Recertified

Well, I have a few things to update in my life. As most of you know, I officiate hockey. This past weekend was my annual recertification clinic. We spent two days talking about hockey and situations that have or will come up when reffing a game and relearning all that stuff we forgot. I managed a 96% on the test so I'm pretty happy. Also on the reffing front, I did my first Midget 'AAA' game as a referee last week. It wasn't your typical game though. First off, not even half way through the first period one of my linesmen (who also happens to be our referee-in-chief in Spruce Grove and a good friend of mine) gets hit by a couple of players, goes down, and breaks his ankle in two places. So after getting him off the ice, the other linesmen and I finished the period two-man until another linesmen was ready to fill in. Poor Dean is out for a while and had to have 6 screws and a plate to cover the one break and a screw near the joint to fix the other.

Work is well...work. A little boring at times but I have made quite a few sales. Since we're not on comission it doesn't really matter but at least I'm selling stuff and being helpful. I also have only been chewed out a few times by upset customers (most of them not my fault at all). Not that the job is all bad but I hope to find a "real" job doing software work soon.

Other than that, life goes on. I constantly get my butt kicked by my dad at ping pong when we have the chance to play but I am improving. I haven't had much time to go out and hang out with friends because of my work schedule and reffing starting back up but if anyone does want to hit the town let me know and I'll make time. Hopefully a regular game of poker starts up again soon so I can get back to that too. And most of all (of course) I can't wait for the NHL regular season to start back up...9 days and counting...

First day of work

Well it's not glamorous that's for sure, but someone has to do it and right now I guess that has to be me since I don't have anything else to do. The morning started with a big store-wide meeting before we opened. There was a lot of new hirees and some people that have only worked for a few weeks so a bunch of information had to be passed out. My section is pretty good and I actually managed to sell quite a bit of stuff including a $2100 sale taht I stayed an extra half an hour to finish. Not bad for a first day I think. By no means am I planning on making this a career but it's not so bad so far. Anyone looking for a computer, come look me up on the south side.

Hazardous Workplace

I don't start my job at Best Buy until the morning but disaster struck at my other "job" today. That's right, we had a bit of a problem reffing hockey today. It was my first Midget 'AAA' game as the referee and so I had two of our best linesmen out helping me out, one being my good friend and our Referee-in-Chief Dean. Unfortuately, less than halfway through the first period, a couple players ran into Dean and somehow in the whole mess, broke his ankle. So after some angonizing pain for him (I do believe), we got him off the ice and some other refs took him to the hospital for X-rays. It turns out he broke it in two places and had to go get surgery done to put some pins in (I think). Hopefully that went okay and he has a fast and full recovery. Anyway, so Darcy and I were left to two man the rest of the first period before we got another guy dressed and ready to line the rest of the game. A bit of an adventure to begin my Midget 'AAA' career but oh well, it ended up going okay (except of course for Dean's broken ankle). Hopefully my first day on the job at Best Buy is a bit more calm and less news worthy.

I have job

Yesterday was a busy day. Not only did my best friend Dan get a teaching job but I also was offered a position at Best Buy after about only 15 min of interviews. It's nothing I plan on staying in long but at least it keep me from being totally broke and bored out of my skull at home all day. Plus it'll be a new experience; I've never worked any kind of retail job. Guess we'll see come Sunday when I work my first shift.

Online Article + Movies = Dave's a Geek

Why I'm a geek will become more apparent in a moment...but first, if you haven't seen Hitch yet, you should. It's not the best movie out there but it's good for a laugh. Also, Assault on Precinct 13 is a good action movie but don't expect to think much. Set brain to off...

Ok, now the reason why I'm a geek. For those that know me, you know I like video games. Ok, I don't just like them, I play them a lot...I'm just a big kid. Now I don't just play the newest systems and I only own Nintendos, all of them (and a 3DO but let's not get technical)...but I digress...the games these days just don't hold the same challenge that they used to. Yes, it's a lot more satisfying to complete a game and find out what happens in the storyline in the more movie style games now a days but what happened to the fun in achieving that result? Isn't that what playing the game is all about?

My best example is Final Fantasy...no, not the fancy cinematic pieces of crap that most of you associate with that name but the original. Yep, the masterpiece that is Final Fantasy 1 (though it really doens't have a number after it), originally for the NES. I have one of the first, still slightly buggy, American released versions of the game for my NES and have wasted hundreds, probably even thousands, of hours playing the game over and over (see, told you I'm a geek). Anyway, the rerelease of this game on GameBoy Advance (which I of course bought right away) has been retooled a bit. It has become so easy to pass that you don't have to spend anytime doing the "monotonous" fighting to level up...but that's what the game's all about. Anyway, I'm getting off the point of what I wanted to say.

I love the new games with all the fancy graphics and everything but you just can't beat the old games for gameplay and a good challenge. Well, the article that got me started on this rant is at Tom's Hardware here. If you are a fan of gaming (especially older games) you should check it out. Ok, I'm done my rant, time to go to bed.

How is it already September?

Wow the summer just flew by. It's wierd knowing that I'm not going back to school next week. I really feel like I should be. Maybe I'll just be one of those losers that goes and hangs around campus at the start of the year even though they don't go there anymore. Well, it was a relaxing and enjoyable summer for the most part. I wish all the students (and teachers) going back to school this week or next a good year.

And HAPPY 100th BIRTHDAY ALBERTA!