These alumni games seem to be popping up all over the place and dang it, I’m going to attend at least one. The latest takes place January 14th at South Surrey Arena (I believe that’s smack dab in the middle of Softball City, where the Eagles play).
96.9 JACK FM is proud to present the Alumni Hockey Challenge on Sunday, January 14th @ The South Surrey Arena (2199 – 148 Street). Featuring JACK FM’s Jeff Rechner; actors: Dave Coulier (Full House), Lochlyn Munro; Global TV’s Steve Darling; NHL Alumni Tony Tanti, Bernie Nicholls, Reed Larson, Paul Reinhart, Gary Unger, Wayne Babych & more AGAINST the Vancouver Canucks Alumni Hockey Team including Cliff Ronning, Garry Valk, Tiger Williams, Richard Brodeur, & more with actor Jackson Davies.
Net proceeds benefiting the Larry Ashley Scholarship Fund & the White Rock/South Surrey Foundation. Tickets are $20 for 4 people (2 adults, 2 youth). General Seating. Call 604.531.4625 (Surrey Eagles office) or the South Surrey Boston Pizza for tickets. [JACK FM][Canucks]
Uncle Joey? King Richard Brodeur? Pay-Per-View Ronning? Sweet! We’re so there. The person I’m most excited to see is Reinhart. I recently discovered I had his Canucks trading card and it would be wicked to get it signed [Flickr].
Back East, they’re getting our usual weather. I heard it’s 14 degrees above the yearly average in Toronto. Meanwhile in the Lower Mainland, we all woke up to this strange white substance falling from the sky. We’ve seen it before, a few months ago, but I haven’t the foggiest as to why it’s coming down now.
My father-in-law asked me yesterday why our weather is being called so ‘unusual’ this year. It’s not the rain, really, it’s the storms. Winds, LOTS of rain, floods, slides, and snow. Not like the snowy winters we used to have when I was little, more like when you least expect it, it’ll dump a couple inches, winds will blow in sideways, and everyone is caught off guard.
We’re nestled indoors right now watching the World Jrs but we’re heading out soon to take care of some banking in Surrey. We borrowed my mom’s car today just to get this errand done (which I blogged a bit about yesterday) although driving is probably the last thing I want to do right now. I think I’ll let John take the wheel this afternoon, as a good Midwest boy he should be more used to these conditions. Unfortunately, everyone else on the roads around here, isn’t.
BC Place after roof collapse this afternoon
Update: We drove by BC Place about 10 minutes after a tear in the roof caused it to collapse. This explains why I haven’t blogged about it til now, we were on the road.
Reports at first were frantic and panicked, after a press conference about an hour later it was revealed that due to the tear, management decided to pull down the roof. Regardless, what a mess – and yet another change to the Vancouver skyline [Canada.com]
Everyone and their dog has already blogged about it (say what? breaking news stories on blogs?) but Jeremy’s got some pretty cool footage on his post of the original tear in the roof, flapping in the wind [JeremyLatham].
We’ve done a couple video podcasts lately and I’ve failed to cross post the entries over here from RadioZoom. Our latest adventure is trudging through the fallen tree carcasses of Stanley Park, over 2 weeks after a storm raged through the area.
RadioZoom Video Podcast #10 – Run Time 20:06 Mins
(click here for direct mp4 link) Our leisurely walk turns pretty rough n’ tumble about 3/4 of the way through… just don’t laugh when I fall down in the mud…
Previous video podcasts are from the holidays, just us rambling while wandering around or out for a drive. They’re over on the RadioZoom site, either on the main page or under the category “Video Podcast” but of course if you’re a subscriber you won’t miss a beat since they’re also in the feed.
John and I are watching the Canucks cruise into their 5th straight win, nope, no breaking the streak tonight… [Canucks&Beyond] even though we’re just in the first intermission.
I thought I’d just post something on a slightly lighter note, since earlier today it got a little heavy. Flipping through channels during the intermission John came across some weather program on one of the ‘higher up’ stations. We’re suckers for Discovery Channel programing and natural disaster documentaries. This one was about global warming so instantly John, whom I love dearly, turned on his Chris Farley [imdb] El Nino [wiki] voice. It’s one that I’ve heard before but never quite knew the context. So as I’m sitting at the computer writing a lovely email to my mother, he does the voice and I open up a new tab in Firefox. I type in a Google search “Chris Farley El Nino”, and am enlightened.
I just got my 2006 tax package in the mail, man they waste no time. Hopefully this year’s return will be better than last, which was pretty impressive – by my standards anyway. I started putting a couple bucks every check toward RRSPs this year so I’ll have $20 come 2050 so that’ll be kinda cool. Har har. Okay well maybe a lil more than that, although I can’t even think of retirement right now while we’re still trying to figure out what to make for dinner tonight. Government of Canada website says John’s application is status: processing. Still. I was thinking in jest that I would put a status button on my sidebar, but that would just end up being too painful. At this point, just thinking of it makes my eyes well up.
On a happier note, it was Don‘s 27th birthday Jan. 1. On a more dismal note, we missed it. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DON! I met Don last year when he flew up to play DJ and guest at our wedding. He’s been John‘s friend for years and he’s also got a kick ass public radio gig Sunday nights on WYEP Pittsburg. I’m sure I’ve mentioned that before. It’s funny, I recently thought of Don when reading Beyond Robson (the blog with which I have a love-hate relationship, save for 2 authors that are the only reason I check back every day). There was a post about Happy Bats.
Happy Bats saved Mount Pleasant from the mind-melting mediocrity that is the corporate behemoth Blockbuster. For years the ubiquitous yellow and blue monster was the only source for rentals, until the winged mammals landed in 2004 armed with Criterion Collection DVDs and the best in independent cinema [BR]
When Don was in town, and while we were feverishly getting ready for a wedding, he walked all over Vancouver visiting record and book stores, to browse and search out some rare finds. He brought us a business card from Happy Bats, it was the first I had heard of it, and thought it was pretty cool.
I will be having a birthday myself on the 9th, it will also be number 27 and as with every other year of my life, I have no idea how it will turn out but I’m sure glad I’ve made it this far. I haven’t been the best this past year at wishing others well. It’s been a bit of a struggle and in tough times you’re mostly just trying to bring yourself up out of the mud, you forget those who were standing over you reaching out their hand to help pull you up, or those that are down in that puddle with you. I guess I just don’t let all of this show often enough.
I’m done with the rainy metaphors for now, even though the skies have just opened up. Half the city is being showered when I look straight out the window in front of me to the North. The other half, looking out the apartment window that faces West, is glowing from the warm afternoon sunlight. I think it’s time to get up.
