Marley ... that darn dog!

How cute is that dog? The cutest ever... that's the answer to that question. Which is why I cried like a little girl when I watched Marley and Me the other night with the Ms's. Honestly ... I don't want to ruin the ending ... but the dog dies. That cute little son of a gun does not make it. His cute little snout, his crazy dog demeanor, his out of this world personality ... gone. You would cry too if you watched it ... its super sad.

Now with that said, its probably one of the better movies of the year ... the show has a ton of hilarious scenes in it ... like when they're taking him to get snipped ... the dog jumps out the window, Owen Wilson catches his back end before he gets away, and while Jennifer Aniston continues to drive, Marley is running with his two feet on the pavement while Owen Wilson holds his bum ... ha ha ... super funny.

I just have to warn you though .. the ending is a tough one to take ... I cried ... I cried a lot ... and I'm a man, like a manly man. Like I'm pretty much the manliest man you could find ... I love watching football and eating nachos, I enjoy making fun of crappy pop music, and I am always burping and farting and finding new areas to scratch. Just the other day in fact, I got hit in the face with a puck while playing hockey at Rotary park and I didn't even bleed ... that's how much of a man I am. But .. I still balled like a baby at the end of Marley and Me. Be careful is all I'm saying.

On a side not ...while crying at the end of the movie ... I could understand why Owen Wilson tried to commit suicide in real life at the end of shooting that movie ... I mean ... the dog dies .... it's very depressing.

I also found out a weird thing about human beings. Do you ever see people crying like that when people are killed? No, no you don't. I don't remember anyone crying after 300 .. or Lord of the Rings, or Pulp Fiction ... but I think everyone in the Cinema Twin cried after Marley died. In fact ... two days after watching Marley and Me, I decided to check out a movie called Shoot em Up ... I bet there were 350 people killed in that movie, and I didn't even think about crying once! Show me a dog that dies of old age though ... and the flood gates open.

The Human Race is weird ...

Copyright Infringement

The anticipation for this post, I'm sure, is monumental. "Gee Whiz! Copyright Infringement!! That sounds so educational!! I can't wait to read it!! Get over here kids .. Chance is about to educate us on Copyright Infringement!!!!" .... I bet that's what went down when you read the title of this blog.

January has been an all time low in my blogging life. I've compiled two posts since the 1st of the month ... this will be number three. Technically I haven't even done that many!! Let me explain ...

Jon was reading my last post and brought something to my attention .... take a look at what he had on his blog about the Radio Industry ...

It isn't hard work by any means... I've done hard work. Radio isn't hard. Don't let anyone ever convince you it is. Stressful yes, and lots of hours at times, but hard? No.

I always wonder why people leave this business because they think the grass is greener. Nine times out of ten they're back on the station's doorstep looking to get their old gig back.

The pay could be better. But, it is what you make it.

I digress....

That was from Jons Blog, jonkeen.blogspot.com, posted Jan 19th ... now here's an excerpt from this blog Jan 21st ...

People who are in radio tend to be bitter about how much they get paid. Here's what I have to say to them ... you have the best job in the world. You don't have to do manual labour, you have an opportunity everyday to make someone laugh or smile, and yes, the pay may not be that unbelievable ... but the perks of the job (all inclusive trip to Jamaica) seem to out weigh all the other crap.

I digress ...

Apparently Jon is pursuing legal action and will be talking to his lawyers on grounds of Copyright Infringement. I will fight this to the death!

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Minus 42. That's what Swift Current woke up to this morning ... stupid wind chill. But here at the radio we like to look at the upside of things ... some schools were closed, some buses got canceled, and as Bryan said this morning when he phoned in to win some Cold FX ... "we got shut down this morning, its a beer windchill!!! (rather than beer clouds ... following along??)

Only in Canada will you see a temp of minus 42 Monday ... and by Friday ... have plus 3 for a high! It's a great country isn't it? Keeps life interesting if anything!

What the %#@!

Well ... its been over two weeks since I've blogged. Not that I come at ya with riveting material when I do actually write on this thing, but over the last week I had some stuff I could've actually wrote about and didn't ...so here it is in a nutshell.

Lets start with the Inauguration ... How good is Barack Obama at creating hope? Unreal good is the answer to that question! His speech yesterday was so amazing my body forgot how to run while I was listening, which in turn made me drool on my shirt ... and I may or may not have peed in my pants a little too.

I really couldn't tell you how well Barack will do in the wake of everything that is going on, mainly because I don't know anything about American politics ... or politics in general. But I do know that when watching the Inauguration yesterday, I felt extremely happy to see George W. Bush get booted from the White House. In eight years he's started two wars that drained the US of a ton of money, saw thousands of people die in Terrorist attacks, and put his country in the worst economic situation they've ever been in. He will for sure go down as being the worst President in the history of the USA. Not to mention the skits that were created while he was in office.... what will SNL, Jay Leno, David Letterman, The Colbert Report, or Conan O'Brien do!!!???

After yesterdays festivities ended I felt as though the only way to go was up ... I'm not sure if that's because Barack is now the first Black President in the US or if it's because the economy is as low as it can go ... either way ... the future is looking up.

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The Eagle Incredible Journey ended on Friday and we flew back to Canada from a week in Jamaica at Sandals Grande Ochos Rios Beach and Villa Resort. All the gourmet food you could eat, all the booze you could drink, and more beach than you can handle.

People who are in radio tend to be bitter about how much we get paid. Here's what I have to say to them ... you have the best job in the world. You don't have to do manual labour, you have an opportunity everyday to make someone laugh or smile, and yes, the pay may not be that unbelievable ... but the perks of the job (all inclusive trip to Jamaica) seem to out weigh all the other crap.

I digress ... Brody and Jess the winners who came with us are great people. They're young, love to party, and are just plain friendly! We couldn't have asked for better winners. But I do need to clear something up ...They've been dating for over a year ... not 3 months. There ...the rumour is over with, no more bugging from the Breakfast Boys ...

Here's the weird twist in the story ... while we were in Jamaica we qualified people all week long for another shot at winning the same all inclusive trip. We got four people down and let Brody pick the winner out of a hat. Well the guy he picked ended up being his boss from River Side Electric ... talk about a raise in his future! So Rick Friesen will now have the same vacation to Sandals Grande as his employee Brody did! CONGRATS!!

The connections are crazy when you live in a small town. Here's some more:

• Rick Friesens wife ended up being my girlfriends prof at the Great Plains College!!

• One of the other final four worked with Brody at Intersport back in the day ... I guess Brody dated here daughter for a while!!

• Brody ended up working with a couple of my buddies.

• Tanya's (the Mrs) cousin works at the Comp where Brody's mom works and they both checked the Breakfast Boys Facebook Group everyday for new pictures!!

Its always amazing how everyone in Swift is connected in some way... its what I really love about our city!

I've also heard quite a few people decided to book trips to Sandals because of the broadcast last week .. that's always fun to hear... and when I say this I'm not just trying to sell you on our resort, I'm being serious .... its the best resort you could ever stay in!! Its luxurious, its a party, its fun, it's romantic and the Jamaican people are just genuinely nice folk!! Check it out with your travel agent ... you'll be surprised how affordable it is.

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I was going to write about something else here but I got distracted and forgot ... until next time!

2009!

It's the first blog post of 2009!! At the risk of sounding cliche ... Where did 2008 go!!!?? Time flies when you're having fun I guess. Somethings never change. How bout that weather though? Sure gonna be a long winter if this keeps up.

In all honesty ... I'm excited to see what lies ahead in 2009. From my perspective 2008 was a total bust! We didn't win the Grey Cup, a bunch of people died that were very close to me, and we didn't win the Grey Cup.

When the clock chimed 12 o'clock New Years Eve ... I didn't hear it because I was sleeping. But the next day, I asked the Ms's what her New Years resolution was. She didn't have one. But I sure did ... when I told her it was to have a Mathew McConaughey body ... she laughed at me ... out loud ... for like 15 minutes. So now my New Years Resolution is to read more books, sorry J Dub, it sounded like a good New Years resolution.

So I look forward to the New Year ... we'll be kicking it off the right way by going to Jamaica for a week on the Eagle Incredible Journey, two of my best friends will be getting married in the summer, and I'm sure some other good stuff will happen.

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Speaking of the Eagle Incredible Journey .. You could win an all inclusive trip to the resort and not have to hang out with stupid radio folk!! When we're in Jamaica next week .. listen for the Jamaican Jet only in the mornings to win an all inclusive week in Jamaica @ Sandals: Grand Ochos Rios Beach and Villa Resort!!

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I'm not so angry about spending a ton of money on clothes because of Christmas gift cards .. the new shirt/pants combo already got a couple compliments this morning ... and my ego is now HUGE!! So big in fact ... I don't think Eagle Control is large enough for Jon and I to hang out in.

I've Been Had!

I've always thought I was smart with money. I hang up on guys who want to up my credit card limit, I cover my keypad while typing my password, and I tend to budget quite well. I wouldn't call it cheap ... but maybe thrifty. Twenty five years I've gone without doing anything really stupid with money ... and that all came crashing down yesterday. The culprit ... gift cards.

Over Christmas I got a couple gift cards to various places in town. I now understand why stores love gift cards ... you always end up spending more than you have on the card!!! I spent an extra 170 dollars in one store yesterday and barely even had a bag full of clothes ... do you know how many items of clothes you can get at Salvation Army for 170 dollars!!??? A LOT. That's the answer to that question.

Anyway, my woman said I looked good so I justified spending that much. (She came in under her gift cards!! An art I obviously have yet to master.)

We then went to another pricey place in town to use more of our gift cards ... again, I was tricked into spending more money ... tack on another 68 dollars above the GC's I got for Christmas!! It's like a sickness ... once the flood gates open up, there's no stopping the plastic!! I found myself wanting to go buy more things at places I didn't even have GC's for!! It was all my girlfriend could do to control me!!

The good news is I felt sick to my stomach about spending that much money .. so the shopping spree ended there. By now you can tell the thrifty comment I made earlier, is really just a cover up for me being a cheap skate. I can't help it ... its years of backpacking and being a student that have formed me this way!

After the dust settled .. I had two shirts .... a pair of jeans ... two dress shirts ... a pair of dress pants ... and a belt. Not bad for 250 bucks. Saying that makes me want to yack. I really am cheap.

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I'm 25. My birthday was on boxing day. I don't feel any different. I don't feel older. I don't have aches and pains. I haven't got any white hairs. But I do shake my fist at young kids who walk by my house ... but I've been doing that since the age of 21. Thanks to everyone who gave me a shout out on facebook, it felt nice.

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The Living Sky Casino opened yesterday. I think I'm going to let that sink in for a couple weeks before a blog is in order ... stay tuned.

Radio

I just got back from a short little vacation in Alberta. The Ms. and I drove out to Calgary and then down to Lethbridge for a couple days to visit family and friends. What a time to go on vacation ... we didn't fill up the car for more than 69.9 the whole trip and after driving close to 1500 kilometres ... we spent maybe 70 dollars on gas!!!

Anywho, I digress ... I realized something on our little expedition. You can now drive across the prairies listening only to rock!! Now that Medicine Hat has stepped up their game with Rock 105, you can drive from Winnipeg (power 97) to Regina (The Wolf) to Swift Current (The Eagle) to Med Hat (rock 105) to Calgary (Cjay ... or x92) !!! Its a very cool thing! I think it just shows how far radio has come. Three years ago a guy would lose the Wolf around Chaplin and have to put up with the crap the Eagle used to play ... then when that faded out .. My 96 would be the only FM station you could get ... and don't even get me started on that kind of music. Very cool to hear rock radio right across the board. No offence to what the Eagle used to be or what My 96 is .. its just not my kind of music.

I did notice something a little strange driving from Lethbridge to Med Hat though ... Rock 106 in Lethbridge (a Rodgers radio station) is playing the exact same music as Rock 105 in The Hat (also a Rodgers radio station). I'm not talking about rock n roll .. I'm talking about the exact same song at the exact same time of day. What I'm trying to say is both those Rodgers stations are using the same play list ... just using different DJ's and commercials. I was flipping back and forth as I got close to the Hat and sure enough ... exact same songs ... minutes apart from each other. I thought that was kind of weird for a big company like Rodgers who have radio stations all over the country. I mean ... Lethbridge and the Hat are so close ... why would they do that? It got me thinking ... does every Rodgers rock station use the exact same play list?

Some of the highlights of the trip ... the Lethbridge water tower!! Have you ever heard of it? Its the old town water tower that is now converted into a Restaurant/bar ... very cool!! .. but expensive! The Strathmore Station is also neat ... an old train station converted into a top notch restaurant! You can tell a guy is getting old when all he can talk about after a vacation is the food he ate.

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Check out the new poll ... its to get you in the Christmas spirit.

F this guy

I wanted to punch this piece of garbage right in the face when I read this BS.

"Velvet Revolver are seeking to recruit Irishman Phil Conalane from Million Dollar Reload.
Though a surprising choice, Phil is experienced but relatively unknown on the international stage, which would fit Velvet Revolver’s bill of fresh blood as they try to rebuild their career following the disappointing sales of their last album, Libertad, and the GN’R return that has left them reeling. Phil is also well known as a good songwriter, something that scuppered Velvet Revolver’s plans when they previously tried to bring in the less-than-prolific Josh Todd of Buckcherry. "

Here's the back story. Before VR formed ... Slash, Duff, and Matt Sorum were jamming with Josh Todd and Keith Nelson of Buckcherry ( Buckcherry was on hiatus at that time). Basically they wrote some songs and were all thinking it was going to be something very cool. Then out of nowhere Slash said he didn't want to work with them .. they hired Dave Kushner and Scott Weiland and never looked back. Unfortunately the rumour is they used a few of the songs they did with the boys from Buckcherry which is brutal. Atleast Keith Nelson got a writing credit for Dirty little thing.

The good news is Buckcherry got back together and ended up making their most successful album ever! 15 was unbelievable !! "Crazy Bitch" catapulted them into platinum status selling over a million ring tones and becoming their first top 100 hit settling down at #59. That was followed by 4 other singles, one of which became their first top 10 hit. "Sorry" landed at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The album is 2x platinum now ... which means 2 million albums sold ...

Don't even get me started on their debut album which went Gold and included "Lit Up".

Bottom line ... whoever wrote that story needs to watch their mouth. Get your facts straight. No one likes to hear your personal opinion. Josh Todd may not be a lyricist god .... but he seems to do all right .... plus he's still in a band ... that's more than anyone can say about Velvet Revolver ...