So Slow

Well, this will make KP happy at least. Or fake KP? The Health section is back to being updated, but not in the "general tips" area. The gym under my office here has placed me on a 16-week program with the lofty goals of reducing my man boobs and gut, strengthening my abs and muscles around my knees, and stepping up my running to try a competitive 10k. Day 2 is scratched solely because I went to Tucker's Marketplace and couldn't be bothered looking up the nutrition data on the many things I sampled in small quantities. So far my right knee, lower back, and upper abs hurt like death. I'm hoping it's the growing pains of building muscle and not the forebearer of future injury, but I shall muscle through regardless.

Now is the time to grow a set and trade Mats Sundin! Leading the league in points means he'll never again be worth this much on the market, and we all know before Christmas he's going to injure something and return back to earth with an unceremonious thud. Somebody with Cup aspirations would gladly give up pick/prospect combos to secure him. All we'd then have to do is pitch McCabe off to Long Island for the same style of deal, toss Raycroft for a mid-level pick, and then begin the process of rebuilding. Or we could just sit around and do nothing. I think we know which option will be selected.

Warm and Sunny Days

I keep wanting to wait to type this at home so I can put up pictures, but I keep forgetting at night, so here goes. Rick's weekend.

Some of you have seen the pictures of the hike on Facebook already. Alex, Mike, and myself had decided to head out Saturday and I'd selected the now-unmanned Cold Creek Conservation Area for the scene of a hike and Geocache. There's an eight-stage Geocache within it's unprotected borders that requires assembly of information to compile for the location of the final stage. Unfortunately my compadres took some time to get their act together and we didn't set out on our journey until after 3:00PM. The hike itself was pretty flat, but with a lot of visual stimulus to keep us entertained. We saw an old farm that appeared to be still in use, but nobody was nearby; a field of sheep; a burnt-out old Pontiac; some kind of abandoned engine; and in the end, found ourselves on the wrong side of some caution tape. We also found the Geocache, a first for Alex, and then relaxed at the Black Bull for a burger and a pint of Guinness, a good end.

Sunday brought Volo's Cask Days; their third, my first. For the uninitiated Volo is a restaurant at Yonge and Dundonald that, once a year, brings in 25-35 (mostly) local brewers with special one-off casks of beer that you get to sample for a reasonable price. Surrounding these beers are amazing cheeses, pastries, foods, and more. Many great beers were present, the greatest of which were two selections sent in from Montreal's world-famous Dieu du Ciel - Péché Mortel (Coffee Porter) and Corne du Diable (American IPA). I've never tried beer from DDC before and it was so worth the wait, they were hands down the best I tasted all day. The porter smelled so much like coffee, and just tasted SO good.

Is It A Crime

At long last another piece of the Conservative Party's hidden agenda has surfaced - cracking down on lawbreakers. Oddly, with advance polls showing the Liberals they wouldn't be able to defeat the federal Conservatives, they've suddenly changed their mind and decided they don't have any problem at all with classifying repeat felons as dangerous offenders. Funny, that. All kidding aside I'm personally pleased that, potentially, we may finally start punishing criminals instead of hugging them. The puppy dogs and rainbows system isn't working, hasn't been working, and won't work going forward.

In hockey news, as noted, officiating took a big step backward last night in the Pittsburgh/New Jersey game. You have to love, above all things that took place, calling a goal back because a Pens player didn't make it back to the bench quick enough, when the instant replay of that exact moment shows nine Devils on the ice.

Further in hockey, are the Leafs the only team that constantly gripe when the fans turn on a player? Now we've got everyone taking the fans to task for booing McCabe, and we're told to ignore the fact he makes almost $7 million a year. I kind of agree, I say we be less selective and just boo the entire team all the time until they blow this POS up and start again. But we can keep Antropov, that guy rules. :P

Smaller and Better Things

I haven't even talked about the Vancouver trip when this election creeps up and steals my time. No worries - event went fine, let's move on to more important things.

I've been harassing e-mailing my local Liberal representative to see if they plan to cease in funding Catholic schools following this election. I've been stunned how many Catholics have preached their dislike for faith-based funding these past couple months without realizing how it should - but won't - affect them. You're really either for or against it. As a non-Catholic Christian I actually do find it offensive the Catholic minority can have their schools funded while the Protestant majority must find a way to pay for it themselves. But, of course, Mr. McGuinty is a child of the Catholic school system, as are his children, so the chances of him doing what's right here are about as likely as the Green Party winning this whole thing.

Interesting to note that in my college politics class we were tasked with "fixing" the electoral system. My fix revolved around an immediate re-allocation of ridings based on populational representation, then having people vote for their local representative and their political party of choice. Seats would be allocated based on percentage of the vote (ie. if the highest percentage of Liberal win was 68% in the Beaches they would receive the first Liberal seat) with the party leader able to "fill in the blanks" with his picks. I'm not explaining it properly but it was a good idea that garnered a top-notch mark, and I find it entertaining how similar today's proposed referendum "mixed member" option is. The big difference being my option didn't involve paying 22 more politicians to do nothing.

In an unrelated but interesting (to me) footnote here I recently found out that there's actually no evidence of any kind supporting Darwin's theory of evolution. I had always assumed some form of evidence actually existed, hence it's wide adoption as the "logical" truth of our existence. But no, apparently such evidence doesn't exist and it is - at best - a theory. Made more interesting by the fact that nobody, through so many years of trying, has been able to prove a single statement in the Bible as wrong. Discuss.

Flyin' High (In the Friendly Sky)

Before I get to my exile here's the important information:

Sportsnet.ca Fantasy Hockey
Group: overanything
Pass: moocow

As usual, that will be the official test of NHL knowledge amongst the OA crew. Sorry, THH, you have to earn you stripes to best 10 years of Faceoff/Sportsnet. I'm in already with half-a$$ed picks as I'm currently prepping and packing for the 7AM flight.

Flight, you say? I'm off to Vancouver for the two day tech expo called ExIT. I'd floated the idea of a larger event to my manager the day after I started at Ingram, and it took until July to get most of the crew behind it. I have a great team beside me and they've all gone 100% for the past few months to try and put together an amazing event, and all that hard work culminates in our event at the River Rock in Richmond, BC this coming Wednesday and Thursday. I'm not sure how or when I'll a computer and internet connection so hopefully Mark and Rob can find some way to entertain us. House, don't you have posting access now to?

I'll be back Saturday - enjoy!