82 regular season games.
24 playoff games.

One more to go.

The Majestic, Regal, Glorious Boston Bruins will take on the sniveling, whining, diving Vancouver Canucks tonight in game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Winner take all.

The series is tied at three games a piece. Three close games in Vancouver, taken by the Canucks. Three blow outs in Boston, taken by the Bruins.

It all comes down to tonight’s game.

Whoever wins tonight will skate home with the Stanley Cup, unquestionably the coolest trophy in the universe. Even cooler than my 1989 top student in music trophy that I got at my high school graduation. Yeah, even cooler than that.

Whoever loses tonight gets to watch the winner have a parade and do goofy things like use the cup as a jell-o mold, or use it as a diaper changing table for their kids. (Unless I’m mistaken, both of those things have been done by players in the past)

Vancouver has been the better team all year.

Not any more.

In three losses, the Bruins have not been beaten by more than one goal. They were right in all of those games, right to the last second. In their three wins they utterly destroyed the Canucks. The Bruins have turned Vancouver’s best players into also-rans, including Roberto Luongo, and both Sedins.

The Bruins can win this thing.
We, Bruins Nation, can win this thing.

Only one more game. The Stanley Cup is in Boston’s grasp. We fought off elimination in game six in emphatic fashion. Tonight we fight it off again and in doing clinch the Stanley Cup!

GO BRUINS!
GO BRUINS!
GO BRUINS!
GO BRUINS!
GO BRUINS!
GO BRUINS!
GO BRUINS!

Just some music to enjoy while waiting for the puck to drop.

For those of us who are old enough to remember equating the Bruins with channel 38, there is this:

For those of you who prefer the Emerson Lake and Palmer version that one of the Boston rock stations used to use there is this:

Go Bruins!

Never has a four goal lead been so stressful to me.

The Bruins shelled Roberto Luongo in the first period of game six last night. By the time the game reached the 10 minute mark of the first the Bruins were up 4-0. Most Bruins fans were thrilled by this. I was terrified. Four goals with 50 minutes left against the team that won the Presidents trophy, had a lead in the Stanley Cup Finals, had Hart and Vezina nominees… If any team can come back from down four goals with 5/6 of a game to play it was Vancouver.

Thankfully, my paranoia did not come to fruition. The Bruins went on to win 5-2. Luongo was chased after the third Boston goal. That’s twice we’ve run him out of a game.

In the six games so far, Boston has utterly dominated in the three games in Boston. Vancouver won all three games in Vancouver, but they were all close games. One was won in the last minute. One was one in overtime. The third was won in the third period. The Bruins have had a chance in all three losses.

So now it comes down to Game Seven tomorrow night. I will have the Smart Food Popcorn and the Sacrificial Pretzels and the defibrillator all ready to go. My cool black Bruins jersey will not be worn out of fear that it is bad luck.

One game left. Winner take all. The Bruins can do it. I know they can do it. Cautious Optimism abounds! They’ve already taken two game sevens in this playoff, one more will be golden.

Go Bruins!
Go Bruins!
Go Bruins!

Jen and I each sacrificed a pretzel as an offering to the hockey gods in the hopes that it will help the Boston Bruins win game six.

Two years ago today our honeymoon came to an end. We flew home from California. It was the end of our two weeks celebrating our wedding, and definitely a high point among the high points in our very happy two years and counting marriage.

I’d always heard that when you buy a new car you can expect something to go wrong right away. For us it is one of the fancy proximity keys. The electronics have stopped working although the key itself is still fine. I’m back at the dealer having it looked at.

The car itself is still awesome flavored awesomeness.

I’m spending the last day of my comp-time induced four day weekend trying my hardest not to think about how a Vancouver win tonight eliminates the Bruins from the Stanley Cup Finals.

Game six tonight in Boston…

Go Bruins!

Two years ago today we spent our last full day in San Diego at Ocean Beach and Point Loma. Another perfect day.

We bought a car yesterday. We tried a VW Jetta, a Honda Accord, a Honda Fit, every Kia model available (all of which were too small for me to fit in the driver’s seat. Some due to head room, others due to leg room), a Chevy Impala (not enough room for the kids to sit behind me, but otherwise very nice), a Hyundai Sonata, and a Nissan Altima.

It came down to the Sonata and the Altima, and the Altima was a little roomier, both for me and for the poor kid who is stuck sitting behind me.

We drove it up to Jen’s mother’s last night and it was a sweet ride all the way there and back.

The blue bomber Saturn Ion served us well. It was in the family longer than I had been, but it was time to send it to that nice farm out in the country. She’ll be happy there, and we’ll be happy with our new car.

One item of note: the loan on this new car will run out at just about the same time that my step-daughter starts driving…

Did we just buy her first POS? Could be…