Guard Dog

Don't sweat it. I'm not sitting around dwelling on things that can't be changed.

I hope so because he has rejuvenated the Panthers brand. With years of bad play and indifferent ownership the Panthers future in South Florida was very much in doubt even though they had a sweetheart lease in a new arena. But with Jagr in town attendance is creeping back up, people are excited about the team again and the wins are coming back. Four or five years down the road we may look back at signing Jagr as the move that saved the franchise.

Somehow I don't think that will be a problem.

I ordered a TV yesterday. It will be here tomorrow, just in time for Game 1 of the World Series.

Well I for one am grateful they did. Jagr's impact on the Panthers cannot be overstated. And not just the goals and assists. He has been a positive influence on our young players like Ekbald & Huberdeau.

I played around with the "toolset" or what they call the DM editor. Total waste of time. Those hoping for a NWN style toolset to make scripted single player or multi-player modules (like me) got the short end of the stick after all. All and all this game is, well not a total disappointment but it just isn't that good. If you haven't bought it yet, wait for the price to drop. I expect you won't have to wait long. For myself, I'm done with it. I haven't even finished the OC but it's just not an enjoyable experience for me. The story is just ok but the mechanics of the game and the bastardized rule implementation just ruined the whole experience IMO.

I find a slight chill brings out the taste. Plus in my opinion WHERE you drink is every bit as important as WHAT you drink. A glass of good whiskey tastes better on my front porch than any where else in the world I think. Even inside my house.

I like my way better

RIP Coach Saunders. That is sad.

Kind of like "The Shining" only with water instead of snow. Let's hope it ends better!

I think good whiskey has (or should have) a particular flavor. To enjoy it for it's own sake is certainly an acquired taste but if you do you certainly appreciate the steel ice cubes because you don't want it diluted. Heck I'm paying $40-$50 a bottle for what I drink these days. I don't want it ruined! The only liquor I like neat or on the rock is sour mash like bourbon. I've never cared for gin or vodka. Scotch I can take or leave. Some of it is ok but most of it tastes harsh and medicinal to me. I do enjoy rye/Irish whiskey but don't drink it often. Rum makes me want to retch. Way too sweet. I don't know what Southern Comfort is supposed to be but if I could I'd buy the distillery, fire everyone, destroy all copies of the recipe then burn the place to the ground. Ick. There are many different way to make bourbon. The biggest thing to differentiate the flavor is what sugar is used in the fermenting process. It's becoming popular to use fruit mash wort (fruit sugars) like cherries, peaches, etc. Or filter the wort through spices like cinnamon, cloves or coffee during the distilling process. The gives the whiskey a very subtle taste, most won't even recognize it but after you've had a few brands you will notice. Bourbon also takes on some characteristics of the wood cask it's aged in. If you spent nine years in a cedar barrel you will coming out smelling a little like cedar. Personally I prefer single batch whiskey fermented with unbleached cane sugar, unfiltered, aged at least 9 years in a charred oak and bottled at barrel strength. It's got the faint aroma of charcoal, like a grill cooking steaks somewhere off in the distance but you get a whiff on the breeze. The taste is sharp and clean with a slightly "smoky" after burn. Pour three inches of that in a clean low ball glass at room temperature with two steel ice cubes to give it a slight chill as you sip then enjoy while watching the sun set in a wooden rocking chair on a covered porch and listening to whippoorwills signing. That is how you drink good bourbon by God!

I hope so. I've been to a World Series game and a Stanley Cup game. A Super Bowl is beyond my means so an NBA finals is the last thing I need to check off.

I generally never read the novelized version of movie scripts because when the script comes first the novel seldom has anything new that wasn't in the movie. Well, at least nothing significant to the story anyway. But I did real all three novels of the original movie because I was a kid and that is just how much I was into it. One thing I do remember in the Return of the Jedi book was Vader's inner thoughts and back story and how he became Darth Vader and it strikes me how it didn't match what Lucas did in the prequels. Instead of a true villain who turned his back on his friends for a lust for power Anakin turned out to be just an immature kid who was manipulated by someone smarter. Yes I get that Lucas was trying to make his fall "tragic" by employing one of the principles of tragedy (the thing he reached for to save his love caused her death) but it was done in such a ham fisted way it just ruined the character for me. And that is a shame because Star Wars really was the story of Darth Vader.

I don't have a TV right now. I've been watching sports and TWD on my laptop or just listening on the XM radio. It's getting old though. I think today I'm going to buy a TV.

Episodes 1-3 tried to tell a small story within the context of a bigger one happening in the background. It went wrong by shifting the focus back and forth between the two. Plus the dialogue was, for the most part, just brutal to listen to. That is a separate issue though. Episodes 4-6 told a small story and while doing that, brought the viewer into the larger one by exposition and a slow trickle of details. But it never lost the small story in the big one. It worked so much better. As Hemingway would tell us don't use one word more than is needed. Just my $.02

I wanted to be an astronaut. Then in high school I discovered beer. There went that dream.

I forgot the A's were once in KC. And Philadelphia too. I'm pulling for the Royals because the have two former Rays on the roster. But I'm really more interested in seeing a good series than in who wins it. The ALCS certainly didn't disappoint. The NLCS was pretty one sided.

Mets at Royals, Tuesday night. Go Royals. BTW did you guys see Marlins Man behind home plate again?

Going into the 9th. 4-3 Royals. The next 3 outs are going to be intense.

The Grizz are all about Conley, Z-Bo, Gasol and a rotating cast of "other guys". They will go as far as the big 3 can take them. But Memphis is always a team at the mercy of injuries. As for my season prediction, with Cleveland starting the year banged up and two starters coming off major surgeries I'm picking the Bulls to win the East. The Warriors are still the best team in the best conference but if the stumble Houston & the Clippers are each a close second Finals: Warriors over the Bulls.

So far the game has been a nail biter. Right up to the rain delay at least. Is it me or is Pete Rose just embarrassing himself in the FSN studio tonight?

Well they do like to get tips

I stand corrected then. I thought you were a Mets fan. Although you play devil's advocate so often sometimes it's hard to tell who the real Volo is!

Tough loss for the Cats last night. The 'hawks are hard enough to beat straight up. Even harder when you spend most of the game on PK. The road doesn't get any easier. Cats play in Dallas tomorrow.

Panthers face the Blackhawks tonight. I'll be on the porch with the game on my XM radio. Give 'em hell cats!