I like hockey. Actually, I love hockey. And this is now hockey season. However, this year the NHL will not be having any games until the owners and players make amends and get back to work. This is a sad thing because it means that I won't be able to watch the games on tv, or to even go to see some down at the Gaaahden. Nonetheless, I will still be thinking about hockey...

I used to play hockey. No, really, I used to play hockey. I grew up in the middle of fly-over country, but I was near a big city that had ice rinks, and at those rinks were hockey leagues, and I played in them when I was a kid and on through high school. I played for 10 years, so I'm a real hockey player. I've been hurt, seen guys getting hurt even worse, played on good teams and played on horrible teams. I've played in front of 5 people and I've played in front of thousands. And man do I have some stories about the hockey life. From time to time I am going to drop one of them here. I shall begin with this one...

During my high school years, I had to play against a friend of mine named Rob Brown. We had been on the same team years before, and had no ill-will towards one another despite the rivalry between our teams at that time. One year, as the end of the season approached, we realized that we would be playing each other in the final game. We were talking about this and decided that the games had been a little lacking for some reason, and we decided that what they were lacking was some good old-fashioned mayhem. We felt the need to contribute some of this said mayhem in our upcoming and final contest for the good of the game, you know, for the sake of the sport of hockey. So, what would this mean? Would Rob and I drop the gloves and duke it out at center ice? Uh, no. You see, Rob and I liked hockey fights, no question about that. But we really liked to watch them more than start them. After all, I was a guitar player, so there was no way I was going to break my hand on some guy's noggin, and Rob was wanting to go to medical school, so he was more interested in learning how to give stitches than to get them. But still, we came up with a plan...

We decided that before the last period of the game, Rob would tape some packets of ketchup to the inside of his helmet and face mask. And the ketchup packets would then be slit open slightly to allow the ketchup to explode out upon contact. Then we decided that towards the end of the game, when we were on the ice at the same time, I would take a run at Rob when he was over by the boards in front of the stands where I would knock him into the boards (we were wearing pads so this wouldn't hurt, you see) and he would slam his helmet against the plexiglass in order to make the ketchup packets explode...and did they ever, wow! When I hit Rob, he literally jumped up against the plexiglass and hit his helmet against it, and the ketchup flew out inside his helmet and clear plastic face mask. When it happened a bunch of girls started screaming because they thought his head had been smashed. It looked like he'd been shot! Then, to really sell it, he layed on the ice and twitched. Just when the spectators thought they'd seen the worse tragedy in the history of high school hockey, the whistle blew, and Rob hopped back up on his skates and merrily worked his way back to the bench as the crowd gasped. Oh, those were the days...I think Rob is a fireman now.

As I use this site more and more, I develop the desire to have more options about its content and function. Such is the case now, where I am trying to learn how to place a link to a web page in the middle of the post. If you too would like to see how to do this, just click here, and also here.
This is a test run. If it works, then we can all have really cool posts with reference links and all kinds of official looking stuff. Czech it out...
update: links work. Give it a try.

Gentlemen (and Keiser),

Sent in my absentee ballot yesterday. I have to admit to having some significant concern that my vote will actually be counted and allowed. Due to the vicious atmosphere this campaign season, I really wonder if someone who gets my ballot might see who I'm voting for and rip it up and throw it in the trash. This ain't been funny for a long time now. I confess to having serious concerns about this nation being able to maintain the degree of unity and cooperation necessary for survival. A few weeks ago, I somewhat jokingly referred to the "real America", and where it is and isn't. I mean, we have some real serious non-negotiable issues threatening the security of this country. There are issues where no compromise is possible; either you're for it or agin' it. These things are coming to a head, and when they do, I don't anticipate that it will be pleasant. I feel pessimistic, even if so and so wins such and such an office.
I have to do my best to remember that my real area of concern can't be the American political system. It has to be my gig that I worry about, first. I recall a quote from Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who said that "the line between good and evil does not run between nations (or citizens of America), but through each human heart". Still, I do wonder...

Truth be told, Dave, I'd much rather have your mouth running than be wondering where it was or if it was even capable of running. You know how it is when you are on the mend....can't get enough of the feelin' good feelin'. Let 'er rip. And yes, you can count on Princess Di and me for the round up. It would have to be a pretty unusual circumstance that I couldn't get out of for this.

Eight days and counting until this hellish nightmare we call a political race is over. If nothing else, it is bound give pause to those who are thinking about immigrating here. How ugly. You can say that we end up selecting the lesser of two evils, but these days, it boils down to voting for the better name-caller/finger-pointer. I wish there was a simple way to distill the truth from all this hogwash. It is possible we have too much information available? And 4 beeeeellion dollars for campaigns? I believe that'd buy a whole boat load of medicine and food and clothing. What if we just cut back a little on this next time around, and limited each candidate for office to one letter size piece of paper with their name and office they were running for and party and brief description of what they planned on doing and how they planned on gettin' 'er done. If each candidate sent one of those out to each household, stamp and all, I think we could bring the total down to around $80 mil or just 2% of what they are wasting now. And, just maybe, we would know what we were getting instead of what we weren't.

Be happy and careful and a voter

So excellent to hear from you, Big D. Thanks for the clarification on cobbler. I once had a problem with some shoes, and the manufacturer told me to take them to a cobbler. Of course, that manufacturer was from MA, and I don't reckon they realized that we have but humble shoe repair facilities here in The Four, and the only cobbler we are likely to encounter is going to be coming out the oven. And thank you, too, for the masterful analogy about the bear. I truly adore a well turned analogy.

I am most thankful, though, to hear the outcome. Isn't it amazing what can take control of your life? But I have to say this - somewhere down the road, benefit will be realized from what you have experienced, endured and survived. It's not too difficult to see how almost anything can be used for good, just as it can for bad. If nothing else, just being able to witness about what God has delivered you from is reason enough to have suffered through it in the first place. Victory too easily won lacks significant value.

Glad to hear you hooked up with other members of the club. Looking forward to whatever type of get-together is in the offing. Thanks again for the update.

Be happy and careful