March 2006

March 31, 2006

    Today is an off day for me and mine. Mine being my feet. Last night was the much anticipated year end shaker. It lived up to the hype. It ran a course eerily similar to last year's gala. Around 11 most of the people including all inhabitants of the house went downtown and left the remaining guests to their devices. This year we got the captain, Aarden, right hammered. It was awesome. People were leading him with revealing questions and it was good. We smoked some Cuban cigars and laughed the night away. We got home around 1 in the morning. Tonight is a similarly themed event in that it is a Farewell party. This time it isn't for the hockey team it is for the memories of parties past at 80 Cole road. This famed party venue has brought many people a lot of good times. It is the end of a era tonight and hopefully it goes out with a bang. I've taken the day off school to get ready. Well I didn't really have any academics to do  today so I felt I deserved the break. I worked really hard all this week to get a lot of stuff done. I have to hand it to me yesterday, it was a very productive morning. But enough of this revelry. I must get back to my cold pizza dinner and my bed lazing. Is there anything better? I think not.

March 28, 2006

    Well, well, well, we meet again. How ironic, that it is here in the internet that our paths should cross. The very place were meeting was intended. I really don't know what I'm saying here. My mind is whirling like a flag in a midsummer's wind. I have a tri-fecta of presentations coming up this week. The kick-off is tomorrow. After this week I only have one presentation/lab report left and its all over but the crying. In this case the crying coincides with final exams. Many of my friends will have completed their undergraduate degree. That is a four year process. I think back and it seems like high school was only yesterday. I still remember it clearly. University has just been a massive blur. All the years, classes, and experiences have melded into one big free for all. And that is not due to any kind of drug use or drinking. That's because I gave up drinking and never did get into the whole drug thing. I'm a clean cut, straight laced dude. Well my laces probably aren't straight. I will go in for a closer inspection. The weather has been great here. The local sports team is successful. I like cheese. Not always real cheese either, I enjoy the cheese slices. They are quick, convenient, and healthy. If you eat them too often or buy the cheap brands you will find them gross after a short time. They are good for the odd sandwich though. That is the main use I have for them. So ya, cheese slices are good. Upon further inspection these are loafers. That line never made all that much sense to me because my loafers always had laces. Even when I was a kid my loafers had laces. Oh well, its just a cartoon, it doesn't have to be accurate all the time. I'm rambling, and I'm tired. Far too tired to be sitting here rambling about nothing. But here I am nonetheless. Shouldn't I be preparing for my big presentation tomorrow. Probably. I have all morning to do that. It's the last paper that I should be working on. I've put it off for a week now. Guess I better get to it. Good night baby. Don't ever call me baby. Phillips out.

March 27, 2006

    The game has come and the game has gone. We lost in a heartbreaking fashion. Well not that heartbreaking. Our opponents started the second period off with three quick goals. They managed to victimize young Phil for all of them. He even put one in his own net. It was a rough game for him. It was a rougher game for Vince of our team. He lead the way in hitting with a buttload of big hits and then got in a fight at the end of the game. I give the fight win to him but the idiot that he was fighting was wearing a big fat ring and managed to land only one punch that cut the skin. Phil, Dave and I all had a front row seat for the event as we were all on the ice. He skated off on his own power so don't worry. Even though the actual game ended on a down note we were all in high spirits. We're having a team "year end shaker" on Thursday. Until then I have a bunch of presentations and a few labs, papers and the like to complete and hand in. Either way, I'm happy to report that Wade has started his own blog and has got his first entry up and running. He's just using his MSN MySpace but it is a start for him and I like that. This post is very dis-jointed because my butt-hole room-mates are harassing me. Excuse that. They have become too much and I'm going to retire for the day. That is all.

March 25, 2006

    The internet is back baby, and with a vengeance. I've been working it hard to try and make up for lost time. I'm researching my last paper and putting together a presentation, well two presentations. I've been a real tear to say the least. No word on what happened to our internet but Bell fixed it, I think it was a problem on their end. I found out yesterday that I get more OSAP than originally thought, which is good because things might have gotten tight. I also get a one time bursary of $500 for some reason. I like that. Ok, I'm sure you've all been dying to know how we did in the hockey. We won that quarter final game by a tally of 4-1. I got a couple of assists for sure, maybe three. I was on fire for a bit. We played the next night at eleven in the pm. We won our semi-final by a score of 3-2 against the number 2 seed. We are scheduled to play in the finals tomorrow at 6:30 pm. If you're in the area come on out and support the team. We're looking to repeat as champions. I still hope we lose though, for some reason. Or do I? I don't even know. Last night everyone went their separate ways. Dave went to his class formal thing, Mike went to a ski-team party, Adam went to his girlfriends for their 2 year, and I went to Joanne's to watch a movie. Everyone did alright. Anyways, I've got to keep on trucking with this work so I'll update y'all on the outcome of the game.

March 22, 2006

    Well our internet is down. I'm posting offline here. Lots has been going on around here in the past few days. Paper Watch 2006 continues but only one paper remains to be watched an the prof has graciously removed the deadline considering my situation. I am really appreciative of that. I have a plethora of presentations coming up though. Three by my count and one more that I'm a part of but I don't have to contribute anything to. So anyways, the events of recent times. The Big T is here. He messed up and came down a day too soon for his final Dekalb meeting. We used the extra time to prepare a delicious shepard's pie. We consumed part of it that day, it was quite good. The big T spent most of the next day (Tuesday) laying around and having a rare day off. He's going to leave after his meeting today. I did my big consulting paper and got it all put together. I went to the class that it is for and who was the present, none other than Kent Schubert, my old neighbour. I approached him after class and he wanted to come out for drinks with the Big T and I (again on Tuesday). We went to the Holiday Inn (swanky) where the Big T was staying. We laughed it up until around midnight, when I returned home. I attended class today for the first time in awhile and I'll be doing work for the rest of the day, well until our hockey game tonight at midnight. We're in the play-offs now. We're the number 8 seed in our division. On Sunday we won by default and advanced to round 2 of 4. We are slated to play the number 3 seed tonight, we might lose. I'm kind of hoping that we lose so I can focus on school. Anyways, I better get after it here.

March 18, 2006

    Paper Watch 2006 continues. The soil paper was done but has re-surfaced. The tobacco paper is getting researched, writing will commence shortly. The other one is on the back-burner. With that out of the way let's get to the details of the week's end. Saturday was spent at the University's College Royal. This is an annual event, it's drawing attention. Rick Mercer of the Mercer report is slated to do his show on College Royal, details on the university website. I took in the livestock show with Dave and my sister Megan, apparently a vigilant reader. She came over for Social Mixer C. The activities of the 2-1-3rd will be addressed later. The livestock show was enjoyable. The three people we were cheering for didn't win but I think they all enjoyed themselves. Afterwards we toured the barns on campus and then had cheap milkshakes, which were well worth the price of admission. We killed a few hours until Megan had to catch her bus and upon her doing that I ran some errands. For some reason I enjoy running errands, the instant gratification of getting something done really is satisfying for me. I returned all of the empty beer bottles we had, I picked up some notes from my friend Joanne's, and I dropped off my latest rentals. I managed to make it back in time for my 4 o'clock meeting. The Mayor followed the meeting and filled our fridge and our stomachs. I went home and to bed shortly afterwards. I was out by 10 last night. Early for some, right on time for me. Phil couldn't make our supper with the Mayor because he was in the midst of his three day drinking marathon known simply as Social Mixer C. His room, the lounge and the bathroom are disaster areas. He hasn't slept in his room in a few days because of the stink and mess. I'm slightly embarrassed about the whole thing. Ah well, boys will be boys. Well, I have to dig into that paper now. We have a hockey game slated for 11:30pm this eve so I would like to have the most of it finished before then. It's the playoffs, if we lose we're out, that would probably be a good thing for my academics. Either way, off to the wonderful world of internet research. Enjoy the day, y'all.

March 17, 2006

    The week has slipped by and the work is piling up. I have three papers due next week. One of the papers is complete and the other two aren't started yet. One of the incomplete papers is only five pages and is part of a larger group-based effort. The other is of an unknown length, it's not due until later in the week though. The past three days have been a blur. I barely went to school on Wednesday, Thursday was pretty schooly, and I took today off from class to write that paper. This, of course, is the night of Social Mixer C, Phil's famed party. I stopped by briefly to see what was what and it was not raging out of control. There were several people there but nothing to call home about. Frankly, I was a bit disappointed, but the night was still in its infant stages. My night will consist of researching tobacco. Yes, as interesting as that sounds, I'm not hating it. I guess I truly enjoy agronomy.

    Ok, let's just touch on this a bit before I sign off. I probably put down some words last year (check it out for me) about this "holiday" but I'm going to do it again anyways. St. Patrick's Day, a so-called Irish celebration. Funny how most of the people I see aren't even Irish. They just use it as an excuse to get drunk. It peeves me somehow. I have Irish decent to my credit but I don't flaunt it (other than just now). By all rights I should be one of the proud few who get hammered in celebration of some long ago forgotten event(s). Just for fun I asked some people today about the meaning of St. Patrick's Day. Wouldn't you know I didn't get one meaningful answer. They ranged from: "shutup Phillips" to "It means you're supposed to get drunk". This troubles me. I have done my research, I know what its all about, I'm part Irish (or at least I'd like to think so), and yet I don't abuse the holiday. So to all you out there that use this day of days to pound booze until you can't think straight I say, "Shame on you, shame on you all!" That is all I have to say about that.

March 14, 2006

    The memorial last night ran smoothly and efficiently. Annie's parents came, we didn't find out until almost last minute. The short speeches were well written and effective. Our slideshow was a big hit as always. The school provided refreshments for afterwards and we spent some time co-mingling with other students. It was pretty awkward afterwards as most of the students were unknown to the others. There was also some faces that we hadn't seen in years come out of the wood work to lend support. All in all I think the service was appreciated by everyone who attended, and attendance was very good, extra chairs had to be brought in and everything. After the service a few people came back to the house just to hang out. Annie's parents will be coming by tomorrow morning to pick up her stuff. I expect that will be a difficult time for all of us. I don't know if they are taking everything, but we're helping to prepare everything in the case they do.

    The weekend was spent lounging as none of us really wanted to do any work being our first weekend back in the house. I have to adjust quickly as I have two papers due next week and both are large. I have been offered some days of grace for one and I think I'm going to swallow my pride and take those days, I'll more than likely need them. I've gotten caught up in 3 classes and after a brief meeting with a TA in another I'll be caught up in that one too. That pretty much does it.

March 11, 2006

    Our lives are starting to get back in order and some degree of normalcy is beginning to return. We've started attending class again and we're starting to untangle the devious web of academics. In our spare time we have begun to assemble a slide show commemorating Annie with pictures that we've gathered over the last while. We met with the campus chaplain yesterday and hammered out all the details for the memorial. It should be a good one. It will be more traditional for us than the learning experience of the traditional Greek ceremony that was held at home. In other, more cheery news, we've moved back into our home and we're doing well with that. Adam is back at work and the rest of us are doing our regular stuff.

    Tonight we went out for supper at Cagney's. I had the chicken parm. It was good. Going out was good as I laid in my bed until four in the afternoon today. It was a lazy day and that theme continues as I cut this short. Toodles.

March 9, 2006

    Well as you may have noticed I haven't been around lately. There is a reason for that. Where to start. On March first of this year the world lost a great person. That person was my room-mate, Annie Belandis. She was one of the most important people in my life and the life of many other people. Everyone was shocked and heartbroken at the news of her passing. It has not been easy for any of us. We have gone through a wake, a funeral and a personal visit with her parents. There is a memorial planned for March 13th at 7 pm in PCH for those who wish to attend. This is being held primarily for the students who were unable to make the official proceedings. There was a speech written by our room-mate Katie which was meant for the funeral but the opportunity never came up. It will be read at the memorial service. This has been a stressful and trying time for many people and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the University of Guelph for all of their support in everything that they've done for us. I would also like to extend my gratitude to all the people who assisted us in the past 9 days and to those that will help us in the coming weeks. I hope things are well elsewhere and that Annie is well wherever she is now. That is all.