Whenever I think of this day, I get “I Got You Babe” stuck in my head thanks to the movie, Groundhog Day.
In traditional weather lore, if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day and fails to see its shadow because the weather is cloudy, winter will soon end. If the groundhog sees its shadow because the weather is bright and clear, it will be frightened and run back into its hole, and the winter will continue for six more weeks. [wiki]
This year the prophetic little critter in Pennsylvania had this to say, which is a lot more than I can get out at that hour of the morning:
Phil’s official forecast as read 2/2/07 at 7:28 a.m. at Gobbler’s Knob:
El Nino has caused high winds, heavy snow, ice and freezing temperatures in the west.
Here in the East with much mild winter weather we have been blessed.
Global warming has caused a great debate.
This mild winter makes it seem just great.
On this Groundhog Day we think of one thing.
Will we have winter or will we have spring?
On Gobbler’s Knob I see no shadow today.
I predict that early spring is on the way [Groundhog.org]
Our Canadian version of Phil, is Wiarton Willie in Wiarton, Ontario. He also predicted an early spring. But just how many of these climatically inclined critters are out there? City News gives us a list including, but not limited to: Buckeye Chuck, French Creek Freddy and Balzac Billy. Way to go guys, today is YOUR day.
It seems like just yesterday we started this little podcast with a group of local hockey bloggers and here we are on #19.
We’re without Alanah on this episode, but the Internet gods were not on our side. Blame them. On the other hand, the rest of the crew were on hand after a long dry spell without Dave. Three games to talk about this time around; a loss to the Kings, an amazing win over the Sharks, and the Blue Jackets stole a shootout from us last night.
Record as of this episode: 28-19-4
Northwest Division: 2nd
Western Conference: 7th
Also, we address some trade rumors, talk about how Crow is doing in L.A., do a bit of an injury analysis on Kesler and Mitchell, get to some listener feedback/requests, and look at the road ahead towards the playoffs. And believe it or not, Fin is blogging.
It’s hard to imagine that we could be thinking about the playoffs with such hope compared to where we were at the beginning of the season, but we are. Episode 19, Run Time 51:00
My co-worker just sent me a link to an article talking about a book by a U of C professor.
Michael Keren, who has written “Blogosphere: The New Political Arena,” suggests individuals who bare their souls in blogs are isolated and lonely, living in a virtual reality instead of forming real relationships or helping to change the world.
“Bloggers think of themselves as rebels against mainstream society, but that rebellion is mostly confined to cyberspace, which makes blogging as melancholic and illusionary as Don Quixote tilting at windmills,” the author says.
I could start ranting, but seriously what’s the point? We all know why each of us blog, we all have our reasons. Be it personal, informative, geeky, literary, or just for the sake of tapping your fingers on a keyboard and publishing the result for the world to see.
I must admit though, I’m not completely transparent on my blog, I don’t go into details if I’ve had a bad day (except maybe when it has to do with a certain Credit Union) but that’s just me. That could say something about me, I could read into it, but… meh, I don’t really want to.
Keren praises the Internet as a great place for self-expression, but he also suggests that blogs often have the opposite effect by creating feelings of loneliness for those who aren’t lucky enough to reach “celebrity” status.
There are some people out there who are blogging to get recognized, but I’m sure there’s an equal amount of people who do it just to say something, share, and to have an outlet regardless of Technorati ranking or ‘blogebrity’ status.
For all we know this dude could be writing a book just to create a buzz. Maybe he knows if people blog about it he’s succeeded, whether it’s created a positive or negative review. Who knows, maybe we’ll all get the book and read it and it’ll become an Amazon best seller (regardless if its better purpose is that of a paperweight or not). Will he be upset if it doesn’t become popular?
We’re all entitled to our opinions, and I suppose this author is as well. Only thing is, I think he’ll just make more money off his, than I will mine.
Boy have I got a site for you, unfortunately for me. I used to check out this one ‘Vancouver Events’ web page cause it had some really interesting upcoming activities that I couldn’t find listed anywhere else. From fund raising dinners to concerts, it was a really great source. Though it seems as of late, it’s been inundated and completely absorbed by meet ‘n mingle postings for area singles.
Here are a couple of current events for singles in Vancouver listed on what used to be my most informative event listing site:
Vancouver singles into to rock climbing – Jan. 29 @ 9:00pm
Vancouver singles starlight snowshoeing – Jan 31 @ 6:00pm
Vancouver singles rack’em up pool night – Feb. 8 @ 7:00pm
Vancouver singles comedy night – Feb. 14 @ 7:00pm
Vancouver singles intro to chocolate making – Feb 19 @ 6:00pm
Vancouver singles intro to bartending – Feb 26 @6:45pm
Singles have all the fun! Well, I’m since not single, I really would like to have my event site back.
It seems like most of these postings are done by a company called Meet Market Adventures. Aside from having a name that makes me cringe, I know nothing about this organization and how reputable it may be. In any case, I need a new source for event info aside from like HOB.ca for concerts or upcoming.org. And Bradley, if you want more info on the events listed above, just visit www.meetmarketadventures.com, eh.
Phil’s official forecast as read 2/2/07 at 7:28 a.m. at Gobbler’s Knob:
