FLORIDA!!

*thanks if you emailed, appreciated. sorry I didn't email back yet*

Re: Elevator Entrapment

I received a letter of apology from my building for the whole stuck-in-the-elevator fiasco. A) Sweet. B) Hilarious.

The letter included a Cineplex Night Out double movie pass, with two drinks and a large popcorn. Clearly they know me well - I love popcorn at the movies. I'm holding out in my forgiveness of the whole 45 minutes, 15 other people, 2 m X 3 m enclosed space with a 'bomb' (aka hoax) on the same floor. Now, if they had considered two popcorns (so I don't have to share - I can really hoover), all would have been forgiven.

It's actually the wording of the letter that made me laugh. Here are the funny bits.

Attention: Heather Adams
Re: Elevator Entrapment

I would like to apologize on behalf of *ahem* for the unscheduled amount of time you spent in one of our elevators on September 23, 2008. I understand that it was quite a stressful time due to events unfolding in the building.

There's more, but those are the bits that made me laugh. Unscheduled amount of time? Now if I'd scheduled a 45 minute trip, we'd be all good. Should I have sent e-vites to the other 15 people? I'd call a scheduled 45 minutes with 15 other people in a very small space either a party, or an orgy, depending on how much fun you are having. 'Events unfolding in the building'? Why note 'emergency evacuation'? chaotic hoax? the real deal - bomb threat? I think they avoided the b-word.

I did appreciate the gesture, but I don't think I was supposed to find it so funny.

Helicopter Site Visits II

I think I was half asleep when I wrote last night's blog. Yes, it was 8:45. Shut up. I'm staying on eastern time (as much as humanly possible) in preparation for Florida. I was fast asleep by 9:15. I'm trying for even earlier/earlier tonight/tomorrow. I've been getting up at 6. Yucky.

Today my third and last day of helicopter site visits. I'm in Slave Lake over night, and we drive home tomorrow. I enjoyed the helicopter today, but not as much as the first two days. Why? It was super super windy. Also, about half of the seven sites that we visited today were too covered with little willow trees to land on. This means a combination of flying around, and hovering over the site while we take notes and pictures and draw a diagram. Today's math: Turbulence + hover + writing = want to barf.

This was a bit of a contrast to the first day of flying, which was as smooth as a baby's ass. I even fell asleep at one point. Ahem.

I can't believe I leave for Florida Wednesday. Wow, coming right up. I working out again at the hotel gym, again good training for Florida in a sweat-dripping kind of way. I did a very enjoyable but shorter than normal workout - I'm tapering! I spent a long time stretching, and then took advantage of the hot tub to work on my ankle a bit. I've been doing the hot/cold treatment thing, as recommended by my physio. I took the plastic recycling bin from my room, filled it with ice and water and voila: cold bin. Hot tub was...the hot tub. Duh. I also brought my wobble board with me (I think my coworker thought I was nuts), so I've been using that a lot too. My ankle was a little sore this morning, but I'm confident that it will be 100% in time for Nationals.

Hopefully I will be able to post a couple of heli pics soon. I brought my camera (of course) but forgot my card at home - boo urns. I should be able to get some pics from Tess.

Good luck at Pumpkin Pie Pull to all those going! I'm definitely missing out. Smoke some....no no, only kidding ;)

Helicopter Site Visits

 
I've been doing Phase I Site Visits via helicopter the last two days. I'm up around Lac La Biche (Bitch), Athabasca, and right now I am in Slave Lake. Riding in a helicopter all day is really fun. The novelty of flying just doesn't wear off. I love the view – there is some really pretty country up here.
We were flying just on the edge of Cold Lake Weapon's testing area and fighter pilots flew over us, really low. It was crazy.
Our pilot is a woman – that's pretty cool/rare.
It's only 9 pm, but I'm bonking. I'm sure I'll have more on the helicopter stuff when I'm more awake.
Only 6 days to Florida! I ran on my ankle tonight and it felt really good. This was in my hotel gym, which is located in the same room as the sauna. Talk about good training for Florida – roasting, roasting hot.

www.hezohez.blogspot.com

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Feist

I put "Fiest" on my Facebook status. How embarrassing. I before e, except after f?

This weekend past, I scored a free ticket to Feist. The concert was great, I really enjoyed it. The seat was great - I'm sure I could have hit Feist with a thumber if I needed too, which helped, because the Saddledome isn't known for it's acoustics. Of course, I was there for the music (and a fun night out), but the concert incorporating some moving art projects, which I also really enjoyed. There were three people in the background, moving various media and displaying it on a big screen behind Feist. It was pretty neat - I'd try to describe specifics but that would be just painful for both of us.

Every song was something different, and while it was interesting, I found it wasn't so much that it took away from the music at all. One surprise for me was, Inside and Out, my favorite Feist song. She did a super-slow version. It was good, I definitely like it, but I was also kind of sad not to get to hear the faster version. Near the end of the concert, I got a sudden urge to go buy an iPod. I'm not sure what that was all about.

Malicious Content My Ass

My friend Sharron Cuthrie* tried to access my blog via Facebook the other day. Apparently she was denied "due to malicious content". Inappropriate, sure, but malicious? Arising from malice? The desire to cause pain, injury, or distress to another? Fuck you Facebook. Or is it Blogger? Either way, I've never said a bad word about anyone, you insensitive pricks.

I decided to these accusations After all, I'm now 156 posts in to my blog, so I don't remember most of them. This is the best that I could come up with:

• Penis and Vagina Pasta. Still one of the most searched phrases (to reach my blog). Who searches for 'vagina pasta' in Google? Lots of people. Seriously. Google Analytics tells me so. Sickos.


• Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End. I admit, I called this movie "rubbish", but I think chances are Johnny Depp has moved on, brushing aside the scathing review.


• Inventions: the Fuck Off! bug spray. This may be malicious towards mosquitoes. I have yet to be added as a friend on Facebook by any mosquitoes yet, so I should be okay there.


• Merry Christmas!: Perhaps this post is malicious to those who don't celebrate Christmas? I did say Merry Christmas everybody. Everybody even includes people with body odour and people who don't give up their seat on the bus to old people. In fact I'm all for people with body odour who don't give up their seat on the bus to old people.


• I Am Shit: Self-malicious? Maybe.
• The Diet Continues: While this is a blog about industrial strength laxative, I would argue that I got the worse part of this deal. I had painful stomach cramps all night, and couldn't leave my apartment. You could have stopped reading at any time.
• The Alphabet Blog: I did say ficus, and that's foul language. How rude.
• Creepy Old Dude: Whatever. He started it.
• Going to Florida - NE Sectionals: I did call Starbucks 'bastards'. This must be it. Starbucks own the world, don't they? They must have blocked me.

In conclusion, I wish to formally apologize to any groups or individuals I may have offended. Just to cover my bases, sorry to pastas of normal shape, Johnny Depp, mosquitoes, everybody, people who have body odour, people who don't give their seat to old people on the bus, myself, anyone who had to read about my industrial strength laxative experience, people offended by not-so foul language, creepy old dudes and Starbucks.
*name altered to protect true identity.

Voting and want to be in TO.

As you all know, voting day way was Tuesday. I say "as you all know", because most people who read my blog are either living in Canada or Canadian, and everyone I know are awesome, wicked cool, intelligent people, so of course you voted. I'm actually not being sarcastic for once.

My voting experience this year had many similarities and differences than previous years.

Similarities:
-the person I voted for didn't get elected. Instead the Conservative did. Surprised?
-voting was kind of a fun experience in terms of community. I met some nice folks in line, and chatted with some neighbours. An enjoyable side effect of voting.

-I looked like an idiot in sweats and a helmet. If I had known it would take that long, I would have taken off the helmet. (I voted post-cold bike ride).

Differences:
-It took almost an hour! The lady working the polling station had to have been at least 250.
-You had to have your voter registration card to even get in the building. Phew - I had mine. Otherwise you had to wait in another giant line, and that one was out in the cold.

I'm not sure if this will work, but I'll try to add a not so subtle hint as to who I voted for.

Ps. Clearly I'm backlogged on blog material. Tuesday was a while ago. I really wanted to go to Toronto this weekend for Capitals practice weekend, and I was super close. In the end, I have work stuff that can't get moved, and I had to ixnay the idea. I'm going to have to work this weekend to not be super grumpy that I am not there.

Going to Florida - NE Sectionals

We’re going to Florida! Capitals came 3rd at NE Regionals in Boston this weekend, securing a spot to Nationals in Florida at the end of October. Godiva from Boston took the first seed and Brute Squad from….I forget, somewhere out east, I suppose took 2nd. Caps had really good, tight games against both these teams. It’s nice to know that we can at worst run with those teams and at best kick their asses.
The first three games of the tourney were "warmer-uppers". I’m not sure the names or cities of the teams in our pool. I think one might have been a high school team, and I think another was the third Boston women’s team. Yes, there are three: crazy, hey? We won the first too games handily – really handily: we bagelled both teams. Normally I might not consider games like these all that useful, but since they were my first with the team, so I did find them useful. Our fourth game on Saturday was the big game, a crossover against Godiva. VY was playing for them (i.e. not Traffic, post-Worlds), as was Tracey Woo, an old Prime teammate of mine, and Wendy Sligl from Edmonton. And I didn’t think I was going to know anyone! It was a close, hard-fought game, but we ended up losing 9-11, putting Godiva in the 1-2 game, and us still uncertain of our spot.
Break for Mexican food – good times. I was early to bed, since losing to Godiva meant another 6:15 am wake-up call. The morning before I seriously considered having a hissy fit in Starbucks. I order a double Americano in an attempt to wake myself up. Instead of the super strong, piping hot coffee I was expecting, Starbucks USA handed me a double shot iced Americano. Oooo, you bastards. I’m sure I could have convinced them to make me what I wanted, but I was afraid what I pictured to be a logic, "Oh, sorry, this was a mistake" was going to turn into either the aforementioned hissy fit, or tears, be they mine or my baristas. I decided to take the path of lease resistance (and most caffeine), so I just took it and chugged it. Yuck, but at least I was awake for warm-up.
Sunday morning we were faced with the task of beating two teams, one of them good, to get into the 2-3 game and be assured a spot to Nationals. We rolled the first team, playing well. 15-5 Caps. The second team was Ambush, who I had played once before with Lotus. I heard that the version of Ambush that we playing in Boston in June was their tryouts, so I expected them to be a bit better than that, and they were. Ambush was definitely a good team. We pulled off another strong game and another win. I don’t remember the score, but closer than 15-5. I’d be surprised if Ambush didn’t take the fourth spot to Nationals, but being that I am on an airplane, I can’t confirm.
After the Ambush game, we knew were in for Florida! Now just to battle Brute Squad in the 2-3 game. Unfortunately, we couldn’t pull off a win. Brute Squad 15-11 over Capitals. We playing a solid, tough game, so it was disappointing to not take 2nd. That said, I was happy with how we (as a team) played, as well as how I played personally.
Sometime early on Saturday, I was transitioned to the country club (aka O-line). I’ll start with this: I love O-line. Awesome. I got to play with some super-skilled players, which I really appreciated. I also felt that O-line handles had established some significant connections by this point, which was great. All that said, O-line is such a catch 22. On one hand, if you do your job properly, you won’t get to play much. You’ll score, then D line will go on, get breaks, and win you the game. Anyway, obviously winning he game is way more important too me, but I’ll try and look on the bright side: O-line got to play a lot.
It was a huge weekend and there is a lot more that I could reflect on, but that’s all I’ve got for now. I think the food is coming soon.

note: I wrote this blog yesterday on the plane home, and decided to post it unaltered. I'm not sure why I ranted so much about the coffee thing but didn't even mention rolling my ankle in warm up!

Florida!!

I'm still out east (I fly home tonight), so I will be brief: CAPITALS ARE GOING TO FLORIDA!

Ottawa

I'm now in Ottawa, hanging out with my aunt Linda and cousin Jessica, and going to Capitals practices. My first was last night (under the lights) and the next one is tomorrow. I'm really glad to get to practice a couple of times - it's a great chance to figure out who everyone is and what they do. I've studied the plays and d's on paper, but it's great to get to actually do it too. All of my new teammates were very welcoming. After the practice tomorrow, I head back to Toronto for long enough to catch my ride to Boston. I kind of wish that I had another week of practices before the tourney!

Today I got the tour de Ottawa (on bikes) thanks to my aunt. We also explored that National Gallery. I've attached a couple of pics - one from the wedding, one of the the Parliament building, and one of the National gallery.

Random aside 1: Blogger showed example tags when I previewed this post. The examples were scooter, vacation and fall. I thought this was pretty funny given what I have been up to so far. It also made me wonder if the fall in the example was as in season, or as in down.

Random aside 2: My cousin had a book on sign language as my aunt's house. I learned the real sign for 'awkward'. I can't want to show you, it's too funny.

News is Good News and Toronto

Great news: I got the all clear yesterday! No thyroid. Wicked.

Also, I am in Toronto right now. Jenn Sheasby's wedding is tomorrow, and I am hanging out in Toronto right now. Today I went to Monster practice, and last night was debautchery and lots of drinking. We met Mere at 5 after she got off work, and ended up back at the hotel at 2:30 am. More tonight - there is a street party, and we just bought scooters (not a Vespa scooter, a skateboard with a handle)! Gotta run.

Better blogs if I get internet for more than 5 minutes.