Aug 31 – A short post tonight as I had a SportOakville meeting and not a lot of time. So, on this the last day of August, that also means I have not had time to think about any weighty hockey issues so everyone can relax. I will just comment on “stupid”.

I also have another “work related” evening event tomorrow so September 1 will likely not happen.

Stupid Week – Meanwhile, back to “stupid” - One should never cease to be amazed by an individual’s capacity for stupid behaviour. Ergo – the story in the news about a woman juror (no this was not meant as a sexist remark) who on an off day from her jury trial was shrewd enough to post on her Facebook page that "gonna be fun to tell the defendant they're guilty." All well and good except the trial was not over yet!

The quote was discovered by the son of the defense attorney who, guess what, brought it to the judge. Juror turfed

Continuing the theme of “how stupid are we” is the cocaine bust for Paris Hilton. Hilton has successfully avoided charges or convictions on a number of previous encounters by “explainin’” why is was not her or hers. However, she may have exceeded the edge of the envelop with the most recent encounter and could be looking at a felony conviction and jail time. Allegedly her stories were

a)      The purse is not mine, then

b)      The purse is not mine but the stuff – cards and money in it are mine I just borrowed it and don’t know anything about any drugs, then

c)       It is my purse but I did not know they were drugs – I thought it was gum. . .

Enough already – get her a Michigan juror!

To round out the trifecta and hopefully send a message to avoid more incidents like it, the latest craze of “car surfing” is simply idiotic. Unfortunately, a 16 year old Quebec teen has died of injuries suffered from falling off of a car while “surfing.  While car surfing had not been identified 100 years ago when I was a kid, a friend of mine was sitting on the back of her boyfriend’s car and fell off. She thought she was OK but was rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night with a brain haemorrhage and she did not make it.  It is tough enough when accidents happen but to make a sport of something this stupid just defies logic.

Just another cynical day in the salt mines.

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Aug 30 – there is always a “downside”. The downside of taking long weekends is that it becomes even more difficult to get psyched for back to work Monday, and typically when you get there, there is even more stuff than usual waiting for your attention. However, that is a trade-off that I am willing to make.

Too Young – It may slip through many cracks, but the unfortunate death of a 13 year old motorcycle racer at Indianapolis this past weekend (he dumped his bike and was run over by a 12 year old strikes me as something that should ring a few alarm bells. Once you reach an age where you can supposedly make informed adult decisions about putting yourself at risk – i.e., serious competitive motorcycle racing – then knock yourself out. However, I think it is wrong for any governing body – let alone the kid’s parents to allow this to happen. This is not your typical minor sports activity that while not absolutely safe, are not comparable to driving a crotch rocket around professional race courses at speeds well in excess of 100 mph (160 kph).

Just because a kid “loves” to do something, does not make it right to allow him or her to do it. There has to be some level of common sense applied as well and I think it is lacking here. By the way, I am not a motorcycle fan period. I have seen firsthand what they can lead to.

Opinions are like ____ - everyone has one – Mine on this topic is that it is not working out as planned. The topic is the test Cold Stone ice cream franchise cohabiting with Tim Hortons’ and taking up good coffee space. I have one of the test locations across the street from me that I frequent on a regular basis and despite the glorious summer ice cream weather I am just not seeing it. Maybe they are sneaking in when I am not looking but I don’t think so. Morale of the story – stick to what you are good at and what customers want and expect. Don’t think Ice Cream at Tim’s is it. At least not at Yonge and Eg.

Relaxed Residency rules – I still have more homework to do before I really land on a final POV on this one but the OMHA has announced that it will allow (some) player movement to A and AA for the 2011-12 season. That will give people some time to figure out what it all means and, or plan their move! While I think a certain cabal would prefer that this was not going to happen (it’s worth the drive to Milton and Burlington), there are a few wrinkles that will have them rubbing their hands with glee. Probably the biggest one is that for the first time, A & AA players can leave the Eagles and play somewhere else (Rangers?) if they want to without having good pictures or going to court. Remember, “Rangers” have for years had the opportunity to bogey off to the “G” under the LOR (Lake Ontario Region) regulations. – yeah I know there are a number of restrictions like import quotas in the “G” etc,. but the opportunity was there. Non LOR centres like Burlington essentially owned their players with the exception of AAA Waivers.  Interesting that the new OMHA policy will at least initially apply only to Peewee – Juvenile. This is an interesting comparison to the LOR rules that granted free agency to Peewee and below but basically set-up for indentured servants once you played your minor Bantam year. That includes the GTHL so I am not sure how they come across as the knights in shining armour on residency / freedom of movement?

The press release was pretty understated – but – here’s a copy if you want to read it. Going to be an interesting year at the “Rep Rinks”. Isn’t it always?

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Aug 26 – Here it is Thursday night and another long weekend ahead. I could get used to this (until I run out of old vacation days that is). The good news with non holiday, holiday Fridays is they are nice and quiet. You can go and do what you want without the hordes of people that typically swarm stuff on a holiday. Having said that, I have no idea what I will do tomorrow and that is not necessarily a bad thing either.

Blu-Ray Success - my firmware is now very firm and willing to run Avatar. I actually watched about 15 minutes to be sure and the computer graphics work in that movie is unbelievable in Blu-Ray, let alone what it must be like on big screen 3D. Since it is apparently getting re-released with some edits I may get the full Monty yet but even the Blu-Ray is pretty special.

“Officer Down” - Maybe I should stage a coup d’etat at MOHA, as they seem to be a little short staffed in the Executive / Officer ranks these days. The natural result of drawing battle lines is that there are casualties. I am waiting to see what the press release “spin” will be on this one but I can guarantee it will not match what I have been hearing.

Helpful – not sure why I bother but some people need to give their heads a shake and spend some time on practical planning for the kids and less time on personal self aggrandisement  (look it up). I could make a number of comments on the current HL ice block allocation but I will settle for one example.

The proposed times have the Tykes Red and Blue playing at Kinoak. One of the Town’s two smaller ice surfaces, along with Maplegrove. Good plan for the little guys (and gals) - graduating to a “full” ice surface. BUT, then in their infinite wisdom, the cabal has the Tyke White – middle tier skill level of the SEVEN year olds scheduled on River Oaks B!! For those who have not twigged, ROB is an Olympic size ”huge” surface where these same kids played last year with the rink divided in three! It is nice to have the Timbits graduate to full size ice but use a little common sense. We could all entertain ourselves by making bets on whether they will get from one end to the other in a period, let alone a shift or maybe someone will wake up and put them where it makes sense. Otherwise, welcome to breakaway hockey and kids who won’t touch the puck all game. What a great learning experience that will be.

Detail – it is probably symptomatic of a number of problems when a simple announcement of the HL Coaches meeting cannot be created and posted without a glaring grammatical error. Spell check is a wonderful tool but it is not sentient. Apparently this is a trait shared by number of folks. Maybe that is why info is stuck in .pdfs. The thinking may be that it is less noticeable to all if hidden in a document and not posted on the html page. Start the timer – how long to fix this one? I should get a proof reading commission.

I can relate – Big fingers – small digits. I have enough trouble with the so called keyboard on my Crackberry. Think about those poor Sumo wrestlers with fingers like ham hocks. Now they have a solution to their distended digit distress – IPads. Phones and MP3s for the dexterity challenged. Not bad!

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Aug 25 – It would seem that I am fated NOT to watch Avatar – regardless of how many dimensions. I intended to get out to IMAX for the full Monty when it was originally released but procrastination got in the way and I missed the theatre runs. Probably one of three people in Canada who did not see it. Myself, a hermit on Mt. Logan and some delinquent serviceman doing punishment duty on the DEW line.

Regardless, we bought the Blu-Ray disc for Shaun for his birthday (I was going to watch it before we gave it to him but that got vetoed). When we were over checking on Benjamin on the weekend (who by the way has gone to more movies than I have this year – 1), Shaun sent it home with me to watch.

Last night in one of my “Home Alone” adventures I decided to watch it so I popped it into the BR Player and plopped down to watch. About five minutes in, in order to shut up a yipping cat, I stopped it to let him out. I came back – punched the play – Nada! After a minutes the Red Screen of Death (different from the PC Blue) came up and informed me that my Blu-Ray player could not play this disc and needed an upgrade!! So apparently Blu-Ray is not Blu-Ray it could be Blu-Ray. So much for standards. Now I am steamed as I have hardly used the player – we actually have two hooked up and figured it was likely obsolete before I even got the wraps off of it.

However, in checking the Samsung site I discover that I can theoretically update it by downloading an 80 Meg .zip file, burning a CD and following steps 1 – 6 which also carry a warning that this could not work and damage your player. Nice!

Hence this evening’s short post as I have to go and try to reaffirm my firmware. Beam me up Scotty!

Background checks – a couple quick points as follow-up to my earlier comments on the potential incremental challenges for volunteers.

1. It does hit Ontario if the Queen’s Cowboys are involved  - see the link to the Durham article and

2. Nice to see that Durham’s normal turnaround time was 10 days (Days NOT Weeks). What was a typical Oakville response post the Volunteer Meeting? – At least a month.

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Aug 24 – Not much to report on today – at least that is, if you are watching / reading the news and hoping to see something good and, or positive.

Summit – appears to be coming across as the big yawn and political grandstanding most were expecting it to be so no surprise there. I did find it humourous that the Pres of the IIHF got all worked up about the possibility of NHL expansion into his sandbox (Europe). First, I can’t see that happening from a financial and logistics basis, especially when a good chunk of the 30 existing teams are already financial drains. Second, I also think that would dilute the interest, talent pool and skill level even more. Just what is needed.

CTC and the NHL – I think this is a huge opportunity for my employer BUT given they are my employer I am not going to make any comments here as that would likely be deemed inappropriate and I can usually get myself into enough trouble without going looking for more. However, talk about a great fit and possible “grassroots opportunities. . .  Stop it – Stop it!

Traffic Jams – we think ours are bad. How would you like to be stuck in one for five days and have to buy food and drink from the local villagers? Wonder what they are doing for gas? Only in China you say . . . Good!

Cheeky Cherry – may be finally losing his mind. He is predicting that the Leafs will make the play-offs this season which I have to disagree with just on principle. He also thinks Phoenix will still leave town and he thinks Winnipeg has a good shot. He also does not think much of the Summit either.

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Aug 23 – Well, the great Molson hockey summit is upon us. Consensus seems to be that it is going to be a colossal waste of time and energy as far as anything meaningful to the rank and file is concerned. Why they would think John Q. Public would cough up $450 to hear a bunch of folks spout off about posturing on having NHL players in or out of the Olympics or the future of women’s international hockey is ridiculous. The NHL / Olympics is a Commish / Players Association battle – even though it should be a slam dunk and the women’s hockey thing is whether countries other than Canada and the U.S. (who are likely the only ones at “the Summit” are willing and able to step up to the table and develop a competitive program.

Golf – after my “awesome” round at glen Abbey, I have decided that I need to pursue a pro golf career. With tiger’s tour “demise” it looks like a whole whack of dough is up for grabs and I want some. This past week-end, the first “Indian” (from India) won the event (Arjun Atwal) and picked up almost a million bucks ($918,000 US) for the win. He ended up 20 under par or 260. Let’s see, this equates to about $3,530 a swing or if you consider it as four days work about $230,000 a day! This guy was hardly a star as he had to qualify for the event on the Monday at the beginning of the week. To put that in context, he is the first “Monday qualifier” to win an event in 24 years. Now is the clearly the time to join the tour but maybe I still need to work on my game a bit first.

With those kinds of numbers, it is tough to complain about highly paid athletes in other sports. Oh by the way – Mike Weir – 3 under after day 1 – did not make the cut. Not a good sign or good year for the shining son of Brights Grove.

Hockey Academies – for those of you who want to go on the next level of hockey fanaticism, consider enrolling your budding superstar into a hockey academy that features combined scholastic and athletic (hockey) programs for their students. Classes 8:00 AM – 1:00 Pm and then from 1:30 to 5:00 it is Hockey time for on and off-ice activity and training. There is one in the Okanagan and one being built in Rockland (near Ottawa) for 2011 that indicates their teams will play AA and AAA in the ODMHA. They carefully avoid quoting the cost (other than “tens of thousands of dollars”), but recognize that these are essentially specialized private schools with a twist and draw your own conclusions or budgets. It also seems like touting the quality of coaching versus the lowly volunteer is another of the supposed benefits of spending the superbucks. Think of it as the GTHL Club System on steroids. Just another topic, adventure to watch.

Fingerprinting???? –For those of you that pay any attention to minor hockey news,  Nanaimo is a hockey organization that has been in the news a lot for a number of not so good reasons. However, their most recent slug may be much more interesting or disconcerting to a number of people. It revolves around a concern they have that they will lose or have a hard time getting volunteers. Why – Clearances!  New measures that quietly came into effect in mid July for RCMP security checks. The new regs mean that id the individual’s birth date matches any of the pardoned sex offenders, the RCMP requires finger printing (at an extra cost) to confirm that the person is not the “bad” guy and this process can take up to four months!

This is for the Queen’s cowboys who are the local law out West. Not sure if this process applies to the local gendarmes or not.

I know my prints are already on file so it is not an issue for me. (No not as a criminal – I needed to be printed by the Canadian Trotting Association as part of their licensing procedure). However, I know some folks get all bent about this stuff. “Book ‘em Dano”!

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Aug 20 – Given that today was another one of those Fridays that I have converted into a long weekend (someone has a bunch of carryover vacation days to use up), I am not going to spend much time on writing.

Trillium – I noticed in yesterday’s paper that today was the last of the Trillium’s cruises in this its Centennial year. The 100 year old steam powered paddle wheel ferry makes occasional cruises around Toronto Harbour, out to Toronto Islands and back – roughly two hours for the price of a regular ferry ride. The tour also includes Toronto waterfront commentary and trivia by  Mike Filey.

When I got up this morning and had nothing urgent to do, I decided to go and have a scenic cruise. The Trillium was sunk once so I hoped it did not happen again and I was not disappointed. The weather was gorgeous again and since I did not bother with ye olde sun screen I added a little colour and heat to the pale one but had a very interesting trip.

I posted a number of shots on my Facebook wall and will stick a couple more here. It gave me a chance to play with my camera and I got a few of what I consider decent shots so I have a new wallpaper photo for my screen and some interesting skyline shots.

I also took a short walk along the boardwalk which I had not done for a while and took a few shots there, including the hugely controversial undulating pedestrian walkway / bridge that now has the major undulations “fenced” off to pretend to keep people off. I walked over it anyway and I have to admit that you have to be careful and think about what you are doing. It can be unsettling and is definitely not for the “unbalanced”!

Some shots.

A view from one "end" of the 100 year old Steam Paddleboat Ferry

Toronto Skyline from Toronto Island standing on the normally off limits upper deck of the Trillium - my new screen background wallpaper

The Canada National Tower - formerly CN Tower and Rogers Centre - formerly SkyDome - things just don't last!

One shot of the engine room which is definitely off limits BUT I talked my way down!

The sidewalk - need I say more - our tax dollars at work!

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Aug 19 – A bit of a hiatus as Tuesday night I was at a SportOakville meeting and Wednesday was our annual Jumpstart Charity Golf Tournament. I am embarrassed to say that yesterday was the first time I dragged the club’s out since last year’s event and there is no doubt my game, or lack of it, paid the price.

I had the fun this year of playing Glen Abbey as it was our turn to hit this course in our rotation – there were five facilities on the go – Rattlesnake(2), Blue Springs, Glen Cairn and Glen Abbey. It was great to play The Abbey as I mentioned to folks that I have lived in Oakville for well over 20 years and never played the course. It was great to finally play the course, especially after having been to a couple of Opens there as a spectator and now get to play the same holes - albeit badly.

The good news is that for some reason, I was surprised at how well I drove the ball and even more amazing was that I putted well, making a number of pressure putts for the team. My fairway and short game on the other hand were absolutely nonexistent. That did not help our score and as a foursome we ended up as plus one. The 11^th hole with the elevated tee blocks was my favourite as I imagine it is for many. The par threes were a horror show for us duffers as I suppose they were meant to be.

I was golfing with another “lefty” who has some decent clubs and if someone tries to tell you that equipment does not make a difference – he’s a liar. I hit some drives with his “Burner” and there was no comparison between that club and mine/Andrew’s. His three wood on the other hand seemed to not work – just like mine but I think that was simply operator error. I cannot hit a three wood to save my life.

Regardless, it was a great event, raised lots of dough and I hope provided a good for others as well as myself. Every time I head out to one of these events, it gets me excited about planning on getting out to play more but it never seems to happen. I got home after the dinner last night, sat down to watch some TV and promptly zonked out.

It is now Thursday night and I am planning to take another Friday off so it is weekend!

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Aug 16 –Lovely day back for a Monday. Take off Friday the 13^th to avoid trauma and get whacked with an issue when I go in today anyway. Soooo, that leads to a long Monday anyway (after I stayed up past my bedtime watching the end of Season 1 of Lost – thank you Pirate Bay). Then I get home to find out I have no internet which service tech buddy explains as an “outage” in my area that should be fixed by 9:30! Now I still have cable TV but no cable internet? How does that jive? So if I had cable phone as I am thinking based on my usurious Bell bills – would it be DOA as well or not?

First of all – congrats to one of my loyal readers (he has to, he is my son) and his bride on celebrating their second anniversary today. Little known fact is that means we have also had our car for two years as we picked it up the same day as their wedding. How is that for dumb planning and I am not going to make any S A remarks. However, we did get blown off for a week-end BBQ so maybe I should!

Speaking of dumb – rule #1 – when in doubt do not ground your club. While that has to have been the sorriest excuse I have ever seen for a sand trap, worse even than the worst junk on the old muni courses I used to play, I can not believe that Dustin’s day ended that way. While he says that it never entered his mind that it was a trap, the tour officials went to great pains to point out that this “concern” was number one on their rules sheet, was addressed as point one at the pre tournament meeting and is a real concern at a golf course with over 1,000 bunkers both inside and outside the lines. While everyone felt for him, he is a pro, knows the rules and with that being a trap, the penalty is automatic.

So you come to the tee of the 72 hole of the year’s last major, in front by a stroke, miss a par putt to you think win it outright, bogey to think you are going to a three way playoff with a good chance to win and then find out you just took a triple, finished fifth and don’t let the door hit you in the ___ on your way home. That has to just eat at you but I give him full marks for class as he came out and faced the obligatory asinine questions that CBS felt they had to ask.

And as Carnac the Magnificent (I) predicted - a bogey on the last hole would win it – and it did. Applaud – throw money – ask for advice.

How to succeed – Have a hissy fit in your job.  Harangue a customer(s). Exit the workplace illegally. Run home and hide. Get charged by the police AND GUESS WHAT – you get a TV show. Just ask Steven Slater how that works. You know who – the (expletive deleted) former flight attendant. Great reflection on the mindset of our society and how to set and establish a role model for kids. This is right up there with glorifying MMA where we idolize people trying to essentially kill or maim each other. I guess I am more out of touch than I thought.

Golf – jumping back to golf, I get to dust of the old niblick Wednesday (on more accurately, Andrew’s newer niblicks) as it is the annual Canadian Tire Jumpstart golf tournament. Having not wielded a weapon since last year’s fabulous event, I really do feel sorry for my plying partners. Especially since the course rotation puts us on Glen Abbey this year. Given that the only safe area during my round will be the fairway, I suggest that anyone living close to any of the Glen Abbey tee blocks “Step away from the vehicle house” Wednesday. Praying for rain won’t help as it is a rain or shine event and I just get more dangerous in the damp – slippery when wet. Fortunately it is a best ball scramble so that should help a bit! Guaranteed that Snowmen or worse will outnumber the Albatrosses

Scotch – Alas poor Yoric – to find preserved hundred plus year old Scotch and test it but not taste it – what a crime – I think (it could be awful. However, I would volunteer to give it a shot. Unfortunately people think this historical stuff so they are going to stash it back under Franklin’s hut where they found it. I hope they have good security, or some TV show wannabe will likely try to steal it.

They are going to use their testing to revive the secret recipe and then create a modern knock off to sell at inflated prices. The joys of free enterprise.

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Aug 14 – Posting continues to be a challenge – I am finding too much other stuff to either do or not do. Based on my last post some people probably prefer that.

Just for fun some Saturday comments as I took yesterday as a vacation day and did nada so I feel guilty.

Desperate – You know there is nothing worth reporting when the local rag has to trumpet – front page and photo – a visit to town by the have done nothing son of a long passed away former PM. Net, net, let’s get Max some publicity.

Kaberle – sweepstakes – Get it over already. Will he go or will he stay? Don’t care – just do it.

Pirate Bay – can be insidious. Now I know why all the ISP have put bandwidth limits on their packages. Downloading goodies is so easy and file sizes so large that the numbers become silly. Movies – can be 10 gig. An MP3 album – 100+ megs. Without admitting to anything as it is potentially copyright infringement and a whole lot of bad stuff, it is real easy to blow by even our new limits of 125 Gig a month. BUT – you can find some great stuff!!

MMA – Ontario is now going to allow MMA events in the province. For the uninitiated that is Mixed Martial Arts fighting which is a euphemism for anything goes to beat the crap out of the other guy. Too bad, as for once I thought the pols actually had the right answer. This stuff is stupid and unnecessarily dangerous. It is essentially a gladiator blood sport. Nice historical regression.

Rzepczynski wins – with a name like that you have to!

Rogers Cup – is on. Who cares! Other than laughing at Nestor’s doubles partner whining as a poor loser.

PGA Fog Bowl – Could be interesting tomorrow as Tiger has not “blowed up” yet. As I type he is -1 and only seven or eight shots off the lead. BUT at least he looks to survive the cut, unlike my Canadian lefty friend who has definitely lost his way.

Tamil boat – solution – provide food and water and a new course to somewhere else.

Biker Dude – for all those evil gang member biker stereotypes the Friday the 13^th Port Dover ride is a nice comeback. I am not pro bikes as I have seen what can happen but here is a picture of a hard core biker from Friday – “training wheels”?

I could not resist posting this shot as well! Maybe I can decal that on my car?

Hopefully this link works to some more pics.

BBQ - looks like another BBQ day and the good news it is not at my house or me cookin'. Time to bail!

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Aug 11 – Yesterday was kind of a messed up day so just to keep the turmoil going I did not post anything. Besides, there was not much new news to comment on other than the support for the non support of the Kovalchuk non contract. I was also supposed to have a SportOakville meeting last night but we cancelled that so I had some “unscheduled” time at home that I did not apply to blogging.

Funny – but not – The 19 year old who bragged online about doing 140 kph in a 40 kph zone. Guess what? The boys in blue tracked him down, did an investigation and threw the book, actually several books at him. They settled out at a careless driving conviction, suspension, fine and remedial driving school. The 19 year old had a BMW M5 - a 500 hp car that his parents had given him for doing well in school! Brilliant! He apparently does not have it any more. The moral of this story – actually there are several – pick whichever one you like the best.

Cancer Faker – is moving up in the criminal world. In court, the charges against her has been upgraded to theft over $5,000 which is a more serious offence. Guess what – it also looks like she will get to cool her heels in the slammer as there was no one there to post bail for her. This “minor” case has picked up a lot of media hype – the old human interest slant – and it seems that folks are unanimous in unequivocally slamming her and her actions – Good1

TNT Tryouts – Some news from the TNT folks on how they are changing their tryouts this season – they only start in late August – no spring team selection. For prior year Rep players (AA or AE) they must try out at AA before allowed to go to AE. The idea is to ensure “best” players play on “best” team. They also comment on their concern re practice and, or perception of try-out fees being a money grab. They have changed to a flat fee of $40 instead of $15 per session. Different world – same issues.

BBQ Season still on – get home – walk in door – “I’m hungry” – start the BBQ – get cookin’ – that was not my commentary – it is what was directed to me.

Financial Assistance - Asking for financial assistance can be a very difficult, embarrassing and humiliating process for an individual, but often times is unfortunately necessary for a number of valid reasons. In my time, we always tried to ensure that we preserved the individual’s pride, dignity and self-esteem in dealing with those difficult situations. The “qualification” process was low key and quite confidential. We asked individuals to make a written request outlining why they needed support, and usually followed up with a telephone or personal conversation and that was it. To the best of my knowledge, we did not have any “abuse” of the system or our trust in people and the kids got to play.

It seems like that approach is no longer acceptable in the “new” world. The “financial assistance” form currently on the site reads more like a government driven welfare screener than a request to a supposedly caring community association for some help. I would suggest that the information requested is personally offensive, excessive, invasive, constitutes borderline privacy infringement and looks to reinforce an individual’s plight rather than offer an avenue for support.  If the goal is to “discourage” any applications by increasing personal embarrassment and humiliation, I think it will be very successful. Here is a copy of the form – use it if you want!

Personal point of view – I find this very distasteful.

It is early days but – pretend you know what you are doing:

1. Coaches are applying for 2010/2011 not 2009/2010, and

2. It is conceivable that House League coaches may have more than CHIP or Coach Level! (D1 – D2??) No stereotyping here!

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Aug 9 – Quite the week-end. Not for me but for the rest of the world.

Simply Crazy – for those folks who have not got the required skills for the conventional lunatic events like Red Bull plane racing or motorcycle aerobatics, you can always go to Finland to participate in the annual (maybe not any more) world sauna bake-off championships. The only drawback is the bake-off item is you and it can kill you – as it did to the challenger in the final round this year.  I enjoy a sauna as much as the next guy but I don’t try to parboil myself as part of the adventure. The event “required contestants to sit in a 230-degree (110 Celsius) room as water was tossed onto a searing stove”. Now the saunas I take are not quite 230 degrees, and yes, contrary to the posted notices, I do tend to toss some water onto the rocks (stove / whatever) but nothing like these lunatics. Apparently they had something like 130 contestants but have indicated that they will never do this again! – Ya think!

Blue Jays – are apparently the buzz in the baseball world. The world that is – excluding Toronto where they seems to suffer from a lot of lack of notice. Despite playing well and hosting a good team like the Tampa Bay Rays they could only draw around 20,000 for Saturday and Sunday games this past weekend that were two of the wildest games you might ever see on the baseball extremes.

Saturday, they played the prototypical “he who bats last wins” format, but at 17 – 11, despite giving up four runs in the top of the ninth, the Jays did not have to bat last. Definitely not a pitching duel as the Jays made repeated use of Dr. Longball to wipe out the Rays. If that slugfest was not enough, a huge feel good aspect was the rookie debut of top prospect catcher J.P. Arencibia who not only went 4 for 5 in his rookie debut but deposited the first pitch he saw at the major league level over the wall for a home run and then added another tater later for good measure. The last Jay to debut with a home run was flash in the pan Junior Felix in 1989.

As if the slugfest was not enough on Saturday, Sunday was an offensive snoozefest on the other extreme with the Jays squeaking out a 1 – 0 victory to sweep the series. The kicker here was that Brendan Morrow took the Jays to the top of the ninth and two outs with a no hitter going until the Rays messed up his no-no bid with a tough infield single. Morrow bounced back to K the last guy for a total of 17 strikeouts for the complete game, the second highest strikeout count ever for a Jays pitcher – second only Roger the dodger Clemens – remember him – with 18, also back in ’89.

Two great games at both ends of the baseball spectrum on a glorious summer weekend and they can’t draw flies. Up against the mega, bucks, mega talent Yankees and Bosox, with limited chance of a playoff berth in the foreseeable future, and the prototypical Toronto fan that only supports one loser team (the Leafs), you have to wonder how long it will be before the Jays follow the Expos out of the Town & country in search of a baseball hotbed?

I was downtown on the Saturday and keep hearing the Homer Horn going off, but thought they were just testing to drown out Sir Paul later that night – who apparently put on a great sold out convert at the ACC. I didn’t think about it in time or I actually may have paid to go see him as he puts on quite a show for an old guy.

Tiger Trouble – looks good on him. Everyone was always so quick to promote his stats when he was doing well. Let’s also consider the “not so good” at the Bridgestone:

• 18 over par

• All four rounds over par

• Total 298 – worst tour score ever – even as an amateur

• 39 shots higher than his record score there 10 years earlier

• Finished tied for 78^th only one golfer kept him from finishing dead last

• Bogey or worse on 25 of 72 holes

This has to be full-on self destruct mode as not even his worst critic was anywhere close to predicting this type of meltdown.

Cancer Faker – glad to see that my opinion on the Cancer scam lady person seems to be resonating with a lot of folks including law enforcement. Seems Ms Kinilow has been incarcerated pending bail (hearing put off until Wednesday) and even her own parents will have nothing to do with her. I am sure there is a sad story buried here somewhere but – tough! Anyone who’s life has been touched by cancer – and that is most people, will have a hard time working up any sympathy for this scam artist.

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Aug 6 – I had great intentions of posting yesterday but they became just another paving stone in the road to h___.  Work late – get home – don’t want to waste great evening outdoors time - so posts can wait.

It is always nice to have something to poke fun at, even if it is yourself. But don’t get your hopes up, that is not happening today. My poke is at another hockey story in yesterday’s Star. Not a tirade, but simply what is the story supposed to be about – what is the author trying to say – The Message – Doh?

The headline is a mouthful – “NHLer holds ‘summit’ for 6-year-olds in viral hockey fight video”. The story is about an event that Florida Panthers David Booth held at a Coral Gables Florida Hockey camp. It centres around the apparently “famous” fight between two youngsters that has over 1,000,000 hits on YouTube. The link is in the article if you want to watch it, I have no interest in padding the stats so I won’t be.

My comment on this article was simply “what’s the point”?? – read it and see if you can figure it out or was it just filler to rationalize sticking a link to kids fighting reinforcing violence in minor hockey!

Fake Cancer as a fundraiser – Despicable.  This is the story of Ashley Anne Kirilow from Burlington who pretended to have cancer as a scheme to raise money – for herself – and fooled a lot of people. The truth has now come out and while there is a lengthy “woe is me” article in the Star, there is no mention of police involvement, investigations or charges. This is the type of thing that damages the potential for “real” causes and while I can be sympathetic to her “tough” life I also believe she needs to face consequences for her actions – “trip to Disneyland” – come on! Look forward to the follow-up on this one. How do you think all of those good people who stepped up to help her are going to react the next time they encounter a worthwhile cause?

Looking for Superman/Superwoman – or in their absence an “Operations Co-ordinator” – I have been waiting to see this! This one year role is being posted on the local association site. First, let me say that the concept of documenting processes and procedures is a good idea (hopefully they can build off of the former manual/binder but I suppose that has gone missing too). The concept of “Scope” comes to mind WHICH ALSO LEADS TO “Scope Creep”. Is this just administrative operations “project” or is it also “operations” operations i.e., ALL those real activities around actually “running” the organization - recruiting and managing all volunteers, administering and managing all players, coach and team selection, league and division planning / management, discipline, scheduling, balancing, budgets, assessments, vendor selection, contract management etc, etc, etc? The real list goes on and on.

Another Interesting spin on this one year contract role is that in addition to “documenting”, this super hero is also responsible for: “Planning, organizing, implementing & controlling all assigned projects as they relate to creation of an Integrated Operations Manual”. Let me apply the basic logic trail here that applies to these requirements:

A: Said individual is responsible for all the above tasks / projects

B: All above tasks / projects relate to activities involved in running the association

C: Ergo – said individual is running the association

I think an important part of the message or criteria is missing (so once again here is a hint)! Perhaps one should be thinking that what was really meant as well, was establishing and, or designing processes and procedures in conjunction with best practices for those activities (not necessarily what is currently being done, or not) and having the knowledge and expertise (read experience) to recognize good from not so good as well as what is present versus what is not. Simplistically good documentation of a bad process is not the answer unless there is an ability to recognize it as such and “fix” it.

No wonder there is an indication of needing to work nights and, or weekends! This is laid out as a 24/7 assignment. This type of project is a huge initiative that needs complete support, open minds and a champion to have any chance of lasting success.

It is easy to build a binder full of “processes and procedures”. It is a lot tougher to get the right ones.

What has not been addressed here is structure and roles, with responsibilities and accountabilities. This is fundamental to establishing a base for any operations processes and procedures – or is the co-ordinator supposed to figure this out as well in his/her spare time.

This is a huge topic that should get a lot of visibility – the above only skims the surface of high level issues – watch for it and comment on it – make sure that “your opinion counts”.

By the way, thanks for changing “hamlet” to “helmet” – it reads much better. I will cover coach versus team selection another day.

Fresh Air – as we sit around on the decks or by the cottage enjoying the summer and fresh (relatively) air it is good to keep in mind that not all have that same opportunity. Imagine living in Moscow these days where if the “atmosphere” is not bad enough the atmosphere is even worse. With bad air and smoke from forest fires drifting in, you can hardly see where you are going, much less think about what that “stuff” is doing to your lungs and don't you just love the lovely masks? I will take that wonderful Oakville air with the occasion level of aromatics we come up with over that – thank you very much.

 

Friday – it’s Friday night, the obligatory steaks have been BBQ’d and consumed along with fresh corn on the cob, field tomatoes and cucumbers – A wonderful repast with fresh peaches promised later (real fresh not store bought for all the fruits and veggies). The air on the deck is great, I have no pressing duties so it is time to kick back and relax. Over and out!

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Aug 4 – Happy Birthday Shaun. Your first birthday as a Dad so hopefully Benjamin was out shopping for you.

First day back in the office after a long week-end – ugh! The good news is that it is already Wednesday so I only have two days to go before it is week-end again.

A little hockey content today to get back into the swing!

Priceless – Key needs for hockey coaches “skates, hamlet, stick and gloves”Now I know that hockey coaches are very erudite individuals and among the elite members of the homo sapiens clan but I did not know that a Shakespearean play or a small village “HAMLET” were part of the certification requirements. Is any particular edition or size required? I don’t seem to recall that as part of what I took. Did anyone else spot this one! I bet they “fix” this one in a hurry and I don’t get any thanks for spotting it.

Wings go geriatric – I thought Detroit had learned not to go this route after Hull, Chelios and Hasek but there seems to be an urge to add older players on one year deals in Motown. Mike Modano – Mr. Dallas Stars has become the latest addition since he appears to want to go home again as a Detroit native Article. Can’t see this as a big help for my squad but you never know. Detroit is supposed to have a great rep for developing young talent, drafting well and not rushing them into the big time. I guess these “one year wonders” are a way to manage that schedule.

NFL – must be just around the corner – Favre has retired again. Hopefully for real as who needs more interception on big plays but given that this would be year 20, don’t write him off yet.

A-Rod – finally hits number 600. Great, now let’s get back to covering the game and not admitted steroid user, larger than life perceived as super arrogant individuals. Sports have turned into media fests when you get to the point of having to switch out the “normal” baseball for a special “numbered” baseball when buddy comes up to bat. How to stretch out a game that is already too long and slow to start with and losing fans as it is. Check the blue Jays attendance numbers. In a recent survey of sports venues, Rogers Centre was identified as one of the cleanest food service venues around – you know why? – There is no one there!

What a waste – giving good beer to horses! Only in England you say! Fortunately it was not Guinness or I would have been really upset.

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Aug 3 - A Tuesday - following a long week-end and I have chosen to take a rare day off. Actually, it is not really a day off as I am taking it as a replacement for July 1 when several of us were busy getting some of the new 401 sites open. Hopefully the business world can survive a day without me or at least with limited intrusion. Given that this is already the third day of the month (happy birthday Colleen) and my first post it does not look like it will be a stellar month for posting regularity either. You gotta love those summer days when you can just kick back and relax.

With the exception of some misguided raindrops it was quite an enjoyable week-end - and no it was not because I was down gawking at all the feathered Caribana costumes. This week-end was highlighted by Monday's second annual Moorehead hosted Powell (Jane's Family) senior citizen BBQ - oldies only. Wonderful concept for all except yours truly who gets to be the resident domestic. Prep the beverages, entertain the guests, BBQ dinner (great homemade burgers, chicken breasts and sausages - cooked to perfection with all the trimmin's) and the signature whipped cream and cookie dessert - guess who did not get any dessert.

Not only that but I get upstaged by the cameo appearance of Benjamin Andrew Moorehead who arrives with his entourage to "meet the family" and takes over everyone's attention from me! It is just not fair.Anyway, it setup the good old four generation get together which is something we should all be thankful for. I stuck a photo of Benjamin with GG (Great Grandma Powell) on my Facebook site if you want to go check it out.

Then we sat and watched the Blue Jays and Yanks and since I can't stand the Yankees on principle, I actually cheered for the Jays and watched AJ implode in a 7 run inning where the Yankees gave up six doubles (unreal) and one tater. Even with the 8 - 2 lead, the Jays made it interesting and only hung on to win 8 - 6.

Dreamweaver - Adobe's we software - took another look at it over t5he weekend - still overwhelmed so for now I will have to continue with my out-dated MS FrontPage 2003. I guess if you are willing to start from scratch and have some support it may not be too bad but when you are already set up and comfortable with what you have, it is tough to invest the time needed on the learning cure. I think I will look to work on my Adobe Photoshop skills and digital photography - maybe actually register for a course this year.

Salary Cap or what - Somewhat surprising news that the Chi-Hawks did not / would not sign Niemi. Arbitration awarded him a $2.75 salary option last week which Chicago chose not to accept thereby dumping their Stanley Cup goaltending hero into the free agent pool. That makes eight players already that are gone from the Cup winning roster or almost 1/3 of the team. The club does not want to talk about the cap but there are some ugly numbers behind it. I think I saw on the idiot box that if they had signed Niemi at the arbitration award they would only have about 2 million left to sign 6 players! That would be lots for the Leafs.

Enough - this is a holiday for me - I am outta here!

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