Roadtrip Recap: Days Three & Four

At the rate I'm going, by the time I finish this, I'll be on my next vacation. Or the NHL season will have started.

Anyway.

Roadtrip Recap: Days One & Two

Well I haven't gotten this recap up as quickly as I'd like. For gods sake I'm only at the halfway point of uploading all of the pictures I took. It really has taken me the week after the trip to get my bearings and a somewhat stressful week back at work didn't help matters much. I'm not sure if anyone even cares anymore, but I figure I'd better write this down before I get too old and can't remember any of it.

And Here. We. Go.

I Hath Returned

OK, I really did mean to attempt to blog while on my road trip, but due to the fact I passed out most evenings when we got back to our hotel (humidity + walking for miles makes me tired), this did not happen. Aside from that, we had multiple issues with internet access: one motel's idea of wi-fi was like a 28.8 modem and another hotel was equipped with only an Ethernet cord that Amy's laptop did not like. We also encountered, unbeknown to us, we were going to incur "International Roaming Charges" on our iPhones while in Canada (Fuck you AT&T) so checking the net for three days was verboten unless we could get wi-fi on the smart phones.

But aside from that, it was a fun trip and I'm sad to see it end. I have 1200+ photos to go through. I am only on Day Two of posting them to Flickr so this may take awhile. I will also put up a summary here once I have some time - hopefully this week. In the meantime, here's a list of all of the places we stayed/stopped at during our eight days:

Chicago-South Bend, IN-Bryan, OH-Toledo-Cleveland-Ashtabula, OH-Conneaut, OH-Erie, PA-Silver Creek, NY-Buffalo, NY-Niagara Falls, NY-Niagara Falls, ONT-Toronto-London, ONT-Southfield, MI-Detroit-Hamtramck, MI-Ann Arbor, MI-Chicago

Needless to say I put over 1,200 miles on my car. He performed admirably.

And now it's to bed as I'm sure there are various disasters I must fix when I'm back at work tomorrow. HUGE SIGH

Vacation Time!

So I fully intended to do an in-depth and informative post, as you will always receive here on afoui (*snort*), regaling you of vacations of days past and a preview of what is to come this week. Unfortunately work kicked my ass all week, resulting in long hours and most evenings spent falling asleep in front of the TV - I am turning into my father. So seeing as it's past midnight and we're getting up at 7am in order to hit the road early, a scant paragraph or two is just gonna have to do.

Saturday: Cleveland
Sunday/Monday: Niagara Falls/Buffalo
Tuesday-Thursday: Toronto
Friday: Detroit
Saturday: HOME!

We don't have too much planned for certain. We're doing the Rock and Roll HOF in Cleveland, Niagara Falls of course, and the Hockey HOF in Toronto - I've already bought my tickets for that bitches! Expect a lot of photos of old signs and the other off beat shit I like to take pictures of. I predict I will get at least two blisters, sun burnt once and probably eat something that won't agree with me. But I don't care - I love vacations, and I am increasingly loving going on road trips - there's just so many cool and strange things to see when you drive.

I'll attempt to make a post or two on here during our time on the road, but I will be tweeting and probably throwing pictures on flickr too. So if you're so inclined, check out the links on the right.

Later!

Saving the Worst For Last

[Goodbye Nemo *wails*]

We all knew that the moves the Hawks were going to have to make in the offseason would be painful. But if you had told me earlier that this would mean we'd lose no fewer than *10* players, including our Cup winning goalie, I would have thought you were on crack and proceeded to either get drunk or jump off my porch (I live on the second floor). 

I had been dreading the impending Antti Niemi arbitration hearing and was hoping against hope the two sides could hammer something out beforehand. Alas, that did not happen, so I crossed my fingers that the arbitrator would award Nemo something in the 2 mildo range: that would be the only way he'd fit in a cap tighter than my thighs in spandex (please note I have never owned any spandex. Go away fashion police!).

He was awarded a one year-$2.75 million dollar contract.

That was that - no more Nemo. Within 24 hours, the Hawks had signed Marty "C-3P0" Turco, and Antti Claus (because he can give up rebounds like it's Christmas) was no longer a Hawk. On a selfish note, I can state I'm happy I didn't invest in a jersey (but I might still get a Niemi T-Shirt) but I really, really grew to like Nemo as the season wore on. He seems like an unassuming, hard working, goofy guy. And he is cute in that dorky way I find so endearing.

It's not fair that a Stanley Cup winning goalie is out of a job, mostly due to the fact that the Blackhawks were punished for their success in terms of bonuses counting against next year's salary cap. The poor guy was a Cinderella story - Zamboni driver to hoisting the sports' greatest prize in a few short years. I will have to lay some of this blame on Niemi's agent, Bill Zito. I know his job is to get the best deal for his client, and of course his value will never be higher having just backstopped the team to the top. But any idiot could tell you that this was a shit year for goalie free agents (just ask Jose Theodore and Evgeni Nabokov). Everyone knew of the Hawks' cap issues - you'd think perhaps you'd take a one year deal at a reasonable price with the promise of a multi-year deal for bigger bucks in the wings. I guess money talks - yet here we are, several days after the decision and Niemi's gone nowhere. Sure Zito's boasting that several teams are now interested, but I can't see any NHL team right now signing Niemi to that $2.75 mildo price tag - especially since unless a team changes its current roster, Nemo would only be needed in a 1A or backup role. I get the feeling Zito was filling Nemo's head with Halak-type numbers, only to see that idea fly out the window. Reportedly Niemi asked Zito "Now What?" after the decision was rendered. Now what indeed - poor Nemo could legitimately be out of the NHL or playing at a price less than what the Hawks probably offered him come the start of the regular season. 

Antti Niemi, you captured my heart in the midst of the journey that brought me to tears at the end, the journey that culminated in something no logical Chicago sports fan ever expects to see: a championship. Wherever your career takes you, I wish you nothing but the best. Just remember not to lose the puck in your pants again.

I wonder if Turco will sport red sparkling pads. I may have to wear sunglasses to the UC.

It's Not Easy Being Green

 [Day 23: Garden View]

As you recall (or perhaps not, here's a friendly reminder), Amy and I are tending a raised bed garden in a former vacant lot. It's been almost a month now, but I am happy to report that not only did we not kill off everything, we actually have ate things from it (and didn't get food poisoning)! Below is a summary of the growings on (ha - bad pun!), mostly in pictures of course.