I know it's wrong to laugh at the fact that the Segway CEO died after driving his Segway off a cliff. Very wrong. Very wrong indeed. But I can't help it.

Yes, I have had random thoughts since July. No, I didn't share them.

I think we should have a census about the census.

What's that? A massive thunder-storm in the middle of Stampede week??? Don't be ridiculous! That never happens. And to prove my point I shall stand under this gigantic oak tree. Uh-oh . . .

The automatic window on the driver's side of my car has stopped working. I wouldn't mind so much, except it's stuck in the down position.

I seem to have a bit of free time on my hands at the moment. But there isn't enough free time in the world to make me want to read or see anything involving the "Twilight" series.

Margaritaville

Has anyone gotten more mileage out of one rather mediocre song than Jimmy Buffet?

This is just a thought, but, when your company is trying to deal with the biggest man-made environmental disaster in decades, perhaps heading off on your yacht isn't the best idea, publicity-wise.

The message light on my answering machine keeps blinking. But there's no message on there. This is starting to get annoying.

Anybody else notice that we don't see much of Crispin Glover on the big screen these days? Some might even say he's a part-time Glover. I mean, I wouldn't say it, because it's a fairly lame joke. But those with less highly developed senses of humour than my own might try it.

Just wanted to congratulate the CPL staff member who won that iPod Touch. You know, the iPod Touch that should rightfully have been mine? Ya. That one.

From today's horoscope : "The desire for independence has gone to your head. Blame it on Uranus." Um . . . no comment.

So, technically, a Cam blog would be a . . . Clog?

It's my birthday today. Am expecting that iPod touch from CPL to be arriving any second now. After all, I really deserve it for going through all this 2.0 nonsense. Oh . . . wait . . . not so fast, Mr. Ascroft.

Just youtubed a live performance of Toto performing "Africa" from back in the mid-'80's. Bobby Kimball struggling valiently to hit those high notes . . . and consistently coming up about a semi-tone short. Painful. I have a sneaking suspicion there may have been some cocaine involved.

Anybody else remember Billy Ocean's "When the Going Gets Tough" video from "Jewel of the Nile"? It featured Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito lip-synching the background vocals. And then, for the sax solo, they showed DeVito playing a bass saxophone, despite the fact that it's actually an alto sax solo and DeVito is quite obviously faking it. The director probably thought, "Hey! This sax is almost the same size as Danny! This'll be really funny!"

That sort of thing really pisses me off.

I just got a phone call asking for the "man of the house". I said "He's not here" and hung up.

This blog seems to be turning into more of a blargh.

From today's horoscope : "It is time to get back in shape. Consult an expert that can evaluate your body and will propose an exercise program suited to your needs. " First, I'm beginning to get a sense that these things are a tad generic. Second, whoever this "expert" is, they've got their work cut out for them.

June 1st is not supposed to look like this. Judging by the weather outside, at some point during the last year or so, we unknowingly entered an alternate universe.

Well. Now that the work-related part of this blog has come to an end, I wonder if I'll keep doing it. I'm guessing yes. After all, I have a pretty much unending supply of random thoughts. For example, today's Sunshine Girl wants to be an esthetician and lingerie model. Please try to contain your shock and surprise.

There's a program on MSNBC right now called Lockup: Raw. The program description says, "Long periods of monotony are broken up by brief moments of terror." Sounds a lot like my life.

From today's horoscope : "You are in great shape. It appears that those recent days of rest have been good for you."

Hm. I think they've got the wrong Gemini.

Just saw an article titled "Why Simon is Leaving Idol". The subtitle should be "And Why Cam Doesn't Give a Shit".

CPL 2.0 - Twitter

What is Twitter? Basically Facebook on crack, as far as I can tell. Ok, that's kind of unfair. I'll admit, I'm a bit of a political junky, and I do occasionally find twitter useful to follow a late-breaking news story, or a critical vote, etc. And I suppose there's something incredibly democratic about everyone being able to weigh in with their opinion about EVERYTHING. That being said, even a Facebook addict like myself finds it a bit disturbing that there are people out there who find themselves so fascinating, that they feel it is necessary to share every single boring non-event that takes place every single second of their boring non-lives. There is such a thing as too much information. And I think Twitter proves it. Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong . . . and now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go update my Facebook status.

P.S. This post has more than 140 characters. So it doesn't qualify as a "tweet".

Am thinking that a Burger King stop might be required after work today. Apparently they've got some kind of new spicy jalapeno-covered burger. Sounds like a really good idea right now. Will probably be regretting it tomorrow morning.

Got a phone call at work the other day. Guy wanted to know if we had a "fish reader". Took me a little while, but I eventually figured out that he was looking for a microfiche.

"Murder, She Wrote". Or, as it's known in the biz, "The Angela Lansbury Retirement Home for Old/Out-Of-Work Actors".

CPL 2.0 - LibraryThing

I found LibraryThing easy enough to navigate. It was also easy to set up an account. But I also found it a bit redundant. As far as keeping an online library of books read/recommended/wanting to read, the Facebook Visual Bookshelf seems to offer pretty much the same service. Also, as far as searching for specific titles, I prefer to use Google or Amazon. I actually searched for two new titles, one of which was fairly popular, the other of which was lesser-known. The popular title came up with no problem. The lesser-known title was not found.

Just ran across a book called "Genetics For Dummies". Is this really such a good idea?

I'm looking forward to today's high of 18. I'd be looking forward to it even more if there was any chance I'd be making it outside today.

Think I might walk down to the corner store, since my chances of being snowed on today are relatively slim.

Just got my copy of Hilary Mantel's much-lauded award-winning novel "Wolf Hall". It's a . . . big book.

CPL 2.0 - Online Productivity Tools

I went ahead and looked at google calendar and 30 boxes. I tend to usually just use the Microsoft calendar that's installed on my computer. That usually serves me just fine to keep track of my appointments. I didn't really see anything on either of these online productivity tools that would cause me to switch. I mean, they're both fine, and pretty well put together, but not particularly earth-shattering.

For any of you who may have been wondering, "Is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" really as much of a mess as everybody says it is?" The answer is yes. It is. Director David Yates has taken one of the best books in the series and turned it into the Hogwarts equivalent of "Saved By The Bell". Muddled (oops. almost wrote "Muggled"), poorly edited, badly acted. Apparently Mr. Yates' brilliant idea was to take all the best parts of the book and make absolutely sure that none of them made it on screen. What a disappointment. And apparently David is also directing the final two installments of the series. Oh Happy Day!

Just watched "The Cove". Fantastic film.

Just checked out "Man on Wire". Fascinating story. Mediocre film. Wayyy overhyped.

I couldn't decide between the bag of two-bite "brownies" or the bag of two-bite "brookies". So I got them both.

Lum dee dum dee dum dum dum frightful. Doo dee dee doo dee delightful. Rump tee tump tee tump place to go . . . lotsa snow lotsa snow lotsa snow.

CPL 2.0 - Flickr and Youtube

Since I used Youtube for the Google section of 2.0, I decided to check out Flickr. Signing up was easy enough. There's definitely some interesting photos on there. But as someone without a mobile device, or a camera for that matter, it's not particularly useful in my case. Most of the photos I'm interested in can usually be found on the web. And any pictures I'm interested in uploading or sharing can usually be done via Facebook. So, in general, an interesting site, but not one I would tend to use very frequently.

There's a tv program on right now called "Charm School with Ricki Lake". This sounds like quite possibly the worst idea in the history of mankind.

Ok boys, we gotta git ourselves some more OIL! So, here's the plan. We gonna git a great big DRILL. And then we gonna drill deep deep down into the ocean floor and see what happens. I mean, hey, what could possibly go wrong?

All I'm saying is, there better be some pretty freakin' impressive flowers blooming in May.

So, if somebody is conducting a survey about phone usage, technically, is that a "Telephone Poll"?

I just wanted to state, for the record, that I'm not only keeping this blog up in order to have a chance to win that ipod touch from CPL. Definitely not. Absolutely not. Um . . . ok, maybe a little.

CPL 2.0 - RSS

Wow. I like to think of myself as fairly technologically savvy, but I was totally unfamiliar with RSS. However, it was totally easy to sign up, and so far I'm finding it very handy and enjoyable to use. I tend to have several favorite websites that I tend to use a lot, and Bloglines makes it really easy to check for updates. They also suggested a few other sites that I was unfamiliar with, but that I'm definitely planning on checking out. Kudos!

I think all these driving while cell-phoning/texting/smoking/putting on makeup issues will be solved once we finally perfect "hands-free driving" technology.

Congratulations Calgary! You've managed to make your way through all 4 seasons within 30 minutes! We're all very impressed.

I suspect those "Vote for Jaffer" buttons could be worth something on ebay.

What??? Leonard Nimoy is retiring from acting?? NOOOOOO!!! (Bit of an overreaction?)

Well, yes, the blog is all fine and good, but who is that extraordinarily good-looking fellow in the profile picture?

Apparently Larry David will be making another season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm". This makes me extraordinarily happy.

CPL 2.0 - Google Universe

Google is fantastic. A world of information at your fingertips. Frankly, I could get lost for a month or so in all the available info. I kinda took the easy way out and checked out youtube. I love youtube. The only problem with youtube is that I've wasted hours of time on there when I could have been doing something more productive like . . . I don't know . . . reading a book perhaps?

High of 24 on Wednesday. High of 11 on Thursday. I think I need to move somewhere with a more stable climate. Iceland, perhaps.

It has been 23 hours since my previous post. Therefore, I felt obliged to write something here, just to keep up appearances. Seems a bit desperate, yes?

The stop at KFC on friday night was CLEARLY the wrong choice. And yet, at the time, it felt so RIGHT.

We are currently 4 degrees warmer than Vancouver. I'm not sure why this makes me so inordinately happy. But it does.

Ok. Grooveshark.com is, like the BEST THING EVER! I wonder how long it'll take them to make it illegal.

Does anybody know when it became socially acceptable to use the term "retarded" as an insult? Just curious.

Am currently watching a new show on the Food Network called "What Would Brian Boitano Make?" And yes, it's exactly what you think it is. And yes it's very odd, and kinda creepy, yet kind of endearing at the same time.

Philanthropy? What a fantastic idea! I'd make a GREAT philanthropist! Um . . . what's the pay?

If a post falls in the blogosphere, and nobody's around, does anybody care?

I'm thinking of having Mexican for lunch today. It's the next best thing to actually being in Mexico.

This blog is starting to become more of a blargh.

The Deb Morgan character on "Dexter" makes a lot more sense when you realize that every decision she makes is wrong.

I just read the following headline : "Oprah Winfrey Tell-All Reveals Affair With John Tesh". I didn't bother to read the full article, but I'm pretty sure I just threw up in my mouth a little.

2.0 - social networking

• For you, is Facebook useful or a time-waster?

I am a complete Facebook junkie. For me it is both incredibly useful and the ultimate time-waster. I use it constantly to express myself, to connect with friends, and to keep up with what's going on in the theatre community. My security settings are pretty low, so feel free to stop by and say high.

I don't use words like "preclude" to TRY to sound pretentious. I AM pretentious and the language just comes naturally.

Just because a chocolate bar is listed as "family size", this does not necessarily preclude eating it by oneself.

Nicklaus had six Masters. Tiger had six exotic dancers. Same dif, really.

Alright gentlemen, please put your hands together for . . . APRIL FLURRIES!!!

Dear Spring. I'm sorry if I've offended you or made you feel uncomfortable in any way. Please come back.

I'm currently watching round 1 of The Masters. The excitement is palpable. And it's so great to see Tiger Woods getting back to doing what he does best, play amazing golf.

Blog THIS! (Ok. That was uncalled for.)

My original plan was to keep the funny stuff on Facebook and save the serious stuff for the blog. However, I have come to the realization that I have no serious stuff. So much for that brilliant idea.

CB Drive-In burgers are addictive. Not in a "Gosh! This is a really good burger!" sort of way. More in a "Gosh! There's something really wrong with this burger but I can't quite figure out what it is" sort of way.

I'd like to apologize to the Library 2.0 moderators for making you sort through all this extraneous junk to get to the required 2.0 assignments. I'd also like to apologize to everyone else for boring you with the occasional library-related post. (Just trying to cover all my bases here).

2.0 - Wikipedia

As requested, I logged onto Wikipedia and edited an article. I chose to edit the entry on actor William Finley (one of my personal favorites). There was very little info available, so I added a few relevant facts. Here's a copy and paste of the article with my changes highlighted in bold.

William Finley (actor)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

William Finley
Born	September 20, 1942 (1942-09-20) (age 67) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1962–2006

William Finley (born September 20, 1942) is an American actor who has appeared in the films Simon, Silent Rage, Phantom of the Paradise, Sisters, and The Wedding Party. Finley has had a long film relationship with director Brian De Palma, beginning with the student films "Woton's Wake", and "Murder a la Mod". Most recently Finley contributed a small but effective cameo in De Palma's 2006 release "The Black Dahlia". Under the name W. Franklin Finley, he wrote the screenplay for the 1983 film "The First Time". He is also the co-author of the 1985 book "Racewalking". Finley graduated from Columbia University in 1963. He resides in New York City with his wife and son.

Spring seems to have snuck up on me while I wasn't paying attention.

My apartment is currently filled with chocolate Easter eggs, chocolate bars, and various and sundry cakes and pies. Figures that I'm totally in the mood for something savoury.

The Production Designer on "Six Feet Under" is someone called Suzuki Ingersley. And every time I see the credit, all I can think is, "Wow. Is that the coolest name ever, or what?"

I should probably stop eating these mini creme eggs now.

Good Lord! Is this stupid cough EVER going to go away???

There was an article in the online edition of the Calgary Sun today dealing with the fact that the Pumphouse Theatre was requesting an additional $2 million from the city for their planned renovation. This is after the province reneged on their initial promise of $5 million. Somebody called "Big Turk" wrote a comment in which they described the theatrical profession as a "hobby". Needless to say, I wrote a rather strongly worded response . . .

I've decided not to let my lack of support for organized religion interfere with my consumption of chocolate Easter eggs. My principles seem to break down at the refined sugar level.

I feel like I spend most of my life swimming upstream. Hopefully there will eventually be spawning.

TGIGF

Dear Pope Benedict,

Confession is good for the soul.

If anyone's interested in seeing an AMAZING little film that kinda got lost in the shuffle, check out "The Ice Harvest" with John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Connie Nielson, Randy Quaid, and Oliver Platt.

Good gracious! 10 followers??? Yipe! No pressure.

Did I read this right? President Obama is planning on allowing offshore drilling? Gee, I wonder what the Republicans will have to say about that. Chants of "Drill, 'bama, drill!" perhaps? Hmm. Then again maybe not.

I'm attempting to be a little bit more assertive and proactive with regards to my career. I'm curious to see what happens.

Guest starring on tonight's episode of Law & Order SVU : Ann-Margaret, Susan Anton, Jaclyn Smith, and Morgan Fairchild. Apparently it's '70's week on NBC.

I just read a headline that said "Ricky Martin Announces He's Gay Online". My question is, is he only gay online, or other places as well?

Hello? Is there anybody out there?

What?? Still no followers??? Damn you!! Damn you all!!! Hahahahahaha!!!! (It just occured to me that I'm actually talking to myself. Sigh.)

CPL 2.0 - Delicious

• How comfortable are you using Best Websites, after this practice? Do you have any tips for using Best Websites on Delicious?

Frankly, I find Delicious to be confusing and much less user friendly then the previous "Best Websites" package. Most of the tags and bundles seem to be far too general for the specific type of questions that get asked on the reference desk. Honestly, I rarely use Delicious. I find it much more simple and time-efficient to go through google, wikipedia, etc.

Is it just me, or does the word "blogspot" sound kind of . . . icky.

I was listening to "Quirks and Quarks" on CBC this afternoon. They were interviewing a guy named Dr. Johann Krause. And my first thought was, "Hey! Isn't that the name of the character Seth MacFarlane played in Hellboy 2?" And he kept repeating the phrase "Homo Erectus". And I really really tried not to snicker. And I failed miserably. And then they had someone come on and talk about the mating rituals of the Dung Beetle. And I was pretty much gone at that point.

I'm actually starting to feel a little bit of pity for Ann Coulter. I suspect, beneath all the hate and vitriol, there's probably a very sad person.

Are these thoughts really random? Or is there some kind of a pattern? Only the Shadow knows. And, of course, Cam.

I think it's a sad day when innocent racist-bigot-homophobic-right-wing-nutbars can be viciously mocked by non-violent student protesters.

Apparently the people who suscribe to blogs are reffered to as "followers". Hmm. I'm starting to feel a bit like Jim Jones. Not to worry, though. No purple kool-aid, I promise. Only green beer.

Random thought : I suppose I could just re-post my Facebook status updates on here . . . but that seems like a bit of a cheat.

Random thought : I think Jason Kenney should take Constance's girlfriend to prom.

2.0

Question : Which aspect of Web 2.0 are you the most intrigued (or scared) by?

Answer : Folks have told me for the last couple of years that I should start a blog. So, at the moment, I guess this blog is the aspect I'm most intrigued by. This could well change by next week.

Preface and introduction of characters

Greetings! And welcome to Cam's Random Thoughts. Otherwise known as "The Wit and Wisdom of Cam Ascroft . . . and other seldom-heard phrases."

Random thought : My place of business is currently paying me to create my own blog. Mission accomplished!