I have returned from Edmonton. I almost finished two courses (I still have some papers to write), I visited with friends, and I went to Calgary for a weekend to see my nieces and nephews... and sisters and brothers-in-law. It was a lot of fun, a lot of work, and I'm happy to be home. I also saw a soccer game featuring David Beckham at Commonwealth Stadium, although I'm stilll not sure why the LA Galaxy played the Vancouver Whitecaps in Edmonton. That's not important though.
 
So I've been back for a few days and have tried to settle in to the Toronto routine. Of course that involves going to as many Jays games as possible, playing in two different softball games, and having a work schedule that has to fit around all these other things. And oh yeah... the papers to write are still lingering over my head.
 
Next week, I'm taking advantage of a good ebay deal on tickets and a good JetBlue deal on a flight from Buffalo to take a long mid-week weekend (don't ask) to see the Blue Jays play in NYC against the Yankees. Bry Fink is coming down for one, and my buddy Kyle will be joining me from Toronto. I'm sure I don't need another vacation quite yet, but this one was too good to pass up.
 
In other news, I booked my flight for Germany today. I'll be off to work at the WCF Fuessen Curling Camp in July. So many things to do, and none of them work!
 
To prove that I actually did work in Alberta, here's a picture of my research poster presentation... which explains what I'll be doing for the next year. 

 

 

First things first, Vegas was amazing. The strip is exactly what you think it is. The casinos are pretty much exactly as you picture them. Everything is as promised, from blackjack to the free drinks. The six of us had an amazing time capped off by an amazing steak dinner at the Bellagio, Loaded Landsharks at Margaritaville, and bottle service at the Rum Jungle. Of course there was craps, roulette, blackjack, and sports wagering, but none of that was kind enough to write a whole entry about. I finished the gambling only a little down. Much less than expected, anyway. Everything else, on the other hand, was a bit pricier than expected, but what else are you gonna do when you're acting like high rollers? (Appropriate answers include: don't go to the Bellagio for steak, don't get bottle service anywhere, and don't act like a high roller unless you're not going to notice the money!).

 

So then the fun and excitement moved home for a couple days. And by fun and excitement, I meant laundry, drycleaning, unpacking, and repacking. At the crack of dawn on Sunday morning I was off to the airport, heading for Edmonton for the Spring Institute associated with my Masters program.

 

So now, I'm here. Classes started today, and it all feels very familiar. My body is really confused having not slept enough in the last week or two, then changing time zones three times. It's good so far, and I'm sure there will be something more exciting to share later when I'm more awake, but that's it for now!

 

First to recap: The curling season ended on April 19th. After an unexpected run through the playoffs, our mens team ended up in the final, at the same time as our mixed team (following that expected run). We decided I would skip the mixed team and Josh would skip the mens team. We were on neighbouring sheets for Finals Night, so it was easy to keep an eye on each other. As fate would have it, we ended up winning both games and being named Club Champion for both. Winning the Mixed wasn't a huge shock (as arrogant as that may sound), but Mens was a real treat... we beat the first, second, and third seed on our way to the championship. We were 7th going into it. I finished the year winning 61 of my 95 games, a percentage around .642. I'll take it.

 

And then there were a bunch of Jays games. They've been fun so far, but the Toronto bats are a little inconsistent, sparking my early worries. I did manage to win $104 worth of 6/49 lotto tickets and a Blue Jays bag and golf shirt for my Happy Dance, which was displayed prominently on the Jumbotron. 20,000 fans chose ME!!

 

And then there were a few more courses for the old Masters. One is done, with a pretty good grade, and the other is half over and will be completed in Edmonton for the Spring Institute (starting May 4th). I've settled on my research project which you can read all about at my research project blog, A Big Sensation.

 

And then there's Vegas. Six of us are heading down in about 5 hours, staying at the MGM Grand. My brother and some friends will be down as well, staying across the street at Excalibur. So we have plans to gamble and party, watch hockey and sit by the pool, and really take in the whole Las Vegas experience. It'll be a first for most of us. Needless to say, we're excited.

 

Dammit... I just had a bunch written, and then clicked on something by accident, so I deleted it all. So anyway, I'll recap.

 

Glenmore was great. 16 people came from Toronto, 8 came up from the states. Good times were had by all. A giant pyramid was built from empty cups. Kevin bumped his head on the ice and passed out in my arms (full recovery ensued). Megan and I took turns singing with the band. You know... the usual.

 

Royals was the week after, and it was also great... as usual. The curling, food, drink, entertainment, and people were all great and the bonspiel was a great success. Tai brought me a birthday cake on Saturday night, albeit a few days early. Dad and his team were out, and all parties involved really enjoyed themselves, I think.

 

Then Tuesday was actually my birthday. We curled and made it a boozy event. I got some cards and some drinks bought for me. I got a few nice presents too like a new jersey and bag from Tai, and a new shirt from my parents. I had the following Wednesday off to recover, and write a paper... lucky me.

 

Since then, my life has been about going to Blue Jays games, keeping up on work and school, and getting my shtuff together for upcoming challenges. I'm trying to write more, keep Sportsguys updated frequently, and keep everything else under control too. Seems like I've got a lot going on lately. A few days to chillax and catch up on everything (laundry, reading, writing, web projects) etc. would be very welcome... and that may be happening this weekend.

While most of the competitive mixed teams out there were playing in regions this weekend, our decided to tank at zones so we could play in the Trenton Mixed Skins Bonspiel. Lynds and Michelle were on board, so we sent the cheque in right away. Tuesday rolls around this week, and Lynds figures out that there is no way she could make it from Kitchener because she had to work late on Friday, so we suddenly had to scramble to find a new player. After a couple stressful days, we finally secured Darrelle Johnson on Thursday night around 10pm. Michelle called around midnight and said she wasn't feeling well and wasn't going to make the trip either... so the scramble began again. Amazingly, we managed to find another player, Kim Brown, who was confirmed on Friday morning.

 

Despite a ridiculous snowstorm on Friday night, we all managed to get there on time and blow our opponents out of the water. We took all the skins (6 of 6) and sent them home broke. Then we had beers and sat in the hottub.

 

Despite a ridiculous snowstorm on Saturday, we all managed to make it back to the club for two games on Saturday, where we (again) blew our opponents out of the water, taking 6 of 6 in the first game, and 5 of 6 in the 2nd game, putting us in first place entering the Main Event semi-finals. Then we had beers and sat in the hottub.

 

Despite the 6-foot high snowbanks, we all managed to make it back to the club for our semi-final on what was actually a beautiful sunny day. We weren't quite as sharp as the previous games, but somehow managed to squeak out the win, taking only 4 of 8 skins (but we got the meaningful one), moving us to the final. The final was almost a carbon-copy of the first, but instead of taking the winning skin in the last end by hitting the 8-foot with a wide open draw, we left that one a few inches short, to force a draw-to-the-button tiebreaker... which we won by only a couple inches. Yay! 5-0, Bonspiel Champs!

 

So when all was said and done, we made enough money to cover our entry fee, the cost of our rental car and gas, Kim's train ticket from Kingston, and another bit of change for each person to take home (which offset some of the weekends bar bill). Tons of fun however, and now my name is on a trophy in Trenton!

I kept saying I would write when I had something interesting to say. Well, now I do!

 

First of all, my sister Diana had a baby boy yesterday. They named him William Allen Henry Slater. Everybody is healthy and doing well... That gives her a boy and a girl now. Sue now has two boys and a girl. No more on the schedule, as far as I know!!

 

In other exciting news, I have officially launched SportsGuys.ca (again). As you may recall, we had it up and running for a while last year, but burnt ourselves out in a hurry trying to write lenghty articles. The new site includes more writers, shorter posts, and a lot more automation, thanks to my brother's help. He's hosting the site, and we're using his code to make this thing work (just like this site!) so big shout out to him. But in the meantime, everybody check out sportsguys.ca

Well, just like last time, there's not much going on. I swear there will be news soon. I'm just waiting for a couple things to happen. In the meantime, just curling and volleyball, and the rest of the usual routine.

 

Oh yeah, and courses. Off to Edmonton in May again, and perhaps some other travelling sooner, but yes, all of this will be confirmed and reported later on.

It's suddenly late January, and following recent trends, I haven't updated too recently. It seems like I've been busy, mostly with curling lately, but otherwise just busy. Curling hasn't been going extremely well, but perhaps I'm just letdown because my expectations were a bit higher this year and I don't really feel like I've played consistently well for more than a game or two at a time. Certainly not up to my personal standards.

 

The Masters is moving right along. I'm officially done 5 courses, and currently taking 2 more. By the end of May, I'll be done 9 of the 10 courses I need to graduate, leaving one elective and a massive research project (that I hope to turn into a book). I'm trying to keep on top of things here, but the online courses seem to be a bit scattered and I always feel like I'm missing something. I'm in close contact with some of my classmates though, and we're all on the same page, looking out for eachother.

 

The Patriots are off to the Superbowl again, which pleases me. Everybody hates the Pats this year, and that's fine with me. It makes liking them more fun. The Leafs are miserable but have fired the GM, so that's good news. I'm itching for baseball to start and for a hot sandy vacation. I'm not sure which is going to happen first.

 

My latest obsession is driving. I'm watching driving videos, reading driving articles, and visiting driving websites to look at cars and whatnot. I've been stuck in "I want a car" mode for a while now, and I'm certainly at the peak of my desire and suddenly thinking I'm willing to spend more than I used to think I was. Either way, I'm probably not going to buy anything anytime soon. But when I do, I'm going to be doing some looooong drives.

 

In the meantime, I'm going to work on my writing projects and hope one of them turns into a lucrative book or movie deal.

Okay, so Merry Christmas, Happy New Year... and I'm sorry this has taken so long. I actually wrote a year in review entry, but something happened before I could post it and it disappeared, and I didn't feel like writing it all out again. It wasn't that exciting anyway.

 

I went out to Alberta for Christmas with the family. I spent a day snowboarding and another evening at the Flames-Devils game with my brother.  The rest was family time, which involved a lot of chasing my nephews around. It was nice to see everybody, considering we all haven't been together in a while... and the fact that I have a new niece that I hadn't yet met. Lucy was very cute and well behaved.

 

New Year's was spent at Kyle's house again and his James Bond themed party was a huge success. My Oddjob costume was pretty good, but I didn't quite look like a fat Japanese guy with a moustache. I did, however, look like a skinny white guy with a moustache. I was going to buy a true bowler hat to complete the outfit, but the only one i could find was $120. No thanks! Tai, Josh, Prebble, and the rest of the folks looked pretty good. Lyndsey also came down to celebrate with us.

 

Which brings me right up to this weekend... we curled at regions in Ottawa. And we were pretty awful. I didn't play particularly well, but neither did anybody else. We managed to win a game, but we lost two... which means I'm not going back to mens provincials this year. Mixed is still possible, so let's keep our fingers crossed on that one. Damien, Duane, Andy, and I still managed to have fun at a local pub on Saturday night, but the result was a lingering disappointment.

 

I start a new course on Monday.