Jul 28 -  I meant to try to hit more days this week but blew it yesterday. Too many things going on and to deal with to find the time to sit down and type.

Passwords – along the same lines, an interesting article in today’s Star online about passwords / passcodes that we are inundated with these days. While we try to keep some of them the same, there is no chance. I have not taken the time to try to add up how many different passwords I have or think I have but the number is insane. Most can either be the same or similar but different applications, roles and services have different rules re length and character set that make that impossible. Other situations, like my office have stringent security rules that need longer character strings that need to mix some multiple of numbers, letters and special characters AND are case sensitive AND require forced changes at non aligned intervals that also prohibit you from reusing any password that that you used in the last say 30 changes.  The whole process of trying to remember what was used where is simply not practical so that many people end up keeping their own password lists in a usually readily accessible location (I won’t say where) to help keep track. What a treat if discovered by the identity theft world.  Just for fun, I will work on at least a partial list that is immediately top of mind for me and recognize that I will be forgetting at least some.

• Office – 7 at least – desktop, mainframe, Blackberry, phone mail (2), employee ID, benefit website

• Internet – 17 at least - ISP access, 2 FrontPage Web access, Cogeco main account, 6 email addresses, separate webmail, online game account, Facebook, Ebay, PayPass, YouTube, Twitter,

• Reward Accounts – 6 at least - Aeroplan, Air Miles, Delta, Best Buy, Sobey’s, Canadian Tire

• Card Pins – Two

• Home – 2 at least - Lock code, phone code

• Others – 2 at least - OMHA Forum, Time Share

Quick total – 36!! - And I know I missed a bunch.

Do a quick count on your own!

Another one – there have been a number of deaths recently that you look at and wonder why. One of the groups I have mentioned before in terms of mortgaging their future are pro football players – especially NFL. Another one hit the news today in terms of a very well known player who passed away at 61 – Jack Tatum. Tatum was a Pro bowler and star safety for the Oakland Raiders who is probably unfortunately best remembered for the 1978 preseason “hit” that paralyzed Darryl Stingley of the New England Patriots.

Tatum took pride in and was unapologetic about his physical play or the hit on Stingley – he made his nickname “The Assassin” the hard way – he earned it. Stingley never recovered mobility and passed away in 2007. Jack did not last much longer.

Baseball - I guess there are worse things than being a Jays fan! You could be cheering for Baltimore! They are only 0 - 11 against the mighty Jays this year. Talk about having a teams number.

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Jul 26 – Another beautiful summer day to enjoy. Looking at the calendar though I hope it is not time to start thinking about where the summer has gone - this is the last week of July. Once August 1 arrives, people start looking ahead to both the “back to school” mindset and the what is planned for the fall schedule. I don’t have to worry about the back to school stuff but the fall activities are worth considering.

Canadian Open – I would have to think was a bust except for all the kids and parents flogging illegal parking spots near the course for $40 - $50 a pop. Nice little non taxable windfall. With weir missing the cut, torrential rain on Saturday and a bunch of no-names doing battle on Sunday I suspect the ratings will be abysmal – they were “0” at Chez Moorehead as I never even turned it on and id not know who won until I heard it on the news last night – YAWN! As long as the PGA sticks them in the week after the (British) “Open”, and the top dogs choose to not attend, the once fifth major will have trouble being even a fifth minor. Let’s see how the CPGA spins this one.

In the news:

BP – it looks like the big guy will have to walk the plank based on his performance or lack of it during the “spill”. It is hard to believe that in this day and age a senior executive of his calibre could be so susceptible to the old hoof in mouth disease as to get dumped. Let this be a lesson to you Grasshopper! Looks like he is getting sent to Siberia Russia - Nyet!

No dogs allowed – giving communion – i.e., a wafer to a dog! Not too smart a move here either. I thought priests were talk to respect all that is holy? – Not so much here – apology in place – fall-out to come? For the congregation, Milkbone all around please.

Swordplay – let the kid’s play – pirates and whatever. So what if it is a real sword and a “priceless” one at that. Louis would not be impressed. You have to wonder – how did the kids get it in the first place? Who was minding the exhibit? More heads rolling (get it?)

BrewDog - Beer – I may have to swear off the imported stuff and go domestic in protest. This is sooooo wrong on sooooo many fronts – a $775 bottle of beer. Warning – not for the faint of stomach!

• From Scotland – stick to the hardstuff

• Some of the ingredients – yetch

• Stuffed dead animal bottle – aaarrrgh - where is PETA when you need them.

• Apparently only 12 bottles spoken for – my point would be – Who are the 12 idiots!!

 

BrewDog, an independent Scottish brewery, has unveiled the strongest and most expensive beer in the world -- The End of History -- available now UK. It is 55 percent alcohol and sells for $775 a bottle. The blond Belgian is infused with nettles and juniper berries and served from unique bottles made with stuffed animals dressed in eccentric outfits. Just 12 bespoke bottles have been produced, using seven dead stoats, four squirrels and one hare. (Courtesy BrewDog)

For those of you with less esoteric tastes you can settle for a $150 bottle of Sam Adams. Sam Adams!! - $150??? American Beer from Boston for $150 bucks a bottle – not ruddy likely!

 

Would you pay $150 for a bottle of beer? That's the price tag for Boston Beer Company's Samuel Adams Utopias, shown here in a company barrel room in Boston. The beer, which is 27 percent alcohol by volume, has been compared to fine cognac and sherry and has a "warm, sweet flavor is richly highlighted with hints of vanilla, oak and caramel," according to the company's Web site. (Charles Krupa/AP Photo )

Clearly I have a beer fixation but then again, I don’t get out much anymore and small things amuse me. To demonstrate my bond with the common man, I did buy 18 bottles of MGD on the weekend (and some Guinness) and I think I paid about $1.17 a bottle (not $150 or $775.)

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July 23 – It looks like you will have to use Boolean probability theories to figure out when I post. This week has been “interesting” in terms of activities around my “day job” which has consumed more than its usual hours (not complaining should my fearless leader read this) but it has left me with little time, content or creativity to publish my usual engrossing diatribes. Playing a fast forward, this may be a harbinger of the next while so catch as catch can. This week of posting became Monday and Friday whether I need it or not!

Besides that, one has to fulfill one’s grandfatherly duties so Jane and I were off to visit young Benjamin tonight. Here is a quick shot from Shaun’s deck of the old geezer and the new kid in town. Who is watching who?

Flood – expect to see some law suits directed at the TTC and the city of Toronto based on this morning’s swimming lesson. Sure it rained this morning, but as I wandered in my morning stupor through the Union Station Go concourse en route to the Union Station Subway Station, I ran into a back-up at the entrance to the steps going into the Subway station. Water had pooled there, probably up to an inch deep and was actually running down the steps into the station. Water on these floors makes them slippery and I saw one woman do the “water slide” impression down the steps as she entered. Fortunately I don’t think she was hurt (luckily) but I also found out a work colleague fell “twice” and who knows how many others and, or if anyone got hurt. Makes no sense for that water to have been there in the first place!

Canadian Open – Not a “Weir” day and or event – two under after through 11, bogey 4 of last seven, two over, ten back, pack up, go home, too bad! St. George is supposed to be a tough old traditional course – what’s with the ten under. Supposedly also the greens can be next to impossible to play, So, despite the rain softening them up to “stick” approach shots, look for some brutal pin placements to push the scores up. Then listen to the players complain.

New Flash – Blue Jays being mauled by Tigers. PETA upset – Wayne happy – go for sweep.

Black – out of jail – makes no sense, his obstruction charge that lead to the base sentence was not infringed by the other interpretation issue so why let him out. Maybe this is a teaser. They let him out on bail for a taste of “freedom” and then toss him back in and say no time off for good behaviour because you challenged us so serve the full six and a half. By the way, is he still a Lord and is he a citizen anywhere anymore as Canada says he can’t get in, I think he has an expired Brit passport and he’s not U.S.??

Oldies BUT Goodies – In the last while when I finally get home and just want a bit of “veg” opportunity, I have plopped down, flipped on the idiot box and reverted to an old pastime of watching some mouldy oldy movies. Typically they are on the Movie Channel or On Demand (fr4ee if you have the package) so there are none of those interminable commercial interruptions that have the same cluster break after break, or even the same spot running twice in the same cluster – some AOR media buying hack buying upweight to deliver a GRP plan to a client with total disregard for flighting – but that is another story.

In the last little while, my two favourites have been “Lawrence of Arabia” which I really don’t remember having watched before and Casablanca which I have seen several times. Some of these flicks are classic entertainment that have stood the test of time very well and others – not so much. Part of this activity on my part may be that in my (not so) humble opinion, there really is not much if any new stuff on TV worth watching even if I had the time. If it were not for the sports broadcasts, I would be tempted to dump my cable and simply download (probably illegally) anything I really wanted to watch – Hmmmmmm.

The Pinery – I may have mentioned the fun I have had camping and so forth at Ontario’s provincial parks and that The Pinery (dunes side) was my personal favourite. It seems however that so called progress spares no one as evidenced by today’s article indicating that the brain trust is going to “test” WiFi in provincial parks with The Pinery being the initial sacrifice. I am as addicted (if not more so) to connectivity as the next guy but I would hope even I draw a limit. If you are going “camping” in a provincial park, I would hope you don’t have to entertain yourself with dry instead of wet surfing. If you are that desperate to “stay in touch” bring your Crackberry or whatever flavour of Smartphone you carry.  And before everyone pokes a finger at me for being hypocritical – yes – I take my notebook with me on vacation BUT those have not been “wilderness” camping trips they have been a full feature “resorts”  and NOT to work (usually).

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Jul 19 – Other than the bumpf below it is a "picture day".

Oh- Oh, Where did they go? - As we approach the opening of the 16 Mile Creek sports facility, it is interesting to note a recent article from The London Free Press. London is a pretty progressive sports city, home of the successful London Knights (which should promote minor hockey) and a great destination for minor hockey tournaments with their Western Fair complex. They seem to have their “S___t” together,

Interestingly, the article notes (among other things) that boys hockey registration is declining and that London has put on hold a $30 million plan to add another quad. Is this a harbinger of things to come locally? Here is the link, but for those of you too lazy to check it all out, here are some of their sport registration comparisons – 2007 versus 2002.

SPORTS BY THE NUMBERS – By Norman De Bono The London Free Press

• 6,515 The number of players registered in minor hockey in London in 2007, down from 7,200 in 2000.

• 1,451 The number of figure skaters in 2007, down from 1,615 in 2000.

• 3,500 The number of baseball and softball players in 2008, down from 4,141 in 2000.

• 13,773 The number of soccer players in 2009, a slight increase from 13,396 in 2000.

• 1,045 The number of girls’ hockey and ringette players in 2007, up from 689 in 2000.

By the way, I believe that the population of London has continued to grow in the meantime. In MOHA (as I was there at the time), the numbers continued to grow for this period. What is the current story?

Cost Comparison – Just another tidbit to add to the cost awareness for volunteers in youth sport. My last Oakville number was that volunteers were being charged $15 a pop (or mom) for criminal records checks. Some areas – like Guelph got them free. Apparently no more as their Police services board has now voted for a $10 fee which of course has not been received well by the local association. Interesting note in the article is that Guelph police charge $33.90 for the same check for employment purposes. At the risk of setting myself up for some unwanted and unwarranted local police coverage, you might do the math and note that our “paid” police service folks pick up around $15,000 a year from MOHA volunteers alone! That buys a lot of doughnuts! It should be free or the association could pay a nominal service fee “honourarium” to the local boys and girls in blue to cover this. Take it out of the fee increases that are in the jacked up registration. By the way, this is not just a minor hockey issue – read the article.

Like father – like son – like grandson – an update pic from Baby Benjamin world – roughly two weeks old. You have to learn to relax early and take the lead from the old man!

 

NASCAR – Canada version as I went down and walked around in the heat and noise to just see what things were like. This was on Saturday with the Canadian Tire NASCAR Series and it was the local event in support of Canadian Tire Jump Start – and no, our car did not win.

I really just wanted to get some camera practice so I stayed to watch the race. It was sort of watch cars zoom by, wait, watch cars zoom by, wait . . . you get the picture!

Anyway, reduced images of two shots (try and get anywhere close to a good shooting angle without press credentials and just roaming around on General Admission!

When boys behave.

 

When they don’t! (can I enter somewhere for a prize - preferably money!)

I got several shots here that showed the sequence of an interesting chain reaction. Number 47 got whacked several times as you can see as he was towed into the Direct Energy Centre pit garage area.

 

Kind of an interesting day with some great looking scenery and the cars weren’t bad either!

Here is our Canadian Tire Car - relatively unscathed. I just found out the driver is from "Milverton" - Milver What? which is where I went to high school - possibly at the same time as his mother??

Have to work on the camera deal though. Even as only 600 pixel wide shots these are still 100 k as I am starting from a raw file that is 12 Meg! Great detail and colour. I took lots of shots – filled more than one 2 gig SD card. Anyone want a car picture (through the stupid fence).

Just thought - added the whole sequence as an album on my Facebook "wall".

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Jul 16 - it would seem that I currently have a much better record for consecutive barbecue evenings than I do for managing to post anything. Under the current summer training regimen, after a hard day at the office, I am supposed to beg my butt into the house, start the barbecue, get changed, cook dinner, eat and then do whatever. After barbecuing in the 100+ degree heat, the whatever turns into not a lot of energy. Of course, when I consider my menu will allow seven days and it includes two steak dinners, barbecued pork chops, barbecued him stay, and barbecue homemade hamburgers is hard to complain. When you add that to fresh vegetables -- corn, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers and the daily from the roadside vendors or market gardeners it makes it even harder to complain and makes for really great food. Not sure this is covered in any diet plan so so much for trying to slim down for the summer.

Photos -- as a quick update to my ongoing printer saga, I have now managed to print off reasonable quality photo using the standard HP color and black ink cartridges. Turns out that at least some of my problem was based on using the leftover paper from the Kodak printer that used a film cartridge to produce color results. I guess they think had no intention of sticking to the other paper -- who would have thought. It's not just a brand name thing either, as I used some sample Canon paper and not Hewlett-Packard paper to create the prints. So much for thinking that photo paper is photo paper. Having said that, my super deluxe photo ink cartridge is still a dud. Trying it, even with the Canon paper still created some type of Impressionist art instead of a photo. Maybe because I just switched cartridges and didn't do the full shut everything down and start up again trick is why I had the problem. At any rate, I may try again with a full reboot and see if it makes any difference. As a last resort, I actually have a box of Hewlett-Packard printer paper that I may break out and see if that works when all else fails. Failing that, I have a nice round file ready to collect wonder cartridge.

Propeller heads abound -- either that or a very precocious grandson. On checking my e-mail today, I find that I have a friend request from Benjamin Moorehead to be his friend on Facebook. Not bad for a kid that's less than two weeks old. Of course I accepted. Clearly, certain individuals in number one son's household either do not have enough to do, which I find surprising, or they are starting to crack. I know they had already set up an e-mail account for him, so I shouldn't be surprised that Facebook has made an appearance as well.

Toronto Indy - I have two tickets for Saturday's activities at the Toronto Molson Indy -- if it is still called the Molson Indy which I don't think it is. Given that Andrew is a big gimpy from his tubing silliness, the is not inclined to head down with all the walking involved so just for the heck of it, I may go down tomorrow to punish my ear drums and play with my camera -- maybe I will get some interesting shots. Speaking of which, I noticed that Oakville Place is running a photo contest for pictures around the theme of My Oakville. Prizes include a number $1,000 gift cards for Oakville Place so it is actually quite a big deal. Photos for these type of contest usually happen in one of two ways. Either you spend an awful lot of time taking an awful lot of pictures trying to get one that is "appealing" or you get real lucky. I would much prefer the real lucky approach so if anyone has any brilliant ideas for where I can snap a quick but brilliant and arresting picture let me know. I might even share the gift card. I wonder if I could fool people into thinking that shots taken at the Toronto Indy were actually in Oakville?

Pam -- once again it seems I have a nose for news. Pamela Anderson and her PETA friends don't seem to be going away as both the controversial "meat" ad and the comments around the Calgary stampede have kept them in the news and in fact are picking up additional coverage. I might suggest that good old Pamela is getting a bit long in the tooth to play at this game.

On a related topic -- does anyone other than me think is inappropriate for the guys at Penthouse to be challenging Hugh Hefner in his bid to essentially buy back outstanding portion of Playboy magazine. From the initial 1950s centerfold of Marilyn Monroe through all the years prior to and after inception of Penthouse magazine Playboy has always been an iconic publication. Theoretically, it was the "classy" men's magazine (that people actually did read for the articles) versus Penthouse under Larry's direction it had been entirely different show we say “reputation”. Not having" read" either for an extended period, or at least be willing to admit to it, it would be too bad to see the bunny gobbled up by the wolf.

Leafs -- add another "who". If nothing else, you have to say that Brian Burke’s strategy is both interesting and controversial. Since it appears that with the exception of Kessel, his rebuilding strategy seems to be to find someone that has not demonstrated major talent somewhere else or is in effect a complete unknown to the NHL world. The signing of Marcel Mueller from the Cologne Sharks of the German Elite League is another classic case in point which people will look back on and say that either he was completely nuts, or brilliant. Take your pick. Based on the team's performance this year I think the former is more predictable than the latter.

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Jul 14 -- July is turning out to be a difficult blogging month. Work is busy, Home is busy, BBQing shortens my evenings last night was a SportOakville board meeting and then I have things like the following that annoy the heck out of me!

Under the category of "I am an idiot", I have had some fun over the last couple of days with my equipment -- printing equipment that is. It seems that as part of my grandfatherly duties and in keeping with my photography interest, I am supposed to provide pictures for one and all. In today's day and age, digital pictures are all the rage with Facebook, MySpace, and a variety of other Web sharing opportunities not to mention the fun of stuffing everyone's mailboxes by sending mega sized images to them. However, that doesn't let you play the carry it around, pass it around and comment on it game. You need real pictures for that.

Among the 47 printers that I think are scattered around my house, I have used a small Kodak printer dock for a number of years to charge one of my point-and-shoot cameras and print 4 x 6 images. I had stocked up on some cartridges for it and on the last one it seems that the printer gave up the ghost and secured for itself a prime location in my garbage can. Not overly concerned, as stashed in the cupboard was a brand-new and improved version of this type of photo printer -- a Kodak G. 600. I got it out, updated my EasyShare software (which turned out to be a challenge and should have been my warning) and loaded the printer cartridge that came with it. As I printed my first picture the all-knowing driver, which was too smart for its own good, identified for me that I was printing one of five available prints as the cartridge shipped with the printer was essentially a sample cartridge to get you started and to encourage you to buy more. Not a big deal until I went online to try to find where I could pick up additional cartridges and who was the cheapest. Did I mention that this printer was one of those "deals" that I snagged at one of my Canadian Tire sample sales? Turns out that this printer is long discontinued, no surprise, and that replacement cartridges for it are almost impossible to find. Where they are potentially available they are through mail order online, from firms that I have never used, with names that don't resonate with credibility. The one source I did find -- Amazon.ca -- indicated they only had one left but would be getting others soon?

Not willing to play that game, at least until I got desperate, I decided to pick up cartridges for another of my printers an HP C.4280 (another sample sale bargain) which in addition to its all-in-one capabilities offers special cartridges and capability for better photo printing. Given that I have not used it in a while, I had no ink cartridges for it, so last night we went out and picked up a high-capacity black cartridge and the special "photo printing" cartridge. I didn't get the normal tricolor cartridge as well since I presumed the special photo printing cartridge would work with the black ink cartridge for pictures.

Wrong! As I discovered when inserting the cartridges into their holders and of course received an error message for an incompatible cartridge, it turns out that you need the tricolor cartridge and the special photo printing cartridge to print color photos. Stuck again until I go out and buy another cartridge, this time the tricolor, color cartridge. Technology is a wonderful thing.

Two days later, 3 printers later, a special ink cartridge trip and several hours practicing profanity still leaves me with no pictures. And they wonder why I'm grumpy!

Steinbrenner -- love him or hate him, he brought excitement to the game. Before failing health forced him to the sidelines several years ago, you never knew what crazy George was going to pull off next. He almost single-handedly brought big bucks baseball to the game by spending whatever it took to bring whoever he wanted to his beloved Yankees. Having an astronomical TV contract and almost a license to print money in the Big Apple you could do what he wanted, say what he wanted and get what he wanted because nobody could really take them on. And he loved it. How many people do you know that get written into a top-rated sitcom -- as themselves -- and apparently get a big kick out of it as George did with the Jerry Seinfeld show?

As a born and bred Yankee hater, his actions used to drive me insane because in many cases they defied all logic. How can you describe a man, or a situation where for the same team he hires, and then fires the same manager five times. Not once or twice or three times or four times but five times. Of course, he had met his match with Billy Martin, no shirking violet himself, who at the end of it was still friends with the guy who showed him the door five times.

There are names that it remembered in every sport for various reasons, George will be one of those for baseball.

Under the hard to believe banner -- it seems an ad for PETA is too risqué for Montréal as the city has refused an event permit for good old Pamela Sue the former Baywatch babe and company to launch their vegetarian campaign. Having lived in Montréal or several years and not willing to risk explaining myself any further, I find this not only hard to believe but laughable. Visit the wonderful city, take a walk down Crescent Street (or at least I've heard) and draw your own conclusion. (And she is NOT wearing a tie).

Here's a picture of the lead ad for that campaign and a link to the article. I actually think it's a pretty good at if you look at it in the context of the group involved, the objective of the campaign, and how it is being presented.

MS Office 2010 - so far so good. I have taken a Microsoft Access database that I was using in 2010 and being able to access, no pun intended, the file and work on it in the earlier 2007 version. Hopefully these transportability results reflect across all applications.

Blog Fans - I hear that certain people from Speers Road, or at least when it's open, continue to be avid readers of this humble scribes drivel. Comments filter back to me from a variety of sources that if nothing else make me chuckle and encourage me to continue lobbying the occasional grenade. Stay tuned.

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July 12 - Monday of what promises to be a busy week. Not sure how long this blog posting will be as it seems we have plans for games night on the back deck. I also don't have any sand to kick in the face of the local hockey folks so anyone looking for that can skip to another topic. Besides, it's no fun kicking somebody when they're down, check that, it actually is.

Microsoft Office Professional 2010 -- I bit the bullet over the weekend and installed my 2010 software. So far it has gone unbelievably smoothly, which suggests I'm probably due for a major meltdown. My Dragon naturally speaking software has kicked up cleanly first time around with the new version of Microsoft Word and actually seems to be working better than it did on the prior version. Maybe it is my imagination or the training that these programs go through is kicking in. Regardless, it is a heck of a lot faster although questionably not necessarily more accurate than my typing. As far as the office programs go, the interfaces seem to be a little prettier and there is clearly stronger tie-in with web applications and the use of SharePoint but other than that I haven't had an opportunity to begin to the guts of any of them and find them where all the hidden benefits lie. I also haven't checked to see if the 2010 files that are created are backward compatible without adjustment 2007 version.

I do know that Microsoft Access transparently opens prior files as I was doing some work with the SportOakville database I have for membership. If there's anywhere that you are going to run into some interesting challenges with your work it is during database upgrades where you usually have to learn new programming. So far I haven't dug into this one yet and I am not necessarily looking forward to it. However, so far my $11 purchase looks pretty good. We will see if that changes once they get into some of these programs a little farther.

Government Surplus -- I have a new entertainment pastime. I have registered as a bidder on the Government surplus auction site where every week there are a number of auction items up for bids. Usually, in the Ontario region, separate from the capital region and other provinces, there are about 100 to 130 different items up for auction each week. Items can be anything from a single beat up two drawer file cabinet that probably sells for five bucks, if anybody is dumb enough to bid on it, through to complete airplanes that are being sold for parts. Buried between those extremes you can get everything from furniture lots to computers (almost always with the hard drives removed) to seized jewelry and DVDs, vehicles, photo equipment, forklifts, used military gear, carpets and you name it. I'm not sure I really need any of these items and so far have been unsuccessful in my bids because I am basically trying to "steal" an item or items that I might actually have some use for. At the risk of creating some bidding competition, here is the link to the site in case anyone wants to check it out. It really is amazing what some of the items go for, both on the low and high side. Once bidding is closed on an item, you can go in and see what it was sold for, and if you bid on it, it will reference your bid relative to the winning bid. I bid on two items last week, a brand-new HP notebook -- without hard drive -- with a minimum bid on it of $125. Cheapo that I am, I bid around $150, figure around another $100 to buy a replacement hard drive for a notebook that likely retailed for around $1,000. It actually sold for $300 which could be a good deal, but, there is absolutely no warranty on any of this stuff. The other item I bid on was a lot of "office furniture" that included a wooden high boy two drawer lateral file with a two door bookcase on top, as well as a smaller wooden bookcase, 5 two drawer metal lateral files, a five drawer lateral file and some other cabinets. I feared they would be ideal storage units for my basement workshop and I probably blew the bid on this one. The minimum bid was $40 and since I figured no one would really be that interested in a lot of furniture like this, I bid $60 and it went for $110. I should have bid higher on this one because it would have been a good deal. However, if you watch this site for a while you can get somewhat of an appreciation of what various types of items might go for and decide whether you're interested in trying for it or not. If I get lucky on some of these items, I may have to start a used whatever store out of my garage. What else am I going to do with 30 travel bags and 10 marine lanterns.

Close call -- while it doesn't seem to make much of an impression with media, number two son indicates that they had quite a situation in Brampton this weekend at their cancer charity softball tournament. Apparently, on Saturday a funnel cloud went through by the Powerade center and as Andrew says lifted one guy 30 feet in the air (allow for exaggeration) and more importantly tore the beer tent off its moorings and tossed it around. With all the ballplayers around, several fire engines, police vehicles and ambulances showed up to deal with any potential injuries or situations. I would have thought more of this would have shown up on the news, but I guess there were too many gunfights, stabbings and road wrecks in the GTA that provided a better story and visible mayhem, since no one was seriously hurt in Brampton. Sounds like they were very lucky.

Remembering it’s Orangemen’s Day, I I will repeat a previous post!.

Some good old Irish blarney:

“May the curse of Mary Malone and her nine blind illegitimate children chase you so far over the hills of Damnation that the Lord himself can't find you with a telescope”.

Or on an equal opportunity more positive note:

“Wherever you go and whatever you do,
May the luck of the Irish be there with you”.

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Jul 8 9  – I started this yesterday but reality got in the way of best intentions and whatever – so yesterday was another glorious hot day so that we could extol the virtues of air conditioning and watch the dial spin inflating our utility bills. Today – not so much. I ran the guntlet of raindrops this morning as we got quite a bit of liquid sunshine early on. Supposedly it will be clearing off for a great weekend – I hope so.

Maple Leaf prospects – already an oxymoron expression, these guys are working to improve their shots. A laudable objective one may think at first glance, until a closer look shows it is on the firing range – not the ice.

 

Maple Leafs prospects are put through an exercise on the firing range during the Toronto Maple Leafs Prospect Leadership Camp at the Ontario Provincial Police headquarters in Orillia on Wednesday, July 7.

FOR THE TORONTO STAR/YVONNE BERG

This activity sets up so many easy “shots” it is tough to “miss” or resist:

• Is this the only way they can defeat an opponent?

• Is this for protection against fans who want a hockey team?

• Is this to show you can be good for something?

• Are they practicing for an alternate career?

Added Indignation – Again The Star is taking a run at amateur sport coaches in general and minor hockey specifically “Out-of-control amateur coaches mentally abuse players” reads the catchy headline, followed by a lovely subhead “Direct or indirect abuse occurs in about 40 per cent of youth hockey, baseball and football games, researchers say”.

“Holy Smokes” – 40% of the games include abuse! Here we go again. I honestly don’t know where to start on this one. Clearly there are some folks coaching or coaching with a style that is inappropriate. But people are playing head games here that are just not right.

First of all, “abuse” is a serious word and if my recollection is correct, an individual who witnesses or has reason to believe that there is abusive behaviour directed towards a minor, then they (I think) are legally obligated to report the offense to either the police or Childrens' Aid / Social services. Were all or ANY of these “abuse” cases reported as required, and if not why not? That would be an awful lot of investigating going on!

Second, in the fact finding presented here, let’s consider the source and nature of the data. As someone who used to earn a living as a professional market researcher, let me tell you that you can make numbers sing and dance and tell any story you want. Especially if those numbers are collected from a source of not one, but two obviously biased parties.

I am sure JustPlay is a very worthy organization with laudable goals of improving the environment for sports. But using their data, collected from their current clients to demonstrate the existence of a problem that they provide a service to solve smacks of partiality and bias.

The JustPlay data is collected from reports filled out by officials after each game played in hockey, soccer, basketball, football and baseball leagues across the country who hire the company to monitor critical incidents.

Second, the “deciders” of the critical incidents to report are the officials participating in the event. One might suggest that their interest is in writing up everyone but themselves as a problem. I did not see one official identified as a problem in any of the material I have seen to date. It must be wonderful that they are all so perfect.

Then, to fill out the article, tug on the heart strings and add a flavour of credibility, the article cites one GTHL hockey example and throws in the obligatory photo.

So, while I obviously share a different view I would contend that:

• The “facts” are wrong

• The “problem” is misrepresented and presented in a biased light

• The material has not been reviewed or checked for any level of reasonableness and

• A good paper should be more responsible than this!

• But – who cares about the solid efforts of thousands of volunteers!

40% Abuse – “CRAP” – let’s sell papers!

It's interesting that all of these "negative" articles are coming from the same source?

It’s weekend – Number 2 son is in the big charity overnight/weekend tournament in Brampton (if his injured ankle – “tubing” – allows the gimp to play). Number 1 son is his back-up so we may go see some ballgames – Again.

Fun – WOW!

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Jul 7 - As per Herman's Hermits (for those who remember) "No Milk Blog today, my love content has gone away". Besides, I have to BBQ my dinner in the heat and all anyone is interested in these days is WC Soccer (everyone but me).

I could comment on the asinine behaviour of Mr. GG suggesting the Queen should not stay in her own house (Rideau Hall) while she was in Ottawa - but I won't.

I could comment on Spain beating favoured Germany 1-0 (yawn) - but I won't.

I could comment on Bosh leaving the heat for the Heat - but I won't.

I could comment on the self indulgent egomania of Lebron needing a live TV show to announce his plans - but I won't.

I think I will just go and BBQ instead.

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Jul 6 – It is not bad enough that the mosquitoes are out and that it was SRO on my train, but then someone had to remind me that the temperatures reported and predicted are taken IN THE SHADE! If you are out in the sun, it can be 6 to 8 degrees hotter which would put today’s sunshine over 40 not considering the humid X – 50 anyone?

Probert – dead at 45. We are seeing too many of these stories about pro athletes who get nowhere near the 3 score and 10 or more. Football interior linesmen are one of the highest risk groups but other cases in other sports and other positions come up often as well. Probert being a case in point. As an “enforcer” he lead a tough life on the ice and his off ice challenges have been well documented. I guess part of the morale of this story is that the next time we are all grousing about certain people’s fabulous salaries we may also want to consider some of the inherent potential trade-offs they are making – would you make this deal?

A Kodak Moment – and another and another . . . Planned to zip into the www.kodakgallery.ca website last night and order a test batch of prints (reference yesterday’s blog). I planned to have them shipped for pick-up at my local Best Buy (no shipping and handling – cheap me) to see how it worked. However, when I got to the shipping instructions there was no option on screen to do this, the only option was to ship via mail to me. Not in the plan. Kodak’s 1-800 Help is on the left coast so I managed to get on line with them after navigating a very annoying prompt system artfully designed to send you off somewhere else rather than talk to a live one. Buddy did not believe I did not have that option on my screen as he swore it existed – even in Canada. After about six breaks where I was asked to hold (probably so he could refer to several manuals) it all came down to clearing history (even though I had never been on the site before) and deleting my cookies – i.e., the computer version of the colloquial “tossing you cookies” was all it took. Let that be a lesson. As soon as I “tossed my cookies” the option magically appeared on the screen and I was good to go. Unfortunately by then I had lost interest for the day and packed it in. Isn’t technology wonderful!

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Jul 5 – It seems that summer has officially arrived if heat is any indicator. Like the wimp that I am, I stayed inside most of the weekend to take advantage of the air conditioning and to avoid being lobsterized. I made the mistake at lunch of heading out for a walk as I needed to pick up something at Future Shop and it was “hot”. The wind and the weather also suggest we could be prime candidates for some vicious thunderstorms so that will bear watching.

To dare or not to dare – like many companies, CT has a HUP (Home Use Purchase) agreement with Microsoft that allows us to purchase some of their products for “ridiculous” prices – e.g., I downloaded the MS Office Professional 2010 for $11. Add another $11 for Visio 2010 Premium and free versions of the Outlook Business Contact Manager and MS Communicator and I have a whack of software sitting ready to go for $22. The question is whether or not to press the “install” button.

• What is the learning curve to go from 2007 to 2010?

• Are there a bunch of “bugs”?

• Are there backward compatibility or sharing issues with folks on prior versions – that can be a horror show?

• Can one back out to an older version without even more problems?

• Do the new working files suffer from even more file “bloat” than 2007?

• Do I really need or will I ever use all these new, wonderful features – e.g., the web sharing and collaboration?

Short answer – I am a “Geek” – I have to do it! Stay tuned for the results.

Filler - From the apropos of nothing department:

• What did the Queen get in the little black bag from the little old lady gate crasher?

• Why would a million people go stand in the hot sun to watch whatever the proper name is – Gay Pride Parade?

• Is anyone still watching WC Soccer now that the local ethnic favourites have been eliminated?

• Apparently GO Trains can’t GO as fast on hot days – got an email at the office today suggesting delas of up to 10 minutes – I thought great! – this will be faster than usual.

• Customer Service – sorry we are closed for the month of July – and I thought only teachers had cushy jobs.

Kodak Moment - I am now under strict instructions to get some photos printed. Since most "home" printers either do a so so job or blow mega bucks on photo grade ink and take forever, I am going to try out the Kodak Photo Gallery service. You upload your shots in .jpg format (up to 25 meg per shot so you should have no resolution issues on reasonable size prints and in 4 - 9 bus days you pick up your order (no shipping and handling) at a local "store". In my case likely Future Shop or Best Buy. You pay on line and it sounds reasonable - e.g., a single 5 X 7 = $0.99. AND I get 20 free 4 X 6 prints just for signing up. Worth a shot! I will let you know how it goes.

Posted on the first - off until the fifth - looks like July is going to be a hit or miss (mostly miss) month. Glad to see I am not likely unique on this front. So, it will be catch as catch can.

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Jul 1 – Welcome to a new month, the second half of the year and shortening days! Most of you no doubt are enjoying a day of leisure, many have probably stretched it out to lead into a four day weekend and I am working.

Lemmings – Good to see that all of you lined up as predicted to save the incremental HST component of 8 cents on your next tank of gas. Just for perspective 8 cents on a 40 litre fill = $3.20 so based on the value of your time and how long it took it may or may not have been a rational decision. From what I saw last night on a little tour, everyone was lined up everywhere and so a bunch of stations were “sucked dry” – including some of my own. As per usual, exact numbers are confidential info that I will not reveal to protect the innocent (and my job). However, I am sure that at CT we did a much better job of staying in stock and serving our customers than anyone else.  We are just like that.

Today is also a big day as we opened the fuel component of 6 locations along the 401 corridor from Bainsville in the East (just at the Quebec border – was there Tuesday) to Tilbury in the West (just outside Windsor – I was there last week). A hectic project, an exciting time for us, so go out, check them out and buy gas (or diesel) lots of it! More to come.

Benjamin – it was nice to get back and get a chance to go visit my grandson! They even let me hold him without any protective equipment – not necessarily a bright move but how is that for a show of family trust. Going to take a while to get used to calling Benjamin that. But more importantly, I have to start work on considering his pro career. Every outstanding “memorable” athlete has to have that catchy handle – the “nickname” – Geordie “Mr. Hockey” or “Elbows” Howe, George “The Chief” Armstrong, Dave “Cement Head” Semenko, Elmer “Moose” Vasko, Jim “Catfish” Hunter, George Herman “Babe” Ruth and on and on  – you see what I mean. Now Shaun and Becky did a great job naming Benjamin Andrew Moorehead as that sets up at least a couple of easy handles right of the bat. B. A. M. - “Bam Bam” Moorehead – What a handle for a stalwart blueliner and great homage to Barney and Betty’s precocious little guy from the Flintstones. Or how about “Bad A__” Moorehead as a take from B. A. Baracus (I think that was Mr. T’s moniker in the A Team). “Bad A__” would strike terror in the hearts of the opposition in any sport – even soccer!

Having said that, I think I will have to hope Shaun and Becky (especially Becky – you don’t want Moms mad at you) don’t read this as I could be in a lot of trouble on the “naming” front.

Speaking of trouble – I hear there is trouble brewing on Speers Road on the “structural” front. No one wants to say much, but it is clear that the under currents are at work and have undertow if not tsunami potential. Have to work on more scoop for this one whether reported or not. Organization Dynamics or “OD” as we called it at school in the olden days is a very interesting topic or process to watch. Separately, from the good news front, if the word on the street is that at least some waiting list goalies are being accommodated that is a good thing. Hopefully it is more not less and spreads to all age groups.

By the way guys – change your board of directors headline – the year coming up for this board is 2010 / 11, not 2009 / 10. Details, details, details.

GTHL – you cut my kid – I want $25,000! Give me a break! I am the first one to fire a shot at the poor old “money grabbing” GTHL structure but they get a pass on this one and I hammer the apparently “foolish” parents (I would use a different word but as a responsible grandfather, I am now more leery of lawsuits). Presuming that the cuts had at least some semblance of fairness (I know that is a big presumption) people have to learn to ground themselves in some sense of reality.

• You don’t always get what you want (nice song)

• You don’t always get what you deserve (good or bad)

• Things are not going to be handed to you all your life (surprise)

• Life tries to teach lessons that are out of your control (get used to that)

I hope the law has enough sense to bounce this one real quick, or that counsel can make the point (rather than running up billable hours) to their clients and that this goes away real quick. I also hope The Star which seems to love this story a) covers the “dump” equally well and b) finds something positive to print about minor hockey for a change.

Today is supposed to be a holiday – enough of this!

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Jun 28 – We interrupt our regular blogging to bring you this important news bulletin.

At 11:06 AM this morning, Benjamin Andrew Moorehead was selected as a first round draft pick and first overall to join the Moorehead team. Clocking in at a hefty 9 lb 3 oz and stretching the tape to 23+ inches, Benjamin is destined to be the franchise player in the fledgling Moorehead Hockey Dynasty.

Proud Agents parents Shaun and Becky are already looking forward to Benjamin’s career and I understand have already got an email setup for him (why am I not surprised!) to entertain competitive offers.

If you have not figured it out yet, this makes Jane and I very proud grandparents which is a concept that I not sure yours truly has really adjusted to. Aren’t grandparents those crotchety old grumps – Hmmmmmmm. . .

Anyway, a page turns to start another chapter in our lives – lots of fun and excitement ahead.

Presenting an 8 hour old Mr. Benjamin Andrew Moorehead the First.

 

More mundane leftovers:

G8/G20 - At least the G8/G20 is now over and Toronto can now get back to business as usual. I tried not to pay any attention to the “stuff” going on over the week-end as I found the, politely termed, “unrest” absolutely disgraceful and disgusting. I am not refereeing to the early “peaceful” protests parades which while somewhat pointless were a demonstration of an individual’s right to freedom of expression. No big deal. It is the other riff raff, variously referred to as ruffians, protest terrorists, idiots, vandals, hooligans, criminals, delinquents, etc… All of which and more I agree with.

Coming out of this fiasco I hope:

• Folks cut the law enforcement personnel some slack as my impression is that they showed admirable restraint under very difficult circumstances – how would you like a bag of urine tossed in your face!

• That they throw the book at the “individuals” identified and charged with various actions as it is clear that most of these were pre-planned, wilful acts of senseless destruction. A criminal record is just what these clowns need if they don’t already have one.

• That the video footage that is available in large quantities is used to help identify and bring charges against folks that have so far dodged detection.

• That the so called “innocent bystanders” who managed to get themselves arrested get at least fined some amount for being “stupid”. These protests were not staged as a means of entertaining folks over the week-end, especially after the police appealed to people to “stay away”.

• That all identified offenders are fined an amount commensurate with the damage that they caused and related expenses and that these funds are used to reimburse the homeowners, merchants, and businesses that were trashed since apparently even though the government is willing to spend over a billion dollars to host they don’t have dime 1 for these guys.

• As a corollary, either deny bail or set bail high enough to cover “fines” should they choose to disappear. People want the rule of law – enjoy it!

On the Road Again – out until July 1 – a holiday? Not for some this year so you may hear from me on Facebook before then but not here!

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