So Monday marked the day of Howard Stern’s return to radio in Canada. Now I’m not talking about traditional radio but rather the newbie on the block, satellite radio.

Stern, known for his outrageous topics of real conversation, was ridiculed and censored by the FCC. THe CRTC originally prevented Stern from being able to broadcast his show on the pay-based SIRIUS radio. Due to an overwhelming backlash, Stern is once again being streamed over the airwaves.

Each satellite provider offers an abundance of 100% digital, commercial free music and news stations ranging from Classical to Trance, Dance, HipHop, and R&B.

A basic subscription costs around $12.95/month, and hardware as low as $79. Advanced features like recording capabilities will cost slightly more. One of the SIRIUS models, will actually memorize up to 8 of your favourite songs, and notify you when they are playing on any of the over 100 channels, and with a simple click of a button you can listen to the song.

Thank you for PEACE.
PLUR!

So I went to see Brokeback Mountain on Saturday with Phil, Mom, and DD. What an amazing movie, it strikes a chord with me as the movie dipicted just how much social injustice plagues the vast majority of rural/small town gay people. In fact, in some respect I believe that the events, and feelings of shame still affect a number of closeted gay people all across the world.

The movie is about the inner struggles two men face in overcoming societal norms and pressures. An inner journey of self realization in which decisions of the past will haunt the two men for the remainder of their lives. My mom stated “Everybody in the world should see this movie” – the world would be a better place.

The tragic love story, ended with applause from the vast majority of the moviegowers in the theatre. I give this epic film a five star rating.

In amidst the snow we sit
Blizzards White
Frigid, cool, warm, hot,
Soothing harshness awaits
Delicate, billowy puffs of ecstasy.

A life of decisions, pondering of what tomorrow will become
In our infinite capacity,
Synapses of memories flash.

Selfish Stupidity, and Arrogance;
Welcoming, I think not.
Ignorance – not a bliss I would undertake.
Knowledge without knowing
Harmless heed make way.

Breathe, live life a little.

Over the weekend I went to see Quentin Tarantino’s new flick “Hostel”. I personally had never heard of this movie (my friend Dee Dee suggested we go see it), so I went into the movie with zero expectations nor the slightest notion of the plot. Well let me tell you, Quentin’s whacked mind mixed with his creative flair and attention to detail really came out in this movie. The first half consisted of three european traveller’s pursuit of getting lucky with eurochicks (the movie starts off in amsterdam). Sex drived and crazed, these men are on a mission to get laid. Unfortunately, Amsterdam wasn’t doing it for them (and why would it when you have women stripped bare dancing in street windows for any passerby to see). Two words which would best describe the first half of the movie would be “Naked Women”, lots and lots of naked women. The second half consisted of some of the goriest scenes in film I have ever laid witness to.

Psychotic and deranged – HoSTEL

Although “This Hour Has 22 Minutes” has been on the air for over 12 seasons, I only begun watching the program this season.

Gavin Crawford makes me laugh so hard that I can hardly breathe. His Mark Jackson skits are absolutely BRILLIANT! But my all time favourite has to be the Discovery Planet skit. Gavin’s rendition of Natasha Stillwell was flawless…I PVR’d the episode and play it back whenever I need a histerical outburst of laughter. Check out the Mark Jackson Much Music VJ search clip (not my favourite…but worthy of mention) http://www.cbc.ca/22minutes/video.html

Shaun Majumder is also hilarious. In fact, I find the entire cast to be so freakin funny. Kudos to Cathy Jones for her cut-the-crap comedy style. Is there anything else in the works for the cast members?

Project Planning is the first phase out of a total of five phases within the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). 

The project planner’s role is the following:
Define the problem
Produce the project schedule
Confirm project feasibility
Staff the project
Launch the project

The aformentioned activities are generally considered to be Project Management tasks.

Critical Components of this phase include:
Business Benefits (Business Case)
System Scope Document
Context Diagram
Work Breakdown Schedules (WBS) – a list of all the individual tasks that are required to complete the project, usually composed in Microsoft Project Manager
PERT Chart (Project Evaluation and Review Technique) – Can be composed in Microsoft Project Manager

Economic Feasibility:
Cost/benefit analysis (Development costs, ongoing costs of operations)
Net Present Value (NPV)
Payback Period
Breakeven Point
Return on Investment