Thanksgiving

It seems to be a trend to travel to the U.S. to spend Canadian Thanksgiving. This past weekend, I travelled to Boston for two reasons - my cousin Amy's wedding (and all of the festivities), and the UPA Northeast Regionals. It was a very fun weekend despite the long drive.

The weekend started out early Friday morning when Geoff, Damian, Melody, and I departed from Ottawa and started on our adventure towards Boston. Our intended departure time was 7:00 am from downtown, and we ended up leaving Orleans at around 8:00 am, which was only about 30 minutes behind schedule (typical ultimate time). The drive was quite nice, we decided to cross in Cornwall, which put us driving on all of these little roads so that we would avoid the morning rush hour in Montreal. I drove that leg and was quite happy to be done driving somewhere in Upstate New York. Geofford took the next leg and brought us the rest of the way through New York and into Vermont. At our first rest stop (which was badly needed by my tiny bladder) we saw advertisements for Ben & Jerry's so we decided to head to the factory for "lunch". Fortunately for Geofford and I there was a small chip stand where we could get "real" food before our ice cream. Damian and Melody decided to eat ice cream for lunch and save their appetites for the banquet that would occur that night. After Ben & Jerry's we drove the rest of the way to Boston, once we reached Boston we saw a burning car on the side of the road and thought that was the reason for the increase in traffic, but it was just regular rush hour, and due to some poor advice (from the other car) coupled with a lousy map we spent an extra 45 minutes inching through the traffic in Boston. When we reached the hotel, we met up with my mom and Francis to walk to the restaurant in china town to have the pre-wedding banquet with the family at some chinese restaurant. After dinner, we all headed to the Cheesecake Factory for our second dessert. Unfortunately for me, I was stuffed and since we had Regionals the next day (with only four women), I thought it would be wiser to pass on the second dessert. I did take a taste of the cheesecake, and immediately regretted my decision, but was too tired to return and get a piece. We headed to bed fairly early (by tournament standards) because we had to depart from the hotel about about 6:45 so that we could get to the fields on time.

So the 6:45 departure time was actually 7am which was perfect because it took about an hour to get to the fields (in Devens, MA). We got there right in time to watch the other teams all arrive and seeing some familiar faces on Goat. We played our games and the women got really tired because there were only four of us. The guys did a really good job of helping us out, which was greatly appreciated, especially when I got hurt in the second last game, and decided that it would be worse to try and push it the last game. So Deb, Nat, and Mel played ironwomen in the last game and did great.

Although we did not advance on the Saturday, we liked the way that our schedule worked out (we only wanted to play three games on Saturday, either win all three, or lose-win-lose) because it gave Damian, Mel, Geofford and I enough time to get back to the hotel before the wedding dinner (we had to miss the ceremony which was beautiful). We made it just in time and sat down to an awesome feast which included: scallops, crab, lobster, fish, chicken, steak, and many other fantastic dishes. I was ridiculously full after the dinner and was unable to make it to the post-reception dancing which was to occur at the Avalon - one of the clubs in Boston. The other reason for not going was that we had to return to Devens early the next morning for another 9am game :p

On Sunday, we did not play our best 2nd game of Ultimate, but that could be due to the fact that the team was distracted by the Open Final between Goat and DoG. This was a phenomenal game even though Goat lost. After our last game, we watched the end of the GLUM back door final and saw our Master's team advance to the UPA Championships in Sarasota, FL before watching the conclusion of the Goat - Twisted Metal backdoor final. This was a very exciting and nerve wracking game as we saw Goat give up a couple of breaks, and then get them back, and then getting a break, losing it, and almost losing the game 16-14. But Goat didn't let Twisted Metal score, tied the game at 15 and made it a game to 2. Goat ended up scoring first with a huge break and then finishing off Twisted Metal 17-16 in a very exciting game. We were a little glad that we played our 2nd game or else we might not have watched that exciting final.

That was the end of our Fall seVen team, and now we are preparing for indoor so that we can get ready for next summer and our pursuit for Perth in 2006.

Sectionals in Geneva

Our ultimate travelled to Geneva, NY yesterday to compete at Sectionals for Upstate NY. I have posted the details on our seVen blog. We won the tournament, which is the first tournament that we have won, which means that we are competing at Regionals in Devens, MA.

The Fall seVen team after winning!

The trip was long because we drove down on Friday night and stayed at a Econolodge in Canandaigua, which was just east of Geneva on another of the finger lakes. It felt like a really long journey even though it was only 4 hours, I think that the wait at the border added to the time. We learned that to avoid getting harassed by the border crossing people it is best to have a passport or a birth certificate to prove that you are a Canadian citizen. Geofford was the only one in the car without such identification and the guard didn't seem to approve of that too much. Fortunately for us, he decided to be nice and didn't completely search the car, although he seemed to want to. It was funny though, because we paved the way for Nat Massé's car (who was also driving Tina and Glenn) as he was joking around with them saying that he had another car (us) that came through to play Ultimate Frisbee.

Once we got to Canandaigua we met up with Keith's car (which also included Batch and Luke) and Damian. Fortunately for us there was a back door, and we were able to fit everyone (all 11 of us) in the two motel rooms that were inter-connected. Once everyone had arrived, we relaxed and enjoyed some beverages (I really liked the Rolling Rock beer)...we were happy to learn that the Wegmans which sold food and beverages and was open 24-hours a day. We also discovered that Luke forgot his cleats in Ottawa and after a bit of quick thinking, we made a few phone calls and arranged for Pat to pick up some cleats from Geofford's house before continuing his journey to Geneva.

The next morning, we discovered that the directions to the field were a bit flawed thanks to the online mapping tools used, even though we used 3 - Yahoo Maps, Mapquest and Maptuit. We eventually got to the fields and discovered that the tournament was running on Ultimate time, which was good for us. By the time that everyone got there, the games had not started yet even despite the start-time getting pushed back by 1/2 an hour. After winning both of our games, we met at a rest stop along the thru-way to have lunch at McDonald's and Ben and Jerry's. I wanted the New York Super Fudge Chunk Ice Cream, but it was soft so I had to settle for the Chocolate Fudge Brownie Frozen Yogurt which I guess was more "nutritious". After lunch, Damian headed back to Waterloo, Pat and Deb headed to Portland, Maine to participate in the Clambake tournament, and the rest of us headed back to Ottawa.

I have discovered in the past week that Epson Salt baths are super good to relax muscles, so I took one of those and headed to bed....now I must face a mountain of school work, but I guess it will be worth it eventually, well, that's what I keep telling myself :)

Spirit

seVen has competed in our first Fall Tournament - Spirit, and we made it to the finals which was very exciting. On the other hand, I hurt my shoulder AGAIN during the semi-final so I had to stand on the sidelines watching. Apparantly the commentators (the final was televised) were making fun of me because I only had one arm, so I am quite interested in watching the replay on Rogers. The women did an amazing job as we were down to three women after Kindha had to leave, and then when I got injured we only had 2. Sully and Nat Masse played an amazing day of ultimate. After playing against the juniors twice (Oddjob) - we were able to add two of their women to our finals Roster: Alex and Anne who played really well despite their reservations before the Final. We also picked up Miriam who had to give Dave Milks a ride. Dave was supposed to be their all day, but fortunately showed up just before the final, to give our guys an extra sub. The guys also played a really good day of ultimate - Pat, Geofford, Evan, Luke, Denis and Jon played a solid day of offence and defence.

Here are the scores from the day:
The results of the day:
Game # 1: Lunchbox 4 vs seVen 3
Game # 2: Weapons 4 vs seVen 10
Game # 3: Ragin 0 vs seVen 8
Game # 4: Oddjob 2 vs seVen 12
Semi-final: Oddjob lost to seVen (can't remember the score)
Final: Lunchbox beat seVen by 2 points (can't remember the score)

I just hope my shoulder gets better before next weekend so that I can play at Sectionals next weekend!

Dinner in Toronto

It is my parent's 30th Anniversary this year, so they organized a big dinner in Toronto to host their family and friends. There were about 30 people in attendance and it was a wonderful time. I am in the process of posting up pictures, but will include the link when I can.

A New Chapter...

Now that I am back in school, I feel that I should post more on my blog :) Well, I am supposed to be doing homework, but as usual I am procrastinating, so I figured I might as well do something somewhat useful by updating my blog.

Hmm, let's see what I have done since I have returned from Vancouver...

The first week back I basically slothed around my apartment and my parent's house. There was one day where I went to Kanata to have lunch at the Texas Chophouse with my old co-workers (it was actually my good-bye lunch, but due to vacations this was the best time to have it). It was nice seeing everyone again, they even gave me presents which I didn't expect. I received a wonderful pink Bratz backpack with a non-electronic PDA (aka pad of paper) with extra memory (aka extra pink sticky notes), an assortment of stylii (??what is the plural of stylus?? - aka pencil crayons), a PDA stylus holder (aka Barbie pencil case), and a gift certificate to buy some clothes at American Eagle. I was very surpised to get these gifts and was a little sad when I had to say good-bye to them. There is a chance that I will go back to Alcatel for a short contracting stint if they need people and it fits into my schedule. It would be nice to get the extra cash and see all of the old gang again, so who knows...

During the weekend, on the Saturday we (Amy, Kelly, Nadine and I - the bridesmaids) hosted Shanna's bridal shower which was a lot of fun. I got to see some people that I haven't seen in years too, so that was quite nice. It was a lot of fun planning her shower and helping to host it. I can't wait until the stagette as well, that should also be quite entertaining. On the Sunday, I spent most of the day at UPI watching or playing Ultimate (surprise, surprise). It was Wednesday Playoffs and we couldn't have worse weather. At one point in time, the rain was falling so hard that it was difficult to see the disc. Fortunately we (GYA) won the first game over Rainbow Trout and were able to go on to the Consolation Final for Tier 5 (game for 5th place). We had to wait out the rain and by this time were cold, hungry, and thirsty - the winner of this consolation final won 14 beer tickets (which could also be redeemed for food!) so we offered to split the beer tickets with the other team, which seemed smart for us because we only had 7 players. The other team decided that they would rather play, so we went out and played and beat them 15-2. At half-time, their cheer was asking us if they could still split the beer tickets....what do you think our answer was? So it was nice sitting down with some beer and some food watching the Tier 1 finals, which was quite entertaining.

For the rest of the week, I spent more time doing nothing - watching a lot of TLC - I'm not sure what I am going to do when I move - with less TV, I will have to do more homework...which I guess will be good.

During the long weekend, Geofford and I travelled to the Georgian Bay to spend time with his family. We stayed with his Mom and Dad at their house right on the bay. This was to be my first time at their house when there wasn't snow on the ground, the bay wasn't frozen, and it wasn't pouring rain. The weather definitly did not disappoint and I was able to spend most of every day out on the beach. It was nice because everyday the water was a little bit different - so I was able to do different things. I even played in a kayak for this first time, which was quite fun. As usual the food was amazing and there was a filling Turkey dinner at the Seaborn cottage next door on the Saturday night.

When we returned home on Monday, reality set in. I was to begin school the next day. My first day of school for my Masters program was September 7th. That was almost 3 years to do the day that I started my first full time job (September 5th, 2001). I definitly felt a little bit out of it as most of the people in my classes had some sort of human kinetics, kinesiology or physical education educational background. All I had was an interest in sports and an engineering degree.

As it turns out, my classmates are a lot of fun, and despite the heavy workload, I'm thinking that we will get along great and have a lot of fun along the way.