Oct 30 - I'm back, after probably the longest blog hiatus since I started this "column" a year and a half ago. It may be tough to get back into the swing of trying to post something daily as it does take a fair amount of time and effort to make this happen. There is also a question of "why bother"? Anyway, we're back from a nice week off at Calabogie Lodge and ready to get at it. Calabogie is a nice place even if it is quite a hike to get there. It is about 20 minutes from Renfrew which makes it about five hours plus from our front door -- even more if you rely upon GPS instructions -- more on that later.

The Lodge -- this was the first I'd heard of Calabogie Lodge and was not sure what we would run into. We were actually quite pleasantly surprised by the facility and would go back. I have posted a couple of pictures below to give you some sense of what it's like and in season either summer or winter there are lots of activities to keep everyone occupied or you can just veg. The off-season, which is apparently where we fit in is more focused towards the veg side of the equation which suited us just fine. It's a good thing that we can use an RCI timeshare as I am not sure I would want to pay the "normal" brochure rates. We had a two bedroom, two story chalet style unit that listed for $2,400 in their week schedule which is based on peak and off peak season. We were classed as off peak as the rates went up to $4,800 for peak times. At those prices, it makes our decision to buy a timeshare 20 some years ago a good decision.

Resort from across the lake

A little closer - we were in the end unit hidden behind the trees to the left of the front group in the centre

Back of our unit (actually the front door)

Balcony view from main floor

GPS -- never trust your GPS in very rural locations. Our usually infallible and hence trusted module laid out the shortest route for us that turned into a real treat. Heading off of Highway 7 at Fenelon Road should have been a tipoff. As we were rolling along a rough and winding country road (at this point it was still paved) it should have been a tipoff of more to come. Someone in mapping rural roads should have some sense of their condition before loading them into a GPS as a viable option for passenger vehicles. The closer we got to the Lodge the worse the roads got. Soon we were heading down unpaved bush roads that were not wide enough to pass another vehicle and essentially were uninhabited. The teasing part was that our estimated time of arrival and distance to travel to get to our final destination were shown as less than half an hour and just over 30 K. Things really started to get interesting when we first passed a fleet of ATVs going the other way giving us "the look" and shortly thereafter got the GPS notice that we should be turning left to cross to our next side road. The only problem was we were in the middle of a bush, on a rugged dirt road where it looked like an old wagon path went off to the left and crossed a small stream where it looked like there used to be a couple of boards to drive across that had since rotted and broken through. Guess what - we were not going there. Then trying to get our GPS to come up with an alternative was impossible as "she" insisted that we should be making a legal U-turn and heading back to the so-called bridge. Finally backtracking to what could almost be considered a road we arbitrarily traveled about 10 K. to get away from "the forest" and then asked for a GPS reroute. With a new set of instructions we headed back to the wars and thought we were doing fine until we were directed to turn down the K. and P. trail which started off okay but very quickly degenerated into a swamp road. With the trail washed out and filled with potholes everywhere, being only one vehicle wide, with no shoulders, and water of indeterminate depth on both sides we knew we were in trouble again -- especially when the GPS map showed us going cross country (not on the trail) and the trail itself turned into basically nothing. We found a sort of dry spot to turn around and once again retraced our steps. After over an hour we were actually further away from our destination then we were when we headed into the outback. In desperation we finally found a shack, and asked for directions from the two Deliverance characters who lived there with their dogs. You know how desperate the situation has to be before a guy will stop and ask for directions. I freely admit I caved on this occasion. With their directions, which still left a couple of challenging decisions, we were just getting into Calabogie country and decided to try and call both the Lodge and our friends to let them know where we were given that we were running later than anticipated. Guess what? No signal. So besides being lost in the outback, we couldn't even use cell phones to try to call someone to figure where we were. Anyway, when we finally got closer to Calabogie, we did pick up a signal and let our friends know that we would be there as soon as we scraped the muskrats and the mud out of the grill and underside of the car. I think I've established quite a challenge for my Canadian Tire car wash with the condition of our vehicle.

When you get instructions like the following and none of the last few roads show up on your “map” – be VERY, VERY Careful!

• Keep STRAIGHT onto TC-7 [Lansdowne St E] for 85.0 km

• Turn LEFT (North-West) onto CR-2 [CR-29] for 12.3 km

• Road name changes to Bridge Water Rd [Flinton Rd] for 5.0 km

• Turn LEFT (North) onto Flinton Rd for 0.6 km

• Turn RIGHT (East) onto CR-29 [Flinton Rd] for 4.8 km

• Turn LEFT (North) onto Hwy-41 for 92.8 km

• Keep STRAIGHT onto Hwy-132 for 2.6 km

• Turn RIGHT (South) onto Flat Rd for 8.3 km

• Turn RIGHT (South-West) onto Mt St Patrick Rd for 0.2 km

• Road name changes to Kennelly Mountain Rd for 0.5 km

• Turn LEFT (East) onto Ferguson Lake Rd for 8.7 km

• Turn LEFT (North-East) onto CR-508 [Calabogie Rd] for 9.1 km

• Turn RIGHT (South-East) onto Mill St for 0.3 km

• Arrive Calabogie Lodge Resort [729 Mill St, Greater Madawaska ON K0J, (613) 752-1616]

 

The "Teal" stretch is the "by guess or by golly" portion of the expedition in.

After the abuse I took for several days on that little navigation exercise, we took the probably longer but smarter and faster 511 route down to Perth on our way back. It worked much better.

Wireless - one of the challenges we ran into at Calabogie that kept me from being able to post while up there was the nature of their wireless Internet. They had a weird setup for all of the units where it almost seems that they were running Net Gear repeaters off of the phone lines to provide Internet service to the units. I think somewhere in the background there was a very tired hamster trying to spin a generator wheel to power a 300 baud modem. The result was that yes, there technically was wireless Internet, but other than slowly surfing some limited text pages there was absolutely no option to do any serious uploading or downloading of content. Given where we were, it was probably great that we had what we did but it was nowhere near the level of connectivity that all of us softies are used to. As per usual, being used to click and go, the speed limitations drove me crazy such that I really didn't use any of the Internet services but simply checked my Crackberry for any key work-related messages.

In my absence -- a lot of things have happened:

Leafs -- without my ongoing focus and attention to ensure it didn't happen they actually won a game. So much for expecting that they would go all of October without a win.

FHP -- my set lineup managed to pull me into a first-place tie with Andrew in our family pool. Maybe I should just leave it alone for the rest of the year.

H1N1 – There is a lot of activity on this topic from a variety of sources. Whether it's the efficacy of the shot, who should get it, when they should get it, where they should get it, whether there's enough of it, how risky it is, and so on, it makes you wonder whether there really is any advantage to getting shot. Then you read about the 13-year-old Mississauga player that died in basically a day and a half and you try to figure out how that can happen.

World Series -- on an anybody but the Yankees basis, I am obviously cheering for Philadelphia. Tie it at one game each, there seems to be a split about who is apt to win as opposed to simply anointing the Yankees as champions. I watched the first game, which was a good game to watch even though they drag it out over such a long period. Over 3 1/2 hours is too long for a baseball game. The good news is that over two games Arod has gone zero for eight with a bunch of strikeouts -- keep it up.

Music – Missed Monday so I won’t spend a lot of time on this one – sort of a light hearted comment of my focus the last few days. Some of the words get moved around, depending on who is singing and how involved they are in product QC. With songs like this you never bother trying to trace the origins.

Beer, Beer, Beer – Irish Drinking Song.

A long time ago, way back in history,
when all there was to drink was nothin but cups of tea.
Along came a man by the name of Charlie Mops,
and he invented a wonderful drink and he made it out of hops.

He must have been an admiral a sultan or a king,
and to his praises we shall always sing.
Look what he has done for us he's filled us up with cheer!
Lord bless Charlie Mops, the man who invented beer beer beer
tiddly beer beer beer.

The Curtis bar, the James' Pub, the Hole in the Wall as well
one thing you can be sure of, its Charlie's beer they sell
so all ye lads a lasses at eleven O'clock ye stop
for five short seconds, remember Charlie Mops 1 2 3 4 5

He must have been an admiral a sultan or a king,
and to his praises we shall always sing.
Look what he has done for us he's filled us up with cheer!
Lord bless Charlie Mops, the man who invented beer beer beer
tiddly beer beer beer.

A barrel of malt, a bushel of hops, you stir it around with a stick,
the kind of lubrication to make your engine tick.
40 pints of wallop a day will keep away the quacks.
Its only eight pence hapenny and one and six in tax, 1 2 3 4 5

He must have been an admiral a sultan or a king,
and to his praises we shall always sing.
Look what he has done for us he's filled us up with cheer!
Lord bless Charlie Mops, the man who invented beer beer beer
tiddly beer beer beer.

The Lord bless Charlie Mops!

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Oct 22 – Leafs have battled to a position well below mediocrity and have been successful in establishing themselves as the only one of the thirty NHL teams to not have won a game yet. Can they go all of October without a win? The realistic answer is a highly probable – yes! They appear to think a number of new skills will help them. Dodge ball dexterity will help them elude defenders as their stellar offense crashes the net. Now, they are honing their skills for the upcoming 3 on 3 NHL season (oops there isn’t one). We all know how well 3 on 3 teaches defense so it is a good thing they are working on that!

However, there is some entertainment in the situation as the Star is asking folks to submit their best Leaf jokes. The response has been a flurry of some funny and not so funny contributions. I have cherry picked a few below but there are lots more – Read the article and submissions.

• Toronto Possums  - Q: Why are the owners of the TML considering a name change to the Toronto Possums? A: Like possums, they play dead when at home and get killed when they play on the road

• Did you hear Toronto is getting a new area code      "047"

• Stanley Cup  - What did Billy do after the Leafs won the Stanley Cup? He turned off his PlayStation.

• Maple Leafs versus Bad Bank

• Why are the Maple Leafs like a bad bank?    No checking, no savings, and definitely no interest!

• Why Hamilton didn't get a hockey team    If Hamilton got an NHL team Toronto would want one too...

• What do Maple Leaf players have in common with Abe Lincoln?    They can't finish a play...

• How are Maple Leaf general managers like beachcombers?   They make their living trying to salvage washed up junk.

• How do you keep the Leafs off your front lawn?    Put a net on it

• What do you call 25 Millionaires watching the Stanely Cup on TV    The Toronto Maple Leafs

• What's the difference between the Leafs defence and a pylon?    The Pylon is orange. - and probably plays better hockey.

• All Star D   What's the difference between Francois Beauchemin and a Pylon? The Pylon won't go for the fake.

• Whats BLUE & WHITE and lives in the basement?    The Toronto Maple Leafs

• How many Toronto Maple Leafs does it take to change a tire?    Just one. Unless it's a blowout. Then the whole team shows up!

• LEAFS WIN THE STANLEY CUP!!!    Watch it on the History Channel Thursday at 8pm.

• Bryan Burke was caught kicking a cigarette machine. When asked why, he replied " l'm looking for Players"

• What do the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Argonauts and the Toronto Blue Jays all have in common besides being based in Toronto ?   None of them can play hockey.

• The general manager, coach and six Maple Leaf starters walk into a bar.   Nobody is surprised.

It’s holiday time – I have decided to take the rest of the month off – otherwise I lose the days as they are from 2008. I am gradually catching up but it has taken a while. On Saturday we are off to Calabogie Lodge (near Renfrew) for a week of R&R. I believe they have wireless connectivity so we will see where that leads. It will be a nice break even if I still have my ears on for some stuff we have on the go. The leaves will likely ge done (the tree ones not the other guys) but it should still be a nice spot to see.

Arizona Wants Me – and after Spring Training I likely can’t go back there, but it looks like “The Boys” are buying into my suggestion. Now the planning starts – balance six family schedules and wishes, work around March break, see if there is a good rental available and make sure the Coyotes are in town. Piece of cake! Any ideas or suggestions, let me know.

That’s enough for tonight, I have to work at getting into relaxed mode.

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Oct 21 – Over the last while a number of “improvements” have been introduced by GO Transit at Union Station as the result of various (and disruptive) construction projects. This morning we were swarmed in the concourse by GO minions handing out little reusable bags in an attempt to sugar coat their news letter that essentially sets the stage for the GO forward Union Station revitalization project, or as it will more likely be called the five Years of Hell!

No major renovation project is easy but when you decide / need to renovate a major transportation without suspending service it does create a challenging situation. This one is planned at five years – get used to the great outdoors at Platforms 26 / 27.

By the way the bag was too small to be worth anything so I gave it away.

Cactus catches Grapefruit – by my unscientific count, the Arizona Cactus League has now caught up to the Florida Grapefruit League for MLB spring training baseball. Even more exciting for spectators is that 13 of the 15 Cactus teams share 9 ballparks in and around Phoenix such that a fan can easily go to any one of them and not have to drive hours across Florida to go from “cluster” to “cluster”. In Feb/Mar the weather is probably better in Arizona as well. This western migration caused the Dodgers to leave their original Dodgertown complex and has Cincinnati as the most recent defector to cactus central starting there this year and sharing Goodyear stadium with the Cleveland Indians.

Wayne and the boys (if my father at 81 can be called one of the boys) are plotting the almost annual pilgrimage / bonding spring training event for 2010. My thought, which I plan to sell to the group is to “Go West Young Man” and not redo the Florida experience - again. As my father is an avid Jays fan, this may take some doing but I think I can enlist sibling support. The other bright side is we can also probably fit in an NHL game or two (with a winning team) for roughly $10 bucks a ducat. That may sway the decision. Besides that with the US Real Estate challenges, we can probably get a great deal on a Vacation Rental house! More on this as the plot unfolds.

FHP – You might have noticed that I have not been gloating as much at all about my pool performance. That is because I am not in first place. While a solid second, I have to overtake Andrew for the top. Since he set up the scoring system this is taking some time but it is a long season. For some reason, I do not seem to be as “into” it this year so far as I actually committed the cardinal pool sin of forgetting to adjust my bench to move players in to replace players not playing that night. It cost me. Oh yeah – after the fact Andrew reminded me! Nice guy!

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Oct 19 – I notice that in my absence, the Leafs has continued in their so far futile pursuit of the “Quest for Won”. The media has clearly covered off on their ineptness, relative to the team’s worst start ever so it clearly will not be long now until they start the comparison to the worst team start ever. They probably have but I just have not seen it yet.

If this level of play continues very long or is common throughout their season, you have to believe that even the Leaf faithful will be turning away. The numbers (read dollars) are idiotic and not “family” manageable for all but the “elite” or corporately connected and even those are declining in support. I was fortunate??? Enough to attend the Pittsburgh game a week ago Saturday with great centre ice Golds. The face on these tickets was, I think $350 per. A medium beer at $12 bucks and food starting at the same number means that if Jane and Y wanted to see a game in these seats there would not be much left out of $2,000.That is one game, one night, four seats. Or, I can relax at home, watch the game on HiDef, with commentary and replays and an appearance of The Icon – Mr. Don Cherry -  in Coaches Corner for essentially $0 as part of my cable package. With all due respect, I can’t believe they fill the seats. MLSE must thank “whoever” for the corporate presence in Toronto. Makes it easy to understand why they have an acute “phobia” about a real team coming soon to a SW Ontario location near you!

Some current fans

Now they have a goofy 6 day lay-off leading into a tough road trip. What were the schedulers thinking on this one? If they get off to a bad trip start in Vancouver, they could easily lose all five games as the travelling punching bags.

Catch Up – Closer to home, although I did not pick up on it right away article. I would like to think that every coach is forcefully instructing and reminding his or her players what hockey is supposed to be all about. Especially in light of the number of “incidents” that are finding their way into the media. Unfortunately, this is hitting too close to home as the recent Stoney Creek / Burlington incident demonstrates – these teams are part of our loop – it is not “some other guys”. Hopefully the young man is going to be OK, although no one knows yet and it could be very serious. But, if this was a willful act it needs to be recognized and dealt with accordingly. Minor Bantam! Everyone has to get the message that sticks if used improperly are a weapon and will be regarded as such.

Crooks – I guess if you are a thief you don’t really care who your victims are as long as you get the loot. However, you would think that anyone with any conscience would at least target adults and not a bunch of seven year olds who had spent all day working to raise funds ($4,000) for their hockey team. Not so in Bowmanville at the Apple Festival where the Clarington Thunder had run a number of events only to have their manager’s pick-up broken into and the cash stolen. The money was raised for travel, uniforms and ice time will have to be replaced either through more fund raising or getting parents to dig into their pockets – again.

It would be really nice to catch this wonderful human being. Here is the article.

Monday Music – I am a Beatles fan as many of you are aware which also implies (correctly) that I am stuck in the 60s. Based on the last few days I have decided to post one of my favourites of their ballads. Mostly recorded in 1969, as arguably the last or penultimate Beatles album, Rolling Stone classes the “Let it Be” album as number 86 in the top 500 albums of all time. Two of the tracks – Let it Be and Get Back were also released as singles. The recording of the album was during the break-up phase of the group and featured a number of heated arguments including one where George literally walked out and “quit” the band. There is also another story that George and John came to blows, the only reported “violent” dust-up for the group.

Let it Be – The Beatles (From the album of the same name)

When I find myself in times of trouble

Mother Mary comes to me

Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

And in my hour of darkness

She is standing right in front of me

Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

Let it be, let it be.

Let it be, let it be.

Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

 

And when the broken hearted people

Living in the world agree,

There will be an answer, let it be.

For though they may be parted there is

Still a chance that they will see

There will be an answer, let it be.

 

Let it be, let it be.

Let it be, let it be.

Yeah, There will be an answer, let it be.

 

Let it be, let it be.

Let it be, let it be.

Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

 

Let it be, let it be.

Let it be, let it be.

There will be an answer, let it be.

(instrumental break)

 

Let it be, let it be.

Let it be, let it be.

There will be an answer, let it be.

 

And when the night is cloudy,

There is still a light that shines on me.

Shine until tomorrow, let it be.

I wake up to the sound of music

Mother Mary comes to me

Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

 

Let it be, let it be.

Let it be, let it be.

There will be no sorrow, let it be.

 

Let it be, let it be.

Let it be, let it be.

Whisper words of wisdom, let it be. hoooo' hoooo'

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Oct 15 – October is Breast Cancer awareness month and unfortunately at this time no one is more aware of this terrible disease than the Moorehead family. We have just lost our niece to this cancer despite her having putting up a lengthy and terrific battle. She was a wonderful person and ever the optimist, but that was not enough. How do you explain this loss to her seven year old daughter who now faces life without her “mum”.

For those of you with your health – enjoy it and help others less fortunate.

For those of you not so lucky – hang in there and live every day to the best of your abilities.

We see too much of this, too often, too close to home. Here is a link to the Ontario Breast Cancer Foundation. Please take some time to review it and consider supporting any of their initiatives. It truly is a worthy cause.

I will likely be “off the air” for a few days as this is not a priority for me right now.

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Oct 13 - coming out of the Thanksgiving weekend there seems to be a lot of media coverage incorporating the word turkeys and Toronto Maple Leafs in the same sentence. I suspect in a number of circles there are wagers going on as to when the Leafs will win their first game. Simple odds and the nature of the game suggests that it will happen but it does not look like it will be a regular recurrence this season. Apparently as follow-up, Vesa now has an undisclosed lower body injury and MacDonald gets the start now with another Markie call-up for back-up. Hmmmmm – the old – that’s my story and I am sticking with it. While I may be a game or two away from the big start, it looks like I may be next in line for the Marlies.

Thanksgiving dinners -- are always a challenge, especially when you are tasked with carving the turkey. Generally by the time that is finished you have done enough smacking to complete your meal let alone sitting down to eat. Having gorged yourself regardless, using face the "what I will I have?" Problem as in our family there are always a number of great choices available at these events. For the first time in recorded history, I don't think I indulged in pumpkin pie this go around as I focused mainly on pecan. As usual with these family events, forward scheduling is a must so that it appears that as preferred, the Moorehead clan will be hosting Christmas. The interesting part of that event is that my brother-in-law was given a 38 pound turkey by one of his contacts that we did not use for Thanksgiving but has been offered up for Christmas. The question becomes, where do I find opinion big enough to roast a 38 pound turkey and more importantly will it fit in the oven. I also have to find a small third world nations to deal with the leftovers. On second thought, having seen the upcoming generation attack food this weekend that is not likely to be a problem.

Family hockey pool -- continues to favor the pool creator as Andrew has a solid lock on first place the rest of us continue to battle through our ups and downs as we try to figure out the scoring system. At the moment I have a relatively solid lock on second place well back of the leader.

Top 400 -- for some reason the Sporting News created a list of the top 400 sport cities in North America. Forgetting that town Council will argue the Oakville is a town and not a city it was interesting to note that in the top 400 Oakville Canyon 309th. That would suggest that we have a relatively entrenched sportsmen tally in Oakville given that we do not have any professional sports teams or any university sports teams to contribute to the evaluation. While the list is available for everyone to review I'm not sure that there are any other members of the clan that can make that statement. Essentially Oakville's ranking had to be based on the minor sports enthusiasm that is apparent across all of the clubs in Oakville whether that be hockey, baseball, soccer, swimming, skating, tennis, golf etc. etc. etc. As noted in the correspondence that Cathy Watt sent out on behalf of the Sports Council, that places Oakville ahead of such hotbeds as Hamilton (NHL contender) and Winnipeg (former NHL and home of the Blue Bombers and the Manitoba Moose). Not bad. If you want to check out the entire list here is the link

TTC -- the transit folks are implementing a series of increased fines and enforcement to target a number of infractions with respect to transit riders. As the Globe and Mail puts it "TTC riders face new fines for impoliteness" The folks at GO Transit might want to take a look at this as behavior like feet on seats and blocking doorways (let’s add stairwells to this) could be a great money raiser for GO. It will be interesting to see how they implement this program as I am sure that they will get a lot of challenges. Hopefully, abusive language, rants, and disgusting behavior are included on the list as you come across some interesting activity on the TTC if you ride it regularly.

Speaking of transit -- I did it again. Running a little late so I ended up getting to the 5:43 milk run with a couple of minutes to spare. Sitting down in one of the few seats remaining I realized I had not "punched" my ticket. Having seen the GO police in the concourse I was in no hurry to risk a ticket. So -- down the steps we go, raced to the ticket counter, charged back up the stairs again and luckily by changing to a less popular coach got a seat. I think that makes four times this month I have had to recycle.

Music -- as I was busy yesterday with gazebo takedown activities as well as lounging on the couch watching JAG, I did not get around to posting yesterday for the official Monday music selection. Given that it was an official holiday anyway, I think I have a reasonable excuse.

Regardless, an interesting selection today from my Irish Tenors. Being a bit of a rebel myself (or at least in some people's minds) I have selected “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”. At one time thought of as an abolitionist’s spiritual, the song has grown in popularity over the years and is now often sung at both Republican and Democratic conventions as well as presidential inaugurations.

Different vocalists choose to include or exclude different verses of the original lyrics. The full “original” version of the lyrics is published below. The John Mcdermott version I have posted includes only verses 1, 2 and 5.

 Lyrics – Battle Hymn of the Republic

As originally published 1862 in The Atlantic Monthly

     Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:

    He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;

    He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:

    His truth is marching on.

        Glory, glory, hallelujah!

        Glory, glory, hallelujah!

        Glory, glory, hallelujah!

        His truth is marching on.

    I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,

    They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;

    I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:

    His day is marching on.

        Glory, glory, hallelujah!

        Glory, glory, hallelujah!

        Glory, glory, hallelujah!

        His day is marching on.

    I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:

    "As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;

    Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,

    Since God is marching on."

        Glory, glory, hallelujah!

        Glory, glory, hallelujah!

        Glory, glory, hallelujah!

        Since God is marching on.

    He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;

    He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:

    Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!

    Our God is marching on.

        Glory, glory, hallelujah!

        Glory, glory, hallelujah!

        Glory, glory, hallelujah!

        Our God is marching on.

    In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,

    With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:

    As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,

    While God is marching on.

        Glory, glory, hallelujah!

        Glory, glory, hallelujah!

        Glory, glory, hallelujah!

        While God is marching on.

    He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,

    He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave,

    So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,

    Our God is marching on.

        Glory, glory, hallelujah!

        Glory, glory, hallelujah!

        Glory, glory, hallelujah!

        Our God is marching on.

Off Again - tomorrow is another one of those quick trips to Montréal. Leave early, don't do much, come only. Fun, WOW! Likely means nothing will get posted tomorrow as I'll have no interest in doing that when I get home.I think this looks like an east end west end trip in one day so a trip to Schwartz's is likely out. Too bad, as I've never met a smoked meat sandwich I didn't like -- especially in Montréal.

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Oct 11 - today is "Thanksgiving Day" for the Moorehead/Powell clan. So I will start my musings now recognizing that they could be interrupted for the hike to Guelph and the mandatory turkey. My blog appearances have been a little spotty for the last while as I have been somewhat preoccupied with a few things -- predominantly work related. I think that will unfortunately continue for a while as some interesting but unbloggable items are chewing up my time. It is more difficult than people think to manage continual posts on topics that are theoretically of interest, not just to me, but theoretically to an audience. Today's Thanksgiving content will wander over a number of topics in no particular order or sequence.

Nobel -- Alfred must be rolling in his grave trying to figure out what the selection committee has been smoking, and probably wishing it was a few of his explosive sticks. While I have no issue with Pres. BO, I have absolutely no clue, apparently neither does he or anyone else as to why he was selected for the now well peace prize. With less than a year in office, limited international experience, no feathers in his cap, not delivering on promises like Gitmo, and struggling with economy issues at home, you have to wonder exactly what the qualifications were or whether no one else was even considered. I think it's fair to say that this award came as an absolute surprise to everyone and in the context of the Nobel prizes I would suggest cheapens the award that has gone to more deserving people. I would suggest that organizations like the baseball Hall of Fame have more credibility with their selection process than what is supposed to be one of the most prestigious world awards. If there isn't a qualified candidate they don't elect anyone. Anyway, this is not supposed to be a political propaganda outlet so we will move on from that topic.

Who's right -- there is a southwestern Ontario trucker who is on the hook for close to a $400 ticket for smoking in the workplace. The workplace happened to be his truck. Legislation says you can't smoke in workplace and his truck has been deemed as his workplace. At some point you have to believe that legislation or the minions that enforce it is inappropriately impinging on personal rights and freedoms. This whole smoking business has gotten out of hand. As a reformed smoker, I quit when I was 20 having started I think at 12, I am not a big fan of smoking in general and have no issue with prohibiting it in and closed public spaces like offices etc. However, I think folks have gone over the edge when they feel they have to create a charge for an individual smoking in essentially his own vehicle, on his own, with no one else present. To some extent either the product is legal or it's not, and today it is legal. The silliness regulators are going through to turn provinces "dark" at retail with the silly dividers and flaps to hide the visibility of this product to "young people" is ridiculous enough without having to go headhunting for people like this trucker who can now you choose to fight the ticket (and likely lose), or pay the fine and decide whether he wants to risk getting caught again or not. So play this one out with nicotine withdrawal truckers cruising down the highways, deciding whether or not to pull off for a smoke, or suffering the jitters on the road to create additional driving hazards.

FHP -- it is a little early to tell whether those people who like to laugh at my misfortune will get another opportunity based on our family hockey pool. I have somehow struggled back up to second place under the revised" scoring system, despite the fact that I have lost another high draft pick to serious injury with Johan Franzen tearing his ACL. I have now lost two top picks compared to none for anybody else and I'm still hanging on for second. However, under the scoring set up it doesn't take much to go from the penthouse to the outhouse on almost a daily basis. The interesting point so far is that Andrew (our pool meister) has a solid lock on first place after having decided on the scoring system just before the draft. I think the fix is in.

Games -- I got to go and enjoy a gold seat (valued at approximately 6 gazillion dollars) at the ACC last night to watch the Penguins tune-up the Leafs. Toskala got to play lightning rod again for a very ineffectual Leaf team, giving up a couple of soft goals in making sure the Leafs were never in the game. 5 out of 33 shots had to be fished out of the back of the net for a save percentage of somewhere around .85, nowhere near NHL expectations. At the other end, it was a bit of a garden party as the leafs only managed to shots on goal in the first period and 20 for the whole game.  No offense, a schizophrenic defense, and “who knows what in goal” will not lead to very many wins. I'm not sure where the playoff expectations come from for this team but I sure wouldn't want to be making book on it now. From some of the sound effects at the ACC it sounds like that opinion is beginning to be shared by a significant portion of the Leaf faithful. Listening to the reporters with Dave Hodge in the background, they are less benevolent than I am with respect to Toskala as they are discussing simply how to get rid of them now whether he should be there at all as they have basically written off his ability play goal in Toronto.

I think the media headlines and supporting articles pretty well tell the tale:

The Star - Ron Wilson, Maple Leafs just not clicking

The Globe & Mail - Pens beat up struggling Leafs

The Sun - Nowhere to go but up

The National – Penguins make short work of winless Leafs

While the outcome was pretty well preordained, nice every once in a while to go see it again why to appreciate the speed of the game and the absolute skill level of the premier players.

I probably should have gone with Jane to watch the Minor Bantam AA squad take on Caledon in a tilt at Oakville arena as apparently this was a very good game ending up as a 1 - 1 tie with both goaltenders making some great saves. One of our Timbits poster kids from way back, who we have watched play for years was the Oakville player who potted the lone goal for the home squad for the tie -- way to go Luke! I'll try to be there for your next game.

Expansion -- as if it wasn't bad enough to have to worry about Phoenix and one ownership/location battle, it looks like the NHL is trying to divide and conquer with rumors surfacing about the intent to place teams back in Québec City and Winnipeg as well as a conversation about expansion into southwestern Ontario -- Hamilton? Wouldn't that just "annoy" Jimmy B. With the quality of play and the financial performance of a number of the current locations, one can only hope that the key word here is transfer and not expansion. However, with the money that can go into the NHL pot with expansion fees you know where they're going.

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Oct 8 - good news and bad news. The good news, is that I get to watch Sid the kid and his crew of Penguin pals live on Saturday night. The bad news, is that I get to watch blank and the crew of Maple Leafs theoretically live on Saturday night. I was hoping that I would at least get a chance to watch the Monster perform feats of valor in the home hemp hot. Unfortunately, scenario number three of my comments from yesterday appears to be the case as she is being put on the DL. Vesa is now by default the main man backed up by Mr. McDonald recalled from the Marlies. If nothing else they have maintained their triple no threat -- no offense, no defense, no goalie. Given that Pittsburgh will hopefully still be smarting from their Phoenix debacle, even with the minor detour through Philadelphia, I could end up watching a football score. Hopefully, my host is not an ardent Leaf fan as that could make for a very painful evening.

Hold groin muscles are never a good thing for our goalie, especially a big guy. With the minor heart  hiccup and now the pulled groin, you have to wonder if the big man is going to be injury prone -- not an uncommon situation for "large" athletes. If Toskala doesn't come around, and the Monster sits on the shelf, the Leafs may have to pin their hopes on the Islanders reject.

Holidays -- I intend to burn another vacation day tomorrow to give me yet another four-day week as well as leading into a four day weekend. While the vacation day is somewhat of a misnomer, as I will likely be spending several hours of it dealing with some wonderful issues that have cropped up, at least it will be at home with my feet up and not having to make a trek to and from the office. I could get used to these four-day weeks and am somewhat concerned about my mindset when I catch up on my holidays and go back to the "normal" five day work week. The worst of it is that I see a number of six or seven day work weeks in the not-too-distant future which will really be an unhappy variance compared to the last little while. I definitely need to win that lottery ASAP to avoid that challenge.

Book review -- as noted I am not a big Bob McKenzie fan, but have expressed an interest in reading his book “Hockey Dad: True Confessions of a (Crazy?) Hockey Parent” it has been receiving fairly positive reviews and for anyone interested in an opinion I have posted the link to one here.

Baseball -- even though the major league baseball playoffs are now in full swing (with the Minnesota Twins taking the something I predicted) it seems that this board has all but disappeared from the local media. Recognizing that Toronto is a hockey town and has all kinds of opportunities to lampoon the current team, has ongoing strife with Argos and some people actually follow the Raptors, it is amazing how quickly the Blue Jays have disappeared from the sports pages, coincident with the departure of J.P. it will be interesting to see or hear what are the next stages are steps in Citogate. There are clearly problems with the team that I am not sure the new whiz kid is ready to deal with.

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Oct 7 – too much to do – too little time. Could not bear to watch my Tigers go down as they inevitably did. At least they managed to establish a number of major league records for futility in doing so. Where is Willy Hernandez when you need him not to mention the bats of Kaline, Colavito and Cash. Having said that I would not give either team much chance against New York having to go from a 12^th inning sudden death 163^rd game to the play-off series on the road the next day.

Monster – only lets in two – 1 on a penalty shot so I would suggest he done pretty good. Where was the rest of the team? No offence = long year and no playoffs.  The way Ottawa played, it was not really like they were up against a powerhouse either. Wait to Saturday when a real team shows up (Sid the Kid and his friends).

Oh Oh – late update says the Monster missed practice this morning with a “sore groin” – Was this a polite way to let him off the hook for the bag skate, a way to pave Toskala back in for Saturday or is he really “tender”? – If the later, it just gets better and better for the Leafs.

Another Case Decided – Jonathan Ro (son of Patrick) pleaded guilty to the assault charge today and received an absolute discharge as sentence – i.e., nothing – no record. Perhaps the $5,000 charity cheque that appeared may have had a bearing on the sentencing outcome, but who’s to say? The good news for Mr. Roy (the younger) is that he will not have a criminal conviction hanging over his head which would limit his travel and career opportunities as a goalie singer in the US. He’s not a goalie now he is a singer! I can see it now, the Singing Goalie – with his mask on, dry ice and a guitar designed like a hockey stick. Move over Gene Autrey.

One settled another crops up. An October 6^thgame in Timmins lead to a Cochrane player allegedly tomahawking a Timmins player near the end of the game. Article. Bantam game – Timmins winning 8 – 0 – tension and tempers run high. Another argument about not running up scores, but regardless – no place for this. Apparently parents of the young whack recipient are pondering assault charges.

Toronto Nationals Minor Midget AAA – GTHL Team of the week! See anyone familiar? No hints.

FHP – Not shaping up to be a good year. I am now tied for LAST under this new scoring system. Obviously I don’t like it. Besides, I have had so much on the go I forgot to get one of my guys in for tonight.

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Oct 6 -- likely a short post this evening as I may actually watch the Battle of Ontario and the next episode of tossing Toskala under the bus. It seems that Wilson has cracked on his security and the indication is that the Monster will be starting in goal this evening. The word is also that the "other guy" is really PO. Way to build team spirit and camaraderie. I wonder what will happen if the big guy gets shelled in the first -- will Wilson try to emulate Mike Keenan and change goalies as often as his forward lines or will he sit back and let the Monster get pasted. Of course they're playing Ottawa so you never know what will happen. The worst of it is I'm not even sure who I would cheer for tonight between these two teams. Anyway, I will likely get past the first period before I have had enough and move on to other things.

GO lottery -- normally, I buy a monthly pass for the GO Train since I take it to and from work just about every day and it makes sense to do that. For October, because of both worked travel plans and planned holidays, I figure on only using about half of my normal monthly trips. Cheapskate that I am I decided to buy 10 ride tickets instead of the pass. The only problem is that with the tickets, you have to punch them before each ride to validate the fare. Otherwise, the GO police could catch you, fine you outrageous amounts of money or throw you in jail. In the three days that I have used the tickets so far up my six trips I have forgotten to punch twice. Forgotten that is until I got to the train and realized that I had not "popped" my ticket. Being the conscientious individual that I am, and not wanting to explain either fines or incarceration at home, both times I walked back down, punch the ticket, and then trudged back up an unbelievable number of stairs to make my train. Apparently this is a new way to get in shape and is much better than Pilates. My goal based on the days so far is to get through the rest of the months without getting nailed. Stay tuned.

Web Oneupmanship -- it seems that unless you reinvent your website under regular basis you are apparently concerned about being left behind. Today's challenge was the revamped Toronto Star website that has now moved all of my sections around in their new format. I had to go hunting to find my morning sudoku which can be a frustrating experience. It seems that just when you get used to where to look for something on any of these sites they decided to scramble them again on you. Prior to the Star, the ABC news site had changed its format not to mention a bunch of others. Maybe I will have to redesign my site to lure back those viewers who have tired of the same old same old. Then again, that sounds like too much work for too little reward so it's not likely to happen.

Benedict Brett -- other than Green Bay throwing the absolute best tailgate parties and attending a game there being one of the all-time to do this on anyone's list, I could really care less about the outcome of the Vikings Packers game. However, I did find it somewhat amusing that the Green Bay fans have tagged their former superstar as Benedict Brett. At least somebody has a sense of humor.

Nice shot -- as a former farm boy with some but very limited experience with milk cows and hand milking versus machine, I have to really give this guy credit. Not only does he have distance, but he has got accuracy. Definitely a fun picture. As background, apparently there is a big to-do over milk pricing in the European common market and this shot was taken in Brussels. The farmers are not happy, and in this scenario I suspect the cows aren't really thrilled either.

 

Baseball -- didn't realize the Tigers game started as early as apparently did as I just flipped on the TV and found we were in the fifth inning. Scary as it sounds my boys are up 3 to 1 so hopefully tuning in won't jinx them. Regardless, whoever wins this game has to play in New York tomorrow so they been set up for a really tough series regardless.

Just to be clear -- I didn't say to watch the battle of the blades, as I would not subject anyone to that punishment. However, I did say please login and vote for Barbara Underhill and Ronald Duguay as I would like to see their charity pickup a pile of dough.

Oh Oh -- bottom of the sixth and it's now three -- two. Put the guy on first with a walk and two out leads to a pitching change brought to you by (fill in the blanks), so it's time to sign off and watch the game.

Go Tigers Go!

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Oct 5 – The 2009/10 hockey season is clearly underway as we went to watch the first two games of the Peewee Red schedule at Oakville arena. It is always fun to watch this age group and the old Oakville barn is a plus. The benches are awful , but I always liked playing there. I think the last time the Peewees played there was when I was coaching Andrew and we had the dreaded Fast Freight conglomerate to contend with. Regardless they were two decent games for season openers and I think gave all the coaches a bit of an eye opener on what they need to work on.

Rule #1 – You can pass faster than you can skate.

Rule #2 – Keep your head up and look!

Rule #3 – Refer to rule #1 and #2

Tough – You play 162 games and it all comes down to 1 game for the chance to go to the dance. I think the baseball tie-breaker has to be one of the toughest situations to face in sports. Poor old Detroit has to be playing the woulda, coulda, shouda game as they look back over their abysmal stretch run and realize 1 win would have avoided the showdown in Minnesota.  They are staggering into an “away” game whereas the Twins have fought their way in on a great finish. You have to think that puts them in the drivers seat but we will see. Maybe Detroit needs to bring Kurt Gibson out of retirement for some heroics. It is also a good reminder that EVERY game counts. For those people who seem to tout that early season games (regardless of sport) don’t matter, my response is – Crap!

Go Tigers Go!

Quick hits for a Monday

Toskala Toast – There is blood in the water and the sharks are circling. It does not matter if he is good, bad or indifferent, Toskala has been judged as lacking and there is no mercy from Leaf fans or media. The line is not if, it is when – how many games?

Blue Jays name “kid” as GM – even though Beeston’s tenure / role is unclear – who is going to run this club? Is the kid a stop gap throw away until they find a real GM – Gillick?

NHL – Goofy schedule – big kick off leading into full slate Saturday then ZERO games Sunday? What’s that all about?

Monday Night NFL – Green Bay and Minnesota – overblown hype – I hope you know who gets you know what! Cheer for the Cheeseheads.

Skating with the Stars – What stars - Who cares – Is it supposed to be a comedy? - Kill it quick unless you can get Domi and my man Probert to duke it out.

Having said that many of you may not know that Barbara Underhill is the spouse of the new MOHA Minor Midget AAA coach Rick Gaetz. Not that that will convince me to watch this silliness but if you want to put a plug in for an Oakville win and help to defeat Ti Domi (as is only fair) then go on line and vote For Ms. Underhill and her skating partner Mr. Duguay (he of the hair).

Ms. Underhill’s charity is the Bloorview Kids Rehab Centre. It would be nice if these guys got lots of dough as it is where my colleague’s son went to rehab while recovering from his serious injury last season. He was on Rick’s Mississauga team. They do great work and deserve the funding.

Under the Did You Know - Canada / Toronto is the birthplace of five pin bowling 100 years ago. It was invented because the 10 pin bowling wimps complained that the balls were to heavy and the game too slow. I can vouch for the too slow part but there is nothing more satisfying to a certain bowler with his personal 76 pound purple Rhino ball than firing that sucker down the alley and creating shockwaves and chaos at the other end. Not necessarily with the pins. You also also haven't lived until you have gone five pin bowling in those small rural south western Ontario towns with warped alleys and the pins on strings - e.g., Molesworth!

Monday Music – With the Highlanders opening for the Leafs I have to go for the pipes. No lyrics just the sweet sound of one of the famous pipe bands – The Drums and Pipes of the Irish Guards, playing a military medley. That ought to either make your head hurt or your toes tap..

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Oct 3 – Injuries will “kill ya” as I am discovering in the pool. Markov – who may have been my top D pick is gone for four months. Drop him faster than a hot potato. The evil new pool structure devised by Andrew uses positioning on categories, not player points to earn UR LOSE. Points. Lasy night I discovered the OR LOSE component and have sunk to third place or as phrased second last and I am not impressed. Meanwhile, Andrew who has not thought up a team name yet, just diabolical pool calculations has moved into first. Could be a long year since despite his talent I don’t think Ovechkin can lead all categories.  Meanwhile my Wings are playing stupid games over in Europe and screwing up their season start simply to appease Missionary Commish. Aaargh.

Resources – I don’t know if anyone cares but I thought it might be nice to share information on where to find “useful” stuff. Of course, that presupposes that visiting my site at all is considered useful. Anyway, I have added a “Resource” page and started putting some “stuff” on it. Feel free to contribute or critique.

Thanks to the pressure – I would like to think it was the pressure put on by yours truly and his infamous blog that cleared the log jam but I suspect I had help. So be it. In the end, happy stories are a good thing and the 64 under privileged kids in Flemingdon Park are now back on track and in fact are likely going to end up with more support and a better program than most simply because among others The Toronto Star and others brought their plight forward. The four team now have 2.5 hours of ice (the bureaucrats juggled and found another ½ hour) and in addition to their earlier support from the police, Don Mills, Tom Pashby Safety Fund and Jump Start, the GTHL is now going to pick up the Hockey Canada registration and insurance tab. I might actually have to say something nice about the “F”! Read the update here.

Baseball – forget the Cito story, I may have to watch some baseball this weekend to cheer my Tigers on to the division title and play-off appearance they appear to be desperately trying to lose. Having been on top since mid May and several times looking like they were going to run away and hide, they have repeatedly staggered back to the pack and are now in very real danger of coughing it up to Minnesota. Only two games up and struggling (smoked yesterday), Detroit is playing a tough White Sox team while the Twins get to feast on the KC doormats. Some Tigers need to step up large to get this over with. They are in charge of their own fate so loosen the collars and WIN! I have cheered for these boys for years – not as avidly lately as baseball has slipped on the radar screen but the old Briggs Stadium has fond memories for me and was the first of now many MLB parks I have been to. Comerica Park is OK but I am not a big fan of that genre of cookie cutter parks. They are too sterile. I love the old fields with their atmosphere. The problem is almost all of them are gone and to me most of the “old” ones are now new – e.g., Chavez Ravine (not a bad park) was one of what I call the first “new” ones and it is now over 40 years old. When I travelled a lot, that is what I tried to do when I flew into town – find a ballpark and see a game to put on my “Been there, Done that” list. I actually hit quite a few and will have to compile a list, recognizing that I will have to go back as a lot of parks are now gone.

It’s Saturday, weekend and time to enjoy so – Poof – I’m gone.

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Oct 2 – Another Friday off as I continue to try to “use” last year’s holidays before I lose them. This was never a problem when I was a “hockey” guy as there were lots of “holiday” days that went into the MOHA – and no I am not complaining. It just got me into a rut where I did not really plan time off and with how busy things have been, the calendar just seems to spin – remember 2009 is over three quarters gone already!

The day off gives me a chance to "blog" early, watch both the Chicago / Florida and Detroit / St. Louis European games - which I hate.

Pool -- with the first game last night, the family hockey pool got off to a roaring start. I hate to admit it but after game one "the champ" my unassuming pool name is only in second place two points behind Jane. Clearly her reign at the top will be short-lived but at least she can say she led the pool once. "The boys" are well back in third and fourth as they should be to respect their elders. Already though I may have a problem as one of my defensive picks was Markov who left the ice with a cot ankle last night in the Leafs game after Price and he tangled after the Leafs power-play goal. Hopefully, it's nothing serious as I am a little light on defensive caliber.

Leafs -- speaking of beliefs who did manage to escape from last night with an overtime loss, in other words they did pick up a point, I don't think I even started to pay any attention to the game when stupid fight number one broke out. If that's any indication of the type of season they're looking for -- good luck and I hope you guys enjoy watching it because I won't be. In the third, they once again managed to grasp a tie from the jaws of victory courtesy of poor neutral zone play and a stupid penalty by one of their new wonder boy acquisitions. Oh well, as some of the fan interviews said it's only the first game.

Caledon Enterprise -  URL I probably spend too much time reading letters to the Editor (as occasionally, I have been known to write them). Just for the heck of it and due to some clear similarities I have posted this one from our colleagues in Caledon so you don’ have to look for it.

Letters – it is the season for these – here is one from Orangeville (Orangeville Banner) on “cutting” costs. Guess what – it involves tax dollars s0 – not going to happen but I would be interested in the two books he is talking about.

Another News piece – Kudos to Brockville Minor Hockey where someone took the initiative (and it is painful as I can vouch from personal experience) to pursue funds and secured a $15,000 grant from the Trillium fund – with only 21 teams and 400 players. What’s it for? Coach Development! Good for them. It is nice to see a positive story from an association this size that clearly supports volunteer development which works back to benefits for the kids. Read it here.

Handshake – PEI reviewing post game practice of handshakes due to H1N1! Guess they don’t have our other concern about post game handshakes and why we do it pregame. Is that at risk?

Cito -- after all the hockey content I'll close off with a baseball comment. Cito Gaston was always praised for his ability to "manage" his players and have a positive clubhouse. I don't know if today's article in the Star has come out of left field (no pun intended) or what, but it looks like Cito has now joined the list of what's wrong with the Blue Jays. I suspect from the office, operational layoffs, underperforming players, no fan support, and now the managers under fire. Another typical Toronto sports environment. Second article jumping into the fray setting the story up as front office propaganda - watch this one. Some folks are fighting for their jobs.

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