Thursday, December 18, 2008

Today is history... tomorrow is a mystery...

When I was about 15 years old I worked at the Country Club in our small town. One of the grounds keepers would say the same thing every time that I saw him. "Today is history, tomorrow is a mystery."

The logic here rings true.. but it was funny as he told me this "mini prayer" almost daily, like it was the first time he was saying it. I would never call him out and say, "Dude, you just told me that yesterday!" I guess that I sensed something was a bit off.. and I'd let him preach his gospel to me based on the inner ramblings of his consciousness. It seemed like he might be getting more out of it than me anyway.

The ringing in my ears is due to these same words playing on a constant loop cycle in my brain. After joining EA's Black Box studios here in Vancouver on December 1st. It's just been an onslaught of different trajectories coming at me quick.

There is little to nothing that I can say publicly at this point. There are rumors.. certainly lots and lots of rumors. So I will put it this way... Need For Speed will continue...Black Box will continue... and hopefully I will still have a job! The economic outlook means that EA needs to cut costs and overhead. Facilities and staff is one of the quickest ways to do it. Surely now more than ever "Today is history and tomorrow is a mystery." Thanks again for that bit of knowledge Larry... I'm living it!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Observations Vancouver vs. San Francisco

Since moving to Vancouver I have observed some differences. I thought it might be fun to keep track of them here:

Misc.
  • We ordered a Cesar today thinking that it was a salad. Turns out that a Cesar here can mean a drink that is very similar to a Bloody Mary.
Politics
  • Seeing Obama on the news here is even better than in the US.
  • I really feel that the US has gotten some world credibility back by electing Obama. This is even more apparent when living in Canada. I have yet to meet a Bush supporter.
  • I have no idea how Canadian Politics work but I intend to learn.
Geography
  • Since I was born in Massachusetts, I found myself starting to explain where it's located when talking with a few Canadians. They usually stop me mid sentence and say "I know where that is.. we had to study the configuration of the US states in school here." Now can you tell me where Manitoba and Alberta are in relation to Ontario?
Temperature
  • When someone say's it's "plus 10" outside. That's 50 degrees for you and me. Remember when the US decided to "opt out" of that whole metric thing? Well....the rest of the world "opted in"
Beer
  • The beer here is good and varied.
  • The idea of having a pint along with lunch is encouraged.
Iraq
  • I have noticed that there is quite a bit of news and other documentaries on television regarding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Canadians are not afraid of putting a real face to these tragic stories created from war.
  • On the front page of today's paper 12/15/08 there were pictures and descriptions of three Canadian soldiers just killed on Saturday in Afghanistan. I don't think that I have seen this in the US. The descriptions included what friends and family had to say about their loved ones. Certainly this is not something the US seems eager to make the public aware of. The most I remember hearing in the mainstream media in the US was numbers, digits, not faces and stories. An effort to dehumanize might be a good way to put it.
Hockey is everywhere
  • No need for an explanation here as hockey seems to be everywhere. I am considering this an expected observation.
Rain and foul weather doesn't stop anyone
  • I've seen bikers, joggers, walkers etc.. just in rain gear fighting the good fight in some horrible weather conditions.
  • The bike messengers here must have nutz of steel.
The 1 dollar and 2 dollar coins.
  • There are a few issues with coins of this monetary denomination. When paying for something and all you receive is coins as change. It makes you feel like you just spent way to much money.
  • You might make the mistake and give a homeless person like 7 bucks.
  • Fortunately I am starting to make use of my little coin pocket that was completely underutilized in my jeans prior to the Canada move.
  • The one dollar is a Loonie and the two dollar is a tuneeee