Category Archives: LA Kings

May 9, 2014 · 23:30

The Best Distraction In History

We have invented more than a few things over time to distract us, to give us something to do while procrastinating, to take us away from what we really should be doing.

First, there was the book. I doubt anyone’s family ever started to death because the hunter/gatherer/farmer/provider in the family was too wrapped up in “The Illiad” or “Gilgamesh.” These days we’ve gotten better at procrastination, so there are many sudden sick days called in when the latest “Wheel of Time” or “Game of Thrones” book comes out.

Then came radio. How could kids be expected to study and do homework when “Terry and the Pirates” or “Inner Sanctum” was coming right into their living rooms?

Television became the king pretty quickly by the 1950’s and 1960’s. Housewives left carpets unvacuumed and laundry unwashed (okay, stereotypical, but in the 50’s and early 60’s those stereotypes were there for a reason) due to the afternoon soap operas. No one in his right mind tried to get kids to do anything on Saturday morning when cartoons were on.

Sports got onto television and men led the charge as we all found ways to change our schedules to accommodate the World Series, football playoffs, Stanley Cup finals, and March Madness. (It long ago stopped being just men, but that’s another stereotype that lingers.)

Computer games have been ruling the roost lately. How many billions of hours have the human race collectively squandered on Angry Birds, Farmville, Bejeweled, Candy Crush, Pac-Man, and on and on and on and on?

We all have our own tastes for distractions, the thing that can make us decide to throw in the towel on even trying to meet a deadline or goal. I’ll admit that I’m a sucker for books, and there are a few television shows I’ll make time for. And of course, my beloved Kings, Chiefs, and Angels, especially if (when!) they’re in the playoffs.

But there’s no doubt a new challenger for my time.

The latest Dragon spacecraft from SpaceX arrived at the International Space Station last week. Soon afterward, an equipment pallet was remotely taken from the Dragon and installed on the nadir (“bottom”, or Earth-facing) side of the station. It simply has several HD television cameras, controlled from the ground. And they’re always on. And you can watch them, LIVE, for free, from your computer or tablet or smart phone or whatever.

There are several feeds that I’ve found. This one is fantastic, with a split screen showing both the live feed video from Ustream and the ISS live tracking map from the European Space Agency. In one fell swoop, you can see what the astronauts on the ISS are seeing, and you can tell where they’re at and what you’re looking at. (Bookmark it NOW!)

Capture 1Capture from NASA & ESA

At this moment, we’re just coming up on sunrise. Sixty seconds ago the live video was black (it was night, ISS was over the Atlantic, no cities, no lights). Then we came into the sunrise on orbit (spectacular!) and the ISS got lit up brilliantly, while the ground below it is still in darkness. (If you had been in northwest Africa, inside that yellow circle surrounding the ISS on the map, it would have been an outstanding time to go outside and see it.)

The straight video feed only, live from space, can be found here. Put it on full screen, put on some tunes, and kiss the next couple of hours goodbye!

Capture 2Capture from NASA & ESA

Five minutes later, and the Earth below is coming into daylight. It’s dawn over the Mediterranean.

Capture 3Capture from NASA & ESA

Two minutes later, there’s the French Riviera and Northern Italy disappearing behind us as we head toward Turkey.

You can see what’s happening here. The system switches between cameras facing “forward,” “backward,” and “straight down.” There are brief periods when the live feed goes gray as ISS goes out of range of the TDRS satellites and ground stations, but it will be back in a couple of minutes.

Capture 4Capture from NASA & ESA

There’s Italy, clear as a bell. It looks like a lovely day there. It looks like an even more lovely day 260 miles up.

I may never get anything done again. If these kinds of views ever get boring or routine or droll, please feel free to check me for a pulse.

Capture 5Capture from NASA & ESA

Big storms over the Black Sea. (Gotta go to bed. Gotta go to bed. Gotta go to bed…)

Orbital mechanics

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Filed under KC Chiefs, LA Angels, LA Kings, Photography, Space

May 5, 2014 · 22:50

Deadline, Ho!

No time, had to watch the hockey game (Go, Kings, Go!) and now there’s a writing deadline on another project. (It’s really, really hard to try to write while watching the game. It would be much easier if it were a baseball game. Slower. More pastoral. More amenable to multitasking.)

Here, have a picture of Ontario Airport, taken while on approach to LAX:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAFor those not familiar with the Los Angeles area, Rancho Cucamonga is at the base of those mountains in the distance on the right – that’s where the big brush fire from last week is still burning, although no houses are threatened at the moment.

Also in the mountains in the distance on the right is the Cajon Pass where I-15 goes up to the high desert and off toward Las Vegas. (I-15 is the big highway showing a big loop along the center-right edge.) The current disaster there (unrelated to the brush fire, I believe) is a fire this afternoon in all of the wood bracing an overpass under construction. Between the fire and the weakened overpass, all lanes in both directions are closed for at least a couple of days. Needless to say, this might be an excellent area to avoid for the duration.

Google Maps Capture(Image from Google Maps)

How’s tricks in your area?

GOTTA WRITE!

 

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Filed under LA Kings, Los Angeles, Writing

April 30, 2014 · 23:25

It’s A Good Night…

…to be a fan of the LA Kings hockey team and the LA Angels baseball team (as my family is).

I had a big, important, ranty topic to talk about today, but I was up and on the freeway at Zero Dark Thirty to get to my writing group (things are going well, another thing I’m feeling good about), then spent a good chunk of the day installing a new piece of computer hardware (a Fujitsu SnapScan ix500 high-speed scanner), using it to get a big project done for the CAF first quarter closing, then went nuts on the hockey game.

As a result, I’m exhausted and would strongly recommend against thinking great thoughts, tackling complex subjects, or operating any machinery more complex than a pencil or a pen.

So as far as the somewhat trivial and pointless but still a big deal to a fan news goes tonight:

The Angels have won three in a row for the first time this year, swept a series for the first time this year, and are now above .500 for the first time since Opening Day of 2013, almost thirteen months ago. This is a good thing and we should continue to improve in order to keep me happy. (Which is, after all, what everything is about, right?)

The Kings are in the playoffs and played like crap the first two games of the series against the San Jose Sharks and then played better but lost the third game in overtime. In the history of the league, only nine previous teams had ever gone down 0-3 to start a best-of-seven series and even taken it to a seventh game, and only three of those won the series and moved on. Tonight, the Kings are the fourth with a convincing win.

The Vuvuzela of Victory sings its sweet song tonight!

As far as it not being advisable for me to be operating any machinery more complex than a pencil or pen, let’s see if I can at least debunk an urban legend about pencils and pens.

It’s a common misconception or urban myth that in the 1960’s NASA spent millions of dollars developing a pen that would write in zero gravity — while the Russians used a pencil.

This is obviously an object lesson on how stupid and wasteful NASA is with your hard-earned tax dollars, and how pragmatic and straightforward the Russians are.

Except, none of it’s true.

  1. NASA didn’t spend or “waste” millions of dollars. The pen company (Parker?) spent a few thousand dollars of their own money and then sold pens to NASA (and anyone else who wanted to buy one) for a few dollars.
  2. There was a damn good reason that NASA wanted a pen. Pencil “lead” is actually graphite, i.e., carbon, and it’s a very good conductor of electricity and highly flammable when powdered. As one writes, it gives off a powder, which in zero gravity floats around the cabin, and then can find its way into a switch or circuit. A small short circuit like this can be serious, and if there’s an arc of any kind, in a high-oxygen, low-pressure environment, that can be explosive and deadly.
  3. The Russians knew this and also started buying and using “space pens” when they became available.

So the next time someone spouts this tale, especially if they’re using it to bash NASA, let them know that they should check their facts. It’s a great story (I told it for years myself) but it’s wrong. At this point, the truth is actually far more interesting.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll pontificate on something deep and philosophical. Wait, tomorrow’s Flash Fiction Thursday. How about Friday for deep thoughts? I’ll pencil it in. (Pun intended, of course!)

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Filed under CAF, LA Angels, LA Kings, Space, Writing

April 26, 2014 · 22:09

Adios To This Week

It hasn’t been a particularly bad week, or a spectacularly good one, but I’ve been busy and tired. I’m feeling a little like I’m juggling maybe one too many balls, but really need to be picking up the pace and juggling several more.

So as I bask in the Kings’ victory tonight (we’re not dead yet!) and kick back to listen to some Saturday Night Safety Dance tunes, let’s bid the week adieu or adios or auf wiedersehen or sayonara or do svidaniya or zai jian or Qapla’! with an old sunset picture.

DSCN2534_small

Next week will be better. We will make it so. ‘IwlIj jachjaj!

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Filed under LA Kings, Photography, Science Fiction

April 20, 2014 · 23:08

Telemarketer Wars, Round Three

I’ve recently ranted (and that’s all it really is, I’m well aware that in the big scheme of things, if this is the worst problem that I’ve got going on in my life [and it isn’t], then I’m pretty freakin’ lucky) about possible suggestions on how to deal with telemarketers.

We’ve pretty well established that the BEST way to handle telemarketers is to not answer the phone if your Caller ID doesn’t show you that the call is coming from someone you know and want to talk to.

Having said that, sometimes that’s harder to do because you might be looking for a job and sending out lots of resumes and filling out a lot of online job applications. (I am!) While you’re putting your cell phone as your preferred contact number, the home number is on the resume and needs to be filled in on many of the online applications. So maybe it’s someone calling about a job?! (Hope springs eternal, despite the odds against…)

Or you might have your own situation or phobia or neuroses. Maybe it’s a hospital calling about someone who’s been in a car accident. Maybe someone really liked a blog post and wants you to write for them, or it’s an agent wanting to know if you’ve got a book you’re shopping around. Maybe it’s really, really that Nigerian prince who’s trying to give away that fortune of his.

Or maybe you just were warped and scarred at a young age by nuns who instilled an unhealthy sanctimonious vengeance response into your brain stem and you feel the need to PUNISH those assholes, just because! (I used to know someone like that. Yeah, that’s it! Someone I used to know…)

Anyway…

At first, I couldn’t figure out the paradox of how these scammers could stay in business, because I didn’t see how anyone could fall for their blatantly obvious bullshit. Well, at least in some cases, it seems that it may be a cultural issue, or a generational issue, and they prey on people’s fear.

Then I had a fortuitous accident and came up with a possible scheme to potentially confuse, befuddle, and waste the precious time of telemarketers, thus (hopefully) disrupting the efficiency and automation which are the core of their business model.

These posts have generated some lively conversations, both with people I know and with friends of The Long-Suffering Wife. So, in the interest of thoroughness (and the fact that my brain is all screwed up after the Kings’ second embarrassing loss tonight to San Jose) here are a few more ideas and suggestions that have come in:

  1. Just take the phone off the hook. Period. Anyone who really, really needs to reach you should know to call your cell phone. (The argument against this in my case is that my mother doesn’t know this, and our son overseas in the military always calls on the land line, so maybe there are issues with this approach.)
  2. Someone sent a link to an online anecdote from a confessed telemarketer with a situation that stopped him dead in his tracks — the person started singing, belting out a whole song while he listened, laughing. I’ve given this a try and it does work, at least in the sense that it gets rid of the telemarketer, stunning them with kindness (or at least surprise) instead of cussing them out. I started singing “The Star Spangled Banner,” which has the additional benefit of being really hard to sing (listen to anyone at the beginning of a ballgame) so if you suck at it (I do) it’s just what everyone would expect anyway. Emotionally, I would like to start belting out the chorus to Julia Ecklar’s “Temper Of Revenge.” (“Find me a horse as red as the sun! / Find me a blade that will make their blood run!”) Don’t know the song? You should! You can get a copy of the album from Prometheus Music, highly recommended.
  3. Someone at the hanger suggested just holding the phone out away from your mouth and saying something like, “Are you running the trace now, officer? It’s one of them again!”
  4. Someone suggested, if asked to let them speak to John Doe, to say something like, “He’s not here right now, but if you give me your personal cell phone number or home phone number, I can have him call you back when it’s most inconvenient.”
  5. Someone suggested just saying, “They’re dead,” and hanging up.
  6. I actually prefer a variation on this if you need to practice your acting and/or improv skills. No matter who they ask for, start stammering and crying, “You… You haven’t heard? You don’t know?” Sob, sniffle. “They died last night!” See just how much BS you can shovel, sort of like the way the guys got dates in “Animal House.” (“She died in a horrible kiln explosion.” “What, I talked to her just the other day, she was going to make me a pot…”)
  7. You can always just say, “Hold on, I’ll get them” or “Hold on, let me get to the other phone,” put the phone down, then go about your business. They’ll hang up, eventually. Then your phone is off the hook and you’re back to #1, above.

The gist of it is, don’t let the bastards get under your skin, and if you can turn the situation on its head, turn the tables so that you’re in control of the situation, so that you’re using the opportunity to get what you want or need (even if it’s just a good laugh at the expense of someone who deserves it), then take the opportunity and take back your life and your time.

Or you could complain to the police, the FTC, or your congress-critter. After doing so, please get psychiatric help if you think any of them will actually do anything about the problem.

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Filed under Farce, Freakin' Idiots!, Job Hunt, LA Kings, Moral Outrage, Paul

February 27, 2014 · 21:46

Flash Fiction: Down In Mississippi

It’s Thursday, the day I normally post my entry for Wonderful Chuck Wendig’s Flash Fiction Challenge — but I’m on the road, in Texas, thinking very non-fiction-writing thoughts and doing very non-fiction-writing-like things. So there’s no way I can write anything at the last minute, let alone post it, right? I’m way, way out of my normal routine and comfort zone, so I can just skate and bail this week, right? Y’all (I am in Texas) just want to see pictures of some weird Texas birds I saw today, right? Thanks!

Wait! What’s that? If I’ve got thousands of songs on my iPad I can easily get a random title to use in this week’s Challenge? If I can listen to the Kings game over the internet and harass friends on Facebook with my laptop, then I can write and post?

Stupid technology. Stupid, stupid, dumb technology! If you want me, I’ll be over here in the corner, sulking and writing. My random song is Sugarland’s “Down In Mississippi.” The resulting story is a little long, but it’s a lot shorter than it was before the first two editing passes. At 23:45, there won’t be a third editing pass.

As always, comments and constructive criticisms are appreciated. I hope you enjoy it.

DOWN IN MISSISSIPPI 

There was a great roaring noise filling the universe as consciousness returned. There was pain and no doubt a whole boatload of it, but for whatever reason, it was off over there in his brain, waiting its turn to command his immediate attention. He was grateful, since the noise was really making it hard to focus right now.

The noise was like a spike driven right between his eyes, but after what could have been half a second or half a year, it modulated into some individual components. Over the top of everything was a whine, a howling, a high-pitched ringing. It was gradually diminishing and underneath it he could now hear a lower pitched body of sound that ebbed and flowed, swinging in magnitude between peaks and inaudibility. During one of the quieter moments, he started to make out sharp, staccato grunts and heavy breathing.

It was hard to care about what was causing it all although he knew he really should. Even though his thinking was fogged and fuzzy, he was sure bad shit was happening. All of that pain didn’t just come out of nowhere. It would be really easy to just leave the noise and the pain behind, slipping quietly back into the dark, quiet place he had come from.

Something hit him hard. The pain claimed its place on the top of the attention span manifest. It threatened to push him rudely right back over the edge, but he was stubborn and didn’t want to go there if it wasn’t his choice. He fought it. The pain got pushed back just far enough to get some focus.

Clues dropped into place. He realized there were people around him, fighting. He must be on the ground. Someone had just tripped over him, or been knocked down on top of him. There was little satisfaction in knowing that the “bad shit” assessment had been correct. The ground was a bad place to be.

He tried opening his eyes, but only one of them responded. The left eye was swollen shut, although he could see light coming in blurry flashes. But the right eye opened and the magnitude of the bad shit became clearer.

He pushed himself up onto an elbow. All the pain rushed to the back of his head. He reached back and felt blood. Despite that, it was a relief to be moving.

Through the ringing he recognized his name being shouted. “Tommy! Tommy, can you get up? We need a little help here! Tommy, you gotta get up!”

He was trying. The shouting came from behind him, where fighting sounds continued. What the hell was going on here?

It was dark, a handful of streetlights shedding some illumination. They were in a garbage filled alley with dark buildings all around. Another voice was shouting his name now. Above it all, the roar from the crowd of onlookers swelled as he got to his knees. He could just make out a few figures in the shadows, but there had to be more that he couldn’t see.

As he finally got to his feet, someone came rushing at him like a linebacker going after the quarterback. His body reacted before his addled brain could interfere. In one smooth motion Tommy stepped aside, grabbed the attacker’s head, and pulled it down to meet Tommy’s upcoming knee. The resulting thud and scream as the attacker’s nose broke was worth the explosion of pain the action created in Tommy’s head.

Bending over to steady himself, his hands on his knees, he heard someone yell, “Tommy! Get down!” Dropping to a knee, he felt the whoosh of something swinging through the space his head had just occupied. He stood back up and spun, coming face to face with the guy holding the baseball bat.

Tommy was inside the arc of the second swing as the attacker swatted agin. The backhand stroke had much less force. Tommy grabbed the bat and wrenched it away as he kneed the attacker in the groin. Now armed with the bat, Tommy left the second man howling on the ground with a broken arm.

Looking around with his one functioning eye, Tommy saw three of his friends fighting five strangers. There were six other guys on the ground, the two that Tommy had just put there and four others. The attackers looked like gang members, street thugs.

The bat he was holding was slippery. Tommy could see blood running down the handle, blood that might have come from the back of his head. That would explain a lot.

Adrenaline helped to push the pain away as Tommy moved toward his friends. Through the ringing in his ears he was finally hearing sirens approaching.

Coming up behind a clueless teenager who was trying to punch his friend, Tommy used the bat to smash the side of the kid’s knee. The kid went down screaming. It was now a four-on-four fight.

The alley lit up with flashing blue and red lights. Two police cars skidded to a stop behind him. The four thugs and the crowd rooting for them all started running the other way, only to be cut off with a pair of cars pulling up there as well.

“Everybody freeze! Biloxi police! Drop your weapons and put your hands in the air! Now!” The sound from the loudspeakers echoed off the alley walls. Spotlights from the four cars quickly lit up the alley.

Tommy dropped the bat and raised his hands. He saw that his friends had done the same.

More cars pulled up at both ends of the alley, along with a couple of ambulances. Tommy hoped someone would hurry so he could pass out again.

Out of the bright lights and confusion behind his friends, Tommy saw four very large MPs approaching, accompanied by a group of paramedics. Tommy recognized the MP who came over to him with his handcuffs out. The MP stopped when he saw all of the blood on Tommy’s head, neck, and back.

“If you promise to get me an aspirin out of one of those ambulances,” Tommy said, smiling, “I promise not to run away. Deal?”

“What the hell happened here, Gunny?” asked the surprised MP.

“Hell if I know. I must have slept through the opening act. It doesn’t matter to me if you take us back to Keesler or those guys take us to Biloxi, but I could really use that aspirin.”

With that, Tommy’s knees buckled and he went back to the dark, quiet place with no ringing ears and no blinding pain.

 

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Filed under LA Kings, Travel, Writing

February 16, 2014 · 22:11

Mood Triggers Out Of Balance

Tasks that should be simple and quick turn out to be more complex and take longer.

Every time I get one thing done, it seems like three or four more pop up.

Something that should be a joy is suddenly turning into a source of stress.

Something that’s been a serious source of stress for well over a year is getting worse, not better.

Something that I thought would be routine is turning to real work.

Something that I’m doing to get away from some of the other stressful things is turning into the exact same type of stressful things.

26% of Americans believe the Sun orbits around the Earth.

I’m trying to obey Wheaton’s Law (“Don’t be a dick!”) but it’s getting harder by the day.

Some people I admire and yearn to be compatriots with are again this week demonstrating that they haven’t read Wheaton’s Law.

Then they’re doubling down on stupid and toxic — like that ever worked.

That’s all enough to put you right off of your fresh fried lobster. The hopeful, good, uplifting things I need to balance them out?

Saturday Night Safety Dance.

Occasional funny videos passed on by friends.

Spring training’s under way.

The LA Kings’ players in Olympic hockey are playing well and Team USA is playing well.

Writing.

No pressure guys, but I’m really going to be needing to see another Stanley Cup and another World Series victory if this shit keeps up. A Super Bowl next year wouldn’t hurt either.

And no, it has not escaped my attention that in that list of the Forces of Good, one of these things is not like the others.

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Filed under Job Hunt, LA Angels, LA Kings, Paul

January 7, 2014 · 22:54

Not With A Bang

Oh, yeah, this…

One of my fears is that when I finally do take a day off and not post anything here (it’s going to happen, I don’t plan on posting daily for the rest of my life) it won’t be because I made a decision to do so, or because I’m travelling to Europe or Asia and can’t post anything, or because I’m in a coma or just have the flu. (Note that this “fear” isn’t like my fear of rattlesnakes or anything – perspective is everything.)

No, it will happen because I will get caught up doing a dozen other things before finally falling into bed, exhausted, only to wake up at 3:33 AM with the realization of what happened and that whole Wilhelm Scream thing scaring the crap out of The Long-Suffering Wife.

Today was nearly that day. I’ve been writing all night on another project…

2013-11-30 NaNoWriMo Scoreboard(Remember “Project A”?)

…and while that’s going much better than the last bit there, it’s on a deadline and I got caught up and was also watching the Kings’ game and then there’s this whole thing that’s going on which you’ll probably hear way too much about later and…

Hi, there. I have ever told you how much I love air shows? Guess how many pictures I can take in a day at a good air show?

Here’s a picture. We’ll talk later.

IMG_8145 (small)US Air Force Thunderbirds at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, 2008

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Filed under Flying, LA Kings, Photography, Writing

September 15, 2013 · 19:51

Kings & Chiefs

(HEADS UP – If you hate sports, just can’t see what all of the fuss is about, or are just one of those folks who choose to look down on all sports for whatever reason – I’ll see you tomorrow, you don’t have to read further. It’s a sports rant today.)

Very early on after starting this blog I wrote a minor rant about some of my sports-based passions. At that time the LA Kings were just starting their run in the NHL playoffs and the LA Angels were already starting to disappoint about a month into their MLB season.

Now the seasons have turned, literally in the sports-related sense. The Angels are about two weeks away from the blessed ending of another thoroughly forgettable year and the Kings are playing their first pre-season game, with the season starting for real the first week in October. Best of all, the NFL season has started and my beloved KC Chiefs look like they’ll suck a lot less than they did last year!

The Angels will make a great case study for Harvard Business School or some sports management program. They’ve gone out for the last several years in a row and paid a TON of money to free agent players who have failed to produce anything like the numbers they were expected to. Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, and (don’t even get me started on) Vernon Wells — big money, long term contracts, and mediocre performance from them all.

On the other hand, the Angels have gotten amazing production from some of their rookies and younger players. Mike Trout won the AL Rookie of the Year award last year and his sophomore year has been even better. This year’s rookies JB Shuck, Collin Cowgill, Kole Calhoun, Andrew Romine, Luis Jimenez, and Grant Green have all produced as well or better than the high-priced free agents, once enough injuries happened to let them be brought up from the minors. Maybe it’s because they’re hungrier to make it, maybe it’s just because they’re younger, but whatever it is, they’re doing a better job. Meanwhile, the team is stuck with hundreds of millions of dollars in salaries for the next ten years or so for players who aren’t producing now and will likely be producing less at the end of those contracts.

Interesting business model.

Meanwhile with thirteen games left we’re in third place, sixteen games out in the division. That’s not good math. In the wildcard we’re still alive mathematically, 9.5 games back, but we would have to jump over five different teams to get a playoff spot, and that’s not going to happen in this version of reality. We’re at 72-77, five games under .500, and the only realistic “goal” the Angels have for the last two weeks is to perhaps at least have a winning season. Whoopie!

When last we left the Kings, they were starting their playoff run, trying to defend their 2011-2012 Stanley Cup Championship. The Kings did really well in the playoffs, winning nine of the sixteen games necessary to hold onto the Cup. They beat the St. Louis Blues 4-2 in the first round and the San Jose Sharks 4-3 in the second round, before falling to the Chicago Blackhawks 1-4 in the Western Conference Finals. It was a glorious run and I had on my jersey for every game and was blowing the Joyous Vuvuzela of Victory with every goal, even if that meant hauling it across the country and blowing it in hotels and in the homes of relatives. (The relatives knew the job was dangerous when I married into the family, the hotels, not so much.)

As the new season starts, I’m really looking forward to another winning campaign and again being a contender for the Stanley Cup. Having won it once, I would like to see my favorite team win it again, and this year I would like to be there in the crowd on the night they dance it around.

Finally, after enduring in agony a miserable 2-14 year in 2012, it was with renewed hope that I (and about a half million fellow Chiefs fans) looked forward to this season with a new general manager, a new coach, a new quarterback, and a new attitude. So far we haven’t been disappointed. Today we had our first home game and won a close one over a good team (Dallas Cowboys) and that makes me happy. This upcoming week we’re the premium Thursday night game in Philadelphia against the Eagles. That should be a real treat.

I don’t really expect the Chiefs to be in the Super Bowl this year after posting a 2-14 record last year (not that I would object to that happening, mind you) but it will be great to be competitive again. I know that it’s a rebuilding year and that 8-8 would be a spectacular improvement over last year. And let’s face it, 7-9 would be OK, probably, kind of. Even 6-10. Maybe. On the other hand, if we catch a couple of breaks, 9-7 or 10-4 isn’t completely out of the question and that might get us into the playoffs. Right?

Just sayin’…

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Filed under KC Chiefs, LA Angels, LA Kings, Sports

June 8, 2013 · 20:48

Busy Vacation

We’re not big on those vacations where you go find a beach and just lay there & sip adult beverages for a week with no schedule other than sleep when you want and then get up when you want and then do what you want until it’s time to go back to sleep (when you want).

So it’s been a busy, busy couple of days. Here’s a couple of quick photos off of my iPhone with more pictures & stories to follow when we get back and catch our breath…

2013-06-08 photo (1)

 

2013-06-08 photo (2)

 

Oh, and it’s nearly midnight and we’re off again by 9:00 tomorrow morning yet I MUST stay up because my beloved Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings are in a must-win-or-go-home game, now getting ready to start double overtime. How can a true fan think of sleep at a time like this, even if I can’t blow the Joyous Vuvuzela of Victory when we win?

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Filed under Flying, LA Kings, Travel