They Said It Would Snow...

…and it’s been doing so for the past two hours, albeit lightly. The snow isn’t sticking on the pavement (yet) but the grass, the trees, and the cars have the beginnings of a nice white blanket. It’s great fun to look out the window and watch these small flakes drift down. Which means there’s little or no wind, of course. And that’s a great good thing since it’s (only) 26 degrees outside as I type.

There’ll be no cigars and beer on the verandah today. Or, in other words: Brrr!

Mid-Week

Via ESPN…the aptly named “That Ain’t Right,” a slide show of automotive monstrosities from the SEMA show in Vegas. The pic I’ve chosen to pique your fancy features my pet peeve of current automotive abominations…those outsized wheels that seemingly “grace” every other mildly or wildly customized SUV, Caprice, or other big-assed vehicles prowling the streets these days. To my way of thinking the money spent on “22s” would be better spent on a supercharger or some other horsepower enhancing device. Or decent shocks, based upon some examples I’ve seen around these parts…

Today’s Musical Moments… Two tunes from Leo Kottke. The first is contemporary Leo, playing his interpretation of the ol’ Duane Allman classic, Little Martha.

Short and sweet, as the saying goes. And simply frickin’ brilliant.

Now this piece ("Vaseline Machine Gun") is what originally turned me on to Kottke in the waaay-back, circa 1970 or so. The first time I heard this piece I simply didn’t believe it was only ONE guy on guitar…I just knew it had to be an instrumental duet. But, no. Just Leo. I bought the album and became a life-long fan.

Amazing, isn’t he? I’ve seen Leo at least three times…and always in a small venue with no more than a hundred people…at the very most…in the audience. The man has marvelous rapport with his audience and his stage banter is self-deprecating and virtually defines the word “eccentric,” as in funny-eccentric. There are few guitar players that are Kottke’s equal, and fewer still that are better. None come to mind as I write…

Today’s Political Moment of Zen (apologies, Jon)…courtesy of the WSJ:

To get the conversation rolling at that D.C. dinner--and perhaps mischievously--I wondered aloud whether Bush hatred had not made rational discussion of politics in Washington all but impossible. One guest responded in a loud, seething, in-your-face voice, "What's irrational about hating George W. Bush?" His vehemence caused his fellow progressives to gather around and lean in, like kids on a playground who see a fight brewing.

Reluctant to see the dinner fall apart before drinks had been served, I sought to ease the tension. I said, gently, that I rarely found hatred a rational force in politics, but, who knows, perhaps this was a special case. And then I tried to change the subject.

But my dinner companion wouldn't allow it. "No," he said, angrily. "You started it. You make the case that it's not rational to hate Bush." I looked around the table for help. Instead, I found faces keen for my response. So, for several minutes, I held forth, suggesting that however wrongheaded or harmful to the national interest the president's policies may have seemed to my progressive colleagues, hatred tended to cloud judgment, and therefore was a passion that a citizen should not be proud of being in the grips of and should avoid bringing to public debate. Propositions, one might have thought, that would not be controversial among intellectuals devoted to thinking and writing about politics.

But controversial they were. Finally, another guest, a man I had long admired, an incisive thinker and a political moderate, cleared his throat, and asked if he could interject. I welcomed his intervention, confident that he would ease the tension by lending his authority in support of the sole claim that I was defending, namely, that Bush hatred subverted sound thinking. He cleared his throat for a second time. Then, with all eyes on him, and measuring every word, he proclaimed, "I . . . hate . . . the . . . way . . . Bush . . . talks."

Much has been written about BDS and I’ve linked more than a few of these pieces. This one is as good as any and better than most. Not the least of which is this pithy observation:

In short, Bush hatred is not a rational response to actual Bush perfidy. Rather, Bush hatred compels its progressive victims--who pride themselves on their sophistication and sensitivity to nuance--to reduce complicated events and multilayered issues to simple matters of good and evil. Like all hatred in politics, Bush hatred blinds to the other sides of the argument, and constrains the hater to see a monster instead of a political opponent.

Which, of course, has never failed to amaze me. Read the whole thing.

(h/t: Lex)

It’s not a nice day here on The High Plains of New Mexico… a front is moving in and the wind is up. “Howling” is a much more appropriate, albeit overused, term. I won’t be going out today, reduced as I am to using Miss Zukiko for basic transportation, and today is not a good day for motorcycling. Ya, the Green Hornet runs and all her mechanical systems save one are intact. The one system that isn’t functional is the hood latch, and the hood remains in place…which is to say down… thanks only to the emergency catch. It’ll be a slow slog over to the body shop in Clovis tomorrow. But until then, the wounded Hornet will remain parked. I’m not one to tempt fate.

It's Just Another Brilliant Day...

Via Chap… here’s an especially powerful piece by Christopher Hitchens. The introduction:

I was having an oppressively normal morning a few months ago, flicking through the banality of quotidian e-mail traffic, when I idly clicked on a message from a friend headed "Seen This?" The attached item turned out to be a very well-written story by Teresa Watanabe of the Los Angeles Times. It described the death, in Mosul, Iraq, of a young soldier from Irvine, California, named Mark Jennings Daily, and the unusual degree of emotion that his community was undergoing as a consequence. The emotion derived from a very moving statement that the boy had left behind, stating his reasons for having become a volunteer and bravely facing the prospect that his words might have to be read posthumously. In a way, the story was almost too perfect: this handsome lad had been born on the Fourth of July, was a registered Democrat and self-described agnostic, a U.C.L.A. honors graduate, and during his college days had fairly decided reservations about the war in Iraq. I read on, and actually printed the story out, and was turning a page when I saw the following:

"Somewhere along the way, he changed his mind. His family says there was no epiphany. Writings by author and columnist Christopher Hitchens on the moral case for war deeply influenced him … "

I don't exaggerate by much when I say that I froze.

Mr. Hitchens goes on to describe meeting Lt. Daily’s family and getting to know the young soldier through their eyes, and through Lt. Daily’s writings. To say the piece is moving is understatement of the highest order. Mr. Hitchens gives us yet another story that makes us ask "Where do we get such men?"

From the sublime to the ridiculous football… It was good yesterday, wasn’t it? Better than good, actually: it was frickin’ GREAT. I watched three games yesterday, and they just kept getting better and better as the day went on, beginning with Illinois’ upset of Number 5 Wisconsin, to the Red River Shoot-Out, and finally with LSU’s triumph over Florida.

Playing as a top-ranked team in the AP Top 25 for the first time since 1959, LSU was in serious trouble much of the game. Their top-rated defense was shredded by Florida's double-threat quarterback, Tim Tebow, who led the Gators to a trio of 10-point leads.

But they couldn't hold off the Tigers.

No, they couldn’t. But they sure as Hell gave it their best shot. This game simply has to rank up there among the best I’ve ever seen. Both teams played with an intensity seldom seen in any game, and not just for a quarter, or a half…but for the entire game. As I said in the comments to the post below following the game: This was more like a knife fight than a football game. You really missed something if you missed this one.

Footnote: It’s ironic (for me…the die-hard ND fan) no one televised, at least in my viewing area, what could be Notre Dame’s sole win this year. And they won convincingly over UCLA by a score of 20-6, aided by the fact UCLA’s starting QB went out with an injury in the first quarter. I caught Charlie’s comments on SportsCenter last evening talking about the win:

Coach Charlie Weis obviously was relieved.

"When you're 0-5, everyone in the country is laughing at you," Weis said. "The only thing you can do is do something about it on the field. I'm really happy for the kids.

"We never had a better week of practice since I've been here. I said good things will happen, and it happened."

But Charlie was all I saw. Too bad, that.

In other sports news… the Wings lost last night to Chicago in their second straight shoot-out. Two games, two shoot-outs. I don’t like the way the season is beginning…but it’s only the beginning, nu?

It’s dead calm outside this morning, which is a welcome relief from the past two days of unrelenting wind. While the wind hasn’t been destructive in nature, it’s certainly been annoying. And hot, too. Not to mention dusty, which is always the corollary to wind here on The High Plains. But today looks like it’s gonna be perfect for a ride out to parts unknown. After the coffee’s been consumed, of course.

Today’s Pic: Something similar (but not identical) to a pic previously posted…SN3 and me just before we took off on a jaunt into the foothills of the Front Range near Fort Collins, CO.

Late May, this year.

And We're Off!

This is Fall? {sigh} Today looks like another scorcher. But then again, in a mere two months or so I’ll be pissing and moaning about the cold. I suppose I should just take the heat, coz I’m damned sure not about to get out of the kitchen, metaphorically speaking.

I do hope the wind stays down, though. Now that I’ve got my awning back I’ve come to rely upon it heavily in the “keep El Casa Móvil De Pennington cool” department.

Well, It’s begun, and we’re off to an auspicious start. Sorta.

The myth of Hockeytown officially passed away Wednesday.

Historians will mark the time of death at 7:44 p.m., at the conclusion of the first period, when at least a third of Joe Louis Arena sat empty on the evening of the regular-season opener with the defending Stanley Cup champions as the honored guests.

There was little, if any, foot traffic heading down the aisles. The late arrivals had already arrived.

Some club officials desperately sought false comfort, believing the masses of empty red seats were the result of ticket buyers staying home.

That's a valid explanation when Columbus makes its 22nd visit of the season and it's only December. But this was the season's first game against the foe that bounced the Wings out of the playoffs last spring.

There's clearly a disconnection between the Wings and a fan base that once crossed the border into blind obsession.

Wednesday's game snapped a streak of 396 consecutive regular-season sellouts -- dating to Dec. 10, 1996. That was the season that culminated in the Wings' first Stanley Cup in 42 years, as they embarked on a decade-long run of sustained excellence.

"It's more than a little disappointing," Nicklas Lidstrom said after the Wings outlasted Anaheim in an exciting overtime shoot-out.

Lidstrom just might be the master of understatement in this case. Still, a nearly 11-year run of sell-outs is nothing to be ashamed of. And I noticed the empty seats at The Joe while glued to the teevee last evening. One couldn’t help but notice, and it felt a little odd. There’s a whole helluva lot behind the “whys and wherefores” of the Wings' soft ticket sales… the state of the economy in Detroit (bad), the price of hockey tickets (high, even back in the day when I was going downtown for the games), and the slip-shod “they’ll always be there” attitude of the Wings organization towards the fan base. And that last reason is probably the biggest. One should never take anyone for granted…whether it’s your Mom, your best friend, your lover, or your fans.

Just sayin’.

Still and even…hockey season is here, and not a minute too soon. Prepare yourself, Gentle Reader, coz you’re gonna get more hockey than you probably want. Around these parts, anyway.

(photo credit: Detroit Free Press)

So. A good friend is in town (well, in the Big(ger) City^TM, that is) all week on business. She had offered to take me out to dinner sometime this week, and I accepted her invitation during a conversation we’d had Tuesday evening… last night was the agreed-upon night. And then it hit me, about a half an hour before the puck dropped last evening, and, coincidentally, about a half an hour before I was supposed to meet the lady: the season opener is on. Tonight. Oh, Lord…what to do? So, I did what any rabid hockey fan would do…I called and asked for a last-minute rain check. The lady knows me all too well, and…bless her heart…she understood.

What’s even better, Gentle Reader, is the fact that she offered to (a) stop by Ben’s Bar-B-Que and pick up a variety of goodies and (b) bring said goodies over to El Casa Móvil De Pennington, where we would (c) dine together and watch the game. And so it came to pass… and a Good Time was had by all.

I ask you, Gentle Reader, does it get any better than that? Well, does it?

Answer: No, it does not.

A PSA and Weekend Update

This is interesting…

Some of the advertisers and Web analytics firms used on this site may place "tracking cookies" on your computer. We are telling you about them right upfront, and we want you to know how to get rid of these tracking cookies if you like. Read more »

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We want you to know how to get rid of these tracking cookies if you like. Here are links to pages where you can opt out of the cookies set by our ad-placement contractor and our analytics contractor:

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We'd prefer a totally opt-in system, but, as far as we know, the ad industry doesn't have a practical one as of now.

If you want to clean out all tracking cookies from all your Web sites, here are links where you can download three programs that can clean out tracking cookies:

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php
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You can also change the preferences or settings in your Web browser to control cookies. In some cases, you can choose to accept cookies from the primary site, but block them from third parties. In others, you can block cookies from specific advertisers, or clear out all cookies.

Not all cookies are tracking cookies. Like most other Web sites, ours may place cookies on your computer, in addition to any placed by advertisers. But ours aren't "tracking cookies." They merely do things like save your registration information, if you choose to register. They do not tell us what you do or where you go online.

This is the first and only time I’ve ever seen a notice of this type on any web site I’ve ever visited, period. So good on the folks at All Things Digital. I’ve known about tracking cookies for quite some time and periodically “clean” my system using Ad-Aware SE (link above, and it’s freeware). But you’d have to clean your system every frickin’ day…or every hour… if you wanted to be truly free of these obnoxious things. I’ve set my preferences, as much as I can, to reject third-party cookies and the like. But every time I clean my system, there they are…by the hundreds.

Just thought all y’all might want to know. Tracking cookies are benign as long as you don’t mind advertisers (and possibly other people) knowing where you go on the ‘net.

Well, yesterday was quite the day for football, eh? I don’t remember another Saturday where so many ranked teams were upset. Let us not talk about the status of the two teams I root for, OK? Both teams are having miserable seasons, but I watch their games (when available) in both good times and bad. That’s what being a fan is all about. It surely hurts, though, when your team isn’t doing well…

And…just for the record, yesterday’s BEST game was the Auburn – Florida tilt, which was a cliff hanger right up to, and including, the final two seconds.

However, Auburn came up big in the closing minutes. Byrum attempted the winning kick, just as (Florida coach) Meyer called timeout. The kick was true, but Byrum had to do it again.

He did, and it was right down the middle.

"I was pretty excited," said Byrum, who missed his only attempt last week against New Mexico State. "I had a rough week last week. I wanted to make sure I came back."

Auburn used the final 4 minutes to set up the kick. Tate ran for 18 yards and Brandon Cox found Rodgeriqus Smith twice for 16 yards.

Byrum did the rest.

"He's got a tremendous leg," Cox said. "I was on the sideline about to throw up. Being a true freshman, after the first time he hit, I was sure he was nervous. To make two of them, that says a lot about him."

What it says… to me, anyway… is that boy has a frickin’ boxcar full of cool. That game could very well be the best game of the year. It’s gonna take a lot of doin’ to beat it.

Speaking of football, yet again…I’m suffering the effects of “too much barley-pop” today. I managed to completely exhaust the beer supply in El Casa Móvil De Pennington during the course of yesterday’s games. Which, of course, was a great good thing while it was happening, but much less so today. Like all uncomfortable things: this, too, shall pass. Thank God for Tylenol.

I sure managed to get it wrong, sorta, when it comes to hockey. I described the Kings as “an unworthy opponent” for the Ducks in yesterday’s NHL season opener and said Kings came out and stomped the Ducks in that game, 4 -1. But the Ducks got their revenge today…by the identical score of 4-1.

LONDON (AP) -- When the gloves came off, the British fans got exactly what they wanted.

A two-man brawl with fists flying midway through the second period drew the biggest cheers and a standing ovation Sunday in the Anaheim Ducks' 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings.

"They liked the physical play," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "They liked the fight."

Me, too. Best part of that particular game, it was. Say what you will: fighting is an integral part of the game, despite all the PC bullshit about eliminating it… one reason being it’s a bad example for our kids, yadda, yadda, yadda. I think taking steroids and running a dog fighting ring just might be worse examples for The Children…but Hey! That’s just my opinion, YMMV. Blogger thoughtfully provides a comment section on these here blog-thingies for those of you who might disagree. If you feel strongly enough to dispute my position on fighting in hockey, then have at me. Drop the gloves!

(photo credit: AP)

The weather continues to suck here in P-Ville. The wind has been unrelenting since Friday but appears to be calming down just a bit this afternoon. I thought the danged RV was going over on its side last evening on a couple of occasions, but then again that might have been alcohol-induced spatial disorientation. There’s a strong possibility…

Anyhoo…if the wind continues to diminish I’ll take Miss Zukiko out for a run later this afternoon. I want to go riding in the worst sort of way…but I refuse to ride in a dust storm. Or something a lot like it.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, Gentle Reader.

PM Update

It’s not a nice day here in P-Ville. It’s hot and windy… not exactly my favorite weather combination… but it does beat cold and windy, hands down. The wind means I have to keep my awning furled, which, in turn means the direct sun on the side of El Casa Móvil De Pennington ensures the AC runs nearly constantly. The wind also means it’s not a nice day for a ride, either. Miss Zukiko is gonna wait another day before she gets her exercise. Or two, perhaps, given the WX forecast is for “more of the same” tomorrow and tomorrow is Football Day…as well. Priorities, ya know.

Ah, but the laundry—that most odious of chores—is done for another month or so. I’ll never do laundry on a Friday afternoon again. The laundromat was crowded when I got there just after 1300 hrs, which is sorta unusual. I usually do laundry on a Tuesday or Wednesday and I usually have the whole place to myself or share it with one or two other people, at most. Not so today. But, Hey! It’s done, folded, and put away. And I’m none the worse for wear.

Well, almost. My ear is still sorta bent from the guy in the laundromat who insisted on lecturing me on the wonderfulness of California, how much he disliked this part of the world, and how he couldn’t wait to be home. So… leave, already! Get thee GONE! When I asked what he was doing in P-Ville he informed me he’s a musician and he just finished up a world tour. In a ten year old Chevy van parked right outside, I noticed. Interesting vehicle in which to tour the world…but I imagine it’s more economical than air fare. One can’t help but wonder how he managed to cross either ocean (or both) in his chosen mode of transportation.

Laundromats. You meet the most interesting people there.

Miscellaneous Musings, Thursday Wednesday Edition

This is interesting: “See Who's Editing Wikipedia - Diebold, the CIA, a Campaign.” The title is self-explanatory, but the methodology used to ID “anonymous” Wikipedia editors— all of ‘em — is pretty danged creative. Gotta love those graduate students…

Note: I wrote this last evening right after I found and read the linked article. And this morning the whole freakin’ ‘sphere is trying to play “Gotcha” with the Wiki…so much so that the search tool’s author has disabled the “search by wikipedia page” function (“Specify by Wikipedia page -- Disabled until the onsalught of traffic wanes.”). This is one of the hazards of trying to “get ahead of the game” when blogging…the ‘sphere just moves too fast. And not sometimes, either. ALL the time.

So, I’m watching The WX Channel (once again: last evening), and I’m noticing it’s really hard for them to contain their excitement over Hurricane Flossie. Hell, they’ve even flown Jim Cantore to the Big Island, even though the hurricane is only supposed to graze the island and is diminishing in strength with each passing hour. But, Hell. We all have our boondoggles and I like Cantore, besides. He deserves an assignment that isn’t Mississippi or Florida, just for a change.

Suspicion confirmed… On the same subject: Hurricane Flossie? What kind of name is that? I’ve never heard of anyone named Flossie, let alone known anyone by that name. The first thing that came to my mind was some sort of animated cartoon my dentist might show to kids (he’s big on that sort of stuff…good on him). And I was right:

Flossie's pages contain smile, dental and Tooth Fairy related graphics, clip art, pictures, animations, art & drawings that you may use in your school reports, non-commercial web pages, etc. I hope you brush & floss your teeth at least twice every day. A pretty smile always lends a hand in making friends.

“Flossie” is also a 1974-vintage movie. And not a particularly good one if you believe IMDB’s user ratings. Other than that? Not a lot…aside from a British knitting blogger (Becky).

One final thought on hurricanes (for the moment): I’d LOVE to see a Hurricane Cruella. Just sayin’.

Ron Rosenbaum, writing in Slate, takes it to The Academy, in the form of one professor Stanley Fish:

It was Aug. 5, and professor Stanley Fish, the famous postmodernist and "guest columnist" for the New York Times, had some breaking news to expound upon in an op-ed piece. He had discovered a new development in American culture that deserved the kind of exegesis only he could deliver: the appearance of a new kind of coffee place.

Have you heard about these new coffee places? Professor Fish's column made it seem as though they had never been noticed or discussed before.

"Getting Coffee Is Hard To Do" was the title of his essay, which in its self-satisfied cluelessness may just qualify as the worst op-ed ever written.

“New kind of coffee place?” Now that’s right up my alley! Oh, wait…Starbucks. Starbucks? WTF?

Today’s Pic: OK…it’s NOT a photo. But it is kinda cute. SN3 demonstrating American Idol potential, of a sort.

Somewhere in Colorado. February, 2000. (He was almost three.)

AARs, Crime, Rain, and Ducks!

Laurie is back from the MilBlog conference in Dee See and has a narrative and pictures. Good stuff, there! It seems like all I’ve been doing this morning is reading After Action Reports from the conference. Lex has a good narrative, too, and lotsa links to others writing their own reports, as well. Partying went on well into the night this past Friday! Dang! Wish I woulda been there!

Damn. I committed an “eco-crime.” And what would that be, you ask? I have three children…one more than is good for the planet. How uncaring of me!

HAVING large families should be frowned upon as an environmental misdemeanour in the same way as frequent long-haul flights, driving a 4x4 car and failing to reuse plastic bags, according to a report to be published tomorrow by a green think tank.

The paper by the Optimum Population Trust (OPT) will say that if couples had two children instead of three they could cut their family’s carbon dioxide output by the equivalent of 620 return flights a year between London and New York.

John Guillebaud, co-chairman of OPT and emeritus professor of family planning at University College London, said: “The effect on the planet of having one child less is an order of magnitude greater than all these other things we might do, such as switching off lights. An extra child is the equivalent of a lot of flights across the planet.

“The greatest thing anyone in Britain could do to help the future of the planet would be to have one less child.”

In his latest comments the academic says that when couples are planning a family they should be encouraged to think about the environmental consequences. “The decision to have children should be seen as a very big one and one that should take the environment into account,” he added.

Guillebaud says that, as a general guideline, couples should produce no more than two offspring.

So. There you have it. I wonder if there’s a statute of limitations? Coz I committed my crime in the way-back (well, two out of three, anyway). Back then we were worrying about an impending Ice Age, not so much about global warming climate change. So I think I should get a dispensation. But then there are those plastic bags…

Watching the WX Channel with one eye while I take care of my Daily Reads with the other…it’s been raining—hard—all morning. I was awakened this morning by the sound of rain on my roof, which, as I’ve mentioned many times in the past, I dearly love. I drifted in and out of sleep for about an hour once I awoke since the rain was steady and not of the pounding variety. Bad move, that. I should have gotten up immediately…because then I could have prevented the soggy mess that is my bathroom. Yep…that pesky roof vent in the bathroom was wide-open. Again. No real damage, mind you. Just terribly, terribly soaked. Everything.

So anyway…that line of intense rain (the bright red bits) to the east of us is apparently causing quite a bit of havoc. No tornadoes (Thank God!), but 55 mph wind gusts. And VERY heavy rain. We’re under a flash-flood watch, and I’ll bet P-Town is awash. As usual. It’s a great day for ducks.

Speaking of Ducks…

The Ducks last faced the Red Wings in the first round of the 2003 playoffs. At the time, Detroit was the defending Stanley Cup champs and there was talk of dynasty in Hockeytown. But that talk was indefinitely put on hold after the Ducks, under then-coach Mike Babcock, swept the Red Wings. Babcock, of course, is now behind the Detroit bench and has helped the Wings beyond the second round for the first time since the team's last Cup win in 2002.

To get here, the Wings had to dispose of a San Jose team many picked to win the Cup. They did it without defenseman Mathieu Schneider, who broke his wrist early in Game 5 on Saturday, and did it with relative ease. It's a testament to the sand this Red Wings team possesses.

This series will feature three of the finest defensemen of their generation in Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger of Anaheim and Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom. Then, there's Chris Chelios, who was one of the finest defensemen of the last generation, but refuses to acknowledge time and continues to be effective at age 45.

Both teams possess great goaltending in Hasek and Jean-Sebastien Giguere, and both are deep up front. In other words, this one should be a dandy.

Last night’s game was a dandy…the Wings were “large and in charge” from the moment the puck dropped at the beginning of the first period right up until the horn sounded at the end of the third. And Ladies and Gentlemen…what you see in the third scene in the video below is one of the finest defensive plays I’ve ever seen in hockey…bar none. Simply brilliant.

I’ll defer to Mitch Albom’s description of what happened in the vid above:

Here's what happened: The Sharks' Mike Grier chased a loose puck down the ice, with Lidstrom following in hot pursuit. The crowd rose. Goalie Dominik Hasek came out and swept the puck behind him, but Grier got to it and swooped around from behind the net, which was now as empty as a beggar's pocket.

And then Lidstrom. I don't know how he does it. Somehow he stretched that reedy body and surged his stick across the mouth of the goal a shaved instant before Grier released the puck. It hit Nick's stick and frittered away, and the Sharks' optimism frittered away with it.

"So you play goalie, too?" Lidstrom was asked in the locker room afterward.

"I try to help out a little," he said.

“I try to help out a little.” The defensive play of the century and it’s “helping out a little?” But that’s hockey players for you: supremely modest. Oh, and by the way…the rest of Albom’s column is very good today.

So now it’s the Ducks. Most all of the hockey writers are probably going to call this series for Anaheim…but haven’t we heard that one before, and recently, at that? San Jose was too big, too fast, too young for Detroit, right? And now the Sharks are lining up tee times while the Wings prepare for the Conference Final. To steal a football quote from Berman: “They could…go…all…the…WAY!!”

Let us pray.

Today’s Pic: One lonely iris blooming in the flower bed outside the door of El Casa Móvil De Pennington. That flower bed used to be a riot of color in late summer…until the “gardeners” came through last Fall and ripped out ALL of the perennials that previously graced my premises. Those idiots didn’t have the slightest idea about what they were doing…taking “weeding” to an entirely new, uninformed, and undeserved level. So now I’ll get weeds, and only weeds, later this year. Twits.

Yesterday. P-Town.

Update: Replaced the hockey video (originally from TheNewsRoom) with a highlight video I found on YouTube. I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I couldn't get the previous video to play consistently; the YouTube vid works fine. Lidstrom's play is now the third scene in this four-minute video...plus you get to see both Detroit goals, several saves by Hasek, and at least one brilliant save by Nabokov.

Wings Up 3-2

Well, the weather sure sucked today, but the hockey was excellent:

DETROIT -- Dominik Hasek slowly skated out of his goal, bent down and inspected the octopus late in Detroit's 4-1 win over San Jose on Saturday.

Red Wings fans have been tossing the eight-legged sea creatures on the ice for decades as a symbol of their team's quest for the Stanley Cup.

If Detroit keeps playing the way it did on Saturday, another title might not be out of the question.

Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg each had a goal and two assists, leading the Red Wings within a victory of reaching the Western Conference finals.

Ahead 3-2, Detroit can end the conference semifinal Monday night in San Jose.

There’s a dark lining inside that silver cloud, however. The Wings lost another defenseman (a total of three on the injured list now) when Mathieu Schneider broke his wrist during the first period of game five. Schneider is out for the remainder of the season…and that hurts. Schneider is an integral part of the Red Wings’ power play and is also the guy that scored the overtime winner in game four to even this series. Big loss, and that’s an understatement.

Still and even, Schneider went out during the first period when Detroit was down 1-0. And it’s obvious his absence didn’t affect the Wings’ game…which included two power play goals. Big Mo is all Detroit right now, and it would be oh-so-sweet to see the Wings close out San Jose, in San Jose.

I’ll go light a candle now.

Oh…wait. One more thing. Mitch Albom:

When the going gets tough, the tough go stealing. Here came Pavel Datsyuk chasing a slow puck as it glided toward goalie Evgeni Nabokov. Usually, a play like this is a nothing, a throwaway, the goalie gets it first, swats it away, and things go the other direction, right?

But critical times, critical moves. The Red Wings and Sharks were locked in yet another wrestling match, body on body, stick on stick, barely a paper sheet’s distance between them. The score was tied. The series was tied. Something needed to snap.

And here it was: Nabokov had to come out beyond the crease, Datsyuk was charging, fans rose to their feet as if sensing a bullfight at the critical surge. The net was vulnerable. Now it was a race. Would Datsyuk get it? Would Nabokov get it? At the last instant — and this is what makes him a unique talent — Datsyuk gave up on the puck and zoomed left, playing the clearing pass instead. Nabokov was a blink slower. He swept the puck to his right before his eyes could tell his brain it was the wrong direction.

Smack! There was Datsyuk, like a net draping a fish. He intercepted the puck, knocked it down and chased it to the net. All Nabokov could do was watch helplessly, like a man who sees an important paper fly out the car window. Gone, baby, gone. Datsyuk flicked in the puck as if finishing a practice drill.

And that goal may have tipped the series.

As it’s said: Read the whole thing. There’s no better sportswriter than Mitch…and he’s been writing about the Wings for about 20 years. Albom knows the Wings like no other writer. And about that goal Datsyuk scored: I almost felt bad for Nabokov. Almost.

Now where’s that candle?

(Photo: Chris Chelios and Joe Thornton have a bit of a disagreement late in the third period. The game did get just a little chippy at the end. Photo credit: Detroit Free Press)

And why, you may ask, was the weather so bad? The wind, Gentle Reader, the wind. And when we have wind, we have lots of dust. And how bad is it? Well…here’s a screen shot taken while composing this post. It could have been worse: the forecast was for steady 30 – 40 mph winds with gusts to 55 mph. I don’t think we had any gusts close to what was forecasted…the trees are still standing.

And so it goes…

Mostly Good News...Especially On the Hockey Front!

Justice prevails…according to Eric Duhatschek at The Toronto Globe and Mail:

SAN JOSE — Sometimes, justice can prevail, even in the fickle and occasionally unfair world of professional sport.

The Detroit Red Wings were 34 seconds away from falling into a 3-1 series hole to the San Jose Sharks Wednesday night. Despite dominating the play virtually all night, the Red Wings couldn't find an answer to Sharks' goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, who stopped 35 of the first 36 shots he faced in regulation and had his team seconds away from victory.

But a breakdown in defensive coverage in the final minute, with Red Wings' goaltender Dominik Hasek on the bench for an extra attacker, led to Robert Lang's tying goal on their 37th shot. Lang's shot squeezed under Nabokov's arm after defenceman Craig Rivet permitted him to close to within 20 feet of the net.

In overtime, Mathieu Schneider then capped the rally, scoring his first of the series on a power play to give the Red Wings a 3-2 come-from-behind victory. That win squared the series at two games apiece, with Game 5 scheduled for Saturday afternoon in Detroit.

It’s a standard hockey tactic…you’re down by a goal (or two) in the last minute of the game, your goalie skates to the bench and you add an extra attacker. Your six skaters then assault the opponent’s net in frantic desperation, shooting the puck at every opportunity. More often than not, this tactic usually results in your opponent either beating back your attack, or worse, scoring into your open net and winning the game. But last night? Justice!! Robert Lang, as noted above, ties the game in the final seconds and Mathieu Schneider gets the winner at 16:04 in the overtime period.

So. It’s another best two-out-of-three series. Let’s hope this one turns out the same as the last…

(photo credit: AP)

Daniel Henninger has a great rant in the WSJ today about my absolute favorite bugaboo: Political Correctness:

Don Imus, Bernard McGuirk, Trent Lott, Larry Summers, the Duke lacrosse team, Jimmy the Greek, the kid who yelled "water buffalo" at Penn, Howard Cosell, Jon Stewart, Chief Illiniwek, Jackie Mason and "South Park" all have in common only one thing: They have not been Politically Correct.

Some were brought down by it, and some have made a living from it. Today, there are people who even say that the satire on shows such as "South Park" or the "Daily Show" have made political correctness a harmless amusement. We have become so cool that we can simultaneously abide PC's merciless strictures against saying the wrong things about the right people even as we laugh at our subjugation to PC.

Despite the ironic mockery, political correctness still packs a punch. Say the wrong thing today and you can be gone tomorrow, your status as a top broadcaster, university president or politician obliterated. It happens in the small space of a sentence--defrocked, banished, gonzo. Outside a courtroom, I'm not aware of many other forces in American life that can do that.

“…still packs a punch” has got to be the understatement of the day. I’m of the opinion that Political Correctness is perhaps the biggest of the “little threats” we face as a culture. Political Correctness is insidious because it instructs us in “pure thought” and exacts harsh penalties should we not comply with the prescribed positions of “right-thinking” people. The phenomenon, while bad enough for us plodders at the bottom layers of the food chain, gets unbearably worse the higher up the ladder one climbs, in any endeavor. The end result is our leaders in government and business, as well as our cultural movers and shakers, are effectively—oh-so-effectively!—muzzled. It’s a rare, rare thing to hear someone in a position of power actually “speak his mind” these days; Group Think rules the roost. The PC phenomenon has cost us a lot…and yet I cannot see what benefits actually accrue from being PC, other than approving nods from our friends on the Left and a general dumbing-down of the culture.

Can anyone show me something—anything—good about Political Correctness? I’m all ears…enlighten me!

Ahhh..so this is why I felt compelled to post pictures of my scratched fairing…

Professor Crozier defines embarrassment as when we accidentally "contradict the identity we want to project, leaving a quite disabling sense of being exposed".

And the car-crash moment when it happens is like a "little death" - everything seems to stop, time seems to stand still and we talk about being "frozen" or "dying of embarrassment" or being "mortified".

But what do we do when it happens, and how best to recover?

"The best way to deal with embarrassment is to talk about it," says workplace psychologist Gary Fitzgibbon. "If you skulk off, you're left with it. You mustn't let the embarrassment dominate."

Once you admit to what's happened and talk about it, everyone will feel much more relaxed and they'll be laughing with you rather than at you.

I just wanted all y’all to laugh with me, rather than at me. Even though you would have never known about my pratfall had I not posted. Unless you were one of those 15 people in that San Jon parking lot when I “contradict(ed) the identity we (I) want to project.” Fat chance, that. But go ahead…you can laugh. It’s OK.

Our weather certainly was miserable yesterday, but not catastrophic as Spring weather can be. No, it was just gray, dull, and rainy for nearly the entire day. A perfect sort of day to “take it easy,” which I did…in spades. And, digressing as is my habit, I apparently did myself some good, too, as my back pain has greatly diminished this morning. I’m “cautiously optimistic,” as they say. This thing is beginning to resemble a strained muscle much more than a herniated disk. Thank You, Lord!!

But back to the weather…clear blue skies, light winds, and a temp of 64…on its way to a forecasted 86 wonderful degrees. Perfect you-know-what weather. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll give my back one more day or if I’ll go out and swing a leg over the bike. Too soon to tell.

Today’s Pic: While yesterday’s weather sucked, the day before was absolutely brilliant even if I wasn’t feeling quite that way myself. Every so often I take an “inventory” shot of El Casa Móvil De Pennington in its natural surroundings, and today’s pic is one such shot. If you look closely you can see the neck of a Fat Tire bottle sticking up out of the cup holder on my chair. That was strictly “for medicinal purposes only,” Gentle Reader, and it helped. Oh, yes. It did.

May Day afternoon. On the outskirts of P-Town.

Got an Appropriate Rainy Day Quote?

Coz I need one...a rainy day quote, that is. In the meantime I'll just ramble, if it pleases you. And even if it doesn't...

Wow. This is news!

The News Corporation, owner of the Fox News Channel and The New York Post, has made an unsolicited $5 billion takeover bid for Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

Dow Jones confirmed today that it had received the offer and said that the Bancroft family, which controls the company, was evaluating the bid. “There can be no assurance that this evaluation will lead to any transaction,” the company said in a written statement.

But some members of the Bancroft family were already mobilizing against the bid. Four hours after Dow Jones made its first statement, it issued a second communication saying that some family members and their trustees planned to vote “shares constituting slightly more than 50 percent of the outstanding voting power of Dow Jones” against the deal.

I don’t have a problem with either Rupert Murdoch or his media empire. But, given my druthers, I’d prefer Dow Jones remain independent. Just sayin’.

Here’s The Journal’s extensive report on the subject, including two very good “at a glance” graphic profiles of both News Corp and Dow-Jones.

“Religion of Peace,” once again. The following was said during a sermon…

Sheik Ahmad Bahr, acting Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, declared during a Friday sermon at a Sudan mosque that America and Israel will be annihilated and called upon Allah to kill Jews and Americans "to the very Last One." Following are excerpts from the sermon that took place last month, courtesy of MEMRI.

Ahmad Bahr began: "'You will be victorious' on the face of this planet. You are the masters of the world on the face of this planet. Yes, [the Koran says that] 'you will be victorious,' but only 'if you are believers.' Allah willing, 'you will be victorious,' while America and Israel will be annihilated. I guarantee you that the power of belief and faith is greater than the power of America and Israel. They are cowards who are eager for life, while we are eager for death for the sake of Allah. That is why America's nose was rubbed in the mud in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Somalia, and everywhere."

[…]

The Hamas spokesperson concluded with a prayer, saying: "Oh Allah, vanquish the Jews and their supporters. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them all, down to the very last one. Oh Allah, show them a day of darkness. Oh Allah, who sent down His Book, the mover of the clouds, who defeated the enemies of the Prophet, defeat the Jews and the Americans, and bring us victory over them."

If they’re so damned “eager for death,” then I suggest we accommodate them. Or, in other words… “Crank up the Enola Gay!” And I haven’t even been drinking (yet).

Remember: These are the guys the Euro-Weenies want to reestablish aid to/for, in the form of direct monetary support.

“When it becomes possible to re-engage with a national unity government…we could then hopefully resume support to the Palestinian Authority, ministers and ministries and agencies from which we have had to distance ourselves in the last year,” she said.

Although officials from EU member states indicated that Ms Ferrero-Waldner’s comments were premature, her statement highlights a growing divergence between the EU and the US and Israel.

Premature back in February when the above article was published, that is. One wonders if public statements sermons delivered by Hamas politicians in powerful positions have any affect at all on Euro-policy. I suppose we shall see, eh?

Game Four of what is shaping up to be the Wings’ most epic battle in the 2007 play-offs begins at 2000 hrs MDT this evening. Day before yesterday I said that if Monday’s game was close it would still be a series. Close it was, with San Jose taking the win by virtue of a 2-1 final score. The game shouldn’t have been either close or lost…had the Wings continued as they began. Detroit came out flying in Monday’s game, completely dominating the Sharks.

The Sharks were a bit rusty to begin their first home game in 12 days, and Lidstrom capitalized with a power- play goal on a slap shot from the blue line midway through the first period. The Red Wings captain hadn't found the net since scoring in each of the first two games of Detroit's first-round series with Calgary.

San Jose, which jumped to early 2-0 leads in both of the series' first two games, was in full retreat well into the second period, when the fans booed their team's inept power play. After leading the league for much of the regular season, San Jose's power play went 1-of-5 to drop to 4-for-42 in the playoffs.

It looked like a solid performance by the Wings…and at the end of two periods I thought it was in the bag. But the third period was all Sharks…and they deserved the win. Still and even, it was close. We have a series, folks, and a damned good one, too. Let’s hope the Wings re-discover the intensity they showed during the first period on Monday night…they’ll need all that intensity and perhaps a bit more to prevail in this series. I think it’s there…

No motorsickle riding today, I’m afraid. Looks like it’s gonna rain all day. But that’s OK. We need it. I did take the bike out for a putt yesterday, and it was moderately good. I’m still holding my breath where my back pain is concerned, however. The pain has been fairly constant since this past Saturday and shows no signs of letting up. I found some Flexeril I had rat-holed from a previous bout of back pain and am taking that, in addition to the Aleve. It’s beginning to look more and more like the problem just might be another ruptured disk… While the quality of the pain isn’t severe in its intensity, the location of said pain is all too telling, i.e., in my lower back just above my hips…with the occasional twinge felt in my right thigh.

Lord, I hope I’m wrong about this…

It's Hump Day!

Interesting Skies in P-Town

First things first… Calgary won last evening, 3-2. The Flames are back in it, although it was a near-run thing. Calgary definitely plays better at home, to their fans’ great relief. The Saddledome was a literal sea of red (the Flames’ home colors) last evening…so much so that I told SN1 during the game that I thought Calgary must make as much off jersey sales as they do on ticket sales. It was an amazing sight. But…I digress.

Jarome Iginla (who finally scored after a five-game playoff drought) and Miikka Kiprusoff were the keys to the Flames’ success. Calgary’s game improved (although Detroit out shot Calgary… barely … by 30-28) while Detroit’s game fell off by just a little bit, including taking six penalties to Calgary’s four. The Detroit penalties hurt… what with two of Calgary’s three goals coming on the power play… while the Wings failed to convert on their power plays. The Wings’ game wasn’t off by that much, mind you, but the Flames definitely outplayed them and were the more intense team. But then again, the Flames had a lot more to lose. Going down 3-0 in a series is a deep, deep hole to claw your way out of…

So. We have a series, now, don’t we?

The Pens are in a 3-1 hole after losing last night to Ottawa , as is Dallas after their 2-1 loss to the Canucks. Both teams are goners from my perspective. The most surprising game of the evening was New York’s 7-0 drubbing of Atlanta, who are now down 3-0 in that series and in serious danger of being swept. I mentioned yesterday that I’d rather watch the NY – Atlanta game than the Sens – Pens…and sure enough… Atlanta, the number three seed in the East, has been totally humiliated by number six seed New York. The Rangers have simply owned them. That’s surprising in one respect, as the Rangers were pretty much on the bubble for the last month of the regular season. But not so surprising in another…the Thrashers were struggling towards the end of the regular season. It’s all about peaking at right time. The Wings know all too well about that.

Apropos of nothing…Ya know one of the things I like about hockey? Even after 20+ years of following the sport, I see something new every so often. And last night it was this:

A pane of glass behind Kiprusoff was dislodged with 10 seconds left in the second period, so the time was added to the third period.

I’ve never seen that before. It usually takes six or eight minutes to replace broken “glass.” Rather than make the players and fans sit through the maintenance only to play the remaining ten seconds in the period and then adjourn to the locker room, the refs made a pragmatic and wise decision. The last ten seconds of the second period were played at the beginning of the third. The teams gathered just outside the Calgary zone at the beginning of the third period, the puck was dropped, ten seconds of play ensued, the horn sounded announcing the end of the “second period,” then the teams switched goals and the puck was dropped at center ice to begin the “real” third period. Trés bizarre, but also very interesting. Not to mention amusing.

The well-dressed motorcyclist…This would be SN2 in his new leathers. All color coordinated and ready to go. Assuming of course, that the bike shop finishes the minor surgery on the RD that’s been in progress for well over a week now. Rumor has it the patient will be released today. And a good thing it is, too, as SN2 wants to take his Nebraska motorcycle license test today. Hard to do that without a bike, innit? Ah…but the good folks at the Bike Hospital have offered Sam a demo bike (demo bike? What a concept!!) to use for his test if the RD isn’t ready to go. And that’s a good thing.

It seems like every third moonbat in the USA, and several from overseas, were drawn to comment on this article in the WaPo:

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), the most liberal of the Democratic presidential candidates in the primary field, declared in a letter sent to his Democratic House colleagues this morning that he plans to file articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney.

Ah, looks for all the world like a ploy to increase contributions to Kucinich’s quixotic presidential campaign, and the moonbats are rising to the bait (to mix a metaphor). The article, while quite brief, includes the text of Kucinich’s “Dear Colleague” letter. It’s the comments to the post/article that are both amazing and amusing. Assuming you have a droll sense of humor.

Today’s Pic(s): Interesting skies. We were semi-surrounded by heavy weather yesterday but most of the severe storms were to the north (Clovis) and east of us, around Lubbock. Still and even I thought it was touch and go for the longest time yesterday, what with the high wind, ominous looking skies, and lines of t-storms on the WX Channel’s radar tracks. But nary a drop of rain fell in my lil corner of the world. Clovis got wet, as did Cannon Airplane Patch, but not P-Town.

April 17, 2007. Right here in P-Town.

Paying the Price

So. I mentioned I was up late the night before last when I put up yesterday’s placeholder post. I didn’t mention just how late I was up, nor did I mention the time I actually rolled out of bed. For the record, I was up until 0330 yesterday morning and was awakened by SN1 calling to chat around 1000 that same morning.

One pays a price for such behavior…and the price is: falling asleep while watching the news just after 1800 hrs, and having your eyes pop open eight hours later at 0200. And there’s not a thing you can do to get back to sleep, because, well… you’re done. I tried and gave up at 0300 or so. It’s gonna be a long day, methinks.

Wild, wild weather today. We’re under a “high wind warning” until about 1800 hours this evening and let me tell you: the wind is fierce! El Casa Móvil De Pennington is doing some serious rockin’ to and fro…I just might have to go out and buy some Dramamine. It’s that bad.

“Well, how bad is it, really, Buck?” you ask? This bad…

I should shoot a video and post it, coz it’s a real “you had to be there” kinda thing.

Not much in today’s news, so let’s flog a dead horse. Peggy Noonan, writing in yesterday’s WSJ:

Mrs. Clinton has never gone after a fellow Democrat quite the way she's going after Mr. Obama, and it's an indication of how threatened she is not only by his candidacy but, one suspects, his freshness. He makes her look like yesterday. He makes her look like the old slash-and-burn. I doubted he could do her serious damage. Now I wonder.

What Mrs. Clinton is trying to establish is this: to criticize her--to speak of her critically as a human being, as a person with a record and a history and a style and attitudes--is, ipso facto, to be dirty, and low, and destructive. To air and raise questions about who she is, how she operates, and what can be inferred from her past actions is by definition an unjust act.

But Americans have always--always--looked at and judged the character and personality of their candidates for president. And they have been right to do so. It mattered that Lincoln was Honest Abe, Washington had no personal lust for power, that FDR was an optimist and a manipulator, that Adams was a man of rectitude and no small amount of stubbornness. These facts, these aspects of their nature, had policy implications and leadership implications. They couldn't be more pertinent. They still are.

Ol’ Hill has a lot to live down. Barack drew blood, and it ain’t gonna be the last time it happens during this long, long campaign season. As Bill Kristol said in a Weekly Standard article: “It was a bad week for Hillary.” Understatement, that.

Paul Mirengoff, on the other hand, thinks this dust-up is insignificant:

The candidates' spat will have no impact on the race -- think of it as the first inning of an exhibition baseball game. But just as exhibition games help managers assess their talent, the candidates (especially Hillary) should be wondering about the judgment of the staff member[s] who bit so hard on Geffen's comments and the aftermath.

The point is well-taken…in that it was Hillary’s staff, and not her, that apparently over-reacted. But, knowing organizations as I do, I find it incredibly hard to believe Hillary couldn’t stop this train wreck long before it happened. It is her staff, after all. And I believe this event was significant, if only for the fact it removed Hillary’s aura of inevitability, as Mr. Kristol noted.

And so it goes…

Today’s Pic: Yesterday I put up a pic of Inger Jirby’s back gate. Here’s a shot of her kitchen, which is probably of interest to me and me only. But hey! It’s my blog, right? Check out that stove…

Taos. May, 2004.