Indoor Challenge

Wasn't too sore today from all that stuff yesterday, but I definitely felt it in my quads, calves, feet, hamstrings, butt, triceps, forearms, shoulders, and upper back muscles (trapezius, lats, deltoids).  I was able to walk up stairs with minimal pain, so that was good.

Had a lot of fun at the indoor challenge (soccer, basketball, dodgeball, and volleyball).  Always kinda questionable how it'll be with a bunch of randoms thrown together.  Funny, I knew more people on the Skule and Grad House teams than mine and even recognized a bunch from other teams, but everyone on mine was a complete unknown prior to this.

Good group a people (4 guys, 4 girls).  We sucked, winning only a single game of dodgeball - I was the last man standing!  My strategy was to just jump over any ball that came in my direction.  Worked great b/c it left very little space for them to hit me - basically they could only get me if the ball was at the height of my torso b/c head shots weren't allowed and I jumped over anything below the waist, plus they had to get me when I wasn't dodging laterally :p

We were there just to have fun.  We say that only b/c we kept losing.  But, what do you expect anyways from a bunch of masters and phd students :p.  As a group, we're generally not athletes, we're nerds :p.

12 hours of physical activity today.... so pooped

8 hour volleyball tournament. 9 - 5. 6 games. Narrowly lost in the semi-finals. Serious sugar low at the end of that game.

4 hour curling bonspiel. 6 - 10. Lawrence & Don Valley, coming from Kipling & Lakeshore, i.e. complete opposite side of the city. Damn Patrick kept throwing light and made me sweep like crazy! I was inspired by Mark Nichols (my curling hero). Everything was like Mark Nichols would have hit the guard and did a triple take out and lie 3 in the house.

Undefeated through 2 matches. Won Kinder surpises! Every curling bonspiel I've been to, I've won a prize! (Not always because of merit)

Kevin and I are thinking of forming a curling team next year. We're aiming for the 2010 or 2014 Olympics. Team Gushue (Canadian gold medal winners) is mostly just a year older than us, so we have our work cut out for us to catch up to them by the time we're their age.

Gonna be so sore tomorrow, and what's worse is that I have this "indoor challenge" thing tomorrow - volleyball, basketball, dodgeball, and soccer. 7 hours :s. Crazy stuff. Maybe it's good that I missed skiing on Friday.

Then there's volleyball Mon, Tues, and Thurs and snowboarding Fri. Hope my body lasts...

FFFUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKK......

It's just after 10, I just got up.  The bus left for Blue Mountain at 7.

Serves me right for going to bed at friggin' 1:30 am....

Sexy looking board

Finally got all the parts and assembled my board! Bought the board, bindings, bag, lock, and leash from SportMart.ca. Buying online was the only way to get a good deal on a decent board in my size (151 cm) - saved $110 and got free shipping! Got the boots from Sport Chek at the end of season sale. Not much selection, I just got what they had in my size. I picked up the maple leaf stomp pad from Blue Mountain, though I also saw it at SportsMart and it was cheaper there, but it was too late and I didn't feel like returning the one I already bought to save a buck or two.

All the online stuff came pretty quick - just over a week after I ordered. I actually got 3 packages as the stuff came from 3 different stores. The only problem was that the bindings didn't fit my boots! I figured a medium would be fine as it says that medium can be used with a size 8 boot, but my boot just wouldn't fit!

I called up the nearest Sport Mart to see if they had a large that I could exchange with. I then made the hour long trek there (only half hour back after lucking out on taking a shorter bus route). Why are Sport Mart's always out in the boonies, but Sport Chek's are subway accessible?

After being bamboozled why the large binding in the store was WAY too big for my boot (I brought one of my boots to try), I realized that the one they shipped me was actually a youth one! Right box, wrong product. Argh! The store didn't have any mediums in my binding or alternatives at the same price. I opted for the higher model in women's medium (hey, it fit, whatever, and bindings all look and work the same) and put down the extra $20 + tax.

Up until the unexpected extra cost of the bindings, the whole package was almost exactly the same price as my jacket :p.

Mountain was my bitch

I totally pwned the mountain
(picture stolen from BlueMountain.ca)

Amazing day of skiing. I literally went down every run on the mountain! Ok, well, except for the bunny slopes, glades, terrain park, and Calamity Lane (the double black that alluded me last year, but was closed today probably due to lack of snow).

I hit the North side hard, fast, and often since I was there during the day and it is closed for night skiing (which is all we get on the usual Friday trips). Started off doing all the blues and single black diamonds to get warmed up and to remember how to ski. It was afterall, only my 5th time skiing, and my 4th time was the first ski & snowboard club trip, in which I was skiing in the rain and only on easy runs to humour Mimi.

Last year, I tried doing Calamity Lane, a double black diamond. It was really icy and after doing like one turn, one of my skis fell off and slid all the way down, leaving me to just roll down the hill. Not the best of my moments. I wouldn't have been able to do it anyways, I just wasn't ready for it.

I finally built up the courage to do my second ever attempt at a double black diamond and this time I killed it! I did like two slow turns to get out of the worst of the icy areas and to get the courage to ski properly, then I was like, ok, let's do this! I faced right down the slope (as opposed to sideways) and carved my way to victory! I later went on to do all the double blacks that the mountain had to offer.

The mountain was totally my bitch today.

My skiing actually improved significantly today after working on the single and double black diamonds. I'm skiing much faster with more confidence with nicer, tighter turns and more control. I wanted to try moguls, but "Mogul Alley" didn't have any moguls! And I wasn't stupid enough to try the moguls on the double blacks. The skis felt quite good. 155 cm skis. Gotta remember that.

My other accomplishment today was more properly doing cross country skiing. I was totally inspired after watching Chandra Crawford win gold in the cross country sprint for Canada!!! Waking up 2 hours early wasn't for naught afterall :). Watching her motor along as if her skis were rollerblades was awesome. My perception of cross country skiing was tainted by grade 8 winter camp where we were put in tracks and had to like double pole or akwardly single pole while in the tracks and not move anywhere. Skiing like they do in the sprints is so much more fun :). Chandra's my new Olympic hero. 22 years old. First Olympics and completely unproven. Announcers didn't give her a hope in hell. She killed the field. Smiling all the way. Amazing!

 

Fuckin' kids have no consideration for others

You would think that me waiting for the bus at 7am, two hours early, would be the worst thing that happened to me today. Well, you'd be wrong.

This girl, Marsha, comes onto the bus and I'm like fuck, I CAN'T STAND HER!!! I know from past trips that she DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO SHUT THE FUCK UP. She's OBSCENELY loud, OBNOXIOUS, and TALKS THE ENTIRE FUCKING 2.5 hours there AND back. I've had the horrendous experience of sitting near her in previous trips.

I was ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATED when she sat across from me. NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!! I knew that I wouldn't be able to get my regular 2 hour nap there and back. She can be heard over my headphones and sleeping is difficult within 3 rows of her, let alone across the row. When the battery on my mp3 player died 1 hour from the mountain, my spirit was completely crushed as I had to put up with hearing EVERY SINGLE WORD that she said. I DON'T FUCKING WANT TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR FAMILY PROBLEMS, LEAVES AND PLANTS, OR YOUR FUCKING YOGURT!!!!!

And to boot, she was FIFTY (50) minutes late getting back on the bus. We had like 50 people waiting for ONE person. We should've left her at the mountain. Not like she didn't know we were supposed to leave at 8 or where the bus was (she unfortunately comes every week). Everyone else was on the bus on time, except her almost equally annoying male friend who was 20 min. late. Everyone was on the bus by like 8:05 and we were just waiting on those two fuckers. How about some courtesy for others??!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!??

On the way back, they were chatting up a useless storm as usual in voices much louder than should be and louder than anyone else. After like an hour of trying to sleep, which was impossible with their screeching and my lack of music to drown them out, I told them bitches to shut the fuck up b/c people were trying to sleep. I may have put it in kinder words. They didn't really take the hint and kept on talking. FOR GOD'S SAKE, HAVE SOME CONSIDERATION FOR OTHERS!!!! It's not enough that they have to make us wait nearly an hour, just sitting on a bus in a parking lot, but they have to keep us awake the whole trip back???!!!? Jesus Christ.

Marsha is my face for evil in the world. If I could ask Zeus to strike down a bolt of lightning on one person, she would be it.


Sorry for the excessive profanity in this post. I'm pissed and if I wasn't Canadian and gunless, I would have shot her.

OMG, e-mail is free!!!

U of T Ski and Snowboard Club reading week trip today. I rush to get to the meeting point at 7 am. No bus in sight. Not a soul around. I'm like shit, wtf? I'm 5 min. early!!! I rollerblade around and see a bus outside of med sci. I ask the bus driver if the bus is for the club, he shrugs, but when he asks where it's supposed to go and I say Blue Mountain, he says ya, that's gotta be it. Hopping on board, I know that I'm on the wrong bus. It was for biochem or something.

Calling Nick (the President), he tells me that they're not leaving until 9. WTF?? The e-mail said 7! Apparently they changed it on the webpage. OMG!!!! IT'S CALLED E-MAIL!!!! E-MAIL IS FREE!!!! I checked the webpage and it's not even like there's a big notice on the time change, it simply regurgitates the previous e-mail with 7 changed to 9.

Sigh. So many things have gone wrong with this club.

On the plus side, I'm able to watch some Olympics live (usually I'm not up early enough). Cross country skiing sprints are on right now. And the whole thing gave me a legit use for my cell phone, which generally goes unused.

Icewave

The Scramblers
Sherry, Phu, Andru, Sony, Ryan, Monica, Vince, Utku

I managed to raise $300 for the kids! Thanks to everyone who sponsored me! I was awarded a volleyball for raising that much (the red and white one). My ball count is now up to 4 - the 2 on the ends are the ones I actually use and the 2 in the middle are novelty/free.

My balls

This cat has a bigger waist size than me!

A 33-pound cat
...
31-inch waist
...
so heavy it needs the help of its owner to get onto a bed
...
eat six pounds of chicken and pork each day

Something's a miss...

Canada loses in two consecutive hockey shutouts???!?!?! Canada fighting for its life just to make the curling playoffs??!?!?!? A Jamaican (Lascelles Brown) wins a bobsledding medal?!!?!!? Shani Davis becomes the first black man to ever win an individual gold medal in the winter Olympics (which is awesome)!!! I'm watching the CBC voluntarily??!?! I'm even watching CBC French!!!!

WHAT IS GOING ON???!?!?!!?!??

Happy Birthday Nusraat!

People need to stop getting older b/c it means that I'm getting older.

Let's play good news, bad news

Bad news
Snowboarding trip was cancelled b/c black ice caused roads to be closed and several of the lifts were closed due to high winds.

Good news
I was able to stay for Anitha and Kannan's going away party and I got a free dinner by tagging along with the CS grad student candidates dinner at Asian Legend.


Good news
I have two offers for summer internships.

Bad news
I have two offers for summer internships.

Too good to not blog about

Take that El Al!!!

We wish to advise you that we have completed our investigation of your claim and that it has been determined to compensate you in the final amount of CAD139.59.

...

I trust the foregoing reassures you of El Al's interest and help to regain your goodwill.

SWEET!!!! I gladly accept this compensation, but sorry, that's not enough to buy my goodwill...

Of course, this is just a moral victory, as I have no use for money. It won't spur any sort of spontaneous purchase, it'll just sit in the bank.

Post #200!!!!

This is my 200th post! No jokes. Also coincidently, the 200th straight day that my computer at school has been on without being rebooted or turned off! Serious. No Photoshop in that image, except to circle the 200 days. I like deserve some sort of award or something for that! 200 days straight! By far a new record for me. That means the last time I rebooted it was right before I left for my internship at MSR in Aug.

So, about 200 posts in the last 4 months. That's 50 posts / month and approx. 1.67 posts / day. This is why I need to cut back on blogging and DO SOME WORK!!! And by work, I don't mean web design. I mean, ACTUAL work.

I was initially hoping that posting online would help me to post regularly as I do have some external pressure to get me to blog regularly, unlike the journal I was trying to keep a while back, which kinda died off. The problem, is that it's too effective of a motivation and this is an amazing outlet for procrastinating.

Expect this space to remain stagnant for a while or at least be updated much less frequently. I'll try not to have a life so that I don't have anything to blog about. Maybe I should commit to not blogging for like a few days...

Time to work like an undergrad

I've realized that I have a lot of shit to do and none of it is getting done at the pace I'm going at. 4 papers to write by the end of April (tentative date that I leave to go work on the West coast for the summer).

I need to work like I did in undergrad! I'm amazed at how productive I was back then. Study, study, study, work, work, work. 17 hour days every day. No time wasted. Now look at me. I'm lucky to get in that many work hours in a month.

I need to set deadlines for myself. Cut the fat. Get stuff done. First thing to go is the Internet. Need to go offline. Blogging needs to be severely reduced.

Studying with Mimi in SS the other day was interesting to say the least. She had an awesome shirt on that she got from her recent trip to Vail, Colorado. Beware if she offers you any granola bars from Vail - they're infested with ants. It was really creepy. Ants everywhere. Live. Crawling.

Happy Tuesday...

As if every other day isn't bad enough, the restaurants, flower shops, jewelry stores, card makers, etc. have to add insult to injury and make up this fake holiday.

My tune varies with my circumstance at the time, but this year, given my situation, I shall take on a bitter attitude. I preferred Sarah's greeting of Happy Tuesday to commemorate the day.

U of T Ski and Snowboard Club Group Photo

A number of my friends were not in this picture for various reasons - in Colorado, on the Saturday bus, not knowing where the picture was, or just not there. They have since been added.

Day ???: Ah, the smell of freshly cut grass

Before
Some improvement since we last saw the grass. 24/7 light and generous watering seems to have helped, but there's a lot of dried up grass that's not helping.



After
The supplied scissors were a little too small for my fingers. Trimmed the grass and tried to remove a lot of the dead stuff so the grass can grow without fighting through the mesh of dead. Bluegrass really isn't doing too well.

Seems all I do is webpage design...

Hot off the redesign of my webpage, I have just finished redesigning my research group's webpage, as it was in desperate need of a makeover.

Before
A horribly ugly webpage...



After
Now without the tackiness, eye straining background colour, etc. using CSS, Photoshop, and colour scheme tools.


A valuable lesson was learnt here: the colour blind member of the group should not be responsible for the design of the website.

Snowboarding, winter sports, and the olympics

First time that it was actually BELOW ZERO when we hit the slopes with the club! There was actually snow this time, not slush! Blue is definitely the new green and black is the new blue. Blue's are actually a bit of a yawn now. I tried a short black run, but it was pure ice and i just plowed down it. Not many selections of black at night. I'll do the 2 runs next week. The worst part is the flat areas.... fell on my ass like 4 times in flat areas. Pissed the hell out of me!

Random occurance of the day: girl tells me that when Googling "u of t ski and snowboard club" to try and find the club's website, she got to my blog :)

I think I'll have a greater appreciation for the Winter Olympics this time around, because since the last Olympics (well, actually just over the last 2 years), I've picked up a number of winter sports - skiing, snowboarding, curling, and hockey. Previous to that, I wasn't into any winter sports (well, skating I guess)