Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus
* An aside, this blog isn't going to end, its just tough to post partly because of a "lack of identity" of the blog and I always had the possibility that anyone could be reading and I want them to take away positive things from reading here. Anyways...
Onto the topic at hand. So what is it about? Lets go back and remember a time when Christmas rolled around and despite the excitement, we wondered, "is Santa Claus real?" So naturally we would go to the ultimate authority of everything in the universe, our parents, to resolve this holiday crisis. In this case, 8 year old Virginia asked her father this question. The father then decided to test the matter with another ultimate authority of everything in the universe, the New York Sun question and answer column. He liked to say that that ever the New York Sun prints, it is so.
Thats where the title of this post comes into play, as it refers to a famous line from an editorial published in 1897. You can read the editorial here. I think its tremendous of Francis Church to actually answer this question in a widely circulated publication.
I took a few things out of the article, but for me one of the main points is that believing and living through only what you can use your 5 senses can only be so much of life. In a way, you bind yourself from living the fullest life possible. I imagine a great majority of people believe in things that transcend our 5 senses such as faith and love.
I'll finish by saying that I would compare this to the character of Tinker Bell from Peter Pan. Tinker Bell's existence is in danger if not enough people believe in fairies. I think this case fits Santa as well, so for his sake, I believe in Santa Claus!
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Maisie House
Just a quick little post. Every year around Christmas time there is a special house in the corner of 144 ave and 97 street. No matter the amount of fog or snow at night, you can see this house a number of blocks away. Here is a youtube video of the house and an article in the Edmonton Sun about it. Read the article as the owner is dedicating this season to his mother, who recently passed away from diabetes. And if you happen to be near the house, know that you can donate to the cause...
Just a quick little post. Every year around Christmas time there is a special house in the corner of 144 ave and 97 street. No matter the amount of fog or snow at night, you can see this house a number of blocks away. Here is a youtube video of the house and an article in the Edmonton Sun about it. Read the article as the owner is dedicating this season to his mother, who recently passed away from diabetes. And if you happen to be near the house, know that you can donate to the cause...
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Clarkson Cup
I think I'm going to try and post more opinions about news columns that I read. Of course, it would help if most of the columns I read don't originate from www.espn.com. Uh... crap, this one is going to be a sports one... but hear me out.
During the NHL lockout two years ago, the governor general of Canada suggested a silly thing. Since the NHL is not playing for the Stanley Cup, why not let the best team in women's hockey play for it? Well, because its a league of girls! Jeez... So Adrienne Clarkson decides, hey why not repeat history and create the Clarkson Cup? After all, the lore of the Stanley Cup begins with governor general Lord Stanley in the year 1893. Which leads to the topic of this blog, this story. There is a photo of the trophy here, and though it looks small it actually looks quite similar to the top of the Grey Cup.
This is actually a great idea. After all, you have quite a few storied trophies in the other sports leagues. You always associate something with the other leagues, whether it be the Stanley Cup, Lombardi trophy, Larry O' Brien trophy, and the World Series trophy, and in the CFL the Grey Cup. It only makes sense to start a trophy and start a great new tradition in women's hockey.
Anyways, back to the story. Basically there is a controversy over the trophy that Clarkson purchased. She purchased thinking it was a one and done deal. However, the artists thought otherwise. They felt they would also be entitled to royalties as the trophy would surely be put onto merchandise. After all, the Stanley Cup makes its way onto T-shirts, promotional crests, and so on. The artists felt that they would be entitled to any commercial benefits the trophy recieved. The thing is, Clarkson is donating this trophy to Hockey Canada, which is a non profit organization. As well, considering the whopping popularity of the women's hockey leagues (sarcasm...) its likely most of if not all of the possible revenue generated by the trophy would go right to the supported professional women's hockey.
Then again, if you're a songwriter and you sell a song, you generate royalty revenues. So should the same thing happen here? Or should a chance at being able to create tradition in women's hockey, knowing you created the trophy be enough? Wouldn't being able to say you created the trophy give you greater commercial opportunity anyways?
Personally, I think it should have been a one and done deal. Hockey Canada has a policy of not giving out royalties due to past royalty legal troubles. This was clearly Clarkson's intention, to give the trophy to Hockey Canada. The artists may not have known about Hockey Canada's policy, but personally I think they didn't clearly state that they wanted royalty rights. That, or Clarkson ignored it. Either way, these artists aren't going to get the royalty revenue from Hockey Canada. In the article there are three options, and in the end, Hockey Canada can just get a trophy from someone else... and that someone else can hopefully start a new tradition.
Maybe one day we'll have a girl who wanted to be the next Hayley Wickenheiser grow up to lift the Clarkson Cup.
I think I'm going to try and post more opinions about news columns that I read. Of course, it would help if most of the columns I read don't originate from www.espn.com. Uh... crap, this one is going to be a sports one... but hear me out.
During the NHL lockout two years ago, the governor general of Canada suggested a silly thing. Since the NHL is not playing for the Stanley Cup, why not let the best team in women's hockey play for it? Well, because its a league of girls! Jeez... So Adrienne Clarkson decides, hey why not repeat history and create the Clarkson Cup? After all, the lore of the Stanley Cup begins with governor general Lord Stanley in the year 1893. Which leads to the topic of this blog, this story. There is a photo of the trophy here, and though it looks small it actually looks quite similar to the top of the Grey Cup.
This is actually a great idea. After all, you have quite a few storied trophies in the other sports leagues. You always associate something with the other leagues, whether it be the Stanley Cup, Lombardi trophy, Larry O' Brien trophy, and the World Series trophy, and in the CFL the Grey Cup. It only makes sense to start a trophy and start a great new tradition in women's hockey.
Anyways, back to the story. Basically there is a controversy over the trophy that Clarkson purchased. She purchased thinking it was a one and done deal. However, the artists thought otherwise. They felt they would also be entitled to royalties as the trophy would surely be put onto merchandise. After all, the Stanley Cup makes its way onto T-shirts, promotional crests, and so on. The artists felt that they would be entitled to any commercial benefits the trophy recieved. The thing is, Clarkson is donating this trophy to Hockey Canada, which is a non profit organization. As well, considering the whopping popularity of the women's hockey leagues (sarcasm...) its likely most of if not all of the possible revenue generated by the trophy would go right to the supported professional women's hockey.
Then again, if you're a songwriter and you sell a song, you generate royalty revenues. So should the same thing happen here? Or should a chance at being able to create tradition in women's hockey, knowing you created the trophy be enough? Wouldn't being able to say you created the trophy give you greater commercial opportunity anyways?
Personally, I think it should have been a one and done deal. Hockey Canada has a policy of not giving out royalties due to past royalty legal troubles. This was clearly Clarkson's intention, to give the trophy to Hockey Canada. The artists may not have known about Hockey Canada's policy, but personally I think they didn't clearly state that they wanted royalty rights. That, or Clarkson ignored it. Either way, these artists aren't going to get the royalty revenue from Hockey Canada. In the article there are three options, and in the end, Hockey Canada can just get a trophy from someone else... and that someone else can hopefully start a new tradition.
Maybe one day we'll have a girl who wanted to be the next Hayley Wickenheiser grow up to lift the Clarkson Cup.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Earth Water (http://www.earthwater.ca/)
In a recent class of mine we had the CEO of a global water bottle company come in to present to us. Now when you think of a CEO, you think of an older, dressed up person who seems to have a large presence. That is completely not who walked in. Instead was a former U of A political science graduate who seems to be about 3-4 years older than this. He was dressed in a scraggly green t-shirt and blue jeans. He wasn't really one of the more impressive speakers as he spoke in a low voice, kinda fidgeted etc... but the content of his presentation was huge. His tag line of the presentation was, if you had the chance to, would you change the world? I can't really remember what his name was... Kori something?
His story starts with how he got inspired. He was backpacking in some mountain range when his group ran into a sherpa also walking up the same trail. It was of interest to them because he was being paid something shitty like 25 cents a day to haul this huge backpack thing. Now, they're curious what could possibly be in this huge thing and take a look; its stacks of cans of Coca-Cola. Apparently he is taking it up to a tourist spot so people can buy pop. Not much to be said here because the message here seems quite clear.
So, Kori decides to do the exact opposite. His goal is to create a corporation that takes social responsibility to the next level. Besides paying his employees a decent wage and retaining earnings to increase growth, 100% of his corporation's profits are donated to the U.N.
Earth Water is a very interesting product because it is the only item to have the U.N. logo on it and endorsing it. The U.N. did this while creating a contract that Earth Water donates 100% of its net profits. I think its amazing to do this and think its definitely worth the time to check out the website.
Its amazing what people can do asKori related the scale of each end of it. When creating the contract for Earth Water with the U.N., the U.N. had a team of 11 lawyers. In Kori's corner? A lawyer working pro bono on hand through cell phone because there wasn't money to fly the lawyer over to the contract negotiations.
There is actually a lot more neat things to bring up, but I'm going to end with a thought on one of their most innovative ideas. Kori spoke of how in certain disaster areas relief teams will fly in and drop loads of water bottles. While this is pretty much the only way to get drinking water in there, it creates a problem by causing gigantic mounds of water bottles. There really isn't anyway to get rid of them. So, right now they are working on creating this Lego-shaped water bottle that could be dropped instead. What is fascinating about this? Once the water has been finished out of the bottle, it can be filled with sand to make "bricks". Than these bricks can be put together to construct a shelter! ...Just wow...
In other news, there is Alex Rodriguez. Yeah.. $350 M? I'm not going to get into the specifics of it because its not really as simple as it looks, but its pretty astounding how we can get the extremes of what people are trying to do in the world...
In a recent class of mine we had the CEO of a global water bottle company come in to present to us. Now when you think of a CEO, you think of an older, dressed up person who seems to have a large presence. That is completely not who walked in. Instead was a former U of A political science graduate who seems to be about 3-4 years older than this. He was dressed in a scraggly green t-shirt and blue jeans. He wasn't really one of the more impressive speakers as he spoke in a low voice, kinda fidgeted etc... but the content of his presentation was huge. His tag line of the presentation was, if you had the chance to, would you change the world? I can't really remember what his name was... Kori something?
His story starts with how he got inspired. He was backpacking in some mountain range when his group ran into a sherpa also walking up the same trail. It was of interest to them because he was being paid something shitty like 25 cents a day to haul this huge backpack thing. Now, they're curious what could possibly be in this huge thing and take a look; its stacks of cans of Coca-Cola. Apparently he is taking it up to a tourist spot so people can buy pop. Not much to be said here because the message here seems quite clear.
So, Kori decides to do the exact opposite. His goal is to create a corporation that takes social responsibility to the next level. Besides paying his employees a decent wage and retaining earnings to increase growth, 100% of his corporation's profits are donated to the U.N.
Earth Water is a very interesting product because it is the only item to have the U.N. logo on it and endorsing it. The U.N. did this while creating a contract that Earth Water donates 100% of its net profits. I think its amazing to do this and think its definitely worth the time to check out the website.
Its amazing what people can do asKori related the scale of each end of it. When creating the contract for Earth Water with the U.N., the U.N. had a team of 11 lawyers. In Kori's corner? A lawyer working pro bono on hand through cell phone because there wasn't money to fly the lawyer over to the contract negotiations.
There is actually a lot more neat things to bring up, but I'm going to end with a thought on one of their most innovative ideas. Kori spoke of how in certain disaster areas relief teams will fly in and drop loads of water bottles. While this is pretty much the only way to get drinking water in there, it creates a problem by causing gigantic mounds of water bottles. There really isn't anyway to get rid of them. So, right now they are working on creating this Lego-shaped water bottle that could be dropped instead. What is fascinating about this? Once the water has been finished out of the bottle, it can be filled with sand to make "bricks". Than these bricks can be put together to construct a shelter! ...Just wow...
In other news, there is Alex Rodriguez. Yeah.. $350 M? I'm not going to get into the specifics of it because its not really as simple as it looks, but its pretty astounding how we can get the extremes of what people are trying to do in the world...
Monday, October 15, 2007
The Colour and The Shape
It is really no secret that the Foo Fighters are my favorite band. There is no way I've listened to any other artist or band as much as these guys. I even know all the band member's names! Thats huge, I can do that with maybe other big bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Velvet Revolver. Anyways, I just recently picked up the tenth anniversary reissue of the 2nd album from the Foo Fighters entitled "The Colour and the Shape." It is probably considered one of their best if not best albums as it contains a lot of their hits such as "My Hero", "Monkey Wrench", and "Everlong".
Apparently this album was partly meant as a "concept" album, meaning there was a theme going through the songs. The theme must have been something about relationships and breaking up (at the time Dave Grohl was going through a divource). I don't really know what "The Colour and the Shape" possibly refer to, maybe the character or substance of something... I also thought it was interesting that a lot of the lyrics in songs... don't make any sense. I've read that people thought the lyrics were just riddles or info about Nirvana, but Grohl has said that its really just nonsense. I tend to believe that some of the lyrics are like that because Cobain tended to write like that as well. Just look at "Smells Like Teen Spirit", the lyrics itself don't mean anything and the words were chosen for how they sound.
Anyways, these are some of the tracks that I really like...
Monkey Wrench - A rocker that immediately hits full speed at soon as you hit play. This song has probably one of the most intense bridges to shout along to.
Hey, Johnny Park! - This song should have been released as a single instead of "Walking After You", which was on the X-files soundtrack.
My Hero - Okay fine, this song about Kurt Cobain. Sort of. Clearly the song is about the ordinary people that are our heroes in our life (like good 'ole dad), but in the last verse the lyric goes "Kudo's my hero" and supposedly it doesn't refer to kudos to my hero, but of Nirvana lead singer KUrt DOnald Cobain.
February Stars - This song is a classic Foo Fighters ballad that starts off slow and smooth. Eventually it starts to climb and peaks with a big chorus for the finish.
Everlong - I don't know how I came upon these guys except that one day I heard "Everlong" and from the opening strums it hooked me. Everything about the song gets to me. The chords, the rhythm (took me forever to get), the timing, the melody, the lyrics, the drumming, and the guitar tones. This live version is probably one of my favorite versions (the bass is actually audible...). The neat thing about this song is how well it translates from a cranked rock song into an intimate acoustic piece...
It is really no secret that the Foo Fighters are my favorite band. There is no way I've listened to any other artist or band as much as these guys. I even know all the band member's names! Thats huge, I can do that with maybe other big bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Velvet Revolver. Anyways, I just recently picked up the tenth anniversary reissue of the 2nd album from the Foo Fighters entitled "The Colour and the Shape." It is probably considered one of their best if not best albums as it contains a lot of their hits such as "My Hero", "Monkey Wrench", and "Everlong".
Apparently this album was partly meant as a "concept" album, meaning there was a theme going through the songs. The theme must have been something about relationships and breaking up (at the time Dave Grohl was going through a divource). I don't really know what "The Colour and the Shape" possibly refer to, maybe the character or substance of something... I also thought it was interesting that a lot of the lyrics in songs... don't make any sense. I've read that people thought the lyrics were just riddles or info about Nirvana, but Grohl has said that its really just nonsense. I tend to believe that some of the lyrics are like that because Cobain tended to write like that as well. Just look at "Smells Like Teen Spirit", the lyrics itself don't mean anything and the words were chosen for how they sound.
Anyways, these are some of the tracks that I really like...
Monkey Wrench - A rocker that immediately hits full speed at soon as you hit play. This song has probably one of the most intense bridges to shout along to.
Hey, Johnny Park! - This song should have been released as a single instead of "Walking After You", which was on the X-files soundtrack.
My Hero - Okay fine, this song about Kurt Cobain. Sort of. Clearly the song is about the ordinary people that are our heroes in our life (like good 'ole dad), but in the last verse the lyric goes "Kudo's my hero" and supposedly it doesn't refer to kudos to my hero, but of Nirvana lead singer KUrt DOnald Cobain.
February Stars - This song is a classic Foo Fighters ballad that starts off slow and smooth. Eventually it starts to climb and peaks with a big chorus for the finish.
Everlong - I don't know how I came upon these guys except that one day I heard "Everlong" and from the opening strums it hooked me. Everything about the song gets to me. The chords, the rhythm (took me forever to get), the timing, the melody, the lyrics, the drumming, and the guitar tones. This live version is probably one of my favorite versions (the bass is actually audible...). The neat thing about this song is how well it translates from a cranked rock song into an intimate acoustic piece...
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Willie "Quick" Parker
Just a link blog post, but I was reading an ESPN article about football player Willie Parker and it is one of those athlete interest pieces. I really liked the last paragraph of the article, it was simple but uplifting message:
"Simmons says, "Sometimes we look at him and say, Where does this stuff come from?" Simple answer, really. It comes from the mind of a man who knows how to be happy even though he's never satisfied."
Just a link blog post, but I was reading an ESPN article about football player Willie Parker and it is one of those athlete interest pieces. I really liked the last paragraph of the article, it was simple but uplifting message:
"Simmons says, "Sometimes we look at him and say, Where does this stuff come from?" Simple answer, really. It comes from the mind of a man who knows how to be happy even though he's never satisfied."
Monday, October 08, 2007
"You got the best of me... ohhh can't you see..."
This blog is brought to you by the fact that Chris can't seem to study... and has certain songs stuck in my head. Basically, the title is the chorus line from the Def Leppard song "Bringing on the Heartbreak" Ahh... I can't get it out of my head.. damn you Joe Elliot. Apparently Mariah Carey has done a cover of the song as well, but I'm not going to link it.
Another ridiculus song and video that was stuck in my head is George Harrison's "I got my mind set on you". I can't believe I watched the whole video, its just him playing a telecaster in a room that seems to be alive. The best part is when he does a flip and some dance moves... it seems so surreal...
If this post accomplishes anthing, its that I hope someone else gets this shit stuck in their head...
This blog is brought to you by the fact that Chris can't seem to study... and has certain songs stuck in my head. Basically, the title is the chorus line from the Def Leppard song "Bringing on the Heartbreak" Ahh... I can't get it out of my head.. damn you Joe Elliot. Apparently Mariah Carey has done a cover of the song as well, but I'm not going to link it.
Another ridiculus song and video that was stuck in my head is George Harrison's "I got my mind set on you". I can't believe I watched the whole video, its just him playing a telecaster in a room that seems to be alive. The best part is when he does a flip and some dance moves... it seems so surreal...
If this post accomplishes anthing, its that I hope someone else gets this shit stuck in their head...
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Sports Moments
With the prospect of the new NHL season coming up, the CFL entering its second half and the NFL running into full swing, and not to mention baseball closing toward the stretch, its a good time to watch sports hilights shows. Than all of a sudden I read this little gem from the Edmonton Sun. Basically, there is a shot that Edmonton might host a NFL game featuring the Denver Broncos and the New England Patriots.... and its not an exhibition game, it'll be a real game!!! Wow, I hafta get in on that action if that happens. I was at a NFL pre season game and it was neat, but it was just preseason and had teams I don't care about. Meanwhile, we've got from the Broncos Champ Bailey and Javon Walker, and on the Pats Tom Brady and Randy Moss. So for this blog I thought I'd try to remember some of my sports memories. Note that a lot of these will be fairly recent...
CFL: Edmonton Eskimos vs. Montreal Alouettes - Grey Cup 2005 - I think this is the 3rd time the two teams meet in the finals in 4 years or something like that. Anyways, this game is a back and forth contest with the lead constantly changing. For example, Montreal's quarterback Anthony Calvillo fools even the camera man on a run fake and scoots in for the touchdown. Soon after, rookie Tony Tompkins returns a Grey Cup recordy 95 yard kickoff return for a TD. But the most memorable part of this game? The fact that it goes to double overtime! This is the final game and its do or die in the overtime shootout format. The good 'ole Esks prevail when they force a 3rd and 30 situation on the Alouettes and keep them from scoring. Ohhh... look at the fancy rings.
NBA: This is a recent one, but the Cleveland Lebron James (err... Cavaliers..) beating the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals in overtime (don't remember what game). Lebron James singlehandedly beats the Pistons by scoring the last 30 something points of the game... he was absolutely possessed and the dominance was just amazing. Other things I remember is Derek Fisher I think, draining a 3 with no time remaining to keep the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals against the Spurs. Also, there was Jordan winning a championship on father's day or something, and it being very emotional because his dad had passed away.
Baseball: When the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees after being down 3 games to none. It was a monumental choke on the part of the Yankees and it was an intense series simply because the Red Sox had no margin of error as they fought back, but they had such a quiet confidence. Though the series, something was just different. I think one of the games must have went to extra innings and it felt like sudden death overtime. Finally David Ortiz sends one home to keep the Sox alive.
NFL: I think its probably one of the games between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts. I'm a Peyton Manning fan, but the one that stuck in my mind is either a 2003 or 2004 playoff game. I think in the game the Colts were heavily favoured, but when it came time to play Brady was unbelievable. I remember him orchaestrating 7-8 minute drives and basically keeping Manning off the field. It was almost as if the Pats were trying to make each first down take three downs... they practically converted on all of them. As a Colts fan, their most recent playoff game was still intense because Brady could always pull out a win (but luckily had shit for recievers). After the Colts beat the Pats, well there was no way Rex Grossman was going to beat the Colts...
Mixed Martial Arts: When George St. Pierre kicked Matt Hughes in the head and became the Welterweight champion. I remember the first time I saw GSP and it was in his first title shot vs Hughes. He was very impressive, taking down Hughes, using a spinning back kick but falling prey to a simple mistake and losing. After two years of demolishing every other possible contender, GSP gets back in and flat out dominates Matt Hughes. Of course, just as disappointing was when GSP somehow lost to Matt Serra... seriously... what? And of course,
NHL: In 1997 Oiler goaltender Curtis Joseph robbed Dallas Star forward Joe Nieuwendyk of a sure goal. This led to Todd Marchant streaking past a flailing Grant Ledyard... whatever his name was... and roofing one right over Andy Moog. This moment led to a new generation of Oiler fans that could get behind their team. This would culminate in 2006 when the Oilers made the Stanley Cup finals (and they'll make it back and win it all next time), which gives me my second favorite moment when in game 5 of the finals Fernando Pisani scored the gamewinner shorthanded in overtime.
Well, thats all, I didn't read over this so hopefully the videos will make up for it.
With the prospect of the new NHL season coming up, the CFL entering its second half and the NFL running into full swing, and not to mention baseball closing toward the stretch, its a good time to watch sports hilights shows. Than all of a sudden I read this little gem from the Edmonton Sun. Basically, there is a shot that Edmonton might host a NFL game featuring the Denver Broncos and the New England Patriots.... and its not an exhibition game, it'll be a real game!!! Wow, I hafta get in on that action if that happens. I was at a NFL pre season game and it was neat, but it was just preseason and had teams I don't care about. Meanwhile, we've got from the Broncos Champ Bailey and Javon Walker, and on the Pats Tom Brady and Randy Moss. So for this blog I thought I'd try to remember some of my sports memories. Note that a lot of these will be fairly recent...
CFL: Edmonton Eskimos vs. Montreal Alouettes - Grey Cup 2005 - I think this is the 3rd time the two teams meet in the finals in 4 years or something like that. Anyways, this game is a back and forth contest with the lead constantly changing. For example, Montreal's quarterback Anthony Calvillo fools even the camera man on a run fake and scoots in for the touchdown. Soon after, rookie Tony Tompkins returns a Grey Cup recordy 95 yard kickoff return for a TD. But the most memorable part of this game? The fact that it goes to double overtime! This is the final game and its do or die in the overtime shootout format. The good 'ole Esks prevail when they force a 3rd and 30 situation on the Alouettes and keep them from scoring. Ohhh... look at the fancy rings.
NBA: This is a recent one, but the Cleveland Lebron James (err... Cavaliers..) beating the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals in overtime (don't remember what game). Lebron James singlehandedly beats the Pistons by scoring the last 30 something points of the game... he was absolutely possessed and the dominance was just amazing. Other things I remember is Derek Fisher I think, draining a 3 with no time remaining to keep the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals against the Spurs. Also, there was Jordan winning a championship on father's day or something, and it being very emotional because his dad had passed away.
Baseball: When the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees after being down 3 games to none. It was a monumental choke on the part of the Yankees and it was an intense series simply because the Red Sox had no margin of error as they fought back, but they had such a quiet confidence. Though the series, something was just different. I think one of the games must have went to extra innings and it felt like sudden death overtime. Finally David Ortiz sends one home to keep the Sox alive.
NFL: I think its probably one of the games between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts. I'm a Peyton Manning fan, but the one that stuck in my mind is either a 2003 or 2004 playoff game. I think in the game the Colts were heavily favoured, but when it came time to play Brady was unbelievable. I remember him orchaestrating 7-8 minute drives and basically keeping Manning off the field. It was almost as if the Pats were trying to make each first down take three downs... they practically converted on all of them. As a Colts fan, their most recent playoff game was still intense because Brady could always pull out a win (but luckily had shit for recievers). After the Colts beat the Pats, well there was no way Rex Grossman was going to beat the Colts...
Mixed Martial Arts: When George St. Pierre kicked Matt Hughes in the head and became the Welterweight champion. I remember the first time I saw GSP and it was in his first title shot vs Hughes. He was very impressive, taking down Hughes, using a spinning back kick but falling prey to a simple mistake and losing. After two years of demolishing every other possible contender, GSP gets back in and flat out dominates Matt Hughes. Of course, just as disappointing was when GSP somehow lost to Matt Serra... seriously... what? And of course,
NHL: In 1997 Oiler goaltender Curtis Joseph robbed Dallas Star forward Joe Nieuwendyk of a sure goal. This led to Todd Marchant streaking past a flailing Grant Ledyard... whatever his name was... and roofing one right over Andy Moog. This moment led to a new generation of Oiler fans that could get behind their team. This would culminate in 2006 when the Oilers made the Stanley Cup finals (and they'll make it back and win it all next time), which gives me my second favorite moment when in game 5 of the finals Fernando Pisani scored the gamewinner shorthanded in overtime.
Well, thats all, I didn't read over this so hopefully the videos will make up for it.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Guitars!
Music is certainly a unique medium that is used to deliver various emotions and thoughts. One of the principal instruments used in music is well, the title of this blog, the guitar. This instrument is really an astounding thing and I'm quite glad I picked it up, even though it was really just a distraction from studying (and a free hobby as my dad was the one who spent the big bucks on the gear).
What really amazed was how a whole bunch of us have recently picked up a guitar! (Dammit you guys, I'm not special anymore...) Its really neat how unique playing the guitar is as well, as everyone will play slightly different. I saw some things that totally don't work for me work for someone else. As well, it is interesting to see that everyone has a different guitar. Of course, I don't know if we'll get into it that much, but we'll probably start noticing the different sounds each other's guitars can make and which songs they suit and so on.... Yeah okay, who's kidding who? The main reason to learn guitar is to impress girls... they'll be all like "oh this song's for me!" to notice the sound sucks or doesn't work with the song.
Anyways, I'm probably going to pick up a new guitar and in all likelihood it will be the one pictured in here. It is a Tanglewood TW 155-ST. Yeah, I know, means a lot huh? I'm pretty excited about it and hopefully will get to show it off soon.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Dinosaur Pedal Carts!
July 30th signifies a very special day. Is it a birthday? No. Is it the start of a festival? No. Is it even a long weekend? Nope! If you are dying to know, wait no longer! It is the opening day of....
The Edmonton Corn Maze!!
I never knew Edmonton had a giant corn maze, but we do! The site says it is approximately an average of an hour to get through the maze. After that, other attractions include some mini mazes, a "mountain of bale" to jump around on, and dinosaur pedal carts!! Actually, I'm pretty sure everything but the actual giant maze is lame because there are no other pictures. However, the designs and size of the actual maze is ... amazing... dammit I tried to think of another word to describe it...
The maze has been designed in the form of Ryan Smyth of the Edmonton Oilers and Ricky Ray of the Edmonton Eskimos. This year the current design is a nod to our new junior hockey team, the Oil Kings.
I think it would be neat to get in the maze, especially at dark, and try to navigate your way through. Anyways, just thought I'd put a post so if anyone is bored one day, we can head out to the 'ole corn maze... yeehaw!
July 30th signifies a very special day. Is it a birthday? No. Is it the start of a festival? No. Is it even a long weekend? Nope! If you are dying to know, wait no longer! It is the opening day of....
The Edmonton Corn Maze!!
I never knew Edmonton had a giant corn maze, but we do! The site says it is approximately an average of an hour to get through the maze. After that, other attractions include some mini mazes, a "mountain of bale" to jump around on, and dinosaur pedal carts!! Actually, I'm pretty sure everything but the actual giant maze is lame because there are no other pictures. However, the designs and size of the actual maze is ... amazing... dammit I tried to think of another word to describe it...
The maze has been designed in the form of Ryan Smyth of the Edmonton Oilers and Ricky Ray of the Edmonton Eskimos. This year the current design is a nod to our new junior hockey team, the Oil Kings.
I think it would be neat to get in the maze, especially at dark, and try to navigate your way through. Anyways, just thought I'd put a post so if anyone is bored one day, we can head out to the 'ole corn maze... yeehaw!
Saturday, July 14, 2007
A Day in the Life
I've been unable to come up with a blog topic I was comfortable with or something that could sustain itself for more than a few lines so stay a while and listen as I blog a typical day of my current summer life. Note that this day is really composed of various events that happened over a bunch of days, but its a little more interesting to pretend it all happened in one day.
0545/0600
I wake up and stumble out of bed. First thing I do is look for the newspaper to see if the sports section is in the mailbox, and... it isn't.
0615
Hey, the paper is here! I read the sports section in about 3 minutes and then go and get ready for a fun filled workday at the local landfill.
0628
I head out for the fun drive onto the Yellowhead highway. As I try to exit onto it, I see that no one is at a speed where they can merge properly. The cars are moving at about 30-40 kph while people are zooming around 80-90 kph. As I get nearer, I see the reason for this and its a huge rottweiler that apparently wants everyone to fail at merging and crash horrifically.
The fun continues as all of a sudden, traffic jams up on the two lanes where the speed limit is 100 kpm. Now, we are moving snail speed but we're still on a fricking highway. Nevertheless, a truck is riding my rear end hardcore, and at one point when I had a to suddenly brake, the truck had to swerve onto the shoulder of the road to avoid rear ending me. This delay was apparently because of some car rollover, but I didn't see it, as I was too busy trying to drive...
0700
Aah, I arrive at work to the fresh scent of compost in the air. I merrily drive over the somewhat fixed railroad tracks and note it is no longer a 6 railroad track long speed bump. The car has sustained no damage, yay!
Frick, the flat tire I thought was fixed on Friday is still flat. Its leaking and luckily a co worker notices it right away. The earlier the better, because it can take 2-3 hours for tire guy to get to your vehicle...
0715
I think our landscaping crew actually starts to do some work. We goto a plant bed and start picking out all the toxic weeds. The crew is responsible for keeping the landfill clean of litter (the landfill is only one part of the whole place really) and upkeep of all the trees, grass and plantlife. I think the reasoning behind this is to show the landfill is being environmentally responsible in terms of the litter control and upkeep of the area, and it proves to the public you can't just dump your garbage anywhere as the landfill is actually quite nice and clean.
0800
Is it break yet?? Its freaking hot... One of our coworkers decides to go back to the Ops building for something, and asks if we need anything from it. One girl says yeah, a jr. bacon cheeseburger delivered on a horse, and I ask for a dinosaur. Later when she gets back, she actually took the time to track down some paper and draw out our requests! In fact, my dinosaur was so big that several pieces of paper were stapled together. I proudly display it on one of the trees, but other crew members thought it was litter and wondered why no one took it down...
1030
Our first break is about over and we started on what I think is one of the most random tasks ever. Basically, the landfill takes in computer monitors and televisions which are to be recycled once a new facility is built (to be finished in the fall). In the meantime our crew has to store them away. We do this by building makeshift crates out of various 2 by 4's and pallettes that we can find in the woodpile. Then we hitch up the trailer filled with all the tv's and monitors and tetris these things into our makeshift crates. Thankfully, the majority of this task actually takes place in the shade.
1330
This is after lunch and we're done the task of building crates and jamming as many tv's and monitors them as possible. It has been estimated that they have collected about 10 thousand tv's and monitors. So now we face going back to the ever awesome task of pulling weeds. At this point, people are begging for other tasks like picking up litter with our poker sticks, or washing the trucks.
1500
Woohoo! Its hometime for me! Currently I work a 5 day 8 hour schedule, but that will change to a 4 day 10 hour schedule which means 3 day weekend! Yay!!
1502
Ahhh shit.. I hit a train.
1520
Yay, the train finally ends and I'm on my way home. Looking forward to the best part of the day, my nap before accounting class.
1745
I take a nap, than around this time get ready to goto NAIT. The class starts at 6:15 pm and goes 'till about 9:30pm. The instructor I have right now is pretty good, but he usually does not let us out early.
2000
We have our break and I reach another hilight of the day: Snack time! Usually I'll have something packed, like smokies!! Mmm... smokies
2130
At some point in this class, I can't help but clock watch. A minute seems like an eternity, and when its finally time to go, I can't fathom it. Its like I'm expecting it to be a trick, and that really the clock was set ahead an hour and I still have to sit in the class.
Some point in time
I get home, watch some sports hilights, make a sleep playlist and then goto bed. I'm not sure what time it is anymore, just that its time to make things go dark in the head for a little while...
Well it was an exciting day in the neverending battle of keeping the landfill clean. Be sure to stay tuned for death defying tales of mowing the lawn and suiting up for a treacherous stint of weed whacking!!
I've been unable to come up with a blog topic I was comfortable with or something that could sustain itself for more than a few lines so stay a while and listen as I blog a typical day of my current summer life. Note that this day is really composed of various events that happened over a bunch of days, but its a little more interesting to pretend it all happened in one day.
0545/0600
I wake up and stumble out of bed. First thing I do is look for the newspaper to see if the sports section is in the mailbox, and... it isn't.
0615
Hey, the paper is here! I read the sports section in about 3 minutes and then go and get ready for a fun filled workday at the local landfill.
0628
I head out for the fun drive onto the Yellowhead highway. As I try to exit onto it, I see that no one is at a speed where they can merge properly. The cars are moving at about 30-40 kph while people are zooming around 80-90 kph. As I get nearer, I see the reason for this and its a huge rottweiler that apparently wants everyone to fail at merging and crash horrifically.
The fun continues as all of a sudden, traffic jams up on the two lanes where the speed limit is 100 kpm. Now, we are moving snail speed but we're still on a fricking highway. Nevertheless, a truck is riding my rear end hardcore, and at one point when I had a to suddenly brake, the truck had to swerve onto the shoulder of the road to avoid rear ending me. This delay was apparently because of some car rollover, but I didn't see it, as I was too busy trying to drive...
0700
Aah, I arrive at work to the fresh scent of compost in the air. I merrily drive over the somewhat fixed railroad tracks and note it is no longer a 6 railroad track long speed bump. The car has sustained no damage, yay!
Frick, the flat tire I thought was fixed on Friday is still flat. Its leaking and luckily a co worker notices it right away. The earlier the better, because it can take 2-3 hours for tire guy to get to your vehicle...
0715
I think our landscaping crew actually starts to do some work. We goto a plant bed and start picking out all the toxic weeds. The crew is responsible for keeping the landfill clean of litter (the landfill is only one part of the whole place really) and upkeep of all the trees, grass and plantlife. I think the reasoning behind this is to show the landfill is being environmentally responsible in terms of the litter control and upkeep of the area, and it proves to the public you can't just dump your garbage anywhere as the landfill is actually quite nice and clean.
0800
Is it break yet?? Its freaking hot... One of our coworkers decides to go back to the Ops building for something, and asks if we need anything from it. One girl says yeah, a jr. bacon cheeseburger delivered on a horse, and I ask for a dinosaur. Later when she gets back, she actually took the time to track down some paper and draw out our requests! In fact, my dinosaur was so big that several pieces of paper were stapled together. I proudly display it on one of the trees, but other crew members thought it was litter and wondered why no one took it down...
1030
Our first break is about over and we started on what I think is one of the most random tasks ever. Basically, the landfill takes in computer monitors and televisions which are to be recycled once a new facility is built (to be finished in the fall). In the meantime our crew has to store them away. We do this by building makeshift crates out of various 2 by 4's and pallettes that we can find in the woodpile. Then we hitch up the trailer filled with all the tv's and monitors and tetris these things into our makeshift crates. Thankfully, the majority of this task actually takes place in the shade.
1330
This is after lunch and we're done the task of building crates and jamming as many tv's and monitors them as possible. It has been estimated that they have collected about 10 thousand tv's and monitors. So now we face going back to the ever awesome task of pulling weeds. At this point, people are begging for other tasks like picking up litter with our poker sticks, or washing the trucks.
1500
Woohoo! Its hometime for me! Currently I work a 5 day 8 hour schedule, but that will change to a 4 day 10 hour schedule which means 3 day weekend! Yay!!
1502
Ahhh shit.. I hit a train.
1520
Yay, the train finally ends and I'm on my way home. Looking forward to the best part of the day, my nap before accounting class.
1745
I take a nap, than around this time get ready to goto NAIT. The class starts at 6:15 pm and goes 'till about 9:30pm. The instructor I have right now is pretty good, but he usually does not let us out early.
2000
We have our break and I reach another hilight of the day: Snack time! Usually I'll have something packed, like smokies!! Mmm... smokies
2130
At some point in this class, I can't help but clock watch. A minute seems like an eternity, and when its finally time to go, I can't fathom it. Its like I'm expecting it to be a trick, and that really the clock was set ahead an hour and I still have to sit in the class.
Some point in time
I get home, watch some sports hilights, make a sleep playlist and then goto bed. I'm not sure what time it is anymore, just that its time to make things go dark in the head for a little while...
Well it was an exciting day in the neverending battle of keeping the landfill clean. Be sure to stay tuned for death defying tales of mowing the lawn and suiting up for a treacherous stint of weed whacking!!
Friday, June 15, 2007
200th Post
Its number 200 and I wanted to do something special for this post... but eh... I got nothing.
But wait! This just in, I cleared conditional acceptance for the U of A. This fall I will be entering the School of Business at the University of Alberta. Nevermind that I originally got in two years ago, but picked a different program and had a bit of a long road to get there. My long term goal is to reach the Chartered Accountant designation. At the very earliest, thats 5 years. Not really going to get into it, except that it really doesn't seem that bad to me...
As for summer, it'll be fairly busy. I'll be playing floor hockey again! Thats going to be really fun and the team is full of people I don't know, so it'll be cool (or terrible) to meet new people. We've got a team lunch thingy, and who knows, maybe we can start up a pickup game of road hockey or something.
Also, this summer I picked up some seaon tickets for the Eskimos. I'm really pumped for that and can't wait to get to the first game. Jason Tucker is my favorite player because he just makes ridiculus circus catches routine. The apparent knock on him in the NFL was consistency, but maybe being in the CFL where there isn't as much hype lets him perform better.
Anyways, just really wanted a quick update. That really seems to be the bulk of my blog posts, but oh well, better than nothing I think. Heh, I should rename the blog that, "Better than Nothing!".
Its number 200 and I wanted to do something special for this post... but eh... I got nothing.
But wait! This just in, I cleared conditional acceptance for the U of A. This fall I will be entering the School of Business at the University of Alberta. Nevermind that I originally got in two years ago, but picked a different program and had a bit of a long road to get there. My long term goal is to reach the Chartered Accountant designation. At the very earliest, thats 5 years. Not really going to get into it, except that it really doesn't seem that bad to me...
As for summer, it'll be fairly busy. I'll be playing floor hockey again! Thats going to be really fun and the team is full of people I don't know, so it'll be cool (or terrible) to meet new people. We've got a team lunch thingy, and who knows, maybe we can start up a pickup game of road hockey or something.
Also, this summer I picked up some seaon tickets for the Eskimos. I'm really pumped for that and can't wait to get to the first game. Jason Tucker is my favorite player because he just makes ridiculus circus catches routine. The apparent knock on him in the NFL was consistency, but maybe being in the CFL where there isn't as much hype lets him perform better.
Anyways, just really wanted a quick update. That really seems to be the bulk of my blog posts, but oh well, better than nothing I think. Heh, I should rename the blog that, "Better than Nothing!".
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Transformers
Check out this thread for some really cool "would be" transfomers. Ever wondered what a Super Nintendo transformer would be like? Leaf through this!
Check out this thread for some really cool "would be" transfomers. Ever wondered what a Super Nintendo transformer would be like? Leaf through this!
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Non Weekend-Update Weekend Update
I have no idea what to talk about really and thats why I haven't blogged in ages. Right now I'm forcing myself to update something, anything! The title refers to the attempt I made at trying to blog over the weekend, and it would have coincided with the youtube videos on the SNL skits Weekend Update (which I'll take down later on and replace with something else later on).
Anyways, just to update on what I've been up to. I'm working at the city where I get driven around to deliver city flyers. Hopefully when that is done there is an opening at a landscaping job they have. I'm also still working once a week at Sears as they're hurting for staff and could probably use someone for those busy Saturdays. It just keeps me productive when I would probably just sleep the day away.
I'm also taking an intermediate accounting course at NAIT right now in the evenings and it runs 6:15-9:30pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. It has been okay, but I think I messed up a bit on the midterm. That kinda sucks because it should have been all the stuff I knew. Oh well...
Its kinda nice to be so busy so that when I waste time, its okay, I'm "resting". Actually, I guess it doesn't really make it okay, but whatever! Actually, I've kinda been contemplating a "finance" blog where I could try to sum up a bit on what I've learned about investing, saving, and so on. Its been interesting to me and I kind of want to blog it, but it could end up being really boring. Well, if I don't get to it, the two magic sites are www.investopedia.com and www.stockhouse.com.
I have no idea what to talk about really and thats why I haven't blogged in ages. Right now I'm forcing myself to update something, anything! The title refers to the attempt I made at trying to blog over the weekend, and it would have coincided with the youtube videos on the SNL skits Weekend Update (which I'll take down later on and replace with something else later on).
Anyways, just to update on what I've been up to. I'm working at the city where I get driven around to deliver city flyers. Hopefully when that is done there is an opening at a landscaping job they have. I'm also still working once a week at Sears as they're hurting for staff and could probably use someone for those busy Saturdays. It just keeps me productive when I would probably just sleep the day away.
I'm also taking an intermediate accounting course at NAIT right now in the evenings and it runs 6:15-9:30pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. It has been okay, but I think I messed up a bit on the midterm. That kinda sucks because it should have been all the stuff I knew. Oh well...
Its kinda nice to be so busy so that when I waste time, its okay, I'm "resting". Actually, I guess it doesn't really make it okay, but whatever! Actually, I've kinda been contemplating a "finance" blog where I could try to sum up a bit on what I've learned about investing, saving, and so on. Its been interesting to me and I kind of want to blog it, but it could end up being really boring. Well, if I don't get to it, the two magic sites are www.investopedia.com and www.stockhouse.com.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Problem Solving Worksheet
See Maggie's post on the problem solving worksheet. Now I will apply it.
Does "damn thing" work? No, window does not work
Did you fuck with it? Yes, I smashed it
Yep, I'm an idiot
Does anyone know? Yeah, although at the time no one saw me do it...
Can you blame someone else? I could, but than my brother would utterly hate me enough for three lifetimes
Which leads to: You Poor Bastard! I think thats too lenient, it should be more like you mega retarded shit for brains moron. Ah well
I apparently refuse to act my age!!
See Maggie's post on the problem solving worksheet. Now I will apply it.
Does "damn thing" work? No, window does not work
Did you fuck with it? Yes, I smashed it
Yep, I'm an idiot
Does anyone know? Yeah, although at the time no one saw me do it...
Can you blame someone else? I could, but than my brother would utterly hate me enough for three lifetimes
Which leads to: You Poor Bastard! I think thats too lenient, it should be more like you mega retarded shit for brains moron. Ah well
I apparently refuse to act my age!!
Thursday, April 19, 2007
In Their Honour
Follow the link to see stories and tributes of the victims of the Virginia Tech shootings. Many friends and family have posted their comments and I think it is nice that CNN put this up. For all the attention the shooter has gotten and how his name and face will go down in infamy, its nice to commemorate the victims. Thats all that I'll post about the subject.
Follow the link to see stories and tributes of the victims of the Virginia Tech shootings. Many friends and family have posted their comments and I think it is nice that CNN put this up. For all the attention the shooter has gotten and how his name and face will go down in infamy, its nice to commemorate the victims. Thats all that I'll post about the subject.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Fear the Feather Duster
The funniest thing I saw lately was the facebook group "My Chinese parents beat me with a feather duster" (Image above is from that group). The terrible memories conjured up by that thing is universal among Chinese childhood memories. It is so damn funny that somehow it is a cultural practice to beat your kids with a feather duster. Why the 'ole feather duster? Is it because provides the perfect blend of providing pain, but not to the point of serious injury? The other thing I've also heard is rulers, coat hangers, and anything else that was convenient...
Well, as humorous as it may be the various tales of kids running from the beatings, trying to hide the duster only get hit by something worst, and many other attempts to escape I always wondered if there are serious consequences. This article was somethig I quickly googled up. There are probably some better articles, but it gets the point across. It unfortunately doesn't have too much data or conclusions, but it cames out with some of the things I had always wondered.
All I know is I would be too worried about seriously injuring my child to strike them with anything. Then again, I say this now with a cool head. Maybe spanking in moderation is okay? Well, for myself I would never want to do it. The article mentions the argument "Hey I was spanked and I turned out okay", but that is probably a result of the other ways parents show love for the children. Imagine if those weren't there at all. Than beatings would seem exactly like that, as violent action. I've learned from my mom that sometimes a sharp voice and an unwavering stare can get a kid to back down.
This post does kind of build off the last one. I am a fan of agressive, violent action (MMA, hockey, football etc..) but I'm a firm believer that violence has no place in domestic home life. Hopefully my actions can be in line with that.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
What Would You Do?
I was reading about the Parkland school strike when I also started reading about the recent debate of whether or not to ban fighting in the NHL. The debate about fighting in the NHL is kind of silly considering how much of an issue violence is in other aspects of life. This ended up in me wondering about a scenario in dealing with violence in the far future...
Imagine yourself in the future with a nice family, your own home, all that good stuff. You are happily married and a great job. One day you arrive home early from work and wait for the kids to come home from school. When your child finishes the big task of a schoolday in grade 5 and steps through the door you are horrified. Your child is crying and bloodied up. A bully has clearly beaten up your child. As far as you know, your child is pretty much average. Likes the typical kids movies, does well in classes except English, and plays regularily on the soccer team...
What would you do? Should your child fight back? Would you talk to the principal? Talk to the parents of the bully? What would you say in your talk?
And how do other factors such as gender play into this? I tried to keep it relatively gender neutralin this. Or at what point in school? What of their status in the hierchy of school?
I'm not exactly sure what I would do. I lean toward telling my kid to stand up for themselves. But I'm not sure how far, whether it be to tell them off, or to physically fight back. At what point would you get school authority figures involved? How long can you wait? How would you deal with the violence that happens like this?
I was reading about the Parkland school strike when I also started reading about the recent debate of whether or not to ban fighting in the NHL. The debate about fighting in the NHL is kind of silly considering how much of an issue violence is in other aspects of life. This ended up in me wondering about a scenario in dealing with violence in the far future...
Imagine yourself in the future with a nice family, your own home, all that good stuff. You are happily married and a great job. One day you arrive home early from work and wait for the kids to come home from school. When your child finishes the big task of a schoolday in grade 5 and steps through the door you are horrified. Your child is crying and bloodied up. A bully has clearly beaten up your child. As far as you know, your child is pretty much average. Likes the typical kids movies, does well in classes except English, and plays regularily on the soccer team...
What would you do? Should your child fight back? Would you talk to the principal? Talk to the parents of the bully? What would you say in your talk?
And how do other factors such as gender play into this? I tried to keep it relatively gender neutralin this. Or at what point in school? What of their status in the hierchy of school?
I'm not exactly sure what I would do. I lean toward telling my kid to stand up for themselves. But I'm not sure how far, whether it be to tell them off, or to physically fight back. At what point would you get school authority figures involved? How long can you wait? How would you deal with the violence that happens like this?
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
"No Child Left Behind, No Child Leaps Forward"
Not really sure where this blog is going to go, but here it is...
Has anyone ever heard of the "No Child Left Behind Act"? It is an American act involving its public school system. The above link is from the U.S. Department of Education. Here is a wikipedia link. From what I've been able to gather, it seems like an act with the right intentions, using the right words, but in practice is stifling those it affects.
It basically states that it wants every child to reach a certain proficiency in their classes once they graduate. This is determined through standardized state testing that the students must go through. The goal is to have every student proficient (in core subjects? all? not too sure) by the year 2012 or something like that. This includes minority groups, low income, and disabled children. This is actually a noble idea however, in the end it reminds me of affirmative action. Its true that minorities etc.. get the shaft, but these programs seem to have difficulty taking action where it needs to be but ease at places where it may be a hindrance. Now schools must make sure that they have kids passing, and may even make the tests easier so as not to garner the attention of the higher ups. I've already read that they have increased the science and math portion, while cutting back on other things such as phys. ed.
Regarding testing, I found an interesting link on the U.S. Department of Education site. It lists at the bottom testing myths. After reading this I just had to go, huh?! The answers to those myths seem to be mislabelled "reality", as it is more in line with "in theory". They also didn't really give solid answers, but just seem to say "thats not true!" and moved on.
This leads me to the other big test, the I.Q. test. A long time ago, a psychologist wanted to be able to identify schoolchildren who may be developmentally challenged so resources could be directed to help them as early as possible. It wasn't about finding the smartest or the best, it was about finding who needs help. The problem is, once you found out who needed help, you then labelled them. Those who did really well must be smart, so obviously those who did poor must be the opposite, stupid. And once a label sticks to you, sometimes people go out to try and help you, or the label provides them other information so they can "deal" with you.
Another that I've seen is to hold teachers accountable. What a concept! For all the great, wonderful teachers, there are also some that should be fired but won't be unless there is gross misconduct. The flaw is that this is based on how their classes do on the exams. Clearly this may be unfair when for example they may teach classes with kids in a lower academic stream.
Now there are plenty of other critiques, but I won't put them here. I'll just say that at least the core of this act is to say, "right now our school systems need to get better" and I think that is a good step. But its not like there is a great need for American math scores to beat Japanese math scores at the grade 5 level. Hopefully they can keep tinkering with the act to get it right...
Thats all for now... oh yeah, if you're bored try this "I.Q." test from CBC. Although, it is clearly broken since I got a 111 while Maggie got 126... =P
Not really sure where this blog is going to go, but here it is...
Has anyone ever heard of the "No Child Left Behind Act"? It is an American act involving its public school system. The above link is from the U.S. Department of Education. Here is a wikipedia link. From what I've been able to gather, it seems like an act with the right intentions, using the right words, but in practice is stifling those it affects.
It basically states that it wants every child to reach a certain proficiency in their classes once they graduate. This is determined through standardized state testing that the students must go through. The goal is to have every student proficient (in core subjects? all? not too sure) by the year 2012 or something like that. This includes minority groups, low income, and disabled children. This is actually a noble idea however, in the end it reminds me of affirmative action. Its true that minorities etc.. get the shaft, but these programs seem to have difficulty taking action where it needs to be but ease at places where it may be a hindrance. Now schools must make sure that they have kids passing, and may even make the tests easier so as not to garner the attention of the higher ups. I've already read that they have increased the science and math portion, while cutting back on other things such as phys. ed.
Regarding testing, I found an interesting link on the U.S. Department of Education site. It lists at the bottom testing myths. After reading this I just had to go, huh?! The answers to those myths seem to be mislabelled "reality", as it is more in line with "in theory". They also didn't really give solid answers, but just seem to say "thats not true!" and moved on.
This leads me to the other big test, the I.Q. test. A long time ago, a psychologist wanted to be able to identify schoolchildren who may be developmentally challenged so resources could be directed to help them as early as possible. It wasn't about finding the smartest or the best, it was about finding who needs help. The problem is, once you found out who needed help, you then labelled them. Those who did really well must be smart, so obviously those who did poor must be the opposite, stupid. And once a label sticks to you, sometimes people go out to try and help you, or the label provides them other information so they can "deal" with you.
Another that I've seen is to hold teachers accountable. What a concept! For all the great, wonderful teachers, there are also some that should be fired but won't be unless there is gross misconduct. The flaw is that this is based on how their classes do on the exams. Clearly this may be unfair when for example they may teach classes with kids in a lower academic stream.
Now there are plenty of other critiques, but I won't put them here. I'll just say that at least the core of this act is to say, "right now our school systems need to get better" and I think that is a good step. But its not like there is a great need for American math scores to beat Japanese math scores at the grade 5 level. Hopefully they can keep tinkering with the act to get it right...
Thats all for now... oh yeah, if you're bored try this "I.Q." test from CBC. Although, it is clearly broken since I got a 111 while Maggie got 126... =P
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Pie Charts Are Fun!
My introductory finance class has got me interested in, well finances. Currently, we have a that project involves examining a couple's cashflow. This then inspired me to take a look at my spending habits. In order to do this, I decided to take a look back at my bank statement. This goes back to near the end of October, to the end of January.
This method is quite flawed because I completely do not remember what I did with any cash that I didn't get through my bank account. Nevertheless, lets call those amounts bonus money or whatever. It wasn't really a lot (I hope), and I guess some were really just withdrawals. Another note is that my clothing expenses are happily subsized by the government of mom and dad. Also, note that eating expenses are lessened because there are packed lunches meals that are made with groceries. Groceries is not a part of my spending.
This following chart looks at spending and how it was allocated. I tried to minimize the number of categories for easy viewing. Now, food covers all of fast food, restaurants, and snacks. Interestingly, I thought I would have spent quite a bit at places like KFC, but it was more of a high frequency transaction then it was a high expense. Electronics refers to DVD's, CD's, and video games. This is after getting a new MP3 player.
Withdrawals are that, although I think a large portion of that went to food. Thats the most likely scenario. Sports spending refers to equipment and sporting goods/wear. I don't know what some of them were exactly, but its likely to be things like an Oilers hat or winter gloves. The rest of the categories are self explanatory.
So clearly, and its probably the same with most people, essentials like textbooks and bus pass take up the most. Its probably a good thing when these are the types of items that take up most of the spending.
This next one is the same, but without the category textbooks included.
I could have taken out bus pass, but I didn't think it was necessary. Now here, food shoots up as a high expense if you combine that with the likelihood that withdrawals mostly ended up as food. Food is probably still underrepresented because I can't account for a lot of other transactions.
Some conclusions: It would be very beneficial to set up a food budget. Its about trying to eliminte those impulses, but acknowledge that you want to eat out and allow for a reasonable amount. I thought the "recreational" expenses such as reading, electronics, sporting are fairly low. They add up to 35% which I don't think is too bad. This is a spending chart, so there is no comparison to how much was put away and saved on here.
While looking at these, I imagined comparing these to the expenses of someone living on their own. Obviously this chart doesn't compare, it really has no monthly bills whatsoever to speak of. Basically, the spending is still that of a carefree student. It is a privilege to live the way I do, and I should start shouldering more of the load as well as taking advantage of the fact that the costs of life haven't caught up to me yet. It is something I already know, but looking at these really brought it to my attention...
My introductory finance class has got me interested in, well finances. Currently, we have a that project involves examining a couple's cashflow. This then inspired me to take a look at my spending habits. In order to do this, I decided to take a look back at my bank statement. This goes back to near the end of October, to the end of January.
This method is quite flawed because I completely do not remember what I did with any cash that I didn't get through my bank account. Nevertheless, lets call those amounts bonus money or whatever. It wasn't really a lot (I hope), and I guess some were really just withdrawals. Another note is that my clothing expenses are happily subsized by the government of mom and dad. Also, note that eating expenses are lessened because there are packed lunches meals that are made with groceries. Groceries is not a part of my spending.
This following chart looks at spending and how it was allocated. I tried to minimize the number of categories for easy viewing. Now, food covers all of fast food, restaurants, and snacks. Interestingly, I thought I would have spent quite a bit at places like KFC, but it was more of a high frequency transaction then it was a high expense. Electronics refers to DVD's, CD's, and video games. This is after getting a new MP3 player.
Withdrawals are that, although I think a large portion of that went to food. Thats the most likely scenario. Sports spending refers to equipment and sporting goods/wear. I don't know what some of them were exactly, but its likely to be things like an Oilers hat or winter gloves. The rest of the categories are self explanatory.
So clearly, and its probably the same with most people, essentials like textbooks and bus pass take up the most. Its probably a good thing when these are the types of items that take up most of the spending.This next one is the same, but without the category textbooks included.
I could have taken out bus pass, but I didn't think it was necessary. Now here, food shoots up as a high expense if you combine that with the likelihood that withdrawals mostly ended up as food. Food is probably still underrepresented because I can't account for a lot of other transactions. Some conclusions: It would be very beneficial to set up a food budget. Its about trying to eliminte those impulses, but acknowledge that you want to eat out and allow for a reasonable amount. I thought the "recreational" expenses such as reading, electronics, sporting are fairly low. They add up to 35% which I don't think is too bad. This is a spending chart, so there is no comparison to how much was put away and saved on here.
While looking at these, I imagined comparing these to the expenses of someone living on their own. Obviously this chart doesn't compare, it really has no monthly bills whatsoever to speak of. Basically, the spending is still that of a carefree student. It is a privilege to live the way I do, and I should start shouldering more of the load as well as taking advantage of the fact that the costs of life haven't caught up to me yet. It is something I already know, but looking at these really brought it to my attention...
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Its The Eye of the Tiger
Sometimes its amazing how people will take that shot at "something great" in their life, for something they love. Sometimes its their first shot, or it could be their very last. The physical, mental, or emotional risks can certainly be tremendous. In this post I will be using an extreme example. Although I'm certain everyone we know faces these kinds of chances I'll talk about something that recently happened that really stands out.
At age 43, Randy Couture exited retirement for one last shot. It was a decision that made people cringe, as he was reentering the sport of mixed martial arts (or "ultimate fighting"). His opponent? A 6 foot 8 inch, 265 pound 30 year old named Tim Sylvia that was the current heavyweight champion. Needless to say, the favorite was Sylvia. Despite being physically outmatched, Couture was able to defeat Sylvia without ever taking a serious punch. He proved all the naysayers completely wrong and gave everyone an unbelievable memory. Despite his age, his desire to compete allowed him to come back and shoot straight back to the top.
These things do not always work out. You do not always hear the stories where taking the chance backfired in the worst way. There is a realistic chance of being in over your head. Or maybe a higher chance of a freak occurrence. Again, using MMA as an example, Justin Eilers was a heavyweight who lucked into getting a title shot against Andre "The Pitbull" Arlovski. The result? Eilers suffered extensive injuries in this match, breaking both hands, his jaw, and tearing his ACL.
Eilers would subsequently leave the big leagues and fight in minor shows. His career at the top level is pretty much over. However, it could be argued that he can always say he stepped into the ring against someone few wanted to take on. Maybe all those injuries were worth the choice instead of possibly looking back years later and wondering, "what if?" It is a once in a lifetime opportunity and who knows, maybe he did understand fully that his career could end or significantly change from taking on a top fighter.
I just wanted to blog something about Randy Couture because this feat is absolutely amazing. No one expected him to come out and dominate. A few years ago, at age 39 he came in to defeat a top fighter in a lower weight class and everyone was amazed. When he did it again recently, well, he is certainly living up to his moniker "Captain America." Someone check and see if he is injected with the secret serum...
Sometimes its amazing how people will take that shot at "something great" in their life, for something they love. Sometimes its their first shot, or it could be their very last. The physical, mental, or emotional risks can certainly be tremendous. In this post I will be using an extreme example. Although I'm certain everyone we know faces these kinds of chances I'll talk about something that recently happened that really stands out.
At age 43, Randy Couture exited retirement for one last shot. It was a decision that made people cringe, as he was reentering the sport of mixed martial arts (or "ultimate fighting"). His opponent? A 6 foot 8 inch, 265 pound 30 year old named Tim Sylvia that was the current heavyweight champion. Needless to say, the favorite was Sylvia. Despite being physically outmatched, Couture was able to defeat Sylvia without ever taking a serious punch. He proved all the naysayers completely wrong and gave everyone an unbelievable memory. Despite his age, his desire to compete allowed him to come back and shoot straight back to the top.
These things do not always work out. You do not always hear the stories where taking the chance backfired in the worst way. There is a realistic chance of being in over your head. Or maybe a higher chance of a freak occurrence. Again, using MMA as an example, Justin Eilers was a heavyweight who lucked into getting a title shot against Andre "The Pitbull" Arlovski. The result? Eilers suffered extensive injuries in this match, breaking both hands, his jaw, and tearing his ACL.
Eilers would subsequently leave the big leagues and fight in minor shows. His career at the top level is pretty much over. However, it could be argued that he can always say he stepped into the ring against someone few wanted to take on. Maybe all those injuries were worth the choice instead of possibly looking back years later and wondering, "what if?" It is a once in a lifetime opportunity and who knows, maybe he did understand fully that his career could end or significantly change from taking on a top fighter.
I just wanted to blog something about Randy Couture because this feat is absolutely amazing. No one expected him to come out and dominate. A few years ago, at age 39 he came in to defeat a top fighter in a lower weight class and everyone was amazed. When he did it again recently, well, he is certainly living up to his moniker "Captain America." Someone check and see if he is injected with the secret serum...
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Music Explored
By the way, youtube is so awesome. Here is my youtube music link of the week! Its the Foo Fighters concert at Hyde Park in front of 85, 000 people. There is supposed to be a DVD of this but I haven't been able to find it at any stores here.
I read Dev's blog about music and thought I would post something. Music is interesting because of so many different things. Its amazing just how many different genres and sub genres are. Would it be possible to be listen to every single type of music out there?
Something I found interesting and that I remember reading is that it is the melody of the song that really hooks people in. Dev was even saying that the lyrics broken down without the melody have no meaning. This is what I think made bands like the Beatles endure. It wasn't really their lyrics or instrument playing early on, although these would improve immensely. They were able to come up with tons and tons of pop melodies. I think that is how during their "invasion" they managed to live up to their ridiculus hype, with their songs sounding different although admittedly saying the same thing. Maybe its me but it seems that now with bands their songs say the same thing and sound too similar melodically.
Music is also interesting because there is a lot of structure behind it. When I was looking up the lyrics to the Beatles song Eleanor Rigby (just listen to the song) I found this site which gives a bit of analysis on the song. When you click the link for further analysis, it really just stops making sense. It is kind of funny how art such as literature and music can be created so naturally by few and yet the best the rest can do is try to dissect it to some level of understanding.
As well, Dev mentioned how influential music is. Although nowadays its a full package. Its the music video, ideals of the artist, and what their supposed genre is supposed to be. When Guns 'n Roses (song is Civil War) exploded, hair metal was everywhere! And of course you cannot forget the riots associated with their concerts. So I guess when the songs you like are from gangster rap to drug addled rock stars you need to seperate the song from the artists.
Well, I guess thats it for this post. I managed to quickly talk about melody and thats really all I wanted to do. Last music link is going to relate back to the first link. Its yes, Everlong at Hyde Park for those that aren't going to look at the top link. Just imagine being in that place, 85, 000 strong. I could only imagine the atmosphere...
By the way, youtube is so awesome. Here is my youtube music link of the week! Its the Foo Fighters concert at Hyde Park in front of 85, 000 people. There is supposed to be a DVD of this but I haven't been able to find it at any stores here.
I read Dev's blog about music and thought I would post something. Music is interesting because of so many different things. Its amazing just how many different genres and sub genres are. Would it be possible to be listen to every single type of music out there?
Something I found interesting and that I remember reading is that it is the melody of the song that really hooks people in. Dev was even saying that the lyrics broken down without the melody have no meaning. This is what I think made bands like the Beatles endure. It wasn't really their lyrics or instrument playing early on, although these would improve immensely. They were able to come up with tons and tons of pop melodies. I think that is how during their "invasion" they managed to live up to their ridiculus hype, with their songs sounding different although admittedly saying the same thing. Maybe its me but it seems that now with bands their songs say the same thing and sound too similar melodically.
Music is also interesting because there is a lot of structure behind it. When I was looking up the lyrics to the Beatles song Eleanor Rigby (just listen to the song) I found this site which gives a bit of analysis on the song. When you click the link for further analysis, it really just stops making sense. It is kind of funny how art such as literature and music can be created so naturally by few and yet the best the rest can do is try to dissect it to some level of understanding.
As well, Dev mentioned how influential music is. Although nowadays its a full package. Its the music video, ideals of the artist, and what their supposed genre is supposed to be. When Guns 'n Roses (song is Civil War) exploded, hair metal was everywhere! And of course you cannot forget the riots associated with their concerts. So I guess when the songs you like are from gangster rap to drug addled rock stars you need to seperate the song from the artists.
Well, I guess thats it for this post. I managed to quickly talk about melody and thats really all I wanted to do. Last music link is going to relate back to the first link. Its yes, Everlong at Hyde Park for those that aren't going to look at the top link. Just imagine being in that place, 85, 000 strong. I could only imagine the atmosphere...
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Face of a Franchise
Ryan Smyth has been traded.
For some reason, every time these trades happen in Edmonton its just as suprising as the last one. And the timing is just unbelievable as TSN even commented, who decided Mark Messier night should be on trade deadline day?? Although I was around when Doug Weight, Bill Guerin, and Curtis Joseph left, for some reason Ryan Smyth is just huge. Well, I guess it was that those three players were under the "Old NHL" where it was acknowledged that Edmonton couldn't afford him. But Ryan Smyth?
He is the old sports cliche the "heart and soul" of his team. He helped lead his team to within a game of reclaiming past glory. He has always been among the team's best player and is the best player this year.
The issue probably with negotiation was whether or not Ryan Smyth can be paid as the team's best player in a few years. Certainly most people feel it will be Hemsky... as well, with all the other contracts at the moment taking up budget...
I'm watching TSN and the reaction is just nuts. Last year the Oilers were getting the big news because they were on their big playoff run. Unfortunately, they're getting the big attention for the wrong reasons this year.
Ryan Smyth has been traded.
For some reason, every time these trades happen in Edmonton its just as suprising as the last one. And the timing is just unbelievable as TSN even commented, who decided Mark Messier night should be on trade deadline day?? Although I was around when Doug Weight, Bill Guerin, and Curtis Joseph left, for some reason Ryan Smyth is just huge. Well, I guess it was that those three players were under the "Old NHL" where it was acknowledged that Edmonton couldn't afford him. But Ryan Smyth?
He is the old sports cliche the "heart and soul" of his team. He helped lead his team to within a game of reclaiming past glory. He has always been among the team's best player and is the best player this year.
The issue probably with negotiation was whether or not Ryan Smyth can be paid as the team's best player in a few years. Certainly most people feel it will be Hemsky... as well, with all the other contracts at the moment taking up budget...
I'm watching TSN and the reaction is just nuts. Last year the Oilers were getting the big news because they were on their big playoff run. Unfortunately, they're getting the big attention for the wrong reasons this year.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Random Stuff from Youtube
Wow, I found this really neat. Its an orchaestra band covering Green Day songs, but check out their movements as they are playing, its really neat.
Now, for some crazy guitar sound effects from Dragonforce (With a name like that, you have to take a look) check this out.
Finally, if you're bored, here is an episode called "Intramural Glory".
Wow, I found this really neat. Its an orchaestra band covering Green Day songs, but check out their movements as they are playing, its really neat.
Now, for some crazy guitar sound effects from Dragonforce (With a name like that, you have to take a look) check this out.
Finally, if you're bored, here is an episode called "Intramural Glory".
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Will it Blend? And Other Random Shit From the Internet!
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you put lightbulbs in a blender? Well now you and I can stop turning and tossing at night pondering such a question! The answer can simply be found right here. Finally, life can continue on with some semblence of satisfaction.
I probably spend too much time on youtube and other stupid videos... oh well!
This comic from Penny Arcade is also awesome to the 'nth degree.
Oh this one is actually useful. Ever wonder how to sell your home? Comfree makes it easy as 1, 2, and 3!
And last one for the night, did anyone get to read this news story? Whats missing from this report is that she has been quoted as wearing diapers while driving to confront the other lady. The diapers are apparently something astronauts will use while lifting off and such. Anyways, she was wearing diapers while on her drive so that she didn't have to take bathroom breaks. Am I the only one who started imagining astronauts planning out how lazy they can be during the day? "Lets see, I can watch the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy if I set up my toothpaste meals on my let, and wear my diapers..."
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you put lightbulbs in a blender? Well now you and I can stop turning and tossing at night pondering such a question! The answer can simply be found right here. Finally, life can continue on with some semblence of satisfaction.
I probably spend too much time on youtube and other stupid videos... oh well!
This comic from Penny Arcade is also awesome to the 'nth degree.
Oh this one is actually useful. Ever wonder how to sell your home? Comfree makes it easy as 1, 2, and 3!
And last one for the night, did anyone get to read this news story? Whats missing from this report is that she has been quoted as wearing diapers while driving to confront the other lady. The diapers are apparently something astronauts will use while lifting off and such. Anyways, she was wearing diapers while on her drive so that she didn't have to take bathroom breaks. Am I the only one who started imagining astronauts planning out how lazy they can be during the day? "Lets see, I can watch the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy if I set up my toothpaste meals on my let, and wear my diapers..."
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Books
One of the things I wanted to get back into was more reading for this year. I've probably strayed a bit too far into sports books and now they all appear to be the same. So I want to get back into reading something with a bit more difficulty. Right now I'm reading Catch 22, having just finished The World According to Garp.
The World According to Garp was a very interesting book as it was all kinds of just plain old crazy (thats an oxymoron, because crazy isn't plain... or is it?). At the time I bought that book I actually thought in my mind, "there is no way I can make this a stand alone purchase. I should get that Bobby Orr book too." Anyways, once I got into it I was still thinking, "I can't believe I'm reading this!" It started to become a novel that I kept going because I wanted to know what happened next. There is one part I totally want to talk about, but it would be a spoiler for anyone who decides to check out the book. Its just completely twisted, disturbing, funny, and sad... I'll have to reread the whole thing sometime just to try and get things I may have missed the first time.
Catch 22 so far is really wacky. It makes me think of it as a precursor to Leslie Nielson type humour. Anyways, the book is set in the army and a catch 22 is this: If you are "crazy", you can ask to be shipped out because you are not fit to serve duty, however if you ask for such a request you have proven youself sane because you understand war is dangerous, and thus you then are fit to serve duty. So far the book seems to be introducing characters, and I have no idea where it is going.
The point of these books is to kind of get away from some of the action thriller type bestsellers. I'm not sure why The Da Vinci Code was loved so much, because to me it came off as a typical action thriller. I guess it just seemed to have a whole bunch of "smart" theories.
So now that I am on this kick, I was trying to think of what was my favorite book. It would actually be Champions: The Making of the Edmonton Oilers by Kevin Lowe and Stan Fischler. Its great because it gives some history of the Oilers, the WHA, and a look into the glory Oilers. There is a bit of irony, because as far as I know, Fishler was a quite the critic of Gretzky and slammed for the sake of it. I also have Peter Gzowski's The Game of Our Lives which chronicles the 1981 Oilers team. Now as for fiction books, it would probably be Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy.
I also think I should get a copy of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger as it is the book I did in high school that I guess opened up my mind. After that book I didn't see books or movies as media where "things should happen." It could be much more than that through uses of different storytelling techniques. It wasn't about the tough guy hero who could beat up all the bad guys in the end (although you can never replace Tony Jaa's Ong Bak). When I first read The Catcher in the Rye it was basically summed up as: three days of the guy complaining about stuff, and then he cries. Once things were explained a bit, I was forced to dig into the book and figure out what the author is trying to say and even what the author is saying without meaning to. This led to the book being pretty good, and I figure if you can understand a book, sometimes it can help you understand life a little bit. This is probably what they meant when they said they wanted to develop "Critical thinking skills." Except for the part where they mark you and tell you that you are wrong if you do it different (or just plain wrong...).
Thats pretty much it for this post, I guess I'll leave one question though. For the upcoming months, does anyone have any suggestions for good reads? Lemme know if you do.
One of the things I wanted to get back into was more reading for this year. I've probably strayed a bit too far into sports books and now they all appear to be the same. So I want to get back into reading something with a bit more difficulty. Right now I'm reading Catch 22, having just finished The World According to Garp.
The World According to Garp was a very interesting book as it was all kinds of just plain old crazy (thats an oxymoron, because crazy isn't plain... or is it?). At the time I bought that book I actually thought in my mind, "there is no way I can make this a stand alone purchase. I should get that Bobby Orr book too." Anyways, once I got into it I was still thinking, "I can't believe I'm reading this!" It started to become a novel that I kept going because I wanted to know what happened next. There is one part I totally want to talk about, but it would be a spoiler for anyone who decides to check out the book. Its just completely twisted, disturbing, funny, and sad... I'll have to reread the whole thing sometime just to try and get things I may have missed the first time.
Catch 22 so far is really wacky. It makes me think of it as a precursor to Leslie Nielson type humour. Anyways, the book is set in the army and a catch 22 is this: If you are "crazy", you can ask to be shipped out because you are not fit to serve duty, however if you ask for such a request you have proven youself sane because you understand war is dangerous, and thus you then are fit to serve duty. So far the book seems to be introducing characters, and I have no idea where it is going.
The point of these books is to kind of get away from some of the action thriller type bestsellers. I'm not sure why The Da Vinci Code was loved so much, because to me it came off as a typical action thriller. I guess it just seemed to have a whole bunch of "smart" theories.
So now that I am on this kick, I was trying to think of what was my favorite book. It would actually be Champions: The Making of the Edmonton Oilers by Kevin Lowe and Stan Fischler. Its great because it gives some history of the Oilers, the WHA, and a look into the glory Oilers. There is a bit of irony, because as far as I know, Fishler was a quite the critic of Gretzky and slammed for the sake of it. I also have Peter Gzowski's The Game of Our Lives which chronicles the 1981 Oilers team. Now as for fiction books, it would probably be Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy.
I also think I should get a copy of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger as it is the book I did in high school that I guess opened up my mind. After that book I didn't see books or movies as media where "things should happen." It could be much more than that through uses of different storytelling techniques. It wasn't about the tough guy hero who could beat up all the bad guys in the end (although you can never replace Tony Jaa's Ong Bak). When I first read The Catcher in the Rye it was basically summed up as: three days of the guy complaining about stuff, and then he cries. Once things were explained a bit, I was forced to dig into the book and figure out what the author is trying to say and even what the author is saying without meaning to. This led to the book being pretty good, and I figure if you can understand a book, sometimes it can help you understand life a little bit. This is probably what they meant when they said they wanted to develop "Critical thinking skills." Except for the part where they mark you and tell you that you are wrong if you do it different (or just plain wrong...).
Thats pretty much it for this post, I guess I'll leave one question though. For the upcoming months, does anyone have any suggestions for good reads? Lemme know if you do.
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