The Forgettable 2021

Every year since I started this blog, I've made at least one post... until last year. And I didn't even realize it until today. The entirety of 2021 went by without a post. To be fair, it doesn't seem like much happens anymore... just one long ride on the pandemic express where there are no stops. We looked like we were getting out of it in the late summer / early autumn, but then Omicron happened. Is this Covid's last burn, or are we destined to see waves over and over again. Who knows?

But back to my utter failure to keep this personal and public journal updated at least once over the past year. Looking back through my photos, I suppose I did a few things over the year.

I went for a winter walk in the Pinery with the Walters.

I got my bathroom renovated.

Took a virtual Learn to Paint class.

Got my first vaccine shot.

Made a video with my niece.

Visited the AGO with the Greens.

Helped install the ice at the Granite Club.

Saw a Blue Jays game from a box.

Met the Graces' new kittens.

Visited a local trail for the first time.

So, I suppose a few things did happen... but keep in mind that was over the entire year. Here's hoping that the pandemic is over soon... or at least we learn how to live with it.

The Implications of an Extended Election

The federal election is in three days. The election was called over 2 months ago by the Conservatives and is the longest in modern Canadian history (what constitutes "modern", I'm not sure), and the signs of the long campaign are showing. One of the reasons the Conservatives called it so early (whether or not they'd admit it) is that they have a whole lot more money than their opponents. An extended campaign will drain the Liberal and NDP well before the vote, unless they run budget campaigns. I'm not sure how the fundraising has gone since the election was called, but I've noticed the effects... and they're right in front of everyone's face. Well, everyone who's watching the Blue Jays' playoff games.

Take Game 5 of the ALDS on Wednesday night. Every inning, like clockwork, there was a commercial for the Conservatives and a commercial for the Liberals. The NDP was nowhere to be found. The obvious conclusion is that the NDP are out of money. Did that cause their drop in the polls? Did their drop in the polls affect their fundraising? Are those two things unrelated? I don't know, but I found it to be an interesting observation.

I will now return to muting all commercial breaks. Unless they actually made this commercial...

What Happened This Weekend

We ended up 2-2 at the tournament this weekend and in 3rd place, which was our most likely finishing position going into it. The kids weren't able to pull of an upset, but made it exciting taking Guelph to all 7 innings, losing 7-4.

Now... back to my regularly scheduled life.

All Good Things Come To An End... Baseball Too

This weekend the baseball season ends for us, appropriately with the season ending tournament. We finished the regular season in third out of five, a couple games over .500, so it can't be considered a disaster at least. However, we had a terrible time trying to beat both Guelph and Kitchener and it got a bit frustrating as some games we were real close to them and some we were just blown out. We managed a win versus Guelph and a tie versus Kitchener over the course of the season... together with all wins versus Cambridge and Woodstock, we ended up with our third place.

Well, we got one last chance versus Kitchener tonight, but it was one of those "blow out" games. It will be hard for us to make the final now, as Guelph had already beat Kitchener (it's a round robin format). But nonetheless, we still have three games to go and at this age, I just hope they're having fun out there.

I'll have to reserve my thoughts on the experience of coaching for a later date. I'll say this though... we had our first practice in February. It's been a long season.

What I'm Doing On My Summer Vacation

This summer I'm coaching a minor baseball team here in Waterloo. There weren't enough parent coaches available so the manager, who I curl with, ask me if I was interested knowing that I used to play and umpire. Thinking it might be good to do some community volunteering for a change, I accepted. It's a Tier 2 Mosquito team (kids born in 1999... scary in and of itself), so we do a bit of travelling, but not too far. It's pretty good, as the kids are good enough to want to be there but they aren't the Tier 1, Triple-A, more focussed on winning pressure cooker. So far, we're at 1 win and 2 losses. If you really feel like keeping track of our progress, here is the league homepage (after clicking on schedule or standings, select Mosquito Tier 2 in the drop down box).

The downside to it is that it's a few more of my evenings every week taken up than I had originally thought. We usually have 2 games (home and away) and 2 practices each week. The consolation is that it's good fun while I'm out there.

Now all I have to do it learn all their names without using the lineup card as a cheat sheet.