Liloia.com Archives: May 2005
May 31, 2005
I <3 Huckabees
This weekend, for the first time in months we actually made it through all of our Netflix movies and everything that is in our DVR. I think the reason for this is a combination of; regular season TV shows are now over, long holiday weekend, and I am actually home more than 24 minutes at a time.
One of the things we got around to watching was "I <3 Huckabees".
For those of you that like independant quirky films like Garden State, American Splendor and Donnie Darko, then you will probably (not definitely) like this movie. It was really weird, strange and funny at the same time. Lily Tomlin could sit still in a chair (even one that isn't excessively large for her tiny body) and crack me up. Having her and Dustin Hoffman play a married couple who are existential detectives was awesome.
Anyway, not a "buy" but definitely a "rent" or "borrow from Dave just like Sarah did with Garden State and Napolean Dynamite and then never return"
Hah. Just kidding Sa.
May 27, 2005
Canadian Space Camp
I was driving home from the site in Mirabel yesterday to my hotel in Laval, when I noticed something interesting. The hotel is directly next to the Canadian Space Camp.
At first I thought to myself (being a geek and a space fan) "How cool that Canadian children can attend that and learn about space!" Then I thought more about it.
Does Canada even have a space program? Incredulously and naively I immediately thought, "Of course not!" But not being sure about it, I checked and it turns out that they do!
The exploration of space is one of the most ambitious scientific and technological endeavours ever undertaken. Canada has a reputation for exceptional scientific instruments and robotics, and for an outstanding astronaut corps.
Not to mention that they have a decent website supporting their organization to boot-Eh!
May 26, 2005
Too many coins
Canadians are weird for many reasons. The reason I want to mention now it their excessive use of coins. Our Northern brethren don't use any bills smaller than a $5. This means that anytime you use a $20 for something over $15, be prepared to fill your pockets.
On my hotel desk right now I have $5.82 in coins. This is after I bought a Venti coffee at Starbucks AND spend $4 at an arcade in Montreal tonight using ONLY coins.
Enough with the coins!
My biggest concern in this situation...how do "exotic dancers" deal with this? I'll leave the rest of this post up to you...
Essance'?
This week my company has me training in Quebec with our R&D facility located in Mirabel. As this is my first trip into the French-Canadian province, this is all very new and weird. For example, I do not speak French. And while most of the people here speak English, not all of them do. I have been trying to do as much as possible on my own, without looking like a brash American, but that doesn't work out too well in all circumstances.
Yesterday I went to the local gas station to fill up. I though this would be a pretty innocuous event, since I can generally accomplish this in the US without EVER talking to anyone. Apparently, for some reason my bank and credit cards work everywhere up here EXCEPT the gas station pumps. So after I swiped my card and it told me to unhook the nozzle it starts beeping at me. The next thing I know, some French chick is YELLING at me over the speaker.
The conversation went something like this:
Dave: Everything is under control. Situation normal.
INTERCOM VOICE: What happened?
Dave: (getting nervous) Uh...had a slight weapons malfunction. But, uh, everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here, now, thank you. How are you?
INTERCOM VOICE: We're sending a squad up.
Dave: Uh, uh, negative. We had a reactor leak here now. Give us a few minutes to lock it down. Large leak...very dangerous.
INTERCOM VOICE: Who is this? What's your operating number?
Dave blasts the comlink and it explodes
Ok, maybe it didn't go exactly like that but I did the right thing in that situation. I put the cap back on my gas tank and split. Very manly.
(I actually went back today and got $15 in gas which only filled half my tank. Frickin Canadians!)
May 17, 2005
Talkr.com
For the last few months, my buddy Chris has been working on a few independant projects online that are pretty slick. While I haven't been able to help as much as I would like to, I have been one of his (many) sounding boards on these projects and a sometime beta-tester for all things "new-y".
Since he released Talkr to the public this past Monday, I can finally talk about this neat new service and how it is going to change the way people read/digest blogs. Most web savvy people have heard of blogs and the decently techy people know about RSS/XML and how some cool apps are out there that let you use this technology to aggregate content.
Chris has put together a service that not only aggregates content from blogs, but Talkr also converts the text of the blog into an audio file which is quite handy for podcasting. For those of you with commute, or who listen to music at the gym, or use an MP3 player might find it interesting.
Go check it out, if you have any questions about it feel free to drop me a line.
Miles to go
This evening marked the end of Day 2 at the new job. While things are still going well, I have A LOT to learn in a very short period of time. Mostly I need to get up to speed on the entire subject of Microbiology and how that affects/relates to our products. Not bad.
I am really enjoying being close to home. This afternoon I shot home for lunch and had a nice chat with my neighbor about her dying azalea. It took me all of four minutes to get home and I was able to chill out and still get back in less than 30 minutes.
In regards to my new digs at work, seen below is my new desk. It's plain, boring and mostly covered in manuals, sell sheets and technical information.
In the grand scheme of things, I went from one cube to another almost like playing a giant game of checkers...or something.
May 13, 2005
At least no wood paneling...
I'm ashamed to admit it... but Dave is the more fiscally responsible person in this marriage. If my co-workers at the "fiscally responsible, socially progressive" organization where I work get wind of this, maybe they'll try to replace me with him.
As we sat in the leather-interior, 4WD, sunroof, 6-CD changer, Eddie Bauer Ford Explorer, I said to myself, "Self, it would be environmentally and fiscally wrong to purchase this as our second car." Then I said to myself, "Self, so what? This car 0wnz0rs. Buy it now." I'm an impulse shopper... book on the bargain table, pack of gum, Ford Explorer... it's all the same to me.
Dave, on the other hand, was much more rational in his thinking—not to mention this will be his car—and he opted for a little red station wagon instead:
Dave's new car
Davis has left the building
On Tuesday afternoon I handed in my laptop, put away all my personal belongings and said goodbye to PerkinElmer and more importantly my friends there. While I know that I will keep in touch with many of the people who have become such a big part of my life, I also know that this portion of my life is ending. I am moving on to (hopefuly) bigger and better things and very eager to be spending more time with T&T.
The final day could not, of course occur without some humor and mockery. In a wonderful gesture, some of my co-workers purchased a cake for my last day so that we could all share in the lunchroom and chat one last time. Unfortunately, being a diabetic (who is also working hard to finally eat right for a few months in a row), I couldn't eat any of it. I was forced to cut and serve a cake, which I never tasted. Hrm.
This was actually fine, and only further accented the next point. As we opened the cake box and looked at the message, we were greeted with what looked like "GOOD LUNCH DAVIS!"
While I will accept the fact that it might not have said "LUNCH" and could have easily been LURCH, LUCH or even the intended LUCK, my name is in fact not DAVIS. Ah well.
After we were done with the cake I was supposed to walk around the building(s) and say goodbye to a bunch of people. Most of the people I wanted to see came to the cafeteria for some cake, or as I will call it from now on, the "Renaming Ceremony". So I went around to the four people I wanted to say a personal goodbye to and hit the sidewalk. It was time.
As I waited for the cab, I was compelled to snap this shot.
Bye guys. It's been swell.
May 8, 2005
May 5, 2005
Changes
We haven't been as attentive to the blog as we would like to be due to some big changes occuring in the Liloia household in the last few weeks. For the last 8 months I have been working for the Boston based company I was with before we moved to Vermont, and commuting back and forth while crashing on peoples couches and spare rooms.
That is all about to change.
I recently accepted a postion with a biotechnology company in the Burlington, Vermont area and will be leaving my position in Boston on May 10th. We are all really excited about this because it means that I will be able to see Tara and Trev for more than three days at a time, and possibly even do some "Dad-like" things such as baseball, scouts or soccer.
I'll be handling technical support for this new organization as well; as working with the sales and marketing groups to develop product training documents, marketing collateral, and end-user specifications; and attending trade shows/seminars to train customers on our products. It's a great opportunity, with a small company that is growing like crazy where I can make a lot of great improvements and have a significant impact on their business.
Wish me luck!
Who would play me?
I was talking to a buddy of mine the other day and for some reason or another he mentioned that if they made a movie about me, the perfect actor would be Paul Giamatti. I don't think he said this because I look like him (although perhaps I do a little) but because both of our personalities could potentially be described as "curmudgeonly" (is that even a word?)
Now, that was cool and all (I guess), but I am left wondering to myself which Paul Giamatti he was referring to?
Is it the Paul Giamatti from "American Splendor"?
Or perhaps the Paul G from "Sideways"?
Hopefully not the Paul G from "Planet of the Apes"!
At least it's better than the two other people I used to be associated with back in college.
Booger from Revenge of the Nerds, Mr. Curtis Armstrong
and Eldin from Murphy Brown, Mr. Robert Pastorelli
