I feel like a winner

Before I go any further, I think it is important to acknowledge some of the hard work done by my fellow coaches these past months. Peter, who runs the operation, is the best coach I have ever worked with or played under, and his commitment to the team is stupendous. Luke who does everything under the stars to make sure everything goes right, and in 3 years basically everything has gone right. Gary, who's knowledge and experience have been invaluable to a young group of athletes. And Benny and John, new/old additions this season who have been invaluable helping develop and assessing our younger players. Fantastic year gentlemen. OK, now that that is out of the way...

Who ever said winning isn't everything, hasn't lost a few times and then won again. Let me tell you something: even if winning isn't everything, it sure feels really good when you do win.

The Queen's Gaels Men's Varsity Rugby team, of which I am an assistant coach, beat the Western Mustangs in the OUA final last weekend. The game was awesome, as Queen's erased a second-half deficit of 9 points to win 23-19. Even more impressive was the final 5 minutes, played almost entirely within the 5m before the Queen's tryline and Western being denied on the last play of the game. The final series involved 13 consecutive phases, and a 23 second ruck before the whistle was blown. Pretty fantastic stuff. For Peter Hugenbois, our head coach, the victory represents something extra special. It is his first championship in his 6 years as head coach, and he played on the last Queen's team to win the championship in 2001. He got mobbed as the final whistle blew, and almost lost his glasses as a result.

Queen's allowed an early try off a handling mistake by Mike Wong Jr. (no actual relation to me... hence why we call him Jr.), who otherwise played a stellar game. A score by semi-import winger Scottie Kyle made it 5-7 a few minutes later. Western then responded with another try and convert to make the score 5-14. On the last play of the half, Graeme Dibden cross-kicked into the corner and after a fortunate bounce, Zack Pancer ran the ball in for another score. We missed the convert and went into half time down 10-14. Western scored at the 50 minute mark of the second half, and things looked momentarily grim for Queen's. However, Scottie Kyle, Mike Wong Jr., and in particular Chris Barrett were able to find multiple gaps and decimate the Western backline, with Barrett making 3 huge gains, 2 of which resulted in tries. With Queen's now up 23-10 (an early second half penalty was also slotted by Ryan Kryune) the name of the game was defence, highlighted by the final stand in the dying minutes of the game.

Basically it was a fantastic day with many supporters in the stands, including many current and past players, as well as other alumni, family and friends. Donna even made the trip down, and despite her lack of enthusiasm for most rugby games, could also be found on the field celebrating with everyone else. She commented on the excitement of the game. Almost too exciting for me.

For all those people who say winning isn't everything, here's what I think. Try working exceptionally hard for something. Devoting hours each and every day for months, competing against other people who have done the same thing. Then, at the very end, when you know that despite a perfect season, the quality of the group of people you have been working with, and the colossal amount of support you have received from dozens of people, that you have still have to work extra hard in order to be successful, you try telling me it wasn't worth it or that winning isn't important.

I gotta tell you. I felt pretty good this week.

Stay Frosty.

Busy, Busy, Busy.

Somebody forgot to tell me how busy you get when you buy a new house. It seems like there are not enough hours in the day to get everything accomplished. Granted, it still does get done, but the rest periods seem to be shorter and fewer than when we lived in the apartment. I have some pictures to sort of sum up how we have spent the last month, but before pictures here are a few highlights:

- Donna got to drill a hole in a guy's head... with a hand drill... and no real experience.

- I got a job for the fall, back up north, and I am happy to be there despite the drive.

- Rugby is good... the fields are like pavement and we haven't won in a while, but it is still fun. Queen's is going to awesome this year, and that's is not just because we are getting a ton of free kit.

-We had lunch at the Pink Pig: think painted school bus that sells authentic BBQ and smoked meat.

- People over on a regular basis to enjoy our new house. People say I should open a restaurant, not that I am tooting my own horn, but I am tooting my own horn.

-I am becoming handy: I built a railing for a staircase, put in some new lighting, and filled some holes in the wall with the help of my buddy Luke.

- Donna, now a senior resident, started teaching the new juniors. She says they are good...

Now for the pictures.

Had to get the second-hand BBQ up and running. New Paint and it was good to go. The most important summer appliance.

We had a pretty bushy back yard until I managed to procure a lawnmower for us.

We celebrated Canada Day like many people throughout the country. In prison (the National Penitentiary Museum of Canada)

The local berry farm had fresh strawberries that we were able to pick for a nominal fee. Very tasty.

Donna also made me strawberry tarts. I have tried twice to fix the picture, but its a no go.

Cleaning the old apartment. Mom, take note.

Donna wants a garden. Guess who gets a garden? Fresh veggies here we go. (They are growing, and nothing has died yet, but not seeing much edible stuff)

Fresh, hand made bread for the two of us for brunch. OK, now seriously, hands up those people who think Donna is spoiled?

Seven hours of this...

Turns into this. And several other pieces too.

Purchased some new chairs for the living room.

And for the office.

Patio set for outside.

And a brand new, 40" LCD HD TV for the living room. Complete with large angry lady on the TV.

See you all in Vancouver tomorrow.

No Easter Bunny? No Problem

Well, I just had a pretty good Easter weekend, despite the Easter Bunny not being able to find my house. I was actually in Oshawa visiting Donna, so I can understand Mr. Bunny not getting the memo. However, somehow, someway, the Easter Bunny did manage to find Donna in Oshawa. Amazing that, huh?

I left Thursday night after practise. I guess I haven't mentioned this, but the Kingston Panthers have started practising again for the upcoming '08 season, and we have a new head coach: Grant Bradley. Really nice guy, very competitive, likes his fitness. Needless to say there has been a lot of running and core training at practise, and I am actually not complaining too much. My regular workouts have managed to keep me above the bottom of the fitness scale.

Anyway, it was nice to get down to Oshawa that night, so we could spend the whole day together on Friday and Saturday, before coming back on Sunday. On Friday, we decided to go out to the One of a Kind craft-fair. It's easily the biggest craft fair I have ever been to. Over 450 vendors selling everything you can imagine. It was almost like a giant department store. Seriously. Homemade gadgets, art, jewelery, food stuffs, clothes, accessories, you name it. All overpriced, but hey, what do you expect for one-of-a-kind things. We bought a giant spoon (one of those spoons you put on the stove to hold a spoon or spatula so the counter doesn't get messy. We also got some mashed potato seasoning - and at $10.00 for a 3 oz. container, it was such a deal. It actually does taste really good, and we thought we should leave with something. It took forever to get through it all (3.5 hours) but we managed.

On Saturday we started our day with a trip to the gym. I convinced Donna to do some weights, which might have been a mistake, because Donna was exhausted the rest of the day, but we had enough energy to go out and find me a new-used jacket. The rugby team is going to the Colour Awards Night here at Queen's celebrating varsity athletics. The team decided that they all wanted to match so everyone was supposed to acquire a Tweed sport coat. I managed to find something that will do at one of the local thrift shops. $10.00 for a jacket that actually fits me very well (Donna was surprised, thinking that there was no way another short fat guy would want to get rid of a jacket). Even the sleeves are the correct length.

Saturday night we went out for Chinese food to one of the local hole-in-the-walls that one of Donna's friends new about in Toronto (actually Scarborough). The food was delicious, but we would have never found the restaurant without directions. All Chinese menus, so it was a good thing she could order for us. Not sure what we would do next time if we went back, but I'm sure we could manage. After stuffing our faces, we went back to Oshawa... I needed to get a good night's sleep to prepare myself for dinners on Sunday.

I had 2 dinners planned for Easter Sunday. Pretty amazing since my family Easter Dinner was happening 5000km away. We headed into to Toronto to have dinner at Donna's cousins' house. It was delicious and early, which allowed me to recover before heading back to Kingston for dinner number 2. I had to head back early to get back in time for an early morning rugby practise. After dropping Donna off at her place in Oshawa, I carried on back to Kingston. I stopped in Shannonville, where I had courteously invited to the Follwell farm for Easter Dinner there. It was delicious. And a little chaotic. In addition to 4 of the Follwell family members, and myself, Pete and Morgan were also there (a little rugby reunion) as well as 4 dogs and a couple of cats. There was a little of noise, but it was a ton of fun.

Just trying to recover today. Thanks to the Queen's guys for the jersey. It fits nicely thanks to Tim's assumption that I am fatter than I think I am. Done all my chores, and now I think it's time to make some dinner.

Everything back in K-Town...Almost

After having a wonderful vacation in Vancouver, Donna and I arrived back in Kingston. A week ago today. Our last few days in Vancouver were hectic, but really good. On Sunday, Dec.30 we went out for lunch with Erica and Pierre and Audrey. Erica and Pierre wanted us to see the new house they bought. I guess that as soon as you get married, you need to buy a house. Then it is all encompassing and you have to show everyone your new purchase. I get it. Showing-off is important. I couldn't believe what they spent... a small fortune. Their house is beautiful though. And they seem very happy, which is the most important part.

We spent a quite New Years between my Parent's place, and Joe and Maggie's. They were dog sitting Dweezle (a little white angry puff-ball) and Donna wanted to see it. We had New Years Dinner at my parent's house which was nice. A big ham dinner, which most people thoroughly enjoyed, but I am not a huge ham fan. I prefer it in sandwiches and quiche, rather than a big slab of it for dinner. My Aunt, Uncle and cousin Sara came down for dinner as well, as everyone had a good time.

We took my brother to the airport early the next morning, but I got a White Spot breakfast out of the deal, so it wasn't too bad. The next few days seem to fly by, and I couldn't believe I was leaving Saturday. On Saturday it was nice that we got a last minute On-Lok wonton stop with my parents, Joe and Maggie, and John. It was Joe and John's birthdays just a few days apart, so we got to celebrate last minute.

Got to the airport OK, and actually was surprised that one of the Queen's kids I coach was also taking the same flight as me. I missed Donna by about 20 minutes, as her plane was leaving the same time as mine was taking off. My flight was delayed, which was the start of a very bad set of circumstances. The flight itself was nice, we each had our own TV, but what was really nice was that I managed to sleep about 3 hours. I got to say a quick hello to Donna at the Toronto Airport between layovers, and then I landed in Kingston.

My luggage however was nowhere to be seen. Then this "women" and I use that term loosely. Angry wild beast-person might be more accurate. She had good cause, because I assume that what happened to me happened to other people as well. My luggage did not arrive. I assumed that it was coming on the next flight because of my delayed flight and the shortened layover was not enough time to get my baggage from the Vancouver flight to the Kingston flight. This happened to a lot of people, both from the Vancouver flight and other places as well.

Donna was on the flight right after mine (crazy huh, she left Vancouver before me, and arrived after me). Her luggage arrived safe and sound, mine however did not. And so the story begins. I give them my information. They say it usually arrives within 24 hours and they will call me.

Monday, 24-hours later, I call them. I get a nice man in India, where their call-centre is. He tells me that both of my bags have been found, and that they are in Kelowna. That's right, Kelowna. I call back the next day, to check on the progress of my bags, and I get another nice man in India, and he tells me that only 1 of my bags has been found and that they are not sure where it is. Great, at least we have progress. That night my Mom calls and says what a nightmare the luggage situation is and then 1000's of people did not get their luggage. In fact, piles of bags are just sitting at airports, pretty much unsupervised. Good I says to myself, now my bags are going to be stolen and sold at some trailer park to a guy with a rum and coke in his hand (watch TBP, you'll get it).

Finally Wednesday I get a call. My luggage has arrived, both pieces. I tell them to not deliver it, that way they can't lose it between he airport and my house. Everything was fine. It all got here, and everything was intact.

The moral of the story is, pack nothing important, except a GPS device.

Still in Kingston

Hey Everyone. I hate travelling. OK, that's not exactly true. I like going to new places, old places, I like going on vacations, I like going home for Christmas. Unfortunately the weather doesn't always cooperate. My 3:45 flight was cancelled due to runway conditions (we had a nice big storm). Then the 6:45 flight out of Kingston was also cancelled, this time due to cross-winds.

Both times the plane actually left Toronto, but couldn't land. Those people must be pissed too. I am just waiting to see if the last flight gets into Kingston. I and Donna are supposed to be taking it out tomorrow morning. If you here from later tonight or tomorrow, there is a very good chance I have just broken something to help quell my rage.

Merry Christmas.

Christmas Shopping Stupidity

Attention all stupid people (you know who you are) apparently you have decided to elect, anoint, delegate, or whatever it is you do, a new leader. I am not even sure if you know who she is, so I will take it upon myself to let you know about her.

I was shopping on the weekend at Sears, finishing my Christmas purchases and I happened to ask the cashier how the person had to return their present if it didn't fit (no other hits to people who might be getting presents from me). I told them I would be away over the holidays and was going back to Vancouver, just so I was clear and their wouldn't be any problems. She said they could return anywhere.

Sorry I just had to go rescue Donna. There was some serious shrieking, like the kind you would make if you were mugged, and then she ran on the coach. Turns out it was some kind of creepy centipede thing. She almost crapped her pants... her tummy hurts right now.

Anyway, the cashier beside her said i had 90 days to return/exchange it. This is good. Then she asks if it is a Christmas gift,I say yes, and then she says "Well then they only have until January 14th to return it." Now I know that at times I am not the most rational person in the world, but what kind of sense does that make? So I get in a little argument with her:

Mike - "Well then its not a Christmas present."

Stupid Cashier - "You just said it was."

Mike - "It's not. I am going to give it to him/her (no hints!!) before Christmas so it is not technically a Christmas present."

Stupid Cashier - "Fine do whatever you want, you still have until the 14th."

Mike - "I will. Don't you worry."

I wanted to return them right then and then get in line and buy them again. Then ask her the same question again. Petty yes, but the response from her would have been fantastic. I could have gotten the purchase for free when she attacked me.

Anyway, you know I hate incompetence. This was a prime example. Happy Holidays.

Most Bestest Tuesday Ever

Today at school I had the most bestest day ever. All because the administration sponsored all the staff to a free turkey dinner with all the trimmings. If you read my ravings and rantings, you will remember that I was slightly depressed at Thanksgiving because I didn't get my Mom's turkey dinner, perhaps the finest meal on this earth. We went to Swiss Chalet with a couple of her friends, it while it was nice, it was no turkey dinner (I think at the time I said a little piece of me died inside... that might have been an over statement, but it did suck big-time). The turkey dinner we had today, although prepared lunch counter-style by the cafeteria ladies, was delicious. It reminded me of home, and just increased my already overwhelming desire to return to Vancouver for the holidays. Kingston is nice, and I couldn't stand being apart from Donna, but there are lots of things I miss about Vancouver.

I started my Christmas shopping yesterday as well. I will tell everyone more about this later, after Christmas, as Donna will be reading this and letting her stew a bit wondering what she is getting for Christmas will be good for her.

So I cooked dinner for some people the other day. Some of our friends were in Toronto for the weekend, but others were around and we decided to have them over for some authentic fusion Chinese food (authentic dishes prepared by a fusion chef...). Everything turned out tasting pretty good, which was a relief since I spent most of the day (7ish hours) shopping, chopping, cleaning, grilling, baking, frying, and steaming the meal. I am not sure how those restaurant kitchens manage to produce so much food. I made 8 dishes for the 6 of us, which was total over-kill, but everyone enjoyed it (or at least said they enjoyed it). I like cooking so it was nice to cook for a slightly bigger crowd than just the normal 2 of us. If I had cooked less, maybe they wouldn't want to come back so soon.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

So now that I am back on the air, I promised that I would update more frequently. And I keep my promises. At least to those people who are important to me, like everyone who has access to the Internet.

The Good.

So good news on the job front. It looks like I will have semi-permanent work until the end of January. Not the best thing that could have happened, like me getting a full time job right off the bat, but this is the next best thing. I am totally not complaining. I also applied for some job today in and around the Kingston area. I had a really good schmooze session with one of the principals when I dropped off my application package. All I can do is hope that my excellent application package will be enough to overcome my lack of seniority and get me a job. I guess the only negative thing that has happened because of all of this is that I had to pay $40.00 to get my flight home for Christmas changed. I was scheduled to come back Tuesday morning, but now I have to work Monday and Tuesday in the new year, so I guess I should be here. All those people who didn't want to see me, you now have a better chance of this occurring.

The Ugly.

So it snows in Kingston. Monday we had this huge dump of snow. We actually had a snow day. I didn't think this was possible here in Ontario where snow in winter is a normal thing. I assumed that there would be plans in place to prevent this kind of thing. I apparently things move just as slow in Kingston as they do everywhere else. The roads did eventually get plowed, but me with my new snow tires had no problems getting to work. It was ironic actually that because I was new, I wasn't on the phone tree, so I made it into to work at regular time. I was only the 4th person to show up. The rule of thumb here is that in a snow day, you still try to go to work, you just make it in whenever you can so as to stay safe. This makes sense. Too bad no body told me. Anyway I got a lot of work done.

It was -15 celcius the other day, plus the wind chill (-24ish total). That's pretty cold for us thin-skinned Vancouverites. I had to break out the winter jacket (thanks Queens), and I need to buy newer heavier gloves to keep my hands warm. It's only December 5th?

The Bad.

The snow and ice have other consequences as well. Like me slipping when I walk because I am a chunky clumsy fellow. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that Donna makes fun of me when I slip. I haven't fallen yet. Much to Donna's chagrin, she can no longer say the same thing. She slipped and fel last night on the way home from work. It's not funny. She hurt her tailbone and bum and she is in a serious amount of pain. And she needs to go to work tomorrow. And she no longer makes fun of me. Karma anybody? (I do love you Sweet-Pea, and I am not mocking you... too much)

Happy Holidays Everyone!!!

Wooohooo!!! Back on the air!!!

Hey Everybody!! So its been 2 months since my last confession, er, post. Many things have happened, some of which actually did affect my ability to use the Internet and keep you all posted on how Donna and I are doing. I am probably going to forget a whole bunch of things, but I will try and remember the most important, interesting, funny, and useless things. I am not actually sure where to begin, so here it is, chronologically.

Thanksgiving.

Donna knew that I was feeling a little crumby at my lack of work, so she said she was going to make me Thanksgiving Dinner. I got really excited. We were going to have people over. Donna was going to make turkey and all the trimmings. I was going to eat much, much more than was good for me. Then we found out that Jason and Flora were going to the states for the weekend and needed someone to dog sit for them. Sounded like fun and we could dirty their kitchen instead of ours. Plus we could do a bit of laundry since the washers and dyers at our place were broken. Then we also found out that Donna's friend Tanya was coming up for Sunday morning brunch. Needless to say this put a damper on our turkey dinner plans. Oh well, not a big deal, I will just have to consume more turkey at Christmas.

I made the Wife-Saver Breakfast for the first time when Tanya and Wilson (her fiance) came for brunch,and despite a few missteps, it turned out really well. The dog sitting was not as successful. Lai-Fu, Jason and Flora's Sheba Inu, is a handful. Let's just say that Donna is thinking that a cat might be better for us. It ate her scarf, several of our socks (we stayed the weekend at their place) and her brand-new shoe's (which she had just bought with birthday money from her Mom and had only worn once).

And I did get poultry for Thanksgiving Dinner. I had a delicious 1/4 chicken dinner at Swiss Chalet. I kid you not... I actually cried a little bit inside afterwards.

Camping.

One of the attendings Donna works with was nice enough to invite us up to his property for some camping one October weekend. Donna wasn't sure she wanted to go as it was getting late in the season, nights were getting a little cold, and she was the only female going. I talked her into it, since it was the last chance to get away for the weekend for awhile. It was a little cold, but it was totally worth it.

We had a great time. 4 other Dr.'s came up at various times for various lengths of time, so there was always company around. Lots of very marginally healthy food and drink as well. Turns out Dan's wife Angela came up the next day, so Donna was happy at the injection of estrogen to the campsite. Their property is amazing to say the least. Apparently it is impossible in Canada to actually own water, such as a lake. However, Dan and Angela have purchased 120 acres of land that completely surrounds a lake, essentially giving them the lake as well, for a total of 180 acres of relatively private bliss. They are in the process of developing it, and when they do it will be one heck of a property. We canoed the lake and hiked the area, and best of all, Donna didn't freeze.

Birthdays.

So Donna and I each had birthdays in October. We went out for dinner with her friends to the best of the local Chinese restaurants. It's not bad, for white-bread Chinese. Yes, there is a buffet at lunch for $6.50, but does that necessarily mean that it's a bad place to eat? In this case no, particularly since there is not really anything better Chinese-wise in the downtown area. It was pretty good, and since we hadn't had Chinese for awhile, it was pretty good. For my birthday, some of us went to one of the better local pizza places, Woodenhead's. Slippy, if your reading this, (probably not since this is way to lowbrow for your self-proclaimed towering intellect) we did not have the famous Coconut Shrimp, but we did dine on some delicious wood-oven pizza and fresh salads. I got Donna some new flannel sheets to help ward-off the now present winter chill, and Donna got me the new Halo 3 video game, perfect for an out of work bum with nothing else to fill his days.

Rugby.

For the months of September, October, and the first part of November, rugby was pretty much all consuming. I didn't have much else to do, so it was actually pretty good. We ended up getting through the regular season in first place. We thumped Trent in the first round of the playoffs 99-0. That's right, 99-0. We actually had chances to get to triple digits, but missed several kicks that would have put us over the century mark. The following week, we beat heated rivals 18-13 in front of a great home crowd. The bleachers were packed, and they even put up a beer garden and food tent for the game. It was a very hard game, with several close plays that truly tested the Queens Players. The guys played very hard and were both technically sound and mentally tough against Western. This confirmed a spot for us against Brock in the finals at Fletcher's Field in Toronto.

The weekend of Nov. 10 we travelled to Toronto, getting there on Friday evening so we would have time to get a run in before it got too dark. Along the way we stopped at Luke Follwell's parent's farm for lunch, that's right, the whole bus load of rugby players were fed by two of the nicest people ever. I am not sure I would want to open my house to 40 hungry rugby players, coaches, and trainers. That's a lot of food. It was delicious, and a nice team bonding activity.

The eating didn't stop there. A Queen's alum, Rick Powers (great guy), took the team out to dinner. Pasta, salad, and bread... lots of carbs for the guys. Then he took the coaches and trainers out for "real dinner." So after eating a healthy portion of pasta, a few hours later I was treated to ribs a fries. Let's just say I ate way too much that day, especially since I got up the next morning and ate at the breakfast buffet.

All that eating didn't get us a win though. It was a close game, and Queens had several chances to put the ball over the try-line, but we couldn't capitalize on our attempts. We lead at two points early in the game, thanks to Bryn Davie's kicking, but it was not enough. It was a great season, and the guys should really be proud of themselves. I had a great time working with them and I can't wait to get back to it next year.

Toronto.

Donna drove down after the game and we spent the night in Toronto, doing all the good Toronto things that Kingston doesn't offer. We ate and bought a car load full of Asian groceries and socialized with several friends of Donna's doing rotations in Toronto at the time. It was a nice time. Thanks again to Donna's cousins for letting us stay with them.

Employment.

So I was beginning to get a little depressed with the lack of work. September went by without a sniff, although I applied to a few jobs. I managed to get an interview for an occasional teaching position (TOC or substitute for all you Vancouverites) at the beginning ofOctober, and I thought it went pretty well (I also thought my interview at Alpha 3 years ago went well, but I found out later that it wasn't my best effort). Later in October, on my birthday no less, I got a call telling me I had a job, and that I needed to go to an orientation meeting on 5th of November. At that meeting I found out that I could expect to be getting calls starting November 19th. I actually got a call before that because they were extra short people, but I worked only 3 days in those first 3 weeks. 3 days of work in over 4.5 months. How's that for unemployment?

Anyway, I got a really good break the other day. I actually have semi-permanent work for the next few weeks, which will see me through to the Christmas break. It isn't quite full time, but they are really good about trying to get my workload topped up when other people are way from the school. It's in Odessa, which is just a 25 minute drive from Kingston. Its a great school and the staff is really nice.

To get back and forth from school, I decided after much deliberation to get snow tires. Good thing. I had them put on and the next day in dumped a whole pile of snow. How do these Ontario people put up with this? It also dropped to -20 today, turning much of the roadways into skating rinks. Nice eh?

Computer.

Almost done...just a little more patience required. So I haven't been able to post because my computer packed it in. I hate computers. After some research and a little bit of luck, I have secured myself a new computer that is working just fine. But I do hate Windows Vista. It is not total crap, but it is definitely not a drastic improvement over XP. My biggest itch right now is that I can't get Windows Live Messenger to work. I like using messenger. I want this fixed. Somebody help me.

OK. That's it. Regular up dates and hopefully some more photos will come soon. If I don't freeze first.

Living with a Knitwit

Donna is not a nitwit. She is pretty with-it, and is usually way more on top of things than I am (except maybe when the library books are due... but we won't talk about that cause I don't wanna get hit again). She is becoming a Knitwit however. At Alpha, where I used to teach, there was a group of people called the Knitwits, who used were the members of the knitting club. I even tried it once, but my pudgy fingers are not really pro-knitting.

Donna has become slightly obsessive about knitting lately, which is fine because we still don't have cable and we all need something to do. She has already finished 2 scarfs, and is now looking to start on some baby booties (for her friend Jen's new baby Jayden) and even a toque for me. I have requested something with ear-flaps because everyone keeps telling me how cold its going to get. As soon as I find her camera I will get pictures up of some of her work. They look really good. Isn't Donna awesome?

Time to Move?

Donna and I are thinking of moving out of our apartment. This is not really earth shattering news. There is even a two bedroom that has become available in our building so if we decided to keep renting, it would be pretty easy right now. I like the the new apartment not just because there is more space, but because it face north so the sun isn't so bad. North is also the water side, which is nice at least until the new apartment is done and we lose that too.

The only problem is that our building is going to the dogs. First, new people moved in next door and they like to cook curry. Lots of curry. Our bedroom now smells of curry. This is not really ideal for Donna and I. Second, they can never seem to keep the washers and dryers working. This is a bit of a problem. Thirdly, we are having some minor parking issues as I can't keep parking my car in visitor parking. Lastly, the other day when I was going to walk Donna to work, there was vomit in the elevator. Yes, someone had chundered in the elevator after too much of a good party.

Needless to say it might be time to move.

Lost and Found... Sorta

My Dad always said: "You would lose your head if it wasn't screwed on." Now in all fairness I never lost that much stuff as a kid, but because I have a problem with clutter and I am a little messy, I have a tendency to misplace things. Apparently though, my Dad was correct because I lost my wallet yesterday night on the way to rugby practise (yes, I have no life besides rugby). I came home from practise and couldn't find my wallet, which perplexed me because I never took it out of my bag which I never took out of my car.

Needless to say I was a little anxious and searched the apartment a couple times, went back outside and searched, then went back to the practise field and searched again. I found nothing. Now I have just moved to Kingston, Haven't found a job yet, and I am feeling a little down on myself. Then I lose my wallet, which totally doesn't help things. I was pretty grouchy last night, which didn't make Donna any too happy, although she was really good and supportive last night despite my crumby attitude.

So I get a really crappy sleep, because I am thinking about my wallet, and it turns out it was handed in to the landlady sometime between last night and this morning. The good news is that all my cards and things were still inside: Driver's License, Birth Certificate (I had it in there because I went to the States last weekend), SIN..., all the stuff. The bad news is the $135.00 was missing. This leads me too believe that: A) There is a very nice person in the building who found my wallet outside the apartment, where I think I lost it and returned it, B) There is a total poo stain in my building who stole $135.00 from a fellow tenant (my address is in my wallet) and C) they might be the same person. I am happy to have the wallet back, because all I have to do now is get my bank and credit cards replaced because I had them cancelled. That saves me a ton of hassle and money to get all the other cards replaced. I am a little ticked that someone from my building stole from though.

Oh well, I am a firm believer in karma, which means that I probably did something not very nice to some one in the past and I am paying for it now. It also means that someone else in the building will probably get their do - either a reward for returning my wallet, or a vicious and rotten punishment for stealing my money.

More Queen's Rugby

Last weekend, we had a variety of games against various opponents. I took the 4th XV (actually 30ish guys) to Loyalist College in Belleville for a good, spirited match. We lost 24-12, and although you don't like to blame referees, our was seriously tragic, and he even admitted to me after the game that he made several serious mistakes that all resulted in either us not scoring points or the opposition scoring points. I was pretty angry and points and definitely frustrated because of his mistakes.

Saturday was a very different story however. The 1st XV beat Trent University 78-0... one of the largest wins in recent Queen's history. The seconds followed this up with a similarly convincing 60-10 victory over the visiting 1st XV from Syracuse University. Rounding out the day was another shut-out win by the Queen's 3rd XV against the Syracuse 2nd XV 39-0. Outscoring your opponents 177-10 is pretty impressive. Good for us. This week we have University of Toronto away against our 1st XV and the Ottawa 1st and 2nd XV coming to town to play our 2nd and 3rd XVs. Should be a good weekend.

And as if that wasn't enough rugby, I got up early Sunday to go to the gym and watch part of the Canada vs. Wales game on TV. I am missing the world cup, particularly since we don't have cable.

143 - 12... are you kiddin' me?

I am now in my second week of coaching at Queen's University, and so far everything is going peachy. We have stopped the 2-a-day practises, which is kinda nice because I don't feel like I am living at the field anymore, but its kinda bad because they are such a nice team to coach. They are mostly really hard working and well drilled players who all really like rugby. They are keen to learn and don't ask too many dumb questions. The other coaches are really excellent, and it has been a blast getting to know them.

Actually, it was nice to get to know a lot of the players as well after this last weekend. The top forty players from Queen's, plus 4 coaches, 2 trainers, and a video guy all went down to Hanover, NH for the Labour Day long weekend for a series of games against Dartmouth (Ivy League rich kids) and the US Military Academy (West Point Army bullies). McGill (mostly Frenchies from Montreal) also came down, but we didn't play them.

Getting ready for Dartmouth.

Pete "The Boss" Huigenbos

Manager and Assistant Coach Luke "Budso" Follwell helping Boss tell time.

Team Building the night before.

Let me start off by saying that Hanover is just one of those places that smells, or rather stinks, of money. Just by looking around you can tell that people who live there or go to school there have a lot of wealth. People who work in gas stations and such must get bussed in from out of town, because I don't think there is any way they could afford to live there. We left early Friday morning and after a 6 hour drive arrived without incident.

Saturday morning we left the motel (probably the seediest looking building in town, and it wasn't really that bad) after eating them out of house and home. I don't think they expected 40 hungry rugby boys for breakfast, or that those kind of guys don't really know the meaning of a continental breakfast, since they all kept eating until they were full. Most had toast, bagel, and muffin, fruit, cereal as well juice and/or coffee. It looked like locusts had gone through the dining area.

The rugby complex was nice. And by nice I mean some of the best fields I have ever seen. The fields were basically manicured lawns and the clubhouse/changing facility would not look out of place if it had been situated on 4 acres of property in the English Countryside as an estate for some rich aristocrat. Must be nice to have dedicated alums who leave tons of money when they pass on.

Even better than the facilities were the scores though. We played Dartmouth on Saturday, whom the 1st XV beat 32-0 and the 2nd XV beat 35-0. Although the games were sloppy and we could have put more points up had we been a little crisper, it was still a good day for us. After our matches we watched Army play McGill. That looked to be a much tougher match, as McGill looked to have more skill, but Army looked to be the bigger, harder working team. Dartmouth was nice enough to host us that night and it was nice to eat outside and enjoy the company. We had some difficulty going out that night to celebrate since there aren't really any cabs in Hanover, which is a little strange for a university town.

Solid rucking and body position against Dartmouth.

Smooth Lineout ball by Will Sorensen
Proper mouth guard usage demonstrated by Colin Alexander.

The 2nd XV against Dartmouth.

Mike Wong Jr., so proud.

Post-match recovery in the ice bath... very friendly if you ask me.

Hosting by the Dartmouth team on Saturday night.

After watching Army push around McGill the previous day, we knew they would be a tougher match. On Sunday morning however, Queen's showed what they were made of, coming out of the gates early and smashing the Army boys with vicious hits and straight ahead running. The Army guys packed it in early and lost 38-0 to the 1st XV after being beat at their own game. The 2nd XV also won by a wide margin, going 38-12. An excellent weekend of rugby all round, all the better since Queens came away undefeated.

Sean Duke about to bosh the Army winger.

Sweet lineout ball.

Jamie Armstrong at pace.

All in all it was a good trip. Sorry it took me so long to get this post done. There were a few bugs.

Good times in Toronto

Donna and I just got back from Toronto, where we spent the last vestiges of our vacation relaxing and enjoying the smog-filled city that is Toronto. We left Saturday afternoon, after my failed make-over attempt at the mall, and the drive into Toronto was actually quite good, not too much traffic or anything.

That night we had dinner at a local sushi place, all-you-can-eat, and I had, all-I-could-eat. Since I can't get sushi all the time anymore, I prepared myself (no lunch, liquid only in the afternoon to keep my stomach from shrinking) and then ate copious amounts of assorted seafood (they have a really good selection of sushi for dinner and a lot of cooked seafood as well) rice, and other tasty cooked food (chicken and steak, enough for two people really...). I wasn't sick later, but I was Christmas dinner full.

What happens when garbage men and elephants have babies.

Can't remember where this is, somewhere in Toronto

We went to bed fairly early as we were both tired, and wanted to get a lot done the following day. We met Donna's friend Tanya and her friend Christine for breakfast at this place called BOOM. Donna was delighted to see that you could get caramel-nut french toast for breakfast, complete with ice-cream and chocolate syrup.

What women all over the western world want for breakfast... dessert.

After that we started walking. First through Little-Italy, which I forgot is totally full of "pizanos," people who fit the stereotypical description of Italians (well dressed, real smooooth looking, sitting at local cafes sipping their cappuccinos...). There were lots of shoe stores and produce grocers interspersed amoung the cafes and restaurants.

Huh...ironic?

We then walked to Kensington Market. Its a combination of 3 or 4 square blocks where the street is shut down and there are stores everywhere. For you Vancouver people reading this, I thought it was a combination of Granville Island and Granville Mall - very alternative lifestyle type stores and people, combined with strange,eclectic clothing stores, eateries, and groceries. Lots of ethnic feel as well. Not really my thing, but definitely worth a look.

I really have no idea how these things stay on the road, but last time I saw the driver actually stop in the middle of the street, on his route with people in his car, get out and get a slice of pizza. The world is going to poo.

We then walked to China town, which is not so much an actual town, but about 4 or 5 blocks along Spedina Ave. Nothing much here except stores that sell small garments (to fit small Asian people) and restaurants.

After that we walked to the University of Toronto Bookstore, where Donna wanted to look at some medical texts. She complained that it was poorly organized and not set up as well as the UBC health sciences book store (what a surprise), but she did manage to purchase a book. Instead of splurging and getting the large book, she bought the smaller version that has size 2 font. Never seen size 2 font? Me either, it just looks like a blur and you pretty much need a magnifying glass to use it.

Coolest building at U of T, except for maybe the math building, but it was so cool we couldn't find it.

Then we walked through the university, up to Bloor St., and then Donna wanted to do some shopping, so we walked along the street and did a bunch of shopping. All-in-all, there was a crap-load of walking. Apparently when I was a kid I loved to walk, now not so much, at least not all day. We were staying with Jane and Richard, Donna's cousin and his wife, so we walked back to their place (yes, more walking, total distance walked 3617 km, or thereabouts). Along the way we stopped for a little sushi pick me up, and got a few pastries for desert. They cooked a delicious BBQ, which we enjoyed and then played a bit of Wii, before calling it a night.

Donna in front of the new ROM.

Monday dawned bright and early and we left when Jane and Richard left for work, which allowed us to arrive right on time T&T to do some shopping. But first we stopped for some dim sum. We were a little worried at first because although the restaurant had just opened, there was nobody else in the place. We sat down, and by the time our food had arrived, there were lots of other tables filled. The food was delicious, and we even had enough to bring home left overs (which I plan to enjoy in a few minutes actually). And at $1.87 per order, it was really cheap. We bought a good feed of Asian type food at T&T, and then made the drive home.

Dim sum, but we didn't have to cook it.

It was a really good weekend, and Donna and I had a good time.

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall...

So I went to the "From Geek to So Chic" contest on Saturday. I mentioned earlier it was this whole make-over thing that Donna entered me in. Well, it turns out that I am not the ugliest, dorkiest, or geekiest person in Kingston, because I didn't win anything.



I am a little disappointed at not winning the $2500.00, but the $25.00 isn't totally useless, since it's good anywhere in the mall. And Donna says she will use the free Bodyshop makeover thingy.

The two guys who did it, Chris and Steve something-or-other (they have a show on Slice TV) turned out to be pretty funny, although one of them was a little annoying. Anyway, not a complete waste of time.

Its Electrifying!

You inherit much of who you are from your parents. I know there has always been a nature vs. nurture argument, but looking at myself, and the hundreds of kids I have taught, I have become a firm believer that nurture is by far the stronger influence in many cases, although there are some freak shows out there that you just can't explain. This does not mean that if your Dad was a mass murderer, Little Johnny will grow up to be the next axe-wielding maniac. I just think that much of who we are, and in particular how we behave and what we like/dislike comes from our parents.

Many people like storms. My Mom likes storms. I like storms (see what the intro paragraph was for?). Kingston is a good place to watch storms, particularly the thunder storms in the summer. Last night we had a doozy. Big lightning cracks everywhere, many of them close enough that you couldn't really tell the time difference between lightning and thunder. It was really cool. How cool was it? Cool enough that I got up at 4:30 am to watch the storm. And that had nothing to do with the fact that I had to go to the bathroom, or that the thunder had woken me up.

Alas, electricity can be dangerous as well. There was a power blackout in Kingston earlier this week. Let us all have a moments silence for "Fluffy" (I just made that up) the squirrel, who on Tuesday found out first hand what happens when you fall into a transformer at the local power station. Yes, the city wide black-out was caused by a clumsy squirrel. Ironic how those little pests always seem to get the last laugh.

Huh...Interesting

So the last couple of days have been pretty interesting. Well not so much I guess, but a couple of different things happened.

The first was that I actually won something. Strange enough, I didn't even enter to win, Donna entered me. The contest is called "From Geek to Chic" and is designed for those people who are fashioned challenged. You send in an incriminating photo and a short write-up about why that person should win. If you get picked as being needy, your entry is read over the local radio station and you win a $25.00 gift certificate to the local mall and a Body Shop gift pack. You also get entered to win a 2500.00 gift card for the same local mall and a consultation by 2 fashion gurus from some show on Slice TV, but you have to go the mall and be embarrassed in front of all interested shoppers. All in all it is a totally embarrassing experience, which is why Donna had no intentions of entering herself, and because I have very little shame I told her she could enter me.

Now I am not the snazziest dresser (nor the coolest, because what person uses the word "snazziest?") but I am by far not the worst either. But, I get $25.00 and the chance to make fun of someone who dresses worse than me. And if that person doesn't exist in Kingston, then I get $2500.00, so it seems to be a win-win situation. Little do they know that if I win the $2500.00, I will get Donna some stuff she wants, then I am planning on buying a big-ass TV. Definitely not what the style gurus are going to want me to buy, but whatever.

Later that day, actually the next day because it happened 30 minutes after midnight, the fire alarm went off at our apartment building. I learned that I am a product of my upbringing and career. We have fire drills at school all the time. What do you do? Look after the little people in your classroom, grab your valuables and a coat and go outside after locking your door. What did I do that night? Looked after the little person in the apartment (Donna is probably capable of looking after herself, but its been ingrained in my head), grabbed the valuables (keys, wallet, phone, xbox 360... just kidding) and locked the door. We take the stairs down only to find that there are actually very few people outside. My favourite was probably the two people on the very top floor of our building look outside and wondering what the commotion was. So dumb. Now I know that most of the time these things are nothing except a broken sensor or something, but really, do you want to take the chance, especially if you are on the 8th floor?

Pretty funny actually, and I have very little sympathy for someone who hears the fire alarm, then decides to put their earplugs in and go back to bed. Darwinism at its finest.

Last Week the French, This Week the Irish

Well, after beating up on the Frenchies last week, it was the Irish who recently fell to the Kingston Panthers. They looked really good in their warm-up, they came down from Ottawa (the Ottawa Irish... apparently there is enough of them so that they all congregate together) and they brought like 30 guys. 30 minutes before warm-up we only had 17 guys and we were the home team. Anyway, they turned out not to be too good. We smashed their scrum up pretty good, which felt good. We stole about 5 against the head, and actually split them up the middle on 3 different scrums. It was only getting to the point of being dangerous.

A 24-0 half-time lead was more than enough, and the 31-16 final was very satisfying. The win moves Kingston into the Finals this weekend. Our backs looked really good too, and they scored a couple of really pretty tries, as well as dominating on the outside, exploiting outside centre and winger several times. Good win for us.

My Legs ARE Like Trees

So Donna and I decided to go camping for the night up at Sharbot Lake. First I would like to say that yes I am a party pooper because I didn't let Donna bring up a friend's canoe. I really didn't want to struggle with getting it up there, which she can do next time. It might be comical to try and watch her put a canoe on the roof of her car by herself. Second, I don't know why the Ontario Provincial parks department insists on charging so much for their camp grounds, but it seems totally unreasonable to me. $30.00 a night, plus $12.00 for the reservation? Plus $10.00 for wood? We should have stayed at the Fairmont.

Anyway despite my grumblings about the expense, which wasn't that big a deal, we had a great time (even without a canoe). There were a lot of campsite to pick from and the online booking procedures, while handy, were a little confusing. Our campsite turned out to be quite nice, and although there were neighbouring campsites pretty much adjacent to ours, only one of them was booked and they were far enough away that it didn't really matter. It was big enough for the two of us, my car, our tent, fire pit, picnic table, chairs and a nice view of the lake.

Donna thinks I look like a turtle or something. I think that I just have that everyday, normal stunned look about me.

We went swimming in the afternoon at the local beach, and then spent the afternoon reading and eating junk food (not the healthiest trip I have ever been on, but that's OK). We made and excellent grilled dinner of chicken, pork, mushrooms, and zucchini (Donna manned-up and did the grilling) while I made some seasoned rice thingy (which turned out not too bad, but its hard to boil rice on a Coleman stove.

Who doesn't enjoy a good mixed grill?

We had a nice big fire in the evening. Not only did we get to burn all the nice expensive wood that we bought, but we also got to burn some wood left behind by the previous campers. All in all it was a nice evening. Donna aka "Spoiled Princess even managed to convince me to make her hot chocolate right before bed. Which turned out to be a mistake because that only makes Donna want to pee at 3:00 am. Oh well, nobody said Princess had to think before making senseless demands.

Donna is having her own private seance. The fire wasn't enough to keep the bugs away, so she surrounded herself in citronella candles too.

We got up none too early the following day, and after a leisurely breakfast of instant noodles, we decided to go on a hike. We walk around the lake and its neighbouring lake, Black Lake, before heading back to camp to clean-up. We re-started the fire, and I took a few minutes to find some nice green saplings to make roasting sticks out of. I mean really, who goes camping and doesn't cook/roast/burn something over the fire? We got some hot dogs out and had a nice little wienie roast before leaving.

Apparently some people actually do pose like morons for pictures.

Us at the lake. I can never take these pictures well, where you hold the camera at arms length. I need lessons.

Me, hard at work making the perfect wienie roasting stick.

Donna and I both agreed that we should definitely do it again soon, but maybe stay a few extra days (the pre and post work isn't worth one night). The insects weren't too bad I guess, but the dozen or so mosquito bites I got were a pain, as well as some other interesting insects.

The stick bug was kinda neat, but I had seem them before. However,

my legs must be like tree trunks because this one climbed up all by himself.

Thanks to Jason and Flora for their BBQ, and to Eric and Alison for their foamies and tarp (which we didn't have to use thankfully).