More Miscellanea

I've been off work all week and enjoying a vacation at home. It has not been as fun as I had hoped, mainly because we still have to fulfill our usual Christmas obligations to family and are entertaining house guests.

Some things that have happened:

Darling husband started an “animated political discussion” (aka fight) on Christmas Eve, which I finally had to break up by yelling “Moving on now...” Darling father-in-law was not amused with any of the participants. The entertainment value came in listening to the relative parrot the usual right-wing talking points about the devaluation of Christmas and spying on American citizens without thinking through the argument logically. Pity I only heard the end of the discussion.

We pulled a Sidney Crosby Rookie card from a pack of Upper Deck cards. Current book value: $200.00. No, I'm not selling the card.

The Penguins played exceptionally well last night against the New Jersey Devils. I did not get to see the game on television, but caught the second and third period on our way back from a family gathering. I am pleased. We see them play tomorrow against the Rangers. It will be interesting to see, since the Rangers will be in the Stanley Cup this year.

Apparently, I am some sort of hockey idiot savant at work these days. Almost two months ago I put a list up on my white board of all the things the Penguins organization needed to do to pull themselves out of “suckitude”. The list included the following, in no particular order:

1. Bench Lemieux.


2. Promote Michel Therrien to head coach.


3. Fire Shane Clifford.


4. Release Thibault.


5. Defensive Drills until they throw up.


6. Make Recchi Captain.


7. Bring Andy Chiodo up.


8. Break the kneecaps of any ref who called a Boston/Pittsburgh game this year (sheer fantasy, yes).

What can I say? I read the sports column every day, watch most of the games and pay attention.

My Christmas Memory

Christmas of 1996 I was a poor graduate student with a full time job, living in Greensboro NC. I was also very alone, as my family was in PA and most of my friends were heading back to their own families for the holiday.

It was my first Christmas away from home. I could not afford a plane ticket and did not have the time, because of my work schedule, to drive.

Until my ex-boyfriend, who I followed to North Carolina, called to ask if I wanted a ride as far as Latrobe. And one of my co-workers offered to switch vacation days so I could take the ride.

So Christmas Eve found me wrapped in a blanket, sitting in the passenger seat of the ex's Miata with the the top down, driving through the mountains of West Virginia. The sky was clear, the stars bright and the radio was playing Elvis' Blue Christmas. It was a perfect moment.

My brother picked me up in Latrobe and drove me home, where I surprised my parents by walking through their bedroom door at 2 am.

Four years later, on a clear, cold, starry, January evening, I married the ex-boyfriend.

SPAM!

My definition of spam is rather broad and includes all the crap that people forward to me without reading throughly first.

I have a relative, who shall remain nameless for the sake of familial peace, who has yet to forward a useful glurge to me. Normally I am able to simply ignore and delete, but this last piece of email offended my sensibilities enough that I feel the need to excoriate said relative in the pages of these blogs.

The text of the email as follows:

How ironic is this??!! They don't even believe in Christ and they're getting their own Christmas stamp, but don't dream of posting the ten commandments on federal property?

Eid ul-Fitr is the Islamic holiday that defines the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting. Unlike Christmas, which happens the same day every year, Ramadan and Eid vary from year to year. There is no comparison between Eid and Christmas. The meaning and intent of the two celebrations are completely different. Eid has more in common with the Christian observance of Lent and Easter.

This one is impossible to believe. Scroll down for the text.

If there is only one thing you forward today.....let it be this!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of PanAm Flight 103!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the military barracks in Saudi Arabia!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the American Embassies in Africa!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the USS COLE!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11/2001!
REMEMBER all the AMERICAN lives that were lost in those vicious MUSLIM attacks!

Repeat after me:

Muslim does NOT equal terrorist.
Muslim does NOT equal terrorist.
Muslim does NOT equal terrorist.
Muslim does NOT equal terrorist.

Remember that ugly period known in history as “The Crusades”. Followed by an equally ugly period known as “The Inquisition”. What about the Salem Witch Hunt? Or lynchings in the American South during the early part of the twentieth century? The Rwandan massacres of early 1990's? IRA bombings in London during the 1980's and 1990's? Evil acts are not the providence of one particular faith.

Now the United States Postal Service REMEMBERS and HONORS the EID MUSLIM holiday season with a commemorative first class holiday postage stamp.
REMEMBER to adamantly and vocally BOYCOTT this stamp when purchasing your stamps at the post office. To use this stamp would be a slap in the face to all those AMERICANS who died at the hands of those whom this stamp honors. REMEMBER to pass this along to every patriotic AMERICAN you know”.

Stupid. Just stupid. The Eid stamp is part of a series of stamps that includes Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Cinco de Mayo. Not only do I plan on purchasing the stamp and using it, but the family member ignorant enough to send the email to me is getting as many sheets of 20 as I can scrounge up.

What I find most insulting is to be lumped together with the sheep who have decided to allow fear of the unfamiliar and the difficult to understand to rule my life. I obviously have to be more aggressive in voicing my values so I don't continue to receive crap email.

RIP Pittsburgh Penguins 1967-2007

In my iCalendar I have every 2005 – 2006 Penguin game we plan on attending scheduled. We have 11 games outright this year from our share of season tickets, and will probably attend a total of 13 games.

They have not been doing well this year. Skating and puck handling has been lackluster and goal tending has been abysmal. But they are my team, and I remain faithful and hope that they will resolve whatever issues plaguing them.

It is unfortunate then, that one of those issues is a lack of progress for a new arena. The Penguins lease on Mellon Arena expires in 2007. The Penguins reserve the right to solicit offers for a new franchise staring June 2006. Six months from now, the Penguins will most likely be looking for a new home. Kansas City and Houston are mentioned are prospective sites.

What is most sickening about this situation is that Mario Lemieux and the franchise have come up with a legitimate plan to fund the building of a new arena with minimal direct cost to the taxpayers. But their plan hinges on obtaining a slots license for downtown Pittsburgh, which the Pittsburgh Gaming Task Force has declined to endorse.

Hockey is important to me, for a myriad of complex and probably stupid reasons. It is a game that I understand. It is populated by what I believe are the best type of athletes, the thinking kind. I admire the enormous amount of skill and stamina that it takes to play sixty minutes. The sound of a skate on ice makes me giddy. I don't get the same feeling when watching the Steelers or the Pirates.

I count the fact that I can watch the Penguins as a major benefit of living in Pittsburgh. If the team goes, so will I.

What I Learned Today (Updated)

Update (12/04/2005): The Penguins played the Calgary Flames on Saturday night. Whoops. Now I wonder who the "Detroit Red Wings" are.

That the Detroit Red Wings (hockey) like to order cookies and torte from Paddycake Bakery (in Bloomfield) when in town.

How do I know this? We stopped by the bakery before I went to work this morning to pick up some goodies (The cinnamon rolls will eventually kill you, but you will die happy). I was reading the boxes while darling husband was getting his coffee. Box A had “Detroit Red Wings” in black. Box B had “Detroit Red Wings + torte” in red.

And yes, it is a stupid little detail. But it made me happy.