A few cool snowboarding teasers!

ACP certified!

I wrote my EMR Provincial Registration Exam through Alberta College of Paramedics last month on Sept. the 7th and have been eagerly waiting for my mark ever since. The test I took was over a span of 2 days in Red Deer. The first day was the written exam which was a 100 MC question test and the second day was a practical test where I had to stand in front of 2 examiners and go through a medical/trauma scenario within a 10 minute time frame. After a grueling 2 hours of waiting I found out that I passed the practical but had to wait 4-6 weeks before I got my written exam marks back.

So I waited and waited and waited and nothing ever came in the mail. I was about to give up and then I checked the mail on Friday after I got home and to my delight there was an ACP letter sitting in the mailbox. I was so happy yet so fearful to open it. But when I did I was so happy because I read the following line: "Dear Mr. Le: Congratulations you have successfully completed the EMR Provincial Registration Exam." Woohoo!!! Now I just have to pay them more money to Register as an EMR and perhaps I will look into getting my EMT through SAIT afterwards...we'll see if I have the time to do it though...

Side note: The trip to Red Deer was a bit stressful trying to cram in as much knowledge as I could before I had to write the written part. But it was also fun because I dragged my brother with me and we had a fun time chillin' in Red Deer's Marriot hotel that Friday night. The waiting before and after the practical exam was a killer on the nerves but worth it in the end!

VM Season 3!

Yay! The final season of one of my favorite television series is being released on DVD on the 23rd of October! It's too sad that a good show like this got booted from the CW. In my opinion it is much better than the new shows on CW such as Reaper. Oh well we (I) will be seeing more of Kristen Bell on Heroes this upcoming Monday...so the Universe is somewhat balanced again :)

Only In F'ing Canada....

I'm so mad after hearing about this story. You can read it here. Summary: the Canadian government has decided to tax all legal music downloads. Also the tax is going to be retroactive from Jan. 1996!

Why am I so mad? Because I actually use services like iTunes to get my music. I know what you guys are thinking..."he pays for his music?" Yes I do. Why? It is cheaper, quicker and overall more convenient then downloading it illegally. Also the quality is better than most illegally downloaded music and access to the music is almost instantaneous. To find a good torrent of the same album illegally is actually a lot more time consuming.

So what does this mean after it is all implemented? The price will be a bit higher for music on iTunes and could push people back to illegal downloading of music again. It will also mean more money for an already shady government that doesn't know how to manage its money in the first place. Oh, and a pissed of online music provider such as iTunes because they are now being taxed on something they sold 10 f*cking years ago!

The Importance of Stretching...

Stretching is always important :P

Snowboarding...

A brand new season of snowboarding is just around the corner and I cannot wait! I haven't bought any new gear, mostly because I don't need anything besides new pants. However I have just bought my Marmot Card and definitely cannot wait to hit the slopes again!

3:10 to Yuma

I haven't been to a movie in a while (Transformers!) and decided to catch one this past Friday with Tuyet. I Looked at the listings and nothing really caught my eyes besides 3:10 to Yuma, so we decided to go to that. And it's a good thing we did because this movie rocked! I would have to say that this has to be one of the best Western movies I have seen. The cast was amazing with Christian Bale, Russel Crowe, Ben Foster and Peter Fonda. Ben Foster as Charlie Prince was amazing. Foster sure has changed since his TV role on Flash Forward as Tucker James and he has built on his creepy bad guy character that he played in Hostage. I definitely recommend you see it if you haven't already!

Off to Seattle!

Tuyet and I are off to Seattle for the next 4 days. Why? We are going to see Daft Punk on the 29th and also catch a Mariners game on the 29th as well. For those days we aren't going to the games

I'm Back!!!

...or I hope I am. Where have I been? I've been around. Mostly on the evil Facebook and when I'm not on that I'm doing other things such:

-Finished my spring EMR class with flying colors at the end of June. Probably one of the most enjoyable experience of my academic life.
-Preparing to write my ACP test for EMR in September (So I can be a fully certified EMR in Alberta).
-Taking Abnormal Psych in the Summer Semester at the U.
-Start working as a lab assistant tomorrow at the U for credit and a reference letter!
-Went to a ton of Weddings in May and June.
-Going to Seattle this weekend with Tuyet to go and see Daft Punk in concert! I will also be catching a Mariner's game too! Go Ichiro!
-Playing Flag Football on the Venga Bus through the CSSC Recreational League.
-Playing Soccer on the Crazy 88's through the U of C Intramural League.

That's all I can think of now...

Spiderman 3: Looks Awesome!

JLH: Fantastic!

The commercial


Behind the Scenes of the commercial

Canon TX1

I want! I'll see how the reviews go and if they are good I'm definitely selling my 2 existing cameras to get this one! See specs on the Canon TX1here.

Weekend @ Fernie

Wow am I ever a ski bum this year! Since I've bought my board (early January) I have gone boarding 4 times and I am going again this weekend! The 4th time was in Fernie and I went there with Christian and Andrew. We decided to go there after I found a great deal online at Resorts of the Canadian Rockies. The deal was $99/person and it included a single day lift ticket and a one night stay at a hotel at the base of Fernie. Considering a lift ticket is around $70 this was a steal for lift ticket and one night accommodations.

We left Calgary at about 7PM and after a fun 2 1/2 hour drive we were at our lodgings at the Wolf's Den (or known to Chris and I as the Wold's Den). The room was your bare minimal. It had two double beds/bathroom and a mono tv. We had a great view...of the parking lot from our window since we were on the ground floor. The hallway wreaked of chlorine since the hot tub was only a few doors down from us. That night none of us had a good sleep due to uncomfortable mattresses and an alarm clock that always makes that noise when a cell phone receives a signal (I really don't know why we didn't pull that thing out of the wall!).

After what seemed like only a few hours of sleep (we were in bed for at least 7 hours) we showered, donned our boarding gear, checked out and headed for some expensive breakfast at the main lodge. For a bagel/egg/bacon/lettuce/tomato breakfast sandwich+bottle of orange juice it was $9.75!!! Good ol' rip off ski lodge pricing. But it was actually pretty good and filling ...I don't know if it was $9.75 good though. Then we met up with Chris' friend Brian and went boarding for the rest of the day!

Boarding at the top of the mountain was insanely fun. There was so much powder everywhere and the view was incredible. We did have difficulty navigating our way through the harder blue runs, but it was also a good learning experience. By the end of the day I was so tired and sore that I couldn't even make simple turns from heel to toe!

We called it quits by about 3PM, dropped Brian off and had some eats at A&W. After that we headed to Frank Slide. It was way too windy when we got out to explore the slide, so we just took a few quick pictures and drove off. It was a really amazing place as there were rocks as big as a house on the side of the road from the slide!

I got home at about 6PM (another 2 1/2 hour return trip) and basically passed out at the end of the night. What a great trip, I think I will definitely have to do this again next March (hopefully the special will be on again). Perhaps get a convoy of friends out there for a 2 day trip even. That would definitely rock the Kasbah.

P.S. I will upload the trip pictures to Flickr in a few days when I am less busy (or lazy)