Monday December 27 2004

At Chianti's, the girl was dressed up elegantly, while sharing the complimentary bread was a guy wearing a casual sweater and a pro-fit baseball cap backwards.

At Tinseltown, the ticket-taker was one of the more outspoken students in a sociology class of mine that just ended. I'm curious as to who got a better mark.

In the parking lot, a driver clearly didn't know the dimensions of their own vehicle as they reversed with extreme, and unnecessary, caution.

Biscotti Improvised!

Went down to Theatresports on Granville Island after Biscotti's birthday dinner at Mongolie Grill on Saturday. Twas a wonderful night. The improvisors were at their best. At one point two of them came into the audience to select two audience members to join them onstage. Who should find herself onstage? The birthday girl! She had the good fortune of being the arms of one of the improvisors, as he made an argument of there not being enough garbage around.. It was very cool to see Biscotti up there getting numerous laughs from the crowd.. Fantastic stuff indeed.. At the end of the show, Dan Joffre was asked by the host if he wanted to say a few words.. Dan then told the crowd that after seven great years at Theatresports, he is going to pursue other opportunities and, therefore, Saturday was his last show. A well-deserved crowd favorite, he will be missed. On Boxing Day the improvisors start a new themed show, "The Imprentice", which Biscotti and I are definitely going to check out.. It's modeled after a reality show, betcha can't guess which one... Anyone out there interested in joining us? We're not actually going to go to it on Boxing Day, sometime after.. It'll run for a few months no doubt..

I'm hungry. Time for dinner. Speaking of dinner, we had a bitch server at the Mongolie Grill; someone I'd never seen there before. We had made the dinner reservations a week or so in advance and had asked for a certain area, to which they responded, "no problem". Biscotti and I arrive and most of the others are already there and it's in the exact opposite area that we had asked for, with barely enough room for us to squeeze into our seats. We get the table moved back as far as it will go (not very far), and ask the server why we weren't able to have the other area. She gets defensive immediately and says something about another reservation for a larger group needing that area. After minimal exchange back and forth, with no actual apology, she says "I'll return shortly for the drink orders for you happy people". You can probably imagine the tone she used for the word "happy". What is that?

Okay seriously. Time for dinner.

Christmas Trivia

A festive holiday gift for the first person who correctly answers the following question: Who is the other reindeer? I mean it... First one to correctly answer wins a special mystery prize!

(As a follow-up to a previous post, I have now selected the French book with which I will start)

Why did the bicycle fall over?

It was too tired..

It now seems as though my leg strength is irrevelant. When I start my new job on the 16th, I will also be working before classes, from 7am-9am. In order to do this, I am insuring the dormant Honda and will be driving again. I'm thinking that the half hour window before and after classes will just prove to be too much.. My bike has served me well for the past little while.. For many years actually, but the past little while it has seen its use skyrocket.. Good bike, you will be called upon on weekends and special occasions.. For regular exercise now: indoor soccer for three hours every Monday night!

Interview of Life

... and hope and everything that is good in the world.

Now that's how an interview should feel. The interview took place last Thursday, and that experience was the exact opposite of the Carnegie experience.. As I told Biscotti right after, I left the interview smiling, rather than wanting to cry. It was a fairly short interview, about fifteen minutes, and things went really smoothly. The position is for an afterschool kids clubhouse, and it's Mon-Thur 2pm-6pm, and Fri 12pm-6pm. Much much better hours than what I'm currently working as Building Supervisor, working two days a week and getting home at about 11pm , Friday being one of those days..

They said that they would be going over the resumés and whatnot and would likely be calling people on Monday. Calling "people" meaning, I assume, that they would call everyone they interviewed, not just the one person they choose as champion.. (Champion being, of course, my word of choice, as you shall soon see why) Monday came and went with no phone call. Tueday came and went with a phone call. A message was left because I didn't answer the phone. And that's what good people do when the phone isn't answered. They leave a message. But this message, considering the context, was annoyingly ambiguous. "Hi it's so-and-so from this-little-place. Could you give us a call back when you have a minute, either before 3 today or tomorrow morning. Thanks." I couldn't call before 3 so I called the next morning. Which gave me plenty of time to consider the tone of their voice, the tell-tale pauses, and the very fact that they didn't say that I was hired if I was still interested. When I called there was no answer, so, being a good person, I left a message. Hi it's so-and-so, give me a call.. Half hour later, they gave me a call. Hi, do you have a minute? For you, I have five! We were quite happy with the interview, and the references were all great (uh oh, are they buttering me up? Is the next word going to be "but"?), so (really, a "so" not a "but"?!?) we're happy to be able to offer you the position. Are you still interested? Yes. Yes I am.

They were very flexible with when I start, so I asked if I could start on the 16th. That just happens to be the day after my final final, as well as the day after the Christmas party at Imagination Arts. No problem.. even though it's a Thursday. Seems like it's gonna be a good place to work!

In January I'm going to take 4 courses, from 9:30-1:30, giving me half an hour to get to work. My legs are getting stronger.

Save the Whales? Save the Humans!

This is very cool.

A joke? Have any to share?

At Imagination Arts, there are two girls who sometimes have a joke or two to share.. Two examples:

What do you get when you cross a bee and an eagle? A beagle!
What do you call a snail on a boat inside your ear? A nose scratcher!

As you can see, it's a toss-up if the jokes will actually make sense, let alone be funny. A chuckle from me is inevitable; gotta give them support for trying. Each joke tends to have the same structure: a question from them, me saying "I don't know", and then the so-called punch-line.. So the other day one of the girls came up to me and before she even said anything I thought, 'yes! a joke'. Here's how our exchange went:

Girl: "Why are flamingos pink?"
Me: "Hmmm, why are flamingos pink.. Hmmm, I don't know.."
Girl: "Oh." And then she turned and walked away!

They haven't been sharing any jokes lately, I think I need to start asking them to tell me some. In the past I could count on them to just come up and share..

Let's now turn our attention to David Duchovny. Everyone with me? Good. Dave recently hosted the "Late Late Show" in place of Craig Kilborn. He had Garry Shandling as a guest, with whom he has some amusing history (Larry Sanders show anyone?), and Garry Shandling called him Dave. It sounded funny. Anyway, the funniest part of the show was during the monologue.. One line in particular. Mulder had just finished telling the audience a rather sad news story: "But there's good news," said Duchovny, "I'm married to Téa Leoni."

A Steven Wright joke that I like:
"I got kicked out of the movies for bringing my own food in. I argued that the concession prices are outrageous. And besides, it's been a while since I've had a barbecue"

Got a favorite joke? Share it with me s'il vous plaît..

Interview of Death

Oh boy. Where do I begin? This was one difficult interview.. The deadline for application for the position was October 1st, and they didn't contact me until over a month later. Hypothesis: the first round of selected applicants failed to meet their requirements.. I now see why..

So the job entails, among other things, the implementation of programs for all ages in a downtown eastside park, Oppenheimer park for those who care.. And the fact that you're reading this at all leads me to believe you care.. The job would be a challenge no doubt.. not just for me, but for anyone.. Lots of conflicts, verbal and physical, between people who want to use the park to play, and people who are, well, not wanting to play, but won't move. The job description noted this so it wasn't a shock when the guy interviewer (there was a male and two females) gave me a "reality check" about what I would be doing. I didn't have the appropriate experience that they were apparently looking for.. Some questions about my supervisory experience were skipped, and some questions, when I spoke of my limited experience in whatever they were asking, caused the two females to exchange not-so-subtle looks with each other.. "Look assholes, I read the job description and felt that it was a job I could do.. Sure the downtown eastside neightborhood will be challenging, but it will be challenging for everyone, not just me.. and besides, I sent you my resumé and you contacted me, implying that you felt I was a definite possibility to fill the position.. If it's clearly not working out on your side, then cut the interview short so that you can exchange glances on your own time. "

Each interviewer asked many, many questions with each question more demanding than the previous one.. In many of the questions, I was lost before they were finished asking.. Long-winded questions within questions.. No wonder they hadn't found anyone yet, all applicants who came in for an interview had no idea what the hell they were talking about.. After asking them to give me a moment to formulate an answer, I would begin talking in general terms, but then I would have to stop talking, usually mid-sentence. These stops came in two varities: 1) My rate of speech would slow, volume of voice become lower, until I just trickled to silence. 2) Mid-sentence, I would search for the right word to express my thoughts and nothing would come. Nothing at all. I felt as though I had no official language because all that was coming to me, was the sound of a prairie breeze. After a short uncomfortable pause, I would then ask them to repeat the question.. Which they would do.. Didn't help at all.. Here's an example of a question, as best as I can remember it five nights after it was fired at me: "What do you thing the goals and motivations are of a volunteer, and compare it to the goals and motivations of a paid worker?" This may seem simple in hindsight, but in the heat of the moment, not so much.. not for me.. and keep in mind that this is one of the only questions that I can recall from memory. Every other question was far too complicated and wordy to remember.. The evening following the interview I couldn't even remember what had happened.. There was also a question along the lines of: "In the park we sometimes get incidents of violent conflicts, such as people throwing glass bottles. Give us an example of a time you dealt with violent conflict and tell us how you dealt with it.." Me: "Just give me a few seconds please.. (short pause) ..Working as a daycamp leader at Arts Umbrella, we play many active games with kids. During a soccer game, Jimmy will try to kick the ball but sometimes he'll miss the ball and maybe kick Susie's foot instead. Susie will then get upset and say that Jimmy did it on purpose and refuse to play soccer. After telling Susie that I saw the whole thing and that her getting kicked by Jimmy was an accident, we'll go get a drink from the water fountain and, feeling better, she'll start playing soccer again.. That's exactly the type of violent conflict you're looking for, right? Jerks.."

As for the interviewer who assumed the crash position (see previous post), I was in the process of "answering" a question aimed at me from the male interviewer when I looked over and there she was, looking very professional. Other professional interviewing habits: checking her cellphone regularly; looking out the window located behind me and reacting nonverbally to whatever or whoever she saw; as stated before, exchanging glances with other female; being unfriendly in demeanor, attitude, speech, etc.. (began before the interview even started)

In conclusion, you might find it surprising that this is still a job that I would want.. And I feel it's a job I could handle, it would just take some getting used to.. It was the interviewers themselves that pushed me away, not the details of the job.. Unfortunately, I believe the position requires quite a bit of involvement and communication with the "crash-position interviewer". In the end, I feel kinda sorry for the individual who gets hired for this position and must be exposed to such negativity. Of course, this is assuming that they find an applicant who can understand what the hell they are asking. It just occurred to me that at the end of the interview I should've asked them to ask me a simple question such as, "What's the date today?" Then I would've watched as the question became severely mutated and unintelligible right in front of my eyes, until it was no longer even a shadow of its former self. Simply for my amusement of course.

Teaser

My job interview on Friday was a nightmare. Details to come, please stay tuned.. (at one point, one of the three interviewers had her elbows on her knees and her face in the palms of her hands for a good 45-60 seconds!)

Jobs

I had a job interview at Science World / Telusphere last Monday for the position of Science Facilitator. Overall I felt it was a decent interview, but there were a couple of things I wasn't happy with when it was all said and done. One such thing was having to pretend that the two female interviewers were a couple of kids that I had to entertain for a few minutes. All I had was a poem that they supplied me with. I could've done it so much better, but I just couldn't transform the interviewers into kids in order to do so. Got the call on Saturday saying, in effect, "Thanks, but no thanks."

This morning, after emailing them several weeks ago with my resumé, Carnegie Community Centre called and left a message asking me to come in for an interview on Friday. This is a job that I would really really like to get. Wish me luck okay.. Here's an exciting excerpt from the job posting:

Reporting to a Community Programmer, the Activities Coordinators (there are two Coordinators) consult and work with the CCC Association, community groups and individuals to develop, coordinate and implement programs and ensure safety and security at Oppenheimer Park . The coordinators are personally involved in program leadership; plan and participate in special events and out trips, including overnight trips; assist in the hiring and supervision of part-time staff and instructors; develop volunteer participation; assist in the administration of the park facility; monitor the annual program budget; assist in raising funds; and perform a community liaison function. Duties also include: assisting and providing support to patrons experiencing personal crisis, providing lay counseling or referral services as required; enforcing rules and patrolling the park and field house to keep them free from alcohol, drugs and violence; resolving patron and volunteer disputes; attending to medical emergencies and dealing with police or other emergency services; ensuring the park facilities and grounds are clean and that unsafe materials are removed.

I want this job this job is what I want I want this job this job is what I want I want this job this job is what I want I want this job

Two Quotes

Taken from Sports Illustrated, here are two items regarding the Red Sox:

1) After the BoSox beat the Yankees (Suck) in game seven, the fans were on the streets outside Fenway celebrating. The police were there and were armed with FN303 guns, which fire pepper pellets designed to be nonlethal. On egun was fired into a crowd of revelers - from which a bottle had been thrown at a police officer - and the pellet struck the eye of 21-year-old Victoria Snelgrove, killing her. Following Boston wins in games one and two of the World Series, the city was far more subdued. Here is what BoSox rightfielder Trot Nixon said: "I'd give back game seven to have her back."

2) In game one of the World Series, the BoSox and Cards combined for 42 runners and 5 errors, including one by Boston leftfielder Manny Ramirez when he stumbled awkwardly (and hilariously!) on an unnecessary attempt at a diving catch, allowing the Cards to tie the game at nine in the eighth. When he returned to the dugout, Manny deadpanned to teammate Dave Roberts, "Snipers got me."

Bush versus the Packers

Here's an interesting factoid for alls y'all: If history holds true, the final homegame for the Washington Redskins before the American Presidential election could very well tell us who will win the election. If the Redskins win their final homegame, the incumbant party retains the Presidency. If the Redskins lose, the incumbant party loses the White House. The election is on Tuesday and the Redskins have a homegame today. They are playing the Green Bay Packers. This strange streak has held true for the past 17 elections. I read it in a local newspaper so it's gotta be true. Just checked the scoreboard; Packers up 10-0 early in the second quarter.

Spooky Halloween Movie

Yesterday I Saw a very spooky movie. Normally, I tend to avoid scary/gory movies, but now and then one lures me in.. Whenever I see a movie that I like, telling people all about it is not my style. I like to just say, "it's good, go see it". This one had a good premise and, this being Halloween weekend, we went ahead and checked it out. Biscotti's not so sure, but I'm glad I Saw it. It's a well-made low-budget thriller. If you're thinking that I haven't given you the name of the movie yet, you're wrong. I have. To help you out, and possibly lure you into seeing the movie, here's a synopsis that I swiped from the internet: Two men (Cary Elwes and Leigh Whannell) wake chained to pipes in a subterranean bathroom. Neither knows how or why they got there, but a cassette recorder left for them slowly reveals the clues to a fiendish game. "It's good, go see it."

I was standing in the park the other day, wondering why a frisbee gets larger the closer it gets. Then it hit me.

Red Sox: World Champions

There is an aspect of the curse that I hadn't given any thought to: The players have had the curse forced upon them. They are out there on the field trying to win games. It is the fans who project(ed) the curse onto the team. Many players, including Cabrera and the heroic Schilling, have been on the team for less than a year. This is why I am at peace with the curse being reversed. "From cursed to first" one sign in St. Louis said. Congrats Red Sox. They just thoroughly dominated the Cards, who had been the best team in baseball during the regular season. Eight straight wins to capture the title. A record of 11-3 in the postseason. And, of course, that unprecedented comeback versus the Yankees (Suck).

As I end this post, and move on to other topics in future posts, I would like to conclude with this: I am very happy to have seen the BoSox play at Fenway while the curse was alive and well.

What is going on?

The Red Sox are up three games to none versus the Cardinals in the World Series. Trying to come up with a short phrase to summarize how I feel about this, here is the best I can do: This is nutty. For the last couple of days, and increasing after last night's game, I've been thinking, huh, could the curse actually end this year? Tonight? The curse could end tonight. Of course, as many, if not all, Sox fans are no doubt considering, the World Series is not over. After winning three games, teams still have to win the fourth game. Right Yankees (Suck)?

So here's what I just realized. Much like flipping a coin, there are now two possible outcomes for the conclusion of the World Series. You may be thinking, 'well yeah, even before it began, it would either be 1) Sox win, or 2) Cardinals win'. (You might have read somewhere that there are actually three potential outcomes to coin-flipping. That is a lie.) Two outcomes: 1) Sox win, thereby ending the curse and putting an end to 86 years of futility; 2) Cardinals win, thereby accomplishing what the Sox were the first team ever to do, coming back from a 3 games to none deficit in a best-of-seven series. Either result is just plain nutty. The Red Sox are going to finally win the World Series, in the same postseason that they were down three games to none to, of all teams, the Yankees (Suck), and in the same season that I actually saw them play for the very first time, at good ol' Fenway? The Cards are going to pull off what all 25 other teams before this year's Sox team couldn't do, coming back from a (everyone say it with me) "three games to none deficit"?

As much as I've been pro-Sox since seeing them at Fenway, I'm not sure I want the BoSox to win the World Series. The legend of the curse is too great. If they finally win, how many people will care anymore? It will become a forgotten story. Right now there is so much history to it, all the way back to 1918.. No other sports team has that kind of story. Coming back against the Yankees (Suck) was fantastic, but it would have been just fine, and even appropriate, if they had then gone down in flames in the World Series.. "Oh man," the Fenway faithful would say, "that damn curse.. Well, there's always next year.." But now, being up three-zero, I don't want the Cards to pull off the same upset that the Sox just did. That would suck. So I'm torn. It's either hope for the curse to end, or hope for the Sox's unprecedented-comeback to be repeated in the very same postseason, by another team? My vote: Repeat the comeback. Keep the curse alive.

I Feel Sick. Baseball Fever?

Game one of the World Series is today folks! Let's go Wakefield, make that knuckleball dance..

Here's a joke from a book I read:

A man and his dog walk into a bar. The bartender sees the dog and says, "Sir, you're gonna have to leave your dog outside." The man responds "But this is a special dog, he can talk", and lifts the dog up onto a stool. The bartender says, "If you can prove that he talks, both of you can stay". The man says "Okay" and turns to his dog. "What do you call the thing on top of a house?" "Roof Roof" "Good. How does sandpaper feel?" "Ruff ruff" "Excellent! Who is the greatest baseball player ever?" "Ruth Ruth" The bartender interrupts, "That's it, I've seen enough. Take your dog and leave please." So the man lifts his dog back down and they head to the door. As the man opens the door, the dog turns to the bartender, shrugs, and says, "Dimaggio?"

See, The Yankees Really Do Suck

Wow. Just a few days ago I really did not think that I would be able to say that the Red Sox are going to the World Series. And yet, "the Red Sox are going to the World Series!" This team is so good that they decided to spot the Yankees (Suck) a three games to none lead. As has been said, and written, many times recently, the Red Sox are the first team in baseball history to win a postseason series after being down three games to none. It's never happened in basketball and has happened only twice in hockey. Football does a one game showdown so they don't factor here. Now, while the Red Sox have made history by winning a series after being down three games to none, there is another point of view that I haven't heard much of. And that is that the Yankees (Suck) are the first team to ever lose a baseball postseason series after being up three games to none. It takes a very special team to pull that off.

Game one of the World Series is on Saturday folks. 4:30 local (Vancouver) time is what I've heard.. I doubt it can match the drama that occurred in the seven games against the Yankees (Suck), but still, it's the Red Sox in the World Series. It's been 86 years since the Red Sox last one the World Series. After that win, they traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees (Suck) and The Curse was born. Four times since 1918 the Red Sox have been in the World Series, and each time they lost in game seven. But, who cares? This team is clearly ready to kick all historical stats aside, proven by the fact that they are going to this year's World Series. Wow.

Get a Roundabout Life!

So as I was saying, I nearly got hit by a driver again today.. I bike defensively, which, even on the designated "bike routes", is a necessity, but some drivers are just too ignorant.. This afternoon I was headed south on Cypress Street, and turning right to head west on 7th.. I should note that both of these streets are designated "bike routes".. A driver, who was driving a van for a company that shall not remain nameless (Mr. Rooter), was heading east on 7th and wanted to turn left to head north on Cypress. This intersection has one of those fun roundabouts that people don't seem to know how to use. Or they just like to shortcut. This driver, instead of going the proper counter-clockwise direction to turn left, simply took a hard left.. Upon seeing me directly in front of him, he slammed on the brakes.. "Go the other way" I told him, making the appropriate hand gestures.. He rolled down his window and said, "Some vehicles can't make it around that way". "Really? Well, I have no doubt that this vehicle can make it around." This van was no bigger than the average mini-van.. I asked him to prove to me that he couldn't make it around, but he instructed me to "get a life" and drove off..

Should I inform Mr. Rooter of this driver? By telling them the intersection and date/time they can probably figure out who it was.. Although I don't think they would care.. I'm wondering if the police would care, and if they ever patrol any of the "bike routes" in this city for negligent drivers. They should, and they should do it disguised as regular cyclists to get a true sense of what it's like..

Who Has the Edge?

A baseball commentator made the following statement the other day during a game, and I'm paraphrasing a little, but this is in essence what he said: "Selecting a player to be the Red Sox MVP would be so difficult, you could essentially just flip a coin.. Would it be Ortiz? Damon? or Ramirez?" Okay. Now we all agree that coins the world over all have the same shape, right? There are usually just two common outcomes to flipping a coin.. heads or tails. I suppose the commentator, when stating that there are three players in contention, is thinking of the much less common outcome where the coin is on edge, and therefore neither heads nor tails. I say "much less common outcome" because I have seen many a coin be flipped, and I have yet to see the edge be the outcome. I believe it is uncommon the world over also, since I have never heard anyone respond to the request of "call it.." with "Edge!"

The Red Sox are down two games to zero. But remember, the Yankees suck, and in a best-of-seven series, the suckness factor tends to play a large role. Go Sox.

SO GOOD, So Good, so good...

Go Sox! (is what I've been saying) Yankees Suck! (is what my t-shirt has been saying)

Just like last year, the Boston Red Sox are flirting with success in the playoffs.. Right now they are up two games to zero on the Angels in the best of five divisional series. If they win today then they move on to the American League Championships against either the Twins or the Yankees. That series is tied at one game apiece.

If the Sox can reverse the curse and win the World Series, it would be über-cool for this reason: I attended a game at Fenway this season! To be able to say that I saw the Sox play, at Fenway, during the season in which they broke the curse, would be something else.. The only other major league games I've attended were on consecutive days at the Kingdome (now extinct), Mariners vs the Angels. At Fenway this year, I saw the Sox defeat the Blue Jays. Many knowledgeable baseball people say that win turned the season around for the Sox, as it started a long winning streak. Shortstop Cabrera was booed mercilessly by the hometown fans as he tried to do too much and ending up doing nothing (grounder through his legs scored a run or two). The fans weren't yet over the loss of Nomar.. (guy sitting in front of us, on a foul odor in our midst: "it wasn't me, I swear to Nomah, it wasn't me..") It's good to see Cabrera doing well. That bases loaded triple in game two was huge.

In other news, thank you all for your input regarding the French novel. The number of suggestions surprised even me, and it will take me many days, possibly weeks, possibly months, to sort through the comments and select my debut "roman". I will let you know what it is when I know what it is.

Books

Woo-hoo! Another wild release of mine has been caught, and I can now say it's been journaled!! I watched the book after leaving it and saw a girl pick it up and take it with her! The release was on Sunday, two days ago, as part of the 'Word on the Street' event at the downtown library. I got the journal entry just moments ago.. This all has to do with bookcrossing.com, but you already knew that didn't you? That's right, you did!

I recently took a French class to update my ability to communicate in French.. In my high school days I was pretty good at the French, but as the years went by my skills became diminished.. Reading it was far easier than understanding someone who was speaking it.. Therefore, I would like to retain as much of it as I possibly can.. My goal is to read a French novel.. This should probably be done pretty soon, or else, if history has taught me anything, I will have difficulty getting past the title of the novel.. Does anyone out there have any suggestions for me on what I should read? Any suggestions are welcome.. I'd like to start somewhat simple, and work my way up.. The simple start should still be challenging though..

My last three posts have all been done on Tuesdays. What's up with that?

Oddest Of All Odds

Did I just hear that?
Did anyone else just hear that?
Again and again to be sure,
(Just don't forget to keep pedaling).
One, one, one...
At home, p+p, five,
Memory tells me that's the one (ten).
Deletion, my bad
Won't happen again.
I promise it will not.
That is not a light thing to say.
A question for you:
Why?
General, yes,
Now the best I can do.
Pepper, soccer, reality, Kelowna.
Two hours later - answered (to my satisfaction?)

Buy Me Some Peanuts...

The Indians will not play in the final. For the past 4 or 5 years, I have played for the Surrey Indians baseball team in the LMBA (Lower Mainland Baseball Association). This year I decided not to play in order to free up some weekends and have the opportunity to do some weekend/extended trips I couldn't do in past summers. On Sunday, two days ago, the Indians played the Maple Ridge Jerks in the semis.. Being played in Burnaby, I figured Biscotti and I could go out and take it in.

The Jerks used to be the dominant team in the league by a wide margin. Our games against them would be nothing more then practice for them, and embarrassing for us. That seems to have changed. Helped no doubt by a stronger Indians team than past years. There is an August long weekend tournament every season, and the three times I played in it we won a grand total of zero games. Each year every team gets a minimum of three games. The Indians, with me on the roster, never played more then three. In fact, one year we only played two. "You guys are so brutally bad that we are mercying you to Newton before the game even begins. You stink. Go home." "Hey man, you can call us bad ballplayers, but leave my B.O. out of this." In truth, weather was the cause of our lost game. Anyway, this year, the Indians happened to win the tournament. Super. I'd like to take sole credit for their win by saying I was responsible for removing the weakest link, but, from last year to this year, there were several roster changes besides me. Therefore, it wasn't merely my absence that sent them to the top of the podium, there were other factors involved. That's what I tell myself as I lay awake at night..

Sunday's game was close. There was no score for the first few innings. The Jerks got on the board first with a solo homerun, then went up a couple a couple of innings later. The Indians sure had their chances to tie. One inning, two men on and nobody out, and the inning ends with no runs scored. Shoot-oh. Final score was 5-3. Maybe 5-2. Just as well for them. Last year, when I told them I wouldn't be playing this year, they were warned that if they won it all this year, I would be so insulted that I would never play for them again. Now that I think about it, I suppose it's not just as well for them. It's just as well for me. I want to play next year. Nice try guys. You came very close but fell just short. Next year, I'm playing ball.

I've Got it Oh-So-Tough.

So here's the situation: The women's U.S. Open final is being played right now, or could possibly be over, and I'm struggling. You see, there were two men's semi-finals earlier today. In the first one, Aussie Hewitt beat Johansson (sp?) in straight sets. Then the second semi was starting just as I had to leave to catch a Fringe show. The second semi featured skilled Federer versus Henman. I taped it. When I got home it was ten to four and the Canadian hockey team was 2 minutes into their semi-final match against the Czech Republic. I let the tape continue to record channel 15 in case Federer and Henman were still playing. The tape would run out at 5, which happened to be when the women's final started.. At 5 minutes to 5, I flipped to channel 15 and thankfully there was a cartoon coming to an end. I took the tape out and put in another tape, pressed record again. I then watched the rest of the Canada game.. yowzers! What a thriller.. Here's a brief summary: Canada won in overtime! What? I did say it would be brief.. The Canadians now play Finland on Tuesday.. Oh shoot, I have plans to see a Fringe show on Tuesday. Gonna have to figure that out.. Tape the game? No. More likely to see the fringe show on another night.. I hope that's possible..

And now back to tennis. It's now 7:18 and the match started at 5. My mind is telling me that women's matches can last anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours. I'm thinking of just letting the tape run for the four hours. Let me try to explain why. If I flip to channel 15 now, and I see them playing, then I know that the match lasts at least 2 hours and twenty minutes. Let's say that one of the Russians has a match point in the second set at the 1 hour-10 minute mark. I know who is going to win the point and the suspense is gone. Poof. If I don't flip to it, and just let the tape run out, then I have no idea how long the match is and can get appropriately tense/amazed/thrilled at the appropriate times. Understand? Of course, once that tape is done, I first have to watch the Federer match. Know why? Because no doubt the commentators, during the women's final, will reveal who won the men's semis.. whew.

The Fringe. I've never seen a Fringe show before. It's a once-a-year festival here in Vancouver that showcases many different types of performers that wouldn't really have anywhere else to perform. These performers tour, so they hit festival after festival around the world.. Today I saw a show with Biscotti called @witsend. It featured a standup comic from New Zealand ("'the Shire' as you probably know it") who was brilliant. I was hoping he would have a very typical Kiwi accent, but it was only noticeable on a few occassions throughout the show. I'm guessing he's losing it because he does so much touring. His accent I'm talking about. Not "losing it" in the "what a nutball" sense.. He had so much to say that his 50 minute set was all over the place, but in a good way. Segued very well and was very engaging.

Now I must figure out Tuesday and solve my women's-final crisis.

Accessorizing my Bicycle

Currently rainy and windy. That last word is pronounced win-dee, not wine-dee; wouldn't make much sense if it was the latter now would it? I mention the weather only because I finally put the front fender on my bike today. Okay, it wasn't so much me as a nice guy at Cheapskates who put it on. Might seem like a simple job that I should've been able to do myself, but to my credit this bike expert needed a good 10-15 minutes to do the job. Granted, he didn't call himself a bike expert, I bestowed that upon him just now, but he works in a bike shop, so he should be an expert right? The nice guy didn't even charge me.. Just told me to do someone else a favor today.. I said, 'pay it forward, gotcha, thanks'. I haven't seen the movie but I was able to reference it, that takes some skill right? Right? No, it doesn't. Anyway, my bike now has a front fender to match the rear fender and riding when it's wet should be a bit better.. The only thing I have to worry about now are the idiots in their vehicles who can't seem to understand basic traffic signs and don't know how to use their indicators. Of course, I don't mean you, unless you're an idiot who can't comprehend easy commands and aren't trained enough or smart enough to make your turn signals function.... Then there are the jerks who like to use the bike routes as shortcuts.. I could go on. I won't.

Getting Settled

I'm still not quite sure what I'm capable of on this site. It's taking some getting used to, that's for sure. I have updated (see: improved) my profile some, although I'm 99.7841% sure no one has seen it as of me writing this sentence.. Mostly because I haven't told anyone that I've started this blog. I will probably be sending out another group email to a select few to inform them..

I went camping a couple of days ago with my girlfriend, whom I shall call Biscotti, because that's what I really do call her. We went up near Joffre Lakes, which is north of Pemberton, which is north of Whistler.. It was very early September, we left on the first, so we were prepared for regular camping, with regular summer-ish clothes. When we first stepped out of the car, we felt a gust of cold air, but thought nothing of it. After all, since we'd been inside a warm car for the 3+ hour drive, it was bound to be cold as we opened the doors. The hike in was more strenuous than anticipated, and quite wet and muddy. By the time we got to Lake Rohr, we were semi-exhausted, and it was then that the snow started falling. Alrighty then, it's gonna be like this, is it? We had, fortunately, packed a couple of toques and some fleece clothing, "just in case", and I'm super glad we did. Our planned two-nighter turned pretty quickly into a one-nighter.. It's a beautiful place, glaciers and lakes and all, but the coolest part is that you feel all alone for many miles around.. Kind of because you are.. And that is what made me have bears on the mind until we got back to the car.. With no one else around, you know who the bears are gonna go after! Tried to make light of it, "No bears! No bears!" we chanted as we clapped our hands, but it was weighing heavy, let me tell ya.. And wouldn't you know it, we ended up having a bear encounter. A cute cub was eating some delicious looking berries, mere metres away from us. That's right, mere metres. We were starting to think that where there's cub, there's mom, when the cub turned and disappeared into the bush. Both of us suitably relieved, Biscotti put the car back into drive and off we went, homeward bound.

Now I must go watch the remainder of the Finland / Sweden hockey match.. Go Canada! (tonight vs Russia)

The First

I felt it necessary to put up a post on the same day that I created my very own blog. So here is my first post. My profile is currently subpar and I will be updating it in the near future. I'm always surprised at how hard it is for me to list my favorite movies on command. The only thing harder than that, I have just found out, is to list my favorite books on command.

You can now tell your friends that jblueafterglow's blog has officially started. Go on, tell them.. While you're at it, tell some non-friends as well. I'm sure they'd be very interested to hear the news.