It (Probably) Ends Tonight

Game four of the Stanley Cup final. Tonight. Game time is 8:00… which was 18 minutes ago… and the game hasn’t started yet… Screw you, TV coverage. Just drop the damned puck.

Well… it’s going to end tonight, I think. Probably. The Panthers are probably going to complete the sweep over the Oilers tonight. You know the Oilers, right? The team I picked to win it?

I really don’t want the NHL season to end. I loves me some ice hockey and once Florida finishes destroying my dreams it comes to an end. At least the next regular season game I see will be the Bruins so that’s nice.

The Panthers have bounced my Bruins out of the postseason for two years in a row now. I hate them dearly. I don’t New York Yankees* hate them, but I really hate them. It is going to royally suck to have to refer to them as Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers.

Put my hockey season out of it’s misery.

Stupid friggin’ Oilers and Panthers.

*The Red Sox and Yankees are playing each other this weekend. Tonight is the second game of the series and the Red Sox are up 5-2 in the bottom of the third inning. That’s a good thing, but given the state of the two teams it’s probably going to end in tears for my Red Sox.

Shit.

Doctor Who Fail (Spoilers Ahead)

This post might have some mild spoilers for last night’s episode of Doctor Who titled The Legend of Ruby Sunday.

You have been warned. I will try to keep things as vague as possible but you might be able to put two and two together so if you’re planning to watch the episode and want to go in without any outside influence, now is the time to leave this page.

Okay? You all right with reading this?

Last warning…

Okay.

I failed. Epically. Just… embarassingly.

I watched the episode last night after having binged the full 60 years worth of the show (except for the early episodes that don’t exist anymore. I watched recreations of those but not the actual aired episodes). I enjoyed the whole series from start to finish and thought I was prepared for any call backs or easter eggs or whatever.

Last night they finally revealed who the big bad was for the current season and it included a direct reference to a villain from a series that aired in late 1975…

…and I failed to make the connection! I didn’t remember the story AT ALL. What a loser. What a failure. I am going to have to give back my nerd membership card now, aren’t I. Ugh. I suck at being a fanboy. I just suck out loud.

Now I have to go back to season 13 and rewatch the 4th Doctor serial Pyramids of Mars, and I have to do it before next week’s season finale airs on Friday night.

Jerk. Loser. Nerd-failure.

Back Yard

The patio umbrella is open for the first time in two years. The weather today is perfect.

Also, the mangled bird feeder pole has been replaced. I’d say upgraded, but it feels a little flimsy.

Let’s see if the birds start visiting while I cook lunch on the grill for the first time this year!

Over Confidence

First, to preface the rest of the post, I don’t give the faintest shit about the NBA. I don’t follow basketball at all. Not even a little bit. I was a bit of a Boston Celtics fan when I was a kid. Part of that was because my Uncle worked for the Celtics. If you ask him nicely he’ll show you his NBA Championship rings from 1984 and 1986. I am 100% serious about that. I’ve held them in my hands.

Okay, now that the prelude is over…

The Boston Celtics, prior to last night, had a three games to none lead in the NBA Championship series. I am so uninterested that I don’t even know who they are playing. Dallas? I think? Maybe? (A quick visit to espn.com tells me that it is indeed the Dallas Mavericks)

Game four was on Friday, last night, so the events I am writing about happened on Thursday. I was on Threads.com (which is owned by bookfayce and therefore makes me want to vomit when I think about it) and saw a post from someone I don’t follow… because that’s how the idiotic newsfeed works… talking about how the Celtics had the series wrapped up and Dallas barely even put up a fight. The gist of the post was something about discrediting claims that the Western Conference was the dominate Conference in the NBA. Again, I don’t care.

My lack of interest in the series does not supersede my being from Boston, and while I do not care about the league or the series, I am always down for a pro-sports championship in my city. I responded to the post on threads by cautioning against overconfidence. I wrote something about remembering the Boston Bruins blowing a three games to none lead in 2010 and thinking that maybe the poster should wait until the Celtics actually won the series before boasting about which team was more dominate. You know, be cautious in your optimism. Don’t be cocky like Bruins fans were in 2010… or Red Sox fans were in 1986. Dig?

Why is this of interest? Because last night was game four. The Celtics had a chance to end the series and win the league championship (for the 18th time, thank you very much) with a sweep. How did the game end up? The Celtics got friggin’ trounced and lost by 38 points.

Thirty-eight points.

So… maybe you should wait until the Celtics actually win the series before commenting on the strengths or weaknesses of their opponent. You know… don’t jinx it.

I know the person who posted the comment on threads was not a Bostonian, because those of us who live here effin’ know better (he said while having yet another waking nightmare about a ground ball up the first base line going through Bill Buckner’s legs).

Nothing?

Daily writing prompt

What’s the oldest thing you own that you still use daily?

View all responses

I can’t think of anything. Seriously. Something I use every day? It has to be my house, I guess. There’s nothing terribly old that I use regularly enough to list. My wedding ring is 15 years old and I wear it around the clock. That’s a good candidate. I don’t know how old my house is, but it’s older than that and I do “use” it every day.

I would like to say it’s my 1978 Gibson Les Paul Custom but I fail to play daily so that’s out.

I guess the answer we’re going with is my wedding ring. Not because it’s older than my house, but because it’s super high on the list of my favorite things.

Rock on, brothers and sisters.

full (2) — Me, playing my ’78 back in ’04 (I think… maybe ’03).

The Calm Before the Storm

I took this just a few minutes before the cats started trying to beat the shit out of each other.

Such violence. Feline warfare bums me out.

Serial Numbers

A few years ago I found a website that lets you use the serial number from your Gibson guitar to get information about your Gibson guitar. At the time I had two Gibson guitars. I’ll look them up again, then I will look up my two newer Gibson guitars.

First, my Les Paul Custom:

Your guitar was made at the
Nashville Plant, TN, USA
on September 18th, 1978
Production Number: 27

Next, my ES-335 Pro:

Your guitar was made at the
Kalamazoo Plant, MI, USA
on December 5th, 1979
Production Number: 127

Okay then, those are my two older guitars which might technically be considered “vintage.” Now let us check on the two guitars from the 21st century.

Start with my SG Standard:

Well… this is weird. There are two hits.

Your guitar was made at the
Nashville Plant, TN, USA
on March 10th, 2012
Production Number: 286

Your guitar was made at the
Nashville Plant, TN, USA
in 2018
Production Number: 2258

Right. I bought this one new after Gibson declared bankruptcy in 2018. It actually has a stamp on the back of the headstock right under the serial number that says, “Made in USA 2018 Model.” I guess that means it’s a 2018.

Okay, now lastly my Les Paul Standard 50’s:

Your guitar was made at the
Nashville Plant, TN, USA
in 2023
Production Number: 210004

Huh… right… so the guitar that my wife bought me for my 50th birthday back in 2021 was made in 2023… huh… so looks like the app doesn’t know how to handle the serial numbers from 2021. I guess I should Google it to see if I can find anything…

Turns out they changed the serial number format in 2019 and now we have this info:

It was made on November 16, 2020 and is production number 42.

I can tell by the look on all of your faces that you are fascinated by this.