Had a croissant for breakfast (okay, it was a muffin but I've got a theme developing so work with me here.)

Schwartz's Smoked Meat sandwich for lunch.  Some people had suggested you can avoid the lines and go to any other smoked meat sandwich shop for a similar taste and experience but to me, that would be like going to Paris and stopping into a comic book store because you don't want to face the lines at The Louvre.  The line wasn't too bad (we purposely went in mid-afternoon thinking it might not be as busy at a non-meal time) and we even managed to get two seats at the counter in the otherwise packed deli.  And if you're going to eat at a deli, where else would you want to sit?



Poutine from Banquise for supper (I had the "Dan Dan" which is poutine with bacon, sausage and fried onions.  Out west, we think of regular poutine as unhealthy but these guys have invented 22 ways to make it more deadly.  Thankfully Shea's a cardiac nurse as I suspect I may need a defibrillator to wake up tomorrow.)

Last night, Shea and I ended up having a pitcher of beer at a gay bar down the street (our hostel is on the edge of the Gay Village and since we'd already gone the other direction during the daytime, we went into the village at night.)  I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't get hit on but Shea, sitting with me and being the only woman in the bar, probably had something to do with that. 

Tonight, we went to Rue Crescent which is a main bar/pub/club district and ended up at an Irish bar...which happened to be having some Singles Night event.  Again, I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't get hit on (although I do think a couple people wondered how Shea and I ended up in a booth together so quickly while everyone else was still prowling.)  

Tomorrow, Shea and I are probably going to end up at an S&M Swingers Club and walk around thinking "Oh, aren't these French people fashionable with their assless leather chaps and handcuff necklaces?"

Man, we're sheltered on the prairies...

Despite the ribbing I took from my much hipper, cooler acquaintances (who only listen to Franz Ferdinand and Sufjan Stevens), the Willie Nelson and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band concert was excellent last night.  What can I say?  Both are part of growing up in rural Saskatchewan and ironically, the opening act are probably more of a strong memory for me while Willie Nelson is an artist I've come to appreciate more as I've gotten older.

Very rare was the party during high school where the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Greatest Hits album wasn't played.  (I can hear Quinn snickering - he tells the tale of having a prairie based pen pal when he was younger who kept raving about the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - being from Vancouver, he was sociologically incapable of understanding why!) 

Now we're in Montreal at our hostel which will be home base for the next week.  Just met a group of students who are up from Waterloo and another guy who's from Calgary and that's one of the great things about staying in a hostel.  Shea and I are going to head out in a bit and just have a wander and enjoy the ambiance of the city on a Friday night.  There's a Habs playoff game on as I type and if Les Habitants win, it's going to be nuts. Au river...

You can play too!  If anybody reading this wants to be listed here with a look-a-like, just send me a mug shot of yourself that's at least 150 pixels high and some idea of where I might get a similar looking image of your celebrity look-a-like online.  Of if you trust me enough, just drop me a line to give me permission and I'll pick your look-a-like myself!

The Central Broadcasting Company decided that appeasing the fans across the border in Detroit was more important than showing the playoff games of Canada's own 2004 Stanley Cup finalist, Calgary Flames.  So every CBC station east of Calgary showed the Detroit-Edmonton playoff game and for those of us without digital cable (or any cable at all for that matter) have no choice as to what to watch.  

Well, we have one choice.  I walked down to Richmond Row shortly after the Calgary game was scheduled to start and finally found a place showing the Western CBC feed after going into about four other bars first.  Watched the second period there but the rap music eventually got to me and I went to Joe Kool's to see if it was any better.  They weren't showing the game (though they claimed they were - as did most of the bars I stopped in) so back to Ceeps and though I just miss the start of the 3rd period, it's gone from 3-2 Calgary to 5-2 Calgary.  Perfect.  Have a couple more pints, grab a slice of pizza and come home to watch the OT of the Edmonton-Detroit game. 

So yeah, all of that is boring and probably should be in my personal journal.  But back to the post title.  My hockey career.

- I joined Figure Skating at five years old (we didn't have the more manly Power Skating in my town at the time) and was quickly promoted to a higher level.  I missed my friends in the lower level and this didn't bode well for my future hockey prospects.  In fact, this is probably the pinnacle of my skating prowess.

- joined beginner hockey at 6 years old and was okay but not great.  (I still can't do left side crossovers or hard stops very well.)   Everyone else has a black or white helmet and I'm the only kid with a red helmet.  This makes me special (unfortunately, special in the Olympic sense as I eventually realise.)

- dad made a deal to pay me $1.00/goal and $0.50/assist.  Ignoring the inherent problem this created in terms of making me more of a puck hog than a team player (not that i was skilled enough at that age to differentiate between a pass and a shot anyhow), my assist total went through the roof as I was able to inflate this nebulous stat quite a bit.  Unlike goal scoring which is pretty obvious, assists were more a case of "I touched the puck that shift therefore I got an assist."  Conveniently, chocolate bars and chips cost $0.50 so my consumption of both was directly proportional to my "assist" totals.  I have followed a similar training regiment to this day...with similar results. 

- Along with two of my classmates, I didn't make the "A" team when we finally divided into two teams, even when I was part of the older group of kids (who basically automatically made the "A" team.)  The coach's son gave me the hard assessment that I "didn't have the killer instinct".  At the time, this troubled me but looking back, it kind of makes me proud.

- A couple years later, I quit hockey for the same reason.  We were in Bantam and the coach treated it like we were in the NHL playing the better players more and the less talented players less.  One of my fondest memories in one of my friends' moms verbally assaulting the coach for not playing her son an equal amount although at the time he (and I) were horrified by her outburst.

- got back to playing hockey when I got to University, hooking up with a rec team based in our residence that was (I kid you not) sponsored by a janitorial supply company.  This also symbolized the level of skill our team regularly exhibited. 

- I also play in the intramural rec league and have the all-time highlight of my hockey career when I score a hat trick in a game that helps get our team into the playoffs.   It's also a low-lite of my life as my teammates buy me non-stop drinks after the game and in a province where drinking and driving is basically a popular hobby, I drive home in probably the worst condition that I ever got behind the wheel in my life.  Only stupid blind luck keeps me from being in jail or the hospital. 

- that's pretty much the end of my hockey glory but as I tell Shea, "if we have a boy, I'll be in the stands yelling 'you better score or daddy doesn't love you!' just like a good Canadian father would." 

<cue sappy Tim Horton's commercial - "You never came to my games dad!"  "Yes, I did,  Number 7, Right wing."  <tears>

Er, Go Edmonton Go! 

A friend who went to my high school lives in London and told me before I came that I would not believe what people throw out here. 

"At first, I was a bit embarrassed to grab the perfectly good furniture and electronics and other stuff people would leave on the curb.  I got over that fast!"

I didn't see much evidence of it before now but since spring's sprung and semester's over, the streets are lined with people throwing out what appear to be perfectly good, if a bit worn, chairs, shelves, futon mattresses and more.  For instance, this is the dumpster behind our building and if I knew they hadn't been rained on, one of those chairs would probably be in my apartment right now.   Maybe that white kitchen stand too.



Unlike my friend, I have no such compunction about grabbing stuff.  I think this comes from growing up in a province that's not too far removed from the Depression and also, spending my formative years in rural communities that seem to be much more conscious of waste than our urban counterparts (I'm talking Calgary/Montreal/Toronto urban - not Regina/Saskatoon urban.) 

For example, my grandmother would make you feel guilty with a single glance if you didn't clean your plate. My parents have drawers full of scraps of plastic and metal and nuts and bolts and god knows what else "just in case we need them."  Now, I'm following in their footsteps myself in a variety of ways. 

When dad was here, we went to look at a bbq for sale.  It was a piece of junk but we saw another one on a side street one block away with a note "Working BBQ - Free!" taped to it.  It looked to be in better shape than the one that the guy wanted $30 for so we shoved it in the trunk of the car ("It's a rental!") and brought it home.  (It does work and I'm so happy that I'll be able to BBQ this summer!)



Yesterday, I saw a TV stand/cabinet thing by the dumpster behind our building and grabbed it too, crossing it off my list of things we want for our house and saving $50 or $100 that a new one would cost at a store or even secondhand.



Meanwhile, Ontario has major issues with their garbage yet people continue to throw out more trash here than anywhere I've seen.  Plus (and this was a major shock to me when I arrived), they don't even have a deposit system so that you get money back for returning bottles and cans.  People can still recycle but I would imagine that without the cash incentive, it happens a lot less. 

Some better ways to get rid of your unwanted stuff:
London Freecycle
UWO "Garage Sale" Listings
Any of the Various Businesses and Charities Listed On The London Green Directory (some offering pick-up)
 
I'm looking forward to the rest of the Spring.  Who knows what else I'll get! 

(Did I just admit to "Dumpster Diving" on a public forum?  Yikes!)

The parents have left, Shea's at work and I'm just relaxing a bit, enjoying having the apartment completely to myself for the first time in ages.

Took it easy on M&D's final day here - slept in a bit then drove around looking for a place to eat.  All were busy or closed or being renovated so we ended up going to the Grad Club which was nice (in that M&D get to see where I spend all my time here! )

Classmate of the Day: Mark MacEachern for letting me know that the cheapest tickets to a Blue Jays game are only $9.  I took advantage of this tip to have a good suggestion ready when we were all in Toronto yesterday but it was raining and our sightseeing plans were ruined.

I thought those cheap tickets would put up somewhere in the nosebleeds behind left field but we ended up in seats right behind home plate, albeit a bit high up.  But pretty awesome overall and a great game too - 8-1 Blue Jays.
 

I'm sitting in a hotel room in TO watching the Flames versus the Ducks in Game One of the Stanley Cup playoffs after another whirlwind trip - this time visiting relatives in Georgetown and Grand Valley north of Toronto yesterday and this morning with my parents.  The three of us came into Toronto Friday at noon and met up with Shea at our hotel since she couldn't come with us on Thursday (she finally got her nursing registration papers approved after a two month wait so had to work Wednesday and Thursday. Luckily she still had Friday off.) 

We wandered a few areas this afternoon - Yonge St, Queen St, Spadina, U of T, back to hotel.  Had an awesome supper at a Thai place next door then we took the subway to Union Station and went up the CN Tower.  We got there at dusk so didn't get as much daylight as we wanted but it was still cool to see the city lights come on as the sun went down.  Back to hotel for a swim then back to room to watch the hockey game (it's tied 1-1 with eight minutes left in the third period.  Might be another OT like the Detroit-Edmonton game earlier.) 

I've been party to two (what I call) zeitgeist moments in my life - when I lived in England in 1995 for four months during the height of the Cool Britannia/Britpop phenomenon and to a lesser extent, in 2004 when Shea and I were in Calgary during the Flames' improbable march to the Stanley Cup Finals that spring.  So many great memories from both of those times but here's a few random ones from the Flames one...

- I managed to get exactly one ticket to attend an actual playoff game even though I tried to get tickets to every game.  It was a good one to go to though - Game 3 in Round One which was the first Flames' home playoff game in seven years.  They lost but it was still incredibly exciting - not just the game and the introductions before the game but the whole day leading up to it.

- we had the Alberta Book Awards the same night as a playoff game so I ended up running the score into our MC on a regular basis so he could announce it to the crowd.  This was the game that Vancouver went up 4-0 by the second period and everyone thought it was over (I think I even stopped running for updates) then after the event, we went to the Hotel lounge to find that the Flames had tied it up 4-4 and they were in OT which lasted three  extra periods before Vancouver scored.  What a rollercoast ride!  One of Calgary's fanciest hotels, The Palliser, became a sports bar for the night and I got smashed on $7 pints sitting two tables from John McDermott who probably couldn't figure out why the people who did show up to his concert seemed so distracted that night.  Hilarious.

- before Game Six of the final series against Tampa Bay, where the Flames had the potential to win the Cup at home on a Saturday, Shea and I went down 17th Ave at 1pm for a game with a 6pm start.  All the bars were already packed and we thought we might end up watching this huge game at home after all.  But we went into a pub (the Drum & Monkey) a few blocks off 17th Ave close to the Writers Guild office and every table was reserved but the owner saw us and said he'd just had a cancellation.  The reserved table was at the back but since very few were there, we quickly swapped the reservation sign with a table up front and had another great view of the big screen TV for this game.  I mentioned earlier that I tried to get tickets for every game - usually sitting at work (on a coffee break of course) or at home - on the days tickets were released by Ticketmaster.  No luck ever.  But this day, because we were so close to my office and because we had so much time to kill, I went to my office and tried one final time to get last minute tickets.  I don't know what would've happened if a single ticket had come through but I think Tammy Wynette sings a song about it! 

- just seeing how the people would stream out of their apartments and houses towards 17th Ave (aka The Red Mile) after every Flames victory (we lived only six blocks from the action ourselves) and then the traffic (people and vehicular) on 17th Ave (they blocked the whole street to vehicles after the Flames won their second series I think) was pretty cool. 

- the crush of standing in a crowd of anywhere from 20 000 to 50 000 (during the final series) yet the way that it was always so peaceful and calm. 

- and yes, there were a lot of girls flashing (most people put a NSFW - "not safe for work" disclaimer on links like this but a) I don't know where you work so how do I know if pictures of boobs aren't allowed there and b) if a link called "girls flashing" doesn't tell you enough about what you might see, you deserve whatever punishment may come if you click on the link!  Er, I just clicked on it myself and though most of the pics are pretty tame, some of the ads on the site are pretty hardcore so be forewarned.)  Anyhow I barely saw any booblies whether I was down there but I do admit that I looked at the pictures on the page linked above - mainly to see if there was anyone I knew!  There was one urban legend-type story circulating about a middle-aged man who visited the site linked above and was shocked to see pictures of his daughter flashing.  Yikes! 

This is a horrible thought but there's a small part of me that hopes the Flames won't do as well this year because I'd hate for them to make the finals again and not to be there.  One of the ways that I justified leaving Calgary when we did was that the NHL was having its lockout and I wouldn't be able to get to any games for the next year anyhow - unlike the odd game I was able to get at during the time we did live in Calgary. 

...and then I'll shut up about it. 

In a blog post after I won, I said I'd put a "what I really wanted to say" acceptance speech online (as opposed to what I did say having not really prepared a speech and being half-drunk and trying to talk while standing on a chair in a bar full of other drunks.)  So here's my shot at that:

Jason's Virtual "Spirit of Librarianship" Acceptance Speech
"First off, I want to accept this Award on behalf of all the other nominees.  All of us are deserving of the award by virtue of our nomination and I don't think of myself so much as winning the award as sharing it with all of you. 

I want to thank the various people that nominated me and also those who voted for me.  It's an honour that all of you took the time to make your feelings known on my behalf. 

I want to thank my student mentor Sabina Iseli-Otto and my unofficial second mentor, David Jackson, for giving me a two-for-the-price-of-one mentorship that inspired me on a continual basis to try to make things happen in this school.

I also want to accept this on behalf of my classmates. To me, the Spirit of Librarianship takes many forms and I think that all of us have virtues that embody that spirit in some way.  If I had time, I'd go through the class list and say why I think each of you deserves a part of this award.  But above everything else, to me, the Spirit of Librarianship is about equality and fairness.  So giving an award that singles one person out is, in some strange way, contrary to what I think the Spirit of Librarianship actually is. 

I went so far as to ask if I could have "Jason Hammond - on Behalf of the Class of Winter 2006" put on the plaque but they said there wasn't room.  Still, if anyone wants to list "Co-recipient of the Winter 2006 Spirit of Librarianship Award" on their resume, I would strongly encourage you to do so.  If any future employer needs to verify this fact, have them call me!

I was joking with someone that this award should be called the "Most Naive Librarian Award" because that's what it feels like sometimes - that I am being acknowledged for my childlike belief in the purity of what librarians do.  If I do have any impact in winning this, I hope that it's maybe opened up a similar window to those of you who are here, just for the piece of paper or just for the good-paying job you might get at the end of your studies. 

I didn't know there was a Spirit of Librarianship Award when I came to FIMS and did the things that I did simply because, in my opinion, they needed doing.  I hope this thought continues to inspire me (and might inspire you) as we go into the "real world" in the future." 


Linda Bussiere's E-mail
Linda Bussiere sent out a very kind e-mail to the entire department (faculty and students) the day after I won the Award.  I'm reprinting it here with her permission:

Congratulations to Jason Hammond, who was awarded the Spirit of Librarianship Award last evening!

Jason is a first-semester Master of Library and Information Science student who hit the ground running in this program.  He galvanized his co-hort by organizing social events the very first week of school -- introducing 
many of us to the Jessamyn West book, "Revolting Librarians Redux", and sharing his enthusiasm for 
librarianship --  getting us all to talk about social responsibility.  

In the spirit of the librarian-as-information-faciliator, Jason started a class listserv to promote discussions both academic and social, which has sparked many involved debates about everything library-related.  On this listserv, Jason has shared his favorite librarian blogs, preparing his classmates for the real issues that arise 
in the library world.  

In a spirit of the librarian-as-community-builder, Jason has set up the Lunch Bucket Series, bringing in special 
speakers from outside the library community, but within the world of books.  The inaugral visit from Kitty Lewis, from Brick Books (recently featured in this month's Quill & Quire) was an occasion that brought library students together, and Jason's passion for all things books made the room hum with excitement.

In his first semester Jason the librarian-as-educator has also collaborated with other students to organize a student reading for Freedom to Read Week, as well as help initiate an new open-access online journal for LIS 
students, called Cantilever.

Jason Hammond has received the Spirit of Librarianship Award because he truly embodies the many-faceted 
roles of librarian, and without his presence in this program, the true meaning of librarianship would not quite be the same for for all of us!

Spent the last couple days touring SW Ontario.  Here's the brief itinerary...

Thamesville
- this is where Shea's mom spent a summer when she was a teenager and made a friend named...Shea who (obviously) became (my) Shea's namesake.  Also saw the house that Shea's mom stayed in that summer. 

Chatham
- we met "Uncle Barney" that Shea's mom stayed with during her summer.  He was in a nursing home but pretty sharp.  I said we were going to Montreal and would have to practice our "parlez-vous" and he goes "well, bonjour to you too!"  He also got a short joke in about Shea's mom which is pretty funny. (The picture was snapped right after he said "Oh yes, she was about this tall...")





Leamington
- home of the biggest tomato in the world (why do Canadians love their giant roadside attractions so much?)  and a Heinz factory.  What more could you ask?  



Point Pelee National Park
- how cool is it that, not only is the southernmost point of mainland Canada as far south as Northern California (as we all learned in elementary school) but because it ends in a sandbar, you can literally walk to this little wee spit of sand that is the actual furthest southern point?



Back through Chatham then head north along the...

St Clair River
- drop up to Sarnia along the St. Clair River which we heard was beautiful.  Weird seeing Michigan across the river to the west when I'm so used to thinking of the USA as south. 

Sarnia
- stopped at a hotel for night.  Up the next day and check out the big bridge between the US & Canada (more exciting than it sounds - honest!) 


Pinery Provincial Park
- a few classmates had talked about camping here this summer so I thought I'd get a preview.  It was almost completely deserted at this time of year and pretty incredible.  I saw a book in a travel bookstore downtown the other day that talked about how kids have lost their connection with nature.  I think a lot of adults have too.


Grand Bend
- very touristy seaside town that was fairly deserted (luckily) at this time of year

Bayfield
- stop for a picnic lunch of the shores of Lake Huron and tour their historic main street. 

Goderich
- picturesque little town designed so that all of the streets radiate out from a central "square" like the spokes of a wheel.  Went into the library on one of the side streets and was blown away by how beautiful their library is. 


Stratford
- famous for the Stratford Festival, another very touristy town

And back home in time for supper.  Ended up going to the Oxford Arms pub which had been recommended a couple days earlier by Mike McArthur and who's sitting at a table by the front window watching us walk up but Mike and David?  Funny stuff. 

I can't believe my blog has become a travelogue.  Jesus - somebody kill me.  Er, speaking of, Happy Easter! 
The Easter Bunny, she has risen once again...