Verizon web sucks.

All I wanted to do was to post this little cone on my Verizon.net website. But its POC "site builder" forces an upload of an image, followed by some java script to assign it a location.

It's a simple task. So simple that I was able to do it on Blogspot with no effort. I would have just FTP'ed and tagged it myself, but no, Verizon.net now discontinued that practice for "security reasons". Thanks!

Bite me Verizon.net.

Yup, very delinquent

It's been forever since I've posted!

My current mission is "den cleanup". I am a pack rat. I have too much stuff. Some of the stuff that has to go:

- My "extra" McFarlane hockey figurines - do I really need three Paul Kariya's? Really?
- Kiss stuff. I'm a poser collector. I should stop.
- Random Japanese anime stuff. I got them for Lorrie, but she doesn't really give a crap about them.
- Extra hockey equipment. I'm not sure why I have my old goalie gear around.

I think it's ebay firesale time!

Why 1980 is the best year EVER (for music)

So after going through a few youtube vids, I've come to realize how awesome 1980 was. I was a goober at the time, and frankly, was absolutely clueless. But here are some of my absolute favorite albums from 1980:

Black Sabbath: Heaven and Hell - ohmygodohmygodohmygod what an awesome awesome awesome album. I know that the Ozzy BS is supposed to be the classic Sabbath, but this is by farm my favorite sabbath album. And "Die Young" is probably my favorite Sabbath song. Dio brought a grandeur to Sabbath that Ozzy never could - he certainly got some great training in Rainbow. "Rising" is just awesome.

AC/DC: Back in Black - wow, what an album. From the opening gong of Hells Bells, it just kicks ass. "Shoot to Thrill" is an incredible gem from this awesome album. Aside from the title track, Hells Bells, You Shook Me All Night Long... is there a weakness in this album?

Scorpions: Animal Magnetism - depending on my mood, I waffle between Magnetism and Blackout as my favorite album. Klaus totally kicks ass. Great composition. And "The Zoo" - what a classic.

Speaking of the scorps... little brother Michael release the Michael Schenker Group album - the mix kind of sucked, but the composition... Into the Arena, Armed and Ready, Cry for the Nations... how awesome is this?

Def Leppard: On Through The Night - man it's sad that they don't play stuff from this era. High & Dry is my personal fave, but this album also rocks... I love love Wasted and Rocks Off.

Iron Maiden: Iron Maiden - can we even talk metal without mentioning these guys? Holy cow, what an album - although personally, the "Ides of March/Wrathchild" combo had a bigger impact on me... Still, a gem.

While we're on NWOBHM - Saxon: Wheel of Steel. Ok, obviously, anyone named "Biff" can only put out quality work. But what an album this was - aside from the title track, we have 20,000 feet, 747, Motorcycle Man... although their next work Denim & Leather happens to be my fave.

Thin Lizzy: Chinatown. I'm sure you're thinking "what? this album?" but I love this album. Ok, Snowy White isn't quite a monster find - and I actually think the ultimate diamond in the rough for Lizzy is Thunder and Lightning - but nonetheless, this is a good album.

I know there are others... but man isn't this enough?

My wife has mystical powers

The title sounds like I'm kissing my wife's butt, but I'm actually referring to her ability to express her displeasure of my playing through injury curses. Clearly, she wasn't happy about a mid-week early evening pick-up session that I played this Tuesday. The result is this beauty on my left shoulder.

So Jonathan comes back from college back east and learns this "lean on the one piece composite" whip shot, which is not only a pain to stop because it's hard to read the shot, but it comes at me hard. This baby hit me square in the shoulder and gave me this beauty. To top it all off, the rebound went straight to Ian who slammed it between my five whole. Yup, pain and humiliation in one fell swoop.

Note to self: shop for a new body armor.

A bunch of geezers

So I went to school with a few geezers, made famous here in a plug for a movie called Quantum Hoops:

http://www.quantumhoops.com/legends/1985.htm

Jim in particular is a dear friend, whom I see semi regularly, but clearly not enough. We did recently enjoy a nice evening of dinner and music, to the soothing sound of Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society. My hockey habit isn't the only thing that haven't changed about me since my adolescent years. In fact, I know that my mental development stopped at age 14.

Still, I try to listen to the new stuff. I just have a harder time trying to find the stuff that I like, not that they aren't out there. Another band I like (not that new, though) is Lacuna Coil. I love love love "Comalies." If you like Evanescence, especially the "hard" aspects of their music, you should give "Comalies" a try.

I don't have much tolerance for many of the bands with the whiny vocals... Only those old blues masters are allowed to grovel in a song, and when they do, they're still manly.

Hmmmm... "Rusty Cage" on knac.com. Where's Kim Thayil these days?

Damn that chicken pox virus...

So I've finally gotten over this case of shingles that I contracted, probably because of the stress caused by long hours of work and travel. The nice folks at urgent care gave me these anti-viral and antibiotic pills. Good news is that you only have to take it for a week. The bad news is that they're huge (like those things you give horses) and one of them makes you dizzy. And not dizzy in a fun, intoxicated way, but dizzy in a room spinning looking through a fish bowl kind of way.

In the end, I'm left with two relatively huge craters on the right side of my face. This of course will once again hurt my chances of dethroning George Clooney as the sexiest man alive.

I actually don't think it's that bad...

So my wife considers my love for hockey a sickness. Of course in my neck of the woods, it's not considered a "primary" sport, so I don't think she has a good basis of comparison. I certainly do love it more than any other activity, and I play when I can.

I have been known to play on Thanksgiving Day. But then again, I'm not an American citizen, and the day means nothing to me but being a day off of work so that I can play hockey. I've also played on Christmas Day, but then again, I'm not Christian and the day means nothing to me but a day off of work so that I can play hockey.

So every now and then, I'll post some stuff - maybe related to hockey, maybe not.