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  • Flames 5, Maple Leafs 2.

    written by

    james

    Uh. What? Where’s the hockey? Where’s the home team? They did remember we played on Saturday, didn’t they? Did they remember games usually go about 2.5 hours? I don’t think so.

    We’re 3, 10 and 5. We’ve officially lost 5 times as many games, counting our shootout losses, as we’ve won. We have officially established a level of play comparative only with the Carolina Hurricanes–who we beat last week. And yet we’re supposedly the richest team in the league. I sure hope we can have a refund on this season. Bad was 4 games ago. This… is depressing.

  • My Facebook MySpace resistance.

    written by

    james

    It’s no secret to anyone who knows me that I practically live on Twitter, even if I don’t actually do a whole lot in the way of actually, you know, posting to the thing. Still, I make regular use of it to follow certain companies online, as well as keep up with folks–some of whom might actually read this thing at some point.

    But, for all its similarities, I find myself going through phases on Facebook. I’ll play around on it for a month or two, then get bored with it and move onto something else–right now, I’m at the bored with it phase. Even though you can do exactly the same thing with that that you can do with Twitter, and then some. I haven’t the slightest clue why, but for whatever reason I can never manage to actually stay involved over there. My profile hasn’t gotten a whole lot of attention of late, and I have no clue if or when it will again. When I do get involved with it, it’s only to try and get back into playing Mafia Wars again–so I guess you could say my profile hasn’t gotten much attention in several months.

    Compare that with MySpace, where I have absolutely no profile, no intention of ever getting a profile, and if it went offline at midnight tonight I probably wouldn’t notice. I did have a friend or two who swore by MySpace. Looking at their profiles for just 5 minutes, mostly because it was the only way to actually figure out what they were up to, was enough to make me seriously reconsider ever having anything to do with it. MySpace is a highschool type collection of overly animated profiles and, really, way too corny music. If I wanted that, I could dress the site up like that here without too much effort. There’s a reason I haven’t, though.

    So, if you want to keep in touch with me, send me an email. Catch me on IM. Follow the blog, or Twitter. Or, slightly less likely to be updated, tap me on the shoulder on Facebook. My resistance to Facebook fades every so often. My resistance to MySpace? It’s an immunity. That works for me.

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  • What are they doing to my waterfront festival?

    written by

    james

    For as long as I can remember, every time we had the chance we’d pack up the family and head out to Pembroke’s waterfront in mid-August to get a halfway decent seat for whichever big name bands were playing. It was the Roadhammers once, Wide Mouth Mason, and there were probably a few others I can’t immediately remember. Often times, nights like that would be followed up by a Sunday afternoon browse through festival grounds to get a look at whatever it is we didn’t get to see on Friday or Saturday.

    Sunday wasn’t a concert going day–mind you, that was largely because the performers they got in on Sundays were, well, often times local. And often times not very good. And since we’re talking Pembroke, we know they won’t be inclined to change that. Instead, because Sunday is a low attendance day, the city’s contemplating cancelling Sundays and starting the festival on Thursday instead.

    Among the suggestions includes dropping the thinly attended Sunday program of the three-day festival, saving on the expense of hosting it, while concentrating on Thursday evening.

    “Pembroke is not a Sunday “let’s go to the festival” community,” she said, as in the past four years the Sunday program never attracted more than 1,500 people, despite having attractions like April Verch, Fred Eaglesmith, Valdy and the Fiddling and Step Dance show.

    By having the festival start on Thursday and wrap up Saturday, organizers can take advantage of the college crowd, who like to head out Thursdays to have fun. The large turnout of people to this year’s finale of the Ottawa Valley’s Got Talent contest, held at the waterfront amphitheatre Thursday evening, is testament to that idea.

    Prior to the attending of any of the Sunday events, I hadn’t heard of most if not all of those. The only reason I have any interest in fiddling and/or step dancing is because I have a cousin who was, at one time, involved in it–and I don’t think I attended that Sunday on account of having to work anyway. So… um, no, they’re not about to go drawing in huge crowds if you’re roping them in for that. Keep the Sunday program, just… with better material. Maybe stick the talent show over there. I’d listen to that over a reappearance of April.

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  • Christmas shopping is a sport for the insane.

    written by

    james

    Not unlike any other kind of shopping, should you happen to live somewhere like, say, Ottawa. But in this case, it’s even more so. I’ve been spending the better part of the last couple days trying to do exactly that. I’ve been getting suggestions and ideas for christmas gifts for most members of my family, and actually picking things up for a few of them. It hasn’t gotten December quality insane yet, but it’s come awefully close a time or two. So far, I’ve managed gifts for my brother and sister-in-law, a gift for my nephew, and a couple things for Jessica. This week will be even more insane as I manage, somehow, to do anything and everything under the bloody sun. I have Christmas shopping to finish, gifts to aquire, wrap, and appropriately hide, and last minute arangements to make for Jess’s grad gift in a couple weeks–all before my Friday departure. And in the process of doing all this, I have a sneaking suspicion I’m about to come to a potentially very startling realization. If this were to happen more than once a year, there’d be a lot fewer beds in the local psych ward. Possibly not a bad thing. Possibly.

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  • Blackhawks 3, Maple Leafs 2.

    written by

    james

    Yeah, I know, a day late and a ddollar short–they’re desperately trying to lose another one. But, at least I’m doing it. My reason for its lateness is for another post.

    I caught the majority of last night’s game this morning. And didn’t like very much of what I saw, really. When I turned it on, they were already down by two and hadn’t scored yet–story of our lives this season, it would appear. They managed to make it a semi-interesting game heading into the third, but… well… yeah. They had nothin’. Up side, Phil Kessel scored, yet again. Twice. Down side, Vesa Toskala missed 3. And the one I saw him miss he shouldn’t have. Brian Birk’s on the phone to North Carolina as I write this asking what he can trade for the league basement. We, meanwhile, are hoping for a small miracle. Can we have next season yet?

  • Wild 5, Maple Leafs 2.

    written by

    james

    I speculated on Twitter, during the Hurricanes game, that we’d not seen the last of the team that not quite was. And, sure enough, they didn’t disappoint. They showed up for the first period, actually managed to keep up with the game during that–even if they, yet again, gave up the opening goal, and then sort of thought it was done. They did manage, somehow, to tie it up in the first… but, well, that was pretty much all she wrote. Three goals in the second, and an empty net at the end of the third, and probably 2 of those could have been prevented, and our undefeated streak comes to a screaming hault. They did manage to bury one at the 17 mark of the second period, but by that point we kind of already wrote the game off. There was one bright side to that night, though. I guess. Um, I… er, I had pizza. Oh yeah, and the new phone did actually end up coming–thoughts on that when I’m not typing on the parents’ computer. But the game? Yeah, I’d like a do over please.

  • Small town life isn’t bad. It’s the logistics that suck.

    written by

    james

    A few days ago, I made mention to the fact I’ve been playing hell trying to get my hands on a phone from Rogers to replace the one I have now that’s both getting to be outdated, and, I suspect, is now starting to have issues with the battery–a thing I wasn’t suspicious of when all this started. Well, as hinted at in that post, the order actually went through–eventually. And, Friday night, they sent the package to be shipped out. It was due to come in yesterday. There was just one small problem. It didn’t actually leave the originating facility until yesterday, which meant they had to reschedule the delivery date. The official date is now the eleventh of November–also known as rememberence day, when not only did I not think things actually got delivered, but I won’t actually be home. Adding to the overall confusion of a move like that, the package itself is, or was at 9:35 this morning, sitting in an office in Pembroke. Pembroke is about 15 minutes away from me if you stay within the speed limit. If I had a vehicle, or a transportation system that vaguely resembled the one in Ottawa, I could have been there, picked up the thing, and been back here well before noon.

    The scheduling fubar isn’t entirely the fault of UPS, though. In this area, UPS at some point–I have no idea at which point, though–hands off anything destined for Pembroke and area to Purolator, who I personally wouldn’t recommend to ship a postcard let alone something you actually paid good money for. From then on, I think it kind of gets fit in around the packages they actually get scheduled directly to ship. Which means, if they have to get it here before 8:00 tonight, I expect to see it by about 7:50. Just in time for me to get up in between periods and sign for it.

    Small town life does have its absolutely positive perks, particularly when, assuming one’s relatives living in the said small town actually behave themselves, they’re a lot more accessible to actually go out and do things with more often–without the need to spend a couple days working out travel times first, and aranging to have somewhere to stay before one leaves to do those things. It’s nice, contrary to what I might complain about on here while I live here. There’s just, simply put, no such thing as a shortcut to doing much of anything. You escentially have to shoot past here, and double back, in order to get here unless you’re driving directly on your own–buses stop here coming from either North Bay, or Ottawa. And that’s probably what my package from Rogers ends up doing. So it ends up taking probably 9 or 10 hours to make a trip you could do directly, without stopping save for meals etc, in 4 or 5. Talk about long way around for a shortcut. And you can’t do much without it.

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  • We just love to lose.

    written by

    james

    I’ve never actually lived in Toronto. Closest I’ve lived would be Barrie, which for those of you who haven’t been up that way is about an hour north. Beyond that, I’ve spent the last 5 or 6 years either in or around Ottawa and the valley. But still, I can’t help but keep on following Toronto’s sports teams. Well, some of them, anyway. And every year, I notice a lot of the same trends–even among sports teams in Toronto I don’t actually follow.

    The Leafs, God help them, haven’t won a Stanley cup since around the same time my mother was born. They haven’t seen a playoff round since 2003-2004. The Bluejays haven’t won a world series, or been to the playoffs, since I was 10. The Raptors have made the playoffs a grand total of… twice? Maybe three times? And they haven’t really done a whole lot with that. And the Argos–well, let’s just not talk about the Argos. Now, granted I only follow two of the four teams listed, but let’s have a look at all four of them anyway. They post losing seasons. In some cases, downright depressing seasons. I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy when the Bluejays ended their 2009 season on a very pathetic whimper. And they still fill the seats. If this were Ottawa, or New York, or–yes, even the money-bleeding Phoenix Coyotes, the majority of the arena would be empty. So what makes Toronto fans so different?

    I can only speculate at this point, but speculate I will. To put it rather plainly, we love to lose. We don’t go there expecting a W. We buy that baseball ticket, or rush home to watch that hockey game on TV, because the Bluejays play a 3-game set with the Yankees. Or because the Leafs and Canadians are on Hockey Night in Canada. And we enjoy every damn minute of it. We even love to boo the bad guys.

    So yes, sure, bring on the Hockey Night in Canada. Bring on the toronto versus Ottawa. Bring on the Bluejays versus Yankees. Because at the end of the day, the score’s probably going to wind up coming up as something like 7 6 after a shootout. And let me tell you, if we have to lose, losing can’t get much more exciting than a game like that. We love to lose. You’re damn right.

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  • Still trying to make it 7.

    written by

    james

    It’s nice to know folks can still talk up a good game. Even though a team didn’t end up coming to Hamilton, the NHL’s now saying it’s not opposed to another team in Canada, possibly in the near future. And possibly in Toronto’s market. I don’t see that as a bad thing for either side of the equasion. Hockey fans in general, whether they’re particular fans of toronto or Ottawa or neither, often times will tune in to see the battle of Ontario pick up where it left off. I try to watch as many games as I can, but those games deserve their own extra effort to attempt to watch. So, yes, I’d watch a battle of Toronto, or of southern Ontario.

    I was too young when Winnipeg and Quebec headed south, but I heard an aweful lot growing up about the dynamic of playing games like that. And, if not in Toronto or Hamilton, I’d love a shot at getting to see another Toronto versus Quebec game. So, by all means, Gary/NHL owners. Make it 7. Or 8. Or 9. Bring the Canadian sport back to Canada. And let’s reignite some of the old rivalries that made hockey something you didn’t just watch because it went down well with pizza and beer. Your fans will thank you.

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  • If you live In Ottawa, plenty of H1N1 vaccine available.

    written by

    james

    Clinics in the city have enough to last a few days, apparently. So those who want to, go get your shot. And those that don’t, sorry in advance for any trafic jams as a result. As for me, I’ll just minimize my venturing into crowded rooms until this whole H1N1 thing blows over if it’s all the same to you. Besides, if UPS cooperates today’s the day I should have a new toy to play with. That should make that objective a little easier. here’s a realtime list of currently available H1N1 clinics in Ottawa. Not sure how accurate it is, but it’ll give anyone who’s curious a starting point.

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