NOOO!!! Bye Smitty...we'll miss you

Well, the impossible happened. Ryan Smyth is no longer an Edmonton Oiler. Now I like Kevin Lowe but you had to find a way to get this contract done. You can't just trade away the heart of and soul of the team. If Smyth comes back to Edmonton, some may be forgiven but I think we've seen the last of Smyth with an Oil drop on his chest. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go cry myself to sleep (note that I almost did cry when I saw this trade on Trade Center today).

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.

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.

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.

Who says volleyball isn't a workout?

So tonight was filled with volleyball. I played with my Statcan A-tier team from 5-7 and then with my Statcan B-tier team from 7-9. Boy am I exhausted. My legs felt like Jello and it required tremendous effort to walk sometime around 7:40 (second game of the second match). At least I caught a second wind which was enough to keep me going until I got home and could collapse on the couch. And since I am so tired and I just finished making some of my "famous" butterscotch/peanut butter squares for the bake sale at work tomorrow, I'm going to bed.

Hurry Hard!!

Well this isn't a Monday or Thursday but I thought it warrants a posting. My curling team got our first win tonight. We managed to play some good defensive curling; if you can really call messing up the paths to the house when we are shot rock defensive curling. And afterwards we went over to a couple on the other team's apartment for dinner (it was planned before, it wasn't like we won a bet or anything). Good food, good company, and beforehand, good (well, mediocere) curling. Hopefully this starts us on the path towards many more victories. Either way, we're having fun.

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.

The day after Super Sunday

Well, I just got home from pool so that means it's time for the Monday update (ha, and I'll be some of you thought I'd already let it slide). This weekend was, of course, the Superbowl. Now I'm not a huge fan of the NFL but I do watch the odd game from time to time and I'm all for getting together to watch sporting events. Luckily Andrew was kind enough to invite a bunch of us over to watch it; a good time was had by all (except the Chicago Bears).

Before the party yesterday I was at curling. We lost again but I felt some improvements near the end. My sense of weight is still horrible and I seem to throw too hard often but when we finished 10 minutes early (not enough time for another end) I decided to practice by throwing all 16 rocks back to the start. That helped me get a better sense but if any of you curlers out there have a way for me to better judge my weight when I'm throwing, I'm all ears.

Well, that's it for now, I'm heading to bed so I can get up in time for French tomorrow. Enjoy your week.

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!

Let the regular updates...begin

Okay, so I'm going to try this for a while. Updates on Mondays and Thursdays...even if it's just a short post, or a link of the week posting, or just a weather report or a sports update. We'll see how long I can keep that up. Onto my first Monday update...

Today I started my first rotation of three as a recruit at Statistics Canada. Though I've already been working there for over a year and I officially got my CS-01 classification just before Christmas, the first official rotational position started today. These rotations are 8 month terms in different divisions within the department so you get exposure to different styles of management and different aspects of Stats Can. I'm of course starting in the division that I did my internship in and brought me back for the last year, Tax Data. I like the people I work with and I don't mind the work I do. It's been a pretty good environment to work in. That being said, it'll also be good to get out in 8 months and see a new position where I should learn new things and meet new people.

Well, that's it for work. Not much other than the normal schedule going on outside work right now...except for that I finished Zelda for Wii. Wow, what a game. I think I might just start over and do it from the beginning again...after I find all the extra stuff I missed before I went through the final dungeon/castle. So much fun and such a good story. It sucks you in and has such deep content and such a vast world that you can just run around doing small tasks and spend hours without getting bored. Well, I'm off to bed now that Hyrule (the kingdom in the game) is safe again...for now.

Quick update

As you might have noticed, I finally got my New Year's/Christmas vacation post up. I'd saved it as a draft and never actually got around to finishing it until tonight. I'm going to get back to regular posting soon. In fact, I think I'm going to try scheduled postings. Something like regular updates on Mondays and Thursdays or something with possible other postings when I'm in the mood. I also want to start a link of the week where I either link to a specific article or page that I find interesting. I'll try to start that this week sometime.

For now though, not a whole lot to report. Work continues, pool continues, volleyball continues with one small addition: I'm playing in both the A and B divisions in the Statcan volleyball league. Ski Patrolling is picking up now that I'm fully qualified (finished my on hill training and got my jacket last week) and now that we actually have some snow (in addition to all the fake stuff). And curling just started up tonight. It's tons of fun but I have a long way to improve. Practice makes perfect I guess.

Oh, and big news...I finally got a Wii. For those that are wondering if I misspelt a word...the Wii is Nintendo's newest console with a motion sensing controller. Very cool and tons of fun. I can't wait to get some more controllers and try out some of those multiplayer games. Zelda is occupying what little free time I have right now though. Anyway, that's it for me for now. Look for the start of regular postings coming soon.

Happy 2007!

Disclaimer: originally wrote January 3, 2007...published January 21, 2007

Welcome to another new year. A time for fresh starts and of course New Year's resolutions. Of course I'll keep up with the normal resolutions to quit smoking (so easy to quit when you never started) and to lose weight (that's the real resolution that never quite works out). So an update on my vacation back to Alberta. I got home just before Christmas and as usual, my dad and I went shopping to get a car load of Christmas gifts as we left it all to the last minute again. We then headed down to my Uncle's place in Red Deer for Christmas. It was a good Christmas and it was definitely good to see all of the family together again.

I was especially impressed over my trip home with the beautiful weather. I was expecting that going out West was going to freeze me to the core with all the actual winter they'd been experiencing but it turns out the only difference between Ottawa and Edmonton was the dumps of snow they'd recieved earlier in the season. The rest of my holiday back home was spent visiting with friends and hanging out with my family (although my mom would say I did too much of the former and not enough of the latter). For New Year's Eve, a bunch of the Devon families (the normal crew) got together for a huge Lobster supper at Towne's house. There was much food and drink and good times. There was also a great sing along as we, in typical camping like fashion, go out the guitars and played through the midnight celebration. All in all, it was a good trip and I'm glad I had the chance to go home and visit everyone.

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!

Lying in bed...awake...

Ever have your brain running at full tilt when all you want it to do is shut off? That's been happening a lot lately when I go to bed. I'm tired, or know I need to get up early, so I go to bed at a decent hour (11 or 11:30 is pretty decent for me). Then, my brain starts running through everything going on in my life (and if you've been keeping track, I'm not exactly Mr. Free Time right now). Sometimes it's nice to stop and think about stuff you haven't stopped to think about it a while but the problem is that the brain just won't stop. It's firing on all cylinders at exactly the wrong time. And I'm not getting enough sleep because of it. A couple nights ago, I was up until almost 3:00, wide awake and thinking about everything and nothing at the same time. I tried all my normal tricks (I even tried counting sheep in French but that only got me thinking about French stuff) but nothing worked. If anyone else has this problem or has any ideas on how I can avoid it, please let me know.

On a totally different note, I passed my Bloc II French class at work so I should be starting Bloc III in January. At least now I could communicate major ideas across, albeit in simple sentences and at a ridiculously slow pace most of the time. Now I have to worry about my ski patrol testing which starts with the written tomorrow night. Study time...wish me luck (and hope that I can sleep better).

New Design and New Links!

Well, I finally got around to altering my template some. Of course I only picked a pre-made template again but hey, it's different right. And as Arby's tells us, "different is good" (I watch too many commercials).

So let me know what you think and what I should be adding/changing (even if I should change everything because the design is an eyesore or something). And check out the links on the right side. I just typed in most of them by memory so if some of them don't work, let me know.

Anyway, I'm going to get some sleep now. All these changes are making my head spin.

Jay's site lives again

So as any of you who tried my links section know, the links are not really kept up to date (or ever changed). Good news for me, if I wait long enough (and bug the "webmaster" enough) some of the links fix themselves. Jay has finally rebuilt his website so go check it out. He actually has some good pictures up there, plus he's a funny guy so you know there will be good stuff appearing in the future (as long as he keeps it up).

I'll be changing the structure and look of my blog sometime soon so keep checking back but for now, that's it for me. I'm off to bed.

Busy, busy, busy

I meant to talk about some of the exciting events happening in the video game world (which of course I am usually fully immersed in) but alas, I don't think I have time for a full review/summary of what I think about the PS3 and the new Nintendo Wii. Most of you probably already know generally what I think anyway. Maybe I'll get to it later (possibly when I have a new console to actually review).

On the topic of not having any time though, I hope for that to change slightly soon. With first aid training only a couple weeks away from being done and French classes almost over until January (when I hopefully start the next block), I may actually have some time to get things that need to be done, done. Then again, it will be December and besides reffing taking up a lot of my time, there will be Christmas parties, holiday activities, and shopping to keep me busy. Guess there's no rest for the weary.

For those that I haven't had time to talk to much recently (or correspond with in any way shape or form), I apologize. Maybe at some point in time when I'm sick of dealing with all the many tasks at work, I'll spend some time actually getting something productive done like catching up with some of you before the holidays really kick in.

For now though, I'll just let all of you know that I'm back in Alberta for Christmas from the 22nd to January 1st. Hope to see all of you that I can when I'm home.

Off to bed with me so I can maybe get a good 7 or even 7.5 hours of sleep for once.