Life in Chattanooga: Ramblings of a stay-at-home dad, pastor's husband, brother, son, all around silly guy, schmuck, and whatever else you’d like to call me.
Driving along James Roberston Parkway into work this morning I was treated to a lovely rainbow west of town. It made up for the fact that I had to come into work to babysit this room that only has a projection screen and an a/v cart on which to put their projector. Ugh.
Thanks for the rainbow, God! As I sit in my stuffy little office squeezed into a closet behind the concierge desk I can picture the lovely half arc of the rainbow above Church Street. Coincidence? Hmmm . . .
My brother, who lives somewhere out in a desert in Arizona, has a hockey blog. It’s rather Phoenix Coyotes heavy but what do you expect? He lives out there and supports the home team. If he lived here in Nashville he’d be writing wonderful Predators related pieces.
This particular post seemed to resonate with me because I think there are certain parts of it that relate to our home team. Especially with the unloading of some players and not being able to hang on to others that are free agents.
So, here are a couple of excerpts from my bro (go read the rest here):
. . . this hockey club will look vastly different come September
when training camp approaches. As I have written before, balanced
hockey clubs are important. Learning to win is difficult and struggling
to win can be even worse.The positive side to the lack of a veteran presence, or to the lack
of a good veteran presence (those that will lead the right way and not
look to the plethora of golf courses we have here and not look to
retire), is that the coaching staff can teach good habits as the young
players will not have any preconceived notion of how to play NHL hockey.
I just want the organization to put a team on the ice that will be competitive. My expectations are not the playoffs.
Yet.
I may disagree with the last sentence. As far as I’m concerned, always expect the playoffs. But, that may be the reason I cry a lot during the post-season.
Blogged with Flock
globeandmail.com: Gretzky approves of potential Predators move
Gretzky approves of potential Predators move
TIM WHARNSBY AND ALLAN MAKI
From Thursday’s Globe and Mail
June 20, 2007 at 10:21 PM EDT“First, it’s a great thing for [Balsillie],” Gretzky said. “Obviously,
he’s excited about it. If it actually works out that he gets to move
the team to Hamilton is something that we’ll have to follow over the
next little while.“On the other side of it, I feel very disappointed for the people of
Nashville. But that’s business, that’s life. I will say this that if
the team is allowed to move to that area [Hamilton], it will be
tremendously successful.”
Damn you, Wayne! You do have a point. But Nashvillians and, hopefully, the businesses of Nashville aren’t going down without a fight.
I have said it before. While the potential for a move is there and I may not like it one bit that’s business. And EVERYBODY (for the most part) loves hockey in Canada. It would make better business sense (looking at Craig Leopold’s numbers) to move to a more receptive market.
Still, I love hockey and don’t want this team to move. If I had the cash I would buy several season tickets. Sigh . . .
*Props to my brother and his blog for this news.
Blogged with Flock
First off, I am not a fan of the Anaheim Ducks whatsoever. I am more of a fan of the sport of hockey than anything (and a big fan of the home team as well). But I must say some things about the NHL playoffs that no other sport playoff series has.
Whenever I watch the playoffs and the finals no matter who wins the whole process brings a tear(s) to my eyes. Hockey is the only sport that has the hand-shaking thing. Reminiscent of little league games it’s great to see opponents shake hands and hug (as manly as possible)after a rough series. Especially after contentious moments.
It’s hard work and whoever ends up winning gets my respect. One of my favorite teams to have won the cup was the Carolina Hurricanes. I had the pleasure of working in the RBC Center and for the ‘canes before it was the RBC Center. Always a fan even though I have since moved from Raleigh and am in Nashville and am a fan of my home team.
Congratulations to the Ducks. And to the Predators, there’s always next year.
At the moment I am trying to make a move up the corporate ladder. Yup, I am climbing up ‘The Man’s’ damn ladder. Hey, it looks good on the resume and it means more money while the Elder Extroverted Holy One is in school.
I work for Presentation Services or PSAV which holds the audio visual services contract in many properties across the states. I found that a director of event technologies (which used to be director of av) position is open at the Marriott at Vanderbilt University. This is a very cool opportunity because not only is it advancement but it’s also closer to EEHO’s school and the Young Extroverted One’s school. Plus, the hours are a little more flexible and no real late night rigging hours.
Now on to the peeves: With this new property I am very close to downtown and have to drive through downtown. So, not only do I have to get familiar with new traffic patterns I also have to watch out for more pedestrians. And this is where you have to listen to this song while reading the next paragraph (if you can): In the Middle, In the Middle, In the Middle – by They Might Be Giants.
I began noticing the awful practice of crossing a busy, wide street in the middle of the block when I spent a short time living in Memphis with the then fiance EEHO (although she was just the Extroverted One at the time). We would be driving down Union to Idlewild Presbyterian Church (where she and I worked) and these people would be crossing the street at random times and spots along the block. On top of that they were going slow!?! As if daring us to run them over. Well, I am seeing the same thing here in Nashville. It’s not like it’s miles to the next corner to cross appropriately and safely. The corner and a traffic light are right nearby! I feel like I’m playing Frogger but I’m one of the cars and the not-so-smart pedestrian is the not-so-smart frog. I just don’t understand it. Does this happen everywhere? Is it just a southern ‘thang’? I just don’t get it.
My next pet peeve is probably a lot of people’s. The lack of turn signal use which really pushes my buttons. It really is the only thing that makes me yell out loud when I am driving. With this new commute I have been doing I’ve been seeing it more and it drives (ha!) me nuts.
Last, but not least, is rampant cell phone use while driving. I feel like I’m the only one that’s not using the phone. Am I somewhat indaquate that I don’t have conversations to carry on while I’m driving home? Am I not important enough? I just don’t see what is so important that it can’t wait until you get out of your car or before you even get in the car.
Heck, those are the folks that aren’t using turn signals I bet . . .