World Series

How is it that Major League Baseball can continue to call their championship series the 'World Series' and continually refer to it as a world-championship.

The World-Series does not represent a world championship, the National Hockey Legaue does not make that claim, neither does the National Basketball Association as far as I am aware.
Time for this to change, and the title attributed to the championship to change to reflect that it is merely the series to crown the champion of Major League Baseball.

Snow

Travelling home yesterday I had my first encounter with the snow on the Coquihalla. Very early this year. The ground is not cold enough for the snow to stick and create driving conditions which are less than good, but it is a signal to get ready for winter.
There were slushy sections, but nothing particularly worrisome.

Time to get the winter tires on.

Curling

This year I decided that I wanted to curl in the men's league. It was a stretch for me, having only curled for one year. I have good weight, generallly light, but reasonably consistent, and felt that entering as a lead would be a good fit for me.
I found a team, and they are a good bunch of people.. However, the stones and ice at my curling club have changed this year and people are struggling. People are throwing heavy, even me, and I have been really struggling to get my weight right.

I had a really bad week last week, I curled really poorly and felt I really let my team down. I know that they were not happy with me. I was not happy with me. During the week I worked really hard to practise, to get my weight correct....started timing my shots to find how the weight was. Anyways, Wednesday night came about. Well, I curled fantastically, I missed only 1 of all the shots I through, my weight was spot on. We won, although not primarily because of how I did, but I have to take some credit for it.
As the lead, you set up the end. If your lead is curling well, then things are setup properly. I was way out-curling their lead which meant that when our second threw we were ahead, and things were doing well.

I hope I can continue the trend, it was a nice feeling...

Elections

One of the beauties of the Canadian style ( actually, it is formed after the British, but for argument I will let it stand) government is that we have a direct opposition. We force our governing legislators to argue over each and every bill, directly, rather than a system such as the American where a bill is normally submitted to be reviewed.

In any case, right now we are in an unusual situation where the governing part does not have enough seats to pass a bill if and when all of the opposition parties, there are 3, vote against them. And, in the Canadian system, if certain types of bills are voted down, they are considered a motion of confidence and will bring the government down, forcing another election.
Over the past few weeks, the opposition parties have set out to do just that. I find this disappointing as they committed that they would not subjec the Canadian people to another election and that they would work with the government. But, it would appear, that they are intent on flexing their opposition muscle.

In one way I hope they succeed. History has shown that when this happens, the electorate punishes the people responsible and majority governments occur. I would prefer that our governing party have a majority, albiet a bare one, which would permit them to pass bills and get stuff done. Right now, it appears we will have a confidence motion for each and every bill, so we will be slowed to a standstill.

Thanksgiving

I certainly hope that all Canadian's had a great Thanksgiving. For our American friends, hope their Columbus Day was great.

I was told once that the US used to share Thanksgiving with us, but it was moved. I cannot remember if there was a direct reason, but I vaguely recall that it was that the harvest was not yet over, and giving thanks was premature. Will do some research on this one and find out.

For me, I travelled to the island with the throngs to visit the family unit. Makes for a long day, leaving at 8:30am and not arriving home until 10:00pm or so. Most of it is either on a bus, or on a ferry boat. Was kinda a gray and often rainy day, but the pub-food was great as was the beer. The ferries were very busy, as were the busses.

I wish they would provide better parking in Horseshoe Bay, and I might be inclined to take the car. Not that I mind taking the bus, certainly environmentally a better decision, but sometimes it is nice to walk off the ferry and into your car, rather than standing in line with piles of people juggling for a seat on the bus.
I like Nanaimo, and could probably live there, if it were not for my situation. I could live in Victoria also, but again, would be impossible logistically for me to manage. Wouldn't want to be always reliant on the ferries to get around.
In the old days, when I lived in Victoria going to school, it was not that big a deal, you could usually get on board without any issue. Now, it seems to be always busy, at least on the Nanaimo run. They are building some new ferries, and I look forward to that and hope it reduces the hassle, especially on long weekends, but I am not confident. Looks like reservations are a way of the future.

Been Awhile

I have not posted in a while, been quite busy and meant to post last weekend, but it just never seemed to happen.

I went up earlier last week, Thursday evening, and I am going to try and do that again as it made my Friday considerably less stressful. Normally, I race out of work at noon and it is a sprint from that point onwards to get everything done I need to get done. This would include picking up groceries for the weekend, as well as the other maintenance tasks that I need to do.
Going up on Thursday allowed me to relax a little, and I was able to get a few groceries during the day. I can work fairly effectively when I am remote, so as long as I can continue to do that I would like to try.

The weekend was beautiful, one of those sunny fall weekends, cool though. We were able to get out bike riding along with our other normal weekend activities. Hoping that the weather changes for next weekend so we can do that again.

I have been curling a great deal and I guess it is ok. I am feeling a little stressed by my Wednesday night league. This is the highest calibre league I am in, and the players there have been together for 15 years, so they are accustomed to each other. I am a new player, and a young player, and I am struggling to find a place. I was not curling consistantly on Wednesday night and I am feeling that I let the other members of the team down.
I know that I will get there, but sometimes you have to wonder if I have stretched too far and should have joined a lower calibre league. I think that the team, notably the Third, would like to be in the next higher division, not in the D division, but I am not sure that they will reach that with me.
It is frustrating as last year my weight, and the consistency of my weight was a key factor in my decisions for this year and which leagues I would join. The new stones that we are using, and the new ice conditions, is causing me tremendous problems. I guess being a junior player I have more difficulty in figuring all of this out, than someone who has played for a while.
I do like the team, and enjoy curling with them and would like to continue, but I have to recognize the limitations that I will place on them.

On Wednesday, after all of the above, I received a note that the kids were going to Calgary for the weekend. The note was given to me with only 3 days notice, much less than the required 14 days notice. This is really frustrating as, although I would not have prevented them from going, I would like the agreement followed with the appropriate notice given. I know, unfortunately, that they are going to be visiting their maternal grandfather, a man I would prefer that they never see or spend time with. He is an evil man, who has caused great difficultly and strife within her family as a whole, and continues to cause pain.

At the end of the day I cannot prevent her actions. She, and the decisions that she makes, the things that she does; are a tremendous disappointment as they are made without any regard to the overall well-being of the children.