It's the Most Stabbing Time of the Year!

One of the web site I always seem to look at for local news is CFRA.com, wile I think it's poorly laid out and the radio station itself is a right wing propoganda machine - they do an excellent job of covering local news.

That said, I couldn't believe that basically one week before Christmas and there were two stabbings in Ottawa last night. One on Merivale Road (my old stomping grounds) and one at Bayshore Shopping Centre (I know - shocking isn't it, a stabbing at Bayshore - lol). In fact I'm pretty sure that for the Bayshore area that's the second weekend stabbing.

Stabbing in Merivale Road Parking Lot
Josh Pringle
Sunday, December 17, 2006

Major Crime Investigators are looking for suspects after an early morning stabbing in the west end.

Ottawa Police say a 16-year-old boy suffered non-life threatening stab wounds after being stabbed in a parking lot on Merivale Road.

There is no word on a motive for the stabbing.

Stabbing at Bayshore Shopping Centre
Josh Pringle
Sunday, December 17, 2006

A man is in hospital with non-life threatening injuries after a stabbing at the Bayshore Shopping Centre.

Ottawa Police say the 19-year-old victim was found in the parking lot near the Zellers just before closing last night.

He was taken to hospital with two stab wounds to the back.

Police have no suspects description or motive at this time.

Ottawa is just a small town

Ottawa today will vote to confirm that it's just a small town run by backward thinking hicks. The Light Rail plan that was voted on in July and approved, and in small town Ottawa that means we're still thinking about it, was modified and voted on again last week and approved with no light rail through the downtown core. And again having the idiots at city council approving something only means they are still thinking about it.
Even after today's vote, where they are expected to one again change their minds and vote for no light rail, there will be another vote tomorrow and one again next week.
Only in Ottawa can you vote on things over and over and never really commit to anything. Only in Ottawa can you throw out 2 years of planning and consultation and vote to change something. It makes the city look like nothing more than a small town run by small mined people. I hope that Siemens sues the pants off of this city council, maybe then they'll actually make sure that what they vote for is what they want and stop the madness of re-opening votes and voting again and again.
Anyone remember how many times we voted on tearing down the cattle castle, refurbishing it, only renovating the inside, only renovating the outside, tearing it down, keeping it as is, or renovating it.
Well I'm sure today's vote on light rail won't be the last, second last or third last vote on it.
Welcome to small town Ottawa

"Kramer's" Racist Tirade - Caught on Tape

Richards, who played the wacky Cosmo Kramer on the hit TV show "Seinfeld," appeared onstage at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood. It appears two guys, both African-American, were in the cheap seats playfully heckling Richards when suddenly, the comedian lost it. http://www.tmz.com/2006/11/20/kramers-racist-tirade-caught-on-tape/

Michael Richards Meltdown

Click here to see Michael Richards aka Kramer from Seinfeld have an on stage melt down.
Warning this has objectionable language!

Testing, Testing 1,2,3 - I'm just trying out Google Docs & Spreadsheets for use as a word editor and then using it to post to my blog.

Ever Wonder What 8,000 Calories looks like?

This image taken from the Heart Attack Grill website, shows part of their menu. The barely year-old Tempe, Ariz., restaurant with its slogan "taste...worth dying for!" makes the "quadruple bypass burger," estimated to be 8,000 calories, and it is served by waitresses in "nurse" outfits.(Heart Attack Grill)

And under the lable "Who Cares?"

In this photo released by Rogers and Cowan, actor Tom Cruise and actress Katie Holmes pose in their wedding attire on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2006, at the 15th-century Odescalchi Castle overlooking Lake Bracciano outside of Rome. (AP Photo/Robert Evans)

Dog Cats!

Brazilian student Cassia Aparecida de Souza, 18, holds her cat Mimi together with what Cassia claims are Mimi's own offspring, born with dog traits last Friday, three months after mating with a neighbour's dog, in the southern Brazilian city of Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul state, November 15, 2006. REUTERS/Edison Vara

Halloween Display

A mock-up of a plane crash is displayed as part of a Halloween display in the garden of a home in Los Angeles October 20, 2006. Los Angeles police visited the scene after thinking the crash was real. The homeowner is an aircraft mechanic in training and the parts are from a real Gulfstream jet. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson (UNITED STATES)

And Tracy thinks I went too far with the Halloween decorations at our house!

Mmm - Sun

Mmmm - Sun

What happened to the sun? Anyone seen it lately? I heard a rumor that it's gone out.

I don't remember the last time I saw so much rain! I'm trying to drain my pool a little each day so I don't drown out the neighbours but we've had so much rain I don't think I'm any farther ahead then when I started last week.

Anyway - this pic just reminded me of better days when the sun would come out more than once a week. I can't wait till we change time :(

Update!

God, when was the last time I posed anything here. Not much is new, busy this weekend (aren't I always), Bachelor Party Friday night, House party Saturday night and closing the pool Sunday. I know, I know, I should have closed the pool back at the end of August, but come on we usually have at least a bit of warm weather in September. To night Tracy and I are off the Scankplace to watch the Sens take on Montreal, first preseason game I've been to this year. It should be fun.

Uploading Pictures

I see very little has changed with uploading pics - only a small thumbnail appears after you upload is about it. This is just a small version of my desktop background at work.

The Beta Blogger

It's been a long time since I've posted here and now I see that they've added a Beta version of blogger that I'm trying out. So far all I've noticed is that they've done some cosmetic changes. I do like the new spell checker (everyone knows I need all the spell checking in the world!). I also like how quickly it puts your posts up, much faster than the current version of Blogger.
Anyway - not much has changed since my last post. The NHL training camps are about to open soon and I can't wait.

This is just a test. I wrote this in Writely and posted it from there.

IT"S FRIDAY!

This is the soon to be adopted international sign for Gas Station.

Darrell 1, Bees 0

I know your all sitting on the edge of your seats wanting to know how the bee situation turned out. Well I'm glad to report that after emptying an entire can of "Bug-b-gone" and using 3/4 of a tube of caulking the bee's are no more!

F*ck*ig Bees!

It's a WAR! We have bees going into an opening in the wall where our airconditioner hooks up to the house. Sunday night I whent out and bought some CIL wasp and hornet spay the the can claimed works on bees and sprayed the crap out of the hole they were flying in and out of. No bee's came out wile I was spraying so I figured "Good, I got the little buggers now I can just caulk the hole up and end of problem!" - Nothing in my life is that easy, the next moring I got up and checked and sure enough the same 4 or 5 bees were hanging around. I ran into the house and sprayed the crap out of the hole again and managed to hit a few bees in the process. The part that got me was this CIL stuff had NO effect on the bees that I hit - they just flew around angrily. A few minutes later they seemed to leave and there were no more bees. Ofcourse with my luck they were back again that evening when I got home after work!
Last night it poured rain and it just wasn't a good time to caulk the hole so this morning I checked and sure enough there were 4 or 5 bees busily buzzing in and out of the hole.
My plan now is all out war on the little pests. The first thing I'm going to do is get some moth balls (apperently they hate moth balls) and hang them close to the hole then I'm gonna go buy the most expencive bee killing spray i can get and just waste the entire can on the hole and then caulk it up.
I only noticed the hole on Saturday and have never seen them there before (it's near the pool pump and I spend alot of time there) so I'm 98% sure they are only starting to build a nest.
I'll let you know how it turns out tomorrow. Tomorrow they will all die - AHAHAHAH HAHAHA AHAHA!!!!!!!!
I'm fine, really, I'm ok, they're just bees after all.

Camping

Over the weekend Tracy and I went camping for the first time this year. We just went for one night at Fitzroy campground and it was good to just get camping again. Our tent wasn't in the best of shape tho, last year we apparently rolled it up still wet and it smelled musty and still has lots of sap from Sandbanks all over it. (Got to remember to air it our and waterproof it!)
The weather was really good for the most part. It only rained for an hour or so around 5pm. Ok it poured rain for an hour or so.
The best part of camping is still sitting around the fire drinking a beer at the end of day.
The funny part was when we got up the next morning we couldn't really wait to get back home and into our pool! We had breakfast and rolled up the tents and were on the road by 10:45am. If we were still on Huntley we would stuck around until 1:00 and then would have spent the better part of the day at the day use area.

No More Oiler Posts Here!

So last night I'm sitting in bed typing up another post to my main blog about the Oilers when my future wife to be complains that all my posts are about the Oilers and nothing else, so I've decided to give the Oiler Blog I was thinking of setting up a wile ago another run. So if your an Oiler fan - or just a hockey fan in general this will be the place to check out from now on! (Ok I promise to post more than once a week!). I will keep this blog going with posts on anything but hockey. Gotta keep my one and only reader happy ;).

Oilers Busy in the Last Week!

The Oilers have been busy lately with there signing of head coach MacTavish to a 4 year contract and then yesterday they went out and signed Ales Hemsky to a huge 6 year deal worth $24 million. He will get $3 million a year in the first two years of the contract and it will go up to roughly $5 million a season in the final year. Overall it's a pretty good deal, the Oilers are taking a small gamble on a player that has shown he could be a pretty big star in the NHL. The signing of the coach and the long term deal with Hemsky takes a bit of the bad taste of the Pronger situation out of your mouth and reminds you that not everyone hates Edmonton. The Oilers have all but admitted they seem to have an image problem with the players for what ever reason. MacTavish joked during his press conference, which was held at the Edmonton airport that "they hoped they might be able to catch a few of the players sneaking out of town". At least they can still laugh about it. The thing that impressed me the most with the Hemsky deal is the length of it and the fact he wanted at 6 year deal, which means he won't be an unrestricted free agent for 2 more years than if he had signed a short term deal.

Postal worker caught with thousands of letters

Saw this news story on the net and thought it was too funny!

BERLIN (Reuters) - A Berlin postal worker who was caught with more than several thousand undelivered letters in his basement has admitted he was overwhelmed by the job but insisted he planned to deliver them soon.
Police recently found 90 boxes of post stacked in his basement. The postal worker, 36, identified as Thomas H., told Bild newspaper Friday he was only temporarily storing the post at his house and friends would help with delivery.
"There were just too much and I couldn't deliver it all by myself," he told the newspaper. Police said some of the letters found had been postmarked as early as April. The postal worker faces disciplinary action.

Oilers - Horcoff's Back

Just a quick post, yea I know I never post here anymore. Sean Horcoff signed a 3 year deal worth $10.8 million over the 3 seasons. Glad to see someone still likes to play in Oil Country.

The Exodus Continues!

First the crushing news that Chris Pronger wants out of Edmonton and now Radek Devorak wants out! - Meh, don't care - Devoak hasn't exactly been one of Edmonton's best forwards and always seem to disappear when the Oilers really needed to get something going offensively - so - good luck Devoark, don't let the door hit you on the way out. In other news the Oilers are apparently close to signing Pisani and coach McTavish. Things with Dwayne Roloson aren't going as well but there is hope that he can be signed soon. To no ones surprise the Oilers have not picked up the option on Ty Conklin's contract.

Oilers - So Pronger wants Out

So Chris Pronger wants out. What is with Edmonton and big players? Personally I hope the Oilers don't just jump on the first trade that comes along, I know they won't but the knee jerk reaction is to just get rid of the jerk.
Is Edmonton that bad that after only 9 months he can't stand the city, or is it the team management. I guess over $6million a season isn't enough for some people.
This is all the time I'm gonna waste on Mr. Pronger.
Yesterday was draft day in the NHL and the Oilers didn't have a selection until the second round picking stay at home defencemen Jeff Petry 45th overall. The Oilers then took another stay-at-home defencemen in the third round, Theo Peckham. In the 4th round the Oilers took goalie Bryan Pittron. The Oilers picked another defenceman in the 5th round, Cody Wild.
In the 6th round the Oilers closed out there selections by picking Alexander Bumagin.

Edmonton Oiler Free Agents

In my last post I mentioned that the Oilers have quite a few free agents to sign, here is a quick list of who they are:

Forwards

Radek Dvorak
Ales Hemsky (restricted)
Sean Horcoff (restricted)
Georges Laraque
Rem Murray
Michael Peca
Fernando Pisani
Sergie Samsonov
Jerret Stoll (restricted)

Defencemen

Jeroslav Spacek
Dick Tarnstrom

Goalie

Dwayne Roloson

The Oilers have 11 players under contract for next season for just over $19 million so the Oilers do have a bit of room before they do hit the expected $44 million cap.
A quick look at it tells you they won't have all of them back but here is my list of the 6 that I think they should definitely sign

Ales Hemsky - he had a break out year and play great in the playoffs, he's a restricted free agent so it looks good that he will be back.

Dwayne Roloson - no one since Grant Fhur has look that good in net for the Oilers and there are rumors that the Oilers will sign him before the end of the month - lets hope so.

Sean Horcoff - another Oiler that had a break out year and played well in the playoffs. There is also a good chance he will be back since he is also a restricted free agent.

Fernando Pisani - home town boy makes it big - he didn't do much in the regular season but he was the best Oiler on the ice in the playoffs, scoring what seemed like every big goal the Oilers would need.

Michael Peca - he started out horribly but he finished the playoffs playing the way everyone expected he would play in Edmonton. He was also one of the reasons the Oilers penalty kill was so good in the playoffs. The word is though he likely won't be back, still I would love to see him back in an Oiler uniform.

Jeroslav Spacek - he help the Oilers quite a bit on the powerplay and played pretty well and seemed to fit in right away with the Oilers game style.

Those are the 6 players that I would really want to see back but more than likely the Oilers will only be able to keep Hemsky, Horcoff, Stoll, Laraque, Murray, Pisani and Roloson. I don't think Peca wants to come back, not that he doesn't like Edmonton, it's just too far from his family. I'm pretty confident that Roloson will be back, he played too well for the Oilers to just let him slip away.

I'm Back!

Wow - it's been a wile since I posted anything here hasn't it. Since my last post Tracy and I have finally moved into out new home - we love it there although I still can't shake the feeling we are just house sitting for some one - LOL.
We've also been to Newfoundland to visit Tracy's parents for a week. They were down the week before but the weather really sucked when they were here (it rained everyday!) so the 15 and sunny that we got most days in Newfoundland seemed like great weather.
We have finally gotten the cover off the pool and have managed to get it open. We really enjoyed it last weekend - nothing beats laying around in the pool when it's stinking hot out!
The other big thing since my last blog post was the Oilers unbelievable playoff run. Just one more win would have done it. Thanks Oilers for all the great playoff games. I still can't believe that Markkanen played that well, I figured they were toast after Rollie went down. Here's hoping the Oilers can resign all those free agents they now have.

One BIg Rabbit

Found this pic on the Yahoo! site - Man that is one big rabbit!
"German rabbit breeder Karl Szmolinsky presents his giant male breeding rabbit 'Robert' in Eberswalde, eastern Germany, February 2006. In a tale reminiscent of the last Wallace and Gromit movie, furious villagers in northeast England have hired armed guards to protect their beloved communal vegetable gardens from a suspected monster rabbit.(AFP/File/Michael Urban)"

Google Earth and Maxim

Just had to laugh when I saw this on the internet this morning. Makes me wonder if every farmers field is going to turn into a billboard for google earth to pick up!

"This photo, provided by Maxim magazine --who got it from Google Earth, shows a recreation of a Maxim magazine cover, in the desert outside Primm, Nev.,near the California state line, which celebrates the magazine's 100-issue milestone . Air travelers flying over southern Nevada this week, got a look at a bikini-clad Eva Longoria, star of ABC's 'Desperate Housewives,' on the 75-by-110-foot display. (AP Photo/Google Earth-Maxim)."

OK fine it's just an excuse to put up a pic of a scantly clad woman on my blog with out getting into trouble from Tracy - LOL. Anyway click here if you want to check it out! (It requires Google Earth)

T-30 Days

So pumped right now! One month today Tracy and I move into our new house! That's about it for today - LOL. It's been a crazy day at work and I can't wait to go home and relax.

Been a Wile

It's been a wile since I posted a blog here, been really busy working with lots and lots of overtime. We are getting closer to the big moving day and we're pretty excited. Last weekend Tracy and I were in London visiting Chris, Laura, Noah and Tracy's Parents. The 6 hour drive out and 6 hour drive back sucked but it was a fun visit as little Noah is growing pretty fast. That's it for now, I'll likely have something more to say later.

Moving!

As you may or may not know Tracy and I are moving, anyway, yesterday we actually took the first step in the process of packing! We were out at my parent's place where we have a tone of stuff in storage, throwing stuff out and organizing what we were going to take with us. Not a bad afternoon considering we got rid of 3 box and 3 tubs of junk. Today I'll be back out there again trying to trim things down farther.
Last night we were out at Marshy's for a beer (ok I had 2 and Tracy didn't have any), nacho's and a salad. Funny how this Weight Watchers diet is changing me and I'm ordering salads when I go out and I don't feel bad doing it. We then came home and watched the movie "Madagascar" which we both found really funny. It's funny how the fact we watch so many 2 hour movies now makes the 1 hour 20 min. movies seem so short. The movie was well worth the watch, today we'll have a look at the Penguin short that's in the bonus part of the disk.

Stephen's Rules

So our PM Stephen Harper doesn't think any of his little guy's should talk to the media unless he approves it. This in my opinion is just another example of his arrogance, it also shows a complete lack of confidence in his "team". How is he ever going to enforce such a "rule", fire everyone that talks to the media? Fine them? Slap there wrists? Or maybe give them an old fashion strapping? The problem is you can't enforce this, especially the Conservatives, who have to be the biggest bunch of loose cannons I've ever seen. Sure for a wile everyone will follow Stephen's little rule and play along but eventually one of them is going to have a spasm and start mouthing off, showing off the party's true colours and in the end that's what Harper is most afraid of.

Nothing Much to Say

Well I haven't got a hole lot to say today. I'm actually kind of feeling sick, and so is Tracy, stupid scratchy throat. As of today there is only 49 more days till the big moving day and there isn't a hole lot to do other than pack and that's going to take up most of our time on the weekends from now on.
Last weekend Tracy and I watched the movie "Walk the Line" and we really enjoyed it. I didn't think it was quite as good at the movie "Ray" but I did go on iTunes and down load a few Johnny Cash songs after - and I don't even like country music. OK, I'll admit that "Ring of Fire" was the first song that I remember liking as a kid. I'd always ask my Grandfather to play it on his 8-Track, remember those things (ok I barley remember them OK!).
Not really sure what we'll be up to this weekend, I know we rented a couple of movies from Blockbuster last night so that most likely takes care of Friday and Saturday night - LOL.

Hey - if you want I've also made a little web page, nothing big, just some where to gripe about the Oilers, Renegades, Bears and what ever else I want to gripe about.
Click http://darrellf72.googlepages.com/ if you want to check it out.

Morning Check In

Well my day's not going to bad so far. It wasn't freezing cold this morning for once this week. One would think that it wouldn't be -20C first thing in the mornings anymore but it still is. I'm just happy that I won't be working late tonight for the first time this week.

Just Thinking

OK, I wouldn't call them thoughts more like brain leaks.

Well, I'm working late again. This is becoming a bit too much of a habit for me. I've worked late 3 of the 3 nights so far this week and I'm not really sure I'm getting ahead. So with all the work I've been doing I really don't have a lot to say right now, nothing useful.

The NHL is back in action, the Oilers didn't play last night but they do take on the Blues tonight. The last time Edmonton played St. Louis they were beaten in a shootout 5-4 so let's hope the Oilers show up this time.

Other than that I better get back to work.

----------

Back after a short break. Tracy and I had supper at Dunn's Restaurant, man they have some good burgers there. I must be crazy working late, I come back from supper and everyone that was going to work late has fled and locked the doors, so here I sit by myself working away. Just drives me nuts.

I have a Web Page!

Hey I have a web page now. Not exactly sure what to do with it but I have one - LOL

Here is the link if anyone wants to check it out.


There is even a link there which I plan to update through out the day and post here at the end of each day.

Canadian Tire Fun

Last night Tracy and I took the SUV to Crappy Tire as I like to call it. There we were greeted with there latest automotive expert. All we wanted was a quick oil change. This "expert" tried selling us everything under the sun before we even opened the hood on the car. Tracy and I left and did some shopping wile they worked on our vehicle. We get a call saying that the coolant level is a bit low and needs to be topped up. Apparently it's Crappy Tire's policy to sell you 4L of prestone so they can put 100ml in your car! I know that when I take my car to Toyota they just top it up and don't even charge you for the top up. Must be a pretty nice little scam to charge everyone that walks in and need a coolant top up for a 4L jug. When we got back to pick up out Grand Vitara, there was no one there and we had to wait for ever. When some one finally showed up he told us that they suspect that the engine has a small leak and that we should take our Rav4 to KIA and have them take a look at it. I tried pretty hard not to laugh and ask if he enjoys the sound of his own voice. Its a Grand Vitara, it's made by Suzuki, the Rav4 is a Toyota product and KIA only wishes it made something as good as a Rav4 or Grand Vitara!
Needless to say we won't be taking our SUV back to Crappy Tire any time soon!

A Look Back at Team Canada

So that's it for team Canada - they were shut out 3 times and failed to get anything going - it reminds me a lot of the Nagno Olympics only worse. Things looked "OK" in the first game and thankfully it was against the Italians because I'’m pretty sure any other team would have pounded the crap out of Canada. The Canadians looks slow and confused, something they would manage to do in every game. Team Canada won the game 7-2 but only really looked good in the second period when they outscored Italy 5-2.
Canada would look better in the game against Germany winning 5-2 but that confused appearance and slow skating was still evident, but you could still blame it on jet lag.
The house of card started to fall when they were shut out by the Swiss 2-0. It was still a preliminary game so it didn't matter much and hey they looked good in the third period. We reassured ourselves that it was just a fluke and a hot goalie.
That excuse didn't hold much water when they managed to lose by the same 2-0 score 24hrs later to the Finns. It was apparent then, to me anyway, that we had just sent over the best bunch of players that couldn't put the puck in the net. That was one thing that sort of stuck with a lot of people going into these Olympics. There were a lot of good players on this team but also a lot of good players that were not exactly have a good season as far a putting the puck in the net.
Canada rebounded a bit against the Czechs as they won 3-2 but they looked bad doing it and were out shot 33-16.
Canada played much better against the Russians and maybe if they had played that well against the Swiss and the Finns then maybe Canada could have gotten a much easier first round opponent, but then again maybe not. Maybe this is what Team Canada deserves.
Is this Grezky'’s fault? No it isn'’t. Sure he could have sent over the top 20 Canadian goal scorers but he didn't, he sent 20 of the best hockey players that were available. Just cause you can pop the puck in the net on the NHL ice doesn't mean you can do the same on a much bigger ice surface. It's a totally different game that required alot of speed and defensive positioning. Plain and simple the fault falls on the shoulders of the players. If you can'’t get motivated to play for Olympic Gold, you shouldn't be playing hockey. Let'’s hope the result is a lot better in Vancouver.

Where is Team Canada?

What the f#*ck is going on with team Canada? Did we replace the players with morons from Latvia or something? It's not enough to get shut out 2-0 by Switzerland and then follow it up with another 2-0 loss to Finland but then to go out and "win" a game against the Czechs 3-2 when they led 3-0 after 1 period and then managed just 8 more shots for the whole game! I'm thinking the Russians are gonna pound the crap out of Canada today! Don't get me wrong I'm hoping that we snap out of this and beat the Russians but it's gonna be a long road to get to that gold metal again.

Congrats goes out the women's team they pounded everyone in sight and looked good doing it!

Anyway - gotta get back to work again! Go Canada Go! Please show up and don't embarrass the nation!

Home Owner!

Well it's been a week since I last made a post here and what a week it's been! Last weekend Tracy and I started our house hunting and right away saw a house we loved! We move in the beginning of May and we can't wait. Other than that not much is new. Guess I got to start looking around for boxes and throwing out junk to make the move as easy as possible.
The house is a really nice 3 bedroom home with hardwood flooring and ceramic tile downstairs and carpet upstairs except for the bathrooms. The back yard has an above ground pool (I'm thinking a lot people will be coming over just for that little feature) and a huge deck.

Friday!

Well it's Friday and for the NHL this week couldn't be over fast enough. First comes the gambling ring that Rick Tocchet financed, then the bomb shell that Jannet Jones used the ring to place bets, which automatically brings Mr. Gretzky into the picture.
If all that isn't enough, Jose Theodore, who's having a bad enough season as it is, tested positive for a banned substance. He claims it was in a hair growth treatment he's been taking. Oh well - maybe Dick Pound was on to something when he said the NHL is ramped with drug users.
I'm thinking Mr. Bettman can't wait for the Olympic break now - well then he can just sit there and squirm hoping that no one else test positive for anything. Gee I wonder if Rick Tocchet is taking bets on who will test positive first in Olympic Hockey?

Wednesday tid bits

Well, I'm back at work again after taking the last few days off sick. Why is it that when you are away everyone uses your desk as a dumping ground? I wasn't here for 2 days and suddenly my desk is the holding station for someone's new computer monitor and I've suddenly acquired a new recycling bin for paper which wouldn't be so bad if only for the fact that it's already so full of paper it keeps almost tipping over. No one seems to know where it came from or who put it there. Damb office gremlins!
I see the good people of Google are at it again. They've integrated there Google Talk with Gmail. It sounds pretty interesting being able to chat from with in Gmail with out downloading Google Talk, but I'm not convinced of how many people will use it of if it will close the gap for Google.
Better get back to work lots to do - you go away sick for a few days and the papers really pile up!

Just a Quick Check In

Just a quick check in. My birthday was this weekend, Saturday to be exact. Tracy and I had nice quiet day together, she got me a new jacket, two actually, a shell and a fleece to go under it, so far it seems pretty warm and it's a very nice blue colour. Got to say it looks much better than that green thing I've been wearing. Tracy also took me to the Keg (yes the Keg again!) and then we went out and blew our money at the Rideau Slots Casino. I also got a gift card from Tracy's parents for MEC - guess I'll have to go this weekend and get something. My parents gave me the Tragically Hip box set and my sister gave me a couple of movies (I love "Old School") and box of chocolates (hey wait a minute I'm on a diet - LOL).
Anyway I've been off sick today - I'll try to post something more tomorrow.

Quick Update

Just a quick post today - busy at work. The weight watchers thing continues, I'm down to 197.5, just another 2.5lbs to get to 195 I was before Christmas.
Not much else to say today.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Well it's that time of the year again where that little rodent in the ground makes his/her prediction and I for one think the rodent is a reliable as the "experts". This year they're saying an early spring.
A few things from the net have caught my attention today. The first is some MORON is suing Apple for hearing loss, I guess it's true common sense is dead. Any one with at least half an active brain cell knows that listening to anything really loud for extended periods of time leads to hearing loss. I hope Apple sues him for wasting their time.
Speaking of morons with half active brain cells - the dance music freak that live below me is pissing me off again. I'll go into the back ground a bit. This brain dead idiot moved in this summer, to the building I live in and is renting the one room apartment in the basement. Pretty much every night he blasts dance music and I have to go down and tell him to turn it down. You'd think that after a wile he'd get the idea that we upstairs can a) hear it and b) don't like it but he keeps it up. Now his apartment doesn't come with a parking space, but he continually parks in the landlord's spot and just by his dumb luck (and he has lots of it) the landlord hasn't been by any of those nights. Anyway - here the part where he's pissing me off - every time he parks there he parks just a little bit farther over and blocks just a bit more of the driveway preventing us from getting our car in and out of the driveway. This morning it was so far over I could barely get the car out. I get up at 5:30am everyday and go to the gym, so I'll have absolutely no problem going down and pounding on his door and getting him to move his piece of shit.
I'm actually starting to miss the guy that lived there before him, that guy practiced electric guitar but had the common sense to do it in the middle of the afternoon when everyone was out and or awake. The dance freak in the basement (any guy that listens to dance music this much must be gay - not that there is anything wrong with it.....) plays his music at 11:30pm, 10:30pm and so loud that if it is earlier in the evening it drowns out our TV.
The dance freak also likes to lock himself out of the building a lot. He relies on us to let him back in and he's done it so many time now he doesn't even say thanks when we let him in now. It's to the point were I'm actually thinking of turning off the door bell at the front. Problem is he has just enough, and I mean just enough, brain power to go to our side door and start pounding on that one. Hell he's even locked himself out of his apartment and then counted on poor Tracy to help him out in finding out landlord.
The absolute best tho was just a couple of nights ago when he sent his girlfriend up (we even get to hear them argue a lot. Probably something to do with his lack of brain cells) to ask if they could have some lemon juice. Let me get this straight now - you blast dance music constantly, lock your self out constantly and some how think it's our responsibility to let you in and you park your car so it's in the way and now you want us to give you lemon juice! YOUR NOT IN A COLLEGE DORM YOUR IN THE REAL WORLD NOW!

Oilers place Moreau on IR

Apparently Ethan Moreau has injured his knee in an off-ice conditioning incident and the Oilers have placed him on the Injury reserve. No word on when he is expected back in the line-up. In his place the Oilers have called up Jean-Francois Jaques form the Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL.

Tuesday Stuff

Saw this on the Rick Mercer's Blog and thought it was really funny. (Please laugh, I had to try 3 times to get it to upload)
"Health Care is Precious"
I also have a link to our friend George W. sounding a bit drunk (yes they slowed the tape down). It just sounds so funny. http://www.wimp.com/bushdrunk/

Guess that's it for today.

Monday Stuff

Well it's Monday and the weekend is over. More freezing rain today again - this is one weird winter, I'm not going to jinx it yet by saying "it's been a really warm winter". February is usually one of the coldest months so we have a wile to go yet.
Just looking around the web this morning and noticed that the Razzie nominations are out. These are the awards give to movies and actors that were really bad last year. Tom Cruise is up for one for his "performance" in "War of the Worlds". Can't say I'm really surprised by this, he's got to be one of the most over hyped actors around. Will Farell is up for his horrible job on the movie "Bewitched". I was smart enough to avoid "War of the Worlds" and I wish I could say the same for "Bewitched", it was simply a horrible movie that has pretty much sworn me off of anything Will Farrell will do in the future.
The other thing of interest I've stumbled is the reports of record profits from EXXON - gee isn't that shocking - Exxon's profits were up 42% from last year, must be hard to make ends meet. Just something to think about the next time your filling up at the gas pump and see the price at 90 what ever cents a liter. Of course they will have the usual excuses that they don't make any money at the pump and their revenue comes from other "Revenue streams". This has got to be the biggest joke running. Every year the price of gas goes up and the oil cartel's profits go through the roof. If they don't make money selling gas, why bother with all the trouble of pumping out of the ground and offering us suckers the wonderful public service of over charging us at the pump. I can't wait until one day some one has the balls to invent a car that runs on anything other than gas and doesn't sell it to the Oil Cartel.
The part of the article that got me the most was the last paragraph "Analysts also warned that the sky-high profits could also trigger calls from consumer groups and politicians for special taxes to be slapped on oil firms as they have been the main beneficiaries of recent record petrol prices." Yea - guess what they will do with that tax - pass it on to us consumers - cause they aren't making any money selling gas remember. Here's an idea why not actually charge them with price gouging or price collusion. Oh I forgot the politicians in some countries own Oil companies.
OK guess I'm done ranting for now, I'll get off my soap box before my blood pressue goes up any more.

Busy Week!

Well I never go around to making that post I prommised about the weekend trip to London, I may still get a few pics up.
On Monday ofcouse we had our elections and I guess this is the best possibility. I voted Liberal but wanted any form of a minority government. This way our little right wing nut friends can be kept in check. I just hope that a recession doesn't follow now, every time a conservative governmtne gets into power they rack up huge debt, slash spending and offer small tax cuts and talk about those small tax cuts as if they are huge things and then by the end of it we are in a recession.
Anyway here's hoping for the best and hopefully some one, I have no idea who, can work with Mr. Harper and keep this thing going long enough that we don't end up at the polls in the next 3 years.

I'm Back!

I'm back! I'll have a post later about my little trip to London Ont. but for now I thought I'd post this little pic and blurb I saw on the Yahoo! web site this morning.

"Hamster named Gohan, right, and snake Aochan live togther in a cardboard box at Mutsugoro Okoku zoo, outskirts of Tokyo, in this January 14, 2006 photo. Gohan and Aochan make strange bedfellows: one's a 9 centimeter dwarf hamster; the other is a 120 centimeter-long (yard-long) ratsnake. Zookeepers at Tokyo's Mutsugoro Okoku zoo presented the hamster _ whose name means 'meal' in Japanese _ to Aochan as a tasty morsel in October, after the snake refused to eat frozen mice. But instead of indulging, Aochan decided to make friends with the furry rodent, according to keeper Kazuya Yamamoto. The pair have shared a cage since. (AP Photo/Mutsugoro Okoku Zoo, Kyota Nomura)"

Google Pack

I'm a Google fan, anyone that knows me knows that. Yesterday Google came out with Google Pack which is basically bundled software and a little program that updates that software. I can't really tell you much more about it because it didn't work on my computer. I down loaded and installed the Google Updater and it started to run but that's as far as it got. All I got out of it was "connecting to server". I figured the server was busy and left it for the night and this morning it was still "connecting to server". I've tried it 3 times since (uninstalling and reinstalling) all it seems to do is slow my computer down.
Google if your going to release something make sure it works - we already have Microsoft spitting out half baked crap, we don't need 2 companies doing that!

One Fat Cat

"Before picture of Mischief the cat. The pictures are of Mischief who is not named in the story. Mischief, won Britain's pet slimmer of the year in 2005. The cat lost 5kg in nine months after his size horrified vets"

Found this pic and write up on the Yahoo news web page. Gotta say if they are "horrified" the vets then they should take a look at our cats Frodo and Tunder (aka "smelly cat").

Friday Morning Check In

Well it's Friday! Man it seems like a long week and Monday was a holiday. The snow seems to have finally stopped, I'm hoping to get the cross country skis out this weekend.
Tonight Tracy and I are having our friends Deb and Craig over for a few drinks and then on Saturday night Brent and Joyce are coming over again for a few drinks.
I managed to lose 6lbs this week and I'm down to 200.5lbs, that's the good news, the bad news is I gained 11.5lbs over the holidays so another 5.5lbs and I'll be caught up again!
Have a good weekend everyone.

Tracy and I are Engaged!

Well it's been a wile since I've posted here and ALLOT has happened since then. First off Tracy and I are engaged! We're really excited (who wouldn't be!) and hope to tie the knot some time in May 2007. We do it sooner but we plan to get a house this summer and funds are a bit tight to get a house and get married all in the same year.
I popped the question on the Friday before Christmas, the next day we headed out to my parents place and surprised them with the news! That night we all headed out to the Christ Church in Burrits Rappids for the Christmas Eve service. It had to be the noisiest service I've ever been too. There must have been 20 kids there running around yelling and screaming the entire service, and I swear, some kid must have had a new year noise maker during the sermon.
Christmas day was a typical Fisher Christmas which involves sitting around and doing as little as possible. Around 2:00pm my Aunts and Uncles and cousins as well as my sister, brother in law and their two kids all came out we had the usual big meal and opened even more gifts.
Tracy got me a picture with my name on the back of an Oiler jersey with Peca, Markkanen and Proger hanging next to it, I can't wait to get a house and hang it up in my den. She also got me the 30th Anniversary Edition of Born to Run that comes with 2 dvd and the album itself remastered. She also got me a Springsteen Cap and was supposed to give me a Springsteen Mug but the mug got broken during delivery so apparently it's now my birthday present, I'll have to remember to try to look surprised. Really she got me too much stuff, my stocking was stuffed with all kinds of goodies (too many eatable ones).
From my parents we got a nice picnic back pack and a stainless steel kitchen scale, I also got a really nice Roots watch from them.
Tracy's parents are coming up from Newfoundland so we'll be having Tracy's side of the family Christmas in January in London with her brother.
Anyway - I'll post more tomorrow.