Four things you can do instead of watching NHL hockey

While it's a sad day for hockey, it's a great day for lots of other things, like the lost art of conversation and coming up with new drinking games.

Here then is a short, completely non-comprehensive list of things you can do instead of whinging about the hockey you aren't watching. Bonus: all of them include liquor.

Watch the U.S. presidential and vice-presidential debates.

Drink every time a candidate does any of the following:

• says America, American, Massachusetts, or "awwrrrrp-portunity"
• tells a story about an average American
• makes a list
• invokes the name of a past president (two drinks if it's Reagan)

Take a picture (and a drink) every time you see a cyclist riding on the sidewalk.

Two drinks if they aren't wearing a helmet. Drain your glass if they're helmetless and listening to their iPod at the same time.

Go to a trivia night.

Even though you're not signing up for an office hockey pool anytime soon, you can still put all that knowledge of player stats and achievements to use. Most of your favourite local watering holes host a trivia night at least once a week. (Leave your recommendations in the comments below!)

Learn something (for free!).

Learning: it's not just for students anymore. SFU holds a Philosophers' Café pretty much every night of the week and UBC's Peter Wall Institute hosts a number of events, including public lectures, cafés, and workshops.

While we don't recommend drinking during the events (because that's, like, rude or something), you'll definitely have ample conversation material for when you're pounding down drinks afterwards.

What's your plan for coping with the hockey-shaped hole in your heart?

Follow the bibulous Miranda Nelson on Twitter.