Not what we planned

We were supposed to go away this weekend, but it didn't happen.  A sick child, a wife that didn't feel great, and a good friend that was supposed to go with us that didn't feel great either.  So we just stayed home and enjoyed what we could.

Sick children are not fun.  It just sucks that you can't just do something to make them better.  I did what I could to make her feel better, but nature just has to run its course.  She's had some colossal poops though.  Ugh.  Those were not fun for either of us.

Hopefully everyone feels better and we can have a good week.

At least my hockey team won again tonight, 7-4.  I had an assist but dont' know if I got credit.  Not that it matters other than to me.  As long as we keep winning that's what matters.

SCORE!

Today I finally got it done.  I scored the first goal in my rec league career. 

I had a great chance in the 1st period.  I got the puck in the slot and basically had an open lane to the net.  I took a step and fired a wrist shot.  The opposing goalie made a great glove save.  A lot of guys on our team really thought that was going in.  I was a little disappointed myself - it was one of the best shots I've had this year.

In the 2nd period, we had the puck in the offensive zone.  We had been dominating at times and our line was buzzing.  I positioned myself in front of the net as I have been doing lately.  One of our wings took a shot that the goalie stopped but left a juicy rebound.  There wasn't a defender near me.  I had a wide open net.  Took a backhand shot that easily went in.  I let out a "YEAH!" but didn't really celebrate.  I got a few high fives from my team mates.  It felt good to get that monkey off my back.

The goal turned out to be the game winning goal as we won, 5-1.  I had a few more chances but didn't get another goal.  I thought it was the best game I had played to date.  Now that I have one, the next one will be much easier, right?

Asham/Beagle

I watched the fight between Jay Beagle and Aaron Asham last night.  I like many wasn't happy with the reaction from Asham after the fight was over.  Beagle obviously was in need of medical attention when it was done.  I know the Caps players weren't happy with Asham going after Beagle.  I understand and respect that.  I don't condone Asham's reaction to the end of the fight, seen here:

At least Asham had the decency to apologize for his actions.  I know he was trying to bring the crowd up and get his team going.  It did work, but the Caps' Tomas Vokoun stole the show.  Vokoun made 39 saves in the victory, including 17 of 18 shots in the 3rd period.

Hopefully Beagle is ok.  I don't have any ill feelings toward Asham.  Fighting is part of hockey.  It's been around since the start of the game.  What I don't care for is gloating when the opponent is on the ice and clearly in need of attention. 

It just sucks that this one incident takes away what was a great game.  Pittsburgh definitely outplayed Washington.   It was a great game to watch.  Without Vokoun the Caps definitely wouldn't have won. 

Jimmie Johnson

Several of my NASCAR friends thought Jimmie Johnson was out of the Chase after the first race.  I told them to never count him out until he was at least 47 points out of the lead going into Homestead.  Looks like I was right. 

Since Johnson won today and now is within a few points of the lead, the rest of the field better watch out!

Steve Jobs

Since everybody else is blogging, writing, or talking about Steve Jobs' death,  I will throw my own personal banter out about him.

To be first, foremost, and up front, I was not an Apple fanboy.  I own an iPod and that's it.  I don't own any Mac, iPhone, or iPad.  Nor do I plan on buying any of them anytime soon.  I didn't hate Apple either - I just never really saw the need for one of their products.  I don't get the whole tablet craze.  Yes, it's portable and easy to carry, but I don't see the practical side of them yet.  I'm sure that will come along in the future, but when Jobs released the iPad saying it would change the way we do computing, I wasn't agreeing completely yet.

Steve Jobs turned a small company into an empire.  He took existing technology and made it better.  Look at how many people use iTunes.  Look at how many own Smartphones.  But the one thing that Apple always did right was producing computers that were excellent at graphic arts and editing.  Why else would movies made by Pixar use Apple products to do their artwork and rendering?

Apple and the computer industry will move on without Steve Jobs.  There will be others that come along, but it will take time for one to be as influential to the industry as Steve Job was.

Friendlys

Friendlys filed for chapter 11 this morning:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/05/friendlys-idUSL3E7L51GD20111005

Kind of a bummer.  Their food isn't the best, but their ice cream is good.  I have a lot of memories of going to Friendlys after various events.  I remember going there after getting teeth pulled by an oral surgeon and having ice cream at 9 AM.  Those were the days.

Hopefully they can turn things around.  But with the sagging US economy and people not going out to eat as often as they were, I fear that this could mean the end for yet another American icon.

Dover

Today I went to Dover for the Sprint Cup race.  This was the 2nd race I've attended in 3 weeks.  Insane. 

The start time of 2:00 annoyed a lot of fans at the track.  Why does NASCAR seem to always change the start times, when they promised the fans consistent start times at the beginning of the season?  I guess TV talks.

It was a cold, misty day.  I don't remember a Dover race where I was wearing a coat the entire race and it rained on and off all day.  It was not pleasant to sit through, but I didn't complain once.

I got a great picture of AJ Allmendinger doing his drift/spin.  It's on my Flickr site if anybody cares.

Kurt Busch got his first win at Dover, Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards now share the points lead, and my driver corps had terrible days.  It's disappointing that Denny is pretty much out of the Chase already, and Tony lost the point lead.  Bummer.

The crowd was better than May, but still rather scattered in the turns.  At least Dover is getting aggressive with their ticket pricing for next season.  It has been nice getting in and out of the track fairly easily.

On to Kansas!