Our good buddy Craiger is at it again. He has leveraged his background in international marketing with his recent work with Evolving Solutions to create his own agency which will help clients take advantage of new media that is ripe for marketing opportunities. But don't take my word for it; check out the website. And, in a stroke that should prove his ability to market effectively, check out the Telegraph article that appeared the day after he launched the agency's website - here. I made fun of him for not looking very excited about the launch but he swore that the photog asked him not to smile - business is business I guess.
Good luck Craiger, anything you need from me its yours; up to and including shutting the hell up.
In other news that makes me happy, Loverboy was given a lifetime achievment award at the Junos on Sunday night and inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Let me be the first (and only?) to say that this is long overdue. (Please read the article, if only because it contains the quote "Leather pants and mullet cool".) Ahh Loverboy, will you ever stop giving me pleasure.
That video is Gold and I assume what Craig's workdays look like.
My first trip to Grand Mannan was an overwhelming success. We hit the road at 7 from Freddy and were assured that was plenty of time to make the 9pm ferry in Black's Harbour. After stopping for gas, we made it on the boat as they were closing the gate. The ferry ride was dark and uneventful. I did find it very interesting, though, that the pictures on the walls of the ferry halls showed pictures of the boat cresting a huge swell or burying it's bow in another swell's face. The pictures of the ferries in BC were always of bright sunny days and calm seas. Luckily we had fine weather.
We arrived at our cottages at 11 or so and had a feed and refreshed ourselves for the big games to come. We played first at 1:30 and got our asses kicked. We played again at 5:30 and got our asses kicked. It would seem we need some more practice. We drowned our sorrows in a lobster pot and a couple of kegs of beer. That made for a great final game at 9am on Sunday. We got beat again. Nevertheless it was a great time and should be the first of many tourneys for the Capital City Butchers.
We went back to the cottages after game 3 and cleaned out the fridge. We were again assured that we would be fine leaving the cottage at 3 to catch the 3:30 ferry. We made it but Fitz's truck did not - and he was the one giving us all these assurances. I think he secretly wanted to stay.
I’ve been excited for Friday all week. And this week it’s not because of Happy Hour. This week is the provincial intermediate basketball championships. This will be my 3rd year playing in the tourney but my first with guys that I play with regularly. I’m looking forward to a good challenge.
The best part is that the tournament is being hosted in Grand Mannan. And I am ashamed to say that I have never been to Grand Mannan so that's the added bonus. We are stocking up on supplies and hitting the road at 7 to make the 9pm ferry.
For the Butcher's debut I give you a Canadian classic:
Things in Afghanistan appear to have gotten much more dangerous in recent weeks and, sadly, more Canadian kids are coming home in flag-draped coffins. Among the most recent casualties was another local boy, Corey Joseph Hayes of Ripples. He was only 22. The full Gleaner article is here.
Much was made this week about the ridiculously ignorant verbal diarrhea spewed from a latenight Fox News segment disparaging the Canadian Military and the country in general. I've already wasted too many words on suffering these fools but would hope that they have been made aware that Canadian troops are enduring the worst casualty rates amont Allied Forces. So up yours.
I may have mentioned this before but I haven't been a huge fan of Don Cherry's schtick for a number of years. Mostly because he is on openly biased Leafs fan (and a bit of a bigot). It still rankles me that he is listed among statesmen and Terry Fox as one of the Greatest Canadians. Nevertheless, the tributes he pays to our troops on Coach's Corner dwarf the other crap. It's not schtick, its sincere. Here (starts at 6:30)is his most recent tribute including Trooper Hayes. Grapes can hardly keep it together:
Over the weekend I stumbled across a documentary on CBC entitled Talking Canadian. The shows goal was to shed light on how a unique Canadian language evolved from the Queen's English and it's Yankee relative. The documentary was very insightful and thanks to this glorious series of tubes can be seen in its entirety here(5 part series). The most amazing thing I learned during this (actually educational) program was the no one else in the world eats butter tarts (Pt.3 7:07). That makes me love them even more and means that I can say with even more certainty that Mom's butter tarts aren't just the best in Canada but the best in the world!
Overall they found over 2000 words that we and we only use. I suggest that we embrace them all. The most canadian phrase I could think of off the top of my head is this - "I'm on the TCH on my way to Flin Flon for a bonspiel. I'll bring you a two-four of Moosehead if I can crash on your chesterfield. Might'swell eh?"
While this show was eye-opening on why we talk the way we talk it didn't really touch upon what we talk about. And what we talk about when making small talk is weather, traffic and hockey. How cold it is, how shitty the drivers are in whatever city you are in and, finally, how shitty the Leafs are. I could talk about how shitty the Leafs are all day but I can't handle too much weather talk; we live in Canada of course the weather is all over the place. In no particular order here are my least favourite weather related sayings: 1)Cold enough for ya? 2)Its a dry heat/cold. 3)Its not so much the heat, its the humidity. 4)At least you don't have to shovel it. And of course my favourite: Nice day if it don't rain wha?
Now that is Talking Canadian.
I went and saw The Weakerthans last night and it was actually this line that got me thinking about this - "We'll talk about the weather, or how the weather use to be" Here is the song:
I had planned on posting on Saturday March 21st that spring had officially sprung. Unbeknownst to me 'they' have changed the dates that Spring springs to March 20th. I'm not sure who 'they' are or how 'they' can arbitrarily change the Vernal Equinox but I don't like it.* Nevertheless, I am very happy to say that over the weekend, with the spring sun getting higher and higher in the sky, and staying out later and later in the day, I was able to smell that wonderful waft of stale dog shit uncovered by the melt that is such a sure sign of spring. That an March Madness!
Pace out.
*Note - A little research has taught me that the Vernal Equinox typically falls on the March 20th but sometime on March 21st. My bad y'all.
A news story that I read this week announced that the internet, as we know it, turned 20 this week. Internets, in the strict sense, existed prior to that but the World Wide Web came into existence this month 20 years ago.
The funny thing is that about that same time I was taking my first computer course in school and everything we did was done on actual floppy discs. We were writing codes to perfrom functions that you could do a hundred times quicker on a regular calculator. Nevertheless the speed of the web world was soon obvious. A short 3 or 4 years later I distinctly remember being at the Harriet Irving Library on campus and noticing two new computer stations tucked away in a corner of the library. A small sign said they were specifically for web browsing and were limited to 30 minute sessions per student. Normy and I spent hours clicking and waiting, and waiting, and waiting for news on my Dolphins and his Bengals. ESPN was the first site I remember offering rich graphics and all of it was best seen on Netscape. One night while taking up my spot for sports news I saw the user next to me with a blank screen except for a small window minimized in the corner. On that screen was the real reason for the web's boom: porn. He was slyly browsing a porn site and I couldn't believe is audacity. And how I envied him.
Within a couple of years you were in the stone ages if you didn't have a computer (or two) at home and before too long clicking and waiting became a thing of the past. Hi-speed internet is nearly universal (and sometimes free) and the ways in which we use the web continue to evolve. The staggering rate at which information is now exchanged is hard to fathom and makes me wonder how the hell people used to work. But I digress. This post was meant to celebrate the birth of that glorious "series of tubes" that allow me to get me (over)fill of random sports news and surf for porn at the snap of a finger.
And with a snap of my finger I give you the perfect marriage of porn, random sports, and various tubes: That right there is what the internet is for.
I forgot what day it was when I woke up this morning and neglected to wear something green. Nancy's invite for a corned beef and cabbage dinner tonight reminded me so I went home at lunch and found my only green sweater and the Ireland scarf I bought at a rugby game in Dublin in 1991. I'm ready to roll now.
A little later in the afternoon one of my bored friends showed up online to wish me a happy St. Pat's and pointed out that New Brunswick has it's own Irish Cultural Association. What's more, this association is lead by President Pat Murphy. I can't make this stuff up. Wouldn't it be weird to have a song written about your death long before it happens:
There is a %99.99 chance that I will hear this song (multiple times) this evening. Off to dinner.
Another Truro 7's has come and gone and my club has found itself in the midst of a 5 game losing streak in the barn. This after making it to the final 3 years ago. We need to turn this ship around. Losing does not become us. We like to say that you are fine in Truro as long as you win the party; but let's be honest that is a damn hard party to win. Personally I think we played hard but we didn't quite win it. Maybe next year...on or off the field.
It was a bad weekend for all of the Fredericton teams; our girls got bounced early and the UNB teams did as well. Fortunately the weekend was better for one Fredericton athlete; Elliott Thompson and his Carleton Ravens won the CIS Men's basketball tournament this weekend at home in Ottawa.
The Capital City Butchers will look to match his accomplisments in the upcoming Basketball New Brunswick Provincial D Division tournament in Grand Mannan at the end of the month. Wish me luck!
This week saw the last full moon of the winter. I managed to get out for a ski on Tuesday night and was reminded how much I love a full moon when there is full snow cover. It was incredibly bright out but still very cold. That made the track icy as hell and led to pretty short loop. I did have time to marvel at the bright night and think of this song:
I'm sad to report that Jim Bob Pirie passed away yesterday after a couple hard weeks of fighting after he had a massive stroke on February 17th.
I wasn't a close friend of Jim Bob's but he was the kind of guy that knew everybody whether he actually knew them or not; he was everybody's buddy (and the Facebook page dedicated to him might be the best use of the tool yet) He (and Adele and Rich) grew up in the neighbourhood and I wish that his persona was the stereotype that people think of when they think of Southsiders. He was a big happy guy that filled a room.
Jim and I shared a mutual appreciation of the Allman Brothers (and consequently the Scarecrow Blues Band) and that makes this line incredibly sad right now: "I think Jimmy must have had the right idea, Packed his stuff and he got right out of here". This one's for you Jimbo:
I meant to comment on this when it was actually news but it needs to be broadcast regardless of its timeliness. Those of you not in NB may most certainly remember the horrific crash the claimed the lives 7 Bathurst High School basketball players and their coach's wife as they returned to Bathurst from a game in Moncton last January. What you may not know is the most recent (happy) chapter.
The whole region was devestated at the loss of these students and basketball was the farthest thing from anyone's mind at the time. Over time, however, the school rallied and put a team back together around the one remaining survivor. Bradd Arsenau (above) led the team to an undefeated season and had the game of his life in the AA finals at the Aitken Center 10 days ago. He finished with 25 points and 21 rebounds, was named MVP and got to be the first to cut the mesh down from the hoop. Now he has a day he'll never forget for all the right reasons.
From December 21st through February we gain about 2 minutes of sunshine on each side of sunrise and sunset. Its a slow slog that is barely noticeable until that one sunny day in February when you actually get to leave work while it was still light out. Then, all of the sudden, BAM! Saturday night clocks go ahead an hour and I'm left struggling to comprehend why my I missed a whole hour of curling coverage. It says here that it was done to conserve energy but I still think it is a ploy by Major League Baseball to get more people to watch their games. How you ask? I haven't got a clue but it does coincide awfully suspiciously with baseball season. All I know is that I really enjoyed noticing that it was 7:30 when the sun finally set last night. That, to me, is the first real sign that spring is actually on the way.
After a 5 year hiatus everyone's favourite jam band, Phish, have reunited and last night played their first reunion show in Hampton Virginia. Google maps tells me that it is a 17 hour drive from Devon to Hampton. Not surprisingly that didn't scare Geoff North and he and Lindsay were at the show last night. I would ask him for the set list but even he isn't as quick as the phisheads.
Also not surprisingly there already tons of clips up on youtube - here, here(tramampolines!) and here:
I'd love see these guys again but I'm not ready to drive to Virginia for it. Maybe they'll come back to Limestone.
With the upheaval in the economy, constant political bickering, trade deadlines, and weekly weather bombs, it is easy to forget that we have a force of nearly 3000 service men and women deployed in Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force. Sadly the starkest reminders come in the form of memorial services on the tarmac at CFB Trenton. That was the case again this week as 3 more of our fighting men were killed in Afghanistan. Among them (on the right in the picture above) was Chad O'Quinn.
Chad was from Wassis and graduated from Oromocto High in 2003. The pictures posted on the facebook group dedicated to him make him out to be a fun-loving maniac, just like most of the guys I know. He's far to young to be dying. On that same page his tattoo artist dedicated a Metallica song to him. So here it is:
It's important to remember that those men and women are over there doing the duty they signed up for and putting themselves in harms way. Growing up in relatively close prozimity to CFB Gagetown I always had mixed feelings about military men. Most of the negatives came from jackass behaviour from drunken bucks on the town causing shit. Most of the positives came from guys that played rugby, tended to lay everything on the line in whatever they did, and became my friends. I foung this little clip that reminded me of those guys:
The girl in the picture above is 'that girl' from the Nicorette commercials. And last night she starred as the title character's lesbian love interest on CBC's Being Erica. She also grew up around the corner from me.
Anna Silk has been plugging away carving out an acting career in TO for a few years now. She has made a number of appearances in TV and movies but is probably best know for her work in commercials for Milk, MGD, and most notably, Nicorette (and here). She usually comes home for Christmas and has remained as sweet and humble as she was growing up on St. John street. I'm thrilled to see her doing so well...not to mention looking so good, and making out topless on the CBC. Gold!
You can watch the whole episode (or the topless part at about 30min in...just sayin) right here.
Washergate '09 champs show the grim determination that brought them the title.
This year's Washergate retreat was held at the beautiful Betts-Kelly Lodge (whose camps are much more real than their website) on a beautiful stretch of the Southwest Miramichi across the river from Doaktown. After a quick stop at McCloskey's for supplies we arrived with just enough sunlight to get the tourney in. During the seeding round I tanked for the top draft pick and my ploy paid off as I ended up in eighth and got to play with Hot Hand Dickens. We breezed through the semifinals and played an epic see-saw battle in the finals that ended with a rim strattler and a slider from my partner for the win (I guarantee that sentence, if ever written before, was not referring to washer-tossing). Final score 21-16 good guys. Just in time too; the light was fading fast.
We retired to the beautiful log camp and proceeded to eat, drink, and play periodic rounds of Asshole for 8 hours. We did not take try the indoor game. Amazingly we were up and out of there by 9:30 - these guys with kids have no idea what sleeping in means.
The water in front of the camp was open and flowing swiftly. If there was a sauna or a hot tub in the place a polar dip would have been (a dumb) part of the equation. It looked tantalizing but in the end not for the swimming potential but for the fish it will hold come summer. Which reminds me that the Crown Reserve deadline is this weekend so get your applications in. Also, if you are a fishermen, I urge you to check out Craiger's latest social media endevour - New Brunswick Fly Fishing. Cool idea. Until next year, you may call me (us) The Champ(s).
Our good buddy Craiger is at it again. He has leveraged his background in international marketing with his recent work with Evolving Solutions to create his own agency which will help clients take advantage of new media that is ripe for marketing opportunities. But don't take my word for it; check out the website. And, in a stroke that should prove his ability to market effectively, check out the Telegraph article that appeared the day after he launched the agency's website - here. I made fun of him for not looking very excited about the launch but he swore that the photog asked him not to smile - business is business I guess. 
