one game at a time

So, I've hesitated to post anything about the Devils for obvious reasons. on Jan 8th, they were 10-29-2, 19 games under .500 and 27 points out of 8th place, dead last in the NHL. As of tonight they are at .500, 32-32-4, 6pts out of 8th with 14 games to go. An amazing record of 22-3-2 in their last 26 games. Playoffs are still a huge hurdle, but no longer a long shot or a pipe dream. Even if they don't make it, seeing them make this kind of a turnaround is just unheard of in sports. Doesn't matter what happens from here on out, I'm one proud Devils fan.

S-A-TUR-DAY Night!

Made a big breakfast for dinner, French Toast, home fries, bacon, sausage. yum yum. Afterwards, I played Connect-Four against Charlie. It was really fun. I took a 4-1 lead on him and then he beat me 4 straight to take me 5-4. And I wasn't helping him or letting him win. It's great to see him figure things out. He learned and adapted. My hope was to get him to see the possible moves before making his move. It worked. We were watching the Devils game and after 1st period, it was Timmy's turn to pick the game. We played Thomas DVD bingo and Timmy won.

After watching the rest of the Devils game, they won 4-1, I watched the end of Ottawa/Toronto and now I popped in a dvd. Strange Brew. One of my favorite comedies from the 80s. Hilarious and very quotable movie.

That's been my Satruday night. Original plan was to take Kris out to dinner, but babysitter cancelled yesterday. Playing games with the boys and watching my team win is a suitable alternative.

That bowl was super duper

So, I'm not much of a football fan. I'll watch the 2nd half of a game in the playoffs if either the Giants or Steelers are playing. Naturally, I was going to watch the Superbowl, but wasn't planning on paying attention. It's kind of amazing that people are more interested in the commercials than they are in the game itself. Some of them were kind of weird, a couple of them funny. But for the most part, pretty damn boring. Game had some excitement to it, when the Steelers actually showed up in the 2nd half.

The movie trailers were cool, but all too short. Lots of movies to look forward to over the next 5 months. Cowboys & Aliens, Captain America, Green Lantern, Transformers 3, some other alien invasion movie.

The Pepsi Max commercials were a little out there. Physically assaulting other people with cans of soda can be funny, but these were a little more disturbing than funny. And WTF is up with the name. Pepsi Max is zero calories, so what's the "MAX" for? At least Coke Zero is appropriately named.

In the battle of the local deals web sites, LivingSocial's commercial was funny, Groupon's was awful and in poor taste.

Half time show? Well, not much I can say about that. Black Eyed Peas make some fun music, but they really didn't sound good. And WTF Slash?

Your call is very important to us

So, I had to call an insurance company tonight. Their website lists a toll free # and states that it's 7 days a week, but nothing about times, so I assume at 10pm EST that someone would pick up. I call and the robotic lady voice tells me to press 1 to be connected to an operator. Ok, 1 it is then.

For the next 8 minutes I get stuck in a loop. The robot lady voice tells me the same 3 things over and over.

• Your call is very important to us
• * musical mariachi interlude for 10 seconds *
• Be sure to ask the operator about other valuable offers, available to select callers.
• * musical mariachi interlude for 10 seconds *
• We are connecting your call, and one of our operators will be with you shortly
• * musical mariachi interlude for 10 seconds *

So, I wait, and wait, and as I keep hearing the same 3 messages over and over, I start to go slightly insane.

• Your call is very important to us
• me: I bet you say that to all the callers
• Be sure to ask the operator about other valuable offers, available to select callers.
• me: kiss my ass robot voice lady
• We are connecting your call, and one of our operators will be with you shortly
• me: oh great, finally connecting my call
• Your call is very important to us
• me: wait, What? then pick up the damn phone if it's so important to you
• Be sure to ask the operator about other valuable offers, available to select callers.
• me: oh, I have some things to say to the operator, don't you worry...
• We are connecting your call, and one of our operators will be with you shortly
• me: YOU LIE!!!
• Your call is very important to us
• me: Then please, for fuck's sake, pick up the damn phone
• Be sure to ask the operator about other valuable offers, available to select callers.
• me: do any of those offers include actually SPEAKING to an actual PERSON??
• We are connecting your call, and one of our operators will be with you shortly
• me: no you're not. why ya gotta go and lie about that. just be honest, it's me isn't it?
• Your call is very important to us
• me: STOP saying that! I know you don't care about me anymore. stop with the mental abuse.
• Be sure to ask the operator about other valuable offers, available to select callers.
• me (sobbing in a fetal-position): Whyyyyy, whyyyy...
• We are connecting your call, and one of our operators will be with you shortly
• me: Oh the hell with you. I'm done with you robot voice lady. I'm moving on with my life because I know I deserve better than you. I'll always remember the time we had, but that's it, it's over, goodbye!
• Your call is very important to us
• me: Really, you mean it. You really do care.
• Be sure to ask the operator about other valuable offers, available to select callers.
• me: Oh no, I've been here before. You're trying to trick me again.
• We are connecting your call, and one of our operators will be with you shortly
• me: FUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCKKKKK!!!!! *CLICK*

Yeah, I have issues. Fuck you, don't judge me!

So, What's next?

I've found that lately I'm in a bit of a rut. I need to flex my brain a bit and learn something new. I need some pet project that will challenge me. Here's some things I've been thinking about learning or actually doing:

- learn Ruby
- create a new facebook app, just to get reacquainted with the PHP SDK.
- create an Adobe Air app
- Create an Android app
- learn MongoDB
- expand knowledge of HTML5 and CSS3
- Create an opensource javascript project and put it on GitHub

Wow, that's a lot. I'm mulling these all over and I'll be trying to cross some of them off my list in the next 3 months.

Any suggestions? What on this list would you want to tackle?

A season to forget?

As a Devils fan, I've become accustomed to great defense and goaltending, with some good offense here and there. This is the first season in a long, LONG time that it's been pretty much over by the 30th game of the season. By game 41, they were 10-29-2, only 22 points putting them dead last in the entire league. I mean, for fuck's sake, the ISLANDERS are ahead of them. The New York fucking Islanders I said.

Now we Devils fans aren't used to this at all. Not since the early years of the team did they do this bad. Since their first playoff appearance in 1988, they've only missed the playoffs twice. 1989 and 1996. They made it all the way to game 7 of the Conference Finals in 88, one win away from a date with the Oilers in the finals. In 1994, same thing. 1 win away from the Finals, until a bad defensive play by led to a seemingly harmless wraparound that still lives in infamy. The following season, redemption. A 2nd round exit to the Rangers again in 1997 led to 3 straight season of great regular seasons with disappointing post season exits. 2000 was the start of some phenomenal post seasons. The 3-1 come from behind ECF win over the Flyers followed by the Double OT Cup Winner in Dallas. The return trip vs Colorado in 2001, a first round exit in 2002, and another Stanley Cup win in 2003. 2004 was a first round exit, lockout in 2005. 2006 saw the Devils ride an 11 game winning streak into the post season where they then SWEPT Lundqvist and the Rangers out of the first round. They got their ass handed to them by Carolina (again) in the 2nd round. Came back in 2007 to beat Montreal in the first round, only to lose to Ottawa in the 2nd. 2008 was their first season in Newark, where they have yet to win a playoff series. 5 games and out to the Rangers in 2008, a 7th game shocker loss to the Canes (Again with the fucking Hurricanes) in 2009 and an EMBARRASSING loss to the Flyers in 2010.

Now we stand at the half-way point of the season They've actually been on a pretty good run going 6-1-1 in that span. Marty added another shutout to his record total and both he and Johan Hedberg have played well. They're 22 points behind Atlanta for 8th with 3 games in hand. In their next 10 games, they play 9 times against teams ahead of them. (NYR-2, CAR-3,FLA,OTT,MTL,TOR) and one against San Jose. Their is pretty much no way in hell they'll make the playoffs this season. It would take a run of monumental proportions. They need at least 90 points which leaves them with only about 5 or 6 losses to spare.

The first 10 (11) game span of the 2nd half is off to a good start. 6-1-1. If we break down the 2nd half into 4 10-game stretches, and look for records of let's say, 7-2-1, 8-1-1, 8-2-0 and maybe that last 10 games gives them a shot. They have to beat all the teams ahead of them to get there, and would need help along the way. I was actually hoping the Rangers would beat Florida last week, but nope.

So, I'm not getting my hopes up, but it will be interesting to watch. If anything, the least they could do is make things harder for the Rangers.

And to the Ranger fans out there who like to dig the knife in a little deeper, don't bother. I've already made my peace with this season. only the 3rd missed playoffs in 23 years. As opposed to the Rangers missing half of the last 20-something post seasons and our 3 Stanley Cups in that time to their 1.

This is hardly a season to remember, but not one to forget because the team needs to learn from their mistakes.

Mean ole bunnies

Seen this commercial on tv. I think it sends a bad message. That poor snake has a prosthetic and the rabbits all just laugh at him. That's just mean.