Rather Random

We might hit a milestone late today… EIP’s 100,000^th visitor. We’re at 99,941 as of 1038 hrs. Which, of course is significant only to YrHmblScrb. The Big Dogs get that much traffic every day; it’s taken us over three and half years to get this far. Still and even, I remain amazed we have any traffic at all… especially lately.

Thank you, Gentle Readers.

―:☺:―

So… I drug out the soapbox a couple of days ago and whined about folks who use Word Verification in their comments. True to form, karma rose up and bit me in the ass last night in the form of a spammer who dropped unintelligible character-based sex-site spam… “SEX” being the only readable word… in 44 separate posts. It took me about a half-hour to kill them all. By hand. Swearing all the while. But I won’t enable Word Verification unless the asshat revisits me.

You’re welcome.

―:☺:―

Oh-so-briefly: Here’s the requisite “something happened” mention… 31 years ago today. And I long for the day when this date becomes just another day in the life. Something tells me if it ain’t happened yet… it ain’t gonna happen. And they say most men don’t remember dates. (sigh)

―:☺:―

Today’s Pic: In keeping with the above, a random shot of The Second Mrs. Pennington and SN3 taken in Perinton, NY... July, 1998.

Unaccustomed As I Am...

... to holding VERY young children... I did. Proof:

That would be YrHmblScrb and great-granddaughter Mya, taken yesterday afternoon.

Here are the members of the SN1 family, less SN1 hisownself (who remained in South Carolina due to a previous committment with the Inspector General, in the form of an Operational Readiness Inspection [ORI]):

Left to right: grandaughters Natasha and Felicity (holding Mya), daughter-in-law Erma, and grandson Sean.

Erma and Co. are in P-Ville visiting Erma's Mom. They stopped by yesterday afternoon for a visit and a couple of beers. Well, Erma and I drank the beer; the others didn't. A good time was had by all none the less... Erma and I getting the best of the deal.

This Just In

“This” meaning me and “just in” meaning I’ve retreated into the air conditioned splendor of El Casa Móvil De Pennington after burning a cigar and partaking of two of New Belgium’s finest… a Mothership Wit and a 1554. We called Happy Hour early today in anticipation of record heat in these parts… which was billed by The Weather Channel as approaching 100 degrees. We’re not there yet… as of this writing... but we’re close enough for Gub’mint Work, to my way of thinking. To wit:
Or… Baby, it’s freaking HOT outside. While we didn’t break a sweat sitting out under the awning with our beer, we felt much like we were sitting inside a giant convection oven… awash as we were in HOT breezes. At any rate, I feel a nap coming on. Life is just SO danged hard, of late. Make of that what you will… I’m gonna sleep on it.

Kandahar In the Fall

If you perused EIP’s comments yesterday you may have seen this:

Got word last night it's official: Afghanistan in September. Secret's out BTW, so it's fair conversation when Erm comes 'round.

That would be SN1 speaking. Here’s a short lil vid of his new home come September:

The video is way old, having been shot in 2002… but this is Afghanistan, a place not known for rapid change, to put it mildly. Things are different on the base, of course:

Looks like Big Fun, don’t it?

―:☺:―

So… while doing the research for the lil blurb above, I came across this:

Note the ad on the right. Maybe I can get Buck to do some “on the ground” interviews and put in a good word for me. She's a cutie... but they always are, in the ads.

Clouds

The title kinda makes one think of a Joni Mitchell song, but that's not what we're on about, Gentle Reader. Nope... we're just in from Happy Hour and we had ourselves a grand ol' time watching our favorite brand o' cloud scud across the bright New Mexico sky whilst enjoying a couple of New Belgium's finest. To wit:

Yup. Big Ol' puffy cumulus clouds, viewed from the same angle as this morning's sunrise pics in the post just below. And these same clouds make intriguing images when viewed in reflection of the Green Hornet's still (sorta) immaculate paint. Again, the images:

The first pic is just to give you some perspective, the other two are rather interesting abstract sort of images. Which just goes to prove that I'm easily amused, if nothing else.

Now that we've done that... we should probably end where we began... with Joni.


I LOVE this woman.

A Few Minutes Ago...

... as opposed to "right now." In sequential order, top to bottom...

This is the first time in a long time I've caught the sunrise... but there's a method to my madness. We have to run over to The Big(ger) City^TM for to do some errands, and we wanna do it early. Why? Coz of this:

And it ain't even summer yet. It's gonna be humid, too... we had more t-storms roll through the area early this morning and it's wet outside. But it sure does SMELL great!

Coffee's ready... want a cup?

Right Now

Well, sorta... the pics were taken about 45 minutes ago. Above is the little ranchito that sits just behind Beautiful La Hacienda Trailer Park. I don't think there's a pot o' gold in there, but I know there are four or five peafowl on the premises... and I also know they are noisy suckers. But we digress, as is our habit.

We had a pretty good thunderstorm roll through P-Ville this afternoon and I took a walk outside after it passed. A walk immediately following the rain is a Good Thing anywhere and everywhere, but it's particularly pleasing here on The High Plains of New Mexico given the hot, arid nature of our climate (read as: desert, kinda-sorta). The air is just so clean and sweet-smelling it's incredible, which is a "you hadda be there" kinda thing... most literally. I also played around with the camera a little bit, and here's one such snap:

The foliage on the ornamental cherry tree that stands just outside my door. It ain't only the blossoms that makes this tree distinctive... its foliage is quite interesting, as well.

As always, click for larger. And you just might be viewing tomorrow's post, today. I've been pretty lazy lately.

Flag Day

We seem to be developing our traditions here at EIP, and here's another installment of same. This looks like it will be the "traditional" Flag Day post... or at least it will be until I come up with something better.

Flag Day

Old Glory on the stern of the USS Mason (DDG 87), Port Canaveral, Florida.
April, 2003.

I don’t have a “flyable” flag any longer… and no place to really fly one, even if I did… which is a break from long-standing tradition. I still have two flags in my possession, but neither is suitable for display. Or rather, I choose NOT to display them. The first is the flag that draped my father’s casket; the second is a small flag in a shadow box with mementos from my USAF career. My father’s flag is folded and put away for safe-keeping, the shadow box flag is…well, in the shadow box.

But I AM celebrating Flag Day. I hope you are, too.

Modifications to the above: Make that three flags vs. two. You've seen the flag I have draped just below the upstairs-bedroom-cum-music area... just four days ago, in fact. You may not have read the story behind that flag, though. It's a well-traveled Star Spangled Banner, that one.

Apropos of Nothing...

The Blog Goddess, she speaks for ME:

Random Friday night thought; I hate Blogger. The whole thing is a slow, unwieldy bastard for the user and pure hell for the reader trying to leave a comment. I wish all bloggers who do this hobby with some passion would change platforms to something more user friendly. Throw away your training wheels and start flying down the road, writer people. Let’s face it, comment windows that open in a little corner without the full post, suck big time. Comment windows that open without the full body of the post sitting right above, really suck. Making me key in random letters and numbers to leave a comment is the worst.

Well, she sorta speaks for me. Daphne is off on a generalized rant against Blogger as a platform. I don't agree completely about that, as Blogger is VERY easy to use and is relatively hassle-free, compared to other platforms. And I HAVE considered moving to another medium, but have always stopped when I read of the hassles encountered by others with platforms such as WordPress. As a matter of fact, Lex's top post today is a cry for help concerning some arcana associated with the latest iteration of WordPress. We don't need the hassle... no, we most certainly don't.

But about that capcha thing, otherwise known as the Security Word... I responded to Daphne thusly:

Making me key in random letters and numbers to leave a comment is the worst.

That's MY pet peeve about people who use Blogger. If you're one of the Big Dogs who gets thousands of hits an hour, using capcha will keep spam-bots away. But if you're small fry with 200 hits or less a day, what's the frickin' POINT, other than to irritate your audience?

That said... I know from reading other people that Wordpress ain't all THAT easy. Blogger, for all its faults, is largely hassle-free. I like that.

I feel the same way about comment moderation, too. Moderation kills spontaneity and conversation among commenters and bloggers... especially when it isn't used in a timely manner. I understand some folks, like Blog-Bud Cynthia, get anti-military Leftards dropping perverse and obscene comments in their blogs on a routine basis. But that would be the ONLY reason I can see for comment moderation... that being you have a history of stalkers and idiots haunting your blog. Otherwise? Not so much. Not at ALL, in most cases. But, Hey! To each his own, and all that. Your blog, your choice.

The Last Hockey Post…

The Detroit Red Wing bench and goalie Chris Osgood are dejected after the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated them 2-1 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, Friday June 12, 2009 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, MI. (MANDI WRIGHT/DFP)

… of this season. About last night’s loss: I’m still not over this. You might could say I’m obsessed or that this kind of reaction isn’t normal for a grown man. That may be true, but I’m not alone in my obsession. Go read the more than four pages of comments at the Abel to Yzerman blog if you want proof. Said comments began immediately following the game and kept coming into the wee small hours… and I DO mean “wee.” They’re still posting comments, as I type. And you’ll note… if you go… that there are some real class-act fans posting there. A few idiots, yeah, but class… for the most part.

I think hockey fans are different (to crib a line from the infamous NHL ad campaign). Below are a few from last night… note the raw emotion on display.

Julianne Sabon, 30, of Roseville puts her head in her hands while watching Game 7 of the NHL Finals between the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins at Hockeytown in Detroit, on Friday, June 12, 2009. The Wings lost 2-1. (KIMBERLY P. MITCHELL/DFP)

Eva Gratz, 21, of Southgate watches Game 7 of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals between the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins at Hockeytown in Detroit, on Friday, June 12, 2009. (KIMBERLY P. MITCHELL/DFP)

Red Wings fans Chris Hering, 24, Nickie Harting, 23, left, and Genevieve Hinkley react to the Pittsburgh Penguins win over the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals at Mr B's Pub in Royal Oak. The Wings were trying for their 12th Stanley Cup. Its the first time the Wings hosted a Game 7 title game in more than five decades. (WILLIAM ARCHIE/DFP)

I'm NOT the only one, Gentle Reader.

So. I was up to all hours this morning, reading…reading…reading. I tried to go to sleep on two occasions, once after midnight and again at 0200 hrs. I just couldn’t do it. And so I got up and read some more. Here’s one of the better pieces, from the inimitable Mitch Albom:

The last 6 minutes could have ripped out your insides. Fans on their feet, screeching their vocal cords. The Red Wings surging, their lungs burning, as they chased the only thing that mattered. One goal. One goal. One goal could make up for the whole night and turn this thing from hopeless to hopeful, reverse destiny, roll the stalled parade floats. Music blared in the breaks: “I want it all, and I want it now!”

Then Niklas Kronwall fired and HIT THE CROSSBAR! The whole building groaned! Valtteri Filppula shot! It was caught by Marc-Andre Fleury. The Wings pulled their goalie. They chased and chased. Thirty seconds. Twenty seconds. Six seconds. The puck came off a rebound and there was one final shot, so close in, Nicklas Lidstrom stepped into it and fired and Fleury dove in the air as the fans gave one last collective scream …

And then.

And then, moments later, such quiet. In the tunnel. In the stands. In the dejected locker room. Quiet, as if the devil might hear you whisper and make it worse. Quiet is not what you expect in a Game 7 to determine the Stanley Cup. But quiet is what you get when the home team watches it slip away. Quiet is what you get when you are Lidstrom, who saw that last shot blocked by Fleury. Quiet is what you get when you are Marian Hossa, who watched the other team celebrate last year, and had to do it again Friday night, with the uniforms reversed.

Quiet is what you are left with on a night to forget, in a series to remember.

A night to forget, indeed. But it most certainly was a series to remember. Read the whole thing.

No excuses, but… (George Malik from Snapshots)

Per the post-game shows from WDIV, WJBK, WXYZ, and a few observations of my own...

Bernie Smilovitz and Mickey Redmond suggested that Tomas Holmstrom, Kris Draper, and Mikael Samuelsson were significantly banged up, that Dan Cleary wouldn't have been playing if it was the regular season, that Pavel Datsyuk was hurt a little more significantly than he let on, that the same could be said for Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski, and Henrik Zetterberg was "at 70%."

That much, I can confirm from looking at his equipment. Zetterberg usually wears a pair of 14-inch Easton gloves with "floating" wrist protectors. During the Blackhawks series, Zetterberg adopted a 13" Dan Cleary glove (you can literally see the "Cleary" stamped onto the glove in pictures), which has almost no cuff and a flexible, on his top hand, and his "normal" bottom hand glove had two extra stiff plastic slash guards affixed to its cuff. Something got torn or broken there.

Much was made about the Wings being “old and slow” during the Finals. I’m quite sure there’s much more to that particular story line than will ever be revealed, but some of the story will come out in the days to come. Part of hockey culture is NOT acknowledging injury and playing through pain when humanly possible. I’m thinking a lot of the Wings did exactly that in the Finals— they played on, regardless of their injuries — and to the unenlightened or unknowing it looked like they were old and tired, rather than hurt. Yet another case in point: Lidstrom admitted he had surgery after getting speared in the testicles during Game Three in Chicago. And he came back to play after that? Amazing.

Well. It’s over for this year. But we’ll begin again in October. I’ll watch when I can and I’ll be obsessed again come April. And possibly well into May, and hopefully June again. There’s this about that:

DETROIT – If you liked what you saw from this year’s Stanley Cup final – and if you didn’t you’re either a Detroit Red Wings fan or you might want to check to see that you have a pulse – you might want to consider getting used to seeing these teams steal the show at the NHL’s annual spring dance.

There’s no reason to believe the Pittsburgh Penguins and Red Wings won’t be treating the hockey world to lots of deep playoff runs in the next couple of years. And who knows? Perhaps we’ll all be back here watching the Red Wings wrest the Stanley Cup back from the Penguins?

[…]

Don’t laugh, it could happen. After all, who’s going to challenge these two teams in the next couple of years? The San Jose Sharks or Washington Capitals? They might want to try getting halfway through the playoffs without losing one of these times. The Boston Bruins? Maybe, but they have some holes to fill and need to find some playoff courage somewhere along the way. The Vancouver Canucks? Come on.

The fact is the Penguins and Red Wings were in the Stanley Cup final for a reason – something about them being the class of the league. Both teams face some excruciating decisions this summer – perhaps not such a difficult one for Detroit after watching their No. 81 look more like Maid Marian or Marian Cunningham than Marian Hossa during their playoff run. They will both lose players and they will be important players.

That’s Ken Campbell, writing in The Hockey News. Getting to the Finals three years in a row might be too much to ask for some folks, but not around here. I’m thinking Pittsburgh fans feel the same way.
Update, 06/13/2009 1220 hrs: The CBC's End of Season tribute. Lotsa faces and places you know in this one. Lotsa heartbreak, too.


Yeah... it was a great season, all things considered. (h/t: Kukla's Korner)

Sigh

Congratulations Pittsburgh. Stanley Cup Champions 2009.

Penguins 2, Wings 1.

A Little Light Linkage

Something from earlier this week I should have linked, but didn’t: From ReasonOnline… The Top 10 Most Absurd Time Covers of The Past 40 Years… Mr. Luce's mag does satanism, porn, crack, Pokemon, and more! There are some doozies in there, like this one:

8. August 6, 1984: The Population Curse

Why So Worried? Using an upcoming U.N. conference in Mexico City as its hook, Time engages in some Paul Ehrlich-style doom-mongering about overpopulation.

Cue Ominous Music: "The consequences of a failure to bring the world's population growth under control are frightening. They could include widespread hunger and joblessness, accompanied by environmental devastation and cancerous urban growth. Politically, the outcome could be heightened global instability, violence and authoritarianism."

Oh, Just Settle Down: Since Time's 1984 cover story, the world's population has increased from 4.75 billion to 6.78 billion people. This year, the World Bank's Poverty Analysis reported, "Living standards have risen dramatically over the last decades. The proportion of the developing world's population living in extreme economic poverty...has fallen from 52 percent in 1981 to 26 percent in 2005.... Infant mortality rates in low- and middle-income countries have fallen from 87 per 1,000 live births in 1980 to 54 in 2006. Life expectancy in [low and middle-income] countries has risen from 60 to 66 between 1980 and 2006." According to the peace advocacy group Ploughshares, the number of armed conflicts across the globe has generally been in decline since the mid-1990s (PDF). As for "authoritarianism," with the fall of the Soviet empire, a far greater percentage of the global population lived under such regimes in 1984 than do today. Even the massive population in China is freer (if not actually "free") than it was in 1984.

The format remains the same for the other nine articles, only the crisis du jour changes. Drugs were gonna kill us all on at least two occasions in the past 40 years… the tsunami of porn, also appearing twice… three times if you count the culture being cheapened by profanity… was only slightly less bad. Yet not a word about Islamic fundamentalists. Go figger. And print media wonders why their revenues keep dropping. I guess the answer to that is there aren’t enough waiting rooms in the civilized world to support all those magazines no one reads any longer.

The supporting links in the various items make for some good reading. I know I killed about an hour with this article.

―:☺:―

As you might expect, hockey fans are being overwhelmed with reading material (and videos!) on the eve of Game Seven. The three hockey blogs I follow… Puck Daddy, Snapshots, and Kukla’s Korner… have been instrumental in keeping me up to the minute, but MOST especially George Malik of Snapshots. The man is a veritable Red Wings information-gathering MACHINE. He was still posting stuff at 0315 hrs this morning. And I was awake to read it, as well. Both of us are jes a lil bit crazy.

The winner in the “most different take” category has to be the Wall Street Journal’s profile of the Red Wings… which draws parallels between the team, the city of Detroit, and the plight of auto industry. The lede grafs:

As the ailing Motor City rallies around the Detroit Red Wings, who face the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, there is one tiny bit of irony: Michigan’s top team is powered more than ever by European imports.

Less than half the Red Wings’ roster comes from North America. The rest, and most of the team’s top talent, hails from Sweden, the Czech Republic, Russia and Finland. In all, five players are from the U.S.

Years ago, when the Big Three auto makers were allowing overseas competitors to pull ahead, the world was getting flat inside Joe Louis Arena. Starting in the 1980s, the Red Wings began building a dynasty by recruiting talent from Russia and adopting a new, European style of hockey.

The Red Wings’ success—they have won four Stanley Cups since 1997–paved the way for the rest of the league to follow. Today 30% of the NHL’s players hail from outside North America. The Red Wings are still the most international team, with 54% of their players hailing from overseas. This season, more than 80% of the Red Wings’ goals were scored by players born outside North America, up from 41.5% in the 1996-1997 season.

At the same time, the pool of available talent at home seems to be thinning. In Michigan, one of the nation’s top junior-hockey states, the struggling economy—and the high cost of junior hockey—is taking a toll on participation. USA Hockey says youth participation in the state has fallen 14% in the past three seasons.

It’s really a good article… the perfect read for the combination of Bid’niz Guy, Automotive Division and hockey fan. Who’d a thunk it?

―:☺:―

Today is The Second Mrs. Pennington’s birthday. She’s 53 today, and I have no compunctions about publishing her age. Real Women are proud of their age… the experience it brings and both the inner and outer beauty of maturity. I think TSMP falls into that camp. Or strides resolutely into it… whatevah.

So… in honor of the birthday girl… here’s a pic from the Way-Back; March of 1998, to be exact:

Happy birthday, Paula.

―:☺:―

Oh! One more thing…

GO WINGS!

This, That, and the Other

I think this is pretty cool:

The first MC-12W Liberty aircraft in-theater taxis out of an aircraft hanger at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, June 10, 2009, for its first combat sortie. The first of the Air Force's new manned intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance platforms, designed to bolster real-time ISR support to ground forces, arrived in Iraq on June 8. US Air Force photo/SrA. Tiffany Trojca

I snagged the photo from the AFA’s Daily Report, which had this to say on the subject:

Liberty Enters the Fight: The MC-12W, the Air Force's newest intelligence-reconnaissance-surveillance platform, flew its first combat sortie yesterday, a four-hour mission from Joint Base Balad, Iraq, over the Middle Eastern nation. "It feels good being out here and doing something good for the warfighter," said Capt. Jason Goodale, the pilot, after the historic mission. Manned by a four-person crew, the MC-12W is a turboprop aircraft equipped to collect signals intelligence and provide overhead live-streaming video in support of ground troops at the tactical level. The Air Force is acquiring 37 of these "Liberty Project Aircraft," under an accelerated acquisition initiative, to bolster overhead ISR in Afghanistan and Iraq. Seven will be trainers and the rest will constitute two operational units. The aircraft arrived at Balad June 8 in fully-mission-ready status. It is assigned to Balad's 362nd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron, which activated on June 9. "This is the first combat mission for the 362nd ERS, and it was a huge success," said Col. Mike Fantini, 332nd Expeditionary Operations Group commander. He added, "The milestone continues the extraordinary program to push more ISR capability to the joint-force commander." (Includes Balad reports by SSgt. Dilia Ayala on the MC-12W's arrival and inaugural combat mission)

The principal reason I think this lil aircraft… and the entire project… is noteworthy is because the Air Force took this thing from concept to combat in a little over a year. Granted the platform uses a proven “off the shelf” commercial airframe as its basis and starting point, which cuts development time considerably. But that doesn’t diminish the success of the project, which includes modifying the aircraft and integrating the ISR suite, a non-trivial task in itself. I dunno if this is some sort of record for getting off the drawing board and out into the field, but I’m sure it’s close.

―:☺:―

An AAR*, of sorts… The American Masters episode on Neil Young was excellent last evening and met my high expectations for both content and production. I don’t want to get too maudlin or anything, Gentle Reader, but you just would NOT believe how many memory-buttons got pushed… and pushed hard… last night. Music is a powerful memory stimulant for us all and particularly so when we associate certain tunes with certain events of great magnitude in our lives. The dormant synapses that fired off last evening went all the way back to shortly after Son Number One was born (think: Buffalo Springfield)… and that, Gentle Reader, is over 42 years ago. And the hits just kept on comin’… not a few of which left me rather… ummm… misty. Stuff happens.

I should note the program ended on a spectacular down note for YrHmblScrb… concluding as it did with Neil’s latest efforts, which include a not-so-clever little ditty entitled “Let’s Impeach the President.” I might could (and did) buy into moonbat politics back in the ‘70s. But nowadays? Not so much. Not at ALL, actually. Mr. Young won’t get any of my money for crap like that, no matter how much I love him.

*AAR: after action report.

―:☺:―

Your oh-so-brief hockey update for the day comes from Christine Brennan, writing in USA Today (egad!). Excerpts:

You know what they say about hockey being much better in person? It might be time to amend that statement, because it's actually much better on high-definition TV.

Due to HDTV, hockey is now watchable and even understandable for people who didn't grow up in or near Canada. Thus, it's entirely possible that better times are ahead for this sport, due in large part to technology.

"High definition has been a great benefit for all sports, but it has been a unique benefit for hockey," said sports television consultant Neal Pilson, former president of CBS Sports. "Hockey is a very fast sport; the puck moves very quickly. Given the difficulty that people have had watching a hockey game compared to watching a baseball or basketball game, high definition can have a big impact. It allows you to see on TV what you see in the arena, with great clarity."

[…]

Hockey has always been known as the world's fastest game, a description the sport should play up at every turn as the attention span of the U.S. sports fan lessens year by year. Not only is there more beautiful passing and skating, and less fighting, in hockey's playoffs than its regular season, it also should be noted that the NHL doesn't hog your time like the NBA.

When there are five minutes left in an NHL game, that means it will take about five minutes to finish the game, give or take a 30-second timeout or two. When there are five minutes left in an NBA game, it's time to order a pizza.

No new technology is needed, though, to accentuate hockey's best attribute: Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, traditionally the best Game 7 in sports. For the first time in three years, the NHL gives us the ultimate finale Friday night. At the end, we can only hope it's close, that someone is pulling the goalie, that an empty net looms ominously at one end of the ice.

Yeah… a paean to Game Seven. Ms. Brennan takes a lot of time contrasting the NBA and the NHL… and the NHL comes out favorably. As it should. One other thing… let’s hope that empty net during the last minute of tomorrow night’s game is at Pittsburgh’s end of the ice.

―:☺:―

Finally… your daily dose of Michael Ramirez:

I’m not one to go on about gub’mint-provided health care, seeing as how I’ve lived under the military’s variation of same my entire life, less those (approximately) 16 years I was in private industry and had employer-provided health insurance. That said, I’m of the opinion that health care as provided by the same sorts of folks who bring you the Department of Education and the IRS probably isn’t a great good thing.

Right Now

Watching The Silk Road Ensemble (on Live From Lincoln Center) to kick off an evening of music on PBS...



Next up: Neil Young. That's something of a leap... and anything but boring.

Clutterf!cked

There’s an old saying that work expands to fit available time and I do believe there’s a corollary that applies to junk and clutter, as well. I took a look around El Casa Móvil De Pennington recently and am simply amazed and mortified at how my available space has been consumed with clutter. A lot of it has to do with the rash of deliveries we’ve taken from The Brown Truck O’ Happiness lately (in the form of yet-to-be-discarded boxes), but by no means all. I’ve slowly but steadily expanded my collection of “stuff” since I went off the road… adding a scanner, a printer, a couple of boxes of old photos that I fully intend to scan but haven’t quite got around to (yet… I tell myself), a larger TV, a desktop PC (vs. the old laptop), a larger monitor… and the list goes on.

Photographic Evidence:

Compare those shots to my early days in El Casa Móvil De Pennington:

Being overcome with clutter is but one example of how men absolutely require the presence of a woman in their lives, as things tend to get out of hand when we’re left to our own devices. All that said, the routine cleaning… vacuuming, dusting, taking out the trash, doing the dishes and the other mundane daily chores… (mostly) gets done without fail. It’s a merciless purging I’m in need of… which is to say I need a field day* in the worst sort of way.

Soon. But more than likely mañana. It's time for Happy Hour.

* military slang for those days spent entirely on cleaning and policing the area.

Yet Another PSA... But Serious This Time

From left, Emmylou Harris, Neil Young and Pegi Young perform in the second half of the concert for the film Neil Young: Heart of Gold by Jonathan Demme. This photo was released to the press for promotional purposes by Paramount Classics and Paramount Home Entertainment.
(Image and caption from Wikipedia)

Ex-hippie alert… tomorrow night on PBS (check local listings, as they say… it’s on at 2030 hrs here in P-Ville):

Neil Young
Don't Be Denied

A resolutely private artist who seldom looks back, Neil Young has never before unfolded his career on camera. With unprecedented access to one of the world’s renowned music legends, American Masters presents Neil Young: Don’t Be Denied premiering nationally Wednesday, June 10, 2009 at 9 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listings). The film explores how Young’s unbending dedication to the muse has created an awe-inspiring body of work and bruised a few egos along the way.

Told in Young’s own words, the film weaves hours of exclusive interview, shot in New York and California, with previously unseen performance footage from the star’s own extensive collection. The documentary also features long-time collaborators Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, David Crosby, Nils Lofgren and James Taylor.

“There’s no denying Neil Young as music’s most uncompromising rock royalty,” says Susan Lacy, creator and executive producer of American Masters, a six-time winner of the Emmy Award for Outstanding Primetime Non-Fiction Series. “He’s an irreverent poet with a rock and roll heart. His music embodies the arc of American experience, challenges authoritative views, defies industry pigeon-holing and continues to have an impact on musicians and fans worldwide.”

Charting Young’s musical journey from his suburban Canadian childhood to his Hollywood superstardom, an intimate camera captures the critical benchmarks and personal pitfalls of the godfather of grunge. In the late 60s, he achieved early acclaim with the short-lived yet influential psychedelic garage band, Buffalo Springfield, which launched his solo career. During this creative streak, he founded Crazy Horse and collaborated with Crosby, Stills and Nash. Adding fuel to his already rising success, these bands also shot to meteoric fame. The intensity of mega-stardom, mixed with frequent bouts of artistic differences, led to Young’s departure from both groups. He later explained his anti-star status, “I didn’t spend 10 years in the 60s and 70s creating something so I could be a prisoner of it … You know if you’re trying to stay in the favor of the public, you’re a loser – you’ll never get there.”

I dunno if you’ve ever watched any of PBS’ American Masters series, Gentle Reader, but I think they’re VERY well done and highly recommend any and all them. I’ve yet to see a clinker in any of the episodes I’ve watched… they’re phenomenal, each and every one. It’s with that in mind that I’ll be in front of my teevee tomorrow night, thankful there’s not a hockey game on at the same time.

Neil Young is a long-time favorite of mine, going all the way back to the ‘60s. A quick search reveals I’ve mentioned him and his music in seven different posts here at EIP, and here’s an excerpt from one such:

In the beginning…during our courtship… The Second Mrs. Pennington and I spent a lot of time at this little coffee shop not far from her apartment in Musashi-Koganei (a Tokyo suburb). Like most Tokyo coffee shops at the time, this one had a really excellent, state-of-the art stereo system and a huge collection of albums. Patrons were encouraged, and I mean encouraged…it was almost demanded…to let the owners know their preferences in music. It was customary for the shop to play an entire album side of whichever artist you requested. Early on…within hours, if not minutes…TSMP and I discovered we both had a mutual love and admiration for Neil Young. And the help at “our” coffee shop learned this pretty quickly, as well. From about our third or fourth visit it became standard procedure for the help to put Neil’s “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” (side one) on as soon as we walked in, no questions asked. With big smiles all around, especially from us.

Yup. Ol’ Neil’s very, very special to me… and a few million others.

―:☺:―

A host of Red Wings and Penguins crash the net for a failed goal shot attempt by Detroit's Johan Franzen during the final seconds of the third period of Game 6 between the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals, Tuesday June 9, 2009 at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh.
(ANDRE JACKSON/DFP)

The oh-so-brief hockey update: there will be a Game Seven this Friday night. The Beloved Wings lost to the Flightless Birds last night, 2-1. Broke my frickin’ heart, that did… and SN1’s, too. We were both rather despondent in our post-game telephone wrap-up. But it’s only a brief sort of heartbreak, yanno? I fully expect the Wings will be triumphant Friday. The loss last night only adds to the drama of the series, which has been one of the best Finals in recent memory.

Enough about that.

Under the WX and One Other Minor Moan

I had a restless night and didn’t sleep well at all. I finally figured out what the Hell was going on around 0530 hrs this morning: I hurt. This wasn’t a dreadful, all-encompassing sort of pain but more of a low level deal centered in my lower back and thighs. So… I rolled out, took a couple of Aleves, fired off the coffee pot, and waited for the Aleves to kick in. I drank half the pot before the pain went away and then thought it a good idea to return to bed. And so I did.

I was awakened from a moderately good sleep about 20 minutes ago by the sound of my awning flapping and banging in the considerable breeze. Our wind subsided quite a bit yesterday, which allowed me to put the awning down and keep it down until just a few minutes ago. Alas, the wind has returned and it will be another 90-degree sort of day. But there is a silver sort of lining: it’s completely overcast. Ergo, no direct sun on El Casa Móvil De Pennington this afternoon.

Thank God for small favors.

I shall now return from whence I came: au lit. I hope this ain’t the flu or something like it. I kinda doubt it, though. More than likely it’s just simple creakiness due to Old Age… which ain’t for sissies.

Just so your visit here today isn’t a complete waste, here’s another photo from times past, specifically 10/20/2006:

Today’s Pic: Riotous color in a Santa Fe outdoor market - June, 2004. As always, click the pic for the larger version. In this case, you most definitely should look at the larger pic.

I need to get back up that way... soon.

What? Another Re-Run?

Umm, yeah. It's summer, for starters. I'm just not feelin' it today, for seconders. Maybe it's coz I'm not fully caffeinated yet, for thirders. We shall ponder the circumstances while taking our coffee. In the meantime, from 11/22/2006...

The Horror! The Horror!

Today’s Pic: From a slender volume titled “Little Known Horror B-Movie Out-Takes, vol. VII.” “The happy couple stood on the valley floor, blissfully unaware of their impending doom as The Blob silently but inexorably approached…”

YrsTrly and Friend at the Valley of Fires, aka the Malpais Lava Flow. April, 2004.

Do ya think I might have some potential as a copywriter? Nah, I didn't think so. Me neither, for that matter.

♫♪ What Else Can I Be? All Apologies... ♫♪

With apologies (heh) to Kurt Cobain (RIP).

Is Ramirez right, or what?

―:☺:―

And now we'll complain about the weather... for which I apologize, coz apologies are ALL the rage.

Yesterday was not a particularly nice day here on The High Plains of New Mexico, what with the evil combination of mid-90 degree temps and the gawd-awful wind. I don’t mind one or the other, but I DO mind both. The primary reason I take exception to the combination of wind and heat is I cannot put my awning down when the wind is high; otherwise I wouldn’t have an awning. For long. And that means El Casa Móvil De Pennington sits in full-sun for the entire afternoon, which in turn stresses my air conditioning. Think of a car sitting in a parking lot on a hot summer’s day and you’ve grasped the problem.

We’ll have more of the same today, unfortunately. Here’s what we look like right now…

And here’s what the kind folks at the NWS in Albuquerque tell us:

Issued by The National Weather Service
Albuquerque, NM
9:43 am MDT, Sun., Jun. 7, 2009

... wind advisory remains in effect until 7 pm MDT this evening...

A wind advisory remains in effect until 7 pm MDT this evening.

West to southwest winds will increase by early afternoon over much of eastern New Mexico. Wind speeds of 25 to 35 mph with occasional gusts up to 50 and 55 mph will be possible. These strong winds will create areas of blowing dust which may briefly reduce visibility at times. Winds are expected to decrease in speed by sunset.

(sigh) Every region has its weather-crosses to bear… wind and heat are ours. There are redeeming qualities, given the wind dies down after sunset and that’s a Good Thing. We delayed Happy Hour yesterday until after the game was over… and then we went out into the cool of the evening and enjoyed four fingers of single-malt and a cigar. Our hair was only slightly mussed when we returned indoors.

Yes!

(graphic from NHL.com)

Now that’s more like it. Here’s Bob Wojnowski from the Detroit News:

Detroit -- They skated as if their reputations were on fire. They attacked as if insulted by the insinuations of creakiness and fatigue. The Red Wings blasted through a wall of growing doubt as if it wasn't even there, and after this performance, maybe it isn't.

The Wings played as if they'd been here before, and we know they have. The Penguins played as if they had no idea how to handle it, and frankly, acted idiotic at times.

This was a champion's response on a Saturday night of danger, as the Wings pounded the Penguins 5-0 to grab a 3-2 lead in the Stanley Cup Finals, one victory from a repeat championship. So, the old red-bearded warriors have something left, eh?

Suddenly, all the questions about the Wings' composure can be transferred to the Penguins, who started hacking and whacking once the game got out of control. Pain doesn't hurt now, isn't that the theory? If the Wings indeed are wounded, they have plenty of fight left, and they'll need it because as impressive as this victory was, you know the series will go back to intense when it resumes in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.

The Wings got home after a poor performance in Game 4 and inhaled fumes of desperation. Oh, it also helped that Pavel Datsyuk leaped over the boards in the first minute after missing seven games with a foot injury. When he hit the ice, the Joe Louis Arena crowd erupted and the Wings had the boost they craved.

Later in the first period, it was Datsyuk controlling the puck, carrying it into the Penguins' end and flipping it to Dan Cleary, who fired it past a startled Marc-Andre Fleury for a 1-0 lead.

And then it was off to the races, Gentle Reader. The Wings only got stronger as the game wore on while Pittsburgh’s composure completely disintegrated, as evidenced by the numerous penalties the Flightless Birds took. “Disintegration” is putting it mildly while being kind. Other words come to mind… chief among them “idiotic,” as Bob notes. The Wings made the Pens pay for their whacks, hacks, and other cheap shots… going three-for-nine on the power play. It was a thing of beauty for Wings fans.

I had my moments during the first seven minutes of the game when Pittsburgh came out like a house afire. Most of the play was in the Wings zone during that time but the game turned when the Wings killed off a Pens power play, denying them even a single shot on goal. Datsyuk and Cleary sped down the ice a couple of few minutes later and opened up the scoring, making it 1-0 Wings. I didn’t have one single anxious moment after that. Not one. Like I said: a thing of beauty.

So. Back to Pittsburgh on Tuesday. No one is counting the Pens out and one could say their pride has been severely injured with this embarrassing loss. But I’m thinking there’s a MUCH better than even chance we’ll watch the Wings skate the Cup around Mellon Arena Tuesday night. After all… Pavel’s back and we’re looking pretty danged good at this moment in time. The Pens? Not so much.

―:☺:―

Here are the game highlights… ALL the goals and a few of the hits… especially for SN1. He had a social function some Mandatory Fun to attend this evening and missed the game. What’s worse is he left specific instructions for the game to be recorded so he could watch when he got home… and it wasn’t. I filled him in as best as I could, but there’s NO substitute for seeing it yourself.

There ya go, Buck.