幾鬼秘的部落格

You may have noticed that I haven’t blogged much about my bowling league for quite a while.  That’s probably because my results have been rather mediocre lately, ever since I came back from vacations last fall.  My average dropped from ~160 to ~155 after my vacations.  Nowadays I’d be happy to average above 150 on any given night.

This morning I jokingly told DF that I’d celebrate my B-day with a 200+ game tonight.  Well I kept my word.  I scored a career high game of 237 in the second game.  However I cannot be completely happy with that result, as I obviously choked big time at the end of the game, as you can see from the scoreboard.  I should’ve had a clean game, as the last frame was an easy spare, which would’ve given me a 250+ scratch game, or 300+ with handicap!  Oh well, one cannot be too greedy.  I actually didn’t feel like I was playing well.  I’d say that it was more luck than anything, if I didn’t do so well in the other 2 games.  But I did - my final average was 193!

Yesterday didn’t go so well, especially after a fun and happy weekend.

• Spent the whole work day dealing with non-issues, leaving no time for real work.
• Momo shift knob came loose because it was not properly screwed in.  I stripped one of the screws so much that it almost couldn’t be taken out.
• Slept in after dinner and was late to Club 300.  Had no time to warm up before the game.
• Passed by a few gas stations and decided not to gas up @ 74.5, and ended up having to do it @ 76.9.
• Credit card was rejected when paying for gas.  Later found out that I’d already max’ed out my $9K limit, and I just paid last month’s bill one week ago!
• Since I usually bowl on Wed nights, which is also garbage night, I usually take out the trash after I come home from bowling.  Last night I was only sub’ing as a spare for another team.  But after I came home I thought it was garbage night so I walked out after midnight in my PJs to take out the garbage, only to have to carry it back when I remembered that it was only Monday.

None of the above is all that bad on its own.  But when little things start happening at the same time, it becomes a different story.  So how many things have to go wrong on the same day before it can be called a bad day?  Oh btw, I left my access card at work last night so I was locked out of the office this morning, and had to wait in the freezing cold until a colleague came and opened the door for me

Thank you MJ+DF for organizing a noon K session yesterday to celebrate my B-day.  I can’t remember the last time that my B-day was celebrated by a whole bunch of ppl, besides the predictable dinner night out with my family.  CL, CC, IC and GL also came out to K.  They even prepared a cake - too bad I’d forgotten my camera in my car

Among the many cool gifts that I’d received is a Momo shift knob that I’d always wanted for the longest time, since my first Miata in fact.  I’d put off getting one fearing that it’d rattle if not installed properly.  The night before last I’d told DF that CL was planning to buy me one, and the very next day he went and stole the idea (not complaining btw ).  CL and I were in fact in the same store where he’d bought it from, asking the salesperson about it.  We’d decided not to get it since the knob is apparently designed to sit on the very top of the shift stick, the lower part of which is to be covered by a boot.  This wouldn’t accomplish my goal to shorten the throw of the stock knob.

After K we went home, eager to see how I could find a way to make the knob sit lower on the stick.  Not before long I managed to get one of the rubber adapters stuck inside the knob.  Before it was time for us to leave for the movie, we had stuck all kinds of different tools inside the knob trying to get that stupid rubber out, but in vain.

We went to see Curse of the Golden Flower.  If it wasn’t the the Chinese setting, one might mistake it for a classic Greek tragedy.  The storyline is not tight, but at least it grabed my attention at the beginning.  The ending left me wanting more though.  All in all, I’d give it a marginal thumb up.  The highlight was the cinematography, and even that does not surpass House of Flying Daggers.

It was late by the time we came home.  But DF and I just couldn’t let our shift knob problem go unsolved.  We tried more tools, with limited success.  Finally, out of desperation, I slammed the thing hard on the floor and lo and behold, the rubber adapter almost came right out.  It did slide out enough to be taken out by a clamp.  Now we could finally go to sleep…

I’m sure that many of you, like I,  have heard stories of long line-ups at the passport office for passport applications and/or pickups.  However, I also recently heard that filling out the application online before visiting the office could shorten the wait by quite a lot.  Not certain how long the shortened wait would be, I went to the Mississauga Passport Office first thing in the morning (soon after 8am), hoping to be at work around 10am.  As expected, I was greeted by a long line of applicants even before I reached the office door.  After getting my number, I pulled out a magazine and my MP3 player.  But before the second song was finished, an officer came out to ask if anyone had filled out the application online.  Surprisingly, there were only two of us!  We were whisked inside the office and given another number.  Within minutes I was up at a counter handing in my form.  The whole process took less than an hour.  I was at work by 9am.  And I don’t even have to go back since the new passport will be mailed to me.

Filling in the application online effectively enters your information into their system.  From what I’ve heard, the bulk of the wait time is actually for them to re-enter your form electronically, if you have a hand-written one.  The online form, when printed, contains a unique barcode which is scanned when the it is handed in, eliminating the manual data entry.

So avoid the long lineups by applying online.  BTW, the requirement to have a passport that is valid for at least 6 more months on the date of travel is actually not universal.  Check with the embassy of the destination country so you don’t waste the last half year of your passport.