How can we miss you when you don't go away?

Dear Dominik:

Yeah, sure. You might be a really great goalie to some people, but despite your repeated Vezina Trophy wins, you never did a lot for me.

Must be that stupid-ass bucket you wear on your head.

And, yeah, it was all touching and shit when you finally got the Stanley Cup with Detroit, but a real champion knows when its time to call it a day.

That, my friend, ain't you. Because you still haven't figured it out.

I did some checking. Yes, you left after the '02 Cup win. But for some insane reason you came back. You played a whopping 14 games. 14. Why? Because your groin went out on you. Of course, you got to enjoy the 3-ring Circus, featureing: You, Curtis Joseph, and Manny Legace. Then you hung them up again over the 04-05 lockout. But nobody really expected you to come back. (to your credit, you did willingly give back a lot of the salary you signed for because you felt you really hadn't earned it.)

And yet, inexplicably, you did come back. To Ottawa, of all fucking places.

43 games played but only 28 wins. Oh, yeah...and you had all those wins in the first half of the season when, yep, your groin/adductor/whatever went out again. So the Sens put their playoff hopes on their rookie goalie. Might work in Carolina, but not in Ottawa, pal.

And here you are, inexplicably, back in the NHL with Detroit.

Dude, I don't get it. You don't really have anything left to prove and you're a trainer's nightmare because one mis-placed lunge with a pad and you're toast for the season.

Dom, you're done. The sooner you recognize this, the sooner you can get on with your life and we can get on with hockey.

Love,

NHL fans everywhere.

Technorati Tag: hockey

The Champ...

Its amazing what you can find when you look for it. Anyone wondering what this whole "Champ" thing was that I posted in Penny's latest blog can go here for a listen.

Oh, the shame of it all

After watching the Argonauts get their asses handed to them by the BC Lions, I am completely ashamed to be a fan. I haven't seen this much bad play since the Chevy Chase show, or when Ralph Benmurgi thought that a TV show would be a good idea.

Bad penalties, weak play, and no coordination whatsoever.

Shame, shame, shame

..and on this day in history...

(Courtesy of Wikipedia...)

1794 - Reign of Terror leader Maximilien Robespierre was guillotined.

1914 - Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, starting World War I.

1976 - The Tangshan earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 magnitude flattened Tangshan, China, killing 242,769 and injuring 164,851.

1990 - Alberto Fujimori became President of Peru.

1996 - The remains of the prehistoric Kennewick Man were discovered.

Slight correction...

I should have checked my facts better. Don Rogers, who died recently, was the last surviving test pilot from Avro Canada. He was Avro's Chief Test Pilot at the time of the Arrow program. He did not, however, pilot the Arrow. His aviation claims to fame were the landmark test flights of the Avro C-102 Jetliner.

The 4 Arrow test pilots were, in fact:

• Jan Zurakowski (d. 02/2004)
• Peter Cope (d. 04/2005)
• Jack Woodman (d. 05/1967)
• Wladyslaw "Spud" Potocki (d. 1996)

Shame on me. ;-)

Friday in the Rain

I suppose it could have been worse...it could be pissing down rain tomorrow. Oh, wait. It might.

(Hmm....must ask dtrini about backup plans for our double date Drive-in Night...)

Yes, I am here. I haven't died. Nor have I given up blogging. There hasn't been a great deal to say, although I've lurked around where possible. (I think Ed and I were suffering the same malady)

Pre-residency for school started this week, so I've been getting used to the online learning environment, reading papers and reading books and then reading more papers and reading and highlighting and note-taking and reading and holfuckamIstillreadingmorestuffohmyGODIcan'tbelievehowmuchfuckingreading
I'mdoing....and then reading some more and workin on my first assignment: a reflective paper.

I know you've all be clamouring for a hockey update, so here it is. We had our last regular season game last night. Until last week we had a nice win streak going and then we turned in a real turkey last Thursday. I didn't feel I played badly, but we just could not make a pass to save our lives, let alone put the puck in the net. Strangely enough we had managed to hold onto first place in the division. This week we were determined to play better but still came out rather flat against a team we've done very well against in previous games. Paul, our captain, had a new stick and he kept firing the puck over the net. Wes, our top scorer, had a new blade on his and had much the same problem. I was doing my very best "Doc Oc" impression between the pipes at our end and Trappy the Wonder Glove was snagging just about everything in sight.

But we were still down 2 goals with about 1:45 remaining in the 3rd.

Fortune smiled on us. They took a bad penalty by dumping one of our guys in their end and we took advantage. We scored with 34 seconds left.

4-3.

So I went to the bench and they put on the extra skater. Now, this ploy rarely works for us but somehow we popped one in.

Tied 4-4 with 10 seconds on the clock.

Not bad, all things considered. We finished one point out of first. 6-4-1 over 11 games. What really stinks is that because I'm off to Victoria as of the 5th, I'll miss the 2nd and 3rd playoff games in the round-robin. Ah well....no sacrifice too great for education...

That's all for the moment, readers.

Keep smilin'!

Wow....big news out there today

I dunno where to start...

Israel wipes out a well-known UN observation post, killing 4 peacekeepers - including one Canadian. Kofi Annan says, "deliberate", and Ehud Olmert says, "oops".

Lance Bass (ex-N'Sync) shocks the world by coming out of the closet. Hmm. Lance is gay. There's a fucking news flash. Who didn't see that one coming? C'mon..let's see some hands! Anyone? Anyone?

The last surviving test pilot of the Avro Arrow died today. Truly the end of an era.

There's the highlights, folks....pick 'em!

"Tranquility Base, here...the Eagle has landed."

37 Years ago today...humanity took its biggest step toward the stars.

Technorati Tag: Spaceflight

Muggy Monday

Folks, its hot. Damn hot. REAL hot.

I could, conceivably, fry the proverbial egg on a downtown sidewalk. Damn hot all weekend, too. But that didn't matter. I spent the weekend with my nose in my textbooks...plugging away at my first assignment. *ugh*

To kick the weekend off, we had a little commuter chaos. Around 2:30 Friday afternoon, 6 cars from a freight train jumped the tracks near one of the GO stations in the west end of the city, effectively paralyzing commuter trains.

Now it wasn't all bad for the Stoney One. I had planned an slightly early beverage departure with a couple of colleagues, figuring that if we had to wait out a train stoppage, we might as well do so with something frosty in our hands. After a while we headed down to Union Station where the madness was in full swing. The display boards showed trains cancelled, trains delayed, crowded buses, and cell phone traffic so thick you could almost see it. I wasn't particularly worried...the kids were already at their Father's place...DW was working, and the Cat was probably sleeping. So I fired up the laptop, put on my headphones and listened to tunes while I waited.

I eventually caught the first Eastbound train which was announced (7:30, or so) and headed for home. Penny got lucky (well, that too) and was off work early and picked me up at the station when I got off (well, that too). Could have been far worse, I suppose.

While I really wanted to, I didn't generate a speck of sawdust this weekend. Too hot to work in the garage anyway.

(Yes, I know this is a totally lame-ass post. Deal with it.) ;-)

Technorati Tag: Life

A Quickie

I'm getting some momentum on a big work project, so I don't want to get lost in blogland at the moment.

I'm alive. I'm well. I'm still checking my daily canon, briefly.

Keep smiling!

Some people should just shut up

I mourned the recent loss of another Canadian soldier in Afghanistan this weekend (a reservist, no less), but I fumed at some of the remarks which sprung, unbidden from people who really should have just kept their traps shut.

I won't speak ill of the dead since there's no documented evidence of what he is alleged to have said. However, anyone who has seen documentaries like 'Letters Home' will know that soldiers serving far away will have some pretty far ranging thoughts and emotions running through their hearts...some of which might be misconstrued upon reading.

'nuff said there.

However, I will point out a few things - as I did with that so-called "Draft Dodger" guy who ran to Canada from his US Army unit.

• Service in the military is volunteer.
• Its "military." What the heck do you think you might actually be doing??
• The days of recruiters lying to people are long since past.
• Reserve augmentation on Operational deployments (in the CF) voluntary
• Having said that, you get integrated right in....there's no distinction made just because you are a reservist...no 'lesser jobs' because you usually do the gig part-time.
• You should know this particularly if it is your second tour on Operations

So...to the father of the late soldier's girlfriend: please shut up. Your allegations do more to sully the boy's memory than they do anything else. Sure, you're hurt and you're looking for someone to blame. Tell you what: why not blame the guys on the other side of the firefight? Why not blame the international community for failing a nation so badly it fell into anarchy and fundamentalism? Don't blame the military here unless they really missed the ball on his ability to get the job done.

If nothing else, at least he had the balls to stand up and be counted when it really mattered. All you're doing is spewing a lot of shit.

Edit: an article posted to the Toronto Star's website this evening had some words from his father. While he didn't have to directly refute the claims made by the girlfriend's father, his words were enough to put the claims into serious doubt. Nice to see some sanity for a change.

Soccer Hating Rationale #659

I nearly snarfed my coffee when I read this little tidbit from the French coach after their loss to Italy.

"I don't know what Materazzi said to Zidane," France coach Raymond Domenech said. "But it's a shame. It's sad. He (Materazzi) did a lot of acting and for such a big man, a gust of wind made him fall over. It's regrettable."

Apparently "Zidane" means "Wind", in French.

...must be a synonym, or something.

Draw your own conclusions here.



I think the French Encyclopaedia will have to update the entry of "Zidane, Zinedane" to reflect a few cross-references, including: Bertuzzi, Todd; Myers, Brett; Ismail, Raghib...

Football Daze

Greetings from the second quarter of the Argos-Blue Bombers game!

Penny, the Wondertwins and I are here in the sun in Sect 109B enjoying a good East Division tilt.

As birthdays go (well, non-me birthdays, that is) its been pretty good so far. The kids and I ran out to the nearby mall to grab birthday gifts for their mother while she was working this morning. She managed to get off early enough that we wouldn't be completely scrambling for the train to get into town.

So the sun is shining. The family is here. The Argos are still winning

Life, I think, is pretty good.

(Edit: Argos managed to lose this one, unfortunately. 4 turnovers will do that to you...as will failure to cover Milt Stegall effectively)

Happy Birthday, baby...

For my bride...beautiful as ever.

You truly are getting better and better.

I love you like mad and I could not imagine my life being as amazing and incredible as it is with anyone else but you.

- Your NNLMM

For my American Friends

Happy 4th of July!

The Lord of the Moss: The Return of the (Sawdust) King

Yes indeed, folks. I am back.

I decided to include a small blog vacation along with my work vacation to
help with the recharge of the brain.

What did I do? Well. I did, like...stuff. Mostly to do with the
generation of sawdust in the garage, but a few other domestic chores were
tackled as well. I did, much to my surprise, no plastering. I'm not sure
if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

However, here are some of the highlights. Casa Stone/Shagwell now has:

- A new Garage Door Opener (to replace the one which only opened when it
really felt like it)
- A new BBQ. Its huge. Totally Kick-ass. Has a side burner. Has a
store-away cover. (Insert Tim Allen-like bark/howl of manliness here)
- New Citronella lanterns. Bought months ago but finally installed.
- A new pegboard storage unit. Great overall design but I do have some
thoughts on how to make it better. Suffice it to say I need a little more
practice in making strong lap joints. (as evidenced when the front panel
came crashing down onto the garage floor.)
-A new (not-quite-finished) rolling work cart. Of course, I have to
dismantle the old, somewhat rickety one before it goes into place. I just
have to finish installing the top and building the drawers on the new
beastie.

Penny and I managed to slip away to the summer home of a long-time friend
of her family. We made a great day trip up to some of the
not-so-congested cottage country North-East of us. It really was a great
trip and the people were very welcoming. (thanks baby *g*)

And with that, I hit the "send" button and go off in search of lunch.
give me a few days to get caught up on everyone's blogs. I'm WAY behind
in my reading.