Hypocrites R' Us

I'm a hypocrite. Yes, one of those low living, scum sucking people that everybody loves to hate. So what exactly am I hypocritical about? The answer: Blogging.

I really enjoy blogging, but the part I enjoy about blogging is actually reading other people's blogs. I love surfing through my list of blogs, finding out what people are doing, commenting on some and mostly lurking on the others. I mean, I enjoy posting too and telling my stories, but I LOVE reading blogs.

And that is where I am a hypocrite. I always browse through the blogs and when someone hasn't updated theirs in a while I get all upset and wonder why they don't post something new. I mean, come on already, it's been 12 hours...don't you have anything new to say!!! Then I go by my blog and think "Yeah, I should really post something...later." and off I go exploring more blogs.

That's not really fair. So, I hope to be posting more regularly and get rid of the title hypocrite. Any other hypocrites out there?

Am I A Stalker?

This past weekend I was in Winnipeg at the Canadian Sports Awards. Our company was there promoting our Hbc Run for Canada and we also had another cool booth there where you could get your picture inside a real bobsled or snowboard or on an Olympic podium. It was pretty cool.

On Friday night I was going to attend the gala where they were giving away a number of the awards for the year. I was helping set up our booth prior to this event and suddenly realized I only had 45 minutes to get a taxi, go back to my hotel, change, get another taxi back to the awards all before 7:00pm. I quickly phoned a taxi service and then proceeded to wait outside for a LONG time. Finally a taxi pulled up and as I was jumping in I told him I had called for a taxi and was glad he came. He then kicked me out of the taxi!! He said that since I called for a taxi I would have to wait as another taxi was coming to get me (and yes, it was the same taxi company). Dumbfounded, I watched the taxi drive away and continued to stand outside in the rain for another 10 minutes before a taxi finally arrived.

As I quickly changed at my hotel I phoned my taxi guy's cell phone that he gave me so I wouldn't have to wait another 30 minutes. I was now 5 minutes late for the awards show and so the taxi pulled right up to the door. In the doorway I saw three people eagerly looking out as if waiting for someone. I knew that I wasn't that important and started to wonder if maybe they were locking the doors so no one else could get in. I was paying the taxi driver with my VISA (taxis hate it when you pay with VISA) when suddenly all three guys come out the door and surround our taxi. I thought they were going to get mad at us for something, but as I looked over my shoulder I saw another van there and these guys were all helping out this VIP. Our taxi was clearly blocking the main route to the door and so this VIP had to walk around through the rain to get in the door...it ended up being Cindy Klassen, 5 time Olympic medallist in the last Olympics.

I rushed inside to my seat and realized that Cindy had arrived just in time to present an award. I watched all the awards and then after in the lobby, once again I ran into Cindy Klassen. Knowing that she is a speed skater and a boy I coach in soccer is also into speed skating, I asked her for an autograph for him. She was really nice and made it out to him. I then decided to make my way to the reception where everyone else was.

It was still raining outside so I asked this guy in a van where to go and he said he'd give me a ride since he was driving the shuttle. I jumped in and he went inside to see if anyone else was left. And who did he come back out with...Cindy Klassen and her parents. Suddenly our van was now upgraded to a VIP van and we were driven right to the main doors of the University. During this trip I apologized to Cindy for blocking her vehicle prior to the event with my taxi and she just laughed. We chatted a bit about coaching and Winnipeg before we arrived at the place. As we entered the building it was absolutely dead. It felt like one of those movies where they secretly drop off a VIP at a remote location and then something bad happens to them. Luckily this was Winnipeg and we just laughed as we wandered around trying to find the reception room.

We finally found it after following the noise and smell of food and we parted ways for the final time...or so I thought. Later that night I was chatting with my boss and she saw Cindy Klassen again...but now she wanted a picture. I no longer wanted to talk to Cindy because I had already run into her numerous times and figured that she was going to think I was stalking her. But finally I figured, who cares, what's one more encounter. So we went up to her for a final picture as I apologized for stalking her. And then that was it. As we thanked her for the pictures she said see you later, and I said "by the way things have happened I'm sure we will."

So it was a great trip. Here's a picture of me, Cindy Klassen and my boss. The picture at the top is of myself with Duff Gibson - Canadian Male Athlete of the Year - was an Olympic Gold medallist in Skeleton - Yes, he let me wear his gold medal.

Only 2 more days

I can't believe it is only 2 more sleeps away...one of the greatest days of the year is quickly approaching. No, it's not Easter...No, it's not spring cleaning...it's my birthday!!! Yes, this post is a shameless plug for my birthday.

This year my birthday is going to be....well...mediocre. Unfortunately I have to go to Winnipeg on my birthday and am there until Sunday afternoon. That means no birthday poker game or other birthday fun things on the 22nd. I also work at home alone so there is no one in the office to "celebrate" with.

However, I am more than willing to accept gifts before or after my actual birthday. I never really know what I want for my birthday. People ask me that and I just can't think of things. But this year, there is something that I would really like.

Here it is...the Poker Genie. This thing looks great. It would allow me to hold poker tournaments where I can set the timer for blind levels and program in the blind levels. Is it absolutely necessary? No. Do I want it? Yes.

If you have ever played in a poker tournament it's nice to know what the blind levels are and how much time is left in each level. It also just adds to the professionalism and fun of a poker tournament.

I also want to build a poker table. My wife bought me a great table top poker table a few years ago and I love it and use it all the time. What I want now is to make a table that seats 10 people and is oval shaped. I think this would be perfect for a games room!

Anyways, the whole point of this post was really just to show you the poker genie. If you want to buy it (for me or yourself) go here to purchase it (but don't feel pressured).

Hbc Run For Canada 2007

Yep, this is my job. Playing around and watching videos on You Tube. Well, not really, but this is one video I can watch at work without getting into trouble!

This ad will be airing on CTV between now and July 1st. If you haven't signed up for this great event yet, you better do so pretty quick because the early bird deadline is fast approaching.

Fam Bam

The company I work for is putting on these events across Canada. Unfortunately they aren't coming to my city, but this video is from when they were in Calgary on March 4th.
The cool part was this group was having a little trouble with their routine. Being the hard core breakdancer I flew to Toronto for a few of their rehearsal sessions. We practiced for about 6 hours a day and I taught them everything I know (ok, that only took about 30 seconds as I showed them the snake move)
To learn some of these moves, go the Family Channel website and they teach you how to do them.

Open Tryouts

I feel this is just like that movie Invincible or something like that. You know the one where the Philadelphia Eagles hold open tryouts and that one guy actually makes the team? If you haven't seen it don't bother now because I just gave it all away (just kidding, there's an extra 5 minutes after that yet). Well, it's happening here in Saskatoon.

The Saskatoon Accelerators are holding open tryouts for their semi-pro league. That's right, you could be a professional soccer player (or at least as close as you can come to that in Canada outside the national team). For all those avid soccer players out there wanting to live the dream, here are the details:

Friday March 16 6:30-8:00pm
Saturday March 17 7:00 - 9:00pm
Sunday March 18 11:00 - 1:00pm (selected players only)
Thursday March 22 5:00 - 7:00pm (selected players only)

The final players will be selected to play against Winnipeg on March 23.

On the SDSA website the head coach specifically says "This is for serious, fit, and committed soccer players, if you feel you do not fall into this category I advise you not to attend. There will be fitness testing during the try-out sessions." I'd like to go out and watch just to see if there are any people who think they are fit and try out...just like that big beer drinking guy in the movie Invincible (now you really don't need to see it because I just gave away the only funny part).

So, anyone out there planning on "living the dream" and trying out? If you make it, don't forget us little guys!

German prank

Near Death Experience

I've always heard of near death experiences. You know the ones where people say they are in a dark tunnel and are moving towards the light at the end. Or they see their life flash before their eyes just before they think they'll die from a car accident or something (but then don't). I can now join this group. Maybe not in quite the same way, but I definately had a near death experience. I went to a Group Power session.

For those who don't know what Group Power is it's simple. It is a session where a bunch of people get together who want to be tortured. Sure they could all go out and torture themselves on an individual basis, but for some reason these group torture sessions are extremely popular, and amazingly enough, the majority of the people who want to be tortured in a group are women!

I woke up extremely early in the morning (5:30am) which I think is part of the torture process. I slipped on some clothes and drove down to the torture building called Mawson Health and Fitness. I ran inside and put on the regular torture attire of shorts and a t-shirt. It was just before 6:00am when I walked into the torture chamber. There were already lots of other people there and not much room left. With this being my first torture session I decided to find some place near the back where people couldn't hear me scream.

Most people already had their weight bar, weights and step bench in place (these are the torture devices they use in this session). I wasn't sure what to do exactly but I saw a few spots where the weight bar and weights were already laid out. I quickly walked over to one of them and started to take off some of the weights as it was way too much for my first time. As I was adjusting the weights I suddenly felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up to see an old man with huge biceps and a scowl on his face. He informed me that I was in his spot and those were his weights. I didn't want to get beat up by him on my first day so I backed off to go find another spot. I made my way to a spot in the middle of the crowd and started to adjust those weights. A few seconds later I was pushed on my shoulder and knocked to the ground. I looked up to see the face of a women glaring at me. I guess those were her weights. I stood up and looked around. I finally figured out that each person has to get their own weights and weight bar, etc. I knew I should have taken the Torture 101 class.

I quickly grabbed my torture gear and set up my stuff in the only place left...the front row directly in front of the head torturer! As she began the session I was still setting up my gear when she asked if there were any first timers. I raised my hand and she gave me this wicked smile. "Welcome," she said, "what's your name?" "Sheldon," I replied. "Well, Sheldon, prepare to hurt a little!" As the music started I was already sweating...not from the torture but from fear!

The first 15 minutes were excruciating. She had us doing squats, lunges, dead lifts (millions of them!) and above the head military style bench pressing. At the first break I realized that I had forgotten my water bottle. As I dropped my weight bar to the floor I started to make my way to the water fountain outside. I put one foot forward and when I lifted my next one the first one gave out. I crashed to the floor and almost took out one of the other women standing there. My legs were like jello already and I couldn't walk. I crawled out the door and made my to the fountain. The cold, wonderful yet tasteless water gave me some more energy and I pulled myself back up to my feet. Using the walls for support I made my way back into the torture chamber. I could hear the snickers as I stumbled by but I didn't care...I was being tortured and I didn't care what I looked like!

I made my way back to my spot and casually asked the lady behind me how long this session was. One hour she told me. It was at that precise moment that I felt my heart stop and fear took over my entire body. I had barely survived the first 15 minutes and could no longer walk. I could not imagine how I was going to last another 45 minutes. I looked up at the head torturer for some sympathy, but all I saw were glowing red eyes and a menacing smile as she said "Here we go!"

The next 45 minutes are a blur. My body was so tired that it no longer mattered how much they tortured me. We did more squats, dead lifts, bench press, over the head lifts, tricep curls, bicep curls, pushups, sit ups, abdominal exercises and then each one about 10 times again! The only thing I can vaguely remember is the head torturer yelling "Come on Sheldon! Don't let these women show you up! Push yourself!" With about 10 minutes left I literally felt that I was going to throw up. I kept glancing around wondering where I would throw up and if I would be the first person to actually throw up during a torture session. I tried not to think about it but it was all I could do to keep going and not hurl.

The final thing we did were some abdominal exercises on the mats. We were all lying on our backs and were suppose to do them, but just lying there on my back felt like heaven. I laid there for a few seconds before I felt a hard slap on my stomach. The wind was knocked out of me and the head torturer was standing over top. "Don't just lie there Sheldon, suck in your stomach to tighten those abs!" Once again I could hear the snickers around me.

When the final music stopped it was announced that the torture session was over. I put away my torture devices so others could be tortured later that day. I stumbled into the locker room and I somehow managed to change and make my way outside. As I glanced back towards the torture chamber and thought through the horrific experience I had just been through I amazingly said to myself "I can't wait to try GroupRide!"

Still here

In the spirit of Monty Python, "I'm not dead yet!" I told myself I was going to stop writing posts apologizing for not blogging for so long, but why not break yet another resolution! Usually when I don't blog it's because I'm too busy or I don't have anything to say. Truthfully, I've had quite a bit of time when I could have blogged and I have lots to say...I just haven't felt like blogging. Part of it is that I want to write stories but I really want to have a separate website for my stories and not put them all on here. But we'll see, maybe I'll put up the story about how I was trampled on the subway in Toronto.

Anyways, I'm back!

Another Great Dilbert

I don't plan on posting lots of these, but this one is just too funny! It reminded me of the days when I worked for QuickStructures.

(click the picture to see a larger version of it)

Garage Sales

For some reason I can't get garage sales out of my mind. Spring is coming (although you wouldn't think so by looking outside) and that will bring the season of garage sales. But for some reason garage sales are bothering me.

Why do people have garage sales? I think it is mainly for two reasons: 1) to get rid of old stuff and 2) to get more money. Every year you see hundreds of garage sales in my city. Everyone is selling off their old used items and pocketing the cash. The problem I see is why do we feel the need to get more money? Why do we go through all the work of selling off old items, labelling them from $0.25 to $5.00 and then spending an entire weekend selling it off. Then we pocket the extra cash and are so happy because now we can go buy more stuff. It really bugs me when I see garage sales in the richer neighborhoods! Really, do those people need that little extra money!!

I'm sure there are people out there who really need the money they will earn from a garage sale. But in my life I don't seem to know very many needy people. The people I know are pretty well off with good jobs. I really don't think many of them need the small amount of cash they will earn from a garage sale. Oh, sure it would be nice to have a little extra so we could go buy something. But for some reason my heart is being tugged to do something different with all that stuff we would sell at a garage sale...give it away instead.

Recently it was brought to my attention that there are families out there with a lot less than what I have. I'm not talking about the homeless people that are begging or anything. I'm talking about non abusive, loving, single (and two) parent families that struggle to make ends meet. They cannot even afford to buy new clothes for their kids. I'm sure they would love to have a little extra money to spend on necessities for their family.

So what should we do about this? I think rather than have garage sales why not instead try to find someone who can use the items you are selling and give it away instead. Nothing feels better than to give something away knowing that you are helping someone out. I've been on the receiving end of many things: tennis racket, knife, golf clubs, clothes, etc. and it is great to have things given to you. Need some ideas? Selling dishes and other kitchen items: give them to a new refugee family that just moved here and has nothing. Selling old furniture: donate it to a small church youth group or to a family that doesn't have any. Lots of old baby clothes: ask around at churches, etc to find an expecting or new mother who doesn't have a lot and give them to her. Old board games you never play: give them to some young kids. If you feel you don't know anybody you can always donate items to Community Living or the Salvation Army.

So what am I going to do about this? I hate to disappoint everyone but I'm far from perfect. Am I never going to sell anything again? Probably not. But I think I need to do two things. 1) Give away all the items that my wife and I were going to sell after our move in December 2) Get to know more needy people. #1 is easy. #2 is where I will struggle. I like living a safe little life where everyone is doing well, good jobs, decent money, nice houses. But I feel the need to start to get to know some families that are not as well off. I think being able to help a particular family and building a relationship is far better than dropping off all my old clothes and items at the Salvation Army (although that's a great start).

What do you think? Am I off my rocker? Are you having a garage sale this year? I would love to have some discussion on this in the comments.

I Love Dilbert

I never used to get Dilbert. I'd read the comic but I just never found it very funny. Then I started to work at Cover-All. Now, don't get me wrong, Cover-All wasn't a bad place and the people there weren't all like the people in the cartoon. But once I had worked in an office setting with many different departments (Marketing, Sales, Engineering, etc.) I suddenly found myself laughing so hard I would start to cry sometimes.

For all those out there who do "get" Dilbert I've posted a couple recent ones from the 2007 Dilbert desk calendar I received for Christmas.

Alumni Soccer Tournament 2007

Another Alumni Soccer Tournament has come and gone. I was looking forward to playing in this tournament again. It's fun to play with people you only see once a year, you are all out of shape and you are playing against a bunch of kids who just came out of high school and have tons of energy. And, once again, I was planning on winning this year.

I was totally prepared this year. I had brought my old set of jerseys so our team would all look alike. I had put a number of pump up songs on my IPOD shuffle to listen to before the game while warming up. I didn't drink Coke between games and instead opted for Powerade, granola bars and fruit. Basically, with all that, I figured the other team should just hand us the victory because we were bound to win.

Not quite. We played Bethany in our first game and got trounced. They were flying off the walls and we were getting worked over. We managed to escape that game with a 4-0 loss. Then an hour later we had to play the younger Alumni team. This was a much slower paced game and although we played well we just couldn't score. We ended up losing that one 4-1.

So although we lost our 2 round robin games lucky for us everyone made the playoffs! After a hearty brunch of pancakes, sausages, toast, and cereal (thanks Glenda for the bowl!) I was ready to play again. This time our team came out flying. We changed up our formation a bit and it worked well We dominated the other Alumni team and won the playoff game 5-1. That put us into the final where we had to play Bethany again.

The final started off well and we scored first giving us the 1-0 lead, but Bethany bounced back and at half time it was 1-1. The second half was going ok, but 2 quick goals from Bethany and we were down 3-1. We came back to 3-2 but a little scrambly goal by them gave them anothehr 2 goal lead and it was 4-2 with about 6 minutes left. We then went on the offensive and pushed for a goal. It also started to get dirty. It had been an extremely physical game and not all the Bethany players understand how to play safe when you are playing around cement walls. I got checked into the stage one game by a guy twice my height and one of our players also got hit into a cement wall at the final by that same guy. We then started to fight back and some of the hits that were given by both teams were more geared for hockey then soccer. In our push for a goal we actually ended up giving up 2 more and lost with a final score of 6-2.

It was once again a lot of fun and I'm already looking forward to next year when we can once again try to win the glorious Bethany Cup!

Snow Removal Incompetance

I've never really thought too deeply about snow shovelling. In my mind it's pretty simple. When it snows you go outside, shovel your walk and get the snow out of the way. I usually shovel my walk (or at least I did before I paid condo fees and someone else now does it) and put the snow off to the side so that it wasn't blocking the sidewalk or my car. If I was to hire a kid to shovel my walk, I usually assume that mens he will also clear the snow out of the way. If he were to shovel my walk and then pile it all up in one big pile at the end of my driveway I wouldn't pay him because the job wasn't done. He needs to actually move the snow out of the way. Apparently not all snow removal companies have that same philosophy.

After the big blizzard last week we had a lot of snow. The next day we had one bobcat show up and start shovelling a little bit of the road right in front of the garbage cans...that's it. No sidewalks, no roadways, just the area in front of the garbage cans. Whatever, I didn't really care and figured they'd be coming back later. The problem was how incompetant that bobcat driver was. Although he cleared the snow away from the garbage bins, he piled all the snow up right behind my neighbors car. So now my neighbors car was blocked in with a 10ft high snow drift behind her car.

(Above) My car being covered in snow

from the "snow removal" people

Late that night I heard a loud machine outside and I peeked my head out. I saw a huge front end loader trying to maneouver around our parking lot and dig out my neighbors car (who by the way is a single lady and I'm guessing around 5-6 months pregnant). I talked to my neighbor later on and she told me she walked down the street and found this city front end loader and asked him to come and dig her out!

So luckily she could now get out and go to work the next day. But it wasn't over. I was working in my office with my window facing the parking lot out front. As the day wore on I would glance outside and watch 3-4 bobcats driving around and shovelling out our entire townhouse complex. I never paid much attention to it and couldn't see directly below into my own parking stall. After work that day my wife came home and asked if I had looked outside at our neighbors parking spot. I told her I had seen it and she had been shovelled out last night. My wife said I should look at the latest update. I opened my door and looked outside. There, in my neighbors parking spot, was not a car...instead there was a 15ft high pile of snow! Those bobcats had dumped all their snow from the entire lot right into her parking spot!

What is wrong with these snow removal companies. Do they not have any brains at all? This is not the first time they have shovelled snow out of our townhouse unit. They know where the parking spots are and yet they still piled all the snow right in her spot. Now she has to park in the visitors parking spot (which has no plug in by the way and it's been around -25 degrees out all week).

And it's not just our townhouse unit. I drove to Staples on Saturday and what did I see. The snow removal company had piled all the snow from the entire parking lot (about 30 ft high) right in the parking spots closest to the store. Those are prime parking spots! They should be dumping that snow in the far back corner of the lot where nobody wants to park! And to top things off, some of the places where they piled the snow were handicap parking spots! Now there are no designated spots for handicap people to park.

All I know is that if I ever run a snow removal company I would be sure to shovel it and remove it properly, or at least put it somewhere where it is not affecting anyone. It's common sense you snow removal people!

If anyone does needs snow removal services, a high quality and efficient company is called FastCat Services. He will do an excellent job without making these mistakes.

Coca Cola Adventure

The day started off like any other normal day. My alarm went off, I lay in bed listening to the radio and then about an hour later I finally get out of bed and shower. The only difference was the howling wind outside. The news on the radio also said it was bad weather outside but I thought nothing of it. We live in Saskatchewan and nothing stops us! I was going to work no matter what!

After a quick breakfast I decided it was time to get to work. I opened my front door and looked out into what was the worst Saskatoon blizzard I have ever seen. The snow was about 1 ft high against the front door and my car had snow all around it. I shuddered, closed the door and was so thankful I worked from home!

The day progressed as normal and I occassionally glanced outside and watched as my entire front steps disappeared under a big snowbank. We no longer had a sidewalk as the snow was up to your waist. My wife phoned around 4:00pm to say she might not get home. I told her to just drive slow. She asked me if I had looked outside or knew what was happening in Saskatoon. I hung up the phone and quickly turned on the TV for a news break. There it was...the entire city of Saskatoon shut down. Schools were closed, businesses were shutting down early and everyone at once was trying to get home.

Now that was the city's first mistake. They shut down the schools, the buses weren't running and the schools decided that no one could walk home and that parents had to pick up their kids. So suddenly at 1:00pm EVERYONE at once leaves their work to go get their kids. Visibility is absolutely zero and the cars are gridlocked across the entire downtown. The police shut down almost every main road that people normally use and so the only way to get home was through the downtown. A regular 10 min commute was taking people 3-4 hours!

And I continued to sit in my home office and work. And then it happened. I wanted a Coke. I ran downstairs and looked in the pantry...no Coke. I looked in the fridge...no Coke. I looked at my antique Coke collection and picked up a bottle filled with the sweet nectar....NO!! I quickly put it down and ran back upstairs. I couldn't drink away my Coke collection. There was only one thing to do...venture out in the blizzard.

I put on my jacket, toque, gloves and headed outside with my shovel. I went out the back door and trudged my way through waist deep snow drifts to get to the front door. And I began to shovel, and shovel, and shovel. I was only wearing thin gloves and I suddenly could no longer feel my hands. The snow was blowing in my face and I barely made it back inside. If I was going to get a Coke it was going to be even more work than first anticipated. After thawing out my hands I ventured back outside with my shovel. I had to clear the parking spot so my wife could park when she got home and also clear a path to our front door.

I once again braved the outdoors and this time with thcker gloves. I was just finishing up the shovelling and had managed to clear a very small path to our doorway when my back gave out. I hobbled back inside thinking my Coke dream was over. But I refused to give up. I bundled up again with every piece of clothing I had and just as I stepped outside my wife came home. I thought my adventure might be stopped by some common sense, but no! Instead she decided to join me and our quest to Extra Foods began.

The wind was howling, the roads were slick and the Extra Foods seemed a long ways off. We walked in the middle of the road as the sidewalks were non-existant. As we trudged along I continually kept wiping out again and again as the roads were so icy. As my eyes began to water, my cheeks blown red by the wind and my nose as red as Rudolph's I suddenly saw the glorious lights through the blowing snow...no it wasn't heaven, it was Extra Foods. As we neared the front doors we were so happy to be there we ran to them just to get inside. As we approached the AUTOMATIC doors at full speed we realized too late that they weren't opening. We both crashed into the glass knocking ourselves to the ground. As I lay on my back and looked up I questioned my own sanity, but when I glanced through the glass window of the store there I saw it...a 2L of Coke just waiting to be bought. I staggered to my feet and we had to manually push open the doors like we were breaking into a sealed vault. Once inside I grabbed my Coke and made for the exit.

After once again prying open the doors to get out we headed home, but this time against the wind. Conversation was non-existant as we trudged on home, heads down and hoping that no car would hit us. As we rounded the corner exhaustion was setting in. My wife was up ahead when I hit some ice and slipped to the ground. She never saw me and as I lay there face down in the snow I realized my time had come. People had always told me that Coke would kill me and it was finally coming true. I was slowly drifting into unconsciousness when a thought suddenly struck me. If I die, I can't drink any more Coke. With renewed vigor I pulled my face out of the snow, staggered to my feet and forced one foot in front of the other as the journey continued. We rounded the final corner and our house could be seen. As the door was unlocked, I stepped inside and collapsed on the floor.

My wife, being the EMT, knew just what to do. She ran to the kitchen, filled a cup with ice and poured me a glass of Coke. She knelt down and touched the glass of Coke to my lips. The wonderful sweet nectar flowed down my throat and I sprang back to life. I held the wonderful cup holding the magic life giving potion and settled onto the couch for the remainder of the evening. As I slowly drifted off to a peaceful sleep, the last words going through my head were "It was worth it!"

Napoleon Dynamite

So I'm a little behind the times, but last night I watched Napoleon Dynamite for the first time. I had heard so much about it. Nobody said anything bad about it, but everyone admitted it was a funny, pointless movie. I wasn't sure I totally believed them. How could a movie have absolutely no point, have no big actors, no real plot and yet still make a lot of money. What studio would let that movie be produced!?!

I sat down on Friday night and watched it. My wife had been called in to work so I was home alone. I put in Napoleon Dynamite to see for myself what this movie was about.

My answer: It was stupid. I sat there and watched the whole thing and finally it was over. Most movies about highschool have a plot to them where a nerdy girl turns beautiful, or a guy goes after a girl and gets her, etc. But this movie was basically reality. It showed Napoleon in a real life high school situation.

Was it funny? Well, it was funny in its own way that I had never seen before. It wasn't slapstick comedy which was good because I can't stand slapstick comedy movies. I like comedies that are funny, but not stupid funny. Some example of stupid funny movies are Scary Movie 4, Hot Shots Part Deux, etc. But this movie was funny because it was basically the real life story of a nerd in highschool and how he was treated. I just can't believe that someone would be quite that nerdy. I never saw anyone quite like that in my highschool, but then again our school didn't have mirrors!

Should you see this movie? That's irrelevant because I'm so far behind the times it's like giving a review on Back to the Future...you've all seen it already! But if you haven't, why not? Rent it, laugh if you can laugh at how stupid his life is, and use it as an excuse to eat a lot of popcorn and Coke!

Did you like the movie? Anybody willing to admit they dance like Napoleon?

I Want to be a Better Soccer Coach

For the last many years I've been coaching soccer. Started right after Bethany in 1998 and haven't really stopped since. I've coached a lot of different teams at a lot of different age groups...and I LOVE it! Often I only feel like a mediocre coach and I've always wanted to get better and improve my coaching ability.

Then a couple years ago I decided I wanted to pursue the next level of coaching - my Provincial B License. I started to work with some other coaches and we did practice sessions with players. The problem was I never fully dedicated myself to making it a priority and never went to take the exam as I was never ready.

Well, that has all changed. I forgot to mention it in my list of New Year's Resolutions, but it really isn't a resolution...it's more of a goal. By the end of this year I want to have my Provincial B License for soccer.

Now it's great to have a goal, but this time I also have a plan to back it up. I, along with 3 other coaches, are in a mentorship program with the Eastside Soccer Technical Director. He is going to work with us from now until October and prepare us for the Provincial B License. And he's not making it easy! I am going to have to perform 40 training sessions (above and beyond the 2 training sessions I do each week with my current team) before October 1st. They will be with all sorts of age groups and all sorts of skill levels and genders. The Technical Director will be at each one and will basically treat each one as a test, just like they will at the Provincial B License exam. He is also making us write a written exam to prepare us too!

Now I could go the easy route and just attend the Provincial B License in October on my own with the knowledge I currently have. But these 40 training sessions will definately help prepare me so that it is second nature to me. That way I will lower the nervousness I'll feel on exam day and can be confident in my abilities.

Tonight we had our first meeting and now I need to plan out when I want to do all my sessions for the next 3 months. So stay tuned as I keep you updated on my progress!

The OC is Finished

NEWS FLASH!

The OC has been cancelled by FOX and the last episode will air February 22. I'm going to log out and go cry now.

New Years Resolutions

I am not a fan of New Year's Resolutions. I feel it is a great way to set yourself up for disappointment when you don't fulfill them. So in the past if I did make any resolutions, I just had them in my head and never shared them. That way if they didn't get fulfilled no one was the wiser.

But this year I'm singing a different tune. I've decided to make some resolutions and actually stick to them. Here are some of them:

• Get back in shape - I'll do this by running and also lifting weights downstairs
• Have a weekly date night - I want to spend more time with my wife
• Blog more often - I've been having trouble with Google lately, but this will happen
• Work less - The month before Christmas I worked way too much. Not again.
• Write my book - This will be my book of stories
• Play more poker - Resolutions don't have to be negative!
• Attempt to do one of my many ideas I come up with

Well, there you have it. So far I'm doing pretty good on them. I have some big plans for 2007 and I'm looking forward to getting started.

A New Beginning

The new year brings new beginnings. It has been just over a year since I started this blog and I've decided that changes need to be made. I'm trying to accomplish too much with one avenue. Therefore, as of today I will no longer be writing Fact or Fiction stories on this site.

WAIT WAIT WAIT!!! Don't go yet! Hear me out!

As I've said, I'm trying to do too much with one avenue. The original focus of this blog was to write stories and post about my life. I really want to do more with the stories part of the blog and in order to bring it to the next level I feel it needs it's own website. So, the stories aren't disappearing forever...I'm just working on setting up a separate site for just my stories.

So stay tuned for the big announcement when I launch my story page! As for the rest of my life, this is the place to be and I'll continue to update this blog on a regular basis with all the fun filled happenings in my life!