Monthly Archives: April 2010

My Life

Monday, April 26th

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Well…this is the first, or really the second or third episode of what I want to have as daily entry of things that happen in my life. You’ll be able to tell by the titles which will all be dates to start but may have sub-titles if there is a theme that I think is important. Or maybe not important; that’s up to you to decide.

Had to take the bike in today to get the shifter fixed…oh, you should know, there will we quite a few entries about the bike since it is one of the things that bring me joy in this life…I used to call it “the Corvette” but now I really don’t know if that truly fits anymore. Tried the new bike carrier so I didn’t have to ride it over to Village Bike stuck in one gear; I know it’s only about a half-mile but had to see if the weird shape of the thing would fit on the carrier. It’s a Motobecane 400ds with full suspension, disc brakes and 24 speeds (when they work) and it makes me grin every time I get on it. I was kind of in shock when they gave me the estimate of how much it would be to fix, since I am used to getting estimates to get the Mazda fixed and we all know that even something small on a car has the potential to get into 4 figures. This time it was a pleasant surprise…no more than 30 bucks to re-cable and adjust the shifter! I had to stop myself from grinning like an idiot when I heard that ( to keep the price from going up) and the tech thought it was no big deal. Hope to get it back Tuesday and get out for at least 10 and maybe 20 miles; but it will probably rain….that would be my luck or lack of it.

Oh, I do need to fill you in on yesterday…went out to watch the wings game with C and T at Vinny’s but with a stop at Peppino’s downtown to see K and K. It ended up being a long day but fun, too, and I was really good…only had two shots of BV and had much luck at Keno. Won 32 bucks which paid my tab and left 8 bucks in my pocket…it IS kind of nice to get paid to drink. If you’ve looked at the other post for today, you’ve seen that the Wings REALLY stunk up the place in Sunday’s game but we have one more try Tuesday but game 7′s scare the crap out of me…one lucky bounce can ruin your season.

Hmmm….oh, since this is Monday, going out with G to LC to have a few and catch up, hope the Keno luck holds up and can get through another night with no money out of pocket….oh, no money out of pocket anyway! It’s G’s turn to buy….talk to you tomorrow…;-)) There may even be some introspection and musings on what it means to be the old guy with young friends…but you’ll have to come back to find out…

Sports

That was not pretty

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Well….that was a pretty big collapse by the Wings Sunday, you never really know which team is going to show up with them this year and that is raising my blood pressure some. One of the things that popped into my head this morning was that Mike Babcock must have the nerves of a gunslinger…betting the season on an untested, rookie goaltender who has shown flashes of brilliance but has also thrown in performances like Sunday where I think I could have scored a couple on him. At this point, I don’t think he has any choice but to stay with him but is he doing damage to Jimmy by doing this? I know…I’ve never coached a game and Babcock has had nothing but success, but even the greats make mistakes at times.

The last thing I want to say is c’mon boys, let’s get going one more time! This is my team and I won’t bail out on them now. I know, I used to, but as I get older I see the value of losing along with winning and being in it together.

LET’S GO RED WINGS!!!!!!

Sports

Go Red Wings!

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Well…another Sunday game for the Wings and a chance to close out Pheonix and move on to the second round. I know I’ve not been the biggest fan of Jimmy Howard ( and who calls a 26 year old Jimmy?) but if he can keep up the performance of the last two games, I think we’ll have a pretty good shot. I am still concerned that our boys have a tendency to let up at times during the games but over the last two, it hasn’t really hurt too much.

Now I’m going to editorialize a little: been reading some of the message boards from Yahoo and other places and I guess I’m a little disappointed with the tone of many of the posts; after all, we are all hockey fans and I know Pheonix doesn’t have our history, but c’mon….Hockey is the best sport and we need to make sure new fans are welcomed with good-natured rivalry but no personal attacks please. Just my opinion….

Politics

All deficits are not created equal

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Well…the latest rant from the righties is that Bush’s deficits were nowhere near as large or bad as the one’s that have come from the Obama administration. What most people of both right and left fail to realize is what I think is the core distinction between the two: The Bush deficits were done by the choice of his administration to give tax cuts when we were fighting two wars. On the other hand, the Obama deficits are, to some extent, inherited from the Bushies, but mostly are a result of the economics that anyone learns in econ 101: in the midst of a severe recession, one of the best ways to stimulate the economy and help end that recession is for the government to deficit spend. Is the problem that deficit spending will help keep the middle class working? It’s been clear for a long time that the Repubs don’t really care what happens to the middle class…and yet so many of them keep believing the lies they are being fed and keep voting for the same people that gave us Enron, Blackwater, and how many other instances of looting from our society. Geez…

My Life

Great Wings game!

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Well…it was a late night but worth it to stay up to watch the Wings….well…I gave up and went to bed with the score tied 1-1 and about 10 mins left in the game….in bed for about a minute and the phone beeps…I know that if it was G, Pavel had scored a goal. By the time I walked out of the bedroom to look at the phone, the Wings had scored two and put the game out of reach. Hank did his thing and scored and empty-netter to make it 4-1…yay! A 3-2 lead in the series now and we may be able close this out Sunday aft. Taking another day off drinking Sat to get ready…needed to give the liver a rest after 4 days in a row earlier in the week. Will probably go out somewhere to watch the game….maybe OT. Go Wings!!

Misc

It’s religion again

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Well….I’ve been advised by friends to stay away from this topic (thank you G) but how can I when I feel that religion is the cause of much of the strife that occurs in the world today. The latest outrage is Matt Stone and Trey Parker getting death threats for a South Park episode that portrayed Muhammad in a bear suit (and it was actually Santa). You have got to be kidding me…then, Comedy Central censors that episode giving the Islamic terrorists, yep, I called them terrorists, just what they wanted! We let those idiots have their free speech, first amendment rights to threaten people and then CC folds up and won’t express their own. This is not an Islamic republic or monarchy or theocracy and the Islamic world has got to get used to it. I’ve really had enough of any and all religions trying to tell me how to live…and I don’t see any difference between these Islamic idiots and the Christian idiots like Sara Palin…stay the hell out of our lives! Geez….

My Life

Not the best Thursday

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Well…this has not been the best thursday…after having too much to drink last night, and feeling like crap today, the bike finally stopped shifting completely. Damn…can’t get it fixed until Tuesday, so I think I’ll probably go nuts without riding. Let’s hope that it will rain every day until then or snow, I’ll take either. Well…not snow, Michigan winter is too long as it is..

No politics today but there was something about Ed Rendell that I wanted to write about but I forgot what it was…maybe tomorrow.

My Life

Another Fun Wednesday

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Well…another fun Wednesday with Tom (oh, he promised me he wouldn’t sue me if I used his name) and I won at pool! Two weeks in a row but that doesn’t offset the three weeks he whipped me. I don’t feel bad that I lifted two more Red Wings glasses since one of them was Stevie Y that G needed to have. And Tom, I did stop and get more whiskey so I can have a couple of Mans while I sit here bored tonight. It has been a long week with the Wings in the playoffs…out three nights in a row and I need to take Thurs off to rest…I am getting old after all….

Uncategorized

Good Game

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Well…I may have been a little hasty in condemning Jimmy Howard. He won me over some when he takes a puck to the face, loses his helmet and mask, and still makes a great stop on the rebound! The rest of the team was much better, too, but still having lapses at times where it looks like they stop trying. The best thing was I won 11 bucks betting on the goals since Hank scored two!

Go Wings!