I got stuck in a seedy motel in Milk River, Alberta after my friend was denied access to the USA on Sunday afternoon. Not cool. That's all I've got to say about it.

My RSS Reader lit up this morning and the first article I read came courtesy of Saskboy. Apparently Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report had President Bush's undivided attention for thirty-plus minutes and called him out on just about everything the anti-Bush crowd has wanted to say for the past five years.

I've only seen his show a couple of times, but I'm sure I'll be tuning into the show after The Daily Show more often after this. I can just picture George Bush being asked about his low approval ratings. Golden!

Further reading:

• About Mr. Colbert -- The News Blog
• Colbert Lampoons Bush ... -- Editor & Publisher

I haven't even been using WordPress for a week yet, and I'm thinking about switching back to MovableType.

There are certain things I really enjoy about WordPress, but I just find it so limiting with my minimal knowledge of PHP and CSS. I was planning on adding the full blogrolls for both Alberta Blogs and SaskBlogs, but am becoming more and more frustrating to get a sidebar on everypage.

So, I'm going to work on a new custom MT theme over the next week or two and see if I can come up with something acceptible.

I can't sleep because I believe my right earring is causing my earlobe to become swollen -- a good sign it is infected. I've been dousing it in hydrogen peroxide for a while now, but the swelling won't go down. Even worse, I can't get the stupid thing out of my ear, as I haven't done it since I first got earrings. Ugh, this is stressing me out.

[update may 5/06 10am: I finally got my stupid earring out. It only took a couple of days of playing with it to finally get it to pop out. Hopefully I can get the swelling down now. Woo!]

This should be some kind of an indication as to how opposed to change I really am. I've used MovableType as my main blogging tool-de-force since mid-2003. Last Wednesday (exactly one week ago today) I switched my blog from MovableType to WordPress.

Well. It didn't last long.

I just couldn't deal with the hassles in modifying some of the themes, and the unfamiliarity of the backend scared me. And so, I came running back to the old and trusted. I had originally planned on spending between a few days and a week working up a new style for the site, but I managed to get something I could be happy with in about a day -- which is what you see before you here.

This style is pretty much a combination of my old MovableType theme, and the theme that my WordPress-version blog was using. Expect more changes to come over time, but I am not really planning another software switch anytime soon. One of the big things about this new switchback is that I finally figured out how to modify the pages you see after you submit a comment, and perform a search to be more uniform with the rest of the site.

Let me know what you think!

[update: Sorry to those of you who again have to switch your RSS feeds. It is back to the original (pre-last Wednesday) URL of http://www.stephenglauser.com/atom.xml. Update 'em!]

A few weeks ago a friend of mine from home (Yorkton) had the gall to ask me -- seriously, mind you -- whether I had defected from the Riders and became a Stamps fan yet. The audacity of this question is beyond me. I grew up a die hard rider fan. Even though I was only 6, I vividly remember where I was when the Rider's brought home the Grey Cup for the second time. I was boarding an airplane in the Regina airport. I can't remember where, but I mean, come on, I was six.

On top of the die-hard green blood that flows through me, it's not even football season yet!

All of that aside, I think the Rider's are fielding a much better team this year. Roy Shivers and our man Danny Barrett have been putting in a lot of overtime this off-season trying to give us fans what we've wanted for so long -- at least a home playoff game. Both of their careers in Regina are on the line this year, and they know it. Both of them love Regina, the province of Saskatchewan and all of its people, and, can you believe it -- they want to stay there!

We've dropped McCallum and Nealon, both of whom were on the roster for at least a year too long. Unfortunately we lost Corey Holmes, but I think it was necessary to drop him. A necessary evil you might say.

Argueably the biggest signing of the off-season has been Kerry Joseph (who will now be sporting McCallum's hopefully not-cursed old number 4). One of the few good things to come of Ottawa folding is the Riders have once again got an incredibly solid quarterbacking core. Joseph will most likely be the number one man, with Marcus Crandall (who is an excellent QB as well) backing him up. Currently Rocky Butler is occupying the number three spot, but I've heard rumors that we picked someone up out of University of North Carolina, whose name escapes me at the moment.

Another stellar pickup was Jason Armstead, also a positive byproduct of the Ottawa CFL team folding. Armstead pads an already potent receiving core that features the likes of Matt Dominguez, Jason French and Corey Grant to name a few.

It's Kenton Keith's make or break year with the Riders. If he does well, he will become the franchise player he's been touted as for the past year. If he performs subpar at all, he will most likely go the way of Shivers and Barrett if they have an off year.

With such returning stars on the other side of the ball such as Reggie Hunt, Nate Davis, Fred Childress, Omarr Morgan, Jackie Mitchell and LaDouphyous McCalla to name a very select few, we should have one of the top defensive teams to go along with the outstanding offense.

While it is yet to be seen how the new team will play together, on paper we are about to field an absolutely great team, and it's got all of Riderville excited. I am completely pumped, and I can't wait for June 3 when I will be in Edmonton cheering on the proper green team in our first exhibition match of the year.

I kind of had a feeling it might happen, although I really hoped it wouldn't. But, as most of Canada already knows, the Flames are out of the playoffs, losing to the Ducks in a pathetic game 7.

The Flames had trouble getting anything going the entire game and were completely outplayed by the Ducks throughout. We could only muster two or three pathetic shots in the second period and we paid dearly for it.

So now they need to fire everyone on the ice except Iginla, Kiprusoff, Phaneuf, McCarty and Huselius, and start all over again. Oh well, guess it's time to jump on the Oilers bandwagon.

According to this post from February 8, Ryan and I started work on Guardian Angels, Inc. on January 21. It is now May 4. Also according to that post we were planning on having the first draft finished by sometime in mid-March. Well, that didn't happen. It's been 85 days since that post and we've written 49 pages, for a grand total of 72. Absolutely terrible.

Once I get back from the driving range tonight, we're going to get back to work and try to finish up the first draft pretty quick here. We've got a couple of other ideas we want to flesh out and start writing, but we refuse to start one without finishing the previous.

Good luck to me!

After seeing so many blog entries about our PM eating our young, I had to check out the news report for myself.

Every three seconds over three days a hacker let Torontonians in on what only he knew. That PM Stephen Harper enjoys the flesh of infants. Too funny.

Nineteen year old Kacy Lancaster was charged as an accessory after the fact, becoming the third to be charged in the Medicine Hat triple murder.

She follows 23 year old Jeremy Steinke and his 12 year old girlfriend -- apparently the youngest person ever charged in a multiple-murder case in Canada. The CBC news report isn't saying what her role in the murders are, but we'll wait and see.

In my quest to visit all of the blogs featured on my SaskBlogs list (between 60 and 70 if I believe correctly), I came across When Irish Eyes Are Smiling.

She posted a challenge she had found that involves the Wikipedia, arguably my favorite website on the internet currently. The Wikipedia Challenge: Go to wikipedia and type in your birthday (minus the year.) Then post 3 events, 3 births and 3 deaths from the day you were born. Mine are as follows:

Events:

• 1609 - Henry Hudson lands on Manhattan island.


• 1962 - The Beatles record their debut single, Love Me Do.


• 2001 - The September 11 attacks destroy the World Trade Center in New York City, part of The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and crash a passenger airliner in Pennsylvania. In total, almost 3,000 are killed.

• 1885 - D.H. Lawrence, English novelist (d. 1930)


• 1924 - Tom Landry, American football coach (d. 2000)


• 1940 - Brian de Palma, American film director

• 1161 - Queen Melisende of Jerusalem (b. 1105)


• 1931 - Salvatore Maranzano, crime boss


• 2001 - 3,000 innocent people


• 2003 - John Ritter, American actor (b. 1948)

In the world of film reviews, bloggers are king. I'm not all that surprised by this, as it is generally-accepted that bloggers are slowly gaining importance against the mainstream media in all things news, and film reviews are no different.

It makes sense too. We are the people that actually watch the movies, and I would much rather read a review by a peer as opposed to some egotistic Roger Ebert type (notice how I said type... I actually don't mind Roger Ebert).

I've never really cared what individual critics had to say, but with the help of Rotten Tomatoes as well as the blogosphere it's becoming easier to sift through the BS. A good reference from a friend doesn't hurt either.

I spent the majority of this beautiful 23 degree day outside.

I hit the driving range with Preston for the first time this year. Although I had to hit the worst rental clubs you could ever imagine, I was still swinging half decently for the first few swings of the year. I was just glad to actually get out of the house and enjoy some nice weather for once.

The rest of my day was spent either on Preston's patio, or my deck, soaking in the sun. I can't wait for summer when I can look forward to this almost every day.

At about 7:00 Preston and I decided we hadn't gotten enough swinging of the golf clubs in for the day, so we decided to head back to the range. This time I took some real clubs, and every swing felt that much better.

This is going to be a great golf season, and I can't wait!

I've been using Measure Map for a couple of days in addition to Google Analytics to track visitors. Measure Map was designed exclusively for bloggers and tracks what's important to us. Here's a quick screenshot of yesterday's visitors to my site:

After yesterday's sun-filled extravaganza at the golf course, I have done absolutely nothing today. I left my house once - to go to Subway. I'm a little upset that I've done absolutely nothing, and will most likely do absolutely nothing for the remainder of the evening. It's starting to look like I'm going to land on the couch and watch movies all night.

Saturday is supposed to be a day of fun, not this garbage. I need to get out more. Super cool.

A church youth group from Saskatoon was on a trip to Edmonton when the bus driver had an epileptic seisure and the bus crashed into the Borden Bridge, just outside of Borden, Saskatchewan.

I haven't read about this on any news articles yet, but I've been searching. One of my ex-boss' daughters was on the bus and she told me about it on MSN Messenger. I called a lady I know who works in the CBC News Room and she confirmed it. Crazy!

Apparently the bus driver, who works for P.A. Northern attempted to call in sick this morning, but the company wouldn't let him so he swallowed his sickness and came into work. Big mistake on the end of P.A. Northern, and one that hopefully costs them a bunch of money. About thirty minutes out of Saskatoon the driver began having his seisure, immediately before the bridge. In an incredible stroke of luck, the bus smashed into the start of the guardrail, narrowly avoiding running into the river.

All of the kids on the bus had to exit by the windows, and many of them were injured - mostly cuts and bruises, I'm unsure about broken bones. I'm not sure how many had to go to the hospital in Saskatoon, but quite a few for sure. The fuel tank sprung a leak, and somehow a lot of the kids got battery acid on them, destroying a lot of the clothes.

Absolutely crazy! I'll post more when I find out.

Update:

Blog Entries:
Breakfast Meat :: Prince Albert Northern bus crashes near Borden

News Articles
canada.com :: Three injured when charter bus slams into bridge in central Saskatchewan
Calgary Sun :: Three hurt in bus crash
CTV :: Three hurt after bus crashes into Sask. bridge

Saskboy posted about a Montreal elementary school student who was sent home for eating his lunch with utensils.

Apparently, the boy routinely ate his lunch using forks and spoons until his teacher scolded it for him, and said he was "eating like a pig," called him names such as "dusgusting" and "clown." Crazy! How does this person still have a job? What's worse is that the school's principal is backing her up:

'Every time your son eats like a pig, he'll be disciplined,' said the principal to the boy's mother. The boy is of Filipino decent, and the Phillipines are reacting in outrage, quite understandably. The actions of this school has sparked protest outside of the Canadian embassy in Manila. With good measure. I have half a mind to start writing letters demanding these educators be fired.

I've got a bad habit of becoming fiercely addicted to tv show. The newest episode of The Sopranos is on right now, and I can't watch it because my buddy missed the first five minutes, and I made the stupid mistake of telling him I'd wait until 11:00 to catch the second showing.

I always seem to do this to myself. Take 24 for instance: I bought Season 4 and made the mistake of telling Marc I'd wait three weeks to watch it with him. These intense addictions to great tv have got to stop. It's unhealthy. I guess I'm glad it's only The Sopranos and 24 currently. 24 is by far worse, I can't even watch it on television, I have to wait for it to show up on DVD.

I went out for my first real round of golf today. Well, half a round anyway. Me and Preston went and played the Valley 9 at Shaganappi Point. I shot a terrible 48. Absolutely horrid. I took an 8 and a 7 to start off the round, which put me 6 strokes off of Preston's pace. I managed to catch him and tie the round, but I still played terribly. My putting was garbage and I didn't hit a fairway until the 6th hole or something stupid. On top of all that garbage I only made par on one measly hole.

I'm looking forward to get a lot of golf in this year, but hopefully I don't have a round that resembles anything like this monstrosity again.

I got my hair cut today for the first time since I moved to Calgary nearly two months ago. Wow does it feel good to actually have a decent looking head of hair! I won't be embarassed to go out in public without a hat on. I should really not let my hair go for that long -- it's not like haircuts are expensive or anything.

It's too bad I don't have a digital camera kicking around to show you people how sweet my new hair is.

I've been living in Calgary for two months now, and there are certain things that I really miss about Saskatoon, and certain things about Calgary I never want to live without again. Here is a list:

• I miss how light Saskatoon traffic is. Sitting in gridlock on Crowchild or the Deerfoot is not fun. I mean, when I lived in Saskatoon I thought it was bad, but.... no.
• I like that there is always something to do in Calgary. Every night of the week you can find something to entertain yourself with. The biggest problem about being a young person in Saskatoon is the exact opposite - there is never anything to do.
• I don't head out to the club very often here, and never really did in Saskatoon either. However, in Saskatoon you ran into the same damn people every single night, no matter where you went. Not true here. Good stuff.
• I miss being within a few hours max of most of my family. I have one uncle in Calgary and an uncle and aunt in Brooks. I mean, it's not like I was always out visiting family, but it would be nice if they were closer.
• I'm hating being eight or nine hours away from Rider's home games.
• Every time I leave my house here I'm gone for about an hour. Even if I'm just heading out to get some food. It makes the day go by fast, but it still sucks. Urban sprawl is not all it's cut out to be. I miss being able to go out and be home in 15 minutes in Saskatoon. Not possible here.

Well, there's a few things.

One of my roommates had a couple of buddies over when Rick Mercer's Talking to America one hour special came on CBC. A few minutes into the show, Mercer started talking about the polar bear hunt in Toronto, to which one of the kids over at my place says "You know there's polar bears in Winnipeg?"

Ugh. He wasn't joking. Ugh.

I tried to explain to him why having polar bears in or near Winnipeg doesn't even make sense, but he decided to defend his point anyway. I eventually had to get up and leave the room due to the sheer idiocy of this kid. Ugh.

One of my roommates has gotten himself into the habit of making late night phone calls that originate at anywhere from 10pm to 12am, and end anywhere from 2am to 3am. Every night.

Now, I wouldn't overly mind, however 99% of the time when he gets a beep that is for myself or my other roommate, he simply tells the caller "I'm on the other line long distance, I'll get him to call you back." And he continues his conversation for another hour, or two, or three. Then he never gives us the messages.

After a number of my friends complained about this late-night phone monopoly, I decided to try and bust him on it last night. I had Preston phone me up at 12:30 or so and ask for me while we were talking on MSN. Ryan said "I'm on the other line, so I'll have him call you right back." So I thought I had him cracked right open. Negative. To my shock he actually came downstairs about five minutes later and told me to call Preston back.

So, he gets one point in the positive mark. However, it is extremely annoying when I want to make a phone call late at night and for hours on end pick up to his conversation. Not cool. Take tonight for instance, we have a few friends driving through to B.C. from Saskatchewan and staying the night at our place. I do not have a cell phone, so I need to call them from the house phone to check on them, make sure they're not dead, etc. So for three hours straight I picked up to him on the same stupid ass conversation, and he refused to get off the phone. This is equally not as cool as telling my beeps to screw off.

I'm going to have to regulate this very soon. More to follow, I'm sure.

Weyerhaeuser officially closed the doors to it's Prince Albert pulp and paper mill on April 13, 2006. The plant was Prince Albert's largest private sector employer and the closure left more than 700 people unemployed.

However, according to Small Dead Animals, the Calvert NDP government decided that they should still feature high-ranking Weyerhaeuser VP, Steve Smith in it's Think Sask campaign. The campaign is designed to drive business to Saskatchewan, and features "entrepreneurs" giving testimonials to how great it is to do business in Saskatchewan.

I almost wish I was back in Saskatchewan simply so I could vote for the Sask Party. Everything the NDP clowns are doing these days seems to be missing the target, and they really, really dropped the ball on this. The citizens of Prince Albert should be outraged! I sure would be.

Now, I haven't watched the video yet as my sound card is about to land in the garbage can, but that's probably a good thing as now I can't subject myself to this BS, but I'll take SDA's word for it.

My friend's aging dog, about 12 or so, refuses to eat dog food. They put dog food in his bowl and he just won't eat. They seriously feed him Chicken Cordon Bleu, which he loves. Today they fed him some chicken breast, and yesterday kraft dinner.

I know it's seriously unhealthy for the dog, but he is nearing the end of his life so they may as well let him enjoy what's left of it. I just find it a little weird that the dog has that sophisticated of taste.

I know it's a little late to be making my predictions about the Stanley Cup playoffs public, and some of you will most likely raise a BS flag, but whatever.

Since the teams were finalized I've been saying that if Calgary doesn't make it to the cup, the Buffalo Sabres are going to go all the way, and they are making me happy so far in the second round against Ottawa.

So, I predict a Buffalo vs. Anaheim final series, with Buffalo taking it in six. Late or not, there's my prediction.

Ryan and I finished the first draft of Guardian Angels, Inc. last night. It came in quite light at only 100 pages for a number of reasons, including: abandoning a couple of story concepts we had outlined mid-script, changing the third act a little late in the game, and a number of others. Falling in at a hundred pages is going to make for a very interesting rewrite to say the least.

I'll spend the next few days proofreading and polishing it a little before it takes it's spot on the shelf for a few weeks to fester in our minds. Finishing a script is always a great feeling but starting the rewrite is frickin' terrifying. Updates to come, I'm sure!

A family member is in rehab, I'm not going to name names but those of you that know me probably have a pretty good idea who it is. This person had an overdose and landed themself in the ER before being taken to Moose Jaw for two week detox.

I used to have a fairly bad problem myself, and ended up in ICU for a few days after an overdose of pharmaceuticals. Absolutely not cool. I've been clean for a couple of years now, and feel absolutely great about it. I'm hoping said family member can turn themselves around and get clean as well.

I've seen so many people consumed by drugs and it saddens me every time. Not only does it severely deplete any remaining cash in your wallet, it completely takes over your life and destroys those of the people around you. I know a lot of people who are still doing drugs regularly, and although it doesn't bother me on a personal level, I feel bad for them and the people that love them.

I'm not sure what it is about drugs that turn people into naive slaves to consumption, but something needs to be done about it. I have no idea what, but something...

In my teen years I was surrounded by - and partially submerged in - a culture of drugs. Regular use of marijuana and other recreational drugs such as mushrooms was just what we did. We smoked weed when we hung out at each other's houses. We smoked weed on our 15 minute and lunch breaks at school. It was simply what we did. And honestly, it really wasn't all that detrimental to any of our lives. We never went nuts and started robbing people because we were high. We never got so messed up that we ran over little kids riding their bikes. None of that.

I haven't smoked weed in a couple of years and have zero intentions of ever putting a joint, pipe or bong to my lips again. That being said, I still have no problem with people I surround myself with these days smoking weed. A good number of friends still do and I really don't see that much of a problem with it. Besides it being a "gateway" drug, which I don't want to get into right now, so I won't.

What I do have a problem with is the hard stuff: cocaine, crack, crystal meth, heroin, ecstasy, acid, etc. The stuff that really destroys lives - and not just those of the user. I have seen a few people completely destroy themselves in a matter of a few short years and are left with very little chance of fully recovering. I'm not completely innocent either, as a previous entry elluded to, I've had my own battles with drugs harder than marijuana. But the same battle that I was waging eventually caused me to cease all drug use (beside the consumption of alcohol, that is).

Saskboy pointed out an entry on Jacobs Super Patented Brain Thoughts about a politician's effort to introduce a controversial drug program.

Continue reading "Curbing Serious Drug Usage" »

I've never been in a situation where I was not able to be in my mother's presence for Mother's Day. I've always either (a) lived with her, (b) lived in the same city, or (c) lived close enough to drive. The past couple of years I've been living in Saskatoon and she in Regina. My modus operandi has been to neglect phoning her for a week or so, then just show up on her doorstep out of the blue. It always brings tears to her eyes, and she cries every time I give her a gift. We spend the day catching up on the things that really matter, and just enjoying the time together. You know, regular mom and son things. Well, regular if you don't get to see each other that often I suppose.

Unfortunately, this year is different. I fear she's grown accustom to my "surprise" visits and is expecting them. I've done everything I can to dispell the notion it may happen again this year: I've called, or emailed her every day leading up to tomorrow (not including today, but that will happen later). I've informed her that I will not be travelling east any time soon, etc, etc.

The worst part, however, is that not only do I not get to be there tomorrow, but I neglected to buy her gifts. I'm so used to doing my Mother's Day shopping a day or two before the Sunday that I kind of just forgot about it until, well, right now. Crap. Even if I could afford to run out and by her something to top the last two years gifts, there is pretty much no way to get it to her by tomorrow.

Obviously, I feel terrible. I hope she understands when all she gets is a phone call tomorrow. :(

It was Ross' 23rd birthday last night so we decided to go out and have a pretty good time. We started out at The Alcove with his girlfriend and his sister, where we sang karaoke. Awesome! I've only ever sang karaoke once before and it was a couple of years ago. Ross and I sang The Wrong Way by Sublime together. Good stuff.

After The Alcove, Ross and I went to Tequila for a bit, but it was super packed so we took off for The Back Alley. Last night was my first experience at the alley and now I know why everyone goes there. That place is huge! I'm not a fan of metal music but it was a fun party atmosphere.

Meh, we had a good time anyway.

Happy Mother's Day!

I might be heading to Saskatoon for a day or two on Wednesday. A friend of ours is in town for the next three days and one of my roommates is going to drive him home and have a visit. I haven't decided if I want to go or not yet but it might be nice to get home for a couple of days as I haven't spent more than six hours there since I moved more than two months ago. I guess it will depend a lot on work, so who knows.

Big news in the Rider Nation today is that the Green & White were featured on Sunday's episode of The Sopranos (episode 75 - Moe and Joe).

During one of the final scenes there is a gathering at Tony's place and they are all watching football on TV. Although you can't see the Riders playing you can clearly hear Chris Cuthbert's voice saying something like "2nd down. Greene on the rollout. Gets it away. Has a man. Threads the needle to Jamel Richardson!"

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling makes a good point about why this may have happened:

I know that American's will often use CFL games in their TV sitcoms. The reason for this is that the NFL charges way too much for the footage, while the CFL pretty much gives it away.

As long as the Riders are involved I'm all for the CFL giving away the coverage.

So it hit 26 degrees here today and it is 25 right now. Absolutely beautiful! I've got a pretty mean sunburn on the entire upper half of my body, and we are to expect more of the same tomorrow.

It's fair to say that winter is now behind us, and we have got summer weather to look forward to. This mean lots of weekends spent at the lake. May long is upon us (next weekend) and it kind of crept up on me. I didn't realize it was the long weekend until today, so we weren't able to make any campsite reservations. We've got a few buddies with cabins up at Sylvan Lake so hopefully we'll be able to latch on to them.

I hope all of you had a chance to enjoy some sunshine and mid-20 degree weather today too.

I can't believe I'm posting about the weather two days in a row, but I can't help it. I don't work today so me and a few friends decided to take advantage of the 27 degree weather.

At 11:00 Chris, Jaret, Jon and I went to Riley Park and threw the football around for two hours or so. In about fifteen minutes, the four of us as well as Jordan and Ryan are going to head back to Riley Park and toss around the football. I'm working on enhancing the viciousness of my sunburn and lovin' it.

I'm with Brea, this warm weather brings out good thoughts about life and brings me out of the slump that winter brings. I can't wait to head out to the lake this summer (hopefully this weekend!), golfing as much as humanly possible and camping at every lake in Alberta -- alright, that might not be possible, but it's a nice thought.

Is anyone else running in to this problem? Ever since the weather turned super nice I've been having trouble thinking of anything decent to blog about. I've been spending a heck of a lot of time outside, actually enjoying life but I find myself extremely upset that I have got nothing decent to write about.

I simply sit in front of my computer screen hoping something profound will come along, but it just doesn't. Weather > blogging.

It looks like I'm headed to Saskatoon tomorrow. I'll most likely just be there until Thursday night or Friday morning. If anyone in Saskatoon wants to get together tomorrow afternoon/evening for a drink or a coffee or something, let me know.

I went golfing with Marc in Saskatoon (where I am right now) yesterday. We went to the Willows and played 27 holes of golf in 31 degree weather, starting at 9:30am and going to 4:00pm. Although I didn't shoot horribly -- a 91 on 18, I didn't really plan on being outside for that long so I forgot to bring sunscreen and managed to intensify the sunburn I had from earlier this week.

Now my arms are beat red, and my face is pretty much the color of lobster. Not cool.

Despite all the bad reviews I've been hearing about the movie, after reading The Da Vinci Code numerous times, not going to see this movie simply was not an option. This occasion marks the first time in many years that I've gone to see a movie on it's opening weekend.

Marc and I headed to the 8:30 showing tonight with high expectations. First off -- I don't think the negative reviews of this film are justified, well, most of them anyway. Directing a story that is so well known has got to be a tough thing to do, but I think Ron Howard did an excellent job. Tom Hanks was outstanding in his role as Robert Langdon. Foreign film actress Audrey Tautou introduced herself to mainstream America in excellent fashion in her role as Sophie Neveu, and the rest of the cast, for the most part, were good.

I didn't really like Paul Bettany's portrayal of Silas the albino. I'm not quite sure what it is that I didn't like about the role, but throughout the entire movie I was pulled away from the story by his character. Another part of the movie I didn't necessarily like were the flashbacks, which I found visually unpleasing for the most part, and it seemed as though all of them were done in different styles which kind of took away from the whole deal.

Although not as good as the book -- not even close -- the movie does it's job of telling Dan Brown's story quite successfully. Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman stuck to Brown's story quite faithfully and it makes for an interesting watch. If you haven't read the book, you might want to read it before you run out to the theatre -- chances are you've already seen it though, as apparently it's taken in just under $80 million dollars on it's opening weekend.

You may or may not have noticed that my posting has been spectacularly light this weekend... the traffic statistics since I left lead me to believe you probably have not noticed ;) Anyway, we ended up sticking around until today, and I had a great time.

Did quite a bit of golfing, got to see a good movie, saw a bunch of friends I hadn't seen in a while, spent some time with family. My dad handed me down his golf clubs from last year. Sweet. It was a good outing, but it feels good to be home again.

Here's a picture of me in a ridiculous pose from the weekend:

Wow I'm stupid.

On the way back from Saskatoon this afternoon, I started reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, a 240 page novel by Mark Haddon. I read the book from cover to cover in a little under four hours. It was that good.

I don't pretend to be a literary critic, or even well-read, but I just have to tell you folks about this book. This book started out as a light, comic read told from the view-point of a 15 year old English boy who suffers from autism, but about halfway through turned into a very powerful look at human interaction (especially that of the family) with autistic children.

This book really opened my eyes, and I wish I could get into the plot a bit more, but I don't want to give anything away. If you get a chance to pick this book up, I highly suggest you do.

Due to the success of The Da Vinci Code, producers are moving forward with an Angels & Demons movie. I haven't read the book yet, but I've heard it is superior to TDC, so this is hopefully a good thing.

Akiva Goldsman (scribe of TDC script) has signed on to write the AD script -- a move I am acutally a little upset with. Although he did a good job of keeping true to the story in TDC, I am unsure he will be able to do it twice in a row. Tom Hanks and Opie Ron Howard have not yet signed on for the prequel, but I can't see them not doing it.

TDC took $80million in US box office and $224million in Worldwide box office on it's opening weekend. Wow.

The Edmonton-Anaheim Game 4 is still in the second period but I just can't wait. I can't believe how tight the referees are calling this game. I mean, there was 3-on-3 hockey for almost a minute! Unbelievable. It's the third round of the playoffs, let them play some hockey. I'm waiting for them to call 2 minutes for playing hockey.

Idiots.

Lins over at The Ford Focus Wagon and Saskboy of Abandoned Stuff have been chatting about Left Lane Bandits -- the idiots that believe driving ten kilometres below the posted speed limit in the left lane of a four-lane highway is acceptable practice.

Saskboy says that the urge to drive faster on the highway can kill. While this is true, so can the urge to drive below the speed limit. As a matter of fact I believe that people driving below the limit in the left-lane can be even more dangerous than those driving over the limit.

He goes on to say that driving on average 20 km/h over the speed limit is excessive. I find this as well to be completely untrue. Most US highways have a 70mph or about 112km/h, and it is generally accepted that people drive 75 (120) -- so if 120km/h is safe for them, why isn't it for us. As well, highways in the US routinely hit the 75mph, and don't forget about the European highways with their ridiculous speed limits, and in some cases (the German Autobahn network) no speed limits.

If a posted limit is 100km/h on a highway with enough traffic to warrant double (or more) lanes, people should be forced to drive it (unless of course conditions are unsafe). Nothing is worse than being caught behind someone going 90km/h when you are trying to go 110km/h.

Saskboy also goes on to say that by driving slower, our gas bill will be lower. That is a problem that is all my own, and if I decide to get an extra 15 km out of a tank of gas, I'll slow down. The whole speeding ticket argument is also garbage... if I get a ticket, it's my problem. Another argument is that vehicles don't have the agility needed to avoid animals or other hazards. I really don't believe that there is much of a difference in reflectivity between 100 and 120km/h.

Saskboy and I have been discussing the possibility of us Sask Bloggers getting together this summer. We've come up with a basic itinerary that is pretty much open to discussion:

July 22, 2006 Saturday - Regina
We would start out at about 1pm with a barbecue in Wascana Park. Kids, and Everyone of course, will be welcome. After the barbecue we could head to the Rider game (if enough people express interest, Stephen might be able to line up some discounted tickets). After that we could all head out for supper, or do another BBQ and then head out to a pub for some drinks.

The option of a Saskatoon meet has also been discussed, but we would like to have one big meet as opposed to two large ones, but we’ll see what everyone has to say. Saskatoon dates that have been discussed include June 17 and August 19.

If most people would prefer a Saskatoon meet on July 22nd, we could possibly change it up.

Email Saskboy or myself, or post a comment here to provide input or say you’re coming.

It's no secret that blogging is growing at a tremendous rate. According to Technorati 75,000 new blogs are registered and over 1,000,000 posts are put up daily.

James Wanless made an interesting point about certain bloggers becoming addicted to the hobby. James goes on to link the worse-off bloggers to those who spend countless hours searching the internet for more porn, or burning thousands and thousands of dollars gambling online. This brought up an interesting thought for me:

How deep into blogging am I?

James put bloggers into two generic categories:

Many bloggers simply use a free hosted blogging service, pick a pre-fab template and post their thoughts.

Others, however, want to know their ranking, who’s linking to them, who’s commenting on their posts and what’s being said on the several hundred site and blog feeds they follow through their desktop, server-based or hosted feedreader.

Let me start off by saying I feel that neither group actually produces better material, and I read a lot from people of both categories.

I definitely fall into the latter group. I spend a couple of hours a day check my RSS feeds; trying to think of what to write about; checking my email for comment notifications; checking my stats at Sitemeter, Measure Map or Google Analytics; and, of course, reading other blogger's works and commenting. I constantly try and think of ways to improve the look and feel of my site. However, I don't feel that any of it is adversely affecting my "real" social life.

James says the following:

So, instead of looking at dirty pictures and low-res clips of porn movies, the new internet addict spends his time checking feeds, posting articles, posting comments, managing comment spam, checking stats, updating blogrolls and bookmarks, tweaking templates and developing new colour schemes to name a few. Other than the fact that blogging isn’t as damaging to society as porn, there may not be much difference to the effect on the end-user.

I really don't know of anyone that is that addicted to blogging. I view it as a hobby, and a semi-constructive way to spend some of my free time, but I do sort of agree that left to their own devices certain people could become harmlessly addicted to blogging and all that it entails.

It was widely speculated that Ricky Williams would sign with the Toronto Argonauts, and it was made official yesterday.

Williams was suspended by the NFL for a year for repeatedly testing positive for marijuana, but this is obviously not an issue for Canadians. Although he will be tested ten times a month by the NFL, even if he fails I highly doubt that the Argos or the CFL will do anything about it, as having such a brilliantly talented back in the CFL has got to be good for ratings. Williams is essentially on loan to the Argos from the Miami Dolphins for the season, and I guess it's good for all parties concerned, with the exception of the other eight teams in the CFL.

Before signing Williams, the Argos were getting ready to field a potent team, but with the signing of Williams their offense (and especially their running game) has got to be the one to look out for in the East. As a die-hard Rider fan I harbor mixed emotions about signing a Pro-Bowl caliber back to a team other than my green and white. It will be very good for the league, but could pose a real threat to our defensive line. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I started my first business shortly after turning 19, and my business partner had just turned 18. We had grand visions of making it big and building a skyscraper to hold all of our employees. Our dreams quickly became grounded (in a good way) when we started planning, but dreaming is what it's all about.

While we never really did make all that much money, it did occupy us for a good time and provided us with an extremely valuable life lesson, and showed both my partner and I what we wanted to do with our lives.

At the time we started our first business, we were by far the first of our friends to do anything entrepreneurial. This has changed, and now a good number of my friends are running their own businesses:

• Josh: Ice Cream Igloo in Saskatoon
• Chris: Flat Out Performance in Saskatoon
• Noel: Cubed Productions in Regina
• Chad, Aaron, Brennan: Cab Clothing in Yorkton

I'm actually quite surprised to see all of them (I think) succeeding in Saskatchewan. The SK government needs to do a lot more to promote youth entrepreneurship. Come up with a better grant system, or make it easier for young people to get loans. Even if they lose some money it will promote to the group of people coming up that they want to keep them there, and are willing to help them. This will at least help keep them in the province when they want to start up a business as a more mature adult when it will have a better chance of succeeding.

By offering someone a chance to fail at a young age, it provides them with experience that will make it less likely for them to fail again when they have got more money at stake as an older person. It will create excitement for the high school and university group about owning their own business and when they remember how friendly the government was to them when they were 17 or 21 or whatever, they may be more likely to stick around later.

On another note, the business that myself and my partner are currently developing would be impossible to execute in Saskatchewan due to the government's monopolistic control of liquor sales. Once we get ourselves set up in Alberta, we are going to try to make an inroad into Saskatchewan but I really don't see it happening. I'll let you guys know more about this venture at a later date.

The World Cup starts on June 9th, and I can't wait. I generally don't follow soccer, but get pretty geared up about it around World Cup time. I was originally planning on heading to Germany for the festivities this year, but the plane tickets proved to be just too outrageous.

I'm cheering for Brazil, but I also hope England and the Suiss do well. Am I the only Canadian going to be watching?