He Can Talk!

So, I was away this weekend, so I wasn't able to use my XBox 360 for a couple days. This apparently made it very sad, as it explains on it's blog.

Hot Gaming Action

So, here's an unexpected twist to my purchase of an XBox 360... Between it and my Plasma TV, they both pump out enough heat that it gets quite warm in my living room after a while. It always did with my TV while watching movies, but now it's considerably quicker. Thank goodness for my AC.

It's Game Time!

So, long story short... I bought myself an XBox 360 last night. I won't go into the details of incompatibility issues I was having with the HDMI connection to my Dell TV, so let's just say this... It's game time!

Less Is Less

Let this be a lesson to you... if you need 40 feet of ethernet cable and decide on buying a 50 foot cable, don't go and buy a 25 foot cable thinking it's going to be enough. Trust me, it isn't.

Muse-ings

Last night I received an early birthday present from Kyler. He took me to see Muse in concert in Mississauga. Now I can't say I knew much of them before the show, except that I was listening to the songs on the player on their website all day long beforehand. Anyway, they put on a really kick-ass show. I think they made a new fan. Thanks Kyler!

Have I Mentioned How Much I Love My Bed?

It's been a while since I've been for-real camping, and this past weekend I went interior canoe camping in Algonquin Park. I went up on Friday with Matt and Jen, we rented our canoe and kayak at the Portage Store on Canoe Lake and made the 3.5 hour trek (including one portage) to Bartlett Lake for some quality time in the wilderness. Nory and Robin joined us on Sunday and we all went back together on Monday. Luckily for us, we were the only people who camped on Bartlett Lake that weekend, so not only did that give us the pick of the sites, but it also meant that we had the place to ourselves. Here is a shot from our campsite of Bartlett Lake in the morning. Funny story... after I posted some pictures to Facebook, Ryan Bremner sent me a message saying that he had stayed at that exact campsite just a few summers before. Nice coincidence.

On Monday, we trekked back to Canoe Lake, but first made a stop at the Tom Thompson Memorial Cairn for a photo op.

Anyway, I had a great time, thanks to the planning that Matt and Jen put into things (since I didn't have the slightest clue as to what was going to go on). The lessons I learned include: I definitely enjoy my comforts of modern living... especially my bed; I'm apparently a toilet paper fiend, as I ended up having to borrow on the last day there; and finally, apparently I'm still capable of reading a book... all I need is absolutely nothing else to do.

It's Unsolicited Survey Time Again!

The last two weeks have been really fun. I've been working down in Niagara Region doing supervision of a travel survey at the bridges to the USA. Once again, we were pulling people over, and asking them where they're coming from and going to, etc. The difference between this job and others like it, is that this one runs 24 hours a day in each location (instead of just the afternoon peak period). We had 3 8-hour shifts each day, but us lucky supervisors did 12-hour shifts. I suppose I shouldn't complain too much, as being a supervisor, I didn't actually have to ask the survey questions. Most people were very accommodating, but there's still a too large segment of the population who are just... angry. Seriously, you didn't expect any delays to happen at the border? Just chill out, politely refuse, and then wait until the person in front of you is done their survey because no, you can't drive through the coned off area where my surveyors are standing.

Oh and by the way, in case you angry drivers are wondering, yes we do have the authority to pull you over to ask you to participate in a survey according to Section 26.1 of the Public Transportation and Highway Improvement Act.

Don't Quit My Day Job

I went out today for my first full round of 18 holes this season.

Shot me a 39 over par.

I guess I'm in danger of losing my PGA Tour card for next year.

I Know Where I've Seen This Before

Still on this Predators to Hamilton thing... It's been suggested that to ensure that attendance stays low so the Predators can get out of their lease with the city of Nashville, they can do a couple things: raise the prices of tickets to an insane amount of money, or put the crappiest team on the ice possible so no one comes to watch.

If the latter turned out to be the case, wouldn't that be quite the credibility problem for the NHL? Thinking about this possibility got me thinking that I've seen this somewhere before... then it hit me. The movie Major League. You remember that one... it has Charlie Sheen as the "Wild Thing". The owner of the Cleveland Indians wanted to move them to Miami (this was before the Florida Marlins) so she got rid of all the good players and got a bunch of nobodies. Life imitates Hollywood, I guess. I'd go see Major League 4: Ice Cold.

Hamilton Predators

Hey look, I found my blog! I was wondering where that went.

So anyway, the following topic is one which I've been following with great interest over the last few weeks, but I wasn't sure of what to say about it. I'm still not, but there's a post-shaped void in my blog that needs to be filled.

I'm sure by now, we've all heard the news that Jim Balsille (CEO of RIM and generally filthy rich) has almost finalized a deal to purchase the Nashville Predators... a team that is quite good, but is ripe for relocation because of poor attendance. Right now, barring a bunch of tickets being sold in Nashville (unlikely), it looks like a foregone conclusion that the team will move to Hamilton. Hamilton, a city that been baited with the prospect of having an NHL team many times before. This potential move has been discussed a great deal, especially on Prime Time Sports, which I listen to frequently. Most people think another NHL team in southern Ontario will thrive with a base of hockey fans and corporations that are basically shut out of being able to go see Toronto Maple Leaf games.

I'm here to tell you that it won't be the grand success that some are making it out to be.

Of course, I think a team will be able to operate and stay afloat, but it just won't be a smashing success... and I'll tell you why.

Let's go back to December when Balsille was about to purchase the Pittsburg Penguins, which eventually fell through, but the word on the street was the his intentions were to move the team to southern Ontario... initially, the speculation centreing around Hamilton. But then the speculation started to change, and since this guy's done a bunch of stuff in Waterloo (keeping RIM here, doing things with the university, etc), the new rumour was that he wanted to actually have a team somewhere in K-W. Personally, I thought, "Yeah right... it'd be cool, but no chance". Eventually, the Penguins deal fell through and that was that... until the Predators deal came along.

Since the Predators could easily be moved as their lease would be easy to get out of due to attendance, speculation was flying much more than before on the team being moved to S. Ontario. But this time, the bulk of the speculation focused on K-W. It's at this point I made my mistake... I bought into the rumours of a NHL team in town here in Waterloo, and I got excited about the prospect. Well, then the deal with Hamilton came to light and I thought, "I'm not going to switch allegiances for a team in Hamilton". And that's when it struck me, and this bring me back to my point about how a team in Southern Ontario won't be a huge success... If I won't switch loyalties to a team in Hamilton, what's to make someone who's not from K-W root for a team here if this was the final destination. The answer is... nothing. This area is full of hockey fans, but they already have their favorite teams, be it the Leafs, Red Wings, Canadiens, Sabres, Senators, or miscellaneous. The only core fans a new team here can hope to get are the ones in the actual city the team moves to.

So, Hamilton... have your NHL team... you'll do alright. But you can't count on hordes of fans coming from Waterloo Region, Brantford, London, Mississauga, etc.

Of course, maybe I'm just bitter that the impossible dream isn't going to become a reality.