What is going on? Has anyone else noticed that most of the team has been unnoticeable for the past three weeks? Against St. Louis I thought that Phaneuf and Jokinen had good games (yeah, I know!). Actually all of the defense played well, but then Jokinen and Iggy and Bourque had spurts. That was pretty much it. I haven’t noticed Dawes, Moss, Glenncross, Boyd, Nystrom, Prust, Sjostrom or Conny in weeks.

All I want for Christmas is a thorough trouncing of Edmonton on New Years Eve.

By Michael Mark, CEO/Creative Director @NYCA

I am taking off my shoes and walking over to the fire.

I want you to hold my feet to the flames.

I am to be held accountable.

If this is kinky to you, let me tell you it is business to us.

We do what we say, we say what we do. This way no one gets burned.

Yes, we’re an advertising agency. We think there are others like us out there.

But when the Gallup Poll does an integrity survey and our industry ends up below politicians – well, it’s time to stand up. Barefoot.

We’re in Encinitas. California. We are experienced creative entrepreneurs from the biggest and best agencies in the country.

We grow our clients’ businesses with a process that is harmonious with our clients.

Grow is everything.

We use integrity and virtue, along with creativity, insight, innovation and analytics.

We use moral skill.

It’s what makes our work stand out. It’s what makes our work actually work in the marketplace.

But what’s deeply important to us is how we do it.

We make promises. We keep them.

One promise we made to a client was that we would go bankrupt before giving up on solving his company’s problem.

The CEO of the prospect-turned-client asked me to sign that.

We delivered.

Next time he accepted a handshake.

The Flames had a pretty poor first period, but I thought they came out in the second and third wanting to win this game. Then they just ran out of time. But you can’t be mad at the effort. Except for Jokinen’s effort, or lack thereof. And what was with Glencross wheeling around throwing pucks in random places? I think he was either super-excited that he’ll be in bed by 9:00pm, or on drugs.

I say we raise our glasses to Retaliation.

Thursday night in Edmonton was a good one.  After rebounding from a 6-0 loss earlier in the year to Edmonton, the Predators defeated the Oilers 6-3 in a come from behind win.

Patric Hornqvist had himself a night scoring twice, along with Jerred Smithson, Ryan Jones, Marcel Goc, and Joel Ward scoring one goal each.

One More Round, Please?

Saturday afternoon the Predators take on the Calgary Flames.  The Preds are hoping to rebound after a 5-0 loss earlier in the year to Flames.  In that loss, the Preds had trouble keeping the puck in their zone, getting shots off, and getting absolutely anything going on the power play.

The Predators could be visiting the Flames at the right time.  Before beating the Kings last night, the Flames had lost 3 straight.  Let’s keep in mind though, before playing the Kings were 8-1-1 in their previous 10, and are tops in the NHL.

Calgary has had problems with its top line getting into the scoring column.  The other night against Minnesota, Calgary’s top line of Nystom, Iginla, and Jokinen had only managed one shot on goal at even strength.  If the Preds can play against the Flame’s top line like we played against Edmonton’s last night, we should be set-up.

Cash in with the Man Advantage

The Predators finally scored a PP goal last night after going scoreless in their previous eight tries.  Nashville definitely needs to cash in on the PP against the flames, because if you haven’t heard, they have a pretty good goal tender against Mikka Kiprusoff.  Kipper is 18-8-4 this season with a 93% save percentage.

In his last four starts Mikka has given up only 5 even strength goals.  Against Atlanta, Minnesota, and Colorado he stopped 65 of 69 even strength shots, but the Flames lost two of those three.

With the Flames struggling the score, the Predators definitely need to be on their game when it comes to the special teams.

Get It STARTED, Then Finish

In Edmonton we saw the Predators play 55 minutes of good hockey—the first five were horrendous.  Playing against a team like Calgary, that will not likely be a good idea.  The Predators definitely need to jump on the Flames early and often.  Also, the boys need to keep putting bodies in front of the net.  Whether it is Arnott, Ward, Hornqvist, or Jones it is working.

So here is to hoping that the bartender can serve up another round…another round of Retaliation.

Be sure to check out PredsOnTheGlass and OnTheForecheck’s gameday previews as well!

Thanks for Reading!

Whatcha mean no drama, no games?  Your not giving any slack, not taking any names.

Your reaction to my expressive tirades or counterbalancing moves, also fans the flames.

Is not Life itself a Drama?  Filled with one acts, double bills, and triple axle jumps? 

Can’t help if my silence engulfs you, or my expressive reactions make it a ride of bumps.

Please don’t relegate, subjugate my Drama, just ask me to turn the Volume down!

Is not Life itself a Game?  One goal, to effect, affect those all around!

Whatcha mean no drama, no games?  Haven’t you studied, haven’t you learned?

In the Drama of our Life, Game of our Love; There’s plenty of pages yet to be turned.

Scene 4, Act 3, Line 2, First person

Here are some more finished projects.  Pillows!

12″ squares of cotton prints, over polyester filled pillows.  Totally washable, so I sewed the covers right on to the pillows.  I think for sale purposes though that I would be better off making removeable covers – not just for ease of washability and mailing, but also as incentive to purchase new covers for existing pillows to mix things up a little.  I notice that most pillow-sellers on etsy.com operate in this fashion.  However, I have an enormous stash of sewn cases that just need to be stuffed with pillows that I would like to sell too.  Maybe I’ll just photograph the covers and finish them as and when they sell so as not to have to store too many fully finished pillows.  I’ll think more on that in January.

girls bearing gifts

flaming girls

I believe the gift-bearing girls are a Timeless Treasures print.  I know the flaming girls are an Alexander Henry print.  I also have this print in the white background because I love it so.

And lastly, a pillow I made as a gift for my favourite urban cowboy to match the pillow slips I made him for his birthday.  I had lots of leftover lucky horseshoe print and two conveniently sized stips of the two-steppin’ cowboy cotton, which made for the perfect pillow making materials.

I had a wee spot of trouble stuffing the polyester pillow form into this one.  I left the opening too small and it was quite a fight to get the plump pillow inside, so the bottom looks a little worse for wear in this photo.  I hope to have it steamed out by the deadline of gift exchanging…  I feel like hope springs eternal at my house!

two-steppin' cowboys

I put a lot of research into purchasing my first digital mini DV because I wanted to have the best digital camcorder. At that time, I thought that it would be cool to become an amateur filmmaker. I had some success with the few movies I made. My movies had been shown at local film festivals and had received fairly positive reviews.

Unfortunately, I did not realize that this didn’t mean very much. This is because I was unaware that the world is filled with amateur film guys with local followings. In my mind, I can only compete with the main Hollywood studios if I have the best digital camcorders. As a result, I invested a fortune in the most amazing digital camcorder available.

That camcorder cost more than 500 dollars, which was a fortune in 1996. Since I didn’t have that kind of cash, buying the best digital camcorder meant that I could not afford a new car. However, I didn’t care because film was everything to me. I didn’t even mind that I would be strapped for rent that month if I purchased that camcorder.

The equipment I purchased wasn’t one of those digital optical zoom pieces of junk. My camcorder worked like a real video camera. I enjoyed the full set of adjustable lenses, the highest resolution available at the time, and the ability to do in camera editing with that device. All these features made it the best digital camcorder that was on the marketing those years.

Unfortunately, thieves also recognize value of the best digital camcorders so they are hot items. If you are willing to not ask any questions, then you can probably find a digital camcorder for half its current price. You don’t have to buy it from some guy’s jacket on the street in these day and age. A lot of pawnshops now have stolen digital camcorders available. I’m sure that you now have an idea about where this is going.

Tragedy struck as I was shooting what I thought would be the best movie with the best digital camcorder. I was approached by a person who pretended to recognize me. He started asking me about my films. I was chatting with him when his partner walked up behind me and suddenly grabbed the camcorder out of my hand. They were both halfway down the block by the time I realized what was happening. That is the sad story of how I lost the best digital camcorder I’ve ever owned.

Morgan Hamilton offers expert advice and great tips regarding all aspects concerning Best Digital Camcorder [http://www.newelectronicsinformation.com/electronics/electronics/finding-the-best-digital-camcorder.html]. Visit our site for more helpful information about Best Digital Camcorder [http://www.newelectronicsinformation.com] and other similar topics.

Friends Link : Camcorder Reviews

Nõel: 3round liner, 15Magnum2
Tint: K, I Bright Red, I Light Green, I Lemon Yellow, A Intense Brown, A Oriental ORange

Needle: 3round liner, 15Magnum2
Ink: K, I Bright Red, I Light Green, I Lemon Yellow, A Intense Brown, A Oriental ORange

Is this it? Is this the inevitable freefall that seems to happen every year? You know the storyline. The Flames start the season average, get bad, get great, then tank to squeak into the playoffs in a not-so-respectable 6th or 7th place. The third loss in a row may not be the time to panic, but if it isn’t, when is the right time to panic? I’m going to panic now so I can get it over with.

Once again, I can’t believe I paid $16 for that crap. Stupid PPV.

By Michael MacLeod

A HOGMANAY disco inferno was sparked when a top Scottish DJ launched two giant fireworks into a nightclub.

Fire rained onto the dancefloor from the ceiling of Edinburgh’s Luna club moments after the midnight bells between 2008 and 2009.

Some booze-fuelled clubbers danced around the falling flames chanting: “The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire.”

But others suffered burns after the fire melted a plastic cargo net on the ceiling, sending a stream of flames across the 650-capacity room.

DJ Jason Cortez claimed he was wrongly advised that the six-metre pyrotechnics were suitable for indoor use.

But a Sheriff slammed his “unbelievable attitude” today (Tuesday), saying it was fortunate nobody had died.

Sheriff Graeme Warner compared the blaze to a nightclub tragedy in Russia earlier this month, for which the death-toll is currently 148.

Hardcore dance, house and trance DJ Cortez, 33 – real name Jason Cormack from Wester Hailes in Edinburgh – was fined £1,000 at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

He was due to stand trial but yesterday admitted responsibility for a catalogue of fire safety failures at the Picardy Place venue on January 1.

Video shown in court

He blamed a Glasgow supplier, insisting he was given fireworks with a range twice the height of those he ordered.

A three-minute video was shown in court of the aftermath of the firework blunder.

Fiscal Depute Gillian More said: “He has pled guilty to failing to carry out an adequate fire safety assessment.

“On arrival the fire and rescue service were told two fireworks had been ignited.

“They had set fire and burned away plastic netting above the stage and the fire crew entered and extinguished it.

“Two pyrotechnic devices were discovered on the stage.”

Luna’s general manager David Ross had the same charges against him dropped after Cormack admitted sole responsibility for the New Year bash.

“People had been burnt”

He pleaded with police later on New Year’s Day during an interview, saying “I didn’t intend to put anyone’s life at risk.”

He told them: “I organised the firework display tonight but I didn’t know I should have fire service approval first.

“I saw the ceiling netting falling and we started to evacuate people.

“I found out later that people had been burnt.”

When asked if he undertook a fire safety risk assessment, he said: “The company I bought them from said the conversation we had was a form of risk assessment.

“I was relying on the expertise of the company to supply me with the correct equipment.

“But I was unaware of the height restriction on the firework and I have no experience or training with indoor pyrotechnics.

“If I had any doubts about the firework I wouldn’t have set it off.”

Having played alongside some of the world’s biggest DJs, including Italy’s Mauro Picotto, and had songs played on BBC Radio 1’s Judge Jules show, Cormack is now jobless and on benefits.

“In financial ruin”

His defence agent Angus McLennan said: ““He is in financial ruin as a result of this.

“He ran his own business as an events manager and was also paid by this nightclub.

“It was a very unfortunate set of circumstances and very fortunately there wasn’t any tragedy arising out of this.

“It was thanks to the fire service and actions of staff that there wasn’t any more significant injury than being burnt by molten plastic.

“He had spoken to the company in Glasgow who supplied the fireworks, specifically a friend who was familiar with Luna.

“There was a suggestion these particular fireworks were suitable.

“Ultimately the wrong fireworks had been supplied.

“He set off the fireworks at midnight expecting them to go up three metres and instead they travelled six metres up causing the net to catch alight.

“Some people were treating this occurrence as part of the entertainment of the night.”

After watching a video of the fire, Sheriff Warner told Cormack that the maximum fine for breaching the Fire Act was £20,000.

“Foolhardy”

He said: “I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you I recall seeing an incident in the news recently about a similar event in Russia where over 100 were killed.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the comparison.

“It seems to me that to even consider setting off fireworks indoors was grossly risky and to say the least a bit foolhardy.

“You may as well have given a child a revolver handgun and then expressed astonishment when an injury occurs.

“I had in my mind a fine of £5,000 while I was watching the video.

“Your attitude was almost unbelievable in these days of health and safety.

“You had no risk assessment and no knowledge other than a chat with a guy who had been in the club once.

“It almost beggars belief.”

Only “sheer luck prevented a more catastrophic outcome” according to Mike Partington, the group manager of Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue’s Fire Safety Department.

“Warning to others”

He said: “This incident highlighted very worrying breaches in public safety and management control. There is no doubt that it was sheer luck which prevented a more catastrophic outcome.

“The decision to use fireworks indoors with no risk assessment carried out to consider the implications, put the lives of 400 clubbers celebrating the end of the year in serious jeopardy.

“Most shocking was footage shot from inside the club which showed clubbers dancing whilst burning debris fell from the roof. They were clearly oblivious to the danger they were in.

“When the fire service arrived there were still a number of people inside the premises and no sign of an organised evacuation process.

“Three people suffered burns from molten plastic and required medical attention.

“We want to stress that duty holders have a responsibility to ensure premises are safe for their customers.

“We are happy to give advice and help individuals and businesses comply with their obligations. But in cases where we find there has been a negligent approach to fire safety we will investigate and where appropriate report offenders to the procurator fiscal.

“We hope the outcome of these court proceedings will serve as a warning to others who hold positions of responsibility for the safety of the public.

“To neglect the importance of these responsibilities could quite literally cost lives.”

See more of our pictures at our Flickr site and videos at our dedicated channel,  Deadline TV.

My NHL system is off to a good start with a 17-8 record and up 5.34 units.  Here are the games its calling today, and again, I’m just watching these games.

For my other picks for today, simply scroll down to the next post. More may be coming later as well.

PIT -200

CAL -120

NAS -170

LA +125

Thanks to everyone who voted in my 365 photo of the year contest!! I really do value the opinions of those who view my photography and it was great “hearing” what ya’ll had to say. The contest was open for one day and the results are stiff!

Here are the numbers!

1. When fairies awake (4)

2. Yearly bath (1)

3. In the Moonlight (2)

4. I love Coco Cola (0)

5. Hollister Co. Advertisement (4)

6. Great Balls O’ Fire (8)

7. Still Water (4)

8. Achoo! (7)

9. Strawberry Avalanche (0)

10. Mobile Phone Extraordinaire (0)

The Winner of this year’s 365 project photo of the year contest IS…….. #6: Great Balls O’ Fire!

Here is what you need to know to sound knowledgeable around the water cooler this morning.

• Flames gave up 5 power plays in the first period, which translated to 20 first-period shots.
• Kiprusoff was spectacular, again. Where was the defence? The second Avs goal shouldn’t’ have happened.
• Giordano was high-sticked and bleeding, which was a 2-mniute power play. An extra two minutes with the extra man could have changed the game.
• Flames looked bad, just like in the Minnesota game. Kipper and a bunch of guys expecting to win on their road reputation.
• The next game against St. Louis is a PPV game. That’s $17 if you call in the order the HD feed. Crazy. I’m not paying it this time. Oh, I’m serious this time.
• Flames have lost all three meetings against Colorado this year 3-2. The Flames would have a considerable lead in the Northwest if they could only win a freakin’ game against the Avalanche!

Can we have November back?

I don’t even know what to write. I’m so angry it’s insane. I don’t even know where to start.

I guess I’ll start off with reffing. It means shit coming from a Flames homer (which I admit I am. I’m not ashamed) but seriously? We played half the first period short handed, including a 5 on 3. That’s fucking ridiculous. I’m only going to rant about once instance though because the other ones don’t even matter to me anymore.

The highstick on Giordano. He was QUITE OBVIOUSLY cut on the top of his lip. One Avs fan suggested he “bit his own lip” to draw blood. I ask anyone reading this right now to bite your own lip and see how hard it takes for you to cut the skin and draw that much blood. Please, do it. It was obviously a cut from getting hit in the face and yet the Flames only got a 2 minute powerplay. Really?

Which leads me to my next rant.  The Flames powerplay is laughable at this point. Yes, they did score tonight while on the man advantage but that still doesn’t excuse the previous 20+ chances they have had. I literally groan when we go on a powerplay because I know we won’t get anything done. We play better shorthanded than on the powerplay and it’s absolutely disgusting. Wasn’t the firing of Rich Preston supposed to get our powerplay going again?

This is just a personal opinion so call off the hounds when I say this, but the Flames’ positioning on the ice bothers me so much. So many times I see no one in front of the net screening the goaltender, or no one in the slot in a position to score. Yes, they do it sometimes but more often than not they are shooting from the point. Not every shot has to be a hard wrister from the point. I’m telling you, if they got in front of the net more they would score more, or have better chances. It’s ridiculous!

I hate the Colorado Avalanche, I’m sorry but I do. But I have to give them credit. They’re a hungry club, great at blocking shots and have great puck control. They constantly out-skate the Flames and know how to shut down their lines. As frustrating as they are, they deserved every game they’ve won against us.

Doesn’t make it any less annoying.

The next Flames game is on Flames PPV and there’s a long-running joke that there’s a curse, because we never win on PPV nights. Which seems ridiculous but it’s true. I bought the Chicago game that was on Flames PPV. Yes – the one where we were up 5-0 and lost 6-5 in overtime. All I hope is that they can find some way to win against St. Louis and regain their points back. We have games in hand against almost everyone in the conference but they mean SHIT if we don’t win. So FUCK the PPV curse and get a goddamn win, or I swear to God I’ll start crowd-sourcing for a different full-time team. (Just kidding…)

Just to show everyone how close the Western Conference is this year, the Flames have dropped to fifth place after being in 2nd just three hours ago. Insane, right?

Yeah. Two points behind the division and three points behind the conference leader. It’s not as bad as it seems, right?

Right?

So hello. This is my first blog post ever. Exciting, right? I mean there’s not enough out there or anything. I’m going to try and make this as funny as I can be because there’s already enough serious ones out there. I use humour to cover up the pain that my lovely team gives me.

So.

The Calgary Flames play the Colorado Avalanche, a team they have yet to get a win from this season. One has to wonder why the crap this Colorado team is so good this year. It actually boggles my mind. I’m going to admit right now that I don’t care about their lives so I have no idea what they did in the offseason to make themselves so good. I’m just going to go with “bribed the hockey gods” or “got a good goaltender” or “magic fairy dust”.

But seriously. It sucks. I’m used to battling out the NW with Vancouver so this Colorado team coming out of nowhere is sending my life into a spiral of WTFs and “are you serious”’s. Every game against them this year has sent me into a fit of rage – to the point where I have threatened to hijack the Av’s plane and kamikaze it into a mountain. (In case the feds find this, I am only kidding.) They make me so angry with how good they are. ONLY THE FLAMES CAN BE GOOD, OKAY.

I guess the point I am trying to make is if the Flames don’t win tonight, I’ll kamikaze myself into a mountain. There’s a lot on the line in terms of hockey supremacy for this Calgary team. A win for the Flames will give them the lead in the northwest and earn their spot in the top 3 in the conference, and will also prove that they are able to win against elite teams.  One can argue that every team in the Western Conference is elite this year, but the Flames have had problems against Colorado and Chicago.

To bring a little faith; this game is on the road, where the Flames have had the most success this season. It’s a weird change for a team who has a reputation for being horrible on the road and awesome at home. Again, this season is full of what the fuck’s, like I don’t even know what is going on. Hopefully they retain their “road warrior” status and pull out a major win tonight. Then we can all celebrate at my house with tequila and strippers.

Puck drops at 6:00pm MST.

A lot of people think this is a lock on the Cavs. They are still stuck in the mindset that the Thunder aren’t a good team. But at 12-9, they continue to surprise many people, inside and outside of the NBA. 12-9 isn’t impressive, but compared where they were last year (23-59), they have come a long way.

ATS this year, they are 13-5, with an 8-5 underdog record, and 7-4 at home. They are already 3-1 in December, where they excelled last year going 11-1 during the month.  When the home total is 190-194.5, they are 4-1. The Cavs are just 11-12 ATS, and 9-12 as a favorite.

In Oklahoma City, the Thunder are 2-0 ATS over the Cavs.  Shaq is still questionable with a left eye contusion.  Even if he plays he may not be 100% and may not be able to shoot well, depending on how bad it was. My guess, though, is he will only play if he is able to shoot well in practice and warm ups.  He did travel with the team.

OKC +3 (vs CLE)

OKC-CLE OVER 191

My system is calling both of these plays. Oklahoma City is 4-1 (O-U) when the total is between 190-194.5 this season, and 8-3 when playing a team with a winning record. The Cavs are mixed on the total (averaging out to about 50% this season), but the one that sticks out is their Sunday game record, where they are 6-24 (O-U) the last 3 seasons.  That’s not enough to take me off my play though.

P.S. My new NHL system is calling the Flames to beat the Avalanche, but again, don’t base anything off this, especially since I only went 4-3 yesterday in the NHL.  It still needs more time to be tested.

Flames were outshot 46-23. Ouch. The Flames did not deserve to with this game, and Kipper totally stole a point for them. I thought for a while that there was no way Miikka would let a goal in, then the bounce off the back boards defied gravity and tied the game at one. The Havlat goal in overtime was just a great goal… and Phaneuf’s fault.

Now that the Flames are back on top of the Northwest, the possibility of Chicago or even San Jose is on the radar, as the Flames have a much easier schedule of the next two weeks.

Fleury’s comeback ended abruptly, with the Flames sending him home with no contract and no plane ticket to Abbotsford.

What does that say?
It says that this whole thing was a publicity stunt to get more interest in the Flames, and that Fleury’s situation has brought about the pity of the organization. A $10,400 annual income in 2005? Wow.

To put this in perspective, Fluery made $42M in 15 years and if he would have saved 1/10th of that — ONE TENTH! — he could have lived off the $200,000/year interest payments for the rest of his life. That is sad. It’s sad that kids get paid so much to play a game. It’s sad that they don’t know what they have until it’s gone. And it’s sad that the Flames fans cheered someone who had everything going for him and pissed it away.

Hey, I cheered for him too because there is no denying what he did for this team and this city, but as a person he really shouldn’t be looked up to by anyone (insert short joke here). A hero of no one.

Hey, anyone miss that huge hit by Phaneuf

It’s that time of year! When all the bloggers and (real) journalists feel like they have to make some predictions. So I’ve compiled a list, check them out!

• Yahoo Sports
• The Bleacher Report
• TSN
• The Sporting News
• Every Joe

Finally, I’ll weigh in with my own thoughts. I think Flames will win the West, but the top story will be “what happened to Vancouver?” Then the Flames will finally win a round in the playoffs (the first will be the most difficult) and lose in the Conference Finals against San Jose. Stupid San Jose.

Wait a sec… don’t we (real fans) already own this jersey? And not because we bought it in the Fan Attic but because it’s been in our closets since the 80s? And it has names like Mullen and Loob and Fleury on it. Hold on… is that why Fleury is making a comeback, for the new technology jersey? I gotta say, that’s pretty shallow Theo…

I’m so sick of retro-this and retro-that. How about some honesty? “We didn’t want to hire a graphic designer, yet still wanted to milk our fans out of a little bit more of their hard-earned cash. After all, we’re in a recession. And you gotta be smart in these times.”

Verdict? Third jersey FAIL.

The new third jersey is close. Greg Wyshynski writes that “not much information is out there as of now, but the team will be going away from the flaming ‘C’ and will join the bevy of other NHL teams in their fascination with an all-black look.” I think I’m a pretty progressive fan… and I love the ‘third jersey’ idea.

Jay Bouwmeester signed a multi-year deal with the Calgary Flames, less than a day before he was eligible for free agency. Bouwmeester will average $6.6 million a season for five years.

So who is gone you say? Is in Phaneuf? I don’t think so. I think this team will have half the Canadian Olympic Team’s defence on it’s roster, a world-class goalie, and Jarome Iginla. And Jokinen, don’t forget him. Michael Cammalleri is as good as gone, sorry Cammy.