Scooter Chronicles

Last night Marcia and I watched “The Terminal”, starring Tom Hanks, Stanley Tucci, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. It was directed by Steven Spielberg.

The basis of the story is Tom Hanks’ character Viktor Navorski who flies into JFK Airport in New York. He is from an eastern European country, that I can’t remember how to spell or say (and which I believe was fictional anyway). During Navorski’s flight to the US, a revolutionary war breaks out, deposing the government. They close the borders making a return to his home country impossible. But given the fact that his country’s “new” government is not recognized...

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Due to the crazy time difference, I did not get to see either of the Finals matches. Though the Men’s Final will be broadcast Sunday afternoon on ESPN.

Marat Safin, the fourth seed of the tournament, upset the seemingly unbeatable Roger Federer in the semis. He then made quick work of the third seed and home countryman of Australia, Lleyton Hewitt; 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. This was Safin’s second Grand Slam of his career, winning the 2000 US Open.

Serena Williams’ road to the Australian Open Championship was a bit harder. She had to face Maria Sharapova in the semis, who had beaten Williams the four previous meetings, including...

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A couple of nights ago Marcia and I rented “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy”. It stars Will Farrell in one of his biggest roles since leaving Saturday Night Live.

Farrell co-wrote the movie and it is easy to see. That is if you had seen SNL when he was part of the cast. Essentially it is set sometime in the 70′s, before women anchored the news. The crew is happy and share a brotherhood; being Burgundy, Brian Fantana the at-the-scene guy, sports reporter Champ Kind, and weatherman Brick Tamland. Brick is played by Steve Carell, who played soon-to-be anchor Evan Baxter in “Bruce Almighty”. Carell is hilarious as Tamland...

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The two sides are meeting again, either today or tomorrow. No comments were made by either side, other than to say that they will meet again. Boy oh boy. All these meetins and talks the last two weeks. Wonder if either side realized that they should have been doing this MONTHS ago?!

The owners called the players’ association and set up another meeting in Toronto today. Because no progress was made last week, none is expected again. Neither side wants to budge, making it seem pointless to talk again. Since the talks seem aimed at striking a deal. What a shame.

Snow
On Saturday we started getting our share of what is being called “The Blizzard of 2005.” In our area (an hour north of Philly), we got somewhere between 12 to 14 inches of snow. It didn’t end until early Sunday morning. Helped my mother-in-law dig out. Then we got a few more inches last night. Fun, fun! (Sarcasm.) Well, at least it was fun for our dog Molson. He LOVES the snow. The strange thing was the wind that we got later on Sunday night. Most of the 12 to 14 inches outside the back of our place had blown away.

Football
My adopted football team, though I am not really much of a fan, the Philadelphia Eagles won the NFC Championship on Sunday night. This...

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“If I’m not back in 15 minutes ….. just wait longer.”

— Jim Carrey as Ace Ventura in “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective”

Real Snow
We got our first real snowfall yesterday afternoon. Probably 2 to 3 inches. Very powdery. But the problem has been the temps. They are below 20 degrees, rendering salt useless ……. at least as far as melting things. So the roads are not only snowy, because they seem to take forever to plow here, but icy too! (Back home in Detroit, you would hear the plows going at 2:30 in the morning if need be.) Well, at least someone is enjoying it. I work with a guy that just loves snow. And of course there is our dog, Molson. He loves the snow, too.

Hope for the NHL
Seems like the two sides made some headway yesterday. Yesterday, Trevor Linden (of the Vancouver Canucks)...

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Last Ditch NHL CBA Meeting?
Tomorrow, reps from the NHLPA and NHL officials will meet to discuss the current impasse between the two sides. But with two big wigs not there: Bob Goodenow, the head of the NHLPA, and Gary Bettman, NHL Commissioner. The hope is that without the two that are driving this thing, the two sides might be able to talk more openly and spark some ideas to help close the gap or even go as far as bringing the sides together.

The rumors currently floating around is that though the owners have not set up a drop dead date, they have put together a 36 game schedule that would start in early February, if an agreement is reached in time. This could make for exciting hockey. A much, much shorter...

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I am really cruising along here. Another book done! This one was “Downriver” by Loren D. Estleman. From what I have found out, he writes a lot of mystery novels, and has quite a few different series. This book was the 8th book of the “Amos Walker Mysteries” series. Walker is a private investigator.

The reason I picked it up in the first place was the name. (OK, so it was cheap too, being sold as a remainder at Atlantic Books.) But “Downriver” is a term used as a name of the southern suburbs of Detroit. So I picked up the...

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