Peak Power was pretty sweet tonight. Part of that was that I was feeling like ASS this weekend, and I felt normal at Peak Power. Normal + really tired from Peak Power > feeling like ASS, by a long shot. Also, my "I am the champions" were going as well as they ever have, which I was quite pleased with. It was technique, not strength, but it still felt great.
Other than that, I've been pretty busy getting ready for Europe and Pagenello. We leave WEDNESDAY! Holy schissen. I'm so stoked, and I can't believe how quickly this trip got here. I still feel like it's a few months away.
First off is Munich to see my good friend Jayanti. The last time I was in Germany was in October of 2007, and I absolutely loved it. I'm not going to lie, I'm really excited to go back.
Even the flight should be fun - I pick up Rookie in Toronto. ;)
Monday, March 30, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
2nd Half of East
Saturday morning, we left Montreal and headed for Toronto. Wait a minute, I remembered the first thing about Montreal that I forgot: the bagels. Mmmm. The bagels were unbelievably delicious. So on to Toronto. We made it to Toronto just in time to drop Pig (Kristin’s sister) at the Greyhound, swing by a grocery store, and head to the indoor tournament that we were in Toronto for. The tournament was competitive and a lot of fun. I’m jealous of the facility – a dome with turf where you can wear real cleats. There isn’t anything close to that in Calgary. We either play indoor on a gym floor, or indoor soccer fields (with boards), and often quite late at night. By the ends, I wasn’t so happy to be wearing cleats. They somehow managed to destroy both my big toes. This was quite surprising, because normally me and my cleats get along very well. I’d even say we’re friends. This time, not so much. Thanks to Deb for lending me tape and Ibu. Ouch. Bloodied big toes makes it really hard to run. After the tournament, we headed to Mere’s house for her birthday party (Happy Birthday Mere! That is, if you started reading this. ;) ). It was a lot of fun, and I even managed to poach a shower. We headed back to Waterloo that night, after some debate on whether or not to stay in Toronto (where my flight was, the following night). With two weeks in Italy coming up, Waterloo won out. We had a nice, relaxing day in Waterloo, with breakfast out, hockey and some dinner. The flight home, which got back at 1:30 am (work at 8, of course), was great training for a big flight to Europe soon.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
More On Montreal
Or maybe I should say "Moron Montreal", because I speak absolutely no French. I should get on that. I really would love to learn, although I am afraid my head might explode if I start while I am still working on German. Ich bin eine Dummkopf.
Anyway, Montreal. Montreal was great! Such a cool city. I've only been once before, for Nationals in 2003. I didn't exactly get to see a lot of the city, since we were playing for most of it, and I didn't have any extra time. I do remember the party up the mountain (or should I say "mountain"?), which was well done. Kristin and I walked up the mountain the first day, and I wasn't really sure I had been there before until we got to the top. Inside the building, we had a hilarious conversation about squirrels - me asking about the weird, gargoyle squirrels in rafters the building, but not really specifying what I was talking about. Naturally Kristin thought I meant live squirrels in the park, and thought "why are there so many squirrels here?" to be a strange question. If you're ever in the building on top of the mountain in Montreal, look up, and look for the squirrels.
Montreal is not especially where I thought it was. It's about 6 hours from Toronto, which is where I had flown too. I didn't think Montreal was 6 hours from Toronto, because....well, Calgary and Vancouver are 10/12 hours apart, and that's about as good as it gets.
Other highlights from Montreal: getting to meet Kristin's family (that I hadn't met already), meeting friends, seeing old friends (no, I didn't think this was possible either, since I had only been to Montreal the once, but it turns out I know more people in Montreal than I thought I did. I used to do CUPA stuff with Fish, and of course play against her a lot also. We would have seen even more people I know, if they didn't have day jobs. Fuckin' day jobs.), dessert, running (despite the fact that I am an antisocial runner. this is for the exact same reason as why I roll off of the field, away from all the people, if I am hurt in ultimate), breakfasts, dinner at a fabulous restaurant (they let you bring your own bottle of wine in! for free! brilliant!) and much more.
ps. I think I said this already, but I didn't take any picture. I guess we were having too much fun.
Anyway, Montreal. Montreal was great! Such a cool city. I've only been once before, for Nationals in 2003. I didn't exactly get to see a lot of the city, since we were playing for most of it, and I didn't have any extra time. I do remember the party up the mountain (or should I say "mountain"?), which was well done. Kristin and I walked up the mountain the first day, and I wasn't really sure I had been there before until we got to the top. Inside the building, we had a hilarious conversation about squirrels - me asking about the weird, gargoyle squirrels in rafters the building, but not really specifying what I was talking about. Naturally Kristin thought I meant live squirrels in the park, and thought "why are there so many squirrels here?" to be a strange question. If you're ever in the building on top of the mountain in Montreal, look up, and look for the squirrels.
Montreal is not especially where I thought it was. It's about 6 hours from Toronto, which is where I had flown too. I didn't think Montreal was 6 hours from Toronto, because....well, Calgary and Vancouver are 10/12 hours apart, and that's about as good as it gets.
Other highlights from Montreal: getting to meet Kristin's family (that I hadn't met already), meeting friends, seeing old friends (no, I didn't think this was possible either, since I had only been to Montreal the once, but it turns out I know more people in Montreal than I thought I did. I used to do CUPA stuff with Fish, and of course play against her a lot also. We would have seen even more people I know, if they didn't have day jobs. Fuckin' day jobs.), dessert, running (despite the fact that I am an antisocial runner. this is for the exact same reason as why I roll off of the field, away from all the people, if I am hurt in ultimate), breakfasts, dinner at a fabulous restaurant (they let you bring your own bottle of wine in! for free! brilliant!) and much more.
ps. I think I said this already, but I didn't take any picture. I guess we were having too much fun.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
East
I'm back from a super-fun extended weekend out east for Kristin's birthday. We were in Montreal for 2 days, Toronto for one (a frisbee tourney and also Mere's birthday), and Waterloo yesterday.
I was right, there is lots of blog material (although no pictures), but it's going to have to wait. My flight landed at 1:30 last night, so I got home at 2 am (and to sleep at 2:01 am) with work at 8. So sleep is winning over blogging. Oh, and when I say 1:30, I really mean that the flight landed at 1:05 (feels like 3:05), but they couldn't open the doors until 1:30 am. Everyone else on the plane seemed quite grumpy about this, but I just went back to sleep. I had fallen asleep in Toronto well before take-off, and only woke up for half an hour due to some stupid overly developed sense of freeganism: I bolted awake when the drink cart got to me.
I was right, there is lots of blog material (although no pictures), but it's going to have to wait. My flight landed at 1:30 last night, so I got home at 2 am (and to sleep at 2:01 am) with work at 8. So sleep is winning over blogging. Oh, and when I say 1:30, I really mean that the flight landed at 1:05 (feels like 3:05), but they couldn't open the doors until 1:30 am. Everyone else on the plane seemed quite grumpy about this, but I just went back to sleep. I had fallen asleep in Toronto well before take-off, and only woke up for half an hour due to some stupid overly developed sense of freeganism: I bolted awake when the drink cart got to me.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Cedric, Hufflepuff
Lies: He's absolutely in Hufflepuff. Admitting I know that is a little dorky, even for me.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
I am a Busy Busy Kid
Yes, kid. I'm only 29.92.
I'm been really quite busy, and not in the super-bloggable way.
Hopefully I will get some good material and some time to write about it from Montreal/Toronto/Waterloo. I leave tomorrow!
I'm been really quite busy, and not in the super-bloggable way.
Hopefully I will get some good material and some time to write about it from Montreal/Toronto/Waterloo. I leave tomorrow!
Friday, March 13, 2009
The Brier
By good fortune, I found myself at the Brier today. It was pretty cool to see. There were a couple of spectacular shots, and I learned a lot, mostly since I knew nothing before.
Don’t get me wrong, here. I’m not a fan of curling. It’s not that I don’t like it. I wouldn’t know. I’m sure it’s fun. But I wouldn’t call myself a fan by any stretch of the imagination. Bowling and darts are fun too (which I have played), but I’m not a fan of either, in the therefore-I-want-to-watch-someone-else-do-it sense of the word. I did have one chance to try curling, just last summer. It didn’t work out though, because I was leaving for a tournament and I had a pulled groin, which already wasn’t the best combination.
I only have heard of a couple of curlers: Brad Gushue who I got to watch today, and Martin. I think he was the Alberta dude. We didn’t see him. I don’t even know if he’s Martin and in Paul Martin or as in Martin Short. It was glad to see Gushue play, because, hey, if you’re going to watch anything, why not watch the dude with the Olympic gold medal in that thing? If I were going to watch someone assemble a toaster, why not watch the gold medal toaster assembler in action? (read: I don’t think curling is a sport. I don’t mean to trash it though, those dudes were good at their target game).
It was interested to me that in curling, no ones seems to mind you yelling at your teammates. Funny, in the sports I play, no one likes that too much. ;) I was kind of surprised that the sweeper dudes never yell back.
Example:
Skip: "HURRAY HARD!"
Sweeper: "YOU THROW IT HARDER NEXT TIME AND STOP YELLING AT ME, YOU DINK!"
As a spectator, I had to resist the urge to yell offensive, sexually suggestive heckles all game.
Example:
"hit the BUTTON! The BUTTON! Come ON! That’s not the BUTTON! Come ON! YESSSSSSSSSS that’s the BUTTTTTTOOOOONNN"
All in all, the Brier was something cool to see.
Don’t get me wrong, here. I’m not a fan of curling. It’s not that I don’t like it. I wouldn’t know. I’m sure it’s fun. But I wouldn’t call myself a fan by any stretch of the imagination. Bowling and darts are fun too (which I have played), but I’m not a fan of either, in the therefore-I-want-to-watch-someone-else-do-it sense of the word. I did have one chance to try curling, just last summer. It didn’t work out though, because I was leaving for a tournament and I had a pulled groin, which already wasn’t the best combination.
I only have heard of a couple of curlers: Brad Gushue who I got to watch today, and Martin. I think he was the Alberta dude. We didn’t see him. I don’t even know if he’s Martin and in Paul Martin or as in Martin Short. It was glad to see Gushue play, because, hey, if you’re going to watch anything, why not watch the dude with the Olympic gold medal in that thing? If I were going to watch someone assemble a toaster, why not watch the gold medal toaster assembler in action? (read: I don’t think curling is a sport. I don’t mean to trash it though, those dudes were good at their target game).
It was interested to me that in curling, no ones seems to mind you yelling at your teammates. Funny, in the sports I play, no one likes that too much. ;) I was kind of surprised that the sweeper dudes never yell back.
Example:
Skip: "HURRAY HARD!"
Sweeper: "YOU THROW IT HARDER NEXT TIME AND STOP YELLING AT ME, YOU DINK!"
As a spectator, I had to resist the urge to yell offensive, sexually suggestive heckles all game.
Example:
"hit the BUTTON! The BUTTON! Come ON! That’s not the BUTTON! Come ON! YESSSSSSSSSS that’s the BUTTTTTTOOOOONNN"
All in all, the Brier was something cool to see.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Calgary Gets A Blue Cart Recycling Program
I'm really happy that Calgary finally is getting a curbside recycling program. Yes, people from other cities, by all means, make fun of us. March 2009, and the blue cart program is starting, in one quadrant of the city (the other quadrants are to follow, so the program will be in full swing by July). Are we ever behind the times. Vancouver implemented a pilot program of curbside recycling in 1989. Ontario's first program started in 1985. I remember Calgary politicians talking about the issue back in 2006 (or so), but they decided it would be best to not bother for a few years.
Before this program was implemented, you could recycle in Calgary, we just didn't have curbside recycling. There are green recycle bins in various communities, and recyclable materials could...can be dropped off there. I say can, because unfortunately, Calgary's blue cart program only services single detached houses. Disappointing. I live in a condo, and that means no dice. The green bins remain open for business for folks like me, which has a few downsides. You have to have a car (well, not have, there are ways around that, but for the most part), you have to find space to store the materials, and you have to sort them yourself at the depot. The other major downside community drop offs is all of the lazy fuckers out there who WON'T store it, sort it, and drop it in the bins. Blue box programs make it much easier for people, so more people will actually do it.
Another MAJOR change to the program is that Calgary will now be recycling plastics 1-7. I think this is HUGE. Before, all plastics were treated as garbage. Hopefully it could still be reused, but if it was plastic, it wasn't being recycled here. I dropped off my recycling when I bought groceries on the weekend (I refuse to make a separate trip in the car for this. I have to be going somewhere anyway, otherwise it hardly seems environmentally conscious at all!), and they didn't yet have bins for plastics in the communities. I get we'll see. While I think Calgary should have done this 10 years ago (that's an understatement), I'd still like the applaud the efforts of whoever made it happen. Better late than never. That's a LOT of material that is going to be kept out of our landfills.
There did used to be a couple of private company that offered curbside recycling programs in Calgary for about $120/year. This isn't too far off what the City's program is costing, $8/month or $96 a year.
Even though I will be sleeping with milk cartons under my bed because I live in a condo, I'm still proud of Calgary for FINALLY doing the right thing.
Before this program was implemented, you could recycle in Calgary, we just didn't have curbside recycling. There are green recycle bins in various communities, and recyclable materials could...can be dropped off there. I say can, because unfortunately, Calgary's blue cart program only services single detached houses. Disappointing. I live in a condo, and that means no dice. The green bins remain open for business for folks like me, which has a few downsides. You have to have a car (well, not have, there are ways around that, but for the most part), you have to find space to store the materials, and you have to sort them yourself at the depot. The other major downside community drop offs is all of the lazy fuckers out there who WON'T store it, sort it, and drop it in the bins. Blue box programs make it much easier for people, so more people will actually do it.
Another MAJOR change to the program is that Calgary will now be recycling plastics 1-7. I think this is HUGE. Before, all plastics were treated as garbage. Hopefully it could still be reused, but if it was plastic, it wasn't being recycled here. I dropped off my recycling when I bought groceries on the weekend (I refuse to make a separate trip in the car for this. I have to be going somewhere anyway, otherwise it hardly seems environmentally conscious at all!), and they didn't yet have bins for plastics in the communities. I get we'll see. While I think Calgary should have done this 10 years ago (that's an understatement), I'd still like the applaud the efforts of whoever made it happen. Better late than never. That's a LOT of material that is going to be kept out of our landfills.
There did used to be a couple of private company that offered curbside recycling programs in Calgary for about $120/year. This isn't too far off what the City's program is costing, $8/month or $96 a year.
Even though I will be sleeping with milk cartons under my bed because I live in a condo, I'm still proud of Calgary for FINALLY doing the right thing.
Sorry!
I've been a little busy of late. Okay, a lot busy. I have a post in the works, but I keep getting about 5 minutes done at a time, and then having to work on something else.
All I have in the meantime is just an FYI: The layout troll has crossed sports. The layout troll plays hockey, and trains at Peak Power. So be careful. You might find yourself crashing into the boards (hockey) or feeling like someone tried to pull your arms off (Peak Power).
Has anyone started cursing "Nellie Wins 1-0"? I've done it. Some blogger drops the ball, you are bored at work (I mean at home ;) ), you check again, still no post. You say, "Nellie Wins one-fucking-nothing, yes I know!".
Italy is only three weeks away, so I will be able to go blogcrazy from there.
All I have in the meantime is just an FYI: The layout troll has crossed sports. The layout troll plays hockey, and trains at Peak Power. So be careful. You might find yourself crashing into the boards (hockey) or feeling like someone tried to pull your arms off (Peak Power).
Has anyone started cursing "Nellie Wins 1-0"? I've done it. Some blogger drops the ball, you are bored at work (I mean at home ;) ), you check again, still no post. You say, "Nellie Wins one-fucking-nothing, yes I know!".
Italy is only three weeks away, so I will be able to go blogcrazy from there.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Twilight 4
· One thing I love about the Harry Potter series is that is always is bang on with the details. I felt like Meyer didn't always do it. For example, Bella makes Charlie pancakes for breakfast, and then Meyer has Charlie with a cereal bowl. It's probably on purpose, but it still made me want to yell at Charlie to stop eating so many carbs.
· The last one is 700 pages, and it could have been 400.
· The first 200 left a "yuck" look on my face. Too romance novel. Yuck.
· What a terrible name. I would have preferred "Belward Swacul".
· Wow, the end was so exciting! I really didn't see that coming. (I clearly need sarcasm font.) The end was the best part, but super predictable.
· So they are vampires living in Forks, and they must keep this secret or risk penalty of death. And they drive Ferraris? Okay, just one, but still. As if that would happen. Not exactly inconspicuous. I feel like there are a few places in the series where Meyer insists on making vampires "sexy", sometimes at the expense of the plot.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Nellie Wins 1-0.
Yes, it's worth a blog post. This is Nellie's fourth victory of the season, and the first that I was actually at.
And.....wait for it.......G O A L!!!! It was my goal. ;) Okay, that was already FAR too much boasting, because really the goal was pretty sad. The goalie made that "argh" noise. You know it. We were on a powerplay with about 8 minutes left in the third. Nellie's centre won put the puck straight to me on left wing off the face-off. There wasn't a player lined up against me, so I remember thinking, "Now take a second and do something decent, don't just swat it, Adams." I decided the best this to do was chuck it on goal, since that was also in the direction of my linemates, including our superstar. I was hoping for a little rebound, or at least to get it in the superstar's hands. Instead I thought, "Balls. Not NEARLY hard enough, Adams. Oh well, another face-off." Then I heard the goal say "argh", and that was the game.
so I'm stoked that we won, and stoked that I scored. But to say it was a nice goal would be like claiming you pull a shitty half-field pull, but they drop it. Gorgeous half field huck? Not so much.
One more note about the game. Remember that other blog were I said that other team is sweet to play? This team, not so much. Some of them were cool, but a few players were pretty dirty, borderlining on dangerous. They took out a few of our players, enough that I thought it was pretty uncool. One player got two BAD penalties (as in it almost looked like she was trying to hurt someone. Or certainly not trying not to hurt anyone). Don't get me wrong, I'm all for physical, agressive play, but this was not that. The team name was Ms Conduct, and I think it's fitting.
I wonder if anyone ever 'takes numbers' off of blogs. Well, in case anyone from Ms. Conduct happens to stumble across this on the internet, I'm number 4, bitches. (Just kidding).
And.....wait for it.......G O A L!!!! It was my goal. ;) Okay, that was already FAR too much boasting, because really the goal was pretty sad. The goalie made that "argh" noise. You know it. We were on a powerplay with about 8 minutes left in the third. Nellie's centre won put the puck straight to me on left wing off the face-off. There wasn't a player lined up against me, so I remember thinking, "Now take a second and do something decent, don't just swat it, Adams." I decided the best this to do was chuck it on goal, since that was also in the direction of my linemates, including our superstar. I was hoping for a little rebound, or at least to get it in the superstar's hands. Instead I thought, "Balls. Not NEARLY hard enough, Adams. Oh well, another face-off." Then I heard the goal say "argh", and that was the game.
so I'm stoked that we won, and stoked that I scored. But to say it was a nice goal would be like claiming you pull a shitty half-field pull, but they drop it. Gorgeous half field huck? Not so much.
One more note about the game. Remember that other blog were I said that other team is sweet to play? This team, not so much. Some of them were cool, but a few players were pretty dirty, borderlining on dangerous. They took out a few of our players, enough that I thought it was pretty uncool. One player got two BAD penalties (as in it almost looked like she was trying to hurt someone. Or certainly not trying not to hurt anyone). Don't get me wrong, I'm all for physical, agressive play, but this was not that. The team name was Ms Conduct, and I think it's fitting.
I wonder if anyone ever 'takes numbers' off of blogs. Well, in case anyone from Ms. Conduct happens to stumble across this on the internet, I'm number 4, bitches. (Just kidding).
Monday, March 2, 2009
Italy Plans Coming Together
I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty stoked about going to Italy in April for Paganello. (Paganello is a frisbee tournament in Rimini, Italy). The tournament is pretty much shorted. Actually, there really wasn't anything to short, because our fearless leader Eva pretty much took care of everything. I will need to get sand socks, but that's a hell of a lot less effort than booking accomodations.
Anyway, really it's the rest of the trip that's starting to take shape. Kristin and I were talking yesterday about how REALLY we should be going for about 5 months. There are so many places that I want to see!
We have it narrowed to this: We're landing in Frankfurt and heading straight to Munich to see my good friend Jayanti. I'm pretty stoked to get to go back to Germany! I feel like my German came a long way, and then went right back where it came from. I'm studying again, and this trip is a very good motivator, although I'm sure I will not be where I want to (language-wise, not location-wise) by the time we leave.
After Germany, it's on to Italy, specifically Cinque Terre, Florence, Rimini and Venice! Then it's back to Frankfurt for a day, as we fly out for Canada that night. If you've been to Italy and have any recommendations, please let me know.
Anyway, really it's the rest of the trip that's starting to take shape. Kristin and I were talking yesterday about how REALLY we should be going for about 5 months. There are so many places that I want to see!
We have it narrowed to this: We're landing in Frankfurt and heading straight to Munich to see my good friend Jayanti. I'm pretty stoked to get to go back to Germany! I feel like my German came a long way, and then went right back where it came from. I'm studying again, and this trip is a very good motivator, although I'm sure I will not be where I want to (language-wise, not location-wise) by the time we leave.
After Germany, it's on to Italy, specifically Cinque Terre, Florence, Rimini and Venice! Then it's back to Frankfurt for a day, as we fly out for Canada that night. If you've been to Italy and have any recommendations, please let me know.
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