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.