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.

Friends don't let friends do crackbook

Crackbook (or Facebook as it's more commonly known) is invading my social circles. I had recieved so many tagged photos and invitations to join that I pretty much had to see what all the fuss was about. I'll admit it's pretty adictive but I believe it'll still just be a passing fad. Nevertheless, I'm signed up so you can find me there but I can't promise I'll pay too much attention to it. It will definitely not replace my blog but it may be the only place I put photos up for now (with the exception of the odd one here; it's not like I post many now anyway). Anyway, that's my latest online excursion so why not make it a link of the week: www.facebook.com

So I've been pretty crazy busy. So busy that I totally forgot to write last Thursday. Anyway, the week in a few points:
- Hockey playoffs have started (YAY!!) so I'm watching as much as I can in what little spare time I have. I'm in a few drafts/pools including one that I'm running at work (1st so far).
- Volleyball playoffs started for one of my teams last week (after a bye week for both teams). We won of course and play in the B-final this week and I play in the A-tier semi-final as well this week.
- It was my last poker night at the old place (of course it's not really the old place until I move on Saturday).
- Which brings me to: I'm moving on Saturday so I'm panicking to prepare for that.
- The ski season is officially over now with our sunset party happening last Saturday night (see my facebook album for pictures). A good time was had by all.
- Curling is also over due to summer (though you couldn't tell from the weather we're having). We unfortunately lost a close game for the league championship and lost 8-7 with a miss on the last rock...sucky, but still fun.
- Finally, work; crazy busy and it looks like there may be some overtime in the next few weeks (I know, crazy for a government worker but we need to get some testing done and it's just not working). I don't know where I'll find the time but if it needs to get done, I'll be there. I've also started a new term of French classes (Bloc 4). Hopefully I continue to improve my speaking skills because that's what I need to work on the most. Maybe I'll post in French once just for practice and to change it up a little.

See, I told you I was busy. Now there's other news (like about vacation plans, etc) but I'll save that for a mid-week post or Thursday's update. Have a good week everyone.

Monday update on Tuesday

Yeah, I'm late a day...so what. I'm still recovering from the weekend. I was out all weekend, mostly at the hockey rink. I did 10 games in 3 days (and only one was on Sunday). And to top it off, I also patrolled on Sunday and curled (we won our last game of the regular season, yay). So yeah, I'm a little tired and I have a wicked headache. So yeah, this post is short and late but I'm just too tired and beat up to worry about it. Don't get me wrong though, I did enjoy most of the weekend, it's just the after effects that I don't like. Hope everyone's weekend went well too.

Here's the link of the week. Quick little video clip from MADTV with some Mac and political humor rolled into one: http://www.glumbert.com/media/irack

Quiet St. Patty's Day Weekend

Well, as shocking as it may sound, I didn't make it out anywhere for St. Patrick's Day this year. While everyone was out drinking and having a good time, I stayed home, watched the hockey game and went to bed. Not overly exciting but I was feeling tired and had to ski the next morning so it just didn't seem like a good idea to go out. Yesterday at the ski hill was also the Snow Snake Day. It's just a bunch of activities at the hill as almost a wrap up party (just in case the snow doesn't last much longer, which it won't). The day culminates with the water skimming competition. Basically, skiers and snowboarders trying to work up enough speed from the last pitch of the main hill to skim across a pool of water 100 ft long and about 15 ft wide. It was quite amusing to watch but unfortunately I didn't catch the final few runs because a girl broke her arm and since I wasn't helping around the pool, I got to go with Ali and deal with the broken arm instead of watching the people faceplant into the icy cold water. Good fun though (not the broken arm, the water skimming).

So you like StarWars, well, the links of the week are a couple of funny/neat videos that these two guys put together of them having lightsaber fights. They're both quite well done. Enjoy!
Ryan Vs. Dorkman
Ryan Vs. Dorkman2

Curling Thievery

So we won another curling match (that's two back to back for those that are counting)! It all started with an end with a 3-point steal. Then we stole 2 the next end. Then stole one, and another. After 4 ends we were already ahead 7-0. Then they managed to get a couple and steal a few in the 6th (and last) end but we already had built up that insurmountable lead. Yay for us. I didn't shoot particularly well but I made a couple nice draws and a really important raise of one of our guards in the first couple ends to ensure the robbery that went on. Points were being stolen all over the place.

Other than curling I was, as aforementioned, crazy busy. I skied both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday ended up being a bit of a crap shoot since it rained in the morning and was kind of crummy but there were a lot of patrollers up and we had a pot luck at night (cabane a sucre, or sugar shack to us English folk, themed). I made a cake that was less than stellar but still quite edible. Sunday however, was very nice. Even though I was on race patrol for most of the day, it was a beautiful day to be outside so I didn't mind. Then after curling yesterday, I went over to Wei's for a Chinese fondue. It was a deliciously good time.

Well, I'm still burnt out from the weekend and the time change so I'm heading to bed. Hopefully I don't sleep in past the start of French class tomorrow. Oh, and here's the link(s) of the week, in keeping with the skiing theme from the weekend:

Mont Cascades
Canadian Ski Patrol System (Gatineau Zone)

Not much to report

It was a nice quiet weekend with only one reffing game, curling, and then volleyball tonight. The only other thing of consequence I did was pick up Anne-Marie and Jay from the airport (which took a good 2 hour wait for the late arrival and customs). At least we had a good sushi dinner afterwards. On another note (that I wasn't going to bring up yet but I may as well), I put in my 60 days' notice to leave my apartment. It's a good apartment; quiet, beautiful view, relatively spacious; but it's a little more expensive than I'd like and it was unbearably hot last summer and I'd rather not go through that again. Right now I'm looking at a few alternatives, one which involves moving in with a friend from pool who just bought her own place downtown in the fall. She'd like to save some money and thought of getting a roommate. I'm not totally committed to the idea yet but it has its upsides. You'll probably hear more about this as it goes on. I should be in a new place of somekind (maybe even a cardboard box) by May 1st. If anyone in Ottawa has any other suggestions on where to move, let me know.

Link of the week this week is a funny site but it has a little more crude humor than some readers can stand. If you like the stupid stuff, check out Pointless Waste of Time (PWOT). In particular, if you like video games, check out their latest article, "The 12 Awesomest Games of 2010". Also look at the daily "Craption" contest where you can submit funny quotes to wierd pictures. Good stuff. Until Thursday (barring some exciting event in the next 2 days).

Trade deadline day

Before I start rambling on about hockey, let me sum up my weekend. I am super tired and I think this weekend I actually burned most of the extra calories that I ate (read: drank) when Dean was here. I reffed 3 games on Friday after a week of little to no sleep so I was already burned out Friday night at 10 and the weekend hadn't even really started yet. All Saturday I was on the hill patrolling. It was a busy day with lots of work to do so I had quite the workout. My only desire was to crash and sleep on Saturday night but instead I went over to Mike Kim's and played some poker. Good times but I ended up losing. Then I got up early again on Sunday to head back to the hill to patrol for a race we were hosting there. Luckily, because I was only really on race patrol, I was able to go home at 2:00 after the race was done. I came home and crashed for a few hours before I "finished the war", ie. finished passing Call of Duty 3 on the Wii. Lots of fun but a little too short for me to consider buying the game for what it's selling for now. That's pretty much my weekend and today was a normal Monday topped off with a mediocre pool performance.

Okay, so as you hockey fans would know, tomorrow is trade deadline day in the NHL. I thought I'd weigh in on a few things before they happen. First of all, you should know that I love this time of year. All the speculation, all the drama, all the deadline deals and deciding on who improved their team the most. So I don't think too many big blockbusters will go down this year but hopefully the Oilers can pick up a top 4 defenseman and make a good run at the playoffs. More importantly though, hopefully K-Lowe signs Ryan Smyth. I don't think the Oiler faithful (including me) could really forgive him if he lets Smitty go. Just pay the man, you know he's worth every penny, and he bleeds blue and orange (I refuse to buy into the blue and copper scheme). For you trade deadline coverage and all rumors/speculation hockey related, there are several links of the week...check them out:
www.nhl.com
www.hockeybuzz.com
www.spectorshockey.net
www.hockeytraderumors.com
TSN's Trade Centre
TSN's Trade List

Enjoy the madness. Who knows, I might jump on tomorrow and post my thoughts if something big or contraversial comes up.

Ah, I missed one already

So only a few weeks into my regular updates and I already missed one...but I have a good excuse, honest. Dean is here visiting and arrived last Thursday. I was busy cleaning and recovering from a stick to the head that I took on Wednesday night's hockey game. Then it was time to visit with Dean and WIN again at poker (I actually took almost all of everyone's money). I never really had time to post. Anyway, it's been a good visit with Dean so far, I'll summarize it more this Thursday after he has left. We're going to the Sens/Oilers game tomorrow night so I'm pumped for that. The Oilers really need to win. Hopefully we bring them some good luck.

If you're bored sometime and you want a tough puzzle to work on, check out the Funny Farm. It's an interesting word game with naming things that are related (kind of like degrees of separation). Warning though, it's addictive and tough.

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!