Hockey is Awesome

I realize that this is the equivalent of saying that breathing is good for you (i.e., everybody with a brain already knows it), but in the doldrums of July it is worth mentioning. As I sit and ponder what games to buy tickets to for the Blues this year (Paul Kariya! Woooooo!!!!!!), I ran across this article at NBC Sports, and I thought it was worth sharing. For the record, my favorite player name is Miroslav Satan (last name pronounced with the emphasis on the last syllable, sa-TAHN) for reasons that should be obvious. The only fault with him is that he has never played for the New Jersey Devils. I mean, honestly; Satan NEEDS to play for the Devils. It would just be right and proper. Radek Bonk is a good name, too, especially for a sport that involves slamming into people at high speed.

Political Dimensions

For many years, I have been a low-grade fan of internet personality quizzes. I don't seek them out, but when I come across one I have to take it, unless it is something obviously stupid, like a quiz to determine what kind of Teen Beat reader you are. So, when I found a quiz to determine what kind of Conservative I am, I figured it would be fun. Of course, these things are always rather partisan, but that is the way it goes. It turns out that I am a Free Marketeer, a.k.a, a fiscal conservative.

My Conservative Identity:

You are a Free Marketeer, also known as a fiscal conservative. You believe in free-market capitalism, tax cuts, and protecting your hard-earned cash from pick-pocketing liberal socialists.

Take the quiz at http://www.fightliberals.com/Inside-the-Book/What-Breed-of-Conservative-Are-You.html

This isn't anything that I didn't already know, so that means that the quiz is at least mildly accurate. However, in the interests of fair play, I decided to take the sister quiz to determine what kind of liberal I was. This was more difficult, as for some of the questions I didn't have an answer that felt right. For example, I didn't like any of the bumper sticker choices. That caveat aside, I come out as a Social Justice Crusader.

My Liberal Identity:

You are a Social Justice Crusader, also known as a rights activist. You believe in equality, fairness, and preventing neo-Confederate conservative troglodytes from rolling back fifty years of civil rights gains.

Take the quiz at http://www.fightconservatives.com/Inside-the-Book/What-Breed-of-Liberal-Are-You.html

The interesting thing about this is the fact that these two results, supposedly from completely different ends of the spectrum, are not actually opposed to each other. One can believe in low taxes and fiscal responsibility and still believe in civil rights. Good luck finding a political candidate, at least at the national level, that pushes such views, though.

Game Day

I haven't had a day like Sunday in quite a while. It was church in the morning, and then games all day. It started with a brief game of Culdcept on my PS2, and then I went to one of the monthly meetings of the St. Louis Boardgames Meetup Group, a rather large (300+ members) local organization that meets at various locations around the area to play boardgames. I played a couple games that I had never played before (Fire & Axe, and Railroad Tycoon), and I even won one of them due to a high risk / high reward strategy actually paying off in Fire & Axe. Very nice. Then, after that, I went to the house of some ladies I know from church, where 20+ people were playing Apples to Apples and various games on the Wii in the basement. And after all those games, I still found time to play another brief game of Culdcept yesterday in between laundry, cooking dinner, and going to the gym. What can I say, it is my thing.

Still Alive

It has been two weeks since my last post, so I figured an update was in order. I still have pain in my right foot. It doesn't seem like the cast actually did any good, so perhaps the problem is more in the way I walk or something other than just a one-time problem. I am currently wearing some kind of sling that helps raise the arch in my foot, to see if that helps any. Only time will tell.

For the 4th I drove out to Columbia, MO, and visited my friend Angela, from my old college days. We hung out in town during the day, and then she invited some friends over and we had a cookout, and then we saw the fireworks at the football stadium with one of her roommates. I must admit, the hamburgers that Angela made might be the greatest hamburgers I have ever had. The fact that they were made from meat from a cow from the family farm in NW Missouri does mean that the meat was fresher than what I can get at my local supermarket.

In other news, for the first time ever at my house it is the middle of July and I still have a green yard. It is amazing what can happen when you are actually around to water it everyday. The downside of watering it everyday to keep it green is that I am having lots of problems with weeds. There is the one variety of ground-creeper that just keeps cropping up. Every day I am pulling more of it out of my yard. Ah, well, that is the price of success, I guess.

A New Experience

I have been having foot pain in my right foot for a couple months now. Finally last Friday I went to see a Podiatrist, who determined that I have tendonitis in my right ankle. So, I get to wear a "soft" cast on my right ankle. This is basically a cast that isn't completely hard (like you would get if you broke a bone). It is flexible, but only somewhat. So, I can get around, just not well. It also itches, which is a problem, since I can't take it off to scratch. Oh, well.

The good thing about this is that I had already gotten permission to work from home the last couple days, so I didn't have to worry about finding dress shoes big enough for me to fit my cast into them. I can get into my athletic shoes (barely), but I don't know if the dress shoes will work or not. I will have to find out on Friday, since I have a meeting I have to attend, but we shall see.