Andrew's Lunch Blog

Excuse me, have we met before?

2006-01-05T15:59:00.000-05:00

Okay, okay - hello all! Hi Mama!

Been a month, huh? Well, same-old, same-old.

Been quite a few lunches in that time. Yup, quite a few. Can't say as I remember that much about all of them. Work is still offline - going through net withdrawal. Hockey (no link necessary: no updates), whose political fanaticism has been mostly buried by the holidays hasn't even mentioned the election in weeks. MovieMama is getting close to show-time (pun), and may be delivering at Oshawa General.... Doppler is leaving for sunnier shores in about a month, hope he can remember the name of the hotel he's staying at. Dodgy has about 3 more weeks left before she flies the coop and tries to put a little English on it.

Diddy is still Diddy.

Have a good new year, everybody!

You know, I would've posted sooner, but.....

2005-12-07T16:54:00.000-05:00

No excuse. None at all. Okay, I was sick for a while, I admit that. In fact, I'm still coughing.

Hockey is almost as out of date as me, but at least we're online.

I'm working hard to keep my readers (thanks Mama!), at least as long as those reader(s) are around.

It's been so long, I can't think of what all is new. Today, I was hunting down the latest political news (and gas prices), but I was hungry again in 30 minutes.

We talked for a while, got the wheels turning, but Hockey is still brave. We tried to save the environment, but it got too gross. If those Kyotans really want change, they need to hire a Canadian. Superman had the right idea, but wouldn't the mass reduction cause the earth to eventually move away from the sun? We'd hate Kyoto then: we'd need greenhouse gases to keep warm!

Something to think about.......

The Morning After the Night Before

2005-11-24T14:39:00.000-05:00

Cough cough cough ahem cough. I need another night-cap.

So, lunch today. Oh yeah, right. Lunch. I basically showed up just in time for lunch today, my new-call taking skills are a little lacking this afternoon. Some super-spicy homemade chili I can't taste, a big glob of ooey-gooey cheese, and the whole gang!

Work of course rushed right in, and Hockey was halfway done by the time le micro-onde was done with my tupperware delight! Doppler joined us, after making cruel and unnecessary comments on Hockey's, er, height, and then stealing some chili.

How many Googles must each man search down, before you count each hit a man? Yes and how many spams must a man read through, before that Nigerian gives him cash?

Baby safety the topic of the day. The economics of fear, and the toppling morals of our youth. Hockey swears his future kids will be the coolest on the street, and Doppler was just shocked Diddy's never seen Santa.

MovieMama said Markville is not the North Pole of choice, but the Santa over there sure is friendly! I think I'll pass.

Dodgy had some chili and gave it a passing grade in between spazzing out. Hockey and Work came in to squeak what was going on, and then Lunch once again sadly came to a close.

I'm feeling much better now, so hopefully I will be alert enough to report on tomorrow's exciting lunch goings-on!

I'm Back, Baby!

2005-11-22T16:05:00.000-05:00

Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping, into the Future! Woohoohoohoo!

Yes, it's been a while. Welcome Back!

I'm glad you can all take time out of your busy schedules to visit me here; some of you may even be happy to note that after the upgrade, Doppler's computer is now able to handle the high-powered wit of Lunch!

So, over the past few days we've had lunch. Today, again we had lunch. Goopy cheese goodness! A quick wiki-note, a quick Encarta ref. We moved on.

The Bird Flu is scaring us all - some companies stand to make a killing. Not sure why they don't hatch though - shouldn't they breed like rabbits? I can really picture the Aflac duck lying dead on a sauna floor. "Quack, Quack, cough!" "What's wrong?" "Bird Flu."

There was some brief talk about a whale, and some talk about the lowly capybara.

But the real excitement started after lunch. Doppler was being his usual charming #9 self, and wouldn't let me take Dodgy to the store, since I JOKINGLY said I only had a few minutes left. #8 let loose, and even Hockey's #6 good looks couldn't resolve things.

Apparently MovieMama has moved on to other sites, so I guess I'll have to keep updating. Here's hoping tomorrow's lunch has some modicum of excitement to report on. At least, it'll be something to talk about.

And I just have to repeat Work's joke about going outside. See, it didn't happen. Hockey was too busy not buying a hairbrush, and by the time Diddy found the drive I received that was exactly where it was supposed to be, even FabFoto had come back inside. So the two non-smokers didn't really need to go out for a smoke. Of course, as soon as my back was turned, he went out to get some "Frescair". Yes, I'm not the only one.

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny!

2005-11-16T15:13:00.000-05:00

Actually, not Johnny: Hockey. After a few short days, and a few long hours in small airports, then a bumpy ride home with a new friend, Hockey has once again beamed back into our Lunches!

After a long delay, lunch finally got off the ground. Today's topic: mostly airlines. Channel 9 rulez! Way to go, CTV. Those Freedom Guys are still looking for a little more asphalt. Wind=turbulence, even on the ground. If this plane's a' rockin'...... ABC's new lineup: Desperate Engineers.

Classic Trek joined us momentarily - Scotty could get you to SD in no time! Unless of course the transmitters were taken hostage.

That pretty much finished us up. To the cold winds we went, we saw, we shivered. Then returned to our merry work. Happy Wednesday!

You know the Douglas clan motto?

2005-11-15T11:33:00.000-05:00

The Douglas clan motto is "Jamais Arriere." That means never behind. Now, as I sit here counting, this Lunch Blog is Tuesday morning. Technically not lunch yet, so maybe this can count as Monday. That still leaves me a day short. My branch of the Douglas tree has always been known in the family as "Toujours Arriere."

Actually, after Hockey's moving Friday post, the usual brand of silliness and linkage seemed a little inappropriate. Yes, we had a moment of silence (a real moment, like I mean quick!), a moving rendition of Taps (very hard to find a system with speakers for the search), and back to work. We were a couple of minutes late, but a Diddy-dude chose that moment to walk in and by the time the clock was noticed again, we were already late. Doppler delivered a speech anyway, and we were off!

We were a little short-staffed on Friday as well, so that can be some excuse. Monday continued Friday's bold tradition, hence the Tuesday=Monday posting.

I know there were some jokes, Work and I enjoyed lunch - I avoided getting stabbed, and even ate another Two-Bite Brownie. People were moved, filing cabinets were cursed, and we tried to see if a CBL control center was possible. The infallible WNN went down, and I was dying to post this link which I was finally able to do. Yes, I like it a BIT (that doesn't get old!)

Honestly I don't remember much else - we were pretty busy. I got a printer going in receiving, csc's much faster now. Much faster when you take the gum-wrapper out, although it did tell me my fortune. And with all the internal stuff, I walked back with envelope about 50 times.

Work agreed posting my drinking joke would be a bad idea, so you'll just have to wonder. Ta!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!

2005-11-10T17:34:00.000-05:00

In honour of our dear missing Hockey, I'd like to share with you all a little song I've written, sung to the tune of the great Kenny Roger's "Lucille"

"You picked a fine time to leave for SD,
I woke up this morning, and what did I see?
Threw back the curtains,
Pain started hurtin'
I really wanted to flee,
Yes the white stuff has come back real early."

Yes, Hockey - it was freakin' snowin' up here this morning.

So then lunch: Work and I once again chatted about movies. Nobody's really that interested in King Kong, but other should-be hyped movies don't seem to be getting much hype. Spielberg has Munich, the Israeli army has Uzi's, and the Rabbis invented ICQ (although personally I think they originally called it CyberShalom to talk to the Goiyim.)

Work discovered a tasty new treat! Leave dessert in the freezer overnight! How bad can it be? Well, he ate it so I guess it wasn't that bad. He shared out the one-bite brownies - Yes, they're made with Real Girl-Guides.

Rip-off. Try this! Of course, try sitting on the bus with one.

Not much else happened, lunch seemed quick today. Took our little plates out and cleaned up since Dodgy had already loaded the dishwasher. Doppler moaned about blog-writers again (jealous!) and now FabFoto is online, too!

That's all for today. Tomorrow is office shake-up move-around day, not affecting me but the whole cast of my blog (other than MovieMama) gets to play musical chairs tomorrow. Maybe we can stick Dodgy in the shipping room and Doppler can sit at the big desk back there, and I can have some peace and quiet. Scratch that: probably be more chatting with Doppler off the radar.

Lunch gets DOOMed

2005-11-09T15:00:00.000-05:00

Yes folks, you heard it here first (unless he told you already): Work saw Doom.

Hockey is off to SD today, and I took my first turn at holding up lunch by being on the phone with Memorex. I pretty much decided Work needs a cowbell 'cause every time I turned around he was back at his desk. Finally got lunch started, and today's topic was movies.

Take a 1st person game and make a 3rd person movie. "No wait!" he says. "Part of it WAS first person!" Erm, still not enough to shell out the big bucks. Diddy wants a download. I was a Quaker back in the day. Back when iD was still together, and High-Speed was x2 or K56. Clan Deathmatch, ooh yeah.

Movies sure seem to have a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff nowadays. Does anybody watch movies anymore, or just the makings-of? Still waiting on Aslan! Lord of the Rings had WAY too much extra stuff, there were makings of about the makings of. I still have a hard time watching the Hobbit on Lost.

Doppler paged me from Hockey's office! What's he doing in there? There's no computer in there to work on! Hmmmm.....

That pretty much ended lunch on a quiet note, I wandered off looking for a Dodgy umbrella, and Work wandered off unnoticed again. Damn he needs a bell!

Comments ca va?

2005-11-08T15:03:00.000-05:00

"Yay!," I thought. "I got a comment!" Some kind soul had gone to the trouble to write me some words of encouragement, helping to spur me on to moments of greater and greater, er, lunch. I was certainly disappointed.

Grabbed a quick lunch with "Le partie politique du Hockey." Of course, this was after checking out today's diatribe. Let's just say "No Dice" to that. Lunchus interruptus with the arrival of the Sun lady. I was kind enough to bus the table, but got in trouble for not putting the cutlery (always the damned cutlery!!!!) in the dishwasher. So I did. Yes, that's MR. nice guy.

Movie-mama paged me, but I was still on lunch. Still in nice-guy mode I tried to take it, but she was so nice she took a message. Then sent me a scary pic. We tracked down Work, who was working Western when we wooked, and then I had lunch part 2 again.

The new Harry Potter opens when? Old Yeller and Bambi have death, so it's about time another kids' book does. And yes, Aslan was a puppet. A Jesus-puppet. So now I'm hyped about the whole thing, so here's a quick re-cap. I guess there is some confusion with the order - I always remember from the Scholastic books in school. I think Work must have been a fetus then. And not much older for these ones. The one I always remember is the old cartoon.

That pretty much finished off both lunches. Doppler is offline, Diddy didn't bring me no fries, but Hockey brought me a happy meal. If I can move some apples, I can work on one dusty orange..... anybody have an S-Video cable?

Technically, not all about Lunch

2005-11-07T17:43:00.000-05:00

Okay, this is not a lunch-thing, but was too funny to pass up. G.I. Doppler done bought hisself some fi' new threads. And got ripped. Turns out eBay had just what he needed. That'll wake you up better than Death....

So lunch happened: Hockey was quick today: another interview. And this one he didn't want to pass him outside having a smoke. Ta dejeuner, um no. But my Barq's is definitely worse than my bite.

Work and I checked out Switzerland. A St. Bernard with a rum-cask of IDE cables is freakin' hilarious! Work saw Vince, I bought groceries, don't buy Formula (instant heroin) at Dominion.... Yes, life sure is exciting!

Birds are back? Okay, so it's November. Finally cold outside (Goodbye summer!), and NOW the freakin' birds are back in the trees? Where the heck is 580 Alden Rd, anyway? This really is a wierd little plaza.

I'm doing better than Friday, at least today's post is on the same day..... Oh well, happy Monday. PAX out.

The Lunch Post that almost wasn't

2005-11-04T16:00:00.000-05:00

My sincerest apologies to all of you reading this; yes, both of you. Today's lunch at CBL post is coming at you on time-delay. See, I had this tape in SD and I got on the phone with Doug..... And yes, I can talk about as much as he can.

So Friday's post is really Saturday's post. Wifey is at work, baby is napping - I still gotta vacuum - but I just couldn't finish off the first week by not finishing off the first week.

I know we talked about some funny stuff: Famous University's best-known Alumni Q'in in his homeland of Mainland; Bright and Pure; and throw in George Tagay to keep the theme going. Doppler knew all about that one! Hmmmmmmmm......???????

El hombre esta bailando! Nous sommes, vous etes, Nous avont, Nous avant - our resident "experte du Hockey bilingue" had little to add to the discussion, at least Work's time in our great capital taught him enough grade 2 French that we were finally able to establish my Gr. 9 French teacher was hot. Mme. Terra at Hallowe'en in a leather, skin-tight French maid's costume, they sure wouldn't allow that now!

Oddly enough, I don't think anyone's Blogs made an appearance: have we become so accustomed to their presence already? Doppler is the only one bringing them up, and that is mostly to ridicule.

I had sammiches, so Work missed out an exciting opportunity to bring me cutlery - but Doppler's dire predictions finally came true: the lunchbag is a killer, this time targeting its inanimate malice at Hockey himself. Paul Rodriguez joined us briefly, but I don't remember why, and that pretty much forced us outside, to enjoy a beautiful summer afternoon in November. We came back in, I talked to Doug (Go Dora!!!), and that's why today's blog is really tomorrow, but since you're probably reading this two days from now, it's really 3 days ago the day after yesterday. BTW, I have/will/am (to) meet(ing) myself here. And that brings us back to conjugations we can't figure out! J'ai un crayon jaune. Bienvenue au lundi!

Can you hear me now, G? Beav needs Jive, aSAP!

2005-11-03T15:30:00.000-05:00

So lunch today was the usual crew, and we nerded it right up. Where DID all the cheese go? And WorkBlog is missing those tasty tasty breakfast bagels! Maybe Diddy is sneaking home those GG boxes? Once again, WorkBlog offered to fetch me cutlery. Why does that guy always want to come at me with a knife?

Speaking of G, Google pretty much is the internet now. Google is good. Google is Blogs. Google is God. Existentialists say God is dead, therefore Google is dead, ergo you're reading something that doesn't exist, if something doesn't exist then something = nothing, i.e. you don't exist, so what the heck am I writing this for?????

What was I saying? Today is a banner day for Google. I just wanna know if I can put a G in front of just about anything and then hop on the Google Goodness wagon. G-men, G-Force, even this guy are all out there capitalizing (pun), so what can I come up with? My Glog? Clog? gTalk, gMail, gE? Speaking E....

Okay, so what's with the internet, anyway? We get letters to make stuff techno-hip: iNet, eMail, gTalk, b2b.... What happened to A? It's only my friggin' name! What, we skipped it 'cause it's the first letter? Who thought of that? Bell Labs developed C, so what happened to A and B? Took 40 years to get B back on the map and A just gets ignored????? I am officially un-lettered.

Lunch moves ever onward, and eventually we all got past the letter-debacle. Talk turned to the Blog. Newsflash: yesterday's anonymous comments are no longer anonymous, and grievous assumptions have been thrown down! Apologies must needs go out to the Artful Dodger. And Singapore Airlines: don't ask!

I SAID DON"T ASK! Mrs. Cleaver could be the next Garrett Morris!.

HockeyBlog's massive info-overload (And Gas Prices!) might need some layout changes. Keep the news feeds, get rid of the content! His respsonse: Walking Reference? Maybe not. On that note, HockeyBlog and WorkBlog decided to "tap" into Canada's natural resources for their net-fix. Personally, I think it's an AD Forest, not the whole net. And it IS wireless; find me a wire in Algonquin Park! Of course, their idea has a big shortfall: massive downtime in the spring. Does that make IHOP waiters SAP-servers? Okay, that too horrible, even for me. I'm outtie.

Don't forget to check the LINKS! One day I'll be un-lazy and click more to make it easier for me.

Sleeping on "not a cloud", Kolchak, and Foreigners!

2005-11-02T15:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome new visitors!

I'm sorry to have to report nothing much exciting happened at lunch today. Chris was busy learning about that whole Internet thing, on the phone. Not sure if that meant a dial-up connection or not. If you say you're "On the Phone" but really you're "On the Line" or online or seminarating or disseminating or even just eating at your desk, what are you really? A pathological liar or just a cubicle-dweller operating within the tight constraints of messenger-ation?

Soccer. Well, at least we've moved on from Hockey. And Cuba. I still can't remember what that horrible Sprite flavored drink was. Anybody? It's not this.

Today's lunch did get a part 2! You can't tell, but about 20 minutes has passed since writing that last paragraph. Chris rejoined the world of the blogging, and I headed back in! Work, work, work! There's still 5 minutes left on lunch! And I worked for 20 minutes of it! Most of the talk revolved around requesting existing software features to be added. Way to go, Doppler.

That brings me to my next point, which is a rather serious issue: anonymity and opting out. Ain't gonna happen. Okay, I'll try my best to stick with cutesy nicknames so that in the whole world wide web nobody happens to come across this unpublicized page, figures out who you are from my description, and hunts you down like some deranged stalker. If I slip up, it's probably accidental, but maybe you've ticked me off and I've posted your profile, email address, cell# and general description in a Jehovah's Witness recruiting forum. Don't make me go looking for one!

So that's about it. Lunch officially ended with a new call that wasn't a new call. Today's greasy pasta is sitting quite uneasily. Trust me: it was much better last night. We're out of lunchmeat already so I'm probably having those same leftovers for lunch tomorrow, too. Yum!

Kung-fu Mahjong was a big hit, although I think I preferred Hustle. Once Leon told me how to play, I finally got the humour of Chi Mo-Sai's style. Yes, it helps to have Chinese friends for a Chinese movie.

My Spanish is getting better! I can now ask how much a cup of sugar costs. Why I would need to know.... I even figured out a few phrases Doppler asked me. If the two of us tidy-whities can figure it out, it can't be that hard a language.

That's it for lunch - this blog has almost taken longer to write than lunch took to eat. Welcome to all the new visitors (both of you!), and don't forget to floss.

Man of 2 Luncha!

2005-11-01T15:18:00.000-05:00

Today, I drove Danielle to the hospital. No, not emerg - just a GP in the clinic.

Quick appointment I must say, I barely had time for half a KitKat (the nice light snack), and other than the big hassle of finding parking and then tracking down change for the auto-pay it went well.

I came back to witty, concise, current and relevant political commentary. And Woody Allen. And another KitKat, now almost a heavy snack but leftover stolen Hallowe'en candy is nothing to be turned down.

After a quick re-cap of the Doppler Daniel movie-rating system: "Great showing!" or "It's for pedophiles," talk turned to the Dark Side again: the Blog.

Yes, there are anti-Blogitics in the lunchroom. Those opposed to the open and free exchange of ideas and ideals! The Trifecta in the boardroom: HockeyBlog, LunchBlog, and WorkBlog (although the last isn't technically a blog, and remains the most anti-talk-about-the-Blog in the room).

Since I had 2 lunches today (or at least a trip to the hospital and quick-lunch), I think that certainly explains the necessity of 2 posts in one day. Or at least, it was a good excuse.

Lunch-time just isn't the same when you come late - Chris had even finished (except for that famous candy) so it spoiled the whole Chris-psych-out with the hidden bag of food. But after a short outdoor excursion - and Today's Special on #600, we all came back in (and Chris checked his lunch bag - just to be sure.......)

Do we really need ANOTHER Hockey Blog?

2005-11-01T10:24:00.000-05:00

Boy, blogs sure are everywhere these days. Morning-time, night-time, lunch-time; it seems you can find a blog about anything.

But are we as a society better for it?

Sure, it helps improve communication - well, at least to other bloggers. But petty political commentary from the uninvolved and unenlightened ain't helping the world much. When every witticism needs a spell-check; When the "Dark Ages" casts again its deathly pall over the minds of men; when burning issues like Freedom of the Press, Hunger and Famine, and What Happened at Lunch today over superceded by Gas Prices, yes my fellow Citizens of the World, it is time to mourn the loss of the water cooler.

P.S. I really need some hosting space - I don't have any cool pictures to put at the bottom of this blog. Of course, maybe my words say it all and I don't need that extra padding......

Haven't you always wanted a Monkey?

2005-10-31T14:46:00.000-05:00

So, no Tim today. :( Apparently the attractive blonde won out over talking about Blogs with us.

Today's topic: blogs. Or, the blog. Yes, lunch will ever after become known as blog-time. At least until we get bored with it.

We waited quite a while for Tim, I saw Carmen Sandiego and Gordon Freeman - wow! That made my day! Chris decided to see if he could test the smoke detectors, but in the epic battle between the sandwich and the toaster oven, sammich survived. Tomorrow: cage match!

Chris kindly offered to fetch a knife for my tasty leftovers, but I decided to decline by just dumping the rest of my lunch over the table. Pork-al Kombat begins. The Wizard joined us just in time, but I keep thinking of the Princess Bride now. :( Fred Savage you mole-faced little bastard!

Hallowe'en candies - get 'em while the gettin's good - too late! They're gone!

Newt came, got dissected, joined us at the Mayfair, then the Billings Bridge mall, finally a quick Brio on the good ol' OC Transpo brought us back to growing our own ex-girlfriends. Yes; yes, I would buy you a green dress. And plastic surgery.

The $900B Blog (again!)

2005-10-28T18:00:00.000-04:00

Okay, so 2day @ lunch we wer all takking (agin) about da nu-call handling processsssss. OMGROTFLMAO!!!

And then Chris like totally pulls out a bluberry danish, and Tim hands us both a piece of cheeze, and Chris is like "so what's this?" and I'm like totally laughing cuz Chris is just loving that danish and now he's mad duz the cheeze messed up his whole schedule.

So then Tim finishes his soup, but Chris is like Whoa! cuz he's outta food, and has nothing else in his bag to pull out, and I'm like totally grossed out because I touched Daniel's pen and got his slobber all over me but now Tim is mad cuz he really wants Daniel's slobber.

So then we're like outside and I'm talking about "Uncle" Wierd Al, but we don't know the words so we come inside and then Chris looks to see what else he has to eat.

Oh yeah - CBL Data Recovery Technologies Inc. Rulez!!!!!!!!