Post Cup, Post Contest, Post Beard

Alas, the World Cup 2010 has finally come to an end in South Africa. I'm going to miss the sound of vuvuzelas buzzing in my ears and the daily thrill of the game. Well, not really. I was only paying attention because of the ongoing World Cup pool being held back at corporate HQ. I'm happy to report that my dad and I were 2 of, I think, 6 that picked Spain to win. It now comes down to how well our selections panned out in the semi and quarter finals. I hope I won, the hordes of cash "poker chips" will help offset the cost of shipping the three books to the winners of the Land's Edge flash fiction contest.

Congratulations again to the winner Mike Robertson of Missouri for his story Festival of the Lift, to second place David Barber of Crieff, Scotland for The Millennium Princess and finally third place to K.M. McElhinny of Ohio for her story The Light and Shadows of Independence. You will be happy to know that an intrepid member of the Land's Edge staff dropped those in the mail on Thursday. The package to Scotland was going to cost so much that we considered offering the boy to Canada post in trade. They would have nothing to do with it. Not because of slavery laws against such actions, but because they had heard that he eats so darn much! We have opted to ship Mr. Barber's package via the cheapest means possible: solar powered fishing boat. And the propeller is broken. And the skies over the Atlantic will be cloudy for weeks...

A shout out also to the honourable mentions: Pedro Gully, Cathy Olliffe, John Wiswell, Anthony Venutolo, Michael J. Solender and Anton Gully. My heart-felt appreciation to everyone who entered the contest, even those whose stories were not selected. You are all a valuable part of the process.

Also, a big thanks to the lovely ladies who helped me judge the submissions. Laurita Miller and Ellen O'Toole added another dimension to the process and I couldn't have done this without them. I look forward to continue working with them in the future.

And while I'm in the thanking mood...I'd also like to thank everyone who took the time to advertise this contest. Be it by email, carrier pigeon, blogging or Twittering. It was all very helpful. Remember: networking is good. I tried to keep up with the re-Tweets on Twitter and thank those in question. If I missed any of you, consider yourself thanked. You all helped make this a success (at least in my books).

We on The Rock have been moaning about the late arrival of summer this year. It has come at us with a vengeance the past few days. As my father-in-law would say, "It's some shocking hot today!" High temperatures and humidity have had many here shedding their winter parkas, exposing their pasty, white underbelly.

In celebration of the weather I decided to shave off my beard on Thursday (to the annoyance of my wife). This is the first time I've shed the winter coat in 3 years. It's a nice change, but my tendency towards laziness will rear its ugly head and longer intervals will pass between shaves until the beard is back on. I figure I now look 40 years younger and bear a striking resemblance to Tom Selleck, where Sean has been laughing at me, saying that I now look like Saddam Hussein. Not true, I protested...he had black hair. And a beret.

I present you with the photo below. Consider it 'freshly killed', taken a mere one hour ago. Please pass along your opinions below. Beard on, or beard off? Loose paper bag over my head, or plastic garbage bag, tied off at the neck? Thumbs up or down?

Wanna Know What Day it is?

I realized that our garbage collection had shifted by one day this week due to the civic holiday last Monday. What holiday? My wife explained that it was St. George's Day (today) and the workers got the day off. I looked it up on Wikipedia and discovered today (April 23) was the national holiday of England. Many in Newfoundland also get St. Patrick's Day and Orangeman's Day off. For the record, I work for an Ontario company and, in fact, get none of those days off. I got to thinking "how can I make today special?"

I therefore declare today "Pantsless Friday". A day where I must continue to labour to make money to put food on the table; a day where I can relax, "let it all hang out" as it were...

On a side note, I went to the kitchen at 6:45am this morning and squinted while looking out the south-facing window into the back yard. Something was amiss. It occurred to me that the sun was now rising in the east. And I could actually see it. I think it's the first time in about 10 days we've seen the sun here on the Avalon Peninsula. I could even see that annoying black garbage bag that's been caught up in the branches of our maple tree since last fall. What an inspiring day. I thought to myself again (yes, twice in one day) that perhaps I should shave off my beard for a change. That would be silly looking, though, as I've still got a bit of a tan from my vacation. Instead I'll link you to a post from last summer where I included photos of myself with both my beard and my hair shaved off. Must have took 40 years off me...

Speaking of beards and moustaches...I ran into the graphic below at the blog this is my perfect crime by Seamus Hefferman (click on this to enlarge, I hope). You only need to read 3 or 4 posts into his blog to discover his sly humour. The chart rates the trustworthiness of beards and moustaches. Hmm, where do I fall on the list...