Sucks to Be a Sharks Fan

Dan Boyle... in overtime, in his own net:

This after three periods of scoreless hockey.  I feel bad about Sunday's Red Wings loss but not half as bad as your average Sharks fan feels tonight.  I believe in omens and this is a bad one for San Jose.

Briefly

I just turned on my teevee and am gratified to see those surprisin' Habs are ahead of those disappointin' Caps... 2 - 1.  Ovechkin got his FIRST shot on goal in the series just as I tuned in.  Who'd a thunk it?

Heh.  Go Habs!

Update, 1835 hrs:  Good Grief.  The wheels are coming off the Caps' wagon.  4 - 2, Montreal.  Washington scores as we type... with 1:37 left in the second.   There's still a lot o' hockey to be played but it sure ain't lookin' good for Washington.

Update, 1901 hrs:  Caps turn up the heat... Ovechkin gets a goal to bring Washington within one.  This is GOOD stuff! 

Update, 1915 hrs:  We have a hockey game.  Backstrom ties it with a pass from #8.  Three unanswered goals...

Update, 1925 hrs:  Montreal ties it takes the lead.  This is intense; Caps to go on the power play after the teevee time-out.  Wow.

Update, 1932 hrs:  My Bad on my last... Montreal took the lead, but the Caps tie it with 1:32 left in the third.  Seven seconds left... we WILL have overtime!

Update, 1952 hrs:  That didn't take long... Backstrom gets the winner and a hat trick 31 seconds in; Caps win.  The series is tied, but what an effort on Montreal's part!  

Thriller

Last night was almost TOO much excitement... and El Casa Móvil De Pennington was literally rockin'.  We got off to a rocky start last evening, given the bizarre and arcane scheduling that is Versus in these play-offs.  NO ONE... save fans of the Flightless Birds and that team from Ottawa... could have been pleased with Versus last evening.  Which is to say we got to watch the entire Pittsburgh - Ottawa game and then piece parts of Chicago - Nashville, NONE of the Dee-troit game (more about which follows) and only the last half of the third period and the OT of the Fish v. the Dive.  We were simply astounded that the Wings' game on Versus was blacked out in its entirety here in P-Ville, but our astonishment was overcome due to the fact we have Fox Sports Arizona (hunh?) on our local Comcast Cable System... which is the reason for the Versus black-out.  So... all was well.  

Buck beat feet over to our place after a quick phone call and we settled down to watch the game.  Which turned out to be one of those heart-stopping, up and back, run and gun games with the lead changing hands faster than Elizabeth Taylor changed husbands in her prime.  Highlights:

There were five goals in slightly less than four minutes in the second period, which is the third highest number of goals in that time frame EVER.  The mood swings we experienced during that time would have put ANY menopausal woman to shame... or just when one thought it was time for a sigh of relief those Feral Dogs would even it up.  Again and again.  "Excitement" isn't quite the word to describe the experience.

But.  Not to worry.  The Wings' special teams got back on track, blanking the Feral Dogs on all four of their man-advantages while scoring on two of three Dee-troit power plays.  We also think Phoenix learned they can't play "run and gun" with these Wings... which was truly a recipe for disaster last evening.  For Phoenix.

Finally... you'll notice at the end of the video above Zetterberg got a hat-trick with his empty-netter at the end of the third.  What's not shown is that it took about three minutes to sweep up all the hats that rained down on the ice in Jobing.com Arena, otherwise known as Joe Louis West.  There's not another team in the league that can count on nearly a hundred hats (my best guess) being thrown on the ice at their opponent's home barn.  To quote ZZ Top:  "We're bad... we're nationwide."  Yup.

Game Three tomorrow in Dee-troit.  And I'm sticking with the "Wings in five" prediction.

The BEST Stanley Cup Playoff Moment(s)...

... so far:

I saw only teeny-tiny bits of Vancouver's Green Men last night but what little I DID see made me laugh.  OK, hats off to the Canucks fans that came up with this bit o' madness.  Too cool.  There's more on the Green Men at Puck Daddy.

By the way... last night's El-Eh - Vancouver game was magnificent, one of two great outings in the early going. LA lost to the Canucks in OT, just like the Caps lost to the Habs.  BOTH games were superlative... the only difference being one team deserved to lose (the Caps) and the other most definitely didn't.  I was rooting for LA (believe it or don't) and I think Drew Doughty is about as impressive a D-Man as there is in these playoffs.   I also think both of these series are gonna go a lot longer than most people expected.

Happy After-Tax Day

I thought the above is quite appropriate for the day, eh?  I did my taxes last week in an effort to avoid the rush... as I usually do.  But I always wait until nearly the last minute as I always owe My Favorite Uncle a small piece o' change.  In odd numbered years, anyhoo.  I get a small amount of my contribution to the Federal Fisc back in even-numbered years, given The Second Mrs. Pennington and I share the sole remaining child exemption... she's odd, I'm even.  There's additional truth in that last statement... of a sort.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

The Goo Goo Dolls from Former Happy Days...

Do you wake up on your own
And wonder where you are?
You live with all your faults

I wanna wake up where you are
I won't say anything at all
So why don't you slide

Yeah, I'm gonna let it slide

Yeah.  Slide.  And now it's back outside, yadda yadda yadda...

Beautiful?

Well... in Russian eyes.  We're speaking of this:

We got a significant amount of rain last evening (like all freakin' night, to be exact) and the overnight result is what you see above, to wit: HUGE numbers of bright yellow dandelions visible everywhere within the confines of Beautiful La Hacienda Trailer Park.  

This is a sight that would drive me to tears in my previous lives... speaking of those times when we lived in various suburban enclaves in this fine, fine country of ours.  Which was where the sight of a single dandelion with the temerity to raise it's bright yellow head in untold acres of verdant green Kentucky Blue Grass or similar would be cause for much gnashing and thrashing... if not within YOU, then most certainly among your neighbors who feared airborne contamination of their green space from the seed that would follow.  We simply did NOT tolerate dandelions and went to great lengths to eradicate them, with quite a bit of success too, not to mention expense.  And labor.

So... I carried that mindset to the former Evil Empire when I went there on bid'niz in the Spring of 1995 or thereabouts (actual dates fail me).  I was amazed at the carpets of dandelions seemingly everywhere... in the parks, in lawns in front of buildings modest and grand, apartment buildings, everywhere... Moscow was overrun with the damned things.   My Russian hosts laughed at my shock and said "Aren't they beautiful?  The dandelions announce the arrival of Spring, and we LOVE them!"

Well, OK.  It's hard to accept diversity sometimes, in even the smallest of things.  We struggle with the concept of dandelions even today.

―:☺:―

I'd go on about last night's hockey games but I'm just not in the mood.  My Beloved Wings did NOT show up last night in Phoenix and lost... 3 - 2 ... a game that they should have won.  To say Detroit's penalty kill was abysmal is understating things in an otherworldly way, as all three Feral Desert Dog goals came on the power play and that is disgraceful.  NOT a good beginning.

But I am not alone in my misery today.  The Senators beat down the Flightless Birds (a GOOD thing and oh-so-gratifying to watch), the Devils lost to the "we barely made the playoffs and squeaked in on the last day with only 88 miserable points" Flyers, and the Avs embarrassed the Number One seed in the West, winning with but 46 ticks left in regulation.  So there's plenty of misery among certain classes of puckheads today.  But.  It IS early and we've only just begun.  There's much more agony and ecstasy ahead. 

As Seen On Red Eye (Part II, I Think)

As Gutfeld noted... that was a BOY.  Draw your own conclusions.  (We've decided to be sexist rather than racist... for a while, anyhoo.)

Tonight's the Night

Tonight we begin what will hopefully turn out to be a long and deep run in the playoffs.  I say that every year, of course.  And Dee-troit's run has been deep indeed these last two years, with a Cup in 2008 and a SCF loss in seven games to an undeserving team last year.  This year marks the Wings' 19th consecutive appearance in the playoffs... the longest such streak in professional sports... and the first time since 1991 that the Wings open the playoffs on the road.

We're hopeful again this year, what with the Wings being the league's hottest team since the Olympics break... going 16-3-2.  But... our first round opponent is the league's second hottest team since the Olympics... the Phoenix Desert Dogs (13-4-2).  And strange things happen in the playoffs, especially when the Wings run into a team with a hot goalie.  We don't wanna even think about a first round exit.  So we won't.

That said, nearly everyone predicts a first-round win for the Wings.  Here's what the ESPN guys think:

And the homer columnists in Dee-troit all agree, Detroit will prevail in the first round.  After the first round?  The Freep sports guys are strangely pessimistic, with Albom predicting a second round exit, Sharp and Rosenberg predicting a loss in the West Final, Sipple with a loss in the SCF, and the eternally-optimistic Helene St. James (bless her heart!) predicting Detroit's 12th Stanley Cup.  I'll go on the record as Wings in five.  Me and Buccigross.

As for tonight?  We will be in front of the teevee over at Buck's house this evening precisely at 2000 hrs (MDT), wearing our Wings jersey with beer in hand.  And that might be the BEST part of these 2010 playoffs... Buck and I will get to see at least two games together this year.  Good stuff.

A Worthy Cause

I received an e-mail from the good folks at the MLK Memorial organization asking if I'd be kind enough to publicize fund-raising to establish the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in DeeSee.  Why, yes... yes I would.  Here's some verbiage from the web site:

The Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial will be the first on the National Mall to recognize a person of color and a man of peace, not a president or a veteran of war. In 1996 Congress authorized the Memorial Foundation to raise funds to establish a national memorial to honor the legacy of Dr. King on the National Mall. The memorial’s very existence signifies that we as a people believe Dr. King and his legacy deserve this esteemed placement in what can be considered America’s “Hall of Fame.”

As my title sez... a worthy cause.

Yet More Thievery

Thanks, Phlegmmy.  My new favorite song:

Polly Jean has it right.  I want a woman who thinks of me like this.  And vice versa...

I can't believe that life's so complex
When I just want to sit here and watch you undress
I can't believe that life's so complex
When I just want to sit here and watch you undress

This is love, this is love
That I'm feeling
This is love, this is love
That I'm feeling
This is love
That I'm feeling

Does it have to be a life full of dread
I wanna chase you round the table, I wanna touch your head
Does it have to be a life full of dread
I wanna chase you round the table, I wanna touch your head

OK, there's more to love than chasing your beloved around the table.   But that's the way it begins and that's one of... if not THE... biggest parts of it.  I'm not going to wax philosophical on only a single cup o' coffee but I will say this:  the reason I remain unattached is I haven't found another woman who inspires this sort of feeling in me.

Side Effects

I've always found the imagery in this ad bizarre if not downright creepy:

The very idea of a luminescent butterfly flitting about the bedroom is disturbing but that's just the beginning of it.  The ad above is old and I can't find the current ad anywhere on these inter-tubes.  The thing that gets me is the current ad's litany of side-effects, which are considerable.  Here are some I found (embedded links in text removed):

These include, but are not limited to:

• Chest pain
• Anxiety or nervousness
• Suicidal thoughts (see Suicide by Lunesta)
• Confusion
• More outgoing or aggressive behavior than normal
• Strange behavior
• Depression (see Lunesta and Depression)
• Hallucinations (seeing, hearing, or feeling things that are not really there)
• Signs of an allergic reaction, including unexplained rash, itching, hives, wheezing or trouble breathing, or unexplained swelling.

I understand the FDA's mandate for listing side-effects and I also understand these things occur in a very small percentage of subjects in clinical trials.  Still and even... I damned sure wouldn't take any drug that might include the highlighted effects, however small that possibility may be.  

The current ad also mentions somnambulism as a problem, including driving while on Lunesta and not remembering you did so.  Yikes!  The caution about not mixing alcohol and Lunesta would be kinda problematic for YrHmblScrb, as well.  And there's always that damned luminescent butterfly.  Which is not a problem according to some people, or it shouldn't be...

Heh.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

This song has been covered by lots and lots of folks... Bonnie Raitt does it better than most:

But the version we heard while sitting our Old Ass outside some minutes ago was this one:

Ah... Ol' Joe is brilliant on this tune.  I loves me some Joe Cocker -- he's done some positively brilliant work over the years and might possibly be an acquired taste... like fine single-malt.  That said, there's too much extraneous chat in the clip above.  Less chat and more music is where we're at today.  And now... all that said... here's the original:

Blind Faith's take... being the original... is arguably still the best version of this tune.  We break this song out whenever we're feeling philosophical and today is just that sort of day... given our skies are gray (both literally and metaphorically) and spitting rain on our parade.  So here we be... just inside, slightly wet, half-wasted, and wonderin' if we shall ever "find our way home..."  

I doubt it.

Fingers Crossed

We haven't had a computer event in over 30 hours now and we think we may have fixed our issue.  Windows, as everyone knows (and NO comments... please... from Apple Fan-bois or Linux geeks), is subject to the occasional crash every now and then.  But we've been cruisin' along fat, dumb, and happy until the last three or four days.  Witness:

One thing I really like about Vista is the improved on-board diagnostics compared to previous editions of Windows, where such tools were largely non-existent or completely user-UNfriendly.  Us run-of-the-mill and somewhat clue-impaired users were largely left out in the cold.  Or in the dark.. you choose.  But back to our Tale O' Woe.  After much searching and googling of obscurely-worded error messages we noticed that this lil event occurred every single time our box puked:

"SideBySide" is an adware application that sneaky-assed web sites deposit on your 'puter without either your knowledge or your permission.  And Norton...bless their black lil hearts... allows this app to be installed.  Yesterday we removed SideBySide from our box and we have had no subsequent crashes.

Thus: fingers crossed.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

A broom is drearily sweeping
Up the broken pieces of yesterday’s life
Somewhere a queen is weeping
Somewhere a king has no wife
And the wind, it cries Mary 

The wind doubtless cries many more names than "Mary."  We have a name in mind, Gentle Reader... but we shall let that pass.  We're listening to Pandora's "Rolling Stones" station this afternoon... and here's a sample of what we've heard in the past six minutes or so:

It's SUCH a nice day here on The High Plains of New Mexico...  79 degrees, a crystal-clear blue sky, and the gentlest of gentle breezes.  Our awning is down, the beer is cool,  the music is great, and we're enjoying a shady afternoon outdoors on the verandah.  And so it's back outside to continue as we've begun...  I hope your Saturday is as good as ours.

Our "New" Nuclear Deterrent

Excerpts from some recent Air Force Association Daily Reports on this subject:

DeMIRVing: The United States will reduce the nuclear payload on each of its Minuteman III ICBMs down "to a single warhead" under the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia, says Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This will happen "over the life of the treaty," he said Tuesday in the Pentagon during a press briefing on the Obama Administration's newly issued nuclear posture review. Minuteman IIIs can carry up to three warheads. ... Once in force, each side has seven years to reduce its arsenal to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads, 700 deployed launchers, and 800 total launchers, including non-deployed assets. (NPR full document; caution, large file.) (Transcript of NPR press briefing with Cartwright)

And these:

Less Ambiguous: The United States will not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapons states that are party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and in compliance with it, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters Tuesday in the Pentagon on the release of the Obama Administration's nuclear posture review. Removing some of the calculated ambiguity from US declaratory policy is one of the "significant changes to the US nuclear posture" that this document encapsulates, he said. Nonetheless, Gates said "all options are on the table" for dealing with states like Iran and North Korea that do not abide by international rules. Among its highlights, preventing nuclear terrorism and proliferation is the top US nuclear policy goal—a first for US nuclear posture. The NPR also places more emphasis on the nation's "unsurpassed conventional military capabilities" and missile defenses for security. And, it says the US will not pursue new nuclear weapons. (NPR full document) (Obama statement)

No New Nukes: The United States will not develop new nuclear warheads, according to the Obama Administration's nuclear policy review issued Tuesday. So say goodbye to a new design that Pentagon leaders have advocated in the past to assure the safety, security, and reliability of the stockpile. Further, the NPR states that any life-extension programs to existing warheads "will use only nuclear components based on previously tested designs" and "will not support new military missions or provide for new military capabilities." Life-extension options will be explored on a case-by-case basis. The US "will give strong preference" to options for refurbishment of existing warheads or reuse of nuclear components from different warheads, it states. Outright replacement of nuclear components would only be undertaken if the other options aren't viable and would require Presidential authorization and Congressional approval, according to the review. (See Less Ambiguous above) (NPR full document)

There are a LOT of things not to like about this new treaty... but the highlighted bits above are what should concern all of us the most. Our nuclear warheads are old and "old" doesn't equate to reliability in any other area of life I'm aware of.  An unreliable deterrent isn't much of a deterrent at all, and don't think our enemies aren't aware of this fact.  It's just too damned bad Obama doesn't realize this... it should be obvious to a Commander in Chief... any CinC.  Or so one would think.

Just Wonderin'

So... we just got back from the mail kiosk a few minutes ago... and here's what we found in today's mail:

We've been absolutely inundated with this crap for at least three weeks now, or ever since about a week before our birthday.  Which makes us wonder why everyone is SO upset about filling out the census form.  Hell, everybody and their Mom already knows most everything there is to know about us anyway, as you can plainly see.  Privacy?  There ain't none such.

But what irritates me is that none of these asshats even had the common courtesy to wish me a Happy Birthday before trying to get to my wallet.  Needless to say:  this stuff goes into the trash unopened.

Linkage

Most of the "12 Greatest Geek Tattoos" aren't all that funny... but this one made me smile (click for larger):

Yeah.  I'd think twice.  At the VERY least.

Ominous

We've had a rash of computer "events" over the past 48 hours... in the form of sudden, no-warning, complete and total shut downs.  One moment we're puttering along normally and then... nothing.  We had three such this morning and can find nothing in the event logs, which is to say there are no "critical" events and very few minor incidents that would give us a clue as to what is going on.  The weird thing is the computer behaves normally after I power it back up... and the complete lack of error messages in the Event Log is MOST troubling.  I hate it when this sorta thing happens...

―:☺:―

Generation gap...   SN1 and I had a brief discussion about life at Kandahar last evening, based on Gen. McChrystal's recent banning of all fast-food at the Afghanistan MOBs.  Just to summarize... I said I supported the ban and agreed with the Good General in that there ain't no room for Pizza Hut in a war-zone.  Buck said it was bad for morale, given that Kandahar serves as a sort of in-country R&R point for troops out in the field (believe it or don't) and taking away something that exists is generally bad form.  I can see Buck's point, but I still side with McChrystal... if only for the lighter load on the logistics system.  We agreed to disagree.

I then proceeded to shoot off my mouth that all concerned would be better off if "certain aspects" of General Order Number One were revoked (yup: beer), commenting that SN1's war and mine were radically different in this regard... and his was much the worse for it.  (Full disclosure: I was never in the AOR during Vietnam... just on the edges of it.)  More disagreement ensued, with Buck in favor of the "no alcohol" policy.  His position is that EVERYONE is armed in The Af and beer and firearms don't mix well, if at all.  Point taken, I admitted.  OTOH, an absolute ban eliminates a stress relief mechanism while giving a disinterested observer the impression the command doesn't trust the troops to behave responsibly.  There certainly should be some middle ground between prohibition and daily drunken orgies.  But... it is what it is and I don't think the policy is gonna change.  But our NATO allies seem to be doing fairly well WITH alcohol, no? 

―:☺:―

We tried to watch a little of the Frozen Four yesterday afternoon but gave it up once RIT went down to Wisconsin by a score of 4 - 0... or shortly after the second period began.  Poor ol' RIT was just outclassed; the final score was 8 - 1.  Once we realized the game was gonna be a blow-out we headed outside for a beer and a cigar before moseying over to Buck's place for dinner.

We got home fairly early last evening and were pleased to find the second semi-final game was still in progress on the tube.  Alas, this too was a blow-out.  Boston College spanked number one seed Miami (OH) by the final score of  7 - 1.  It was sorta close when I tuned in at the end of the second period, what with BC having a not insurmountable 3 - 0 lead.  Miami scored early in the third and it looked like we might have a game... but it was ALL over midway in the third when BC scored THREE times within a minute and a half.  Turn out the lights...

I'm hoping Saturday's final is better.  It should be...

Mission Accomplished

Beer?  Check.

Cigars?  Check.  Multiple.

Single-malt?  Check.  Multiples thereof, too.  But not to excess, of course.   We were safe to drive home.

War stories?  You bet... but mostly of the leadership/management sort, given and received.  That would be a function of age, yanno?

Earlier this evening:

Buck and His Beloved.

Buck and Dad, just in from the smoking lounge.  Note the bag at left.  Heh.