It's An Extravaganza!

Well, today the entire month of May got scheduled, all over the place:

• May 2-4: Tallahassee, FL (difficult trip)
  
• May 7-10: New York City, NY (busy trip)
  
• May 13-15: Bismarck, ND (where?)
  
• May 21-22: Greeneville, TN (howdy, y'all)
  

Back on the road, and I look at my schedule with a mixture of dread and anticipation; travel will exhaust you. But it's on the road that I'm at my level best: no distractions, just me, the job, and the latitude to get it done right. And that feels really good.

And, hey, more chances to take pictures. It's a really good thing that my semester is over as of Monday; I pick up my take-home(!!) final tonight.

Round Two

Well, with Vancouver's victory over Dallas* in last night's playoff game, we've got all of the second-round pairings lined up. Unfortunately for Detroit, the Stars' loss means we have to face the San Jose Sharks. They've had plenty of time to rest after beating Nashville in five games, and Detroit has guys on the injured list (Lebda, Holmstrom). This is a series that could go either way, but I'm going to be optimistic and go with the Wings in seven games.

We're better defensively than San Jose is, I believe, and better in goal. Both teams are equally deep offensively, and San Jose is overall a bigger team. If the Wings can put as many shots on net against the Sharks as they did against the Flames, while keeping them from doing the same, we'll win this series.

Other series:

• Vancouver Canucks vs. Anaheim Ducks: the Canucks damn near folded against the Stars, Luongo's heroics in net notwithstanding; I don't see them having a chance against Anaheim. Ducks in Five.
• Ottawa Senators vs. New Jersey Devils: the Senators are too strong offensively to be overcome even by the Devils excellent defense and goaltending, but those factors will draw out the series. Senators in Six.
• New York Rangers vs. Buffalo Sabres: the Rangers had a surprisingly easy first round against the suddenly overmatched Thrashers.** Lundqvist is a better goalie than Miller, but that's the only real advantage I see for New York in this series; New York's underrated defense will still not be able to keep up with Buffalo's insane speed. Sabres in Five.

Now we'll see how good I am at predicting the future; the second round starts Wednesday.

Update: Seems like the ESPN analyst and I are on the same page, except that he expects the Sharks to win in seven games (boo!), and the Sabres-Rangers series to also go to seven. I just don't see it.

*(For once, it will be unfair that Turco gets made the goat of the series. He recorded two shutouts to tie up the series, and the rest of the team just couldn't get it done.)
**(Note to the Thrashers: welcome to the playoffs. Everyone else is going to be stepping up their game just a bit; you might want to do the same.)

Playoffs!

Reaver_02
Originally uploaded by Blackwyr.

What a weekend. Friday night, CJ and I drove up to Nashville to watch the Predators play the Sharks. I love going to playoff games, though the experience is not 100% bliss.

While I love the fact that Nashville has an enthusiastic fanbase, there are certain problems that go along with it:

• Noisemakers: in the row behind us, there were a couple of people with cowbells. Metal cowbells, with clappers, suitable for being attached to cows. I'd rather deal with clicky things, "thundersticks", whistles...anything but the dreaded cowbell. The game does not need more cowbell. Next time, I bring earplugs.
  
• Rudeness: let's just say that the majority of Preds fans aren't exactly...sophisticated. I've been in plenty of arenas where the fans will taunt opposing teams, goalies (especially goalies), refs, etc., but rarely with the venom of Preds fans. On the plus side, if things go poorly, I've never seen them throw trash on the ice like I saw Islanders fans do last night.
  
• Upper-Section Coaches: you, ma'am, are neither a hockey player, nor a coach. Screeching (and I use that word precisely) "Shoot the puck!" at the top of your lungs will not do any good, nor is it the correct response in all situations. While it's true that you do not score goals by not shooting, simply turning the puck over to your opponent on a weak shot is equally bad. All of the Predators goals that night were the result of thinking about the play and doing the right thing, not merely flinging the puck at the net on behalf of some harridan in the upper bowl.

That was pretty much the soundtrack for the game: clangclangclangclang "Shoot the puuuuuck!" clangclangclangclang. No one threw a catfish on the ice, I'm happy to say, and the Predators won, 5-2. It may seem odd to root for them (it was certainly odd to me), but I'd rather they eliminate the Sharks if possible; Detroit has a winning record against Nashville this season.

It's just been a good weekend for hockey. Sunday, following an all-morning calculus study session, I got to watch Detroit beat Calgary 3-1. The Wings have consistently outworked the Flames in every aspect of the game, even outshooting them 99-35 over the past two games, and I'm hoping that continues into tonight's game. I'm leery, though, as Calgary has been exceedingly strong at home this season. If the Flames win, then we've got a real playoff series. If the Wings win again tonight, then it'll be a back-breaker.

Tonight, I take not one but two calculus tests. We'll see how much I've managed to cram into my brain.

(The picture here has nothing to do with the blog post. I set up some old miniatures and played around with some macro work to mess with close-ups and depth-of-field type shots. Two things stand out: close-ups show you every imperfection in what you used to think was a great paint job, and I really need to use more light.)

Accoutrements

I cannot believe that I hadn't heard of this company before; they have the best line of action figures ever. Of particular joy is the Deluxe Jesus figure with glow-in-the-dark miracle hands.

These guys are the ones that came out with the Devil Duckies as well, so I guess they're not totally new to me, but still...awesome. They've got a lot of other weird stuff on their website, some of which is cool, some of which doesn't do much for me, but the action figure line is still wonderful.