It's My Life

RUSSIA 2 CANADA 0 - NO MEDALS FOR CANADA

As the scoreless game between the Canadians and Russians at the Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, continued to wear on, I suspected the worst to happen. It was bad enough the Canadians had to open the playoff round against the Russians, but when you get shutout by Switzerland and Finland in consecutive matches, a tough first round opponent is expected. Staring in front of the computer screen at work with the live TSN tracker on was the closest I could get to watching the game live. When I noticed Alex Ovechkin scored a powerplay goal in the third, I had to see who took the penalty. Then I noticed it was Todd Bertuzzi, no major surprise there given his history of mental breakdowns. But this wasn't about Bertuzzi, this was about an entire hockey team not playing as a unit. They played with a lack of drive, emotion and intensity. They lost to a Russian team that wanted it more. Period.

At a press conference following the loss, Wayne Gretzky indicated he may not be back in Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics. As much respect as I have for Gretzky and his accomplishments, this past week is one where I questioned his decision making and the way he dealt with Canadian hockey.

I wasn't particularly impressed with him publicly pointing out the fact the young players need to step up prior to their match against the Czech Republic. I didn't think the veterans were exactly anything spectacular either, and they're the ones who should've been motivating the younger players.

While the game is played on the ice, and there's no doubt Canada didn't bring its 'A' game, having to deal with the distractions this Canadian team had during a tournament doesn't make matters any easier.

First off, there's the betting scandal involving Rich Tocchet and Gretzky's wife Janet Jones. Then there's the lawsuit Moore filed against Bertuzzi for $15 million. There ain't a chance Moore is getting that much, he'd better not.

I have to sympathize with Gretzky a little bit though. He recently lost his mother and grandmother. It obviously wasn't Canada's year, and we need to re-evaluate how we select our own teams. While they could've played better, there's no doubt the young talent in Europe is superb right now, and they got outskated on many occasions. Perhaps guys like Spezza, Stall and Crosby would've helped in that department.

There's no doubt this loss won't soon be forgotten. Four years is a long wait.

On a brighter note, this Olympic team set the mark for the most medals collected at an Olympic event by Canada. And we're certainly dominating the speed skating events.

CHANGES IN LACOMBE

Just when I thought the changes at the Globe office were on a stand still at least for a little while, I heard news that my co-worker and fellow reporter James landed a reporting gig at the Medicine Hat News, not a bad advancement after only six months here in Lacombe. His last day is on Monday, then he's off. The result will be a short-staffed editorial department and, just like early last summer, me and my editor Bryan will be holding down the fort again. I just hope it's not as long this time.

In other news, I received my second cheque from Lacombe Minor Hockey, officially marking the completion of the task. It's a fair amount of money, which will help. I'm planning to bank most of it, but spend some for my own pleasure. I'm thinking some new clothing and a digital camera perhaps. The money would've been nice to spend in Kamloops, had I landed the sports reporting gig at Kamloops This Week I applied for. Oh well, if it isn't meant to be it isn't meant to be. That's all I'll say about that.

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ANOTHER WEEKEND IN COWTOWN

As I usually do with my weekends off, this past weekend I left Lacombe. I left on Saturday afternoon to go visit my cousin in Red Deer for a couple hours, then proceeded down Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) Highway to the Stampede City for another night hanging out with John.

Last night was quite the night, starting with pizza for dinner at this cafe place in southwest Calgary. It was really good, and we watched the hockey game while we were there. The Leafs, as has been the case all season, got outplayed and lost, this time to the New York Rangers. It isn't even a surprise anymore, they're just not a strong team this season and will be lucky to make the playoffs. I'm sick of the same old each game, and if they don't have a vastly changed team by next season it could be another long one. Maybe I'm jumping the gun a little early considering it's just the Olympic break now and there's lots of hockey to be played, but things could get worse.

Anyways, back to last night. After we had our pizza, we went to a bowling alley to do a little 10-pin bowling. It was a double date, John had his girlfriend and I had this girl I met at a party a while back. After I grabbed us a pitcher of beer and we bowled a couple games, we decided to go to the movies.

We got to Famous Players at the Chinook Centre where we debated over what movie to watch, only to decide to go with Brokeback Mountain (more the girls decision than ours, trust me). Without going into the plot, I will mention in a nutshell it involves a secret intimate relationship between two cowboys, one being Heath Ledger which I'm sure the girls appreciated. Not being a homophobe myself, I will admit it wasn't too bad a movie. It didn't get too graphic, and it did have some interesting twists. I was sitting in between two girls too, so that never hurts.

After the movies, we went back to John's place and drank some wine. All in all it was a good night. Today I went to back to the Chinook Centre to buy a pair of ski goggles, a couple CDs and the Wedding Crashers on DVD. This may have been the first DVD I bought for myself that I hadn't actually seen first. I knew I'd like it before watching it, and boy did I ever. That may be the funniest Vince Vaughn movie I've ever seen. It was clutch, and it makes me more excited about going to three different weddings this summer.

Our last stop at the mall was Chapters, where, believe it or not, I bought a novel. I've been wanting to start reading a little more, and expand my knowledge. It's a Michael Crichton novel, I've read his material before and I liked it.

It's unlikely I'll post about why I don't like Valentines Day like I did at this this time last year, although I still stand by my position in that its too commercialized and predicable. I prefer being spontaneous myself. As far as my plans for Tuesday, I'm covering town council so I won't have time for a date anyways.

This weekend should be a dandy. I'm going to Panorama Ski Resort near Invermere to go snowboarding for a day and visit Dani's brother Jason on Saturday. The next day, we're going back to Calgary, where I may spend another night. With Monday being Alberta's Family Day holiday, our office is closed so I have no work. A long weekend, and it's my weekend off work! Oh man, it could make for a great time.

A LONG WEEK NEARLY FINISHED

This past week must've been one of the most brutal for me. After having a great weekend down in Calgary partying with my friend John, I came back to a real slow week in Lacombe.

Working at the Lacombe Globe certainly has its slow days, and there were a couple this week. I had a decent list of stories for the week, but a couple never panned out and others just weren't the big stories I thought they'd be. In addition, I haven't been able to reach certain contacts and had to put off some stories till next week, which is okay considering I'm writing two stories for the front page of the sports section this weekend.

Everything has just seemed to be moving slow motion the last few days. I applied for a job last Thursday and haven't heard back from the editor there, I'm trying to meet up with this girl for a date but she is apparently too busy to ever do anything, and it seems like the weekend has gradually been creeping closer but not fast enough. To top it off, I had to skip working out at the gym one morning because the police scanner went off and there was a car fire. Of course, I got there too late and it turned out the incident wasn't too serious. So not only did I miss out on a photo or story, but I missed my morning workout. I even feel asleep for a half hour on my lunch break yesterday, and had to rip back to work right away to make sure I didn't get busted for taking a longer than usual break for lunch.

I guess my problem lately is that I want everything to be falling into place at once right now, and I'm laking patience and the ability to just avoid thinking of the future and enjoy the present. I'd like to give having a serious relationship a try, try getting to know the opposite sex on a more personal level, and advance my career. Yeah 23 is young, but you reach an age when you realize the future is really creeping closer. My parents are within a decade of retirement, my friend in Red Deer became a father this week, and my sister is getting married this coming summer. It's continued events like this that make me look at my own life more closely and ask myself, where am I headed?