Huzzah!

A couple o' few days ago I said this in comments on my post about the T-Birds and Lawn Darts:

One of the best things about bein' an AF Brat was I got to see a lot of airshows while growing up. I haven't seen very many since I left the AF, though.

Well, imagine my surprise... 

I saw the poster for the air show while I was out at the base earlier today and you'll note there's nothing on the poster that neither confirms nor denies the 'Birds will perform.  Well, a quick trip to the 'Birds web site revealed that yes, yes they WILL appear at Cannon on the dates indicated.  Hot Damn, trainee!

Now I have to figger out how to get my lil oxygen machine to last for the duration of the show and other activities, like cruisin' the flight line while taking lotsa pics!

A Day Without Posting Is Like...

... a mini-vacation!

But wait, there's this:



Three Game Sevens, all on the same night.  The remote is gonna get one helluva workout this evening and we'll be in hockey overload by the end of the night.  There's nothing quite like a Game Seven in the playoffs, even in Round One.  While it's true I no longer have a dog in this fight I'll still root for the Rangers, Avs, and Sharks tonight.  Or mebbe I'll root for the Flyers, coz a Battle of Pennsylvania would make for an interesting Round Two.  Rooting for the Flyers is REALLY hard for me to do as I hate have an active dislike for that team.

And now it's back into vacation mode.  Beer me!

Poles

No, not the kind that live in Krakow.  This sort:

It seems rather priggish of me to just give you yet another Shoebox post, so here's a lil sumthin' I did about poles in the near-wayback:

Friday, August 17, 2007

Care to Dance?

So. I sorta quit paying attention to McNeil/Lehrer The News Hour last night about 20 minutes or so before it actually ended. I got wrapped up reading something or other, and by the time I looked up Jim Lehrer’s smiling face was gone and this had begun:

Live From Lincoln Center Mozart Dances
Mostly Mozart Festival
Mark Morris Dance Group

It was the music that caught my ear, and I looked up. The Mark Morris Dance Group is pretty good, if you like that sort of thing. Understand, Gentle Reader, I could stick what little I know about “dance” in my eye and it wouldn’t hurt a bit. I’ve never been to a dance recital. This is the first recital I’ve seen on TeeVee, to the best of my recollection. So, it’s with a grain of salt you’d be taking when I say this was Modern Dance. I know it wasn’t ballet—no tutus. And it wasn’t folk dancing—no ethnic stuff. And I’ve come to the end of my dance-description rope, right here. Right now.

I stayed with the program…but only for the music (Mozart is my absolute favorite composer). I’m not much into watching half-naked men dancing around a stage— especially when they’re dancing with each other rather than with the women. And there was a lot of that, seemingly every other time I looked up from my reading.

And as for the women-only segments of the program? They were just OK, these segments. The women were beautiful and very well put together (in that athletic, dancer sort of way), the costumes were interesting, and the dancing complemented the accompanying music. There was a critical element missing, however, that ultimately impaired my enjoyment of the performance…

No poles.

There's more to that post (i.e., short treatises on depression and the war on [some] drugs), given that I was in the habit of putting up omnibus-sorta posts in the near-wayback when it seemed I had a lot more to say than I do now.  I often wonder why that is; it's very tempting to blame Bush.

Pissing Contest

We haz one.  I sent this off to the Mediscare folks today...

So, here's me, blissfully cruising along through life with my spiffy lil portable oxygen generator until two weeks ago when that referenced "Summary Notice" from Mediscare showed up in my snail-mail box.  I have more than a few issues here, first and foremost being the non-payment for my O₂ machine; the second being the fact I wasn't informed of the non-payment issue when it first began, with the bureaucrats waiting over six months to inform me via a "summary notice;" and the third being the date of the summary notice versus the date I actually RECEIVED the damned thing.  I'm not exactly a Happy Camper at the moment.

Oh, well.  We took the shot across our bow and replied in kind.  I had to go see my doctor last week to obtain copies of all the communications in this CF and the strange thing?  She was NOT surprised, in the least, and was slightly amused that I was.  I have to give props to American HomePatient for leaving my machine alone in the face of non-payment.  One wonders how long that will last.

It's always sumthin'.

Milestone

From the Usual USAF Source:

Thunderbirds Milestone

The USAF Thunderbirds marked their 2,000th official F-16 Fighting Falcon demonstration during an air show at Columbus AFB, Miss., earlier this month. "The F-16 is a remarkable and dependable aircraft. It starts with its design characteristics, but the platform has always had excellent parts supportability, contractor partnership, and engineering oversight from our system program office," said Capt. Lucas Buckley, Thunderbirds maintenance officer. "But the main reason we're still flying the F-16 here is the work done by the exceptional airmen in this squadron, who put in sweat equity each and every day to keep their machines safe, reliable, and effective." The Thunderbirds have flown the F-16 since August 1982, more than half of the team's history. The air show was held April 5-6, according to a base release. (Thunderbirds release.)

I remember when the 'Birds went to Lawn Darts as I was still on active duty, doing my last year in Ol' Blighty when they switched over from T-38s in 1982/83.  The T-38 was a miserable little aircraft for airshow purposes, being too small to be easily seen in the high altitude maneuvers.  

Apropos o' not much, I've seen the 'Birds in every airframe they've flown, with the exception of the Thud, which they only flew in six shows.  My favorite?  The big-ass F-4... loud, smoky, and fast.  

Now that was a GREAT aircraft for airshows.

Egg-Zackly

We want some better weather, too.

We've been three days in the maelstrom.  Let me up, I've had ENOUGH.

Saturday: Historic and Otherwise

It's been that long?  I'm talking about this, from the Usual Source of my Saturday posts:

Finally, it's amazing to think that just nine years ago this week, the very first film was loaded on to YouTube. Jawed Karim, one of YouTube's founders, made the 18-second-long video called "Me at the Zoo". It's been watched more than 14m times, has more than 95,600 comments, and yet there is no way it would have ever gone viral if it had been made today. How far videos have come!

How far, indeed.  Just for the historical value, here's Video Number One:



I don't go back quite that far with The Tube o' You but I have over seven years of history there, including over 50 vids, the first of which was posted on March 4, 2007.

And speaking of how far we've come... there's this:



It helps when yer Dad works for Dreamworks.

I Need One o' These

"Need" might be a lil strong... or not.

I'd want mine in red, though.  Just sayin'.

Depressing

So, here we are... down 3-1 in the first round to Boston after losing TWO games at The Joe.  It pretty much looks like the Beloved Wings' season is over, with only the formality of Game Five left to seal the deal for those Broons.  I expected big things last evening, what with the return of Zetterberg, and the Wings delivered... sorta, what with the Wings having a 2-0 lead at the mid-point of the second period... until such time as Boston tied it up and took the game to overtime, where they won on a fluky double-deflection goal.  I think that's all she wrote for this year; I fully expect to see a handshake line at the conclusion of tomorrow afternoon's game.

Ken Campbell, writing at The Hockey News, sums it up succinctly:

The Red Wings are just too banged up, too tired and too slow to keep up with the team that was the best in the NHL from Games No. 1 through 82. Their valiant run through all this adversity will likely be officially pronounced dead Saturday afternoon, but even on life support, they’re giving the Bruins all they can handle.

"All they can handle" just ain't quite enough.  We're left with the fan's lament: "next year!"

You Mean They Were Dumb Before?

This is the pic that accompanied an article from the Usual USAF Source; it's pretty good plane pr0n:

Click to REALLY embiggen. (Air Force photo by Micah Garbarino)

We're posting the pic coz it's a nice shot of a BUFF either leaving or arriving at Tinker AFB in OKC.  My final assignment in the AF was at Tinker; I spent a lil over two years there.  Just looking at that wide expanse of white ramp space gives me the creeps, mainly coz I remember how miserably hot, humid, and nasty the weather was in the summer.  And then there were all those Springtime tornadoes and the occasional winter ice storm.  OKC has the worst weather of any medium sized city in the country; it's SO bad that I don't understand why anyone lives in that place by choice.

Oh.  Now that we've had our warm and fuzzy moment of remembrance, here's that article...

First Smart BUFF Delivered

Technicians completed the digital upgrades to the first B-52 bomber modernized under the Combat Network Communications Technology program at Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex at Tinker AFB, Okla. CONECT takes "the B-52 from a rotary-dial phone to a smartphone," Air Force Global Strike Command overseer Alan Williams said in a release. The new datalinks, systems, and software allows real time intelligence and targeting data transmission "so that they can get the most current data" to adapt flight planning en route, added Williams. OCALC began work on the first B-52 last July under a $76 million low-rate initial production contract with Boeing. AFGSC currently has funding in place to upgrade a total of 30 B-52Hs, with eventual plans to install upgrades on the entire fleet, according to the release. Tinker's 10th Flight Test Squadron redelivered the first B-52 to Barksdale AFB, La., on April 21.

Rotary phone/smart phone?  That's an interesting analogy albeit a tad hyperbolic, perhaps. 

I Got Nuthin'

It's true.  I've read all the overnight mail, made the blog rounds and checked memeorandum for potential blog-fodder.  Nuthin'.

Wait.  There's this:

That will have to do for the moment.  Mebbe I'll see something worthwhile when I journey out to Cannon Airplane Patch this afternoon.

Cigar Art XV

That count is apropos of cigar art posts as near as I can determine, based on a search of EIP for "cigar art."  So, plus or minus a post or two, our latest:

No need to embiggen; this is the original size, i.e., "larger than life," which is to say twice normal size.

That Ave Maria band might could be a re-post, but the band is a favorite of mine because it's oh-so-lovely.  What I can't quite figure out is what a knight wearing the cross of St. George has to do with "reconquista" in the current sense of the term.  But historically?  Yeah, I get that.   Oh, well... poetic license, I suppose.

Further... that Ashton label is beautiful for the exquisite detail, finely rendered in miniature, of the landscapes.  I like that a lot.

And those Camacho labels?  I've been infamous for at least that long.

Sometimes I'll Post Anything With a Car In It

Like this:



"Interesting," and I'm sure you know why I use the scare quotes.  I think the best thing about this video is the Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66 soundtrack (you can hear the tune without annoying car noises here).  So, OK.  You can tie a frou-frou soccer player, Block.  Let's see ya do that on ICE.

Earth Day

Speaking of Uranus... you KNOW what you can do with your "Earth Day."

Grammar and Spelling In the News, Plane Pr0n Edition

O, my aching ass...

A Romanian air force MiG-21 Lancer deploys a parachute to slow its speed upon landing at Campia Turzii, Romania, April 17, 2014. The parachute acts as an additional breaking (sic) system for the aircraft. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. R.J. Biermann)

I imagine those old MiGs break often enough without the need to deploy an additional "breaking system."  That photo accompanies a USAF press release from Campia Turzii, Romania, following the conclusion of joint exercises between the Romanian air force and elements of a USAF F-16 unit from Aviano AB, Italy.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

Lyle, coverin' a Jackson Browne tune...

But Rosie you're all right -- you wear my ring
When you hold me tight -- Rosie that's my thing
When you turn out the light -- I've got to hand it to me
Looks like it's me and you again tonight Rosie

The original J. Browne version and I had a long and storied relationship in the wayback.  I played this tune a lot when I was separated from My Beloved before we married and again while off on extended TDYs and/or bid'niz trips.  The tune was a standing joke in certain circles and justifiably so... there's a bit o' truth in the lyrics.

But these days?  No.  Don't go there.  Don't EVEN go there.

And now it's back out to the verandah.

Well... It Doesn't HURT

I found this in my wanderings around these inter-tubes this morning...



The taglines from this Digg article:

That's One Way To Get People To Listen To Classical Music

Is it working? Are you entranced by this brilliant late 19th-century composition?

I don't require visual stimulation to listen to Dvořák's "New World" or the works of most any other classical composer (except Bartók.  There's always an exception).  But I'm OLD...

That said, the visuals here are pretty good!

Happy Easter

1 Peter 1:3

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...

Image: Sistine Chapel. Hendrick van den Broeck (1519-1597) — Scenes from the Life of Christ: The Resurrection of Christ (H).
 

(Yes... it's the same thing I posted last post every year.  Some things cannot be improved upon.

Welcome Rain

No outdoor Happy Hour today.  We're getting our first serious rain this year and it's a rain unlike the usual hit 'n' run cloudbursts we normally get.  The system is a large, slow moving band of rain that's best categorized as a slow-soaker.  The system looks like this:

That otta be good for a couple o' hours o' rain.  Bring it ON.

Saturday: The Magic Man!

Final score, Game One: Datsyuk 1, Boston 0.

That's the way to start, Boys.  Don't let up and keep on as you've begun coz Boston ain't gonna roll over and die.

LGRW!

Updated, somewhat later:  Are ya confused about the post title?  Well, there's an app for that:

Friday, November 08, 2013

Cheesy Videos XXX (That Would Be 30, Not Some Kinda Pr0n Clip)

Wherein we ask Siri a question...



Who'd a thunk it?

Heh. 

Just Checkin' the Box

That would be the box that sez "post at least once a day."

I dunno why that card was rejected.  I would have bought a box or two of those about 40 years ago.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

Rodney Crowell...

Tired ol' story, sad but true
We mama's boys have got it in for you
Our faults are many, our virtues nil
We never loved you and we never will
Ah, come on now girl, it's time we both come clean
This mean old world runs on sex and gasoline

The lyrics to this tune made me laugh, but I suppose they WOULD.  I like the way Rodney skewers a number o' subjects here and his words ring TRUE, in that tongue-in-cheek sorta way.  The tune itself is pretty bouncy and catchy, as well.  That doesn't hurt.

In other news...  We went out on a beer run to our Local Likker Locker (no, there's no broadening to be had here... it was all new favorites, like 90 Shilling Ale and Snapshot) but the first thing we did before making the beer run was to affix the playoff flag to The Tart, like this:

That's last year's pic but ya get the ideer, right?  Yes, we're a day early since the Beloved Wings don't play until tomorrow evening.  OTOH, we're right on time coz one can't ever be TOO early, yanno?

LGRW!

An Automotive Geezer's Birthday

That would be the Mustang... 50 years old today.  From the Hemmings Motor News daily newsletter, this:

You can read the whole article here and it's pretty interesting stuff for a gear head.  Oh, and the car's for sale... only $55,000.00 and it could be yours, unless there's a bidding war.

Heh

'Nuff said.

Broadening Our Horizons LXXIX

We've been saving that New Belgium/Cigar City collaboration brew for an auspicious day... which is to say a warm and gentle sort of day... for to enjoy it.  That day arrived today, whereupon it was (a) warm and (b) without Force Six or better breezes on the Beaufort Scale.  So, just for starters...

That's just before we poured Round Two.  And how was the beer?  Very good, thank ya.  I was prepared to not like this beer after reading several reviews at the Go-To guys' site for all things barley, hops and water.  Here's one such review:

Light amber color. Nice see through. Rich, creamy head with exceptional stick and smooth foamy lacing.

Aroma is clean with hints of malt and spices.

Biscuity malt flavor with hints of butter and diacetyl. Herbal leafy hop, descent balance. Touch of spices without a hint of heat. Yeast is not prominent as expected.

Sturdy medium bodied. Smooth, creamy texture. Slight warmth from the alcohol. Well carbonated.

Descent (sic) brew overall just weak for a pepper beer. Lacks the spice level and heat I was hoping for. Just a little dull in my opinion.

I would respectfully disagree.  If Buddy wanted "spice," then perhaps he should have sprinkled three or four drops of Tabasco Habanero Sauce into a Miller Genuine Draft, and Walla!  Mission Accomplished.  There's more to chile than fire, however, and I was impressed with the way the NB/Cigar City guys managed to capture the taste... as opposed to the fire... of chiles in this beer.  I won't go into any lengthy digression about chile but suffice it to say there's a HUGE flavor element in the wide varieties of chile one finds in this world.  In its own very subtle way, this ale managed to capture the spice and lingering flavor of the two varieties of chile... Anaheim and Marash... used in the brew.  This is a very well-done beer, both as concept (delivered!), and drink-ability.  The first round went down fairly quickly and we're halfway through Round II, as we speak.

That said, would we buy a sixer of this every week were it available 12 months out of the year?  No, we wouldn't.  But the brew was insanely delightful as a one-off... and sometimes that's exactly what you want.

So Very F*cking WRONG

By way of Puck Daddy, yet another FBFU*...

And there's this about that:

All that said, this map may not be that accurate. Lots of fans may like their NHL team without "Liking" their NHL team. Which would mean Facebook's information is woefully incomplete. It could be that there's just one NHL fan in New Mexico, and he bleeds burgundy and steel blue, for instance.

Nope.  Not even.  I know for a freakin' FACT that there are a lot o' New Mexicans who bleed red.  "Burgundy and steel blue?"  Not around HERE, Gentle Reader, not around here. We see more than a few Wings jerseys in our travels around THPoNM, most especially out at Cannon Airplane Patch.  Do we see Avs jerseys?  Well, mebbe... it's possible, I suppose... but we ignore the unpleasant things in life most of the time.

So.  The playoffs begin tonight with three games on tap.  I'll likely watch the Flightless Birds play Columbus (and root for the BJs) followed by the Anaheim - Dallas game.  The REAL action begins tomorrow and there's this about that:

Not every team that succeeds in the playoffs is the favorite, right? These three teams stand the best chance of being this year's dark horse.
...

Detroit Red Wings

When was the last time you heard "Detroit Red Wings" and "dark horse" in the same breath? Still, that's what they are, as they will face the NHL's top regular-season team, the Boston Bruins, in the first round. This has been a difficult season for the Red Wings, who have gone long stretches without top players Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen and Jimmy Howard. But a new generation of Red Wings has emerged, led by scoring sensation Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar, Tomas Jurco and Riley Sheahan, which has more than picked up the slack. With Datsyuk back in the lineup and Howard back to form after a rocky season, the Wings don't look like a wild-card team. And they're not. The culture of winning is strong, and coach Mike Babcock is as good a tactician as there is in the game when it comes to making adjustments on the fly and planning for the rigors of a playoff series. Throw in the experience of guys such as Daniel Alfredsson (who's still searching for his first championship) and the under-appreciated Niklas Kronwall and would it surprise anyone to see the Red Wings make a run? The almost universal answer across the hockey world is a resounding "No."

That would be Scott Burnside, writing at ESPN.  Most of the "experts" are predicting a short series with Boston quickly eliminating the Beloved Wings.  Those experts said the same sorts of things about the Wings last year, who eliminated Anaheim (the West's Number Two seed) in the first round and took the (ultimate) Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks to OT in a game seven before falling.  I'm not predicting the same sort of thing this year, mind you.  But it WOULD be nice.

*FBFU: Facebook F*ck Up.

We Still Have a Long Way To Go

A couple of graphics from an article about the state of America's beer industry in The Atlantic...

Sigh.  Bud Light sold about five times as much beer (in dollar value) as the entire craft beer segment in these United States.  The good news is craft beer sales are growing and the majors are losing market share... but there's still an incredibly long way to go.  Still and even, 1.882 BILLION dollars in craft beer sales is pretty damned impressive.  America's beer industry is rather healthy, methinks.  As for us?  We'll keep doin' our part.

There's a lot more at the link, including the top imported beers in the USA.

Updated, somewhat later.  This subject hit the Twitterverse, too.  One such:

I like that "low information drinkers" thing.

New! Improved!

That would be Weather Underground's new look...

I like it.  All of my weather screencaps originate with Wunderground.  I used to be a Weather Channel kinda guy... both teevee and web site... but I quit when TWC hired that insufferable scold DOCTOR Heidi Cullen.  From a post I put up in November of 2006:

Oh, and for the folks at The Weather Channel: stick to your knitting and spare us the global warming sermons. You’re very good at what you do, which is weather reporting. On the other hand, I find Dr. Heidi Cullen, Climate Expert, (ed: dead link mainly coz TWC fired her ass) and her "commentary" annoying as all get-out. Stop it.

I dropped out of the Weather Channel fan club shortly after that.

Tax Day

From the Usual Source of these things...

I've done my duty.  I'll admit I paid up grudgingly but I still paid up.  The thing that pisses me off the most is that 83% of my Social Security income is taxable.  I used to be pissed that the state taxes my AF retirement but I'm over that now.  Sorta.

"Pay up, Sucka!"

Yet Even More Cigar Art, Packaging Division

We're running out of ways to describe the various and sundry iterations on this subject, which makes me think I shoulda done the Roman numeral thing like I did with the "Broadening" series.  Oh, well... too late now.

So, today's subject: the Ave Maria Reconquista, which comes in its very own individual wooden coffin box.  Like this:

I got two of these in today's mail along with a few other lovelies... so the humidor is restocked.  All I need now is some decent weather.  Tomorrow!

Added:  Forgot to mention that our beer is a perfectly-poured Left Hand Milk Stout.  We loves that beer.

The Obligatory WX Post

As in: WTF?  Yesterday we were in the 80s but today?  This:

No outdoor Happy Hour today.

They Grow Up So Fast

Quite literally, in this case:



What a cutie.  But I'm left wonderin' what she said in all those shots.

Opportunities

We're just in from a beer and commissary run out to Cannon Airplane Patch and we saw this while we were perusing the beer selection:

New Belgium has gone batshit-crazy with their Lips o' Faith series of occasional brews and you can see there's a LOT of opportunity to broaden our horizons on the shelf!  That said, I bought just one bomber... the "Cigar City Brewing" one... which is ale brewed with two different kinds of chiles.  As for the rest of 'em?  I think NB may be tryin' too hard.  I'm not gonna buy a beer where I have to google the contents to find out what's in it... like Yuzu and Pluot juice... not to mention dandelion greens.  Say what?

OTOH, I give big props to the Class VI store's management for stocking lots and lots of good beers.  The Class VI has the best beer selection in both Clovis and P-Ville.

Now if you'll excuse me... I hear the verandah calling.

Saturday: Forty Years Ago This Week

Doesn't that just make ya wanna jump up and dance?  About that "40 years" thing...

And while you are in the mood for dancing, we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Abba's Eurovision Song Contest victory in Brighton with Waterloo. This week's celebrations of their victory – they scored nul points from the UK – included a party at the Swedish embassy in London and a celebration at Tate Modern, which featured the mesmeric magic skills on Charlie Caper.

That's from the Usual Source of the Saturday videos.  And just so you don't have to click that link above, here's Mr. Caper doin' his magic tricks... from Stockholm.



That's cool, Charlie, but tell me: what about yer taxes?

In the Overnight Mail

There's this to begin with...

That's pretty clever.  Remember back in the '70s when "scientists" were warning us of a new impending Ice Age?  Well, so much for that.  We're all gonna drown now.

I don't have any gratuitous plane pr0n today, so how about some gratuitous rocket porn?

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle lifts off with the National Reconnaissance Office's NROL-67 payload. This was the 45th Atlas V launch since the inaugural flight in 2002.

The launch took place yesterday at Cape Canaveral AFS.

In other news... It's yet another late start, what with us pouring our first cup around 1215 hrs.  Our day was half-over before it even started.

Broadening Our Horizons LXXVIII

Well, yes.  And here's why we rolled out of bed this afternoon morning...

That's a Sammy Adams Porch Rocker, freshly removed from a "Beers of Summer" 12-pack and one small sip down in content.  My Go-To guys aren't at all impressed with this beer but I like it, on first blush.  The brew is MOST definitely "summery," with lots of citrus both in the nose and on the tongue.  I wouldn't drink these all afternoon on a hot summer's day but one to start with would not be objectionable at all.

Did I say "hot summer's day?"  I believe I did...

Close enough for a former gub'mint worker.  And now it's back outdoors to continue as we've begun.

A Fun Quiz

Challenging, too... in which you're asked to identify 16 cities seen from space at night.  My results:

I was thinkin' 12/16 wasn't too shabby until I realized 75% ain't all THAT hot.

Re-Run, With a Purpose

Last year I put this up around this time...

Sunday, April 28, 2013

It's 22, Bitchez*!

From NHL.com...

The Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota Wild completed the playoff field on Saturday by winning their regular-season finales on the road. The Red Wings beat the Dallas Stars 3-0, while the Wild defeated the Colorado Avalanche 3-1.

That left the Red Wings in seventh place with 56 points and the Wild in eighth with 55. Both teams needed the victories because the Columbus Blue Jackets won their final game by rallying past the Nashville Predators 3-1. The Blue Jackets and Wild both finished with 55 points, but Minnesota finished eighth and Columbus ninth because the Wild had more non-shootout wins.

It sucks to be a Columbus fan today and I say that with all the respect I can muster.  The BJs had the second best record in the league during the month of April and could have really done some damage in the playoffs; I'd have been jes a lil bit worried if I were Chicago and had to face them in the first round.  Minnesota, OTOH, finished the season on a downward spiral.

As for our Wings?  We can beat Anaheim, easily.  We took two from them... on THEIR home ice... in back-to-back fashion in March and we're a lot healthier now than we were then.  Yes, this can be done.  Wings in six or less.

LGRW!

* "Bitchez" is a term of endearment among The 19.

Well.  Now it's 23.  And those poor ol' BJs made the playoffs this year, as well.  You'll note some people got on the bandwagon pretty early...

I've been telling SN1 the number on my next jersey just might be 14.  He's prolly the main reason the broken, battered, and bruised Wings limped into the playoffs this year.  I don't expect the team will do much in the playoffs given the number of key players that are still out, but at least we made it.

LGRW!