Help Me Help Big Brothers

This weekend is the annual Curl for Kids event, which is a fundraiser for Big Brothers of Sarnia-Lambton. This is my fourth year (I think) of participating. I'd appreciate any help you could throw my way for my fundraising effort.

Click here to go to my donation page.

Thanks.

Geocaching

So, 5 years after signing up on the website, I finally went out and tried Geocaching last weekend when I was visiting friends in Belleville.

For those who are unaware of this hobby, people hide small containers with a logbook in public places and list the longitude and latitude online. Then you use your GPS to hunt it out. It's a fun reason to get outside and enjoy a walk. We were able to find 3 in a conservation area near Belleville, then when I got home I found a couple more in Waterloo Park. While in the park I ran into a couple of really experienced Geocachers and they gave me some good pointers on getting started out.

Anyone else ever try this. I think I might do some more of it, especially when the weather gets better.

Canada Wins The Gold... In Airing Commercials and Pointless Fillers

So, I was actually going to write about how awesome the Olympic coverage has been so far from the Broadcast Consortium. The fact that there are 3 big networks showing coverage (4 if you include OLN, which I don't because it's not in HD) and there is really good online viewing is really great. However, I'm sitting here watching the coverage right now... It's about an hour after Canada won a silver in Snowboard Cross, and on CTV they're showing fluff pieces about the atheletes, on Sportsnet they're showing a replay of the Snowboard Cross final that THEY JUST SHOWED LIVE AN HOUR AGO, and TSN is showing a Women's hockey blowout. I'm thinking, "It's the Olympics... how strange that there's nothing else going on right now". I know the 500m speed skating is coming up tonight (that's one of the oft-played fluff pieces... yeah we get it, Wortherspoon fell in 2002). So I look up the schedule online, and in actuality, the first run of the 500 metres is on right now! It's just that it's not the Canadians' turn yet.

Is that what we've come to? We have a multitude of channels, and we won't show an event live if a Canadian isn't involved. Once upon a time, I remember thinking the American coverage was terrible in 1996 because they never showed anyone but Americans, while our coverage was superior because we gave coverage to whole events... and that was when we only had one station showing coverage. But I guess that's what we, as Canadians, are told we want to be. I'm just waiting for the tape delayed for primetime only coverage that we'll surely be getting in a few Olympics from now.

CTV, you have a chance to show that you're just as good as CBC when it comes to Olympic coverage, but you're quickly blowing it.

And I miss the CBC Olympic theme song.

More 1 vs 100 Fun

With the 2nd season of 1 vs 100 winding down, I finally got to play in the Mob for a real prize today. Me and 37 other members of the mob outlasted the one, and in the process won 80 MS point (about a dollar) and a free arcade game (which this week was Marvel vs Capcom 2... not bad). The only weird thing is that all prizes are virtual, but I still have to wait 4-6 weeks for the prize. I suppose it's for contest verification or something, because it sure isn't for shipping and handling.

Now that I got my 1 vs 100 fill out of the way, I can watch the last half of the Tournament of Hearts. I think it'd be nice to see PEI win in their first final appearance ever.

This is a Dilly of a Pickle

So, the commenting system I've been using on my blog is shutting down. I have 2 options: Switch to another commenting system owned by the same company, or switch back to the Blogger commenting system.

The first option is good because I can keep all my previous comments. The downside is that the interface is quite complex and COSTS MONEY. I've been given a 1 month trial, and that's what is active now.

The second option of using the Blogger default commenting system is good because it's free and relatively easy to use. The downside is that I'll lose all my previous comments.

What to do?

Now THAT'S a Lake Effect!

I drove home today after being in Bright's Grove for 2 weeks. Of course, the day I drove back was some of the worst driving weather I've been through. Highway 402 was actually closed between exits 44 and 69. It took 2.5 hours to get to London. After that, it was fine though. All this after leaving Sarnia with no evidence whatsoever of snow (unless I looked at the Road Conditions website... which I did).

My New Favourite Person

This letter to the editor was in today's Waterloo Region Record...



John Reidt, Sr. of Waterloo... you sir, are my new favourite person today.

Again With The Winter? Didn't We Just Have One Last Year?

So, between the really cold temperatures up in Thunder Bay when I was up there on Tuesday and Wednesday and the article about a resort in Puerto Rico in the in-flight Air Canada magazine I read on the way back... I'm pretty sure I'm ready to go somewhere warm for a vacation. Really, just to be able to step off the plane and feel the warmth, that's all.

Oops... Where Did November Go?

I just looked back and noticed that I didn't make a single post last month. That's the first time I've missed a month since I started this blog in 2004. So, a little catchup then?

Last week I participated in the Home Hardware Bonspiel. It's a regional bonspiel that that 13 area clubs all host games. In the 3 games I played in I went to the Galt Curling Club, Plattsville Curling Club and the KW Granite Club. It was fun to get to see the other clubs and meet some new people.

At the beginning of the month, I went to visit Joe in Halifax. I got a tour of his office, we went on the Keith's Brewery tour and did a bunch of gaming. Good times. Bonus: I found out how awfully convenient flying out of the Hamilton Airport is. No lines, no crowds and close parking. I put a couple pics up on the Facebook, if you're interested.

So Long Demon Drop

I read this past week that the Demon Drop will be leaving Cedar Point after this year and moving to a park in California. Like so many rides at Cedar Point, I have good memories of this one. Back when I first went to Cedar Point, it was still relatively new and had quite the reputation (don't go on it after lunch... you'll throw up!). I always wondered how much money they made from the spare change falling out of people's pockets at the bottom.

While the Demon Drop doesn't have a large footprint, I hope that moving it will be part of making room for a new coaster sometime in the near future.