Blackout lessons for all

When the lights went out across most of Ontario back in 2003 I was at work putting out our regular Friday newspapers. Obviously the blackout changed what I was going to put on my front page and thanks to a back-up generator the papers went to press, a little late but they got out.

Fast-forward to Dec. 22, 2013 the lights went out a second time and where was I? At work again! You see a trend happening here. Obviously I like to work in the dark!

Ice hangs from a tree out front of my home.

The recent blackout though was far more dangerous for two reasons -- first, it was the dead of winter and when the power goes out so does your furnace. Second, the ice storm that caused the whole mess left felled trees and broken tree limbs hanging precariously over streets, hydro lines, driveways etc. It truly wasn't safe inside or out.

As I write this blog post the power is still out in many parts of Toronto, Peel Region and even here in Durham Region. Tonight there is high winds expected and you can be certain more trees and tree branches will come toppling down. I just pray the birch tree in my front yard stays up. It's bending right now in a completely unnatural way.

Unlike last week though I am slightly better prepared for any more power outages. This time I have propane, a new flashlight, a new set of lighters and food in the freezer. Cash also becomes king in the event of a blackout so for a change I am carrying bills in my wallet. It feels a bit nostalgic but I think I'll get used to it because in the event of a power outage debit and credit cards don't work.

Last week Heather went to our local No Frills to stock up for Christmas and while the power had just  come back on a few hours earlier the debit machines were offline. You wouldn't believe the number of people screaming at the poor manager.

Losing your power at any time of the year sucks but I'd take a summer outage anytime over a winter one.

Stay safe out there people.

Getting flashed at night not always a good thing

I left my iPhone on my nightstand the other night. It's a bad habit of mine but since I got rid of the home phone I still want people to be able to reach me in case of an emergency and I'm not convinced leaving it in the kitchen would catch my attention like the home phone used to.

The beauty of the old home phone was was its simplicity. If somebody called you it rang. If you didn't answer, the caller would be connected to your voicemail. Simple.

The iPhone will also ring. But have you noticed what else it will do when somebody calls your number? Mine flashes and vibrates. I have it set to vibrate but there's nothing I can do about the flashing, it just does that on its own.

I can appreciate these noises, flashes and vibrations are meant to catch your attention. If the phone's in a pocket or nearby the vibration is perfect when the ringer is off. During the course of the day the flash will also tune you in to your phone's status when you're on the go.

However, at 3 o'clock in the morning I've discovered the flashes in particular can be really distracting because they not only occur when somebody's calling you but also when one of your friends updates their Facebook status or follows you on Twitter.

I say the flashes can be really distracting not because they bother me per-se but rather they wake up  my wife. While I have no difficulty falling back to sleep Heather cannot shut down again. If she's up, she's up for the day and if that happens during the wee hours of the morning that will mean I won't see a lot of her bright, cheerful smile as often as I'd like.

The other night the phone flashed lighting up the whole bedroom for a split second.  I froze just expecting Heather's frenzied reaction. She must have been facing the other way or had the pillow over her head because she didn't stir. I breathed a sigh of relief and said a little prayer of thanks as I reached over to check who could have possibly updated their status at that hour of the morning. It wasn't any of my Facebook friends, rather a new follower on Twitter. The time on my phone read 2:25 a.m.

Two questions popped into my sleepy mind at that point. First, who would be Tweeting at that hour and second, what would make that person want to follow me? Then I noticed the guy was following 23K people. Obviously I was one of the few people in this world who he wasn't following until precisely 2:25 a.m. that very day!

For many social media savvy people the more Twitter followers the better. I appreciate anyone who wants to follow what few Tweets I send out into the world. But when a new follower poses a threat to my wife's sleep, that's where I have to draw the line.

Without thinking I put the phone in my nightstand drawer. As I laid there staring at the ceiling I wondered why I hadn't thought of that in the first place? It could flash all it wanted in there and nobody would lose a wink of sleep. And if some random person felt like following me on Twitter at some ungodly hour of the morning he could follow away and nobody would know until the sun rose.

A simple telecommunications solution to my rather dull but complicated life!

Taking fair play and respect out of the game

(Warning: This blog post uses explicit language. Reader discretion is advised.)

I've heard of crazy hockey parents. Those are the people who lose control of any rational thoughts while in a hockey arena watching a game and they scream obscenities at the referees. It changes nothing but makes everyone around them uncomfortable.

My guess is these crazy hockey parents also frequent lacrosse, soccer and baseball games in the summer. I hadn't had the pleasure of meeting any of these parents until Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. I hope I never meet them again. Let me explain...

Tuesday night I was coaching the Pee Wee Pirates down at Lakeview Park. We were playing the Giants and it was a close game. The Pirates held a narrow lead heading into the fifth inning when the Giants coach got into a dust-up with the umpire about a game ball. I didn't hear what was said from my dugout but it must have been nasty because the coach got ejected. Off he goes to the parking lot and his assistant steps in.

Two pitches later the assistant starts encouraging his players to scream at our pitcher while he's in his windup. The base umpire gives him a warning it's against the rules and he's to control his team. He argues his players are only cheering. The next pitch his players continue what their coach was encouraging them to do and the umpire stops the game. The two go nose-to-nose and before you know it the assistant coach gets ejected from the game. At this point the fans are getting lippy so the plate umpire asks the one remaining Giants coach and myself to get control of our fans or else the game will be called.

I saw three guys sitting on our side of the field and they were yelling a lot of obscenities at the umpire so I went up to them and asked them to cut it out or else the umpire would call the game.

The guy with the biggest mouth turns to me and says, "Why don't you shut up you four-eyed little faggot before I come over there and beat the shit out of you." He stands up and with him is a giant rottweiler dog. I shrugged my shoulders, turned around and walked back to the dugout. Obviously this meat head was not one of our fans.

As I'm standing there waiting for the game to re-start this guy walks up behind me on the other side of the fence and starts making baby sounds trying to get under my skin. A parent of one of our kids says, "Buddy just go sit down."

"You going to fucking make me. I'll lay you out too," meat head says.

He stood there waiting to be challenged but we didn't engage him so he and his dog went back to their place in the stands. I fully expected him to wait for me after the game but he sauntered off with his kids and only glared at me as I walked back to my car.

That was my first experience with a nut-job. The next night I was at my daughter's soccer game with my parents watching Connaught play Glen Stewart. No referee showed up so a parent familiar with the rules of the game volunteered to officiate.

Everything was going fine until about the three-quarter mark of the game when two players got into an altercation. The referee told both girls to head to the sidelines to cool off. They weren't being ejected from the game, they were just being given time to compose themselves.

This big lug of a father on my right starts dropping f-bombs at the poor parent/referee telling him to pull his "head out of his ass" because it was the Glen Stewart player who was in the wrong. A Glen Stewart father to my left yells at the guy to shut his mouth and let the kids play. The big lug stands up and says, "You want to fucking go?" A woman yells at him to sit down and to that he replies, "I'll take you on too lady."

I hadn't heard anybody challenge somebody else to a fight since I was a teenager. That's what happens with teenagers because they're young and stupid and figure disputes can be settled by beating one another up. It's not how the real world works but don't try telling those nut-job sports fans I met. Apparently they felt beating the snot out of me or another parent would solve the disputes on the field. Unbelievable.

Clowns like those two should be banned from viewing any kids sporting events. I don't care if their kids are on the teams, they shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the playing fields. Threatening physical violence and bullying coaches teaches EVERYONE the exact opposite of what is supposed to be encouraged on house league sporting fields -- respect and sportsmanship.

What happened this week was a poor display by a few parents that left a bad impression with a lot of kids. And that's wrong.