10 Things I Learned This Week

1. Apparently the Weekend is for Feeling like Crap
All week I felt like a million bucks and that was with getting up insanely early Monday and Tuesday. Went to work, did some writing, hung out with Sarah, all without so much as a sniffle or upset stomach. The weekend rolls around and WHAM! I feel like ass. Second day in a row I've had some gastrointestinal issues to deal with, which is confusing because it's not like I'm eating any worse.

2. Not Only Will I Be in the Next Issue of Passion...
But I got a raise too! The piece that is set to hit news stands on Tuesday marks my biggest professional payday to date and has given me a jolt of renewed confidence and energy in pursuing my writing career. Like my brother Pete said yesterday, "You've got to do what you're passionate about, but it's awful nice when someone wants to pay you for it too!"

3. Spencer's Fantasy
Fantasy Baseball that is. Sick bastards, thinking I was going to get into the sordid details of what goes through my dirty little mind... Anywho, the B&C Crew have put together a fantasy league over at CBS SportLine and I'm one of the twelve taking part. For the first time in my Fantasy career, there is money on the line. Winner nets $140. Having bragging rights for an entire off season is going to be great, but having a $140 bucks in my pocket to go with it is going to be even better.

4. I Need to be Back in Ontario
If for no other reason than to be able to be at the birthday celebrations of little Emily Grace. My brother's daughter really is the cutest kid in the world and the pictures from her birthday party are adorable. They also make me miss home a lot. I miss you Gracie Lou!

5. For the Record, I'll Be Back in May Sometime
It's seem that either (a) I just think I've told people about our triumphant return or (b) they've all forgotten about me telling them about our triumphant return, so here we go, one more time: Sarah and I are heading back to Ontario sometime in May. We're setting up HQ in London until September and then from there, who knows? The only definite is that we're both taking September 100% off to go to Vancouver and have a relax before Sarah joins the workforce full-time. There, now you know.

6. Everyone Has an Excuse
D'you know what's amazing? How everyone who sets foot into Blockbuster and has any charges on their account has some kind of story as to why they shouldn't have to pay the charges. Here's a novel idea, you don't want to pay any charges, bring back the goddamn movies! It doesn't matter if you work odd hours, rented the movie to show to disadvantaged youth or left the movie in your car that sat in the pound following an accident. You had it for a longer time than can be reasonably expected and now you owe us some money. Cough it up. I don't want to hear your sob stories anymore.

7. The Irony of the Above
It's $2.00. Actually, since January 1st, it's $1.98. It's less than a cup of coffee at Starbucks. How can you come in and want to fight tooth and nail about two goddamn dollars? Jesus...

8. Professional Developments
So, on top of catching my first feature in Passion, they've also stuck a pic and bio of me in the Contributors page, but I told you that last week. On top of that, I've also been encouraged by my recent conversations with Rotowire.com, a fantasy site in search for fantasy geeks with writing abilities and we all know I fit the bill. Thanks to my man Herija Green for the advice. There is also a little talk of building a personal website, but that too is only in the discussion stages. As with everything, I'll keep you posted.

9. Baseball Season is Approaching Fast
And I couldn't be more excited. Pitchers and catchers report later this week, which means baseball will be in full swing in no time, horrible pun very much intended. I've started breaking down the Jays position by position over at Bugs and will end it off with an overall prediction about the Jays chances this year. We'll also break out a couple staff prediction pieces I'm sure, so make sure you check it out on the regular from here on out.

10. I Don't Hate Boston Nearly as Much
Earlier in the year, I dropped a bomb on Boston and their success in the sports world. Now, KG is on the shelf for the Celtics and the Pats took their first lost of the season on the greatest stage of them all. The Red Sox are still the champs, but hey, at least it's the start of a new season and everyone has the same record... for now.

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10 Things I Learned This Week

1. Happy Birthday Emily Grace!
My beautiful little niece turns one today. I can't believe it has been a year since she was born. I've only seen her twice and one of those times she spent the whole time crying and wanting nothing to do with me. She is easily one of the biggest reasons I am excited to be moving home in May. You're an angel Gracie Lou and your Uncle Spencer loves you very much...

2. Thank God It's Super Bowl Sunday
Because if I had to go through another week of hearing about every last little thing that has taken place in Tom Brady's life, I think I might swear off football altogether. I honestly expected the sports channels to have little running trackers of Brady's whereabouts and what he's wearing running along the bottom of the screen instead of scores.

3. Barack Obama Needs to be President
Watched a couple hours of the debate last night on CNN and I have to say that Obama just comes across as the better candidate. He's a real dude, whereas Hilary Clinton has that "I'm better than you" appearance to her. Isn't it about time that there is someone other than a Bush or a Clinton in the White House? C'mon America, make Barack Obama the next Commander in Chief.

4. The Mets Will Still Screw Things Up
Sure, they may have just landed one of the best pitchers in all of baseball and signed him to an astronomical contract, but seriously, these are the Mets we're talking about. This is the same team that shit the bed last year at the very last possible second. It's not like Philly suddenly got crappy over the off-season either. This is already my favourite story to watch all season long... and yes, I look forward to hearing what you think about this Brad.

5. I Heart Juno
Saw it Tuesday night and fell in love with it. Been listening to the soundtrack all week and talking about the film with anyone who cares to listen. Diablo Cody wrote an amazing film and deserves to win an Oscar. Ellen Page could too, but she's got stiff competition. All that being said, I can see where some people aren't going to like this movie. The writing is quick, sharp and smart but it will undoubtedly be too much for some people. Kinda like how some folks just don't like Little Miss Sunshine.

6. My Picture is Going to be in a Magazine
Along with a brief professional bio, Passion Magazine will be including a headshot of a goofy-looking guy that they let write articles for them in the next issue, on sale February 11th at all Chapters and Shoppers Drug Mart locations. Except in Newfoundland... we get it a week later.
7. I Need to Care Less About Work
The simple fact of the matter is that it's not my job to worry about everything that goes on there and always wanting things to work out the way I think they should is just stupid, because it's not going to happen. Starting tomorrow, it's show up, work my shift and call it a day; no anger, no frustration, no concern. All that energy is going to get channeled into my writing... or NBA Live '08.

8. "High School never ends."
Great line from The Jane Austen Book Club which I watched last night and thoroughly enjoyed. Immediately after I heard the line, I got to thinking and an idea for a post you'll get later in the week has now formed in my over-sized head. For now, mull it over; think about it in preparation for the piece. Yes, I just gave you homework.

9. Update: The Tattoo Fund
So I bought a pack of smokes again this week, which means two weeks in a row without a penny being dropped into the Tattoo Fund jar. That being said, I have done a lot of thinking about what I am going to get next. One thing it isn't going to be is a giant knife up the middle of my chest. Seriously! This is why some people automatically think tattoos are stupid.

10. I Love Having the Weekend Off
I know that a segment of society has every Saturday and Sunday off, but I haven't ever worked in that sector, so getting the full "real weekend" off is wicked to me. By the time tomorrow rolls around, I will have had two straight days of lounging around the house with Sarah, watching Friends, a handful of movies, reading and just doing the things we enjoy most. No interruptions, no work, nothing but relaxing. It's been a great way to end a crappy week.

OUT / ONE

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Things I Learned This Week

Once again, it's been an interesting week, you know, with emergency surgery for Sarah and all.

Here we go...

1. Things Change
If things went according to plan, we'd be in Vancouver right now, just finishing up dinner and enjoying the company of Sarah's mom and brother and playing with her dog Skippy. Instead, we're sitting on the couch in our living room watching Iron Chef: America planning our trip into school tomorrow to reschedule her exams.

2. I Am The Monopoly Champion... So Far
We bought it this afternoon when we went fro groceries. We started playing once we got home and got settled. At the time Sarah threw in the towel, I owed all but three properties on the board. I almost don't want to play anymore because I'm sure Sarah is only going to improve.

3. The Patriots are Going Undefeated
Even better is that they are going to go undefeated by kicking the living crap out of everyone. Watching them smash Pittsburgh this afternoon was one of those games where you wonder "Who could possibly beat this team?" The answer is no one...

4. Miami Won't Win A Game
Which actually makes for an interesting storyline this season in the NFL, but that doesn't make any Miami fans feel better. Seriously, this is possibly the worst team I have seen in my NFL watching lifetime.

5. Chris Rock is A Lot Smarter Than You Think
He's a lot smarter than I thought too. Watched him on a two-hour Actors Studio this afternoon and listening to his breakdown of comedians, Stand Up and the usage of the N-word by black people was outstanding. You people need to take my advice and watch this show. Artists are inspiring, even for non-artist people.

6. Jane Is Warming Up To Me
Jane is Sarah's Mom and she didn't like me off the bat. What could it have possibly been? The smoking, the bankruptcy, the quick move to Newfoundland to be with her daughter, who knows? But after having spent the past couple days looking after her little girl and having a couple nice conversations on the phone, I think she likes me a little more. Or maybe just dislikes me a little less. Either way, it's a victory.

7. I've Developed A Love of Sleeping
I had never been that guy who liked to sleep until all hours of the day, but moving out here to The Cove has changed that. It's a good thing I didn't have anything to do any of these last couple days, because I haven't moved out of bed before 10 AM once and the only reason I get up in the first place is because peeing the bed isn't acceptable at my age...

8. The Internet is My Home
Let's see, there are three websites I write for, 10 Fantasy teams on the go, Facebook, ESPN, Craigslist and so on and so on and so on. There are even more sites that I could be working for (Suite 101 is a new possibility) but do I really need to be doing any more right now? Seriously, I spend a bare minimum of three hours a day on the 'Net.

9. The Excitement for Issue #2 is Insane
I have my assignments - a feature on Celebrity Comebacks and a profile on my friend Jeff Woodrow's company Joy Apparel - plus there is a good chance that my picture and bio will be making it's first appearance in the contributors pages. No timeline yet, but with the success of Issue #1, both personally and commercially thus far, I can't wait for that day to come.

10. Good Music Turns Me On
The Friday feature Soundtrack of My Life is my personal favourite here because sitting during the day and coming up with each track is something I love. Flipping through the 1500 songs I have on my computer and thinking about the relationship I have with the ones that strike me is inspiring and then hearing things like the crescendo in Stop Me or some of the key elements of the next couple tracks - yes, they're pick already - just gets me fired up.

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Things I Learned This Week

Since this is the first Sunday of this blog, I can't really say whether or not this will become a Sunday tradition, but as of right now, those are my intentions. Kind of a mash up between Peter King's 10 Things I Think I Think and your average, run of the mill recap of the comings and goings of my life.

Let us begin...

1. This writing thing isn't a phase or a passing fancy.
Not that I ever thought it was, but many have, did and do still. This week confirmed to me that it wasn't. I hammered out a couple posts for Bugs - one of which got some love from The Big Boys while the other only went up today - engaged in an outstanding discourse over at The Starting Five that started off poorly and has morphed into something meaningful and even put in a little work on the book project that is in the works. The only thing I didn't do was make an attempt at synthesizing the housing data I'm supposed to be dealing with for a friend...

2. We - everyone - often pay attention to the wrong stories
Let's take sports / athletics this week as our basis. While everyone spent their week counting down to today's Super Bowl, some seriously important happenings took place outside of the National and International spotlight. Does Brady v. Manning seem that important up against the story of Genarlow Wilson?

The back story and the events of this week... Read and get back to me.

3. New England is still perfect... and might remain that way
So, what else is there for them to do? They beat their arch rivals, in their own house, while making more mistakes than they seemed to have made all year. The remaining schedule, after next week's bye, offers maybe three challenges at best (Baltimore, Pittsburgh and The Giants). The '72 Dolphins might be getting company.

4. I'm 360 days away from turning 30.
My friend Bucky emailed me on Tuesday, wishing me Happy Birthday and noting that thus far in his 30th year on the planet, it's been mighty rough. His aging body just can't handle the booze like it used to when we were, say, 23 or 25 or even 27. Baring in mind that Bucky always has been, still is and always will be a much better drinker than me, I'm not looking forward to drinking any time soon.

5. My old computer was a real piece of shit
That isn't really a new development since I knew it from the time I acquired it last summer. But stacked up against the new one that Sarah so lovingly bought me last weekend - thank you Baby for the beautiful HP Pavillion Media Center Television Computer - it's like eating Filet Mignon after a healthy diet of Salisbury...

6. I still love a good cartoon
Both Meet the Robinsons and Ratatouille have been in my DVD Player this past week and they were both excellent. The things the folks at Disney Pixar do are amazing. Everything has been a home run. Makes me look forward to Wall E.

7. Speaking of movies...
I saw Gone Baby Gone on Tuesday night and I really enjoyed it. It wasn't the best ever and doesn't contain any Earth shattering performances, but it did make me think with the ending and all. I won't play spoiler and give it away, but it is an interesting question that is raised, one I am still going back and forth over in my head.

8. That goal that Sam Gagner scored in the shootout the other night... GOD DAMN!
Scariest of all is that he is only 18 years old and will only get better. As much as the NHL doesn't command the attention it once did, the future does look bright as some of these kids - Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane in Chicago, Gagner and Andrew Cogliano in Edmonton, Phil Kessel, Carey Price - are going to be mighty exciting for the next ten years.

9. I know I don't have a vote, but I'm voting for Barack Obama
If I were an American, this is the man I would want leading my country. This is a man I could respect and admire as My President. Is there any way we can make him a Canadian Citizen and have him as a Prime Minister?

10. My niece - Cutest Halloween Monkey Ever
Click here and tell me she isn't adorable... I dare you!

End of the week shout outs to David Chalk for vouching for me at TSF, my man Francis Dennis Santos for being 4 hours older than me and everyone who has stopped by this week and offered some encouragement.... cheers for that.

P.S. Adrian Peterson is a not human!

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