Category: Sports

Maybe they should send Jack Bauer after Rosie Costello

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Life is always better the day after the Canadiens beat the Leafs. However, Montreal didn’t do much of anything at the trade deadline (picking up a third-string goalie from waivers) while many of their closest competitors did.

.:.

I want this. Bell Canada cannot get this to me fast enough.

Imagine being at work, behind your computer, or holding your BlackBerry, and being able go online and control all the lights, temperature and appliances in your home. About 250 homeowners in Milton will soon have that option through a Web portal designed by Bell Canada and offered through their local utility.

Pair that with a Slingbox and I can take my home with me.

.:.

This woman might be the most repugnant being on the face of the earth who hasn’t killed someone or tortured an animal.

A woman admitted Monday that she coached her two children to fake retardation starting when they were 4 and 8 years old so she could collect Social Security benefits on their behalf.

The mind boggles.

.:.

Speaking of mental retardation, I don’t know how much more of 24 I can take. It’s just boring now. I feel compelled to watch the remainder of this season, but really, I’ve stopped caring for the most part. The only thing I really tune in for now is to see how Jack occasionally manhandles someone (cases in point: nearly breaking his [imminent] lady love’s neck last week when he thought she betrayed him, and in an early episode when he dragged some poor unsuspecting motorist from his car and threw him to the ground, yelling “Don’t get up!”) and to see if they somehow miraculously bring Mandy back into the plot. Other than that…meh. To quote Frank, “Wake me when Zombie Nina* arrives.”

* A&E’s been showing old episodes in the morning. Today I was late for work because I had to watch the end of the episode where Jack kills the hell out of Nina.

[tags]canadiens, leafs, trade deadline, smart home, slingbox, children faking mental retardation, 24[/tags]

Quel match

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I just finished watching the Montreal/Nashville game…and what a game it was. 6-5 the final with the Canadiens winning in the 4th round of the shootout. Montreal never led in the game; they trailed by 1 or 2 goals the entire night until Sergei Samsonov (!) tied it with 48 seconds left. Nashville scored 2 goals by bouncing it off Canadiens’ defenders, so it would’ve been a tough loss. Honestly I was ecstatic that they’d steal a point on the road against the best team in the NHL; that they won it in the shootout was just a bonus.

Jaroslav Halak is now 3-0 since being called up from Hamilton. Let the canonization begin.

[tags]montreal canadiens, nashville predators, jaroslav halak[/tags]

By the left…quick March!

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The first week and a half of March is looking pretty sweet:

  • March 2: Black Snake Moan and Zodiac hit theatres
  • March 6: the new Arcade Fire album Neon Bible drops (officially, anyway; I’ve already listened to it, but I’ll still buy it)
  • March 9: 300 comes to theatres

Of course, there are more good movies (like Sunshine) and albums (like Ted Leo‘s Living With The Living) coming later that month, and then comes the sports fiesta — March Madness, NHL playoffs, NBA playoffs — during which I become one with my TV. Besides, it’s usually starting to feel pretty spring-y by late March/early April, and spring’s my favourite time of year.

[tags]black snake moan, zodiac, arcade fire, 300, sunshine, ted leo, i love march[/tags]

Florida? Really?

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Four years ago today I got engaged. Happy engagiversary to me.

.:.

The Canadiens have become le suck. They lost again tonight, and are barely holding on to the final playoff spot in the east.

.:.

Speaking of le suck, 24 has been predictable for the last three seasons, but now it’s getting to the point where we can’t go 5 minutes without making fun of it. If I manage to make it to the end of this season, I think it’ll be my last.

[tags]engagement, canadiens, 24[/tags]

Fire in this guy

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Neither of us felt like cooking tonight (disclosure: I never feel like cooking, and even if I did, I’m  crap at it) so we ordered thai. Along with the requisite pahd thai, rice and veggie dish, I got some spicy noodles. They were a little bit hot, but just enough to be yummy. Anyway, as I cleaned up the last few bites of the noodles something happened. I could feel the back left of my tongue burning, but not in a spicy, peppery kind of way. It felt more like…I don’t know, like an actual burn, or how I remember bee stings felt, except it was on my freaking tongue.

I jumped up and grabbed water out of the fridge; that helped, but as soon as I swallowed the pain came back. I tried milk; same result. I tried eating an entire wheat thin while drinking milk, making some sort of edible mud pack in my mouth which (perhaps not surprisingly) didn’t really help much either. Finally, after another glass of milk, 5 minutes of foofing and a mouthful of plain rice my tongue began to feel normal again.

There must have been some super-hot half-peppers in the noodles and I put one in my mouth directly on that part of my tongue; the rest of my mouth was unaffected. I didn’t even get that runny-nose, watery-eye kind of thing that eating a crazy-ass pepper would give you. If I didn’t know better I’d say I’d put just-cooked food on my tongue and burned it, but the food had been on our table for 10 minutes and in the car for 30 before that, so that wasn’t it.

It’s like my mouth had its very own Tunguska event.

.:.

The contestants in this year’s NBA dunk competition have been named: Dwight Howard, Tyrus Thomas, Gerald Green and defending champ Nate Robinson. Nate Robinson, you may recall, took 17 attempts to put down one of his dunks last year, and still won the damn thing, showing just how stupid the event has become. The only thing I’ll watch for this year is the 3-point shootout.

I liked the suggestion last year (can’t remember if it was Kenny Smith or Charles Barkley): to save the dunk competition the NBA should ask Vince Carter, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Josh Smith to compete. That’d get me back in front of the TV.
[tags]pepper, thai food, nba dunk competition[/tags]

Vodka + ice wine = Nellie's new best friend

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Watched Show Me (imdb | rotten tomatoes) yesterday, a low-budget Canadian film. It was interesting if not plausible, and well-acted if not well-written.

.:.

We also went out for our last Winterlicious dinner last night, to Jump with our friend CH, and were happy with the way the event ended. We had a great time: the service was great, our drinks were very tasty, and the food was quite good, especially my celery & parsnip bisque and my chocolate/espresso cheesecake.

And so it’s over for another season. The final tally: 1055 was poor, Savoy and Jump were very good, and Canoe was excellent. I think that next time we’ll keep it to one or two restaurants; the value for money doesn’t always seem as great now that we’re more or less limited to vegetarian options.

.:.

Today is sports marathon day. Right now I’m watching the end of the Raptors/Clippers game; after that I’ll slip over into the recording of the Canadiens/Penguins game, and then at some point tonight tune in to the Superbowl (hopefully I can avoid Billy Joel singing the anthem and Prince performing at halftime). Nellie’s been forced to set up temporary residence in the bedroom.
[tags]show me, winterlicious, jump cafe, raptors, clippers, canadiens, penguins, superbowl[/tags]

I'm not the only dummy in this dummy room

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After last night’s drinks & veggie burger (at Spuntini’s The Spud Spot The Auld Spot) I watched Montreal play Pittsburgh. The Canadiens eventually lost in the shootout, but were lucky to get out of it with a point, being down 2 goals with 6 minutes to play. They had to endure a 7-minute (!) power play (during which they also went down 2 men for a while) and the loss of their best defenseman, so all in all they did well to get an OT draw, especially on the road.

Overall it was a great game: very chippy with lots of hitting but still fast with some real moments of skill. I can’t wait for the rematch on Sunday afternoon.

.:.

Fridays are my days to get stuff done in the office: fewer co-workers around me, fewer incoming questions & requests, and a last surge of energy before the weekend.

Ummm…I guess that means I should stop blogging though…
[tags]penguins, canadiens[/tags]

The summer of Dan

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I’m a very happy MBA student right now. Not only did I just finished stats/quants (which is generally thought to be one of the least pleasant courses), and not only am I now more than 60% of the way through, but I have a very favourable series of courses coming up:

  • Information Systems (IT is kind of my specialty, so this will be like a 3-month vacation for me)
  • Strategic Thinking (I took this course before I even started the MBA; that doesn’t mean I can skip it, but I’m already more than familiar with the subject matter)
  • Financial Risk (as I understand it, this is running computer simulations to determine financial risk of various investment & spending strategies…again, computers + numbers = my wheelhouse)

That puts me into September. I’ve been joking with classmates that this is the summer of Dan (a term I adapted from Seinfeld), and offered my assistance since this is probably one of the few times I’ll be of any help to anyone.

George: This is gonna be my time. Time to taste the fruits and let the juices drip down my chin. I proclaim this: The Summer of George!

[A bee comes and George has to run inside]

[via]

I also have a large comprehensive term paper to write up by the end of October, but I’m not worried about that. A classmate and I already have a topic in mind, with a ton of supporting material already lined up, and neither of us struggle to fill pages.

.:.

Since it’s cold out and neither of us are feeling that well, Nellie and I are undertaking the very winter-y exercise of watching the Leafs play the Canadiens, and then watching a movie: The Devil Wears Prada. Now that is the definition of marital compromise.
[tags]the summer of dan, mba courses, leafs, canadiens, the devil wears prada[/tags]

8.73%

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Day 1 is behind me. The class was pretty lightweight (just an intro and refresher), but already this feels like it’s gonna be a long week. I did manage to squeeze in about 45 minutes of shooting around in the gym, which felt good. I seem to constantly be hungry, though, so that’s bad; I’m making sure I always have some fruit in my room. The meal choices were a little lacking, but I’ll live. Our usual trip to Wendy’s could be tricky; I guess I’ll have to find a subway.

.:.

I don’t normally much care for football, but the Colts-Patriots game was a pretty great one.

[tags]mba, colts, patriots[/tags]