Blood: It's in you to give/sell

So, I am feeling pretty good about myself, because I finally went and gave blood for the first time today. I'm not sure why I waited so long, but it probably has to do with my previous mortal fear of needles (aichmophobia to us learned folks). It was so bad that when I was a little kid (well, younger, not much littler), I punched my doctor in the face when he has trying to give me a needle. And then required 2 manly nurses to hold me down. Those ladies were hot.

Anyway, the whole donation process today went pretty quick (in and out within one hour) and I even got cookies and milk at the end of it. Not a shabby deal, but I am jealous of all those folks in the States that get paid to donate blood. If I ever move there, I am all over that. Same with all my other non-essential fluids. And if I can somehow pre-sell some organs to some rich old dude, I'll be laughing! Sure, that'll mean yet another person hoping for my demise, but I can live with that.

At the same time as I donated, I signed up for the Bone Marrow Registry, which is a national (and international) database of bone marrow donors that can be matched up against folks who are in need (mainly cancer patients). The thing I get a kick out of is that if I ever donate my bone marrow to someone, they'll start producing blood with my DNA in it! So then I can go on some crime spree, bleeding everywhere, and then blame it on them. Screw you, CSI!

Finally, since you won't need your eyes or heart after you die, you should think about becoming an organ donor too. This website has some more information for you.

According to the info on the Canadian Blood Services webpage, only 4% of the population have donated blood (and less than 1% are in the Bone Marrow Registry), so consider this a big "I'm a better person than you are!" to the rest of you. Unless of course you have already donated blood and/or bone marrow, then I say, "You are not a jerk like the rest of these people".

What the heck is the name of that song?

Have you ever heard a song on the radio, or remembered a line or two from a song, and wanted to buy it (aka, download it illegally from the internet), but not know what the heck it was? Well, me too, weird person talking out loud to a webpage! Fear not, I've found some pretty cool tools that should help you out!

First off, if you know some of the lyrics, your first stop should be Google. You should do a search with this in the search box: lyrics "Skinnamarinkydinkydink Skinnamarinkydoo".


If that doesn't work, or you don't know any of the lyrics (or it doesn't have any), you should head over to SongTapper. This great website was put together by some Simon Fraser University students, and is super-cool. What you do is tap the beat of a song out on your space bar, and tells you what song it is. It's not perfect, but the more people who use it, the better it becomes!


Finally, if you've already called up your friends and bugged them but still can't figure it out, you can try this final method I've found, called Tunatic. It works using your computer's microphone. You can try singing it, or if you hear it on the radio, run the free program (Mac or PC) and it will try and match it up against its database. Fido cell phones have the same type of service (called #DJ, but it costs money after the first one.


I tried the last two methods in an attempt to identify a classical song I couldn't figure out, and the Tunatic program actually got it for me! I was looking for the "O Fortuna" movement of "Carmina Burana" by Carl Orff. Its a good song to get you pumped up before a big game, or before your spaceship explodes. Or so the movies would tell us.

PS. I had a pretty busy weekend: I went and saw "Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Electric Boogaloo", and was pretty disappointed. And then my night got even worse when my friend Erin beat me in pool 10 straight times. I'm lucky I didn't decide to end it all right then and there! Because watching Italy beat France in the WC Final was pretty sweet, and the party that night was awesome. Forza Italia! Forza Azzuri!

Videos from Montreal

In addition to too many pictures, I managed to grab a few videos while I was in Montreal as well. Here are a couple, and you can see all the rest at my eyespot page. Enjoy!

Chris Pfeiffer showing off his motorbike skills

Formula One Burn Out at the BMW Pit Lane Park

The 10-car pileup in the Star Mazda Series race on the same afternoon. After getting checked out at the hospital, no one was seriously injured.

News from the East Coast

Wow, lots going on lately out here.

Firstly, Happy Canada Day! The weather is beautiful here in Halifax today, which means a nice BBQ, and then out to watch the fireworks. It should be a beautiful night. Happy 139th birthday, you beautiful country, you!

Second of all, I have some upsetting news to report. Brazil managed to lose to France today, and are now out of the World Cup. Not ironically, the last team to beat France in a World Cup was France back in 1998. This makes me, and the millions of booty-shaking Brazilian hotties, very sad. Germany, Italy, and Portugal are the other teams left in it, with the semi final matches to take place Tuesday and Wednesday, with the 3rd place match Saturday, and the final Sunday.

Finally, I just got back from a great trip to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix. I flew up Wednesday evening, and had a great time hanging out with the ART crew (Lucas, Kevan, Ingo, and finally met Philip and Norm), and was happy to have Chris N and my brother Andrew drive down from Ottawa for a few days as well. And Steve D. made the trip down from Saint Jean for the weekend as well. All in all, it was loads of fun! In addition to the Formula BMW series (during which 17-year old Philip made a very respectable showing, finishing 11th and 8th in the two races), there was a Ferrari Challenge race, a Star Mazda race (highlighted by a 20-car pile-up), and of course, the Formula One race Sunday afternoon. That race was won by Fernando Alonso of the Renault team. I took tons of pictures of the pit area, because that's where I spent most of my time on the weekend, so please check them out, and feel free to comment!