Hidden Pugmarks

I can’t wait until Holly finally gets here. It feels like I never sleep when she isn’t around. I just sit up all night watching tv or playing games. Waiting to feel even the tiniest little bit sleepy.

Over the last month I’ve had far too many nights where I haven’t gone to sleep until after 2am. Then in what feels like seconds the alarm starts ringing at 7am to wake me up. At which point I generally argue with it for an hour or two. Mentally playing the game of what “What can I skip in my morning routine to get five more minutes of sleep?”

Last night was game night aka friendly fire friday and I was up until after 2am again. Then I had to get up at 7:30am to be out the door by 8am to venture off and try and get my driver’s license exchanged for a local one. Unfortunatley when I got there (30 minute drive away) it turns out they had decided that they wouldn’t be open on this Saturday unlike every other Saturday.

I have to tell you. That right there; is a feeling that sucks. You drag yourself out of bed on less than five hours of sleep, drive 30 minutes away, and then find out it was all in vain. At which point you are left with a 30 minute drive back.

I had checked a few weeks ago to see when it was open/closed. I knew it would be closed on the Monday. I just went back and checked the website again, and sure enough, it does say it will be closed today and Monday. Either that is new since the last time I checked or I some how missed it.

So yay… now I’ll potentially have to take another half day off work to go sort out yet another issue. I really think if the government is supposed to be here to serve the people, that it should be open on weekends. You know, when the majority of people actually have time to go take care of things.

They could always be open for only four hours a day Monday-Friday and then open eight hours a day on weekends. Because lets be honest. If you can easily carve out time to go visit places like government offices Monday-Friday, it probably doesn’t really matter what time of the day that is.

This wasn’t meant to turn into a rant, but there it is. I hope everyone else has a great long weekend (*for those in Canada, just have a great weekend).

So much has happened since last I blogged that I don’t even know where to start.

After an incredibly grueling year on my last project (which consumed all of my “free” time and then some) I decided it was time for a change. So Holly and I packed up and moved across the continent and south one country. Okay, that isn’t entirely true. Holly isn’t here just yet, but soon she will be! I can’t wait!

Moving to a new country has been both easier and harder than I thought it would be. I look forward to when the last few bits of paperwork wrangling is over with.

The new job is cool. The tech is completely different from what I’m used to working with. In some ways that is better, and in some ways that is worse. Hopefully I can have a hand in fixing up those bits that I currently consider to be worse.

Every day at work I get to learn more and more about the existing tech. It is quite a mountain of knowledge that needs to be climbed. I enjoy the challenge though.

Other than that since I’ve been living alone while waiting for Holly I’ve started to remember a lot of things about single life, and how much single life sucked. Take cooking for example; I was never an expert chef by any stretch of the imagination, but I had forgotten just how time consuming it was. Or how… adventurous?

One of those adventures were the “Mustard and Tuna Fish Sandwiches”. No, they were not as bad as they sound. Now don’t get me wrong, by no stretch of the imagination were they good, but they weren’t unbearably awful. How did it happen you ask? I had everything all opened and mixed up and went to add the mayo, at which point I discovered it had expired. It was late enough that I didn’t want to go out and get more so I looked for alternatives. It ran through my head that mustard was good on most of the other meats so why not give it a try? So I did…

Most of the other adventures have been less disastrous and as such don’t bear repeating. Then of course there is all of that laundry. All of those dishes. So much cleaning. All of the shopping. There really seems to be no end to it all.

I am really looking forward to when Spring arrives this year. Taking trips to Pennsylvania, Washington DC, maybe even New York. Plus of course exploring around Maryland as well. Hopefully even driving to visit my family and maybe having them come to visit us.

For now I’ll stop by saying that the adventure that we call life continues on.

I’ve been a hockey fan all of my life. That’s 30 years of die hard hockey fanaticism. I’ve cheered on many teams. I own jerseys for half the teams in the league.

I just love the sport. Plain and simple. I love the passion of the players and the fans. There is no other sport like it.

The series that finished tonight between the Detroit Red Wings and San Jose Sharks is only the second playoff series I have ever seen that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The first one was when the Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup over the Buffalo Sabres in 1999 on a goal that should never have counted.

I have no problem with a series that is decided because of a team running into a hot goaltender. I have no problem with a series that is decided because a lesser team simply outworks a better team. I do have a problem when a series is decided by poor officiating.

This series from the very beginning was clearly one sided in that department. A Red Wing gets tripped? No call. A Red Wing takes an elbow to the face? No call. A Shark closes his hand on the puck? No call.

I am not one for conspiracy theories, but it is clear that there was some favoritism shown to the San Jose Sharks in this series. Was that because of the individual officials? Was it a directive from the NHL head offices? Are people tired of seeing the Red Wings just keep winning? I don’t know. I do know that I have no interest in watching a tournament that isn’t officiated fairly.

The way that the series was decided leaves me thinking that it isn’t worth watching the rest of the playoffs. Something that I always watch. Each and every year. As many games as I can. I can honestly say that I only have cable so that I can watch hockey.

In fact, I believe I will be turning the dial away from the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs this year and focusing on what will hopefully be some fair hockey. The 2010 IIHF World Championship of Hockey. I hope everyone else does the same.