Tis the Season for Concerts

We sure have seen our share of classical/seasonal music in the past month. We went to see a candle lit performance of the Messiah. I think this may become a tradition for us.Irene performed with her choir at a church designed by my firm. They also sang parts of the Messiah along with some seasonal tunes.Our church had the annual children's choir performance. It was as cute as ever despite missing several kids who were on vacation.

The Good ol Hockey Game

In the last couple weeks we ended up scoring tickets to see both of Ottawas major hockey teams. A co-worker got me 4 free tickets to an Ottawa 67s game and the following week I ended up with a ticket to the Senators/Thrashers game. Someone ended up backing out of that at the last minute so Irene got to go.
The 67s are a pretty decent team with one of the best (and longest running) coaches in the OHL. They started off pretty badly but near the end were starting a good comeback. The final score was 5-4 for the Oshawa Generals. The game also included the funniest half-time show I have ever seen. It was a bunch of mascots running around the ice, dancing and attacking each other. And since we came late our seats were near the top of the stands. Also, because we had four tickets, we invited some church friends along with us. The Senators game was quite thrilling because we had some of the best seats in the building. We were 8 rows up from behind the opponents bench. High enough to see over the boards but low enough to really feel the action. Also, they serve you beer/food in these lower levels.
The game was really thrilling and was a big win for the struggling Ottawa team. I caught all the goals and most were really good. The scoring started off early and so did the fighting.
The final score was 5-1 for Ottawa. It was a once in lifetime opportunity.In somewhat sad news, a fan from Vermont in the stands across from us fell from the top (third) level to the second level when he tripped on a womans purse. He was apparently carrying two drinks. Both the man who fell and the woman he landed on are surprisingly fine. No word on what happened to the drinks.
We missed the whole thing because we were too busy getting served in our luxury seats. Apparently, what happens on the top levels, stays in the top levels.

New By-line

In case you haven't noticed (which you probably haven't if you use RSS feeds) I have changed my blog byline. It has been the somewhat appropriate "If you tolerate this, your children will be next" from the Manic Street Preachers song of the same name for a couple years at least.
My new byline is "They want me raw and smooth like glass, They want it fast but they don't want flaws" which is a line from the Islands song Rough Gem from their album Return to the Sea.
The reason I like this line is because it says a lot about life and specifically my life/work. I can relate very easily to it. The demands put on you can be almost impossible and are usually conflicting.
What do you think of it? I just love a good byline.

Crazy Sports

I came across this video the other day.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

If you don't want to watch it, it shows a guy using a roller suit (yes, a suit with wheels) going down some crazy hills in the Swiss Alps. He is going insanely fast. My favorite part is where he passes the motorbike. I just don't understand how he steers. One wrong move and he will smoke a barrier.
This video reminded me of another other crazy sport (which I may have blogged about earlier)

Pirating the Financial Situation

An article I read today......

Somali Pirates in Discussions to Acquire Citigroup

By Andreas Hippin

November 20 (Bloomberg) -- The Somali pirates, renegade Somalis known for hijacking ships for ransom in the Gulf of Aden, are negotiating a purchase of Citigroup.

The pirates would buy Citigroup with new debt and their existing cash stockpiles, earned most recently from hijacking numerous ships, including most recently a $200 million Saudi Arabian oil tanker. The Somali pirates are offering up to $0.10 per share for Citigroup, pirate spokesman Sugule Ali said earlier today. The negotiations have entered the final stage, Ali said.

"You may not like our price, but we are not in the business of paying for things. Be happy we are in the mood to
offer the shareholders anything," said Ali.

The pirates will finance part of the purchase by selling new Pirate Ransom Backed Securities. The PRBS's are backed by the cash flows from future ransom payments from hijackings in the Gulf of Aden. Moody's and S&P have already issued their top investment grade ratings for the PRBS's.

Head pirate, Ubu Kalid Shandu, said: "We need a bank so that we have a place to keep all of our ransom money. Thankfully, the dislocations in the capital markets has allowed us to purchase Citigroup
at an attractive valuation and to take advantage of TARP capital to grow the business even faster."

Shandu added, "We don't call ourselves pirates. We are coastguards and this will just allow us to guard our coasts better."

95 Theses but the Pope Ain't One

Since tonight is a Bible Study night I thought I'd post something related to that. A church friend sent me this link a few days ago. It is a rap about Martin Luther and the 95 Theses that he nailed to the church door. Now before you all flip out at me for being sacrilegious and the rest this is a serious project by some Yale students. I couldn't care less for rap music but the way these lyrics were written combined with the witty video shows that these guys clearly have a grasp on what they are talking/rapping about. Take a listen and see how much you can catch.

There are several great references to other historical figures and events along with the obvious doctrinal points. They did take liberty with some things and admit as much here. And you can read the lyrics here. It is pretty harsh on the Catholic church but really they are just talking history albeit in a language the kiddies can understand. It mixes humour and history in a very clever way.

Some of my favourite lines are:

I warned y'all that Rome best agree to the terms.
If not, then you can eat my Diet of Worms!
You think you done something spectacular?
I wrote the Bible in the vernacular!
A heretic! [What?] Someone throw me a bone.
You forgot salvation comes through faith alone.

But you forgot about me and my demonstration?
Like you can just create your own denomination?
"We don't like this part, so we'll just add a little twist."
Now we Anglican, Amish, and even Calvinist.

and right at the end....

Shout out to Johann Gutenberg... I see you baby.

I love The Office

The Economy according to Michael Scott of Dunder Mifflin

Here's the thing about this so-called "financial crisis," if it were really bad, people would be jumping out of buildings on Wall Street. No one's jumping out of buildings, so it's probably just the media scaring us again, just like it did about birds catching the flu and cows getting mad. But there is a problem and in order to make things right, the government needs to start printing more money and lots of it. Now I know it takes money to make money, but I sell paper and you can get a couple hundred sheets of it for a buck, thousands if you buy in bulk. If the government bought some quality Dunder Mifflin paper to print new money on, believe me, they'd make a huge profit on the deal even after the cost of ink. So if anyone knows Barack Obama, please forward this to him, and make sure he knows we're having an incredible special on Hammermill Great White recycled copy paper-99.99% jam free! But if the government insists on continuing to get ripped off by the big box chains, there are other fixes. When it comes to stocks, they should start buying low and then selling high. I hear that's a good way to maximize profits. They should also consider focusing more on "transparency," "sustainability," and "stabilization." Those appear to be good things. At the same time we should avoid "recessions," "speculative bubbles," and "asset-liability mismatches," because according to Yahoo Answers, those are really bad things. Plus, they could cut or raise interest rates depending on the situation. I think if we take these simple steps, all our economic troubles will probably just go away, like global warming did after Al Gore made that really boring film.

*excerpt from Dunder Mifflin Newsletter