A Brief AAR

It was the best of all possible worlds... seats on the glass (just slightly in front of the St. Louis net for periods one and three), a 0-0 game for two periods, a 2-0 St. Louis lead in the third, a Wings comeback to tie late in the third, overtime that didn't resolve the issue, and the Wings win in a shoot-out.  YES!

So.  I have a slight hangover this morning, mainly because I drank crappy beer... Bud Select... nearly all night.  But yanno whut?  When you put the word "free" in front of Bud Select the beer suddenly becomes acceptable.  Good, even.  So good you drink one whole helluva lot more of that swill than you normally would.  "Free" changes everything.

I should explain.

Apparently our tickets also included access to The Blue Note Lounge, which is a club/bar on the mezzanine level of the Scottrade Center.  We kinda-sorta stumbled in to The Blue Note by accident, Buck and I, and we had to have the drill explained to us by the guy who checked us in: free buffet (a great layout of food) for an hour before the game, free drinks for an hour before the game, during the game, an hour after the game, AND you could could carry TWO drinks out of the bar to your seat.

Well.  Bud Select?  OK.  Beer Me!

The kicker: our hotel... the Sheraton City Center... was 500 feet from the Scottrade Center so there were no worries about drinking and driving.  The only worry we had was remaining upright, and even that wasn't a big concern, mainly coz we could have crawled home if pressed.

So... it was a great night.  We hooked up with some other Wings fans who were also staying at the Sheraton and continued the party in the hotel bar after the game.  We Wings fans have this saying: "EVERY game's a home game."  That's because you'll see a huge number of Red Wings jerseys in the crowd at every hockey game, everywhere.  It doesn't matter where the game is... Dallas, El-Eh, Chicago, NooYawk, St. Louis, or on the freakin' moon (Denver)... there will be a large contingent of Wings fans at the game when the Wings are in town.  And so it was last night.  But you know what the best part was?  Drinkin' the enemy's FREE beer in THEIR club after the Wings won.

Sweet.

And now I have to go find coffee, as the Sheraton staff took the coffee out of the Club Lounge a half-hour ago.  The inconsiderate bastards!

On Fort Leavenworth

SN1 gave me the nickel tour of Fort Leavenworth on Tuesday and I was impressed.  The post is large, well maintained, and is about as beautiful as a military base gets.  One shouldn't skip over that "well maintained" bit, mainly because a lot of the buildings date back to the mid- and late 19th century.  There are also some very impressive new facilities, some of which house the Army's Command and General Staff College (CGSC)... where SN1 has been studying for most of the past year.  The Lewis and Clark Center is the main building on the CGSC campus and that's where SN1 began our tour.  A few photos... as always, click for bigger:

The CGSC foyer and reception area, which features dramatic lighting, both natural and artificial.

A view of the Army's Divisional Flags that overhang the reception area.

One of two stained glass windows in the HUGE foyer.

The second of two stained glass windows, both of which were gifts from the CGSC classes of 1976.

And then there's this...

That's looking into the rather small MacArthur Room... which has one of General MacArthur's original desks and chair, along with a five-star flag and a very impressive portrait.  And who knew the general used a PC?  Not me...

SN1 also took me into one of the CGSC classrooms and I was duly impressed with the amount of technology being used... from humongous flat-screen monitors that are multi-purposed, capable of showing briefings, cable teevee, and  video conferencing... to individual desks that feature dual flat-screen monitors with access to both classified and unclassified networks as well as various and sundry applications.  There's also extensive use of closed-circuit, two-way video that allows multiple classrooms to conference with each other.  VERY impressive, state-of-the-art stuff.  I drooled a lot, but I didn't take pictures there.

We walked around a bit and I was most impressed with the military history on display.  I could have spent hours and hours in there but SN1 had an appointment elsewhere on the post so we only had about an hour before we had to leave.  I might wrangle an invitation to go back.

So... SN1 went to his appointment and then we drove around the base for a bit.  Spring might be the best time to visit Fort Leavenworth, mainly because the post is a very leafy place.  Some evidence of that:

That's a view of some of the field grade officer housing... mostly colonels.  The housing looks pretty old, doesn't it?  And that's only because it IS.  Two examples:

I strongly suspect this is a general officer's house.

The Waddington family's quarters.  Note the Union Jack... CGSC hosts a lot of foreign students.  AND foreign faculty.

Detail from the photo of the Waddington family's quarters.

The architecture is just way, way cool.  And recall what I said above about "well-maintained;" I think it's remarkable that the Waddington family lives in such an old and historic house.  The photos above are just a very small sample of the beautiful old buildings that abound on Ft. Leavenworth.  I have to hand it to the Army: they know how to preserve their heritage.  Ft. Leavenworth just reeks of history.

And then you have the post below, wherein SN1 and I went to the old Disciplinary Barracks and had a beer.  All in all... a great day out.

And tonight it's HOCKEY... Red Wings hockey!!

I Was Briefly Incarcerated...

... at the (old) US Disciplinary Barracks today.  But it was a voluntary sort of incarceration.  Note:

The 12th Brick Grille is a bar/sandwich shop which is literally within the walls of the military prison.  The 12th Brick gets its name from the fact the US Military Prison used to have a brick factory on the premises, with military convicts providing the labor.  Every 12th brick was stamped "USMP"... thus the name.  They serve great beer there, too.  I had a Boulevard Pale Ale and SN1 had a Boulevard Wheat.

Good stuff, Maynard.

What? Politics? Again?

Yeah, again.  But we'll keep it down to the bare minimum amount o' commentary, associated boosterism and/or campaigning for one certain former gub'nor, as well as casting aspersions on the remaining GOP candidates who have the proverbial snowball's chance in Hell of winning either the GOP nomination OR the general election.  Speakin' o' the general...

Heh.  I think 50:1 is about right.

Heh

I like the flavor of this one...

Mainly coz it's where I happen to be at the moment.

―:☺:―

Structure... it's what's for breakfast.  And dinner.   Putting myself down in the middle of a functioning nuclear family has been good for me.  I've gone to bed at a decent hour (for me) for the last two nights and have arisen at the same sort of "decent," aka "normal" hour for two days straight now.  This feels pretty good.

Leavenworth is a pretty nice place from what little I've seen so far.  SN1's house sits at the top of a hill in a nice lil subdivision... and the view from the back deck is great.  I'm sitting on the deck composing this post as we speak and I'm still amazed at all the greenery and rolling hills within my view every time I look up from my screen.  This is quite the change after after the flat, dry, arid, and semi-desolate environment that is Portales.  Change is good.  Well, except for humidity.  But we won't go there at the moment coz the WX has been mild... so far.

Time for a re-fill.

Wrong, Dorothy. We ARE in Kansas. And Don't Call Me Toto.

We'll open with a minor bitch, for starters.  Loosy-Anna Andy said this in comments to my Car Pr0n post:

"Why would ANYBODY have wet dreams about a Gubmit Motors Caddy when they have a sweet little thing like that?"  

The answer is... comfort.  Of the Quiet Kind.  I love The Green Hornet to death, don't get me wrong, but I'm lucky to have anythang resembling normal hearing after spending 11 hours and 21 minutes in her cockpit yesterday.  The main issue is wind noise at higher speeds (anythang over 60 mph is loud, and it gets REALLY loud when you're over 75); the replacement top doesn't fit as well as the original manufacturer's and the resulting small gaps around the windows make for significant noise.  Those gaps also make for a rather moist experience INSIDE the car when doing thangs like... oh... goin' thru the car wash or driving in the rain.  THAT'S why we have wet dreams about Cadillacs.  TGH is very, very good at what she does best... like tearing up a twisty-turny back road or stylin' and profilin' on Main with her top down... but she ain't as good as she once was for those long-hauls on the super-slab.

So.  We ARE in Kansas.  I left P-Ville at 0700 hrs (MDT) yesterday morning and got into Leavenworth just after 1900 hrs (CDT).  DIL Erma had dinner ready (yum!), the beer was cold, and the back deck was a great place to smoke cigars and catch up on stuff... coz it has been about two weeks since we've seen each other, no?   

We then took a short walk to the house of one of SN1's classmates where we continued to drink beer... GREAT beer... and ended up the night with a couple o' Moscow Mules.  There's a significant deviation between Buck's friend Buck's recipe and the one I linked... which is the addition of fresh mint.  MUCH better, that.  Didja notice... "Buck's friend Buck?"  Yes: Buck.  There were three Bucks in the same place at the same time last evening, all drinking, all tellin' war stories, and the planet didn't even wobble on its axis, much less explode.  We... humanity... all survived, somehow.  We... the four of us gathered together last night... were also pretty damned ecumenical, too.  Buck and his housemate are both Army helicopter pilots, and you know SN1 and his father are both Zoomies of the non-flyin' type.  And then there was this:

That's Bob, Buck's housemate, and YrHmblScrb in a very dark cellphone pic.  The VERY first words out of Bob's mouth when greeting me last evening were "Oh, NO!" while pointing at the Wings logo on my sweater.  So, see?  Ecumenical.   Army and Air Force.  Rated and non-rated.  O's and E's.  And a Sabres fan!

I'm No Longer On the Fence

Look at my sidebar.  The thing that turned me?  This:

And there's this from Fox News:

Rep. Paul Ryan threw his support behind Mitt Romney on Friday, hailing him as the “best person to beat the president” and warning that the Republican primary needs to come to an end soon.

“Who will make the best president? And who has the best chance of defeating Barack Obama? … In my opinion, Mitt Romney is clearly that person,” Ryan said on “Fox & Friends.” “I am convinced that Mitt Romney has the skills, the tenacity, the principles, the courage and the integrity to do what it takes to get America back on track.”

The chairman of the House Budget Committee continued, “I think this primary has been productive — I think it’s been constructive up ‘til now — I think it’s made the candidates better, but I think we’re entering a phase where it could become counterproductive if this drags on much longer and so that’s why I think we need to coalesce as conservatives around Mitt Romney and focus on the big task at hand, which is defeating Barack Obama in the fall.”

Yup.  We've seen and heard enough.  It's time to get behind our nominee, and that nominee will be Governor Romney... for better or worse.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack...

... is VERY retro, in that we're doin' an all-Beatles Friday... listening to Abbey Road, the White Album, and Revolver.  The thang that amazes me is the fact I remember ALL the lyrics to the songs on these albums, even though the music is more than 40 years old.  Which just might could explain why I can't remember what I had for dinner last night (among other thangs), seein' as how my brain is all clogged up with lyrics from songs that are older than my kids and a lot o' my friends.

So.  What to choose from all this?  Wait no more.  From Abbey Road:

One sweet dream
Pick up the bags and get in the limousine
Soon we'll be away from here
Step on the gas and wipe that tear away
One sweet dream came true today

Yeah... soon we'll be away from here, stepping on the gas and all that. 

From the White Album:

You know I'd give you everything I've got
for a little peace of mind
I'd give you everything I've got for a little peace of mind
I'd give you everything I've got for a little peace of mind

Heh.  Well, there IS that...

And from Revolver:

But if I seem to act unkind
It's only me, it's not my mind
That is confusing things.

I want to tell you
I feel hung up but I don't know why,
I don't mind
I could wait forever, I've got time

Yeah, well... right.  I think the interesting thang about the Beatles' music is how timeless they really are.  Thangs that were relevant all these years ago are still relevant today, albeit for entirely different reasons.

Plane Pr0n

First, from the Usual USAF Source...

Air Frame: A B-1B Lancer from the 337th Test and Evaluation Squadron at Dyess AFB, Tex., stands by as another Lancer from the unit connects with a KC-135 Stratotanker to refuel during a mission over the Gulf of Mexico near Eglin AFB, Fla., March 26, 2012. (Courtesy photo by Jake Melampy) (Click on image above to reach wallpaper version.)

And then there's this...

Heh.  I think 12 Yankee Dollars is under-priced, meself.

I Hope This Ain't ME Later On Next Month

This must be an old ad... I don't know why there would be a guy wearing a Flyers sweater in this.  Jets, Leafs, Habs... no doubt.  But the Flyers?  Oh, Snap!  The 2010 SCF Final...

h/t: The Usual Hockey Source.

Car Pr0n

We're just back from The Big(ger) City™ where we spent the morning sitting in a waiting room at the Automotive Spa... specifically: Ironhorse Detail Shop... waiting for The Green Hornet to get all cleaned up, tarted up, and made beautiful.  This, of course, is in preparation for our impending road-trip up to Leavenworth and points east.  Coz we ALL know a clean pristine car rides better than a dirty one.  And she most certainly is pristine.  Witness:

She smells real nice, too, what with having her interior rubbed down with fragrant mink oil (the leather bits), her carpets freshly shampooed, and her glass all washed down.  I think the Ol' Girl cleans up rather nicely, don't you?  The guys at Ironhorse thought so... as I was told repeatedly "Man, that's a sweeeet ride ya got there!"  They're right.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack...

... is mostly Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush.  Well... all of it, in fact, but more Kate than Joni.  We know that Ms. Bush is... umm... an "acquired taste," but I acquired my taste for the lovely Kate about 30 years ago, back in Former Happy Days when we lived in her native land.  That taste has never left me and we pull her albums out every so often just for the joy that's in it.  And, truth be told, to recall Former Happy Days... because we're like that.  So here are a couple o' items from today's soundtrack...

I could have been anyone.
You could have been anyone's dream.
Why did you have to choose our moment?
Why did you have to make me feel that?
Why did you make it so unreal?

Oh! To be in love,
And never get out again.
Oh! To be in love,
And never get out again.
Oh! To be in love,
And never get out again.

I don't think Kate thought that one through... mainly because there just MIGHT could be a time when one would want to "get out again."  Just sayin', yanno?

And then there's this about that:

"If I only could, I'd be running up that hill.
If I only could, I'd be running up that hill."

It doesn't hurt me.
Do you want to feel how it feels?
Do you want to know that it doesn't hurt me?
Do you want to hear about the deal that I'm making?
You, it's you and me.

And if I only could,
I'd make a deal with God,
And I'd get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
Be running up that building.
If I only could, oh...

You don't want to hurt me,
But see how deep the bullet lies.
Unaware I'm tearing you asunder.
Ooh, there is thunder in our hearts.

I sure do love this woman.  I mean, aside from bein' oh-so-lovely, she touches me in places few others can.  Of course there's also the fact her music was once a shared experience with someone near and dear.  But let's not go there... any more than we already have.

Around Here He'd Get His Ass Beat

Just sayin'.

Apropos o' Not Much

Starters at tonight's dinner...

That would be a plate of green chile/cheese fried won-tons, a salad, and a very watery martini... for starters.  I asked the bartender "can you make a GOOD dry martini?" before I ordered and he responded in the affirmative.  I suppose "good" is entirely subjective, but the lesson learned here is to order a double the next time I order a martini at Cattle Barons.  If there IS a next time... coz it's prolly best to stick with beer in this neck o' the woods.  Or whiskey, straight up.  Just sayin'.

Dinner on the whole was good, though.  We followed up the hors d'oeuvres with a beef kabob dish and a glass of house red, which turned out to be a very good Merlot, followed up with coffee (and two fingers o' single malt and a cigar, taken on our verandah).  All in all: a very enjoyable dinner out. 

Farewell and Following Seas, Captain LeFon

Carroll LeFon, CAPT, USN (ret) is being laid to rest at this very hour in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, CA.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the LeFon family; our gratitude continues for Lex's service and the significant contributions he made in this world.

Godspeed, Captain.

Well, Let's HOPE So

From CNN earlier today:

The sticks seem to be falling as they should.  There's hope, especially when Obama's House Organ is this pessimistic.

Good and Bad

First the Bad...

So.  We're all waiting for the Supremes now.  Ain't nothing like suspense, eh?

―:☺:―

The Good, Part I...  The Wings made the playoffs last night for the 21st consecutive season by beating Columbus, 7-2.  That's the current record for making the playoffs in all the major sports, but it ain't even close to the NHL record for most consecutive playoff appearances.  Note (h/t to Paul at Kukla's Korner):

MOST CONSECUTIVE STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF APPEARANCES, NHL HISTORY:
29 Boston Bruins, 1968-96
28 Chicago Blackhawks, 1970-97
25 St. Louis Blues, 1980-2004
24 Montréal Canadiens, 1971-94
21 Detroit Red Wings, 1991-present
21 Montréal Canadiens, 1949-69
20 Detroit Red Wings, 1939-58

Now there's a record I prolly won't ever see, even if the Wings make the playoffs every year for the next nine years and break the record.  I'd be 76 years old when and if that happened and that looks like a bridge too far from where I sit.  For ME, not the Wings.  

―:☺:―

The Good, Part II... Do you believe in omens?  This is the first song I heard this morning when I fired up the peesee:

Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning
And the first thing that I heard
Was a song outside my window
And the traffic wrote the words
It came ringing up like Christmas bells
And rapping up like pipes and drums

Oh, won't you stay
We'll put on the day
And we'll wear it 'till the night comes

I think it's gonna be a great day.  I'm gonna talk in present tenses.

A Memorable Day...

... for Wings fans.

Fifteen Years Later, Infamous Wings-Avs Brawl Still Fires Up Fans: MyFoxDETROIT.com

From FoxDetroit:

(WJBK) - Fifteen years ago today, the Detroit Red Wings beat the Colorado Avalanche 6-5 in what was one of the most memorable games in team history.

The fight between Darren McCarty and Claude Lemieux still fires up fans. It also helped the Red Wings turn the corner and launch their dynasty, winning the first of four Stanley Cups in 15 years.

The Red Wings of this season have struggled of late, but with some players back from injuries, they're hoping to change their fortunes.

I SO remember that game... and like the article sez, it marked the point where the current Wings dynasty began.  That, and the fact that Darren McCarty kicked the hell outta Claude Lemieux.  No one in hockey... at that time... deserved it more.  Highlights:

That was the BEST gotdamned brawl of the modern era, bar none.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

It's another good day here on The High Plains o' New Mexico... not brilliant, coz the wind is a bit to the right o' breezy... but good enough that we have our windows open and are listening to our own stuff once again, as opposed to Pandora.  

Our selections today span a good amount o' time, from my high school days up until about two or three years ago.  Specifically: Volume Six of Atlantic's Rhythm and Blues Compendium, Robbie Robertson's eponymous album, Dylan's "Blood On the Tracks," Elvis Costello's "This Year's Model," and Lyle's "Live in Texas."  We have our CD changer in "random" mode and that makes for some rather jangling segues... like having Elvis' "I Don't Wanna Go (to Chelsea)" follow Aretha's "A Natural Woman."   But it is what it is and I'm enjoying what it is... immensely.

I bought four of those five albums in Former Happy Days and a couple o' those albums featured prominently in the soundtrack of our life (lives?) during that time.  Music bein' what it is... and by that I mean the power it has to transport us to moments both happy and sad... we've had quite a few "interesting" moments this afternoon.  But we shall resist the temptation to get all maudlin on ya once again.  So.  What to choose from all o' the above?  Let's go with this:

Who else is gonna bring you
A broken arrow
Who else is gonna bring you
A bottle of rain
There she goes, moving across the water
There she goes turning my whole
world around

Do you feel what I feel
Can we make that so it's part of the deal
I gotta hold you in these arms of steel
Lay your heart on the line ... this time

I wanna breathe when you breathe
When you whisper like that hot
summer breeze
Count the beads of sweat that cover me
Didn't you show me a sign, this time

I think that's one of the best love songs ever penned, not so much for the emotion expressed in the lyrics, but for the sheer geekiness of it (and the emotion, too).  Those of us of a quirky nature really appreciate the broken arrow and bottle o' rain aspects of the lyrics.  Coz we've been known to bring our beloved a bottle o' rain or sumthin' like it, yanno?

Better Than Roseanne Barr

Operatic soprano Measha Brueggergosman got slagged by hockey bloggers for her renditions of the Canadian and US national anthems at Saturday night's game in Ottawa.  This is long, but whattayathink?

I watched the whole thang and, like Paul at the Usual Hockey Source, I thought Ms. Brueggergosman did a bang-up job.  Her version of the anthems may not be everyone's cuppa, but like the post title sez: better than Roseanne.  But then again, even **I** could sing The Star-Spangled Banner better than Roseanne.  You could, too.