Just FYI... I'm going to be in the central NY area the last weekend in June if any of you (*ahem* (e:carolinian) *cough* (e:bugmuncher) *ahem*) wanted to maybe meet up in Ithaca for a day or something.
I'm going up there with my mom and we're renting a big vehicle to ferry all the stuff I've still got in storage up in Syracuse down here to FL. After I clear that storage area out, I'll have no more physical ties to NY (tho' of course I'll still have lots of people up there I'll want to visit).
Oh, and since I named the category for this post "travel" - my husband & I just got back from a trip to Ottawa. You B'lo folks aren't as close to Ottawa as people in Syracuse, but you're still not that far away - and if you've never been there, you should go! Ottawa's a pretty cool town. I know Ottawa is not exactly a happy place for Sabres fans right now, but maybe in the fall or something, when all the cup hoopla has cooled a bit, it could be a nice destination for a cross-border road trip. Keep it in mind, anyway.
Speaking of Ottawa, I have a picture to share with you from my trip, but I'll have to crop it first... gimme a min...
Lizabeth's Journal
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05/15/2007 17:51 #39289
if you're the stalking type...Category: travel
04/12/2007 00:51 #38856
must be nice...Category: hockey
...not to have a post-season to worry about. Then, after losing your last game of the season, you can go out to a South Beach nightclub, get really hammered, then get arrested for either smashing up an emergency vehicle, or for being a drunken ass who refuses to leave a club when asked and then charges at the cop who's doing the asking.
Way to go, Ville Peltonen and Eddie Belfour.
If that link doesn't work, try these:
The Miami Herald's coverage:
Yahoo Sports' coverage:
They had PDFs of the arrest reports up on the Miami Herald site - kind of amusing reading.
In other hockey news, I won my fantasy league (the Lake Effect League) for the second year in a row. That wasn't such a big deal last year, when there were only four of us in the league - but this year, we were a real 12-team league, complete with people I didn't even know! I wouldn't have minded losing to a friend, but when it came down to the final weeks, it was me against a stranger, so I felt honor-bound to win (if not exactly stomp his ass into the ground). My friend Meg, the Preds fan who lives in Nashville, came in 3rd. Next year, tho', I am totally going to come in in the middle of the pack, or else 1) people are going to start accusing me of rigging the thing somehow, and b) my husband is going to start up again with his theme of how I'm so competitive and how I can't stand to lose, which is not really the case.
Getting back to real hockey for a sec - who's psyched for the playoffs? I know I am. Y'all are so lucky up there - you can go see real, live playoff games! (If, y'know, you're willing to pay the arm, leg, and firstborn child to get tickets.) We don't even have a television set, let alone the cable subscription that would let us see the playoffs. We need to find a good, hockey-friendly sports bar in our neighborhood.
sigh. It was 88 degrees here today. Y'all might get snow before the week is out. I really miss living in NY. (<---100% not sarcasm at all)
Way to go, Ville Peltonen and Eddie Belfour.
If that link doesn't work, try these:
The Miami Herald's coverage:
Yahoo Sports' coverage:
They had PDFs of the arrest reports up on the Miami Herald site - kind of amusing reading.
In other hockey news, I won my fantasy league (the Lake Effect League) for the second year in a row. That wasn't such a big deal last year, when there were only four of us in the league - but this year, we were a real 12-team league, complete with people I didn't even know! I wouldn't have minded losing to a friend, but when it came down to the final weeks, it was me against a stranger, so I felt honor-bound to win (if not exactly stomp his ass into the ground). My friend Meg, the Preds fan who lives in Nashville, came in 3rd. Next year, tho', I am totally going to come in in the middle of the pack, or else 1) people are going to start accusing me of rigging the thing somehow, and b) my husband is going to start up again with his theme of how I'm so competitive and how I can't stand to lose, which is not really the case.
Getting back to real hockey for a sec - who's psyched for the playoffs? I know I am. Y'all are so lucky up there - you can go see real, live playoff games! (If, y'know, you're willing to pay the arm, leg, and firstborn child to get tickets.) We don't even have a television set, let alone the cable subscription that would let us see the playoffs. We need to find a good, hockey-friendly sports bar in our neighborhood.
sigh. It was 88 degrees here today. Y'all might get snow before the week is out. I really miss living in NY. (<---100% not sarcasm at all)
jason - 04/12/07 14:52
You two need to just come to grips with the awesomeness of the Buffalo Sabres. Plenty of room on the bandwagon for the playoffs!
You two need to just come to grips with the awesomeness of the Buffalo Sabres. Plenty of room on the bandwagon for the playoffs!
carolinian - 04/12/07 01:07
I've found hockey-friendly bars up here, they're just not friendly to my kind of hockey.
Anyhow, the season's over for me. So here's to enjoying the nice (or soon-to-be-nice) spring weather outdoors.
I've found hockey-friendly bars up here, they're just not friendly to my kind of hockey.
Anyhow, the season's over for me. So here's to enjoying the nice (or soon-to-be-nice) spring weather outdoors.
04/04/2007 23:24 #38751
sick.Category: health & fitness!
So, living in a warmer place now has not spared me from my semi-annual sinus-infection/ chest-cold/ my-head-is-exploding-and-my-chest-is-on-fire,-whatever-this-is thing. I usually got something heinous like this every spring (and sometimes in the fall, too) when I lived in NY - it was always a combination of the obnoxious spring weather (50's one day, below-freezing again the next) and it being that time in the semester when I was super-stressed-out and exhausted and I was just ready to quit school and go live as a hermit in the mountains somewhere. I got a wretched sinus infection (think: extreme vertigo for weeks) which knocked me on my ass the first spring I lived in Syracuse, and ever since then, feeling miserable all through spring has been a constant of my existance.
I was expecting I'd manage to skip all the usual mess this spring, though - less because now I live somewhere warm (tho' I thought the consistency of the weather here might help - 80 degrees and sunny every damn day, whether I like it or not), and more because I am not in school right now, and not at all stressed out. I am totally housewife-ing it right now. I don't have to leave the house all day if I don't want to. I don't even have to put on underwear if I don't want to! I never see another living soul all day long. It. is. great!
Except somehow I managed to get sick anyway. It's been like, two and a half weeks now, and I can't seem to shake this. I have been trying to rest a lot, but when you don't really do anything all day long to begin with, it's hard to chill out more. I finally went to a doc this week, and he prescribed some awful thing for me... which I'm not taking (with the blessing of my doctor mom, who thinks I can beat this on my own). I don't think I am that sick right now, really. I go through these periods like that running gag in Monty Python's Holy Grail: "I'm not dead yet... I'm getting better..." But then the thing comes along and clubs me again, and I feel terrible again the next day. Why can't I just have a nice, steady progression toward wellness? What's with this two-steps-forward, one-step-back thing? I am getting a little tired of it.
Speaking of tired, I'm off to bed now. Just three more posts to go and that <10 blogs thing will be off my pic! Yay!
I was expecting I'd manage to skip all the usual mess this spring, though - less because now I live somewhere warm (tho' I thought the consistency of the weather here might help - 80 degrees and sunny every damn day, whether I like it or not), and more because I am not in school right now, and not at all stressed out. I am totally housewife-ing it right now. I don't have to leave the house all day if I don't want to. I don't even have to put on underwear if I don't want to! I never see another living soul all day long. It. is. great!
Except somehow I managed to get sick anyway. It's been like, two and a half weeks now, and I can't seem to shake this. I have been trying to rest a lot, but when you don't really do anything all day long to begin with, it's hard to chill out more. I finally went to a doc this week, and he prescribed some awful thing for me... which I'm not taking (with the blessing of my doctor mom, who thinks I can beat this on my own). I don't think I am that sick right now, really. I go through these periods like that running gag in Monty Python's Holy Grail: "I'm not dead yet... I'm getting better..." But then the thing comes along and clubs me again, and I feel terrible again the next day. Why can't I just have a nice, steady progression toward wellness? What's with this two-steps-forward, one-step-back thing? I am getting a little tired of it.
Speaking of tired, I'm off to bed now. Just three more posts to go and that <10 blogs thing will be off my pic! Yay!
03/25/2007 23:37 #38619
more ties to BuffaloCategory: family
So (in a completely non-hockey-related post, for a change) my brother-in-law is going to be attending UB starting in the fall.
He's got the same thing going that I have: late twenties, still in school, still trying to figure out what the heck to do with your life.
Anyway, I'm going to tell him to get on this site, so he can meet some ((e:))peeps before he moves to town. Who knows if he will listen to me, but he oughta! I know what's good for him!
He's got the same thing going that I have: late twenties, still in school, still trying to figure out what the heck to do with your life.
Anyway, I'm going to tell him to get on this site, so he can meet some ((e:))peeps before he moves to town. Who knows if he will listen to me, but he oughta! I know what's good for him!
03/25/2007 23:19 #38617
more blathering about hockeyCategory: hockey
(e:metalpeter) said, in the comments to my last post:
That brings up another Point Where do the Carolina Huricanes and Carolina Panthers play cause there is no such state as Carolina. There is North Carolina and South Carolina. but isn't carolina as one state or area pre civil war. I really know the reason they name them that is so that fans in both states will like them, just busting balls a little bit.
Well, a lot of the reason teams would choose a name like that, aside from trying to rope in as many fans as possible, is that they don't actually play in a big city, but rather in the outlying suburbs of a big city, because that's where there was room to build a big new sports arena.
Take the Florida Panthers, for instance. If they were to be named after the biggest city in the area, they'd be called the Miami Panthers. But they don't play in Miami. They don't even play in the same county as Miami - their arena is in Sunrise, FL, which is a far-flung suburb of Ft. Lauderdale. But Ft. Lauderdale is definitely not a big enough city to support a hockey team, and besides, they don't really play in Ft. Lauderdale, either. So what do you call them? The Sunrise Panthers? No one outside this area knows where Sunrise is. The Greater Miami-Ft. Lauderdale Metropolitan Area Panthers? That's a bit wordy. Naming them after an entire state is kind of dumb, I agree, but given the situation, it was probably the best option.
If you look at the other teams not named after cities, you'll see the same sort of thing. The Newark Devils? Ehh, no. The St. Paul Wild? Not so much. The Raleigh Hurricanes? Well, Raleigh is not really the part of the state known for facing hurricanes...
The two that kind of surprise me are the Colorado Avalanche (they play in Denver, which is a big enough city) - but didn't they try to have a hockey team in Denver once before the Avs and it failed? So that's why they went with "Colorado" for the name there, I think... But the San Jose Sharks? It's not like San Jose is really a big, well-known city, at least not relative to nearby San Francisco and Oakland. That's one place where I would've figured they'd go for a more regional name.
Ehh, whatever. Team naming is weird.
That brings up another Point Where do the Carolina Huricanes and Carolina Panthers play cause there is no such state as Carolina. There is North Carolina and South Carolina. but isn't carolina as one state or area pre civil war. I really know the reason they name them that is so that fans in both states will like them, just busting balls a little bit.
Well, a lot of the reason teams would choose a name like that, aside from trying to rope in as many fans as possible, is that they don't actually play in a big city, but rather in the outlying suburbs of a big city, because that's where there was room to build a big new sports arena.
Take the Florida Panthers, for instance. If they were to be named after the biggest city in the area, they'd be called the Miami Panthers. But they don't play in Miami. They don't even play in the same county as Miami - their arena is in Sunrise, FL, which is a far-flung suburb of Ft. Lauderdale. But Ft. Lauderdale is definitely not a big enough city to support a hockey team, and besides, they don't really play in Ft. Lauderdale, either. So what do you call them? The Sunrise Panthers? No one outside this area knows where Sunrise is. The Greater Miami-Ft. Lauderdale Metropolitan Area Panthers? That's a bit wordy. Naming them after an entire state is kind of dumb, I agree, but given the situation, it was probably the best option.
If you look at the other teams not named after cities, you'll see the same sort of thing. The Newark Devils? Ehh, no. The St. Paul Wild? Not so much. The Raleigh Hurricanes? Well, Raleigh is not really the part of the state known for facing hurricanes...
The two that kind of surprise me are the Colorado Avalanche (they play in Denver, which is a big enough city) - but didn't they try to have a hockey team in Denver once before the Avs and it failed? So that's why they went with "Colorado" for the name there, I think... But the San Jose Sharks? It's not like San Jose is really a big, well-known city, at least not relative to nearby San Francisco and Oakland. That's one place where I would've figured they'd go for a more regional name.
Ehh, whatever. Team naming is weird.
metalpeter - 03/26/07 18:29
There are some excellent points made in that post. But there is one factor that I forgot about, that might be a factor. Say the Florida Panthers (no idea where the play) decided to move then they wouldn't have to change the name. A good example is the Raiders I have lost count of the times the have moved between LA and Oakland. The names that bother Me are the New York Giants and Jets neither team plays in NY state. That is right the Buffalo Bills are the only NFL team that plays in NY State and a lot of people don't know that. I also wonder if name new teams after states is a way to try to get the college fans into the game. The reason I say that is a lot of teams are named after the state like the Florida Gators.
There are some excellent points made in that post. But there is one factor that I forgot about, that might be a factor. Say the Florida Panthers (no idea where the play) decided to move then they wouldn't have to change the name. A good example is the Raiders I have lost count of the times the have moved between LA and Oakland. The names that bother Me are the New York Giants and Jets neither team plays in NY state. That is right the Buffalo Bills are the only NFL team that plays in NY State and a lot of people don't know that. I also wonder if name new teams after states is a way to try to get the college fans into the game. The reason I say that is a lot of teams are named after the state like the Florida Gators.
jenks - 03/26/07 16:09
Best of all- the New England Patriots. New England isn't even a STATE, let alone a city.
Best of all- the New England Patriots. New England isn't even a STATE, let alone a city.
chico - 03/26/07 14:47
I have no idea why the metalpeter link didn't work... sometimes punctuation complicates those automatic links so I've started leaving a space before and after each one, but I can't rightly figure why yours didn't work.
As for team/city names, it's even worse than your post suggests! For example, the New Jersey Devils would actually be the East Rutherford Devils (or more generously, maybe, the Secaucus Devils -- pronounced "SEE-caucus"), definitely not the Newark Devils. And the New York Islanders should be the Uniondale Islanders (pitiful), the Nassau County Islanders (worse?) or most accurately the Long Island Islanders (duh).
Buffalo should be pleased that the Sabres literally play in the city of Buffalo. It's a good thing.
I have no idea why the metalpeter link didn't work... sometimes punctuation complicates those automatic links so I've started leaving a space before and after each one, but I can't rightly figure why yours didn't work.
As for team/city names, it's even worse than your post suggests! For example, the New Jersey Devils would actually be the East Rutherford Devils (or more generously, maybe, the Secaucus Devils -- pronounced "SEE-caucus"), definitely not the Newark Devils. And the New York Islanders should be the Uniondale Islanders (pitiful), the Nassau County Islanders (worse?) or most accurately the Long Island Islanders (duh).
Buffalo should be pleased that the Sabres literally play in the city of Buffalo. It's a good thing.
I want to go to the Nines as well.
And walk around Collegetown and eat a big, heaping plate of pad thai while walking around there.
And go to the much nicer sit-down thai place on the main road whose name I forget.
And go to Manos. If they still exist.
And leave a note for the Roy H. Park dean telling him/her that I've actually done okay for myself despite getting kicked out of there and leaving was probably one of the better things that's happened to me.
And see all the professors who talked me through lots of difficult stuff when I was there and tell them "thank you".
Dude, Club Molesters has been closed for ages - I think it closed down shortly after I graduated, which is like, 7 years ago now. Well, first it changed names, then it closed.
The place I want to go is the Nines (assuming that's even still there). I haven't been there since that time we went.
Anyway, a wine tour may be in the plans... I'll keep you posted! :)
I've only mentioned half my depraved idea. The full version of it would be an (e:strip) wine tour, where a bunch of (e:peeps) would would chip in to charter a school bus (like (e:bugmuncher) did on the day of his wedding) and descend upon winery after winery in the Finger Lakes region consuming massive amounts of alcohol. And at some point, the trip would get temporarily diverted to Ithaca where I could nostalgically reminisce on college days that were never actually as good as I remember them and I could see whether the 30-year old me sucks any more or less at picking up girls at Club Semesters than the 20 year-old me. On the way back, we could drink even more on the bus and watch $1.99 kung fu movies on a portable DVD player.
Most of this is probably not feasible or desirable (which is why it's known as a "stupid idea"). But it would be kind of cool for us to all meet up back at Ithaca again.