Sleepy Camper

Nathan came back from Cub camp all tired out. He couldn't even stay awake for TV.

2017 ECF Game 7 Tonight

So here we are just hours away from game 7 of 2017's Eastern Conference Final, and Your Ottawa Senators are still in it. I have to admit, I was one of the doubters at the beginning of the season -- the team just didn't look fundamentally different from that team that failed to get into the playoffs last year. Nobody seriously thought that this team had it in them. And yet, here we are.

I've said on more than one occasion that I think in the current parity league, the gap between the best and the worst in the NHL is much, much smaller than it ever has been in the past, and that on any given night, any given team could beat any other given team. It means that, in the absence of a massive differential, randomness plays a much bigger role than it would have in the past.

I am by no means a hockey fan any more -- if, indeed, I ever really was a "real" hockey fan, but I'm still interested in the Senators' progress. It still bothers me to watch the team play Playoff Hockey, with the meat-grinder play and wheel-o-randomness officiating. I've actually watched more of the west's games because I have nothing invested in the outcome, so I can just watch hockey.

It will be interesting to see what this season does for the relationship between Ottawa and the Senators. The city has been abandoning the team to a certain extent. Certainly nobody expected there to be tickets going unsold for playoff games of any round. I am sure that Phoenix and the flood are factors, as is the fact that the arena is in the middle of nowhere. Jacking up the playoff ticket prices and boosting the parking pricing doesn't help either. Fundamentally though this team never looked like deep playoff team, and the Ottawa fan base isn't deep enough to sell out routine, grinder games. Ottawa likes a winner, and we are unlikely to see that in today's league of parity.

If there is a lesson to be learned from all this, it is that nobody really understands hockey. Ottawa was 50:1 at the beginning of the season to win the Stanley Cup. But they avoided injuries, played their system, got the bounces and the calls that all add up to tonight -- one single chance to beat Pittsburgh to go to the final. And the team has shown that they can win on the road and -- specifically -- that they can win in the Penguin's arena. So it is possible, even if it is, in the long run, unlikely.

I probably won't be watching tonight. But I still hope they win.

The Fate Of The Furious

A finale. Part one of... oh, let's say three.

It is the fate of the furious to be poorly acted, cliche-written, and ridiculously choreographed. I am disappointed that the trailers effectively showed us all the "action porn" from the movie. Story wise, much was concealed, which is... ok, I guess. Probably the best option currently out; but I'm probably not going to remember it or want to see it again.

...oh yeah, the triple-X we saw in February was both better and more memorable, if only for the triple-X opening sequence.

I Dug A Big Hole

I dug a 20x30 square hole that's about 30 blocks deep. The base of it is like 10 blocks off of the bedrock, so it is really more of a big empty cavern than a "hole" per se. Took quite a while, although not nearly as long as I thought it would. Digging like this doesn't yield enough iron to keep paying for the pick axes that you go through, you either need stone ones (which burn out really fast) or you need an iron stash previously prepared.

New Hat

Alex got his own Tilly hat for his birthday. Same size and color as Daddy's, although it is a lot less beat up. Here he's rocking it on the way to Dairy Queen.

Pay It Forward

Went to Toys'R'Us Kanata today, and there was (finally!) a new dump bin. Someone had gone through it and left a Treasure Hunt hanging on the display like that. Nice gesture. I left it since it isn't a car type that I am interested in.

Lava Light Element

Ringing a 3x3 tunnel with a lava/glass element. Looks kinda cool, even if it was a pain to build.

Dog Progress

The dog is helping Alex with his puzzle. This is good progress on both of their ends.

New Dryer Fail

New appliance time! The old one wasn't drying properly, even though it had been cleaned and the duct outside cleaned all the way through. Then it started running for only 10 minutes at a time. It is 15 years old, so we decided to buy a new one.

When it arrived, I was sent a message at work that the existing duct connector wasn't salvageable, so they wouldn't do the install -- fair enough. However, when I got home to do the installation, I turned it around and found this:

Kinda looks like it's been dropped.

Update: I called the customer service line, and a nice lady told me to complete the installation and if the dryer worked and we were willing to keep it, they'd refund us some money. So we'll run it over the weekend and see how that works.

A Teenager -- How Did That Happen?

McDonalds Ice Cream for Birthday Breakfast

Happy Birthday kiddo

Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 2

As derivative as you'd expect. The music was better in the first one. I also wonder if special effects are getting worse -- many of the blatantly computer-generated objects in the movie looked blatantly computer generated, like some shader or texture pass had been skipped -- for example, the Milano ploughing through the forest. Maybe my meds are wearing off but I'm not enjoying these the way I used to.

What Month Is It

It's snowing again. Maybe that's better than rain.

Birthday Boy

Birthday Breakfast Cake

Ten years. Amazing that it's (only) been that long.

Ouch

Zero for four, fortune cookie. That's impressive.

The Ghost In The Shell (2017)

So one can't talk about The Ghost In The Shell without touching on cultural appropriation. Personally I have a hard time with that, what with being a principal member of the White Male Hegemony (but more on that another time). Actually we'll talk about the whole cultural appropriation thing another time.

For this movie, I thought for the most part it was gorgeous environment, many of the effects lovingly done. I didn't like the vocabulary -- the way they used "ghost" would be better in english as "spirit" or "soul" -- but that's probably a legacy thing from the original transations. Story wise it kind of avoided what it was trying to talk about, and it wasn't uneven in the way that North American audiences like. So I understand why it wasn't a "success". I'd like to watch it again, maybe.