iPod Classic

It took a few days, but my iTunes library has finally finished loading onto my shiny new 160 gigabyte iPod Classic that I got for Christmas. It’s playing through the dock in the living room as we speak.

iTunes Match is still an option on both the iPhone and the iPad, but when it comes to my musical needs, more often than not I’ll go to the old tried and true iPod Classic.

Can you dig the groove?

Why the Bruins are the Best Hockey Team in the Universe

This is one of the reasons why the Boston Bruins are the best hockey team in the known universe right now:

What does it mean? It means that everyone is scared to death of them. Was the hit on Ference dirty? Yeah… a little. It was worth a penalty, but nothing worse than that… at least as far as the officials are concerned. But from the point of view of his teammates? No way. You don’t hit Andrew like that. You deserve a beat down.

And here’s what it boils down to. It wasn’t Shawn Thornton who pummeled Raffi Torrez, it was Adam McQuaid. Any one of these players will apply the beat down in defense of anyone else on the team. That’s why the Bruins are winning. The whole team is willing to do whatever it takes to win, even apply a savage beat down in response to a high hit.

Oh yeah, and there’s stuff like this too…

Benoit Pouliot was a joke in Montreal last year. Now with the Bruins? He’s doing this.

I can’t imagine the Bruins will keep rolling like this throughout the season. Eventually something will happen to bring them back to Earth. But for now? Damn this is awesome. 21 wins in the last 24 games. They are just out of control with the whole ass kicking awesome right now.

Go Bruins!

Bruins

Well what do you know, the Bruins are playing tonight. It’s their first game in four months or so… at least it feels like it.

The Bruins record over their last 23 games is 20 wins, two losses, and one overtime loss. 20-2-1. Holy crap they are awesome right now. That record is really impressive… ridiculously impressive in fact, but there are a couple of other stats that stand out to me as well. These stats include the horrible 3-7 start.

They are third in the NHL in goals scored with 119, tied with Philly. They trail only Vancouver’s 120 and Chicago’s 122. That’s a nice stat, but check this one out…

They are first in the league in goals allowed with 63. The next closest team is the Rangers with 72. That is just sick. 63 goals in 33 games. Unreal. That, however, is not the best stat right now. Check this one out…

Goal differential is calculated as the number of goals scored minus the number of goals allowed. Simple, right? The Bruins have the best goal differential in the NHL with +56. In second place is Detroit with +37. That is just crazy. That is a video-game-on-easy kind of stat. That is just insane. You put up a sick stat like that and of course you’re going to win 20 out of 23 games.

Now I will continue to get crazy. They do not have any player in the top five in any of the following categories: Goals, Assists, Points. The team leader in points is Tyler Seguin with 31. He’s in 30th place in the NHL. Goals? Brad Marchand with 15. He’s tied for 18th place in the league. Assists? Patrice Bergeron with 21. He’s tied for 23rd in the league. The Bruins have no one in the top 10 in any scoring category and yet they are still third in the league in goals scored. What does that mean? That means that no one player is carrying the offense. It means that everyone on the team is scoring. Again: Insane. They do have the two best +/- totals in the league. Seguin at +26 and Marchand with +25. Oh, and Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, and Chris Kelly are also in the top 10.

What does this mean? Well, the Bruins won the Stanley Cup last season, and at least up until now they are even better this year. Nuts. Just nuts.

Three Words

I just have to say three words:

Bacon Flavored Chicken

That’s all.

Weekend Recap

Well, Christmas has come and gone. Again. We are now down to the last week of 2011. I cannot believe how fast this year went by. It’s a little unnerving. It feels like we’ve been running on fast-forward for the last 12 months.

The Christmas celebration began on Friday with a half day off work. Jen and I cleaned like crazy people. We got the house ready for our Christmas Eve gathering and were ready (almost) to start the celebrating.

On Saturday Jen started cooking and I finished up my wrapping. The kids came over in time to help with the last minute preparation before Larry and Nawal and their son arrived and the fun began. We spent all of our energy cleaning upstairs, so of course we all ended up downstairs. The kids played some piano and impressed everyone (as usual) and Larry’s son experienced the thrill of the two Tonka Ambulances. One is from the 1970’s and it’s mine (thanks to Jen) and the other is a new model that belongs to my step son. All of the kids who come to visit marvel at how awesome they are.

We moved back upstairs and Jen’s mother, step father, aunt, and uncle arrived. Later after Larry and Nawal left to go to Larry’s parent’s Christmas eve party, the kids father and step mother came over and we exchanged some gifts. The kids had reached a level of excitement that was unbelievable. The Norad Santa Tracker was up and running all night and the closer they got to presents the crazier they got. There was actual, literal, bouncing up and down in anticipation. It was a blast!

The kids slept at their Dad’s on Christmas Eve so Jen and I slept a little bit late. Jen went to get the kids while I took some pre-gift-opening pictures. When the kids arrived they were wearing matching feetie pajamas that Santa had given them at their Dad’s. They also got new bikes for Dad’s house (so we don’t have to truck their bikes back and forth) and iPads! Woah!

At our house my step son got a lap top, he really wanted one, and my step daughter got a 3DS and an iPod Nano. Jen gave me a new lens for my camera and a 160gig iPod classic. The kids and I got Jen a charm bracelet. There were also mountains of books, DVDs, games, and other fun stuff exchanged in every direction. The big surprise hits of the morning were Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots and a Lego Harry Potter sticker book. We only had a couple of hours before the kids had to go back to their Dad’s so they could go to their aunt and uncles for Christmas dinner, but we had a lot of fun in the time we had.

Gifts were exchanged with Jen’s family on Christmas Eve, and with our immediate family on Christmas morning. That still left my extended family. After the kids left with their Dad we filled up the van with yet another big batch of presents and headed to my sister’s for Christmas dinner. My sister’s whole family, her, her husband, and both kids, were all sick but they put on a great Christmas dinner anyway. My parents were there, along with me and Jen and my brother and his wife and two kids. It was my youngest nephew’s first Christmas and the two older kids are old enough now to really get into it. We had the obligatory scratching of the lottery tickets followed by gifts for the kids and Secret Santa for the grown ups. Again, everyone had a blast. Thanks to Auntie Lisa and Uncle Ken for hosting.

On Monday Jen went to work for a couple of hours, and we went to a Five Guys for lunch. It lived up to the hype, although the french fries were kinda bland without salt. Who would have imagined a fast food restaurant that only made burgers and fries and just makes them really well. I can think of two or three other fast food joints that could benefit by following that model. Just saying.

The rest of the day was spent in flake mode. We actually both took a much needed nap in the evening. I cleaned up my iTunes library on my MacBook and started the long process of loading it all onto my new iPod. We watched a little Star Wars on blu ray, another great gift that the love of my life gave me. I uploaded my Christmas pictures and checked out the results of the new lens. I like them very much.

Today we’re back to work for a short week, and next weekend is another three day weekend as we celebrate New Year’s. Unfortunately I will be on call for the whole thing, but we’ll have the kids with us so we’ll have a great holiday at home.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas too (where applicable) and here’s to a Happy New Year!

HoHoHo!

Christmas Pics

Here are some pictures from Christmas day!

Santa Jenny got me a new lens for my Nikon D90! I don’t know enough about it to know anything about it, but I snapped it on and took a slew of pictures with it. I think the results look pretty good!