Never been to Canada?

Well, I have but this question isn't so much about if I've been or not but people I've met who haven't.

Growing up on a boarder state ( you know, one that boarders another country) it would only seem to make sense for me to have gone to Canada. Last time I went was around eight years ago. I'm sure plenty has changed and with the Olympics approaching in 2010, I'm considering going up; just to get the Olympic vibe.

Like I've said, I've encountered people who have never been, who have grown up in the same state as myself. I'm not trying to speak as I'm some superior person but this issue was brought up a few months ago and I just recently thought about it last night.

I was hanging out with a friend and his girlfriend (now fiance) brought up the issue "I've met people who've never been to Canada!!!" She later mentioned how this seemed odd by stating something along these lines; "it's just right there! Wouldn't you be curious to see what's in Canada? I would say the same if you lived in California or Arizona and have never been to Mexico!" I couldn't agree with her sentiment more.

Although, now it requires a passport to go to Canada (unless you live in New York, Vermont, Michigan, or Washington and carry an 'Enhanced Drivers License') its relatively cheap, maybe even a tank of gas, to get to the 'Great White North' (or round trip train ride on AmTrak for $70)

If you're under the age of 18 and your parents don't have the money afford a family trip to Canada, I understand but if you can afford an xBox360 or a Ps3, you can surely afford a trip to Canada.

Maybe the issue is what she stated, 'wouldn't you be curious?' Perhaps people aren't curious. Sometimes I really think they would rather fill themselves with meaningless materialistic garbage rather than seek any sort of adventure. Its a shame really because Canada is awesome. I think this can be best summed up with the following quote:

"Without new experiences, something inside of us sleeps. The sleeper must awaken." — Frank Herbert

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$4 for coke?

One of my friends, his name is Kurt; is over in Norway. He's traveling throughout Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe. The otherday he posted a status update on facebook; "Just paid $30 for a burger". When questioned on the quality of the burger, he said it was good but not as good as "The Tavern". Which is in reference to Helvatia Tavern (which makes a tasty burger), just outside of Portland, OR.

He then later told me a bottle of Coke was $4. I thought Japan was expensive... It can be, if you're not paying attention. A bottle (16-20oz) there is around ¥120≈$1.30 (weak dollar). Which isn't too expensive.

It made me think...

This is probably why Norway is known for really nice Social Programs... Hahahahah. Personally, I'd rather pay $5 for a nice burger than have some nice medical care. Thats just me. Hamburgers are way more awesome than medical care...

Boy, I better figure out what I'm gonna do now that I think of it. I don't have medical insurance. I'll have to go ask about it at work, snowboard season is coming up.

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Check out Kurt's work; he likes to make music videos.

Episode 14 - Table Mountain

Its somewhat amusing, alright maybe not. Its not amusing. The thing is, I'm taking a break from a break. I interrupted my Japan series with my Austin series and now I interrupted my Austin series with this.



Luckily, this took me just a few minutes to throw together.

Like I've said before, I will be finishing my Austin series... SOON. Then I'll be back to the Japan series.

With youtube or any sort of entertainment, its better to have content over no content.

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Google Promote: a lesson

I canceled my last promotion a few weeks back (Drinks in Japan) and decided to try a new approach. What I did was I picked a different video and increased the amount per click it would cost. Its worked better so far. Still its hard to interpret the data with so little of it.

Where its popular:
How it was discovered:
Its sad to look at this data and see that its only in single digits per day for a view count. Thats ok though because how youtube search works is it pulls from the most relevant and most popular at the same time.

The video is on an upswing and hopefully will continue to rise.

Later I will talk about why this is important to me.

In other news, I'm aiming to finish a few more units today.

I lost track

I lost track of the document I was creating documenting how much time I have spent thus far on my TEFL certification. It was never saved and I accidentally restarted my computer. Oh well.

Currently I've finished units 1 and 2. Two was a pain.

Onto three. Hopefully I'll finish this course by the end of October.

No new TWJ until I've completed and obtained my certificate.

Started the TEFL course

I began my TEFL course today and here is how it looked...

Day One 10/5/09
11:44 in - read introduction
11:49 introduction completed
11:50 begin Unit 1
12:08 finished reading material unit 1
12:08 break
12:45 begin Unit 1 worksheet
13:01 break
13:34 back to Unit 1 worksheet
13:51 break
13:54 back to Unit 1 worksheet
14:13 break
14:37 back to Unit 1 worksheet
15:00 Unit one completed

I decided to log my time to see if I end up with the 100 hours they say it will take. I haven't added up the time but it looks like it took somewhere between 1.5 - 2 hours of actual work. The reading goes quickly but its the questions that take some time. You're not obliged to turn in your answers per unit but I'm trying to be thoughtful and really put effort into each question. Before I go to sleep, I'll probably read through the section a couple of times, just to help retain the information even more.

There is a total of 20 units, so if I dedicate myself to it, I should be done somewhere around the 25th of October. Application deadlines for employment within the school system in East Asia is usually around mid December. That offers me plenty of time to get certification and look for work.

Hopefully, I'll be somewhere over there by Mid-March.

This also means that there will be somewhat of a pause in TWJ episodes. I'd rather focus on this instead of my series. But its ok, it shouldn't be too long of a pause. I'll keep you all posted.

One more episode...

Out of all the footage I have left, I'll compound it into one more episode. I am speaking of the Austin Road Trip series. Meaning, the final episode will be slightly longer (but not much) than the rest.

I could work on it right now but for some reason, its hard to find inspiration when I actually have free time. Which is strange. Most of the episodes I worked on, were done after I got off of work.

TWJ 12 and 13