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The Crazy Canucks #14 – Five game streak high

Another one recorded tonight, and I think I’m really beginning to master Ubercaster more and more. You can download episode #14 now.

We all gather around for this episode, but Alanah has technical problems on her end that causes her to dip out early from the fun. You’ll have to ask her the full story, but let’s just call it a conspiracy by her furry friends of the four-legged kind.

Record as of this episode: 22-18-1
Northwest Division: 1st
Western Conference: 3rd

On a five game win streak right now, there is so much to rant and rave about. Edmonton, Calgary, and Dallas have all been our victims since the last recording. Linden’s hot, Naslund’s still struggling, and Burrows finally got that first (official) goal of the season. The rest of the team seems to be waking up, and fans are starting to love the Luongo. We also make some all-star predictions, dissect the mystery of the Northwest Division, and talk a little bit about the World Jr.’s.

44:11 minutes
The Crazy Canucks

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The status of being sterile

IMG_7652 I made my way into Yaletown[wiki] on my running route today, and this was my first extension into the neighborhood in all the time that I have lived in Vancouver. I’ve been down in the area numerous times during this period, but any runner call tell you that you tend to notice different things when you are pounding the pavement.

It could have been the fact that I approached the area from a different angle, but as soon as I passed underneath Granville Bridge, everything changed. This wasn’t a very good change either. In fact, it didn’t even feel like a neighborhood at that point. Luxury cars, people walking around in suits, and overly sculpted landscaping. I couldn’t help that this area looks pretty on the outside, but when you get up close, not so much.

There’s nothing friendly about the area when you are running through there, at least to my senses. Just tall buildings that decry a social status that few will ever be able to obtain. I had a brief thought that people were looking down at me from their windows above in disgust of the mis-matching running gear I was wearing, not to mention the off-brand workout pants I bought from Target some years ago. Sacrilege.

There are condos in those buildings that insanely priced for the amount of square feet that you can become the owner of, and the amount of people who can own them become less and less everyday. I’ve never had the extreme urge to become one of them, and that hasn’t changed much today.

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“Kansas City Penguins”

Let’s be honest. The “Kansas City Penguins” has no ring to it. It cannot compare to the way the words “Pittsburgh” and “Penguins” rolls off your tongue. Four syllables versus six. I don’t like the idea of Pittsburgh losing their NHL team at all[cbc].

IMG_2459 However, I do love Kansas City.

I have a lot of family who live in and around KC. I grew up making many trips to visit my grandparents and seeing the sights where my parents first met(don’t ask me how they ended up in Iowa). The long stretches of interstate 80 and 35 were the way that I learned how to drive on four lane freeways. It’s probably the main reason that I have longed to live in a metropolitan area for most of my adult life.

The odd thing is, I have never been to a professional sporting event in KC. I have been inside Arrowhead Stadium for the city’s sesquicentennial celebration(got to see Little Richard and Kenny Rogers in the same night), but that’s about it. You cannot dispute that there are die hard Royals and Chiefs fans in the city, and the record of each respective team does little to change that. I really can’t be too sure about the Wizards of the MLS, but the following can be seen for those who love the futbol.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Pittsburgh Penguins could play rent-free and be equal managing partners in the new Sprint Center if they move to Kansas City, under an offer unveiled Thursday by the arena’s operating group.

Tim Leiweke, president of Anschutz Entertainment Group, said the Penguins would not have to buy into the management agreement. The $276 million Sprint Center is scheduled to open in October. […]

“They have told us they will make a decision within 30 days,” Leiweke said. “We will know within 30 days whether they are going to work out their issues in Pittsburgh and get an arena built, or whether they will ask the NHL for permission to move the team to Kansas City.” [espn]

There is no doubt in my mind that KC is fully capable of handling a hockey team. The Sprint Center[wiki] has been built specifically to lure a team from the NHL, there’s no disputing that. They probably would have lived with a minor league team, but the people behind the push wanted to go pro. Are the people of KC ready for it? I can’t be too sure.

IMG_2458 Chatting briefly with one of my cousins who lives in the area, he thought they already had a team there. And they did… up until about five years ago. Even then, the Kansas City Blades[wiki] were only an IHL team. Oddly enough, they were also an affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks until the IHL folded in 2001.

Is my fifteen year old cousin a solid source for the mindset of the entire Kansas City metropolitan area? Probably not, but it kind of shows you that this will be more like when the Nashville Predators started into the league. You’ll have to start teaching hockey to a new legion of fans if the Penguins move to KC.

The one saving grace in all of this is star power, and we all know that the Penguins have that. I can already see car dealerships in the metro area of KC with Sidney Crosby’s endorsement or the lighting of the Plaza lights being done by Evgeni Malkin at the switch. The Sprint Center being in the downtown core of the city offers numerous possibilities to market the team and city at the same time.

It’ll be a daunting move if Lemieux takes the team to the midwest, and I’ve been itching to see that happen. The bitter rivalry of having the St. Louis Blues come into town will already brew an attraction for fans to come out and support the local team for a long time. I do wonder if they’ll retain the name if they move, but “KC Pens” does pop up in my head. You can already hear sports reporters saying it.

Also, don’t think for a minute that Missouri having two NHL teams is an overkill. That’s like telling someone from Alberta that they should only have one team in that province. It actually takes less time to drive between Calgary and Edmonton than it does for St. Louis and Kansas City.

When it comes down to it, I would really like to see the Penguins stay in Pittsburgh. If they have to move, then make it KC. The midwest needs more hockey.

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Going back to high school

I had the strangest dream last night. I swear that I have way too many things floating around in my head lately, and it left me thinking that maybe it wasn’t the most crazy idea to drift into my subconscious after all. I know I’ll be thinking otherwise once I’m done here.

For some unknown reason, I went back to high school. More so, I wanted to blog about the experience and report on the social structures that exist among that age group. Further more, I would try to be objective as possible to their reaction of having a person my age going to school right along side with them, almost like a psychology study or something. The dream didn’t last long enough to say if I’d be any better at various class subjects though.

I was also very into the idea of being apart of the school newspaper. However, I wanted to change the way the paper was done and make everything much more web based. Blogs, digital cameras, and so on. RSS feeds so the rest of the world could share in what the big news was at this high school that I was at.

Then I woke up. The first thought that popped into my mind was that there is no way I could do that. I’d be seen as some sick guy who just wanted to hang around underage kids. The use of blogging platforms for school newspapers was still a good idea though.

Some times I have weird dreams. Other times, I can’t stop being geeky even in my own sleep.

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Five things you (probably) don’t know

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve gotten around to doing this, but Jeremy tagged me some time ago to do this “five things you didn’t know about me” thing that’s been going around. I’ve actually thought about this numerous times and come up with nothing good to plop down. I’m going to give myself about fifteen minutes to come up with the best things I can off the top of my head. Here goes nothing.

  • I was a band and choir geek in high school. I was in all the top choir groups, but not show choir. *shudder* I started out as a tenor, dropped down to the lower octaves of second bass, and rose up to a baritone/tenor when I figured out that rock stars don’t sing with a bass voice. Of course, this is all classical vocal training, but that goes a really long way, no matter what kind of singing you do in the rest of your life. In band, I didn’t apply my talents as much, but I played baritone, euphonium, fuglehorn, and valve trombone. I’m sure you don’t find this too surprising.
  • I have a series of dream jobs that I would like to have careers in if time and money were no object, not to mention talent for said position. List off the top of my head, but not limited to: astronomer, architect, carpenter, radio talk show host, painter, graphic designer, musician, UNIX programmer, writer, cinematographer, film director, actor, professional hockey player, professional baseball player, play-by-play sports announcer(hockey, baseball, or college football), interior decorator, plumber, forest ranger, guitar technician, roadie for a rock band, and broadcast engineer. I’ve already done the last one, but that is too much fun to not do again.
  • I lived in Japan for three months in 2000. Camp Adventure is a program that sends college students to U.S. military facilities to run day camps for children. I was at NAF Atsugi[wiki], located in between Yokohama and Tokyo. Camp counselor to fifteen kids by day, played throughout the backyard of Japan at night and on the weekends. Probably the best summer vacation I ever had.
  • I play bass guitar, and drop-D tuning is my weak spot. My dreams of success were set back when I slammed my left index finger in a car door about five years ago. It’s still tender when I run the frets and probably will be for the rest of my life because how poorly the bone healed at the tip of my finger. My bass is still in the states, so that means that I’m going to suck more than I did before when I get my hands on it again. I’ve only been in two “bands” in my life but never lived an even bigger plot to be a lead singer.
  • I have Gilbert’s Syndrome[wiki]. This might be a result or continuation of being jaundice at birth(of which I almost didn’t survive). This a major reason as to why I exercise through running and strength conditioning. It seems to keep the bilirubin levels in my body regulated. Otherwise, I start to really feel like crap.

Now I have to tag five more people? I’m not too sure who has and hasn’t been tagged yet, so please don’t rag on me if you’ve already been marked. I call on The Reverend Don Deeley, Yvonne, GZ Expat, Alanah, and J.J. Even though those last two are hockey bloggers, I’m curious about those things we don’t know about some of the biggest Canucks fans out there.

This didn’t hurt nearly as bad as I thought it would. However, nothing there is ever final or complete in story. For the sake of time, I tried to keep it brief as possible. I can get long winded about things if I’m not careful.

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In your dreams you’ve seen it all

IMG_9775 I’m having so much trouble starting out with my first post of 2007. I didn’t do much to wish the world farewell, so I won’t try to do that now. There’s just been so much that has happened in the past year that it’s hard to sum everything up in one blow. So many good things to be thankful for, and the not so good things that make all the positives stand out that much more.

This February, I will have been married for the first year to Rebecca. You have no idea as to the hoops, ladders, and hurdles that we have faced to get this far, and the path ahead, short and long term, are far from easy. Nothing in life ever is, no matter who or where you are. But it’s when you take time to go for a walk in the park, like we did yesterday, that makes everything seem as easy as happily ever after. Reminds me that we have to wash our pants from yesterday to get all that mud out of our clothes as well.

I have a strong disliking for resolutions. More so, it’s a personal thing, but I understand that a new year brings that urge to many folks. A time for change and promises in the hopes of bettering your lives for the future.

For me, this is possible anytime of the year. If there is something that you want to do, you just start doing it. 2006 has been the year that has prevented me from doing so many things that I want to achieve in life. The fault lies hugely on the Canadian government, but this is the path that we’ve chosen to take. The waiting is killing me.

2007 will be the year that this is going to change. This isn’t because I’m going to try harder or finally get off my ass to do something with my life. I’m primed and ready to the opportunity, have been since I landed at YVR in 2005. The powers that be just have to give me that green light. Then finally, I can get back to making those plans to rule the world. Well, the world might be pushing it, but it’d just be nice to have the ability to visit my family back in the states again. It’s been over a year since I last saw some of them, far longer for others.

So there you go. The first post of 2007. A relapse to what this blog used to be. More on the personal side, and perhaps I should try to do more of this in the future. As this whole waiting process has gone along, we’ll have to wait and see. I’m just ready to break out.

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The Crazy Canucks #13 – Holiday hangover hoe down

Living and learning with what Ubercaster can do, but I set the mic levels way too high for the recording. The program had some nice tricks to make it sound decent through editing. Check out episode #13 of The Crazy Canucks. This one was certainly a little nutty.

Dave is a healthy scratch for this episode, but there has been so much that has happened since the last episode that it was hard to keep tabs on how long this episode turned out. There were some issues during the recording, but the audio was salvageable. That’s not to say that it might sound strange, but we will keep this in mind for the next episode to take changes into consideration.

Record as of this episode: 19-18-1
Northwest Division: 1st
Western Conference: 3rd

Four games to talk about, three teams played since the last episode: Boston, Columbus, and Calgary. The first two games were painful for Canucks fans, but the home and home series against the Flames was nothing short of pure delight. J.J gives us the inside scoop of his involvement with the CBC story on the whole Vote for Rory campaign, and Alanah seems to be getting a tattoo after losing a bet on Luongo’s save stats in the first half of the season.

This is the last episode of 2006, so have a safe and happy new year! We’ll see you next year, and expect more to come from The Crazy Canucks.

The Crazy Canucks

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It’s always good to remember how it was

This popped up on my RSS feeds today from The Onion, and I’m not sure why. I read it when they first published it in September 2005, but this makes me laugh my ass off every time I read it. The Onion kind of does that to me with everything they produce though.

The Onion
The Onion

Yes, remember when we didn’t have hockey? Good lord those were some dark days. And it’s the middle response that kills me the most. I’ve gotta find that first season somewhere…

By the way, did you see the Canucks game last night[yahoo]? Holy crap did that make me feel manic depressive or what? J.J. made a great post about it, and Alanah was pretty stoked about it, too. I know we were yelling from our couch numerous times. Well, ok, maybe I was the one yelling more than Rebecca.

And yes, I do (heart) Salo. How can you stop there? The Sedins were outstanding, Kesler had a nice goal (somehow), and Cooke made Kipper look awful. I always love it when “Kippru-I-live-to-take-my-mask-soff” gets schooled.

What a freaking good game, and you can be assured that we’ll gush about it on The Crazy Canucks round table.

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RFID in U.S. passports are here

I guess it is not too surprising, but one would think that the era of bar codes coming into the background technology of passports would make life easier for travel. It’s a lot like shopping. Walk up to the counter, swipe it through, and you’re in. It wasn’t until a snippet on BoingBoing linked to the following article that I learned about the changes of international travel as a U.S. citizen.

How To: Disable Your Passport’s RFID Chip

All passports issued by the US State Department after January 1 will have always-on radio frequency identification chips, making it easy for officials – and hackers – to grab your personal stats. Getting paranoid about strangers slurping up your identity? Here’s what you can do about it. But be careful – tampering with a passport is punishable by 25 years in prison. Not to mention the “special” customs search, with rubber gloves. Bon voyage! [wired]

It’s not a constant tracking of your movements, but this is getting somewhat close. RFID[wiki] is how large companies, like Wal-Mart or FedEx, track shipments of materials across the expanse of their operations. Like the article says, this technology is pretty much always on. Just like GPS, you just have to have the right tools to tune in and find our where you are. Except in this case, someone can find your general location. Or at least, they can find where you lost your favorite pair of pants that you left your passport in.

I have till the end of this decade until I have to renew mine, and this really creeps me out. I wonder when someone will start selling lead-lined wallets for your passport. After 2010, I’ll become a dot on someone’s grid.

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The Crazy Canucks sneaking on to the CBC

I got a pretty interesting text message from J.J. last night while sitting at home with Rebecca. “Whoa cbc was just over my apt and taped a piece on the rory thing“. I got excited and asked if he said anything about The Crazy Canucks because I’m a marketing sucker like that.

The piece turned out pretty great, but at the 49 second mark of the 2:38 long clip, that’s the last you see of J.J. Still, it’s a pretty sweet shot of the Canucks Hockey Blog in the background on his screen. You can also see The Crazy Canucks logo just a tad. This aired last night on CBC: Canada Now at 6PM. Way to go, J.J.!

By the way, did you vote for Rory yet? I know I’ve done my fair share, and you should, too.