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Read Kevin’s entry here.

Have you read it? Alright, come on back.

Hi, do you like it better over in Palmer’s World? Yes, I thought so. Pull up a chair…heck pass me a beer while you’re at it. Thanks. *pshhht*

Printed media will eventually have a significant drop. Is this a bad thing? Well…it would use a lot less trees, that’s a fer sure.

Let’s look at the state of affairs right now in the world of publishing:
Most printed media has a corresponding website. Some of them have the full articles out there to read (vicemag.com, ottawasun.ca), some give you a taste and ask you to subcribe to their website to read the entire thing (essentially the same price…if not lower(? haven’t done any research on this) than a regular newspaper subscription).

I cancelled my subscriptions to a few magazines over the years for the sole fact that I can read the same stuff on the Internet. Let’s take Maxim…I cancelled it because I thought if I wanted something funny to read in the land of men, I could always just check out askmen.com. Other than that, what is the magazine good for? Sure, it’s nice to have something to read in the backyard, or on the can, but other than that, all the information within the pages are available on the Internet somewhere.

So, in my eyes, the only times I ever buy a magazine are:

1. When I’m stuck somewhere and have nothing to read.
2. When I do have that urge to have something in my hands to read rather than sitting in front of a computer screen. I have a feeling that a lot of people fall into this category still, which is fine.
3. If they offer something DIFFERENT than what is on the Internet.

Point 3 brings up the surefire way for print media to still give us something we want. In terms of news-based magazines and papers, ain’t going to happen. News is news. It will be released on the Internet instantly. In my eyes, the printed news form is like that Kraft Dinner that you’ve kept in the fridge for a week but you can’t bring yourself to eat it again.

But for the magazines/papers that focus on non-news stories, the sky is the limit. Let’s take our ever faithful Star Wars Magazine. With my subscription to the magazine, it offers me articles/short stories/whatever that will not be put onto the Internet. (!point: Let’s not get into the debate of how somewhere out there I could probably find a scanned copy in the recesses of the Internet world.). They entice me to get the magazine so I can get the scoop on stuff.

Magazines should move towards this format. Offer up different things than what they release on their official websites. On the Sports Illustrated website, you could have a great interview with Michael Jordan but if you pick up the SI magazine, you get the candid “What was your favourite movie?” talk. Alright, I’m really stretching here, but you get my drift.

For the printed media to survive (read: evolve) they have to offer something different than what is available in other forms. So far, newspaper does this in comparison with television because a news program cannot cover every article written inside the newspaper (especially obituaries. Who wants to see a list of that on the 6 O’Clock News?). But the Internet is a different story.

So, this is how I see the future unfolding:

Present:
Printed media will still be king. It’s still mainly used, most likely due to the older generation stuck on newspapers and televisions. I would like to see the numbers in terms of how much printed media has dropped/increased since 1995 (the birth of the Internet as we all know it.)

Future, let’s say 50 years:
You’re now looking at a generation who are tech savvy. Who know where to find their information on the Internet.
I see a very low number of printed newspapers (or if they ever come up with the electronic newspaper…heck yeah!) being replaced by Internet articles, handheld devices, etc. The printed form will never die. I don’t think it should die. In terms of short articles, I am fine reading it on a screen…but a book? I don’t know. I would have to try one out to see if I didn’t mind it. I’ve seen e-books being read on the bus and they don’t really appeal to me.
Anyhow, a definite decline in magazines in the next 50 years unless they start offering up different information.

Advice to Masses Who Read Palmer’s World: Take a look at the magazines you buy. Now, see what content is in them and see if you can find the same content on the Internet. I may have just saved you a couple of bucks if you don’t mind reading it on the Internet. For example: Gossip columns. Why buy them off the news stand? They’re already old news in terms of the Internet. Check out thesuperficial.com for your up to date celeb news. (plus I love the sarcasm).

It’s getting sporadic in here in terms of updates due to some MAN trying to stick it to me.

Here’s an update for you.

You can dial 911 on your cellphone even if you don’t have any service provider.

I’m assuming this is news to you all who read this blog or else you would have told me when I was debating getting Voice-Over IP (VOIP) as my phoneline. But I didn’t bother because if the power went out, I would not have 911 access.

Well, it doesn’t matter anyhow. As long as I have my cell phone charged up and in a place I’ll remember, and the power goes out and I need to call 911, voila, I just dial it and it’s good to go.

Or, alternatively, if I need it in the car. Throw it in the glovebox and if I need to dial 911, just do it.

So, I’m now going back to look at options for getting VOIP for a phone line.

What are the benefits of VOIP? Let me just put it this way.

How much do you spend on your phone in a month?

Alex found a place where he pays $2.50 a month for his phone service. Granted, he also has a cellphone that he uses regularly. But $2.50 a month (plus $0.04 cents a minute for calls outside the network (this means places outside Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal aka all the big southern cities) or $0.011 cents for calls within the network) is not something to be scoffed at.

I’m going out on a limb and encouraging YOU, my faithful reader, to look into VOIP for yourself.

Here are some starting points in terms of companies:
http://vonage.com – your standard run of the mill high advertising campaign companies
http://www.get3web.com/ – courtesy of Mike. We’re looking into this. Phone plus free Internet for $39.95? Shawing!
http://unlimitel.ca/wholesalevoip.html – This is the one Alex uses for $2.50 a month.

Caveat emptor people! Do a lot of research if you’re going to switch to VOIP. For example, take a look at your old phone bills and determine things like:

1. How many minutes to use the phone?
2. How many minutes are dedicate for long distance?
3. Do I need to purchase anything like a $150 modem/router/gadget to get the service?

If you do your research before jumping in, you may find out that you are still going to save quite a bit of money over the month (perhaps even half your bill!)

I never realized how much I am like my father until yesterday.

Dad has been looking for a truck for…close to a month now. With the Internet, this makes it an almost insane task since you are bombarded with so many choices.

He bit the bullet and picked up one down south in Campbellford. To do this, he hopped on a bus to Cochrane, took the train down to Toronto. Spent the night in Ajax with his sister then they drove him out to Campbellford and he bought the truck, then drove it back to Kapuskasing.

Whoa. That’s quite the trip for a vehicle.

But, I can say that I would do the same thing for something I had my eye on. I enjoy the hunt. The adventure for something. That’s half the fun!

I remember collecting the Matrix action figures a few years back and Benoit, Claude and I were always on the hunt for this super rare ‘Twin 2’ action figure. I ended up finding one via Benoit in a pawn shop but had to buy the entire lot of action figures (which I already owned) but ended up selling them to Benoit who didn’t have them yet. Was it silly? Sure, it’s an action figure! But the hunt for Twin 2 was amazing. I remember Claude telling me awhile after when he realized that he didn’t even really care about the action figures that he enjoyed the search for them more.

Anyhow, I’m glad to see that Dad and I have the same ambition when it comes to the hunt.

6 months ago…I am moving into my new pad and Carrie has graciously lent me her BBQ which she won at a stripping establishment (another story for another time).

I decide I better get a BBQ cover.

Hit up Wal-Mart and find one on clearance for $10. Shawing!

Get home and realize that it is size XXXXXXXXLG so that won’t do.

In my laziness, I never return it.

Fast forward, yesterday. Mike has to return something so I have the brilliant idea of returning the BBQ cover. I figure, even if I get $5 for it, it’s money in my pocket. If I can’t return it at all without a receipt, I’ll give it to Shannon and Maureen as a wedding gift.

No receipt, no problem! Just show your piece of identification.

Lo and behold, the RETURN Gods were shining on me and I got a cool $35 back in the form of a gift card at Wal-Mart.

Read that again, I just made $25 profit.

So, now I’m thinking this may be the ultimate loophole in the system – buy goods on clearance and wait six months when they get back in season. I’m talking Christmas, Hallowe’en, Gardening, you name it, they got it.

I’m going to randomly pick up something on clearance and see if it bounces back again. This will be the ultimate test.

The Strokes are coming to town!!! Let me know if you’re interested in tickets! They go on sale at 2PM on Saturday. $35 I believe.

Show is May 9.

I’d like to throw a ‘heck yeah’ out to my buddy Joe who is a good friend. One of the reasons is that he and I can change plans on a dime and it doesn’t really piss each of us off. It’s not often that you meet someone who would be pissed if you changed plans at the last minute. We see the goodness in our change of plans…it involves the both of us doing something together…who cares what it is?

I’m in luck today! Linda managed to tape the OLP show that was being aired on Rogers for me. For all of those who are keeping track, it was the show that Vero and I won tickets to back in the Fall of ’05.

I am disappointed to hear that it’s only an hour long and is intermixed with interviews. Also known as NOT THE FULL CONCERT! I heard they even cut out the scene where Raine Maida climbs up on the balcony.

Ah well. It’ll still be cool to see some songs from the setlist!

I managed to snag some tickets to see Sam Roberts on April 21 here at the New Capital Music Hall. I am stoked. Tickets were only $10.69 for the first 100 to purchase them. Awesome! You can’t go wrong with that price! Those 100 tickets sold out in 10 minutes (unfortunately for Carrie who missed the train by a minute).

What can I say about S.Roberts? His new album comes out on April 11. A concert 10 days after that. I cannot go wrong.

In other news, I’m learning You are My Sunshine on guitar as my Nanny’s birthday party is coming up. I was having trouble finding an authoritative source on how this should sound but it looks like it’s an old folk song (from what I can tell at least…let me know if I’m wrong and I can find THE source.) Found some old Johnny Cash covers that maybe I’ll work with.

Or, maybe I”ll just throw some Palmer spin into it and sample some Beastie Boys along with it.

• Just saw V for Vendetta. By the Wachowski Bros. Or is it Bro and Sis now? Who knows? Sex-change rumours and all. Excellent flick. I’m just going to ramble on for the rest of this entry. Two minutes ago I felt like writing nothing. Now I’m going to spew out everything.
• Movie was amazing. What amazes me more? The poster. Vintage-like. I’m listening to the Chill genre on iTunes right now. I’m digging it. Time to wind down the night. The Orleans Rec Complex has swimming at 9:00 at night. No way am I ready to swim like a madman at 9:00 at night. I like chilling. Right now I’m just writing whatever comes to my mind. This will be an interesting catch up post.
• I haven’t been able to post pictures on the blog entries for awhile during my break at work. Have no idea why not. Also, looks like there may be an issue with accessibility to the Blog now via work. Will have to look into it. Benoit had the same issue on Friday but said he could create entries, just not edit them.
• Was sick today as I was since Thursday. I figured a day off would help me out.
• I have started scanning my parent’s photo albums. It is a very long process. First, scan the page – not the individual photos, that’s just crazy. Scan the entire page. Then, crop the photos out of the page – let’s say there are 4 in a page. I then have to crop one, then go save it, then revert to the original image and crop the remaining 4. Now that I think of it, it may not be that time consuming to take the photos out and scan them that way. Only problem with that will be the ones from the 70s where they actually stick to the pages. I’m not going to attempt to take those out.
• I like when I have a MASSIVE blog entry that has myriad paths of dictation that no one can really comment on it. Comments are cool. Everyone likes to write to see what people will say. At least that’s what Trish does. It would be interesting to see what she REALLY writes about. You know what I’m talking about. Everyone should have two blogs. One for the outside world to see, one for the inside world to see. But why should we shelter ourselves? Are we scared to be who we are for everyone to see? Perhaps that’s the first step in songwriting…letting go. Not giving a care what your song may sound like.
• Mental note: Get a dictophone. Sam Roberts was talking about how he couldn’t remember a melody he would come up minutes later so he just hums into the dictophone. I need one of those.
• I had my oral French exam on Thursday. I received a B Level. I am pretty happy with that. Now I get an extra $800 a year as a bonus because they like bilinguals.
• I had my PM-03 interview on Friday afternoon. I don’t think it went well. I believe it was a combination of it being St. Patrick’s Day, it was 2:30 on a Friday afternoon and I felt like 10 lbs of shit in a 5 lb bag that day due to my cold. I will refrain from talking about the interview specifically as some people from work may read this blog.

• I went to see Coldplay on Friday. Perhaps I will write more later on this. All I have to say is that it was magical. It was one of those moments where you lose yourself in the moment and when you hear the words ‘Goodnight’, you realize 90 minutes flew by you. I LOVE those moments. Perhaps that’s what I love about music. It’s an exciting feeling to just lose yourself in something. But I don’t condone drugs people. Come on! Now that I think of it…I wonder if that’s what alcohol is all about…you just lose yourself sometimes in the moment and just have a good time with friends. Anyhow, the stage production was amazing, the music even better…I am glad they will be filming a DVD in Toronto in a few days which will basically mimic the Ottawa show. They are said to be the successors of U2. I can believe it.

• Helped Carrie move in with Alex on Saturday. A welcome surprise was seeing Philipp as I guess I didn’t catch the fact that he was coming into town. The morning started off crappy with the cold hitting me at an all time high, but we helped her move…not much stuff to move…went to the Newport for some Montreal styled pizza – that’s tomato sauce, cheese, pickles, smoked meat and mustard people. It sounds gross but it is amazing!
• The night brought me to see Vero in a play. I saw Butch beforehand which was a hilarious play about a truck driver who picks up two people. Then Facteur Humain came on and I enjoyed it. It was interesting to see what the play was about since I had only helped Vero rehearse her lines so I didn’t see the other scenes of the play. I had a good time and I’ve learned that it is rude to sit in the far back corner. Always try and find a seat in the centre people!
• Went to the Heart and Crown with Mike, Vero and Philipp that night to see Fortune’s Hand. There’s a new guitarist…can’t say I’m that impressed. I think Fortune’s Hand has lost some magic with losing Kevin. He was the essence of ROCK. Much like my long hair…which has now been chopped off by Vero. That’s right, I let Vero cut my hair. She has been cutting her own her for 10 years so I figured she knows what she is doing. Although I was regretting cutting my rocking locks before a Fortune’s Hand concert, I am really digging it today. I don’t even have to put anything in my hair and it looks great. I guess I haven’t been telling the barber anything good over the years. I love Vero and I love what she does to my hair. I should get her a new pair of scissors though.
• A massive brawl broke out behind us at the end of the night at the H&C. Perhaps it was the superhero in me, but I tried to stop it but was promptly thrown out of the way by four bouncers who had a hard time tearing it up. I got knocked in the mouth at the time but it was more like someone brushed into me really hard. It was sore for a minute but was fine after. I was going to do my classic free beer move where you go to the bartender and let them know that you lost a beer during the fight, but it was 2:00 and time to go. Went for some Marroush Schwarma (new location on Dalhousie and Rideau!!!) and that was good times. I find it funny how we ended up at the H&C considering none of us really wanted to go out. I think it’s due time that we all fess up to our true feelings after a long hard day of moving furniture and sit and relax for the rest of the night. 😉
• Helped Alex out on Sunday with putting some supports up for the floors in the house and also worked on some drywall. Matt came by after awhile – good to see him as I haven’t seen him in awhile and his blog is tres lame lately. I know he tried AWHILE ago before any of us caught on and then he was big into it for awhile because of us, but I can see that he doesn’t have a true blogger spirit in him or else he would be there every day. Speaking of a true blogger spirit, I suppose I must have it considering the amount I’ve just written.
• Zero 7 has come on the Chill setting. Check out this band. Amazing stuff. Was introduced via Garden State.
• Speaking about Alex, he brought me to this great schwarma joint in South Keys – Mango’s. Supposedly it is famous…I can see why. Get the tropical fruit cup when you’re there. It is divine.
• I still can’t get over how good V for Vendetta was. Joe and Mike enjoyed it also. I feel like watching the Matrix now.
• I’ve decided that I cannot go to the Calgary Stampede to see Kevin and Kathleen this year as I will be taking class during the summer. Then I started thinking of the next three years of night class. Does this mean I won’t be able to take ANY vacation? What about the Southern Eurotrip 2007? Hmm…I may have to reconsider this whole vacation in the summer thing. The way it works is that you have compressed courses: From May – June 2 three hour classes a week and you’re done a course. Then one from July – August. So I suppose I could just opt to take one course and then I would have two months off. Hey, there’s an idea I’ll have to look into. So far, there’s a few trips on the horizon – Sault Ste. Marie on the Labour Day weekend for a wedding, Lumberjack Festival (maybe? Parents won’t be there…), and Katie’s cottage weekend for sure.
• Want to hear a gripe? Weddings on long weekends. Sure sure, it’s all nice for people who have to travel from out of town…but you know what? Even if you were getting married on a Wednesday, I would still come. So why take away my long weekend? I only get a few a year and now I have to have some magical time vanish for wedding weekend. I suppose I don’t really mind or else I would just not go to a wedding, but still. Come on folks. Stop having a wedding on long weekends.
• Sam Roberts is coming to town. Tickets are $10.69. I would pay $100 to see Sammy and les boys. I think everyone who reads this blog should fork out the $10.69 and come see them Friday, April 21st. Surprisingly, Duncan and Dave saw them last year at Carleton and thought they sucked. I suppose everyone has their differences.
• Now that you’ve wasted 15 minutes reading this blog entry, I bid you good night. It’s time to hit the sack to kill this cold.
• Here’s a random photo of Robyn and I on Graduation Day from Algonquin College. Don’t know if she ever got a copy of these photos so I figure this may be the first time she sees them.

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Originally uploaded by palm0014.