Scooter Chronicles

More hockey talk from me? Go figure, eh?

The Salary Cap
Of course this was the most significant thing that happened during the 18 month hiatus. As a fan of a team (Detroit Red Wings) who have a tendency to be fiscally responsible and always put a very competitive product on the ice, this really upset me. It seemed that teams like the Wings (Avalanche, Stars, Flyers, etc.) that were doing things right were getting penalized because there were teams that couldn’t do things right.

To see the Wings cut players like Curtis Joseph, Derian Hatcher, and Darren McCarty to make it under the cap seemed insane. However, the cap still didn’t kill the Wings and some of the other big spending teams that...

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Beef - It’s What’s For Dinner!
(Cue up Aaron Copland’s “Hoedown”)
Nigel had his first taste of beef last night for dinner. As expected, it was in an infant form with carrots and barley from a jar of baby food. But he loved it! Actually, he is showing signs of liking some food more then others. He gets really excited and talkative during feedings. Though still, he has eaten everything we give him.

Tornado in Dayton, Ohio Area
Marcia saw reports that there was a TORNADO that came through the southern suburbs of Dayton yesterday early afternoon....

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Jean Michel Jarre - “Oxygene”

Tracks:

1. Oxygene, Part 1
2. Oxygene, Part 2
3. Oxygene, Part 3
4. Oxygene, Part 4
5. Oxygene, Part 5
6. Oxygene, Part 6

As a fan, of sorts, of German electronic music pioneers Tangerine Dream, I had heard of the wonders that Jean Michel Jarre had put together. “If you like Tangerine Dream, you’ll love Jarre!” Well, it was a long time before I finally took the advice. Fifteen years as a matter of fact.

Jean...

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Yesterday evening I finished reading “The Gun Seller”, written by actor Hugh Laurie. It should be pointed out, for those that know Laurie from the hit TV show “House, MD” that his roots are in British comedy. One of his most famous parts was playing Bernie Wooster in a version of P. G. Wodehouse’s “Jeeves and Wooster”. This is poignant to know what the book is like.

The plot synopsis is from School Library Journal, as part of Carol DeAngelo’s blurb:

Thomas Lang, formerly of the Scots Guard and currently a freelance bodyguard/man for hire, is offered an assassination job. He indignantly...

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Yesterday afternoon, Marcia and I watched “The Libertine” starring Johnny Depp, John Malkovich, and Samantha Morton. Originally planned to be filmed back in 1996, and almost shutdown before it began in 2004 due to money problems, this bio-pic follows the last few years of 17th Century poet John Wilmot’s life, who was also the Second Earl of Rochester.

Wilmot/Rochester (Depp) is know for his drinking and debauchery over the years. His writing also reflects that, with a very strong sexual content. The movie picks up when King Charles II (Malkovich) allows Rochester to come back from his exile after being banished by the monarch. ...

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Had a low point performance this past weekend, but it was still good enough for a 100 point margin of victory.

Cameron Bruce of the Melbourne Demons continues to be my best player. I think if he hadn’t of gotten injured last year, I wouldn’t have lost eight in a row. Probably could have won a few of them. He is incredibly consistent. He scored a team high 110 points this week. Another highlight was newcomer Brendon Goddard of the St. Kilda Saints, who was second in points with 109.

This week I take on Reykjavik....

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And I don’t mean the beer company.

Our pooch turned five years old today. So that makes him 35 years old. Same age as me. Marcia and I picked up a couple of things for him. The biggest was this special dog treat cake.

Marcia insisted on putting a candle on it. And Molson anxiously awaited us to sing “Happy Birthday” so he could eat it.

At first we presented it to him whole. We just wanted to see how he would react.

Eventually...

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On Saturday, Marcia and I started watching the Ladies’ Final at Wimbledon. I was honestly surprised to see Amelie Mauresmo in the final, even though ranked and seeded number one. She has had a habit of being a top 5 player and not making Grand Slam Finals. She had won the Australian Open earlier this year, and though winning at the time, it was be default when Justine Henin-Hardenne had to quit due to injury. So here was Mauresmo’s chance at Wimbledon to prove that she could beat Henin-Hardenne. And she did, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

She looked tight the first set, making me believe that she wouldn’t win much then a few more games. She proved me wrong though.

...

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Screamin’ Nigel
So Nigel has taken up a new pastime the last couple of days. He screams. Now, I don’t mean crying. What I mean is that while he is playing, and he is getting very intense while playing with toys, he starts screaming. It is cute, but annoying. What worries me is the new neighbor downstairs. Hope he doesn’t hear it.

Go Get ‘Em Tigers!
So it’s just a couple of days from All-Star break and the Tigers still have the best record in baseball. And boy is their starting pitching doing great! Another obvious reason is new manager Jim Leyland. I know quite a few Phillies’ fans that are ticked off they didn’t hire Leyland last year...

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So the losing streak is over! And not too soon. For the second straight game though, I had a player go down with an injury during the game. Chad Cornes of the Port Adelaide Power suffered a punctured lung. The problem was that he didn’t realize what was happening. He played the first half of the game, but was obviously struggling. His points tally for me team was really low, but fortunately I had five players score 100 points or more, and three went over the 130 mark.

Things are starting to get a very nail-biting time feel to them. My team now has three injured players. One is done for the season (Mark...

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