Need your help

The Greely Men's fastball club is preparing for their inaugural fastball season. As such, we are in need for fundraising dollars to help pay for some of the equipment our team will need now and into the future. Thankfully, my work has stepped up to the plate with a "Platinum" sponsorship to secure the naming rights and will help to provide jerseys on our backs.

There are two ways that you can help. First, there are sponsorship opportunities that are available that will go a long way in helping to promote fastball in the area. Check out tylercox.ca for details.

Secondly, but more immediately, we are running a playoff hockey pool. The fee will be $10 and most of the prize money will be distributed to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishers. You pick 9 forwards, 6 defencemen, and goals and assists are worth 1 point each. It's a simple pool, but it will really help our team with the funds we need to operate a successful season. Please consider playing.

Tax Help

There is one more month left to do your personal income taxes. Time is running out. For most people, taxes are due at the end of April. If you are self-employed, the taxes are payable April 30th, but the return is not due until June 15. It becomes important that you get them done and over with as soon as you can as this can either reduce any late penalties and interest, or gets your refund in your hands that much sooner.

I've decided to charge $35 for a basic return for friends and family. I understand that some people do not feel comfortable with doing their taxes, and so I am offering to help those whose returns are fairly simple. I will charge more if there is more work required, but $35 will be the base charge. I'm not sure what it costs to buy tax software for do-it-yourselfers, but I feel with my experience, you'll be getting a deal at $35.

I will do basic returns only. I am capable of doing more complex returns, but that realm of work is reserved for my employer. They specialize in handling tax planning options, so I will not take business away from them. I will be happy to bring you in as a client if deemed necessary.

Happy refunds.

Playing for the "B" championship

Curling is still going. We are in the playoffs now, and we seem to be on quite the roll. Unfortunately, we are in the "B" playoffs. We have been competing with some of the leagues elite in both leagues, but we ended seeding as the top "B" level team.

Personally, I curl to give myself a challenge. I do not care to win games over teams that curl socially. I understand that they are out there to have fun, but I'm looking at becoming competitive. Although these games are usually relaxed and sociable, I am not getting enough out of the games. I have fun, but not as much fun as competitive play can offer. I'd rather lose against a good team, than win against a bunch of social curlers.

At this point in the year, I'm hoping things will end. I suppose we should prove to people that we can win the "B" championships, but with work getting so busy, it's becoming quite the hassle to go curl against some pretty weak teams.

Game #6 - City of Ottawa Bonspiel (Ottawa Curling Club)

On Saturday, we only had one game to play. It was a do or die scenario where we had to win to stay in. At this point, we have been pretty tired of playing in the tournament and was looking forward to some birthday celebrations in the evening. If we had won, we would have to play at 9am Sunday morning.

We played a team from the RCMP curling club. They were a seniors team and were very friendly gentlemen. Before the game, we were delayed slightly by my teammates' tardiness and I had a chance to chat with a couple of their players. It was a very nice way to break the ice and have a very friendly game of curling.

We controlled this game. The team from RCMP had given us a lot of credit for "not giving them a chance" to get back into the game. This was not completely true. The team had a great chance to have one big end, but my team escaped that threat due to a key miss from their skip.

It was very nice to curl out of the Ottawa Curling Club. This was my second time curling there, and I have been considering joining the club for next year. It is about a block away from my newly purchased home, and would like to be involved with a club with many competitive teams and a rich history. I also really like the fact that they have a kitchen and draft beer. This will be quite handy as I will likely be working a lot of hours and may not have the time to prepare meals for myself.

Anyways, we won the game and we had to play at 9 am. We were quite relaxed and played a much better game than we had been having. It was unfortunate that we would have to play so early the next day. We were going to go out for 4 of my friend's birthdays (Robert, Kyle, Tyler, and Derek) and St. Pats day. It was going to be rough.

Games #3, 4, 5 - City of Ottawa Bonspiel

In game number 3, we play at the North Grenville Curling. Having never been there and not knowing anyone that has, I was pleasantly surprised by the club. I think they probably had the most consistent ice of the week. We ended up losing the game, but kudos to the icemakers for making some quality ice. We game up some points early in the game, and we could not build any momentum during the game. We lost it early and were never again to regain our composure.

In game number 4 (RA Centre), we played on Thursday night against a team playing in their home rink. Our opponent, 66 years of age, was a classless act. He became bitter after his team fell behind and began making unwarranted comments. I pulled a Pedro Martinez-like move where I did not back down from his verbal abuse, and fired a verbal shot back at him. After the game, his teammates defended him by calling me cocky, but I was given no reason to respect their skip. Just because you are old, it does not give you the right to be an asshole. I bought him his beer, and left the rink as I tried to avoid fighting on his level.

In game number 5 (Manotick CC), we probably played our worst game of the tournament. We played against a team of 3 and could not make our key shots. We were up by 3 points at one point, but a string of bad shots led to their team scoring 4 in one end. Our play was inexcusable and we do not deserve to be in this tournament anymore. That being said, we have another game early Saturday afternoon and we are at a point where when we lose we are out. It's do or die time.

Late night ticker - City of Ottawa Bonspiel - Game #2

We lost 7-2 after 7 ends. We fell behind early and we were chasing the whole game. It was a very frustrating game. We had at least 4 rocks that picked. We certainly could have played better, and could have done ourselves a couple of favours, but the picks were certainly demoralizing. Tomorrow, we play two games. The first is in Kemptville at the North Grenville Curling Club. We expect another tough game as the team we are playing against had just taken the defending champions to their last rock in their game tonight. Hopefully, our luck, confidence, and shot-making ability will improve for the next game.