Hockey!

Terry got tickets to the game tonight (Game #3 Sens versus Devils, series tied 1-1) and I'm looking forward to it. I like going to hockey games; the atmosphere and excitement is always fun. Tonight should be extra special since its my first playoff game. Go Sens go!

In other news, Tennis Season starts this week! The City of Ottawa finally put the public nets up and Andrew and I will be starting our weekly game this Tuesday. I'm ready this year since I've had a full year of Jiu Jitsu training to keep me somewhat in shape (compared to previous years). Plus Andrew has bad ankles now so I figure making him run back and forth (a favoured ploy) should cripple him in no time.

Movie Review

We rented the 2006 movie Miami Vice last weekend and I needed all week to recover from the experience before visiting it in a review.

I picked it up for an action movie that would not require a lot of thought but be filled with car chases, shoot outs, bad guys and good guys. In effect, an action movie.

This was not an action movie. I want to call it a drama but melodrama would be more accurate. It felt like a two hour plus art house film more interested in film direction than entertainment. Poor film direction I might add. I normally don't fall asleep during movies but this one had my eyes drifting closed before the "big" finale where there was some "action". If you call a bunch of guys standing behind cars shooting at each other in the dark exciting action. Sigh.

In the end this movie was neither exciting nor interesting. It was a big bore and I would not recommend it to anyone. Avoid at all costs.

Ego Bruised

Yesterday while cruising the internet at lunch I stumbled across a website called Your Turn My Turn where people can play online games for free without having to be online all the time. Basically, its turn-based games like Chess and Checkers where you make a move and then go away and sometime later your opponent makes a move so that when you come back to the website it may be your turn again. This is exactly like the Chess games I play on Gameknot with a simpler format and more games.

What caught my eye was that they supported the game Go. Last year my chess buddies at work got me into this game and I loved it, but was better than them at it so we went back to chess. Then they left for new jobs. So I was intrigued by this new website and the thought of playing people again. Even better I saw it had a practice function so I could remind myself of the rules and get warmed up. Last year when I looked around there was no good free Go programs able to provide a challenge so I was not expecting a challenge.

First game, got wiped out. Oh yeah, I remember this game now.

Second game, still lost. Hmmm, ok, time to try.

Third game, killed. Wow, this AI program is not bad and this is only the easy level. Maybe I need a handicap to get going so I set the handicap to 9, the highest it can be. Basically I start with 9 pieces already on the board to his none.

Lost badly. Crap! I suck! Ok, I see my mistake, I'll try again.

LOST again! But at least this time it was close.

So I expect I'll spend a few lunch breaks getting practice against this program before I embarrass myself against real people.

Well That's No Good

All winter I froze. The office I shared with Eugene was freezing in the mornings and only chilly in the afternoons. I would go home and put on the warmest clothes I had to get my core body temperature back to something like normal.

Then spring came (finally). The sun blaring down on our office windows in the afternoon last week sent the temp rising and heat induced napping started to occur. It was awful.

Today another co-worker comes in the office to speak to me and says, "Man its warm in here." I begin to complain about the heat. She says while pointing to the ceiling, "Well why don't you uncover your vent?"

I look up and see the vent taped shut with paper. What the hell?! I look at Eugene and say, "I'm taking that off!"

"Better speak to Gabe," he replies mentioning the previous office occupant. "He said he freezed in the winter and too hot in summer." I look across to Eugene and say, "How's that different from now? We can always close it if it doesn't work out."

So far this afternoon the heat induced coma has not set in.

Slowly But Sorely

Kim had minor surgery on Monday as part and parcel of our infertility travels and has spent the rest of the week trying to recover. Sure, the incisions are tiny but there is three of them through the abdomen muscle wall and we're not exactly sure what the doctor's were messing around with in there. Lasers were mentioned and I can't help but think of Star Wars. "Honey, did they leave a TIE fighter in there?"

Kim's mom was kind enough to take a few days off work and help Kim out on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but Kim was still pretty slow and sore on Thursday so I stayed home in the morning to watch over her four year old charge while she rested so she could handle the afternoon. I don't know how she does it all day when she's healthy, I certainly found it quite busy.

Regardless, I'm hoping she feels better soon and gets back to her normal energetic self. With the nice weather finally showing up, it would be fun to get out and do some target practice with her Christmas present.

Required Reading

Mike at Rational Reasons has an excellent post about the Virgina Tech shootings. Read it.

{Hat tip: Andrew}

Guns and Rights

You'd have to be living under a rock to have not heard about yesterday's shootings at Virgina Tech University. At least 32 dead and many more wounded by a student that just lost his mind. Horrific does not begin to describe the events. I can only imagine the terror the students in the lecture halls and classrooms must have felt to realize there was a madman with guns shooting people in the building.

Guns. The facts of this story have yet to completely come to light, but one thing is certain: he had guns. How? Why? These are questions that need to be answered and there will be time for that later. But I hope the American public does not let go of it this time but rather focuses not only on the shooter, but the access to the weapons. But that's later.

For now, let us think of the dead and their senseless end.

Weekend Wrapup

On Saturday we had a re-convergence: good weather combined with no travel.

Ok, good weather is a bit of a stretch. More like the weather didn't suck with rain, cold, or snow. And we didn't travel because Kim had a friend come visit her instead of the other way around. So without any excuses, I was forced to face all the outside jobs that have been piling up this so-called Spring.

First was assembling the new barbecue. The old one had served us well over the 7 or 8 years we used it but it was on its last legs, literally. The plastic wheels had split and come off. It worked best when on a 20-30 degree tilt so the uneven heat was slightly more even than when level where it would burn the metal rack to the core and start a red hot glow.

The new barbecue is nice. We got one on sale at Crappy Tire and it doesn't have the side burner that we never used on the old one. A little bit bigger cooking surface too, I'm stoked to try it out this week. Assuming we're not snowed in by then of course.

After putting together the 'cue, I tackled the outside job I hate the most: raking. Whether its leaves or grass clippings, I despise raking and will avoid it as long as possible. The leaves I was raking up on Saturday were from last fall. You know, the fall that streched from September to the beginning of January with no snow? Well, I raked leaves in October and avoided raking again for 2 and a half months despite Kim's best efforts to cajole me into the task by pointing out how messy our lawn was compared to Steve the Neighbour. If the snow had held off another week in January I *might* have been forced out with the rake and yard waste bag, but that's a mighty big *might*.

With the raking done, I took a break. Ah. Then back outside.

By now I was on a roll and if you know me at all you know that while I'm hard to get moving I tend to move quite well once going. So I tackled the gutters on the house, cleaning them out so that water from rain and snow melt might actually, you know, drain. Funny that. I then did the tiniest bit of weeding around my favourite plant. The rest of the garden will have to wait for Kim's careful eye before I try anything else.

With that the afternoon was mostly over and I retired inside to relax and wait for supper. All in all a very productive day.

Isn't It Ironic, Don't You Think?

On Tuesday I went to the garage near work and made an appointment to get the brakes changed, shocks looked at, you know, normal car maintenance stuff.

Oh, and get the summer tires put on.

Imagine my surprise when I get up today and see the ground and car covered in snow.

(And yes, I know its not ironic.)

As a side note, the mechanic at the garage I go to for some reason inspires insane amounts of comfort and trust in me. Something about him says he knows what he's doing and he won't cheat me in the process and he cares about my car. This guy could tell me a tire patching costs one thousand dollars and I'd believe him. Weird huh?

I think I made Kim very nervous just about now.

Eyes Bigger Than Your Stomach Indeed!

If you don't like snakes, don't click this cool link. Seriously.

Stronach quitting politics

Stronach quitting politics

OTTAWA (Sun Media) — Conservative -turned- Liberal MP Belinda Stronach has quit politics and is returning to work for her father’s auto manufacturing empire.

I think I sprained something when my eyes started rolling upon reading this news. When the new Conservative party formed and the leadership race began between Stronarch, Harper, and Tony Clement I thought, like a lot of people, that her lack of political experience was a shortcoming but more importantly her lack of doing anything for a longer period than a couple years was even more damning. Its easy to be considered a success when your family starts off rich.

Belinda claimed she was in politics for the long haul after she lost the Conservative leadership bid but apparently long haul means something different in my world than hers. Heck, she couldn't even stay Conservative for more than a year or two so no surprise she doesn't want to stay Liberal either.

Maybe she got disillusioned and is moving on to something more rewarding, but deep down I suspect she just got bored with the hard work and is moving on to something more exciting.

At the end of the day, who cares? OK, ranting over.

Yeah, That's Still Funny

WKRP in Cincinnati was a sitcom on TV when I was a wee gaffer and I remember watching it but I don't remember much about it. But I remember this episode (text) and damn its still funny.

"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."

Movie Review

Kim and I were recovering from a wild and woolly Easter weekend on Sunday and sat down to enjoy the highly acclaimed movie Babel described with the plot outline as: "Tragedy strikes a married couple on vacation in the Moroccan desert, touching off an interlocking story involving four different families."

I expected something a bit more... dramatic I guess is the word. It was interesting but for the most part sanguine. I never felt terribly invested in any of the characters more than a bit and whenever I began to get into the story of a particular character the scene shifts.

I guess I expected more interlocking stories as in Pulp Fiction where the stories actually, you know, interlocked. In Babel the stories kick each other off like balls on a billiards table, striking once and never meeting again. It was unsatisfying.

In the end I felt there was no message, no conclusion, no powerful story. A woman got shot, she lived. The other stories were for the most part similarly empty of content or closure except for the Moroccan family who gets torn apart in all the confusion.

While interesting in its contrasts, the movie was not gripping. I give it 2 stars out of 5.

Bill's Totally Unqualified NHL Playoff Predictions

I've been following hockey less than ever this year. I just needed a mental break from the insanity that is millionaires playing other millionaires for millions of dollars while people like me sweat over a few thousand dollars required for "real life".

But that doesn't mean I'm any less qualified for making predictions based on nothing at all! Oh no, it means I'm even more qualified to make Unqualified Predictions! I feel like a government employee.

Anywhoo, on with the prognostications.

East:
Buffalo (1) vs. NYI (8) - New York squeaked into the post season over Montreal and Toronto which makes them my Second Favourite Team today. But the Sabres will eat them alive. Buffalo in 4.

New Jersey (2) vs. Tampa Bay (7) - New Jersey fired their coach last week and is being led by the GM. I may have worked previously but I've got a bad feeling about this. Tampa in 6.

Atlanta (3) vs. NYR (6) - Toss up, I say Rangers in 7.

Ottawa (4) vs. Pittsburgh (5) - Ottawa has the playoff experience and if Ray Emery or Martin Gerber can be solid in nets, I give them the advantage over the young Pens. Sens in 5.

West:
Detroit (1) vs. Calgary (8) - Red Wings will be out for blood, I pick them over the Flames in 6.

Anaheim (2) vs. Minnesota (7) - For some reason the Wild call to me, I'm going with them in 7.

Vancouver (3) vs. Dallas (6) - Crystal ball says Canucks sweep the Stars in four straight.

Nashville (4) vs. San Jose (5) - Too close to call, so I'll give it to Nashville in 6.

Spring Election?

Not bloody likely.

The fact that we have had three federal elections in three years combined with the fact the Quebec is crucial to the plans of both main federal parties at the moment and that province just had a provincial election means that we won't be going to the polls until this fall at the earliest barring some House of Commons meltdown.

I'd even go so far as to say we're safe until this time next year.

Like Salt In A Wound

Remember how I complained about the new Daylight Saving Time change? Well guess what? It wasn't really worth it:
The early onset of Daylight Savings Time in the United States this year may have been for naught.

The move to turn the clocks forward by an hour on March 11 rather than the usual early April date was mandated by the U.S. government as an energy-saving effort.

But other than forcing millions of drowsy American workers and school children into the dark, wintry weather three weeks early, the move appears to have had little impact on power usage.

"We haven't seen any measurable impact," said Jason Cuevas, spokesman for Southern Co., one of the nation's largest power companies, echoing comments from several large utilities.

I wish they would just toss Daylight Saving Time out the window altogether personally. In today's modern world I suspect it doesn't make a damn difference in energy savings.

Attack of the Garage!

Or was it attacking the garage?

Either way I spent Sunday afternoon in the garage starting the job of cleaning it out. This year its particularly bad because not only do we have a year of cardboard boxes and miscellaneous pieces of large junk, we also got the branches of the tree that fell down last summer in the front yard and the debris from the work on the bathroom in the basement.

I can handle the tree branches, and the junk can be disposed of at the yard waste disposal facility where they have scrap metal recycling, but the wood debris from the basement? No idea. Time to call on family I suspect and deal with it the old fashioned way: throw it out in the woods.

Note: we do not dispose of anything toxic or damaging to the environment by throwing it out in the woods. Only biodegradable items and the woods in question are on family property.