(image stolen from this reddit post)

I accidentally visited the New Hampshire State Capital building in Concord yesterday. I was trying to find a parking lot, but I found this instead.

All aboard the hype train, destination, my house!

The weather might be shitty, but my weight watchers check in went well. Here’s the Spicket River celebrating.

It’s getting harder and harder to compose the Spicket pics without showing the trash on the river bank.

Just goofing around with audio files.  The band has four rehearsals worth of multitrack recordings.  I spent a little time tonight sifting through the songs looking for anything with a minimum of mistakes.  I found 10 and labeled them sort of keepers.  None are perfect but if someone wants to hear us in order to book us, we can give them some of these.

I haven’t done a hockey playoff predictions post in ages.  Two years?  Three years?  Whatever.  Given that I have followed the NHL less this year than in any other year since the mid-90’s it is safe to say that these predictions are based on very, very little actual information.  Do not use this post for gambling purposes, unless your goal is to lose every last penny you have.

You have been warned.

In the Eastern Conference…

Tampa Bay Lightning vs Columbus Blue Jackets:
It’s been nice knowing you, Columbus.  Four games to go and then it’s summer vacation.  Enjoy!

Boston Bruins vs Toronto Maple Leafs:
You know, if my Bruins had been in any other division they would be a lock to get to the Conference Finals.  In the Atlantic?  We might not get out of the first round.  Toronto scares the shit out of me, but I still think we can beat them in six or seven, probably seven, games.

Washington Capitals vs Carolina Hurricanes:
I’d like to be able to predict an upset, but Washington is winning this one.  Enjoy your summer, ‘Canes.  It’s going to be a long one, but at least it’s shorter than Buffalo’s.

New York Islanders vs Pittsburgh Penguins:
Okay, so here’s your upset.  The day is coming when Pittsburgh’s all-star roster is not going to be a factor anymore.  That day is not today.  The Islanders are a good team and a good story and everyone feels great about them and all, but the Penguins will send them home.

On to the Western Conference, where I know even less about each team…

Nashville Predators vs Dallas Stars:
Dallas still has a team?  Who knew.  In my teeny tiny bit of research for this post I have heard a lack of confidence in Nashville, and some talk of a first seed upset.  I don’t think so.  I’m picking the Preds.  Sorry, Dallas.

Winnipeg Jets vs St Louis Blues:
I’m also hearing some upset talk for this series (again, based on about 10 seconds worth of research) and again I am crying bullshit.  I’m picking the Jets.

Calgary Flames vs Colorado Avalanche:
Two teams I’ve actively rooted for in the past.  Calgary looks pretty good.  I might be thinking they are my team to beat in the West.  As if I knew what I was talking about.  Go Flames.

San Jose Sharks  vs Vegas Golden Knights:
If there is one thing I’ve learned over the past 10-15 years worth of trying to predict the NHL playoffs it is never, ever pick the Sharks.  Vegas makes it to round two.

So there we have it.  The second round match-ups will be:

Tampa Bay vs Boston
Washington vs Pittsburgh… again
Nashville vs Winnipeg
Calgary vs Vegas

The games start tomorrow night.  We’ll see how many of my stupid, uninformed guesses are correct!

Go Bruins!

Last night, just before we all left home for band practice, Kevin the drummer asked us if we had any objections to broadcasting the rehearsal over Facebook Live.  His son’s band had recently done it and it seemed like a fun experience.  We were all game so just before we started playing Kevin propped his phone up on the couch next to his drums and kicked things off.  I enjoyed it, mostly because I was off camera for almost the whole thing.

Kevin was able to get a post up on our Facebook page before we started so there was a handful of people who were able to join in.  Maybe if we do it again we could give a little more notice and share it on more social media outlets.  Then again, maybe not.

The performance isn’t great.  We hadn’t practiced in a couple of weeks and there was a lot of rust.  Personally, I was having finger join issues and couldn’t really do much.  I need to do a better job warming up ahead of time.

Anyway, thanks to a Google Chrome plug in whose name I can’t remember I was able to download the video.  I uploaded it to my rarely used Vimeo account.  The file is so huge that my rarely used Vimeo account is now out of space.  Oh well.  It’s just under an hour and fifteen minutes long and it’s goofy, but it’s kinda fun.

Enjoy.

Tonight we both multi-track recorded and Facebook Live’d our band practice.

Oh so many files for nerd boy to play with!