Vancouver @ Edmonton

So, I don't watch hockey very much. I used to. I used to play for many years... But I find watching sports on TV rather boring. Well, for the last three years (at least), I've told myself that I'd try to watch the Canucks games on TV, see if I could follow them without losing interest, and become somewhat of a hockey fan. It never happens. Two or three games in I realize that sports on TV is a waste of time and I give up. Well, tonight was my first taste of post-lockout hockey and I have to say -- I wasn't sure if I was watching Junior 'A' hockey or the professionals of the NHL. I know it's been a while since these guys have played, but geez! Sloppy is all I can say. Anyway, the only thing that really impressed me about the game was Raffi Torres (is that right?). I know he's playing for Edmonton, but man can that guy play!

Being a total non-fan of the game, I hadn't heard of the new rules until tonight. I like them. The two line pass was stupid and I'm finding the harshness of the Ref's to be quite refreshing. There's nothing like special teams having to work their ass off all game. It makes for much better hockey, I think, when there's pretty much someone in the penalty box all the time.

Anyway, Canucks lost. Big surprise. Shootout at the end was a good idea too. Who wants to be tied? It's a game, there should be a winner! We'll see how long my fandom lasts.

Picasa

Thought I might give Google's Picasa a try. "Blog This" seems to be a fairly useless button. Maybe it'll work out better if I do more than one picture at a time. Anyway... Here's a picture Evan took of Karen and Lynn a couple of weeks ago. 

Dawn and Drew

Well, I've now totally given up on the Dawn and Drew podcast. At first, two months ago or whatever, it was fairly good, but after listening a couple times a week I realized that it was also boring (but not in the same way as ND).

First thing: Listening to someone constantly ask for money and votes from their listeners gets annoying after a while. I realize they are trying to make a living with podcasting now, but come on! We need a new iPod, send us money. We need a Honda Element, send us money (which, I believe, they actually got!). We're not #1 on podcastalley.com, vote for us... whine, whine, whine. Shut up already.

Second: If I wanted to listen to a female constantly berate and annoy her companion, I'd actually open my ears and listen to what my wife was saying to me all day long. The whole show, "Drew, that's stupid, stop talking," "Drew, your bombing, shut up," "Drew, stop cutting me off, shut up." He has to cut you off because your verbal diarrhea is out of control!

If there was a Drew and Nobody Show I think I would probably listen. Drew seems to be a fairly easy going guy, but the problem is is that he's kind of quiet so the show wouldn't be very interesting.


I've knocked down the list of podcasts I am listening to by quite a few. I found that with delegation and phone calls I wasn't able to get through them all at work each day. Here's a list.

Diggnation - A weekly podcast on tech with two witty and interesting hosts.
Distorted View - Tim Henson is one sick and twisted guy.
Keith and the Girl - Absolutely my favourite (along with DV). Interesting, controversial, etc...
Slashdot Review - A daily show on posts (tech) at slashdot.org.
The Twisted Pickle - Corby takes an interesting look at [married]life in Middle America.
This Week in Tech - A roundtable talk once a week on everything Tech
Z100 Phone Taps - Absolutely funny. Only added it two days ago, but it's funny. Z100 is a radio station in New York. Give it a listen.

ND revisited

So, Heather, I gave it one more try again today. I watched Napoleon Dynamite again. I figured that maybe with all these people telling me how hilarious it is, how it was one of their favourite movies, and how I was just not getting it, I better give it one more try. Now, I will say that whatever style of cinematography that is, it is different and stylistically it is refreshing from the normal glamourized Hollywood films we see. But... I don't get it. It wasn't funny. It was boring. I mean, I chuckled once when the old guy shot the cow in front of the schoolbus, but other than that... Boring. Nothing happens in the show. If I really wanted to watch 2 hours of nothing I'd have someone follow me around with a camera for a day, edit it a little, and watch it over and over and over and over and... You get the point. So, I'm going to just have to live with the fact that I don't get movies like ND or Lost in Translation. Ah well, I'll live.

Teachers

So here I sit, on a Friday. The teachers have decided to walk out of the classrooms because they have been working without a contract since sometime last year. Now, I'm all for action against the government when they're not listening, but this is just stupid. I'm one person, and I'm losing $150 dollars for every day that they decide they shouldn't work. If I decide to walk out of my job because my boss doesn't pay me enough (which he doesn't), I'd be fired. I get unions, I've been in them, but there has to be a different approach to job action that isn't such an inconvenience to the students and their parents. The government has tabled some legislation to force the teachers back to work, and that's fine, but maybe they should think about solving the problems instead of forcing the teachers to live with the contract they signed 3 or 4 years ago. I don't know exactly how much more money the teachers want (and it's ALWAYS about money), but the teachers expecting a raise every 4 years isn't an outrage. If I worked my butt off for a few years, with inflation being what it is, cost of living, etc... I'd expect a bit more money too. I can see how the Liberals view this situation. I guess if it were the NDP in power, being more left than the liberals, they'd just throw money at the situation and dig the province a little further into the debt hole we're now in. Absolutely stupid. We should take a better look at Alberta and we could learn a lot about fiscal responsibility. Pay off your debts, get rid of the interest on the billions you owe, and there will be a lot of money every year for things such as health care, education, and tax breaks. BC, Alberta, and Quebec (if I remember correctly from my Poli Sci courses, it could have been Ontario instead of Quebec, either way, it surprised me) are the only provinces in Canada to make money each year. That money is taken and split up between the provinces. Now, I'm all for equalization payments. I don't expect people in the Eastern provinces to live in poverty while we reap the rewards of having such great natural resources, but, like the paper I wrote a few years ago showed, if Western Canada separated and became it's own country we would have absolutely no debt and life without Ottawa would be a whole lot simpler.

Sorry, got all pissed about something that didn't really relate. I'm home, losing money, and so are countless other parents. Fix the problem, Gov't, or I won't be able to pay my bills this month.