Thank god Friday is here!  This has been my first week back in reality and I am desperate for the weekend.  I need to make this clear - I love my new job!  My co-workers are awesome and the work itself is fun.  It has just been tough adjusting to a normal schedule.  I have also been very busy with my social life.  Big problem, I know!  I need some “Mike” time.  A day that I dedicate to relaxing.  Maybe next week.  Tonight I had a hockey game.  Hockey has been a frustrating experience for quite a while.  I was never great at it.  As a younger man, my greatest skill came with my ability to hit people in open ice.  I would consider that a skill as it takes some serious timing.  Before I took a couple of years off, I was the kind of guy who scored goals.  I knew that if I got the puck that there was a good chance it was going in the net.  I was so confident in my abilities.  These days I have crawled into some kind of shell that I just can’t bust out of.  I seem to get more hesitant with each game.  I am so screwed up that my body just freaks out when I am near the puck.  I know I need to just slow things down and take the puck and take my time and look for opportunities.  Knowing and doing and very different things.  Amazing what confidence can do!  I have it in all other aspects of my life.  None on the ice anymore.  I am thinking I should get drunk before my next game.  I am always a little more ballsy when I have had a few.  Let’s see what happens!  Happy Friday everyone.  If you are in Canada then I know what you will be watching tonight  As usual, here is an SMBC comic that has nothing to do with anything.

It turns out you can only spit in the eye of fate so many times before you get bitch-slapped back to reality.  My hockey team lost our tournament this weekend, so we do not get to travel to exotic locations to continue our miracle run.  We can take some pride in knowing that we really had no business going this far into the season anyways.  We also lost half our team for this tournament, including two of our top three scorers!  I managed to injure myself further, adding a slightly sprained ankle to my already messed up wrist.  Despite that, it was still a lot of fun.  We ended up getting full value for our season by playing 5 “free” games, getting $350 in bar money and some snazzy pullovers that let the world know we are champions.  We had a 4 hour break between games on Saturday, so we took the opportunity to have a little BBQ at my house.  The funny thing was that we had to air out our equipment and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let the guys stink up my house.  The solution was to stink up the neighborhood by stringing the equipment out in the backyard.  I think we dropped the property values in the area by a solid 15% that day!  Here is one of the shots I took from the deck.

Another crazy weekend!  I managed to continue my trend of doing really awesome things…and forgetting my camera!  I got to play golf at a private course on Saturday.  Normally, places like that keep hooligans like me and my friends out by making it expensive to be a member.  Lucky for us one of our friends, Nik, is a member and he took us out there for his birthday.  The course was Caledon Woods just north of Toronto.  My foursome played 2 on 2 best ball and we still managed to score pretty high!  Needless to say the course kicked our asses on a few of the holes.  Below is a shot from a friends iPhone.  This is an awesome action shot of me driving the ball.  Since you can’t see where I hit the ball I will just tell you I drove it further than Tiger Woods can.  We managed to drown our sorrows in some expensive beers!  After that we continued the drinking at Nik’s place.  I got to bed somewhere around 4am or so.  Long night!  I spent Sunday in bed right up until hockey in the evening.  We kicked the living crap out of that team 11-1.  I actually managed to contribute with 3 points.  One thing I did to help break out of my slump was go back to an old stick.  This was a stick I used about 4 years ago and it got me plenty of goals back then.  More than anything I think the height of that stick is perfect for me.  I am probably going to cut my other sticks down to that height and hopefully I can get on some kind of a roll here.  Speaking of hockey, the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup on Friday.  They managed to edge Detroit by a goal in game 7.  It was a tense third period with Detroit missing the tying goal by an inch when Kronwall hit the crossbar.  It is actually pretty funny.  Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury gives the crossbar some love after it saved his ass.  Check out the video!

*Here is the shot of me teeing off on a Par 4.  This pic doesn’t do justice to how horrible my swing actually is.

I just recently showed you a pretty sick goal from Sweden.  As it turns out, there have been some pretty insane goals all season.  Because my lowly Leafs suck donkey balls I haven’t watched too many highlights.  Thankfully this top 10 list was thrown on YouTube for me!  Check it out:

Since this is SuperBowl weekend, I should have something about the game posted on here.  It’s going to be the Pittsburgh defense up against the Cardinals offense.  There.  That’s all you need to know about the actual game.  Now let’s have some fun.  Here is a video of two hot girls getting body paint jerseys of their teams for this game.  Enjoy!

Most of you are back at work this morning.  For some of you, this is the first day at work for 2009.  SUCKERS!  I am kidding.  But, I am not at work.  As I mentioned earlier, I will be starting school next week at this time.  So this week is spent just tying up some odds and ends.  Like, I need to buy something to haul my books around.  Seriously, the last time I needed one of those was high school!  Anyways, on to other matters.  Will I be trading anytime soon?  I would love to, but the market movements will determine my timing.  I definitely won’t have time tonight.  Canada is playing Sweden for gold in the World Junior Hockey Championships.  This is an  awesome hockey tournament played every year at this time.  I will be watching the game at a friends place.  That is definitely not a time to be looking at Forex charts.  But, you never know!  I might try some day time trading later in the week.  I don’t trust myself to jump into that right at the start of the year.  So, what can I offer you today?  I thought about giving you something totally mindless.  Something to get your mind of work.  Then I thought about being more helpful than that.  How about something that is kinda funny, but also provides you valuable information.  I got this from XKCD and it is an extremely handy chart!  This is especially true for those of you in the States.

As I suspected, I had no trade last night.  I was playing hockey and didn’t have time.  We are getting dangerously close to Christmas and new years.  I don’t like trading around this time of year.  I might look at things tonight, hopefully I can spot something for a quick profit.  Anyways, about my hockey game.  We won, but it definitely sucked ass.  We have some people who seem to think that recreational hockey is equivalent to the NHL.  They think that you need to antagonize the other team to throw them off their game.  Idiocy.  The game ended with about a minute to go because a brawl broke out.  Yours truly wasn’t a part of the nonsense.  Pay me $15,000 per game and I will fight anybody.  I sure as hell wont fight in a league that I pay to play in.  The win came on the strength of my new hero: my buddy Ree.  He injured his knee and had to leave the game for a short while.  He came back to score 4 goals, including 2 in one shift to ice the game for us.  I posted about this guy a while back when he was being a little bitch and used the electric cart to move around when he injured himself.  Since I called him out for being a pussy back then, I need to commend him on here now.  Here are two shots of Ree.  There is the classic pose, him with two beers because he is just too awesome to have only one.  And, him playing Guitar Hero.  I would like to have a shot of him playing hockey - but he moves too damn fast!  Congrats on your 4 goals Ree!  As promised, this is the blog post about you.  I have now completed any obligations I have to you as a friend.

One thing I need to do more of is give a more personal aspect to  this blog.  This is especially important when the markets are in chaos and I am not trading.  So, here are some ramblings for you this week.

• The Markets: Shit!  Absolute Shit.  The problem isn’t things going down at record rates, the problem is the fear that is in every market.  It slows down movement.  I need movement to keep the spread low and liquidity available when I trade Forex.  So, when it just isn’t happening I stay out.  I have no idea when things will get back to a point where I can trade again.  I check every day, so I am not just ignoring things.  I sure as hell wont be one of those traders that tries to force things in just for the sake of making a trade.  That is a sure fire way to blow your account out.

• Cold/Flu Season: I have been battling a cold that seems to go away and then come back stronger.  That is a minor gripe though.  It hasn’t totally knocked me out and I am not hacking up a lung like some people around me.  I have managed to keep the symptoms at bay with some natural remedies.  I hate regular cold medication because the shit just doesn’t work.  I previously posted about how to beat a flu.  I have some of my own solutions.  For my sore throat I use a mixture of hot water and a big-ass spoon of cayenne pepper.  Now, don’t even try this if you can’t handle spicy food.  This absolutely works!  2-3 doses of this through the day and you will be feeling clear at night.  If you can’t take spice then go with honey.  The sweet stuff has been used for medicinal purposes back when dinosaurs first started getting the flu.  For a cough you can try stuffing a piece of raw garlic under your tongue instead of a cough drop.  Garlic is some powerful stuff that can kill of a ton of germs.  It actually feels a little spicy when taken this way.  And, don’t plan on kissing someone new.

• My Sports: After a 4 year retirement, I have returned to the game of hockey.  I am playing in a league with a couple of friends every Wednesday.  My first game back was BRUTAL!  I actually fell down on the ice when I was hit with a stiff pass.  That was just embarrassing.  My 2nd game back was this week and it went a little better.  I am still messy when handling the puck.  My hands don’t remember how to feel the weight of the puck like they used to.  I did manage to become  a little more effective though.  I also won about 75% of the faceoffs which was a nice bonus.  I figure I should be somewhat back into game shape in another 2-3 games.  One thing that could slow me down a bit is my right foot.  I blocked a shot from the point with the inside of my skate and the thing hurt.  The funny thing about ice skates is that you can break your foot but continue playing the game without any pain.  Once I got my skate off the swelling started and the pain kicked in.  My foot grew to twice the size of my left foot and I couldn’t even walk the next day.  I took a picture but figured you didn’t want to see my gross feet.  The swelling is down today and I should be able to stuff it into my skates in time for next Wednesday.

• Channel Surfing: I love this time of year.  Not because it is colder.  Because this is a great time to be watching TV.  There are tons of new shows that I don’t watch because I am busy watching sports!  The only TV show I watch regularly is Kitchen Nightmares.  This is a great show because it is reality without being stupid.  It stars Chef Gordon Ramsey from Hells Kitchen.  He goes to failing restaurants and tries there food.  He then pimp slaps them for sucking and helps them become good.  It is hilarious to see these people who run restaurants that are going into debt but they try to act like they know more than he does.  It’s funny shit.  Other than that, the best day on TV is Sunday.  Football ALL FREAKING DAY!

• Blogging: Blogging is fun.  It is cool.  It gives me a soapbox to stand on and talk about whatever the hell is on my mind.  It also helps to inspire others to do the same.  A friend recently started her own blog with an amazing idea.  She is blogging about her life before planning to have kids, before actually having the kid, during the freaking ordeal and after.  She was recently married so this topic is definitely a hot one for her.  I think this is going to be a good read and is definitely something to follow.  Whatever your situation in life, I am sure you will relate to some of her posts.  You can click this link for Amanda’s Blog.

This Nike ad is money! It is a cool, first-person view of a kid making it in soccer on the other side of the pond. Any fans of the sport will notice some huge names that show their faces in this one! I would love to see more football, basketball and hockey ads done in this style. Not baseball though.  Baseball sucks.

Everyone who knew me as a kid knew that Wendel Clark was my hero. The Toronto Maple Leaf left winger was like a god to me. Blessed with one of the most deadly wrist shots the NHL ever saw, he also had a mean streak that was a mile wide. Add to this a fuse that was ridiculously short and you had a stick of dynamite that was ready to go off every single game. The way he played was simple: all heart. He didn’t care about preserving his body to ensure a long career. He had too many operations on his knees and back to count. His personality on the ice was a contrast to the man off the ice. Humble, soft spoken, polite and shy were words that described him best. In 15 seasons of pro hockey he missed over 400 games due to injury. He only played in 793 games but he still managed to put up 564 points, including 330 goals. He was even better in the playoffs, scoring 69 points in 95 games including 37 goals. The numbers don’t do justice to the impact he had on Toronto. At the end, he was a shadow of the player he used to be. His body simply was too wrecked from the years of throwing his 5′11″ , 195 pound body at targets larger than him. But it took very little from him to bring the crowd to it’s feet. In his final days, I recall him going end to end on a patented Wendel Clark rush. He didn’t score, but the crowd stood and cheered at a deafening volume for over 5 minutes. They knew it was the last time they would get to see that sight of the old freight train coming down the wing. He retired at age 33. The loudest cheers in the Toronto rink are still reserved for when Wendel comes out of the press box and makes an appearance on the ice. I just thought my blog was an appropriate place to pay tribute to a person who helped shape my life simply by the way he played a game.