Storm Begins Another Season

My hockey team (Storm) has started another season. Our first game was at 11:15pm last night. I am so tired today. We didn't have the best start to the season. Only 6 skaters showed up. Throughout the summer we always had two lines of forwards and at least one sub on defence. Not so last night. I had forgotten what it was like to almost play the entire game. I had a couple of shots on net, though, which is unusual for me. We tied 1-1, which we were pretty happy with considering they had a full bench and had obviously played together as a team before. Not that we hadn't played together before. We had one new player last night, but the rest of us had played together before. We have last winter's goalie back this season (her broken thumb is all healed up) and it sounds like a number of the women from last winter and this summer will be back. It should be a good season.

On Saturday I headed to Brampton to watch my old baseball team play in their tournament. I hadn't made it out all season and I didn't recognize them - they all had matching purple shirts. They looked good, but they lost the game I watched - they had fun though. I hung out for lunch and I'm hoping to play again next year. I had forgotten how much fun it was to hang out with them. Not sure how they did during the rest of the tournmanet because I had to leave early. Rob (or one of you other guys), leave a comment on the page as to how the team did the rest of the day.

Update: they won the following two games and were champs of the B division. Way to go guys, wish I had of stayed around for the rest of the day.

Before I moved to the suburbs I used to go see movies all the time. Now I hardly ever go. That was until this weekend when I saw two movies in two days. On Friday, Lisa and I went to see 'an unfinished life'. Oh, Robert Redford is just damn sexy no matter how old he is. On Saturday night, Julia, Karen, Kevin and I went to see 'Just Like Heaven'. It wasn't near as cheesy as I thought it would be (well, there was one scene that was way too cheesy). I quite enjoyed it. Of course, I love Mark Ruffalo so I knew I would enjoy it. I definitely recommend it if you are in the mood for some fluff.

Next week Lisa and I are going to see Serenity. This is the sci-fi film brought to us by the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I never watched the TV show (Firefly) that was the basis for the movie. If I like the movie I'm planning on getting the show on DVD. I normally love Joss Whedon's shows, so I suspect I will enjoy the movie.

But, the movie I really want to see this fall is 'Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit'. If you have never seen a Wallace & Gromit animated short, I highly recommend that you do. The creators are also responsible for Chicken Run (which I loved for all the Steve McQueen references).

Sports and TV

The television season has begun and already I am hooked to new crappy television. Some of the old standbys are back and a couple of us have a message board where we can discuss Amazing Race and Lost, etc. I was extremely hopeful that I would like the new show 'Bones'. Angel (David Boreanaz) is in the show and boy did I love him as a vampire. He's alright as a federal agent, but the female lead just annoys me, so this show is now off of my list.

Lost begins tonight and Rachael and I can't wait to put our feet up and find out about that stupid hatch. It freaks me out. Amazing Race starts next week and I believe Julia and I are getting together for an AR party at her new apartment in Toronto. For those of you that know me well, you are probably aware of my obsession with The WB network (they are the home of Buffy). Well, I appear to be weaning myself off of them. They still have Gilmore Girls, but I'm not all that excited about some of their other shows. I guess this means that maybe I can get rid of the WB and get my tv costs back under control. I'll have to see about that.

I am also extremely happy that my sports / activity seasons are about to start again. Hockey starts this Sunday. My first game is at 11:15pm. Work is not going to be fun in the morning. I have found a really good deal on a car rental so that I can get to my games. The motorcycle is all good for most things, but hockey equipment is just too difficult to cart around on the bike (especially once the snow starts). I am also signed up for hockey school this fall. I'm really looking forward to this (it is mostly guys, but at least one of the women that I went to Austria with is in the class). I'm hopeful that this will get more comfortable on the ice and I will be able to fight for the puck this season.

I am also signed up again for Belly Dancing. Next to ballet this is definitely my favourite type of dance. Unfortunately, it is just too difficult and expensive to take ballet here. I highly recommend taking this if you get a chance. Christi and I are also signed up for aquafit. It's funny, I have a pool all summer that I don't use. Come the fall I'm paying money to get into a pool. Yes, you all know that I'm weird.

Red Heads Have More Fun

That's right I have gone red. While watching Buffy (yes, Rachael is still addicted), I noticed Willow's hair (Alyson Hannigan). It was so cute and Rach said I could definitely pull it off. See the pic to see if she was right. I love my new hair. I wish I had of gone red before. Rach also got her hair cut, doesn't she look good?

That night Tim and I went out dancing to show off my new 'do'. We started out at 'On the Curve'. That lasted about 5 mins. The band was so horrible, we even asked for our cover charge back. Then we headed to Crocodile Rock. I haven't been there in years and I'm so glad we went there. It didn't start out so well as the DJ was crap. He kept mixing all of these songs together so I would get all excited about a song and then it would be gone. No chance to dance to it at all. But, the music did get better and I hardly left the dance floor (I'm sure you are all surprised).

Then I saw this guy across the bar. Before the end of the night we were dancing. His name is Ricardo and he's from Portugal. He was here to visit his mother with his friend Bruno. They had been here for a week when I met them and they had one week left in their vacation. Not long enough! We hung out most of the week and I am definitely smitten. He left for home on Sunday night. Which was actually good for me as it meant I was finally able to get some sleep. Throughout the week that we hung out, the three of us were out until around 2am every night. They were on vacation, so they were able to sleep all day (which Ricardo apparently did), but I had to be up for work at 6:30 every morning. Work was difficult last week, but it was worth it. Unfortunately, they only really got to see Mississauga, a bit of Toronto and Niagra Falls. Not the most favourable impression of our beautiful country, if you ask me.

They think our country (and me specifically) is crazy. They just didn't understand our non-smoking mentality (yes, he smokes - I know, I can't believe I like someone who smokes and I'm sure none of you can either - he says it is because he's Portuguese, and he's probably right - which is exactly what Lisa said as well). They really didn't understand my whole vegetarian thing and when I mentioned that I don't drink pop, well, Bruno asked if I was from another planet. I think my father often wonders the same thing :). I don't know what it is about him. I think Rach was happy they were around because I actually allowed them to order a pizza with meat when we had dinner at my place and she had someone to smoke with! But, they had to go home.

At the end of my crazy week with the boys from Portugal, I headed to the cottage for a going away / birthday weekend for my brother. The weather was beautiful and the lake was so nice. Jana and I went for a really nice canoe ride and try as they might the speed boats were not able to tip us. Rene tried all weekend to convince me that I didn't need to get back in time to say goodbye to Ricardo. He lost the argument. Doesn't the lake look beautiful? This may be last time at Jack Lake for us. With Jason leaving, we appear to be losing our contact to the

So, my baby brother is leaving soon. It hasn't quite hit me yet. I have already made tentative plans to head out there next August. And of course I can't wait to go snowboarding in the Rockies. How cool would that be?


Labour day weekend I went to Peterborough to hang out with Jason and Megan. We played some Bocce ball. Unfortunately, I was not paying attention and my green ball got lost in the grass. We spent about half an hour in the long grass trying to find it. Finally, Jason had to lie down and roll along around until he found it. We then headed to Dad and Sue's cottage for the rest of the weekend. A bit of tubing and a really nice boat ride for really expensive gas. I like this shot off the bow of the boat.

Ottawa and the Luggage

This past weekend, I rode my motorcycle up to Ottawa. I was a little worried, considering the length of the trip, around 6 hours. But, it was a beautiful day! I headed out of work around noon and realized that I had lost my motorcycle key. Are the fates against me? What is it about me lately and losing things? So, my sister kindly picked me up and drove me home to get my spare key. Finally on the road by 1pm.

I just want to say that Hwy 7 is quite beautiful and awesome on the bike. So twisty! The traffic wasn't bad, I made it to Heidi and Jen's place around 6:30 (with a stop for lunch and a couple stops for gas). The only time I hit traffic was once I was in Ottawa at rush hour.

Heidi received an Xbox for her birthday and I was hooked. I hardly left the cottage at all. CSI is so much to play! We also tried out Halo (not really for us) and a couple of other games that were fun. My thumbs hurt so much by the time I left.

We celebrated Heidi's bday at Ottawa's pride parade. Jen was actually in the parade with the Ottawa Library book mobile. Way to go Ottawa library. It was an extremely sunny and hot day and we believe we all were suffering from some sun stroke by the time it was over.


While in Ottawa I received a rather weird phone call from a woman in London (Ontario). It appears that her husband had found some luggage on the side of the 402 (for those of you who don't know where that is, it's between Brantford and London). A rather odd place for my luggage, wouldn't you say (there was also someone else's luggage beside it). Needless to say, the luggage wasn't completely full when I got it back. Electronics were missing and of course, my clothes didn't all smell so good after being on the side of the road for a couple of weeks. The luggage smells so bad! Thanks dad for washing my clothes. So, now I am dealing with the police and my insurance company to see what can be covered.

The moral of the story - don't fly air canada. No, that's not the moral (well, one of them). Don't trust the security at airports (anyone can steal your luggage - any one can get into the baggage claim area); check your fine print of any gold credit cards that may have travel insurance (there's a lot of it and they don't cover what you think); check the airlines fine print, there is a ton of stuff that they don't cover if you have it in your luggage; keep a copy of all of the cards that you have in your wallet (you never know what you might have to cancel or remember that you have); don't take any clothing that you really like (it's a bitch to try to replace); don't keep anything other than clothing and toiletries (not glasses or contacts) in your checked baggage.

I guess that is about it for today. Back to work I go. I'm off to visit with the police tonight to file a report on my stolen bag.

I hope everyone is having a more fun end to their summer, than I am. I can't believe it is September 1st. That reminds me: Happy Birthday Grandma!