The “If Bill Billicheck Coached in the CFL” Rider Hoodie :: With a pair of scissors, you can convert it to a short sleeve model as well.   You can get one of these for any CFL team at the CFL store but let’s be honest, you only need a Saskatchewan Roughriders one. | $89.95 (Can) at the Rider Store

Saskatchewan Roughrider Fans Gather Here Wall Sign :: Not only does this sign look great hanging on your wall, it also let’s your brother-in-law from B.C. know that if he comes over on game day, he is going to get a big wedgie from your friends. | $29.95 at the Rider Store.  Around $25 at other sports collectible places.

Notre Dame Football T-Shirt and the Notre Dame Football Sideline T-Shirt ::  I know the Charlie Weis era has been hard for Notre Dame football fans but better times are coming (we hope).  Either way a Notre Dame t-shirt for you or someone you love shows that you are no bandwagon jumper and you are in this for the long haul, no matter how many times in a row that USC beats Notre Dame.

Saskatchewan Roughriders BBQ cover :: I have one of these at the lake and not only does it look cool, it is a really high quality barbecue cover and is the envy or Rider fans at Arlington Beach. | $69.95 (Can) at the Rider Store but quite a bit cheaper at Canadian Tire.

Calgary Flames Upgrade Crew T-Shirt :: The Upgrade Crew Tee, part of the Reebok Face-Off collection, features:

• 100% cotton jersey
• Team name and logo screen printed across the chest
• Reebok logo located on the left sleeve
• Ribbed crew neck

Sure you can an Edmonton Oilers version but why would you want to be seen out in public in one? | $24.99 (USD)

Hockey Night in Canada Retro Puck & Stick Rug :: While Gary Bettman doesn’t respect the traditions of the NHL, that doesn’t mean that you can’t.  Check out this retro Hockey Night in Canada welcome rug which would look great every Saturday night as you host your friends and family for the Hockey Night in Canada double header.  Now if we could only find a way to automatically mute the television whenever Kelly Hrudey comes on. | $39.99 (Can) from CBC Shop

A customizable NFL team t-shirt or hoodie from NFL Shop.com.  These are great looking short and long sleeve shirts that have customizable front, back and sleeves.  They start about $20 for a basic shirt and can go up to $40 by the time you are done finishing it.

A pair of RB/WR NFL gloves :: If the person on your shopping list played high school football or above, there is a good chance he or she had a pair of these.  While they won’t keep you that warm, they are a great three season glove that can be worn while biking, hiking, or calling plays during the big game from the sideline.

If your better half is like Wendy, they get a little tired of all of this sports stuff laying around.  The Saskatchewan Roughriders have a solution in the form of this great looking gear locker.  This Gamebox fits perfectly in any den, sports room, office etc and is designed with the highest attention to detail and quality. The easy-to-clean Roughriders Gamebox is scratch resistant, and is decorated with the vintage Roughriders logos, enhanced with the 13 man logo and provide the official licensed word marks. Dimensions: 34"w X 18"h X 18 1/4"d | $249.99 (Can) from the Rider Store

Spalding NBA sized Street Basketball :: You need a decent quality basketball for when friends come over or when you step outside and address the 4 for 56 three point shooting streak you are on.  You could use the Spongebob Squarepants basketball your kid bought at Wal-Mart or you can ask for a decent looking Spalding basketball.  While your game may have gone missing, at least you can look like you can still execute a pick and roll, even if you can’t. | $19.59 (USD) from Amazon.com

SIGMA BC906 9-Function Topline Wired Bicycle Speedometer :: The ability to monitor individual rides, and overall training schedules is important to the serious cyclist. The BC 906 tracks your trip, your overall speed, distance, and riding time as well as allowing you compare your actual speed with your average speed. Complete functions include: clock; actual maximum and average speed; comparison of actual and average speed; trip and total distance; trip and total riding time; language selection (seven languages); and low-battery indicator. Also, the BC906’s small, low-profile keeps wind resistance to a minimum, its twist-mount, no tools required design ensures quick installation and its included 3-volt lithium CR2032 battery provides long-lasting power. | $20 (USD) at Amazon.com

Sportscraft Pubmaster Dart Board :: The official size 18-inch dartboard has traditional colors with steel tensile steel spider and high visibility numbers. You can throw either steel or soft tip darts at the bullseye!  Plus with no one really knowing when or if the economy is going to come back, having bunch of friends over for a night of darts is a lot cheaper than a night at the pub or doing much else now that I think of it.  The great thing about darts (and bowling) is that you don’t have to be good at it to have a good time playing it. | $19.99 (USD) at Amazon.com

Speaking of having people over, air hockey is another one of those games that one doesn’t have to be good at to have a good time playing.  Check out this free standing game for some good times.

If you have been to Mosaic Stadium, you know there are two temperatures.  Too hot and too cold.  The Saskatchewan Roughrider store has what you need to survive game day.  Here is your official Saskatchewan Roughrider thermos and water bottle.  Fill it with what you see fit.

University of Saskatchewan Huskies Basketball/Hockey Game Tickets :: It only costs $10 for adult tickets for Huskies basketball and hockey tickets.  While watching a game at Rutherford Arena takes some courage and a seat warmer, watching games at the PAC is starting to have the feel of big time NCAA college basketball.  If hockey is more your style, tickets for the Saskatoon Blades cost $16.57.  My point is that while NBA, NHL, and NFL tickets are really expensive in this economy, there are some great other semi pro, college, and minor sports that are really cheap and a lot of fun.

Check out my other Christmas gift giving guides for more ideas.

Here is the larger context.

At work, there is only one thing I really, really am afraid of.  It’s that someone will sneak a gun into the Centre.  Two springs ago I got a phone call from the Centre that the police thought a client had snuck a gun into the Centre.  We ripped the place apart looking for one (and never found one). 

We have had gun violence on our street where we live and I work in a section of town that has a large gang presence and the fewer guns that exist in Saskatoon, the better.  The sound of gun shots in the city is a horrifying one.  Canada has long severely limited the ownership and transportation of hand guns and I completely agree with them.

This summer at Arlington Beach we heard gun shots several times.  It is a different sound in rural Saskatchewan.  While it is an unexpected sound, it isn’t alarming, even when realizing that the gun shots came from a couple of teenagers (who later walked by with their rifles after a [hopefully productive] evening of shooting skunks and other rodents).

In rural Saskatchewan, long guns are tools.  One Sunday afternoon while visiting friends on their farm, our friends excused herself, walked out on the deck and shot a coyote who was part of a pack that was killing their family dogs.  It’s part of rural life and people have an unusual attachment to their guns… quite honestly because in a lot of families, they are both rights of passage into adulthood and family heirlooms.  They aren’t just tools, they are a way of life.

Part of the problem with the Canadian long gun registry was the opponents of it, turned the registry from a database where guns would be registered into a database where the government was just tracking your guns to be seized at a later date.  During the debate, every small town gas station bulletin board had a poster on it about how the evil Liberal government was going to international conferences about the abolition of firearms.  For all I know, the government may have been speaking out against abolishing all firearms but that wasn’t the message.  In western Canada where the Liberal Party’s infrastructure is almost non-existent, it was the only message that was heard.

Of course I have never heard anyone explain how a long gun registry was going to make Canada safer.  A .22 isn’t the weapon of choice for the gangs in Toronto and for the cases where a long gun was used, would the fact that the gun was registered ever change anything?  Even the Auditor General wonders if it is effective

The performance report focuses on activities such as issuing licenses and registering firearms. The Centre does not show how these activities help minimize risks to public safety with evidence-based outcomes such as reduced deaths, injuries and threats from firearms.

The head of the Ontario Provincial Police said this.

We have an ongoing gun crisis including firearms-related homicides lately in Toronto, and a law registering firearms has neither deterred these crimes nor helped us solve any of them. None of the guns we know to have been used were registered, although we believe that more than half of them were smuggled into Canada from the United States. The firearms registry is long on philosophy and short on practical results considering the money could be more effectively used for security against terrorism as well as a host of other public safety initiatives."

Well it does change how the police deal with emergencies and routine police calls.  Police departments frequently use the Canadian Firearms Registry data base to allow police officers to check if a residence or property might contain a registered firearm before responding to a call. The Canadian Firearms Centre says police make more than 13,000 queries to the system each week. In a Canada Firearms Centre (CAFC) survey, 92% of general duty police officers stated that they use the system.

As an article in MacLeans points out

So I asked the RCMP, who were made responsible for the Canadian Firearms Program back in 2006, and they provided up-to-date statistics. In 2008, police across Canada used their computer systems, often terminals right in their patrol cars, to pull information from the Canadian Firearms Registry On-line over 9,400 times a day.

That adds up to a staggering 3,438,729 queries from police officers last year. It’s hard to imagine a federal database more intensively mined.

I asked a veteran officer in an informal conversation to explain how the system is typically used. He said a cop called to domestic dispute will routinely conduct a quick computer check to see if there is a licensed gun owner at that address, and find out exactly what guns are registered there.

It’s not hard to imagine how discovering that a resident owns a single hunting rifle might suggest one thing to an officer; finding out the man causing the disturbance possesses several exotic weapons would indicate something else again.

Police also use the registry to conduct so-called reverse checks; in cases where they recover a gun, perhaps from a crime scene, they check on who is the registered owner. Those in favour of scrapping the so-called long gun registry make a point of stressing that, even without it, police would still be able to check out who has a license to own guns. But that wouldn’t be any help when the cops are working to trace the ownership of a specific firearm that turns up in an investigation.

A few statistics help round out the picture of how the online data is used. Police most often plug a name into the system to find out if that person is a licensed gun owner and what registered guns the individual owns. They made that sort of query more than 2 million times last year, so often that this has obviously become very basic step in Canadian police work.

They want to know if when dealing with a guy who has had too much to drink, threatening his neighbors, and is screaming and yelling at his spouse has a gun before he or she pulls it out on them.  As MPs vote to abolish the long gun registry this week, they seem to be playing more politics than looking at police safety.

In an annual report from Canada’s Firearms Commissioner prepared by the RCMP, police said they used the registry more than 2.5 million times in 2007.

But Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan has not made the report public.

"Canadians don’t need another report to know that the long-gun registry is very efficient at harassing law-abiding farmers and outdoors enthusiasts, while wasting billions of taxpayer dollars," Van Loan’s office said in a release Wednesday.

A 2006 study by the auditor general found that eliminating the long-gun portion of the registry would only save taxpayers about $3 million a year.

CBC is quoting the NDP in saying that a new domed stadium would cost $600 million and I can’t see it as Ford Field only cost $430 million and is twice the projected size but whether or not they are right or wrong, I am not sure a dome stadium is a good idea for Regina or Saskatchewan. 

• In a good season, the Saskatchewan Roughriders play 11 home games.  I can see the Riders fill a small Carrier Dome type stadium with 40,000 people for 10 of those games (one is a home exhibition game).  The University of Regina Rams would play four games a year there but in front of crowds that may not pay for the cost of opening the building so I won’t mention that.
• Mosaic Stadium is not a nice stadium and I can’t envision a scenario where you could renovate it and bring it up to standards that Rider Nation deserves and wants.  We don’t want a lot but Mosaic Stadium offers even less.
• There would be some more top flight concerts but how many bands can fill a stadium that big?  Three or four a year?  I bet it is closer to one or two after the original rush.
• There would be some conferences but Regina is no Las Vegas.  How many conferences or trade shows will need that much capacity and Regina doesn’t have a lot of excess rooms already.

As a football fan, I prefer open air stadiums.  Yes playoff games in Regina are horrible to play in and attend but so are games at Lambeau Field, Commonwealth Stadium, McMahon Stadium, Gillette Stadium and a lot of other cold weather venues.  While Mosaic Stadium is a horrible place to be when it is cold, it is amazing to be outside in the summer.  Like BC Place, while you gain something in the fall, you lose something in the summer.  Plus, football is supposed to be played outside.

As a taxpayer, I am not so worried about the capital costs as I am about the ongoing operating costs.  Cities infatuations with domed stadiums seems a lot shorter than with traditional stadiums (anyone screaming to replace Notre Dame Stadium (built in 1930) or Wrigley Field (built in 1914, last cleaned in 1919), while how’s that abandoned Silverdome (built in 1973, kicked to the curb in 2008) doing?  Domed stadiums have not aged well compared with open air ones and tend to be big financial sinkholes, if you doubt me, I have two words and one link for you, Olympic Stadium (which seemed like a brilliant idea at the time).

If I was calling the shots on this, I would proceed slowly with the hope of building a stadium that stands the test of time rather than something that barely makes 30 years before the call for replacing it begins.

So naturally the team doctors assumed the Calgary Flames could just jump the queue and I assume the person who set up the private clinic thought it was business as usual like it had been so many times in the past.  Now you have the Premier determined to “get to the bottom of it” but the reality is that this kind of stuff has been going on since the winter of 1980 when the Calgary Flames moved from Atlanta and stuff like this happens to almost all pro sports teams. 

If Premier Ed Stelmach wants to get to the bottom of it, why not show waiting times for the Edmonton Oilers, Edmonton Eskimos, Calgary Stampeders, and the Calgary Flames for surgical and medical procedures and compare it the rest of the population who does not play professional sports.  I assume they jumped the queue in almost all cases.

Of course the fire spread, growing throughout the mine and gaining intensity as it did so. No one really paid attention to the ongoing fire until 1979, when a gas station owner noticed his tanks had reached a temperature of 175 degrees Fahrenheit.  Of course by this time, the fire had been burning for 17 years already.

Numerous attempts were made to extinguish or contain the underground fire over the next two decades. The mines were flushed with water and the burning coal was excavated, but despite the persistence of the workers, their efforts were unsuccessful. The work continued for years at a great expense, with no appreciable progress.

By year 19, the state of Pennsylvania finally conceded that Centralia was burning from the inside out when in 1981, a 12-year-old boy was almost swallowed alive by his grandmother’s back yard.

At that point, about seven million dollars had been spent in the firefighting effort. Experts determined that the only option remaining to effectively battle the fire would be a massive trenching operation, at the cost of about $660 million, with no guarantee of success. Left with such limited options on the 22nd year of the fire buring, the state of Pennsylvania basically condemned the entire town, and spent $42 million in government funds relocating most of its residents. Most residents, fearing everything from a large-scale collapse to consumption at the hands of a vengeful Earth, accepted the offer and moved to near by cities.

For the 30th anniversary of the fire, Pennsylvania claimed eminent domain on all properties in the borough, condemning all the buildings within. A subsequent legal effort by residents to have the decision reversed failed. (you know, because they want to love in a city being consumed by fire).  For the 40th anniversary of the fire, in 2002, the United States Postal Service revoked Centralia’s ZIP Code, 17927.

Still, some of the 1,000 or so residents stayed behind. In fact, up until recently, there were still a handful of residents (nine in 2007) who felt that standing your ground was more valuable than not living in a place that is constantly on fire.  Just in case it hasn’t been consumed by fire or the air is still breathable, it is expected that many former residents will return in 2016 to open a time capsule buried in 1966 next to the veterans’ memorial.  If I were them, I would wear asbestos socks and underwear. 

The fire is being brought under control.  There is enough coal in the eight-mile vein to feed the fire for up to two hundred and fifty years, but it may burn itself out in as few as one hundred years so now is a perfect time to pick up a house and then flip it in 2125.

• Final Draft Version 8 :: Well one thing I know about Jackie is that she is well above being functionally literate, and one day after Andrew Morton has written the story of my life, someone who actually knows me will want to exploit working with me.  It may as well be Jackie and this is the software that will allow her to write the book, adapt the screenplay and produce the movie and a later mini-series. If I were her, I would get The Rock to play me and Halle Berry to play Wendy.
• While Jackie is at it, she may as well get a computer that is perfect for writing the story of my life on a new netbook from Futureshop.
• We all know that the movie of my life is going to be huge, possibly bigger than The Blind Side.  Before Jackie can start shooting, she will need to scout out some locations.  A Flip Video Camera is going to get the job done.  Also it will allow her to move from just taking embarrassing photos of her husband to taking videos.  Greg will be thrilled and possibly sue.
• I know the commute would be horrible but a membership at Paragraph would be a lot of fun.
• The Complete Collection of National Geographic :: Jackie, you know those awkward silences that you have when you are talking about stuff I no longer care about, a couple of well placed factoids from the National Geographic archives going back to 1888 would liven things up  Think how many times you will be able to drop a factoid about Mayan maize farming in the 1400s over coffee.  It will be great.
• Starbucks Gold Card :: To be honest, I thought this was a good idea but the rumor is that Starbucks is coming out with a new reward program so it’s time has past.  Still, nothing says that I am a liberal elitist quite like a Starbucks Gold Card that really has no purpose than to say, “I’m more addicted to Starbucks than you are.”  There’s value in that.  Of course if you can’t get a superior Gold Card, there is always a superior Starbucks coffee mug.
• Fantasy Football for Dummies :: This isn’t so much for Jackie as it is for me.  Our old accountant used to run a dozen fantasy football teams and being an accountant, he kept them on spreadsheets.  People thought we were working when we were trying to decide whether or not to play T.O. that week.  Good times.
• Well staying indoors all day long adding up numbers can’t be good for you and since we live in Saskatchewan where one can watch their dog run away for four days, a snowboard would be the perfect winter activity.  While we don’t have a lot of hills around here and Blackstrap is closed, maybe you can get Greg to tow you behind the car.  If that happens, I’ll hold the video camera.
• Ohto Tasche Fountain Pen :: The ingenious design of the Ohto Tasche allows one to carry it as a small compact pen when closed, but use it as a full sized fountain pen when open.  This slim fountain pen measures 10.2 cm long when closed, 10 cm long when used by itself, and 14.7 cm when used with the cap on. Writes in nice, fine lines perfect for your accounting journals (what? it’s all done on computer now? doh!)
• Solid Wood Stapler :: Well you would know who took your stapler if it ever went missing.

Of course this list has only proven a couple of things a) the only thing that Jackie and I have in common is that we drink Starbucks coffee b) coming up for Christmas gifts for co-workers is really, really hard.

From Similar Minds

loner, more interested in intellectual pursuits than relationships or family, not very altruistic, not very complimentary, would rather be friendless than jobless, observer, values solitude, perfectionist, detached, private, not much fun, hidden, skeptical, does not tend to like most people, socially uncomfortable, not physically affectionate, unhappy, does not talk about feelings, hard to impress, analytical, likes esoteric things, tends to be pessimistic, not spontaneous, prone to discontentment, guarded, does not think they are weird but others do, responsible, can be insensitive or ambivalent to the misfortunes of others, orderly, clean, organized, familiar with darkside, tends not to value organized religion, suspicious of others, can be lonely, rarely shows anger, punctual, finisher, prepared

Personality Page sees me this way

INTJs live in the world of ideas and strategic planning. They value intelligence, knowledge, and competence, and typically have high standards in these regards, which they continuously strive to fulfill. To a somewhat lesser extent, they have similar expectations of others.

INTJs are natural leaders, although they usually choose to remain in the background until they see a real need to take over the lead. When they are in leadership roles, they are quite effective, because they are able to objectively see the reality of a situation, and are adaptable enough to change things which aren’t working well. They are the supreme strategists – always scanning available ideas and concepts and weighing them against their current strategy, to plan for every conceivable contingency.

They also see this in us INTJs

Other people may have a difficult time understanding an INTJ. They may see them as aloof and reserved. Indeed, the INTJ is not overly demonstrative of their affections, and is likely to not give as much praise or positive support as others may need or desire. That doesn’t mean that he or she doesn’t truly have affection or regard for others, they simply do not typically feel the need to express it. Others may falsely perceive the INTJ as being rigid and set in their ways. Nothing could be further from the truth, because the INTJ is committed to always finding the objective best strategy to implement their ideas. The INTJ is usually quite open to hearing an alternative way of doing something.

Typelogic describes me as this

To outsiders, INTJs may appear to project an aura of "definiteness", of self-confidence. This self-confidence, sometimes mistaken for simple arrogance by the less decisive, is actually of a very specific rather than a general nature; its source lies in the specialized knowledge systems that most INTJs start building at an early age. When it comes to their own areas of expertise — and INTJs can have several — they will be able to tell you almost immediately whether or not they can help you, and if so, how. INTJs know what they know, and perhaps still more importantly, they know what they don’t know.

INTJs are perfectionists, with a seemingly endless capacity for improving upon anything that takes their interest. What prevents them from becoming chronically bogged down in this pursuit of perfection is the pragmatism so characteristic of the type: INTJs apply (often ruthlessly) the criterion "Does it work?" to everything from their own research efforts to the prevailing social norms. This in turn produces an unusual independence of mind, freeing the INTJ from the constraints of authority, convention, or sentiment for its own sake.

This part drives my boss crazy

INTJs have also been known to take it upon themselves to implement critical decisions without consulting their supervisors or co-workers.

Many of our conversations start with, “I may have overstepped my boundaries…”

Personality Page mentions that I am socially challenged which is fair enough.  I have struggled with deep and dark feelings of loneliness my entire life (bet you didn’t know that) that I am just kind of resigned to.  I also think it’s why I enjoy having a dog around and why I love to read.  Weird.

I love how it describes my feelings

Feeling has a modest inner room, two doors down from the Most Imminent iNtuition. It doesn’t get out much, but lends its influence on behalf of causes which are Good and Worthy and Humane. We may catch a glimpse of it in the unspoken attitude of good will, or the gracious smile or nod. Some question the existence of Feeling in this type, yet its unseen balance to Thinking is a cardinal dimension in the full measure of the INTJ’s soul.

First of all, this is all wrong, I have only one feeling and I often leave it behind.

Keirsey sees me this way

All Rationals are good at planning operations, but Masterminds are head and shoulders above all the rest in contingency planning. Complex operations involve many steps or stages, one following another in a necessary progression, and Masterminds are naturally able to grasp how each one leads to the next, and to prepare alternatives for difficulties that are likely to arise any step of the way. Trying to anticipate every contingency, Masterminds never set off on their current project without a Plan A firmly in mind, but they are always prepared to switch to Plan B or C or D if need be.

Masterminds are rare, comprising no more than, say, one percent of the population, and they are rarely encountered outside their office, factory, school, or laboratory. Although they are highly capable leaders, Masterminds are not at all eager to take command, preferring to stay in the background until others demonstrate their inability to lead. Once they take charge, however, they are thoroughgoing pragmatists. Masterminds are certain that efficiency is indispensable in a well-run organization, and if they encounter inefficiency-any waste of human and material resources-they are quick to realign operations and reassign personnel. Masterminds do not feel bound by established rules and procedures, and traditional authority does not impress them, nor do slogans or catchwords. Only ideas that make sense to them are adopted; those that don’t, aren’t, no matter who thought of them. Remember, their aim is always maximum efficiency.

Well back to work…

In their careers, Masterminds usually rise to positions of responsibility, for they work long and hard and are dedicated in their pursuit of goals, sparing neither their own time and effort nor that of their colleagues and employees. Problem-solving is highly stimulating to Masterminds, who love responding to tangled systems that require careful sorting out. Ordinarily, they verbalize the positive and avoid comments of a negative nature; they are more interested in moving an organization forward than dwelling on mistakes of the past.

Back in 2005, I took the Enneagram for the first time and I was an investigator. 

Fives are alert, insightful, and curious. They are able to concentrate and focus on developing complex ideas and skills. Independent, innovative, and inventive, they can also become preoccupied with their thoughts and imaginary constructs. They become detached, yet high-strung and intense. They typically have problems with eccentricity, nihilism, and isolation. At their Best: visionary pioneers, often ahead of their time, and able to see the world in an entirely new way.

Of course that is too nice to be true.  Apparently we are the way we are because we are insecure.

Behind Fives’ relentless pursuit of knowledge are deep insecurities about their ability to function successfully in the world.

In case you are wondering, Wendy is an INTP and blogs about it here.

R2D2 :: He is the ultimate gadget and having both served Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker, he is built to last.  For $200, you can bring him home and reunite him with his proper master.  In addition to helping keep your X-Wing fighter’s deflector shields online, this state-of-the-art R2 series astromech droid unit is ready to obey your commands.  You can grab his attention by saying "Hey, R2" and he’s ready for more than 40 voice commands.  He remembers his famous friends, like Luke Skywalker, C-3PO or Jabba the Hutt, and each name will stir up a different response depending on R2’s "feelings" for that character.  | $199.99 (USD)

Swiss Army Knife :: For those times when R2D2 is busy doing something else, you can’t beat an authentic Swiss Army Knife.  Not just any Swiss Army knife but the same model that MacGyver himself used.  I know Leatherman’s are the now in vogue but there are times when the old school approach works best.  For me, my grandfather carried a jack knife with him every day of his life and while I don’t carry one that often, it reminds me of some family roots and a time where everyone did. | $17 (USD)

Stuhrling Original Men’s Special Reserve Chernabog Skeleton Mechanical Watch :: All men need a watch that turns heads and for $250, this one does exactly that.   This stunning timepiece does not have a rotor attached to the movement, so you must manually window the crown to keep it running, a design that puts you in touch with the artistry and precision of automatic movement. Its remarkable 17-jewel mechanical engine can hold 40 hours of power reserve on its ample mainspring, while a silver-tone tonneau case with exhibition back lends durability. Water resistant to 165 feet.  | $249 (USD)

MoviePix HD Camera :: I bought one of these last year and I have come to love it.  While there is nothing wrong with the Flip HD camera and I have heard rave reviews about the new Kodak Zi8, this has been a great camera for us.  The nice thing about it is vs. the Flip is that it allows for external SD cards.  The 8 gig card I have allows me to record 2 hours of video on it.  While you are it, why not pick up Magix Movie Edit Pro 15, a great little video editing program for $60 (or less).  If you aren’t sure whether or Movie Edit Pro will meet your needs, you can download a free trial (it’s a 196MB download).  For those of you who are interested in the Kodak Zi8 or the Flip Ultra HD, here is a side by side review of the two cameras. | $123

The Death Star Lego Kit :: Does Lego know it’s audience or what?  At 3,803 pieces, you aren’t getting this for the kids or even letting the kids come into the room where it is housed.  It includes the Superlaser control room and target monitor, Imperial conference chamber, TIE Advanced hangar bay with moving launch rack, Emperor’s throne room, droid maintenance room, detention block & trash compactor.  Along with it comes 6 new and exclusive minifigures and droids only found in this set: Luke Skywalker and Han Solo in their Stormtrooper outfits, the assassin droid, interrogation droid, Death Star droid and 2 Death Star Troopers.  The Death Star measures 41cm tall and 42cm wide and the TIE Advanced measures 9cm wide.  | $529.95 (USD)

Genetics Kit by National Geographic :: If you have read the book 1491, you know that your ancestors left “markers” on your DNA that can be traced back tens of thousands of years (doh! There goes my young earth readership).  For someone like Wendy who is from Guyana, a culture rich in cross cultural marriage because slavery.   Your results will reveal your deep ancestry along a single line of direct descent (paternal or maternal) and show the migration paths they followed thousands of years ago. Your results will also place you on a particular branch of the human family tree. Some anthropological stories are more detailed than others, depending upon the lineage you belong to. For example, if you are of African descent, your results will show the initial movements of your ancestors on the African continent, but will not reflect most of the migrations that have occurred within the past 10,000 years. Your individual results may confirm your expectations of what you believe your deep ancestry to be, or you may be surprised to learn a new story about your genetic background.  You will not receive a percentage breakdown of your genetic background by ethnicity, race, or geographic origin. Nor will you receive confirmation of an association with a particular tribe or ethnic group.  23 and Me also offers DNA tests for $99 which offer a wider range of ancestry options. | $99 (USD)

If your toddler is a bit of a geek, you may want to consider the Radio Flyer Retro Rocket.  Yes they are probably still in diapers but it is never to young to start preparing them for a career in NASA. | $72.87 (USD)

Moleskine Large Sketchbook :: The Moleskine Large Sketchbook is made with top quality heavy paper and is perfect for on the go drawings sketches and tempera colors. Every Moleskine product is thread bound and has a cardboard bound cover with rounded corners acid free paper a bookmark an elastic closure and an expandable inner pocket that contains the Moleskine history. | $12.21 (USD). If you are like me and prefer the smaller sketchbooks, Dollarama carries a rip off Moleskine for $1.50 a piece.  A great stocking stuffer for the freeform thinker in your family.

Maxell iPod Charging Dock :: I have one of these at the lake that I have hooked up to a mini stereo system.  As soon as we walk into the cabin, an iPod Nano or Touch is hooked in, charged up, and playing music.  Looking back at it, I should have bought three of them.  One for the office, one for home, and one for the cabin.  It really is a great tool for us iPod addicts. | $14 (USD)

Koda iPod Dock :: I fell in love with this audio and video dock for your iPod the first time I saw it.  With a wooden case and classic design, it will look great anywhere in the house or den and they sound great.  In addition to playing your music, they are designed to play video as well.  YouTube never looked so good.  They are $39.99 (Can) at XS Cargo or $50.79 (USD) at Amazon.com.

Sangean WR-1 AM/FM Wooden Cabinet Radio :: At the lake there are a couple of times when a great radio would be really handy, like when the Saskatchewan Roughriders are playing on a Saturday afternoon.  Yes a satellite radio is cool but not all sports are on XM and Sirius (which boggles my mind) and there are times when what you want to listen to is being played locally.  If that is the case, this is the radio you want.  The WR-1 is the culmination of 30 years of experience in the design and manufacture of quality, state-of-the-art radios.  Plus, CBC and NPR sound better in a radio that looks like this. | $91.36

We went over the Dollarama and got him an appropriate bandana and a walking stick (he had a multi-tool already).  Wendy put some makeup on him and he looked like he was ready to go out and survive for 7 days without food or water.  The main difference between Mark and Les Stroud is that Mark started went out Halloweening to get his food supplies while Survivorman has to eat grasshoppers, scorpions, and the occasional snake.

Speaking of eating grasshoppers; Mark and I were watching Survivorman the other night and he was in the desert of Arizona where he was dining on a couple of them.  This is the dialogue that started afterwards.

Mark: I could do that next summer at the cabin.

Jordon: Do what?

Mark: Eat a grasshopper.  They are everywhere.

Jordon: You are going to eat a grasshopper?!

Mark: Yeah, you just take the head off it and the stomach comes out.

Jordon: I was just watching that with you.

Mark: It will be cool.

Jordon: If you go through with it, I will give you $10.

Mark: Awesome, I can eat a grasshopper and get $10.

Silence for a while as Survivorman comes back on television.

Mark: Don’t tell Mom that I am going to eat a grasshopper.

Jordon: I am so telling Wendy that you are going to eat a grasshopper and if you do, it will go on YouTube.

Mark: YouTube, this is going to be awesome.

Jordon: I had a dog that used to eat grasshoppers. 

Mark: Did it sick from tapeworms?

Jordon: I think survival rules are different for dogs.  They eat everything.

As for how Halloween went… it was too cold and miserable to take Oliver out in it and I doubt if we had 30 kids all night come to the door.  Oliver spent his entire night trying to get into the candy and then get away fast enough to a place where he could take the wrapper off of it.

Lots of founders mentioned how important it was to launch with the simplest possible thing. By this point everyone knows you should release fast and iterate. It’s practically a mantra at YC. But even so a lot of people seem to have been burned by not doing it:

Build the absolute smallest thing that can be considered a complete application and ship it.

Why do people take too long on the first version? Pride, mostly. They hate to release something that could be better. They worry what people will say about them. But you have to overcome this:

Doing something "simple" at first glance does not mean you aren’t doing something meaningful, defensible, or valuable.

Don’t worry what people will say. If your first version is so impressive that trolls don’t make fun of it, you waited too long to launch.

While the article is about his experiences with yc, it could be about anything, especially church planting.

• Chris Smith has a good review of Deep Church
• Henri Nouwen on forgiving the church
• A review of OSX vs Win7 based on their bundled games
• The "Fresh Expressions" movement in the UK, an initiative of Archbishop Rowan Williams , happily reports that there are close to 800 projects now in the UK
• I badmouth NCD when I can but Bishop Will Wilimon brings another perspective to Natural Church Development
• Rick Bennett releases a new hymn for the emerging church, the Macology ™

"If I could go back in time,” Leonard Asper says, his voice flat and serious, “I would have certainly focused to a greater degree on ways to reduce the debt.”

It is Oct. 6, the day CanWest has filed for court protection from its creditors. What might he have done differently? He acknowledges that the trust sale and buyback could have been handled better. And the Australian situation still bothers him. “There might have been a window where—if you knew everything you knew today—you would have just dumped it,” Asper says. “But I can’t look back and regret that decision. Decisions of companies get made by not one person. There was a collective view that we should hold on to Ten. And it turns out that, with everything else that happened, it wasn’t the right decision.”

While I haven’t really followed the Asper/Canwest saga that much, I found this article really interesting because there were three really clear windows of opportunity to save Canwest and live to fight another day and yet Leonard was either unable to see or afraid to act on options that would require a change in strategic direction, a characteristic that has doomed more ideas and organizations than I can count.  It would be an interesting study seriously declining churches/non-profits/businesses and look at why those windows of change were ignored.  I am thinking that they recognized the opportunity at the time but made what made sense tactically at the time and lost sight of the strategic vision down the road.

I got this email after I ordered a Camera Pod from ThePod.ca and I thought it was a great idea.  As I read the e-mail, I sent off a quick reply (I saw the Camera Pod while surfing the web and thought it would be a cool camera mount) about why I ordered myself one.  The email I sent back gives him an idea of how his marketing is working and it gave me a contact e-mail if I had any concerns with their company and it got me a little more excited about my camera pod.  Speaking of which, I can’t wait until it gets here.

Lucky for all of us, we do buy Christmas gifts for some hard to buy for people who are fathers and here are some of the ideas that I have come up with over the last couple of years.

Books/DVDs

• Kicking Ass in Canadian Politics by Warren Kinsella :: If you dad talks about politics all of the time and thinks he knows more than Mike Duffy but in reality has the same leadership instincts as Stephane Dion, maybe it is time to help your dad sound more knowledgeable.  This is awesome on a couple of levels.  First of all it will raise the level of political discussion in your house but if you dad lives in rural Alberta, he will have to explain to his friends why he has a book prominently displayed by the Prince of Darkness and how he is worried his child has become a liberal.
• While we are talking politics and tweaking dad a bit, I suggest you pick up either a copy of Brian Mulroney’s autobiography or Jean Chretien’s autobiography.  Which one you give him, depends on how he votes.  If he votes Conservative and has a Joe Clark tattoo, give him Jean Chretien’s autobiography.  If he has campaign photos of him and Pierre Trudeau from 1968, you get him the Mulroney autobiography but you do it with a straight face… and then when all of the gifts are given out, pull out the book he wanted from beneath the tree.  If you are American, substitute the book Sarah Palin paid someone else to write for her or something about the Kennedy’s.
• The War by Ken Burns on DVD and The War: An Intimate History.  The DVD is a masterpiece and I enjoy it every time it comes on television but the book is special in it’s own way.  It moves between the big picture of the war and the intimate details of the conflict with ease and despite telling the same story as the the mini series, has a much different feel.
• Some books on the War in Iraq.  I recommend Fiasco or the Gamble by Thomas E. Ricks or The Fourth Star: Four Generals and the Epic Struggle for the Future of the United States Army by Greg Jaffe.  All three books are great.
• Band of Brothers (book) by Stephen Ambrose :: The men of E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, volunteered for this elite fighting force because they wanted to be the best in the army–and avoid fighting alongside unmotivated, out-of-shape draftees. The price they paid for that desire was long, arduous, and sometimes sadistic training, followed by some of the most horrific battles of World War II.  Yes the mini-series is great but this book is even better and is one of the best books on World War II that I have ever read.   If he already has Band of Brothers, he may also like Citizen Soldiers: The U. S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany by Ambrose as well.  A skillful blending of eyewitness accounts (gathered mostly from the oral history collection at the Univ. of New Orleans’s Eisenhower Center and from personal interviews) gives the reader an intimate feel of what war was like for infantrymen in the European theater of operations–from the beaches of France to victory at the Elbe River.
• Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb by Richard Rhodes.  While Rhodes won the Pullitzer for The Making of the Atomic Bomb, I found this book to be even better.  Both of these books are epic endeavors of research and writing telling the story of how America started the nuclear arms race, the concerns of the scientists (and why they did it), how the Russians were desperate to find out, and the politics behind it.  All of those topics could be books by themselves and once put together, form the foundation of a couple of truly remarkable books.
• The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson :: You can read my review of it here.  If your dad in an inventor or just loves to read an engaging story of history, this is an excellent choice for your dad as he takes a break from puttering around in the shop while working on his doomsday device and avoiding the to-do list your mother made for him.

Gadgets for Dad

• MagLite :: Every man needs their own flashlight.  At the cabin we have a million flashlights, some headlights and battery powered lanterns but everyone wants to use mine.  Mark got me a Maglite for my birthday last year and I can finally say, “Hands off, go drain the battery on someone else’s flashlight.”  Dads enjoy being territorial and petty once in a while, especially with a cool flashlight.
• Olivetti Manual Typewriter :: The last manual typewriter in production and the perfect tool for dad to write out his autobiography, love notes to your mother or he could just set it up in the living room to pound out a couple of notes to the grandkids who will totally miss out on the fact that their note was written on a manual typewriter.  The other positive that unlike his laptop, DVD player, and home theatre system, he won’t need you to come over and fix this when it breaks.
• Numark TTi USB Turntable with iPod Dock :: There is a good chance that your dad has some old school music sitting in his closet that he lovingly looks at but has no idea how to play his Best of Olivia Newton John records let alone get them on the iPod that you gave him last Christmas.  This should kill two birds at once.  The bad news is that his old records have found a second life and we aren’t sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing but that’s your problem, not mine.
• Since we are talking about your dad’s bad taste in music, why not give him a nice set of headphones.  Not just any set of headphones but some noise cancelling headphones.  They have long been a must have for frequent fliers but even for those of you whose dad isn’t flying to Toronto every week, they reduces unwanted ambient noise by 87.4%, providing a quieter environment to enhance his listening experience.
• 23 and Me :: They send you a kit, you spit into a tube and send it back.  They analyze the DNA in your saliva, then tell you about your genetic ancestry, and your susceptibility to genetically linked medical conditions.  If you have a genetically linked condition, you also will know who to blame.
• Atari 2600 Flashback 2 :: Okay, so your dad’s gaming skills started to fall behind when the Colecovision came out but don’t hold that against him and let him reconnect with the games of yesteryear and get him a vintage game system. It features the same wood grain paneling and look of the Atari 2600, and will capture the feel through two classic joysticks for multi-player competition and vintage controls. The system comes pre-loaded with over 30 classic games. No new purchases are required, just connect it to your TV and play! The system that brought you hits like Asteroids, Breakout, Centipede, Lunar Lander, Millipede, Missile Command, Combat and Pong now has them all collected on one handy system.

Outdoors

• The Pod :: If dad has a camera, he probably has a tripod or two.  If he likes to take photographs out of the house and doesn’t like the hassle of finding the perfect place for his mount, the Pod could be a great option.  Basically it is what happens when you combine a camera mount with a bean bag.  While you are at it, why not get dad a new digital camera?
• Your dad probably has an old camcorder kicking around but new camcorders like the Kodak Zi8 are so much easier to use.  If you have grandkids, give one of these to dad, set him up on YouTube and let him go crazy or let him film himself out in the wilderness as a Les Stroud wanna be.  He will be amazed at how easy and how high quality Kodak’s camera is.
• Leatherman :: While most men want one, it is a lot of money to shell out for a multi tool but a the same time it is a iconic brand and tool that your dad will appreciate it as a gift.  While you are at it, toss in a copy of Les Stroud’s book, Survive!: Essential Skills and Tactics to Get You Out of Anywhere or the SAS Survival Handbook.  If dad isn’t likely to read, pick up all three seasons of Survivorman instead.
• Weber Go Anywhere Grill :: Dad probably already has a kick butt grill at home but this is perfect for bringing to the beach or over to your place when you don’t feel like firing up the grill yourself.  It’s also charcoal which will bring back good memories for your father of a time when he could afford to go to NHL games, drank stubby beers, and his sideburns were a fashion statement rather than the foundation for his comb-over.  While you are at it, toss in a cookbook or two about cooking with charcoal to refresh his memory on how to do it.

* The last time I bought a Christmas gift for my dad, I called his wife and asked what she was getting him.  The answer was a Dodge Viper.  I seriously said, “Err, a model one?”  It wasn’t.  So we had my $40.00 gift and her $100,000.00 gift.  I felt like a tool.

You can find more Christmas gift ideas here.  If you have any other suggestions or comments, let me know in the comments.

I believe Wendy’s objection was, “What would you possibly do with a hot dog stand at work?”.  Well Wendy, I have an answer for you: I would been able to hang out with New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez as he scarfed down a couple while in the neighborhood.  Now the cool thing is that I wouldn’t even be out any hot dogs if he came by as he purchased 500 hot dogs and 500 hamburgers along with buns for a New York soup kitchen.

The funny thing is that he apologized because people thought he was being disrespectful to the Oakland Raiders.  First of all, the Jets were up 38-0 at the time and if anyone owes someone an apology, it is the Oakland Raiders and they need to apologize for masquerading as a NFL team.

Back to the hot dog cart.  They sell them at Home Outfitters and I am wondering how many of these they sell in Saskatoon because how big could the home hot dog cart market really be?  Well all I know is that it one less then it could have been because Wendy never caught the vision of hotdogs 24.7.365 at our house.

It’s going to be a part of a longer series that can be found in it’s own Christmas gift idea category.

• I tend to do a lot of research when doing gift buying and posting it online keeps it from being wasted and lost.
• I have more ideas than money so a lot of this stuff isn’t going to get bought anyways.
• Friends are always asking me for ideas on what to get people and this serves as my attempt to help.
• While I understand the ideas of Buy Nothing Christmas, I don’t agree.  Yes, materialism is out of control but I think there can be something said for a well thought out gift between good friends.  There is Make Something Christmas but let’s be honest, I am not the most competent guy with a glue gun and macaroni.

About every week there will be a new one posted from now until early December.  Just keep checking back in the Christmas Gift Ideas category.

They gave Wendy and I very clear instructions on what to do if he has another one.  We appreciate your prayers and kind thoughts.

• Backyard Baseball :: We have this game for Mark and he loves it.  We have a couple of sports games which has historically ignored in favor of the backyard version of the games.  The games are enjoyable enough to play that Wendy and I join in as well.  All of the Backyard games have simplified controls which is great for playing as a family.  Much taunting comes after you hit a homerun 186,000 miles or throw a zig zag ball. It limits the game play a bit but it makes it evens out the game play a bit for epic family series.
• Backyard Football ::  Backyard Football 2009 offers 7 on 7 teams with wild arcade style power moves and comes loaded with current NFL Superstars as kids (at least one from every team). The game features new Pro Bowl and tournament modes, season play or single games, custom teams and players, un-lockables, and multiple levels. Outrageous game play and awesome power ups are mixed with authentic NFL action.  The cool thing about this version when you compare it to Madden is that Mark doesn’t have to know the intricacies of the Tampa-2 defense to win a game.

While you can get the Backyard series from Amazon.com, we picked up some of them at Wal-Mart for $10.00 a title.

• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days :: If you kid is like Mark, he has read the earlier books in this series already.  Mark is also at the age where the books of Jim Kjelgaard come alive.  You can find his classic trilogy, Big Red, Irish Red, and Outlaw Red on Amazon.com or at your local bookstore.
• The New Way Things Work :: This is a classic book that has been re-released in an updated version.  A few items (parking meters and bicycle brakes) have disappeared into obsolescence, a few new ones have appeared (camcorders and airbags).  Either way I think it will fascinate a lot of growing minds.
• Namco Museum for Nintendo DS :: Wow.  Pac-Man is back.  The game that defined my childhood can be mocked for it’s horrible graphics and dumb game play by my son.  Of course the plus side is that when we are at the lake and he has taken over my PSP, I have a game of his that I can play.  It also has a cooler two player mode than what we had a kid and now other DS players can hunt you down as the ghosts.  Maybe if Atari would have thought of this in the 80s, things would have turned out better for them.   Then again, the more I read about Atari’s history, a couple better games would not have saved them. 
• Aquarium :: We had aquariums growing up and Mark has had a great time with his pet goldfish and a beta.  Eventually it’s time for an upgrade and several pet shops and Wal-Mart have had small full features aquariums for under $20.  Just make sure you it has a pump and light.
• Telescope and Binoculars :: Over the years we have bought Mark a beginner telescope and some binoculars for use up at the cabin and he has had a lot of fun using them.  The binoculars we bought for Mark were about $10 from XS Cargo and have been a lot of fun for him.  We have three pairs up at the lake and they get used for on hikes and for some bird watching.  They aren’t kids binoculars but aren’t anything that spectacular.  They serve two purposes at the lake, they are used for viewing from and for teaching Mark the importance of taking care of something (he did a great job).  The telescope we have up there is a pretty cheap one and not for serious viewing at all but on nights with a full moon, it does provide for some dramatic views.  Over the years I have bought Mark some cheap spy gear but within a couple of days, he wants the real stuff around.  Next year I hope to get him a compass and will do some map reading together.  I tend to be biased towards gifts that feed kids curiosity.
• True Heroes Black Hawk Helicopter :: What can I say, Mark watches a lot of history channel and is starting to read some military history.  Some of my liberal friends like to chide me about Mark’s growing interest in all things military but we have had some cool and interesting discussions on Afghanistan, Iraq, and the ethics of military might.
• Nintendo DS Internet Browser :: The Nintendo DS Lite Browser was co-developed by Nintendo and Opera and provides web browsing on the Nintendo DS Lite. The Opera browser software is stored on the Nintendo DS Lite cartridge, a memory expansion you can insert into the GBA slot.
• Mark has all of the balls, bats, and gloves that he needs so I didn’t list anything here but I find that the strangest variations have become favorite toys.  Mark and I were in London Drugs last summer and I bought a Nerf Howler for a couple of dollars.  While he had lots of other football, this is the one that gets the use up at the lake.  Another thing that surprised me was that I bought Mark a cheap set of lacrosse sticks that have also been used again and again despite the difficulty in mastering them.

Let me know if I am missing anything.

• The medication he is on is working and he hasn’t had any seizures in a while.
• He had his EEG on Thursday which is no small deal for Oliver as he hates hats.  At the lake this summer our biggest challenge was to put a hat on the kid.  It went something like this.  Hat goes on, hat comes off.  Hat goes on, hat goes off.  Hat goes on, hat gets tossed to the dog.  Soggy hat goes on, hat comes off.  Hat goes on, hat gets tossed out of the wagon.  You get the idea.  So the idea of a big hat with electrodes sticking out and then wrapped with gauze that Ollie could not take off was just about more than he could take.  That being said, the tech did a good job of keeping Oliver pre-occupied with a Dora the Explorer DVD until Oliver was  ready for a nap.
• The medication has no side affects for Oliver except he goes to bed around 7:00 p.m. instead of 8:00 p.m.  It makes me wonder why they don’t sell this stuff to all parents
• Oliver meets with a specialist on Monday morning at Royal University Hospital.  The appointment is at 10:00 a.m. and with the current parking situation over there, Wendy will need to be there at 7:00 a.m.  For those of you who have not been there, the already inadequate parking lot is being totally redone and most of it has been unavailable all summer which means that parking is almost impossible to find.  Because the hospital is located in the middle of the University of Saskatchewan, it isn’t as if there is a lot of parking available nearby.  It has taken on average half an hour to find a spot.  Of course the latest plan is to build a children’s hospital attached to RUH which is only going to make the problem worse.

This is somewhat related…

• While the food used to be quite tasty in the RUH mall, it has gotten just horrible.  When I was pastor of Lakeland Church, I used to spend time with the congregation in the hospital.  I used to stop by early in the morning (and drop off a copy of the Star Phoenix) and then over supper time and give the family a bit of a break.  I would eat supper with whoever was up there and it wasn’t bad.  Since then it has gotten both expensive and horrible.  Mark and I had a cold hot dog the other day while the doctors were looking at Oliver.  I brought Wendy back a wrap that she could not eat.  Does no one from the heath region eat that food?  I know it’s salt reduced but all of the salt in the world isn’t helping this food.

Lunch was just horrible.  We went in, ordered our drinks: a Ginger Ale and a Diet Pepsi and waited for 52 minutes until they came to the table.  Our meal came over an hour after we ordered and was lukewarm.  I should have sent them back but I was hungry and decided to eat it.  Big mistake. 

The burger was cold, the fries were cold, the gravy was cold.  It had obviously sat for a while.

Fast forward to that night, Nathan and Krista came over for coffee.  Around 10:00 p.m. I said to them, I wasn’t feeling well and as they left, I said to Wendy I needed to get some Pepto Bismol.  I never got around to it.  Before I could say anything, I was violently ill for over the next 9 hours.  It was food poisoning and it was the worst of my life.

I wasn’t happy with Chili’s and the next day Wendy called up the manager.  First of all she couldn’t even to get through to him but after she told the hostess that she was looking to sue the restaurant and wanted to know who to talk to, she got through. 

To his credit, the manager was both horrified, apologetic, and tried to make it right.  He offered us gift cards (thanks but no thanks), took notes, and did everything that he could do other than make a time machine and go back into time.  While my culinary feedback is not often taken seriously by our  kitchen, I do see how hard they work at making sure no one ever gets sick and a new staff + someone not doing their job = someone getting sick.

Well I took off Monday and came in raring to go on Tuesday.  Since Denver had beaten San Diego on MNF, I was wearing my Denver Broncos hoodie in honor of the Bill Bilichick coaching tree.  My voice still sounded horrible and I had dark circles under my eyes from being sick on Sunday night.  I didn’t feel that bad but I looked just horrible.

I was busy getting caught up with work when my boss mentioned that Jennifer Quesnel had called about the YWCA’s announcement that they turn away 10 people a night.  She asked about a couple of things and then returned to tell me that CBC was coming by right away and she needed me to do the interview.  I was the same guy that everyone was telling me how horrible I looked, I sounded horrible, and even at the best of times, I have the looks for radio.  Sometime in the morning I was drinking a frappachino while being bumped and I managed to spill something on my Broncos hoodie. 

Now to be honest, I have always enjoyed working with television crews because they always come to our location to shoot the footage.  It’s a lot easier to explain what we do to someone who is actually there and you know when you are on camera, you are being taped which is a little more relaxing.  I got burned a couple of years ago by the Star Phoenix when I was extremely clear that I was on background and they attributed it to me by name (the quote wasn’t damaging but I was livid afterwards).

So I did the interview and I wasn’t going to watch it or even mention it to anyone but someone at work squealed to Wendy who mentioned it to Mark.  So CBC News came on and the segment ran and I cringed when I was on.  Just I was turned the channel, Mark turns to me and grills me on everything that I said, how I said it, and even the shirt I wore).  After putting me under fire for a minute, he goes, “Well it was okay, I guess.  It wasn’t your best interview.  You should have told a joke.”  It was at that time I realized that my son was destined to end up being one of those talking heads who comments on the President’s tie after the State of the Union address.  No wonder Stephen Harper doesn’t like to watch Canadian news, his kids probably rip him apart when they see him on television.