As you may have noticed, the site was down again because of spammers relentlessly hammering at my comments script. Until I can find a way around this comments will be down.
Don't expect much in the form of blogging from me until I can get this sorted out, as this whole thing is causing me a great deal of anger with blogging.
We've finally been able to make it past the first round of the playoffs. And this time Paul McCallum is working to screw up the other team, so that's one less thing for us to worry about.
Danny B. was visibly worried in the first half, whether this had to do with his job or the game at hand I'm not too sure. He was definitely jubilant when the game was decided at 30 - 21 for the good guys. I'm pretty sure he's done regardless of the outcome of the season. He will probably step down before Tillman is given the chance to let him go.
When the score was 21 - 5 late in the second quarter I was relatively certain that the Riders were about to drop the ball in a large way. The excitement that followed the fourth quarter touchdown by Kenton Keith was nothing less than to be expected. I just wish I could be in Vancouver on Sunday to watch the Lions go down in flames like the Stamps did.
It's kind of funny to be in Calgary right now. I can't tell whether the majority are upset or ecstatic. Even the local news, whether it be CBC, CTV or Global, still fancy-footed around the issue. Oh well, it's good to see that half the city is cheering for the good guys.
Go Riders!
I've come up with a new way to combat the ridiculous load on my server due to spammers. So once again comments are open. If my website gets redirected to http://suspended.page/ then you know that I have been shut down because some bastard has found a way around my new methods. I really wish spammers would die a very slow, unhealthy and painful death. Soon.
Anyway, I look forward to hearing from you folks again!
I've been in Yorkton for the past week, following the sudden passing of my Grandfather last Wednesday. These things never get any easier. I was asked to give the eulogy, as well as be the urn bearer and I did both.
This funeral was especially tough. I had lived with my grandfather for a year - when I was about 17 - and we had grown pretty close.
I'm not going to drone on and on, but RIP GG 35-06.
Someone nominated me for Best Personal Blog at the 2006 Canadian Blog Awards, which is pretty neat. You can vote daily and I appreciate every vote I get. The banner at the top of the site will be up for the remainder of the voting period.
Good luck to all the candidates.
After contemplating college for a couple of years, I will finally be starting classes at Mount Royal College, here in Calgary, in January. I'm pretty excited to finally be getting myself headed toward a higher education. Unfortunately, the U of C doesn't accept winter starts (that I can find anyway), so I've decided to take my first semester simply in General Arts & Sciences at MRC.
Currently, my chosen area of study next year will be at (most likely) the U of C, majoring in Civil Engineering while minoring in Transportation Engineering. Who knows though, as my mind has changed a few times recently, and I'm still considering a move to Vancouver to go to UBC. So we'll see what happens following this first semester.
I have yet to pick my classes, but I've been looking. I have to talk to an advisor and find out what classes will be transferable before I make any decisions and pay my tuition and start buying text books.
I will try my best to keep you posted on my new-found college life.
A few friends and myself sat around the living room having a discussion about changing names and naming babies and stuff. It has left us with a few unanswered questions that I will pose to you:
That's pretty much where we left the discussion. Feel free to weigh in.
Paul McCallum went 6 for 6, tying a CFL record for most made field goals in a Grey Cup, on route to a Lions a 25 - 12 win in the 94th Grey Cup. It's too bad he couldn't even hit a 18 yard chip shot for the green & white. He was actually voted the CBC Warrior of the Game. Bah!
All in all, I'm a little relieved that the Lions were able to outplay the Alouettes and take home the Cup. I don't know how well I would've have taken it if the team that blew us out in the Western Final was upset by a lowly team from the East.
I still can't believe that the Lions broke the top off the Grey Cup. They better fix it in time to give it to us next year. Because... there's always next year.
I was a little discouraged earlier this month following a couple of days of downtime caused by some spammers, and I've noticed myself falling deeper and deeper into a state of "blog burnout" since. It seems that I can't find a way to put together a decent article. Or anything that brings me any decent traffic. Watching my traffic details lately hasn't been overly inspiring either.
I don't know whether it's the fact that I have got no real theme to my blog that is causing me some distress, or what it is really. All I know is that I need to fix it. Fast.
During my best month, May 2006 I was posting at least once a day. But when I go back and look I have no idea where all of the ideas for those posts came from and am a little upset about it.
I was reading another post about blogging burnout, that relates being a blogger to being a pastor and found it rather intriguing although it didn't really offer all that much insight into my current issue.
Any of you facing this situation? Or have faced this situation? What, if anything, did you do to overcome?
Possibly Related Further Reading:
Here's a piece of Canadian political corruption with a twist. Senior AADAC employee, Lloyd Carr got busted for thieving $634,250 from company coffers via fraudulent contracts since 2004.
The best part of the whole thing that this addictions commission employee allegedly spent at least $150,000 of his loot on his gambling problem. Not to mention $91,000 as a downpayment on a house and $60,000 for a new car. On top of the irony already at work, this wunderkind of a criminal got the job by hiding a criminal record and lying about his credentials and education background.
Criminal and civil suits are no doubt pending. I doubt too much will really happen, though we'll have to wait and find out.
Ryan (my roommate) and I were discussing the game Wolfenstein 3D and how we still happen to remember codes for it. This led to a couple of MSN conversations about old video games and the NES, notably games like Excite Bike, Rad Racer, Casino Games, Duck Hunt, World Class Track Meet and Blades of Steel.
At the mention of World Class Track Meet we begun talking about the marvelous accessories that made the NES what it was. Things like the Power Pad, Power Glove and NES Zapper.
So now I'm on the hunt for a good condition NES. I'm sure I can find one at any local used game shop, but finding the games and accessories mentioned will be a little bit more difficult. Any of you folks have anything kicking around?
Back on May 9 I posted a small comparison of Calgary and Saskatoon. It's been nearly seven months since then, bringing the total amount of time I've spent here to just a tad under nine months.
Traffic
I'm pretty sure this is one area that will always go to Saskatoon. Traffic in Calgary is simply awful. Deerfoot is pretty much a parking lot from 7:00 am - 9:00 am and 4:00 pm - 6:30 pm. 16th Ave (the #1 Highway) is right by my house and has been under construction since I moved here. It's bumper-to-bumper all day long and late into the evening - at best.
Not only are the roads more heavily congested, but the drivers are just plain stupid. I know growing up in Saskatchewan that we are conditioned to think that Sask. people are the worst drivers. Wrong. The slowest maybe, but the worst no. I still can't believe how many accidents happen here on a daily basis. Leaving my house a couple of weeks ago, we were in my friends car and got barely two blocks away before someone decided to pull a U-turn in the street without looking. We t-boned him at 50.
Entertainment
This category leans strongly in favor of Calgary. There is simply more to do. There is the obvious addition of professional sporting teams that you can take in. There are many more movie theatres that offer a more diverse amount of films for your viewing pleasure. Calgary is home to a good number of casinos. Most of them offer decent poker rooms or daily tournaments. I could go on for a few paragraphs, but what's the point? Calgary trumps in this category.
Shopping
Last time I made an entry like this a few people brought up IKEA as something Calgary has over Saskatoon. While it is great to actually have an IKEA to go to, it's so far out of the way that I never go. I don't really know anyone who shops there regularly. Don't get me wrong, when I want new furniture, I'm heading to IKEA. But I just don't go often enough that it really makes a difference.
The Chinook Centre has everything I could ever want in a mall, but it's just so far from my house, and it is always jam-packed with people. The Market Mall on Shaganappi is decently close and actually provides for a decent shopping experiences. Plus the design of the Moxie's restaurant in the mall is outstanding.
Stephen Avenue and the Calgary Eaton Centre are just plain sweet.
The independent shops are good. Being so close to Kensington affords me pretty decent access to a number of eclectic to some very interesting stores and allows me to spend some time away from the mall when I'm out to get something.
Family and Friends
I now have a cousin in Sylvan Lake to add to the uncle and two cousins I already have in Calgary. I also have an uncle and aunt in Brooks. Aside from them though, everyone is in Saskatchewan. That includes both of my parents, my siblings, all of my grandparents and other important family members. Also, most of my very good friends are still in Saskatchewan, although some have also moved on to bigger and better things in various parts of the world.
Sports
The worst part about being in Calgary has got o be being eight or nine hours away from Taylor Field. Rider's home games are quite simply the best sporting event evar! That, and the Stamps just suck.
That being said, Calgary does offer the Flames and although I don't get to go to many live games, being in a city that cares so much about it's team is pretty exciting.
That's about all I really want to get in to for now. Maybe I'll revisit this some time in the future. Who knows?
For two days in a row the temperature in Calgary has been -41 (with the wind chill factored in). Yesterday, the air temperature was a record at -29.5. The coldest temperature ever recorded on November 28 in Calgary.
I see a number of problems with this. First, one of the reasons I left Saskatoon was to escape the notoriously cold winters. Second, it's just way too damned cold. Today is supposed to be -12, which is more than livable compared to the crap from the last two days.
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