So ... seems like things have all been confirmed and we are headed to Savannah. I am excited, this will be the biggest Ultimate shindig I have been too yet. The trip will take us through Daytona Beach and Jacksonville so there should be lots of new sites to see. I have been to Daytona before (even took a lap on the track ... though it was in a mini-van which made the corners 'interesting') but that was some time ago. Unfortunately we won't have a lot of time to 'sight-see', but it should still be fun.

We will be heading out around 5 or 6 this evening ... and be getting home sometime Monday afternoon. Hope everyone has a good Memorial Day weekend - and for those up north ... enjoy the hockey game Saturday night. We'll be watching from some pub ... somewhere ...

[Tampa 4 - Calgary 1: This is turning out to be one of the best cup finals in quite some time. The play is fast, both teams are grinding, there is lots of passion ... I am loving every minute of hockey.]

Victoria harbour nearing dusk, Melissa 2004

Melissa's trip to Butchart Gardens, Victoria

So ... after a day at work I joined Melissa, Krishen, Greg, Eric over at Darren's to watch game 1 ... and what a game it was. Calgary managed a 4-1 win, but they dominated once again due to their work ethic. They also turned out to be a little quicker than I originally gave them credit for. Seems like their fans are having a good time :)

The same day as this fast paced, hard hitting, exciting game unfolded Hockey Canada announced that it would abolish the red line. This, along with many of the "rule changes", are poor attempts and "fixing" a game that is not broken. I may be a hockey traditionalist but I played 7 years in minor hockey and I don't believe any of these changes will improve the game. Watching the games now, the whole offsides have gotten a whole lot more confusing ... just return to the the touch-back offside - at least it kept the game moving. Removing the red-line just leaves room for more cherry-picking and a more confusing iceing.

Rule changes should be done to avoid injuries or due to tech improvements in equipment. You want to promote skating in the game ... increase to the international sized ice surface, that I would agree with. You want to reduce injuries ... call the penalties that are already in the books. Let players fight and get it out of their system ... but call the clutch, grabs, hooks, spears, and high sticks. There will always be some pushing and shoving, but call the cheap shots. You want more scoring ... make minor adjustments to the goalie equipment OR the size of the net - just be sure not to put the goalies in danger, shots are getting harder these days. AND, quite frankly, I don't believe scoring is an issue ... the game starts getting boring when scoring becomes to easy.

This is an exciting game ... please, don't mess it up!

Yesterday I snagged a day off work to help a friend get to the Orlando airport. Once there we figured we should enjoy the evening since its not like we get up there often. So we headed back to SeaWorld ... last time we were there we snagged year passes to the park so the 3 hour limitation did not bother us at all.

We found even more areas to see than last time ... we sat and watched the dolphins (did you know they have no sense of smell) ... and basically spent a wonderful afternoon with the animals. By the time we got home and had dinner it was time for bed ... guess not really time, but I found myself waking up at midnight while still on the couch ... oops.

Today I tried something new ... rollerblading to work. With gas prices the way they are right now I am trying different means of transportation the 2 miles to the office.

VS

Wow ... a 2-1 Lightning victory ... a game that had us clutching our seats and biting our nails. And in the end, Philly just stood dumb-founded on the ice ... in utter disbelief of what had just transpired.

Tampa jumped out by one in the first and increased that lead to two early in the second. But the Flyers were not going to go down that easy, they pushed back to within one ... and kept coming. But as the game played on Tampa did not break, they only got stronger. In stead of sitting back they put the pressure on, managing an excellent chance on a turnover deep in the Flyers end in the final minutes. It wasn't until there was only 30 seconds remaining that Philly managed to pull Esche. And even then the Lightning pinned them in their own end. There was no last ditch push ... no final second pressure ... and no OT for the Flyers. At least not this year.

Now ... we look to a great series between Calgary and Tampa. Two cities divided by both East-West as well as North-South ... one with snow still on the ground and the other where sandmen are made at christmas. But it is a series that, if we can manage, Melissa and I will attend. We are looking at game 5 ... man ... this is going to get nuts.

Must say though, I miss the cup fever of back home. I was happy to see the pubs full of cheering fans and the added coverage on TV. But from what I hear in Calgary, where every 4th car is flying the flags ... where there remains no jerseys that can be purchased ... where a city virtually shuts down as the team plays, it is a whole 'nother world.

With Melissa cheering on Calgary ... I am left to fence sit. With Calgary being a Vancouver rival one might think that my adopted home team is an easy pick. However, I have a lot of ties to Calgary ... both family, friends, and country ... and still being new to the area I don't have any strong ties here. I believe that Tampa will take it ... but I would love Calgary to win, I love the underdog ... and you just have to love their heart. It is the essence nature of the game.

Where do you stand?

Well, 'tis the weekend. Hit a couple more deadlines this week ... love meeting those things head on ... and received a couple more projects as a reward ... 'oh goody'! Well, guess I won't be bored.

With the end of the week approaching Ron decided to plan a evening with the Old Salty Dog - relaxation on the water. And what a great idea that was. Dinner was good ... beer was tasty ... and the view was fantastic. Post dinner we took a stroll down Lido beach under the moon. And followed that with a pleasant dip in our pool. Excellent evening.

Today it was the beach, though we don't recommend it ... no parking! It must have been 30-45 minutes before we found a spot. However, the water is back to approx. 80 degrees fahrenheit and the sun was blasting out a good 90 degrees. Ahh ... the weekends :)

Tonight we head out to cheer on the Lightning as they battle game 7 and the right to move on to the Stanley Cup finals. We are joining a group of about 10 down at the Ale house ... oh ... this should be a good time. Well ... time to go. Catch ya on the flip side of the moon!

Presentation of the Campbell Bowl (Western Conference Trophy)

So ... after work I headed out to Ultimate practice. I think that I am going to have to do something more than just Tues, Thurs, Sun to move to the next "level". Not quite sure what yet ... but something - gym, extra toss practice, more hat tournaments (?) Any ideas from the experts out there ...

Called Melissa after to see if she would like to join us at the Ale House, however, I was greeted on the phone with "Good ... come home!" So ... home I went (one does not argue with the wife about such things). To my surprise Bob was sitting on the couch when I got there. Pleasant surprise to say the least. Apparently he got onto the I-275 during a relaxing drive that evening ... missed his exit ... and thus had to pay the toll. So, deciding he was already down this way he gave Melissa a call and asked what we were up to. It was a nice visit ... don't get to see many of those from the west coast these days. (Well ... except for those who have web sites) However, Melissa did bring back pictures of home ... enjoy!

Friday night after a long day at work and a mad rush to put the final touches on the house I headed North on the I-275. Towards Tampa and my wife who is now back from a 6 week vacation to the frozen north ... and with her last couple weeks in Calgary it was quite literally FROZEN.

Saturday, morning we got up and made breakfast wraps ... then realized that 3AM was a little early to actually 'stay' up we headed back to bed. By noon were heading towards Busch Gardens for another visit. This time we saw KaTonga, wondered around a bit, and ate lunch watching the "Rhythm of the Night" dancers. While we were only there 3 hours ... we had a wonderfully relaxing time. On the way home we stopped at the outlet mall and snagged a couple more things for our place and new sunglasses for me ... the same model as I had before. After trying on dozens and shortlisting two, the end result was that, based on impartial sources, my original model suited me best (think they will be better for sports anyway). I am happy ... since I really liked the last pair.

We spent the evening camping in the living room and watching movies ... then in the morning we put in Lion King 1 1/2 ... a humorous sideways look at the first movie. After lunch it was up to Ultimate for an afternoon of playing in the rain ... I love the rain in Florida. It was then back home to have a fantastic dinner and Pirates of the Caribbean.

It is great having Melissa back home ... life can now return to it normal.

I finally broke down and purchased a CD from the iTunes music store. I have been sucking down the free music they have offered over the last couple weeks and I got suckered into their trap. There are likely a lot of singles that I would like to pick up, but Diana Krall's new CD was something I was looking at getting - it was just a matter of time. So, at $9.99, I figured what better time than now.

Make sure you check out her alumn: "The Girl in the Other Room"

If you have not grabbed iTunes - it's FREE and available for both Windows and Macintosh. Even without the music store it is one of the better mp3/CD players on either platform.

Flyers were back in town to take on the Lightning for Game #2 of the Eastern finals. An while Tampa was able to handle Philly for the first game, last night they did not show.

Normally Nikolai Khabibulin is able to keep the game close if the team is struggling, but tonight he had a hard time stopping anything. Allowing 4 goals on 12 shots he was quickly relieved in the 2nd period. And though he probably wants a couple of the shots back the whole team needed a wake up call. This is not going to be a cake walk ... never is! Down to a best of 5, time to re-group and play their game - Tampa is still my bet!

And to think, I gave up cleaning my house to catch the game on TV ...

Blood, sweat, and tears ...

Saturday had me in St. Pete for the eleventh annual "All Faiths" hat tournament. This was my second tournament with the Ultimate gang and once again it was a blast. This time our 'navy' team, we were so creative we did not even give ourselves a name, went 3-3 over the day. Loosing our first game we came back to take the next two. Our forth game was quite sad and in an attempt to bring up the intensity level again I took to the field with tons of determination ... and came off the field with cuts, scraps, and no discs. Disappointing yes, but hey ... it was fun :) We managed to take the next game giving us the chance at the final, but we could not pull off the last game against "green". By that time my muscles hurt, which they continue to do this monday morning, so I enjoyed being able to sit and listen to the Lightning-Flyers game on the radio.

We stuck around for some late night fun!

The finals were fun to watch, but that could have been because of the BBQ and beer that was being dished out! We headed over to one of the locals residences for an after-game party. We basically just hung out and played some games ... one had you acting out something silly, note to self "don't go into acting", while another had you try and guess a note posted to your forehead amidst getting 'subtle' hints from the group. All in all it was a great night, can't wait until next year.

"Look as though you can't stand me" - Good thing I have a healthy ego eh!

Well, last night was fun. Chips, candy, and Lisa brought Timbits, well not real Timbits since we are way south of any known Tim Horton's ... though I have been hearing they are coming south ... slowly :)

With our group of friends we sat down and watched first a 'flash back' of the 10 years, then the episode ... quite frankly it was not their best show. However, it is hard to do a 'last show' ... often ends up being way to predictable. Which is exactly what happened here. Now the question remains ... what is the next big show?

So ... I sat back and updated MoveableType I thought, gee ... lets just do a full update. I tried to simplify the look of the main page and removed the 'headers' which were ... as my wife put it "old and outdated".

Anyways ... tonight is the last episode of Friends. I remember watching this while I was still in high school ... a full 10 years ago. The funny thing is you know this is a show that will have its re-runs watched by our kids, much like we enjoyed "M*A*S*H*". While I have not followed the show recently I did enjoy the first few seasons. So tonight I am grouping people over to watch that ... and maybe a little Office Space if we have time.

NHL Update:
We are down to the final four, two west and two east and I no longer have any confusion on who I will be cheering for. Tampa will be taking on the Flyers while the west see Calgary and San Jose knocking sticks. We are looking for a Calgary - Tampa final people ... I just have to start saving for the games!!

Sitting down at the end of work tonight I headed, in typical fashion, to John's blog to see what has happened lately back in Seattle. Well, today I ran across his reference to a wired article. Seems that Mike, my old friend / co-worker / "boss", was listed on Wired's front page.

Funny, I remember back in 2001 when he found his old Newton and reveled in its greatness (long since passed its prime). The world had moved onto the Palm and its competitors, but Mike was still a proponent of the Newton and the technology that was years ahead even though it was released well in the past.

Well ... seems that little device has now made him famous. Mike ... don't forget us little people :)

[Mike has a write-up on his impression of the article]

So looks like Calgary is moving on ... and the city is happy. One nice thing, Melissa is visiting Calgary right now too ... so she is happily enjoying all this extra excitement. (And rubbing it in every chance she gets)

And what am I doing while she is having all this fun ... well ... not much. What I NEED to do is start cleaning up the house. We got new carpet in the living room / dining room to attempt a cleanup of the previous tenants male cat. Problem ... while it is not as bad it is still there. Any suggestions at cleaning up spray from a cat?