Category — Sports

Every year we make a point of getting our first tracks at C.O.P. Canada Olympic Park. It’s not the biggest hill or the best hill but it definitely helps us re-learn this snowboarding thing. This years trip was about more then just refreshing the muscles though.

If you remember back in January we bought some boots and bindings for a whopping price of $50… for both of us. Total. The only catch was they’re clip-in boots and bindings which aren’t usually the ‘norm’.

So up we went to the hill. Everything went fine and the bindings worked great. Our skillz were a little rusty but it came back eventually. We even stopped for a nice little hot cocoa. After coming out we clipped in and hopped back on the chair lift.

About a third of the way up the hill Lindsay’s boot disconnected from the binding and was hanging by the ’safety strap’. yikes! So we proceed to wrench her leg around and try and get her foot clipped in. After pulling and pushing for about 3 minutes we finally got it clipped in. Phewwwf.

Lindsay then pointed out the fact that I actually wasn’t clipped in either. Instead of trying the same thing I just decided I could ‘ride it out’ …. Let’s just say, I CAN’T “ride it out”. I had a fairly spectacular bail which would have rivaled some of my layouts playing ultimate or as good as Lindsay’s bail in the parking lot.

Anyway, what a great way to spend a Monday night.

Spending the evening backing up my laptop. Not very exciting. My computer has a 100 GB hard drive, and it’s full. I went to burn a DVD today and I didn’t have enough memory. It’s tough to make room when you don’t have enough memory even to burn a CD, so I went and bought a 1 TB external hard drive. I’m backing up the entire thing: 1,521,640 items. So I thought I’d write a blog to kill some time…

Went swimming today at lunch, so not feeling super energetic tonight. It’s amazing how 30 minutes in the pool can be so tiring. It’s the perfect thing to do to break up the work day. One hour at lunch is enough to get to the pool, swim for 1/2 hour and get back to work. Plus, you don’t come back all sweaty unlike lunch hour squash. There’s times when I wish the university had a hot tub, but I guess it’s good that they don’t. I think that would prevent me from getting back to work within the hour and might result in never making it to the pool.

Now that ultimate season is over I find myself watching way more TV. I can’t believe how depressing the news is these days. Today for example the news was all about a virus outbreak (fifth virus…never heard of it in all my years of bio and microbiology but it apparently affects pregnant women), the Stamps big win and the cocaine problem (and therefore increased gang activity) in Calgary.

I found the latter 2 stories quite interesting and super shocking. First, I can’t believe that people go so crazy over the CFL. Good that Calgary is proud of their team but really, when you stop to think about it, there are only 9 teams in the CFL, so they have a 1 in 9 chance of winning the Grey Cup. Also, they have just under a 1 in 4 chance of making it to the Grey Cup. Hamilton has been so terrible for the last few years that it is actually more like a 1 in 8 chance of winning the Grey Cup. I’d mention here how football in general is not that exciting but I’m afraid I might get disowned by my dad.

The cocaine story was the super shocker. I just learned that Calgarians spend $1 million dollars a week on cocaine. What? Really?!!! I should start a program where the city goes one week without coke and then I can have 1 million dollars. I’m joking, but in all seriousness, this city is getting a little too rough around the edges for me. Very sad. They predict the recession will not change these stats much, but if anything usage should increase in the hard times to come. They also say it’s so bad in Calgary due to the high (no pun intended) level of disposable income.

Now you are informed and I’ve killed a bit of time and have backed up 12.37 of 100 GB. A few games of ping pong with Jeff should be good for another few dozen gigs. Gotta run.

Last night we went to see the Theatre Calgary play “The Christmas Carol” with Mary Ann and Robert. It was great to get some culture, catch up and get into the Christmas spirit all at once. We even knew one of the cast members, Dave Trimble, who plays ultimate. The acting great and the set was amazing. I’m a super fan of fireworks and they had a few going off. If you are wondering how Scrooge and fireworks go together, you should check it out.

Played some squash today. Our last two squash clubs have been marathon 2 hour sessions. Super fun times and a great workout. Makes justifying the bag of chips I ate during Grey Cup today easier (yeah Stamps!). The weekly lessons from Jeff have really worked to improve my game lately. I’ve changed my grip, improved my backhand and learned about positioning. I’ve tried to focus on one thing a session, but lately I feel that I have too many things going through my head at once. I guess it’s great that I have so many things to work on. I feel bad that I can never return the favor to Jeff as he’s much more advanced than I . However, this week we got Duncan and Robert out, who were able to give Jeff a few great tips. Should make beating him even more difficult…

Also this week I came across this article on CBC. Calgary will begin charging $3 a day to park to take the C-train (park and ride). This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in a while. There are so few people that take the train already, and this will just create more traffic on the roads. Also, it is $75 per month just to take the train but now for one person it will cost about another $75 per month to park. That will double people’s commute.

I think the city should start monitoring the train instead. In the 6.5 years that I’ve lived here, I’ve been checked only once on the train for my fare, yet I’ve always paid. However, I know people who have been taking the train for longer than that every day who have never paid..and why would they? Nobody ever checks anyways. All other cities have a turnstile or something to prevent you from not paying. If you monitored for even a little while, people would believe they could be caught and would therefore start paying. I think I’ve been checked on the train for a ticket as often as I’ve been through a check stop – once. Brutal.

Slightly old news…but just too busy to post lately, so here’s our story from last weekend:

Fantastic weekend in our old stomping grounds. I was there in July but Jeff had not visited Victoria for 5 years!

The tournament went even better than expected. We were Pumpkin Pi (our league team is Pi and we went to Victoria’s Halloween tournament, Pumpkin Pull).

Travis hooked us up with some sweet jerseys, and we added the logo. You know you are a dork when you notice they were ironed on backwards.

(might have to zoom in to see the logo, but photo courtesy of Jana)

We made it to the finals! Played 5 games the first day, losing only one game to a very poor spirited team from Vancouver called Caddyshack (had another close call as we were warming up and won our first game in Universe Point). The level on Saturday was surprisingly low with only 2 good games. We even bagelled a team. I thought the competition would be better from what a remember. However, it was many years ago since we played in Pumpkin Pull and we might have been way worse than so it would have seemed like the teams were better then, even if they weren’t.

Out of 22 teams this year, we finished second!!! I had hoped to be top 8 (really didn’t want to compete in the ninals again)…so I was pleasantly surprised!

We had a first game bye so Jeff and I brought Terri and Travis for a trip down memory lane. Did a drive around UVic to see all the new buildings and then went for a drive along Beach Drive (I will own a house on Beach Drive one day, just wait for it) and played in some tidal pools at Cattle Point. We spotted a dead jellyfish and hauled it out of the water. It was huge and so cool looking. Looked just like a big clump of jello.

Went back and played the quarter final in a really fun game against a Seattle team. Game 2 was a rematch (semifinal) against the jerks. Everyone from the whole tournament hated playing against them over the weekend so we had a ton of fans during that game. We received lots of high fives from fans when we won. One particular fan had asked me where we were from on the first day and I said “we’re just a league team from Calgary”. Upon beating that team and heading to the finals he replied “not bad for just a league team”.

Pi heads to the finals against a young athletic squad from Vancouver, NBA Jammers. Got down by a few, was 9-4 at one point, got our crap together tying it up 11-11 and ended up losing 13-11. I think that’s the happiest I’ve ever been after losing.

Our team was so much fun. A terrific group of people. Thanks to everyone who went. Lots of laughs mixed in with a little fireball, some hack and some disc.

Maybe next year we can play in the final and win…..

No dead Bernie on our weekend, but it was a ton of fun. Terri, Jeff, Heather and I went to Fernie, thanks to Terri and the Toppers. Terri had won a free weekend at the Topp’s condo when we did the Heroes for Hospice scavenger hunt a while back.

I haven’t spent much time in Fernie at all (driven through it a ton) and it is fantastic! I forsee myself spending a bunch more time there, especially now that I discovered they have a disc golf course there. Jeff and I tried to play a course there years ago and then found out it was no longer open to the public. This weekend we were biking by some folks carrying discs and we asked them where the course is. Turns out it’s a full 18 holes with baskets! Unfortunately we didn’t have discs so we didn’t play but next time for sure. Instead we just lurked around the course, jealously heckling those that had discs and hacked and threw a frisbee around.

We got out biking twice. The bike trails are freaking fantastic in Fernie. I find the trails in Calgary only mediocre and it seems to go anywhere good you have to drive for an hour. In Fernie we left the car at the condo and could bike to the trailhead. We biked around by the aquatic centre on Sidewinder (exactly as it sounds…lots of fun switchbacks) and Broken Derailer. That wasn’t enough for Heather and Jeff so they headed up for another go. I was out of water and Terri had hiked 30km the day before, so we headed back and that’s when we discovered the disc golf course.

On the second day we started from Mount Fernie Park and headed towards a lodge. The trail had a ton of roots on it and was soooo much fun. I think I may have liked it more than Jeff as my full suspension was awesome!!!

It was such a fun weekend that I thought it was a long weekend. Lots of good eats (chips…yum!), good biking and good friends. You can read Heather’s take on the weekend too!

Here are some pics of the good times:

Getting ready

Terri braving the boardwalk

Jeff on the boardwalk

Driving down the highway with our reattached bike rack

Heather and biking funsies

Well, if we couldn’t have top 8, Bronco took 9th!

First game was a blow out against Wannebego from Quebec. We didn’t play very well, but didn’t have to and won 15-4. The highlight of that game was some chick counting stalls to me in french.

Game 2 was super windy. We played Tundra and traded points for a while, then pulled away and won.

Game 3. Gecko. Because we like to stay consistent, we made nine-als (game for 9,10) way closer and exciting than it had to be. Ended up winning 11-9 in a time cap. Luckily Gecko spent so much time arguing with us, that they ran out of time!

All in all a fabulous nationals. Bronco played very well. I would have liked to have finished top 4, but we just couldn’t pull off a few key wins. Jeff and I had a super fun time. Maybe next year….

Now I’m Toronto visiting my family and putting the calories back on that I lost at Nats. Jeff is probably doing the same (back on the chips!) and taking care of Willow.

What an emotional rollercoaster!

Played Swarm in game 1 and won 15-5.

Game 2, played TFP (reigning WORLD CHAMPIONS). Traded points the entire game and Bronco comes out victorious!!!! It was amazing. Won 14-12. We played our game and they weren’t ready for our intensity. The underrated their opponents and paid for it. I’d have to say that the amazingly inspirational talk at half-time won us that game (thanks Luttmer!). If you believe in your heart that you can win, you’ll win. You just have to believe.

Game 3. Huge dissapointment. The way the seeding work and with upsets going on all the place, it came down to the wire. Bronco vs. Monster. Winner goes on to the quarters, loser drops down and out of contention.

Unfortunately we had a bye after our TFP game and weren’t able to take the intensity into the next game, but had 2 hours to sit around. Got off to a slow start, down by 3 and never recovered, losing 14-10.

Much like Regionals there were tears, but this time for the opposite reason. It was a great experience and the team is amazing with great potential. Now we are playing for 9th. At least we beat the world champions!

Final update to come!

I’m sad to report that Bronco had a disappointing day and finished 1-2.

Lost our first game to Liquid from Waterloo (who we beat in universe point last year at Nats). Maybe it was the early morning start (8:30am) and maybe they had the timezone advantage of being 2 hours ahead, but something wasn’t right. Got off to a slow start and could never recover. Lost 14-11.

Second game was much better. Played Bytown Flatball Club from Ottawa and beat them 15-8. They finished second at Nats last year, but I’m pretty sure they have a much different team this year.

Game 3 was another disappointment. Played Onyx from Quebec and lost 14-11. It was a super chipy game with lots of (bad) calls.

Hopefully tomorrow goes better! We’ve dug ourselves a pretty deep hole and I hope we can get out of it. Still contenders for the quarters, but just a tougher rode. We play TFP (from Vancouver and current World champions), Monster (MUST WIN!!!) and Swarm (beat them twice in Saskatoon this year).

Time for an epson salt bath and early to bed

Jeff and I will be representing Alberta at Canadian Ultimate Championships (CUC) this week. This year Nationals are being held in Calgary from Aug 14-17. If you are interested in checking it out you should drop by the fields one day. It’s a great opportunity to watch the highest caliber ultimate in Canada.

There are 5 different divisions being played at 2 locations in Calgary (Calgary Rugby Union and Glenmore Athletic Park) on 16 different fields (1500 athletes in total).

We are in the Mixed Division and our team name is BRONCO.

On Thursday we will play at Glenmore 8:30 AM (field 8), 10:15 am (field and 13:45 (field 7).

We will play again on Friday, it does depend on our Thursday finish. Most likely (fingers crossed) we will play at Calgary Rubgy Union at 8:30, 10:15 and 13:45.

On Saturday our first game will be at 8:30 am at Glenmore and subsequent games are dependent on how we do.

For information on field locations and the schedulte or just to follow our progress, you can visit the CUC website at: http://calgary2008.com

Games are played to 15 points or 90 minutes (which ever comes first). You can watch all games for free on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. If you do come by bring a chair, sunscreen and find some space on the sideline.

We will probably be pretty busy playing so might not get to say hi if you do drop by, but we appreciate the support.

Go BRONCO Go!!!!

If you’d like to volunteer on Thursday or Friday, it would be greatly appreciated and please email volunteer@calgary2008.com.

Also, happy birthday to both Larry (Jeff’s dad) and Scott Millar! Hope you both had a great day.

Just got back from a weekend in Saskatoon. Went to Disc Oddessey for the first time. Although it was a fun time, Bronco didn’t do as hot as we would have liked. Actually, we played like crap on Saturday, but Sunday was much better. To be fair, we were missing a few key players, as well as our leader Duncan and it was super windy. It made me realize how lucky we’ve been this year so far and we haven’t had to play in gale force winds yet…until Saskatoon. We did have a bit of wind in Bozeman, but the bigger problem there was the rain.

We played Swarm from Winnipeg in our first game and beat them handily. They scored more points than they should have, as we got off to a slow start. Our next game was much worse and we lost to Syndicate from Regina. They were a quick, skilled team, but they didn’t beat us, we beat ourselves. The basics of catching and throwing were very off.

During warm up of our 3rd game my heel got caught on a slippery patch of grass and reefed on my hip flexor. It feels much better now, but was throbbing at the time so I didn’t play for the rest of the day. Instead, I watched as we beat Lawn Party and then lost in a terrible game against Saskwatch, who we had beat at Ho-down. The problem once again was catching and throwing. The team was soooo inconsistent all day and hopefully we don’t encounter that at Nationals!

Day 2 was much better. I had a migraine during the first game so didn’t do much, but the team played great against Psycho. Our O-line stepped up to the challenge and played great in the wind. The game got capped and we lost 9-7. That was the end of pool play. Psycho was 1st, Syndicate 2nd and there was a 3-way tie between LP, us and Saskwatch. They couldn’t decide how to break the tie. Originally they told us we were 4th and would be playing Psycho again in the semis. That would have been fun to play them again but strange as no one at the tourney had ever experienced having to play the exact same team back to back.

They changed their minds about the system for tie breaks and we ended up 5th…so the top 4 teams went on to the semi’s and we dropped down to play Swarm. We had a great game against Swarm and won 13-2 and I was able to play well as my migraine went away at the start of the game.

The final ended up as Psycho vs. Saskwatch and I’m not sure who won, but I could easily guess.

We stayed at the Sheraton and they had a waterslide which was a big hit. Fun car ride both ways and all in all a good trip.

Today was a bit disappointing as it was a day off and I slept until 4 trying to get rid of another migraine. Booo migraines.

The highlight of the day was watching Willow catch a mouse!!! We’re so proud of her. I watched her stalking something and then saw her pounce on it. I thought it was a bee as that’s her usual victim, but then I heard it squeaking and saw her running around with it in her mouth. She tossed it and chased it around for a while, unsure really of what to do with it, but then it got away.