"You know, you don't have to...

stay in your room whenever I'm here you know."

That's what my landlord Darryl said to me today after I began packing up my things and retreating to my room when he got home today. Well, that's what it looked like I was doing, but I really wasn't. I was just about to pack up my cereal and milk when he pulled into the driveway, so I thought to myself that I better hang out longer so it didn't look like I was trying to escape him. Evidently, I failed in that.

There's a grain (or maybe a pebble?) of truth in what he said. I don't spend much time downstairs when I'm home because it's awkward and we have nothing to talk about, so I just read my book in my room. Plus, if he's watching the TV in the living room, I have no reason to be there. Why not go where it's quiet?

It was a fair comment. I'll put a bit more effort into being social I guess.

Here's what my house looks like. I live in the three-bedroom upstairs. Currently it's just Darryl and I living there, and he's still trying to rent out the third room.

Scud missiles

Remember Scud missiles? They were used extensively in the first Gulf War.

Apparently the Playstation 2 video game console's marketplace debut was delayed because its internals could be used to deploy Scud missiles.

That's the kind of thing that is too strange not to be true!

The face of the hotel.

My boss recently got a new Blackberry (Bold 9700) from Telus as a reward for starting a new contract.

She knows that I'm a blackberry fan and that I know how to use it fairly well, so she asked me to point out a few things. I showed her how to move icons, to use Blackberry Messenger, and to set pictures as caller ID.

She then took a picture of me, and was happy to tell me that she was going to add it to the hotel's number, "so whenever the hotel calls me, I'll see your smiling face!"

Odd. A nice gesture to be sure, but one that I'm not entirely sure how to respond to.

Identifying yourself through your kids.

I'm working, and there's a guest who needs to say, every time he talks to me, that he has kids.

"Can I have a couple maps? The Boys will need them to plan the route, and will each want their own."

"Is this open today? The Boys probably won't be sitting still much today."

"I woke up early this morning because I have kids, and found that there's glass outside the door across the hall."

"How long will it take to get from there to here? The Boys and I are planning to walk."

I think he's either feeling really burdened by entertaining his kids all day long, or he just wants everyone to know that he has kids. Maybe someone in his youth told him he'd be a lousy father and should never have kids, and he's been trying to rebuke that person every day for 5 years now. Who knows.

Some birthday gifts

I got some fantastic birthday gifts! Here they are.



There's a card from Grandma, which I received a day after my birthday, but should have got on my birthday. I checked the mail at about 1PM, and it must have come after that. Thanks Grandma!

Carmella gave me a great hand-painted card, depicting me riding my bike with trees and mountains nearby. It's great! Usually she does acrylic paintings, but this one is watercolour and it turned out great.

She also gave me another free lift pass, and new bindings! Carmella had some Mountain Money which she earned by referring her snowboard school clients to buy gear at mountain-run snowboard shops. She gets a certain amount of money depending on how much the client spends.

She decided to buy me new bindings with her Mountain Money, which was really touching. She knows I've been looking at a new pair, but also knows that I wouldn't buy them for myself!

I was very touched by her generosity. Carmella is great.



Here's the card. It even looks like me!



And here are the bindings, with my boots. They're so great! They fit my boots perfectly, and they look great. I've been mounting them to my board, and making little adjustments here and there. It's been fun.

More photos will soon be posted of my birthday celebration, and some other gifts.

Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone!

Lobster!

A few weeks ago Carmella and I made lobster! It was a fun experience. Here are some pictures.




We had to thaw the lobsters before we ate them, which we didn't know until we took them out of the freezer. Because hot water can ruin the meat, we were supposed to thaw them under cold running water, or let them sit in the fridge for a day. We didn't have a day, so we decided to thaw them under water instead. It took two hours!



Those wily crustaceans turned out great! We had some wine with them, and it was all very classy.



We bought them from the grocery store from the frozen entree aisle, and they came in a box! They were a reasonable price too. Since we're in BC and not on the Atlantic coast, the box had illustrated directions on how to eat them. I wouldn't have known otherwise, and we followed the step-by-step instructions as we ate.

I bought a nut cracker on my way over to Carmella's, and it came with two picks. It turned out we definitely needed the picks and cracker. It's made for nuts, but worked really well for our lobsters and we wouldn't be able to eat them effectively without the picks.

It was really fun, and Carmella recently bought a couple more boxed lobsters when she was getting groceries. We won't need the directions this time hopefully, and we'll know that we need to devote significant time to thawing before we prepare them.

Uncle John and Marlene come to visit!

Today as I was busy slaving away at the front desk, I saw two familiar faces approach. Uncle John and Marlene!

It was a surprise visit, and I had a very good, lengthy chat with them. As luck would have it, I was shirking the Standard Operating Procedures of my workplace and had taken my computer in and was speaking with Carol on Skype when they arrived. I put my machine on the counter, and we had a little impromptu family reunion. Good times!

Uncle John and Marlene are on two weeks of holidays. They stayed with Neil in Alberta for a few days, and then travelled to Vancouver, where they are going to stay with some of Marlene's family. Today they decided to come up to Whistler for the afternoon, and that's how they happened upon my fair place of employment.

It's the shoulder season here in Whistler, so I'm not very busy at my desk. We weren't inturrupted at all during our conversation, save for some of my coworkers leaving and coming.

It was really enjoyable, and I'm glad they stopped by. It was made extra fun with Carol on Skype. We all agreed to meet again at Kirsten's wedding in July.

Hockey Players receive media training.

With the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs in full swing, players in the world's most elite hockey league are beginning to see why they were made to participate in media training before the NHL's second season began.

Hockey players have always been known as solid communicators, but the pressures of the postseason create problems for most. No longer can they rely on their twelve years of formal education, as most of their mental energies must be focused on chasing the rubber puck around the frozen surface.

The new media training teaches the players to answer questions about the game and their play, while still being able to focus on the task at hand. Every player wants to hoist Lord Stanley, hockey's biggest prize, and minor things like interviews should not get in the way of that dream.

"We just have to go out there and play our game, play our system" is what centre Lars Hundrick had to say when asked how the media training has helped his post-game interview skills. When asked whether the whole team had to attend the special seminar or whether it was just for rookies, defenseman Hugh Wittenbore replied, "We've got a special group of guys this year, and everyone wants to do what they can to contribute to the success of the team."

Into the second round of the playoffs, there are only eight teams remaining. Some players of the eliminated teams are relying on their unique training even when their season is finished. Clay Smith, a left winger whose team was ousted in the first round, provided insight into whether the team will be changing their diet or sleep habits during the off-season. "We've got to concentrate on going hard into the corners and getting pucks on net. At this time of year, there's no excuse for not playing with heart and making sacrifices."

Sports writers of the nation's major newspapers also attended the media training, knowing that hockey fans will be reading their columns in greater numbers because of the increased attention given to the playoffs. Writing in Saturday's weekend edition, vetern columnist Richard Kelly opined "The playoffs are a time when every player has a role to play, and there's no place for individualistic thinking or ego-driven breakaway moves" in his column titled Where Are They Now? Five Cities That Have Lost Their Hockey Teams.

As the second round progresses, it's becoming more important for members of the hockey community, both players and writers, to remember that there are thousands of fans hanging on the results of the games. "We've got to play hard, and take it one game at a time" is what goalie Oleg Smoleskiov had to say when prodded about the growing popularity of the sport in non-traditional hockey markets.

The new media training is likely to be an influence in other sports as well, as football and baseball teams are slated to attend the seminars in the coming months. Angelica Moore, CEO of Sports Talk!, the company providing the media training, says that the success of the hockey seminars has her phone ringing almost constantly. "You know, they were in a must-win situation in Game 2. Their best players had to be their best players, but that third goal really took the steam out of their sails."

With this new direction in hockey journalism, fans will be treated by more solid, in-depth coverage of the game they love. Happy playoffs!