super cycle

Matthew has a new bike. It's yellow. Madison has Matt's old bike, retrofitted with the training wheel option. She can't really pedal yet, and she can't steer, but she seems to dig it.

spin cycle

My recent domination of the laundry situation continues. I hope my string of not damaging any fine washables stays intact, allowing me to continue with my morning load routine.

up a ladder

I took down the Christmas lights yesterday. Clips and all. This means I will have to install fresh clips in the fall. That's ok though, because I wasn't really that pleased with my current setup. Too unreliable.

march sadness

I thought I was getting somewhere in my March Madness pool. Until this past weekend. Apparenlty you can't check out my bracket 'cause you'd need to login to it. All you need to know is that I've dropped to third from a tie for first. I went all chalk with my bracketology except for a couple of hunches. Next year, all chalk, no matter what.

Good thing I only gamble once a year. I don't including the wagering I do with Andy on the golf course, because that's like money in the bank.

We're getting a hot tub...

This one. Soak time will be available by early May. Let the nudity begin!

unrecognizable

Here's a pic of Richard Fortin, a doode that lived next door to me in North Bay. I don't know that I would have recognized him if I bumped into him on the street. He was a good goalie. He had piles of scholarship offers from NCAA schools. I can't remember where he ended up playing. But, according to this, he's working for Labbat's in Tdot now. Maybe he can hook us up with some sort of permakeg for us beside the hot tub? That might be a longshot though, considering I haven't spoken to the doode in 15 years.

The snow is almost all gone...

... so it won't be long until I can tee it up again. Odd that only my lawn dotted with small piles of snow. I think I might be too committed a to shovelling.

serious hops

I ran across this late last week. This doode from Alberta almost jumps out of the gym. Who sez white men can't jump?

fresh blog action

Here I am, typing on the blog, for the first time in more than two weeks. Sincere apologies for my absence.

sappy sentiments: my convoluted angle on the whole bertuzzi thing

As a society, fear that all perspective has been lost. Personally, I seem to have misplaced it somewhere between my subscription to Sports Illustrated and my wide screen TV, tuned to the sporting channel de jour.

Repeatedly and inexplicably, we ascribe a high value to the actions of overpaid athletes while ignoring the injustices levied against defenseless children. (Would someone please think of the children?)

While outraged at the Bertuzzi sucker punch, I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that I would never have learned of the trial Christine Blatchford is currently covering had her column not appeared in the sports section of the online edition of the Globe today. Gulp.

On the surface, I may seem to care more about box scores and save percentages than I do about the child who's dismemberment I cannot begin comprehend. While I hope I'm not that shallow, I fear that I may be. Example: For as far back as my short term memory can recall, my 10 PM television viewing ritual has been Sportscentre, and not The National. In the morning, my first inclination is to turn to the sports page rather than the front page of the newspaper. I listen to sports radio rather than CBC Radio One. ESPN.com is my fave web page and not news.google.com.

Why?

Here is what I think I think: As the father of two children under the age of six, I tend to distract myself from everyday evils that haunt the non-sporting news. I intentionally shelter myself, and the kids, from news like the trial you are covering. I don't really want to think about the horrors that some feel the need to inflict on innocent faces like those that shine at me in my rear-view mirror. Rather than attempting to digest indigestible realities, I force feed myself the pabulum of sport.

I don't know that if this is the right thing to do or not. I like to think that it is. I keep telling myself that the ubiquitous presence media outlets only make us feel like there are more atrocities being committed than there were 20 years ago. Here are some stats that back this up.

Just beneath the tint of my rose colored glasses I know that it's my children who I am here to protect and nurture, and that it is their well being that matters most; mattering far more than the success of the home side, or the act of a man who while highly skilled in the intricacies of the left wing lock, offers little else that truly matters.

Todd Bertuzzi's actions, however grievous, are a sole responsibility of the NHL and their ability, or lack thereof, to deal with.

//do-gooder miss america pagent contestant mode on//

As a society we should take time to better understand our priorities. Personally, each of us should attempt to make some changes - not in an effort to prevent future Bertuzzi-like acts on the ice, but in an effort to understand that there really are more important things in life than ball and stick games. I just have to a look in my backseat.

//do-gooder miss america pagent contestant mode off//

That's some serious sap. Thank you for reading.

belinda revisited

You might recall my take on Belinda Stronach throwing her chapeau into the Conservative party leadership ring. Her website made her look like a bit of a hotsie totsie. But if I keep seeing snaps like this, I might have to reconsider my entire political stance.

Eek!

winner wins "prestige"

q: Hey Sabu, can you make a bullshot?
a: Can you make a shoe smell?

The first one to email me the question poser, and answer giver, and name the fine film from which this dialogue originates, wins something that while of little monetary value, is certainly something coveted by all - prestige.

freaky movie freaks

Last night, on one of the movie channels, I watched Cinemania, a documentary about people who seem to live only to go to the movies. Each of them can talk you to death about the influence of Bergman or why Citizen Kane is overrated, but they can't necessarily tell you what day, month, or year it is.

Now, I have a home theatre. Quite a nice one. I like movies. I know a few people who love movies. I know one who has an astonishingly extensive collection that dates back to the 30s. But he's not a nutter. I can conclusively say that I've never seem people as obsessive as this. Nope, not even golfers.

These folks are just plain creepy. Intelligent on some level, but damn creepy. None of them seem to bathe, work, or contibute to society as a whole beyond their obession for attending a film of choice - every day. Without exception. I think they were all on some sort of social assistance. Typically, they live in seedy one room apartments in NYC that are stacked with every form of movie junk that you can possibly think of. One woman was especially proud of her Burger King Jurassic Park plastic cup collection. Well done.

If I every get this freaky about anything, kill me.

Here's the synopsis, from IMDB.

Here's the official site.

Not that any one of these nut jobs knows that the Internet exists.

Cinemania is one of those things you start watching, and then an hour later, you're still watching, and figure that you might as well stick it out until then end.

Damn freaks made me miss Forever Eden. Now that would have been a constructive use of my time.

eight degrees centigrade

I've just checked the temperature.

According to The Weather Network it's 8 degrees centigrade. According to Environment Canada it's 7 degrees centigrade.

I was actually hoping for a larger discrepancy between these two sites, as more often than not, one seems to take readings from Ottawa proper, and Bizzaro Ottawa.

Maybe they reconfigured their emitter array or something.