Get In Line

If the city decides that the Boys and Girls Club is exempt from property tax, then I want a rebate on my property tax. I have two non-profit sports leagues housed in my office at home. While I do believe the club provides a necessary service to the city, it is also renting out the building and creating funds to support itself, kudos to them for their resourcefulness. But they are not the only ones that offer services of value and most of the other non-profits don't have a reported $300,000 in the kitty.

Almost Halfway

My goal of dropping 64 pounds is approaching the halfway point, 31.8 so far. I promised the girls in the basement when I lost 30 pounds it would be time for a ride but it's a bit sloppy out there for their steel skin so walking will be my main mode of transport for a bit yet. I'm getting in three 25 minute walks every weekday so by the time I get home for supper I'm at about 150 calories net for the day, supper is pretty much whatever I want but I haven't gone overboard.

Eating out at a restaurant that doesn't have a well publicized menu, therefore not available on the Lose It app makes me guess a bit but I just break down the ingredients and dump them in. The bar scanner is accurate for just about anything you can buy in a grocery store. It's been 8 weeks and I think I will stick to this plan forever, just can't see skipping the few minutes it takes every day to monitor things. I have 17 weeks to get to 230 if I stick to the plan that aims for 2 pounds a week. I can't see the weight continue to drop at the rate it has but once I get back on two wheels who knows, riding at a moderate speed burns more than twice the calories of walking. And it's at least ten time the fun.

Update from the Dark Side

Two of the kids in the peewee game that shocked the Northwood parents were given a total of 9 games in suspensions for the match penalties they received, one for spearing and one for a check to the head. Now if we could only suspend the parents and coaches for fueling the chaos that leads kids to do dumb things.

The Dark Side

Northwood playoffs resumed yesterday and only one team has secured a spot in the championship game next weekend. Four more are tied in points for second and the regular season winner woke up yesterday and got their first win since the season ended. Today's final games are going to be wild, by our standards.

The action that some of our parents and coaches witnessed on the ice before our first game left a lot of jaws dropping. A LMHL peewee A playoff game was just wrapping up as I got to the Gardens. Yelling and swearing at refs, match penalties, kids being tossed from the game and a scoreboard lit up with penalties. The wild they saw was a totally different animal. I can't wait to get the game sheets and start doling out the suspensions.

We launched our huge year end fundraiser yesterday. The Sensational Hot Rods will be playing at the Slovak Legion after the banquet and prize donations for the draws are all set. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this just might be the end of bingos.

Sign Me Up

It's such an injustice that a Canadian senator gets a base salary just north of $132,000 to second guess parliament and the rest of us do it free of charge.

Don't Eat a Burger While Watching TV

A recent survey suggests that Canadians are tired of seeing the federal government's Economic Action Plan ads. Hard to believe otherwise. The feds have spent $52.3 million on ads since 2009 to tell us how well they are doing with repairing our economy.

Meanwhile they are making cuts to services that are vital. The funds spent on the ads would have paid for two years and none months of the services they cut from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency ($19 million per year).

Where do you want your taxes going? Ads telling us how everything is just peachy or making sure that tasty burger is ecoli free? I think we'll know jobs, growth and prosperity when we see it.

Everyone Is an Expert

I was timekeeping a Novice (7-8 year olds) game on Wednesday and in the last minute of the game one of the smaller kids got a penalty. He started telling me what he thought of the officiating in the game his team was winning 6-1.

"These wefs ahh hahwibull. That wasn't twipping." Gee I wonder where he got that. Little kids trying to talk with mouthguards are always good for a laugh.

Stuck at 24.8

Nearly a week ago my weight loss hit at 24.8 lbs and there it stayed. I roller coastered a bit over the weekend, Sunday was a long day fighting to stay out of the cupboards and fridge. Yesterday morning I was back to that point just ounces from 25 lbs. lost and crossing over to a new middle digit on the scale. I had lots of walking to get to Delaney for timekeeping and them home so if I stuck to another big salad for supper I would get over the hurdle.

Update: It worked. 26.2 lbs lost

This Week on the Cullen Show

There were a couple of Facebook videos this week that were funny but fell short of the supper edition of the Cullen Show.
Mike texted me that he was eating spaghetti so we quickly tuned in on Skype. There he was with a tomato based goatee popping penne and homemade meatballs. Mel put a cup with two handles in front of him and he quickly put both hands on the cup and enjoyed his first unassisted drink.
But that wasn't even close to the best part. After supper down in the playroom he started pushing his little 4 wheeled walker. His jeans were slipping down so Mike changed iPads while Mel changed him. Minutes later the picture returned and there was this little naked butt pushing the walker. He bumped into the wall and then seemingly by accident pulled it back and turned it so that it hit the door frame. And then with the biggest smile on his face he discovered that he didn't need dad to turn it around over and over again. Minutes later he was doing laps around the play room still stark naked all on his own. Shortly after he was tired out and it was bath time and the end of a memorable episode.
I can't imagine being this far away without Skype.

Where Did That Come From?

I was taking a walk on my lunch hour yesterday. Some of my cold weather gear was unusable because I hadn't dried it from my morning walk to work so I was a bit colder than normal and heading straight into the wind. Without really thinking about it I started jogging. I never jog, it's just too hard on the knees etc. but off I went for about a half a km. to the far point I had planned.  Not winded or sore, just sort of shaking my head as I turned back to finish the walk. I'm feeling pretty good but jogging, I don't think so. 

Northwood playoffs are going to be a mess. Final spots in the championship will probably be sorted out with a calculator. After 3 complete rounds of the round robin there are 4 of 6 teams tied in first place. The regular season champs haven't won a game and only have one goal so far, and the second place team in the regular season has managed two ties. Brandyn's team has only 2 goals but have three shutouts to give them a share of the top spot. He played his best game of the season on Sunday checking very aggressively, at least for him. We have a two week break before it all wraps up at the end of the month.