The Three Words... Of Doom

So, according to some, I use three words too much.

1. Totally
2. Seriously
3. Absolutely

Look at that, they all end with "ly". I wonder what that means. Anyway, I'm not really that bad, am I?

Hey Matt, Do You Like Curling Or Something?

Last night I took a trip down the 401 to London to see the Scott Tournament of Hearts at the John Labatt Centre. I was eager to make it out to at least one draw this week, as I quite enjoyed watching The Scott three years ago when it was in Kitchener. Jessica came with me and we were treated to four games at once, which is a challenge to keep track of. The games were Alberta vs Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia vs PEI, BC vs the Territories, and New Brunswick vs Ontario. The first two matches I mentioned turned out to be blowouts and were over after 8 (out of ten) ends. In fact, PEI wasn't able to even score a point until the eigth end, losing 6-1. The TV game last night was BC vs the Territories. It was a decent game, going the full 10 ends. However, it wasn't a cliffhanger, with BC leading by 3 points going into the last end. The other match turned out to be quite the thriller, as Ontario was trailing by 2 in the last end, without the hammer, where they were able to steal 2 to send it into an extra end. The extra end finished up with two amazing shots, the first by Ontario to put their rock on the button behind lots of cover with a triple raise. The last rock of the game was a great angle raise takeout by New Brunswick to score the point and win the match. The official score says NB scored three in the extra end, which is true, but it was much closer than that suggested.

The only real disappointment of the night was when I realized halfway to London, that I forgot my camera. It's quite interesting to see a hockey arena converted to four sheets of curling ice. Oh well, next time I suppose.

Must Be Watching Too Much Olympic Curling

Here's the latest from the curling rink...

Last week we lost our first game of the third round. I didn't post about it... 'nuff said.

However, this week is post-worthy. The scoreboard looked like it belonged professional game. The other team started the game with the hammer, and for the first six ends we alternated scoring single points. They scored one, we scored one, they scored one, we scored one, they scored one, and then we scored one. At the end of six ends we were tied 3-3 and they had the hammer. We knew if we were going to have a chance at winning this one, we'd have to break the cycle. So in the seventh, we were able to steal a point to lead 4-3 with one end to go. The likelyhood of a blank end was low, so we would have to steal again to come out with a win... which we did. Final score 5-3.

Most of the games in our leagues have big scoring ends quite frequently. This game reminded me of the games I've been watching on TV this past week and a half (in low-definition, for those wondering). However both teams were playing very well last night, which is a rarity indeed.

The Canadian men are playing for gold right now. They're down 2-0 after one end. Hopefully they can pull it out.

The Mythical U of W Tunnels

So, I haven't had anything to post about recently... at least anything that wouldn't make me really really bitter, so here's a non-current event post that I've been thinking of posting for a while.

I recently found a website that was written by someone that was able to get into the underground tunnels that connect all the buildings at the University of Waterloo. Now, the existence of the tunnels was a kind of myth. Well, not all the tunnels (for example, one can get from the Math & Computer building through the Davis Centre into Engineering Buildings without having to go outside), but there were no usable tunnels to the Student Life Centre or the Villages. Legend had it that there used to be tunnels but they were sealed off years ago because of crimes that were committed during late hours, etc, etc. Well, thanks to the website, I now know what was actally there were service tunnels that carried utilities and the like.

I still wish I could have explored them while I was there. Things like this really interest me. I find things that are built for people to use, but for some reason aren't used anymore, like the tunnels. Ghost towns are another good example of what I'm talking about. I even scoped out old Boblo Island, an amusement park that I went to when I was a kid, when I was doing some traffic work down in Amherstburg, but just the old parking lot and dock. Apparently Boblo is now luxury homes and the only thing that still exists is the tower from the observation "ride". One of the best example is the Rifle Range in the basement of SCITS, my old highschool. I always regret never getting into the Rifle Range at SCITS. It was such a cool old building; there were lots of these places there.

One of these days I'm going to do some exploring.

Curling... Apparently It's Not For Dinner

So, the schedule for the third round of the curling season went up on the KW Granite Club website. It seems that, contrary to my last curling post, we didn't get the bump up the the 'A' Division. Apparently, I have no idea how the rules work. Also, I notice on the new schedule, that there are three weeks slotted in there for playoffs. So, it would seem that more than the top 2 teams in each division make the playoffs. Well, I'm not terribly disappointed with sticking around in 'B' Division... I'm getting to know some of the guys we play against, and I know we can compete against them. And while it's a rec league, and not about winning... winning makes it just that bit more fun.

My Weeks Would Start Out Fine If It Weren't For Sunday Nights

So, here I am yet again, sleepless on Sunday night. It happens every week. I always have grand ambitions to get some good sleep and then be able to wake up early for work the next day, therefore able to stop a bit earlier and therefore have more time. However, those plans are always squashed before they even get started. It's a quarter after two Monday morning, and I'm not the least bit tired. Sure, I layed wide awake in bed for a while, but that just seems to make it worse. I will now spend the rest of the week trying to get back the lost sleep because of tonight, which in turn will cause me to stay in bed for every possible moment in the mornings. This will be followed by next weekend, where I can sleep as much as I want, but the excessive sleeping in will cause me to be wide awake come next Sunday night. And the cycle continues...

Curling... It's What's For Dinner

This week was the last week of the second season (of three) of Thursday Night Curling. Our team found itself in an interesting position. If we won, we most likely would get bumped up to the 'A' Division... If we lost, we got to stay in the easier 'B' Divison. "Well that's easy," you say. "You go for the win and move up the ladder!" Not so fast there, Buckeroo. You see, at the end of the season there are two playoff games... The top two teams in each division play for their respective championship. So, if we were in the 'A' Division, we'd have virtually no shot of making the playoff. However, if we were still in the 'B' Division, we'd have an excellent shot at making the playoff. So, what do we do now, Smart Guy? "Well, you throw the game, of course. Go for the half-glory of being in the 'B' final instead of finishing in elitist obscurity." No! We go for the win! You ALWAYS GO FOR THE WIN!

And so we won. It was another funny game in which we went up by 5 points then gave back two in the second-last end, then barely survived the other team stealing 3. But it doesn't matter how we won... we won. So, now it looks like we're probably up to the 'A' Division. I say probably because there's still the outside shot that I still have no idea how the league rules work. I'll find out for sure next week, and let all of you, my passionatly rabid fans, know the word on the street.

Yippie Ya Ya, Yippie Yippie Ya

Well, last night I went to see this year's installment of the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival at the Princess Cinema (click here for my post from last year). I have to say I was disappointed with this years commercials as compared to years past. But none the less, there were a few which were chuckle worthy. The one I remembered the most was a series of four commercials done for German Home Improvement Store, Hornbach. I found them on the web, and here they are (I think they're best viewed in order, and with a highspeed connection):
- Mosquito Killer
- Paving Stones
- Power Drill
- Paint

What Have I Done? Why, I Got Myself A New Friend

Meet Sam. Sam's my new friend and living in my apartment. Sam measures 50" diagonally and came with a 6 month free rental of a High-Definition PVR. I got Sam just in time to see Jack Bauer in HD goodness tonight.

Sorry to those of you who thought I actually got a time machine... I'm still working on that. And for those who couldn't guess... Sam is short for Samsung.

Comeback City: Part 2... AND 3

Thursday night curling update... Last night we played the top team in our group. After the last two weeks of terrible play, we weren't expecting much, and the game started out proving that. We went down 3-0 after the first two ends. We were able to get one point with the hammer in the third end, but then we put it together and stole points in the next 4 ends to go up 7-3 after 7 ends. We figured that the other team would conceed the game at that point, but they wanted to play the last end. No problem, we thought... we just got to stop them from scoring four points or more.

Yeah, it didn't quite happen that way. Mucking up the ice by not taking anything out, we allowed them to put four rocks in the four-foot, thusly tieing the game. It was heartbreaking, but there's only so much a second can do.

However, not all is lost, as we go into the last game of this part of the season with a 2-2-1 record. If we win, we should be promoted to Group A for the last bit of the season. So, we may throw the game to stay in Group B. We'll see.

Oh yes, on another note... Today is the day.