This is how I’ve been feeling for the past couple of days. Today isn’t much better.
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Adam Snider's Personal Blog
This is how I’ve been feeling for the past couple of days. Today isn’t much better.
– March 11, 2010

Sometimes, I think I should have been born a Newfoundlander.
Don’t get me wrong. I love Alberta. I am very attached to my home province and I will always consider myself an Albertan, no matter where I may live in the future.
It’s just that some of my favourite things come from Newfoundland, and so I think that maybe I was a Newfoundlander in a previous life.
Among my favourite Newfoundland things are:
People make fun of Newfoundlanders a lot, but they’ve really given us a lot of awesome stuff. I think I might go to Sherbrooke Liquor Store tonight and pick me up some Quidi Vidi (Newfoundland beer) to drink while I watch Republic of Doyle.
I may not be a Newfoundlander, but I sure do like some of the stuff that province has produced.
Posted in Personal.
– March 3, 2010
As I mentioned a while back, I’ve started a new job. This new job comes with a stricter dress code than my previous job (in that it actually has a dress code).
While I’ve always been a t-shirt and jeans kind of guy, my recent renewal of my wardrobe has been pretty exciting. Khakis, trousers, dress shirts, ties. All of these things are now a part of my everyday wardrobe. And I like that.
Frankly, I think I look damn good in clothes that are slightly more formal than what I’m used to wearing. I’m not talking about a full-on suit and tie here (though, I wear that on occasion, too). But a nice shirt, pants that aren’t jeans, and a blazer. And maybe a tie.
That shit looks good on me.
Posted in Uncategorized.
– March 2, 2010
Last week, I posted the music video for the song “Molten Light” by Chad VanGaalen. That prompted this comment, from Mike Gravel:
Don’t care for the song but the animation is killer. I would definitely swing this more to the unsettling side. Reminded me vaguely of Salad Fingers by David Firth.
Because Mike is a guy who usually has good taste in art (at least as far as music and poetry), I decided to go and type [salad fingers] into YouTube. I’m glad I did.
I’m not sure what to say about Salad Fingers, exactly, except that he is a creepy little character, but something about him (and the animation style and odd, ambient music in the background) draws me in.
I’ve only watched the first episode, so far, but I can’t wait to see what else David Firth has come up with for Salad Fingers.
Posted in Uncategorized.
– February 24, 2010
I love this song. And the video is both enchanting and unsettling. I could watch this video on constant loop for hours and not get tired of it.
Posted in Uncategorized.
– February 18, 2010
I don’t even care about half of the stuff that this guy is talking about in this video, but I still think it’s awesome because he rants in such a brilliant (though possibly highly edited) manner.
I also think it’s hilarious that the Today Show reported that Michael J Fox, that famous Canadian who raised money for cancer research by running across the country with only one leg, died. (Yes, I know that was Terry Fox; watch the video and you’ll understand what I’m saying.)
Posted in Humour.
– February 16, 2010
Earlier this week, I made turkey chili. This, in itself, is not particularly strange. Using ground turkey in place of ground beef is something I’ve been doing for a quite a while now.
What was a bit unusual is the fact that I decided to use beer as the base for this chili.
When I mentioned that I was having leftover turkey and beer chili for lunch on Twitter, MeghanDarker asked me for the recipe. Having just sort of thrown things together, I told her I’d try to jot down something resembling what I had done.
It’s not 100%, but this is as accurate a recipe I can remember, given that I was pretty much making it up as I went when I was actually cooking the chili.
1 package of ground turkey (approx. 1 kg)
1 can Old Style Pilsner
1 bottle of Route des épices (beer)
1 can diced tomatoes (unsalted, if possible)
1 can mixed beans (rinse off “bean juice” before using)
3 green onions
1 or 2 handfuls of fresh spinach
Chili powder
Cayenne pepper
If I were to make this dish again, I think I would probably add a bit of tomato sauce. This recipe wasn’t quite as tomato-y as I’d have liked. On the other hand, I’m not sure how much of the beer flavour would come through if I added tomato sauce.
Perhaps I’ll try it with added tomato sauce in the future and update this post if it turns out well.
Posted in Uncategorized.
– February 11, 2010
Quite some time ago, I had a conversation with a friend who mentioned something along the lines of: “I hate knowing that my friends have sex, because then every time see them I picture them having sex.”
I don’t remember the context of this conversation, exactly, but for some reason this quote popped into my head yesterday. I couldn’t wrap my head around it, because I think in a somewhat opposite manner to this friend.
While she, apparently, sees sex everywhere she looks, I do not. Unless they actually talk about their sex lives, I assume that my friends don’t have sex. Ever. Even if they’re in a romantic relationship.
It’s completely irrational, of course, but in my mind the only sex that happens outside of porn is the sex that I’m having. Everyone else on Earth is asexual.
It’s not that I’m a prude. And, obviously, I realize that lots of people are having sex even as I write this. But, the idea that my friends have sex is one that never crosses my mind. Even if they explicitly describe a rendezvous with a stranger they brought home from the bar, I don’t picture them having sex. It’s an interesting story, nothing more.
I wonder who else thinks like I do. And I wonder who else thinks like my friend does. Maybe we’re both oddities, and everyone else in the world is somewhere in the middle.
Posted in Personal.
– February 10, 2010
I don’t normally blog about work. Doing so can lead a whole host of problems that I just don’t want to have to deal with. However, I thought it was worth mentioning that, in just over a week, I will be starting a new job.
My new job will allow me to work from home at least some of the time.
With that in mind, I thought it might be a good idea to try and find some tips for maintaining productivity while working from home.
Here are a few of the tips that I found, as well as some notes about how I might be able to make them work in my own situation:
Those are just a few of the tips that I plan to employ in order to be productive on days when I’m working from home. Others include making sure that my desk (and my entire apartment, really) is kept free of clutter and making a point of getting out of the house at least once a day, whether that’s at lunchtime or at the end of the workday, so that I don’t go crazy from cabin fever.
And now, some things I’d love for you to share in the comments:
Note: The picture at the top of the post is not a picture of my setup. I snagged it from Flickr user Paladin27.
Posted in Personal.
– February 4, 2010
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links to my Amazon.ca affiliate account. If you purchase anything after following these links, I’ll get a cut of the profit.
On the weekend, Sara and I watched a movie that I got for Christmas. This movie, as you may have guessed from the title of this post, was Alien Apocalypse.
It was one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
Now, I kind of expected the movie to be bad. After all, the star of the movie—Bruce Campbell—is the king of the B-movie. But Alien Apocalypse goes beyond B-movie cheesiness into the realm of the just plain bad.
For one thing, the acting is terrible. I’d say that pretty much the entire cast, with the exception of about 2 or 3 actors, was made up of people who have never acted before.
In addition to bad acting, there are a multitude of ridiculous visual effects. The worst of these is probably the fact that many of the extras (and even some relatively significant characters) were wearing obviously fake beards; they were of no greater quality than those you’d find at a costume store near Halloween.
The aliens looked ridiculous, and the action scenes seemed to consist of an endless loop of the same lumber pile exploding every few minutes.

I could spend hours talking about how ridiculous the plot is. Instead, I’ll just sum it up in brief:
Now, there is a lot more detail I could get into. Most of it is awful.
But…
I think that Alien Apocalypse would make a great drinking game. Seriously. You should rent or buy this movie solely for the purpose of turning it into a drinking game. I haven’t figured out all of the rules yet, but here are a few:
By following even just these 5 rules, you’ll probably die of alcohol poisoning, but I’ve got a few more:
9 rules. I’ve come up with 9 rules already, having only seen the movie once. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Either way, I want to line up some shot glasses and try this drinking game.
Sara suggested that, if we were to play, we’d have to put all of the rules into a hat and have each person draw 2 or 3. If we followed all of the rules, we’d all die of alcohol poisoning before the movie was over.
But there is it, the Alien Apocalypse drinking game. Please play responsibly. (And, if you’ve seen the movie, and can think of any rules that I haven’t included, please leave them in the comments.)
Posted in Humour.
– February 1, 2010