Archive for the ‘PayPerPost’ Category

Living in the land of hockey.

January 29, 2007

I’m Canadian. I am supposed to know an awful lot about hockey. The reality is, though, that I know the bare minimum. I know the basics about the rules, enough to get irritated when people are playing badly and to know when a game is exciting. I barely watch hockey, though. Olympic hockey? Oh yeah, I’m all about that, but it only happens every 4 years. I do also have a sort of irrational attachment to the Maple Leafs. They are the Toronto team, but, you know…. The attachment is irrational because I hardly ever watch them, I’ve never been to a game, and I don’t have enough interest in the team to really pay attention to who is playing for them unless we’re doing well in the playoffs or something. Which brings me to the second reason why my attachment to them is irrational: They mostly suck. But still, I have a fond place in my heart for them. I occasionally wear a Maple Leafs shirt and my girl does too. I like knowing when they’re doing well and feeling a little sad when they’re not. I don’t often browse hockey websites like this NHL Forum but it’s not a bad way to keep up with the games and the buzz around players and teams and such. It takes less time than actually watching a whole game to go to a website and look around at what’s happening. The boards over there are actually sort of hilarious as well as being informative. There’s a whole thread about everything that’s Bryan McCabe’s fault – one of the Leafs players…. The list includes girls who wouldn’t put out, snow, vegetables, and war in Iraq. Also hilarious? The guys who whine about the thread being pointless and that McCabe gets too much grief.

NHL Maple Leafs puck

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I play the penny slots…

January 14, 2007

I went to a casino for the very, very first time over the holidays this year. My mother-in-law was going and when it got out that I’d never been to one, I was informed that I’d be joining the expedition. It was a weird, weird experience. Sort of fun and depressing at the same time. I’m not sure it’s for me, but I can see how people might have a really great time with the whole casino thing.

Biloxi is a big gaming location on the Gulf Coast. My girl has spent a bit of time in Biloxi so I’ve always been a bit curious about it. It would be interesting to see where she misspent some of her youth. It is recovering nicely from the damage that was done to the area during Hurricane Katrina and the Biloxi Casinos are back up and running. Some of them seem like really nice places to stay, apart from the gambling. The website I linked has some reviews of the casinos. The most amusing parts are the reviews people have of how “loose” the slots are in various places and so on. Serious gamblers are interesting. I am the opposite of a serious gambler but if we’re down South again one year it might be fun to stay in Biloxi for a bit so I can play more penny slots.

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The whole online dating thing…

January 12, 2007

I never did understand people who believe that dating online is easier than the IRL thing. You spend just as much time and energy on it, although you might do it in different ways: Rather than sitting in a bar accepting or rejecting people, you do it in front of your screen. I had a long distance relationship for a long, long time with I.N. and a lot of it happened online, and I think it can be good and bad. I don’t know anybody who has successfully had a long term relationship after meeting on a dating website. I do know people in long term relationships who met online, although they weren’t on a dating website at the time. (I think that’s the best way to meet somebody, anyway, through shared interests, whether it’s online or IRL.) I’ve idly surfed through a few dating websites and I think most of them have their ups and downs. This dating service review website gives you the chance to check a few of the options out and read about some other people’s experiences and impressions of a few of these sites. It’s a cool idea. I think as more people post reviews the site will become more useful, but it’s already a handy way to get a feel for the kind of people who enjoy a site… Are the comments related to a particular service mostly about how it’s a nice change from the superficial sites or are the comments about all the hot people who want to hook up? Other features that I hope they’ll add later on: A way to rate the costs. From what I hear, dating online can cost a bunch between all the fees and tokens and nonsense you have to buy to send message, see pictures, reply to messages, etc. Something else that would be nice is an indication of who can use a site. Is it heterosexual dating only? A lot of mainstream dating sites don’t have any options for the gay girls and boys out there. Stuff like that might show up as the site grows. This website is a really nice start for somebody wanting to get an idea of where to begin, if online dating is something you’d like to try. Once you’ve tried a couple of sites, go back and post your own reviews to let everybody else know too.

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Coupons galore

January 11, 2007

I love coupons. My family knows this about me, I’m always cutting them out. A nice way to spend a few minutes on a Saturday is to look through flyers for deals and coupons with I.N.. The only thing about coupons is that you can get sucked into buying stuff you didn’t really need just because of the coupons. The trick is to use them only for things you really would have bought anyway. This website has a very nice selection of online coupons for stuff I might actually use. Their BestBuy coupons has a 20% off memory cards and tripods coupon, nice since our videocamera needs some. And since Valentine’s Day is coming up, the FTD coupons are handy. The site’s design is sort of crappy, but there are some real deals on there, for bigger, more well-known online retailers as well as smaller ones I’ve never heard of. Check it out.

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