Making It Up As I Go Along #451

To Be Or Like Not to Be… Something

Dad got me.  I don’t remember if I thought about it before but I know for sure that I have since he brought it up… and it’s true.  The word “awesome” has lost all meaning.

Awesome used to mean “something which inspires awe”.  Now it is basically a describer for the slightest neat factoid.

And when I think about it, I don’t often use the word.  I don’t think I have often used it in the past either.  I guess I’ve been too understated in my view of things for something to be awesome to me. 

I have seen awesome things.  Lake Louise is an awesome sight.  Stonehenge certainly was viewed, by me, with awe.  Walking the grounds of the ancient Olympic Stadium in Olympia, Greece was also awesome.

For me, it is not an “awesome” thing to hear that Robert Downey Jr. signed on for two more Avengers movies.  I like hearing this.  I’m glad it’s happening.  I’m hardly in awe.

Other modern examples of awesomeness which fall well short of being awesome.  New, sharper razor blades.  Getting money back on tax returns. Skin care creams.   None of these things are awesome.  Not really.

Oh and those skin care ads bring me to another word that gets overused and diluted.  And that word is…“Like”.

This one I am guiltier of taking part in.  For me, anyway, I use it when I’m not certain of a fact’s exactness.  You could say “there’s about five pounds of weight on the scale.”  Or interchange the “about” with “like”.  Saying “there’s like, I don’t know, five pounds of weight on the scale.”

Now back to the skin care ads.  Sportsnet must feel that there are a lot of 13 year old pimply girls watching Prime Time Sports.  Because, every day that I tune in to the show, Proactiv ads bombard the airwaves during this time.

The fact is, I would be afraid of using Proactiv based entirely on how stupid the users of the product sound.  I think whatever concoction they’ve cooked up to whisk away pimples must take brain cells with them. 

There’s a whole bunch of 18 to 25 year olds getting way too excited about clear skin here.  “Now I love my skin!”… I hope I go through life never befriending someone who openly proclaims love for their skin.  Love seems like too great an emotion for skin.  It’s fine and all… I’m glad I have skin… but discussing the level of love I have for it… with other human beings… please no.

There is the token guy on these ads.  He sits in front of the camera and very seriously, as if he’s a doctor informing a patient that they only have two months to live, he tells us… “My back was a pizza… literally.”  The “literally” part of that statement makes this guy an idiot… literally.

I doubt very seriously that this man’s back was actually made out of pizza.  And, if it was, I doubt even more seriously that there is a skin cream that will take that pizza right out of there. 

The stupidest of the Proactiv users (and beats me why the product decided to remove the “e” from there word… maybe this explains the stupid that users seem to develop) is a perky 18 year old.  The poetry which spews forth from her mouth is the stuff of legends…

“People are like, ‘you have such clear skin’… I’m like ‘It’s Proactiv’… they’re like ‘no’… I’m like ‘yes’.”

I often imagine the Proactiv ad’s director.  Yelling for everyone to be “quiet on the set”… bellowing “action!”… and then the studio of production crew, sits… in Awe (obviously)… as this girl bares her soul with such a well spun story.

Then, after the “yes”… the spellbound director slowly regains his composure, wipes away the tears, and… in an emotional whisper says “cut… that’s it… that’s what we’re looking for everyone (sniff sniff)… that’s a wrap”.

This girls use of the word “like” is different than what I described above for my use of the word.  She’s not approximating anything.  She’s not uncertain of some exact amount.  This is her everyday talk. 

William Shakespeare died about 400 years ago.  You’d think 400 years of evolution would have the average person being able to speak as eloquently and colorfully as he once did.  Yes he was one of a kind back then, but the average person then didn’t know about washing hands… they emptied chamber pots out the window… and, during supper, wiped grease from their hands on the backs of shaggy dogs.  Surly, with today’s advanced technologies and education, we’d all be able to describe the world around us as Shakespeare did then.

But alas, it’s like, not to be… or whatever… cause he like read fifteen hours a day or something.  But I love my awesome skin!

THURSDAY...

--- Quiet day at work.

FRIDAY...

--- More quiet times at work.

SATURDAY...

--- Night shift. Again... Quiet. Most systems were down after 9:00. So not much can be done after that.

SUNDAY...

--- Some work to get done tonight. One of the nights that it'd be just as well being alone though.

--- Thunder and lightning for part of the evening. Pretty heavy duty.

MONDAY...

--- 38 with the humidity. Half hour walk is about it today.

--- Thank goodness for the trailer trash neighbours two doors down. They've been keeping garbage... Including a couple of old box springs... out on the side of their house. And today, dude is out in his wife beater shirt hitting golf balls into the woods across the street. I guess, cause it's there.

TUESDAY...

--- Late morning movie day. Melissa and Nick join me for 3D Star Trek. Good movie. I liked the first of these new Star Treks better but did enjoy this one too.  

--- Book for the Fall Newfoundland trip. Get my flight all set and book three days on Fogo Island right before the wedding for my cousin in Twillingate.

--- Half hour walk and some TV as well.

WEDNESDAY...

--- Afternoon Blue Jays on TV. Dickey pitched great. Nothing better in baseball than a great effort by the starting pitcher. Complete games are so rare now. Almost even to seeing a no hitter.

--- RCMP softball as a spare again. It's hot out there. Around 37 with the humidity.

--- For a post game supper treat, it's shwarma and a root beer for me.

--- Evening walk. So many toads on the power line dirt road. I stop counting after a dozen. Likely thirty or so in my path. So it's eyes down for the baby toads... They're all so small. A centimetre or so.

Making It Up As I Go Along #450

What’s in a Name?

What’s in a name? For sports leagues and teams, not much.  It used to mean something. 

The NHL had Maple Leaf Gardens.  That’s the only name bestowed upon that building for generations of hockey.  And Montreal had the Forum. A place seen as a shrine for much of Canada.  Both those buildings are gone now.  One, made into a grocery store with a little rink on top… the other becoming a fancy movie cinema, yet maintaining a hint of its history within the lobby.  And they’ve been replaced by corporate named stadiums.  The Air Canada Centre… and the Bell Centre.  Bell Centre being the second name put on the Montreal stadium… following the previously corporate name… Molson Centre.

Baseball has kept several original names for their stadiums.  Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, and Dodger Stadium have all maintained their name. Even the New York Yankees, when moving into a new building, kept the old name.  Where else would such a historic franchise play but Yankee Stadium?  With none of these teams having sold naming rights, it adds a depth to each of them.  They maintain a connection through the history of each franchise.  A grandfather can bring his grandson to a game in one of these stadiums and feel as though he has something to share… to pass along.  It’s one thing to say you remembered watching this team back when you were your grandson’s age.  But it’s something else altogether to be able to maintain the building the team plays in as a connecting point.

Yes it’s true that the buildings have to change over the years.  You can’t have sports franchises all playing in eighty year old stadiums simply for the good of grandfathers and grandsons.  But naming a building based on the team itself (Yankee Stadium, Dodger Stadium)… or the history of the club (Wrigley Field, Fenway Park)… the building the clubs play in becomes something special.  It’s a part of the experience.  It brings that connection between past and present that should be important to all sports.

Here, in Ottawa, tradition is not only a non-priority… it’s spat upon.  The Senators have been in the NHL for 20 years.  They’ve played almost all of that time in the one stadium (moving in there half way through the 1995-96 season).  So next season will be their 19^th year in the same building.  It will have its fourth new name in those 19 years. 

As a new building, it received a reasonable name that one could grow with.  The Palladium opened for business on January 15, 1996. 

That name lasted a month.  On February 17^th, the cornerstone for a fledgling franchise became renamed after a software company… The Corel Centre was “born”. 

Corel Centre lasted a while.  In January of 2006, a new chapter began.  Scotiabank Place brought the warm and fuzzy feelings that only a bank can supply to a family outing. 

But seven years is enough of that.  Despite its 15 year naming agreement, Scotiabank decided to sell off the naming rights to the building.  As of this summer, the building will be known as Canadian Tire Centre.

Of course, I shall be calling it the CANADIAN TIRE CENTRE!!!... in honour of the new CFL franchise that is coming to Ottawa.

Yes, naming silliness goes beyond hockey in this town.  The new football team will be called the Redblacks.  A name based on the team colours.  That is assuming the team will be going back to those original colours of the former Rough Riders days.  But a stupid name isn’t bad enough.  Had they left well enough alone, it may actually grow on people.  After all, New Zealand’s All Blacks rugby team is an iconic name. 

But Ottawa had to get dumb.  For, you see, it isn’t actually Redblacks.  The correct spelling of the name is… REDBLACKS.  Yes, the club has told media outlets that the name should be in all caps. 

Because of this… I shall forever call the Ottawa CFL team by the rightful name… the Ottawa ALLCAPS!!!

But back to the Senators.

Within the multi-named facility have been several restaurants.  Marshy’s Sports Bar was run by former player, Brad Marsh.  And the name, Marshy’s has a good sports crowd kind of name.  “Come on guys! Let’s head to the game early and grab a bite a Marshy’s!”  I even once went there with dad and my uncle and saw Marshy himself meeting fans and being a fine ambassador for the place. 

But no good thing lasts too long in Ottawa.  When the Senator franchise took over ownership of the bar, it was renamed.  Bert’s.  Yes… Bert’s.  I have an uncle Bert.  A fine fellow.  But not the name for a sports bar.  Though the club’s website does tell us that Bert’s is “the official Sens Army headquarters.”  Cause, you see… Sens Army is what the team calls their fan base.  They came up with this title while Canada was sending a real army into the Afghan War.  At a time when we should have perspective on what is important in this world.  When people spoke about how sports figures aren’t the real heroes.  Soldiers, fire fighters and police officers are the heroes of this world.  It was at this time, that a sports franchise decide to name their fan base an Army.

Ottawa did have another place to eat that hinted at the franchises past.  Frank Finnigan’s was a place to go grab a burger before heading to your seats.

Finnigan was a member of the original Senator hockey team, playing for them during the 1920s and early 1930s.  And the current club, besides naming a restaurant after him, retired his number and named the street in front of the main entrance to the building after him.

But with the new tradition of Canadian Tire comes new traditions in the building.  You can no longer grab a burger at Finnigan’s.  Nope, that place has gone the way of the Marshy.

Canadian Tire has several companies under its umbrella.  Sports Experts, Sport Chek, Mark’s Work Wearhouse are all Canadian Tire properties.  And, with that, Frank Finnigan’s becomes… the Sport Chek Sports Bar & Grill.

If sports teams were people, than the buildings they play in were once the soul.  Visiting teams would be intimidated as they come in to the building.  The Montreal Forum had the “ghosts” of past greats there to help the home team along in quests, many of which were successful, for the Stanley Cup.  And, although the move out of the Forum and into the Molson Centre/Bell Centre was done with much ceremony and tradition where people spoke of the “ghosts” being brought into the new building… the Canadiens haven’t won a Cup since… and all talk of those ghosts has vanished. 

Today, the soul of sports teams is no longer the stadiums they play out of.  There is no soul in modern day sports teams.  It’s the first, and most convenient thing for billion dollar owners to sell.

WEDNESDAY...

--- Exhausted today. Slept less than three hours. In slow motion at work and, by 1:30, I pack it in. Just need the rest.

--- Home... Do a little clean up in the backyard before a much need nap. Then get the last of my birthday gift from sis. A gift card from Lee Valley. Add a little money of my own and the order is in for a new sprinkler as well as five other goodies for around the house. I'm a suburbanite for sure.

THURSDAY...

--- Better today. I slept well last night and the fog is out of my head. Just me and Marc at work. Keith taking time to work on his roof.

FRIDAY...

--- Fairly busy night. No real pause at work until 1:30. Left pretty tired for the rest of the night.

SATURDAY...

--- Busy again. Not crazy busy but there's just not much pause. Something new coming via email, CPIC, or fax every fifteen minutes or so.

SUNDAY...

--- Up around 11:30. Call dad to wish a happy Father's Day. Nap during the baseball on tv. BBQ some sausages for supper. And do a forty minute walk in the evening. Grey and cool today though. Rained much of the early part of the day.

MONDAY...

--- Win softball again. A pretty close one but we pull it off 7-4.

TUESDAY...

--- Hour long walk today. And, on a day when I woke with no softball in the plans, I play twice. RCMP team needed a body and one of the Monday night teammates need someone for their game that happens right after it. I feel it by the end. Tired and sore. A little pathetic considering I play 1st base in the first game and catch most of the second one. Neither position needing much effort. Ah well.

Making It Up As I Go Along #449

Fenced In Life

My fenced in life

It is now here

What was communal

Is now a square

Wooden walls

And matching gate

A bare green lawn

A nice clean slate

What comes next?

A patio set?

Will I plant trees?

Or get hot tub wet?

It doesn’t matter

I do not know

But when the sun comes out

Into my yard I’ll go.

THURSDAY...

--- First night back. Pretty easy going. See a job is up for competition for a supervisor position in ten print. Not sure if I'd want to go for that or not.

FRIDAY...

--- Sleep or sleepy most of the afternoon before work. Work itself is fine. A very rainy day all day.

SATURDAY...

--- Lazy day at home. Some movies and some UFC. A long baseball game. I've never sat for an eighteen inning game before.

SUNDAY...

--- Sleep a lot last night. Got about eight hours. The most sleep I've had in a while.

--- Hour walk and stop for a chat with neighbour Chris. Looks like we all have grubs in the lawns. Nice.

MONDAY...

--- Chat a bit with Harley before going for a walk. Just before going to ball tonight, it starts to rain. And this doesn't stop for the rest of the night. We get the game in though. Keeping the undefeated streak going but losing the win streak. It's a 12-12 tie. We actually get three in the seventh to tie it up. Earlier I got my first homer of the season and play six different positions through the game (2nd, SS, 3rd, LF, CF, pitch).

--- finally got the fence done. They don't finish everything until the night though. I come home from ball to find everything done. Just some sawdust left in the yard.

--- Also set up an account with Nutri Lawn. Time to get serious about the lawn... I suppose.