So last night the rain came and came in buckets. Fredericton saw good steady rainfall but the Northern part of the province saw even more. The thing is that it all ends up in the same place (at least on the West side of NB). So the experts are now expecting flood levels to exceed the levels of the Great Flood of 1973.
I'm really not sure what this means for my place but I am hoping that we are just high enough that the basement will stay dry. The ramps to the Westmorland st. bridge are filling up and they expect it to lead to major traffic snafus come morning. Who knows it could mean that flood day will replace the snow day as schoolchildren's favourite day.And who knows maybe the next time the snow falls some smartass will use the line "At least you don't have to pump it out of your basement".
Over the weekend Jonesy completed his trek to the North Pole with a little help from a solar powered helicopter (I assume). You can read the full story from the Gleaner here. Jonesy looks like he had a harrowing experience, plunging into the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean with only the warmth of a tent to stave off hypothermia. He was able to go on though and I even recieved word that he managed to play the northermost game of rugby (possibly) ever played. You can listen to all of his dispatches here.
I look forward to hearing some stories about the trip once he can feel his fingers again.
To head in to the weekend I think it best to provide you with the feel good story of the week (besides praise for Craig Allen’s campaign). A monkey that was stolen from the Cherry Brook Zoo in Saint John earlier this week has been returned to the Zoo none the worse for wear. An anonymous tip led police to a pick up point where the guilty thief left the monkey for them. No word on whether Craig's apple campaign had anything to do with the monkey's return but let's assume so.
In a scene reminiscent of The Day After Tomorrow, global warming has hit full force and the melting polar ice caps have cause oceans to rise and flooding all the way the St. John River to Fredericton. When I saw this pictures in the Gleaner I didn't even bother to read the whole story and went out to take some pictures. Here is what's going on at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery today:Priceless! And this is the view from the old Embassy at 877 Union:Crazy!
Update: It turns out that all this high water is actually a result of the annual swelling of the river due to snow melt. Not so swell if you ask me; this year's record snow and the warm couple of weeks we've had caused it to melt quickly and speed up the process. If we happen to get any rain we may be in for a big one. We could see some water in the Bakery's basement.
In other news that could actually be related to global warming, it seems that Jonesy is having some difficulty making it to the North Pole because of all the open water on the Arctic Ocean. Read the full story here.
So my prayers were answered last night and the Habs showed up for game 7 and came out with a win. I was reading a recap on SI.com this morning and the writer was likening the lessons the Canadiens learned in their 7 games to the 7 voyages of Sinbad. Apparently I led a sheltered literary childhood because I thought he was referring to Sinbad, the "actor". My association maybe due partially to a mid-90's trip to Montreal that featured Sinbad (or at least a lookalike friend of Calhoun's). Ever since I expect to see the impersonator show up with free booze and a stand up routine when I'm in the city. Alas, it hasn't happened yet.
In an interesting post game celebration the good citizens of Montreal held early Earth Day protests by torching gas guzzling cop cars:
Fredericton has enjoyed a glorious couple of weeks of spring weather. Temperatures in the low 20s make this year's haaaarsh winter seem like the distant past. If it wasn't for the remaining snow banks scattered around the city it would be hard to know we had as much snow as I can ever recall. Two weeks ago I paid a visit to the rugby club and the field was still covered by a couple of feet of snow. Now the field is clear and the only sign of the snow we had this winter is the still massive mound of filthy snow behind the berm. You can see it here:At one point in the winter it was higher than the goalposts but it seems to have shrunk considerably since then. My guess is that it will be around well into June.
I was hoping that I would be able to use that snow mound as a yardstick for the Habs playoffs run. As long as the snow mound is still around the Habs would keep playing late into the spring. Game 7 is in an hour so I guess we'll know soon enough.
I know it's not Friday but here's a little advice for the Habs:
That's "Hold on tight to your dreams", not your sticks boys.
It's official - Craiger's campaign kicked off today. As you can see from the press release, Craig is running a sustainable campaign, foregoing any print materials that will likely just be defaced anyways. I did get word that he will be rolling in style with a van donated by the Trius Truck Center to serve as a campaign vehicle. I'm very excited about helping out in any way that I can and getting down to SJ to stump for Craiger. I hope his campaign speeches look this one:
I may be jumping the gun on the "Official" campaign kickoff but this news has got me too excited to stay quiet. My good friend Craig Allen, known here mostly as JC of Big Santo fame, is running for Saint John City Council. He is campaigning for a seat representing Ward 3, which represents Uptown Saint John, the South End, and (I think) the West End as well.We have jokingly called Craiger Chairman Mao for years because of his tendency to make the decisions that we didn't want to have to. We gave him a hard time for it but he brushed it off becaue, typically, his decision paid off. I have no doubt that he would do the same good work for the people of Saint John.
He loves Saint John and since Murch left has stepped into the de facto role of deputy mayor, not to mention Ambassador. He has tapped into the pulse of the city and is already active in the community. I'll have more to follow after his campaign kickoff but wanted anyone out there reading this to know what's up.
I'm off to write the final exam for my War Through Film history course tonight. In the absence of good notes I've been frantically reading war movie reviews and searching the web for good exam answers. This site didn't give me much help but it did make me laugh.
Chances are I will sit through the first two hours of the exam and then realize that I only have an hour left and write maniacally until my hand falls off. I will spend at least an hour trying to figure out what I would do if I won the lottery; it's a final exam tradition!
As you may know the boys down at Evolving Solutions are my go to guys when it comes to the keeping up with the knowledge economy. Chris Nadeau is one half of the brains behind the operation and his blog is one of my go to reads if I am trying to stay current with the technology sector in NB. In one of his recent postings he introduced me to the Wallace McCain Institute and its Cohort Program. Chris and Evolving Solutions were in the running but did not make the final 15. It's a shame but looking at the finalists it was some stiff competition. You can check out Chris's take and the full list here.
Considering Shawn Graham's noble self-sufficency goal for New Brunswick it's good to see that there are many entrepeneurs with great ideas here in the province. I called Normy immediately after I read the list to see if he could put together a business plan for us to become caviar traders. He figured that was an automatic death sentence from the Russian mafia. I guess I'd be better of perfecting the towel shirt.
This is a tough time of year for wives and girlfriends in Canada. Hockey playoffs started last week and, as the weather gets nice enough for outdoor pursuits, the Canadian male begins a two month long nightly hibernation ritual. For me, it's also the start of rugby training so we shall see just how patient Erin can be. On the plus side for her if she learns to love playoff hockey she will be subject to intense athletic competition, insights on the psychological development of canadian boys ("you kids out there, love your sticks, stroke your sticks"), and the best commercials the CBC has to offer.
In the absence of the Cunard Restaurant ad, here is one of my favourites:
As the weather in Freddy finally starts to turn and some of the familiar smells of Spring come back with a loud bark my friend Brian Jones is extending his winter by heading North.
In an effort to expand his client base he will be travelling to Santa's workshop at the North Pole and advising the Elves on wise long term investing of their seasonal income. At least that's what I assumed. A little further research indicates that he is actually skiing to the North Pole as part of an awarness campaign for climate change. All the info can be found by clicking here. You can keep track of Jonesy's progress and maybe even here a rambling rant from the pole. He takes off today and the actual trek to the Pole starts on the 14th. I'm pretty envious of this trip and look forward to hearing all about it.
Lordy, Lordy...Sister Sarah's birthday is today and Steve and her friends managed to pull off an actual surprise party last Saturday to celebrate. I'm not sure how they managed to keep a party in Carleton County secret from Sarah but they did and for that they should be commended. Dad, Erin and I added to the surprise and were treated to typical Carleton County hospitality.
Sarah was getting a little worried about her big day passing without any fanfare but she was not let down and all of her friends showed up and some family too. This led to her showing off the form that has earned her the title in the Bristol Big Hugs contest for 16 years running. It's quite a record. Here she is practicing her technique at an early age:We had a great night with some great people and with Sarah's house full-up we were treated to a night at the Shamrock Suites. Happy Birthday to me! Oh wait...Happy Birthday Sarah!
In other family news from last weekend, Will's run with TUNB's play The Rover ended on Saturday night. Will played the title character and did an absolutely amazing job. The Rover is an olde english play and Will needed to speak in that tongue throughout. The fact that he remembered his lines would have been enough for me. But he did so much more than that; he took the character and ran with it and, in my mind, stole the show. I spoke to him after the show and he was very humble about it. I asked him how the hell he managed to remember all of his lines. He told me it was alot of hard work and a near total disregard for all of the other courses he is enrolled in. Now that's my brother! Nice work Will.Pace out.
I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller.
This past weekend I joined the Hawkins Heat for my second attempt at playing (actually) organized basketball in the J.D. Irving Basketball New Brunswick intermediate C men's championship. This was my second year in the tournament and therefore my second weekend playing basketball with referees. I had a better idea what a foul was this year and managed to not foul out. I did not, however, learn how to shoot the J and was kept to a high score of 6 points on Sunday afternoon.
For a full breakdown of the tournament click here.
I wish I could show you some highlights of my games on the weekend but, alas, there were none. Instead have a look at what good ball can look like:
I watched with interest today as the news spread that the Olympic torch relays taking place in London and Paris were hijacked by protestors pushing their agenda. I really don't like to get into politics but I will do so in defense of sport. I believe the Free Tibet movement to be a completely valid cause that deserves the worlds attention. I do not, however, believe that these protests should disrupt a symbolic gesture of global cooperation or (God forbid!) lead to a boycott that would hold of the world's athletes hostage (including some very important people).
While I agree that any cause that Hollywood can endorse must be important I also think it a bit hypocritical that people in Britain, France and the U.S. protest human rights violations in China. The history of China in Tibet is tied closely to the adventures of the British in India and the French have a long history of treating their colonies wonderfully. And the U.S., well, they have their own current human rights questions to answer to.
Again, this isn't meant to belittle the movement for a free Tibet; it is just a friendly reminder that people sort out their own shit before they tell someone else how to sort theirs.
I had my last history class last night and now look forward to finishing my essay and writing my exam and being done. In one of the oddest timeshifting experiences I've had in recent memory, when I was writing the date down on my notepad at the start of class and watched my hand write April 3, 1999. Dream on Pacey. I scratched it out and wondered what the hell I had on the brain to have done that. Maybe it was some part of my brain trying to tell me when I should have been taking my last class at UNB. Either way...here we are.
That date, however, did seem appropriate for Flashback Friday. I wanted to go with School's Out but it's not really out until I walk out of that exam on the 16th. That song did however remind me of the last day of class at Lee High School and the opening scene of the movie that depicts that day:
Classic!
I went on a solo pub crawl for my own personal last class bash and told anyone who wasn't willing to listen how much I enjoyed the course. Watching war movies for credit; I look forward to the Televised Sports through History course. Again, dream on Pacey.
Yesterday was April Fools day and I arrived to work to learn that one of my co-workers had passed away over the weekend. A couple of co-workers looked around to check if this was the worst April Fools joke ever; sadly it was not. Jeff Lambe was our IT technician and he never visited my desk without making me smile. He had one of the most distinct laughs I have ever heard and every time he was over here I heard and had to laugh myself. He will be missed around the office.
That morning shock threw me for a loop and as I got into my morning routine I completely lost sight of the fact that it was April Fools day. So as I surfed through SI.com and came across the story of a Bhuddist pitching prospect who could throw 168mph fastballs I was taken in.I can now remember reading this story some years ago as it is trumpeted as one of the best April Fool's jokes of all time. I read through the whole thing and even went to youtube to try and find some footage of the guy. It, of course, does not exist. George Plimpton fooled me 23 years after he meant to and 5 years after he died. Pretty impressive.
I was still a little shaken up later in the afternoon but no so much that I was gullible enough to fall for this one:
I'm sure some people were and that's one reason I love April Fool's Day.
So last night the rain came and came in buckets. Fredericton saw good steady rainfall but the Northern part of the province saw even more. The thing is that it all ends up in the same place (at least on the West side of NB). So the experts are now expecting flood levels to exceed the levels of the Great Flood of 1973. 
And who knows maybe the next time the snow falls some smartass will use the line "At least you don't have to pump it out of your basement".
