Can't Run But

I'm loving the PETA vs. Michael Vick saga! I love it when sports transcend sports and tickle the depths of humane issues. It doesn't happen very often that there's a story like this in the sports world that is so important. Very reminiscent of the Mike Tyson rape trial and the Pete Rose gambling circus.

The background facts of the issue are this:

1. Michael Vick was involved in a dog fighting ring where dogs were tortured and killed.

[bias] I like dogs [/bias]

2. Mike was found, charged, and served time for his crime. Regardless of the term served, it was a term decided by the federal court in Virginia.

[bias] I have faith in the justice system, and therefore faith in second chances, rehabilitation, etc. [/bias]

3. Vick was re-signed this week, and reinstated into the NFL, where he'll be a football star again, after being suspended since 2007.

4. Vick is working with local humane societies and with authorities to uncover underground dog fighting rings, and to help stop cruelty to animals.

5. PETA is off their fucking chain about it.

PETA is disappointed that the Philadelphia Eagles have chosen to sign a man who hanged dogs from trees, electrocuted them with jumper cables, held them underwater until they drowned in his swimming pool, and even threw his own family dogs into the fighting pit to be torn to shreds while he laughed. What sort of message does this send to young fans who care about animals and don't want to see them be harmed?

This is super interesting to me. And PETA is super intense imo. It's my opinion that PETA has no faith in the justice system, or in second chances in human beings. They obviously believe in second chances for animals. The kind of message I get from PETA is that they believe in the ethical treatment of animals, not the logical treatment of humans.

The kind of message that I get from Vick is that he's paid the price with his prison term, he made a mistake in his decisions, and he's working hard to make sure other people don't fall into the same pattern of behaviour. I get this message because I'm watching him say it on a live press conference.

Anyway, I'm not going to be a big hater of PETA. A lot of things they do point to stupidity without me having to do it.

Interesting story. That's all.

'Go write your message in the pavement'

Drift and Die

Busy weeks. Things are moving fast now that summer has hit it's peak. Weeks are more or less flying by. It's kind of hard for me to grasp that it's Thursday today. It felt like saturday night last night.

I spent the last week doing tons of really fun things. I had my first game (albeit exhibition) with my U21 boys on friday night, and we crushed our opponents 3-0. I actually didn't have much chance to watch the game, so I didn't really get a chance to give anyone a good look. I was too busy figuring out line changes, talking to parents, and telling guys how to play soccer. Seems straight forward - playing soccer - but guys make it really complicated sometimes. It's my job to dumb it back down to 'soccer'. Run pass shoot score. Win. We won.

I spent Saturday in Qualicum for Nicole's wedding, and it was a blast. Everything went really well, and it was fun to hang out with my friends. Sunday I really don't remember what I did. Monday I went to Campbell River to hang out with Jen and her parents. I checked out the Filberg Festival in Comox, and while I was pretty sceptical about artisan and crafts type stuff, I actually had a pretty good time.

I got back into town yesterday, and it's back to house sitting for a few different people. Which is kind of a nice gig. I don't really need to hang out much, and both places are near my house. My parents took off on a 2-3 week vacation, and I get full reign on their house/food/car. Which is pretty sweet.

I've been keeping crazy busy, and to try to report on everything would take a while. The summer is going really well, and while I'm squeezing in a ton of fun this summer, some of it's repetitive and I wonder if i'll get certain things in. I really want to get out and kayak around, and the weeks just kind of keep ticking by. Hopefully soon. I haven't spent enough time on the water this summer.

Anyway, I'm off to Qualicum again tonight for soccer. Tomorrow is another game with my U21's, and saturday I'm hosting a BBQ. Not a bad way to end a week.

Thanks for reading - comments are always welcome.

'When I was young I knew everything'

Whatever Gets You Through The Night

Oh July.

I spent the last week in Victoria, at the lakes, and on the golf course. It wasn't too bad. I mean, It wasn't whistler, and it wasn't camping, and it wasn't Vancouver in a hotel. But life is awefully nice.

I keep hearing a funny sentiment from people. Noone seems to like the hot weather. Everyone wants to be out of the heat it seems like. This is kind of weird. One of the most common things I hear from Canadians is how much they enjoy summer. Out of season, everyone talks about how excited they are for the heat and the summer. And now it's summer, and finally, it's hot. It isn't that hot. It's 85 degrees. That's May in some places. I bet we'll have 2-3 weeks of 85 weather, and it'll start going down again.

I had an awesome time in the sun today. I soaked it up.

It was my Mom's 52nd birthday today. I had a great time with family and friends over steak and drinks tonight. It was super relaxed. I'm happy that my parents are as chill as they are. Life is really easy when I go over there.

Soccer tryouts continue tomorrow night, and I'm changing things up a little bit. I'm going to make examples of the fit guys, and punish the guys who aren't fit enough. Unfortunately for them, none of them are fit enough for me. So we're going to run.

I work a bunch this week, and housesit this weekend. I have soccer tryouts and a bachelor party on Friday night. I also have a wedding on Saturday (not connected to the stag), so it's going to be a fun and busy week.

'Don't worry, you will find the answer if you let it go

Give yourself some time to falter'

Heart Songs

No Doubt was good. I was impressed, but not surprised that they put on a good show. I may or may not be going to another show before July is out. Blink 182 is coming to Vancouver on the same night as my mom's birthday. I guess I'll see how that plays out this week.

Not much going on in the next few days before wednesday. Tryouts start on wednesday, and that's kind of winding me up right now. I'll be prepared when the time comes though, and I'm happy with that.

Work is continuing to pick up at both my jobs. I don't really have many plans for August yet, so that might be a good opportunity to get lots of work in. There's not really much I like to talk about when it comes to work, but I might be in for a promotion at the Conference Center. Kind of neat I guess. I've never had a promotion before, which sounds kind of silly.

That's about it. It's a monday. My hotel sucked in vancouver. I'm loving music these days.

'I gotta admit, sometimes I would listen to the radio'

Settle For Nothing

Good days.

Summer is going pretty well so far. It hasn't been flying by like it has in years past. That being said, it might be kind of a tight squeeze to fit in all the stuff I want to do in the next few months.

I went downtown last night with some friends, and I hadn't been out since early June. I pile of us went to a new lounge called level 2, and it was pretty fun - but I don't really feel the need to go out more than once every 6 weeks. It was great to hang out with some old friends though. I'd put away a few friends that I didn't really care to see again, and I had a great time with them last night. Go figure.

I'm heading over to the mainland with Jen later on to go see No Doubt and Paramore. It's always nice to get away, even if it's just to Vancouver. It feels like a mini vacation. We scored some free ferry tickets, which is a sweet hookup. I love that Jen is a total hookup for ferry and concert tickets. Is that bad thing?

In a funny turn of events, my roommate is kind of worrying me. I hope she's going to be alright. She is having a tough time understanding why I don't like her dog pissing all over my stuff. I guess I'm am kind of out of line, wanting my living space to be clean of animal urine. I hope she understands pretty soon. It's getting kind of gross. I suppose if she handles it, everything is all good around my house. I think that people tend to forget that taking care of their own business is always a better policy than having someone else take care of it.

I'm super glad I'm not hung over today. It sucks travelling and feeling shitty. I might recap the show tomorrow when I get home. Then again, I might go golfing.

Have a good weekend.

'Before you hedge those bets you placed against me,

Be reticent of fortunes they foretell'

The Fiddle For The Drum

Holy shit I'm tired! I worked super hard yesterday and today, and ran ~20k in between. My legs hate me...

I jumped back into work this week after taking a little too much time off. It's nice to be going forward, rather than watching my bank account shrink. I'm going to be spending some time doing some flooring with jeff in the next few weeks, as he's pretty slammed for jobs. I also got back into the conference center today for a shift, and wound up picking up a bunch of shifts when a full timer up and quit today - in the middle of his shift. Hey! That's my move!

This weekend I'm going to see No Doubt and Paramore in vancouver. Pretty much the best July on record. Better than last July, that's for sure. I'm also trying to clarify a camping trip on the last weekend of this month, and that would be pretty sick to get going. I know of like 5 guys that want to go camping/hiking on the Juan De Fuca trail, and I can hopefully get at least a few to commit to the same sched. I was worried about numbers the last time I went camping, and wound up getting blown away by the turnout. Fingers crossed.

My trip to Whistler was pretty incredible last weekend, mostly because I just didn't do much in a place that I love. I mean, the three of us (my bro, his roommate Wes, and me) did a pile of little stuff, but it was super nice to chill in whistler. I got absolutely murdered at Scrabble, by like 150 points. Over a three game match I got a win in, but my soul was pretty crushed by the 330-180 score in game 1. Maybe the jagermeister was fucking with my breadth of vocabulary.

Tryouts start next wednesday, and I'm super nervous. I know I won't be making the picks on my own, but the president is throwing me under the bus a little bit with the structure of the tryouts. Everyone trying out for the Div1 team is in one tryout, and the rest of the players trying out for the other 3 teams - including the team I'm coaching - are lumped together in one tryout. Which is a little cramped. And of course I'm running the tryout on my own. I mean, I know it's a club (everything said and done is "for the club" it seems), but I feel really restricted in the creation of my team. Hopefully things go well, and hopefully this isn't foreshadowing into what could become a really frustrating situation.

Work tomorrow, No Doubt saturday, golf sunday, tryouts wednesday. Go go go. Wanna go golfing?

'What are you waiting for?

A certain shade of green?'

King For A Day

Wow it's been a while here.

I was really close to blogging a few times over the last few weeks, but I was in an angry mood every time and just wanted to whine and bitch, so I didn't bother. Although the last few weeks have been really fun and busy, I was angry and frustrated a lot along the way. Whatever.

I'm up in Whistler for the weekend, and life is pretty good up here. We watched UFC100 last night, and that was the only thing really scheduled for my time up here. I'm coming home tomorrow, and I don't really know what we're doing in the meantime. It's perfect.

Not much else is new with me. Summer is going pretty well weather wise - which means I'm playing a ton of volleyball, golf, soccer, tennis, disc golf, etc. It's nice to be active rather than sitting on my computer in my spare time.

My weekends are filling up pretty fast this summer. Last weekend I went to greenday in vancouver, and next weekend I'm going to no doubt. Things go good when my life is eventful.

Anyway, enough of talking about the good life. I'm going to the driving range.

Entourage starts tonight. Best show ever, by the way.

Have a good time, wherever and whenever your weekend is.

'I'm a ticking time bomb
waiting to blow my top'