So tired

Last time I ref three midget games in one day. Too bad the most important one, the 'AA' call that I had at the end of the night was my worst game. Oh well, I've had worse games and I know they've had worse refs. So I started looking at guitars (which is the big thing I'm asking for for Christmas). I'm still looking and I haven't really priced out much (I've only gone to two or three places) but right now there are a few models that interest me. Check these out and tell me what you think (even if you don't know much about guitars, just tell which one is the best looking):

Ibanez: PF60SCE, AEG10, AEL20
Yamaha: FG423S
Yamaha Guitars

For the Ibanez site you need to click the accoustic guitar tab and then find the model on the left. I'm thinking a blue one if you haven't guessed, but I could also go with a black one or even the traditional boring old light brown. Well, I'm done playing around with Dan's guitar for the night and I'm pretty tired so it's probably a good time to go to bed.

Hard to believe

Well a few things actually...

1. That I've been back in Edmonton for 3 months now...wow, doesn't seem like it's been that long. I have yet to see a few friends (which is pretty sad on both of our parts) and others I just haven't seen as much as I want to (due to busy schedules mostly).

2. That I managed to win some money at poker all of the last 3 weeks :)

3. Related to point #1: that it's nearing the end of my last (hopefully) fall semester at university (at least for the time being). With two weeks of classes left to go there is only a minimal amount of work to wrap up for this semester besides finals. I also have to make sure that taking the courses I plan on taking next semester ensure my graduation (assuming I pass everything of course). Speaking of which, I'm planning on switching some classes but I'm unsure of what to take. I have at least one business option and an approved option to play with so if you have any suggestions let me know.

Well, one thing that I can believe is that it's late again and I'm not in bed yet. Seems to be happening too often these last few weeks. Hopefully I can get back to some semblance of a regular sleeping pattern soon. Maybe that would help me stay awake in a few of my classes too :)

Awesome Concert

I meant to post this last night but I was busy cleaning and playing nintendo...

So Wednesday night was the Tragically Hip concert...and what a concert. They had a pretty good stage setup and some good lighting, but of course most important was the music. They pretty much covered all of my favorite Hip songs. And I don't know what Gord Downey eats before a show but the energy that guy has as he rants away and dances (if you can call it that) around the stage is amazing. The crowd was pretty good and continuous cheering brought on 3 encores. Great show!

And in the end it wasn't to detrimental that I went to the show instead of staying home and working on my paper. I managed to get it almost done by the time we left for the concert and it only took another hour and a bit to finish it before I went to bed. Probably not the best quality but meh, it's done. This weekend should be semi-relaxing with only 2 games to ref and the Grey Cup to watch but I do have some school work to do like the assignment that had its deadline pushed back, so I don't have it totally off. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Breathing room

Well it's been a bit stressful the last few days but I think I'm going to make it. I think it's mostly because I got a little lucky though. My computing assignment got pushed back until next Tuesday so I can at least leave that until I'm finished with everything else. Unfortunately my paper analyzing an organization is still due on Thrusday and it's still not done. I do have my final internship paper done though and the midterm, sorry, "quiz" on Monday went very well (especially considering the preparation, or lack there of, that went into it). Even with the Hip concert tomorrow, I should have time to finish my paper and be done the week of hell. Oh, and poker and BBQ at my place Friday night for those that are interested. Now to bed for some rest.

One more thing, here's a funny little link Darren sent me, check it out...
IQ and American Election Results

Where did all this work come from?

So I'm a little pressed for time this weekend, good thing it's a long one. I unwisely chose to spend most of yesterday drinking and watching movies with friends so I again wasted enough time to make the rest of the weekend a crunch (even if it's 3 days). My second history midterm (even though he calls it a quiz) is on Monday but it's the least of my worries. I have two more assignments and two more papers due this week. Really should have started on some of those earlier. Guess I never learn.

Well, just thought I'd fire off this update in case some of you were wondering why I disappear this weekend and at the start of this week. At least I have the Tragically Hip concert to look forward to on Wednesday night.

Conspiracy?

Oh yeah, I got this link from a friend a couple days ago...pretty creepy. View at your own risk to believing the U.S.

9/11 Pentagon Conpiracy?

Ah, short school week

Good thing it's a short week this week because I really don't feel like going to class. The other little problem is the crap load of assignments being stuffed down my gullet right now. Well, I guess I'd better get some sleep. Though it is going to be the last school day of the week, I have a feeling it could be a long day of work.

Another poker night in the books

Well, I managed to come out ahead for the second week in a row. This time I wasn't up quite as much but hey, up more than a buy in is still up quite a bit. Again, good times with some good guys though there was a pretty low turnout this week. Too bad that I have to get up so freaking early tomorrow to work on my project class but at least I'm making Kelsey get up early too. Looks like this weekend will be spent mostly at the rink again, not that that is unusual but I really should spend some serious time working on these papers and getting my parents computer fixed.

Friggin' Time Change and Microsoft

So I forgot about the time change. Well, that's not entirely true. I changed my watch, I changed the time in my car...I just neglected to change my stereo or my alarm clock, the two things that wake me up in the morning. So this morning I was up at 8 rather than the planned 9...stupid me. Oh well, at least I had more time to fix my parents computer. Which brings me to my next point: stupid Microsoft. For unexplained reasons, the internet browsers seem to work for only 3 or 4 pages before quitting on my parent's computer. Everything else that needs to be connected to the net works fine but as soon as you try to use a browser it just can't find anything. Stupid Windows. Probably has something to do with Service Pack 2 since it was working fine until I installed that. Guess I'll have to try to fix it tomorrow.

Well, Happy Halloween everyone, enjoy the extra hour of sleep.

Happy Halloween

Well, it's another Halloween and me without a costume. I guess it's not really necessary this year since I'm reffing or spending time at the rink all weekend. And inbetween, I'm busy rebuilding my parents computer and enjoying what little time I have to breathe before jumping back into school work. At least I won some money at poker this week almost tripling up my original buy in. That puts me back to about even on poker nights in Alberta. Hopefully I can continue the winning streak next week and so on through the month since I think we're going to make it a real weekly event now (at least until finals). Well, I'd best get to bed so I can get up nice and early for more computer work and reffing. Happy Halloween everyone!

Assignment's done...sort of

Well, the deadline's come and gone and despite me finishing only half of the assignment, I'm strangely satisfied with what I finished. What I did finish seems to work so that means I at least know what I'm doing for some things in this useless class, right? Now I just have to figure the rest of it out for Thursday's midterm.

So besides the midterm, this week is looking pretty tame. As of now I only have one game to ref next weekend (Junior B on Friday) and just one easy orgnizational analysis assignment to do besides the midterm. That means Thursday night is poker night again. I know Jay's got the bug to play and so do I after two weeks off. On a related note, I hear my friend Gordon in Ottawa won $1500 US in an online tournament this weekend. HOLY #%*&!

Ahh distractions

While distracting myself on the internet from my assignment I ran across a few things you should check out...

Bush and Moore Flash Song (funny stuff).

KartVader...ripping around Montreal in a Go-Kart

Jeep Parking Only

Well, if I find some more the next time I go browsing I'll post them...and everyone knows I'll get distracted from my assignment again.

Boy school sucks...sometimes

Well right now I have a love-hate relationship with school. First let's deal with the hate, or maybe just dislike. It involves one of my computing classes (yep, I'm going into bitch mode here so if you don't like it when I do this skip to the next paragraph). The prof is just stupid. He doesn't prepare his slides properly, they're full of mistakes and examples that are done wrong; he puts at least a quarter of the class to sleep every day (including myself); and he gives these freaking hard assignments for these concepts that I'll never use again. Why am I taking this class you ask, because I have to to graduate. That's it, no practical real world application of all this stuff. And the worst thing is that everyone (including the department) knows it and will admit it but never change it. So I'm sitting here right now working on this useless assignment and besides having a hard time, realize that I'll still be doing this all week because I have a midterm in this class on Thursday. Ok, I'm done bitching about that class now.

So besides that one class my other classes are pretty good and I'm generally enjoying my last *fingers crossed* fall semester (of this degree anyway). And as much as some of the people in my department (computing science) bug me, in general the people at university are awesome and I love hanging out there. Just yesterday I ran into a guy that I met in the summer before first year at a summer orientation event. We've never had a class together (he's an engineer) and we don't regularily hang out. In fact I haven't seen or talked to him in almost two years now. But yesterday I ran into him and we started talking like old friends and catching up on everything. THAT is the main reason I love the U...the people. That alone put me in a good mood for the rest of the day.

Well, I guess I'd better get back to my stupid assignment which probably won't get done by the deadline tomorrow but I may as well try to get as much done as possible. If someone sees me banging my head in the next few days, you now know the most likely reason.

This is the perfect time to panic

Well, my presentation went ok even though I went over time and I think I talked a little fast at times. I also managed to notice how I said "so" too much, but I guess that's better than "umm". So now that that's done, I only have to do my final essay and I'm done with all my work in that class. The problem now becomes my other stupid computer classes. My project class is actually starting up the project so that's not too bad but in 325 I'm getting slaughtered. I have an assignment that is due on Friday night (or Sunday if I use 2 grace days) and I'm not even close to finishing it. In fact, I've barely started. It's really too bad that I just don't care anymore. The worst thing is that I actually sat down and tried hard to work on it last night and I really didn't get anywhere.

Midterms went as well as can be expected so far. With my computing one still to come of course. Yesterday I wrote my history exam to make up for missing it when I was gone to Ottawa on Friday. Nothing like doing a test in 20 min. Hopefully that's also a sign of me knowing what I'm doing and I'll do ok.

I also went out and bought a new referee jersey last night. You may ask yourself this question: "If he's reffing then why doesn't he have a jersey already?" Well, it's because I'm stupid and I left it at the arena a few weeks ago and it wasn't there when I went to find it. How I managed that I don't know but I can't keep borrowing Dean's jerseys forever so I went out and splurged and bought a new one. I find it a little hard to choke down an expense like that where I really shouldn't have had to do it but oh well, I'll make back that money in games I do this weekend.

Presentation Time

So I'm up early this morning because today is a big day. Not only do I have my Organizational Analysis midterm but I also have my internship presentation. So typical me, I was up until 1:00 in the morning trying to fix a few last things up. It's not that it wasn't done before that, it's just that I actually had too much (hard to believe) and I had to find places to speed it up. Not to mention that I had to look through my pictures for some pictures of friends and the other interns to throw in.

Obviously I'm back from my trip to Ottawa now...and what a trip it was! The wedding was nice and the reception was a whole lot of fun. Amazing how much I'll dance with a few drinks in me and when I really feel like having a good time. We also went out for a really nice dinner with about 22 people (basically all the younger people that weren't in the wedding party). Besides the wedding I also got to go out and see most of my friends which was great. It's too bad I couldn't stay longer and I'm beginning to see how much I really miss everyone and life in Ottawa in general. Who knows, I could end up back there next summer, you never know.

So thanks to Wei and Esther for letting me stay with them and keeping me full of food. And thanks to Ive for organizing the dinner and otherwise being our cabby for Friday night. And of course, congratulations and thank you to France and Ali for getting married and giving me an excuse to get back to Ottawa. I know they'll live a long and happy life together. It's a good thing I booked my flight early too, because as much school work I have to deal with, I don't think even I could have justified going if my ticket hadn't been booked already. Well, I'd better get to school and start studying, maybe it'll take my mind off of this presentation.

Back to the East

Well, I've only been away for just over a month and a half but I'm already going back. Ottawa is just that appealing...well, and I'm going to France and Ali's wedding. It'll be great to see everyone again, I can't wait. I get there Friday afternoon so I'll have time Friday night to go out and see people. Then all Saturday is wedding stuff and Sunday is open for recovery and more visiting. I get back Monday just before lunch from an early morning flight. The only downfall to this trip is that I lose the weekend to do school work, but who am I kidding, I'd just slack off and not do it anyway and it's more important to go visit my friends in Ottawa. Between midterms coming up and my big group computing project starting to get busy, I really don't have as much free time as I like to think. Hopefully after next week when two midterms and my presentation are out of the way I will realize how much more I have to do. Well, back to the presentation so I can get it mostly done before I leave on Friday morning.

I'm falling into memories of you
Things we used to do
Follow me there a beautiful somewhere
A place that I can share with you
-One Year, Six Months by Yellowcard

Indoor soccer involves a lot of running

So tonight I went out and played with Adam's indoor soccer team for an exhibition game. I'm still not sure if I'll join them for the full season (if they'll take me) but I'm definitely thinking about it. There was more running and exercise than I expected but surprisingly I wanted to play more. Lots of fun though and if it weren't so expensive I'd do it in a heartbeat.

So this weekend I've got three reffing games already. One is only Atom 'AA' but I get to teach some new linesmen so that'll be good. Plus its always fun to do some little kids games and Atom 'AA' is actually pretty good hockey when you consider how old the kids are. It'll be a bit of a change from the Midget 'AAA' I'm doing tomorrow night.

Ok, so it's been a week

And what a busy week it was. I just wasn't home a whole lot. All weekend I was in Stony Plain at my ref clinic getting recertified. It was a good clinic with lots of hockey discussion and old war stories about what's happened to who in past hockey games. When I wasn't at the clinic I ended up going out to play some pool on Saturday and then was reffing after making my parents supper on Sunday. Pool was good to get back to for the simple fact that I hadn't really played since winning the tournament. A little rusty but I felt it all coming back by the end of the night.

Last week Dan and I also hosted our first poker night. We're playing again this week and though I'd like this to become a weekly event, we'll have to take it week by week. I also heard some good news on Wednesday. My friend Matt popped the question to his longtime girlfriend Karla and of course she said yes. They've been together for just over three years now (one week over that is) and I couldn't be happier for them. All the best to both of them in the future. Well, besides all the school work, that's all the excitement in my life right now. I'm off to bed because I have a feeling the only way I'll get anything done tomorrow is to go into the university nice and early and work there.

Right back into everything

Well, I guess it's official now, I'm right back into everything that I'm used to back here in Alberta. I had 3 hockey games to ref this weekend and I'm back into finishing assignments at the last minute and slacking off otherwise. I'm going to try to get back to writing here more often but through October I'm going to be quite busy. Actually, despite the fact that there will be an insane amount of stuff going on, I'm actually looking forward to most of it. Granted the midterms and assignments (as well as my internship presentation) can't be avoided but the reffing and my trip back to Ottawa have me excited for the next few weeks.

Poker...not until next week

Unfortunately, the plans for poker tomorrow just aren't going to work. I didn't get enough response and I guess I should probably do my assignment that is due on Thursday anyway since I didn't do it tonight. Plus I might end up reffing. Oh well, there's always this weekend or else if I end up going to Jasper we can just start it up on next Wednesday.

So today I realized how much I'm going to actually have to do homework and reading and stuff this semester. October is going to be hell but I guess that's just me trying to get back into school. I managed to pull it off before with more work and even more stuff to keep me busy so I should be able to do it again. It shouldn't even be that bad even with my huge CMPUT 401 group project keeping me busy. Just a little intimidating when you start filling in a planner (yep, I'm actually trying to use one this year) and you don't see more than three days in a row without an assignment or test or something. I know, I know, suck it up...I will.

And on that note, guess I should read a few chapters to catch up tonight before I go to bed.