... I learned that in my heart I had an unconquerable summer. - Albert Camus
Information previously unprovided... I think... our rink is not really a rink but three walls and half a roof. (Kind of ironic that our major sponsor is a construction company). Boring practices see us trying to see if we can flip pucks out of the rink onto the roof... Really boring practices see us trying to shoot the puck over the mesh and into the car park...
..When it rains the ice is so foggy you can't see the net from the blueline and we have to run an industrial fan between whistles to clear it all out... But when it winters... now... THAT... is an entirely different sort of animal..
Our rink has now become colder than the city rinks we used to play on in Atom and Peewee back in Regina. The ones with the boards that had slightly less give than reinforced concrete, heaven forbid you get bodychecked into one. The ones that had the morning practices in Mini-mites and my mom would put my undergear in the dryer so I could be warm for the first 15 minutes of practice.
I'm wearing double undergear... some guys wear sweaters... One guy on our team actually resized his practice helmet so he could fit a toque in it...
And it will be colder still.. so the forecasts say...
Good thing my Dad is hear right now... he says 'suck it up' cause 'in his day' he used to have to skate through 5 feet of snow uphill both ways carrying his hockey sticks and bag just to go to school... angry fans would throw snowballs at opposing players... and you had to shovel the rink by hand... with a spoon...
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
The Answer to Everything is 496...
I'm struggling not to catch the same thing that Danelle just got over. Soreness, cough, fever, extreme tiredness.. so as a North American... my pre-eminent North American strategy is a pre-emptive attack on the virus of mass destruction by just been sitting in bed, resting, and thinking healthy thoughts...
.. overall though I'm hooked on watching a show called 'The Elegant Universe' that tries to describe String Theory to the extremely... extremely... lay-person. As far as I can tell the story goes something like this:
1) Scientists have an idea how the universe works on the extremely large scale using the theory of gravity called 'General Relativity'.
2) And scientists have an idea of how the universe works on an extremely small scale (smaller than the atom) using the theories of electromagnetism, and small and weak nuclear forces, all under the heading of 'Quantum Mechanics'.
3) The problem is that these two sets of laws conflict and have yet to be joined together into one unified theory. A theory for everything. This theory is kind of important because it could explain, for example, black holes... and more importantly the Big Bang or worm holes. (How this theory actually jumps off the page and becomes more than merely being a bunch of numbers and letters on a page is still a mystery to me)
So the new idea is that there are things even smaller than the smallest particles that we see that is simply strands, or 'strings', of pure energy that vibrate at different frequencies... Finally solved with string theory... without anomalies... when both sides of the equation equalled 496...?... and just as a violin string vibrating at different frequencies produces different notes, so these energy strings vibrating at different frequencies produce all of the different particles in the universe.
And the unification of the two theories only came at the cost of 7 new dimensions, weightless particles, and parallel universes...
But the weirdest thing that I have to add on to this is from a writer JRR Tolkein. He was involved in a group that studied and wrote about ancient myths that could be found from around the world. The interesting part is that when it came time for him to reinterpret these old myths in his own book, he described the creation of the universe and everything in it as a song... that each part and each vibration made up and described the matter and form that the universe took... I'm sure he had nothing at all to do with string theory... but to even think about the universe along the same line of thought of vibrations, and getting that idea from reading ancient myths, is weird...
.. overall though I'm hooked on watching a show called 'The Elegant Universe' that tries to describe String Theory to the extremely... extremely... lay-person. As far as I can tell the story goes something like this:
1) Scientists have an idea how the universe works on the extremely large scale using the theory of gravity called 'General Relativity'.
2) And scientists have an idea of how the universe works on an extremely small scale (smaller than the atom) using the theories of electromagnetism, and small and weak nuclear forces, all under the heading of 'Quantum Mechanics'.
3) The problem is that these two sets of laws conflict and have yet to be joined together into one unified theory. A theory for everything. This theory is kind of important because it could explain, for example, black holes... and more importantly the Big Bang or worm holes. (How this theory actually jumps off the page and becomes more than merely being a bunch of numbers and letters on a page is still a mystery to me)
So the new idea is that there are things even smaller than the smallest particles that we see that is simply strands, or 'strings', of pure energy that vibrate at different frequencies... Finally solved with string theory... without anomalies... when both sides of the equation equalled 496...?... and just as a violin string vibrating at different frequencies produces different notes, so these energy strings vibrating at different frequencies produce all of the different particles in the universe.
And the unification of the two theories only came at the cost of 7 new dimensions, weightless particles, and parallel universes...
But the weirdest thing that I have to add on to this is from a writer JRR Tolkein. He was involved in a group that studied and wrote about ancient myths that could be found from around the world. The interesting part is that when it came time for him to reinterpret these old myths in his own book, he described the creation of the universe and everything in it as a song... that each part and each vibration made up and described the matter and form that the universe took... I'm sure he had nothing at all to do with string theory... but to even think about the universe along the same line of thought of vibrations, and getting that idea from reading ancient myths, is weird...
Sunday, November 23, 2008
And the weekend..
We won both our games this weekend... against all our best efforts... because... honestly... we did everything we could possibly do to lose.. and thankfully somehow our strategy backfired...
Thursday was 7-6 after being down 2-0, 4-2 and 5-3 respectively. Most of their goals were scored in one of two ways... rushes and powerplays... frustrating since there seems to be a common goals against theme in most all our losses... no third man high in the O-zone... never practice pk... a good recipe for goals against...
When we finally got ahead 6 to 5 we resorted back to playing our usual strategy of panicking with the lead.. our D backing way off the blueline.. never pinching... our forwards dumping the puck.. afraid to hold it... and our D-zone a combination of clutch-and-grab and running around with our heads cut off... it worked out pretty much as usual and they tied it on a power play... only to have us come right back and score the go ahead... only to have them come back and ALMOST score twice in the last minute... but only ALMOST... so we won... at home.. in regulation... a first!
And Saturday was another first as we got the first goal and even turned it into a multi-goal lead... We were up 3-0 going into the third when the ref decided to take the game into his hands and gave Asiago back to back 5 on 3's... suddenly the game was 3-2... then 4-2 on a low blocker shot from outside... When 4-2 happened we decided one more time to let the panick set in... and fatigue on account of playing solely our first line and nobody else for the last 10 minutes of the game... and 4-3 on a pulled goalie... and then 5-3 on a pulled goalie... and a 5 hour bus trip home to get home by 4 and up at 11 AM for our team rope bridge function... yay...
Thursday was 7-6 after being down 2-0, 4-2 and 5-3 respectively. Most of their goals were scored in one of two ways... rushes and powerplays... frustrating since there seems to be a common goals against theme in most all our losses... no third man high in the O-zone... never practice pk... a good recipe for goals against...
When we finally got ahead 6 to 5 we resorted back to playing our usual strategy of panicking with the lead.. our D backing way off the blueline.. never pinching... our forwards dumping the puck.. afraid to hold it... and our D-zone a combination of clutch-and-grab and running around with our heads cut off... it worked out pretty much as usual and they tied it on a power play... only to have us come right back and score the go ahead... only to have them come back and ALMOST score twice in the last minute... but only ALMOST... so we won... at home.. in regulation... a first!
And Saturday was another first as we got the first goal and even turned it into a multi-goal lead... We were up 3-0 going into the third when the ref decided to take the game into his hands and gave Asiago back to back 5 on 3's... suddenly the game was 3-2... then 4-2 on a low blocker shot from outside... When 4-2 happened we decided one more time to let the panick set in... and fatigue on account of playing solely our first line and nobody else for the last 10 minutes of the game... and 4-3 on a pulled goalie... and then 5-3 on a pulled goalie... and a 5 hour bus trip home to get home by 4 and up at 11 AM for our team rope bridge function... yay...
Team Building
Our day off today became team building experience #1 for the year. Which although a good thing... is usually done at the start of the year... you know... to build some trust... communication... teamwork... all those good things before games become serious... and trust vital...
... psychology says that going through shared trial... as long as everyone acts the man... is the best and only real way to build comradery... but as far as it goes.. I'm not too picky... I'll take anything...
We went to a rope course and in teams of 3 we all got through the course in less than 3 hours... One guy on the course, one belayer, and one guy standing, watching, freezing, and making sure nothing goes wrong... trash-talking... waiting... throwing pinecones at the climbers...
Danelle and I missed out on a date-day, but she was sick today so we had to make it up anyways at a later date...
... psychology says that going through shared trial... as long as everyone acts the man... is the best and only real way to build comradery... but as far as it goes.. I'm not too picky... I'll take anything...
We went to a rope course and in teams of 3 we all got through the course in less than 3 hours... One guy on the course, one belayer, and one guy standing, watching, freezing, and making sure nothing goes wrong... trash-talking... waiting... throwing pinecones at the climbers...
Danelle and I missed out on a date-day, but she was sick today so we had to make it up anyways at a later date...
Friday, November 14, 2008
Holding Grudges
I just finished reading a book on the holocaust and... it's pretty shattering... hard to leave a book like that and look at the world the same way... Or people in the same way... again ever... and I really don't know what I would think if I was actually standing in the midst of a concentration camp...
(... the writer actually suggests that any person in power be required to walk through a camp to remind themselves of the abuse of power and the effort required to stop it... and also remind them of the reality of human nature... despot, maniac, and '...just following orders'...)
... The death toll of the holocaust is so great that story can almost leave the realm of emotion and instead merely become a statistic... but for a dedicated mass of survivors who lived the rest of their lives to ensure that the holocaust could never become just... a statistic... Who gathered together... overcame their loss... and published real love and shocking horror... and through their work made the world meet each person face to face... make each trial a personal story...
... The most striking thing of the whole book is the amount of survivors that could simply not get over their experience... who years later would end up taking their lives because of the memory, of the grief, and the sadness of their story... maybe because they could not find a listening ear or a wounded heart that could truly understand what they went through and meet them on their level... maybe it was loneliness...
...But for others it seemed like it was their unwillingness to forgive... their need to hold on to that hate and remember it because it aided them in their search for justice... a righteous cause that needed to be fought for... They pursued their captors and in a combination of justice and revenge paid one evil with another... they could and would not get rid of their hate and eventually their hate consumed them...
... And then there was a third kind of person... Like the story of Corrie Ten Boom who watched her sister die in a camp... .. ... and yet went back to Germany after the war to offer forgiveness to the German people and help rebuild the country... One day even coming face to face with the worst, most evil, vicious, sadistic guard in her camp... and through tears in her eyes and fighting off her shaking hand she offered forgiveness even to him... and maybe... hopefully... she was able to truly overcome the hurt done to her...
... His argument (and I completely agree) is that forgiving someone, although doing nothing to mend anything that has been done or will be done, will free you from the power an abuser had over you... (Even years later it will hold you back in life if you don't deal with it)... It gives you a chance to let it go and find closure... even if they don't ask forgiveness... it's a chance to start over and live your life finally out of the shadow, free of the chains, of whatever or whoever has hurt you... like the original meaning of 'forgiveness'... to send away...
(... the writer actually suggests that any person in power be required to walk through a camp to remind themselves of the abuse of power and the effort required to stop it... and also remind them of the reality of human nature... despot, maniac, and '...just following orders'...)
... The death toll of the holocaust is so great that story can almost leave the realm of emotion and instead merely become a statistic... but for a dedicated mass of survivors who lived the rest of their lives to ensure that the holocaust could never become just... a statistic... Who gathered together... overcame their loss... and published real love and shocking horror... and through their work made the world meet each person face to face... make each trial a personal story...
... The most striking thing of the whole book is the amount of survivors that could simply not get over their experience... who years later would end up taking their lives because of the memory, of the grief, and the sadness of their story... maybe because they could not find a listening ear or a wounded heart that could truly understand what they went through and meet them on their level... maybe it was loneliness...
...But for others it seemed like it was their unwillingness to forgive... their need to hold on to that hate and remember it because it aided them in their search for justice... a righteous cause that needed to be fought for... They pursued their captors and in a combination of justice and revenge paid one evil with another... they could and would not get rid of their hate and eventually their hate consumed them...
... And then there was a third kind of person... Like the story of Corrie Ten Boom who watched her sister die in a camp... .. ... and yet went back to Germany after the war to offer forgiveness to the German people and help rebuild the country... One day even coming face to face with the worst, most evil, vicious, sadistic guard in her camp... and through tears in her eyes and fighting off her shaking hand she offered forgiveness even to him... and maybe... hopefully... she was able to truly overcome the hurt done to her...
... His argument (and I completely agree) is that forgiving someone, although doing nothing to mend anything that has been done or will be done, will free you from the power an abuser had over you... (Even years later it will hold you back in life if you don't deal with it)... It gives you a chance to let it go and find closure... even if they don't ask forgiveness... it's a chance to start over and live your life finally out of the shadow, free of the chains, of whatever or whoever has hurt you... like the original meaning of 'forgiveness'... to send away...
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Just like you
For various reasons... namely a book I'm reading, an email I received, everything on the news, and rumours about a total collapse of the world economy... my mind is bent on trouble. Is Western Civilization doomed? Are resources turning scarce? Will the war get bigger? What if inflation sky-rockets? What am I doing playing hockey in the middle of all this!? But because of this random book I'm reading my focus is on (in my biased opinion) the scariest, most sinister, and definitely most direct question of them all for me is... can I trust my neighbor?
Would I place myself at the mercy of a complete stranger? No... but neighbor? ... well... NO... I'm not sure if it's CSI episodes or what, but I'm slanted to the distrust side right from the start... a kind of 'plan for the worst, hope for the best' mentality... don't get me wrong... commonality is the most amazing thing when you find it... like.. yay diversity and all... but this same diversity has begun to show an ugly side... where suddenly we wake up to find we have very little in common with others and a whole lot more not in common...
And I think it translates into growing isolation and distrust towards others around us... between groups of people... between one person and another... and we see it everyday in fenced communities, 24/7 security guards, cameras on every street corner, metal detectors... This is no longer the kind of Ivory Tower Real World LA diversity where everyone learns from each other and we are thus all enriched in some amazing 'live and let live' utopia... This is becoming a complete rift where 'either we become them or they become us'... where we don't trust the inside of people around us so we're forced to control them on the outside... where Christians control actions... Atheists control speech... Courts set precedent... jails are overcrowded... and politics has moved from dissent to disdain... this is a little more than 'good fences make good neighbours'... this is an are we even neighbours at all?... It's no longer a melting pot but a very eclectic meat and vegetable soup... and chances are not everyone even got in the bowl in the first place... ... ... ?... ... ... ummmm... okay but for real... What exactly ties us together anymore...? American Idol?
Would I place myself at the mercy of a complete stranger? No... but neighbor? ... well... NO... I'm not sure if it's CSI episodes or what, but I'm slanted to the distrust side right from the start... a kind of 'plan for the worst, hope for the best' mentality... don't get me wrong... commonality is the most amazing thing when you find it... like.. yay diversity and all... but this same diversity has begun to show an ugly side... where suddenly we wake up to find we have very little in common with others and a whole lot more not in common...
And I think it translates into growing isolation and distrust towards others around us... between groups of people... between one person and another... and we see it everyday in fenced communities, 24/7 security guards, cameras on every street corner, metal detectors... This is no longer the kind of Ivory Tower Real World LA diversity where everyone learns from each other and we are thus all enriched in some amazing 'live and let live' utopia... This is becoming a complete rift where 'either we become them or they become us'... where we don't trust the inside of people around us so we're forced to control them on the outside... where Christians control actions... Atheists control speech... Courts set precedent... jails are overcrowded... and politics has moved from dissent to disdain... this is a little more than 'good fences make good neighbours'... this is an are we even neighbours at all?... It's no longer a melting pot but a very eclectic meat and vegetable soup... and chances are not everyone even got in the bowl in the first place... ... ... ?... ... ... ummmm... okay but for real... What exactly ties us together anymore...? American Idol?
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Everything Else
After doing everything we were supposed to do Sunday, and seeing everything we were supposed to see Monday.. Tuesday actually felt like a vacation... We walked around the city at our own pace... if we saw a shop we liked (Danelle), we tried on the shoes... if we saw a gelato shop we liked (Me), we sampled the Straccatella... when we were tired we rested with Cappucinos and Croissants... when we were hungry we ate toasted Paninis and an ice cold coca-cola from the street vendors... when it looked like rain we added in saying 'no thankyou' on every street corner to some new guy selling the same 3 Euro umbrella's... When it did start to rain it was just in time for supper and we sat inside with pizza and wine and watched why Rome was famous for its storms... and why they would fear Zeus so much back in the day... I found out that my so-called Gucci knock off leather jacket was, in fact, truly a Gucci knock-off leather jacket.. and 2000 Euros less than the real one... Danelle found out that Jimmy Choo stores did, in fact, exist somewhere in the world and that they really were, in fact, that expensive... We both found out that a knock off Gucci leather jacket and a knock-off Prada purse didn't, in fact, gain you any friends in the most expensive shopping area of Rome... It was an 8 hour day of real live actual vacation.. if you traced our steps... from St Maria's church, to Victor Emmanuel's monument, to the river, to the Bocca del Verita (the Mouth of Truth), to the circus Maximus, to St Paul's church, to the Piazza de Trinita, to Augusto's Mausuleum, to the Piazza del Popo... you would, in fact, see we were literally walking in circles..
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