The Blog-Files

My Quest Continues...

Since tomorrow is Alexei's first skating "lesson" and I want to encourage the use of a helmet, I purchased one for myself today. I am also in the process of acquiring all the necessary gear to play hockey so now I can mark helmet off the list. Rosie was planning on dressing up as a hockey player for Hallowe'en this year, so I purchased some hockey pants as well, so she can borrow them if she wants. So I'm slowly growing my collection of stuff and figure I should be all geared up by next hockey season.

As we were looking for the assorted hockey jerseys in our possession I rediscovered that I had a referee's jersey. I am now thinking that maybe I should look in to refereeing as an alternative to jumping right into hockey. It would definitely help me with my skating. I used to have my own whistle, as well, but I can't seem to find it.

Anyway, I can't imagine playing hockey right now. I can hardly find time to do anything and I can't see it getting any better anytime soon. Maybe I'll be ready by my 40th birthday.

Resisting...with everything I've got!

Apple has recently released OS X 10.3, or Panther, as it is sometimes called. It is what they are calling a major upgrade and therefore are charging something like $179 for a copy. It has several new features that I think would be very nice, the new Finder, Exposé, Fast User Switching, to name just a few. I would love to have it. Yet, I am holding out. Not for any good reason. I just am. It's not like $200 would break the bank, or mean I'd have to clothe my child in rags, it's just that I've played this game before.

Rewind to the year 1995, I had just purchased a Compaq Presario all-in-one, which I believe had an Intel 486 in it. It also had 8MB of RAM. I also purchased a copy of PGA Tour Golf, it was pretty sharp but I was unable to play a full round of golf without long waits after every 3 holes or so while it churned away trying to load the course into those precious 8MB. If memory serves, I was fortunate enough to receive another 8MB of RAM for my birthday. This was no little present. The cost of RAM in those days was quite expensive. Expensive enough to keep me from buying it myself and plod along playing a game that was crying for more memory. After the RAM was installed, I was amazed at how cool the game played. Everything was nice and quick. Game play was uninterrupted, allowing me to focus on just playing the game. Then a little while later, I bought a new game. NHL98. I had by this time decide I was going to upgrade my machine. This time I would be smarter than before, no more all-in-ones for me. You see my poor little Compaq couldn't be upgraded to the new Pentium chips that were all the rage so in order to keep up with the games of the day I needed a new machine. This time it would be a built to spec tower. Completely upgradeable. I brought it home and tried my new hockey game and it was awesome. The graphics were a little chunky but it was doing some pretty serious 3D stuff. That's when I noticed a little logo on the box that promised so much more. It was 3DFX logo, telling me that if I wanted smooth game play, (and quite frankly, who doesn't), I could add this particular brand of video card and my gaming experience would reach new heights. Good thing for me I had purchased a computer I could add on to. After a quick trip to the store and the standard driver installations I was playing NHL hockey with smooth, beautifully render 3D action.

So, where am I going with this? In short I spent about $3000 to play a $70 game. So since then I have been trying to be happy with what I have. I can live without Panther for now. Jaguar works fine for me, and to be quite honest I don't get to use my computer as much as I used to, and anything I do manage to do doesn't really require a new operating system. I think I can wait. I'm due for a new computer sometime in the next few years. Why do they have to keep making things so cool?

A Movie Review

I have seen a few violent films in my life, some gory horror flicks as well, not to mention a few war movies, but nothing prepared me for the carnage and over-the-top, blood spattering of Quentin Tarantino's, Kill Bill : Volume 1. I don't really know what I was expecting, maybe a Hollywood style Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon type movie. I should have known that with Tarantino at the helm there was going to have to be something to make it unique. What it was, well, what was it? My brain is still trying to digest what it has been subjected to. It was an amazingly graphic depiction of sword fighting, where the loser loses not only their life but many limbs in the process. There was blood everywhere. The "heroine", played by Uma Thurman, has been put through an ordeal which would leave you as about as angry as a human could be and then begins to exact some revenge. She takes on a series of henchwomen of the aforementioned Bill, but in true Pulp Fiction non-sequential fashion.

Quentin Tarantino has a knack for making unusual movies, movies with a sick and twisted humour about them. You find yourself feeling guilty for chuckling at some of the more evil story lines. The movie itself, intentionally I'm sure, never really decides what it wants to be, jumping back and forth between 70's Kung-Fu movie, Japanese Anime (actual cartoons, as well), Hollywood action movie, Charlie's Angels, and 90's Crime Drama. Everything from the look and cinematography to the soundtrack changes as the movie segues between styles, sometimes very abruptly.

Did I like Kill Bill? Good question. I guess so. From a pure movie-making standpoint, I liked what I saw, though I had a hard time watching some of it. I found a lot of it quite disturbing, but that was probably the point. It seemed to be testing the audience to see how much it could take. I might be getting a little old for these kinds of movies, but I'm sure 18-25 year old males would love this movie. I'm not sure if that's a good thing.

Hockey Anyone?

We took Alexei skating for the first time last Monday. It was an interesting experience, for lack of a better adjective.He really wanted to go into the arena but we told him he had to get his skates and helmet on first. The skates were okay, they are just strap-on, two bladed skates, that we attach to his Bob the Builder rubber boots. The helmet was another matter altogether. He didn't want to wear it...at all. It also had a chin strap that was a little tight to make the experience that much worse. We compromised by wearing the helmet without the chin strap, realizing that this isn't as safe, but also realizing that the helmet isn't CSA approved anyway and is more for appearance than protection. It even says so on a sticker on the back, one of the funniest warning labels I have ever read.

This helmet is not for use on or in ice hockey street hockey, 
in-line skating, bicycling, football, equestrian sports, motorcycles, 
off road vehicles, any vehicle on highway use, automobiles or cars. 
This helmet meets no government or recognized industry standards.
 It has not been certified by Canadian Standards Association (CSA)
 and does not meet ASTM, HECC, NOCSAE or ANSI Z90 standards. 
This helmet affords no protection from neck and spinal injuries. 
Some reasonably foreseeable impacts may exceed this helmet's 
protective capabilities. Severe head, brain or spinal injuries including 
paralysis or death may occur despite using this helmet. Made in China.

Now you are probably asking yourself "Why would any self-respecting parent purchase a helmet for their two year old that has a warning sticker like that?" Well, the answer is disturbingly simple. It was the only one we could find that would fit. They don't make hockey helmets for kids that small. They really should. In fact, some of the older kids, around five or six years, were wearing helmets that were obviously too big, and I question their effectiveness. Some were wearing bike helmets, which was an option we probably should have explored a little more. Although they look like they may protect a child's head during an impact they seem to be shaped improperly for a backwards fall and would put a lot more pressure on the neck. As we all know that a helmet has to fit properly to protect the way it was designed, and I don't think bike helmets were designed for the ice.

Anyway, I was going to talk about the skating experience itself and the laughter and the crying therein, but I kind of got off topic. Maybe next time.

Another Gift From .Mac

I have been looking for a web page editor that is easy to use and requires little HTML knowledge. Today, thanks to .Mac, I got to try Macromedia's Contribute 2. It is a full featured (for 30 days) web page management package that is actually quite easy to use. I've only tried it for about 2 hours and really haven't done much with it, mainly because I was to scared to screw up my old websites, but it seems like it might fit the bill. It comes with some templates, if you want your site to look a little more professional or more like some other Contribute user who is also using that template. It's a little pricey however, free for 30 days and if I want to keep it US$ 79. I suppose if you have a real need for a web presence it would be quite adequate.

I think I will try the full 30 days before making any real decision as to the usefulness of this product, but so far it looks pretty good.

Wha' Happened?!

I can't explain it. I defies all logic. I just can't seem to get a break in either of the hockey pools I've entered this year. If it's not a lengthy injury to one of my players less than 2 weeks into the regular season, it's a goon with a sore thumb that isn't playing much less fighting. I think I'm in for a long season of pain. Although, I am directly responsible for any grief I receive. In the past, I have been anything but kind with the abuse thrown at my fellow poolies, so I fully expect to hear about it. And hear about it. And hear about it. My only saving grace is that the majority of the poolies at work aren't computer savvy enough to figure out how to log in to the statistic web site let alone actually trash talk me online. To think, I actually printed out instructions on how to access the web site, and for what? So I can read page after page of insults and deprecation volleyed in my direction? Yeah, I guess so. What I've actually discovered over the past few years of doing the hockey pool thing is that I am only somewhat better than average at picking quality teams. What I excel at, however, what I excel at is trash talk.

Oh yeah, if you're interested on seeing how badly one of my teams is doing, click on the PoolCrazy logo above. Then in the Quick Results area enter the pool name "homepool" and the password "secure". This should take you to the results screen where you can watch "Craig's Losers" slowly, (or not so slowly) sink to the bottom of the pool.

New Skates!!

Now that I am 35 years old, I am eligible to play old timers ice hockey. Also, I am going to be taking my son to a parent-tot skate starting at the end of October. So the first step to do that is to acquire the necessary gear. So it was off to the store to pick up a pair of skates. After trying on a few pairs I settled on a pair of Easton skates. I'm wearing them now to break them in. They are more comfortable than I remember skates being, although I haven't actually tried skating in them. They sure look cool. If I could skate as good as they look, I'd be in the big leagues. I am planning to go to a public skate sometime this week to try them out. I'll let you know how I do...

Go Canucks Go!!

Well, I don't want to jump on the bandwagon too soon, but after watching the first two periods of the second Canuck game of the season, I must say I'm pretty impressed. They have managed to get scoring from other than the first line which should give other teams fits. If the first line ever gets going...then look out. Arvedson is looking like a good pick up, the Sedin twins are starting to look like they were worth drafting that early, Mike Keane looks like a steal from the superstar laden Avalanche, and Johan Hedberg looks like an incredibly agile second goaltender that will provide another dimension to the Canucks rear guard.

All this adulation must be tempered by the fact that they have only played against the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers. Not to take away anything from these two teams but they aren't exactly the teams with which you measure success against. Both the Oilers and Flames will be fighting for a play-off spot all year and the Canucks need to test their muster against a team like Colorado to really see where they stand in the Western Conference. All things considered I'm pretty happy with what I've seen, a well balanced attack with a strong showing in net and a somewhat decent defense. Too bad there are 80 more games to go....