Saturday, July 15, 2006

No title needed. Just more disconnected ramblings

So Ball Hockey is done for another season. I’m not going to participate in the winter league as the dollar store goes absolutely crazy over the winter season and the winter league has games at crazy times like 11pm Tuesday nights, or mid afternoon Saturday when I have to be at work. Too bad though, I have tons of fun with this and it’s a good way to get some intense cardio in.
If I had to use one word to sum up the season it’d be frustrating. True to form, the last game was no different. Most of the games we had few players show up, reasons ranged from work, holidays (both of my excuses for missing) to no reason given. The second last game, we had three subs. Imagine running ones eyeballs out while only have 3 guys sitting on the bench. Needless to say we were tired and moving pretty slow. Thankfully the other team was hopeless and we won big time. The last game was a bit better in regards of players as two of the young guys brought their dads to the game(!!) and some more guys showed up and we actually had 6 dmen. I didn‘t know what to do with myself sitting on the bench, my stamina and recovery has built up since I played so many games with so few players. Still, it was the same old same old for me, plus 3 on the night, no points and we lose 7-5. Next year the team will be run by a few different guys, they’ll be some new players and hopefully things will go our way. I must admit this team gets the strangest bounces of any team I’ve ever been on, and those bounces do cause losses.

I’ve hired a few people on my own at the store now. I’ve got three helpers so to speak. Two are young kids, one going into grade 10, another Nigerian kid going into grade 12. They are both very raw let’s say but learn quickly and are willing. The Nigerian’s dad just came by to see how he was doing. Very nice family. Fun to be a little older (I’m turning 30 next week) and seeing kids in a first job. As long as they are willing, show up when they are scheduled too I’m happy. Trouble with the dollar store is a victim of our own success thing. Sell so much can’t keep stock on the shelves and have trouble restocking it all fast enough. We are going to run a Sunday night stock shift till 10 or so. This is only going to get worse as xmas approaches. Ahem. WE HAVE SILLY STRING FOR A DOLLAR.

I’m a bit torn with my pursuing my other idea, but any way you look at it I’m doing well and am happy.

This blog has just passed 2000 hits. Most hits have viewed my entry about leaving auto sales and most of those hits have come from an editors blog on Edmunds.com (http://blogs.edmunds.com/strategies/category/cat.BuyingNewCars) about halfway down.

A good smattering of hits have also come from thetruthaboutcars.com and thecarconnection.com.

Things I think I think
- I’ve been following along with the business of hockey once again, but not the game. Odd really.
- Consumers are absolute demons. Wrecking the store almost daily. The toy aisle looks like we are running a day care here with all the packages ripped open. Don’t want something, just toss it out of your cart wherever you want.
- I haven’t been following NFL football at all.
- We’ve just bought an expensive guitar, I’m trying to learn chords and what not. My first goal is Times Like These - Foo Fighters. My finger tips are sore. The next song will be I’m an asshole by Dennis Leary.
- Bowflex workouts are ok. The machines 90+ exercises are a farce. Maybe 35 useful ones and I haven’t done all the leg exercises yet. Squats doesn’t look good and I’ll try it tomorrow or Monday. Arms and pecs and shoulders are ok. Back is a bit hit or miss.
- I’ve not gotten squat all done in my back yard yet. Both my neighbors have tons of stuff done already.
Fin.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Hi

Stupid friggin internet. Drops me in the middle of a wonderfully written, nobel prize winning (nobel prize for blogging, ya why not?) entry.

I still play ball hockey. I still dream like a little kid yelling: I’m Mario, I’m Gilmour, I’m the G man. Me, I’m Luke Richardson. I’m Murray Baron. I’m Jay McKee. I’m Scott Stevens, ‘cept without the toughness or the points or the ability…nah, I’m not Stevens. My team went 4-15-2. 6 of those losses were by a single goal. We are just missing that one little push to get over the edge. The forwards were talented enough I suppose, but maybe one more guy who could put the puck in the net would have done the trick. Of course, offense from the blue line was nasty bad. We basically were a D that tried to not fuck it up and let the O do there thing. With two games to go I have 7 assists in 15 games and 22 pim.

Work is fun. I’m challenged, motivated and happy. It’s a real bugger at times, no bed of roses but still, it beats working for someone else. In past corporate jobs at which I was competent but highly disinterested the quote from Office Space says it best

“That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that, and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.”

I can’t ever see me back in a corporate spot, office towers, cubicles, large lumbering nonsensical companies filled with layers of technologically challenged superiors who exist based on the idea of seniority and experience vs. the new wave of technology embracing youngsters. Corporate = crushing. I don’t believe in the corporate ladder anymore, it just ain’t there to climb and it’ll probably never be me again.

I bought a bowflex. Tired of watching late night infomercials I kept and eye on the bargain finder. Eventually, after a few weeks of watching on popped up that I was interested in and he only wanted 1400. Pfft….ONLY 1400. AS IF I’D PAY THAT.I offered 500, the guy came back and said he was going to hold out for 1000. I said ok, fine, my real number is 750. So a week or so passed and he emailed back. Now I have a bowflex ultimate in my basement with all the attachments (dude said he paid around 2800). Did my first workout tonight, a bit of a pain in the arse moving those pulley things around, but still it does a decent job. Different feel than free weights, not sure if better or worse yet. So to recap, I turn 30 on the 20th, I live in the burbs, I own a bowflex.

I helped a friend buy a car on holidays. Since you asked, yes, that was my idea of a great holiday, I had great amounts of fun helping with the purchase. After looking at several solid options he decieded on a 97 mustang GT. I was a little worried that it might have been driven hard, but it ran well on the test drive not an ounce of smoke out the tailpipes at start up. The sales dude said a woman in her 50’s traded the machine in and she had owned it since new. Good enough deal, a nice treat after many years of exile in Dublin completing med school and on a tight budget. Good car, drove out well. Not much of a winter machine but it’ll be good enough.

I told my friends at Nissan about helping him buy that Mustang. I told them he bought that over a Volvo (they aren’t a fan of) and a Maxima. One guy asked if I fell and bumped my head. Mustang over Maxima. Untrue to my roots. Lol.

Things I think I think:
- I think Xmas is going to be insane this year for business
- I think people who gripe about the GST cut only being a few pennies on their purchase should shut up and realize that over the course of a month, year, decade it adds up.
- I think that Dudesons show was quite funny on spike tonight
- It would seem to me that the business of hockey, although not the game, has me interested once again. Player movement and the cap = fun. Game = still kinda dull
- That Bowflex 51 year old grandmother has a website http://www.fitgrandmother.com/
- Nissan is down 19% this year in Canada. http://www.nissannews.com/corporate/news/current/20060705100036.shtml
- That nutbar in North Korea, I can’t even fathom his logic at the best of times. Maybe they should buy him a copy of World of Warcraft and he can get hooked like South Korea. “ In South Korea alone, there are nearly 2.5 million people playing online games on a regular basis, and it’s the inertia of South Korea’s vivacious game culture that is forging the path that other Asian countries are following.”
- This is funny. Try it for a workout once. 6 mins of high energy. Bonus points if you can do the wurm.