Now that Sumemrslam is over (and was pretty darn awesome), it’s time to start looking towards the Biggest Event in my dorky year, Wrestlemania. As per usual on this blog, I like to make some educated guesses as to what the card will look like come March. Now this one promises to be extra intriguing, as we are going to be in Atlanta, and there is talk of it being WCW Themed, which could mean just about anything. Also, add in the fact that at least two season of NXT call-ups have the potential to make their Mania Debuts here.
No, I don’t mean the place surrounding every city, I mean the new, totally awesome album released two weeks ago by Arcade Fire. This album seems to have been met with mixed review, but I for one, have nothing but great things to say about this piece of work. I defended their last album three years ago, and (not-surprisingly) I’m happy to do it again!
This just doesn’t end, does it? It looks like all of the drama surrounding Ilya Kovalchuck’s massive $102 million contract is back for another season, making this one of the more tumultuous off-seasons ever.
In case you haven’t heard, heard an independent arbitrator has ruled in the NHL’s favour and has voided Kovalchuck’s insane contract for cap circumvention. As a I said a few weeks ago, it’s about time that the NHL stepped in on these contracts. I can’t say that I’m particularly surprised or stunned by the news, but what shocks me is the fact that the league has said that they will be looking into other, already registered contracts, namely those of Roberto Luongo, Marc Savard, Marian Hossa, and Chris Pronger. This my friends, has the potential to get ugly, very, very, ugly.
Just to let anyone out there who may be worried know, I’m alive and well on this side of the earth. It’s been a busy few days since my last post, but ultimately very rewarding and has me excited for the coming year(s).
It all started shortly after my last post, when I was at the Toronto Airport and I hear the ominous words come over the loudspeaker “Attention everyone, American Airlines Flight 4112 to Chicago has been canceled”. Needless to say, I wasn’t too thrilled about that.
I ran to the counter to see what they could do for me. I NEEDED to make that connection in order to catch the flight to Seoul and then to Guangzhou.
In a few hours I hop on yet another plane. It never seems to end with me, does it? I’ll be on a 36 or so hour journey to my next new home in Guangzhou.
Yet again, I didn’t do all that I wanted to this summer, and yet again I missed seeing a lot of very important people to me. If you’re one of them, then I’m sorry, really I am. I missed seeing most of my friends and many of my family members this time. As usual I crammed too much stuff into not enough time and things kept popping up left, right, and centre.
But I am very excited to head to a new school and start a new life in a new place. Guangzhou is by all accounts a very happening city that I think will suit me well. In the two times that I have been there it seems like an exciting place full of energy and enthusiasm. If that isn’t enough, Hong Kong, the coolest city on the planet, is a short train ride away.
As for what I’ll be doing: I will continue to teach High School Math at an International School. In addition though, I will be taking on a new class for me, Theory of Knowledge. This is the course that is designed to bring all of the subjects together a bit, and runs like a Philosophy class. I am pretty exciting for that. Also, I do plan on setting up a class blog for that, so I’ll be sure to post some links to that around here somewhere.
As always, should any of you happen to be in the area, please drop me a line (preferably not on Facebook as it tends to be blocked). I’d love to meet up and/or hang out.
So I was going to write a post about my New Year’s Resolutions for the upcoming school year. I looked back at ones that I made last year at around this time and I was shocked, and well I probably shouldn’t have been.
Increased Focus on Teaching, Cook More, Weigh Less, Learn More Chinese, Write More. My plan for today was to include four of those here today, thinking it was new and fresh. I would like to think that I succeeded nicely at the first one as I was able to put more focus on my career this year, and I’m proud of that.
It looks like everyone spoke to soon about Ilya Kovalchuk’s mammoth contract with the New Jersey Devils. The NHL has rejected his 17 year, $102 million contract because of cap circumvention. All I can say here is, what took them so long?
Precedent was set for this kind of front-loaded, stupidly long term contracts last year with Chris Pronger, Marian Hossa and Roberto Luongo’s long term contracts. In all three cases the contracts start out huge but taper off very rapidly, and takes them all past their obvious playing days.
While this may not seem like a big deal, it is something that really shouldn’t be allowed. In all cases the Devils, Flyers, Blackhawks, and Canucks all are creatively getting around the cap. They are signing these player for longer than they will play, knowing full well that they will retire before the contract runs out. Once the players retire, they still get paid but their salary does not count against the cap.
Every so often something comes along and changes the face of what we know. A few years ago we had the OK Dance Video, before that “All Your Base”, and now we have something so amazing that it simply escapes words. I love people that don’t have lives…
Say we have two well educated, intelligent people, both of who did very well in school, but each had one subject that they struggled with and just plain didn’t get. Now, imagine them each saying the following things:
Person A: I really can’t read much. I mean, I was good at it in elementary school, but when the books stopped having pictures I couldn’t do it anymore. And really, what’s the point? All the best books are movies now anyway.
Person B: I really can’t do math. I mean, I was good at it in elementary school, but when letter started showing up I got to confused. And really, what’s the point? I have an accountant to do it all for me now anyway.
Well it’s been a while since I have done this. With Money in the Bank all over and Summerslam just around the corner. It is as good of a time as any to make some guesses for the really big show that will be coming our way in March. I have a feeling it will be a good one. And it may just look like this…
