That's it...........it's over!

So, for the Canadian hockey teams, the tournament came to a very disappointing end today. The women made us very proud when they won Gold on Monday. BUT, our men's team...what can I say..........they really stunk the place up! They didn't even score a goal in three of their last four games. What is up with that?

I have to put this question out there? What were Spezza, and Staal doing sitting in the wings, watching. And why wasn't mark savard even on the team? Staal and Savard are 3rd and 6th NHL scoring, and Spezza is 23rd, only because he was injured for a while. And, one last thing...why is Pat Quinn the Head Coach?? Did you see who was wearing the headset on the bench? Hitchcock. Guess who was running most of the practices, so I heard? Hitchcock. I'm a leaf fan, but that doesn't mean I don't think that Quinn is a bad coach. I don't think he should be the coach. I don't think they should have gone with this line-up....who was there to pump these guys up??? Where was their emotion? I don't know...if you can't get up to play for Gold in the Olympic winter games........then what is it going to take?

I just don't get it. But I think I've beaten this to death enough for now....see ya!

Buffalo, Lewiston and two large double doubles...

Last evening I went for a drive. I decided to head for buffalo...it is less than two hours from us, and I have today and tomorrow off. So, off I went. I wanted to drive down some roads that I had never been on...nothing major, just out for a tour. Once I got to the border, I found out that the U.S. customs officials don't really like people to just "go for a drive" and "check it out" (places that I'd never been before). I got to the border at about 10:20pm...at the time I had just bought a coffee, and was listening to the NBA All-Star game on the radio. It was just around half-time and the West was leading the East 70-53. The first officer, at the gate, seemed pretty suspicious and couldn't really figure out why my plan was to cross at Buffalo and then proceed North to cross back over at the Queenston-Lewiston bridge. She took my ID and put it in a brown envelope and gave me a little white slip of paper and told me that she was referring me for a secondary inspection. She asked me to follow an officer off to the right and that I would eventually get taken into the garage for the inspection.

So, they take me into the garage, and basically asked me the same questions as the first lady at the gate. "What is the reason for your trip tonight? What is your destination? Do you have any food, alcohol or tobacco?" I told them I was just out for a drive, wanted to see some road that I hadn't been on before...I had thought about going to a sabres game, wanted to see some of the route (that seemed to soften them a bit...must have been sabres fans.......lol) But they still didn't like the fact that I didn't have a specific destination in the U.S. So, then they asked me to get out and put my keys on the windshield, and sit in a chair at the front of the car. They brought out a dog and he sniffed all around the perimeter of the car, and then got in the front, back and wagon sniffing all around. Didn't seem to find anything to his fancy (which I was happy about) so then he and his officer left. The other officer came back and asked one more question, "We're just curious what you are doing driving through our country, without a destination, at 10:30 pm on a Sunday. So then I explained to him that it was now my weekend (off Monday and Tuesday) and I just wanted to see some sights. Next he asked me to go back out and park at the opposite end of the inspection area and go in Door #1.

Door #1 took me into a lobby. There was a sign on the door to the right that said, "If your identification was taken by one of the officers outside, please have a seat and wait for your name to be called." I thought, "this is crazy...they think I'm a criminal or something. I mean I understand that they are being more careful these days, but they could check my driving record (they have my license) and could see that I have only ever had one ticket. I don't have a criminal record....." anyway, you get the picture...my thoughts were swirling. It was about 10:35/10:40 pm. The time felt like an eternity as it ticked by...also my coffee was getting cold, and I was missing most of the second half of the game.

They finally called my name after about 5 long minutes of sitting there. I went in and talked with another customs officer, and he asked me what my birthplace was, where I lived, what I did for work, what the purpose of my trip was, what my destination was, if I had any food, alcohol or tobacco in my possession and how much money I was traveling with. I had ten bucks (which would have been my entry for my hockey time on tuesday, but I would later end up having to use it for two different tolls and then I would also decide to get another coffee.

So, then he asked me to sit back out in the lobby and he would call me again soon. This time it was only a couple of minutes until he came and poked out of another set of doors. He said, "you don't have a specific U.S. destination, huh?" I didn't, so he then told me that usually they would deny me entry because they get pretty suspicious about situations like that. But, he said he didn't think I was any harm, so he would see if he could let me go. So, he came back with a white card and a stamp. He stamped it with a stamp that said, "ADMITTED" and wrote the date in. He told me I could carry on with my proposed trip, but told me that he was obligated to check and see if I was actually heading staight to Lewiston to cross back over. He said it should only take me about 1/2 hr, but he told me that he wouldn't check for 45 mins to see if I had crossed back over by then. I later wondered how they knew, because at the Canadian Border the lady didn't swipe my license or anything, so they wouldn't know, electronically, if I had crossed back over. He said if I hadn't crossed back over by the time he checked I could potentially face charges...I guess if I don't get a call in the next couple of weeks I will be ok.

Anywho...this is a long blog, so I will wrap it up now. It was an interesting experience, and I understand why they had to do what they did, but it sure didn't make me feel better about our neighbours to the south. HOMELAND SECURITY...lol.

I want to tell the world, if the smile on my face hasn't given me away already.......

Yes, I am happy. I know I haven't talked about my wife on my blog very much, but that is not because I don't love her. So, I am taking this opportunity to let all my readers know how happy I am, and blessed I feel to have her in my life.

Since the day I met her, she has been teaching me things about life. We can be real toward each other, which I think is great...although it has taken some getting used to for me. I know I mentioned before that I have always kept emotions inside which has not been healthy, but heather encourages me to talk about things, which has helped a lot.

I know you will be reading this too heather...I LOVE YOU! Oh ya, by the way, happy b-day on wednesday (the 22nd of Feb). Thanks so much for your love, and the growth that we have had both spiritually and emotionally since we have been together. I love being your husband.

WOW, what an upset!!!!!

Yes, it is true...Are you as shocked as I am right now? The canadian men's hockey team lost to the Swiss team today -- 2-0. I was pretty surprised when it was 1-0 after the first period. I thought that they might get it going as the game progressed, but they just couldn't. The Swiss team is a tough team though, they also beat another powerhouse in the Czechs. They also have great goaltending in David Abeschier, and Martin Gerber (both play in the NHL).

Anyhow, hopefully this will act as a wakeup call for team Canada, because it doesn't get any easier. They face the Fins on Sunday, and the Czechs on Tuesday.

As for the women, they crushed their semi-final opponents (finland) 6-0. And the US lost to the Swedes 3-2 in a shootout. So that means, for the first time ever in the women's tournament, Canada will play someone other than the US in the championship match. Good luck to the women!

The results are in...

When I walked into work today there was a note on the union door (the union office is right by the employee entrance). The note said:

509 - yes
260 - no

The Union stays!!!!!!

After what I was told by the OLRB, I'm relieved, because there was no guarantee of any protection until another union was certified....could have been weeks......months.

Thanks for your interest.

The Vote was today!

I discovered that the dercert. vote was today, at work. I didn't know exactly when it would be, and hadn't heard anything because my days off are mon/tues. So, we will know tomorrow what the result is.

I will post a blog when I hear the result, and will blog about any other significant happenings in regards to this situation. That way, those of you who are interested, can keep updated.

Again, please pray for the Lord's plan in all this. Thanks.


UNION--------------------->

OR


NO UNION------------->


That is the question.

Olympic Hockey

All I have to say is...Go Canada Go! Today the women's national hockey team finished their round-robin play. They played three games, and won all three with a combined score of 36-1. That is awesome!!!!! The only other threat to over take them on goal differential is the USA, and they only had 11 goals for...so they needed to score over 25 to gain the advantage in the pool...but they only won 7-3 today. So, Canada takes first place in the pool. They will play Finland in the semi-finals.

The Men's tournament gets underway tomorrow (wednesday) and they are saying this year's team is better than in 2002 at Salt Lake City. There are many new faces, and some younger players. We will hope for the best, but won't know until it's all over. GO FOR GOLD!!!!!!

UFCW 1000a

Here is another blog about the union situation at my place of employment. I'll make it short and sweet. Some disgruntled employees, who came from another warehouse when they built the new warehouse that I work at, filed for decertification of the UFCW.
I'll tell ya, I don't know what to think about it. One side tells me one thing and the other side tells me other things. So, I hope to make my final decision tomorrow, when I call the Ontario Labour Relations Board and talk to them myself. I have encouraged others to do the same, and hopefully they do so they are not misinformed. Then they can vote with an educated point of view.

Please pray that everything works out, and that we have protection through the whole ordeal. Thanks.

Had the family over...

We had a good time last night. We had our sisters and their families (nan, don, will and jacks & mari alice, mark, mariah and ada) over for supper, and an evening of fun. It was a really good time. Heather came up with some great ideas for the adult dinner and kids dinner too. The adults had chicken tortilla bake and chocolate trifle - they were both awesome. The kids had a creative meal. They had peanut butter, jam and chocolate pudding to paint onto rice cakes. Secondly, they had veggie cars (celery stick with peanut butter or cheez whiz on them, tooth picks through the celery stick and sliced carrots stuck on the ends as wheels.) And to top it off, they had cookie/ice cream sandwiches rolled in sprinkles and chocolate chips. We think they really liked it, and had lots of fun with creating their food too.

After we were done scarfin' the kids played very well together, while the adults played a game of Scene It!"

After it was all said and done, I had a good time...not sure about others involved, but here's hoping they did too.

Just so it's out in the open, I love getting together with family...it so fun!

Bengie Molina

Oh my goodness, JP has done it again. He just got Bengie Molina, a catcher from the Anaheim Angels or Los Angeles of Anaheim..........oh, whatever they want to be called. This is crazy. He is one of the best hitting active catchers and can really call a good game too.

Sportnet is picking the Jays to win the division, and say that they now have one of the best catching tandems in the MLB.

Let's go Bluejays, Let's go!!!

See ya at the ball park!

Antonio Davis

Let me tell you what. I am pumped about the trade that the interim GM of the Raps, Wayne Embry, pulled off this past Friday. He got Antonio Davis from the Knicks for Jalen Rose and cash. This is great for a couple of reasons. Rose is making way too much money and isn't doing enough on the court to be getting paid that much. Secondly, Davis is a free agent at the end of this year so, although he doesn't make much less than Rose, he may be gone after the end of this season. If he does go, then the Raptors get over $10 mill. to spend on other available free agents. If he doesn't go, then we still have his big body on the court to crash the boards for us. This is something the Raps have been lacking for quite some time, I would say for their entire existence.... A big man down low. They have tried to plug the hole in the past with Hakeen Olajuwon or Kevin Willis, but they were old and, in the case of Olajuwon didn't play for most of his contract...but he still collected his $10 mill/yr. Right now we have Chris Bosh who is going to be a great player, I think it is safe to say he will be a superstar. So, I am very glad to have Antonio Davis as a Raptor again. Welcome back Antonio!

IE 7 Beta

Hello again all, it has been a while for me, but I plan to catch up pretty quickly tonight.

I downloaded the most recent version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer to see what's new. I have to say so far I'm not overly extatic, or impressed. First of all, because Microsoft should be the leader in computer's and computer software, yet it seems as though they can't come up with their own ideas. They have copied one very noticeable thing that Mozilla already has in it's browser. Tabbed browsing. This feature allows you to open another tab in the same window on which to view another webpage. I also like how you can download different themes for Mozilla's Firefox...I haven't seen whether you can do this or not with the new IE.

And the other thing is that right away (after having installed) i found that everytime I clicked on a link in Outlook Express it made the OE folder open up. I contacted Microsoft about this and they said it is a known bug, and they basically told me that I had to make IE my default browser if I wanted to solve the problem. How does that help me if I don't want IE to be my default browser, what if I want Netscape for Mozilla?? Anywho........

But, after having said all this, they do have some new things that are pretty cool. One which is that they have included a feature that let's you know if there are RSS feeds available on the website you are viewing, then you can subscribe to the feeds that interest you. Once you have subscribed, you can then check for updates to that feed simply by going to the new Favourites centre and clicking on the feed you want to view.