Masters of Curling

I've been watching the Master's of Curling tournament over at the Waterloo Rec Centre the last two days, and I have to say it's some pretty good curling happening there. There's five games happening simultaneously, so there's always something to watch. I've decided that it's better just to concentrate on two game at once, so you can actually get into them, instead of trying to keep track of everything. I have a ticket for the rest of the days. So far, I've been going by myself, which makes it a bit boring at times. I have a ticket for each of the days left, but unfortunately I can't make the final game on Sunday, as I have to go see an NFL game in Buffalo... bummer. So, I'm offering up my Sunday ticket FREE OF CHARGE to whoever wants it. It's general admission, so you can sit anywhere in the arena, except the ends.

Here's a picture of the players being led in by the Fergus pipe band before the opening game.


Here's a video I took tonight. Kevin Martin and Jean-Michel Ménard went to extra end and this is the final shot where Martin make a tricky take-out for the win.

I Guess I'm Out Of The Family

Well, that's a 0 and 6 start for the good old curling team. Things are not going well. It's most likely because we're one of the only teams that only play once a week. Most of the other teams play on wednesdays too, I think, wednesdays being the main "Men's League".

Wednesday... the longer I look at that word, the weirder it gets. It doesn't look like what it looks like. Anyway...

We get three weeks off to think about what we've done. The curling club is shutting down for a bonspeil this week and the Grand Slam next week. The week after is our bye week (which, happily, counts as an automatic win).

Speaking of the Grand Slam, it's happening next week. I'm going to each of the evening draws, and probably most of the afternoon draws. Check out the website for draw times. It'll cost $16 for a one day ticket. Don't order over the phone as it'll cost an additional $5... just buy at the door. Maybe see you there? It's probably the next best thing to seeing the Briar itself (which is in Hamilton this year, BTW).

Who Are These Guys Again?

Don't forget to vote today, dorks.

And vote for whoever likes roundabouts. Because I know about how it's such a hot button issue.

hehehe... dorks.

So, You People Like Tea, Huh?

I write a post about tea and I get the most replies in a good long while. You people sure know what you like.

Moving on... As I mentioned very breifly in a previous post, curling has started again. Not good so far... not good at all. Officially, we're now 0 for 4. If you count the first week exhibition game, we're 0 for 5. The worst part is that we aren't playing all that poorly. In our game two weeks ago, I was on fire personally. I'm pretty sure I must have curled around 75% (which is pretty good for a once-a-weeker like myself), but we caught a lot of bad breaks (like the opposing team's rock picking at the last second to go right in behind cover, negating 3 possible points for us.

Speaking of curling though, during the last week of November (starting the 29th), the World Curing Tour's Grand Slam of Curling is coming to Waterloo... right across the street from me in the Waterloo Rec Centre! I bought myself a 5-day General Admission pass and plan to go to most of the games. You can buy single game tickets at the door, so if you want to watch some curling with me, I'll be looking for people to go with. C'mon... it'll be fun.

Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

It's a dangerous thing. You know... Getting bored in the grocery store, it's a dangerous thing. Before, it's resulted in ill-advised purchases of Lucky Charms, unneccessary Doritos, and Smooth-eez. This week, the feeling hit me in the cereal, coffee, and tea aisle. Luckily for me, there were no cereals giving away free computer games this week, and as I hate coffee, my attention turned to the tea. Now, I've tried specialty teas before, and not enjoyed them too much... I really like my regular old Orange Pekoe black tea. But I was feeling bored, and only a splurge purchase would satisfy that boredom. So, I picked up a product whose name I've heard on numerous episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation... That's right, Captain Picard's favourite, Earl Grey Tea. Not knowing exactly what was in it, I read the lable first and it turned out to be just normal tea with a little extra somethingsomething. The verdict... not too bad. Pretty good actually. It won't displace regular tea as my favourite, but it was good nonetheless. Hurray!

Science Rules!, Parking Tickets, and Curling

I went this past weekend to Toronto with my old housemates from school. We went to the Ontario Science Centre. I haden't been there in a really long time, but really, not much has changed there. Of course, that means that the Science Centre is awesome! I got to drive some sort of hovercraft space thing, throw some fastballs, and eat a slice of pizza. The only two bad things about the visit were that the Space area was closed down, and we were a few days early for their new Marvel Superheros exhibit.

On the downside of the weekend, I got a parking ticket. Stupid Toronto Parking Enforcement. They're a little trigger-happy, if you ask me.

Oh yes, and this year's curling season has commenced. Last night was our second game, and we lost for the second time. It's not looking good so far. But on the excuse side, we were missing our skip due to a back injury. Curling's a harsh sport.

Money Making Opprotunity

Here we go again! I'm looking for two people to do a follow up study for the Uptown Waterloo Parking project. It's not as bad as last time, believe me. This time, you'll be in pairs and in cars driving around surveying instead of walking. The study will be happening from 8am until 8pm on Thursday, October 19... That's this Thursday for those without a calendar. Email me at mbrouwer@ptsl.com if interested. $15 per hour.

Hockey Stuff

So, the Leafs lost last night. No real surprise there, but the Leafs did have a nice start where Gerber made a few beauty saves. But a loss is a loss, and the Leafs always lose to the Senators*.

I read a disturbing article today about how the CBC's contract with the NHL is up after this year and that CTV/TSN is expected to get a 10 year deal to broadcast Hockey Night In Canada. I can't even imagine how awful it will be to have those tools on "NHL on TSN" doing HNIC. I like Dave Hodge, Bob Mackenzie, and even Pierre McGuire (if he wasn't the colour commentator), but I can't stand Darren Dreger and Tie Domi. I know, those guys are the new ones, but they made a show I hated last year even worse. I really can't put my finger on what it is about that show that I've never liked, but I've never liked it. It's too bad that Sportsnet really cut back on Hockeycentral, because I liked that show.

And in other news, it looks like the guy who owns the Waterloo company RIM bought the Penguins. The craziest rumour I heard connected with that is if he can't get a new arena in Pittsburg he'll move the team to Canada... most likely Hamilton. But if Hamilton falls through, he'll just bring 'em to Kitchener-Waterloo. That's freakin' nuts! I, for one, welcome our new Penguin overlords. I say build a new huge arena on that Centre Block in downtown Kitchener. The Waterloo Penguins... heh, it'll never happen, but man it's fun to think about.

* - In the regular season only

Just Your Run-Of-The-Mill Wednesday Post

I realize that I have to break up these work-related groveling for temp staff with a real post. So here goes.

I love my PVR. It's the handiest piece of technology ever. Although, sometimes it acts up. Take this Monday for example. I've gotten into the habit of recording everything I want to watch and then watching it later. I hardly ever watch anything when it's actually on anymore. But anyway, back to Monday. I've been watching Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (best new show this year, IMO), and therefore, have the PVR set up to record it. But for some reason, it never recorded. I don't know why... but once in a while it does that. Prison Break recorded and it's on right before it. So either the PVR mysteriously screwed up, or Rogers changed the title on the on-screen guide, which would cause the PVR to think it's a different show and not record it. Anyway, long story short, I downloaded the episode and got to see it anyway.

That brings me to my next point... well over a year ago, I noticed that downloads with BitTorrent were really slow on my Rogers internet. Consensus on the message boards were that Rogers was intentionally throttling down the speeds which made BT pretty much useless. But over the last few weeks I've noticed an increase in speeds again. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything and left well enough alone... now Rogers will slow it down again. Sigh...

Speaking of computers, I recently reinstalled Civilization 3 on my machine. I had forgot how ridiculously addictive and time-consuming that game is. I only wish I had a better computer so I could run Civ 4. The Civilization games are right up there in my top three favourite computer games ever... along with Sim City and Pirates.

Tonight... hockey's back and so is Lost. If only we could get the hockey game to take a break from 9 until 10, I'd be set. Oh well, there's always the PVR...

Third Time = Officially Selling Out

Hey! Have you heard this one before? Who wants to make some money?

We have yet another short-notice count to do. This one is a solo effort though. We require one person to count the ins and outs at a bank in Kitchener (Forest Glen Plaza on Greenbrook Drive between Fischer-Hallman and Westmount). We need someone to count for 3 hour (3:00pm - 6:00pm) tomorrow (October 3).

Interested? Email: mbrouwer@ptsl.com

PS - Yes, I am getting pretty disgusted with having to soil my blog like this so much lately. Work sucks, what are ya gonna do?