Weekend

I'll get the hockey out of the way first. The Bruins suck more than any other team has ever sucked before. I know people will rationalize this horrible collapse by saying they did well just to get into the playoffs and reach the second round, but that is garbage and everyone knows it. They had four chances to win one game and they blew all four. They lost game seven after leading three to nothing and the series losing, collapse completing goal for Philly came on a too many men on the ice penalty. Without question the dumbest, most inexcusable infraction in the entire sport. There can be no rationalization, no justification, no looking on the bright side. This was the most pathetic, embarrassing loss in the history of the franchise, and the entire National Hockey League.

So how did my picks do? Just as bad as the friggin' Bruins did. I was a pathetic 3-5 after the first round.

Pittsburgh vs Montreal I picked Pittsburgh, wrong. 3-6
Boston vs Philadelphia I don't even want to talk about it anymore. 3-7
Chicago vs Vancouver I picked Vancouver, wrong. 3-8
San Jose vs Detroit I picked Detroit, wrong. 3-9

Pathetic.

Now we have San Jose vs Chicago. I am picking Chicago because they are not San Jose. Although now that I have gone against the Sharks twice they have won twice. Just my luck. They are probably going to win the cup this year. Of course I am picking whoever wins this series to win the next round. If it's San Jose that should be just enough to jinx them.

Philadelphia vs Montreal. I could care less. I have to go with Philly for two reasons. First they are not Montreal. Second, if the team that caused what happened to my team in the 2nd round fails to make it to the finals it will make it even more embarrassing for the Bruins.

I very much expect my post-third round won/loss record to be 3-11.

Screw you Bruins. You suck.

Subject Change...

Ronnie James Dio died yesterday at the age of 67. Just hearing that he was 67 years old was bad enough. I will admit that I was never a fan of his band, Dio. I eventually came around to liking his stints with Black Sabbath, but that was pretty recently. What I did like was his work with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. I think the song Stargazer validates his entire career.

I heard about it from some Facebook status updates and then verified it by checking Google News for stories, and by seeing if anyone had added the date of death to his wikipedia entry. If wikipedia.org says it then it must be true, right?

Yesterday just before heading out to the birthday party I sent a text to Larry. He had already heard. A little after 8:00 he called me up and we reminisced a little. Larry was a big fan of Dio the band as well as Ronnie Dio the singer (Rainbow in the Dark is a great song, but it wasn't enough to really hook me in), as well as Rainbow. In fact, the first time I heard Dio singing with Rainbow as either at Larry's house or in our dorm room, Freshman year at U. Lowell (not UMass Lowell). He had spent some time listening to various Dio records. I had spent some time shuffling through the three Rainbow studio records. Just paying tribute, ya know?

I can't remember if I heard about his stomach cancer prior to yesterday. I might have, but I'm not sure. The last interview I remember hearing with Ronnie was just after Cozy Powell died. I had heard some vague rumors that the second (and by far the best) Rainbow line up might be trying a reunion. (note: There were no two Rainbow studio LPs recorded with the same lineup. Ritchie Blackmore was either a really difficult person to work for which caused people to quit left and right, or he ruled with such an iron fist that everyone was on the verge of getting sacked at any time.) Then when the great, brilliant Cozy Powell died in a car accident (he had been drinking, was driving over 100 mph in the rain, and talking on his cell phone when he crashed. Three strikes and you're out, Cozy) Dio said publicly that the he, Powell, Jimmy Bain, and Tony Carey were all ready to give it a shot but Blackmore was dragging his feet or something, and now that Cozy was dead it would never happen. He said that because of Ritchie Blackmore they had missed their chance.

The other thing I noted yesterday was that apparently, despite his cancer, he had been working right up to the end. His latest band was called Heaven and Hell. It was actually just his Black Sabbath line up under a different name. They had a tour booked for this summer and it wasn't until this week that it was canceled. Like his music or not, the guy was a pro.

So happy trails to you, Ronnie James Dio. Best of luck to you, wherever you may be today.

Subject change...

There will be a few pictures on the private page, but yesterday was my step daughter's birthday party. We had it at Lazer Craze in N. Andover. It's an arcade, indoor inflatable amusement park thing, and a laser tag course all in one place. The laser tag was a blast. Jen and I ended up on different teams and she actually shot me a whole bunch of times! How dare she shoot her husband?? I shot her back a few times too though, so I can't complain too much. Also, our team won all four games. There was a guy on our team who came with a different group who might have been a Green Beret or a Navy Seal or something. He was always the top scorer, and he was usually close to double the second place scorers point total. That came in handy for us. Also, the birthday girl was on my team so that made it even better.

I brought super camera with me, but neglected to check the battery level before we left. It was really low. I conserved a little and made it through the party without having it die on me. I haven't unloaded anything off of it yet. Hopefully I'll do that tonight.

That's about it for now. I might try and find a video of Rainbow playing Stargazer on youtube. Let everyone head bang for eight minutes or so. \m/

Screw you Bruins, you suck!