Back to the old grind

Back to work. It wasn't all bad a nice spring day(first one in CT since spring started or so I'm told...I was in sunny FLa.) My customers sure did miss me. So, while work can be a pain, all in all it was good to be back...............

INXS sticker shock

Just sat down at the ol' 'puter and bought a couple of tixs to see INXS in Bridgeport. This will be our first major show in several years and YIKES! The ticket prices bit my rear end bad. Ah well, since I have written much about INXS in this blog, I should at least go see them in my backyard. I haven't seen it written anywhere but I do hope that Marty Casey and the Lovehammers will still be opening for the lads in May when they come around.

Paul Dana

When I logged on to write in this blog I found out about the death of Indy car driver Paul Dana earlier today. BluePumaBlues wishes to extend my sympathy to the Dana family and Rahal-Letterman Racing.......................

The Bristol Stomp

Growing up around short track racing as I did it is easy to say that Bristol is my favorite track on the Nascar circuit. No falling asleep in front of the telly when Bristol is on.....something can and usually does happen on every lap.
Today's race was no different. Bumping and banging, bent sheet metal and hurt feelings were the order of the day. The end was great, as usual, even if I'm not a Kurt Bush fan I must say he did what he had to do to win- short track style. And Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon at the end? Classic short track, with a little pushing and shoving after the race once out of their cars. Best part? Another short track next week.....Martinsville.........

Ken Daneyko # 3

Friday night the New Jersey Devils honored # 3 Ken Daneyko by retiring his jersey. What was cool about this is the Daneyko was never a huge star. He was the guy who played every game at 110% and could lift a team's spirits. He was with N. J. almost from the start, from the bleak Mickey Mouse days to winning three Stanley Cups. He only leads the Devils in two categories, games played and penalty minutes, but he is in fact "Mr. Devil". A real blue collar hero and it is great to see his number raised to the rafters............

Home, Home Again

Back from Florida.....best thing was NOT renting a car and learning how to RELAX. My friend set us up in a great hotel (Best Western Lakeside, Kissimme) and I sat by the pool, drink with small paper umbrella in hand, and I CHILLED. Next best thing was seeing some real minor league hockey: The Florida Seals! We went to two games and it very much reminded me of our old New Haven Nighthawk days. Very Cool. Yes there is hockey in Florida!

Most important: A huge thanks to T for setting us in the hotel and driving here and there and going to the hockey games....as the King would say: Thank you, thank you very much

AND also a big thank you to MOM and DAD for putting us up(or is that putting up with us?) for a few days and feeding and watering us.....THANK YOU!

Also a shout to SPIRIT AIRLINES...Thanks for the low fares!

The Best Monkey Song...EVER

Well the hockey monkey strikes again! In a poll conducted by Blender magazine, the Zamboni's 'Hockey Monkey' was voted the best Monkey song ever, beating such industry heavy weights as the Foo Fighters, the Beastie Boys and yes even the Monkeys! The Zamboni's shoot.....and SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yet another ugly jersey

The only jersey to feature the team's TV analyst in the logo.............

More Ugly Jerseys: The Spring 2006 Collection

It's not what you wear, it's how you play the game...............

World's Ugliest Hockey Jersey????

The Uecker as worn by the 2006 Milwaukee Admirals:

Getting Ready For Florida

Time once again for our annual pilgrimage to the SunShine State. Let's see, flight booked, check. Hotels booked, check (Thanks T!!!) Shuttle to airport, check. Cat sitter, check. House cleaned...uh oh time to get to work! Vaction sure is a lot of work!

I'm No Hero...........

My sainted wife, Barbara, got an infection in her knee putting her out of action this week. We had to go to the ER to find out what was going on and they fixed her up with some anti-biotic, so she is getting better slowly.

Barbara has had a host of medical problems, but we try hard not to let them get us down. We always figured that there are people worse off than we are. We deal with these things as the occur and move on. You play the hand you were dealt.

Which brings me to the title of this tome. After staying in and taking care of Barbara for the past two days, I went to work to case up my route for 3 hours today. All I heard was people telling me how great it was that I take care of my wife and how patient I am (I'm not)and stuff like that. Nawww, I'm just doing what anybody would do for their spouse, right? I guess I just accept the fact that she will always have some medical problems, so dealing with them is not such a big deal for me. It's what we do.

A Tribute to Smokey.....

We had to put our oldest cat, Smokey, to sleep today. It's very, very tough to lose a member of the family. He was 15 1/2 years old and had stomach problems his entire life. About 10 years ago he got very sick but between our excellent vet, Dr. B. and some roast beef therapy, Smokey pulled through and brought joy into our hearts for another decade



Cats have individual traits and personalities and Smokey was no different. His two front teeth projected from his mouth like a pair of fangs. Smokey was a gentle and loving cat, who loved to give "kisses" by rubbing your nose with his face. He will always be remembered as the roast beef hound. Once when my wife was preparing a roast she turned her back, leaving the raw roast beef on the table. Smokey, who was only a kitten jumped up and tried to pull the roast to the floor. The meat had to weigh at least as twice as much as he did, but he did his little engine that could impersonation. Fortunately my wife caught him before our dinner disappeared. He had sunk his fangs into the fat, so a little trimming saved our supper.

Smokey had a few nicknames, the most endearing being "Puppy". That's because he would follow my wife around the house like a little puppy dog. Once while getting a check up at the vets he started twisting and squirming and wife said "Stop it Puppy!" Dr. B. looked Smokey right in the eyes and said with great sincerity "You're not a puppy!" We always got a good laugh from that.

Smokey is with his brother Friskers now and I'm sure Smokey is cleaning Friskers ears, something he used to do until Friskers' head was soaked. We shall miss our little guy..................RIP Smokey

Sunday Blahs...........

At least I have tomorrow off. I just kind of goofed off today and didn't get too much done. Did have to clean up the bathroom big time, the oil burner is acting up and there was a fine black soot covering our porcelain. Ah well, that's the landlord's problem. I have a bigger problem. Smokey, our 15 year old cat is very sick. He really has been sick his entire life, but this looks bad. We're taking him to the vets tomorrow. Poor guy.........

Devils 2 rangers 1

There was a huge buzz at the Meadowlands arena last night as the Devils squared off against the red hot rangers. The sellout crowd was treated to a great game as the Devils scored a 2-1 victory. I felt that the Devils need to get a strong start after the Olympic break and they did taking 5 of a possible 6 points in the first three games against division rivals the Flyers, Islanders and rangers.

The key to last nights game was the John Madden's checking line which held the leagues top scorer, Jaromir Jager to no points.

I TIVO'd the game because we went out to dinner with my niece and nephew. Thank the Gods for TIVO!

Neither Rain nor Snow.............

Weather, weather everywhere. Got some snow, some rain, some sleet today. Just enough snow where I had to fire up the snow blower when I got home after working 9 hours out in it. Oh well, vacation is soon enough! :^)

Devils take 3 points in 2 nights................

Well they Olympic break is over and the lads are back in the NIL finishing up the regular season. My New Jersey Devils had a couple of games in the last two nights so here's a quick recap...

Vs. Flyers 3/1: I was so glad Finland made it to the gold medal game 'cause that meant that the Devils wouldn't have to face wonder goalie A. Nittymaki in the first game back from the break. So all that happens is Robert Esche stands on his head and gives you change in goal for Philly. The one play that stands out in regulation was Marty Broeduer giving up a very rare rebound to Peter Forsberg who promptly hit not one but both posts. This game went to a shootout with Viktor Koslov scoring for the Devs and Marty stoning Forsberg for the win!

Vs. Islanders 3/2: Satan beats Devils in Shootout....Yikes! Tonight's game featured outstanding goaltending by Olympians Marty Broeduer and the Isles Rick DePietro. Only an incredible save by Brodeur, after he had lost his stick, on Mark Parrish sent this game into OT and the shootout. A nifty move by Miroslav Satan beat Brodeur and put 2 desperately needed points into the books for the Islanders.....