Last night, as I was driving back to North Bay. I was listening to one of the many hilariously ironic local radio stations. As I pulled off the highway, the news came on.
"Stephane Dion is the new leader of the Liberal Party, beating out Micheal Ignatieff in the final ballot"
I was simply amazed. In recent years, the political process has been very frustrating for me. With the recent election victories of George W. Bush and Stephen Harper, I was losing faith in decision making abilities of the masses. Two absolutely terrible choices to lead their respective countries into the 21st century were chosen and we are forced to watch the body count grow and the ozone layer thin as a result.
But with that simple bit of news real my spirits were lifted. Since he first tossed his hat into the ring I have been a huge supporter of Mr. Dion. He has a very progressive stance on the environment, he is bilingual, he stood up to Separatists when he helped draft the Clarity Act, and he had that whole underdog vibe going for him in this convention.
As the summer turned into fall and the Leadership Convention approached, I started to worry that Dion was going to be on the outs. My deepest fear was to have Ignatieff take the win. I was telling myself all week that if he was the new leader I was going Orange, and never looking back. Thankfully I was saved of this one. I had started to accept the possibility of voting for a Bob Rae lead federal Liberal Party, something that I never would have dreamed of back in early 1990's Ontario.
Now I have been a supporter of the Liberal Party for a while, not so much because of ideology, as that goes more towards the NDP, or possibly Green Party, but because they are the best vote against the Conservatives. However, in recent years with the Sponsorship Scandal and all of Martin's idiocies I became very disillusioned with them. Yet, now here I am amazed that they decided to do the right thing and support Dion.
I honestly and sincerely hope that this Conservative Minority comes to a close and we can vote Dion in as soon as possible. He may just end up being the best Prime Minister we have had in a long time.
So I would like to say thank you, to the Liberal Party. After years of riding your own coat tails, and robbing from the very people you swear to serve, you did the right thing and I for one appreciate it. I really hope that the rest of the country does too.
Until next time,
G
Sunday, December 03, 2006
I Always Knew I Was Exemplary, Now I Have Written Proof
Well my latest teaching placement has come and gone, and I am back up in North Bay right now. I must say, that I missed the dirty, snow and junkie filled town that I have been calling home for these past few months. A huge smile came across my face as I saw the North Bay sign, and an even huger smile came across my face when I noticed all of the snow that has fallen. It reminded me yet again why I love winter in this country so much. It is hard to be mad or cranky when there is pure white fun falling from the sky.
While I am glad to be back up here, I am really sad to be done down there. I said goodbye to my students a few days ago and I miss them a lot already. I was really worried when I found out that I was going to be in a Grade 8 class, since I don't remember being all that plesant at 13. But those kids completly changed my ideas about that. I absoluetly loved working with all of them. They were so funny, and their personalities had yet to be crushed by the cruelty that is High School.
On my last day, they gave me a card, which they all signed, and all took turns hugging me. They kept asking me if I was going to teach at St. Paul's (the local High School, that they are all going to next year) since they wanted me to be their teacher. It melted my heart when they left. I am so curious to find out how they all do in the coming months and years. The hard part is that I doubt I will ever really find out how they made out. I guess I will be left with an entire career of wondering ahead of me. One of those things I guess I didn't prepare myself for getting into this profession.
After all of the students left I sat down with my Associate Teacher and he showed me my Practice Teaching Report that he had prepared for me. We get ranked on a lot of different categories on a four point scale of Exemplary, Proficient, Adequate and Does Not Meet Expectations. And well, I did quite well for myself, earning a mark in all of the categories of at least Proficient, with several Exemplaries in there. Also, there was a space for each of the past three weeks, and I was ranked as Proficient in the first two and Exemplary in the latest one. Needless to say, I am really impressed with myself, and slightly humbled by it all. Apparently I am doing the right thing for me after all.
For the first time in a really long time, I really felt like things were coming together for me. It seems like so long ago I was suffering through my days working at an office job I couldn't stand. Or suffering through having no job at all and being quite depressed, but too far away from people who could help me out with it. Yet now, here I am, doing what I was wanting to do all along and being genuinely happy with it all. Now don't get me wrong, I am really very glad that my life has taken the slight detour of the past two years, but it is so nice to be back on the track that I was destined to be on.
But now that I am back up North, I will be here for a few weeks and then flying to Nova Scotia for Christmas on the 18th of December, only to come back to Ontario shortly after the big C-Day, just in time for a wedding on the 30th (which is my birthday, need I remind any of you!!!). Then back to North Bay for a super long 6 week stretch in January and February before going on a new placement at a different school. Oh right, with many blog entries in between all of that life there.
To my NipFriends, I honestly hope that your time on placement was a blast. I know that you all did a great job and I hope that your AT and your students realize just how awesome of a job you are all capable of!!!
Until next time,
G
While I am glad to be back up here, I am really sad to be done down there. I said goodbye to my students a few days ago and I miss them a lot already. I was really worried when I found out that I was going to be in a Grade 8 class, since I don't remember being all that plesant at 13. But those kids completly changed my ideas about that. I absoluetly loved working with all of them. They were so funny, and their personalities had yet to be crushed by the cruelty that is High School.
On my last day, they gave me a card, which they all signed, and all took turns hugging me. They kept asking me if I was going to teach at St. Paul's (the local High School, that they are all going to next year) since they wanted me to be their teacher. It melted my heart when they left. I am so curious to find out how they all do in the coming months and years. The hard part is that I doubt I will ever really find out how they made out. I guess I will be left with an entire career of wondering ahead of me. One of those things I guess I didn't prepare myself for getting into this profession.
After all of the students left I sat down with my Associate Teacher and he showed me my Practice Teaching Report that he had prepared for me. We get ranked on a lot of different categories on a four point scale of Exemplary, Proficient, Adequate and Does Not Meet Expectations. And well, I did quite well for myself, earning a mark in all of the categories of at least Proficient, with several Exemplaries in there. Also, there was a space for each of the past three weeks, and I was ranked as Proficient in the first two and Exemplary in the latest one. Needless to say, I am really impressed with myself, and slightly humbled by it all. Apparently I am doing the right thing for me after all.
For the first time in a really long time, I really felt like things were coming together for me. It seems like so long ago I was suffering through my days working at an office job I couldn't stand. Or suffering through having no job at all and being quite depressed, but too far away from people who could help me out with it. Yet now, here I am, doing what I was wanting to do all along and being genuinely happy with it all. Now don't get me wrong, I am really very glad that my life has taken the slight detour of the past two years, but it is so nice to be back on the track that I was destined to be on.
But now that I am back up North, I will be here for a few weeks and then flying to Nova Scotia for Christmas on the 18th of December, only to come back to Ontario shortly after the big C-Day, just in time for a wedding on the 30th (which is my birthday, need I remind any of you!!!). Then back to North Bay for a super long 6 week stretch in January and February before going on a new placement at a different school. Oh right, with many blog entries in between all of that life there.
To my NipFriends, I honestly hope that your time on placement was a blast. I know that you all did a great job and I hope that your AT and your students realize just how awesome of a job you are all capable of!!!
Until next time,
G
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Glen and Troy's Quarterly Predictacular Vol. 1
Hey all, this shall be the first of a hopefully many part installment on my NHL season predictions. Now my friend Troy and I are both avid hockey fans and like to yammer on and on about the NHL in the nerdiest possible manner. So since I now finally have a forum in which I can pass these yammerings on, I am taking advantage of that.
Before the season started Troy and I e-mailed each other some predictions for the season (like I said, HUGE nerds), and we decided to update those for this very special Predictacular.
Just a quick summary, of what we picked:
Glen's Playoff Teams (in order): West: Nashville, Calgary, Anaheim, San Jose, Detroit, Dallas, Edmonton, and Phoenix. East: Buffalo, Carolina, NYR, Ottawa, New Jersey, Philly, Atlanta and Montreal
Troy's Playoff Teams: West: Anaheim, Calgary, Nashville, San Jose, Edmonton, Dallas, Detroit and Vancouver. East: Buffalo, Carolina, NYR, Ottawa, New Jersey, Montreal, Philly and Toronto
And in the Finals, I said it would be Calgary over Buffalo and Troy said it would be Ottawa over Calgary.
So let's see how much we have decided to stay the course 20 odd games into the season.. my comments will be in Red while Troy's will be in Blue.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Glen Says:
The story for me out west this season has been a changing of the guard. gone are the days when Detroit, Dallas, and Colorado would be guaranteed the top three seeds and everybody else was fighting to see who they would sweep in the first round. While last year, there was a lot of change, especially in the playoffs, two of those three powerhouses still took their divisions. This year, things are different. The three division leaders, Anaheim, Nashville and Minnesota are three of the six most recent teams to enter the NHL. I see no reason why two of those, Nashville and Anaheim won't hold onto their division for the whole season. Not to knock Minnesota, but I think that Calgary has finally started playing like they are capable of and should have a solid grip on first in the division by Christmas. Of the rest of the Conference, you still need to watch San Jose, Edmonton and maybe even Vancouver to make some noise. Also, keep an eye on the LA Kings, while they won't make the playoffs this year I think with Crawford behind the bench and Jack Johnson in their system, they are two years away from being really good. Watch them to play the spoiler this year.
Now Troy and I did this sort of a thing for the heck of it at the start of the year and I predicted Phoenix to sneak into 8th spot and maybe even cause some damage in the playoffs, how wrong I was. They have been playing absolutely terrible of late, and I wonder how long it will be before Wayne Gretzky either fires himself or realizes that it is not 1998 anymore and Curtis Joseph just can not get you into the playoffs anymore. And just so it is not only me who looks like an idiot, Troy predicted Minnesota to finish dead last in the Conference, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. What a fool.
So, like I said I see Nashville, Anaheim and Calgary taking their divisions, San Jose going strong, Detroit and Dallas returning to the dance as usual, Minnesota slowing down but not enough to miss the playoffs, and Edmonton getting another shot at what they missed out on last year. I think that when it comes to the top teams the key difference is going to be the schedule, remember everyone plays people in their division 8 times each. This gives a huge advantage to Nashville and Detroit who get to beat up on St. Louis, Columbus and Chicago, while it really hurts Calgary who has to grind it out with Edmonton, Vancouver, Minnesota and Colorado.
Biggest Surprise: Minnesota
Biggest Disappointment: Calgary
Troy Says:
This conference is so sweet, and it's nice to finally see a serious changing of the guard. The top seed in the conference will be a battle between two teams, San Jose and Anaheim. I think Anaheim will pull it out because of two words. Neidermayer, and Pronger. Done and done. These two teams are just gonna keep getting better for the next couple years. Nashville I think is finally going to put an end to Detroit's run -- Losing Yzerman and Shanahan was a big hit. They have some major young talent but they're a year or two away. The Northwest conference is going to be a battle of attrition and I think in the end Calgary will pull through. Dallas should hang on and Edmonton and Minnesota will be in for sure leaving Vancouver out. Luongo is the best thing to happen to that team in a long time but their off-season losses hurt them a lot more in the scoring department than I originally thought.
Biggest Surprise: Minnesota. (What kinda dumbass would pick them to finish last, sheesh)
Biggest Disappointment: Phoenix
PREDICTED STANDINGS:
Glen Says:
1. Nashville
2. Anaheim
3. Calgary
4. San Jose
5. Dallas
6. Detroit
7. Edmonton
8. Minnesota
9. Vancouver
10. Colorado
11. Los Angelas
12. Phoenix
13. Chicago
14. Columbus
15. St. Loser
Troy Says:
1. San Jose
2. Nashville
3. Calgary
4. Anaheim
5. Detroit
6. Edmonton
7. Minnesota
8. Dallas
9. Vancouver
10. Colorado
11. Los Angeles
12. Chicago
13. Columbus
14. St. Louis
15. Phoenix
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Glen Says:
Meanwhile, in the NHL's less exciting Conference, there are a number of teams playing well below expectations. In particular, the Carolina Hurricanes, the Boston Bruins, the Philadelphia Flyers and my beloved Ottawa Senators. I don't think that everyone in Ottawa somehow thinks it is May and therefore time to choke. The drop off of these teams has made room for a few surprises out East, the Atlanta Thrashers are currently able to lead their division, the once lowly Penguins are sitting in 8th and Toronto and Montreal are fighting over 2nd place in their division. Interestingly enough, if the playoffs started today (at least November 23rd as I write this) then Toronto and Montreal would meet in the first round. How sweet would that be?
When it comes to this Conference, my bias could not be more obvious. I still believe that Ottawa will make the playoffs (although not nearly as high as I once thought) and I still believe that the Leafs will miss out. I'm sorry, I just can't see things happening otherwise. So when Sundin is golfing in April I will be sure to say "I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!!!!!!!!!" And love every minute of it. But on the brighter side, I think it is only a matter of time before the Leafs Nation gets to be officially recognized as a seperate entitiy within a united Canada.
Oh yeah, I don't really see all that much changing out East from last year. The East is known to stay fairly even from year to year, so I see Buffalo running away with the Conference (and more than likely the league), Carolina should bounce back and take their division for the second straight year, I think that it's stupid to bet against New Jersey, also Ottawa will get in (they had better...), Montreal and the Rangers will represent the Original 6, Atlanta will be in the playoffs for the first time ever and Pittsburgh will sneak ahead of Tampa Bay for 8th.
Biggest Surprise: Montreal
Biggest Disappointment: Philadelphia
Troy Says:
Aside from Buffalo, this conference is usually a yawn fest even though my favourite team, Les Canadiens, call this conference home.
The team which will take this conference is a no brainer, Buffalo all the way. Seriously, how sweet is this team? And they're gonna be good for along time. In the SouthLeast division I see Hotlanta continuing some butt-kicking and I see them taking their division with relative ease. Fun team to watch but also fortunate that they play in probably the weakest of the 6 NHL divisions. As far as the Altantic goes I think slow and steady wins the race and I think New Jersey will stay ahead of the pack although the newly inspired Rangers will be nipping at their heels. As for the rest of the division I definitely see Montreal making it and I believe Ottawa will get their feet under them soon and they will be there. Carolina will be good enough thanks to leadership and of course one Eric Staal. I think Toronto does have the stones to make it however that is more so based on Pittsburgh's inability to maintain eighth thereby defaulting the last playoff spot to Toronto.
Biggest Surprise: Montreal
Biggest Disappointment: Boston.
Predicted Standings:
Glen Says:
1. Buffalo
2. New Jersey
3. Carolina
4. New York Rangers
5. Atlanta
6. Montreal
7. Ottawa
8. Pittsburgh
9. Tampa Bay
10. Toronto
11. Boston
12. Washington
13. Florida
14. New York Islanders
15. Philadelphia
Troy Says:
1. Buffalo
2. Atlanta
3. New Jersey
4. New York Rangers
5. Ottawa
6. Carolina
7. Montreal
8. Toronto
9. Boston
10. Tampa Bay
11. Philadelphia
12. Pittsburgh
13. Washington
14. Florida
15. New York Islanders
PLAYOFFS
Glen Says:
Now when it comes to the playoffs, I see the Western Final coming down to a battle of California as Anaheim and San Jose come head to head in the West Finals. Make no mistake about it, these two teams are good. The scary thing, they both have two starting goalies, meaning they could easily trade one away for some quality skaters. Let's take San Jose in an upset in 7.
Out East, things are a lot tougher to call. I originally had Ottawa in the Conference Finals, but I just don't see that happening anymore, so I'm going to take a cop-out and go for a rematch of last year's Eastern Final in Buffalo and Carolina. However, unlike last year, I think that Buffalo will not have 4 of their top defensemen injured and should walk away with the series in 5.
That leads us the to the finals we probably should have had last year, San Jose and Buffalo. I really don't know who to pick, so I'll go with the trend, the last 3 Stanley Cup Champions have been Eastern teams, so let's assume that they will make it 4 in a row. Buffalo wins in 6.
Troy Says:
Ok, I see the Eastern Final coming down to Buffalo and Ottawa and although Buffalo is amazing, I'm going to take a leap and take Ottawa over Buffalo in7. I think the early season hardships will be good in the long run for Ottawa and their playoff experience, mostly disappointing, will help them against Buffalo.
The Western Final (I hate to agree with Glen, but this one seems too easy)will be played entirely in California. However I'm picking Anaheim over San Jose in a tough 6 game series. Pronger owned Thornton when he was with Edmonton and I don't see that changing.
This gives us an Ottawa, Anaheim final. Something we could have seen in2003 if it wasn't for stupid Jeff Friesen scoring with less than 3 minutes left in game 7 against Ottawa. But I digress, this would be a really good series and keeping with my undying, and perhaps naive love of Canadian teams, I will take Ottawa in 7.
Let the games begin my friend.
So that concludes the Predictacular, I hope that you enjoyed it (or skimmed through it quickly to not waste your time). We shall revisit these picks in January at the half way point so we can see how much more right I am than Troy.
Until next time,
G
Before the season started Troy and I e-mailed each other some predictions for the season (like I said, HUGE nerds), and we decided to update those for this very special Predictacular.
Just a quick summary, of what we picked:
Glen's Playoff Teams (in order): West: Nashville, Calgary, Anaheim, San Jose, Detroit, Dallas, Edmonton, and Phoenix. East: Buffalo, Carolina, NYR, Ottawa, New Jersey, Philly, Atlanta and Montreal
Troy's Playoff Teams: West: Anaheim, Calgary, Nashville, San Jose, Edmonton, Dallas, Detroit and Vancouver. East: Buffalo, Carolina, NYR, Ottawa, New Jersey, Montreal, Philly and Toronto
And in the Finals, I said it would be Calgary over Buffalo and Troy said it would be Ottawa over Calgary.
So let's see how much we have decided to stay the course 20 odd games into the season.. my comments will be in Red while Troy's will be in Blue.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Glen Says:
The story for me out west this season has been a changing of the guard. gone are the days when Detroit, Dallas, and Colorado would be guaranteed the top three seeds and everybody else was fighting to see who they would sweep in the first round. While last year, there was a lot of change, especially in the playoffs, two of those three powerhouses still took their divisions. This year, things are different. The three division leaders, Anaheim, Nashville and Minnesota are three of the six most recent teams to enter the NHL. I see no reason why two of those, Nashville and Anaheim won't hold onto their division for the whole season. Not to knock Minnesota, but I think that Calgary has finally started playing like they are capable of and should have a solid grip on first in the division by Christmas. Of the rest of the Conference, you still need to watch San Jose, Edmonton and maybe even Vancouver to make some noise. Also, keep an eye on the LA Kings, while they won't make the playoffs this year I think with Crawford behind the bench and Jack Johnson in their system, they are two years away from being really good. Watch them to play the spoiler this year.
Now Troy and I did this sort of a thing for the heck of it at the start of the year and I predicted Phoenix to sneak into 8th spot and maybe even cause some damage in the playoffs, how wrong I was. They have been playing absolutely terrible of late, and I wonder how long it will be before Wayne Gretzky either fires himself or realizes that it is not 1998 anymore and Curtis Joseph just can not get you into the playoffs anymore. And just so it is not only me who looks like an idiot, Troy predicted Minnesota to finish dead last in the Conference, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. What a fool.
So, like I said I see Nashville, Anaheim and Calgary taking their divisions, San Jose going strong, Detroit and Dallas returning to the dance as usual, Minnesota slowing down but not enough to miss the playoffs, and Edmonton getting another shot at what they missed out on last year. I think that when it comes to the top teams the key difference is going to be the schedule, remember everyone plays people in their division 8 times each. This gives a huge advantage to Nashville and Detroit who get to beat up on St. Louis, Columbus and Chicago, while it really hurts Calgary who has to grind it out with Edmonton, Vancouver, Minnesota and Colorado.
Biggest Surprise: Minnesota
Biggest Disappointment: Calgary
Troy Says:
This conference is so sweet, and it's nice to finally see a serious changing of the guard. The top seed in the conference will be a battle between two teams, San Jose and Anaheim. I think Anaheim will pull it out because of two words. Neidermayer, and Pronger. Done and done. These two teams are just gonna keep getting better for the next couple years. Nashville I think is finally going to put an end to Detroit's run -- Losing Yzerman and Shanahan was a big hit. They have some major young talent but they're a year or two away. The Northwest conference is going to be a battle of attrition and I think in the end Calgary will pull through. Dallas should hang on and Edmonton and Minnesota will be in for sure leaving Vancouver out. Luongo is the best thing to happen to that team in a long time but their off-season losses hurt them a lot more in the scoring department than I originally thought.
Biggest Surprise: Minnesota. (What kinda dumbass would pick them to finish last, sheesh)
Biggest Disappointment: Phoenix
PREDICTED STANDINGS:
Glen Says:
1. Nashville
2. Anaheim
3. Calgary
4. San Jose
5. Dallas
6. Detroit
7. Edmonton
8. Minnesota
9. Vancouver
10. Colorado
11. Los Angelas
12. Phoenix
13. Chicago
14. Columbus
15. St. Loser
Troy Says:
1. San Jose
2. Nashville
3. Calgary
4. Anaheim
5. Detroit
6. Edmonton
7. Minnesota
8. Dallas
9. Vancouver
10. Colorado
11. Los Angeles
12. Chicago
13. Columbus
14. St. Louis
15. Phoenix
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Glen Says:
Meanwhile, in the NHL's less exciting Conference, there are a number of teams playing well below expectations. In particular, the Carolina Hurricanes, the Boston Bruins, the Philadelphia Flyers and my beloved Ottawa Senators. I don't think that everyone in Ottawa somehow thinks it is May and therefore time to choke. The drop off of these teams has made room for a few surprises out East, the Atlanta Thrashers are currently able to lead their division, the once lowly Penguins are sitting in 8th and Toronto and Montreal are fighting over 2nd place in their division. Interestingly enough, if the playoffs started today (at least November 23rd as I write this) then Toronto and Montreal would meet in the first round. How sweet would that be?
When it comes to this Conference, my bias could not be more obvious. I still believe that Ottawa will make the playoffs (although not nearly as high as I once thought) and I still believe that the Leafs will miss out. I'm sorry, I just can't see things happening otherwise. So when Sundin is golfing in April I will be sure to say "I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!!!!!!!!!" And love every minute of it. But on the brighter side, I think it is only a matter of time before the Leafs Nation gets to be officially recognized as a seperate entitiy within a united Canada.
Oh yeah, I don't really see all that much changing out East from last year. The East is known to stay fairly even from year to year, so I see Buffalo running away with the Conference (and more than likely the league), Carolina should bounce back and take their division for the second straight year, I think that it's stupid to bet against New Jersey, also Ottawa will get in (they had better...), Montreal and the Rangers will represent the Original 6, Atlanta will be in the playoffs for the first time ever and Pittsburgh will sneak ahead of Tampa Bay for 8th.
Biggest Surprise: Montreal
Biggest Disappointment: Philadelphia
Troy Says:
Aside from Buffalo, this conference is usually a yawn fest even though my favourite team, Les Canadiens, call this conference home.
The team which will take this conference is a no brainer, Buffalo all the way. Seriously, how sweet is this team? And they're gonna be good for along time. In the SouthLeast division I see Hotlanta continuing some butt-kicking and I see them taking their division with relative ease. Fun team to watch but also fortunate that they play in probably the weakest of the 6 NHL divisions. As far as the Altantic goes I think slow and steady wins the race and I think New Jersey will stay ahead of the pack although the newly inspired Rangers will be nipping at their heels. As for the rest of the division I definitely see Montreal making it and I believe Ottawa will get their feet under them soon and they will be there. Carolina will be good enough thanks to leadership and of course one Eric Staal. I think Toronto does have the stones to make it however that is more so based on Pittsburgh's inability to maintain eighth thereby defaulting the last playoff spot to Toronto.
Biggest Surprise: Montreal
Biggest Disappointment: Boston.
Predicted Standings:
Glen Says:
1. Buffalo
2. New Jersey
3. Carolina
4. New York Rangers
5. Atlanta
6. Montreal
7. Ottawa
8. Pittsburgh
9. Tampa Bay
10. Toronto
11. Boston
12. Washington
13. Florida
14. New York Islanders
15. Philadelphia
Troy Says:
1. Buffalo
2. Atlanta
3. New Jersey
4. New York Rangers
5. Ottawa
6. Carolina
7. Montreal
8. Toronto
9. Boston
10. Tampa Bay
11. Philadelphia
12. Pittsburgh
13. Washington
14. Florida
15. New York Islanders
PLAYOFFS
Glen Says:
Now when it comes to the playoffs, I see the Western Final coming down to a battle of California as Anaheim and San Jose come head to head in the West Finals. Make no mistake about it, these two teams are good. The scary thing, they both have two starting goalies, meaning they could easily trade one away for some quality skaters. Let's take San Jose in an upset in 7.
Out East, things are a lot tougher to call. I originally had Ottawa in the Conference Finals, but I just don't see that happening anymore, so I'm going to take a cop-out and go for a rematch of last year's Eastern Final in Buffalo and Carolina. However, unlike last year, I think that Buffalo will not have 4 of their top defensemen injured and should walk away with the series in 5.
That leads us the to the finals we probably should have had last year, San Jose and Buffalo. I really don't know who to pick, so I'll go with the trend, the last 3 Stanley Cup Champions have been Eastern teams, so let's assume that they will make it 4 in a row. Buffalo wins in 6.
Troy Says:
Ok, I see the Eastern Final coming down to Buffalo and Ottawa and although Buffalo is amazing, I'm going to take a leap and take Ottawa over Buffalo in7. I think the early season hardships will be good in the long run for Ottawa and their playoff experience, mostly disappointing, will help them against Buffalo.
The Western Final (I hate to agree with Glen, but this one seems too easy)will be played entirely in California. However I'm picking Anaheim over San Jose in a tough 6 game series. Pronger owned Thornton when he was with Edmonton and I don't see that changing.
This gives us an Ottawa, Anaheim final. Something we could have seen in2003 if it wasn't for stupid Jeff Friesen scoring with less than 3 minutes left in game 7 against Ottawa. But I digress, this would be a really good series and keeping with my undying, and perhaps naive love of Canadian teams, I will take Ottawa in 7.
Let the games begin my friend.
So that concludes the Predictacular, I hope that you enjoyed it (or skimmed through it quickly to not waste your time). We shall revisit these picks in January at the half way point so we can see how much more right I am than Troy.
Until next time,
G
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Just a Quick Update
Hey all, sorry I'm not posting, blame my father and his insistence on living in the stone age.
Just wanted to say that all is going well for moi. Teaching is a blast, I was observed last week and that went super dee-duper well. I gave an exciting lesson on Adding Fractions and I got to use Fraction Tiles for the over head (I was actually excited to use them!!!). For the marking there is a scale were everything about us is lumped into 4 categories (Exemplary, Proficient, Adequate and Does Not Meet Expectations). He said that I would be marked as Proficient overall, with all of the categories as either Exemplary or Proficient, and nothing below that. Moral of the story, I'm amazing. I am God's Gift to Education remember.
A quick funny story, last week we had school mass (I'm at a Catholic School...yeah I know weird if you aren't from Onterrible) which was fine. But I was talking to a student afterwards and he told me "The communion tasted bad, someone should really check the date on the Jesus". I lost it laughing...I guess I do have something to learn here.
I hope that I will soon get a chance to do some more posting here in the blogosphere. I would like to add some more "Random Acts of Glenness", my first crack at writing about music, my thoughts on the Borat movie (which I am seeing tomorrow!!!!!!!!!), some talk about hockey with my friend Troy, and whatever other stories happen to come my way. I know, so much blogging, so very little time.
I hope to get some more time soon. I hope that all is going well, special props to my NipFriends out there in the trenches like me. Hope all is going well for you!!!!
Until next time,
G
Just wanted to say that all is going well for moi. Teaching is a blast, I was observed last week and that went super dee-duper well. I gave an exciting lesson on Adding Fractions and I got to use Fraction Tiles for the over head (I was actually excited to use them!!!). For the marking there is a scale were everything about us is lumped into 4 categories (Exemplary, Proficient, Adequate and Does Not Meet Expectations). He said that I would be marked as Proficient overall, with all of the categories as either Exemplary or Proficient, and nothing below that. Moral of the story, I'm amazing. I am God's Gift to Education remember.
A quick funny story, last week we had school mass (I'm at a Catholic School...yeah I know weird if you aren't from Onterrible) which was fine. But I was talking to a student afterwards and he told me "The communion tasted bad, someone should really check the date on the Jesus". I lost it laughing...I guess I do have something to learn here.
I hope that I will soon get a chance to do some more posting here in the blogosphere. I would like to add some more "Random Acts of Glenness", my first crack at writing about music, my thoughts on the Borat movie (which I am seeing tomorrow!!!!!!!!!), some talk about hockey with my friend Troy, and whatever other stories happen to come my way. I know, so much blogging, so very little time.
I hope to get some more time soon. I hope that all is going well, special props to my NipFriends out there in the trenches like me. Hope all is going well for you!!!!
Until next time,
G
Saturday, November 11, 2006
A Slight Glen Holiday
Just to let you all know I'm heading back to the booming town of Trenton, Onterrible to do three weeks of practice teaching. I'm super excited to get to see my Grade 8 students again, but as such the Blogeroo here may just suffer. I'll try and sneak a post or two in here when I can but I can't make any promises.
So If I don't post for the next three weeks, then I swear to you that I am not dead!!!
For any of my NipFriends out on placement, I hope all goes/is going well for you. To everyone else have a great three weeks!!!
Here is a random Youtube video that I first saw on Travis' Blog and he puts it best when he says "If you don't find this completely hillarious then I probably have no time for you." I'll second that. Hope you enjoy something compeltley random...and brilliant!!!
Until next time,
G
So If I don't post for the next three weeks, then I swear to you that I am not dead!!!
For any of my NipFriends out on placement, I hope all goes/is going well for you. To everyone else have a great three weeks!!!
Here is a random Youtube video that I first saw on Travis' Blog and he puts it best when he says "If you don't find this completely hillarious then I probably have no time for you." I'll second that. Hope you enjoy something compeltley random...and brilliant!!!
Until next time,
G
Lest We Forget
Last week I wrote about Guy Fawkes Day, but now 6 days later there is another day that should never be forgot. The far more popular Remembrance Day.
I hope that you are all wearing your poppies and showing respect to those who died in the name of our country. While I do not necessarily agree with the current conflict in Afghanistan, I still include the current soldiers in my thoughts.
Last Spring I was fortunate enough to go to Juno Beach in France. For those of you unaware, this is were the Canadian soldiers landed On June 6, 1944, in the invasion that began the end of the war in Europe.
A mere stones throw from the beach is the Juno Beach Centre, a museum of sorts talking about Canada and World War II. It outlines Canada in the build up to the War, then about how Canada was during those years, then finishes with information on Canada today. It includes a variety of first hand accounts of people's experiences, including a section where you can hear letters from soldiers read a loud.
As you enter the museum you are escorted into a small room that has televisions lining the wall. The room is made to be the exact size and dimensions of one of the boats that the soldiers landed on the beach with. The televisions began to play a battle scene as you feel that you are really there. It was hard to look all 360 degrees that were required for me to absorb all of the information. I hope that I only have to imagine what it would be like to have those bullets be real instead of virtual.
While I have a very good memory, it is not good enough to give a detailed play-by-play from eight months ago. Also, this is really something that should be experienced.
But there is one thing about that experience that really stuck out to me. Near the end of the exhibit there was a television on display above a small hallway. The screen had a scrolling display of the names of every Canadian who died during the war. Nothing fancy, just a simple white font on a black screen moving up at a reasonable speed for people to read it. When I arrived, they were just finishing showing those whose last name began with A. I have heard stories of my great-uncle, Raymond Dolan, who was shot down over North Africa, and I thought it would be good to try and take a picture of his name on the screen to show some members of my family.
I wandered around the rest of the museum and occasionally checked the progress of the screen to try and estimate how long I had to wait until it made it's way to the D's. I wandered around the museum for a good 20-30 minutes and I thought that I may have missed my time. How wrong I was. After all that time, the screen was at 'Be'.
This really him me. I took a second to figure out how long it took to go through a portion that small of the alphabet and I figured that it would take at least 12 hours to go through the names of all of the Canadian soldiers who died in the war. As a history major, I have read the facts and figures many times. This, however, put it into real terms for me, each of those people had a name, a heart broken mother, and possibly some descendants like me coming to that very place and realizing the same thing that I was.
At this point, I realized that my bus was leaving shortly so I needed to head on out without seeing the name of my great-uncle. Since I didn't have several hours to kill.
All in all, Juno Beach was a fantastic experience and if any of you happen to be in France I really recommend it. I stayed in the small town of Bayeux (a cool place in its own right!!!) and it makes a great place to go and relax a bit after some frantic times in Paris.
Here are some of my pictures from Juno Beach, hoep you enjoy, and more importantly, get a chance to show me some of your own!!!
I hope that you are all wearing your poppies and showing respect to those who died in the name of our country. While I do not necessarily agree with the current conflict in Afghanistan, I still include the current soldiers in my thoughts.
Last Spring I was fortunate enough to go to Juno Beach in France. For those of you unaware, this is were the Canadian soldiers landed On June 6, 1944, in the invasion that began the end of the war in Europe.
A mere stones throw from the beach is the Juno Beach Centre, a museum of sorts talking about Canada and World War II. It outlines Canada in the build up to the War, then about how Canada was during those years, then finishes with information on Canada today. It includes a variety of first hand accounts of people's experiences, including a section where you can hear letters from soldiers read a loud.
As you enter the museum you are escorted into a small room that has televisions lining the wall. The room is made to be the exact size and dimensions of one of the boats that the soldiers landed on the beach with. The televisions began to play a battle scene as you feel that you are really there. It was hard to look all 360 degrees that were required for me to absorb all of the information. I hope that I only have to imagine what it would be like to have those bullets be real instead of virtual.
While I have a very good memory, it is not good enough to give a detailed play-by-play from eight months ago. Also, this is really something that should be experienced.
But there is one thing about that experience that really stuck out to me. Near the end of the exhibit there was a television on display above a small hallway. The screen had a scrolling display of the names of every Canadian who died during the war. Nothing fancy, just a simple white font on a black screen moving up at a reasonable speed for people to read it. When I arrived, they were just finishing showing those whose last name began with A. I have heard stories of my great-uncle, Raymond Dolan, who was shot down over North Africa, and I thought it would be good to try and take a picture of his name on the screen to show some members of my family.
I wandered around the rest of the museum and occasionally checked the progress of the screen to try and estimate how long I had to wait until it made it's way to the D's. I wandered around the museum for a good 20-30 minutes and I thought that I may have missed my time. How wrong I was. After all that time, the screen was at 'Be'.
This really him me. I took a second to figure out how long it took to go through a portion that small of the alphabet and I figured that it would take at least 12 hours to go through the names of all of the Canadian soldiers who died in the war. As a history major, I have read the facts and figures many times. This, however, put it into real terms for me, each of those people had a name, a heart broken mother, and possibly some descendants like me coming to that very place and realizing the same thing that I was.
At this point, I realized that my bus was leaving shortly so I needed to head on out without seeing the name of my great-uncle. Since I didn't have several hours to kill.
All in all, Juno Beach was a fantastic experience and if any of you happen to be in France I really recommend it. I stayed in the small town of Bayeux (a cool place in its own right!!!) and it makes a great place to go and relax a bit after some frantic times in Paris.
Here are some of my pictures from Juno Beach, hoep you enjoy, and more importantly, get a chance to show me some of your own!!!
Look just like any other beach doesn't it?
One of the many abandoned bunkers that have been left as a grim reminder.
Not sure if you can read that sign, but it says "Here On the 6th June, 1944 Europe was Liberated by the Heroism of the Allied Forces" . Just to the right of the pillar you can see people playing in the ocean. Fitting isn't it?
Until next time,
G
Friday, November 10, 2006
Only Us...
Last night I was diligently working on some math homework that was due today. I hated that I was working. All of my friends had gone to the local Irish pub, Fionn McCool's, sticking with the Thursday tradition. Worst of all, we are heading off to be on teaching placement for three weeks, so this would be my last chance to spend some social time with everyone for a while. After I finished the fourth of my five math journals I had an in depth conversation with myself.
I said to myself "Self, you have been focusing too much on work you should really go out. You are not only the life of the party, you are the whole f'n party. Right now, you are robbing all of your friends of some quality Glen time. How can you be so selfish?"
Well it was hard to argue with that logic, so the next thing I knew, I was on my way across town to Fionn's.
I arrived to a chorus of cheers from my group of friends, sitting in our usual area. I met the group with a series of high-fives, but as I made my way around there was an extra hand to slap. It belonged to a forty-pluser named Greg. I didn't really think too much of it and sat down and told everyone about how and why I decided to come out.
After a moment, Greg got up from his seat. All of a sudden, the entire group pulls in close for a huddle. They ask if they are doing the right thing or not. They decide that they are. I am really confused.
Apparently, this Greg fellow, saw one of my friends at the bar and decided to randomly buy her a pitcher of beer. He then proceeded to sit over with our group and kept buying pitchers all night long.
So, my spidey-senses began to tingle a little bit as I heard this story. But none the less, I went to the bar, grabbed a glass and poured myself a glass.
As the night went on, he kept buying us more and more beer. He did not divulge much information about himself, only that he was in North Bay for business, and that he had a bad day, but would not say why. Whenever we asked him about what he did for a living, he just casually joked it off. Also, he was not wearing a wedding ring, so take that for what you will.
At one point, Phil, one of the guys in my group insisted that he would get the next pitcher of beer. Greg was insistent on getting it himself. The two then raced to the bar. Phil came back to our table empty handed and wide eyed. He told us that Greg had a stack of $100 bills in his wallet. This guy was loaded.
All of a sudden, people didn't feel so bad about taking his beer.
As a side note, it was at about this point that the group of us went up to help the band sing "Home for a Rest", despite nobody really knowing the words.
The night went on, and the beer continued to flow, and words continued to slur. We attracted a large group of other Education students eager to give the free flowing river of beer a place to meander.
As Greg kept getting up to either buy some more beer, or talk to some other people, he left his coat with us. At various moments, certain people in our section contemplated walking off with it, but thought the better of it.
The drunker everyone got, the more my spidey-senses tingled. I had a bad feeling about where this was all going.
Since I was the Designated Driver, I decided to round up my car load of people (me plus three more) and get out of there. Another load of three from my group decided to posse out too. I have to all but pry a few certain people away from the bar in order to get going. We finally get out of the bar and I breath a sigh of relief, however, I relaxed too soon.
We get out into the parking lot and who should we see? Give yourself a pat on the back if you guessed Greg. Just in case some total stranger carrying thousands of dollars buying a ton of beer for a group of (mostly female) twenty-somethings wasn't weird enough for you, here is where it gets better.
He tells us that he has a plane at the airport and wants to know if we want to go and party in New York.
I'll give you a second to read that line again and soak it in.
In their drunken state, some people seem to think that this is a great idea. At this moment, I take some executive action. I figure my role as Designated Driver is not enough, I needed to take on the role of Designated Decider. As tempting as it is, I think the better of this crazy idea. I wrestled my friends away from this temptation and we hop in the car and drive off relieved.
Now I've spent the past twenty odd hours thinking about this Greg character and I have a couple of theories about him.
The most obvious one to me, is that he is a hit man. Don't believe me? It really makes the most sense, he was in town on business (the mob brings in outsiders to do the dirty work), he was having a bad day (because he had already whacked someone), and he had a mad pile of cash (I don't think that hit men pay taxes). For very similar reasons, there is the argument that he is either a drug dealer or a pimp. But I like hit man better, far more daring.
Also, I got thinking, and maybe he worked for some really dirty porno distributor, and this was their version of the Bang Bus. He was trying to entice some to all of us to do something very naughty so that he could get it on tape and sell it.
There is also a chance that he is some lonely dot.com millionaire who was having a really bad day and we cheered him up for a long time. Until we shot down his New York idea.
Either way, I will spend a good portion of the rest of my life wondering about Greg and his exact story. If shows up at a bar near you, try and find out for me.
Until next time,
G
I said to myself "Self, you have been focusing too much on work you should really go out. You are not only the life of the party, you are the whole f'n party. Right now, you are robbing all of your friends of some quality Glen time. How can you be so selfish?"
Well it was hard to argue with that logic, so the next thing I knew, I was on my way across town to Fionn's.
I arrived to a chorus of cheers from my group of friends, sitting in our usual area. I met the group with a series of high-fives, but as I made my way around there was an extra hand to slap. It belonged to a forty-pluser named Greg. I didn't really think too much of it and sat down and told everyone about how and why I decided to come out.
After a moment, Greg got up from his seat. All of a sudden, the entire group pulls in close for a huddle. They ask if they are doing the right thing or not. They decide that they are. I am really confused.
Apparently, this Greg fellow, saw one of my friends at the bar and decided to randomly buy her a pitcher of beer. He then proceeded to sit over with our group and kept buying pitchers all night long.
So, my spidey-senses began to tingle a little bit as I heard this story. But none the less, I went to the bar, grabbed a glass and poured myself a glass.
As the night went on, he kept buying us more and more beer. He did not divulge much information about himself, only that he was in North Bay for business, and that he had a bad day, but would not say why. Whenever we asked him about what he did for a living, he just casually joked it off. Also, he was not wearing a wedding ring, so take that for what you will.
At one point, Phil, one of the guys in my group insisted that he would get the next pitcher of beer. Greg was insistent on getting it himself. The two then raced to the bar. Phil came back to our table empty handed and wide eyed. He told us that Greg had a stack of $100 bills in his wallet. This guy was loaded.
All of a sudden, people didn't feel so bad about taking his beer.
As a side note, it was at about this point that the group of us went up to help the band sing "Home for a Rest", despite nobody really knowing the words.
The night went on, and the beer continued to flow, and words continued to slur. We attracted a large group of other Education students eager to give the free flowing river of beer a place to meander.
As Greg kept getting up to either buy some more beer, or talk to some other people, he left his coat with us. At various moments, certain people in our section contemplated walking off with it, but thought the better of it.
The drunker everyone got, the more my spidey-senses tingled. I had a bad feeling about where this was all going.
Since I was the Designated Driver, I decided to round up my car load of people (me plus three more) and get out of there. Another load of three from my group decided to posse out too. I have to all but pry a few certain people away from the bar in order to get going. We finally get out of the bar and I breath a sigh of relief, however, I relaxed too soon.
We get out into the parking lot and who should we see? Give yourself a pat on the back if you guessed Greg. Just in case some total stranger carrying thousands of dollars buying a ton of beer for a group of (mostly female) twenty-somethings wasn't weird enough for you, here is where it gets better.
He tells us that he has a plane at the airport and wants to know if we want to go and party in New York.
I'll give you a second to read that line again and soak it in.
In their drunken state, some people seem to think that this is a great idea. At this moment, I take some executive action. I figure my role as Designated Driver is not enough, I needed to take on the role of Designated Decider. As tempting as it is, I think the better of this crazy idea. I wrestled my friends away from this temptation and we hop in the car and drive off relieved.
Now I've spent the past twenty odd hours thinking about this Greg character and I have a couple of theories about him.
The most obvious one to me, is that he is a hit man. Don't believe me? It really makes the most sense, he was in town on business (the mob brings in outsiders to do the dirty work), he was having a bad day (because he had already whacked someone), and he had a mad pile of cash (I don't think that hit men pay taxes). For very similar reasons, there is the argument that he is either a drug dealer or a pimp. But I like hit man better, far more daring.
Also, I got thinking, and maybe he worked for some really dirty porno distributor, and this was their version of the Bang Bus. He was trying to entice some to all of us to do something very naughty so that he could get it on tape and sell it.
There is also a chance that he is some lonely dot.com millionaire who was having a really bad day and we cheered him up for a long time. Until we shot down his New York idea.
Either way, I will spend a good portion of the rest of my life wondering about Greg and his exact story. If shows up at a bar near you, try and find out for me.
Until next time,
G
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