Maybe Another Change?

Well, the ankle still feels better... but I didn't head into to work today. It's not quite a 100% yet and well, security is sort of a risk of re-injuring. The ankle is a pretty finicky body part for healing, so I thought I'd put it off. I'll make a phone call later to John... but first...

I had a phone call from Filing Services Canada. They want me to work in their company to input data in a special software program as a service to publicly traded companies for compliance to the Stock Market regulations of reporting revenues and profits (I think). Once I'm trained and such, I would be able to make suggestions and give more help to these companies.

It would be another desk job, which wouldn't be bad. If you met me, I'm not really forthcoming enough to be a force in the security field... it just paid better, so that's why I said yes. Ha ha. I'm not really mean or big or what's the word I'm looking for... uhhhh... orrrrr... well, if I could think of the word, I would say it. Heh heh. Now, the pay is roughly the same, maybe a tad less... but I would be self-employed and working as a contractor. This means I would give up my potential benefits that I would be getting, but I could probably write-off my mileage when it comes to tax time and get some money back in these increasingly difficult times with gas prices.

Now, I have to see what kind of options I have to transportation to see when I could get in for an interview... and when that happens, I'll call the other job and we'll see what happens. Ernest, the guy at Filing Services, seems to be somewhat keen on having me in... he likes the fact that I've been to SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute for Technology) even though it was only night courses for a couple months... in Desktop Publishing. I'm good with the numbers and software, which they're looking for... so, it could do me some good.

Let me know what you guys think... quick!

Pointing At Me?

Good afternoon... I'm bored.

The ankle is feeling much better again today. I went for a walk this afternoon to the shop and picked up a couple things to snack on during the day, but otherwise, I've been trying to keep myself busy with more hockey pool stuff.

Rob hasn't been about today... I went over to his earlier this afternoon to see what was shakin', but obviously nothing was the case. I sort of kept watch for a while, but now I've resigned myself to being back inside. I was icing my ankle again out in the garage... a good watchin' post to watch the world go by.

I think I might try goin' to work tomorrow... I might as well, right? If I'm walking a bit better, as I am, I think I should be okay to work. I just hope I'm not due for any running around or hardcore walking. Which I shouldn't be, really... I could probably do most of my work from the car and then check out some alarms around town. I'll probably commit to that.

Tonight, I should head to the Wildfire to chat with the boss about the hockey pool. I was supposed to show up there over the weekend, so I will try to make it sometime tonight. I know he doesn't normally start until 5pm... it's not even 3pm yet. So, I have some time to kill anyways. I will try and get Kelly to come out for one... I did tell him that its a cheap night there. $2.75 for a domestic pint, I do believe... hmmmm... heh heh.

Hey guys... I haven't seen very many pictures from you... I'm still interested in inserting the Sherpa in fun & interesting places... keep sending them, eh!

Well, I guess I should be saying "Good Luck" to all those down on the Gulf Coast... the devastation is immense and I hope for all of you down there to get it back together soon. It must be amazing to see, but terrible to feel... my hopes are with you all.

"I've been thinking about my doorbell... when ya gonna ring it, when ya gonna ring it?"

I'm listening to the RockAlternative channel that the CBC puts on the BellExpressVu satellite service... it's actually quite good. Everything from the White Stripes (above), Franz Ferdinand, Nine Inch Nails and more... I don't mind sitting here with it on.

We're supposed to be expecting a thunderstorm tonight... I might try and get some footage of that to see if I can pull any cool pictures from the film. It may be a great idea if it's a good little storm. Should try and find an umbrella... hmmmm... time to get the tripod out.

I'm getting distracted while I write this... I'm playing on MySpace.com... if you want to find me on there, go here... add me to your friends if you're on there as well. Maybe I'll do some advertising on there for more photos for the Sherpa to appear in. That'd be an idea.

Anyways... I'm getting so distracted that I'll just pack it up now... that way I don't have to worry about having this open. Catch ya later!

Yessum

I should think about something... I just don't know what it should be though.

I could think about shaving... but I don't like shaving. Yet, I'm still thinking about it while I write about it. Hmmmm... okay, I don't like shaving. Such an inconvenience, ya know?

I'm gonna climb into bed... but first, I shall move the clothes I folded from on top of it. I wanna write in bed now.

Ahhhh... that's better. Now I have relieved the pressure on my ankle. It likes being in bed. I like being in bed. Bed is such a good place to be. I don't think listing reasons is all that necessary, is it?

Today wasn't too bad of a day. It sure went by quickly enough... I went and visited Rob at his house, saw that he was putting in his new front and back doors in his house. Insurance was paying for it finally after a major hail storm last year did enough damage to replace them. Kept the ice packs on my ankle... tried my best to keep it elevated... easier said than done. But nevertheless, my ankle does feel quite a bit better. Not 100% though... too much weight does make for a knee-jerk reaction, which sometimes makes it a bit worse. Did some laundry today as well... very productive of me. And well... I can't really think of anything else very remarkable that was accomplished today.

Tomorrow, I have to dig up some information to get my Provincial Health Insurance renewed. It might be a good idea for future events, such as ankle injuries. Hopefully tomorrow, I will catch up with Rob again and we'll catch Sin City... he bought it a week or more ago and still hasn't seen it. He says he'll get me over there, since I had only seen bits of the beginning without sound. I think that was mentioned before in one "Steaming" entry a way back when. Heh heh. I do really wanna catch that flick.

I should be hearing from someone across the pond tomorrow... they'd have gotten back from REading or Leeds, as I understand, Roger & Gillian went to Leeds and a fwe others went to Reading. The jealousy still consumes me... although I did forget about it the entire weekend... that's alright then, right? I can't wait to see the photos from that... by the looks of the pictures from the NME website, it looked and sounded like a great weekend.

WEll, laying here in bed is making me more and more sleepy... I think this'll do for the 13 minutes spent writing it...

To sleep and get healed...

Ice & Elevate

You know, the weekend was goin' alright until Sunday morning.

Saturday, it was two games of ball... the day was absolutely gorgeous, not a cloud in the sky. We had a 10:30am start for our first game of the day. Cory was sort of hurting from the amount of drinking the night before and Michelle didn't show up either, 'cuz she was a little hurting and she had to get ready for a wedding later on in the day.

We played quite well again, only to lose... again. I think we played a team that brought in a few ringers to help them win the last few games of the season. But that's not really an excuse. We were all having a bunch of fun. I can't remember what the score was even.

In the time between games, I had to pick up some things for work in town, including some steel-toed shoes, for walking around on a couple of the jobsites that we do patrols for. The company can get some serious fines if the safety inspector finds us guys without 'em... plus they'd be good for giving a good kicking... heh heh.

Our second game was to start at 5:15pm and there was quite a bit of downtime since we finished around noon... lunch, shopping, a few beers and then off to the ballpark to watch a game before ours. I was hoping to catch an eyeful of the cuties that were playing and I was in luck. One of the teams I was "fortunate" to play against was on the field, so I caught a glimpse of that for 15 minutes or so, just before the team started to roll into the ballpark.

Everyone was on time to play, but the two teams on before us didn't finish on time, so we had lots of time to kill... we warmed up, drank a few beers and had a good laugh.

Once we got started, it was pretty much a farce on our end. The team we played against had just finished... they had to play a doubleheader, due to one team not showing up at all over the weekend for the windup. Man, did we suck... but it was pretty much alcohol induced. I was no better... throwing away balls on tosses to first, but my glove never really let me down. My bat worked pretty well.

But in the third inning, I sent dropped a good ball into left field and found myself on first. Ron, batting behind me, sent a good liner into right-centre field and I hoofed it all the way from first around to home. When I was arriving at home, so was the throw... I stretched the last step to cross home and planted my foot exceptionally hard into the ground and felt my right ankle tweak a little bit. I hit the backstop behind the plate, standing up still, and I thought to myself, 'ouch!' I walked off and really didn't think too much of it at all... I went out to play short at the top of the fourth and finished the game, including a few more at-bats and was just fine.

Todd, while pitching, had the throw back from our catcher go over his head and when he jumped, he came down in a heap. He had missed the catch, so everyone on the team thought he was acting like he normally would, looking like an ass, so no one was really concerned. Until after a few moments that is... he didn't get up. Kevin and I stayed out in left field and had a chuckle. We continued to think he was looking like an ass, but everyone else went in to see if he was alright. He wasn't... he really did his ankle in. Apparently, in blew up like a balloon, but I never really took a peek for myself.

After the game, we all headed to Cory's for a BBQ to sort of wind up the night. A few more beers and a couple burgers and it was a good night. Todd was laid up with crutches and he was moaning and groaning... and everyone was just tired after a hot day of ball. So everyone crashed fairly early... which was good, 'cuz I was supposed to join Rob & Michelle's team for a 9am start on Sunday.

Come the next morning... my ankle was in great pain. I couldn't really put any weight on it and was getting a tad worried. I could feel a couple bumps here and there and it didn't really feel like a normal muscle sprain that I've had a few times before, so I was getting worried that something was broken. So, Mom took me into Strathmore to go to Emergency and get it checked out. Of course, we had to stop at Tim Hortons to get a coffee before hand... you never know how long you're gonna wait at the hospital.

We got into the hospital at about 9:30am... got through admittance and it was about 3 hours before I got my x-rays done and the doctor gave me the news. I mean, it wasn't a terribly busy day in the hospital... Todd came in an hour after I got there, I heard... a couple of ambulance drops happened... but I think there was only one doctor on duty the Sunday morning.

So, the result of the x-rays were negative... it was just a band of tendons that were really sprained, so I spent the rest of the afternoon over at Rob & Michelle's icing and elevating. It still tweaks when I walk this morning, especially up stairs and the swelling is still up... so my second full-day of work was kind of written off. So, it'll be more ice and elevation to heal the tendons and hopefully all will be better in a day or two.

Well, that's my weekend... sorry for the late post.

First Day Yesterday

Well, I got a good taste of work yesterday... and it wasn't too bad. Driving around Calgary in the car all day wasn't too bad. Checked out one alarm, dropped off some papers and stuff to certain points, patrolled a few parking lots... and it was bloody gorgeous out all day.

The best thing about it was... I got to go home early and I was in time to play ball last night! Woo hoo. The boss, John, was heading back to Langdon anyways... so I got a ride, in the Hummer H2. That's a pretty neat vehicle. It's larger than some countries inside and you certainly don't feel the speed of highway driving in it, that's for sure.

The ball game, we lost 6-1. It was a pretty good game... I was the only run, with a heads up base-running (meaning errors) home run. Wicked. I took a hot groundball off my left shin playing short last night and you can see the lace marks as it ripped up my shin pretty well. That's pretty neat. It was pretty swollen after it happened... but it's alright now.

Then it was a few drink through the neighbourhood... including a stop at Rob & Michelle's with Cory and we had a brew or two in the hot tub. Then we retired pretty early... as we have another ball game in an hour.

I best be getting myself to look pretty you's know.

What An Impact!

Well, I did it. I bloody well quit. I couldn't take the waiting anymore.

When I gave my notice, Jason said he'd go talk to Justin about letting me go before a week's notice finished up... which was fair. I would have worked today at Millennium, you know, just to be nice... but then the fucker disappeared on me and left the book wide open. Well, I stewed in it a bit and then worked it up to the point where I said, "the company called, they want me in this afternoon to start tomorrow."

Well, that was the bomb that Jason didn't want to have drop on him... I'm sure he thought that he could get a few more days work out of me and not leave a lot of stuff on the plate to have done.

Wrong.

So, he escorted me through the office as I picked up my jacket and bag and out the door I went. Without saying anything to anyone else... I was done. So, I called up Impact Security and they took me in, filled in the forms, went into Calgary to have my police check done and then I was uniformed up and done.

So, I'm dressed up at the moment and ready to get goin'. A 12-hour day today, but then into the weekend.

Unfortunately, the ball tournament starts tonight at 6:30pm... but I wouldn't have been able to make that from Millennium anyways... so now I don't feel so bad about missing that game. Corey had left a message, so I gave him a call back and he told me the time... so I cancelled. But we have two games on Saturday, so that's alright. Then there's the one game with Rob & Michelle on Sunday morning as well. So, I'll get my fill.

I was going to head to the Wildfire today to check and see what the hockey pool sign-up sheet was looking like. I guess I'll do that at some other point this weekend.

This job is gonna be weird for scheduling my days though. The shift work is gonna be a bit funny. I will be working every other weekend, I've been told. But some weeks I'll only work 2 or 3 days or something ridiculous like that. I'll have to take a good look at that schedule. But I'll be driving around ahd havin' a ball... or so I think. I'll let you know tomorrow or maybe even tonight.

Cheers guys...

Get in!!

Well, I came out of the cafe this morning and call John up this morning at Impact Security... he asked where I was... he said, come on in and have a chat... I did... and well, he wants to know when I can start.

So, I'm still sitting here at the Muppet Show... I told Jason that I want out. Not to burn many bridges, as a not-as-wise-as-he-thinks man told me to do once, I'll wait and see what Jason says is an acceptable time to go is. He did say he'd appreciate a week, but I told him I could start at this new place soon.

I also did lie through my teeth a bit by saying that I was leaving 'cuz of the strain on my Dad and the hours he has to keep. I found that to be a better reason than... this is a Muppet Show here at Millennium. That would have burned a bridge or two...

Sitting here, I'm quickly getting to the point of not caring and wondering if I should just get up and walk out. I don't exactly want to forfeit any of my paycheque... not that I could, but I also don't want the hassle of chasing people for money. Man, I hate hassles.

There is always a sick feeling when I have to give notice for a job... but like a bandaid, it's better to just rip it right off then to start peeling it and let every hair come out individually. The lead-up to any less-than-pleasurable event is usually what gets me the most... not so much the event, 'cuz I can just put my head down and run right into it... nervousness is a bitch.

Anyways... I'm just trying to keep myself busy. I should maybe do a couple of the outstanding things on my desk... you know, just to pass the time.

John wants me back over at his office sooner rather than later so I can get my police check done and so forth... he wants me right away to be a mobile supervisor. Go check on alarms and go supervise other security guards. I get to drive around the city in the company car and go check on everything all day. It's pretty good sounding shift work as well... that does include weekends, but I'm hoping that won't be too bad. I'll have quite a few days off so I can go drink with Kelly during the week... woo hoo!! Plus, the pay is better... so I can eventually possibly get a car and/or move out soon!!

Well, I'll update a little bit later!!

Autopilot Works For Me

Wah-hey!! The guy that I got wasted with at the bar last week, John, finally called the house this afternoon. Last night after work, I wasn't kicked out of the Wildfire... so all my fears of my autopilot were settled. Woo hoo!! Now I can only hope that this John fella is gonna offer me a different job for better money.

"I'm a dirty dirty alcoholic, darlin' your dirty wine..." - My Red Cell.

Sorry, it's what I'm listening to.

Apparently, John left a message on the voice mail and he left a cell number or something to get a hold of him at. I'm thinking that I'm gonna have to fake a dentist appointment to get out of work and get wasted again. Ha. Just kidding. I don't need to fake it... I'm goin' to Joey Tomato's after work anyways. Ha. But I will call John when I go for my walk at lunch tomorrow and see what is what. It's in the security biz... and he told me some cracking stories when we were sitting at the bar. Plus, if he wants to pay me more... I'm up for it!

Okay, now a new entry... which I did while I was writing this entry tonight. Submitted by Julie...


Where's Sherpa?? It's a new game... although there really isn't a group of pseudo-Sherpas... although saying that, that would be a funny picture.

Downtown Calgary is now a vacation home for the Sherpa... I think he'd like the view if he was on the other side of the building. The downtown core of Calgary isn't the greatest view in the world, but the Bow River sure does look nice.

Anyways... I can't wait to get away from the Muppets. I'm hoping something good will come of this phone call tomorrow... so wish me luck. And like I said, if you're getting into a hockey pool ('cuz why wouldn't ya)... check out the Hockey Pool Domain.

A Joint Effort

The good fun never ends, eh. A joint effort in photoshop and two Blog sites came up with a wonderful result over the last few days... Dushan from TheMasterSmiled.com made a great comment about a week ago, saying that I was doing something similar to him and his character. So, I went over and checked it out... so it was true. Then as the friendly Blog neighbour that I am, thought well, maybe we should do a picture together.

The whole "can't beat 'em, so join 'em" didn't really cross my mind until I started writing this post, but it wasn't like that at all. It's all in fun and it might get both of our Blogs read.

Dushan actually writes little tales (which is ironic, 'cuz I don't... heh heh) for his photos of his Master and they are quite interesting. A taste of, dare I say, philosophy. Anyways, it's quite neat and well, my Sherpa got demoted to a pupil, but that's alright... I'm not too bitter. Just kidding... I'm not at all. Ha ha.

Check out his webpage... it's really neat. And for goodness sake... send me a damn picture, eh!

A New Launch

Today, I launched my hockey pool Blog site... The Opiated Sherpa's Hockey Pool Domain. This is where I will be posting a lot of news for the hockey pools that I will be running, not to mention lists, news & everything hockey pool up until the season starts.

I get to use my Sherpa in Centre Ice picture for my header (yay!) and get to talk hockey all the time. It'll probably keep me from talking a lot of hockey over on this side of the Blog world, but I'll probably be more impartial in the Domain then I will here in the Tales.

Go Canucks!

Anyways, if you're a poolie... go check out The Opiated Sherpa's Hockey Pool Domain, you may find some food for thought come draft day. I only hope that I don't have you drafting against me, even though my personal lists are pretty "Top Secret." Ha ha.

Finally... the Sherpa Climbs a Mountain!

Today's addition to the Sherpa collection shows everyone that the Sherpa can climb. He led those climbers to new heights, as it may be... heh heh.

A Case of the Mondays

I don't really feel like writing this morning, but I still have about 20 minutes before I would even consider leaving the cafe. This morning, I have already worked on a couple more Sherpa photos for posting later on today.

I had a pretty heavy pancake breakfast... that may just contribute to my lack of interest in writing. Yet, I'm writing anyways... aren't I? Ha.

People are still looking at the Tales after searching for dates on Google, MSN and AOL. I still get a good giggle from the married personal ad seekers and the Scottish personals keyword also is quite funny.

Hmmmmmm... my legs are not overly keen on walking around today. All the ball played yesterday has deadened my legs and hopefully a couple more cups of coffee will wake them up.

What else... hmmmm... I don't know.

It took me ages to get to sleep last night. I thought I would be able to pass out as soon as my head hit the pillow. Not the case. I went to bed at about 10:30pm last night and I looked at the clock a few times... the last time was probably just after 2am. Granted, I think I did sort of get some sleep in that time, but I don't think it was really all that much.

I wonder what this week's working scenario will be like. I won't get paid this week, it looks like payday isn't until next week. That doesn't help. It's gonna be a cheaper weekend, I hope... but then again, if there is lots of ball to be played, from Friday through Sunday, then that'll mean a little bit more beer. A couple cases will probably do me well.

This week, I have to create the sign-up sheet for the Wildfire Hockey Pool. I wonder how much actual interest there will be... hopefully lots!

I haven't been to the Wildfire since the drunken debacle last week. I don't know how well I was behaved when my system went into autopilot. Fingers crossed that I behaved myself. I will probably do up a sign-up sheet while I'm at work so I can print it out.

Well, this was me taking up all the available time I had to write. I think I will pay the bill, walk outside and put on the ol' MP3 player until Chris shows up to let me in. Heh heh. Have a good day, kids!

Late Nights & Softball...

On the MP3 player... "Tyrannosaurus Hives" by the Hives. Wicked.

"See that idiot walk..."

Well, when I got home from work on Friday night, I posted the Friday morning entry and well, started the weekend worth of drinking. The neighbourhood was in drink mode Friday afternoon/early evening and well, who am I to say no? I mean, if you read this site long enough, you know that I wouldn't say no, right?

Mom was already out with Ron & Suzanne getting a head start on me... Dad and I had gotten home and found that the house was pretty wide open, but she was nowhere to be seen. So I grabbed one of the last beers in the fridge and went to go on a search... if I'm talking to someone, I better have a beer in hand, it's only the right way. Dad started the BBQ while I went on my mission, but there was no one to be seen through the open garage door of Ron & Suzanne's so I continued on to Rob & Michelle's house, where Michelle was mucking about in their garage. I stood and chatted for a while... Doug showed up after finishing mowing his front lawn and then everyone came out from the back of Ron & Suzanne's and you could tell that the mood for drinking was reaching sociable temperatures.

I must have chatted for a half hour or more before I quickly went back into the house to grab a couple burgers and my bank card and headed back out to the growing social gathering. Rob & I proceeded to head to the liquor store to pick up a case of beer each. Upon returning, the idea was to sit somewhere and bask beside a fire.

We ended up at Doug's finally and we drank. And drank. Oh, there was a lot of bullshitting... fun... and everyone started to peel off home around 1am... and I didn't leave until after 2am. I drank my case of beer and wasn't quite as fucked as I was Wednesday night... probably due to the lack of shots done. Ha ha. Although, I was drunk enough to make 3 phone calls to England for a grand total of over 40 minutes of chatting... that phone bill will be a tad excessive. Lars got 10 minutes, Nicolette got 20 minutes and Barry got another 10 minutes after Lars sent me his new number via text. It was quite funny, 'cuz I woke Nicolette up and it was 10am or so there... ha ha... "Guess who," I opened with. It took a moment in her sleepy haze to figure it out... that was quite funny. So after the chat I pretty much passed out.

"Well it's a bad time to be poor... 'cuz we don't give a shit no more." - the Rheostatics. Next on the MP3 player.

Saturday was Rob's birthday and he was planning a huge party over at his place for the evening. Remarkably, I was fresh as a daisy when I got up... maybe a tad dehydrated, but still pretty good. Don't think I got a great deal of sleep either, but I was still pretty good to go.

A trip into town with Mom saw us up around Sunridge Mall in Calgary, pretty much to kill time more than anything. She wanted to do a little shopping and I was up for the ride. I wanted to find the new New Pornographers CD, which doesn't come out 'til THIS Tuesday... but I did pick up the newer Hives disc, which I was just listening to.

Mom wanted to get Scott, the guy with the car that I want to buy, a beer stein with some engraving on it because he was leaving the garden place that they work at. That was pretty much the sole idea of the shopping trip, but it did evolve a little bit better afterwards.

The girls were out in full force and it was a joy to have my eyes wide open... it's one of the true pleasures in life. Just to sit and admire the lovelies as the mill about through their day. I was fortunate enough to be helped by a lovely olive-skinned beauty, which pretty much convinced me to buy some track pants... which I wasn't completely sold on buying for sure, 'cuz I couldn't really justify it... but it just took a little bit of help to make up my mind completely. I'm such a sucker... ha ha! Mom decided she wanted to buy me a Chelsea Football Club jacket which I was surprised to see in Sport Chek for my birthday which is still 4 months away. Ha ha. For lunch, it was...

Poutine from New York Fries! See, this is why I'm glad I have my Sony Ericsson K700 working again. Small impromptu picture opportunities for Blogging. Ha ha. Oh, how I missed proper poutine when I was in England. I did my best with cheddar and gravy, but it just isn't the same as the curds which you find in the real stuff.

Next on the list of shopping items was beer for the evening's festivities. Oh yes... more beer. A case of Keith's for me and the intention to drink it. It was still fairly early when we got home and it was super-warm out, so Dad wanted to make sure we got in a few games of horseshoes. After planting a few willow trees first, of course. Ron & Suzanne came to join the horseshoe games and we got a few in. Suzanne was giving me schtick for the jist of the games, which was pretty funny when I beat her in one game... ha ha. A huge slice of humble pie was served... and by the sounds of it, it tasted pretty bitter.

Once the pegs and shoes were cleaned up and packed away, I grabbed my case of Keiths and headed over to Rob & Michelle's for the evening's festivities. I met a whole bunch of their friends, who are all really cool people. Everyone was an individual character. A great bunch... and was in turn invited to today's softball doubleheader... but that's for later.

There was lots of dogs (one bit me playing footy with it), croquet, roast beef on the BBQ, jello shooters and a hot tub after 1am. The poor birthday boy was looking pretty slammed before 11pm...

Happy Birthday Rob!!

I didn't get home from that party until around 4am. I left my phone behind, my shorts were still pretty wet from the hot tub and I was pretty bombed after finishing the case of beer, a couple more and then a ton of jello shooters. Ha ha ha... the morning didn't go so well.

This morning, I think my guts were about ready to explode... but instead of throwing up right away, I sneezed. Well... one of the truly grossest things happened to me. Something that was about to come up got lodged in my nasal cavity and when I tried to suck it back down, I couldn't and my gag reflex kicked in and BOOM!

That happened a couple times before I blew my nose and everything became dislodged. Ewwwww....

Well, I did try to get up and get back over to Rob's house to see if anyone was up and about to see if I could watch the Chelsea v Arsenal match, but only one of the guests was up and fixing to get going, so instead, I picked up whatever I left behind and headed back to the house, where I went back to sleep for an hour and a half. That got rid of my headache that I had. When I got back up, Dad was still cleaning the mess that Mom left behind when she came back to the house last night... she spewed uncontrollably all through the house, Dad was saying. Yuck! I caught a glimpse of what was left behind on the couch... not a great picture to paint.

I made my self a couple eggs on toast, even with the leftovers to be cleaned up, I still had an appetite. Well, that pretty much settled my stomach and I was pretty well good to go. I went for a walk outside and Rob & Michelle were still about, so I thought I'd see if they still wanted me to join for ball today... and they did! I rushed back home, because they were almost ready to go, grabbed my bag and headed back.

It was a gorgeous day today, over 30 degrees, I heard... I had my blue Hawaiian shirt on, to fit the weather pattern and we headed off to Optimist Field on the other side of Calgary.

Two games played, I subbed into the first game in the 4th inning... played left field, one plate appearance and the team lost. Score? Dunno. The second game, the coach, Wayne, put me in at second and I had a pretty good game. The girls that play on this team are all pretty decent, throwing and catching... and you could be confident at throwing to first. This team was in the 'A' Division of Calgary Slowpitch, so the games were quite good. The guys were knocking it out of the park for all teams and it was quite fun. We ended up winning the second game handily and I was invited to come out a week from now, hopefully that doesn't conflict with the Langdon wind-up tournament that's next weekend.

It was then slurpees at 7-11 and back home to Langdon where I proceeded to die. That's pretty much it for the weekend... how's that for substance??

Thanks for all the great comments that I've been receiving recently... infamy would be pretty cool. I have left all my credits on traffic exchanges to start running out and my visitor totals for the past few days have been declining. I have been noticing a few more Bookmarked visitors, so I'm glad you keep coming back. Thanks again, all...

Send me more pictures, eh... there will be more coming on this week.

Hello

Although this post won't make it online until tonight, I will still say 'Good Morning.'

It's FRIDAY!!! Woo hoo. You know, I've gotta say that the week went pretty fast, even though yesterday dragged for soooo long. One more day worth of work before the weekend kicks off.

To answer ol' Bill's comment... I can't remember how many I actually had. I had easily 4 or 5 beers with a few Jaegerbomber shots, which was quite good. There is a couple hour blank spot where I don't know what the hell happened, including how I got home. Hopefully it was a lot... ha ha ha!!

The random thought process continues... yesterday when I left work, there was a little hottie coming into the office for an interview. I would have said something last night, but when I started to write and when I finished, I sat and watched TV for about an hour or so. Nevertheless, a hottie... who woulda thunk?!? We'll find out how she did this morning when I go in.

My heart continues to warm up to the idea of hockey. TSN is on one of the plasma screens here at the cafe and they're talking Olympic hockey with the guys in Kelowna... they're looking good in the highlights. Once the training camps start, the pre-season starts and the opening day of the regular season... I'll be a happy camper.

Tomorrow, I will be starting to layout the hockey pool rules and then probably head back to the Wildfire to get a lot of the details ironed out. I will probably have some sign-up sheets made up and we'll see how much interest we get.

Continuing the hockey theme... the Canucks have re-signed Dan Cloutier. That's good news! With the signing of Anson Carter and still a little more cap room to work with, I think the Canucks can still make a big impact in the league this year. Carter will fit in nicely to the Canucks offense and will probably see quite a bit of time with the twins as it's still pretty hard to find the perfect linemate for those two. *cough* Teemu Selanne *cough*

Chelsea hosts Arsenal on Sunday in England... now I HAVE to find a TV for that game on Sunday. I'm pretty sure I could find something of the sort. I'll go knock down Rob and Michelle's door, since they have all the sports channels. I've heard that the big match will be on Sportsnet.

I've got one or two more pictures to edit for the Sherpa and I'll try and do those sometime this weekend. I'm hoping to hear from a few more people about getting some more pictures. There are few clicks on my banners that advertise getting your picture with the sherpa, but it isn't really panning out to a great degree.

Was talking with Dad about what the hell I'm gonna do soon. I either need to get a car or find a new place to live... but I've found that I'm only making half the money that I was making before I left for England and well... I'm gonna have to make some more money to actually start living again. Come on, better money.

Hey, the Lotto jackpot is now up to $14 million... that would go a long ways to finding my desert island, eh?!? I think so. I'll buy an island... fly myself and a few friends down... get some supplies and go live the life, unfettered by society.

Whooops... sorry, I was dreaming again.

Well, instead of dreaming, I think I will finish my coffee and go head to work. Get through the day and make a sprint for the weekend.

Not A Lot Of Substance

Hmmmm... since I only show the past 3 days worth of Blogging on my page, it's looking kind of short of content today when I took a quick browse for my comments. The Tales has become more of a Photo Blog more than the rantings and ravings of yours truly.

Oh man, what a long day it was today. My hangover didn't really subside until 2:30pm at which point I was becoming more of a functioning part of the Muppet Show. I didn't really feel like doing too much today, I put a few things off until I felt better and pretty much continued to answer the phones for a while. Managed to get stuff done though, which was alright... might as well while I'm working right??

The last couple days at work have been a bit better... I'm still not quite fitting in socially, which I'd have trouble thinking that I might in the end, but who knows. Jason and Justin have been a bit better with me, especially today... today was a good day rapport-wise with the big guys. They sent me on my merry way and I did what I had to do. The mistakes are getting fewer and farther apart, but who knows how long that'll last.

You know, I don't really feel like writing too much again... I think it's more the fatigue more than anything. An early night for me will go a long ways. Be nice & fresh for the morning... that sounds good, eh?? I'll have my laptop on the trip into work and probably do up a good entry in the morning while I have breakfast. Good plan.

Later, kids!

Hazy...

What a haze I'm in this morning. Went down to the Wildfire to talk hockey pools last night and ended up staying until the wee hours of the morning... and Pa had to wake me up at 20 to 7 this morning to get me out of bed. My radio was goin', but I wasn't moving.

"Fuck that," I'm pretty sure my sub-conscious was thinking.

That's the best I've been bombed in quite a while... and I don't remember anything past 11:30pm... the only evidence I have of time is a bank machine slip at 1:06am. Crikey...

I know I was karaoke-ing a little last night... which was okay. Everyone was drunk enough...

Met John last night... great guy. Born in Ireland, lived in Gloucestershire now a Calgarian... so many laughs. Pretty much the reason why I stayed so long last night...

Don't wanna be at work this morning... would rather still be in bed. I'd feel better at least... because breakfast at the cafe didn't help a great deal.

Whoa!

Good morning... or you may or may not think so with the new addition to the site. The Sherpa gets a little dramatic with up-and-coming Toronto singer, Emma-Lee.

She was kind enough to donate one of her photos to the site and I'll point you gentle readers in her direction.

She found me on MySpace.com and wanted to exchange friend requests last night. When I took a listen to her tunes on her MySpace Music page, I was sort of hooked. I'm a sucker for a great female singer and she has a great little beat to her music which is pretty catchy. It's a shame she's in Toronto and not Calgary or even Edmonton. I'd go see what her and her band have to offer. Click the link above hear what I'm talking about.

Thanks again, Emma-Lee... I don't know if this was what you're thinking when you sent me the photo, but I think it works.

And for those wondering, no... it's not true. It's only Photoshop... heh heh.

Centre Ice

The new addition to the Sherpa Photoshop collection is the Sherpa's head at centre ice. The picture is from the Canucks website as the ice goes in at General Motors Place. This will probably be my logo for my hockey pool website.

I will be going into negotiations for running a hockey pool or three at the local bar here in Langdon, the Wildfire. I have all my programming done for Draft Day, so Opiated Sherpa Productions will take on hockey pools for the 2005-2006 season. The guy who runs the place seems pretty keen on the idea... and well, I'm the man for the job!

An Anecdote Before Bed

I've been sitting at my computer for about 5 minutes waiting for the Create Post page to come up on Blogger and it's taking forever. There must be a ton of traffic on the server now, 'cuz it has been like this for a while.

I forgot to mention a funny little story from work on Friday...

A customer of the company's came in to pick up a server on Friday and I had wheeled it out to him and he makes mention that he hadn't seen me before.

"How long has it been since you decided to work here?" he enquired.

"Oh, it's going on three weeks now..."

"How are you finding it here?"

Well, I began to hum and haw a bit, not really gonna lie to the guy... but I wasn't prepared to come out and say what was really on my mind.

"They're pain in the asses, aren't they?" he said to me with a smile...

"Well... errrr... uhhh...."

"Don't worry, I'll say it for ya. HOw long you planning on staying?"

Again, I couldn't find the correct dialogue before he interjected again... "You know I've seen..." and just as he started counting on his fingers the number of sales guys he'd seen lately, Justin walked out and the conversation took an abrupt end.

You know, that really makes a guy think when the customers are thinking what the new guy is thinking... what kind of place is this??

11:30pm... thought I'd share a little story before I completely forgot it. I can't believe I didn't write it right away on Friday... but there was beer to be had.

Guess What I Saw!!

Well, I think the jig is up...

I'm not terribly worried, but it'll be funny when shit hits the fan. Tonight, I saw Shing Digital's server in my list of visitors of the site. Well, I know who THEY are... and the people at work do too. The greatest thing is... they have bookmarked my site to boot. So, I'm wondering how long they've been reading. Knowing the people I'm dealing with, it was only a matter of time before they found me.

How entertaining! I can only have a giggle...

The Morning Update

Good morning, all... I'm sitting at the cafe this morning and kinda wish I wasn't working today. Didn't really want to get up again this morning, moreso because that I still don't like the idea of working at Millennium.

The weekend was again quiet. Friday night was for the most part, polishing half a case of beer. I met Scott on Friday night and saw his car that he wants to get rid of. It's a 1992 Pontiac Sunbird and he'll sell it to me with his Sony deck. He said he wanted about $700, but I am gonna check with Rob and see what he wants for his 1991 Sunbird. A coincidence that they both have the same car... but they are supposed to be both good running cars, so I don't mind that they're both the same.

Saturday was another quiet day on the street. But it sooned turned into another rousing game of horseshoes with another case of beer in the fridge. Then from horseshoes, it turned into a BBQ over at Ron and Suzanne's house. During the horseshoes, I was seilling the idea of the hockey pool to Doug and Ron and it sounds like I should be able to round up enough people for a good looking hockey pool before October. At the BBQ, I was again a hit with the kids. Kids are just regularly drawn to me, but I don't help things, 'cuz I'm drawn to playing games. Ah, the kid in me will never die. A game of soccer, turned to rugby, which turned into hide-and-seek. All of which was played in the dark... oh yeah, talk about fun! The unfortunate thing was that I felt a good pop in my ankle when I was playing, but it didn't really hurt too much. Well, 'cuz I was drunk, of course. I said to Dad on the way down to bed... I think my ankle could be hurting in the morning.

Sunday, it didn't really hurt too much. I did wake up with a fair sized headache... but didn't feel too hungover. Coffee wasn't enough to get rid of the headache and I really didn't feel like making breakfast, so I didn't. I took an ibprofen and called it good. Mom and I went out to pick up a couple things from Staples, I still haven't quite fixed her PC yet... but we got a CD-ROM cleaning disc and that worked just fine. But now the new USB card doesn't pick up the brand new mouse we got for her machine. So, I'm not quite done yet and I'm completely stumped.

Later in the afternoon, we went down to Chris and Dale's house and hung out there for a burger or two and went and saw the boys. Sword fighting and trampolining, PlayStation 2 with Graham and then Basketball with both the boys, they sure kept me busy. It's amazing that this morning I wasn't too sore. All this excercise is really good for me, because I still have one more weekend of ball to play... unfortunately, it isn't this weekend. Damn.

On Saturday, I found a good job listing in a section of the Calgary Sun that my Dad had in the back of his car. He circled a few different jobs, don't think they were for himself, 'cuz they were all manual labour... and since he can't really even throw a ball for too long, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be able to put up drywall. Nevertheless, yes, I found another Desktop Publishing job in the paper and made sure I applied for that one right away. I put together a pretty good looking cover letter and popped that off right away when I got home and my fingers are crossed again. This company is located in the downtown core, which would be a nice change to get back into the core and start working downtown hours. Not to mention be close to the Eau Claire Joey Tomatoes... mwah ha ha!

It's payday the Muppet Show today... I'll then see if it's really worth my while to stick around there. It's gonna take a mammoth effort on their part to really keep me... but really, since the business philosphy won't change, I don't think I'm really gonna give.

"They won't break me!"

"I won't be like them!" Anyways... I feel a lot less dramatic now.

Okay, I'm sitting at the cafe now... TSN is on with the conclusion of the PGA Championship and all of a sudden, Snoop Dog is advertising for Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep. What the hell is that about!? Ha ha ha... it was actually a pretty funny commercial, but shocking.

Well, after a short burst of pictures for the Sherpa to appear in, they have slowed down a bit. Keep 'em coming, people... it's so much fun!

I don't really know what else to go on about. I still have time to kill and still quite a bit of power in the battery, so I should go on about something, right?

How about them Flames, eh?? They're spending money like there will be no tomorrow. Roman Hamrlik signed on last night for $3.5mil a year. Not a bad deal and it makes the Flames a lot better of a team. The Canucks will have to do something special to keep up with the Flames this year. I'm sorry to say, but that if the rivalry wasn't enough to make for exciting games between the two teams, the signing of some serious talent doesn't make it any easier for Naslund & company.

I'm hoping when I turn on the net at work this morning that there is some sort of blockbuster signing for the Canucks that'll make them better somewhere. I'm not saying in the Restricted Free Agent sense, although they could... but we need some more offense from an Unrestricted Free Agent. Bolster the line-up, if you know what I mean.

And how about the scare for Chelsea yesterday? I was watching the updates come in on the BBC webpage and I wasn't too impressed. A nil-nil draw against Wigan was imminent for a while there and after Arsenal had dropped Newcastle, my heart was starting to race a bit. And then out of the BLUE, Crespo drops one for the last play of the game, which I finally saw a replay of this morning (what a goal!) and all was well. Three points in the bag... and the title defense was started well.

I'm not Crespo's biggest fan, for what it was worth, I was kinda hoping he'd stay in Milan... but I'll take him if he scores goals for Chelsea. That's his job!

Well, I think I'll cut it off here. I'll finish my refreshed coffee, watch a hole or two of the PGA Championship and then head to work.

"It's time to start the music... it's time to light the lights... it's time to get things started on the Muppet Show tonight."

The Roadie

The Amberblacks make another appearance on the Tales with their newest roadie... he doesn't look too out of place, does he?

Well, I think I'll try to get a good entry in tonight... still have a slight headache from my drink session last night. I have a couple more pictures to add as well to the site... so stay tuned!

This Early Morning's Addition

Do you, Oliver and Tegan, accept the fact that you're now being married by an Opiated Sherpa? Mwah ha ha ha ha... digital photos gone mad! I love it.

Just a quick note on the Sherpa in the field, I had a note to include with that but forgot to write it down, so I'll do it here. The Sherpa is standing in a field at Fort Creek, a conservation area, in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Conservation, eh? The Sherpa must be doing "guided" tours.

Thursday's Submissions!

On top is a submission from my Sister, Tegan. She took this picture of some shadows... low and behold, look who shows up. It kinda looks a little poor, I really didn't spend much time at it... not like Mark Hohmann's submission of a Sherpa in the Grass. That took a little while. Still not perfect and I'm not quite a "master" at Photoshop, I'm only just having fun.

Both submissions will be headers soon... I'm giving the LHT Bar a good run, 'cuz that one still looks pretty awesome.

And if you're wondering from my post this morning... yes, they did cut off my e-mail. What the fuck is that about?

Stay tuned for more pics... my Dad gave me a great idea!

While I Wasn't Actually On The Net

Well, this probably won't be published until much later, but I thought I would try writing a bit at the cafe after having a bit of breakfast. I was trying for a wireless connection at the cafe, but the only unsecured network I could find had very little signal to connect to, so I was a tad disappointed. I have about a half hour to kill here at the cafe still and there's still a lot of coffee to be had.

It was a pretty cool morning today... it was about 6 degrees celcius when Dad and I left the house this morning. It felt and smelt like early to mid-September. What the hell is up with that?? It was almost at the point where you could see your breath in the air.

Yesterday at the Muppet Show was a busy one. I didn't stop working from 9am to 6pm... not even a stop for lunch. How's that for busy? The only thing that was sort of keeping me sane was my webmail and the giggles I got from the submissions of pictures. Granted, I was checking the hockey news every once and a while as well.

But a turn for the worst, I think they've started to block my webmail access. I would use the company e-mail for my personal stuff, but EVERY e-mail goes through both Jason and Justin's computer. The way Kelly and my e-mails go most days, it isn't the sort of content that would normally be allowed on company e-mail system.

So, I am absolutely convinced that I work at the Muppet Show. I can pretty much equate everyone there with a Muppet Show character. I would love to be a character, but I get the feeling that I am a guest star who probably won't be there for too many more curtain calls. They are a few musical numbers and a cannon short of the real thing, I figure.

I had started to refer to Jason as Kermit, since he's really the host and the boss of the place... plus, he does sort of speak in the same sort of pace as Kermit. Ha ha ha... it was the perfect fit. It made for a good reference in the e-mails with Kelly, when I was still able to e-mail.

I will check and see if my e-mail will work again, but I don't think it will. Fingers are crossed.

My Canucks look like they're shaping up quite well. The Sedin twins have signed on for the next campaign, it is understood that Dan Cloutier will accept his qualifying offer and Mattias Ohlund has gone to arbitration, which should end fairly. As it stands, there should be enough money to pick up a couple more free agents that would add a little more scoring punch behind the big line.

Chelsea opens the season against Wigan this weekend. The title defense starts and hopefully its as big as a rollover as everyone expects. The pre-season friendlies all seemed to go well and it looks like Drogba has found his stride in the early parts of the year. I think they're in good shape for a proper defense of the Premiership and a good European run. I might get myself to a pub that has Sportsnet this weekend to catch some Premiership football or maybe go live at Rob & Michelle's since they have all the sports channels. Ha ha.

Keep those photo submissions coming in. The first few have been awesome. I still have a fair bit of battery power left, so I might back to Hohmann's submission, because that one is a trick and a half.

So, at that... I will sign off this morning's submission. Over and out!

Today's Submissions

Well, the gang back in England had to send me a group pic for the Sherpa to climb in on. The annual boat party on the Thames was the backdrop for the Dirty Hairy Mouth crew and now the Sherpa.

Now, this photo has absolutely slayed me all day when I saw it arrive at work. The President of the Pat Angello Fan Club, Pat Angello, submitted this photo of his niece with Tommy Chong. How awesome is that? The Sherpa is hanging out in a photo with Tommy Chong.

Mark of the Blog of Hohmann fame has also made a submission... but it will be a long while before I finish that one. Hopefully that one turns out just as well as these two. I'm loving this photo idea.

Stay tuned for a crap day at work.

Have Your Photo With A Sherpa

I want to re-iterate my idea of modifying great pictures and making them even greater by placing the Opiated Sherpa in them.

Send me your picturesque photos of great places and/or nights out and let the Sherpa join in the fun. If your picture is used, it will be rotated as the header for Tales of the Opiated Sherpa and the modified original will be sent back to you as a glorious keepsake. Not to mention, you'll probably get a good mention on the webpage as well.

Come one, come all... join in the Sherpa Photo Revolution! Run, don't walk!

Here is what's already been submitted... link link link

DISCLAIMER: The Opiated Sherpa will not claim any ownership over any original photos. This is only for fun and a good laugh. The Opiated Sherpa is generally bored and would like to fill a bit of his time by making mock photos to provide entertainment to the masses. That is all.

Welcome Back Bertuzzi!!

I don't suppose this really worked, but "Welcome Back, Todd!" The dream of most Canucks fans this off-season was the re-signing of Naslund and the re-instatement of Bertuzzi and now we have both. I smell a Cup run coming on, don't you?

He's paid the price for his actions and justly so, although I wouldn't have been upset at an excess 10 to 20 games further suspension... but I'm not complaining that he's back. Not only that, he's invited to the Team Canada Olympic Camp which starts next week... how do you like your Olympics? Golden.

Oh what a great day for hockey in general as well... I'll tell you, with the dire straits the game is supposed to be in before it gets going, big Bertuzzi will bring two things to the game... excitement off the ice and controversy on the ice... and we all know how people love controversy. Love him or hate him, he'll be talked about... and the more he's talked about, the more people will tune in. He'll be a media magnet and hopefully by next June... it'll be for helping to lead the Canucks on a massive playoff run. Oh yeah, don't forget Canada's Golden February as well.

Welcome back, Todd! Let's win some games, eh!

Monday.

Finally, I'm in the office this morning. Chris didn't show up at 8:30am as he normally does, I had to stand outside for a half hour as Justin finally arrived just before 9am. Only then did I find out that Chris wasn't going to be in today and I could have probably spent that extra half hour adding to my caffiene fix.

I've had about 5 or 6 cups of coffee this morning and I really didn't need it. I slept really well, off in dream land. Granted, I was dreaming about work between midnight and 2:30am this morning. Sick. I didn't want to be closing sales in my sleep, to be perfectly honest. So, when I woke up at about 2:30, I tried to get myself onto a new genre of dreams and I think I began to dream about the desert island a bit and then a couple non-memorable dreams as well.

There's a couple things on my plate this morning, including some pricing for network cable and video cards. The video card pricing will be a couple calls to Ontario this morning, including my new favourite person to call, Rachel, at one of our suppliers in Markham. She's a pleasant voice to talk to on the other end of the phone, so I am sort of looking forward to that.

Anyways, I'm hoping for a little more luck on the e-mail or getting a call or two on my cell phone for more employment. That'd be tops on the old wish list this morning. An e-mail would be best, then I could just send it off without having to say anything out loud while I'm at work.

So, off I go... fingers crossed for a good day today.

Feelin' The Writing Roll

Don't be fooled... there's a couple posts from this Sunday night. Somehow tonight is a good night for Blogging.

Another quiet night at the Corley household in Langdon tonight. There's just nothing really going on at all. Dad's showing his age by the amount of time he's in front of the TV and Mom has been agonizing from her day in the garden... so neither were doing too much. There still isn't a whole lot for me to do here in the middle of nowhere... I would go to the bar, but I bet it's super-quiet there. Anyways... I'm here with you guys.

On the MP3 player tonight, the John Butler Trio. A great Aussie Blues band... thanks to Lars for bringing that CD back from down under. It's super-cool. I recommend picking up this album the way you normally would... buying, downloading... whatever. The album is called Sunrise Over Sea.

Well, like I said... it's quiet here in Langdon, but don't get me too terribly wrong. I dream for the loneliness (or mild gathering to accompany me) of the desert island. In civilization, there seems to be a longing just to have some sort of social contact because it is around me. I have this strange lonliness that would disappear if I knew I wasn't anywhere close to civilization. In the civilization I live in now, there is life's little conveniences that I take advantage of, because I can and I tend to enjoy them more often than not. Nevertheless, if I was working hard for me to keep myself alive, I think I would enjoy that so much more. I think the fulfillment from survival would be greater than the conveniences of today.

I suppose I would miss my collection of Sony items, but if my oblivion of the social world were to exist, I would dispose of them to others... more than likely to fund my trek all the way around the world to get to my destination. I should really download that Google Earth to find myself a destination of desire. I can research and find my happy little island. Oh, to feel the white sands between my toes when I finally reach the beach... and the realization of a different kind of freedom... it would probably make my heart explode in joy, causing some sort of ironic coronary. Ha!

free·dom noun Definitions: 1. ability to act freely: a state in which somebody is able to act and live as he or she chooses, without being subject to any undue restraints or restrictions 2. release from captivity or slavery: release or rescue from being physically bound, or from being confined, enslaved, captured, or imprisoned 3. country's right to self-rule: a country's right to rule itself, without interference from, or domination by, another country or power 4. right to act or speak freely: the right to speak or act without restriction, interference, or fear 5. absence of something unpleasant: the state of being unaffected by, or not subject to, something unpleasant or unwanted 6. ease of movement: the ability to move easily without being limited by something such as tight clothing or lack of space 7. right to occupy place: the right to use or occupy a place and treat it as your own 8. honorary citizenship: citizenship of a town or city, together with special privileges, formally awarded to somebody as an honor 9. frankness: openness and friendliness in speech or behavior 10. excessive confidence or familiarity: overconfidence, overfamiliarity, or a lack of proper restraint or decorum 11. philosophy free will: the ability to exercise free will and make choices independently of any external determining force

You know, I think freedom is an overly excercised word these days. I love the idea of freedom... or the definitions of freedom, some more than others. Thanks to Encarta again for the quoted meaning of freedom. I honestly believe that the first definition of freedom, "ability to act freely," would be best if it was available to everyone. This is another reason why I love the idea of the life on the desert island... it's a grand dream, but I like to keep a lot of hope in it. I am slowly losing my hope in this world, rather I am quite resigned to the bad news that occurs. For every group who believes that they can make bad things good again, take the evil out of the world, still with all their effort... there are new evils and recurring old evils everyday.

Side-tangent quickly... I can't believe the amount of effort put on the likes of anti-gay marriages and political arguments over 3 sq. km in the North (between Canada and Denmark) when this effort could be so better placed into research to cure the incurables. It's like using a flashlight at noon, when it could be so better used at midnight. Stop wasting your energy, people... use it for practical advantages!

Would it be so bad if anarchy was to strike the world? It would probably be pretty bad, I suppose. Humanity has probably come way too far to benefit from a global anarchy... too many angry people with access to large instruments of destruction. You'd probably have to be really lucky if you were to survive the initial breakdown of the world.

Is it possible to think that the tribal culture has become too big for it's own good then? I mean, Europe and Asia were known throughout history to be very tribal. The Mongols, the Ottomans and I guess I would even consider the Romans to be all the tribal cultures of the past. And I mean tribes by their willingness to govern and protect themselves. The tribes have now become so big and encapsulated so much that a harsh breakdown maybe a bit better.

Couldn't we dissolve the unity that was built amongst the Global world and amass ourselves in smaller sub-cultures or tribes, therefore we could move again to sustain or grow each tribe. The world could segregate itself into people's own sub-cultures only to be fending for their own beliefs and try to create happiness for themselves.

Wouldn't you think that if a group of people who were anti-abortion were segregated from themselves, taking in their own, would be happy amongst a tribe of people who would perform abortions on their women and unborn children?

A tribe of feminists could live in their own Utopia of very few men... only keeping them as slaves (which could be an accepted sub-culture of man-slaves, who'd probably enjoy it as much as the feminists) for procreation. How happy would they be when they'd dominate their own tribe?

Unfortunately, there is very little space in the world for this sort of theory. Would the heavy metal rockers invade Seattle, the turf of the grungers... or some other theoretical genre/tribe war? Where would every group reside? Would individual outcasts arise? The grey areas alone would cause so much chaos. Parents and their teenagers would find themselves on opposite sides of the fences... more families would be broken up... but everyone would find their way to their own personal freedom of beliefs amongst their brethern.

It's just opened so many avenues of thought for me right now... it's quite cool. The illusion of freedom would also be veiled in the eyes of certain tribes, as they would be subject to their own restraints and restrictions. I would wager that some tribes would find themselves trying to be more free... having the freedom for murder and revenge. To live like the animals in the wild... that would be an interesting tribe, eh? To be the hunter and the hunted at the same time... always something around the next corner. Would you survive?

Well, my 50 minutes of writing has served me well again tonight. I am pretty thought out at the moment... so, I will leave on these notes. And the CD is almost over too... but I'm sure I would have moved onto something else if it finished. Ha ha...

How Do You Like It?

Thanks to Sue in Wormingford for the great picture. The LHT Urban Bar in Whitechapel, London is the setting for the great Opiated Sherpa's conquest of the world. It isn't a great landmark or anything, but it looks great and he looks pretty cool in the doorway there. It's great what Photoshop can do, eh?

Today, I spent quite a bit of time trying to get my Mom's PC up and running again properly. Dewey, the lovebird parrot, had chewed through the cable of her serial port mouse. Well, I knew it was going to be really tough to find another one of those kinds of mice these days in stores, with everything now moved onto USB and what not. So yesterday, we went out and got a USB card and mouse for the machine. Now with how old this machine is now, it's no wonder that I've been having a lot of trouble with it all day. So I'm currently sitting in front of the PC while I write this and let it scan, re-install, boot up again and so on and so forth. Nothing really exciting here.

It was sort of a lost day in all today. The young and rambunctious me that roamed around England for a couple years is slowly creeping back into it's box, waiting for another time and place to come out and greet the world again. Hopefully, that'll be sooner rather than later.

I hadn't really been doing any more consideration of how much I'm liking the new job. In actual fact, I've been doing more searching for more in the Graphic Design area again. I sent a few more resumes today as well... fingers crossed there.

The neighbourhood was really quiet today. Didn't see Rob at all. I know he wass supposed to be out and about all day, so I wasn't really too surprised. I'm thinking maybe I should be concentrating more on my writing if I'm not being too social at the minute. Hey, you never know when you keep practicing, right? Right.

I'm hoping that my header collection will be quite big... then my Photoshop skills will increase as well. If someone can do neat things on Photoshop, then they shouldn't be unemployed (or employed at a less favourable position) for too long, eh?

Looks like Roger put up some more quality photos on Dirty Hairy Mouth this evening as well. A couple parties included on there, which I really wish I was at. They looked like great fun.

Chelsea beat Arsenal today for the Community Shield. Go on, you Blues!

Anyways... best be cleaning up the old clunker of a PC. Enjoy the new header and send me more, eh!

A Boring Saturday Night...

Well, I'm bored. I don't have a whole lot to go on tonight... I was sort of hoping that Rob, the neighbour down the street would be up for going to the bar tonight... but he wasn't. Oh well. So tonight, you guys get me.

I did get a whole lot more sun today... I think I burnt my forehead again. It's such an easy place to burn. Always in the way of those damned rays, eh.

I have come up with a neat idea... Be pictured with the Sherpa. On nights like these, I will normally find myself a little light in the ol' schedule, so if you fee the need... please submit a picture of yourself or someone in general to pose with my Sherpa character. Then the ones I select can be my heading logo at the top of the page for a while. That'd be fun, eh? I'll then send all my winners the full photograph with the Sherpa edited in and you can frame it and hang it on your wall. For all those looking for dates on this webpage, just imagine how many interesting conversations you'd have with the Opiated Sherpa as your buddy, framed on the wall!

I do encourage that sort of behaviour... I was going to do one of myself posing with my Sherpa, but I just haven't gotten around to it. I think I'll do it when I'm in front of a landmark or something. Actually, if you have a landmark where you live... send a picture of that, with or without you or someone else... and that could be my heading picture for a while. That'd be neat, eh?

What else could I go on about tonight?

I've stopped getting credits on my Blog Exchange sites. I'm waiting for a few of them to run down to zero before I start again. I want to see how many are coming via dating keywords and actual readers. Blog Soldiers still probably has a 1,000 credits still available to me, so I'll be waiting a while. Being employed now means that I don't have the time I used to do gain all those credits. I kind of wish that a few of my referrals would start surfing a lot more, then I wouldn't have to period. I have 16 people who signed up on my referral link and the highest amount of credits from one them received is 23.7. What's that about? Oh well... I'm sure I gave a few people a ton of credits if I signed up underneath them.

I've checked most of my Exchanges now... they're pretty much dry. Blog Soldiers still has lots left, but now I have banner impressions and text link impressions to give away, so I'll do that with my excess credits. I hope my readership grows a bit.

Things haven't been quite as exciting as they were before while I was in England. Hopefully my drama with the job will keep you guys intrigued for a while. There isn't much for women on the horizon... I guess if I went to the bar tonight it would have made something for conversation. Unfortunately, my hours at the job don't really get me out to Joey Tomatos as much as I thought I would be able to get there. My buddy, Kelly, is not impressed with the hours. I think it's just a tease now that I'm home that we can't really drink together.

I've really taken quite a few steps down the social ladder since coming home. It just isn't the same... here I'm doing sweet fuck all as when I was in England, my weekends usually had something involved. Man, I miss it so much. The guys tried calling me again tonight, but either my reception or their reception was pretty bad tonight, 'cuz I couldn't hear them at all. Plus, I was throwing horseshoes with Rob for an hour tonight.

Man, do I suck at horseshoes. Dad clocked me 3 times today and Rob did the same to me this evening. I wouldn't think it's that tough to throw a horseshoe the same way once you've ringed it around the pole once, but I just can't find my rhythm at all. Oh well, it's all in fun anyways... I'm a pretty good loser as it is.

In my sports news... only 60 days until the puck drops on the regular season of the NHL. The Pittsburgh Penguins are making a splash in the Free Agent pool again with the signing of Zigmund Palffy. Another good scorer to the Pens means that they're a team that wants to win next season. They'll look good and quite possibly have a playoff run in the future.

My Canucks are now in need of re-signing their Restricted Free Agents, the Sedin twins and Dan Cloutier and then use some of their cap room for one more big signing. The layout of the game has changed and there are a lot of teams that are getting some depth now that the cap allows them to afford it. Vancouver needs one more key winger still to be huge after missing out on Kariya on the wing and Scott Niedermayer in defense. Teemu Selanne still sounds good to me. He'd look good with the twins, I'm sure.

Rick Nash, one of my (now) perrennial favourites is signing back on with the Columbus Blue Jackets. This guy is gold, people. I will do my damndest to get him on my hockey pool team this year. He's worth the $5+ million a year he's reportedly signed...

Not a great deal in the news I'd comment on tonight... maybe tomorrow.

Otherwise, I could update you on a few things... but there really isn't a lot to update, I guess. I greatly encourage a picture of someone or something to join my Sherpa on a picture. It'd be really neat and I hope you guys do it. Then you'll have a marker to come back to. I would love to find the coding for a random header each time the page loads... I have a few already and I would love to make more. Send them in!!

Thanks for coming and having a read, eh!

Dating?!? Who Needs That?

Good morning my little online daters... how goes the hunt for married love in the UK today? The keywords keep on coming and I keep on laughing. It makes me wonder if all of these people are actually reading bits and pieces of the site when come and visit. I wish I had a better stat provider for that sort of thing. Anyways, I thought I would pass on some more laughs today. The last ten search keywords that brought people to my site... "dating agency for married," "totally free dating," "dating agencys," "Online Lonely Hearts Ads," "mature personals" twice, "tales tight," "dateing agencys," "Scottish personals" and finally... "Married dating uk."

Fantastic. A question does come to mind though... when is dating "totally free?" I mean, unless your date is an avid hiker through the woods, you'd still need to buy water or bring a picnic basket full of food.

Well, I'm not quite in the mood to post something long this morning... not a great deal to jibe on about.

I will thank the gang who last night called me outside the Arts Centre in Colchester via Lars' mobile... thanks guys! I miss you all too.

Bombed!

Oh my... I was wrecked last night (as you might have been able to judge yourself by the picture down below). It was a mad rush to get home from work to get onto the ball diamond last night. Got home in a generous amount of time... 15 minutes before 'Play Ball!'

Dad gave me a lift after I got changed and he dropped me off then headed home. I warmed up a bit with Bruce and then realized I had enough time to actually go pick up some beer from the liquor store right across the street.

I picked up another case of Mountain Crest, 12 cans for $14, and made it back to the diamond in record time.

Since I didn't have anything to eat and I was really thirsty... I got drunk REALLY fast. I was almost useless on the field by the end... I had a horrible game at bat and I wasn't really dazzling at short, but I didn't cost us anything either.

We won in the end, which was awesome. The whole team played great last night... 'cept for me, of course. I don't know what the actual score was at all... but we won!

Afterwards, in my newly drunken state... Todd invited me over to his for a few more beers and a game of pool. Where I continued to get even more wrecked. Ha ha ha.

As we passed by the folks' house, the door was still open... so I yelled from Todd's motorbike as we went passed to 'keep the door open.' When I got home, the door was open and Mom was still lying on the couch half-asleep. Ha ha ha... I couldn't believe that it actually worked.

I was glad to see my new Chelsea home shirt had arrived too... as you might have, again, already guessed... woo hoo!!

Too bad it isn't professional looking enough to wear to work on casual days... ha ha ha. I was thinking about wearing it underneath... but didn't. It's gonna be a hot one here in Calgary, so I decided against it.

Ha ha ha ha... back to work!

Look What I Got Today...

Let's Go You Blues!

Absolute Muppets!

I have my good days and I have my annoying days... which I suppose could be considered as bad days. I am quickly learning that my social skills and social expectations of work do not correspond with those of the nerd variety.

Yes, I Blog and I know my way around a computer just fine. From time to time I am able to help people out with their questions and I generally can logically think things through. For that I think I could be considered somewhat of a geek. Sure, admitted... it's fine.

On the flip side though, I LOVE to party and interact with people. I like to go to the bars, clubs and be out in the sun. I like to play sports. I enjoy bunking off of work early to go sit on a patio and oggle lovely girls while guzzling beer.

I have trouble believing that the guys I work with enjoy the same thing. I have trouble believing that the whole non-retail conglomerate of IT people enjoy those things. Like I was ranting on Saturday... I was expected to stay in the office until 6pm on a Friday afternoon before a long weekend.

Today, was a pretty decent day. Jason and Justin were showing me more stuff to get along with in my job and a lot of it was the technical bits of sales and ordering, which is fine. I don't have any problems with the logistics of the job. I was getting along okay. They were showing me things, I was learning things and I was implementing what I was learning as well as asking some questions along the way. All part of the learning curve.

At about quarter to six, the two of them come into the office and all of a sudden I was being asked how I was finding the job and they were telling me their concerns. Now, like I said... I get along well with the logistics of the job and they agreed. My quotes are fine. My ability to search for parts is good. The technical parts of the job were fine.

But...

But Jason was still hesitant on giving me customers to work with. Guess why... 'cuz I "disappeared" on Friday afternoon around 5:30pm.

Well, I didn't exactly "disappear," I had notified Justin that my ride was leaving town and well... it's my ride to the middle of nowhere. It's not like I can walk and there are no buses. Lay a fucking guilt trip on me, why don't ya.

So, I told them... the job is pretty good. I enjoy the work, but I'm not a big fan of these hours. All I got were blank nods and stares... "so, what can we do to help you? We know you get dropped off early, but how does it look to customers who rely on you if you're not there?"

Now, the office opens at 9am... I'm not expected to work until 9:30am and then expected to leave at 6pm. Now this wouldn't be a problem if I was self-sufficient at transportation, but I'm not... yet. This sort of brings me back to my nerd point that I started with... 9am to 6pm. What kind of hours are those? They're nerd hours. They don't get out of bed until who knows when and they don't know that there is a world to live in until the weekend... where they just spend the time coding and playing games in the basement until who knows when or until they have to back to work on Monday.

So, these nerds will work until 6pm or later... because the rest of them are. Jason said to me in this meeting this afternoon, "most of our customers make their orders late on Friday, because they're stragglers."

I'll tell ya, my head was just filled of sharp nerd jabs I could have hit back with, but it isn't quite the best idea to insult the guy who signs your paycheques when you don't have another job to fall back on.

You've got to be kidding though... who makes orders after 5pm on a Friday? Seriously... who in their right mind, especially if it's a gorgeous Friday afternoon before a long weekend. I couldn't care less how much the phone would be ringing... all the sales guys I've ever known were probably doing something else other than selling in those times of great leisure. Nope... not at Millennium.

I worked through lunch today... just 'cuz. I could have gotten something to eat and sat with them and talked about whatever they were chatting about... but nah... I just don't really relate to them at all. They don't talk about sports or good times with friends. Not even the news crosses their conversations.

Tomorrow, I'm heading over to the cafe that I go to in the mornings for my half hour. Dad made a good point, I really shouldn't stick it out in the office through lunch. I need my time away. Granted, I might get some sort of speech about it. I only say that, because I found a rough copy of the resignation letter of the guy who was doing the job before me. On it he said that he wanted his demands met or he'd be forced to resign. The reasons were as follows:

• He wanted $3,000 take home a month.
• To be able to leave the office during lunch.
• He would like to work earlier hours... he would come in early to work it out.

It doesn't seem to me to be too much to ask... except for maybe the money. I am beginning to wonder what I'm truly up against and I don't think I'm the only one who has had this problem with this company. This Brayden fella probably was made of the different social cloth that these nerds were cut from and wasn't able to justify the work through the demands of time.

So my concerns were met with blank stares and not much resolution. The difference between philosophies does concern me greatly... and something needs to be done. I really wish some of these Graphic Design jobs would have called me back still. I'm still willing to listen! The more and more I think about this sales job, the more I dislike what it may get me into. The work is fine, but it may start killing little pieces of my resistance until I am a nerdy drone and enjoy working more hours than I should.

There is a little piece of me that hopes that they find this Blog, get offended and kindly ask me to pack up my stuff. I wouldn't even ask for a reason. I would just assume and walk out with some diginity. But until I have something I can jump right into, I don't think I'll be burning many bridges just yet. I wonder if they could see that in my eyes or in my haste to get out of the office tonight.

With this meeting, I was another 10 minutes late to get out of the office. My ride was waiting outside, when he's expecting to be gone when he gets there at 6pm... after he's spent an extra hour in his office to accomodate me. Talk about guilt. He also made a good point... what if I was asked or had to stay later than 6pm to accomodate a customer. What then? Are they gonna pay for a taxi for me to get home? Are they gonna drive me to the middle of nowhere? Probably not. They asked what could they do to help me out in this sort of situation and I said well, if you're not gonna buy me a car, then probably nothing. The humour and cynicism went straight over their heads.

Absolute muppets, they are. Will someone please find this Blog and sign me to a liveable book contract? Please?

In other news today... I am so glad that Markus Naslund signed back on with the Canucks today. The Canucks still have lots of cap room and I'm hoping for Scott Niedermayer to sign on... or perhaps another talented forward who can quarterback the power play. Paul Kariya comes to mind. There is still lots of talented scoring wingers out there too... Teemu Selanne, Ziggy Palffy, Peter Bondra and John LeClair are out there. A big center like Chris Gratton would be a good grinding fit for the team. With Bertuzzi still signed on, Naslund back in the fold, the Sedin twins waiting for their new deals, Jovo on the blueline and Cloutier in goal... the Canucks are the contenders from the West, I have to believe.

But the Flyers in the East have done themselves a lot of good during the first few days of Free Agency. Peter Forsberg, Mike Rathje, Derian Hatcher, Chris Therien... all are huge quality signings for a team that already has a punch with Sami Kapanen, Keith Primeau, Joni Pitkanen and the soon to be departed (allegedly) Jeremy Roenick. The Flyers have put a lot of expensive eggs in their basket, but it could be a good mix. They do have the Bruins to contend with in the East, I figure... they're building a good team. Once Joe Thornton is re-signed and the possibility of Alexei Zhamnov in as well... the additions of Brian Leetch, Brad Isbister, Shawn McEacheran look pretty good.

It's gonna be a fun year! I can't wait. Anyways... I could talk hockey for just about ever, but I won't. Those are my two cents tonight. There are probably some other things to do tonight before I hit the hay... like start sending my resume out again. And probably fold some laundry. Yeah, that's it.

I should also be getting my new Chelsea shirt tomorrow! Woo hoo! There will definitely be a picture if it is here for sure!

Opiated Sherpa Matchmaking!

This is blowing my mind... I'm getting all sorts of online date searches ending up here. I've really got to investigate what's going on. And I wish I could see more people spell "dating" correctly. My top search to find the Tales is "dateing" on MSN. Then it's "mature dating" and "dateing" on Google...

This morning, I've found someone looking through the Virgin search engine for "forces dating" and somehow it ended up with me. I checked and looked through the first 7 pages of results or so and I didn't see my page at all. How far are these people looking?

I would love to help... heck, if you want a date... you should list with me! The Opiated Sherpa will start matchmaking for lonely hearts on the internet. Yeah, that's great... and I'll make it free too! Send me a photo and your vitals and I'll put you through Opiated Sherpa shaker and hopefully your match will e-mail me too and VOILA! A match made by me.

How does that sound?

No?

Well, don't look for love here then. Unless it's me... heh heh.

I Couldn't Find A Title

You know, I haven't been posting a lot of photos of late... there really hasn't been much for good photo opportunities as I was used to having I guess. I should try a bit more, but I'm not really seeing exciting things. Some of you guys should give me some ideas for some pictures... I'd be up for the challenge! This one here was my time-killer on the weekend... a hockey stick, tennis ball and an open net. It was a pretty slow weekend, but it was in the sun, so I can't complain too greatly. I did work on my tan a little bit more!

Well, not a lot of takers for my dating idea. But someone was nice enough to leave a link for another singles site behind... ha ha... sarcasm just goes over the heads of some people, eh?

I suppose the big topic that is sort of lingering in my mind is my folks. My sister and I were talking about it a bit this evening and as much as it isn't the biggest surprise in the world, it is still kind of shocking. Mom and Dad haven't really been seeing eye to eye for a while now, but we both agreed that it really hasn't been this bad.

The two of them aren't really talking a great deal and Dad said it has been like this for about 3 weeks. I suppose it has been documented already in this post here... that there was somewhat of a "domestic" issue while we sat at Joey's after my interview at Millennium. Well, the fall-out of that has sort of continued and they really aren't saying much to each other. But they are saying things to me... Mom has it in her head that she could go immediately if Dad said she should and Dad has no idea what Mom is thinking.

I think the way to solve the problem would be for them to actually talk it out. If this sort of thing was happening to me, I would think I would be going nuts if I was unsure and scared of what was about to happen. I would have to say something... I would find it hard to play the ignorant ear. But in my situation, do I force the conversation upon them or convince one of them to bring this up? I think the latter should be done, because this dark cloud that is now lingering over the house, is really making life inside quite awkward.

I don't really think that I have a great deal of protest if they have decided that they've grown apart. This isn't going to be a major "domestic dispute" which involves any abuse or violence... but if they amicably say that they've grown apart, then you know... that's what some people do. I can't really argue with it, because who am I to say that it wouldn't happen to me? I sure as hell don't know... I can't keep a relationship for over a month and a half, I'm not exactly setting an example for belief.

This dark cloud has to be resolved though. If either one approach me to moan again, I'll probably bring it up. I think it's fair just to say that they should be talking to each other and not me.

Tegan and I also made mention of how proud we've been to say that our parents have stayed together... today's life makes our parents somewhat special... especially if they sort it all out. I hope they do... I would still like to brag about having parents who are still together. But I think bragging that I have a happy Mom & Dad, regardless of being together or not, would make me a bit more happy. You can't brag about misery, can you?

Aren't you guys special tonight... I've posted a second pic! That's the front door of the office at Millennium. I guess there are a few more photo worthy opportunities, eh? Sometimes I do feel a little embarassed carrying a camera around and looking like a tourist... but sometimes it just has to happen.

Today wasn't a bad day at work. I had a few more quotes to prepare for Justin and Jason got me reading about the Microsoft Windows XP Media Center PC's that we are looking to stock soon. That was all really good reading today and somewhat interesting. There will be a list of our general clients that we will lend out demo machines to in order for them to get an idea before they sell them on to their customers. These machines are quite interesting for those who love their PC, stereo and DVD players. Kind of wraps it all into one machine.

That was pretty much my day today. Nothing really special or interesting. Oh yeah, I've been writing this in bed! I love the wireless network again... now that it works again! Woo hoo! It's a damn shame it drains the battery having the card working all the time or else I might be able to write a lot more.

Anyways, I think that'll be it from me. This post is probably long enough... now, I need a title.

Welcome to My Dating Site

Now for some odd reason, the search engine hits are still bringing people, mostly "mature" people who are looking for dates, more than likely in the UK. I don't know what it is... it could very well be my Google ad code down at the bottom of the page, but I'm not too sure.

Only in the past week, have I got my counter back up and running from a couple weeks off and the statistics are really boggling my mind. In the past 7.5 days, I have had everybody under the sun looking for a date on my site. There was even a few hits from www.mates4dates.co.uk. Did somebody sign me up for that service or something? It's the only way I can think of that would have people from that site visit mine.

Anyways... I guess if you're looking for a date, I suppose you can ask. I probably won't be dating in the UK any time soon, but maybe... just maybe, I know enough people to help you out in your search.

Dating isn't what the Opiated Sherpa generally leads people into, but if that's where the kudos are... then count me in!

This has been a Public Service Announcement from the Opiated Sherpa.

Good News/Bad News

Well, I don't what to say in my drunken state this evening... I guess there are a few things I could write about, but I don't really feel like getting into too much detail. I can't really elaborate on it all, but I'll do my best at putting out the major points for the moment.

Good news: I started driving stick again.
Good news: The NHL draft went off on Saturday.
Good news: I'm still employed.
Bad news: I don't know how long my parents are going to stay together.
Good news: Ummmmm... I might have a good car to buy.
Bad news: It was a pretty lame weekend.
Good news: I think I might have evened out my tan a little bit in the warm weather.
Good news: It was so hot this weekend... minimum of 27 degrees as a high this weekend.
Bad news: Whatever money I have left from England has dried up.
Good news: I have my wireless network connection sussed out again.
Good news: I hung out with Rob, a guy in the neighbourhood, for a while, including the Draft... there were beers involved... good news!
Bad news: The Canucks haven't given me immediate hope as of yet... c'mon guys!
Bad news: I'm serious, my parents are really on the verge of the big split.

Anyways... that's a good news/bad news recap of the weekend. I'm sure I can recap a bit better when I feel a little more sober. I thought I'd be able to do it tonight, but the beers were available on a hot day. It's all good to me.