Too tired to write

Why can't I ever seem to catch up on my sleep?...especially when I've a couple of really long days at work. Here's my two cents of the day before I fall asleep at my keyboard.


- Sens won game 1...WOO HOO!!
- The weather in Ottawa is awesome right now but man is it ever humid...where was the thunderstorm they promised us today?
- Golfing Saturday as part of Tyler's batchelor party...went to the driving range yesterday...I'm so very rusty.
- Can't wait for the PEI road trip next week...it's going to be a blast.

Seriously though, I'm dead tired, and I have to get up for French tomorrow. Maybe I'll kill some time at work (if I can find some free time at work) and post some updates like I keep promising.

Not the best time to feel sick

We'll call this my update for yesterday since I felt like complete garbage last night and was still bad this morning. I think it's my body's way of telling me I tried to do to much this week on not enough sleep (and possibly not enough food). With running class starting (and an extra run thrown in), two intense volleyball matches, and all the packing for tomorrow's move, I really haven't had enough rest this week. Hopefully I can finish packing early tonight and then have a good sleep before getting up to go the Uhaul tomorrow morning.

So about those two volleyball matches...we lost both of them. Yep, that's right, the #1 seed in the B-tier lost in the finals and the #1 seed in the A-tier lost in the semi-finals. Sucky! Both teams I played on just didn't step up the play enough when the other team did. This was especially true in the B-tier final. That being said, it wasn't like we played bad, the other team just played the best volleyball they've played all year and we didn't step it up to match them. Oh well, there's always next year.

One other thing I didn't mention when I talked about the end of the year for patrolling is that I was the recruit of the year (well one of two) at Mont Cascades (the hill I patrol at). I was honored to be recognized even though I don't think I did too much special this year. I'm already looking forward to next year's ski season but I think I'll enjoy the beautiful weather this summer first and spend some time on the beach (playing volleyball) and the field (playing ultimate).

Well I should get back to packing but before I do, here's a link to a little animation/video that video game nuts like me will enjoy: Haloid.

Spring has Sprung

It was a beautiful day in Ottawa. It looks like Spring has finally arrived. Good thing I have the day off tomorrow to enjoy the sunshine. I'm already getting geared up for Ultimate and beach volleyball but right now I'm trying to evaluate how I spend my time. I'm always on the go to one sport or activity or another and sometimes this causes either a lack of sleep or a procrastination to do necessary tasks. The simplest example is cleaning. I just put off things like doing the dishes for too long some weeks because whenever I finally get home from wherever I am that day, I just want to relax a bit and play a game or read a book. Unfortunately, by relaxing, I use up the little time I spend at home not doing work that needs to get done. Does anyone have any suggestions for me to try and organize my time better or motivate myself to do some more work around the house when I do have the time? All that being said, I don't live in a total sty and I do get things done...eventually. I'm just somewhat unhappy with myself when it comes to some of the things I know I have to do but always put off. Guess that's just a side effect of a busy life.

V-Ball Week

This week was filled with volleyball. Tons of volleyball. Monday, we won 4-1, yesterday my B-team won 5-0 (as usual), and tonight my A-team won another match 4-1. Both teams are first in their tiers and we'll be getting a bye in the first round of the playoffs (which start after next week). Boy am I tired after all that hitting. Luckily, I have tomorrow off so I can get caught up on my sleep and get some cleaning done around the apartment.

Oh, and for those that haven't seen 300 yet...go see it, especially if you like war/action movies with some gore. If you're a woman (or a guy) who doesn't like that kind of movie, you can pass and go to one of the chick flicks out right now instead. Or coming tomorrow...TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)!! Sweet!! I've been told it's a good new rendition. I can't wait to see it.

Well, off to bed now. I'm beat. Enjoy the weekend!

Squashed

Well, I've been bitten by the squash bug again. Mike and I went and played last night at the courts in Anne-Marie's apartment building. The courts are a little short but since I haven't played in over a year, I didn't notice much. It didn't take too long for me to get back into it either. I even gave Mike (who plays pretty much every week) a run for his money and won a set 2-1 (best of 3 games). He still ran me pretty good though and I was thoroughly tired last night. I also got a bit of a shin splint (cramp in the shin/ankle) but only in my left leg. Wierd. Anyway, I'm definitely back into the raquet sport stuff. I can't wait to play again and to start playing tennis again too. Spring is just around the corner. I think the ski season is almost done since most of the snow disappeared (at least in the city) this week with the warm temperatures and little bit of rain we had on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Quick last point: won another $40 at poker tonight, but it was mostly due to luck rather than really good play. It seems that we've attracted a few new bodies to the poker circle so hopefully we can have a week with a big enough turnout for a tournament soon. And hopefully my luck carries over to the Super 7 lotto tomorrow (I have a couple free tickets from last week when I bought a ticket on a whim).

Stupid Juvenile hockey

So I was all set to have a pretty quiet evening tonight. I'd stop by my ref meeting for half an hour or so but otherwise, it was looking like I might get a night where I actually spent time at home doing...well, whatever I want but preferably nothing. Don't get me wrong, I like staying busy but sometimes I need a break. Anyway, I got a phone call during poker last night and my ref assignor pulled me into reffing a Juvenile game tonight. For those that don't know, Juvenile is what comes after Midget in the hockey levels, so the guys are 19 and 20. Usually it's pretty laid back but has some decently skilled players that are just looking to continue playing hockey. Sometimes though, you get the odd occational idiot that just can't seem to stop whining or loses it for no good reason. Tonight brought both situations out. Why, when a player gets a penalty for something obvious, like clipping the goalie, does he feel like he has to complain? He knows it won't do him any good (in this case it got him tossed for continuing for so long and so loudly). And why can't a team just accept a goal scored late in the game that might put them away? Why does the defense feel like he has to punch out the guy who made a nice play to pull the puck back in front and score on an out of position goalie? Of course this started a "fight" and then everyone but the goalies got into it. Since it's near the end of the season and almost no real punches were thrown, I decided to be nice and only call a few minor penalties instead of kicking them all out. You would think the players would accept this but no, they have to complain about every little thing. Okay, I'm done ranting for now. I just don't understand the stupidity of some players when you either cut them some slack or when something painfully obvious happens and they just can't let it go.

Other than tonight's hockey game, it's been a good week. I won at poker again last night (both by playing well and by hitting some good cards) and I won the payday 50/50 at work! Granted the 50/50 was only $23 but hey, I won for once, and that's what counts. I was feeling lucky so while filling up on gas (at some crazy prices) I thought I'd go in for a couple Super 7 tickets too for the $15 million jackpot. We'll see how far this luck really goes; I may be pushing it.

This weekend looks to be pretty busy with ski patrol on Saturday and Sunday (race patrol on Sunday) as well as a pot luck at the hill on Saturday. I also have curling as usual and then a Chinese fondue Sunday night. Should be busy but a lot of fun. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Poker is fun

Well, it was the semi-regular weekly poker game today. I've managed to be up a considerable amount 3 out of the last 4 times we've played. I'd say my luck is turning around but I don't want to jinx it. I also had a few people from work over a little earlier to just hang out and drink and eat a bit. It was fun to just relax and chat with some friends for once. We never seem to really do that much anymore outside of work. Anyway, I'm dog tired and I still have French in the morning so I'd better get to bed. There's also a lot of snow coming our way so it could be an interesting day tomorrow.

Dean's Visit and Call of Duty

So Dean came out for a week as I mentioned before. It was again good to have someone from home come out and see my "new" life in the capital. He got to visit family here and see some of the sights, including skating on the canal and the rest of the stuff you would typically look at in downtown Ottawa. I got to hang out with a good friend for a week and have someone to watch and advise me on my reffing stuff (because the supervisions done on me this year have been useless). We both got to play some poker, drink, and eat out a lot, and play some Wii; good times were had by all. Most importantly, we got to see the Oilers play the Sens. It was a lot of fun going to the game and there were a ton of Oiler fans at ScotiaBank Place. Too bad the Oilers lost but at least they pulled out a 3rd period comeback and got one point from the shootout loss. It's going to be a tough home stretch for the Oilers but I have faith they can still make the playoffs.

Now that Dean is gone, I can play my Wii again without worrying about him wanting to play Zelda. I rented Call of Duty tonight (because I don't feel like cleaning up)...boy is that ever an addictive game. I just want to keep playing it. It's basically a WWII first person shooter but it's pretty fun and the graphics aren't bad. Maybe it's just because I haven't played any good FPSs in a while but I'm really enjoying it. Well, back to fight one more battle and then head to bed.

Pan's Labyrinth + Link of the Week

So Tuesday night, Mike convinced me to go to a late showing of Pan's Labyrinth. If you haven't heard of this movie, it's basically a gorey fantasy movie that takes place in Spain during World War II. The movie is completely in Spanish with English subtitles. But man is it ever gore filled. That being said, if you don't mind reading subtitles and seeing a few disturbing scenes, go see this movie. I thought it was very well done with an interesting story.

Now for the link of the week: http://www.applegeeks.com/lite/index.php?aglitecomic=2007-02-07
In case you've never read the Apple Geeks web comic before, here's the basics. It's a couple of mac lovers who have a regularly updated comic on Mondays and Thursdays with a basic little short black and white comic called Apple Geeks Lite that is updated on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I point to this specific AG Lite comic because I just played Rayman: Raving Rabbids on the Wii (but check out some of the other comics because they are hilarious). It was a lot of fun but I think I'll hold off on buying it for now since I was starting to get a little tired of some of the minigames before too long. It does prove that the Wii is inspiring a lot of new styles of games (and some new, albeit wierd, ways to control your gaming experience).

Well, that's it for now. Have a good weekend.

Poker and Volleyball + Link of the week

Well the last couple of days have been...you guessed it, busy. On Tuesday night I had three hockey games to ref on the opposite end of the city (actually had three good games, well, good for house league). Then, despite taking a slap shot right in the ankle bone and tweaking my knee on the ice on Tuesday, I played volleyball both Wednesday and today. Both of my teams won their matches 5-0. We didn't play particularly well either night but we covered each other well and played a pretty good team game to keep up the winning streak. And then after volleyball tonight, I hosted my semi-regular weekly poker game. With a strange twist of luck/fate, I managed to catch good cards tonight and ended up over 6 times the buy in. I feel bad because poor Mike gave up a fair chunk of his chips to me when I had the good hands. That's the way the cards fall sometimes though (not usually my way of course). Well, that's all for the week (except Friday but we'll count that as part of the weekend). Looks like I'll be on the hill somewhere on Saturday and even though curling should be on for Sunday, I should only miss a bit of the Superbowl. Enjoy the start of February and Winterlude if you are in Ottawa.

Oh, and here's a new little feature I'll like to start semi-regularly. When I find a neat site, or just a link to a funny video, picture, or blog entry, I'll post it as the link of the week. To start I suggest you check out Defective Yeti. It's a blog about random stuff but usually has some amusing posts from time to time. Check out his favorite posts for some of the funniest stuff he's written. Enjoy!