it's juno weekend

It's juno weekend here in 'toon town and I just have to say that I'm so sick of the junos and they haven't even happened yet. It has been one big giant hype machine for weeks and really I'm fed up. Yes it's exciting that they are coming to 'toon town. In fact, the junos are putting the exclamation mark into Saskatchewan!

There have been a few good things to come out of juno weekend. One is that last call is an hour later (1:30 pm) and the bars stay open til 4 am. I do have to say that this seemed like a good thing at the time but I'm paying for it today. Also, I met Jian Ghomeshi last night which was kind of fun, given my inebriated state. We chatted about Moxy Fruvous, a band he was in.


Despite my being sick of the junos, I figure it's only appropriate for a little CANCON on the blog here. First up, a video from Moxy Fruvous:



Nelly Furtado is hosting the Junos. A group of law school students at the the big law school on the prairies in the next province west made the following video as a spin-off of Furtado's Promiscuous. A wee bit of context, the whole competition for articling positions involves countless interviews with lots of firms, and an elaborate ranking system. The video starts slow, but it's worth hanging in for:

my computer's back and there's gonna be trouble

I got my computer back. It appears roughly half of the files from the last four weeks are gone. However, friends at school have provided me with the missing pieces and I'm piecing all my notes back together. As for the trouble, with my computer back I can now blog about the annoying people who always seem to be in front of me in line.

I understand that life often throws us curveballs or surprises (i.e. see the last few posts about my computer as an example). I fully recognize that you can't be ready for everything that comes your way. I'm willing to cut people some slack for the completely unexpected things that come their way. But when you are standing in the check-out at Safeway or in line to order at Starbucks, the fact that you are going to have to pay is not one of life's surprises.

It never ceases to amaze me the number of people who seem completely surprised by or unprepared for the fact that they are going to have to pay at the check-out or the cash register. Have you never participated in society before? Have you been raised by wolves and this is you first foray into society? This is standard procedure. There is no reason for you not to be prepared for this eventuality. Maybe you live in constant hope that today will be the magic day you don't have to pay, but for those of us who are realists and in a rush, for god's sake be ready to pay.

You've already been standing in line a while, you've had plenty of time to prepare yourself. Now, I'm not asking that you stand there with the exact change for your purchase ready to pay. But at least get your wallet, cash holder, credit or bank card out and ready. The person at the check-out states the cost of their purchase, and the person in front of me gets this surprised look on their face and start fumbling around trying to find a mode of payment. Take a lesson from the Boy Scouts and be prepared.

computer limbo

Still no word on the computer yet. In the interim I am receiving notes from other people in class to make up for the lost four weeks of notes. Hopefully within the next couple of days everything will be sorted out.

BTW if you didn't receive any email from me yesterday with all of my revised contact information please let me know by email and I will forward it along to you.

isn't it ironic

So on the weekend, I'm being a good little boy and backing up all my school files of my computer so I can get them all organized for exams. However, while backing up my files, more than half of them (my school notes for the year) got corrupted. I didn't know this so after working on some of them (the non-corrupted ones), I copied them back onto my laptop. This essentially took what good files I had left, erased them and replaced with them with the corrupt files.

None of this was discovered until class yesterday when I went to open my class notes and couldn't. Very quickly the extent of the damage was revealed. Two weeks before exams, my notes are gone, all because I tried to back them up. My computer has been in the shop since them and they are trying to recover the files but things aren't looking up.

So blogging may be a little light for the next little while because I don't know when the computer will be back. Also, I moved into a different apartment over the weekend and I no longer have internet or cable tv at home. Although this will be conducive to studying, it will not be conducive to blogging.

BTW - we lost 5-2 in the semi-finals to the girls with their own equipment, which we feel was a respectable showing, so the season is finally over.

we are the jamaican bobsled team of curling

Somehow despite ourselves we ended up in 6th place in the curling league when they combined the two "C" groups. It appears we ranked higher than a lot of other teams at 2-4 in our points-for/points-against ratio. We were a +4. Anyways, 6th place got us a bye into the quarter-finals. Our resounding victory last week must of so intimidated our opponents that they did not show up. We played another team who didn't have an opponent just for fun and practice. Anyways what this means is we are now in the semi-finals, and have to play again on Sunday. We are exactly one win away from the finals. Our little rag-tag group of unlikely curlers has gone far.

the international bank of glen

Yes my ever increasing role in international finance has brought me a wealth of new riches and attention. First off, I've received blog visitors form Ghana and Austria through the international bank of glen. I'm expecting loan requests from them soon. I'm still waiting for the visitors from Switzerland or the Cayman Islands to show up and ask me to join their club, but that may still be a way.

So why all the excitement and trumpeting? Remember Natik, the cattle breeder. Well, he has started repaying his loan. This week, I received the first payment on my loan, $4.19 That's almost a 1/5th of the loan paid off, disbursed among the various lenders. With the loan he was able to double the number of cattle he has from three to six.

A full list of stories on my new career as an international financier can be found here.

my name is glen and I have an addiction

Today, I decided to take back all the empty cans of diet coke I had stored out on the balcony. Here in SK there's a 10 cent deposit on all cans. I loaded up the truck and drove over to the recycling depot. I left with $44.30.

That's 443 cans of diet coke. I'm amazed I sitll have innards and that the aspartame hasn't rotten them all away. I guess I am proof that all those aspartame warnings on the Internet aren't true. In my own defence that was about seven months worth of pop. That works out to an average of 63 a month, so approximately two a day. There that doesn't seem so bad, does it?

we will, we will rock you

In all the St. Paddy's Day goings on, I forgot to update you on our end of the regular season curling game. We played this past Sunday. That's right, the day after St. Paddy's Day. We were all a little worse for the wear, but were determined to be there. We played a group of Nursing Grad Students and we won! They gave up when the score was 7-0. A full-on victory with the whole team present and hung over. Playoffs begin (and will likely end for us quickly) this weekend.

you like to watch

I should have known but as soon as there's a picture of two guys kissing, my web counter goes through the roof. Pervs and voyeurs all of you. Monday set an all-time record here on the blog for the number of visitors in one day. Then again maybe it was the brilliance of England's Eurovision entry that kept bringing you back for more?

belated blogging

Ooops, ended up missing yesterday. It was a long day. It was up early and off to school for class. From there it was campaigning on the funding of service centres on campus. After that, lunch at Louis' (campus pub) that turned into a couple of beers. Afternoon classes, then I ended up back to Louis' again for happy hour, which when that ended became $1 drafts. Damn you Great Western.

From Louis' it was off to the Colonial for some Karaoke. My voice is still a little sketchy today from that high note at the end of "Summer Nights" from Grease. Anyways, didn't get home until after 2 and it was straight to bed to be up and at'em for 8:30 tutorials. I just have to say that I have 10 years on the people I was drinking with last night, and I was the only one who made tutorial this morning. Amateurs!

And to think, I just sat through a presentation on binge drinking last week.

oh the campy goodness

Regular readers of the blog are familiar with my rants about Eurovision. In particular my concern about Morrissey getting involved as England's representative. Well it appears Morrissey came to his senses and ended up not getting involved.

England did an idol-like vote-in to decide this year's Eurovision entry and the winners were a band called "Scooch". It doesn't get more campy than this, I think England may acutally stand a chance, it's that bad. Plus, is there anything campier than flight attendants? The song is called "flying the flag".

i'm so sick from the drink i need home for a rest

So it was the big law school St. Paddy's day event yesterday and as obvious from the earlier post I may have drank a little too much green beer. Stories and photos from the event are circulating (on facebook) and a few have made it my way:

It appears there was a lot of this:



Which led to this:



And then to this:

more to come later

it's still not easy bein' green

Well it's St. Patrick's Day today! Unfortunately my other citizenship provides me with a proud history of oppressing the Irish so I really shouldn't be celebrating today, but hey it's an excuse to party. I must admit I've never been a big fan of green beer. I've just seen it come back up too many times to really get into it. Given all this, I'll still be at an Irish pub today, putting back too many green beers of my own and singing along to "Black Velvet Band".

up to my old tricks again

Some of you may remember this old post about how I wasn't as engaged in student politics here on the prairies as I was the first time at university in Waterloo. Well things have taken quite a turn of events in the short period of time since that post.

This week has seen a rapid rise in my engagement in student politics. For example, last night I spent three hours at the University Student Council meeting speaking out about budget cuts to service centres on campus. This was after sending an email to all council members on the issue. I even ended up speaking at the meeting. I'm also really proud of our brand new law rep to Council, it was his first meeting and he stood up and took people on. I now read the student newspaper regularly to follow the latest antics of our student union.

This week I also met with the Dean of the little law school on the prairie about the environment for LGBT students in the College. I have his support to start an association for LGBT students and supporters at the school. Also this week I contacted the co-chairs of the new law building committee to push for a single-stall gender neutral bathroom in the college and it looks like one will be set-up.

Finally, looks like I'll be going to faculty council next week to push for adoption of the positive space program in the college. All this increased activity, just in time for exams. It appears I'll do anything to procrastinate.

de do do do, de da da da

The final part of planning for the Police concert fell into place today. Earlier this week, out of concern of ever increasing flight prices, I bought the plane ticket to get me from YK to Deadmonton. It was more than $700. I paid an extra $90 to get a fully refundable ticket on the chance I could get a seat sale close to the date.

Lo and behold, I got an email from Canadian North today announcing a two-day seat sale, today and tomorrow. Sixteen minutes on the phone at the end of class resulted in a new booking for $350 less than my original fare, and a full refund on my earlier ticket. Sweet. I love Canadian North.

So now, the trip breaks down as follows:

Floor Tickets for the Police Reunion Tour: $95
Round trip airfare to get to the concert: $435
Fighting Sally for the chance to hump Sting's leg: Priceless

mother nature's bitch

After days of well-above zero and sunshine, the snow was all melting and spring seemed on the horizon. Well nope. Yesterday, I was Mother Nature's bitch when expecting similar weather I left in a sweater and down vest and made my way to school. In no time at all, it was -20 and -30 with the wind chill. Snow was falling fast and hard, and being blown all around.

As I was driving yesterday, Mother Nature had another way of having her way with me. The snow had melted out of the back of the pick-up truck and it appears the patio stones weren't enough weight. The streets were solid ice from all the melting of the previous days, and finely dusted with a fresh layer of snow to make them that much more slippier. The truck was sliding every which way. Plus it appears most people forgot how to drive in winter after only a few days of spring. I barely stopped in time to avoid one accident from someone not looking and not leaving enough space.

This morning I woke up to -26 temperatures for the trek to school. It appears winter won't be ending any sooner down here, than it does up north.

dogs in space

A person at law school showed my this video today. It's funny but wrong. It looks like the pilot did a dive to achieve zero gravity and this is the result:

caught on film

My recent attendance at the Green Party event at the little law school on the prairie was caught on film and is on the green party web site. Thankfully it's only a shot from the back, so unless you knew it was me and that I was there you wouldn't know. It's not like I'm going to show up on a brochure. That's me at the bottom of the photo in the whitish-coloured shirt looking like I'm playing "itsy-bitsy spider".

the thrill of victory…and the agony of defeat…

There was a lot of curling this past weekend and we were down a member of the team, but we experienced for the first time the thrill of victory, and far too often the agony of defeat.

On Friday, we took part in the LLSOTP bonspeil. Organized by the student association, it was held on campus and involved 8 teams, playing little three-ender games. We lost our first game (playing with three) against a team that used stopwatches and had tons of their own gear. They were out to win the whole thing. Our second game we started and picked up a fourth player. It was great, we all made shots and won four nothing. Our first victory. The third game, still with our extra player, we lost.

On Sunday, we won by forfeit as the other team did not show up. Playing with a substitute for a fourth player, we played a two-end game against another team who had no opponent as well. We won that game with some good shots. We then played a little two-on-two action just to get some extra practice in. It was actually a lot of fun. Our first end saw almost all the rocks in play. The second end, I made a great double takeout that was probably my best shot all year.

Our "regular season" play is done, and we have the playoffs starting next week. We figure we probably have one more game before we're knocked out and done for the season.

guilty pleasure #11

MuchMore Music Retro is currenly offering a free preview and I'm hooked. All this retro music is just taking me back. I find it interesting that retro is defined as 80s and 90s, but it's a chance for me to indulge some more of my guilty pleasures. Meat Loaf has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. I've always preferred him in a duet, so here's a pair of videos, featuring one old duet with Cher, singing "Dead Ringer for Love" and one new duet with Marion Raven "It's All Coming Back to Me Now".

Old:



New:

watching the world go forward

Here in Saskatchewan! we don't do daylight savings time, or maybe it is that we do it all year long. While everyone else was "springing forward" last night, we sat back and watched.

It's strange not being part of something, being on the outside looking in. This is the first time in my life that I haven't had to "spring forward and fall back". It's one of those things you grow up doing and to not do it as a little strange.

Not having to spring forward has some definite advantages. First, I don't have to run around changing all my clocks. There was always one I would forget, stove, microwave, tv, vcr, car, etc, and the result was confusion. Second, I don't lose an hour of sleep, which is a big bonus for me. This time of year, the media always trot out some study about increased car accidents in the days following the "spring forward" because of sleep deprivation. Third, with the spring forward, where I'll be living this summer is now on the same time as Saskatchewan! so there's no adjustment when I move back this summer.

There are some disadvantages though. Until yesterday I was an hour away from everybody. With family and friends in Alberta, Ontario and the NWT, it was very convenient to be one hour from all of them. An hour behind those east of me, an hour ahead of those west of me. Now, I need to remember I'm the same with those west, and two hours behind those east of me.

Another disadvantage is television. You get into a habit of certain shows being on at certain times. Now, they will all be moving around because most of our channels are from the east, or far west. It'll take a week or two to figure out where things are at. Plus it's kind of inconvenient that things on at 8 pm EST are on at 6 pm here. It doesn't given much time to get home and settle in. Oh for the days when I had time shifting.

this ain't your mother's tea party

So, I went to a T-party last night. The idea of the party was to come dressed as something that begins with a "T". There were tree huggers, a trapper, a trojan condom, trailer trash, tight ropers, tinkerbell and a tobaggon. One of the law school BFs and I went as "Toronto Fire Twins". A thanks to the big brother for the Toronto Fire swag, it came in handy for the party.

One of the best things about the party was that there was a ping-pong table in the basement. I haven't seen one of those in years. It was great. We alternated between Beer Pong, an elaborate game of cups, beer and balls being thrown into them, requiring people to drink, and regular ping-pong.

Most people have pool tables, but very few people have ping-pong tables anymore. I had one in our basement while I was growing up and it was always a lot of fun. Demand for the table was high last night, but it's surprising how quickly the skills come back. I can't stand 10 feet back from the table and whip shots at light speed, but I was able to hold my own.

It's time for a ping-pong revival. People everywhere should be putting ping-pong tables in their basements. It's good for the reflexes, and it's a handy and ready drinking game for parties, or simply as a time-killer.

where in the world...

It's been quite some time since I've had a real unusual hit to the blog. Just yesterday though, I had a hit from Ghana, Africa. It appears they found me through my writings on kiva. One more continent to go and I think I have them all covered.

let's get physical

I was at the gym today with one of the Saskatoon Uncles. We try to go twice a week. As we were doing our exercises today, the thought crossed my mind about how much the weight equipment look more like medieval torture devices than workout equipment.

Now I'm constantly looking over my shoulder for the angry mob waving their flaming torches, or the hooded executioner. Really, there must be some other way to design these pieces for better visual appeal and ease of use.

Physical exercise shouldn't be torture. I understand that there needs to be some work involved or what's the point but really do they need to look so intimidating?

it's not easy bein' green

Elizabeth May, the leader of the federal Green Party of Canada came to the little law school on the prairie today. I went to hear her speak.

Given that she was speaking at the LLSOTP, her talk was mainly about the Kyoto Protocol as an instrument of the law. Ms. May is a lawyer by training, and had some good one-liners about lawyers, and the talk was quite interesting. All of the question period was focused on Kyoto, climate change, and environmental issues.

I think the Green Party may actually have some interesting ideas, but I don't know how they will ever get past being painted as a single-issue party. Yes recent polls have shown that the environment is the new "health care" when it comes to issues, but even if it is the "most important" issue to Canadians, I still don't see a single-issue party being elected in large numbers.

They appear to have a fairly broad program, and I understand that in Europe, the Green Party is seen as more of a conservative focused party, even though here they are seen as left-wing.

Unfortunately, I don't know what they can do to get past the single-issue label. Elizabeth May seems a very smart and capable leader, but given her background with the Sierra Club, people think of her and the environment. As noted earlier, all the questions were on the environment, nothing on the rest of the platform.

I notice on the Green Party web site they are looking for a Director of Communications. In the absence of a communications director, I will offer my advice, based on today's event and from my experience as a communications advisor, in another edition of PR101:

1. Don't always speak about the environment

Yes, dance with the one who brought you, put try to frame your topics in a larger context. Talk about how the environment links to other issues, i.e. health, economy, etc. For example Canada's Green Economy.

2. If asked to speak on the environment, use the question period to introduce other elements of your program.

This is called "bridging". Today, Ms. May was asked what would the Green Party do to meet our Kyoto committments. She talked about a carbon tax. When you raise the carbon tax, use that as a bridge to talk about your economic platform. Ms. May briefly raised the issue of shifting the tax burden, but without much details. A question on GMO foods, bridge to talking about regulation of products, to health to health care. I will give some credit to Ms. May as she did do some bridging but never far enough away from the environment to redirect the conversation.

3. Provide media availability at all presentations.

I watched the news coverage on CBC and there was coverage of her talk but no interview. It's possible there is any number of reasons for this, scheduling, lack of media interest, etc, but this needs to be pushed. The current government does this a lot. Local media is an effective tool, and an interview with a federal leader will create a greater splash in a smaller media environment.

4. Plug, plug, plug.

Never forget to plug your web site. I think Ms. May did this once today, but in snappy short answers you can never cover enough material. Always refer people to your web site for more information once you have given an answer on that topic. People who are really interested will go and look.

5. Short, Snappy Answers

Ms. May's background as a lawyer, policy advisor and activist, and her extensive knowledge of these issues were all obvious today. Her answers were thorough and comprehensive. Unfortunately these answers take up too much time and don't make for good sound bites. Now don't get me wrong, there is a time and place for long answers and explanations, but it works better in smaller groups.

6. Depth, Depth, Depth

Right now the Green Party is seen as a single-issue/one-person party. Talk about the team, the party, that's there's depth to the organization. When doing local presentations, trot out some past or current candidates, riding association officials, even head of the campus club. Show that the party has an organization and depth. Show that a national team is in place. If you're only developing this national team, it's even more important to show this. Also, this provides a local face that people can follow-up with once the leader is gone.

7. Giving votes meaning

Contrary to what many people say, people don't want to throw their votes away. The Green Party needs to give people an idea of what their vote will mean if cast for them. Be realistic, don't expect to convince people you'll form a majority. But what will a vote for the Green Party mean. The NDP and Liberals are saying that a vote for the Green Party is a vote for the conservatives, because it's a vote taken away from these two parties. Don't let your opponents define you. Make clear statements about what Green Party MPs will mean for Canada. For example, how the Green Party can introduce new ideas into debates and committee proceedings; in another minority gov't the Greens could hold the balance of power and influence policy. A vote for the Green party signals a change in Canadian's priorities.

that's the look, that's the look

I was told today "You can put that 'look' away now mister". The little sister has done an impersonation of one of my looks on her web site. Countless others have commented on the various different looks I tend to give. I remember people saying things like "I know what you're thinking" and I'll say "what, I didn't say anything" and they'll respond, "you don't need to, you gave a look".

I'm not sure where these various looks come from. I guess rather than carry my heart on my sleeve, I show my thoughts on my face. I'm beginning to realize that maybe I need to start curbing some of these looks. I think they get me into trouble more often than not.

The question is how to do this? How do you make yourself less expressive? I'm having these thoughts, there's no doubt about that. But how do you keep them off your face? I don't know whether I can control my expressions.

I'll confess and admit that sometimes a look is given on purpose. But other times they are solely a reflection of what's going on with my hand. I guess a career as a high-stakes poker player is out of the question, which is good considering this earlier post.

Maybe the only solution is to have less of these thoughts, and then the looks wouldn't happen. I don't know how, but I'm going to have to start working on it and save the looks for those moments when they are truly necessary.

go on take the money and run

I hate banks, I wish I could take my money and run away from them. I've never understood banks. I'm giving them my money to keep safe, they are allowed to make money off of my money, don't really have to give me anything in return, and then charge me to get at my own money. Plus they are constantly coming up with new and exciting offers that in the end will only make them more money off of me.

I called my bank because of two concerns, the first being that I wanted a new copy of my credit card. The stripe has worn out on mine and in some stores, and quite frankly I'm fed up waiting while some 16 year is trying to figure out how to take a paper imprint of my card, because the scanner won't read it. These kids have no idea that for years all credit card transactions were done on paper carbon slips. Finally, someone above the age of 25 will show up and teach them how to do it.

The second reason that I had called was that as I was checking my statement online I noticed that nothing had been posted to my card for almost two weeks. Now, I had been spending money so this didn't make sense.

I finally got a hold of a person, told them about the second reason that I was calling and was told that was because a new card had been issued to me two weeks ago, with a new number. I hadn't asked for either. They were doing it for security reasons (the Winners losing credit card numbers fiasco). I was also told that my current card is only good for six more days, yet I have still not received the "new" card.

I also asked about my automatic payments and charges. "Oh, you'll need to change all those, and you should do it in the next couple of days otherwise they won't go through anymore." I expressed my lack of pleasure with this, and that I hadn't asked for any of this and I was told, "Well yes, it is inconveeeeenient, but not as inconveeenient as FRAUD!" I explained that there had been no fraud so really this was just inconveeeeenient for me. I don't think he appreciated my tone, but I didn't appreciate him turning inconvenient into a 20-second long word.

I asked the question that since CIBC had arbitrarily made this decision, could they not have spent some of the hundreds of millions of dollars of profit on sending us all a letter first, letting us know what would be happening with our accounts. In reply I was told, "Well there's a letter with your new card." I pointed out that I had not received the new card, and that is the flaw with their thinking.

I really wish that when the little recording tells you, "your call will be recorded for quality assurance and may be analyzed for customer service," you had an option to press 1 for a copy of the recording of this call, or at the end of the call, have "press 7 to have the recording of this call listened to by someone who can actually do something for you."

Unfortunately it seems I am only ever faced with the option of "press 666 to remain in customer service hell".

i thought today was the day

It was back to the curling rink today, and I really thought today was the day we would get our first win. It was close, but the other team made a fabulous last shot and we lost by 1, with a final score of 4-3. We were much better today, and a little more consistent, but I missed quite a few shots, which was frustrating to end.

We have a new theory, we'll lose our games, build a false sense of confidence in our opponents for when we get into the playoffs. Then, we'll show up with our game on and clean up. Well that's the plan, but I'm not holding my breath.

But really, I'm not that upset because I'm going to see the Police in concert!

walking on the moon

I'm so excited! I have tickets to the Police in Edmonton!

brother can you spare a dime?

It's been a while and I've been keeping my eye out for a new project to fund through kiva. I've decided to support a firewood business in Afghanistan. Information on the project can be found here.

I choose Afghanistan because of the war going there and the Canadian soldiers. I figure the sooner the country can get onto a firmer economic footing, the sooner things will improve. Development, and not anything else is going to solve the problems there. Without economic development, I see Afghanistan, and the Canadian presence there continuing forever.

Now that they are there, I support our forces. We have entered the country, it is our duty to support them and to stay there until the situation is stable. We have a responsibility to fulfill our committments. But if we can help move things along through development, I'm all for it.

guilty pleasure #10

Alright, I know I will take nothing but flack for this, but it is time for more britpop. It appears that most of the Spice Girls have given up the ghost. Victoria Beckham has made a career out of being a footballer's wife, Mel B is having somebody's babies, Ginger has faded away, but Emma Bunton and Mel C are still out there pushing on trying to build a solo career.

The little sister put me on to "Baby Spice" Emma Bunton's latest effort, a cover of "Downtown". Pay attention to the video and you'll find something quite funny during each chorus.



"Sporty spice" Mel C, not to be left behind has just released a cover of the 80s pop classic "I want candy". Pay attention to this video and if you can, try to explain the presence of the almost fully dressed riot squad.

the subject of school girls' fantasy

Take a deep breath everybody, the reunion tour of "the Police" is coming to Edmonton. This is the closest the tour will get to either of my current residences. I have loved the Police for years. It was actually my older brother who introduced me to them. He was a big fan of them and I think I picked it up through osmosis.

Anyways, I'll try to get tickets to the concert and then worry how I will deal with the 1500 kms between me and Edmonton.

the zen of curling

I realized that for those who may actually be following our progress, I forgot to blog about our law school curling team's game this past Sunday. That's probably because the game itself was rather forgettable.

In earlier posts, here and here, I had mentioned how when it came to curling, for our team it was better to be lucky than to be good. This past Sunday, our luck ran out. I think the final score may have been 9-4 but we kind of lost track at the end of the game. At that point we were just trying dramatic shots for fun, than through any concerted effort to catch up.

It appears that two weeks off wiped out what if any technique we had learned. It was not a great day for Lord Denning's namesake team.

The interesting thing that we did find though is that none of us think about school while we are playing. We become focused on the game, the games around us, little conversations during the break, but we never talk about school. It's great. We've coined this phenomena "the zen of curling". I'm sure any activity would produce similar results, but it's nice having a break from the constant thoughts of school.

For two hours on Sunday, the books are forgotten and our thoughts turn to the ice, rock and broom. Maybe we aren't winning because we're too relaxed, but it's probably just because we're not good.