make it known by the curling librarian

#Curling on TV...or Not: Grand Slam

2012-01-24T17:46:00.002-07:00

Scandal rocked the curling world last week.

Ok, maybe that's a bit dramatic, but the news was actually schocking: CBC has dropped their coverage of the Grand Slam events.

What's shocking about this is that The Curling News had just broken a story about Sportsnet picking up coverage of the round robin games (CBC only ever did the quarter/semi/finals - hence my rants about coverage on BOLD). Yay! More curling on tv!

Who knew the bottom was about to fall out.

And then, with just a week until the next Grand Slam, The National, in Dawson Creek BC, CBC announced they were out. There's rumour about them not being paid. There's rumour Sportsnet is picking up everything. There's rumour there will be no coverage. There's rumour the circuit is in jeopardy. Rumour rumour rumour. The announcement can be found here, and Bob Weeks has a bit of a reflection here.

So is it on TV? Who knows. Latest news from Al Cameron's blog is possibly the weekend finals - but even that's a long shot.

The event is still going ahead, with or without TV coverage. It runs from January 25-29. Teams include: Bawel, Cotter, Edin, Fowler, Gushue, Howard, King, Koe, Laycock, Martin, McEwen, Petryk, Pierce, Rumfeldt, Schlender, Stoughton, Ulsrud, and Virtue. Some of those teams have travelled pretty far to get to the event - who knew they'd be flying into a huge snafu. What a shame, because they're good teams too and I was looking forward to watching some curling this weekend!

There are so many repercussions to CBC bowing out. The Slams affect points for other events such as the Olympic Trials. CBC leaving not only puts this practice into jeopardy, but certainly wont help grow the sport. Sure, there's tons of (fantastic) coverage on TSN, and maybe soon Sportsnet, but now folks can't watch curling unless they pay for an sports cable package. That makes me sad.

Anyways, I'm not enough in the know to make any sort of valid comment on this. Suffice to say it'll be an interesting week/end.

For now, looks like we're following linescores...

#Curling Volunteering: Hanging Out At My Club

2012-01-22T17:00:00.002-07:00

There was recently post on the Canadian Curling Association's website titled: Around the House: Resolve to Do More at Your Curling Club. Jean Mills has some good tips for helping out your club, including everything from thanking your ice maker, to buying a new gripper, to volunteering. Wait...curling volunteering?

Yep. I do that.

Sure, I do the big events (27 days until the Scotties!) but I also hang out at my club. A lot. I'm there twice a week curling for starters, but I also volunteer from time to time.

Because I love it.

A couple weeks ago my club, Jasper Place Curling Club, hosted the Edmonton Men's zone 1-6 Playdowns. Sounds unexciting, but remember Edmonton is home to some pretty stellar curlers. Sure, Martin and Koe have already qualified for Alberta Provincials, but there were still a few well known names at JPCC that weekend - including Appelman, Park and Ferbey. Yep, I was there to watch Ferbey get knocked out of the run to the Brier.

Appelman on the left, in Oilers colours.

Ferbey on the right, in a strange combination of beige and purple.

What do I do when I hang out at the club during these events? Usually post linescores online, answer the phone, tweet a little, watch the curling on the ice, watch the curling on the tv, chat to the club staff, chat to spectators, learn about the culture of local curling and the organizations involved - yep, I generally have a nice, low key, relaxing time.

A couple years ago I quit Sunday curling. I got my weekend back. It was relaxing. Fast forward to now* and on a Sunday you'll probably find me at JPCC setting up rocks for the wheelchair curlers that practice Sunday afternoons. After the most wonderful week volunteering at the 2011 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship, it didn't take much to convince me to come help out a couple Sunday's a month. Mostly I set up rocks for the curlers, sometimes I hold the broom, usually I spend two hours yakking with an awesome and often hilariously funny group of people. I look forward to it.

This past weekend, JPCC held the Alberta Wheelchair Curling Championship. Edmonton put in two teams, made up of the same people I hang out with on Sundays, the reigning champs came up from Calgary, and a new team came from Lethbridge. I was only able to be there Thursday night and Friday, as I had to work Saturday (darn, missed the semis and final and banquet!) but as usual I had a great time. I did pretty much the same thing as for the cities (linescores, phones, chat chat chat) but it was extra fun because I knew the teams and the coaches etc. Fun times.

Calgary won. Again. One of these years we'll get'em! In the meantime I hope they go to nationals and bring back the title of Canadian champs to Alberta! I also hope the club manager hosts more events in the future because I'm kinda liking the routine!

This may not sound like the most exciting way to spend a weekend, but I really love just hanging out at the club. Someone asked me at one point if I felt at home at JPCC - most definitely yes. It does feel like home. The curling people there feel like my people. For better or for worse, they're not going to be able to get rid of me now! I'm a bit of an odd duck for sure, but hey, there are few places I would rather be on a cold day in January!

*Seriously as I'm typing this I get a call from my Team Tuesday third asking if I'll spare for his team at another club tonight. It's becoming a regular occurrence. So much for Sunday's off!

#Curling on TV: 2012 Continental Cup

2012-01-10T18:09:00.001-07:00

More curling on tv this weekend! And it's one of the most fun events of the year...the Continental Cup of Curling!!

This year the ContCup is in BC from January 12-15, 2012. It's a North America vs World event with a points system for each win. There will be men/women/mixed games, doubles, singles, and skins. My favourite is actually the singles (hot shots), not because it's the most exciting event, but because it's completely different from what you normally see on tv and it's cool to see the pros make the tough shots! It's also fun to watch the mixed events to see the teams mix up and play with different team members. The whole event is one big ball of fun for the curlers and you can tell they are having a great time on (and off!) the ice.

I like this event extra because I volunteered last year and it was amazing from all angles!! Catch up on my adventure and photos from last year. Curling volunteering - the gift that keeps on giving.

Teams this year are:
North America: Holland, Lawton, Lank, Howard, Stoughton, Fenson
World: Wang, Muirhead, Norberg, Brewster, Ulsrud, Edin

TSN is covering the whole thing (yay!!) so be sure to tune in at some point!

TSN TV Schedule, Mountain time

Thursday Jan. 12
9:30am Women's Team
2:00pm Mixed Doubles
7:30pm Men's Team

Friday Jan. 13

9:30am Women's Team

2:00pm Mixed Doubles

8:00pm Men's Team

Saturday Jan. 14

10:00am 'A' Skins

2:30pm Singles

7:30pm 'B' Skins

Sunday Jan. 15

11:30am Women's 'C' Skins

6:00pm Men's 'C' Skins

Times like this I wish I 'worked from home' (I'm actually home sick today and tomorrow but will be better by Thursday - and I don't get paid for sick days so can't afford to take anymore!). It's bound to be a fun event. Last year's was lopsided and North America steamrolled the world, but it was still a good time and I'm sure this year will be no different so be sure to tune in or go watch if you're in the area.

Oh the memories...

Volunteering for the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championship: Epilogue

2012-01-08T11:07:00.001-07:00

(Consider catching up on Part 1 and 2 first.)

My 2012 World Junior 50/50 volunteer gig has been over for a week. It certainly was hard going back to the real world afterwards! Luckily, there were still a couple #IWasThere moments to come...

Remember how I mentioned I had my photo taken in the fake locker room but it didn't get emailed to me? Well, it arrived the day after I posted that on my blog and here it is...

Ok, kinda neat actually. I'm not usually photogenic so it's a nice photo of me.

I also attended the volunteer appreciation party. We were supposed to all gather and cheer on our Canadian boys in the gold medal game. Well, that didn't happen - but I was proud of the team for getting the bronze and staging that comeback during the Russia semi anyways. Not having Canada in the final put a bit of a damper on the party though, and I almost didn't go. But, as I'd never attended a volunteer appreciation party like this before, and we were supposed to get a 'volunteer recognition gift', I figured I should make an appearance.

A friend and I arrived at the bar they were holding the party at a bit after puck drop - and there was no parking! I thought others might've skipped the party because Canada wasn't playing but I was wrong! The place was pretty packed, and most people did indeed wear their Canada gear.

First thing we did was get in the long line for the buffet. The food was a collection of appetizers representing all the countries in the competition. I can't quite remember what all was on offer, and it was all quite tasty, but by far the best thing was the pulled pork slider from Canada (really, that's a Canadian dish? whatever, it was yummy!). As a volunteer I also got a free drink, which I gave to my friend (who had to pay for her ticket).

After the first period, they drew numbers for door prizes, and a Don Cherry impersonator tried to entertain the crowd. I say 'tried' because most of the crowd really wasn't into his routine. At this point I picked up my 'volunteer recognition gift':

We received two branded granite coasters, a nice gift, maybe a bit unnecessary, but a nice thought anyways. I gave one to my hockey-loving friend and kept one for my kitchen. I think the "I Was There" marketing, and in fact the whole social media campaign of the event was a huge success. They really did a good job - I think people really got into it. Well done to the committees in charge of social media and marketing! Actually, well done to all the committees - they did a great job with the event in Edmonton! I read somewhere that Etown would probably get the event back in 2017 or 2019 so that's exciting - I know I'll be signing up to volunteer!

At this point in the evening we left to go down the block to the Boston Pizza to watch the Oilers lose, but kept an eye on the gold medal game also. Well done to Sweden for the win! We were certainly cheering for them so I'm glad they won. Apparently at the party they were going to do another two rounds of door prize draws, plus draw for a bit screen tv, a mountain bike and a jersey from each team. I gave my raffle tickets to a 50/50 volunteer who I saw on our way out. They were good prizes though - again, they did a good job organizing the party, even if it ended up being quite anticlimactic.

So that definitely wraps up my 50/50 volunteer experience at the World Juniors. It was all kinds of awesome. I would definitely volunteer for the event again. I done some looking into what other (non curling) sport events are coming to town soon, but unfortunately couldn't find anything. I know we're getting some FIFA Women's Soccer/Football games in 2015 so I'll try get on that committee. I have pretty good luck for a volunteer, so I'm sure something else will come up soon!

One last thing. Remember how I ran into that Canadian Curling Association employee and was expecting to "receive an email of great importance"? Well, I did. Looks like I'm on my way to being a director of some sort for the 2013 Brier to be held here in Edmonton. You have no idea how exciting this is for me...well, you will, because I'm going to blog all about it!

I strongly encourage you to volunteer for events or festivals or whatever. I totally love this type of volunteering (one off, short term). The people are awesome, the atmosphere is awesome, the whole experience is awesome. That's triple awesome - and I get to do it all again next month for the Scotties!!

#Curling on TV: 2012 TSN Skins Game

2012-01-06T09:28:00.000-07:00

Happy 2012 everyone! Let's start of the year with some curling on tv!

It's TSN Skins Game time. The line up is stellar, anyone could take it but I reckon Martin is probably the favourite (he's the defending champ, and has won it a bunch of times already). Skins play is a bit different (and I'll admit I'm not really a huge fan) so make sure you read the rules before you watch:

- Points/skin for each end goes up progressively as the game goes on.
- To win the points/skins, the team with the hammer has to score 2 OR the team without the hammer has to steal.
- If the team with the hammer only scores 1, or the end is blanked, the points/skins are carried over and added to the next end's points/skins.

Points can accumulate, and big ends for tons of points only add to the excitement!

So if you live in MT time zone like me you should check out the Battle of Edmonton at 11am on Saturday, then the Battle of Last Year's Brier at 6pm Saturday and finally the final for all the cash at 11am on Sunday!

Volunteering for the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championship: Part 2

2012-01-02T14:44:00.000-07:00

Awesome.

Amazing.

Crazy.

Lucky.

Ridiculous.

Those are some words that describe the incredible week I just spend volunteering for the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championship here in Edmonton. Catch up on how I ended up being a volunteer by reading Part 1.

So what did I get up to last week?

(Scroll through for photos too!)

Friday December 23, 2012: Canada vs Sweden Exhibition Game

My Oilers-season-ticket-hockey-loving friend and I decided it would be a pretty fantastic idea to spend $20 to watch the boys play an exhibition game. I'm so glad we ended up going because it was a really good time. Our tickets were in the 200 section. Usually we sit way up in the 300s so that alone was worth the trip out to Rexall. We kept comparing the view - I could actually see the numbers on their backs! Canada lost, but it was a fun game: the crowd was electric and loud and it was a sea of red. We figured the loss would keep the boys from getting over confident, and since we enjoyed ourselves and the view, the evening was a win for us.

Ceremonial puck drop before the game.

I got my volunteer accreditation before the game, and good thing too because I wasn't on their list so they had to call the volunteer head guy out. He looked at me, looked at my driver's license, said "Yeah, I remember her name." and they took my picture. It took about 15 minutes, so it was a good thing I did this before volunteering. I hoped this little snafu wasn't an omen for the week to come!

Monday December 26, 2012: Double Game Day

Today was my first real volunteer day. I was pretty excited, but had 'first day jitters' - I'm always a bit anxious until I figure out what's going on. I used my accreditation to get into Rexall via the Passgate (under the watchful eye of security) and headed to the volunteer lounge. They were using the ice school as the lounge. It's a long rectangular room on the second level of the arena. There was an area for coats, a tv which showed all the games, cramped tables and chairs, a food area, and a main desk. At the main desk we had to sign in for all our shifts.

To my surprise, the food area served more than just snacks! Every day I worked there was soup and sandwiches for lunch, pizza and wings for dinner, plenty of fruit/vegetable/dessert trays and hot/cold drinks. Perfect!! I ended up showing up just in time to eat lunch before my first shift, then had lunch/dinner in between games, and also grabbed a quick second dinner before going home after my last shift was done. It worked out perfectly because we only had an hour between shifts, so not enough time to go anywhere to eat. Thanks Safeway for feeding me all week!!

Every double game shift went something like this: eat lunch, get 50/50 stuff organized, work the game, eat dinner, get 50/50 stuff organized, work the game, grab a snack, go home before the game finished to beat traffic.

So what does selling 50/50s involve? First we lined up, then were called to the office. We signed in for a gorgeous yellow smock/apron, and signed in for our float, two rolls of printer paper, the handset and the printer, which clipped onto your belt. The office was a long narrow room in the bowels of Rexall. There was always a police officer standing outside too. After receiving all our gear, we walked out onto the second floor concourse, counted our float, tested our machines, listened to the 50/50 speech (this only happened the first few days, then we were pros and could recite it off by heart!) and then, like bumblebees in our yellow smocks and black uniforms, headed down the stairs onto the main concourse. From here we were placed in particular spots depending on the number of our smock.

We were in place before the doors opened. There was a lot of "hurry up and wait" this week, so before the doors opened we chatted to each other or the program sellers. When the doors opened it was go time:

"50/50s here."

"Get your 50/50s!"

"# Thousand and climbing! 50/50s here!"

"Last chance for 50/50!"

"# minutes left to get your 50/50s!"

And so we yelled. I had forgotten there was yelling in 50/50s. It's amazing my voice lasted all week. Someone told me I had a good yelling voice and I told her it was because I used to be a prison guard at an elementary school. I yelled a lot this week. It was fun.

"Thanks you. Good luck!"

"Enjoy the game!"

Since it was all automated, there were screens around the concourse that showed the real time total of how much the pay out would be. This is what made it extra fun. People are pretty quick to shell out cash for a huge growing payout! In the beginning I felt bad stoking peoples gambling habit and taking their money, but that didn't last long. Half the money was going to Hockey Canada/Alberta so minor hockey was benefitting, and it's not like I was forcing people to spend their Christmas bonuses. Better spent on 50/50s than super expensive beer (One Rexall food employee told me that each beer cost 7cents for the cup and 35cents for the actual beer - so they made $7.50 profit on each one sold! Crazy.).

The rush lasted until just after the game started and then it was pretty quiet until intermission. We stood around, watched the game on the concession stand tvs, chatted to other volunteers, and some sellers used this opportunity to go into the crowd to sell during breaks in the play.

The fans were really great the whole week - everyone was really friendly and the atmosphere was electric. I always told them their tickets were winners, and of course you get a few offers for dinner or drinks if they win. One guy even traded me a cowbell for the winner. Minus a few lecherous drunks during the second intermission, folks were mostly super friendly and in really good moods. I usually stood in similar spots all week so I got to recognize a few fans over the week. I ended up being #13 seller a few times and felt super popular - people would walk all around the arena looking for me particularly, something about being a lucky number? Good times.

Our machines only let us sell so many tickets. The first couple days it was 500, but they bumped it up to 750 tickets pretty quick. Once we were out (or close to out before a rush) we headed back to the office to get the machines reloaded and dump all our cash, to be counted by the volunteers on the counting shifts. We also picked up more printer rolls and a new float during these cash outs. The most I ever cashed out was 5 times in a game, but usually it was more like 3.

50/50s are sold until the end of the second intermission. At this time, our handsets would count down, and then close off. We would all return to the office for a final cash out. Even though the machines are all automated, single tickets are still printed out to be put into the tumbler for the draw. Usually at this point I would head back to the lounge for either lunch/dinner and to watch the end of the game before this all repeated itself, or a snack and to watch a bit of the game, and then head home if it was evening. Sometimes it was hard to tell what time it was, because I spend the whole day in a concrete bunker without windows. Most of the time I never knew what time or day or date it was. We were on hockey time - 5 minutes until intermission, an hour before the game started, ten minutes left in the third. It was like being in a weird but totally wicked alternative reality. Volunteering for events is like this - it's usually hard to return to the real world afterwards.

So basically I stood on a concrete floor for 8 hours. Imagine how sore my feet and back and shoulders are. This pain never really let up all week and I'm sure feeling it now. Plus, my left wrist is sore from carrying the handset all week. Fun comes with a price I guess.

Wednesday December 28, 2012: Another Double Shift

Though I had Tuesday off, it certainly wasn't enough time to recover for those sore muscles! Today was basically a repeat of the first.

Nothing but cleaning and an usher's meeting going on before/in between games. The arena looks empty and sad. Bring on the hockey excitement!

By now the 50/50 volunteers were getting to recognize and know each other. And we figured out where the best spots were, so there was strategic lining up before we got called for our shifts. My favourite numbers were 7 or 8 to get the main North doors or 12 or 13 to get the other North doors. I was 24 once and did the LRT doors, which was fun because it was busy, but I preferred the North doors because it was still busy but the program sellers were extra chatty.

This is the best part of volunteering for these event - chatting to people. I love that wearing a volunteer uniform means I get to chat to anyone else wearing a uniform. I love that it means I get to chat to other people who work in the building and fans of the game. I love that by the end of the event the volunteers on your team become your best friends and you look forward to seeing them, even though you have no idea what their name is or what they do in real life. I always enjoy and look forward to this strange(r) form of comradery. Volunteering for these events really is special.

The age of volunteers was younger on average than what I usually see for curling events. At the curling events I can usually count on one hand the number of volunteers like myself who are under 40, and the majority are seniors. Here, most of the volunteers were middle aged, and a good chunk of people were my age or younger. I suppose it helped that the event was taking place during the holiday.

By the Wednesday, fans had figured out that the take home pay was unlimited and we were getting some really good sales. The record for take home was $87000 up until the final game, so people were excited to buy and talking about the winners all week. It was super fun.

Thursday December 29, 2012: One Evening Game

I hadn't been feeling well all week, and tonight's game was the one I really should've called in sick for. Lucky for me though, my spot for the first and only time this week included a pillar to lean on! This was the one time I was by the LRT doors, so it was really busy.

Interestingly enough, I ran into a Canadian Curling Association employee on one of my trips back to my spot after reloading my machine. She's in charge of running the Brier to be held in Edmonton in 2013. I had met her at the Continental Cup last January when I got the super awesome opportunity to volunteer for the CCA's web team during the event. I was encouraged by a woman who curls in my Wednesday ladies league (who used to be a director for local curling events) to email this woman I ran into, but I just hadn't had a chance to yet. We talked about it briefly, and she told me to email her if I wanted to be a director or do something a little more than the local event volunteers for the Brier. Um, yes please! Suffice to say that email will be sent soon. I'm super excited! I really want to work a Brier and I really want to help organize curling events so this could be a great opportunity!

My January 1st fortune - better send that email!

My dad was also at the game, watching from one of the first floor boxes with business people, so lucky for me I got to stand in a box and watch the game for five minutes at the end of my shift. Fortunately a good night's rest left me feeling better for the last two days.

Friday December 30, 2012: Double Game and a Lucky Spot

By now I had no idea what the day or date was. I had settled into the volunteer routine. This is another favourite reason why I love doing these events - I'm a sucker for routine. Do the same thing. See the same people. Be super fashionable for once because we all wear the same thing. Fun times all around.

And today was a super lucky day! For the afternoon game, I was just leaving the office after reloading my machine during the first period, when one of the 50/50 bosses said he had a special job for me. He handed me an extra accreditation card and we headed up to the top of the 200 section...

... and I got to sell 50/50s on the pressbox!!! I've always wanted to go on the catwalk and see the view!! The pressbox is a suspended catwalk that hangs near the 300 level seats, so we always look at it during Oilers games. It was so cool! There are stools all the way around, with little signs to mark who should sit there, like security, or CBC, or IIHF, or Czech media, stuff like that. There's also camera men up there, and free popcorn. We walked the whole way around, selling not too many 50/50s, but mostly admiring the view. No heads or railings in front of you, basically you look down and there's the game! I also got a great view of the flags and Oilers banners. We also stopped a few times to just watch, and the 50/50 boss took a few pictures of me, which didn't turn out at all. Fortunately, I sold a 50/50 ticket to someone who was blogging for the IIHF, so they took my picture and he wrote up a blog post. Click here and scroll to 50-50 Moitie-Moitie December 31/Edmonton to read the blog post by the author who really wasn't a 50/50 fan - but my name and picture made it on to the web - and thanks to Martin Merk for taking a better picture of me - proof I made it to the press box!!

Photo by Martin Merk - thanks, this is the best shot of me all week and proof I made it up to the pressbox! Awesome!

Oilers retired numbers and flags for the World Juniors

I also got to go up and sell in the pressbox for the evening game. Seriously, I know it sounds stupid but one of my life goals was to somehow get up to that pressbox to see the view and I finally did it! Awesome!!

What a view!

People were already talking about how ridiculous the 50/50 pot was going to get for the New Years Eve game - the last game to take place in Edmonton before the medal round went to Calgary - and the Canada vs USA game. One fan told me it was going to get ridiculous tomorrow and I liked that word - he was right. It was ridiculous!

Saturday December 31, 2012: Double Game, Ridiculous Money,

and More Luck

I finally made it out to the Molson Canadian Hockey House - the huge "bar" where fans could come to watch the games for free. It's located in the Expo Centre, half a block away from the arena. The place was dead when I was there, but I sat for a bit to watch the Oilers game on one of the many big screens. There was also a stage and lots of places to get beer so I reckon it was hopping during the games. Right next door was the Fan Zone. The various trophies were displayed (I missed the Stanley Cup, it was only there for the start of the week - darn, I really want to see it in real life sometime!). There were many areas for families and kids to play hockey games, or look at cool cars, or browse through the small Hockey Hall of Fame area. An artist was onsite painting scenes from each game, there was a car to sign for good luck, and a mock locker room where you could get your photo taken. I did, and it was supposed to be emailed to me, but it never arrived in my inbox. I only spent about 20 minuted walking around the Expo Centre and didn't really get what the hype was about, but it was pretty empty so I imagine it's more fun when the games are on.

Molson Canadian Hockey House - empty for now but full for the games

Trophies, but I missed the Stanley Cup by three days

Kid friendly hockey games

Artist in residence

Trophies and cars to please the boys

Hockey Hall of Fame area

More Hockey Hall of Fame

Signed for good luck!

Mock dressing room photos

Time to head to Rexall...

Today was my lucky day - for the third time this week I was seller number 13! I found out that today this meant I got to go sell to the executive suites!!

After the first rush of the afternoon game, another seller and I went up the executive elevator (seriously, an employee sits on a stool and pushes the button!) to the sixth floor suites, which are on the opposite side of the 300 level seats. It was pretty fancy up there. Similar to the pressbox, I had always wondered what the view was like. As it was an afternoon game, Finland vs Czech, so they were pretty empty and there wasn't anyone famous up there, but it was neat to see anyways. The suites are about the same size as the first level concourse ones, but fancier with higher end finishings, more seats and fancier food! The view however, was disappointing. It's at the same level as the pressbox, but is actually hindered by the catwalk as it cuts off some of the view. I think I'd rather hangout in one of the first level concourse suites. Less classy, but better view!

A lot of the selling we did at this game included hyping up the New Years Eve Canada/US pot. It was good fun.

As the afternoon game started later than usual, we had a really short turn around - only half an hour to eat and the food didn't arrive until 15 minutes left to go! We even kept our smocks on as there wasn't time to go through the whole signing out process again. I went to the bathroom and came back to find people looking for me. One of the 50/50s boss came and found me - I asked if I was fired but he said no, he had a special job for me.

We went into the office, a few other sellers were already there. Turns out there were going to let us sell tickets outside the main doors before the doors even opened!! Not outside, like I first thought, but in between the main doors and the outside doors there's a little hallway where people wait out of the cold until the main doors open. So myself and another young guy went out there 20 minutes before the doors opened and sold 50/50s. It was a bit weird. People weren't used to us selling out there (we had previously been told not to go out the doors at all with all our cash!) but we both sold about 200 tickets so it was worth it. We snuck back inside with only a couple minutes before the doors opened. I guess they decided to do this to sweeten the pot a bit before the doors opened, or to help control the initial rush.

Because it was ridiculous.

People were just throwing money at us. For most of the in between period bits I didn't even look up from my handset, money would just keep appearing in front of my face!! I loaded up 3 times before the first intermission and never even made it to my spot after reloading! It was crazy. People were buying lots and often! The pot was well over $60,000 before the puck even dropped!

The system was overloaded though, and it took extra long to reload our handsets. We could've paid out over $200000 that evening but we couldn't sell and reload fast enough. Half the time most of us were waiting at the office to get reloaded. It was insane! At one point I felt like I was being mobbed - personal space people, personal space!!! People were going nuts! When the second intermission started, I only had 400 tickets left on my machine. About 5 minutes later, with only 50 left, I looked up to announce I only had 50 tickets left and to my surprise I had a line up of about 30 people waiting to give me their money!! How the mob became a line up I really do not know. Unfortunately I sold out much too quickly and that was it. They pay out for the evening ended up being $146000!!!

Like I said though, the machines and the network just couldn't handle it. It took extra long to cash out all the machines, and then the printer just couldn't catch up. They couldn't announce the winner because the machine was still printing out tickets to be drawn from the tumbler after the game had ended!! I got an email the next morning to say the winning number was announced on the hockeycanada.ca website and was quickly claimed. Ridiculous!! What a crazy evening of selling!

One of the times I was upstairs in line waiting to be reloaded, one of the bosses announced a need for some volunteers. Once I heard what it was I quickly jumped at the chance!

So, with five minutes left in the loud, crazy Canada/US game (Canada was leading 3-2), another volunteer and I headed out to our designated aisle. We watched a bit of the game from the entry way - the ushers were being really lenient about letting random people watch the game from there. With one minute left to play, we headed down to the bottom and sat on the first step.

That's right, I watch the last minute of this crazy game, plus Canada celebrating their huge win, plus the prizes being awarded to the players of the game, plus the singing of the Canadian anthem...from the first row!!!!!! It was unreal! We were shaking, it was so exciting!! What an amazing opportunity!

So close - front row!

Canada wins!!

Way to go boys!

Flag rising during the anthem

Good game!

And what a rush. The crowd was going crazy! The whole building errupted! Insane!!

The reason why were were there is because after the USA team left the ice, the Canadian boys swapped out their game sticks for special autographed ones. They were supposed to raise them in the air at centre ice for everyone to cheer for, then come to us and give up their sticks so we could give them to some kids. But the boys were so excited, they mostly pitched their sticks over the boards into the crowd. The ones that did come to our section ended up giving them to some kids anyways, so we decided we did our job regardless.

Time to go for the gold!

Then my volunteer partner and I walked back to the top of the aisle so we weren't mobbed, and watched the fireworks! Yes, they set off fireworks in the arena!! It was New Years Eve afterall! It was pretty neat, all timed to music. We rushed back to the volunteer lounge to sign out with our 50/50 boss. That's when he told us the printer was still printing off tickets, and that they drew names out of a hat and one of the other sellers won a jersey.

Indoor fireworks for New Years Eve!

This is the sad part - the part where I had to say good bye to the strangers I had met, befriended, and then worked with all week. Seriously, I never even knew most of their names, but we were a team and we rocked.

I walked back to my secret [free] parking spot with a pumped up crowd that night. And driving home, still shaking from all the excitement, on New Years Eve nonetheless, I had a bit of an epiphany of sorts. I spend a lot of time complaining about being (old and) single and lonely. I spend a lot of time trying to reconcile the fact I dont/wont have babies (let me set the record straight, I don't actually want babies) and children and a husband to love and be loved by.

But I realized that if I had a boyfriend, or was married, or had babies to care for like most others my age - I wouldn't have had the opportunity to experience such an awesome week as a World Junior Hockey 50/50 volunteer. I wouldn't get the chance to hang out with other awesome volunteers. I wouldn't get to see the things I saw, go to the places I went, meet the people I did. So maybe I'm not meant to fall in love, get married, have a family (something I've actually figured to be true for awhile now).

Maybe instead, I'm meant to help out, whether that be as part of my great job as a librarian at a university helping students, or as a one-or-twice annually event volunteer helping the awesomest strangers you'll ever meet. And I'm ok with that. Actually, I'm more than ok with that. The Scotties are like six weeks away and I'm so excited (and have been for the past year!) to volunteer - to go through this amazing experience again! And I'm going to keep doing it, I'm going to keep volunteering for big sports events, I'm going to slowly move up the ranks, I'm going to help make the events runs smoothly for all to enjoy. And I'm going to have a blast doing it. Because no one is stopping me, and gosh darn it I deserve to have that much fun once in awhile!! Because I'm pretty awesome in my own way.

This crazy ride isn't quite over though - the volunteer appreciation party is on Thursday. We're going to all go crazy watching the gold medal game. I think there might be some more luck involved...I'll keep you posted!

#Curling Book Review: Between the Sheets

2011-12-29T11:58:00.002-07:00

Between the Sheets
Creating Curling Champions
By Guy Scholz and Cheryl Bernard
2005
336 pages

Between the Sheets
The Silver Lining
By Guy Scholz And Cheryl Bernard
2011
480 pages

"Everyone feels the tension, the pressure, the nerves of a big shot, or a big game, or a big event. The best players have learned how to manage their emotions."
(p. 95 - 2005)

Guy Scholz is a curling writer, having previously written "Gold on Ice: The Story of the Sandra Schmirler Curling Team" (1999). He's also a super nice guy and a great curler. I met him when he volunteered with us for the 2011 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship, and we both played in the first ever Jasper Place Curling Club Spring Doubles League. My double never played him, thank goodness, his double was good and I think they might've won the whole thing.

Cheryl Bernard is a rock star curler. She skipped her team to provincial and grand slam titles, and most recently won a silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

First I should mention I read the 2005 version first because that's what the library had on the shelf when I went in. I later took a look at the updated 2011 version. What's the difference? The updated version has some revised chapters, photos of Team Bernard, and an extra section all about their Olympic journey - well worth the read to get an insiders view.

Aimed at serious curlers, this book is about the mental aspects of curling. Not so much sweeping technique or shot strategy, this book covers topics such as:

teamwork
leadership
focus
dedication
practice
coaching
disappointment
pressure
consistency
character
trust
technique
fitness
nutrition
winning
and generally just being a champion

There's lots of name dropping and lots of advice from the authors as well as the rock stars they name drop. Also, if you collect curling (or sport in general) quotes which are either clever or from famous folks, this is your book. They're everywhere. The quotes help to make the book less daunting though, because it can be heavy on psychology.

A lot of the advice in this book was lost on me because I'm not a serious curler. It was super interesting to read about what serious curlers should (need to) consider if they want to be the best. I was able to take a few things away (a lot of the content in the book applies to general life as well). If I really wanted to be competitive, I would study this book and learn to be awesome. I'm not overly competitive though, so instead I enjoyed the general message and reading advice and stories from top curlers.

I would recommend this book for serious curlers (who will take it seriously) or avid curlers who want to learn more about what it takes to compete with the best. Armchair curling fans might especially enjoy the updated version as the Olympic journey part of the book gives extra insight into how the team felt after winning the silver medal at the 2010 Olympics. This book is not part of my library, but I do know where you might be able to buy a signed copy if you want one!

Volunteering for the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championship: Part 1

2011-12-21T19:42:00.000-07:00

Tis the season to...

...volunteer for another big sporting event! And this time it's not curling!

Way back in the spring/summer (I think? It was awhile ago anyways.), not long after I heard Edmonton would be sharing hosting duties with Calgary for the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship, I immediately got online and applied to volunteer. The event runs from December 26 to January 5 - perfect timing for me to hide from the guilt and family drama that comes along with Christmas. Plus I'd be off work anyways. Perfect.

The application was pretty lengthy, and once submitted I doubted it actually went through because the system seemed buggy. Oh well, I thought, how could they not accept me? I have three pretty solid curling event volunteer experiences to boast about, and I'm a librarian - come on, I should be a shoe in for some sort of info desk position. And hey, I've emptied garbages as an event volunteer before so I'd do anything. They were obviously going to accept my application.

Wrong.

In October I had a possible chance to go to Ghana, so I inquired about my application status. I already had doubts I had gotten in as I'd heard on twitter about someone else who was already accepted and getting her security check done. I figured I had missed the boat. The email I received back noted they couldn't tell me the status of my application, but that most accepted volunteers were already notified and I would receive an email declining my application at some point in the near future.

That email never came (don't promise something you can't deliver on), but I can take a hint. Turns out I'm not going to Ghana, so I figured I'd have to sleep away the Christmas holiday in my pjs having LOTR, Band of Brothers and Firefly marathons while overcoming academic librarian burnout.

Imagine my surprise then when my Wednesday Night Ladies curling team skip said she knew someone who was looking for 50/50 sellers for the hockey games. Sign me up!!

Of course by this time, the event was only three weeks away. She gave my name to her contact, a few days later I received an email telling me to a) pay my $50 volunteer fee, b) give my team leader my availability, c) fill out an application form (already done obviously) and d) come to the office to fill out a form to get a security clearance done - oh and do all this NOW!

So I did. When I went to get my security clearance form filled out I picked up my uniform:

The black long sleeve shirt will be perfect for curling and I'll definitely keep the scarf after. I'll never wear the toque so it'll be donated. And the puffy vest is too big, as in it makes me look like I weigh 250lbs. So either I'll exchange it for a smaller size before my first shift (?) or I'll donate it too. I'll probably never wear it, at the event or afterwards. I also got a transit pass. I'll admit though, that's quite a lot of volunteer gear for $50!

Since picking up my uniform, I've been in email contact with the 50/50 leader. They're using this whentowork.com site to coordinate shifts, and it's pretty nifty: it'll show all your shifts, everyone's shifts, and there's a swap board too. I figured there's 11 games, so I'll probably pick up 4, right?

Ha. Wrong. I'm working 9 games. That's pretty much the whole week. For four of the days I work the afternoon game, then have a 30 minute break, then work the evening game. Crazy. Unreasonable. When will I eat.

I asked for the Canada vs. Sweden exhibition game off because I'm going with a friend (while the actual games are impossible to get tickets to and if there are tickets they're crazy expensive - the exhibition game is cheap cheap and there's tons of tickets left). I also asked for another game off, which my leader has said is approved but the change hasn't been made on the whentowork.com site, so I'm bound to piss someone off at some point when I don't show up.

It's curious to me that the volunteer committee went from rejecting perfectly capable volunteers, to being so short on volunteers I'm going to end up working 36hrs in 6 days!!

The first game is boxing day. I'll have to go in early to try exchange my vest and get last minute accreditation photos done. Apparently I have to sign in and out for all shifts, which is something I've never had to do at a curling event before. There should be snacks available, but snacks aren't dinner so it's a good thing I don't mind Rexall's hamburgers!

Despite being a bit sad I'm giving up all of my relaxing holiday, I'm pretty excited. I worked a 50/50 game at an Oilers hockey game before and it was really fun. I'll get to see the exhibition game so wont be too sad about missing all the others. I love making small talk to strangers, so as long as it's not a case of "too many volunteers with nothing to do" I'll have tons of fun. I expect the atmosphere will be pretty awesome and I'm looking forward to meeting people from all over the world!

I'll write up part 2 after the event. Only a few more days to go...

#Curling on TV: Canadian Open

2011-12-13T18:38:00.001-07:00

There's more curling on tv this weekend! It's time for the Grand Slam of Curling BDO Canadian Open.

It's on from December 14-18 in Kingston, Ontario.

Teams include: Brewster, Cotter, Edin, Epping, Ferbey, Fowler, Gushue, Howard, Jacobs, Kean, Koe, Laycock, Martin, Matchett, McEwen, Menard, Schlender, and Stoughton.

This is the point in my post where I remark how stellar the line up is and then lament that I can't be there due to some sort of location/work excuse but that one of these days I'll finally make it out to a slam event. Yeah.

The Grand Slam folks previously reported they were going to start live streaming online as soon as they got the tech side of it all work out. No news on that yet, but it's a CBC event so the final 3 games will be on the tube/net.

Here's the schedule in Mountain Time (as usual because that's where I live!):

Saturday Dec. 17: Quarter Finals - 12pm

cbcsports.ca

CBC TV

Saturday Dec. 17: Semi Finals - 5pm

cbcsports.ca

CBC Bold

(This is the point in my post where I annoyingly mention I don't have Bold but will bring snacks if you do. Last time I ended up watching with two of my favourite ladies and I brought puffed wheat squares. This time, well I'll keep you posted...)

Sunday Dec.18: Final - 11am

cbcsports.ca

CBC TV

Until the weekend arrives, I'll be watching the scoreboard and following along on Twitter.

Who am I picking to win? Again, hard to say. Edin and Martin are coming off good events. I usually lean towards Howard though. Follow along to find out!

#Curling Book Review: Open House

2011-11-28T18:22:00.001-07:00

Open House
Canada and the Magic of Curling
By Scott Russell
2003
337 pages

"The goal is to arrive under the glare of the spotlights on a big stage, but the starting place is almost always more humble."
(p. 189)

Scott Russell is one of the faces of curling (and other sports) on Canada's national TV network, the CBC. If you watch Canadian sports, you know his voice. Besides commentating, he's written two books about hockey.

This book is a very personal journey through the sport of curling. The author retells his own curling story, and discusses or recounts conversations with top curlers. He visits small town curling clubs and big competitive venues and tells their stories as well. There's also some curling history woven throughout each story (chapter) - and a healthy smattering of black and white photos.

The organization of this book was sometimes jumpy (from place to topic to person and back to place) and I on occasion found it a bit slow. But I did enjoy the personable writing style - Scott takes you along on his journey and sometimes you do feel like you're there watching the action. I really appreciated his insight into some of curling's big characters (Guy Hemmings for example), but also that he took the time to visit small town clubs to tell their previously unheard story.

Again, the unfortunate part of this book is that it's quite out of date. It is interesting to follow the careers of the junior curlers Scott writes about (who are now famous rockstars, or not). As a point of time piece in history though, it's an interesting look at our sport.

I would recommend this book to curling fans who have followed curling for awhile and who want an insider's look at the sport. If you're new to the sport and don't know some of the big names from history you might find it lacking, but then again, the other chapters about clubs or Scott's curling story might make up for that. This book used to be in my library, but it found it's way onto Bookmooch and to a new home with another curling fan.

#Curling on TV - Canada Cup

2011-11-28T10:09:00.001-07:00

Wow, time is flying by - it's almost time for the first televised Canadian Curling Association event - the Canada Cup!

Held in Cranbrook, BC, the event runs from Nov. 30 - Dec. 4. It's a men's and women's event and many of the top teams will be there:

Men's Teams: Koe, Martin, McEwen, Howard, Stoughton, Laycock, and Jacobs.

Women's Teams: Holland, Kleibrink, Lawton, Jones, Carey, Nedohin, and Homan

Take a look at the qualifying process. Pretty stacked event! Unfortunately, even though the draw schedule is busy Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, TSN will only be televising the semis and finals on Saturday and Sunday:

All games TSN (MT)

Saturday Dec. 3

1pm - Women's semi

6pm - Men's semi

Sunday Dec. 4

9am - Women's final

1:30pm - Men's final

If you can't watch the games, they might be online afterwords - although I can't remember if TSN shows games live or archives them. The later I think?

You can also follow along using the new Canadian Curling Association mobile app! I used it a bit during the Canadian Mixed and the Dominion Curling Championships and it seems to work pretty well, but I haven't tested following line scores to check the update frequency. My only complaint so far is that there isn't a 'Teams' tab for each event (unless I can't find it).

And I'm assuming the CCA will have Curlcast going online - I noticed it looked differently for the Dominion so I'm curious to see what it looks like for the Canada Cup.

My picks? Eh, it's early in the season but I'll go locally with Nedohin/Koe or out to Ontario for Homan/Howard. Could be anyone's game though!

This event falls at a good time for me to take off work, so while I'm following this week I'll be considering if I should drive (?!) out to Moose Jaw next year for it. Crazy? Probably!

2012 Scotties: #Curling Volunteering Goes On The Road

2011-11-26T17:11:00.000-07:00

Now that the curling season is in full swing, I can't help but look forward to my next curling volunteering gig. This season I'll be volunteer at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts (aka Canadian Women's Curling Championship) which runs from February 18-26, 2012. This will be my third Canadian Curling Association (CCA) event, and my first time volunteering at a Scotties.

This will also be the first time I've travelled to volunteer at a curling event. The 2012 Scotties are in Red Deer, Alberta.

Ok, ok, so that's not really travelling - Red Deer is only a couple hours south of where I live in Edmonton. It's far enough away though that I wont be able to come home every night. I spent some time in the summer looking for hostels etc, but my Wednesday Night Ladies skip and "curling mom" has family near Red Deer so I think I'll be staying with them. An awesome bit of luck - thanks Cathy!!

Obviously the volunteering process is a bit different when you don't live in the city where the event is held. Like at the Continental Cup last January, the CCA web team is going to let me hang out with them again (which I'm really looking forward to - is it February yet?). Because I'm volunteering for the CCA directly and not necessarily the local organizing committee, the communication has been a bit different. For the other events I've done I applied online, and got an email or phone call a few months later saying I was accepted and telling me what crew I was put on. This time I applied online and was told via twitter by the CCA web guy that I'd be working with them. The online volunteer system classifies me as an 'office volunteer'.

As a local volunteer, I then attended two volunteer rallies. One rally (held in the Fall) was to get the uniform sizes sorted out and accreditation photos taken. The other (held closer to the event) included a meal, a meeting with our volunteer crew and leader (who was in email contact with us leading up to the rally and event), and pick up of our uniform/miscellaneous other bits. I also received a volunteer shift schedule at this rally. The next step was to show up for my first shift in uniform and get to work (or watch some curling!)

Obviously I wont get to go to the volunteer rallies this time. That means I have no idea what the uniform looks like! After receiving notice of the first rally (via an emailed volunteer newsletter) I contacted the office admin person to let her know I would miss the rally because I wasn't local. As per her directions, I sent her a cheque to cover my volunteer fee (yes, we pay to volunteer, mostly it goes towards the uniform), a cheque for my parking pass and my guess of what uniform size I would be. We decided that I would just show up for the first draw the first day of the event, upon which I'm supposed to go to the 'office' to pick up my mystery uniform (which may or may not fit) and get my accreditation photo taken. And that's that. Nothing more for me to do until February I guess.

Hopefully I'll hear from the web team closer to the event for more specific directions like when/where to show up the first day. Until then, I'll just keep counting down the days until February!

#Curling on TV - First of the Season! World Cup!

2011-11-01T19:22:00.000-06:00

It's finally time to watch curling on TV!!

These days you can often watch early season events via a variety of live streaming sites - but curling on TV season really starts when CBC and TSN start broadcasting the slams and the national events.

This weekend is the Grand Slam of Curling GP Car and Home World Cup

It runs from November 2-6, and is taking place this year in Sault Ste Marie.

Teams include: Balsdon, Cotter, Edin, Epping, Ferbey, Fowler, Gushue, Howard, Jacobs, Kean, Koe, Laycock, Martin, Matchett, McEwen, Schlender, Stoughton and Ulsrud.

Wow. Quite a field! Wish I was there to see it live! I really really really want to get out to watch a slam one of these days. This year there are none local-ish, but maybe next fall. I really really really need to take some time off work in advance next fall or even this spring to see a slam!

All the slams are CBC events, and while the whole competition isn't on tv, the finals on the weekend are. The Grand Slam folks reported on facebook that they are planning on live streaming games online (like the European events and the Cactus Pheasant Classic) - but they wont have the technology ready for this event. I'm looking forward to that in the future though (and hope it's free!). Until then we'll have to watch the scoreboard - it's a bit easier to do that at work anyways.

For now, the only place to watch this event is CBC. Here's the schedule in Mountain Time (as usual because that's where I live!):

Saturday Nov. 5: Quarter Finals - 10am

cbcsports.ca

CBC TV

Saturday Nov. 5: Semi Finals - 5pm

cbcsports.ca

CBC Bold

(Gah! I hate when they put them on Bold - I don't get that channel. That's Hockey Night in Canada for you - Oilers are on at 8pm by the way, so it's not my fault. Who has Bold? I'll bring snacks...)

Sunday Nov. 6: Final - 11am

cbcsports.ca

CBC TV

Who am I picking to win? Tough call, could be anyone's game but McEwen is on a roll. You have no idea how excited I am to finally watch some curling on TV!!

#Curling Book Review: Curling For Dummies

2011-10-30T11:35:00.000-06:00

Time for my first curling book review! October's book is...

Curling For Dummies

By Bob Weeks

2006 (updated version of the 2001 ed.)

384 pages

"Win or lose, I've rarely left a curling club without a smile on my face."
(p. 12)

Bob Weeks is pretty darn qualified to write about curling. He curls, is a prolific curling writer of books (four by my count) and newspaper articles (for the Globe and Mail) and most recently appeared on TSN last season during curling broadcasts with his insiders "The Weeks Report" (which I hope becomes a regular feature). Like any good journalist these days, he blogs at Bob Weeks on Curling and tweets @bwoncurling. So he knows curling.

Like all Dummies books, this book is a beginner's guide to curling, though it's also a useful refresher for experienced club level curlers. It includes information, tips and advice for all things curling including:

history
equipment
ice
terminology
technique
strategy
practice
kids
coaching
fandom
events

The book even concludes with some Top Tens: skips, shots, games, and sources of information. Again, like all Dummies books it's full of cartoons, diagrams, photos, lists, highlight boxes, icons, fancy fonts for headings, and a healthy dose of humour...yeah you know the drill.

I liked this book. It's written to be easily understood by everyone, and does present the basics of curling in a fun way. There's a lot to learn in the 384 pages, and Bob Weeks does a great job breaking the information down in detailed but not overwhelming chapters. The personable writing and humour is much appreciated and gives the book a light hearted and fun vibe - exactly what club curling is about.

The only downfall of this book - parts of it is outdated. Though a lot of the information is still relevant, obviously the Top Ten section is five years behind. And it could do with updates on some of the new science of curling findings (like should I buy a fancy new broom or just put tin foil on my broom head?). This isn't really a fault of the book though, these things happen.

I recommend "Curling For Dummies" to newbie curlers, or experienced curlers like me who need a refresher every once in awhile. This book isn't in my library (yet) but I most definitely would buy an updated version - I wonder if there will be another new edition reprint soon?

#Curling Book Reviews

2011-10-19T17:27:00.000-06:00

As the curling librarian, I think it's time I brought a little more librarian to this here corner of the internet! So what does that mean?

I'm going to start doing curling book reviews!!

I'm going to pick a different curling related book each month during this curling season. I'll write up a bit about the author and the contents of the book, then give my impressions and recommendations (or not).

I plan on getting most of the books out of the public library, but I do own a few myself (and I'll let you know if I own the book or not, as that might say something about it's worth as well). I'll even take recommendations in the comments section. There's quite a few curling books out there, so if this whole concept goes over well, I might have to double up each month, or save some for next season.

I hope you enjoy reading along with me - be sure to check out the books at your local library or favourite bookstore!

List of Curling Books Reviewed*

1. Curling For Dummies by Bob Weeks (October 2011)
2. Open House by Scott Russell (November 2011)
3. Between the Sheets by Guy Sholz and Cheryl Bernard (December 2011)
4. The Black Bonspiel of Willie MacCrimmon by W.O. Mitchell (January 2011)
5. Fit to Curl by John Morris and Deam Gemmell (February 2011)
6. ? (March)
7. ? (April)

*Curling book titles are so super awesome cheesy - what would you name your curling book?

Why I'm A Terrible #Curling Fangirl

2011-10-10T13:42:00.000-06:00

Fame is weird, eh?

I've met a number of musicians and curlers over the years, mostly in autograph lines. Sometimes they are grumpy, sometimes arrogant, but mostly they are friendly and appreciative. It's always a bit awkward, what do you say? Hey, great concert? I totally love your new cd? Great game today? I'm a big fan? Good luck next game?

I'm not a good fangirl

I love Jim Cuddy (of Blue Rodeo). I once had a chance to watch an onsite interview in the same room which probably meant I would've gotten to talk to him and get a photo with him etc.

And I turned down the offer.

I've been backstage at a curling event, where curling rockstars are hanging around. I've had a few small talk type conversations with curlers. I once talked to Russ Howard about tea and timbits. I told John Morris we were out of chocolate milk.

Yet when Kevin Martin visited the club where we were holding the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships at last spring I hid in the office. I only got this (awesome) photo because @1CathyC dragged him into the office to meet a big fan.

I'm scared of talking to rockstars.

There, I admitted it. I've been thinking about this ever since I got the first volunteer newsletter from the 2012 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. In February I will once again get to hang out with not only the best curling staff and volunteers, but with rockstars from across the country. And I'll be too embarrassed and shy to say hi.

Indulge me as I tell you why I don't talk to "famous" people.

I used to work at a store in the World's Biggest Mall, West Edmonton Mall, here in Edmonton. This was way back in the day before my second career, before the London years, before my first career, during my undergraduate days. I worked at La Senza - think Victoria Secret but with more flannel pajamas because it's Canadian. It was just another minimum wage job that went towards university tuition.

The benefit to working in a famous mall is that famous people often came to shop. I helped news anchors. I once sold dozens of flannel pajamas to Ryan Smyth's wife because she was holding an Oilers wives sleep over. I once rang through a purchase for Jeff Martin of The Tea Party. Yes, his eyes are just as intense in person. I once told Ashanti that no, she couldn't have a 50% discount on pj pants that were already on sale for $10 because she was famous (like she couldn't afford the extra $5, and no her rather large security dude didn't scare me).

Once a figure skater came in. She wasn't quite famous, but was on the verge of fame. At that time she was a nobody, unless you followed figure skating. I used to be a huge figure skating fan (about as big a fan as I am of curling now), but then my embarrassing story occurred, followed by the whole 2002 Olympic gold medal block judging scandal, and now I can't stand to watch it. I make a point of not watching figure skating at all. Except I really like Battle of the Blades, where hockey players are paired with figure skaters and then the public votes etc.

Back to my then unknown figure skater. Shortly after this incident she gained national fame. She might've even gained international fame after that, but I stopped following remember. Now she's on Battle of the Blades, and was on last season as well. And that's what's got me thinking about this story. Every week I watch the show on CBC and see her skating. And I don't cheer for her, no matter who her hockey player partner is.

Right. So she comes into the store shortly before the Canadian national figure skating championship of whatever year this was (she was practicing locally at the time) to buy bras. As I'm wringing through her purchase, I casually said "Are you so-and-so?" Yes. "Cool, I'm a big fan. Good luck at nationals!" Great. Thanks. And she left. Pretty tame conversation eh? Exactly what a huge figure skating fangirl would say in that situation? I totally thought I might've made her day. She was a nobody, she probably never got recognized. Yay me for being nice to a not-famous person who I looked up to because she was part of my favourite sport!

A day or two later there was an article in the newspaper in which she was interviewed about how she was about to launch her career to a new level at the upcoming nationals. They asked her if she was starting to feel like a famous athlete. And she said something like "Yes! I can't even go buy bras without getting recognized!"

Seriously.

I was mortified. How embarrassing!! I said something nice to a nobody-about-to-become-a-somebody and she ruined it. How dare she think she was a somebody, the only reason I knew who she was was because I was a huge fan of the sport. She was no Kurt Browning, that's for sure. It bothered me that she was so arrogant, and that she tainted the nice thing I said by taking it totally out of context.

She ruined the fangirl in me.

Maybe you think I'm overreacting. Looking back, I did probably, but at the time I was embarrassed about being called out in a public forum by someone I (at the time) looked up too. I was young, naive, impressionable, lacking in self confidence. She made me feel like a stupid redneck fool.

Whatever. I vowed to never again give a famous person the chance to think I was an idiot. I would never again give a famous person the chance to embarrass me.

So that's why I can't talk to rockstars. I know they're real people who just happen to have a cool job. I know they're mostly nice and down to earth and appreciative of their fans. I've even superficially chatted to a few of them on twitter. But until I can think of something not stupid and inconsequential to say, I'll just blend in with the background, and watch from afar.

Stupid figure skating.

How They Make #Curling Ice

2011-10-03T19:20:00.001-06:00

This will be my fifth season of curling. I bought new shoes because my old ones were coming unglued, a new broom because my old one was cracked, and a new pair of gloves because my old ones were ripping. So that's it, I'm all sorted for equipment.

Wrong.

There is of course all the "equipment" my local curling club provides. Concession. Lounge. Rocks. Ice.

That's right, the most important piece of it all - the ice. What would curling be without it?! (And don't say shuffle board, there ain't no bending or sweeping in that. I don't think...)

@1CathyC, my curling club's manager, tweeted a couple photos of the club's ice making preseason process. I started posting them to the club's facebook page and it turned into a neat album: Ice Making - September 2011.

It was interesting. I learned stuff. Did you know the lines are actually yarn frozen into the ice? Who knew?

Last week, the Canadian Curling Association posted a 20 minute video detailing how they make championship arena curling ice. My eyes were glued to the computer screen - it was so interesting!

Very much like the club process: I knew it was a lot of work, but I had no idea it was that much work. Again - yarn!

Let's not forget ice makers are rockstars too!

Fascinating!!

Balcony Garden: Rookie Season Wrap Up

2011-09-25T16:13:00.003-06:00

Even though it's toasty warm in Edmonton right now, with all the leaves changing colour and falling, it's hard to deny it's Fall. That means it was time to 'clean up' most of my balcony garden for the season.

There were tons of ladybugs on my balcony - keeping my aphids in check!

Here's a run down of what I planted, and how it turned out:

Swiss Chard - Of everything I planted this year, the swiss chard was the winner. It grew. And grew. And grew. And is still growing! I ate swiss chard four times a week for almost three months! Now there's return on investment! I'm darn sick of it though, and am trying to give away the rest of it. I can't bear to eat it anymore. I will definitely plant it again, though this time I'll plant half as much. I haven't tossed it yet, and expect to have chard for another couple weeks at least.

Strawberries - What a waste of effort. Out of the five little plants I had, I only got a handful of strawberries. I guess I need a yard to get a good bounty of strawberries. I wont plant these again.

Scarlet Runner Beans - My beans grew tall, wound their way around my balcony railing, and generally looked lovely with their green leaves and bright red blossoms. Likely due to planting them in too shallow a pot, I didn't get any beans. Or so I thought. As I was pulling down the wilted and dried vines I found three beans that had grown in the back, out of sight! They were too big and tough to eat, but look what I found when I opened the pods:

Pretty!

What lovely coloured beans! I should've left them in the pod to dry, but since there wasn't really enough to bother eating, I tossed them on a shelf to dry for no purpose but to look at their lovely colour. I've got left over seeds, so I'll plant these again next year just for railing cover, but doubt I'll buy more seeds to continue planting after next season.

Garlic Chives - These ended up growing out of control! I did spend some time drying a ton after cutting down the plant, but ended up tossing them in the end due to probable mold. Oh well, I wouldn't have used them anyways. My plant survived it's hair cut and is still growing more chives. Which I probably wont eat. It looks nice, but since I didn't really end up eating too many I doubt I'll plant this next year. I might try winter the plant though, just for funnsies.

Zucchini - The second place winner after the chard, I really enjoyed eating mini zucchinis on my pizzas this summer. My plant grew large, but then succumbed to powdery mildew. I'm not sure if it was the mildew, but half my zucchinis were uneatable because they shrivelled up before I could pick them. This might be due to the soil, or poor fertilization? Regardless, I still definitely got my moneys worth. I'll miss the zucchini too. I will definitely plant zucchini next year, maybe even two plants!

Blueberry - My blueberry bush didn't really do much. I never got more blueberries, though there are still some left from whatever was on the plant in the first place. It did grow one new branch. And that's it. I'm going to try winter the bush, and if it survives great, and if not I wont bother with blueberries again.

Lavender - Finally my lavender was growing, and actually producing a flower, and then I brought it in due to frost warning, and it got caught up in my latest condo crisis, and now is dying. Oh well, I wanted to try winter it but will probably toss it unless it bounces back. I probably wont grow this next year; I'm not sure why I did in the first place. Probably because I wanted it to smell nice, but in the end, well, whatever. It looked nice while it lasted.

Basil - The third place winner of the season, I will certainly miss putting fresh basil on everything. I brought it in due to frost warning and intended to make pesto with what was left, but it also got caught up in my condo crisis which rendered it inedible, so I'm going to have to toss the plant. Before though, I think I'll cut it back and see if I can get anything to grow. I will definitely plant this next year, maybe two varieties, or at least another herb plant or two also.

Peppermint - Another pointless plant, my peppermint ended up surprising me with how pretty it grew. I was going to dry it to make tea, but again it got caught in the condo crisis and now is not edible. I'm going to cut it back and dry what's left for nice smelling drawer inserts or something, and maybe it'll grow back. I'm going to try winter it. If it doesn't survive I probably wont plant it next year, though I will plant other herbs.

Flowers - Surprisingly, I enjoyed having the flowers around on my balcony. I might plant some next year, but want to fit a chair and table out on the balcony next year, so we'll have to see if the flowers will fit next year.

Right now I've still got a few plants that I've cut back on my balcony, plus the swiss chard. I am going to try winter the blueberry bush, peppermint, and probably chives. Other than that all that's left for me to do is wash out all my containers and plan for next year!! Who knew I'd enjoy gardening so much! I am already looking forward to growing more food next summer.

#Curling Team Shake Up

2011-09-15T19:59:00.002-06:00

Often considered the first event of the curling season, The Shoot-Out started today at the Saville Centre here in Edmonton. I might try take in a game Saturday or Sunday, but if I do I'll be seeing a few new faces, and a few new teams because over the summer there was quite the curling team shake up!

Here's a recap:

Mark Nichols left team Gushue (to become a PC candidate). Team Gushue now consists of Brad back at skip (no more Ferbey!), Ryan Fry at third. Geoff Walker (from AB) at second and Adam Casey (from PEI) at lead. It'll be interesting to see what happens for NFLD playdowns.
Blake McDonald left team Koe. Pat Simmons is in at third. Again, we'll see what happens for AB playdowns.
Richard Hart retired, and Wayne Middaugh will replace him on team Howard.
Ferbey has a new team. Nedohin is back at 3rd, and Ted Appelman and Brendan Melnyk round out the team.
Jill Officer is pregnant!! She'll be taking some time off while Jennifer Clark-Roure and Joelle Sabourin fill in.
Cheryl Bernard has a new(ish) team. She'll be curling with Susan O'Connor, Lori Olson-Johns and Jennifer Sadler.
Jason Gunnlaugson is back! And Ferbey is NOT going to Russia as a coach.
Annie Lemay retired. I'm not sure what's up with team Larouche. There was something about Eve Belisle too, but I can't remember nor can I find the source.
Pierre Charette is joining team Reid.
Cathy O, Braden Moskowy, Steve Laycock and John Epping all have new teams, as does my favourite accent, David Murdoch from Scotland (which includes Eve Muirhead's brother and some very tight shirts!).

What/who did I miss? Did I get anything wrong? And why don't I ever hear about what's going on with the BC teams??

I also went through a curling team shake up. Team Sunday (open, me and 3 older guys) disbanded as our 3rd/skip went up to a competitive league, and our 2nd (who I'd curled with for awhile and quite enjoyed chatting to) moved to Calgary. I was on the club board, but since I lost my team and moved farther away, I resigned.

So I'm only at one club now, Jasper Place Curling Club (I'll be updating the website and Facebook page too!). My Team Tuesday (mixed) is getting back together - which I'm excited about because I enjoyed curling with and getting to know them better. It was always fun times.

And I'll be on a new team - Team Wednesday! And this will be my first time (except I spared one game last year) to ever play in a ladies league. I'm actually a bit scared. They use stop watches (which I kinda don't believe in) and I think I'm getting promoted to second (Yikes! There are reasons I always play lead!). But I'm excited about curling with my teammates and am probably most looking forward to joining this team and learning how to improve my game.

I'm also considering sparing for some Team Sundays. I'm not sure I'm skilled enough to spare, but it might be fun once in awhile.

Lot's of news - now let's start curling!!

Music Monday: Kaleido Festival + Delhi 2 Dublin 2011

2011-09-12T20:51:00.001-06:00

Last year I attended the Kaleido Family Arts Festival here in Edmonton specifically to see Delhi 2 Dublin. All the music was fantastic and it was a great night.

So I did it all again this past Saturday.

Kaleido is one of my favourite festivals. I'll admit I've only attended the main stage concerts, but I know there's more to it than that: art, theatre, and family fun. The best thing about Kaleido is it's about family, community, and good clean fun. In that respect it's quite unpretentious and I love that. It's for everyone, come as you are, have fun, leave happy. I hope that doesn't change as the festival grows.

Much to my surprise, Delhi 2 Dublin was headlining again this year! They had just played folk fest and it was awesome so I was really really looking forward to seeing them again at Kaleido.

As usual all the (mostly local) musicians were (mostly) fantastic and it turned out to be a wonder dancing-fool evening full of great tunes and excellent company. Take a look at the highlights:

Joel Lavoie - Francophone singer songwriter. I quite enjoyed his short set and would gladly see him live again.

The Secretaries - rockin' indie including Colleen Brown and Brassholes. It took me awhile to warm up to them, but in the end they were quite enjoyable. Just watching the brass guys do backup dancing was entertaining enough!

Cam Neufeld and Bali Panasar - celtic fusiony something or other. I enjoyed the music, but have no use for Vibe Tribe and their fire dancing.

Namori - jazzy drums. Their sound was different than what I thought and in the end quite repetitive.

Kita No Taiko - taiko drummers. They're always at Heritage Days too and I always enjoy their set. Unfortunately they weren't on the stage so were hard to see, but still put on a good show.

Delhi 2 Dublin - bhangra celtic dance party! They had the large crowd all on their feet dancing. What a good time! I always love letting out my hidden dancing fool!

Here's a sample of Delhi 2 Dublin's concert:

Kinda sad I couldn't figure out how to zoom in on my iphone video mode, but I'm quite happy at how the audio came out. And though you can't really see the band, it's quite fun to watch the crowd. We had so much fun.

I'm already looking forward to Kaleido next year. I hope Delhi 2 Dublin headlines again, but if not I'm sure it'll still be a fantastic night!

Photo Walk: Edmonton Corn Maze

2011-09-05T19:30:00.001-06:00

One of my favourite must-dos of the summer is visiting the Edmonton Corn Maze. I love it. It's fun. It's exercise. It's fresh air. It's family friendly. It's the prairies. It's fun under the warm blue skies of summer when the corn is tall and green. It's fun in the fall when the corn is brown and crunchy underfoot. It's fun a night when it's all dark and spooky. It's just good times fun!

I love that it's not just a corn maze anymore. They've got pedal cars, a jumping pillow (think trampoline sort of thingy), haybale mountain, farm animals, sunflowers, a corn cob mini train, and a picnic area. There's also a food cart that serves the usual hotdogs/icecream/spudz/drinks but also fresh popcorn and yummy roasted ears of corn. All this is only 10mins. out of the city. Seriously, if I knew enough people who would go with me I would buy a season pass, but as it is I visit once a year.

Today some friends and I got lost in the corn maze. Here's some highlights:

Balcony Garden: Inside Edition

2011-08-21T16:16:00.000-06:00

I have a new addiction: buying houseplants.

I have been enjoying my balcony garden a ton. Now that I own a condo, I really wanted to get some house plants to make the place cosy and green. Apparently I'm nesting.

Remember, I don't have a green thumb. In the past I've killed every spider plant (undestructable, yeah right, though a colleague is currently propagating me one) I've ever owned. The only plant I've had is various sticks of bamboo (one of which is currently dying in my windowless office).

So what house plants have I acquired? Take a look at my current roommates:

Dracaena marginata (dragon tree): the first tree I bought. Apparently it's toxic to cats but Molly leaves it mostly alone, now that I've put sticky tape on top of the soil. It's one of the plants listed on the NASA Clean Air Study list.

Golden Pothos (devil's ivy): This is also toxic to Molly, but looks like it's growing happily on top of my bookshelf, and is starting to trail over the side nicely. This is also on the clean air list.

Orchid: It's still blooming beautifully, though I have lost a flower and two more have started drooping. I hope it reblooms and doesn't die, because it's my favourite.

Peperomia: Fits nicely in the spot where my Galileo Thermometer used to be. Molly broke it trying to get to the Jasmine (see below).

Jasmine: It blooms on occasion, and then my living room smells nice.

Areca Palm: Another plant that's supposed to be good for the air, plus it's not toxic so Molly wont die if she nibbles when she's not supposed to. I think it makes the condo look cosy.

Peperomia: Another one, with different leaves.

Exacum persian violet: This was a cute plant with nice smelling purple flowers, but a couple days after I took this picture it started dying. I think it's too wet (my fauly) but my mom said she could never keep violets alive (so it's my genes fauly). I don't expect it'll last out the week. Which means I have another empty pot and get to go buy more plants!

Echeveria: I think this plant is just so cute!! Like a flower made of leaves.

My balcony garden is doing well too. The swiss chard and zucchini continue to multiply faster than I can eat them! The beans blossomed but it's unlikely I'll get any beans because the leaves are small and not overly healthy. The peppermint has exploded - I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it.

Blueberries: They're trying to multiply, but I'll get a hand full at most.

Strawberries: Finally! I'll probably only get a couple hand fulls, and the leaves are dying. I wont waste my time with strawberries next year.

So all in all things are going well. I've only lost one house plant and nothing really from my garden. This is proving to be a nice experiment!

More King Ralph Graffiti in #yeg

2011-08-18T19:30:00.000-06:00

First, catch up on yesterday's post: Graffiti on #yeg: King Ralph x3

My colleague emailed me this photo this morning. He spotted another King Ralph near a church downtown:

Are these old? Or new? Curiouser and curiouser...

Graffiti in #yeg: King Ralph x3?

2011-08-17T21:09:00.001-06:00

Who is King Ralph? I bet if you lived in Edmonton or Alberta about the same time I grew up you'd know.

image source

King Ralph is the nickname of Ralph Klein, Alberta's premier from 1989-2007. Why King Ralph? Because he ruled ruthlessly for what seemed like forever. Ok, so it wasn't that bad. He did yell at a homeless man, had a reputation for being a drunk, slash health care/education/everything-good funding and cut 1000 teaching jobs in the province the year I graduated with my Education degree. I always tell people I was one of Ralph Klein's teachers: he got rid of all the teaching jobs in the province so I had to go to England. I vowed never to return until he left office, which ended up happening a few months before I moved back. I once saw him at a Dim Sum restaurant in Edmonton while I was in high school too. He was a Conservative. I disliked him. Apparently he now has dementia, which is sad.

Imagine my surprise last week, when while walking downtown through my Oliver neighbourhood, I spotted this:

Yep. Looks like him.

And then last night I saw this downtown in the Grandin neighbourhood:

And then again last night, this time across the river near the High Level Bridge path:

That's a lot of King Ralph sightings in one week! I wonder where these came from, and how long they've been there. I wonder if there's more?

I don't condone graffiti. I don't agree with defacing public or private property regardless of the statement you're making. Yes, I think Banksy is brilliant, and sometimes local graffiti is intriguing, but it's just not right. Even if it does mock (I think, I don't know of any other King Ralph) one of the arguably most hated (depending on your viewpoint) man in Alberta politics.

I also saw this last night:

That's our prime minister.

Ok, so local graffiti artists don't like politicians.

Another 4 Days On The Hill: Folk Fest 2011 Wrap Up

2011-08-08T18:07:00.002-06:00

Another year, another four days spent on the hill at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. This year marked my tenth Folk Fest anniversary!

And as usual, it was an amazing!

My Top 3 Folk Fest 2011 Memories:

1. Delhi 2 Dublin - I picked them as one of my top 2 pre-festival, and they did not disappoint! They played one session which included a lot of jamming with Gough, Clancy, Bracken and McCarthy (otherwise known as the founding members of the Irish celtic band Danu) and JP Cormier (who picks a mean guitar), but the highlight of the entire festival for me was their concert on Saturday afternoon. They absolutely killed! There is just something about dancing your heart out with complete strangers that is so special - I love when the music moves the crowd to join in together. I danced so much my knees are still hurting. I think they made some new fans for sure, and I hope next time they get booked for the folk fest it's as a main stage act because they would rock the hill! They are coming back to Edmonton September 10 for the Kaleido Festival on 118 Ave, so definitely check that out if you can.

Delhi 2 Dublin rocks the crowd.

2. De Temps Antan - I always stalk the Quebecois bands and this year's was as charming as ever. I saw them do three sessions. I reckon when you book a traditional Quebecois band you can assume they'll jam with any band you put them with, as was the case this year again. I think the ability to pick up and play another acts song is the mark of a good musician, and the guys of De Temps Antan joined in brilliantly with whoever else shared their stage. In one particularly memorable session which also included The McDades, Fearing & White and JP Cormier, Jeremiah McDade introduced their next song as being borrowed from La Bottine Souriante (a favourite band of mine that got me into Folk Fest AND Quebecois music in the first place), an interesting choice consider De Temps Antan members Andre Brunet and Pierre-Luc Dupuis are former La Bottine members and Eric Beaudry is a current La Bottine member! It was at this point I noticed The McDades guitar player (a roving position, never the same guy twice so far as I've seen) was Simon Marion from another Quebecois band I love, Nicolas Pellerin et Les Grands Hurleurs (please book them next year!). They all joined in and it was awesome! The De Temps Antan concert was great as well, it's just so fun to watch them play!

De Temps Antan had everyone's feet tapping.

With Simon Marion and The McDades

3. k.d. lang - I can't believe I saw k.d. lang live, that's awesome in an epic sort of way. I was looking forward to seeing her, as though I'm not a huge fan I do like a bunch of her songs and I even remember this song when it first came out. Her voice is amazing, and she dances around and is generally entertaining. Everyone stood for Hallelujah, and with the evening sky and candles glowing, it was magical.

k.d. lang closed out the festival with her powerful voice.

Honorable Mention - James Keelaghan, Mighty Popo, De Temps Antan and Deep Dark Woods played a session (including a young singer, Brittney Grabill, who was invited on stage) and this happened...

Check out the 6-7 minute mark if you've only got a minute.

It was lovely. You can catch a quick glimpse of me in that video. I love singing and dancing along. It makes my day.

I do have a few grumbles this year though.

The weird thing about the festival this year: it made me feel old, out of shape, and unfashionable (which are all true characteristics actually, but I don't need to be reminded of them!). After four days of waking up early after 3hrs sleep then sitting in a low chair and walking up ski hills, yeah, I'm exhausted today. Also, I think the beer tent hipsters are taking over the festival, and I most certainly will not be buying into their fashion sense because I'm not a sheep! I do think I'll be training for next year though, a July's worth of being a temporarily unemployed couch potato did not work in my favour.

Also, it seems Folk Fest is now seeing the consequences of its own success: it's too big and popular. There were a lot of people roaming around this year and the line ups were long. There was a whole ticket snafu, with passes being sold out in 90 minutes. I worry about not being able to attend in the future. If one of those people who sits in the beer garden for four days who doesn't care about the music gets a ticket over me next year I will weep on the festival office door step for the entire summer. I'm not sure what the ticket sale answer is, but it's not fair that veteran die hards can no longer get tickets because people who don't really care beat them in the online ticket queue.

And while I'm ranting, the north gate tarp lotto mob was atrocious. I'm not going to go into the nuances of the tarp line up, but this year's was just plain unsafe and not fair.

Ok, I'm done whining now.

All in all a fantastic festival again this year, full of old friends and new friends and fabulous music. I hope/pray/cross my fingers I'll be able to get tickets in the future, because it will always be my favourite four days of the year.

Music Monday: Who I'm Stalking at Folk Fest

2011-08-01T11:22:00.000-06:00

It's my favourite time of year again - 3 days until the Edmonton Folk Music Festival!

This is my tenth year. And I'm just as excited as I was back in the day.

So. Who am I stalking this year?

De Temps Antan: Of course. I always stalk the Quebecois bands. This year's is a gooder (and not just because two of the guys are brothers of two of the guys in my favourite Quebecois folk band, Le Vent du Nord). Each Quebecois band has a particular quality to their music, and this band is quite peppy and fun. I'm really looking forward to hearing them (often).

Longer, live video - watch/listen to it, that's 15mins well spent!

Delhi 2 Dublin: I saw this band back in September and they were awesome! Think Bollywood meets Ceilidh meets Techno dance pary. I can't wait to dance, especially to Tommy (see the music video below)!

Longer, live video - watch/listen to it, that's 22 mins well spent! Or check out their newest music video called Tommy - it's one of my favourite songs:

I'm also looking forward to seeing: Baka Beyond, Amelia Curran, The Deep Dark Woods, Etran Finatawa, Mary Gauthier, Gough, Clancy, Bracken & McCarthy, Kila, kd lang, Lyle Lovett, The McDades, and The Once. Check out the full performers list, and the schedule. I'm getting giddy just thinking about it!

Due to the trouble we had getting tickets, I fear this might be my last year for awhile. It's great the festival is growing and new people are discovering its awesomeness, but if that means diehards can't get tickets, well, next year we might have to try out Canmore instead (sniff, sad, cry, fingers crossed).

Until then though, I will thoroughly enjoy my tenth festival. Bring it on!

On Injured Stray Cats and Community

2011-07-25T13:38:00.000-06:00

Last night was heartbreaking.

It was late, about 11:30pm, and I was just about to brush my teeth when I heard this terrible noise from the parking lot outside my condo. Something was crying - it sounded like a cat was trapped somewhere. I went outside and pinpointed the sound to under my neighbours SUV. I spied a black cat crying under the car, and it looked like it was drooling. I ran back inside to get my phone and a flashlight. It was still there, still crying, when I got back, and was indeed drooling pretty badly.

I call the ER vet, which is actually only a few blocks away. They said they couldn't do anything unless I brought the cat in. At this point I couldn't get the cat out from under the car, and I wasn't about to touch it. Maybe that's insensitive, but I have my own cat (who recently recovered from cat cold/eye infection) and I wasn't about to touch a strange, drooling cat incase it had some disease or something. They recommended I try get ahold of animal control by calling 311 (Edmonton's info line).

So I called 311. They said they couldn't do anything because animal control was closed until 8am the next morning. They recommended I call 911 because protocol says the Fire Department rescues cats stuck in trees so maybe they could help.

In the meantime the cat moved to under another car, and then over to under cars in the parking lot of the neighbouring condo building.

I was apprehensive about calling 911, as I didn't want to bother them or tie up the line in case a 'real' emergency happened. I've actually called 911 a few times before (and once in the UK I called 999 too). The poor cat was still crying, and by now I'd noticed while it was walking/running around ok, it couldn't seem to close it's mouth, hence the drooling.

I called 911 and they said Fire couldn't do anything unless the cat was actually trapped somewhere. They did put in a page to emergency animal control and told me to keep an eye on the cat while waiting for animal control to call.

It was after midnight. I just stood there, feeling so helpless. The poor cat kept crying.

By this time two girls from the neighbouring condo building had come out, woken up by the crying noise. They said they thought the cat belonged to a woman in the condo building across the alley, as she has two cats who wander about sometimes. They came out of the building and one identified the cat as probably belonging to the lady across the alley.

Unfortunately, the cat ran across the road, through the park, and into the bushes across the field area. We had lost it.

The girls thought we should try tell the lady about the cat, so we knocked on her window. Yes, this was not really a good idea and kind of creepy, but I think we were a bit panicked and not sure what to do. There was no answer.

Two other people were on their balconies, watching this whole ordeal. They did nothing.

Finally animal control called me back, but she said unless the cat was trapped she wouldn't come out as it would take her an hour to get there. Plus the cat had ran off. She said the drooling and inability to close its mouth probably meant it had gotten hit by a car, but the fact that it was able to move around ok and cry meant it would probably survive awhile, until it got hungry. She advised us to call animal control in the morning if we saw it, and to contact the lady in the morning.

So, many mosquito bites later, we went home.

I was so sad, almost on the verge of tears. It was so heartbreaking to see the cat in pain, and to not be able to do anything. I was also very sad for the lady across the alley, who likely just lost one of her cats. I came back and cuddled my own cat before going to bed after about 1am.

In the morning, I wrote a note to tape to the lady's window. I walked across the alley to her window, and there was a black cat just sitting inside, looking at me! So either the cat came home and was healed (unlikely) or the injured cat was a stray or belonged to someone else. I took a walk around the park to see if I could find it, and even talked to the playground leader to see if she had seen a cat during her site search, but no one had seen it. I couldn't find the cat.

I hope it went home, or was picked up by someone else. I hope it got help. I feel so bad - I hope it's not in pain.

Two lessons came out of this experience:

1. Keep your cats indoors, or on a leash. Seriously, why would you take the chance? I've always had indoor cats and they don't miss the outside. I've thought of getting a collar and leash for Molly and taking her outdoors for some playtime. And that reminds me, I really should get Molly to wear a collar even while inside, just in case she does get out.

2. Community is important. I'm glad the girls came out to help, but those 2 other people just sat there and watched. I think it's important to get to know your neighbours. But how do you do that? I'm very curious to get to know all the people in my building, and have been told a condo board meeting will be called soon. But what about my neighbours from the other buildings? Wouldn't it be great if we had an alley party or something? How does that get organized? We do have a community league, which I've been thinking of joining, but even that doesn't necessarily help me get to know my neighbours around the. It just makes me sad. People don't often hang out on their balconies, and I rarely see people about, unless they're going from their buildings to their cars.

I'm not sure what to do about the lack of community in my little corner of the neighbourhood. Any ideas?

Poor cat. So sad.

Balcony Garden: Post Holiday

2011-07-21T17:13:00.000-06:00

I just got back from a week long trip to Montreal. During that week, some 'interesting developments' have occurred on my balcony.

First, my beans grew red blossoms! I've never eaten or even seen scarlet runner beans before so I basically bought the seeds because everyone said they were pretty while they grew and it's true. There's lots of little red flowers on the runners and the entire lot of beans are climbing the balcony railing nicely. Even my dad said it looked pretty from the parking lot.

My basil, which was not doing very well, seems to have perked up, though one of the four plants died. The swiss chard is big now too, and the chives are doing great!

And then there's the zucchini. It's taking over the balcony! When I left there were three baby zucchinis, and when I returned there's about ten! I already ate one (basil zucchini pizza anyone?) that was about 5 inches, and there will be one or two more ready next week. I plan on eating them small, I really don't need a big fat zucchini.

On the downside, one of my little viola plant died, and one of the flower pots seems to have either grown too heavy or had some storm damage, as there's a gaping hole in the middle and all the plants are leaning. I pulled up my spinach because it started to bolt. I think it was getting too shaded by the beans and wasn't getting enough light. Also, there has been no change whatsoever in the blueberry plant since I bought it. Possible experiment fail?

And on the super downside, my strawberry box is invested with fungus gnats! There's also some in the chard and beans, but the strawberry box is just full of them. They look like slightly bigger fruit flies, crawling all over the soil. Either the damp weather attracted them or there were already eggs in the soil. Regardless, it's icky. My mom recommended spraying the soil and leaves with dish soap water, and that helped a bit, so I'll keep doing it over the next couple weeks. Apparently peppermint tea repels/kills them too. Otherwise I'm going to have to buy some insecticidal soap, which I don't want to do because I do want to eat the strawberries eventually.

That's another sore point - I don't have any strawberries yet! I had a tiny red one when I left but the gnats or the birds got it as it's gone now. All the little blossoms tried to grow strawberries but they're all dead and dried up now. I'm not sure what the cause is. They have been well watered (I had people checking them while I was away) and have nice big leaves. Perhaps the box isn't deep enough? Oh well, lessons learned.

I'm already contemplating "return on investment" and what I'll plant next year.

I also bought a couple new house plants. My colleague convinced me to get a jasmine plant, which so far has only produced one flower, but adds a bit of green to my living room. I bought a huge purple pot from an apartment sale so I bought a tree-ish plant, a marginata, also called a dragon tree. It's supposed to be toxic to cats, which I was trying to avoid, but it seemed a good fit and is supposed to clean the air. So far I've been able to keep the cat away from it. It seems to insist on leaning though.

This whole growing thing has been an interesting and fun experiment! I can't wait to see what happens next!

Balcony Garden: One Month Old

2011-07-04T14:18:00.000-06:00

My balcony garden is about one month old and almost everything is still growing. The spider plant was mostly dead and then Molly yanked it out of the pot so that's the end of that. One of my four basil stems died, but the others seem to be doing much better now after I moved them into the full sun side of the balcony.

All the flowers are open on my orchid. Pretty. I hope it lasts forever.

The swiss chard is flourishing. I've cooked with it a couple times and it tastes great - how come I only discovered this vegetable this summer??

My first strawberry! And there's plenty of flowers on the plants, so I should definitely get a couple handfulls this summer, unless Molly beats me to it.

The beans are starting to shoot up and snake along the balcony. Molly likes the spinach more than I do. I should probably pull it in the next few weeks to give the beans more room. Lesson learned: don't crowd the pot.

Here's the problem with the beans - I think they are getting sunburned. Unfortunately this is the only spot I can put the pot that will give it enough room to grow around the balcony rungs, unless I swap it with the blueberry (but I'd rather have sunburned beans than a dead blueberry bush). I might rethink this before the runners get too tall...

Coming soon: zucchini!!

Um, so no one told me zucchini plants would get THAT big.

Seriously, the leaves are huge. If it gets much bigger it's going to take over the balcony! I guess I wont be putting a chair out there.

Still Library Blogging at Re:Generations

2011-06-21T15:24:00.003-06:00

Last year I posted a recap of all the library related posts I've posted for Re:Generations. Re:Generations is was a committee of the Canadian Association of College and University Libraries (CACUL), which is was itself a division of the Canadian Library Association (CLA). Re:Gen's mandate is was to engage new and prospective (academic) librarians.

Currently, the CLA is in the midst of big changes, and divisions have been disbanded in favour of yet to be sorted out 'networks', and thus Re:Generations is currently in limbo. This is a shame because it was a great forum for new professional librarians to network, learn from each other, and generally make their voice known. A group of likeminded 'new' library professionals are currently generating ideas about how to remain active in the CLA and profession in general. I encourage you to read about what they are doing and get involved by checking out the Let's Do This wiki!

I've thoroughly enjoyed my time as a Re:Generations member. I started out as a student representative and when I graduated became a blogger. Over the past two years I met and worked with some great librarians from around the country, and I was able to share ideas with and learn from them. I'm not sure what the next year will bring for the blog/committee, or for my continued role with it. As such, I'm just appreciative of being involved with such a great group of people.

Here are my posts for 2010-2011:
Organizing a Conference
Pondering Internal Professional Development
Handouts: Necessity or Waste?
Outreach to High Schools
Thoughts on the 2010 Augustana Workshop
Teaching Tip: Make 'em Laugh!
Liaising with Faculty For Newbies

You can still read past posts at the Re:Generations blog, and bloggers will continue to post content until the final word comes down, so please do still check the blog! And don't forget to check out the Let's Do This wiki.

Balcony Garden: Two Weeks In & Not Dead Yet

2011-06-13T18:19:00.001-06:00

I wasn't going to bore you by posting ad nauseam about my balcony garden but ohmygoodnesstuffisgrowing!

Yeah, I'm kinda excited the only thing I've killed so far appears to be the poor spider plant. This continues the trend of the demise of spider plants in my possession - I just can't keep those (normally idiot proof) plants alive! The orchid (a nortoriously difficult plant to grow) is growing just fine though and has two new flowers.

I am resisting the urge to drive to Home Depot to buy more. They are so pretty. Yes, I think I need more orchids!

The strawberries are growing more leaves but no more blossoms and I don't have baby strawberries yet. There appears to be no change to my blueberry bush but at least it's not dead yet. I'm going to be very impatient about the berries.

The swiss chard has grown a bit so I didn't kill it by repotting afterall. And my zucchini plant wasn't broken and didn't die - in fact it grew big new leaves!

Is it weird the new leaves look nothing like the old leaves? Should I be worried?

Mostly surprisingly is that my seeds actually grew. The beans shot up over about 4 days which worries me: I reckon they're going to take over the balcony railing which may/may not annoy the condo board manager (technically they own the balcony) and may/may not annoy the guy who has to fix my balcony later this summer (oops). The spinach is growing too, but it certainly doesn't look like spinach.

Not a waste of soil afterall. I hope nothing gets crowded out.

I got the most beautiful purple flowers from the most generous Grammy ever, and the other flower pot is growing nicely. Who knew I'd enjoy growing (useless) flowers?!

I wish I knew what kind they are... (*Update: they are African Daisys, also called Osteospermum)

The cat grass grew quickly, and Molly loves it. She's not a nibbler though, instead she pulls the entire shoot out of the pot, root and all, and eats it or drops it by the pot to shrivel. The pot is a mess, but once she's done with the current lot I'll just plant some more.

Yum!

I really like the look of the green grass inside, and plan on getting more green house plants. I wonder if I should just grow grasses indoors; they're easy enough!

Big Changes #3 - Growing a Green Thumb

2011-06-04T11:04:00.002-06:00

Something strange happened after I decided to buy a condo. I started nesting*.

I started to enjoy watching all those home shows on tv.

I started reading gardening books.

For the record, all the plants I've tried to grow/keep alive for the past 3 decades have died. I know nothing about plants or planting. I never helped in the garden when I was a kid (or an adult really) because I was too busy reading books or doing homework and no one made me go outside to pull weeds or get dirty. My only gardening memories consist of visiting my aunt and uncle's farm to help pick potatoes (rather my parents picked potatoes and I fed the tops to the neighbours' horse), or picking raspberries at my aunt and uncle's cabin, or being driven to some random middle-of-nowhere spot in the Alberta bush and told to sit and wait and not fight with my sister while my parents picked blueberries or morel mushrooms. I do not have a green thumb. At all.

But ever since this whole condo buying thing became real I have a new dream - I want to grow a balcony garden.

First thing I did was read the condo documents I was forwarded to see if pots are allowed on my balcony. I needed permission for the cat, but there was no mention of anything to do with the balcony. I am a bit concerned about weight, so I scaled back my plans and only planted what was easy-ish and edible (rather, what I would actually like to eat - eg. I don't eat tomatoes).

Secondly, I poured over some books from the public library to decide what I could handle planting. I found a couple books by Gayla Trail called You Grow Girl and Grow Great Grub particularly awesome (so much so I ended up buying them after my books were due at the library). She made gardening simple and easy - after reading them I figure even I can do it! I made a plan of what I wanted to grow.

Next up was a trip to Kuhlmann's Greenhouse just north of Edmonton. My mom always went there so I'm just keeping up tradition. I picked up some vegetables that were already started, and a couple seed packets, plus some potting soil. They have a pot exchange, which is basically just a big bin full of used pots people have dropped off free for the taking, and I walked away with some great finds. I planted all of this the next day.

I should've stopped there, but I didn't. Go big or go home, right? My second family donated three big pots, another book, flowers, more vegetables and useful advice. I had to go to Home Depot to get more soil to fill the pots, and also picked up a house plant. One more trip to Kuhlmann's to pick up enough filler for all my pots and voila - one balcony garden!

Inside:

My orchid. I bought my mom one for Mother's Day and almost kept it for myself, so I figured I should buy one of my own. This is one plant I fully expect to kill. I figure once the flowers are finished it's a gonner.

My colleague gave me a cutting of her office spider plant. Apparently they're good for cats to eat and almost impossible to kill. I don't think I let it root enough and planted it too deep. I think it's dying already.

Catgrass. This photo is two days old. It's already an 2 inches taller and green. If anything, this is the plant that will survive my incompetence.

I want to get more houseplant to brighten up my place, but I'm out of pots and soil so that'll have to wait. Suggestions for easy to keep alive (and nontoxic to cats) houseplants are most welcome!

Outside:

Swiss chard. I've never eaten this ever. Actually, I don't think I've ever even seen it before. But my garden books said it's tasty and easy to grow. Sign me up! Although I think I already killed it when replanting.

This is hopefully going to be scarlett runner beans (which I've never eaten or seen before either) and spinach (which I make myself eat to be healthy). I'd already planted the beans when my friend said they'd grow 6ft, so I hope they trail around the balcony railing. Otherwise I'm in trouble. I'm not overly confident this pot will mature into anything beyond potting soil.

Herbs, which I hope to take inside after the summer. That's peppermint on top (not really to eat, just cus it smells nice and looks good in a pot), lavendar (also for no purpose whatsoever), and basil (which I've never cooked with but there's a first time for everything).

Strawberries!! I love wild strawberries. I will be upset if I kill these. I might try winter them in my parents basement.

Zucchini. My friend gave me a seed, but my mom reckons it's too late to start from seed and my colleague doubted the success rate of just one seed, so I bought this little one. When I was planting it I noticed the stem was broken - not sure if that was me or the greenhouse. I'm a bit worried about this plant. I reckon it wont produce anything. This may be my second pot of wasted soil.

My blueberry bush. My favourite fruits are bananas, blueberries and cantaloupe, and only one of those grows here. Ever since I got bitten by the green thumb bug I knew I wanted to try grow blueberries. I had to get a blueberry bush, just had to. It was a bit pricey and I know it's a hard bush to grow in the ground, nevermind in a pot, but I'm going to try. This is my baby, my favourite plant. If it dies I shall mourn. If it lives I'm going to try winter it in my parents basement.

So far so good. If I get a handful of blueberries out of it I'll consider it a success worth repeating!

Garlic chives, donated by friends. Easy, tasty, and pretty when I forget to cook with it and it goes to seed. I might see if I can keep this alive inside too.

I don't generally like flowers and think they are mostly unnecessary, but my friends gave me the pink ones and I bought the violas to fill up the pot. They're pretty actually. I doubt their shelf life but we'll enjoy them while they last.

Just so you know I don't actually expect any of this to grow. I've never gardened before, I fully expect to kill everything by drowning or drought. But that's ok, for once I think I'm actually happy with the process as opposed to the product. Some stuff with grow, some wont. I'll get to eat something I'm sure. The most important thing is I'm trying, and I'm having fun. And that makes it all worth it.

Molly particularly likes the blueberries. That's my girl!

* I consider nesting a symptom of being girly. It's just ahead of applying make up, buying clothes that aren't on sale, wearing heels, getting a pedicure, carrying an expensive brand name handbag, watching romantic comedies, walking down the aisle and having babies. I wont allow it because I am a fiercely independent spinster-cat-lady-curling-librarian. Also I am not normal.

Big Changes #2 - Crazy Cat Lady

2011-06-02T20:27:00.000-06:00

I'm a cat person. Sometimes those librarian stereotypes are true. A cat is the perfect accessory to the current spinster image I've got going on.

I grew up with a beautiful cat named Muffy who loved me and my family but hated everyone else. She was a pretty great cat, who slept at the end of my bed and stuck with me during those awkward teenage years. Unfortunately I had to get on with my life, and she died while I was away in the UK during the London years.

While I was in London, my flatmate decided to get us (me) a cat (mostly I think so I'd stick around another year to make her life miserable). We got Fergus, who had FIV (like HIV for cats), but who was so full of love. He was the perfect companion cat and I actually did some research to see what it would take to bring him back to Canada when I returned. However, being an FIV cat he did get sick and went downhill pretty fast, and he died a couple weeks before I flew home for good.

So ever since I can remember I had a cat - until recently. These past four years while I was going to school and searching for my dream library job I've been catless. I picked up quite a pet sitting reputation so I on occasion would look after other people's cats, but I knew as soon as I finally got my own place I would need to get a purring roommate.

One rainy day a week or so ago, I went to the Edmonton Humane Society. I'd never been there before and the new building is stunning! Many of the cats are kept in viewing rooms that you can walk right into to visit/play with the different kitties. Some cats and the kittens are still kept in cages, but you can take them out to hold them. There are also plenty of volunteers around to answer questions.

The first volunteer I stopped to ask a question happened to be the foster mom of the particular cat I had wanted! She (the volunteer) was super friendly and lovely, and told me a bit about that cute little grey and white cat with the big eyes, which confirmed my choice. Approximately 5 minutes after I walked in the door I had picked out my new roommate! It took another hour or so to go through the adoption process (video, interview, pay, exit medical, take cat home) before I left with a cat in a box.

Meet my new best friend, Molly!

She took no time at all to settle in and has so far been cuddly and loving and well behaved (mostly, we are having a bit of a litter box issue, but nothing that wont be fixed, at some point, hopefully...also how do you get a cat to stop jumping on the kitchen counter/table?). She's the most perfect addition to my new place. So here I am, sitting on my awesome blue couch in my new condo with world's cutest snuggle muffin purring away on my lap. Does life get any better?

Big Changes #1 - First Time Homebuyer

2011-05-30T16:18:00.000-06:00

Finally, after 3 decades and two continents, I've planted roots and bought a condo!

It's been a long time coming. Back in the day when people my age were buying cheap big houses in the suburbs of Edmonton, I was living in various dingy/cheap houses/flats in the UK during the London years. When I got back, house prices in Edmonton had skyrocketed. And then I decided I needed to pay tuition for three years. I lived with my parents mostly, did some live-in pet sitting and spent two winters house sitting for my aunt and uncle who live in Arizona during the winter.

I love Edmonton (for sometimes unexplainable reasons) and plan on staying here forever. I'm too old to be living with my parents which that was driving me crazy, plus the commute from my aunt and uncles was turning me into a road rage filled grumpy driver. Finally getting my dream job at a local university library gave me the location stability I wanted (...even though I'm still on term contracts, so half stability? Actually, no stability, really it was a crazy thing to do without a real job but still cheaper than paying rent.).

So I saved my pennies.

In January, a guy I curl with helped me boost my RRSP contribution so I could use it for a First Time Homebuyers credit. A couple I curl with have a son who is a realtor, whose girlfriend happens to be a mortgage broker so I was all set. I called them my 'triumvirate'. At the end of March I started looking for a place - one week later I was getting a home inspection - and two weeks ago I moved into my very own place!

I'm actually quite shocked at how easy it was. I have a hard time making adult (or any) decisions, especially when it concerns money - I am a A#1 ditherer. But I saw this place, figured "yeah, I could live here" and that was that. Shockingly easy really.

And then, during the six week period between buying and moving in, I panicked. I started second guessing the condo, the furniture I had bought, the location, the price, every freaking little detail. I stopped sleeping. It wasn't pleasant.

But two weeks ago I moved in, and so far it's been great! The place is small, but perfect for me. The building is an older, but completely renovated three floor walkup and my itty bitty one bedroom is on the top floor. I love the hardwood floors, even though the dark wood is proving impossible to keep smudge and dust free. I love the boring mushroom beige paint and white wood trim which were move in condition: no painting or renos needed. I've got an East-South facing window that looks onto my tiny balcony and the view of the alley and neighbouring building could be worse. The kitchen has more cupboards than I'll ever figure out how to fill and new appliances I wont need to replace for awhile (hopefully).

Honestly it's better than I just made it sound. It's the perfect little place for me.

As an added bonus, my furniture purchases actually worked out - who buys a blue couch? But it looks great, is super comfy and matches worlds-ugliest-rug really well. The tv is awesome - what did we do before HD, and wireless internet for that matter.

And all my stuff is here. Not in a different country. Not boxed away in a corner of my parents basement. Not in various different houses I happen to be living in while house/pet sitting. I can finally display my small library again.

The neighbourhood is just west of downtown, and is quite walkable with tons of amenities nearby. And best of all? It's just a 10 minute walk to work (although that brings the conversation back to that no job security issue and the fact that I'm crazy for buying a place)!! I no longer spend 45 minutes each way in a car, getting increasingly cranky while bitching at the a**hole drivers who don't signal around traffic circles. I wont have to commute during winter blizzards. With gas prices being stupid high I might actually save some money.

The only downsides? My parking spot is not covered and a bit cramped. And the walls 'may' be quite thin which 'might' make it noisy, especially in the bedroom. Right now most of the units are still empty post-reno-slow-market so it's super quiet. I hope that doesn't change (I mean, please move in! I want some lovely quiet neighbours!). But if it does get noisy I'll just suck it up until I can sell - and being 6 blocks away from a university and 15 blocks from the potential new downtown arena - as long as the real estate market picks up it should have good resale potential.

Yes, it took awhile, but I finally have a place to call my own. So far I'm pretty happy with it!

#Curling Season Wrap Up

2011-04-22T22:52:00.001-06:00

As I sit in "my office" at the Jasper Place Curling Club, watching the Kevin Martin Junior Bonspiel, it seems like an appropriate setting to wrap up a few thoughts about this past curling season. And wow, was it ever an awesome curling season!

Curling on the Continental Cup official ice with official rocks!

The tied-for-awesomest-curling-good-times award goes to volunteering at the Continental Cup and at the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships. Though two very different events, they were both super good fun! I met wonderful people and watched fantastic curling (when I wasn't working my butt off in the Servus Centre Arena or 'my office'). I was shocked to find out my blog/twitter rambling was being read by the powers-that-be. It was great meeting/working with the folks from the Canadian Curling Association (CCA) at both events, and I'm excited to work with them again next season. Another product of twitter, I also really enjoyed being on the Wheelies committee, and the event was probably one of the most special weeks of my life.

I met/talked to a bunch of 'famous' curlers and curling commentators at the Continental Cup. I even hung out with 'famous' curlers parents: Mrs. Nixon at the Continental Cup and Mr. and Mrs. Martin just today at the Kevin Martin Junior Spiel. I also met/made friends with a bunch of awesome people at the Jasper Place Curling Club, which I joined half way through the season. This was capped off by a fun times double league, and likely I-can't-believe-there's-no-curling withdrawal next week.

Meeting Kevin Martin during the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships

On the club curling front, I started curling twice a week and got voluntold to be on a club Board (which is actually quite interesting). I got some coaching to fix one aspect of my delivery, and even though I'm still very inconsistent, I actually feel like I'm making some shots (not many, but some, an improvement for sure). I definitely understand the game more and find it easier to call the line/weight while sweeping, so what I lack in delivery I definitely make up for in wicked sweeping skill! I've made some great new friends at both clubs, and will likely be back curling with both teams next year.

What about the 2011-2012 curling season?

On the pro-side, I'm definitely going to watch the last few days of the Alberta Men's Provincial Finals in Camrose. And I'm definitely volunteering at the Scotties (Canadian Women's Curling Championship) in Red Deer, assumably tagging along with the CCA webteam again. That means I have less than a year to befriend someone with a spare room/couch in Red Deer! I might try make it out to the last few days of the Brier (Canadian Men's Curling Championship) in Saskatoon too, but that depends on how well Red Deer works out and if I can get time off work. Ditto for the Women's Worlds in Lethbridge. I'd like to try get to one of the Grand Slam events, but I think I might be out of luck location wise.

Trying out wheelchair curling with some help from the Wheelies curlers

Club curlingwise, one club is getting some sort of Dominion Playdowns so I'll see if I can volunteer for that. I'm definitely going to try take some pre-season lessons at Jasper Place too. Oh, and I won the JPCC 2011 Brier pool so that means I'm going to be a super awesome curler after I buy fancy new curling shoes! There's a slight possibility I'll be playing three times a week next season - which means I'm never going to find a husband but since I've got the spinster-cat-lady-librarian thing going on it makes me no nevermind. I'd rather just curl, thank you very much.

And I'll keep up the curling posts on this blog too. Though this is the last curling post for awhile, I'll be posting throughout the summer, likely Edmonton event type stuff or more pictures from future photo walks. I might even resurrect Music Monday!

So take care and keep in touch over the summer, otherwise I'll be back for some good curling in the fall!

Thoughts on Doubles #Curling

2011-04-21T20:19:00.000-06:00

I can't quite remember how it came about, but on one of our last nights of Tuesday curling at the Jasper Place Curling Club sometime in March, @1CathyC had a brilliant idea: a fun doubles curling league in April.

So that's what we did. And this is how it went.

First - what's doubles curling? The inspiration was the mixed doubles event at the Continental Cup, although the 'mixed' rule was relaxed for our league. Conveniently, there's the World Mixed Doubles going on right now and my favourite national curling association just posted an overview!

Basically, each team throws five rocks. One person throws the first and the last, the other person throws the middle three. Two rocks, one for each team, are pre-positioned at the start of each end - one at the back half of the button, the other midway between the house and the hogline on the centre line to guard the rock in the house. The team with the hammer decides if they want their rock at the button or as the guard. The team whose rock is placed on the button gets last rock, so whoever's rock is the guard goes first (this is tricky, we kept forgetting how this works, so my rule of thumb when I'm in the hack was whichever rock is first goes first). No rock can be taken out until the fourth stone. You can't sweep your opponent's rock past after the T-line. You play six ends.

Confused yet? Watch this:

Yes, it is confusing, but we got it eventually. Almost. We played six games over three weeks, so two games a week. With twelve teams signed up, there was a four game round robin and two games of playoffs. The cost was $40 per person. So how did it turn out?

Well, @kevinmalinowski was a great doubles partner and we had a lot of fun. I had a good season of curling and wasn't quite ready for it to end in March, so it was nice to play a bit more in April. Most of the teams were made up of 2011 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship volunteers or curlers, so since I'd just spent a week hanging out with them, and was going through Wheelies withdrawal anyways, it was nice to see them again. Knowing everyone in the league was the best part - and made for some fun post-curling conversations in the bar afterwards. The World Men's Curling Championship was on during the first week, and it was super fun to watch the last few ends of great curling with a bunch of curlers, as opposed to by myself with only twitter for company.

It improved my curling skills too. Well, not my delivery, but because there was only two of us I got to play skip a lot, and as I'm usually the lead and have nothing to do with calling shots, so it was a nice change seeing the view from the house. Kudos to Kevin for letting me pretend to call some shots, and for not getting mad when I missed! We quickly figured out that we did better when I threw first and last and when Kevin threw the middle three (he is less sucky and unpredictable than me, plus is way better at hits and takeouts and making angles), so I got to call three rocks each end. Kevin was a good teacher and I think I got better at strategizing shots, figuring how much ice to give, and calling line. I made some good shots and I missed some good shots, so pretty much par for the course delivery wise.

We did ok, and finished dead middle, 6th out of twelve teams, winning half our games. We lost the B final and a chance at a $10 bar tab by 1 point. Guess we shouldn't've let them get 4 in the first and steal two in the third. Oops.

There were three wheelchair teams playing, and that's where I think the real strength of doubles curling is. I agree with Cathy, the national/international wheelchair curling should be doubles as opposed to team competitions. During team competitions, once the lead and second throw, that's it, they're done. There's no sweeping so they just sit there and get cold. Sure, they hold the throwers chairs, but I imagine it's not overly exciting for them. Doubles changes that. Curlers are constantly wheeling up and down the sheet, and both players get to call shots. There's more action. And I think the wheelchair curlers liked playing doubles. They sure had fun, and they were fun to play against.

Plus they let me try stick curling from a wheelchair! A few of the Alberta Host Team curlers were giving me advice for how to move my arm, where to position the stone, how to throw the turns etc. It was harder than I thought. I wasn't expecting the stick head to pivot like it did, and all my rocks stopped in the middle of the two hog lines, so I certainly didn't get the weight right in the six rocks I threw. It was good fun though. I totally appreciate and respect the wheelchair curlers' skills - they are very talented curlers. I was wondering what it was like and the curlers were rock stars for giving me a lesson!

So double curling was fun, but not super fun.

It was quiet. With a quarter of the people of a regular league, there weren't as many people to chat to. And there was little sweeping. This is the part I didn't like. I'm a lead, and I'm not the most consistent or accurate curler, but I like sweeping. It's the part of the game I think I'm good at. I like walking out with the rocks and judging weight and line that way. I like the bursts of exercise and the excitement that occurs when someone is yelling at you to sweep harder. There's not much of that in doubles. I'm not quite so coordinated enough to get up and sweep my own rock (nor should I, as it's not super safe) and on occasion did run out of the house to sweep during Kevin's shots, but not very often. It's not as active a game.

And that meant my feet got really cold, even with the addition of a second pair of socks!

It was quite challenging sorting out weight too. I'm used to throwing guards or draws to two sweepers who can push it a few extra feet. Not so in doubles. The first week a lot of rocks were hogged. And now I'm used to throwing to no sweepers, so I could never play in doubles and team leagues at the same time, I wouldn't be able to sort out the weight. I'm just not that good.

Only throwing five stones and only playing six ends also screws with your game. We were often able to score three or four rocks when the first rock is in the house, so if you have a bad end or two the other team can get so far ahead that you can't catch up in the short time allotted. This led to some lopsided scoring. I'm sure if we were star curlers we wouldn't have this problem, but we're not, so we do.

Would I play doubles curling again?

Maybe. I wouldn't play in a league that lasted a whole season, but I would play a couple one-off games for fun or as a bonspiel or in a short spring league. It was a nice, social league that allowed me to extend the curling season a bit and get to know some awesome people. But it wasn't quite as fun to play as team curling.

Well done Cathy for organizing it. Maybe we'll do it again next April!

#Curling with Kids...At The Mall?!

2011-04-19T10:07:00.000-06:00

I hung out with a bunch of kids at the mall on Saturday. And we curled. In the mall. No kidding!!

About a month ago, one of my curling clubs (Sherwood Park Curling Club, the one where I'm on the board) sent out a message asking for volunteers to help with a curling promo at the local mall. Once it became clear I wasn't going to get to the Player Championship in Grande Prairie, I jumped at the opportunity.

The Northern Alberta Curling Association (NACA) has 3 "Kurling" sets. You know that Capital One Rocks and Rings commercial that always runs during the curling-on-tv events*? It's the same set. The NACA set came with two target/house mats** and 4 blue and 4 red "rocks" (made out of rubber with 3 ball bearings for sliding). Our curling club manager booked free time at the mall for two days, booked and picked up a kurling set from the NACA office (for free) and we were good to go.

The mall floor was tile, not conducive to rolling ball bearings on, but they gave us their stage in the food court which was perfect. It was the perfect width and height for little people to throw rocks on (I'd say the stage was 3 curling brooms wide and up to the middle of my thigh - I know because I have bruises there from leaning over against the edge to collect rocks for 4hrs). We duct taped down the houses on each end so they wouldn't fold up, and away we went.

It's a simple enough game with 4 rocks each so the kids got it right away. The rocks curl or roll straight, depends on how the kids threw them. Apparently the rocks curl in the opposite direction of how you curl the handle, but I never got around to testing that. One volunteer stood on either side to catch the rocks before they rolled off the stage. We used curling brooms to push and collect rocks from the middle of the stage after each "end". And we explained and encouraged and cheered.

All the kids sure had fun - and so did I! Some would only play once, others stuck around for 20 minutes, and we had a lot of kids come play, then go eat lunch, then come play again, then go shopping, and then come play again! It was fun for all ages, and we had a couple toddlers try it out, but I'd say most kids were elementary school age. They played against themselves or their siblings or friends or parents or random other kids hanging around. Some kids really got the game and used hit or draw strategy, and some just threw as hard as they could at whatever rock to make them go flying off the edge. It certainly was interesting to see the difference.

I was pleased that all the kids were all good sports and were willing to play with strangers. The food court was a great setting because there were always people around. That's not to say there weren't downtimes - apparently Friday was quiet (full of teenagers all day), but when I was there on Saturday it was mostly steady, with a few quiet periods thrown in. Once one kid started played other kids in the food court would come over and join in. We also had a real curling rock (an old vintage one) on the stage, and the older kids and parents had a good time trying to lift it. Fun times all round!

Actually, it made me a) sad that I quit being an elementary school teacher and b) thankful that I quit being an elementary school teacher - at the same exact time. I think maybe only ex-teachers or people who know me well would understand that sentiment.

On top of the fun bit, we also had a big banner advertising the club, and a bunch of brochures. People did take them, and a couple parents/kids were quite excited to sign up for our novice program. I think a few parents walked away considering joining one of our adult leagues too. Ultimately the timing was a bit off. I guess the curling club manager thought we'd try it out, and now that we know what it involves I'm pretty sure we'll get the kurling set back for early September to try to promote the club (and our late September Open House) more. Makes sense.

All said and done it was a super fun day. Later that evening I received a random twitter message: "my 2 yr old enjoyed the curling at the mall. thank you." - how lovely! That made me smile all weekend long! You're very welcome!

I'd encourage other clubs to consider holding an event like this in a public place - not only to promote curling club registration, but also to introduce children to the sport we love. And we all know children are our future. From what I saw last weekend, the future looks pretty fun!

* Why do they run curling commercials during curling events - that's like preaching to the converted. They really need to get those commercials on during mainstream programming to reach those who don't watch curling or even know what it is to begin with! Mostly they are brilliant commercials (kudos to the CCA, their promos have been awesome the past couple years!) but sometimes I think the effect is lost on those who already love the sport.

** You can buy the sets at kurling.ca, but be warned, they're pretty pricy (I think they're made in the UK). And the set only comes with one house mat, so you might need to buy another one. Weird. It certainly is not affordable for the average family - but still cheaper than buying a cool curling table. It's a super fun thing for schools to possibly purchase though.

Photo Walk: St Joachim Cemetery

2011-04-13T21:19:00.000-06:00

My photographer friend always takes me on the best lunch dates: this week we went to the cemetery!

Actually, it was lovely. The weather in Edmonton felt all spring-like for once, and my office atmosphere has been tense lately, so as usual it was nice to get out and go for a walk.

The whole point of these walks is to teach me photography stuff. The past couple walks we talked about exposure (I think that's what it's called, anyways that's the 'A' dial on my camera and the + or - spectrum to get the lighting/colouring right). I think I still failed those lessons, but we moved on to something new anyways: composition (I think that's what it's called, anyways that's positioning objects in the frame using the rule of thirds and diagonals). I'm not sure I learned this lesson either, so it'll all have to be reviewed again next time. I'm a much better student in a classroom where I can take notes to study afterwards!

Here are my best/favourite shots:

Pre-cemetery/lesson - and one of the best of the bunch!

I love the "dead tree in the graveyard" view.

Military headstones will always remind me of my first trip to Belgium...

#Curling on TV: Player's Championship

2011-04-11T18:01:00.001-06:00

Well folks, it's time for the last curling-on-tv event of the season!

The last Grand Slam of Curling event will take place in Grande Prairie, Alberta from April 12 to 17.

Men's teams include: Bawel, Camm, Edin, Epping, Fowler, Howard, Jacobs, Koe, Martin, McEwen, Moskowy, Petryk, Schlender, Simmons, Stoughton, and Virtue.

Women's team include: Bernard, Carey, Hasselborg, Homan, Jones, Kaufman, Kleibrink, Lawton, McCarville, Middaugh, Muirhead, Nedohin, Ott, Overton-Clapham, Owen, and Viktorsson.

Wow. Quite a field. And it breaks my heart because it's in my province (albeit 5hrs away) and I had an opportunity to go - an opportunity I had to pass up for a number of personal/professional reasons (some of which have since been cancelled which makes me more sad). It sure would be fun to go watch and maybe meet some of those awesome teams! Plus this will be the last time (I assume) team Koe plays together with Blake MacDonald at third! Same goes for team Simmons (who will be joining team Koe next season), team Bernard and possibly other teams who will be retiring, shuffling, golfing instead. One of these day's I'll get to a Grand Slam. Hopefully.

Fortunately, CBC will be showing a few games on the weekend. Here's the schedule in Mountain time:

Saturday, April 16
Women's final: 1:30pm (CBC, cbcsports.ca)
Men's semi final: 8:30pm (cbcsports.ca, BOLD)

Sunday, April 17
Men's final: 9:30am (CBC, cbcsports.ca)

I do believe you can order the game package if you live outside of Canada, and I tried to find the link but I couldn't. Check out the #GPPC hashtag on twitter during the event for details.

Last event of the season! Enjoy the curling while it lasts!

#Curling on TV: Men's Worlds

2011-03-30T21:52:00.002-06:00

Time for the last big international competition of the season: the Ford World Men's Curling Championship!

The event runs from Saturday April 2 to Sunday April 10. Unlike the last world womens which was in Denmark, the world mens is in Canada this year, one time zone over so I might get to watch some of the games! Bring on the live tweeting! I'm a bit sad I can't be there because it is only one province over, but I think I've had enough curling excitement for one season!

Teams are:

Canada: Jeff Stoughton

China: Luan Chen

Czech Republic: Jiri Snitil

Denmark: Tommy Stjerne

Germany: Andy Kapp

France: Thomas Dufour

Korea: DongKeun Lee

Norway: Thomas Ulsrud

Scotland: Tom Brewster

Sweden: Niklas Edin

Switzerland: Christof Schwaller

USA: Pete Fenson

Some new names, some familiar names. I wonder if The Pants will make an appearance?

Check out the draw schedule and the TSN tv schedule. All the Canada games will be shown and here's the schedule in MT time:

Sat. Apr 2 - 1:30pm (SUI) - 7:00pm (DEN)

Sun. Apr 3 - 1:00pm (GER)

Mon. Apr 4 - 8:30am (KOR) - 7:30pm (USA)

Tues. Apr 5 - 1:30pm (FRA) - 7:30pm (SCO)

Weds. Apr 6 - 8:30am (CZE) - 1:30pm (SWE)

Thurs. Apr 7 - 8:30am (CHN) - 7:30pm (NOR)

Fri. Apr 8 - 7:30pm (PPG)

Sat. Apr 9 - 12:30pm (PPG) - 5:00pm (SF)

Sun. Apr 10 - 5:00pm (F)

PPG stands for page playoff game, yes? The big game will be Thursday night vs Norway I reckon. I'm picking a Stoughton/Ulsrud for the final.

2011 Canadian Wheelchair #Curling Championship: Day 7

2011-03-28T13:04:00.000-06:00

Final day today!

Whereas yesterday was relaxing and I got to watch a lot of curling, today was the opposite. Again, there seemed to be a ton of "final day" stuff going on. There were a lot of people running into and out of 'my' office, so while I spent a lot of time not in there working, the rest of the time I was mostly stressing about how I should be in there working, but couldn't be other people were using the space. Of course everyone going into and out of the office was busily working to coordinate take down, or closing ceremonies, or the victory banquet, or transportation to the airport for the journey home.

'My' desk

And of course this was missing and that was lost. Oh and by the way there's a semi final or a final going on and how was I supposed to live update the scores online when I can't get to the computer? Today reminded me of the first day - busy busy busy!!

It was nice to have all the curlers back in though. The morning game was quiet, as attention was divided between the semi final on the ice and the World Women's Curling final on the tv (Canada came in second, good try team Holland!). Everyone came in for the final and the closing ceremonies afterwords, which reminded me of the atmosphere of the round robin. We even had a visit by a couple Mounties, as they traditionally carry out the trophy at CCA events.

One of the most fun couple hours I saw at the club this week happened in between the semi and the final. While the take down crew was busy removing clocks so they could be shipped out on time (they started at the Brier, travelled to us, and will make their way to Regina for the Men's Worlds next weekend), an exhibition game was being played: coaches vs. alternates vs pool players (spares). The coaches borrowed a chair and threw with sticks, and the curlers had a ton of fun! D&C Mobility put $100 out for the winner, and the pool players took it all, handily beating the coaches. So. Much. Fun. This game really summarized what the event was about - teamwork, curling, and fun!

Both the World Women'n Final on tv and the Canadian Wheelchair Curling final on the ice came down to the last rock - and the teams not necessarily picked to win by the crowd won both games. The largely pro-Alberta crowd was heartbroken after Manitoba won the wheelies final over team Alberta, but because we're all nice curling folk, everyone was also happy and congratulatory towards the winners, who worked hard to win the semi and the final that day. The anthem was sung, the trophy handed out and everyone headed to the victory banquet!

Except the take down crew, the photographer and I. We enjoyed an hour of blissful quiet to finish our jobs before heading out to the fancy dinner. This was probably my one and only chance to ever go to a curling event victory banquet, and it was a good time. The food was good, the company was good and it was a perfect way to cap off the event. The top three teams got their medals, the All Star team and Sportsmanship Awards were announced, and everyone got one last chance to say good bye to their new friends. I made a point to thank the officials for all their hard work (and for putting up with my questions all week, I'm not sure everyone gets my humour all the time), and said so long to some new friends.

It was a bittersweet ending. I couldn't help but think from time to time during the event that I was a part of something special. No other event provides such close access to curlers, officials, volunteers and fans. This national championship is unlike most of the others in that we all worked, played and had fun together. Everyone was amazing to hang out with, everyone was pleasant and got along, and everyone was appreciative of all the hard work that went into the event. The Wheelies certainly is something special. I doubt I will get such a chance to work such an event anytime soon, and I am so glad I had the chance to be on the committee and live the event for seven days.

I really enjoyed my job answering phones, sorting out questions, making signage, updating the online curling stats program, organizing photographs, tweeting and facebooking and writing for the CCA. I'm not 100% satisfied with my daily articles, but it was my first go at sports journalism so I think I did a good job for a beginner. Though I have tons of writing experience (a bachelors degree and a masters degree worth of assignments and research papers, two novels for National Novel Writing Month, this blog, and a general passion for words), I am no Larry Wood (CCA) or Mario Annicchiarico (Edmonton Journal, he curled in my league, super nice guy, cool job covering all the curling plus football in the summer). I've received some nice compliments for the CCA and doubt many other people read them so it's all good. If I was to do it again, I'd try harder to get quotes from curlers. Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn't want to bother the athletes after a tough loss, sometimes they were too busy after the game, sometimes I was doing a million other things and didn't get around to writing until everyone had left for the night!

Final post: Manitoba Wins the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship

Today I woke up, and instantly missed putting on my uniform, heading down to the club, and seeing all the wonderful people I met and worked with all week. It truly was a special atmosphere, a once in a lifetime event, an amazing seven days. I've searched for a place to belong for most of my life, and I always find it during the curling events I volunteer for. Curling folks are fantastic, and I always enjoy hanging around them for the duration of such events. This is why I keep taking my holidays in such exotic locales like the Jasper Place Curling Club.

We did a great job. People enjoyed themselves. And that makes me happy.

2011 Canadian Wheelchair #Curling Championship: Day 6

2011-03-26T22:47:00.001-06:00

Today was a mellow day at the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships, for me anyways.

Since round robin was over and play offs were on, there was only one game on the ice - so I actually got to watch some curling. Previously I spent my time running in and out of the office updating the online scoring or taking photos. Today I watch the last half of each end. It was nice to finally watch more than a shot here or there. At one point I actually sat down and watched the curling! Slacker.

The club definitely had a different feel to it today, as there were few teams around in jackets. Yes, many of the other curlers did come to watch the games and the upstairs viewing area was still packed, but it wasn't the same hustle and bustle downstairs in the players area. I missed all the coloured jackets hanging around, but besides the teams playing, everything else was pretty relaxed.

All week people have been calling me @1CathyC's daughter, as I do look very similar to @ErinCraig11. Well, "mom" was nice enough to take her "daughters" out for lunch!

Pictures of the day:

1 vs 2 game: NS vs AB

Big crowd again!

Last shot! AB wins it!

3 vs 4 game: MB vs BC

MB clinches the win, will met NS in Sunday's semi.

Day 6 article for the CCA's website: Alberta, Nova Scotia, and Manitoba still have a chance to win the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship

They rocked it out this evening too, with a band playing in the club lounge. What happens in the club lounge stays in the club lounge, but I was told by the boss to put this on youtube:

2011 Canadian Wheelchair #Curling Championship: Day 5

2011-03-26T11:33:00.000-06:00

Today marked my record for longest stretch of big event curling volunteering. I did 3 days (plus 3 days of spectating) at the Roar of the Rings, and 4 days at the Continental Cup this past January. Today was day 5 at the Wheelies.

Two important things that were saving me from insanity this week were the fact that there were no morning draws, and I was getting fed regularly on the meal plan. That all ended on day 5.

I'm not going to lie: I was grumpy. Tired. Annoyed. I know I wasn't the only one, and it was to be expected after spending 5 days in close quarters with the same people. [Do not ask me for a pen. The pens are in the same place they've been for the past four days. You've seen me get a pen to give you from that same place for the past four days. You know where the pens are. Don't not ask me for a bloody pen!] My grumpiness wore off throughout the day and was replaced by me talking to myself like a lunatic. And then I started getting numbers mixed up - not a good think when you're inputting line scores live to the internet.

This was also probably not the best day to bring to my attention the fact that I'd a) spelled someone's name wrong (which I got from the program so it really wasn't my fault or b) gotten a curler's position wrong (totally my fault) in my online articles I've been writing for the CCA. A for effort, F for fact checking. A sports journalist I am not. Yes, I read a couple textbooks, but neglected to take notes so it's not like I remembered anything. Writing those articles for the CCA has been fun, but a bit stressful as it's really outside my comfort zone. I hope it's been going over ok. Doubtful many people are reading them anyways.

And this was probably not the best week to put an offer in on a condo and go through all that time sensitive condo-pending stuff like getting a home inspection, talking to a lawyer, signing my life savings away for a small shoebox with a cracked balcony and shrinking hardwood.

Ah well.

Kudos to the CCA folks who do this for four months straight! Fortunately none of the curlers noticed, and things ran smoothly as usual. Our volunteer team is wonderfully amazing and have been working so hard all week! And I've heard nothing but glowing comments from the curlers, coaches, volunteers, spectators etc about how the event is running so far. That makes everything worth it!

Day 5 was the last day of the round robin. It was a bit tense as teams were fighting for playoff spots. It was also a bit sad. Despite all I've written in this post so far, I've really loved working at this event. Today was the last day all the curlers were in and playing on all the sheets and I shall miss that tomorrow as we go into one-game playoffs. I knew where everyone sat, could expect people to be in certain places at certain times and now it's done. Bitter sweet.

More photos:

Last day of round robin.

More media in today.

Coaches on the ice for practice.

Northern Ontario moose mascot!

Big crowd again today.

Coaches watching games.

Queen Elizabeth High School (my old high school!) in helping clean rocks.

After two games today, playoffs are set. Time to get serious!

Day 5 CCA article: Playoffs Set At Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship

2011 Canadian Wheelchair #Curling Championship: Day 4

2011-03-25T11:51:00.001-06:00

Another busy day at the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship!

The day ran smoothly, like yesterday. The officials finally clued in that I've been doing online line scores. Not sure what they thought I was doing for three days, running back and forth with my notepad but whatever, they seemed to be appreciate it. We also had a visit from a CCA representative - everyone was on their best behaviour for about 30 seconds, and then status quo resumed.

I took a few more photos for y'all:

Practice

Good crowd of spectators!

Timekeepers keeping busy.

Player gifts from the host committee - by artist Colin Vince (awesome stuff!)

Our on-ice helpers rock!!

Only a few more days! We just keep on rolling...

My article for the CCA website: Alberta alone on top at the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship

2011 Canadian Wheelchair #Curling Championship: Day 3

2011-03-23T22:49:00.001-06:00

Tiring day today. Just like at work, I go go go until the night is over and then wonder what I did all day!

Today was full of more facebook photo uploading, picture tweeting, live scoring, article writing, quote finding, Timbit eating, email checking, sign making, and chatting to people. I did manage to post up some local media articles for people to read, as well as the ones I'm writing, on the windows of the office. We've got some good coverage, short articles in the papers, spots in the sports segment on the news, radio shout outs. I took a complaint that the paper isn't printing the standings, but hey, without connections we do what we can.

Oh, I also took a video! I love the sound of curling, and wheelchair curling has it's own particular sound as there's no yelling of the sweeping. Have a listen:

It's not fabulous, but decent, from my camera. There was only one place I could stand, right behind an official, so it was hard to get more than a couple sheets. 'A' for effort. If I have a minute I'll take some more later this week.

Besides chatting to lovely curling folks, my favourite part is zipping around the club, taking sneaky photos to post on twitter! Here's the best of the day:

Dinner! We had more high school curlers helping out today.

Our fearless leader tackling the media.

View from the lounge.

Best wheel cleaners in town!

I love the bright colours of the jackets against the white ice.

Northern Ontario's pin hat. I bugged them a lot today - thanks for putting up with me!

Where all the magic happens.

We're also posting photos to our facebook page, and the CCA has finally posted the official photos to their website. They look great! Our official photographer, Bevan Sauks is a non-curler, but he's been doing a super fantastic job at getting great shots of people. My officemate Kevin Malinowski has been taking all the photos we put on facebook, as well as the ones I use in my articles, and I'm doing the twitter ones. So far that's working good, except we're not getting the right credits sometimes, but we're nice people so we don't mind, as long as the curlers are getting their moment to shine!

Day 3 post from the CCA website: Alberta and Nova Scotia undefeated at the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship

2011 Canadian Wheelchair #Curling Championship: Day 2

2011-03-23T10:48:00.000-06:00

Another busy day at the Jasper Place Curling Club. It's amazing how time flies when you have a million things to do!

Again, I arrived at the club for lunch, and then got busy working. There were 2 draws today, so that was 2 games of stats to update, double the draw sheets to post up on the walls, double the photos to upload, double the tweets to send out. And at time it seemed like double the phone calls to answer and double the volunteers to troubleshoot for.

Artwork by Colin Vince we are raffling off. Come buy a ticket! It's awesome!

We had another exciting visitor - this time a City Inspector came to say hi. Seriously, what's up with that timing! The club got the green sticker of approval and the event carried on. And wouldn't you know it, not an hour later did I receive a phone call from the Fire Alarm Inspector wanting to book an appointment to come test the fire alarms! Two in one day! Thankfully the club manager put them off until next week. The curlers were on the ice for the afternoon game, so it was just the coaches and alternates that had a good laugh!

There was also a lot of media in the club today at various times. We've been visited by all the major news networks in town, and most of the print newspapers have come to write stories or take photos. We received a couple phone calls about the interviews appearing on the news - and one couple even said they specifically came to watch after seeing the reports! How exciting! I got to talk to a sports guy on the phone, and hey that was pretty cool because he sounded exactly like he does on tv!

Two days in, and we're starting to get routines going.

Me: Eat, post out yesterday's CCA website article, check emails, post links to new content on facebook and twitter, answer phones, troubleshoot volunteer stuff, take some photos to put on facebook and twitter, live score the game using the CCA's curling software, tweet, talk to photographer, put up draw summaries, update standings posters, chat to lovely curling folks, tweet, track down interesting quotes, write summary article for CCA, repeat.

Curlers: Eat. Practice. Play. Eat. Practice. Play. Mix in socializing and team meetings in there, and that's what the curlers seem to be doing at the club. I saw one team napping upstairs in the corner, and I'm sure other teams are going back to the hotel to do the same. As usual, everyone is super nice and happy to chat or joke around. I seem to see the coaches more as they stay in the players area during games to keep stats etc. I pop out of the office every end to jot down scores to update, and try not to bother them too much, but they are very nice as well.

As are all of the officials. And the other volunteers. Two days in, and we're getting volunteers offering to come in tomorrow or the next day to get more shifts because they're having a good time. How lovely. We had a high school curling team in today to serve lunches and be on ice helpers, and after speaking to one of the skips he noted the curlers really appreciated that.

Official timekeepers

Yes, I like to live in that world where everything and everyone is happy. So far I haven't heard too many complaints so I'll assume it's all good.

Here's the second article from my go at sports journalism:
Day 2: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Nova Scotia in a four-way tie for the lead

2011 Canadian Wheelchair #Curling Championship: Day 1

2011-03-22T10:22:00.000-06:00

Wow. What a way to kick off the 2011 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship!

Come join us! $5 a draw to watch talented curlers!

I got to the Jasper Place Curling Club about lunch time. All the curlers were downstairs in players area and the place was busy busy busy as lunch was being served. Eventually I found my uniform (red hoodie for all volunteers, blue jacket to identify organizing committee), and grabbed lunch. I decided to buy a meal plan (same as some of the curlers/followers/volunteers) which was one of my better decisions this week: the food was great and I don't have to sort out two meals on my own.

My partner in crime showed me what's what and I settled into my new home for the week - the club manager's office. @kevinmalinowski and I are working from the office all week - me updating the online line scores/facebook/twitter/website and him taking photos, sorting out volunteer stuff, troubleshooting other things, doing computer stuff, tweeting etc. I also became a the de facto secretary as I think I answered a dozen phone calls, while also answering questions, showing people around etc. It was hard work! Plus I made a few runs up and down the stair to the bar for various reasons, one of which was to chat to @ErinCraig11 while she was holding the fort in the lounge. This is pretty much what we did until dinner time, with a Tim Horton's field trip in the middle to get coffee/snacks for the volunteer room.

A good chunk of this pre-game time was spent setting up and learning how to use the online curling statistics program. Not lying, there were a few glitches, but eventually we got it working alright - thanks to a couple phone calls to Super-CCA-Web-Team-Guy who was a star and helped us out a ton!

Somewhere in between there, the curlers got a surprise visit from Kevin Martin! He was awesome, so friendly! He posed for photos, signed autographs, generally chatted with people and was an all round fan-freakin'-tastic ambassador for the sport. If you read this blog you know I'm not quite Team Martin's #1 fan, but despite his on-ice 'Old Bear' persona, Kevin Martin is super nice in person. I was trying very hard to not be a fan girl, but @1CathyC and @kevinmalinowski made sure KMart didn't leave before I got a photo with him! And I'll even break my no-posting-pictures-of-me rule because it was so awesome:

So cool! This was a highlight of the day for sure.

Dinner time, then opening ceremonies. There was a piper piping out the curlers, a brass trio to do O'Canada, and then the Canadian Women's Deaf Curling team threw out the ceremonial rock. Jackie Rae (local radio personality, big curling supporter) was the MC and she was super funny as always. It turned out pretty well in the end.

Canadian Women's Deaf Curling Team

Game time. What a fleury of activity! I spent the next few hours going from the computer to the viewing area to input all the line scores. Between that, I was uploading photos to our Wheelies facebook page, and tweeting from our Wheelies twitter account as I'd been doing all day. I was also working on an update for the official Canadian Curling Association website. This was the part I was most nervous about, but I uploaded some photos and wrote up a short run down of the day's events. I hope to get some quotes from the teams over the coming days for these daily posts, but I think I did alright for my first real sports journalism gig:

Day 1 at the 2011 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship

This was posted on the CCA website/twitter/facebook page, and I'm not going to lie - it's kinda cool being published!

Ready to roll!

Big crowd, loud and rowdy!

It was pretty late by the time the games were over and everything was locked up/lights out. It was a busy day, but a super fun one. People (friends, colleagues, volunteers, strangers) always give me a funny look when I tell them I took a weeks holidays to work at this event (or any other curling event I happen to be volunteering for) - but it's always worth it. The people I get to work with, meet, talk to, watch curl on the ice, are always amazing, super friendly folks who I love hanging out with. I'm very much looking forward to the rest of the event.

Best. Holiday. Ever.

2011 Canadian Wheelchair #Curling Championship: Wheelies 101

2011-03-20T12:23:00.001-06:00

What's wheelchair curling all about? Watch and learn:

VANOC put out that super informative video for the 2010 Paralympic Games. Another informative video from the Canadian Curling Association is also worth watching.

Each team must have at least one woman on it. Sticks are used to throw, and there's no sweeping, but other than that, wheelchair curling pretty much follows the same rules as other curling.

Interested in seeing some live action?

Come out to watch the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship at Jasper Place Curling Club in Edmonton, Alberta. Tickets are $5 per draw/$10 per day. The event runs from March 21-27, with 2 draws a day. Here's the schedule:

If you do come watch, come by and say hi - I'll be the one in the blue jacket behind the computer!

Also be sure to follow us on twitter: @CCACurling and @11Wheelies - and on facebook: Wheelies page and event.

#Curling on TV: Women's World's

2011-03-16T22:35:00.000-06:00

The Women's World Curling Championship runs March 19-27 in Esbjerg, Denmark. Check out the official website for all the info.

Teams include:
Canada: Amber Holland
China: Bingyu Wang
Czech Republic: Anna Kubeśkova
Denmark: Lene Nielsen
Germany: Andrea Schöpp
Korea: Ji-Sun Kim
Norway: Linn Githmark
Russia: Liudmila Privivkova
Scotland: Anna Sloan
Sweden: Anette Norberg
Switzerland: Mirjam Ott
USA: Patti Lank

TV and Web coverage details are available here. TSN will be showing the following games (MTN time as always):

Mar 19 - 2:00am (CHN)
Mar 21 - 2:00am (SCO)
Mar 22 - 12:00pm (USA)
Mar 23 - 7:00am (SUI)
Mar 24 - 7:00am (GER)
Mar 25 - 12:00pm (PPG)
Mar 26 - 3:00am (PPG) - 8:00am (SF)
Mar 27 - 7:00am (CF)

I'm not sure why they're only showing some of the games, and there's quite a time change but I'm sure we'll take what we can get here in Canada. Set your PVR/VCR!

I wont be able to watch any of it as I'll be working at the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships. And I'll of course pick Canada for the win!

Photo Walk: Craigavon Path

2011-03-16T11:43:00.001-06:00

For the past two winters, I've been wintering at my aunt and uncle's house while they winter in Arizona. This year has been tough, as there's been an unreasonable amount of snow to heave off their driveway, but I've managed. I'm moving out next weekend, which makes me sad because their tv is massive, comes with HD sports channels with a pvr, and the internet is wireless. Hopefully it wont be too long before I have those important luxuries in my own condo.

On Sunday, as I sat in my (uncle's) chair watching the Brier bronze medal game while flipping back to the Oilers game, I got this overwhelming feeling that I should go outside. What a novel concept! The sky was a beautiful Alberta blue, it was warm out, and it occurred to me that it would be the last time I would get to enjoy the path near their house before I moved home. So during the 5th end break, when the Oilers were losing bad, I grabbed my camera and went for a walk.

Last snow of the winter I think. Let the melt begin!

I love Alberta sky.

You probably can't see, but there were about 30 singing birds at the tops of those trees. Magic.

The path is tucked in behind the houses. It's like being in another world.

What a beautiful blue.

Home time.

Lately, I've been getting really annoyed when people complain about Alberta, and specifically Edmonton. Yes, our winter's are brutal, and often the summer's are less than fantastic. Yes, it perhaps is not the most exciting city to live in. Yes, the government is nutty and the oil people are destroying the north of the province. Yes, the hockey team is last in the league - but darn it! Look at that sky! I lived elsewhere for awhile, in an exciting city with nice weather, and I can honestly say: Edmonton the most wonderful city to live in. If you disagree, move somewhere else. I guarantee you'll miss that sky.

2011 Canadian Wheelchair #Curling Championship: One Week Away

2011-03-13T21:38:00.001-06:00

Quietly, a group of dedicated volunteers have been working hard to pull together another national curling event - the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships!

Previously, I've blogged about how I managed to get on the organizing committee. It's been fascinating to see how a big curling event comes together. Sure, this is the not the same scale as the Olympics - there will be no tv coverage and dozens instead of thousands will come watch, but it's still been quite the week to organize. I haven't posted much about what's been going on, but the curlers arrive in a week and the first draw goes March 21, so it's time to catch you all up on what we've been doing!

Each committee member had a job to do. Here's an idea about some of the things that needed to be arranged before the event:

Transportation: The biggie. How do you get wheelchair teams from the airport (45mins out of Edmonton) to the hotel? How do you get wheelchair teams from the hotel (5 mins from the club) to the club? Accessible buses and vans had to be acquired, drivers sorted out, and people trained how to transfer people in wheelchairs. Kudos to the woman in charge of this area - it was quite the production to sort out, and I hope everything goes smoothly during the week!

Hospitality: In addition to rooms for all participants, a hospitality suite, breakfasts, wine and cheese night, and closing banquet needed to be arranged. Lunches and dinners at the club were decided on, and volunteers scheduled to help with serving.

Sponsorship: A tough, yet extremely necessary task - hit up local business for cash. This team did great! A huge thank you to all out sponsors!

Media & Promotion: A volunteer wrote and distributed a media release. Another group of volunteers put together a poster to advertise the event, which will go out to all the curling clubs in the city, local health services, agencies, and supermarkets. They also made that sponsorship image that we've been using to promote the sponsors. There's a lot of printing that's going to go on for the posters and images; banners will be made and displayed in the club. It's going to look awesome! A journalist for a local paper was contacted and will write a piece about the event, and some advertising will go out as well. I'm part of this group too. I've written information and sent along bits and pieces for the Canadian Curling Association's (CCA) web team to put on their website. I've been posting (infrequently) on our twitter and facebook accounts, but I'll be ramping that up during the event (as well as posting to my personal account). I'll also be doing the online stats entry for Curlcast, which is the live scoring webtool used by the CCA. I'm looking forward to that! During the week I'll also be writing up a daily blog post to publish on the CCA site to keep everyone up to date. That is the part that makes me most nervous! Must watch those spelling mistakes!

Volunteers: An army had to be organized! Most volunteers came from advertising in the club, but wonderful folks from elsewhere will also be helping out. They all needed to be contacted for scheduling and uniform sizes, and then scheduled for all the jobs that need doing during the week. Another huge area to sort out!

Program: A program (that looks awesome by the way!) was made to showcase teams, the event, and sponsors. Come down to watch and have a look!

Facilities: Our facilities guy is awesome! He made these great stick holders that could go on the sideboards to hold the curlers stick when they weren't in use (I reckon he should patent that!). He's going to put up all the clocks, has arranged a way to raise flags during the podium bit (no podium though, to complicated to wheel onto!) and generally made sure the club is ready to handle 10 wheelchair curling teams. Of course there is the fantastic ice crew too; they will be super busy that week!

Entertainment: A piper (yay for the piper), anthem singers/choirs, a jazz band for the banquet and two bands for our Friday/Saturday party nights were booked! Fun times!

Athlete Liason: Accessibility aids had to be arranged for the hotel, drawing on items from local organizations. Welcome packages were put together for athletes.

Ceremonies: Opening & Closing ceremonies had to be sorted out. Sound equipment and flags (including flag bearers) were found and speakers were arranged. It's going to look wonderful.

Officials: The officials come from NACA (Northern Alberta Curling Association) and will be recording stats and officiating the game. They pretty much sort themselves out, and will be working closely with us during the event.

Photographer: Another outside team member, hopefully it'll all work out so that the photos can be posted to the CCA's flickr account.

And throughout everything, our fearless leader, @1CathyC has made sure everything actually happens! She's been awesome and has worked so hard! Those little paragraphs above really don't tell the complete story of all the work that has gone into organizing this event, and I'm sure I've missed loads of other details. It's been a big job - but I know all that hard work will pay off and the event will be awesome!!

The absolute best part of this whole process has been meeting and working with all the great people on the committee. I was a stranger coming into it all, as most of the volunteers curl at the club, but they've been super friendly and really accepted me into their group. I've started curling at the club, and know I've made friendships that will last well after the event is over. I'm so lucky! Being a curling volunteer has really been good to me.

We started meeting last fall. Monthly meetings became weekly meetings, and now there's only one week left! Lots to do! Follow along for more news and updates - and stay tuned for details about how you can come down and watch all the action!

#Curling on TV: Brier Time!!

2011-03-03T12:08:00.000-07:00

It's time for my most favourite curling event of the year!!

From March 5-13, the 'best' men's curling teams in Canada will play it out at the Brier to crown the king of Canadian men's curling. Ok, maybe it's not quite that majestic, but the winner gets bragging rights and a trip to the Worlds, and hey, that's a pretty big deal.

Teams this year are:

B.C. - Jim Cotter
Yukon/NWT - Jamie Koe
Alberta - Kevin Martin
Saskatchewan - Pat Simmons
Manitoba - Jeff Stoughton
Northern Ontario - Brad Jacobs
Ontario - Glenn Howard
Quebec - Francois Gagne
Nova Scotia - Shawn Adams
New Brunswick - James Grattan
P.E.I. - Eddie McKenzie
Newfoundland and Labrador - Brad Gushue

Why is this my favourite event? There's always a story, and the curling is always excellent! Remember watching the Koe brothers finally play each other last year? Remember how excited the Koe boys were when they finally won it on that last draw to the button?

Remember the most awesomest curling shot ever by Glenn Howard in 2009?

Remember that same year watching the Howard brothers play each other? Glenn held the broom for Russ' last shot - it was so cute. A friend and I watched that game from my macbook during a class while we were in grad school, and almost gave ourselves away when shots were made, though the whole back row was following too. Poignant.

Anyways. This year is sure to not disappoint either. Glenn's got his son playing 5th, Russ' son will play again for NB, Martin is back, Gushue is back. Team Brad Jacobs out of Northern Ontario have joined twitter (follow @TeamBradJacobs) so that'll be fun to follow (they've done a great job on twitter so far, I hope they keep it up when the pressure is on!). And maybe we'll even get to see the spin:

Check out the draw schedule. TSN has advertised that the first game they will show is NB vs ON, otherwise who knows what we'll get but I image the March 10 evening draw on tv will be AB vs ON (and darn it all I have to work late that night).

All games will be shown on TSN at the following times (Mountain as usual):
Sat. Mar 5 - 12:30pm/5:30pm
Sun. Mar 6 - 7:30am/12:30pm/5:30pm
Mon. Mar 7 - 7:30am/12:30pm/5:30pm
Tues. Mar 8 - 7:30am/12:30pm/5:30pm
Weds. Mar 9 - 7:30am/12:30pm/5:30pm
Thurs. Mar 10 - 7:30am/12:30pm/5:30pm
Fri. Mar 11 -12:30pm Tiebreaker/5:30pm Page Playoff 1 v 2
Sat. Mar 12 - 12:30pm Page Playoff 3 v 4/5:30pm Semi-Final
Sun. Mar 13 - 5:30pm - Final

I'm not sure if there will be live streaming or video archiving on TSN. Judging by the complaints they got from the Scotties, I'm thinking that's likely.

For the first time this year, I want to see a Martin/Howard final. And then - may the best man win!

Photo Walk: Rossdale/Riverdale Trail

2011-03-02T11:39:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, my photographer friend and I went for another photo walk (see photos from our walk around the Alberta Legislature in December). This time we walked down to the Rossdale Generating Station, along the North Saskatchewan River, and up through Riverdale to downtown Edmonton again.

Like last time, he gave me a lot of tips, most of which I again promptly forgot, but I think I remember a few things so it was a semi-win on his part. It was also really nice to get out of the office, chat with a friend, and get some exercise. Unfortunately it was quite an overcast day, but I got a few good (and many quite average) shots.

This part of the plant was shut down in 2009. Obviously.

Walterdale Bridge

As close as I'll get to that whole black-&-white-one-colour effect. All natural.

Building art downtown.

I hope we're making these photo walks a semi-regular event. Field trips are always fun!

#Curling Librarian: Can I/We Do More?

2011-02-26T15:04:00.001-07:00

I love my job. I'm a university librarian.

Now, you're all thinking that all I do is checkout books all day. Wrong. In fact, I don't check out books at all: I order books, work on a variety of projects, sit on a number of committees, help students with their assignments/papers, teach information searching skills and work with a variety of programs to ensure their relationship with and experience of the library is awesome. This week alone I prepared two teaching sessions for next week, co-presented twice during our university professional development day (Mobile User Experience - including a show and tell of our library's iPads, and Navigating The World of Consumer Health Information), worked 5hrs at the reference desk, and used my charm to get a tour of the university residences. Not bad for a four day week!

Lately though, I've been thinking about how I could mesh my passion for curling and my library skills together.

The last couple big events I volunteered for allowed me to use my friendly people skills, and when I was tweeting for the Canadian Curling Association (CCA) I guess I was using my technology abilities (as a friend said though: "anyone can tweet"). Being on a board at one club, and the committee for the 2011 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships certainly takes some brain power. Doing all the online/social media for the Wheelies event is going to be a big challenge for me, one I'm excited to take on! And I love doing all of this just as much as I love my libraryland job.

But there's got to be more. I've been pondering an article by Jean Mills posted on the CCA blog titled "Around the House: Curling clubs get the academic treatment." It highlights current research going on regarding: how clubs are important to communities, how curling benefits womens' health, and then all that engineering excitement about the new brooms and sweeping techniques that were studied before the Olympics.

Shortly before the article was posted, I attended a scholarly research seminar (university librarian, remember, it goes with the territory). At some point I'm going to have to get more fancy letters after my name (I'll likely do a second masters degree, the whole PhD thing is quite terrifying). This also involves doing presentations and publishing papers.

And that got me thinking. Someone somewhere is going to want to publish some of these, and other research studies like new types of deliveries, or the most effective way to teach curling or whatever else is going on in the curling world. When I say publish I mean academically, in academic/scholarly journals, perhaps in the areas of science or engineering or physical education.

And someone somewhere in the curling world is someday going to need an awesome curling librarian to research and write up a literature review for their awesome yet-to-be-published paper!

All you curling-scientists or curling-academics out there: you know where to find me.

Most of the time my colleagues think I'm nuts, but being a curling nerd has been an extremely fun experience for me! I've met so many awesome people (online and in real life)! Tweeting scores and interacting with fans while watching live curling games on tv has become one of my favourite things to do! And isn't a happy curling nerd a happy and productive librarian? I certainly think so.

It's not just about me though: what can you do for the sport of curling? Teach a little rock program? Write up a grant proposal? Volunteer some time for a local or larger CCA event? Sew crests on jackets? Knit vintage curling sweaters to auction off for a fundraiser (I'd buy one!)? Write a piece in your local paper about playdowns? Create some advertising for a bonspiel at your club?

I bet you've got some skills and abilities that could help grow and improve the sport of curling. Don't let me hog all the fun!

Honestly, sometimes I just feel like an 8yr old in a toy store, and need to share all the goodies I see on the shelves with my friends. Thank you for humouring me!

#Curling on TV: Scotties Tournament of Hearts

2011-02-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

Starting Saturday February 19, and right up until the final on Sunday February 27 - there's going to be some awesome curling on tv! It's Scotties Tournament of Hearts time!

Teams are:

Territories/Yukon: Kerry Galusha
BC: Kelly Scott
Alberta: Shannon Kleibrink
Saskatchewan: Amber Holland
Manitoba: Cathy Overton-Clapham
Ontario: Rachel Homan
Quebec: Marie-France Larouche
New Brunswick: Andrea Kelly
Nova Scotia: Heather Smith-Dacey
PEI: Suzanne Gaudet Birt
Newfoundland: Stacie Devereaux
Canada: Jennifer Jones

This year, ladies nationals is Charlottetown, PEI, so not so good for watching in my time zone (they're 3hrs ahead). All games are on TSN, and here's the schedule in Mountain time:

Saturday Feb. 19 - 11:30am/4:30pm

Sunday Feb. 20 - 6:30am/11:30am/4:30pm
Monday Feb. 21 - 6:30am/11:30am/4:30pm
Tuesday Feb. 22 - 6:30am/11:30am/4:30pm
Wednesday Feb. 23 - 6:30am/11:30am/4:30pm
Thursday Feb. 24 - 6:30am/11:30am/4:30pm
Friday Feb. 25 - 11:30am tiebreaker/4:30pm 1vs 2
Saturday Feb. 26 - 9:00am 3 vs 4/2:00pm semi
Sunday Feb. 27 - 4:30pm final

The draw schedule is here. Who knows which game TSN will feature - but I guarantee they will show the Jones (CAN) vs Overton-Clapham (MB) game Wednesday night. Both skips say it's just s regular game, but considering what happened in the summer, it's bound to be a bit tense!

Who am I picking to win? Well, I enjoy following Jill Officer on twitter, and have great respect for Jennifer Jones after hearing her answers at the Up Close & Personal bit during the Continental Cup last month, so I will be following Team Jones/Canada. I'll also be following Team Homan/Ontario - I've been following the lead Lisa Weagle on twitter for awhile, long before I figured out she played for Homan actually. And of course I'll be cheering for Team Kleibrink/Alberta, because I cheered for them at the Olympic Trials and the Alberta Scotties and I met Amy Nixon's mom and she was lovely so hey, they're my pick to win!

I'm looking forward to watching a bunch of the games (likely via PVR, so no live scoring). I'm seriously considering volunteering for the Scotties next year in Red Deer (either with the CCA web team if they'll have me back, or as a regular volunteer) if I can find a couch to sleep on, so consider this year's Scotties advanced research.

It's going to be a good week of curling!

#Curling on TV (Maybe): Alberta Men's Provincials

2011-02-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

This week is one of my favourite curling events - it's time for the Alberta men's provincials! Starting today, from February 9-13, the best Alberta men's teams will be in High River (just south of Calgary) playing for a chance to go to the Brier. Teams include: Appelman, Ferbey, Kennedy, Koe, Martin, Meek, Petryk, Powell, Schlender, Virtue, Walchuk, and Walker.

Yes, you read that right: Ferbey, Koe, Martin - it's tough to get out of Alberta!

You can follow along from the 2011 Boston Pizza Alberta Men's Curling Championship website.

Apparently the whole event sold out weeks ago! I went to the final weekend in 2008 and 2009 and can vouch for the fact it's some of the best curling in the world. I'm still kicking myself for missing the 2010 final when Koe won (oh the sacrifices I made to earn a masters degree) and can't go this year because it's a bit too far. Maybe I'll try make it out next year (I hear it's in Camrose, so far but not too far).

Unfortunately you can't really watch the event unless you're live in the arena (well, there used to be CurlTV but don't get me started on that) - but they usually show the final on Shaw TV in Alberta - the final goes at 2pm on Sunday, February 13. I'm making a special effort to visit a home with Shaw cable around that time, so I hope it's on - perhaps I'll live tweet the scores for y'all.

Predictions for the winner? Of course I'll cheer for Koe, but I reckon Martin will take it.

Music Monday: Provincial Archive/Wool On Wolves/Deep Dark Woods

2011-02-07T12:02:00.008-07:00

Finally, a Music Monday post! For all you new curling followers - time to discover some fantastic new Canadian alt-country folky music!

It's a triple bill this week with The Provincial Archive, Wool On Wolves and The Deep Dark Woods. There is a fantastic concert happening this Friday, Feb. 11 at the Myer Horowitz Theatre at the University of Alberta. Unfortunately I can't go because I'm at a course (Government Information Resources - it promises to be fascinating, and that's not sarcasm*). The show starts at 7pm and it's cheap ($17.50). There will be banjos!! Someone go and tell me all about it. Video would be a nice touch.

What?! You've never heard of the bands? Well, here's your chance...

The Provincial Archive (official, myspace)

Wool On Wolves (official, myspace)

The Deep Dark Woods (official, myspace)

*Seriously, government information is a fascinating topic (remember I'm kind of a law librarian), and I'm super glad my library let me go on a weekend long course to learn about it! I really wish I wasn't missing this concert though. I haven't been to a concert since December and have nothing planned for awhile. And there will be banjos! Le sigh. At least there's lot's of curling stuff going on.

#Curling on TV: Canadian Juniors

2011-02-03T21:40:00.000-07:00

Have you been following the Canadian Junior Curling Championship this week? Nadine Chyz from Alberta has been on fire! And the Saskatchewan guys team are undefeated! Wish I could be in Calgary: from reading the Canadian Curling Association blog it sure sounds like some good curling.

Lucky for us then TSN is showing the finals (times in Mountian):

Saturday Feb. 5 - Women's final 5:30pm
Sunday Feb. 5 - Men's final 5:30pm

Photo-A-Day: I Accidentally Quit

2011-01-30T15:25:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the plan was to take photos all week, and spend Saturday sorting out what to do with my full Picasa account so I could post a photo-a-day on Sunday.

Except there was a lot of curling/hockey on tv on Saturday and I never got around to sorting out what to do for online photo storage in the future.

Which doesn't really matter because I accidentally forgot to take photos all week. I did take one on Monday, which I can't use because of a particular logo. And then honestly, I just forgot! No excuses. I am a quitter. Shame on me.

So that's the end of photo-a-day for me. I'm not really upset I accidentally quit for a couple reasons. The whole point of starting it was to encourage me to use my new camera. And I did. And I love it. And I'll still keep taking photos. I hope there are more photo-walks in my future! The other reason I did it was to document my big-birthday-year, but as time went on this became less and less important. Life goes on. Who cares how old I am or what I did during that one-out-of-many-year-of-my-life. I'll remember what I need to remember. It was also really time consuming to put the posts together, so I certainly wont miss that. I've just been so busy lately, my priorities have shifted. And that's that.

I haven't thought about what I'm going to do with my full Picasa account, but likely I'm going to delete my 20 photo-a-day posts to free up that 0.5 GB of space. I might re-upload them in smaller sizes. I might not. Sorry if you enjoyed the posts. I'm sure if you google 'photo a day' you'll be able to find hundreds of other people doing this.

I'm now going to concentrate on taking fewer, but better photographs. Maybe I'll post some on this blog, maybe I'll post some to twitter, maybe I'll keep some to myself. I'm not sure what I'll do.

Again, apologies, but it's better this way. Trust me. I'm ok with how it turned out.

#Curling on TV: Canadian Open

2011-01-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

Oh my, so much curling on TV lately! Now it's time for the BDO Canadian Open!

This Grand Slam event runs from January 26-30th, 2011, and is in Oshawa, Ontario this year. Teams include: Martin, Epping, Ferbey, Simmons, Ulsrud, Fowler, Koe, Matchett, Howard, Bice, Higgs, Middaugh, Cotter, Walchuk, Stoughton, Corner, McEwen, and Kean. Lot's of big guns, and a couple new (to me) names in there, so it should be a great event. They'll also be doing a live chat with Martin and Stoughton, so keep an eye on the Grand Slam website and facebook page (me thinks it's time to start up a Grand Slam twitter account!).

I had a chance to go to this event, and it killed me to turn it down. I totally could've sorted out that twitter account! And met some twitter friends (you know who you are, I expect lots of tweets)! Woe is me. But I love my job (that would be the 'librarian' part of the header) and this is a super busy couple of weeks for me at the library - plus I'm still catching up on work (and sleep) from my Continental Cup vacation, and I agreed long ago to cat sit my favourite pair of troublemakers and I'm helping out with the Adult Learn To Curl lesson at my club ('helping out' meaning totally getting schooled myself, and of course meeting lovely curling people in the process) and I've invited some colleagues to a perogy supper so I can't abandon them.

My goal of attending a proper men's slam event thus remains unfulfilled for the moment.

So as usual, even though it starts on Wednesday, CBC will only show 3 games (and again you're screwed out of the semis-on-tv if you don't subscribe to Bold, but it'll be available live on that fuzzy, tiny screen in the corner of your laptop monitor - does anyone in Edmonton get Bold? I'll bring snacks...). And as usual, the following is in Mountain time.:

Saturday January 29

1:00pm - Quarters

CBC TV/CBCsports.ca

5:00pm - Semis

CBCsports.ca/BOLD

Sunday, January 30

11:00am - Final

CBC/CBCsports.ca

When double checking the CBC website for times, I couldn't find any evidence that they were showing the semis at all, so there's a chance it wont be on. I assume I just missed it or it's just an oversight and someone forgot to update the widget. I wish they would do a nice TV schedule like TSN does.

Predictions? Eh, I'm not doing very good with these this season. I should just say Martin (Though honest, I'm tired of him winning everything this month, give someone else a chance! Get some new faces on TV! And then go back to winning it all in February - oh wait that's Alberta provincials month...), but McEwen is still playing well, and we all know Howard/Koe are my favs, so - I'll go with a Bernard/Jones final.

Photo-A-Day: Week #20

2011-01-23T22:57:00.001-07:00

This week's post is another uninspiring one, but considering I almost quit this photo-a-day thing on Monday, the fact that I'm posting something/anything is significant.

This may indeed be my last photo-a-day post anyways. I've run out of room in my Picasa account - my iphone/camera photos sucked all my space in these 20 weeks! It took me 3yrs to fill up half my storage space, and 20 weeks to fill the other half, crazy. Those files are huge! I can buy more space, but honestly, I'm not sure I want to spend money to store these photos, only to have the bought space fill up and then I'll have to buy more space and I really don't want to pay Google any money because they already own all of my info anyways.

Solutions are to a) buy more storage (20GB for $5 a year - a subscription! Crap, don't like that, though it is 4000 more photos. How long would it take me to eat that up? Does that mean I have to pay Google forever??) or b) stop photo-a-day and delete all photo-a-day posts thus far to free up all my space again to use for other things. I have to say, I'm a bit torn. Wouldn't it be better to take good photos and post less often rather than crappy uninspiring ones to post every week? It takes awhile to put together these posts, and I'm not willing to spend the extra time to convert every photo to a smaller size. I do kind of like doing it though. But maybe I should spend the time doing other things like work or actually reading a book or relaxing offline for once.

Oh I'm so torn. What to do what to do...

January 17, 2011: I'm tired of all this snow!

January 18, 2011: Once again, I'm tired of shovelling snow. At least my mitts are warm!

January 19, 2011: Trip to the dentist - yay no cavities!!

January 20, 2011: Another game, another loss, but at least they didn't play too badly.

January 21, 2011: So much snow!

January 22, 2011: Oilers Skills Competition - fun for the players, fun for the fans, just darn fun!

Bonus January 22, 2010: Mille Bornes - one of my favourite card games.

Bonus January 22, 2011: Pie! My friend made her first pie (peach berry) and it turned out great!

Bonus January 21, 2011: Settlers of Catan - I lost by 1 turn! Also because I forgot I needed to build a settlement before a city, and then because I can't count.

January 23, 2011: Still undefeated in the Sunday Beginner's League. That junior team keeps almost kicking our butts though!

So as you can see, Saturday was a good day. Now I have a hard decision to make. Until now, I've maintained an online presence without paying any money. I like that. Now I need to subscribe to Google. I don't like that. *sigh* It's going to be a hard week.

#Curling on TV: TSN Skins Game

2011-01-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

What? More curling on TV? You bet!

Promo Photo

The TSN Casino Rama Skins Game runs from Saturday January 22 to Sunday January 23. There are only three games, and it's skins format, so a bit different than what you're used to watching (unless you watched the Continental Cup last week). Skins is interesting, very strategic with lots of rocks in play, and there's a ton of money on the line.

Skins rules are as follows:
- Points/skin for each end goes up progressively as the game progresses.
- To win the points/skins, the team with the hammer has to score 2 OR the team without the hammer has to steal.
- If the team with the hammer only scores 1, or the end is blanked, the points/skins are carried over and added to the next end's points/skins.
Points can accumulate, and big ends for tons of points only add to the excitement!

Here's the TSN TV schedule, in mountain time because that's where I live!

Saturday, Jan 22

11:00am - Semi-Final #1: Koe vs. Murdoch

6:00pm - Semi-Final #2: Martin vs. Bernard

Sunday, Jan 23

11:00am - Final

Predictions? Wouldn't it be nice if Bernard won one for the women? Martin was on a role last week, so, well, we'll see what happens. Should be interesting though, if a bit different from the usual events, so be sure to tune in!

Photo-A-Day: Week #19

2011-01-17T18:30:00.000-07:00

January 10, 2011: Guess what we got more of this weekend? Bah! I'm so sick of shovelling snow!

January 11, 2011: I had to give a legal research presentation to my librarian colleagues today - nervewracking but it seemed to go over well.

January 12, 2011: If anything, the snow is pretty.

January 13, 2011: It's Continental Cup of Curling time!!

January 14, 2011: This weekend's team lineups - I'm just rubbing it in that I got to see it before the rest of the world did.

January 15, 2011: See, the Norwegian Curling Pants did show up! Thanks for posing Bompi!

January 16, 2011: The Continental Cup of Curling was an incredible event for me. I met awesome people, saw/did awesome things, and got to throw out a couple official rocks on the official ice!

2011 Continental Cup of #Curling: Epilogue

2011-01-17T15:36:00.000-07:00

Shovelling snow on day 1 post Continental Cup of Curling is not quite as fun and exciting as hanging around the event. It's going to take awhile to get used to the real world again.

Similar to my Roar of the Rings Epilogue, I thought'd I'd sum it all up with...

My Continental Cup Top 5

1. Tweeting for the Canadian Curling Association
I still can't believe the CCA knows who I am, and working with them was 100% awesome. I had a great time tweeting for @CCACurling and meeting the staff and media folks. They are all very nice, and were very welcoming and friendly to this keen newbie. I can't wait to maybe do this all again some time in the future!

2. Meeting awesome friends/volunteers/staff/media/curlers
This is always the best part of curling volunteering! The people I met were all super lovely. I had so many interesting conversations in the volunteer lounge, backstage, in the hallways, in the arena - nice people the whole lot of them! I got to hang out a bit with Twitter friends @1CathyC and @neilp316 and made new friends with the ladies on my volunteer team. I made small talk with curlers and the TSN commentators and various media guys. Curling people are wonderful people!

3. Throwing official rocks on official ice
A picture is worth a thousand words:

4. Getting backstage access
I love going behind the scenes. I did a 50/50 for an Edmonton Oilers Hockey game once and walking around under the stands was cool. I once got a tour of the CTV Edmonton news station. I get tours of library work/staffrooms often and that is also fascinating (ok, maybe only for a librarian?). There's just something about going backstage and seeing stuff most people don't have access to. I hope you got a sense of what it was like from the photos I posted on Twitter!

5. Interacting online
Besides tweeting for @CCACurling, I tweeted A LOT from my personal twitter account (the post linked isn't even all my tweets, just the ones from backstage, and doesn't include my game updates or any conversations I had), and really enjoyed answering followers questions or chatting to people watching from home via Twitter. I loved writing my blog, and reading comments on it, on Facebook, and on Twitter about what people thought about my experience. The whole event was one positive ball of awesomeness.

Fun eh? And that list doesn't even include watching the games or listening to them via my FM transmitter (curling heaven, remember?!).

Want to relive my adventures?
Volunteer Assignment
Volunteer Rally #1
Volunteer Rally Photos
Volunteer Rally #2
Opening Ceremonies
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Backstage Photos

What's next? Who knew my big mouth (and fantastic new iPhone) would open up such awesome new opportunities to do the things I love? I've received some very interesting emails and expect to receive a few more over the next few weeks, so it might not be too long before I get to report more curling excitement!

First up is the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships in March, which I'll be working on as part of the local committee doing the web stuff (in partnership with the Canadian Curling Association of course). Locally, my main curling club, SPCC is looking at hosting more Dominion events over the next few years, so there's definitely opportunities for me to help out there, especially since I'm on the board. And wouldn't I love to watch the Alberta mens provincials again!

But what about the big events? I've already mentioned I'd love to go to the Scotties in Red Deer and the Brier in Saskatoon in 2012. Unfortunately, I doubt I could take that much time off from the library, as they're both very close together, and during a busy time for the university. I reckon I can do one event, so maybe the last weekend of the Scotties and the Brier in Saskatoon? The Brier is my favourite event so I'd love to volunteer for one and I've already found a couch to sleep on in Saskatoon, but rumour is Edmonton is getting a Brier soon so maybe I should do the Scotties instead to experience that event? A couple volunteers at the Continental Cup told me the Scotties are pretty awesome, as it's like 90% women and they have a lot of fun. Hmm, tempting. Lethbridge is also hosting the Women's Worlds in 2012 - how come all the fantastic events are in/close to Alberta next year? How come they're not in the summer when I get two months off?!

I suppose for practical reasons I could do a Fall event, and a Winter one. I just missed a Canada Cup in southern Alberta this past December, which I did want to volunteer for but I had just graduated with my library studies masters degree and was in employment/relocation limbo at the time the volunteer call went out (ditto for why I'm not going to the World's in Regina this year, that would've been totally fun!). The CCA events are mostly in the winter, so I'd have to look into maybe doing one of the Grand Slam events in the Fall? And that's a whole other group of awesome curling people to infiltrate!

Look at me, all excited and thinking about travelling to volunteer for a curling event. My parents/colleagues/friends think I'm nuts, paying money to work for free, especially when it involves (large) travel expenses. I'm not talking about going outside the province necessarily, but I don't see a problem with driving out to a city I've never been too yet to hang out with awesome curling folks. After all, it is the most fun thing I've ever done!

So there's fun curlingland times to look forward to in the future! Countdown starts now...