Magic numbers

Last year, I went away in August and came back with the idea for this blog.

This year, I went away in August… and all I got was this lousy windburn. (Not even this Irish skin was gonna get sunburned in this absence-of-light.)

We bought some cheap gas, outran Ernesto’s leftovers home, shipped TLP back to Illinois, and now… well, technically, now, I’m still off. It’s nice. But since this is Post 300, I figured I’d make it back-slappingly self-referential and self-aggrandizing, just for the heck of it, while finishing up the autos agate. (Who’s off?) After all, our occasional Arrested Development references appear to make us the best writer’s blog in the AHL’s East Division. (I’d question both the criteria and the ranking, Jason.) In that spirit, this Mr. F asks: Just who is this Hermano guy, anyway?

While away, the power button on my laptop somehow got jammed under the frame; couldn’t push it at all. So Compy stayed on throughout. Got home, and CompUSA wanted money to fix it. So I brought it back home, grabbed a fingernail clipper and somehow pulled it back into position. Why it worked, why it went wrong in the first place? No idea. But it works now, so who cares? (They want money to fix that ‘E’ key, too. I think I can deal.)

Everyone ready for the new TV season? (Me neither.) Caught up with the Deadwood, Entourage and Rescue Me finales tonight. Some good stuff. Also caught up with last Monday’s Prison Break. That show is awesome… unless you stop for a moment to think rationally about anything going on. So I turn my brain off for an hour*, and it’s awesome, man, awesome.

The daily search for Bridgeport references in the papers turned up this the other day. I guess any Steve Regier reference is a good Steve Regier reference, but when I saw that link, I guess I was hoping for more. (This is easy for me to say, not having written a substantial word for print about hockey in two and a half weeks.)

Speaking of Edmonton the city, Edmonton the organization will send one player to every team in the minor leagues, or so it seemed at first glance, with all the press releases cascading in about Team X affiliating with the Oilers. It’s actually five AHL teams and an ECHL team, including Iowa and Hamilton again, and Wilkes-Barre, as that non-Arrested-Development-referencing blog had a long time ago. Bridgeport wasn’t in that running; no room, allegedly, at the inn.

Closest thing to a Sound Tigers reference on the Eurohockey.net list of recent transactions: Yuri Butsayev switching teams, to Lada Togliatti. Butsayev was nice enough to score two minutes before final deadline on June 3, 2002. What I learned that day: Always pack before the game, just in case it runs into the night.

Drove Friday night down George Street. Got choked up at Orange. Had a tear by State. If I wasn’t driving, forget about it; I’d have lost it. If this makes me a sissy, I’ll deal with it.

One idea I had, and I don’t know if it’ll take, is to throw a “Line of the Moment” up in the right margin. (It was mostly hatched because of the Line of the Moment of this moment.) During the season, it might even be hockey-related. I’ll see if it goes anywhere, but if you’ve got strong feelings pro or con, let me know.

A minor technomalogical update may follow soon…

And speaking of magic numbers…. aw, some other time.

*-No jokes.

Michael Fornabaio