New Format Crew Doormat

I've decided to make updates about the family on this site, to go along with the writing and hockey silliness. I hope that you will come back every week to see what we've been up to. I plan to let you know about it, every single week. That's a promise. If I don't update this thing every week, then it's free!!!

PS. I made it possible for non blogger people to comment on my posts. Just click on 'comment' and comment away! And be sure to check the quote of the week at the bottom of the page.

Lately time has been pretty spacious. Because of Chinese New Year 春 节 we language students have had, basically, all of 2009 off so far. This has left me feeling unmotivated and kind of bored. To pile on top of that the fact that the family and I will be flying out of here on April 15th for six months and you can understand why studying language is far from my mind.

Anyways, I will get back at it with a tutor starting at the beginning of March and (hopefully) go hard for about a month and a half.

Aside from that, Miles has been keeping us busy these days. We think that he'll soon be sprouting up a nice, new, shiny tooth. This little tooth develops quite a painful look on the face of the little guy, along with a lot of whining. We're not annoyed or anything, but it is a little bit of a change from the usual always laughing and smiling little Miles guy. Welcome to parenthood, I guess.

Barbara's belly is continuing to explode! I say this only because she is continuing to be pregnant. Due on June 2nd, this baby will be a boy and will be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to going into this whole thing again, especially with the little experience that I now possess.

I've been thinking that having kids is a really great thing. I think that a lot of people believe that having kids is the end of fun. I understand what they mean because we need to get up early every morning now, but other than that, I enjoy most of the experience. New fun, I guess would be a good perspective. Today, while Miles and I were watching his favorite video, I could feel his little heartbeat through his back pounding into my chest as his excitement grew for the upcoming 'spider song'. Such innocence. It's really fun to watch him grow from a little baby into a little guy. I recommend kids.

Our house mate's mother is visiting for a few weeks from the bay area in California. Her husband and son are huge San Jose Sharks, so there was quite an uproar when I took a photo of her grandson (Seth) in an Oiler's jersey. Needless to say, they have struck back with all kinds of Sharks memorabilia. Not only does Seth have a brand new teal jersey, but now his dad is outfitted with a new Shark's shirt, and he doesn't even really care about hockey! My mom has a saying that she made up; "When it rains, it pours".

Stay tuned!!!

New NHL Season revisited.

I have realised that this blog is mostly an outward processing device for myself. In any event, here it is...



This morning as I fed my son a bowl of oatmeal I realized that the hockey game would probably still be on the Internet radio. A few moments later and there I was, spooning oats to the boy as the sun had yet to poke its head out from the mountains and the Oilers late in the 3rd period with a 2-1 lead!

The boy with the oat face.

Being in China during hockey season leaves me a little out in the cold (sorry for that one) but I manage to spend way too much time paying attention to the ways of the league anyways. The reasons for this might include the fact that this year, for the first time in 3 years, I will be home for the playoffs. This is what drives me to the hope that my team might slip in to the 7th or 8th spot, as usual, and I might get lucky enough to snag a ticket for one of those 2 games where the Wings destroy the consistently inconsistent Edmonton Oilers on home ice.

Anyways, the Oilers won last night (this morning) in a shoot out. That's 2 wins in a row, hot stuff! After the game I remembered my blog at the beginning of the season that I wrote containing some advice for the average fan regarding the upcoming season. Lets take a look back...

(Scroll down if you missed it)

-Things to look forward to-

1. Peter Forsberg's retirement. I just heard that he scored a goal today in some Russian league. I still in hold onto the hope that he breaks his ankle again. Ol' Green Eyes needs to end it. It's nothing personal, I just don't like guy, mainly for the reason that he is annoyingly good and usually plays on Colorado. And personally, I just don't like the guy.

2 Fantasy Hockey. I currently sit 6th in the Yahoo! league with a whole bunch of underachieving superstars ie. Crosby, Zetterberg, Backstrom, Kane, Pronger, Souray. Seriously, how am I in 6th? In the "Kateri" league I am in 1st and I plan on staying there. That league is closer to my heart than the Yahoo! one so I am happy about those standings.

3. Patrice Bergeron coming back from taking a concussion from a Philly Flyer's dirty hit. I think Bergeron came back for a while and then got hit again and missed a bunch more games because of another concussion. It's really sad to see someone so talented be limited by this kind of thing. Hopefully he can battle through it.

4. Speaking of concussions, Jarret Stoll is still engaged to Rachel Hunter. I think they bought a house for 3 million dollars. I am dead serious, I really DID look that up.

5. On January 25th of this year Chris Chelios turned 47 years old. He was drafted in 1981 by the Montreal Canadiens, about a month after I was born. I hear he's not getting much playing time, though when I think about it, I guess my dad isn't getting much playing time either.

6. Eklund's crappy rumor blog is still a crappy blog full of dumb rumors. Tabloids for hockey fans.

7. This next one hurts. Erik Cole on the Oilers.

Stats I predicted for this season: G 32 A 38.

Real stats? G 12 A 10.

So, that means that he needs to score 20 goals and 28 assists in the next 27 games. That is not going to happen. Half of that is not going to happen. A quarter of that is not going to happen. My apologies.

8. Pierre McGuire is still Pierre McGuire.

9. Joni Pitkanen is having a decent season. That makes the Erik Cole debacle that much harder to swallow, along with 2 of the Oilers' best defensemen out of the lineup with severe injuries.

10. The Oilers still might make the playoffs. And my imagination still rules!

-Things to Avoid-

1. Again, just to be clear, I don't like Peter Forsberg. It looks like we won't see him in the NHL this season. Woot!

2. Does the CBC still show hockey games? I don't know, I live in China.

3. Mikey Comrie and Hill Duff were spotted in the Bahamas this past January so we know that they're still together. She's so Disney.

4. Mats Sundin signed with the Canucks for a gazillion dollar contract. He will probably help them make some noise in the playoffs. Then they will lose and he will probably retire or sign with Detroit for 2 gazillion dollars, or a lot less because, "Hey, who doesn't want to play for Detroit?"

5. I don't know about you but I've managed to avoid the awkwardness of Ryan Smyth this year. Praise the Lord!



6. Todd Bertuzzi. I was a little more accurate with my predictions this time. Lets take a look:

I said: 37 goals and 33 assists
Todd's hockey stick says so far: 14 goals and 27 assists.

He's actually doing amazing, and for a million bucks a season can the flames go wrong?

7. My wife and I have made some pretty decent chicken wings over the last few months. The secret ingredient? Hot sauce. Shhhh, don't tell anyone about that secret ingredient... and don't eat chicken wings at a hockey game.

8. The only name I would put on a Jersey?


If I had to pick another guy it would be Oli Jokinen, but things would need to change because I will never buy a Coyotes' jersey.

9. Don't wear a jersey unless you are playing hockey, are at an NHL game, or are a dufus.

10. I still don't like the leafs (Leaves?), but I think that I like them better than the Canucks. And I used to have a problem with disliking the Flames but now I am back to not liking them at all. Looks like it all evened out, didn't it?

So, there you go, Brett.