Slow Foote and lead foot Pronger

So the final line of my last entry proved to jinx the Men's Hockey Team. I watched the final two periods of the Russia game and it was easy to see that while, for the most part, the Canadians played hard and gave it 100 per cent, they were disorganized, misguided and ineffective. How does $98 mill translate into 11 (or was it 12?) scoreless periods? In hindsight, it's easy to second guess and play coach or GM and talk about who should've been on the team but you can't live life retroactively so...

So here's a "coffee should be hot but not that hot" story. I guess there's two familes suing McDonald's because they have a sensitivity to them and becmae ill after dining at their fine establishment, he was unaware their fries wheat and milk ingredients. Hence, he is suing them.
Shame on the big M for not having full disclosure on their ingredients and shame on those people for eating there.

Q & A: anyone remember Rodney Allen Rippy? How'bout Mason Reece? If not, try this.

And Manny, FYI, please, please don't correct my spelling on my blog, because I never proof read what I write and, Manny, FYI, on closer inspection, you can see my miss spelling was due to a typo and not a deliberate error.

I drive me crazy

It's true. I am commuting so often, I woke up last night when I was at my parent's for a Kelowna stop-over and I sat up, trying to recall if I was in Kamloops, Oliver or Kelowna. Then I got up to go the bathroom and, while I was there,k decided to check to see if my head was attached to my shoulders.

Valentine's Day, huh?
"I choo-choo-choose you."

Question: Why do people take American Idol so seriously? I mean, some of the wannabe stars have amazing talent but why do they get upset when they are criticized? By now (what is the AI#8 or 9)? they should know the judges and suck it up and get on with it. Anyway,it's usually the ones with less talent then a dried up sponge who get mad and punctuate their lack of class by shouting expletives into the camera. I know it's entertainment and I know Simon is kind of an ass to most contestants but at least he puts them in their place.
For the record, I've watched only two episodes in my life.

So Canadians coming up short seems to be the theme of this year's Olympic Games. BeckyieScott was favoured to win two medals and came away with one in the team sprint, a silver; Jeremy Wotherspoon (sp.) was a favourite to win the 500 metres in speed skating, and after falling in Salt Lake City in '02 and winning silver in Nagano in '98, he was postured to win gold--but he didn't. He finished ninth. Eric Guay has to pull out of the men's downhill with an injury. Thank goodness for Jennifer Heil. Now I'm not criticizing what athletes sacrfice to get here; it's just I, like others, get disappointed when, for various reasons - not skating their best, having a pole break in the middle of a race -athletes fall short of reaching their pre-Olympic expectations. I'm with Colleen Jones of CBC who said the Canadian public has to want Canadian athletes to win the gold and not to say 'oh well. they didn't win the gold as expected but at least they won the silver/bronze.

Go men's hockey team. Let's kick some ass. I bet you they'll win the gold again....

Darn socks

Yeah, it's true. I've taken to darning my socks. I know it sound s domestic and, at the risk of sounding like a chauvinist, womanly. (I said it SOUNDS womanly, obviously it isn't)
I bought several pairs of socks - about a dozen pairs - cuz i like changing my socks frequently, and not long after, I began to get holes in the right toe. It's never happened to me before. And yes, I do keep my toenails clipped.
I don't want to have to buy more socks and besides...I like these they're practically new. They aren't works of art but at least they're wearable. I hate socks with holes in them.

***

Work. I've been working long hours this week and I'm having a relapse with my cold...(at least I'm getting some sympathy from my girlfriend though) and I've been up to Apex Mountain twice so far this week, and will probably be heading there again on Friday as I'm doing the sports gig while the regular guy is on holidays. What do you think of that, Manny?

There's nothing like working for a daily paper to improve your story writing speed let me tell you.

***

My friend's wife had her first foray into the e-mail exerience tonight. In this day and age when so many are I-net and mail savvy (saavy?) seems funny she hadn't done it before especially cuz her husband works for a cable and Internet company and they have like five computers in the house.

Stress is a 10-letter word

Stress is a 10-letter word
I am writing this entry following a long absence, a nudge (ahem) from a couple friends, and two weeks on the job at the Penticton Herald.It has been a challenging gig so far. The quest of churning out a daily differs much from that of a community paper, at least in my experience. I write anywhere from two-to-five stories a day, which have been a combo of short, medium and long pieces.I spent two days on layout last week. Besides being rusty with my skills and having a handful of opportunities to do layout, my editor, S. Paul Varga is a magician with layout and a wizard with keyboard shortcuts. If I blink more than once, he is already half done laying down a page.I have also found new stories can develop and I must be prepared to shift gears quickly.The days have been long, although not as long as Auren's, but I'm still averaging 10+ hours a day.Having said this, the experience I am obtaining can only benefit me and I feel both fortunate and grateful that I made the cut and have been given the chance to showcase my abilities....On the lighter side, I watched Starsky and Hutch Friday and I laughed--boisterously and repeatedly. Those of you not familiar with the series may not see the humour to the same degree but Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson spoofing this late 70s cop drama took the edge of a busy and somewhat stressful workweek....Poor Derek Zeismann (sp)., the former Conservative candidate for the Okanagan-South riding. I guess he learned the hard way that mixing Benz's with booze can give you a political hangover which lasts longer than mixing beer and liquor. ...One final note, on staying 'Trudeau' to my nature, I decided to change my look. I don't have a pic to post - haven't figued that out yet I'm embarassed to write - but if you want to get an image of what it looks like, let's just say it was inspired by Rob Thomas.

What about George?

So, Prez Bush, the leader of arguably the most powerful country in the world thought kept secret records of communications of people thought to be involved in terrorist activity.
The New York Times sat on the story for a year before releasing it.
Of course, Bush defended the move, saying it only monitored activity within the US and that thanks to the Times, the government's cover is blown.
I guess nothing is beyond the scope of probing into the lives of citizen's in the interest of national security.
And his response? As long as junior is in power, he said the program will continue.
It's scary to think you can justify spying on people and begs the question, 'How many other covert operations are currently underway that only Bush and his cronies are privy to?'

I think I have Christmas pretty much under control this year, which is good, because loathe being at the mall. The people and vehicle traffic gets worse each year.

I watched a movie called Beijing Bicycle (2001) last night. It focuses on two teenage boys in the throes of love and independence; one is a bike carrier and the other is student. Minimal dialogues make it easier to watch for those who dislike sub-titles.

Time for a cool change....

I at Sarah's watching Sex in the City and was going to change the template from my blog. I selected a new template and was set to make it so when the warning that I will lose my customizations by changing templates.
Before making the changes I have to find out if, by changing my template, that means I will lose all my links?
I also got half of my take home business final done tonight, in between watching Vertigo and the last 10 minutes of the hockey game.
Now that I'm on the verge of completing my final school assignment, I must begin my Christmas preparations, whatever that really means, and begin my jobquest.

mea culpa

My info about the actors involved in United Artists was incorrect. Names of the actors should have been Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith along with Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin and not Lionel Barrymore--not that anybody noticed but at least I feel better.

Tomorrow is Remembrance Day and I have been thinking - as have do others - about how the message of it means and the impact it has on our everyday lives will recede into oblivity once the last living war vet passes on. I heard a veteran say that the only way to get the message across was to have them visit elementary and high schools to speak to the students. A good intention but most kids would probably view it just as an assembly or as "time off."
I cannnot say that I often think about how fortunate I am to live in a country like Canada and have the freedom that I can do pretty much what I want so long as it is within my means.

As capitalism tries to overtake the rest of the world (or at least as the US tries to force it on other countries to free them from oppressive government), the idea that Canadian soldiers went to war to fight for our country may seem less important as it seems that had we not gotten our freedom in The Second World War because I get the feeling our neighbours to the south would have rescued us from Hitler or whoever would dare to try to assert any type of political governing other than the big "C."

Ona lighter note, who has started to think about Christmas or Christmas shopping? I've thought about it; I just haven't done any of it.

My final three weeks of school are upcoming and as much as I couldn't wait for this time to come, as usual, I am feeling bittersweet as to my time as a student--from five years ago when I decided to give university a shot as a part-time student--to being on the cusp of graduation. I had some of the best times of my life with my friends at school and will carry this time with me I would imagine for as long as I live.

We probably have fewer restrictions on us as students than we will ever have at any time in our lives. We can dress how we want, eat in class, leave class without asking permission, not show up for class, attend all kinds of parties, shows and concerts, be exposed to an assortment of people from different backgrounds and to people with whom we would never have any reason to socialize with were it not for school.
Granted there are those other elements such as having little money, writing long stories and essays, stressing during exam times and finding places to live and people to live with but to me...

...there is something comforting about being a student, something safe. Maybe it's just me and being a mature student, as I like to refer to myself, I am being ridiculously sentimental but I don't think so. There are others who know what I am talking about.