Jeff's Page^1.0

And so it began. Another Christmas break has come and gone, and I'm sure many already long for the next one. My break was comparatively short, but still well spent. I wouldn't read this unless you're real bored (as if you would read this otherwise) because it's real long. Upon completing my last exam which started at 8:30 am on December 20th, I packed my bags, jumped in my car, and hauled ass back to home-sweet-'Sauga. I love Windsor folks, it's a happening place, but I don't think there will ever be a city so dear to my heart as Mississauga. Upon arriving home, I had about an hour to chat with my sister, and then jumped in another car with Sarah and Justin (and 2 other people not particularly worth mentioning), this one bound for my vacation destination, Quebec. After some initial problems with cargo and a brief stop at Canadian Tire, we hit the 401. Of course by this time it was rush hour, so I probably don't need to tell you what driving through the entirety of the GTA during rush hour was like. The ride up was long, but not too bad. We stopped over at a Tim Horton's/Gas Station very close to the Ontario/Quebec border for refueling of all varieties and I happened to stumble across a very large map of Ontario and it's various highways which made me realize how far I had been rocking that day. We took a picture of it too, with me pointing to Windsor at the bottom-left extreme of the map, and someone else pointing to the "You are Here" sticker at the upper-right extreme. I'd post it, but I don't have it yet.

After that we hit the road again, and after a whole bunch of confusion about Quebec roads we eventually made our way to the place we were staying. Note to everyone: Nord = North, Sud = South. Not really all that complicated. It's not even that big of a difference. Frustrating drives would prove a reoccuring theme this trip. We stayed at Sarah's parent's time share, which was a real nice place. Had a cozy cottage-like feel to it, all we needed was a fire (but at $3 per log, wasn't likely to happen). I think we ended up getting there around 2 am or so. The first night we essentially kicked around for an hour or two relaxing, then called it a day after the long drive. That was quite the day of travel for me, what with waking up around 7 to do some last minute-prep (and of course, staying up until around 3 studying the night before), writing, and traveling. We woke up and after another difficult drive to Mount Tremblant, finally got to hit the slopes. At this point I'd like to tell snowboarders everywhere that they have an impressive talent. I skateboard very well (as a means of conveyance. I do not "bust things out"), but found snowboarding extremely troubling. Perhaps it was because my board was way shorter than me, or because my entire toes were over the edge of the board, but I couldn't really get it right. I sincerely thank Sarah for trying to teach me how to do it, but I don't think I'll be making it a habit for some time. After the day was done, we had another "like-pulling-teeth-with-your-goddamn-driving" journey home, and settled in. Justin provided us with some top-notch food, and RDS provided me with a great Habs game. We spent some time drinkin', although not nearly enough, and hit it.

The second day rocked out loud. A much better set of directions (provided by Sarah) made for a much better ride, and me deciding to -ski- made for a much better time. The second day was much colder, but the conditions on the hill were still pretty tough. There were 2 kinds of terrain: man-made snow reminiscent of skiing on ice-cream (not ideal, to say the least), and thick ice (wicked speed, but difficult to control). Despite the conditions, it was an awesome time. Skiing is great, and after Justin reminded me how to do it (Note: this was my 4th time) we were rolling. Apart from the conditions, there were thousands of hazards on the hills, or as others might address them "People". People are bad when you enjoy speed, because people don't stay to a tight-area, don't shoulder-check when cutting across the hill sideways (like blind-spot checks in a car) at all, and don't stay on their feet. Regardless, we got in some outstanding runs. It was the kind of clear day where you could really appreciate the beauty of the place, and rock on the speed on the higher difficulty runs. The toughest runs were pretty clear because people couldn't handle them, and while all our runs were fantastic, Justin and I had one Summit-to-Base run (Note: Tremblant is around 650m tall) that was nothing short of epic. I only wish we could've been clocked so we could have seen how fast we got. If it wasn't for the chin-strap like scarf built-in on my hat, I would've lost my hat because of the speed, and let me tell you, it wasn't a windy day. After our last runs we drove home and got down to some real drinkin'. Good times. In the morning we packed up and shipped out.

Oh if only we could've had at least one smooth drive the entire trip, but alas, no. After getting back into Ontario, our car started tripping out like crazy on us, so we pulled into a gas station. While everything looked alright (even though it never is) we couldn't get'er started again. Eventually we got a boost (from a guy visiting from Calgary of all people) and after me not listening to some lady try to yell at me for being on my cell phone "too close to the pumps", we were off again. Turns out it was the alternator. I say that, because it gave out on us about 30 minutes later. So now we're boned, and still 20 km from Port Hope. Turns out nothing in the area we got stuck in has an address (don't even ask, it was ridiculous) so telling my parents exactly where we were going to kick it for a few was harder than it should've been. Once we couldn't get any other solutions going, my parents stepped up huge and drove two cars (my Mazda and my mom's Toyota) all the way out there to meet us. They took my car home, and I loaded everyone and their stuff into the Toyota and got 'em all home. After a great steak dinner back in 'Sauga, my "fantastic voyage", if you will, was over.

The next day was Christmas Eve, and we (being my family) went to my Uncle's house for the party, which was pretty great. After that we had a rough Christmas morning, but a decent one overall, and a Boxing day that I don't remember at all. To be honest, looking back, the period from the 20th - the 27th all kind of feels like one big day. On the 27th, I was back in Windsor. I had to be back because we started our "Winter Training Camp" for the Lancers, so we spent the next week skating and whatnot. New Year's Eve was a gong show. A good time, of course, but probably not my best New Year's. Drank too much too fast I suppose. Whatever. More hockey over the next week, and a few great bar runs. Finally this past weekend we got back into game action, beating the high-powered Lakehead Thunderwolves on Friday night OT, and losing a close game on Saturday. This week brings with it the start of classes for the Winter Term here at the U, and I've updated the "School" section to display my new courses largely for my own benefit so that it's always easy to see my schedule (I tend to forget rooms, times, and even days). Had great academic success last semester, so hopefully I can continue that. The next few weekends are pretty busy with hockey and whatnot, but hopefully some people can come on down to Windsor and have a good time. Drop me a line.

They say you've gotta take the good with the bad. Well, that's fair I guess, and I certainly put my time in this past week.

The Bad: What started as an ordinary Monday morning (i.e. - 6 am work out) turned on me pretty quickly. Throughout work out I started really feeling the stomach trouble I woke up with. As things turned out, I didn't even make it to my car after finishing in the gym. I'll spare you the details, but suffice to say, it wasn't pretty, and I apologize to the St. Dennis Centre Parking lot. The next two and a half days were nothing short of an absolute nightmare. Food poisoning is a vicious sickness. Those of you who have lived through it know what it's like, and as for those of you who haven't, I sincerely hope you never have to. Again, I'll spare you the details (save for telling you that "malaise" really can be one of the worst things to deal with), but let's just say that by Wednesday, I had dropped from 170 lbs. to around 163 lbs. A big thanks goes out to the many on the 6th floor that helped me out by getting me water and drinks from downstairs.

The Good: By Thursday I was finally feeling reasonably well, and embarked with the Lancers on our trip to Montreal to play a 2-game series against Concordia. A 9-hour bus ride isn't as bad as it sounds, and we had some good times and watched some good flicks on the way. Montreal was unreal. I don't know why, but I just absolutely love everything about Quebec. I like the people, the buildings, the culture, everything. I fit in pretty well too. My common style of dress these days matches up very nicely with theirs, and I must say it's nothing short of fantastic to walk around downtown and not see any "GaNgStAz fram tha' StrEEtZ". Did a lot of walking while there. Saw a lot of great Churches, browsed the Eaton Centre there, and visited the Bell Centre twice, although they wouldn't let me in either time (what with it being around noon). Had some good times in the hotel and around some of the bars too. And to top it all off, we swept the series against Concordia. I didn't get into either game, but wins are wins, so we're all happy. The trip home was decent. Again, no one loves 9-hour bus trips, but it was still alright. Good flicks, good jokes, and a singing coach - - suffice to say we were well "entertained". Of course, the first thing we did when getting back to Windsor at 1:40am Sunday morning was hit the bar. Kicked around there playing pool and having some times until about 4, then finally called it a night.

The Ugly: Ever lock yourself out of your room? In Rez it works a little differently. The doors sometimes lock themselves, so if you step out of your room, and realize you don't have your keys, you're boned. In such a case, all you have to do is find the RA on duty, and they'll let you back in to your room with the "Master Key". Therein lays the challenge. The RAs around here are harder to find than Waldo in a Candy-Cane forest (where the canes grow on a bit of an angle... you know... whatever.) The signs in the lobby that tell you who's on duty are, as we found out, a ruse. The girl I called defiantly told me that she was "so not" on duty and refused to help me out. My theory is that she's a bitch, but I suppose I could be under-estimating how awful of a person she really is. The person that was on duty (according to jerk) was off campus, and the other RAs were not in their rooms or answering the RA pager, thereby leaving me up a certain creek. Eventually I managed to get back in my room four hours after being locked out. According to the Residence Life handbook I got at the beginning of the year, that's about 3 hours and 45 minutes longer than the worst-case scenario for how long it should take to solve that problem. Yikes.

So as you can see, I have in fact been taking the good with the bad. Hit up Devonshire Mall today and had some good times, and managed to get my 2nd last project of this semester finished in short order a full 24 hours before it's due. Not too shabby. I'm hoping to get back into 'Sauga sometime around the 5th for a quick visit before exams, so if I make it I'll give you people a shout, but feel free to e-mail me before then and let me know if you're up for anything.

Not too shabby. Last weekend we came, we saw, and we... well, we did what we could. To be honest, we totally could have smoked those jerks from UofT, but I guess it wasn't in the cards. Give them credit, they played guts-out-hockey all weekend, and ran their systems down to a science. On the plus side, my CIS debut was a good show. I know we ended up losing (barely) 4-3, but considering we got tuned 7-2 the night before, I thought I did alright for myself! As the UofT website admits, "The men opened Friday night with a commanding 7-2 victory... Saturday saw a down-to-the-wire 4-3 victory for the Blues." (Note: I played Saturday). It was a great game with a lot of great chances, big saves (by me, ha!) and tough battles. I give full marks to the rest of the Lancers for playing so well. Too bad the Ref jumped the gun on a few whistles (on Wes Ewer in particular) and ended up negating some for-sure-goals. Besides the on-ice, the weekend was great, due entirely to my friends back home. I sent out an e-mail a little while back and I totally stand by it. I really appreciate everyone coming out, it meant a lot. You only get 1 debut, and I can always look back fondly at this one because my friends were "in my corner", so to speak. A round of applause to my family as well. I never really see my family at hockey games, at least, not for some time. I thank them for coming out. I only wish I could've gotten a hold of 1 or 2 more so we could've won for all of you. On the plus side, since that game in TO you all saw, we've really turned it on! We beat up on RMC twice in a row this weekend, 5-3 and 9-3, and things are really looking up.

Apart from hockey, life has been going pretty well recently. My friends on campus have really made me feel at home since I got back from TO, and I've had some awesome times with the Lancers outside the rink since I've got back. Save for 1 or 2 projects in the coming weeks, I'm finally past the middle-of-the-year-crunch which seemed to last an awful long time. I swear I've had 2 or 3 major midterms, tests, assignments, or quizzes due every week, a far cry from the 3 essays + 2 exams per course per year I had grown accustomed to at York. They've been going well though, and I must admit it's much easier to stay focused in this kind of scheme, so I can't complain.

On a totally unrelated note, I finally caved to the 15-million people (note: that might not be an actual count) on my case to get "Facebook", so if you're on it, feel free to look me up. I'm also really looking forward to the trip in December. That'll be awesome, and at a steal of a price too!

It's been a while since I've heard from some of you back in 'Sauga, or wherever you all are with Uni and work, so please shoot me an e-mail if you have any free time.

Jeff is back. Tell a friend. Gotta love stealing material. Anyway, I'm back, and in more ways than one! After a month of not updating anything whatsoever I decided to get off my ass and post. Where to begin? Ah yes, with school. Classes are going pretty well, although my schedule is a bit different from before. Finally I've hit a period where I have no tests or assignments due for at least a week, which is a welcome break. This week is shaping up very nicely, but more on that later.

Hockey has been going well, despite what our record may indicate. As you can see on the CIS Standings page, we're currently 1-6-0-0. Sure, not a great record. To use an old clich?, however, we're better than our record indicates. I know the scores seem to suggest the games have been largely one-sided affairs, but that's not the case. In almost every game, it's been a 1-goal lead (either way) or tied going into the 3rd, and 3rd period penalty trouble provides for the fire-wagon-hockey scores. It just one of those things, our team is always dangerous, but something just doesn't go our way and it snowballs into a loss. I know that winning teams find a way to play through those bad bounces or calls, and I think that soon we'll get over this wall we keep hitting and we'll begin to force our way through games. We'll be alright, after all, there's still 3/4 a season to go. It's still been a good ride though. I haven't started any games yet, but my game action in the exhibition games against NCAA-div-I teams (Miami of Ohio, Bowling Green, Notre Dame) went very well, and the 3rd period action I've gotten in for against Laurier and especially against York went really well. So hopefully we'll keep building and I'll continue to improve.

The road trips have made for some great experiences. Nothing like being on a bus or in a hotel with hockey players to let you know just how good or bad life can be. Good times = hitting the bar in Thunder Bay with the entire team, getting right pounded, and watching the magic as people wheel successfully, and the fireworks when they fail. Bad times = the smell some of these people can generate, and the downright perversion of one person displaying a great affinity to pornography, and further to this, "taking part" in the activities on screen, despite being in front of 3 other guys. Suffice to say, yikes.

As I mentioned, this week is looking great. I have nothing due and I'm ahead on readings, affording me more spare time than usual to have some fun. Odds are I'll get the chance to peruse Martin Brodeur's book, "Brodeur: Beyond the Crease", which I'm really looking forward to. Always nice to get the perspective of the pros, especially when that pro happens to be a living legend. Perhaps the best part of this week will be next weekend as the Windsor Lancers invade Toronto for a 2-game-series against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues on Friday, November 10th and Saturday, November 11th, both games at 7:30pm, and both games at Varsity Arena (downtown TO, close to the old St. George Street Station). I'm pretty stoked about coming home, and hopefully I'll get into a game in order to play in front of family and friends for the first time in... I don't even know. I know a number of people have expressed interest in coming down whether I play or not, which is greatly appreciated. Hopefully everyone can make it down, especially Saturday night, as I plan on hitting the town afterwards and the more the merrier. You know what they say, "Win or Lose, we still Booze". To those that can't make it out either night, a few of us are hitting lunch mid-day Sunday, so come on out to that. Oh, and if you get a call from a 519-area phone this weekend, that's me, so answer it.

Hell yes. Looks like I have something worth doing with my time now: CIS Hockey! I'm a rookie on the Windsor Lancers, so odds are I won't get a whole whack of ice time this season, but you always gotta put in your time and your dues. Hopefully in the near future I can fight my way into competing for the start. For those of you in Toronto, Mississauga, and the surrounding area, we only stop into that area once (in November), so come on out and make some noise. From this point, the "Hockey" link in the upper bar should re-direct you to the Lancer's Hockey main page, where you can find our schedule, roster, news, etc (keep in mind, much like the "Pictures" section, there won't be a return link, obviously) . Hopefully I'll see a lot of people I know at the games.

Another week down, and another weekend gone. It was a good weekend, but truth be told, it was spent largely in a bottle. A few of us spent the night drinking in Alumni Hall (Rez) for essentially the entire night. It was a good show; good tunes, good drinks, happy people, and a good attitude overall without any accidents or problems. There was plenty to celebrate too - Nathan's birthday, my excellent Calculus test, the end of the week - and there was much rejoicing. Some of the more noteworthy pictures are here, to affirm this. Friday night was pretty great, even if my hat was a big whore and someone replaced the cap I stole was borrowing with a girl's hat in the preceding pictures. For clarification purposes, the sweet "Stroh's" straw-cowboy hat in the 3rd picture is mine, and the fruity little number I'm wearing was placed there by someone else. Saturday night was more of the same, but wasn't quite the same thrill (as tends to be the case). It started at the football game, which Windsor lost, and then moved back to Alumni for an abbreviated version of Friday?s jig. Sunday provided some good times, as a few of us made our way over to the Windsor v. Guelph game which Guelph won (to my satisfaction, and everyone else's chagrin). I don't remember the rest of the day, but I'm sure something happened. This week has been more of a battle, as the rigors of sports continue along side more tests. Today we had our first test in Computers (binary, general information, etc) which went pretty well. This weekend (after another Calculus test) might be either the best weekend ever, or kind of a downer. More on that later.

On a very serious (and possibly grim) note... Attention Mississaugites interested in the Ski trip: Don't jerk us around. Sarah is busting her ass making this work. Let me tell you, it's not friggin' easy to plan for you people. I've committed myself 100%, despite the 13+ hours I'll be traveling (the same day as an 8:30am exam) and large amount of sass I'll probably get from the folks, so don't be 1/2 committing. You're either right IN or right OUT Do. Not. Pull. Out. In. December. If you tell Sarah you're going now, and then back out, I will beat you to death with a gym sock full of nails and broken glass.

So the first week of real classes has come and gone and we've all survived. Nothing too stressful just yet, but as most may be aware, course syllabuses... syllabi... syllabeese... Course Description Handouts offer a grim outlook of things to come. Vastly different than the old, "3 - 5 essays due over the coming months, a midterm, and a final (and attendance and b.s. lip service) will compose a large part of your mark" back at York, these guys don't mess around. Most classes have 3 marking components, midterm 1 (25%), midterm 2 (25%), and final (50% and your favorite cat). Other classes take a different approach, but have the same kind of daunting presence. Calculus, for example, greets us every 2nd Friday with its arms outstretched. These arms however, cold, unfeeling, and rather bony, also hold a quiz. That definitely makes Thursday night "Pub Night" a fading dream. It's all good though. At least this will make me focus and keep me running. Before it was too easy and boring and I had a real problem with wandering. Some of you might remember the 3 hours straight I played Tetris in some English class (say what you want, you'll never top that score). So yes, those of you that text and e-mail me (all 2 of you), classes are going well, and I really enjoy this program.

All this business doesn't mean we don't also get our share of pleasure, mind you. Last night provides a pretty good example, as a few of us decided to get some dinner and kick around on campus drinking afterwards. The "few" consisted of 8 people, and dinner ended up being 25 minutes away by car. The trip there was memorable for 2 reasons; 1) no one knew how to get there and we didn't look it up, and 2) we had to take two trips to get everyone there. Now before you think I'm an idiot for doing that, I got gas money as compensation, so it was all good. When at dinner, we realized we were so busy with the grocery shopping and laundry duties the day provided that we had no alcohol. Or at least, not enough. Leaping into action (again, without planning) two of us left our appetizers on the table and embarked on an aimless drive to try to find an LCBO open past 9. 30 minutes later we found one, and thanks to some spring in the step and some smooth talking at the counter, we got everything we needed. Back at dinner, and one room temperature Caesar Salad later, we finished our dinner and came back to campus. I really didn't want to make two trips again based on how ridiculously long the first one took, so employing the rights of the G class license, and a stern warning from myself, we improvised. I didn't take that picture of course, I was too busy driving. It was quite a show. Apparently no one in Windsor had ever seen a ship of fools before (or in this case, a car of idiots), so the 135 people we drove past on the way home all had themselves a merry little laugh. Upon returning to Rez, we settled in, watched the classic film Baseketball, and had ourselves a good drink. All in all a pretty good weekend. Party stops for at least another week though, as it's once again time to get down to business.

First of all, kudos to everyone who made it out for Friday's jam. That could very well have been the best birthday jig of my entire life. Whitney, Paul, Adam, Louise, and Gen made great company for dinner (and the call from Brandon was quite classy of him), then Sarah, Justin, Michelle and Marc-Andre made our mass outing to the ghost town formerly known as 107 totally worth the 50 minutes we were there, ha. After which, everyone made kicking around in my house and getting hammered pretty damn great, especially with the surprise (but appreciated) visit of Caroline, Anet, and Michelle. The next morning provided a brief but nice visit from Sarah, and some delicious Burger King. Once again, thanks to everyone for making it a good show.

Moving right along, I'm finally in Windsor, and I gotta say I'm loving it. It's a really nice campus, a good surrounding city, and the people here are great. Our residence floor is probably the greatest floor on any residence, anywhere, ever. "6th Floor what?" as some have taken to saying. It's been a busy 4 days; setting things up, finding other places and things, meeting people, participating in various campus events, and of course, drinking heavily. Probably the highlights of the experience so far are hitting a Windsor Spitfires pre-season game, meeting with some important sports figures here, checking out Devonshire Mall, going to "Rush" last night and taking in probably far too many Tequila shots, and hitting the gym today. The partying comes to an end tonight though, as class starts tomorrow. It'll be good though, most of us are looking forward to getting into the swing of things. Someone asked me to post pictures of my Rez room, but that's not going to happen until I stop being too lazy to carry a webcam all about the room and take pictures, so I wouldn't hold your breath. Plus, as you probably noticed by looking at this post's pic, the quality ranks somewhere between a TV on a channel with no reception, and a ham sandwich, so I might wait until I find someone with a camera. Rest assured though, it's pretty sweet digs.

Update: I have just confirmed the "greatest floor ever" theory. After having some people over for video games, they saw my collection of mini-hockey sticks, and we got an impromptu game of mini-hockey going. An intense battle that we just barely won in what is probably only the first in a long series of insane games. 6th Floor What!

The final details have all been taken care of, and now it's (finally) just a matter of time before I'm rocking the scene in Windsor. As mentioned before, I got all my classes taken care of, and now I have my living arrangements set. I've been assigned a single room in a sweet Rez smack in the middle of the campus. Score! The only downfall is the lack of a parking permit, forcing me to leave my beloved car back in 'Sauga, at least for a little while. That's not really that big of a deal though, considering I live on campus, and I've been told the bus service there does a fine job. Move in day is this Sunday, September 3rd, so there's really not that much time left. I've got most loose ends taken care of around these parts; packing almost done save for some clothing, furniture ready to be given away/thrown out, that sort of thing. I can't wait to get down there and get all set up. Hopefully that'll be the cap to a very good weekend, starting with what I hope I can make a great Friday, September 1st.

Hell yeah. Congratulations to my 3-on-3 team for winning our Championship game/series. 2 games in 1 night; over 65 minutes of no-whistle, no break, non-stop 3-on-3 in an arena the size of the net to the blue line in a regular arena. Just like York tier-I intramurals, we beat a vastly superior team in an awesome game, and now we're the champs. We York-boys are 2 for 2 in Championships in one year. Not too shabby. They should be posting the winning team picture on the league site in the next few days so people can see what it looks like when the underdogs get their day. God it feels good to win, eh gentlemen?

I'm very pleased. My courses are set and my schedule is actually pretty good. Sure, no one likes waking up for Calculus, but I suppose it's better to do it when there's nothing else to do, rather than while everything is jumpin'. My Schedule is now posted in the "School" section (if anyone cares) and if you look, you'll see it's a good one. Gives me enough time to get my work done, that's for sure. So now I'm finally in, and my classes are set. All I need now is to hear from Residence Services and grab a parking pass and then I'll be 100% good to go, save for all the packing and whatnot. I figure the move over won't be too hard; a computer or two, hockey equipment, clothes, a guitar + amp, a small tv, and then personal effects like CDs and pictures and whatnot. Should be able to get it all in my car and take care of it all in one trip, which is good news seeing as it's a 4.5 hour drive. Only a few weeks away, guess I should start getting my act together... maybe...

I finally got this project done. For years now I've told myself (and others) that I'd get a personal page going, and never followed through. Essentially, I didn't see the point. Sure, a handful of people told me they'd be interested and want to see it, but there wasn't a real point because I could always just talk to that person anyway, often by looking into the next room. Now, with circumstances changing at a furious pace, it finally makes sense. No longer will I be able to reach everyone at any time simply by looking around, so I've created this webpage for communication purposes, and to fan the flames of my own self-interest... wait... Anyway, here it is, and hopefully I'll stick to it so that it'll fulfill its intended purpose. There really isn't a lot of content at this exact moment, seeing as I haven't actually left yet, and I also don't know a lot of details. In the coming weeks I'll punch up the relevant data as it surfaces, and then this boat will finally be on the road.