I have been struggling to get something written this week. Normally, I look forward to my time spent pecking away. For some reason, come Monday this week I wasn't feeling it. I worked hard this weekend, the routine at work was broken by some unexpected situations. I am going to give you an old fashioned rambling blog. Follow along as I search my brain.
-Jasmine's soccer team. Wow! I was pretty discouraged to start the year. It seemed many of the girls weren't very interested in soccer, and I would have a trying time teaching new skills. I have to some extent, but I have spent my time instead encouraging aggression and working on finding the ideal position for each to girl to play. I have found 3 dedicated and strong defenders. Steve's (my co-coach) daughter has regained her confidence and along with Jasmine has been providing goal after goal. After starting the year with 5 losses and a tie, we are unbeaten in our last 3. After a 1-1 tie last week, a 3-2 win on Saturday, and a 2-1 win last night I'm not sure what the ceiling is. The girls are watching the game from the sidelines now, and when good things happen they are getting excited and screaming and yelling. I'm glad they are having fun with it.
-Queensway Auto World, member team of the 30+ division in the North Cariboo Senior Soccer League, did not concede a goal this week in 180 minutes of soccer. We used two different and very capable goalies in the games, but for the most part, they just watched. We knocked off the newest team in the league 3-0. then played the top team on Friday. A physical battle ensued, but we came out on top, in part thanks to a replacement goalie who allowed 3 very soft goals. It was all we needed. 3-0 scoreline once again. I didn't score, but I am getting a fair bit of time on the ball, and I can see the benefits of my conditioning. I had some fun, trying a move or two I don't usually go with. I pulled off the move where the ball heads through your legs, but you reach back at the last minute and heel pass it the other direction. I can't recall ever trying it before, and it even worked. At 3-1-1 we are now tied at the top of the table.
-My son is sports obsessed. He has to come to all of Jasmine and my soccer games. He takes part in the warm up with Jasmine's team. He kicks the ball around the backyard any chance he gets. A day doesn't go by without him playing hockey downstairs. He has to join me lifting weights every chance he gets. As I realize nearly every topic on my mind also has to do with sports, I guess it's not his fault. He was born with it.
-As I type, Asher has climbed up on the couch, set up a pillow and cuddled up in the blanket. This is about the same time he does this most days that we spend together. It's pretty cute. Making it even more so is that he is staring over at me batting his eyelashes as his eyeballs head into hiding. If I look over and smile, he smiles back, even bigger. What can I do but work hard to match his width? Smile away little man!
-Jasmine is pretty awesome in her own right. I don't get the super big smiles from her as often as I do Asher, but she still loves Dad. When I arrived to buy some goodies at her SPCA bake sale on Sunday, she ran up and gave me a huge hug. She was dressed very nicely with earrings and a nice dress, and her hair very fancy too. Jasmine and her friend had come up with idea to sell goodies and donate the money to the SPCA. Sheila slaved away making cookies, while the other girl and her mom made cupcakes. When I arrived, they had recruited a bunch of helpers. There was 7 or 8 of them altogether, having fun, helping out. Jasmine saw half of her class, either helping or buying goodies. Everything went, and after a few donations were added, the girls had $123 to give to the animals. They went down and gave the money to the SPCA last night, and Jasmine is very excited. She and her friend had their picture taken and may appear on the SPCA Facebook page!
-8 guys got together and drafted 10 players each for a hockey playoff pool. 6 of the 10 guys I grabbed were gone after the first round. I gave up on the pool, and barely caught a minute of round 2. I didn't realize that when I drafted David Krejci, I would be getting the leading playoff scorer. I watched as the Bruins dispatched the Penguins, and the Hawks knocked off the Kings. This leaves a bizarre situation. First place guy has 73 points but no players. Other guy also has 73 points and only Dave Bolland left who has 1 point so far. 68 points and in 3rd place, he has 4 players, 3 Hawks and 1 Bruin. I'm in 5th, 64 points, 4 guys, 3 Bruins and 1 Hawk. Two poolies will be rooting for plenty of 1-0 scores. One guy wants a long series with Chicago doing most of the scoring. I will be cheering for a long series with Boston scoring more. Only top 2 get paid, I will be certain to make money if I gain the magical 10 points to pass the tied guys. Assuming Dave Bolland doesn't get a hat trick or two.
-I got a little carried away yesterday. I did my chest and triceps workout in the morning and early afternoon, I was way to distracted playing around with Asher so it took me forever. I went and coached Jasmine's game. Came home and ate with Sheila and the kids. A fantastic chicken and rice dish, that had us all eating second helpings. After sitting and hanging out for a while I set out. A 7 km bike ride, the first time on my bike in 3 weeks. It felt good. I timed in at 18:07. I sat down for a bit. Checked on my fantasy baseball teams. I stretched out. I completed the 5 km run in 24:51. I finished off the night with a long leg workout, 8 exercises, 3 sets each. I discovered a new favourite exercise. 1 leg squats. Just your body weight. I even grab onto the weight bench to assist. I can do about 10-12 each side before the legs give out. Feeling alright today, was expecting the hit by a truck feeling.
-I'm reading again! I started "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" last week, and I have actually been spending some time with it. I like the original style of storytelling, and I get into these types of storylines quite easily. It has a very similar feeling to Aldous Huxley or George Orwell. Full report to come once completed.
-Sheila is thinking about turning her baking passion into a more serious endeavor. She is thinking about selling baked goods at the Farmer's Market, specializing in gluten free items. Jasmine would likely join her in the project, and it sounds like a great idea to me. Asher could wear a sandwich board and walk around promoting the booth. Who could resist that little smiling face?
-We are being very casual about planning our holidays in August. First we were planning to go spend some time on Vancouver Island. Now the plan is stalled at "camping". That where, how and the rest of it has yet to be determined. I would like less driving time and more relaxing time. Maybe somewhere near a city so that we can do some tourist type stuff too. Of course, any other city requires considerable driving time. We still have 2 months to figure this out, right?
-My fantasy baseball teams are doing pretty good so far. My 1 team has been in 1st or 2nd all season in the 12 team league. I keep finding studs on the free agent list, and 2 weeks ago I snagged Domonic Brown right before he produced 8 homers in 7 games. Jason and I share 1 team, and we have been top 3 all year. We currently sit comfortably in 2nd out of 10 teams. Lastly, I am in 7th of 13 in my other one. I have managed to put together a really solid pitching staff, and with a little work on my offense I could be contending.
-Until next time!
Showing posts with label Aldous Huxley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aldous Huxley. Show all posts
Wednesday, 12 June 2013
Monday, 28 January 2013
Energy Boost
I've been feeling great this week. I have been coffee free for the last 5 days and I feel much better. I have switched to green tea sans caffiene and I have actually seen a significant boost in energy. I also have rededicated myself to eating right. This has likely also helped, though again after only 5 days it's effects are negligable. I hope to keep myself disciplined so I can be in decent shape come the spring. I plan to run a few road races this year and will need to do some significant training to make it happen.
It's Monday morning and just as it has been for the last 4 years that means I am nearing the end of my work week. When the clock strikes half past 2, or slightly before, I will be out of here. I will go and pick up Asher from daycare and then head up Ospika to go and get Jasmine from school. She always waits patiently for me to come, then regardless of when I arrive be it 2:45, 2:50 or later she always says something like "I had to wait sooooooooo long!" It's true, she does have to wait. She makes her little pouty face and climbs into the vehicle. I actually get a kick out of it now, the little attitude she gets, very similar to her mom's moods.
So, normally on Monday I am very exhausted due to my 2 early mornings and a distinct lack of sleep so we just head home and laze around for the afternoon. Today, we have a trip to the hockey rink planned and I doubt that my little Asher man will forget about it. He came downstairs last night near bedtime to find me taping up my hockey stick. This prompted him to start excitedly saying "hoggie, hoggie, hoggie" as he ran over to get his mini stick and find the ball. Dad had to tell him that no, we couldn't play because it was bed time. Well, my little 2 year old is in love with hockey. He started to cry and when he was called upstairs shortly after by his mom, he through himself on the floor at the bottom of the stairs to have a little tantrum all because he couldn't play "hoggie". Today is the day. It's about -5C with a light snow falling so hopefully in about 4 hours when we can play the weather will still be nice, and Dad will still have some energy. Jasmine has even rekindled her like of hockey due to Asher's enthusiasm and that also makes me happy. Last time out, Jasmine even joined me in the game of shinny that was going on while were there. She even set up dear old Dad for a goal.
My plan for this post was to provide a review of the book I am currently reading. As I am still currently reading it and didn't finish it as I had hoped, I can't review it quite yet. I am more then half way through "Time Must Have a Stop" by Aldous Huxley. This is the second of his books I have read, after being gifted "Brave New World" last year by my sister. Unlike the first novel, the current one is more of a standard novel rather then a dissertation on a utopian world that Huxley created. The main theme of the novel so far has been teenage Sebastian and his place in the world. He sees the contrast of his father's communist type ideas juxtaposed against the materialistic ways of his Uncle Eustace who married into money and couldn't be more different then his brother John who is Sebastian's dad. I will provide a complete review when finished, I am quite enjoying the read so far.
As a book nerd I had some considerable excitement over the weekend. I was dropping off some clothing donations at the St.Vincent de Paul thrift store (love the small shops, they truly feel like non-profits) and as always I browsed their book shelves. I found 2 gems, "Sons and Lovers" by D.H. Lawrence and "The Red Pony" by John Steinbeck. I happily plunked down a toonie on the counter and walked out. "Sons and Lovers" was written in 1913 and finds itself at #9 on Modern Library's top 100 novels of the 20th century. As I outlined last summer a long term goal of mine is to read all 100 books on the list. At the time I thought it could be done in a few years, but its more likely to take a better part of my lifetime. As I found out, the local library has suprisingly few of the books on the list, unfortunate because you would think the classics would be the books that most belonged in a library. I will have to acquire most of the books in stores, so I was happy to find the first copy of this novel I had seen since I started looking. I haven't memorized the whole list, but I remembered this one due to it being in the top 10. I've already read books 2, 5, 6 and 10 so this will make 5 of the top 10 once i've read it. Yes, I know I am getting way too excited about this. "The Red Pony" is not one of John Steinbeck's well known books, but it was the third novel he wrote (it's more of a novella) and I look forward to reading it. "Grapes of Wrath" and "Of Mice and Men" were both awesome reads that have turned me on to Steinbeck in a big way. I then walked across the street to the other thrift store "Bibles for Missions". There, I was lucky to find 2 more books to my liking. "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel and "Lucky" by Alice Sebold. I have almost bought "Life of Pi" on Amazon a few times and am looking forward to finding out what all the hype is about. "Lucky" is a book I already own, but I made the purchase for a friend who has been wanting to read it. I know it is a great book and am happy that I was able to find an extra copy for a quarter. Yes, the religious ladies were holding a 50% off sale making their dirt cheap prices even cheaper. Major score for a total of 3 bucks!
The movie at work this week was "The Hobbit" in 3d. As someone who is complete ignorant to the whole storyline I was still able to thoroughly enjoy it. Great visuals, cool story and a solid amount of humour mixed in. I am looking forward to the next installment. My favorite movie moment this week though was when I caught the last half hour of "That's What I Am". Done on a tiny budget starring Ed Harris and his wife, it's about kids in the 8th grade at a school where Harris' character teaches. Set in the 1960s it involves a trio of nerdy types who end up getting to know each other through a school project that their teacher (Harris) puts them together for. I caught the tail end of it and, wow! I was tearing up during a scene where the most outcast of the three gets up at the school talent show in the face of bullying and sings accapella despite not being that great of a singer. I excitedly told Sheila all about it, and will have to go about watching the movie as soon as I can. Hopefully Sheila and I can enjoy it together if I can find it online.
Sheila pointed out last week that this blog has a distinct lack of Sheila in it. I pointed out that most of my content is related to sports, books, movies and poker but I did agree with her. My next post will be dedicated to all things Sheila, look forward to it later this week most likely on the weekend. Until then.
It's Monday morning and just as it has been for the last 4 years that means I am nearing the end of my work week. When the clock strikes half past 2, or slightly before, I will be out of here. I will go and pick up Asher from daycare and then head up Ospika to go and get Jasmine from school. She always waits patiently for me to come, then regardless of when I arrive be it 2:45, 2:50 or later she always says something like "I had to wait sooooooooo long!" It's true, she does have to wait. She makes her little pouty face and climbs into the vehicle. I actually get a kick out of it now, the little attitude she gets, very similar to her mom's moods.
So, normally on Monday I am very exhausted due to my 2 early mornings and a distinct lack of sleep so we just head home and laze around for the afternoon. Today, we have a trip to the hockey rink planned and I doubt that my little Asher man will forget about it. He came downstairs last night near bedtime to find me taping up my hockey stick. This prompted him to start excitedly saying "hoggie, hoggie, hoggie" as he ran over to get his mini stick and find the ball. Dad had to tell him that no, we couldn't play because it was bed time. Well, my little 2 year old is in love with hockey. He started to cry and when he was called upstairs shortly after by his mom, he through himself on the floor at the bottom of the stairs to have a little tantrum all because he couldn't play "hoggie". Today is the day. It's about -5C with a light snow falling so hopefully in about 4 hours when we can play the weather will still be nice, and Dad will still have some energy. Jasmine has even rekindled her like of hockey due to Asher's enthusiasm and that also makes me happy. Last time out, Jasmine even joined me in the game of shinny that was going on while were there. She even set up dear old Dad for a goal.
My plan for this post was to provide a review of the book I am currently reading. As I am still currently reading it and didn't finish it as I had hoped, I can't review it quite yet. I am more then half way through "Time Must Have a Stop" by Aldous Huxley. This is the second of his books I have read, after being gifted "Brave New World" last year by my sister. Unlike the first novel, the current one is more of a standard novel rather then a dissertation on a utopian world that Huxley created. The main theme of the novel so far has been teenage Sebastian and his place in the world. He sees the contrast of his father's communist type ideas juxtaposed against the materialistic ways of his Uncle Eustace who married into money and couldn't be more different then his brother John who is Sebastian's dad. I will provide a complete review when finished, I am quite enjoying the read so far.
As a book nerd I had some considerable excitement over the weekend. I was dropping off some clothing donations at the St.Vincent de Paul thrift store (love the small shops, they truly feel like non-profits) and as always I browsed their book shelves. I found 2 gems, "Sons and Lovers" by D.H. Lawrence and "The Red Pony" by John Steinbeck. I happily plunked down a toonie on the counter and walked out. "Sons and Lovers" was written in 1913 and finds itself at #9 on Modern Library's top 100 novels of the 20th century. As I outlined last summer a long term goal of mine is to read all 100 books on the list. At the time I thought it could be done in a few years, but its more likely to take a better part of my lifetime. As I found out, the local library has suprisingly few of the books on the list, unfortunate because you would think the classics would be the books that most belonged in a library. I will have to acquire most of the books in stores, so I was happy to find the first copy of this novel I had seen since I started looking. I haven't memorized the whole list, but I remembered this one due to it being in the top 10. I've already read books 2, 5, 6 and 10 so this will make 5 of the top 10 once i've read it. Yes, I know I am getting way too excited about this. "The Red Pony" is not one of John Steinbeck's well known books, but it was the third novel he wrote (it's more of a novella) and I look forward to reading it. "Grapes of Wrath" and "Of Mice and Men" were both awesome reads that have turned me on to Steinbeck in a big way. I then walked across the street to the other thrift store "Bibles for Missions". There, I was lucky to find 2 more books to my liking. "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel and "Lucky" by Alice Sebold. I have almost bought "Life of Pi" on Amazon a few times and am looking forward to finding out what all the hype is about. "Lucky" is a book I already own, but I made the purchase for a friend who has been wanting to read it. I know it is a great book and am happy that I was able to find an extra copy for a quarter. Yes, the religious ladies were holding a 50% off sale making their dirt cheap prices even cheaper. Major score for a total of 3 bucks!
The movie at work this week was "The Hobbit" in 3d. As someone who is complete ignorant to the whole storyline I was still able to thoroughly enjoy it. Great visuals, cool story and a solid amount of humour mixed in. I am looking forward to the next installment. My favorite movie moment this week though was when I caught the last half hour of "That's What I Am". Done on a tiny budget starring Ed Harris and his wife, it's about kids in the 8th grade at a school where Harris' character teaches. Set in the 1960s it involves a trio of nerdy types who end up getting to know each other through a school project that their teacher (Harris) puts them together for. I caught the tail end of it and, wow! I was tearing up during a scene where the most outcast of the three gets up at the school talent show in the face of bullying and sings accapella despite not being that great of a singer. I excitedly told Sheila all about it, and will have to go about watching the movie as soon as I can. Hopefully Sheila and I can enjoy it together if I can find it online.
Sheila pointed out last week that this blog has a distinct lack of Sheila in it. I pointed out that most of my content is related to sports, books, movies and poker but I did agree with her. My next post will be dedicated to all things Sheila, look forward to it later this week most likely on the weekend. Until then.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)