Writing for The Curling News

It's not often I get excited for the mail to be delivered. But this week, I got the November issue of The Curling News.

"Big deal", you might say. "Sure, it's the world's leading curling news source and a world-class publication, but you've been a subscriber for years. Why would this issue be so different?"

Because, dear reader, this is my debut as an actual published writer. It's right there, on Page 8 (which, I might add, is the traditional page of honour in newspapers).

In it, I started writing about the new events in the Grand Slam and Skins Game this year, but it quickly turned into me complaining about cable TV.  So, I tweaked my approach and decided to complain more about cable TV and try to push the idea of web streaming.  I didn't make this point in the article, but there's a younger generation growing up that have never and will never have a cable or satellite subscription.  Curling already has an age image issue, and being on the leading edge of "television" production will do much to help.  Anyway, all in all I don't think I embarrassed myself.

To read the article, you gotta read The Curling News. Subscribe now and I'm pretty sure you'll get the November issue in the mail.  But as a subscriber, you'll also get access to the digital edition, so you definitely won't be missing out.  You can even subscribe from anywhere in the world!

I'm supposed to write two more columns this year, so if I didn't completely mess it up, look for more to come!

I'm Ready To Administer Justice in Australia

The saga of my sprained ankle hasn't improved much.  I've been going to physiotherapy for the past 2 weeks, but my progress has been slow.  So with the recommendation of my therapist, I now have fancy new footwear.

If I don't look down, I can imagine myself looking like this when walking around:

So much rest is prescribed for my recovery.  Which I promptly threw out the window tonight by deciding it would be ok to try a nice and easy bike ride.  The first push of the pedal showed me the error of my ways and probably set back the healing process by at least a week... or at least that's what the "pop" I felt tells me.

This will not be the Summer of Matt.

Back To The Couch

Here's a riddle: What goes "pop" and shouldn't feel like that?

Answer: My Achilles tendon!

Last night, not even halfway into my first Ultimate Frisbee game of the year (and of ever, for that matter), while starting to run, I hear a loud (to me) pop and a feeling like something hitting me in the back of my foot/leg. I look back, but nothing's there. What is there is a growing pain and an inability to walk. I had to be helped off the field, got it wrapped up and iced and lay there trying not to be too uncomfortable. I went into the walk-in clinic (or should I say hobble-in clinic) today and luckily it doesn't look like my tendon is actually separated. Just a nasty sprain. Anti-inflammatories and ice packs for all!

I had even gotten back into doing 5k a few times a week, but that's on hold for now.

Moral of the story: Stuff can happen when you get off the couch.

The Ultimate Salad

April Fools' Day

April Fools' Day used to be kind of an Internet Christmas.  All sorts of funny and creative things went on that day.  Now, it seems to be more of an obligatory chore to the sites that choose to do something.

But I say that any day that has the power to give us the first new Homestar Runner cartoon in over three years is all right by me.  Long live April Fools' Day!

Disney Spam

Disney craftily gets around unsubscribe requests for their email marketing spam.  Last year, I bought a movie that had a digital download copy included. I just signed up and got my download link. As expected, I got on the "Disney Movies" email list, but that was easily fixed by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email. It took me to a page that said it would take 10 days to remove my address... which is strange because it's just a digital database... but whatever, I figured it was done with.

Then a month later I got an email from "Disney Interactive Studios". Obviously, they're passing my email address in between the different Disney divisions now. Unsubscribe.

"Disney Living". Unsubscribe.
"Disney Store". Unsubscribe.
"Disney Destinations". Unsubscribe.
"Disney Digital Books". Unsubscribe.
"Disney Baby". Unsubscribe.
"Disney Store" (again). Unsubscribe.
"Disney Destinations" (again). Unsubscribe.
"Walt Disney Records". Unsubscribe.
"Oscar.com" (via ABC Entertainment). Unsubscribe.
"Disney Vacation Club". Unsubscribe.

So, either they're creating a new company division every time they want to send me an email, or they're just passing along my unsubscribed email address hoping I tire of this endless game of whack-a-mole.  Since I had only unsubscribed from the specific Disney division other than the one sending the email now, not Disney as a whole, they're free to bother me again.

Never have I seen a company as relentless as Disney to fill my inbox.

The Olympics Are A Time For Statistics

Early on in the 2014 Winter Olympics, many of Canada's medals had been won by athletes from Quebec in Freestyle Skiing and Short Track.  Six of the first nine medals, in fact. It prompted some journalist from the Globe and Mail to wonder if we should start seeing Quebec flags being flown by the fans instead of Canadian flags. His ridiculous and troll-bait opinions aside, it gave me a great idea to have a little fun with the medal stats.

I took each medal winner and tallied their home province (as listed by olympic.ca). For team events, only one medal counted in the tally, so I split the medal among the teammates (i.e. for the women's bobsleigh, half the medal went to Alberta and half to PEI).  In the end, Quebec had the most medals, but it wasn't a runaway.  Here are the standings:

Province	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Quebec	3.45	3.75	2.00	9.20
Ontario	3.12	2.78	0.00	5.90
British Columbia	1.20	2.36	1.00	4.56
Alberta	0.64	1.11	1.00	2.75
Saskatchewan	0.17	0.00	1.00	1.17
Manitoba	0.89	0.00	0.00	0.89
Prince Edward Island	0.50	0.00	0.00	0.50
Nova Scotia	0.04	0.00	0.00	0.04
Total	10	10	5	25

No medals from NB, NL, NT, NU or YK.

What does it all mean? Not much, really. Some of it is a function of population, some of it is location of training facilities, some by how teams are chosen, and some is luck. But I think it's an interesting chance to crunch some numbers.  Here's another way to look on it:

12 medals were in men's sports, 11 in ladies, and 2 from mixed competitions.

What about the sports themselves?  Some events have more medals to give out than others, but whatever:

• 9 - Freestyle Skiing
• 3 - Figure Skating and Short Track
• 2 - Curling, Hockey, Snowboard, and Speed Skating
• 1 - Alpine Skiing and Bobsleigh

Great Success!

The Best Thing About The Olympics Being On CBC Again

The best thing about the Olympics being done by the CBC again (and there are a few), is that we don't have to hear CTV's "I Believe" theme.  CBC's Olympic theme is much more epic and doesn't have a drab pop song written over top of it.

Photos From Christmas Cruisetacular '13

Christmas Cruise 2013 on the Noordam, a set on Flickr.