Canal Football

So on this beautiful Heritage Day a few of us decided to hit up the trusty seaweed filled canal for a little bit of bridge jumping and all kinds of fun ensued. Here are the first high lights. I'll have some more tomorrow evening.

Here is Minkins eating face!!


Here is E.G. looking like the man.


Garth with a catch.

Stay tuned...

How I waste my time lately.

Most of you should be well aware that me and most of my friends are avid watchers of the show "Lost." We gather every Wednesday and watch for the latest revelation on the mysterious island. Then spend a good chunk of the week theorizing and discussing the possibilities of where the show may be heading. But since the season ended in May I've had to find alternate ways to fill the void left by Lost. Luckily for me, the producers started an ARG called "The Lost Experience" to give the Lost die hards something to do between seasons. The promise is that players will gain valuable in sites into the lost mythology. Unfortunately I seem to be the only one among my friends that has chosen to follow along so I don't have any one to discuss and theorize about the goings on of the game, and how I think it relates to the show. I find the game extremely interesting. It has included everything from a book by a fictions author that "died" on Oceanic Air 815, to a petition to free a 105 year old orangutan, to an interview with The Hanso Foundations PR guy on Jimmy Kimmel, to an appearance of the main character at a Lost Q & A at ComiCon. My personal favorite is a conspiracy crazed radio personality named DJ Dan, that put out spuradic podcasts.
Fortunately for every body reading this, the game is currently in a slow part, and it's a great time to join in. Here are a few links that should get you caught up, or at least close enough to caught up.

Inside the Experience-The official ABC blog on the experience hosted by the mysterious 'Speaker'
The Lost Experience Clues-An unofficial blog run by a dedicated group of fans. My personal site of choice. Complete with their very own podcast this site is always on top of the latest clues. If you want a comprehensive catch up, start at clue 1 and work your way up to the present.
Rachel Blake's FAQ's-Rachel is our heroine (or is she??) and she answers some questions
Lostpedia.com-A veritable who’s who and what's what of everything 'lost'

So get up to speed, I have a feeling that it will give us a better idea of what the island is and what has gone on there in the past.

Garth is a pile.

I could elaborate and right a big long explanation with all kinds of examples and proofs that make my point, but I'm pretty sure you all know where I'm coming from. And I have good money that garth can't come up with a defence that doesn't include either the words jew and/or gay.
Lao-Town.

You are wrong if...(Galt Gardens edition)

Here are some of the many things that I've learned during my lunch breaks at galt gardens.

-You think you need webbed feet to live in a park with no water.
-You think the city is smart enough to keep the sprinklers from spraying all the benches.
-You think natives can smell the spare change you have in your pocket.
-You think two grandmas in a chrystler rolling spinners isn't cool.
-You're a sea gull and you think I'm gonna feed you.
-You think I care which provinces have had supreme court rulings in favor of women being able to go topless in public.
-You think it's a good idea to buy brand new roller blades (in the box) from a couple of sketchy white kids.
-You think city workers aren't paid way too much.
-You think watching a guy trying to fill a cup from a sprinkler, that is spraying like 40 feet, isn't funny.
-You think those security guys/gals in the brown outfits do anything more than walk around.
-You think you can call a cab using smoke signals.
-You think the city workers are gonna give you a heads up before they turn on a sprinkler that is clearly going to soak the bench you are sitting on.
-You think the city workers are gonna give you a heads up before they turn on a sprinkler that is clearly going to soak the bench that you have just moved to after they turned a sprinkler on the last bench you were on.
-You think being loud, obnoxious and more than a little tipsy is a good way to hit on some girl that is trying to eat her lunch at a picnic table.
-You think virginity is something that you can snip.
-You think Galt Gardens isn't a really pretty park even with all its sketchitude.

Why have more than 5 buttons??

After reading the latest post on Eric's blog I've decided to post on a very similar subject, for two reasons. Number one, I know that Eric and I stand in the same boat on this subject, and two, Eric moderates his comments so no one can post clever things. (Personally I think he does this because deep down inside he's worried that no one will comment and he knows that the number of comments you get on your blog is clear evidence of how cool you are, [Check out 37 comments on 'you're wrong if part 2..." THANK YOUP!!])
Anyway back to the subject at hand. The Original Nintendo Entertainment System is hands down the best gaming system that has or ever will exist. I know a good chunk of you that are reading this weren't born when Super Mario Bros was released (1985) but notwithstanding I bet there are very few of you that haven't ever played it. Find another video game that has touched so many lives, I date you. And the NES goodness doesn't stop at our little Italian friend, on the contrary he is just the beginning. In my mind the simplicity of the NES is the key, I don't have 3 hours to figure out countless combinations of umpteen buttons on todays controllers, which for the record are becoming more and more inappropriate looking. Five buttons that’s it, the direction button (up, down, left, right- this isn't rocket surgery), start, stop, A and B. Give me any NES game and I guarantee I'll be able to figure out how to play it in 3 minutes (tops), without reading a manual or looking anything up on google. Then added to that simplicity are a crap load of the most entertaining games ever. And to top it all off are some of the coolest video game accessories ever, like the Power Glove (take that Mike Tyson) and the Power Pad (Dance Dance revolution, you are a biter.) I almost forgot my favorite part, Microsoft didn't make this system (that's right X-box lovers, I said it!)
Sure some people may say the graphics were crumby, well guess what, it's a freakin video game. If you want realistic graphics, then go outside and take a look around. But if you want to have some fun, turn the TV to channel 3, hit power on your NES, then turn the power off, take out the cartridge, blow on it, stick it back in, hit power, jiggle it a bit, take it out, rub it on the carpet, blow on it again, then stick it in, hit power and play. Here are a list of some of my favorite games.
-Super Mario bros (I've completed it in 1 life, in just under 8 minute, or half of "The Decline")
-Super Mario 3
-McKids
-Toobin
-Baseball Simulator 3000
-Contra
-Blades of Steel
-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (arcade version)
-Battle Toads (I'm still lousy at this game)
-Mike Tyson's Punch Out

Feel free to ad your favorites. But be ye warned, if you post something stupid, like Super Mario 2 (I mean really, He wakes up and it's all been a dream?? Inthe words of Jeff Albertson "Worst Ending Ever!!"), I'm gonna make fun of you.

Worst Play List Ever???

For those of you that don't know, I no longer get to work from the comfort of my house. I've been moved into an office (well kind of) down at the Lethbridge Herald. I don't really know any one that works there, no body showed me around, I don't know where the break room is, I even had to find the bathrooms on my own. I'm not sure what the point of moving me was, but I was moved none the less. Yesterday I met the guy that works in the office (uhh, once again his is only kind of an office) next to me. His name is Bill, I don't know what he does, nor do I really care. Bill is probably in his mid to late 40's, and today he decided thathe would put on some music. I wear one headphone all day long, usually listening to podcasts, and the occasional listen to the new Guster album (two thumbs up.) But I couldn't help take notice of what my good friend Bill was listening to. I sware I'm not making this up and in no way did I alter this play list for dramatic effect. Here is Bills Tuesday afternoon at the office playlist
1.Walking On Broken Glass- Annie Lennox
2.Rasputin - Boney M.
3.Take My Breath Away - Berlin
4.Unchained Melody - The Righteous Brothers
4.Momma Mia - Abba
5.Thunderstruck - AC/DC
6.Start Me Up - Rolling Stones
7.Raise A Little Hell - Trooper
8.Sweet Child of Mine - Guns N Roses
9.Simply The Best - Tina Turner
10.Secret Agent Man - Johnny Rivers
11.You Don't Know How It Feels - Tom Petty

The words 'bad cliche' come to mind. And if this random assortment of top hits from years gone by wasn't a good enough, Bill also treated me to his singing during every chorus and whistling every guitar part. Yeah, that is way less distracting than having my daughter come in every now and then to say hi. It looks like the move is really helping me stay focused.
Please feel free to leave songs that Bill may have regretably missed, in the comments. Maybe for Christmas I'll make him a mix CD that will be to his liking.

You are wrong if... (part 2)

Back by popular demand, here we go, the first one is for you amy.

You think just because it's a "personal opinion" you can't be wrong.
You think the Bearstein Bears opening song is grammatically correct.
You think there isn't a "List."
You think "the List" doesn't matter.
You think it's funny or clever to make a joke about how big my Dr. Pepper mug is.
You read blogs but never comment.
You don't put CD's back in their case.
You don't think some guy piching his nipples with pliers on accident is funny.
You drive a truck, because it looks cool, and makes you feel tough.
You think Street Light Manifesto is ever coming to Southern Alberta.
You put more than one CD in a case.
You think that grey haired, bearded guy on the Canadian Tire commercials is informative.
You think my sunglasses aren't cool.
You've accused AFI of selling out.
You think you'll ever find a 7-11 in Red Deer.
You're not looking forward to the NFL season.
You think Alvar Hanso and Joop are infact the same person.
You think 5 in-5 out is a good method of coaching basketball.
You think just becasue you are in waterton you won't find a way to read my blog.

If you feel like this is kind of a weak list, look again I think you'll find that there are some personal shout outs to almost all of you.