Saturday, September 17, 2005 at 08:59AM …. i am always thrilled with weekends that are quietly unplanned and full of promises of surprises and naps. this one is shaping into a perfect saturday, one which will likely spill over into sunday…..
the only thing i want to do to day is go to the beaches. and look. just look, mind you.
and perhaps go down to queen st for lunch, and see a store about a potential tatoo design. and no, it’s not for me.
Friday, September 16, 2005 at 07:08PM When Andrew Brown, a forward with the Lakehead University Thunderwolves hockey team, bumps into a teammate at the rink or in the classroom, the conversation quickly turns to his roommate, Drew Kivell.
Kivell, a defenceman, has made it through three days of training camp with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and his buddies in Thunder Bay have been hungry for the latest news on his trials and tribulations.
"Obviously, he can’t spend the entire day on the phone or e-mailing all of us," said Brown, who talked with Kivell yesterday. "The guys want to know how Drew is doing and what it’s been like. He said that he’s being put through the wringer with the fitness testing, the practices and scrimmages, but that the experience has been priceless."
Kivell had his rookie season with the Thunderwolves limited to 29 games last year because of a concussion. With Kivell in the lineup, Lakehead might have beaten the University of Western Ontario Mustangs in the Ontario University Athletics West final. Instead, Lakehead lost the deciding game 5-4 in an overtime thriller.
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"It was tough on him," Brown said. "But we were all happy he got this chance with the Leafs. He’s very passionate about the game. He’s a good guy and you like to see good things happen to good people."
Kivell, 6 foot 3 and 223 pounds, was noticed by Leafs general manager John Ferguson Jr. and his assistant, Mike Penny, during the Making the Cut television series a year ago. Kivell was among the final 18 players, but not one of the six who received invitations to training camp from one of the half-dozen National Hockey League Canadian clubs.
Still, Ferguson caught up with Kivell at a party for the TV series and told him the Leafs were interested and they would keep an eye on his progress with Lakehead.
Penny scouted a Lakehead game early in the season and was convinced that Kivell should be invited to the Leafs’ rookie camp. Kivell, 22, performed well enough at the rookie camp last week to get a spot at the club’s big training camp.
"I must admit, it has been a bit nerve-racking, playing with and against guys I have watched on Hockey Night in Canada," Kivell said. "The first game was a little shaky, going up against guys like Eric Lindros and Steve Thomas.
"It took me a while to wrap my head around the experience. But I refocused that evening and I think I’m holding my own."
Kivell, of Lakeside, Ont., near London, realizes he is a long shot to crack the Leafs’ roster. But there is a remote chance he could stick with the Leafs’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, this season.
If not the Marlies, then maybe he will be assigned to the Pensacola Ice Pilots of the ECHL, formerly known as the East Coast Hockey League. But if Pensacola is the Leafs’ preferred destination for Kivell, he admits it will be difficult to decide whether to report there or return to Lakehead, get caught up in his political science studies and play for the Thunderwolves.
"The goal, in the long run, is to play in the NHL," Kivell said. "This is part of the process. It’s been great to see how I stack up against players at this level."
NHL scouts have been aware of Kivell for a while. He played five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with the Sudbury Wolves and Kingston Frontenacs. His 321 career OHL games are the second most in league history.
When Ferguson was with the St. Louis Blues, Kivell was invited to the Blues’ rookie camp. He also has participated in a Florida Panthers rookie camp.
"He acquitted himself well at our rookie camp [last week]," Ferguson said. "He has good size, good energy and a good attitude."
Thursday, September 15, 2005 at 10:24AM Cypress Tree (Faithfulness) — strong, muscular, adaptable, takes what life has to give but doesn’t necessarily like it, strives to be content, optimistic, wants to be financially independent, wants love and affection, hates loneliness, passionate lover which cannot be satisfied, faithful, quick-tempered at times, can be unruly and careless, loves to gain knowledge, needs to be needed.
Thursday, September 15, 2005 at 08:48AM Two rural communities struggled yesterday to cope with grief after an elementary school teacher collapsed while reading to his class and died.
Mark Muellejans, 33, collapsed in his rocking chair while teaching his Grade 2 class at North Meadows public school in Strathroy Tuesday.
The Glencoe native was in his fifth year of teaching, and was known in both communities as an upbeat, committed and inspiring teacher.
"He had a great spirit. He never gave up," Muellejans’s mother, Colene, said yesterday.
Muellejans, who had an enlarged heart, was well-known in Glencoe after surviving a fatal form of cancer during his teenage years.
"He was 17 when he was diagnosed and the doctors didn’t think he would make it," said his father, Peter.
"We almost lost him then."
Through complications with lymphoma, Muellejans continued to inspire others, attending his prom in a wheelchair wearing a fedora to cover his bald head.
"He was quite a legend in this community because of his fight and his survival," said Jane Bowley, a physical education teacher at Glencoe District high school, which Muellejans attended. "He had such a great sense of humour. One of the only ways I know how to describe him is ‘carpe diem.’ He’s a hero. He lived his life to the fullest."
Muellejans was devoted to his nine-year-old son. He shared custody of the boy with his wife, from whom he was separated.
He was a Terry Fox Run representative at Ekcoe Central public school.
Muellejans attended Ekcoe Central public school as a child and later taught there.
He spoke about his battle with cancer at the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life in Glencoe and walked the Survivor’s Walk for the last two years. Last year, he ran the entire 12 hours of the relay.
An athlete, Muellejans also ran marathons, played basketball and volleyball and swam.
His death this week, doctors told his parents, was next to impossible to predict.
"They said that his heart was one-and-a-half times the size of a normal heart and it’s amazing he was able to do all the things he did," Peter said.
Muellejans’s first teaching job, five years ago, was at Ekcoe Central.
Teachers and those he taught were in shock yesterday.
"The impact that he had on the staff and students, it’s impossible to measure," said principal Sue Bandeen. "He was the heart of the community. He was a Glencoe boy through and through."
Muellejans’s classrooms were "animated but disciplined," Bandeen said. "He was a very positive teacher. You walked into his class and he was telling a joke or a story. He just lit up a room."
Muellejans coached sports and volunteered at after-school activities. He became a role model for healthy life choices while on the healthy schools committee at Ekcoe Central, Bandeen said.
This school year would have been Muellejans’s second at North Meadows in Strathroy.
Yesterday, the Thames Valley District school board’s trauma team was at both elementary schools helping people cope. Some teachers took the day off to collect themselves.
Some schools will pause during tomorrow’s Terry Fox run for a moment of silence.
Others will give special tributes to the passionate teacher later this month.
Muellejans’ funeral is scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m. at Van Heck Funeral Home in Glencoe.
Monday, September 12, 2005 at 02:37PM Monday, September 12, 2005 at 12:32PM 
P Pronunciation Key (
n-t
n
-bl)untenable
adj : (of theories etc) incapable of being defended or justified [syn: indefensible]
Sunday, September 11, 2005 at 09:35AM it’s hard to imagine that it’s been 4 years since. all the chaos and incertainty and looking overhead every time there’s been a lound plane. the wonder, and the concern and questions. 4 years. so much has changed. my life has gone 180 degrees, and if the recent past is any indication, continues to change on a day to day basis.
nothing compared to the lives of the folks who where directly and indirectly affected by september 11. i simply hope that their lives are now changing around again. for the better.
where was i sept 11? driving an old wedding present of a SUV, on the way to a customer, listening to silly DJ howard stern on a toronto radio station. trying to piece together if he was joking about planes hitting the towers, or if it was real. and then arriving at the customer - they were near the airport.. and all the employees were surrounding a tv monitor, watching the news. needless to say, there wasn’t much info - but both the customer and i were sufficiently distracted as to cut the meeting short, and move on to other things.
i headed home. and it wasn’t until i turned on the telly, and hollered at the guy in the house to come and see - and we saw. and we saw. and we saw. i called into the office, and was told not to come into work. the holiday inn had turned into a safe haven and command post for the UN delegates in toronto. i was home for 4 days. watching. and watching. it was bizarre.
Friday, September 9, 2005 at 03:03PM first time having the chicks in the city since may 2-4 - wow!! we have nothing planned but some fun biking - and maybe mandarin. what kid can’t not want to go to a 30 ft desert bar? :-) you know what i’m saying….
what a bizarro summer… i can only hope the next 12 months go by so very fast…. so much to do, so much to change…. i canna wait!!!
Thursday, September 8, 2005 at 06:49AM …. the weather was marvelous, and the stella in an improvised cooler was indeed cold. the heckling was apropos for the most part, and the barbeque was stacked with various meatlike treats.
the smapp dog was a friend to anyone who had food, and found a distinct liking for ice when she discovered water was scarcer than stella.
the baseball game itself was outstanding. the running. the hitting. the catching and the throwing.
i’m not sure who won. but ron ellis was the 3rd base coach. it was a happy wednesday night.
Wednesday, September 7, 2005 at 07:01AM .. i’m a wigwam, i’m a tipi.
there is a pin, as well as a needle. I’m on them both. on tiptoe.
Monday, September 5, 2005 at 10:54AM … it’s all about the relaxing now… and yes - it’s come at the right time - after 4 days of chickadee adventures…. it’s good to be back in my own bed, with the AC and non-sandy sheets.
today is a day of puttering.
you know what i mean.
Thursday, September 1, 2005 at 08:07AM we go!
pick up the chickadees and head to the beach for 4 days. outstanding weather coming, and we will be packed to the rafters with food and fun and, of course, flannel. the nights will be cold, doncha know…. and everyone to their (own) bedroom… it’s heaven. the way vacaions ought to be.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005 at 06:35AM the simple act of pressing a few buttons has given me more time in the day, to just be and do.
can you imagine what i’ve done?
Monday, August 29, 2005 at 09:51PM 2 more days.
2 chickadees.
Equals 4 days of sun, sand and surf.
i still can’t wait.
Thursday, August 25, 2005 at 07:04AM …. aww babyyy…
it’s been a zillion and a half years since i last went to the ex… but
i managed to easily talk the wiz into it last night… turns out he’s a
bit of a madman on the midway, playing games, shooting guns, games of
chance… you name it, and somehow we managed to become laden down with
varying types of prizes… :-)
i wonder what one has to do to become a carney - and then i wonder if
people who work the midway at fairs are still called carneys? or is it
carnies? hrm. there were zillions of them… and you could
certainly tell who was good at drawing the public to their booth, and
who wasn’t :-)
i’d like to say that they’ve come a long way in 20 years. but they haven’t.
Thursday, August 25, 2005 at 07:02AM normally, when one comes close to the end of the tunnel, there is a
faint hope of light. i can see the light, but i’m simply not
convinced that it’s not just a freight train… ;-)
however, being as optimistic as i am, i am still going to bet that it’s sunlight, and not CN.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005 at 08:51PM 3 days this week.
3 days next week.
then an outstandingly long weekend.
no noise, no troubles.
nothing to do but snooze in the sun and enjoy.
i can’t wait.
can yo utell?
Monday, August 15, 2005 at 09:54PM … would simply not be the same.
the rapids at the wiz’s cottage are aptly named “white’s falls”….
aptly because of the shimmery, irridescent foaming torrent of death
that you face when you make the monumentoud decision to “do the
rapids”…
;-)
actually - it was quite safe :-P and that’s all i am going to say about that.
and if it wasn’t for a chickadee strapped to my back like the wings of
the flying monkeys of oz, i would have made it down the rapids without
twisting my back in 11 places. and i wouldn’t be sitting on the
couch here now, grinding robaxaxet platinum into my tea.
Monday, August 15, 2005 at 07:00AM on the don valley parkway, there are 2 kinds of signs; signs for roads
that have exits are all in capital letters. Signs for roads that don’t
have exits are in lower case letters. Except for york mills. It
gets an exit - but it’s still stuck with a lower case letter sign.
unlucky york mills.
