Almost here, Almost here

The time is almost here. My family is coming out to see me, and I can't wait. For those of you not up to speed, I am currently living in Calgary, for work, while I wait for our house to sell in Guelph. At that point Jody and Colton will join me, but until then they will be staying out in Ontario. I left them back on Monday and drove across the country to Calgary, and already it seems like it's been an eternity. I can't imagine what its going to be like if this process takes a month or two. Jody will probably kill me for using this picture, but I love it. She sent it to me last Tuesday, and it made me want to turn around instantly and go home. This week will probably zoom by, but I'll make sure I do all I can to make the most of it. In case my family reads this, I love you guys, and can't wait to see you.
Also, has everyone gone to my wife's photography blog yet? Any of you Calgary folks who might be interested in some nice photography, get ready she'll be out here soon. To get an idea of what she has to offer, go to http://www.jacphotography.blogspot.com/ She does all kinds of photography, portraits, scenery, fine art, weddings, etc. So go check it out. I do believe she has a link to her website too. http://www.jacphotography.ca/
I also want to give her a shout out, she sold a wonderful piece at one of her photography competitions. It was really exciting for her, and I'm so proud of her. Jody, you need to put that picture up on your blog, by the way.

One game away from disaster

Well everyone, my Flames are going to take years off my life, I swear. Last night everyone in the city was charged and excited for game 5. The best of seven series was tied, and the Flames had all the momentum in the world, heading into a tough Chicago arena. I had my jersey on and was expecting another exciting, nail biting, physical war like the previous four games. I was expecting my Flames to make a big push to take control of the series, instead what happened was unexpected and disappointing to say the least. The game puck dropped and a debacle ensued, the Flames stumbled right out of the gate and by the game's end were flat on their backs. The final result was a 5-1 loss, our best goalie was pulled, our teams confidence shaken, and a must win situation for the rest of the series.
Here is what kills me though. I read the paper today to see the post game reviews and reactions from the coach and players. I wanted to see what excuses they had as to why they got dominated from the puck drop. Why was it that they didn't even seem like they were in the game? The results in the article were this "We just weren't prepared for the push they were going to come with, we'll be ready next time." and "As the coach, I'm supposed to have our players prepared for games, and I didn't have them prepared." This was infuriating to me! How do you not come into a playoff game not prepared! You are supposed to be a team of elite professionals. You get payed millions of dollars to play your game at a very high level. The entire culmination of your season is supposed to be geared towards winning the Stanley Cup, HOW CAN YOU NOT BE PREPARED FOR A PLAYOFF GAME! for the last 3 years my beloved Flames have exited the playoffs in the first round, you'd think that after three years of early exits, they'd be more than prepared to make sure they had success this year.
What scares me about their attitude is this, they are a veteran team, getting beat by a young team where 14 of 23 players are entering the playoffs for the first time, and they don't seem to care. This is supposed to be a Men vs. Boys series, and yet our Flames looked like the boys last night. Now if they are having this much trouble against a young, green, Blackhawks team, what hope do they have to advance past a hardened veteran team next round in Vancouver? I just don't understand the "We weren't prepared" excuse. How can you not be prepared for a playoff game? When you know what its going to take to win, and when you know that your opponent is equally as desperate to win, how can you not be prepared. I just don't understand how professional athletes, guys who are payed millions for their craft, can got into a major game and not be prepared.
So the situation is dire at this point. The Flames must win the next 2 games in order to live another day. I know they can do it, I have faith that they have the talent to pull it off..... as long as they're prepared of course. If they don't there are going to have to be some major changes around here, starting with the coach, then moving on to some of our players. So here's hoping guys, GO FLAMES GO. Let's get on our horse and play top hockey!
P.S. Some of you may say injuries have played a part in this, and to an small extent, you're right, but it's not as large a factor. Everyone at this time of year plays hurt.

Hello From Out West

Howdy folks,

Yes I have finally made it out here after a very grueling 34 hour drive. I drove down through the States this time as opposed to taking the Trans Canada, like I did when I moved out to Ontario. I have to say the drive for the most part was OK. The scenery in Illinois and Wisconsin was nice. Minnesota was ok, but nothing special. North Dakota was absolutely depressing. It almost seemed for the most part like a ghost state. I was driving through towns that looked like they've been abandoned for decades minus the few dilapidated houses or trailers where you could still see some signs of life. The whole state seems to be flooded too. On more than one occasion I litter ally drove through a river that had crested over the road. That was scary, because you honestly couldn't see if the was still road in front of you. As I was driving the highway close to the Saskatchewan border I would look on either sides of the road and see dirt roads leading up to farm houses and they were either still under a river, or washed out. I couldn't help but wonder what the people were doing with themselves, as they all of a sudden find themselves captive in their own homes with no real way to get out. Boy, I could not get out of that state fast enough. So I finally entered Canada again at around 11:00 pm on Tuesday night, so I decided to stay over in Weyburn. After that I finished my travel into Calgary. That actually was the craziest part of the whole trip. I encountered a bunch of wind the whole way, but for the most part it was a nice day. When I got to Swift Current, the temperature was 24 degrees, and everyone was in shorts and t shirts. When I got to Medicine Hat, AB it was 18 degrees. After that I got to Brooks where the temperature was 12 degrees, but only an hour down the road in Strathmore, the temperature dropped to 2 degrees. 20 Minutes later I ran into a full out snowstorm on Calgary's edge, and it was -2 degrees. Talk about crazy weather.

Well, while I am glad to finally be in Calgary, I really miss my family. I knew it would be hard to be away from Jody and Colton, but I wasn't prepared for it, and really; how could you be. Luckily I have them coming out to visit next week. What a fun time we are going to have. I took two days off for vacation to spend with them. This also reminds me, Colton experienced his first kiss already. He's a little player when it comes to the ladies. Apparently his charm was a little too much for Gracie (his friend Mommy babysits on Wednesday's) to resist. He didn't seem like he was really up for it though, I mean after all; he's got a reputation as a flirt, and doesn't want people thinking he's tied down. I laughed out loud when I saw this picture.

I apologize to all my readers for the long break between my posts while I moved. Now that I'm stable again, I'll get right back into it. Be prepared for tonight's post as I set the stage for game 5 of the Flames/Blackhawks game. For any of you who may not be up on things, this has quickly become a brutal ware between 2 teams, and has captured the attention of the hockey world. It's going to be exciting!

Something's gotta give

Some times I wonder how long it'll be before I see a sight like this again. The last time my beloved Flames won Lord Stanley's mug was exactly 20 years ago 1989. Since then we have gone through a lot of highs and lows, but the last 5 years we've consistently been in the playoffs. So why am I so worried? Well, since our last cup finals appearance in 2004, (and I still maintain we were robbed by conspiring refs) we haven't been able to get beyond the first round of the playoffs. We have a great nucleus of players, and this year we had more depth than ever! however the team seems to have a big problem with fizzling out at the last moment, in games and seasons. I would tend to blames this on the coaching staff, for not getting the players mentally prepared to play a full 60 minute game, or full 82 game season + playoffs, however i think this may not be the case. Since our playoff run in '04, Calgary has had 3 different coaches, with the same result. Is there a culture among our core players? Could it maybe be a collective attitude of management that trickles down to the rest of the organization? I'm not sure. All I know is that I feel the window for this generation of Flames to win the Stanley cup is closing fast. I think that in a couple years when contracts come up again for our big players, we'll be in rebuilding mode, meaning another possible 5-10 years of mediocre play until wee get a system built up again. At least that is what history has shown us thus far.

So the Flames now find themselves in the first round match up with the Young gunning Chicago Blackhawks. A team we struggled against all year. Their advantage is youth and energy, their draw back is little playoff experience. Calgary's advantages are strength, size, and experience. Our drawback is finishing. Last night in game 1 of the best of 7, Calgary played a near flawless 30 minutes of hockey. They bullied the young 'Hawks, shut down their scorers, and then it happened. The 'Hawks began to play with some urgency and began to push back a bit and tied the game up in the 2nd period. Calgary responded by playing a great 8 minutes of the 3rd period where we capitalized on a turnover to take back the lead. At this point the Flames must have figured the game was over. They immediately began to try and play slow down hockey, to try and just preserve their lead rather than continue to press for more goals. They began to slow their skating against a fast young team, and they paid. With 5 minutes left the 'Hawks tied the game. the Flames at this point looked shocked and flustered. The game went into overtime where things didn't get any better. Our captain did a great job of winning the face off and dishing the puck back to the defence. Dion Phaneuf made a crisp pass to his line mate Jordan Leopold. At this point the logical thing to do would be to pass the puck up along the boards to the winger in front of you, but no; he decided to try and direct a lazy pass, cross ice to an opposite winger. The 'Hawks forward effortlessly picked off the pass causing a turn over. As our defence scrambled to try and get back the 'hawk forwards were already crashing the net resulting in the overtime winner. The whole sequence only took about 12 seconds. Yes there is a case for goalie interference on the goal, but the big picture is that the Flames fell into their bad habit of only playing half the game. that ultimately is what cost them game one. I sure hope Coach Keenan is driving the point home today and tomorrow before game 2 tomorrow night. if the Flames end up in a 2 game hole, I'm not going to hold up much hope for a comeback. So let's go boys! Shake off the cobwebs! We can do this, let's show the doubters, what we are capable of. The following you tube link is dedicated to our Captain, Jerome Iginla, who was strangely quiet last night. If we have any chance of winning we need him to step up. everyone knows that the Flames live or die by Jerome's performance, so will the real Jerome Iginla please stand up?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yS09w6lVHI

Yet another Colton Moment

G'Day everyone. I hope we all had an enjoyable Easter Weekend. Things are still crazy in our home as we continue to prepare for our move out west. The time has come for me to get out there, I will be anxiously awaiting my family to join me. I'll be in Calgary on the 22nd of April for good, minus the time I'll have to fly back to pack up our home once we sell it. Any prayers anyone can send our way that we can sell our home quickly, would be appreciated.

So seeing as how I'll be away from my family for a bit, I may be missing monumental occasions in Colton's development. So this may be the last update I can give on him for a while, after this I'll have to rely on my amazing wife to give me and my readers the updates. So last month I posted Colton's first steps. It was quite the event. Since then, walking hasn't been something he's tried doing much. he fet it much easier and faster to crawl around. Well over the weekend that changed. All of a sudden he's decided that being in the world of the upright and mobile is much cooler. He has been a walking machine. He still stumbles every now and then, and sometimes, if he wants to get somewhere in a hurry, he'll drop down and crawl, but for the most part now, all we see is his little Frankenstien walk. Enjoy this little clip. (sorry for the incredibly bad commentary)

That's the cash you could have been saving if....

So you're probably looking at this post and wondering "what is that?". Well that's the money stack from those infectious little Geico commercials accompanied by a remix of Rockwell's Somebody's Watching Me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlwjIhHMWLQ I love those little clips, and a current event in my birth province (and soon to be home, again), brought it to mind.

I recently returned from a business trip out in Alberta, and as I was waiting in the airport; I decided to grab a complimentary news paper. Front page was the headline "Alberta budget forecasts deficit". This was shocking to me, and for those of you not understanding, I'll explain. Alberta has long been one of and now is the richest province in Canada. This wealth is due mainly to our biggest resource, the oil sands. The province has enjoyed a lot of economic growth and major budget surpluses due to the oil patch projects. We also were led until a few years ago by a great Premier "King" Ralph Klein, who got the province financially responsible. Under his leadership, the province flourished like never before, and we saw some of our best years under "King" Ralph. Sadly enough, those years seem to be behind us. There is new leadership in the province in the form of (termed loosely) "Honest" Ed Stelmach and his cronies. These bunglers have been a joke since they got into power. First they angered the Oil Barrons by raising province royalties on their projects. (I guess $9 billion provincial budget surpluses weren't good enough) This angered many of the oil companies who cut their projects down and moved a chunk of their business out to Saskatchewan. Now with an economic recession well in play, they announce a projected provincial deficit of $4.5 billion dollars for the next 2 years! with many new cuts and tax hikes to come. Why is this so infuriating to me? Well to start off with, once "King" Ralph got the provinces finances under control, he put in a law that the Government was no longer allowed to have deficits. This would keep the politicians responsible to make sure the incredible wealth the province had would be used wisely and appropriately. Well "Special" Ed (as I like to call him), and his merry band of loonies, put forth a bill to change the law so that they could put forth their deficit budget. This means that over the last few years of bloated surpluses in our budget, our provincial bean counters squandered the funds on who knows what, instead of putting some away for a rainy day. I mean, do they think we the people are not going to wonder how we went from untold wealth last year to being in the proverbial crapper? Do they suppose us to be that daft? Or is it that they simply don't care, they screwed up and want to just move on? I'm flabbergasted, that a province with no real economic issues over spent itself to the point where we now, when it's too late; have to sharpen the pencils. What do the great powers that be have to say to all the people that will lose jobs this year? What are they going to tell all the people in health care, education, and subsidized income, who are going to feel major cuts? Listen to me, I'm starting to sound like the lousy opposition parties! But it's the truth! What are they going to say? " We never thought a day like this would come, so we decided to take a page out of Michael Jackson's financial book; and see how fast we could spend it!" Unbelievable to me folks. Really, really, sad. So what are they going to do now to try and right the ship before the crew runs them off faster than Elton John at a Republican convention. Are they going to go back to the Oil giants, with their tails between their legs, and offer to do away with the royalty increase, in the hopes they bring more projects back into Alberta? That wouldn't work for 2 reasons. First off, the biggest hurt in our budget is the drop in oil prices, so their not producing a lot right now anyways, until things pick back up. So it's not going to make a huge difference right now. Secondly, they'll probably tell Ed to stuff it and want a bigger reduction out of spite! So what are the other options? Anyone? I'm like you, I'm drawing a blank at the moment. looks like we have to try and make hard cuts, tighten the belt, and try to get back into financial stability again. Hopefully by then we learn our lesson, and when the recession passes, and we start making money again, we put some away each year. But it still makes me angrier than a starving Ethiopian with no legs trying to chase a doughnut down a hill. That's just my opinion.

Special Ed: Hey Geoff, what's that?

Geoff: Well Ed, he's been following you for a while now.

Special Ed: He's creeping me out.

Geoff: That's the money you could have saved had you had a brain. Poor little guy looks tired.

*Cue song*

Colton Update

Today was Colton's 1 year check up at the doctor's office. All is well with the little man. He's tall and slender like his old man, but he's a lot tougher. Whenever I went to the doctor, the needles were always a huge production. This happened right up until I was 14, I would have to have people hold me down in order to get my shots. (I'm a lot better now, in case you're wondering) But not Colton, no he's brave like his mom. Getting his shots doesn't even phase him. Apparently from his mothers account, the doctor poked him, he gave a slight whine and then went right back to trying to get into things he's not supposed to get into. Shot's don't even phase him, they are more of an annoyance only. Just makes me laugh. Going to another point, I do love how he is such a curious little guy. He's always exploring things. he has no fear about going after anything he sees and playing with it until he figures it out completely. Jody is always telling me stories about his doctor visits, and how he loves to play with the blood pressure pump, cotton balls, computer mouse, table paper. As you can see in the picture posted, he's become interested in the blinds.

Kids are truly something remarkable. I have learned so much since having Colton in our little family. I've learned that I can change a poopy diaper under normal circumstances in a matter of 45 seconds. I've learned that something as simple as your nose can be the source of endless curiosity. I've learned that a belly button is the most fascinating body part we've discovered thus far. I've learned that I can be as angry as ever at him, and all it takes is his little smile at me and I'm putty in his hands. Of course there is no better feeling in the world than picking him up when he's upset, and having him cling to you until he calms down. Having the kind of power to make a person feel better like that makes a parent feel like Superman (or woman in Jody's case). Anyhow, that's my Colton indulgence for the day.

The Power known as China

Howdy everyone! I had one of my great readers ask me to comment on the topic of China. Here are my 2 cents... Is China the most powerful country in the world? No. A superpower? Yes. The Chinese are very hard working. My dad recently went on a trip there to visit a manufacturing plant that wanted to produce these trailers we wanted to build. He observed how these thousands of workers came in, worked 10 to 12 hour days. They all came into the cafeterias right at the whistle blow, where the factory fed them all efficiently, and then right on the dot of an hour they were back out on the lines. They do this 6 days a week, but only for about 10-15 years. At that point they "burn out" and will take all the money they've saved and move out to the mountains to live out the rest of their lives. Now this isn't common all over China, so don't let that story paint the whole story for you. Chins seems to excel in everything they do, as they seem to be extremely hard working and disciplined people. I'm amazed when I watch shows on the Olympics, and you see these athlete "Factories". They have kids coming in, some as young as 2. They do nothing but train and master their sports in the hopes to be selected to represent the entire country on the global stage. They are so competitive, that they went as far last summer to forge documents on 2 of their gymnasts, to make them appear older than they really were.
Anyway, my opinion on China as a whole is this. They are a global superpower for sure, due to their industry and pure numbers in population. But are they the most powerful country in the world no. The communism thing sets them back a bit.We all know communism in theory works, but in real practice it doesn't because of mans inability to govern themselves appropriately. Clearly as we've seen, there is always corruption in that type of system. Also, I think that though they are industrialized, the standards they hold up to are still decades behind the rest of the modern world. However, I gotta tell you, I love Chinese food!

Please feel free to leave me comments on my posts people, I learn the most when I hear from you!

The Big Announcement and other stuff

Well folks, if the picture is of any indication to you, the big announcement I have involves my family and a plane. Here it is, we are being re-located to Calgary. Yes you all read that right, we are moving back to Calgary effective immediately. I'll probably be there for a while before my wife and son join me, as we still have to sell our house here in Guelph. This decision was made last weekend, as my company wants me to be more directly involved in the day to day operations at the home base. It's been crazy, and Jody and I have been riding an emotional roller coaster ever since the decision was made. While we are very excited for the new opportunities this is bringing our way, we are sad to leave Guelph. We have both found ourselves really loving Guelph since we moved here. It is also where our very first home is, and we only got to spend a little over a year in it. Jody also is from Ontario as many of you know, so we will be leaving her family behind, don't worry though, we will be visiting often. On the other hand we are moving to where great opportunities await and it is where I am from, so its not like we are charting into the unknown. It's really a bitter sweet time for us, either way we go you're giving up one thing and gaining another. It's funny where life takes you. Although there is some sadness, there is also some excitement and hope. When looking at it as a whole, this is a good opportunity for us to grow as a family.

Well now that that is out of the way, my next piece is an update on my beloved Flames. They lost a real tough game on Monday to San Jose 2-1. It was costly because Vancouver won their game last night which leap frogged them into first place in the division and the 3rd seed in the playoffs. They hold that by one point with both teams having 6 games left to play. So we're still in contention for that placing, but we now have a tough schedule ahead of us, all the games are back to back games. So fingers crossed that the Flames wake up and get their game together before the playoffs start. It would be nice to have some momentum going in to the post season for a change.

Other than that folks, the rest of my thoughts will wait for other postings. By the way, anyone interested in seeing our house needs to go to http://www.propertyguys.com/properties/29837-guelph-ontario-townhouse. As an added incentive, if you know anyone looking in the market for a home, we are offering a finders bonus to the person that finds the lucky people that buy our home. Please get the word out!