various facts he feels are important. It wasn't the easiest movie to understand or try to guess what was coming up - but I still think the ending was notably unexpected.
A top movie written by a pair of Melbourne boys - directed by one of them and the other played a main character - I blogged about this movie when I first watched it. As I said then, one of the better twist endings and completely unexpected. It's a horror movie, so you know people are going to die at the end, but there was one aspect of the finale that forced an audible gasp from me.
I have to admit I didn't see the twist ending of this movie coming, and I think that was the same for a lot of people. This movie really kick started another round of the surprise twist ending for mainstream films - and at it's time of release it caught many people by surprise. This is another movie where it pays to watch it twice.
This movie would easily be number 1, if they had have kept the original ending. I've kept it in my list because they have preserved the original ending in the DVD as a special feature (be sure to check it out). The story is that Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and director Rawson Marshall Thurber were very happy with the unconventional ending, but the movie studios wouldn't allow it (instead creating the bubblegum ending in place now). See the movie's Wikipedia entry for more.
Easy Rider is a great movie that's clearly stood the test of time. Interesting story, pretty good soundtrack, and a brilliant performance by Jack Nicholson in his first big role (for which he received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar). While I had heard of this movie for a long time (as I'm sure a lot of people have), I didn't know that the ending was going to be so unexpected. You have to watch this film if you haven't already - and then you'll definitely know what I'm getting at with this blog post.
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Movies
Monday, October 22, 2007
Waltzing around West Edmonton Mall
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 22/10/2007 08:01:10Updated by Joel Dixon at 07/03/2008 11:00:57
A few weekends ago I took a trip to the West Edmonton Mall with my camera to provide content for this blog. Even though it was the world's largest mall for a 23-year period, it didn't really feel that much bigger than large shopping centres in Australia.
World Waterpark
Apparently the blue water slide starts higher than the red one - but I'm sure you pick up a little extra speed on the red one!
Another yellow water slide in the distance
The Wave Pool - not very wavy at the moment
A bit of beach atmosphere, parents can watch their kids on generic white deck chairs
There is a small enclosure with a few flamingos tooling around - quite a shock to see when you're in a shopping centre
Galaxyland
Galaxyland is an indoor theme park, why not?
My kinda ride - I've only felt like throwing up on three ferris wheels in the past
A pretty impressive indoor rollercoaster
It feels a little unsafe walking directly under the rollercoaster track
Deal or No Deal is extremely popular here (and hosted by Howie Handel). Here's the arcade game version (it dispenses tickets instead of cash)
Sea Life Caverns
Sea Life Caverns is an indoor lake with a daily seal show as the main attraction
The lake also houses a big-ass pirate ship
The coolest part of Sea Life Caverns (IMO) is a submarine-ride. The subs go down a few meters and drive around on a track
Some kind of ride, these things seem to be driven by the ride-taker
Bourbon Street
Bourbon Street, a small section of the mall themed to resemble the Bourbon Street of New Orleans
One of the classy restaurants in Bourbon Street
A comedy club - though in the real Bourbon Street I'm sure this would be a strip club that features comedians taking their kit off
Movie Theaters
The mall has two movie theaters, and this is what was playing in one of them the day I was there
I had to take a photo of this awesome Yoda statue/thing hanging from the roof
General
The movie Christmas in Wonderland was shot in the mall, and the Christmas decorations haven't been taken down. Pity I missed my chance to meet with Carmen Electra - one of the actors in the movie!
NHL regulation sized ice rink in the mall. The Edmonton Oilers used to train here occasionally back in the Gretzky days. I remember when Knox Shopping Centre had an indoor ice arena which was about the size of my apartment's living room
West 49 (a skate shop) has a small skate park downstairs
It's weird, directly above Bourbon Street is Chinatown
The mall is host to two mini-golf courses - this one is a "putt in the dark" experience
The second mini-golf course - apparently this one is based on Pebble Beach
The in-mall hotel - is it just me that finds the name a little suggestive?
A casino inside the mall. They had a few table games (Caribbean Stud poker, roulette) but no proper Hold'em table - it was mainly pokie machines
A little course was setup to test-drive Segway Scooters
The Dollar Kingdom, where everything is "$1 or more". Does that sound stupid to anyone else? Their selling point is that they sell nothing under $1
Every good mall needs a police station
# Posted in the Travel section and tagged as: Edmonton
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Customer (dis)Service in Edmonton
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 20/10/2007 10:31:01Updated by Joel Dixon at 23/02/2008 12:36:27
As I may have already mentioned, Edmonton (and Alberta in general) is going through a boom right now. Fueled mostly by the natural resources in the region, Alberta has the lowest personal and corporate tax rates in all of Canada - and Albertans don't have to pay sales tax. This has caused the job market in places like Edmonton go wild.
Driving around the streets, it's impossible to miss the high number of "help wanted" ads. Everyone is hiring, from typical industrial types working with Alberta's resources (mostly oil) to fast food joints and department stores. My local doctor's office does not provide any late appointments anymore, as they do not have enough staff. It's hard to get a taxi around here as they are currently low on drivers (not a problem I'm used to experiencing in Melbourne). This is great for the job hunters, but not so good for the companies.
I personally believe that this is why I've found the customer service in Edmonton to be sub-par at best. With so many opportunities, the jobs that would generally be viewed as not enjoyable (customer facing roles) are left unfilled - or filled by whoever's available. This has put me on the annoying side of customer service issues, which I am going to whine about now:
- My first example of this was attempting to hook up my IV (Internet, Cable TV, PVR and phone). I called to book an installation almost as soon as I got here - at which point I was told it would take two and a half weeks before a technician can visit (and I needed to be home between 9 am and 12 pm). When the technician finally arrived (2 pm), he had forgotten to bring my new fangled PVR device, so he had to install a regular set top box. I wasn't too upset (as I finally had Internet), so I organised another appointment (in another week and a half) for a new technician to come with the PVR and swap it over.
When a technician didn't turn up at all on the scheduled day, I gave Shaw a call. After verbally wrestling with the automated assistant (see below), I was told that an extra work order was never made against my account - but I was welcome to make another appointment in two weeks to get a technician to my apartment. I ended up going to a Shaw dealer and picking up the PVR and "installing" it myself (by plugging it in). After a few complaints on my behalf - I did receive a discount on my first month's fee, but I would have much preferred to have it all setup a few weeks earlier. - As mentioned earlier, customer "help lines" are very difficult to navigate (much worse than Australia). Everything's automated ("Why don't you tell me the movie you want to see"), even though the voice recognition is terribly dodgy (perhaps it's my accent). What really annoys me is when the help line has voice prompting without the backup of pressing numbers on the keypad (the good ones at least offer "If you wish for me to sacrifice a goat in your honor, say 'goat' - or press 4"). Sure, if you mumble garbage into the phone for long enough, you'll eventually get to speak with an actual person (5 to 10 minutes later) - but it's very inconvenient. At least get voice recognition right before forcing it upon us.
- Product knowledge is definitely lacking in some of of the staff that I dealt with. For example, I saw an ad on TV which featured some dashing Sidney Crosby casual gear that was only available at SportChek stores. I went to SportChek to pickup a Crosby jacket, asked a kid in the clothing section where the blue Crosby jackets were, and he took me to a non-Crosby (and not even blue) rack of jackets. I explained that it was a new line of Crosby clothing that SportChek sold - and he informed me that they only sold T-shirts at this store. Fair enough - to make sure I went to the hockey section, when I was told that they only sell Crosby sticks and gloves - no clothing. Still not convinced (especially as the store had signs posted advertising the new gear), I went to the front of the store and found a "new arrival" table to be full of the Crosby gear. Sure, they were new items - but considering the amount of TV ads done by SportChek you'd hope they would invest in a little training for staff.
- Stopping at the local electronics store one weekend, I asked if they had a certain Xbox accessory for sale, which they didn't. Fair enough - I asked if they knew when they were getting it in, "nope" was the non-commital reply. OK - "I shop here a fair but, and I'm willing to come down and give you my money if you just give me a ring when this product comes in" to which the kid replied with "Sorry, we don't do that". Is it just me - or is it not a normal request for a customer to be called when a product comes in? Sure, it wasn't the most expensive product - but I've already spent a few hundred dollars in the store, and will probably be taking my further business elsewhere.
The strange thing about this is, pretty much all government employees I've dealt with have been great. From my quick and easy immigration process to applying for and receiving a Social Insurance Number (SIN) - I've received helpful and friendly service. Government workers in Australia don't have the greatest reputation for customer service - but here they seem to be great.
# Posted in the Travel section and tagged as: Edmonton
Friday, October 19, 2007
Chicken Vegetable Curry
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 19/10/2007 14:15:18Another internet find, Chicken and Vegetable curry is one of the nicest meals I've discovered since living in Edmonton.
Chicken and Vegetable Curry
Chicken, cubed - 1/2 lb. (225 gram)
Medium Potato, cubed
Carrots, sliced - 2
Bell Pepper (Capsicum), chopped
Large stalk of broccoli, chopped into smaller pieces
Garlic, minced - 5 cloves
Soy Sauce - 1 tbsp
Curry Powder - 3 tbsp
Corn Starch - 1 tbsp
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Milk - 2 cups (500 mL)
1. Slice chicken and vegetables.
2. Heat wok or skillet on medium-high heat.
3. Add garlic, soy sauce, chicken and vegetables to wok or skillet. Let warm through (2 minutes).
4. Add curry powder, flour, sugar salt, and milk.
5. Stir-fry until chicken is completely cooked.
6. If vegetables are still too firm, reduce heat, cover and simmer.
7. Add additional milk and curry if needed for desired taste.
8. Serve on a bed of basmati rice.
The mixture bubbled up a little bit, which dirtied my saucepan, but it was still delicious!
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Recipe
Nokia releases N810 Internet Tablet
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 19/10/2007 08:22:136 days after my post about mobile phone options, Nokia has upgraded the internet tablet that I had pretty much decided on (until Hoff unhelpfully suggested the TyTN
).
The N810 is based on a Linux OS (so no worries about Nokia's openness or lack thereof), comes with a retractable thumb QWERTY-keyboard, bundled GPS and a Skype interface preloaded.
Of course, it isn't actually a phone, so I will still have to carry around my trusty 6230 - but for $500 the N810 is looking like a bargain.
Due out in November - I might have to fudge the budget a little bit!
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Gadgets
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Mad Max getting it done
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 18/10/2007 16:04:50Pittsburgh lost against the New Jersey Devils 4-5 tonight, the refs having way too much influence on the game (not that I'm blaming them for the loss). Fleury was dolling out huge rebounds again, and the Penguins defense were allowing too many scoring chances through.
But Maxime Talbot is still the leading goal scorer for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tapping in a great pass by Whitney, Talbot scored his fourth goal of the season, obviously assisted by his awesome facial hair. Apparently Maxime's been rooming with Evgeni Malkin, and is trying to convince Gino to go with the chopper style beard. I assume Malkin's resisted which is fair enough (he's leading the team in points and assists - picking up a point in each game so far), but who knows what happens if he hits a slump!
Although both natural centers, Therrien had Malkin and Talbot on the same line for a brief stint in the third period - and I liked what I saw from them. I don't want it to happen often - Talbot's getting it done on a killer checking line with Colby Armstrong and Gary Roberts - but it's a Therrien line tinker that I like the look of.
I still think Crosby's on the verge of a huge night - as he was pressing all over the ice (and picked up two assists). Once again - at this time last year (after 5 games) we were 2-3-0 - so I'm still expecting 105 points
# Posted in the Hockey section and tagged as: Pittsburgh Penguins
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
I have found the Explorers
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 17/10/2007 15:13:39I think it's been bothering me for 5 years now, I can remember wondering about it while I was still in Uni. There was a movie that I used to love as a child, almost as much The Goonies and Flight of the Navigator. I was very young when these movies came out (around 4 I guess) but they received high rotation on the VCR until I was old enough to appreciate them.
While I've enjoyed watching Flight of the Navigator and The Goonies again since these young days - the third movie had completely slipped my mind, and I haven't seen it for at least 10 to 15 years. Every so often it gets stuck in my head - I can remember certain parts but never enough to start a google hunt.
The main thing I remember is that there was two or three kids that built a circular space ship. The ship was controlled by a computer keyboard (very cool back then) and I vaguely remember some kind of spherical field generated by the ship that caused damaged to whatever it touched. I don't remember where they went in this ship, or anything else in the movie after the ship was built. The only other part I remembered was that one of the main characters designed the ship based on a few dreams. Anyone remember this?
Enter the Get This Podcast (I knew I listened to these guys for a reason). Tony Martin mentioned an old movie with Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix called Explorers and I could almost feel my brain fizzle. Eureka!
It feels really good to get that mystery solved! I was pretty accurate in my memory. After some quick research I found that the main character had a dream about a circuit board which is for the actual bubble device (he later dreams another circuit board for a device that creates oxygen). The ship was driven using a computer, and the YouTube video linked below confirmed my suspicion that it was very cool!
One thing I had completely forgotten about was that the main characters go into deep space and meet up with aliens. I might have to find this movie on DVD and give it another viewing sometime!
Explorers
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Movies
Cha-Cha-Changes
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 17/10/2007 13:49:33Thought I'd give a quick heads up - I've added a few small things to the site:
- For registered users that have had their email confirmed there is a new checkbox on the "Add Comment" form. It says something like "" - and the label is very self-explanatory. As soon as someone else makes a comment against that blog post, an email will be sent to you. After you receive an email for a particular blog post - you won't get any more (so that you don't get flooded with emails when the Hoff goes nuts
)- There's an option on your options page that lets you . I put this in for people that might be browsing at work - and find some of our very tasteful avatar images disturbing (I cannot see why!).
Next up - gamertag icons as signatures and a comment count board. Oh - and I never actually got around to designing this site properly before it launched - so one day I hope to make it look barely presentable
# Posted in the General section
Xbox 360 Achievements Lead to Increased Sales
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 17/10/2007 09:32:10Updated by Joel Dixon at 18/10/2007 12:31:06
An interesting article came through my handy feed reader this afternoon - "Xbox 360 Achievements Lead to Higher Scores and Sales". I've made public my love for achievements before, so I actually read this item. Apart from referring to Achievements as "Accomplishments" (which shits me a little), the article did make a few interesting points:
I agree with this to a point - but it's important to remember correlation doesn't imply causation. Just because higher selling and higher rated games have a depth in Achievements - doesn't necessarily mean the Achievements the high sales and rating. I think if a game developer puts effort and planning into the achievements of a game - it's not the only factor that they're trying to get right.
Then again, if I had two next-gen systems and a game came out on all systems - I would probably buy it on the Xbox for the achievement points.
I completely agree with this point - as mentioned for Enchanted Arms - completion achievements can be a huge cop-out. I'd be happy if this research convinced a few more developers to put extra thought into the achievements they use.
But it depends on how they are counting this one (the actual source article is available for purchase, so I didn't check). If they mean 29% of games use only completion achievements - then that's no good. Put if 29% of total achievement points across all games are based on completion of a section of the game - it's a little lower than I would have thought. It's always good to receive a small chunk of achievement points for finishing a level, or game. It's when you get all of your points in this way that annoys me.
This is another interesting thought - though not true in my case. I have 5 completely unplayed Xbox 360 games, and I have taken steps to ensure I don't know what the achievements are until I start playing the game. In some cases I have a basic idea of what they'll be - but I much prefer to find out while playing the game as it makes that "achievement unlocked" much more sweeter when you're not expecting it. Like now:
sweet!
# Posted in the Gaming section and tagged as: Xbox 360
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