Archive for February, 2008

Here's what you're hearing on air today.

    - Oscars, schmoscars.  This is what I really think of the show. Missed it? Here's the whole thing in 60 seconds.

    - The best moment of the night was when Jon Stewart brought the Original Song winner back to get a second shot at her speech.

    - Want to catch some of the Oscar winners? Check out the movie listings here at 95Crave.com.  Personally, I have La Vie En Rose lined up to watch this week.  Marion Cotillard won for Best Actress and it's out on DVD.

    - If you liked Heidi Klum's dress, Coke is giving you a chance to win it!

    - Juno has been such a hit, maybe they could film a sequel in Argentina, where a 16 year old has been pregnant 3 times, and has 7 children!

    - Jimmy Kimmel has exacted his revenge on Sarah Silverman.  He's F#$*ing Ben Affleck.(a little NSFW)

    - The NHL Trade Deadline is tomorrow. What will the Canucks do?

    - Feeling springy with this weather?  Ballet flats are still rocking the style trends. In Toronto, it's still all about boots and shovels.

    - One of the most popular videos on YouTube this week is the 3 year old explaining Star Wars.

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Blah.. blah .. blah .. blah. Oscars schmoscars. Do we really care?

No. But it is fun to watch. And bitch.

Best line of the night to Jon Stewart: “You know what we do in commercial breaks? Huddle together and make catty comments about what you at home are wearing.”

Nice. Perfect. Cause I know you were all like “Who?” and “Eww” when Tilda Swinton won. And when Daniel Day Lewis was interviewed on the red carpet you took a ruler up to the screen to measure his hoops and recoiled in horror when his date’s dress was fully revealed.

Okay, nastiness out of the way, we all know it’s really about the parties afterwards. My son Zacharie will do his best to demonstrate how the night will go for many of the nominees.

Outfit picked by Rachel Zoe, hair done by Ken Paves.

Damn, that LiLo knows how to show a boy a good time.

If ya want a really fun way to watch the show, get on Twitter. Everyone is randomly firing up feedback and one liners and exclamations and disappointments. They say the whole world is watching, and if you’re on twitter, it really feels like it’s true.

You know, stuff like this gem from Meg Fowler: “I’d like to accept my award for Bourne Ultimatum, but I’m busy f**king Matt Damon!”

See ya next year!

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Today I landed my first big voice over gig. 75 local tags to run for Western Financial (an insurance company in Western Canada).

My work consisted of me standing in a studio for 2 hrs saying “In (city) call (agent name) at (phone number).”

75 times. Well more, like 250 times when you throw in screw ups and retakes.

For my efforts today, (after agent commission) I will be paid about $1000. Such are the spoils of the voice over artist.

Next month, I will be doing some work for Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Again, I will be paid an endorsement fee.

Now I already get a good salary for my job at 95Crave, so these freelancing gigs are supposed to be gravy cash for Jen and I to take vacations, fix the house, or save for Zacharie’s education.

For the next 16 months, I want to do something different.

All my freelancing money will go to Team Diabetes.

Anything I get outside of my regular work, will be donated to the cause. I want to run in the Easter Island Marathon in June 2009 with Team Diabetes, and need to raise around $10 000 for it to happen. Now, before I’ve even really started, I’ve already got nearly $2000 in the bank.

So here’s the challenge I’m putting out to those hiring people for commercials, voice work, hosting and endorsement gigs - hire me.

You have to pay that money to a host anyway, pay it to me and you’ll actually be giving it all to charity.

You know where to reach me.

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Grab some sun and your radio, here's what's on today:

    - The plans for Nat and Drew's $95 000 Wedding are well under way. Christina and Chris will have everything looked after, including a delicious cake from Cupcakes. It will be big, but I don't think it will be this big!

    - Taking her top off has helped Lindsay Lohan get her career back.

    - See the picture of JLo that had one blogger saying "she's starting to look like a male Jennifer Lopez impersonator with a beer gut."

    - Have a cold? Use ColdFX?  Here's a $4 off coupon. And here's $10 off at Canadian Tire!

    - Training for the Sun Run or the Vancouver Marathon? You need a good running bra.  Check out a number of different models in action to see which is right for you.

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We often bitch and moan and complain about service we receive from big companies, the government, airlines etc. But do we ever stop and give them applause when they do something right?

Probably not, because we expect it to be done right in the first place. But just as you may choose to tip 20% instead of 10% for extra special service, I’m going to give kudos to Shaw for their handling of our internet problem at home.

Yes, I played the “media card” and got a little bit quicker attention than the regular Joe, but when Jen and I talked about how we were treated on the phone, by the techs who came by and how the problems were solved, we agreed the team was excellent.

Our internet has been intermittent, we were credited 5 days service. It still didnt get better, so they suggested a new modem. When that new modem was broken, and I mentioned how quitting the internet for 5 days for me would be harder than LiLo quitting booze, a Shaw tech called my radio request line offering to help, even though I hadnt mentioned Shaw as my ISP.

Last night a Shaw tech came by and solved our problem, this morning another group of Shaw techs came by to sort out wiring issues the previous fellow couldn’t solve. When they found we had old splitters and cable, they left replacements behind - all gratis.

Oh, and they’ve credited us with 2 free weeks because of the inconvenience.

Now you could argue that what happened is what should have happened. I had an issue and a company dealt with it properly. We’re so used to getting screwed by these big companies, that when they do something ordinary it becomes extraordinary. However, in this instance, the techs were positive, happy and the company exceeded our expectations.

Thank you Shaw for a job well done. (Disclaimer: Your experience may differ)

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My pal, Carolyn, loves to throw quotes up on her blog. So borrowing her inspiration, I’m dropping one on you today.

“Your children need your presence more than your presents.”
Jesse Jackson

I’ll try to remember that one around December this year.

Parent Hacks has the quote as a part of a post on how to find more time to spend with your family.

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Halfway through, here's what's on the radio:

    - The Oscars go this week and Paris Hilton has been banned. Lol.

    - Need some grape juice for the weekend?  Check out this new Wine Wednesday feature.

    - Get ready for a spooky total eclipse of the moon tonight.

    - Gas is soaring. Again.  Some say expect $1.50/l this summer.

    - Our little guy, Zacharie, loves books by Sandra Boynton.  Here's a fun story about the author.

    - Who's buying Britney Spears' perfume?  Everyone in Britain.

    - There are campaign signs up and down Granville St in Vancouver, yet no election has been called yet.  What do the people in Shaughnessy know that we dont?

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In August, 2003 I ran the Iceland Marathon as a member of Team Diabetes.

I raised $5000 and got to pound my way through 42k around Reykjavik. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Since then I’ve continuously received email updates from Team Diabetes and have been tempted to do runs in Brazil, or Rome, but the schedules never worked with the time off I can take from work.

Today I got an email update from Rebecca Taylor with a marathon that fits my schedule and fulfills another lifelong adventure dream.

As you may have seen on the Team Diabetes website, Easter Island in June 2009 has been added to the schedule as an alumni-only event. The Easter Island event offers full marathon, half marathon and 10K distance options.

Are you kidding me? A marathon on Easter frickin Island? SIGN.ME.UP. Maybe.

Because here is the fine print. The fund raising requirement is $7500. $2500 of it is required by June. That’s a lot of money. I’d need a lot of help.

I firmly believe in the Team Diabetes cause, education can prevent us from getting hit by it in our adulthood, and many children have no choice having to live with daily insulin shots. Being a new father, I am all over preventing diseases that Zacharie could face.

So. I have a question. Would you be prepared to help? Late last summer I scraped together almost $1500 in less than a week to do Lance Armstrong’s Tour of Courage. That was huge.

So I need to know, would you all step up again? I’d need to average $500 / month for the 16 months between now and the run. Now that doesn’t sound too tough.

So I need to know if you’d be interested in helping out.

Maybe a $50/month donation between now and then? Would you add a donation badge to your own blog? Would you help collect prizes for raffles and Easter Egg hunts? What would *you* do to help out?

Comment below.

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A new feature here on TBAB, Wine Wednesday!

I’ll talk you through something Jen and I have had in the past week with enough time for you to grab yourself a brown bag of the stuff in time for the weekend!

This week’s pick is Penfolds Bin 2.

The Penfolds website says:
Bin 2 is a multi-regional blend drawing fruit from warmer vineyard sites including Barossa Valley, Clare Valley, McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek.

The two varieties complement each other well, making an easy drinking wine which is not overtly concentrated, but has plenty of fruit, texture and flavour length.

Originally failing to find favour in Australia the 1980 and 1981 vintages became an immediate commercial success in the United Kingdom.

We had it twice this week once with Chorizo Lasagna, the other with Chocolate Cupcakes.

The Penfolds Bin 2 is a Shiraz Mourvedre blend making it peppery, smoky and smooth.

The lasagna is my own recipe. Just a can of basic tomatos with chorizo sausage meat instead of ground beef. I dont spice it up beyond that, the sausage meat has it all done already. Layer it with noodles, ricotta and smoked mozarella and you are in heaven. The pepper and mustiness of the wine just wound it’s way through the layers with ease.

I LOVE this wine with the cupcakes - REAL cupcakes, with thick creamy butter icing. Take a lipsmack of icing and cake, a swig of the Bin 2 and swirl the whole mess together in your mouth. Heaven. Absolute heaven.

Penfolds Bin 2 is $22.99 at your favourite BCLS.

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I’m going unplugged.

I wish it was a reference to some acoustic version of Guitar Hero, but alas I’m referring to my connection to the internets.

For the better part of a month, our internet connection with Shaw has been spotty. Not the fastest, and dropping off frequently. The drop off means getting under the table, resetting the modem, resetting the router, waiting. Climbing back up, seeing it’s not working and doing it again. Even once it starts working, 15 mins later I’m crouched down doing the reset dance again.

We’ve called Customer Service a couple of times, once getting a credit for 5 days service because of our troubles (nice!).

BUT… (there’s always one of those)

The last call was resolved with Shaw suggesting we exchange our modem for a newer model, free of charge (nice!). Jen went and did that today, brought them home and plugged everything in.

Dead.

Nothing.

Zip.

She calls tech support and they have her under the desk doing all sorts of cable origami and nothing works. So they’re going to send a tech out to us (nice!).

On Sunday (ouch!). Today is Wednesday. 5 days with no series of tubes connecting us to the world.

At first I thought this would be great. A chance to format the hard drive that is my life. Get off the grid, take a breath of fresh air and re-evaluate how I have let technology monopolize my life.

The problem is, I’m not the only one it monopolizes. Work doesnt phone me when it needs something, it emails me. Friends don’t call, they Facebook. I don’t phone my parents and chat, they get updates on Zacharie through this blog and his photo blog.

With no internets, that all disappears. Gone.

Thankfully we have 2 neighbourly neighbours who leave some ports open so the whole ‘hood can get online. It’s not the most reliable of connections, so it’s nothing I can depend on to get serious blog / audio / video / research work done. Instead I’ll be able to just hop on the open port and get in a couple of email checks to stay in touch with work, but that’s about it.

For 5 long, hard days, I will be off the grid (sorta).

I’m looking forward to it (sorta).

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