Wii-iiiiiiiiiiiiii

When the Nintendo Wii launched last November I really, really wanted to get one but knew I was completely unwilling to pay its initial launch cost. Honestly, $279 is a little steep for my pocketbook.

As weeks and then months passed, my hope of ever owning a Wii steadily diminished as empty shelves greeted Nintendo loyalists across North America. The shortage of product was astonishing. Five months after launch, stores were still only receiving a few units per week, and customers were still lining up outside Toys 'R' Us, at 5am every Saturday, to get there hands on a system.

It appears that my parent's sudden infatuation with the system, coupled with the exhuberence of the new Vegreville Wal-Mart employees, has combined forces to get me a Wii.

My parents put their name on a waiting list and were told it could take weeks, if not longer before they would be called. Just a day or two later they received their call to "pick up their Wii" and not wanting to make multiple trips to the edge of town, it appears that they picked up 3 Wii's. Yes, multiples.

They'll keep one for the Daycare (damn lucky kids, if you ask me!), Debbie is taking one for her kids, and the final one is reserved just for me. It was a shock to the system when they called me, to be sure, and I can't wait to set the little entertainment system up!

Currently: Wishing I had made better picks for my playoff pool.

She Said YES

To those of you that we haven't seen or talked to in person, we apologize if this is your first notification, but Nicole and I are now happily engaged!

The evening was March 21, 2007, and with a huge hand from Jeremy and Alex (who did all the decorating while we were out) it was a complete success. It was an absolute surprise for Nicole, the house didn't burn down, and Maizey didn't eat the engagement ring.

There's been no wedding date picked, so you'll probably be met with blank stares and varrying degrees of "ums" and "uhs" if you raise the question with either of us.


Currently: Excited, nervous, humbled, overjoyed, grateful, loved...

Does Not Play Well With Others

Though I have absolutely no problem with the existence of other people, specifically my University peers, I'm not particularily keen on having to co-operate with them. No, wait, that's not entirely true.

I just don't want my interactions with them to significantly impact my GPA, as is typically the case with damnable groupwork!

My lifestyle is not compatable with the demands of working in a group. No, I can't meet you after class, I've got to work/sleep/do nothing. I'd love to show you what I've completed already but I only do assignments the night before they're due. This applies to reading a paragraph for class or choosing a topic/starting/completing a term research paper. And no, under no circumstances will I submit an assignment in before the due date...please see the previous point.

The proof, as they say, is in the puddin':

1. Test Item Construction, group, 77% (88/115)
2. Individualized Program Plan, group, 75% (33/44)
3. Classroom Management Plan, only me, 98% (39/40)
4. Science Lesson Planning, only me, 96% (48/50)

In no way am I implying that I'm intellectually superior to the Education students around me. I'm not. Read one of my essays and your B.S. detector might burn out...but in assessment situtations, especially involving writing, I just seem to know how to massage those high marks out of the professor.

My fellow group members, I've been lead to believe, also typically score marks vastly superior to the mid-70's. So what exactly is going on here? The surest route to mediocrity begins with decisions by committee, that's what.

Currently: Pleasantly surprised that today was my last day of class...

Behind the Cage

Whenever I reminisce about playing goal in hockey, I think back to the crazy Frenchman that tended the net in Slapshot. He was, by all accounts, completely out of his mind, both on and off the ice. To a certain degree, you have to be a bit "imbalanced" to want to play a position that:

1. The entire opposing team is out to humiliate.
2. Hard objects are hurled towards you at frightening speeds.
3. An "off" game means that you single-handedly doom your team to failure.

Now, we do need a little perspective here - we're playing men's rec league ball hockey, but even this is not without it's challenges. All the laid back street hockey in the world doesn't prepare you much for performing in front of complete strangers, in a competitive situation, with a finite time limit. We'd play street hockey to 10 goals, which could take 15 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the pace. In this league you've got 50 minutes to work your magic, or alternately, 50 grueling minutes to endure a relentless ass-kicking. Game to game you just never know if you'll be facing a group of weekend warriors or an entire off-season Junior A Provincial Champion squad.

For me, personally, I've been happy with my progression in the few games that I've played goal. In my first game I was nervous, scrambling, and so hot-n-tired that I was on the verge of collapsing before the end of the first period. Since that game I find myself a bit less nervous, but way more confident. My positioning and speed is still a major work in progress, but at least I'm not fighting my own body for endurance.

Also, like most goalies, I'm completely obsessed with my stats. These, I'm happy to report, have absolutely showed signs of progress:

Game 1: Loss, 26 GA, 65 Shots, 39 Saves = 0.600 SV%
Game 2: Win, 10 GA, 42 Shots, 32 Saves = 0.762 SV%
Game 3: Loss, 8 GA, 49 Shots, 41 Saves = 0.837 SV%

Sure, I'd love nothing more than to have a 3 - 0 record, but for the moment I'll be content with statistical progress!

Currently: Starting to hydrate for the game on Saturday. Drink water boys, plenty of water!

Balanced Breakfast

Breakfast is considered the most important meal of the day. Apparently Maizey is a firm believer in this mantra.

I'd made 2 "Egg McMuffins" for my early morning commute to student teaching - the first one was delicious though the second one tasted God-awful. The reason for this discrepancy currently eludes me.

The vile disappointment sat in my car all day and froze solid. Upon returning home, Maizey was quick to pounce upon the frozen morsel. Very quick and very sneaky she was. Very sneaky indeed.

She was, however, nice enough to pose for a few pictures before dropping the inedible McTurd and slowly, ashamedly, marching straight into her kennel for some quiet reflection.

Currently: Battling a wicked cold I picked up while student teaching.

Update pwned...

Okay, so this isn't exactly a new post to get all excited about, but it is representative of potential future posting. I've been so busy lately, with so many things to do, that logically, I've done very little of anything at all. My finely crafted procrastination skills are battling head-to-head with the academic demands of my semester...and well, I suppose, the professional demands of becoming a certified educator.

I've fiddled around with the design a bit, brought on by my switch to the "new" Blogger standard. I'm quite pleased with it. I find the layout to be rather pleasing on the senses.

During coffee this morning I was reflecting (as one typically does while drinking coffee in the morning) on how many exams I've probably written in my university career...the potential tally was quite shocking. A conservative estimate would place it at over 130, with at least 45 of those being final exams. Consequently, that would also indicate I've dedicated approximately 130 nights to studying/opening my text books.

Over the course of 6 years.

Currently: Skimming over 200 pages of "supplementary readings" for my Classroom Management midterm.

Time Travel

After being 26 years old for a month now, I've realized Jeremy's lament that he "wouldn't have suggested turning 26" was painfully accurate.

This morning I completely bit it in the shower. Personally, I hadn't scheduled for that type of bathing incident until I was firmly in my 70's, but apparently incompetence knows no bounds.

One minute I was lathering myself up with some body gel and the next moment I was a crumpled heap in the bottom of the bathtub - one shampoo bottle completely destroyed, a numb left forearm, and pain radiating from all my extremities. The humiliation of physical injury is magnified by at least a factor of 5 when you're stark naked and clutching a frothy pink loofah for dear life.

Currently: Screwing around with mathematical functions in Excel.

To The Woodshed...

Though I might come off sounding a bit, well, retarded, I just can't seem to feel bad about losing 18 - 2 at ball hockey. It was a travesty of unimaginable proportions, to be sure, but I save my competitive rage for loses by fewer than 16 goals. Play hard and lose a game by 1, maybe 2 goals - that's hard on a guy's ego.

It's not that I'm not competitive or immune to the sting of humiliation when I lose, but what happened out there on the court went beyond one team playing better. It was evident after the first 3 minutes that our opponents could've done quite well in a higher division...perhaps, oh I don't know, the highest. To a man they were taller, faster, and stronger. I swear, when I took face-offs against their #2, I was practically eye-level with his navel!

Perhaps I walked away feeling good about the game because I was able to attain some personal goals. In my first game I think I was on the floor for half of the opposing team's goals. In this whuppin' my line was only victimized for one. I'm pretty sure I didn't win a face-off in my first game. Though we were getting beaten like rented mules, I managed to win about half of my face-offs. Also, I didn't trip over my own stick, score on my own net, or suffer any disfiguring injuries.

From where I'm standing, that embarrassment to the good game of hockey was an unmitigated success!

Finally, and to be completely honest, I go out there and run around like an idiot, or flop around in the crease because I'm having fun doing it. It doesn't matter if it's just the boys playing street hockey or us man-boys out there sporting Decepticon logos. I'm trying, and learning, and if what I do contributes to a victory that's just an added bonus. I appreciate the game because it's an opportunity to get together. To me, and I realize I'm bordering on the highest degree of corny-ness here, that hour of highs and lows, of those shared experiences, far outweighs the numbers on the scoreboard.

Currently: Praying that I won't be near immobilized for the next 3-4 days.

East Side Mario's < Steaming Rat Feces

Without hesitation, or lack of remorse, I would never recommend East Side Mario's to anyone wishing even an acceptable dining experience - not even my worst enemy.

Nicole and I first attempted to crash the Olive Garden but they estimated a 90 minute wait for a table. Forget that, our hungers needed satiation immediately. We kept heading south and ended up in South Edmonton Common, and to our future mutual dissatisfactions, decided to try a bit of American-Italian eating.

My God.

Though we only had to wait 10 minutes or so, we were escorted to a corner table in what I swear was the kiddy room. As we opened the menu's for the first time, Nicole casually observed how "sticky" hers was and pointed out the abundance of crusties between the laminated pages. The server came to take our orders and promptly tipped a container of whipped butter onto the table which then fell all over the floor.

When she returned with our waters and failed to clean up the mess.

After taking our orders she then swiped the menus off the table, smearing them directly over the whipped butter. I guess that solved the "sticky menu" conundrum.

She then returned with our unlimited salad and garlic bread and dropped a second container of whipped butter, this time directly in front of Nicole.

By the time our main courses arrived, we were still surrounded by gobs of whipped butter. We finally asked her to please clean up the table and she half-heartedly did so, practically pouting. By this point we felt no remorse in mentioning that she also forgot our appetizer.

This description, so far, really sounds like it was simply a bad experience with a terrible server. Sure, that was a pain to deal with, but the real reason East Side Mario's sucks ass is because the food is over-priced and terrible. The unlimited bread was dry and flavourless, and the unlimited "caesar salad" was soggy lettuce drowned in near-flavourless dressing. Not a crouton in sight. Our appetizer, calamari, not only tasted but also had the texture of something entirely artificial. I think I summed it up best when I described them as breaded condom rings.

Rubber gaskets would have also been an apt comparison.

The main courses themselves, though they were touted as the special features, were almost embarrassing to behold. Boil some pasta at home and slop on some Ragu and you've got the same thing for 1/10 the price. Nicole's shrimp, inedible. My "mini pork roast," 2/3 bone. Bah! It was absolutely awful. I feel as if words are failing me in trying to convey what a despicable restaurant the place was.

When we first got seated I made the comment that it appeared to be the "Red Robbins of Italian eateries, but now in retrospect, that comment is an unforgivable comparison to any restaurant.

Currently: Begrudgingly choking down my left-overs.

Humanmetrics

Which of the following individuals does not belong to the group?

a) Socrates
b) Rene Descartes
c) Sir Isaac Newton
d) Albert Einstein
e) Bob Newhart
f) Kristopher Skinner
g) C. G. Jung

Ha! It's a trick question! Following Nicole's lead, I filled out Jung's Typology Test and was considered to be an INTP, or an Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiving.

As with most tests of this sort, regardless of medium, the validity of the results is always in question, as is just what the test might actually be measuring, but I still get a kick out of doing them. The INTP description felt like a pretty good fit, though I initially didn't agree with the "love of mathematics" part.

Then I got to thinking...

The math course I'm taking this semester is also my best, mark-wise. It frustrates me to no end, and I have little confidence that I can succeed in my assignments, yet I'm easily 25% above the curve. Perhaps ol' Jung-o ain't so far off the mark after all.

Currently listening to: The Oilers getting destroyed by the Coyotes! Bah!

Secondary School DS Lite

This morning was my third Study Buddy session at Coronation Elementary, and as usual, I was working with two Grade 5 students. I'm usually asked to help the students with either math or reading comprehension. My first session I did both, did all reading comprehension during my second visit, and today it was all math.

These kids are in the IB Program (re: for the smart kids) so they tend to know their stuff - getting them to do their homework or stay focused on task is the challenge with them. Anyways, their teacher had suggested that we could do supplement their assignments with some flash card work. Without premeditation, the thought stuck me that I had my DS with me and a copy of Brain Age. I explained to the teacher that it could work as "electronic flash cards" and she happily agreed.

Man oh man was it a great idea! I'd have the kids work on their assignments and once they finished a section and gave it to me to mark, I'd let them work on Calculations x20. I'd have them correct their mistakes, proceed to the next section, and the cycle would continue. In a nut shell, I roped in their attention with a videogame, they got a reward for doing well, and the whole while they were still doing their math!

Brilliant!

Currently: Looking forward to my first student teacher placement.

Warm Fuzzies

Whether they're actors or not, it's still fun to see their expressions as they play around with the Nintendo Wii Remote. I figure this thing will be reasonably priced by the time I graduate with my B.Ed.

Currently: Pouring over my EDIT 202 Powerpoint notes.

Of Academic Importance

01010100 01101000 01101111 01110101 01100111 01101000 00100000 01101101 01101111 01110011 01110100 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101101 01100001 01110100 01100101 01110010 01101001 01100001 01101100 00100000 01001001 00100111 01101101 00100000 01100011 01101111 01110110 01100101 01110010 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01000101 01000100 01001001 01010100 00100000 00110010 00110000 00110010 00100000 01100011 01101111 01110101 01110010 01110011 01100101 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101101 01101001 01101110 01100100 01101110 01110101 01101101 01100010 01101001 01101110 01100111 01101100 01111001 00100000 01110011 01101001 01101101 01110000 01101100 01100101 00101100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01101110 01101001 01100011 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110011 01100101 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01100110 01100101 01110011 01110011 01101111 01110010 00100000 01101001 01101110 01100011 01101100 01110101 01100100 01100101 00100000 01110011 01101111 01101101 01100101 00100000 01110101 01110011 01100101 01100110 01110101 01101100 00100000 01101100 01101001 01101110 01101011 01110011 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01010000 01101111 01110111 01100101 01110010 01110000 01101111 01101001 01101110 01110100 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 01100101 01110011 00101110

Binary to Text Converter
Arabic to Roman Numerals Converter
English to Pig-Latin Converter
The Klingon Language Institute
Job Posting for English-Klingon Bilingualists

Yes, that's right. Based on this latest set of lecture notes, my EDIT 202 mid-term exam tomorrow afternoon will be a strange one indeed.

Currently listening to: Our Lady Peace - Wipe That Smile Off Your Face

At A Medium Pace

Twenty-six. The big 2 - 6. The square root of 676. This past Sunday was my latest in a series of annual birthdays and it was a delicious milestone. Apparently Jeremy would have advised me not to turn 26, but, well...here we are.

A handful of us went down to Gabbana: Casual Dining for a taste of inexpensive Asian-fusion dining. I'd been there once previously, quite some time ago, and it was my immediate choice after Unheardof was discovered to be far more pricey than my conscience would allow.

While waiting for a table I glanced around the room and was stricken by an eerily familiar sight. I turned to Nicole and whispered, "Hey, that guy with the glasses over there...he looks...he looks just like Mayor Mandel." Nicole didn't think it was quite an ominous coincidence. "Uh, Honey, that is Mandel." While I bartended at the Shaw Conference Centre I had the chance to serve Bill "The Best City in the Best Province in the Best Country in the World!" Smith and he was a non-tipping, pompous ass. This brush with celebrity was far less enraging.

To sum up the restaurant in one word - delicious. Despite having to resort to my 3rd menu choice, the Teriyaki Chicken Stirfry (the Carmelized Beef Brisket and Glazed Pork Medallions were both out), I wasn't disappointed. The house red wine at $15 for a 1/2L was also a tasty, refreshing deal. By the time desert arrived, which I quickly devoured, I was pleasantly full, though not overly-stuffed, as the meal had already lasted nearly 2 hours.

That was the best part of all - it's labeled "casual dining" for a reason. There was no rush to get in, eat, and get out. It was an atmosphere that encouraged conversation and relaxation. Going out to eat, especially with a group of loved ones, should only partly be about assuaging your hunger pangs.

So, over the course of the evening as I enjoyed great food and waxed poetic about "growing" homemade meat and eating babies, I couldn't help but appreciate that it was a great start to my 26th year.

Currently: Basking in the post-nervousness glow of writing mid-term exam 3-of-5.

Dry Run

Nearly an entire month since I last posted? That would have to mean I'm already 1/8 done my Education degree! Woo! Only 7 eighths to go.

I'll be heading down to Coronation Elementary for an interview tomorrow. Aside from a few chance encounters with my nieces and nephews over the past 10 years, I'll readily admit that my exposure to children is lacking... so I signed up for EPS's Study Buddy Program. Every school has different needs, but you're typically expected to volunteer 1 hour per week, tutoring either a single child or a small group of children. I won't know the specifics of Coronation's expectations until the interview. Needless to say, I'm excited to get my first, primordial, taste of being an educator.

I'm hoping my child will need help with dodgeball.

Currently: Watching the first season of Battlestar Galactica. Awesome.

Now You Know!

Google is a calculator! All these years and I had no idea...I guess this EDIT 202 course isn't a waste of my time after all. Try it out and see.

Currently: Trying out (4 * 2) -10 / 2 =

Corporate Crack Dealers

Fashion designers should be ashamed of themselves.

I'll be the first to admit that with the emergence of "low-rise" jeans, the occasional, fleeting glimpse of female butt cleavage was a new experience not entirely displeasing. Flash forward a good half decade (perhaps even longer) and the entire crack phenomenon has spiraled dangerously out of control!

It seems female dungarees now start at low-rise and progressively work down to super-ultra-low-rise...jeans, sweats, skirts, you name it. There is virtually nothing else for women to buy. Combine this fashion hijacking with shirts that insist on being deceptively short along the backside, and we've got ourselves a recipe for copious amounts of relentless ass crack.

This year at the University has been particularly bad. With a female to male ratio of nearly 40-1 in Elementary Education, this once endearing, juvenile indulgence has been unjustly overwhelmed by my classmates and their continuously exposed derriers. I'm forced to pretty much stare at the ceiling as lectures end and rows of female students arise lest I be blinded by the fluorescent light refracting at various angles off their acres of exposed flesh.

I may be a man, and a man who enjoys the curvaceous figure of the finer sex, but there's a time and a place for appreciating it. My 9:00am Math 160 lecture isn't one of those places. Shame on you fashion industry, shame on you indeed.

Currently listening to: The crinkling moans of wind on tinfoil.

Break Out The Tweed Jacket

"Nurturing children is judged very closely to molesting them... A public perception is that men who teach primary grades are often homosexuals, pedophiles or principals (in training)."

That is a quote from The ATA Magazine which also happens to be in the final assigned reading in my EDU 250 course - I chose to read the article first. I can honestly say that my foray into Elementary Education will be met with unprecedented challenges unlike any I've faced before. Never before have I had to contend with such powerful, negative (and decidedly misinformed) social stigma.

I prefer to counter my initial quote with this one:

"Schools demonstrate daily that child care is women's work. Female teachers, by their presence, demonstrate that caring is what women do. The men are 'out there.' I believe that the absence of men shows that children are not valued in our culture. It seems to me that in our patriarchal society, if children are highly valued, men would be present. Men would regard this as men's work. If children represent the future, then perhaps the future is not valued. Perhaps our society's lack of interest in raising our children shows that we are truly living only for today."

More on this looming social and professional enigma as it develops, my friends.

My first week in pursuit of a second university degree has been overwhelmingly positive and unexpectedly invigorating! It's a completely different feeling to be in the midst of a professional program - a program which is actively preparing you for a career. A program being taught by actual former teachers, who love teaching, and can't wait to ignite that fire within each of us. What a drastic departure from Sociology TA's, who exude utter disdain for undergraduates, yet are forced to "teach" them to further their academic pursuits.

From day one the Faculty of Education made it very clear that it would use every available resource at its disposal to help us students excel. The staff were present at Orientation to congratulate us for our acceptance into the program and offer preemptive offers of support. It's nice to be reminded that new learning environments and philosophies exist within the same institution I've spent the better part of the past decade in.

I can feel it already - this is the start of something great in my life.

Currently: Fighting to type accurately on my new, ergonomic keyboard.

Sweet Re-design!

I figured it was time to spruce up the ol' blog and get it ready for a whole new year of actual, frequent use.

My foray into the realm of Elementary Education begins the next phase of my life and I'm absolutely certain I'll have a few things to say about it along the way. Aside from some residual nervousness about returning to University, where I've already spent a great deal of time and money, I'm starting to get very excited about the upcoming experience.

I'm not just excited about challenging myself to learn something new, but also about some of the goals I've set for myself. Among other things, these goals include managing my savings properly, biking to school for as long as possible, eating well (re: NO bought lunches from HUB/SUB/CAB), a proper sleeping schedule, continual exercise (heck, I've put off the UofA karate club for too long!), and on they go...

Anyways, I'll be sure to keep in touch and update you guys on my progress. As for the new site design, if you're thinking this page is looking pretty blank, it's probably because you're not using Explorer. For some odd reason the template doesn't work with Mozilla?

Currently listening to: Matthew Good Band - The Fall of Man

iTunes-a-palooza 2006

According to iTunes, my music library currently stands at 1499 songs. For those of you keeping score at home, it's taking up 7.67 GB of space and can play continuously for 4.1 days.

Quite frankly, that's a shit-load of music.

Currently listening to: Metric - Glass Ceiling