A three games to none lead in the series…

A three goals to none lead in the deciding game…

Eliminated.

That all adds up to a collossal choke.

Friggin shameful.

It is tied at three after two periods.

A microcosm of the series. Bruins take a 3-0 lead and the effing Flyers tie it.

I hate the Flyers.

While sitting in a restaurant in New Hampshire, Jen makes dinner reservations in another state for our anniversary.

The view from the gym parking lot:

We went to the gym, and now we’re out for a Japanese dinner.

The Bruins are up 3-1 after one period. Cautious optimism, oh fans of the black and gold.

I tried appealing to the hockey gods in the Bruins favor by detailing the history of the team, specifically the greatest player to ever lace up skates, Bobby Orr.

It didn’t help. The gods and the Bruins were not motivated.

So I’ll try a different approach.

If this doesn’t fire them up, nothing will! (language NSFW, put on the headphones)

First traffic (as I fear my reader is sick of hearing about the Bruins).

Did some one flip an asshole switch or something? It started yesterday. For some reason both going to and coming from work every single car that I found myself behind was driving as slow as they could. If the speed limit was 40 we did 30. If the speed limit was 30 we did 22 or something. It was just so freakin’ annoying.

I figured with today being Friday I should have a better drive in. No way. On three (3) occasions I found myself behind some one who was driving between 40 and 45 miles per hour on the highway… for absolutely no reason. Just calmly creeping along 20 miles per hour below the speed limit. No one around, no traffic, no accidents, no reason.

After I left the highway it was a perfect copy of yesterday. It was a constant struggle to keep the speedometer above 30. Bastards.

Now for the other source of exasperation.

Pro sports teams that have lost a best of seven series after taking a three games to none lead:
1942 Red Wings.
1975 Penguins.
2004 Yankees.

And the 2010 Bruins? Please no. We find out tonight. The three games to none lead over Philadelphia is now a three to three tie.

If I were a betting man and not an obsessive fan I would put ever dime I have on the Flyers tonight. I can’t do that though. I am a Bruins fan even in the worst of times, and when (WHEN) they lose tonight it will definitely be the worst of times.

Still…

Go Bruins!

(please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose please don’t lose)

Just saving this one for later…

As a fan of rock and roll of the proggie variety I am, like most prog loving guitar players, constantly looking for new ways to steal ideas from Robert Fripp. I stumbled across this yesterday. It’s Fripp’s New Standard Tuning. From what I’ve read he started using this in the mid-80’s while running the Guitar Craft School. The idea was to take his students and force them to start learning guitar from scratch. I’ve also read that he’s been using it exclusively since then.

Given that I more or less suck on guitar in standard tuning, I have always shunned alternate tunings. I figure I should learn to play the damn instrument the normal way before messing with the tuning. The one exception was the occasional dropped D tuning. I only drop the 6th string to D though, not the 1st. I like being able to bar a root-fifth chord on the three lowest strings, but I also really like being able to hit the open B-E on the higher strings. Call me crazy.

NST (as it’s known to the folks in the know) is C-G-D-A-E-G.

Standard tuning is E-A-D-G-B-E. So if we compare the two there are a few things that just jump right out at you. First (for the theory kids in the group) it’s almost all perfect 5ths. Second, the lowest string tunes down to a C. In other words, it tunes waaay down. We’re talking Dug Pinnick land here. Finally, you can expect to break a lot of 1st and 2nd strings. The 2nd string is tuned to the E the 1st string is normally tuned too, and the 1st string is waaaaay up to a G. If you don’t have a really light guage string that sucker will snap off if you breath on it. In fact, from what I’ve read it should actually be tuned up to a B (a perfect fifth above E), but his Frippness kept it down to G to avoid injury.

I’ve been looking around for some chord charts in this tuning but I haven’t found anything. Anyone out there ever see NST charts?

**ADDENDUM**
Why not combine the fun of HTML5 and King Crimson to give an example of Robert Fripp playing in NST? I wonder which browser this will work on today?

Now that I listen to this, I think most of the guitar playing on this song might be Adrian Belew. Anyway, it’s “One Time” from King Crimson’s THRAK album.

Tied at three. The Bruins blew a three games to none lead and it comes down to game seven on Friday. I am starting to believe that the Tewksbury High School hockey team has a better shot at beating Philly on Friday than the Bruins do.

Urgh.

Change the damn subject.

I learned yesterday that an old friend and band mate of mine was taken to the hospital last week with a head injury. Reports are that he is stable, whatever that means, and I wanted to send some electronic well wishes. Get well soon Steve.

That’s two pieces of bad news last night. I need to change the subject again.

Our Disney World trip is getting closer. Almost here. I can’t wait. That should take the crap taste of a historical Bruins collapse out of my mouth… for a few days at least.

The three games to none lead is a distant memory.

We’re tied at three now.

This is friggin’ embarrassing.

Finale score Philadelphia 2 Boston 0.

Oh the pain. Agony!

They aren’t playing as bad as they did Monday night in game five, but they sure aren’t playing like the did in the first three games.

They haven’t scored a goal in five periods and one overtime. This is terrible.

They have been getting some sustained pressure in the offensive zone, but they have not really been getting anyone in front of the net. They have to put on pressure from more than just the outside. They are only down by two goals. They can still get themselves into this game…

But they are now starting to take stupid penalties like the did in game five. It’s getting difficult to watch.

To make matters worse the Canadiens beat Pittsburgh tonight in their game seven. That means Montreal has a 25% chance at winning the cup. I Hate the Montreal Canadiens.

Please… Go Bruins!