Monday, February 27, 2012

Sunday Mornings

We have a bit of a tradition around here on Sunday mornings.  We both sleep in.  Sleeping in means something different for both of us though.  If I can make it until 8:00 I feel pretty good about it.  Jen is looking for a wake up of 9:00 or later.  While my wife sleeps  more in, I usually get to watch Sportscentre and then check my email or Google Reader. 



When I get hungry enough I go upstairs and loose my furry assistants on Jen to help wake her up.  While she is slowly climbing out of sleep, I go about making pancakes.  Jen has a special kind of love for chocolate chip pancakes.  I do my best to oblige her on Sundays.

By the time the first batch of pancakes is ready to eat, Jen has usually roused herself and we pig out on golden dollars of doughy goodness.

It's hard for a day to go anywhere but uphill after pancakes. 

Sunday, February 26, 2012

A New Experience


Last week we  managed to scratch another event off of our "Things To Do List".  We have been telling ourselves that we should go and watch the local Junior B team.  The playoffs had started earlier in the week and the Huskies were playing the Sexsmith Vipers.  We decided to go see game 3 of the series on Saturday night. 

In this age of the cashless society, I only brought $20 in cash.  That was a mistake.  Admission was a staggering $9 per person.  It cost us almost all of our cash just to get in.  We had left without eating at home, so we were very lucky that the concession stand had an debit machine.  Unfortunately, we didn't have enough money left for some of the "ephemera" that Jen likes to collect for her scrapbooking.

I also got to play with my camera at a different kind of venue.  However, I felt shame because I couldn't remember what any of the buttons were for, so it stayed on Auto for another day.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Play Time

I was playing with my new toy the other day.  I still don't spend as much time as I should figuring out the infernal machine, but one of these days I'll get the itch to learn about it.  I'm waiting on a photography book from the library and maybe that will inspire me.  If anyone has some good blogs that will help me figure this all out, I'd love to hear about them.

Ah, Newcastle.  My favourite beer.

Beer caps from the Super Bowl.

My water cooler can look cool.

Jen multitasking.

A little dude.  I need to get better at photographing these guys.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Yes Christopher, There is Such a Thing as Karma


I had a student that has quite frankly, been a turd the past couple of weeks.  He has been lying, cheating and being mean to his classmates.  It's been hard to be nice to him lately.  This past Thursday, he was in fine form indeed.  I was getting frustrated.  Then after lunch we went to gym and the universe gave me a wink and a smile.  First, we were doing a set of knee jumps, which requires the students to jump high in the air and bring their knees to their chests.  All of the shaking must have wiggled one of the big gymnastics mats and it fell....right on my little sweetheart...while he was in mid-air.  He was not hurt, but boy was it funny.  Then a little later on, we were playing dodge ball.  One of the teams had just lost its' third game in a row and one of the bigger boys got a bit frustrated and chucked the ball.  Unfortunately, the ball hit my little angel square in the face.  While I had to have a serious chat with the first boy about being a good loser and sportsmanship, etc., I still had a chuckle and a smile on the inside.

The moral of the story is that when you are being a prick, just remember that the universe will square up with you before it's all done.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Three Bottles of Scotch

An old Scotsman pisses in a bottle and they sell it.

As many of you know I play old timers hockey.  Old timers are anyone over 35.  Many of us are well over 35, most way more than me.  Our team played in a tournament in town this weekend.  We had three games in three days.  That's a lot to ask of an aging body.

I have played for my current team for just over four years.  In that time we have been in many tournaments in several cities.  We have, for the most part, failed spectacularly.  Oh, we have the odd game that we are close in or may even squeek out a win here and there.  So, my expectations were more for fun than success.  Well, low and behold we won all three of our games and came in first place in our division.  I haven't won anything in hockey since before I was a teenager.  I am still riding the high.  My body however is beginning to feel every one of my 41 years.

Anyway, the way we won the tournament is what is amazing.  This brings me to the scotch.  A currently non-playing member of our team brought a bottle of scotch to the game on Friday night.  Pope is famous for his bottles of scotch.  In my first year on the team he bullied me into taking a drink of the vile liquid before and after every game.  The drink is so foul, I began faking my drinks.  I would put the bottle to my lips and tip it back while keeping my mouth closed.  Damned if the few dribbles of that wretched potion left on my lips still didn't make me want to vomit.  But I digress.  Damned if the old farts (myself excepted) didn't finish off the bottle BEFORE the game even started.  We went on to win 10-1.  The next day, it was the same deal, except the scotch lasted until the intermission between the two periods.  Again, another big win.  Today we played at 8:30 in the morning.  Yes, the AM.  More scotch was passed around and the bottle was again gone during the scrape.  Those madmen were drinking pond water before most people were even awake.  But we won.  This one was a close game, but we won.

Long story short, don't think just because it's old timers that the fools in the dressing room have learned anything over the years.

PS. The scotch was Glenfiddich as pictured above.  And I'm sorry for offending anyone who claims to like scotch, but you must be a damned dirty liar to make such a claim.

Friday, February 10, 2012

My new toy

Well, I finally went and spent the last big chunk of my second job money.  Back when I was traveling a lot, I always wanted a better camera to better capture the amazing places I was seeing.  My point a shoot did a passable job, but I knew it could be better.  So, after purchasing my new TV (which I love), I went shopping for a new camera. 

The shopping process was longer than I had expected.  It involved my local store not  getting back to me with a price and a web store that couldn't be bothered to get back to me with a shipping charge.  You would think that more stores would want my money, but I guess they are richer than I am.  So, after wasting my time with those fools, I just went online and did some serious price comparison.  I found what I was looking for at a reasonable price and clicked "buy".

Well the camera came in the mail the other day.  I had decided on the Nikon D5100.  I wanted a good camera, but I don't need professional quality.  I want to learn how to use it properly, but photography will never be my primary hobby or even a passion of any sort.  As it stands, the display is full of information that I am only passingly familiar.  There is much learning to do, but I'll be honest, I'm not in a huge rush to do it.  I think the auto function will work well for a little while.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Conversations with a six year old

I thought it had been a while since you had tasted the wisdom of the primary set, so I'm giving you another dose.  Yesterday, a young lady in my class came to me after lunch recess and told me that her tongue really hurt and she stuck it out to show me.  It was all red and chewed up on the end of it.  I asked her if she had bitten it while playing.  She told me no, but offered no further details.  Of course, I had to ask.  She told me that she had licked the big grey pole out front.  I asked if she meant the fence post and she said, "No, the one with the flag on it."  Yep, she had licked the flag pole in February.  You  know that's a recipe for disaster.  I asked her if it had frozen on there and she told me "No.  It just wouldn't come off."

After finding out the cause of the tongue trauma, I began to tell her not to lick things when it was cold outside and then stopped myself.  I started again and told her not to lick things outside EVER.  Things are dirty outside.  I told her that it would be like picking up a handful of dirt and putting it in her mouth.  I asked her if she would eat dirt and she said no, that only poor people eat dirt.  I disagreed, but she was adamant that poor people eat dirt.

So, there you go.  You learn something new everyday.