Last week I had a weird sickness on Monday and Tuesday It was kinda sorta like a flu but not quite. I think the weather and amount of sunlight we have been getting are playing with me. I don't ever remember the sun setting at 4:50 pm??? The fact that the studios I work in have no windows don't help.

anyways ... January I am going to redouble my commitment at the Gym. I have been given a good workout routine with easy enough exercises to follow. The days should be getting longer and if I can wake up a little earlier I'll be able to make it ot the gym do stuff in the morning work and sleep without disrupting things too much.

I am looking forward to Christmas with Chloe and her family this year. Last year Christmas was kind of "meh" because I was working so much ... this year I don't have to work Christmas Eve, or Christmas Day. (how nice!).

Merry Christmas to All!

Hmm so the past month has flown by. I was hoping to have time to update more but I have been busy with still getting used to the new work routine. (working monday to friday between 1:30ish and 10:30ish). I am going to throw this out there again for anyone who is near their computer between 7-10 pm EST I highly recommend listening to Ryan's show on www.newstalk1010.com.

I have finished most of my christmas shopping I am just finishing wrapping a couple parcels to send home to mom and dad and gib and crystal. I finished wrapping Chloe's stuff. This weekend we are heading to Niagara so I can get some Christmas cheer. Chateau des Charmes has released a Sparkling Wine for the first time this year... I need to checkkitout.

This Saturday we are sending FM back to France. It's sad to see him go because he is one of my best friends... I do hope he comes back soon. He is cramming as much awesome into the last week as he possibly can. This morning we are waking up and going to St Lawrence market as he has never been there... and frankly because it's awesome.

Work has been going very well I finally (a month in) feel like I'm getting the hang of the ins and outs of what I've got to do. The highlights of my week included throwing together a 3 hour best of show for last night on short notice and collecting Christmas music for Ryan's show.

I am very much looking forward to Christmas and celebrating with Chloe and her family. We set up our christmas tree together at the apartment.

I plan on spending this weekend watching more Christmas Tv specials and movies... oh the joy of the internet making Charlie Brown and the Muppets a few clicks away.

I am having the frigging best weekend ever. Saturday night we started celebrating our 1 year anniversary. In the past year we have had many great memories and have worked very hard because the unfortunate thing about living in a big city is that distance (and other things) can sometimes be a problem. Chloe has now moved in and I have told my parents. It's just a nice slide into Christmas and beyond (hopefully Cuba somewhere in there). I really love my girlfriend and couldn't be happier. This weekend we went to a brazilian grill (www.redviolin.ca). Today we woke up early and went to watch a movie at 11 am... we were relaxing so much we stayed for a second movie. (we watched "This is It" and "Capitalism: A Love Story" both excellent and depressing both for different reasons)

On another note...

This past week I finished my first as a technical producer for the Ryan Doyle Show. I am really going to enjoy this job. I forgot what it was like to have a job where I am busy all the time. But every day is busy and every minute is jam packed. (In all honesty I love it). For anyone reading I don't think there is anyone who is reading this that would not enjoy listening to Ryan's show. He is an excellent host, he is young and well researched on his topics. You can listen online at www.newstalk1010.com (7-10 pm EST) (Even Chloe has become a newstalk fan...)

On one final note after watching the Michael Moore movie I have never been so happy to no longer be working at a bank. I am also happy to be part of a news outlet where the hosts have the freedom to express their opinions and get people thinking about what is going on in their world.

Peace out!

I haven't posted in a while. Livejournal is blocked from my one job so it makes it hard to post regularly. I used to post there. I am now at my other job (the fun one...) and I'm usually working and too busy to post... either that or watching tv here. (www.virginradio.ca)

I had an interesting meeting this week with the head producer at Virgin it sounds like he wants me to start doing some job shadowing of some commercial and imaging producers... this could be the big step that I need to take to move forward in this building. I am very much looking forward to it.

I am looking forward to spending the weekend at Chloe and having a hermit weekend. We are going to stay in the apartment. Saturday afternoon is going to be spend tidying and cleaning and then relaxing. I am very much looking forward to it.

If you haven't seen them I have posted the first half of my pictures from my road trip on facebook.

My mom is coming to stay with me for a couple weeks staring on tuesday. I am very much looking forward to it :)

It has taken nearly the whole week to get back to normal, but it has been nice to get back to a routine. I almost feel I need a vacation from my vacation.

I drove 6900 km's in 16 days. I drove through the following cities...

Windor
Detroit
Kalamazoo
Chicago
Minneapolis
Estevan
Regina
Swift Current
Medicine Hat
Calgary
Banff
Edmonton
Drumheller

We drove through or to the following provinces and states
Ontario
Michigan
Illinois
Indiana
Wisconsin
Minnesota
North Dakota
Saskatchewan
Alberta
British Columbia (fine... so we drove to the border... but it still counts!)
Montana

... and then did most of it in reverse.

I will be putting pictures up on facebook very soon (today or tomorrow). In point form here are the highlights

1. Minneapolis has the best mall in the world... it makes the west edmonton mall look like shit... the canadian in my hurts to admit this but I must admit it.
2. White Castle is awesome, but not as awesome as it looks in the movie (I still love it)
3. Taco Time isn't as good as I remember it
4. Thunderstorms where the lightning literally doesn't stop and the rain is so heavy the road disappears are scary (when you're driving).
5. Border guards can be quite friendly when you've packed all your paperwork and receipts into a binder
6. Weddings are fun, but stressful when you're bringing your girlfriend to meet the family and the WHOLE family is there
7. sometimes it's fun to kidnap your mom in the middle of wedding craziness to take her to a bar for a drink.
8. It's good to have a bar where everyone knows your name (not literally... but you know what i mean. www.bushwakker.com). as a sidenote thanks to everyone that I got to see there :) especially those that just showed up based on my facebook status... I didn't get much ME time so you guys really helped make sure we had a good time
9. You don't need to have strippers at a bachelor party to have an awesome time.
10. Wrecking a fitted dress shirt at a bachelor party means you had an awesome time.
11. You cannot embarrass a Proulx boy... me and my brother both have no shame... no matter how alone we have to dance or how brightly coloured our socks are.
12. When I become Prime Minister I am going to pave over Alberta... Albertans are bigger jerks than any jerky American or any jerky Torontonian.
13. I reserve the right to make exceptions for the following 3 places... Banff, Drumheller and the Cypress Hills in Alberta shall be spared the steam roller.
14. Banff is awesome
15. Drumheller is awesome
16. Dinosaurs will be cool no matter how old I get.
17. The drive from Calgary to Chicago through Montana has some of the most beautiful scenery you will ever see in your life.
18. Chicago is an amazing city... you HAVE to go there for the following things... Hot Dogs, Pizza and Shopping on the Magnificent Mile (new shoes and a new messenger bag)

That's all for now folks :)

I booked my hotel for the Hilton in Chicago.

We leave Calgary bright and early tomorrow. It has been a much needed break. BUT now is time to focus on my b-day and riding my motorcycle.

C-Ya soon Toronto

By midnight tonight (EST) I will have been through ...

Detroit, Chicago and ending up in Minneapolis.

Let the madness begin!

Dear Taylor Swift,

Congratulations on making it into the pop charts... But I need to request that you stop writing such awful awful music. I know you have been writing music since you were very young... but you obviously haven't evolved with your craft. I'll be blunt... It sounds like Love Story was written by a 10 year old. Were you 10 years old when you wrote that song? I have long hypothesized that country music makes people dumber and I believe your over simplified lyrics add to my argument. I am not sure if it's your intent but you are joining the league of such talented songwriters as Chad Kroeger and Weird Al Yankovic. If that's your intent, you have succeeded.

Now you are still a good looking girl, so here's what I propose. How about you stop making music and keep being good looking? Okay?

Thank you,

André

I am going to wine country today. WE are hopefully going to hit up 4 wineries.

Pictures to follow.

other than couch surfing does anyone have any tips on finding cheap accomadations in various cities? We are going to be going through Minneapolis, Mount Rushmore and possibly Chicago.

Okay I should open this up by saying that this isn't what I believe... But I can't help but wonder. Let's call this crazy plausibility. The simplest answer is usually the correct one. The simplest in this case is that a troubled unhealthy man took a little too much medicine and had a heart attack and died.

That being said... Who knows maybe MJ is now on the same island as Tupac, Biggie, Elvis, Kurt Cobain and John Lennon.

Here are some things that just seemed to add up.

1. Here is a man that in spite of his successes was spending much more money than he was worth and it was starting to catch up with him. They were starting to auction off his possesions... What better way to make some of these troubles go away, or at least ease the pressure then to in fact disappear... I mean his estate will have to deal with it but it will be dealt with by lawyers behind closed doors and out of the limelight
2. He booked a tour that would be physically and mentally demanding that I doubt that even some of today's pop stars in their peak would be able to complete... 50 sold out dates in London... wow... just wow. I don't believe that he had ever the intention of completing all those dates. But let's face it I think we were all rooting for him to make the big comeback...
3. His surgeries... Over the years he has drastically altered his appearance (as I am writing this I am watching "Living with Michael Jackson"). He went into the hospital very publicly but as CNN had noted on the night of his death they were even restricting access to the hospital from even employees. When all was said and done his body was airlifted out of the hospital. What's saying he didn't strap on a normal face? ... hmm...

alright alright alright... this being said I don't mean to take anything away from this passing. I am and will continue to be a fan. Saturday evening I spent the night watching all of MJ's old music videos. I write this purely out of a bit of hope, and at the same time a bit of sadness. The music world has truly lost one of it's brightest stars the likes of which will never be replaced.

A few weeks ago my TV decided to break... I have pretty much written it off.

There's no wonder that American Car Makers are going under... if my American made TV is any indication (32" Westinghouse... I paid $750.00 for it 2 years ago... the issue I'm having is quite common according to google). Customer service has given me no response... they certainly do not stand behind their products. I am going to buy a Sony or something in the fall.

BUT that's not the point of my post.

I have been very productive since my TV time has been occupied with other things... I did quite a bit of recording and music stuff this week with the little free time I have. This afternoon will be filled with more recording.

It's nice being productive without so many distractions.

I have started planning my brother's bachelor party. he has been helping me.

The thing I like about my brother and myself is we are on the same page about a lot of things. We pretty much agreed to the same thing in regards to the party... no naked ladies and Gib is going to hate life for 48-72 hours after the party.

(fun fact for those of you not in the 306 area code reading this... but it is against the law to have liquor and strippers in the same place in Saskatchewan... so even if we wanted to do something like that it would be quite difficult)

So here is the plan

1. BBQ at Gib's house
2. Lazerquest (Barney would approve!)
3. Bushwakker

We are going to do it on a tuesday night so this should be perfect for those who can't take the day or morning off the next day.

I am getting very excited.

I am in the process of spending about $1500 to get my motorcycle safetied and rideable... of course right in the middle of this my TV breaks. So I am pretty much broke from now until september between my motorcycle, going home for Gib's wedding and buying a new TV. UGH. I guess I'll be doing a lot more reading and stuff this summer... and going out more.

(note to readers, do not ever buy a Westinghouse product... their Customer Service is next to impossible to get a hold of... it took 40 minutes on the phone, 4 days to get an answer to my email when I was referred to someone, this issue is something that is common for my TV and no recall issued...)

my favourite show that I operate for is the Hit 40 Uk because we play a bunch of music we won't play during our regular scheduled programming. Here are a few tunes that I am currently attached to. The first one is from Dizzee Rascal... he reminds me a bit of a UK Busta Rhymes. (A bit).



The second is a crazy video from Tommy Sparks... apparently he's a new dude but has already worked with the likes of the Prodigy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O_GODR-rCk - I can't embed this one... watch the whole video. The song is catchy but the music video is just awesome.



It's always exciting to hear the new Prodigy stuff in the countdown too.

On the weekends I have also been tweeting for the station I work for... www.twitter.com/999virginradio

I have subscribed to a blog that highlights the best in advertising from around the world... this ad had me laughing out loud on the train.

http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/637399

This is a sad ending to this story. It is also a little sickening because it clearly sounds like the couple implicated in this disappearance thought they were getting away with it.

The police released a video fo a blonde woman in a white jacket leading Tori away. This woman took the effort of disposing of the jacket and colouring her hair dark and not even leaving town.

What is worse is that the public had demonized the parents and pinned the father as the guilty one.

[edit: I would like to clarify... I was misinformed in my post, I believed that the parties were funded from tax payer money based on the money given to them based on the votes in the last federal election. I was wrong. This being said I do believe that the leaders of the party's should be held accountable for the actions of their party. (Just like I believe that CEO's should be held accountable for the dirty dealings of their company's when they come to light).]

I have had a few things on my mind that I wanted to commit to blog before I lose them. Generally having to do with current events.

1. Recently our wonderful administration has been spending party dollars to put ads on TV to make sure that the general population knows that the current Liberal leader is as bad as the last Liberal leader. I am glad to see that our government is doing such a stellar job on the issues that matter most to Canadians such as the economic situation (for one) that they can dedicate the resources to this sort of advertising. But at least they are putting money back into the entertainment industry (but probably not to the CBC).
I am seriously concerned that as many Canadians voted for the conservatives as they did. I wish that this sort of advertising was straight up illegal and that you were only allowed to advertise on your own policies (or lack thereof)

2. Recently Toronto has been experiencing some major protests from the large Tamil population in the city. A couple weekends ago they went so far as to block the DVP (an 8 lane freeway) on a Sunday afternoon until they got the government to respond. I have had a hard time forming an opinion on the events happening in Sri Lanka, but here is what i Do know (based on the papers anyways). The Tamil Tigers have been branded a terrorist organization by the Canadian Government (among others). There have been many civilians killed on both sides of this conflict. And also there does not appear to be much international involvement. Like I said, I have not formed an opinion on one side or the other, I am pretty far removed from this conflict on all sides. But I do admire the Tamils in Toronto for recognizing and finding a way to get the government to pay attention to them.

Okay so this week is time to spend more money on the motorbike.

I have to arrange towing to the shop and get ready to bend over and pay for repairs.

Hopefully I have enough money for the certification and repairs this week so I can practice riding next week.

Listen all... buying a used vehicle in this province is as big of a pain as what I imagine buying a house would be like.

I love how sometimes songs will fall off the chart and then re-enter them. One of my co-workers had introduced me to a song called "Beggin'" by Madcon. It heavily samples the Frankie Valli tune of the same name. These guys are a Norwiegen Hip-Hop duo, this song was a #1 hit in Norway in 2007. The video is deliciously nerdy, opens up with the guys playing some Halo on X-box 360.

Anyways I highly recommend checking it out.

Some other highlights from my life right now... in point form (thank you twitter)

- for those not following my twitter, I got my motorcycle running in first shot. The carbs are still dirty and need to be cleaned, which I will hopefully take care of this weekend.
- I got my M1 learners permit, which legally allows me to drive a motorcycle.
- I bought a helmet and motorcycle jacket.
- I have company for the next few weeks... Sean is staying with me while shooting in Toronto.
- I have met someone at work who plays like minded music (commercial rock...) I am going to start jamming with him (YAY!)
- I still see Chloe whenever I get the chance, but I am having a hard time finding something to get her for her birthday which is coming up quickly EEP
- I won 'employee of the month' and 'employee of the quarter' at my Teleconferencing job (not a big deal... but the $400.00 in gift certificates... that just plain rules)
- I got frauded $200.00 from my bank account ... this is the first time I have been unhappy with TD Canada Trust customer service as I am now out $200.00 for possible 3-4 weeks.
- Dealing with insurance in this province is a pain in the ass, and to quote one of my co-workers it is essentialy "Legalized Fraud" (I miss SGI)
- I am taking some days off this month! (3 in fact!)
- I finally took some time to go speak with my boss to try to get some career direction at the radio station. (He gave me some good advice... sadly with radio it's a lot of being in the right place at the right time)