Monday, December 26, 2005

I said yes!

Well I had some fabulous Christmas presents this year, but if I did have to pick a favorite, it would have to be my engagement ring.

Geofford and I exchanged Christmas presents on Christmas eve as we were together with his parents. I was shocked and surprised when he picked me up on Christmas day to go to Christmas dinner that he had another present for me and wanted to wait until Christmas day to give it to me.

When he pulled out the ring box, I was speechless, and put the ring on with no hesitation. He did have to ask me later if I actually did entend to marry him, and of course I sayd yes! Posted by Picasa

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Friday, December 23, 2005

Done and Done...

Phew...another chapter of my life is done...I have completed all the work for my Master's degree. Now I am just waiting to see if I passed all my courses to see if I receive the degree :)

I have also finished my contract at Alcatel.

It's a strange feeling now being done. I am not used to not knowing what I will be doing, so this should be interesting. I have always had a plan, and now I'm not sure what is going to happen. I will start looking for a job in January and we'll see where that takes me.

For now I am looking forward to sleeping...and enjoying all of the Christmas food.

Merry Christmas to all!

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Tag?

I have been tagged by my brother (Francis)...I'm not sure if he knew that I was reading his blog because I am procrastinating finishing my paper or he was planning on later sending an email out about this. Anywho, here are the rules: The first player of this game started with the topic "Five Weird Habits of Yourself," and then tagged 5 people, who then had to write an entry about their five quirky little habits, as well as state the rules of this game clearly, and then list the next 5 people they wanted to tag. So here goes.
(You can click on the above link - the title - to read his list of weird habits)

1. I always try to clean my plate/rice bowl when I eat a meal.
This comes from an old chinese superstition that my mother taught me (it might have just been a tactic to convince me to eat all of my dinner, but it works), that for the number of grains of rice that are left in your bowl will number the pock marks on your husband's face. I also read this in the Joy Luck Club so I guess my mother didn't make it up :)

2. I like to collect things (especially crafty things).
For example, i have a great paper collection because I do a lot of card making and a little bit of scrapbooking, and you can never have enough paper. I also have many different types of punches, scissors, pens, paints, etc... But I also collect things like cereal - I think that there are three different cereal boxes on my counter because I like having a variety of cereals to choose from.

3. I like things to match.
I like matching sets - sweater sets, dish sets, underwear, tracksuits, etc. This may be why I have so much stuff, but this can also be traced back to number 2 - I like to collect things.

4. I shake my leg when I am very tense, tired, or just plain bored.
I find it hard to sit still. A lot of times I won't even notice that I am shaking until someone (usually my co-workers) asks me to stop.

5. I touch my hair a lot.
Especially when I am nervous. My dad once made fun of me after I MCed a show when I was younger because I was constantly flipping my hair whenever I was on stage. I learned from that to tie up my hair in situations where I might get very nervous in front of a lot of people.

So there are my five weird habits...maybe not so weird, but definitely not usual :)

I tag: Geofford, Jaclyn, Damian, Tracy and Dad.

Friday, December 02, 2005

Meet Shay Patrick Thibert

Shay Patrick Thibert was born November 30th at 5:14pm to Lisa Reynolds and Stephan Thibert.

He is a super good baby when I went to meet him, but then again he was only 1 day old, so he was pretty tired and slept alot. He was quite quiet during the time that I went to visit him at the hospital.

Lisa is doing well. Tired, but well. I'm sure she can't wait to take Shay home. Posted by Picasa

Monday, November 21, 2005

Second Draft of Internship Report

Done!

What's left (in the next 3 weeks):

Leadership Literature Review (due Nov 29)
Integration Post-Analysis of Aquatic Championships Research Analysis
Integration Post-Analysis of Aquatic Championships Report
Integration Post-Analysis of Aquatic Championships Presentation
Leadership Final Exam (on Dec. 6)
Internship Final Report! (due Dec. 14)

Then I am done my Master's....what's next...who knows?

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Still raining :(

It is still raining outside, and it feels like the city is in mourning. The saying, "When it rains, it pours" is really true. C-Po (known outside ultimate circles as Chris Powell), passed away on Saturday morning in Montreal while attending Canadian Ultimate University Nationals (CUUC). We still do not know all the details, but what I do know is that there is a big hole in our community right now.

Although I never did have the opportunity to play on his team, but I did play against him and BigFish (the other OCUA coed team) on numerous occasions. He was an intense player on the field, but he was always friendly an approchable when he came off the field.

John Tajima really did a great job capturing C-Po playing the sport that he loved in this picture. Chris will definitely be missed by all of us.

In other news, I am still super busy. Between school and working Alcatel, I have definitely been keeping out of trouble. I think that I handed in a few major papers in the past month, so that's good. I have about 4 major projects/papers left plus one final exam, and then I am done. Geoff and I went to NYC over thanksgiving for Allan and Betty's wedding, but I will write more about that another time. The other big news is that I am moving home for the time being. Carol needs to move to her parents' house as they are moving to Edmonton and she needs to take care of the house. As I will not have a job in January, I can't really afford to stay in the apartment myself, nor does it make sense to get a new apartment when I'm not sure what will be happening next year life-wise. Moving home will be a big change, but as I learned over the past month, family is special and you really have to cherish the time that you are able to spend with the people you love. Damian is also moving home in January, so it will be a big change living with the whole family, but it will definitely be a good time.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Cloudy Patches, with a bit of Sunshine peaking through

This past week-end has been a mixture of sadness and happiness.

Last Friday, I attended the funeral of Douglas Brash, who was the father of my friend Jason. Mr. Brash passed away at the age of 54 from pancreatic cancer, which I learned has the highest fatality rate of the different kinds of cancers. It was an emotionally draining day as I don't think that I have ever seen Jason so sad.

I had to change my mood on Saturday because I was co-hosting a baby shower for Lisa, my old roomate. Lisa and Stephan are expecting a baby boy in December, so Amy and I threw a baby shower for her. This was an atmosphere of real joy because we were getting Lisa and Steph ready to receive a new life into the world.

I guess it is a part of the circle of life: death, birth, and of course life. Life is definitely something that should be cherished. As I am growing older, I think that I'm growing wiser, and beginning to cherish the little things. I do have to stop procrastinating though, and living in the now, because you never know what is going to happen next.

Monday, September 19, 2005

Disappointed...yes and no

So seVen failed to qualify for UPA North-east Regionals this past weekend in Albany, NY at the Upstate NY Sectionals. We played four games and had a 2-2 record. We beat LLUA and Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue (aka SCAM from SUNY Albany + some girls) in the first two games, and then lost to Vitamin I (they have definitely improved over the past few years) and Bombing Madd Fatties.

I am definitely disappointed that we failed to qualify, but at the same time I am a little bit relieved. I think that this semester is going to be very tough at school, and without any ultimate to organize and play, I will be able to concentrate on my studies to finish up my degree. Although I am only taking three courses, they all seem to be a lot more work than my previous courses. And on top of everything, I am also working at Alcatel three days a week, and TAing a course on Posture, Movement and Injury Prevention, so that keeps me quite busy.

As well, I will be able to attend my friend Allan's wedding to his fiance Betty in New York City. I have known Allan since I attended Shad Valley Calgary in 1994. Geofford has never been to NYC before, so it should be fun exploring the city with him.

Monday, September 12, 2005

Back to school

I have started school again. I am in my final semester of my Master's. Although I am only taking three courses, the work load is going to be super heavy. Ah well, hopefully I can handle it between working at Alcatel and playing ultimate. I am trying to keep ultimate to a minimum so that I can focus on school, but it is always hard because I love playing.

seVen went to Chez Memphre in Sherbrooke this past weekend and we placed 4th out of 24 teams. It was pretty exciting, although we lost the bronze medal game 7-6 after taking the half 6-1. oh well...we did beat 80's all-stars on Saturday, and we beat John McEnroe and friends on Sunday after losing to them on Saturday, so that was pretty good. The party on Saturday night was also quite fun.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

Relaxing...

It was so nice break to get up to Cawaja beach this past week. Geofford and I left on Saturday morning (not as early as we hoped...darn bike rack) to go up to the "cottage" (aka Geofford's parent's house) for a break. Our drive up was somewhat eventful for a couple reasons: a) I haven't driven a standard transmission in a while and b) we weren't expecting to see a parade in Kinmount.

The rest of the weekend/week was less eventful, although I had a fun time: swimming in the water, lounging on the beach, enjoying great food and great wine, biking to Penataguishine (did I spell that right?), sleeping, lounging on the beach, biking to Elmvale and looking at the big houses on the way home, lounging on the beach, enjoying great food and great wine, and of course just hanging out with Geoff's parents.

We were hoping to stay for a week, but due to school commitments, I had to be back on today. :( Can't wait to go back, hopefully next year we can make it during the summer...

Friday, September 02, 2005

Delinquent

Wow, I have been super delinquent in posting. We could blame it on the beautiful hot weather and that I was outside enjoying it as opposed to updating my blog, but that would only be partially true. I have been spending a lot of time on a computer, just not my own. Since I have accepted the position at Alcatel, I have been working way too hard. Working at the Boys and Girls Club, Alcatel, and still going to Ultimate practices/games, has been quite taxing on my body.

I am tired now. Very tired. I think it all started with the Brian Smith Golf Tournament. I put in a lot of hours helping out with that. After that, the insanity started when Geoff and I were organizing the Mixed Up Ultimate Tournament. As the tournament name indicates, the tournament was all mixed up. I have decided that I will not agree to help out with the tournament next year unless Geoff decides to get more volunteers. We had 4 at the most at one time (+ Geofford and myself) and that is just not enough to run a 32-team tournament. Thanks to Batch, Scase, Derek, Mehmet, CK, Stef, Rachel, Drew, Don Quon, HybridPro/Daredevil discs, seVen, BigFish, and anyone else that I may have forgotten for all of the help that they provided. I think that I would have gotten much less sleep had you all not been around to help.

After the tournament, we still had to deal with Nationals. Although seVen had a 5-4 W-L record, which put us 13th overall, but I wasn't ecstatic with our performance on Thursday going 0-3. I take a lot of the blame for that because it wasn't that the team wasn't playing really well, but some of the decisions by the leadership weren't executed properly, which really frustrated me. Oh well, this is only our second year as seVen and the Mixed Teams in Canada are getting stronger, so we just have to keep working. We are now gearing up for Fall, we are playing in the UPA Fall Series, so that should be a lot of fun.

Posted by Picasa Damian and I at Nationals (watching the finals)


This is my last official day at the Boys and Girls Club, so it is a little sad, but I have learned so much during my intership and have had a great experience. I have a few last things to tie up, but I am almost ready to start school again for my last semester.

I am very much looking forward to going to visit Geoff's parents at Georgian Bay, and cannot wait to relax on the beach. Hopefully I will get the majority of my work done, so I don't have too much to do while I am there.

We'll see....until next time...hopefully much sooner....

Oh, and finally I am doing a photoblog thing on my msn spaces account: http://spaces.msn.com/members/jsysmile/

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Phew...

Wow, so the past couple of days/weeks have been a big blur. Basically I have been waking up, going to the Boys and Girls Club, then going to Alcatel, then off to Ultimate (Mondays - Strange Brew, Tuesdays & Thursdays - seVen, and Wednesdays - O2), then off to bed to get some rest before repeating. Last week was a little different as we had the night off on Thursday, although Derek and I had a few visits to make to get things set for seVen, so I didn't get to play ultimate, but I was still thinking about it.

This weekend was No Borders, which is an Open/Women's tournament, so seVen wasn't playing but a few of the ladies put a team together called BadDates and some of the guys picked up with various teams. I just wanted to go watch, but ended up picking up with Lush on Saturday afternoon to help them out. That was a lot of fun, and I didn't get hurt so that was good. I wasn't able to play on Sunday because I had to do some program evaluation stuff for the Boys and Girls Club. It was kind of nice staying home too and not having to rush off and do stuff. I was also finally able to get home for dinner. Dad bbqed steak and chicken and we had a mini-feast. I also got to talk to Mom who is currently in Hong Kong visiting her mother and her sisters and brothers there. She will be coming back in August after I have left for Nationals, so I won't see her until mid-august.

Monday and Tuesday were a big change from the ordinary as I was helping with the logistics of the Brian Smith Golf Tournament, which is a major fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club. It was a crazy couple of days, but I got to see the Stanley Cup and we raised a lot of money to be able to send kids to Camp Smitty so it was all worth it.

Sunday, July 10, 2005

ON Regionals

Yay! We are going to Winnipeg! seVen came in 4th at Regionals so we won a spot at CUSS Nationals, which will be held in Winnipeg August 11-14th. Geofford has written a pretty good summary. Derek also posted a good summary of the weekend's events.

It's been really busy with work at the Boys and Girls Club and at Alcatel so I have been a pretty big slacker with the posts. There is a big event coming up (July 19th) so it's going to be pretty crazy for the next little while.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Fun on a boat...

We decided to do something different for Canada Day this year to avoid the crowds. Mr. Snippe graciously lent Tony his boat for the weekend (Friday and Saturday) and a bunch of us toured the Rideau Canal waterway.

Some pictures can be seen here (Gallery -> 2005 Canada Day)

Monday, June 20, 2005

My busy summer...

has just gotten busier. I thought that working at the Boys and Girls Club full-time, playing ultimate with Strange Brew on Monday nights, coaching ultimate with O2 (the OCUA Juniors B team) on Wednesday nights, and practicing with seVen on Tuesday and Thursday nights, plus touring to different cities (Middlebury VT, Devens MA, North Bay ON, etc) wasn't enough, but

I have accepted a contract position at Alcatel until the end of August. I will be doing the same sort of stuff that I was doing prior to quitting - verification of systems. They must really need people as I received a call Thursday evening to see if I would be interested, and I am starting on Tuesday (tomorrow). I am excited to see all of the people that I used to work with, but at the same time a little nervous because I haven't done this kind of work in the past year, so it should be an interesting first couple of days.

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Sad for the Seaborns

Yesterday morning Geofford's Uncle Tim passed away. Although I only met him a few times, I could see that he was a wonderful person, and he will be missed by the rest of the family.

Sunday, June 12, 2005

Still Tired

Wow, I can't believe that it has been over a month since I last posted. Well I guess I can believe it because this past month has been super busy.

The month of May started off pretty crappy as we were making the final cuts for seVen which was very tough and I also got very sick. Against my better judgement, I played in Vermont, which was okay the first day, but my cold/infection decided to better me and render me completely useless on Sunday, monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I was completely out of commission and even went to the doctor because I felt so miserable. I ended up having to take antibiotics because I had developed a bacterial infection in my sinuses. It was so bad that my entire right cheek and my top right molars were very tender because my sinuses were so bad. I learned that sometimes people with this type of inection think that they have something wrong with their teeth.

It took me most of May to fight off the infection, but I was able to go to Cawaja to Geoff's parents' place to visit his mom (his dad was camping), and his aunts and uncles. It was a fun time especially since we got to spend some time with his cousin Cassie and her boyfriend Pierre who drove down to Cawaja from Ottawa with us. They are entering into the competitive ultimate scene playing on Scarlett (the OCUA women's B team) and Firebird (OCUA's open B team) respectively. I think that we got some funny looks on the beach while we were sprinting down the beach doing some tempo runs while friends of another cousin looked on. This long weekend was much more pleasant than the last May long weekend that I spent at Cawaja completely bedridden while they received a record rainfall. We were quite lucky with the weather this time as it didn't rain on us until Monday when we were leaving.

Ultimate has also kept me quite busy. The past three weekends I have spent most of my time doing something ultimate related, and most of my weeks have also been devoted to ultimate. The last weekend of May, seVen played in Layout for Life, but didn't get to finish the tournament due to thunder and lightening. We ended up winning all of our games to that point but not being able to match up against Lunchbox, who is the other strong coed team in Ottawa. We ended up scrimmaging against them the Tuesday after, but lost which was quite unfortunate. The first weekend in June, we travelled to Devens, MA (which is about an hour outside of Boston), which is a long drive away. We were 1 and 3 on Saturday, although we did lose two of our games by 1 point and the other by 4 points, so we thought we played some evenly matched games. We just have to be able to finish the game and not let the other team get the better of us. This put us in the 17-25 bracket on Sunday. We ended up winning our first two games, but lost our last game quite badly, which put us 19/20th place. This was quite unfortunate because it meant that we didn't qualify for the Boston Invitational at the end of June. Instead we will be going to North Bay next weekend, where we hopefully be able to match up against some strong Ontario and Quebec teams. This will be an important weekend to continue building towards Regionals, which will be in Toronto the weekend of July 9/10.

Other than playing at tournaments and practicing with seVen, I have been playing on Monday nights with Strange Brew. We are currently undefeated and hope to continue this streak so that we can move up from Tier 10 to hopefully Tier 9. On Wednesdays I have been coaching the OCUA Juniors B team - O2. That has been a great deal of fun, and it is exciting to watch these young ultimate players develop.

Other than ultimate I really haven't been doing much else - except maybe my internship at the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa. I am learning quite a bit about event coordination. I am also hoping to learn more about volunteer management and the programs at the Boys and Girls Club. I am finally starting to settle into a groove there, which is good, trying to find out where I can help them while developing my sport administration skills.

I can't believe I have just about 6 months left of my master's program and then I will have to go out into the real world again. If anyone has any leads for jobs coming up in 6 months, please let me know, I'm able to do both engineering and sport administration, but if I can do a combination of both, that would be quite ideal.

Friday, April 29, 2005

Exhaustion has set in, and I'm only beginning

I would have thought that I would have had a lot more free time once school ended, but since school ended two weeks ago, I have felt very busy. I think part of that stems from me trying to catch up with my sleep, but there are just so many things to do in a day.

Part of the lack of free time can be attributed to Ultimate. We are currently going through tryouts from the Coed Competitive Stream of OCUA. We had about 90 people at our first tryout and just over 110 at our second tryout. Trying to manage that many people when we are looking for 40-45 is quite difficult. We made our first cut on Wednesday night, which was quite difficult to do, but we still have quite large numbers. As we go to our first tournament next weekend, we have a lot of work to do in the next week.

I start my internship at the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa next week. I started this week with a part-time job at the Boys and Girls Club helping out with their special events. I hope that I will be able to transition well from school to working again. The job this week was only two days, but starting next week for the whole summer I will be working 5 days a week. I am looking forward to it as it will get me out of the house, but at the same time, it will be a big change.

Monday, April 18, 2005

Cabane à Sucre

Melissa organized a trip to the Sucrerie Le Palais Gommé (this is the satellite map of the place) in L'Ange-Gardien (Quebec) over the weekend. It was a lot of fun, Geofford and I got to meet up with Melissa, Steve, and Tanya - who we met in Mexico for Rachel and Clayton's wedding. I also got to meet Nick - Tracy's new boyfriend as they came along too.

Fortunately, I was very hungry because they served up a great meal. We had pea soup to start, which was quite tasty, and the feast came out onto the table. After the soup was cleared from the table: bacon, sausages, ham, potatoes, eggs (it looked like a pie), and beans were placed in stainless steel bowls on the table. It was a huge feast. The bacon wasn't normal bacon (see picture at left), but it was a lot thicker and harder, and it was called "les oreilles de crisse". After the main courses, we were allowed to choose our dessert, which was a choice of: cake with maple topping, pancake, or a sugar tart. I chose the cake and it was delicious. Nick being the smart one, took two desserts. I was very jealous because although I was really full, I would have liked to try another dessert. :)

After lunch, we were too full to get our maple taffy or "tire" as they call it in French, so we decided to go on a horse ride. At first I thought that this horse ride would be on a horse, but it turned out to be a horse drawn wagon. It wasn't all that long, but Steve kept us laughing the entire time, so it was quite amusing. We got a little tour of the farm, but we never saw any maple trees, so we were unsure if they actually made maple syrup at this sugar bush.

Despite being full, we had to indulge on the maple taffy or "tire sur la neige". Basically they take over-boiled maple syrup (in our case it was microwaved...) and pour it over snow in thin strips. After a few seconds, we took a popsicle stick and rolled the sticky taffy onto the stick. It's super sticky but very sweet and yummy. I'm showing off my maple taffy in the picture to the left. We got two of these maple taffy, and I'm not sure if I could have eaten another as they were so sweet.

All in all, the trip to the Cabane à Sucre was good. Good times with good food and good people. Can't wait to go again next spring!

Note: All pictures posted by: Posted by Hello The picture of Geofford and I was taken by Steve Wallace.

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Spring is Finally Here!

I am very happy that spring is finally here and now I have the time to enjoy it. With all of my planning, I still managed to work on my school assignments right up until the due date. I'm thinking next time, I should just work on it last minute :) I only have one assignment/exam left to complete, which is due on Friday, so hopefully I will get that done sooner than later, as tryouts for seVen start on Thursday night.

All the snow is melted here in Ottawa, but that didn't stop Geofford and I from snowboarding at Tremblant over the weekend. The mountain had perfect spring conditions, which I discovered was great for skiers, but not so great for snowboarders. I remember loving spring skiing, but I'm still undecided about spring boarding. The first four runs of the day were awesome, the snow was still quite fast, and wasn't softening up too much. After a mid-morning break, the snow got too soft and was beginning to form moguls on most of the runs. On skis, this really isn't that much of a problem, but on a snowboard, I found it a little more difficult to maneuvre. Next year, I hope to get out on the slopes more than once, and hopefully I won't have such a difficult time in the spring. We'll see...

As for ultimate, the indoor season is coming to a close, and the outdoor season is starting up again. seVen (OCUA's A Team) starts tryouts in conjunction with BigFish (OCUA's B team) this Thursday night, which starts off hopefully an exciting season. I can't wait for tryouts to be over though so that I can start playing. That is the part that I definitely look forward to.

Sunday, April 03, 2005

The end of an era...

I know that I am supposed to be working on my paper, but the news of Pope John Paul II's death has really hit me. I knew that he was gravely ill and his death was imminent, but I was still surprised to hear about his death while I was driving to my parents' house for dinner last night.

It seems appropriate that it was raining so hard last night as catholics and many other people were mourning his death. Although I mistimed my trip to Rome in 2001 and was unable to celebrate mass at St. Peter's with the pope, I was lucky to have been in his presence at an open air mass in 1984 in Ottawa and also at a few occasions during World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto.

I am having trouble holding back tears as I am reading different articles that describe his life. I am sure that the cardinals will have a tough time choosing Karol Józef Wojtyła's successor, but hopefully this next pope will be as influential and special as Pope John Paul II.

(I will try and post up some pictures that I took of the pope when I was at WYD in Toronto when I can get them scanned in)

Back to work...almost there...the presentation is almost complete, and the paper is 2/3 of the way done...2 more sleeps.

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Light at the end of the tunnel....

I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. I completed two out of four "assigments" due Thursday and Friday and now only have one paper and one presentation left to finish, and both are due on Tuesday, so I am quite excited that the terms is coming to a close. I have about 15 pages left to write , and a presentation to prepare for Tuesday, but I have faith that I will get them done.

On a completely different note, I am very sad that the Pope John Paul II's health is so weak right now. Although he maintained a lot of traditional values of the church to be important, he was also created new initiatives such as World Youth Day which had a large impact on people. I was present at the World Youth Day in 2002 in Toronto and I will never forget seeing him. There was such a peace that came over the crowd when he was at the Exhibition Center. You could just feel that he was close. I was fortunate to have been right close to the barriers when he drove by, so I was less than a meter away from him. As he passed by you could feel the love and peace that he radiated. I will never forget that experience. I wish Pope John Paul II the best, and I hope that he will make it through this illness. If not, I hope that the next pope is just as inspiring as this one.

Sunday, March 27, 2005

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone has a Happy Easter! I have spent the morning working on my paper. I believe I have 8 pages completed, which is far off from the 25-30 pages needed, but I am getting there one page at a time.

Last night I attended the Easter Vigil mass at Good Shepherd. It is by far one of the most beautiful celebrations of the liturgical year. We started off the mass outside around a fire with all of the surroundings dark, so the only light was from the fire, and then the candles that were being lit. We then processed back into the dark church, lighting up the worship space with the candles. It was very beautiful. The music ministry did a wonderful job with the musics, which really added to the readings. Although the mass was over 2.5 hours long, it was a wonderful period of reflection and communion with God.

On a more controversial note, browsing around, I found this article: Should Christians Celebrate Easter? which was an interesting look at the name of the celebration that we celebrate this weekend. I'll reflect on this next week after my paper is finished, because I think that it is quite interesting.

-4 sleeps left until I present my last presentation for my Cdn Life class
-5 sleeps left until I have to hand in my group marketing paper
-9 sleeps left until I have to hand in my political economy paper and i have to present my marketing project
-11 sleeps left until I am finished classes for this semester :)

Sunday, March 20, 2005

A pleasant break from the writing...

My research paper is suprisingly going okay. Although I started with some serious writer's block, I have been able to type out 5 pages in the past 3 days, which I have been quite happy about, if I can get the section on athletic scholarships finished by the end of the weekend, then I should be on schedule to finish before easter, so then I can focus on the other two assignments that are due next week :p

Last night was a nice change from the monotony of sitting in front of my computer. Geoff and I met up with Melissa (one of the fellow Ottawans who went to the Mayan Riveria for Rachel's wedding) and Maddy at the Vietnamese Kitchen for dinner, which was quite appetizing. I had never been for dinner before, although I have ordered in, and it was a really nice homey restaurant. After dinner, we parted from Melissa and Maddy with the hope of seeing each other later in April to go to a Cabane à Sucre, and we met up with Tony, Drew, and Otia at the Centerpointe Theatre to see the Arrogant Worms (Erin was working, so we got to see her before the show). I was pleasantly surprised with their performance. I actually had no idea what to expect because I have never heard of them before, but it turns out I had heard one of their songs - Carrot Juice is Murder - at a school concert in high school. I think my favorite songs were: We are the beaver, Canada is Really Big, and Rocks and Trees. I was really impressed with how interactive these guys were and how they were really able to play off each other during the whole show.

Now I am back to the writing, but it is very difficult because it so nice outside. Spring starts tomorrow, which means only a little bit until the insanity of ultimate all the time starts :) I can't wait. But right now, all I can keep thinking is two more weeks...and I am done my 2nd semester of my Master's!

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Belated Birthday?

So my birthday is June, but I finally got my birthday present from Geofford on Sunday (March 13). He got me a hydration pack, specifically the MEC Big H/O Hydration Pack. I got the grey one, so that it matches my school bag/laptop bag. Despite it being 3 months from my 2005 birthday, I was still very excited to get the bag, just in time to start using it on the slopes. Geoff claims that it is my fault because I didn't want to go to MEC to pick out my bag, but I don't know if that is a valid reason. I am also very excited because I finally know how to put pictures beside my text. (yes I know that this is geeky, but small things make me happy).

I am starting a new countdown today. Number of days until I am finished my first year of my Master's = 24, but then I have one take-home exam, which hopefully will be done by April 19th (at the latest), which will give me two weeks of "holiday" before I start my Master's Internship, which will most likely be at the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa.

Sunday, March 13, 2005

More Procrastination

There are many funny things to be found on the Internet...since I am supposed to be writing my paper for my Political Economy class...and it is much more fun to surf on the Internet, I did a quick search on google with the word silly...

Here are some funny sites that immediately struck me as interesting:
Molecules with Silly or Unusual Names
Patently Silly

Okay, now I should really get back to writing my paper which is actually on a very interesting topic: Why should Canadian Universities maintain the student-athlete distinction of its varsity athletes (as opposed to athlete-student)?

Friday, March 11, 2005

Tony's Brave Proposal

Yesterday was an exciting day for Tony (Geofford's Roomate). He had decided to propose to his girlfriend Erin. We (Tony, Erin, Drew, Otia, Geofford and I) started off the evening at East Side Mario's. It was exciting for the rest of us because we knew what would be happening later that night. After copious amounts of salad, bread, and pasta, we all headed down to the canal.

We put our skates on (except Otia who doesn't have skates, yet) and started skating from Somerset towards the NAC. Tony had planned to propose at Laurier Bridge, but we weren't sure if he was going to do it before or after we had our beavertails. Well, it turned out to be afterwards, so we had some beavertails (and hot apple cider) and continued skating to the "end" of the canal. At this point, Erin lent her skates to Otia so that she could get a chance to skate. The boys (Drew and Geofford) had already skated off at this point to scope out good picture taking spots around Laurier Bridge, so once Otia had her skates on, her and I went to catch up with them so that Tony could make his move :)



Tony Proposing to Erin on the canal Posted by Hello



Erin says "Yes!" and they are both happy :) Posted by Hello

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Mexico

Wow it's been over a week since I got back from Mexico, so here is my brief synopsis about my trip. I am very glad to have gone to Mexico for the week because it was very nice to see my friends and also meet new friends. The only unfortunate part of going away on a trip is coming back to reality is coming home. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it) our flight was delayed in Cancun so we got to spend an extra 25 minutes in Cancun airport, but this is the end of the story, so let's begin at the beginning...

Monday, February 14, 2005: Valentine's Day! This is the day that I have been waiting for as Geofford and I are leaving to go to the Mayan Riviera for Rachel and Clayton's wedding. I am very excited to go as I haven't seen Rachel since Shanna's wedding in October and there will also be some people that I haven't seen in a while there as well. After class on Monday morning (since our plane didn't leave until 16:50) I went to the airport to meet Geofford. Fortunately I had a book - The Dutch Wife (which I was able to finish) - because he was a little bit later than the time we were going to meet (which was a little expected). We were at the airport 3 hours before the flight was scheduled to depart, so we had a little time to kill. Since I was buying dinner (at the resort), Geoff bought Valentine's day lunch at the airport. We ended up having a very romantic Harvey's lunch. :) After lunch, we met up with Rachel's parents - Louise and Jean-Marc, and her sister Julie. Then more and more people joined our group: Melissa - Rachel's classmate from University, Ralph and Linda - Clayton's parents, and Sandy and Norma - Clayton's parent's neighbors. Since it was cold in Ottawa and there was the threat of freezing rain all day, so the plane had to be de-iced, which took a while. The rest of the flight was quite uneventful, the inflight movie was the Terminal with Tom Hanks. By the time we got to the airport, we were the last plane to arrive, so we didn't have a very long line up at customs at Cancun airport. It was fairly easy to find our shuttle, which was good because it was getting late at this point. There was a guide on our shuttle named Gorge who provided BEevERages for our enjoyment for a mere $3US (or two for $5US). He also did a good job with descriptions of different excursions that our tour company (Sunquest) offered. So far I have been very impressed with organization during the trip, everything has been quite clockwork. After dropping off people at various resorts, we finally arrived the Copacabana Maya! This is where everything changed, it turned out that they overbooked the resort, so Geoff and I weren't able to stay there that night. Along with two other couples, we travelled to another resort the Catalonia Riviera Maya which is where the Copacabana booked us for the night. Upon returning to the Copacabana, we were promised to be treated like VIPs (upgraded to a Jr Suite, champagne, fruit basket, beer in the minibar, free in room safe, bathrobes, slippers, and unlimited a la carte tickets), so Geoff and I decided to make the best of the situation, and enjoy the opportunity to see another resort. The resort wasn't bad, we really didn't get to see too much that night, but fortunately the snack bar was open so we were able to get some food and drink. We then took a quick walk on the boardwalk/beach before retiring for the night.


The Catalonia resort from the little penisula Posted by Hello

Tuesday, February 15, 2005: We had arranged with the other couples that we would leave the Catalonia at noon to take a shuttle back to the Copacabana, so we had a little bit of time to explore during the daylight around the Catalonia. After a mediocre buffet breakfast, we headed to the water. It turned out that the boardwalk lead to a little peninsula that seperated the sea from a little lagoon. After exploring for a bit, we went for a little dip in the lagoon, and I found out that seawater is really salty. I was surprised at how salty the water really was and I made a mental note to try not to swallow too much water because I really didn't like the taste of it. After swimming for a bit, we realized that it was almost noon so we packed up and went to the lobby to wait for our shuttle. It was actually nice to be able to see the area surrounding our hotel in the daylight. Upon returning to the Copacabana, we found out that our room would be ready at 1:30 so we went down to the beach to meet up with everyone else. It was such a relief once we met up with the other Ottawa people and met up with the Toronto people - Tanya - another friend of Rachel's from University, Steve - a friend from her time in Guelph, and Allison - one of Julie's (not me) friends from high school at the resort. Geoff and I decided to have lunch first, then checked into our room (which was a really nice suite, and much nicer than our hotel room at the Catalonia) before heading back down to the beach.
At this point, I finally felt as though the relaxing time had began. We relaxed on the beach until Rachel, Clayton and the crew from Thunder Bay arrived - Dan, Kristen, Kathleen, Vanda, Catharine, and Brian. We then decided to meet in the lobby before dinner which we were all having together at the buffet restaurant to celebrate Rachel's birthday. After dinner, we chilled in the lobby before watching the show that the entertainment show put on, that night it was a variety show.



I want to put these pictures side by side by I don't know...any ideas?
The water was so pretty...

Wednesday, February 16: Another beach day, not very eventful, but we booked dinner at the Mexican a la carte restaurant on Thursday night.


Me running to the water to go snorkeling Posted by Hello

Thursday, February 17: We went to the beach, after I studied for my marketing exam in the morning. After lunch, Julie D. and I got roped into dance lessons by the pool by Juanito. We had some fun learning the Merengue - it was interesting, when we did the partner bit, Julie made me be the boy, which was weird because you have to hold up a different arm, and Julie was much taller than me, so that was a little awkward. Other than that, it was tons of fun. That night, the group of us (27) went to the Paradise restaurant. It was very good. My stomach wasn't feeling the greatest (I'm thinking it could have been the combination of the sun, and the alcohol) so I played it safe with the fajitas. The service was amazing, and the food was also very good.


Geofford with the fajita cover on his head at the Mexican restaurant...silly boy Posted by Hello

Friday, February 18: The Wedding day! Rachel was a little bit worried in the morning because there were clouds, but they eventually blew over. The only problem with the clouds was that everyone stayed out in the sun a little longer than normal because the sun wasn't beating on us, and some of us ended up getting sun burnt. Mine was quite funny because I was lying perpendicular to the sun, so only half of me got really burnt. Oh well. The wedding was very beautiful on the beach. It was an ideal setting, and Rachel looked beautiful.


The Bride - Rachel Posted by Hello



Rachel, Shanna, and me Posted by Hello

After the party, we went up to the disco to watch Rachel and Clayton have their first dance. They had the whole floor to themselves and had a great time. It was awesome to see the two of them so happy. After their dance, the entertainment staff got us to form a conga line and we were all given shots straight from the bottle. The rest of the night went downhill, there was much alcohol and lots of dancing. All in all a great night :)


At the disco: L - Rachel and Clayton dancing their first dance, R (top): Rachel getting a shot, (bottom): Clayton getting his shot Posted by Hello

Saturday, February 19: After a night of partying, we decided to have breakfast (I think for the second time staying at the Copa) before meeting Shanna and Leigh. So I'm guessing that I forgot one part of the story. Shanna and her husband Leigh only visited the resort on Friday for the wedding and were not actually checking in until today (Saturday). Shanna was coming from California, so she didn't book a flight and resort package like the rest of us. She booked her flight and her resort online through two different travel companies. But what she failed to do was double check where she had booked her resort. Unfortunately, Shanna had booked at the Copacabana Acapulco which is on the Gulf of Mexico not on the Carribean Sea. Fortunately her flight and shuttle brought her to the Copacabana Maya so she was at least in the right place if her reservation was not. Fortunately the staff at the Copa were very helpful and were able to find her and Leigh a place to stay at another resort (but not the one that Geoff and I were booked at). So I believe that Shan and Leigh stayed at 3 different resorts (and visited a 4th) during their 6 night stay in Mexico. It was nice when they finally came to our resort. It was another gorgeous day, so we spent most of the day on the beach. We then had a late dinner at the Mexican restaurant and I spent time with both Shanna and Rachel, which I haven't been able to do in a while. It's sad that they are both so far away. But it makes the time that we do get to spend together much more special.


Rachel, Shan and I with our guys

Sunday, February 20: Today we had to get an early start as we were going as a big group (except Shanna and Leigh who were going back to California) to Tulum and Xel-ha. Fortunately we got to Tulum relatively early because it was quite hot to walk around the ruins. We had a guide - Jorge (a different one than the one on the bus) - who gave a great commentary of the ruins. He did a great job of giving us information about the Mayan ruins while keeping it interesting. After exploring Tulum for an hour we were off to Xel-ha, which was a lot of fun. After a fabulous lunch, we headed for the water to do some snorkeling. We saw tons of fish, little ones, and big ones that scared me because I wasn't expecting to see such big fish (I don't know why), and even sting rays. After being in the water for about an hour, I was starting to get sea sick from the waves (I was wearing a life jacket) so we headed for the underwater caves. It wasn't that big, but there was enough room for a photographer to take pictures of us tourists. The group of us got a cool picture from the cave.

Posted by Hello
Dan, Kristin, Melissa, Rachel, Clayton, Tanya, Steve, Geoff, and I in the cave at Xel-Ha

After the cave we decided to go see some other sites before going to the Cliff of Courage. Well the sites weren't all that exciting - that or we were more worried about our feet because we didn't have any shoes (except our flippers which was really hard to walk around in). Rachel, Clayton, Tanya, and Dan braved the Cliff and then we all floated/swam down the river back to return our gear. The whole excursion was worth the money (kinda) that we spent because it was a lot of fun, but I think that with our group we could have had fun anywhere. That night we had our official good-bye dinner since the Toronto people were leaving early the next morning, and us Ottawa people would be leaving in the afternoon.

Monday, February 21: Last day in Mexico :( It was a sad day because our fun group would be dispersing and we spent the morning saying good-bye to some early travellers, but we knew we had to enjoy it, so we headed to the beach :) There was a lot of wind which was a lot of fun because we were able to do some body surfing. We pretty much spent the whole morning body surfing, then having our last buffet lunch right next to the beach with a great view, and then continued to body surf before having to get showered to go. It was a really sad time saying good-bye to Rachel (and everyone else) because we had such an amazing time. We had talked about making an annual trek south for this group and I hope that we keep to our plans because this was an amazing trip.

After we left Copacabana, we were exhausted. The Ottawa crew pretty much slept most of the shuttle to the airport. Again, the guide on the bus was very helpful and informative to guide us through what we needed (in terms of paperwork) to leave Mexico. Unfortunately there was a dumping of snow in Ottawa so our flight was delayed about half an hour so we pretty much hung out in the airport, which was quite different than any other airport that I've been to. Because we were unsure of the food/drink situation we ended up feasting on Pringles and tolberone that we bought at the gift shops. We also bought some Tequila (and Geoff bought some cigars) at the duty free. I don't remember any of the flight because I was fast asleep, but I tried watching the movie the Machurian Candidate because I really wanted to see it, but I failed. The last funny bit about our trip is the fact that when we got back to Ottawa and through customs (with no problems), Tony's truck's battery died, so we had to wait a little while longer for his father to come give us a boost. All in all, we got back to Geoff's place at around 4...I was exhausted, but I didn't have to do anything but study, poor Geoff had to go to work....hee hee.

Anywho, I took tons of pictures, here are somemore from around the resort and of the wedding, and other pictures can be seen on Geofford's ph
øtoblog.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Brrr....but it's nice to be home

So we are home safe and sound from Mexico. It was an awesome trip despite some hiccups, but I had a great time. The wedding was awesome, and Rachel and Clayton's friends were so much fun. It was really hard leaving (not only because it is cold here) but also it was hard leaving old friends and the new friends that I made over the past week. I would write more, but I am supposed to be studying for a midterm that I will be writing tomorrow, so hopefully I will be able to post up the trip synopsis tomorrow before ultimate.

We took a ton of pictures, so I'll get all of that sorted out so that people can see pictures from the trip.

Sunday, February 13, 2005

Foot in Mouth and Sliding on Ice

Well, I learned the hard way that I really should learn to confront people and get to the bottom of things before I make any assumptions. I also learned that people do read what I post. I also learned that I should not post things first thing in the morning before thinking things through. All in all, I guess the good thing about me venting yesterday that it allowed the lines of communication to be clear, and I was able to talk to my friend about her plans this summer. And I feel a lot better about it, and this way I really will be able to enjoy my trip to Mexico without this looming overhead. Now all I have to worry about is finding time to "study" for my midterm while I am away.

It's a good thing that we were able to clear the air so both of us could enjoy the Bonspiel. Last night was the Annual Gilmour St Bonspeil at the Rideau Curling Club (home of the Junior and Senior Women's Ontario Champions), which was organized by Gord. There were a bunch of ultimate players that we knew, plus some other people who seemed to know Gord, so it was a fun mix of people. The whole rink (5 sheets of ice) was rented for our use, and there were 10 teams at the Bonspiel. Geofford, Phil Mcknight, and I were on team #9 who went undefeated last night, which was fun. We tied our first two games and then we ended up winning the next two. During the last game, Tanya joined our team because he team decided to stop playing. It was nice having a fourth player because then we would always have two sweepers (instead of just one...I was pretty useless when I was the lone sweeper because sometimes I couldn't keep up with Phil's rocks). The pictures from the bonspiel are posted on Ofoto.


Team #9 after our first win Posted by Hello

I'm getting super excited because I am finally packed for my trip to Mexico. One more sleep before we leave. I will post up pictures and commentary from the trip when I return. I can't wait!

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Why do I bother?

I have insomnia whenever I am stressed about something, and last night was no exception. The thing that is really stressing (and bothering) me the most is actually one of my recreation activities. Ultimate. I am one of the captains of seVen, which is the Ottawa-Carleton Ultimate Association (OCUA)'s competitive coed ultimate team. OCUA wants to develop its program for competitive program to have development streams for Open, Women's, and Coed so that the teams are no longer dependent on the personalities running the teams. I think that this will really work for the Open and Women's streams right now, but it is definitely not working for the coed stream which is the big source of my frustration.

This summer is a big year for Canadian Ultimate because it is a qualifying year for World Clubs that will occur in Perth, Australia in 2006. World Clubs is a different Championship than Worlds (which Canada one last summer in Turku, Finland) because countries are allowed to send multiple teams to World Clubs (in each division) depending on some system of points that are allocated according to some formula (which I really don't understand), whereas at Worlds, each country only sends one team per division.

Anyways, because this is a qualifying year, it will be a tough year for competition, which is great for Ultimate, and in other cities, the top players in each division will be banding together to win one of the illustrious spots to go to World Clubs. In the coed (aka mixed) division,Canada sent 9 teams to Honolulu in 2002. It seems though that in Ottawa that the opposite phenomenon is occuring. People like to play with their friends in the coed division so they decide to form their own teams to compete. I completely understand that people want to play with their friends and that they will still be competitive, but it is very frustrating from my standpoint because I am trying to build a program that will hopefully continue after I am finished playing competitive ultimate, but in our second year I am running into so many problems.

I guess the biggest problem with the formation of these other teams is that women (or quality women) are quite scarce in our city. We have two very strong women's teams who can compete with most teams in this country who are able to attract many women and there are also women who decide that they don't want to commit to regular practices who just pick up with touring teams around the city. Last summer, we had to take some players on our team who might not have been quite ready to play (at the beginning of the summer) at the National level, but I think that these players really developed over the course of the summer and as a team we were able to compete. Although we didn't quite accomplish our goal of top 8 at Nationals, we accomplished the goal of beating our rank (which we did at each tournament this summer, and even in the fall when we were playing at the UPA fall series). Hopefully we will be able to keep these women so that we can continue building our team and we will be able to realize our full potential at Nationals.

I think the other problem that I have with one of these teams, is that it will be taking players from seVen. I have been told indirectly that one of the captains of this new team will be one of the women from seVen and that she may be recruiting from our team. I think that the hardest part about hearing this was that she is (was?) one of my closest friends and she still hasn't told me yet. The captain of another team (who will be mostly comprised of players who no longer want to practice regularly but have been playing together for many years) told me that she would be forming this team, and I am quite grateful to her in doing this so that I can plan accordingly, and we may even work together this summer in some practices. I would have thought that my friendship with my old teammate would have afforded me the same courtesy, and it was really tough hearing from someone else her plans.

I think that this one of the reasons that I have been losing so much sleep because I am letting Ultimate get in the way of my regular life. It is only a game - although a game that I am quite passionate about - it is just a game, and I really don't think that I should have to lose a friend because of it.

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Happy New Year Yesterday...

Since we have passed into a New Year, I decided to redesign my blog, just for a change. I was getting tired of the purple. I think it looks better, but that's just my opinion.

It is now the
Year of the Rooster which is my brother's year, which means he is turing 24 this year. I was reading my horoscope for this year (I am a fire snake) from astrology.com and things look quite promising.

The Snake will practically meet with no trouble this year. They'll charm numerous types, and can experience many love adventures. Moreover, their levelheadedness and wisdom will bring them the admiration and esteem of all. However, they should beware of any tendency toward indecisiveness. They will like to run several risks, but things will not always end up turning out all right as if by magic if they continue to do so. If they rely too much on their luck and continue to flit about ceaselessly, they could run the risk of finding themselves in complicated or ambiguous situations that might prove embarrassing or disturb their interior peace.

A brilliant year is in sight! Finally liberated from many negative influences, you'll recover all your dynamism. Until May, however, avoid rash initiatives, especially in the professional domain. In your love life, it's also during this year that you'll find stability.

I'm hoping that I will have a good year. Schools seems to be going quite well, but I am getting quite stressed about my Internship. I need to find an internship in Sports Management that is of a Master's level quality. What that means, I'm not quite sure. Ideally I would love to work for the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) but I'm not sure if they are hiring right now. I guess i have to work on my resume and ask them if they will accept me.

Despite my stress regarding my internship, I am starting to get excited about my trip to Mexico. I leave on Monday, which is coming soon, but I haven't started packing yet. I'm sure that everything will get done in time though, as I have no school tomorrow, and plenty of time this weekend. 4 sleeps until I leave (and I'm participating in a Bonspiel on Saturday night, so that should be tons of fun!)

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

So tired...

I am glad that it is finally Tuesday as this is the light at the end of my tunnel. Unfortunately it is raining outside, the canal is no longer open, we still have a smog advisory in effect, and I am so tired. I think that I have presented something in every class that i have had this week (so 3), BUT I only have one class left for this week, one next week, before I go to the Mayan Riviera! yahoo! After class on Monday I will be taking the bus to get the airport, and then Geoff and I will be boarding a plane (with all of the other people coming from Ottawa) to Cancun before we get transferred to the Cocacabana Resort where we will be staying until Feb 21st! I'm also very excited because I get to see Rachel and Shanna who I haven't seen in a while, so that should be quite fun.

I am also very happy that it is Tuesday because it means that tomorrow is Chinese New Year. It is the year of the Rooster/Chicken (depending on who you ask), so it is Francis' year. Geoff and I will be going to my parents' house for dinner (since we are busy with Ultimate tomorrow) tonight so i am also very happy about that because this means that I don't have to cook :).

Although I am very happy with these things, I also know that I am quite busy and will continue to do so until the end of the semester. In my Sport Marketing class, our big project is about brand recognition and the attributes of the Gee Gees from the athletes' perspective. Since we want to survey the athletes before the enter into the championship phase, we are running out of time. I am also writing a research paper on the Political Economy of University Sport which I am doing a lot of research on. I also have to find an Internship for the summer. Each student in my program (there are only 12 of us) has to find an internship, and I am having a little bit of trouble trying to nail down what I want to do. I am divided between the Olympic Movement and Grassroots sport as I am interested in both (yet so different). I really have to figure things out soon...I have been really putting this off.

I think that I will be quite happy when the semester finishes on April 7th, but for the next week, I am going to hope that time stands still while I am on the beach. 7 Sleeps left until I am on the beach!

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

What breed of puppy are you?

So I seem to procrastinating more than I should, but my excuse right now is that I'm sick with a cold. Anywho, while surfing, I found this interesting quiz on blogthings about what breed of puppy you would be. There are a few questions to answer, and then out pops an answer. I think that my answer is pretty interesting considering the sport that I enjoy to play....and I know now why I am so drawn to Ultimate :)






You Are a Golden Retriever Puppy





Tolerant, fun-loving, and patient.
You are eager to please - and attached to your frisbee.





Saturday, January 29, 2005

Skating on the Canal

Today was one of the nicest days of winter so far. It wasn't too cold, yet not too warm that the Canal was cold. The high temperature was -6 C, which brought tons of people out onto the Canal. Geofford, Keating, and I started out at the Somerset entrance and we were going to meet Brash and Vero at 5th Avenue where she was going to rent some skates. Unfortunately Keating's skates were too small, and he had just recently gotten stepped on at soccer, so his feet weren't feeling 100% so he turned back around Pretoria Bridge, so only Geoff and I met Brash and Vero at 5th Avenue. When we got there, we found out that there are is only a limited selection of skates, and Vero's size was one of the more popular ones, so only Geoff, Brash and I set out, but before we could get too far, Vero called to let us know that she was able to get a pair of skates in her size. yay! It's a wonder what we would have done before the advent of cell phones.


Geofford and I at the 5th Avenue rest area Posted by Hello

The surface of the canal by this time had gotten slightly snow covered due to all the people skating on it, we were thinking it would be great to have zambonis on the ice during the day just so that the ice surface could get nice and smooth for the people skating later in the day. I guess we will just have to get to the canal earlier in the morning to get that freshly flooded ice. We skated to the Bronson St. bridge/Dow's Lake where we got some beavertails and hot chocolate/apple cider.



The sunset at Dow's Lake while we were skating on the canal. Posted by Hello


Friday, January 28, 2005

Books

I seem to be addicted to books, and fortunately for my schoolwork, I only have a limited number of non-school books at my disposal. The rest of my "leisure" books are back at my parent's place, which is really fortunate. If all of my books were at my disposal, I don't think that I would get anything done.

I'm not sure how many people actually read my blog, but I'm going to start recommended books that I think are really good, and I'm going to start with a book that I actually read last semester for an assignment and I have just re-read because well I ran out of other books to read.

This book is called "A Test of Will" and it is an auto-biographic look of Warren Macdonald's extraordinary story of survival. This book tells the inspiring story of Warren's journey to reclaim his life after a tragic accident while climbing Mount Bowen on Hinchinbrook Island, off the east coast of Australia. I really enjoyed this book as it made me take a step back and realize that you can't take anything/one in your life for granted and that we should really treasure all of the special gifts in your life because you never know what is going to happen. I own a copy of the book, and have registered it on BookCrossing so that when I lend out the book, people will hopefully post up what they thought about the book, just so I can see how it affects other people.

I'm not sure if I have ever told anyone about BookCrossing, but it is a pretty cool website that allows you to track your books if you ever let them go into the wild. I think that it is a very interesting concept because it allows you to share your books with other people (if you want to) or release your book out into the wild by leaving it anywhere for someone to pick up. I've decided that I'm going to release some books when I go on vacation just to see where they end up. (hopefully they won't end up in the trash).

Anywho, 17 days left before we go to Mexico! I can't wait...it's way too cold in Ottawa right now, but it's great for winterlude because that means the canal will be nice and frozen, hopefully the temperature rises though, so people aren't too scared away by the cold.


Saturday, January 22, 2005

Fun with Pictures

So school has started again, and along with school comes the many assignments. This semster I am taking courses in Political Economy of Sport, Marketing of Sport, Sport in Canadian Life, and a seminar in Professional Environment (aka how to make presentations). There is a lot of reading to do for these courses, and fortunately most of it is semi-interesting as it usually somehow relates back to sport, which is good. But this completely brings me off topic. Of course since I am now supposed to be getting back into studying/reading, Geoff introduces me to a fun computer program that allows me to share pictures as well as upload them to my blog. The program is called Hello and there is another program called Picasa which allows you to organize your photos. I just got them yesterday so I really haven't had a chance to play too much, but they look like fun!

Below is an example of some of the playing that I have been doing. I took some pictures of Geoff and his cat Cawaja over the holidays. She was being really cute that day. Here is one of the pictures:



Geoff and Cawaja Posted by Hello

Anywho, I should get back to studying, but now there might be more pictures on my site, so that should be fun. Also, I am starting the countdown on my trip to Mexico for Rachel's Wedding....24 days left before we leave. yay!

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

Lazy Daze

Well, I am glad that the holidays are over because I feel ready to go back to school. I am also excited about not having to feast every day, although I know that it is a luxery that no everyone can enjoy. I'm sure this will all change next week :)

On a more serious note, if you still have some extra dough after the holiday rush and are still feel generous, you might be interested in donating to the help with the aid in the wake of the South and SouthEast Asia Disaster. If you donate to any of the following organizations before Jan 11, the Canadian Government will match your gift:
Canadian Red Cross, World Vision, Doctors without Borders, Oxfam Canada, CARE Canada, UNICEF Canada, Development and Peace, and Save the Children Canada.

This past week has been quite busy (or at least it has felt really busy). Monday night, Geofford and I went to Ryan's house for a potluck. We couldn't get our butts in gear, so we ended up getting there later then we wanted, but I did get to see my friends for a while, so that was nice. After dinner we both played in Derek Alexander's annual holiday tournament, which started at 9pm and ran until 3am. The first game was highly anticipated because Geofford's cousins Cassie and Eliza were playing on the other team - White, and Pierre - Cassie's boyfriend was playing on our team Blue. During Christmas dinner there was a lot of slagging happening, although most of it was between Geofford and Pierre, but in the end team Blue was victorious (although some of the players that were supposed to play on team White never showed up...but whatever we won) It was also fun because Geofford's cousins: Charlie and John showed up to cheer. We taught them how to slag properly at Christmas dinner - using the requisite phrases - "Not a Thrower" and "Crowd wants a hammer", but we couldn't hear any of their slags because the music drowned out their slags. We were guaranteed three games that night, but our team managed to win all of our games, and during our bye before the Semis, I decided to pick up with purple to help them out, which ended up quite badly, as I layed out and ended up scraping my leg, which at the time didn't feel too bad, but got worse over the holidays. Team Blue ended up losing to Team Purple (I should really check to see who I will be playing for before volunteering) in the semi final, which was good because it was 2am, and most of us were cold and very, very tired.

Tuesday lunch time, after not getting enough sleep, I met up with some Shad friends - Adrienne, Allan, and Xavier for dim sum. Betty, Allan's fiance, noted that it was interesting that we were all so close considering that we only spent a month together over 10 years ago, but I guess Shad really brings people together. Tuesday night, Geofford and I went to dinner at my Godparents' house with my parents and some friends of family. As usual, there was too much good food, so I was quite full. We tried to have an early night as we were going snowboarding the next morning with the team (seVen). I ended up not having a very good night as the scrape on my leg got quite bad and kept me up most of the night.

In the end, I did not snowboard on Wednesday because I was too sore and I was afraid that I would end up falling and opening up the wound more. I did accompany Geofford to Edelweiss and was a "Snow Bunny/Mom" in the chalet the whole day. It took Geoff about an hour to get his lift ticket, and he only got in a couple runs before lunch when he was going to meet Marcus. Fortunately I was there, and Geoff ended up spending a few more minutes inside - instead of rushing back out to the hill, so he ended up meeting up with Marc and his girlfriend Leanne, and they were able to board all together. I ended up finishing Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix that day and also got some ideas on how to paint things. So I thought that was quite productive. That night, we met the team at Lonestar and there was a pretty good turnout considering it was during the holidays, which is generally a busy time. Afterwards, Evan, Marcus, Leanne, Geofford and I went to MacLaren's to play pool. Leanne and I found out that the hot brown cow, is not bad considering the waitress could only heat it up by microwaving it, but it didn't stay too hot for too long, which was unfortunate.

Thursday the 30th turned out to be a pretty lazy day. I was still pretty sore so I decided to bail on curling, and Geofford was also sore, but from snowboarding, so he also didn't attend. From the sounds of it, curling was pretty one-sided so I don't know if our presence would have made a big difference. We ended up going to Luke's place in the evening so the boys and the brave girls could play Halo 2. It was a pretty cool set-up with 2 PS2s and 2 TVs going, and usually 7-8 players yelling at the tvs. Although I didn't play the game, I got to play with Catherine, and I also got to knit. In the end, my 3rd attempt at knitting a purple hat didn't work out so well. When unravelling that hat, it turns out that I could have fit the hat around my waist...so it might have been a little too big :)

New Years was quiet, which was nice. Although we were invited to Mike and Arlene's for a "fancy" party, we ended up just going to my Aunt Anita's for dinner with my family - it was nice to see my mom after she was away for a few weeks in Hong Kong, and then Damian, Geoff and I went back to my apartment to watch Kill Bill: Vol 2 with a brief pause around midnight to see the ball drop on Times Square.

I have finally finished my 4th attempt at my purple hat (finished it last night) and it fits perfectly (well it fits well enough that I can sew a band of fleece in to make it warmer and fit a little better :) and now I am getting ready to go back to school on Thursday...

Hope everyone else had a fun holiday season! And if you get a chance, come to Ottawa - it's not as cold here as you think ;)