Wednesday, February 28, 2007
I'm Freakin' for Saprykin
So yesterday was the NHL Trade Deadline Day, and the Sens came away with Oleg Saprykin from the Phoenix Coyotes, for a 2007 3rd round pick, I believe. Now, this morning on the Team 1200, they were kind of freakin' over Saprykin, but not in a good way. They were all up in arms over the fact that we didn't even attempt to land someone like Bill Guerin or Gary Roberts. I know I'm not exactly a hockey analyst, and I usually just judge players by how hot they are, but aren't Bill Guerin & Gary Roberts kinda old?? What good are they going to do in the future? Sure, they might help in the playoffs this year, but what if their old brittle bodies collapse? What good are they then? And am I willing to give up my little Patty Eaves to get 'em? No way! I love that kid!
So, on the flip side, we got a guy who's 26 years old, a former first-round pick (11th overall), and who was having a career year in Phoenix as their second-highest point-scorer. (Yes, Phoenix is a crappy team and it doesn't take much to be their second-highest point-scorer, but still...) It sounds like this guy's got a lot of up-side, and he's still young, and he's also already been to the Cup finals, so he brings a little playoff experience to boot. Personally, I'm quite happy with my Deadline acquisition!
(And yes, I did notice that Pittsburgh loaded up yesterday...So maybe they will make the playoffs after all...hee hee...)
Last night, we took on the Carolina Hurricanes, and stormed 'em in the third period for a 4-2 victory. With Marty Gerber in nets. And with Anton Volchenkov scoring his first goal of the season. And with Wade Redden getting the game winner. And I was pumped. I was a little shocked when, with the score 1-0 Ottawa, I flipped over to watch a minute - literally 1 minute -- of Phil's show, and when I flipped back it was 2-1 Carolina. I didn't flip anymore after that. Apparently the Sens don't like it when I watch opera instead of them, and they just quit playing when my eyes aren't on them. Anyways, the re-match is tonight in O-town, and Mr. Saprykin will be in the line-up. So everyone will be freakin' for Saprykin!
...Or maybe not.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Sugar Ray Emery RULES!!
That's right, folks. I'm talking about Fight Night In Buffalo, starring those silly ol' Sabres and the Almighty Ottawa Senators!!
So you've probably already heard all about it, possibly seen the highlights, maybe you even watched the re-match. But I'm going to talk about it anyways. All hell broke loose last Thursday night in Buffalo, after Chris Neil laid out a - shall we call it "debatable"? - hit on Chris Drury. (For the record, I thought the hit was clean. Half-a-second late, but if Drury hadn't been admiring his pass, he would have been better prepared to take the hit, and likely wouldn't have gone careening through the air and smucked his head on the ice. It wasn't intentionally nasty, it wasn't an intent to injure. But that's just my take.)
So then, Lindy Ruff (who I would like to nominate for Most Annoying Coach Ever After Pat Quinn) sends out his goons for the next shift to "send a message" or whatever the hell they call it to justify his retarded actions, and had the likes of Andrew Peters & Adam Mair chasing around one of our best lines of Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley & Mike Comrie. Litereally chasing. Of course, a full-throttle rumble then broke out, with everyone on the ice pairing off, and Ray Emery & Martin Biron meeting each other half-way in a rarely-seen, but much-anticipated, goalie duel. Guess who won? Sugar Ray Emery, of course! But then Andrew Peters came over to tangle with him after Biron was already down and out. Oh, and at this point, I think the coaches were screaming at each other over panes of plexiglass, and might have killed each other if Rob Ray hadn't been standing between them.
So much to talk about. Such an exciting game. I can't even begin to get into it all, but I will say that I was happy with my team and the way they handled themselves, and I was delighted that Lindy was slapped with a $10,000 fine for his thuggery. And even better, we managed to hang on for the win in the re-match Saturday night, and on top of it all, both Chris Neil & Brian McGrattan won decisively in their match-ups against Adam Mair & Andrew Peters.
And if Ray Emery wasn't already a fan favourite in Ottawa, when he dropped the gloves against Biron and wore a smile throughout BOTH of his fights, he won just about everyone over.
AWESOME!!!
OK - so Grey's Anatomy kind of paled in comparison to all of this on Thursday night, believe it or not. I think I have to re-watch it to get the full effect of it. But the good news is Meredith didn't die; her mother did. And while that's I'm sure devestating for her, at least she got to say good-bye to her mom when she crossed into the Hospital Heaven place that Mer had been hanging out in with Denny, Dylan, and a few other dead patients who had an impact on her.
Most touching moment of the night went to Denny, who explained to Meredith that when he & Izzie are in the same place at the same time, he can almost feel her, and they have this moment. Then they actually showed Izzie & Denny having one of these moments, and it was heart-wrenching. So beautiful and bittersweet. I loved it.
On to Survivor: I'm really not that into it yet this season, and the tribe I "picked" have lost pretty much everything. This week they had to eat some crazy-ass Fiji delights to win reward, but apparently because they don't have any spit in their mouths, they can't swallow. And then they had to go down a big Slip-N-Slide and toss a ball into a basket 6 times to win Immunity, but that didn't go so well for them either. Surprise, surprise. Probably because they wanted to drink the water they were sliding in or something. But the good news is this little pipsqueak of a girl made a fire, so they should get some of their strength back now, God love them.
And on the Amazing Race, everyone hates Rob & Amber. Shocker. But they just keep finishing in first. Loving it! I was glad to see Kevin & Drew go. I think that Drew guy seriously wasn't all there or something. After Kevin tied himself to the car to pull them out of a mudhole, and then Drew just kept driving, practically dragging Kevin along, I was like, "Dude! Something's not quite right with that guy!" Mirna and Smirna are driving me nuts. They're shrieky and loud and obnoxious, and I can't wait for them to get eliminated. Aside from Rob & Amber and Eric & Danielle, I don't have a whole lot of love for any of these teams.
Alright, so I haven't really gotten into detail on anything, but I've touched on everything, and that's all I have time for! Everyone have a great day!
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Three Different Kinds of Dads
We'll begin with Mr. Buddy Garrity, the owner of one of Dillon, Texas' most prosperous businesses, and a real big-shot around the town (or at least he'd like to think so). As a past "high school football hero", he is involved with the Dillon Panthers, and he is like a little birdie sitting on Coach Taylor's shoulder, chirping in his ear all the time about what is right for the team. His daughter, Lyla, is also a cheerleader for the Panthers.
A few weeks ago, he hired Tyra's mom as a receptionist at this car dealership, and since then began an affair with her. However, Buddy's conscience got the best of him, and he confessed his sins to the Coach, who ordered him to end the relationship with Tyra's mom and do what's best for his family, which Buddy promptly did by apologetically firing the mom and wooing his wife with kisses and flowers. What Buddy wasn't counting on, though, was Tyra's mom showing up as he and his family left church on Sunday morning, and she stomped right up to him and smacked him across the face, making a real big scene. Judging from the sneak peek at next week, poor Buddy's got some serious ass-kissin' to do with the Missus!
Definitely not the perfect family man all of Dillon, Texas believes him to be...
That brings us to Mr. Riggins, the father of Tim Riggins, who recently appeared on the scene after Tim sought him out and did some quality bonding time with his estranged dad. Now this guy just had trouble written all over him. First of all, he shirked his responsibilities by abandoning his sons and barely made contact with them for years. Tim had to jump from place to place before he even found someone who could tell him where to find him. When Mr. Riggins first showed up in Dillon, it seemed he was ready to try being a dad again, but he apparently just wanted to make Tim his drinking buddy and he used him to hustle some grizzly looking dudes in a game of pool.
Things got a little sticky when Coach Taylor had to ask Mr. Riggins to step back onto the sidelines at football practice, and then accused him of stealing a $3000.00 camera from the AV room at the school. Tim was clearly upset that the coach would make such accusations, and defended his father to the hilt. However, when he found the camera hidden in a cabinet, Tim was crushed. He demanded that his father leave, and as Mr. Riggins walked out the door, he said, "Just watch. Watch how easy this is for me." That's gotta hurt a guy like Tim, who makes out he's all tough and strong, but really he just needs someone to love him. Tim then went to the bar where he and his father had hustled the grizzly pool players, and pretty much let them gather around and kick his ass until Tyra and Billy showed up to save him.
Mr. Riggins = the definition of scum bucket.
Last, but not least, we have Coach Eric Taylor, the fearless leader of the Dillon Panthers, and dear daddy to sweet little Julie Taylor. Coach Taylor and his wife (and darn it, I have no idea what her name is) are good parents. Really good parents. They are hard on Julie when they have to be, but they clearly love her with all their hearts, and they have raised her well. Even when Julie goes down a wrong path, she quickly rights herself, and takes her parents warnings and advice into consideration at all times. Julie's a good kid, no doubt about it.
However, when Mrs. Taylor caught Julie's boyfriend Matt buying condoms, all hell broke loose. She chose to deal with Julie on her own without involving the Coach. However, Julie decided to go ahead with her plans to have sex with Matt, so the two of them had a rendez-vous at one of Matt's teammates' hunt camp. Matt quickly realized that Julie wasn't ready, so they ended up just hanging out and eventually fell asleep, resulting in Julie missing her curfew. Big time. So, as you can imagine, Coach and Mrs. Taylor were frantic, wondering where there daughter was, sitting in tense silence waiting for her to get home. And you know what Coach Taylor said, the second Julie walked through the door? He didn't say, "You little shit, get to your room" or "Where the hell have you been?" or "That's it, you're grounded, young lady!" He said: "Are you okay? Are you okay??"
Thumbs up to Coach Taylor for being a Grade-A Dad.
And an honourable mention to Mrs. Taylor for handling Julie's situation incredibly well on her own. The speech she gave Julie when she confronted her about seeing Matt buying condoms brought tears to my eyes, and it clearly had an effect on Julie's decision to not go through with it. And it also scared the heck out of me to think of how difficult it must be to deal with a teenage daughter. I hope I have all boys!
Have a great day, gang!
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Doing Our Best to Help Other Canadian Teams That Are NOT Toronto
So last night was spent on the couch, watching the Almighty Ottawa Senators take on our brethren of the West, the Edmonton Oilers, in O-Town. As I've mentioned before, this was also the last game Ray Emery had to serve as part of his underserved 3-game suspension for smacking a Hab in the face with his stick. Poor wee Hab.
Anyways, believe it or not, we actually survived those three games with Marty Gerber in nets. Not only did we survive them, we came away with all 6 possible points!! Miracle of miracles!!
But we didn't make it easy on ourselves last night. Not by a long shot. Taking a 3-1 lead into the last 7-something minutes of the game, thanks to goals from Dany Heatley, Mike Fisher, and Daniel Alfredsson, we let Edmonton get right back in there. To be fair, it wasn't exactly Gerber's fault. He actually had a relatively strong game in comparison to his miserable outing vs. Atlanta on Saturday. But he did allow 2 goals in the last 7 minutes, with the last being scored in a scramble in the dying seconds with the Edmonton net empty in favour of an extra attacker.
It was absolutely imperative that the Sens get the 2 points last night, as we're now in a dog-fight with Pittsburgh (...What??... I know...totally crazy)...and let's face it, folks, the Eastern Conference is so tight right now, nobody can afford to take a night off.
However, as a fan of all other Canadian teams with the exception of the Toronto Make-Me-Laughs, I also knew how important it was for Edmonton to get some points, as they are battling to make the playoffs in the West.
So, we, the Sens, did the only decent, fellow-Canadian, hockey-to-the-core thing we could do. We let Edmonton secure it's much-needed point in regulation time, then went on to spank 'em in a shoot-out!! See, Montreal?? See what nice guys we are?? (OK, I'm not a guy, but I'm speaking on behalf of my team...you get what I mean.)
After the OT period passed with end-to-end action but no scoring, it was Antoine Vermette, Dean McAmmond, and Mike Comrie leading the charge in the shoot-out. Rather an unlikely trio to pick for the shoot-out, but after watching Heatley, Spezza, and Alfie try and fail time and time again, one couldn't blame Bryan Murray for taking a different approach to this particular shoot-out. Vermette had Markanen (no idea how to spell the Oil's goalie's name) down and out, but the puck rolled on him at the last second and went wide of the net. Next up for the Sens was Dean McAmmond, who made scoring look all-too-easy when he shot the puck over Markanen's shoulder and into the net.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the ice, Martin Gerber decided to become Mr. Super Goalie, as he stopped both Edmonton shots with what looked like apparent ease. For a guy who always looks shaky and uncomfortable in the net, he suddenly looked right at home between the pipes, all calm, cool, and collected. And then, Mike Comrie was up next, and he put so many moves on Markanen that the dude couldn't have known whether he was coming or going, and badda-boom...He scores!! It seemed only fitting, too, that Comrie got the last laugh, after listening to the Edmonton faithful at Scotiabank Place boo him relentlessly all night long. (For those who are unaware, Comrie used to play for Edmonton, and left amidst contract disputes, which fans never take lightly...Hello, Alexei Yashin). He silenced them pretty quickly with his nifty moves, and for one night, he was my hero.
So that was the icing on the cake of Coach Murray's 600th NHL victory, and tomorrow heading into Buffalo, we'll have the Razor back between the pipes. We survived, we helped our fellow Canadian team in the process, and now we're back tied with the Penguins in the standings. For one day, at least, life is good!
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Meredith Drowning
That doesn't mean I wasn't all red-faced and sobbing, though, when McDreamy pulled Meredith's blue, lifeless body from the water. Or when he was sitting in the hall crying outside her room after Bailey and the Chief booted him out while they tried to save her life. Or when all the other doctors, including Burke & Addison, showed up to help. Or when McSteamy sat next to Derek & squeezed his arm in silent support and sympathy. Or when the rest of the interns gathered to wait for news on Meredith. Or when George broke down into tears. Or when Izzie gave them all a tearful pep talk, which will forever be known as the "I Believe" speech.
At the end of the episode, Meredith woke up to find herself in a room with Coach Taylor from Friday Night Lights. I did a double-take, and was like, "Hey...What the hell is the Coach doing there?" Then I remembered that before he was Coach Taylor, he was Dylan the Bomb Squad Guy who got blown up on Grey's last season. And Denny was there too. So yeah...Meredith's officially dead, I guess, but there's just no way it's for real. She's going to be fine. Don't worry, guys. One thing is for certain: This is all definitely building up to one hell of an episode this week, I can promise you that!!
Now, I'm screwed with the Survivor re-cap, because I only caught the 10 minutes, and now I can't even remember who got the boot. Was it Bossy McBossy Architect Lady? I think it was her, but I really can't remember...
And as for the Amazing Race, the All-Star Edition kicked off Sunday night, and my early favourites are Rob & Amber, and Eric & Danielle. My main problem with the show after Episode #1 was that I don't feel half these teams deserve the title "All-Stars". I mean, that Kevin & Drew team...No way are they "All-Stars". And Dave & Mary. C'mon, people, they're so far from "All-Stars" it's not even funny. Some of the teams I don't even remember. So I think rather than call this "Amazing Race: All Stars", they should have called it "Amazing Race: Former Teams Who Are Still Together and Want to Do This Crazy-Ass Race Again".
Moving on...Tonight is the last night of the Ray Emery Suspension, and so far we're 2-0 without him, after the Sens bailed out the miserable Martin Gerber Saturday afternoon, scoring 3 unanswered goals in the 3rd vs. Atlanta to take the game 5-3. Very excited to be meeting the Oilers tonight...And even more excited to have Ray back for the back-to-back games against Buffalo on Thursday & Saturday!
Hope everyone has a great day!! Take care.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
It's All About TEAMWORK
Last night, the Sens needed some serious teamwork to survive the potentially-disasterous suspension to our #1 goalie, Ray Emery. While I still disagree with what I consider a rather harsh 3-game benching for my boy Ray after he shoved a Montreal crease-crasher in the face with his stick Saturday night, it looks the Sens might actually pull through this gut-check time after they trounced the Florida Panthers last night 4-0. That's right, Sharon...Martin Gerber not only got the win, he got the shut-out!!!
Now, to be honest, the game was not televised, so I really have no idea how this one played out. But 2 points are 2 points, and we took advantage of a Florida team that was playing it's second night of back-to-back games, and coming off a huge 1-0 victory over Montreal on Tuesday night. So granted, the Panthers were likely drained and an easy target for the well-rested Sens. However, with Gerber in nets, no game is ever a gimme, let alone a shut-out, so we'll consider this a huge moral victory, not only for Gerber but for the entire team! So now only 2 more games to survive without Rayzor - Atlanta and Edmonton. They will probably be much more challenging games, so fingers are crossed that the teamwork continues!
Over on FNL, it looked like the team unity of the Dillon Panthers had all but disintegrated after Smash and the other black players walked out on the team in protest of the assistant coach's unintentional racist comments. Coach Taylor was really at his wit's end, trying to decide if he should fire Mac or not. Mac beat him to it, though, presenting a letter of resignation, but the coach refused to accept it, further angering the black community of Dillon, Texas.
Now, you'd think dealing with this racism issue would be enough for Coach Taylor these days, but nope...he's also got a rebellious daughter on his plate. Julie's gone a little wild thanks to her recent friendship with Tyra, and the coach and Mrs. Taylor are struggling to deal with this new, saucy, bad-ass daughter of theirs. This week, Julie got her butt tossed in jail. OK, so it was just a Juvenile Holding Cell, and Matt, Landry and Tyra were all with her. And the only reason they were in the clink was because Tyra had to get something from her sister at the strip club, and Landry wandered off and got busted. And this all led to Jill's Favourite Moment of the Night: When the other parents bailed their kids out, the coach & Mrs. Taylor just hung in the parking lot for awhile after Mrs. Taylor explained that she wanted her "perp to sit in there and think about what she's done!"
On a good note for Julie, though...She and Matt made up after he bought her a beautiful pendant with her birthstone, and the he "officially" asked her to be his girlfriend. Not too cute!!
Back to this racism thing for a sec. I'll tell you one thing, Smash is a lucky boy. Why's that, you ask? 'Cause he's got a really good mother. Mrs. Williams is a tough-love kind of lady, but she's always got her boy's best interests at heart. She praises him when he's done good, and she kicks his ass when he needs a good ass-kicking. This week? Time for an ass-kicking. This Waverly chick he's been hanging with put all these notions in his head about how he had to stand up and be a role model for the black community, and prove a point that was above and beyond football. However, Smash's mom is a wise person. She knows that for her son, there is nothing above and beyond football for him. For Smash to have a future, he needs football. He needs football to get into college, to further his education, and to get ahead in life. So she basically sat him down and told him all that, and told him there was no shame in gathering the troops and going back to the team.
So Smash did, and he was welcomed back to the team with a terse nod from Coach Taylor. Then the football game got crazy and they had to end it after the third quarter while the fans rioted, with Dillon taking the win. For some reason, I guess because of this big walk-out thing, Smash was the target of their abuse, and even while en route back to Dillon, a couple of police officers stopped the bus and tried to take him in on charges of assault resulting from the on-field brawl. That's when Mac stood up to defend Smash, demanded a warrant from the police, and basically said, "You gotta go through me to get to him." Yep, folks, you got it...another FNL Hallmark Moment, brought to you by yours truly!
OK...So that's about it for today. Kenny, hope you enjoyed the FNL update, and everyone else, have a great day!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Re-Cap-A-Thon
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
Things got pretty intense over on Friday Night Lights last week when the assistant coach, Mac, referred to the black players on the team as "junkyard dogs" in an interview with local reporters. While I don't think he intentionally meant to demean the black players, it immediately sent the entire school into an uproar, with kids fighting in the halls and causing friction in the Panthers locker room. Smash tried to talk to Mac about it, but Mac refused, and that's when Smash snapped. He rallied the other black players on the team, and they staged their own rebellion during practice by ignoring Mac's orders and walking off the field. It'll be interesting to see how Coach Taylor deals with this latest controversy!
This episode also featured the Powder Puff game, when the rally girls and cheerleaders all take part in an exhibition game, with one team being coached by Tim Riggins, the Powder Puff Nazi, and the other being coached by Matt Sarracen, Mr. "Please Girls, Just Try A Little Harder". Matt's still in Julie's bad books, and even more so after he chose her third to play for his team. But once he made Julie his quarterback and her dad gave her a few tips, she won the game for her team and she and Matt seemed happy together, if only for a moment.
And of course there was lots more to talk about, but seeing Kenny's my only FNL fan, I'd better move on to...
SURVIVOR
The kick-off episode to the Fiji season featured sea snakes. Lots and lots of sea snakes. And yet another ethnically-diverse group of people, ready to tear each other apart. It's still way to early for me to know everyone's names, or even their tribe names, but we did seem to be seriously lacking in the HOT department, that I am sure of! My current favourite is the dude who looked like Rocky, but that can all change very quickly.
This season, we've got two camps - the luxury camp that everyone helped to build, complete with sleeping quarters, kitchen, and potty; and the empty beach, which the losing tribe was sent to after the Immunity Challenge, where they received just one machete and one pot. (Rocky happened to be on that team, poor guy. Already, I'm loving the losers...) The girl who was voted out...meh, not much to say about her. She was non-descript. I'm not even sure what her name was. She was basically just voted out because she wasn't strong, and she didn't establish a strong enough alliance.
It's still too early in the game to say what this season will be like, but with 2 hidden immunity idols and the big twist being that they're NOT hidden on Exile Island, it should get pretty interesting pretty quick!
GREY'S ANATOMY
Holy Hell, I love this show.
One of Derek's beloved ferry boats blew up or something, and the young docs of Seattle Grace were sent to save some lives at the scene of the accident. All but Cristina, who was left back at the hospital to wait for patients, and you just know that didn't sit well with Cristina.
Might I just say that this episode pushed Alex even further up the ladder of Mr. Incredibleness? He found a pregnant woman who was severely crushed under a cement pylon, and he saved her. He stuck with her until he was forced to leave her side, and even then, he kept going back to check on her. Seeing how she whimpered when she saw him and grasped at his hand showed just how much she trusted him and wanted him with her. It was really sweet and touching. And Alex was just so calm and soothing and reassuring. God, I love him...
Callie and George were having difficulty dealing with their relationship at work, as Callie kept reminding George that she's his boss, not his wife, once they're within those hospital walls. I don't get what the big deal is. All she has to do is watch Burke and McDreamy to see how it's done!
Izzie had by far the worst episode to deal with, as she had a man trapped under a car far away from the rest of the carnage, and his group of buddies demanding that she save his life. All by herself. The chaos of the accident scene left her all alone, without help from search and rescue. To give Izzie credit, she did pretty well considering how nerve-racking the situation was. I really hope her guy lives.
And last but not least, we have Meredith, who was not only trying to save lives, but she also had to trail around a little lost girl who was separated from her mother when the accident occured. Meredith decided to use that little lost girl as her assistant, to keep the child pre-occupied and not thinking of all the blood. However, Meredith's patient became frantic and at the end of the episode, he knocked her into the water in his attempt to get up. And that's when we fade to black... And that's when I start screaming at the TV!! Nooooooo!!!! Of course, Meredith is going to be OK...The show's called Grey's Anatomy. Without Grey, there is no Anatomy. There is no show. But I just can't wait to see what happens!
OK, so those were some pretty lame re-caps, guys, and I apologize, but I did my best! I'll be more thorough this week, I promise!
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
The Guelph Blog
Alright, so this is the Guelph Blog, and I'm just going to randomly run through some of the highlights and funny moments of my trip to visit Lindsay in Guelph! I'm still not sure when I'm going to fit in my re-caps of FNL, Grey's, and the latest kick-off to Survivor - maybe tomorrow!!
So here it goes...
- Trains are cool - I only wish I'd had a buddy to share the adventure with! However, I did have a pleasant lady sitting next to me on the journey home and she was very nice to chat with.
- Arriving in Guelph on Wednesday, Lindsay promptly took me to the University to water her grass. Then we crashed for the afternoon to rest up for her class Pub that night. The pub was pretty cool, there were some very hot bouncers. It actually reminded me a lot of high school dances, except that you could buy booze if you were wearing a pretty pink bracelet that the hottest bouncer was slapping on people. Oh, and that was another interesting thing for me - I had to show I.D. everywhere we went...I was a long way from Gavan's, I guess!
- Most Awesome Cheeseburgers can be found at the Portly Penguin, a Kelsey's-type bar & grill in Guelph where we ate my first night there. SO GOOD!!
- The Hip Concert was INSANE...Although the travel arrangements left something to be desired. At one point, I was afraid we were never going to make it to Toronto, and then later on, I was fearing we'd never get back to Guelph. (Ask me sometime about the scary drive in the snow.) But the show was awesome, and I got to sprinkle bad luck all over the ACC - I literally oozed venom towards the Leafs, and judging by their OT loss to Pittsburgh they suffered on Saturday night, my hex must've worked!
- I think I have now travelled by every means possible except for plane. Within a span of 5 days, I was on a train, on a Subway, on a Go-Bus, and in a cab. All I need to do now is motorcycle, and I'm set.
- Friday night was my favourite night - we went to the Guelph Storm game with a bunch of Lindsay's friends and classmates, and it was pretty cool. Although I did get attacked by a security guard who wouldn't let me take pictures. Guelph lost 7-2, but afterwards we hit the downtown bar scene, and that's when the fun REALLY began. We went to Bobby O'Brien's, Trappers, Van Gogh's, and the Palace. Most were dark-dance-club-type places that I would normally cringe at, but after a few of these rye-n-cokes that had more rye than coke in them (and at $2.50 a pop at one place - Nick's ripping us off, guys!!) - not only was I having fun, I was up dancing with Lindsay, Jason, Rebekka (Lindsay's roommate), and one of their friends. And I mean dancing!! Like a homie or something. Wicked!
- As you all know, when I drink too much, I get stupid. So while upstairs at Van Gogh's and dancing like a homie, I took the notion to knock Jason's yucky Leaf hat off his head repeatedly. Of course, that turned into a bit of a war with me pretending to kick him in the head several times until Lindsay & Rebekka got my attention and warned me to settle down. Little did I know, I had caused the bouncers to jump up and they were starting to surround me, and God only knows what might have happened if I hadn't stopped swinging my leg in Jason's direction! I was a little more careful after that. If I'd been at Gav's, Nick might've laughed or possibly shot me the "Settle Down" look himself, but I think these dudes might've kicked me right out or tackled me or something. On my way out, I shook hands with one of them and apologized for my rowdiness, and he just laughed, so all's well that ends well!
- The even funnier part of this story happened the next night, while watching the hockey game, and Lindsay & I got giddy. Then Lindsay took the notion to re-enact my kicking episode, but she slipped and fell flat on her ass. I'm not sure I've ever laughed so hard in my life (after making sure she was OK, of course...)
- I learned pretty quick that the only way to end a great night in Guelph is to stop at Sun Sun's for some chinese take-out. I, personally, never ate any Sun Sun's myself, but I smelled it many times in the car rides home from downtown after our night-time adventures. It's just fun to say it. Sun Sun's.
- Saturday we went to see the movie "Because I Said So"...Girls, it's a must-see. I absolutely adored it! Best movie I've seen in a long time!
- Saturday night was Ranch Night - Lindsay, Rebekka and I went, and it really is like a bigger, more packed version of Gavan's. Lots of two-steppers, lots of cowboys, lots of hootchies. By this point, I'd already had my "wild night" the night before, so I was pretty tired and I didn't even partake in any dancing or anything crazy, but at least now I know what Lindsay & Jared are talking about when they mention the Ranch!
- The train ride home was rather uneventful, although I did spy a hot boy in the lounge in Toronto. However, I think he must've been in a bad accident or something, because he had a cast on one arm, and he walked with a cane, and his arms were just a maze of scars. He did have a sexy face, though!
OK, so that's all I can think of right now, and that's probably more than anyone cares to read! Lindsay's probably reading this and thinking that I missed a million stories, but the Blog would just never end if I wrote about it all. I had a great time, and I can't wait to get my pictures developed. I didn't meet any boys who wanted to get married or move to Quyon, but that's alright. It was an awesome trip anyways!!
Glad to be back! Take care, gang!
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
There's A New Kid On the Block!!
Stacy & Ricky have a baby girl! Stacy's grandmother just called and spoke to Bill. She was born at 10 AM and she is 9 lbs. I don't have any other details, but I'm assuming her name is Madyson unless they changed their minds at the last second or something! Also, she apparently has black hair, blue eyes, and is just adorable!
So as far as I know, both Mom & baby are doing well. Very exciting!!
Monday, February 05, 2007
I Hear the Train A-Comin'...
Just a quick note to say Hello & Goodbye!! Tuesday is my last day of work before I head off to Guelph via train Wednesday morning to visit Lindsay. Plans include taking in the Tragically Hip concert Thursday night at the ACC (how will I ever survive in the home of the Toronto Make-Me-Laughs??), a Guelph Storm game on Friday night (Go Guelph Go!...I guess, unless they happen to be playing the '67's!!), and a li'l two-steppin' Saturday night at Linds' favourite bar, The Ranch. (That should be cute...Me, trying to two-step...By myself...Oh boy...)
So hopefully when I get back I'll be engaged or something like that. At the very least, I hope I have some exciting stories. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!
** Special Note to Kenny: Please leave a sticky note on your desk to remind Luke constantly to tape my (our) shows. I'm going to make him a list of what shows & times, but if you could just tell him to tape, tape, tape every time you see him, that would be muchly appreciated!!
OH - and also, we could have a new baby on the block by tomorrow!! Stacy is currently up at the hospital being induced, so if any baby news comes my way before I leave work tomorrow, I'll be sure to pass it along to the Bloggers!
Have a great day, guys, and wish my luck on my scary train ride & on finding a nice Guelph boy who will hopefully want to move to Quyon with me and live happily ever after.
Take care!! ;)
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Just Call Her Callie O'Malley
We found out pretty quick tonight that I was wrong where Callie was concerned! Not only did she say yes to George, they already got married!!! UNBELIEVABLE. In Vegas. I'm still reeling! So George and Callie returned to the hospital to share their good news with the rest of the docs, which led to the best line of the night (maybe the season), from the oh-so-studly Dr. Alex Karev: "Dude. She's Callie O'Malley." I'm still giggling. Priceless.
Anyways, this week the doors also opened to the Denny Duquette Memorial Clinic, which Izzie funded with her whopping $8 Million inheritance, and she was a little concerned with their lack of patients. So concerned, in fact, that Dr. Bailey sent Izzie and Alex to poach patients from the ER. Until George landed in, not feeling so swell, and they all assumed he was having panic attacks over his impulsive marriage. But then Nurse Olivia arrived suffering the same symptoms, and then one of the technicians. George figured out pretty quick that they had all been in contact with a patient's toxic blood, but before he could send out an alarm, an entire room of surgeons and nurses, including the Chief and Alex, were passed right out on the operating room floor. (Don't worry, they were all OK, but pretty much everyone got sick at some point. Except for McSteamy. He's too pretty to do the messy stuff).
Meanwhile, Meredith's mother was given "the gift" - she woke up temporarily lucid, rather than in her confused state of Alzheimer's. But instead of embracing the precious moments of having her real mother around, Meredith avoided her. Because she was afraid her mother would call her a disappointment. And when she finally did go and face the legendary Ellis Grey, that's exactly what her mother called her. A disappointment. Talk about a slap in the face! By the time Meredith had composed herself enough to confront her mother again and tell her exactly how she felt, the elder Dr. Grey had already slipped back into that "other world" and she didn't understand a thing her daughter said. Moral of the story: Embrace the moment, people, 'cause ya never know when it might all just disappear.
Alex is hot, guys. Seriously. Very, very hot. When he was lying next to Addison on that hospital bed in just a black muscle shirt and his blue scrub pants...Man, that was nice. How she didn't jump him right then and there, I do not know.
So that basically leaves Cristina, and whatever did become of her and Burke? Well, she was considering his proposal, and he was very impatient, but finally at the end of the episode, she told him she didn't want a ring. And that she's a surgeon. And that they'd have to hire someone to be the wife. "So..." Burke said, "Is that a yes?" And after a dramatic pause, Cristina said, "Yes." And then she and Burke did that fun thing where they both get giddy and laugh and jump around hugging each other, which hardly ever happens. It was very cute, and it officially proved my Grey's Proposal Predictions wrong...Both girls said yes!
But there's no way Cristina Burke will get the laughs that Callie O'Malley did.
Callie O'Malley.
Hahahahahahahahahahhahaha!!!!! I love it!
Kidnapped
Last night's episode was absolutely amazing. But then again, they all are.
I'll start the re-cap with Jason & Lyla. Lyla's dad Buddy is dead-set against them being together, and he's been treating Jason like the scum beneath his feet, just because he's in a wheelchair. And needless to say, he was furious when Jason announced that he and Lyla are engaged. Now honestly, if I was a parent, I can somewhat understand his hesitation in watching his beautiful, young daughter wrap herself up in a relationship with a guy who is a quadreplegic. However, Buddy should also know Jason well enough to know he has ambitions and goals and intelligence, and that he's not going to make a waste of his life. I hope Jason stands his ground with this one!
Smash Update: He was working his ass off to get back in Coach Taylor's good graces following the whole steroid fiasco, and the Coach wasn't making it very easy on him. That is, until his wife told him he needed to straighten things out with Smash before the kid lost all of his confidence, and that set up my favourite scene of the night: After having a heart-to-heart with Smash, the Coach and his star joined in a game of pick-up football with some of the neighbourhood kids, and there's nothing that makes you smile from the inside out as much as watching men playing with kids - it was so sweet! Of course, Smash has stayed clean and has done everything he's been ordered to do, so Coach Taylor told him he'll be back in the line-up for playoffs.
Then we have Tim Riggins, who needed his dad's signature on some court documents or else he would lose his driver's licence. So Tim took off to find his estranged father, and he ended up spending a few days with his old man despite his brother Billy's warnings to steer clear of him. While I've never been Billy's biggest fan, I really liked seeing how much he worries about Tim and cares about him. In any case, Tim was soaking up the father-son time he was spending with his dad, until he asked his dad to come to his game. Tim was heart-broken when his dad told him he couldn't go back, and he must've felt that the bonding time he'd put in was all for not, until the night of the game arrived and there was Mr. Riggins in the stands, ready to cheer him on. Yet another lovely Friday Night Lights Hallmark moment!
So this brings us to the whole Matt & Julie situation. Now, I'm not sure what the deal is with high school football in Dillon, Texas, but apparently once you make the playoffs, all of a sudden the other football players and rally girls decide to kidnap the star quarterback every time he turns around. And that would be Matt Sarracen. Shy, quiet, nervous, awkward Matt Sarracen, who would really rather just hang out with his girlfriend, but instead he's getting hustled off into cars with screaming girls who want him to strip down in hot tubs and kanoodle with them while taking photos for the school calendar. The first time Matt was kidnapped, Julie was very understanding, and hitched a ride home with Tyra. Then he ditched her so that he could make an appearance on a local TV show, and again, she was very understanding. She even agreed to "baby-sit" his Grandma for him. (And she invited Tyra along. I'm not liking that friendship at all. I know a few weeks ago I said I had gained some respect for Tyra, but now she's lost it again. First she took Julie to a strip joint, then she shoplifted while in her company. And then she gave Matt's Grandma wine and painted her toe nails. Black. Ugh.)
The straw that broke the camel's back was the last time Matt was kidnapped and taken to a party where the rally girls were snapping photos of the football players for their calendar. Matt didn't tell Julie about this particular kidnapping, but she found out about it when she saw the rally girls passing around the photos. Undoubtedly, she wasn't impressed seeing her boyfriend stripped down to his boxers in a hot tub with the cheerleaders. (I, on the other hand, loved it). Julie just looked so hurt, especially when Matt lied about where he'd been. The thing is, though...I feel sorry for him, too. I understand why she's mad, but she must know Matt well enough by now to know that the whole time he was there, he was uncomfortable and wishing he was at home with her. It's just...Well, he's QB1 and sometimes he has to take part in these silly football parties. Surely to God Julie can understand that! I hope these two can work it out...They really are one of my favourite TV couples!
So that puts a wrap on this week's FNL re-cap. Stay tuned next week...From the preview they showed, looks like it's going to be intense!!
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
CD Review: Daughtry
Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. I mean, how can anyone associated with a show that produced the likes of Clay Aitken be taken seriously in the music industry? Sure, American Idol has launched successful careers for Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood. And yes, it is one of the most-watched TV shows in the U.S.. But for a rocker like Chris Daughtry, I don't think he was ever cut out for American Idol. While he was a favourite of the judges, he did have to put up with some criticism from Simon Cowell for not changing things up enough and for being "indulgent" in his heavy-rock choices.
Hey. The dude is a rocker. Why should he have to change for a silly TV show, right?
Good news: Chris didn't change. In fact, he went out and started himself a band, dropped "Chris" completely, and he and his band are now just called Daughtry. And they rock!!
A quick Wikipedia search on Daughtry revealed that Chris' self-titled debut album has currently out-sold his other fellow Idol competitors with record deals (Hicks and Kelly Pickler), and I can understand why. His rich, textured voice breathes life into every song on the album, and when he sings from his gut, it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. (And as you may recall, that is often the indicator for me that something is really good.) His first single from the album, "It's Not Over", is reminiscent of Fuel's "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)", which he sang in an early round of Idol, and it's easy to see why Fuel offered Chris the job of lead singer of their band. (He turned the offer down while still competing on Idol). With "It's Not Over", he's in his comfort zone; that's where his voice excels.
Other highlights for me are "Used To" and "Over You", both radio-friendly rock songs that I haven't been able to get out of my head since I bought the CD last week. The chorus of "Used To" is one of my all-time favourite lyrics: We used to have this figured out/ We used to breathe without a doubt/ When nights were clear you were the first star that I'd see/ We used to have this under control/ We never thought...We used to KNOW/ At least there's you and at least there's me/ Can we get this back...Can we get this back/ To how it used to be. Both "Used To" and "Over You" became instant favourites of mine.
And what would Chris' debut album be without a special guest star? On track #7, "What I Want", we have the legendary Slash featured on lead guitar. But you know what? Slash's guest appearance isn't what got me pumped about this CD. It's the ballads, like "Home" and "What About Now". It's the slow energy build-up in "Feels Like Tonight". It's the heart-wrenching story behind "All These Lives". It's Chris' voice - so deep and growly one minute, so pure and soaring the next.
And it's about everything Chris Daughtry stands for: Rock & roll, not compromising, not backing down, not giving up.
If you saw Chris on Idol, you know what I'm talking about. If you've never heard of him before, you better pick up the album. I guarantee, you won't regret it.
Instant Hit: "It's Not Over"
Skip-able Tracks: "Gone", "There and Back Again"
Jill's Picks: "Used To", "Over You", "Feels Like Tonight", "All These Lives"
Pick it up if you like: Fuel, Lifehouse, Default, Nickelback, 3 Doors Down
Rating: 4.5/5 (Yup, that's my highest rating yet!!)
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Playing Catch-Up
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
Smash got busted. By his mama. And she didn't deal with it quietly, behind closed doors. She marched right into the coach's office and confronted him about it, because she was sure her baby wouldn't be using steroids unless the coach was promoting it. So needless to say Smash is in big trouble with a few people now. But it looks like Coach Taylor might actually try to sweep it all under the rug... Unless Buddy Garrity gets a sniff of what's going on...
Speaking of Buddy...I hate that man. He drives me nuts. He tried to guilt Jason into dumping Lyla, but Jason did the exact opposite - he proposed. I was completely blind-sided! Awesome!
Oh, and tear-jerker moment of the night: Watching Matt, Julie, and Grandma say good-bye to Matt's dad when he was shipped back to Iraq. Honest to God, Matt makes me weak at the knees. He's so sweet and kind and good-hearted. I adore him. But it looks like he may be in a bit of trouble with Julie this week...Can't wait for the next episode!
GREY'S ANATOMY
It was all about marriage proposals this week. George, who has apparently become a sex maniac since his father's death, popped the question to Callie. And Burke, who hasn't spoken to Cristina since before Christmas Hiatus, also dropped the "M Bomb". And of course they did it right at the end of the show, and they cut to black before the girls could give their answers. But I have the feeling they're both going to say no. I hope I'm wrong though - it'd be fun to have wedding bells ringing at Seattle Grace!
Meanwhile, Dr. Webber officially retired, only to find that his wife has already moved on. Poor ol' Chief. And to make matters worse, he's got McDreamy, McSteamy, Addison and Burke all harassing him, and competing amongst each other to be appointed the next Chief. For me, the greatest moment of the night was when Dr. Webber told Bailey, who was trying to garner support for a free clinic, that some day she will be Chief, and that he wanted her to get used to doing things without him. Bailey's been on a roller coaster ride for the past 3 seasons, and that to me was the greatest reward the Chief could give her.
Oh, and Alex is sexy. Just thought I'd throw that in.
MY WEEKEND
Friday night we celebrated Sue & PK's birthdays with a lovely dinner out and then we sat at Gavan's and enjoyed the music of Chris Malone & the Foundation Band. The band is super-good, so everyone should get their asses to Gav's the weekend of Feb. 16-17th to see them!
On Saturday, I went to the Sens game with Sharon & Wayne. It's the first time I witnessed a Sens win in person in a long, long time. They beat Boston 3-1, with all the goals coming in the third period. It was fairly entertaining, and Wade was handsome. Our first-row, second-level seats provided me with a delightful view of him during the warm-up, and Sharon snapped some pics of him. Also, the Prime Minister was just below us, and we had fun watching all these dummies rushing to get their pictures taken with him and getting his autograph. (Tell me, who would want the Prime Minister's autograph on their Sens jersey? Made no sense to me!)
Saturday night, I shimmied back on down to Gav's with my neighbour Brenda for another great night of Foundation. We danced a little, drank a little, hung out with the boys in the band, and even helped them tear down at the end, just like Sara and I used to do in the old days. And just like in the old days, Brenda got to daintily wrap chords like Sara would have, while I was lugging around heavy amps on the floor. And Chris told me to do it, because I'm a farmer. Which I'm not. Some things never change.
Sunday was a mellow day while I caught up on sleep and played with Caden. And yesterday I was a Powerhouse Scrapbooker. I got tonnes of pages done, and it felt so good! I'm now ready to start tackling summer events, such as Golf Tournament, Canada Day, the Woermke & Steph Festivities, etc. YAY!!
I hope everyone had a great weekend!
Thursday, January 25, 2007
All-Star Yawner
I had high hopes going into last night's game. Pre-game interviews with Brendan Shanahan and Joe Sakic, captains for the Eastern Conference and Western Conference, respectively, indicated that with so many first-time All-Stars (22 in total), the game would have more of a competitive edge, as they would all be trying to prove themselves. Of course, I would be focusing most of my attention on Dany Heatley, my lone Senator All-Star who won the MVP award in the 2003 All-Star Game after scoring 4 goals, the youngest player ever to do so. But I was also excited to watch a line that contained both Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. How awesome would that be??
As it turns out...not so awesome.
I'm not sure what the final point tally was on Ovechkin, but I believe he got one less-than-stellar goal. The flashiest thing about him was his mirrored Oakley visor, which he is banned from wearing in official NHL games.
And as for Sid the Kid...Nothin'. Nada. Zippo. Now, how, exactly, did that happen?? With the final score being 12-9 for the Western Conference, how did the NHL's phenom, the Wunderkid, the Next Gretzky, the top vote-getter in the fan vote, not get one single point? Not even a measly little ol' assist?
Yeah, that was a bit of a dissapointment.
The other big disappointment for me was that it seemed Dany Heatley got less ice time than any other player in the whole game. I was watching for him, and he was on a pretty good line with Daniel Briere and Marian Hossa, but somehow, Heater didn't seem to be on the ice very much. When he was out, he was making things happen - he set up Briere for the first goal of the game, and tapped in his own early in the third, and he had a zillion other chances. I think he definitely could have received MVP honours if he'd been give a little more ice time.
As it turns out, Dany's linemate Briere was handed top honours and the keys to a new truck for scoring a goal and 5 assists.
Other All-Star Revelations for me: I enjoyed seeing a few of the ex-Sens - Havlat and Hossa - but one of them still sticks in my craw. Zdeno Chara. For some reason, I have a lot of ill will towards that guy. When he scored his goal, I spewed venom. (Mainly because I felt Briere was trying to hit Dany Heatley with his pass, but because Z's stupid stick is so damned long, he intercepted it and scored instead.) The best parts of the game, I thought, were when they let us listen in on the players wearing mics. Ryan Smyth's a funny dude. And I also enjoyed the feature during one of the intermissions when they followed the journey of the kids who won the McDonald's In the Line-Up Contest. They got to mingle with the players, take part in a practice, hang out in the dressing rooms with the All-Stars, and then join them on-ice for the pre-game festivities. The players seemed to be really good with the kids - especially Eric Staal, Ryan Smyth, and Roberto Luongo - and it made me smile.
So my final thought on the All-Star Game is this: The NHL really should consider adding some sort of incentive to the game, because last night's "showcase" really was a bit boring. I had more fun watching Andrej Meszaros the night before in the Young Stars Game, when he apparently decided to switch positions with Patrick Eaves and play up front all night. (He potted 2 goals and seemed to be having a blast.)
Can't wait for the regular season to resume!!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
House of Crap
Now, I confess that when I was in high school, I sorta liked the Backstreet Boys. I sorta liked them enough to buy all of their CDs and secretly listen to them whenever I got a chance. Hell, I still do. I mean, c'mon...Who didn't think Brian was the cutest guy ever?
Oh yeah. That's right. There was a rather large contingency of teenage girls who thought Nick was the cutest guy ever. I was never among that group, but he was definitely the most popular Backstreet Boy. His bleach blonde hair and whiny, nasal-y voice made girls scream and faint. He never had that effect on me. Until now. Now he makes me want to scream and faint. And not in a good way...
The Backstreet Boy days of glory are long over, and their attempt at a comeback in the past few years can be chalked up to one big joke. Boy bands have all but disappeared, and they're not even cool anymore to the teeny-bopper crowd. But one Backstreet Boy just can't let go of his last little shred of fame, and that Backstreet Boy is, in fact, Nick Carter.
If you haven't caught Nick's reality show House of Carters on MuchMusic, you're one of the lucky ones. There's a lot of really bad TV out there, but this show has seriously got to be the worst. And the really sad thing is that it's not just Nick. His whole family of nasal-y, whiny, bleach-blonde, pathetic, spotlight-groveling losers are with him, providing a whole half-hour of craptacular entertainment. And I think MuchMusic runs the show fifteen times a day, every day. Yipee.
My first observation in the bits & pieces I've seen of several episodes is that Nick looks like a bloated, burnt-out pop star. Which, I guess, in all fairness, he is. The premise is that he has collected all of his younger siblings, who have been scattered all across the great country of the U.S., to come and live with him in a big, sprawling mansion, so that they can bond and heal together as a family.
There's Leslie, the wannabe-rockstar with baggy eyes and saggy boobs who can't get her career off the ground. There's Aaron, the former teeny-bopper who is now attempting to launch himself into the world of producing albums (but he really should be working on that super-bad acne problem he's got all over his face). There's Angel, Aaron's twin sister, who really, really wants to be a supermodel (and the only thing she's got going for her is she doesn't share her twin's zit affliction). And there's BJ, the alcoholic sister who feels sorry for herself and begrudges all of her siblings for their wide array of talents (snicker, snicker).
Oh, and they've got a million dogs running around the house, as well.
Apparently the Carter kids had a rough up-bringing, and there's a lot of resentment towards each other and their parents. So Nick wants his siblings to become closer and work together to fix their relationships.
Sounds just delightful, doesn't it? Down-right heartwarming.
So here's a prime example of the Carter kids show their love for one another and work out their differences in a mature manner: The girls are all in a huge fight, with BJ and Angel ganging up on Leslie by leaving a bag of dog shit on her bed. Leslie whines for a while about her room smelling bad, then discovers the bag. She takes it and launches it at her sisters, who then remove the dog turds from the bag - by hand - and throw it at their sister, who slams her door while her sisters pelt it with handfuls of dog poop.
Oh, I warned you it was craptacular!!
So then along comes Nick, the doting big brother, who cleans up the mess in the hallway outside Leslie's room and then hugs her and tells her everything's going to be OK, and that they all love one another but that sometimes they show it in weird ways. Uh-huh. Sure. That's how I display my affection for my brother & sister. I throw cow pies at them.
I can't believe this TV show ever made it on-air. I can't believe these kids all think they're so gifted. I can't believe that someone hasn't slapped 'em all upside the head and told them to grow up. I can't believe they act like this with cameras on them 24/7.
I can't believe I've actually watched several agonizing episodes.
So if you haven't already tuned in to the wild & wacky world of the Carters, please take this Blog as a warning and don't bother. Save yourself the punishment. It's a waste of time.
Bet you're wishing I'd Blogged about Grey's Anatomy now, aren't ya?? ;o)
Monday, January 22, 2007
Just Me, Grey's Anatomy, and a Box of Kleenex
George's dad died. It's the most I've cried since Denny died in last season's finale. You know how I always say George is just like this cute little puppy dog that I want to cuddle?? Yup. It just got worse. My heart was breaking for him. Especially after he made that passionate bedside plea with his dad to fight for his life. What a flippin' tear-jerker!! And after they took Mr. O'Malley off of life support, when George emerged from the hospital room to find all of the interns - even Alex - waiting for him, it just set off a whole other set of waterworks.
George, clearly numb with pain and grief, walked slowly by them all, not allowing even Izzie to reach out and offer him comfort and support. Oddly enough, it was Cristina who went after him, and as it turns out, she was the perfect one for him to talk to. She invited him into the Dead Dad Club, and informed him she'd been a member since she was nine. It was one of those rare moments when the soft, sensitive Cristina broke through, and showed for just a second that she's human.
Speaking of Cristina...While she and Burke are still determined not to speak to one another, Burke did bend a little this week when he told McDreamy in front of her that he hasn't had any more tremors in his hand. I just have to believe that the two of them are going to be okay.
As for the whole Addison and Alex development: It turns out that before moving back to Seattle to try and work things out with Derek, Addison had been pregnant with Mark's baby, but she aborted it. The baby, had she kept it, would have been born this week. Incidentally, both she and Mark were miserable as they reflected on what that abortion had done to their lives. However, Addison did end up seeking comfort in Alex's arms, as she finally kissed him (and I mean kissed him!!) at Joe's Bar, and I do believe this may be the yummiest new twist this season!! I'm SO excited to see where the Alex & Addy storyline goes! But the writers really do need to cook up something specialy for McSteamy too. He's been around for a few months now, with no real juicy plot to carry him. Time for McSteamy to have some fun!
Oh, and guess what Izzie did with a big chunk of that $8.7 Million cheque she finally put in the bank? She paid for a young girl to have a very expensive surgery on her back to correct the curvature. When Dr. Bailey realized it was Izzie who had come to the girl's rescue after the insurance company refused to pay for the surgery, she asked her why she had done it. Izzie stammered that she wanted to give that girl a new lease on life and a better future and all of the opportunities that bright young people deserve. Dr. Bailey, however, saw that as Izzie once again being too emotionally attached to her patients, and refused to let her scrub in on the once-in-a-lifetime procedure.
Dr. Bailey, meanwile, had to do a tricky procedure by changing Mr. O'Malley's breathing tube (before his death, of course), and she struggled to maintain her confidence and composure until the chief reminded her that she must keep her distance from the patient. She completed the intubation successfully, but then crumbled following the procedure, and then tearfully told the chief: "My son is named after his son. I just need a moment." Like, talk about rip your heart out and twist it around!! More Kleenexes for Jill! When Mr. O'Malley did pass away at the end of the episode, Izzie found Dr. Bailey and explained to her that she can be both - she can be emotionally attached to her patients and still be their surgeon. And for the first time, Dr. Bailey understood. Watching Dr. Bailey break into sobs as she grieved the death of George's dad was one of the most touching scenes of the season.
Oh, yeah, I almost forgot - Meredith's snoring problem. She finally asked her dad if he snored, because she knew her mother didn't, and when he explained that yes, in fact, he did, and that wax ear plugs worked wonders, Meredith finally found the solution to Derek's sleeping problems. Sweet dreams, McDreamy!
That was definitely one of my most favourite Grey's episodes yet. Seriously. But now I promise to take a little break from Grey's...At least until the next episode! Cheers, gang!
Thursday, January 18, 2007
McYummy vs. McNasty
The situation became even more uncomfortable when word leaked that the argument and shoving match was the culmination of Washington firing insults at T.R. Knight, who plays the bumbling but lovable Dr. George O'Malley. Dempsey had stepped in to defend Knight, and that was when all hell broke loose.
It disturbed me to think of these actors, who all seem to have such chemistry and strong rapport on-screen, not getting along behind the scenes. The producers tried to smooth things over by saying these things happen in a tight family like the Grey's cast & crew, that it wasn't the first time a fight had broken out and that it wouldn't be the last. But rest assured, Grey's fans, we're all still buddies and you don't have to worry!
A few days later, rumours swirled that the real reason for the fight was because Isaiah Washington had called T.R. Knight a faggot, and Patrick Dempsey jumped in to reprimand Washington for the slur. Several weeks later, T.R. Knight came out of the closet, and said that while he was, in fact, gay, he hoped that that wasn't the most interesting thing about him. It became clear that the only reason Knight revealed his "secret" was because the fight with Isaiah Washington had forced him to come out of the closet.
At the Golden Globe Awards on Monday night, the whole messy situation was re-visited when, after Grey's won for Best Drama, Washington jumped in front of the mic at the back-stage press conference and declared, "No, I did not call T.R. a faggot." It was both unnecessary and inappropriate, and it put Grey's Anatomy and T.R. Knight back in a spotlight they were glad to have left behind.
Yesterday, T.R. Knight was a guest on the Ellen Degeneres Show. Ellen, as it is widely known, announced she was homosexual ten years ago on her popular sitcom Ellen, and since then she has been an inspiration to other gay and lesbian figures in pop culture to be honest with their public about their sexuality. Watching T.R. yesterday on Ellen was difficult. He's so sweet and adorable, exactly the way he is on the TV show as Dr. O'Malley, and I kept thinking to myself, "How can Isaiah Washington be so vile towards him? Why can't he just leave him alone?" What makes it even more confusing to me is seeing how the two are so close on the TV show. Dr. Burke & Dr. O'Malley have had a strong friendship, and in recent episodes, with George's father undergoing cancer treatment, he's been turning to Dr. Burke for his opinion on his father's health. How can two guys who are such good friends on TV be such opposites in real life?
On her show yesterday, Ellen pronounced T.R. the "McYummy" of the show, causing him to blush and laugh nervously, but I definitely second that, no matter what his sexual orientation is. However, I also have another McName I'd like to hand out, and that goes to Isaiah Washington. From this point on, I shall now refer to him as "McNasty". He may be kind and compassionate on Grey's, but in real life, this man is repulsive. T.R. tried to make light of the situation on Ellen's show, but it was obvious that he has been deeply hurt and embarassed by his cast mate. Ellen closed the segment by saying that she hoped that in this day in age, people can stop saying hurtful and mean things to one another, and then T.R. thanked her for paving the way for people like him, so that revealing this detail about himself was much easier than it was back when she did it.
McNasty sure hasn't made it easy on him, though. And I never thought I'd have something bad to say about Grey's Anatomy, but if Dr. Burke somehow didn't recover from the surgery on his hand and, oh, I don't know, say, died, I don't think I'd miss him one little bit!
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
CD Review: Rock Star Supernova
Lukas ended up conquering over Dilana and Toby to take the Rock Star honours, and then he and the rest of the guys in the band all but disappeared for a few months while they worked on their album and prepared for their tour. But I didn't forget about them, and when it came time to make my Christmas list, one of the top items for Santa to bring me was Rock Star Supernova's self-titled debut album.
I've really enjoyed the album, mainly because it doesn't sound like anything else I have in my CD collection. It's new rock, but there's some audible classic rock influences (likely thanks to the fact that the dudes in Lukas' band are all old fogies). But then, when you add in Luke's gravelly, punk voice, you've got a sound that it is electrifying and completely....well...different.
Several of the songs were already familiar to me, as they were showcased on the TV program, either by Lukas himself ("It's On", "Headspin"), or by Dilana ("Leave the Lights On"), Toby ("Be Yourself (& 5 Other Cliches)"), and Magni ("It's All Love"). "Headspin" was Lukas' original that really made me sit up and take notice of him as a pure and enigmatic talent. I love that song, for it's melancholy undertones and the chorus that got stuck in my head 6 months ago and never really went away. The other songs that were played on the show are all catchy, and Rossi has brought his own touch to each and every one of them, making them sound different from the way the other competitors sang them during the show.
My favourite song before the CD even came out was "It's All Love". It's not as raucous and upbeat as some of the others; it has more of an acoustic sound to it, which I'm always more partial to. It allows Lukas to show his wide range of vocals, from low and sexy to that high-pitch, spot-on upper register that drew fans up out of their seats so many times on the show (especially when he sang "Creep").
However, the song that really grabbed me after listening through the CD the first time was "Can't Bring Myself to Light This Fuse". It was never played on the TV show, so it was completely brand new to me, and it's so hauntingly beautiful that it just made me stop in my tracks the first time I heard it. Luke's voice mingled with the piano in this slow ballad is just a terrific and profound combination, and it really is an amazing song.
Overall, I've really enjoyed listening to the new and original sounds of Rock Star Supernova, and it's definitely in regular rotation in my CD player. I think TLee, Jason, and Gilby have brought enough of an old-school touch, that combined with Lukas' young influence, they've created a sound like none other out there. And it's music to my ears!
Pick it up if you like: Motley Crue, Metallica, Guns'N'Roses (OK, it doesn't really sound like any of those bands, but I don't know what else to compare it to!)
Instant Hits: "Be Yourself (& 5 Other Cliches)", "It's All Love"
Skip-able Tracks: "Make No Mistake...This is the Take", "Social Disgrace"
Jill's Picks: "It's On", "Can't Bring Myself to Light This Fuse", "Headspin"
Rating: 4/5
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Grey's Back With a Bang
GREY'S ANATOMY
Returning from Christmas Hiatus with a bang were all those lovable docs from Seattle Grace Hospital!!
The biggest plotline this week surrounded George's father having surgery to determine the extent of the cancer they discovered in his esophagus. The whole O'Malley clan is just great; I absolutely adore them. George's brothers are so funny, and his mom is sweet and caring, and his dad is...well, just like the best dad ever!! George feels a little left out of his family, though, being the "smart one", and he's definitely been having trouble dealing with his father's illness.
On the morning of the surgery, when George went to open his fridge, Izzie's $8.7 Million cheque from Denny fell off the magnet and landed at his feet. For those of you who don't know (or care...hahaha), when Denny passed away, he left Izzie everything, and as it turns out, Denny was a rather wealthy dude. However, a grieving Izzie couldn't come to terms with her inheritance, so she stuck that cheque on the fridge until she could figure out what to do with it. And it's just been hanging there, taunting her roommates ever since.
But this week...ta da!! Izzie finally deposited the cheque!! Maybe not for the right reasons, though. She wanted in on a once-in-a-lifetime surgery to correct the spinal curvature of a 17-year-old girl with a major attitude problem. And the only way Dr. Bailey would allow her to scrub in was if she resolved her Denny Issues and did something with the cheque. Sitting watching Izzie bawl at the bank was one of those moments where you didn't know whether to laugh or cry - it was all so ridiculous, but at the same time, it was heartbreaking watching her part with her last piece of Denny.
OH...I almost forgot to mention my absolute most favourite moment of the night!! ALEX & ADDISON!! Yeah, baby!! For a few months now, fans have been pushing for a relationship between the head of the gynie squad and her former whipping boy. I myself never thought it would happen, but lo and behold, there is definite chemistry sizzling between Alex and Addy. With Alex continually suffering abuse from the uppity Dr. McSteamy...er, Sloan, Addison has been sticking up for him whenever she can. And then Alex told Addison that he purposely screws up McSteamy's coffee orders because he's so rude to her, which resulted in the two of them almost kissing. I can't wait to see how this all develops, and I'm so excited that Alex appears to be thinking about rejoining the gynie squad again and ditching McSteamy's plastics!!
Bet you're wondering what's been up with Christina & Burke, right? Well, Burke had surgery again on his hand to try and stop the tremors, and while he and Christina are currently engaged in a stubborn game of "Say Uncle" with neither of them speaking to one another, she is harrassing everyone in the hospital to get her status updates on Burke's hand. The love is still clearly there; but they're both so determined and bull-headed, they can't tell one another. Yet seeing Christina at the end of the episode lying on the couch in his hospital room shows that they're still a close team, even if they aren't talking to one another. I'm confident they'll be fine.
Back to George for a minute. His dad asked Dr. Webber and Dr. Bailey to remove the tumor in his esophagus even if they discovered his cancer had spread, so that they could at least give him a fighting chance rather than a death sentence. Sadly, they discovered his cancer had spread, but they complied with their patient's request and removed as much of it as they possibly could, but without George's knowledge. I think the most heart-wrenching moment of the episode was when George told his family to be prepared after the surgery, because his dad was going to be in bad shape. However, George himself couldn't even look at the massive scar etched down his father's torso, and when Meredith took his hand in comfort, he was shaking so badly that it made me tear up. Good news, though, for George and Callie fans - they appear to be on the road to repair as they kissed over a full bag of his dad's pee. Wheeeee!
And no, I haven't forgotten about Meredith. She's been a mess with her dad scooting about the hospital, as his daughter from his second marriage had given birth at the hospital and the baby had some problems. So Meredith's been bumping into her father quite a bit, and it's got her in a tailspin. The baby survived a scare thanks to Addison and Alex's quick reaction by getting her into surgery, but Meredith just can't seem to wait to get her father and his new family out of her hospital. Oh, and Meredith has a snoring problem. So bad that McDreamy can't even stay in the same bed with her at night. But Meredith is demanding that he must sleep with her all night, every night, because of her issues regarding people always leaving her. And I once again was left thinking Poor little Meredith Grey...
I think I covered it all...So much for a short re-cap huh?
As for the rest of the weekend...I went to see Rocky Balboa with Stacy & Ricky Friday night, and I loved it. I want to see all the Rockys now. There's just something about Rocky...He's so sweet and dumb. I adored him.
On Saturday, I watched the Sens thump the Habs in the matinee edition of Hockey Day in Canada, and it was positively delightful. My boys are making me proud!! Then Saturday night, I went to watch Graham's hockey game in Shawville with Sara, and afterwards we went to Atko's for a few beverages. It was lots of fun, and we laughed a lot, but the night seemed to end too quickly!!
So today has been all about the couch and watching movies...And I better get right back to that!!
Have a great week, everyone!
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Lean On Me
With the Panthers' playoff hopes hinging on another team's success, the entire town was on edge as they waited to see if they were going to make the post-season. To add to Coach Taylor's stress & anxiety, Jason Street's family served him with papers suing him & the school for negligence regarding Jason's accident on the football field. When the news of the lawsuit hit the local papers, Jason began feeling the effects from his once-adoring public, as they frowned upon him turning against the team. Jason didn't want to turn on the coach and the school in the first place, so it upset him terribly, but his mother tearfully explained that to afford all of the additions to their home to make it wheelchair accessible and to pay for his re-hab, they had no choice but to sue. Jason went to the coach and explained the situation, so at least there's an understanding between them now, and Coach Taylor knows Jason doesn't blame him the same way the rest of his family does.
Meanwhile, Smash was trying to woo the preacher's daughter, Waverly, but he was baffled by her indifference towards him. He's used to being the star and having girls fawn all over him, so when Waverly asked him if he ever talked about anything but himself and football, he didn't understand what her problem was. Matt tried to get him to pull his head out of his ass long enough to show him that not all girls are impressed by having their guy refer to himself in the third person and arm wrestle the entire town, but Smash finally told Waverly that he likes the way he is, and if she's not willing to meet him half-way, then he would just have to pass on the opportunity to be with her. The little grin Waverly gave him as he left would suggest that we haven't heard of the last of her, though.
This week we also got a glimpse into Tyra's life, as a domestic dispute unfolded between her mother and her mother's boyfriend. When he slapped her mom across the face, Tyra leapt to defend her, swinging a fireplace poker at him and forcing him to leave. At the rodeo, he approached her mother again, begging forgiveness, so Tyra issued her mom an ultimatum: "Him or me." Riggins then picked the wrong time to ask Tyra to give him a second chance, and although it was obvious that she wanted to, she told him she would just be a hypocrite if she did. I liked this new angle on Tyra that they presented this week. Up until this point, I just considered her a mischievious little skank, but she showed backbone and integrity this week, and I admired her for it. In the end, her mother kicked the scummy boyfriend to the curb and told Tyra she could never pick a man over her. It was a real Hallmark moment.
Last, but certainly not least, comes the Matt Sarracen Report. With Matt's dad back from Iraq, Matt had hoped things would get easier in dealing with his grandmother; however, Matt's dad hasn't been much help at all. If anything, he has disrupted their lives even more. In an effort to smooth things over with his father and help him settle in, Matt went to Buddy Garrity on his father's behalf looking for a job. Buddy, of course, would do anything for his star QB, so he offered Mr. Sarracen a salesman position. However, this only led to more responsibility being heaped on Matt's shoulders.
When Julie showed up at his house after he missed a study date with her, she finally had that look of helplessness and desperation that I've been feeling everytime they show us what Matt's home life is like. He was trying to clean up the mess, get dinner and make his grandma a cup of tea, all by himself, and he gets so flustered trying to please everyone that it twists my heart up every time. This time, Julie stepped in to help, and after talking to her parents about Matt's situation, she decided to reach out to him as much as possible and support him as best she can. Eventually, Matt encouraged his father to return to Iraq with the military, because now with Julie backing him, he feels he can take care of his grandmother and juggle everything else as well as he did before his dad came home.
Oh, and remember how I said that their spot in the playoffs depended on another team's success? Well, the team that needed to win did, so the Dillon Panthers are headed for the post-season dance. Hugs & kisses all around!!
The sneak peak at next week's episode indicates it's going to be another explosive one, as it appears Smash's steroid use will be discovered, and it looks like Jason might actually break up with Lyla once and for all. Tune in next week for yet another scintillating FNL re-cap!
Have a great day, gang!!
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
The Comeback Kids
Now about that hockey game...
Last night, the Sens were home to the Boston Bruins, a team that has curiously owned us throughout the season despite the fact that they've been below us in the standings much of the year. I had been chalking it up to the Curse of Zdeno Chara. We all know we lost Mr. Chara through Unrestriced Free Agency to the B's in the summer, and since then, he and his new team have been laughing at us every time we've met up.
But guess what? Last night, the Big Z was on the sidelines with some sort of ailment, so the Curse of Zdeno Chara was a non-factor. It seemed the perfect time for the Sens to turn the tide against one of their greatest nemesis' this season.
I missed the first period, so I missed seeing Boston jump out to a 2-0 lead, with one of those goals coming on a penalty shot. Through the second frame, Ottawa was digging hard and getting great chances, but as usual, Boston goaltender Tim Thomas seemed to have our number. He wasn't giving up anything. I was beginning to think that Thomas had crawled into the Senators' heads and that they'd never be able to beat him, when all of a sudden...
BAM!! Along came the third period, when the Sens finally exploded with five unanswered goals.
Mike Comrie kicked it off with his first in a Sens uniform, and Dany Heatley quickly followed suit, scoring his 26th of the season. With things all tied up and momentum on our side, the go-ahead goal came off the stick of Captain Daniel Alfredsson, who was in the right place after a tremendous second effort by Dany Heatley, who managed to sweep the puck to him in the front of the net even while being tackled to the ice by a Boston defender. Patrick Eaves then went 5-hole with the insurance marker on a suddenly-mortal Tim Thomas to make it 4-2, and in the final minute, Peter Schaeffer got the empty-netter to complete the third-period comeback and seal the victory in favour of Ottawa.
Somewhere, Zdeno Chara had to be hanging his head.
It was great to see the Sens storm back and take it to Boston in the third. It just showed their resiliency and the "never-say-die" attitude they've adopted in the wake of injuries to Jason Spezza, Mike Fisher, and Antoine Vermette. They've really been taking a blue-collar approach to their games, simplifying their plays and capitalizing on their opportunities. There are very few fancy dipsy-doodles without Spezza in the line-up, but there are also a lot less turn-overs and give-aways. I heard them discussing it on the Team this morning (www.team1200.com) and how the Senators have to convince Spetz to comply with this new game plan and new team mentality of less flash and more grit when he returns. Could be interesting, seeing he's the guy who is always telling reporters when asked about being a defensive liability: "That's the kind of player I am, I'm a creative player, and there are going to be turn-overs when I'm trying to make creative plays sometimes. I'm not going to change."
It might be time for him to re-think that attitude, because while he has been on the sidelines, this team has changed, and they've been successful in his absence. They have to keep doing what has consistently been working for them, and if Jason Spezza is going to mess up that recipe, then he becomes more of a hindrance than a help.
Time will tell, but for now, we still have a few more weeks as the Spezza-less Senators, and if they keep rolling like this, he'll have no choice but to conform!
GO SENS GO!!
Monday, January 08, 2007
The Weekend Rundown
I had a great weekend. Friday I watched Team Canada claim Gold over the Russians at the World Junior Championships, so that was very exciting. Then Friday night was our Murder Mystery DVD viewing party, so our cast was reunited for one last hurrah over pizza and beer. There were a few glitches, however, when the DVD wouldn't work in 4 different DVD players. Finally Mark found one at his place that was compatible with the DVD, and we were able to watch it all at last. It became quite embarassing to see how pathetically drunk we were by the end, and I'm shocked there weren't more complaints about how long it dragged out with people rambling and forgetting lines. But as Donna reminded us, usually by that point the crowd is pinned too, so they don't even notice. I'm not surprised that Aunt Mo is threatening to not allow drinking on-stage next year, though!
Saturday was the Sens game vs. New Jersey that we got my mom tickets for at Christmas, so we ventured off to Scotiabank Place to watch a rather boring hockey game. However, with the Sens down 3-1 in the dying minutes, Preissing did sneak one by Marty Brodeur to make things a little more interesting in the end. The Sens did end up taking the loss, 3-2, but Ma claimed to have a wonderful time and can't wait to go see another game! Probably the most excitement of the game came during the second intermission, when a bunch of Atom-level hockey players took to the ice for a relay race, and two of the teams were from Shawville. Both of them were lagging far behind the other two teams, but the little black team from Shawville gained some steam in the second last lap, and in the final lap they overtook both of the other teams to win, and people in the stands were cheering like crazy. Must have been a great moment for those kids!
Yesterday we watched from home as the Sens took on Philly in another afternoon tilt, and we all wished we were at that game. At least we would have had many more opportunities to cheer with the Sens stomping all over the last-place Flyers in a score of 6-1. Josh Hennessy scored his first NHL goal, so now Glen Healy won't be able to rip him for not having a point in any of the three or four games he's played in a Sens uniform. Wade Redden had a great game, collecting two assists and Third Star honours. I'm trying to ignore reports over on the Big K's Sports Report Blog suggesting his name is swirling in trade rumours with the Edmonton Oilers - I firmly believe Wade is not going anywhere, and this report was only fabricated to get me riled up. Nice try, Big K, but I'm not biting!!
Hope you all had a good weekend, and don't fret if there is no Blog tomorrow, as I'll likely be too busy tomorrow playing catch-up to write one. So please hang out in the Comments Section of this post, and I'll be back Wednesday!!
Thursday, January 04, 2007
The Heat Is On
There was the new face of Mike Comrie in the Sens' line-up, as he arrived in time from Washington to be pencilled in to the roster. There was Ray Emery, the recently-appointed #1 Star of the Week by the NHL, who has stood on his head to keep his team in games lately. There was the fact that the Sens have soldiered on quite admirably, going 4-0-1 in the absence of stars Jason Spezza, Mike Fisher, and Antoine Vermette. There were the Buffalo Sabres lining up as the opponent, arguably the hottest team in the league up to the half-way mark, but strangely a team the Sens have dominated in the previous meetings.
So much to talk about, so many headlines, so many sub-plots.
But by the end of the night, one man had grabbed the spotlight all for himself.
It was, indeed, The Dany Heatley Show at Scotiabank Place last night, folks.
After a dodgy first period which saw the Sabres outshoot Ottawa by a wide margin, the Sens, led by Heatley, exploded in the second for four goals, three of them coming off Heater's stick. It gave Heatley three hat tricks on the season, and silenced those who were murmuring that he couldn't score without Spezza dishing him the puck.
Tom Preissing with a blast on the powerplay, Peter Schaeffer on a nifty break-away, and Wade Redden, God love him in all his splendid glory, also capitalized for the Sens, with the final score being 6-3. The scoreboard would indicate a much closer game than it actually was, as the Sens seemed to lay back with their 5-goal cushion late in the third, allowing Buffalo to score twice in the dying minutes. It just goes to show how lethal these Sabres are, and how they can come back from a deficit, no matter how large.
However, on this night, it was truly all Ottawa. Mike Comrie fit in nicely, playing with an edge and collecting two assists. He was making things happen out there, and I look forward to seeing what he brings to this team in the future. Ray Emery was also in top form, shutting the Sabres out in the first period when they were on the attack and giving his team a chance to compete. Special teams were also a huge factor in the game, with the Sens going 3 for 4 on the powerplay, and Heatley also opened the scoring with a shorthanded marker to get things rolling.
I watched the game on TSN, and I would officially like to nominate Glen Healey for the Biggest Dick in the Broadcasters Booth Award. The guy is a real doorknob. I was so sick of listening to him by the end of the game that I wanted to bash my head into a wall. He's soooo cocky and arrogant and anti-Ottawa that it makes me want to puke. I don't know how many times he pointed out that the Sens have two forwards without a point, Hennesy and Payer. He said it like fifteen times. I just wanted to reach into my TV and grab him by the throat and scream: "DICK!! They have only played two games!!" I mean, does he not realize they have been called up to fill the void for the absent Spezza, Fisher & Vermette? For a guy who played in this league, he sure doesn't know much about hockey.
In any case, that was really the only thing I could find to complain about all night long. Otherwise, it was a delightful evening for Sens fans everywhere. My only true concern at this point is that the boys have been on a bit of a roll lately, and I've got tickets for Saturday's game vs. the New Jersey Devils. Good thing, right?? Wrong. Knowing my luck, they're probably due for an ass-kicking, and you can bet that I'll be in attendance to see it!
But I'll keep my fingers crossed for The Dany Heatley Show: Part II.
Have a good day, gang!!
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Resolution Time
Well, it'll be back to the ol' grindstone for me tomorrow, so I decided to take a few of my last "holiday moments" to share my New Year's resolutions with all of my favourite Bloggers. Here goes nothing...
- Resolution #1: To lose 26 lbs. 6 of those pounds I have gained over the holidays, so I hope to shed them quickly. But I vowed I'd eat happily and heartily during Christmas, which I did, so I refuse to regret my food binge. Now it's just time to get rid of it!!
- Resolution #2: To find a boyfriend. It's becoming increasingly apparent that Wade Redden is not going to come a-knockin' any day soon, so it's time to quit hanging all my hopes on him and move on. (Alright, so I haven't really been single all this time because I was holding out for Wade, but it sounds better than saying I'm just a loser with nobody to love me...) In any case, I'm planning on continuing the search with much intensity in 2007, and I'm vowing to have a boy of my own to kiss when 2008 comes rolling in. (If you know of any candidates, please send their applications to me at your earliest convenience).
- Resolution #3: To start writing again!! Writing used to be one of my favourite things to do. I always had storylines swirling around in my head, and I'd spend as much time as possible writing them down. However, in the past year or so, I haven't been writing much at all, with the exception of the Blog. How am I supposed to become a best-selling author if I don't at least try, right??
- Resolution #4: To win the Stanley Cup. Okay, so that resolution hinges entirely on the Ottawa Senators and their abilities, but I truly believe they can do it, and if they do, I'll be the one cheering the loudest and leading the parade. It's the only resolution I have no control over, but I'll leave it in the very capable hands of my Sens.
- Resolution # 5: To have as much fun as possible. I'm going to take every opportunity to do something different, to expand my horizons, to have a blast doing whatever comes my way. I'm going to dance more, I'm going to sing more, I'm going to do more of the things I love to do the most - I'm not going to worry, mope, or get down on myself. I'm going to be OPTIMISTIC about life in general. I'm going to do my best to be bright and shiny as often as possible. Just check out that glow coming from my direction... It's already working! ;o)
I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday Season and that you rang in 2007 in style! And I hope you're able to keep all of your New Year's Resolutions...It won't be easy, but together, we can do it!
Before signing off, I want to send out extra-special birthday wishes to one of our regular Bloggers - PRISCILLA!! I hope you're having a good one, PK, and we'll have to plan a night out for dinner to celebrate in the near future!!
Cheers!