June 28 -- Sunday night of a pleasant weekend. Ignoring a little bit of rain it was a good weekend for lounging around. I suspect from a blogging perspective as we go through this summer you will get limited content from me on a Saturday or Sunday. Not that that's a bad thing as all of us should be doing something other than sitting around a computer when we have the weather and opportunity to enjoy the outdoors.

Seven Wonders -- the Toronto Star has published a list of the seven wonders of the sports world. With first place going to the birds nest stadium in Beijing, I think there was a little homer influence in identifying the Rogers center as number two. Interestingly, Fenway Park shows up on the list as number three so two of the top three attractions are baseball stadiums. Having not seen them all, but looking at some of my own favorites, I would've probably found a spot for Dodger Stadium (Chavez Ravine), the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers that was built for them when they moved to LA from Brooklyn. I think this was the first stadium of its type ever built with no view obstructed seats -- i.e. no visible pillars. Unfortunately, a number of other icons are already gone -- or going, like Yankee Stadium, Briggs Stadium, the old Chicago Stadium and some others. I do have to agree with Pebble Beach, but I wonder why it is as low as number six. Clearly, I think it should be the concrete convertible.

On the road again -- bright and early tomorrow I am taking the scenic route to our nation's capital. Not sure if Canada Day week is a good time to be heading this way but that's the way it works out. Given my tour on the way down, meetings on Tuesday, and the return planned, it looks like I will be foolish enough to be "working" on the Wednesday stat holiday. Bad planning on my part.

Blog vacation -- given that I am not sure what Internet access I will have while traveling, this may be my last entry until Thursday. In the event that I do get hooked up, it won't be via my normal FrontPage application posting but I will go back to using my Microsoft MySpace location via the link below.

http://minorhockeyfan.spaces.live.com/

Not sure if they serve the beaver tails in the summer, or if they have the same allure as they do on a crispy winter day, but I may have to go after my sugar fix anyway.

Certification -- not a good year for yours truly. As most of you are probably aware anyone certified at the intermediate coaching level under the NCCP program was originally promised -- good for life. As we have all found out life is over this year as anyone with the intermediate designation who wishes to stay current must either take a refresher course or accumulate 20 CEP program points. Through some of the general staff I have done over the last three years -- which is all that counts -- I think I have about 12 points. So guess who has to take a coach refresher -- more on that later.

As a double whammy, I am also a certified trainer and through general interest in the area have established myself as a level III HTCP trainer. Similar to coaching, the trainers program regardless of level requires that you recertify every three years as well. Incidentally, my trainers ticket is due this year as well -- expiring August 31. The unfortunate news on top of that is that as a level III there are only two places where I can recertify this year, a weekend at Wilfrid Laurier under the auspices of the OHA, or August 30 at the HDCO head office in Toronto. If I don't take one of these two programs, I lose my level III status and have to go back to square one. It doesn't matter that I have had my level III for 12 years, you have to go through the process again. Besides that it's not the standard 50 bucks to pick up your level I -- it's $175 for the privilege of upgrading. However, thems the breaks. And by the way, if anybody cares in all the years I was coaching, and taking Speak Out, NCCP CHIP, NCCP Coach, Intermediate NCCP Coach, HTCP trainer I, HTCP trainer II and HTCP trainer III plus renewals, I never charged one dying to any of the teams I coached or received any partial reimbursement from the MOHA. As a matter of fact, I will have to pay a premium of $15 versus the normal refresher fee of $50 if I take the refresher in Oakville since I am no longer remember the Association -- money grab 101.

When (and if) I put my clinic application form into the MOHA I will post a notice here to ensure that it does not conveniently get lost.

Elephants or Pandas -- just for the heck of it into and out of light note it seems the zookeepers in thr Royal Elephant Kraal in Ayutthaya province of Thailand decided to dress up their boring elephant a little. No, this is not a genetic anomaly, but rather an attempt to have folks in Thailand pay a little more attention to their elephants. Do you think you will work?

 

For you car guys -- this is the day in 1953 when the first Corvette was assembled at a GM plant in Flint Michigan. The first one was handed assembled, featured a Polo white exterior with a red interior. The doors on these early models were designed to be opened only from the inside and did not have any exterior door handles. The price tag on the early models was around $3,500. Performance was not exactly what you would call sporty on the initial models as they are 0 to 60 clocking took 11 or 12 seconds. However, it is one of my all-time favorite cars. When I stayed in California the "Summer of '69", the guy with the corner service station (in Orange Country where I was staying before it became a TV show) had two - q red one and a white one on his lot - unbelievable.

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June 26 -- a couple of great weather days leading up to the weekend. Hopefully, we will get to experience a few more of the same. Friday nights I typically do not have a lot of energy to sit down and come up with something that other folks may find worth reading. Tonight is no exception, but at least a there are a couple of things that make it easy to comment.

Pop icon -- as predicted the media is all over the Michael Jackson story as if it really means something. Instead of Dickens "A tale of two cities", the whole MJ story is a tale of two people. While there is no doubt that Jackson was a great musical talent, there is equally no doubt that there was also a much darker side to him as an individual that manifested itself in many ways and end was so evident and predominant that has to figure prominently in all the media coverage. Frankly, I never had much use for him as a musician, he was not my style (remember, I'm mired in the 60s) and just about everything he did in his personal life or to himself promoted the darker side. Either way, it pushed a lot of other things off of the front, second and third pages. We can now all sit and wait for the autopsy revelations. In all likelihood, I expect that we will get some type of drug cocktail story similar to Heath Ledger.

Garbage strike -- as the strike continues, day five, folks are starting to catch on to the cumulative impact of this work stoppage. Moving forward from the original drop-offs/transfer points, the city has had to identify a number of additional garbage dumps. In addition to the simply disgusting presence these sites present, they are typically in facilities that have alternate public uses that are now either suspended or less than ideal. Keep an eye on this as there is a lot more here than one might originally think. The other issue that ties into this is the need to cross picket lines in order to participate in a number of events. Altogether not a very pleasant situation. From what people are saying, there is a concern that this could be a long, drawnout, bitter affair.

Steve Mason -- as I've been more than happy to slag the local scribes in their coverage, or more accurately non coverage of local items, it is only fair that I recognize when they do something right. Since we live in one of those areas that does not get Oakville Today distribution, I often miss what is in that paper. As many know, this paper has a much better track record of covering local events than its big brother the Beaver. A reader directed me to Scott Stewart's article on Steve Mason which is an easy and interesting read for anyone. Hopefully, you can read it here.

Draft night -- not the cold beverages but people's lives. Depending how long I sit here, we will know whether the Islanders take John Tavares and the final upshot of the Leaf first pick silliness. At the risk of eating my words, it's pretty clear he won't be wearing BB’s blue-and-white next year the bombastic BB has been doing a bit of a backpedal on what people consider to be his commitments in terms of landing Tavares for Toronto.

Do the fans know who should be top 3? Here’s the current NHL fan internet poll.

FAN POLL: WHO'S NO. 1?

Who should be picked No. 1 this year?

John Tavares:

56.25 %

Victor Hedman:

25.86 %

Matt Duchene:

11.78 %

Other:

6.11 %

 Here is what really happened for the top ten. Get more and better info from the NHL site.

Overall	Team	Player	Birth Place	League	Team	Pos
1	NYI	TAVARES, JOHN	MISSISSAUGA, ON	OHL	LONDON	C
2	TBL	HEDMAN, VICTOR	ORNSKOLDSVIK	SWEDEN	MODO	D
3	COL	DUCHENE, MATT	HALIBURTON, ON	OHL	BRAMPTON	C
4	ATL	KANE, EVANDER	VANCOUVER, BC	WHL	VANCOUVER	C
5	LAK	SCHENN, BRAYDEN	SASKATOON, SK	WHL	BRANDON	C
6	PHX	EKMAN-LARSSON, OLIVER	KARLSKRONA	SWEDEN-2	LEKSAND	D
7	TOR	KADRI, NAZEM	LONDON, ON	OHL	LONDON	C
8	DAL	GLENNIE, SCOTT	OAKVILLE, ON	WHL	BRANDON	RW
9	OTT	COWEN, JARED	SASKATOON, SK	WHL	SPOKANE	D
10	EDM	PAAJARVI-SVENSSON, MAGNUS	NORRKOPING	SWEDEN	TIMRA	LW

Clearly I don’t have a life if I sit and watch the draft on a Friday night, but I had to see the next saga of the Leaf Train Wreck live. When LA picked Brayden Schenn in the five hole, BB looked like he was about to blow a gasket!

Looks like the Leafs pick of Kadri Nazem was a rip from Ottawa so as a London Knight teammate of Tavares we will see how this works out.

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June 25 – up at six -- home at seven. Makes for a long day. Someone asked me, if I'm just busy now how did I ever find time for hockey. Good question. I guess the response is the old adage that says "work expands to fill available space". I can easily attest to the fact that work has expanded.

Another scorcher until the rains came and now it's Day 4 on the “let’s stack the garbage” front, except that now it's soggy stinky garbage.

Baseball been berry good to me – I am a sucker for funny quotes, misquotes and my compliments to Rosie Dimanno of the Star for posting today’s article on some of the one’s she has collected from baseball. Check them out. My favourite is the Jerry Coleman quote on a Winfield play. Shades of English as a second language. She clearly just scratched the surface, especially for Yogi (Berra not Bear) as he has a whole book full of massacred phrases and logic – Baseball is 90% perspiration and 50% inspiration.

Not a good day to be a celebrity -- while everyone was considering their response and reaction to Farrah Fawcett Majors unsuccessful battle with cancer that led to her death today at the age of 62, the media world then gets hit with the news that Michael Jackson passed away suddenly at the age of 50, apparently from cardiac arrest. While I don't think too many people were surprised about Farrah, whose pinup poster was one of the all-time classics and essentially kicked off her career, I suspect the same cannot be said for Michael Jackson. He was apparently rehearsing in preparation to kick off a major tour starting July 13 in England. he was living in a rented house in California where paramedics were called today and the rest is history. There is no doubt that this will monopolize media coverage today and likely tomorrow and the weekend as well based on his sudden rediscovered status as a pop icon. All of the "bad stuff" will likely get smoothed away. Better go get your copy of the Thriller album if you don't have one as it will likely jump again in sales

As an indication -- today was also the day in 1876 when Lieut. Col. George Armstrong Custer bit off a little more than he could chew. In what became known as the Battle of Little Bighorn, Custer and all of his 200 men were slaughtered in a battle lasting approximately one hour with Chief Crazy Horse and his warriors.

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June 24 – think about this one.

Aboriginal people – If there was ever any doubt about the challenges or plight of some of these folks, check today’s article in the Goat & Snail. Article. Apparently when a number of severe cases of H1N1 broke out among Manitoba’s aboriginals, Health Canada was reluctant to and held off sending in supplies of hand sanitizer based on a concern that folks would DRINK it. Hand Sanitizer contains up to 70% alcohol and chronic alcohol abuse is an ongoing problem with some members. One of those Hobson’s choices.

LCBO - would the next group of lemmings please line up on the left. Now that I have sent your confrères off to the liquor store in anticipation of "the strikes had never happened", the Ontario government should be able to report a boost in their Q2 earnings based on a sudden surge of business in late June. Guess what, surprise surprise, they settled. Behind all the panic buying folks might want to have remembered that the liquor store has never gone on strike. However, as I understand it, the panic shop was a great social experience for some and definitely helped with any stock rotation issues. The question will be, how long will it take the boys to fill the shelves up again. Maybe, they will also take this opportunity to restock at a higher price -- marketing 101.

 

Do you know what an empty shelf is!

Brian Burke -- clearly knows something I don't. Besides being argumentative, abrasive, profane and downright inconsiderate, he still seems to think that he is going to reengineer the mighty Leafs in time for next season. Unless he has unlimited funds, is prepared to dump half his roster, and is one heck of a salesman to convince your everyday superstars to give up a cushy berth and come to Toronto, I have no idea how you think she's going to do that. Since the countdown is already on to this weekend's entry draft, it won't be too long before there are concrete examples to demonstrate that he either "put out" or has to "shut up". What side are you on.

Burke's tone and manner are pretty clear as evidenced from the following quote from today's article in The Star.

"I don't give a rat's ass what they do in Pittsburgh or Detroit," said Burke. "There's been four different Cup winners the last four years, and I got one of them (Anaheim) and it was a fighting team. We're playing it that way regardless."

You can read the rest of it here.

Hall of Famer's -- interesting pick for this year's Hall of Fame induction. I can't help but mention that three of the four player index keys were on Detroit's 2002 Stanley Cup winning team. Too bad Leetch wasn't available to go four for four. Hull, Yzerman and Robitaille represent a pretty solid threesome in anybody's books. In the case of whole, I wonder if or how many other father, son player combinations are in the Hall. Somebody check with the statisticians but I don't think there will be too many.

The Emperor has no clothes -- for those of you who follow some of the PR around the OHA and it's commissioner David Branch, the popular view seems to be that the OHA holds itself above some of the challenging issues faced by other leagues and associations. Some would have you think that the OHA is first to respond on issues like fighting in the game and misconduct by one and all. All you have to do to get this drift, is listen to some of Mr. Branch’s interviews that often provide content on the Fan 590. That being the case, I find it interesting that they are now looking to bring in an "enforcer" was a law enforcement background to crack down on a number of alleged behaviours. Read the article here, and see what you think.

How come? -- for those of you who are interested, the MOHA has posted a preliminary house league game  block schedule on their website. Some interesting changes from two years ago. In the time tunnel, the house league referee scheduler (currently the president and still house league referee scheduler) was adamant that we absolutely had to keep division play down on the weekends especially Sundays due to excessive demands for the number of referees available. Going from 8 to 14 divisions on Sunday does not seem to be consistent with that philosophy! My how times change.

House league also has apparently lost both Friday evening game blocks which is unfortunate for the peewee red division which had traditionally played Friday evenings. This was partially to keep the weekends open for them to facilitate tournament play for what is typically a very active age group. I guess that doesn't matter anymore -- welcome to Sunday afternoons. Our "battles" with the Town and with other ice users were to try to get more, not less weekday ice to take the load off of families for the weekend and to move more leagues into midweek ice. From the ice blocks summarized below, either MOHA has been on the short end of the allocation stick (great negotiation) or internally the Town Rep folks have decided to improve their scheduling at the expense of -- you guessed it. Neither is very palatable.

As a throw in, I still believe that these three divisions in an age group (red, white, blue) should be rotated through time slots to give players and their parents some flexibility in their lives. As an extension of that, I believe it is inappropriate to schedule same age divisions at concurrent times. As an example, as a coach, I would often stay to watch other divisions in my same age group to see how players were doing and progressing. Take a look at the current Novice proposal. Not only are we suggesting that no one in this division should attend Sunday's church services, but we have both red and white essentially playing at the same time.

Day	07/08	09/10
Mon - Thu	8	8
Fri	2	0
Weekday	10	8
Sat	12	8
Sun	8	14
Weekend	20	22

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June 23 – Toronto is working on a strike out – no pun intended.

1. Garbage - Get used to it – second day in and trouble is escalating. Ferries are out, day care closed and the biggie as garbage piles up. Great timing to get the first real hot summer weather. All you metro folks better listen to the news each morning to get your “air quality” alert. I think I heard a “4” but it will go up. The media is also reporting that there is a two hour wait at the collection stations to “dump” your trash. Isn’t that a treat!

Gun play out of hand – as we wait for the Elmvale story to unravel, it does not sound good. A 59 year old man described as fully able but “slow” was shot and killed by police in his driveway last night. Apparently this escalated from an incident with a door to door salesman. Now, not knowing what happened, we have a poor guy sitting at home alone, potentially hassled by an aggressive door to door salesman that creates a scene gets reported to the police who respond and the situation skids out of control. This was not Jane & Finch gang warfare but by the sound of it a harmless “old” man. Somebody has some “splainin” to do here.

2. Bring on the domestics – It looks like after tonight, your only source for “vino” will be supermarket “plonk”. Now all you insulted winos will be telling me that there is good stuff there but it is a heck of a time to go exploring. I suspect all the boutique bottlers are rubbing their hands with glee at the thought off stock rotation and being able to actually sell their stuff. Could I have a Cabernet Wednesday please – preferably the screw top as I can’t deal with the bag in a box. It looks too much like a hospital bag. Apparently the LCBOs are a little hectic today – maybe this is all a marketing ploy to boost slow sales.

3. TBD. . . – fill in the blank

End of an Era – Ed McMahon dies at 86. As Johnny Carson’s right hand man on the tonight show Ed was the proverbial straight man to Johnny’s schtick. One of my favourite shows the tonight show with the two of them was always good for a laugh, especially segments with Carnac the Magnificent. I wonder who is now going to deliver the cheques for the Publisher’s Clearing House?

The last tonight show with these two was taped in Burbank on May 22, 1992 pictured below.

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June 22 – Under the “it won’t happen again category”.

Milverton – most people have never heard of this duckberg (19 miles north/west of Stratford on what was Highway #19 but has now been renamed to something else), but it happens to be where I think I went to High School. Not surprisingly, they closed the school the year I graduated (all 226 students – counting kids, cats and dogs in an “A” Latin, “B” Bookkeeping curriculum) as there was no hope of recovery from my stint as Prez of the student council. For you sports minded, I think I have one of those big fuzzy school letter things around here somewhere but most people probably thought it was “M” for Moorehead.

Milverton was also the home of the “Four Wheel Drives” hockey team, the “Suns” baseball squad (named after the weekly rag – “It shines for all” and Mary Zehr’s – the local bootlegger where us folks could vuy a 24 of beer for $4.25 (she also took Canadian Tire Money without realising it if she had been running enough quality control).  It is also where I smashed my wrist on a rock in a sawdust pit while pole vaulting and subsequently taught the entire sports field have to curse fluently in several languages, Those were the days

Now they can add hosting barrel racing to their long list of famous cultural events, but I doubt it will hit the Goat & Snail best in photos again for a long time if ever.

Photo: Dave Chidley/The Canadian Press

 Elizabeth Linders of Sutton, Ont., races in the Ladies Barrel Racing event at the Ontario Dodge Rodeo Tour in Milverton, Ont.

See Milverton June 22 (this is real!)

The horse and buggy must be clean to go to church on Sunday.
This coin op car wash is set up for doing horses and buggies. (Oh Yeah - cars too)

It Starts – Day one of the “strike” and already the stories start. “Illegal” dumping as a lead in The Star. Really hot summer day. No garbage pick-up. Hiding dumped garbage in “interesting” spots. “Wrapping” the street garbage cans so you can not use them. This has nowhere to go but down. Already at Yonge & Eg. I see more litter loitering around. Get the pools going. How long will this one last.

Not my Booze – Garbage strikes are one thing but this is getting serious. The LCBO guys could go out Tuesday night. Is everyone stocked up? Where will I get my imported beer? At least if they go out, there won’t be as many empties for the garbage guys to not pick up. I think I’m OK. I have to go to Ottawa next week so I can slip across the border to la Belle Province (with my passport of course) and stock up. Maybe I can take some orders and become a Run Runner. It worked for the Kennedy’s.

Sports:

• No-name wins the US Open – who cares?

• Sundin not playing in Olympics – who asked him and who cares?

•   Wozniak, Dancevic make early exit at Wimbledon – Who? Who cares?

• Hockey – draft coming – now there’s a story – we will finally learn if JT goes $1 and, or if BB can put his ____ where his _____ is? JT in TO – Not!

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June 21 – Nothing special today other than Molsons bought the Habs for between $550 and $575 million (including the Bell Centre and Gillett’s entertainment company). So the question becomes, at this price for the Habs, and they're building, what are the coyotes truly worth. $575 million is significantly more than 212. So, was Jimmy B trying to steal one, or is an original six with their building worth that much more. Promises to be an interesting summer with negotiations in place.

Soft Serve Bacteria – Two scoop E-coli please. As a fan of chocolate dipped cones, and soft ice cream in general, the latest crusade of the Toronto Star with their lab results is not encouraging. As someone with a bit of experience in the "housekeeping" that is involved in the food service area, specifically as it relates to items like soft serve ice cream, these latest issues with bacteria counts in soft serve ice cream identify a concern that any operator should be careful to deal with. There is a real risk with poor practices that contamination can take place.

Father's Day -- apparently number one son read my recent blog suggesting that I was going to be abandoned on Father's Day. The good news is, that he came over for a visit and we had a very good conversation sitting out on the deck. All of us, need more days like this.

Iran -- while I hope all of us honor looking at what is going on with the political and military situation in Iran, I do not need my mailbox cluttered up with junk mail requesting that I e-mail/call/write any number of people about the situation. Remember, I just dumped 2,000 e-mails to get down to 1,400. I don't need a bunch more. I guess I'm just not a sympathetic type of guy. Besides, I think I was one of the proponents of originally turning Iran into a parking lot or melted glass landscape -- figure that one out.

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June 20 - as summer progresses it is likely that my blog content on weekends will regress. That is, unless we get weather like today when there is not a lot of incentive to be outside.

Cleanup -- taking advantage of less than ideal outdoor weather I sat down at my PC this morning and decided to do a bit of cleanup on my e-mail inbox. Things tend to end up. An hour and a half later I had managed to transfer over 2,000 e-mails to the "deleted" file and happily blew them off. Hopefully I didn't trash anything useful. The disheartening part of this little project was that I still have over 1,400 e-mails in my in basket. Jane is now under specific instructions to cleanup any of hers and then I will go back again to try to get down to double digits. Moving ones you want to keep two folders is a good habit to have, it's just a pain in the lower back.

Toast of the Town -- debuted on this date in 1948. Subsequently to become famously known as the Ed Sullivan show, this prototypical variety show ended up hosting just about everyone on the who's who list. Besides repeat appearances by Topo Gigo, the Italian mouse, the show also featured Premier appearances by such lesser-known says Elvis Pressley (don't show below the waist) and the Beatles when they made their first North American appearance in 1964.

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June 19 – Oakville’s Own!

Congrats to Steve – There could be no other way to start this session than to congratulate Mr. Mason on winning the Calder Cup as the NHL’s top rookie. As a goaltender who battled through injuries and almost single-handedly got his team to their first play-offs, not too shabby at all. It is particularly noteworthy as this young man DID play his minor hockey in Oakville and did not succumb to the lure of cross border shopping in the GTHL. Steve's rise from house league through to AAA and the draft in Oakville has a number of interesting stories associated with it. Maybe he'll tell them someday. There is at least one former director who is probably an attractive shade of green.

No borrowed recognition here. Way to go Steve!

 

Shoo Fly -  No sooner do I mention PETA than they get their knickers in a knot because President Obama smote a fly. Unfortunately BO did it live in front of reporters and “bragged” about his prowess. In addition to being chastised, BO is apparently going to be provided with a “humane” fly catcher to help him avoid being tempted into some violet anti-live behaviour in the future.

 Adapter -a word to the wise. Do not buy electronic devices with custom component chargers. While you can't help this with a number of cell phones, most devices today are supported with the ubiquitous USB interface. Enter my Philips GoGear MP3 player. It's a great little device with six games of memory and a built in FM radio as I still have a weakness for listening to the radio when traveling and, or killing time. So of course, I took it west with me last week as the headphones plug into the West Jet system, it gives me something to listen to in the airport etc. To make a long story short, when I get home and unpacked my bag my charger cable has gone AWOL. Guess what, proprietary plug-in to the MP3 player despite it being a USB device. So now, I am sitting with a dying MP3 player, no easy place to find a replacement cable, and waiting for a reply from the Deerfoot Inn and Casino on the off chance housekeeping picked it up. Otherwise, I'm SOL. What he think my chances are?

Father's Day -- not sure why they call it that is it usually ends up with another day with me and my good friend the barbecue. It will remind me to call my dad who is fortunately still with us and wandering through that octogenarian phase. However, I think I am being sent a message as it looks like I will be abandoned on the big day. Andrew has already headed north with a number of his colleagues to terrorize cottage country -- don't want to know what they're up to. Jane is planning on being helpful with her mother, which is a good thing, and number one son has not been heard from yet so I'm not sure what that means. Net net, it could be easy chair on the deck, cold beverages, 50s and 60s music, and contemplation of the universe. But guess what, I'll still have to barbecue (or go hungry).

It doesn't help -- with a strike possibility looming over us -- or perhaps I should say over Torontonians, you would think everyone would be trying to support avoiding a garbage pile up. Somehow, that message does not seem to have gotten through to the folks at the Toronto Star as a prominently featured cartoon in today's paper will just add fuel to the fire. Get ready with the gas masks.

Royalty Trivia - as if anyone cares, the House of Windsor was born today in 1917. Apparently, King George V decided that his existing Germanic roots were decidedly unpopular during the third year of the great war and that British royalty needed a new name -- hence Windsor. Otherwise, we may have continued to refer to the royal family not as being of the House of Windsor, but rather the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. I can understand why he wanted to change it as I can't envision Lizzie as a Goth.

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June 18 – Pick your poison!

Air Cargo – AKA Air Canada - is now allowing “Critters in the Cabin” – shades of “Snakes on a Plane” (which was a pretty good movie). Based on my recent wailing wee ones trip on West Jet, I am not sure which I would prefer, howling kids or a yippy, poorly “potty” trained purse pooch. Actually, the answer is easy – NEITHER!

It probably won’t be long before PETA gets into the act wanting equal cabin service – good eats and drinks for the animal kingdom as well as protesting about discriminating against guinea pigs, hamsters, bunnies, ferrets, birds and so on and so on and .. . . . maybe even SNAKES!

Do they get free beverages – bar service?

Burke – As if he does not have enough on his plate with the local wonder boys, BB has to stick his nose (and mouth) into Ottawa business. What’s the problem here, was he not getting enough ink in TO or is he just posturing on a surprise Heatley heist.

Summer approaches – that means we must have strikes coming up as well – voila – Toronto CUPE Locals 79 and 416 are getting ready to go. Garbage is the biggie here as my travels through Hogtown will become more like visiting a sty. This could be especially pleasant, particularly on hot humid days after an extended strike – If we think H1N1 (swine flu – Hogtown – go figure) was a risk, let’s go for Cholera, Typhoid, Plague from garbage piles. There are a lot of other services that will be chopped – e.g., you will have to either charter a boat or swim to Toronto Island as the ferry will be toast. For a list of impacted services, chech here.

By the way – YOU STILL HACE TO PAY YOUR TAXES! What a surprise! This now becomes “pay for NO service”.

Sasha – Having run across the picture below of Sasha and his appearance as Beefeater Bruno, You have to wonder whether this guy is playing with a full deck.

 

This is especially true if you think about his recent Eminem stunt and just his general day to day actions as an extension of his movie persona. For those people with a sick sense of humour and a willingness to wager, Sasha strikes me as an ideal “high point” guy for the “Dead Pool” game a la Clint Eastwood movies.

MOHA – When folks get done fighting over the light bulbs would you please get someone to actually take an objective look at the web site. It’s an eyesore for an Association that should be displaying competence without the in) It’s brutal. Look at some of your peers and steal their ideas if you have to or take a canned design template and fill it in but please do something to that “thing” you have up – it has to be an embarrassment to the members. Where to start? The nav structure is brutal – from the icons to their placement, the content is old (HL News – simply take the page out of the structure), the “calendar” has not been touched since I left (isn’t that “timely”), you should not post detailed URLs (especially on the Home Page) – you simply hyperlink and you do not respond to content errors even when they are pointed out to you by someone as nice and thoughtful as I am – You still have the wrong address on the 09/10 Sponsorship form – doesn’t that leave a good and professional impression. If you are so “bent” on spending money, contract with someone who has a clue to give you a refresh and then make a point of managing content. Go to Sheridan and get a graphics student to redo it but do something.

If it is not a priority put up a single “identity” page and kill the rest until you figure it out – or leave it as it is for my and others entertainment at your expense. Maybe there is somewhere I can post link it as “America’s Funniest Web Site”-  given that someone was always bent out of shape because she did not get picked for having the best one, wouldn’t that be a hoot.

No wonder the two resigned directors have not been removed.

NHL Awards – show is tonight in Vega – Won’t bother posting my picks as I would take Mason and Detroit guys for all the subjectives. Hopefully Steve is a shoe-in for the Calder as I expect he will get stiffed on the Vezina. Ovechkin should pick up a couple – and he deserves them – for the season.

BBQ – wanted to post sooner and bail, but it seems that besides slaving in the office, I have to come home and slave over the BBQ. I feel like a housewife! (that’ll get-em riled!). However, there is no pattie like a homemade pattie so I don’t mind.

Defeat – on this day in 1815 another of those tiny, perfect commishes emperors went down to defeat as Napoleon met his “Waterloo” at the Battle of Waterloo. Of his 72,000 men 25,000 were killed and 9,000 captured. A horrific battle even by their standards.

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June 17 – a low key day with basically nothing to report. Spending my second day in nearly two weeks at Yonge and Eg, I was still trying to make a dent in the pile of goodies that had shown up in my absence. Somehow, despite my best efforts it seemed that the pile was higher at the end of the day than when I started. Progress it's not.

Platform 27 -- fortunately I'm not qualified to comment on this dispatch point as I am basically a 4, 5 and occasionally 6 guy. So far, I have not had to venture into the Badlands, but have heard the ongoing complaints about what is one of the favorite GO Train harangues. Since they closed the killer escalator and boarded off a number of other sections, 27 has been the talk of the town. Just think, in the paper this past weekend they were discussing the five-year project about to get underway to turn Union Station into a transportation Mecca with more track 27s -- I can hardly wait.

Serendipity strikes -- as I speak the above my e-mail dinger dings with a notice from GO Transit. We are being politely advised that with the installation of a third rail line on Lakeshore West they will be installing new signals (hopefully these are a new model that works in the wintertime) and as a result there could be a delay in service. I think that now makes it official, that GO Transit is now predicting delays on any day that ends with a Y.

Do the math – no, you don't have to, Forbes magazine did it for you. The following is the ranked list provided by Forbes magazine last October. Forbes has a reasonable reputation for being able to count so you can put some stock in this evaluation. The teams have been ranked most valuable number 1 to least valuable number 30.

1. Toronto Maple Leafs	11. Minnesota Wild	21. Buffalo Sabres
2. New York Rangers	12. Los Angeles Kings	22. Carolina Hurricanes
3. Montreal Canadiens	13. Ottawa Senators	23. Nashville Predators
4. Detroit Red Wings	14. Chicago Blackhawks	24. Florida Panthers
5. Philadelphia Flyers	15. Calgary Flames	25. St Louis Blues
6. Dallas Stars	16. Anaheim Ducks	26. Washington Capitals
7. Boston Bruins	17. Tampa Bay Lightning	27. Atlanta Thrashers
8. Vancouver Canucks	18. Pittsburgh Penguins	28. Columbus Blue Jackets
9. Colorado Avalanche	19. San Jose Sharks	29. New York Islanders
10. New Jersey Devils	20. Edmonton Oilers	30. Phoenix Coyotes

Here is the link to the article.

According to Forbes, before Phoenix sunk even more into the cesspool they were only worth 142 million US. Now I know there are puts and takes, but last I heard Jimmy B. had 212 million on the table. Try to defend turning that down in the board room. That is unless you're number 1, at the top of the heap, have no interest in someone else in your bailiwick, and have to believe your fan support would disappear like Smarties with a fat kid if a real team showed up. By the way, the Forbes assessment for those perennial champions -- the Leafs -- was 448 million.

Look at the operating income, Phoenix was listed as -9.7 million, whereas Toronto clocked in at +66.4 million. Forbes has done a great job on these profiles. I had not looked at them before but they contain a wealth of information -- no pun intended.

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June 16 - as I mentioned, today ended up being a surprise road trip presentation so I had the luxury this afternoon of getting back from Burlington early and working from home. It really is possible to do this productively now with the technology that is available. Logging on from my corporate notebook using the VPN connection (virtual private network), it literally is the same as sitting at my desk in the office (sans interruptions). E-mail, server access, mainframe applications, intranet and Web connections are all available with only a marginally different response time for remote applications. Over time, I expect that "working from home" will become a more accepted practice for more industries. Some, likely ours, will be slow to change as I think there is a perception that you need to be "there" to deal with issues.

Jimmy B. -- "loses" the battle, but will he win the war. At some point, the NHL will have to stop the bleeding in a number of locations, not just Phoenix. While they clearly would rather sell new franchises for a whack of dough, how long will the NHL owners agreed to pour money into the bottomless pit. In Toronto's case, they may be happy with the amount they are required to pay as they may simply look at it as their annual fee to keep competitors out of their market. That being the case, they likely feel it is a cheap expense.

Careful what you say -- according to today's Toronto Star, one of France's wealthiest men was killed because he insulted his mistress. Apparently, he had the bad sense to call her a Wh - - e when she had access to a gun. Two to the head, two to the body and that's all she wrote. I guess I better be careful and watch my back as I have called people a lot worse than that to their face. While they say that "the truth shall set you free", I'm quite sure that I want to be that free yet. A crime of passion in France, she will likely get probation or maybe the Croix de Guerre (see Stallworth later).

Burke magic -- apparently I read too much in the Toronto Star as the Damien Cox article on Brian Burke amused me. As per Damien, over the next 14 days, Burke will be executing his master plan, or at least trying to. Short forming it, all he needs to do is 1. Sign goaltender Jonas Gustavsson. 2. Figure out who wants to dump and who wants to pay. 3. Move up in the draft. 4. make a big pitch for an impact free agent. I don't know about you, but I can't understand why they think he will need two weeks to pull this off. Clearly with so much to offer, the world will be lined up at the Leaf’s door to accommodate him. Whether you're a Leaf fan or not, if you apply any semblance of analytics or logic to this situation you have to just shake your head. If Burke pulled this off, the next step would be loaves and fishes.

Palin -- accepts Lettermen's apology. Did she have a choice? At the end of the day, you have to believe she was happy for the exposure as she has been scrambling to do anything to keep from sinking out of the public eye. Clearly she has continued political aspirations, however, you have to ask yourself how far down is the bottom of that barrel. If you read her statement, you have to wonder at both the convoluted logic and thought process that she was trying to express. -- here it is --"Letterman certainly has the right to 'joke' about whatever he wants to, and thankfully we have the right to express our reaction. And this is all thanks to our U.S. military women and men putting their lives on the line for us to secure America's right to free speech -- in this case, may that right be used to promote equality and respect."

Sushi -- Tony the tapeworm -- for those of us who enjoy sushi, you may either want to be very careful where you get it, or stop reading the newspapers or watching any media. An online article from ABC talks about a 9 foot tapeworm reported in a Chicago area man. The article then goes on to discuss the "dangers of raw fish" in such a manner that it almost suggests that there is a high probability you too could meet Tony. Not a pleasant thought or article. Gulp -- pass the salmon roll.

OMHA – this past weekend was the OMHA’s annual general meeting. I think this is the first AGM that I have not attended in over 10 years. Before you ask, I did attend last year's meeting with Mike when he received the Honour Award – that got us a few looks from the Cabal and their colleagues as they made a point of not talking to us or congratulating Mike. I did check into the motions that were put forward to see what was or was not passed. The motions are often an interesting reflection on what topics are top of mind within the Association. This year there were 14 motions put forward (which I would say is fewer than usual) all but two were passed. One that was defeated -- number 11 -- was looking to establish a two-tier referee payment system for A and above centers (like Oakville) versus the smaller centers. The proposal was to bump all referee and linesman's rates in the A and above centers by 4 dollars per official per game -- i.e. in a three official game, there would have been a $12 increase in official fees. Going back to the "challenges" around the referees that occurred in the MOHA which directly led to my departure, it is interesting to note that this motion was defeated.

A series of other motions relating to tournament sign in sheets were passed meaning that the administrative burden on tournament organizers to secure separate sign in sheets is no longer necessary. I would expect that the organizers for the Richard Bell tournament and the Frank Sabatino tournaments will be happy with this state of affairs. While it should have been critical before, it is now even more so that teams present a current and approved official electronic roster for their players as this is now the only qualification requirement.

Besides number 11 shooting down the referees’ fee increase, the other motion defeated was a tie breaker motion put forward with respect to play downs -- number 9.

I have downloaded and hyperlinked the complete list of motions -- here -- for anyone who wants to review them.

Stallworth – Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure helps in a number of other areas. It is hard to believe that this case has been resolved with Stallworth only receiving a 30 day jail term after pleading guilty to DUI manslaughter. The Cleveland Browns wide receiver faced a potential 15 year term in sentencing. He struck and killed a pedestrian in March while driving his Bentley with a blood-alcohol count of 1.2. There are other considerations including a financial settlement with the family as well as probation and community service but as one radio commentator has said if you knew you would end up with a 30 day sentence would you worry about killing someone. Read about it here.

Coney Island -- not wanting to end on a downer, today marks the opening of the first roller coaster in America. In 1884 the first roller coaster opened on Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York. This newfangled device traveled at approximately 6 miles an hour and cost a nickel to ride. As someone who really likes roller coasters, compare this to the Kingda Ka roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, claimed as the world's tallest (at 456 feet) and fastest (at 128 mph). For you other “coaster lovers, here’s a top 10 list.

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June 15 -- there is nothing more exciting and enjoyable than going back to the office on Monday, after a wonderful weather weekend and having been out of the office for most of the preceding week. You just feel so enthused and invigorated by the pile of "crap" waiting for you. Such was my adventure today. On top of that, add the heckling and abuse that I was subjected to based on the demise of my Red Wings. Oh yes, I forgot that when I showed up this morning I found out that I was booked in for a presentation tomorrow that would take me out of the office for most of the day. It just gets better and better. Cloning anyone?

MOHA -- the newly elected board has yet to hold its first meeting and according to your alternative blogging location, two directors have already resigned. The machinations surrounding this one set a new standard, even for them. Of course, for the parties involved and some of those on the sidelines, I could say "I told you so" but that would have little value. What I do find interesting and hopefully instructive to a lot of people, is the character, or lack of it, demonstrated by one of the senior members of the cabal. I think I will let this one simmer for a while until maybe someone else throws a "light" on it.

It reminds me of a comment that I have made on several occasions -- that if the behavior involved here was demonstrated in a workplace, it would be grounds for immediate dismissal with cause. However, there seems to be a mindset that anything goes in volunteer associations.

Coyote justice -- it seems that barring some type of miracle, the Coyotes will be staying in Phoenix and not toddling off to Hamilton as Jimmy B. had hoped. It seems the judge has used Jimmy's timeframe ultimatum to squelch the sale suggesting that the restricted timeline did not present enough time to solve the issues. Theoretically, the pundits will say that the NHL has won. The real question will be exactly what have they won. It some of the numbers are accurate, Phoenix has essentially been a cash flow sinkhole and now someone will have to pour more money down the well to keep the team going. Volunteers? Somehow, I don't think that this is over yet. I hope not, I need some type of hockey story to entertain me over the summer.

Irony -- as if it's not bad enough that Pittsburgh wins the Cup, some of the boys show up for the Pittsburgh Pirates game (including that former leaf's stellar defenseman Hal Gill). Who were they playing? You mean Detroit Tigers! By the way, I am also a Tigers fan. This is also the same month that I believe they are tearing down the old ballpark -- Briggs Stadium. Nothing but losses.

Feudal England -- today marks the day in 1215 that King John (under duress) signed the Magna Carta or great charter for you non-Latin students. Arguably, this was a document that cracked the absolute power of the King in dealing with subjects and to many is one of the forerunner documents in the process of establishing democratic rule. Clearly a mistake, as a benevolent dictator can be a wonderful thing.

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June 14 - tomorrow it's back to work and facing the slings and arrows of my cohorts. After the Pittsburgh win, there are no end of story lines being pursued in the media. Games over, Pittsburgh won, Detroit lost, let's move on. Instead there's a plethora of topics:

• Crosby is a poor sport -- crap!

• Detroit's a dirty team -- crap!

• Refereeing was inconsistent and different from the season – agree (especially not a fan of McCreary).

• Big deal about a Russian Conn Smythe winner -- so what?

• A new era in Pittsburgh -- hardly!

• All the medical stories coming out -- not a surprise

and on and on and on.

Other than the Phoenix story and who will charge what to do what to who, wrap up the hockey unless you've got a big story about next year. Guess what, it's not that far away.

GO Transit -- just to be different and because I missed traveling on the GO train all last week (except for Monday) I went downtown this afternoon to deal with a few odds and ends. The go train yields a wealth of silliness, more so on the weekends than the normal day-to-day. As a way of changing topics, I ended up sitting next to a foursome of "teenage girls" who spent the entire trip from Clarkson to Union Station discussing their new tattoos, their philosophy of tattooing, and their plans for future tattoos. While I know this has become a common practice, individual's propensity to scour their bodies is something I just don't buy into. These young ladies were publicly discussing what types of tattoos were appropriate for what body parts, house they were resisting tattooing their current boyfriend's name on to their bodies until they were sure it was serious, as well as a number of even more risqué plans. Sorry folks, I just don't get it, and even if I did, it's not the kind of thing I would discuss publicly on mass transit. Guess I'm from the wrong generation. Have these people never seen what tattoos can look like on your skin as you get older. Visions of old sailors come to mind.

Summer's here -- last night had to be the highlight weather for our year so far. We sat out last night until almost 11 o'clock taking advantage of the gazebo and my newfangled lighting system (a battery camping lantern). I found the evening pleasant enough to sit in shorts and a T-shirt and was quite comfortable. The other wimps had to go for long pants and sweaters which were totally unnecessary. Enjoy it while you can, because we don't get too many of these. The other thing I noticed, was that it stayed light till well after nine which reminded me that we are a week away from the longest day of the year at which point they start shortening again as we head for the fall -- don't want to think about it.

Landscaping 101 -- Sheridan nurseries took a beating again yesterday as probably half of their stock was transferred to my backyard. Jane and Andrew are out of control. However, I must admit that our new back garden looks great and will really be attractive when the new plantings fill out and flower. I think that pretty well does it for the Moorehead lawns and garden project. I suspect that the next evil deed on the agenda will be to build a backyard shed. I can hardly wait!

Birth of the “Computer” world - on this day in 1951,UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) delivered the first commercial computer to the US Census Bureau. . It weighed 16,000 pounds, used 5,000 vacuum tubes, and could perform about 1,000 calculations per second. I can't even think of either a computing device that would be comparable to this today or factor in the order of magnitude that someone's home or office computer outstrips this by now. Remember, the first real “personal” computer from IBM did not appear in the workplace until the mid-80s and some of us can remember what they were like. Originally equipped with only a floppy drive (360 K. 5.25" diskette), when it was expanded to include a 10 MB Winchester hard drive we were all in all. If I remember correctly that unit with the CGA color monitor (640x480) listed at around $7,000. -- I had one. Times have changed.

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June  13 - It's over - stand up and take your medicine like a man!

My Wings lost last night which means I will be taking an extended amount of abuse. The horn hadn't finished sounding for the third period last night when the phone was already ringing. I was so PO'd I changed channels and refused to watch the celebrations. Fair enough, he who lives by the mouth, dies by the mouth. I am posting early today so that I can go into seclusion and avoid all media inquiries.

While the loss means that a number of my tongue-in-cheek predictions from yesterday clearly did not come true, one of the things I have been saying all along did. In the playoffs, goaltending will win or lose it for you. Not to slam Osgood, because I've done enough of that and all things considered he played very well, but when it came to the one-game crunch Fleury came up big and lucky, whereas Osgood was "ordinary". The second Pittsburgh goal which essentially won the Cup was a goaltending mistake.

Regardless, the Penguins are a good team, they did not quit, they played well even with Crosby out for the third and were full value for the win. I may want to lobby to have the nets 3 inches higher, as in that case the blankety-blank crossbar would not have saved a goal and who knows. However, as they say if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

From a practical standpoint, please try to get all your cheap shots in in the next week and then let's move on to other topics. Congratulations to Sid the Kid, as an individual he really deserves the Cup, and has become the youngest captain ever to win it. Hopefully his injury is not serious and he has the opportunity for many more. As I've said several times I have been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to "skate" with him in making a number of Tim Hortons commercials and he is a class act for a young man (but I still cheer for Detroit).

A couple of quickies:

• Mohammed Ali was at the game last night in a Wings jersey -- if you saw him, he looked terrible -- what a shame. For those of us who watched him in the ring during his prime he was an unbelievable athlete. To see him reduced to this state is really too bad.

• Hossa - claims he has no regrets. While that has to be the story for publication, it had to be really tough for him on the ice last night after the game and I am sure that it is something that will weigh on his mind for a long time.

• Superstition is a wonderful thing -- clearly the hotel changes worked for the Pens. What sunk Detroit was allowing the anthem singer to bring her daughter out for the Star-Spangled Banner -- it cost them the Cup.

I am not looking forward to going into the office on Monday -- maybe I should have stayed out West. One last time -- Go Wings Go, or in the vernacular of a Leafs fan -- just wait till next year!

Da Bears - not the ones of Chicago fame but rather those of Hershey. Unfortunately the Moose went down to defeat last night as well, and the Hershey Bears won the Calder Cup. It was the sixth game in the series played in Manitoba/Winterpeg and so was another case of the home team getting dumped in front of their own fans. In this case, it was probably a good thing I got out of Winterpeg so that I would not be accused of being the jinx. What this does mean though is that both the NHL and the AHL ended on the same day -- June 12. Regardless of the outcomes, I think this is stretching out the season and playoffs too long and is something that should be addressed by the respective leagues.

Phoenix fiasco -- are there any other conspiracy theorists besides myself who are convinced that no news came out of the court yesterday on the Phoenix fiasco because the NHL had the fix in to avoid competing with their on ice activity? The expectation is that the decision will come shortly and will be one-stop shopping, including both the decision on ownership as well as a transfer fee. As another fearless prediction, I would suggest that the transfer fee will end up being used as a tool to squelch Jimmy B. At the end of the day, I do not think that even he will want to get clipped for over $400 million to plug a team into Hamilton. I still think that at the end of the day, he would like to have it in Kitchener Waterloo. While I have no proof of that it would just seem to me to be more logical based on his business interests and I think potential revenue streams. However, with the season over this will give us something to consider with respect hockey stories.

GTHL -- has its annual general meeting today. An interesting agenda item, which I believe has zero chance of passing is to ban body checking at the A level and below. While a number of associations (including North York) are looking at banning body checking within their house league organizations, this is the first push that I have seen to remove it from a "competitive" level, i.e. rep hockey. They are also looking at more freedom of movement for players, which is an interesting philosophy for those pirates.

Anyway – the calls and emails are coming through – time to sign off and go hide!!

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June 12 - I'm Back!

Not sure that that is good news, but c"est la vie.

Travel note - West Jet - cheaper fare for my three legged jaunt from Toronto, to Winterpeg, to Calgary and back to Toronto than what would have been the single leg fare from either Toronto to Winterpeg or from Cowtown home on Air Canada - and one wonders why Air Cargo struggles.

Travel note number two. I am not too upset about row 22 because I was not in a hurry to get off in Toronto. I usually try for an exit row for the extra leg room, but I screwed up on that one and got the back of the bus. However having a family of four behind me with two SCREAMING kids for FOUR Hours is not my idea of fun. There should be a special soundproof section for these folks and before you start pandering about THEIR rights, what about MINE. The trip from Hell. By the way - my perception is that West Jey seats are physically smaller than Air Cargo. Is that right?

Game 7 - I came home straight from the airport and am posting early as I need to prepare myself for the stress of tonight's game. As I sit here with my first Guinness, the pressure is already mounting. There has already been so much penned on this that I am not even going to try to hype it. If I see any more stats and analytics, I may lose it. Tonight it will be over. So as a big Wings fan (and being hopeful as to the results, here are a number of things that are going to happen:

• The zebras who I think have had a poor and inconsistent series will continue with inconsistent and questionable calls or non calls, - one of which will figure prominently in the result.

• Hossa - who has been a non event will score a key goal.

• Detroit will win.

• Despite my comments to the contrary, Osgood will get the Conn Smythe

• Malkin will have a melt down.

• Kronwall will rock the house.

• Crosby will get a goal but it won't be enough

You can always hope!!

GM - If I see that stupid reinvention commercial from GM I more time my TV will be at risk. For a company that is living off of the public purse they have sure poured a whack of our dough into asinine media prescience. Pull the Plug on it guys - you are coming across as idiots and annoying the heck out of me!

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June 11 - Long meeting day, late dinner, no energy - no blog!

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June 10 - If this is Wednesday, it must be Calgary. apparently, I am now a local hero as I brought good weather. The snow is gone, the sun is out and life is good, except for a possible slight hiccup in the Wings World.

To put things in perspective, it is lucky that I escaped from Winterpeg with my life - lynching was a real risk. When I returned to my hotel last night, I had a bit of a friendly chit chat with the registration desk staff - one of my bad habits, and asked if they had a big screen in the bar to watch the game.

Their eyes lit up and they said - What is it on? - then seeing my look they said - the game is it televised? To which my answer was of course it's the finals and it could be over tonight. They said yes, we know but we are hoping the Moose win. Realizing that the Manitoba Moose were playing in the AHL final versus Hershey, I said I was talking about the real hockey - the Stanley Cup. not well received.

Game 7 coming up - nerve racking, and oh yeah - the moose did win so they survived to play again (down 3-2 to the Bears). On that note the AHL could go longer than the NHL.

As a separate comment, I think I have a pretty fair sense of direction. However, touring Calgary today with all the in and outs and arounds and downs I found it very confusing. Not sure it would have helped if I have paid more attention but it sure is a carved up city.

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