Simple Pleasures

1. Recently I've gotten back in to playing ice hockey and I've been hard at it since May. Not only is it fun, but it's a source of stress relief and great source of exercise. Even Richel has noted how big my thighs are, now (it's all muscle, baby!). But I haven't played really this hard or on ice in the past 20 years, literally. And now I must admit that after playing roller hockey for 10 years, my ice hockey skills have improved considerably; I'm a better player on ice now at 30 something years old than 20 years ago when I was younger.

But ever since I've gotten back in to it in May it's been pretty warm weather, sometimes even blistering hot in the mid 90's. And in the midwest, that means high humidity, too. That also means that at the rink it's so bloody hot there that the ice turns to slush after 20 minutes. What's the point of going to the rink? Might as well play hockey in the mud wearing skates.

Well, one thing that I've been waiting all year for is for the weather to turn really cold. Most people would think I'm out of my mind for thinking something like that. But when it gets really cold, around 0 degrees C the ice turns solid and pretty hard, which makes it great for a nice smooooooth skate. And since November it's started to turn that cold. Bliss on the rink!

2. Hockey again. Back in the day when I was really in to it and just started playing, Mom, Dad, Gah, and one time even Goh came to watch me play. Well, for me it wasn't much of a show; I was a skinny teenager with sub-par skills and no experience playing against veteran adults who were twice my size and weight.

"So Goh, what do you think?" I asked Goh after one game in Belmont. I was about 14 at the time.

"....you need to choke up on your stick more," was his reply. A polite way of saying 'you kinda suck and you'll never get any goals or assists the way you play'.

But that's okay because I admit that back in the day when I was 14, I did suck. In fact, I still suck, just not as badly.

Recently Dad came over to Indy (believe it or not. It was really to help out with Dryden more than anything) and he came to watch a game. I don't know what it was because I was playing against the same group of pretty skilled guys, but that night that Dad came to watch I scored 7 goals and 5 assists. I was still playing against guys twice my size; I've never had a game like that on ice or playing roller hockey, and to have played like that with Dad watching me was icing on the cake. It didn't matter anymore that I didn't choke up on my stick.

Now it's not like I had a chip on my shoulder and I wanted to prove myself to the world or anything like that. But I guess it's one of those boyhood dreams- to play a sport in front of your Dad and make him proud ( playing with Mom watching wouldn't count - she'd be more interested in the shade of colour paint on the rink walls or something like that ).

3. Hockey again. Everytime I read about Brodeur or Gretzky or Lemieux in their autobiographies I always had an image of these kids lugging their equiptment through the snow to get to the rink. I'm not sure why, but ever since I've started playing again I've always wanted to do the same thing: lug my hockey junk with me on the way to the rink in the middle of winter through the snow. Maybe that's more to do with my preference for colder weather and my disdain for the heat and humidity. Either way, that was a simple pleasure that I've always wanted to do, something that actually became a reality last week. What's so great about it? I have no idea. I guess it just fits in with the whole experience of going to play at the rink. Hauling my equipment with me through 90 degree weather heat, wearing shorts and sandals doesn't really add to the whole image of ice and skating.

Earthjustice Praises Energy Bill Passage...?

What kind of a messed up country do we live in?

Apparently this new energy bill recently passed will increase the automobile standards to 35mpg in 2020. And Earthjustice PRAISES this? Are you freakin' kidding me? My 1996 Civic got 40mpg, I can get 40mpg on my Camry Hybrid. WHY the HELL is 35 mpg 13 years from now something to praise?

First of all, Toyota, Chrysler, and Honda all made electric cars at one point 10 years ago to meet California's Zero Emissions mandate before the bill got shot down. Meaning gas mileage was on its way to becoming a zillion mpkwh (miles per kilowatt hour - NOT gallons). But because the oil companies lobbied and defeated the bill, automakers had no reason to put more resources in to R&D of electric vehicles. Hence, no pure electric vehicles these days. The best we have are hybrids, which actually represents a step BACKWARDS in auto development. I mean, think about it: in the evolution of a energy efficient and clean automobile, shouldn't the hybrid come out first, and then the electric car would naturally follow?

But no. What happened was that automakers were actually able to skip the hybrid and went straight to the electric car. Oops! But wait! Doing so would ruin the oil companies and hurt the auto industry in the process. Can't have that. Back up, get rid of the EV's and make something a little more inferior that depends on gas like the hybrid.

Anyway, the energy bill is disgusting and should make people want to vomit for a number of reasons. Must I list them?

1. Why should it take 13 years to raise the standards of the automobile? Raising the standards to meet government requirements is a matter of legislation. Let the automakers sweat out the R&D with trying to meet those standards. It shouldn't take 13 years to pass a bill that everyone supports. Unless not everyone supports it (that's really at the heart of it)

2. California had a zero emissions mandate for a short time prompting the creation of very efficient and fast EV cars. Any reason why the feds can't do this? Basically, because if this occurs, then Dubyuh and his unctuous crones won't be raking in their record profits.

3. 35mpg. Are you kidding me? As I've mentioned, my 11 year-old car got more mileage than the "new and improved" standard. Is this supposed to be a step forward or backwards? If you want progress, then you introduce a standard like 70mpg by 2020, not 35. That's ridiculous!

4. 35mpg. Why are we even mentioning mpg? If these politicians (Democrats and Republicans alike) really care about what's going on they shouldn't even be mentioning "gallon". It should be miles/kilowatt hour, or miles for cubic cm (for natural gas), or miles per fuel cell, or miles per joules. My God, they're still talking about gallons of oil! That's like the country using the PC instead of Mac. Why are politicians making the country dependent on an inferior technology when something more advanced exists, works, and can be practical? Special interests.

This is a perfect example of how deeply entrenched oil companies are in the government and how insidious special interest groups can be.

To put things in to perspective, though let's make analogies shall we? Just to prove a point.

- In order to relieve congestion on the internet highways, new bill proposes the telegraph system to be implemented in 2020.

- In order to reduce the number of hate crimes, gang wars, and ethnic discrimination in schools, new bill proposes to segregate people of different races. New school systems to be in place by 2020. Inter-racial conflicts expected to drop to 0.

- New noise pollution ordinance: any car with booming stereo will have a screaching police car chasing after them.

- New smoking law permits smoking in indoor restaurants/planes/buildings to reduce atmospheric pollution.

This exactly how ass-backwards this new legislation is. Ain't America great?


"...from sea to shining sea!"

'Tis the Season...

Deck the halls with bouts of Folly
Fa ra ra ra ra, ra ra ra ra
Tis the season to be shopping
Fa ra ra ra ra, ra ra ra ra

Don we now our gay-yet-Right-Wing-ultraconservative-and-in-no-way-advocating-pro-same-sex-sexual-preferences-in-fear-of-retribution-from-our-current-government's-administration apparel
Fa ra ra, ra ra ra, ra ra ra
Make the president Bush go sterile
Fa ra ra ra, ra ra ra ra.

Well, it's that time of the year again, when countless millions of people stuff their fat ass in to their 15mpg $40,000 SUV's and drive 0.5 miles to the mall, fighting countless other fat-assed people in their SUV's to buy gifts for important people in their lives. And it's important that everyone do it all at the same time, preferably during the last 40 days of the year so that countless hours are spent sitting in traffic, wasting millions of gallons of gasoline and oil that our government is trying to acquire from the Middle East through military intimidation. Nevermind the fact that there are 365 days in the year, leaving 325 other available shopping days to buy gifts for people at the malls when it's not so crowded. And then we have to buy paper to wrap these gifts in for the sole purpose of having the gift's recipient tear the paper off and throw it away, thus indirectly contributing to our planet's deforestation and adding to its pollution. Maybe we're a little nicer to people whom we bump in to at the supermarket or in the shops, too. But then for the rest of the year we return to being our normal A-hole selves, looking out for number 1.

But maybe that's all besides the point.

It all goes back to the meaning of Christmas. What IS the meaning of Christmas? Today? You just read it. That is what Christmas means today. But there are a select few who are naive enough to think it's the celebration of the birth of Christ; in reality it's not. Ask anyone walking down the street what the first thing they think of when they think of Christmas. I guarantee you it's Santa Claus, it's Christmas trees, it's opening presents, it's roast beef dinner, etc. And I can also guarantee that the first thing people DO NOT think of is Jesus Christ when it should be.

But that's okay. Because this is exactly how Christ imagined people would be celebrating his birthday 2000 years after he died: by going to the mall and buying something, by being nice to our close circle of family and friends while alienating countless others in other countries as well as our own, by destroying our environment and the very planet that God gave us.

Well, Merry Christmas. Hope everyone gets that Lexus they wanted.