Christmas

Christmas is so commercial these days. But this isn't a blog about that. I personally enjoy getting gifts, and love wrapping presents, the Christmas Tree, lights on houses, the food. I love every Christmas tradition practically. What I enjoy more though is the quality time spent with family. But Christmas is definitely not about the gifts.

When did the Christmas wishlist become a list of demands? This year, I never gave anyone a list. If they bought a gift, it was something they felt I would like, and therefore, I appreciate it and cherish the thought even more. It is always better when it is unexpected.

Another thing that bothers me is how Christmas is getting censored these days. Happy Holidays, ugh my Christmas spirit diminishes when I hear that phrase. I am all for being polite, and not offending someone, but if they don't celebrate Christmas, don't ruin it for those who do. Christmas is a Christian holiday. If you are not Christian, you are technically not included. What if I was offended by another religions holiday? What would happen then? So please, check the political correctness and grow some thicker skin. Having Christ in a name of a CHRISTIAN holiday is not an attack on your beliefs, or non-belief.

Now, I have finished my rant on Happy Holidays.

Merry Christmas to All, and have a blessed New Year!

Amos13

Jonas Brothers vs The Beatles

I cannot understand this for the life of me, but when did the Jonas Brothers become synonomous with the talent of The Beatles? There is a big difference that seems to be ignored, The Beatles were actually musicians with ACTUAL talent.

On one side, we have a Disney fabricated band with no talent, and on the other, well...we have The Beatles, one of the greatest bands that have ever been. The Beatles delivered the voice of a generation, and there has never been, nor will there be another band that is as big. The Beatles still inspire countless people with their words, lyrics, and actions. No artist has ever had the clout that John Lennon obtained, even though Bono tries dearly, funny stuff. No band has had more of their songs covered. But I digress.

The Beatles were able to cross multiple genres, The White Album, and revolutionize the album process, see Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Beatles Catalog is now estimated to be worth over a billion dollars. There is no way that the Jonas Brothers will ever reach that number.

Didn't Oasis say they were bigger than The Beatles? Oh and Weezer? Both were successful bands to some extent, but no where near The Beatles. The only band in my opinion that is on the same level as The Beatles is The Rolling Stones. If my iPod consisted of only The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Cream, and Eric Clapton, I'd probably be okay with that.

That was my rant. Music industry, please get some real talent. No more Kanye, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Lil Wayne, Brittany Spears, Flo Rida, or Green Day. Get back to:

• Led Zeppelin
• Cream
• CCR
• Rush
• Queen
• The Police
• The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
• Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
• Deep Purple
• The Clash
• The Who
• The Allman Brothers Band
• Johnny Cash and more

Don't get me wrong, there are some incredible bands these days, those being Death Cab For Cutie, JET, Jack Johnson, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sam Roberts, and The Strokes are some excellent examples. However, only once the Jonas Brothers start to influence a nation/ the world with their actions and beliefs, they will never come close to The Beatles.

Yours truly,

Amos13

Winter Wonderland

Talk about snow. It is hard to believe that the day before, my front yard had maybe a light dusting of snow.

After a day in which roughly 30 cm of snow fell, it is truly a winter wonderland out there. Nothing wonderful about it though. It took me 40 minutes to get 3 kilometers. And when I was driving home from work last night (about 1:45 AM) I spent ~60 minutes pushing and digging my car out of the snow, which was 30 metres away from my goal, the driveway.

So now, the banks on the side of my driveway are about as high as my car, and I will be parking it until further notice. Ugh, back to the dreaded experience of ETS for a month. Wish me luck

Music Selection for the Week

I don't know about you, but I would one day love to have a collection of old vinyl records. They are just so neat. Nothing beats the way they sound. Sure the "quality of sound" is worse than a CD, but a CD just doesn't have that same mood swaying power that a good record does. So for my selection this week, I picked some oldies that were on records.

Back in the USSR - The Beatles

Toad - Cream

Carry On - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Man in Black - Johnny Cash

Babe I'm Going to Leave You - Led Zeppelin

Anyway You Look At It - The Rolling Stones

Happy Jack - The Who

The Old Man Down The Road - John Fogerty

Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles

Cheers!

Amos13

Afghanistan

Afghanistan. The longest war in Canadian history, and soon to be America's (in March 2010). That is right, longer than The Vietnam War. We went into Afghanistan after 9/11 to rid the Taliban from the country because they supported, and harboured Al-qaeda terrorists.

The Taliban are the group the USA supported during the USSR's campaign, also called the Soviet's Vietnam, they were under the name, the mujahideen. The US provided weapons to the mujahideen so that they could destroy Soviet helicopters, and cause the USSR to fail in Afghanistan. The Soviets were in Afghanistan for 10 years before their retreat.

We have been in Afghanistan since February 2002, with a scheduled end date in 2011, 9 years. The US has been in Afghanistan, and Obama just recently said that he will end the Afghan War in 3 years, so 2012 the end of his first term. Ten years. Ten years, and what will be accomplished? So far in 7 years, we have toppled the Taliban from power, and tried to establish peace, and stability in a region that has known war for over 40 years of a brutal civil war. It is absolutely wonderful what our troops have been doing over there, striving towards a self-sustaining country.

Afghanistan has started to earn the title of "Obama's Vietnam" The thing is, it has been the whole time. The Taliban will fight until Sharia Law is in place, and they are once again in power. The war cannot be won just in Afghanistan. The Taliban do not respect borders, they just travel into Pakistan, in an extremely mountainous region.

The United States is increasing their total troops in the country to approximately 100,000, about a 30,000 more soldiers. This bears a strong resemblance to 1965 when President Johnson ordered an additional 20,000 troops to Vietnam. With no results to show for the following years, he did not attempt a second term. Would the same happen to Obama, probably not. In another case, the South Vietnam (Saigon) government was extremely corrupt, and backed by the US. Afghanistan, and mainly, President Hamid Karzai, who was a Taliban supporter in the '90s, but broke away because of the corruption they had. As many of you know, Karzai rigged the recent Afghan election in his favour. Why should we support an extremely corrupt government? Give the people the freedoms of our society and everything will do itself right? Wrong. A form of society implanted on another does not usually work. For real change to happen, it has to come from within the society for them to truly hang on to it.

The Afghan War is estimated to cost Canada $18 billion dollars by 2011, our pull out date. The States however, has spent $233 billion up to this point. Has it been well spent? What do you think? Leave a comment and let me know.

Until Next Time,

Amos 13

BACK AT IT AGAIN - FOR GOOD!

So, after an extremely long absence, I am back at it again. I know this is like my third blog in a row saying I am getting back at it, it is true this time though. However, most likely it won't be daily, a new name will be picked soon. Message me for topics that you want on the facebook group, feedback is greatly appreciated.

Now, the picture isn't really relevant to this, but I was extremely scared by it, and I'd thought I would share it with you.

Til next time,

Amos

Sorry

I'm sorry folks, but this has turned into a not so daily blog. School has been intense lately and haven't found the time to blog. This summer will be tough as well, but I am pretty sure no one reads this anymore....:( I will work to correct that. As I can't really make a commitment to daily, I will try every other day, or every third, but maybe more in depth. 

And to copy Sonic 102.9, I recommend:

Christian Hansen & The Autistics - Cocaine Trade

Amos13

Home Alone

Well I figure I am a lame young person. Wanna know why? Because I have the entire house to myself this weekend, but no intention of throwing the stereotypical "teenager throws a party where everything goes wrong party when the family is gone" party. 

Yes I am that lame. And to top it all off, my furnace went out so it is like 15 degrees celsius in here. 

Amos13

Curse of the Gypsy

Well how many of you can actually say this? I am pretty sure some wack-job gypsy "cursed" me. I say this jokingly of course, but it was a rather sketchy moment. 

I was walking down the street with my Dad, just minding our own business and this woman, I'd say a block away in front of us, is yelling. Well at first I assumed an angry cellphone call, but as she got closer, say 20 ft, I noticed there was no phone. She was speaking in some weird Latin/Spanish type language and sounded really pissed off. As we walked passed her, I noticed that she had turned around and started pointing at us and yelling louder than before. She continued on for another block! Two blocks of gypsy curses! This kind of freaked me out, so I had a little prayer for safety. Honestly, how often does someone scream at you in some weird language, just out of the blue? I have the worst luck in meeting strange people out in public.

Today I recommend:

Signe - Eric Clapton

If I'd Been The One - .38 Special

Just my Imagination - The Rolling Stones

Suck My Kiss - The Red Hot Chili Peppers

Amos13

Time to get back on the horse

Sorry all, I have been out of sync since coming back from vacation, and have been robbing you of your daily blog fix. It has been quite some time since I have blogged. 

I am sure you are all

 pleased to know that I went to paradise for 10 days, and had a blast. I went on the world's largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas. It was a beautiful ship, and the experience was unbelievable. If anyone is considering a cruise, I highly recommend Royal Caribbean.

I had stops in San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and Labadee (which is a private resort owned by Royal Caribbean on Haiti). I loved every destination, but I would have to say Labadee or St. Thomas were my favorites. I went to a top ten rated beach in the world, Margen Beach, and Blackbeard's castle at St. Thomas. On Labadee, I went ziplining, which actually went over a cove, and coral reef. 

I did stay a day and a half in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and it was rather eventful. Our one full day we went to the Everglades and did an airboat tour. Also, they had a sort of reptile zoo (I say sort of cause there were these random chickens and peacocks) and there was a chance to hold an baby alligator. I really wanted to hold one of them, but our shuttle came early and we had to go before I could get the opportunity. But this jerk family was in our shuttle, and they wanted to go to this thing called Billie's Swamp Safari. Little did we know that it would take 2 and a half hours out of our day because it turns out that it is a long way from where we were. The jerks knew where it was, and when we all realized, they should have come to the knowledge on how rude they were acting. After all this, we ended up going to Sawgrass Mall. We stayed there for approximately 2 hours and then called the shuttle to pick us up. After waiting another hour for it, we phoned and it turns out it broke down, so we got a cab (the hotel was paying for it). This cab almost killed us all. Going 100 mph in a 35 zone, he had to slam on the brakes and swerve into another lane in order to miss a left turning vehicle. But I am safe and sound, and unfortunately home.

More stories to come,

Amos13

An update for you all!

Just so all you who follow this blog don't panic, I will be out of the country for ten days and won't be able to blog. Hope you don't go through with-drawl, I hear that it is pretty intense. Yes I will be touring the Caribbean, and escaping the cold of Canada. Ah-ha alliteration! Caribbean - Cold - Canada. I am exploring the rainforest, zip-lining, possibly a rum distillery, surfing, and plain old relaxing for 8 days aboard a cruise ship. I promise the day I get back I will tell most (or all) of my stories from my trip. This is my last blog until March 2nd because I have to pack, work, and just tie up loose ends before I leave.

Ciao,

Amos13

Justice system failing us?

Did you read the Sun the other day, I think it was tuesday? Recently, a convicted rapist was released from prison, he had served his time. But what I found interesting is that they still deem him a great threat to society and people have to beware of him. What do they call prisons now? Oh yeah, rehabilitation centres. If he obviously is not "rehabilitated" to integrate into society and be a functional citizen, and is a danger to (they actually expect him to) commit the same crime he was convicted of, why is he being set loose? I know he spent his time, but there ought to be a evaluation for each types of these criminals. If he is still the same danger he was when he was put in, why not keep him there? He hasn't learnt his lesson. Our justice system is so lenient that it usually fails us. Two months ago, an adolescent was acquitted for the murder of Josh Hunt. This teen bear maced Hunt, and stabbed him to death. My main reason for being upset is the convicted sexual offender being released even though he is still thought to be a great danger to everyone around him. What is this world coming to?

Amos13

Argh

I had the worst time getting home today. First of all, I got on the Express so I thought I would actually get home early, wrong, a block after I got on, the bus broke down, lame. Secondly, I ended up transferring to 3 other buses just to get halfway home and get picked up. How inconvenient can public transit be when the buses never run their full route? Or the "new" buses are unreliable? To reduce fossil fuel consumption and encourage the population to take public transit, you have to make it convenient and dependable. Granted a mechanical failure is not due to lack of planning, but having to transfer 4 times only to get half-way home is a problem with the system. Public transit has been a thorn in my side for 4 years.

Amos13

Locker-room Etiquette

Have you ever been thrown into an incredibly awkward situation? Well today that was the case with me. Today, when I was changing after my workout, and these two old dudes come out of the shower area in their birthday suits. That isn't that strange though, usually if you walk in the locker-room, you are bound to see at least one dude showering or walking to their locker. No, today was different. Both these guys had lockers on either side of me and they decided to the most inconsiderate thing I have ever seen, they stood on the bench and chatted it up, with me in the middle. The Grateful Dead's "Stuck in the Middle" was ringin' in my head. Scaring images are now filled into my brain. I'm sorry, if you are showering, please don't stand on the bench when naked, and don't turn towards someone not interested in your junk. This experience has inspired to list out what I thought were common knowledge of how to act in a locker-room.

1. Do not, I repeat do not stay naked for longer than you have to.

2. Do not strike up a conversation with a guy inbetween both of you.

3. BRING A TOWEL! When walking, please wear it.

4. Flip-flops for the shower. Nobody wants athletes foot

5. Don't stand on bench and turn towards someone.

I trust you all don't prance around in all your pride and glory when changing, but this is suggestions for those who seem to not get it.

Suggested Music for the Week

I Can't Win - The Strokes

Stuck In the Middle With You - The Grateful Dead

Fortune Faded - The Red Hot Chili Peppers

Kashmir - Led Zeppelin

Say Goodbye - Skillet

All the best,

Amos13

Oilers - MacT Rant

Sorry everyone! I missed yesterday, I was not feeling so great. But on with today. Today, I worked, and it was absolutely terrible. Smelly, scary, insane, and violent, all describe the customers I had today. But I won't really go into detail with that.

What do I have to rant about today? Craig MacTavish.

How does a guy keep a head coaching job in a professional league with a clearly underperforming bunch of players, 3 blowouts in a 2 month span (7-2, 10-2, 8-3), anyone can plainly see he is not able to motivate the players, and seems to develop "hate" with a player every two weeks (Penner, Nilsson, Penner again). Which goalie has been the common denominator? Roloson. Two out of the three blowouts were Roli crapping the bed in the first period (3 goals on 10 shots against Buffalo, and today 5 goals in the first period, 11 saves, and 3 in the first 6 minutes of the game. Mind you, it seems this year, when the Oilers get down by 2 early, they half-play for the rest of the game. Why? Two goals isn't that much in the new NHL. Why can't Mactavish motivate them to come from behind every so often? A sign of a good coach isn't taking credit when times are good, it is when times are going bad that they can nudge the players back to where they should be playing at. Also, the Oilers seem to be having chemistry problems. I can't see why? HA just kidding, with MacT playing "Will it Blend?" with the lines every 5 minutes to see if they can have a good shift. I was a supporter of him at the beginning of the season, I thought nobody could screw up with the line-up he was given, but what do ya know. Shouldn't assume anything. Come on Quinn or Laviolette.

Amos13

Fast Week and Political Rant

Well everyone, it is Wednesday. The middle of the week already. Has anyone else noticed that this week has gone incredibly fast? Well in my case it has, but then again, they always seem fast. 

Did you hear what the New York Times said? They compared Michael Ignatieff to Barack Obama! What a laugh-riot! A Canadian politician with charisma? HA. Not to mention Ignatieff doesn't even live in Canada for 90% of the time, what a joke. And people want to have him Prime Minister for crying out loud, maybe there should be a rule "Live here 95% of the year, and then you can be the leader of government." I should get a citizenship for Kazakhstan and run for President, think it'll work? No, but that just shows how ridiculous Canadian politics has become, first with the banana-republic-esk Coalition government debacle, now the leader of the Opposition (the same party who brought forward the coalition) is some bloke who lives in New York! I'm sorry, thats just plain wrong, and I hope the Liberals lose all credibility and support because of their rash, stupid decision-making. 

I hope for the safety of Western Canada, and Canada as a whole actually, that the Liberals never get in power in the near future.

Amos13

R n' R

Have you ever felt the need to just get away? Catch up on some R n' R? I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't feeling that way right now. I don't mean to brag, but 16 days until I set sail on my Caribbean cruise! I am really excited about it as well, and a bit of warning, there will be no blogs for that week. I know, you'll all be going through with-drawl, but think of all the stories I'll be coming back with! I am going on a rainforest ATV tour, 2 jungle zip-lines, and various other excursions to tell you guys about when I get back. Also, it'll give me some time to reload my thoughts to make this blog even better! I forgot music suggestions again didn't I? I will give some at the end. I must admit though, I am a big fan of warmth and sun. Winter is good as long as you are doing wintery activities such as snowboarding, tobogganing, skating, hockey, etc. But when you're just doing daily stuff, it really sucks, especially taking the bus in -40 Celsius weather. Everyone is entitled to more relaxation, and society as a whole could benefit with some. Instead of getting bonuses for skipping vacations, people should be praised for taking time to re-charge and then improve their quality of work afterwards with a fresh attitude. Perfect solution, retirement!!! LOL all kidding aside, rest is my favorite pastime. 

Recommended Music:

Pegasus - The Allman Brother's Band

The Way It Is - The Strokes

Life by the Drop - Stevie Ray Vaughn

One Love - Bob Marley

Like No Other Night - .38 Special

Parallel Universe - The Red Hot Chili Peppers

Amos13

Today is a New Day

Yes I am doing a blog right now, but I am also announcing the launch of the video segment! I haven't really decided if I want to do a bi-weekly video blog (Vlog) or a monthly sort of deal. If you want to watch it from here the video is here:

I hope it's a hit segment of the blog. Feel free to message/comment on them.

Well what happened yesterday? THE SUPER BOWL!!!!

The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Arizona Cardinals in dramatic fashion, 27-23. As you saw yesterday, I posted my two favorite commercials.

After that, The Office had an hour long special. Funniest one I have seen yet, and I have followed the series since it has started. I suggest you look it up on Global Television's website. Well, how did you guys spend Super Bowl Sunday? I'd like to know. Post in the Facebook group, or comment on the blog.

Signing off,

Amos13

Superbowl Sunday

I am posting my favorites from Super Bowl 43 - Pittsburgh Steelers vs Arizona Cardinals.

My favorite play of the game:

My Favorite Commercial:

This was actually a classic game, the Cardinals really surprised me, I didn't think they would be anywhere near as close as they were.

Until Tomorrow,

Amos13

Into the YouTube Generation!

Hello everyone, and good evening/morning whenever you read this. I have introduced a new feature, I will be joining the YouTube generation. Yes, once a month I will create a video blog for you all to enjoy. I have some ideas on how I am going to create it, and I hope y'all are going to like the finished products. Some sarcastic humor, and basically my rants and raves for the month. Welcome to the show my friends. The channel on YouTube is The Amos Channel, I am user amos1335. This is a short blog, just getting information out there. Cya on YouTube!

Amos 13

Fear

What are you afraid of? Take a second to think about it. What gives you the hebe-gebees? Take a second to think of the scariest thing you could possibly experience. Not failing a course, or spiders, please do not say spiders, I'll punch you if you say something lame like that. What is the one thing you would never want to go through? Where am I going with all these questions?? You'll see.

Fear creates a rush in you that barely anything else can come close to. It is a physiological fact. Humans love to be scared. Why do you think franchises like Saw, The Exorcist, Halloween, Friday the 13th, etc. all make extremely vast amount of box-office sales, and a huge cult-following.

Everyone likes a good scare, most stories told after a weekend of camping or drinking are about the sketchiest moments. I love being scared, well to an extent, not fear for my life scared. But that barrier between haunted houses and piss your pants afraid. This will sound really lame and childish, but I'm afraid of the dark. I always feel something is going to grab me, and I have my reasons for that, but I won't go into the details. Not the dark of my room, or basements, but in a large building or open space alone, or in the woods. Probably the scariest place I have ever been to (and kind of weirdly) was my old church. This building, when the lights were off and you were alone, just felt this "presence" of something unfriendly. Sounds bad I know, but it always gave me the creepy-crawly feeling. 

But why do people love to be afraid? Fear stimulates the fight-or flight response, which sends adrenaline into the blood stream to raise heart rate, breathing, your muscles work harder, and generally have a "clearer" thought process of what to do. All this makes you feel good. It is an euphoric experience, a fear high. Why did I ask you to think of your greatest fear? Well once you know your fear, you can deal with it. Personally, my greatest fears are, being alone, and not knowing what I am doing next, I have to have a plan. What helps me is breathing, but what helps you? Think of 5 strategies that could help you deal with this fear, and next time it comes up, use them. It actually works, try it out.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,

Amos13

Wake-up People!

Okay, so I was with my leader Jean, and his two cohorts....

Just kidding.

In all seriousness, this is not a serious blog entry. This is a wake-up call to those who follow this blog. I want to know what you personally want to hear about, write in the discussion board, message me, comment on the blogs. PLEASE COMMENT ON THE BLOGS! You don't have to be a member I don't think, and it would be nice to get some feedback. Am I doing a good job? What do I need to improve on? Do I come across as some looney? I'm posting another poll so you can rate how I am doing. Could more than 6 people (well 5, I voted last time) participate in the poll?

That aside. Today I went to a Edmonton Rush Lacrosse game. It was actually pretty sweet. Music blaring the entire time, Yukon Jack as the announcer, and the Crush Dance team. The mascots are basically Wookies, which doesn't really make sense. For the second time in three days, a Buffalo team broke into double digits against an Edmonton team. As much as our attempts to start a fire MacT chant going, our efforts were in vain, we were the only ones chanting. It was pretty fun, and would definitely go to another game.

Grace and Peace,

Amos13

Unrealism

Why does society drive unrealistic images down teen's throats? They all know that nobody should, or can healthily look like Barbie, but it consistently is at the top of little girls christmas and birthday lists. The proportions Barbie sports are completely unrealistic. A person with her measurements wouldn't survive, she would run out of energy within one hour of waking, and her body couldn't support her upper body. Yes it is up to the parents to guide and instruct their children on what healthy bodies look like, but when kids reach the times of saturday morning cartoons, every commercial drives the message through. You need this, look like this, think like this. See Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Nicole Ritchie, Mary-Kate Olsen, Christina Agulaira. I am a staunch capitalist, but driving unhealthy images and ideals into people's mind is wrong. It all starts with commercialism, if it sells, it's promoted.

If you are anything like me, you absolutely hate infomercials. At least some commercials are funny, but I have yet to watch an infomercial that has held my attention for longer than 30 seconds. The abominations take up 10 minutes of time you could be watching your show, and they usually have some sort of celebrity endorsing their product. Or better yet, some annoying shmuck who's sole purpose in life is to annoy the hell out of you. There is always something better that is actually $60 in value, but going for $19.95, and two for the price of one. Oh and my personal favorite infomercial, snuggies. They are this blanket thing that's supposedly is perfect for reading a book, or watching a movie. I personally think they are just colour-coded druid robes. Join some Harry Potter, or Warcraft fan club, and you should get one that looks much cooler, for free. Infomercials set-up the audience to think that this product is amazing, and for such a great deal as well, when really the company paid $0.10 to make it. They sell junk to suckers waiting to buy it. As much as I loathe infomercials, I have to admit that capitalism enables such practices, and therefore benefits society as a whole. Even though much of what it sells are garbage, the act of buying and selling is what has made our society great.

That has been my ranting on unrealistic details of society for today.

Amos13

Card Tricks

Card tricks are an amazing thing. Even though most of them turn out to be a simple slight of hand (well 100% of them) they never seem to amaze people. I have tried to learn a few, but just don't have that talent. Below is a pretty sweet magician...

Amos 13

Oops, I forgot yesterday was....

Recommendation day! Seeing how my momentary lack of memory cost you one day of a 7 day cycle I will recommend double the amount of songs for you to download:

Over the Hills and Far Away - Led Zeppelin

Get on Your Boots - U2

One Red Thread - Blind Pilot

Have a Nice Day - Stereophonics

Road Trippin' - The Red Hot Chili Peppers

Taj Mahal - Sam Roberts

Change the World - Finger Eleven

Lenny - Stevie Ray Vaughn

There's 8 great songs to enjoy for the week. I feel it's a pretty good list.

"Where there is health there is hope, those who have hope, have everything" - Arabic Proverb

Amos13

Vincent Lecavalier Trade Talk

Now everyone with a logical mind sees that the Tampa Bay Lightning can't afford their superstar captain Vincent Lecavalier and his $85 million dollar, 11 year contract. Especially seeing how they can't fill the building. And because of this logical insight, there are logical, and completely illogical trade rumours spiraling about in the hockey universe. It's common knowledge that Montreal is wanting a long awaited French-Canadian hero for their beloved Habs. But today, as reported in the Edmonton Sun, that the Edmonton Oilers are in the Lecavalier sweepstakes. According to the article, the offer dealt by the Oilers are 3 players, 2 prospects, 2 No. one draft choices, and a third rounder. I can only imagine who will be going, but my thoughts are: Nilsson, Grebeshkov, Smid, Schremp, and Trukhno. Seems like a big chunk, but that would make our lines look like this:

Penner - Lecavalier - Hemsky

Cole - Horcoff - Gagner

Brule - Cogliano - Potulny

Moreau - Brodziak - Stortini/Macintyre

Souray - Gilbert

Staios - Vishnovsky

Chorney - Strudwick

I like Smid, but to get quality, you have to give quality. Also Tampa Bay is badly needing to build up there D, and Grebeshkov and Smid could do the trick, both are extremely talented, Smid being the defensive defenseman (with un-tapped offensive potential) and Grebeshkov (future powerplay quarterback). I look at that line-up and I can't help but think of cup contender for many years to come. Our defense looks sound and the forwards would no doubt score a ton of goals.

Saying all those points though, I think this deal will never happen, and if it does, it will probably involve people I don't want to be dealt. A lot could go wrong with this deal, because the cap is going to drop, and Lecavalier's contract could seriously handcuff the organization. If done right though, the benefits would be astronomical.

Crazy days for hockey fans every where.

NHL Allstar Game

It's NHL All-Star weekend everyone! I'm a big fan of having the elite players come together and showcase the best that the NHL can offer. What I am not a fan of, is the current selection process that the NHL has.

The NHL has a Vote Now - Vote Often online voting system, and the flaws of that were demonstrated two years ago when a website, www.voteforrory.com had journeyman Rory Fitzpatrick (who was slotted in Vancouver's 7th d-man role) outpace Nicklas Lidstrom and Chris Pronger in all-star voting. Another problem with the current system is that the ballot is based on performance in the previous year, and now J.S Giguere is the starting goalie for the western conference, when he has a 3.08 GAA (goals against average) which is hardly all-star like, and he is being out-performed by his back-up, Jonas Hillier who has a .930 save percentage, and a 2.06 GAA. The list of snubs this year is long, Scott Niedermayer who is a great hockey player, is a starter, but Dan Boyle is obviously having a better season, as is Sheldon Souray. Both were named as reserves, but 1 or both of them deserved a starting role. For goaltender, the person who should be starting is Niklas Backstrom. He has been everything for the Minnesota Wild this year, and has put up some insane numbers: 2.14 GAA and a .929 save percentage. Of the Wild's 23 wings, he has 19 of them.

Despite what is wrong with the NHL All-Star Game, I am still a supporter of it. All professional sports leagues have an all-star game, and it is important to show-off the very best of the best. It brings fans into the game and that is what matters most. My suggestion is to make a one vote per person rule, to avoid ballot stuffing. Enjoy the weekend readers!

Amos 13

Rocky and Bullwinkle

This was one cool show. I know the plots were cheesy, and the villains were a little, well lame. But this show broke down barriers in the cartoon world. Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons and Futurama for those who don't know) has said himself that if it weren't for Rocky and Bullwinkle, he would never have taken up being a cartoonist.
What impressed him with Rocky and Bullwinkle was that it was funny, had adult humor in it, and most importantly, the animation wasn't the greatest, even for it's time. You see, Matt Groening didn't think he was the greatest at drawing (see The Simpsons first season, and you'll agree) but it inspired Matt to create something that was truly funny, and pushed the limit to what could and could not be on television. Without Rocky and Bullwinkle, there would be no Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, even Spongebob Squarepants.

I remember watching old re-runs of Rocky and Bullwinkle's crazy adventures against the blatantly anti-soviet villains Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale, who were from the fictional nation Pottsylvania. Boris and Natasha worked for Mr. Big and Fearless Leader. The plot was random and zany in variety, and it always had a message at the end of the show. The thing about Rocky and Bullwinkle is that it was crazy enough for kids to watch, but would have ridiculously funny puns and innuendos that appealed to an adult audience, so the whole family could watch it and have a good time.

Rocky and Bullwinkle broke the ice for The Simpsons, which in-turn brought about the cartoons we have today, and remains one of the funniest cartoons on television to date. What would TV look like without Rocky and Bullwinkle? We will never know, but I for one am glad it existed, oh and the movie doesn't count, I think that it sucked.





Cheers,


Amos13

Top Ten List

Top Ten List of Everything:

10. Campfires
9. The smell after a big rain storm
8. Sleeping in
7. Chillen' with friends
6. Summer vacation
5. Saturday morning cartoons
4. Waffles
3. Watching a movie
2. Music
1. The last nine things all in the same day


There is a top ten list for everything today it seems, sports plays, songs, best-selling books, food institutions, education institutions, the top ten employers, places to live in the world (Canada sits 5th), places to travel to, celebrity whatever lists, etc. The one I can't stand hearing about/ watching on television is the last one, celebrity lists. Complete garbage. Yes I will watch the movies they make, but I could really care less about what they do in their personal lives. Let them have some freaking privacy, it's called a personal life for a reason, it's personal! How would you like to be followed everywhere, every day of your life? Probably wouldn't. I don't care what club they go to, just what movie are they in, or did they release a new album would suffice.

My favorite top ten list are sports bloopers, they crack me up every time. I feel bad almost cause they either messed up terribly (Patrick Stefan - Dallas Stars vs Edmonton Oilers) or they hurt themselves big time, but sports bloopers are impossible not to laugh at.

Go ahead make a top ten for yourself on a bad day, it'll make you feel better.






Amos13

Stance on Economic Policies

My opinion on economic stances:

My thoughts are that the revolutionizing of our out-dated industries is possible, and more attainable through capitalism. Through times of difficulty, old inefficient ways are thrown away, and replaced with newer, more advanced technologies and ideas. The time for that is right now. The time is now to invest in the future, and to buy shares in companies when prices are extremely low. I can't imagine oil staying as low as it is for much longer, and the price will shoot up again. This is why we must stay the course in developing more fuel-efficient vehicles, appliances, and alternative fuels (hopefully renewable ones).

Free education is great, but that comes at a cost of higher taxes, which I am not a fan. Take Japan for instance, this financial meltdown that North America is going through right now happened in Japan in the early 90's, and through smart and calculated ideas and plans, they modernized their financial system for the 21st century. What is happening in the market now, is that just the players are changing. Capitalism brings rapid technological advancement, but to be honest, I am not a laizze-faire believer. There is a need for government intervention, and social programs for a country to be truly successful, with a high standard of living. 

When studying successful socialist nations, Sweden is often mentioned, and for good reason, it rocks there. Free education, employment insurance, pensions are amazing, healthcare, the works. But what is often over-looked is that Sweden's economy is 90% free market. Sweden is the perfect example of "socialism". Much of the social programs they have are actually here in Canada as well, healthcare, pensions, employment insurance, crown corporations, etc, but since Mulroney, we have stepped back with crown corporations. Canada was actually ranked number 1 in the world for quality of life in the 90's and early 2000's. 

Capitalism is the "quickest" way to improve a countries living conditions. Since the industrial revolution, it has changed how we live faster than any other time period in history. Solving the world's many problems are closer to being solved with capitalism than any other political idea. Poverty, hunger, homelessness, disease, and countless other ailments. All it takes is for our perception generosity to change. If you were born in North America, you were born into the wealthiest 10% of the world. I read once that to solve hunger, all it would take would be $40 billion over 10 years to stop world hunger. Also, it would only take an estimated $100 billion to develop a suitable treatment/cure for HIV/AIDS. Considering the United States has committed $400 billion for relieve of defunct companies and banks, $140 billion doesn't sound as immense.

I think if we stay true to free market, and capitalistic ideals, all should be fine. All that needs to change is the selfishness of our society and generation. 

Grace and Peace

Amos13 

Barack Obama Day!!!

It's Barack Obama day everyone!!! He is now officially the 44th president of the United States, and more importantly, their first African-American president. His inauguration happened at 11 AM MT today in front of 3 million attendees. This will probably go down as one of the most important days in history. As I promised, this would be the in-depth look at the president. 

Early Life

Barack Obama was born February 2, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. His parents divorced when he was 2 years old, and when his mother re-married, they moved to Indonesia until he was 10 years old. When he was 10, he returned to America to live with his grandparents on his mother's side. During his teenage years, he has wrote that used cocaine, marjuiana, and drank to deal with the difficulties of his heritage that he was faced with during that time period. He has refered to this as his "greatest moral failure".

Education

After high school, Obama first studied at Occidental college for two years, then he transferred to Colombia University where he majored in political science, and specialized in international relations.  In 1988, Obama started at Harvard Law. In his first year, he was selected as an editor of Harvard Law Review, by his second year, he was president of the journal.

Pre-Politics

Before entering the senate in 2004, he served as a professor at University of Chicago Law School for 12 years. 

Political Life

Barack Obama was first elected to the Illinois Senate at 1996, and from day one he was known for bipartisanship reforming ethics and health care laws. He also sponsered a law increasing tax-credits to low-income families, negotiated for welfare reform, and increased child-care subsidies. 

In 2004, Barack Obama was elected to the United States Senate. Where he served until November 16, 2008 he resigned his seat before a lame-duck session in the senate.

He was elected president-elect on November 4, 2008, and sworn in today, January 20, 2009, as the 44th president of the United States. This following election was the longest campaign in the history of the USA. He built his ground-roots campaign on change. His vocalized policies have been compared to Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. 

During the campaign, Obama gained the nickname "No Drama Obama" for his relentless deliberating on issues and his methodical speech writing process. This characteristic is exactly what America needs right now, methodical, rational thought on important issues, not rushed, hastey decisions that could cost America for years. 

The election of Barack Obama has brought a lot of hope for African-Americans everywhere, and as reported on CNN, James "Little Man" Presley refered to Obama as Moses. Obama has brought hope for almost everyone in the world as he takes on the role as Commander-in-Chief of the United States.

"I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream." - Martin Luther King Jr.

I wish the best of luck for his presidency, may he go down as one of the greatest presidents of all-time.

Amos13

picture courtesy of www.barack-obama.tv

infomation from www.wikipedia.com and www.cnn.com

Forgetful Day, and hand dancing wangster.

Today sucked, well to start with. Rough day for me. You wouldn't think that it would be with an extra hour of sleep, that it could be a bad day. I woke up around 6:30 (instead of the usual 5) and got ready for the day. By the time I am out of the door and on the bus it is 7:40 and on my daily trip to the northside to go to school. Then at about the halfway point, I wake up mentally and realize I forgot my keys to my locker, and for some reason last friday I had switched from my combination lock to keys, yeah stupid. Anyways, lucky for me I  had all my subjects for the day in my backpack, but along with my gym clothes. To make matters worse, my Organic Chemistry was in my locker, and my lab write-up and logbook preparation is due tomorrow. By a stroke of luck, my buddy had a scanner at home and I ended up getting what I needed. Thanks J.P. (but you probably don't read this blog seeing how it isn't a celebrity blog). My day went like that, mistake-filled, and terrible. 

Secondly, and this almost made up for my forgetting everything, I saw a hand-dancing white guy, wanna be gangster. It was hilarious. I felt like laughing, but my saner, smarter side vetoed that. But for crying out loud, everyone on the bus could hear his rap music, and crap rap, with no rhythm at all, just noise. And the best part, he was like dancing, with his hands, just his hands, the rest of his body was completely rigid. Then as his "dancing" continues, he takes off his baggy white shirt and is wearing a wife-beater, and it's only 9 degrees celsius and he walks off the bus like that! I think this must be my 3rd or 4th crazy person on the bus story. 

Well, that basically sums up my day. Oh and tomorrow will be an in-depth study of Barack Obama, so be sure to read the blog. Tomorrow is also his inauguration as the 44th president of the USA.

Grace and Peace

A 1000 apologies and Glen Anderson Night

1000 apologizes everyone. I missed one day, and this is a daily blog. I know you avid readers out there are pretty cheesed off right now lol just kidding. But I must explain myself. I was basically bed ridden yesterday with the flu, I was only awake for a total of 4 hours between 9:30 am and 10 pm. And when I was awake, I could barely stand up, let alone come up with a topic to blog about.

Today I had the opportunity to volunteer and sell 50/50's for Dreams Take Flight at the Oilers game. Dreams Take Flight (DTF) takes sick kids to Disneyland California for a day in May. Awesome charity foundation. I had signed up a few months ago, and being me, I was stoked to go to an Oilers game for free. Only a month ago however did I realize that it was Glen Anderson night, where they retired his jersey. I got to go to an extremely important night. A ton of Edmonton Oilers from the glory days were there: Grant Fuhr, Craig Simpson, Mark Messier, Wayne Gretzky, Kevin Lowe, and of course, Craig Mactavish. Plus, they were wearing the throw-back jerseys and they are always sick.

Anyways, I sold a total of 869 50/50 tickets from before the retirement ceremony to the middle of the second period. The jackpot was $39,014 from a possible $40,000. Thats $10,000 more than any other Oilers game this season. I sold around one of those Mastercard booths and met two very cool girls there. 

After tonight, I can say I actually like volunteering. Especially something as easy as selling 50/50's, they sell themselves. 

Advice for the day:

"My advice to you is to get married; if you find a good wife, you'll be happy; it not, you'll become a philosopher." - Socrates

picture from oilers.nhl.com

Weird Looking People

Have you ever seen someone out in public and just thought "How'd they get out of the house like that?" Well I thought that today.

I was on the bus, on my way home when this guy sat down right-beside me and proceeded to take over the seats. After about 10 minutes I realized what he was wearing. He was wearing rubber boots, blue long underwear, grey shorts, and a lumberjack coat. Talk about fashion eh? What possessed him to think that that could actually look normal? The rubber boots just completed the look I guess.

If you want to know how to make people think your crazy, ask this guy for tips. Plus his hygiene could of been better as well. Basic summary of ETS, crappy, and weird crazy people take it.

ETS friggen sucks. It takes forever to get anywhere, the buses are never on time, and the scheduling never makes sense. Instead of having buses going continually instead of all at once, maybe more people would be inclined to take it. And this doesn't even mean more buses, what ETS does now, is that they run each route at a similar time, so the buses go in spurts. Either you catch one, or you wait forever to catch the next bus (if you are that unlucky). ETS is so dysfunctional, it serves almost no purpose.

My rants and raves for the day,

Amos13