An Anniversary Dinner at Copper Bleu

#1 (and only) wife and I decided to partake an anniversary dinner (42nd) at Copper Bleu in Lakeville. We have dined there before with mixed results, my good, her bad. Tonight, all bad. I was advised by a co-worker whose husband works in the food industry that Copper had taken a tumble but I decided to give it a shot because of a pretty good meal there several months ago.
With great regret (because the ambiance and overall good feel of the place lends one to hope for the best) it was to put it mildly, average. I honestly have had better at Perkins.
The prime rib was dry and over-garliced with an, out of a can, string onion accompaniment. The signature mashed potatoes prepared at your table were presented by a kid who, I am sure, had been shanghied from the dishwasher and told to bring the "fixins" to the old pair at table #20. They were cold and I have done better with an Ore-Ida bag with a salt and pepper shaker. A major disapointment with what I thought was a delight last time.
The missus had a shrimp/combo stir-fry that resulted in her leaving a couple of shrimp on the plate. An unheard of occurance since she has been known to hurt people who stood between her and shrimp.
Cold and tastless is not a way to achieve culinery immortality.
The unremarkable Wine was $9 a glass, but was still the saving grace, because after two the food was a lot better.
As you can probably tell from this post I was severely disapointed, PO'ed actually.
An $80 dollar bill should have been a lot better.
If you are looking for a typical Minnesota "not much taste" meal this is a good place.
If you are looking for real sophisticaction and a grab your taste buds experiance, regretably this is not the place.

Trumpet Overpass

Can anyone tell me what a trumpet overpass is? Seriously.

And look out while pumping the brakes. You might skid off the road due to a crack in your windshield. Keep your cars personal space in check too. That is very important.
Good luck on your test AM.

Eagan High School Swimming

Few people know that I am the assistant coach for the greatest ladies swim team in all of Minnesota (and probably the world). When people do find out they say "wow, that's great" or "gosh, that must be fun". They really have no idea.

Are these swimmers world class...no. Are these divers Olympic bound...probably not. But it is not in this context that I use the word "great". Greatness is sparked by the people you surround yourself with, how you act, how you treat others, your family and by true determination to be the best you can be at any one point in time.

It has been my privilege to coach a fantastic group of girls for the past two years. Tonight we had our last home meet for the seniors and it was tough for me. They are a group of young women who epitomize the word great and I know they will go on to a great future.

To the smiler, to the wall flower and to the one that swims every lap. To the funny friend, to the 30.4 second 50 freestyler to Calvin and Hobbes and to the sour patch kid, I tip my maroon and gold hat. You ladies hold a special place with me and I will miss you. Come back and see us at the pool anytime you like.

And lets not forget the support staff behind this group of ladies. Without their parents, none of this could happen as smoothly as it does. They are the work horses behind the scenes. From the timing table to the bagels and to the great food at the end of every home meet. Hats off to you. I have never experienced anything like what you do for this team. Your support and hard work are greatly appreciated. Thank you. You are the best.

I am looking forward to the remainder of this year, sections and state. Next year will be new challenges, new FRESHMAN, tears, great swims, bad swims and another set of seniors that will come and go (and Steve, Terri and I hitting the water again). I don't want to dwell on that. There will be a time and a place all to soon.

Be good, stay smart and never let a rabid badger grab you by the ankle (hey...the whole thing can't be serious. That would not be me!).

'night...Karlito Bandito...

I understand there are some new readers to my site. No one visits much...I think. I am really not looking for millions of people to read it, I just want whomever does read it to enjoy it. That is really what it is all about...isn't it?

So...on that note...

iTunes is a pain. Truly. I buy music, I store it on my PC and then want to make an MP3 disk of it. Easy enough? I am sure this is new to no one but it still gets my undies in a bunch (some times multiple bunches). In order to make this MP3 disk I need to burn an audio CD (waste of a good CD), then rip it back to iTunes (more of my time gone...bye bye..see ya later) and then burn a new MP3 disk (another CD). I am out $.59.

I know. It's not much but it is my time. Apple...U SUK. More protectionism in this world is not something I need from Apple. I get enough from our government. Protect me from myself so I do not self destruct. Does anyone really think that protecting me from creating an MP3 is really going to solve the worlds issues? Didn't North Korea just set off a nuke? Protect me from them and leave me to my MP3's.

I know...copyright laws and all that. I paid $.99 for that song! I should be able to drop kick it into a bucket of water if I feel like it.

What smells? Rotten APPLE. That's what smells.

Trials and Tribulations

Spring brings many wonderful new things to Minnesota. Flowers, cuddly baby animals, mosquitoe bites and the occasional multi-car pile up. I bring up the multi-car pile up because of the one fact that; the first spring rain leaves an oil slicked road that tends to act more like a skating rink than a major highway.

It is instinct now that Minnesotans slow down for this initial spring rain because they know the cars will be like three year olds on ice skates. These are trials and tribulations that we must endure as Minnesotans. Most of us figure it out, some sooner than others, traffic starts to flow and the next time it rains it is business as usual.

It is now September and many rainstorms have come and gone. Umbrellas have been stowed away as the arrival of cold air and the possibilty of snow loom on the horizon. Does that mean there will be no more rain? No? You sure? Of course there will be. Some drivers in MN tend to forget this when it has not rained for two weeks in the middle of September. They are sure the next thing they will experience is three feet of snow and rain is pushed solidly from their thoughts.

Driving home from work three nights ago, I experienced this forgetfulness during a rainstorm in Lakeville. I have driven through southern Georgia where blinding rains make you pull over to the side of the road. You have no choice. It is as if someone drops a piece of butcher paper on your windshield and makes you drive 60 MPH.

Oddly though, this was not the case on my way home. It was a moderate rain and hard at times but nothing that would cause the circus act under the bridge that I saw. People were pulled over trying to get under the bridge. The pulled over at angles so that the two lane highway turned into one lane and that lane was available if you straddled the dashed lines.

I continued past wondering what I was missing. I started to panic. What if they saw something I didn't? Maybe J-Lo was signing autographs under the bridge. I started frantically looking out my windows. Nothing. Leaves...but it is Autumn. Rain...obviously. Clouds...again, obviously. That was it. No hail, tornadoes or special appearances by J-Lo.

I continued driving and within a 1/2 mile of the bridge I was out into blue skies and speedily on my way home. I will never understand this UBP (under bridge phenomonen). It escapes me because you can only ever fit one, maybe two, cars under a bridge.

Some would call this human nature. To panic and risk life and limb to save your car. I call it Minnesotan nature but most of the time I call it weird.

Al Franken Sighting!!

My wife and I, while navigating downtown Minneapolis, ran into (not over, although the thought crossed my mind) none other than Air America's own Al Franken. He was looking a bit more gray, a bit more disheveled and sporting a backpack while standing on the corner, no doubt spouting lies and other garbage, just off Hennepin Avenue.

My wife noticed him first saying, "Wow, that guy looks like Al Franken." I said "That is Al Franken." Note: He looks nothing like the picture above. I kept driving and, honestly, I am surprised I even remember the brief encounter. Maybe a nice gallon of prune juice and an Ex-Lax will help me purge the memory from my system.

St. Louis Missouri

This is a new realm for me. Never before have I reviewed an entire city. Actually, I was only in downtown St. Louis so it was not the ENTIRE city.

Downtown St. Louis is an arid, desolate wasteland. There is nothing. The first day I was there I asked about finding a movie theatre. They looked at me like I was from another galaxy. I found the nearest theatre to be 10 miles away.

In the first hour I was approached by two nice young men asking for change for a $10 bill. So I opened my wallet and was beat over the head and robbed. Not really, but that would have happened. How dumb do I look. 30 minutes later I was asked if I had any change. I asked "Change of underwear, change of mind? What kind of change?" He left me alone. He probably thought I was crazier that he.

At one point in my trip I went to "The Mall". It was two blocks from my hotel and is a four story mall with a lot of shops and food...100 years ago. Now there are five stores open and one restaraunt in the food court. There is also a ghetto Walgreens on the fourth floor. No escaltors and one dirty elevator is all there was to get up there. I sacraficed...I needed munchies and batteries.

I stayed at the Renaissance Grand Hotel. This is a very nice hotel with very nice ammenities for about $149/night. Good food and good service with clean rooms in a lousy location. It is the main stay place for any convention at the Americas Center so I guess it needs to be where it is.

The glutton for punishment that I am, I wandered out of my hotel and 10 blocks away to go to dinner at an Italian restaraunt. The food was fine, nothing special. On the way back I saw two horse drawn carriages and no cars and no people. St. Louis: Population 348,000 people and on a Saturday night, for 10 blocks I see no one? Are they in their caves at night or what?

I also visited the Arch. The arch is cool but getting up to the observation deck is another barrel of monkeys. $10 gets you the opportunity to be sandwiched in with four other people in a space the size of dixie cup. It is an egg shaped "pod" that elevates you 600+ feet to the top where another 1000 people are crammed onto the observation deck trying to look out of rectangular port holes located at a height where your knees have a good view of the city.

Overall St. Louis was OK at best. Weird mostly, but if you can get past the weirdness there are some nice buildings and cool things to see.

Royal Pacific Resort, Orlando

Submitted by Doug Kindseth:

Last week we took our 10 year old granddaughter to the Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Studios theme park in Orlando Fl. Aside from the incongruity of a pacific theme on the east coast our granddaughter enjoyed the pool immensly. The rest of the shebang, hotel, park(s) etc were pretty much a bore, a very expensive bore at that.
The hotel was $275 per night for a Days Inn size room that was slightly shabby and marginally dirty. Not hugely shabby or dirty, just slightly so. The food was a joke, very expensive and tastless to the point that we were angry about it. The Hamburgers at the poolside "shack" were actually quite good, and ironically were the only reasonably priced pieces of food available. The "gourmet" restaurants were uniformally bad, but with poor service to make up for it.
The parks, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure were ok but were about as standard as can be with the usual rides abundant at any park. The Dualing Dragons ride was worth the price, however, and it alone made the trip. It is a absolutely great ride and you should bring along clean underwear for this one because it will make you gasp. My daughter and I were the only two with the cajones to ride this one and we were weakneed when we finished. Terrific fun!!!
Overall the 4 days there were ok. Very overpriced, VERY overpriced but if you have budgeted for it it can be fun, especially the parks. I would stay in a nearby hotel at a much reduced overnight rate but in central Florida touristrap land they will get you coming or going, so be prepared to spend money any way you go.

Bluetooth Keyboards

There a few Bluetooth keyboards out there today. These are a few I have tested. In a nutshell, all are OK. Nothing stands out but they all work fine.

The I.Tech Virtual keyboard has a killer Cool Factor. For the most part it works pretty well. Not to bad to setup and seems to register keystrokes better than the two I will review below. The real problem I am having with it is I cannot see the darn keyboard with the lights turned on! I had to wait until 7pm here at work one night to really test it.
It is rechargable and will give you about 2 hours of typing time. It will also form the ends of your fingers into mushroom caps from beating on your desk for 2 hours straight. It does shut off the second you pick it up off the table. This is a built in feature so you (being the uninformed user) don't burn your retina out trying to figure out how it works.

Next is a keyboard created for the Blackberry. This device is called the Coolmir and is produced by a company called Man and Machine. Their slogan is "everything we do is cool". I am not sure what they had in mind calling the keyboard the coolmir though. Cool...ok I get that. Mir...is Russian for Peace? Hmmm...Cool Peace? Maybe Cool Piece? Who knows.

This is a neat device though. It rolls up on itself and stores neatly in a little carrying case. M&M states that it will get 15 hours of use (which blows away the competition) but it is wired. This is not a big deal as it sits right next to the Blackberry anyway. I must note that this keyboard will only work with USB Blackberry devices (6000 and 7000 devices). If you have a BES you must also allow permission to attach the keyboard to the Blackberry and only works on BES 4.0 or higher.

Installing it is a pain. Once installed, you must invoke the program for your BB first or else the keyboard thinks you are charging it with the BB instead of wanting to key with it. I wish it would just recognize it. Not the case. Once you get past this it works good. The keys are little less responsive then on the I.Tech but on the good side, your fingers won't swell to the point you can't get your wedding ring off.

Feel the Freedom! Whatever. This is a true Bluetooth device that works good with the Blackberry. It even has its own built in Blackberry stand. Cooooool. The keyboard runs off two AAA batteries that seem to last quite a while.

This device is the easiest to install and responds pretty well to keystrokes. It runs the same price as the Coolmir at $99.99. It is compact, folds over and fits into its own little case.

This has been the best device, to this point, for the price and I would recommend it to anyone whose thumbs are starting to grow from all the BB keying they are prone too.

Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi Dead

I hope your virgins are 350 pound male gorillas. Bye.

Movie Review: Over the Hedge

My 2 1/2 year old and I went to see Over the Hedge this weekend. It was a wonderful movie with all the cute cuddly creatures you could possibly want. There is plenty of humor for the adults and enough low level (burping) jokes for the kids.
The kid quotient (for me anyway) was about 4 out of 5. He asked to leave about 1/2 way through the movie. So I threw him in my lap and gave him some popcorn and nay a peep was heard from there on out (until he bonked his head on the chair next to me. Crying ensued but the credits were rolling so...who cares).
The bear in the movie (Nick Nolte) can be a little bit scary but isn't Nick Nolte scary in real life too? One shocker for me was Avril Lavigne playing "Heather" the daughter possum. I did not expect that. She did pretty good I thought. She brought some of that teen angst to the role of "daughter possum" but it was toned down so very bearable.
The movie is only 1 1/2 hours so most kids can sit through it (minus potty breaks and the occasional sour patch kid melt down). So bring anyone you know and enjoy the movie. It really is fun for all. Plus, if you are in a bad mood walking into the theatre, that nutty squirrel will pick you right up. He is hilarious.

Gaylord Palms Resort - Orlando, FL

Last week I visited Orlando, FL for the Wireless Enterprise Symposium. While attending this event I was extremely happy to stay with the great folks at the Gaylord Palms Resort - Florida. The Palms is located about 3 miles from Disney World and about 20 minutes from Universal Studios by bus(a car would take about 3 minutes).
While there I stayed on the 9th floor over looking a 4 acre atrium. It was spectacular to say the least. To the left is a picture outside my room!

The atrium consisted of three restaurants (including a seafood restaurant on the water), an alligator and turtle pond, a Ben and Jerry's, shopping, a wedding chapel and a fort. Yes, a fort. You can see it in the picture.

Alligators, Turtles and Rocks oh my. It was very neat to watch them in the little habitat. On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday you could feed them...or be fed to them. Whichever you prefer. Either way there was no cost, so that's a bonus. Only thing was is that they bound the alligators mouths with electrical tape. Steve Irwin would have a fit. Beauty Mate!

The rooms were very nice, the Dasani was free (in a round about way) and the service was top notch. I would stay here again in a second! The food? Did I mention the food? No? Fantastic!

Everything about the hotel was wonderful. The outdoor pools, the convention center and the mini-golf were all something to behold. This is really a place for families to stay.

Below is a picture of the family pool. Notice the giant octopus with the water slide going down his middle? Awesome. The kids loved it (so did JJ!) . You can visit their site here.

Go! You will not regret it. Your wallet will never speak to you again but you will find that it is totally worth it.

Bye.

Main Street Cafe

If you ever are in Siren, Wi. for, well, whatever, you must stop in at the Main Street Cafe. This, in downtown Minneapolis or Chicago, would be called a "greasy spoon". For a sleepy little town that hops like crazy (come fishing opener) in the summer, this is good food. I had a buttermilk pancake just this morning that was the size of an airplane tire. It was huge...and it was good. $2 for this airplane tire is a steal. You get three for about $4.75. Good luck eating them.

The clientele are what you would expect. Friendly, outgoing and small town. They are the best. Smoking is allowed because it is not Hennepin County. If you don't like smoking, don't go. To tell you the truth, I saw people smoking but never noticed any smoke. In other words, don't worry about it. Just eat!

Huge portions, great people, great service and good food. Go. Located, where else? On Main Street in downtown Siren, Wi.

Movie Review: King Kong (2005)

King King (2005) is a fantastic movie. It is a little slow at the beginning due to some character development but I forgave that. I liked all the characters. Naomi Watts steals the performance (next to Kong that is) to the point where no one else in the movie really matters. Jack Black also does a great job as Carl Denham, the over ambitious movie producer.

Carl takes a crew of sailors and his cast to Skull Island where they encounter Kong. From the moment they come across this island the adventure and the action starts. Folks, from this point on the actions does not stop. I was literally glued to my chair. I realized later I spilled my pop and really could not get up. I slept in that chair for three days.

Kong falls for Ann Darrow (Watts) and does anything and everything to protect her. Everything is a threat, in his eyes, to his new "special" friend. We are talking humans, giant bat things, T-Rex's, small mammals, the occasional fruit fly, taxi cabs and bi-wing airplanes. I think she should have stuck with Kong instead of kissing that Driscoll (Adrien Brody) character. Jack Driscoll had a bigger nose and much smaller feet than Kong (if you know what I mean).

I would highly recommend this movie. It is action packed, intense and has some scenes that kids should probably not see (like Darrow kissing Driscoll). There are some head squishes (it is an island full of dinosaurs...someone, you know, is going to get stepped on) , shooting, stabbing, kissing (as I mentioned before) and other icky violence.

Rent it or buy it. Peter Jackson did another great job on this movie.

Review: Samsung X497 by Cingular

In a word...Junk.

Book Review: Missing Persons

I finished this book a couple of weeks ago, it was plenty good. Steven White has written a series of books about Alan Gregory. This one is like the 30-11th or something in the series.

The book takes place in Boulder, CO, the former home of JonBenet Ramsey. This book has may indirect references to JonBenet's murder. The teenage girl who is one of the missing persons (she maybe have been kidnapped or ran away, get the book) is a former classmate of JonBenet's.

Anyway, lots of people go missing. The people have no apparent connection to one another. There is a good cop, a bad cop, and most of all a story and is interesting enough that I looked forward to getting back into the story.

Oh, and there are a few people with mental illness in the book, which is always entertaining for me :)

I liked it enough that I'm going to get a few more of the series of eleventy-seven to interact with soon.

Jason

Review: Air Tran Airways

I flew ATA from Sarasota to Mpls last Friday the 14th of April. This was the best and worst flight I think I have been on.

The best because from Sarasota, FL to Chicago I was on a brand new plane. It was very comfortable and every seat had XM Radio. The crew was very responsive, young and really a breath of fresh air. From Chicago to Minneapolis I was on one of their older planes, but again, a fresh crew, XM in all the seats and just an overall great experience.

The worst was the turbulence in and out of Chicago. I will never blame this on an airline. I have never been thrown around that much on any flight. Even one of the attendants mentioned she had never been on a flight so rough. There are always different reactions from the passengers on these kinds of flights. I was annoyed, some people had quick screams and then the two girls (12 and 9) sitting behind me laughed like they were on a roller coaster. I even heard one say "Wow, that was a good one". All I could do was smile...until my head bashed into the window again.

Book Review: Transfer of Power - Vince Flynn

Awesome. What more can I say. From the first page this book takes off and never lets go. Mitch Rapp is in standard butt kicking form and I think would give a ninja a run for his money.

Synopsis: A nasty terrorist and his band of followers take over the White House. After killing hordes of Secret Service and a number of innocents things finally settle in and demands start to be made. The President is trapped in his secure bunker while these events take place. The terrorists need the President in order for their ultimate plan to unfold. How they attempt to get to the President is where a good portion of the book centers on. Rapp makes his way into the White House and with the help of a few unlikely hero's he saves the day. Flynn focuses on how ruthless and hypocritical Islamic extremists are and breaks down what they are capable of.

This is the second book of Flynns and I would highly recommend it.

Review: Wagon Wheel Flea Market

I am on vaction in Florida this week and the first Sunday we are here we always go to the Wagon Wheel Flea Market in St. Petersburg, FL. This should be called the Wagon Wheel Flee Market because immediately when you drive in, you should turn around and run for your life.

The was a quote in Star Wars, A New Hope by Obi Wan when him and Luke come across Mos Eisley Space Port. Obi says, "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villany...except at the Wagon Wheel Flea Market." Now, this last excerpt was left out of the original movie but let me assure you, it was originally in there.

Walking through the aisles of junk, oh I mean "surplus items" is something to behold. There are lots of items that are really hard to determine the legitimacy. Stolen? Mmm, who really knows for sure. I am not sure who they would have stolen this from. Junk yard maybe? Some homeless guy? Don't get me wrong, there are some things that I bring home. Golf balls, socks (not used) and wallets. Of course, you can pick up a bra or thong but I would not advise it.

The caliber of people that visit here are the standups of society. I saw hundreds of people and about 3 teeth amongst them all. There was a woman who screamed the whole time she walked through the aisles. That was something to behold. I saw lots of cute middrift shirts on 300 pound girls. My retinas fell out.

The best are the long haired hippie freaks with no shirts, jean shorts and hair to their rears. This gentleman usually have a rugged looking woman going through the aforementioned bras and thongs and then a child with a nice mullet and a right ear pierced.

Did I mention all the wonderful smells too? No? Well I am not going to either. Some things in life are not worth reliving. Well, that is all from FL for now. I am sure there will be more to come. Hope you all are having a nice time in MN. See Ya.

Wisconsin Wins 6th NCAA Title

Wisconsin wins their 6th NCAA title and their first since 1990. This gives the WCHA their 5th win in a row! Tom Gilbert scored the winning goal in the 3rd period on the powerplay to rope the game in.

Way to go Wisconsin!!

Samsung A900 Sprint POWER Vision Cell Phone

Sprint was kind enough to send me an A900 POWER Vision cell phone and from what I have experienced so far...I really enjoy it. Not like I enjoy pickled pigs feet or the occasional raw egg, but more like how I enjoy a good sneeze followed by another good sneeze. This phone has many nice features and I am only going to touch on a few of them.

The first is that is looks like a RAZR and smells like a RAZR but it is definetly not a RAZR. The A900 is solid. It feels good to hold on to and I have not dropped it once (and that is saying a lot). It has a nice bright screen, good sound and an easy to navigate menu system.

It has a 1.3mp camera and the lens actually rotates so you can take those upside down self portaits that you have always wanted to take. Example 1: Does not exist because I put a password in wrong and now I cannot change it in order to send myself the picture to my e-mail. Nice feature...not.

The A900 also has a color screen on the outside so you can see the time, music that is playing, coverage and battery life. Along with the color screen on the outside are the forward, back and pause/play button for the music you are listening too. Works fine but you really need the USB headphones to get the full range. The onbaord speakers are ok but at the same time...they suck.

Live TV is also an option on this A900 POWER Vision phone. It does not take much time to get to the option but it will cost you $9.99 a month to watch TV. It will cost you $2999.99 to fix the large dent in your car from where you hit the tree. It gets expensive but...oh the quality!

You can import your own music or you can choose the option to order music from Sprints site. At $2.50 a song all I can say is "What a steal!" No I mean really, they are ripping you off. $2.fitty a song? You know how many Zagnuts that will buy? No? Me neither. I as hoping you would know. The speed of the download is ok and you do have the option of downloading the song to your PC. So if you are made of money (or have it on loan from Sprint and they are paying for it) go ahead and splurge.

There is also a menu funtion called OnDemand which gives you all the information relative to the zip code you are in. Sports, weather, maps, movies, TV Guide and even the dictionary. Wow...I can't remember the last time I needed a dictionary while I was tooling around St. Paul. Glad it is at my fingertips now. Just in case I need to speel somthing rite.

Overall I do like the A900 cell phone. I wish I could keep it and I really wish Sprint would pay for it forever. That would be darn nice of them. Maybe if they read this blog? Pipe dream! It sells for $349.99 but with all the contracts and other garbage it sells for $199.99. Oh ya, plus $9.99/month for the TV, $2.50 per song, $14.99/month for the online access and I am sure there are some other monthlies that can be thrown in that I have yet to discover.

BUY IT!! Live the online revolution in your car, ignore your family and lose your job all to watch live TV on a 1" x 2" screen. Ahhh, technology!

The Bishop in the West Wing

This is my first post here.

"The Bishop in the West Wing" is a book by Andrew Greeley This book isn't so much novel as it is a propaganda piece for the DNC (Democratic National Convention). The propaganda is mixed thoroughly into a story about the White House, and it's new President, a democrat of course. He's the most wonderful, intelligent, wise, caring president ever. Yes, ever. Oh, I should also mention he is an Irish Catholic Guy from Chicago. Somehow, we are suppose to think that he is not a crooked politician from Chicago. Now, I know people from Chicago. Bribes make Chicago work. You want your driver's license, you'd better hand the county employee administering the test a couple of saw bucks or you'll be back tomorrow testing again. Imagine writing a story about how fair and accurate the elections and judicial system in Cook County Ill is to the citizens of Chicago. Good grief. Aside from that, the book is filled with references to W stealing the election from Algore and the corruption of the courts in Florida. The author apparently completely forgot the election that Old Man Kennedy bought for JFK in Cook County. Nixon actually had a reason to sue and didn't, Algore sued and, well, now he's a Unibomber reject lecturing to colleges.

But I digress.

The book almost completely failed to hold my attention. Apart from the liberal silliness, the story was weak. I didn't really care why the poltergeist (oh yeah, the White House is haunted for a while when the President first takes office and a bishop from Chicago is staying in the West Wing to banish the poltergeist) was there, who it was, or when it would leave. The most entertaining part of the book was waiting to see what sort of DNS inspired nonsense the author could dream up and pass off as good story telling. And that was so unbelievable that it wasn't worth the wait.

Anyway, don't read this book. It is, in a word, ungood. Unless you are a long haired, maggot infested, dope smoking liberal type; then you'll love it.

Wait, I did learn one thing; poltergeist is from German and it means 'noisy ghost', or 'playful ghost'. But I like etymological nonsense like that.

Jason

PS - The book I'm in the middle of now is good, but I'll be darned if I can recall the name. I'll post when I'm done with it.

Apology

I have been way into the NCAA Hockey Tournament and have not been reviewing much. There is a two week break before the Frozen Four so now you have all my attention back (for the next two weeks anyway).

Frozen Four is Set

The Frozen Four in Milwaukee, WI is all set. North Dakota will meet BC and Wisconsin will meet Maine to decide who will play for the National Championship.

The WI/Cornell game was a great battle of defenses and goalies. The Cornell goalie stopped over 60 shots in their 1-0 loss to Wisconsin (3 OT and the second longest game in NCAA Tournament history). It is behind great goaltending (Elliot) that Wisconsin should prevail in the NCAA Tournament. Maine is a goal scoring machine though so the big test is coming. Can Elliot make the stops when it counts? He sure did against Cornell. Elliot went 11 periods without letting a goal past. Maine has scored 11 goals while allowing 5 goals against and WI has scored 5 and let 0 past.

North Dakota will also be counting on Parise to stop everything thrown at him. BC is also another scoring juggernaut having placed 10 goals neatly in the back of opposing nets in two games and keeping both Miami and BU scoreless. North Dakota has also scored 10 goals in the first two games but Parise let 3 goals past him. This is going to be fun to watch!

NCAA Regional Finals Day 1

Boston College met, slapped around and embarassed Boston University today 5-0 to move on to the Frozen Four.

North Dakota and Holy Cross also went at it this evening but Holy Cross could not be the giant killer two nights in a row. They played a good game but in the end, NoDak won the game 5-2.

Tomorrow Wisconsin meets Cornell and Maine plays MI State.

NCAA 1st Round - Day 2

Six games today with one already finished up, two more in progress and three more later on the afternoon and this evening.

At 11am this morning Michigan State took on New Hampshire in the East Regional. Michigan State tallied their one and only goal at 2:14 into the first period. MONEY BACK PLEASE! Yawn. No other goals were produced and the Spartans move on with a score of 1-0 over New Hampshire.

Wisconsin is beating up on the Beavers 3-0 and it is heading into the 3rd periond. Those Beavers better get busy.

Harvard and Maine are in the middle of a game but at this point I do not have a score. Cornell and CC will play at 4:30pm as well as the two Regional final games between NoDak and Holy Cross and BU and BC.

NCAA 1st Round - Day 1

Who showed up to play Holy Cross tonight? I think it was the small fries that play between periods at the Gopher games. If it is true about what the coaching staff said, that the team had put the WCHA playoffs behind them, then you sure would not know it tonight? The Gophers lost 4-3 in overtime to Holy Cross. Holy Cross played well and the Gophers did not. No more to say. The #1 rated team in the country gets shot out of the sky and is the first #1 seed in NCAA history to lose to the 4th seed. Of course it is the Gophers this happens too.


North Dakota looks like the team to beat. They were very strong riding on goals from TJ Oshie and Drew Stafford (left) tonight. They stomped Michigan handing them a large plate of loss with a side dish of ass whooping. 5-1 was the final score from Grand Forks tonight. Holy Cross will meet NoDak tomorrow (well, tonight now) night but I think the anomoly that is Holy Cross will meet their doom. NoDak is just too good.

Elsewhere tonight more serious spankings were handed out by the two Boston teams in the tourney. BC clobbered Miami-Ohio 5-0 (why were they in the top 3 in the nation for so long?) and BU knocked down, stepped on and then wiped the ice with Nebraska-Omaha (bottom left) with a final score of 9-2.

BC and BU will meet tomorrow night at 5pm for the final of the Northeast Regional.

Other games tomorrow are the start of the Midwest and East Regionals. Wisconsin plays Bemidi State (1:30pm), Cornell goes up against CC (4:30pm), Harvard plays Maine (2pm) and New Hampshire plays Michigan State (11am).

I am not going to win my work pool...damn.

NCAA Regionals

Let the games begin!!

Boston U has beat Nebraska-Omaha 9-2. Boston has set an NCAA record for most goals scored in a game.

U of M and Holy Cross are playing now.

NCAA Regionals

Here is the TV schedule for the West and MidWest Regional games this weekend.

Go Gophers!

NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament Television Broadcast Schedule

Friday, March 24
5 p.m. - FSN Live: NCAA Hockey Pregame (from Grand Forks, N.D.)
5:30 p.m. - Minnesota vs. Holy Cross (FSN)
8 p.m. - FSN Live: NCAA Hockey Post- and Pregame
8:30 p.m. - North Dakota vs. Michigan (live on FSN and ESPNU)
11 p.m. - FSN Live: NCAA Hockey Postgame
11 p.m. - Minnesota vs. Holy Cross (tape-delayed from 5:30 p.m. on ESPNU)

Saturday, March 25
1:30 p.m - Wisconsin vs. Bemidji State (FSN)
4:30 p.m. - Colorado College vs. Cornell (FSN)
7 p.m. - Minnesota Wild vs. San Jose Sharks (FSN)
8 p.m. - NCAA West Regional Final (ESPNU)
9:15 p.m. - FSN Live: Wild Postgame
9:30 p.m. - NCAA West Regional Final (tape-delayed from 8 p.m. on FSN)
12 p.m. - FSN Live: NCAA Hockey Postgame

Sunday, March 26
5:30 p.m. - NCAA Midwest Regional Final (tape-delayed from 4 p.m. on FSN)

WCHA Playoffs

The WCHA playoffs have come and gone. They were all great games and it was a fun weekend for hockey in St. Paul. I was lucky enough to attend 3 of the 5 games and I had a great time at all of them.

SCSU and Duluth started the weeked with the play in game on Thursday night. SCSU dominated the game from start to finish. Duluth never should have made it this far. SCSU won the game 5-1.

The Friday 2:30pm game was played between NoDak and Wisconsin. This was a fun game to watch (especially from center ice). This was anyones game to win at anytime. Goals were exchanged one for one and both teams played very well. I thought Wisconsin actually played a little bit better but they had a hard time keeping Earl off the ice. He even got a penalty for diving. Who gets that anymore? NoDak won the game 4-3 to propel them into the WCHA championship game.

That night the U of M Gophers matched up against SCSU to see who would meet NoDak in the final Saturday night. SCSU came out on a mission and scored like like there was no goaltender in the net. In fact, with 5 goals allowed in just over a period, we needed to check to see if Briggs was breathing. He was taken apart by the Huskies.

Goals were matched 2-2 in the first period and then SCSU broke it open in the 2nd with 4 goals. 5 minutes into the period, Briggs was replaced by Frazee. He did not do much better as SCSU scored 3 more goals on him.

The score was 6-5 going into the 3rd with the game going back and forth until Hooton (SCSU) beat Frazee and made the score 7-5. The crowd was bummed. Goldy Gopher fled to his hole and the cheerleaders left for a beer. As the last cheerleader left, Irmen came out of nowhere and scored goal number 6. Then with 14.6 seconds remaining in the game Potulny scored his 4th goal of the evening and the 7th goal of the night to tie it up.

When the next Hobey Baker winner (Ryan Potulny) scored his hat trick, the crowd went crazy. It took the Xcel staff 10 minutes to clean up the 150 hats and millions of Red Baron beads thrown on the ice. What nitwit gives Red Baron beads to a bunch of Gopher/SCSU fans at the second game of the day, at a venue that serves beer and on St. Patricks Day. Where did they think these beads would end up? Well, they ended up on the ice, on other peoples heads, and in the protective net that surrounds the ice.

After the 7th goals was scored you can imagine the uproar from the crowd. It was deafening. This is when Jen calls me. I am glad she called, I just could not talk to her for about 5 minutes. This is when the crowd calmed and we went into the break before overtime. She was very excited to talk to me about the game, only problem was, I was pretty much hoarse from screaming. It was a very in depth conversation, as I am sure you can imagine.

The overtime kicked off and the Gophers continued to buzz the SCSU net. Many scoring opportunities passed and the puck finally left the SCSU zone. It entered the Gopher zone, was picked up and a very soft goal (like a fluffy pillow, on a fluffy bed floating on the fluffiest cloud) was scored on Frazee to win the game. The previously filled, screaming lungs of the Gopher fans deflated so fast that oxygen masks fell from above to keep everyone from passing out. It was over, 8-7 and SCSU would go on to face NoDak in the final where they would eventually lose in a good effort, 5-3.

The Gophers then played Wisconsin in the 3rd place game. The Gophers didn't even show up. They lost the match 4-0 and it was actually the most boring game I believe I have ever witnessed. That is all I have to say.

WCHA First Round Playoffs

Sunday brings the final games of the WCHA first round. North Dakota finds its legs and beats an up and coming Mankato team 3-0 to advance to the Final Five.

UMD and DU are also playing and as of this post UMD is crawling all over DU with a score of 4-1. Denver is in deep trouble and looks like they may not make the Final Five and will also lose a bid for the NCAA's. USCHO already shows DU out of the NCAA's and this game is not even over yet. That cannot be good. Click here to see the new bracket as of now.

St Cloud and CC are also playing and probably are in the 3rd period by now. I have no score at this time. I am looking though!

Outside of the WCHA, Bemidji State comes up with a huge game over Niagra (4-2) to win the CHA tournament for the second year in a row. Minnesota will play (at this point) the Bemidji Beavers in the first round of the NCAA tourney. With this win the Beavers bounced Niagra out of the NCAA's. I think the headline should read "Niagra Falls to Beavers". Get it? Falls? Niagra Falls? Oh forget it...there is no humor in blogging.

Found the SCSU and CC game. SCSU just scored at 6:50 in the third to go up 2-1! Go SCSU! Yahoo Sports Radio is where I am listening to this. The Internet is the greatest.

SCSU wins 3-1 at CC! SCSU will play UMD in the Play-In game on Thursday 3/16 at the XCEL Energy Center. UMD beat Denver tonight 5-2. I am heading to the Thursday game and what a battle it will be.

Final Five:

Play-In Game (3/16 @ 7:30 pm): SCSU and UMD

Friday (3/17 @ 2:30 pm): Wisconsin and NoDak

Friday (3/17 @ 7:30 pm): Minnesota and SCSU/UMD

Go Gophers!!

Dining at Osteria i nonni

On Saturday night #1 wife and I decided to take a 2nd mortgage on the house and dine at i nonni. It had recieved near rave reviews in the Mpls St Paul Magazine and being partial to good food we decided to give it a go. It is a very nice establishment with fine ambiance and a great wine list. At $12 a glass for a mediocre Barbera that barely covered the bottom of the glass the breadth of the wine list was sort of moot since I was reluctant to take out a 3rd for a second glass. A young lady named Nicole was our server and we never lacked for anything. The term jonny-on-the-spot was coined for this server. The olives and bread came standard and heavenly would be an appropriate term for both. The olives (done by them) are the closest thing to wedding nights for sheer pleasure and I had a bunch. The big greeks are the best but all were wonderful. #1 wife had an evening special salad of veggies with toasted pine nuts and goat cheese. I can't say she liked it but it is the first time she has ever licked a plate in a first class restaurant, and growled at me when I asked to taste it. Count 1 fan for the salad. She then had the spinach risoto w/shrimp and artichoke hearts which was met with considerably less enthusiasim, basically a thumbs down and the offer that I could taste all I wanted. That is always a telling sign. In my particular case I had the old Italian favorite, a pork shank with an unidentified side of something which I couldn't make out in the dark. The side of garlic potatos and mushrooms was acceptable but not for $6 bucks. Oh did I say it was all ala-cart. Yup the bill went up farther than a than a teeny boppers skirt, and faster too.

Overall though the experience was very nice and the food very good. We would not hesitate to go back especially with a little more experience with the menu.
6 stars out of 10

What a night in WCHA Hockey Playoffs

Final Scores from Game 1 of the WCHA Playoffs



Duluth upsets Denver in OT 3-2!! Huge Upset!!

Mankato upsets North Dakota in OT 3-2!! Another upset but the way Mankato is rolling it is not a suprise. North Dakota has lost its edge and maybe peaked to early in the season.

St. Cloud State upsets CC 2-1. Wow...another shocker! All three of these losses were against the home team.

Minnesota upends Alaska-Anchorage 7-4. This was a lopsided score but the game was not. AK really played well and the Gophers came out flat. Potulny gains his third hat trick of the season and fourth of his career. Gordon also had two goals on the night. They meet at Mariucci again tonight at 7pm CST.

Wisconsin rolled over Michigan Tech 4-1.

Outside of the WCHA a HUGE upset was Alaska-Fairbanks shocking Michigan State 2-1 in the begining of the CCHA tourney.

What a great night in Hockey! You can see the USCHO projected NCAA bracket for March 10th here.

WCHA Tournament Round 1:

Samsung SCH-a950 VCast Phone

Ok, imagine you are stuck on a deserted island with nothing but one palm tree, a monkey with a cold and your VCast phone. Now pull your head out of the gutter...

This is a nice phone. It has some weight to it and feels solid. The price is a little much ($79.99 with a 2 year contract and $129 with a one year contract) but still competitive. It has standard cell phone functionality but it really has a nice screen. Bright and clear (which it needs for the video) and the sound from the external speaker is not to bad.

This is a great phone if you are into watching re-runs of late night TV shows and cartoons (Bugs Bunny) from the early 80's. Gnarly. I am not sure if the phone actually streams video. It does buffer but...I don't know. Seems like it takes too long. It acts more like it is downloading vs. streaming. Once the video gets to the phone it is crystal clear. I was very impressed. The sound again was ok but plugged into the headphone jack it sounds much better.

This is the problem. The cheapest plan I could find on Verizons site was 1350 minutes for $79.99 a month. Add the VCast (which they push HUGE on their commercials) and you add $15 a month. Calculator says...$95 a month. Now add text messaging. The lowest plan is $10 per month and the highest is $20 a month. Calculator says...$105 to $115 a month. Ack!

You think that is the worst? Say you hear a really cool song on the radio and you want to download the music video to your VCast phone. $3.99 per song! Double ACK!! I don't think I am going to pay hip hop stars to jump around on my VCast phone for $3.99 a piece. Thy should pay me for the suffering I endure when listening to that garbage. Oh ya, that goes for country too. Blech!


On the outside of the phone is another color screen and a control panel so you can play, pause and skip forward or backward through your playlists. You can also connect headphones and it incorporates a set of stereo speakers.

The phone also has MicroSD (up to 1GB of data), Bluetooth and a Hi Res camera (1.3 Megapixel).

The SCH-a950 is available now and retails for $250.

NCAA Bracket as of March 5th

See it here.

Gophers and Bulldogs, Game 2

That is all she wrote, the fat lady has sung, the cow has left the barn, and Elvis, has indeed, left the building. He followed the Bulldogs out as they went back to Duluth with a 2-0 loss in Saturdays game against the Gophers. I do not envy the Bulldogs because now they start the WCHA playoffs in Denver and the Gophers host Alaska Anchorage.

Potulny got another 2 points tonight. He scored the game winning goal and an open net goal at the end of the game. He ended up 7 points shy of NCAA leader Scott Parse of UNO with 54 points on the season. The only difference is that 31 of those points...are goals. 23 are assists. Parse had 20 goals 41 assists. So Potulny does lead the NCAA's in goals over Brett Sterling from CC. Can you say Hobey Baker? I knew you could. I hope he wins it. He is having a great season.

Next Friday night it is the Sea Wolves and the Gophers at Mariucci. I am not going (so far) but I will be watching. This is the best of 3 but I don't think MN will need more than 2 to put the Sea Wolves away!

Go Gophers!!

Gophers and Bulldogs...It Wasn't Pretty

Oh those lowly Bulldogs. After the Gophers handed them their fifth straight loss tonight with a 7-0 romp, they tucked their tales and headed for the locker room. The Gophers dominated this game allowing only 1 shot on goal in the first period, 10 in the second and 10 in the third. One positive for the Bulldogs was the fact they outshot the Gophers in the 3rd period 10-7. That is definitely the only positive though.

The Gophers scored the first goal on a Ryan Potulny feed to Ryan Stoa at 9:31 of the first. This was the game winner. The second period had goals from Evan Kaufmann (2), Mike Vanelli and Ben Gordon. The third period brought another goal from Ryan Stoa and the final goal of the evening was scored by Danny Irmen. Overall, 11 Gophers had points on the night.

My lucky, unlucky, lucky and unlucky streak at this game. I was lucky enough to enjoy this evening with my wife and some of our friends. My wife and I were in the third row while our friends were another section over and up a few more rows. I was unlucky because the Gophers spent almost the entire 1st period shooting on the Bulldog goal on the other side of the rink from me. I was lucky when, in the 1st period, a puck came hauling over the glass and I actually caught it. My first official WCHA Golden Gopher puck! I was so excited! I was unlucky in the fact that I did not notice it bounced off the 20 year old girls melon in front of me. Once she was done wiping the tears, I handed her the puck. She was very thankful. I would not feel right keeping it. Heck, I only caught it because her head added some backspin to the puck, slowing it down and allowing me to hang on to it. It was the noble thing to do (damn it).

When it was all said and done, it was a fun evening. The Gophers won the game, a fight broke out at the end of the game, the MacNaughton Trophey was handed out, we sat in traffic, picked up the boy and went home. What more could you ask for?
Ladies and germs, this Gopher Hockey Team is the real deal. I honestly think this is a better team by far than the 2002 and 2003 NCAA champion teams. All I can say is...WOW. It is all theirs to win!

Go Gophers and good night from The Crustacean Nation!

MotoPebl

I just received the MOTOPebl or better know as the Motorola Pebl. Seems these days Motorala has issues with spell checker. Good thing for them I do kind of like this phone.

I tend to not read manuals because most humans (especially men) do not read the manual first thing. I want to see how easy it is to figure out the phone. Getting it open was even a chore. They I gave the phone to my wife to look at. She immediately slid the cover down and the spring loaded top half of the clam shell flipped up and to life. Nice discovery. I like this feature. It gets a little cumbersome the bigger the hands you have but if you can hang on to it, then it really is a clever way to open this phone up. I nearly tossed it across the room the first time I opened it this way. The spring is pretty good so if you don't have a good hold, you will drop it.

It is a sleek unit and nice on the eyes. Some will have issues with the outside screen but I don't mind it. It is different and that plays into the phone. The phone has three buttons on the outside. One is for ringer volume, one is for the camera and one is for the voice activated menu.

The voice activated menu is what sold me on this device. Push the button and up comes a menu of the different options you can speak. These options are: Name Dial, Digit Dial, Camera, Voicemail, Redial and Received Calls. It really works slick and recognizes your voice astonishingly well. I rattled off my phone number into the device in less than 2 seconds and it heard every number correctly and even read it back to me. Sweet!

The camera is pretty standard with a 4x optical zoom. It won't get you a close up of the White House or anything but it works ok. The camera also does video. Nothing special.


The keypad is nice and easy to use. Each number has a raised....squiggly? It works. Not sure what else to say about that...so I won't.

The screen is also nice and clear but pretty MotoStandard. Nothing, again, that stands out.

Games. It comes with two Java powered games. A Bejeweled demo (very short demo) and another called skipping stones (of course-get it? Pebl?). Skipping stones is Chinese Checkers. That's it. Chinese stinking Checkers. Oh well.

With it's polyphonic ringtones, games, design, voice activation and ability to download 15 second clips of your favorite 80's tunes, you just can't go wrong. The phone is not for everyone but it does break the candybar mold. Heck, in two years when the MotoFlea comes out, you can take the Pebl to the local pond and see how many skips you get out of it before it sinks to the bottom to be with all its friends. See image below:

Can you find the Pebl in Motorolas PeblPond? Ick, give me a MotoBreak.

Oh ya, and I forgot to mention. Those 15 second rad clips from the 80's (or whoever else you decide to download) are $1.99 EACH. The whole song on iTunes is only $.99. What is that deal!?

I give it 4 out of 5...Pebls of course!

2006 Olympics - Final Thoughts

The 2006 winter Olympics are here and gone. Although there was a lot of talk about how so many people dislike watching a repeat at night, what else would you have NBC do? Sure, they could show it live and everything you want to watch could not be covered and it would be on at 1pm. I work...do you work? 2010 in Vancouver will be different. Now the 7pm ice skating will be at 9pm and people will holler that it is to late for them. Ick.

I really hope Nike thought there money was well spent on The Bodemeister. What a crock. I have never been skiing a day in my life and I bet I could get drunk, stay out all night, walk a mountain and then fall down it at 70mph. I am thinking that would be easy. Where is my million Nike? Invest in the little guy for once. At least you know what you will get with me.

I enjoyed the ice skating this year (women's, not men's...but really, is there a difference?). I did like watching the individual women's final with Sasha Cohen and Shizuka Arakawa. Shizika really deserved that gold. Sasha falling twice and still getting silver made me wonder. How do they score this stuff?
The only pairs skating I watched was Belbin and Agosto. Tanith...where the heck is she from? She speaks better english than I do. Who cares. She is hot. He looks a little constipated but maybe that's normal?

The made up sport came through for the US again this year. Snowboarding. Ok, it is not as made up as curling but c'mon. The Flying Tomato? This kid is straight off the ZigZag box. Yes, he is good at what he does. There is no doubt about it. The boy can fly. I believe there were a total of 7 medals earned by the US Snowboard Clan (USSC). Good for them. Now they have some money for munchies when they return to their home hill.
Hannah? Whatcha been doing behind the bunny hill? Pass the Fritos.


Here is what I have to say about hockey...

Now the Bi-athletes...they are the mac! They ski like mad, stop, shoot out the equivalent of Bob Costas' eye from some ungodly distance (5 times), if they miss, they ski the naughty track for as many times as they missed, then they continue. I say, hang back until everyone is in front of you, then rifle them all down. You can take your time, miss all the targets you want and coast to the Gold, Silver and Bronze. If they refuse to give the Silver and Bronze to you, then rifle them too. You can rule the Olympics. Get the snowboarding medals while you still have some ammo left.

I do enjoy the Olympics. They are fun to watch and it is fun to root for the home team. These kids spend a lot of time training and they deserve the shot. What I do not understand though is how Germany got more medals than anyone. I don't think NBC covered one event where Germany came out on top. They received all there medals in Biathalon, now I see why they weren't covered. **Snore**

See you in 2010 - Vancouver. Land of the Canuck and home of the "eh".


Vancouver Olympic Home Page.

Gophers are WCHA Champions

With their 4-0 win last night over the last place Seawolves, the Gophers capture the WCHA outright for the first time since the 91-92 season. Riding on the back of Ryan Potulny (Hobey Baker candidate) and his hat trick, the Gophers held the Seawolves to 10 shots on goal on the way to their 4-0 win.

Next weekends Duluth series will be fun but no longer has any bearing on the WCHA outcome. It is now time to rest up for the WCHA playoffs where it looks like the Gophers will again face off against the Seawolves.

Way to go GOPHERS!!

Maddox at Large

Maddox is one of those gentleman (and I use the term loosely) that has an opinion on everything. His rantings can be funny but he does have, how shall I say, a potty mouth. You can read about all his opinions here.

This site is not for the faint of heart but it can be funny.

If you want to see the "I am better than your kids" art, click here. Yes, he rips on little kid refrigerator pictures so if you cannot handle it, then this is not for you. Don't click.

Consent to Kill - Vince Flynn

This is the second Vince Flynn book I have read (Memorial Day being the first) and I enjoyed every minute of it. I actually listed too it on my iPod Mini with a download from Audible.com.
Mitch Rapp is a wonderful character that keeps the intensity of the book at all time highs. I found myself telling the bad guys "Well, now you have done it. Rapp is going to take you apart." Then I would actually laugh out loud while driving up 35E at five o'clock in the morning. Well, at least it was dark and no one could see me.
I would suggest this book to anyone who enjoys a good thriller. This one is tops in my book (no pun intended). READ IT NOW!

U of M at Alaska Anchorage

The Gophers find themselves all alone atop the WCHA with their win last night at Alaska Anchorage. The Gophers pulled out a win in the 3rd period to go up 4-3 over the Seawolves. The two square up again tonight with Hobey Baker candidate Ryan Potulny looking to put some more points under his belt on his trek for the Hobey Baker Award.

The projected NCAA Championship bracket is also out. You can see it here. It has the #1 Gophers playing #16 Alabama-Huntsville and Denver is out because of last nights loss to North Dakota (in Denver)!

Cingular 8125 Pocket PC

The Cingular 8125 Pocket PC is an up and coming device...for some. I have heard a lot of mixed reviews on this device but one thing is for sure: You either love it or you hate it.

Hate may be a strong word. I am partial to the device. It has some nice features but it also has some features that drive me up the perverbial Pocket PC wall.

The Camera: 1.3 mega-pixel camera. When you face it out to take a picture it actually looks like a small digital camera. The camera also has some nice template features built in. You can frame your subject in a Man of the Year magazine, a heart or just some other neat frames they include. I got bored with it after a few pictures. I think the younger crowd will like this. They will also like the vanity mirror that for some reason has caught on. Unless you have a head the size of a meatball, this vanity mirror will do no good.

The Sliding QWERTY Keyboard: Nicely sized (even for the larger thumbed of us) and easy to type on. Slides out way to easy though. When I attempt to take pictures the keyboard comes flying out. The Blackberry users are accustomed to using one hand with their device, this really requires two at all times. If I flip the device to the camera using both hands I have no kamikaze keyboard issues.

Touch Screen and Windows Mobile Software: This is fine. Nothing special. If anyone has used a Smart Phone in the past, it is the same. The stylus navigates (again, takes two hands and no I am not complaining because I want to use it in the car) through the Windows Mobile 5.0 Smart Phone Edition software in a responsive manner. I easily gained access to all the Smart Phone had to offer. However, I would like to see a link to Internet Exporer on the main page.

I really knew I was dealing with a Microsoft OS when, on the second day I tested it, the device froze on me. Tears of joy welled in my eyes as I re-booted the phone. I knew I was home. Thank you Microsoft. Like McDonalds, a Big Mac is a Big Mac no matter where you eat it, just as it is with Microsoft operating systems. **Sniff**

Connection Speed: Poor. I expected better with competitors like Verizon coming through with their high speed VCast. The surfing was painful (equivilant to a 56.6 modem...ick. That was so 2 years ago). I gave up trying to find Olympic Hockey scores while feeding my face at the Rain Forest Cafe in the Mall of America. Great coverage, crappy speed. They need to get this on the EDGE network as soon as they can.

Button Placement: Ok at best. It is really much to easy to hit the camera button, the connections button and the volume control. Nine times out of ten when I pull the device from the holster (ohh, sounds dirty) I end up looking at the volume control on the screen.

More to come including WiFi access and E-mail.