Where Everyone Knew Your Name

In late summer 2003, while Helen was up making her last good-byes to Edmonton, I got word that The Library (which had closed earlier in the summer), had reopened, under a new name: Scholar's. When I started Law, they took people there after the Pre-Orientation Party at Red's. Over the next 3 years, I spent countless hours there. Along with the Windsor Park Plaza Party Room, the Chateau Lacombe Conference Hall, and The Druid, it's a place that is filled with memories of Law School for me. If an evening on Whyte was ending earlier than I wanted it to, I always knew that I could swing by Scholar's and there was sure to be a few law students hanging out. Apparently Scholar's been bought by Hudson's, and will be turned into a Hudson's. Today was the last day before Hudson's takes over. Roman, Cam and I stopped by for old time's sake. There wasn't anyone else we knew there, and the beer actually tasted semi-decent for a change. I'm not sure what the future holds for that location of Hudson's, but the new owners should keep in mind the support the law students and faculty pumped into the location over the past 3 years.

Back To The Commentary

Theresa's mystery ailment notwithstanding, this looks like one of the more decisive final rounds of The Apprentice that we've seen (I think the only other one that comes close at this stage would be Kendra-Tana). If there were one of those "The More You Know from Trump" talks on this one, it would have been about separating emotion from important decisions (sort of like last week's, but mooore). Both Lee and Sean made picks that seemed largely predicated on attachment rather than what was needed to win. I don't dispute that both Lenny and Tammy could be very helpful in helping you win (Lenny is a bit rough around the edges, and hard for some to work with, but he had a few strong tasks). However, that didn't seem to be why either of them were picked. In most of the interviews, you get the sense that Sean would rather score with Tammy than win the task (that seemed particularly the case when they were picking the menu). Likewise, I think Lee placed too much trust in Lenny when picking the teams (as evidenced by the Boardroom crew yukking it up over the selection of Pepi after the fact).

Regardless, Lee really seems to be in over his head in this task. Pissing off executives and the heads of charities is usually a sure-fire way to lose, and Lee hasn't been helping his cause any. Likewise, I don't think Carolyn will be fighting too hard for him when it comes down to the hiring process. While things can turn around, at this stage Sean would definitely seem to be in the better position.

I'm not sure how they're planning to do this "You Can Help Decide" business, but needless to say I think it's a stupid idea. While viewers may be competent to pick who should be a recording artist whose records they will subsequently buy, on the basis of performances before them; I doubt that there is the same competency for deciding who should run one of someone else's organisations. I should hope that viewer input is kept to a minimum (I'm of the opinion that the only really good final boardroom was the one from the first year, when you couldn't tell that the studio audience was even there until after the final result was announced). All of that being said, based on what we've seen so far the choice should be fairly easy.

The Pawns Go First

So, I saw X-Men: The Last Stand the other day. Good movie, though I'm not sure what comic book purists would think. Ian McKellan was quite good, but he's shown as of late that he can make the proverbial silk purse out of a sow's ear. Speaking of which, I suppose this was a useful form of penance for my selling out and actually paying admittance to the other movie which he stars in last week (I had intially planned on purchasing tickets for Over the Hedge instead, and then going to the other movie, thereby being able to mock it whilst denying Dan Brown the royalties and box office figures). Hopefully helping to knock Mr. Brown's movie out of the top spot will partially make up for my moment of weakness. Still wouldn't mind seeing Over the Hedge, if for no other reason than to see the vocal talents of Lee and Sean firsthand.

Apologies for the dearth of entries as of late, but for those that haven't noticed, we're in the middle of a Cup Run here. I was down on Whyte for the first time last night. Craziness abounded. Luckily I decided to leave before things turned ugly. Relatedly, in the May 22 issue of Sports Illustrated, they deigned to mention every Semi-Final team, except one (story on Teemu Selanne, with a brief mini-story on the excitement that was to ensue in the Carolina-Buffalo series). They can now stick it.

In other sporting related news, I was able to take in Fan Day with Edmonton's other professional sports franchise today. It was good to get a look at this year's hopefuls. As well, it's pretty tough to beat free pop, chips and pork.

Go Oil.

Duck Hunt

I still have a lot of other things to talk about, but I thought I'd post this just to indicate that this blog still exists. I hope all the people complaining about Peca during the regular season now realise why we got him. If we'd wanted a regular season performer, there are a bunch currently employed by the Ottawa Senators. I was impressed with the entire team effort tonight, as Toskala actually played quite well but it still wasn't enough. Go Oil, bring on the Ducks.

Posts regarding Greece, DDT and no longer being a student will be forthcoming. Eventually.