A Day, A Week, Hemant, A Year

I used to download music. Most of this occurred during university when funds were limited, and acquiring music illegally was really the only way to stay current. My downloads weren’t excessive like other people I knew, but it was enough that I didn’t need a music budget. Once I finished my run as a student and started my career, music downloading eventually ended for me. I could now afford to buy music and was happy to pay the artists for their work. I was happy, the artists were happy, and the record companies were happy – everything was perfect.

So there I was, happily buying and listening to my compact discs. Then, as it constantly does, technology got smaller, faster and cheaper. Huge capacity hard drives were becoming dirt cheap and portable music devices could now hold entire music collections. The music digital revolution was underway and I found myself in the middle of it.

People were now transferring their music CDs to their computers which would act as their hub for listening to tunes. CDs were becoming irrelevant. Over the last year I started ‘ripping’ all of my music CDs to my computer. It was a relief to finish my collection that is in excess of four hundred discs. Now after I purchase a new CD, the first thing I do is pop it into my computer and transfer its contents. Once done, the disc usually ends up in a box in my basement. Now the new songs are available on my home stereo through my wireless network, or are ready to hit the road on my Dell DJ.

Then it happened. I bought the new Delirium disc, ‘Chimera’, threw it into my computer – and nothing. The music played fine, but transferring the songs to my computer was a no-go. After a bit of kicking and cursing I took a look at the CD case and noticed a special logo – ‘copy protected’. WTF?

At that moment I vowed to check for this logo before buying a CD. Sounds like a good plan, but I can tell you that I have forgotten to do this almost everytime. I went a while before falling into this trap again. This time it was ‘Honeycomb’ by Frank Black (frontman for the Pixies). This time it really pissed me off since I had recently purchased my Dell DJ and did the majority of my music listening through this device. I owned this disc for about two weeks before I actually listened to it. I’m sure I could have found a hack to get the music onto my computer, but I shouldn’t have to. I bought this disc legally, and was unable to listen to it the way I wanted to.

So what did I do? I downloaded the CD illegally of the internet (actually I don’t know if it is considered illegal if I own the disc). I just wonder what will happen the next time I go to buy a CD, and do notice the ‘copy protected’ logo? Am I going to buy it? Or am I just going to say, screw it, and download it? Even though I may not have agreed with the ways record labels were handling the music revolution, I was willing to follow the rules until they figured everything out. But if their solution to piracy is punish the customers who are willing to pay for the music, I don’t think I want to be part of that solution.

For further reading, check out this article Copy-protection Turning Fans Off.

I knew before I started my new job that it was going to be ‘fast paced’ – that’s pretty much how it was sold to me. I found myself excited to be part of a team that would constantly push the limits of my brain and leverage the cutting edge technology that the world is constantly bombarded with. It’s not that my previous job was a cake-walk – the last year consisted of pushing out a system that high-priced consultants said would be impossible. Six months of sixty hour weeks and a huge team effort, we were able to successfully implement the system. I knew I was ready for the next step.

After my first week at the new company, I knew what they meant by fast-paced. In daily stand-up meetings (where we actually do have the meeting standing up – a part of the Extreme Programming methodology) it was not out of the ordinary to hear people saying things like, “we managed to get it working at 3:00 last night”. And these people don’t say it as if it was a bad thing, or in a comlaining tone. They like it. This was one of the main reasons I wanted in this company – they only hire developers who are genuinely passionate about technology. Everyone is always running around. My team lead will usually stop by my office to see how things are going. After talking for about ten minutes or so he’ll finish his last sentence while running out of my office cause he has to be somewhere else. Seriously, this happens every time.

With my previous company, I never had any code I wrote actually go into production for at least three years. Not that it wasn’t good enough or anything, but just because the projects were so large and controlled. At my new place, I had stuff go to production in less than three weeks. We release software patches and upgrades weekly. And now, I have a major issue assigned to me that has to be ready for 6:00 pm Monday. For a guy who is still trying to figure out where scratch pads are stocked, that’s quite a bit of pressure. But it does feel good to jump right into everything and get something accomplished.

It is definitely like night and day between the two companies. I don’t think one way is better than the other, but they are just very different. It will definitely be cool to be doing things that are pretty much the same, but just in a completely different manner.

I am going to pose a question – was E.T. a Jedi? Some of you may be thinking, WTF? This may sound like an outrageous question with an obvious answer, but there is evidence that he was in fact, a Jedi. Let me take a moment to state my case as to why I would answer this question with an unequivocal ‘yes’.

Srong evidence exists in both ‘Star Wars : The Phantom Menace’ and ‘E.T. The Extra-terrestrial’. Fans with a keen eye would have noticed that E.T.’s race is represented in the Galactic Senate of the Star Wars universe. In ‘Phantom’ this is seen when a motion for a vote of non-confidence is raised during a session of congress. If you haven’t noticed this, look to the bottom left of the screen once the motion is raised.

Such evidence also exists in ‘E.T.’ When E.T. and the kids are out for Hallowe’en in the movie, E.T sees a child dressed up in a Yoda outfit and is drawn towards him, repeatedly saying, ‘home’ and pointing at him. So this would suggest that E.T. recognized Yoda. Obviously he didn’t know Yoda personally since E.T. was set in the late 20th century, and the events of Star Wars took place a long time ago. But it is safe to say that E.T. simply knows of Yoda since he is legendary. It may even be possible that E.T. has communed with Yoda after he became one with the force.

The last piece of evidence is that E.T. clearly has Jedi powers. In the movie he is able to do fantastic stunts such as levitate objects and influence people with his mind. If you ask me, that sounds awfully similar to the Jedi we have seen in the Star Wars movies. The assumption was that all of E.T.’s race had such powers, but now that assumption may not be warranted.

This question is really up for debate since there is no documentation to support the ‘E.T. – Jedi’ theory. I just ask that you open your mind to the possibility. The evidence is there for everyone to see.

Before I make my Raptors conspiracy theory public, I just want to make clear that there is no evidence to substantiate what I am about to say. In fact, once you read this you will probably have a strong sense that I suffer from Paranoid Schizophrenia. But based on the recent behavior of Raptors management, there is clearly no other viable explanation for what we have seen. I believe that there is a massive conspiracy between the NBA and Maple Leaf Sports and Enterainment to sabotage the Toronto Raptors basketball club as to get them out of Canada and into the United States.

You may be thinking this is crazy, but let’s take a look what has happened in the last few years.

1) Rob Babcock is hired as Raptors General Manager despite major objections by team superstar, Vince ‘Air Canada’ Carter. This may not seem like a huge deal, but keeping a team superstar happy is a big priority. I mean if they are not happy, they are not going to stick around. Not only did they hire someone VC objected to, they really stuck it to him by not even interviewing his first choice – Julius Erving.

2) Rob Babcock drafts Rafael Araujo 8th overall in the 2004-2005 NBA draft. Anyone who knew anything about basketball knew this was an insane draft. Araujo wasn’t expected to go before 17 and there is no logical reason for this pick. As a centre, ‘Hoffa’ has averaged 0.70 points per game and 0 blocks per game. In short – a waste of a good draft opportunity.

3) Rob Babcock trades Vince Carter to the New Jersey Nets for Eric William, Aaron Williams, Alonzo Mourning, and 2 first round draft picks. This may sound like a lot, but VC is in his prime, and the 3 guys the Raps got are on their way out. And to top things off, Mourning was thrown in with the intention that he would never play for the Raps. Well, trading the one good reason anyone watched the Raptors was definitely not going to help the team. Even though the Raps were losing, the Air Canada Centre still filled just to see what VC may do. I don’t think people are going to show to watch the two guys we got for him sit on the bench (which they do).

4) Rob Babcock says that Alonzo Mourning is in no health to play for the Raptors and buys his contract out for $10 million. Mourning signs with the Miami Heat, the team he had been wanting to finish his career with and possibly win a title since Shaq was now there. Mourning is far from being of bad health as he plays a major role in getting the Heat to the western semi-finals.

5) Rob Babcock let’s Donyell Marshall’s contract expire without making a trade, even though his worth had increased big time due to his recent play. Marshall made it clear he was not going to re-sign with the Raps, yet no trade is made. Instead he is kept for the entire season and a good trade opportunity is lost.

6) I believe Babcock thought he was sabotaging the Raptors’ 7th pick in the 2005-2006 NBA draft by picking Charlie Villanueava, a ‘potential cancer’ as many analysts were calling him. Again the Raptors’ choice was not supposed to go until around 15. However, Babcock’s pick may backfire since Villanueva’s performance has been impressive. We’ll have to wait for the season to progress a little more before we make a call on this one. Note – I personally didn’t mind this pick and was looking forward to CV on the Raps.

That’s my six top reasons for my conspiracy theory. Many of you may just think this is the work of a really bad General Manager. I don’t claim this to be impossible. But you have to ask yourself this question – if everyone in the known universe can see how bad Rob Babcock is doing, why does he continue to work for the organization. The reason my friends is that the NBA wants out of Canada. With their experiment failing miserably on the Canadian west coast, and the inability to keep or attract any stars to Canada’s biggest city, I think the NBA brass has cut some sort of deal with MLSE to get the Raptors re-located ASAP. So Babcock may actually not be as atrocious as he looks – he may just be the NBA’s patsy.

As I sit here watching the Toronto Raptors get completely demolished by the Detroit Pistons, I’m tempted to get back to what I have spent the entire day doing. I bit the bullet last night and decided to watch ‘Revenge of the Sith’. There was a couple reasons really; first, neither my parents had seen it and I thought it would be nice to experience it with them; second, I haven’t seen it since at least June, and quite frankly was having withdrawal. Seeing it six times in the theatre clearly can be classified as an addiction.

I woke up this morning excited to get to the bonus features of the ‘Sith’ DVD. The disk is packed full of documentaries, deleted scenes, and other great stuff. I thought I would watch a couple features today and slowly work through the disk during the coming week. Well, lets just say that isn’t going to happen. As I watched the deleted scenes I found myself completely hooked. As I finished of the cut scenes, I moved onto the first documentary, then the next, then the next, and so on. Everything on this disk is completely fabulous.

The deleted scenes have been completed just for the DVD as if they were left in the movie. The side story that was cut of Padme, Bail Organa, and Mon Mothma conspiring to start the Rebel Alliance would have been cool to see in the final film, but I do understand Lucas’s reasons to leaving them out.

The highlight of the disc is the full-length documentary ‘Within a Minute’ that follows the complete production of 49 seconds of the final battle between Vader and Obi-Wan including everything from the catering team providing food to the crew to the guys at ILM putting together the digital shots. Something like 70,000 man-hours was put into this 49 second clip and you really get a sense of the scale of this movie.

Once I made my way through the rest of the bonus features, I decided I couldn’t stop there. I threw the first disk back in and watched the movie again with the audio commentary by George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Rob Coleman, John Knoll, and Roger Guyett. I love the audio commentaries on DVDs that are done properly. Sometimes you get a bunch of fluff and nonsense, not getting any real information or insight into the movie. ‘Sith’ definitely delivers giving you some great information including everything from backstory to pointing out a kitchen sink flying into a space cruiser.

Now that I have completely exhausted everything on this fine DVD I am now left feeling anxious to view everything on my home theatre system. Seeing the movie again definitely was sweet, but it just doesn’t do it justice when watching it on such a small screen with weak sound. This movie is big and is meant to be experienced in a big way. Since my abode isn’t going to be set up for another three weeks I guess I can look forward to watching my Raptors this NBA season. And as they are currently down by 31 points with just a few seconds left, I can definitely say that watching the Raps is not going to be as enjoyable as watching ‘Star Wars’. Hey, what can I say? Sith happens.

I missed Blogging for the last couple days due to my current dilemma of not really having an address. On Tuesday I felt a great disturbance in the force and decided I better stay in Saskatoon. I managed to get a hold of Jason and Cheryl and they were generous enough to take me in for the night. Right out of the office I headed for Futureshop since the greatest movie in the history of movies was released on DVD that day – ‘Star Wars : Revenge of the Sith’. I had been waiting for that day for quite some time, and now the complete saga is in my possession – furthering my journey to unstoppability.

Once again my Jedi senses paid off – Wednesday morning was brutal due to snow and freezing rain. That could have made for treacherous drive. As the day neared a finish fatigue had set in, killing my desire to drive back to Wilkie, plus the Toronto Raptors season opener was only an hour away (Wilkie was at least 90 minutes away – you see the problem). Once again I placed a call to my billets and they graciously obliged to take me in. The Raps game was good, even though they picked up a loss.

Thursday at the office was good as I continue to settle into my new job. Day’s end arrived and I found myself back in Wilkie. As I was unloading my car the last thing I grabbed was the unopened ‘Episode III’ DVD I had bought only two days ago. At this moment I found myself in a serious predicament – do I watch this fine piece of cinema on my father’s 27 inch bargain television with stereo sound, or do I wait another month to watch it in proper fashion on my 50 inch LCD rear project Grand Wega television in glorious 6.1 digital surround sound? What would the Jedi Council suggest?