What a Great Day

My birthday has now come and gone and I've decided to do a blog of the day to show you how I spent it:

7:30am - Wake up and decide to go back to sleep

7:58am - Shiela wakes me up and brings me breakfast in bed. It consisted of pancakes, hashbrowns, bacon, eggs and V8 splash. It was awesome!

8:15am - I opened up a gift from Christy and John (no they weren't here, but they sent it from BC). It was a nice Canadian Olympic t-shirt from Hbc. It fit perfectly and I love it!

8:17am - I opened up my birthday presents from Shiela. She gave me a Coca Cola napkin holder (which I used as a money holder for my poker game that night), a coupon for a massage, a Dealer button (which I've needed for a long time) and a coupon that entitled me to buy the new Daniel Negraneau DVD that I wanted (she couldn't find it online, and actually I couldn't either but I know it's there, so I'm get to find it and buy it).

8:20am - I get up and shower

8:45am - I head to the computer to start "working" for the day. My "work" for the day was going to be playing poker online.

8:45am - I read the online birthday card from Kurt and Kendall...it was great!

8:48am - I read the birthday greeting from Janelle Baerg...thanks!

9:30am - My grandparents phone to wish me a Happy Birthday

9:45am - My mom phones to wish me a Happy Birthday and I find out that someone crashed their truck through the large window of the Hepburn Co-op! I thought that only happened in the movies!

9:58am - I log out of Party Poker where I've been playing Omaha high low all morning...I'm up $5.00.

10:00am - Shiela and I head out to do whatever we want...which is go look at the Olympic clothing at Hbc.

10:35am - Shiela loves all the clothing they have (and if you haven't seen it you need to check it out, it's really nice stuff) and I make a mental note for her birthday

11:15am - Make our way to Soccer Locker to spend the $60 gift certificate I received almost a year ago and haven't spent yet.

11:19am - Rob at soccer locker tells me they are just unpacking all their new stuff and so if I come back in a few days they will have a lot more stuff. He said not to worry about my gift certificate expiring since he knows me. I leave happy and will come back in about a week.

11:34am - Shiela and I are in Superstore to buy snacks for the poker game that night

11:57am - I drop Shiela off at home and go read the paper at the library.

12:30pm - I make myself some Chunky soup for lunch and head back to the computer to play some more poker

1:20pm - I've lost $25 playing poker online...I'm debating whether I should stop

1:21pm - I switch over to playing no limit hold 'em and buy in for $10.00

1:33pm - I've now lost that $10.00 and decide it's time for a nap

2:30pm - Larry phones to say he can't make it poker. I get up and play some more poker.

3:30pm - I just won a sit and go tournament and pocketed $17.50. I'm also playing in a free tournament but doing badly.

3:45pm - Decide to clean the house for the poker tournament tonight. I put my tournament status to "post and fold"

4:15pm - I play a few hands in the tournament and am knocked out. Oh well, its was free.
4:17pm - I enter another sit and go tournament for $5.00
4:22pm - I'm knocked out...not a good showing. I shut off the computer.
5:00pm - I head to KFC to pick up my birthday supper...I bought the Fun Bucket and yes, it was a lot of fun to eat.
7:00pm - Poker tournament starts and I lose a lot of chips to Shiela in the very first hand (what was I thinking drawing to a low straight). I'm worried I will get knocked out early.

8:00pm - I won a couple big hands and am back in the game.

9:00pm (circa) - Colin is knocked out of the tournament first when Ben Lim's King kicker was higher than Colin's as they both had a pair of Queens.

9:20pm - I forget the order of who was knocked out when, but in the end it was just Gramps and I.

10:00pm - Gramps and I are the final two...Gramps has few more chips, but it's pretty equal.

10:05pm - I'm getting nothing for cards and am losing chips. I win a couple hands but can't pull ahead.

10:15pm - I hold Jack, 7 and the flop comes 7, 10, 2. Gramps bets 400 and I raise 400 more. He calls. the turn is an 8. I know Gramps doesn't have the 10 so he either has a 2 or else some high cards. He bets 500. I count my chips and go all in. Gramps calls and turns over 2, 8 for two pair. The river is a blank and I'm done in 2nd place and win $10.00.

10:30pm - Everyone heads home and my birthday is done. What a fun day!

I'm really looking forward to the party on Saturday night!

It's Here!

It's finally here and it's already got off to an amazing start!! I won't blog about it a lot now because I'm going to post a blog tomorrow (hopefully) outlining my day. But so far Shiela brought me breakfast in bed and it was yummy!!!
And I can't wait for the big poker game tonight! (there are a couple seats left if you still want in!)

Big Day Approaching...Are You Ready?

It's only 2 more sleeps away. I thought I could just keep it low key and pretend that nothing was happening and it was just a normal day. Yah, right! That thought lasted about a milisecond. No way. I love birthdays and I can't wait to celebrate it!

This year I'm having a party on the Saturday after my birthday and we are going to do something that I love to do but am extremely bad at...curling! That's right, we are going curling and it will be a hoot! If you haven't been invited yet, don't worry...Shiela is doing the invitations and will be inviting people. She was actually going to do it this morning but got called in to work. So I figured I'd throw it up here on my blog to give some of you avid readers the heads up. So if you are my friend and we hang out on occassion, keep this Saturday night free as it's going to be a lot of fun!

Also, ON my birthday, that's Wednesday March 22,I'm going to have a poker night. It will be a tournament format that starts at 7:00pm and ends at 10:00pm (or really close to it). Texas Hold 'Em, $5.00 buy in but the fun is free! I hope to get quite a few people out so if you want to play some poker on Wednesday night leave me a comment on my blog and I'll save you a seat.

I've also decided what I want for my birthday, so if you haven't bought me a gift yet, feel free to choose from this list:

• 17" or 19" flat screen monitor for our computer
• Daniel Negreanu's new poker DVD (I think you can buy it at www.fullcontactpoker.com in the store section, but you might have to create a free account first
• a nice outdoor soccer ball
• Adidas casual shoes
• casual socks (not sport socks or dress socks...just casual socks)
• money to put towards my poker bankroll (feel free to transfer money online directly into my Paradise Poker or Poker Stars account if you want)
• nice athletic Adidas shirts at Athletes World (in Midtown Plaza they are in the back of the store on the bottom left hand side. I like both the white and the red ones)
• Tickets to any U2 concert
• A golf membership to a Saskatoon golf course
• new CD's (Christian bands would be great...not sure which ones...maybe a gift certificate would be good)
• Satellite radio (not sure why, but Warren has one and it sounded cool)
• Mike Caro's Book of Poker Tells
• Subscription to the magazine CardPlayer (it's a poker magazine)
• a Poker Tournament timer (probably need to buy this online)
• Gym membership to the Saskatoon Civic Centres (honest, I'll use it!)
• New VCR with remote control and the ability to program it (I broke our current VCR remote and so now we can't program shows and have to get up to fast forward the tapes. Ok, put away your violins but I'll keep the cheese)

Oh, the list could go on and on (actually, the truth is that it took me quite a while to think up all those things as I never really feel like I need anything)

That's it for now! I hope a lot of my friends can make it out to my party...Hurry! Hurry Hard!! (I'm going to be yelling that the entire time!)

I Met the Naked Man

I first received the email a few days ago. "I'm coming into the city on Wednesday. Let's meet somewhere." I read the email over again a few times. This man wanted to meet me. Alone. In the dark. No, wait, not in the dark as it will be in the afternoon. Phew. I emailed back,"Sure. Give me a call on my cell phone when you get into the city and we'll arrange a meeting." The plan was set.

I was out and about all day today cruising around and finding new places to put up posters to promote the best running event in the world called the Hbc Run for Canada. I was cruising down Arlington at around 1:30pm when my cell phone rang. I turned off the radio and picked up the phone, knowing who it was going to be. "Meet me at the corner of Louise and 8th at a place called Willy's." I didn't know which restaurant he was talking about and that gave me the willies, but I knew the location and headed on over there.

As I pulled up to Willy's I realized it was actually a place called Fajita Willy's. No problem, it was an open area, with lots of people, etc. As I stepped out of my car I glanced into the window and suddenly stared at the large "For Lease" sign in the window. The man was luring me to an abandoned restaurant. I quickly leaned back inside to find a weapon. Hmmm, what would work best. An old chocalate bar wrapper, an old coke bottle, or an old coke bottle. Ah, forget the weapon, how strong can a naked man be.

I was making my way up to the front of the door with the bag of "stuff" the man wanted. Suddenly a red truck screeched into the lot and came to a halt right in front of the door. I looked up just in time to see the man pointing at me with one finger and motioning for me to come into his truck. I was always told never to talk to strangers and DEFINATELY don't get into a strangers car (or truck), but what else could I do. The transaction had to take place and it looked like it was going to go down in the truck.

I got into the truck and the introductions happened quickly. I wanted to cut right to the chase, but the small talk started first. Oh, he was unaware that Fajita Willy's was closed when he asked me to meet him there. Phew. So this wasn't an elaborate plan to lure me to an abandoned restaurant. I finally made the transaction and handed him the bag I had. He took out some of the merchandise. "Not bad," he said. Then he reached into his bag and handed me the merchandise I was after. As I held it in my hands I could instantly tell his merchandise was not the same quality as mine, but I was expecting that. I mean, the brochures for our running event were made by a multi million dollar corporation and the brochures for his running event were made by a local community in a small town.

After the transaction was complete I talked a little more. "So you are from Eston," I began, "Were you one of the guys in the naked calendar?" Now for those of you who don't read the newspaper or listen to the radio or watch TV or take yearly vactions to the small town of Eston would probably not know that a bunch of older men decided they needed a fundraiser to raise money for a blood machine in their town. Every time someone needed certain blood tests done they had to drive an hour to Rosetown or Kindersley to get it done. So instead of that the town decided to make their own calendar of local naked men doing everyday things like riding a snowmobile, riding a riding lawn mower, etc. And yes, they were all naked.

"Actually, I was the one who planned the whole thing," the naked man informed me. I found out that this man initiated the whole calendar himself. He kept it very secretive the whole time and nobody knew they were even making the calendar until the day they released it to be sold. Even the men who were in the calendar did not know who the other men in the calendar were. So the entire town was extremely interested to find out which local men were in it. Word leaked out about the calendar and pretty soon it was all over the media, etc. and everyone knew about it. The naked man even said they were receiving money from people in the States who had heard about it. In the end they ended up raising about $29,000 for their cause which bought them their blood machine and a bunch of other things the town needed to.

It was pretty cool meeting the naked man behind all the other naked men of Eston. He is promoting an event in Eston called the Eston River Trek and is happening on May 13th. It looks like a great event and is actually very challenging...a lot more challenging than my 10K run. The Eston River Trek is actually a 40 mile walk along the river and surrounding landscape. You even have support vehicles, etc. to help you along the way. So click here to check it out...it looks like a lot of fun and if you live in Saskatoon and want a brochure let me know because I have some to give away for that event.

*P.S. At no time during my meeting with the naked man was he actually naked.

The Studio Experience

My big TV debut was about to happen and I didn't want to be late. I was suppose to be there at 11:45am for my interview and so I made sure I was early. I found a parking spot right in front of CTV and waited in the car until it was a little closer to 11:45am. So after about an hour and a half of waiting in the car I went inside (just kidding).

As I walked into the building I grabbed the door handle and pulled toward me. My arm shot back towards the door and I realized it was locked. I peered inside and saw a woman right there behind a desk staring at me. Our staring contest only lasted for about 2 minutes when I finally admitted defeat and looked away...luckily right to where the sign said that the door is always locked and needs to be opened up from the inside. I suddenly heard the buzzing and pulled the door open. This time it magically opened and inside I went.

I told the lady at the desk that I was there for the News at Noon interview and she told me to go down the hall and wait in the room until Jeff came and got me. Not being familiar with the building I started to venture down the hall looking for this "room" that I was suppose to "wait" in. I figured the first room I came to must be the one and so when I saw the first room I walked in. As I looked around I realized it was about as big as an airplane bathroom. "Man, hopefully there aren't a lot of other people here for interviews because I'm not sure how we're all going to fit in this room," I said to myself as I glanced around. I finally came to my senses and figured this can't be the room. As I squeezed on out the door I decided to walk a little further. Ah, sure enough, now this was more of a waiting room.

I walked in (there was no door) and sat down on the loveseat (do you still call them loveseats in a waiting room...seems a little too cozy for two strangers). About 1 minute later the room was getting pretty full as 3 people from a Native theatre company came in. I tried to make small talk but they pretty much all but ignored me. I was kinda surprised, but they just talked among themselves. "Oh well", I thought, "I've got better things to do," and I went back to staring at the wall. Finally another girl came in and her and I chatted until they came and got us for the interview.

As they brought us into the studio for the show I was surprised at how small it was. There was just one camera guy and the little stage where the interview would take place was right beside their anchor desk. It' funny how different things look on camera. Jeff wasn't there so it was Jennifer doing the interview and Trish was also there to do the news. We all just sat against the wall and watched it all until it was our turn. I've already blogged about the interview so I'll skip that part. It was very nerve racking up on the mini stage which is part of the reason I stumbled over my words in the beginning of the interview. I felt like I did a terrible job and as I drove home afterward I wished I had told no one about it. Howver, over the course of the next few days people who saw it emailed me and said it looked good, so I felt a little more relieved.

The scary part was that my boss in Toronto wanted to see it. Now you have to understand that she has never even seen me before. I only interviewed with her over the phone and it was another lady from Calgary that actually interviewed me in person. So now she was going to see me on TV for the first time in an interview I was not proud of...I could feel the words "You're fired!" about to be thrown into my face again. I delayed getting a copy of it made, but on the day of our local snowstorm I decided to venture out and get a copy made. After nearly spinning the tread right off my tires and rocking to get out of numerous spots where I was stuck I finally shipped them the video so they would get it Friday morning.

Friday morning came and my boss didn't say anything. Friday afternoon came and went and I still hadn't heard from them. "Hmmm," I thought, "they probably are trying to figure out how to fire someone over the phone after they watched my interview." I forgot about it over the weekend and when Monday morning came around I waited some more to hear the feedback. Monday passed and I still heard nothing. "Ok, this is crazy, " I thought, "surely they've watched it by now." Finally, Tuesday afternoon I got my first feedback...they LOVED it! She had even shown it to the President of TrojanOne and he liked it too and wanted to be sure they showed it to the Hbc executives. Pheww! I wasn't going to be fired.

So everything turned out great. I've even spoken to some of the top Hbc guys/girls and they told me they liked the interview a lot too! All that worrying for nothing. Well, I really wasn't worried. I just expect so much of myself and so it would take a lot for me to believe that I did a really good job (there's a little inside knowledge into the world of Sheldon for you!)

I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry

Ok, so it's been a long time since I've blogged. I'd like to tell you it was because I was working on a huge project that will make me millions or I was off on some exotic location, but the truth is I've just been busy. Busy with what you may ask. Well, I don't know.

I'm not sure what I've been busy with. Maybe it was being at the CIS Track and Field Championships this past weekend. Maybe it was helping out for many many hours doing evaluations for the Eastside Soccer Association. Maybe it was finding out I'm going to have to have surgery. Probably a bit of everything. Needless to say I've felt very busy...but it sure has been fun.

I'll be blogging a lot more now as I try and catch up with the last couple weeks of my life on here. So stay tuned!

Moving up the Ladder

I decided to say yes. It was a tough decision and I weighed the pros and cons, but in the end I said yes. I am now the Under 13 Boys Provincial Assistant Coach.

The head coach who I work with in a weekly soccer clinic asked me to be his assistant as he is the head coach. My biggest fear is getting burnt out. Last year the indoor season burnt me out. I was coaching the Under 14 boys Silver team, coaching Bethany College men's team, attending numerous soccer clinics put on by the Eastside Technical Director and also attending weekly mentorship sessions. Now don't get me wrong, I loved it all, but by the end I really needed a break from soccer and I ended up not coaching outdoor soccer that summer.

But I think this year will be different. The training sessions for the U13 Boys Provincial team are on the weekend and are all in Saskatoon. (Sidenote: this is actually the U13 Boys Provincial North team. There is also a South team. I don't know why they do that, probably to give more guys a chance. However the head coach told me that our North team is a lot stronger than the South team. So strong, that the guys we end up cutting from our team will probably go down south and be starters for the South team.) This means I don't have to spend time away from Shiela travelling which is nice. I will also be coaching the U11 Boys Gold team for the outdoor season. The plan is to practice with them from 4:30 - 5:45 Mon - Friday with one of those days being a game day. And both of these seasons end at the end in the first week of July. So although I will be very busy for the months of May and June, I will get July and August off to chill out and enjoy the summer...especially since my job ends at the end of July. Maybe I'll just take all of August off...hmmm, sounds like fun!

The fun part of the U13 Provincial team is we get to go to a couple big tournaments. The first one is May 19 - 22 in Surrey, British Columbia. We will be taking a team bus down there and it will be a lot of fun! So for all my West Coast readers feel free to stop on by and say hi...I'll be the assistant coach with the Saskatchewan team. The second tournament is the Rocky Mountain Cup July 5 - 9th somewhere in Alberta. Those tournaments will be a lot of fun. Another little perk is that I will get a bunch of free clothing including a windsuit, shorts, shirt, golf shirt, and fleece. But overall I am just really glad for the experience to be able to coach these kids at this level. I know I will be learning a lot from the head coach and also just how to coach at that level. It should be a lot of fun!

So, is anyone going to be in the Vancouver area on May long weekend?

My Interview Adventure - Embarrassed to Acceptance

This post will just be about the actual interview portion of my CTV News at Noon adventure. Later I'll post about the whole experience.

Being on TV is a little nerve wracking. My interview time came and I went up onto the stage and sat in the chair. Jeff was gone today so Jennifer Jellicoe was filling in for him. She put the mike on me and then we sat there and chatted briefly while we waited for the commercials to be over. She told me we had 3.5 minutes so we'd have lots of time to talk. Suddenly the camera guy gave us the finger countdown and our interview was happening...LIVE on TV!

As Jennifer started talking I glanced towards the camera and could see myself sitting there in the chair, but then I devoted my attention to the interview. I had spent a lot of time figuring out what to say and trying to remember all the different aspects of our run, but somehow that all seemed to disappear out of my head when the interview started. "Oh great," I thought, "it's just me and my memory now" and trust me, if you ask any of my friends including my wife they will tell you that my memory is not that good. Needless to say I forgot all the main points I wanted to get across.

Jennifer started off by mentioning that our run suited perfectly right now with the Olympics. That threw me off right away because I thought she would just start off asking me to talk about the event and I had a little speal ready, but suddenly I was talking about the Olympics, etc. You can tell I was nervous because I stuttered a bunch in the beginning and it took me a few seconds to get talking in an actual sentence. I felt as the interview went along that I was repeating a lot of the same things and was sounding really stupid. I hope it didn't sound that way.

There was one answer I wish I could take back. Jennifer asked me just before we went live if it was ok to ask why people should attend our run instead of the many others in Saskatoon. I told her to ask away and I figured I had an answer all ready...and I did. The answer is that our run is to help Canadian athletes, it's a national running event held in 10 different communties across Canada so the runners are part of a really large event, each participant receives a free technical running shirt and a finishers medal that has the Olympic rings on it. My big line was I was going to say, "It's probably as close to winning an Olympic medal that a lot of us will ever get! (cue laugh track now). However, instead of saying that I rambled on about how the other runs in Saskatoon have supported us in our run and how our run is great because there is something for the whole family since we have the 10K run, the 3K family walk and the 1K kids run. And if you don't want to run you can always volunteer. It probably didn't really sound that bad to the average person, but to someone who really knows the event (like my bosses in Toronto) it is obvious that I missed many key elements.

Suddenly Jennifer started talking and I could tell she was doing her wrap up speech. I was panicking on the inside because I realized that I hadn't mentioned a lot of stuff. So just as she is ending I blurt out that we also have prizes like $1000 for the top finisher and also prizes for each category (I forgot to say "age category".

As I drove back home afterward I felt like an idiot. I was wishing I hadn't told anyone else I was on TV because I had just made a fool of myself. However, after watching it again at home (yes, I taped it) I didn't feel I sounded too stupid.

So, did anyone out there see me? How do you think I did? (It's ok, you won't hurt my feelings!)

What a Great Band!

I'm a sucker for a new song. When I hear a good song on the radio (yes I listen to the radio a lot) I get pumped and want to hear it all the time. Yes, I love pop popular music.

So when I went over here I saw that he had posted about this band and also had a link to a few of their songs. After one listen I just loved the songs and knew I had to post it on my own website.

So go here to hear some great tunes by a band called Waking Ashland

For lyrics go here.

"Freeze Dirt Bag!" - Fact or Fiction

A couple weeks ago I was in Edmonton for a soccr tournament with my U12 boys soccer team. We were staying right near downtown in a great hotel right near the riverbank. We had a great view from our room as it overlooked the river and the rest of the city.

It was Saturday morning and we were about to make our way to our first soccer game over at the Edmonton soccer centre on the west side. My assistant coach and I were driving together and as we pulled out of the hotel I saw something I had never seen before. Actually, it was the screaming I heard first...a loud piercing scream for help that I had never heard before. And it was LOUD as I could hear it from inside my car. As I looked towards where the screaming was I saw a man running out of the store carrying a 24 pack of beer and running as fast as he could. My assistant coach, who happens to be from Toronto and probably sees this all the time, stated the obvious and said "that guy just robbed that store!".

As the man was running up the street we were driving parallel to him. I honestly didn't know what to do. I had a million thoughts going through my head...Did this guy have a gun? Is he dangerous? Are these Edmonton soccer teams really that good or can we win a game? It ended up that things would take care of themselves.

Being the brave hero that I am I decided there was nothing I could do and decided to just to drive to the soccer centre. Besides I could already hear the police sirens coming nearby and I figured they would catch this guy. Fate had a different plan. As I approached the first intersection (this all took place within a block of our hotel) I was going to turn left when I saw this robber barrelling across the road. Now of course he did have the right away as there was a walk light, but suddenly the hero in my decided to rear its ferocious head. The guy was running full tilt across the street and was constantly looking backwards to see if the cops were catching up. When I saw him glance back one more time the adrenaline in me kicked in. I was suddenly sweating and very hot and in a flash I was seeing all the injustice in the world...the tsunamis, the terrorists, the fact that Pepsi always makes fun of Coke and Coke never has done anything except be a better tasting soft drink. I pressed the gas pedal to the floor and shot out into the middle of the crosswalk just as the guy was running past. He didn't see a thing. He slammed into the side of my car and all I saw was him flying across the front of my hood. The case of beer went flying over the car and smashed onto the ground on the other side. The robber rolled over the front of my car and banged his head on the ground when he hit the other side. He didn't get knocked unconscious, but he just lay there groaning and holding his head.

Being the fearless and ferocious hero that I am I quickly locked all the doors in case he got up again. Luckily the police were there in an instant (I still don't know how they got there so fast except that there was a Tim Horton's across the street). Once he was in handcuffs I got out of my car and talked to the police. Needless to say I was almost late for our first soccer game since it took so long to give the police my statement. And so although this was the first time I had ever assisted in helping catch a robber, I think deep down I also hope it's the last (unless I can do it without endangering myself at all)!

Is the above story FACT or FICTION?
	FACT
	FICTION
Free polls from Pollhost.com

15 Minutes of Fame

Ok, it will actually be more like 4-5 minutes of fame, but none the less I will be on TV. To be specific, I will be on one of the greatest shows watched in Saskatoon by people who are home between 12:00 and 1:00pm during the week and only have ghetto vision (3 channels) and the best reception is on CTV. Have you guessed the show yet?

That's right! It's the News at Noon with Jeff Rogstadt! On Thursday February 23rd sometime between 12:00 and 1:00pm I will be making my grand appearance on TV for the first time. And what, you may ask, are you on TV for? Well, let me tell you...

I am in charge of promoting an event here in Saskatoon called the Hbc Run for Canada on July 1st. It's a running event consisting of a 10K run, a 3K family walk and a 1K kids run. And the best part is that all the money raised for this event is going to support our Canadian Olympic Athletes! It's going to be a lot of fun and I'm going to go on the News at Noon program to promote it.

So are you interested in running in the event? How about being a volunteer (you get a free shirt, hat and I think something else just for holding out a glass of water to some runners as they speed by you). If so, click here, or here, or even here and it will take you to the www.hbcrunforcanada.ca website (yes you can click that link too!) I hope you all decide to either run in the event or at least volunteer and help support Canada's Olympians!

Just one more question: Since it's a running event, when I go on TV should I dress up and wear a shirt and tie to show professionalism, or do I dress sporty to portray a more athletic look to the event? Please help me by telling me in the comments.

Poll Test

I'm getting ready to post a few more Fact or Fiction stories, but I want to make it easy for you the reader to choose, without having to actually make a comment. I'm thinking a simple poll will make it easier. So here is a practice poll, just to see if this will work. I've chosen something that is currently a big part of my life! (ok, I'm half joking) Please vote!

Here's the poll:

Who is your favourite O.C. character?
	Ryan
	Marissa
	Summer
	Seth
	Kirsten
	Sandy
	Julie Cooper-Nickel
	Jimmy Cooper
	I don't watch the OC
	No favourite
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I'm Caught Up...with the O.C.

When I first started watching the O.C. it was by accident. I was working on something on the couch and just happened to have the TV on while the O.C. was on. It was the episode where Jimmy finally decides to leave town and Ryan and Lindsay kiss just to make sure it's not weird (you have to watch the show to understand). I was all confused at first, but as the season went on things started coming together.

But like I mentioned earlier, Shiela and I have decided to play "catch up" with the OC. We started right at the beginning and finally, 9 discs and 34 episodes later (plus bonus features) I have caught up to where I first started watching the show. And I am going to enjoy the O.C. even more than I used to now that I understand all the history. First, there are a lot of characters I didn't even know existed: Anna, Oliver, Luke, Hailey, and Theresa to name a few. It's great to understand how everything developed from Summer not knowing Seth to being in love with him. How Seth was a loser until Ryan showed up. Understanding Seth's girl troubles. The list could go on!

But after watching a lot of episodes in a row, here are a few O.C. things I have noticed:

• Almost every episode opens in the Koehn house (usually the kitchen)
• People drink A LOT on the O.C. (I can see how Kirsten develops a drinking problem)
• They always sit in the exact same booth at the diner when they eat pancakes, etc.
• They constantly have parties, and they all look alike
• Their school dances and carnivals are WAY more decorated than anything I have ever seen at a high school
• How can they afford to order in basically every day?

The list could go on, but I'll stop. I'm looking forward to finishing off Season 2 in the upcoming weeks. Each episode is so good now that I know the history.

Anyone else out there ever notice anything interesting about the O.C. that you could add to the list I made? My favourite character is Seth. Who's yours?

Chuck Norris is Tough!

I found these Chuck Norris facts on another website and thought they were great! I never realized just how tough he was!

Here are a few of my favourites:

• Chuck Norris is the only man to ever beat a brick wall in tennis
• Chuck Norris' tears cure cancer. But he has never cried. Ever.
• Chuck Norris has counted to infinity. Twice.
• Chuck Norris has two speeds: Walk and Kill
• Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs

There are lots more of these over here. Go check them out, but don't laugh out loud (Chuck Norris is watching and will roundhouse kick you in the face!)

My First Triple Double

In my entire basketball career I don't think I ever achieved a triple double... I just wasn't good enough (and didn't rebound enough). Anyways, this weekend I have decided to accomplish my own version of a triple double.

For those of you who are unaware Movie Gallery has bought all the VHQ stores...at least in Saskatoon. As a result there are a few new rules for renting, which really aren't a big deal. The best part is that right now you can rent any of their "Gallery movies", movies that are not on the outside walls (so basically most of their 7 day rentals) for FREE. That's right, it's not buy one get one free or anything...just plain old free. It only applies to the weekend though which is Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

So today I returned some previous discs of the 1st season of the OC (which I will write about in a separate post once I'm finished with Disc 7) and I had to go to two separtate VHQ's since last week the one closest to us didn't have Discs 4 and 5 of the OC. Anyways, while I was there I realized that I didn't have an account at the 8th street store. So I signed up for an account and rented a 7 day movie for free. This was great because I had just come from the VHQ close to us and had rented the final disc of the OC for free too! So I've decided that this weekend I am going to visit both VHQ locations each day this weekend and get a free movie from each one...my own version of a triple double! And the best part is that Shiela set up her own account at each of these stores too...so she also can get 2 movies per day this weekend. That means we could have a total of 12 movies at our house this week to watch!! I don't know when in the world I'll have time to watch them all, but who cares...they were FREE!!

Posting Something Big...Maybe Small

I've been debating about whether to post something or not. If I do, it will be an ongoing thing. But it might be a little embarrassing. But maybe that would be good. I haven't decided yet, but I think it would be good.

Any guesses on what it might be?

LaserQuest Fun

I really like to plan things. Now I am also quite ok with winging things and being spontaneous, but if I'm in charge of a bunch of people I like to have things planned out. So when our soccer team went to Edmonton this past weekend I planned a night of lasertag at LaserQuest. Now I phoned ahead on Wed to see if we needed to reserve a spot and they told me it was a good idea as it gets very busy on Sat night. So I booked a group for 15 people for 2 games at 8:00 and 8:40pm. I gave them my credit card number just to hold it and everything was great. The guy just told me to phone ahead if the number of people changes. No problem I figured.

Then came the call. I wasn't home but the answering machine message said that it was LaserQuest phoning to confirm my booking for games at 8:00 and 8:40pm on Sat evening. They said it's all booked and if something changes I need to phone. No problem I figured.

So Saturday around 5:30 pm I talk to my soccer team manager (I really love managers and Eastside soccer managers are the best, but that's a different post) and she gives me the final numbers for laser tag. So I phone them to let them know there will be 20 of us instead of 15. The girl asks me for which group and I tell her for Sheldon. She can't find it. Ummm...how about Mathies. Nope. Hmmm....how about Eastside Gold Eagles. Ahhh, there it is. But suddenly I'm put on hold. No problem I figured.

After being on hold for about 5 minutes while all the parents in the hotel room are staring at me wondering what I'm doing, a familiar voice comes over the phone. It's the guy I talked to on Wed when I booked the games. "Ah, we have a problem sir in that somebody erased your booking." "Really," I ask because I couldn't believe it. "Didn't I book it with my credit card?" I ask nicely. "Yes, you did." "OK, I also received a phone call from you guys confirming this booking." "Yes, you did." "OK, then how do I no longer have a booking." "We aren't sure exactly, but someone erased it." "So, what can we do?" I ask, really not knowing what the answer is.

This is where the story turns good. The guys says they are very booked but they have one opening at 8:20pm that they can get all 20 of us into. And to make up for the mistake, there will be no charge for this. WOW! I quickly agreed to this. We would only get 1 game instead of 2, but it would be FREE! When I told the parents that they were thrilled...everyone always likes free.

So we walk into LaserQuest at 8:00pm and the guys runs up to us and tells us that he can get 10 of us into a game right now, then all 20 of us can get into the next game, then the 10 that hadn't played 2 games can get into the 3rd game. And don't worry, there is not cost! Wowsers! I couldn't believe this! We were going to get 2 free games of lasertag each. We did have to play back to back which was a little tiring but not too bad.

Now I was in game mode. My nickname was "Gotcha". The first game I was in had all 20 of us including the 10 players I coach. I did ok until my players found me and it took me along time before I could shake them as they followed me around and kept shooting me. I only ended up in 6th place after game one, but there were a total of about 30 players so that was ok. But I wanted better.

The next game I decided to be abit stealthier and I stayed mostly in one area. I still got shot a lot but I did a lot of killing (not literally obviously) myself as a few people kept on coming around my area and I shot them over and over...some people just don't learn! The only bad part was when I was "moving quickly" (you aren't allowed to run) and I ran smack into a mirror! It didn't hurt but it sure was a shock. Needless to say when the game was over I ended up ranking in 1st place overall...beating out one of my players dads by 1 point! He was heartbroken. The funny part was that we didn't even see each other the entire game. However, when they were handing out the top 5 places they said "And in 1st place is Gotcha" and suddenly this lady I didn't know walked up and took the piece of paper. I was already walking up there too and I quickly informed her that I was Gotcha. She then looked at me and said "Gotcha!" and laughed. It was a good joke and I laughed (but if she had taken my paper I would have had to release a storm with thunder and lightning).

It ended up being a great night and due to the mixup it ended up costing us nothing (instead of the $260 it should have). So if you are ever in Edmonton (or Regina for that matter) go check out LaserQuest. It's a lot fun! Just watch out for "Gotcha"!

A Great Edmonton Tournament

This past weekend was so much fun as my assistant coach and I took my U12 boys soccer team to Edmonton for a soccer tournament. I knew the games would be extremely tough, but that is what I wanted. That way we could come back to Saskatoon and be able to play that much better against the Saskatoon teams.

We started off the trip by meeting at Galaxyland in West Edmonton Mall where all the boys spent the afternoon going on all the rides. They had a blast! I only arrived around suppertime so I didn't go on any, but the truth is I wouldn't have anyway...not unless I wanted to throw up again like the last time I had been at West Ed. We had a great meal at the Old Spaghetti Factory (all 25 of us) and then headed back to the hotel for a quick team meeting and some sleep.

Saturday we played our first game against the Strikers. They were the defending provincial champs from last year. Before I get into the score, I need to let you know that the rules in Alberta are different than in Saskatchewan. To keep it short, in Alberta the walls are live, they have a 3 line pass rule, you can pass the ball back to the keeper, they have blue cards, they run the clock right down to the buzzer, and it's stop time in the last 2 minutes of the 2nd half. Essentially it is exactly like hockey! Needless to say it was going to take some getting used to. So we lost our first game 5-0 which would come back to haunt us. That score doesn't show the game well as we scored on ourselves once, they managed to get a last second shot and score, and the referee called a goal against us when the ball was on the line but the other team complained and said it was a goal so the referee called it a goal. We just couldn't score.

Game number 2 happened 2 hours later. We came out fired up and dominated the other team...but again we had trouble scoring even though we were peppering their keeper with shots. But we finally managed to put one away and then Corentin kicked in an empty netter in the dying seconds of the game to give us a 2-0 victory!

Mike (my assistant coach) and I went and did a little shopping after that and when we got back to our room we had a little surprise. Our entire room was filled with streamers, toilet paper, mini pylons and soccer balls. There was also a big sign on our door saying that Mike and I were #1. It was pretty funny and they did a lot of work to do it all (along with the help of some of the moms). We went to our managers room for supper and Mike and I pretended we hadn't been to our room yet so all the boys were keeping quiet as if nothing had happened...they did a really good job of it! But they were nice enough to come clean it up for us later on.

We then went laser tagging and that was a blast. We had a little mishap with them, but I'll write an entire post on the laser tag itself later on.

On Sunday we had our final game. If we won or tied we would get2nd place (there was no final, just top teams after the round robin win). The other team scored right away and we played most of the game down 1-0. Finally in the 2nd half we put one away and tied it up. Then Corentin (who scored all of our goals on the weekend) scored another one and we were up 2-1. With about 5 minutes left a heartbreaker happened and our goalie let the ball slide underneath him and slowly roll into the net. 2-2. I didn't see how they scored their 3rd goal as the referee was yelling something and I thought he was talking to me. When I looked back at our goal I saw them shoot and score. So with 1:30 left we were down 3-2. Our guys played extremely hard but we couldn't score. The biggest play came with about 45 seconds left and Corentin was running down the field with the ball. He was in the crease and tried to shoot the ball when he was taken down and totally fell flat out...no call. That's when I lost it! My voice was hoarse after all that screaming I did after that. I couldn't believe this referee was robbing us like that. We lost 3-2.

That made a 3 way tie in our pool for 2nd place. This is where I realized that as a tournament coordinator you need to have everything specifically written out in the rules. Due to the 3-way tie it went to goal differential...but is goal differential just between the 3 teams that are tied, or does it include the games against the team that got first place? Most Saskatchewan tournaments decide goal differential with only the goals scored in the games between the tied teams...not so in Alberta. Due to our 5-0 loss we ended up in 4th place, where as if it would have been the other way around we would have taken 2nd place.

Overall it was a great weekend and a lot of fun! I was very impressed that my boys could handle themselves against the Edmonton teams and if we would play them in Saskatoon it wouldn't even be a contest as we would slaughter them. But it was so much fun and the boys had a great time which is what was really important. I need to keep reminding myself...these boys are only 12 years old!

Wanna Win Some Money?

Now you know the saying..."it takes money to make money." Well, this is no exception, but the amount of investment is so minimal. What if I told you that if you invested just $1.00 you could walk away with $450.00! It sounds too good to be true doesn't it? But it's not! It's for real, but only for a limited time!

That's right, for a limited time our soccer team is doing a fundraiser. We are selling tickets for the SuperBowl this Sunday. Not actual tickets for the game...this is even better! Each ticket has a score on it for the SuperBowl (for example: Pittsburgh 22 Seattle 19). If the score on your ticket is the actual score at the end of the game then you win $250! It's really that easy! There are also bonus prizes. If your score matches the score at the end of 1st or 3rd quarter you win $50. If it matches the halftime score you win $100.

So step right up and buy your ticket today...they are only $1 each! If you want one or five or twenty or however many, just leave me a comment and I'll collect from you later! It really makes the game a lot more fun to watch when you want the score to match your ticket! The proceeds are going to support our Tauro FC soccer team and hopefully there will be enough to buy a brick to help support the new soccer centre in Saskatoon!

Living Right

The other day my favourite Canadian poker player, Daniel Negreanu, won a big tournament in the World Series of Poker tournament circuit in Tunica, Mississippi which is great as he had had not won a major tournament in quite a while. The interesting part was what he wrote on his blog afterward. Here's an excerpt:

You know, it just wouldn't be right of me to leave out the following bit of information that I feel makes me not only a more focused player, but also a better person: I've been "livin' right." Every night I've been reading a few chapters of the Bible, getting to bed early, being productive, and staying positive. There is no way to measure how important all of that is, but personally, I know that without that, "routine" if you will, I'm simply not as good as I can be. Having a personal relationship with God is very important to me and I think I’ve been letting my “busy life” interfere with my priorities a little bit. First and foremost, I need to become a better husband, a better son, and a better friend to my friends. When I do that, everything else just has a way of falling into place, and no, I don’t think it’s a random coincidence!

I think it's great how Daniel writes that on his poker blog that thousands of people read all the time. He doesn't hide his faith at all. And I totally agree with him because I find the same thing in my own life. When I am regularly reading the Bible and praying I feel that things just seem to go better. Now don't hear me say that everything goes the way I want (I wish!), but I find that when my realtionship with God is good, I feel better, little things don't irritate me as much, and I'm just all around happier.

Does anyone else out there find this in their life?

Oh the Pain!

The 4th Annual Alumni Soccer Tournament has once again come and gone. I think this was one of the best Alumni tournaments we've had to date. We had over 25 Alumni come back to Bethany for this tournament and everyone had a blast. It was a double round robin set up and then the top 2 teams moved on to the final. This meant that the two teams in the final ended up playing 5 games of soccer (40 min games) within a 24 hour period. And yes, I was feeling it the next day.

We tried a couple new things this year. First we had a silent auction where we auctioned off some jerseys from Mexico. This went ok, but next year I think a live auction at the annual Brunch would bring in more money for Bethany. The second thing we had was a tournament MVP. Each team picked an MVP from their team and the other team after each game. The person with the most votes at the end won the prize which was also a soccer jersey from Mexico.

Oh yeah, the results. Well, my team did very well...but we didn't quite win. We lost in the final 6-4 to the younger Alumni team (called the Young Pups, we were the Geezers). The other team had some of the best soccer players Bethany had ever produced (even though our team also had excellent players, just a bit older) so we were very happy to even be contenders in the final. However, I really wanted to win that Bethany Cup and I am already set to go back next year and beat those guys!

Was anyone else watching the tournament this weekend? Any ideas on how to improve this tournament for next year?

Can you Keep a Secret?

I'm excited about this weekend because it's the Alumni Soccer Tournament weekend at Bethany College! I love this event...not only because I'm the tournament organizer but it's just a lot of fun to play against all the guys I used to coach as well as play with my old teammates from when I was there.

The thing is this is a competitive yet fun event. The winning team gets their name on the Bethany Cup and gets to drink the sweet nectar (sparkling apple juice) from the Bethany Cup too. So needless to say I want to win.

In order to do that I decided I was going to try and give myself an extra edge. No, I didn't stack my team or anything. Instead, I'm blood doping.

Now if you don't know what blood doping is it works like this. You start by taking blood out of your system. Then you let your body rest for a few days as the blood replenishes itself. Then you take the blood you took out of your body and have it put back in. Now your body has an abundance of blood in it and it will give you extra energy to be able to perform better athletically. So I've decided to do this...sort of.

You see, I have it pretty easy. My body is automatically taking the blood platelets out of my body so I don't even have to remove any blood from my body. It happens automatically. So because my blood platelet count got down to a low count again (11,000), then this past week on Thursday and today I went back into the hospital and they hooked me up again for some more IV gamma globulin. So I laid there in the hospital for about 2.5 hours each day and had blood products pumped back into my body. So now I'm hoping that I will have extra energy for this weekend and can help propel my team to VICTORY! Then I'm back in the hospital again on Monday for one final treatment which will hopefully continue to pump extra blood platelets into my body.

Now blood doping is not legal when it comes to professional sports. However, I don't think any doping agency is going to be testing any of the Alumni players this weekend, so I should be good. But just in case, let's keep this hush hush just between us!

So if anyone wants to see some great soccer action this weekend, come on out to Bethany College starting at 7:00pm tonight for a great weekend of soccer. Go Geezers Go!! (That's my team)

It was the Summer of '69

Actually it was more like the winter of '06, but yes, it was one of the best days of my life (ok, so it wasn't in the top 10, that is sort of filled with getting engaged, getting married, seeing U2, etc., but pretty close). Yep, last night I had a rocking good time at the Bryan Adams concert. My sister and her boyfriend bought Shiela and I tickets for Christmas and they were EXCELLENT seats. We were sitting on the floor level in the 5th row from the front exactly in the middle of the stage! They were some of the best tickets to a concert I had ever had! I was so close to Bryan that if I had reached out my hand I could have touched his shoe. Ok, actually I would have only touched the hair of these older ladies in front of me and probably would have been hauled away by security for sexual harrasment or something, but we were VERY close.

Honestly, it felt like Bryan was singing straight from the heart and he was rocking the place! He started off the concert singing "Room Service" which was 1 of only 2 songs he played that I didn't basically know all the words to. In the heat of the night at Credit Union Centre it was very obvious that everywhere Bryan goes, kids wanna rock and people were rocking last night. I also realized I'm getting old because during the opeing act of Daniel Powter I was wearing earplugs so I wouldn't hurt my ears, but I found that the concert was WAY more enjoyable without them and after a while I was rocking so hard I didn't care if I could ever hear again!

Some highlights of the concert were:
1) During a slower song Bryan told everyone to show their cell phones. People used to have lighters, but not anymore. I turned around and looked around the arena and there were a TON of glowing phones all over the place. It was pretty cool.

2) Bryan picked a girl from the audience to come up and sing "Baby, When You're Gone" with him. The first girl he picked went up there but when the song started she didn't know the words. So Bryan stopped the song, gave her a tambourine to play and then picked another girl from the audience. The new girl knew the words and sang it with Bryan. But tambourine girl didn't want to give up the spotlight. She tried singing into the other girls mike but Bryan then pulled the new girl closer to him so tambourine girl couldn't sing in it. Then the lead guitar player came over and kept tambourine girl company. That's when tambourine girl started getting a little crazy and was spanking herself with the tambourine, etc. She definately made a fool of herself.

3) The lead guitar player, who was amazing, had a little guitar solo showdown with Bryan which was pretty cool. I think the lead guitar player was better.

4) Did Bryan have to say the words? NO! I basically knew all the words to every song, and the best part was the music was so loud I could sing the lyrics as loud as I wanted and nobody could hear me over the real music. And I wasn't the only one. Bryan would often stop singing and it didn't matter because everyone in the entire arena was singing the lyrics for him. It was awesome!

The concert was going so well I told myself, "we can't stop this thing we started", but although it cut like a knife and Bryan said "Please forgive me", after about 2 hous and 15 minutes of playing including two encores, Bryan told all his fans that "Everything I do I do it for you" and left the stage for the final time. It felt like I was in "Heaven", but as the house lights came up I came back down to earth and will remember that I always want to be 18 til I die!

Home Sweet...Office?

It was a late night and I was in a deep, dreamy sleep. I was dreaming that I was playing in a no limit poker tournament and I had just flopped a Royal flush. The other guy bet, I raised, he reraised, and then I went all in. Needless to say he was knocked out when I won. Of course, like most dreams, this one was a little weird since I had about 10 cards in my hand so finding the right ones for the Royal Flush wasn't hard. Anyway....

As I'm happily dreaming my alarm clock goes off. I bolt out of bed thinking the smoke alarm is going off and the house is burning down, though I quickly realize it's just the alarm clock, shut if off, and fall back to bed. The next thing I know I wake up and it's 7:55am!!! I have to be at work by 8:00am!! I bolt out of bed, run across the hall to the next room, quickly sit down, look at my watch, and sigh with relief. I made it to work with 4 minutes and 50 seconds to spare!

That's right, I love working at home. You can sleep in til just before 8:00am and then walk over the office still in your housecoat. Actually, I'm working in the buff right now...just kidding! I have underwear on! You can set your own hours, listen to music while you work, update your blog (ok, I'm on a coffee break right now), talk to your wife whenever, eat lunch at home instead of packing a lunch, etc. Yep, working from home is great. I'm not sure what I'll do if I ever get an office job again.

If you would like to contact me at work, here is my contact info: same as before LOL!!

Does anyone else out there work from home?

Hockey Night in Saskatoon

It only took about 3 years but I finally made it back out. That's right, I went out and played some shinny yesterday. Every year I tell my friends we should go out and play some shinny, but we never do. Well, this year I dug deep into our storage closet and pulled out my skates along with an old hockey stick. Unfortunately it was a right handed stick and I shoot left handed, so I really have no idea where the stick came from. But it worked out well because Shiela shoots right so she used it. We both even took our skates and had them sharpened (I boght Shiela new skates for Christmas)!

As 8 of us trekked across the park to the local outdoor community rink I was excited. I was the only one wearing a helmet (you know, the whole ITP thing, even though because I'm not a great skater I prefer to wear a helmet when I play even if it looks "uncool"). Of course I was the last one to get my skates tied up but I finally made it onto the ice. As I hobbled along I started to get the groove back and was able to skate around "at a reasonable speed". That was until I came skating into the middle and completely wiped out (the ice was pretty rough). But it worked out well since I slid into the pile of sticks on the ice and just started throwing them to different sides to make up the teams.

After about 3 minutes of skating my lungs were on fire, but I eventually got my second wind and was able to keep going. The only bad part of the night was when I tried to pull a hocky move on my wife. I was skating towards her with the puck and as I pushed the puck past her on my left I lifted my stick quickly over her head to get the puck on the other side. Unfortunately I haven't practiced that move much (I've just seen it on TV and figured I could do it too) and my stick whacked my wife in the back of the head. Needless to say that was the end of that play and I didn't score on that. However, I did manage to score a goal a little later on and celebrated it a lot by riding my stick down the ice and shooting my glove out of the air! I definately want to play again very soon!

Bigger, Better, Brighter

Last night I had my first look at the new soccer centre building here in Saskatoon...and it is NICE! The large field in the middle looks amazing and I can't wait to play on it. Now there is actually very little finished in the new building. Only the main field is done and everything else is one big construction site, but here are my thoughts on different aspects of the building.

Lighting: Excellent
When I walked into the building I felt like I was walking onto an outdoor field it was so bright. It could be that everything else was a construction site so the lights shining off the bright green turf made it feel very bright, but overall I loved the lighting. However, there is no lighting outside in the parking lot yet or on the way into the building, so don't hurt yourself walking in the dark.

Outdoor Field: Excellent
This field is LARGE! It is very wide and it really feels like you are playing outdoors. The games I was watching were the youth 8 vs 8 games where they play on just half the field width wise, but it honestly felt like I was watching an outdoor game. The 8 vs 8 game is not going to be like an indoor game at all. It is completely like outdoor with throw ins, corner kicks, offsides, etc. It was great to watch and will really give us a better edge in National competitions because we can play outdoor soccer year round now.

Seating: Average
Right now there is no seating because it is not finished, but I could see where the bleachers were going to go and I wasn't impressed. I feel that it will be very similar to the old soccer centre style seating. It's ok, but when you have some really big games happening there is not near enough room to watch. I hope it turns out ok but I'm not too optimistic.

Lounge: Not Sure
The lounge is not completed yet so it is hard to judge, but one thing I noticed right away was that the lounge is not centralized like it was in the old soccer centre. In the old centre you could watch all the fields from inside the lounge. But this new one has the loung on the far side of the building. So it's great if you want to watch the north end of the large outdoor field, but I think for everything else you will need to leave the lounge if you want to watch.

Parking: Average
It could just be that not all the parking was finished yet, but last night I was there and the parking lot was already basically full. That is trouble because last night there were only 2 games happening at a time and they were not using the 2 old style indoor fields at all. I hope there will be enough parking, but I 'm skeptical. Also, they installed a few dividers to help with the parking, but in my opinion they are way too large and take up some valuable parking space.

Overall Look: Excellent
I think this is going to be one of the nicesest soccer centres in Canada. Having a large outdoor field indoors is amazing and makes the building feel huge. It's going to be amazing to play on.

Be sure to go check it out for yourself very soon. The Tauro FC Men have an exhibition game there on Jan 25 at 9:30pm so be sure to come out and watch (bring a lawn chair as there may not be a lot of seats)

It's Going To Be a Great Year

Goodbye 2005 and hello 2006! That's right, I'm excited about this new year! I feel that it's a time for new beginnings and a chance to forget about everything that didn't go well in the last year. Now, I don't usually go about writing down new years resolutions. I sort of make them, in my mind only, because that way if I don't fulfill them nobody knows. But this year I've decided to share a few of them:

1) Score more goals in soccer
2) Play more shinny
3) Make a lot of money

All three of these should be pretty easy to do. I'm not much of a goal scorer in soccer so as long as I score the odd goal here and there I should be able to beat my last years result. As for playing shinny, I haven't even played once in the last 3 years so if I manage to get out even once this goal will be accomplished (even though I want to play at least 3 - 4 times this winter if not more). Make a lot of money...this is pretty basic. Everyone who knows me knows that I claim I will one day be rich. That is still my plan and I feel that this is going to be my breakout year! Besides that, since I've been unemployed for the last 4 months making more money than last year shouldn't be that hard! I do have a few other resolutions, but I'll keep those to myself.

Well, there you have it. Did any of you make any resolutions?

Merry Christmas

I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Yes, it really is almost 5:00am in the morning. Shiela got called in to work tonight so I decided to take that time and get my office ready for my new job. And trust me, it was a big job! We don't live in a big place so my office also is our storage room...and we seem to have a lot of stuff! But for the last 5 - 6 hours I've been ITZ (In The Zone...it means I've been extremely focused and performing extremely well...play tennis for the XBOX and it will all make sense) and I've revamped our office/storage area into a workable office for myself for the next 7 months. There are still a few adjustments to make but I love it so far.

So, now I'm not sure if I should go to bed or wait for Shiela to come home around 6:00am. Actually, maybe I'll go do some shopping at Wal-Mart since they are open 24 hours today...not that I have any gifts to buy but it might be fun to say I was shopping at 5:00am!

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

TrojanOne Hires Top Recruit

Saskatoon - TrojanOne was pleased to announce today the signing of top marketing recruit Sheldon Mathies. "We are very excited to have Sheldon on board with our company," stated a TrojanOne recruiter. "We know he will do a bang up job for us over the next 7 months." TrojanOne is a sport marketing and event management business based out of Toronto. They have been involved in numerous sport marketing events including the award winning RUNTO which was a large 10K running event in Toronto that attracted approximately 5000 people.

"Sheldon has been hired to be the Local Marketing Coordinator for an event called the HBC Run for Canada," a TrojanOne spokesperson explained. "This is a national event that is happening in 10 major cities across Canada all at the same time. Sheldon will be responsible for the promotion of the event in and around Saskatoon as well as handling all the logistics of the event and getting people to sign up for the run." TrojanOne is based out of Toronto with offices in Calgary and Vancouver, however Sheldon will be conducting business from his home office in Saskatoon. "I think this will be a lot of fun as I finally get to get into sport marketing which is a passion of mine," stated Sheldon. "I wasn't really looking that hard for a job as I would like to be in business for myself, but I think this will be a fun little adventure for the next 7 months."

The HBC Run for Canada consists of a 10km run, a 3Kkm Family Walk, and a 1km kids run. It will be taking place on on July 1st, so if you are interested in being a part of this national event to help raise money for our Olympic Athletes then keep your ears open and register for this event.

Referees Are Ruining Sportsmanship

This has been bugging me for a long time and so it's time for a rant. Soccer is a gentlemens game and as such we like to portray acts of sportsmanship. One of the main ways to demonstrate sportsmanship (besides NOT tripping the other team from behind on purpose) is when a player gets hurt. When the opposing team gets hurt, it is sportsmanlike for the player with the ball to kick it out of bounds. This is because in soccer the play is not suppose to stop until the ball is out of bounds, regardless of who is hurt on the field. At that point, it is obviously the other team's thrown in (free kick in indoors). It is then sportsmanlike for the team who is throwing (kicking) in the ball to give it back to the team that kicked it out so that the injured player could be attended to. I love this aspect of the game. It is very sportsmanlike and shows a lot of respect for each other as players.

But the referees are killing this ancient ritual. The problem now is two fold:
1) Referees are stopping the play for an injury when the ball is still in play
2) The referees are telling players what to do when they restart the play with a drop ball

Let's address problem one first. I don't care if it is indoors or outdoors, the FIFA rules say the play can't stop until the ball is out of bounds. However, the other night while watching my wife play on our women's Tauro team (who are now 5-0) I saw another terrible ref forcing sportsmanship on people. A Tauro girl was running down the left side of the field and shot the ball at the net. The goalie was coming out to save it and the ball was kicked right in her face (a great save, but it probably hurt, I know from past experience as I've had 3 balls in the face in the last 5 games). The goalie went down, the ball bounced across the crease to another Tauro player who was about to shoot the ball into the open net. TWEEET! The referee blew the whistle because the goalie had been hit in the face. Now you may think I am extremely cruel, but the fact of the matter is, if you play in goal you will get hit in the face. There is no reason to stop the play just because a goalie saves a shot with her face. The ball was not out of bounds and our Tauro girls would have easily scored the empty netter. That is just a part of soccer and the referee should have allowed the play to proceed. Now, to be a true sporstsman, the Tauro girl could have chose not score and kick the ball out of bounds instead, but the referee robbed her of any choice whatsoever by blowing the whistle.

So that is problem number one. Now for problem number two. When a referee blows the whistle for a hurt player when the ball is still in play it makes it hard to know who should get the ball after. When a player kicks the ball out of bounds it is easy, because the team that kicked it out will get it back from the other team. But in indoors they have to do drop balls when this happens. And I'm fine with that. What really gets me mad is that the referees won't even let the players be sportsmans. Rather than just do their job and drop the ball, they start telling teams to back off or to kick the ball to the other team. Whatever happened to the players deciding that for themselves...that is what sportsmanship is all about. It means nothing when a player is told to kick the ball to the other team...then it just becomes a rule.

And the worst part is when the referees get it wrong when it comes to who should get the ball back after they foolishly blow the whistle and stop the play. Back to the Tauro women's game last night. After the goalie incident, the referee called for a drop ball at the top of the crease. Except that then he told the Tauro girl to just tap the ball to the goalie to give them the ball since she had been hurt. WHAT!!! You don't give the ball to the team that had the hurt player...it goes to whichever team HAD POSSESSION of the ball. Being hurt is just part of the game and shouldn't warrant you getting a free ball. That is why it works so well when referees let the players figure it out for themselves instead of playing Mr. Nice Guy. It's obvious that if your player is hurt and I have the ball, I will kick it out of bounds for you so your player can be attended to. Then you will be sportsmanlike and give the ball back to me when you throw (kick) it in. I don't give it to you because your player was hurt...that is just soccer.

Anyways, I just had to get that out. Referees need to just call fouls and leave the rest alone...let us play the game with sportsmanship the way it was meant to be played and there wouldn't be so much confusion. There is no award for most sportsmanlike referee so they need to stick to what they get paid for.

Am I just a big meanie? What are your thoughts regarding this?

Early Christmas Present

It's not often I get an early Christmas present, but yesterday I went for another visit to the Specialist and he was in the Christmas spirit. After getting past his bodyguards and being ushered into a private room that only consisted of a bed, a few tools on the wall, a desk and a chair I was able to meet with the specialist alone. After some chit chat about my condition (he told me my fuel level had dropped to 16,000) he handed me my Christmas present. I was ecstatic as I wasn't expecting a Christmas present from him. As I ripped it open I pulled out the passes and saw what my gift was...

The specialist had gone ahead and booked me in for 3 days at a local resort with all expenses paid. He said they would take care of everything. All I had to do was check in and they would have my room made up for me, they would provide meals for me and there would constantly be someone to get me anything I needed. He also said if it was available I could have one of the nice rooms with a great view overlooking the South Saskatchewan river. It would be a great time to just relax and "refuel" my body. The only condition was that I had to go right away, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

As I walked out with my Christmas gift I was excited. The Specialist said that the time at the resort would be really good for me and would allow my body to increase its energy level. So for the next 3 days between 12:00 and 2:00 or so I'll be spending some time at the local resort by the UofS, getting "refueled and refreshed". If anyone wants to come visit feel free...I think my room is on the 3rd floor in the special section called "Day Medicine".

"Smart" Ball Won't Be Used

Looks like the newest technology won't be used in next year's World Cup.

Link

I think it's a good idea for them to wait until the technology is very good and tested thoroughly before using it. You would hate to see England win the World Cup on a controversial goal...we all know they are going to win it hands down without any help from technology! Go England Go!

What are your thoughts?

Blood, Soccer and Poker updates

I haven't posted lately because in my mind not much has happened. Then I remember that this was originally suppose to be a story blog of true and not so true stories. So really, I shouldn't need any "new" things to happen in order to post. I need to get back to those roots.

On the other hand, I rather enjoy blogging about other things that happen to me. So here's an update. Last Wednesday I phoned in for my platelet count results and found out they had gone up 1,000 to 32,000. This was great, because I thought for sure it would have gone below 30,000 and I'd be back in the hospital. Thank you to all those who have been praying for me.

Our Tauro FC soccer team is on the move! That's right, after starting the season off at 0-4 we have now gone on a 3 game winning streak. And the best part is those wins were against the first place teams. We now have a regular full time goalie and the team is starting to gel together. I'm pumped for the remainder of the season and it would be amazing to win the division title after starting off the season at 0-4. Our girls Tauro team is also doing amazing and have started the season at 4-0. The merger with another Division 2 team before the season is really looking like a good move for both teams.

Finally, my poker game is still going pretty good. Last week I entered 3 sit and go tournaments and finished in 2nd place in the first 2 and fifth in the 3rd one. I was pretty happy with my play, but I need to keep sharpening my skills so I can manage to get those first place finishes since that is where the big money is. On Saturday night we had a little four person tournament at my place. My chip stack was on a roller coaster as I went up and down throughout the night, but I managed to win a couple big hands that kept me in it. I called 3 persons "all in" bets pre flop with good cards each time, but I only won 1 out of 3. The first one I won and busted out a player with my KJ offsuit when I hit a Jack on the river. The second hand I called with A 4 against the other players A 2. He hit a 2 to win it on the turn. I then called the third players all in bet with A K against his A 9. He managed to get his nine to top off his straight on the board. Luckily I managed to still stay alive after losing those and went on to win the entire tournament.

I'll be posting more stories soon so stay tuned!