The Olympics and other stuff…

Posted on February 7, 2014 by kdarcy21

Today is the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics.  It was on live this morning sometime, it is on tape-delay in a few minutes.  I will catch some of it, perhaps all of it.  I do enjoy the Winter Olympics, Canada tends to do better now than during the Summer Olympics.  So, in short, Go Canada !!!

Other stuff.  Well, my co-worker is leaving for greener pastures.  Next Friday (the 14th) is his last day.  I will have to support the office by myself for a few weeks/months.  It will likely be a bit busy, but, since it is tax season, for IT, it is actually our slower time of the year.  The position will be filled, they do want to get the right candidate as opposed to just hiring someone to fill the position.  I wish the best to SH, hope you do well.

I attended my first umpire association meeting this past weekend.  It was a good meeting, some stuff coming on the horizon.  I have my second coaches meeting with Babe Ruth Calgary this weekend.  We start indoor evaluations this coming Wednesday so I am sure we need to make sure we are set and ready to go.  I am looking forward to getting back into coaching – should be a great summer of baseball.

Not a heck of a lot else going on.  Don’t plan to doing too much this weekend – want to relax.  Hope that you enjoy yours and, again, Go Canada !!!  Bring home some GOLD !!!

 

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Walking

Posted on February 4, 2014 by kdarcy21

I decided to try something new for me – walking to work.

It is just about 3km one way, depending on which route I take of course.  I started yesterday.  It was a pretty cold morning, around -18C or so, not much wind, luckily.  I would like to lose some weight, walking is easy and, apparently, good for you.

It took me 30 minutes to get to work.  There is a stretch that is downhill since downtown is in some sort of bowl.  Coming back, it took slightly longer, about 32 minutes so I guess the hill accounts for the additional time.

When warmer weather hits, which I am sure it will at some point, I plan on riding my bike into the office.  We have a bike lockup area so that will be great.

Right now, I go home at lunch to let the dogs out so I am walking about 12km per day.  Add in a walk with the dogs in the morning and it totals about 13km per day.  That’s gotta burn some calories.

I am saving myself $96 per month on a transit pass and since I really don’t use transit for anything else, I won’t be paying much for the bus or train at other times.

Today is a littler colder, currently about -24C so dressing properly for this cold is pretty important.  I am hoping that by the time I start to ride my bike, my legs will be ready to go.  Here’s to trying to get a little more fit.  🙂

 

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The RV Show

Posted on February 1, 2014 by kdarcy21

I decided to go to the RV show today at BMO Centre.  I also decided that I would walk.  There.  Around the show.  Back.

Well, it is a little over 4km to the BMO Centre from my place and apparently, I walked about 2km around the show and of course, a little over 4km back.  So, a grand total of just over 10km walking today.

My feet are a little sore.  They aren’t used to being used quite that much in a day.  Good practice and exercise though.  I plan on walking to work starting Monday.  Then home at lunch and back to work then home after work.  That will be a total of 12km per day. I will either feel great after doing this for a bit, or it will kill me.

Anyway, the show was pretty good.  I have no intention of buying a brand new trailer, no real intention of buying a used trailer either.  I like to look.  I haven’t been to an RV show in a few years.  A lot has changed.  First off, they are WAY lighter than they used to be.  The last time I looked, all that I could tow would pretty well be a pop-up trailer.  Now, trailers that used to be 7000 lbs are now 3000 lbs.  Not sure what they’ve done in a few years to make them so much lighter, but that is great.  Now you don’t need to own a huge pickup truck in order to have a decent sized trailer.

I saw stuff from small, 3 sleepers trailers all the way to full motorhomes worth $500,000 dollars.  Quite the variety.

As I said, not planning on buying, I like window shopping.  Now, my feet are recovering.  Definately got my exercise for the day.  For the weekend for that matter…

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The Weekend

Posted on January 31, 2014 by kdarcy21

My weekend started at noon today – as I mentioned.

I dropped by the police station to fill out my request for my police check – should be delivered in about 4 weeks.  Too bad my previous check that was completed for Big Brothers couldn’t be shared.  Oh well.

Bought some stuff for Super Bowl on Sunday.  Denver versus Seattle.  I am pulling for Denver and have a bet with my boss – the loser buys lunch when I visit Ontario this coming summer.  Tomorrow, I am thinking that I will visit the Calgary RV show.  I am not looking for an RV, they are WAY too expensive, but, at some point I would love to get a small trailer that I would be able to tow behind my truck.  Something big enough for me and two dogs – doesn’t have to have a shower and what not – very simple.  At the very least, I will see how much they go for.  Some of the dealers also have used trailers so perhaps I can get some contact information.

Since the cold weather has returned, I can now take the dogs to the dog park again without fear of my yellow lab coming back as a black lab.  The ground is, once again, quite frozen.

I also have my first umpire association meeting.  I am sure I will be brought up to speed on issues that are pending.  Hopefully there aren’t too many politics – guess we will see.

So, I am sure the weekend will zip by.  Enjoy yours.

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A Half Day Off

Posted on January 31, 2014 by kdarcy21

I am off this afternoon. I have some running around that can only really be done during the day when everything us open.

I’ve mentioned that I will be coaching with Babe Ruth Calgary this summer. Well, I have to have a police check done including a vulnerable sector check as well – working with youth, gotta be safe.

So, I have to zip to one of the local police detachments and fill out some paperwork I am sure. I need to find my passport as well, need that plus my license.

I also need some stuff for Super Bowl. You know, you can eat healthy.

Enjoy your weekend. If you’re in Calgary, try to stay warm. 🙂

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Municipal Politics

Posted on January 31, 2014 by kdarcy21

I typically do not get involved with Municipal Politics.  Before I started working at the Region of Niagara, I didn’t get involved in Regional politics – thankfully, in Alberta, we don’t have that wasted second tier of Government.  Here, we have 3 levels – seems to work.

I really do not understand the people of the City of Calgary and why they returned Mayor Nenshi to the job this past Fall.  He defeated his nearest competition by a huge margin.  Now, in saying that, although it was a huge margin, a HUGE majority of the City did not vote at all.

I would like to know exactly what Nenshi has done for the City of Calgary?  Perhaps he worked some long hours doing whatever he did during last years devastating floods – he made some news conferences and called people who were being idiots names.  It was entertaining.  He is not a good Mayor, not for this city, not for any city.  I would happily take Mayor Ford of Toronto and his fiscal responsibility AND all of his excess baggage and issues in a heartbeat to get rid of this bum.  Tax raises over 5% over the last few years and about the same forecast for the next few – REALLY?  Where, exactly, do you think that the average person is going to get this?  Am I getting a 5% raise at work?  No, not quite.  Not even close.

Now, I read in the Calgary Herald that the Province is considering giving cities the power to create additional taxes.  Wow.  What a BAD idea.  Nenshi will go nuts, I am sure.

It quite amazes me that he is so popular.  I was thinking that I must be missing something.  I have looked.  I can’t find what I am missing – not at all.  People are saying he should run for Prime Minister.  I can’t imagine.  I guess I would have to look into moving to Australia.

We have another few years of this guy and his tax increases and his dumb smile – maybe that’s why he’s so popular – it’s gotta be something.  I can’t believe that the people of this city are that dumb – they can’t be.  I hope, I really, really hope that in a few years people do smarten up and toss him on his butt, outside of City Hall.

 

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That was some boring hockey…

Posted on January 30, 2014 by kdarcy21

Yesterday, my work had an event at Brewster’s, a restaurant right around the corner from the office.  Sort of a meet and greet – there are a lot of new staff in the office with co-op positions starting in January for the busy tax season.  The pizza and wings that were served were quite good – I will be back for more at some point in the near future.

We had some snow yesterday – the forecast called for 2-5cm.  Yeah.  I really love how the weather people can be wrong so often and still have good paying jobs.  It would appear that forecasts now are no more accurate than they were 30 years ago.  I mean, in general, we can use them as a guideline, but nothing else really.  Anyway…  So, not sure on how much fell – 10cm perhaps a bit more – this generally causes people in this city to forget, completely, how to drive.  I know that I have ranted, many times, about the lack of driving ability my fellow Calgarians have, so I won’t go into detail now.

To get to this event at Brewster’s, I decided to take the bus.  There is a stop at the corner of 8 Street and 11 Avenue – that is the same corner that the restaurant is on.  Convenient – yes.  Well, I caught the bus at 4:50pm and the just under 3km ride took me a little over 40 minutes.  The traffic was crazy.  I likely could have walked a little faster and if it wasn’t -10, I likely would have.

Anyway, had a good time at Brewster’s and then headed off with a co-worker to the Calgary Hitmen game.  I won tickets, at work, again.  I seem to be very lucky with ticket wins.  Some people are, I think, becoming suspicious.  I am not sure.  Is it a coincidence that the people who are drawing the tickets may have, in the past few weeks asked me to look at a personal computer issue?  Well, who am I to say?  Anyway, glad I “won” the tickets.

So, we head to the train station for the short ride to Saddledome.  We arrive a little late, find our seats and settle in.  The game is at 0-0 – good, I think, we didn’t miss anything.

Well, it remains tied at 0 for the first and second – this is the least scoring I have ever seen at a Hitmen game, typically it is a high scoring affair.  Calgary scored one in the third period – great – some action, finally.  I enjoy defensive football games, I do not enjoy low scoring hockey games.  There is much more scoring, 4 more goals in total, all scored by the visitors.  Oh well – Calgary drops another game, they have lost, I believe, 6 of their last 8.  They’ve also slipped out of 1st place in their division.  Perhaps playing in the Saddledome, they have taken after the Flames?  Not sure.

Anyway, it was a good evening even if it was one heck of a boring hockey game.  We walked down 17 Avenue from the Dome as opposed to taking the train.  It was a bit cold but not too bad.  I guess I really am getting used to these Alberta winters.  I am sure Spring is right around the corner, well, if the corner is 3 months away.

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The weekend

Posted on January 25, 2014 by kdarcy21

The weekend is here.  Thankfully.  It was a busy, insane-like week at work.  This is not a bad thing though.  Being busy means that I will likely stay gainfully employed.  That is good – means that I can pay for things like rent, food, mobile bills and what not.  The dogs likely want to be fed as well.

The week zipped by pretty quickly.  I had my coaches meeting on Monday and it was a good meeting.  One of the potential coaches didn’t decide to coach with our club, he felt there was a better fit with another club.  Oh well, I am sure we will locate another coach or two.  I was supposed to go to the Forest Lawn Conservative Association meeting on Tuesday but I didn’t make it.  I got home from work fairly late, actually I likely wouldn’t have had enough time to make it to the meeting on time anyway.

Nothing much planned for today.  It is supposed to be another non-typical Alberta January day with temps in the low double digits for a high.  Not bad at all.  Yesterday, we got up to 12C I think it was.  I made a comment on Facebook about the weather here in Calgary as compared to the weather in St. Catharines.  There was about a 25 degree difference in temperatures.  We had a cold December here, but since the New Year it has been quite pleasant.  The snow is just about gone, it is really hanging around though, I am surprised with so many days above freezing that it isn’t entirely melted as yet.

Tomorrow I am going to drop by the registration for BRC.  I hope to meet some of the parents of my players for the upcoming season.  Since I have typically been on the baseball board of directors, I am used to helping at registrations anyway.  Tomorrow, the temps are supposed to return to seasonal norms – below zero and snow.  If everything re-freezes then I think I will take the dogs for a walk in the dog park as well – they love that.

Tomorrow is also the Pro Bowl I guess.  Not sure what time it starts and I am also not sure if I will bother to watch it.  It tends to be a pretty boring game, more touch football than anything else.

Well, hopefully my readers will have a good weekend doing whatever they plan to do.  Enjoy.

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Something new…

Posted on January 24, 2014 by kdarcy21

As I indicated in my last post, or I think it was my last post anyway – I was asked if I wanted to join the umpire association Board of Directors.  I asked them to ensure that my coaching activities would not be considered a conflict of interest.

Well, I received a follow-up call from the association and they do not consider my coaching to be a conflict of interest, so I have accepted a position on the Board.

I have sat on numerous Board of Directors.  Baseball at various levels, in St. Catharines, Niagara District, Baseball Ontario.  I am also on the Board of Directors for the Calgary Forest Lawn (formerly Calgary East) Conservative Association and will likely move over to the  Calgary Centre Board once they have their AGM sometime in the spring.  So, I have plenty of experience on Boards.  When it comes to baseball, I was also on the “other” side of the Board when it came to umpires.  In Niagara, there was what I would call a hate-hate relationship between the various Associations and the Umpires Association.  Some of that was likely due to the members on the various Boards not liking one another and the scheduler for the Umpires not being the easiest person in the world to get along with.

I are that some of the same type of politics exist here.  I am hopeful that there won’t be a lot of issues.

In general, the quality of umpiring in Calgary is way better than what it is in Niagara and in Ontario in general.  I don’t know if it is the training or what.  Now, of course, I am only seeing this from the umpires point of view.  I guess I will really see this summer when I am coaching.  I hope that my opinion stays the same – I am sure it will.

So, a new challenge ahead and new experiences.  Also, I will get to know some of the umpires better.  Not bad potential at all.

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Winter

Posted on January 23, 2014 by kdarcy21

Calgary is having a non-typical Calgary winter.  It is much more like a Southern Ontario winter it would seem to me.  It was very cold and snowy in December, I will admit, BUT, most of December is still fall, not winter.  The constant thaw/freeze/thaw cycles are getting a little tired.  I don’t mind snow, I don’t like ice.

My dogs both like going for walks.  They also tend to like to pull unless I am very strict with them which I am often not.  Zeus isn’t too bad, he can’t really pull that hard, he’s not that big of a dog.  Blondie on the other hand can pull pretty hard and she seems to have a goal of taking me off of my feet.  If I keep the leash short, she heels very nicely.  I guess I like her to be able to explore a little bit.

The other option would be to walk them daily in the dog park down the street.  The only issue with that right now is that the sun doesn’t come up until nearly 8am and I am leaving for work by that time.  I don’t want them running around in the dog park when it is dark and I can’t see them.

So, I guess I am getting tired of winter.  Where is spring?  Well, according to the calendar, we have nearly two more months of winter and I am sure we will hit another deep freeze or two between now and then.  The days are, at least, getting longer.  It was still light out at 5:30pm yesterday.  Not bad for the end of January.

I don’t mind the cold, prefer it actually over the hot and humid of summer.  Not that Calgary gets hot and humid, or at least not often and never like Southern Ontario, if it hits 30C here, it is sort of surprising.

The spring will also bring baseball.  I am looking forward to that.  Speaking of baseball, I got a call on Tuesday night from the umpires association.  Back in the fall, I volunteered for a Board position or to help out if they needed help.  I never heard back so I figured that they had the members that they needed.  OK, that’s fine – I pursued the coaching avenue.  So, I got a call asking if I would be interested in joining the Board as VP.  I explained my current coaching situation and said if they don’t consider being the VP and a coach with BRC, I would do it.  I can see that there may be a conflict – guess I will see how this plays out in the next bit.  I don’t mind doing it, I am always willing to help.

Time to walk the dogs and see if I get pulled off of my feet.  Hoping that the bit of snow that we had yesterday doesn’t cover up the ice.  Wish me luck.

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