Too humid to think

My holidays start this week, and I have no official plans. I've always been one to just pack up and do something, so I think I'll be fine this week. I want to do some fishing, golfing, and maybe some swimming at the local park.
Ali and I will have the weekend, then I'll be with my parents for the next week or so. Of course I have my baseball team to look after next week, and I'm actually surprised that we'll be able to field a team, with it being a long weekend and all....I guess they love beer as much as I do.

This current heat wave has me feeling very lazy. I don't want to leave the A/C, and my car doesn't have it, so driving really sucks. I'm very thankful that I have an indoor job now.

Aside from that, nothing else to report here. It's been a lazy day, and now I'll have a lazy night at work.
I actually cleaned up a little around the house, just to stay cool. I promise I'll do more on Thursday when I get up.

I like fire....

So Mr. Stegall got the record. 139 TD's and counting.

I was also thinking of how much I like sitting around a fire with people. There is something soothing about watching the fire. It could really put me to sleep. Thanks to our hosts, Zig and Alyssa. I wish I could have stayed all night. Unfortunately, I had to work today, so I ducked out early.
Sitting around with a group of people puts me at ease. I never feel shy, or reluctant to talk to anyone. I guess that's why Ali and I get along so well. We're both social butterflies.
It's usually a competition between Ali and I to see who can get the most laughs. We feed on each other's jokes and stories, and usually go off on our own little tangent, but I digress.
I really have the urge to go camping now. We had mentioned camping last night, but a few people sound a little to "high maintenance" to roll with us. We set up a tent, sleep on an air bed, and do all of the cooking over the campfire or our Coleman stove. That's camping. Not a huge 300' RV like some people I know. (Reggie). ;) By the way, does that thing have it's own satellite?
Maybe if I ever camped in an RV I'd change my mind, so I'll hold judgement for now....
We always have the invitation to go camping, we just have to actually pack up and go. Maybe next weekend? Nah, too hot.

Friday night lights

Tomorrow is Friday. Around here, this means a Blue Bomber game. My dad will be making the trip here from Ontario, and we'll head down to the stadium early.
I love game day. Seeing people walking around in their jerseys, waving flags, and honking at each other as they excitedly make their merry way down to the stadium just gets me so happy.
Enough of that, I know I've already told you before about the whole CFL experience....
I now have two Bombers flags which I fly proudly from my car. The one is quite large, and to be honest with you, it hurts my arms after holding it in the air for a while.

Tonight will consist of me cooking a BBQ chicken, watching another CFL game on T.V., drinking a Corona or two, driving Ali to her girl date, then relaxing for the night. I'm very much liking the idea of sleeping in tomorrow. I have been up at 5:40 a.m. the past few days, and gotta say, that's just a tad too early for me.

I just hope I forget it's game day tomorrow. Ah, who am I kidding, I'll probably sleep in my jersey tonight....

Go Blue!!

Just like Dicky Simmons, I'm sweatin' to the oldies...

Sometime about two weeks ago, I woke up and decided to get into shape. I guess I'm not really overweight, I just wanted to do a few things differently to feel better about myself.
I have been lifting some light weights for a while now. I've bumped up the frequency, and when you do slow reps the correct way, any weight will work to your advantage.

Since my back surgery in 2005, I have wanted to be able to jog pain free. I tried running on the soccer field one day to lessen the impact on my back, and felt no pain. Now, I'm trying to run three to five days a week. I figure this will also decrease the frequency of my leg cramps, which really hinder me sometimes, as well as prevent me from snoring - which Ali will also appreciate.

I notice the days don't drag as much now either. I seem to have more energy throughout the day, and feel better at night. I guess I'm lucky, because I never really crave chocolate or pop. Just lots of water.

I'm trying very hard not to treat this as a phase. This is really becoming a routine, so it is getting easier, and I actually look forward to running. I just wish the weather would cool off a bit. Running when it's 39 Celsius kind of sucks...

Aside form that, I'm looking forward to the Bomber game on Friday, and a bonfire with friends on Saturday. After that, it's four shifts, then holidays. Maybe I'll finally get to go fishing again.

Breathe in.......breathe out.......

This weekend, I hope to relax. I was telling Ali that I have been just sitting around here, but I never truly relax for some reason. In our hometown, it's always a little easier to....relax.
I'm going to bring my golf clubs. I was hoping to do some fishing, but I'll golf any day.
Also, I'm picking up my car again. I was able to get it to my good mechanic, and it apparently has been running well for him.
I get to visit my best friend again. It's been forever since I've seen him, and I think we're both in need of some "guy time" involving some good conversation, and some cold Coronas.

After this relaxing weekend, I will return to my beloved baseball team. We are still slowly getting better, and I have noticed a better team feeling at work now because of the team. Everyone gets along a little bit better now, therefore making work more fun. Speaking of fun, I was flattered the other by my co-worker Aaron. We were sitting in our break room, and the conversation turned to how crazy I am at work. I'm constantly singing a song, or doing some stupid dance moves just to keep the mood light. While one of my friends was on holidays in England, I picked up her rotation, thus allowing me to work with Aaron everyday. He went on to say that working with me so much was the most fun he's had on our ward yet. That made me feel good. I like when everyone enjoys my company, and can have a laugh at work. May I remind you that this is usually reserved for co-workers. I turn on my professionalism like a light switch when I walk into a patients room. ;)

I just wish I could muster up some of that energy during the drive to work in the morning. Ali is all fired up, and I'm sitting there like somebody just shot my dog. I guess it takes a large coffee to stimulate my, uh, ....funnybone.

To be young again (no thanks)

Last night, I stepped back into 1997. I was 19, living on a Military base, and was free to come and go as I pleased. First things first, Ali always lets me do what I want. I just have to make sure that I call her, and give her an update.
Getting back to last night. After our weekly baseball game, the team headed to our sponsor's for some beer and wings. My friend Aaron is still home alone, as his wife and son are in Alaska.
As we were leaving the restaurant, Aaron invited me over for a beer. Since I was driving him home anyway, I called Ali and let her know that I would be a little late.
As it turns out, somebody else heard this invitation, and before you know it, the entire team was figuring out how to get to Aaron's house. Since I'm the responsible one, I offered to be designated driver.
We get to Aaron's house, file into the basement, and begin socializing. A few people are playing cards, some others are having "girl conversations" in the corner, and Aaron and I talked about our tastes in music. His dad used to own a music store, and Aaron is in the process of cataloging the entire collection to sell on E Bay. As I leafed through the many pages of CD's/LP's, we reminisced over certain albums, and where we were when we first heard them.
After the beer was gone, the host wanted to continue serving his guests. He cracked out a bottle of homemade red wine, and offered it around the room. Being one of two people not drinking (Justin is the baby at 20, and only drinks Iced tea) it was getting a little boring. I just sat there and rocked out to Nu Shooz and a few others, and let everyone else have some fun.

11 p.m. quickly came and went. At 12 midnight, I decided to call Ali and tell her that I was still there, and would be leaving soon to drive people home. We finally left at 2 a.m.
Now, I feel old staying out past midnight. We all had today off, so I guess that's why everyone decided to stay out late.
I'm all for going out to bond with co-workers, but next time can we go somewhere and be home in bed by 10?

Insert power ballad here

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Eighth wonder of the world. Guitar Hero II for the Playstation 2.
This game has overtaken me, and Ali is starting to crave it now too.
The concept is simple - you use the controller, which is the "guitar" pictured above, and you have to play various songs using the color coded buttons. Let me tell you, this would be a blast at any get together.
As you can see, I was really belting out a power ballad to Ali last night before I headed out the door to work.

In other news, I had to drop off my car at my mechanic's last week, and decided to go with my parents to Bemidji Minnesota for a day of shopping. Bemidji is a nice town, with a nice feel to it. It's on the lake, and it's a small town feel with big city shopping. The Target, 24 hour Wal-Mart, and Herberger's are a few of our favorites.
It's so nice there, my parents make the 1.5 hour trip every second week or so. My dad even said he would like to live there, and giving that he really doesn't say much about living anywhere, that's a big deal.
This is where I bought my game that forever changed my view of guitar playing. Ali has her guitar, I now have mine. I think I'll name him Joey. It goes with Ramona quite nicely.

Getting better

Our baseball team is getting pretty good now. It took us a few weeks to start to gel, and considering we are the new team, being our first year together and all, we're doing alright.
Most teams we are playing have been together for four to five years.
Our current record is 8-14. If the playoffs started right now, we'd be in the "C" division. It still pisses me off that there is a team that is undefeated after 22 games, outscoring the other teams 260-55. We have a mercy rule, and the game is called if the other team is ahead by 10 runs.
How fun would that be? You go out with your team, destroy the opposition, then go home after only 30 minutes of baseball. Woo!

The best thing I enjoy about playing is that you get to see your co-workers outside of the work environment. We have to maintain a certain level of professionalism, so it's kind of hard to be "yourself" all the time.
You can relax, have a few beers, and tell those bad jokes without repercussions.
I'm really looking forward to the playoffs at the end of August. Go Skeletal Remains!!!!

P.S. I didn't pick the team name.

All right Winnipeg, you ready to RAWK?!?!

On Friday, Ali and her co-workers had their annual pig roast. This was the first time I have ever eaten slow cooked-peel-from-the-bone pig, and it was goooood.
Amazingly, the BBQ was over by 10:30 p.m. and as expected, we were some of the last people to leave. Some other "highlights" of the day included me suffering a mild sprain to my left ring finger from a football, me getting hit in the "no-no" zone by that same football, and then Ali's boss getting hit in the face by a smaller football, causing him to lose a lens from his sunglasses, and get cut on the bridge of the nose. To nobody's surprise, he left shortly thereafter.
The main lesson of all this? Don't play catch when you're drinking.

As we headed back to Zig and Alyssa's house, we were talking about a new video game that Zig had purchased. It was called Guitar Hero II, and it has consumed me. Since I am not gifted in the art of guitar, this will probably be as close to a "rock star" as I'll ever become.
You hold this mini guitar, select a song from the play list, then have to strum and hit the colour coded strings in time to the music. I've gotta say, even though I sucked, it was a blast.
I vowed the next time I play this game I will try it left handed. It was weird playing a guitar on the opposite side of which I am used to.
Get ready Zig, I'm ready for round 2.

Untitled

Hmmm. What's new with me?
I finally get back to co-ed living tonight, as Ali and I have been on separate schedules for the last week or so. I'll be nice to have a home cooked meal, and spend some quality time with my wife again. In case you were wondering, I'm roasting a Mesquite BBQ chicken with rice and veggies.

My parents will be in for a quick visit this week. My dad will be joining me at the football game, where one of the all time best receivers in the CFL, Milt Stegall will go for the record in touchdowns (138).

Why is it that my arms always tan darker than my legs, when they've both received the same amount of sun? Furthermore, why does the skin just above my knees tan darker than the rest of my legs? Is this just me, or does it happen to everyone?

I really want to go camping. We haven't made it out yet this year, and with my holidays only being at one week intervals, I have to spread myself pretty thin. My wife, best friend, and cousin from Alberta all want to do different things. I'll just roll with the punches, and see what happens. I was never one to really plan anything out anyway.

Lastly, my beloved car is acting up again. Spitting and sputtering, it made it out to the baseball diamond and home last night, but I think it's only a matter of time before he croaks again. Now I"m just waiting for that dreaded phone call from the mechanic. I hope it's a cheap fix.

I'm back, and I'm ringin' the bell..

Title taken from a rapper wanna-be, Vanilla Ice.
The week was good, we had a huge storm on Monday night, then Tuesday and Wednesday were kind of cold and cloudy as well. We managed to catch lots of big fish on the last day, and, as usual, it was sunny and warm the day we left.
Ali and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary yesterday, and we hung out at both of our parent's houses throughout the day.
I am now back in Winnipeg, heading to work tonight, then enjoying a few more days off this week.


Quick update - Winnipeg Blue Bombers are 1st place in the Eastern division after a thrilling OT tie in Edmonton . WOOO!!
We now have 1 single point.