One Week to the Big Game

It is only one week away. Seven days. Where will you be?

The annual ritual that is Super Bowl Sunday lands seven days from now, February 5^th. It is the day that grown men will collide and crash in to each other with the purpose being to get an oval shaped pigskin ball across a line to score points. The team with the most points wins the Lombardi Trophy, which bears no resemblance to a bowl.

But that is really just the sideshow…

Super Bowl Sunday is all about entertainment. Many people tune in just for the halftime show, this year’s features Madonna. Past years have featured artists such as the Rolling Stones, Prince, Paul McCartney, Tom Petty, Bruce Spingsteen, the Black Eyed Peas and who could for get Janet Jackson.

Then there are the commercials, everyone wants to see the commercials. Super Bowl advertising is where creative license is let loose and companies pay huge amounts for 30 seconds of airtime. In my opinion last year’s big winner was the VW spot with a young Darth Vader, Brand Bowl gave the nod to the Chrysler ad Imported from Detroit featuring Eminem. Big brands compete just as hard for attention with these commercials as the players on the field do for the Super Bowl.

The brands however get immediate reaction to their spot via social media, positive or negative, and know if they have a winner. The players have to play 60 minutes to determine their outcome.

This year’s game, if anyone is interested, is being played in Indianapolis by the New England Patriots and the New York Giants. It is a rematch of the 2008 championship when the Giants stunned New England and handed them their only lose of the year. My guess is that will serve as motivation for the New England squad this year.

Are there any Colts fans out there looking forward to seeing the Patriots logo painted on the Colts home field as much as I am?

A Different Year Means A Different City…

I don’t mean to alarm anyone with the title of this post, it is all about the past and has very little to do with the future. Not that I need to have a safe harbor statement here however for any of you reading this be assured that the following is in no way indicative of future events and any decisions you make should not be made on the basis of any forward looking statements…

Previous posts of mine have alluded to the fact that I have lived in a few different cities over the past few years and that my mobility is a facet of my life that I consider a bit unique. Couple this with the fact that yet another year is winding down to a close it has started me thinking about what 2012 will bring and reflecting on what 2011 has meant to me.

When I looked back at 2011 it was clear that it was not only interesting but was also a year of much learning and growth. With this gratitude I thought about years further back and a pattern started to emerge, I have been in a different city for New Years each of the past four years. Not just “in” different cities but actually “living in” different cities!

In 2008 I was living in Lower Onslow Nova Scotia, which is where I had called home for the previous 11 years. It might not be a good idea to look it up on a map since it is a small community located less than 10km outside of Truro (which can be found on most maps).

The following year saw me ring in the New Year in our nation’s capital, Ottawa Ontario. My journey to Ottawa happened with a promotion in the summer prior and I really thought I was going to be there for the long haul. Given the title of this post provides a hint that this was not to be, as 2009 was the only New Year that I rang in there.

Late 2009 was when I took a huge leap of faith and relocated to Halifax Nova Scotia. I changed jobs, companies, industries and cities just in time to celebrate the new year at the Grand Parade in Halifax. It was definitely a bit of a homecoming, my alma mater (Dalhousie University) is in Halifax and I still had many friends there. Once again I believed I was going to be there for a while, I had a great apartment in the heart of downtown. I lived there for only 5 months.

As this year ends and the next year begins I will be in Saint John New Brunswick. It is my fourth city in four years. My intention is the same as in the past three years so I will be here again next year at this time. Saint John is a port city and has very a busy harbor, I haven’t heard of any issues so I assume it is also a safe harbor :)

An Early Winter Wonderland

This week we had our first real snowfall of the season…not winter but autumn.

OK, I can hear you all now. I live in Canada, we get snow year round right? Not quite.

I know that as a Canadian citizen I am supposed to embrace and enjoy winter, and for the most part I do. In Eastern Canada where I choose to live, we have four distinct seasons, each offering it’s unique contribution to our cumulative climate and making this a fairly mild (weather wise anyway) region in which to live. It is this diversity of the seasons I like, not just winter or summer. In fact the milder the winter the better as far as I am concerned.

The temperatures here are rarely too high or too low to bear for prolonged periods, the region is not susceptible to extreme storms like tornadoes or hurricanes and usually the worst of our weather is one major snowstorm in January or February.

I like my seasons to be what they are, not an imitation of one of the other seasons. So when there is still almost a month of autumn remaining, to have old man winter blow in with 20cm (8 inches) of white decorative precipitation makes me a little leery of what is to come in the next few months. The fact that it has mostly melted away already offers me a little solace, but not much.

Was I inconvenienced in anyway but the snow? Not really. I had no need to drive anywhere during the week, I got to work on time and I did not lose my power. All in all for me the week was like any other week since April. It is the principle of it all.

Maybe I should lighten up. If the situation were reversed would I care? Nope, there is not a chance of me caring.

If there was suddenly a day in late February where the temperature soared to 27C (80F) I am pretty sure I would shed my winter jacket and enjoy the sunshine.

So what am left to do?

I have put away my golf clubs for the long Canadian winter, I did not get to use them much this past summer which is still a bit of a sore spot for me. Winter is coming whether I want it to or not so I might as well join in the fun. I think this winter I should learn how to snowboard, I always thought I would be good at that.

Look for me in the chalet, I’ll probably be the guy with the cast on.