Vaughn Gone

I'm less than pleased with the Terry Vaughn deal. Given that Kelly Wiltshire was signed in the offseason, it's unclear to me that William Loftus actually fills a need. Furthermore, it was Terry Vaughn! At the very least, I'm not sure why we had to send Montreal a draft pick in addition to our best receiver. If they're trying to get younger, they shouldn't have traded for Joe Montford. It's probably a salary dump, though I would think that there may have been other areas that they could have cut. A lot has been made of the fact that Vaughn only caught 2 touchdown passes last year, but he still had over 1,000 yards receiving. Mitchell caught a lot of touchdown passes, but didn't have near Vaughn's yardage, so I think it all balances out. In any event, games against Montreal just got a lot more interesting.

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

Well, apparently Johnny Wilkinson and Phil Vickery will be partaking in the Churchill Cup festivities. As if I needed any extra motivation to cheer against the Poms. Pity the Maori aren't coming this year (as given his current form we'd probably get to see Carlos Spencer too). Definitely makes for more excitement, and I anticipate that this will probably increase ticket sales as well.

Now I Can Mix The Coke

Well, wrote Admin today. Done for the year. Always a great relief. One of my classmates decided to reward me with a present before the exam, as a thanks for sending my notes on to him. That was nice of him. Also, I suppose an indication that it pays to take good notes. It also occured to me that if you wanted to play headgames with your classmates, it couldn't get much better than getting drunk during the exam, while everyone else sits there with their earplugs and 13 pens (I'm not going to pretend that I also don't have way too many pens. I don't use earplugs though). Still not at the stage where I'd be ready to pull that kind of a stunt.

The Draft

Well, unfortunately Stefan Lefors was drafted by Carolina, so it appears that he shan't be showing up in Edmonton (he was apparently on the negotiating list. But then, so was Michael Vick, so these things obviously always don't work out). Pity. As well, it appears Jesse Lumsden has signed with Seattle. It should be interesting to see if Calgary takes him in the draft regardless. I'd just as soon the next great Canadian running back not wind up playing for the Stampeders. I'd obviously like to see him here so he could follow in the family tradition and all, but I'll settle for anywhere that's not Calgary.

It was too bad to see Ishe go on the Contender. I thought he was one of the more interesting characters. As well, it always bothers me when "Survivor-style" strategy tactics make their way into other reality tv shows (Well, mostly. I don't mind what Rob is doing on The Amazing Race, but that's because he's Rob).

Where A Kid Can Be A Kid

Well, exited my study cave this evening to take in a movie. Went to Chuck E. Cheese's with Roman, Jones and Uncharted. Fun times (though, I should have started out with the soccer game instead of the bowling game). Roman did fairly well at the bowling. Last time I was there I had a wine, but for the amount you get it really isn't worth it.

We went to see National Treasure at the Cheap Theatres. It actually wasn't half bad. I particularly enjoyed it as there were lots of scenes in Philadelphia. Though, as I pointed out at the time, I think the movie underestimated the distance between Independence Hall, Reading Terminal Market and City Hall. It was also pretty cool as it was just about a year ago exactly that I was in Philadelphia. At any rate, in terms of the actual movie, I was suprised at how many high powered actors were in it (ok, maybe just Christopher Plummer and Jon Voight).

NBA playoffs has a number of interesting match-ups. There's Larry Brown coaching against his old team, as well as the two "Michael Jordan Franchises" facing off. Interesting question as to which M.J. himself would be cheering for, given how he departed both of them (though, the Washington departure was far more acrimonious). Given that I'm all about A.I. (I wear his shoes) I'm pulling for the Sixers, however after they're inevitably eliminated I'll be cheering for the Heat. Dwayne Wade is the man, and that compensates for the fact that their mascot appears to be rather lame.

Habemus Papam

Well, looks like we have a new Pope. I'm actually not Catholic, but I did go to Catholic School and I did enjoy all of the pomp and circumstance. And the Latin. Can't forget the Latin. Should be interesting how things all work out. I went to St. Benedict's elementary, so the choice in name of the new Pope is kind of cool on those grounds. I'm interested to see if he takes a major a role in international affairs as his predecessor did.

On Survivor, I think the prudent thing would have been for Tom and Ian to cut Gregg loose the other night. It's clear that there's eventually going to be a conflict between those factions of the alliance, so it would have made more sense to take out Gregg then (as apparently Tom and Ian were wary of getting rid of Stephenie, and it seemed to be Gregg and Jenn that were bent on getting rid of her).

I missed the tail end of The Apprentice, as my VCR timer wasn't working, but it was pretty clear which way it was going by that point. I think this is the weakest final 4 they've had yet. As well, it's sort of interesting that this is the first time that when it's been 3-2, the 2 has lost. I'm also looking forward to the fact that I should be done by the time the final episode airs.

I'm hoping that any election call doesn't jeopardise the Queen's visit. I'd be rather cross if we didn't get a Royal visit for the centennial basically due to the sponsorship scandal (it would mean another election however, so I suppose that there's good and bad in everything).

Mongrel

Well, for those Journal readers out there, apparently the Eskimos are shopping my favourite player. Needless to say I'm rather displeased with this development. Given that by most account Vaughn had a "bad" year last year and still cracked 1,000 yards receiving, I think this is a mistake. As well, Vaughn has always had a grittiness to him that their other starting receivers don't have to the same extent. He never goes down after the first hit. At any rate, I hope that these rumours are just that and that we see Terry Vauhgn in Eskimo silks until the end of his career.

Dropped by Gary's BBQ this evening. Probably my last social outing before the end of exams. My team won at Taboo, despite being short-handed, so that's always good. I also got my Apprentice tapes back, so now I can finally ascertain how much of the final episode was taped over with Olympics coverage.

Exam schedule is looking pretty hectic, in spite of the load being eased slightly by the paper class.

Sleep Is For The Weak

I'm getting too old for this.

The year has flown by, as always. Beergarden volunteering was fun. I'd never poured before, and by the end my hands were quite cold (and sore from opening cans) but I was quite impressed by the sheer amount of beer that they go through. At the same time, now that I've seen the proces that goes into bringing beer gardens beer to customers, I'm not sure I can enjoy it in the same way.

On Survivor, Coby was basically begging to get kicked off all episode, so it wasn't terribly surprising to see him go. I was a little surprised at how quickly everyone seemed to quit the challenge for the prospect of food. They'd just finished eating all that fish the night before, so it's not like they were starving. Furthermore, unlike when they usually do those endurance challenges it was later in the day, so it's not like they were dying of thirst or anything either (as is occasionally the case when Probst rolls up with his glass of water). At any rate, Tom is sort of in a position where if he loses an immunity challenge, I anticipate the vulture types to rally and vote him out that episode a-la Rupert, as he's a clear frontrunner at this point.

On The Apprentice, Chris was going to get fired sooner or later. I must say that I don't have a lot of sympathy for people that aren't able to stay up all night to do something important, so Tana, Craig and to a lesser extent Alex went down in my books. Though, Tana and Craig were able to avoid scrutiny as Kendra stepped it up. She's sort of, to use the reality tv cliche, flown under the radar thus far, however she may be peaking at the right time (in the same way that Bill did a couple of years ago).

Small Markets Writ Large

So, another reason for the IOC and the IAAF to move towards a "one-country for life" rule, similar to the IRB and FIFA. Pity, I always liked Lagat too. At the same time, I suppose I don't complain when Daniel Igali is winning gold medals for Canada, so I guess it balances out.

Back On The Skoal?

Well, I see Chris, of Apprentice fame, has found himself in trouble. Based on how his character comes off on the show, I don't suppose that's terribly surprising. This also means that he joins a long line of reality tv contestants that find themselves in trouble before the final episode airs (see: Hatch, Richard). I doubt that Chris will fair as well as Mr. Hatch in terms of the result on the show, however.

Sir Clive has announced the Lions side that will be touring New Zealand this summer. I'm rather distraught that it's probably not going to wind up being televised here, in light of Sportsnet not really covering rugby anymore. Jerks. Hopefully the Churchill Cup will be televised at least (though, I'm planning on attending that live, notwithstanding the fact that it will be on Sundays this year and I haven't got my tickets yet).

I'm really not feeling this "School up till Friday" thing they have happening this year. It may work out to the same time period between the end of classes and the start of exams, but it definitely feels like less time.

Yeah, But It Was Golf

I was rather irate that The Contender was "joined in progress" on Global because of the Masters. Fortunately it was also on NBC. Shaping up to be an interesting second round, particularly given the Ishe-Anthony friction. That, and now when I see Ja Rule I can't help but think of Fiddy.

In other news, I'm volunteering for Beer Gardens. You should too.

Funspeakable

Well, the Funspeak substitute was a lot of, for lack of a better term, fun. Big up's to the Chris' (Samuel and Bolivar) for stepping up and making it all possible. That, and Nick Tam does a pretty good impression of me.

Year is starting to wind down, which is sort of good but sort of stressful at the same time.

On the Reality TV front, I'm curious as to whether they ever are going to merge on Survivor, of if they'll just kick Stephanie off next week after she loses a one-on-one challenge. On The Apprentice, while less so this episode, it's almost like whenever Chris is in the boardroom he's trying to get fired. I also think what doomed Angie was the fact that she admitted she choked. If she'd kept fighting, Trump might have looked elsewhere. It should be interesting who they pick from Magna to come over (I'm assuming that's what's going to happen so that they can balance out the teams again).

The Pope's funeral was quite interesting. Though, I was rather irate that they dubbed over the Latin with English. The conclave coverage should also prove exciting, though it's unfortunate that I'll be writing finals at the time.