Dreary Saturday

Late fall, early winter weather settled in Saturday; not ice and snow but overcast and rainy. Not to fall victim to the elements, Linda called and asked about the botanical center. I liked the sound of that and, surprise, grabbed my camera. She swung by and we were rolling.

On the way, we passed the outdoor skating rink that Eric and I had seen full of people on a colder but clearer day. This time, there were only a handful; not bad considering it was cold and rainy. We figured that these folks had plans or promises to keep and, if there was ice, they were going to be skating.

The Botanical Center was still decked out in holiday style. Poinsettias were much more abundant than usual and there were Christmas lights and balls accenting certain areas. A sculptor also had several pieces on display intermingled with the plants.

Attendance in general was good as we could always see people doing this or that; several of them also had their cameras out as well.

One mother / son pair were doing some very good educational work. The mother had prepared for the visit and had a small book with at least a map of the United States that I saw. The two of them were mapping where certain plants were located in the center and referencing the map to see where that plant was more commonly found. More than once, we heard the woman instruct the boy to go to a particular plant and she'd meet him there.

Linda was pleased with her introduction to another Des Moines landmark and we called it a day.

Back to the ice

Friday night, Linda and I returned to the 95KGGO Arena to see the Des Moines Buccaneers take on the Omaha Lancers. Once again, our seats were behind the goal in the north end of the arena giving a interesting perspective on the attack and defense.

Looking down the length of the ice puts both goalies in view at the same time; we've learned more about their role as watchmen and communicators of situations. In the last seconds of the time an opposing player is in the penalty box, both of these goalies would smack the ice with their sticks letting their attacking teammates know that another defender will be there soon. When the goalie recognizes an icing call could be coming, he'll raise his glove hand to let his teammates know that the opportunity exists; that the lead man can / should hustle to the puck but the rest can relax a bit. We keep learning.

Overall, this game was exciting. The crowd was near capacity for the venue and easily brought to full voice. An early goal by the Bucs brought us to our feet and turned up the sound system another notch. Shortly thereafter, the crowd demonstrated how unimpressed they could be when Omaha scored their answering goal. The remainder of the first period was hard fought. Each team showed excellent defense and frustrations and tempers started to rise. No "scraps" broke out but there were occasions where players were jaw to jaw letting each other know what was on their minds at the moment.

The second period featured some excellent set plays and some very fluid end to end action but produced no goals. No Krispy Kreme for us.

Midway through the third, the Bucs took the lead. In the closing minutes, the Lancers responded in kind and tied it once more. Bonus hockey!

Like the three periods before, five minutes of four on four didn't settle the issue. Shootout!

Omaha and Des Moines each scored on their first shots. Omaha reeled off three more goals while the Bucs couldn't find the net. Final score: Omaha 3, Des Moines 2.

Even though the Bucs lost, it was one of the more sustained intensely contested games we'd seen. Two very well matched teams played very hard and it was a treat to get to see them do it.

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Still playing with animation, there's an example behind the hockey picture on this post. Click the photo to go see it. It's not a loop like Twilight's eyes so you only see it happen once; to see it again, hit F5 to refresh the screen.

Animation?

When Eric was here, our discussion of some basic animation ideas and tools set the table for some personal exploration of the topic. If you look really carefully at the cat in the picture, you should see the eyes change from a very light grey to an exaggerated yellow / golden; I made that. Pretty impressive huh? Okay, it's a pretty basic display but it does prove that I can do it; now the question is more should I do this sort of thing. You should expect to see more of this before it goes away. Remember, Eric kinda started me on this path.

The Good Shepherd

Wednesday evening, Linda and I got together for a movie. The movie we saw was about several aspects of an assumed fictional character involved in the building of the Central Intelligence Agency. The movie opens with a grainy video of unspecified origin or context and returns from time to time to show us that mystery unravel. In the mean time, we get to learn about the influences that built Ed Wilson and how he would carry those forward into the CIA. The story includes the effects his career has on his personal and family life as well as the sometimes violent, always intense and questioning profession. The cast is highly recognizable and the stories are fantastic. An excellent movie in my opinion but certainly not for everyone. There are scenes of graphic violence and it is a complicated story so be prepared to focus.

Eric

Tuesday afternoon, Eric arrived to spend the better part of about twenty-four hours with his Dad. We got caught up on what's been going on, what's coming up, and some photography and animation ideas. It was a nice day so we both grabbed our cameras and headed out to see what was happening in Des Moines.

The pagoda along the developing riverwalk caught our eye so we stopped and tried to get a few shots of that striking structure. Right now, the area around is not very pretty but it's going to become the Robert D. Ray Asian Garden. Based on some of the other gardens along the riverwalk, I expect this could become quite attractive in the next couple of years.

We turned downstream and soon found the new skating rink being put to good use. The skaters appeared to range from preschool to nearing retirement age. Families, couples, young adults, and elders were all smoothly making their way around the rink. Holiday music was being played over the speakers loud enough to hear but not so loud that normal conversation was challenged. The curious blue dome things at the far end contain skate rental and snack counters. Around the rink, a layer of spongy black material allows the skaters to walk around with skates on their feet. All in all, an excellent addition to the river area.

We continued our walk around downtown, stopping in to warm up at Java Joe's. Eric shared that some of his friends really hadn't grasped the concept of our skywalks so he got a couple of pictures of that feature of downtown and we proceeded along to the south.

On our way into the downtown area, we'd seen the new science center and wanted to get down to see that new feature. While the majority of the displays are inside, we found the exterior and surrounding grounds to be intriguing as well. They obviously made nice efforts to make the walk to the building a trigger for the curious mind. There are interesting questions and solar system objects and orbits embedded in the concrete. These seats sit on orbit marks in the concrete illustrating an atomic structure. Lots of very good ideas went into this place. It's fun!

We also visited the new library area (it was closed for the holiday) and the Des Moines Art Center. Again, we were pleased to see interesting displays being enjoyed by a few dozen folks on a Tuesday afternoon.

The next morning we enjoyed breakfast at Hy-Vee and played around with some pretty basic animation ideas. I tried some but don't know how to get this site to show them yet. I'll keep working on that.

We got Eric set up to do some web development on his laptop computer and then it was time for him to head home. It was nice to have the day to visit.

Merry Christmas!

I drove by this live nativity a couple of nights ago. It was a nice reminder of the reason for the holiday. I wish each of you a very merry Christmas!

More Lights

This field of suggested trees is another traditional display in Des Moines. When I showed this image to a long time resident, they said "First Federated!" It's a striking image and prominently located at the intersection of two well travelled streets on the north side.

I need to confess an edit on this image; I moved the star about one radius to the right. When I took this shot, I didn't notice that the star, actually located over a building about a block away, would have looked great if I'd lined it up over the tree. Fortunate for me, digital allows this sort of after thought image editing.

Friday Night Lights

Late yesterday, there was moisture in the air and, learning from a photo Linda caught on a rainy evening, I thought there could be some great images of Christmas lights reflecting off of wet surfaces. Unfortunately, by the time I got out to take the shots, things were dry again. Oh well... I hope you enjoy the collage of images I did collect last evening.

I started in downtown Des Moines and moved west along Grand Avenue. The westernmost image was a the West Des Moines File and EMS center #17 on Railroad. The fire station does a great job of decorating their dog statues for various significant dates ranging from the traditional holidays to back to school shopping season.

Yes, there is an image of Santa's sleigh being pulled by pink flamingoes. It certainly deserves some mention and inclusion in this year's collection.

Gingerbread House

We found this gem in the Beaverdale neighborhood, long an area with great holiday lights. Several blocks of very nicely decorated homes line the streets east and west of the Beaver and north of Hickman. Ashby Avenue is the most completely decorated stretch in the area.

Christmas Lights

Like the first display, this home has been an annual sign of the season for as long as I can remember. Located on a busy street south of downtown, it's something of a landmark to southside travellers.

Pizza and a movie? Not this week...

Monday night, I got a call from Joel that he'd be tending to finals Tuesday evening so our normal Tuesday night activities would have to be deferred for a week. What to do...

After work Tuesday, I stopped by that field of corn that I'd photographed a few weeks back; the one with the snow on the ears. Most of the corn is harvested now. A couple of stands of a few dozen stalks makes me wonder if the ground was to wet or the harvester has a soft spot for wildlife. In any event, the clear skies and sunshine allowed me to get a followup to the snowy corn shot now that the harvest has come to it's end.

I went home, unloaded the photos, and was tending to home tasks when Linda called; dinner at J. Benjamin's sounded good to both of us. This cozy little neighborhood restaurant has been a presence on the corner of Merle Hay and Franklin for as long as I can remember. Linda had recently been there and wanted me to try the artichoke dip. We did, and it was great! Hunger addressed, we set out for the second portion of our outting: lights.

Linda had saved the section from the paper that listed some of the more impressive displays around central Iowa and we were near a few. The first one we headed for was one that I remembered having seen in years past. While not a display that I could see in my yard, it's still quite a show.

One of things that made this location memorable for me was having passed it in daylight several years ago. You can't really see them in my photo but there are four pair of reindeer led by one with a red nose rising sharply into the sky. In daylight, they rise up off of the yard on a pair of steel rails, a sight that catches my eye when I pass.

I have a few other shots of other locations that I'll try to remember to post each day now until Christmas.

Doubt

Saturday night, Linda and I visted the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines to see a play we knew very little about but had heard highly praised. By the time we settled into our seats, we still knew little more than the name of the play and that a primary member of the cast had received a Tony award for her performance.

The play, Doubt, was interesting on many levels. The four characters we see are all unified in their objective but are often in strongly conflicting positions on how to achieve it.

"What do you do when you're not sure?" Father Flynn asks the audience in the opening line of this play, setting the stage for a story of suspicion and moral certainty.

Set in a northeastern Catholic school in the sixties, there are plenty of moral issues that come into play. The main issue has to do with a young nuns observation of a young black boy after visiting the Father. When she is coaxed to share her observations with Sister Aloysius, the principal of the school, wheels are set in motion that crescendo to the climactic confrontation and its resolution. According to the author, the play doesn't finish with the final scene; the nearly mandatory questions and conversation that follow finish the play.

Poker night

Friday night, Jeff, Bill, and I joined up and drove over to Ern's for an evening of Texas Hold 'em. The cards were there from time to time and I finished third in the first game of the evening.

We reset the chips and tried again. This time, Bill played host to Lady Luck and recovered from two serious hits on his chip stack to win. It was a nice ride back home.

Sweet movie

Tuesday evening, Joel had a holiday get-together to attend so Linda joined me for a movie. Having recently seen the noteworthy Bobby at the Fleur Cinema & Café a few nights earlier, it seemed worthwhile to see what was showing at another interesting theatre, the Varsity.

Sweet Land, featured at the Drake area theatre, looked interesting in the schedule and more than lived up to our expectations. Simple, beautiful, credible, and engaging, this movie told the tale of Inge, a mail-order bride from Germany by way of Norway, and the response of the Minnesota community to her arrival a bit too soon after World War I. As she learns about midwestern America, the community learns about itself as it confronts its initial judgements.

Sports Wrap 2006-12-12

NFL
Chicago Bears 42, St. Louis Rams 27

USHL Hockey
Des Moines Buccaneers 5, Chicago Steel 1
Des Moines Buccaneers 6, Omaha Lancers 4

Monday Night Poker and Football

The gang got together for another evening of Texas Hold'em during a Bears monday night game. Last time, it was an exciting odd win by the Bears in Arizona. This time, the Monsters of the Midway played well and outran the St. Louis Rams to victory. Chicago rookie sensation Devon Hester showed an amazing knack for finding his way through kick coverage to score... twice!

My play was not as sharp but I did score some nice hands from time to time. The Rams and I were knocked out at about the same time; nice consolation to see the Bears address their turnover problem.

Joel Strikes Again!

Yes... I've once more fallen prey to one of the links on Joel's Blog. This time, he listed the OfficeMax Elf Yourself site and I went for it. If you'd like to see my elven dance moves (and very limited but repetative speaking) click here. What would we do without the internet?? ; )

Doh! I guess you need to have a fairly current version of FlashViewer installed to actually see it. Sorry if you're not able to see it. Just envision me in a green elf jacket and hat and red and white striped tights... okay... don't do that. It's someone else in a green elf jacket and hat and red and white striped tights but has my face. Now, they / I dance around and, in elfishly high and speedy voice say "Merry Christmas! ... Where's my pants?!" (I wasn't sure how it would work out and didn't think of anything more fitting that than at the time.) Now you too can enjoy ... er... at least experience my elvish dance.

RFK

Friday night, Linda and I visited the Fleur Cinema on the south side to see the movie Bobby. I expect you'll be hearing more about this film in the months to come.

The story is not so much about Bobby Kennedy as it is about the time as told through the lives of many people who worked for or visited the Amabassador Hotel that day. Issues of race, civil rights, Viet Nam, and a challenged economy are illustrated through the strengths and frailties of the characters. Many of the people had their own personal reasons to hope that the message Bobby was sharing would take hold in their respective corners of the world.

The closing shots roll by as a voice recording of a speech that Bobby gave is played. The link says Cleveland but I think the movie credits were from Indianapolis. Reading the text, many of the words and message are the same. In any event, they still carry weight today.

Wassail!

Thursday evening, Linda and I braved the cold and sat down with a couple hundred hardy folk to enjoy the Johnston High School Concert Choir's Madrigal Dinner. A combination of dinner, theatre, and concert, these productions help set me in a holiday mood.

As is the tradition, we were announced with trumpet fanfare and then escorted to our table. We were located at the second table from the front and middle in our "row;" neither on the central aisle nor the aisle along the wall. Our views of nearly everything were very good. I was quite pleased with our spot but wished they allowed photography.

When full, our table of eight included a family of four, two retired ladies, and us. The two ladies arrived shortly after us; both Iowa Girls, they, like Linda, had never been to a madrigal dinner before and were looking forward to the experience. The mother and younger son in the family of four arrived next; her husband was going to be working another hour and he would be bringing their older son.

Right on time, the lights dimmed and a hush fell quickly over the room. The trumpet sounded and we all waited for the announcement that the King and honored guests were entering; instead, it was another couple, a bit embarassed to be so "honored." As they were seated, the Court Jester lead the procession of singers in great medieval costumes into the hall; the performance had begun.

The jester had a good time teasing the king's attache of protocol about nearly anything he said but we soon learned there were murmurs of dragons in the area. The attache, not convinced had sent forth messengers to the surrounding kingdoms to inquire whether there was truth in these rumors. Word returned that one of the kingdoms was no more... not good news.

As luck would have it, the Fraduchi brothers, travelling peddlers, were being escorted into the hall by the king's guards at that moment. Quickly sizing up the market, they shared that they were known throughout the land as the only real option for dragon insurance. From time to time throughout the remainder of the show, the Fraduchi brothers, the jester, and the attache negotiated the terms of their policy. In the end, the scheming Fraduchi's were exposed and the kingdom preserved.

Our dinner included a small glass of wassail (mulled apple cider), a small lettuce salad, a variety of dinner rolls, a full chicken breast, rice pilaf, carrots, and a pudding of some sort; the pudding was flaming before it was served at our tables. Served in courses throughout the performance, it was a very suitable meal. The only objection I heard was that the pudding was not a bread pudding and that it was a bit dry.

The music was generally familiar but I was pleased to hear some new pieces. The voices were good, as expected. One duet by two girls from the servers was particularly noteworthy. Most of those honored at the King's Table had good voices, a few were very good. The candlelight recessional gave us a few moments to linger in the soft glow before bundling up to head back home. It was a nice time to set apart, to have a little celebration.

Deja vu all over again

After a couple of weeks of cribbage and holidays and Wisconsin Burgers, Joel and I finally got back to Tuesday night pizza and a movie. As is also our tradition, we cruised around between pizza movie. This time of year, that means looking at Christmas lights. Our favorite example of what NOT to do appears to have gotten the message and has limited his decoration to a tasteful wreath at the front door. In the past, there were SO many light flickering and chasing over his house, shrubs, and delivery truck that it was disorienting. I don't know if there's now a woman in his life, the neighborhood petitioned him to cease and desist, or the electric bill was just too high; whatever the reason, it's the end of an era.

Our movie selection was Deja Vu, an interesting sci-fi action techno-thriller chick flick starring Denzel Washington. Set in post Katrina New Orleans, the story revolves around the investigation of another, smaller catastrophic event leading to loss of life. Denzel Washington plays an insightful local agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. His familiarity with the locale and proven record in investigation links him into a very special surveillance group with some pretty sophisticated hardware. The rest of the story develops the characters well as it touches on some of boundaries imposed on surveillance and consequences that can arise then those boundaries are crossed. It was a very interesting, entertaining, and generally difficult to predict story.

I also got to try out the Tuesday Night B.Y.O.B. offering at the theatre. For fifty cents, they will fill a bucket (or other container) you bring, hence the Bring Your Own Bucket title. I brought a Tupperware type plastic container of about a gallon capacity and was set of for the evening. Yes... that means a gallon of popcorn AFTER half a pizza. Do not try this yourself. I've done adequate stretching and conditioning over the years to be able to perform at this level. You may need to start off with something smaller... like a handful of popcorn after a sandwich at home. Gradually add another handful and, one day, you too MAY be able to consume mass quantities like me. Please consult your physician before engaging in such consumption.

All in all, another fun night.

Hey, hey, what do you say? Let's go Bucs!

Linda and I returned to the Madhouse on Hickman, 95KGGO Arena, to see if the Buccaneers could get back on the winning track. Last weekend, they lost both of their games ... at home. Friday night, the Bucs were hosting the Chicago Steel, a team who's struggled to get wins this year. That said, we saw the Steel make the eastern division leading Waterloo Black Hawks work hard to get a 2-1 win.

Tonight, for the first time, we were seated behind the goal in the north end of the arena. New to the 95KGGO arena, we've tried to see games from varying locations both for my camera angles and to get a sense of where the "best" fans are found. Tonight, the camera angles were both excellent and yet somewhat obstructed. To protect the fans, hockey arenas hang a net above the glass behind the goal; nice for safety, not really a photographic plus. Being behind the goal, you get a much more upclose view of action at your end of the ice. It was fun! This location also afforded the opportunity for a Greg sighting.

Co-worker, Cornhusker, and Darlington trip co-pilot, Greg has been a long time supporter of the Buccaneers. He and Troy, another 'husker I believe, have long been season ticket holders and now have seats along the glass in the north end. Each time I've been to a game, I've tried to see just where they were located but never succeeded; tonight, I saw him. At the end of the first period, I went down in front to say hello and let him know that I'd seen him and wanted to take a picture. As I took the shot, he asked if he'd be on the blog. Greg, I've tried every way I know how but the image just won't stick. Sorry!

The family seated behind us were very much fans of the game and the Bucs. They were often shouting out various calls for the consideration of the officials and coaching for the players. The most vocal sounded like the father and daughter but neither Linda nor I really wanted to turn around to confirm.

Between periods, a local custom motorcycle shop brings one of their recent creation to the arena to award a "Radical" shot. The shot is from the blue line at a goal blocked by a panel with a hole cut out in the center at the bottom. I've not seen many people even hit the panel much less come near the hole... until tonight. Tonight, we saw a shot catch an edge and get the puck up on its side and roll right to the center of the hole. The hole is cut so that only a sliding puck would go through, not a rolling puck. So close...

Much like the game in Waterloo, the first ten minutes passed without much interruption from either goal or penalty. The closing minutes were largely spent with the Bucs working around the Steel goal but finishing the period tied at zero. The second period featured goals by team leaders Palushaj and Read. In the third period, the Bucs went on a run and scored four goals in less than ten minutes; the house was a-rockin'. The final score of 7-1 put the Bucs back on track, provided the fans with half a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts (for scoring six goals and winning) and, thanks to a short-handed goal, a complete section was awarded burritos at a local Mexican restaurant.

The Bucs also announced that their next home game will include the annual Teddy Bear Toss. Fans will have the opportunity to bring a teddy bear to the game and, after the Bucs first goal, throw it on the ice. The bears will then be distributed to local charities. A nice little promo, I think.

They did it!

Remember my encounter with Scotty and Fiddy at the state capitol a little over a week ago? the guys hitchhiking to all fifty state capitals in fifty days? Well, they made it!

Evidently, the guys from a band named Fermata organized a big party at Carpe DM, a bar in Simi Valley near Los Angeles, to raise money to buy tickets for the guys to fly to Honolulu. The show was a success, funds were raised, tickets were purchased, and the boys were able to complete their project.

In their Honolulu post, they had some fairly predictable but still affirming words about their experiences and the people they encountered along the way. It sounds like it was a pretty good trip for them. I really can't recommend doing something like that but it was interesting to observe; kinda like the guys who play with alligators or jump motorcycles.

Cribbage!

Travel plans opened a seat and I was once again at the cribbage table. This evening, for the pre-game meal, Jeff prepared some rather large and very tasty chicken burritos. A little spicy for some of my family, these saucy rascals were an excellent change of pace from my leftover turkey sandwiches; not that there's anything wrong with leftover turkey... it's just nice to have something else.

Unlike the last couple of times I sat in, I received several hands that scored in double digits. I was partnered with Jeff's co-worker and we were pegging well and generally scoring well from our hand and the crib! We did record a few two point hands but not nearly as many as our host and his father. (Jeff keeps select statistics on the games; the person with the most two point hands for the night chooses the color of the deck the following week.)

My partner had received a very unusual crib with all four kings, good for a dozen points (I think.) For each of the players at the table to have been dealt a king and decide it was the card to throw to the crib was considered very odd by all.

Eventually, we did lose two games but the dynasty was confirmed as my team won The Championship Game for the third time in a row! : )

Sports Wrap 2006-11-27

NFL
New England Patriots 17, Chicago Bears 13

College Football
Iowa Hawkeyes are going to the The Alamo Bowl for a record fourth time since 1993, when Iowa played in the inaugural game in San Antonio. The game will be played December 30th; kick off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. and shown on ESPN.

Iowa State fired coach McCarney and hired Gene Chizik, one of the nation's hottest young assistants as its next football coach. The Cyclones will not be playing postseason.

The Drake Bulldogs will not be playing postseason this year.

USHL Hockey
Lincoln Stars 7, Des Moines Buccaneers 4
Tri-City Storm 5, Des Moines Buccaneers 3

Friday Hike

Friday afternoon, the weather was simply irresistable; Linda called and wanted to go for a hike, in the woods if possible. We decided to see what Saylorville Park had to offer. I'd heard they had buffalo on display somewhere so, even if the timber was lacking, the buffalo might save the day. We arrived at the park and picked up a map of trails. The best prospect was a trail that happened to start back by the buffalo; handy eh?

The map was a little vague and the actual trailhead was not the easiest thing to find but, with a little exploring, we found our way down to the lake. The Lakeshore Trail is a nicely designed and maintained trail winding through timber, past the buffalo, and over the hills along the lake. I'm guessing that the fluctuating water level makes it hard to maintain much more signage on the trails so I'll cut them some slack on labelling.

Giving Thanks

Thursday morning, activity in the kitchen really picked up. Valerie and I were busy checking on the progress of the thawing of the turkey, the presence of ingredients for various side dishes, and just catching up on things. The turkey was nearly ready but there was an outstanding question: open pan or closed roaster. Being most familiar with the closed roaster technique, we opted for that safer route. (I know, some of you are probably asking yourself, "He went with the closed roaster again? Doesn't he remember last year?! Safer, I think not!") We also recognized that the basting apparatus was not to be seen; I'm pretty sure I had a brush but we couldn't find it. It gave us an excuse to walk over to the store to pick one up. When we got back the cooking proceeded and Patrick was soon up and helping as well.

We turned on the television to catch some of the Macy's parade. We were all soon giving thanks that we were not in New York to see that parade. We were also thankful that we were not the agent of the guy that was out interviewing people in that rain; that guy did nothing to secure the position for next year.

During the first hours of the turkey roast, we sat down to play a several quick dice games. First, we taught Patrick Perudo, a bluffing (not lying) dice game that legend claims was brought back from the last Inca emperor of Peru by conquistador Francisco Pizarro. Easy to learn and entertaining to play, it's become a family favorite.

Patrick and Val then taught me a dice game they call Farples. This game is only a little more complicated and subject to major swings in momentum. We played several games during the course of the day.

As the turkey headed into the final hour, we set the games aside and got the side dishes poised to take over the oven once the bird was gone. Valerie did mashed potatoes and the everpresent green bean casserole (with the French's onion ring things on the top) while Patrick prepared the cranberry sauce and an excellent turkey gravy. (Technically, Patrick started the gravy after the bird was done but I needed to give credit.) I was mostly in the way taking pictures for this blog.

Dinner met or exceeded all expectations for flavor and volume; nobody backed away from the table hungry. We pretty well all agreed that there was room for improvement in the area of presentation but we could live with that shortcoming this year. I'll be working on that in the coming year.

After dinner, there were the required naps of varying duration and intensity. We checked on the football action long enough to see the Lions were once again fine hosts to the Miami Dolphins. Obligatory rituals completed, we returned to the table to play Settlers of Cataan and, totally out of character, Valerie won! Before tempting fate further, we turned to a few more rounds with the dice.

Patrick had to work Friday morning so I bid them safe travel and Thanksgiving was officially fulfilled. I did reflect a while on the many things I have to be thankful for, not the least of which has been this blog. It's allowed me to stay in touch with you in a way I'd not done before. I'm sorry I didn't get to talk with each of you directly yet but should be in touch before long.

Company!

This evening, Valerie and Patrick arrived and the holiday began. After initial greetings and dropping off of bags and such, we took a little tour of some of the places I've been hanging out of late and wound up at one of our favorite pizza places, Felix and Oscar's. While I don't get there as often as I used to, Valerie likes to go about anytime she's in town... and I'm certainly not going to stop her!

After dinner, we went to see Babel at the Fleur Cinema, an interesting theatre on the south side of Des Moines that tends to feature the uncommon. Babel was recognized at the Cannes Film Festival with four nominations, winning three categories. The Gotham Awards nominated the film in two categories. Complicated and not upbeat, this story is set in motion by two boys in Morocco and involves people from Tokyo to California and Mexico. As each of the four main stories turn on their independent axis, each in their own tongue, we're allowed to see very distinct individuals deal with circumstances often well beyond their normal lives. Not what I'd call a tragedy, you're not likely to be very chatty on your way to the car after this show.

Tuesday Night at the Casino...

Casino Royale, that is. It's good to have a new Bond movie to check out.

Before the movie, Joel once again opted to not go for pizza; Wisconsin was calling out to him so we went for the Wisconsin burger. I varied from the beefy treat and went with the stromboli sandwich. I've searched the web to see what that would mean to most folks and I have to tell you, it's not what I had. Most of the references on the web talk about a rolled baked sandwich like the one in the picture; sometimes it's almost like a pocket bread sandwich. The stromboli sandwich I enjoyed was more like the now famous Norwood Inn hot sausage sandwich but with a thick, fluffy flatbread above and below. Peppers and onions top it off nicely.

Casino Royale starts at the point where double-oh seven is doing the work to actually achieve double-oh status, moving from a brute into something with a little more style and flare. There are great chases and settings for one of the most famous "secret" agents to do his work. Start to finish, it's quite a ride with the occasional break to develop the story. Without the SPECTRE of the Cold War, Bond takes on global terrorism.

All in all, the new guy is well suited to the part. He's physically fit and can be imposing but does have a side that isn't immediately threatening. I don't know if he's booked for any other episodes but I'd go.

Sports Wrap 2006-11-19

NFL
Chicago Bears 10, New York Jets 0

College Football
Minnesota Golden Gophers 34, Iowa Hawkeyes 24
Iowa State Cyclones 21, Missouri Tigers 16 (WOW! THAT was unexpected!)

USHL Hockey
Tri-City Storm 3, Des Moines Buccaneers 2
Des Moines Buccaneers 5, Sioux City Musketeers 1

NASCAR Nextel Cup
Jimmie Johnson finished ninth at the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway to win the NASCAR Nextel Cup.

Something New...

Last night, Linda and I cashed in our vouchers for two tickets to the Drake women's basketball game at the Knapp Center in Des Moines. It was my first time in this facility and it's a gem. I doubt there's a bad seat in the house (except maybe behind the band.) The ticket taker pointed out our seats in section J and said "Your seats are up there... behind the band." Well... we'd just hustled in to catch the introductions and tip off. It was apparent that the action was picking up. It might be disrespectful or even hazardous to try to get to our assigned seats. Fortunately, there were some seats right near us where we could stay out of the way and catch our breath for a moment or two.

Suddenly, the stands behind and to our left started rumbling as several dozen kids started pouring down to floorside. They were orderly as they formed a little human wall along the out of bounds line. As each of the Drake women were introduced, they raced along these kids, high-fiving as many as they could. It was a fun way to start the evening! We later learned that these were three busloads of kids from Norwalk, home town of Jill Martin, one of Drake's star players.

The basketball was well played. The crowd was enthusiatic in their support (especially the kids from Norwalk!) The atmosphere was fun; Spike, the Drake mascot, did an excellent job of working the crowd. He even suited up at half time! The band was much more engaged in basketball than they had been in the football games. There was even a very entertaining halftime dance group! Linda and I agreed that the experience of Drake University athletics is certainly worth the price of admission... then we considered that we hadn't actually paid for our tickets... but we decided we would have! We'll be back.

Drake scored early and often including several three pointers. The visiting Panthers were slower to start but were able to take the lead; at one point, Drake trailed by nearly twenty points. About halfway through the second period, the Drake women went on a run and closed that gap. The final minutes were an excellent sequence of offensive and defensive plays by both teams. In the end, it came down to whether the 'dogs would be able to stop the Panther's primary scorer, a big girl who had dominated under the basket at both ends of the court. The ladies were able to move her off her spot and came away with the 75-72 win.

Paparazzi?! ME?!

Am I now paparazzi? I guess that depends on whether Scotty and Fiddy are celebrities. This evening I took advantage of the internet to prepare for, capture, and now present the image on the right.

October 10th, my friend Joel posted a link to two guys who were planning to hitchhike to the capitols of all fifty states in fifty days. Amused and intrigued, I started watching their progress. Alaska and Hawaii seemed to be the big question marks... until they got to Juneau!

My interest piqued and Iowa still on their To-Do list, I wondered if there would be an opportunity to see these guys. This evening, I popped up my browser and saw their near real-time GPS locator beacon was nearing Des Moines! Close enough that I better hustle if I wanted to try to see them. With a few hours before a planned online gaming session, I hopped in the car.

Arriving with what I thought would be time to spare, I noticed a Civil War monument set against a beautify sunset sky. I took a few shots and went to the far side of the capital to see if they were here yet, possibly shooting "jump shots." A group of kids were climbing the steps toward the capitol. I heard the door open and there was a guy that looked a lot like Scotty! I asked the kids if that was one of the Hitch50 guys and they confirmed. We shook hands and all went inside.

After an attempt to get to the dome, the small band stepped into the gallery box overlooking the Iowa State Senate. When they paused to take a picture, I grabbed a couple quick shots. They were looking to get to the floor so I wished them well and went back for some more evening monument shots. It was a fun little adventure!

Injury Substitution!

Monday, I got a call from Jeff, the host of the weekly cribbage game. One of the players had suffered a minor injury and wasn't going to be able to sit through the grueling evening of championship cribbage. I came in off the bench to keep the game alive. (Loyal readers may recall the last time I went to play cribbage; it wasn't pretty.)

This evening, dinner was a nice pasta dinner with a full basket of garlic toast. After clearing off the dinner dishes, The Commissioner chose the red deck for our evenings play. My recollection of some pretty poor nights with the blue deck gave me hope that some luck was left in the red. Like last time, The Commissioner and I were partners.

Our luck proved identical to last time; the only game we won was the fabled Championship Game! Jeff knows that the only game the guys at work will ask about is The Championship Game. Having to report his loss would completely offset the quality play of the rest of the evening. All moaning and groaning and gnashing of teeth was done in good humor so all went home happy.

Poker

Monday night, Kevin hosted the game and a good group of friends and players sat down to try our luck at Texas Hold 'em. With the Panthers and Buccaneers (NFL variety) playing in the background, the talk was fast but the play was slow. From time to time, I caught something interesting but, whenever I played it out, my opponents were just enough better.

Soon, I was out of the game and talking hockey with a new player at the game. Originally from Canada, he was very familiar with players who'd come up through various organizations... like our Iowa Stars. Though he'd played, he wasn't familiar with the USHL spectator experience. You may have guessed, I shared some of my enthusiasm for our Bucs hockey team. When I mentioned that the actors who'd played the Hanson brothers in the movie classic Slap Shot, he quoted a few lines and we all had a good laugh.

The play slowed down so I called it a night and excused myself. I'll be back!

Stark

A few evenings ago, when Linda and I went for a walk, a tree along the trail caught my eye because of the way that a light was shining on it. The play of the light on one side of the branches and limbs contrasted with the darkness of those portions in shadow made for a very striking look. When I tried to get a picture of that, the exposure time was too long and I didn't keep the camera steady. Last night, I returned with the tripod to try again. This is one of the shots I got.

Sports Wrap 2006-11-12

I'm pretty happy with the results this weekend. I'm disappointed that Iowa and Iowa State lost but everyone else did well. The Bears saved their game with a startling and record-setting second half. Drake may be in line for post season play. The Bucs split with Eastern Division leading Waterloo. Jimmie Johnson took one more step toward finally winning the Nextel Cup.

NFL
Chicago Bears 38, New York Giants 20

College Football
Wisconsin Badgers 24, Iowa Hawkeyes 21
Colorado Buffaloes 33, Iowa State Cyclones 16
Drake Bulldogs 47, Jacksonville Dolphins 28

USHL Hockey
Des Moines Buccaneers 6, Waterloo Black Hawks 4
Waterloo Black Hawks 4, Des Moines Buccaneers 2

NASCAR Nextel Cup
Jimmie Johnson finished second at the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix.

Snow!

The snow Friday afternoon was still around this morning. I took a a little drive around to see if there were some photo opportunities out there. I didn't have to go far to see a stand of unharvested corn frosted with the fresh snow. While the snow wasn't very surprising, that there was a field of corn still standing was. It's been a while since I was very aware of how the harvest was going but I usually think that, as Thanksgiving approaches, it's certainly preferred to be out of the fields.


A little further down the row, I really liked this image. I also did a little experimenting with adding a border. I'm not sure that it has added to or substracted from the image. Fortunately, I still have the original image as well. Today might be a good day to explore some more photo edit effects while the snow melts.

Friday Night Hockey!

Linda and I returned to the 95KGGO Arena to see the Des Moines Buccaneers try to remain undefeated on their home ice. The Western Division leading Buccaneers were visited by the Eastern Division leaders, the Waterloo Black Hawks.

The game started with both teams making good defensive plays mostly around the blue lines but neither was mounting a serious attack until about half way through the first period. The Bucs got on the board first and were never behind. By the end of the second period, it was tied at four. The Bucs added two more goals in the third and won 6-4.

An added treat for me was that, among the sellout crowd, were Bill and his daugther and Joel and his date, Marlene. I actually got a photo of Joel and Marlene along the glass.

As I become more familiar with the players, I'm beginning to recognize some of the names and where they're going to be going for their college careers. Last night, the program highlighted defenseman Jeff Petry from Farmington Hills, Michigan. He's committed to play at Michigan State and was the drafted by Edmonton forty-fifth overall in the NHL draft. As the game went on, it was fun to watch Petry play; he even scored on a shot from the blue line through a swirling mass of Bucs and Hawks.

The Prestige

After our walk, Linda and I went to see The Prestige, a dark movie about two magicians who start out as part of another mans magic show and develops into a very nasty duel to be the magician with the best trick. Along the way, there is violence, death, betrayal, and misdirection. The theatre audiance is constantly wondering how much of what we see is truth and how much is what the characters are willing to reveal. After all of the deeds are done and we've been allowed to understand what probably really was going on, we agreed that we'd enjoyed the show.

Beautiful Wednesday Evening

The weather was very comfortably warm and the sky was clear; it was a great evening for ... a walk! I met Linda and we went for a walk on another trail I'd not travelled much. I had been on one part of it before but we also went back into the woods on a nature trail. When we get some snow, there should be a good picture back there. Back on the path, we looped around the pond you see in the foreground of the photo.

With the time change, there is so little time before sunset that our evening walks have nearly become sprints ... okay, not fast like sprints but short and, for us, finished quickly. Being outdoors at and shortly after sunset has allowed us to see more sunsets and twilight feeders. This time out, as we were returning from the walk, Linda put her hand out to signal stop; there, about thirty feet ahead on the right, were three deer nibbling on the tall grasses of a prairie restoration project. They were surprisingly tolerant as I tried to get a decent picture. Eventually everyone tires of the paparazzi and they bounded further out of range.

The Departed

Joel and I found a movie that we both suspected could be enjoyable, The Departed. I know, calling a cops and Irish mob movie with a climbing body count enjoyable may be a stretch but we sometimes like the action flick. This movie is studded with some very good actors and tells a tale that I'd not call predictable. Just when I thought I had an idea where it was going, it would take a pretty abrupt and irrevocable turn in a new direction. It all made sense (in a cops and mobsters kind or way) but it kept me guessing. I can't recommend it to everyone but I liked it.

Tuesday Evening ... No pizza?!

At the risk of undoing all the training work we've done at our regular pizza place, for the second consecutive week Joel wanted to go for a sandwich. This time, he called for the hot sausage sandwich of the Norwood Inn. (See Busy Saturday Afternoon)

Having come directly from work and remembering the clientele on Golf Outting Saturday, I wondered if my yellow, short sleeved shirt and dress shoes were going to stand out. I briefly entertained the notion of declining or asking to swing by the house to change clothes. Oh well... it'll be an adventure! right?

This time, knowing where we were going, it was easy to find the place. When we arrived, I was a little bit surprised to see the large number of large pickup trucks in the parking area. There was one car and one guy on a motorcycle apparently considering whether this was the kind of place a biker should set foot in.

When I walked in, the guys at a rail overlooking the pool table turned, ready to greet a regular and saw some guy in a yellow shirt, dress pants, and church shoes; they quietly returned to observing the game of eight ball and sharing thoughts on the problems of the world. The chairs at the bar were occupied but three of the four tables were available. I picked a table bathed in a neon glow near the door. Joel noted that the table appeared to have just been cleaned and found it acceptible... after a quick wipe with a napkin or two.

The tuesday night crowd of about twenty apparent regulars were talkative among themselves but afforded us ample opportunity to quietly soak in the ambiance. Someone said something about mostly being plumbers, farmers, and wanna-be farmers; the clothing was consistent with that description: work boots, blue jeans, flannel jackets, one or two Carhartt work jackets; I should have changed.

Soon, our waitress came out and took our order for one of the renowned hot sausage sandwiches; this time, I had the sense to ask for it cut in two and served one half to each of us. That was no problem. When I asked for a half order of onion rings, that wasn't gonna happen; that's alright, having maintained my regimen of stretching and conditioning, I was confident I could handle a full order.

The sandwiches came and were again quite tasty. The Norwood customers thinned out ... make that dwindled in numbers and we enjoyed just being around the action without actually being in the action until... a different waitress approached our table with a couple of hot ham and cheese sandwiches and asked if they were ours. Two guys at the table behind me claimed them. A few seconds later, Joel spoke up. "Lucky we didn't just say they were ours." Momentary pause... maybe it was a good thing that I chose a table by the door. One of the guys with the sandwiches said something appropriate and with similar humor and all was okay. Our sandwiches gone and bill settled, we quietly made our way back to the truck and the familiar movie theatres.

Sports Wrap 2006-11-07

A rough weekend for my teams. Only wins were the Bulldogs and Bucs.

NFL
Miami Dolphins 31, Chicago Bears 13

College Football
Northwestern 21, Iowa 7
Kansas 41, Iowa State 10
Drake 35, Davidson 15

USHL Hockey
Des Moines Buccaneers 7, Lincoln 3
Sioux Falls 3, Des Moines Buccaneers 1

NASCAR Nextel Cup
Jimmie Johnson took second at the Dickies 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway.

Drake Football Senior Day

Linda and I completed our nearly perfect attendance at Drake Football home games. Our first day game, the weather was great. We also enjoyed the added festivities honoring the senior members of the team playing their last home game.

We arrived about thirty minutes before game time and, before taking our seats, roamed around the stadium for the last time this season. For the first time, we noticed access to the area north of the field. It looked like the parents of the seniors were lining up there for pre-game recognition so we just looked over the wall. In all our games, we'd not seen the little blue cannon. This whole part of the field was really new to us. We looped back around toward our chosen seating area.

On the opening drive, Scott Phaydavong, junior running back for the 'dawgs, scored the first of his two touchdowns of the day and we heard that little cannon for the first time. We both were startled by the boom and then had a good chuckle; I enjoyed the plume of smoke and general effect. By halftime, Drake lead 14-3 and continued to extend in the second half. Before it was done, the Drake offense produced over 550 yards of total offense.

Willie Cashmore, another Drake running back, actually outperformed Phaydavong's 109 yards with 130 of his own, also scoring two touchdowns. It was good to see the Bulldogs return home and put up another good win.

It's a little disappointing that there aren't more people in the stands, especially students, but it does allow us to choose our seats and I get a variety of camera angles. I'm going to look forward to stopping by from time to time next year.

Friday

Thursday, Linda had suggested that we talk a longer walk, something over four miles, after work Friday. The weather was going to be nice and she was going to be able to leave work earlier than usual. I scheduled an early departure myself and met Linda at a trail she'd not yet walked. She'd commented that a walk in a more wooded area would be interesting and I knew of such a place. As you can see in the photo, the leaves are pretty well gone. We had a nice walk of something around five miles and saw some new ground; a little variety helps the miles go by.

After my walk with Linda, I hustled around to get over to join up with Bill and Jeff to head north for some cards at Ern's. This evening, nine of us sat down to play some Texas Hold 'em. I did alright with the opportunities I recognized but, in general, it just wasn't there. Fortunately, the company was better than my cards so I still had a nice time. Around two o'clock, I was home and ready for a good nights sleep.

Thursday Night Gaming, Lag, and the Future!

I got together with my regular Thursday night gaming group for some online activities. For the last two weeks, we'd been working on completing a specific set of challenges; this session should let us finish things up.

All players assembled pretty well on schedule, got on the voice channel, and were on our way. We soon found that we were going to have to deal with one of the remaining nemesis of many online, real time activities: lag.

Lag is the result of one or more machines being overburdened and having to prioritize its work. That means that one or more tasks are going to have to wait for the highest priority task to finish. In the context of a game, that can mean that some players are unable to do their things while others go ahead; in a gaming situation, say fighting zombies, the zombies get their punches in while we stand there and get whooped. In our specific case, it was actually the game server that was lagging and our complete scene was having to pause from time to time; nobody had an advantage. It was like someone hit the Pause button for a few seconds from time to time.

As information and entertainment providers deliver content using internet services, I sometimes wonder how they will overcome lag. I have to think that the internet phone services have addressed the issue, at least for the communities they serve. Audio content is pretty low volume; video will be another story, especially high definition video.

I like to follow a few video blogs. They're relatively short presentations but may show come of the early solutions to lag. One thing they do is reduce the amount of data that has to move by using a relatively small screen. Personal video devices have prepared us for small screen viewing; it shouldn't be too much of a shock to our system.

Another thing that helps is local to my machine. My player buffers the content. When I ask my player to display the show, it starts pulling it from the source. If the flow of data into my machine isn't fast enough to keep up with the display, my player waits until it has loaded up, "buffered," a certain amount before it even begins. It then begins playing what it has while more of the show is arriving. It generally doesn't take long and generally eliminates those annoying pauses. I've seen articles that talk about ways to set up your machine to automatically collect content that you've specified so that, when you decide you want to see what's new, it's already been loaded locally.

One of the video blogs I check in on is Rocketboom. The content this Friday is a bit unusual for them in that there's no commentary but I would like to share it with those of you with connections that are fast enough. Click here. If current technology won't let you see the video, there are some still images and more story here.

Looks like lots of folks are fighting the Lag monster in a variety of ways. Our gaming group stuck with it, completed our quest, and called it a good night.

Wednesday Night Gaming

Two guys that I work with have been playing a World War II combat game online for a while now. I picked up the game a couple of weeks ago and, unbeknownst to this blog, had been working at learning to play well enough to be a contributing player with them. Unfortunately, while I gained familiarity with the game and confidence in my play, our three schedules had not allowed us to play together. (Notice past tense...) Wednesday night, that changed.

After a few minutes of work on getting the common voice channel open and operating for all of us, we were set. Our game was not up to what any of us would have hoped but we still won. After first contact in the first game, I felt a bit overwhelmed at the chaos. In the end we somehow won the battle. The following game was a bit more manageable and we were more convincing winners. We'll be working on this from time to time in the days ahead.

Learning about the USHL

This evening, I finally got around to digging a little deeper into the United States Hockey League, the league of the Des Moines Buccaneers. While I've enjoyed the games and had a basic understanding that the teams in the league have no affiliation with teams of the NHL, I wanted to understand more about the program and what draws these kids from all over the country, even continent, to play in these midwestern towns. I was very pleased to read the following on the USHL website:

Because the USHL gears itself toward putting players in college and helping them earn scholarships, the emphasis on education is foremost for all teams. Individual teams' academic coordinators work to make sure players have the academic capability to succeed in the classroom as well as on the ice. For players who are still in high school, teams work closely with local school officials to develop class schedules that keep players on pace for graduation and college entrance requirements.

I'd seen and heard news stories about players moving on to major university programs in the past but hadn't realized how successful the teams are at putting these guys into those programs. At the USHL site, I started to count the number of college commitments that were produced last year but got a phone call at seventy something. The USHL site also lists players who have gone on to play in various prefessional leagues here and in Europe. Over forty-five players on that list have made it to the NHL ranks. That's a pretty good number, especially when you consider how hard it is to make it into any professional sport.

Besides the players, the coaches and officials are working on their game as well. I don't see them tracked on the website but do understand that they use this as a stepping stone up through the ranks as well.

I'm glad Des Moines has a team involved in a program like the USHL.

Halloween, Wisconsin Style

Okay... the Wisconsin reference is a stretch. This evening, Joel and I decided to go with our alternative to pizza, the Wisconsin Burger. A sports bar not far from where Joel used to work has a good sized hamburger sandwiched between two different cheeses and sliced of buttered, seasoned bread. This is a very tasty burger that may be even worse for us than our regular sausage and pepperoni pizza. Fortunately, we only go for this thing a few times a year.

No movie tonight. Instead, we went back to chat with Marlene. I'd not talked with Marlene since her trip to see the Hawks play at Michigan so there was plenty to catch up on. After sitting through her extensive and detailed recounting of the trip ("It was a long drive,") we chatted about kids, the elections, work, etc.

I called it a night and, on the drive home, realized that my internal clock was still on Daylight Savings Time; it was only a little after eight. Oh well... it was a good night.

Happy Halloween!

Monday Night

Monday was a beautiful day here. The sun was shining. The temperature was comfortable. It was alright. I drove over to Linda's after work so that we could go for a walk and use a coupon for a tasty, somewhat novel pizza not far from her home. By that time, the sun had set, winds had picked up, and temperatures had fallen. It wasn't too bad but it wasn't as nice as the day I'd seen through the window at work.

When we got to the pizza place, we learned that it was closed on mondays. With a walk of a mile or so behind (and ahead of us) we considered other options and found a little sports bar neither of us had even heard of. They had the menu in the window and the Irish Nachos looked interesting. We went inside and found a lively Monday Night Football crowd settling in for the Vikings-Patriots game. Our nachos came and we enjoyed the atmosphere and pre-game coverage. We stayed through the first quarter and walked back, pleased with our walk and discovery of another neat place to stop in.

Sports Wrap 2006-10-30

A pretty good weekend for "my" teams. Only losses were the Cyclones and Bucs; the Bucs also had a win so that balances out.

NFL
Chicago Bears 41, San Francisco 49ers 10

College Football
Iowa 24, Northern Illinois 14
Kansas State 31, Iowa State 10
Drake 21, Dayton 9
 
USHL Hockey
Des Moines Buccaneers 7, Cedar Rapids 6
Cedar Rapids 8, Des Moines Buccaneers 3
 
NASCAR Nextel Cup
Jimmie Johnson took second at the Bass Pro Shops 500 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Sunday Afternoon

This afternoon was just too nice to spend inside. After spending the majority of the day yesterday sitting in a vehicle, sports venue, or restaurant, it was time to get out and move around. Of course, I didn't really act on this notion until the Bears were well in control of their encounter with the 49ers. With the sun shining, it felt like it could be a great day to collect some photos of good autumn color so I grabbed my camera and headed out.

When I arrived at a nice little woods, I was not disappointed. The images at the right were all collected there this afternoon. It was a real treat to be out crunching around in the leaves experimenting with autumn color photography. I hope you've been able to enjoy some of the season as well.

Waterloo

Young Arena in Waterloo is the home ice of the Waterloo Blackhawks of the USHL, the first team Linda and I saw play the Des Moines Buccaneers. Situated on the banks of the Cedar River, this facility is a comfortable newer arena that is well utilized in the community. When we stopped by earlier in the afternoon to pick up tickets, the UNI Panthers hockey team was taking the ice. Looking at the schedule online, the facility is scheduled for use daily. The upper walkway is even open as a walking track for the community.

This evening, the Blackhawks were hosting the Chicago Steel, the team they'd defeated the night before in Chicago. The fans are passionate and bring along their Blackhawk cowbells... hundreds of cowbells. The din these things can raise in unison is impressive. Like Des Moines, the fans are involved, enthusiastic, hockey smart, and support their home team. Most of the seats were filled and the rail around the top of the seats was occupied most of the way around. The hockey was well played and few obvious mistakes were seen.

There was one opportunity for the home team fans to get a chuckle at the expense of one of the visiting players. After the Steel scored a goal, one of the players on the ice skated by his teammates on the bench high-fiving each one as he passed. As he turned to skate out to his goalie, he fell flat on his face. I didn't see any reason for it other than that he was on skates on the ice. The home fans had a big laugh; the player, smiling an embarassed smile, bounced back up and got back in line with his teammates as they passed their goalie.

One of the major reasons Linda wanted to visit the arena had to do with Tommy Hawk, the Blackhawk mascot. During one of the intermissions, Tommy puts on a dance on ice; tonight, it was a Saturday Night Fever routine, in a leisure suit costume. The crowd participated by mimicing Tommy's moves as he'd approach the glass. All in all, it was a very entertaining little show.

Tommy spends most of the intermissions on the ice and works every aisle during the games. The kids look to high- and low-five him. He poses for a LOT of pictures with fans and provides a good deal of entertainment value throughout. One of the cute antics I saw in the stands was as he posed for a picture with a girl probably about eight years old. He started with his arm around her shoulders, then tipped his head over a bit to for a cute picture. Just before the camera popped, he turned just a bit and caught the girls head in his open beak. Mom had a very good laugh.

A surprising moment followed Tommy's dance routine. The first official came blasting out of the doors at center ice ... on his belly! He must have slid fully half way across the ice before he popped up onto his skates. Even after Tommy's show, that was pretty impressive. As he looked back at his officiating teammates, his smile was pretty broad. It was nice to see an official having a bit of fun.

In the end, the game was low scoring but full of good action by both teams on both ends the ice. The Blackhawks won 2-1 in regulation.

Cedar Falls

This afternoon, Linda and I went for a trip to one of the 100 Places in Iowa to Visit before You Die: the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. Until recently, Linda was a resident in this community so it was a nice opportunity to show off some of her old territory to someone who'd never been there.

Before actually going to the dome, we drove through the updated downtown area and stopped at Pablo's for burritos. My distant recollection from high school Spanish class is that putting -ito or -ita on the end of another word often means a smaller version; this time, I have to question whether that's appropriate! These were some large examples of South-of-the-Border eats... and with an interesting twist: pumpkin seed salsa! It was tasty!

Hunger no longer a concern, Linda took a tiny side trip on our way to the dome. This time to see a tree on Tremont street. Lore is that a science teacher planted four trees along the sidewalk leading to the front door. Once tall enought, the trees across the sidewalk from one another were grafted into one trunk each forming two living arches. Once these two trees were tall enought, they were grafted to one another and produced one trunk. Pretty amazing, eh?

The house is currently for sale so we wondered whether the unique botanical would add or detract from the marketability of the property.

Side trips completed, we proceeded on to the UNI-Dome, home field of the University of Northern Iowa Panthers football team. This afternoon, we were going to see the 5-2 Panthers host the 4-4 Western Illinois University Leathernecks. Having seen the Panthers soundly defeat the Drake Bulldogs, we knew they were a quality team; WIU was a mystery. By the half, we'd learned that the Leathernecks were ready for a game as they lead 17-13 on very solid play on both sides of the ball.

In an unexpected move, the Western Illinois Marching Band took the field to open the halftime show. Surpassing that surprise, their musical selections were based on two classic video games: Mario Brothers and Legend of Zelda. While the music wasn't familiar, the performance was entertaining.

The UNI marching band then took the field and did an excellent job with their pieces. Similar to Drake's Sometimes Marching Band, the Panthers moved in curves, forward and back, while playing some pretty jazzy numbers. I've had to adjust my expectations and criteria for evaluation the quality of the show. They are interesting and entertaining, I just have to recognize that things have changed since I, with a few dozen musically inclined friends, donned a uniform and "funny" hat to march around a gridiron.

In the end, Western Illinois scored another touchdown and won 24-13 ... but we weren't there for the final act. We'd already moved on to our next activity!