Christmas Parties

Of course I forgot to post about the other happenings of last weekend earlier so I'll put in a quick summary here. Friday was a Fondue party at Anne-Marie's place celebrating Christmas and her birthday (Happy Birthday AM!). A good time was had by all. Check out JP's site for pictures of the event (I linked his page on the right side of the page now). Saturday night, after skiing, was a Secret Santa gift exchange and dinner at Renata's new house in Barrhaven. Even though I was feeling incredibly sick and tired, I managed to have a good time. Almost all of the pre-planned parties are done now, just the division party from work to go (this Friday at lunch). After that if I'm not in the holiday spirit then I guess I'm just a grinch.

Pool Champion

As most of you know, I co-run an 8-ball pool league on Monday nights. It started out for interns and co-op students and their friends but it's turned into more a core group of people with some newcomers every term. We have fun and socialize, it's not a really serious league but there are some good players. As time has gone on, I've developed into one of them. Every 4 months our term or "season" is done and we have a party and a tournament for those that have shown up for half of the weeks. Back when I was an intern here I somehow managed to win one of these tournaments (mostly on luck but a little skill was involved). Last Monday was our Fall '06 tournament.

I got off to a rocky start and wasn't playing very well but then I played Kevin (sorry KAK, I have to write about this). The first game I didn't play overly well and lost but managed to get almost all my balls down. Then I broke for our second game and proceeded to sink 2-balls off the break (1 solid, 1 stripe) and then the rest of the stripes in one turn, followed of course by the 8-ball. I had my first ever ERO!! For those that don't know, an ERO, or Eight-ball Run Out, is not an easy thing and mine was no exception. I had to make a couple of difficult shots and move the cue ball around the table just right. For me to accomplish this relatively rare feat (well, rare for someone of my ability anyway) was special to me and got me going for the rest of the night. I did manage to lose another game but it was still part of the round robin and I managed to play solid in the finals and come away the winner. Kudos to Mike who I defeated in the finals but played much better than I in the round robin.

Anyway, despite being sick and relatively miserable for most of Monday, pool turned my week around early and has been the highlight of the month for me so far (of course Christmas is still coming). Just thought I'd share my joy and for anyone in the Ottawa area, if you're interested in playing pool, we start up our next term in January so let me know if you want to come play.

Let the ski season begin

Well, yesterday was technically the first day on the hill for me this year, but today was better. Yesterday was our ski test and the recruit draft at Camp Fortune so we got to ski a little bit but it was pretty lame since only the bunny hill was open (and then one other run later in the day but I didn't really stick around and only got a couple more real runs in after lunch). After the testing was done, the patrol leaders from the zone drafted all of the recruits to each hill. I ended up at Mont Cascades with Ali and France. So today was my first day there. Even though there is only one run open there as well and we spent most of the day doing more orientation/on hill training type stuff, it was a lot better because the run is a lot better than Fortune and it was a lot more fun. The people at my hill are all pretty good so far and it should be a good season. Too bad my legs are like jelly right now...and I wasn't even on skis all day, just for a little while. It's also too bad that I am sick right now and really tired and burnt out. So much in fact that I think I'll save the rest of this weekend's events for an update tomorrow instead of finishing it now. I think I'm going to bed...g'nite.

Winter Arrives in the Capital

Kind of fitting that our first real snowfall of the year comes on December 1st. Yep, it's finally winter in the capital. We had some wicked freezing rain in the afternoon and evening yesterday after it had snowed in the morning. As usual, people forget how to drive on ice and snow and most of us taking the bus were stuck trudging through the slush to get home from the bus stop. At least today it's a beautiful day (albeit still a little messy with all the slush). The snow looks like it's here to stay though so maybe we'll even be able to do our ski test and begin patrolling (and skiing) next weekend.

Speaking of ski patrol, I passed my written test (93%) with flying colors and now only have the diagnostic left (well, and the ski test but it barely counts).

Tonight's the recruit Christmas party from work but it's not really just recruits since it stretches back basically to anyone who has joined StatCan in the last 6 or 7 years. Should be fun. Too bad I can't really drink because I have to be up early for reffing tomorrow. At least I got to drink and have a really good time at the charity party last night for the women's shelter. A friend's girlfriend and her friends put it on. Good times and many martinis all around.

Well, time for some laundry and possibly some guitar playing. Enjoy the winter!