Just got off the phone with HRDC, I have been approved for the SEP Program and will be signing the contract tomorrow morning. In light of this I am taking a break before the real work starts and going golfing, bosses orders!
Well it was just that, mundane, not a lot to be said. I backed off on the golf as my foot is still bothering me. There is something to be said in taking it slow, even when it comes to golf. I should have given my feet more time to recover from a game than just going out and playing 4 or 5 games in successive days.
As for my resigning from the Fish & Game Club website: I officially retracted my resignation after the Club president basically clarified the situation (it is nice to have people agree with me). So I am playing around with some ideas for their site while waiting for the transfer to take place giving me access to the new home of the site (Uniserve).
Still waiting for word back from HRDC on my application for the SEP Program. It has been 4 weeks now so I am getting a little uneasy, but it is a government agency so who knows.
So that was about it, other than the drive we took with the kids to get ice cream at the lake it was a pretty ordinary mundane type weekend.
Everyone who knows me is aware that I have been out of work and trying my best to start my own business. Along the way, over the last year I have not stopped giving of myself to others. My attitude is that I can use some of my free time to volunteer my services to others in need of them. I volunteer my time twice a week at the local slot track, and was the chairman at the Chilliwack Fish and Game Protective Association's Annual Steelhead Derby this past winter to name a few things.
Most recently I had volunteered to administrate the Fish and Game's Website. Well, after almost 2 months of politics, meetings, and correspondence, I have resigned my position. There always has to be an A$$hole in the bunch, this one insisting that the domain, www.cfgpa.com remain in his reseller account. I argued that it should not be in any reseller account but rather be the Fish and Games account. Well last night I had enough bulls@#*t and resigned, after being told that I am only just a pawn, in place to follow directives, and I know nothing of industry standards revolving around these issues. I am growing tired of giving and getting not nothing, nothing would be OK, but rather slapped in the face when doing so. Oh well too bad.
Sorry no accrual link to back this up but I thought I would add that I read an article in the paper that indicated the NHL playoffs presently has a TV rating that is being beaten by re-runs of "Little House on the Prairie". Looks like more people are upset with the way things are playing out than I.
Last night was the usual league racing at slots, and Tyler and I showed up ready to go; with my volunteering at the track we don't pay for racing(that's affordable). Since I have been broke I decided to sell some of my stuff to get some much needed cash. Basically I have one of the fastest cars so it is not hard to sell, and I had a buyer immediately. Well with my luck he buys it, and half way through the NASCAR race the motor blows. So, I had to take the money I just made, and buy a new engine and now have to break this new engine in, and mount and tune it for the person who bought my car. My cost on the car was about $120, I sold it for $60 and then had to buy a new engine for $20. Lucky guy eh?
Warning large "Hockey" entry
I have been thinking, and when it comes down to it I am still very bitter over this playoffs for the Canucks. The more I think about it the more it bothers me, and I am not alone. Many of my friends and acquaintances range from slightly disappointed, to very bitter on this subject. Oh sure you get many "generalized hockey fans" who follow the Canucks as far as they go and then say "better luck next year", and for them, this might not be a good read.
You see, I have been on this plane of existence for 30+ years, and ever since I was about 2 years old I was interested in Hockey. Back then, in Ontario as a kid I learned to skate on a rink that my Dad made in the back yard(yes it was damn cold there!). All the kids in the neighborhood had them, it was part of the culture, Canada, Hockey, and Learn to skate early. I can remember the thrill of actually watching a western NHL game on the tube, since they started at 7:00pm pacific it was 10:00pm eastern.. and I would end up falling asleep on the floor in front of the TV with my Dad.
When we moved out west I can remember ball hockey filling in for the backyard rink atmosphere, and I remember it was the thing to do (or at least one of the options), all year round. I would always be Yvan Cournoyer or the "Road Runner" as he was called, or Ken Dryden if I was playing goal. As you could tell I was a Montreal Canadiens fan back then, they were on a roll back then, but that is a story in itself. Everyone played as their hockey hero and played out dream plays of break away plays that won the cup.
Then we moved into town directly across the street from the Rink, and I lived there, I never missed a home game for the local team, and often would just go over and watch any game that happened to be playing. (Side note: the good thing about really knowing the rink is you know where to get pucks, when the family went to see the old timers game a few years ago we got one in the warm up and I caught one out if mid-air during play.)
The point I am trying o make here is that I LOVE Hockey, and know a little bit about the sport, and I don't want to get into a conspiracy theory here or anything but I think it is kinda coincidental how in game 7 of the series that knocked out the Canucks, the other team didn't receive one penalty. I think it is even less coincidental that a team that seemed to blow away the Canucks looked like they were all on drugs in the next series against Disney( er.. the Ducks).
I blame it on Gary Bettman (the present NHL weasel, er ehm... commissioner). Ok here is were I might be crossing the line, but what seemed to be shaping up to an all Canadian final, is now looking like something that you see on Saturday morning cartoons "The Ducks vs. the Devils". Oh I have full confidence in the Senators, but does Bettman have a plan for them too? There have been so many comments from so many people I know, TV sports casters, and hockey critics alike, that have mentioned the questionable plays this year. Even Colorado's Patrick Roy's seemingly give up goal to let the Wild go through to eventually defeat us, has been pointed out as an almost too obvious mistake.
Officiating... now this is something that should require some investigation. There are so may unwritten rules in the NHL that seem to be ignored by the modern referee. You just don't call penalties that decide playoff games unless they are blatant enough to do so. In my opinion Bettman's puppets are ignoring this. The two orange bands on the arms of the referee unfortunately can determine a teams fate, and it shouldn't.
OK, here is where I drop the bomb.. I really think ( and I know I am not alone on this) that since the introduction of Bettman there has been a push to close out the Canadian teams and move them all down south.
I could go on forever on this, there is so much that could be said. Bitter? You bet, I only want to see fair play, and have not seen it this playoffs. I am sure a lot of people are going to disagree with me as well, but this is how I feel. Even if the Canucks are out I have always followed one team or the other to the cup. This year I have even been hesitant to watch the Sens, as the games almost look orchestrated.
I miss the NHL!
It was time to get the clubs out and dust em off last weekend, and that is exactly what I have been up to the last 3-4 days. Played my first round Saturday, only 12 holes though, my feet were already pretty sore. I have bought new shoes late last year on sale, Nike all weather something-or-others, as my last pair wore out with all the golf I played last summer( about 150 rounds +). The new ones are not that comfortable, they are nice but lack the comfort that keeps up on the back nine.
Score wise I surprised myself the first two days but after shooting a Lindros( two eights in a row), on the first two holes yesterday I decided to not keep score and have a fun round. It is just nice to get out in the fresh air, and get some Vitamin D(sunshine).
Installed a bug tracking system called IssueView, that suites all of my needs for my program. They give away a one user version that allows for tracking unlimited products or issues, fit my pocket book just fine. Proceeding with the code, although lately I seem to be changing my mind so much I don;t get very far, I am my own worst enemy when it comes to " now does that look good enough". Oh well maybe I will go get a slurpee...
Well it was our 11th anniversary on Friday(Shaaron and Mine), and since we are basically broke, we decided to book a tee time at the Club. Well it was absolutely nasty weather yesterday so we skipped the golf and went out today. It was a great game, it was cold and cloudy until we got in the car to leave and the clouds parted and we enjoyed a nice sunny (a little windy) round. Shaaron ended it with an excellent drive on the 18th landing only 10 feet from the pin( she missed the birdie but got the par).
Eleven years, it has gone by quickly, we have had our share of bad times. I believe that a good argument here and there is needed in a relationship, but as I look back I wouldn't change a thing. I have a very special woman, one that has been behind me no matter what happens, and I love her dearly. Our children, well I really can't complain, Marlee is a little bit more of a challenge, Tyler just seemed to do everything we wanted him to do.
Putting my present finances aside(flat broke, out of work for over a year) my relationship with Shaaron and the family that we have created is all a guy could ask for. It gives me reason to continue, and holds me together when things appear to be coming apart. I just hope my present effort towards improving the environment we live in succeeds, they deserve it!
I am Absolutely Disgusted at the referee's in the NHL. They have not called a fair game for the Canucks series that I can see. No I am not disappointed in the Canucks, they did all they could, but in game 6 and 7 Gary Bettman's little puppets did what they were told and shoved the whistles up their asses refusing to call anything against the Canucks and yet they didn't hesitate to call penalties where there is an unwritten rule to "let them play it out" ( you don't call stupid penalties in the last 5 min of a playoff game unless they are obvious blatant and have an intent to injure or determine the game).
Bravo Canucks on an excellent season, I think the big line could have produced more, but given the hand they were delt with the officiating what can you do.
Decided to take a few days off and get some much needed work around the house done. Got the lawn mower out and cut both the neighbor's and our front lawns, and chopped down a 20 foot Douglas Fir that was getting annoying( was half dead and rotten and the birds seem to like to gang crap off of it onto the cars). Once that was done I detailed my Mom's car for her as she was going away for a convention.
Last night at about 4:30am I got fed up with Windows 2000 on my laptop and decided to wipe it out and put XP on it. It was getting to the point were the HD remained fragmented to some point and it took forever to boot. XP install went well and it boots in half the time (mind you it is a clean install too, not much in the way of utilities). Of course I had to install GVim, and Cygwin so I can code in a decent environment.
All in all it has been a peaceful weekend, just watched The Transporter on DVD, and was impressed with the driving scenes, as well as a few of the fighting scenes. All-in-all it was a good flick that the entire family could watch, no real ultra gore or explicit sex. Back at it tomorrow then.