WTF?

It's the weekend, so I exercised my option of sleeping until noon (am I regressing to my teenage years?).  So I wake up, turn on the teevee (mainly because of today's hockey orgy... non-stop games from 1000 hrs MDT until sometime after 2200 hrs), and see the Flightless Birds are down 7-0 to Tampa Bay.

WTF?

That was about three minutes into the third period and it got a little better for that reprehensible collection of the diminutive arctic antarctic avian species, but not much... final score: Lightning 8, Pittsburgh 2.  This in a close-out game where the Flightless Birds could move on to the next round if they won.  But they won't.  They'll be catching a plane to Tampa for Game Six on Monday, instead.  I REALLY hope there's a Game Seven... you can guess the rest.

And now it's time to change the channel and watch the Rangers - Caps game.  Have I mentioned I love this time o' year?  I have?  

This Just In...

Hoo Boy...

Finalists have been chosen in the Fifth Annual Milbloggies. 

I apologize for the slight delay, but voting will start on Monday, April 25. 

The online voting will be handled by Voices Heard Media using their powerful and easy-to-use polls. 

An announcement will go out by e-mail via the Milblogging.com newsletter and will also be posted on the Milbloggies site on Monday as soon as voting is ready to begin.

In the meantime (in no particular order), here are the 2011 Milbloggies Finalists. 

Thank you to everyone who entered their nominations. 

See the full list of Finalists here.

And why the "Hoo Boy?"  Only because this is the competition...

U.S. Military Veteran
This ain’t Hell http://thisainthell.us/blog

The Stupid Shall Be Punished http://bubbleheads.blogspot.com/

Bouhammer’s Afghanistan & Military Blog http://www.bouhammer.com/

Argghhh! The Home Of Two Of Jonah’s Military Guys http://www.thedonovan.com

Afghan Quest http://afghanquest.com/

The Sniper http://www.thesniper.us

Toby Nunn’s Briefing Room http://www.tobynunn.com

Exile in Portales http://exileinportales.blogspot.com/

Neptunus Lex http://www.neptunuslex.com/

Red Bull Rising http://www.redbullrising.com/p/about-this-blog.html

No. Chance. In. Hell.  I mean... WTF?  Me and my blogfaddah in the same category?  Oh, well.  It was nice bein' nominated... and MANY thanks to all you Gentle Readers who took the time to put a good word in for me.  I love you ALL.

Gettin' Back to Our Roots...

... with yet another Perfect Pour:

I'm livin' proof that practice makes perfect, eh?  I must say life is good here on The High Plains of New Mexico despite the miscellaneous moans, groans, bitches, and complaints in the post immediately below.

Beer may not be THE answer but it certainly works in most cases.  That depends entirely on what the question is, don't it?  Prosit!

Deviating From Our Singleminded Focus On Hockey...

... to post a few minor bitches and complaints.

First:  My new reading glasses are digging a hole in the bridge of my nose and it hurts.  It seems like I'm incapable of tweaking frames to fit painlessly and I don't know why this is.  My optometrist manages to fit my new frames perfectly the first time, every time.  There ain't no optometrist at the reading glasses display in Walgreen's, though.

Second:  It's been nearly a month since I told ya my wash'n'fold service folded (heh). I still haven't mustered what it takes to get my Old Ass down to the laundromat and I'm running out of clean clothes, very rapidly.  To further complicate matters I'm under certain restrictions concerning how much weight I can lift for a couple o' weeks following Eye Surgery, Round Two... no more than ten pounds... and I have about 30 pounds of dirty laundry.  I may be reduced to goin' nekkid for a while.  I apologize for planting that image in yer brain, Gentle Reader.

Third:  THE WIND!  Aiiieee.  Let me up, I've had ENOUGH!

Fourth:  I was saving the best worst for last.  This bitch:

"Which bitch is that, Buck?"  The bitch that does the voice-over in the video.  She's EVERYWHERE these days and has THE most annoying voice imaginable.  I just KNOW she's gonna be the soundtrack in my personal hell if the major religions are right and I'm wrong about the existence of The Hot Place.  OTOH, I may be doomed to come back as one of her kids if the tenets of my religion pan out.  "Fingernails on a chalkboard" ain't half the analogy I'm lookin' for... let's just say this woman's voice makes Sarah Palin sound like Sarah McLachlan.  That's sayin' a LOT, Gentle Reader. 

An Epic Comeback?

Or an epic collapse?  The Canucks stunk up their arena tonight, losing to the Hawks by a 5-0 score.  While not taking anything away from the Hawks... who played their asses off tonight, mainly coz they HAD to... I'm leaning towards collapse, rather than comeback.  I have to admit this IS one helluva turnaround for the Blackhawks, especially if it continues.  

Back to the collapse.  The Canucks looked like the Keystone Cops on skates tonight; they were SO bad it was almost funny.  Luongo's implosion continues, what with him giving up four goals on 12 shots before he was pulled early in the second after Marian Hossa scored his second goal of the night on a beautiful breakaway.  The Canucks power play was non-existent, going 0 for 4 while their penalty killing was just as listless, allowing the Hawks to go 2 for 5.  The Hawks came out like a house afire tonight, scoring early and often.  It was 3-0 by the end of the first period and things only got worse for the hapless Canucks.  It must suck to be embarrassed that badly in your own barn... the Vancouver fans booed their team off the ice at the end of the game (those that were left)... but the Canucks deserved it.  This has the makings of one of the worst collapses I've ever seen, if not THE worst.

Game Six is in Chicago Sunday evening and I'm through with making predictions.  That said, Big Mo is most definitely with the Hawks now.  Sunday will be MOST interesting!

Update, 1145 hrs:  There's lotsa hand-wringing over the Canucks across the length and breadth of The Great White Up.  Here's Damien Cox writing in the Toronto Star:

Surely, it's not possible.

Not two years in a row. Not to these Vancouver Canucks.

But my oh my, if the Canucks choke away this entire Western Conference series to the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, it would be a collapse that would dwarf last year’s Eastern Conference series in which the Boston Bruins blew a 3-0 series lead and lost to the Philadelphia Flyers.

Why? Well, because Vancouver was the NHL’s best team during the regular season, and because in the first 2 1/2 games of this series they seemed to make a convincing statement that their historic problems with the Hawks were all a thing of the past.

I watched a video of two Vancouver hockey columnists talking about last night... and the Canucks, in general... wherein they described the situation as analogous to a Friday night horror movie, with the Hawks in charge.  Or, as Joe Biden might say, "This is a big fuckin' deal!"

The Fat Lady Done Done Her Thang

(Ed: Note the red in the stands; them's WINGS fans! So much for the "White Out.")

So... we were up waaay too late with the usual, customary, and reasonable result: serious oversleepage.  If'n you're a hockey fan you already know and have read all about it elsewhere: the Beloved Wings swept the Feral Dogs.  There wasn't much doubt about this series after Game Two and Game Three pretty well confirmed my suspicions.  But we're VERY superstitious when it comes to hockey, so we refused to go on about a sweep until when and if it actually happened.  And that has come to pass... without a couple of key Wings players, too.

So the Wings have a lot o' time to rest before the next round, which might not get underway for another week.  I could see the Anaheim - Nashville series going to seven games and the same could be true of San Jose - El-Eh, if El-Eh evens it up tonight.  Chicago should be off to the golf course after tonight's game in Vancouver.  I really don't care who the Wings get in the next round... I'm thinkin' the Beloved Wings are strong enough to beat just about anyone at this point, assuming Zetterberg and Franzen get healthy.  We'll need those guys for the next three rounds.

Snake-bit:  That was SN1 last night.  He's in transit from Shaw Airplane Patch in South Carolina to the Army Command and General Staff College somewhere deep in flyover country and overnighted in or around Nashville last evening.  He called around mid-way through the second period and we proceeded to do Our Thang, which is drink beer and watch the game together but separate.  So, all's well and good until I get a frantic call with about four minutes left in the third... his cable system in the motel went pftttt!  The Wings were only up by one goal at that point and the outcome was still in doubt (not really, but I have to say that).  So, we did our best sports announcer impression and kept The Major informed of events as they happened.  I learned something semi-relevant, too: I wouldn't give up my day job (if I still had one) for a career in hockey broadcasting.

―:☺:―

And then there's this... from the (other) usual source:

Forest Reaper: The Tactical Reconnaissance and Counter-Concealment-Enabled Radar, capable of detecting targets buried, concealed, or concealed under foliage, finished flight testing on an MQ-9 remotely piloted aircraft, announced Lockheed Martin, the radar's maker. Before the MQ-9 trials, testers flew 100 sorties with TRACER on manned platforms to validate the radar's ability to "provide commanders with intelligence not currently available from higher frequency radars or electro-optical systems," said Jim Quinn, Lockheed's reconnaissance systems vice president. During the MQ-9 tests, they focused on assessing TRACER's ability to identify targets of interest that would be relevant to US military commanders in places like Africa, Southwest Asia, Central and South America, and the Pacific, according to the company. TRACER is carried in a wing-mounted pod; the dual-band (UHF/VHF) synthetic aperture radar system is capable of immediate image downloads to ground stations. Lockheed currently has four deployable TRACER kits. The Army has sponsored TRACER's development. (See also FlightGlobal report)

"Targets of interest" in Central and South America?  Is the DEA and the military merging?  Now there's a conspiracy theory worth worrying about...

Jes Practicing...

Lou and I had an exchange about reading glasses in comments to the post immediately below that went sumthin' like this:

Or, you can wear them on your head as an accessory - like me.

I prefer the Eccentric Old Fart look, Lou. You know: glasses perched on the end of the nose so's ya can look over the top of 'em and sneer when ya say "Get OFF my lawn!"

Well, I've been practicing that look.

Needs more work.  Ya think?

Two-fers

First... from the usual source:

Doom and gloom in two different flavors, both of which might could be fatal.

―:☺:―

And then there are these, from the (other) usual source:

J-20 Back in the Air: The Chinese J-20 stealth fighter has reportedly returned to flight testing, completing a publicly witnessed flight in recent days that was much longer than its first reported flight back in January. Britain's Daily Mail reported Tuesday that a J-20 aircraft took to the skies this past weekend from an airfield in Chengdu in southcentral China in a flight meant to coincide with the 60th anniversary of China's aviation industry. It cited a report in a Chinese Communist Party-owned tabloid that included alleged new J-20 photos. US officials have said they were not surprised when China unveiled the J-20 late last year. However, they have acknowledged that the J-20's emergence has shown that China may be making progress in the design of advanced combat aircraft more quickly than the United States had anticipated. (See also Reuters report and Navy Intel Assesses the J-20 from the Daily Report archives.)

Keeping Orbital Operations Safe: The Air Force's Phased Array Warning System radars, known as Pave PAWS, earlier this month played an important role in preventing the evacuation of the International Space Station. Data from their monitoring of a roughly six-inch chunk of debris on a near-collision course with the station allowed the station's three-member crew to remain on board and not have to leave out of safety concerns using Russia's Soyuz capsule. With the help of Pave PAWS tracking data, the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., determined that the debris piece would harmlessly pass by ISS on April 5, much to the crew's relief. The Pave PAWS radars are located at Beale AFB, Calif., and Cape Cod AFS, Mass. The piece of debris causing this scare resulted from China's irresponsible shootdown of a Chinese weather satellite in January 2007. (Cape Cod report via Diana Barth)

Ah, yes.  The Chinese.  They hold trillions of our debt and STILL have enough money to develop fifth-generation fighters and anti-satellite weapons.  As for us?  Barack The Magnificent wants to cut $400 billion out of the DoD budget and build choo-choo trains.  Liberals love trains, yanno.  But fighters?  Not so much. 

―:☺:―

Speaking of two-fers... there were two excellent hockey games on the toob last night, assuming "good" means lotsa goals.  Chicago (finally) found its game and took it to the Canucks last evening, salvaging some pride on home ice while savaging Vancouver in a 7-2 goal-fest.  The game got chippy in the third period, with five Canucks cooling their heels in the penalty box at one point.  The Zebras handed out six ten-minute misconducts in the third period and there were a total of 96 penalty minutes during the game.  One is tempted to deploy the "too little, too late" cliché, but "too little" doesn't work given the number of goals Chicago scored.  Too late fits, though... as 162 teams have tried to dig out of an 0-3 hole in the NHL's storied past, and only three have succeeded.

I have to admit I fell asleep during the second intermission of the Hawks-Canucks game, as the outcome was decided by then.  But I woke up in time to catch the very end of that game and stayed awake for El-Eh - San Jose.  The Kings jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and increased their lead to 4-0 at the beginning of the second; it looked like it was all over but for sobbing Sharks.  Heh.  Wrong!  The Sharks began to systematically tear down the Kings' castle in a determined goal-by-goal effort, chipping away in a onesie-twosie manner to tie it up in the very last seconds of the second period.  The game went into OT, given the totally defensive, goal-free nature of the third.  The Sharks won it by a 6-5 score three and a half minutes into the OT, capping off an incredible comeback.  You don't often see a team fight its way back from a 4-0 deficit to win... and you don't often see 20 goals scored in only two games, come to think on it.  But you saw that sorta thang last night.  And it was good!

Speaking of good... the Beloved Wings can end the Feral Dogs' season over in Phoenix tonight, assuming said Feral Dogs aren't too inspired by Chicago's last-gasp heroics in their potential elimination Game Four.  Anything can happen, of course, but it's pretty safe to say the Dogs ain't the Hawks.  We shall see what we see at 2230 hrs (ET) this evening.

Let's Go Red Wings!

The Mirror Image...

...of a fortnight ago:

Today was a classic case of "Second verse, same as the first!"  Sorta.  This week's Adventures in Aging went a lot faster than our last, seein' as how Dr. Watterberg only had about half the procedures today as she did last week.  We were at Roosevelt General at 0800 hrs and asleep in El Casa Móvil De Pennington around 1015 hrs.  

As for the procedure itself... I went in thinkin' it would be a piece o' cake, since Round One went really well.  Well... not so much, to my surprise.  I felt a lot more discomfort this morning and Dr. Watterberg made a couple of "sorry!" remarks when I winced a time or two.  The process seemed to take longer, as well.  But mebbe that's coz I wanted this to be OVER, thank ya.  And over it is.  Don't get the wrong ideer, Gentle Reader.  This wasn't an ordeal or anything... just minor discomfort.  I've had a helluva lot worse experiences at the dentist, believe me.

So we're enjoying our long-delayed morning coffee and just hangin' out until it's time for our first follow up this afternoon.  I have to wear The Fly's hand-me-down eye for the rest of the day and can't drive until tomorrow.  And we WILL drive tomorrow, straight to Wally-World to buy us some interim reading glasses for computer and close-up work.  It is now perfectly clear to me I was using my unfixed eye to do those sorts of things for the past two weeks... mainly coz I can't see close up worth a damn now.  The work-around ain't workin' out too well, either:

No computer for YOU the rest of the day, Bucko!

Update, 1350 hrs:  I replaced the first image with one I like better, mainly coz I can be a vain sumbitch at times.  And, apropos of not much, I got the Usual, Customary, and (un)Reasonable post-op briefing which contained the "no alcohol for 24 hours" warning... at which time I stopped the post-op nurse and asked "why?"  "We're required to say that," was the answer, followed by an off-the-record discussion about alcohol, anesthesia (which I didn't have), and other germane topics.  Bottom line:  there WILL be a Happy Hour this evening, just as there was last evening.

Update II, 1745 hrs:  Zounds!  I'm not one to flog dead draft animals, but now that I'm binocular the improvement in my vision is simply astounding.   We're back from the first follow-up over in The Big(ger) City™ and all is good.  Better than good, since I had granddaughter Felicity whip by Walgreen's so I could pick up a pair of spiffy new reading glasses, and Boy Howdy can we ever see clearly now!  I'm simply stunned at the improvement, so much so that it brings to mind that ol' '60s-era thang:  "The colors... maaaan... the COLORS!"  In a completely different context, of course.

OK, enough of that.  Let us get down to the bid'niz at hand: beer, a cigar, and hockey! 

For Wings Fans Only...

Interesting vid, that.  FWIW... I labored through the lean years as a Wings fan, coming to the party in 1985 and leaving it... physically... when I moved from Detroit to Rochester, NY in 1996.  True to form, the Wings won their first Cup in 40-something years the next season, and I had to watch it on teevee.  Worse, one of my BEST friends had to send me pictures of her and her honey at a local dive-bar (one of my FAVORITE watering holes) drinking from the Cup while we were stuck in Ra-cha-cha.  (Sigh)

No matter.  We remain a fan of the Winged Wheel, wherever I might find myself.  Which is not to say there haven't been glorious moments in the interim, like that night in SFO in 2002 when the Wings eliminated the Once-Hated Avalanche (now I feel only pity for a once great club fallen on hard times) in Game Seven of the Western Conference Finals and went on to take the Cup.  The BEST moment of that playoff year?  Sitting in a sports bar in SFO with other Wings expats while watching a beleaguered Avs fan rip off his Patrick Roy jersey and stomp it when the horn sounded to end Game Seven of the Western Conference Finals.  The Wings won and were off to the SCF... everything after that moment was anti-climatic.

So here we are... about three hours from face-off of Game Three, and here I am... hanging on every moment.  God, but I LOVE this time o' year!

H/t for the vid: the inimitable Kukla's Korner.

Good To Go!

I'm just in from the day's errands, chief among which was an appointment with my eye surgeon for a routine follow-up just to "make sure" there are no issues that would prevent tomorrow's scheduled surgery.  I received a clean bill o' health and a cheery "See Ya tomorrow!" from Dr. Watterberg.

We are MOST pleased.  So is Dr Watterberg, for that matter... and she told me so.  Did I ever tell ya she's VERY good at what she does?  No?  Well, I'm tellin' ya now... and this IS an endorsement.

―:☺:―

I returned from The Big(ger) City™ via Cannon Airplane Patch, where I got my tri-annual  haircut, did some light shopping, yadda, yadda.  My route back to P-Ville took me through part of the area that burned off in yesterday's fire and I am MOST amazed a lot o' people didn't lose their homes.  That was one hella fire from the looks o' things.  An immediate and most obvious result of the fire is an absolutely incredible amount of dust... the worst I've seen in the eight-plus years I've lived here on The High Plains of New Mexico.  The wind is up again today and the blowing dust reduced visibility to about a half-mile or less on parts of NM 467.  It's pretty danged bad out there.

Wildfires (and Hockey)

It's the season for 'em...

C-130s Fight Texas, Mexico Wildfires: Two specially modified C-130s from Air Force Reserve Command's 302nd Airlift Wing at Peterson AFB, Colo., on Sunday dropped about 12,000 gallons of fire suppressant and retardant on raging wildfires in the northern Mexico state of Coahuila during four missions. The two aircraft carry the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System, a self-contained aerial firefighting device. They began operating from Laughlin AFB, Tex., on April 16 after the Mexican government requested US assistance. So far, they've released roughly 21,000 gallons of fire suppressant and retardant in seven missions. These Reservists have also been helping to fight wildfires spreading in southern Texas. Four additional MAFFS-equipped aircraft were slated to arrive at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Tex., by Monday to help fight the Texas wildfires. They're from Air National Guard units in California, North Carolina, and Wyoming. (Laughlin release) (Tyndall report by Lt. Col. Susan A. Romano)

The Cannon Airplane Patch fire department got into the act right here in P-Ville yesterday, too.  From the Portales News-Tribune:

Firefighters from more than 30 departments struggled most of Sunday to contain a massive grass fire that erupted near Melrose and quickly spread through Curry and Roosevelt counties, damaging homes and forcing several evacuations near Clovis and Portales.

The fire started about 11:30 a.m. after a tire on a vehicle blew out and sparks from the wheel set nearby grass ablaze. It had burned an estimated 17,000 acres, fanned by wind gusts of up to 30 mph that frequently changed directions.

[...]

A spokesperson for Cannon Air Force Base said there was no fire damage to the base. The spokesperson said the base fire department assisted in extinguishing a small blaze south of the base, a flare apparently set off by the main fire.

It's been a VERY dry Spring and the wind has been fierce (as noted elsewhere in these pages).  The combination of the two can make for some very anxious ranchers in this part o' the world.  Anxious everybody, when ya get right down to it.  (photo credit: Portales News-Tribune)

―:☺:―

Your hockey update: Chicago is toast. The current custodians of the Stanley Cup will suffer a first-round exit at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks unless they can become the fourth team in history to come back from a 3-0 deficit. Here's Steve Rosenbloom, writing in the Chicago Tribune:

It might not be officially over, but it's over. The Hawks aren't going to come back on the Canucks they owned the last couple springs. These aren't those Hawks, and these are those Canucks. The Hawks aren't going beat this team four straight when they can't beat them even once. I mean, the Hawks have led just once after the nine periods in this series.

Yup. I've watched all of Chicago's playoff games and they ain't got it. I'm thinkin' every Dallas Star is a bit pissed right now.

Boston could be in the same boat, after losing their first two games... at HOME... to the Habs. It ain't lookin' good for Bruins fans, to say the VERY least.

I'm pissed at Versus. The Nashville-Anaheim series is arguably the best of the playoffs based on what I've read, and Versus hasn't showed us one single game in that series.  I shouldn't get too strident in my criticism, though... coz ALL the Beloved Wings games have been televised.  Game Three is tonight, in Phoenix.

Let's Go Red Wings!

―:☺:―

A hockey update of another sort...  Remember last week?  It was exactly a week ago today when I said "One final note... this is also the time o' year when blog traffic falls off the cliff."

I NEVER lie.  

Notable and Quotable

From Larry Brooks, writing in the New York Post ("No playing out string in honor-rich NHL")...

The NHL wants to be like the NFL, and I guess which league wouldn't aspire to be granted the kind of sacred cow status pro football has mysteriously and regrettably achieved in this country? 

Last weekend, however, in what was one of the great final weekends in NHL history, hockey reached a status the NFL wouldn't even recognize. 

It was a weekend showcasing the integrity of the athletes who are the fabric of the sport, and the integrity of coaches and front offices around the league that recognized their responsibility to compete when nothing was on the line for their own respective teams but everything was at stake for their opponents. 

[...]

And Detroit, starting with Ken Holland and running straight through the championship pedigree of that organization, recognized its obligation as well -- though the chance to KO the Cup champ Blackhawks was an obvious bonus -- in going to the mat to beat Chicago in overtime when the Wings might have taken the day off to get ready for the first round against the Ducks.

[...]

The NFL would never give you a final weekend like that. The NFL has a 16-game schedule in which teams try until they clinch playoff spots. Then, with league approval, they sit out starters, claiming the risk of injury overrides the integrity of competition. It's a sorry spectacle; scandalous, even.

Well said, Mr. Brooks, and I'll forgive ya the errors in fact about the Wings, given they won that last game in regulation time and our first-round opponent is Phoenix.  You could have mentioned that Detroit lost the services of Henrik Zetterberg, its highest scoring player, in that last, meaningless game due to a knee injury, services that could have a major impact on how far they go in the playoffs this year but thankfully haven't... yet.  Your other points are spot-on and are but a few of the many reasons I don't watch pro football.  Honesty and integrity in pro sports?  Who'd a thunk it!

There's more at the link... Mr. Brooks' piece is a very worthwhile read.

Added, 1230 hrs:  A short blurb from Steve Simmons' sports column in the Toronto Sun:  "And this is why Twitter amuses me: On Saturday afternoon, somebody Tweeted that the NHL has finally found an owner for the Coyotes: Just happens to be Pavel Datsyuk."  OK, that's Inside Tee-Ball stuff, but hockey fans geddit.  That's pretty damned funny, actually.

News Item Blatant Self-Promotion

A lot of you Gentle Readers won't watch the vid below or even read the comments because of the R-rated subject matter.  So, in my own enlightened self-interest, here's what the sole comment to that post sez:

Laurie said...

All Buck's followers:

I nominated Buck in the milbloggies, but they need at least 3 more nominations of Air Force blogs to keep the category open for voting.

So go nominate some more AF blogs, but preferably not, you know, the really wildly well known ones :-)

Go here

Hurry, nominations end today!

The astute among you have noticed there's a Milbloggie Finalist badge in my sidebar, but that's only because there aren't any Air Force blogs of note.  I've often wondered why that is but I gave up thinkin' about the subject quite some time ago... it prolly has sumthin' to do with it's "Not Your Father's Air Force."  But... just for grins and giggles... here's a list of Air Force blogs on milblogging.com.

And thanks, Laurie!  You're SO sweet!

Update, 1800 hrs (Sunday):  This just hit my in-box:

Nominations in the 2011 Milbloggies are nearly finished.  Almost half of the categories are now closed to nominations, however the deadline for the following categories has been extended by 24 hours to Monday, April 18, in the hope of getting the minimum number of eligible nominees in each category.

Best U.S. Coast Guard Blog Nominations

Best U.S. Reporter Blog Nominations

Best U.S. Military Veteran Blog Nominations

Best U.S. Air Force Blog Nominations

Best U.S. Navy Blog Nominations

Best U.S. Military Parent Blog Nominations

Please remember, you must leave a comment in order to nominate a blog. 

If you don’t see a comment for your favorite blog or if it has been placed in the wrong category, please make sure to visit one of the links above and make sure it gets left.

More information here. 

Well, how about that? An additional 24 hours to submit nominations in multiple categories. Interest in the Milbloggies must not be all that great this year.

Inscrutable

That would be the Chinese...

Yeah, I'm thinkin' there are some places technology just shouldn't go.  Hell, I wouldn't even go see Avatar, let alone sumthin' like this.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

So there I was, sitting on the verandah, deep into today's WSJ, puffing occasionally on my second cigar of the day and enjoying my second beer when Pandora decides to bring this ol' chestnut around ...

...which stopped me dead in my tracks.  I shut the Kindle, sang along, and fell back into that same, oh-so-lovely daydream that happens EVERY time I hear this song.  

Amie what you wanna do?
I think I could stay with you
For a while, maybe longer
Longer if I do

I knew an Am(ie)y once upon a time... well over 30 years ago... in both a space and time that's long ago and far away.  "My" Amy was a friend of a friend who came to Westby, Montana to visit and stayed at my place for the duration of her visit, mainly because the mutual friend Amy came to see was a single female airperson who lived in the barracks and I had a pretty nice house with a comfy couch.  Amy slept on that couch the first night she was in Westby but never again after that.  Strange how that sorta thing happens...

Amy's visit in Westby lasted only a week or perhaps a little longer, but what a week that was!  The girl was prolly 20 years of age at that time and in her prime; I was three years on the wrong side of 30 but that was close enough for gub'mint work.  I wound up taking a few days of unplanned leave just to spend as much time with this woman as I possibly could before she vanished into my past.  That was a GOOD decision, Gentle Reader.

Young Amy and I corresponded for a time after she returned to Ohio but nothing more happened after that; our communication ceased after a while.  Well, nothing happened except for The Second Mrs. Pennington finding Amy's letters to me shortly after TSMP and I married... and she subsequently burned them (along with all the other letters I'd received from former lovers), without my permission.   Which is QUITE another story and one that still pisses me off when I think about it, even after all these years.

The image isn't the Amy I knew (I found it in a generic Google search for "dark eyed beauty"), but it's close.

Slim (Blog) Pickins

We arose much too late, aren't even close to bein' fully caffeinated, and the puck drops at The Joe in mere minutes.  So this is all ya get, Gentle Reader.  Priorities.

Let's Go Red Wings!

Update, 1400 hrs:  That was TOO damned close for comfort... but all's well that ends well:  Wings 4, Feral Dogs 3.  The Wings were leading by 4-1 at the end of the second but the Yotes came back in the third... making it a near-run thing. We won't talk about the piss-poor officiating and questionable calls... But, Hey!

A 2-0 hole will take a lot o' diggin' by the Feral Dogs to come back.  I'm not sayin' it can't be done, because it has been done.  But not this time... bear down, Wings... skate to the throat!

Image courtesy of Trish at the A2Y live-blog.

Added, 1430 hrs:  Why we'll win:
 


Datsyuk is the BEST Russian in the league, mebbe even the best player.  That play was just beauteous... and the reason he's the Number One Star of today's game.

To Whom It May Concern...

Thank you.  A thousand thank-yous!  You turned off the wind machine and we are MOST grateful... so much so that we shall have our second beer in your honor today, whoever you are.  This is what the WX guys out at Cannon Airplane Patch say our current conditions look like:

But they LIE, coz it's as close to dead still as it gets around here... AND it's cool.  There's no need for the awning today; we shall sit and read on the verandah in direct sun.  And we'll love it.

Speakin' of love... imagined, in this case... we picked up our eye-meds at the Cannon pharmacy earlier this afternoon and indulged in a lil snappy repartee with a young female Master Sergeant who was working behind the counter.  The good sergeant had THE most fetching manner about her, including sparkly dark eyes and a melodious and lilting laugh.  They sure don't make MSgts like they used to... and I'm thinkin' that's a GOOD thing in this particular case.  The lady made my day. 

An Anniversary; An Unserious Person; The Wind Doesn't Blow, It Sucks; and (Wait For It) Hockey

Twenty-five years ago today, from the (other) usual source...

 A 48th Tactical Fighter Wing F-111F aircraft takes off to participate in an air strike on Libya. (photo: Wikipedia & US Air Force)

Remembering Operation Eldorado Canyon: (Ed: link to The Wiki added) Twenty-five years ago on April 15, Air Force and Navy strike aircraft dealt a blow to Libyan dictator Muammar' Qaddafi's arrogance and overt support of terrorism. While a force of F-111s from RAF Lakenheath, Britain, (taking off on April 14, 1986) struck targets in Tripoli, including Qaddafi's headquarters, Navy strike aircraft from the Sixth Fleet pounded sites in Benghazi. A host of USAF and Navy platforms supported the mission, which President Reagan ordered after a string of deadly terrorist attacks were traced back to Qaddafi's regime. The raid came at a cost. Capt. Paul F. Lorence and Capt. Fernando L. Ribas-Dominicci were killed when their F-111 went down, presumably to hostile fire. Noted Air Force author Walter Boyne, in his March 1999 Air Force Magazine article on the raid, said the mission pushed USAF crews and aircraft "to the absolute limits of their capability. Yet they prevailed, destroying key targets and shocking Qaddafi." Fast forward 25 years. Air Force aircraft are once again flying over Libya to deal with his misdeeds, this time against his own people.

RIP, Captains Lorence and Ribas-Dominicci.

―:☺:―

Today's Toon of Note:  

From the usual source, of course.  Choosing today's toon was harder than it normally is, coz there's much goodness on the deficit/budget brouhaha at the link.

―:☺:―

The wind machine is still cranked up, to my great dismay.  Things are supposed to get better in this space later on today and that's great good news, seein' as how I have to get my old ass out to Cannon Airplane Patch to refill my meds in anticipation of next week's final eye surgery installment.  We have been counting the days... two weeks can be a VERY long time!

―:☺:―

Here's your briefest of brief hockey updates...  The playoffs are NOT disappointing us hockey fans.  Well, some of us hockey fans.  I'd wager Flyers and Bruins followers aren't all that happy about the outcome in Game One, Round One but I was certainly pleased... those games were great, compelling examples of the sport.  The games in the Eastern Conference seem to be defensive duels with the Hot Goalie O' The Moment (read as: Lundqvist, Miller, and Price) taking center stage.  All three of the top seeds in the East struggled in the first game, with only the Caps prevailing... and they had to go deep into OT to win.  Oh yeah... the Flightless Birds won, too.  For what THAT'S worth.

It ain't so close out West, what with the Canucks dominating Chicago in the first game (that game was NEVER close), San Jose beating El-Eh (that game WAS close; watch out, Sharks), the Beloved Wings winning easily, and Nashville systematically plucking the Ducks.

I'm not gonna make any predictions this year, mainly coz I suck at predictions (check my April archives in past years for proof in this space; it's embarrassing).  I do have my hopes, though, and those hopes go like this:  Chicago wins in seven, El-Eh wins in seven, the Beloved Wings sweep the Feral Dogs, and the Dicks... err, Ducks... win in seven.  Yes, I AM out of touch with reality, why do you ask?  Never forget that '60s truism: reality is for people who can't handle drugs.

As for the East... who really cares?

Hey! This Is ME!

Think I should order one of these?

¡Pues sí, Señora... Estoy muy Suave y Cremoso!  (Not to mention deboner!)

Ryan On Rose

I love Charlie Rose's show and I think I may have mentioned this a time or two in these pages.  I DO have an issue with Ol' Charlie, though... I think he should allow embedding certain segments of his show, if only in the interest of a better informed public.  Last night's show was one such, seein' as how Mr. Rose had Jack Lew,The One's budget director; Representative Paul Ryan (who needs no introduction in these pages); and Steven Pearlstein, a WaPo columnist for the full hour.  The best thing about Mr. Rose's show is he goes beyond sound-bites, indulging in lengthy discussion with his guests... which obviously brings clarity to the issue at hand.  It's great good stuff and one of the best shows on my teevee (and yours, too... assuming you watch).

The topic last evening was The One's budget speech yesterday, as you might gather from the guest list.  Mr. Lew's performance was predictably apologetic, and that's bein' kind... bullshit bein' a much more descriptive word.  Mr. Ryan, OTOH, pulled no punches and called it as he sees it.  It should come as no surprise my view coincides with Rep. Ryan's view... who basically said "The President has no plan.  All he has is a speech."   And... wonder of wonders... Mr. Pearlstein came down HARD on Obama, so much so that I was mildly shocked.

All that said... I found this lil clip on the Tube of You.  Skip forward to about the 41 second mark, wherein Mr. Ryan begins his comments.  Or watch the whole thing... it's up to you.

Like it?  If so, I'd recommend you hie yerfineself off to Charlie Rose's site and watch the whole thing (today the segment begins once you hit the site; alternatively you can click on "last night" or search for April 13th, if you go after today).  The show is broken up into three segments so you're not forced to swallow all of Mr. Lew's crap.  Representative Ryan's comments are keepers, and he is deadly serious... as opposed to our UNserious president, of course.