Hot Hot Hot

Looks like we are in for another beautiful day in Calgary today. The weatherman says +23 today and tomorrow. If all goes well that will translate to a trip to the driving range today and a game of golf tomorrow morning.

Whats going on this weekend. Well from what i hear everyone is getting together at the Amsterdam Rhino tonight for Brendans going away party. Not sure if I will attend, as we have not really spoken since he left Lydale. But I have been told many people will be in attendance that I have not seen in awhile so I should try to make an appearance even if it is brief. Like I said I am going to try to play a game of golf tomorrow morning at Shagannapi. There is the hockey game tomorrow night. And last but not least I need to get my computer repaired sometime soon...and...well i also need to get some spring shopping done. Need some shorts, and probably should get my gym membership so that I can actually enjoy the summer sun, and not have to hide my whalish figure behind layers of clothing lol.

I am going to keep this entry short, it is too nice to be sitting in front of a computer making a blog entry, but I do want to send out a big HUG to Jenna B in edmonton. Life is doing that changing thing again and that can be frustrating, especially when so many friends are involved. Love you.

Nooman Out

The Da ko ta ejection seat

Well it would appear the powers that be have changed their minds and I will be getting the little Dakota 4x4. Now, the only misgivings I have are that the truck has now been nicknamed "The Ejection Seat." Why has it been nicknamed this? Well probably because everyone who drives it ends up getting let go. First Murray in Regina and then Brian. So maybe I better start working on my golf game now. The funny thing is that when I heard about this, the first thing that popped into my mind was "man wouldnt it be great to get laid off before summer".

It has been so long since I have been able to enjoy a summer. For the most part because I am in the Fire and Flood business. And... well... summer is when the proverbial shit always hits the fan. And thus I usually spend July just trying to keep my head, and a few houses above water. Bla Bla Bla....Anyways I got the truck this morning, and am gonna spend some time cleaning it up. Brian was a smoker, and well, if you dont know, I am an avid Anti-smoker, so I am gonna need to steam clean the interior and then tomorrow stick an ozone machine in there for a couple hours just to get that damn smell out.

Only two more things to talk about of any importance. I came in third last night at the poker tournament. There was an unusually light turnout due to the hockey games, but I still managed to collect $285, not to shabby for a good night out. And more than makes up for my "bad" poker night with Fysh and Jenna a few weeks back.

On the Hockey front, the Flames won last night. I did not see much of the game, but am happy that they won. But more importantly the Oilers beat Detroit in double overtime. Unfortunately the "regular time" game was not on the CBC because of the Calgary, Anaheim game but the "overtime" periods were. I will talk about this CBC thing tomorrow. Anyway, Edmonton vs Detroit in Overtime. A shot gets fired from the left side of Roloson, at a sharp angle. He has his net covered. His body is tightly up against the post, and his skate is pressed hard agains the post. Unlike the other night when it was not, and a puck managed to get kicked inbetween him and the post, but that is another story. The puck comes at the net, and then all of a suddent the light flashes and Detroit starts to strut around the ice. Meanwhile Rolo, is staring at the net going, "What the fuck, there is no way that went it"

It goes upstairs and the video starts to fly. What happened? The puck went under the side of the net. Yup thats right under the side of the freaking net. The officials take a look at the net, and there is like a bend in the bottom of the net, with a clear two inches for any meandering terrorist puck to find its way into the innocent Edmonton Goal. What term came out of last nights hockey game. "Net Malfunction" Thats what they called it. So go update you dictionary. Net Manlfunction is when you have a bloody bent goal frame, hidden by padding, and allowed to be put into a Stanley Cup Playoff Game. IDIOTS lol

Newman Out

Changes at Work

Well Brian got his walking papers today. As always when this happens, the office was pretty quiet this morning. People just trying not to make eye contact and all that jazz. But, other than that, the let-go happened without much hoopla. The only really good thing about this layoff was the hope that I would get to trade in my minivan for his Dakota 4X4, but once again this plot has been foiled by the construction division, who desperatly need the truck. This I dont understand, because had he not been let go, the truck would not be up for grabs. What would they have done then. I will tell you, they would have managed with what they have now. But it would appear that I am the only one who has to manage with what they have now.

Lets see what else. Regina was a pretty good time. It was more or less just a get-together with all the managers. Blaine expressed his desire for all of us to keep in contact with each other, and get to know each other a bit better. So with that said we had a great dinner at Golfs steakhouse. A restaurant that I definately can recommend to anyone who is in, or passing through Regina. I had the Steak Neptune and it was done to perfection, with asparagus and wild rice. YUMMY. After dinner we hit the casino and then a cool little bar, with live music called Mcnally's all in all a great night. On Friday we were not scheduled to leave Regina till almost 9, but we chose instead to take the long way home, with a layover in Edmonton, but still made it back to cowtown by 6:30. I was able to watch some of the first period of the Edmonton Detroit game on the plane via satellite. Man has technology come a long way. And this brings us to the weekends Hockey games.

Edmonton vs. Detroit game one. What a farce. Edmonton should have won this game. Hockey is not baseball and you should not be able to bunt the puck in the net, but alas bunting is allowed, and thus the Oil lost game one. However on Sunday they made up for this loss by handing Detroit a 4-2 loss. Which was deserving. Again, both Detroits goals were ugly. I think Edmonton is going to take this series in 5 or 6. Go Oilers go.

Calgary vs. Anaheim on Friday was a good game, and the Red Mile was in full swing. Some 8000 party goers hit the avenue, with little or no problems. Unfortunately i was too tired to make it to the avenue. The Flames however failed to show up for game two and are thus heading on the road with the series tied at 1. You must now remember what i said in a previous blog. Calgary has only managed to win 1 out of its past 13 games while on the Road to the Might Ducks. So statistically things are not looking good for Calgary. Maybe, Kippersof (sp) will have to make sure he picks up his superman tights from the cleaners.

Well this blog has managed to get a bit long. Saturday I managed to get some good writing time in, cranked out around 1500 words, which considering the writers block I have had as of late, is quite remarkable. After writing i managed to get pretty smashed and made the mistake of going out in public. First the wine tasting at lodge, and then to Workshop Theatres Trivia night. Needless to say I will be hearing about my adventures at both those events for some time to come.

Lost but not least, a disclaimer. It would appear that over the weekend, some misinterpretations of my blog entries resulted in two friends in a bit of a quarrel. Please do not base anything of importance on what I write. As you all know I see the world through some pretty "thick" and "distorted" glasses. I also tend write what is on my mind, and dont give much consideration to who is reading. If I did this I would spend too much time crossing my t's and dotting my i's. IF YOU HAVING A QUESTION, OR NEED ME TO CLARIFY SOMETHING I HAVE WRITTEN, SIMPLY POST A COMMENT. This will save much heartache and confusion.

CAIO

Regina

Well I am off to Regina for our annual sales meeting. Oh and what did I find out yesterday. Oh, that I have to give a presentation on Safety. Not just for our office but for all 6 offices. So you might ask, how did i spend my day yesterday instead of hitting golf balls during my lunch break, let me tell you. I spent the whole damn afternoon writing a stupid safey presentation, talking with the Saskatchewan Construction and Safety Association, and trying to figure out where Lydales Safety program is in our Saskatchewan offices. WOW was that fun.

We will be flying out of here just before lunch on WestJet, which is cool, and i hope we have some kewl stewardesses on the flight. Our day is then pretty much taken up with meetings and then dinner at a resaurant called Golf's, which I am sure will be good. And then who knows what.

Tomorrow we dont fly back till 945 so I am gonna miss out on most of the hockey, but hopefully Cory will be celebrating his last few days of freedom at Crush. Nothing better than watching Cory get drunk and attempt to hit on Amy, and all the "meow beautiful" waitresses and bartenders at Crush. Oh ya, and what the fuck. Cory and I go for a pint at Crush the other night, and guess what happens when we walk in. A guy is standing there being a host. A GUY. Are you fucking kidding me. I put in a hard day at work, and then me and the boys go over to crush to have a few wobbly pops and we get greeted by a guy. NO AMY, NO CAT, NO JESSE, NO CARESSA, NO LINDSAY. A GUY. I am not sure what I am going to do about this, but I am sure that after a few bevies tomorrow night, I will be discussing the new hire with Bradly. And to think, just a few weeks ago we were commenting on Brads ability to hire the most beautiful girls of every different genre. Blondes, Brunettes, Sporty and Academic. You could almost rename the Spice Girls, the Crush Girls, something for everyone. And then all of a sudden a GUY. WHATS NEXT BRAD, A LATE NIGHT SCREENING OF "BROKE BACK MOUNTAIN".

Anyway, I will hopefully see everyone at Crush tomorrow night. But if things change and everyone heads to Dirties birthday party please send me a text. My phone dont work in Saskatchewan, but I will get the message when my plane lands, which will be easier than trying to track down all you monkies if you are drunk.

NMZ OUT

10 degrees and rising

Well it is 11am and the old thermometer is passing through 10 degrees on its way to 16. What does that mean? Well if you would give me a second, I will tell you. It means that at exactly 12:01, when my lunch break begins I am gonna scoot off to the driving range and enjoy wacking off a large basket of balls. I was able to get to the range over the long weekend, and as usual, my irons are working perfectly, but my damn driver is still not doing its name any justice. I am not sure when I will be able to get out for my first game of golf, but the front nine at Shaggannappi is open, and it only costs 18 bucks, so maybe, if I am lucky, I will head out next weekend.

On the hockey front the regular season is over, and the playoffs begin on Friday. Edmonton will be facing Detroit in the first round, and Calgary against the Mighty Ducks. Now everyone is saying that Calgary is gonna breeze through the first round, and that Edmonton is going to get swept. I must say I dont see this happening. Edmonton split their regular season games with Detroit this year. I know the playoffs are different, but I also know that even if you dont think the Oilers belong in the playoffs, they are none-the-less there, and I think they are gonna slug out a pretty interesting series. I say it is gonna be close, but Edmonton has an outside chance of getting through. Calgary on the other hand have had a great season, but from what I hear they have only won one game out of the past 13 away to the Ducks. And as we all know, the playoffs get split pretty evenly between home and away. I am pretty confident that they will do ok in Calgary, but unless they fix up that away stat, I have to say that they are bigger underdogs going into the first round than Edmonton. But then again. I know about as much about Hockey as Tappers knows about sobriety. LOL.

Not much else to report. I started tanning again over the weekend, to ensure I dont get a burn this summer (it sucks being a redhead). There was a new girl working at Fabutan last night and she was, lets say "meow beautiful". So I dont think it will be hard to remember to go tanning every night for the next bit. I still have to get back into the gym. As always I put it off until May and then I dont reach my goals till September, which sucks because I usually stop working out in October lol. I think the whole process revolves around the T-shirt wearing season. Sweaters can do wonders for a fat bastard like me. But I will do my best to start thinking about my Belly here, before it is too late and I am unable to walk down 17th for fear of taking up too much of the sidewalk.

And with all that said, I bid you adieu

Exactimate Baby

So it has taken a few months, but Darren finally allowed me to get the Exactimate program. This only happened of course because the Cooperators pretty much demanded that all their preferred contractors use it. But, however it happened, it is now here, and I have spent the past week or so playing around with it, and attempting to learn as much of it as I can before I go to Regina on Thursday. As, from what I hear, we will be getting a little Exactimate lesson, as part of our sales meeting.

Anyway.....So I am working on my first Estimate on Exactimate and bamn, the final price on the estimate is almost double what I would have charged based on time and materials. Which basically means everybody who has been using our services has been getting a sweeeeeet deal. And now, at least from one of my clients I am about to actually start making some money, and maybe I wont have to stress about reaching my sales goals each month. This could be a really good year :-)

As I just stated I will be heading to Regina for a couple of days, for our annual Sales Meeting. It should be pretty fun, it will just be the General Managers and the Cleaning Managers, so I will get to have a few beers with Rod. They are putting us up in the Delta, which is also the Regina Casino, so lets hope I dont get drunk and try to play poker again. (What kind of an idiot plays poker drunk?)

Lets see what else. Smid-Pig is getting ready to head up North to good old Fort McMurray. Going to stake his claim from what I hear. I only hope that he will still find the time to update his blog, and keep us up to speed on the latest fashions of Sexy Teen Sandy. This also means that I am going to have to deal with Tappers on my own. I think maybe Jenny should move to Calgary to assist him in dressing himself.

Not much else to say. Nooman Out

Easter - it came, it went

Well Easter is over, and with it any sense of sanity I might have gained over the past few years. As I stated in my blog earlier, this lent was suppose to end with me getting baptized. This year was suppose to be different. It was suppose to mark the beginning of something, but instead, it turned out to be another year of frustration.

Now mind you, I did not think it would be easy to come to terms with this thing called "christianity" but I, at the least, thought it would somehow make a little sense. But after six months of studying, and years of discussions, I am no closer to an understanding than when I began. Mind you I do believe I have entered into a relationship with Jesus, if that makes any sense. But I do not know how that transends into baptism and the joining of a church. The more I study the church, the more Paul emerges. And quite frankly I do not know Paul.

So where does this leave me? Well I did not get baptized. Nor do I know if I even want to go back to church. Even though, it is something I truly enjoy. However, how can i sit in church with all these questions. It makes me feel like a fraud. I have never called myself a christian, so why do I attend a christian church? This does not make any sense to me. In fact this entire process has taught me one thing. I dont make any sense.

Now I have always known that I am a little crazy. Have I not always said, "it would be insane, to be sane, in an insane world." And G-d knows the world is insane. But trying to understand "christians" is something that I am afraid, might take me off the deep end.

So with all that banter......Easter is over, and I will try to take a break from all these crazy questions, and get back to the business of being me. Sorry for all my meaningless drivle.