Friday, November 23, 2007

T'was the night before Grey Cup.....

Twas the night before Grey Cup, and all through the Dome,

Not a creature was stirring, but the gophers back home.

The players were nestled and snug in their beds,

While visions of Grey Cup Rings danced in their heads.

When out on the field, there arose such a clatter,

Kent sprang from his bed to see what was the matter,

Away to his window, he flew like a flash,

Threw aside the Green Curtains, and Silky White Sash.

And what did he see with his wondering eye?

But a sea of Green Revelers and a furry brown guy.

“That looks like Dominguez, and Flick and Fantuz!”

“Its way after curfew! Do they want us to lose??”

So, out of his room and down to the field,

Coach Austin stormed out with a fury to wield.

As he went through the tunnel, the ground shook with a beat,

From the dancing and prancing of ten thousand feet.

“Hey Coach,” cried a voice, “Whatcha doing down here?”

It was Szarka and Schultz, and they were handing out beer!

Chucky and Chick were grilling up Dogs,

With Burgers being served by O’Day and the Hogs.

Crandall cooked Hot Wings, Joseph grilled steak,

While Cates, Holmes, and Hughes helped Makowsky serve cake.

“This is nuts!” Austin shouted, “It’s one-thirty AM!”

“I expected some revelry, but this is mayhem!”

Eric Tillman tapped Austin, “ You’re not Eagle Keys -”

“But I’m not Berry , or Gotta, or Gregory – so PLEASE!”

“You’re all waddling around here like Wascana geese!”

“And in need of a dance coach like Donald Narcisse.”

“Now, you’ve all had your fun, so back to your rooms.”

But then Austin ’s nose picked up the barbecue fumes.

Then Green Is The Color rang out through the air,

As Congi and Boreham played Banjos with flair.

On Davis , on Johnson, on Coach Ritchie Hall,

Even old Alex Smith flashed a smile after all,

On Lloyd, on McCullough, on Hunt and on Perry,

On Kornegay, Frazier, and yes, even Kerry.

The skydome then filled with a soft greenish glow,

And the whole Rider Nation set poised for a show.

An S and a wheat sheaf then formed in the air,

And a smile took the place of Coach Kent Austin’s glare.

Then everyone there, the players, the fans,

They formed a big circle by all holding hands,

Then right in the centre appeared the Grey Cup,

Which Fairholm and Ridgeway and Elgaard picked up.

They handed it over to Ritchie and Kent,

Who called Kerry and Eddie, and off the Cup went.

It was passed round the field, past heroes to present,

While Gainer dug holes for the Blue Bomber Pheasants.

That music was heard coast to coast people say

And they say Rider Pride grew three sizes that day.

Everyone left there dreaming of Blue Bomber doom.

And they sent all the Banjos to Troy Westwood’s Room.

GO RIDERS GO!

BRING HOME THE CUP!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Mystery Solved....

For those of you who have been keeping up with my blog (I won't kid myself, no one does....), I have finally solved the mystery of the Hockey News subscription. It was a gift for me for being in the wedding party at Jeff and Amanda's wedding. This was speculated by Michelle ever since I began questioning the origin of the subscription, but I continued to be oblivious for comedic effect.

The wedding itself was on Thanksgiving weekend. It was a nice ceremony with the only hiccups being the wacky weather and my pinning of Jeff's boutinere on the wrong lapel (sorry Jeff). The majority of the pictures were taken at the airport with Jeff's airplane and I am interested to see how they turn out.

The reception was fun and the food was excellent. My only complaint with it could be that it ended too early, but all in all it was still a great time.

Congrats Jeff and Amanda. I wish you a long and happy life together.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Uncle Murray

It seems that last week I became an uncle. Here are a few pictures of Jacob....



Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Eat it, Leafers....

Take THAT you stupid Leafs fans!!!! Heater can beat you at will, and you have 7 more years to see it!!!!!

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Life Begins Again....

Tomorrow the new NHL season begins in earnest. And luckily it begins with what should be a thorough trouncing of the Maple Laffs by the Senators.

I cannot wait.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Strangest Dream Ever?

I'm not quite sure why, but I had the oddest dream last night.

In it, I was a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and we were playing the New York Yankees.

It gets weirder.....

We were playing the first game ever on ice.

It gets even weirder.....

Not just any ice, we were playing on a glacier, the continental ice shelf.

It gets still weirder.....

The umpire was mad at me for throwing a pitch called a Spitfire.

And, possibly strangest of all:

One of the players for the Yankees that was hitting against me was John Candy. He character name was Ralph but the personality was that of Uncle Buck.

Pretty screwed up, huh?

Monday, September 3, 2007

Best weekend of the year

Without a doubt, this is the best weekend of the sporting year in Canada.

I am, of course, talking about the Labor Day Classic weekend in the CFL, the weekend when the biggest rivalries in the league are battled out.

Today saw the woeful Argos beat the snot out of the even worse Ti-Cats and the Stampeders defeat the Eskimos in the battle of the West Basement. Friday night had the Lions mutilating the Alouettes (no love lost there).

But, as usual, the game of the week was the 'Riders-Bombers game. This game has been a blowout the last few years. This year the Riders decided to keep it close, only to rip out the hearts of Bomber fans everywhere with an easy touchdown run in the dying seconds to secure the win.

And it'll be twice as sweet to watch them do it again next week back in Winnipeg in the rematch.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

The mystery hockey news.

Last Monday I received an issue of the The Hockey News in the mail. It was addressed to me, but I never subscribed to it. According to the cover, it looks like it won't expire until next September. So some mystery benefactor has bestowed to me a years subscription.

Thank you masked stranger....

Sunday, August 19, 2007

First place and it feels so good

Well, it took a lot longer tonight than originally planned, but the 'Riders are alone in first place in the CFL.

The hour long break at the start of the fourth quarter for the lightning storm seemed to be a blessing as the Green and White scored something like 12 unanswered points when play resumed while Edmonton could only manage one first down in that span.

The crowd was amazing!!! The skies opened up and lightning rang for an hour and there were still 15-20,000 fans in the stadium when play resumed. It was louder in the stadium after the hour long delay than most other stadiums are at any point.

A brilliant game and I know all Roughrider fans will go to bed happy tonight!!!

My good friend beer

Here I sit. Enjoying a beer and changing the channel between the 'Riders game and the Robocop marathon on the Space channel.

This has been a good night....

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Bloggin' on the Balcony

Yup, this post is coming to you from the balcony outside my apartment.

Not much going on tonight. Michelle is watching her crappy dancing reality show on one TV while taping the same show on the other one. As a result, I am relegated to occupying myself on the computer.

And since I have already checked my usual websites at least five times in the last half hour I figured I may as well post something up here.

It's great out here on the balcony! I face the river so I can hear the peaceful sounds of the water. There's also few street lights around so I can see the stars better without the light pollution. There is a nice breeze keeping the bugs away and bringing by interesting aromas.

I think I'm gonna go and get a beer now and enjoy the evening out here....

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Protesting the Protesters

Watching the news last night, I learned that there is a meeting coming up between the three North American Leaders in the coming week or so in this area. There was an information meeting for local residents and businesses regarding the security for the event. The local business owners are very concerned about their locations with regards to damage that could be caused by protesters. I have a huge problem with this.

Protesters have become a huge problem in our society. From what I have seen, all they do is gather at meetings of world leaders or policy shapers and cause havoc. They say that they have a cause, but that disappears when the vandalism of the surrounding areas starts.

Even when there protest remains relatively peaceful, there still has to be an enormous security contingent to deal with it should the situation decay into anarchy. And it is us, the taxpayers, who are forced to foot the bill for all this added security. It would be nice if these people who caused the need for it would pay something for it, but that isn't likely since the sheer fact they can sit around all day for a week to protest seems to indicate that they don't have (or don't want) a job.

And do these protests ever accomplish anything? Not that I've seen. People are always out protesting President Bush (and I'm sure that's why they'll be out at this meeting too) complaining to stop the war in Iraq and bring the soldiers home. The President's response: sent over even more soldiers for the Troop Surge. How's that working for you protesters?

All the leaders in North America have shown that they don't give a damn about whatever is the protest-du-jour. The only time it is ever brought up is by opposition parties to try and put pressure on the leader. In fact, I'm sure that if the Secret Service agents hadn't stopped him, President Bush would have jumped into a tank and gone all Tiananmen Square on their asses by now (and probably on more than one occasion).

All these protesters sit around with their signs and their songs and think that they are changing the world. If they really wanted to change the world, they would go and make something of their lives and actually be a part of that change.

Don't demand a solution. Be a part of the solution.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Let's do the Time Warp

Last night Michelle wanted to watch the 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' and I figured it would be good to see it at least once in my life, if for no other reason than to get all the references to it in shows like The Simpsons and Family guy.

It was a pretty screwed up movie. Michelle told me that it was originally a play, after which I began comparing it to 'Springtime for Hitler', the play that is put on in 'The Producers' when they are trying to produce a flop.

And during the whole movie, I kept going back the the episode of 'The Drew Carey Show' where they have the giant dance number to the Time Warp with the main characters dressed up like the movie. That was freakin' hilarious.

Friday, August 10, 2007

First Place

That's right. With the defeat of the Argos tonight, my 'Riders are in first place in the CFL, at least until the BC - Winnipeg game concludes later tonight. I'm so torn: I despise the Bombers to the very core of my being, but if the Lions win they'll be back ahead of the Riders.

If I were a betting man, I'd bet on the Lions. but in the wild and wacky CFL, anything can (and usually does) happen.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Sports Wusses

The other day on PTI, I saw an interview from someone associated with the LA Galaxy. He was defending his star player, David Beckham, because "Becks" has yet to play any meaningful time in the North American league. This guy was arguing that soccer players are as tough as any other athletes out there. At this point I broke out laughing (as I was listening on my Ipod the other people in my office now think I am nuts). I can think of so many other players in many other sports that are tougher that it's not even funny.

- Scott Niedermayer played for half the season on a broken foot, and was still better than 3/4 of the league.

- Mike Comrie separated his shoulder in the second round of the playoffs and still played in every game thereafter, throwing hits and taking shots.

- Steve Yzerman shredded his knee helping team Canada win olympic gold, and then proceeded to lead his Red Wings through the gruelling playoffs, essentially on one knee, to claim the Stanley Cup and also the Conn Smythe trophie as the playoff MVP (I think).

- There was that rugby player in Australia not too long ago that played for months with a tooth from another player lodged in his skull.

- The guy in the X-Games last week who plummeted at least 50 feet to the ramp and not only walked away, but also claimed the silver medal for his troubles.

- Just tonight, Scott Coe of the Calgary Stampeders broke his hand in the first half of the game and came back out for the second half and is throwing hits and making tackles.

I would take the wussiest hockey player in the world over the toughest soccer player any day. Okay, maybe not Yashin....

*** Update ***

I heard today that there was a pitcher for the Colorado Rockies that pitched 5 innings with a broken leg in the last week. That is amazing considering the stress put on the legs of a pitcher when going through the pitching motion.

Monday, August 6, 2007

Best Meal Ever...

Ken and I went to Montreal on Saturday to go to Jeff's surprise bachelor party. We had wanted to go for dinner at this restaurant that is on like the 47th floor of an office building, but when we called we were informed that there was a dress code. With three of us wearing shorts, we weren't getting in there.

Instead, we went to this steak place that Mike had heard of from a friend. We called for reservations and were assured that there was no dress code. We got over there at 9:30 for our reservation. Our first clue that this would not be a cheap meal was that in the little deli that was in the front window the steaks were priced starting at $70/lb.

We were taken upstairs to the VIP lounge and we sat down to look at the menus. No entrees under $40. I ended up ordering the Philly cheese steak. Shortly after we ordered, a waiter came around to show us the actual steaks that were chosen for our meals. They looked amazing. Each was no less that two inches thick and they has perfect coloring. And leave it to Ken to order the biggest steak on the menu: the Porterhouse (which I found out later is a fancy name for a T-bone). That thing was just massive.

While we were waiting for the steaks, we had ordered some appetizers and drinks. Ken and I had ordered some spring rolls. They had chunks of steak in them and were very good. Mike ordered Steak Tartare and shared it around the table because no one else had had it before. Essentially, the dish is where they select a good steak, grind it into hamburger, and serve it raw mixed with a quail egg, dijon mustard, and various spices. Despite my initial skepticism, it actually tasted quite good, though I don't know if I could eat a whole order of it.

After a little while our steaks came. They looked amazing. They tasted even better. Mine was cooked to perfection and was incredibly flavorful. Every bite was ecstasy. And it was huge. It took forever to eat the whole thing while savoring every bite. And as if that wasn't enough, the side dish was just as brilliant. I had fresh cut french fries that were seasoned with sea-salt. Simply fantastic.

While we were eating, I ordered a Manhattan cocktail. It was as good as the rest of the food.

By the time we had left, we had been there for 3 hours. We were almost the last ones in the place. I'm sure that the average bill for the 7 of us was well over $100 per person, but it was worth it...

Friday, August 3, 2007

Where do I sign?...

Does anyone out there have Kevin Lowe's phone number? Maybe his email address?

I want to get him to sign me to an offer sheet.

I'll even go cheap. I'll settle for $1.5 - $2 Million per season. I won't get too greedy.

In all seriousness, I don't know how good of a deal the Oilers are getting here with Dustin Penner. He's obviously a player that they think very highly of, but I am not convinced that he will turn into an 80 point per season player. Of course, I live in the eastern conference and didn't get to see much of his play this year aside from in the finals against my Senators (though I'll bet I saw him more that the majority of the people out here since I had the NHL Center Ice package and usually watched two games a day). He went through the draft not being selected by any team before he signed as a free agent with the Ducks. That means he was passed over 210 times. True, he did have 84 points in 57 games two years ago in the AHL, but that is only the AHL.

As for his production this year, he scored 45 points while playing all 82 games on a very good team (the eventual Stanly Cup champions as it were, and yes I am still bitter about that). I think that if he manages to get 40 points this season, he'll be doing good. Of course, the pressure that will be put on him now that he is making so much money, not to mention playing in a hockey-mad market, could really weigh him down ala Joffrey Lupul last season.


The real winner in this deal, aside from Penner getting all that cash, could easily end up being Brian Burke and the Ducks. For all Burke's griping about the offer sheet, he does get Edmonton's first, second, and third round picks in next years draft. Edmonton missed the playoffs and just generally had a poor season last year. I don't see any of the moves the Oilers have made this year propelling them back in to playoff contention. If anything, they could be even worse than they were last year. Their big signing of this off-season was of one of the crappiest defenseman in the league defensively and they traded away their captain and only defensive blue-liner for another defenseman that is a liability in his own end. So while they may score a lot of goals and have a deadly powerplay, keeping pucks out of their own net will not be their forte. Dwane Roloson better be ready to see a lot of rubber this year.

If the Oilers do as poorly as I expect, those draft picks could become extremely valuable. If Edmonton finishes as one of the 5 worst teams in the league, that first round pick could be #1 overall, what with the lottery and all. And those picks could be extremely valuable come the trade deadline should Burke want to go shopping for some help for the Cup defense.

I'd like to see this work out for the Oilers, but it seems so unlikely as to be essentially impossible.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Me? An Illustrator???

Yup, it's true....

For the last week and for the forseeable future, I am working as an illustrator. It's a little slow at work right now but we have a big contract with a company to take CAD drawings and turn them into figures that can be used in manuals.

The work is fairly tedious as the majority of of it is just copying and pasting and I think that I am getting carpel tunnel in my pinkie and index fingers from pressing 'Ctrl'-'C' and 'Ctrl'-'V'.

But it's work. If I weren't doing this I'd be sitting on Idle time, doing nothing constructive and getting paid for it.... It's not as good as it sounds. You get bored awfully fast.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

A Movie for the Ages....

Once in every person's life, a movie comes along that defines that persons generation...

The Simpsons Movie is that movie for this generation...

I saw an interview with Matt Groening, and he said that the story evolves with Homer falling in love with a pig. How could it possibly be bad starting with this basic premise???

The movie was a non-stop roller coaster of gags, jokes, and one-liners all in the typical Simpsons style. The story was at the typical level of any good episode: barely plausible yet delightfully hilarious. And nearly every character you'd want makes an appearance in the film.

I absolutely recommend the movie to anyone who has enjoyed even a moment of the series' 19 seasons.

And if you go to it, make sure you sit there until all the credits have gone by....

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Mmmmmm, BBBQ....

So today Michelle and I get to go to her staff BBQ at her boss's house. Supposedly there will be steak and lobster served for dinner. I've never had lobster, but I've heard good things. And of course, nothing beats a well-prepared steak.

The only problem is that the BBQ is in Arnprior and I have been given the world's worst map for directions. If I can only find an address on it, I should be able to use Google maps to get real directions.

Wish me luck...

***UPDATE***

We found the house (with minimal problems) and it was a great BBQ.

I had a half dozen Coronas, two bacon wrapped filet mignons, and four crab legs for dinner.

We played horseshoes in the afternoon (I've told Michelle that she needs a hardhat the next time she plays) and we would have spent some time in the pool if we had taken our bathing suits (it was raining when we left and was predicted to continue throughout the day but turned out nice and sunny).

All in all, a good day....

Saturday, July 21, 2007

False advertising....

Today I have been looking around Ottawa for some new wheels and bearings for my rollerblades. They were very helpful down at the Sportmart, but did not have the size that I needed.

On my way home from there I stopped at a store called "Source for Sports". Now, my thinking is that a place that calls itself a source for sports would have equipment for many different sports on hand. Not this place. All they had was hockey equipment and baseball equipment. That's it. No football, no soccer, no cricket. Only hockey and baseball.

Some source....

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

All sorted out...

Ok, now I have posted links on the other 2 blogs and hope to not post to them again. Bookmark this one and you should be good....

Problem solved?

It seems like this is now working the way I want it to. More Blog posts to follow....

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Test post

A test post to see if Blogger will finally associate this with the right account...