STUPID CANUCKS

My vow of not watching game six lasted three periods. A friend and I went to a BBQ for dinner earlier this evening. Of course, everyone was watching the game. I just sat there and chatted with the people who weren’t that into hockey. It was actually kinda nice not needing to hang on every play of the game.

We left the BBQ somewhere during the third period. When we got back, my friend headed off to do her own thing, and I made the mistake of heading up to the TV room. It was moderately full. I popped in briefly to say hi and left.

I went to my room, turn the game on, and drank water. Calgary soon tied it up. I was dumbfounded. Despite my better judgment, I went back up to the TV room. The third ended and I knew I was in for a tense OT. I told everyone I wasn’t going to watch, but I stayed.

By then, it was quite crowded in the room. It was a mix of Canucks fans, Flames fans, and neutral observers. Each type fan was predicting doom for their side. I told everyone the ‘Nucks would find a way to lose. Tyson thought his Flames were going to be in trouble. Every rush into the Canucks end I would say, “This is it!”.

Three overtimes later, Adam decided he had to go pee. He didn’t wait until a stoppage in play, he just went. Phil said someone would probably score while he was gone. Sure enough, while Adam was doing his business, Morrison walked in from the corner and scored. The room erupted in celebration.

Adam came running in several seconds later. The bathrooms are directly under the TV room. He said he was taking a leak when he heard the ceiling shake.

So, there will be a game seven. Anything can happen in a game seven, so there’s no way you can say the Canucks have the upper hand. That’s why it would suck so bad if the Canucks turned in a poor performance on Monday night. To battle so hard tonight and to stink it up in game seven. It’s something that might happen.

This leaves me with a bit of a dilemma. I’m not sure if I’ll be watching on Monday night. It’ll be so nerve wracking. Who knows. I’ll make a game time decision.

THE CANUCKS ARE DONE

Every spring I come to the realization that the Canucks’ season is done. Last year, I called it a bit early. I thought they were done in their first round series against the Blues after they went down a couple of games early. Little did I know they would be done for real in game seven versus the Wild (a game which led by two goals at one point).

Well, I’ll bet I’m going to be a little more accurate this year. The Canucks will lose game six in Calgary on Saturday. I’ve made a vow not to watch, because I don’t want another three hours of my life lost.

You may call me a bad fan. You may call me a bandwagonner. You know what I really am though? A realist. Let’s face it. The Canucks have played poorly their last two games. It took them a lucky bounce to just tie it up tonight. The Flames have been great in shutting down whatever offense the ‘Nucks have mustered. As good the Flames were tonight, they’ll be even better at home Saturday.

The Canucks had a turbulent season but they did great in their last six games. They entered the playoffs with a lot of confidence. It’s unfortunate though it seems like they still don’t know that playoffs are nothing like the regular season.

Every year they seem to find a way to disappoint me, but in the fall, for whatever reason, I continue to cheer for them. Why do I do that?

EXCUSE ME MR. VENTURA, WILL THE FINGER FOUR HOLD BE ON THE MIDTERM?

Until I surfed on into Yahoo.com, I had no idea what former pro wrestler Jesse Ventura was up to these days. It turns out the former Governor of Minnesota just spent a semester as a Fellow in the Institute of Politics at Harvard’s JFK School of Government.

Let me just summarize that for you again. The man who used to wrestle for the WWF, just spent a semester as a lecturer… at Havard… at the JFK School of Government. Yeah.

The man who once said he didn’t have time to bleed, did not technically teach a class, but led what is called a “study group”. His was named “BODY SLAMMING THE POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENT: THIRD PARTY POLITICS”. The lecture outline shows he had a lot of guests, but I’m sure he was involved in every portion of the study group. Of note, he even had a former Navy SEAL come in and talk. He’s a former SEAL too, but still… pretty cool.

If you have time, check out his bio on the Harvard web site. Remember, his office hours are most flexible on Thursdays, but you can catch him too on Wednesday.

PEEVED

Tonight, it took me over four hours to write three more pages of my report. I’m up to eight pages and I can only write a maximum of ten pages. I’m not going to write any more tonight. When I start again tomorrow, I’m going to wrap it up, print it up, and hand it in.

I too peeved to write any more tonight. I wrote a final exam today and this report is due tomorrow. This is all for the same class mind you. Then on Monday, I have another assignment due. Guess what? Same class. So it’s final exam on Wednesday, report due on Thursday, and an assignment due on Monday. That’s a span of less than a week.

I live in a residence with other grad students. The consensus is that’s not how things are supposed to be done in grad school. You can ask your students for two of those three things but not all three.

In my estimation, my report is not very well written, but if I had more time, I would have done a better job. The thing is due at 4pm tomorrow. I’ll probably hand it in then, go home, have dinner, and watch the game.

After that, I’ll go work on that last assignment.

FINAL EXAM

I have just come back from writing my final exam for MECH 550A. I have had more pleasant ways to spend 2.5 hours.

The first sign of trouble appeared even before the start of the exam. My prof handed out the exams and each of us got a little white tube of something. It was a tube of K-Y Jelly.

“You’ll be needing that during the exam so your ass doesn’t get too sore.”

Ok, so maybe he didn’t hand out the K-Y, but he sure as hell probably should have. The damn thing was hard. He said that there should be one mark per minute, so if a question had five marks, you should spending five minutes on it. The first question was worth four marks. I finished it in twelve. Little did I know that would be the only highlight of the exam.

It was all downhill after that. I knew about half way through I wasn’t going to finish. Then a girl in my class asked if we could extend the exam till 3pm, making it a three hour exam. I was thinking, “No way, let’s just end this anal reaming early, cut our losses and go home.”

Thankfully, my prof said no and we continued on. With about ten minutes left, he asked if any one would object to extending the exam another 15 minutes. I almost did, but I didn’t want to be the single wanker that screws it up for everyone else. I must have looked a bit annoyed because my prof asked me if I objected.

“Well no, but I don’t think another fifteen minutes is gonna matter whole lot at this point. I’ll probably use the extra fifteen minutes to think about what products I’d like to purchase in the future.”

That got a laugh, but I was actually serious. Anyways, that fifteen minutes flew by and I managed to get a pretty decent multi-panel handrawn Archie comic on the back of one exam paper. I had Jughead running to the mall to enter a burger eating contest. That crazy Jughead.

When it was all over, it was clear everyone had the same amount of trouble. The question will be, who sucked on this exam the least? I can tell you, it was not me.

If that wasn’t enough, I have a ten page report due tomorrow in this class as well. I have five pages written already, but I don’t feel like doing a great job on the last five after this exam.

It’s 3:30pm and I’ve decided I’m not touching that paper until after dinner. Here’s to three plus hours of relaxation.

WOW BUSY

I wish I could say I’m too busy getting Rebecca Romijn‘s phone number, but I’d be lying. No, instead, I’m busy writing five pages of the worst report I’ve ever written and also studying for my final exam on Wednesday.

In the meantime, look at a picture of a baby zebra born without stripes.

STUPID CLASS

Between you and me, if you’re getting your students to study for a final exam, complete a report, and finish an assignment, while in the month of April, you’ve given them too much work to do.

BAH HOCKEY

This is why hockey and studying don’t mix. I’m guaranteed to lose three hours a day every other day until who knows when. Yeah, it’s alright when your teams wins, because it does seem like it’s worth. Even though in reality, you still lose three hours of studying time. When your teams loses though? Oh boy, that’s a metaphorical double punch to the testicles.

So tonight, both my beloved ‘Nucks and myself lost. It’s also bad that I don’t feel like studying right away. I’m not sure, it might have been better if they had been blown out. That way I might have stopped watching earlier.

Well, in a way, exam time are the playoffs for the students, so I better step it up. Ok, let’s get to it.