Toronto Maple Leafs fire coach Ron Wilson! The Spotlight is now on GM Brian Burke.

So the Toronto Maple Leafs have decided to fire head coach Ron Wilson late on Friday the 2nd of March.  I saw the news break first on CP24, then I took to Twitter and slowly the reports started to come in.

I thought Friday night was an odd time to fire the coach and announce the replacement, former Leaf Randy Carlyle – who was the head coach in Anaheim when Brian Burke was the General Manager and the Ducks won the Stanley Cup.  It was odd because, while expected, the Leafs are in Montreal tonight to play the Canadiens, and if there was ever a pressure situation it is tonight, and with Burke flying to Montreal to tell Wilson personally there was no one here to address the media.

Smart, some would say.

Conniving, I put forward.

Here are some of my thoughts surrounding Brian Burke and his bravado.

1) When Burke can to Toronto he inherited Wilson – who was hired by then GM Cliff Fletcher (of the Jeff Finger signing, ugh).  Wilson, like Burke are both Americans.

2) Burke immediately brought in Phil Kessel, an American forward playing with the Boston Bruins who after testicular cancer was made available because he’s moody and not viewed by everyone as being a team player.  The Leafs gave up two first round picks for Kessel at a time when the Leafs were terrible and though Burke thought the picks were going to be mid-round, they turned out to be very high picks including 2nd overall.  Burke sadly overestimated the talent on the team and I belive the ability of the coach.

3) Burke announced he needed “Truculence” on the team and proceeded to stock the roster with so-called tough guys who are not so tough, or are tough but cannot play a regular shift with the team.  Colton Orr, Jay Rosehill, tough but limited in their abilities.  Mike Komisarek in from Montreal as a high-priced free agent, Francois Beauchemin and Mike Brown in from the Ducks… It was time to raid the Ducks for their toughness and goaltending because that is what former GM’s do, right.  They take from their former team even when that team is performing worse that the new team.

4) With that not working, Burke started signing all the free agents from US colleges in hope of being able to stock the team and have assets to trade of fill holes since they were not doing it through the draft – recall, the B’s are getting quality picks from the terrible Leafs, like the #2 overall pick Tyler Seguin who in his 1st season with the Bruins won the Stanley Cup and in year 2 is second in scoring on the Bruins as of today with 50 points and a plus 33.  Sure Kessel has 68 points and Joffrey Lupul, another reclamation project from Anaheim has 66 points and  Kessel is only 4 years older than Seguin, but comparing the two, it might come down to character which the Leafs appear to lack.

So the Leafs brought in Tyler Bozak, Christian Hansen, the Monster, Colby Armstrong, Komisarek, and with that came and went the hopes of Leafs’ fans.  Kadri might be a bust, Kuliman went from 30 goals to 5 goals and Jake Gardiner was a throw in for the Leafs taking Lupul’s salary, not a shrewd move by Burke and don’t let him convince you otherwise.  With no talent, Burke has resorted to trading for injured players – Connelly, Lombardi, etc, signing college players and bringing in overpriced free agents which would be a great stop-gap if there were young players, but the scouting staff has let the Buds down for the last, oh, 35 years.

5) Burke brings in Tim Connolly from the Sabres – often injured, and slow skaters but great passer who has clearly lost a step, but still leaves the team without a true number one centre – the defense is strong and deep, but no secondary scoring and no number one centre hurts this team and was an issue in 2008 when Burke arrived.

6) Burke announces his intention to trade up in the entry draft to get a blue-chip prospect – like he did when drafting the Sedin’s in Vancouver, but doesn’t.  Instead he drafts more American players for Canada’s team. 

7) Scratching my head I think back to when Burke was hired and how he announced that he wanted players who could handle the pressure in Toronto, who are from Toronto and who would be proud to play in Toronto.  Now wondering how all these Americans feel being sent to a horrid Toronto team…

8) Burke brings in renowned goalie coach Francois Allaire who does nothing to help Jonas “the Monster” Gustavsson, or James Reimer – or J.S. Giguere who was a salary dump from the Ducks that the Leafs gladly assumed - Instead of turning them into the next Martin Brodeur, they both drop to their knees once a shot is taken and are at risk for collisions with their heads as has been witnessed by both players being hit in the head by other players.

9)  In an odd exchange, Burke did nothing at the trade deadline this past week and after doing so pronounced that the players were a little hesitant because of all the trade talk in Toronto and they should play better now that the deadline is over.  Burke even went so far as to announce that next year he is going to impose his own trade deadline a week prior so that he can mess up what has become Trade Deadline Day festivities in Canada.  Actually, he wants to impose this so the players don’t have to worry at deadline time about being traded.  So when Burkie mentioned upon his arrival in Toronto that he wanted to bring in players who could handle the pressure here I guess this was a #fail.  Then in startling fashion the next night after the Leafs lost it was the coach throwing the GM under the bus by stating that the team is not good enough and the GM didn’t bring in any new players.  Ouch.

10) Burke gave Wilson a one year contract extension on the hush hush, then announced it via Twitter a few days after it started to leak.  Nice golden handshake, eh? 

So to recap…

Wilson is 15 losses away from holding the record for the most losses by any coach in NHL history.  He has a gazillion wins too, lets not forget that, but he won’t set that record in Toronto.  The team has played on hot streaks which show good coaching but has been on crappy streaks which shows the coach in unable to motivate the players to play better.  It’s 50/50.  Is the team not up to par or is it the wrong coach.  The NHL’s youngest team is falling further and further out of contention and something had to be done.  Burke did not want to do this, folks, I guarantee this.  Now that the coach is gone, all fingers point squarely at Burke.

If the team falters from here on in, and I give the suits at Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment one full season to assess the Burke / Carlyle duo and it there is no progress, I guarantee you, Burke is out of here.  Off to save another franchise or more realistically he’s going to face the same fate of any player / goalie / coach or GM that leaves Toronto, meaning that he’s done in the league. 

Tweet Tweet.  Ride’s over.  Last stop, Toronto.

Mr. Carlyle.  Your stop.  Good luck.

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A distant memory (before I was born);

Related articles

• Toronto Maple Leafs: The Firing of Wilson Opens GM Burke to New Criticisms (bleacherreport.com)

 

Stuff that came across the desk of this daddy blogger…

Here are some random thoughts that have come across the desk of this daddy blogger;

• I was asked if I wanted my SEO made bigger.  I said no figuring this was another penis enlarger spam message, then I recalled that SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.  Different meaning, same answer… NO.
• I was asked how I would cover puberty with my kids.  Simple.  Kids, talk to your mother because if I find out, I’ll kill you.
• Occupy groups… It’s over.  No one cares.  Your credibility went out the window when the unions began speaking for you.  Go home before you catch a cold.
• BMW drivers, you still are the absolute worst drivers in the world.  Why?
• After getting teased by Java Joes about their yummy Blueberry Pie coffee, it’s no longer available.   Why?
• Thank you to Country Style Canada for sending me gift cards.  My staff is going to love the treats just before the holidays.  Share the wealth!
• Dolph Ziggler = Mr. Perfect.  Love it!
• Hollywood Undead, Levitate is an AWESOME song.  Find it on YouTube, folks.
• I’m on Klout… So now what?  I’m also on Google +… yawn.
• That new song by Korn, Narcissistic Cannibal is also pretty damn good.
• I’m not sure if the Jason Ellis show is still live, on XM41, Faction, but the last 2 days have killed me.  The one about the worst songs to have a lap dance to was hilarious, and today’s show revolved around the CEO of Faction and there were 5 questions asked to him, Raw Dawg and Cum Fat and when they got it wrong, there was an electric current zapping their testicles.  Oh yes.  Hilarious.
• I’m about ready to call myself an expert on the new CRA non-resident regulations.  Soon after that it will be FATCA.  I think that’s a good thing, if I could find someone to talk to about it…
• You know you’re getting old when:  Your kids are looking forward to the snow and you, the parent is dreading it.
• What until I finish my post on food.  2 weeks now:  No meat, no wheat, no dairy, no sweets and I feel GREAT!
• The Toronto Maple Leafs won again tonight, 7-1 over the Tampa Bay Lightning.  That puts the NHL scoring leaders as this;  1. Phil Kessel.  2. Joffrey Lupol.  2. Claude Gireaux.   Amazing!
• I think I’m going to have to add a picture of myself to my blog and come clean.  The more I try to stay low-key and blog under the radar, the more it seems I get readers, followers and asked to do stuff like write posts for people… Odd, this blogging thing.
• What’s so wrong with the term “mommy blogger?”  I’m a daddy blogger… Daddy… Blogger.  I’m not a writer, I’m just a Dad who keeps an online journal.  Can someone please explain.

http://www.circleofmoms.com/top25/daddy-blogs  Look. I’m on the “Circle of Moms” Daddy Blogger list. Cool. I don’t mind being one of the moms.

 

#700th post! Pissing off anyone and everyone one item at a time.

I seem to have a lot on my mind lately and not much of a chance to talk about it here… Until now.

For those of you who have told me that you read my blog, I say thank you and for those of you who think I am funnier on my blog than in person I say 2 things; 1) Thank you and 2) You don’t know me that well  .  My oldest boy, whom I refer to as Linus because he loves his blankie (4 blankies) started a silly friend’s club in his school.  Oh yes.  I was actually quite proud of him.  Like father, like son. 

So here are my thoughts.  Feel free to comment – agree, disagree – add some items, call me names, I don’t care.  Knock yourself out. 

• Doorland - I honestly don’t know much about this company other than the fact that we have one of their magnificent doors on out front door and the fucking thing doesn;t work properly at all.  It sticks opening nad shutting, wakes the kids as it grinds and the lock doesn’t work properly.  I expect that you get kinks like that with a new house, but what really frosts my ass is the numerous times I’ve called them and emailed them, and the builder has done the same, but they just don’t feel like it’s worth their while to come fix it.  They don’t return calls, then stall, give attitude and finally made an appointment to come fix it.  Only time will tell.  Didn’t they think this horrible service would come back to bite them in the ass?  I think companies get too big sometimes and forget they are around because of customers.  Make them happy and make lots of money, but piss them off and once word gets around your customers are off to your competitors
• Kiddie Proofers - I waited 3 months to get a gate up in the house to keep our toddler, Berry, from falling down the stairs and it was a tough choice between butchering it myself or paying several hundred dollars to have professionals do it.  So I reached out to Kiddie Proofers and in doing so, found a local company with reasonable prices, super great service, a friendly efficient service specialist and an overall positive experience. 
• The Baskin Robbins on Eglinton Avenue in between Allen Road and Bathurst Street in Toronto.  We’re coming up on 8 months now and I’m still waiting to hear back from the owner of this store as to why they served old gooey ice cream, and then charged me $0.75 to use their debit machine.  I know for a fact that merchant providers frown upon merchants charging extra for use of debit and some even threaten to pull their services if this occurs.  They do it because of the cost of taking a debit transaction and I guess they don’t feel that they make enough when the transaction is less than $10.00, but let me tell you this, merchants… It’s called the cost of doing business!  If  the owner told me there was going to be a charge – since I had cash – I would have either paid in cash, or left the store.  Instead I paid it, then sent the bill to Baskin Robbins HQ with a complaint, the freezers in there were also REALLY loud, and was assured that the owner would reach out to me to apologize and return my money.  Still waiting!  so now on a hot day, we walk on by that store and spend our money elsewhere.
• Booster juice – Dufferin and Steeles.  Great location, also with wonderful staff and I will tell you why.  A couple weeks ago I took all three kids there while my wife ran into Loblaws and we all got the strawberry smoothie.  Sure, Stewie wanted raspberry – he’s always the difficult one – and yes I told him that his strawberry one was really raspberry, but when he tried to climb up to the top of the spinny chair his drink hit the floor.  We proceeded to clean it up and I was able to salvage just over half the drink, but the guy in the store would have none of that.  He insisted on cleaning it up and replaced Stewie’s “raspberry” drink and even gave me a new cup so I could give the drink to Berry.   We will go back often.
• Let me tell you all what happened to my sunglasses last week… I decided to chase Linus home with Berry in her stroller and in doing so watched with horror as my sunglasses slipped out of the stroller and right under my feet.  When I finally stopped they were in 5 pieces and across 5 sidewalk squares.  #$%%$#$%.
• Why, in the Stanley Cup finals are Canuck fans even worrying about the Toronto Maple Leaf fans or about anything to do with the City of Toronto?  Jealousy?  Are they giddy with excitement that they will go somewhere (potentially) that the Leafs may never go again?  Or is there more to it.  Maybe Canuck fans look at the Bruins and see Tomas Kabarle, Tukka Rask, Tyler Seguin and the 1st round draft pick this year and feel that the Bruins are very much the American version of the Leafs, except with talent.  Maybe Canuck fans are pissed that the B’s also play at TD Banknorth stadium (TD for Toronto Dominion Bank).  I’m not sure, but I fear that if the Canucks win the cup, instead of being happy that their team won, or that a Canadian team won, they will want to throw it in the faces of Toronto hockey fans.  Well guess what, Canuckleheads… I know the Leafs suck.  No need to rub it in.  Oh, and go B’s go!  I prefer my hockey teams to not resemble soccer teams (see: diving) and Raffi Torres reminds me of Sean Avery.
• Have you ever been to the Wychwood Barns?  We went there with friends on Saturday morning for the farmers market and it was great!  The food for sale was fantastic, the fair trade coffee was delicious and there was a ton of stuff for the kids to do.  Can’t wait to go back.  I was kind of hoping to see our City Councillor Joe Mihevc there so I could speak to him about being so darn left-leaning all the time.  Surely even he knows sometimes the right is, well, right.  And I want to know why the streets in our area are in such a poor state…  Maybe next time.   
• The Food Network show called “Dinner Party Wars” is one of the dumbest shows I have ever seen.  UGH.  Granted the Food Network has come a long way since the days of Emeril Lagasse, but still… BAM… This show is a wasted filler.  I’d love to see some local community class information and more discussion around how to cook better.
• Teaopia at Hillcrest mall.  Fantastic!  I walked in there because I was looking for some new, flavoured black teas and left with Amaretto Cherry, Strawberry Shortcake and Bourbon Vanilla.  No pressure to buy.  The sales help allowed me to smell the flavours without compromising the stock and she explained everything I would need to know about making an amazing cup of tea. 
• That’s about all I’ve got right now.  Honourable mention goes to the Dallas Mavericks who did the NBA a huge favour by wiping out the Miami Heat in 6 games to win the NBA Championship.  It was awesome seeing James with that stunned look of his, Dwayne Wade looking all pissed off and Chris Bosh crying like a little baby.  I watched all the games and had more interest in that then the NHL championship.  Too bad the NBA will be on strike / in a lockout soon because paying players hundreds of millions of dollars to opt out of their contracts and sign with other teams is stupid and needs to be changed.

So where have you experienced great or shitty service with your family?  Spill the goods.

 

The Toronto Maple Leafs, Elizabeth Taylor, why will there be a May Federal election, new Toronto revenue streams and odd clothing on the subway

So how can you tell when Idon’t blog for a long time? Easily. When I throw together a post with a ton of topics all too small for their own post, or the post contains disjointed thoughts thrownup on the screen. So like this post.

Have I mentioned yet that am craving fish and chips and clam chowder?!? No idea why, but I am.

So here are 5 posts all in one.

Firstly, why was there a guy on the subway Friday morning in a pristine blue suit – looked brand new – yet he was wearing a dirty white baseball hat covering some long, greasy hair? I don’t understand this “look”.  To compliment this disaster, his dress pants were also too long – he was walking on the bottom of the pant much in the same way we walk in the back cuff of our blue jeans…Why?

Where was he going?

Was he trying to make a statement?

Look at me, I’m cool. I have a new blue, un-tailored suit – and I’m hanging out in it – going downtown – and to be cool, I have my lucky baseball cap on.

What do YOU think is the story here?

Next. Elizabeth Taylor died on Wednesday at the age of 79. I knew she was sick – I’ve seen picture upon picture of her for as long as I can remember in a wheel chair, walking with a cane, thin, fat, all with jet black spikey hair… I thought she was WAY older than 79. And to be honest, upon her death, I started ot read up on her because I really didn’t know she was an actress. I’m not really a movie guy, so I’m sure I would not have seen any movie she was in.

So why was she so popular?

I needed only to look at the first line of every obituary I read. She might have been most famous for being married 7 times and for fighting the stigmas that came with HIV/AIDS, as she was for hanging around with Michael Jackson. I wonder if we have any modern day Liz Taylors walking around Hollywood? Not like a Kardashian, or a Lohan, or a Hilton as they are not actresses – save Lohan – but they have not done any good for the greater public, only for themselves.

For those of you interested in Canadian politics, it looks like we are headed for a Federal election in May as the Liberals and NDP and the Bloc have all made overtures towards voting down the Federal budget.

I can’t help but feel that Liberal leader and Toronto Rock mascot Michael Ignatief (Iggy) and NDP leader Jack Layton are deadset on calling their 5th election in 7 years because their time is running out to be leaders of this country. I get the feeling that it is all about their egos and not about what is right for Canadians. $300 million dollars per election. I don’t think, with all the great work the Conservatives have put into this country during the recession, that we are going to see a change in government – maybe another minority government.

I think the key catch-phrase that will define this election came from Conservative Finance Minister Jim Flaherty this morning on AM640, when he said, “It’s come to a time when they [Liberals, NDP and Bloc leaders] don’t even read the budget, they just vote against it.”

When you consider all the fluff surrounding Michael Ignatief, who brought his family into the election by writing about them being wealthy, and they telling people they were poor. The Liberal machine seems hellbent on portraying Stephen Harper as being “untrustworthy”. “Would you want this man running your country”, yet Ignatief has clearly either lied in his book HE wrote, or he lied to the general public.

Pot meet kettle.

The Conservatives need to save Canada from the AdScam Liberal machine and the Soundbite NDP.

And speaking about Canadiens… Thanks to those idiot Habs for losing to the Sabres last night and to those loser Senators for tanking it to the Hurricanes. Anything to keep the Leafs out of the playoffs, eh? And to think when these other Canadian teams made the post season I actually rooted for them. I wonder if these 2 teams are going to roll over and play dead for the Leafs in the last 2 Saturday match-ups of the regular season like they did last night? Doubt it, eh?

The Leafs, went 5-5 in October, 3-10 in November and 5-8 in December all but spelling the end of the Monster in Toronto, and then 6-7 in January, 8-6 in February and so far in March they are 6-5. Thank goodness for James Reimer! I thought they were playing better but competing for a playoff spot is fantastic 2 years into this rebuild.

And finally, if Toronto City Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti gets his way, Toronto will have two new sources of revenue and tourism.

For one he will place a casino where Ontario Place is – a brilliant idea, in my honest opinion. I have always felt that the CNE grounds would be better used if there was a way to enclose the exhibition and keep it open more than 3 weeks a year to draw tourists. His other idea was to turn on of the Toronto Island’s, the one with the nude beach into a red light district.

While I’m not sure where I stand on a red light district, per se, I do think that taking all this “illegal” behaviour and putting it somewhere where the girls profit and not the pimps, where girls are tested and clean and the users are tested and clean, and where it’s away from the general public (hello Jarvis, or above the stores on Eglinton) is a step in the right direction.

So laugh at Giorgio, like you did at Rocco Rossi for wanting a tunnel to extend Allen Road. I think all ideas have merit and should be studied.

And with that comment, I empty my head of thoughts today…

Your thoughts on any or all of these items is greatly appreciated.

 

A Week of Firsts for me!

This past week sure was an interesting one.  Aside from being the second week of being sick, this one had quite a few firsts.

Here are my firsts;

First time drinking a vodka and tonic, with a twist of lime.  YUM!

First time drinking Kvas - a Russian soft drink made from fermented mushrooms.  There are actually mushrooms floating in the 2L bottle.  The drink itself takes like flat sweet coca cola, but the smell of the foam is enough to make you vomit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvass

First time on the radio!  I have never felt the need to call in to talk radio and I listen every day to AM640, sports radio the FAN590 and to music on my XM radio, but this past Wednesday I was listening to sports talk radio and the announcer - Jeff Blair – a baseball guy, and possibly a lawyer was commenting on the fact that the NJ Devils hockey team was over the salary cap and only could ice 15 skaters for their game against the Pittsburgh Penguins instead of the regular 18 skaters.  Blair was really pissed off with the Devils and thought they were flaunting the rules of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that the league has with the players. 

Personally, I think in hockey there is one line – or three skaters – too many as the 4th line on pretty much every team is a line with little talent who just skate around, eat up minutes and crashing into guys and fighting.  I think it was great they had 3 lines.

So I called.

And while my phone was beeping as the battery was really low, he took my call, listened to me, asked me a question and as I was responding, hung up on me so I could listen to him talk.  He disagreed.

I was nice.

The next 3 callers – much in line with my thought process were not as nice.

It was a good way to send his segment. 

Other firsts;

My daughter, Berry, learned this week to sleep through the night and to toss up both her arms and say “hurray”.  She also learned to point to her big tummy when prompted.

My oldest boy, Linus, got dressed up in a shirt and tie when we went to his girlfriend’s house for dinner Saturday night.  He’s 5.  She’s 6.  He was so cute!  Then after a while he took of his nice clothes to expose his t-shirt underneath which said something along the lines of; “Here comes trouble”.

I also discovered Nine Inch Nails this week – the band, not the hardware.  I mean, everybody knows their song “Closer”, but that’s not exactly a song you sing the lyrics too around your kids.  Then this week I heard a song of their called “Only” and I was hooked.  The music is great, the lyrics not too bad and I understand this is a song about drug addiction.

“There is no you, there is only me”,

“There is no you, there is only me”.

“There is no f%cking you, there is only me.”

I had my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season this Friday.  I bought a colleague from Montreal one as I felt I owed it to him.  I’ve been trying to get him a bottle of the syrup for over a year, but apparently Starbucks does not sell it, and the few people I know who work there cannot pinch me a bottle (or most of the contents of one).

This week also signified the first time my oldest boy showed an interst in climbing trees as we went apple picking on Monday and my little tree-money climbed up to the top of many apple trees to pick the best apples for us.

This week also signified the first time I’ve seen Linus eager to play soccer.  Each night he has practically begged me to play soccer with him in the basement.  About time!

This week also signified the fist time Linus and I sat down and watched a period of hockey – the Toronto Maple Leafs and I even got him to admit his favourite player is #81 Phil Kessel.  although tonight it was Sidney Crosby.

Busy week of firsts for me!  This sure was.  What about you?

 

A funny story about collectibles and Switzerland…

A fried of mine, let’s call him K-Hof, and I were in my basement on the weekend looking through a box of my old collectibles. I had some Kraft dinner boxes with NHL player card on them, cereal boxes commemorating Wayne Gretzky’s achievements, even a cereal box welcoming the Vancouver Grizzlies to the NBA.

I also had a pile of old Hockey News magazines, http://www.thehockeynews.com/ from many years gone by.  I picked up a back issue to explain to him why I felt I needed to keep this issue (since all the info is online already) and I flipped open the 1999 Future Watch issue to see who THN was predicting would be the next round of stars in the NHL.

Sure enough, there under the 24th pick in the NHL draft was the player the Toronto Maple Leafs took. His name was Luca Cereda (born September 7, 1981). He was playing in Switzerland at the time the Leafs took him so high in the draft, and many questioned the pick (well maybe everyone questioned the pick) as Switzerland is not exactly the hockey hot bed for budding stars.

“Maybe the Leafs got Switzerland confused with Sweden?” my friend said aloud.

I laughed, thinking that was totally plausible, knowing the Leafs.

“Cerada”, I told him, “Is retired. He was drafted in the first round, 24th overall, of the 1999 NHL Entry Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs. He came to training camp and 2 days into camp was sent to a specialist after being diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. He had surgery in Toronto and never played hockey again.”

Brutal!

“Ohhh”, my friend replied. “That’s really too bad. I suspect he would have played great in the neutral zone”.

ROTFLMAO

Get it?

Neutral zone… Switzerland…

If not, comment and I’ll explain further.

K-Hof, you rock!

 

Weekend Update

OY.

What a weekend!  I’m going to need a few days to recover, indeed.

Friday ended for me in the afternoon with a contentious call with the government and the phone being hung up on me in a conference call over some tax related issues.  I left the office to pick up my oldest boy and the other kids in his carpool and just made it in time.  (Heck, it was -16 degrees out there and the kids were outside waiting).  I dropped everyone off, went to get diapers for the baby and ended up dropping my son at Starbucks to hang with his grandparents while I ran into the grocery store.  I came back to pick him up with diapers and bananas only to find him and his grandmother using those wooden stir sticks to teach him about roman numerals.

Once at home I logged back into my office computer to catch up on some work – set the table for dinner, bathed the kids, ate, cleaned and went back to work until about 3am when I decided it was time for bed. 

6:30am wake up.  Got the kids ready for skating (Pancakes for the big boy, oatmeal and raisins for the younger son), and just made it to the arena in time to lace up and jump on the ice.  By just made it I mean my skates were still undone…  One the ice, my little – not so little – boy decided he was not skating and spent most of the time on his ass or his back whining and crying.  I asked him in front of his skating coach if he was having a meltdown and he said, “no”.  OK.  So off the ice we went so he could calm down / pee.  Once in the dressing room we call his mummy and he explained that his feet hurt from the skates.  Too tight.  Hmmmm. 

So back on the ice we went for the last 10 minutes of class.  I signed the boys up for the end of program ice show (LOL) and in my amazement turned to see my 5 year old standing by himself on his skates and jumping up and down on the ice.  “WOW”, I blurted out.  He said he taught himself that, not the instructor.  He’s getting it.  Yay.

So after class we went home – Stewie cried the entire way.  We ate lunch then packed up our stuff and went to the mall for the afternoon.  After finally finding a place to park, I woke up Stewie and Berry (2 month old baby) and in we went.  Part way through the mall trip the boys saw the Godiva store and they were making chocolate dipped strawberries.  Guess what the boys cried and whined for the rest of the afternoon?!?

I also walked into Harry Rosen – again – with the boys and again could not get a sales agent to come up to me.  Even after falling in love with a gorgeous $85.00 dress shirt but wanting to ask a question about it, no one wanted to give me the time of day.  You would think any customer is a good customer, eh?  They don’t know what I can afford and if I am going to buy one shirts to 10 of them… Their loss.  I’m going to contact the store’s PR department!

So from the mall – and another Stewie meltdown (“I can’t walk”) we took the kids to dinner at the Genghis Khan Mongolian Grill.  The kids “ate” while I held a cranky baby so my wife could eat.  I was glad we were all out together and the prospect of eating cold food didn’t matter to me that much considering my wife is with the baby all day and all night and she deserves to eat and have a few minutes to relax.  So we hung there for a couple hours and off to home and bed – 10:30 for both my wife and I.

Sunday began with a rush as we all headed out to the kids karate class.  Stewie and his friend were the only kids in the Little Dragon’s class with 4 sensei’s. They had lots of attention and both did very well.  In Linus’ class, he performed much better than last week, but he was distracted from 2 seriously goofy kids in his class.  One was jumping up and down like a frog and the other was a complete goofball – taking flying leaps at the karate dummy’s and looking out at the parents instead of paying attention.  Must get him away from these boys…

After karate we split the boys up and went to birthday parties – I took Stewie to a party where I knew no one and he was not being adventurous.  He fell in love with a giant gumball machine (he’s never eaten gum) and required me to hold his hand for most of the 2 hours we were there.   We left a touch early and met my wife and baby at a new outdoor mall to check out a new store called Anthropologie… Beautiful clothes there and Linus really liked the fancy door knobs.  We left there to go grocery shopping and from there she took the kids and I drove to the other end of the city to pick up Linus and his friend from their birthday party – set to end at 6pm. 

Once in the Car, I turn on the radio, listen to a little satellite radio, then bored, switch over to real radio only to find out that there were 2 blockbuster NHL traded made by my Toronto Maple Leafs.  The managed to get another team to take 6 average commodities in exchange for 5 new bodies who appear to have more upside and come with a name.  I get Brian Burke now… He’s building the team with young talent… He has my confidence now.  After an awful 5-3 loss Saturday night (after having a 3-0 lead) the team has totally transformed.  WOW.

So I picked the kids up from the party, chatted with some dads about the trades and off to drop my son’s friend, then pick up our nanny to bring her back home.  I learned a very valuable lesson with my son and I in the car… Don’t hold your pee too long or your kidney’s hurt and you pee in your pants… Hopefully we both learned this lesson!  When you gotta go, you gotta go!

Home, snack, bed for the boys, while my wife cared after the baby, I cleaned up the house, showered, and hopped back on my office computer to clean up some files and do some tax research.  Saw the Royal Rumble was last night – Toronto-born wrestler Edge returned from a ruptured Achilles and won the rumble.  Yay.

I started working,  blinked and decided it would be best for my sanity if I went to bed earlier than Friday night, so Sunday night’s bedtime came at 2am… UGH. 

Monday brought a tough, slow morning for me…  The baby is sneezing and her eye looks a little puffy and red, but I have some serious meetings today and an appointment at the gym with my personal trainer…  Also have to get my ass in gear so that I can be home for the kids swimming tonight at 6pm since it’s parent’s night and the one night of the year the parents get to watch the kids swim. Exciting.  My wife is coming to see – she’s never seen them swim.  The boys will be SO happy!

After that it will be some more work, then off to bed so it can all start again tomorrow…

Update: Linus was smiling and waving in the pool and having a fantastic time so we asked him in the car if is always this happy in the pool.  He said “no”.  Puzzled we asked him why he was so happy, and he said, “I don’t know”.  Odd, but he was REALLY REALLY happy.

 

 

Is it just me?!?

Is it just me or is everyone else in the world crazy too…

Somalie Pirates hijacking boats…

Billy Bob Thornton and his “band” the Boxcutters dis a Canadian radio (CBC)  interviewer Jean Ghomeshi…  Not sure who Billy Bob thinks he is… I know Jean.  I ran against him for York University Student President one year while @ York.  He plastered the campus with literature… Me… Not so much.  I started and ran a club for the left-handed students @ York.  They all voted for me.  So did my sister… That was about it.  Jean’s out there, but seriously… Billy Bob?!?

After a season of trying to win when I thought they should be losing, now Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke tells the media that he intends on moving up in the draft in order to select highly touted John Tavaras… When didn’t he say this earlier?!?  Then I could have rooted for the team this season… Grrrrr.

Work tax season ended today with the Internet filing of 1042S returns to the IRS.  So far so good.  I suspect senior management is waiting for a “bomb” to drop as has happened in every previous year.  Sorry guys… No bomb!

US President Obama got a dog… a dog… Seriously… and this is news?!?

I have people following me on twitter.  I don’t twit… OR tweet… or trend… Well that’s why…

 

More stupid Leafs…

I mentioned a few posts ago that if the Leafs lost their last game against the Ottawa Senators and if the Phoenix Coyotes won against the Anaheim ducks that the Leafs would fall to fifth last and into the lottery for the top draft pick.  This would give them an 8% chance of selecting first… Sure beats a 0% chance.

But my Leafs, ah my Leafs, always find a way to screw up, like last night with their win over Ottawa while the Coyotes… WON.

So the Leafs finish 6th last.  No lottery.  Nothing.

Geeezzzzz….

Thank goodness this season is over.  Now I get to watch the New York Islanders get John Tavaras and the Colorado Avalanche get Victor Hedman, while the Buds draft someone from somewhere who probably wont make the NHL.

Sigh.

 

Wednesday November 29th was a good day in sports…

The Toronto Maple Leafs won their game against my 2nd favourite team – the NJ Devils, 6-5 in a <yawn> a shootout.

The Toronto Raptors defeated the Philadelphia 76′ers in their first game of the season.  I like the Raps, and really dislike the 76′ers back from Allen Iverson days… More tattoos, Allen???  I really dislike Dallembert after being a putz on Team Canada and being tossed.  No place for attitudes in Canada, dude.

The Philadelphia Phillies won just their second World Series championship in their team’s history which I believe started in, like 1883… Geez.  I am really happy for GM (and former Jays GM) Pat Gillick, and for former Jay – and Canadian – Matt Stairs!  Yay Matt!!!