malaise and bonbons

today, i thought i would do something productive and give my old beater bike a touchup paint job. i have wanted to brighten it up for a while, since the silver paint job i did about a year and a half ago was on its last legs.

i rode up to logan hardware, had them mix up some bubblegum pink rustproof paint, and headed home in the blazing hot sun to touch up my beater. i set everything up on my balcony and started painting away. things went swimmingly until i was on the last little bit. then the wind kicked up and the clouds rolled in and i realized that dc was about to be hit by a rainstorm.

so now i have a beater bike drying right next to my sofa. let’s hope i don’t die because of paint fume inhalation this evening. however, i’m sure you’ll agree that the color is BEAUTIFUL.

tonight, the vegan and i went to go see the nhl awards, which are the oscars for ice skaters who will punch you in the face. the washington capitals had three members of the organizations up for awards (alex ovechkin for mvp, bruce boudreau for coach, and little nicky backstrom for rookie of the year), so the team opened up the verizon center and the jumbotron to fans. it was a fun event, except for the fact that NO ONE in the arena was as interested in the fashion as i was. listen – if you’re going to have a red carpet, you should be able to comment on what people are wearing, especially because it looked like hockey prom! all these young players in bad tuxedo choices (patrick kane, i’m talking about you) made for a night of great viewing.
oh yeah, and it was great to see the wins of the caps. but, as the vegan pointed out, instead of just holding an oscar party every year, i should also hold a nhl awards show party. i think this is a capital idea. so i’m calling all of you now – i need both hockey fans and fashionistas. let me know if you want to be on the invite list.

you better head over to cry me an ice rink, my hockey blog,because with two more games this week before the playoffs, and with the caps heading into a nailbiter of a finish, i’m hockey obsessed.
i spend my free time poring over the standings, trying to figure out every combination of how the caps can make it into the playoffs.
and as a result, i haven’t been paying attention to music or comics or anything goofy like that.
i’d apologize, but i’m too busy searching blogs for information about shaone morrisonn’s health after the hit he took last night.
let’s go caps!

because hockey was threatening to take over this blog, i’ve moved all my hockey related blogging over to:
http://crymeanicerink.wordpress.com/
yeah, i know – just as the caps season ends, THAT’s when i decide to start the hockey blog.

thrashers can’t add to southeast lead

so last night, i was at work and listening to the caps game on the radio. it seemed that as soon as i had turned it on, the thrashers’ ilya kolvachuck scored a goal – one minute and 16 seconds into the first period. soon afterwards, i left work and stopped listening to the game.

so imagine my surprise when i checked the scores later that evening and found out that the caps had won, 3-2. better yet, they managed to kill a three-man (yes, THREE-man) advantage during a time when two caps were in the penalty box.

boy, it really IS fan appreciation week. woohoo! let’s go caps!

i have never wanted a hockey game to end as much as tonight’s caps-panthers matchup.
after alex ovechkin scored a goal in the second period, i spent the rest of my game on the edge of my seat, hoping that the game would end quickly so that the caps could come away with a win, after a six game losing streak.
earlier in the season, i would have hoped for another goal.
but now? with players tired and injured and fighting each other (or smashing ipods), any win – even a 1-0 win – is good enough for me. the season is almost over, and i’m just hoping that everyone will manage to keep things together for the two games that are left.

and so i have to thank the caps for managing to pull things together defense-wise, and thank olie kolzig for doing an amazing job turning away 27 shots on goal (and getting his first shutout in three years), and thank milan jurcina for knowing when to back down and not get thrown out of a game for fighting. it was a nice way to start fan appreciation week, because fans appreciate nothing more than a flat-out win.

i know what you’re thinking.
“the pittsburgh pirates? what do the pittsburgh pirates have to do with hockey?”
nothing, of course.
UNLESS you’re a pittsburgh fan.
because apparently, when you attend a penguins game, it’s acceptable to wear a shirt from any pittsburgh sports team, to show one’s true fan colors.
and this is why i hate pittsburgh fans more than any other fans in the universe – they’re so dumb that they can’t tell the difference between hockey and other sports.
as a result, watching a game is like being hit with a blunt instrument. the puck veers anywhere near the opposing team’s net, and the air is suddenly filled with a cacophony of high-pitched barks – the supposed call of the penguin, but in reality, just something that’s really, really annoying.
i can understand why all the caps were punchy last night – if i had to play against that, i’d want to put my face in someone’s jaw as well. indeed, don brashear got into two great fights last night – the second one of which was a total boxing match. we’re talking gloves off, fists cocked, and the refs just standing by waiting, like the rest of us, for the punch to be thrown.
but i digress from the point i was making, which was that pittsburgh fans are annoying.
and this is what makes a caps 4-3 loss so much worse.
when the team beloved by idiot fans manages to win – thus affirming their idiot fandom – it hurts, glenn hanlon. because we’re better than that. the caps are classier. and they should be better. sure, the pens have sidney crosby, but we have alex ovechkin AND alexander semin.
so yeah. despite great 200-level seats, the game was painful – so much so that i think i might skip all the pittsburgh games next week.

maybe i shouldn’t be calling a season’s best game right now, considering that there are still about three or four games left in the season. but hot damn, today was a great day for the caps. and here’s the reason why:

yup. olie kolzig.

now, i know some of you are thinking: kolzig’s been the goalie for years, and the caps haven’t been all that great a team.
but here’s my theory:
a couple weeks ago, kolzig gets injured, and is out of the roster.
the caps begin a downward spiral, where they go from losing in shootouts to losing outright.
then kolzig gets better.
on the first night he’s back, the caps lose to the bruins. which is fine. the man’s got to build up his strength.
on the second night he’s back, the caps win over toronto.
actually, let me clarify.
they don’t just win – they cream toronto, beating them into a 5-1 pulp.
on the third night kolzig is back – this evening – they end up clobbering the tampa bay lightning, 7-1. yup. that’s right. SEVEN to ONE.
if things keep going this way, by the end of the season, the caps will be beating other teams 20-1. and it’s all due to olie kolzig. yup. good old olie!

******************************
seriously, though, tonight’s game was amazing. alexander semin scored a hat trick, with three goals in less than 10 minutes. it was an amazing feat, and the vegan came home hatless.
tomas fleischmann scored two in the first period.
then alexandre giroux – recently returned from hershey – and boyd gordon scored the last two goals.

it was a great night.

of course my highlight was finally meeting slapshot. i have a photo, which i’ll post soon, but need to sleep now.

last night, as i was standing outside the door of my office building with amit, a guy who was also exiting the building asked us, “how’s your brackets?”

we stared at him, goggle-eyed, before he caught the eye of someone else he knew and moved on.

“do you know him?” amit murmured.

“no. do you know him?” i asked.

“no.”

so “how’s my brackets?” my hockey season is ending up quite poorly, thank you.