Signed and Sealed

Well, I start my new job Monday. The contract (and all the other government paperwork) was signed this afternoon so on Monday I'll be a "Senior Statistical Clerk". Should be interesting. There was a bunch of changes in the informatics section since I left so I'll have some new faces to get used to but at least there are a lot of friendly faces around as well. Well, I'm going to enjoy the rest of my last day off for a while but I'll let you all know how the first day on the job goes on Monday.

Farewell to Alberta...Hello again Ottawa

Well, I've left the praries behind again. I made it safely to Ottawa and the only trouble was the 1 hour delay waiting for my connection in Winnipeg (the most boring airport in Canada, I swear). I arrived here just over 45 minutes later than expected (we made up some time) and was driven to Anne-Marie and Jason's apartment by a family friend. Only a few hours later (now) and after a supper at Moxie's with Jay and AM, I saw Jay go off to leave for Sweeden where he'll be working for several months. At least I got to visit for a few hours with him before he fled the country. Now I'll do my best to be a tolerable roommate/houseguest to Anne-Marie while I look for a place for my own.

Anyone visiting Ottawa, be sure to drop me a line. To all of you in Alberta...I'll miss you all. To those in Ottawa...I'm back!

What a Rush!

Tonight was the first ever Edmonton Rush game and was it ever a good time. Even though the team lost in overtime it was an exciting and enjoyable event. For those that don't know, the Rush are the newest team in the National Lacross League (NLL). And man is lacross a rough game! Good stuff! Those guys sure take a beating. It wasn't even as physical as some of the games I've watched on TV before but it still looked painful. Anyway, if you like sports (especially physical ones) check out the NLL and the Edmonton Rush.

Happy New Year from Jasper

Happy New Year to everyone! As the title of this post suggests, I'm in Jasper visiting my grandparents and up for one last trip with the folks before I leave for Ottawa. Yep, that's right. In case you haven't heard yet, I'm going back to Ottawa. I (technically speaking) have a contract with the government again. Back to the tax division at Statistics Canada. I only have to pass my security check so hopefully there isn't any terrorist out there with my name or it could be a long process.

I leave Edmonton on the 10th of January but until then I'm going to be frantically packing things trying to get ready to go and to prep things for shipping at a later date. All this while trying to see most of my friends in Edmonton one last time and finishing up my reffing stuff. If anyone wants to try and get together let me know asap. If you're in Ottawa...see you soon. I'll try to post at least once more before I leave.

Merry Christmas to all...and to all a good night!

Those of you actually in my address book should be getting a Christmas letter from me at some point in time. If not, fire me off an e-mail and I'll send a copy to you. My e-mail is: "david" -dot- "beck" -at- "gmail" -dot- "com" (if you can't figure out what it is from there, leave a comment). Anyway, I'll probalby end up posting my latest news sometime after Christmas (and it's relatively big news so stay tuned) but for now I just want to wish everyone joy in the season and a relaxing holiday.

Merry Christmas and have a happy and healthy New Year!

Random Post

Ok, I figured I'd get back to some random posting just to make sure I actually kept up with the blogging business...so here it goes...

What's going on with some of my friends right now?
- Dan moved back into the city to live with Norm and Janette again
- Adam left for Egypt (see his blog here)

What music am I listening to lately?
- Coheed and Cambria: "Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV: Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness" (longest album title ever) - great disc...interesting sound
- The Trews: "Den of Thieves" - didn't listen to it much for about a month after I first got it but now it's almost always cranked
- Death Cab For Cutie: "Transatlanticism" - Andrew introduced me to these guys a while ago but I never really listened to them much until now
- Yellowcard: "Ocean Avenue" - every so often I get the urge to listen to this album almost non-stop until I get tired of it again (which takes a long time)
- And last but not least: All of my Less Than Jake and Bad Religion discs - I can never get enough of that stuff

Have I seen any good movies lately?
- Aeon Flux - not necessarily the best movie I've seen but it had its moments (most of them being with Charlize Theron wearing the skimpy/tight outfits or the awesome action sequences...hey I'm a guy)
- Episode III - just rewatched it again recently and re-realized that despite all the bashing some people did on the Star Wars prequel trilogy, it acutally ties up quite nicely at the end (yes even with the corny "NOOOOOOO!")

What have I been watching on TV?
- Hockey...always
- Tonight I watched the Ron James special on CBC, Quest for the West. That guy is absolutely hilarious...I was crying I was laughing so hard
- Las Vegas - I'm still hooked on that show

Well, there's my random post for now. If I can't come up with something else to write about I'll probably have another similar post soon. Have a good weekend everyone!

I hate being sick

Don't you just hate that feeling of waking up sick? I have woken up every morning for the last week with that dry crappy feeling in my throat and such a stuffed nose that I feel like if I sit up, there will be a waterfall of...well, "nose juices" running down my face. Guess that means I should get some more sleep or something. And on that note...to bed with me.

P.S. If anyone has any suggestions at which kind of car I should be looking for, let me know. I'm open to pretty much all suggestions but I'm probably looking more in the mid-sized car bracket.

Doesn't look any better in the morning

Well there's a view of the damage for all to see. It actually doesn't look so bad in the picture but believe me, it's not worth fixing the car. You'll notice that it is now snowing in my part of the world. It looks like winter finally got the memo and work up from the long summer sleep...and only a month and a bit late. Guess those people dreaming of a brown Christmas had their dreams shattered this morning. Well I'm off to check out some classifieds and job boards.

Deer vs Car...Round 1...Fight!

A better look at the damage

Car: 1...Deer: 0

Not only am I sick (and sick and tired but that's a different story), and not only did I have an absolutely crappy day at work, but I managed to run into a deer on the way home. Yep, the car is pretty much a write-off. The deer put a pretty good dent in the front right fender and smashed the front right headlight all to bits but the tank of a Taurus kept on running (go figure that that piece of junk Ford would just keep running after that but would balk at almost any other problem you could throw at it). Unfortunately, I don't think the deer survived (at least I doubt it). I on the other hand, am counting myself lucky since I both managed to stop myself from getting whiplash while avoiding both the oncoming traffic in the other lane and the ditch. Luckily no one was behind me as well because after slamming on the brakes I half expected someone to rear end me too. I'll go take some pictures of the left over damage tomorrow morning and try to get them posted before I have to work tomorrow.

So after that little tidbit of exciting news, let me first apologize to those who actually expect me to post here or even care much when I do. Sorry that I didn't post at all in November but really it just flew by and there really wasn't much to report. Congratulations to the Eskimos on another Grey Cup! I had several football posts started but never really finished them since I was always going out the door to reffing or work. Other than those three things (football, work, reffing) my month was relatively boring. I somehow managed to not really meet with many friends at all in the last month and have lost contact with countless others. To all of you I am sorry and I hope to hear from you and write/call you soon.

Anyway, I'm going to post more stuff soon (especially when I find some stuff to write about or decide to make up random topics and rants) but for now like I said, I'm sick, so I need my rest. Remember to say your prayers and thank God for the little blessings, like not hitting the deer head on (metaphoric or literal deer), when everything else seems to be going against you.

Happy Halloween

Well I can't really say I really did anything special this year which really is too bad. But between reffing on Saturday (even though I did go out after, I didn't have a costume), working Sunday, and being lazy at home today, I didn't really get anything together. I did manage to have a strong showing in the ping pong arena (aka our garage) against my dad but I have yet to leave victorious through a race to 6-games match.

I know it's been a long time since I wrote here but really nothing much of interest has happened. I didn't even feel like posting any real hockey news since the Oilers had made me depressed (but now they're back out of their funk and can get back to being a "force to be reckoned with").

So anyway, Happy Halloween and hopefully you got out and had a good time (or at least picked up a bunch of chocolate and pigged out).

The Oilers Win!!

Welcome to the new age NHL, where the Oilers could actually be serious contenders. Ok, most of the critics probably don't agree with me but with the cap, we have a chance now. After the way they played tonight, it doesn't look half bad. Conklin didn't look too bad (okay, he let in 3 goals on 17 shots but some of those saves were crucial and tough) and the powerplay went 1 for 7 which is already better than the pre-season average (as bad as it was). I for one am excited and happy that the NHL is back in action and look forward to more exciting games like the ones tonight.

Disclaimer: For those that don't know me, I like hockey if you haven't guessed it already. While this blog is supposed to be more about my life...hockey actually takes up a lot of my life (reffing and watching) and a lot of my thoughts so I guess it's all good. Never be surprised to see more hockey content (read: rants).

And so it begins

Just over 4 hours until the puck drops on the Oilers' new season. I can't wait! Starting in about 20 min I'll be watching any kind of hockey coverage I can get until it all begins and then I'll be parking myself in front of the TSN broadcast until the Oilers have finished their first game. I guess I'll have to take a few breaks to assign some hockey and get some snacks but that's what commercials and intermission is for.

GO OILERS GO!!

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!