Thursday, March 24, 2011

Monday, March 21, 2011

Fifteen Minutes of Fame?


I think I've had my 15 minutes of fame. The Winterhawks re-tweeted one of my tweets. The Twitter account associated with this blog had 1 follower at the time. The Winterhawks have a following of just over 2000 users.

Not only that, but the re-tweet was re-tweeted by at least two other users. I'm still new to how this sort of thing works, but I think this means that my tweet has been sent to close to 2500 people. Believe me if I had known it was going to be seen by that many people I would have made it more profound.

The tweet said something about the Ross, Nino, Johansen line for the Winterhawks being the best I'd seen in Junior hockey.

What the tweet didn't say is that a few nights earlier I went to a game and got on Nino, and Johansen for not fighting there own battles. In a nutshell both of them will push and shove and then let their teammates stick up for them. They end up cheap shooting opponents and then skating away. That kind of thing drives me batty. I sent out three angry tweets hollering into the wind.

Then I felt bad for criticizing the kids. Remember, Major Junior hockey players are mostly between the ages of 16 and 19. So I put out a "make up" tweet. That line is outstanding and, in my humble opinion, it is the best line I've seen in Juniors, but the tweet I sent out was no different then a referee calling interference on the visiting team after he sends the home team to the box on a soft hook. I tweeted out of guilt and as a good friend of mine reminds me; guilt is a useless emotion.

So, is this my 15 minutes of fame? I'm suddenly inspired to make sure it's not. It was way too fun.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Things You Learn


I've made a discovery. I'm not proud of it. I thought I was a real Oregonian. We pride ourselves on our ability to take a little rain. Anything from a downpour to the more typical drenching drizzle. Turns out I'm a weather wimp.

The evidence:

My office recently moved from the suburbs to a building in downtown Stumptown. I wasn't sure I'd like it, but now that we're here I can't imagine working anywhere else. It's a giant sundae covered in Awesome sauce. So much to do and see. In fact there is so much to do and see that I'm spending time outdoors, walking, in the weather. Didn't do much walking outdoors in the burbs. Now I'm looking hungrily at those posers with umbrellas.

My son took up lacrosse this spring. "No problem", I thought, "I'm a youth sports vet. Three seasons of youth football, standing on the sidelines. Piece of cake." As I stood shivering in the rain yesterday I thought back to those three seasons and realized that I had only been rained on three times. That's three times over those three seasons. I've been rained on twice now in lacrosse and he's only had two outdoor practices.

I don't know what to say. I'm the guy who wears the shorts all winter long. I'm the guy that doesn't get cold as long as he's got a knit cap on. This is doing horrible things to my self image. It's something I'm going to need to work through.

In the meantime, if you see someone that reminds you of me, holding an umbrella, just walk away. It'll save us both a lot of embarrassment.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Watching TV In Bulk


I talked a bit before about my phone and how completely awesome it is. I've been through the entire NCIS catalog, Criminal Minds, and I made a valiant effort to get through Bones. I think I made it to season three, but I really lost interest once Zack left the show.

I'm currently trying to work through JAG. I've got the first season, and I'm trying. I've only been through the first 4 episodes of the 1st season, but it seems pretty slow and dare I say it...Dated. Strange thing to say but I guess 1996 was 15 years ago now. I don't know how much more I'm going to put up with. I'll probably make an effort to get through the first 10 episodes and make a decision after that.

I need to keep in mind that one of my favorite shows of all time, Star Trek: The Next Generation, was pretty horrible during it's first season. Some shows take a year or two to get started. The wait is worth it for those shows, but painful for shows that don't turn the proverbial corner.

CSI was good from the pilot. I really enjoyed The West Wing, and NCIS from the beginning, but getting back to Star Trek, Deep Space Nine was tough to watch from the beginning. Come to think of it Babylon 5 was pretty brutal during the first season as well. Maybe a SciFi thing? Firefly would be the show to prove the rule. 14 episodes, and every single one was gold. I need to find another show like that, but then don't we all?

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Day Light Savings, Whining and Youth Hockey


Day light savings time is now in effect! Thank goodness. I was so busy wasting daylight that someone went and figured out a way to help me save some. Now instead of being awake and alert on my commute into work, I can be groggy. Dodging traffic, half comatose, counting on the brake lights of the cars in front of me to tell me where to go.

This year has been tough to adjust to. I don't know if it's because I was out of town when the change occurred or what, but it's been sad. I was over at my Dad's place and he said that when he was growing up he knew an old farmer who said that daylight savings time was like cutting a foot off the top of a blanket and sewing it on to the bottom. The blanket gets chewed up and you lose a little on both ends. That's how I feel about it this year.

On a less whiny note, We went to the Ice Breaker Jamboree in Klamath Falls last weekend. Our son the goalie played two games in net, and 3 games out. He ended up having 4 assists in one game, which was truly awesome because he hasn't had a point all year, or ever I guess because this is his first year playing this sport. He's done a heck of a good job with it, and I am really proud of the season he had. You can follow the link below if you want to see pictures of the event.

http://tomdendyphotography.com/k-falls2011

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Goofy Dog


I don't understand my dog. We've got a black and tan coon hound mix with the most wonderful singing voice of any hound I've ever heard. It's not a whiny howl like you get from a beagle, it's a full throated baritone. Very sonorous. He greets everyone who comes into the house with a war cry, followed by and I swear this is true a noise that sounds like nothing so much as "Robble, Robble, Robble".

The best is when he's sleeping. Out of a cold, dead sleep he'll wake up and his voice will break as he sounds the alarm. Occasionally he'll even fall off the couch with a thud before continuing his greeting. It's to the point now where he'll sing on command. All I have to say is "Mom's home" and that's enough for him to sing his song and run to look out the window. Unfortunately he doesn't know who "Mom" is. Mom can be sitting on the couch next to the dog when you say "Mom's home" and he'll fall over himself howling and running to the window.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Another Reason to Upgrade Your Phone

Last June my Nokia 4300 xpress music phone finally gave up the ghost. The last six months the microphone only worked intermittently. I deserved something better, and that's what I got. The HTC HD2 from T-mobile is awesome! I chose it over the Motorola, and the G1 because it had the fastest processor, and the largest screen. The screen is so big that it's actually uncomfortable to carry around. I've had the beastie for almost nine months now and I still haven't figured out where to put it when I'm walking around. Jeans pockets are too small. Too difficult to pry it out of the inside jacket pocket, but I don't really care. The over-sized screen is excellent for watching TV shows!

Since I bought the phone I have watched every episode of The West Wing, NCIS, and Criminal Minds. I never thought I would have this much fun watching TV. My wife laughs at me every time she sees me with my phone tucked up in the cupboard in the kitchen as I putter around making dinner. I can't help myself. We have a beautiful TV in the family room. My folks bought it for us as a Christmas present. It's gorgeous and is Internet enabled, but on more then one occasion I've found my son and I in the kitchen after dinner watching Leroy Jethro Gibbs catch the bad guy.

I'm looking for a new show to start now. I haven't decided yet, but I'll let you know when I do.