Re-Hacktionary Report

Monday, October 25, 2004

Defend The Turf

Well, went to a suprise party for a classmate on Friday. Quite fun. It's always nice hanging out with Law people in a non-law setting (which of course doesn't mean that we don't just talk about law stuff anyways, but you get the idea). It was held in the party room of Windsor Park Plaza, which is really quite nice. It also brought back memories of our "section party" after midterms last year which was held in the same location. Afterwards some of us headed off to Scholar's, where we stayed until they turned on the lights.

In terms of the Eskimos, I thought they played well enough to win today, and quite frankly that's good enough for me. 33 straight years is incredible, and I'm sure there's been a few lucky breaks along the way, so I'm certainly not complaining. I do think that they should have at least tried to get Pringle his touchdown in one of the two situations where they had a first and goal from the one. I mean, that close, even if he gets stuffed after a couple tries you can still have Maas do the quarterback sneak. Anyways, I'm cautiously optimistic heading into the playoffs. A lot will depend on where the semi final ends up getting played as well. More than anything, I'm thankful that they got in this week. Having to depend on Calgary to get into the playoffs would have been sad. As well, on a selfish note, I don't think I could ever cheer for Calgary (I didn't watch the 95 Grey Cup, as it would have involved cheering for one of Calgary or the "American team").

On another note, apparently I now owe Vanessa Thomas $5.00, having bet her that Wellington would beat Canterbury (whose website appears to be down) in the NPC final. I was wrong. Pity.

And I'm looking forward to a potential writ drop tommorrow.

Friday, October 22, 2004

Through These Halls Walk Chargers

So I went to my youngest sister's awards night at my old highschool. She just graduated, so the awards were from last year. She's the last member of my family to go to that school, so it'll probably be a while before I'm back there. I got to see some of my old teacher, and looked at my picture on the wall from my graduating year (I don't look that much different, but a lot of my classmates looked so young). Anyways, I felt quite old. The school hasn't changed that much, but there are some little differences. And my sister got an Honourable Mention in one of the awards that I won while I was there, so that was kind of cool.

Maybe It's Just Because You're From Harvard

Alright, I recognise that this is fast turning into a "What happened on The Apprentice" blog, however, I still feel the need to comment on tonight's episode.

Personally, I think the Project Managers picked decent teams, with one exception each. I think that Jennifer should have gotten rid of Ivana instead of Sandy, while I think that Wes made an error in hanging onto Andy at the expense of Kevin. Apart from that, the moves made sense. Stacy and Maria are both trouble-makers, and while I think he has more substance than Sam did, Raj is a tad too flakey. In the end, I think Jennifer picked a better team. The drop off between Kevin and Andy is much more significant than that between Sandy and Ivana. I stand by my prediction that if Trump hires a woman, it will be Jennifer.

In terms of the other contenders, I still think Kelly is the front-runner, however he came back closer to the pack after the Boardroom tonight ("I hate people that exagerate"). I think Kevin is also still in the running. Andy is a bit of a wild-card. He's probably the dark horse at this stage, but I can't see him being the last one standing.

Anyways, I found tonight's episode had a strong beginning, and a really good boardroom but the challenge was kind of lame. And while Stacy probably wasn't the reason that they lost the task (and I was almost curious to see what she would have done as a Project Manager), clearly she was living on borrowed time anyways.

Thursday, October 21, 2004

Bring Down The Hammer

Well, entered the Negotiation Competition at FMC for the second year in a row with Roman. For the second year in a row, we were also negotiating against our friends Jen and (former GFC Candidate) Kathleen. Jen and Kathleen wound up finishing second. Roman and I finished "not second" (they only announced the top 3). Then, just like last year, we took our free alcohol and free food and watched the Red Sox and Yankees playing a game 7 on one of the tvs in the lobby. Quite the bit of deja vu. 'Twas quite a classy event, and good times as well.

This weekend is going to have to be quite productive. There's interviews next Wednesday, and other events some of the other evenings, Law Halloween Party on Thursday, and then I'm going to Calgary for the weekend for Fall Open. I'm probably going to be a bit rusty, but hopefully it will turn out ok.

Sunday, October 17, 2004

Ruckin' Eh

Well, in spite of the fact that I was still hungover from Country Crusade the night before, I got up for the Rugby Alumni game. I wasn't sure if it would even still be played because of the inclement conditions, but it was. Was it ever.

It was sort of cool, as before the game started someone made reference to the '93 Western Final (which remains my favourite moment in sports. Ever). Anyways, to cut to the chase, the Golden Bearristers beat the Alumni (the Olden Bearristers) 19-0. For the first time in 10 years (and ever) the Alumni went down to defeat. It was really cool being part of a win in that sense. I got a quarter in at scrum half, and it was good times. I really enjoyed getting out there in the cold as well.

After party was fun also. I drank way too much (again) and I'm sure that my liver will hate me in the morning.

Friday, October 08, 2004

We're Going To Talk About Turkey

This long weekend couldn't have come soon enough. Lots of busy-ness, and I only anticipate it getting moreso. Applications for summer positions at Alberta firms are due next week. As well, I also have a midterm. Alumni game is next Saturday, the day after the (apparently unprecedentedly popular) Country Crusade. All in all, should be a blast.

I disagreed with the decision on the last Apprentice. I kind of liked Pamela's kickass leadership style, though I suppose the price issue did turn out to be a biggie. With her firing, based on what I've seen so far, barring Jen M. winning it looks like Trump may be hiring another man. I like Raj, but he's a bit too crazy to win. I'd say at this stage that Kelly has to be the front runner (I 'm also pulling for Kevin, but alot of that is "law student solidarity"). Oh, and if I were Trump I'd shuffle the teams next episode (he may well be doing this, but I don't read spoiler sites, so meh).

Oh, and (unsuprisingly) I shan't be commenting on the recent goings-on at the SU.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Friday, October 01, 2004

Down By The Bay

Got up at 5:00am to go down to Calgary for the interviews with a couple of law firms. I'd never done a firm interview before, so it was definitely a learning experience. During one of the breaks between interviews, I liased with UCSDS President Deborah Book. It sounds like things with their club are going fairly well at this stage of the year, so hopefully they can have a big contingent out at Hugill and Nats. After the interviews were done, there was a short wine and cheese, and we picked up some Firm Swag (I got a CD holder and a highlighter). The ride back was fairly uneventful, but we did stop at the Donut Mill in Red Deer, which does have nice donuts.

For Survivor tonight, I get the sense that they keep having to include these twists to keep it fresh (watch, they aren't going to merge now, as a gotcha). I kind of like the whole give your immunity to someone in the other tribe thing, however, as it sort of ads a bit. I never did figure out who J.P. was, but I think the decision to get rid of Mia was a good one (she was the type of character I always hate, and I think Twila is much more interesting, in a Sue sort of way, anyways).

In terms of The Apprentice, I like that Bill said what I've been thinking for a couple of weeks with regards to the stupidity of trying to use alliances on the show. As well, I think Jen tried to play the "She's crazy, so you should fire her instead" card one too many times. Like Trump said, this was an easy one.

Oh, and congratulations to the folks over at DJSR. I almost choked on my cereal this morning when I read the article. I'm very much looking forward to seeing how this all plays out over the next few days.