.Never Knew.

Facundo Cabral

2011-07-21T21:48:00.000-07:00

So I was going to read today before going to sleep then a friend of mine posted a link on facebook and I went to read an article on this guy Facundo Cabral. I will leave a link to the whole article at the end if you want to check it out but there was a great quote and story at the start of the article that I just felt like passing on.

After walking for so long in this world, I’ve come to realize that there’s only one religion: love. There’s only one language: the one that comes from heart. There’s only one race: humanity. And there’s only one God, and he’s everywhere…

And here is the story,

One day, God decided to come down to a small town, so he incarnated in the body of a homeless man. He looked for the town shoe repairman and he asked him: “brother, I’m very poor and I don’t have a single coin in my pocket. These are my only sandals and they are old and torn up. Can you please help me fix them?
The shoe repairman said: “I’m tired of everyone coming in and asking for things without giving me anything in return.”
God then said: “I can give you something that you might need.”
Expressing doubt, the shoe repairman replied: “Can you give me a million Dollars that I need so I can be happy?”
God said: “Yes, I can give you ten times more, but I will need something of yours, like your legs.”
The shoe repairman asked: “But what could I do with $10 million if I won’t be able to walk?”
God then said: “Okay, I can give you $100 million in exchange for both of your arms.”
The shoe repairman asked: “But what could I do with $100 million if I won’t be able to eat on my own?”
Then, God gave him one more offer and said: “Well, I can give you $1 billion in exchange for both of your eyes.”
The shoe repairman asked: “But why would I need a $1 billion if I won’t be able see my wife, my children, and my friends?”
God replied by saying: “Oh, my brother! How fortunate you are and you don’t even know it!”

And here is the link to the rest of the article.

http://deadlinelive.info/2011/07/10/influential-antiwar-poet-and-songwriter-facundo-cabral-assassinated-in-guatemala/

Photoshoot

2011-06-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

So this is just going to be a really short post. Although it always starts off that way in my mind but I just can't help but type out more words then are necessary to explain a situation.

Anyways, usually I have updated lately when I have finished a slough of books to report on I haven't finished any books lately but I have two on the run and they are 1984 by George Orwell (so far it's great) and also I am reading Love Wins by Rob Bell (so far it is great).

However the point of this post today is to tell you that the other night Janelle and I got some engagement photos taken and they have been posted on my Aunt's blog, because she was our photographer and she was awesome. So I just think that every single one of you should go to her blog look at the photos and maybe even make a comment on her site because you never know, you might want her to be your photographer one day and she would do great at it. So here is the site, I know some may have seen this on facebook already but that's fine because people love to read things twice these days.

www.obabyphotography.blogspot.com

Also in other news, the handshake is the new Hi-5, so next time you see someone and want to say hello with physical contact choose a handshake because it says, "I care about you enough to stop and shake your hand rather than slap it and keep walking."

Reading

2011-05-30T16:40:00.001-07:00

So since I started working and I guess at the end of school I have started on my reading goal.. The goal is really just to read more and I can say that in the past month or so I have become a reading machine! I feel very proud because I used to be that person who would always say that he wanted to read but never did. Well now I have read some books which mean that I can recommend some books. Here is the list of the books that I have read/re-read.

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

The Time Machine - HG Wells

Animal Farm - George Orwell

About a Mountain - John D'agata

Stalin's Genocides - Norman Naimark (I still like history so some of the books I read are not your standard novels)

I must say that they were all very good but to pick my favorite is actually quite easy. Of Mice and Men was one of the best books I have read potentially ever. It's a short quick read that I would definitely recommend. I don't want to go into details about the book but it really captures the reader and I will honestly say that I became emotionally attached.

Anyways my stack of books is constantly growing because I have recently realized that I love yard sales and used books stores. The books on my shelf now include the following, although I will say many of them I know nothing about but they were in a deal of 10 books for $5.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce

Tom Jones - Henry Fielding

Demons - Fydor Dostoevsky

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

Guns, Germs, and Steel - Jared Diamond

The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

The War of the Worlds - HG Wells

The Invisible Man - HG Wells

A Clergyman's Daughter - Gorge Orwell

The Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

That is just a snippet of what I plan to do this summer. Suggestions are always welcome, even though...(prepare yourself for big announcement) my now fiance!!! Does not necessarily understand my constantly growing book and reading addiction because it will be a lot of stuff to move. Stay tuned for more updates soon... and maybe even an engagement story sometime.

PS I also decided that I want to start a tagline for the end of every post like... Malech Out or Stay Classy or... really anything. Please recommend what you think I should make my sign-off.

Food for Though

2011-04-05T17:28:00.000-07:00

I was just taking a brief break from studying to peruse the internet and I found my self at the Adbusters website. From there I found a link to a website called Kick it Over. And on that website I found a quote that I have been searching for. So I Just decided to share it so that I don't forget it.

"[We] are being persuaded to spend money we don't have, on things we don't need, to create impressions that won't last, on people we don't care about."
—Tim Jackson

Just something to think about.

Birthdays

2011-03-19T22:15:00.000-07:00

So generally I am not one to make a big deal about my birthday so that is why I have waited until now (almost a week since turning 22) to tell you about the most amazing birthday that I had planned for me. Let me set the scene, Janelle tells me that she would like to celebrate my birthday with me, I obviously agree informing her that I don't want anything to big or special and it can just be treated like any other day. Ok thats enough background. The day begins...

I wake up Sunday morning and as per usual in keeping the day normal Janelle and I go to church, and "it was good" (I quote this because in church the topic of creation was mentioned, you understand the quotes now). After church Janelle tells me that we must go to her house before meeting up with my family for lunch so that I can receive gifts from her to tell my parents about. We go and I get the coolest gifts ever!!! First I must say I had received an earlier gift of the book Mein Kampf by Hitler (I'm not crazy I needed it for research, and it was given earlier because my paper I needed it for was due before my birthday). Then on that Sunday I have two more gifts awaiting me, first I open up a belt buckle, this is not just any belt buckle, on the buckle is a picture of Rocky and Clubber Lang! Please click the link to see. I'm so excited about this I have not even thought about the fact that there is another gift. I open it and to my amazement it was a picture of my favorite painting, The School of Athens, I can't explain why I like it so much but I just think it's a great representation of how cool it would be to go out and just talk and listen to people share their ideas. Two amazing gifts that show how cultured I have become.

Day goes on and we go out for brunch with my family to buccacinos! Excellent food. After this I still have no idea where we are going. After it seems like we had aimlessly driven around for a while we wind up in front of the Museum. I need to tell you that the Museum is so cool, if you haven't been since elementary school I urge you to go again and relive those field trips and to actually take in what you read. Janelle and I had a great time walking through the museum and playing with the games and experiments in the Science Museum area. After the museum we went to my parents place and had supper with the Malech family. It was eventful as always. After we played a round of Bohnanza with my family, and even though I still have never won at that game I enjoy it every time.

We left my parents and I thought that we were just going to get some cheesecake watch a movie and call it a night. But Janelle insists that we walk to Cousins where we had our first date to cap off the night at a memorable location. To my surprise I am greeted in Cousins by my close friends, it was a the perfect end to a perfect day. Thanks for making my 22'nd birthday incredible and definitely memorable.

Strike

2011-03-03T21:09:00.000-08:00

Lately one of the things that I have been thinking about is the potential strike at the University of Winnipeg. I think back to a day when I was much younger as perhaps a junior high or high school student when I would have been so excited to have the teachers go on strike so that I would not have to go to school. Now every time I think about this potential strike I am anything but excited and at best I feel incredibly ripped off.

The professors in my opinion are essentially holding the students as hostages in a way. We are now to the teachers no more then a bargaining piece that they can use when they are negotiating. I can honestly say I have played out this situation in my head several times and there is no situation where the students get a good deal. So say the teachers go on strike we miss classes that we have already paid for. There are several potential situations,

1. The strike is short we only miss a little bit.

2. The strike is longer and they push classes and exams back to make up for it.

3. Long strike and either all classes are deemed incomplete or we get credit for the year based on not the entire thing.

Even in what seems like being good situations, we as the students will pay for it next year when our tuition is hiked up to pay the teachers new salaries.

Now a bigger problem here is the point of this teacher union. I am fairly sure the original point of unions was to make sure that workers didn't have to work unreasonable hours for little pay in unsafe conditions to put it simply. As far as I know professors are working very reasonable hours for I'm sure a pretty good salary and I don't think that they are being forced to live in poverty because the administration won't pay them enough. But I mean what do I know.

The main point is for a university that prides itself in being for the students as the You of W, this doesn't sound like a situation that is for the students. I wish everyone all the best in their bargaining however I will not be supporting the professors on the picket line.

Welcome

2011-02-11T07:34:00.000-08:00

She's going to hate me for this, but I have to do it. It is the duty of the other bloggers to advertise freely for other new bloggers. So my lovely girlfriend has started a blog and I think that she is great and has a lot of excellent ideas so you should all read and follow her blog that she just started. Don't worry I will also provide a link for you I won't make you all just go look for it blindly.

http://janellethiessen.blogspot.com/

The biggest problem is that nobody reads my blog so this might be a fruitless effort, but I'm ok with that because I just needed to pass on this information because I feel it part of my blogging duty.

Equality of Opportunity

2011-01-10T21:59:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I wish that I was the writer for a globally popular blog that would stage large online debates about everything I wrote. I mean like even if the issue was entirely meaningless that people would find it worth their time to subscribe their time to read my blog. Or even better when the blog was heart wrenching or controversial that people would find it worth their time to comment and continue to check back and debate with other people. But when I have these ideas I think back to something that a professor once said, "Writing is actually quite arrogant because it means that you think people care about what you write."

Regardless that isn't what I wanted to write about. My main thing that I wanted to write about is brief and open ended because I'm still trying to piece together all my thoughts so I thought that I would see if anybody else had any thoughts, and then in the next day or two I would share mine. You see I view this blog as a relationship with the readers and good communication makes for a great relationship. So here is my question and background to the question.

Today while I was in my history class we were talking about social revolutions and the beginning of socialism. When talking about the definition of socialism it was basically said that it was working for the best interest of the group and when the best interest of the group is met that is when the individual will thrive. That being said generally the best interest of the group from a socialist perspective is ultimately equality, i.e. no social classes, little to no differences in wages and everyone helps each other.

Now when this was happening we talked about what the liberals would believe to counter this and that was that they would say that their system also promotes equality. But that Equality is through Equal Opportunity. Now here is the question, Is there really such thing as equal opportunity? I will just leave it at that, like I said very open ended. Tell me what you think. Hopefully I have motivated you to all engage in conversation. And really even if you don't respond I am still going to tell you what I think regardless in a few days anyways. Happy responding.

Just Another Daily Rambling

2011-01-05T12:05:00.000-08:00

I was encouraged the other day by a famous young man. It wasn't his soft baby like facial features or perfectly flipped hair that inspired me. Nor was it his large amount of fame or his musical abilities. I'm sure you can probably guess who I am talking about by now, but I am not going to tell you until the end.

As some of you might know I think that one day I would like to write a book, or maybe have a book written about me by someone else. Now I am not entirely sure what I want the book to be about, I'm not incredibly creative so that leaves fiction out of the question and although I am incredibly interested in people in general and the way that they act and the things that they do I am not all that interested in writing a biography on someone else. I think that if I wrote a book on a specific topic it would feel more like an essay assignment for school, so really my only hope is that one day I have enough life experience to write a book about my findings and wisdom that I can acquire. That would involve living a life that other people find intriguing and worth reading about. Thanks the aforementioned young man named Justin Bieber I am fully confident that I can one day sell a book.

He recently came out with his autobiography. And I mean good for him but really? How much life experience and insight does he have that he could have a book written about him. Thanks to him I am fully confident that anybody can write their own autobiography and probably be somewhat successful. The irony of this is that clearly writing a book about yourself is not a big deal any more because it seems as if anybody can do it, regardless of the life or wisdom that you have achieved.

Resolutions

2011-01-01T22:14:00.000-08:00

I have never really been one to make a resolution at New Years and this year is like no other. The reason being because I always feel that I don't need a New Year to decide to change something suddenly. Plus every year my New Year resolution is usually the same thing like lose weight, or stay in shape throughout the whole year and not just for like four months at a time, or maybe workout three times a week and don't go for seconds. But really I think that I New Years resolution should benefit more people then just yourself, right? Maybe it doesn't necessarily matter if it benefits more then just yourself, and I mean yes my personal physical physique (note the alliteration) does make me more pleasing to your eyes it really does not benefit anyone other then me.

That being said I don't think that Resolutions are bad at all and it's probably just my pride that I don't want to submit to the idea that we all must resolve to be better somehow in the New Year. But this is a little poem/proverb that I found and I think that it would probably count as a good Resolution. Although the last line kind of goes against my whole idea of benefitting everyone but hopefully you will still understand.

Fear less, hope more;

Whine less, breathe more;

Talk less, say more;

Hate less, love more;

And all good things are yours.

Anyways I just think that is a good thing to resolve to. Maybe I am softer in my older years choosing a poem as my "mantra" for the New Year, but I just think this puts it nicely. And despite the last line of all good things are yours, I think that if you are going along with the other parts of the poem good things will come for all. At least that is how I am choosing to defend my point.

Happy New Year everybody.

Efficiency

2010-12-31T09:40:00.000-08:00

Here is a post for all of you. Thanks for the resounding response to the last post and by resounding I mean I think that there were 7 different people who commented which inspired me to continue to keep on writing on here.

Today as I was taking a shower (don't get any dirty ideas kids) I realized that even though I cut my hair to really short a few weeks ago already I am still in the routine of taking far too much shampoo. And it just drives me crazy. Today I easily took enough shampoo for three hair washings worth, and this was not the first time. Imagine I have done this three times that is like nine showers worth. I just decreased the life of my current shampoo bottle by a week. This is probably something we all do all the time, but only I have the time to think about something as useless as that. But imagine this with anything else that you have, every time that you have food in the house that you let go bad. Just imagine if either you ate it before it went bad or if you didn't buy the food at all how much you could be saving.

I know everyone isn't as frugal as I am about these things, but really just think about it and be thankful that you have enough to make leftovers and let things go bad without even using. Especially around Christmas right now when I am sure everybody received something they will never use, or even never wanted and doesn't need. Let's all just be thankful for what we have.

That is what I have to leave with you all on this last day of 2010. I look forward to sharing more with all of you in 2011. Happy New Years to everyone.

Reading

2010-12-29T21:55:00.000-08:00

So I decided I would share a new revelation that I had the other day. I know you are probably thinking that I never blog so why does it matter that I am posting something. Well I am hoping to blog a bit more often with the main intention of hopefully becoming a better writer one day. Now on to the main point.

I came to the conclusion today that an important asset in life is acquiring knowledge. No I am not talking about knowing every article on Perez Hilton's blog on the latest celebrity gossip, I'm talking about just knowing about important things, really anything for that matter. If this is true the best way to acquire knowledge is to read, so my new goal is to read... a lot. I think it is important to know things and be able to reference important events and such. So other then of course your standard history books which I will read a lot because of school I have also made it priority to also read any other book that has been deemed popular or important in the past say I dunno 500 years. Yes that is a lot of books. It just seems like the right thing to do. Anyways all the books that I am reading or have received lately are for different interests just so that I can have a vast array of knowledge when I am done. Here is a list of books that I am planning to or have read recently:

The Prince - Machiavelli

Hipster Christianity - Brett McCracken

Animal Farm - George Orwell

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

Divine Comedy - Dante

The Chronicles of Narnia

1984 - George Orwell

And the list goes on to of course continue to read the bible more and really any other book that I may find anywhere. I just think that is important to know about things and it seems that all books even fiction have some sort of message within them somewhere that is wisdom the other has to be passed on to someone.

Now is where I incorporate you, the reader, to give your input. Perhaps you have a book that you would like to recommend. Although my list is long of books to read I hope that eventually I will be able to get to them all.

Politics

2010-10-25T22:17:00.000-07:00

Trying to be more regular on this blogging thing to attract a following. So just a quick post here. Not a short story like the last one.

Today in politics we were talking about the prostitution case in Ontario. I'm sure most of you have heard about it. If not look it up. But anyways in our class the topic came up about the government possibly legalizing prostitution to make it more safe or something and because if it was legal it would take away the thrill of doing something illegal so it wouldn't be as prominent. And what I heard was the government wants to make money off of prostitution.

I would just like to state that I think it would be incredibly embarrassing for our country if the government sold it's soul to make money from the prostitution of women.

Deprivation of Knowledge

2010-10-23T13:03:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone. So I'm not sure how regular this will become but maybe I will actually start blogging again more regularly, but who knows. Lately I have just had tons of thoughts on everything. Maybe it's because of school or maybe I'm just older and wiser and have more things to think about through life. So here goes.

I can't help but realize since I have been back in school how I feel so like I have been deprived of knowledge. Almost everything I learn about and read in school I wonder why no body has ever told me anything about this before. Now maybe it is just because of the courses I am taking in history, but I can't help but feel that everything in history is so important.

There are a few classes in particular that this is coming up. One is very vague I suppose you could say, but the class is called Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust and after every single class I walk out and wonder why on earth can I not even remember the holocaust being even vaguely mentioned in high school. I feel like the topic is somehow systematically eliminated from the material as if it is a dark spot in human history that need not be mentioned. People leave these embarrassing events in human history out of conversation because they are scared or uncomfortable talking about them, but really these are the moments that we need to be talking about the most.

That is the small topic.

It seems that all my other courses overlap in some sense all dealing with European History and Western Civilization. So far my favorite topic on all of this has been the Reformation. And in all my readings I have so far been most interested by John Calvin. Every time that I read about him I can not help but feel incredibly inadequate in my knowledge of really almost everything and the Bible especially.

I heard a quote one time and I can't remember who told me or who said this originally but it said. "The biggest problem with the church is that it teaches people what to think and not how to think." And John Calvin is especially critical of the Anabaptists (Mennonites fit in this) in their lack of intellect. So in this I am trying to become more intellectual I suppose and actually think about things, the topic that I have been most fascinated in is this whole predestination and idea of God's elect. All my life all I have ever been taught in church is the idea of free will to choose what we want and John Calvin essentially blows this idea out of the water saying us having free will to choose limits God's power to choose and be just. Regardless of everything my main point is that why in all my life was I just always told this idea predestination or really any other doctrinal quarrel was wrong without anyone even telling me what the other side thought or said on the topic. Really for that matter never even saying what my side ever thought or said on the topic other then that they disagree. Why do people limit the information that they give to you? Why are people so scared of giving both sides of the argument to people?

Anyways I feel like I am just ranting and going nowhere with this. However I do have a final point and thought of why I think about this. In regards to myself I am hoping to one day be a teacher, and I don't want to systematically leave out information that might cause people to think of something differently then I do. I think that teachers and professors have the most important job of passing down knowledge to the next generation, however if we only pass on our ideas that isn't moving us closer to anything, it's moving us closer to all being machines who don't know how to think for ourselves.

The Night Before

2010-06-19T12:45:00.000-07:00

So I doubt anyone still reads this thing. And really if you don't read it I couldn't blame you. My updates have been few and far between. But tomorrow is Marathon Day, the moment I have been waiting for, for a very long time. And I think it would be excellent if all my friends came. This is obviously not the best way to reach all my friends but if you somehow stumble upon this post before Sunday morning you should come to the U of M at around 10:45 or so to watch me finish the marathon. So should be good times, come out and watch me cross an achievement of my bucket list.

Things that make you go hmmm...

2010-05-05T18:54:00.000-07:00

Here are some things that really make me interested in what people are thinking sometimes. Here are some great situations I hope you can enjoy with me and see the ridiculousness of the situation.

1. When people are at the gym who have clearly planned to match their entire outfit. Example, today at the gym I saw some guy wearing; Nike Shoes, Nike Shorts, Nike Shirt, Nike Watch, Nike Socks and to top it off a Nike iPod holder. Girls often do this but it's more acceptable because it is almost expected.

2. People who you see at the gym everyday wearing the exact same outfit everyday. I have seen several people who always wear the exact same sweats and shirt everyday. There are two options to make this acceptable, A) You wash your clothes every day. B) You own several of the same shirts. Actually make that one, if you own several of the exact same name brand shirts it's super lame

3. To continue with the gym theme here, people who don't actually work out but look at themselves in the mirror. I thought this was something that only people my age did, but I have witnessed several people my parents age who just flex in the mirror for about an hour and then leave. These people can also be seen leaning on different machines and also texting. I witnessed a young man the other day flexing in front of the mirror just asking girls to stop and feel his arm. And You just know that guy is super cool.

4. This is one thing I will never understand. Wearing Ed Hardy. Really thats worse then wearing TapOut stuff.

Anyways but these people are still probably cooler then me, who just turns on the TV in front of me to make it look like I'm not creeping on people. Also my headphones are rarely on so I can listen in on people. Just kidding... But not really. Sometimes. Partially. On occassion.

Keeping Pace

2010-04-30T13:43:00.000-07:00

No this is not about my marathon training although this rainy weather is really holding me back. I was hoping to go for a really long run, like half marathon length either today or tomorrow. But unfortunately this rain is keeping indoors to the gym and running on a treadmill that long hurts my knees. Oh well next day of good weather I suppose.

The main point of this blog is just to prove that I am putting in an effort to blog regularly, and today I tried to fulfill a promise of posting the MTV Cribs video but as soon as I started pulling in the video my really horrible free windows movie maker would shut down. So I don't have it. Now you can help me by giving me a better video maker to use.

Also I have lots of time to think at work while I am cleaning or doing other tasks and these are some of my thoughts lately.

1. What do Hydro workers do?

2. Suppose these two statements are true.

"It's the thought that counts"

"Actions Speak Louder then Words"

A little contradictory isn't it. I mean a thought is hardly even a word which doesn't speak as loud as an action. So clearly the first statement is fault and the thought does not count.

3. Really what on earth do Hydro workers do? They make city workers look like they are working hard.

So Chew On That!

Training

2010-04-27T19:19:00.001-07:00

So this might come as a shock to a lot of you but I have actually been training for the marathon, because I am actually going to run it. I started with a 7.1 mile run, and decided if I could do that with no training at all I was in good enough shape to start training this late.

Run 1: 3.3 Miles - 25 Minutes

Run 2: 7.1 Miles - 1 Hour 19 Seconds

Run 3: 3.1 Miles - 28 Minutes

Run 4: Sprint Training for 30 Minutes

Run 5: 3.1 Miles - 25 Minutes

Run 6: 6.2 Miles - 54 Minutes

Not to bad I think, plus there has still been your typical physical activity that I partake in such as soccer practices, floor hockey and biking as normal transportation as much as possible. Anyways today was the last run and it was great because I just knew I could keep going for sure so it felt pretty great. I have also been stretching much more and drinking a ton more water. So far I feel it's gone pretty well. Hopefully going to go for a 14 or 15 mile run this Friday or Saturday.

Also this past weekend I was in Minneapolis with my boys Manny and Andrew going to see our married friend Tom. And there was a going away party in the biggest house I have ever seen/ been invited into in my entire life. There will be a video coming soon, since naturally we decided to video tape as much of the house as possible MTV Cribs style.

Marathon

2010-04-20T12:37:00.000-07:00

So I have not updated in over three weeks now. But I promise this will change now that exams are over. Not that I was writing exams before when I was never blogging. But let me just give a little update.

Went to Vancouver. Great Wedding. Saw old Friends. Rode the Skytrain. Saw the torch. Studied. Wrote Exams. Sat on a Patio. Worked. Played Soccer.

That one word stuff seemed like a good idea until I got started. Anyways the main purpose of this is for those who have not heard yet, I have decided to run the marathon this year! Started with a little 7.1 mile run to see how the ol' body felt and overall not to bad. Have been biking to most places and also taking several shorter runs since then. All feels good other then the right calf muscle is a bit tight. But I am fairly committed.

Anyways thats all I have to say. Also went to limelight on Saturday, and easily in the top three nights of my life. So fun! I don't know why I'm going to school I could for sure just be a the leader of a rap group like Run DMC or something.

What a Weekend

2010-03-28T19:59:00.001-07:00

So this past week has been not the greatest week ever, you know with school winding down and the start of the spring working season things can really add up and get really busy. But there has been more stuff going on on-top of this and it all added up this weekend and I am just done with it.

A little while ago I realized that my dishwasher had stopped working, it was a little upsetting but I figured I can make this work, my roommate is out of town but his dad is an appliance repair guy so he can fix it when he gets back. Then a few days later I realize that the stove and oven are not working, this is starting to get a little bit strange, quite a coincidence that it would all happen at once like that. And you know even at this point I wasn't overly upset because I figured it would be fixed eventually.

Then I am cleaning some things and I was moving some mail around that was for the Landlords and I find a notice that was not in an envelope... Turns out or hydro was being limited because the bills were not being payed by our landlords. Now this really upset me, when it was just a coincidence and I figured it would just need to be a wire or something fixed then it was fine, but there was a limit on our electricity for something that was agreed was the landlords responsibility to pay. Anyways it just all added up and was way too much for one weekend, and I have been relatively upset about it since. Especially when it turned out this evening that my dryer was not working either. So I am currently living with no stove, oven, dishwasher or dryer. Looks like I will be microwaving a lot more often.

Well Vancouver on Sunday, so at least I have that to look forward to.

Keys

2010-03-25T12:49:00.000-07:00

Something I wrote during my class today on what happened to me this morning. And my thoughts on the issue.

So today I drove to school so I could drive to a volleyball tournament later on in the day. When I got to school I went to pull the keys out of the ignition and they were stuck. Not to fret (this has happened before) I just went to start the car again because the key usually pulls out the second time. And when I go to turn the key, it does not even turn. So my key is now stuck in my car and it won't turn. Luckily my car is old enough that it actually has a different key for the door, and another key for the ignition, so I lock the door and hope that when I get back at the end of the day the car will just work. Now I am currently thinking that the only thing that could make this situation better is if I get back to my car and I see a ticket on my car. And I open it to read "I was going to give you a ticket but looks like your in enough trouble already."

I got back to my car and there was no ticket, and I got my car to start. Although now when I open the door my car always beeps as if the key is always in the ignition. It's not, but w/e the joy of the 91' Ford Escort.

2012

2010-02-27T10:48:00.000-08:00

So I have never seen the movie 2012, and really I am not all that interested in the subject of the world ending in 2012. But the other day some guy at work told me he had seen the movie and started asking me what I thought about it. I let him down nicely and told him I think it's a load of garbage. Really I just don't know that much about the whole 2012 thing other then the Mayan calendar ends so that means that the world is obviously ending then.

Anyways this guy at work then proceeded to tell me all about these random facts about the first civilizations of the world and all this stuff that scientists discovered, and about how it has been scientifically proven that the world will actually end in 2012. Basically just a load of BS.

But this got me thinking about the end of the world. And really when the world ends weather it is in 2012 or not, does it really matter? I mean most people believe that the world is going to come to an end one day. Weather you think it's because of an earthquake, hurricane, tornado, the earth flipping upside down and us all dying. Heck I dunno. Or if you think it ends when Jesus comes back, the point is people think it's going to end no matter what you believe. But really are you going to change your life dramatically because you think it is going to happen on one day or another. Hopefully people are just given'r with life weather they think the world is ending tomorrow or in three years from now. Thats all I'm saying.

Relief

2010-02-11T11:59:00.000-08:00

So I just finished my exam and I am now killing some time before I head over to work on a group project. And I just want to say that you know how you get that feeling of relief after you finish an exam, or after something is done that you did not want to deal with. Well I have that right now and it feels great, not just because I am done but also because that was probably one of the best exams that I have ever written, and I am so proud of myself. I feel like I spent my time wisely this past week studying my face off and that it wasn't a big waste. And I just wanted to share with you that it feels great, and I feel better then relieved.

Stayed tuned for next week when I find out that I still didn't pass.

Killing Time

2010-02-06T13:31:00.000-08:00

So these past two stories have taken me a little bit longer then I wanted to post on here, but I still need to post these two situations that happened to me in the past week.

1. Last Sunday at church at Riverwood I was sitting there listening to the sermon and the pastor starts talking about how one of the prophets was supposed to love a prostitute. And he starts saying how this prophet would love her and she would go off and keep sleeping with other guys and come back expecting the same love from him. Then the guy next to me who I had never met leans over and says "Sounds like most women." Then everyone who was around me that heard this was suddenly looking around thinking, did that really just happen? It was awesome.

2. So lately my car has been doing this thing where the driver side door doesn't unlock very often or at all for that matter. So I have to open the passenger side door and reach across and unlock the driver side and then walk around. So the other day I am at superstore and the lady in the car next to me is parked way to close but I still need to get in from the passenger side, and luckily for me the lady parked next to me was wanting to get in her car at the same time, so we have this awkward moment where I unlock the driver side door and then walk back around the car. And she gave me just the dirtiest look ever as if I just wasted like 15 seconds of her life. But after that look guess whose car alarm went off and couldn't turn it off? I will give you a hint: My 91 Ford Escort does not have a car alarm. Ya thats right her car alarm went off and she couldn't turn it off, I for sure got the last laugh in that one!

F*&%'N MOVE IT!

2010-01-27T16:12:00.000-08:00

So a few weeks ago I was driving along down Henderson Highway, just minding my own business. I was in no rush at all just on my way home from work. I am nicely positioned in the central lane listening to some music, when suddenly out of nowhere I hear this blaring of the horn. I look up to see no the light ahead of me isn't green so I am not being motioned to go. But I keep on looking around to see what is going on as it is clearly a very violent and loud horn. Then when I look to the curb lane I see some lady coming just racing down the lane, but has time to lean over the wheel and yell at me using both hands! Ya she yelled with her hands. And I still to this day have no idea why she yelled at me or what I did. I looked around after and I was nicely in the centre of my lane. Anyways this happened probably almost a month ago now and not a day goes by when I don't wonder what I did to make that lady so upset. If you know please inform me.

Also lately at University it seems there are more and more people wearing their sunglasses inside. And I know a thing or two about being cool in university and you don't wear your sunglasses inside. So please take them off. It's polite and it's not uncool. See what I did there. . .

Not Average

2010-01-19T07:35:00.000-08:00

So my past few posts have been about how my life is average but this next post is going to be about how I took a fairly average situation and made it awesome.

So a bunch of my friends and I were out at the Kings Head for a friends birthday, and we are upstairs just enjoying some fairly subpar music. Actually the music was quite horrible the band members ranged in age from about 15 - 70 I'm pretty sure, although I guess he must have been 18 but could have fooled me. Regardless this music is going on and our group is hanging out and listening maybe even pulling off some sweet kickdancing moves here and there when suddenly we notice this couple at the bar just given'r. Making out and he is feeling her up and everything, right at the bar out in the open.

So I say to my friend, "I bet you could grab that guys ass and he would not even notice." We all laugh and he doesn't do it. Finally we are about to leave and I have to find out if I made a true statement, would buddy notice? So we are leaving and I go in for the back rub moving down to the squeeze and pat of the rear end of this stranger. I keep walking not looking back to find out. But I hear from a friend it turns out that he did notice. And he apparently proceeded to eye me down the whole walk to the stairs waiting for me to turn back, but I did not.

Anyways that's how I made a seemingly normal situation awesome!

Habit

2010-01-14T20:41:00.000-08:00

So it has come to my attention that all people generally like things to be the same even the smallest things we feel more comfortable if nothing out of the ordinary happens. And as for myself I like to think that I thrive on those awkward moments where things don't go as planned and you can tell the other person is uncomfortable but unfortunately there are still some very small things that can just throw me off my game. See excerpt from my diary (phone) from earlier today entitled late.

Late

Today my business class got out a little bit early so I took sometime in the hall to sit on my computer and then I proceeded to go to my next class just a tad bit later then usual. And because I was there late (not late for class, just later then usual I need to enforce) I could not sit in my usual seat, in fact I can not even sit in a seat near where I sit. I failed at the only goal I had while going to class today. I can just not concentrate in class right now on the far side of the room it is way to far away from the fire escapes.

That is all, I really should be a writer for my life is average, because every time after I read this stuff I realize that no one would ever care about any of this.

Dear Diary

2010-01-12T21:01:00.001-08:00

So today at school I started taking notes on things that happen. Mostly just as an excuse to show off my iPhone but none the less I took some notes in there and I would like to share them with you. There are three shorts exerts today and hopefully I will continue to take note of these events to share with you.

1. So we are learning about human resources in business class. And about four slides and 15 minutes into the presentation the prof has shortened Human Resource to HR. And as soon as this happens some guy in the back lifts his hand and says, "I am not sure if I am missing something but what does HR stand for?"

2. So today in class I finally realize the most amazing thing ever. My profs name is Mr. Rodgers. And I immediately imagine this very large prof of mine wearing a different cardigan every day. Wow that would be amazing. I also just realized this is probably the perfect story for "My Life is Average"

3. Today in business class again the same guy who asked what HR stood for managed to make another unintelligent comment. We are taking notes from a slide show and there are usually little exerts from the text put in the slides. Eventually a full slide comes up straight out of the text book with page number and everything. Right away Mr. Rodgers (haha) says "This is in the text you don't need to write this down." And right away buddy asks "Can you zoom in so I can write this down?" Yup the zoom is in your text book big guy.

So this is what I thought of during school today, hope you enjoyed.

Judgement

2009-12-20T13:27:00.000-08:00

So today I was a little bit late getting to church and it was pretty full when we got there, so we asked the usher to see if knows where some seats are. And I am absolutely positive that ushers just thrive on this. If I was an usher and I see someone get in late these are for sure my exact thoughts.

Late Comers : "Do you know of any seats?"

Usher: "Ya follow me" (Thought in Head: Oh I am going to show them not to ever be late for church again.. Haha. Ya right to the front with those heathens. Think they can come to church and just slip in without being noticed. No way my friend, they are for sure going to hear this sermon, ya, they need Jesus the most.)

And it doesn't just stop at the ushers, it's everyone you walk past too. As they all watch you go up and place judgement upon your tardiness.

I'm just saying you know that when it comes time for coffee no one is going to be trying to associate with you and become your new best friend.

Speeding

2009-12-19T16:29:00.000-08:00

So today I had the best idea of all time! You will all be really happy to hear about this. Even though I know that no one would actually go for this idea, I still think it is a winner. Here it is!

So everyone in their lifetime at one point or another has been speeding while driving their car. And everybody wants to go faster but they don't want the ticket, plus it is the law to follow the speed limit. But I thought of an invention to stop people from speeding. Somehow with the amazing technology that we have here in this country we make a function on the car so that as soon as you start speeding (or are above say 10 over) all of the heat, AC and radio turn off. So you can still speed but at the consequence of no radio or heat or AC and I know in Winnipeg if it is between a freezing car or being a bit late for something I would for sure just go late so that I get some heat in my car. Anyways just a thought. Tell me what you think.

Now obviously no one would ever want this. But perhaps a responsible person might enjoy a friendly reminder to follow the law here and there.

Better yet actually if you speed your horn starts going off non-stop, then everyone will know who you are and cops will find you so easily. Man that is so sick .

Confession

2009-12-15T14:20:00.000-08:00

So I feel like I need to share this with people.

I have started fake tanning in preparation for my trip to Mexico. And I have to say as soon as I walk into to fabutan I really like to just walk straight into the room and not run into anyone that may recognize me (But I still share this with everyone...).

Anyways, on the off chance that I do see anyone I know, or really anybody for that matter, I feel the need to explain to them right away that this is not a normal routine of mine. So I start rambling.. .

"Have to get ready for the trip... "

They don't say anything, or really care for that matter, but I keep talking

"Because I wouldn't really do this normally..."

They are now caring a big because they probably do normally do this.

"Not that it's a bad thing... "

Oh dear I should really stop talking now.

"But I mean it is feeding you straight cancer... "

Why did I even say any of that? They didn't even ask questions. I just felt the need to explain myself for doing the exact same thing that they are doing.

Also on a side note this conversation has not really ever happened, but I do always inform people that I am tanning for the vacay!!! In 11 days! So sick.

Bruised and Sick

2009-12-10T19:55:00.000-08:00

So today I stayed home from work because I was sick. Kind of bitter sweet, it was nice to not be working outside in the cold like the past few days but still sucked to be just laying around all day. I don't know where the whole sickness came from. Like I know I was outside in the cold, but I don't think I had specific cold symptoms. It started yesterday near the end of the work day. I just started having this headache, but it was bearable until later in the evening at my soccer game. My head was pounding and I suddenly just got all stuffed up and couldn't breathe out of my nose and had almost no energy. Like I would just jog over to get the ball and be flat out of breathe, it was just horrible. So I woke up this morning and just felt exhausted and my head was still pounding with pain. So I called in sick and went back to sleep.

Also I finally noticed today all of the bruises that I got from playing goalie at floor hockey the other day. I have one on my left bicep, and another one on like my left inner thigh, I don't even know how that one got there. I just feel beat up and tired right now. Hopefully I will actually rest up this weekend, but somehow that just never happens.

20 Days

2009-12-06T20:59:00.000-08:00

So I have not broadcasted this to very many people but I am finally ready to tell you all that in 20 days I will be leaving on a flight to the Barcelo Mayan Beach Resort. Yes that is an all inclusive resort in Mexico. The fam jam has been talking about doing a trip for Christmas for a long time and it is finally time for it this year.

Also I am trying to really hard to go to the Olympics. Right now my choice is looking like I should just go and spend the money because it really is a once in a lifetime experience, so it is for sure worth being in debt for a little while. Man my life is awesome.

Remember When? ... Day 29

2009-11-30T14:14:00.000-08:00

Remember when I used to update my blog everyday about my no shave adventures. No? Me neither.

Anyways not really a lot other then that I am nearing the end. I might just shave at the end of November as I am sure a few more days will not make a huge difference. Although the beard does keep me warm at work when I am outside.

Also I am now registered for classes at U of W. So if you are in any of these classes or have a spare at the same time as me we can start being friends again .

Intro to Business II 8:30 - 9:45

Intro to Economics: Macro 10:00 - 11:15

Spare 11:30 - 12:45

Intro to Cultural Anthropology 1:00 - 2:15

This is on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Let me know if I have a friend in any of these classes. Or perhaps a new friend.

Day 7

2009-11-08T18:37:00.000-08:00

So here is Day 7. I really have not a lot to say right now though other then the picture. I know that the beard is not overly visible but I will give you a good one soon, where the full under the chin is visible. Right now I am just showing you all how good looking I am...

Today for church I went to check out Riverwood and it was pretty sweet. Best part is that their pastor just said it like it is, he did not beat around the bush.

"What an athlete!"

Day 5

2009-11-06T20:36:00.001-08:00

So yes this is day 5. I skipped a day because I fell asleep by accident yesterday.

I think my facial hair grows back way slower when I completely clean shave, because when I just trim it feels like my facial hair grows a lot faster. But I guess I will just have to wait and see.

I thought this was a fun picture to post, I was going to do a flip book at first but now that I think about it, I would have to be in the exact same position every time for the flip book to actually work. So I will just be more fun and different with every picture.

Also I worked 11 hours today it was a long day.

Day 3

2009-11-04T22:19:00.001-08:00

Still seems like almost no difference at all. Strange how things will just pop up on you... (thats what she said)

Anyways today played goalie in my indoor soccer game. First indoor game in really I can't even remember how long, and after allowing two goals on two shots. I quickly regained my composure and kept a shut out for the rest of the game.

Day 2

2009-11-03T22:08:00.001-08:00

So here is Day 2, not a whole lot of difference other then that I my lips are relatively red because of the cold weather making my lips chapped and I have no chap stick right now. I put it through the washing machine by accident like I do with every other chap stick I have.

Anyways I am happy because my senior mens volleyball team finally won a game today. It's about time.

Day 1

2009-11-02T15:51:00.001-08:00

This is me on the first day of No-Shave November, I realize that I started a bit late, so I will go two days into December to make up for it. But I am clearly completely clean shaven, let's see where this month takes us.

Also today at work a new guy working with us called me Brian all day, I didn't stop him because I thought it was funny. I had a goal of trying to convince him to call me "Big B" by the end of the day, but then another co-worker ruined that dream for me, and he now knows my real name. Shoot.

November

2009-10-29T20:43:00.000-07:00

K so I realize I have really sucked a blogging lately, but I just have a quick story and proposal for what my next month of blogging will look like. Here goes.

So the other day I am at work and a co-worker approaches me and he always has questions to ask, which is great, makes the day more interesting.

CW - Co-worker

R - Ryan (Me)

CW - Well aren't you guys wearing quite the bright colored gloves.

(We wear bright green gloves, for me it is for warmth, not really protection, but if I don't wear them my hands dry up and crack and bleed)

R - Ya whatever keeps the hands warm.

(There is a bit of a pause in conversation)

CW - Are you optimistic Ryan?

(I am confused by the question as I am not sure what this has to do with my glove color)

R - What?

CW - You just look unhappy that I would ask about your glove color? Are you an optimist?

R - I'm not sure what do you think.

CW - Well do you have a positive outlook on...

(I interrupt him)

R- I understand what the word means.

(Laughs)

CW - So are you optimistic or pessimistic?

R - I think I am more of a realist.

CW - Well is the glass half full or half empty?

R- Definitely half full.

CW - So you are an optimist.

R - No more of a realist, I don't expect the impossible to happen.

CW - I think maybe you are a philosopher.

R - Maybe

And I realize now that the conversation was really funny in the moment and this blog does not do it justice. But it makes me wonder, Do I come across as an optimist or a pessimist?

I have been told once by someone that they are surprised how optimistic I am because of how sarcastic I am, I guess people who are sarcastic appear to be bitter pessimistic people. Anyways I know I have lost my following because I have not blogged in forever ( Ya your laughing because I think I have a following) but if you could let me know what I come across as to you. Ok go!

Also the goal for November is to photograph a picture of myself everyday so that I can eventually make a flip-book or slideshow of the progress that I have made in No-Shave November. Game On!

Irony

2009-10-13T13:46:00.001-07:00

I would just like to say that there is nothing I appreciate more then a good ironic situation. For example an overweight person in a gym teachers office. But the ironic situation I would love to point out was from the office this week, and I feel like a lot of people missed it so I feel the need to point it out, I realize that might ruin the joke completely But I wouldn't worry about that.

So Jim is doing a toast at his wedding about how he waited for Pam to finally fall in love with him and get married. And then it slips that Pam is pregnant and can't have a drink and they end up having a big conversation about the whole situation and then to end the whole situation Jim gives a toast to Waiting. I hope you all get the irony in this, like waiting for Pam but they couldn't wait to have a kid. So funny! It's not a laugh out loud funny but as I heard it I thought "Ya I am smart enough to understand that little joke"

Hopefully you are enjoyed that moment as much as I did, also watch the Office more if you don't already watch it enough.

Personal Photographer

2009-10-12T21:32:00.001-07:00

So I was thinking today that it would be so awesome to hire a personal photographer to take pictures of my everyday life situations. And that person could just follow me everywhere, and maybe if they were multi talented they could even put all the pictures in a book for me and then write a story to document my life. Because really we all forget things and it would be helpful to go back in your photograph life book and be like "No this is how it really happened" because of course the other person is wrong in the conversation.

If you are interested in taking this position I will accept all applications, it will start out as a volunteer position for you, but as you become successful selling lots of stories about my life I will be able to pay you a small portion of it.

Or maybe I could just get someone to tape my life like in the Truman Show. . .

Sad Day

2009-10-10T00:28:00.000-07:00

It was a Sad Day in Winnipeg on October 9'th when it snowed...

Yes it has already snowed, it actually started snowing on the 8'th but on the 9'th it seems that it may be here for good. So much for a short winter, after the hottest September I can remember October has gone downhill. This is usually around the time of year that I ask myself why I live in Winnipeg still.

Also pretty pumped about tomorrow, volleyball is going to be good. I don't even play but I still feel like I experience it just as much.

Six Minutes

2009-10-01T22:10:00.001-07:00

I meant to post this a couple days ago but I forgot and time just goes to fast. But on Tuesday our volleyball team had a game and won the first set in Six Minutes. Well seven if you count the one minute timeout by the other team. It was nuts. Everything Happened So Quickly.

Song of the Day - Like Toy Soldiers - Eminem

Also there is a good chance I will be your next favorite reality TV Star on The Amazing Race. The Application is filled out and just needs to be mailed. My destiny is finally happening.

Memories

2009-09-28T15:42:00.000-07:00

So some of you may or may not know that in my more rebellious grade eleven years I once made a choice to rearrange the bathroom stalls at school and in return received a suspension for it from the school.

Well today I would like you all to know that I got paid at work to take apart the bathroom stalls! Isn't it interesting how the tables have turned.

Also check out this article. Some guy sued Bank of America for so much money!

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE58O3BK20090925

I guess smiles won't be free anymore...

Weekend

2009-09-27T20:21:00.001-07:00

Another weekend has come to an end and this one was once again a success and this is what I did.

1. First volleyball tournament at the year. I wasn't playing just coaching, but those weekends are just awesome. And although the tournament didn't quite end the way we wanted I am pretty pumped about the rest of the season and what can be accomplished.

2. A super sweet Saturday night, it is not often you go to one quarter of a bomber game, Sargent Sundaes, and then watch 8 Mile all in the same night. It was good times all around. Also I am starting up a rap group...

3. Soccer Finals on Sunday. Unfortunately we lost the game 3 - 2. However I scored a goal, and I got a yellow card. So that is minus 1 for the loss, plus one for the goal and plus one for the yellow. So the game finishes as a positive. Sweet.

4. I got my phone bill and realized that I forgot to pay the last one, however someone it came in as if someone had actually paid the last one. So sweet!

But now it is time to go back to work tomorrow. Although it is pay day so really it can't be too bad of a day other then that it is Monday, but we will just have to make it worth while.

Song of the Day: Use Somebody - Kings of Leon

Head Engineer

2009-09-23T21:57:00.000-07:00

The other day at work I was elected to be the Head Engineer of Waste Management ( That wasn't actually what we called it, but I really can not remember the official name). And I know what you are all wondering and to answer your question "Yes, that is on top of all my other duties, and no there is no pay raise."

But the title is worth it, just wait until I remember the actual name of my position, but basically it means that I sweep the floor more... Oh well it pays the bills, all though there is no raise with the title either, I guess that means I can't reject it.

Also I have not done this in a while but today it is time for song of the day.

Taylor Swift - You Belong With Me

I know so lame right, well w/e I'm a Swift fan, but I am also a Kanye fan and I know that sooner or later to show it is all over they will perform a song together, because that is what all hip-hop people do. Or at least Kanye will mention Swift in a song.

Obama?

2009-09-21T19:34:00.001-07:00

So do any of you guys remember when Obama was being interviewed and he killed a fly just out of no where. Well I just want you guys to know that I totally did that today. I saw a fly, and it was not stationary it was actually flying around but I just had a feeling that I was faster and stronger then the fly today. So I tracked down it's path and just clapped it and killed it.

So ya know big deal but I am just as cool as that hip president of ours, well not mine now that I think about it. I could have just put this nice and short on my facebook status or something but that would have been lame.

Glasses

2009-09-16T13:49:00.000-07:00

So here is a quick little blurb about a thought I have had recently, actually not even recently I have had this thought for a very long time and have now decided it is the right time to blog about it.

The Topic: Glasses

The Problem: 1. I have them

2. When people wear fake glasses!

I just hate it when people who have perfect 20/20 vision wear fake glasses, it actually drives me insane. I just do not understand how someone who has been blessed with the gift of perfect eyesight feels the need to try to and be "trendy" or "stlyin" with their stupid fake glasses. There are so many people out there who have glasses and so badly want to have perfect vision, laser surgery is something I am nearly positive that everyone would have if they had the money for it.

The downsides of glasses are very clear to me, well really there are a few but one really big one is no peripheral vision! Due to your weak eyesight you can never just check something out of the side of your sight line because it is blurry.

So please stop wearing fake glasses it makes the rest of us who have glasses feel like idiots and not like you very much. The End.

Phones

2009-09-14T17:50:00.000-07:00

So if you actually still check my blog regularly for updates I really do commend you because I have just sucked lately at blogging which is weird because I have had a ton of good ideas to tell you about lately, but I will start slow and I hope to blog at least 2 - 3 times a week now that I have internet, and coming soon there will be a video tour of my new home.

Lately I have had a new fear come to me since living in my new home, most of you already know of my completely rational fear of birds. But lately my fear has been losing my phone in my house. I have no home phone to call the number.

So if I lose my phone and there is no friend over or anything there is almost no way of me finding my phone, all I do is pray that someone will phone me immediately so I can hear my phone ring and find it. Anyways yes I know you all might have had this fear before, but really what else could I do in the situation? Other then of course worst case scenario lose my phone.

2009-08-31T20:18:00.000-07:00

So the internet at my new home is really sketchy and I was just able to steal some from the internet so I decided the best possible use of my time is to blog.

So my new house is pretty sweet, people might think that it is small but for just two of us living here it really is the perfect size. And strangely even though I have not blogged in so long I still feel like I have nothing to blog about. But I will tell two quick stories.

1. The other day I was about to leave for church in the morning and I looked out the window and on my new freshly cut lawn there were about 1000 birds. Well not that many but there were probably over 200 on my lawn and the two neighbors plus the neighbors across the street, and really the whole street was filled with birds. And to leave my house I had to jingle my keys so that I would scare them out of the way. It was quite the thrill.

2. I realized that at most places my legacy lives on through only one thing, and that thing is aerobics. Yes aerobics is the most memorable thing that I do at most places. So it's pretty cool, I am thinking of making a video for people to purchase. If you would purchase a DVD with me leading aerobics please let me know if you would buy it, I could use the extra cash.

Summer

2009-08-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

This might just be my longest blogging drought ever. And I really did not mean for it to last this long because really I have had a lot to say just no time to say it. To quickly go over the past few weeks.

Week three of Prov volleyball camp was a good time as always, another good group of campers out and I am sure that everyone had a really fun time. Best part of that week was easily the amount of times that we made the campers think that they were in trouble and were going to have to run but then turned out to just be joking, and one time I ended up leading them in some very fun Ryan Malech Aerobics.

Week four of Prov, soccer camp. It was pretty fun even though I was only there for three days. Although my favorite part was not even part of camp that much it was just the coaches taking some Penalty shots on me after a session and I make a massive diving save on Dante, which I am told was on camera and I still need to see that video.

This past weekend I was in Minneapolis for Tom and Lauras wedding, and it was a hoot. Met some new people, and just had some good times. Went to Mall of America and Albertville, that whole spiel, and I got some sweet deals on a new jacket, a couple pairs of shorts and a t-shirt or two. It was overall a successful trip.

And as of yesterday I am officially moved out on my own, and it is so far so good, although I still have not had to pay any bills yet... So we will just wait and see how that goes, but this year I am sure there are good times to come.

I tried to keep this short so people would still read it, but there was just so much to report back on. So Peace out, and hopefully I will be more diligent in blogging during the next few weeks.

Week 2

2009-08-05T07:52:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has taken me so long to have time to post another blog I have really been quite busy and tired lately. And I am about to just take a nap during my break here at Prov. But I needed to first share some memories of week 2.

Week 2 really only has one main memory for me, and that would be my first Volleyfest Championship ever, although I never got one as a player I was finally able to pull out a victory as a coach, in only my sophmore coaching week I showed all the vetran skills needed to win a championship. I will talk mainly of the playoffs, with some brief league play details. Here is the press release.

Smeegels Army showed a lot of promise during round robin play, but going into their last game they still had a chance to finish in first place, however unfortunately with two straight losses in their last match they finished in fourth. However they were still psyched for playoffs and knew that anything could happen on the last day of camp. In the playoffs they were set to play against T.I double guh- Ers, or in other words the Tiggers. They were an evenly matched team during round robin play, but Smeegels Army had beaten them 3 out of 4 sets, giving them somewhat of an upperhand.

In the first set The Tiggers came out with a stunning 26-24 win, putting Smeegels Army in a small hole that they would need to work themselves out of, which would prove to be difficult. In the second set Coach Malech called a timeout with his team down 21-16, hoping to rally up the tropps one last time. These were his words:

"No matter what happens out there we are going to play the best volleyball we have played all week in these last points no matter how long it lasts."

And that is exactly what they did, rallying back to win the second set 25-22, the team was absolutely pumped to play a third set, and they proved it rushing out to a quick 6-1 lead. And eventually carrying that momentum on through to win the second set.

The finals would prove to be a tough match against "The Packees" who claimed to be from Pakistan. It was fianlly a chance to pull out a big victory, one to be remembered for the ages, but at this time Smeegels Army was rallying together from their past success and getting better with every play, with stellar defense and an immeasurable amount of desire Smeegels Army powered through for two straight set wins and the Volleyfest Championship, although the tip for game point was somewhat dissapointing it still won the match. Congratulations on a great season Smeegels Army!

Week 1

2009-07-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

So it has been a while since I have written a blog, and that is because I have been at Providence Sports camps all week. There are computers there just never enough time to actually stop and write a blog. But let me just quickly tell you this past week was unreal. Actually better then any week I have ever been a part of as a camper as far as theme nights went. All the kids were super into everything and the Grammy Night was a huge highlight as everyone just let loose and had a good time.

Also the team I coached for Volleyfest (league play) was pretty awesome. We were called Team 1, ya it confused the other teams because we were Team #4 before we had a name. But although we lost in the semi-finals it was all good because the team was all good times all the time, and from the first awkward supper where no one talked or knew what to say to the last day of taking pictures and exchanging contact information with everyone it really was a good time.

Favorite Quotes of the Week
"Shoot My iPod is in my pocket!"
"Really?"
"No I'm not stupid" (During Gut Check where the kids are crawling in mud)

"Just letting you know I would have made that serve coach"

"I think you are underestimating my abilities coach"

"Ya, You like sausage don't you"

"Can you do Gut Check instead of BJ?"

"You start to think he is sarcastic and joking but he never is"

All around a great week looking forward to week 2!

Excuse Me

2009-07-18T15:29:00.001-07:00

So today I am in Superstore hoping to buy a few tennis balls for the match that was coming up that afternoon. And apparently in Superstore you can only buy a sack of 18 tennis balls and not just a small tin of three tennis balls. But at first I think that this can not be true, there must be three tennis balls somewhere. So this is what happens.

Ryan: Excuse me, do you know if there is anywhere I can find just three tennis balls rather then a large bag of 18.

Kind Lady: Well I don't work here but I am sure that they must come in a tin of three somewhere. Let's go take a look.

That could not have gone any better for me mistaking a kind lady for an employee. Turns out you can only buy them in a sack of 18. And 18 was definitely a good choice, although I have a feeling it may now only be 17. Oh well it's all good.

Advice

2009-07-16T06:49:00.000-07:00

I would like to give you guys all some advice.

1. Do not take a three hour nap from 8 - 11 PM and then expect to be able to sleep for the rest of the night.

2. Do go see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

3. Do not go see Harry Potter at midnight and sleep for three hours and expect to be able to work perfectly fine the next day.

I did all three of those, well not fully the third one, luckily it rained the morning after Harry Potter at midnight so I was able to sleep and did not have to work until noon the next day. But I still would not recommend the combination. It is not as good as it sounds.

Wasps

2009-07-13T20:04:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to quickly let you know that I have decided that a Wasp Sting is easily the worst thing that could ever happen to a person in their lifetime. I hope that you do not encounter such a situation ever. Let me set the scene.

My co-worker (Manny Goossen) and myself are painting a house like we do every day. And Marshall goes in a small little bush garden to paint, I follow in shortly after to cut in on the edges and.. BAM! a wasp stings me right on the ankle. I am writhing in pain, rolling on the ground as if I had snapped my leg in two, it was even more pain then that though. So basically Marty angered the wasp and then it bit me, turns out as we hit the small bush garden that there was a nest underneath and there were about 9 - 10 wasps protecting their home. So lame!

Also Winnipeg is Slurpee Capitol of the World for the 10'th straight year! I forget if I posted that already but it is so good it can be posted twice.

Just In

2009-07-09T21:47:00.000-07:00

Alright guys this is big news and I would encourage you all to use this. On my actual blog site you can now become a follower and see your name on the side. I am not really sure how this works but I just wanted to spice things up for you the reader a little bit so please enjoy.

Also this past week I watched Little Children... Not actual little children but the movie... haha.... You're all thinking "Ya right like I am going to follow a guy who watches little children.." But no that's not my style. But seriously the movie was nuts, really messed up but still pretty good. I can see why it won awards. And I also watched Pubic Enemies... or Public Enemies. My co-worker (Manny Goossen) and I have an on going joke about that name. Anyways I didn't like it, way too long and just constant shoot em' up. Ya I don't like those typical "guy" movies like that, they really just bore me to sleep, which I did do again in the theatres. It's cool though.

Jaundice

2009-07-06T20:42:00.000-07:00

So a while back myself and my co-worker (Manny Goossen) were painting a house near the zoo. The day was going just lovely, we had been painting for about two hours and we were just about to go on our break, when the homeowner came outside.

Homeowner: Has Jason (our boss) left yet to get more paint?
Me: Yes but he should be back pretty soon probably?
Homeowner: OK... what do you guys think of the color?
My co-worker and I both look at each other for a moment.
Manny: It's nice.
Homeowner: I hate it!
Manny: Really?
Homeowner: Ya it just looks like my house has Jaundice.

Wow well said, I thought it looked more like Banana Chocolate Chip.

Also here is a joke for the day that I heard on Sunday.

So Farrah Farrah Fawcett dies and she goes to heaven the she meets Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates. Saint Peter says that Farrah can have on wish. And Farrah says "I want all the children of the world to be safe."
Later that day Micheal Jackson died and now all the children of the world are safe.

I hope it's not too soon for a Micheal Jackson joke, but I had a good laugh and thought others might as well.

The Toronto Maple Leafs

2009-07-02T15:31:00.000-07:00

Got this email today, these are probably the best jokes I have read in my life. Please Enjoy!

What do the Leafs and the Titanic have in common?
A: They both look good until they hit the ice.

What's the difference between the Toronto Maple Leafs and a cigarette vending machine?
A: The vending machine has Players!

What do the Toronto Maple Leafs and whales have in common?
A: They both get totally confused when surrounded by ice.

Why are the Toronto Maple Leafs like Canada Post?
A: They both wear uniforms and don't deliver!

Why doesn't Hamilton have an NHL team?
A: Because then Toronto would want one...

What do the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Argonauts and the Toronto Blue Jays all have in common besides being based in Toronto?
A. None of them can play hockey.

What do you call 30 millionaires around a TV watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs?
A. The Toronto Maple Leafs.

What do the Toronto Maple Leafs and Billy Graham have in common?
A. They both can make 20,000 people stand up and yell 'Jesus Christ'.

How do you keep the Toronto Maple Leafs out of your yard?
A. Put up a goal net.

What do you call a Toronto Maple Leaf with a Stanley Cup ring?
A. A thief.

What do the Toronto Maple Leafs and possums have in common?
A. Both play dead at home and get killed on the road.

How many Toronto Maple Leafs does it take to win a Stanley Cup?
A. Nobody knows... And we may never find out.

This guy says to the bartender, “Can my dog and I watch the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey game here? My cable is out, and my dog and I always watch the game together.”

The bartender replies, “Normally, dogs wouldn’t be allowed in my bar, but it’s not very busy right now, so you and the dog can have a seat at the end of the bar. But, if there’s any trouble with you or the dog, I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

The guy agrees, and he and his dog start watching the game. Pretty soon, the Leafs manage to score a goal and the excited dog jumps up on the bar, barks loudly, does a back flip and runs over to the bartender and gives him a high-five.

The bartender says, “Wow, that’s pretty cool! What does he do when they win a game ?”

The guys answers, “No idea, I’ve only had him for 3 years.”

The last time the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup most of their fans were in diapers.
Coincidentally, the next time they win it those same fans will be back in diapers again...

Conspiracy Theory

2009-06-30T20:15:00.001-07:00

So today at work I had some time to bounce off my new theories with some of my co-workers and I decided it was only fair I share some of those ideas with you the readers. Even though my readers are probably dwindling because I do not blog enough I still try to keep you informed on my deepest thoughts.

So here it is take this and chew on it for a while...

My new theory is that the weather people and sunscreen people are working together, within this theory I also believe that SPF is all a made up number, and also the UV ray index is also a made up number. Now let me explain...

UV Ray Theory - The weather channel (which would also be the sunscreen people) changes the UV Ray Index to try to encourage people to buy sunscreen. I mean I understand that you get burnt only in the summer, however apparently today the UV Index was 8 which is quite high and it was actually not that hot outside compared to usual. So they raise the Index so that people think that they need to go get sunscreen even though it isn't hot. So really the number is just made up and chosen everyday out of a hat with numbers ranging from 6 - 8 during the summer.

SPF Theory - So my theory here is that SPF is just a made up number for different types of sunscreen. It really has no effect on how much it will actually protect your skin. Now I don't shop for sunscreen but can someone please tell me... Does it cost more money for higher SPF? If yes then it is definitely a scam so that people will pay more money so it is less likely for them to get burned... But really the number means nothing.

So the system basically goes High UV --> More Sunscreen Higher UV --> Stronger Sunscreen

And lets be honest here people, if you are prone to burn you will regardless of your SPF.

If someone can prove me wrong in any of these I will consider letting them go, however if not I will enter them as a Conspiracy Theory on Wikipedia, which is also the most reliable source on the internet besides my blog.

Canker City

2009-06-24T19:36:00.000-07:00

http://mangoossen.blogspot.com/2009/06/canker-city.html#comment-form

The other day painting me and my co-worker (Manny Goossen) had the exact same day, but he has already worded it far better then I ever could. Please enjoy on his blog

Dear TLC,

2009-06-20T16:47:00.000-07:00

So although I do not actually watch the show Jon and Kate plus 8 it is nearly impossible to not know what is going on and basically for anyone that has managed not to hear anything about this basically it sounds like they are breaking up for good on the next show.

I would like to start off by saying I think that these shows that TLC does are absolutely ridiculous and is a good thing to get into if you are looking for a way to tear your family apart. Doing the show is the worst thing you can possibly do for the kids because it basically gives them no real life, and several hundred thousand other people following your fake scripted life. Anyways but I have two main problems.

1. Kate... Now I will admit I watched the season premier of this season just to know what was going on and there is one thing she said that absolutely showed me how much the show had ruined her. Now I believe this was the quote "Regardless what happens the show will go on even if it is just Kate plus 8..." Are you actually serious? You are going to put keeping the show going on in front of keeping your family together... Wow if you didn't already know too much money is no good for anybody you should know now. She is so incredibly selfish in that statement, putting aside everything that really matters so that there can still be a show and she can still be getting money. If she had kids that were old enough I wish that they would tell her off for that.

2. TLC... I don't know for sure about this one but I am making a rather logical guess here, but keep in mind I can be wrong (although unlikely). I am going to go out on a limb and say that TLC is probably really happy about this potential divorce that is brewing, because their ratings have gone through the rough because of it (unfortunately I also helped in this). It just makes me so mad that major companies like this are more concerned about ratings rather then the people whose lives they are turning into hell because of it.

If anyone had any logic they would cancel the show as quickly as they can and start putting the kids lives ahead of everything else. It really makes me wonder when a good "non-hollywood" channel like TLC is basically promoting divorce, What were their intentions with the show and the marriage in the first place?

I propose a Jon and Kate boycott to all and then the show will be forced to cancel.

Chase The Cure

2009-06-14T10:39:00.000-07:00

So I have a friend Wes Bauer who is currently biking across Canada to raise money for Cancer. And I just watched a new video he put up and it is totally awesome, and I would encourage everyone to check out his website and all the stuff he is doing. He wins the prize for someone who is really living life.

http://www.chasethecure.ca/index.html

So Check it out.

Forever

2009-06-13T18:06:00.000-07:00

So I realized the other day when a committed reader let me know I had not blogged in a while. However when I came to my blog to sign in I realized that my counter had increased by about 100 hits in the span of whenever the last time I blogged was. I would like to know if there are actually 100 new readers every week or if there are like 5 of you checking about twenty times regularly for a new post. Regardless every reader is important and deserves to be entertained weather there are five very committed readers or 100 lost souls on the internet that have accidently been sent to my blog.

Life has been pretty dec lately, I am not longer doing concrete because working from 6 AM - 10 PM is just a bit too long of a day for me no matter how good the money I am making. So I am now painting with my longtime friend Manny Goossen with Chromatic Painting. It is a good time, so relaxing, just paint and talk and enjoy life. I much rather enjoy painting outside rather then inside because inside there is just too much you have to be careful of.

Also I am only painting for a while longer because I have maneuvered my schedule around so that I can coach at Prov sports Camps. Seriously it is going to be the best, I am super pumped for it. I mean being a kid at the Camps was pretty much always the best part of the summer, so now being a coach on the other side of it for triple the length pretty much guarantees me to have the greatest summer of my life. Anyways, I will attempt to update more often for all of you. Not just one but for all, because you are all equal readers... except if you comment on my blogs or ask me to post more often I will value you more highly.

2009-06-03T20:45:00.001-07:00

I just want to quickly say before I head off to bed.

You know it's a good day when you go to drop off the kids at the pool (holla Jason) and you go to clean up and there is nothing to clean because it already is.

Seriously it has happened often lately, easily the best. If you don't understand what I am talking about then you will just have to wait until you are older.

Better

2009-05-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

So today I completed my first 14 hour work day... It was as good as it sounds. And seriously I spent a lot of that time driving. I drove about 200 kilometers today, anyways now I am about to go to sleep and wake up ready for another long day, just needed to make a quick post though. Also I am trying so hard to not let my job take over my life, because although people try to understand they don't get that I would actually much rather be done work at a normal time so that I can actually hang out with them rather then just be exhausted and ready for sleep.

Anyways, I also would like to add that there is a rumor out there that my dream girl is following my blog regularly and I do not know who you are. So please identify yourself... or feel free to submit any possible leads you can think of. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Just one thing

2009-05-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

All I want to say is that I hope I never update my facebook status from my phone. If any of you ever see me do this please force me to remove my facebook account, also I would even consider throwing out my phone because of the embarrassment.

Game 7

2009-05-14T14:39:00.000-07:00

The main purpose of this post is to entertain... Also it is to convince you all to be watching the Ducks/Red Wings game as the Ducks pull off another massive upset. Seriously I can not remember the last time I was looking forward to a hockey game this much, well other then Game 6.

Also I would like to take this time to make a quick prediction and talk about animal abuse. First prediction ( and no it's not about hockey, so don't stop reading if you don't care about hockey because it is not related) is that twitter will eventually just turn into facebook, and no longer be just status updates. Seriously I mean myspace was first I would say and people switched to facebook for it to be less messy, and now facebook has all this "apps" that you can add to make your page more messy... hmm.. sounds like myspace. And now twitter is even less messy then facebook but eventually will turn into what facebook was initially with no apps.

And I decided I will talk about animal abuse later, because no one really cares if animals are being abused or not.... haha. Hope this isn't the wrong crowd for that joke.

Too busy?

2009-05-11T19:36:00.000-07:00

So I realized today that I have not blogged in a long time and I actually had a few thoughts that I wanted to blog on, and most of these thoughts directly concern facebook. Let me note things that I find hilarious:

1. When people update their status more then 3 times a day. Although sometimes even three is too many, but really I mean the people that update their status like five times within the hour. I mean no offense or anything but do you think people really care that much? I don't know just putting it out there.

2. When people always include something in their status about their boyfriend or girlfriend. I realize I say this and everyone assumes I am the bitter single guy, but actually, I am the more content with my life then anyone else guy. But I think it is so funny that people will note that they got together with their bf or gf, and feel the need to say they had a great time. When I see that all I think is "Really? You had a fun time with the person you are dating? That is absolutely shocking that you enjoy spending time with that person!" (Please note the sarcasm) I would also like to note that counting down the days until you will see your significant other is really lame, and also saying that you miss them everyday is again not surprising to anyone I'm pretty sure.

Anyways I also realized I am very busy with life right now since work is finally starting full long days again, so coaching three soccer team, playing on two soccer teams, helping out at youth actually takes up a lot/all of my free time, so I have a feeling this week is going to be super hectic. But I now understand what Loverboy was talking about when he said "Everybody's working for the weekend"

That's Embarrassing

2009-05-03T09:07:00.000-07:00

So the other day I did something not so smart, well it seemed like a good funny joke at the time but it just ended up with me looking like a big idiot. So rather then just keep it to myself I decided to let everyone know that I am a big idiot. Here is the scenario . . .

So I am driving down Henderson at around 7:30 and I am in the lane furthest away from the sidewalk. On the sidewalk I see a couple walking down the street holding hands, the girl is pretty short and has relatively long blonde hair and the guy is slightly taller with brown hair. For anyone that knows my area or can imagine this situation obviously I assume it is Andrew and Jade. So I do the only logical thing that anyone would do in the situation which is turn my car facing directly towards them and lean on the horn. Finally I get to about within a cars length away of running them down with my car, so I go for the wave to realize it was not them, so I play it cool and go for the ol' hair slick back. If only those people knew that I wasn't trying to run them down in my car and I just wanted to say hi to my friends.

I immediately call Andrew to make sure it was not actually him and Jade on the street and I could tell immediately by the indoor atmosphere in the phone background it was not them. Now that is embarrassing, luckily for me it just seems my most embarrassing moments are also my proudest.

All Ducky

2009-04-28T08:52:00.001-07:00

So clearly right now my life revolves almost completely around the Ducks Stanley Cup Playoff run. Although a lot of people counted them out because this was the year for the Sharks I was just not so convinced, I will admit I did have my doubts and I did not expect the Ducks to win some of the games so handily but I still had a feeling that they could pull this one off. And I mean after you knock off the top ranked team everything else is possible right. Also I would like to point out that since March 8 the Ducks have only lost in regulation time to two teams the Sharks and once to the Oilers, so I mean that is pretty good I would say. So next up Detroit Red Wings.

Also I guess you could say that I am kind of looking for a job again, unfortunately being the guy at the bottom of the chain when your boss highers too many people puts you in a bad position. So I'm really hoping for Lawn Man to work out, just will have to wait for someone to quit, hopefully that is sooner rather then later. But I have applied at several places give them today to call and then starting tomorrow I will have to start calling them.

It's all good

2009-04-21T17:49:00.001-07:00

So I have now been working at Jerry's Concrete for two days. Also that is not Scary Geri as the person in charge, it is another Jerry, just for the heads up. Anyways today work was pretty much awesome, seriously it was hard work just ripping out the concrete and digging and lots of wheelbarrowing, but it was good times, and I don't really mind doing that grunt work that people don't always want to do.

Anyways there are a few things I have noticed that I find so funny about people.

1. Although everyone smokes at least one cigarette every hour they will all still acknowledge that me not smoking is a good idea.

2. I don't have much in common with a lot of these people because I have not been to jail, or been caught for a DUI.

Anyways there is more I just can't think of them, because all I can think about is the Ducks game tonight!

I am so anxious I was going to nap after work today, but I just can't sleep knowing that the Ducks can take a 3-0 lead in the series tonight. Man that would be unreal. Go Ducks!

Working Life

2009-04-19T20:34:00.000-07:00

So tomorrow I start my first day as a working man in the working world. And we have a theory of how this will go. Week one I will like it, Week two I start not enjoying life so much, however at the end of the week I get a paycheck and life is good. This will continue until eventually one of two things will happen:

1. The paycheck at the end of the week is not actually worth how much I do not like my job.

2. I actually like the job so I don't just look forward to a paycheck.

I have a feeling this will be a good one though, should be better then River City at least. Although I am sure that the perks will just not compare, at least I will be more then just really cheap labour. Anyways I will keep you posted on my life as a "normal" everyday working person.

Faster

2009-04-15T21:58:00.000-07:00

Have you guys ever gone to the gym and been riding the bike or running on a treadmill or using whatever stationary machine you choose that day and then seen someone you didn't want to talk to so you speed up?

Ya it hasn't happened to me either, but isn't that such a funny idea if it does happen, you know you speed up then realize you aren't going anywhere and you are stuck there, so they come to talk to you so you stop peddling (moving), so that you can get off and walk away. The irony of that situation is just awesome. I hope it happens to me one day and I will reenact the situation I just described.

Also ran into my neighbor Peter today, he actually scared me. I pulled into my driveway and I heard some loud engine right next to me and I thought there was a motorcycle following me. But it was just Peter showing me his scooter.

Providence College

2009-04-12T21:27:00.000-07:00

Well the Providence Train has nearly come to a stop. Two exams left and then my time there is over, well and the volleyball wind-up, which is what I took more seriously then school for the most part so it is only fitting to finish with that.

But the volleyball is over, my days as a college athlete have to come an end for now, maybe one day I will find myself back there, however this is unlikely. Looking back on the whole experience is quite amazing coming from me who said I would never ever go to Prov as a student. There is not a second of it I would take back. The whole experience is definitely worth it, the only thing I would do differently is find a way to live in residence. I mean seriously that is good times. (I hope I get some royalties from prov for all the students I send their way from this)

But anyways although volleyball didn't end the way we wanted the season was still a great one, and definitely one that I will not forget. Full of lots of ups and downs all year long we still had a great time, and I am sure I could speak for almost everyone. Yesterday night in Kansas among joking around with the guys we somehow had a serious sentimental moment for a while when we all realized that we made some really good friends this year. Ya sounds like a lame typical thing, but I have been with a lot of teams that have short seasons and the people that you only see at volleyball don't often become your good friends you stay in touch with, or not in my case. I have a few but none will compare to this. So thank you to coaches and teammates this really was a great season to remember.

Baseball

2009-04-07T21:15:00.000-07:00

So usually when I am trying to figure out if people are actually reading my blog I await for comments to flood my email because some has read something I wrote and had one of these several responses:

"I hear ya Man"

"Ya I totally agree and feel the same way"

"Amen Brother"

"Wow your funny Ryan"

So whenever you read a blog and come up with one of those responses feel free to write them down, maybe sometimes just write one anyways to boost my self-esteem. Actually even though there aren't comments I see the counter goes up and that is what really matters anyways.

But now for baseball, I don't really mind the sport that much, but people are all pumped the the Blue Jays are 2 - 0 so far, but seriously everybody there are 160 games left in the season there is no way you could get pumped up after every single game. So c'mon guys don't burn out before the playoffs, because really you just have to take it easy in such a long and mostly meaningless season. Anyways also I hate the Jays, you guys can do better.

Yup

2009-04-04T13:51:00.001-07:00

Ya that picture pretty much says it all.

Also the reason this actual blog is better then reading it on facebook is because in my actual blog there are dramatic spaces for paragraphs and such, and facebook just clumps everything together... So lame... like blogging. So for all you facebook readers the actual sit of my blog is this.

www.ryanmalech.blogspot.com

Yes I just wrote the website for my blog on my actual blog.

But isn`t that picture just the best.

Mucus

2009-04-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

So lately I have been battling a deathly illness known as the common cold. And of course that means your typical coughing, stuffy nose, being totally congested feeling and sore throat. But I would like to address this post specifically to the stuffy nose.

Have you ever wondered if it is possible to run out of mucus (snot) in your nose? Seriously I have been blowing my nose several times a day sometimes for several minutes on end without my nose feeling like it has been cleared up for longer then then like 5 minutes. It makes me think how have I not gotten rid of all the possible mucus in my body by now. It is absolutely ridiculous. If it is not possible to run out of mucus is it actually essential to have so that you may live, if I not I say we develop a drug to eliminate all mucus from the body, thus we would solve the problem of the common cold, and people would love the seasons changing so much more. Although apparently in Winnipeg the seasons only pretend to change until it snows two days later.

Convenience

2009-03-31T11:02:00.000-07:00

Since the turn of time people have always been trying to make things more convenient, and I would just like to say that sometimes they are not more convenient at all. The most easy example of this that I can think of is in the bathroom. Now some things are helpful for example when the tap is on a censor and you don't have to turn the tap to get it started to wash your hands. Also I have rarely seen it but soap that comes up as a censor is also very helpful.

However there are a few things that are not convenient:

1. The automatic flush for the toilet (For the urinal it's cool). You would think that this would be a very helpful thing I mean you get up and it flushes, but what about when you are going to the bathroom and you lean forward a bit and it flushes prematurely. I mean seriously that censor is just to sensitive. I don't want to flush early, also sometimes if it flushes early while you are sitting you may get some water splashed on you. On top of all this say the toilet flushes several times while you are in there and people around are wondering, "What is wrong with that guy flushing several times."

2. I also don't like those wave and the paper comes out things, seriously they are slow and annoying and they hardly ever work.

I would like to now take your time and give a shout out, occasionally I tell people I will give them a shout out then don't do it right away because I want to lure them into reading the blog everyday waiting for their shout out. So this ones for you Jason Peters, thanks for the inspiration in blog writing, and congratulations on that award you keep winning... Coach of the Year... or whatever it is.

A True Underdog Story

2009-03-30T09:18:00.000-07:00

On Friday night I had a dream and it went something like this...

Our Volleyball team went to our conference championships with more confidence then ever, we destroy every team in our pool and don't lose a single set. We move into the playoffs and easily handle every team until the semi-finals where we are somewhat pushed and have to take the game to three but we still win. In the finals we manhandled our opponents and captured the Conference Championship.

If you forgot already I said this was a dream and the past events I described were false. I will now describe what actually happened.

After a long trip down to Mankato, Minnesota our team is stoked and ready to go. We start off ranked first in our pool and third overall in the tournament. Our first game went exactly as I dreamed actually, we won fairly easily and felt like we were ready to go for the weekend, finally playing some good ball this year. Second game we also won, a mental lapse in the second set forces us to go to three sets, but the right outcome occurs. The third match in pool play was against Michigan Tech, we come out strong and win the first set, but drop the second and are forced to play the third. And we lost the third set forcing us to finish second in our pool, which means several extra matches to get to the championships.

These extra matches start off with a challenge match against St. Thomas and they weren't all that great so we made it to the Championship side of the tournament. I now need to explain that the tournament was a double knock-out tournament so once you lost on the winners side you are on the losers side but can still make your way back to the winners side if you don't lose any more games. Our first game on the championship side was against River Falls, they were quite a strong team and showed that by absolutely embarrassing us in the first set. After a little pep talk from yours truly the second set was a completely different team out there and we were able to force a third set to stay on the top of the bracket. The third set started off great playing point for point it was a really good match. And then when the score was tied at four points a piece our teams starting right side ran to get a ball and stepped on a ball cart and the corner of the wall and was forced to leave the game and eventually the rest of the tournament. Unfortunately this loss of a player completely deflated the team we proceeded to lose the set very badly, to the point of embarrassment.

This was the end of day 1, and our team was now in a lose and your out situation, every game on the losers side was only one set to 25 points. If we lost one set we were done, this was not the situation we wanted to be in. Also on day two most games were back to back.

Day two begins with a game against Michigan Tech who had earlier beat us, after coming out to a slow start in the one set death match being down 4-0 our team rallied back and ended up beating Michigan Tech. Our confidence had just started to get higher, our next game was going to be against the top ranked team in our conference, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, they had been upset and forced to the bottom bracket, they were also ranked third in the country. And we came out gunning, playing them point for point back and forth and we eventually took the match. This would take us to another match against River Falls, the team that had embarrassed us the night before, in this game nothing was stopping us, it was personal now and there was no way they were going to beat us. In this game I decided it was time for me to put on a blocking clinic and had three huge blocks against their top power hitter momentum was in our favor as we won the match to make it to the finals against Minnesota State - Mankato.

To beat Mankato we would have to first beat them in a best of three and then a one set battle to 25 if we won the first, because they still had not lost they needed two losses to be out of the tournament, and our team had been playing for a lives for a while now. We came out strong and won the first set, the second set we played decently but Mankato stole it from us forcing a third set. We played hard and eventually took the third set completely overwhelming Mankato and shocking them as they had beat us the last time we played them. This forced another one set to 25 winner take all situation. We had not battled elimination all day to get here and we weren't stopping now. They beat us to 8 and had the lead as we switched sides, but it wasn't enough for them, Troy Esau went back and put on a serving clinic acing them several times to eventually push us to far ahead for Mankato to have a chance.

And that is the story of how we became Conference Champions. Next up... National Champions?

Filter

2009-03-21T12:30:00.001-07:00

So usually when people talk about having a filter they mean they want to not swear in front of certain people, or not make inappropriate comments in the wrong situation. That is not the type of filter I am talking about, I have no problem with the amount of swearing I do or the inappropriate comments I make in front of people... haha. The filter I need to work on is not saying dumb things, I don't mean like asking a question with an obvious answer. What I mean is... well it's hard to explain so let me present you with a scenario.

You are standing around with a group of your friends, just having a good time, everyone is joking around about whatever the topic of the day is. Then all of a sudden someone makes a joke where they themselves are the prime target. Now at first everyone laughs along, but then there is this awkward pause where people think... Hey that might actually be true about him. And I am... I mean the person is thinking "Why did I just say that?" You may have figured out by now that person making the joke is me.

So the question for all of you is, "Is it worth the cheap laugh to make fun of yourself even though people might think your 'joke' is actually a truth?"

Also there is no way you can keep that up.

Addictions

2009-03-19T22:55:00.001-07:00

Right now you guys are probably expecting to get a very serious talk about addictions from me and that is exactly what you are going to get.

A few days ago I was offered something too me that I knew that I should not get involved in, I just knew right at the beginning it would be a really bad choice if I said yes when I was offered. Originally I denied the offer because it was going to cost me some money, but my friend said to me that I could do it for no extra costs, and this experience is something completely special and will be over in a little while anyways.

Unfortunately I did not say no to the offer and I have become a victim of March Madness, and although I have not watched any college basketball all year and am not a huge basketball fan to begin with I cannot leave my TV knowing that a game is going on and I can not be constantly updating my bracket. Also if you were wondering I am currently 13 for 16. First place in my pool.

Man that thing is long and hard.

Religious View? Really?

2009-03-18T21:17:00.000-07:00

Know what I think is really funny/really strange? When I go on facebook (yes lame I am blogging about facebook) and look at peoples religious views and they write something like: Music or Live Life to the Fullest, or Take Every Chance You Get. And I am pretty sure those are not religious views or religious convictions. I think it is so weird when people write that. I know some people probably will look at mine and see I have Jesus written down and will say that is not a Religious view either just so you can try to start an argument, but I really mean I am doing my best to follow the teachings of Jesus, but that is too much to write so I shortened it. And following those teachings does have convictions.

Also this just in:

I don't think that will fit in there.

Blog Ideas

2009-03-17T17:11:00.000-07:00

So today in class I started a new Word Document that I plan to always keep open while I am at my computer, and that folder is called Blog Ideas. So hopefully now I will be able to always think of something to blog about, thus filling my readers fix to read a blog. I will limit my thoughts so I don't use them all in one blog because I don't want you all to be expecting big things everyday.

Today the topic will be my creepy neighbor. Yes... I have a creepy neighbor. And this may become a long story, but that is because every detail is just so important. So let me begin, I really hope you take the time to read the whole thing.

I moved into a new house in October I think it was, and had yet to really look into meeting new people in the neighborhood other then those I already knew (HOLLA!). Then in January everything changed, what started as an innocent friendship became a seeking for a best friend.

Situation: I am shoveling the driveway, and all of a sudden I hear someone yell from across the street. This seemingly friendly figure walks over and starts to make the typical small talk you make with a new neighbor, and eventually you learn a bit about the guy. Here is what I observed and learnt about our neighbor:

1. He is just all around average, height and weight.

2. Stutters a little bit.

3. He is in his early thirties.

4. He still lives with his parents, and does not have a girlfriend. (I don't think he ever has)

5. He is a big talker, not cocky, but can talk forever.

We continue to talk and eventually he asks me if I play poker, I tell him I dabble a bit. And he proceeds to ask me for my cell number, not wanting to give him my actual number after only a brief meeting, I give him my "cell number" and he leaves, that is the end of our first meeting.

A few weeks pass and I have not seen him for a while, as you have seen in the past list I failed to learn/remember this guys name. So our next meeting comes, and basically he asks if I had gotten any of texts, and obviously I have not and I make up a story about how I just got a new phone number. So he gets me to go inside and get my phone so he can get my number and phone me to make sure that it works. Through this whole process he is always saying my name, which makes me so aware that I do not remember his, eventually he gets my number and it works. Surprise!

Now it has been a few months since we had talked in detail other then the occasional wave while I drive by, but yesterday I get a phone call from an unknown number (No I didn't save his number in my phone)

Neighbor: Hey Ryan, how's it going?

Me: ... Good, How are you?

Neighbor: Going good, it's Peter Your Neighbor.

Me: Oh yea... What's going on? (I definitely did not think his name was Peter)

Peter: Nothing, what have you got going on tonight?

Me:I have volleyball tonight.

Peter: Oh man I am having a Poker Night with the guys tonight.

Me: Sorry man I can't do it tonight you will have to let me know another time.

Peter: But I am going to Hawaii on Friday, just skip volleyball

HOLD IT

I did not realize I was someone he wanted to see right before he went to Hawaii, I mean seriously he is early 30's and I just turned 20...

Me: Sorry man can't do that.

Peter: Well what days work for you in the future?

Me: Well I pretty much have volleyball until the second week of April.

Peter: That's fine I'm not back from Hawaii until the first week of April.

Me: Ok well let me know next time, gotta go.

Peter: Ok... (He goes on to explain the process and time they usually play poker, and when it is usually arranged by) Cya later.

And that is the last I have heard from Peter. Hopefully there will be many adventures with him to come. And I sincerely hope you stayed and read this whole post because it is super-duper.

Be Yourself

2009-03-15T21:23:00.000-07:00

Question: Want to know what I hate?

Answer:Yes.

What I hate: When people untag themselves in pictures on facebook all the time. If you are one of those people who do this all the time and are reading this I would like you to explain yourself. Now this might come out of harsh, but seriously if you don't allow people to actually see you labelled at the bottom it makes no difference. Or if you are SOO embarrassed of what you looked like then how come you looked like that in the first place. I mean if you are so concerned about other people seeing you in pictures then don't leave your house. Or best case scenario you could create a guard on your face that does not allow your face to focus on the camera.

Also another thing I don't understand is people who are embarrassed by being around other people doing "stupid" (however they are usually funny) things. Whenever I see people that are just too cool to be around other people who are confident enough to be themselves I just want to find a way to make them feel as uncomfortable as possible. Because seriously grow up, your not too cool for school. Be Yourself that Never Gets Old.

Also I got a birthday card that was awesome for two reasons

1. It was The Office.

2. It talked. Yuppers, Michael Scott talked to me in a b-day card.

See ya Later

2009-03-12T09:20:00.000-07:00

Today I will live my last day as a teenager. And I am not one to write those super lame sappy year in review things. I think I already mentioned that at New Years when everyone always says the same things over again, and seriously everyone writes the same thing because they don't want to be so specific that everyone knows everything about them, so they leave it so general that it actually applies to everyone.

But all in all this year was pretty good, and I am looking forward to life as an adult, not just by legality but by lack of a teen in my age. So peace out teenage years, you will not be long forgotten. Because seriously 20 feels so much older then 19.

Word Around The Blogesphere

2009-03-10T20:58:00.000-07:00

So I have not blogged in a very long time. Far too long in fact, since I have not yet blogged this month, after such a strong month of blogging in February is was probably hard for a lot of you to go so long without your daily fix.

I have now been sitting at this spot in my blog post for about five minutes and I can not think of anything that has happened to me lately that is worth blogging about. Other then the fact that I am pumped that I have nearly lost ten pounds on my venture back to the weight that I graduated at.

Also this past week I moved into my bedroom, which means that I slept in a bed for the first time in a while. And let me tell you for those of you that have tried this whole sleeping in a bed thing, it really is quite lovely. I would recommend taking a few weeks/months off of sleeping in a bed and then try it. It may be the best thing that you can do.

On another note, I have not had McDonalds in nearly three weeks and there is a chance that I am going through withdrawal, if anyone has any healthy alternatives that taste just as good or better then a nice greasy burger from Ronald then please let me know, I would love to give it a try.

But I am off to bed now, hopefully I will not allow such a drought to happen on my blog again. Peace out, and Happy Birthday Pops.

Celebrities and Movies

2009-02-26T22:29:00.000-08:00

I realized two things about myself today:

1. I think that in general I don't really like movies. I have a pretty narrow view of what makes a good movie, so I pretty much only like movies of the same genre, but even then I like comedies but I am pretty quick to point out a comedy that I don't like. Also I think fantasy movies are lame and have no merit to them, yes Lord of the Rings I am talking directly to you. Also I like documentaries and movies based on a true story about almost anything. So that right there is my movie range, and outside of that I don't like a lot of movies. Because quite frankly I don't like things that can't be real.

2. I think celebrity gossip is pretty lame. I mean if you are going to talk about something talk about people you actually know. I mean I love "The Office" as much as the next guy, but even though I talk about them as my friends, I don't actually think that they are my friends. I mean stuff like who dated who, and so and so is actually gay, and who is doing what at exactly 5:12 on a Thursday night, I mean really who gives a rip. Ya pretty lame, I occasionally try to keep up with it just so I can hold my own in conversation, but I think that I am going to stop, and just be like, "Ya I actually don't really care what Paris Hilton did last week, because I was actually living my own life"

Hi-5

2009-02-24T17:31:00.000-08:00

No I am not talking about the juice.

So I recently started watching How I Met Your Mother, and there are two ways I can relate to Barney.

1. I have in the past constantly told someone that I am their best friend, even though they keep saying I am not. I am pretty sure we are not best friends but that joke never gets old. You know who you are, if you don't know who you are take this post and put it up to a mirror.

gnoW nahtanoJ

2. I just love a good Hi-5, seriously there is no better feeling then a good smacking together of two human hands. And in How I Met Your Mother Barney even does a hypothetical Hi-5, man that's the best. There have been a few instances in my life including today where I have been denied a Hi-5, although these people are still my good friends, I would like them better if they would return my Hi-5, because really they will enjoy it more then I will. And these are the names of my two friends who are also known as Hi-5 deniers, but you can still be friends with them, their names are, and I will use code again as not to give away their identity.

kcyD hsoJ
yksnapahcS nevetS

So if we are ever in passing I would love to partake in a Hi-5 or a nice pound it with anyone, although I must confess I will wash my hands immediately after, due to cleansing reasons. But I will save that for another post as to keep you all intrigued and coming back.

American

2009-02-16T14:34:00.000-08:00

After watching Survivor last night, I came to the conclusion that I need to become an American so that I can get onto reality TV shows.

The Shows I would want to get onto are:

1. The Amazing Race

2. Survivor

3. American Gladiators

That is pretty much it, so the only ways that I can become American are to actually move to the states and become a citizen or just marry an American. So in the next year I will be looking for a way to fulfill my reality dreams, because I know that could be my full time job because obviously I would win at all of them, thus making me a well-off fellow.

Community Living

2009-02-12T12:26:00.000-08:00

Basically I am a big fan of it, and contrary to most people, I actually miss living with 12 other people that are around the same age as me. You see as much as I have no problem spending full days by myself, I really miss having other people around all the time so you don't have to plan to do anything, you just do something because you live together and it is just the best.

Just throwing that out there, living with other people is the best. Hopefully I will do it again one day.

TV

2009-02-10T22:36:00.000-08:00

So I never consider myself someone who watches much TV, however I am very select in the shows that I watch, other then religiously placing myself on the couch every Sunday to watch football for as long as I possibly can there are very few shows that I watch, but there are three of them, and they are.

3. Flight of the Conchords

2. Arrested Development (although it was cancelled after three seasons I am still hoping for a movie)

1. The Office (All-time fave)

Fact, I will almost never go to sleep without watching an episode of the office before I go to bed.

Fact, I try to say "That's what she said" at least twice everyday.

Fact, my favorite episode of the office is "The Fire" episode, not sure why, but that was the one that really got me into the show, I'm not sure if it was the desert island game, or who would you do that drew me in.

Last year for my birthday I realized I shared my birthday with a dog whom I did not really appreciate, (not just that dog, I don't really care for animals in general) and i thought it would be so funny if all day they celebrated the dogs birthday and forgot about mine, and then at the end of the day someone would find out it was my birthday and want to say something, but I insist they didn't. Several reasons this is funny:

1. Obviously this happened in an episode of the office when Micheal has a surprise b-day party for Meredith and her birthday is a month away and it was Ryan's birthday that day.

2. At the time I was Ryan the Intern, and this situation happened to Ryan the Inter.

Anyways, maybe one day this will actually happen, however I am expecting birthday wishes from people regardless.

Sports Favorites

2009-02-09T14:05:00.001-08:00

So many of you know that I am a big Sports fan, which means that obviously I have a favorite team and player in every sport. So I decided I would share them with you.

Sport: Hockey

Team: Anaheim Ducks (formerly Mighty Ducks)

Player: Paul Kariya (unfortunately not a Duck any more). Also Teemu Selanne

Sport: Football

Team: Dallas Cowboys

Player: Marion Barber

Sport: Basketball

Team: Dallas Mavericks

Player: Dirk Nowitzki

Sport: Baseball (although I don't watch it that much I still have favorites from the Sport)

Team: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Formerly Anaheim Angels)

Player: Vladamir Guerero

Sport: Soccer

Team: Bayern Munchen

Player: Oliver Kahn (but he is retired), Current Fav: Lukas Podolski

Remember this.

2009-02-06T19:10:00.000-08:00

For my random fact today I thought that I would let you all know that my favorite movie of all time is Remember the Titans. I once watched that movie before nearly every single soccer game one season, and don't tell me it wasn't worth it because we won the championship and went on a 22 game win streak or something awesome like that.

I can pretty much quote nearly the whole movie, and still think that it is the perfect movie for all occasions.

A close second would have to be Anchorman, another great movie for all occasions... well nearly all occasions, I can honestly watch the scene where Jack Black kicks Ron Burgundy's dog over the bridge over and over and never get bored of it. On another note (lucky you you are getting a fact within a fact) I once dressed up as Ron Burgundy for celebrity night at Prov sports camps. Unfortunately I think that I left that beautiful suit in Vancouver, if not it is lost forever in time, if I ever find it again, I hope to wear it on several occasions.

Condiments

2009-02-05T15:44:00.001-08:00

Fact o' the Day.

I am very particular about the condiments that I use. Most specifically I hate mustard, it makes me sick. And I am not just saying that like most other people do, mustard actually will make me throw up if it gets in my system in any way. I know that some people (Matt Wall) have not believed me and tried to make me eat mustard, well you should know that I am not making this up. Even the smell of mustard makes me gag a little bit.

Because of this I have become known by some people as JK (Just.Ketchup) Because that is how I will always order all of my burgers at McDonalds and any other burger place in fact. And that is just the easiest way to order it without being very specific. If they mess up my order I will become very upset and may do something rash.

Now you have it, don't fool around with my condiments!

Arguments

2009-02-04T17:35:00.000-08:00

Fact about me for the day is that I enjoy a good argument/debate. Probably debate is a better word, argument generally implies that someone is wrong, debate I would say implies that there is neither a right nor wrong side just the people involved have differing opinions. Since I am never wrong and it is not wise to argue with someone who is not as smart as you since there is everything to lose for you, I prefer debates. Haha just kidding I'm not never wrong, however I am always right (Ok stop with the lame jokes Ryan).

But seriously I enjoy a good debate, and will sometimes take the opposite side if everyone is on the same side of an opinion because I firmly believe that you probably don't really know what you think if you have only ever talked about the matter with people who agree with you. I mean if your whole life everything around you thinks the same as you, you will never actually be truly challenged to find out what you really think. So sometimes I start arguments on the side that I don't agree with just because I know it is the less popular side, and then when I all of a sudden "switch" sides at the end you feel like you have won, but really I agreed with you the whole time, at least you know what you think now.

Feet

2009-02-03T11:53:00.000-08:00

Feet are disgusting, and mine are no exception. For my fact of the day I would like to share some facts about my feet that are pretty awesome and unique and something that you might not know.
Although my feet are average in size, I have a webbed toe on my left foot. And to answer all questions before you all ask, no it doesn't hurt, I don't want it cut and removed and I am not a better swimmer because of it. Although that may be the reason why I am such a big Anaheim Ducks fan, but who knows. Also I have been known to have hobbit feet, I am pretty sure that it just means that I am more of a man then the average person because my hair does not stop at my ankles.

Colours

2009-02-02T14:14:00.000-08:00

Here is another random fact about me, for as long as I can remember I have never really had a favorite color. I am not sure if that is normal for most people or not. But if anyone ever asks me my favorite color I will either lie and answer quickly to fit in, or I will hum and haw for a while until I come to the conclusion that I do not have a favorite color. You know I thought it might be a phase and eventually I would come to my senses and realize that there is just one color that is clearly my favorite, but that has not happened. I think my favorite might be green... but it also might be dark blue, or even dark purple (the same color as the Ducks) but really I can not decide.

Also on the note of color, I have always felt more comfortable spelling the word color the American way rather then the Canadian way. Not sure what it is, but it really makes me cringe a little bit, which really makes me uncomfortable that the title is spelt the Canadian way. I could change it, but I will leave it just so that I am more accepted among my Canadian culture.

Super Bowl

2009-02-01T10:45:00.000-08:00

So today is the Super Bowl and as many of you may have remembered in an earlier blog post this playoff season since my team was unable to play in the Super Bowl for various reasons, the main one being a poor coach, also there is a chance that their record was not good enough to get in but that is still debatable. But I pledged my allegiance to Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals and they are in the big show today. So go Kurt.

Random fact about me that you may not know is that I enjoy a cold shower. After a practice or a game I will almost always have a cold shower.