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This evening the Vancouver Canucks lost their fourth straight playoff game against the San Jose Sharks and were swept from the 2013 post-season. As I do every year, I bet against the Canucks as an insurance policy. If they win, great and if they lose, then I win a bit of money. I usually bet on the series and not individual games but as my recent post indicated, I hesitated so I was only left with individual games to bet on.

Now I had a strong feeling that they’d lose tonight’s game, which is why I decided to wager some money. It all seemed to go accordingly to plan when the Canucks entered the third period trailing the Sharks by a score of 2-1. Strangely, Vancouver showed some fight and spirit that had been missing for most of the series. They managed to tie it up on a power-play goal. Not only did they tie the game up, just mere minutes after that goal, they actually scored again to take a lead. I believe that was only the second time that they had a lead in the entire series. That got me worried because there was less than nine minutes left in the game when they went ahead. It turns out my worries were misplaced since an undisciplined penalty by the Canucks led to a SJ power-play. Of course, the Sharks tied it up in an effortless fashion and the game was once again deadlocked.

The game went into OT but again, a penalty to the Canucks led to another SJ power-play. It was this power-play that led to the series ending goal. As you can see above, the results of the game led me to win a bit of money. The bookies seemed to know this was coming as well. Had the Canucks won this game, which they almost did, you would have won three times as much if you had bet on them. My $200 wager would have won me close to $300 instead.

Well, another year of hockey has gone by and another insurance policy has been cashed in. It would be great if one year I didn’t have to win any playoff hockey money.

If you ever wonder how super star athletes live, then look no further than Roberto Luongo’s penthouse home in Vancouver. It’s been listed for sale at $4.2M. You can look at some photos of the place here.

Just to be clear, he made enough money during this season to pay off that home and then some (assuming he hadn’t already paid it off earlier).

Tonight, the San Jose Sharks defeated the Vancouver Canucks by a score of 5-2 in the third game of their first round series of the 2013 NHL playoffs. Though the Canucks came into the series seeded 3rd vs the 6th seed, they have been outplayed for most of the games, at times quite badly. It’s hard to believe that the Canucks were one win away from winning the Stanley Cup in June of 2011. The core of the team is essentially the same from that summer but they’ve been terrible in the playoffs since then. In fact, it seems like a switch was thrown in game seven of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals where they failed to score even a single goal. Including that game, the Canucks have played 10 subsequent playoff games. They have only won one of those. Imagine getting to within one win of the Cup and then not being able to win playoff games after that.

It’s clear to me now that the Canucks’ miserable season will come to an end on Tuesday, where they will likely be the only team to be swept in four games in the first round. That will be a dubious distinction indeed. Prior to the start of the series, I had planned on betting $200 that the Sharks would take the series. A trusted friend of mine convinced me not to. I’m now kicking myself for not doing what I knew to be right in the first place. As a consolation though, I’m planning on betting on the game four on Tuesday. Betting on single games is way riskier though. Series bets have the advantage of averages. Averaged out over four games or more, the likelihood of the better team to win is much more predictable than the outcome of a single game. With the Sharks now up three games to none, what are the odds that the Sharks will win the series? Very high. What are the odds of the Sharks winning game four? Well, pretty high but not as high as the odds for winning the series (which is almost assured). So I’m going to take a chance and bet on the game four.

Now some people are going to wonder if I feel bad for betting against my home team. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, the Canucks have disappointed me all my life, I feel no shame in making some money off their misfortunes. Tuesday will be no different.

5. Avoid all my parents’ friends to prevent further shaming of my family.

4. Attempt to eat a 5 lb block of Limburger cheese and nothing else for an entire week.

3. Reconnect with my seniors mall walking group at Metrotown. Metro-Tee Grey Foxes in da house!

2. Gain hope that being unemployed will finally make me less attractive to women and thus prevent me from being hit on all the time.

1. Lindsay Lohan

A weakness of mine is that when I have nothing to do, I tend to buy things. So far I haven’t gone overboard on the shopping. I did buy a shirt at Banana Republic on the weekend but it was 40% off so you can’t fault me on that. Other than that, I haven’t bought any electronics, video games, movies, or any superfluous items since being laid off. Now you might be thinking that not having a job is a condition that makes it quite easy to not spend money. That is true, but keep in mind I’ll be receiving a severance package and I wasn’t exactly living paycheque to paycheque before either. I’m not saying I’m rich or anything but I’ll be ok for a while (without having to resort to eating instant noodles all day).

So what do I think is ok to splurge on? Well, one is video games. It’s been a life-long vice for me and it’s something I enjoy doing. With all this free time, it’d be almost a crime not to play. I won’t be buying five games a week or anything but it’s certainly the time to catch up on my list of games. Second, I won’t mind buying books. Books are good things. Whether it’s non-fiction or not, I think reading new books is a constructive way to spend my time off. There is a Stephen King novel that I bought almost a year ago that I still haven’t even opened yet.

I’m strong now but I wonder if a month from now I’ll be ordering stuff off the Internet on an hourly basis. Slap chop anyone?

As I mentioned in my last post, last evening I threw together the ingredients for a beef stew into my slow cooker. After attending to it for about the first two hours I then had to go to sleep. I was a bit apprehensive about what I would find when I woke up but I was optimistic. Before I went to bed, the whole thing seemed like it was going right. It smelled great and more importantly, it looked like it was becoming a real and tasty stew. I remember the pot roast I made and two hours in, it looked a goopy mess that was heading towards a slow boil.

Upon waking, I immediately went to check on the stew. Everything was still in good shape. I took a spoon to the stew and stirred it around. The carrots, celery, and onion were soft but not too mushy. I poked the potatoes a bit and discovered they were still a bit too crunchy for my own liking but they were definitely cooked. The beef itself was nearly perfect. It was soft and easily broke into pieces when I prodded it with a spoon. Best of all, my kitchen smelled like a home-made and old-fashioned stew. Because of the potatoes, I decided to leave the stew cooking for another hour or so. After that, it was ready to eat.

Though I’m happy with how things turned out, there are some improvements to be made. My slow cooker is definitely too small for my liking. I had to ease up on the amount of vegetables, especially the potatoes, I added to the slow cooker. This was because there wasn’t a lot of space left after I added the beef. I could have used less meat but I didn’t want to split recipe into two. I’d prefer a little more veggies in the mix but that’s just my preference. I also chopped up my onions a bit too finely as they were mostly lost into the stew itself.

I’m tempted to get a bigger slow cooker now that I’ve successfully cooked one recipe with it. A larger one would allow me to cook easier and a wider variety of items. Perhaps, it’s time to visit Wal-Mart.

It could be just water retention or normal weight fluctuations but I’m three pounds lighter than I was last week. Unemployment has allowed me to be more active. For some people, that would be the opposite but not sitting in front of a computer for eight hours a day has freed me to do other things. I’m also eating less or in some cases, eating better. I don’t regret having access to well-stocked PopCap kitchen but certainly the wide variety of high-end potato chips we had probably was not healthy. I’m now concentrating on reducing my carbs and focusing on protein, vegetables, and fruit. I’m not perfect of course but awareness is the first step. I’ve also discovered a super cheap way to eat (useful when unemployed). Safeway has an extremely cost efficient set of meals at their deli counter. Today for just $4 + tax, I essentially got half a BBQ chicken, some onion rings, and a drink of my choice. A six-inch sandwich at Subway would be at least $5 before tax and you don’t get no soup, drink, nor cookie with that. I’m going back tomorrow for sure!

I mentioned recently that I wanted to learn how to make a decent beef stew with my slow cooker. Well, this evening I got all the ingredients for a stew and threw it into the cooker. It’s currently in the third hour of a low-heat, twelve-hour cook. It smells great so I’m hoping it turns out well. I’ve come to the conclusion though that my $12 slow cooker has several flaws. First, it’s small, with a capacity of about 2 quarts I believe. Second, the damn thing is shaped wrong. It’s taller than it’s wide, meaning most of the surface area is vertical rather than horizontal. This means most of the ingredients sit up and possibly out of the juicy goodness that it should be cooking in. Larger slow cookers are flatter and shorter, allowing you to spread the food across a larger horizontal surface area. To counteract this flaw, I’ve been stirring up the stew every hour or so to ensure everything is mixed up properly. I’m going to sleep soon though, which means there will be about eight hours of unattended cooking time. I hope it’s nothing like that gross mess I had with the pot roast last time.

I’ll update everyone tomorrow.

As I mentioned in my previous post I’m in no hurry to get my next job. I’m thankful for the time off but I’m not exactly sure what I’ll do with that time. In previous times like this, I always wound sleeping in late and playing video games until the wee hours. I found that to be extremely relaxing and a great way to recharge my batteries but this time around I feel like I should be more productive with my time. That’s not to say I won’t be sleeping in and playing video games though, as I’m already enjoying the newest Tomb Raider and woke up at noon today. My desire though, is to work on the other aspects of my life as well.

One of the things I’d like to do is get more exercise. Sitting in front of a computer for almost eight hours a day can’t be that healthy. I’m not chained to a desk now, so I have a chance to be more active. The weather is supposed to be quite nice and sunny near the end of the week. I have a long urban walk I have planned out. It’s about 6.4 km in total. I’m looking forward to it. Perhaps, there will be other parts of the city I’ll try exploring.

I’d also like to expand my culinary skills. Several months ago I bought a slow cooker and my initial attempt at making a pot roast was a severe disappointment. The resulting hunk of meat looked like it had been boiled more than it had been roasted. Perhaps a slow cooker just isn’t my thing. I also want to make a decent stew for once. Something that I’d enjoy as a comfort food.

Lastly, I finally would like to learn more about Android development. I have an idea for a starter app. It’s not something I’d even sell but a pilot project to help me get some hands-on experience with mobile development.

So that’s a small list for now but knowing how lazy I can get sometimes, I’d be extremely happy if those three things got done.

In my previous post I wrote that this would be a big announcement of sorts. As many of you already know, today Electronic Arts shut down the downtown Vancouver studio that I worked for. The more astute readers out there might have noticed I knew that the studio closure was coming. That was in fact, quite true, all of us knew for several weeks in advance. We didn’t know today was going to be the day until about a week or so in advance. Most studio closures in my industry happen without warning or very little warning, so this was actually good that we knew with so much notice. Earlier in the week, our office manager gave away all the studio swag that we had lying around. I got a few boxed games that the studio had previously released, some plush toys, a nail clipper, and a mug. Most people didn’t even have to clean off their desks today because all of us had already taken all of our things home in the preceding weeks.

As expected, there were support staff from both Seattle and Burnaby to assist myself and my co-workers into the realm of unemployment. It’s interesting to note that they gave out severance packages to all of us immediately. During some EA layoffs, they sometimes hold off on giving out severance as they try place individuals at other EA teams. During this limbo period, people are still paid their salary and in effect, are still employees, just without a team. Only when it’s clear that no suitable positions are available is severance then discussed and offered. This did not happen today. That’s not to say, however, that there won’t be attempts to place people elsewhere. There were a few recruiters present in the studio today who were available for consultation. If you wanted to perhaps stay within EA, they were willing to discuss your background and skill set. To keep my options open, I spoke to one such person this afternoon. They will reach out to other teams within EA to see if there’s a good fit for me. Understandably, some of my other former co-workers were less interested in pursuing other opportunities within EA. There’s a real entrepreneurial and independent spirit within some of them, so they will definitely be going the indy route going forward. I applaud them for being bold and brave.

It took less than two hours for the formal announcement, the speeches, and all the individual meetings with HR to wrap up. I’m sure there was lots of work behind the scenes but the nitty-gritty execution of shutting down a studio was done in two hours. It didn’t take long for the news to get out into the public. Someone from our studio tweeted the news which then got picked up by several major news sites. He was Internet “famous” for several hours. Also as an example of how fast new travels, one of our designers was able to get his photo taken and interviewed for the Vancouver Sun before the end of the day. The story appeared online well before I even got home!

As you might imagine, most everyone wound up at a nearby bar once everything had wrapped up. To his credit, one of the original founders of the company accompanied us to the drinking establishment and paid for a substantial amount of food and alcohol. He wasn’t directly involved in the decision to shut us down but I appreciated his kind gesture. We spent most of the afternoon drinking, eating, and talking. There was a lot of “what’s your plan going forward?” and it was interesting to hear all the answers. A lot of people are going to take some time off. Some are taking a week off, while at least one plans on taking the whole summer off. Some are staying in the games industry, while others have decided now is a good time to exit.

After about five hours at the bar, I was getting too tired for my own good, so I headed home. I said my goodbyes to the remaining now ex-co-workers. As for my own future, I think a lot of you know I cherish any time off I can get. I’m hoping to get at least a few weeks off to relax and rest. I’m not burdened by any financial restrictions that might force me to jump into a job right away, so I’m extremely thankful for that. It’s a shame that once again I’ve been removed by EA from a downtown Vancouver studio. We were the only remaining downtown Vancouver presence for EA but now that’s all gone. I’m looking forward to some time off. To a brighter and more rested future.

A big hello to all my loyal readers! You won’t want to miss tomorrow’s post where I’ll have a special announcement! Be sure to stayed tuned for all the details in less than 24 hours!