Sorry, our relationship has been reduced to this

what's with the friggin weather...? I know, it's sad that all we talk about is the weather, but get over it... this isn't bloody Vancouver. Come On, flippin RAIN in FEBRUARY. I'm not just mad because of the wasted money on my Chicopee lift pass, it's just that I like winter. If it's gonna be cold, I don't want rain, I want snow! gah, I'm so sick of this that I have to fly 9 hours to get a real winter.

That's right, Faith and I are going to the Czech Republic later this month for a week long mission trip. I'm gonna play hockey and we're gonna do all sorts of things. And maybe, just maybe we can experience some real winter for a change.

Wednesday's Would You Rather

Thursday Edition

(p46) Would You Rather

have skin that tans upon hearing the voice of Al Gore

or

be able to make Amish people break dance?

Oh boy, another...

SO, it's here again, the affliction of Thursday Evenings, and a reason to watch CSI... Survivor's back with the most shocking twists EVER!!! This time they are starting with 4 tribes, old chicks, young chicks, old guys and young guys. Booyah. I don't know if I'll get into this one or not, however I am intrigued by the exile island concept and new tribal starting setup. Looked like the characters were pretty bland.

CSI's on afterwards, so I have a reason to pay attention to it.

In other news, the Leafs sure have been impressive lately.

In other news, sources have revealed that monkeys aren't real.

In other news, Jack Layton's moustache speaks up regarding years of emotional abuse.

Wednesday's Would You Rather

Thursday Edition

(pg 57)Would you Rather...

be able to successfully avoid doing chores and facing minor relationship problems by hiding under some coats for a while

or

be able to bake chicken pot pie in your pants

Toronto vs Ottawa

Wow I hate goal horns...

Leaf game

This is painful... 5-0 now... ouch

LOST

So, Matt and Faith and I are watching the LOST recap thing last week and listened extra close to what Walt was saying to shannon when he appeared to her the few times after he was kidnapped and before she kicked it. We thought it couild be backwards, so in an act of computer-wizardry, I took the audio from those stretches and reversed it, probably expecting to hear a message from satan or something. Here's what we found.

When Sayid and Shannon try to make Island baby 2, he leaves the tent to get water, he says "They're coming, and they're close"

When Shannon is running after the dog, Walt shows up and says "press the button, no button's bad"

Something to think about.

Wednesday's Would You Rather

Would you Rather (pg 55)

have glow-in-the-dark body hair

OR

be immune to the lethal combination of Pop Rocks and Coke?

Things to Consider: completely gratuitious reference to "Pop Rocks and Coke" myth

Are dogs and horses smart?

I read a stupid book of stories about animals at work today for "Story Time"... The book was trying to find out whether animals are intelligent at all or if they just act that way sometimes. I read about Midnight the bucking bronco, Stubby and Chase, dogs who did some crazy things. Stubby the dog was a good story, he was a war hero, with no training as a war-dog... How could an animal such as that be smart enough to save people's lives?

I know my cat's pretty stupid... that's it.

Wednesdays Would you Rather

(pg 52) Would you Rather...

be able to walk on pudding

OR

be able to project holograms of the Mexican super-group Menudo?

things to consider: street performing, convincing primitive cultures you're a god

What's up with that?

The Leafs take the first West Coast swing in a long time and they only have 1 Late game which wasn't all that late (9:00). I'm kinda T-O'd about tomorrow's game, as it's on Leafs TV (which I have) but it's on at 7pm and I teach til 9:30, leaving me unable to watch. Ah well

In other news, LOST returns this wednesday at 9... booyah!

That'll teach me to say stupid things

So tonight I got a speeding ticket. 27km over limit, knocked down to 15 over about 1/3 the cost and no points... that's a relief. I was just saying to someone yesterday that I usually get a feeling about when COPS are around so I don't get tickets. IDIOT!

What makes it worse is that the whole reason for me leaving the house tonight and driving fast on the highway was to go to play some pick up hockey with the guys Faith and I are going to Czech Republic with. After getting the ticket, I arrived at the arena to find the arena empty of anyone for the 11:00 time. Our name was on the board for the 11:00 slot, but no one was there. I waited about 20 minutes, only to find that I was apparently the only one not in the know.

And so I muttered unpleasantries all the way home... That's all I have to say about that,

Wednesday's Would You Rather...

Would you Rather... (pg 17)

have skin that doesn't tan upon direct contact with the sun, but rather plaids

or

have a vocal cord deformity whereupon attempting to utter any type of greeting, the Happy Days theme blasts from your mouth?

Happy New Year!

Maybe I'm just an idiot, but I don't find New Years to be all that exciting of a "Holiday". In the past I've always gladly offered to work Newyears Day to get the time and a half pay on the biggest copp-out Stat holiday there is. Why accomodate the collective hangover or most of the world? Why not make St Patricks day after a stat?

Anyways, I'm not much for big parties. I enjoyed the company of people we met up with, but 2005 ended with a big melodramatic finish and a kiss on the cheek. We saw all the people in Times Square squealing like idiots and kissing anything in range, but I really didn't find any desire to be part of that.

In with the new I suppose. Back to listening to people's resolutions and watching them continuously break them until February when they say "screw it" and forfeit. Time to contuinually ruin cheques and write 05 by mistake in the date portion. Maybe I'm just not sentimental enough to want to reflect on last year and re-focus on this year. oh well.

I hope your new year is fruitful and fruitcake-less...

Wednesday's New Feature...

In an attempt to make my blog more regular, and to use the new book I got for Christmas from Santy Claws, I introduce to you...

Wednesday's Would you Rather?!

I got a book with "Over 200 Absolutely Absurd Dilemmas to Ponder" by Justin Heimberg and David Bomberg. I'll try to post every wednesday with a new dilemma for all y'all to ponder. Oh, and I didn't steal the idea from fournie... she can blame Santa for giving me this book of useless stuff.


Would You Rather... (pg. 49)

be able to expedite the arrival of an elevator by pressing the button multiple times

or

have the ability to sound incredibly natural and sincere on an answering machine?

Good morning world!

It's friggin Christmas morning, and what do I go and do? I wake up at 6:30 and can't get back to sleep. I'm in the North Country where even at 7am I have a good solid HOUR until any hint of sunlight is around, but I can't sleep. It's Christmas morning!

I should be tearing into presents right now, but I don't feel like it... I would rather get some sleep.... Maybe I do have a bit of the Christmas jitters like I used to. I know for a fact that there's a Playstation 2 under the tree with my name on it and would love to crack that out and play some Burnout or NHL 2k6 with Bob Cole and Harry Neale commentating, but here I sit in the dark typing on my blog.

Yesterday I played around with Windows Movie Maker trying to make the Trebuchet videos into one mega video. Pretty Fun. The slow motion replays make it pretty cool and like Homer, I loves the "star wipe" transition. Booyah

Danny Get You Gun

So, today I did 2 new things. I shot a few real firearms and tasted bear meat. Bear meat was good and lean, but a bit grizzly.... actually, it was pretty good... just like cow

Karen's boyfriend Bryan took me out to shoot some guns upon finding out I'd never shot one. I shot 7 shots with a 22, 4 with a big-arse gun he called a triple 4, and 4 shots with a 12 gauge shotgun. I put a pile of holes in a mountain dew can and completely destroyed a water bottle. I think I want to have a "22" some day... it's small, doesn't make much noise and the ammo is cheap... maybe I could take care of the noisy pommeranian across the road...

Bryan and I made sure to take care of the Night Stalker aka Santa on the wall...

Christmas Came Early

This past weekend we had the Grace Family Christmas in Kitchener... My brother and parents stayed over for the weekend and we had Turkey Dinner on saturday night. We had 11 1/2 people here for dinner, a bit crowded, but pretty good.

Brock brought over guitar hero, it's a pretty challenging and fun game... I'll have to try the multiplayer part sometime.... I can play guitar pretty good, but I don't think the skills are transferable. Ah well.

a fridge you say?

That's right, I saw a fridge all messed up in pieces at the side of the Expressway today. Not just in any old ditch, right up against the guardrails near the 401 exit... Not a bar fridge or mini fridge... a full sized fridge...

Wonder if there's any food in it...

Blast from the past

So Faith went to TO today and found something quite remarkable in a Shopper's Drugmart in the Eaton's Centre.

The Pop Shoppe is back, just not in the way it was before. Pop Shoppe pop is being distributed to stores across Ontario. Most of the old flavours are there, including my favorite, Lime.

I remember taking our empties back to the store and picking out full pops, making sure to get lots of lime. Good memories, until the memories of it shutting down come back... bastards! How dare you take that away from me...

Well, it's back, so go celebrate... Most Hasty Markets and Farah foods in Kitchener have some.

Good ol' media coverage...

Is it just me, or was the whole "no confidence vote" thing just as stupid as the NHL lockout? All too many people speculating on how it would go down, while for months you knew that it was going to happen.

Don't mistake this for any sort of political opinion, or me giving a crap in general, i just thought it was real stupid having headlines today of how the government was brought down, having known for the past few weeks that it was gonna happen today... the headlines should have read "Ho hum... what a surprise..." bah.

What do you mean AIDS isn't funny

I stayed up til 1am, like every Tuesday night, to watch Dr House cure some other poor idiot's weird disease... It's a good show with a lot of wonderful sarcasm mixed with eclectic characters. Last night's main patient was a.)Gay as a 3 dollar bill, and b.) Infected with AIDS.

Somehow the show, while possessing all the same things that makes it real funny usually, was not as fun as the rest. It didn't have the mood of one of those shows where at the end a few of the people are on screen out of character talking about how deadly AIDS is and what you can do to prevent it... It was just a regular show, with the deadly disease of the day being HIV...

What is it about AIDS that makes it less fun than Cancer or MS? Who knows... I'm just glad they had the sub plot of House trying to cure a rat with a tumor...

"AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS"
-Team America, World Police quote from musical "Everyone's got Aids"

There was a what in the where now?

Faith and I went to Jolly ol' US of A this past weekend to visit Mike and Mary Marshall. We did some christmas shopping in Port Yorn (formerly port Huron) on saturday morn and made our way up the Thumb to the Marshall's place. Along the way, we stopped at Goodwill in Imlay City, a store that has provided us with many treasures. This is where it gets interesting.

Faith went into a change room to try on a sweater. A lady pulled her child out of her change room so faith could use it, cause the kid was gonna be a while. Faith didn't last very long in the small change room because she detected a strong odour inside. The smell became too much for her to bear, so she looked around for the source. And what, to her wondering eyes did she find?

Well, a nice little TURD on the floor of the change room under the chair. That's right, a little ol' piece of poopie.

She quickly left the area, notifying the mother that there was a piece of poo in the change room. The mother turned to her daughter and whispered "was that you?" , daughter denied it saying she smelled something too. No closure on who the phantom dooker was, but there's more.

This is not the first time.... Faith has encountered one other instance where she found a turd in a goodwill change room. What are the odds.

Othere than that, good weekend, Great meal at Ruby Tuesday's (they make my heart-attack fries, with cheese and bacon). Another weird thing was how many dead deer we saw... at least 3 on side of road and probably a half dozen on roofs of various vehicles.

The last number's 42... I'm sure of it.

If you're a lost fanatic, such as myself, and you want a goofy way to get more involved in the show, you can download the doomsday clock just like inside the hatch. That's right! You too can be part of the Dharma Initiative in station Swan. It functions practically the same, and you have to input the numbers every 108 minutes... not sure what happens when you put the wrong numbers in...

...guess your computer will blow up, or you'll get eaten by some black smoke... or maybe some new guy shows up at work and acts like he's always been there and makes a list of good people and his freaky buddies kidnap the good ones and some big black dude kills a few of them and doesn't talk for 40 days until the girl cries.

or whatever

Is it just me, or are there a lot of quality tv shows on these days?

That's the question that Faith posed to me the other night. I wondered if we were lowering our standards, but come to think of if, there's a lot of solid programming on these days. Last night, I experienced for the first time, My name is Earl and The Office, on top of Degrassi TNG and Corner Gas, of course not forgetting CSI: Miami.

Tuesdays, I've been watching House MD... good friggin show.

Wednesdays is of course LOST night, followed by CSI Newyork. I know New York and Miami aren't as good as Las Vegas, but they both have compelling and twisted plots...

Thursdays is Survivor by habit and CSI Las Vegas night... Same ol' survivor, but heck, I've watched it this long...

Skip Friday

Saturday is Hockey Night in Canada, as well as no other good reason to watch TV.

Which brings us to Sunday, Simpsons, Family Guy and Faith's favorite, Grey's Anatomy.

That brings me to a total of 13 1/2 hours of TV per week... I need to quite my job so I can keep up. It seems to be a bit of a revival of sitcoms and dramas rather than the glut of reality shows that have been the norm for a few too many years. That's a good thing I think, although bad for my eyes and brain. Most of these shows are in HD now, so that means I need a new TV... Just need to babysit Garrett more so he can work on killing the old one... on off on off on off...

Gonna be a long winter, with lots to distract your head... enjoy

I swear I'm not crazy...

Seriously, I saw another hologram on Mapleleafs.com... today it wasn't harry, it was some reporter guy... honestly... Dennis Beyak talked to me.

She's a lonely road that only ends in heartache...

and heartburn. The "she" I'm referring to is the mcDonalds Monopoly game, which I found out, today at lunch, is done. I might be mistaken, but I didn't win anything of note... what a crock.

I knew at the get-go that I shouldn't get into the game, as it has chewed up and spat out many a naive person before me. But, alas, I gave into the cravings and over-indulged (much to my wife's chagrin) for about a month now. I feel like such a sucker, but I knew I'd feel this way. Idiot! GOSH!

ah well, time to try to be healthy and do what Jared did... I'll be wasting my money on veggie subs with no cheese or sauce, to slim back down to my playing weight of just under 240... kilos...

Lets talk Weather.

Seriously, what's with all the thunder storms today... Woke up to one this morning, now here comes another. I talked to my Mother-in-law today, she lives in Cochrane, Ontario. They recently had about a foot of snow drop, and there was thunder along with freezing rain this morning...

At least my house is more elevated than the rest of the neighborhood. I'll have time to build an ark should the need arise.

Convergence

If you didn't watch CSI Miami on Monday night, I suggest you find a way... This week, the crime scene spans Miami and New York, so the Miami Team (Horatio et al.) Team up with New York (Mac et al.) to solve the crime. Aside from the crime scene being so big, it also spans 2 nights of television. It took the regular CSI Miami slot last night, and will take the Wednesday CSI NY time slot to finish up.

I know some of you don't like the other CSI's, cause Horatio is a fruit and Lieutenant Dang has no personality for example, but come on, cut them some slack. They're just trying to do their respective jobs, and they don't need fools like you getting in their way. There's no way they'll live up to the standards of Grissom, but hey, can you blame them?

Ah well, good tv anyways. Nothing better to do after LOST on wednesday, so why not?

All this time wasted... for tripping

So, last night, our church league hockey team won for the first time in a while. Good game, exciting down to the wire, and featuring my first ever Ice Hockey Penalty.

There goes my nomination for the Lady Byng trophy.

I was hooking a guy and tripped him, sure he went down easy, but I did trip him. I'm just sad cause I thought I'd get a better sounding penalty. Tripping isn't as cool as spearing, or boarding, or even gouging... ah well... got the monkey off my back so I can be what I always wanted to be... a goon!

I know what you did last weekend.

Do you like scary movies?

Me too... anyways, here's some pics from the Trebuchet Extraordinaire Day this past weekend. Matt has a bunch of videos posted HERE for you to peruse, so go ahead. We killed our previous records with a 292ft shot(prev. 252) and amount of counterweight 1200lbs (prev. 800lbs) We spent the morning fixing the dang thing, and calibrating a new firing mechanism, courtesy of Metal Head, Rudy Eigenheer. I got to play with the grinder, and do some chisselling, but mostly saved my energy for great ideas and grunt labour.

On to the pictures. First, there's a shot of the side of my hand-crafted sling blowing out and sending the 5-pin bowling ball lamely off to the side. The 5-pin ball was kinda a let-down, due to it's weight. Had it been 5 pounds instead of 3, I think it would have flown a lot higher. It seems our best projectiles are 5 lbs in weight, judging by our best shot last time, and this time.

Next is a pic of the master-crafted adjustable firing pin mechanism. If the pin is at less of an angle, the projectile will fire lower, releasing later. Conversly, if it's more of an angle, the projectile will release earlier, going higher. Kudos to Rudy on this design genius.



Apparently (according to the kitten) the trebuchet makes a better scratching post than anything else. Luckilly, the kitten stayed away during all the active points of the trebuchet's day.

Next is a picture of one of our larger projectiles, a 24lb pumpkin. These things flew a good distance, roundabouts 230ft, and made a mighty nice THUD sound when they hit the ground and exploded. You could feel the impact from a long way away, and the shards of pumpkin travelled as far as 40 ft from the impact point.

Anyways, good fun, managed to fire off 16 rounds in all on the day, and only broke a few parts. Good news was that our new axle didn't bend one bit with the more counterweight.

Again, for some more pics and VIDEOS, go HERE and give them a gander.

The Future is NOW!

Check this link, they've got a talking hologram.... what will they think of next...

Bowling for Combines

Well, I sure hope we don't hit a combine, cause they're dang expensive, but Saturday is the return of the Trebuchet.

And I've secured 2 projectiles of the bowling ball persuasion. I picked up a 10-pin ball (probably 14 lbs) at value village, and got a 5-pin ball (probably 4lbs) donated by Jamie and Jim at Towne Bowl in Kitchener.

My goal for the return of the trebuchet was to pick up some good weighted projectiles that would accel in the area of aerodynamics. What better than a cannonball! Alas, with no canonballs on the horizon, bowling balls were the next best option!

There will be pics and videos for all to see posted after the weekend. If you'd like to come along to partake in the festivities, email me and I'll hook you up with specifics.

Shootout! I love thee.

So, I've been swayed to the liking of the shootout, strictly because the Leafs won last night, but at least I'm honest. I missed all of the game up to the last 2 1/2 minutes, but what a finish! I don't think I've seen such a good active Overtime in a long time, and the Leafs held on to have the chance to win in the ol' shootout. A Tie would have been a let-down at the end of such a good game, although it's almost unfair that the Leafs be rewarded for hanging on by the skin of their teeth. However, Belfour played well enough to get that far, why not let him win based on stopping more shots..

Ah well, 1-2 in shootouts this year, Jason Allison 0-3. Not sure why Quinn wouldn't put someone else in that #2 spot. I really think Jason's a wonderful player, more of a playmaker, but really, he's pickin slow, and hasn't seemed all that wonderful in the shootout. Put Domi in so he can just plow through the goalie and let the puck follow.

Wonder when teams will start running goalies in shootout and make it look like an accident. Strategy.

Guess that makes me a DIC

So, on a very tough day of work Friday, we did a personality test at our Day Program Breakaway Day. Ya, tough day... personality test, chinese food and pool tourney.

Anyways, I hate personality tests cause there's no way to lump people into 1 of 14 possible categories. However, I was being paid so I took my test. It was the DISC test, so you could be a D, I, S or C type personality, or a combination of all. Turns out that I'm a DIC, possessing 3/4 of all personality traits! Lucky me, most of the genaralizations for DIC's didn't really fit me, as I am much more complex than that.

Well, that was good for a laugh and a few cheap jabs from Pat, so, not all lost... Now I can claim to all who suggest doing personality tests that they only prove that I'm a DIC.

I ended up winning the modified 9-ball pool tournament, skunking Patrick in the first game... Booyah!

Ever Feel Like a Criminal?

Twice in the past week, I have. Last week sometime, I got to work and my key wouldn't work in the front entrance. I went to them back door to try it, subsequently setting off the alarm (a very loud one) which could be heard throughout the Christian Horizons Building (Corporate Office and West District office). I scampered quite quickly to the front entrance to punch in the code (4 8 15 16 23 42) and shut off the alarm. I called the security company to make sure I wasn't gonna get a visit from the police, and everything was ok.

Last night, I was teaching at Calvary Pentecostal Assembly School of the Arts, when I left the teaching area between lessons to use the washroom. Other teachers often share the same lesson time in the teaching area, but they had all gone home by then. My 9:00 lesson showed up just as I was realizing that I locked my keys in the teaching area. I scrambled and tried the ol' Bible College blockbuster card trick, to no avail. Apparently that only works on Chris Pudel's room. I was forced to send my student home as I had no idea when I was going to get back in. Oddly enough, the only thing I worried about was my computer left in the room and my bottle of Dr Pepper. I called someone, they came to let me in, and I was extra paranoid of leaving my keys anywhere after that.

It's a strange feeling, trying to break in to a place you're supposed to be, can't immagine what it would be like actually breaking into some place. That's my story

Festering away.

Seasons are a'changin... we are now (apparently) knee deep in the seasons of festivities. First was Turkeyfest last weekend, Oktoberfest is still rolling out their barrel, and all over KW I see signs for "Einsteinfest". Which prompts me to ask the questions:

"Who is this Einstein and what's so festy about him?"

The website claims Einsteinfest is a "celebration of the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s annus mirabilis – “miracle year” – of 1905 when, at the age of twenty-six, he published several groundbreaking ideas that led physics—and thereby, the world—into the modern era."

Sounds like a lot of modern geekery or nerdcraft to me. It's been going on for 2 weeks now and will go on til Oct 23rd. Just how much crap can you fit into a 3 1/2 week span. Oktoberfest is only barely over a week long, and that's been going on for ages since the dawn of Kitchener when city planners sat around a barrel with crayons, wearing leiderhosen, drunk out of their heads, deciding what the map of Kitchener would look like... "lets make Weber and King street cross 3 times!" said one, to which another replied, "what if Weber and King street were the same..." They all gasped at the depth of this conversation.

Anyways, I have no idea how they can justify 3 1/2 weeks of Einstein crap, but there is one thing I do know. There sure are a lot of signs on the highway for it.

Cameo Appearance by Yours Truly!

So, over on this blog, Matt seems to have changed the look of ye ol' blog stylings. Nice simple look with a photo banner on top featuring moi in the far right behind the ladder. Kinda creepy eh...

Correction Notice: Matt's blog turns out to be very sophisticated and challenging to even comprehend. To think that it would be simple would be like saying Einstein is an idiot.

- The Management

At Least My Blog's Back to Normal...

After a long wait, my hair has grown in and my bLog has gone through an ugly phase with it's links section. Ah well.

Turkey day comes and goes, and somehow the only turkey I consumed on Sunday was on my Subway Club sandwich. We went to Grandma's in Corunna on Sunday to find out that Turkey had been taken away from us and been replaced by ham. The ham was good mind you, but it sure wasn't Turkey. Oh well, life goes on.

Garrett seemed to recognize me after a little bit. I don't see him all that often, and last time I saw him was when I had my mullet... he's a good kid, almost makes me wanna have a 1 1/4 year old, but I want to skip the time leading up to that. I also got the urge to get a little dog over the weekend. I won't act on that impulse, but have made some simple guidelines for any dog wishing to join my household.
1. It must have short hair (allergies)
2. It must be small enough to give the cats a fair fight.
3. It must not be ugly

I know I'm limiting my selections, but I really don't want a dog... not until I get a fence around the yard. I don't like walking a lot, dogs do.

I hope all had a wonderful Turkey Weekend and a beautiful Oktoberfest season.

Deep Thoughts

by Jack Handey

I think a good gift for the President would be a chocolate revolver. and since he is so busy, you'd probably have to run up to him real quick and give it to him.

da da da da da...

Hockey Night in Canada is back!

It's about pickin time.

and thanks to an 11pm church league game, I can watch the whole thing... Gonna see quite a few yougsters in the game tonight, which is ok. I've been waiting a long time to see some of the kids get a chance...

Prediction: Leafs 4 -- Canadiens 2

Go LEAFS Go

Shootout Shmootout

While I found the shootout to be a pillar of excitement, I can't help but griping about the results. Go figure though. First game in a long time, good set of rivals (Ott and Tor) and possibility to be controversial (with lots of new rule changes)... had to be the Leaf game...

I missed most of the game, although it turned out I didn't miss much, with the game being 1-0 for a long time. It was real good to see the newbies in action for the Leafs, seing a lot of Lindros and Allison (both putting up defenceman type minutes). Hopefully Sundin isn't that badly injured... he should be wearing a visor anyways, right mom?


It was good to see the game again, although it conflicted with episode 3 of LOST. Something to be said about the shootout though. I went to a different room and opted to watch it over the end of LOST, which was very good last night. I caught most of the story at commercial breaks, but there was no way I wasn't gonna be glued to the set for the shootout... If the Leafs won, I'd be happy, otherwise, I feel cheated by the new rules... "games shouldn't be decided this way" I'd grumble...

Inset pic: Barenaked Ladies singing national anthem... who's the guy second from the left? I recognize the other 4 dorks, but this guy seems too dorky (like a ringer)

The Beginning of the End

So begins another downward spiral for me, myself, I. McDonalds has come out with the yearly Monopoly game, my secret gambling addiction if only for a few months. I've been relatively good as of late, opting for more 'healthy' fast food options, and haven't eaten much McDonalds.

Then they go and do this.

So, like the chump I am, I will go a few times a week in search of the illustrious Boardwalk or that last Railroad so I can win a dodge viper and work to pay the insurance... this is the life.

I was gonna buy Subway today for lunch, but for some strange reason I felt the urge to go into that left turning lane, and end up in the drivethru staring at the "You could win $1,000,000.00" sign... heart-burn and heart-ache--HERE I COME

Make your own kind of music

LOST last night was something else. I feared that they would drag me through yet another hour of television without elaborating on the storyline with Jack and Desmond, and BAM, here we are with nothing but more info on the leading up to that point. While I could have gone without Michael's back story part II last night, I really liked the different perspectives shown from the time that the hatch was blown to present, albeit very frustrating and annoying to have to wait another week to "figure things out".

The others actually exist, and look like cavemen. Weird indeed. Maybe Locke can trade the razor-blade that he uses for shaving his head to one of the others for his safety. I've got to stop watching the previews for the next weeks show. They only consistently show the "scenes from the next LOST" on ABC, whereas CTV doesn't always show them. I find that it takes away a lot of the mystery of the show, after all, they've left enough loose ends to drag people back next week without the need to remind them about what they are going to see. bah.

He thinks everyone is sick outside the hatch and inputs the numbers to reset that clock thing to 108 (which is the sum of the numbers 4+8+15+16+23+42). His washer and dryer look new-ish and his blender too, although everything else seems from the 70's.

Ah well, I'm hooked. Counting down those hours til the next episode, seems there's about 108 hours left... oh NO! The NUMBERS!!!!!!!

Can you tell we're related?

Technology saves the day!

Well, the power came back on, and how did I find out? On my new Cell Phone. I bought a phone last week, Pay as you go from Virgin Mobile, in hopes of it working past North Bay on our trips to Cochrane. It worked like a charm, all the way to the house in Clute with digital coverage. It seemed like the best deal of all the big companies, having the best per minute feature and offering extra features like voicemail with no contract or monthly fee. Very easy to setup, quick and on the internet! If you want my number, ask me for it.

In other news, I did get to see the LOST premiere... the same old cliffhanging endings that kept me wanting more until the next Wednesday. That can't be the same guy... can't be... nutty stuff. Good to see the background behind Jack's fiance. Hurley can't get anyone to take him seriously. And don't you find it odd that QUARANTINE was stamped on the inside of the hatch, as if to say that everything outside was being quarantined, not what was locked inside... Love that ABBA!

Well, bed soon

Just when I thought...

...it couldn't get any worse...

Thr friggin power is out in Cochrane, seriously hampering my plan to watch the season premiere of LOST. I'm sure we'll see it somewhere, just not at Faith's parents place. Boo-urns to power outages!

The Fabulous life of...

My Head!

I've gone through many a phase in the past few years, as far as my head goes. I've always enjoyed doing strange things with my hair, so here is a phot journal of what my hair's been through in the past few years.

First shot is January 2004, quite short then, I think I had started from scratch the fall prior and that's where I was at. I had decided to grow my hair until I could have dreads. I had never grown my hair all out, having a year or so of forgettable hairdo's courtesy of Dave.

The next shot is as Grandma's place, October 2004 when Faith teased my hair enough to make it stand up and almost walk out on me. They straightened it before they teased it, and somehow my hair didn't fall out due to shattered self esteem.


Next is January 2005, my nephew, Garrett, is seeing how big my mouth can open. My mom didn't much like me with loing hair, but she did like my curls.


Next was the age of hair extensions. Final Count: 104 braids, instant length. It was cool to have hair that long without putting the effort or time into growing it that long. I really enjoyed the month I had these, but man, did those stupid things smell. They smelled like a dirty dishcloth, and took forever to dry. Plus, my hockey helmet had a real tough time getting on my head.


Next up is the old shorty long... Business in the front, party in the back... the soccer shocker... the kentucky waterfall... the ape drape... the safety cut... on and on... I sported a full-on mullet for 5 days spanning trips to Wonderland, Marineland and the Acton Fall Fair where I posed with silver Elvis. This was fun, but agonizing. I got a lot of funny looks and reactions, but really didn't like not being able to pull all my hair back. I wanted to wear a hockey hair for the first game of my Church league hockey season, so I did and skated around the rink without my helmet during warmup.

Which brings me to today, coming full cycle to the uncle fester look. I chopped it right down to the "wood", scaring most of my music students today and not being recognized by my wife. I'm liking the "Powder" look, and just hope I don't get bad razorburn. Been there, done that. There ya go MOM, I cut my hair. I hope you enjoyed my synopsis of my hair's do's.

At least I didn't pick the old guy to win.

So seems I've only been ruled out on 1 of my picks so far, and 1 has been pretty much confirmed. I reckon my first out pick would have been right had we seen the other tribe at council, so I will consider it still active pending the other teams tribal council.

Rafe is such a fruit, so that's 1/6 so far.

I was pretty pleased with the tougher challenge to start off. The only realy overnight challenge I can think of was on Survivor UK, so this one was pretty good. It was cool to see them bring the CURSE OF SURVIVOR PAST to join the tribes. Sure, Steph's tribe did win immunity, but heck, those two were cursed, and will bring bad to anything they touch this season. They'll have to call in the Brothers Grimm to take care of things.

Anyways, I didn't manage to watch it til 11:00 cause it got shot down the priority list this year, and I've seen my share of puke this season, so now it's time for some real drama. or something like it.

Survivor Starts Thursday

So, after much deliberation, I have made my early picks for the New Survivor... If you can remember, my pick last year didn't even get to play, so I've spread my picks out.

Most likely to be:

Final 3: Brandon (Redneck), Brooke (curls), Brianne (cheerleader)
Early Winner Pick: Brooke
First Out: Amy (Police Sargent)
Gay: Rafe ... what a name
Funny: Judd
Sketchy: Brian

Seems they abandoned their formula for having a "JUGS" girl. There's a few cutesie girls, but no girls well endowed enough to be considered for the JUGS award.

We'll see where this one goes, Thursday at 8pm.

Birthday-o-matic

So I'm old... 27 to be precise. Faith got me a beer machine for my birthday. It's pretty cool, and quite stylish. The best part--IT ACTUALLY COOLS DRINKS. I know, craziness. It fits 12 cans of whatever is a standard can size, such as: most beer cans, pop cans, can of worms, mccain concentrate juice from a can, those stupid souvenirs with stuffed moose in a can. You get the point.
My birthday was great overall, consisting of me sleeping in til 10:30 which is unheard of these days, and getting 2 free meals. I milked the system on my birthday, going to Caseys for Ribs and Wings FOR FREE, and going to the Whale and Ale for supper, having the Rib-eye steak FOR FREE! I returned home, well fed, to cake and icecream with a bunch of strangers in my living room. Booyah!
I got a few "paper gifts" which helped with the purchase of the Complete First Season of LOST. I've gone through some of the 8 hours of extra crap and some of it is pretty cool. There's some pretty neat stuff with behind the scenes stuff and making of crap. There's also a funny spot from Jimmy Kimmel live where he was on location. Pretty Funny.

I'm old, feels good.

Sure can't sleep....

I've somehow managed to get about 3 hours of tossing turning/restlessness in so far. I've been surfing ebay and whatnot for 1 1/2 hours which brings me to now, not tired one bit... sucks. Gotta wake up for work in a couple hours. That'll be pretty tough since I probably won't have slept by then.

Last time I laid down, I couldn't get my mind off re-arranging the computer room. I should probably clean the fish tank anyways.

You know what I blame? My afternoon nap. I usually try not to take the Sunday nap, but today I slept from 3 til a bit after 5. Best part of afternoon naps, feeling like you go straight into deep sleep. Worst part, waking up with that fuzzy feeling, and being all sweaty.

I think I may be boring myself to sleep... I can only hope so.

It Just shows to Go ya.

It turns out that if you're persistent enough, you can acheive the impossible.

for example: a while back, I was trying to find a way to hook all my laptop up to my C64 monitor to do the dual display. I didn't feel like just using an extra monitor, I wanted to use the c64 monitor which only has composite(rca) video input. My computer only has VGA out and s-video out.

I set out in search of a converter, be it an RF modulator, or converter cable. I found a few and tried them, to no avail. One night, in Futureshop, I asked one of the sales people if they had anything. He told me that it was Impossible to switch S-video signal to RCA. Can't be done. I walk away unsatisfied, but my frustrations were confirmed.

A few weeks back, in The Source (formerly radioshack), I found a little converter by Nexxtech that claimed to be able to switch rca to s-video and visa versa. I was very sceptical, but went back tonight and bought it. I brought it home, and VOILA! It works. Looks not much different from anything I had tried before, but it works. I acheived the impossible because I kept looking...

The Source by Circuit City... the place where dreams come true!

Red Eye

Good movie

Getting Medieval on your arse.

So, the trebuchet was a HUGE success. It took us about 14 hours total to build, planning all along the way.



Left to Right: Matt, Rudy, Me, and Jeff built this sucker with special consideration going to Patrick for helping before the hard work started. Jeff (Master of the Chainsaw) worked his wizardry on the forest while Matt (Jungle Math) calculated all the angles and lengths using a stick on the ground in the forest. I was there, obviously for my good looks, but mostly cause I was bigand could carry heavy stuff. Rudy supplied the farm courtesy of his wonderful parents, and miscellaneous girls provided food and criticism. We used trees for the frame, I think they were mostly elm, and used "Ironwood" for the swing-arm. My contributions were the concept for the firing mechanism, which worked wonderfully, and building the sling. I made the sling out of a scrap of carpet, attached it to 7ft of rope on either end and gave it a custom sewing job for strength. The counterweight was provided by the tractor weights, 100lb aprox each, which we slid on as we went.

We got 6 shots off before the thing almost busted (notice the bend in the axle in the top picture). Here's the details in order. (shot #, projectile weight, distance, and counterweight)

1 - 5lb - 151ft - 400lb
2 - 20lb - 32ft - 400lb
3 - 20lb - 68ft - 600lb
4 - 5lb - 252ft - 600lb
5 - 11lb - 166ft - 600lb
6 - 11lb - 215ft - 800lb

*note that there was one throw that was stricken from the record for being tremendously anti-climactic. The baseball was much too light for our setup and barely got out of the sling.

It was quite something to watch the thing take off, as it was quite quick and very smoothe. Probably the most remarkable part was the spin that the rocks had when they left the sling. LEFT is a pic of the crater left by the 20 lb rock on it's first throw. It only went 32 ft forwards, but it was probably 150 ft in the air. The hole it left was at least 6 inches deep. All of our shots were quite accurate, the first 4 landing in a straight line from the trebuchet, and the other 2 deviating slightly due to the bend in the axle.

Good times had all around and great anticipation for the day soon to come, Pumpkin throwing at Halloween... I will post videos if I can figure it out.

Trebuchet Day only hours Away

So, tomorrow we're off to Rudy's farm to build a trebuchet. If you're not familiar with trebuchets, check this link out. It's a medieval type of catapult used to hurl things through the air. The basic concept of the treb is to load something to a long arm and swing the arm by using big counterweight.

Yes, we will be careful, and yes it will work.

We will post many pictures afterwards and hopefully some videos... I can't wait.

Sure, Hockey's back...

BUT, today I heard news of one of my favorite "former" Leafs, Alexander Mogilny has signed in New Jersey. The Leafs had no more money to keep him although, I was really hoping they could work something out.

This is the NEW NHL, teams not able to hold onto stars like they used to. The Leafs couldn't come anywhere near to the $3.5 million he got in Jersey. I was hoping that the season would have been salvaged so I could see Mr. Mogilny in a Leaf uniform again, but no dice.

The real kick in the crotch for the Leaf nation was that since he was under contract and got surgery on his hip after the last playoffs, he WAS paid while recovering, by the Leafs or their insurance, and they don't get return on their investment...

Ah well, good luck in Jersey, Alex. May the reporters ask you many a stupid question, and may your responses baffle them like days of old... And may you never score a goal against the Leafs again.

oh, and I hope to see more gay pictures of him and Pavel Bure... tee hee

Oh, to be old. This made my day.

I was in a variety store this morning, when an elderly lady walked in to buy some chocolate bars. She was shaking a lot, probably parkinson's or something. She asked the attendant, with her thick german? accent, for some plain chocolate. The attendant, a woman elderly to a lesser extent, came around to assist, and was interupted by the first lady every time she offered any help. Once she had found the chocolate, it was time to pay.

She pulled out her purse and asked the attendant to "count please" and dumped out her change pocket revealing nickels and dimes. The attendant showed some frustration at the growing line and having to count $2.15 in change, but got it done and gave the woman her change back, quickly shuffling to the other side of the till to take my purchases.

Once she had started ringing me through, the woman asked for a "bag please", repeating it until she got a response. "Just a minute" replied the cashier, forcussing on my purchases. The woman asked again, like a small child badgering her mother for something, each time getting more frantic. The cashier finished with my purchase and got the woman her bag.

As I was leaving, I (being the gentleman I am) held the door for the old woman. Much to my amazement, as the old woman exited the store, what did she put in the garbage can outside the door of the store?

The bag... after all that, she threw out the bag.

Snap!

Another prime shot of me half naked

I thought I'd leave another pic with y'all before I go camping for the weekend (in the rain). This is a picture of Rudy and me at a synchronized canopener contest. We certainly won 1st plce which is an amazing accomplishment for a) men our size, people of our gerth don't enter watersports contests often and b) social workers, as social workers have proven 49% less likely to win anything compared to the engineer being 93% more likely to win something... This was photographed by Trish Curry, another social worker... what are the odds. Notice the alignment of our lower feet... perfection.

They're for my athsma

Well, we wrapped it up last night, winning the B-Cup finals in churchball with a whopping 21-5 win in Listowel. Last time we played, the score was quite the opposite, so this was somewhat anti-climactic. We won the series with a forfeit on their part and a 21-5 drubbing, not nearly as difficult as expected. Hats off to Listowel, they went out with class, having fun til the last at bat, and commenting on my obvious steroid use throughout the night, to which I replied, "they're for my athsma!"

Big E, big deal...

I never figured it would ever happen, but alas... it is finished. The Big "E" (and I don't mean Enema) has landed in town. I have to say I like his price tag and his point production last time he played, it's just he's bound for another injury, which worries me. If the Leafs have too many eggs in their injury prone basket, like last season when they had too many eggs in the geriatric basket, they could be in for trouble if/when someone gets injured. But that's not gonna happen, right? Finally a player for Antropov to look up to, so hopefully he can learn something and start getting concussions and retire early... stupid Antropov.

A rousing melodramatic hooray and a loud "show me what you can do" comes out for this move. Here's to the big E!

He's back, and it's for good this time...

Like an abused woman, I was ready for more abuse, hearing that the NHL is coming back, saying to me, "I still love you, baby" and "Those other leagues meant nothing to me..."

I don't care, I'm pumped about hockey.... Civic nation, I mean Leaf Nation is back! Should be interesting. I'm happy with John Ferguson's early moves, bringing in Jeff O'Neill and letting the fossil brothers go (Roberts and Niewendyk). It's long overdue time for some young'uns to get their chance... Stajan and Wellwood meet the NHL.

Ready yourselves, folks for a flurry of strange free agent signings, and sit back and enjoy the wonderful new NHL

Hair today, gone tomorrow.

Look at him, he's dazzling...I thought I'd put up a sultry pic of me at Rudy's parents pool. I thought that if Cindy Crawford could pull off the look, I could. There you go.
Ok

Brat Camp

The following is an actual letter from Jooje the cat to Faith, when she was at Petcetera for her haircut. She thought she had been sent to Sagewalk for the TV show Brat Camp. This was a very emotional time for Jooje, and I think it straightened out her deviant ways...

--------------------------------------
Dear Faith,

I am here at phat, I mean brat camp, and I don’t even know why you sent me here. I mean, gosh, what the frig. I only used catnip once by accident. Dang… like, you were the one who put fruit in pistachio pudding, which should be a crime. I’m cold and about to die, for the second time today. My spirit hurts. With pain. Ouch. Ow.
Jooje

I've got a golden ticket!

We went to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Friday night, and I was quite happy with it. Let it be known that the oompa loompas music sucks worse than the first movie, but who cares, the characters we just as funny.

Johnny Depp did a marvelous job as the creepier Willy wonka, a character they developed a lot more in this movie. It was quite satisfying to see them build on parts that didn' see much action in the original, and cut out the parts that dragged or just plain sucked.

Well worth the price of admission, or at least DVD purchase... Thus sayeth me.

It started off good.

Game 2, division finals, we got a 2-0 lead, then squandered it in the second period. Any number of excuses, missing our captain due to suspension, losing a few more Defencemen to injury during game, we blew our lead. I played all but 30 seconds of the last 5 1/2 minutes leading into OT... They smothered us in OT, and the winner for them ended up being a curveball from centre, squeaking off our goalies blocker and in.

Friggin heartbreaker... season over like that... ah well, had fun...

Season Stats
GP G A P Pim
15 2 6 8 6

Playoffs
GP G A P Pim
5 3 1 4 2

Friggin Eh!

Heyo, it's about flippin time... the deal is ready, and looks like it will all be done soon... Now lets focus on Toronto winning the draft lottery and getting Sidney Crosby.

The Leafs will be in trouble, having a lot of money locked in and needing to sign a lot of players... hopefully they won't ditch too many players. I'd really like to see Alex Mogilny in blue and white again...

This brings me to the real point.... how long can my TV last without turning Hi-Def?

Yippee!

Went and saw Bewitched tonight at good ol' cineplex. We've been wanting to see this movie, and movie theatres have a/c, so tonight was a logical choice. Solid movie all around. Will Ferrell is at his nutty best and Nicole Kidman seemed quite healthy for her age... good combination, funny characters.

Speaking of remakes, I am totally pumped to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which hits theatres this Friday. I forgot how much I liked that movie when i was younger, but it all came back Sunday when it was on YTV. I usually have a policy on musicals, which is NO! I have another policy on children singing, which is also NO! This movie has both, yet I didn't run screaming, but basked in the goofy characters and oompa-loompa culture. I even read the book when I was younger, which is a big thing... I hardly read anything... Should be interesting, Johnny Depp and funnier looking oompa loompas...

Game 7 Heroics

Yesterday was gme 3 of our semi final ball hockey playoffs. Tied 1-1, this game was the deciding one. We were up early, 3-2, then they scored a few quick goals. bringing us to 3 minutes left in the game, down 5-3. We scored a goal, pulled the goalie with about a minute left, then comes my glorious moment. Kelly won the faceoff back to me with about 30 seconds left, I just put as much mustard on the shot as I could and I curved right into the top shelf... tie game! A few minutes into overtime, we scored to win the series, beating the first place team who only lost 4 times all year.

It feels nice to win something.

Next week that puts us against the second place Stingers for the D division championship. If we win this, we'll go to Provincial Championships in Hamilton in August.

Booyah!

Next game is This weekend, July 16th at 5 or 6pm, with the next tourney at the garagio following the game at 7:00-7:30... Will I repeat as big winner this time, or is if time for a new champion? We could have a new points leader after this week...

Superstar!

CSI star, Gary Dourdan (Warrick Brown) was on stage with DMC in Barrie for their Live8 performance... Is there anything this guy can't do? Their performance was ok... I caught a bit of live8 on tv, really enjoying Coldplay and U2. Deep Purple really stunk, and to top it off, Dave Matthews was playing in Philly at the same time, and they didn't cover it, they just flaunted it on split screen without sound... friggin Smoke on the Water... I can play that... it's not hard.
Anyways, good times.

What's up?

Not much, you? Oh ya... things pretty dull round here. Went to Sarnia for the long weekend, which consisted of losing at golf, revisiting Paddy's and having a few lengthy naps.

Again, why must Ben Mulroney be the representative for anything to do with Canadian music.?!?!? At least he didn' host Live8 here in barrie, but he was on my tv... Ben Mulroney is an idiot... more than Ryan Seacrest.

My hair is in braids again... anybody guess how many this time? They're real braids instead of the twisty things like last time.

I see little bits of NHL news not pertaining to the CBA on tv here and there, which makes me think that maybe there'll be NHL this fall. Which means, I want a new TV... I'm not sure how long I can go without taking advantage of HD broadcasts of Leaf games... it will be agonizing... not only TSN HD and Sportsnet HD, but Hockey Nught in Canada on CBC HD... We'll see what happens.

Church ball against the other good team tomorrow. I'll try and hit another dinger for all y'all.

peace out

You're which is itchy?

The real liger...

You decide...

110% All Day!

Ball Hockey Playoffs Game 2...

Our team really pulled it together today and pushed through some tough play, rough at times, to pull out a 5-2 victory over the Kings to tie the best of 3 series at 1's. I had an assist and a missed goal (it hit the padding inside the post, the ref thought it hit the post.) Tough defence with relentless offence was the difference. We meet again in 2 weeks, July 9th at 4pm at Lions Arena.

TPTP Event at the Garagio

Again, I fought through adversity, an early rebuy, and then being down to just 300chips, (with 6,750 in play) to become the victor, and inch towards first in the points list. Hats off to Dave Wager for a noble performance, the river is a killer... Honorable mentions to now-part-time champion Matt Brouwer, and Mike Rosenberger, finishing 3 and 4 respectably.

If you're gonna spew, spew in this...

It's June 25th and you all know that that means, no not 6 months til Christmas.

Ball Hockey Playoffs start today...

it must have been the pressure of the game, cause I threw up my lunch when I got to the arena. I don't think I've puked in a few years, so this is odd. I got out and played the game, at forward instead of defence today, like I needed any more running. In the end, on this ridiculously hot day, we lost 5-1. Most of my team gave up with 6 minutes to go or so, I scored our 1 goal with 25 seconds left. Ah well... today is do or die, if we don't win, we're eliminated. I'm not optimistic, but I'm gonna try hard as heck to win this thing. Maybe I need to upchuck again for good luck. I'm leading our team in goals for playoffs.

Third Time's a Charm

IN your FACE Shoppers Drugmart! Last week was the 20x optimum points day, and I got myself back up to 34,000 points... which means $75 in store. I bought a poker chip set and a few magazines, then returned the poker chip set to get my $75 back in cash. This time was easier than ever, they didn't have to call another store... they just said, "we'll have to give you cash instead of your points, sorry."

Beautiful! Now I can go somewhere else and get what I need cheaper.

Whammy!

Tonight was the night... sure, i went 1 for 4, but my 1 was quite the hit... A huge dinger to left center field, BOOM! Good times. I'm a baseball player. I play baseball. I've switched from being the John Olerud type, to more of a Dave Winfield, hitting the odd homer amongst a bunch of fly-outs.

It's a date!

The next poker tourney is this Sunday evening at the Garagio, at 5:30-whenever... Fun is ready for all interested. Email me, or Comment if you're interested and want more info.

Get a haircut and get a real job.

Jooje got it together in like her big brother bob. "Why shave a cat?" you say? Well, she wasn't handling the heat well last week so we decided to give it a try. The nice people at Petcetera were kind enough to give her the lion look and take many strange incriminating photos.

She's so cute.

Bet you can hardly wait...

In absence of any significant post, I will tease you about the cat's new haircut... pictures will follow which will make you lyao.

As if I need any more reasons...

Last night, I bested a field of 8 mini golfers at the Sportsworld Old Mill Course, shooting an amazing 46 to take the first place prize of bragging rights! Thus confirming my unnatural prowess in mini golf.

Booyah!

In other news, I got up and found out that there's a 6:45 in the AM (Who knew?) to come to work, only to find out that our scheduled trip to Marineland had been cancelled due to the weather. Ugh.

Let it be KNOWN...

I am the king of mini golf.

I defeated Sir Matt Brouwer in a playoff hole Saturday evening, and he came back for more on Sunday where I beat him quite handilly. Hooah!

Speaking of Pirates.

I found a site, Fidius.org that will figure out your pirate name based on a short quiz...

My Pirate name is Iron Davy Flint. hooah!

Har, there be Pirates in these waters...

I watched most of The Life Aquatic last night and am still getting over the fight on the boat scene... something about Bill Murray with a gun.

Speaking of Piracy, I've been looking for the original Star Wars trilogy on eBay this week. I bid on 1 set and lost and asked about another. Shockingly, both sellers sent me emails asking if I was interested in buying burned copies of the movies, one guy offering all 6 of the series on DVD. Ep 3 is barely in theatres. I've thought about trying to report these guys... but I guess I really don't care that much. I'm just a bit surprised. If I wanted pirated videos, i could download them myself. Yo Ho Ho...

LIARS and THIEVES!

So, my car has a nice rumble to it at highway speeds. I go to get it checked out at Canadian Tire, and they say it's the control arm bushings causing the rumble. Other places have told me that, so I figure, lets get it fixed. They call me at work and say,

IT'S GOING TO BE $700.00 TOTAL.

Luckilly, they didn't have the part, giving me the time to call around. I call the Hyundai dealer, figuring that they of all people would screw me over the most.... they quote $178.00 installed.

Shmidt!

DO NOT GO TO CANADIAN TIRE FOR MAJOR CAR REPAIRS... I'm a believer now... took a while, but what a bunch of crooks... so much for stickiung with Canadian business... it's not worth it.

TPTP ahoy!

The unofficial, official standings for Sundays event are, in order of leaving the game due to lost fundage:
9. Pat Erb
8. Pat Wilson
7. Brock Wager
6. Dave Wager
5. Chris Pudel
4. Amanda Fournie
3. Dan Grace
2. Rudy Eigenheer
1. Matt Brouwer

Start Time: 3:18
Finish Time: 10:15
Good times, on a crowded muggy afternoon in the garaggio... Only 2 rebuys today, Pat W and Dave. Some good action, lots of chips. FUN FUN FUN. Pictures to follow on the official TPTP website.

Laptop Free Since May 17...

So, I've been without my precious since 2 1/2 weeks ago... it stinks. I've got a crappy old pc in the garage, but usually have neither the patience, or energy to post while there.

Faith and I went to Toronto on Sunday, FOR HER BIRTHDAY (Tuesday). We stayed in a hotel with a pool, shopped for a few hours at Vaughan Mills mall... That place is huge! I got some new Nike shoes for $44. Monday, we went to Canada's Wonderland for the day and there were hardly any lineups. I think we waited longest for Tombraider and Topgun with Sky Rider a close third, all 40-55min wait. The Vortex line was about as long as it takes to eat a hotdog, which we almost didn't finish prior to riding. All in total, we did 15 times on 13 rides in our 7 hours there, repeating the minebuster and vortex, and had a great day... Beautiful weather!

When we got home, Faith's parents showed up for a few days, then whisked her away to Cochrane for a few days.

Last night I played my second career game of Church League Baseball, meeting in Listowel against the other good team in our division. We ended up beating them 17-15 despite my 4 fly-outs... We're pretty confident we'll win the league this year. Hooah!

That's about it. I'm a bachelor for a few days, so all you ladies who want a piece, I'm not in the market at the moment.

Go Baseball!!!! Wooooo!

I played some church Baseball last night, we totally cleaned up, something like 29-4 or something... I played alright, although, I did make some blunders in the first inning... I was playing 3rd base, Kelly Gruber's position... The Hot Corner... Booyah!

Go Baseball!

4 8 15 16 23 42

Once again, LOST fails to dissapoint, unless you count the fact that there's still a lot of unresolved crap with that show. But who really cares about that? We saw a guy blow up... freakin cool! There's a pirate ship, and Locke is crazier than ever. Just one problem.

It's usually about this time of year that the Leafs are booted from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, so, in Lieu of the NHL, LOST has taken over and given me something to crave for the next 3 months. Bittersweet, really. Now my schedule is open, thanks to sweeps, just like the hatch -- dynamite. At least we know it's not goblins.

Patrick had a theory about the hatch and Locke's response to what he thought was in it... Pandora's box, when opened releases all kinds of bad stuff, but what's left inside is... HOPE. Exactly what Locke said.

Not all was blown by the dynamite, or taken by Randy Purdy's long lost cousin on the boat... The Numbers are still there and as cursed as ever... 4 8 15 16 23 42 ... 4 8 15 16 23 42 ... 4 8 15 16 23 42

Stupid George Lucas

Today was a rather dissapointing and uneventful Victoria day, as usual, being too cold and miserable to do anything fun like camping, and everything being closed like it is... We did go to the New Dundee garage sale, I got some road hockey gear for a few bucks... and had back bacon on a bun... It was worth the drop in my life expectancy.. totally.

Tonight we go back to the dundee region for the fireworks, only to find out that they were cancelled... what a sham. So we decided to go see a movie, Kicking and Screaming, due to late showings of Star Wars. We got our tickets, pop and corn, and sat and waited for about 1/2 hour until some kid comes in and says they're having technical difficulties, so they couldn't get our movie going. They refunded our tickets with vouchers god for a movie, but we couldn't transfer them to see star wars... Stupid Geroge Lucas... anyways, we come home, take out the garbage, and will probably go to bed soon. ugh.

Local Engineer choo choo's up the competition.

Local Train Driver, Matt Brouwer took home the bacon at the first ever Poker Tourney in Dan's garage. The Final pot of $65 was split between second place Dan Grace ($15) and final winner, the Freugal Dutchman himself, Matt brouwer, taking home a whopping $50. In attendance were in order of losers first, Pat Erb, Rudy Eigenheer, Chris Pudel, Dan Grace and Matt Brouwer.

It was a fun filled evening with some big momentum shifts. Start to finish, it was 4 1/2 hours til the game was wrapped up, including the 45 minute hot dog break. The next tourney is set to run the first weekend of June, likely on the saturday or sunday late afternoon, so let me know if you're interested by emailing HERE.

Helluva Bad Idea...

Well, the autopsy results are in for the recent d-train woes, and it's due to some new food introduced to our diets. Helluva Good French Onion Chip Dip... had some last night for dinner and Faith had a few hours of issues in the night and I was at the brink of puking for about an hour. Ugh.

Rather than keeping it, and sharing with the guys at the poker game tonight without notifying them of the consequences, we threw it out. It's the right thing to do. Which brings me to my main point, Poker tonight around 7pm. Call me if you're interested, cause we've got 1 seat left. Your money is good here.

I'm a cripple

well, figuratively speaking... I took the ol' laptop in to get serviced sue to some problems with the power jack, and it sounds like it will be a motherboard replacement... not sure how long that'll take, but I know it's covered under my Product Service Plan at Futureshop... lucky me... just off the manufacturers waranty. So that leaves me with no computer.

I'm trying to ressurrect an old pc I have in the garage, but it's a PII-266, so I'll be relatively limited... Anyone who wants to get ahold of me, this week and this week only, I can be reached by phone. otherwise... meh.

Shocking Revelation... Labatt's new drink SUCKS

So I tried the new Labatt Shock, with guarana... let it be known, that I really don't appreciate fruity drinks, nor do I like fruit in my chocolate or beer... However, the idea of adding caffeine or a suitable replacement to drinks is right up my alley.

This is Guarana... the stuff they put in the Shock, and Molson's Kick. Freaky looking thing, eh? Kinda got a weird taste to it, making the ick factor much worse. Based on the drink being derived from Labatt Blue, the ick factor was quite high to start with.

Note: Ick Factor - a measurement of a)number of hairs on back of neck that stand up due to consuming a product or b)severity of gagging and cringeing due to consumption of a product.

All in all, I still felt tired and ended up feeling nauseous due to this bevvy. ICK.

All the muck that's fit to rake...

Left to right Matt, Me and Rudy... were accompanied by the absent Pat and Amanda in a lovely game of Poker tonight after Survivor. This was the innauguraul voyage of the newly finished poker table. Matt and I painted yesterday and Pat and I put legs on and laid the felt today. It turned out quite nice, but I am biased... The final cost was somewhere around $35-45 for supplies. It's a lot nicer than the Giant Tiger one for $50 and rivals the Walmart table for $119.

It was quite fitting that I end up with all the chips at the end, getting a good run of cards to take out my last opponent, Rudy. Here's the standings as they happened.

6th - Amanda
5th - Matt
4th - Amanda
3rd - Pat
2nd - Rudy
1st - Dan

Amanda was allowed a rebuy of 500 chips due to an early exit. Some stogeys were smoked, the losers lounge was used by spouses only, so, a good time all around... Hooah!

Right Cheek Sneek

This is a picture of my magnificent rump mark left from a blocked shot a few weeks ago in ball hockey. I think we beat, or spanked the other team 6-1 that day, and this was my battle scar. It was on my right cheek, making it quite uncomfy to sit on my wallet.

Remember, you assked for it.

Beggin' aint the way to do it...

I am ill... I should call in sick... the drama has made me sick and I am utterly dissapointed in the finale of The Amazing Race. Rob and Amber had it locked up, and in the bag, but the stupid Pilot let Uchenna and Joice on the plane, and such is history...

freakin stupid pilot... who lets people on the plane after the ramp has pulled away anyways? IDIOTS! That's who... ugh. what a waste of time.

Smackin' the balls around once again...

...seriously, get your minds out of the gutters... I'm talking about Golf. Today we went to Westhill Meadows, a par 3 course, for my first event of the year. Matt and Pat were there, and making a rare celebrity cameo appearance was Faith Grace!

As always, my first game of the year is awesome, followed by a steady decline in awesomeness with a feww good games inter-mingled. Today, I shot a 31 on a par 27, a remarkable 4 over! That's including my double bogey on the last hole... ugh. I think I hit the green on 7 of the 9 holes, and my putting was decent. We just snuck our 9 holes in before the monday night league starts, barely beating the horn off the 9th hole.

Golfers beware, if you golf with me once, shame on you... golf with me twice, better chances that I'll suck more the second time. BooyaH!

I thought that it might have Ben Hur

Switchfoot is coming out with a new album! It'll be ready in August this year. I've been a fan ever since their first album made it my way, in fact, Chem 6A off Legend of Chin was one of the first songs I performed in front of anyone.

I missed them in Toronto last year, so I hope I won't miss them the next time they come around. I imagine they'll be touring a lot after they release their album. It's been good to see them get radio play, seeing as most "Christian Bands" don't get much real radio play. Plus, I really like their music, so I get to hear it more often, and feel good because I liked them before most other people.

Garage Sales

Yesterday, Faith and I went a Garagesailing... It was the annual Manheim townwide sale, so we went out at the crack of dawn, er 7:45... Among the things we found and purchased were: A Kevlar Baseball bat for $2, a large Coke tin for $1, 3 German made donuts.... mmmmm... for $1.25. We spent a mere 2 hours out there, and did fairly well. I rained a bit, but there was still a lot of people and sales.

We went to Burketon for Grandma Grace's birthday party and mothers day gettogether after the sale. There was a yard sale close to her place, so we stopped in and got a NES complete with 7 games, 2 controllers, and the gun. Some of the games include: Double Dragon, Wrestlemania, Blades of Steel, and as we found out when we got home, Super Mario 3! All for the low low price of $8.

Had a nice day of chatting with cousins and playing a bit of baseball. The sun was shining, and most of the cousins kids are running around now.

Rookie Mistakes...

On Monday, Faith and I went to Toronto for the day to do some shopping and catch up with some friends. We parked at Yorkdale Mall, to avoid driving downtown and took the subway down to Evergreen to see Chris and Tara McPherson. Steve's Music was my main destination, looking for a piccolo snare drum and new hi-hat cymbals, both of which I came home with. When we got back to Yorkdale at the end of the day, I tried to start the car and realized...

I LEFT THE LIGHTS ON... ALL DAY!

Crap.

One of my main beefs with my car is that there is no bell indicating that the lights are on when you get out... After flagging down people leaving the mall, and finding only half stopped for me and none had jumper cables, we went into Sears to see if we could buy some there. Negative. Turns out that Yorkdale Security offers free booster service though, so, once they found us, we were boosted by a Motomaster Eliminator battery pack. All in all, less stress than I expected considering the circumstance...