Meeting an Olympian - Fact or Fiction

The nice thing about my job promoting the Hbc Run for Canada (have you signed up yet?) is that I get to do things during the day that don't require me to sit at a desk. Yesterday I went to get my blood checked at the local blood checking clinic. I usually go around 11:30am on Tuesdays because there is the smallest line up at that time, but I was already out and about and so I stopped in early. Of course there was a line up, but I didn't care as I sat down in the uncomfortable chairs to wait.

And that is when I saw it...first I only saw the first piece, then another one. Yes, I couldn't believe it! It was the Star Phoenix! I was pumped as I hadn't read the paper in like a week and I had lots of time to read it now. As I scanned through the pages I came across a brief little article about Jamie Cruikshank. She was going to be at the HMV in Midtown Plaza at 2:00pm to promote an Olympic DVD. This was great! I decided to go down there and talk to her to see if she knew about my run. The Hbc Run for Canada is a fundraiser to raise money for Olympic athletes and I figured that if I could tell her about it she could get her friends and family to sign up and help promote it.

So I get down to Midtown Plaza around 2:15pm (I didn't want to look too eager and be waiting there before 2:00pm) and stroll into the HMV. Now it's not a very big store and it only took about a millisecond before I spotted Jamie sitting behind a table of Olympic DVD's and signing them for a few people. There was really no line up after that so I only had to wait for around 30 seconds before I could talk to her. And the conversation went better than I could have ever hoped for.

Jamie is an extremely nice girl and when I told her about the run she was excited. I told her we were trying to raise a $5000 bursary each for 200 athletes across Canada and she said that was awesome. She told me that when she was training for the Olympics (she is a bobsledder for those who didn't know) she would practice for 4-6 hours a day and then have to go to work for another 4-6 hours (depending on the day) in order to pay for her living expenses and coaching costs. She said it was worth it, but if she could not have to work she would have had so much more energy to devote to her training. We chatted for a while longer and she offered to help out with our run whenever she could (she is often away from Saskatoon doing Olympic promos, etc.) I asked her if she could help out on event day and she said yes. So I've decided to make her the official starter of our 10K event!

Our conversation ended there because some more people came into the store to meet her and so I had to leave. But what a nice person...I really hope she gets picked to be one of the 200 athletes to receive the $5000 bursary.

Ok, vote below whether you think this is FACT or FICTION

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Provincial Soccer Weekend

This past week has been extremely busy. I've been working hard at promoting the Hbc Run for Canada and also getting things ready for a running expo I am going to this weekend in Regina. But the most fun I've had this past week has been assisting with the U13 Provincial Boys team.

It's Easter break for these kids which means that if you are part of the Saskatchewan Provincial Training Program you get to come to Saskatoon for a week of soccer training. Our team trained twice a day for at least 1.5 hours of field time each session. Then on top of all that they also have mental training sessions, stretching sessions, goal keeper sessions, etc. It's very busy for them but it's great! It's also very busy for me! I would get up in the morning, work for a while, zip over the new soccer centre for practice, then zip back home and work for a bit, then zip back for another practice, then zip back home and work again. That was for 4 days straight. I was extremely exhaustedby by the end of each day and just wanted to sleep.

Our team is awesome! Not only in skill, but even in personalities. We have a great group of boys and I really loved getting to know them this past week. We are pretty strict with them at this level. There is no tolerance for being late, for wearing the wrong colour of practice shirt, or for not listening. These players need to be sharp if they want to be the best in their age group.

The week ended in an exhibition game where we played the U13 boys Provincial South team. We cleaned up on them and won 4-0. I'm already looking forward to our next training weekend on May 5th.

It's Official...The Day is Soon!

You know there are always days you don't ever forget. I think I will be having one of those shortly.

May 25th

That's the day. The day that some things will leave my body never to return again. I'm speaking of my spleen of course.

On May 25th I will be going under the knife and will have my spleen removed. This is a decision we've (myself, Shiela and the doctors) come to in order to help my ITP. For the most part I don't even think about my ITP. I just live life normally except for popping a few pills every morning and being all chummy with the nurses once a week at the 'ol local blood laboratory. However, I can't pop the pills forever and so by removing the spleen there is a good chance the problem will be solved.

The timing is actually perfect...almost. May 3rd I go for my physical to make sure I am not mentally insane and fit to stand trial, I mean surgery. May 15th I gofor my pre-surgery assessment. They haven't told me much about this, but I think it is where we go into the surgery room and I get to pick out which scalpel I want them to use, etc. I hear I even get to help sharpen it to make sure it's ready to go. Then I meet all the nurses that are going to see me naked on the operating table so I'm sure that won't be awkward at all! Finally they will be showing me to my cell where on May 25th I will sit and wait for my turn in the chair, I mean table. So I'm not sure exactly what is going ot happen, but I do know I will be asking for a nice steak from the Keg with a 2 litre of Coke for my final, I mean pre-surgery meal. Then they let me out on bail until May 25th where I will have to report back to the judge for my sentencing, I mean surgery.

The good part is that on May 17th I leave for Vancouver for a soccer tournament with my U13 boys Provincial team. I arrive back here on May 22nd to enjoy the last few days of sunshine before entering my cell. Then comes the really good part! I think I may be out of commission for a few weeks and guess what is on TV during that time...THE WORLD CUP!! I can't believe my luck! I'm going to be forced to sit at home and watch soccer games all day long. And when I need something I will just yell for the guard and they''ll bring me what I need. It's going to be a great time!!

The only down fall is that I won't be able to play soccer for quite a while. I'm hoping it heals quickly because I see good things for our Tauro club in the future!

And the Winner Is...

Not me. Yep, I came out second best and as the old saying goes, "2nd Place is the first loser."

What are you talking about?!?! you are all probably wondering. Well, it's about a job. Some of you may have heard that I applied for a new job which was to be the Executive Director of the Saskatoon and District Soccer Association. It was a job that I would have loved. Dealing with soccer leagues and situations on a daily basis. Working out of the new soccer centre. It would have been great. However, on Wednesday I got the call saying thanks for coming out (ok, it was a lot nicer of a phone call). The end result was that they decided to hire internally instead and promote Jason from the position of Technical Director to Executive Director. Of course that opened up the Technical Director job, which they asked me if I wanted to apply for it, but that is not quite what I am after.

So am I disappointed? Yes and No and here's why.

Yes I'm disappointed because:

• I think I would have done a great job
• It would be great to be doing soccer on a full time basis
• I need a full time job come July 31st

No I'm not disappointed because:

• I still have dreams and ideas I want to pursue and if I had been given this job I would have had to put them on hold
• I don't know if I'm ready for an actual "office job" yet as I really love my current job
• I won't have to back out or figure out how to do my current job and the new one (I told them I didn't want to leave my current employer out in the cold so close to the event day and would want to try to do both jobs until July 31st)
• I can now go back on unemployment after July 31st if I need to
• I think Jason who they hired will do a good job

There are probably lots of other reasons I thought of before but can't think of now as well. So although it would have been a great job and I would have loved it and given everything I had to it, I guess God wants me to be focusing on something else...I just have to figure out what that is now.

A Tale of Two Teams

It was the best of times and it was the worst of times. That pretty much summed up our Tauro season. Starting off with 0 wins and 4 losses we knew we needed some changes. A couple key additions to the team and we were on the road to success. So successful that we made it to the final game of the playoffs (yes, we beat the Moonwalkers 4-1 in the semi final to advance to the final). It was time to once again face Dandylyon (pronounced dandy-lee-own).

It seemed that this past season certain teams "owned" certain teams. There were some teams we always beat and there were others that we always struggled against. Dandylyon was one of the teams that we always struggled against. In our two previous encounters we managed to get up 2 goals and then they would end up coming back and beating us. We never had trouble with some of the top teams in the league including AC Milan and the Hawks, but Dandylyon always gave us trouble. We needed to break this trend.

The game came down on Thursday night at 8:15pm. As the players checked in their player cards with the referee Tauro FC suddenly got a break...Dandylyon's best player and the top goal scorer in Men's Division 3 forgot his player card at home and was relegated to watch the game with the fans. Tauro FC had a full bench with everyone there, including two previously injured players. Things were looking good until Steve realized he was hurt too bad to play and Jeff Peters knew he could not play a regular shift. This left our bench with basically two lines and the odd extra person. But we werent' concerned as we had just played our semi-final game 20 hours before with only 11 players.

The game started with a rush as Dandylyon stuck to their game plan of finesse passing and control. Right off the hop our goalie apparently grabbed the other teams shirt when he got too close to the net and the referee yelled at him to let go. Little did we know how much of an effect that innocent little play would have on the game.

The game was rough and our team was getting pounded by them as they hit us to the ground, took us out in the box and had their keeper knock our forwards to the ground. Our bench was screaming for some penalty shots, but the only response was a "play on" by the referee. The referee had decided to just let us play and was not going ot call a lot, especially since he said he could have given our goalie a red card for grabbling the opponent's shirt. This now meant our team was going to have to take the abuse from the other team.

The game was hard fought, but suddenly Dandylyon broke through our outside defense, slipped into the middle of the box unguarded and pounded a shot into the bottom corner of the net. 1-0 Dandylyon. The Tauro players spirits were down, but no one was giving up yet. The Tauro team continued to pepper the other team's goalie with shots, but it was to no avail. Their goalie was playing phenomenal and it would take a lot to put one by him. The halftime whistle sounded and the teams retreated to their benches.

As the guys threw out some thoughts on the game, Isaac our goalie stepped up and gave a rousing half time speech. We were playing these guys hard and they were scared. Forget about the score, keep playing our game and we will put one in. With goose bumps and shivers rivetting through their bodies the Tauro FC players gave a roaring "1-2-3 Tauro" cheer for the final time this season.

The second half started out strong and Tauro once again had the pressure on. Still down 1-0, the pass came across the middle of the field to the far left side to the talented feet of Robin Dalshaug. With a quick look up he found his mark and with a change up left footed shot it was a 1-1 game when the ball went into the corner out of the goalies diving reach! The Tauro bench and fans were ecstatic and the momentum had changed.

Tauro didnt' let up and only a few minutes later a second goal was sniped into the net giving Tauro the 2-1 lead. Dandylyon was looking down, but definately not out. Then the unthinkable happened and a Dandylyon player tripped our defender and was sent to the box with a yellow card and a 4 minute penalty. Tauro's hopes were high as they now had a power play and a chance to take a 2 goal lead. But nothing materialized. Even down a player Dandylyon dominated short handed and the Tauor offense was barely able to keep the ball out their own net. As the power play ended Sheldon thought to himself that if they can dominate while shorthanded, we definately can't let them get up a player.

Not about to let that happen the Tauro players, now back at even strength, sent a long high pass towards the keeper. The ball bounced off the wall, their goalie played it away but couldn't quite clear it. As the scramble continued Kurt Manz found the open net and headed the ball in for the insurance goal and it was 3-1 Tauro with 7 minute sto play.

7 minutes, but if felt like an eternity. Both teams battled hard while Tauro played smart to keep their 2 goal lead. Until the unthinkable happened. Kurt Manz, a Tauro striker, jumped in front of the goalie to block his throw and the yellow card was up. A 4 minute penalty with only 4 minutes left in the game. Sheldon's nightmare had come true. On the power play Dandylyon played aggressive and were going to use all 4 minutes of the penalty to try and get back in the game. Barreling down the left hand side their striker burst past our outside defender and sniped a shot to the top inside corner where our goalie did not even see it coming due to the screen. 3-2 Tauro with 3minutes left.

The Tauro defense was playing ferocious and there were all sorts of legs in the box. But it only took a small hole and just like that the Dandylyon striker put away the tying goal into the bottom corner of the net. 3-3 with 2 minutes left. The battle raged on and the only thing racing through Sheldon' s mind was "please don't let them score the go ahead goal." Luckily our player in the box was let out for the last minute of the game and though the pressure was intense, the final three whistles blew and regulation time was over. But it couldn't end in a tie!

Stay tuned for the penalty shots story and actual video footage of the penalty shots!

Close But No Cigar

(I really have no idea how that saying came about. Does anyone else?)

So tonight I was sitting at home alone. Shiela had been called in to work, there was no small group and my new soccer coaching season hasn't started yet...so I had some free time. Now my online poker bankroll has been on the rough edge lately. I had taken $5.00 and worked it up to around $135. Then things went downhill. I started losing a lot of $5.00 heads up games and the next thing I knew my bankroll was down to $11.00! Needless to say I lowered my playing limits back to the $0.02 -$0.04 limit Texas Hold 'Em game with the occasional game of $2.00 no limit. So since my bankroll is so small, I can't afford to enter any tournaments...so I'm looking for free ones.

I found this one tournament that was a little different than most. Usually in a tournament the winners win money or else a seat into a bigger tournament. But this tournament was giving away 2 tickets to the April 16th NBA Miami Heat game plus $2500 in expense money to the top two finishers and it only cost 700 player points to enter. So I did...along with 775 other people.

I decided to play very tight this tournament and see how far I could last. It didn't go well. I was playing very few hands and was getting blinded to death. Finally, I was down to 900 chips and managed to win a hand with three people in the pot. That pushed me up to 2500 in chips and things turned around. I kept playing tight and eventually I worked my way up to 50,000 in chips! I was in 10th place overall and was loving it.

Unfortunately as the tournament went on I lost out ona couple hands. One big one was when I had QQ and the flop came A X X. There were four people still in the hand and I figured one of them had an Ace. However, no one bet big on the flop so I bet a couple thousand. Two of them called. The turn was another Ace. I didn't like that. The player to my right bet around 5000 and I went into the think tank. I could reraise him here to see if he's bluffing, but I was down to around 25,000 in chips and the blinds were 800 and 1600. I finally folded as did the other player. Then 2 hands later I held Ace 5 offsuit in the big blind. There were two raises in front of me and I again had to think about this. I was pretty sure someone else held an Ace and my 5 kicker was very low and I was out of position. I folded. The flop came A X 5. I almost cried as I would have surely doubled up there.

In spite of those hands I was still doing well and I made it to the final 2 tables which meant there were only 20 people left. I was dealth A 10 offsuit on the button and I raised aroudn 5000. I was called by 3 others. I forget what the flop was but I had a gutshot straight and ended up calling all in because I only had round 7000 left anyway. I lost and was finished in 18th place.

So althought I won't be going to Miami this Sunday, I was pumped with my overall performance. If I could finish in 18th place in a regular money tournament online I would be doing pretty well (that means I finished in the about the top 2%). I'll have to keep playing these free tournaments and hopefully next time I'll be off to sunny ol Florida!

Playoff Game Update

Our Tauro FC playoff game has been rescheduled to Wednesday April 12th at 11:00pm. I bet I can guess how many fans are going to come out and watch!

I'm Off for a While

No need to check back on this blog every few minutes just itching to read the latest post because I'm letting you all know in advance that I will be away in Regina for the weekend at the Regina Sport and Recreation Show. I'm going down to promote the Hbc Run for Canada!

See you all when I get back.

P.S. If anyone is thinking of breaking in while I'm gone rest assured that my landlord who lives upstairs has been informed that no one should be in our house this weekend. And yes, he has a shotgun behind his front door. And a baseball bat. And I heard he's buying a pitbull on Friday to keep as a watchdog.

Take the Lead - Movie Review

Last night Shiela and I along with her friend Sheena and (I just blanked and forgot her name, sorry!) went to see the movie Take the Lead. "What!" you may say, "that movie isn't even in theatres yet!" To which I reply "You are correct." However, when you have free passes to a premier showing of the movie you get to watch it a little bit earlier.

Yep, I got some free tickets to go see this movie before it hits the big screen on Friday. For those of you in Saskatoon, keep your eys on the Planet S magazine because that is where I received my free tickets. All I had to do was go down to their office on Tuesday at 12:00pm and they handed out free double passes to the movie to everyone there. The guy was giving me a little bit of a hard time for talking loud (not surprised are you Pam) in a joking manner and so he gave me two double passes afterward.

The movie was ok. It's basically about this dance instructor who decides to help out an inner city school by teaching ballroom dancing to a bunch of kids in detention. It's sort of a mixture of Dangerous Minds and Sister Act. The kids however are into hip hop dancing and so the two music styles clash with each other and they need to learn to work together.

The dancing in the movie was pretty good. If you are into ballroom dancing you would love it. I thought there could have been a lot more hip hop dancing and was a little disappointed in that. The problem with this movie was that it didn't pull at the heart strings enough. You never really felt all that sorry for the inner city kids and their lives and actually the problems never really get solved. I also thought the ending was very weak and the only good part about the ending was that it ended with hip hop dancing.

I'd give this movie a 6.5 out of 10. However, if you are into dancing a lot you would have rated it a lot higher. I preferred movies like You've Been Served because their dance moves were way cooler! But overall the moview was a good watch and since I paid nothing to see it I can't really complain.

Heads up: Planet S and Rock 102 will be giving away free movie passes to two more movies in April. Next week they are giving away tickets to Scary Movie 4 and later in April to the movie The Rocket (which I think is about the hockey player Maurice Richard). So read your Planet S magazine (free almost anywhere in the city) to find out when to go pick up your tickets.

A True Playoff Game

The two teams took to their sides in the first round of the SDSA Men's Division 3 playoffs. It was the 3rd place Hawks vs the 6th place Tauro FC to see who would advance to the next round and push forward to the final coveted Championship Trophy.

It was a defensive battle off the start with both teams playing tight and a little slow. The chess match ensued until Rob Hydomako cruised down the left side of the field, beat an opponent and sniped a sharp angle shot into the far top corner to put Tauro FC up 1-0!

The Hawks didn't back down and a few minutes later a long chip pass was sent to an attacking forward. The forward flicked the ball forward towards the goal and his attacking midfielder ran forward onto the ball. The Tauro FC defensemen Sheldon Mathies didn't follow his man as he though the keeper would get the ball. The keeper thought Sheldon would get the ball. Needless to say it was an open shot at point blank range and the score was 1-1. (Sidenote: it was Sheldon's fault for not marking his man...never leave your man in front of the net!)

The halftime came and the Tauro FC guys were gasping for breath. Having just played in a co-ed soccer tournament all weekend a number of the players were worn out. But Isaac Hayes, the Tauro FC keeper, came in with a rousing half time speech to get the boys fired up! Tauro FC came out flying in the second half and when Robin Dalshaug passed the ball from the corner right in front of the net Kent Worthington was there to put away the go ahead goal.

But the lead didn't last long as the Hawks weren't about to give up. In a mad scramble of legs near the net a Hawks player managed to get off a shot and went into the bottom corner of the net just out of Isaac's diving reach.

With 3 minutes left to play it was time to give it one last push. Player/Coach Sheldon Mathies put Kurt Manz into a midfield position (he normally plays striker) in order to give us more attacking power. Suddenly a quick transition and a pass from Rob sent Kurt hurting towards the opposing net. Fighting off a defender that was right on his side, Kurt got a step on him and fired a shot into the back of the net. The Tauro FC bench went wild, but there was still 2 minutes to play.

And the Hawks weren't about to give up. Pushing all 5 men forward the Hawks were on the attack. Our Tauro FC played strong team defense and though the pressure was intense, the final 3 whistles from the referee were blown and Tauro FC advance to the next round of playoffs on Monday April 10th at 8:15pm with a 3-2 victory!

April Fools!

Well, for those of you that didn't catch on yet, the previous post was just an April Fool's joke! It worked even better than I thought it would...a lot of people fell for it and my phone was ringing off the hook (ok, maybe just a few calls). Sorry to anyone who had a heart attack after reading that...please email your medical bills to ifellforit@aprilfools.com to have them fully paid for.

See you again next year!

It's Sad to Say Good bye

Shiela and I have been keeping a secret for a while that I couldn't post. I really wanted to, but just in case it didn't work out I didn't want everyone to know. And no, we're not pregnant!

Shiela and I are moving to Abbotsford, B.C.

There, I said it, it's out there! Man, it feels good to get that off my chest! I know this may come as a shock to many of you, but here's the reason for the move. Many of you know that I have wanted to start up a new business for a long time...it's been a dream of mine. I finally just found out that I have been granted a franchise license to open a Dippin Dots in Abbotsford, B.C. I originally had applied for a license in Saskatoon, however the company would not grant it. They said that Saskatoon was not a big enough market, especially since no one eats ice cream for at least 6 months of the year. In Abbotsford you can eat ice cream year round which means a much larger demand and a whole lot more money!

This was not an easy decision for Shiela and I. Shiela loves her job here in Saskatoon but realizes that starting my own business has always been my dream and she has agreed to quit her job and try to find another EMS position in Abbotsford. It will most likely mean more schooling, but she is ok with that. She has decided that since she has to go back for more schooling anyway, she is going to get her Paramedic schooling right away. That way she will be one level higher up and can work in a lot more places.

We are definately going to miss Saskatoon. We have a lot of friends here and will miss them dearly. I know I am also going to miss all the poker games I have with my friends...thank goodness for the Internet. We've given our notice to our landlord and the plan is to be in Abbotsford by April 15th.

Anyways, it's late now and I need to go to bed soon. I have a big soccer game tomorrow morning at 8:30am. We entered a co-ed team into the Just For Kicks tournament and we play on Sat at 8:30am and 3:00pm. Then once more Sun at 8:30am. If we move onto the playoffs we'll play some more yet!

Ok, so good night and Shiela and I just want to say we love you all (our friends that is, any random strangers reading this that may not exactly apply to you in the same way). Feel free to leave any comments in the comments section!

Update: Click here for more details.