More Posted Without Comment

That's two in a row from Chuck.  He's on sumthin' of a roll in my book.

Inadvertant Humor

From a Taranto tweet...

OK, it's juvenile... granted.  But it IS funny.

In the Mail

Today's Happy Hour will be a good one, assuming we warm up a bit between now and whenever the mood strikes me (I'm still drinkin' my "morning" coffee).  Mainly because I received these in the mail today, in addition to the more-than-my share ration of frickin' junk mail (see left):

That's a box of Drew Estate Toro Negras, which is a damned fine cigar.  We were also pleased to see our buddy Tim tossed in a bag o' three Drew Estate Natural Torpedoes, just out o' the kindness of his heart.  I've said this before:  I LOVE doin' bid'niz with Tim.

―:☺:―

Speakin' o' junk mail... does your Trash folder look like this? 

By "look like this" I mean do you delete about a quarter of your mail unread?  I know there's a cure for this, as in "opt out."  But sometimes I read this stuff.  Not often, just sometimes.

―:☺:―

Tiny Lil Music Review (with apologies to The Shoebox Blog):  Yesterday we received five of the six new CDs we ordered a couple o' few days ago; we've completed the first listen and are well into the second go-round.  The best thang is there ain't a clunker in the bunch; all are VERY pleasing to my ears.  The only bad thang I might possibly say is there doesn't seem to be any one outstanding cut on any of the CDs.  I define "outstanding" as music that raises the hair on my forearms, causes goosebumps to appear unbidden, and makes me want to put that cut on repeat for about an hour.  None such jumped out at me on the first run through, but there MIGHT be one such on the Susan Tedeschi album.... there's potential there.  I knew what I was getting here: a woman who's both an excellent guitarist and a rightful heir to Janis Joplin when it comes to singin' the blues.  Of the five albums I received this one is definitely my favorite... but we still have one album yet to come.

That isn't to say the Alison Krauss, Joan Osborne, or Norah Jones albums are bad... they most definitely aren't.  Ms. Krauss has a voice that can best be described as "sweetness and purity, personified," Norah is Norah... which is to say consistently GOOD, and Joan... well, JOAN.  Ms. Osborne does most excellent covers of several Motown tunes (and others, as well) on this album, and I just might post one or two later today... assuming I can find 'em on the Tube O' You.

Posted Without Comment

"It's Only a Game... But It's a GREAT Game"

Out of all the ads the NHL is running this playoff season, this one's my favorite...

Yup.  It's JUST like that if you live in a hockey town.  (sigh)

Update, somewhat later:  Yeah, I've been watching a lot of NHL vids this morning (morning?  Don't ask...).  This one is new to me (I think it may have only played in the Dee-troit market, for obvious reasons):



Wow, that one brings back some VERY poignant memories.  I relocated to Rochester, NY in 1996, the year before the Wings ended their drought.  Two of my Dee-troit expat buddies and I watched the last game of the '97 Cup Final in a local sports bar and Boy Howdy did it get DRUNK out that night.  We were the ONLY Wings fans in the bar that night, IIRC, and we whooped it up so loud and so well that other patrons in the bar were buying us drinks... as if we needed 'em.  

We got the news a few days later about Konstantinov, which damped down the euphoria considerably.  That limo accident was a bona fide tragedy and was SUCH a sad thing.  But, as the video shows... fast forward to '98 for the on-ice tribute to Vladdy.  There wasn't a dry eye anywhere in MY vicinity when that happened.  Memories...

Plane Pr0n...

... with a local flavor:

Air Frame: A CV-22 Osprey with the 20th Special Operations Wing at Cannon AFB, N.M., descends on the cadet area at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., during the academy's Polaris Warrior training event, April 28, 2012. Polaris Warrior is designed to reinforce skills that cadets may need as airmen in the field. (Air Force photo by Raymond McCoy) (Click on image above to reach wallpaper version.)

From the Usual USAF Source.  I rarely see those Ospreys, either overhead or on the ramp when I go out to the base.  The C-130s are a different story, though... they always seem to be orbiting over P-Ville, especially at night.  "The sound of freedom!"

Where Did Our Warm WX Go?

I'm gonna have to wear a sweatshirt for Happy Hour today...

... mainly coz my personal R-factor is VERY low, given that fat is a well-known insulator and I have a serious lack o' same.  (Is there TMI at the link?  I found it fascinating!)

In other WX-related news... we got a very small amount o' rain last evening, just about enough to wet the streets.  A friend o' mine was telling me yesterday that our TOTAL rainfall over the last 21 months is a mere two and a quarter inches (I'm quoting from memory).  She further explained the Mojave desert's average annual rainfall is around three inches, by comparison.  I haven't bothered to validate either metric, but they sound reasonable to me.  I DO know our lack o' rain has been the leading topic o' conversation in these parts for quite some time now.  "Pray for rain" ain't just an idle sayin' on The High Plains O' New Mexico.

One In THREE?

That's about the saddest thang I've read or heard lately.  I don't have any trouble believing that statistic (just go to ANY Wally-World for living proof) and I'm most certainly glad I don't fly these days

―:☺:―

In other (hockey) news... the Preds are out.  It's gonna be an All-Pacific Division Final in the West, something I don't think ANY of us hockey fans and damned few, if any, hockey writers saw coming.  I thought the West was gonna end up with a Central Division Final, with the Wings playing the Blues, but we all know how THAT turned out.  Still and even, the Western Conference Final should be a lotta fun to watch.  Both the Kings and the Feral Dogs have provided exciting, entertaining, and amazing hockey up to this point in time and the upcoming series should be no less fun to watch.  My prediction?  Kings in six, mebbe seven.  And LOTS of overtime.

Wherein We Go a Lil Bit Crazy

At Amazon, just now:

Ah... much new music, in two days time. This is what happens when you listen to Pandora's Joan Osborne station for about five days in a row.

Super Moon

From a slide-show at the WSJ...

A full moon as seen from West Orange, N.J., rose over the skyline of Lower Manhattan in New York. (Reuters)

There are ten more images... all of them spectacular... at the link.  The skies were cloudy here in P-Ville at moonrise but cleared up sufficiently around midnite to create a bizarre scene, and by that I mean moonlight SO bright it cast shadows.  It's pretty bright out again tonight.

Linkage

I've mentioned this a few times in the past (ed: a few?)... but Hockey Night In Canada is one of the thangs I REALLY miss about living in Dee-troit, especially when the playoffs roll around.  While NBC's and Versus NBCSN's hockey coverage has improved a lot in the past couple o' years it still has a way to go before it equals HNIC, the gold-standard of hockey broadcasting.  I came across this interesting piece in the Montreal Gazette on the making of HNIC's video montage intros to the program, thanks to the Usual Hockey Source.  Here's one such intro:

They're all pretty much like that and I've posted a few of HNIC's montages over the years... most especially their end-of-season tributes, which are always spectacular.  And now I know a lil bit about the guys responsible for those montages, and why those montages are as vivid and striking as they are.

And speakin' o' hockey... it's time to watch the Kings and the Blues.  This might could be an elimination game, so there will be HIGH drama.

Update, 1545 hrs:  Simply amazing... those Kings SWEEP the Number Two seed St. Louis Blues, after taking out Number One seed Vancouver in five.  These guys could go all the way.  I'm a believer.

The Sunday Re-Run

From about three years ago...

Heroes... Just For One Day

I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can be Heroes, just for one day
We can be us, just for one day

We did an extended Happy Hour this past evening, given as how the wind died down late in the evning and the temps were oh-so-moderate, bordering on chilly. Now…who'd a thunk that… the "chilly" bit, I mean. But it's true… and I digress, as ever and always. You'll note I've embedded Bowie and quoted one small bit of the lyrics to "Heroes." There's a reason for that, of course.

First and foremost… we had our windows open and our Very Expensive Radio (aka our peesee) cranked up so as to furnish an appropriate soundtrack for the after-dinner whiskey and cigar extravaganza. And then there was this moment in time... which would be the middle tune in this series of three:

Which got us to thinking… a dangerous pursuit in the best of times, but more so when we're (nearly) in our cups than at any other time. Or close. We were thinking, specifically, about the lyrics to "Heroes"… which we've committed to memory in that strange way reserved only for rock 'n' roll tunes but somehow escapes us for shit that truly matters, like our grandchildren's birthdays. I was wondering if we (all of us) understand what it means to be "heroes, just for one day."

I've had more than a few occasions where I... or we... were heroes just for one day, but never considered them as such until this evening. This moment comes to mind:

That fuzzy and almost indistinct image would be YrHmblScrb holding SN3, only an hour or so after SN3 entered this world. We were heroes at that moment, The Second Mrs. Pennington and I. And SN3, too.

Or this:

That would be SN2, The First Mrs. Pennington, SN1, and grandson Sean… on the occasion of SN1's commissioning back in 2000. TFMP and I were heroes just for that day… celebrating our first-born's accomplishment and the fact that our second-born had sworn SN1 into the officer corps… and bursting with pride we were, despite our difficult past and considerable angst with each other.

There are others, of course, most of which we have no photographic record. And most of those events are minor… mundane, even... such as the time my buds and I walked off the hill at Doi Inthanon, Thailand after a hard day of raising the search radar antenna at a long range radar site we (a USAF Engineering & Installations [E&I] team out of Yokota AB, Japan) were building for the Royal Thai Air Force. Raising that antenna was a milestone in a long and difficult installation… and we celebrated by unfurling a home-made banner on the radar antenna… a huge thing cobbled up out of bedsheets, emblazoned with our makeshift "Baker and Sons Radar Installations" logo, and visible throughout the radar station. That banner was a thing we spent the entire evening admiring, all while hoisting many Singhas in celebration… accompanied by team members from the various E&I disciplines deployed with us… radio, telephone, construction… among others. A victory of sorts, and one to be celebrated. Once again… we were heroes, just for one day.

There have been many, many more... most of 'em minor… like when The Second Mrs. Pennington and I had a couple of drinks in this way-cool little bar in Rochester, NY to celebrate the closing on the next-to-last house we ever bought together… but all of 'em significant in their own way.

I suppose my point is we should celebrate these victories whenever they happen… and recognize that ALL of us can indeed be "heroes, just for one day." I spent the better part of last evening reminiscing and celebrating those victories, small as they may be. Yep… we were heroes, just for one day.

Bowie had it right.

Yup, he did.

After Further Inspection...

... I found this:

BIG-ass sigh.  I miss MY travel buddy, too.  We were particularly good at that... there bein' too many points and places to mention.

Updated, after a couple o' beers and not a small amount o' contemplation:  "Travel buddies" is an expression that covers a lot o' ground.  On the one hand, there's not much difficulty in dealing with the road when one travels "first class," meanin' adequate accommodations, business class plane tickets, and a well-planned itinerary.  OTOH, travel can be a whole different sorta animal when you're in "two-man-tent, sleeping bags, Coleman stove" mode, or when you're thumb-tripping in Japan.  The fact is my travel buddy and I did all those things and more, over the course of 23 years.  It's a certain mind-set, and by that I mean the capability of overcoming adversity, and all that... absorbing the slings and arrows of the road and managing to keep your good humor while keepin' on keepin' on.  We had that. 


And then there's the matter of this video itself, which falls into the "nice try" category.  The recipient of this e-mail missive is more than likely to dismiss it out of hand, with nothing more than a "thanks, but no thanks" response when it comes to the invitation to meet for coffee.  There's a simple fact of life at play here: when love goes missing it's gone for good.  The only thang 99% of us in this situation can hope for is to retrieve the body and give it a decent burial.  Real Life differs from the movies, after all.  But, Hey!  I liked the sentiment in the vid, which is why I posted it. 

Slim Pickin's at the Usual Saturday Source

I thought this was the best o' the bunch:

It made me laugh, anyhoo.  And now I know Robert Plant and I have at least one thing in common.

This was the runner-up, but I chose not to post it because I'm just NOT that geeky.  Well, geeky in that particular way.  "May the 4th be with you."  Face-palm.

It's NOT Funny

Izzit?

―:☺:―

How 'bout them Kings?  So much for MY hockey prognostication skills... and those of about a third of the rest of the country, too.

Your Hockey Update

I watched a lot o' hockey last night... but kinda-sorta missed out on the game I really wanted to watch, but did not.  Because of this (Mike Vaccaro, writing in the New York Post):

Now, into the Rangers’ pantheon of forever moments, we add another architect, we add another moment, we add this goal at 12:15 this morning after 114 minutes and 41 seconds of tortured, torturous, terrific hockey, a war of attrition you started to think might take us all the way to Saturday’s 12:30 p.m. face-off for Game 4.

The Rangers-Caps game started a full 30 minutes before the Preds faced off against those Feral Dogs, which was MY marquee game goin' into the evening.  Thangs change, as it's said.  I couldn't leave that Eastern game... it was just too exciting, too fast, too well-played.  The excitement and suspense continued to build all the way into the third overtime when not-so-suddenly it was over, and that's the finest sort of playoff hockey there is.  I'm sure a lot o' asses are draggin' in New Yawk today, but they're happy asses.  Not quite the same in Washington, methinks.

As for the Preds?  They won, and the game was essentially over in the first period.  I did watch piece parts of that game, going back and forth a bit, especially when the Rangers game went to the first and second intermissions, but I stayed with the Rangers-Caps once they went to OT... all of 'em.  That said, the Preds played a statement game last evening from what I saw.  Rinne is back on form, the Preds defense was stifling, and they scored just enough to win.  They're back in this series after the poorest of poor starts.

It remains to be seen if the Blues can do the same sort o' thang against those Kings.  I'm beginning to think they can't, and I'm also beginning to think the Western Conference Final is gonna be a Kings-Preds affair.  Tonight's game in El-Eh will be very revealing.  As I've often said: I have an immediate grasp of the obvious.  It's my best trait.

Heh

The whole Peter Pan crew better watch out, too.

Another Installment of "Brave New World"

My Buddy Ed In Florida sends this along...

16 years old Peter goes to the priest: "Father, I came to confess!"
"No need, I read your blog."

Heh.  Facebook, too, prolly.  Eventually one gets to a point where they don't publish everythang that happens to 'em, but I suppose it takes a while.

―:☺:―

I've had to reboot my router three times today and that's not a good sign.  Another installment of "It's always sumthin'," too.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

Keef... with an homage to Al Green and/or the "Memphis Sound:"

I love the horn charts in this tune... they're subtle, yet so necessary to the success of the song.  Brilliant.

―:☺:―

We took our first beer on the verandah (see below) but called it quits shortly thereafter.  I'm not quite acclimated to the heat yet and find it takes a lot out of us, making paying attention to our reading difficult.  

About which, this: reading Hitchens is hard.  I find I can only take his essays in small doses, usually only three or four at a time, mainly because I'm off to the dictionary at least once per page (about which, again: I'm glad I'm reading on my Kindle, it makes those side trips easy) and off to The Wiki at least once per essay.  The man's encyclopedic knowledge and command of the language is frequently above my pay grade but he IS most interesting, and entertaining, so we'll continue to persevere.  Reading Hitchens is guaranteed to make the ol' "I learn sumthin' every day" cliché come true.

Jes Thinkin'...

... about whether or not we're gonna take today's Happy Hour out on the verandah.  Coz it's not nice outside:

Nearly 90 degrees and a 30-mph wind is kinda-sorta like sitting in front of a blast furnace, or bein' bathed with God's Own Hairdryer... you choose.  I've been out in it already today, what with dropping my rent check off with the friendly folks at Homespot Properties and continuing on over to The Big(ger) City™ for to give baby a bath.  The latter prolly wasn't the best ideer I've had in a while, given all the dust in the air.  The Green Hornet will look like Hell by tomorrow, or even before today is over.

(sigh)  It's always sumthin'.