Kevin's Ramblings…

I have uninstalled Windows on both my home laptop and desktop computers and have installed Ubuntu – a version of Linux.

I haven’t used Linux in quite a few years, wow, has it ever changed. Right out of the box, everything works – very impressive.

There are a few things that I can’t seem to do with it, not too many as yet though. I have looked but haven’t been able to find anything to allow me to sync my Blackberry – that’s OK though. As long as I have it synced with my work computer then that will work for me. I am sure that I will find something at some point though.

So, this should be an interesting experiment anyway. Wish me well.

I enquired about putting my baseball team into the Boys of Summer league in Western New York.  The age difference between Canada and the US is a mere 4 months.  Our birth year is a calendar year and in the US it is May – April.  So, this means that some of our players (anyone born prior to April 30) are over-aged.

I am coaching Major Peewee – they turn 13 this in 2010 (born in 1997).  We use 75’ bases and a 50’ pitching distance.  The U13 division in the US plays on regulation diamonds.

So, after I enquire, they offer to allow us in their U13 division.  I am likely going to be carrying a few players who only turn 12 in 2010 so moving a young team UP to play on a regulation diamond doesn’t make any sense to me.  We also play on a Peewee diamond in our regular league as well as OBA Tournaments and OBA play-offs.  Playing up might help us in 2011, but that is 2011 – I’ll deal with that when I get there.

So, I guess that I am looking for other U12 teams from the US to play – we will have some over-aged players but the WNYTB League is OK with having some over-aged players – they are just interested in playing baseball.

Hopefully I will get some additional contacts from the States side and I can arrange some games and/or tournaments.

The fun continues …

Went to a baseball meeting tonight over the ditch – that would mean the United States of America.  This was for the Western New York Travel Baseball league.  It is an “informal” type league, you can play 5 games or 50 games and they are ok with that.  It doesn’t sound like there are a lot of Major Peewee clubs and although I am coaching a 13u club, in the US, this translates essentially to a 12u club because of the difference of when we consider birthdays.  It should be a good option for a few more games though.

I am going to look into the Boys of Summer League as well.  I coached in that league back in 2007 and it was the first year of the league, it was rough.  I am sure that they’ve worked out those early issues by now – I hope anyway.

I am looking for some competition for the team although I am not sure what type of a team I will have – time will tell.

All I really know is that I am really looking forward to the upcoming season – bring it on …

I see some of myself (as a kid) in Calvin.  I don’t remember ever having a stuffed tiger though …  Perhaps I have replaced Hobbes with Zeus?

I’d like to know why we still change the clocks twice a year …  Spring ahead, Fall back.  There isn’t any sense to it.  They (meaning the government, perhaps) say that it saves electricity in the evening because it is lighter, longer.  Ummm, ok, but what about the power that we have to use in the morning when we are getting up?

So, I get up late today, late for me anyway.  My clock said 7:45AM …  I come upstairs and the only clock that has auto-changed is the clock on the PVR and it says 8:45AM – I’ve lost an hour just walking upstairs.

Oh well, nothing that I can personally do to change it.  I suppose that I now have to go around and change all of my clocks that aren’t “smart” enough to do it themselves.  Hmmm, 2 clocks in the cars, a couple of watches, stove, microwave, two clock radios, clock above the mantle – this is insane … 

Maybe I will just leave them alone and remember for the next 8 months or so that they are all an hour behind – will that work?  It might get irritating and at some point I might forget about it and then be an hour late for something that I care about.

Oh well, guess I will take care of it sometime today.

Happy Spring – it has nearly sprung.

I went to the season finale of the Niagara Ice Dogs game tonight.  I won the tickets – not a bad deal.

I was at Bingo this morning for SCMBA and I just happened to look at my Blackberry in Facebook and the post at the top of my page was from Niagara Ball Hockey and they were giving away three sets of tickets to the first three people who replied to their post.

So, I figured I wasn’t doing anything tonight, might as well post.  Sure enough, I won.  I took my brother in law to the game.

It was an Ice Dog blow out.  They won 8-1 against the Belleville Bulls (I think that was their name) – apparently they are the last place team and it showed tonight.

Entertaining game to be sure.

TB also works at the Ice Dogs games and I found out that he is coaching the Thorold Peewee club.  We’ve tentatively arranged to have a couple of exhibition games in late April or early May.  I haven’t coached against TB in ages – that’ll be fun.

Anyway, although I really don’t follow them, I wish the Dogs the best for the play-offs.  Go Dogs Go as they say …

I have decided to become a farmer.  I might as well.  Don’t farmers get up in the middle of the night to do their thing?  I am going to bed early, most nights by 9pm and getting up around 4AM or so.  For some reason, I woke up this morning before 3:30AM.  I am not really tired so that is good.

Only a few months ago, I was dragging myself out of bed at 7AM to take my dog for a walk and rush to get to work.  Now I am getting up at 4:30AM and have all the time in the world to get ready. 

So, back to farming.  Yeah, that’s me, can you imagine it?  I can’t …  I think I’ll stick to IT – it seems to work well for me.

SCMBA has a Bingo this morning and I am going to assist.  That’ll kill the morning.  No real plans for the rest of the day and nothing going on tomorrow as far as I am aware.  Maybe the breakfast thing with J&D.  We’ll see about that.

Today is an ADO from work.  I love having every third Friday off.  Busy day planned today though.  Haircut, cancel insurance policy, lunch – I am sure something else will come up as well.

I covered the COTW meeting last night – it wasn’t too bad.  Worked from 6 until 9.  They were talking about waste management strategy – what an exciting topic …

Nothing much planned for the weekend.  I am helping out at a Bingo tomorrow.  That will be loads of fun …

I have planned a lunch in Peterborough with JB on Easter Saturday – love Hot Belly Momma’s.  If you are in Peterborough, you have to give it a try.  The restaurant is downtown and is a Cajun place – awesome.

Anyway, that’s it for now.

I am at work yesterday and looking through our Intranet site when I come across a link about a group policy insurance deal through TD Insurance.  I figured what the heck, I’ll check it out.  Figured I might be able to save a little money.

Well, was I ever surprised.  Currently I am with Intact Insurance (used to be ING Direct) through a broker.  Through TD Insurance, I am saving nearly $1300 per year on two vehicles – can you believe that?  Insane is what I say …

So, obviously I switched – switched as fast as I could.  TD Insurance will also allow me to pay every other Thursday when I get paid, so that is awesome.

I am essentially paying $30 more per month for two vehicles than I was for one.  I don’t know what the difference is because the policies are nearly identical.

When I called my broker to cancel they were trying to convince me otherwise.  I said that yes, they have good customer service but NOT $1200 per year customer service …  lol

So, I am a happy camper right now.  Rare, but true …

A couple of weeks ago I was looking through some pictures on Facebook.  I decided to see if one of the players had an account, sure enough he did so I added him as a friend.  I then searched for his mom and dad – the mom had an account, nothing found on the other end.  Added her – amazingly, they both accepted.

Anyway, I suggested that we get together for dinner/drinks and it was suggested that we go to The Office in downtown St. Catharines. 

I have lived in St. Catharines my whole life and I live downtown but I guess I don’t spend a lot of time walking about – I didn’t know this place existed.

It was amazing.  I had beef tenderloin, it was excellent.  It was served with the standard veggies and some sort of potato creation (shredded potato in the shape of a potato, all crispy, mmm mmm mmm).  Had cheesecake for dessert which was amazing, but I should have skipped on it.  Had a drink or two as well – well, more than two … 

It was pricy for the three of us but we had a great time.  It was good seeing them – I hadn’t seen them in years.  Facebook is great for getting back in touch with old friends.

So, in short (not really that short) it is a great place and I’d recommend that you give it a try, it’s a 10 out of 10 from my point of view.