Rob versus the employement agency

I fear for the future of Canadian youth using job finding services. Lets take my experiences yesterday, for example. I met with his guy called Francis, who I thought would help me find a job resource center, basically a place where I could print off resumes without having to be charged tall dollars. He, on the other hand, was an overzelous social worker with dubious mental facilities. I became susipicious of his abilities when he started to show me how to use the internet.
"Well, Robert, this website can show us how to find work. Lets look up counsellor, for example, that's my job."
He types it up and the screen for various counselling jobs appears on the screen.
"Ineresting," he mutters, and studies the job requirements for a couple of minutes before I politely cough.

He showed his true incompetence when he phoned me up today.
"Is this Robert?"
"Yes?"
"This is Francis, I have good news for you!"
"Uh... okay?"
"You have been approved for EI! Congratulations! There is a snag, however. Because of this, we can not process your claim through us. You must go through CorPro."
"I'm a little confused here. I didn't apply for EI. Are you sure?"
"Yes, positive. So, you know where Corpro is, correct? We need to schedule an apoinment as soon as possible"
"Wait, wait... I didn't go there for EI. I just wanted a printer, remember."
And then Francis gets a little beligerent.
"Robert, this is a good thing, I explained this to you, you *have* EI! You can get subsidized for a job!" He pauses for a minute. Silence.
"Wait, you are Robert, correct?"
"Yeah, this is Rob."
"I'm so sorry. I thought that you were Steve."
"Steve? You called me Robert all throughout the conversation. What's going on?"
"I'm so sorry about this." A rueful pause. "I'm so sorry." He then hangs up.

Rob nerds out on Kinja

Classified under:RSS,
I've always liked the idea of an RSS feed, but I've never liked the execution of RSS feeders. Yeah, it's handy to see all your favourite blogs updated in one place, but I never dug having to click through a bunch of tabs, like a message board to read someone's blog. I like reading everything in one fell swoop, like what livejournal offers. Thankfully, kinja offers does this, and offers RSS feeds in one webpage using a digets format. It's far from perfect, tho'. Unlike a service such as bloglines, kinja offers ads. It's not a huge distraction, but the ads are tad oversized and distrupt reading flow. I wish that the page would offer an RSS feed as well, so I could combine it with RSS Digest so that I could add a side bar either here or to MKZ so that I can keep all my webpages centralized. Gripes aside, I recommend it to anyone that hasn't used an RSS reader. If you're interested, you can read my daily blogs and give it a shot. I'd be interested in checking out everyone's list or bloglines, if they have one.

Interesting Nintendo Revolutions rumours

Classified under:rumours,Nintendo Revolution
Here's the juicy stuff from the forum, and I don't think that you guys deserve the pain of having to register for scant info.

The controller will be wireless; he’s right about that. As you also know, the Xbox 360’s controllers will be wireless as well. Where do you think they got this idea? That’s why Nintendo is still trying to determine what to show at E3. From what I’ve heard, they will show the design of the system as well as games. I’ll tell you about the software later though.

The controller will also be pressure sensitive. The pressure you put into it will determine certain things, such as movement. This is another optional capibility. Someone on Nintendo’s board mentioned this months ago. They said that “touching is good, but feeling is better.” This may sound strange, but it provides great controls. Racing games will really be helped by this control setting.

The Nintendo Revolution will also include voice control more advanced than anything seen so far. Nintendogs is just the beginning. To achieve this, Nintendo sent us headsets (similar to ones you can use for Xbox Live) that are wirelessless communicating with the console. Imagine being able to merely call for an airstrike or reload your gun by giving out commands orally. So far, we have put this feature to the test the most; as you can see, I’m excited over this feature.

...As Nintendo has stated before, the system will be online. In my eyes, the online system they have set up is the most revolutionary part of the system. While Sony and Microsoft are busy turning their systems into trojan horses for their other electronic devices, Nintendo is going to use the Revolution for direct communication with gamers. The only way I can describe it is as an internet service. Imagine turning it on and checking your mail on the system. You see previews and demos of DS and Revolution games that you can download. A magazine similar to Nintendo Power will be exclusive to the system, and you will be able to access it on the Revolution’s homepage. As you check you mail, you will also see various invitations from gamers on your buddy list who want to play you. There are so many other ways this is going to be used. Once the Revolution comes out, there will be no reason to hang out on message boards. Message boards as well as chat rooms will be available on the Revolution so that gamers can discuss and challenge each other all day. And the best thing is that the entire thing is totally free and easy to use. Why play Madden on Xbox Live when you’ll be able to play it for free on the Revolution with much better services?

IGN dimisses this as bullshit, but it sounds interesting to me. Hopefully Nintendo reveals some stuff at this year's E3.

Why I love Miwako

Classified under:personal,
I e-mailed my good friend Miwako a couple of weeks ago, the first time since she moved back to Japan. In the e-mail I told her of Anson's habit of having to have me go with him *everywhere*, even if it's a short trip to the store that's literally outside the door. Miwako, replied with her usual wit.

From your story, I felt Anson is like Japanese girls because most Japanese girls go everywhere with friends. Even though when they go to washroom. ha ha

Thankfully, Anson doesn't require to hold his dick when he takes a piss.

Why I don't watch movies with Anson

After having Anson fall asleep during Sin City and cutting our screening of Oldboy short (in Chinese subtitles, no less) to get some sleep, I have officially vowed never to watch a movie with Anson again. I have no clue how he couldn't be enthralled by Oldboy. For one hour, I had to listen to him say, over and over again, "I don't understand, Rob". Sometimes I wonder why I bother introducing my friends to cinema.

The Flaming Lips: Live @ Coachella

Classified under:Flaming Lips,music
Those who know me are undoubtably aware that I really dig recordings of live music. Be it small venues or super crowds, there's nothing quite like listening to the band interacting with the audience and making subtle changes to their music to fit the venue and situation. I'm also a huge fan of the Flaming Lips who are famous for putting on fantastic live shows as well. Thanks to the power of soulseek, the heir apparent to audiogalaxy, I've managed to get a fantastic live track of the Lips live at Coachella. Not only is the recording fantastically clean, but manages to capture the fun and playfulness of Wayne Coyne rocking it up with the audience. Listening to the call and answer portion of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots gives me goosebumps everytime that I listen to it.