Another new blog....

Ok, I'm really getting pissed at this website, but I think I have it figured out now...

My new blog is at:

http://murrayinottawa.blogspot.com/

Hopefully this is the last new blog I'll have for a while.....

I'm Back....

Yes, I am back. I'm very sorry to my legions of readers who have been clamoring for a fresh post.

I had moved on for a while to Myspace, but I got sick of the oly people who wanted to be my friend being garbage bands. My girlfriend Michelle talked me into joining it (which I held out on for months) so once she quit it there was no way I was gonna stick around on it.

I'm working on moving in with Michelle at the end of the month. I'm getting pretty excited about moving. My new place is a lot closer to downtown Ottawa and should cut my commute to work in half (though it is only about 30 minutes now). It's a good sized apartment and I think will serve our purposes quite well.

I think that I will be updating this a lot more frequently now that the hockey season is over. And especially if Michelle keeps hogging the TV by watching crappy reality shows. Since when did losers dancing become such a good idea for a show? Or morons singing that all sound like a cat that just had its tail run over by a car?

Ciao for now....

Deadline Madness....

I cannot believe that Ryan Smyth is now an Islander...

The Oilers will be lost without him, and I don't just mean this year...

For shame, Kevin Lowe. For shame....

War...

Tonight I saw the best quote ever made about war. Sure it was in a commercial for the Carolina Hurricanes, but it is still a brilliant line...

'War does not determine who is right, only who is left.'

True, it may have something to do with the amount of alcohol I've consumed tonight, But I find this line to be absolutely brilliant!

More to follow tomorrow if:

a) It is still intriguing to me when I am sober
b) I remember that I made this post
c) I actually bother to update this blog

Until tomorrow then.... Or not....

Boxing Day Bargains...

Well, I finally caved. Yesterday I bought an iPod.

So far it seem pretty good. I've downloaded all my music onto it and have only filled one third of the space. I can't wait until I get home and can start downloading videos onto it.

And this morning I had the inspiration to look for some of the artists that I liked on Rockstar: Supernova. Toby and Magni don't seem to have anything out yet, but I did find Patrice Pike's new album. I really liked her on the show and the original song that she did was great so i didn't hesitate to download the album from iTunes. Ok, I did hesitate for a moment to check if I could download it on Ares for free. Of course I couldn't. I can't wait to listen to the album this afternoon.

Cancer Blows…

I spent the other night with my mom in the Cancer Lodge in Vancouver. She is currently fighting Leukemia and has to go to the nearby hospital on a daily basis for treatment and to get blood.

The lodge itself isn’t such a bad place, sorta like a hotel room. But to stay there for 3 months like she has I’m sure feels like agony.

As I type this we are currently onboard a ferry bound for Nanaimo. Mom wasn’t feeling so well on the car ride from the lodge to the ferry so now she is laying down and resting. Of course, there is not a designated place for doing this, so we have set her up on a box that is used to store curtains that cover the windows when it is dark out such that the interior lights do not interfere with the view of the water. We have gotten a few weird looks, but what are we to do? She desperately needs to rest and this is the only place she can do so.

I hope that she will start to feel a little better in the next few days.

Probably the best Christmas present that she could get this year would be to find a bone marrow donor for her so that she can maybe stop the chemotherapy and start getting healthier. Anyone wanna donate their marrow?

I know she will not stop fighting this but it is hard to see her going through it.

I come for the service, but I stay for the leg room...

Well, I have successfully arrived in Vancouver for the holidays. The flight out here was one of the best I have ever been on.

There are some people who may tell you that there is really no difference between first class and coach class on an airplane. Those people are absolutely wrong.

By giving up the seat I had on my Toronto-Vancouver flight (which I had already switched into to let two other people sit together) to a guy so he could sit with his wife and child, I eventually got bumped up to first class. What a fabulous experience! An abundance of leg room and fully reclining chairs are only some of the perks that come with a first-class ticket. I also got some wine and a meal. And after all that, I got a warm wet towel to clean myself up with.

I will now begin scheming to come up with a way of getting into first class on the return trip on the 31st.

Nothing Yet...

Well here we are, it's Friday night and Michelle has yet to discover her christmas present. Not that this is especially surprising to me.

Of course she could have seen it and is just keeping quiet about it thinking that I still want to surprise her.

Or maybe she thinks that I think that she thinks to let it seems like a surprise.

Damn her mind games....

Just a little test...

My girlfriend Michelle claims that she checks my blog often, so this post primarily is to test my theory that she doesn't.

Because I am going home to Vancouver for Christmas, I will not be able to give her gift to her. When I originally suggested that I could mail it to her she resisted. But the last few days Michelle has gotten more insistent (and pushy) for me to send it to her.

Also, for the last month she has been bugging me to tell her what i got for her. Apparently she doesn't like my hints of 'it's smaller than the empire state building' and 'it's composed of atoms'.

So here goes: I got her a necklace from a store in the Rideau Center. The pendant has some little crystals in it that kind of look like diamonds and it is made of Rhodium (which is apparently related to platinum).

We'll see how long it takes until she finds it...

Here I am....

Yes, I am still here...

Just sitting here watching hockey, as per usual...

Hmmmm, Pittsburgh and the Rangers are going to a shootout now, should be a good one....

Lest We Forget...

I attended the Rememberance Day ceremonies here in Ottawa on Saturday. It was the big one down at the War Memorial that gets all the tv coverage and has the Prime Minister there too. It's great to see such a great turn out despite the shitty weather.

It seems like every year they schedule a fly-by of Hornets for the ceremony and every year they have to scrub the flight due to the bad weather. At least this year there was a Mustang that was able to fly.

Going to something like that always gets me thinking of how all of these veterens at these things are such a small representation of just how many people fought for this country. Just thinking about all those heroes that fought and died for their country always makes me feel really small and insignificant. I know with nearly absolute certainty that I will never do anything as noble as these brave men and women have done in in laying down their lives such that people like me could grow up free in a world that is safe (relatively speaking).

Thank you to all of those who have ever served for our counrty, who left family and friends behind for a greater cause, and who were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. You may be underappreciated by the majority of this ungrateful country, but i count myself as one of the small minority who is proud of those who have fought for our country. ALL of those who have fought for our country, be it six decades ago or six hours ago.

I salute each and every one of you.

Hero Worship...

It's official.

Peter McKay is my hero.

Any other time, to any other woman, his comment would have been deplorable. But delivered as it was, with all the stuff flying around about Belinda at the time, it was absolutely brilliant!

The funniest part is the firestorm that has been set off by something he didn't even say. Oh sure he implied it, but that's not the same. And now the lousy Liberals want to send some tape that aledgedly captured this implied slur off for expert analysis. What exactly they hope to accomplish with this I am not sure. Maybe it has just been so long since they wasted taxpayers money that they were feeling out of sorts...

I look forward to Peter McKay's inevitable book when it comes out: 'Snappy Comebacks to Stupid Comments'.

And I will say what Peter McKay cannot due to his public position; Belinda is a bitch. And a liar. And a homewrecker. And I'm sure she feels right at home in the Liberal Party.

Thank God the NHL is Back...

Wow, that is wierd. I spend at least 3 hours a night sitting in front of the TV, many of them with my laptop on my lap top and haven't updated this thing for 2 weeks...

Egad, I LOVE NHL Center Ice. Being able to watch so much hockey is amazing. I have already seen more shoot-outs this year than i did all of last year since I can tell what games have the potential to go into one and then watching it.

The best part about it is that I am learning just how good the Western Conference is. Every game I have watched from out West has been brilliant. Incredible speed, bone-crushing hits, and unbelievable plays are happening almost non-stop in those games. The San Jose - Edmonton game from last week was one of the best games I have ever seen in my life.

Even right now I am watching a Dallas - Anaheim game that has been pretty darn good.

I'll try and get to this a little more often in the coming weeks...

So Very Close...

The new NHL season is so close now that I am literally salivating in anticipation. Tomorrow night I am participating in the fantasy draft for my pool at work. Tuesday night all the sports channels will have previews of the upcoming season. And Wednesday the puck drops on another exciting season, accentuated by the opener in the latest edition of the battle of Ontario where the Senators *should* lay the first of many beatings that Toronto should sustain this season.

I think that I will have to have a nap when I get home on Wednesday in order to stay up and watch the Dallas-Colorodo game later that night.

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And congrats to the Blue Jays. They managed to finish in second place in the AL East this season, ahead of Boston. Here's hoping they can build on this next season and challenge for a playoff spot...

It's So Beautiful...

I have been waiting for four months for this moment. The first hockey game I can watch this new season. Yes, it's only the OHL, and yes, it is Sarnia, but it is still hockey dammit!...

I made the decision a month ago to get NHL Center Ice this season so I could watch as much hockey as I could ever want this season. Turns out that it is cheaper to order the super sports pack from Rogers and cancel it in the spring than to just get NHL Center Ice. The added bonus to that I get the OHL action pack with it meaning that even during slow nights in the NHL, i can still watch some pretty good hockey.

The neatest thing tonight is that Bobby Ryan is back in the lineup for Owen Sound. He was just sent down from Anaheim yesterday. I can see why he was drafted in the first round by the Ducks a year ago; he is skating circles around the other team. It shouldn't be any stretch for him to average 1.5 points per game this season, or more.

Oh hockey, how I have missed you...

Surprises....

Has it really been a over a week since I last updated this thing? Where does the time go?...

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For those of you who read my last post and exclaimed 'Hitler doesn't have a blog!', you are wrong. I did some hard sleuthing and hours of painstaking searching and I found it. (Ok, so I googled 'hitler blog' and used the third link, sue me.)

The most interesting thing I found there was this picture:


Now I am not quite sure what we are seeing in this picture (besides the obvious), but have narrowed it down to two possibilities. The first option is that this is a picture of the current leader of the Nazis. This option scares me because he looks much more clever that Hitler. And so much more photogenic. He would have an easy time getting people to follow him. If the monkey ever learned the work 'blitzkrieg', we'd all be doomed...

The only other possible explanation is that they are trying to recreate world war two using chimps. This could be nearly as bad; monkeys with guns can only lead to problems. Luckily the war was nearly entirely in Europe and Asia and I don't live anywhere near those places...

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As I was typing this entry, the Jays beat Boston to move into second place in the AL East. That's amazing. Toronto hasn't placed that high in at least 10 years! Of course they need to hold that position over that last week, but they have been playing quite well lately (and Boston has played quite poorly) so there is a good chance they can maintain their lead...

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And the surprise of the week: My Riders upset the Lions in overtime! The win wasn't so surprising as the way they won it. Andy Fantuz recovered a fumble in the endzone for the go-ahead touchdown with 1:40 to go. B.C. quickly answered back with a major of their own to send the game to overtime. I love the CFL's wacky overtime rules by the way. Anyway, Saskatchewan failed to score on their possession when they went first meaning that the Lions just needed any points to win. Because they start on the opponents 35 yard line they decided to just punt it through the end zone on first down for a single point. Should have been a sure thing, especially with the heavy wind at his back, but McCallum botched it and didn't score a point. On the next go around, B.C. managed a field goal, but the Riders were able to drive down the field, ending with a 17 yard touchdown on a great catch by Fantuz again. Such a great ending...

Are Blogs Evil?...

Kimveer Gill had a blog, Kim Jong Il has a blog, Fidel Castro has a blog, and Hitler had a blog. From this, I deduce that blogs make people evil. Or they are inherently defective to begin with. One of the two. After all, I have a blog and I'm not evil...Much...

I Wish I Were an Islander...

Well, it's official. The laughingstock of the NHL has added a third ring to its circus. One would think that they would have learned from the insane contract they gave to Yashin 5 years ago (and are stuck with for another 5), but no. Instead the Islanders go and sign an admittedly above average goalie to a ludacris 15 year contract at $4.5 million per year. The money per season is probably a little more than he is worth these days but still not so bad, but doing it for 15 years can only be described as sheer idiocy. There are just too many variables involved to think that it could ever work out in favor of the team. What incentive does the guy have to get better or even maintain his current mediocre level. And when he does suck (and it's a guarantee that he will at some point; even Brodeur and Roy had their off seasons) there is absolutely no way to trade him because there is no other team out there that will take on that contract.And this contract is guarantees in case of injury too! If DiPietro goes to training camp next week and trips getting onto the ice and blows out his MCL and can never play again, he still will get all that cash.

All this has helped me decide that I want to play for the Islanders. Before you call me insane, think about it. As soon as I show any flashes of brilliance or any talent whatsoever, they will trade me to a good team for pretty much nothing. And if that doesn't happen, they will give me a 25 year contract for millions per year. And even if I were to be mediocre at best, I could always just move up to the front office and become the General Manager.

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This morning I was thinking that it was quite appropriate that I was playing a game yesterday as a Black Operative hunting down a terrorist group on their own turf. Lousy terrorists, may they all burn in their religions' version of hell...

I Guess That Makes Sense...

As I was playing 'Black' on my Xbox tonight, I found myself getting extremely frustrated as I kept on dieing in this one room. After about the 6th time (keeping in mind that i had to fight my way through the room each time taking at least 15 minutes) I finally gave up and went to the internet for a solution. Well, really I was looking for a cheat to make me invincible or something. Turns out that it was the final room of the game. Once I knew that I gave up on the cheat and used the advice i got (which was really no different from what I was doing) and went back with a little more perseverence. Finally after 3 more tries I got through it. Got a neat cut scene for my troubles. Also for finishing the game in normal mode I unlocked a Silver Guns mode which also give me unlimited ammunition. Maybe I'll try that tomorrow.

All in all, Black was an excellent game. Kinda disappointing how short it was with only 6 or 7 levels, but when each on took approximately an hour to complete I guess it's not so bad.

Just remember the five rules of Black Operatives:

1. Guns are the stars.
2. Every bullet is your baby.
3. Bigger guns, louder explosions.
4. Leave a trail of destruction.
5. Get creative with your kills.

I truly believe that the best way to relieve stress or cure depression is to blow the snot out of something. Such a fun game...

Another Sunday...

Yes I know the streak was broken yesterday, but with this posting today I'll have made 6 this week and 6 of 7 days is by far the most frequent I have ever posted...

A fairly quiet weekend again. Just enjoying another quality football game. The Riders are up by 4 points on the Bombers just coming out of halftime.

I love these lazy sundays...

Yesterday was made up of mostly nothing. Jeff and I went shopping for hockey equipment and groceries. I ended up making a lasagne from scratch for dinner and am quite pleased with the results. And since it was only Jeff and I eating, I also have my lunch for work all week. Ended the night over at Pub Italia with a couple of Hoegaardens...

The best part of today will be the season premier of the Simpsons and Family Guy later tonight.