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!

Thank You Loyal Fans!

This post is to say a big thank you to all our great fans that endured the sometimes harsh elements to watch our weekly Tauro soccer games. The fans in this picture were at many of our games this summer and it's great to have people cheering you on! I know there were many others that came out and thank you as well, I just didn't have a picture of you all. We look forward to seeing these same fans and hopefully many more (yes, this means you if you live in or near Saskatoon) cheering us on during this indoor season. Hey, it's warm inside so it's already better than outdoor!! Check out the Tauro FC schedule under Men's Div 3 at http://sdsa.saskatoonsoccer.com

Medical History and New Pictures

I can't seem to post these pictures like I want, so this will have to do. Sorry that it doesn't look very pretty.
This first picture is the lunch they served me in the hospital. It looks uneaten because that is usually how I left it. I brought my own lunch with me since there is no way I would eat their sandwiches. I did eat the soup once and I always drank the juice, but that's about it. By the third day they didn't even bring me a lunch but just asked if I wanted juice.
This is the needle I had in my arm for the 3 days I went to the hospital. They just kept it in my the whole time so they wouldn't have to put it in every day. It worked for me. I asked if I could just hook it up to a Coca Cola IV but they assured me that wouldn't be a good idea. Oh well, doesn't hurt to ask.
And this is me in my hospital bed. I look really sick all bundled up like that but I really felt pretty good. I would just spend the time reading books or playing crib with Shiela.

I decided to look back and take a look at just how my platelet count has been doing. Every Tuesday I go and get my blood tested and then sometimes I'll phone to find out what my count was at. Often I don't phone because I figure if it was bad they would phone me, but every once in a while I get curious (and so does Shiela!) (this chart didn't post real well, but hopefully you can see the trends)

So I've posted a chart that shows my platelet count from the day I found out about this until this last Tuesday. I'm missing a couple near the end of October, but the chart shows almost all of my results. You can clearly see the time where I went in for IV gamma globulin because my platelet count went very high. After that I was reducing my prednisone amount by 5mg every 5 days. Well, you can see what happened with that. The specialist finally stopped me at 15mg around the middle of October and now since my last meeting with him I'm down to 10mg a day. If it gets below 30,000 I'm back in the hospital for some more IV gamma globulin.

This last Monday night in soccer the other team kicked the ball hard right at my face and it nailed me right in the eye. I couldn't see for a few seconds but it started to clear up. Luckily it didn't bruise because that is exactly the type of thing that will send me back to emergency (for some reason bleeding in the head is a bad thing)....but we've watched it closely and nothing has happened with it. I feel God protected me in that encounter.

I Love Poker!

I've been noticing lately just how much I really enjoy playing poker. It is so much fun. Reading people, trying to bluff, having your heart race trying to figure out whether or not to make a call and the highs and lows of winning and losing big pots.

This last weekend I went out to a poker tournament in Waldheim. There was a total of 12 people so it was an ok size group. The top three places paid out $40, $15, and $5 (I know, the payouts are a little out of whack. It should have been $30, $20, $10 or something, but whatever). Myself and 2 other friends I regularly play with drove the 30-40 minutes out there and the ironic part was that when we randomly drew cards for positions we all ended up at the same table right beside everyone. Oh well, no big deal.

The tournament went really well. I had a couple big hands that helped me along. The first one was when I played King and 2 offsuit in the small blind. The flop came out King, Jack, 2 so I had flopped 2 pair. I bet around 300 (we started with about 2000 chip value) and my friend to my left called. It ws just the two of us and I kept making fairly large bets as I figured I had him with 2 pair. He kept calling me and the turn and river cards were just rags. He made a large final bet and I debated for a while whether to call. I did and when I showed my two pair he just about died. He didn't last much longer after that since I had taken a large chunk of his chip stack.

At the final table I had two big hands. The first was up against my landlord who happened to be there too. I was holding Queen 8 and the flop came out 2 Queens and a low card. I checked and my landlord made a bet after debating for quite a while. The turn card was a King. My landlord quickly called all in and I sat there debating for a while. I figured he may have a King, but probably not a full house since he hesitated on the first bet. I finally called him (he had more chips then me so if I lost I was out). He flipped over Ace and something else and I won with my trip Queens. Needless to say my rent will probably go up now! LOL

Anyways, I ended up getting second place and my other friend got first. I felt like a ringer as we left with everyones money, but I guess that's how it goes sometimes. I can't wait to play again!

If anyone out there wants to join our poker game (we usually play no limit hold em tournament with just a $5 buy in) let me know in the comments section and I'll invite you out.

Oblivious to Fame - Fact or Fiction

Growing up during my high school years in Caronport I worked in the cafeteria in the summertime during different sport camps to earn a little money. It was a great job, especially being the beverage guy. All I had to do was ensure that the beverages were always full. This meant replacing the milk, chocolate milk, waters, making more juice, ensuring the coffee was full, etc. It was a great, coveted job and I loved it.

One morning I was working the breakfast shift as the beverage guy during a hockey camp for young boys. All the boys had gone through the breakfast line and had kept me hopping on my toes as I constantly refilled the chocolate milk (most of the boys took full advantage of drinking as much chocolate milk and pop as they could during this week since their parents weren't there to stop them) and other beverages that these kids constantly drained. As the last couple kids left the cafeteria I decided it was finally time to eat my own breakfast. So I grabbed some french toast, bacon and chocolate milk (yeah, I was still a kid at heart!) and sat down for a good breakfast.

As I sat there eating an older man (I thought he was old since I was only about 15) came in, got his breakfast and came and sat down beside me. I didn't think much of it even though there were about 500 other empty spots for this guy to sit in. But whatever, he was being nice and probably figured he didn't want to eat alone. So we ate and chatted a bit, but being a young high school kid I didn't really have that much to say. The only strange thing I noticed was that I kept feeling that there were people watching me as I talked to this guy. I quickly glanced over my shoulder toward the dishpit entrance and saw a bunch of my friends peaking out the door at us. I didn't think much of it and figured they must just be slacking off.

As I finished my breakfast I said goodbye to this guy and said I had to get back to work. As I brought my dishes into the dishpit my friends were acting excited. Once they realized that I wasn't all that excited, they asked me if I had any idea who I had been eating breakfast with. Having no idea I considered lying so I wouldn't look stupid, however not only would that go against being a Christian I honestly had no idea who he was. They then informed me that I had been eating breakfast with a professional hocky player...Bob Bassen of the St Louis Blues. As I finished cleaning up the beverage counter I pondered this rare meeting and felt special that I had the chance to eat breakfast with a professional hockey player. However, I think this meeting would have had much more impact on someone who actually really enjoyed hockey as I was obviously oblivious to how great this breakfast meeting really was! (I would have preferred David Beckham!)

So...fact or fiction...you decide and let me know in the comments section.

The Tournament Rages On

The Lakewood Kickstart Soccer Tournament continues....

Our 2nd game of the tournament was against SUSC and my team played the best game of their season so far. It was great to watch. We beat them 5-2 which means we scored 11 goals in two games.

Our 3rd game of the round was against Aurora and we lost 3-0. It didn't help that we scored on ourselves for their first goal and their 3rd goal was a misjudgment by our goalie and the ball went through his legs. So I feel they only really beat us 1-0.

We placed 2nd overall after the round robin and so we made it to the final game against top ranked Aurora. Unfortunately we just were outplayed in that game and lost 4-0. The guys tried hard but the truth is that Aurora passes a lot better than we do right now and that made a HUGE difference. At least we now know who our nemesis is for the year! Overall I was very proud of these boys and they worked hard for their silver medal. Way to go Eastside Gold Eagles!

One Down, Two to Go

Yep, I'm talking about the good 'ol Lakewood Kickstart Soccer Tournament here in Saskatoon. I'm coaching the Eastside Gold Eagles U12 boys gold team (that's Div 1). Our team is interesting. In our team practices over the last few weeks basically all we have worked on is team defense and our defensive shape. I'm of the mindset that if the other team can't score on you, you can't lose. The problem is that we are still getting scored on numerous times each game. The funny part is that the boys can score goals like they are going out of style. We have scored 1, 4, 5, and 6 goals in our last 4 games and we really haven't even worked on any offense yet. But when you have 6, 2, 7, and 3 goals scored against you in the last 4 games something is obviously wrong defensively (in case you didn't figure it out our team is currently 2-2 including exhibition, league and tournament games).

So anyways, for me this tournament is all about getting our defensive shape together and defending as a team. The boys are starting to pick it up and I hope that by the time we have our next league game we will be much better defenders. We play again today (Friday) at 5:15pm and then again Saturday at 3:30pm. Hopefully we will be in the final on Sunday at 4:00pm. Feel free to come out and watch some great soccer.

Hey Four Eyes!

Yep, it finally came to this. I now have eye glasses. And actually I'm really pumped. About 3 years ago I went to the eye doctor because I was having trouble seeing things clearly that were far away. She told me that if I wasn't asking for glasses she wouldn't give them to me because my eyes weren't really bad. So I decided to not get any since it would cost a lot and I didn't want to wear them if I didn't have to.

Fast forward 3-4 years and I went to the eye doctor again (yeah I know they are called optometrists) and was told that one of my eyes was below the legal limit, or someting like that. My other eye was still good so she said I don't need glasses to drive, but if I get some it will make everything clearer and will help with driving at night.

The eye glass shopping ordeal was long and tedious. When you have never worn glasses before, everything you try on looks weird. But thanks to my beautiful wife Shiela for her patience as I tried on a million pairs and she helped me pick out ones that looked good. So now I have glasses (which I got 50% off on the frames, lenses and coatings) and they are awesome. I can't believe what I was missing! I keep pulling them up and down to see the difference when looking at things. I can see road signs further away, I can see the writing on the wall at church (during the worship, people...I know what you were thinking) and I can see people a lot clearer. I wasn't planning on wearing them very much, but because I can see so much better I think I will wear them alot! (until someone makes fun of me and calls me four eyes LOL)

Does anyone out there remember their first time with glasses?

*glasses pictured above are not the ones I bought. I don't have a digital camera so I can't show you the real ones.

Things are looking up!

Last night I was up late and perusing through some blogs I like to read and one of them is the www.canadianpoker.com. I was reading through Dave's Poker Log and he asked a question and the first person who emailed him the correct origin of the motto would win a Team Canuck Poker hat. Needless to say I quickly emailed back the answer and found out this morning that I had won the hat! I can't wait to get it and wear it in our next poker game (hopefully it's here for this Friday's game). I'm hoping this luck carries on to the $40,000,000 Lotto 649 draw tomorrow!

The motto, which was used by the Canadian Destroyer Squadron 4, is "Taken at the flood." Does anyone out there know the origin of this motto? Let me know in the comments section.

Oh Oh! I'm Slipping! - Medical Update

Yeah, it's true, I'm slipping again. I went back to visit the specialist again and it looks like my platelet count is going down again. As of last week I was at 40,000. The specialist lowered my prednisone amount to only 10 mg per day because he doesn't want me on them for a long time. But if my platelet count drops below 30,000 then I will have to go back into the hospital for another 3 days of IV therapy. He said I shouldn't be prone to bleeding at 40,000 and I'm pretty ok. I took this to mean that I can still play soccer (but I didn't outright ask him). I played soccer on Sunday and my lungs were burning by the 2nd half since I haven't done much running for about 2 months now.

Today I went for my weekly blood test to check my platelet count. I'm obviously becoming a regular because one of the nurses at the clinic called me by name when I went up to the counter. I'll keep you all posted as things progress and/or digress. Please keep praying for me!

The Indoor Soccer Season Has Begun

Our Tauro FC soccer team has entered the SDSA Men's Division 3 for this indoor soccer season and I am excited about it. We have alot of good players on our team this year and I believe once we start to gel as a team we will do very well.

However, our first game was this last Sunday and we lost 6-1. But, they scored all 6 goals in the first half and after our halftime talk about team defense we won the second half 1-0. Unfortunately, you don't get points in the standings for only winning half a game so we are still 0-1-0 (wins, losses, ties). The problem right now is we don't have a regular goalie. The goalie we had on Sunday was awesome and I wish he would play for us all season, but unfortunately he just doesn't have the time. So if anyone out there knows of a goalie (preferably living in Saskatoon) let me know and we'll sign him up (if he's good LOL)!

I'll be posting the results of our Tauro FC soccer team throughout the season so you can be sure to keep up to date!