Upcoming

A new addition to my links in my sidebar is a link to my events on Upcoming.  It used to be called upcoming.org and that URL still works but since being bought by Yahoo!, it is now at upcoming.yahoo.com.  So why am I writing about a web service that is a couple of years old?  Well I thought I would mention what a difference it made in my life but first the back story.

Jordon and I have been married for a decade and during that decade of being married and a couple of years of dating, I have never planned a night out for us.  I have tried to do it and it has been a source of conflict for me over the years but I am terrible planning night outs for us.  For me I am pretty content to come home, make some dinner and drink a cup of tea which channel surfing.  Pretty boring and it drives Jordon crazy.  The weirdest thing is that this blog is full of stories about us going out and having a really good time which makes it sound like I could be a lot of fun but I am really not.  In the past I would feel bad about never planning anything for Jordon and I and try to come up with suggestions.  Here is what I always came up with.

• Go out for a walk with the cameras.
• Go out for a walk with the cameras.
• Go out for a walk with the cameras.

My other solution was to promise to plan something and then panic after Jordon didn’t want to do the above three suggestions again.  Crying helped my case.

Jordon knows that I like to do things but am a terrible planner so we sat down and started to look around Saskatoon web sites for things that we wanted to do as a couple or with friends and even things that I wanted to do by myself.  As we found things, we added the events to my profile (or his) on Upcoming.  It was fun to do and it brings some closure to my schedule and forces me to plan better as well.  I love basketball if we hadn’t made it firm, I never would have started to go to Huskies basketball games.  It forced me to pick a day to see an art exhibit at the Mendel I was talking about, and reminded me to book a day off to continue enjoying a family tradition with Jordon and Mark.  While looking around I also decided to take in something that I probably never would have otherwise.  When I can look at what I am doing a couple of months in advance, it takes some pressure off of me but also it inspires me to sit down regularly and explore what else we can do as a couple and as a family.  Those I find compelling enough to take in, I add them to my profile and the site for others to discover.

It isn’t just us that is adding events to Upcoming.  Here are all of the listings for Saskatoon which does give some suggestions as well.  It also has some other cool features like allowing you to integrate Flickr photos with events you have attended and the ability to see what your friends are attending.

Of course it is free to join up and if you are so inclined to follow my events, become my friend.

Technorati tags: Upcoming, upcoming.org, Yahoo!, Web 2.0, Jordon Cooper

Saturday Night at the PAC

It was crazy at work today and some co-workers were cranky.  To keep my sanity I kept focused on what Jordon, Mark and I were going to do tonight and that was grab a quick supper and then head out of the PAC to watch the University of Saskatchewan Huskies play the University of Alberta Golden Bears in men’s basketball. 

The game was a blowout. The Huskies jumped out to fast start in the first quarter and held the Golden Bears to 12 points.  The final score was 74-52 for the Dogs and while it wasn’t a nail biter, it was an enjoyable evening.  We were there early enough to get some front row seats, Mark got to hear some words he isn’t allowed to use, and we saw some pretty good basketball… well good basketball from the Huskies. 

Two weeks from now the plan is to head back to the PAC watch the Huskies host the University of Calgary Dinosaurs for the season finale.  Depending on how the cookie crumbles, we may be able to take in a playoff game or two.

 

More photos can be found on Flickr here.

Technorati tags: University of Saskatchewan, University of Alberta, Huskies, Golden Bears, basketball, PAC

U of S Huskies Defeat Simon Fraser Clan

Tonight Jordon took Mark and I to the PAC to watch the Huskies play some university basketball.  We watched the University of Saskatchewan Huskies defeat the Simon Fraser Clan 81-65 and improve their record to 9-7 on the season.

It was close at half time but then the Huskies started to go inside and the Clan didn’t seem to have an answer (like playing defense) and the lead started to grow.  It was a good game and the right team won so we all left happy.  Well maybe not the Clan but the home crowd was happy.

Despite opening in 2003, I had never been in the PAC and I was impressed.  The tickets for games are only $8 for an adult and $2 for Mark.  We could have had court side seats for only $10 a seat which we are tempted to do next time.  We did have to pay $2 for parking but it was so cold out that I would have paid $20 to park that close.

Jordon posted some photographs of the game on Flickr but below are some of my favorites.

 

 

Technorati tags: University of Saskatchewan, Simon Fraser University, Huskies, Clan, basketball, CIS

Happy Birthday Lee

Lee turned 26 today and we had fun celebrating it together as a family.  Mark woke up this morning and yelled out, “Wahoo! It’s Uncle Lee’s birthday today!”, before running down to greet him.  The bad news was that Lee had to work some O.T. today and wasn’t back until 2:00 p.m. but we started the party then. 

Since Lee is the last human being to pay with things with cash, he has a lot of change to worry about.  Last year we got him a Calgary Flames beer can/piggy bank but that was full in hours so this year we gave me a massive Calgary Flames beer bottle/piggy bank which should last him 24/48 hours or so.  If ever counts it, he should be a millionaire.  We also gave him case to store his UMD’s for his PSP, a copy for Rainbow Six Vegas for the PSP, and a stainless steel Timex Calgary Flames watch which is just killing Jordon as it is a limited edition watch and Jordon has always wanted one which he can’t get one as they are brothers and it would just look goofy if they actually had anything in common.

After opening his gifts, we took him to Boston Pizza where we had a below average quality meal.  Lee’s was good but Jordon’s spicy perogy pizza was just barely warm, they forgot about my order, brought it out after everyone else ate without an apology (or any resolution to Jordon’s complaint).  We were commenting afterwards that with the labour shortage in Saskatoon, we are experiencing and hearing lots of complaints about restaurants.  I don’t know where all of the trained cooks are going but they aren’t working in Saskatoon restaurants anymore. 

Technorati tags: Boston Pizza

The Bad Dog Grill

The Bad Dog Grill’s almost finished website is now online.  For those of you who don’t know, Scott Williams opened the Bad Dog Grill late last year in Mission.  Scott for those of you who don’t know, made fun of me one time so bad that I stayed awake until 4:00 a.m. thinking of a comeback.  I woke Jordon up at 4:00 a.m. to tell him my witty comeback to which Jordon replied, “Have you been up all night thinking of a comeback?”  I admitted I had.  “Loser” was Jordon’s reply before he rolled over and went back to sleep.  Comebacks are not my strength.

Technorati tags: Bad Dog Grill, food, restaurant, grill, Mission, British Columbia, Scott Williams

Around here

There isn’t a lot of excitement around he house lately.  It is Saskatoon in the middle of January which means that most of us are just burning things to stay warm but here goes.

• Mark is over his chicken pox and it wasn’t that bad.  Some anti-allergen medication helped a lot as did oatmeal baths.  He missed a couple of days of school and wasn’t that thrilled with that but he didn’t miss that much and is caught up again.
• Jordon has felt tired for weeks and has been sleeping 12 hours a day many days.  He is on some multi-vitamins but it is too soon to see if that is what the problem is.  With him working during the day and me working evenings, we haven’t had a day off together since Christmas which is starting to drive both of us crazy.  This upcoming weekend we have off together and both of us are looking forward to that.  It is Lee’s birthday and the preliminary plan is to rent a Wii and play Nintendo Sports until our arms fall off.  The other plan is to do some skating down at the Bessborough.
• As I mentioned before, Jordon bought Mark a copy of Peter Jackson’s King Kong game for PS2.  The problem is that it is too scary for any of us to play.  I am making a rule that the game can’t be played if I am in the room.  It reminds me of when Jordon played Doom II when we were first married.  I couldn’t sit and talk with him when he was playing it, even the music was scary.  Luckily Jordon and Mark are playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3.  I predict Mark breaking a bone this summer trying to replicate what he does in the game.  I may have to ban them from going to the Lion’s Skate Park this summer.
• While I am talking about technology, I have had some fun with Jordon’s PSP, especially the Internet radio player.  Nothing sets a romantic mood like some Hindi or Polish folk music at an inappropriate time.  Why use technology for good when you can use it for mischief.
• The War on Clutter continues around here.  Mark and I spent hours in his room sorting and giving away some of his old toys.  We also picked up some Rubbermaid containers to store some of his sports stuff in it.  So far so good and he is keeping his room clean.
• Maggi is driving Jordon and I crazy.  She has claimed our bed as her bed.  Having Jordon or I in the bed or even Maggi and I in the bed isn’t a problem.  Having Maggi, Jordon and I in the bed is a problem.  We kick her down all night, every night and as soon as we fall back asleep, she gets back up on the bed.  When Jordon gets cold he also calls Maggi up on the bed.  When asked why he doesn’t cuddle with me, he replies, “You snore quite a bit louder than Maggi”.  Maybe Maggi and I should kick Jordon off of the bed.

Other than that it has been quite quiet around here. 

Technorati tags: PSP, King Kong game, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3

The jordoncooper.com Primary Is Now Open

Jordon is having some fun on his weblog with a poll to see who you are voting for in the U.S. primaries.  It is kind of cool because you can see results from his blog and from around the country.

Technorati tags: Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, John Edwards, Barack Obama, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, politics, USA

Itchy and Scratchy

Mark has chickenpox and in the middle of the worst of it right now.  They are all over and he is quite itchy with a slight fever.  He did see a doctor about it who broke the bad news to Mark that he will be missing some school over it. Baking soda baths and some medication is making it better but he woke Jordon and I up several times last night because of the itching and his frustration with it but other than that, he has been quite good.   Jordon bought him the King Kong game for the PS2 to help pass some time this week and I bought him a sketch pad so he could do some drawing.  He was quite enamored with the set of sketching pencil’s Jordon gave me for Christmas so now we can do it together.  Of course Jordon tried out the King Kong game after Mark went to bed and it was so incredibly scary to watch that I am sure that Mark will not only be itchy tomorrow but also scared out of his mind that giant sea creatures, dinosaurs, and apes are going to kill him.  Jordon obviously left his parenting instincts in the car while he went into Staples tonight.

Technorati tags: chickenpox, King Kong game