Random rumblings

Photo Radar:
Since moving to Alberta I've been fined a total of 190 dollars. The latest one came in today at 85 bones. I was 63 in a 50 zone. Where? 900 Memorial drive. Photo Radar? Is it another way for the government to make some easy cash? Or does it actually help make streets safer?

Rumbling: I like the idea of the photo radar in school zones and the at lights where there is potential for people to run red lights. But on the highway, where I got my first one ticket... was pretty ridiculous. I'll pay the fine. But I'll watch my speed from now on, on memorial and on 14th street.

Articles on Photo Radar:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070719/photo_radar_070719/20070719?hub=CTVNewsAt11
http://www.thestar.com/News/Columnist/article/233782

Summer heat:
I notice that a lot of people are complaining about the heat. I just want everyone to remember the late and long winter we had. How everyone was done with snow and wanted the sun to come out. Also watch the Inconvenient truth. Global warming might be an issue here too. Maybe you are contributing to why it's so hot out right now. As for me. I don't mind. It can get hotter if it wants to. I work all day in a air conditioned grocery store. Also to my disposal are three large coolers, one equipped with a mister.

Global warming solutions:
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/solutions/ten-personal-solutions.html

Slurpees:
I'm reliving my teenage adolescents. The squishy did it.

Canada's only Kwik E Mart (in my hometown):
http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2007/07/04/kwick-e-mart.html?ref=rss#skip300x250

Softball (slo-pitch):
I hate being so competitive. I love our team and how we are all hitters. Our last game we should of won. I guess we can't always hit homers.

I'll sleep in when I'm dead.

It's my 2nd day off for this week. They are treasured and cherish days for sure. Working 90 hours plus last week was insane.

Stampede is finally over. Things in the city are back to normal I feel. Stampede kinda takes the whole city over and this buzz fills the air and is accompanied with the heat. At the beginning of the week of Stampede I was pretty anti-stampede. But decided to try it out. So one fateful Thursday afternoon I head down to see what all the yahoo was about.

My assessment of stampede was compared to the PNE & Playland back home in Vancouver. Playland has a variety of wicked rides while, Stampede had a couple thrilling, get you upside down and leave you dizzy rides. Playland has roller coaster, Stampede doesn't.

The fair grounds are pretty equal. Fair food is the same all around. Elephant ears, mini doughnuts, corn dogs etc. The day I was there they had a live concert. I believe it was the band "LIVE". They sounded amazing for a live concert outdoors. I enjoyed them and so did all the pot smokers in the crowd. Overall it was a good time. I would have to say I would go back next year and say that the Stampede has a better feel and overall great atmosphere. Minus the fact that they don't have some gut busting rollercosters. Stampede creeps a little further up the chart then the PNE. But not by much. Big high fives to Amber and Valerie for showing my a good time.... and Pam and Evan for showing me around a super huge corn dog.

The last week and a half have been my first to do this in Calgary this summer. So I jouryned off to the Calgary Zoo with Summer. It was her 2nd time going, while my first. We Walked the grounds and saw amazing creatures. Some you could never see in Vancouver. Cause the Vancouver zoo sucks. Sorry Vancouverites it is true. Little monkeys from all over the world. Some monkeys that look like little demons with spikey hair. We met a gorilla named Zahara. If you ever go to the Calgary Zoo. Make sure to schedule your time to see the presenation on the gorilla troop there. Zahara has a amazing story. A heart breaking one too. Also another thing you should do at the Calgary Zoo is grab a Screamer. Soft ice cream layered between slurpee mix. An amazing treat even if you are lactose intolerant. It's worth the pain.

Well it off to get my passport pictures. Get my work pants hemmed. And play some softball tonight.

Leave your mark (challenge)

Just a quick post.

I will no longer post anonymous comments. I'm a firm believer in making your mark when commenting on someones thoughts, stories, beliefs etc.

Md.

An ugly fact of life

Listening to: An ugly fact of life - Explosions in the sky (amazing song)

Why do we get up everyday? If all your debts were paid off. If all your chores and affairs were put to rest. If all your relationships were made straight. If all those things were laid to rest. Would I still need to get up every morning? This blog by no means is a call for help. Or a way to seek attention. Although this is posted publicly and for some of you (who ever you are) who read this. I'm just putting my thoughts out there. For reasons I don't know why. But maybe more so for accountablity.

But lately this summer has been one I would like to lay put away hidden in the bookshelves collecting dust. Right now I'm on a path I don't know where it leads. I've made plans, but we all know that we can all make plans, but the Lord determines his/her steps. I've been having a rough time adjusting to leading my peers at work. Finding the respect I feel I should be granted. I feel in some sorts abandoned this summer. So I've been folding the cards I hold. In some aspects I've isolated myself and granted the honesty of my heart to be shadowed with ignorance. At this point ignorance would be bliss. But truth be known I'm just fooling myself. I just want to say that this is another valley I'm going through. But I feel as if thats just a cop out to why I am here running through the forest.

As busy as I am and distracted from my own self destruction. I'd rather not get up. I've been losing my step. I've missed a couple exits along the way. And this maze has gotten out of control.

I'm not sorry for myself or wallowing in my sorrow. But I'm just wondering why this part of life which has been allowed to me. Will help me later down the road. Everything happens for a reason right?

You can't lose what you don't put in the middle

We've all heard of art imitating life, what about life imitating poker.

The last time I played some poker was about a week ago. I came 2nd the first night. The 2nd night I came 1st. I love playing poker. Especially around my close friends. No money is ever involved. Just consequences. Like the 1st one out has to deal for the other players till the very end of the night (cause no one ever likes to deal). That gets everyone tight and plays conservatively (plus its a disgrace to go out first). If you don't believe me. Forget about it.

I recently watched one of my favorite movies, "Rounders". If you've never played Texas hold'em. You should just watch this movie. It will clear a lot of things up.

Texas hold'em is the "Cadillac of poker". You never play the cards, you play the man in front of you. You look for tells, weaknesses, and play a strong poker face when you have'em or even when you don't.
But there are times when you have the cards. Two cowboys in the pocket (pair of kings) or Bullets (pair of aces). That's when you go all in, risk it all and put all you chips in the middle. Theres a good chance you can take down the pot and take the suckers chips.

But there are times in poker when you know you need to fold'em. Even if it is a pair of cowboys you are holding. Cause when the flop comes (community cards that help make a five card hand) and gives you no help for your kings.

You need to know when to hold'em and know when to fold'em.

So for now... I'm folding, because "You can't lose what you don't put in the middle."

Canuck thoughts: For all those Canuck fans out there

I came across this post on the Canucks forum. Since July 1st Free agent players are being picked up left right and center. Signed for millions of dollars. As for the Canucks they haven't really spent much or made any significant moves to help out the offense for next season. But be patient ... this post explains what I've been seeing too:

When Dave Nonis replaced Brian Burke as GM of the Vancouver Canucks, the team was considered a potential Stanley Cup contender. Nonis was eager to put his stamp on the club, but the uncertainty of working under a brand-new collective bargaining agreement combined with a collective gust of pressure from Canuck fans resulted in a few minor signings but otherwise the team was kept in tact for one last hurrah -- one last run at the Cup.

The following summer, Nonis began building the team. HIS team.

His first major transaction was profound. Nonis managed to unload Todd Bertuzzi -- perhaps the biggest underachiever on the team at the time, and certainly the biggest distraction -- along with stop-gap starter Alex Auld and solid top-4 stay at home dman/1st round pick Bryan Allen for Roberto Luongo. In retrospect, the deal has practically cemented the GM's position in this city for several more years while the losing GM lost his job and the trade single-handedly spun the Florida Panthers about 10 steps back into the rebuilding mode they had seemed poised to get out of.

"Building from the net out", "It all starts in net", "Now we need to focus on our defense" were words you could hear Nonis repeat in interviews after the trade. And of course "Luongo" was the answer to a question posed to him years before on HNIC: "Dave, if you could build your team around one player in the NHL, who would it be?"

The following day, Nonis decided not to bask in the glory of pulling off such a heist and got back to work, building from the back out. Hometown boy Willie Mitchell was exactly the type of player the Canucks needed. It was a common theme at trade-deadline day: "If we could just get a Chelios-type nasty shut-down guy. You know...a Mitchell type guy".

One month later, Nonis continued to solidify the top-4 by avoiding arbitration and locking up Mattias Ohlund to a 4-year deal.Late in the 2006-07 season, the astute GM then avoided losing the Finnish-MacInnis Sami Salo without anything in return via unrestriced free agency by signing the Fin to a 4-year deal worth 3.5 million per season. Another great move by Nonis, as retrospect shows us he would have likely commanded much more had he become unrestricted. Everyone knows about Salo's cannon of a shot, but it's also his poise and confidence that has made him such a critical element to the Canucks blueline.

With goaltending and one of the leagues best top-5 d-core solidified, there was really only one way for Nonis to go to begin the 2007 offseason:"The Bottom Six".Cowan, Ritchie, Isbister. In the former 2, Nonis has locked up two players with what he calls "tremendous compete". Nonis said one of the reasons he signed Ritchie was when the Canucks played the Flames last year, none of the players liked playing against him. This is the type of guy that Nonis clearly wants in the bottom 6. Add other similar type players: Cooke, Burrows, Rypien, Kesler and Jack Adams Trophy winner Alain Vigneault has some serious mustard available at his convenience. While these bottom six may not light the lamp with regularity, there appears to be one thing clear: Nonis expect his 3rd and 4th lines, when not scoring, to work hard, skate fast, hit, fight, and perhaps their most important job description: DRAW PENALTIES.

While it is obvious that the team is going to need more offensive production next year, there simply wasn't money in the kitty (barring trade) to do so. That said, it's still early.

And Dave Nonis clearly has a plan: Build from the back-end out.

1. Goalie CHECK

2. D CHECK

3. 4th line CHECK

4. 3rd line CHECK5.

2nd line _______

...it's so brilliant it's almost funny.....

-end post-

ps (by the way, I'm loving the ritchie, isbister, shannon pickups)

Looking outside the box

playing Just like a bird without a feather - Samuel L. Jackson (Black Snake Moan)

I went without a cell phone today at work. Not by choice, but by mistake. It seems I've lost track of time and day. Work has totally consumed my days, nights, mornings and afternoons. If not for the reminders of the flyer's and some patriotic customers at work. I would of not known it was July. Stampede is on the way. Ask me how excited I am for that? I'm not. You can't miss, what you've never experienced. I've been in Calgary two years and the closes I've been to experiencing the stampede experience is some left over breakfast sausage from the pancake breakfast at the local Co-op. That was two years ago, when we just moved from Vancouver.

Speaking of Vancouver. We had some vancouverites invade my basement. Danica, Chris and Renz visited us. It's always nice to have familiar faces visit us here in Cow-town. They brought back that Coquitlam feeling back. It's always nice to see familiar faces, but so sad to see them go.

I feel I've been missing summer? I hate that feeling. People coming in with their summer attire. Wishing I could trade in my green leaf defender uniform for flip flops, board shorts and some shades. I can only look forward to the folk festival coming up late July. I have no scheduled time off yet.

it feels like Calgary is empty.

i'm out.

Outro: playing When the lights go out - The black keys