Your Mom says hi...

Last post evar

2007-07-21T18:35:00.000-04:00

It's been painfully evident that I can't keep writing here for some reason. I don't keep up with it, and I don't pretend that I try to blog regularly.

Because of this, I don't intend on continuing svenicus.blogspot.com.

Visit http://dumanowar.wordpress.com/ to see if a change of scenery is what I need!

Thoughts on a Saturday Night.... with help.

2007-01-14T00:24:00.000-05:00

This will be random. These are the thoughts coming out of my mind while sitting here high and watching SNL. Here we go.

Talking about the iPhone. I want one. stock went up at Apple, and they're bringing STeve jobs out to talk. 2 billion contacts? It automatically calls your friend when you need a What up what?

IT'll grant you three iWishes. 20 mins battery life.

that was quasi funny.

New Jersey's constitution apparently describes the mentally challenged with the word 'idiots'.

Beckham coming to LA. Apparently it exists. Paris hilton and britney spears were apparently tied for worst-dressed on blackwells list.

Apparently Whitney Houston is on SNL. I don't think that's actually her. She isn't that noisy. It must be an actor, can't really be her. Can't be.

She's having a garage sale. Apparently she needs money, because of bobby b.

she's selling a wind machine. a lexus suv. martble statue of her and bobby b. with their stuff just hanging out.

jello's new wiggle room commercial needs more bill cosby. seriously. that guy is getting old, and we should take advantage of his ageing genius while it's still here on earth.

McDonald's new double cheeseburger commercial is really fucking stupid. I feel like I just got shat on.

apparently jake gyllenhall (sp?) is going to be on Law and Order. they can't say anything until the bump bumps.

Pan's Labyrinth. It looks like a cool movie. Kevin, when you read this tomorrow and can't believe what you wrote, also look up Pan's Labyrinth.

I suddenly have an appreciation for how Golden Words articles are written. Their tone and metre makes soooo much more sense when you're like this.

apparently wheelchair persons are supposed to only date other people in wheelchairs. this is a funny skit.

jake gyllenhall (sp?) is really really good on SNL. He should be on here more often.....

I think John Stewart would be a great SNL host. he'd be amazing.

I just saw the ad for natura cloths. who actually lets their washcloths get that dirty without washing them?

I just saw that fucking McDonald's ad again.... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

they're talking about skin density... I didn't know skin could be dense.

I better wrap this up before I close the window accidentally and lose it. I would had to not have this to regret in the morning.

Godspeed!

I never thought I'd see the day....

2006-12-16T14:04:00.000-05:00

Say it ain't so Rick... say it ain't so.

I can only hope this is a sign of things to come.

oh, and fyi... I took that picture with my PHONE. God, I love this one :D

Parity in the Great Canadian Game

2006-12-14T09:41:00.000-05:00

I have basic cable.

I cheer for the Ottawa Senators.

This means that for most Sens games, I'm screwed for TV coverage. Unless CBC has picked up a Saturday game, I don't get to see my favorite team in action because of TSN's biased coverage schedule. Here are the number of games TSN is covering by the Canadian teams:

Edmonton - 4 games
Calgary - 5 games
Vancouver - 5 games
Montreal - 7 games
Toronto - 9 games

Ottawa - 2 games!!!!!!

A PALTRY two games!!! I'm not going to go off on the easily arguable point that there should be less Toronto games to help the parity along. Toronto IS the largest hockey market in North America (maybe the world), and as such, it does merit a fair bit of TV coverage. Montreal's a storied franchise, no bones to pick there. Edmonton and Calgary have had recent post-season success, so it's understandable that TSN would want to cover them. I'm not going to even surmise why anyone would want to see that many Vancouver games... maybe the Luongo factor.

But only showing two games of one of the most exciting teams in the NHL? Come on... surely you could find a couple more in there. I'd take Ottawa/Nashville if I had to.

I guess I just want to see a bit more even coverage of each team. Only showing the team from the national capital twice in an entire season is embarassing.

Plus Darren Dreger sucks. I don't know why, but I just don't trust him. He's trying too hard to be Bob Mackenzie.

Ponderances in a festive season

2006-12-06T21:59:00.000-05:00

Every year for the past half decade or so, the month of December was always met with fear and loathing for the inevitable exams that were quickly approaching. I never had a chance to get into the festive season or put much thought into getting gifts for loved ones. Instead, I would frantically try to survive the month's insanity, and only after exams would I be able to think about getting ready for the holiday (usually about three days). I used to hate December.

But not any more.

For the first time in six years, I'm finally able to take time and think about what this time of year is all about. I don't have any exams to think about, no assignments to worry over, and no profs to beg for extensions. It's a very very odd feeling; one I haven't had for some years. But I kind of like it.

I know pretty much anyone who's had the experience of spending a few years in school with the December rush and then graduating directly to the work world will be able to identify with this sentiment. If not the preparation for the Christmas holiday, then at least the lack of the seasonal ritual of getting ready for an academic raping.

I'm not entirely sure what my newfound time is allowing me to think about. I'm mostly now thinking about work and how I'm going to make use of my splendifferous income. I'm looking forward to going home in a couple weeks and spending a few days with my family. I also can't wait to see the looks on their faces when they see what I've gotten them as gifts. I'm fairly certain they're all going to enjoy this stuff greatly.

I'm not sure about the direction of this particular posting. It was a little rambly yes, and for a change, it didn't contain any hockey references (except this one). I guess I just felt like spewing out random thoughts without too much worry about coherency or flow.

Yay me.

Last Week!!!! And yes, I am alive...

2006-11-29T22:32:00.000-05:00

As I sit here in a decent hotel in Owen Sound with a belly full of Boston Pizza and Tim's hot chocolate with some mint baileys, I find myself thinking about the past two months.

Yep, it's been about two months to the day since I left Kingston for my recruiting season on the road. Don't get me wrong, I've really enjoyed the job. Travelling around, seeing all the fun spots in Ontario (including Sudbury), and talking to kids about my favorite school has been one of the more enjoyable jobs I've ever had. That being said, I'm ready to not travel for a while. Living out of a suitcase and driving about 14000 km's in 9 weeks has really worn me down, so I need some Kingston/Deep River time to recharge my batteries.

I was lucky to have spent last week with my grandparents near Peterborough. I was doing schools in the area, so I stayed with them and used their place as my base of operations. It was nice for a few reasons; I didn't have to worry about housekeeping coming into my room and stealing my spare change, I didn't have to eat out every night, and I got to do laundry for free partway through the week. They're both amazing people, pretty much the perfect grandparents. It was nice spending the time with them.

Now I'm sitting in Owen Sound, on my way to Waterloo for tomorrow night. Only two more days. Nine weeks really isn't a long time in the grand scheme of things, but it honestly feels like I've been doing these visits forever.

I'm looking forward to not doing one for a while.

Illegitimacy renewed

2006-11-21T18:35:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm back. Again. For the n'th time.

I have waaay too many stories from the road to put in one spot. The leading candidates are:

1) A Sleazy Sudbury night

2) Chasing a pony down a highway

3) Driving 3000 km's in one week..

And more to come. For the time being, just understand that I'm likely going to bitch about the Sens. who have won 3 of their last 4. Two against buffalo. but I'm not happy yet.

Those who are still reading, please leave a note so I know whether or not to bother updating from here on in.

Hockey!!!!

2006-09-20T09:30:00.000-04:00

Is it ironic that my last post was hockey related and this one is as well? I think not. The happiest time of the year took off last night with my first official fantasy draft. While I don't want to go into a lot of detail with regards to the rationale behind my picks, I am confident I should field a competetive team this year.

Centres: Patrick Marleau, Joe Sakic, Mike Fisher, Sean Avery

Forwards: Dany Heatley, Daniel Alfredsson, Scott Sullivan, Jeri Lehtinen, Alexi Ponikarovsky, Joffry Lupul, Chad Kilger, Colby Armstrong

Defense: Nikolas Lidstrom, Andrzei Meszaros, Joe Corvo, Ed Jovanovski, Teppo Numminen, Anton Volchenkov, Dimitri Kalinin

Goaltending: Dwayne Roloson, Christobal Huet, Alex Auld

Debate as you will, but I'm happy. The only thing I could see myself doing a little differently is the goaltending.

So apparently I still have a blog....

2006-06-26T18:46:00.000-04:00

Having not posted in a little while (ie before the playoffs), it's fun to look at what's changed since then.

1) I still have a job. It's going well. For the most part, I'm not going to talk about work on here because it's not really professional to do that. Plus it sets a dangerous precedent of what I do and don't talk about. Ergo, there will be few if any updates on here about work, other than exciting things about where it'll take me etc.

2) Only about 3 months and a few weeks til the puck drops again! Go Sens!

3) If you speak to Steve Johns, I'm still as delusional as I ever was. He and I shared an epic GO train ride the other day in which we saw a near domestic dispute, a reconciliation, a drag queen (Steve saw him/her, not me), and some crazy middle aged lady who was trying to pick me up because of a faked Irish Accent and my cool hat (The question was asked: "Are you a Cowboy?" "No." ".... are you an Indian?" - I had NO idea how to respond to that.)

4) My brain shut down trying to re-live that last moment. It was stupid beyond belief.

Drop me a line sometime. I'm in Ktown indefinitely.

Playoffs - how I've waited for thee!!

2006-04-20T14:30:00.000-04:00

Seeing as most of my colleagues are doing the same, I think it's high time I mentioned my picks for the Stanley Cup.

EASTERN CONFERENCE
==================

QUARTER FINALS

(1) Ottawa vs. (8) Tampa Bay - I think this series will be a lot closer than the season series would indicate. If Tampa's goalies can contain the Sens, look for it to go to 7.
Pick: Senators in 5

(2) Carolina vs. (7) Montreal - Carolina's got Montreal's number, and I don't know if I can see that changing here. Granted, the loss of Eric Cole is a huge one for Carolina. Still, Montreal needs to figure out just who their number one goalie is before they can make too much progress.
Pick: Carolina in 6

(3) New Jersey vs. (6) New York - Jersey's got to be considered the hottest team coming into these playoffs from either conference. When Brodeur is on, he is unbeatable. Also, the EGG line looks really really REALLY damned good. Watch for Jagr to be strong, but not enough for the whole team to ride.
Pick: Jersey in 5

(4) Buffalo vs. (5) Philadelphia - Buffalo was marginally more of a surprise than New York in terms of their positioning this year. Nobody picked them to be as high as they are in the standings. Philadelphia, meanwhile, has a TON of pressure to win. This team was stacked with the likes of Forsberg, Rathje and Hatcher. Having seen what Philly does under pressure, and with a minor goaltending controversy brewing, I'm not optimistic for their chances.
Pick: Buffalo in 6

EAST SEMIS

(1) Ottawa vs. (4) Buffalo - This will be much closer for the Sens than the Tampa Series, but they're different this year. Hasek could be back by the Semis, and if so, that's a huge advantage for the Sens.
Pick: Senators in 7

(2) Carolina vs. (3) New Jersey - This is as much of a crapshoot as I can think of. Depending on how the series with New York goes, I think Jersey has the marginal edge.
Pick: New Jersey in 7

EAST FINAL

(1) Ottawa vs. (3) New Jersey - gotta go with the boys!!
Pick: Senators in 6

WESTERN CONFERENCE
==================

QUARTER FINALS

(1) Detroit vs. (8) Edmonton - Edmonton's got lots of confidence, and that's a really important x-factor in the playoffs. However, Detroit is one of the scariest teams I've ever seen, and they won't falter.
Pick: Detroit in 6

(2) Dallas vs. (7) Colorado - Dallas has been overlooked this year by the fact that Detroit's been beating the snot out of everyone in the West. The Stars have got a very strong team, and I don't think Theodore's got his confidence back yet.
Pick: Dallas in 6

(3) Calgary vs. (6) Anaheim - Does Giguere have the magic he did a few years back? Will it matter when Kiprusoff is in the other net? To both questions, the answer is "I don't think so."
Pick: Calgary in 5

(4) Nashville vs. (5) San Jose - This is the only upset I'm predicting, which means it'll be the only one not to happen. Thornton and Cheechoo are playing like they're possessed, and the loss of Vokoun does not spell happy times for Nashville ahead.
Pick: San Jose in 5

WEST SEMIS

(1) Detroit vs. (5) San Jose - Detroit will solve San Jose's top scoring duo, and will make Vesa Toskala look really bad in the process.
Pick: Detroit in 4

(2) Dallas vs. (3) Calgary - The fact that the playoffs don't have a shootout hurts the Stars as Jussi Jokinen is the master in that regards. Calgary is still going ot be hungry after last season's letdown.
Pick: Calgary in 6

WEST FINAL

(1) Detroit vs. (3) Calgary - Red vs. Red. All bets are off for this one, but I like the idea of a Canadian team bringing the cup north of the border.
Pick: Calgary in 7

STANLEY CUP FINAL

(1E) Ottawa vs. (3W) Calgary - Get ready for the shit to hit the fan. This would be one of the most exciting matchups I can imagine, and I really hope it comes to fruition. It would be fast, hard hitting, hard shooting, and both teams have stellar goaltending (if Hasek can play). I'm a believer, and I still think this is the Sens year.

Pick: Senators win the Stanley Cup in 6 games

There you have it. Lampoon it all you wish.

Me? Employed? Yes, Mr. President!

2006-04-02T12:16:00.000-04:00

So I gots me a job for the fall!

I will be working for Queen's Admission Services as an Admissions Rep. That means I'll travel around to high schools and sell Queen's to students there. I'm looking forward to it for a lot of reasons.

First, it means workin in an office I enjoy working in. I've worked there for four years as a campus tour guide, and last summer fulltime as the summer tour coordinator. The people are awesome (when they're not throwing staplers at me), it's air conditioned, and it's not moving furniture!

Second, I'll get to travel all over the place. Anyone who's hung out with me long enough knows I love to drive as much as I can, and this sounds like it'll be perfect to cure of me of that obsession.

Third, I now have a good reason to stay in Ktown for the summer. This town is sooo much nicer in the summertime than in the fall/winter. The festivals are going to be great, much greater now that I don't have to work at the pub (which I am going to miss.. honestly.)

All in all, I think this job will be a great fit for me!

Holy Crap, what a day!

2006-03-20T11:33:00.000-05:00

Alright, I know I haven't posted in a while, but this is well worth the wait. Let me run you through a bit of background before I get into the stupidity that was the past day of my life. The Queen's Bands went down to Boston from Friday to Monday for the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Southie on Sunday and then an Alumni performance on Monday with the Principal. My friend Jenna, the irish girl with a Benz, felt that work wasn't coming along well enough on a fairly important essay so she asked me to drive down to Boston, stay for the parade, pick her up, and drive back.

Here, chronologically, is how this stupidity went down. For reference, I woke up at 2:30 PM on Saturday, March 18th after working the day before.

5:30 PM - In an MSN conversation, mutual friend Bernard tells me that Jenna wants me to drive her car down to Boston. I don't believe him for one second because Jenna doesn't let ANYONE drive her car. It's a nice one. Jenna calls me to confirm that this is what she wants, so I start thinking about it. My thoughts are mostly to do with the fact that this is a TERRIBLE idea.

6:45 PM - I've considered it for a while, and pending affirmation from a few friends, I think I'm going to do it. I would be too dumb not to. However, I realize that driving 7 or 8 hours alone would be kind of silly, so I call my good friend Ted Branscombe. He's at Dinner at the Tir Nan Og with a buddy. The conversation goes somethign like this:
Me - "Hey Ted, what are you doing tonight?"
Ted - "Going over to the gf's place to play Cranium."
Me - "No you're not."
Ted - "What am I doing then?"
Me - "You're coming to Boston for the day."
Ted - "... Okey dokey."

And just like that, I had company for the ride.

7:00 PM - Dinner with three lovely ladies (Melvin, Whincup and Danyal), all of who confirm that this is a GREAT idea. A phone call to Steve Johns during the meal confirms it is NOT a good idea, so we ignore him. Oh, I had a salad, chicken parmigiana and a lot of free bread.

9:00 PM - I'm starting to freak out about getting Jenna's keys because all her housemates are Bands members, and only one stayed behind for his Iron Ring Ceremony. When I first go by the house, he's not home. I try calling Jenna, but her phone is off because she's at a Dropkick Murphy's concert. I putter around for a little while, then Rob shows up on MSN. I explain the situation to him, and then we sketch around Jenna's room for about 45 minutes trying to find her damned car keys.

I pick up her car, go home, get my stuff, get gas, get Ted, go gloat to the guys at the 'Nog that we're going, and we hit the road at 12:00 Midnight precisely.

12:30 AM - Crossing the border. Ted doesn't have his passport, only a driver's license. We get questioned as to why he doesn't have his passport, and why we're driving a Benz that belongs to a girl who is supposedly meeting us in Boston. I'm actually surprised that we got through as easily as we did. You want to know why? We're not brown. Honest to god.

2:00 AM - Syracuse. We're both doing pretty good at this point. Ted is taking pictures of pretty much every road sign possible while I slow down and put the highbeams on them. The roads are deserted and the weather's pretty good aside from some snowsqualls near the lake. We decide to make our first road stop on the east side of Syracuse.

By the way, Croissanwiches are NOT food to drive to.

3:30 AM - Somewhere between Utica and Albany. Another stop. I was fading pretty quickly, so we decide that coffee is a REALLY good idea. I had a coffee when we left Kingston, but it's completely worn off. The only thing open is a McDonald's, and I ask for a double cream, double sugar large. The guy working there puts at LEAST (what I would consider anyways) six sugars in this bucket of coffee. It was more like drinking coffee-flavoured sugar pasted, not the other way around. Ted overhears the most amusing conversation about Elton John ever. I didn't hear it, but he was in awe.

We probably weren't driving anywhere near as fast as we could have. Mostly because a) I didn't trust ted's converstion to Kilometres per hour from miles per epoch or whatever the hell they use, b) we weren't in a major rush to get there and c)we didn't want to deal with any state troopers.

5:30 AM - Massachussetts! I have no idea if I spelled that right, but we got out and took a picture of the border sign. I'll post it here when I get it from Ted. oh, my companion decides that getting a lot of Beef Jerky and Spicy Chicken Jerky is a REALLY good idea at this point, so we do. Guh. BEAUTIFUL sunrise coming through the hills.

7:30 AM - BOSTON! We made it to the hotel where the bands is staying. mind you it's about an hour and a half before any of them are even thinking of waking up, so we call up to a random room, find some place for ted to sleep, and I go play tetris for a while. Bandsies begin to wake up, most of them in shock that I showed up in Boston. They shoulda known there was NO Way this trip was happening without me.

10:30 AM - We load up on to a bus with the Bands to head to the parade. Dean Silverman, of Arts and Science, was marching with the bands in the parade today, and he had Beth, and advancement officer from Arts and Science in the bus with her. Traditionally, Bands likes to sing. This day was no different. To my surprise, both the Dean and Beth were laughing their faces off. Then again, we didn't hit anything too bad.

12:15 PM - After sitting at the marshalling area for a while (it was pretty cold!) on the bus, we start to think about heading to a good spot to watch the parade. Beth has mentioned that she's heading to the house of the parade organizer, Wacko Hurley, to watch the parade with Principal Hitchcock. Seeing as we can't think of anything else to do, I offer to help get her there (I know the neighbourhood... sort of). We trapse off into the masses (Ted, Beth, and myself) and make for Wacko's house!

When we get there, Principal Hitchcock is ecstatic to see a couple students, and we get invited right in for tea and strumpets (Cinnamon buns and beer). We end up sitting with Beth, David from Advancement, and Principal Hitchcock for over an hour, just chatting and hanging out. It was SO much fun. When we told her about our little trip, she was in awe at our a) balls and b) stupidity!

1:45 - Bands shows up. The Bands always gets treated nicely by these guys, they LOVE us!!! The bands were the second band in the entire thing, and they sounded GREAT!!! The Principal was beside herself happy, Ted and I were screaming at them, and it was a fantastic moment. Once the Bands had gone by, Ted and I made our goodbyes and streamed after the them (they were our ride back to the hotel). The parade was SUPER, we ran into a Sci '94 on the way, and just had a GREAT time. Got on the bus, got back to the hotel.

4:30 PM - After sending a postcard to my parents (eek), we hit the road with Jenna in tow. We made it about an hour and a half, and I had to stop for a drink/food. I was getting WAY too drowsy. I HAD CHOWDA HERE!!!!! It wouldn't be a good trip without chowda! Jenna took over the driving for a while.

6:00 PM - Gas/Drink stop between Albany and Utica. The red bull I chugged at the last stop was kicking in, and I was much more awake so I took over the driving again. I had a little nap when Jenna was driving too.

8:30 PM - Just north of Syracuse. We stop at McD's for food (dunno why!) and find that Family Guy is on a TV there. So we take an extended break. By the way, no McDeals down there, but 1 dollar double cheeseburgers are SOOOOO good.

10:45 PM - Border part two. We get across without any problems. About ten miles back we had found a radio station that was describing itself as 'cubicle friendly radio'. They played "You've lost the lovin feeling" and "Uptown Girl" back to back, so we sung along like we assume they do in cubicles. But we're almost there!! We're almost Back Home!!!!

11:30 PM - Jenna drops me off. The end of an EPIC trip to say the least. Ted and I were gone for 23.5 hours in total, I slept MAYBE half an hour in the car (ted moreso), and at least 14 of that was spent on the road.

I don't think I'll ever get the opportunity to do a trip like this again, and I'm SOOO glad I went when I could!

If this is what happens when you play in the World Series...

2006-02-22T02:07:00.000-05:00

... then I'm glad I can't hit a ball to save my life.

Or something to that effect.

Keep it in perspective...

2006-02-21T15:42:00.000-05:00

I read today's story on CNN about how Gretzky was saying the Canadian team wasn't playing with enough passion. (I also dutifully note that this story was a couple days late, and likely only made the CNN main page because of the Great One's recent scandal implications. Yet I digress) While I agree with him to a certain extent, I think the Men's team has WAY too much pressure on them this year to bring home the Gold.

Don't think for one second that I don't believe we have the best hockey players in the world. I think we have a team that is fully capable of beating anyone out there. The problem is that so do other countries. Men's hockey is so unbelievably rich in talent for about half a dozen countries that any of them could take the gold without surprising anyone. The "problem" with Canada is that we tend to think that the gold is rightfully ours. If we don't win the gold, why bother going?

I think we need someone to step up and give an Esposito-esque rant sometime in the near future. I feel that we, the hockey fans, have no right to complain about the team losing a couple games while getting the rust out.

If we get shutout 4-0 or something like that in a playoff game, then it's a different story.

Odd, isn't it?

2006-02-15T01:10:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm another year older now, and I sort of feel it. I'm going to make a few New Year resolutions (in honour of MY new year upcoming!)

1. Not take anything for granted. Especially my friends.

2. Post here more often. I see I get a lot of hits (400 or so in the past month) and so I don't want to let any of my 'readers' down.

3. Be happy with what I've got. I'm living a damned good life. It's about time I acted like it.

4. Discover 'Tact'. A lot of time I hold things in when I should just say them. Sometimes, I say things when I shouldn't. Both just lead to awkwardness down the road.

I could probably find a few more things to put here, but for the time being, I'm going to leave it at that. These cover the major things, and if I can manage to keep these resolutions, I'll be doing pretty damned good!

Back, with no voice

2006-01-24T16:08:00.000-05:00

I don't think I can call last night's game epic. I will call it hugely entertaining despite a scary-looking injury in the first period (which of course didn't turn out all that bad). However, last night firmly planted one thought into me: Leaf fans will cheer for ANYTHING.

Granted I'm writing this entry after reading Damien Cox's shredding of both the Laffs and their faithful, so it only serves to add more fuel to the fire. Even on the bus-ride home, at 3 in the morning, occassional chants of 'Go Leafs Go' were being heard from the back of the bus. (I might add that this bus was mostly full of Walkhome employees, so you can draw your own conclusions with regards to their sanity in the first place. Yet I digress.) This leads me to believe one of two things: 1) Leaf fans are the most die-hard fans on the entire planet, or 2) they are the most completely disillusioned and psychotically delusional people in this country (aside from those out there who voted conservative; odd how Toronto seems to be full of smart people politically, but when it comes to hockey, those smarts disappear.)

Right off the bat, I'm disregarding the first option. British soccer fans are the most die-hard fans on the entire planet. I don't even try to claim I've got anything on them. This leads me to fully endorse the second theory - that your average leaf fan (not including the full three quarters of the city who wear their jersey at playoff time and profess to love the team 'long time' and profess to the eternal domination of the leafs as THE power in the NHL... as long as you don't look at the last 30-some years) is completely FUCKING nuts.

Your team has lost 6 out of 6 to your provincial rivals. Steve, you can play this down all you want, but you know it stings. There have been three blowouts in those six games, two shootouts, and a game that had no business being close. Your franchise now sits in 9th place in the Eastern Conference behind Atlanta and only 3 points in front of the lowly habs and 5 in front of the awful Bruins. You are three games over .500 (an even .500 team if you take overtime losses into account.)

Yet you're winning the Cup this year. I think not.

Ottawa is a team that has the talent, the depth, the scoring, the goaltending, and most recently, the grit to win the Stanley Cup. Some people may call me delusional because of my hockey allegiances.

You want to see delusional, you need look no further than outside your front door if you live in the GTA.

Fatigue

2006-01-17T13:05:00.000-05:00

If the experts aren't right, I'm screwed.

A few fitness folks tell you that you should go hard at the gym right off the bat. You'll feel like shit for the first couple weeks, but as soon as you get into it, you'll feel a lot better. Well, I've done two days of what I consider 'hard' working out, and I feel like shit.

I better feel better soon!!!

Some thoughts...

2006-01-16T23:41:00.000-05:00

A friend recently asked me about my priorities in life. Based on what they'd seen, they thought my life was basically a big mishmash of Senators and Lord of the Rings. While I won't discount either of those two things, I feel it would be a good idea to list my top three priorities.

1. My family. I love all of them, and I can't really say more than that.

2. My friends. I have met, at one time or another, some of the most amazing people on this planet. I was blessed with great people in my life at the high school level and again here at Queen's. I've met people here that have changed my life for the better, people that have made me more interested in the world around me, and people that have made me more aware of my own shortcomings and successes. I'm heading into another unknown with graduation looming. As long as I have friends like the ones I do now, I'm not worried about going into it without help.

If you're a friend of mine, Thank You!!!

3. This last one is a toughie. There are a number of things in my life that are important to me on an equal level. School is important, but not a long-term priority (although short-term, Definitely!). Having a high paying job would be nice, but as long as I'm enjoying what I'm doing, I won't care if I'm not in the top income bracket. I think I'd have to go with my understanding and appreciation for music.

For those who don't know me all that well, I'm a fairly musical person. While I can't claim to have written a symphony or that I play 20 instruments (or even 4 really), I think I have an inate sense of what sounds good and what doesn't. I love making music with whatever instrument I can - usually the clarinet.

Is this last one geeky? Sure. Do I care? Not really. Has music helped me become the person I am today? Without a doubt. Once you are able to read and understand what music is all about, you look at things in a different light.

A last note - I don't usually post "deep" thoughts up here. Normally, I take potshots at some of my acquaintences and/or mock something I saw in the news/someone I saw at the gym/library/caf/etc. I see no reason to stop that, so here we go:

Steve, your mom's a whore.
I swear the next time I go to the gym, some girl will be on the treadmill in uggs. Break out the shovel!!!!

Professional Sports, and why I hate them

2006-01-15T20:54:00.000-05:00

I witnessed a surprising victory by the Pittsburgh Steelers (sorry SAJ) over the Indianapolis Colts today. My thoughts instantly went to my beloved Ottawa Senators as a reminder of how we are constantly phenomenal during the regular season and spotty in the playoffs.

I'm trying to find parallels in other sports as well. Could the Atlanta Braves be considered in the same vein? True they have won the World Series in there. Since 1990, the Braves have appeared in the World Series 5 times, but have only closed out one series with a victory. They won it in '95 over the Indians, but got beat out twice by the Yankees, once by the Twins, and once in a glorious moment by the Blue Jays. I don't know enough about the NBA to know if there's any team there that has performed steadily in the regular season but never won it all. Utah Jazz in the Malone/Stockton days maybe. Little help on this one?

The other pro sports phenomenon that I would LOVE to see some slacker do his/her thesis on (lookin at you Johns) is the occurence of sports triangles. Case in point: Toronto has Ottawa's number in the playoffs. It's a reality I've come to grips with. However, Ottawa has no trouble with Philly when we meet them. Toronto on the other hand can't beat Philly. How does Philly loses to Ottawa loses to Toronto loses to Philly work??? I really don't get it.

Oh, my admittance above that I have come to grips with the Leafs beating the Sens inside and out in the playoffs doesn't make me any less convinced that the Sens are winning it all this year.

'Cause they are.

Brainfart # 1 - the introduction

2006-01-12T13:38:00.000-05:00

In an attempt to force myself to update this blog more often, I'm just going to start posting whatever I'm feeling at a given time. It may not be topical, and it sure as hell may not make much sense. There is a good chance my ramblings will deal with either a) my love for the Sens, b) my hatred for the Laffs, or c) my loving hate for Steve Johns. If my posts concern anything other than those three topics, it is by pure coincidence.

With that, my first topic is the renaming of Ottawa's rink. The original name, the Palladium, was replaced within a month of the arena's opening. The main sponsor, Corel, took down the cool original name and replaced it with a model of sterility; the Corel Centre. It took me a long time to respect this name. As of Friday, the name of the arena will be "Scotiabank Place". As soon as I can find an image of what the arena will look like with the new lettering, I'll post it.

If nothing else, I pray that they repaint the building exterior. It is currently light blue and coral striped. They should paint it vibrant red and sharp black and white to reflect the Sens colours. It would look less like a giant wuss building that way.

Regardless, farewell Corel Centre!

TSN Redux

2006-01-10T16:22:00.000-05:00

Just so you know, TSN.ca is usually the very first page I go to after looking at cbc.ca, which is my default page. That might explain why I've been refering to it so much recently. Again, here are the interesting articles for the day:

First

I'm just glad to see the old guy hasn't lost his edge. Shoulda been named to Olympic team too in my mind.

Second

Let's be clear - I have no emotional attachment to Mr. Andreychuk as so many Leaf fans do. But equally clearly, the guy has had a great career. If I'm Feaster, I let Andreychuk play out the year with the big boys, and spare him the indignity of being waived. It's not like he's making a bucketload of cash either.

My second problem with this move is the fact that there won't be a captain - just three alternates. When Ottawa lost Alfredsson for a couple weeks, Redden assumed the responsibilities of wearing the C. While he proved not to be as gutsy as Alfie in leading the team (or providing a whole lot of offense), at least he was ready to try it on for size. Why doesn't the team just name Lecavalier the new captain, which they'll do in the next offseason (which for them, begins mid-april).

Finally

The aforementioned hero returns. Best swedish captain in Ontario - Bar none.

TSN.ca is my new humour page

2006-01-09T23:40:00.000-05:00

When I browsed onto tsn.ca this afternoon, I saw three articles that for one reason or another, made me laugh.

First Article

This guy just can't catch a break. I don't see him starting his NFL career anytime soon.

Second Article

The best part of this entire article is Theodore's reaction. "He came at me with his head down so I just wanted to say `Welcome to the big boys.'" The guy's lucky he didn't try that shit on Hasek. The Dominator would've pulled a Happy Gilmore on the guy and tried to stab him with his skate.

Third Article

By far the most hilarious article of the bunch. I read it and giggled.

Long time coming

2006-01-09T13:18:00.000-05:00

Now that exams are over, I guess I have no excuse not to post something here. Everything went as well as I could have hoped for, so I'm not worried at all about my performance (despite QCARD not giving me half of my marks yet).

I'm not really sure what to post today. I'm looking at this last term with excitement and dread. On one hand, I'm finally going to be graduating! Yay!!! On the other hand, I'm going to need to find a career OTHER than being a student. I have no idea where I'll be in a year, but I'm not really worried about it. I've been worrying about this kind of thing too long to let it bug me now.

To wrap up, I want to wish everyone who reads this (Scotty, Greg, Steve-o, Irish Tim, YOU) a happy new year.

I promise I'll think of something more interesting for next time.

Temptation

2005-12-04T18:45:00.000-05:00

I'm at Stauffer thinking about the paper I should be writing right now. I'm moderately motivated to do well on it, but not exceedingly. If I ace it, I could make it so that I don't even really need to write the final, but that's no fun.

The temptation is that the two people closest to me (beside and across) are sound asleep. Now, do I let them slumber in peace, or should I slam my hand on the desk as hard as I can and then pretend like I heard/did nothing?

I'm torn. I can't decide...

Ah shit, one of them woke up. Can't get off scott-free now.

Top Five Guy Movies

2005-11-08T11:12:00.000-05:00

This is a survey. What are your top five 'guy' flicks of all time?

I've got:
1) The Rock
2) Top Gun
3) Die Hard (any of them)
4) Bad Boys (1 or 2)
5) Braveheart (great storyline for both genders, but absolutely guyish for the battle scenes)

What do you think?

Midterm season over... I wish!

2005-11-08T11:04:00.000-05:00

So I've had my first round of midterms returned, and the results were less than superb, but not absolutely disastrous. I managed to squeak effective passes in two of the midterms (ie as close to 50 as you can get), got an expected 60 on another, and bullshat my way to a 70 on the third. The only bright spot, my physics midterm, hasn't been returned yet due to Prof. Hanes getting Avian Flu.

I'm now sitting in the Chem building waiting for my 11:30 to start. I've got a midterm in this class tomorrow, and it's gonna be rough. The prof is out to make undergrads realize just how good we've had it so far.

For those of you who have managed to move on with their lives and are no longer writing midterms, exams, quizzes - I hate you.

Unrelatedly, I've started swimming again. I only managed 20 lengths last night (500 m) before my arms got too tired. I'm going to keep going regularly and try to be at 1500 m in 45 mins within a month. I figure it'll be two weeks of nasty times before I can really go hard at it. I'm going to try to go three mornings a week from 7:15 to 8:15... we'll see how well that plan works. Oh, my new goggles are awesome!

Input please...

2005-11-06T19:18:00.000-05:00

I'm considering purchasing a laptop in the next little while. I need some general input as to what you all think would be the best way to go - Mac or PC.

I'm not really worried about the money end of things, so don't let that be one of the factors when comparing the two.

And Steve, that's a boss chicken vs. peter figurine. I need one.

Hockey Predictions

2005-11-03T17:43:00.000-05:00

I don't like making too many predictions about how the hockey season will end up (unlike a certain HERO of a swede), but with my favorite team having three 4-goal scorers in the past 3 games, I can't resist.

1) Toronto will make the playoffs. Shocking that this comes as my number one prediction? I hope so.

2) Ottawa will face Toronto in the 2nd round, and will win in 6 games. There is NO way this team is losing to TO 4 out of 7. They're too damned scary.

3) Sens/Red Wings for the cup. There are very few teams that I feel will challenge the Sens this year for the cup. Red Wings, Flyers, and Canucks are about it. The Flyers and Wings in particular scare the hell out of me.

4) St. Louis doesn't make the playoffs. Duh. Lalime!!!

I have no idea if any of these claims are legit and/or will hold up. I mostly just want to put a few things out there. Am I way too confident? Likely. Am I legit in being this confident? Absolutely. Does Steve's mom do it like that? You betcha.

Smooth 'n Fruity

2005-10-27T11:52:00.000-04:00

I don't really have much to say today. Oh, I know - I need feedback on something.

Yesterday I had two midterms. My first was at 10:30, second at 11:30. For those of you who know campus, Botterell and Goodes respectively. My first one was 20% of a fourth year conservation biology course, which I need to graduate. My second was 35% of a second year commerce course in Organizational Behaviour. It is an elective, but likely to be more related to what I actually go into as a career. Needless to say I was torn on which was the priority.

I spent the whole weekend studying for these two midterms instead of going to the football game in London with the Bands. I should have been there. We lost badly, but I still should have been there. Don't worry, the feedback portion is coming soon.

So I got to my first midterm on time, feeling relatively good about both upcoming exams. I started writing and quickly realized I was going to run short on time. The exam was two short answer questions, choose 2 of 3 more short answers, and an essay on your choice of 2 topics. At 11:10, the prof realized a lot of people were coming up short and said we could put our essays in point-form. This helped a bit, but I was still getting anxious about my second test. I ended up leaving the first one at 11:35, and was the first one out of the room.

Now, my second exam was in Goodes. I missed the bus by about 30 seconds, so that wasn't an option. Many of you know how slow a walker I am to begin with. Well, I'm currently operating with two dislocated toes on one foot and a recovering ankle on the other. Needless to say, I wasn't running to Goodes. I got there as quickly as I could, 17 minutes late. Luckily it was a 1.5 hour exam, so I didn't lose as big a proportion of my writing time.

Unluckily for me, I was so flustered about the fact that a) the first exam had gone overtime and b) I was late for a midterm worth 35% that I couldn't write anything for almost 25 minutes. I mean, BOOM. Mind went completely blank. If my prof had been watching me closely, she must've seen me panicking. Anyways, I calmed down around 12:15 or so and wrote down what I could. I bombed the exam BIG time. I'm not going to say I would've aced it if the conditions had been optimal, but I did WAY worse than I should have.

Now here is where I ask for feedback. I'm meeting with my prof tomorrow to talk about what happened. I'm going to ask her to re-weight the midterm for me so that it's worth less of my final mark. I think it's a fair request really. How much should I go for? I think down to 25 or 20 from 35 wouldn't be out of order. I mean, if this was truly indicative of my performance in the course, then the reweighting wouldn't matter. I'd get the same mark on the final and it would be apparent. However, if I was a 'victim' of circumstance, then my mark should go up.

What do you think?

Ps. My title comes from the yogourt container in front of me. I was really really uncreative today.

Turkey Weekend - a Retrospective

2005-10-12T10:56:00.000-04:00

Now that we're at Wednesday of Thanksgiving week, I like to look back at the weekend that was. Or wasn't.

We'll start off with the bad things. Read an entry or two ago to find out my feelings about technology. It is not without a sense of irony that I type this current entry on the SAME damned laptop. If you never read this, blame Queen's Library Systems and the good folks at Toshiba.

I didn't get nearly as much work done as I needed to this weekend.
The weather sucked.
I'm probably not going to ace this midterm in a few hours.
I'll likely do alright on tonight's midterm.
I haven't started Friday's assignment yet.
The Leafs won a game. Dammit.

Alright, now on to the good stuff.

I got to spend the weekend with my family - always good food and fun times.
The Sens have opened the season 4-0 with wins over Toronto (ahem, TWO wins), Buffalo, and Montreal. W00t!
I got that damned assignment done, and it looked a lot thicker than anyone elses there, so it must be better.
I have found clarity.
The Leafs lost 3 games. Ha!

I need to keep this entry short and sweet and get back to studying. It seems that in Scotty's taking a well-deserved break from blogging every day, my urge to post has gone up immensely. Maybe we are twins after all.... weird.

Happy Slammiversary!

2005-10-11T10:09:00.000-04:00

I somehow missed the one year anniversary of this blog. The only reason I really caught it was that both Scotty and Steve posted about their one-year.

My first post was about the Gaels football team and how they were headed for a certain loss. My second post was in utter amazement about how they actually pulled a win out of their asses. Some things don't change - the Gaels are still screwed this year (despite the fact that they'll make the playoffs).

Let's see what's changed since my first post:

1) I'm in 6th year now, not 5th. Guh.
2) I no longer work for Walhome. (if you don't know, you're not going to)
3) I am no longer in Queen's Bands (I miss it like crazy, but definitely the right call).
4) I work at the Tir Na Nog as a doorman. (SO fun at times).
5) I live with a bunch of second years. weeeeee.
6) I spent a summer NOT doing manual labour - something I was never really good at to begin with.
7) Steve's mom is sexier than ever.
8) The Sens somehow got better while the leafs got worse. w00t.
9) I love the shootout.

That pretty much covers the big items. As always, I'm tryin to increase my reader base so that more people can read the hilarity that is my life. Well, attempted hilarity. As near as I can tell, the only people who read this are Scotty, Steve, Bri, Gab, and Greg. If anyone else does, leave me a comment so I can put a link to your blog on the right hand side. If not that, at least a shoutout.

Sens in 7.

Frustration? You betcha!

2005-10-09T16:25:00.000-04:00

Anyone who has had technology go awry on them will sympathize with me on this one.

It is currently Thanksgiving Sunday, and I'm at the library. Not even reading, but working on a stupid assignment for a class I picked up on a whim. Turns out this class isn't as easy as I thought, but that's not my issue. Nor is the fact that I'm doing this assignment alone (my partner is going to do the next one on her own). My gripe is that I'm a complete retard.

I signed out one of Stauffer's laptops to work at a larger desk. I just like to be able to move around if I want to, so I didn't sit at one of the larger workstations (that I'm at now). After working for about an hour and a half and getting a fair bit done, I diligently saved my files, shut down the computer, and packed it away to be returned by the assigned time. So far, so good.

What I failed to do was email myself the files I had JUST saved. The library's computers have a nice feature where all non-essential files (ie those that don't directly contribute to the operation of the computer) get deleted everytime you shut the computer down. Naturally, my files (spreadsheet with charts and word file) got deleted in the process. Someone at ITS was thinking ahead and told them to empty the recycle bin each time too.

So here I am, sitting in the library on Sunday of a long weekend at 4:20 PM without anything to show for my time here. Moreover, I'm too fucking angry at myself to settle down and just re-do it today. I really needed to get that out of the way today too because I have two midterms and a term paper outline this week that I haven't even started to think about yet. There's no point in even starting it right now because it's one of those things that you have to do in one go or you'll lose your train of thought and it won't make sense the next time.

Basically, I've set myself up for a pain in the ass day tomorrow. I have to finish this tomorrow, clean my room, recover from eating a whole turkey, clean my room again, and get my midterm/term paper stuff in order and ready to go at the drop of a hat.

On the plus side, the Sens are 2-0 with wins over the Laffs and the Sabres, my fantasy pools are going alright with some decent aquisitions and lots of trade offers coming my way, my family is in town so I'll be getting a wicked turkey dinner right before sitting in front of a BIG ass TV with lots of beer and a fire, and I'm getting over a cold that has been bugging me for over a week.

But holy fuck, I hate that laptop right now.

Wait a minute here...

2005-10-06T13:07:00.000-04:00

I read today's Whig-Standard story about the lone non-student residence on Aberdeen St. and how they were 'prisoners in their own home'. I think that is over-dramaticizing it a bit, but that's not my issue.

Today's paper says that Queen's with be re-imbursing the family for damages done to their home during the 'riot' on Homecoming weekend. The University has helped them in the past, and they want to keep relations as friendly as possible. This all despite the fact that Principal Karen Hitchcock stated a few days ago in the same paper: “There’s a very important distinction here,” Hitchcock said. “What happened was not Homecoming. Aberdeen is not a sanctioned part of the event. It is a coincident occurrence."

I'm confused. Is the university taking blame for the event or not? The administration needs to send a single message to the populace of Kingston. We're either responsible or we're not. What will happen when Aberdeen landlords come to the University asking for damage compensation?

Stories here:

Reimbursment

Hitchcock article

I think this is a bad sign...

2005-10-03T14:05:00.000-04:00

I got bored today. In my boredom, I stupidly decided to look at the LEGO website.

Let me tell you a little something about me and LEGO. I MUST have it. It is my precious. At Christmastime, I have received LEGO for 19 years running. I don't see this streak ending anytime soon. Santa will have a lot of venison to eat if the LEGO stops flowing to my stocking.

Anyways, back to the bad sign. Warp yourself a year (or three) into the future and picture me with a $40,000 dollar salaried job. Sweet kick. Now picture me dropping a full 5 percent of that salary on LEGO alone. Not just any LEGO, but Star Wars LEGO. I browsed the website long enough to make a shopping list of what I'm going to buy as soon as I have money.

First, the Imperial Star Destroyer. This model is beyond cool.

When finished, it's about 3 feet by two feet. That's a HUGE bitch!!!!

Next, the Death Star from Return of the Jedi. Voila:

This is also waaay cool. If only it were on scale with the Star Destroyer. This alone is mind-boggling. One website I saw put the Death Star at 800 km in diameter (this was the website with the most math to back it up) and estimated the Star Destroyers at 1.6 km long. If the model Star Destroyers are 3 feet long, simple arithmetic tells me that a scale model Death Star would be 1500 feet in diameter, or almost half a kilometer.

Let's put this into perspective for the only ones reading this blog: We used to live at 230 Barrie St. 1500 feet from that location is approximately where Bagot and Barrie intersect. Better yet, it's the distance from the old place to McD's or Tim Horton's on Princess. That's a big motherfucking Death Star. Maybe they should just leave it as is... a measly 2 feet high. (Ed note: If I ever get Bill Gates rich, I'm going for it.. right after I give the world something everyone can enjoy - I'm going to colourize the moon).

Anyways, those two sets alone come in at 800 bucks sans tax. I guarantee my first paycheck will go to one of those two, likely the Star Destroyer first.

Man, I need a life.

Draft Day!

2005-10-02T18:47:00.000-04:00

So today was our second annual (last year has been stricken from the record) fantasy draft. All in all, I'm quite happy with my team. Here are my picks in no particular order:

FORWARDS:

Marcus Naslund - solid player all around, my star for sure

Pavel Datsyuk - has the ability to light it up at any given time

Chris Simon - former penalty generator turned productive player in Calgary

Tony Amonte - banking on another Calgarian. Had a good year last year despite being on a shitty team. I see his points geting marginally better, but his plus/minus going up a lot

Micheal Ryder - good young player in Montreal. The Habs are going to play some good hockey this year, and Ryder's going to be a major contributor

Sean Avery - With Roenick around, has nowhere to go but up. For the time being, he's a hired goon. Plus he`s a bigot, so he can`t be all THAT bad.

Richard Zednik - good all around player on Montreal. nothing special, but solid.

Damond Langkow - 21 goal scorer with Phoenix last year, look for even better with Calgary this year.

DEFENSEMEN:

Brian Leetch - showed with Toronto last year that he can be a contributor with a decent team. Scored 15 points in 15 games there. Even in New York (R) he scored 36 points and was only -5. Look for him to shine in Boston.

Wade Redden - Perennial workhorse. This guy is solid as a rock and will give Chara a run for the Norris.

Kim Johnsson - Again, another solid player year in and year out. With Philly's acquisitions (bastards), look for even better things to come... until they meet Ottawa in the playoffs.

John-Micheal Liles - had 34 points as a rookie defensemen in 03/04 on Colorado. Will be looked to as a major contributor with Foote in Columbus.

Thomas Kaberle - Toronto's number 2 defenseman. Won't be dressed in games vs. Ottawa or Philly, but should be solid otherwise.

Steve Staios - I like the name. Plus if he's on a line with Pronger, things will be good.

GOALTENDERS:

Dominik Hasek - Has the guts and grit, does he have the groin? Only time will tell. With the goal support the Sens will be giving him, wins shouldn't be an issue. Might be iffy on GAA and SV% though. If he can stay healthy for the entire season and playoffs, the Sens are winning the cup. Also, great mentor for Emery.

Jose Theodore - Can change Montreal's destiny overnight when he's on. Needs to wear more toques over masks though.

Patrick Lalime - Senator forever in my mind. I honestly loved the guy, but he had to go. His recent failure in Ottawa has made him more determined than ever, and I see solid things in his future in St. Louis. This won't be the first year they miss the playoffs in quite a while.

So that's the world as I see it. Please feel free (Scotty, Greg, Anonymous) to comment on anything and everything.

March of the Underpants Gnomes

2005-09-07T17:05:00.000-04:00

I really need to get better titles going here...

I finally worked out my final timetable for the upcoming year. All in all, it's not terrible! Please see here for my timetable.

All in all, winter term mornings can suck my balls. oh well.

Mobility Returning?

2005-09-06T02:03:00.000-04:00

My ankle injury may not be as bad as it originally appeared to be. I have a funny feeling the bone chips in my ankle were from general wear and tear and not this specific injury. Also, I can feel the cast loosening from around my leg as the swelling subsides. Couple that with the fact that I can move my ankle in three directions so far. Tilting the foot forwards and back doesn't really hurt that much, but then again, I couldn't really do that in the first place. Supinating my foot and pronating it are another story. Pronation doesn't hurt to much right now, but I'm not really pushing it. Supination is still fairly painful to try, but I can at least get a little movement before the pain starts. In my mind, that's a happy state as I couldn't move it a little bit yesterday before it started to hurt like hell.

Out of all of this, I'm really wondering what the hell caused the ankle to swell as immediately as it did when the injury occured. I mean, I heard (and felt) the POP, looked down, and BOOM - tennis ball ankle. I suppose it was the instantaneous release of fluid to some subcutaneous region, but where the hell did the fluid come from? Did I herniate a ligament which allowed sinovial fluid to escape? Can a ligament be herniated? If I did, did it seal itself up again and begin to refill the joint? Did walking yesterday hurt so much because it was joing rubbing on joint when walking?

As you can see, many questions and no answers before I talk to a doctor in the near future. I think I might go down earlier than Sunday (when the doc told me to come down). In my mind, the injury isn't half as bad as it appeared to be yesterday on the X-ray.

If nothing else comes from this, my blog will never see such activity again!

Newly Broken Man

2005-09-04T23:27:00.000-04:00

I've dodged fate long enough.

As some of you know, I have bad ankles to begin with. I was born clubfooted and had corrective surgery when I was younger. This left me with usable feet, but my ankles have always been a tad weak. I tend to roll them really easily when walking on uneven ground. Background - check.

Today I was hanging out across the street from Vic Hall watching this year's frosh move into residence. My friend Jenna showed up with her puppy, so I decided to take him for a jog around the square. The walkway I was walking on had concrete down the middle and interlock bricks down the side. In some places, the interlock had sunken down half an inch or more. As I took off, my ankle came across one of said spots.

I heard a loud 'pop', and looked down to see a large lump on my ankle. It looked something like this, but bigger. Jothe took some neat pictures. Anyways, making a long story short, we hailed First Aid, took a cab to the hospital, got it x-rayed, and they're not quite sure how bad the damage is. There are some identifiable bone chips in there, but I'm not entirely sure if they're from this incident or just from my wear and tear in general. Regardless, no major bone damage was done. The doc said that I probably farked up two of my ligaments, and that might require some intensive physiotherapy after I get this cast off.

Really, I'm sort of disappointed that I won't be able to do the frosh week activities I was planning on doing. For example, I wanted to go to the football game to harass the frosh and show them how to REALLY cheer for a game. I also was going to play at the Principal's welcoming ceremony on Tuesday as my last event with the Bands. I don't plan on being able to walk then, so that last one is out, but I might get hammered and go to the game anyways.

Really, as long as I can get to class on Monday, I'll be happy. This year is (for better or worse) all about graduating. That's why I'm not doing Bands or Walkhome. Well, sort of for Walkhome. See previous rants for that one.

Enough for one night. Look for lots of these in the next week as I'm likely gonna be stuck here!

Moving Adventures Part 10

2005-08-30T23:42:00.000-04:00

So I did a little tally and found that I'm about to move for the umpteenth time in my University Career. As follows:

1. From Deep River to Wally
2. From Wally to Deep River
3. From Deep River to Leonard
4. From Leonard to Deep River
5. From Deep River to Barrie St.
6. From Barrie St. to Earl St.
7. From Earl St. to University Ave.
8. From University Ave to Johnson St.
9. From Johnson St. to Birch St./Yonge St.

and now, the soon-to-be newest addition to the move list:

10. From Birch St./Yonge St. to Victoria Ave.

By far, the worst move in the whole list was the Barrie St. to Earl St. move. We got screwed over on the U-Haul rental, the new place SUCKED (not as bad as when we moved out, but I digress), and there was a huge hide-a-bed in the place.

The best move was probably the University Ave to Johnson St. move as most of my furniture was provided by the Co-op. I didn't have to bring a desk, a bed (but I did), or a dresser (but I did again). Moved into a big place on the ground floor - it worked nicely.

I hope this move coming up goes as well as that one did. Knowing me though, it won't. At least the remnants of Katrina are supposed to pass us over by then.

EVIL TORGO!!!!

2005-08-14T15:50:00.000-04:00

So, I had a dream last night that I was going to be taking some courses next year that I REALLY didn't want to take. In reality, next year is one of the first years I've had in a while where I wont' be re-taking anything at all. Everythign will be new and fresh, and I'm really looking forward to it.

For some reason, I dreamt I had to re-take Orgo. Orgo, for the uninitiated, is Organic Chemistry. The Bane of my existence. It was by far the hardest course I've ever taken here... and I somehow passed (not by much, but I passed). This dream scared me a fair bit. To make matters worse, I'd be retaking it while my sister was in the course. Orgo is not to be toyed with... and I'm not taking some unholy combination of Tog and Orgo... we'll call her Torgo.

And just for the record, Mr. Greenhorn - you're an ass. Fiddledi Dee? Wow. If you're not scotty, and you want to know what this is about, email scott@qv7.net to find out.

Am I a bad person?

2005-08-14T15:02:00.000-04:00

I spent last night watching movies rented from Jumbo. A former housemate of mine works there, so I didn't pay for anything. I rented: Boondock Saints, Gattaca, and Men In Black II. I decided to watch the movies at my parent's place for a few reasons.. 21 degrees instead of 27, and 46 inch screen instead of 17. I think I made the right call.

Oh, as a sidenote, Justin and Heidi Dee's wedding reception was happening at the Olympic Harbour Restaurant last night. I know neither of them read this (actually, nobody does except me and scotty, maybe greg on occassion), but regardless, I wish them both well. I could have crashed the reception, and they probably wouldn't have minded - but I would'v ebeen wearing a bathing suit and a shocker t-shirt. As much as they wouldn't have cared, I'm sure their parents and other old relatives would have objected (had they gotten the joke).

Anyways, I got to my place, made some beefaroni, and sat down to the Boondock Saints. The title of this entry comes from this spot on the evening. At the part where the two irish blokes and Rocco are sitting in his kitchen and Rocco slams his hand on the table, causing a firearm to discharge into the cat sitting on the table, I had to pause the movie because I was laughing so hard. I mean, I don't really like cats. However, I still don't think it deserved to be reduced to a large red smear on the wall. As funny as that smear was. I think the part that really got me was the diminutive 'meow' heard when the gun goes off. Either way, I had to pause the movie for at least 5 minutes until I could see again.

I also watched Gattaca last night. I originally saw this film in Grade 12 as part of my OAC Science in Society course. I didn't get a lot of what they were talking about at the time (I thought GM Foods was simply food manufactured by either General Mills or General Motors - the hubbub about both confused me a great deal). Now, being a biology major, watching the movie actually scares me. Maybe I'll focus on this a little more later.. I don't want anything too heavy to take away from the awesomeness of a cat splatter on the wall.

I leave you now with one of the cooler pictures I've taken. This was taken with my phone, so the quality probably isn't as good as it should be. It was last Monday, and I was walking down to the pub for some dinner. The sun was setting and there was a line of clouds across the sky. As the sun set, the clouds turned more and more pinkish red. At one point, when I was standing beside the pub, the majestic city hall beside me appeared to be on fire. Hence this picture.

Enjoy! It's nice to be back!

Optimism? Hrmm..

2005-04-17T22:30:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm feeling a bit better than I did previously. I think I'm going to rescind a few of my earlier ideas, but I'm thinking a bit more clearly than before.

1) I'm not guaranteeing I'm done with Bands. I'm saying it's likely that I am, but if I do return, I'm going to be the biggest drunken lech of all time. It'll be fun to be around and not be in charge again.

I'm not sure why I started numbering this, but I'm not going to continue.

I have an exam in 11 hours, and I'm feeling like I *might* be okay for it. It'll be a race to get all the material in in time, but I've covered half of it in about 7 hours so far, so as long as I can stay productive, I'll be alright! Tuesday's exam, however, will be another story. Oh well.

Wish me luck Greenhorn. You're the only one who reads this.

And for today's token image, a very cool view of Skydome (fuck the Rogers Centre)

It's been an interesting week for a few reasons. I'll get into my Walkhome rant later, as well as my 'broken glasses' rant and my 'damned 303 instructor' rant.

BOOOOORT!

What's this, an update? It's not too inspiring, so don't worry.

2005-04-15T00:22:00.000-04:00

So yeah, I've finally decided to vent somewhere. I'm glad not too many people read this, because this is going ot be pretty depressing.

I have no idea what I'm doing here. I've wasted five years, only to likely drop out without a degree. For some reason, I just can't make myself sit and work for more than a half hour at a time, if that much. It's really frustrating because I know I have to do the work, and I know my future is depending on how I do here, but I just can't do it. It's really weird. I want to do well. I want to make those I know proud to know me. I want to make my parents proud of me. I sit down, and bam. I'll stare at the wall instead of working (Yes, I know this is a diversion, but it's a somewhat productive one).

I've discovered that I need to get nearly 100% on my upcoming ecology final to get into honours next year. That's if I can convince my lab instructors to let me hand in my two late labs without penalty, and that's going to depend on whether or not someone at counselling services decides that I'm a nut or not. Here goes nothing.

On one hand, I don't want to be crazy. On the other hand, I want to pass these courses and get on with my life. because of that, I've decided to take the following actions.

1) I'm done with Queen's Bands. I hate myself for doing this, but there's no way I can do it again next year and not suffer. Plus, it's time to move aside and let someone else have their fun. I've been there long enough, and while I'll miss it like you wouldn't believe (and I hope it misses me), I think it's time.

2) I'm putting myself through from here on in. My parents have provided for me so far, and I'm making as much cash as I can this summer to pay my way from here on in. If this means taking a year off so I can make more money, so be it. I'm tired of being a drain on someone else.

3) I'm going to be seeing someone on a regular basis. There's way to much inside me to just sit on it and dwell. I need to vent to someone regularly. I might be nuts, but I'm gonna do it. So whoever you are, get ready to be yelled at, cause it's gonna be fun.

I'm sure there are other things I could do/give up, but those are three big things I need to do.

This has been a pretty heavy entry, and my first one in a long time. Because I dont' like to burden anyone too much, please enjoy this picture of me in a disturbingly inebriated state with a friend making a funny face.

and with that, I depart thee verily. Wish me luck!

Beam me up, God.

for scotty

2005-03-29T21:34:00.000-05:00

update my ass mothafucka!

more to come after this weekend tho.. seriously.

My adventures in Smellyland

2005-01-05T16:45:00.000-05:00

As you may guess by the title of this entry, I recently travelled to Southern Ontario.

I left the Deep around lunch time on New Year's Eve with our Cop Car (read; 2004 Impala with no hubcaps and black rims... really freaks people out). I made it to Dani's place in Whitby with plenty of time for dinner. The Bryerses have 7 cats, and I am allergic, so I popped a couple of Antihistamines and began the boozing. Dani and I played a game of checkers with the board I mentioned in the previous post, and she dominated me in a way that I sometimes like to be dominated; a way that leads to me drinking lots of alcohol. I crashed at her place after beating the crap out of her boyfriend and cousin (maybe?) at Bid euchre with her Grandma. We were the team from hell, if hell were to run rampant and kick ass at euchre.

The next day, I got going around mid-afternoon and headed for Mississauga. Not knowing what I was doing, I got stuck in traffic on the 401 near the airport, so I headed for the QEW on the 427. Long story short, I got there eventually. I found SAJ playing street hockey in a parking lot next to his house. They had an extra stick, so I threw on my BEACON OF LIGHT (sens jersey) and began to play with. SAJ could only take about 15 minutes of my thrashing, so I paused out of mercy for the man who was putting me up for the night. I had dinner with some family friends in Oakville, then returned to Mississauga. Upon my arrival again, I found out I was to travel back across Toronto to pick up our friend Steve, who was now Bailing on us the next day. Wait, did I mention the reason for my whole trip? We were going to the Bills/Steelers game in Buffalo on Sunday.

Anyways, SAJ and I run across Toronto to get Steve, and then fly back to SAJ's place where we crash for the night. I think we got to bed around 3 am with a 6:30 am wakeup on the way. I know for sure that I heard the alarm clock chime 4 am, and then Steve stepped on me around 4:45. I got maybe 1.5 hours of actual sleep that night.

We woke up at 6:30 as planned, had a piece of toast, then hit the road. After making Steve feel really bad for bailing on us, we dropped him at the GO station and headed for Hamilton to pick up Beth, Walkhome staff member to the stars. She was a last-minute addition to the trip, but ended up likely being the voice of reason for the adventure. I ate a bagel at 8:30 AM. Keep a note of that time, it's important!

Traffic on the QEW through Niagara was fine, and we got to the border with tons of time to spare. There were tons of people at the Duty free that were going to the game, so we figured we'd just follow one of them. Crossing the border was a breeze, and we hit the I-190 south through buffalo. We were told that we could see the stadium from the highway, so we kept an eye out for it. As we'd find out later, you can't actually see the stadium from the highway at all. We ended up getting on the New York Thruway, IE the big ass highway that runs laterally in the state. I pulled off, and we called Steve the deserter for directions (as he was the only one who'd ever been there before).

He told us to go back up towards the border and get onto Highway 5 south. So we headed back towards the border. Oh wait, the highway to the border is a toll road. Wooo. We cheated and gave them 50 cents canadian money. So we then get back to the border. Apparently you cannot access Highway 5 southbound from the 190 Northbound. so we turned off into the shithole that is Downtown Buffalo. I was scared for my life a couple times, and after getting waaaaaaay to far into town then was necessary, I asked for directions. We got them, and then FINALLY got to the stadium around 2 hours after crossing the border.

We had time to park the car, and I then began to revel in what was to be one of the more ridiculous experiences of our time.

I had heard about tailgate parties, but this was insane. Guys had full bonfires set up in the middle of parking lots. Kids were going around collecting beer bottles in green garbage bags by the dozen. It was like there were no rules, no law, no order; and I loved it! We didn't really have enough time to see anything much, but I definitely want to tailgate like this sometime for a homecoming game or another NFL game.

We made our way to the stadium and found our seats. We were seated pretty much right on the 50 yard line in the 2nd last row of the bowl. We were waaaaaay above field level, but it was a great view regardless. There were a lot of Steelers fans around us, with a few bills fans. I'd say it was about a 70-30 split where we were. The stadium was about 70-30 the other way overall, but there was still a lot of Yellow there.

The game went on, and the Steelers ended up winning 29-24, ending Buffalo's playoff dream. (the team had started 0-4, and still had a shot of making the playoffs... not bad at all!) Everyone left the stadium in a happy mood, because the only ones left were Steelers fans.

We got back to the car at 4:30 PM. To make a long story short, we didn't cross the border until 7 PM. We sat and sat and sat and sat and sat and sat and sat and sat in traffic in the parking lot, on the street, on the next street, and then again when we got to the border. I'd like to point out that a) I called 7 PM when we left the stadium, and b) we still hadn't eaten much yet, save for a couple oranges graciously provided by Beth.

Despite our ravenous hunger, we decided to push for Mississauga before stopping. That was mostly my decision beacuse I felt tired enough that if I had a stomach full of food, I might just fall asleep. So, we ended up eating dinner at 9:00 PM. We switched cars in Mississauga (My car stayed in Mississauga for the day with the interior lights on... go me) and hit the QEW to Steve's place to chill with him for the night. He let me crash there so I'd be on the right side of town for the next morning.

Oh yes, Beth and SAJ were going to catch the GO train to Mississauga/Aldershot to go home. Smart ones they are, they ended up in Scarborough (wrong way). Steve had fun calling Beth's sister who was supposed to pick her up. Beth blames this all on SAJ, and I'm inclined to believe her.

The next morning, I was tired enough that I slept in til about 9 or 10. Steve's place was really nice, and I think it was quite possibly the most comfortable pullout I've ever seen in my life. After a quick shower, I bid my friend adieu and hit the road enroute to Kingston.

My buddy Jer is leaving for Scotland in a few days, and I wanted to say goodbye to him before he left. He invited me out to his place in the Guilty Pig (read Sinful Ham, read Syndenham) for lunch and we had a good chat. I then headed into town to have a coffee with Aki, and booted 'er home.

All in all, this was a fun trip. I had a really good time spending time with people i see all the time at school. It was different because I got them out of our communal element and got to see what they do in theirs. Steve, despite being a dick for bailing, was good to see. Jer, despite being an old milky bastard, was good to see too.

And with that, I'd like to conclude what is likely to be my longest entry ever. w00t. Go me.

Merry Boortmas!!!!

2005-01-04T12:59:00.000-05:00

Well, this is my holiday entry. Yes, I know that most of my fellow academics have gone back to their studies while we lucky Queen's folk (and apparently the cow-rapists at Guelph) get another week to sit around and play with our toys. Here is a summary of what I was fortunate to receive:

- A new squash racquet (see previous post to read about demise of previous squash racquet)
- The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition (12 DVD's... w00t!)
- A Digital camera with a disgusting 24X digital zoom. it's bitchin.
- A checkers set with shot glasses as the pieces. I mean, how cool is this??? I played with it at new years (read later) and lost convincingly.
- America, the book by John Stewart. So far, a great read!
- Roger's World by Wayne Scanlan (autographed copy). Also, so far a great read.
- clothes, with a hoodie I really like.

Those were the major big ticket items. Oh yes, I was able to continue a 17 year tradition by getting LEGO. That's right, someone has given me LEGO every year since I was 5 years old. I love that stuff. The Danes really got it right with that one.

I think I'll write a totally seperate entry for my adventures last weekend, as they are deserving of such a space.

for those who are wondering...

2004-12-10T14:01:00.000-05:00

Yes, I broke a carbon-fibre drum mallet. I also broke a Kevlar hockey stick. Now, I can add a titanium Squash Racquet to that list.

That's right, I broke a titanium squash racquet. Not just the strings, but the entire frame. it's no longer usable, but made some FINE kiwi and apple julienne!!!!

I am a sucker for hot women in long underwear.

2004-11-26T01:46:00.000-05:00

Dinner tonight. Governor General was there. I was expecting something uber fun and spirited with much dancing and smiling of children/serfs/smurfs.

Turns out my illusions were just those; illusions. She's not hotter in real life, and she actually struck me as being really stuck up and bitchy. I broke my drum mallet earlier in the evening, and I still smile at the thought of it breaking in the dinner room, and it smashing her in the head.

Just picture this: the woman who wastes 17 million dollars of Canadian's money every year gets a black eye from a leopard-wearing ops manager who will likely end up working in Petrol sales for the rest of his life. How can you not laugh at that??????

The world would be a better place if the strippers were better looking...

2004-11-23T01:39:00.000-05:00

First off, check out scotty's blog at http://qv7.net . it's hilarious, and takes him WAY too much time to write. which is okay, because he's unemployed.

So John Score weekend went off fairly well, although I don't think we'll ever be staying at the Town Inn Suites again.. Note to self: we're a bunch of bastards for even hinting that we'd behave. More like, I'm a prick for promising good behaviour.
Turns out my definition of good behaviour is 70 naked people, many hot frosh, in a single hotel room. Man, that was fun.

I'll add the occasional blog for the rest of the week as needed.

Sens in six.

Let's see what's wrong with this picture...

2004-11-13T06:45:00.000-05:00

First, there's no hockey. That in itself is worthy of a good bit of ponderance.

Second, Laurier just beat McMaster for the Yates Cup. How the hell did Laurier come from nowhere on the radar two years ago to being the best team in the country?

Third, I'm only in three courses. Yet, I'm far enough behind to seriously contemplate a long walk off a short dock. How the hell do I always do this to myself, and why?

Fourth, Scotty doesn't have a job yet. How the hell does someone so genuinely nice and employable not find a job??? This guy will be loyal to your company, has above-average patience and problem solving skills, plus he makes a dynamite Peanut Butter and Tabasco sandwich. Employers of the world, should be reading this, please hire the lad!

Fifth, I'm in my fifth year of bands, and still alone. Wait, there's nothing wrong with this picture. Moving on!

Sixth, I'm whining a lot more than I usually do. Or maybe not. I can't tell anymore.

Seventh, my dad just dropped a large amount on new furniture and an entertainment system for his new house here in Kingston, yet he gives me a hard time when I ask for five bucks to do laundry. WTF mate? On the plus side though, this new place is BITCHIN, and the new TV and DVD with Surround Sound are fucking wicked.

Eighth, there's no hockey. I'm having a memory lapse, so have a repeat ponderance.

That's all I've got the energy for right now. I'm writing this fully realizing that Scotty will likely be the only one who actually reads it. If any others read it, Welcome to Zombacom!

That's it, I'm out.

Sens in six.

Whoa. a post! weird...

2004-10-26T17:39:00.000-04:00

So here's a fresh post. Greendogger brought my lack of postage to my attention. I'm not sure what I can write about without violating several confidentiality agreements, so I'll bitch about some random things.

McDonalds sucks. I had a big mac last night as a snack, and I feel really bad. Goddamn you McDonalds.

hmmm.. Zombocom?

Welcome to Zombocom. This is Zombocom. Welcome. This is Zombocom, welcome to Zombocom. You can do anything at Zombocom - Anything at all. The only limit is yourself. Welcome to Zombocom. Welcome to Zombocom! This is Zombocom, Welcome to Zombocom! This is Zombocom, Welcome! Yes, This is Zombocom. This is Zombocom, and welcome to you who have come to Zombocom. Anything is possible at Zombocom. You can do anything at Zombocom. The infinite is possible at Zombocom. The unattainable is unknown at Zombocom! Welcome to Zombocom. This is Zombocom. Welcome to Zombocom. Welcome, This is Zombocom. Welcome to Zombocom! Welcome to Zombocom.

and I'm spent.

The worst part is that I'm paying for all of this....

2004-10-06T00:13:00.000-04:00

read that title, and assume what I mean.

friggin school. makes me wish I was unemployed (eh boffo?)

Wow.. they pulled it out!

2004-10-03T23:15:00.000-04:00

So I'm sitting here at 5:22 PM on a Saturday evening thinking "Man, I really really need to get to the event I booked for 5:30" but there's 2 minutes left in the game, and we're down by 2. Realizing that my bands duties take precedent over my desire to hear the football game, I take off for Grant Hall at a slow banter. Only when I get to Grant do I realize that I have a radio in the basement. I grab it, run upstairs, and set the dial to 101.9.

I tune in to hear the following....

"The Gaels have one last chance to win this one. They're kicking for the field goal from the 32-yard line into the wind, with a kicker who is playing in his first ever CIS game..." Oh Christ... "Here's the snap - and the kick is no good! The York receiver gets the ball, and runs around trying to eat up the clock." So I think the game is over at this point, and I start downstairs to get my drum....

"Wait, there's a fumble!!!!! The Gaels recover, and are going to have another chance to win this one!" WTF? This shit doesn't happen in real life... "It appears that Sheahan is going out there to kick this one. The Gaels set up for the play from about 15 yards out, here's the snap, the kick is up and it's GOOD!!!! The Gaels have won the game 17-16!!!"

So, in a 0-4 season, I decide to stay home for one of the two wins we're likely to get.

Shoot me now, but go Gaels!!

Oh Gaels... why???

2004-10-02T18:06:00.000-04:00

Well, my favorite football team is headed for another season of failure. Not since my first year have I seen a football team as futile as this (excluding pretty much any game against U of T). I'm listening to the broadcast on CFRC, and our kicker even missed the extra point. Who the hell misses the extra point? The guys in the half-time show can make that kick. I wish Sheahan hadn't ridden Denison so much instead of developing the rest of the offensive team (although I can't blame him - Denison is GOD). Oh well.

oh wait, we just got an interception. Apparently York tried the flea flicker and got owned. Oh good. Wait, nevermind. Our offence got stuffed again... I can dream of the good old days.

The real reason I'm writing this is because Steve sent me the link. In all honesty, he's probably the only person that will read this. Steve, you suck. Pearl Jam sucks, the Vikings suck, and the Leafs - oh those goddamned Leafs - well, they suck the most of all. Their sucktitude rivals that of the Varsity Blues for the past 4 years.

Fuck it, I'm done.

Sens in 7 (months or years, take your pick).