Midterms are annoying anomalies.

There's been a Star Trek: The Next Generation marathon showing on TNN this week. I've been able to catch some of my favourite episodes, like The Best Of Both Worlds, Darmok, The Inner Light, and The Perfect Mate. That was a very good show. I wouldn't go to a convention or anything, mainly out of fear of the people I would encounter at such a place, but it's good to rewatch some of those meaningful episodes.

Also, yesterday, I got to play knight-in-shining-armour, as I bravely slaughtered the evil spider that had invaded my roommate's domain. Here I come to save the day!

Ein Prosit! Oktoberfest has begun!

Quiet weekend back home. Happy Thanksgiving all!

The Leafs season is under way, and after a loss and a tie, they finally showed what the new team is made of, as they whollopped Anaheim 6-1. The Maple Leafs Forever!

Chicken Noodle now has his very own theme song, set to the tune of Kay Starr's The Man With The Bag:

You've got a hunger
That you want no longer
The rumble in your tummy's gonna ruin your day
Chicken Noodle's gonna take the growling away
With a cup of soup for your soul

He comes with all kinds
Of flavours for your mind
To bring a little smile to your trouble-filled day
Chicken Noodle's gonna take the growling away
With a cup of soup for your soul

He'll be here
With a cure to the hunger
That's been causing a tear
You'll get yours
A tasty bowl fresh from the coop
Of chicken noodle soup

He'll make this late supper
A great cheerer-upper
A tasty cup of goodness that'll brighten your day
Chicken Noodle's gonna take the growling away
Cup of soup for your soul

You've got a hunger
That you want no longer
The rumble in your tummy's gonna ruin your day
Chicken Noodle's gonna take the growling away
Cup of soup for your soul

He comes with all kinds
Of flavours for your mind
To bring a little smile to your trouble-filled day
Chicken Noodle's gonna take the growling away
Cup of soup for your soul

He'll be here
With a cure to the hunger
That's been causing a tear
You'll get yours
A tasty bowl fresh from the coop
Of chicken noodle soup

He'll make this late supper
A great cheerer-upper
A tasty cup of goodness that'll brighten your day
Chicken Noodle's gonna...
Bring you a bowl o'...
Chicken noodle soup for your soul!

Better eat up now!

Dum dee dum dee dum...

Work continues, Oktoberfest continues, boring stuff, fun stuff, life goes on... I just secured a room for the winter term, so for my last four months of school I will be in a very nice big room complete with cedar-panelled walls, lots of freebies, a fireplace, and only a 5-minute walk from campus.

When I signed up for my leisure course, I expected it simply to be an easy course that I could ignore and enjoy as I saw fit, but it's turning out to be one of the more thoughtful courses I've taken, mainly because of its applicability. It's an interesting practice to examine the things we do for fun, why they are fun, and why certain other activities aren't. Most valuable of all, I find, is that the understanding you gain makes you feel less vulnerable to peer pressure; you feel better about the things you like, and you feel less pressured into doing the things you don't like.

And that means I'm not listening to hip-hop music if I don't have to. Just because everyone else in this town has bad taste in music doesn't mean I'm going to suffer with it.

I hit the mother-load yesterday.

I biked up to Conestoga Mall to get myself a new pair of shoes, and stopped off at the grocery store while I was there. The store closest to me isn't particularly large and doesn't have a bulk section, but the one at Conestoga does. Considering the number of Oreos I go through in any given moment, it's considerably worthwhile to get the family packs in bulk and save a bit of money.

When I got to the grocery store, I found that they didn't have any family packs, but had plenty of MEGA PACKS! Boxes of three individually-wrapped trays, weighing in at 1.65 kg of heavenly Oreo goodness!

I got two.

Since I was using my bike, I could only get as much as would fit in my backpack, so I could only carry one more item. I got some very strange looks from the other patrons in line when they saw I was buying two tremendously large boxes of Oreos and a jar of Nutella.

Now if only boxes like that were easier to acquire...

Today, I redeemed myself.

After a terrible game of hockey three weeks ago, followed by a mediocre one thereafter, I finally got the gears in motion and gave a stellar performance in net for tonight's game.

Our opponents came on strong, a notably skillful and determined team. Picture it: They've got the ball in their possession, and the ballhandler scans the area. He picks a teammate at the other side of the court and whips a pass straight to him. The receiver winds up and takes a slap shot that streaks through the air, shattering the sound barrier such that it shall never be repaired again. The ball streaks across the court, displaying apparent relativistic effects as it zips through the gaps of the defensemen. That ball has one destination - the net - and it is determined to reach it. It's got a clear path, and as its anticipation peaks it actually gains even more speed and it rockets through subspace. Then, suddenly, the hand of SPU reaches forth, seemingly straight out of the ether and stops the missile in its tracks! Fire and brimstone flare as matter and anti-matter collide in violent fashion, but the ball moves no more, snuggled tightly in the goaltender's glove. The crowd, surpassing disbelief, goes wild.

Well, the crowd was one person, and she was the girlfriend of one of the players on the other team, so she really didn't react very much, but if there was a crowd, they would have gone wild.

At the end of the half, it was a close 2-1 game for the good guys. (That's us, by the way... just making things clear on that.) As the second half began, the Maverick's talent really began to unfold. A 3-1 lead, followed by 4-1. A few sloppy penalties for the other guys, some flaring tempers drawn out by frustration, some more attacks on the laws of physics courtesy of my glove hand, and our opponents fell apart. When the dust settled, the Maverick's would finish the game with a commanding 9-2 win.

A tremendous game from our entire team, and we have regained hopes of snatching a spot in the top bracket...

And now, we celebrate with wings and beer! Mmm... chicken wings....

You can see the team stats here, or see the Campus Rec page.

The quest continues...

The fourth ball hockey game was another resounding success, although it looked shakey for a while. Our team will now be known as the "Second-Half" Mavericks, as that seems to be when we shine the most. This is the second game that we carried a 4-1 deficit into the second half and came up with a marvellous comeback. Some superb play from our forwards, defencemen, and some more tricks from my magical glove and we stormed in for a 9-6 win and kept our hopes for a top-bracket finish alive, as we beat one of only three teams in the league who - at the time - were undefeated. Two more games to go next week, and we'll see where we stand...

In other news, I am so swamped with work it's silly.

Is my hairline receding? Part of the reason for shaving my head was to prepare for just such an occurrance, and with all my mother's brothers bald and shiny, it's quite likely to catch up with me one day, despite my father's full and bushy head. Someone today said that it looked like my hair was going in the corners, but I don't know if that's true, or if it was always like that.

I also don't know if it worries me at all. Having all my uncles bald for as long as I can remember, I grew up expecting to lose my hair one day, so it's not like it's a surprise. As well, I've been sporting the bald look on and off for two years now, so all it would mean is that I wouldn't be able to go back to the non-bald look.

In other news, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield gave a guest lecture on campus on Friday. He's quite the good speaker, and it was an entertaining session. He talked a lot about the Canadarm2 mission, and told us an interesting piece of trivia: Contrary to popular belief, you cannot see the Great Wall of China from space; it's very narrow and camouflaged with the terrain. You can, however, see SkyDome.

He also gave us a good perspective on the University of Waterloo. He's a Mech Eng grad himself, and he made an interesting point: A Canadian goes into space about every year, and with UW being the technical/engineering school it is, it's quite likely that one of the spectators in the room that day will become one of them.

Would you be happier if you weren't so all together?
Would the Sun shine brighter if you played a bigger part?
Would you be wonderful if it wasn't for the weather?
You're going to be just fine.

Well, we made a good run, but a ball hockey title has slipped from our grasps again. In a close game last night, we just couldn't muster up our 2nd-half hustle. After our opponents took a 5-4 lead, we couldn't get the equaliser in time, and with our second loss, a top-four spot is out of reach. So, it looks like we'll have to try for B2 again, and take another shot at it next term.

Last round robin game of the term, and we finish off with a bang.

I didn't have a particularly good game myself, but it hardly mattered as my teammates limited our opponents to about three shots in the entire second half. Again, our second-half glory shines, as we took a 3-3 tie after 20 minutes and exploded for a 12-4 final victory.

Now we play the waiting game (which is thoroughly less fun) as we wait for Campus Rec to update the standings and see how we finish. Here's hoping for 8-team brackets...

ACK! That latest ball hockey stats are in... we're fith place BY ONE GOAL! There's one day left on the schedule, so we'll have to wait and see where we finish out; we could go up or down one spot. Boy, would it be frustrating if we missed the first bracket by one goal...

Phase 2 of the Soft Eng assignment is finally done. The design document was supposed to be no longer than 50 pages, and we managed to squeeze it into 63 pages by using 9pt font. Hmmm...

Now to drink lots and lots before starting phase 3...

I just got NHL 2002. This game is going to make me fail all my courses.

The Campus Rec guys got tight with the rankings, and we got stuck with the second bracket. Crap. B2 again this year, and we'll take another stab at it in the winter...

I'm 23 years old, and tonight was the first time I've ever gone trick-or-treating. Along with a pair of angels, a fairy, and Lara Croft, we wandered around student housing (and our landlord's house) for candy and/or booze. Hey, now I have munchies for my three-midterm stress week.