Category: Sports

Conviction. Salvation.

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Remember a month ago when I said that the bloodthirsty hordes should wait until Michael Vick is actually found guilty before calling for his head? Well, he plead guilty yesterday. Put on your lynchin’ shoes and warm up the tar. I hope that punk gets the max.

.:.

Crapmonkey. I don’t want to watch another season of 24 but now I may have to. From The TV Show Blog:

“Although details are scarce at this point, according to Michael Ausiello over at TV Guide, Janeane Garofalo is the newest member of the cast of 24.”

Just when I thought I was out…they pull me back in.

[tags]michael vick, 24, janeane garofalo[/tags]

It was pretty funny when H-Simp punched N-Flan

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I’m liking my new blog template. If you notice any bugs (beyond the broken links in the consumption/mp3 widgets in the sidebar; already noticed those ones) let me know.

.:.

The Simpsons Movie (imdb | rotten tomatoes): pretty good. Little dopey toward the end, but solid laughs throughout. Much more sophisticated visuals than I’m used to seeing in the show, and humour a little more in the pratfall/timing style of the early seasons than in the more recent absurdist style. Good escapism for sure.

.:.

Daily Dose of Imagery has (yet another) very cool shot of downtown Toronto, including our condo. The perspective is misleading; our building (on the far left) is actually dwarfed by the big bank towers).

.:.

The whole athlete nickname thing where they use their first initial and the first syllable of their last name (e.g., A-Rod, J-Kidd, T-Mac, etc.) has gone too far. It was already silly when it got to J-Dub, but now that it’s reached Man-Ram, it’s just torn the ass out of the whole thing.

[tags]wordpress templates, simpsons movie, daily dose of imagery, toronto, athlete nicknames, manny ramirez[/tags]

Can we rig up an LCD and a bar fridge in the bathroom?

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Playing basketball for 2 hours in crazy-ass heat takes a lot out of you. We had a lot more people out tonight, including some people we didn’t know, so we ended up playing full court for a while. Now I am teh tired. I want to eat, watch The Shield and shower all at the same time.

.:.

I think the lightning fried my network card. Nellie can connect but I can’t, and we’re using the same router. It just…stopped. However, I can’t be arsed to fix it when I get home this late.

.:.

In unrelated news, I would beat up a nun for some chocolate right now.

[tags]basketball in the heat, fried network card, chocolate[/tags]

If you're depressed and have ADD and you know it, download these (and clap your hands)

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

If you’re in need of a song that’s less than two minutes in length and guaranteed to put you in a good mood, here it is: “Quito” by The Mountain Goats.

Ah shit, I’m feeling generous. Here’s another: “Half-Empty Halls” by The Evaporators.

You’re welcome.

.:.

Nellie’s away for the night, and part of tomorrow. I lazed around for a bit, did some errands, went to the Nike store (as I was paying I realized Jason Spezza was standing next to me, buying a stack of stuff as tall as my wife), went for a run, ordered some pizza, watched JFK (just ’cause), cleaned up and am now listening to music at a volume that seems to frighten the cats.

.:.

I needed a drink last night after work, so we met up with CBGB and a friend at The Auld Spot. The veggie burger was extra tasty, the beer was cold, the waitress was hot and the conversation was lively. It was just what I needed to ease into the weekend.

.:.

As of today I am 5/7 of the way through my MBA.

Aweso.

.:.

Two cool bits of news courtesy of the two best Toronto-centric blogs: Torontoist points to the new and improved driving directions on Google Maps (which is very helpful if you’ve ever tried plotting a scenic route) as well as a neat little mashup called Taxiwiz that predicts your Toronto cab fare. BlogTO, on the other hand, discusses the recent decision that permits street vendors to sell more than hot dogs.

.:.

Finally, I leave you with this hilarious little comic my friend Dino sent me.

Vegetarian Zombies

[tags]mountain goats, evaporators, nike store, jason spezza, auld spot, fun with fractions, torontoist, blogto, taxiwiz, google maps, vegetarian zombies[/tags]

Masochism is a dirty round orange ball

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Even though it was 323 degrees outside today T-Bone, PC, two other friends and I decided to play basketball. Yes, we’re idiots.

OK, so it wasn’t 323 degrees exactly, but it was definitely over 30, and very humid. And we played outside. In the sun. On asphalt. Uneven asphalt at that, not even a real court, so the ball (and therefore our hands, and therefore the rest of us) got extremely dirty. All in all, we could barely move (heat aside, none of us have played for a year) so it wasn’t the most energetic outing. And with only 5 players, it was 3-on–2 and for all four games we played I was on the “2” team. Still, my team won 3 of 4, so I don’t feel too bad.

OK, must go watch The Shield and then drink some A-535.

[tags]basketball, the shield[/tags]

Emilio Estevez must be so happy

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

The Stanley Cup has been won by the Anaheim Ducks. I’ll bet there are a lot of people who never expected to hear that sentence. At least they dropped the “Mighty” from their name and ditched the dopey logo.

.:.

I almost never remember my dreams. Maybe once or twice a year I’ll wake up and actually remember something, even just a few seconds. But when I do, it’s always about the same thing: a plane crash. Big plane, small plane…here in Toronto, back on my parents’ farm…it’s always a plane crash and I always see it happen. Every single time.

Let the psychoanalysis begin.

.:.

In case the civilized world needs another reason to ban the death penalty:

At Christopher Newton’s execution by lethal injection last month, it took 90 minutes and at least 10 stabs of the needle for the execution team to find a vein. The procedure was so drawn out the staff paused to allow Newton a bathroom break.

Sickening.

[tags]stanley cup, anaheim ducks, dream interpretation, death penalty[/tags]

Just like Mel Lastman was Canada's mayor

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

It’s warm today. Very warm. But it’s good; I think the sticky, humid weather is good for my cold. Feels like I’m in a sauna, kind of.

Another plus to being up this high, this close to the water: even on really warm days we get a cool breeze up here.

.:.

I left work just after 1:00 today. Got home, ate, caught up on a little work and just rested. I can’t bring myself to take sick days anymore — I’d have to pretty damn sick to not be able to look at a laptop — but today was a good rest for me. We’re going away for the weekend, so I don’t want to be snotty and hacky around my friends.

.:.

Apparently there’s a new poll out that says the Toronto Maple Leafs are who most would call “Canada’s Team”.

Overall, 24 per cent of the just over 1,000 people surveyed between May 17 and 20 named Toronto as Canada’s team, while 22 per cent picked the Habs and just 15 per cent chose the Senators.

This surprises me a little bit. Not because the Leafs got the most votes, but because they won by so little. Given the population of the GTA and the surrounding area, I would have expected the Leafs to have more support, but there’s Montreal right behind them. While that should be a little embarassing for Toronto, this is worse: what the poll doesn’t capture is that the 76% nationwide who didn’t vote for Toronto probably despise the Leafs, whereas — apart from in Toronto — the Canadiens have plenty of fans nationwide. If you were to do a net promoter score, I don’t think Toronto’d do so well.

[tags]toronto weather, humidity, leafs, canadiens, canada’s team[/tags]

Working for the weekend

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

OK…just barely awake at this point. Got up at 6, got to work by 7, had hectic-ass day, and left work at 8…didn’t feel tired until I got to the Auld Spot, where Nellie & CBGB were waiting for me, and around 1/4 of the way through my second beer (and following a very good veggie burger) I hit the wall. Sleeeeeeeeepy. I finished my drink (I’m not dead, after all), got the bill and then got a cab. I wouldn’t have stayed awake for the subway ride home.

Now…must try to stay awake long enough to watch the end of the Spurs-Suns game 6…Icandoit…

Note to self: remember to write paper (which is due Tuesday) this weekend.

[tags]auld spot[/tags]

The replacements

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I am now the proud owner of a Creative Zen Vision:M, the black 60GB model. However, I won’t have a chance to play with it tonight (!) as I’m busy taking care of other shit. I have to get up very early tomorrow for a flight to Montreal. I’ll return too late tomorrow night to play with it then either. Dan == sad.

I also got a replacement Roomba; no word on whether it’s intact or if I’ll have to return it as well. On top of that we got a replacement bathtub today. It’s a day of substitutions.

.:.

From the Globe and Mail: Bring pro hockey back to Winnipeg: Manitoba Tories

From me: Bring economic lessons to the Manitoba legislature.

[tags]creative zen vision m, roomba, winnipeg, hockey[/tags]

Down swingin'

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

It was a great game last night, but the Raptors lost to the Nets, and fell out of the playoffs. The Raptors played about as well as they could, on the road in an arena they haven’t won in all year, with two busted-up point guards, but in the end came up just short. And I mean that literally; if Jose Calderon had gotten his entry pass to Bosh just six inches higher, Bosh would’ve had an uncontested dunk to win the game. Alas, ’twas not to be. At least there was no sense than Vince Carter knocked the Raptors out of the playoffs; apart from a few hard drives to the rack in the 4th quarter, Carter was pretty much an empty shirt.

.:.

I woke up early this morning (or rather, was woken up by furry beasties) so I saw the sunrise. I’m still getting used to how amazing it looks in the morning; we have an unobstructed view (for now) to the east, so it’s a pretty pleasant way to wake up.

.:.

We’re gonna go have some breakfast, run a few errands before coming home to do some more unpacking & setting up. It’s nice to be able to do that stuff, after a pretty crazy month.

Aaaaaand Sonny almost knocked the TV over just now when he attacked an in-flight golf ball that he saw on Sportscentre. I guess that could be an advertisement for Sharp.

[tags]raptors, nba playoffs, toronto sunrise[/tags]